Ron Weasley Paladin

"Journeys end in lovers' meeting; every wise man's son doth know"

William Shakespeare

Ron opened his eyes surrounded in darkness he fought down the urge to panic realizing that he just had a bag over his head and was not in fact blind, he didn't know where he was or the situation he was in so he closed his eyes and opened his ears to listen to his surroundings and tried to keep up the appearance of still being unconscious, He was in a muggle vehicle of some type a big one if his ears weren't lying to him.

A voice off to his left said "I think he is awake." The bag was quickly removed and he was face to face with none other than Silas and Conner "Good morning mister Weasley" Silas said with what could be called an altogether too happy smile on his face.

"Fuck what the hell Silas couldn't you have just walked up and said let's go?" Ron growled not smiling at all.

"What and deprive us of our fun?" Silas grinned

"Fun my ass." Conner barked "Fun for you maybe Silas but you didn't get a broken nose of the job did you."

The other man laughed loudly "I didn't try to sneak up on an infiltrator in the dark."

Ron had the good grace to look a bit shocked at first realizing that he had broken Conner's nose but then barked out a good solid laugh. "Well let's hope you tetchy bastards learned a lesson then."

"You are lucky you are headed home Weasley." Conner smirked

It was Ron's turn to look a bit shocked "What already? I mean I knew you said I was done but isn't this a bit early?"

"Well we aren't flying you home or anything we have kind of left that up to you." Conner said with a wink.

"You do realize that you are on a muggle airplane right now right?" Silas asked

"I am?" Ron asked a bit puzzled "but what does this have to do with anything?"

"Well we decided that you need a good cover story to tell your buddies back home, you know the sights I saw the food I ate, the girls I bedded." Silas said this last bit with about the cheesiest grin he could manage.

Ron blushed in fact he almost turned purple "I-I wasn't thinking of anything like that." He managed to stammer out.

"Yes Mister Weasley we know there is a certain girl back home, don't look so shocked did you know you talk in your sleep?" Conner teased

"Yeah and from what we heard you have something you really want to give to her" The other man leered at the younger man

Ron looked aghast but managed to squeak out "I'll thank you not to talk about her like that, and besides she is one of my best friends, I don't fancy her, and any way she is probably still dating Vicky." He looked ashamed to admit that last part.

"Ah Ron the world works in ways we don't understand, time and distance make people remember the better things about others and forget their faults and if this little slip of a girl is as good a friend as you say, well you could do far worse than dating a friend." Silas said.

Ron nodded numbly he hadn't really spent much time thinking about stuff back home and it shocked him how easily he had let it slip his mind 'hell Harry's birthday was yesterday dammit' he resolved then and there that when he got back there would be a few things put out in the open while he couldn't very well tell them about the Paladin program and all it entailed he could spend some time with his friends and see about possibly talking to one friend more in particular.

Silas snapped him out of his silent reverie by saying "OK Ron your choices are Portkey or parachute."

"What a portkey to where and what the hell is a parachute?" Ron asked

"A portkey ten thousand feet straight down or a parachute which will more or less drop you straight down slowly, of the two I would have to pick the portkey myself." Silas returned with a slight smile

Ron smirked "So I should take the parachute then. Cause it sounds like the portkey is kind of mucky."

"Very well Parachute it is, you will be on a static line that will cause your parachute to deploy once you leave the plane." He said this with a flourish of his wand "this bubble head charm should give you enough air to get below ten thousand, you will be in a T-10 bravo it is simply a round chute but you have left and right toggles pull the left one you circle left the right one you circle right it is a simple rig." Silas said this quickly and before Ron knew it he was kitted up.

The cargo ramp of the plane opened slowly revealing the landscape below the apprehension on Ron's face was very evident a grinning Conner walked up beside him, "impressive isn't it muggles you just aren't sure what they will do next you know for some of them this is fun." He laughed

'I always knew they were bloody mental jumping out of a hairplane with a bit of a blanket on their backs' Ron thought this furiously.

All of a sudden a buzzer sounded throughout the plane and with a final smile and a clap on the shoulder Ron was unceremoniously tossed out the cargo ramp, he felt a sudden jerk on his shoulders but worst of all was the hard jerk that slammed up into his bits and left him gasping for air for a moment. A message started writing it's self in front of Ron's eyes it said simply 'welcome to New York state you have a little less than a month to make your way back to England your dealer will meet you in Hogsmeade on your first outing. Good luck Paladin'

Ten minutes later he touched down in a open field as soon as the chute touched the ground it disappeared the bubble head charm decided at that moment to disappear as well, Ron looked about as he adjusted the ruck on his back and smiled it looked a bit like home, he made his way carefully to the road and saw a sign it said New York City 60 miles East. Ron looked around and took out his wand and held it in his hand and whispered 'point me' it swung 90 degrees from his current facing, with a sigh he started down the road at a trot.

He had been jogging for twenty minutes when a muggle car pulled up beside him and honked it's horn he looked over as the window came down and his jaw almost dropped, it was a girl she looked a couple of years older than him and a pretty red head at that, she said "Need a ride solider?" Ron stopped and looked at her a bit confused, and she smiled at him "Your pack it has a tenth mountain division patch on it, my brother is stationed over there, but you look a bit young to be in the military."

"Oh uh my uncle Conner was a solider for a while I think he might have been a member of the division this is his pack." He muttered

"Nice accent you really aren't from around here are you?" she cocked an eyebrow up a bit.

"Err no I am from Devon in England" he said deciding at least a partial truth couldn't hurt "just came over for a study abroad semester."

"Where you headed then?" she asked

"Uh New York City?" Ron said

"Hop in I am going there myself." She answered back

As Ron got into the car and they took off down the road the girl turned her radio up and a loud music started playing it was different than anything Ron had ever really heard and the quizzical look across his face didn't go unnoticed by the driver.

"The Dropkick Murphy's that's why I am headed up to the City they have a concert there tonight like em?" she asked

"Uh I haven't really ever listened to them before but they sound good." Ron answered smiling

"My name is Lilith" She said taking a hand off the steering wheel to offer it to Ron he took it gently and said "Ron, pleased to meet you." He said with a smile.

They rode in companiable silence for the next few miles, suddenly there was a buzz coming from the console the girl looked over and smiled and picked up a little rectangular box looked at it sighed and pushed a button.

"Hello?" she said. "Oh hi I am so glad you called I am really excited about tonight." She trailed off as the look on her face suddenly grew a bit sad. "Oh alright then well I hope she is feeling better, ok, yeah, no it is fine I understand completely , ok, bye." With that she pushed another button and set the box back down.

"Was that a fellytone?" Ron asked a bit amazed.

The girl giggled a bit and looked at him "Do you mean a telephone?"

"Err y- yeah sorry we just say it like that sometimes you know in England." Ron stammered out blushing a bit.

She laughed at this not unkindly and said "So how about you up for a concert I have an extra ticket now that my buddy isn't going to make it."

Ron looked bit surprised at the question but managed to say 'yes' to the inquiry.

Lilith smiled "Well then it's a date."

Ron blushed a bit but managed to hide it with a smile.

The car ride passed quickly and they arrived where she said the concert would be held it looked a bit like a pub to Ron and he said "Uh I don't think I am old enough to get into this place." She waved away his concerns though "I know a guy who knows a guy, don't worry Ron I got this." She smiled at him again which caused Ron's heart to beat a bit faster.

They made their way inside with a minimum of hassle at the door. The room beyond was huge it had a stage that was centered on what could be called a dance floor though at the moment it looked more like a boxing ring to Ron as he watched a group of about ten men running into each other and bouncing around a bit, he was broken from his thoughts by Lilith tapping him on the shoulder and handing him a glass.

"Drink up." She said

Ron took a large mouthful of the drink and almost gagged but fought the urge to spit and instead swallowed hard.

Ron had to talk loudly to be heard over the band "What is this?" he asked holding the glass up.

"It is beer; Bass I think "Was Lilith's answer "like it?"

"Not bad." Ron said doing his best to hide his grimace, he had seen far too clearly what had happened to Charlie and Bill when they decided they could handle a few drinks of Fire whiskey when they came of age he did not intend to go through that kind of torture.

The concert went on for three more hours Ron finished his beer and watch his "date" finish seven more by the time the concert was over she was a bit worse for wear.

"C'mon Ron" she said as he lead her out the door "I think I am not quite capable of driving, but there is a little rat hole motel across the street let's get a room and take a fresh start in the morning."

Ron was glad she couldn't see his face in the dark because he was sure it was glowing like a beacon as they made their way across the street to the non descript run down little place she had pointed out, they were given a room key by a leering desk clerk and made their way up to the room.

'What the bloody hell am I doing' Ron thought 'I am bloody well sure this isn't right me being here.'

Once inside the room Lilith had immediately grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the bed where he had fallen over on top of her, his blush was pretty much ongoing from this point, and then to his shock she grabbed his head and pulled him down to deliver a kiss straight on his mouth he was so shocked he wasn't kissing back and his hormones were trying to assert control over his body which made it that much more confusing for him, but then something in his mind clicked and took the situation from 'yeah ok' to 'what the fuck?' she was drunk this isn't right so Ron did the only thing he figured he could do, he slowly pulled his wand out of his hip pocket and pressed the tip against her exposed side and whispered 'stupefy' she passed out completely 'bloody noble Gryffindor my ass I hope I never have to do something like that again' Ron thought about this for a moment and added 'well unless Hermione is sober in which case nobility can go stuff itself.'

He gathered one of the blankets off the bed and made a small place on the floor for him to sleep his last coherent thought before he closed his eyes was "Well tomorrow let's see what we can find."

A/N Ron returns to Hogwarts next chapter.