Forceful Awakening:
"SON OF A BITCH! I'M GOING TO WRING HIS BLOODY NECK WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON HIM!!!" Ron Weasley was screaming from his room at number 12 Grimmauld Place.
In the grasp of his hands he held a two and a half week old copy of the Daily Prophet. A copy of the paper that his parents, brothers, sister and more than likely the bulk of the order members that knew about the article were hiding from him. He had come across it by accident when his mother had told him to empty the bin in the kitchen and throw the bag down the trash shoot in mudroom. When he was pulling the bag from the bin, the bottom fell out, emptying the contents all over the kitchen floor. After cleaning it up all by hand before his mother found him, a wet and wrinkled front page of the Daily Prophet with Harry Potter winking in the direction of the camera caught his eye.
Ron at first had been pleased to see that his best mate was looking well and obviously happy being out in the world and had not paid attention to the woman that he was with; not that it made a difference since the person responsible for taking the photograph had not been able to capture her face. But back in his room after he took the garbage out and was looking closer at the photo he recognized the woman instantly, only it was no woman. It was Hermione. He would recognize that hair and figure anywhere given a moment. It didn't matter that he was looking at her from the back, he was used to it from Hogwarts when he was trying to look at her without getting caught staring.
Ron looked to that date at the top that had the ink half smudged out, June twenty something. That was more than two weeks ago. Why hadn't anybody bothered to tell him his best friends were out in what he read was a fancy restaurant in muggle London? Why the HELL hadn't they come and gotten him to come along as well?
"WHAT THE FUCK DOES HARRY THINK HE'S PLAYING AT? HE'S BLOODY WINKING AT THE PERSON TAKING THE PICTURE! HE KNEW HE WAS BEING WATCHED, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON AROUND HERE!?"
He was temporarily consoled by his own vengeful thoughts that Harry was in some way going behind his back to take Hermione from him, when Harry knew full well that Ron fancied Hermione; and the thoughts that once he was done with Harry- Professor Dumbledore would no doubt choose to take action as well. This was flagrant disrespect for member orders that were trying to protect Harry and Hermione.
'Bloody Hell right, knocks out two guards...' a foreign thought popped into his head.
"What was that?" Ron asked himself and the empty room.
'What did you hear?' Wait, that's Tonks voice! These are memories. From where, he asked himself trying to focus on remembering but nothing more was coming. So Ron resigned himself to trying to figure out what was going on with his supposed 'best friends'.
Then there was another foreign memory when he started to think about Harry disappearing and where he was, but this time it was his own voice he was hearing.
'Enough to start piecing things together...' he heard himself replying to what must have been Tonks.
All of sudden, when he heard his own reply, the memory of standing outside of Tonks bedroom and listening in on the conversation she was having with the communication mirror came flooding back to him.
His own thoughts of Harry's sudden disappearance at the beginning of the holidays and what he had learned from Tonks saying he had knocked out three guards to get to Hermione. Ron was remembering it all, and his current loathing for Harry was greatly decreased. An amplified amount of his hate was now directed at Tonks for 'obliviating' him however.
The revelations of Harry out on the town with Hermione, and both of them looking decidedly posh without him, and Tonks altering his memory was almost too much for him to handle being locked away in Harry's home/Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix.
'First I deal with Tonks!' He told himself coolly while glaring at his own image in the mirror atop his bureau.
He stormed from his bedroom and passed a stoic looking Ginny, who had been standing outside his bedroom listening to him let the jealous nature he had inside himself when it considered Harry and Hermione out. Ron reveled in the feeling of justification that he was about to receive from Tonks if he could find her. If she was in the middle of a meeting, THEN THE MEETING BE DAMNED!
Ron had never gotten over the attempted 'obliviation' that one of his former professors', Gilderoy Lockhart had tried to administer to both himself and Harry when they went to rescue his younger sister.
He had never admitted to anyone that he was truly afraid of losing every memory he had. Both the good at bad; and after seeing Lockhart during his fifth year while visiting his father in St. Mungo's, he knew that his fear was greatly justified. The former professor, and constant winner of Witch Weekly's best smile award, had no idea of who he was or why people sent him letters. The man spent his day re-learning how to write. The thought of himself and Harry sharing a room at St. Mungo's re-learning everything they had taken or at least Ron had taken for granted, he didn't know about Harry although he thought he knew all about Harry up until he found that damned paper.
'No wonder they were trying to hide the paper from me,' Ron fumed.
He was standing in front of the double doors that opened to Tonks' bedroom and banged his closed fist as loud as he could to draw her from whatever she was preoccupied with.
The portrait of Sirius' mother woke at the sound of Ron's banging and started her constant ranting about 'filthy blood traitors' and 'get out of the noble house of Black, the Dark Lord will kill you all!'.
Everyone by the first month into summer had become more than accustomed to someone setting off Mrs. Blacks' portrait. It was now an unspoken agreement between the order members that whoever was closest to the portrait when it went off was responsible for redrawing the curtains she had thrown back and reseal her behind them.
Tonks, who had been sitting at the desk in front of her preparing a report on the current death eater that she had been assigned to tail- now that she was no longer required to follow Harry and provide extra security; was startled by the loud banging on her bedroom door. She quickly made her way over to see what all the fuss was about.
Ron seeing that door was slowly opening pushed the door back with force, which sent Tonks in her ever clumsy nature sprawling onto the hardwood floor and landing on her arse; but with her Auror and order training it didn't even look like she had been knocked down before she was again standing and spinning Ron around and pressing him up against the wall next to bedroom door in a one armed arm bar.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? Barging in here?" Tonks hissed into his right ear.
Ron, not possessing any training in personal defense, but still having more strength that Tonks had used this to his advantage and swung his head backwards, head-butting Tonks square in the forehead and forcing her to see stars and let go of Ron.
Ron then spun around pushed her back onto the side of her bed.
Ron slammed the door shut while Tonks brought her left palm to her forehead where Ron had hit her. He felt ashamed that he had hit a woman, but at the moment he wasn't one for feeling regrets.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HIDING INFORMATION ABOUT MY BEST FRIENDS FROM ME? AND THEN WHEN I DO FIND OUT ABOUT IT YOU FUCKING 'OBLIVIATE' FOR MY TROUBLES AND YOUR STUPIDITY FOR NOT CLOSING YOUR OWN BLOODY DOOR!?" Ron bellowed while she was trying to sit up straight, with her palm still to her forehead.
Not even really paying attention to Ron's ranting, Tonks replied, "Merlin Ron, I hope your head hurts as much as mine, god!"
"I HOPE IT HURTS! AND I HOPE YOU FEEL PATHETIC FOR NOT DOING A GOOD ENOUGH JOB OF HIDING THINGS FROM ME! DO YOU REALLY BELONG HERE? ALWAYS TRIPPING OVER THINGS, WAKING UP THAT DAMNED PORTRAIT!" Ron shouted at her.
The remarks about her head hurting and her pride being tarnished for not taking care of Ron as fully as she should have were enough to bring her blood to a boil. With the speed she had shown when she was knocked down from the door, Tonks was standing looking up to stare Ron down... and then her fist embedded itself squarely into his solar plexus.
Ron fell to his knees with his arms wrapped around his gut gasping for the air that had soundly been knocked from him. Then looked up through now tearing eyes and watched as another fist came sailing at him and landing squarely on the left side of his jaw. Blood spurted from the opposite corner where he had not been hit before he fell onto his side. Clutching his aching stomach and tasting the iron in his own blood that was now leaking from the pool inside his cheek, an added couple of tears were streaking perpendicularly across his nose and cheeks landing on the hardwood floor to mix his blood and spit.
"YOU PIECE OF SHITE, WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE... GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL THAT YOU'RE JUST A KID, AND THERE ARE THINGS OUT THERE THAT YOU NEITHER NEED TO KNOW NOR WOULD BE ABLE TO DEAL WITH IF YOU WERE TOLD!" Tonks yelled at Ron, who was now in a fetus like position.
Ron tried to mumble something in reply but found that his jaw wasn't going to comply with his minds order.
"I didn't lose Harry, but I was played, he knew what he was doing and it was planned that way. He even went after Hermione when I'm sure that Dumbledore was using her for bait to draw him out, and what he did he shouldn't have been able to do, but HE DID IT WITHOUT BREAKING A SWEAT. HE TOOK DOWN THREE HIGHLY TRAINED ORDER MEMBERS WITHOUT EVEN TRYING AND THEN RESCUED THE GIRL! How Cranciun-esque. And look at you, you come in here attacking me first, and then demanding to know why I did what I did. For your trouble you're lying there sobbing and bleeding. I tell you know kid, GROW UP! AND GROW UP FAST; OTHERWISE YOU'RE GOING TO GET LEFT BEHIND!" Tonks said coolly, showing the true air and power of a fully trained Auror; something she had yet to show anyone outside her vocation.
'Lose Harry? Played? What's she talking about?'
Tonks knelt down beside to Ron and pulled a handkerchief from her blue robes right pocket, and started to lightly dab away the tears that were pooling in the corner of Ron's eyes and the streaks they left on their way to the floor.
"Look Ron, there are things that Harry hasn't told you yet that would explain all of this I'm sure. Even I don't know, but I'm guessing that there are and if he's really your best mate then he'll tell you when the times right. Hermione's father was murdered and her mother would have been better off if she had been..."
Ron shuddered when she point blank stated that Hermione's mother would have been better off dead.
"...Dumbledore took Hermione from her mother's bedside and put her somewhere where she would be safe, or so he thought anyway. But Harry's been through this before... we all know that this is almost exactly act for act what had happened to Harry when he was only an infant..."
Tonks was now wiping the spit and blood from the right corner of Ron's mouth.
"... Harry did the right thing, he found out where she was, no doubt by Remus telling him, and went and got her. Dumbledore was using her as bait, and did expect Harry to be able to do what he did. So Harry took her, and by the looks of the paper from a few weeks ago, he had done more for her than Dumbledore had done in two weeks of condemning her to 24 hour guards and no medical attention, 'psychiatric' attention that she would need. Harry knew what was going on in her head and he knows how to deal with it better than anyone I've met. Auror or otherwise. He's dealt with it more than once... you can testify to that..."
Ron made a grunt that sounded in the affirmative to what Tonks had said about knowing what Harry had been through.
"...You and Hermione and you're family and anyone that has ever helped Harry are targets in this war, and it's because you're friends with Harry or someone has helped him in some way, no matter how abstract the help would be. He trusts you here, I'm sure that he considers you able to handle yourself and that's why he hasn't come to collect you as well. Well, that, and I'm not sure that Harry is confident enough yet to stroll into Grimmauld Place and deal with every member on hand on any given day..." she said with a slight chuckle towards the end.
Ron was trying to give a slight laugh himself, but the pain in his jaw and his gut was preventing him from making anything more than grunts.
Tonks seeing that Ron's jaw was starting to swell, finally removed her wand from the leather holster attached to her left forearm, pointed it at his jaw and said, "Integro Maxilla."
The swelling that was starting to become apparent in Ron's jaw was slowly receding and in less than a minute the swelling was gone. What Ron had thought was his broken jaw, had healed itself and returned to normal. He opened his mouth without any problems, but there was an audible pop whenever he opened it a little too wide. He figured that he would be cursed with a slight case of T.M.J. until he either saw a real healer or Madam Pomfrey back at school.
"Thanks," he said rubbing the side of his face that still had the residual feeling of being hit hard enough to break the bone, and finally sitting up cross legged. He had finally regained his breath and had his hands on his thighs.
Ron was desperately trying not to meet Tonks eyes now. He knew that he had been made submissive, like some pet that had done wrong and had their nose rubbed in it.
"I'm sorry, it's just that..." Ron started.
Tonks held up a hand to stop him, "You don't even have to say it, I know what you're going to say, and I'm going to say this once before you leave. Get over being jealous of Harry."
Ron was about to refute what she had just said to him but he was cut off again.
"You will never be him. You will never beat him, so don't try. Be his best mate and accept his help and help him when he needs it."
Ron's face was completely scarlet and screwed up in shame and hate over the accurate presumption that he wanted desperately to be exactly like his best mate. But Tonks carried on like he didn't even change his expression from remorse at attacking her to staring daggers in her direction.
"You can't even see it, can you?" she asked staring straight at him and ignoring the glare.
"See what," he replied harshly.
"That he had never wanted this, and that he wants to be you, as desperately as you want to be him. That's what," she stated as if this was the most obvious thing in the world to him.
"Tonks, you know that isn't true. Why the hell would Harry want to be me? What do I have that he couldn't buy for himself whenever he felt like it?" he spat.
"Shut-up and listen to me you prat," she said glaring at him for missing the obvious, "Harry's parents were killed when he was one, he was sent to live with relatives that rejected him and forced him to live in a five by five cupboard until he was eleven, then he finds out in the blink of an eye that he's was the saviour of the wizarding world before he could even speak, gets thrown in front of the spotlight that goes from admonishing him with love and adoration- to hatred and loathing for being an attention seeking press whore. Numerous attempts are made on his life without him ever knowing why, two years ago he's whisked away where he witnesses the murder of a classmate and is used to resurrect the 'thing' that was responsible for all of this is the first place. He thinks he's going mad last year, drags his 'friends' even though he tried to force them to stay behind, with him to try and save his godfather and nearly gets you all killed for the lie that was planted in his head. Then he's possessed by Riddle and wishes that Dumbledore would just kill him while Riddle was inside of him hoping that all the pain he's had to deal with will go away finally- yeah Dumbledore told us so we would watch out for a suicidal Harry; and then to top it all off Dumbledore takes him back to his office and tells him something that causes him to decide to disappear from all of us. None of us know what Dumbledore told him, but we're guessing it had something to do with him and Riddle..."
Ron was looking at Tonks in complete confusion. He had been jealous of Harry for the better part of having known him as long as he had, save for that time when he had to rescue him from the barred bedroom room during the summer before their second year. But he had never heard someone speak of Harry like this before, and what made him feel all but a centimeter tall was his own guilt at never having taken any of this into consideration; and Tonks wasn't even finished explaining this too him when he wanted nothing more than to find his friend and apologize with every fiber in his body.
"... Harry has never wanted any of this, can't you see past your own glory seeking ambition to notice that, Slytherin! To notice that Harry would more than willingly in the blink of an eye hand over every galleon, sickle, knut, broom, house, pain, and story just to live the normal happy life that you take for granted?" Tonks asked trying to break through the now guilty looking Ron.
"I... I never. I've never thought..." Ron started.
"No you didn't, and that's the problem." Tonks coolly replied.
"Some best mate I am huh?" Ron said trying to alleviate the guilt he was feeling and trying to chuckle.
"I'd say," Tonks said regaining some of her usual happy demeanor.
"So how do I fix this?" he asked.
"Do I have to do everything for you?" Tonks said glaring at him again. "Be a man, or at least try to act like one and figure it out on your own. And so help me if you ever barge into my room again I wont stop at knocking you down, I'll beat the living shite out of you and leave you on the stoop in front of your parents bedroom, hexed with the word 'STUPID' written across your forehead, understand?" she coolly asked.
Ron sighed and stood up.
Ron turned to leave and stopped at the door, turned around and started, "Tonks?"
Tonks was watching him leave and was not in the mood for his apology right now. She had taken it to heart that she had attacked a kid with force, and that was an attack on her personal pride that she was berating herself for.
"Don't. Now get out, I have work to finish."
Ron didn't say another word. His head dropped to his chest and he turned to exit her room, slowly and quietly closing the door behind him. When he turned around he was face to face with his younger sister Ginny, who had obviously been eavesdropping again.
He looked down into her teary eyes and asked knowing the answer before she would even reply, "What did you hear?"
Trying her best not to break down into a crying bit she lunged at her brother and hugged him tightly saying, "everything, every single word, and she's right you know."
Ron's arms wrapped around his much shorter sister and pulled her tightly to him. Grateful for the care that his sister was showing him.
"I know now," he said to the back of her hair.
"C'mon, we need to talk ourselves," she said stepping back from him and nodding her head in the direction of her bedroom down the hall.
Ron emotionally and physically spent from the beating and verbal attack that made him realize they way things really were, merely nodded and followed his younger sister like a beaten man. Like the beaten man he was the moment.
Both Ron and Ginny, the youngest members of the Weasley family, entered Ginny's bedroom at Grimmauld Place that was larger than most of the other rooms. The size was due to the fact that there was an additional four poster bed opposite hers that was usually occupied by who Ginny Weasley considered to be her best friend, Hermione Granger.
Ron and Ginny looked over at the empty bed and sighed in unison at the sight of a made and never slept in queen sized four poster. Ginny led him to the window directly in the middle of the room that was magically altered to give a view of the Scottish landscape that Hogwarts 4th year girl's dormitory offered.
Ginny glared at Ron who was standing across from her, and Ron seeing this sighed again and crossed his arms across his chest.
The talk he had expected to start of slowly and gradually build into a heated argument before one of them conceded to the other, did not happen as he supposed. Ginny was left handed and Ron hadn't even expected it, let alone seen it- like he was unfortunate enough to see Tonks fist coming at him seconds before it hit him.
The resounding slap echoed through the empty and silent room, bouncing off the floors and the walls bringing an incredible sad sense around the occupants.
Ron had taken a step back from himself and laughed inwardly at the thought that his jealously had finally caught up with him and in one day he was paying for it by being emasculated by both a female Auror- that he admitted to himself could kick his arse any time of the day, and then his younger sister- that at the moment looked like a younger irate version of his mother, on one of her tyrannical raids that was usually reserved for Fred and George whenever they pulled one of their illustrious pranks.
He had no other option but to laugh inside his own head at how stupid he had been. How blind he had been to his best mate and all of the trials he had been through and shared with him, even when Harry took the bulk of the proverbial impact that would hit him, Hermione and himself. There was nothing else he could do except for break down and start weeping, and he didn't want to that at all, let alone in front of his sister. But he didn't want to laugh in his sister's face for fear of another attack, and Ginny being his sister and a young woman he would not be able to bring himself to fight back. He was already starting to feel even guiltier about having head- butted Tonks, but her counter-attack was soothing to his broken pride.
Ginny had rounded on her self, and with tears falling from her eyes and a hand over her mouth to prevent a gasp or apology escaping, she took a step back from Ron.
The force of Ginny's slap had only caused Ron's face to move slightly in the direction the blow directed, but the only sign that she had hit him aside from his watering eyes was the pink palm print still on his right cheek.
"Ok, I deserved that," Ron said dejectedly.
"You really haven't heard him from all summer?" Ginny whispered.
Ron sighed and his shoulders fell a little, "no, I got my hopes up when my O.W.L.'s were delivered, but... no, nothing."
"Mum and I thought you might have been writing to him in secret," Ginny stated.
Ron just stared at her without an expression on his face not knowing what to feel about what she had just said.
Ginny hesitated before saying, "I... I tried sending him an owl about a week ago, to see how he was doing, I know he's blaming himself for what happened at the ministry, and I just wanted to say that it wasn't his fault; but Pig came back the next day with my letter."
Ron nodded his head.
"If Dumbledore was using Hermione as bait for Harry, then that means that even the professor doesn't know where Harry is," she stated.
"I hadn't even thought about that," Ron admitted. Then smiled thinking that it was truly an accomplishment for Harry if he was able to really get away from everyone, even Professor Dumbledore.
'But why get away from Dumbledore?' he asked himself.
Ginny was looking out the window with her arms across her chest like Ron and asked to no one in particular, "How did he 'take out' as Tonks said three of Hermione's guards without effort?"
"I don't know Gin, and I'm sure that I want to know how to do that myself though. If Harry can do that, then it only brings up the question of what he's been doing to himself this summer. Questions like how powerful he really is. I mean I know Tonks has more information about Professor Dumbledore dueling Riddle at the ministry than we do, but when she said that thing about Riddle being inside Harry and him wishing Dumbledore would kill him to stop it all... how did he trap Riddle in his head and then get him out? If Dumbledore didn't kill him to get him out. And how did Tonks know that Harry wanted Dumbledore to kill him?" Ron spouted off.
"You heard Tonks, Ron; I thought you were paying attention. Harry probably told Dumbledore everything he was thinking when Riddle was inside him. It's what I did... well, what I could remember anyway," Ginny said not looking at her brother.
Ron knew that the memory of being possessed by the diary in Ginny's first year was still a painful one to remember. She was right about reporting what she could remember, and Ron in his first actual acting like a big brother moment stepped up behind Ginny and placed a hand on her shoulder in a calming fashion to show that he cared.
Knowing that Ron was never one for showing his true feelings, Ginny was silently elated that he was showing even this small gesture towards her. She was thinking that he was really starting to grow up...
'And about time too!' she almost laughed.
Ron was the one who was hesitating before speaking now and breaking the temporary silence, "Do you think... Do you think that he really wants to be me, like she said?"
"I don't have a doubt in my mind," Ginny replied flatly.
Ron was starting to feel even guiltier that everyone around him had seen this and his own jealousy had blinded him. The only time when Harry had been cross with him was during their temporary estrangement in fourth year when Ron's jealousy got out of hand and then last year when Harry was acting like he was touched in the head half the time- even if it turns out that a dark wizard really was in his mind.
"Do you think he's taking good care of Hermione?" He asked quietly staring straight over Ginny's head and out the window.
"Ron, no one was there for Harry when this happened to him. Those relatives that he was with didn't give a damn about him and he had to deal with all on his own, he's been dealing with it over and over again with different people involved as he gets older without any help either. I am more than certain that Hermione is being better taken care of and better protected than any of us here at headquarters," Ginny replied at length.
"Do you... do you think that he's taking too good of care of her?" Ron asked sadly now staring at the hardwood floor he was standing on.
"Hermione is one of his best friends, and you know Harry better than I do. If I had to guess... he knows about your feelings for her and would never do anything to hurt you. He's also probably afraid that even if he did have feelings for Hermione he'd be too afraid of screwing up their friendship and losing what they have now. So no, I don't think he's taking too good of care of Hermione," she answered.
'Merlin I hope I'm right,' Ginny told herself still holding out that there might be a chance for her and Harry. She may have told everyone that she was over her crush, but it was actually growing anew ever since she concocted that story about dating Dean Thomas.
"Besides, Hermione only ever goes for older men," Ginny said off handedly.
"Yeah, but you saw the picture didn't you?" Ron asked.
"No, why? Mum just told me about the article in the paper and about how Harry looked like he knew that he was having his photograph taken... then she mumbled about something about Harry taking another shot at the order. I didn't know what she meant by that, but now with what Tonks told you I'm starting to get the real story about what's happening and how he's really involved," Ginny said a little worriedly.
Ron unfolded the front page of the dingy Daily Prophet from his back pocket and handed it over to her.
One of Ginny's hands went back to her mouth to silence her gasp when she saw a much older looking and very gorgeous looking Harry winking at the person taking the picture.
'Merlin he looks good, and look at what he's wearing, and look at what that girl he's with is wearing!'
Ginny's hand that was covering her mouth went back to holding the other side of the article and then asked Ron, "Who's the woman he's with in the picture?"
Without thinking about the way he was saying it Ron replied coldly, "Hermione."
"Oh. Now I see why you're concerned," Ginny said while trying to read the article.
After having consoled him that Harry wasn't taking too good of care of Hermione Ron nearly shouted, "What!?"
"Relax. This was a couple days after he went to get her, he was probably trying to treat her or something," Ginny said as if it was obvious what Harry was doing.
"Oh, ok then," Ron said calming down.
Ginny knew now why her mum had been saying something about Harry taking a shot at the order. Harry was blatantly winking at the photographers' camera, like he had set it all up with it to have the undertone of saying, 'You're all blind aren't you? I'm enjoying myself and Dumbledore's got you out trying to track me down and you aren't any the wiser.'
"Ron?" Ginny asked when she was finished with the article and handing it back to him.
"Yeah, Gin?" he said folding the article and putting it in his back pocket.
"We're going to be dealing with a very different Harry this year aren't we?" she asked worriedly.
"I don't know Gin, but I know I'm going to be different this year, that's for certain," Ron stated.
Ginny smiled a little at her brothers' obvious attempt to console her worries, but it only helped a small amount. She was worried about how Harry was changing; she was actually more excited than worried. If Harry was going to be anything like what he looked like in the photograph then this year was going to be one hell of a Harry hunt for all the girls at Hogwarts; older and younger witches would be after him constantly and she would have to make sure that she had something that none of the other girls could compete with. What that would be she didn't know yet, but she was going to have to work fast. September first was only a couple of weeks away and that's when the 'hunt' would start, just as soon as girls started to get their eyes on him. Some would have undoubtedly seen him in the paper and were already preparing their own strategies. Parvati, Lavender, and a slew of other girls had experience she couldn't get from a book and they would prove to be excellent targets for the pranks and knowledge that Fred and George had bestowed upon her, but at least Ginny now had a focus for the rest of the summer besides her studies. Which admittedly without Hermione there to coax her on and set an example, she was slacking off.
"Gin?" Ron asked tentatively seeing that she was deep in thought about something.
"Oh, uhm...yeah?" she said coming out of her own thoughts.
"Thanks, I needed this, all of this," Ron said making mention of both the talks he had received and the then gesturing to the fading pink palm print on his face.
Ginny smiled at her older brother feeling only love for the prat and then watched him turned to leave.
Ron was at the door when Ginny came jogging after him, "Hey wait... you said that your O.W.L. results had come, you didn't say anything to mum or dad or me. How'd you do?" she asked expectantly.
"Not bad, not great, but not bad," he replied and tried to open the door. But Ginny was too quick for him and was now standing in front of the door blocking his exit.
"Not good enough. Explain," she told him
"You want a number or a complete recitation of what the letter said?" he asked coolly and glared at her.
"A number would suffice," she said with a smile on her face.
"Fine," he said and then paused before continuing, "... eight."
"EIGHT! THAT'S GREAT RON, YOU BEAT FRED AND GEORGE!" Ginny yelled.
"Keep it down will you, and I'll tell mum, so no blabbing. And yeah I beat the twins, but I didn't beat Percy and that's what I was aiming for. I knew it wouldn't happen but a bloke can hope can't he?" Ron asked.
Ginny threw herself at her big brother and hugged him tightly and then stepped out of the way of the door so he could leave. She watched him leave with a large smile plastered on his face.
'Eights really is good, but it's a shame that I'm going to bury all my brothers when I sit my exams this year,' she thought evilly.
Ron left his sisters room and headed back to his own room where he could sit down and fully absorb everything that had happened today and finally send an owl to Hogwarts telling them which N.E.W.T. Preparatory courses he would elect to take.
It was going to be a very long night for Ron and he knew it. There was so much that he had to think about and act on and he didn't know where to start. If Harry had been at Grimmauld Place he could talk to him and start there, because that's where it truly began. It all started with Harry and not having him here threw a wrench into the gears that were turning in Ron's head.
He entered his own private bedroom and sat down at the desk and pulled out two pages of blank of parchment and a quill with ink well.
The first letter was addressed to his head of house Professor Minerva McGonagall asking to be enrolled in every single course that he had qualified for. The second was a letter addressed to his headmaster Professor Albus Dumbledore.
Ron knew what he wanted to say and ask the man, but transferring his thoughts to words on parchment was going to be the task that kept Ronald Weasley up until he was satisfied with what he had written.
Ron had started writing his letter to Headmaster Dumbledore at six in the evening the previous day, it was now eight in the morning when he finally decided that his twenty- third draft was going to get as good as it got. He called Pig down from the perch he had taken atop the bureau, tied both folded pieces of parchment to the leather thong attached to Pigs leg and sent the tiny owl on its way.
As he watched Pigwidgeon fly off into the early morning light he hoped that he had said and asked the right questions. Then closed the open window that overlooked the back garden to Grimmauld Place and decided it was time for sleep. But tomorrow... tomorrow he would start his own training.
A/N: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, but i have a confession to make. I wrote this entire story, well the 246,342 words in one go and couldnt possible have been bothered to edit it and decided to just post it here at That being said, I'm taking the advice of one of the best fanfiction writers for HP out there and trying to find a beta and beef up the dialogue. Those of you guys out there that already enjoy it, it'll only get better so no worries... I hope anyway. The next chapter is the start of Harry and Dumbledore's meeting and I'm not sure whether or not to post it and then go back for revamping the story or not, so let me know those of you that are reading this ;)
BlindJedi: You're awesome, thanks for my first review. And I knew about Griphook it was just a judgement call for the name- it'll most likely be changed when i go back and edit.
BlueAdonis: No, you rock!
Csferosha: Yes James is portrayed differently here, but there hasnt been anything mentioned in the books as to what James profession was. IMO- he was an unspeakable, with a possible cover of being a quidditch player; I dont really know and until its set in canon by Ms. Rowling this'll just be my reasoning. He's a dad, his son is in training- there's the dichotomy between being a the father and the trainer, I hope you see that as I'm not trying to make James Potter out to be some hard-ass. Oh yeah, I've read Realizations- awesome story, but its stalled out at chapter 27 so I'm like a junkie in need of a fix and the whole towns dry now.
Athenakitty: I'm sorry, but you're questions will be answered later on in the fic.
Skeeter007: Yeah similar, I get that as I was inspired by PoT, but I'm taking this somewhere completely different.
Jgwatsonjg: Thanks! It's coming.
Numba1: I'm baiting the shippers out there, testing the waters you could say.
TuxedoMac: I apologize that you dont like what I had happen to Hermione's parents, but she seemed the logical choice for a tragedy to befall one of Harry's friends. The Weasley's are at Grimmauld, and I'm assuming that being associated with Harry has led Dumbledore to install certain security wards around Hermione's parents residence, but wards can be broken- I'll go into how they got into Hermione's house a little later down the line.
Sithspawn13: Thanks, I appreciate you being on board with me on the view of Albus, but just be pissed off at the man, hates too strong a word- he made his choices and now he has to live with the consequences. An extreme dislike would be ok, but hates good, hate leads to suffering!
Kathleen LaCorneille: Wow! Thank-you so much. I mean wow. Your english is quite good, and I hope you forgive my errors as well, seeing as English is not my first language either ;).
Halstead: Your a reviewer after my own heart.
Gallandro-83: Thanks for liking the story. Hmmm, the punisher similarity isnt something that i was going for, but it works so thats cool i guess. The goblin rep, you'll have to wait and find out, and Harry will most certainly be having an interesting conversation with Tonks.
Saetan: Dude, if you can help me come up with a better description for the story, then I'm all ears, I suck at summarizing the story down to a couple sentences, and help would be appreciated.
Jack Wilde: Will do. Thanks again guys, and tell your friends about the story.
Update: uhm, sorry but this is replacing the original copy that I posted- I was an idiot and wrote that the story was 246,342 words- well that was the total without these 10 chapters added to it... sorry so its really 330,007, without the edits I'm doing now, sorry.