Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than the story line . All rights belong to J.K. Rowling

Chapter Ten: Repercussions

Ron Weasley was not having a good day. This had to have been one of the top ten worst days of his young life. He had gotten up and had thought that it might be a good day, after all it was Halloween. It was a day that wizards and witches around the world celebrated.

Alas, for one Ronald Bilius Weasley, this particular Halloween would be one that he would remember in his nightmares for a very long time. When he woke from a peaceful slumber early he thought nothing of it. He didn't normally get up this early, that was true; but he couldn't always sleep in he supposed. He didn't really understand why, since he had already showered a few days back, he thought, well maybe, but he felt that he had to go and get into the shower.

For once trying to be quiet and not wake his housemates, he grabbed a towel and crept into the showers. He quickly got undressed and jumped into a stall. He started the shower and closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of the water cascading on him.

When he got out he felt like something just wasn't right. He wasn't really sure what it was, but he was sure that it was something major. He pulled on his clothes and made his way down to the common room. As he passed through the thought that he was getting some rather peculiar looks, but who really knows what fifth year girls are thinking anyway. He exited through the portrait and made his way to the Great Hall. As quickly as possible he started to pile food on his plate, taking great care to balance everything he could possibly fit so that he didn't have to refill for a long time.

As he was shoveling food down his gullet, the rest of his year started to slowly filter in. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown sat down across from him, but they didn't stay there for long. Lavender in particular was looking at him in a very funny way. The fact that she was actually turning somewhat green failed to register on his food addled brain.

He finally noticed the stares that he was receiving. "What?" he asked between bites.

"Are you alright, Ron?" Seamus asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah, why?" Ron replied.

"Um, you're looking kinda… gray…" Seamus said.

Ron looked at himself and couldn't figure out what the stupid bint was talking about. He shrugged and went back to eating. It wasn't long before his two twin brothers made their way slowly over to him.

"Ronniekins," Fred started, "did you hear about the deal the Cannons made with Puddlemere to swap seekers?" Ron's ears perked up and he almost choked on his sausage as he tried to figure out if his brother was joking or not. He didn't notice when Lee Jordan transfigured a cup that he had into an exact duplicate of the one that Ron was using, and then swapped it for Ron's.

"Really?" Ron asked excitedly.

"Yeah," George agreed. "It was in Quidditch Monthly. It seems that Puddlemere wanted to see if they could still win with a substandard player in such an important position."

"Wicked," Ron muttered, spewing small bits of half-chewed sausage. He coughed for a moment and reached for his cup of pumpkin juice. He took a big swig and made a face. It didn't taste quite right for some reason. He shrugged and went back to his breakfast.

*0*0*

He had a miserable day, capped off by his embarrassment in Charms class when that good-for-nothing know-it-all tried to correct him in the class. She really should be shown her place. It was insulting how she always was trying to show off how much she knew! Well, he got his revenge on her. He had seen how she had stormed off with tears in her eyes when he made his comment.

He just wished that Harry hadn't slugged him. It had scared him and his jaw still hurt, even though it had been an hour ago. It was hard to eat his dinner, his jaw was so sore. Then, he had found a hair in his food. He had thought that his mashed potatoes had seemed a little stringy, but when he found a stiff, bristle-like gray hair in them, well, he had been a little put-off. Not for long though, he just ate around the hair and went on.

Then Harry had shouted out the evil-one's name and disappeared with a phoenix, of all things. He wished things like that would happen to him. Then he'd get to have his dreams come true too. He could almost see himself carrying the Quidditch World Cup around in a victory lap in that beautiful Cannon Orange.

He opened his eyes with a goofy smile on his face, only to see the snickering face of Lavender Brown. "What?" he asked.

She pulled out a mirror and showed him his reflection. It looked like he was covered in a steely gray powder. He ran to his room and grabbed a towel to wipe the powder off. After twenty minutes he seemed to get it all.

He came back down the stairs to the common room to find that his spot was taken by some young strawberry blond girl with her hair down her back in a long plait. He had never seen her before. She couldn't be in Gryffindor! He would have recognized her if she had been in his house.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing sitting in my seat?" he blurted out. The girl looked at him in confusion.

"I'm having a conversation with Parvati," she replied.

"Well do it somewhere else, you stupid fat cow!" he yelled at her. She looked at him with wide eyes that were starting to brim with tears when her expression changed to one of amusement. Ron couldn't believe this girl! "What the hell are you looking at? You should hope that you get prettier when you grow up, because you sure are ugly now!" Ron felt a sharp pain in his feet, and heard a ripping noise as his trainers split. He looked down to see what was going on.

"Bloody hell!" he exclaimed. Instead of feet there were a couple of hooves. He looked back up to see the girl and Parvati giggling at him. "Shut it you little shit!" he yelled. He felt a great burst of gas from his arse, followed by the sound of his trousers tearing. He looked back and saw a horse-like tail sticking out from his backside. He whimpered and clomped his way out of the portrait and off to see the nurse.

*0*0*

All in all things could have been worse, Sirius Black supposed. After all, he was a free man now, and he had been staying with the Grangers for the last two months. He had been a wreck when he had been released from Azkaban, but with the help of Moony and the Grangers, he was feeling much more like his old self now.

The Grangers were a true joy. The fact that they loved Harry as if he were their own couldn't help but endear them to Sirius. They easily had the room for him, and they were very understanding of the night terrors that he went through as an after effect of his incarceration.

Now, however, he was worried. The three of them had arrived at the Hogwarts gates with Professor McGonagall. She had made sure that the Grangers had the necessary enchantments to allow them access to the school. Normally they wouldn't have been able to even see anything but a old, broken down ruin of a castle because they were Muggles. The enchantments allowed them to see and enter the school. After all, they weren't the first Muggles with a child at Hogwarts.

They strode quickly through the castle to the hospital wing. When they walked in they saw Remus Lupin and Tonks sitting in comfortable chairs, chatting with Harry and Hermione, who were in a bed, snuggled up next to each other. Sirius raised an eyebrow at this: the matronly Madame Pomfrey would never allow that to happen.

As they entered the room Albus Dumbledore followed them in. He glanced at Sirius with that patented twinkle that was always present in his eyes. He motioned for the group to join the others. Sirius noticed a flash of red hair from another bed, but he was past the privacy screen so quickly he couldn't tell who it was there.

"Headmaster, can you tell us what happened?" Jean Granger asked as they approached their daughter and the boy that they had begun to think of as a son.

"Earlier tonight, we had discovered that a creature known as a troll had somehow managed to get past the wards and had entered the castle. The troll then found itself in a girls' toilet with your daughter. Harry somehow knew that she was in trouble and cried out her name while in the Great Hall. He then managed to summon my familiar, a phoenix named Fawkes, and got him to transport him to Hermione's side.

"When we arrived in the room, we found the troll dead with a sword stuck in its belly, and Harry holding Hermione, who appeared to be unconscious. She quickly recovered however, and we sent the pair of them here to be looked at." He looked at Harry and Hermione, who were still snuggled together.

"Can you tell us what happened?" the Headmaster asked.

The pair haltingly told their tale. Hermione related how she had been insulted by Ron Weasley and had run crying into the loo to recover. Harry related how he had punched and threatened Ron, and then how he had felt such pure terror and knew that it had come from Hermione. He then told the tale of how he had fought the troll and how Hermione had somehow saved him with a glowing golden shield.

When he was done he noticed that Professor McGonagall had a large smirk on her face. "What's happened?" he asked.

"You both mentioned Mr. Weasley," McGonagall started. "He is in another bed here. It seems that someone didn't like his attitude. He appears to be the recipient of a rather nasty prank."

"That's all well and good," Sirius said. He loved a good prank, but there were more pressing things to be considered. "I understand that you two have had a really rough day and evening, but how did you convince Madame Pomfrey to let you be in one bed?"

"I'll tell you how," the elderly nurse said from across the room. "I couldn't separate them. It's that simple. I couldn't even magic them apart. What ever happened to them is strengthening their bond, and nothing I can manage will even slow it down." Despite her gruff demeanor, she smiled at the pair. "Those two shan't be far apart, ever," she said softly. "Their story shall be one for the ages. If ever there was a couple that were fated for each other, it's them."

"Is there anything we can do to keep them out of trouble?" Robert Granger asked.

"I've actually been thinking about that. I've asked Remus to come back to Hogwarts as a security consultant. He shall be here if needed, and shall keep an eye on the two of them. I also asked Nymphadora…"

"Don't call me that!" the witch shrieked.

"To use her considerable talents to be a constant presence in their life here," Dumbledore continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. He motioned to Tonks who stood and started to morph. She shrank and youthened considerably until she appeared to be a firstie. Remus looked at her and blanched, looking rather ill.

"Is something wrong, Moony?" Sirius asked with a smirk.

"No," Remus managed to squeak out. "Not at all…"

*0*0*

Ron woke to find his twin brothers standing next to his hospital bed. "What happened to me?" he asked.

"Well Ronniekins," George said to him, "you've been a bad boy. Ginny asked us to encourage you to be better behaved."

"You see," said Fred, "for the next week, every time you act like an arse, you shall become more and more like a donkey…"

"Or, as the Americans like to say, an ass…" continued George. "You really just need to think through what you say, brother dear. Treat people a little better and you'll find that you shan't have to put up with this. However, if you continue to insult people and act like you're better than everyone else, you'll find yourself completely transformed into a donkey."

"Go ahead and find out what that's like, we need to see how it works. It should only last a week, but you never know," Fred said. "Oh, and it can't be countered." With that they turned and left the young Gryffindor to think about things.

*0*0*

It was almost the end of November when Sirius showed up at the school to collect both Harry and Hermione. When the two youths were escorted into Professor McGonagall's office Harry sprinted into his Godfather's outstretched arms.

"Sirius!" Harry shouted. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to get the two of you," he replied. "It's time for Peter's trial, and Robert, Jean and I felt that you deserved to be there. "So what do you say? Would you like to see what happens to the betrayer of your parents?"

"Yeah," Harry replied. "Actually I would. What do you think, Hermione? Would you like to come too?"

"Yes, Harry, I'd like that."

Sirius stood. "Grab onto this portkey," he said as he pulled out a quill. Moments later they found themselves in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic. They were both amazed at the bustle of people going about their business around them.

After being required to register their wands, Sirius led them down to a courtroom. When they entered they were led to a set of seats near the front. Soon enough the prisoner was led in and made to sit in a seat in the middle of the room. Manacles and chains magically lashed him to the chair.

He was administered three drops of a potion and then the questioning began. Harry didn't really understand all of it, but one part caught his attention:

"Tell us why you betrayed the Potters."

"Power," Peter replied. "The Dark Lord gave me power over them. I'm alive and their dead. I proved who was the more powerful person on that night. I lived and even got Sirius Black thrown in Azkaban while I got to be tended to by a wizarding family for years."

The questioning went on for a while longer. Finally it was time for a verdict. As the vote was being tallied, Sirius pointed out that aew members of the Wizengamot were abstaining, or refusing to vote. Most notable among these was Lucius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy's father. The vote went very much against the man that had betrayed Harry's parents all those years ago.

Albus Dumbledore, acting in his role as Head of the Wizengamot spoke. "Peter Pettigrew, you are found guilty of aiding and abetting in the murders of James and Lilly Potter, and the attempted murder of Harry Potter. You are also found guilty of the murder of twelve Muggles and assault on Sirius Black. You are as well found guilty of bearing the Dark Mark, making you a Death Eater. You are therefore sentenced to receive the Dementor's Kiss, after which your body shall be decapitated and then cast through the Veil of Death. Let this be an abject lesson to any who followed the Insurrectionist known as Lord Voldemort that we shall no longer stand by while atrocities are committed."

As they were leaving, and Pettigrew was being dragged, sobbing, to meet his fate, they noticed a odd looking man taking notes. He had a young girl with him that looked to be around the same age as Harry and Hermione. She was a pale blonde with overly large eyes. She was wearing a rainbow colored jumper and had radish earrings.

"Xeno," Sirius said warmly. "It's good to see you again." He gestured to Harry and Hermione. "This is my Godson, Harry Potter, and his bond mate, Hermione. Harry, Hermione, this is Xenophelius Lovegood, and his daughter, Luna. Xeno owns a newspaper called the Quibbler."

The young girl regarded the couple minutely. "The quicklings are all around you. Your bond must be very strong to attract so many of them. I'm very happy for you," she said brightly.

"Erm… thanks," said Harry as Hermione stifled a giggle. "Are you at Hogwarts?" He asked.

"No, not until next year," she replied.

"Well, when you get there, come and see us," he said as Sirius ushered them off to return them to school.