Lions Breed True Chapter 11

Okay, just to make sure there is no confusion, let me start with a few explanations. At the beginning of chapter 9 Ron is delirious. (The things he sees are based roughly on things I once saw in a delirium. They were modified to things I thought Ron might see.)

At the beginning of chapter 10 Ron is having a NDE (Near Death Experience). Just as Ron is about to cross over, physic connections to loved ones still alive call him back. He experiences these connections as hearing the voices of loved ones.

Most of the loved ones are not physically there, but they're calling out to Ron spiritually. Those voices bring Ron back.

Ron almost dies from Umbridge's brutal punishment. ANY parent would question if they would want their children to stay in a school headed by such a monster.

Thanks again for anyone who is reading, I hope this cleared up any questions.

"Ron? Hey Ron?"

Okay, which one of his dorm mates was trying to wake him up? The voice didn't sound familiar. Wait a minute, he wasn't in his dorm. Who was this?

"Hey Ron, are you awake?"

Well, he was now. Not that he wanted to be. Ron forced his eyes open and tried to look alert for his visitor. Colin Cheevey? What the bloody hell was Colin Cheevey doing here?Maybe he was hallucinating again.

"Ron, you're awake!" said Colin happily.

He HAD to be hallucinating again. But why Colin of all people? If Ron was going to start seeing imaginary people, why not Fleur Delacour?

"Ron, you ARE awake, aren't you?" asked Colin anxiously.

Wow, what a vivid hallucination this was. It not looked like Colin, it sounded exactly like him.

"Mr. Cheevey! I said you may visit Mr. Weasley if he was awake. That did not mean you had permission to wake him!" exclaimed Madame Pomfrey.

Colin looked so downcast, Ron suddenly came to himself and sat up a little bit.

"I'm awake," he said hastily, and was rewarded by Colin's grateful look.

Pomfrey gave a dour sniff and retreated, and Ron regarded his unexpected visitor, "What's going on?"

"I promised to show you some pictures, remember? I thought you might like to see them," Colin said, thrusting a pile of photographs into Ron's lap.

Ron stared at the top photo, and sucked in his breath. He was looking at himself, bound to the whipping post. In the moving picture, Ron could see himself trembling, and sweat dripping off him. His back was lacerated, and when another lash landed, Ron watched his body jerk and a fresh welt appear.

Swallowing hard, Ron moved on to the next picture, showing an elated Umbridge and Filch. The expressions on their faces was both chilling and disturbing. The pair of them were almost swooning with pleasure. Ron felt sick at the idea that they would target a new victim simply for the fun of it. He hoped his dad was right, and whippings would soon be banned.

"That picture is sort of creepy, isn't it?" asked Colin, in a small voice.

"That's one word on for it," agreed Ron, dryly.

"I couldn't stand to take too many of you, while you know, it was happening," confided Colin. "So most of them are of people who were watching."

Ron stared at the stack of pictures in dismay. Did he really want to see these? He wasn't sure which would be worse, seeing the gloating faces of Slytherins like Malfoy, or the anguished faces of his friends.

For the first time, Ron realized he hadn't been the only tortured that day. In fact, he wasn't sure he had endured the worst of it. Given a choice of being whipped again, or having to watch someone he loved whipped, Ron knew he would pick taking the whip again. And it wouldn't actually be generous of him.

Still, they HAD watched. The least he could do was look at some pictures. So Ron reluctantly started looking through the photos.

Just as expected, Malfoy and his friends looked smug and pleased. But surprisingly, not all of the snakes seemed to be enjoying themselves. There were a few that were stone-faced, and some were staring at the ground rather than watching the whipping.

For the most part, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws looked distraught. Luna, Ron noted, was also staring at the ground, and had tears running down her face. He didn't even know her that well, so Ron was surprised she seemed so upset.

Unsurprisingly, most of the photos were of the Gryffindors. Some of the girls were crying, but most of the lions looked angry and sullen. Neville, Dean and Seamus stood together, and the expressions on their faces was a bit frightening. They looked furious.

But that was nothing compared to Harry's face. He stood ramrod straight, shaking with fury, eyes glowering, and fists clenched while he stoically watched.

Ginny, however, didn't watch. She had her back turned to the camera, leaning against Harry's left shoulder. She periodically flinched, and Ron knew it was when a lash landed.

Ron remembered the agony of watching Ginny spanked, and understood how she felt. He suddenly wondered what his sister had found the most painful part of their punishment on that long ago June day.

"I asked Harry why he watched," Colin said suddenly, and his voice startled Ron. He had almost forgotten Colin was there. Which was silly, since Ron was looking at pictures Colin had taken.

Then what Colin said registered with Ron, and he looked up at him, "What was Harry's answer?"

"He said if you could take it, the least he could do was watch you take it."

Ron swallowed the lump in his throat, "Then he's stronger than me, I couldn't have watched him take it."

Colin nodded, "That's why I took the pictures really. It helped distract me."

Ron frowned, there was one face he didn't see, and he started scanning the photos looking for it. Colin must have guessed what he wanted, because he volunteered, "I had enough film for one more picture. I thought about taking one of the professors arguing with Umbridge after the whipping, but couldn't get a good shot.

"Then everyone was heading back to their Houses, and I saw Luna talking to Harry and Ginny, pointing over to the side of the courtyard. I hadn't seen her before, so I took my last picture of her."

She was kneeling in the muck, curled up in almost the fetal position. Her bushy hair obscured her face, but she was obviously crying. Her whole body shook silently in the moving picture.

"It's painful, isn't it?" observed Colin.

Ron realized his hand holding the picture was shaking violently.

"Yes," he gasped, "it's...hard to look at. Wait, what did Harry and Ginny do?"

"They helped Hermione to her feet and walked her back to Gryffindor tower," Colin simply replied.

"Thank Merlin," breathed Ron. "Colin, thanks for showing me these, but I need to rest now."

Colin immediately jumped to his feet, "Of course! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wear you out! Pomfrey said you still need plenty of rest, and not to disturb you. I didn't disturb you, did I?"

"No, it's fine, I'm just tired," Ron assured him.

After Colin had gathered up his pictures and took his leave, Ron struggled to control his breathing. It hurt to see anyone in that much agony, but especially Hermione. He was somewhat surprised she was so anguished over HIM.

Well, they were good friends, so of course he knew she wouldn't like him being whipped, but he thought she only cared this much about Harry.

Ron squirmed in shame. None of this would have happened if he and Harry had listened to her. Telling himself that Harry was in one of his heedless moods and was going to do what he wanted didn't help.

Ron had known all along that Hermione had a valid point. By contacting Sirius, Harry was putting not just himself and Sirius in danger, but also endangering the whole Order of the Phoenix.

If Ron had called Harry on that, if he had asked Harry if whatever he needed to talk to Sirius about was worth risking everyone's lives (which included most of Ron's family), would Harry have changed his mind?

They would never know now, and such thinking was pointless. But Ron was too good a strategist not to have realized in advance that he, Harry and the twins were dangerously playing with people's lives with their recklessness.

The twins were not chess players, and were only intent on their brilliant prank. Ron realized, after the fact, they had also planned on dropping out of school anyway.

Harry had been so obsessed with whatever it was that he wanted to talk to Sirius about that he had turned a blind eye to anything else.

And as for himself? Once again he had ignored his instincts. A huge part of him had wanted to grab Harry and force him to listen to reason. At the time Ron had told himself if Harry wouldn't listen to Hermione, he also wouldn't pay any attention to Ron.

The trouble with that argument was that Ron knew better. Hermione was such a nag that both boys often ignored her out of sheer desperation. But Harry would pay attention to Ron. Especially because Ron had a telling argument that Hermione lacked; the safety of his own family.

Well, he had done what he needed to protect his family, but if he had followed his instincts, none of it would have happened. He wouldn't have been whipped and nearly died.

His parents wouldn't have spent a terrified sleepless night working to keep him alive, and Hermione wouldn't have knelt in the mud crying over him.

She had cried over him. Hermione had CRIED over him. Ron simply couldn't work his mind around that thought. He knew he had made her cry before, most notably their first Halloween together. Oh, and third year? His viciousness over Scabbers have caused her to cry as well.

Ron twisted in shame, what was wrong with him that he often make her cry? He really didn't mean to, but she was much more sensitive than Ron was use to. Being subjected to the constant teasing of the twins hardened you up pretty quick. Ron had learned early to give as well as take.

Even Ginny could take some pretty rough teasing and verbal abuse. But Hermione seemed to take everything to heart. Well, at least everything HE said, she didn't seem to care much what Malfoy said.

But his time it hadn't been his own cruelty that had caused Hermione's tears, it had been Umbridge's. Ron may have deserved punishment for the fireworks, but not the punishment he received. Nothing he had done merited such a savage whipping.

Still, Ron couldn't escape the fact that he had once again hurt Hermione. Not to mention Harry, Ginny, and a whole lot of other students. It wasn't as if he didn't know what Umbridge was like. A severe punishment had not just been a possibility, but a probability.

So what was he to do now? Apologize? Ron grimaced. He could well imagine his own reaction if Harry had tried to apologize for the blood quill. About the only idea Ron could manage was acknowledging that they had all suffered as well.

It would have to do. There wasn't much else Ron could do, and he was exhausted just thinking about it. He didn't mean to fall asleep again, but he did.

He had Harry there when he woke up again. Harry was intent on reading his Charms textbook, and didn't notice at first the Ron was awake.

"Hey," Ron said.

Harry immediately looked up and grinned, "Hey yourself. How are you feeling?"

"Exhausted," Ron admitted. "I don't have any strength."

"Just rest and take it easy," Harry soothed. "You'll regain it."

"Where's everyone else?"

"What? I'm not good enough for you?" joked Harry. "Ginny's at Quidditch practice, and Hermione's on prefect rounds.

"By the way, your broom is helping Ginny a lot."

"Who's playing keeper?" Ron wanted to know.

Harry frowned, "Cormac. Angelina is not happy with him. Ginny says he's a disaster."

"Well, he can't be worse than me," Ron observed.

Harry shrugged, "According to Ginny he is."

Ron suddenly thought of something, "Hermione said something about the prefects? Something happened I don't know about?"

Harry grinned, "Oh yeah, that was brilliant! But the girls might want to be here to tell you as well."

Ron eyed Harry uneasily, "Alright, now you've got me very curious."

"Curiosity is good for you," said Harry.

"Since when?" snarled Ron.

Harry just grinned at him, and Ron sighed in defeat, "You're not going to tell me, are you?"

"Nope!" said Harry, cheerfully.

They fell silent a moment, then Ron cleared his throat, "I forgot to ask, did it work?"

Harry stared blankly at him, "Did what work?"

"The diversions. Did you manage to talk to Sirius?"

Harry went still for a minute, then said in a small voice, "Yes."

"Good."

"Ron? It wasn't worth it. I mean, what I had to talk with Sirius about wasn't that important. It could have waited."

Ron shook his head, "Don't blame yourself for what Umbridge did. Besides, it's not like you weren't punished as well."

Harry blinked, "How was I punished?"

"You watched."

There was a moment of silence, then Harry drew in a deep breath, "Yeah, that was torturous."

"Thanks for taking care of my sister."

"How did you know about that?" asked a puzzled Harry.

"Colin showed me some pictures," replied Ron. "I think you and Ginny also took care of Hermione."

"She was almost in shock," said Harry. "Ron, you need to talk to her."

"I know," said Ron unhappily. "But I've no clue what to say."

Harry smiled, "Trust your instincts."

Sorry for the delay in posting. Originally, chapter 4 had the whipping from Harry's POV. I was happy with the chapter itself, but it was too jarring to the story to switch POV's like that, so I deleted it. This is an attempt to restore it.

In the original, Luna confronts Harry and Ginny and insists the Hermione needs them. That's when they find her kneeling in the mud in a state of shock. Later, Ginny asks Harry if he managed to talk to Sirius. When Harry admits that he did, she asks if it was worth her brother's sacrifice.

Finally, the line about nothing Ron had done deserved such a brutal whipping is a snipe at the Ron bashers. They LOVE to make Ron their whipping boy and point out all his flaws and mistakes. To add insult to injury, a lot of them ADORE Malfoy. It always amazes me that they can hold Ron's feet to the fire, while ignoring their darling almost MURDERED two people.

Thanks for reading.