Dragon's Garrison (Chapter Twelve)
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
'Oh fuck me' was Ron's only thought as he saw the Dark Lord himself here. Ron was powerful, as was his Garrison. Individually they could take on any Death Eater, but last time it took all five of them just to match Voldemort's power. He couldn't chance calling the rest of the Garrison because odds are Voldemort would recognize what he was doing and he, or someone else, would be dead before he could finish.
Voldemort glared at him and everyone before speaking "Bella" he said getting the female Death Eater to flinch slightly. "Collect the others and dispose of the dead with dignity."
"My lord… I" she stammered. A sharp glance from Voldemort silenced her and she did as she was told; a moment later and she was gone with everyone else leaving only Voldemort. Voldemort then began to raise his wand and Ron raised his before Voldemort pointed it above Ron; a large shield of magic erected itself separated Ron from the others.
"I want no interference… you are mine to kill" Voldemort hissed at him. Ron gulped silently, but kept his wand raised. "You've become a massive thorn in my side, my forces are being depleted because of you, my plans have to be altered because of you, but worst of all mud-bloods, traitors and filthy creatures alike are gaining courage to stand against me… BECAUSE OF YOU" he roared in the end.
Ron didn't speak and just kept silent; the last thing he needed to do was speak and get Voldemort angry. Turning his gaze slightly he locked eyes with Daphne, who was being healed by her mother. He tried to convey all his thoughts to her, trying to tell her he was going to be okay. She seemed to understand, but the worry was very clear in her eyes.
"Raise your wand Weasley" Voldemort bellowed at Ron snapping him from his thoughts. Voldemort had circled to a different spot "I said raise it, NOW" he shouted. Ron did facing the Dark Lord "You've been taught how to officially duel one on one yes?" Without waiting for an answer he continued "First, we bow to each other" he said lowering his head a bit in a small bow, but retained eye contact. Ron remained still "Come on now Ronald, the niceties must be adhered; your Garrison wouldn't want you to forget your manners would they." Ron remained standing; he wasn't going to give Voldemort any satisfaction "I said bow" he commanded pointing his wand at Ron.
Ron grunted in slight pain as he felt his spine bend against his will forcing him into a bow, but to his horror he now realized he couldn't straighten back up.
"That's better" Voldemort said with glee. "And now…" he charged past Ron throwing him to the ground before he could blink; Voldemort was incredibly fast. Pointing his wand at Ron Voldemort uttered a spell that horrified everyone "Crucio."
Ron rolled around jerking haphazardly from the intense pain of the curse. It felt like a thousand white hot knives were stabbing and slicing every inch of his flesh, but he refused to scream and instead loud muffled grunts of agony escaped his mouth as he thrashed.
Finally the spell was lifted and he lied on the ground panting in agony; he could vaguely here the shouts from Fred "Son of a bitch I'm gonna kill you" followed by George "Touch my brother and I'll fucking kill you."
Voldemort ignored them all and approached Ron "That a boy Ronald, your parents should be proud, especially your pathetic betraying mother."
"STUPE–" Ron attempted to curse Voldemort in anger, but the dark lord merely rebounded the spell and it sent Ron flying back a few feet.
"I'm going to kill you Ronald Weasley" Voldemort sneered stepping up to him "I'm going to destroy you." Ron had never felt as scared as he did right now especially as Voldemort leaned his disgusting face down close to him and spoke in a deadly whisper that was heard by everyone. "After tonight no one will ever again stand against me. After tonight anyone uttering the name of Dragon or Ronald will be killed on the spot and I, being a merciful lord, will oblige."
The way he talked as if he was doing a favor for him made Ron so badly want to blast his face off, but knew he couldn't lest he'd get his own face blasted off.
"GET UP" the dark lord bellowed thrusting his hand at Ron. Wandlessly Ran was lifted into the air before set on his own feet again. Hastily Ron dove into the fields narrowly missing a spell to the face "Don't you turn your back on me Ronald Weasley, I want you to look at me when I kill you. I WANT TO SEE THE LIGHTS LEAVE YOUR EYES."
Meanwhile as Ron hid he was cursing himself; he had never run from death eaters before in his life and as the leader of his own organization how could he run from another leader. With a grunt he stepped out of the fields and faced Voldemort. If it was his destiny to die tonight then he'd die fighting.
"Have it your way" he glared. They stared in silence before they both roared and launched their spells simultaneously; both spells collided in midair with a loud boom. They held the standoff glaring at each other before Voldemort flicked his wand with a yell. Lightning bolts shot at Ron; the Weasley countered by erected a shield with his hand causing the lightning bolts to harmlessly bounce off it.
Both of them then canceled their spells and conjured fire. Voldemort's took the form of a large snake while Ron's took the form of a large Ukrainian Ironbelly. Both fire beasts clashed while the conjurers attacked once more in a standoff and Voldemort was furious when he found his spell being overpowered. Ron's eyes showed no fear as he faced the dark lord and that infuriated Voldemort "YOU'RE MINE" he shouted.
Suddenly something extraordinary happened; a red glow came from Ron's chest attracting his attention suddenly his shirt was blown open revealing the Heart of the Dragon. It was glowing so brightly that it looked like a beacon.
Ron was shocked at the action until he remembered what the Queen had told him. 'Luther slayed a now extinct breed of dragon and its blood and power infused with the gem and it was said to increase Luther's power.' Ron felt it; he felt a massive power increase and now he knew… he knew he could win.
Breaking the spell Ron waved his wand at both fire beasts and they were both destroyed and the leftover fire he compressed into a ball before launching it at Voldemort. The Dark Lord batted away the fire, but didn't prepare for Ron to suddenly appear in front of him.
The Dark Lord was knocked backwards by a spell to the chest and that action alone got Ron so many wide eyed looks for he actually hit Voldemort. Glaring at Voldemort Ron's eyes flashed before he spoke in a voice echoing with power "Time Alter: Double Accel."
Suddenly it was like Ron became invisible until he appeared behind Voldemort with his wand pointed right at his spine. His spell launched right as Voldemort vanished in a wisp of smoke. The dark lord landed a short distance away from Ron with wide eyes. "Madness, what magic is this" he shouted.
"Find out when you're dead" he glared before Ron surrounded himself in lightning "Time Alter: Lightning Accel." Like a bolt of lightning, one minute he was there and the next second he was gone. Voldemort's eyes widened and he just barely turned in time to blocked a behind strike from Ron, but the fire mage vanished again and struck Voldemort in the face drawing blood.
Now Voldemort was showing a bit of fright in his eyes, but Ron was feeling his body protesting every movement. He had been working on his Time Alter spell for almost five months now ever since his Garrison had acquired their swords. He devised it so he could stop time in a temporary field around himself and his Garrison allowing them to roam freely and kill Death Eaters before they could react and then use the counter spell to relax their bodies before they broke down.
But using Double Accel for the first time and even mixing his lightning magic to make the Lightning Accel was beginning to break down his own body. He couldn't take another step as he felt the tendon in his left leg rip and so he fell to the ground.
Voldemort took a breath before he laughed and advanced on Ron raising his wand. Looking to his left Ron spotted Excalibur on the ground from when he threw it at Bellatrix. "Accio" he shouted. The sword flew into his hand as Voldemort's spell was launched. The spell impacted with the blade and was reflected back at Voldemort striking the Dark Lord in the chest.
With a roar of anger, pain and frustration Voldemort stumbled back holding his bleeding chest through bony fingers. Ron, no longer acting with his mind, but now on pure instinct, stood up and raised the sword into the air. With a grunt he began waving the sword in a circle above his head. Suddenly wind began picking up, the sword glowed a bright gold color and a large golden ball of pure magical energy formed above him.
Voldemort stepped back in absolute fear at the massive amount of magical energy that kept growing in size. "EXCALIBUR" Ron roared before swinging the sword. The golden orb of energy flew at Voldemort surrounding itself in wind and debris it picked forming a large golden twister that enveloped everything in its path. The attack continued on for at least 10 kilometers before dissipating.
Ron felt all his strength leave him; stumbling to turn around he finally did and tried hobbling back to everyone else, but the pain of using his Time Alter, Lightning Magic and Excalibur had taken its toll on his body. Dropping Excalibur Ron fell to the ground and let darkness envelop him. The last thing he heard was the worried calls of everyone else.
The next day passed in a complete blur as Ron was kept in bed at the Burrow and was monitored around the clock. Daphne and Harry hardly left his side; the worse injury he had was a ripped tendon in his leg, which was fixed up very quickly. Now the only thing that he had to do now was rest until he recovered his strength.
Throughout the day Daphne and Harry sat by his side "It's almost unfair" Harry murmured.
Daphne looked at him "What is?"
"I never wanted to abandon Ron, he was and still is my best mate" Harry said. "Once I learned of what he had accomplished I wanted to stand by him as an equal and then when this mess was over we could go back to being friends and put this mess behind us. And now I see despite all my training… he's still so far ahead of me."
Daphne looked ay Harry briefly "Don't bother" she finally said making him glare at her a bit. "With everything he is now, there won't be anyone who can stand as his equal."
Harry's glare left his face and now he only had curiosity "What do you mean?" Daphne spent the rest of the afternoon explaining everything to Harry.
Downstairs the talk was also about Ron "He fought You-Know-Who to a standstill and even forced him to retreat" Remus murmured rubbing his forehead. He was too stressed and too tired since the first night of the cycle was last night "How could I have been so stupid?"
"Remus" Tonks said softly gripping his hand. Despite Remus being the instigator for the problem Tonks still loved him immensely.
When the problem began almost two years ago all Sirius could feel was anger towards Remus, but now he felt pity for his suffering friend. Even though he had been forgiven by Tonks and Sirius it was plainly obvious that he had yet to forgive himself. "Just let it go for now Remus; when the war is over you'll have all the time you need to talk it out." Remus just nodded, but looked like he wanted to object, but couldn't find the strength to.
Astoria, naïve and oblivious to what happened with Ron and his family, was sitting idly with Ginny, Fred and George swapping stories about Ron and Daphne with each other. The talk of the parents in the kitchen was anything, but pleasant, which was why there was a silencing charm around the entire kitchen with the doors shut so no one could hear or enter.
"Why do you insist on putting him down further" Cynthia positively glared at Molly Weasley.
"He risked his life stupidly to take on You-Know-Who" Molly glared right back. "He could've been killed."
"But he wasn't and he risked his life to not only save our lives, but the lives of our children" Cynthia said feeling her blood pressure rise rapidly. This woman was infuriating and she couldn't believe a wonderful man like Ron could come from this woman "Instead of scolding him you should be praising him."
"I don't praise my children for doing stupid stunts" Molly said coldly.
"Why you ignorant, judgmental–" Cynthia hissed.
"Cynthia" Nicholas said firmly. Cynthia took a deep breath through her nose before sitting down with her arms and legs crossed so tightly that it looked like they'd never come uncrossed. Nicholas sighed "Mrs. Weasley, your son has become a fine young man; he's giving people hope, he's become so strong and handsome and he's getting married soon. Why are you only looking at the negative?"
Now instead of her cold angry look it was replaced by a sad look "He wasn't supposed to be like this."
That got her a few raised eyebrows "What do you mean" Nicholas asked.
"From the moment Ronald was born I never expected him to amount to much" Molly admitted honestly. "He never showed any talent towards anything magic, he was very average looking and his maturity was far below average. He was supposed to be just an average wizard with an average life and an average job."
"Is that what he was supposed to be… or is that what you wanted him to be" Cynthia finally spoke. She felt no sympathy for this woman at all if she never believed in her child. She only felt sympathy for Arthur, who looked so stressed and tired.
"Mr. Weasley" Nicholas spoke "Do you have something to say?"
Arthur rubbed his forehead a few seconds longer before speaking "I'll admit I was always the most worried about Ron, but like all my children I believed he would take life by the reigns and move forward with it. Whatever path he would choose is the one I would believe in. No matter how many times he fell or was knocked down I'd always be there to help him back up and support him until he could stand on his own. That's what a father does."
Nicholas nodded approvingly "I agree and I can see why Ronald is the way he was before getting involved in this matter." Both Weasley parents looked confused "Even though he tries to hide it I can tell Ronald still has the hidden traits of someone with an inferiority complex. It makes sense, being the youngest brother with the only younger sibling being a girl. It's no wonder he felt so inferior and, correct me if I'm wrong, but one of you desperately craved a daughter didn't you?"
Molly shakingly spoke "I did."
Cynthia caught on and was wide eyed "How much older is Ron than your daughter?"
"One year and five months" Arthur responded.
"That explains a lot" Nicholas said with a small sad sigh "It's safe to say after your two twins sons you didn't want another son did you Mrs. Weasley?" She didn't respond "When Ronald was born you were disappointed that he wasn't a girl weren't you." Once more she didn't respond, but her lips began to tremble "I'm also going to guess that you never really connected to him like the rest of your children and spent more time spoiling your daughter."
"Stop it" Molly whispered.
Nicholas didn't "As he grew up you only saw his negatives instead of his positives giving him a massive inferiority complex that made him do anything to stand out and get attention even if it was bad."
"STOP IT" she shouted.
"NO I WILL NOT STOP" Nicholas finally lost his temper standing up. "Why should I stop to a woman who only sees her son as a burden?" Molly collapsed in her husband's arms sobbing loudly; Arthur only held her softly not doing anything to stop Nicholas.
"What do you want from me" Molly finally spoke in a broken voice "You want me to admit I was a horrible mother."
"He wants you to admit your mistake" Cynthia spoke again. Her voice held absolutely no sympathy "Admit that you messed up and admit that you can change. Change for the better and support your son's decisions. You may have six of them, but it will hurt all the same to lose one."
A couple weeks later Ron was up and about feeling better than ever and back at Greengrass Manor with his future father-in-law, mother-in-law and father setting up wedding chairs and tables for the guests. It was going to be an outdoor wedding on a beautiful snowy day.
The rest of the Garrison was over also setting up some decorations while Tracey was helping Daphne prep for the biggest day of her life while also learning of what happened. "I'm glad you're both okay and I'm sorry we couldn't be there for you two" Tracey said with regret.
"It's okay" Daphne said reassuringly. "We managed to drive them off and Ron even fought toe to toe with Voldemort himself."
"That's amazing" Tracey gushed wishing she could've seen that.
"That's not all that happened at the beginning of break" Daphne said with a minx-like grin forming on her face. She held a sketchbook in her hands "Did you know Ron is a very talented artist?" Tracey raised an eyebrow "Turn to the last page" she said.
Tracey flipped to the last page of the sketchbook and her eyes widened to impossible proportions when she saw the nude sketch of Daphne. Turning to the blond she got a wide grin on her face "You little horn dog" she squealed trapping her best friend in a tight hug. "I bet he couldn't stop blushing."
"It wasn't just him" Daphne said in a sensual whisper. "My heart was pounding the entire time. It was the most erotic moment of my life." Tracey could not stop grinning "Who knows… maybe Theo will draw one of you."
The grin left her face and her face turned bright red "Daphne" she whined. Daphne laughed and avoided a swat to the arm from Tracey.
The wedding was about to begin; Ron was outside dressed in fabulous black long sleeved tunic and pants with lustrous sapphire blue dress robes over them with his hair very neatly brushed going down his shoulders and parted perfectly to the side exposing his lustrous blue eyes. The Heart of the Dragon hung around his neck on his chest.
Despite looking his nicest he had never felt so nervous; he was going to be married in less than 20 minutes. Tracey, Ginny and Cynthia were currently upstairs getting Daphne fully prepared while Ron was out back with Nicholas, his father and Harry. Ron's father was standing off to the side as he wouldn't miss this for the world while Nicholas was the one who would perform the ceremony. Harry stood beside Ron as he was Ron's Best Man like Tracey was the Maiden of Honor.
After hearing Daphne's story about how Ron was going to be the new King of the Wizarding World Harry understood. He could never stand by Ron as an equal, but he would stand by Ron when the war was over. Harry wasn't stupid; he knew the Wizarding world would need to be completely revolutionized and would need many people to do it.
Other than Ginny and his father Ron had yet to see the rest of his family show up and it kind of saddened him that even after everything only his father and Ginny were with him still. Just as Ron gave up hope he saw them arrive in the back; there was his mother, Bill, Charlie, Fred and George. All of them made eye contact and Ron saw regret and shame in their eyes, but they did give small nods to him. Ron knew immediately that there would be time to talk after the wedding. Ron doubted if he'd forgive them just like that, but it would be nice to talk.
He didn't want unresolved issues in his life.
Speaking of unresolved issues; he still had to get married. It wasn't long until Daphne came out and Ron could not stop staring at her; she looked so beautiful in her wedding dress. Her blond hair was so smooth and sleek looking with an emerald encrusted tiara on her head along with silver emerald earrings on her ears. The wedding was quick, but passionate as Ron and Daphne maintained eye contact the whole time and the only time they spoke was when they said the two most passionate words they'd ever say in their lives.
"I do!"
The celebration was amazing; family members from both sides were clapping and cheering as Ron and Daphne danced on the dance floor in each other's arms happily. When everyone else began dancing they noticed with knowing smiles that Tracey and Theo were dancing with Tracey being the leader as it was obvious Theo did not know how to dance at all. It was quite funny and cute.
Blaise sat off to the side sipping firewhisky as he watched his friends dance. Blaise never intended to marry or get together with a girl as he knew relationships were rather troublesome and he didn't want to end up like his mother.
Either way the newly wedded couple danced the entire night away and never once did they break eye contact.
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