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Now on with the story:

-No Longer Afraid-

Ron looked up at the monstrous spider crawling through the gaping hole in the side of the castle.

Normally, he would be freaking out at this point. The creature would cause Ron to instantly freeze, terror encompassing his entire being.

But for the first time since his childhood, Ron felt nothing when he stared at the spider.

Nothing at all.

"Why-"

It was then that Ron remembered who was responsible for his fear of spiders.

"Fred… Oh god, Fred…He's gone. He's really gone…" thought Ron sorrowfully as the realization hit him full force.

They had been standing around, discussing what to do next, when Percy and Fred suddenly appeared in the hall. And they were fighting, side by side.

"Well, I'll be!" thought Ron staring at the pair in shock. "Perce came to the party after all."

All the animosity Ron had once felt towards his estranged brother immediately fled. Percy must have given one hell of an apology for Fred to have forgiven him so quickly. It was a damn shame Ron missed it. He would have loved to seen that. But seeing the two of them fighting as a united front was enough for Ron. A joy that he hadn't felt for a long time suddenly filled his heart; Ron's family was finally whole once again.

Ron and his friends instantly ran to his brothers' aid. Jets of light flew by and it wasn't long before they gained the upper hand.

For the first time ever, Ron actually saw Percy joking alongside Fred.

It was positively bizarre.

Truly, it was a sign that the apocalypse was nigh!

Fred, "the carefree, irresponsible, delinquent," (Percy's words) was fighting beside Percy, "the stuck up, anal-retentive, pantywaist." (Fred's words)

In many ways, the two of them were each other's mortal enemy.

That anything could bring their opposing personalities together was absolutely unreal!

And then, the unthinkable happened.

"You actually are joking, Perce…" laughed Fred in that mocking way of his, "I don't think I've heard you joke since you were—"

BOOM!

The unexpected blast blindsided them all. The force of the explosion blew Ron right off his feet, knocking him back.

He fell to the floor in a heap.

When Ron awakened, the air was filled with dust and debris. Ron let out a mighty cough as he sat up, his limbs aching from the rough fall.

"Great… just what my lungs need, more crap in them," thought Ron ruefully as he stood up.

"Everyone, okay?" he grunted, stumbling over a rather large stone.

"Fred? Fred this isn't time for your jokes. Fred! You're scaring me! Please-please get up!" whimpered Percy's voice to his right.

Ron shook the ringing out of his ears as he turned to face his brother.

His eyes went wide at the scene he viewed. The entire side of the wall was blown away, leaving an enormous, gaping hole. Percy was shivering as he bent over their brother's lifeless form. Fred's eyes were glazed over, staring up unseeingly at the ceiling; the ghost of a smile still hanging on his lips.

Ron shakily made his way over to their side wiping away a small stream of blood from a cut on his forehead. He fell to his knees and stared at Fred in numb realization.

His brother was dead.

"Ronnie!" cried Percy, grabbing Ron's shoulders, "Help me! I've tried everything and Fred won't wake up. Why-why won't he wake up?"

Tears just streamed down Ron's face in response.

As he stared forlornly at the trembling form of Percy, Ron realized that his poor brother now had another thing in common with the late Professor Dumbledore; they had both witnessed a family member die right in front of their eyes.

"Why are you just sitting there? Ron…" gasped Percy; the realization of what had happened just starting to hit him. "Ronnie…"

Ron's breathing became rapid as he attempted speak. But every time he tried, no words came.

When understanding finally shone in Percy's eyes, he let out such a mournful cry that it chilled Ron to the bone.

"No – no – no!" shouted Percy in denial. "No! Fred! No!"

His brother reached down and frantically started shaking Fred's body.

"Oh god, Fred's body," thought Ron, horrified as he watched Hermione and Harry crawl out of the wreckage to meet them.

It had all happened so fast, one minute Fred was alive and the next he wasn't.

But the chaos around them, would not allow Ron even a moment to grieve. Percy was now shielding Fred's dead body, refusing to move as the massive spiders closed in.

It was all of Ron's nightmares rolled into one. Of course the first thing he would encounter after Fred's death would be a bloody spider. It was like fate was mocking him for his old, insignificant fear.

Ron no longer feared spiders, for he had just experienced something far worse; the loss of a loved one.

Both he and Harry blasted the spider back through the opening. Ron leaned over to watch it fall, only to find more of the bloody things were crawling up the walls at an alarming rate.

"What's the matter, Ronniekins? Afraid of an ickle spider?" the memory of Fred taunted him as George giggled merrily at his side. The transfigured spider, which had once been Ron's beloved teddy bear, had pinned him to the floor. He shivered, remembering how it had stared at him with those eight, beady little eyes; how its fangs had been so close to his throat. The louder Ron had screamed, the harder his brothers had laughed; until his mum came to the rescue …The twins had always known the precise buttons to push to get a rise out of Ron.

They were his tormentors from a very young age. But far more than George, Ron developed a love/hate relationship with Fred.

At first, Ron had admired Fred. He was funny, confident, and brave to a fault. And for a while, Ron wanted to be just like him, so he followed Fred around like a lost puppy wanting attention. Fred, of course, would have none of that and became increasingly cruel in order to push his baby-brother away.

So Ron would act out, trying to get Fred's attention. This eventually led to Ron accidently breaking Fred's toy broomstick and the whole spider-bear retaliation thing. Fred even went as far as to use Ron's Puffskein as a Budger when he had bugged him to play quidditch one day.

But Fred wasn't always nasty, there were times when he'd relent and play with Ron. His brother would even defend him, when the older kids would pick on him at the park. Ron never knew which Fred he would get: the kind, jovial one, or the mean, callous one. Sometimes he was a pair of twins within himself, both good and evil.

But the major offence by Fred that truly scarred Ron was when the twins had tried to cast the Unbreakable Vow on him….

"You sure about this Gred? Dad'll be really mad when he finds out. And this seems kinda complicated," said George as Ron cautiously walked into their bedroom.

"Don't worry, Forge. Dad's playing around in the shed; he'll be out there for hours. It'll be wicked! Just you wait and see," said Fred as he looked down at Ron with that sneaky smile of his.

"Ronnie! George and I found this really cool spell," he said pulling out their father's wand from behind his back. "You want to help us cast it?"

"I… you want me to help out?" asked Ron hesitantly, not trusting that smile.

"Sure!" exclaimed Fred wrapping a reassuring arm around him. "George and I think you're old enough to go on adventures with us. Don't we, George?"

"Oh yeah, totally," his brother other nodded, mirroring Fred's grin. Ron had a funny feeling about this…

"You see it's a spell that makes you keep secrets. If you let us cast it on you, we'll be able to trust you not to tell on us…"

"But- you don't need to do that! I wouldn't-"

"Come on, Ronnie. This is all about trust. If you don't trust us, then how can we trust you?"

"I- I guess so…but-"

"Wow, Ron. You sure are chicken," mocked Fred, pushing away from him, "You'll never get into Gryffindor."

"Nope," added George, "You're far too cowardly."

"I am not!" exclaimed Ron with an irritated stomp of his foot.

"Chick-en!" taunted Fred as George made noises in the background, pretending to flap his wings.

"I AM NOT!" repeated Ron as his face grew red.

"Then prove it!" challenged Fred, holding out his hand.

Ron looked at it for a moment torn. The twins had done a lot of mean stuff to him over the years. But they were still his brothers and he wanted to prove himself to them. With an audible gulp he reached out and grabbed Fred's hand.

"Quick, George! Before he backs out," whispered Fred out of the side of his mouth.

George took their dad's wand from Fred and pointed it at their linked hands.

"Do you, Ron, swear-"

"Boys! Did you take my-" called their father as he suddenly barged into the room.

For a fraction of a second, the four of them stood there frozen in shock.

And for the first time in Ron's life, he saw true anger on his gentle father's face.

"BACK AWAY FROM YOUR BROTHER, RIGHT NOW!" he roared at a level that even their mum's voice couldn't reach.

The three of them scattered and their dad set his sights solely on Fred, backing him into a corner.

"FRED WEASLEY, YOU WILL TELL ME THIS INSTANT WHAT YOU WERE TRYING TO CAST!"

"I-I found it in a book! T-the Un-unbreakable Vow or something!" squeaked Fred in fright.

Their dad's rage turned to absolute terror as he grabbed Fred by the shoulders and demanded, "DID YOU FINISH ANY PART OF THAT SPELL? DID RONNIE SWEAR TO ANYTHING? ANYTHING AT ALL, FRED?"

"I-n-no," his brother replied wide-eyed in shock, "I swear, Dad. You stopped us before we did anything…"

For a second, their father sighed in relief; he then turned a cold stare onto Fred. Roughly, he grabbed Fred by the shirt and dragged him out of the room yelling, "YOU ARROGANT CHILD! DO YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO RON IF HE BROKE IT? DO YOU? HE WOULD HAVE DIED! YOU TWO COULD HAVE KILLED HIM!"

Ron would never forget the look on George's face when he heard that. It was apparent that neither of twins knew the consequences of breaking the Vow, but Ron still never entirely trusted them again.

In fact, he tried to stay out of their business whenever possible from that moment on.

Though oddly enough, out of all of Ron's brothers, he and the twins were still the closest. Bill and Charlie were both pretty well grown by the time Ron was born. And Percy… well, he always stuck up for Ron when the twins' taunting became too much. But more often than not, Percy would shut himself off from their family, preferring to be alone.

The twins were close to Ron's age, and they grew up together. Things between them had gotten better over the years. The childish teasing and rivalry had lessened, especially since they left school to start their shop. And no matter what they did or said to each other, Ron knew that deep down they all loved one another. It just wasn't his brothers' way… to express it aloud.

Ron vaguely remembered waking up in the middle of the night, when he had been poisoned. Twin heads of red were resting on the edge of his bed. The birthday present they had brought him was sitting on the nightstand, illuminated by the moonlight. And just as he closed his eyes again… Ron swore that for a moment he heard Fred whisper… "Why is it always you, Ronnie?"

"It brought friends!" yelled Harry, knocking Ron headfirst out of his reverie. Apparently, all those thoughts had only taken an instant of real time. Harry blasted several more spiders off the wall but it was no use.

"Let's move, NOW!" Harry called pushing both Ron and Hermione into action. Ron quickly looked back at Percy and Fred as he ran, pain and anguish filling his entire being.

As he saw Harry and Percy lift Fred's lifeless body up off the floor, he felt something inside him snap.

It was rage.

Rage so intense, that it put Crabbe's Killing curse to shame. A lust stirred within him, a need to find, to destroy; to make someone pay. His brother, his brother was dead because of them. He would never again hear Fred laughter. His family would never again be whole. They stole his brother's life, his dreams! The monsters took him away!

He saw a Death Eater perusing some students; Ron heard Percy roar and he reacted on instinct. Ron turned and made to run after the bastard as well.

"NO, RON!" cried Hermione, desperately grabbing his arm in her iron grip. "You can't!"

And for a moment, Ron was completely torn. So many emotions surged through him. He vaguely heard Hermione scream, "Harry, in here!" as she dragged him behind a tapestry.

He wrestled with her for a moment, but her grip held firm.

Ron could break free if he really wanted to. But deep down, past all the rage and despair, part of him was begging for her to hold him there…. To prevent him from doing what he longed to do.

For the first time in his life, Ron felt could cast an Unforgivable curse.

That he could kill, out of vengeance.

That realization, that he could be as ruthless as Crabbe or Bellatrix; terrified him.

"Listen to me—LISTEN, RON!"

But he couldn't, all he could hear was the buzzing of anger in his ears.

"I wanna help-I wanna kill Death Eaters-" he growled, sounding like a beast. He literally shook with the intensity of his rage and grief.

"Ron, we're the only ones who can end it!" Hermione pleaded with all she had. "Please-Ron-we need the snake, we've got to kill the snake!"

She stared deeply into Ron's eyes; all her love and understanding shone bright within them.

"We will fight!" she continued tearfully, "We'll have to, to reach the snake! But let's not lose sight now of what we're supposed to be d-doing! We're the only ones who can end it!"

She wiped her face and took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. Her distress was enough to finally make Ron come back to his senses.

His brother was gone, but other people loved where still alive. Ron had to keep his wits about him until the very end.

Fred…Fred would tear him a new one for the way he was acting. Ron would fight on and end this before anyone else in his family got hurt. He would end this, for Fred.

Hermione then commanded Harry to look inside Voldemort's mind and discover his location. It was a desperate move, but it had to be done.

As Harry retreated into his mind, he and Hermione stared at one another; not knowing what would happen next.

But whatever it was, they'd face it together.

Author's Notes: And there you have it ladies and gentlemen!

And George fans don't worry, I'll be focusing on him when Ron meets up with him later.

I hope you all enjoyed it!

Next Time: "Sucked Dry"

Dementors torturing Ron and witnessing Snape's death.

That's it from me. Please remember to read and review!