Chapter Three:
Ring of Flowers Broken-
A/N- Sorry about this taking so long but I've had writers block for soooooooooo long. After I post this chapter I'll probably be able to finish it sorry for those of you who have been waiting. When I'm done I might just repost the whole thing.
Ron sighed and looked out the window. It had been a week and Neville was avoiding him like the plague. Not that he blamed him, from Neville's piont of veiw he had tried something unforgivable. The fact that he'd stopped before anything had happened didn't make a difference. It was still wrong.
Between that and the fact that Percy and Draco kept up a constant bout of bickering, (Ron breifly mused on that) had kept the air in the house filled with an almost palpable level of tension.
As of this moment, Hermione was at the bookstore (again) and Harry was taking some extra classes in computer programming. Ginny was shopping, Percy was at work, and Draco was taking a walk. (He'd been doing that a lot lately, and Ron suspected it was because of the fights he kept having with Percy) Ron had no idea where Neville was and didn't think it would be a good idea to try and find him as he still wasn't sure what Hesperos would try.
Mean while Neville had plans of his own. He had made sure Ron was still sitting staring off into space before executeing them, and now he was very quietly searching his lover's room. He was look for a clue, anything that would tell him why Ron had acted they way he did the other night. It was so unlike him that after Neville had gotten over his initial shock he had stopped to wonder if something had been wrong. If so than they should talk about it. But he wasn't sure and that was why he was here now.
Survaying the general clutter, he noticed a small folded piece of paper and stooped to pick it up. Unfolding it he glaced down it and saw it was a list of ingredients. Followint that list was a poem (1) and a latin quote. Neville read both and his eyes widened. To confirm his supisions he took the sheet over to the still open spellbook on Ron's bedside table. He took in the heading of the previous page, the jagged edges of several sheets of torn paper, and again the writing on the piece he held in his hand. The evidece confirmed it, the potion Ron had made was actually a spell for calling a Demon. The poem was an epic of a previous encounter, and the quote a warning to those who attempted this without proper experience. Something caught his eye and he turned the page over. There was an unsigned note, written in a rusty colored substance. It read:
'To whomever finds this, the spell be not what it is to look at. Something is loosed by that spell, something inhuman and dangerous. The only way to reverse the spell is by the death of the one who performed it. I warn you.'
Neville sank down onto the bed, head spinning. If this was true and Ron had… He swallowed. After a few more minutes he pushed himself off the bed and went to find Ron.
Ginny let her self in the front door. "Hey I'm home! Anybody else here?" There was no answer. The living room was a mess, looking for all the world like a hurricane had blown through. The wreath of flowers that had been hanging above the doorway was torn down and scattered everywhere. "Yeesh," Ginny grimaced, "With all the people in this house you'd expect at least one of them to know how to clean up after themselves." Sighing she stepped around the mess. She'd clean it up later.
Walking down the long hallway she had just about passed the door to the library when a moan from inside attracted her attention. Peering around the door Ginny gasped at what she saw. The room was torn up, a thousand times worse than the other, and smack dab in the middle of the mess was Neville. He was unconsious. Ginny ran over to his side about to check if he was still breathing when another noise distracted her.
Ther was a low, almost feral growling coming from behind her. She turned, slowly, and standing behind her was Ron. But at the same time he wasn't. His eyes were completely black and his lips were pulled back in a snarl. They stared at each other for a moment and then Ginny broke the silence by screaming.
As she let out a ear percing shriek the thing that both was and wasn't Ron charged passed her, scoped up Neville's prone form, and fled out the door into the hall. Frantically Ginny slammed the door shut behind it and locked it, before scrambling for the phone.
Some time later, as Harry was seeing the local police out the door, Ginny told her friends what had really happened. What she had told the cops was that Ron seemd drunk and had kidnapped a still concious Neville.
When she finished going over what had happened she murmured, "Guy's, I think they're still in the house. For one thing Ron was heading toward the west wing and there isn't a door there, For another all the doors and windows in the house were closed and locked when the police got here."
"Well maybe Ron doubled back and locked the door behind him with his key." Hermione countered.
"I don't think so, he didn't look in the kind of mental shape to do that."
Percy looked thoughtful for a moment, then spoke up. "Hermione's probably right but maybe we could take a look aroung just to ease Ginny's mind."
Harry nodded, "Allright then lets go." Draco interupted them.
"Hold on a sec." He dashed into the next room and was back in a few minutes carrying a gun. Everyone scowled at him. "What!" Herry glared pointedly at the gun. "Oh that, It's just in case."
Percy made a derisive sound, but for the most part they all ignored him, and set off in search of their friends.
