Runaway Fox

Chapter Fourteen: Through the Fox's Eyes

Disclaimer: For the upteenth time, I don't own Harry Potter.  He and all his friends belong to J.K. Rowling.  I own the Scotts.  ^_^

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            Simon Scott shook his head.  He knew that he was in some trouble and that he should thank God that Ron was at home.  He was sitting with one of the most famous people in the wizarding world, Harry Potter, but he didn't like it at all.  He didn't like the idea of sharing his best friend with him.  Simon didn't mind Hermione because she was the thing that Ron loved the most, but Harry and Simon were in the same spot.   Rather, they were fighting for the same spot.  Simon was secured in it currently, but Harry was competition for his best friend.   Yes, it was childish and he knew it. 

            "So, Harry did you like the trip over here?" asked Simon with a friendly tone that couldn't be trusted.

            "It was fine.  We had no real trouble just going through the airports," answered Harry.  He was trying to keep his temper in check.  He wanted nothing more, but to hex Simon.  Harry restrained himself because Hermione and Charlie were looking back and forth between the two of them.  They sounded friendly enough towards each other, but there was an underlying tension between them. 

            "Where are you staying, Hermione?" asked Charlie in an effort to redirect the conversation.

            "At a hotel in downtown San Francisco.  Simon's paying for it," said Hermione with a nervous smile as she focused on Charlie.

            "That's great.  You're very kind, Simon," said Charlie as he took a look at him.  He quickly turned his attention back to Hermione.  She sighed.  Harry and Simon were having a glaring contest.

~*~

Ron decided it was time to stop working in his workshop.  He decided to go out and get some fresh air.  He went to room to take a shower and dress.  Ron looked at his face in the mirror as he rubbed his hair dry.  He put on his ear cuff again.  His brain wasn't working right.  It felt full.  He walked outside to one of the more secluded spots of his many grounds.  It was where the Japanese rock garden was.  He started doing some breathing and mediation techniques in an effort to calm the ideas in his mind.  Finally, he went to his private study and took a look at his Pensieve.  He looked into a basin as he took out his wand.  He had transfigured it to a pen so that he would have it on him at all times without it looking suspicious to any Muggle.  

He concentrated and the pen reverted back to his wand.  It was still the same wand he had from Hogwarts.  He tapped it against his temple and then tapped the liquid in the basin.  The thoughts from his mind entered the basin which was filled with a slivery substance that only Simon could explain to him.  Ron needed to purge his mind regularly or go insane.  .He did it two ways.  The wizard's way with the Pensieve; the Muggle way by doing physical activity.  And he did that in his workshop.

Ron thought about how he used to get his mind clear before.  He would simply talk to Mari, but she wasn't there anymore to listen to him and not judge him.  Simon would try to offer a sympathetic ear, butHa he would try to help.  No, he needed someone to listen to him.  Ron stopped tapping with his wand and reverted his wand back to a pen.  He put on his coat and grabbed his keys.   Walking to the garden, he snapped off one of the water lilies that were near a still pool of water.  Ron needed to get away and find a peaceful place.

~*~

            Hermione felt guilty and helpless as she watched Harry and Simon mentally battle each other.  The battle of wills and the position of Ron's top friend was at stake.  She looked at Charlie, but he made her feel sad because he reminded her of Ron for a moment.  Deep down inside, Hermione knew that Ron was afraid that no one would accept him after the things he had done.  Hermione still loved him and she was willing to protect him from anyone who would hurt him.  "Are you okay?" asked Charlie with concern.

            "I'm fine.  Just tired.  What are we going to do now that you're both here?" asked Hermione anxiously. 

            Harry was the first one to break the staring contest and said, "First we need to know some information.  That's what you're going to give us."  He nodded towards Simon.

            "I would be happy to help Hermione and Charlie in anyway I can for Ron's sake," said Simon pointedly.

            "Will you both stop being so immature?  Ron's not some kind of toy broomstick you can fight over," said Hermione in a berating whisper.  Harry glared at Simon again.  He didn't like the fact that Simon didn't include him. 

            "I'm sorry Hermione," said Simon truthfully.  He wanted to help Ron, so he was going to set aside any differences he had with Harry.  "Truce."

            "Truce," agreed Harry right away as they shook hands.

~*~

            Ron didn't know how he got to where he was.  Somehow his car had directed him there.  It was a quiet place.  He walked over to the place where he had been to many times before.  His throat constricted as he paused in front of the slabs of marble in front of him.  At his feet, the bodies of the entire Hoshi family was buried next to other people.  All four graves were clearly marked.  The three other graves had dates on them that were close by.  Ron felt as if he were the one responsible for destroying an entire family line.

            He dropped down to his knees in front of Mari's grave and placed the water lily on it.  "Hello Mari.  I did some work today on a broomstick.  I've designed it to be heavier for a keeper.  And there's, Hermione," he said softly.  He knew that he must have looked insane talking to no one at all, but speaking with Mari this was always something that calmed him and gave him clarity. 

            "I'm sorry I haven't been around to see you, but I was in England on business and then there was a bunch of other stuff I had to take care of.   Did you know someone said that I was the sexist bachelor in the world?  Can you believe that?  It's the most stupid thing I've ever heard of," Ron paused.  At that point, Mari would be laughing softly at him. 

            Mari was always like an angel.  Someone who could be touched, but not of this world.  Hermione was something else.  To Ron, she was more like a queen or rather a goddess.  Something that he dreamed about but could never have any real hopes of being good for the likes of her.  Hermione would gently correct him when they were going to Hogwarts.  Mari would accept him for his flaws, but Ron felt guilty, so he would adjust.  Perhaps, it was because Mari was a free spirit who was willing to put her heart on the line and tell Ron that she loved him right away.  Ron was homesick for months on end when he first arrived in America, but with Mari he always felt at home.  She was the first friend he had truly made. 

            Ron felt homesick even more because he missed Hermione more than anyone.  And Mari understood that he loved Hermione.  She didn't try to win him over like most girls would have done.  Instead, she stood by him and helped him.  Ron remembered that Hermione wanted him to stay.  She was the one who stayed with him after his last conservation with Harry.  She didn't have to, and he wasn't in the best mood.  To him, Hermione was perfect and he always felt poor and dirty.  Even now, she was everything to him.  When he won the Quidditch World Cup, he seriously thought of going home after getting his diploma in Ellsinore.  Ron had planned to sweep her off her feet.  Even if he had to face off with Viktor Krum. 

            "She doesn't know anything.  I have to protect her, Mari.  I can't let her get hurt by me.  I can't let her get hurt like you.  She loves me.  I love her.  You knew that.  I want her to be happy.  That's all I really want for her.  Even if it means never being with her.  Just like you.  I know I made a promise you.  And I'm keeping it.  You told me once that as long as I was happy, you were happy.  I'm sorry, but I hurt her when I came to England.  It would have been better if she never saw me again.  Her life was perfect without me messing it up.  I remember seeing her out in that café in London.  I couldn't help myself.  It was a selfish thing to do.  Why couldn't I have just apparated back to the hotel and explain later?  I made her cry again.  I should wipe her memory clean.  That's the only way," whispered Ron.

            The wind came over him and ruffled his fiery tresses.  It was a sign of comfort from Mari.  The wind gently caressed him as if she heard him. 

            Mari was a brave person who dared to love someone without any hope of being loved back.  Ron wished that he had her courage more than anything.  She didn't try to fill in Hermione's place in his heart, rather she made a place of her own.  Ron was thankful to Mari for being a special friend.  He decided that it was time to go back home.  The wind seemed to softly whisper "Aishitaru."

~*~

            Simon called Ron's house to find out if he was there, but Jonathon found out from the house elves that Ron went for a drive and picked out a water lily before going out.  He frowned slightly.  He knew where Ron went to.  Ellsinore's grounds had water lilies that Mari would puck and take to class with her.  Ron had some placed near his Japanese rock garden.  He looked at Hermione who was talking to Harry.  She didn't know about Mari. 

            Simon always knew that Mari loved Ron, but he loved someone else.  Ron rarely spoke about his friends from England, but when he spoke of Hermione, a great calmness came over him.  His features would soften and, at times, fill with regret. 

            "Well?" asked Charlie.

            "He's not there.  He probably went out for a drive.  He does that when he needs to think," said Simon with a sigh.

            Hermione bit her lip and noticed the pictures on Simon's desk.  There were pictures of Mrs. Scott and two blonde girls.  Hermione assumed that they were his younger sisters.  There was another picture that was obscured by the others.  It was the same picture that Ron had of himself, Simon, Marcus, and Mari.  She picked it up.  "Who are these two?" she asked.

            Simon looked at her.  He swallowed slowly as if he were trying to decide what to say.  "Those were two of our friends from Ellsinore.  Miranda and Marcus Hoshi.  Mari was in the same year as Ron and me, but Marcus was two years younger than us," he answered in a whisper.

            "Were?" asked Harry as he looked at the picture.  Ron had a happy look on his face.  He had his arms on Simon and Mari's shoulders. 

            "They died the year we graduated after the Quidditch World Cup," said Simon in a steady voice.

            Harry and Hermione looked at Simon.  "These were the two people that Ron lost," whispered Hermione.

            Simon nodded as if he didn't trust himself to say anymore.  Charlie stood up and looked at the picture.  He touched the picture gently.  "It's a Muggle photograph," he observed.

            "Yes, Mari was a photographer.  She experimented with both Muggle and wizard techniques.  She had a gallery in San Francisco and won some awards for her work.  The picture in the Witch Weekly was hers," said Simon.

            Hermione realized at that moment that it was Mari who could capture Ron's soul in a photograph and display it so truthfully for the world.  It was a labor of love.  She put it down with a shaky hand.  Why was she frightened so suddenly?  Why did she feel like she had competition from a dead girl?

~*~

            Simon gave Harry, Hermione, and Charlie the address to Ron's house in San Francisco and took off to the cemetery to see if Ron was there.  Charlie and Hermione decided to go to the Cove while Harry made up an excuse of wanting to go back to his hotel room and write a letter home to Ginny.  Instead, he decided to go to Ron's house.   He made no promises to Simon that he wouldn't.  He only agreed to come over there with everyone else the next day.

            Harry apparated into the house.  There were no barriers because most people wouldn't suspect of Ron of living in a Muggle constructed house.  Harry was starting to feel a little guilty about breaking into his best friends homes.  This time he took his cloak of invisibility with him.  Hermione didn't pressure Simon to say anything that required him breaking any promises to Ron, but Harry couldn't stand it anymore.  He didn't want to upset Hermione.

            He walked until he reached a room that had the scent of sawdust and varnish.  He saw woodworking equipment and the plans for a broomstick on the wall.  Harry realized that Simon wasn't lying when he said that Ron was working at home.  He had no idea that Ron still designed the prototypes for all the broomsticks that his company made.  Harry realized that the house was huge.  It had at least twenty rooms in it, and Ron could afford house elves. 

In the United States, it was mandatory for employers to pay house elves and to give them vacation time.  And health care was also mandatory.  This didn't really sit well with most of the house elves in the U.S.  Most of them went back to Europe where the old system of a house elf being bounded to a family without pay, vacation time, or health care.  The house elves could still be fired if the employers gave them clothes, but not in Ron's house elf staffs.  He presented his house elves with gifts like clothes and never fired a single one.  He treated them this way because of his love for Hermione.  His house elves were always happy and he never abused any of his employees.  In fact, he told them that it made him happy when they had vacations.  The house elves were careful to rotate days off so that there would be at least one house elf there for him.

            Harry had to be careful because he didn't want to get caught by Ron's human butler, Jonathon.  He walked silently with his cloak wrapped around him.  He found the study that Ron was in earlier.  No one usually came into this room because Ron used a more public place to meet people when they came over.  Ron's pensieve was out on the table.  Harry stripped of his cloak.

            Harry looked at it.  He didn't know that Ron had one.  He walked up to it, not really wanting to violate Ron's privacy, but the pensieve activated on its own.

            Harry found himself at a parking lot in the middle of the night.  He saw Ron walking up to the boy named Marcus.  There was something wrong.  Really wrong.  Harry knew that this was a memory, so that no one would notice that he was standing there.

            "What did you want to talk to me about Marcus?  Why here?  And why this late?" asked Ron calmly.  Harry could hear the sounds of the ocean nearby and feel the chill in the air.  They were standing in a Muggle parking lot.

            "I just wanted to congratulate you on winning the cup," said Marcus in a soft voice.

            "Um…thanks.  But why do I get the feeling that you didn't get me all the way here just to talk about that?" asked Ron.  The look on his face was genuinely concerned.

            "No, I didn't.  You have everything, don't you Ron?" asked Marcus as his bangs shaded his eyes.

            "What do you mean?" asked Ron, not understanding at all what Marcus was getting at.

            "You have looks, popularity, skill, and intelligence.  But there's one thing I won't let you take from me," said Marcus.  His hand was in his jacket pocket.  Harry didn't like the dangerous tone that the seemingly sweet boy was using.  And from what Harry could see, Ron didn't like it much either.

            "I didn't take anything from you, Marcus.   And I don't plan to.  What's wrong with you?" asked Ron as he stepped forward and made the mistake of putting his hand on Marcus' shoulder.  Marcus jerked away from him.

            "I won't let you take my sister away from me.  I won't.  I can't let you," he said in a shaky voice. 

            "What?  Mari?  No, I'm not going to take your sister away from you, Marcus.  I could never do that.  She loves you too much to leave you," said Ron in a surprised voice.  Harry noticed that Ron was serious.

            "You're a fucking liar!  She loves you!  It's only a matter of time before you love you back as much as she loves you!  Everyone loves my sister!  YOU FUCKING LIAR!" roared Marcus as his sweet façade faded away to fury.  He pulled something out of his pocket as if he were pulling a wand, but it wasn't a wand.  It was a gun.  Ron's eyes widened in fear he stepped away from Marcus.  Harry realized that Ron didn't have his wand on him.  He didn't think that he would need it.  He was trying to do minor spells without one, so he didn't bother to bring it with him.

            "Wait.  Don't do anything, Marcus.  Just calm down.  Let's keep talking about this," said Ron as he struggled to keep himself calm.

            "No.  I'm not going to talk to you.  I'm going to make sure you don't take my sister away from you.  She's not going to leave me with our father.  No, she won't leave me with that son of a bitch," said Marcus in a bitter tone.

            Ron was breathing deeply.  Harry could tell that Ron was trying to decide whether or not to use a spell on him or not.  Ron decided to keep talking.  "She would never do that to you, Marcus.  You're the person she's taken care of the longest and she does her best for you.  When we graduate, she's going to move out and take you with her.  She said so."

            "YOU FUCKING LIAR!" shouted Marcus at the top of his lungs like a child in a tantrum.  Through all the tension, Harry didn't notice that someone had just arrived.

            "What's going on?  Marcus don't say things like that," said a girl.  It was Mari.  Her eyes fell on the gun in her brother's hand.  "Where did you get that?  What are you doing?"

            "I'm going to take care of this, Mari.  I'm going to make sure that nothing bad happens.  He left home.  He's hurt other people.  He won't care about you soon.  You'll see.  I'm just protecting you," said Marcus with a slightly high pitch.

            "I don't need your protection, Marcus.  I'm your older sister.  I'm the one who protects you.  Now give me the gun," said Mari in a firm voice.

            "No," said Marcus with a look that told Harry that it was the first time he ever disobeyed his older sister.  Mari had a sad look on her lovely face.  She pulled out her wand.  Marcus seemed to notice and pulled the trigger of his gun before she could stop him.  Harry closed his eyes, fearing what was to come next.

            He opened his eyes again when he saw that Mari had apparated a short distance to get in front of Ron.  Marcus had fired his gun at Ron.  Ron's face was contorted in horror as he caught Mari.  Her chest had a bleeding hole in it.

            Marcus' face held more horror in it than Ron's.  He couldn't believe what he had done.  Mari's wand was on the ground.  Ron didn't go for it.  He pulled Mari into his arms.  Mari was breathing deeply.  She looked at Marcus who was pacing back and forth.  He couldn't believe that he had shot his own sister.  The most important and cherished person in his life. 

            "What the hell is wrong with you?!" shouted Ron as he looked at her slumped form leaning against his chest.  Harry realized that his words caused another violent reaction from Marcus.

            "Shut up!!!  You think you're so much better than me!" he shouted back to Ron in a shaking voice.

            "Look.  Listen to me, man.  Please put down the gun," pleaded Ron. "Let's get her some help.  You don't want to do this.  You don't want to hurt me."

            BANG!

            Harry gasped and pulled away from the pensieve.  He was shaking from what he had seen.  If he could see his face, he would have been pale.  Ron got shot.  That's how they died.  OH MY GOD! Thought Harry in a panic.  He realized that there was someone else in the room breathing with him.  Harry slowly turned around and saw Ron standing at the doorway.  The look on his face was controlled, but Harry saw that there was pain in his eyes.

            "So, you know what happened?" asked Ron in a soft whisper.

AN: Okay, yes, I know that Harry's been doing a lot of sneaking around, but that's the only way he's going to find out anything.  Besides, it's not like Harry didn't do any sneaking around in the books.  Mari wasn't out to steal Ron away, but she did want him to be happy.  It sort of doesn't make any sense.  But, how many people would just want someone they love just be happy without being with them?