The Chess Club
Year:Beginning of sixth year
Time:Late August
Pairing: [Ron/Harry]
Rating: NC-13 Virtually no slash -
Summary: Ron pays a fun visit to his devoted fans.
Note:
This is a continuation or Sequel to 'Friend to Fame', you need to read that first. The characters from this story appear in my later stories.
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"The Chess Club "
"Harry, I got a owl from Sammy and Freddy"
"Fred and who? Fred and George, that Fred? Who are you talking about?"
"Sammy and Freddy, the autograph boys. Remember?"
"Oh yeah, that day in Diagon Alley? That was a really strange. Two really weird boys."
"Hey, watch it, those are my fans. Anyway, they want me to come to their wizards chess club. I kind of liked those boys. For some reason, they reminded me of us. Oh great wizards help us, if those two come to this school. It will be like Fred and George all over again. I'm thinking about doing it. What do you say, Harry, want to go visit Sammy and Freddy's chess club?"
"Why do you need me there?", Harry asked.
"Well, you know how modest I am. I'm going to need someone there to tell them about all my great adventures.", Ron said, only half teasing.
Ron paused to think, "The problem is how would we get there? I think I'll go talk to Professor McGonagall. This seems like something she might help us with. I think. I hope."
Later that day, "Harry, Professor McGonagall was keen on that idea. She said we could travel by Floo Powered. All we need is the address of the chess club and of course, the chess club has to have a fire place. If it doesn't have a fireplace, we'll have to find some place near by that does. Come on Harry, come with me. What good is it, if the famous Ron Weasley doesn't have his trusty sidekick?"
Harry is struggling to make up his mind. "I'm torn, part of me says No and part of me says Yes. The part that says No is thinking about spending the day in a room full of screaming borderline hysterical boys. The part that says Yes is asking 'how many time does your best friend have save your life before you return the favor?' I guess that means Yes wins, but remember this is pay back for one life saving."
Ron, sent an owl to Sammy and Freddy, asking about the club and the fireplace. When the reply came it look like everything was going to work out. They had the club's address and the club had a fireplace.
The day came, Ron and Harry were ready, Professor McGonagall had arrange a fireplace that the could Floo out of and return to.
Ron was ready to throw his Floo powder in, when Harry grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Wait, we want to do this right. I'll go first and you come about 10 or 15 seconds behind me. That way I can give you an introduction." Ron didn't seem to keen on this idea but he let Harry go first.
At the appointed time, a cloud of smoke rose out of the chess club fire place, Harry appeared, looking into dozens of eager smiling faces. For about one second, then every face in the room dropped, and Harry started getting visions of lynch mobs in his head. "Don't worry folks, he's right behind me. He'll be here any second. The wizards chess player who defeated Lord Voldemort, Ron Weasley!"
Poof, right on cue, 'the Great Ron Weasley' appeared in a cloud of smoke. The smoke cleared and they faced a room full of kids, every expression fixed in a look of stunned awe at being face to face with Ron. The room was dead silent. Not a single kid moved. They were transfixed by the sight of Ron.
"Sammy, Freddy where are you? Come up here and give me hug, and introduce me to your club." Sammy and Freddy came running, faces bursting with huge grins. Ron bent down and pulled them into an affectionate hug while Sammy and Freddy jittered up and down in Ron's arms. Ron release them and stood. As soon as Ron released them, true to form, Freddy started jumping up and down on the balls of his feet. In a voice that was like a scream subdued to a whisper, Freddy kept saying, "were famous, were famous".
Ron pull the boys to his sides, "Well, aren't you going to introduce us?"
Sammy and Freddy were so excited they were speechless. There were bouncing up and down even faster than before. Suddenly, Sammy bolted forward a few steps, stop with his arms held out, then stuck in that position, his body stiff, as if struggling against some unseen force, then he screamed. "IT'S RON WEASLEY!!!!"
A stampede of kids rushed toward them. They grabbed Ron's arms, and pulled them toward a small raised platform. Well, OK, they pulled Ron over, and Harry just got swept along in the rush.
Flash bulbs started going off everywhere, as soon as people had their pictures; it was time for autographs. Ron was signing papers as fast as he could.
"Sign my chessboard", another boy asked. And the room went dead quiet while one boy beamed, and the rest of the room cursed themselves for not thinking to bring their own chessboards.
"Where should I sign it, along the edge?" Ron asked.
"No, sign it right in the middle, Make it big.", the boy demanded.
More people rush in for autographs. Then another high pitched little boy scream, "SIGN MY BUTT! SIGN MY BUTT!" Harry looked over and saw a little boy with his pants and underwear down around his ankles. He's bent forward poking his butt back at Ron, and jittering with excited energy. Ron obliges, and signs his butt. The kid stood up, started hopping up and down, spinning around, pointing at his butt. "He did it! He signed my butt! He signed my butt!" Apparently, unconcerned that his boyhood was flopping around for all to see.
"Sign my forehead."
"Sign my arm."
"Sign my chest."
"Sign my back."
"Sign my butt too. Sign my butt." This boy was a little more modest, he only exposed his butt. Ron signed it.
"OK, no more butts. Does everyone have an autograph? That's everybody? OK." Ron looked at Sammy and Freddy and asked, "OK, now what?"
Sammy replied, "tell the story." Before Ron could answer a tidal wave of kids rushed away from the platform. There was an incredible clatter of chairs banging and scraping, and another tidal wave washed back toward the stage. Then silence, every kid sat in a chair around the stage, completely quiet, every one leaning forward with undivided attention on Ron.
"First, let me introduce my good friend Harry Potter, the only person to ever survive a death curse, and has defeated Lord Voldemort more times than any other living person.", Ron said.
Every eye turned to Harry. Not one word was spoken, but the message was crystal clear; so he fights evil wizards, but can he play chess?
"Ok. let's begin", every face instantly snapped back toward Ron. "It starts with a 3 headed dog, a GIANT 3 headed dog. OK, I'm serious, this was a GIANT! three headed dog. Huge! The dog completely filled the large room. His feet came up to my knees, his knees were above my head, the dogs necks were thicker than the body of a horse." Ron looked at Harry for confirmation, Harry nods. "Way way WAY thicker than the body of a horse. On top of each neck was the biggest most ugliest most vicious, snarling, growling, barking dog with breath so foul it could wilt a tree, more horrible than your worst nightmare. But that's not the worst part...... The worst part was .....DOG SLOBBER! The dogs were all drooling and foaming at the mouth; slimy smell disgusting giant dog drool. Every time the dogs moved their heads, giant slimey blobs of dog drool flew all over the place. WHAM! ..." Ever body in the room flinched. "A big huge gob of stinky slimy foamy dog drool hit me on the shoulder almost knocking me over. It must have been this big." Ron held up his hands indicating the size. OK, the dog slobber wasn't completely true. But to boys this age, nothing is cooler than something slimy and disgusting. They were loving it. "And to make it even worse.... I got it on my hands. I was horrible, the nastiest most disgusting thing you ever saw. I almost barfed right on the spot."
'Great going', Harry thought, 'you've already got slimy giant dog slobber and barf, and the story is just getting started'. Harry was enjoying the story himself. Ron was doing a great job telling it. Every kid in the room hung on his every word.
"But I couldn't worry about giant dog slobber, I had a world to save; evil forces to fight. We started playing an enchanted flute, and slowly the soft gentle music put the horrible beast to sleep."
"Hey, guys want to hear something really cool", Ron broke his story. "The big huge vicious nightmare of a three headed hound from hell was named ...... Fluffy. Can you believe it, Fluffy. Fluffy belonged to Hagrid, our giant friend. You did know we had a giant for a friend, didn't you? He really is quite nice, we have tea with him all the time."
'Oh Ron, Ron, Ron', Harry thought, 'I bow to the master. You've got slimy dog drool, barf, a monster named fluffy, and tea with a giant, and we aren't even at the trapdoor yet.' Harry was loving it.
"I pulled the trap door open and saw nothing but black. It could have been 10 feet or it could have been a 1,000 feet, there was no way to tell. But when you're saving the world, you do what must be done. We jumped. It seemed like we fell forever. Then suddenly, THUMP we landed on something soft and rubber. It was a giant plant. Hermione scramble off right away. Before Harry and I had a chance to move, thick vines started tangling around us. They tied out legs, wrapped around our bodies, trapped out arms, choked our neck, ......and the thick slimy vines started to wrap around our faces, it was horrible."
Ron is acting out the parts, staggering around the stage going through wild body motions, thrashing his head around like he was trying to get the vines off his face. His hands at his throat choking himself. I was beautiful.
"Hermione realize that we were caught in ... ... ... the Devil's Snare."
Harry doubted if any of them knew what a Devil's Snare was, but Ron said it so dramatically, that every breath in the room rushed out in a gasp.
"Hermione started thinking out loud, telling us everything she knew about the Devil's Snare. Most important, it likes the dark. 'Light a fire', Harry yelled to her, as the vines started crushing us. And do you know what she said? She said 'I haven't got any wood'. Can you believe it? So I screamed at her 'You're a witch, you don't need any wood'. ....... BLAM!!!" Even Harry jumped this time. "A huge 20 foot flame came blasting out of Hermione's wand. The plant recoiled from the light and we were free." Everyone in the room let out a sigh as if they were afraid for second that we might not make it.
Harry interrupted, "For this next part it's important to know..." 'YIKES!', Harry thought as every face in the room turned and stared daggers at him. The force of their stares actually made Harry jump back. The message was clear, 'What mere mortal dares to interrupt Ron Weasley'.
"I just wanted to say that for this next part it's important to know that Ron is a really good Quidditch player. He been playing with his brothers since he was a little kid. He's versatile, he can play every position. You'll see why that's important in a second.", Harry had his say, now he desperately wanted them to look away. There heads slowly turned back to Ron but as they did, they sent a clear message, and that message was 'don't you dare do that again'. Harry got the message loud and clear.
The story continued, "Harry's right, you'll see why in a second. We ran to the next chamber, and it's full of the most beautiful colorful birds, hundreds of them, all flying, every single one. We thought the birds would attack us as we rushed for the next door. But they didn't. We looked closer and saw that they weren't birds at all, they were ....(Ron Weasley, master of the dramatic pause) ....they were flying keys."
"Wow", ever one in the room gasped at once.
Ron is back to the story, "We figured it out right away. We had to capture the flying key that opened the lock. But which one? There were hundreds. Hundreds, right Harry?" Harry nodded confirmation. "Then I realize that, of course, the key is going to look just like the lock. It was a big old fashioned silver lock. So we search for a big old fashioned silver key. There were three brooms there. We hopped on. Hermione and I played the chasers, Harry played the seeker. Harry's the youngest seeker in a century at Hogwart's. Did you know that?" Harry had already set him up with the Quidditch analogy, he figured he might as well use it. Although, it was clear they didn't want to hear about Harry. "Harry hovered high above. Hermione and I herded the keys around so Harry could see them. Harry spotted it. One of us came at the key from the top, the other came at it from the bottom, hoping to keep it still long enough for Harry to swoop in. ZOOM! Harry dived down from the ceiling and captured the key." Ron's voice takes on an ominous tone. "We opened the door into a dark chamber. We could see nothing but a few shadowy figures."
Ron voice still ominous, but gradually talking slower to build suspense. Harry doesn't have to hear it to know that every heart in that room is pounding with anticipation, on the verge of bursting. Ron is doing an incredible job. He's like a master craftsmen, the kids are putty in his hands.
Ron continued the story, "We took one step forward. BAM! The lights came on." That one even caught Harry of guard. When Ron yelled BAM, he felt his own heart leap. "And there it was ... ... ... the chess board. It was 30 feet if it was an inch." Again, Ron turned to Harry for confirmation. Harry nodded. "The pawns were taller than we were. The king and queen towered over us. The knight was nearly as big as a real horse. Piles of broken chess pieces lay all around the board. Every piece made from hard carved stone. ... ... ... The creepiest part of all ... ... ... the white chess pieces had no faces." Ron said this as if he were stating the most horrible fact, and right on cue, a gasp rose from the crowd. "I knew what we had to do to get to the next door ... ... ... we had to play. ... ... ... To confirm this, I walk over to the black knight. As soon as I touched him, he came to life. His horse was rearing, stomping and pawing at the floor. I asked the knight 'do we have to play?'. He nodded, 'yes.'"
Ron speaking excited now, "Back to the center of the board, I took charge; Hemione, queen side castle, Harry, queen side bishop, and I took king side knight. Silently, those three chess pieces moved off the board. We took our places. The white pawn moved. The game had started."
Ron started a detailed description of the game. Harry was sure that if Ron got these kids any more excite, some of them are going to pass out. Every eye open wide, every jaw dropped, every heart pounding, every kid slid as far forward on his seat as possible, they were spellbound by the game.
"Then I was there. Checkmate in two moves. But to do that, I had to sacrifice myself to the queen. The queen showed no mercy to any chess piece. Hard stone chess pieces shattered from one smash of her massive stone arms, and I had to sacrifice myself to her. Sometimes you have to do something that is bigger than yourself. The fate of the world was at stake. How could I save myself, if that meant destroying the world? You're all chess players. You know how the game is played. Sometime you have to sacrifice in order to gain something larger than the fate of single piece."
Harry was in a room full of young boys, it should have been a mad house in here. But the silence in the room was unbelievable. If a pin dropped, it would have sounded like thunder, along side this silence. Harry couldn't even see anyone breathing.
"So I moved", Ron continued the story, "The queen was towering over me. She pulled back one of her massive stone arms and swung. WHAM! She smashed me on the side of the head knocking me half way across the board. The queen picked me up by the leg and threw me hard onto the pile with all the other batter and broken chess pieces. Then Harry made the final move to checkmate, and the king threw down his crown at Harry's feet."
Ron paused to let the story sink in, and was about to finish when he was hit by a barrage of question. Moves, ploys, strategies, alternate moves, question about the board and the chess pieces, how bad was he hurt. As far as they were concerned, the story was over. I mean, who can be bothered with the story of an evil wizards, when you've got Ron Weasley in person.
"OK, let's take a break now", Ron said. It was probably a good thing he did. Seriously, a lot of the kids we so overexcited they looked on the verge of fainting. Every kid took in a deep breath and slumped back in his seat looking exhausted. "Tell you what, while we are taking a break, you pick 6 chess players to challenge me, and I'll play them all at the same time."
Ron walked over and sat next to Harry. "So, Harry, how am I doing?"
"Bloody brilliant, bloody brilliant." Harry responded, "I swear, even I was on the edge of my seat, and the kids, by the time you got to the end, they were so excited, I thought half of them would pee their pants and the other half would faint dead away. And I loved how you managed to get dog slime, barf, a monster named fluffy, and tea with giant, all into the story before we even reach the trap door. If that isn't the work of a master, then I don't know what is."
"What about the 'sign my butt' boys?", Ron asked, "Now that was strange, really strange, but at the same time, it was so cool."
Harry added, "when I interrupted you, I swear their glares knock me back a step. I think I would face Lord Voldemort before I would face those icy stares again. I never felt more relieved in my life than I did when their faces turned away."
Six chess boards are set up six challengers are seated. It's time to play. Ron, begins to play moving from table to table with each move.
"Sammy, Freddy, how would you like to hear a quick story about Ron and his enchanted flying car, and the time he broke me out of prison and saved my life", Harry asked the boys. Harry knew it would be hard to draw them away from the chess games, but he thought, how could any kid resist Ron, flying cars, prison breaks and life saving. Reluctantly they followed, apparently it was too great an adventure to resist.
Harry moved across the room and sat on a table top, Freddy and Sammy, sat on each side of him. "Ok, guys you have to be cool about this story, technically you're not allowed to fly enchanted cars, so we don't want to get Ron in trouble. So, this is just between us guys, OK? I'm going to trust you not to tell anyone but your closest and most trusted friends." Of course, Harry knew he as good as told them to tell the whole world. The boys nodded agreement. Freddy and Sammy leaned forward and look at each other in anticipation. Freddy was bouncing on his butt, rubbing his hands together, and Harry just knew that inside his head was a voice screaming, 'we're famous! we're famous!'. Harry started the story of the enchanted fly car, gesturing and moving his arm is great swoops, making all the right faces at just the right time. As soon as Ron and the flying car entered the story, the boys were spellbound, silent and motionless. Dobby the elf, the smashed bowl of pudding, Uncle Vernon making him a prisoner, the great rescue by Ron and the flying car. Harry made sure to make the slime slimier, every BANG louder, every cool thing cooler, and every fear more fearful. He felt a little guilty for manipulating the boys the way he was, but it was such a thrill to see them start, gasp, and 'wow' right on cue as he told the story. The boys were loving every minute of it. Harry had to admit that he stole everything from Ron. Ron was a master at pulling the kids into the story. Harry continued the story; the blocked gate at platform 9-3/4, the invisibility button, the flight to Hagwart's. The boy were breathless.
"So, we're almost to Hogwart's when the engine started to fail. The engine whines, sputters, coughs, dies and restarts several time. Now the engine is barely running, we're heading straight for the castle. I was sure we were going to crash and be killed. But at the last minute, flying like an expert, Ron veered away from the castle. We turned in a big arc, coming around to land on the open green. Then BAM! we hit something. The car went spinning through the air and CRASHED on the ground. I hit my head when we landed, I was dazed and bleeding. Ron had tried so hard to keep the car flying that he broke his wand. By the way, in another story, that broken wand saved our lives. We thought we made it, we were about to breath a sigh of relief when BAM! something smashed my side of the car so hard it knock me across the car into Ron. BAM! something smashes Ron's side of the car and knocked us both to the other side. I didn't have a clue, I was too stunned to move. But Ron, even though he was stunned, was immediately behind the wheel, working frantically to get the car started. BAM! something smashed the roof of the car. Ron kept working on the car. My head is bleeding, my glasses are hanging on crooked, I was helpless. BAM! the car is hit again." Harry's voice became softer and very dramatic. "Just then Ron started the car and drove us out of reach of ... ... ... (a perfectly timed dramatic pause which I learned from the master, Ron Weasley) ... ... ... the Whopping Willow." The boys gasp, wide eye, their mouths hanging open. Harry had to fight to keep from laughing. He felt shameless. He said 'whomping willow' with such drama and awe in his voice that the boys gasped right on cue, even though they didn't know what a whomping willow was.
Harry continued, waving his hands around as he described the tree, "The whomping willow is this huge tree with big thick branches that have the big gnarly like fists on the end. The whomping willow whomps anything that get in it's reach, and it doesn't stop whomping until has whomped it into dust."
Harry paused to give them a second to taking the whomping willow. "Ron's enchanted car was not a very happy car, We drove it too far, we drove it to fast, we smashed it into a tree, crashed on the ground, and got it beaten by the whomping willow. This was one very unhappy car. When we got clear of the whomping willow, the car threw us and all of our stuff out on the ground and drove off into the forbidden forest. If it hadn't been for Ron's expert skill flying that car and his cool head under pressure, I wouldn't be here to tell this story. Oh yeah, you know, in another story, that car saved out lives. Now remember guys, this story isn't for everyone. We wouldn't want the Ministry of Magic to get wind of Ron's enchanted flying car. Truth is, outside of Hogwart's school, you are the first people to hear this story. Remember what I said, reveal it only to your closest most trusted friends."
Sammy and Freddy are expressionless after the story. Realizing the story is over, they stood in front of the table looking at each other with looks a awe. Freddy put his hands on Sammy's shoulders, he spoke with calm quiet awe, "we are famous". They stared at each other, then their faces exploded with smiles. They hugged each other, kissed, and ran off to watch Ron play chess. OK, Harry wasn't to surprised by the hug, but the kiss caught him off guard. It was nice though, because Harry knew what it was like to have a best friend like that.
Harry, sort of, had a half formed plan behind telling Sammy and Freddy this story. He wasn't sure it was going to work out but even if it didn't, they still got to hear the story. Sammy and Freddy move to Ron's side and followed him from table to table as he played. Being good chess players they were very careful not to disturb him. The games ended, of course, Ron won them all. Although, Harry suspected his opponents might have been too dazzled to concentrate.
Ron walk to the platform to join Harry, "Well, it's getting late...".
OH NO! Those were not the words the kids wanted to hear. Harry could literally see a wave of panic sweep across every face, followed quickly by a wave of desperation.
"A story.", one boy said quietly as if desperately grasping for anything. But apparently those were the magic words, because a wave of excitement swept across the boys as they begged Ron for another story.
"I'll tell you what", Harry said, cold faces turn in his direction, this time the message in the faces was, 'OK, speak, but you better watch your step'. "How about if we give Ron a rest and I tell you a story about how Ron saved my life. It's got giant spiders in it." Pretty hard for a kid to resist giant spiders, but they weren't completely convinced. "In the process of telling this story, I will reveal Ron Weasley's deepest darkest secret. A secret know only by a chosen few." Now Harry had them in a dilemma. Do they hear the thing they desperately want to hear and risk offending Ron, or do they pass up a chance to know his greatest secret. Harry could have whipped himself from shame. He knew what a position he had put them in. Harry looked over at Ron. Ron was playing his part, giving Harry very threatening looks. Harry noticed a very small boy inching his way toward Ron with a tray of tea and biscuits. He also noticed several face in the crowd kicking themselves for not having thought of bring Ron a cup of tea. The little boy set the tray of tea on the chair next to Ron. He smiled, very pleased with himself for having thought of this. Ron's brotherly instincts must have taken over because he pick the kid up and put him on his lap. The once smiling kid looked like he had been hit by a stunning curse. His face completely blank, he fell over sideways against Ron an rested there motionless.
Harry wondered if he should check and see it the kid fainted. But he felt the eyes of the crowded back on him. "Ron, doesn't want me to tell you this because he doesn't want you to see him as weak. But when I combine this story with Ron secret, you'll see him as a braver and stronger man than you every imagined, and you'll see why Ron is the best friend a person could ever hope to have." Harry congratulated himself, because he knew they could never resist that. The boys didn't say anything, they moved to their chairs, and gave Harry a look that said, 'you better get this right or there will be trouble'. A message that Harry was already well aware of.
"One year, something mysterious was trying to kill students at Hogwart's. We were very fortunate, so far, only four students had been petrified, bodies turn hard as stone, but not dead. Our closest friend Hermione Granger was one of them was. We were given a clue, 'follow the spiders' and they would lead us to information that would help unlock the mystery. Ron and I had notice every spider in the area heading into the Forbidden Forest. Forbidden Forest is a VERY dangerous place. Although, we did meet three really nice centaurs in there one night." Harry, looked over at Ron for confirmation. Ron nodded his head in agreement.
"So we decide to follow the spiders into the Forbidden Forest that night. We followed the trail we had seen the spiders on. Stop for a second and think how ridiculous that must have looked. Ron and I, using the dim light of our wands, trying to track tiny little spiders through the thick dense forest. Anyway, we followed the spiders deep deep into the forest. Deeper than we had ever been before. We heard noise. It was getting closer. Then suddenly on the trail ahead ... ... ... two giant spiders; big hairy ugly slimy giant spiders with huge pinchers." With 10 year old boys, it doesn't hurt to throw in a little slime every now and then.
"So tell me guys, how big is a giant spider? If it was as big as a Quaffle ball, would that be a giant spider? How about the size of a big dog? Is that a giant? How about as big as a horse? How about as big as a car? No! No, my friends, those are not giant spiders. Those are baby spiders. These spiders were as big as a truck."
"Before we could do anything they had grabbed us and carried us deeper into the woods. Their nasty hairy front legs were wrapped around ankles as they were carryed us upside down. We were hanging right in front of their big ugly dripping mouths just inches from their giant pinchers." Harry gestured with his arm indicating the size of the pinchers.
"The one carrying me grabbed my free leg and crushed it with his pinchers. They must have been poison pinchers because my leg felt like it was on fire. So, is this the scary part? No. No. No. This part is a fairly tale, a children's bedtime story compared to what we saw next ... ... ... The giant spiders had taken us to a giant spiders nest. Thousands and thousands of spiders of all sizes. Everything for as far as we could see, covered with a thick teaming mass of crawling spiders. It was like the ground, every bush, every tree, every branch, every twig was covered with a hideous flesh made of living spiders. Hundreds and hundreds of the huge black ugly slimy giant poisonous spiders were everywhere. The two giant spiders dropped us on the ground. The other hundreds of spiders gathered behind them. One of the spiders spoke in human voice. We turned in the direction he was speaking, and out of a cave came ... .... (love these dramatic pauses) ... .... Aragog, king of the Acromantula's, the biggest hairiest ugliest nastiest meanest spider that ever haunted your worst nightmares." Great wizards, Harry loved this. Every eye on him, every body leaned forward, every person hanging on his every word. If he said Boo!, he swore half of them would drop dead on the spot.
"Boy were we ever relieved to see him ... ... (we have to pause here so they can try and reconcile why we are relieved to seem their worst nightmare) ... ... ... Aragog, king of the Acromantula spiders, used to be a pet of our friend Hagrid the giant. Really guys, I'm not kidding you. Hagrid the giant kept a giant spider as a pet." Harry was disappointed that it had taken him this long to work Hagrid the giant into the story. "Since Aragog was a friend of Hagrid's and we were friends of Hagrid, we thought he would protect us. Aragog told us, that out of loyalty to Hargid the giant, he swore he would never harm a human being. Oh man, was that a relief; we thought we were safe. Then Aragog informed us that while he had swore to never harm a human, the hundreds of other giant spiders had not. As far as he was concerned, we were just fresh meat."
"Auh, oh, we're fresh meat. My leg is crushed, poison is seeping into my body, blood is gushing from my leg. It's all up to Ron. But what can he do against hundreds of giant spiders. Suddenly, a blaze of light washes over us, and we hear a roaring, and crashing in the woods the likes of which was beyond our nightmares." Always good to throw a few nightmares into the story.
"With a great CRASH! and a ROAR! came Ron's enchanted flying car." Harry decided if the said 'enchanted' every time he mentioned the car, it sounded better. "It charged through all the spiders knocking them right and left. Spiders are flying through the air. The enchanted car was heading right toward us. It came roaring up, spun around, and came to a stop right next to us. It's bright headlights holding back the spiders."
Harry broke from the story, which he knew would be pure torture for the boys. "You do know about Ron's enchanted flying car don't you? Well never mind that, that's an old story, besides Sammy and Freddy have already heard it." Harry could have kicked himself. If Sammy and Freddy were famous before, they were heroes now and probably on their way to sainthood.
"Ron is my good friend. Let him escape, I thought. Better he lives than we both die." Harry turned to Ron, sniffed and wiped his eye. Ron saw that it was pure theater. "...[sniff] ...He wouldn't do it. He wouldn't save himself. He wouldn't go unless, I went with him. He dragged my near lifeless body over and gently placed me in the car. He jumped in, and Ron's enchanted flying car saved us. It drove us out of the forest, we thank it, it turned and drove back into the forest and we never saw it again. Ron could have left me there, I wouldn't have thought any less of him. But a true friend doesn't leave you behind, no matter what the costs. I never had a truer friend that Ron Weasley." All eyes were on Ron, enchanted admiring eyes. Ron Weasley was so much greater than a chess hero.
"So, where was Ron's deepest darkest secret in this story? Forgive me Ron. Please forgive me. Ron is ... ... ... deathly afraid of ... ... ... spiders. If a little spider crawled across the floor right now, he would probably run from it. Do you think that's funny? Do you think he is a coward for being afraid of a tiny spider?"
"Ron is a hero. A hero isn't someone who is not afraid. Only a fool is not afraid. A hero is someone who is deathly afraid, and does what has to be done anyway. And in my eyes, Ron is a thousand times a hero, because he faced his worst nightmare magnified a thousand times, and he put friendship over fear."
"Think about your worst nightmare, think of the most horrible thing that you can imagine, then multiply it by a thousand. We faced that nightmare and more together, and Ron has never let me down. I know you're not very impressed with me. I'm a terrible chess player. But I've defeated Lord Voldemort more times than any other living person. But that's pointless, if I can't get to Lord Voldemort."
Apparently, these kids have no fear of Voldemort's name. Maybe being in the presents of greatness, and I mean Ron, has made them fearless. "I could never have gotten past the chess board, and that would mean, today Lord Voldemort would be immortal. We would be living under a reign of terror that you can not imagine. Death, murder, torture, unspeakable evil beyond your worst nightmares would dominate your lives. It doesn't matter that I was the one who actually stood face to face with Voldemort and defeated him, because I could never have gotten there without Ron. I'm the most famous wizard in all of Britain, maybe even the whole world, but without my friends Hermione and Ron, I'm just a little boy with a scar on his forehead."
"I'm going to talk about something else now. I know guys aren't suppose to talk about mushy lovey stuff. But I want you to know that I love Ron Weasley with all my heart and soul, and I know Ron loves me. Ron and his family taught me life's most important lesson, and gave me life's greatest treasure. The greatest treasure you can have, the greatest gift you can give or receive, is not money, it's love."
"How many of you have a best friend; a very very best friend? Do you love them? Have you ever told them? Have you allowed yourself to feel and enjoy that love? Have you ever expressed your love for them with affection? If you love someone, say it, live it, and let yourself feel it. When a man is moving forward in life, he thinks about money and what it can do for him. But when your time comes to it's end, and you look back on life, you won't be counting your money. You'll be counting your love."
"Ron", Harry called Ron to join him. Ron got up and the little boy with the tea slid off his lap. The boy was still a little stunned. So Ron sat him on the chair. Ron joined Harry at the front of the stage. "Ron and his family taught me that love is a treasure, and made me a rich man by sharing their love with me. Ron Weasley, I'm not afraid to say I love him. Ron Weasley, my best friend. Ron Weasley, master chess player. Ron Weasley, a thousand times a hero." Harry leaned forward toward the boys and pointed back at Ron. "It's Ron Weasley guys, what do you think?"
Harry stepped back behind Ron, and started clapping his hands. In a second, the clapping and cheering, more like screaming, for Ron was deafening.
Ron let the applause go on for a bit, then held up is hands telling them to stop. "Thank you, thank you, Ok, now that's enough. OK, let's quiet down.", eventually he quieted the boys. "I'm sad to say, that it's time to go." Groans rose from the crowd. "But I had so much fun here today. This was the most fun I've had in as long as I can remember. You know, your the first. I've never appeared at any chess club before. Every story told, was told for the first time." Ron looked at Harry with an angry scowl, pure theater of course, and said sternly, "Every secret revealed, was revealed for the first time."
Ron started walking toward the fireplace. "I think we've got time for a few more pictures then Harry and I have to get back to school. Sammy, Freddy, why don't you come up here and we'll take some pictures together." Sammy and Freddy, join Ron in front of the fireplace.
"OK, to the boys whose bodies I signed. You do realize that as soon as you get home, your Mum is going to make you wash that off?" From their expressions, it was clear the boys hadn't thought that far ahead. "OK, the solution is easy. Think about. What are you going to do? It's not that hard. Come on."
A pause, then a boy in front held up his camera, "take a picture."
"That's it, just take a bunch of picture before you wash it off. Then you'll have it forever."
Ron knelt between Sammy and Freddy, so he was roughly the same height, and put his arms over their shoulders. "Harry, you get in here too. Right here next to me." Harry knelt down next to Ron. "You don't think so now, but trust me, one of these days your going to be glad you got to meet Harry Potter. OK, let's take some pictures". Flash bulbs started going of, not as many as before, Harry thought some of them might have run out of film.
When the flashes stopped, Ron hugged Sammy and Freddy, and Harry shook their hands. "I really did have fun today", Ron said to Sammy. "Maybe in a couple of years, I'll see you at Hogwart's. I'm going to be really busy with school for the rest of the year. We have some big exams coming up, so I probably won't be able to stay in contact with you. But, if you want to send me a couple of owls and let me know how things are going, that would be OK. Harry why don't you go first."
Harry threw his Floo powder in and stepped into the smoke. Ron shook hands with Sammy and Freddy again. "It really was fun. Thanks for inviting me." Ron threw his Floo powered in the fire, waved, and he was gone. When Ron appeared at the fireplace on the other end, he saw Harry sitting in a soft chair. Ron sat in the chair next to him. They sat quietly for a while.
Ron, broke the silence, "We are such liars!"
"Completely shameless", Harry added. "You know, not one of those poor boys is going to be able to sleep for a week. And Sammy and Freddy, as excited as they were, they may never sleep again. We really are very bad boys."
"The 'sign my butt' boys were so cool", Ron smiled. "I can't believe they did that. I can't believe I did that. And you! A thousand times a hero. Did you maybe exaggerate just a little bit? And that big build up at the end, could you have laid that on any thicker? Oh man, that was so much fun."
Harry was feeling a little guilty. "I wonder what will happen to Sammy and Freddy. I have a feeling they are going to be famous, at least among their friends. I'm starting to feel a little guilty about setting them up with the fly car story. I told them it was a big secret, then told everyone they'd heard it. Every kid within 50 miles, is going to be hounding them to hear that story. I hope we didn't screw things up for them. You right, that was soooo much fun."
Ron sigh deeply, "Well, let's go eat then go back to the dorm and rest. Harry, why didn't you tell me that being a hero was so exhausting?"
The next morning, Ron, Harry, and Hermione were at the Griphyndore table having breakfast as usual, when the owl mail arrived. Several owls flew in and started dropping their letters and packages. Then they heard a low rumbling, like a long distant roll of thunder combine with the beating of wings. At the top of the great hall, a dark dense cloud rushed in. The room went quiet, everyone watch as the cloud came down from the ceiling. It was a flock of owls. The biggest densest flock of owls Harry had ever seen. The cloud of owls turned toward the Gryphindore table and flew a long it's length, heading directly for Harry. Harry stood and pulled his wand. This had to be the work of dark forces. It had to be some kind of trick. Hermiony and Ron stood with their wands in hand. As the cloud of owls flew over them, a torrent of letters rained down on Ron. Ron sat and tore one open, looked at it, threw it down, and opened another, then another. Ron slumped forward and rested his forehead on the table. Unfortunately, he was also resting his head in his breakfast. Harry sat and tore a letter opened and examined it. Then he tore open another, then another. Harry turned and stared at Ron. Hermione pick up a letter, opened it, and read it carefully.
"It's an invitation to appear at a wizard's chess club, and so is this one. Are they all like that?", Hermione said trying to make sense of it.
Ron, without lifting his head, held up a handful of letters, "invitations".
"This ones not", Harry said. Ron sat up and looked at Harry. "It's not from a chess club. It's from a wizard's businessmen's association. They want you to be the guest speaker at a business dinner. They're even willing to pay you."
"This chess club will pay you, too", Hermione added, "although, they apologies because they can't offer you very much."
" ....aaaauuwww.....", Ron moaned, "what am I going to do?" Ron sat up, "it will take a weeks just to open them all. It will take months just to write 'No' across the top of each one, and send it back. And where am I going to get enough owls to send this many letters? I swear if Sammy and Freddy were here right now, I would strangle them. ...Well, maybe not. This isn't possible, it's just not possible for this to happen over night. It's just not possible."
"Well, if 40 boys send three owls each to their friends", Harry said, hoping he could explain it to himself as well as to Ron, "and they each send three owl to their friend, and they send three owls to their friends, that must be like what..." Harry looked at Hermione to see if she had the answer. "...like thousands of owls. Not to mention all the people they told even before we got there."
Ron fell forward like a fresh cut tree, his head banged to a rest on the table. Fortunately, missing his breakfast this time. Then he slowly started to thump his forehead on the table. "....oooouuuuhh... what am I going to doooo......"
"Well, Ronnie boy...", 'this must be serious', Harry thought, 'Ron never lets any one get away with calling him Ronnie'.
"Well, Ronnie boy, that's the price of fame."
END
Year:Beginning of sixth year
Time:Late August
Pairing: [Ron/Harry]
Rating: NC-13 Virtually no slash -
Summary: Ron pays a fun visit to his devoted fans.
Note:
This is a continuation or Sequel to 'Friend to Fame', you need to read that first. The characters from this story appear in my later stories.
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"The Chess Club "
"Harry, I got a owl from Sammy and Freddy"
"Fred and who? Fred and George, that Fred? Who are you talking about?"
"Sammy and Freddy, the autograph boys. Remember?"
"Oh yeah, that day in Diagon Alley? That was a really strange. Two really weird boys."
"Hey, watch it, those are my fans. Anyway, they want me to come to their wizards chess club. I kind of liked those boys. For some reason, they reminded me of us. Oh great wizards help us, if those two come to this school. It will be like Fred and George all over again. I'm thinking about doing it. What do you say, Harry, want to go visit Sammy and Freddy's chess club?"
"Why do you need me there?", Harry asked.
"Well, you know how modest I am. I'm going to need someone there to tell them about all my great adventures.", Ron said, only half teasing.
Ron paused to think, "The problem is how would we get there? I think I'll go talk to Professor McGonagall. This seems like something she might help us with. I think. I hope."
Later that day, "Harry, Professor McGonagall was keen on that idea. She said we could travel by Floo Powered. All we need is the address of the chess club and of course, the chess club has to have a fire place. If it doesn't have a fireplace, we'll have to find some place near by that does. Come on Harry, come with me. What good is it, if the famous Ron Weasley doesn't have his trusty sidekick?"
Harry is struggling to make up his mind. "I'm torn, part of me says No and part of me says Yes. The part that says No is thinking about spending the day in a room full of screaming borderline hysterical boys. The part that says Yes is asking 'how many time does your best friend have save your life before you return the favor?' I guess that means Yes wins, but remember this is pay back for one life saving."
Ron, sent an owl to Sammy and Freddy, asking about the club and the fireplace. When the reply came it look like everything was going to work out. They had the club's address and the club had a fireplace.
The day came, Ron and Harry were ready, Professor McGonagall had arrange a fireplace that the could Floo out of and return to.
Ron was ready to throw his Floo powder in, when Harry grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Wait, we want to do this right. I'll go first and you come about 10 or 15 seconds behind me. That way I can give you an introduction." Ron didn't seem to keen on this idea but he let Harry go first.
At the appointed time, a cloud of smoke rose out of the chess club fire place, Harry appeared, looking into dozens of eager smiling faces. For about one second, then every face in the room dropped, and Harry started getting visions of lynch mobs in his head. "Don't worry folks, he's right behind me. He'll be here any second. The wizards chess player who defeated Lord Voldemort, Ron Weasley!"
Poof, right on cue, 'the Great Ron Weasley' appeared in a cloud of smoke. The smoke cleared and they faced a room full of kids, every expression fixed in a look of stunned awe at being face to face with Ron. The room was dead silent. Not a single kid moved. They were transfixed by the sight of Ron.
"Sammy, Freddy where are you? Come up here and give me hug, and introduce me to your club." Sammy and Freddy came running, faces bursting with huge grins. Ron bent down and pulled them into an affectionate hug while Sammy and Freddy jittered up and down in Ron's arms. Ron release them and stood. As soon as Ron released them, true to form, Freddy started jumping up and down on the balls of his feet. In a voice that was like a scream subdued to a whisper, Freddy kept saying, "were famous, were famous".
Ron pull the boys to his sides, "Well, aren't you going to introduce us?"
Sammy and Freddy were so excited they were speechless. There were bouncing up and down even faster than before. Suddenly, Sammy bolted forward a few steps, stop with his arms held out, then stuck in that position, his body stiff, as if struggling against some unseen force, then he screamed. "IT'S RON WEASLEY!!!!"
A stampede of kids rushed toward them. They grabbed Ron's arms, and pulled them toward a small raised platform. Well, OK, they pulled Ron over, and Harry just got swept along in the rush.
Flash bulbs started going off everywhere, as soon as people had their pictures; it was time for autographs. Ron was signing papers as fast as he could.
"Sign my chessboard", another boy asked. And the room went dead quiet while one boy beamed, and the rest of the room cursed themselves for not thinking to bring their own chessboards.
"Where should I sign it, along the edge?" Ron asked.
"No, sign it right in the middle, Make it big.", the boy demanded.
More people rush in for autographs. Then another high pitched little boy scream, "SIGN MY BUTT! SIGN MY BUTT!" Harry looked over and saw a little boy with his pants and underwear down around his ankles. He's bent forward poking his butt back at Ron, and jittering with excited energy. Ron obliges, and signs his butt. The kid stood up, started hopping up and down, spinning around, pointing at his butt. "He did it! He signed my butt! He signed my butt!" Apparently, unconcerned that his boyhood was flopping around for all to see.
"Sign my forehead."
"Sign my arm."
"Sign my chest."
"Sign my back."
"Sign my butt too. Sign my butt." This boy was a little more modest, he only exposed his butt. Ron signed it.
"OK, no more butts. Does everyone have an autograph? That's everybody? OK." Ron looked at Sammy and Freddy and asked, "OK, now what?"
Sammy replied, "tell the story." Before Ron could answer a tidal wave of kids rushed away from the platform. There was an incredible clatter of chairs banging and scraping, and another tidal wave washed back toward the stage. Then silence, every kid sat in a chair around the stage, completely quiet, every one leaning forward with undivided attention on Ron.
"First, let me introduce my good friend Harry Potter, the only person to ever survive a death curse, and has defeated Lord Voldemort more times than any other living person.", Ron said.
Every eye turned to Harry. Not one word was spoken, but the message was crystal clear; so he fights evil wizards, but can he play chess?
"Ok. let's begin", every face instantly snapped back toward Ron. "It starts with a 3 headed dog, a GIANT 3 headed dog. OK, I'm serious, this was a GIANT! three headed dog. Huge! The dog completely filled the large room. His feet came up to my knees, his knees were above my head, the dogs necks were thicker than the body of a horse." Ron looked at Harry for confirmation, Harry nods. "Way way WAY thicker than the body of a horse. On top of each neck was the biggest most ugliest most vicious, snarling, growling, barking dog with breath so foul it could wilt a tree, more horrible than your worst nightmare. But that's not the worst part...... The worst part was .....DOG SLOBBER! The dogs were all drooling and foaming at the mouth; slimy smell disgusting giant dog drool. Every time the dogs moved their heads, giant slimey blobs of dog drool flew all over the place. WHAM! ..." Ever body in the room flinched. "A big huge gob of stinky slimy foamy dog drool hit me on the shoulder almost knocking me over. It must have been this big." Ron held up his hands indicating the size. OK, the dog slobber wasn't completely true. But to boys this age, nothing is cooler than something slimy and disgusting. They were loving it. "And to make it even worse.... I got it on my hands. I was horrible, the nastiest most disgusting thing you ever saw. I almost barfed right on the spot."
'Great going', Harry thought, 'you've already got slimy giant dog slobber and barf, and the story is just getting started'. Harry was enjoying the story himself. Ron was doing a great job telling it. Every kid in the room hung on his every word.
"But I couldn't worry about giant dog slobber, I had a world to save; evil forces to fight. We started playing an enchanted flute, and slowly the soft gentle music put the horrible beast to sleep."
"Hey, guys want to hear something really cool", Ron broke his story. "The big huge vicious nightmare of a three headed hound from hell was named ...... Fluffy. Can you believe it, Fluffy. Fluffy belonged to Hagrid, our giant friend. You did know we had a giant for a friend, didn't you? He really is quite nice, we have tea with him all the time."
'Oh Ron, Ron, Ron', Harry thought, 'I bow to the master. You've got slimy dog drool, barf, a monster named fluffy, and tea with a giant, and we aren't even at the trapdoor yet.' Harry was loving it.
"I pulled the trap door open and saw nothing but black. It could have been 10 feet or it could have been a 1,000 feet, there was no way to tell. But when you're saving the world, you do what must be done. We jumped. It seemed like we fell forever. Then suddenly, THUMP we landed on something soft and rubber. It was a giant plant. Hermione scramble off right away. Before Harry and I had a chance to move, thick vines started tangling around us. They tied out legs, wrapped around our bodies, trapped out arms, choked our neck, ......and the thick slimy vines started to wrap around our faces, it was horrible."
Ron is acting out the parts, staggering around the stage going through wild body motions, thrashing his head around like he was trying to get the vines off his face. His hands at his throat choking himself. I was beautiful.
"Hermione realize that we were caught in ... ... ... the Devil's Snare."
Harry doubted if any of them knew what a Devil's Snare was, but Ron said it so dramatically, that every breath in the room rushed out in a gasp.
"Hermione started thinking out loud, telling us everything she knew about the Devil's Snare. Most important, it likes the dark. 'Light a fire', Harry yelled to her, as the vines started crushing us. And do you know what she said? She said 'I haven't got any wood'. Can you believe it? So I screamed at her 'You're a witch, you don't need any wood'. ....... BLAM!!!" Even Harry jumped this time. "A huge 20 foot flame came blasting out of Hermione's wand. The plant recoiled from the light and we were free." Everyone in the room let out a sigh as if they were afraid for second that we might not make it.
Harry interrupted, "For this next part it's important to know..." 'YIKES!', Harry thought as every face in the room turned and stared daggers at him. The force of their stares actually made Harry jump back. The message was clear, 'What mere mortal dares to interrupt Ron Weasley'.
"I just wanted to say that for this next part it's important to know that Ron is a really good Quidditch player. He been playing with his brothers since he was a little kid. He's versatile, he can play every position. You'll see why that's important in a second.", Harry had his say, now he desperately wanted them to look away. There heads slowly turned back to Ron but as they did, they sent a clear message, and that message was 'don't you dare do that again'. Harry got the message loud and clear.
The story continued, "Harry's right, you'll see why in a second. We ran to the next chamber, and it's full of the most beautiful colorful birds, hundreds of them, all flying, every single one. We thought the birds would attack us as we rushed for the next door. But they didn't. We looked closer and saw that they weren't birds at all, they were ....(Ron Weasley, master of the dramatic pause) ....they were flying keys."
"Wow", ever one in the room gasped at once.
Ron is back to the story, "We figured it out right away. We had to capture the flying key that opened the lock. But which one? There were hundreds. Hundreds, right Harry?" Harry nodded confirmation. "Then I realize that, of course, the key is going to look just like the lock. It was a big old fashioned silver lock. So we search for a big old fashioned silver key. There were three brooms there. We hopped on. Hermione and I played the chasers, Harry played the seeker. Harry's the youngest seeker in a century at Hogwart's. Did you know that?" Harry had already set him up with the Quidditch analogy, he figured he might as well use it. Although, it was clear they didn't want to hear about Harry. "Harry hovered high above. Hermione and I herded the keys around so Harry could see them. Harry spotted it. One of us came at the key from the top, the other came at it from the bottom, hoping to keep it still long enough for Harry to swoop in. ZOOM! Harry dived down from the ceiling and captured the key." Ron's voice takes on an ominous tone. "We opened the door into a dark chamber. We could see nothing but a few shadowy figures."
Ron voice still ominous, but gradually talking slower to build suspense. Harry doesn't have to hear it to know that every heart in that room is pounding with anticipation, on the verge of bursting. Ron is doing an incredible job. He's like a master craftsmen, the kids are putty in his hands.
Ron continued the story, "We took one step forward. BAM! The lights came on." That one even caught Harry of guard. When Ron yelled BAM, he felt his own heart leap. "And there it was ... ... ... the chess board. It was 30 feet if it was an inch." Again, Ron turned to Harry for confirmation. Harry nodded. "The pawns were taller than we were. The king and queen towered over us. The knight was nearly as big as a real horse. Piles of broken chess pieces lay all around the board. Every piece made from hard carved stone. ... ... ... The creepiest part of all ... ... ... the white chess pieces had no faces." Ron said this as if he were stating the most horrible fact, and right on cue, a gasp rose from the crowd. "I knew what we had to do to get to the next door ... ... ... we had to play. ... ... ... To confirm this, I walk over to the black knight. As soon as I touched him, he came to life. His horse was rearing, stomping and pawing at the floor. I asked the knight 'do we have to play?'. He nodded, 'yes.'"
Ron speaking excited now, "Back to the center of the board, I took charge; Hemione, queen side castle, Harry, queen side bishop, and I took king side knight. Silently, those three chess pieces moved off the board. We took our places. The white pawn moved. The game had started."
Ron started a detailed description of the game. Harry was sure that if Ron got these kids any more excite, some of them are going to pass out. Every eye open wide, every jaw dropped, every heart pounding, every kid slid as far forward on his seat as possible, they were spellbound by the game.
"Then I was there. Checkmate in two moves. But to do that, I had to sacrifice myself to the queen. The queen showed no mercy to any chess piece. Hard stone chess pieces shattered from one smash of her massive stone arms, and I had to sacrifice myself to her. Sometimes you have to do something that is bigger than yourself. The fate of the world was at stake. How could I save myself, if that meant destroying the world? You're all chess players. You know how the game is played. Sometime you have to sacrifice in order to gain something larger than the fate of single piece."
Harry was in a room full of young boys, it should have been a mad house in here. But the silence in the room was unbelievable. If a pin dropped, it would have sounded like thunder, along side this silence. Harry couldn't even see anyone breathing.
"So I moved", Ron continued the story, "The queen was towering over me. She pulled back one of her massive stone arms and swung. WHAM! She smashed me on the side of the head knocking me half way across the board. The queen picked me up by the leg and threw me hard onto the pile with all the other batter and broken chess pieces. Then Harry made the final move to checkmate, and the king threw down his crown at Harry's feet."
Ron paused to let the story sink in, and was about to finish when he was hit by a barrage of question. Moves, ploys, strategies, alternate moves, question about the board and the chess pieces, how bad was he hurt. As far as they were concerned, the story was over. I mean, who can be bothered with the story of an evil wizards, when you've got Ron Weasley in person.
"OK, let's take a break now", Ron said. It was probably a good thing he did. Seriously, a lot of the kids we so overexcited they looked on the verge of fainting. Every kid took in a deep breath and slumped back in his seat looking exhausted. "Tell you what, while we are taking a break, you pick 6 chess players to challenge me, and I'll play them all at the same time."
Ron walked over and sat next to Harry. "So, Harry, how am I doing?"
"Bloody brilliant, bloody brilliant." Harry responded, "I swear, even I was on the edge of my seat, and the kids, by the time you got to the end, they were so excited, I thought half of them would pee their pants and the other half would faint dead away. And I loved how you managed to get dog slime, barf, a monster named fluffy, and tea with giant, all into the story before we even reach the trap door. If that isn't the work of a master, then I don't know what is."
"What about the 'sign my butt' boys?", Ron asked, "Now that was strange, really strange, but at the same time, it was so cool."
Harry added, "when I interrupted you, I swear their glares knock me back a step. I think I would face Lord Voldemort before I would face those icy stares again. I never felt more relieved in my life than I did when their faces turned away."
Six chess boards are set up six challengers are seated. It's time to play. Ron, begins to play moving from table to table with each move.
"Sammy, Freddy, how would you like to hear a quick story about Ron and his enchanted flying car, and the time he broke me out of prison and saved my life", Harry asked the boys. Harry knew it would be hard to draw them away from the chess games, but he thought, how could any kid resist Ron, flying cars, prison breaks and life saving. Reluctantly they followed, apparently it was too great an adventure to resist.
Harry moved across the room and sat on a table top, Freddy and Sammy, sat on each side of him. "Ok, guys you have to be cool about this story, technically you're not allowed to fly enchanted cars, so we don't want to get Ron in trouble. So, this is just between us guys, OK? I'm going to trust you not to tell anyone but your closest and most trusted friends." Of course, Harry knew he as good as told them to tell the whole world. The boys nodded agreement. Freddy and Sammy leaned forward and look at each other in anticipation. Freddy was bouncing on his butt, rubbing his hands together, and Harry just knew that inside his head was a voice screaming, 'we're famous! we're famous!'. Harry started the story of the enchanted fly car, gesturing and moving his arm is great swoops, making all the right faces at just the right time. As soon as Ron and the flying car entered the story, the boys were spellbound, silent and motionless. Dobby the elf, the smashed bowl of pudding, Uncle Vernon making him a prisoner, the great rescue by Ron and the flying car. Harry made sure to make the slime slimier, every BANG louder, every cool thing cooler, and every fear more fearful. He felt a little guilty for manipulating the boys the way he was, but it was such a thrill to see them start, gasp, and 'wow' right on cue as he told the story. The boys were loving every minute of it. Harry had to admit that he stole everything from Ron. Ron was a master at pulling the kids into the story. Harry continued the story; the blocked gate at platform 9-3/4, the invisibility button, the flight to Hagwart's. The boy were breathless.
"So, we're almost to Hogwart's when the engine started to fail. The engine whines, sputters, coughs, dies and restarts several time. Now the engine is barely running, we're heading straight for the castle. I was sure we were going to crash and be killed. But at the last minute, flying like an expert, Ron veered away from the castle. We turned in a big arc, coming around to land on the open green. Then BAM! we hit something. The car went spinning through the air and CRASHED on the ground. I hit my head when we landed, I was dazed and bleeding. Ron had tried so hard to keep the car flying that he broke his wand. By the way, in another story, that broken wand saved our lives. We thought we made it, we were about to breath a sigh of relief when BAM! something smashed my side of the car so hard it knock me across the car into Ron. BAM! something smashes Ron's side of the car and knocked us both to the other side. I didn't have a clue, I was too stunned to move. But Ron, even though he was stunned, was immediately behind the wheel, working frantically to get the car started. BAM! something smashed the roof of the car. Ron kept working on the car. My head is bleeding, my glasses are hanging on crooked, I was helpless. BAM! the car is hit again." Harry's voice became softer and very dramatic. "Just then Ron started the car and drove us out of reach of ... ... ... (a perfectly timed dramatic pause which I learned from the master, Ron Weasley) ... ... ... the Whopping Willow." The boys gasp, wide eye, their mouths hanging open. Harry had to fight to keep from laughing. He felt shameless. He said 'whomping willow' with such drama and awe in his voice that the boys gasped right on cue, even though they didn't know what a whomping willow was.
Harry continued, waving his hands around as he described the tree, "The whomping willow is this huge tree with big thick branches that have the big gnarly like fists on the end. The whomping willow whomps anything that get in it's reach, and it doesn't stop whomping until has whomped it into dust."
Harry paused to give them a second to taking the whomping willow. "Ron's enchanted car was not a very happy car, We drove it too far, we drove it to fast, we smashed it into a tree, crashed on the ground, and got it beaten by the whomping willow. This was one very unhappy car. When we got clear of the whomping willow, the car threw us and all of our stuff out on the ground and drove off into the forbidden forest. If it hadn't been for Ron's expert skill flying that car and his cool head under pressure, I wouldn't be here to tell this story. Oh yeah, you know, in another story, that car saved out lives. Now remember guys, this story isn't for everyone. We wouldn't want the Ministry of Magic to get wind of Ron's enchanted flying car. Truth is, outside of Hogwart's school, you are the first people to hear this story. Remember what I said, reveal it only to your closest most trusted friends."
Sammy and Freddy are expressionless after the story. Realizing the story is over, they stood in front of the table looking at each other with looks a awe. Freddy put his hands on Sammy's shoulders, he spoke with calm quiet awe, "we are famous". They stared at each other, then their faces exploded with smiles. They hugged each other, kissed, and ran off to watch Ron play chess. OK, Harry wasn't to surprised by the hug, but the kiss caught him off guard. It was nice though, because Harry knew what it was like to have a best friend like that.
Harry, sort of, had a half formed plan behind telling Sammy and Freddy this story. He wasn't sure it was going to work out but even if it didn't, they still got to hear the story. Sammy and Freddy move to Ron's side and followed him from table to table as he played. Being good chess players they were very careful not to disturb him. The games ended, of course, Ron won them all. Although, Harry suspected his opponents might have been too dazzled to concentrate.
Ron walk to the platform to join Harry, "Well, it's getting late...".
OH NO! Those were not the words the kids wanted to hear. Harry could literally see a wave of panic sweep across every face, followed quickly by a wave of desperation.
"A story.", one boy said quietly as if desperately grasping for anything. But apparently those were the magic words, because a wave of excitement swept across the boys as they begged Ron for another story.
"I'll tell you what", Harry said, cold faces turn in his direction, this time the message in the faces was, 'OK, speak, but you better watch your step'. "How about if we give Ron a rest and I tell you a story about how Ron saved my life. It's got giant spiders in it." Pretty hard for a kid to resist giant spiders, but they weren't completely convinced. "In the process of telling this story, I will reveal Ron Weasley's deepest darkest secret. A secret know only by a chosen few." Now Harry had them in a dilemma. Do they hear the thing they desperately want to hear and risk offending Ron, or do they pass up a chance to know his greatest secret. Harry could have whipped himself from shame. He knew what a position he had put them in. Harry looked over at Ron. Ron was playing his part, giving Harry very threatening looks. Harry noticed a very small boy inching his way toward Ron with a tray of tea and biscuits. He also noticed several face in the crowd kicking themselves for not having thought of bring Ron a cup of tea. The little boy set the tray of tea on the chair next to Ron. He smiled, very pleased with himself for having thought of this. Ron's brotherly instincts must have taken over because he pick the kid up and put him on his lap. The once smiling kid looked like he had been hit by a stunning curse. His face completely blank, he fell over sideways against Ron an rested there motionless.
Harry wondered if he should check and see it the kid fainted. But he felt the eyes of the crowded back on him. "Ron, doesn't want me to tell you this because he doesn't want you to see him as weak. But when I combine this story with Ron secret, you'll see him as a braver and stronger man than you every imagined, and you'll see why Ron is the best friend a person could ever hope to have." Harry congratulated himself, because he knew they could never resist that. The boys didn't say anything, they moved to their chairs, and gave Harry a look that said, 'you better get this right or there will be trouble'. A message that Harry was already well aware of.
"One year, something mysterious was trying to kill students at Hogwart's. We were very fortunate, so far, only four students had been petrified, bodies turn hard as stone, but not dead. Our closest friend Hermione Granger was one of them was. We were given a clue, 'follow the spiders' and they would lead us to information that would help unlock the mystery. Ron and I had notice every spider in the area heading into the Forbidden Forest. Forbidden Forest is a VERY dangerous place. Although, we did meet three really nice centaurs in there one night." Harry, looked over at Ron for confirmation. Ron nodded his head in agreement.
"So we decide to follow the spiders into the Forbidden Forest that night. We followed the trail we had seen the spiders on. Stop for a second and think how ridiculous that must have looked. Ron and I, using the dim light of our wands, trying to track tiny little spiders through the thick dense forest. Anyway, we followed the spiders deep deep into the forest. Deeper than we had ever been before. We heard noise. It was getting closer. Then suddenly on the trail ahead ... ... ... two giant spiders; big hairy ugly slimy giant spiders with huge pinchers." With 10 year old boys, it doesn't hurt to throw in a little slime every now and then.
"So tell me guys, how big is a giant spider? If it was as big as a Quaffle ball, would that be a giant spider? How about the size of a big dog? Is that a giant? How about as big as a horse? How about as big as a car? No! No, my friends, those are not giant spiders. Those are baby spiders. These spiders were as big as a truck."
"Before we could do anything they had grabbed us and carried us deeper into the woods. Their nasty hairy front legs were wrapped around ankles as they were carryed us upside down. We were hanging right in front of their big ugly dripping mouths just inches from their giant pinchers." Harry gestured with his arm indicating the size of the pinchers.
"The one carrying me grabbed my free leg and crushed it with his pinchers. They must have been poison pinchers because my leg felt like it was on fire. So, is this the scary part? No. No. No. This part is a fairly tale, a children's bedtime story compared to what we saw next ... ... ... The giant spiders had taken us to a giant spiders nest. Thousands and thousands of spiders of all sizes. Everything for as far as we could see, covered with a thick teaming mass of crawling spiders. It was like the ground, every bush, every tree, every branch, every twig was covered with a hideous flesh made of living spiders. Hundreds and hundreds of the huge black ugly slimy giant poisonous spiders were everywhere. The two giant spiders dropped us on the ground. The other hundreds of spiders gathered behind them. One of the spiders spoke in human voice. We turned in the direction he was speaking, and out of a cave came ... .... (love these dramatic pauses) ... .... Aragog, king of the Acromantula's, the biggest hairiest ugliest nastiest meanest spider that ever haunted your worst nightmares." Great wizards, Harry loved this. Every eye on him, every body leaned forward, every person hanging on his every word. If he said Boo!, he swore half of them would drop dead on the spot.
"Boy were we ever relieved to see him ... ... (we have to pause here so they can try and reconcile why we are relieved to seem their worst nightmare) ... ... ... Aragog, king of the Acromantula spiders, used to be a pet of our friend Hagrid the giant. Really guys, I'm not kidding you. Hagrid the giant kept a giant spider as a pet." Harry was disappointed that it had taken him this long to work Hagrid the giant into the story. "Since Aragog was a friend of Hagrid's and we were friends of Hagrid, we thought he would protect us. Aragog told us, that out of loyalty to Hargid the giant, he swore he would never harm a human being. Oh man, was that a relief; we thought we were safe. Then Aragog informed us that while he had swore to never harm a human, the hundreds of other giant spiders had not. As far as he was concerned, we were just fresh meat."
"Auh, oh, we're fresh meat. My leg is crushed, poison is seeping into my body, blood is gushing from my leg. It's all up to Ron. But what can he do against hundreds of giant spiders. Suddenly, a blaze of light washes over us, and we hear a roaring, and crashing in the woods the likes of which was beyond our nightmares." Always good to throw a few nightmares into the story.
"With a great CRASH! and a ROAR! came Ron's enchanted flying car." Harry decided if the said 'enchanted' every time he mentioned the car, it sounded better. "It charged through all the spiders knocking them right and left. Spiders are flying through the air. The enchanted car was heading right toward us. It came roaring up, spun around, and came to a stop right next to us. It's bright headlights holding back the spiders."
Harry broke from the story, which he knew would be pure torture for the boys. "You do know about Ron's enchanted flying car don't you? Well never mind that, that's an old story, besides Sammy and Freddy have already heard it." Harry could have kicked himself. If Sammy and Freddy were famous before, they were heroes now and probably on their way to sainthood.
"Ron is my good friend. Let him escape, I thought. Better he lives than we both die." Harry turned to Ron, sniffed and wiped his eye. Ron saw that it was pure theater. "...[sniff] ...He wouldn't do it. He wouldn't save himself. He wouldn't go unless, I went with him. He dragged my near lifeless body over and gently placed me in the car. He jumped in, and Ron's enchanted flying car saved us. It drove us out of the forest, we thank it, it turned and drove back into the forest and we never saw it again. Ron could have left me there, I wouldn't have thought any less of him. But a true friend doesn't leave you behind, no matter what the costs. I never had a truer friend that Ron Weasley." All eyes were on Ron, enchanted admiring eyes. Ron Weasley was so much greater than a chess hero.
"So, where was Ron's deepest darkest secret in this story? Forgive me Ron. Please forgive me. Ron is ... ... ... deathly afraid of ... ... ... spiders. If a little spider crawled across the floor right now, he would probably run from it. Do you think that's funny? Do you think he is a coward for being afraid of a tiny spider?"
"Ron is a hero. A hero isn't someone who is not afraid. Only a fool is not afraid. A hero is someone who is deathly afraid, and does what has to be done anyway. And in my eyes, Ron is a thousand times a hero, because he faced his worst nightmare magnified a thousand times, and he put friendship over fear."
"Think about your worst nightmare, think of the most horrible thing that you can imagine, then multiply it by a thousand. We faced that nightmare and more together, and Ron has never let me down. I know you're not very impressed with me. I'm a terrible chess player. But I've defeated Lord Voldemort more times than any other living person. But that's pointless, if I can't get to Lord Voldemort."
Apparently, these kids have no fear of Voldemort's name. Maybe being in the presents of greatness, and I mean Ron, has made them fearless. "I could never have gotten past the chess board, and that would mean, today Lord Voldemort would be immortal. We would be living under a reign of terror that you can not imagine. Death, murder, torture, unspeakable evil beyond your worst nightmares would dominate your lives. It doesn't matter that I was the one who actually stood face to face with Voldemort and defeated him, because I could never have gotten there without Ron. I'm the most famous wizard in all of Britain, maybe even the whole world, but without my friends Hermione and Ron, I'm just a little boy with a scar on his forehead."
"I'm going to talk about something else now. I know guys aren't suppose to talk about mushy lovey stuff. But I want you to know that I love Ron Weasley with all my heart and soul, and I know Ron loves me. Ron and his family taught me life's most important lesson, and gave me life's greatest treasure. The greatest treasure you can have, the greatest gift you can give or receive, is not money, it's love."
"How many of you have a best friend; a very very best friend? Do you love them? Have you ever told them? Have you allowed yourself to feel and enjoy that love? Have you ever expressed your love for them with affection? If you love someone, say it, live it, and let yourself feel it. When a man is moving forward in life, he thinks about money and what it can do for him. But when your time comes to it's end, and you look back on life, you won't be counting your money. You'll be counting your love."
"Ron", Harry called Ron to join him. Ron got up and the little boy with the tea slid off his lap. The boy was still a little stunned. So Ron sat him on the chair. Ron joined Harry at the front of the stage. "Ron and his family taught me that love is a treasure, and made me a rich man by sharing their love with me. Ron Weasley, I'm not afraid to say I love him. Ron Weasley, my best friend. Ron Weasley, master chess player. Ron Weasley, a thousand times a hero." Harry leaned forward toward the boys and pointed back at Ron. "It's Ron Weasley guys, what do you think?"
Harry stepped back behind Ron, and started clapping his hands. In a second, the clapping and cheering, more like screaming, for Ron was deafening.
Ron let the applause go on for a bit, then held up is hands telling them to stop. "Thank you, thank you, Ok, now that's enough. OK, let's quiet down.", eventually he quieted the boys. "I'm sad to say, that it's time to go." Groans rose from the crowd. "But I had so much fun here today. This was the most fun I've had in as long as I can remember. You know, your the first. I've never appeared at any chess club before. Every story told, was told for the first time." Ron looked at Harry with an angry scowl, pure theater of course, and said sternly, "Every secret revealed, was revealed for the first time."
Ron started walking toward the fireplace. "I think we've got time for a few more pictures then Harry and I have to get back to school. Sammy, Freddy, why don't you come up here and we'll take some pictures together." Sammy and Freddy, join Ron in front of the fireplace.
"OK, to the boys whose bodies I signed. You do realize that as soon as you get home, your Mum is going to make you wash that off?" From their expressions, it was clear the boys hadn't thought that far ahead. "OK, the solution is easy. Think about. What are you going to do? It's not that hard. Come on."
A pause, then a boy in front held up his camera, "take a picture."
"That's it, just take a bunch of picture before you wash it off. Then you'll have it forever."
Ron knelt between Sammy and Freddy, so he was roughly the same height, and put his arms over their shoulders. "Harry, you get in here too. Right here next to me." Harry knelt down next to Ron. "You don't think so now, but trust me, one of these days your going to be glad you got to meet Harry Potter. OK, let's take some pictures". Flash bulbs started going of, not as many as before, Harry thought some of them might have run out of film.
When the flashes stopped, Ron hugged Sammy and Freddy, and Harry shook their hands. "I really did have fun today", Ron said to Sammy. "Maybe in a couple of years, I'll see you at Hogwart's. I'm going to be really busy with school for the rest of the year. We have some big exams coming up, so I probably won't be able to stay in contact with you. But, if you want to send me a couple of owls and let me know how things are going, that would be OK. Harry why don't you go first."
Harry threw his Floo powder in and stepped into the smoke. Ron shook hands with Sammy and Freddy again. "It really was fun. Thanks for inviting me." Ron threw his Floo powered in the fire, waved, and he was gone. When Ron appeared at the fireplace on the other end, he saw Harry sitting in a soft chair. Ron sat in the chair next to him. They sat quietly for a while.
Ron, broke the silence, "We are such liars!"
"Completely shameless", Harry added. "You know, not one of those poor boys is going to be able to sleep for a week. And Sammy and Freddy, as excited as they were, they may never sleep again. We really are very bad boys."
"The 'sign my butt' boys were so cool", Ron smiled. "I can't believe they did that. I can't believe I did that. And you! A thousand times a hero. Did you maybe exaggerate just a little bit? And that big build up at the end, could you have laid that on any thicker? Oh man, that was so much fun."
Harry was feeling a little guilty. "I wonder what will happen to Sammy and Freddy. I have a feeling they are going to be famous, at least among their friends. I'm starting to feel a little guilty about setting them up with the fly car story. I told them it was a big secret, then told everyone they'd heard it. Every kid within 50 miles, is going to be hounding them to hear that story. I hope we didn't screw things up for them. You right, that was soooo much fun."
Ron sigh deeply, "Well, let's go eat then go back to the dorm and rest. Harry, why didn't you tell me that being a hero was so exhausting?"
The next morning, Ron, Harry, and Hermione were at the Griphyndore table having breakfast as usual, when the owl mail arrived. Several owls flew in and started dropping their letters and packages. Then they heard a low rumbling, like a long distant roll of thunder combine with the beating of wings. At the top of the great hall, a dark dense cloud rushed in. The room went quiet, everyone watch as the cloud came down from the ceiling. It was a flock of owls. The biggest densest flock of owls Harry had ever seen. The cloud of owls turned toward the Gryphindore table and flew a long it's length, heading directly for Harry. Harry stood and pulled his wand. This had to be the work of dark forces. It had to be some kind of trick. Hermiony and Ron stood with their wands in hand. As the cloud of owls flew over them, a torrent of letters rained down on Ron. Ron sat and tore one open, looked at it, threw it down, and opened another, then another. Ron slumped forward and rested his forehead on the table. Unfortunately, he was also resting his head in his breakfast. Harry sat and tore a letter opened and examined it. Then he tore open another, then another. Harry turned and stared at Ron. Hermione pick up a letter, opened it, and read it carefully.
"It's an invitation to appear at a wizard's chess club, and so is this one. Are they all like that?", Hermione said trying to make sense of it.
Ron, without lifting his head, held up a handful of letters, "invitations".
"This ones not", Harry said. Ron sat up and looked at Harry. "It's not from a chess club. It's from a wizard's businessmen's association. They want you to be the guest speaker at a business dinner. They're even willing to pay you."
"This chess club will pay you, too", Hermione added, "although, they apologies because they can't offer you very much."
" ....aaaauuwww.....", Ron moaned, "what am I going to do?" Ron sat up, "it will take a weeks just to open them all. It will take months just to write 'No' across the top of each one, and send it back. And where am I going to get enough owls to send this many letters? I swear if Sammy and Freddy were here right now, I would strangle them. ...Well, maybe not. This isn't possible, it's just not possible for this to happen over night. It's just not possible."
"Well, if 40 boys send three owls each to their friends", Harry said, hoping he could explain it to himself as well as to Ron, "and they each send three owl to their friend, and they send three owls to their friends, that must be like what..." Harry looked at Hermione to see if she had the answer. "...like thousands of owls. Not to mention all the people they told even before we got there."
Ron fell forward like a fresh cut tree, his head banged to a rest on the table. Fortunately, missing his breakfast this time. Then he slowly started to thump his forehead on the table. "....oooouuuuhh... what am I going to doooo......"
"Well, Ronnie boy...", 'this must be serious', Harry thought, 'Ron never lets any one get away with calling him Ronnie'.
"Well, Ronnie boy, that's the price of fame."
END