Disclaimer.....I don't own HP, blah, blah, blah...Ron's not mine, life's not fair, I know
Chapter Eight
Ron had been walking for hours. He was pretty certain he was heading in the right direction. He was hoping to have caught up with Harry before he got too far, but Harry was nowhere to be found when Ron left his house. Ron figured he must have found some place safe to apparate from. Ron had learned to apparate as well, but had only apparated once before the incident happened. It was now well after midnight and he was beginning to wonder if he knew where he was going. If it was any other circumstance, he would have just said forget it and walk back home. But he couldn't. Not with his mother so ill. He needed to see her again, and he was kicking himself for making her wait so long. Why did it take until the time his mother was dying for him to come to his senses?
He didn't know what he was going to say when he arrived, though. He definitely wasn't going to tell them what really happened. He knew he should probably start thinking of what to say so he'd have something to tell them when he arrived. But, right now, his mind was on how to get there. For a split second, he considered trying to apparate, even though he hadn't done it in seven years and he had only done it once. He knew trying to apparate now would be dangerous. But what did he have to lose? His life? He could deal with the possibility of death. He didn't think his life was worth living anyway. Not anymore. He was depressed, lonely and miserable, far from the happy-go-lucky young man he was before. The young man, who although had issues with money and sef-esteem, loved life anyway, had great friends and plans to be an Auror. 'How quickly things can change', he thought.
Ron stopped walking for a moment and looked around. He didn't recognize this area. But he was fairly certain he was headed in the right direction. Hell, when he ran away, he was on foot. He got here on foot from the Burrow, he can make it back to the Burrow on foot. He sighed and continued walking, only stopping as he passed a 24-hour convience store to buy a bottle of soda since the walk was taking a lot out of him. He walked for another hour before recognizing something. A house. A huge house that he noticed after running away, only a house like that could make him stop and stare, even if he was running away from a nightmare come true. He remembered the three story house with a wrap around balcony, and he definitely remembered the mailbox, which he thought didn't belong with the gorgeous house. It was in the design of a pink flamingo. He remembered that it caught his eye because to seemed odd that a house like that would have a pink flamingo mailbox. But sure enough, here it was now. The huge mansion with it's wrap around balcony wth the pink flamingo mailbox. He knew he was heading in the right direction. He felt his heart race. He was getting closer. Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was shortly after two in the morning.
Picking up speed, he continued walking, passing more and more familiar houses and stores, pausing again, only to pick up another soda. 'Almost there', he thought. 'Shouldn't be too much longer now'. On he continued walking until he finally reached the road the Burrow was on. Smiling a real smile for the first time in seven years, he took up a little jog wanting to cry as he passed all these familiar landmarks he grew up around. The tears that threatened to fall did when he approached the Burrow. It looked the same as it did before. Nothing's changed. He looked at his watch. 3:32am. He wiped the tears from his cheeks and paused, staring up at the house. Was anyone home? He didn't feel right about just walking in now. Should he knock? Everyone was probably asleep. Would they care if he woke them up? Were they all mad at him for leaving like he did? Was his mum even home or was she in the hospital? Was the family at the hospital with her? Well, he wouldn't find out all the answers to these questions just standing there. Taking a deep breath, he walked up to the door and knocked loudly. He waited a few moments, but no one answered. He sighed again and knocked loudly one more time. A few more moments later he heard someone walking towards the door. The door opened and there stood a man Ron didn't know. "Can I help you?" The man asked. Ron could tell he had woken the man up.
"Umm" Ron said, looking back nervously. "Sorry to bother you, I know it's very early, but umm, do the Weasley's still live here?" He thought he remembered Harry mentioning the Burrow, but if he didn't, surely he would have told him they didn't live there anymore.
The man nodded. "Yes, they do. What can I do for you?"
Ron didn't know this man, but he could tell he became very close to the family. He didn't know Ron and seemed hesitant to let Ron have any more information. Ron couldn't blame him really. Some guy he doesn't know shows up on his doorstep at 3:30 in the morning and asks about the family he seems to care about.
"Well" Ron said. "Could I speak to one of them? I'm an, umm...old friend"
"Well, only one of them is here right now and she's asleep" The man told him. "Can't it wait until morning?"
"No!" Ron said, a bit too quickly. "Please. Let me speak with her. If your worried, your more than welcome to stay. I can even wait out here for her" Ron didn't even know who the "her" was. It was either his mother or Ginny. "Please" Ron said again, feeling the tears well up in his eyes.
Ron thought he saw the man glance at his hair, then nod. "Alright. Come on in. I'll wake her up"
As Ron walked inside and the man turned to walk upstairs, he kept thinking about the man looking at his hair. Ron wondered if the man suspected he was a Weasley, red hair and all. His hair was probably the only thing that let him come inside. Ron stood by the door, looking around. Everything was just the same. So many memories rushed back to him.
The man came back down the stairs. "She'll be right down. She's getting dressed"
Ron just nodded. The man sat down on the sofa. "So" he said. "You never did tell me your name"
Ron seemed to have forgotten how to talk because he couldn't speak properly. "I'm, umm..." he cleared his throat. But before he could say anything else he heard a shocked cry of "RON?"
He looked up at the stairs. Ginny. She was standing on the middle step, looking shocked, her face pale. Ron still couldn't seem to speak. It was all like a dream. He hadn't seen his baby sister in seven years, and there she was, all grown up, standing on the stairs, staring at him like he was a ghost. Ron wanted to say something...anything. He couldn't even nod his head, so he just, well, cried. Tears falling freely from his eyes. He just stood by the door, a firm grip on the handle because he felt like his knees were giving away.
Ginny came all the way down the stairs, still staring at Ron, until they were face to face. It was her who spoke. "Ron?" she said more softly. "It's you"
He was finally able to nod. He wished he could talk. "Oh my gosh" she said, tears falling from her eyes now, too.
Finally he was able to speak, and, without knowing why, the first words out of his mouth were. "Please forgive me" He didn't know why he said that or why he wanted her forgiveness. Was it because he left? Or because he killed their father? She didn't know he done that, but he did, and he wasn't sure whether he was asking for forgiveness for that reason or not.
Ginny shook her head and said, through her tears. "I can't forgive you...because I wasn't mad at you to begin with" She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him into a hug. "I never thought I'd see you again. None of us did"
It was then that Ginny noticed the man was still sitting on the couch, watching them, his eyebrows raised a little. "Oh" she said. "Brent, this is Ron, my brother. I told you about him" She turned to Ron and said, "Ron, this is Brent, my fiance"
Brent stood up and walked over to them. He said, "Well, Ron, it's nice to finally get to meet you" and held out his hand. Ron took his hand and shook it. "Yeah, nice to meet you too" Ron was glad to finally be able to talk again.
"Well" Said Brent. "I'll leave you two alone. Let you catch up" With that, he walked back up the stairs.
Ginny grabbed Ron's hand and pulled him to the sofa. "I'm so glad your okay" She said. "It's great to see you"
"It's great to see you, too, Gin" He said.
"I guess you know about Mum" She said, looking down at her hands.
"Yeah" Ron said. "how is she?"
"Not good" Ginny said, tears starting to fall again, though this time Ron knew they were falling for a different reason. "She's at St. Mungos. I pretty much spend all say with her and come home at night to sleep for a bit. Fred, George, Percy, Bill and Charlie visit her most of the day, too. Well, Bill and Charlie usually stay with her all night instead of the day so someone will always be wth her. Harry visits a lot too....and Hermione visits....but they don't stay as long as we do. Healer Morgan doesn't know how much longer she has left"
Ron nodded and fought back tears. He was sick and tired of crying. "Is everyone mad at me for leaving? Mum and our brothers?"
"Well" Ginny hesitated. "I wasn't mad, Mum wasn't mad. Percy, Bill and Charlie, I don't think they were mad either. But Fred and George were. Because you ran away, left without telling anyone, right after Daddy died"
"I'm sorry" Ron said. "I...I....had my reasons"
"And they were?" Ginny asked, prodding him to answer.
"I can't tell you" Ron said. "But I've regretted leaving ever since. But I couldn't come back. I just....want everyone to forgive me"
Ginny smiled. "They will. Mummy will forgive you easily. It may take Fred and George some time. But they will, too. Don't worry" She paused, the said. "Are you here to stay?"
Ron sighed. "Well, I've got a job, which reminds me, I need to find a telephone and call them sometime today, let them know I won't be in tomorrow, so I probably won't stay...but I can promise you that I won't hide anymore. I'll keep in touch. That's a promise"
Ginny smiled, then said. "Mum always knew you'd be back. Every year since you left, she bought you birthday and Christmas presents. Saving them for when you came home. And she left your room the same"
Ron leaned back against the sofa and sniffled. "Damn, I don't want to cry anymore" he said. "I made a mess of everything"
Ginny have him another hug and said. "Listen. Why don't you go up to your room and sleep for a bit? I'll wake you up around noon, fix you some lunch and then we can head out to see Mum. How about that?"
Ron smiled. "Sounds good" Together they got up and walked upstairs. Ginny giving him one more smile before heading into her room. Ron walked up one more flight to his room. Ginny was right. It was exactly the same. Ron closed the door behind him and flopped on the bed, still wrapped up in his Chudley Cannon bedspread, freshly washed, it looked like. It didn't take long before Ron fell into a deep sleep.
Author's Note....That was the longest chapter I ever written. You know, I feel for Ron. Walking seven hours does take a lot out of ya. I don't drive and I used to walk a good five hour walk to work three times a week. I was ready to take a nap before I even started work, so I can imagine two extra hours would just worse. It's not fun.