Disclaimer: I don't own any of it.

Chapter 2: Stuff Happens Ron awoke slowly as the sun somehow found it's way through curtains waking him much earlier than he would have liked. He forced himself out of bed into a standing position, grabbed the towel at the foot of his bed, and made his way down the hall to the bathroom.

He returned to his room twenty minutes later, showered and shaved, his wet hair dripping into his eyes. He rummaged around in the pile of clothes on his floor, pulling on his clean pair of training robes and winding his way out of his room into the kitchen.

When he entered the kitchen, he found Harry sitting at the small table they'd somehow crammed into their tiny kitchen having an early cup of tea. Harry was dressed snappily for his work at the Ministry and he surveyed Ron's rumpled appearance with a look of bemused interest.

"Doesn't Wood like all of his player's robes to be finely pressed?" Harry said to Ron who poured himself a cup of tea and sat down across from Harry.

"Yes, well Wood can stick it where the sun don't shine for all I care. I'm not going to clean robes that are just going to get dirty again the minute I step out onto the field. Wood's a great coach but I can't stand him sometimes. You'd think losing one match was the end of the world with the way he talks about it. Was he this bad at Hogwarts?" Ron asked with an incredulous look on his face.

"Yes, we've just blocked it out, I suppose. He was a great player I'll give you that. He's going to make you guys good this year. I still can't believe what happened to him though, is he really off his broom for two years?"

"Yeah," Ron replied sadly, "I think that's the only reason they picked me up. I swear Wood's the best keeper the Cannons ever saw. He has great talent and a real knowledge of the game. I wouldn't want to be on the opposing team his first game back."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Harry said looking down at his watch, "well, mate, I'm off, we've got three raids today and I'm going to be late if I don't get a move on."

Ron smiled vaguely at the idea of Harry ever being late. He watched as Harry gathered up his things and Apparated to the Ministry of Magic. He finished his cup of tea and washed up before grabbing his broom and leaving the apartment.

He always went to work the muggle way if he could. Harry and he lived only ten blocks from the premises of the Cannons stadium and it usually woke him up walking to the stadium in the morning.

Ten minutes later, he arrived at the stadium, disguised as an old warehouse and slipped quietly inside. He made his way to the changing rooms and talked with the other players as they waited for Wood to arrive.

Alicia Spinnet, the chaser he'd played with at Hogwarts pulled on her robes and whispered to Ron that Wood was on his way. Alicia and Wood had been dating for close to two years; ever since she'd left Hogwarts and ended up playing Chaser for the Cannons. It'd been almost a homecoming when Ron had joined the team also.

"Alright team, we've got a hard practice today but it'll be worth it when we play Puddlemere. I know this season hasn't been the best but we can still salvage it. I've made some plans for practice so if you'd all just gather around," Wood said and flicked his wand artfully at the blackboard causing small Xs and Os to appear and move around the board, just as he used to do at Hogwarts.

Ron watched intently at the little characters but after a while, his mind drifted off and he saw Arthur Blake, one of the Beaters, dozing off quietly in the corner. Ron actually chortled aloud and had to cover it up with a coughing fit.

Twenty minutes later, they trudged out onto the field and began practice. Ron was in his form today, he couldn't miss. Halfway through practice he pulled off the perfect sloth roll grip and caught the Quaffle with one free hand.

Near the end of practice, Ron began he tire. His muscles ached from all the violent stretching he'd done to grab the Quaffle and he was beginning to lose focus. He was waiting at the hoops for the action to come his way when he briefly gazed off so that when he came to Alicia was spinning down the field toward him. He perked up just in time but he was a little too quick. Alicia soared past him, nicking the end of his broom and throwing him off it.

He woke up five minutes later with a searing pain in his left knee. He opened his eyes slowly to see Wood standing over him looking intensely grave. Hoping desperately that the pain was a figment of his imagination he tried to get up but a shock of pain leaped down his leg as he fell back to the ground. The pain was so much that he passed out once again with his eyes swimming.

The next day he awoke to find his mother, father, Ginny, and Harry crowded around him. His vision slowly reverted to normal and he realized that he was in St. Mungo's. Mrs. Weasley stared nervously at him with tears in her eyes. Ron smiled weakly up at his mum.

"Hi mum, what happened? I blacked out for a bit back there," Ron asked his mum as Harry turned away from the bed.

"Oh Ron," Mrs. Weasley whimpered, "you...you...you wrenched your knee pretty badly." "When can I play again?" Ron asked in a voice slightly higher than his normal.

"Well..." his father said, "they're not really sure. With Wood it was two years but they think it might not be that long, it doesn't look as bad as his."

"Two years?" Ron yelled causing everyone to jump a little.

"Dear, it'll be okay..." Mrs. Weasley pleaded but Ron wasn't listening. His gaze focused out and he stared out the window towards the sunlight that was once again keeping him up.