Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter or co. JK Rowling and Warner Bros. have that honour
Gossip, Parties and Meetings
Molly came in to Ron and Harry's room to wake them. Moody had informed her the night before that she had to wake the trio up at 7 as they had to go running. What she saw when she entered shocked her initially but then common sense kicked in. They hadn't seen each other in a month and each of them had been through so much in that month. After seeing them there in bed together Molly decided not to wake them so she left. Kingsley didn't see things the same way however. Molly hadn't mentioned the reason why she hadn't waked them so Kingsley was quite surprised when he walked into the boys room shouting "Morning sunshines." Three sets of bodies groaned and all of a sudden Kingsley was feeling incredibly embarrassed. He knew the three were close, he didn't realise they were THAT close, he tried to quietly exit the room when Hermione stopped him. "It's not what you think, all we did was sleep. What are you doing here anyway?" Kingsley nodded as if that answered Hermione's question but Hermione spoke again. "Can we help you with anything?" This time Kingsley managed to answer "It's time to go running." Hermione groaned whilst Harry and Ron just lay there trying to steal those precious few extra minutes of sleep but Hermione talked again. "No one told us. Dumbledore didn't mention it either." Kingsley looked at her, realising for the first time that she was fully clothed and had most probably been that way for the whole night considering the boys were still both fully clothed in the stuff that they had been wearing the day before. "Moody is in charge of your training, got a problem, take it up with him. Front door, ten minutes. See you there." Ron having forgotten about Ares for the second time in 2 days called after him. "Can we make it 20, I have to feed Ares." Kingsley shouted out a yes and with that he was gone. The three of them were once again alone, surprisingly there was no uncomfortableness it was if they always spent the night together. They all quickly bid each other goodbye and went their separate ways to get dressed.
20 minutes later the trio and Ares were waiting just outside the front door. Ares had asked to come as he thought it would be a good chance to get some flying practise in. Kingsley arrived no less than a minute after the designated time and they set off. He set the pace just a little above Hermione's level so that she could increase her fitness but he had to take it back when Ares got tired of flying and needed to be carried back by Ron. It was a funny sight, Ares had grown quite a lot over the past month and was probably too big to be carried but Ron wasn't about to argue. The bond had become a very big part of him and the idea that they might not finish the bonding upset him quite a bit. When they arrived home Molly had prepared them a large breakfast which they gratefully tucked into. This practise continued for the rest of the summer.
After breakfast had been eaten Hermione decided to go and find Ginny whilst the boys decided to go and explore outside. They were disheartened to find that there was no place where they could play quidditch, there were too many trees. When quidditch had been ruled out as form of activity and they weren't ready to go and tell Hermione that they were bored as they were sure that she would suggest some sort of school work they decided to sit down and have boy talk. Contrary to popular belief boys are just as good as girls about talking if put in the right situation. Ron and Harry started the conversation with the nice safe topic of quidditch. Harry teased Ron about the Cannons abysmal performance in the last game they played whilst Ron teased Harry about his lifetime ban which had been lifted when the truth about Umbridge had come to light. They discussed the up and coming England versus Bulgaria exhibition quidditch match and then the conversation turned to the Hogwart's house competition which led Ron to ask about Cho Chang. "So, I know I asked you on the train but you've changed a lot since then but any feelings towards Cho left in there?" Harry thought hard before answering "No, there isn't anything there at all. But even if there was I wouldn't be thinking about dating anyone until after Voldemort was gone. Look what's happened to you guys." At this Ron got a bit angry, last night they had all told each other that they weren't going to let Voldemort control their lives letting him do just that. "Hey I thought we weren't letting Voldemort control our lives anymore?"
"I'm not. I'm still going to have fun and I'm still going to interact with girls in fact I made a pact with myself that I am going to kiss at least 5 this year in honour of Sirius." Ron laughed, here they were being typical teenagers. Only a 15 nearly 16 year old boy would put a number on the amount of girls they would want to kiss. But he abruptly stopped laughing when Harry turned the tables on him. "So what about you ickle Ronniekins" said Harry in a poor imitation of the twins. Ron's face turned bright red and then he mumbled something inaudible "What was that Ron?" This time Ron's blush moved down in neck "There is this one girl." Harry who was enjoying this uncharacteristic light conversation decided to really take it to Ron piped up "It's Luna right, she has been after you for the past year." This time Ron's blush started to encompass his arms and chest "No its bloody well not and you know it. You know exactly who I like." This was just the answer Harry had been looking for, he had been looking for a way to bring up the Hermione subject without seeming like he knew too much or was planning something. "So what are you planning on doing about it then, Hermione feels the same way, she's just waiting for you to make the first move." Ron was so flustered that he had forgotten to deny that it was Hermione he liked instead he started to open his mouth to talk and then stopped abruptly. Little did Harry know that Ron was having a fight with Ares in his head.
"I'm not telling her how I feel" Ron said.
"How will she ever know how you feel if you don't tell her the truth?" Ares responded
"I'm not good enough for her." Ron replied.
"Why, you have good grades, you are getting quite muscly thanks to carrying me around"
"What if she doesn't like me?"
"Well then you deal with it and now tell Harry that you are going to tell Hermione within the week that you like her. Say something now, he's looking at you funny."
Ron suddenly realised that Harry couldn't hear their argument, he must have looked like a real prat. "Sorry, was arguing with Ares, he said to tell you that I will tell Hermione within the week." Harry looked pleased but a little surprised "I know you talk to him telepathically but it's a little weird he seems to always be in your head." Ron thought about it. Ares was always in his head but should he tell that to Harry, he couldn't see why not. "He is, I would feel lost without him. Plus he has a wicked sense of humor." At this both Ares and Harry laughed. All of a sudden they heard their names being called for lunch. At that they quickly made their way to the house.
While the boys had their boy talk outside a similar one occurred in Ginny's room between Hermione and Ginny. Unlike the boys Ginny and Hermione didn't need to work up their way to talking about the opposite sex. "So Hermione did you meet any boys while you were at that resort of yours" Hermione laughed whilst shaking her head. "Tonk's did though, you should have seen her." Hermione told Ginny all of her 'Tonk's embarrassed herself whilst trying to meet guys' stories. She then told her of the boy who always happened to be at the gym whenever she was working out. Ginny then made Hermione read all of her letters from Dean. Hermione couldn't help but laugh at Dean's attempt at poetry, it was poor at best but that was good compared to the butchery he made of the Shakespearean works that he quoted. Hermione sympathised at the predicament that Ginny was facing. Dean had invited her to his house but Mrs Weasley along with all of her brothers vetoed that idea. Dean had then suggested that he could go and stay with her at her house but that wouldn't work either. There was no way that Dean could come and stay at Dumbledore's. Dean then started to hassle her saying how Harry got to go and stay with them, why he couldn't he. All in all Ginny was stuck in a hard place.
After Hermione had finished giving Ginny some sensible advice, Ginny bought up the topic of the order meeting. "So Hermione, what do you think the meeting is about tonight?" Hermione didn't really know what to say, she couldn't exactly tell Ginny that Dumbledore was going to tell the order about the prophecy so she provided an adequate half-truth to cover herself, "Probably has something to do with the dementors leaving Azkaban." Ginny nodded her head, obviously thinking that Hermione's assessment of the situation was adequate and most probably correct suddenly Ginny brightened "I here Victor is coming for tonights meeting?" Hermione paled, she had guessed from Victor's letters that he was getting involved in the war effort but she really didn't expect him to be coming to tonights meeting. In truth Harry had informed her and Ron last night that only a small proportion of the order would be informed about the prophecy. Those people that Dumbledore trusts implicitly would be told the prophecy, the rest of the order would know nothing of the meeting. Hermione was also worried about Ron's reaction, they had only just been invited to attend the meetings and it was quite possible that Ron would make a huge fool of himself calling Victor Vicky and probably even calling him a spy. While Hermione was thinking all of this the call for lunch was made. Ginny pulled Hermione up and they made their way to the kitchen.
Lunch was a boisterous affair, they were all excited about the training that they were going to start as well as the party that was due to start at around five. Training would have to be cut short for today. Ron was the first to leave the table for a change, he still had to feed Ares. To be honest Ron was feeling quite guilty about the way that he had treated Ares the day before and this morning. Ares had gone from being his top priority to about third on his list. As he sat down in front of the dragon he started to talk to him aloud this time. "Hey Ares sorry that I haven't been spending as much time with you since we got here?"
"I understand why you have been pre-occupied my friend, but you have to remember that it is your responsibility to look after me. Did you even realise that you forgot to feed me last night?" Ron looked extremely guilty.
"Why didn't you call me?"
"You had other more pressing things to deal with, you were lucky your headmaster fed me."
"That's good. Look I have to go now. Moody would probably curse me if I'm late. I promise to come and see you when I have finished. Bye" and with that Ron was off.
Harry, Hermione and Ginny sat around the table, they were awaiting instructions as no one had told them where they were meant to go. Suddenly Tonk's entered the room "Wotcher, Harry, Wotcher Mione, Ginny" Harry and Ginny shared a look they both shouted at the same time "Mione." Hermione blushed but decided to keep quiet thinking that if she didn't say anything she may be able to keep her friends calling her by her name but Tonk's ruined that, "Yeah I started calling her Mione while we were on holidays, I think she likes it now because she hasn't asked me to call her Hermione for awhile." Ginny and Harry shared a snicker while Hermione shot Tonk's a death glare. Tonk's suddenly realised that they were missing one, "where's Ron?" and that is exactly when Ron walked into the room "I'm right here, why, did you miss me?" Everyone looked surprised, they hadn't seen this Ron since just after the Quidditich world cup. "Just curious, now today is going to run differently, you're going to be split up today as all three of us are free today, Ginny you're with me. Mione with Shacklebolt and Ron you're with Moody"
Ron didn't know what to do, complain about being stuck with tyrannical Moody, tease Hermione about her new nickname or ask about what Harry would be doing but once again Ares butted in "You're not going to do any of them, Moody can teach you a lot, teasing Hermione wouldn't be a good idea and it really isn't any of your business what Harry will be doing?" so Ron stayed quiet. But Harry was quite curious why he wasn't being included, he was the one that was going to have to kill Voldemort "What am I doing" he basically spat out. Tonk's looked a little put out but answered him anyway, "Remus wants to talk to you, and Moody wants you all to be able to do patronus' so that's what they're doing today. Mione, Shacklebolt is in the room next to the drawing room Ron, Moody's in the drawing room. Come on Ginny we are going up to your bedroom." Tonk's went to leave but Hermione called her back, "Did my parents get off okay?" Tonk's felt bad, she should have told Hermione right away that things with her parents had gone well and that they had gotten to the airport on time. "They got off fine, they told me to tell you that they loved you again." Hermione looked up at Tonks and smiled "Thanks for staying with them and me for the holidays." Tonks returned her smile, saying nothing grabbed Ginny and exited the room. Ron spoke first "Better be off, don't want to feel Moody's wrath, see ya later Mione, Harry." He quickly left the room so that Hermione wouldn't have time to tell him off. Harry looked at Hermione, she was seething "He knows just how to work me up" Harry just laughed, he was getting to understand that their bickering was actually a sick sort of mating ritual that the two of them partook in as they didn't want to confront their feelings for each other. Hermione continued "Oh well I'm off to find Kingsley see you later." Harry was alone for the first time since he had arrived. He was a bit worried about his talk with Remus, it was most probably going to be about Sirius. So Harry sat there waiting for Remus to enter and start the talk.
Hermione entered the room to see Kingsley sitting on a desk and several chairs scattered throughout the room. Hermione ended up picking the chair closest to the desk; she had always felt that it was the best place to learn. Kingsley started to talk "Tonk's told you what was happening today didn't she?" Hermione smiled and nodded so Kingsley continued "Its not always going to happen like this, its more of a one off thing as all three of us are here and we have to cut the lessons short so we better get started. I'm assuming that you know everything about the spell except how to do it?" Hermione nodded again and started to explain to him that she had managed to make her patronus take a shape but how it definitely wasn't a corporal patronus. It was Kingsley's turn to nod this time and when Hermione had finished explaing he asked her to demonstrate. What he saw quite impressed him, Hermione was very close to being able to conjure the full patronus. He suggested to Hermione to change the happy thought that she was using but it didn't exactly go as planned, where as before you could tell that Hermione's patronus was an otter now there was merely a silver mist.
Hermione had tried three different memories before Kingsley told her to take a break. While they were sitting around Kingsley carefully broached the subject of what memories Hermione was using "Hermione, do you mind if I ask you what memories you're using for your patronus." Hermione didn't hesitate in telling him, none of them were embarrassing or particularly private. "Well the first one I used when I managed to get the otter was when I sang in this concert, the others were just family things you know Christmases, a family holiday and when I found out I was a witch." Kingsley thought about what she said all of her memories involved her past life maybe if she used a memory from Hogwart's then she might get it to work. Kingsley pointed this out to Hermione and when she thought about it, it was true that all of her memories were from when she was little but she couldn't think of anything just off the top of her head, finally she picked a memory. It was of the three of them sitting in the common room the night after the first task. She tried the spell again, this time her otter was a little bit more defined but it still wasn't quite right. Hermione once again racked her brain for an appropriate memory as a bit of a joke she decided to try the night of the Yule Ball when she walked down the stairs and Ron was basically speechless. This time she cast the spell "Expecto patronum" and from her wand came a fully formed otter patronus. Hermione was so pleased as was Kingsley. Kingsley then made her practise it with a spell that recreated the effects of the dementors that they used at the auror training centre. Hermione's ability to produce a patronus only faltered for the first few tries. By the time 5 o'clock came around Hermione was able to conjure a fully formed patronus under the effects of a dementor.
Ron entered the drawing room to find Moody spying him with his revolving eye. "I don't know if Dumbledore is doing the right thing letting the three of you in on the meetings it has never been done before but I guess he knows what is best. Now if time had permitted we would have had a lesson on elemental wand safety but I guess it will have to wait until later on in the summer. Now what do you know about the patronus." Ron gave Moody the most basic outline he thought he could get away with to Moody about the patronus spell. Ron mentioned that he hadn't managed to get more than some wispy silver. Moody never one for tact came right out with it "What memory are you using?" Ron didn't know whether he should answer, he really didn't want to tell Moody his memory but Ares made him. "Well it's when I got my broom." At this Moody laughed, that wasn't going to be a powerful enough memory to conjure the patronus and when he told this to Ron, Ron looked a bit disheartened. As Ron searched through his memories he couldn't quite come up with one that he thought was powerful enough. He was about to tell this to Moody when Ares suggested that he used the one of Hermione kissing him on the cheek before his first quidditch match. He told Moody that he had found a different memory and was ready to start. He shouted out the words "Expecto patronum" and from his wand emerged an exact replica of Ares. After Ron's patronus had faded Ron started to try and talk to Ares to tell him the good news but there was no response. Ron tried again harder this time but still the outcome was the same. Ron exited the room ignoring Moodys demands to stop.
Ron hurried outside and spotted Lupin and Harry. He basically sprinted over to them. Lupin looked over to him and asked calmly "What seems to be the problem Ron?" Ron who was momentarily calmed by his soothing voice asked in a polite voice if they had seen Ares, when both of them admitted that they hadn't seen him Ron explained the situation, how he had just talked to him 10 minutes ago and how he hadn't answered him when he had called after he had conjured the patronus. Both Remus and Harry could tell that Ron was very worried, THEY became worried when Moody emerged from the house calling Ron's name and Ron didn't even notice. Ron was starting to tell Harry and Lupin that he was going to look for Ares in the forest when Moody arrived next to them and once again tried to get Ron's attention, fortunately he succeeded. Ron quickly told the whole story and then accioed his broom. Moody seeing what Ron was going to do did the same. Both Moody and Ron mounted their brooms. Moody issued instructions to Ron that he had to fly next to them and that they were not going to leave the property lines and with that they were off.
They flew silently for about 10 minutes until Ron could start to feel something in his mind. He tried to talk to him again, finally after another 5 minutes Ares started to respond. Ares informed Ron how he had gone for a fly and then gotten too tired to return. Ron told Moody that Ares was near and how he was going to breathe fire into the air so that they could locate him. It wasn't long until Moody spotted the fire and Ron started to fly straight towards it but Moody stopped him. "It could be a trap. 'CONSTANT VIGILANCE'" Ron rolled his eyes, if it was a trap Ares would have told him but he played Moody's little game with him and 5 minutes later they were on the ground with Ares. The trip home was a much slower trip, Ares would fly as much as he could but the rest of the time he travelled on Ron's broom. The two of them weighed on the broom too much and because of that they were travelling at a much slower pace. When they arrived back at the house they found a waiting party for them. Harry and Lupin had stopped their talk and Molly Weasley looked as pale as a ghost. When Molly saw them she rushed forward to Ron embraced him in a large hug and then started shouting at him. "Don't you ever do that to me again Ronald Weasley, I was so worried what were you thinking running off to go and find a dragon, I don't really understand even after all of what Dumbledore has told us why you're keeping the thing anyway." Ron had the good grace to look sheepish while his mother told him off but it was Moody who saved him by proclaiming that there lesson was not over and for him to get back to the drawing room.
The remainder of Ron's lesson did not go well, that is till the last half an hour. Moody cast the spell that Kingsley had to recreate the effects of the dementors and all of a sudden Ron was reliving his worst memories. Up until 3 months ago this would have been terribly upsetting but since the ministry visit there was just too many bad things that he could remember. It started with the brain attack, followed by waking up and finding Hermione in the hospital bed, Sirius's death from Harry's view, Cedric dying, Harry's parents dying, other people dying. Ron had completely forgotten by this time that there was a spell he could do to stop the memories and it wasn't until Moody lifted the spell could he breathe again. Without even thinking about who he was talking to Ron started to tell him everything he had seen, when he had finished Ron was certain that the hardened old man had paled just a little. Moody waited a little longer before asking him to conjure his patronus again. Ron managed it again without the use of the spell but then when he added the spell once again was too caught up in his memories to conjure his patronus. By this time Moody was getting a little frustrated, he only had another 30 minutes to teach the kid the spell. It would throw the whole training program out if they hadn't finished the patronus spell by the end of the day, he cast the spell again. This time he decided he wasn't going to lift it until Ron managed to call his patronus. Ron watched his most horrifying memories go by and that's when he heard Ares voice1 in his head. "Ron these are just memories. You can control them you have to remember a good memory and then shout the words expecto patronum." Ron listened to the voice in his head, find a good memory, Hermione. Hermione was his good memory he focused on that thought "Expecto pantronum" he shouted some mist emerged from his wand but then Ares was back again "come on Ron you have to focus harder, imagine how her lips felt soft against cheek. Focus" "Expecto Patronum" Ron shouted and this time his patronus emerged fully formed and the spell was broken. Moody congratulated him and then told him to go and get ready for the party.
When Ron, Moody and Molly returned to the house Remus and Harry continued their talk. They hadn't said much when Ron had interrupted them the first time and so it was still at that slightly awkward stage. Remus started again "You're not blaming yourself for Sirius' death still are you?" Harry shook his head and it was mostly the truth. Sure Harry still felt responsible every now and then but for the majority of the time he knew Voldemort was at fault and that Sirius was an adult and he made his own decision to go and fight. What Harry did feel responsible for was taking Ginny, Neville and Luna with him. Harry knew that Ron and Hermione fully understood what they were getting themselves into and they went with him out of loyalty to both the cause and to him. But Neville and Luna didn't even know that Sirius was innocent he had recklessly endangered their lives even when Hermione had suggested to him that maybe Sirius wasn't in trouble. He told this all to Lupin.
Lupin listened silently thinking about how to respond to it but then it came to him "Why did they follow you to the ministry Harry?" Harry thought about the question he had always assumed it was because they wanted to help him get Sirius back and while that may have been true for Hermione, Ron and Ginny it wasn't true for Neville and Luna. "I don't really know, Ron and Hermione came because they always follow me, Ginny I guess came because she wanted to help me save Sirius. I don't really know why Luna and Neville came though?" Lupin started to make his point "They came with you because they wanted to fight for what's right as well, not because you made them come. Neville had his parent's taken away from him just like you did in a probably more painful way, he has his owns reasons for going and fighting. And from what I know about Luna, and granted it's not much but she is an independent person who doesn't follow the crowd, she also must have had her own reasons for going." Harry listened to what Lupin said and realised he was right, it was only fair that Neville got to fight for his parents honour and Luna wouldn't have gone if she didn't believe in what they were going to fight for. Harry realised then that he had no right to feel guilty everyone had the right to fight for what they believed in. The talk continued but with a much lighter tone, Lupin told Harry stories about his parents and Siruis when they were younger and then Harry told Lupin about the girls at Hogwarts. Of course Lupin could remember some of the students having been their teacher so he managed to get a few digs in. The last conversation that they touched on was Sirius' will, Lupin as executor of the will wanted to get the reading done soon but he realised that Harry could still be a bit sensitive towards the topic but Harry surprised him "Moony I have to accept that he is gone and I'm doing that, the reading of the will is just part of the acceptance process. You can read it whenever you are ready to do it." Lupin stood up as did Harry and made there way into the house to get ready for the party.
Ron decided not to dress up for the party, everyone who was going to be there knew him anyway and had seen him at his worst so why bother to look good. He had to go and attend to Ares anyway. After feeding Ares he sat down with him and had a quick chat with him before Ares convinced him to go inside. What met him inside was unexpected to say the least. There were about 20 new members that Ron could make out and quite a few of them spoke with strong foreign accents. Ron made his way over to Hermione and Harry, they like him and chosen not to dress up. It wasn't really much of a party they thought to themselves as there was no music but they were happy with it anyway. They were happily talking when Hermione squealed with delight, there in the flesh was Victor Krum. Hermione launched herself over to the Bulgarian quidditch star. "Oh it's so good to see you." Hermione turned back to Harry and Ron pulling Victor with her. Ron was turning red and Harry was waiting for the explosion that was sure to take place. Victor stuck his hand out towards Harry "Harry, it is good to see you. You are well?" "Harry took Victors hand and shook it while politely answering his question. While all of this was happening Ron was fighting with Ares in his head. "Ron I refuse to let you make a fool out of yourself. I want you to behave"
"He is a bloody prat, if you could see the looks Hermione is giving him you wouldn't be telling me to behave."
"I don't think so"
Victor then turned to Ron and stuck out his hand once again. "Ron, you are well also?" Ron was just about to answer when Ares opened his "I am well thank you Victor. Do you come to all order meetings or just when you are in town for quidditch. Now say it."
Ron shook Victor's hand "I am well thanks Victor. Do you come to all order meetings or just when you are in town for quidditch?" Harry raised his eyebrow and Hermione's jaw dropped. But Victor just answered, he didn't know of Ron's dislike of him. "I come when I can. I hear that you all will be joining us. You are very lucky you will be the only children there." Ron started to turn red but Ares was there once again to chime in "Dumbledore feels that we have proved ourselves as adults and should be treated as such. Now say it quickly before Hermione can answer, I want her to be impressed by your behaviour."
"Dumbledore feels that we have proved ourselves as adults and should be treated as such" That is when Ron had his first true vision of the future with details and such. Ron's eyes glazed over, his heart started to beat really fast and small beads of sweat broke out of his head and before his eyes he saw Victor in his Bulgaria robes with the snitch, the score 320 Bulgaria, England 310. Ron blinked several times and finally he could see again. What he saw was nearly as scary as the feelings he felt before the vision. He was lying on the floor with many pairs of eyes looking down at him and then it happened, his Mum attacked him. She was crying all over him, plastering with kisses and he was stuck in this awkward hug "what happened." Ron thought about what to say, Dumbledore hadn't told them all of the ramifications of the brain attack, luckily Charlie came to Ron's rescue. "Give him room Mum, he probably hasn't had enough to eat today what with the lessons and looking after Ares." Molly didn't look too convinced but she let it go anyway. Slowly the crowd dispersed leaving only Harry, Hermione and Victor standing around Ron. Harry offered Ron a hand up which he gratefully took. Hermione was in the middle of asking Ron what he saw when Molly returned with a plate of food for Ron. She handed it to him whilst suggesting that he take a seat. Finally she left them alone. Hermione once again started asking him what he saw. He tried his very best to deflect her questions but finally he gave up he turned to Victor and said "congratulations you're going to beat us by ten points next week. Happy Hermione, I told you it wasn't anything important but no you had to butt in to my business." "shut up Ron, she doesn't deserve this." Ron waited a second and then spoke again "Sorry Hermione, I just feel a bit weird afterwards you know?" Hermione nodded but you could tell that she was still upset; she then pulled Victor away leaving Harry and Ron alone. Harry spoke first informing him that he shouldn't go off at Hermione as she only did it because she cared and then Ron informed in how Ares had stopped him from saying something that he would really regret which Harry laughed at and then they heard Dumbledore calling them all into the kitchen for the meeting.
Harry looked around the kitchen he didn't know if he was ready for everyone to know about the prophecy he especially didn't know whether he wanted to be in the same room when Molly Weasley or Remus Lupin exited the pensive. But really Harry felt like he didn't have any choice. A lot of people that were in the room were family. They had a right to know. They also had a right to know why they were risking their lives by guarding him and his friends. Dumbledore opened the meeting and welcomed Harry, Hermione and Ron as special guests. Snape chose to make a few snide comments but they were quickly quietened by a look from Dumbledore. Other preliminaries were dealt with and then Dumbledore told them that they would be visiting a memory in his pensive. He gave them all instructions and everyone entered the pensive, that was everybody except the trio. Hermione grabbed Harry's hand and Ron placed an arm on his shoulder they sat there silently. Each of them dreaded the re-emergence of the order they all would be shot looks of pity, Harry for having to be the one to kill Voldemort, Hermione and Ron because they could lose their best friend. No less than ten minutes later the order had transpired. Molly Weasley was crying, as were a few of the other female members. Arthur Weasley tried to settle Molly down but she pulled herself out of his embrace and hurried over to the trio and embraced them all into a tight and decidedly uncomfortable group hug. Gently Ron pushed her away "Come on Mum he's not dead yet, and what better person to take down Voldemort for good." Even though Ron's speech was spoken for his Mum's benefit the whole order listened intently to each word he spoke. The members took hope from his words and marvelled at the courage of their young saviour or really saviours all could see that Harry was not going to be doing it alone. Harry held his head high though making eye-contact with no one, his hand still grasped within Hermione's when Dumbledore's voice rang out calling the meeting back to order. Harry sat back down with Hermione and Ron either side of him. The meeting continued for another ten minutes discussing the prophecy and whilst it was uncomfortable for Harry to sit there while everyone stole curious looks at him it was well worth it with everything that happened.
The pace of the meeting was brisk, there wasn't much open discussion. The main contributors were the people that were generally around Dumbledore's house, the Weasley's, Shacklebolt, Moody, Lupin, McGonagall and Snape. Silence ominously descended on the group and before Harry's and Hermione's very eyes as well as the present order, Ron once again received another vision. Before Ron's eyes was Krum on his broom again, once again he caught the snitch, the score was the same but this time the vision didn't end there. This time dementors emerged into the crowd. They performed their kisses indiscriminately and when pandemonium had taken over death eaters materialised. The killing curse was thrown around like it was a simple banishing charm, young children were put under the cruciatus curse without thought. And then Ron was back in the meeting room. He couldn't breathe, the horror that he saw was too encompassing to allow such a simple thing as breathing to occur. Ron registered two strong hands on his shoulders and he was pulled up out of his chair and escorted out of the room. The room exploded with chatter, Molly tried to get up to follow her son but Charlie held her in place telling her that she was going to be okay. However no one in the room was more affected by Ron's vision than Hermione and Harry. Harry could identify so closely with Ron's visions but for a change he was on the outside, he had to be the comforter. Hermione felt something completely different, she felt lost. Out of the three of them Ron was the least affected by all that had happened but that was changing and Hermione just hoped that he would still be the same Ron that she met in first year when all of this was finished.
Dumbledore had managed to steer Ron into his bedroom that he shared with Harry. Dumbledore placed a strong locking and silencing spell on the room. He looked down at the young boy, he was clearly in a state of shock. Dumbledore started to talk quietly to the boy. "Ron, you're safe here. You know that don't you." Ron looked at him with unseeing eyes and responded in what he believed to be a logical manner "They're not." Dumbledore looked at him again it was plainly obvious now that Ron had seen something that had to do with Voldemort. "Yes they are. Everyone is safe at the moment, otherwise we would know. Do you think you could do me a favour?" Ron looked at the headmaster not really understanding what he said when Ares was in his head again. "Ron, it's Ares, everything is okay now. That hasn't happened yet, if you let Dumbledore see, he could help. You could help those little girls they don't have to be hurt." Ron's consciousness increased a bit, enough so that he could answer some of Ares questions. By this time Dumbledore was getting very worried, Ron hadn't answered any of his gentle questions nor reacted to his presence since he told them that they weren't okay he was considering getting one of the healers from downstairs when Ron started to come out of his self imposed stupor. "Ron I think you're ready to use you're pensive. Don't worry I am not going to leave you." Ron nodded his head and then turned to Dumbledore like no time had passed and said "I'll put the vision in the pensive if you want" Dumbledore nodded he had just worked out what had happened, Ron had been talking to Ares that was why he hadn't responded to any of his questions. Ron swiftly removed the memory from his head and handed the pensive over. Ron made no effort to get up as Dumbledore left the room pensive in hand. Dumbledore made his way down to his study and watched the vision what he saw saddened rather than surprised him, things were going to heat up really quickly.
Dumbledore walked back into the kitchen and everyone quietened down. He wasted no time in dismissing everyone but they were all informed that there would be another meeting the next night with everyone that was in England and/or would be in England within the next week. However Dumbledore managed to intercept a young healer by the name of Bee Seth. He quietly informed her of Ron's condition and asked her to go upstairs and check on him, she left quickly and then Dumbledore turned to the remaining members. Dumbledore didn't have a named and known inner circle like Voldemort did but there was a well known hierarchy and those people that remained made up the majority of Dumbledore's higher up hierarchy members. He closed the kitchen door and put another silencing spell up that was when Molly's resolve ended "Where's Ron? What happened? Is he going to be okay?" Dumbledore placed a reassuring hand on her arm and started to speak "Ron is going to be okay, I just sent Miss Seth up to check on him but I am nearly positive that he is going to be okay. Now for those of you who do not know Ron is a diviner." Molly gasped "You're wrong he couldn't be he got a T for divination for Merlin's sake." Dumbledore just gave her a look that suggested that she be quiet for the moment. "Ron received a vision tonight there is going to be an attack on the Bulgaria, England exhibition match." At this everybody in the room visibly paled, Snape included. However Snape was a little less than convinced "I haven't heard about any attack and I was at a meeting last night as you well know." Dumbledore just nodded as there was a knock on the kitchen door and Seth walked in. "Mr Weasley is doing fine, I have given him a dreamless sleep potion and he should wake up as good as new but I'll check him again when I come back for tomorrows meeting." The Weasleys all thanked her as did Dumbledore and she left allowing the meeting to continue.
"Severus, the situation is too dire to ignore we must proceed like Ron's vision is correct. Hopefully you will be able to shed further light on the situation in the not too distant future. Severus nodded whilst he hoped that Ron was wrong common sense told him that the time was nearly right for Voldemort to begin his reign of terror. Dumbledore finished off the meeting by giving a more detailed description of the vision and then there was a quick discussion on possible ways to avert the disaster. Short of cancelling the match they could see no alternative than to react to the attack rather than try and avert it but those details could be worked out the next day at the meeting. Dumbledore asked everybody to leave so that he could talk to the Weasley's about Ron. Harry and Hermione bid everyone goodnight and left.
As they were walking up the stairs Hermione told Harry that she would meet him in his room in five minutes after she had gotten changed so that she could check on Ron. Harry quickly entered their room and sent a sympathetic glance in Ron's direction before changing into his pyjamas. Not long after Hermione entered the room dressed for bed. She made her way to Ron's bed and sat down next to him stroking his hair, Harry made his way over to the bed as well and spoke "Are my visions like that?" Hermione looked over at him "No, in a way they're worse. You are usually in so much pain when you have yours. It's hard watching them isn't it" They were silent once again, Harry didn't need to answer Hermione she already knew the answer to her question. Hermione was the one to break the silence "Night Harry" and with that Hermione lay down next to Ron, Harry returned the goodnight and he too lay down and fell asleep next to Hermione.
