A/N: I know it has been awhile but I have been really busy. I'm back at uni now so unless I get some more reviews I doubt that I will keep posting. I'm not saying it to guilt anyone into reviewing, it's just the way it is.
Leaving
The last month of the holiday passed very much like the previous one, with one or two notable exceptions. The first interesting yet inherently sad exception was the reading of Sirius' will. Most order members had gathered for the reading, apparently it was a long standing tradition for members to do so. They all dressed for the occasion with dress robes being the fashion of choice. Remus looked dignified as he stood up in front of the audience. The Weasley's, Harry and Hermione all sat together near the front as if by sitting closer they gave Remus the support he needed to carry out such an audacious task. He thanked everybody for coming before reading the letter that was composed for the people that had gathered. He took a large breath and started:
"Hello from the Grave, Well I have died and hopefully I have done it courageously, fighting to protect the innocent, our way of life or my Godson. Don't feel bad if I did, it was probably my own mistake and I don't regret it. My biggest regret in my life was not being able to protect my Godson as he was growing up. Harry please forgive me for not being there for you when you were growing up. I know it was hard living with the Dursley's but you turned out great Sport, remember that I will always love you.
Hermione, Ron thankyou for everything, for being there for Harry, for helping to save me and for always doing the right thing no matter what rules you broke. Molly, Arthur, Lily and James couldn't have picked better people to help look after their son and I feel the same way. Be there for Harry when he needs you, he has so little love in his life and I know that the two of you are capable of giving some to him. Other Weasley members remember that love will keep you strong. Thankyou for inviting me to be part of your family, each of you are special, remember that.
Tonk's, what can I say, you would be on my family tree. Continue to be true to yourself and ignore nearly all things Black, we need more people like you in the family. Albus, thankyou for trying your best to keep Harry safe. Although I didn't agree with all of the things you did this past year you certainly were only doing what you thought best. Thankyou for trying your best to keep me safe as well, you put a lot of trust and faith in me when you believed my story.
Remus old friend, what can I say? Hopefully at this time you are the last member of our little group alive, but if you're not you have to hunt him down for James and for Lily and for me. I still feel so bad about suspecting you as the traitor; I hope you have forgiven me. Promise me old mate that you will keep living. You are not a werewolf except for that one night. You have so much to give the world, do not shut it out. I love you mate.
Other order members present, remember there are things worth dying for, people worth saving and innocence worth protecting. Be true to yourselves and the cause. Well I guess that is all, time for Remus or someone else to start handing out the Black fortune. All the best for the future. Sirius Black
By the time Remus had finished reading the letter the trio were huddled together with Hermione and Harry crying silently. Ginny was being comforted by Bill as she too cried. Mrs Weasley was crying quite loudly into Arthur's shoulder and other random order members were dabbing at their eyes as well. Remus looked quite composed standing in front of the crowd. He had most probably read the letter several times and was ready for the reading. When everybody had quietened down Remus started with the dividing of the assets. "I, Sirius Black of sound body and mind do bequeath to Harry James Potter 25% of my estate as well as the deed to Number 12 Grimmauld Place on the proviso that Remus Lupin may take residence if he needs to. To Remus Lupin I give 25% of my estate and a home whenever he needs one. To Hermione Granger I give 15% of my estate as well as any books that she wants from the library of Number 12. To Ronald Arthur Weasley I give 15% of my estate. To Arthur Weasley's family I give 10% of my estate. And finally to my only cousin that I respect and love, I give Nymphadora Tonk's the remaining 10% of my estate."
Remus finished reading and nearly all of the people in the room were in shock. They certainly hadn't expected the Black fortune to be divided like that. Remus then handed each of the people who he had named in his will two letters. One of them was a personal letter and the other a key to a vault where their share of the estate had been deposited. Harry, Hermione and Ron all looked at each other knowing what the others were thinking; no amount of gold in the world was going to make them feel better for having Sirius die. When Remus handed them their letters they politely excused themselves. Harry didn't want to see the pity that most people had in their eyes when they looked at him and Ron and Hermione knew and respected that. None of them opened their letters though; they weren't ready for that so instead they sat in companionable silence until Remus bought them up some tea later on in the evening. The conversation that came after was something that the four of them needed. They all talked about what had happened that night at the ministry. Harry and Remus told Hermione and Ron about how Sirius actually died. Ron told them his story as did Hermione. Remus then told them all stories about Sirius when he was growing up. It was a night for healing and when they were finally ready for bed they were ready to move forward with their life.
The next notable thing that happened during the last month was Ron and Ares bonding ceremony. Ron still spent a sizable proportion of his time with Ares but as the month progressed Ares started to talk about the bonding ceremony. According to Ares the ceremony was meant to take place in the middle of a forest where an exchange of blood and hence magical energies was done. This wasn't really a problem except for the fact that the order didn't want him going, let alone going by himself. Finally with the help of Dumbledore Ron managed to come up with a plan that was acceptable to them all.
On the night that the ceremony was meant to take place Moody, Bill and Arthur accompanied Ares and Ron down into the middle of the forest. When Ares decided that they were in the right place he told Ron to dismiss the others. He then asked Ron to strip. Ron looked at Ares apprehensively "Are you sure" "Well no, I just like seeing you naked. Of course I am sure now take off those bloody clothes." Ron undressed still struggling with his own modesty. "Now put them in a pile. Are you ready to begin?" Ron nodded he was getting quite scared. He had no idea what Ares had planned. "Don't be scared we are ready to begin. Now where is the knife." Ron raised the knife for Ares to see. "I, Ares of the noble blood do deem Ronald Arthur Weasley to be the one that is pure in mind, body and soul. I call on the ancients to do their magic." Ron felt an incredibly painful burning within him but he fought to stay conscious as that was the only instruction that Ares had provided. As the burning increased Ron had to fight harder and harder to stay awake finally the pain climaxed and Ron let out an animalistic scream that could be heard even at the house but then Ares was speaking again "The ancients have spoken. You have been deemed worthy. Take the knife and slide it across my chest and then across your neck. Do not worry bond brother I will not let you die."
"You have to press tighter on the knife; my skin is much thicker than yours. Good now do yourself; you have nothing to fear my friend. It has to be deeper than that Ron, Good now press your head into my chest and our blood will flow freely between us. Keep listening to me. You aren't allowed to fall asleep yet. Keep going. Keep going. Okay now you are allowed to sleep Master Ron." And with that Ron promptly passed out. It wasn't long before Moody, Arthur and Bill returned. They were surprised to see that Ron was naked, the slit in his throat had been healed but above his heart a tattoo of Ares had magically appeared. They gathered Ron into their arms and looked around for his clothes but they were nowhere in sight, instead Bill removed his outer cloak and placed it carefully over Ron and they slowly made their way back to the house with Ares travelling silently behind them.
Upon their return to the house Bee Seth was waiting to check Ron out. She instructed the boys to move him up to his room and she immediately set to work. She was taken aback by what she found. There was nothing wrong with Ron yet there was something majorly wrong. It would have been obvious to any trained medical profession that his body had suffered major trauma. His heart was racing and his breathing was rapid even in a coma. He had multiple injuries that she couldn't explain. Just as she was about to leave Ron started to move and she quickly made her way back over to him and re-examined him. The injuries of before had all but disappeared and it looked to her that he was just sleeping. She made her way out of the room and down to the waiting crowd "He is going to be okay, he is just sleeping now but I would like for him to stay at St Mungo's tonight." Molly burst out crying and Hermione turned to Harry looking for comfort but Moody, Remus, Kingsly, Tonk's, Viktor and the rest of the Weasley's just looked at Bee. Moody was the first to talk "No. It is too dangerous. If he is just sleeping then there is no need for him to go. You know as well as I do that us Auror's know nearly as much about healing as you do. We will monitor him here and if things turn bad we will get him to Mungo's". Bee nodded, she had already guessed that there was no way in hell that she would have gotten him into the hospital. She left her instructions on which potions he would need when he woke up and then she left. A schedule was set up for Ron's monitoring and soon all bar Moody had gone to bed.
Over the next two days there was someone constantly with Ron monitoring him in case something went wrong. Harry and Hermione still slept with him and Bee Seth dropped round both days but nothing happened. When Ron finally awoke from his slumber he was disappointed, angry and upset at how awful he felt "Ares where the hell are you?" he shouted aloud alerting Bill to the fact that he was awake, he quickly rushed over to him and asked if he was alright but Ron was too busy with Ares to bother about Bill. "I'm right here Master, please do not drink any of the potions that they will try and give you. It will only destroy the bond. That is why it is so painful the bond is being formed. Do not worry you will start to feel better tomorrow. For today just stay in bed." Ron didn't get a chance to reply as suddenly his Mum, Harry and Hermione had appeared. Hermione and his Mum were fighting for prime hugging position but Ron had the good sense to tell them not to touch him. "Guys I appreciate you being here and I know you love me, but if you dare come near me I swear I will not be held accountable for my actions." Molly looked horrified but Hermione just looked appraisingly at her boyfriend, she had only once seen Ron look so sick and pale and that was when Sirius had broken his leg. Molly looked around looking for something to do. Now that she couldn't touch her son she needed to do something productive. She quickly spotted the potions bottles and made her way over to them. Ron once again anticipated her move "Ares said that I can't have any of those potions as they will destroy the bond but why don't you go and make me something to eat." Molly didn't look happy at the idea that Ron wasn't going to take the potions but she was happy that she had something to do but by the time she had returned with his food Ron was asleep once again. Ares was right about one thing; Ron was up and about the next day feeling better than normal.
The last interesting thing that happened before their return to Hogwart's was an order meeting. The meeting started off pretty routinely with an outline of all death eater activity that had happened since the last meeting followed by an address by Dumbledore. The meeting started to get interesting when Dumbledore started to talk about plans for the trio's return to Hogwart's. This led to an interesting conversation on who the new DADA teacher was. When Dumbledore announced that the new teacher was none other than Percy Weasley silence descended on the room. No one knew how to proceed as all of the Weasley's were incredibly sensitive about that particular subject and they were all known for their explosive anger. Dumbledore broke the silence. "He was the only applicant. It seems that Fudge still wishes to keep an eye on me." Muttering could be heard from around the table with the notable exception of the Weasley family who was still too shocked to talk.
Dumbledore continued on with the meeting once silence had returned "We also have another new appointment, Viktor Krum will be taking on the position as Assistant Potions Professor allowing Severus to do more work for the order. This appointment allows us to meet the objective of having at least 5 order members in Hogwart's." Snape glared at Viktor who was sitting with the trio. It was obvious to all who saw him that he didn't really agree with Dumbledore's decision to appoint an assistant professor for him. When the meeting was over and most people had dispersed. Harry and Hermione started questioning Viktor on why he had neglected to mention that he might be returning with them to Hogwarts. Viktor just shrugged and looked concernedly over at Ron who was talking with his family. They had become much better friends since the talk that they had at Harry's birthday and Viktor was surprised to see that Ron wasn't happier that he would be returning to Hogwart's with the three of them. Later that night in bed Harry asked about Ron's reaction to Dumbledore's announcement. Both Harry and Hermione were surprised by his answer "I don't want International Quidditch Star singing Weasley is our King with the Slytherin's." Harry and Hermione shared a look; Ron was still very sensitive about his earlier quidditch performances. Harry decided that Hermione was probably the better person to handle the problem. "Ron, I'm sure Viktor doesn't care what sort of quidditch player you are, you're not his friend because he can play quidditch. Plus I seem to remember choruses of that very song being sung by the whole of Gryffindor after your last match." Ron smiled at the memory, it had felt really good to be the hero for a change. They talked for a little longer about how their lives were going to change once they got back to Hogwart's and then fell asleep.
The last full day at Dumbledore's was a huge rush. The trio were woken much earlier than normal for their run and the day didn't stop. Molly had gone to Diagon Alley the day before and had acquired the supplies that they needed for the coming school year. The morning was spent dividing their school things up between the four of them and gathering all of their possessions that had managed to be spread throughout the house. Ron and Hermione also managed to spend an hour alone. Even though they had officially been going out for just over a month, their relationship hadn't progressed much further than the kissing and holding hands stage as it was hard to find time alone.
That night a large feast was held in order to farewell the trio, Ginny and Viktor. When it was time to go to bed all of the packing had been done, as well as all of the goodbyes said. The plan for the morning was complicated with portkeying, apparating and walking involved. Those that could apparate with the exception of Tonk's and Viktor were to apparate to Number 12 Grimmauld Place, while Tonk's, Viktor, the trio and Ginny were to take a portkey to there. They then would follow the same procedure as the year before in getting to Kings Cross Station. Charlie who had managed to get the day off work was responsible for getting Ares to Hogwart's where he would join the other dragons as part of the protection detail.
Just as the trio were heading off to sleep, two large pops could be heard. Each of them whipped out their wands, pointing them at the site of the pops but they were relieved when Fred's voice echoed in the room, "put those down, it's only us." The trio lowered their wands and George's voice took over where Fred's had left off "We have come to give you a goodbye present Harry, you didn't really think that all that we would give you for your birthday was a book." Harry laughed, he had been surprised at the twins gift. Hermione already had a stern look on her face and was the first one to speak, "Fred, George, don't you dare give him anything dangerous or something that he could get in trouble for. You do realise that we are going to be Associate Professors don't you?" Fred and George grinned at each and then proceeded to pay Ron out about it again. "Our little Ron, following in Percy's footsteps." Ron turned an ugly shade of purple and the twins knew that they had gone too far, "Shh, or you'll wake Mum and then we won't be able to give you our presents." They then pulled out from under their shirts two large bottles and handed them to Harry and Ron. Harry was the first to answer "You're giving us Firewhisky and Icevodka. Thanks a heap."
Ron repeated the thanks but then Hermione started in on a lecture but she was quickly quietened by Ron "I remember a young girl spending her holiday drinking cocktails by the side of the pool." Hermione turned a nice shade of red and Fred and George took the opportunity to give them an explanation. "From what we have heard, which by the way isn't much, I think you are going to need a little help to relax. If you need any more you'll have to owl us and we'll make sure that Bill can get it to you. He's a bit of a champ like that. Now here is a complete set of Weasley Wizarding Wheezes, it refills itself as you use a product, look after it. We don't want it getting it in the wrong hands." A large pop was heard and the twins had disappeared but on the bottom of the bed three WWW boxes could be seen. Hermione spoke "I think they're worried about you Ron and this is how they're expressing this." Harry silently agreed with her as did Ron but neither of them voiced their opinions. They didn't say another word to each other and they promptly fell asleep.
Mrs Weasley awoke the three of them early the next morning and they were soon down eating breakfast. Ron had an extra quick breakfast as he wanted to go and see Ares before they left. Even though Ron trusted Charlie explicitly he was still apprehensive about leaving Ares care to someone else. A quick goodbye was given and Ron made his way back inside. It wasn't long before people started apparating out, leaving only Viktor, Tonk's, Ginny and the trio waiting for their portkey to activate. It was very funny to see Tonk's as a 16 year old. She was going under the alias of being Harry's cousin, Tina James. The portkey activated and they soon arrived at Sirius's old house. Harry couldn't help but feel sad as he stood, seeing the house bought back all sorts of memories but Hermione quickly wrapped him up in a hug so that he couldn't dwell on them too much. It wasn't long before Moody was instructing them all where to go. Viktor said goodbye as he was apparating to Hogsmeade and making his way to Hogwart's from there. And then they were all on their way.
Both groups arrived safely at King's Cross station but the trio were amazed to see the differences that a year had made to the behaviour of so many of their peers as well as their parents. Auror's mingled amongst the crowd and parents held their wands at the ready in case a death eater attack occurred. There were many tears coming from Mothers eyes everywhere they looked and "I love you" was the phrase of choice that most kids were told as they boarded the train. At 10 to 11 Moody placed their trunks in a carriage for them and told them all to say their goodbyes. Ginny was the first to say goodbye to everyone. Her Mum gave her a large hug and several kisses on her face. "Be good Ginny don't do anything like last year. If anything suspicious happens tell Tonk's or one of the other order members okay?" Ginny nodded knowing that there wasn't any other answer that she could give. She gave Mrs Weasley one last hug where she whispered 'I love you' into her ear and then she made her way to the train. Giving a quick wave to the other order members that had gathered there.
Hermione was the next one to say goodbye to Mrs Weasley. Molly grabbed her into a fierce hug whispering to her "Look after the boys for me. Be safe. We love you like one of our own." She let Hermione go as she was having trouble controlling herself. Hermione then gave her goodbyes to the other order members who she had gotten close with. While Hermione was saying goodbye to Molly, Harry was saying his own goodbye to Remus. It was an incredibly touching scene to anyone who was watching and many people were. Harry was pulled towards Lupin in a ferocious hug and stayed there listening to the soothing words of Lupin's voice telling him how proud his parents and Sirius would have been and that they all loved him. Finally Harry pulled away as he had other things to do "I will see you soon, won't I?" he asked. Lupin nodded, it had been arranged that most order meetings would be held in a place at Hogsmeade that Dumbledore owned so that the trio could attend the meetings. Harry then moved onto Kingsley to say his goodbye to his guard for the summer. He held out his hand which Kingsley took "Thank you, I must have been a real shit at times?" Kingsley nodded but smiled and didn't say a word. Harry then made his way to Mrs Weasley, she spoke first as she held him in a loving embrace "I love you like a son and I want to come out of this war with all 9 of my children alive. Look after Ron and Hermione and Ginny of course. Try not to do anything too stupid, I know now that trouble will find you but don't go looking for it. Now go and wait with Hermione and Tonk's." She pushed him away without letting him say anything and she turned to her youngest son. Ron had changed so much in her eyes over the last year. He stood tall and looked every part of a man. She made her way over to him, pulled him into the tightest hug she could and said "I love you. Be careful." She tried to say something else but the tears that had been threatening to fall all day did. Ron held her closely whispering reassuring things in her ear "I love you, I'll take care of Ginny and Harry and Hermione, and I'm going to be okay." Molly couldn't get herself under control so Kingsley grabbed her and slowly manoeuvred her away from Ron. Ron turned and waved at the other order members and he too disappeared onto the train.
