A/N: Here's the chapter I've been dreading. The first half is from
Hermione's POV and the second from Ron's. Hopefully, I'll be able to
explain enough about the wizard chain so that what happened to Ron becomes
clear. It's just, I feel bad about doing this to Ron, but I couldn't think
of any other way for his character to react and to keep with the integrity
of the wizard chain... Eugh, yes, I know, I'll shut up and write now.
JumpyPUNKyMonKey: I hope this all makes sense after this chapter. If not I'll go back and edit the before chapters to make sure it does. I love after Hogwart's stories, too! They're my favorite! Everyone will get happy, they just have some feelings to work out and some issues to get over.
"Samantha, honey, it's time for bed." Hermione called from the common room of their quarters. Hearing the annoyed groan coming from ten year old Samantha's room Hermione raised her voice a little more, and started walking towards the noise. "Come on, this is your last year of tutoring, you have to learn to wake up early for next year!"
"Alright, I'm going, I'm going. Tuck me in?" Samantha sounded totally unenthusiastic, like going to bed was some kind of ordeal. Hermione, on the other hand, couldn't wait to get in her room, have a shower, and drift off to a dreamless sleep.
"Into bed with you!" And soon Samantha was in her bright purple bed, red hair braided, sleeping like Hermione's angel.
As Hermione readied herself for bed she felt the strings of her heart pull her back to that hidden space in the closet. For the first time in five years Hermione pulled out the dark wooden box filled with her favorite memories. It was a complete injustice that the only remainders of the best part of her life were covered in layers of tear stains, but she wouldn't cast them away. She could have cleaned the stains, unsnarled the edges, and reversed the decay, but she wouldn't. The farther ruined these things became, the farther she was from the pain that, as she looked down and the various photos and letters, felt as fresh as ever.
There were many pictures in that box. Placed in chronological order they recorded the time from when she and Ron had gotten together secretly the summer before sixth year. How Harry had loved to see them together. How they had been with each other.
The war had begun in earnest at the end of Harry's fifth year. Half way through sixth year all the Death Eater's children had been called home. Voldemort was building his army and it was time for the Light to strike. Hermione had known that it was possible for all of them to die, a great many already had, but she wanted to spend whatever time they had left together. Ron had felt the same way, and they were married at the tender age of 17. Six months later she was pregnant, and with the passing of another six months she had found the spell for the wizard's chain and said goodbye to the Ron she loved.
The wizard's chain was a simple, enough construction. Every one in the chain set aside a piece of themselves to give to the wizard or witch at the front. There were several people in the chain that defeated Voldemort. The list of what a person could give was endless: Intelligence, vitality, metabolism, perception. Anything. The catch was, if any of the gifts were used, they could not be returned. Ron had given his vitality.
Ron was ready to give his life to the cause, although he hadn't believed Harry would need it. When Harry jumped to save Draco he assumed his blood magic would rebound the spell. He hadn't known that Lucius Malfoy, thrumming with his own power and that of the child of the Dark Lord would take more from him than he could give. In order for Harry to stay and fight the Chain pulled from the only person who had given vitality: Ron. The Ron that remained could not walk, and tired easily. He could do magic, as it pulled from another source, but he refused, in his stubborn manner, and had walked out on her while she was 7 months pregnant. ~Well, ~ Hermione revised that opinion. ~He walked out on all of us. He left Harry who felt so guilty, he left what was left of his family, and he left Samantha. ~
Hermione felt the last dregs of pain drain from her heart. As she looked down at the box she knew it was filled only with memories, not the pain causing phantoms she had once seen. She lifted the box from her bed, and without hesitation, threw it, pictures and all into the fire.
As she watched that part of her life burn away to smoke and ash, she recited the last words she had said to Ron ten years ago. "Love is being there, Ronald Weasley, and while I know you love me I'm sure you love yourself ten times more."
*********************
The owl was tapping on his window. "Damn owls." Muttered a disgruntled Ron Weasley. He knew it was from Harry. Since the incident no one had sent him owls except Hermione, who had stopped sending them five years ago, and Harry. Harry's owls were always full of apologies, and begging. There was also the occasional update on Samantha, with photos always included. With the anticipation of seeing his daughter vicariously again Ron wheeled himself to the window and let in the annoyed owl.
Carefully, as to avoid further angering the owl Ron untied the letter. This letter, though, was not thick enough to have even one photo, and Ron felt his heart sink. Harry had left their last visit in tears. Ron hoped this would not be another guilt trip. With trepidation he opened the letter.
Ron,
You've seen in the pictures, I know you have, that Samantha is in her last year before Hogwarts. Next year she'll be sorted. Do you have even an inkling of what house she'll go into? Of course you don't.
I'm tired of carrying this pain for you in my heart. Your life now it your own choice. We have managed the best we can in your absence, but we've stopped waiting. If you come back you'll find the world did not stop turning for you, and things are not always as easy as apologies. I've spent the last ten years dealing with that, but I won't hold my heart in reserve waiting for your forgiveness.
Maybe that doesn't affect you, but here's something that might. Neither will Hermione stay alone forever.
Harry
Ron's trepidation turned to indignation. How dare he lay all of this at Ron's feet. And the curses began to fly, his cheeks were bright red, and his eyes stung with tears.
Eventually he stopped the swearing and let the tears fall to the letter in his lap. They pooled on the letter and the ink began to turn to black swirls on the parchment. As he cried he heard the echo of Hermione's last words to him on the wind. She was right. Love is being there, and if he really loved them he would have to face the scrutiny of the real world. He would stop hiding from himself. Alone with his misery he thought he could never be hurt, but now the burn of those ten lost years filled his heart. He had crippled himself far more than the wizard chain ever could have.
When Ron awoke the next morning he was not quite as sure about this as he had been the night before. He knew he was still damaged, and that he couldn't just waltz (figuratively speaking, of course) back into their lives. Especially not Samantha's. As he called the wizard movers to help him pack up his things his eyes fell on the stacks and stacks of old journals, and he was hit with an idea.
He hadn't known what he would do with his time once he moved to Hogsmeade, but now he did. How else could he explain himself? He would not make excuses; there were none, but he would tell his story, and hope that he could earn back some of what he had so callously thrown away all those years ago.
A/N: I'm sorry these are so short! There just always seems to be a good place to stop. I could combine chapters, but it never looks right to me. Anyone have any thoughts? Is it too fast or slow, is the writing too thick? Once people start to pull out of their memories things should get going, and the chapters will get longer. Does that explain most of the stuff about what happened to Ron?
Anyways, I'm rethinking my plan for the next few chapters. It's not going the way I want it to, so I'm changing it. I sort of like having the author power for a change. Anyhow in the next chapter you'll see things from Draco's POV. We're going to skip forward about three weeks to winter break. Draco's going to get some hard news and the title is going to come into play again. Tell me, if I get a little obvious with that. This is getting longer than the chapter again! Sorry, I'm done now. I will write some more this afternoon.
JumpyPUNKyMonKey: I hope this all makes sense after this chapter. If not I'll go back and edit the before chapters to make sure it does. I love after Hogwart's stories, too! They're my favorite! Everyone will get happy, they just have some feelings to work out and some issues to get over.
"Samantha, honey, it's time for bed." Hermione called from the common room of their quarters. Hearing the annoyed groan coming from ten year old Samantha's room Hermione raised her voice a little more, and started walking towards the noise. "Come on, this is your last year of tutoring, you have to learn to wake up early for next year!"
"Alright, I'm going, I'm going. Tuck me in?" Samantha sounded totally unenthusiastic, like going to bed was some kind of ordeal. Hermione, on the other hand, couldn't wait to get in her room, have a shower, and drift off to a dreamless sleep.
"Into bed with you!" And soon Samantha was in her bright purple bed, red hair braided, sleeping like Hermione's angel.
As Hermione readied herself for bed she felt the strings of her heart pull her back to that hidden space in the closet. For the first time in five years Hermione pulled out the dark wooden box filled with her favorite memories. It was a complete injustice that the only remainders of the best part of her life were covered in layers of tear stains, but she wouldn't cast them away. She could have cleaned the stains, unsnarled the edges, and reversed the decay, but she wouldn't. The farther ruined these things became, the farther she was from the pain that, as she looked down and the various photos and letters, felt as fresh as ever.
There were many pictures in that box. Placed in chronological order they recorded the time from when she and Ron had gotten together secretly the summer before sixth year. How Harry had loved to see them together. How they had been with each other.
The war had begun in earnest at the end of Harry's fifth year. Half way through sixth year all the Death Eater's children had been called home. Voldemort was building his army and it was time for the Light to strike. Hermione had known that it was possible for all of them to die, a great many already had, but she wanted to spend whatever time they had left together. Ron had felt the same way, and they were married at the tender age of 17. Six months later she was pregnant, and with the passing of another six months she had found the spell for the wizard's chain and said goodbye to the Ron she loved.
The wizard's chain was a simple, enough construction. Every one in the chain set aside a piece of themselves to give to the wizard or witch at the front. There were several people in the chain that defeated Voldemort. The list of what a person could give was endless: Intelligence, vitality, metabolism, perception. Anything. The catch was, if any of the gifts were used, they could not be returned. Ron had given his vitality.
Ron was ready to give his life to the cause, although he hadn't believed Harry would need it. When Harry jumped to save Draco he assumed his blood magic would rebound the spell. He hadn't known that Lucius Malfoy, thrumming with his own power and that of the child of the Dark Lord would take more from him than he could give. In order for Harry to stay and fight the Chain pulled from the only person who had given vitality: Ron. The Ron that remained could not walk, and tired easily. He could do magic, as it pulled from another source, but he refused, in his stubborn manner, and had walked out on her while she was 7 months pregnant. ~Well, ~ Hermione revised that opinion. ~He walked out on all of us. He left Harry who felt so guilty, he left what was left of his family, and he left Samantha. ~
Hermione felt the last dregs of pain drain from her heart. As she looked down at the box she knew it was filled only with memories, not the pain causing phantoms she had once seen. She lifted the box from her bed, and without hesitation, threw it, pictures and all into the fire.
As she watched that part of her life burn away to smoke and ash, she recited the last words she had said to Ron ten years ago. "Love is being there, Ronald Weasley, and while I know you love me I'm sure you love yourself ten times more."
*********************
The owl was tapping on his window. "Damn owls." Muttered a disgruntled Ron Weasley. He knew it was from Harry. Since the incident no one had sent him owls except Hermione, who had stopped sending them five years ago, and Harry. Harry's owls were always full of apologies, and begging. There was also the occasional update on Samantha, with photos always included. With the anticipation of seeing his daughter vicariously again Ron wheeled himself to the window and let in the annoyed owl.
Carefully, as to avoid further angering the owl Ron untied the letter. This letter, though, was not thick enough to have even one photo, and Ron felt his heart sink. Harry had left their last visit in tears. Ron hoped this would not be another guilt trip. With trepidation he opened the letter.
Ron,
You've seen in the pictures, I know you have, that Samantha is in her last year before Hogwarts. Next year she'll be sorted. Do you have even an inkling of what house she'll go into? Of course you don't.
I'm tired of carrying this pain for you in my heart. Your life now it your own choice. We have managed the best we can in your absence, but we've stopped waiting. If you come back you'll find the world did not stop turning for you, and things are not always as easy as apologies. I've spent the last ten years dealing with that, but I won't hold my heart in reserve waiting for your forgiveness.
Maybe that doesn't affect you, but here's something that might. Neither will Hermione stay alone forever.
Harry
Ron's trepidation turned to indignation. How dare he lay all of this at Ron's feet. And the curses began to fly, his cheeks were bright red, and his eyes stung with tears.
Eventually he stopped the swearing and let the tears fall to the letter in his lap. They pooled on the letter and the ink began to turn to black swirls on the parchment. As he cried he heard the echo of Hermione's last words to him on the wind. She was right. Love is being there, and if he really loved them he would have to face the scrutiny of the real world. He would stop hiding from himself. Alone with his misery he thought he could never be hurt, but now the burn of those ten lost years filled his heart. He had crippled himself far more than the wizard chain ever could have.
When Ron awoke the next morning he was not quite as sure about this as he had been the night before. He knew he was still damaged, and that he couldn't just waltz (figuratively speaking, of course) back into their lives. Especially not Samantha's. As he called the wizard movers to help him pack up his things his eyes fell on the stacks and stacks of old journals, and he was hit with an idea.
He hadn't known what he would do with his time once he moved to Hogsmeade, but now he did. How else could he explain himself? He would not make excuses; there were none, but he would tell his story, and hope that he could earn back some of what he had so callously thrown away all those years ago.
A/N: I'm sorry these are so short! There just always seems to be a good place to stop. I could combine chapters, but it never looks right to me. Anyone have any thoughts? Is it too fast or slow, is the writing too thick? Once people start to pull out of their memories things should get going, and the chapters will get longer. Does that explain most of the stuff about what happened to Ron?
Anyways, I'm rethinking my plan for the next few chapters. It's not going the way I want it to, so I'm changing it. I sort of like having the author power for a change. Anyhow in the next chapter you'll see things from Draco's POV. We're going to skip forward about three weeks to winter break. Draco's going to get some hard news and the title is going to come into play again. Tell me, if I get a little obvious with that. This is getting longer than the chapter again! Sorry, I'm done now. I will write some more this afternoon.