Shadows

Rating: PG-13

Summery: "He painted a pretty picture for you, didn't he Ron, what with all of his colorful lies and empty promises, how could I possibly compete with that?" A series of events leads Ron to the dark side, can anyone bring him back?

Disclaimer: Anything that you recognize, I don't own

A/N Sorry about the delay in updating again, school and work have been competing with each other to see which can kill me with stress faster. This chapter is starting out at Ron's first day of 'spy training.'

Chapter Nine

Training Day (lol, awesome movie!)

I spit out a mouthful of blood and flashed a look of hatred towards the cause of the extreme amount of pain that now resided in the right side of my face.

"Was that necessary?" I asked venomously.

He shrugged and gave me a friendly smile, "it's only my job to train you kid, it's not my problem if you can't handle a swift kick to the mouth."

"Yeah well," I said with a scowl, "you could bloody well warn me before the next time you attempt to leave me toothless."

The fit trainer let out a hearty laugh, "that's a good one kid, I'd love to see you say it to a death eater when you're fighting them."

I shook my head in irritation as I found nothing funny about the present situation. The place where Dumbledore had wanted me to go turned out to be some hidden training facility where I was supposed to be whipped into shape and become a 'master of espionage.' It turned out that all this meant was that for six hours everyday I was going to get the shit beat out of me by my way too friendly trainer, Mark.

"All right," Mark said happily, "I think that's enough of the physical training for today."

"Thank God," I mumbled before stumbling towards the door, wincing at every step.

Mark cleared his throat loudly and I slowly turned around with a questioning glare on my face. "I said we were done with the physical training," he clarified, "not done for the day."

I cringed at his words and slowly walked back over to him feeling my body bruising over with each step. Mark took out his wand and conjured up a table and two chairs with ease. He gestured for me to take a seat and I gladly complied.

"So kid," he said, for once not having a goofy grin on his features, "do you know exactly what to expect from all of this?"

I shrugged and immediately regretted the action as it only caused more pain. "I don't know, just gather information and get beat up by you."

Mark gave a sigh and ran a hand through his dark hair by habit, "I think that you have a right to know how much danger is involved with this lifestyle-and don't fool yourself, it is a lifestyle; not a job-there are problems everywhere and you could be killed at any second and no one would give a damn. It is imperative that you sever all connections that you presently have. Unless you want all of them killed to get to you end all ties with your family and friends. If you go through with this you go through it alone; don't fuck up their lives with your decisions, understand?"

I closed my eyes to take in all of this information. Just what was I getting myself into here? "So," I said cautiously, "this is like a suicide job then? You come in, but you don't come out."

"Not necessarily, I have complete faith in the fact that I will live to see a ripe old age."

I raised my eyes to Mark in confusion, "but you just said that you could be killed at any given second."

The smile came back, but this one was more arrogant than friendly. "No, I said that you could be killed at any second, I am a master at this."

I rolled my eyes and mumbled, "Cocky little shit, aren't you?"

"Comes with the territory," he said in a laughing tone.

"Mark," I asked hesitantly as he sobered up, "is it worth it?"

He cast his eyes downward but I didn't miss the sorrowfulness that had passed in them. "It's difficult," he started out, "to just end your life that you worked so hard to build. Those relationships that you depended on are gone, just like that. But, there is a sense of fulfillment that you gain with your experiences; it's not fame or recognition because no one will even know who you are, but it's just like you gain this sense of self. Have you ever just felt empty kid, like something was missing?"

I felt my heartbeat pick up as he spoke to me, his words hitting me hard. Had I ever felt empty? To an extreme which he could not even fathom.

"So," he concluded, "to answer your question, it's worth it to me, but I guess you'll just have to search within yourself to find if it'll be worth it to you."

With his somber expression Mark looked older than the twenty-five years that he told me he was. His wrinkled forehead and wise eyes told the tale of a boy forced into manhood before he was prepared. His off guard appearance gave me an insight to the person that he was without the humor and friendly smile.

I wondered if I went through with all of this if I would sit one day and train another. Secrets and deceptions racing through my mind, half wanting to tell my apprentice to go and lead a normal carefree young life, half screaming that it's the best thing that you'll ever do.

"How does it fulfill you?" I asked with apprehension.

Mark put his mask back on and offered me a smile; only I was able to see straight through it. "It's not something that I can really explain," he said, "it's just like knowing that you're out there doing something to help not just a few people, but the entire world…it's an inexplicable high, and when you have it, it makes all the sacrifices that you had to make seem microscopic." He paused for a moment as if realizing that he was being too deep, "it's better than sex," he offered to lighten the situation.

I gave him the customary laugh but couldn't stop my face from turning red. Mark gave me a perplexed look but said nothing about my deep blush; I hoped more than anything that he didn't conclude my secret, that I was a virgin. God, I was an almost eighteen-year-old virgin; how pathetic was I?

"So," I said, desperately wanting to change the subject, "how's the pay?"

"The pay's good," he said with a laugh, "I have no idea in hell where our funding comes from, but trust me, you pull off a mission and they hook you up. You should see my house, it was a gift after I did one mission, it's off the chain."

I nodded dumbly as if I knew precisely what 'off the chain' meant.

"Anyway," Mark said, "just go home and think about everything. Just because you all ready told Albus that you would do it doesn't mean that you can't back out. Consider all of your options and possible outcomes before you make any decisions."

I nodded again, but this time had a firm grasp on his meaning, "I will. Thanks for telling me all of this Mark."

"No problem kid," he said with a bright smile, "and just so you know, I think that you could be great at this; you just need to learn how to take a hit."

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I toppled out of the fireplace at the Burrow and bit my lip back as hard as I could to keep myself from crying out at the pain of being thrown from the fire mixed with my sore body.

As I pulled together all of my willpower and forced myself to stand my eye caught hold of the mirror across the room and I realized very quickly that I looked completely pathetic. The entire right side of my face was now a lovely shade of black and blue and was currently swelling up like a muggle balloon. As for the rest of me, the mirror couldn't see that, but it could show me that my being hunched over to try and ease my pain did absolutely nothing for my posture.

I heard a loud gasp behind me and turned myself around in one quick motion before I could even think about the pain that it would cause. I clenched my teeth together tightly as I saw Hermione's horrified expression.

"Ron," she cried out, "what in the world happened to you?"

"I, uh, fell down…a flight of stairs." Lame, I know, but my brain was not exactly on a high functioning level at the time.

She quickly rushed over to me and carefully guided me to a nearby couch. "You fell down a flight of stairs?" She justifiably questioned.

I slowly nodded and realized how much of a klutz that statement sounded like…I should have told her that I got into a fight and she should really see the other guy. "Yeah," I confirmed somewhat uneasily, "those damn stairs at the ministry, slippery suckers they are."

"Ron that's horrible, you should really file a complaint. Why didn't you just take an elevator though?"

I looked into her concerned and trusting eyes and felt a twinge of guilt run through me, I really hated lying to her. "I guess I just wasn't thinking, the stairs were closer so I just went down them."

Hermione shook her head and made a disapproving noise, "well really Ron, you should be more careful about these things." Her eyes traveled down my face and stopped when she saw a forming bruise that began at the end of my neck and went down past the collar of my shirt. Without thinking she began to pull at my shirt but still couldn't see the entirety of the bruising. With a gentle concern Hermione pulled my shirt overtop of my head and took out her wand to begin healing my injured chest.

After she completed that she moved upwards to heal my beaten face. When she finished she slowly pulled her wand away, "did you hurt anything else."

"I'm fine," I said in a deep voice. Her face and body were still extremely close to mine and she didn't seem to make any effort to move away. After a moment her brown eyes left mine and noticed my bare chest. A blush rose up on her cheeks as she handed me back my shirt, I took it from her absentmindedly but made no move to put it back on.

I raised my arm and stroked it across her red cheek, not thinking of anything other than how beautiful she looked when she so humbly blushed. "Hermione," I whispered, not entirely sure of what I wanted to happen. I bent down slowly as I was much taller than her, even while sitting down, and placed a tender kiss at the corner of her mouth.

I saw with pleasure that her eyes closed as she leaned in towards me, but knew that I must keep my emotions in check. So with a sigh and all the inner strength that I had I stood up and took a few steps away from my temptation. Her eyes opened with apprehension and I regretted the confused stare that she directed towards me.

"I think that I should go," I stated cowardly before bounding out of the room, cursing myself with each step. I wouldn't hurt her, I would not get involved with her, it would only get her killed. We were friends, and soon enough we wouldn't even be that. I was taking the job, and when I did it was very likely that I would never see her again. I would be perfectly fine on my own; I didn't need her or anyone else.

I only wished that it didn't kill me to keep lying to myself.

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A/N Ha, over two thousand words…for once a normal length chapter. Now that I'm more into the story the chapters should be getting progressively longer, so those of you, who have been suffering through the short chapters, just be patient. A little R/Hr action for you….I haven't decided if more will be on the way shortly or not. Be forewarned that if there is some in the near future it will be bittersweet.

I will try to update as soon as I can! Drop a review and let me know what you think!

Thank you to:

HeatherWeasley-lover (I'm glad that you loved the last chapter, I hope that you felt the same about this one!), Stompy-Sanjii (Hmm, well now it would make for no surprises if I told you who says that quote in the summery. Lol, okay now I'm just being dumb, it is Hermione who says that…but I'm not telling you when she says it! Lol, pay no attention to me, I'm really hyper at the moment.), Gen Eveningstar (I'm glad that you're looking forward to the whole secret agent thing. The training should prove to be humorous for the next few chapters, lol, I have to get some humor in now because it's doubtful that any will be acceptable later.), Talia Moon (Yeah, he's going to lie to them all for a few more chapters and then he's going to…well I can't tell you, but just know that he won't have to lie to them anymore.), RonandHerm4va (Ha, I find that I enjoy placing in teaser hookups…I love feeling evil!! Okay, I'm way too hyper at the moment, too much sugar. As for the danger, well Ron should be getting a firm grasp on that very shortly.), KeeperOfTheMoon (Lol, I actually am not entirely sure about what is going to happen in this story but I solemnly swear that I will try my best to keep our certain someone around and alive till the end. But I make no promises on the other characters, lol.), Hplova4eva (Thanks for reviewing!), Clairvoyance (Lol, I did my best to make Dumbledore seem good, but I think that he wouldn't he isn't above making certain sacrifices for the better good or whatever. I'll try and make some explanations about his reasons soon. I can't tell you about Ron and his soul, because that would just give away a major part of the story, lol. As for Draco and Ginny, something is going to happen with that soon…I might do a one-shot side story.), smol (I'm glad that you are liking this story! I love R/Hr stories too and I'll try to update this as soon as I can!), BabyJJ (Well one of your questions was answered in this chapter, as for what Hermione was going to say…you'll just have to wait and see!), Shakespeare's Muse (I'm glad that you liked the last chapter and it's always nice to know that I'm not the only one who finds my jokes funny, lol. And wow, I feel special now for having my very own shortened title! Lol, now you need to make a long title so I can give you one!), Agnl (Hmm, well if Bob is giving you problems I have one suggestion for you…watch the movie Identity and tell Bob the same is going to happen to him if he doesn't leave you alone, lol.), Funness (I'm glad that you think my story rocks and thanks for not being all pushy about the updating thing, although I will try to update again soon.)