Shadows

Rating: PG-13

Summary: "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 Oh my God, I updated in a little over a week…stunning. I just got accepted into the college that I've wanted to go to since the age of like six so I am in a really good mood right now. Go Bucks! And if you couldn't tell from that, the school is OSU, and I send out apologies to any Kansas State fans. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, well watch ESPN once and a while, lol.

Also, I cannot thank RonandHerm4eva enough for her help with this chapter. I got stressed and stuck with the last portion of it and she completely got me through it, with her wonderful idea and helpful advice.

And to make this Author's Note even longer, shout out to HurdlingBaybee06 who successfully named that episode of the Simpsons quote last chapter. It is so nice to know I'm not the only one obsessed with that series!

Chapter Fifteen

Pieces of Sobriety and Imagination

Everybody lies about practically everything…When you meet someone for the first time you aren't meeting them, you're meeting their representative. -Chris Rock

I sat slouched next to my now empty mini bar. Someone had stolen all of my alcohol. I had a strong suspicion it was Melissa. Being sober was boring and reality was less than stellar. I briefly wondered if this line of thinking made me an alcoholic. I pondered this for a moment before deciding that I really didn't care, I might as well add alcoholic to ever-growing list of not so redeeming qualities.

Suddenly feeling very depressed I allowed myself to simply slide the rest of the distance to the cold floor. I stared at the ceiling in a dreamlike peaceful state. I noticed a black spot on the ceiling and found it to be somewhat humorous. You would think that they would have enough money to fix the ceiling. My humor turned into wonder though as I watched the black spot grow larger…now just how was that possible? Then it came down towards me until the darkness overtook me, leaving me in a cold place filled with nothing but empty space.

I sat up immediately and childishly pulled my knees to my chest as if this would protect me. I was in the darkness for only a moment before I saw a bright light shining a few feet from me, I got up and hesitantly walked towards it. The closer I got the more I had to shield my eyes to attain the ability to see anything other than it's brilliance.

I stood in front of the illumination and stopped my efforts of protecting my eyes. It didn't register to me that my eyes and the area the surrounded them were burning. All that mattered was the fact that I could hear something. Voices. And they were coming towards me.

Interest and curiosity overtook practicality and common sense as I shoved a sacrificial arm into the ball of light. I waited for it to burn, catch fire, fall off, or something. But nothing happened. It felt damp, but nothing else, no horrible repercussions. So I stuck in the other arm, and then a foot, followed by a leg, until the light had absorbed me.

Once inside of the light I gasped. I was somewhere outside of my own body, because I could see myself. This was bloody amazing, I was standing in front of myself and-

Then it hit me, this was another sodding 'vision.' Well now it was just annoying, not cool or amazing in the least. Damn light factor made me think it was something good.

I sighed in impatience and tapped my foot. "Well," I demanded to Vision Ron, "get on with it then." And so he did. He led me to a set of massive doors which he threw open with ease, made me kind of proud in a way, I was obviously muscular.

He walked outside, still oblivious to my presence, and shook his head in a sort of disbelief. I followed his gaze and felt my eyes go wide with shock, it was absolutely horrible. The entire scene in front of me was…surreal and from a nightmare. People were everywhere, and they were all dead.

Finding it hard to catch my breath I took notice that he was continuing with his walk, I followed obediently. He kicked aside the bodies that were in his way without thought or remorse. I felt ill.

Suddenly he came to an abrupt stop and a harsh glare came across his -my- features. I looked down and saw…Harry. He was dead.

My hand unconsciously found it's way to my mouth as my body retaliated and the foul taste of vomit filled my mouth. I bent over and heaved, not being able to hold it back. Harry was dead.

I turned to myself, to see how I was taking it. To my surprise and disgust Vision Ron smiled creepily and spit on Harry's dead body. God, I was going to be sick again. Before I had a chance to further in my vomiting escapades I was yanked back and felt myself being thrown from the light.

Sitting once more on the floor I began to cough harshly, attempting not to become psychically ill again. Once in control of my own bodily functions I crawled over against a wall and felt unmanly tears dampen my eyes. Out of habit I wiped them away, but found I didn't really care about the "sissy" aspect of crying.

That was the future.

The future was Harry dead and me spitting on his dead body.

It wasn't even plausible in my mind. I would never feel that way about Harry dying. I would never be happy about it, even if I hated him at the time.

My hands felt clammy and all the blood had rushed away from my face. The door was thrown open loudly and a hooded figure entered. I felt cold.

He withdrew his hood to reveal, well himself obviously, but himself was you-know-who. Wonderful.

"Ronald," he greeted, his snakelike mouth twisting upwards. He slithered towards me and my heartbeat picked up more. "It worked," he said softly.

I swallowed, feeling a sense of dread. I didn't want to talk to him, I was in no mood to hear about the great things I could achieve and receive if I sided with him. "What worked," I choked out in a moment of surprising bravery.

"You had a vision," he stated simply.

Now just how did he know that? Unless…the whole process leading up to the vision had been strange and different…"You forced me to have a vision, didn't you?"

He looked delighted, "I merely brought out what was already there."

"Well," I said anger causing me to be bold, "that makes it better then, now doesn't it?"

With a flick of his long bony hand he conjured a chair for him to sit on. "I could give you anything that you have ever dreamed of Ronald. Riches beyond imagination, power beyond conceivability, women beyond any man's lust."

There were a few things wrong with that statement that he made to me. Firstly, and most importantly, no one wants to hear the dark lord discuss women and lust. That is just adding insult to injury. Secondly, did I actually appear to be that shallow? As if power, riches, and women could lure me to do his bidding. I would like to give myself a tad bit more credit than that.

"As…appealing as all that sounds," my bravery gave way here as my voice cracked, "I'll have to pass."

My body stiffened, waiting for whatever repercussions came when one turned down you-know-who.

He stood, and walked over to my now empty bar. "Are you quite sure about that? It's a shame really, how you're so much more dedicated to your 'friends' than they are to you."

I licked my lips. "What are you talking about?"

He pulled out a newspaper that I slowly peered at. It was pictures of a funeral…my funeral. I stared at in shock, he took his opening.

"You see Ronald, they have forgotten you, buried you even, when you are quite obviously still alive. Their search party only lasted a few weeks before they gave up and declared you dead without a shed of evidence to prove it."

I looked up at him, slightly shocked at how much more ugly he was at close range. I opened my mouth to defend them, but no words came out. The only thing that I could think of was that if it had been Harry or Hermione, or any one of my family members, I would have never stopped looking, stopped hoping. In the picture Harry had his arm around Hermione as she was crying in his shoulder. A surge of jealously and anger shot through me, they looked too comfortable together. Nice to know that my supposed death could bring my best friend and the woman I loved together.

"They don't care," he continued tonelessly, "why should you continue this fight for them? You are dead, you have no responsibilities and no loyalties."

I slammed my fist down on the counter and clenched my jaw. "I would like to be alone now."

"Of course," he said generously, but not before giving his wand a flick. A drink appeared that was a deep magenta color. "Something to calm your nerves a bit." He quickly disappeared from the room and I was left alone with my confusion.

I sat on the floor, as the couch seemed too far away, and read the article. Nothing in it made me feel any better. There were sappy quotes from various fools that I was barely acquaintances with, and news that Harry Potter had found comfort over his loss in the form of Hermione Granger. I glared at the moving picture, he was holding her hand now, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

I tore the paper in two, but that wasn't good enough, so I tore the pieces of the newspaper until all that was left were bits of confetti. I had to get to her. I had to let her know that I was alive before she turned all her sorrow into love for Harry. She wouldn't be doing this to me if she knew I were alive…I just knew it.

I stood with new purpose and strolled over to the door. I went to throw it open to discover that it was locked. This would have made me angry, except I really should have expected that. I mean, what kind of captive is allowed to just walk out the front door.

Deciding to think like a spy I circled the room, searching for options and ideas. No windows, and no apparent secret doors. I even walked around tapping on every stone in that room, hoping that one would lead to a secret passageway or something cool like that. Nothing though, just bruises on my hands from pounding too hard.

Feeling not very spy like I went to the couch and flopped down. This was pathetic. There had to be some way out of here. You would think that they would just let me out, I was of no use to them. I would not help the dark. Perhaps if I promised not to help the light they would let me go? Didn't seem likely.

Scenarios ran through my mind, when they got to the point of my asking help from Malfoy I got up and walked to the bar. I stared suspiciously at the drink on the counter that he had left for me.

It smelled like alcohol, it looked like alcohol. Of course, it was a very girlish drink as it was magenta, but liquor nonetheless. Weighing the options in my mind I decided that if you-know-who wanted to kill me, he wouldn't do it by poison. If it happened to not be alcohol, well they wanted me to help them right? So it wouldn't be anything too bad…

Deciding that I really just wanted to be drunk, I downed the glass. A few seconds passed and I was still alive, always a good sign.

Suddenly I began to feel very woozy. This was strange, it wasn't like being smashed it was…different. Not an entirely unpleasant different though. A wave of dizziness overcame me and I grabbed onto the counter to steady myself. This worked really fast.

The dizziness got worse though, and it wasn't so pleasant anymore. Feeling tired and seeing black, I did the only thing I could do, I collapsed.

*~*~*~

It seemed like an eternity later when I awoke, still on the floor. I felt like hell and my arm was throbbing.

I took shallow breaths and wondered briefly what in the name of everything holy was in that drink. My arm felt like it was on fire though. I must have hit it when I fell.

Deciding to check out the damage I pulled my sleeve up on the injured arm. Only there wasn't a bruise there, there was an ugly skull tattoo thing. Recognition overcame me as I stared down at my arm in complete and utter horror, it was the Dark Mark.

Oh dear Lord.

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A/N Haha, that turned out pretty interesting actually. Sorry for the cliffhanger of sorts, couldn't help myself. I'll try to update quickly again, and I would just like to say that I am pathetically proud of myself for updating in relative quickness. That is sad, I'm aware. Review review review!!!

Thanks to:

RonandHerm4eva (Hey, thanks again for talking me through the last section of the chapter. Lol, it probably would have stayed in my recycle bin otherwise.), tiffiany-45 (Aw, your review gave me to biggest ego boost, lol. Thanks for letting me know how much you like the story and my resolution for the New Year was to start updating quicker on this so that it can finish sometime before the next millennium, lol.), teehee (I have to say that I love your screen name. My friends and I are always say "teehee" and it annoys practically everyone. So kudos fellow teehee amigo. Glad you're enjoying the story!), Hurdlingbaybe06 (We are kindred spirits here, because you are a fellow Simpsons freak. And I know what you mean by living by that quote, gets me through the day sometimes, lol. Did you see that episode that was on a few weeks ago when the Simpsons went to England? They met J.K. Rowling, it was awesome!), Lymaris (I'm so glad that you like how Ron is in this story. I seriously hope that he starts getting a bigger role in the books, well he already has a big role, but more important would be nice. He always comes off as the sidekick in the books. Hope you continue loving the story!), Stompy-Sanji (You know, you were the only person to comment on Draco. Lol, I think everyone else forgot that he was with Ginny and not evil. But I can't tell you if he's reformed or not, you'll just have to wait and see, lol. Happy New Year to you too!), swimfan (Well it appears that he's going to be a death eater now, lol, but not by choice. Dark Mark rape and all that. He is going to be 'evil' though until later.), PyroAndrea (That is not morbid of you at all to love angst, because I am obsessed with it! If I read too much fluff, it literally makes me sick. And if it morbid, well then we can be morbid together…we should start a club, lol, I'm a huge nerd, just ignore me. Glad you're liking the story!), Shakespeare's Muse (*screams right back* I got the new Chili Peppers CD a few days ago, and I have been listening to it nonstop. Under the Bridge is my favorite song of all time. Lol, I'm going to stop talking about it now or else I'll end up singing it. I love your new story and I'm glad that you enjoyed the last chapter!), Funness (I'm glad that you liked the last chapter, and wonderful to know it made you laugh. Makes me feel like my sense of humor isn't limited to myself, lol. The Simpsons does rock, and I'm sorry that you haven't watched it in forever…you're going to have to fix that, lol.), loudnproud223 (I'm pretty sure I sent you an e-mail…but I don't really remember. Lol, thanks again for your awesome review and I'm so glad that you are enjoying the story. Hope that you continue to do so!), Trempush (Lol, I always enjoy Drunk Ron myself, he would be so much fun at parties. Glad to know that you think the true seer thing fits in nicely, I was worried that it seemed odd.), weasly13 (Ron is my favorite character too, and thanks for letting me know that you are enjoying the story! It's always good for my ego to hear that, lol.)