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: I own the world, mwahahaha-er, I mean I own nothing…

A/N- Return of angst! Not a moment too soon either, too much cheerfulness in the last chapter, lol. And finally some explanations will be given on certain things. Oh, I got tired of my little chapter title game…it was alright at first but has been growing on my nerves. So no little story moods through titles. Lol, it had meaning at first but lost it after about chapter twelve.

Chapter Eighteen

The Seventh Son

The inevitable happened. Again. Well, it wasn't inevitable per se; it could have been quite easily prevented or sidestepped. But it wasn't, and so…well take a guess at what happened, imagination is a good thing.

Is there any good way to say that you have had sexual relations with someone? I took her to bed? No, that sounds weird. I slept with her? Implies that no sex was involved. We fucked? Too vulgar. We made love? Way too cheesy. Well, however you say it, it happened.

It was nice. Well, okay, it was more than nice. It was loving, it was gentle, and she does this thing with her back…er, you get the picture. No need for private details now.

Afterwards though, it was pure bliss. She was lying in my arms and I had no intention of leaving this time. Like I said, it couldn't last. But this, this intimacy could go on for a few hours, I would allow that. She smiled at me and I felt all the love in the world there in her warm smile.

"Ron," she whispered against my chest, "this is nice." I couldn't agree more. "I can't believe we did this again though…I mean I thought for sure that I'd never see you again, and if I did I told myself that I would never allow anything to happen. But with you, it just always kind of falls into place."

I smiled at her, but said nothing. I didn't want to ruin it with words, with the truth. The truth slipped it's way into my mind for the first time in a few hours. My arms were wrapped behind her back. My arm that had the dark mark on it. My eyes widened, I had completely forgotten about it, but it was there. It was there in all its hideous glory and she could not see it, no matter what, I could not let her see it. I could stand a lot of things, but Hermione believing I'm a death eater is not one of them.

Attempting to slip my arm underneath a sheet didn't work out quite as slyly as expected. "Ron," she said slowly, "is something wrong with your arm?"

"Wrong? No, everything's is fine. I was just, you know, cold."

"Cold," she repeated in an unnerving manner. Before I could catch hold of her or even register the action she had flipped her body around and was staring in horror at my arm. The look on her face left little room for hope that she hadn't seen the dark mark.

"Oh my God," she breathed. "Oh my God!" She jumped out of the bed with the sheet safely covering her body. I saw her arms beginning to shake and her face lighting up in panic.

"Hermione," I said desperately, "it's not what you think."

"Not what I think? Ron, the bloody dark mark is on your arm and it's not what I think? What the hell is it then, because right now I'm thinking that you're a death eater."

"It's," I really had no explanation, "it's well, you know-"

"No," she interrupted quickly. "I don't know, Ron." She backed up against the wall and I could barely stand to see the disgusted look on her face. Her quick mind always working she looked around at her surroundings in a new light, "this house, all the secrecy, it was all because of this, wasn't it?"

I said nothing; there was nothing to say, no way for me to contradict her. Sure, I could have said the truth, but I doubted she would have believed it. The truth sounded just a tad too convenient now; she would take it as a lie.

She placed a hand over her mouth and kept repeating, "oh my, oh my, oh my."

"Hermione," I said once more.

She tried to back up more, but was already against the wall. "Stay away from me, Ron," she warned. "I can't believe what a fool I've been to not have seen this-"

"Seen what? I'm not a death eater, Hermione, it's a misunderstanding."

"I understand," she said in a high-pitched voice, "I understand all too well, Ron. I guess I just wasn't enough for you, was I? The idea of us was just too simple, you wanted more. Looking around I can see that he gave you more, but tell me something, was it worth it? Was the house, the wealth, and the power worth any chance you ever had with me, any future we could have had?"

I licked my suddenly dry lips feeling a sense of dread wash over me. I felt cold and suddenly empty.

"He painted a pretty picture for you, didn't he Ron, what with his colorful lies and empty promises, how could I possibly compete with that? I hope you know though, Ron how much I loved you, how much your family loved you. Was it all worth it, to give up your family, your life? You could have been someone with the Light, but to the Dark you are nothing more than bait."

Her words stung, and I saw some amount of truth in them. "Hermione," I tried once more but felt suddenly faint. My head felt as if it were going to burst and a sudden rush of nausea washed over me. I bent halfway over as if I were going to be sick, but I didn't vomit as expected, I passed out.

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I was in a hospital. I had always hated hospitals; they always gave me the chills. It was dark and I could hear a faint crying.

I followed the sound instinctively and came upon a young couple, a woman curled up in a hospital bed and the man protectively holding her. She was the one crying, he didn't look too far off from it himself. As I walked towards them I felt a coldness sweep over me…it was my parents. Only they were young.

This wasn't the future, it was the past.

"There, there, Molly," my father soothed as he rubbed her back, " we can have more children…it'll be okay."

"No it won't" she wailed painfully, "I must have done something wrong Arthur. It's my fault…all my fault."

"It's not," he said somewhat sternly. "Bad things happen sometimes, Molly, and there's nothing we can do about except mourn. We just have to pull ourselves together and know that he's in a better place."

"Michael," she whispered, "oh, our poor baby. He's gone, Arthur…"

"Ssh," he soothed as he continued to whisper into her ear at a level that I couldn't hear. I felt myself being drawn back without fully understanding. Our baby…Michael…it clicked though as I was in between awake and wherever I was in my visions. It clicked and the awful truth sprang forward.

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"The seventh son," I whispered hoarsely without really knowing what I was saying.

"What," Hermione's voice cracked with emotion from across the room, "Ron, what happened?"

"I'm the seventh son," I repeated, still attempting to grasp the information.

I could see the struggle in her expressions as she tentatively crossed the room. "Ron," she said from a few feet away. "Ron, what happened, you look as if you've seen a ghost."

Ignoring her weird comments about seeing a ghost, I see ghosts all the time, why would that make me look any different? I licked my cracked lips, "they had a son named Michael. He must have been born before any of us…they were so young. He would be older than Bill."

"Ron, you're scaring me." She had stopped a short distance away from me. Close enough that she could see what was happening, far enough away so she could run if needed. Run from the big bad death eater.

I stared at her feeling suddenly dead. "I scare myself. Just go, Hermione, it's not safe for you to be here. Go and forget about it, but promise that you won't hate me…I need to know that you don't hate me."

"I could never hate you," she said softly, "I told you that. What is happening to you, Ron? Why did you pass out it was almost as if you-" Her eyes widened and she took an unconscious step back. "It's almost as if you had a vision."

I smiled, feeling at the very least mildly insane. "It would seem that way, wouldn't it? Too bad you don't believe in seers and predicting the future."

"I…I believe that some people have the ability to foresee events. Is that what's happening, Ron, are you having visions?"

I turned my head, "it doesn't matter."

"It does matter," she took a courageous step forward, "that could explain certain things. Tell me, Ron, please? No more lies."

I was still feeling sick from the vision process and wasn't completely in my right state of mind. But it seemed to me as if Hermione wanted me to explain the situation to her. Funny, I would have figured that she would have run for her life a while ago. I looked at her hardly, she was still there, it wasn't my imagination.

"You want the truth," I said hoarsely…she can't handle the truth. At least, I wasn't sure if she could handle the truth. I wasn't sure of anything anymore. "I'm a seer," I said simply, "a true seer."

"A true seer," she gasped. "Ron, one of those hasn't been around for centuries, and they are-"

"Don't believe me if you want, but there's the truth."

She sat on her knees in front of me and looked into my eyes, "I believe you." She looked around the room apprehensively, "I've actually read a lot about them, once I came across the term true seer, and it fascinated me. It's generally the seventh son that has the ability…"

I could see her thinking about my words as I had come out of my vision. "I am the seventh son. I saw my parents, when they were young they had a child…Michael. He must have died."

She nodded and turned away for a moment. "You seemed so sick when you came out of your vision…that would mean that you aren't very far into it."

My ears perked up, Hermione knew about this. She had read about it, which meant she probably knew more about this true seer business than I did. "Tell me," I said suddenly, "tell me all you know about true seers."

She avoided my eyes, but answered my question. "It's a cursed life, Ron. It is a rarity for a reason; it is an enormous talent to have. In fact, it is too big for one person, it bears down on them until…It starts soon after the wizard or witch comes to age, it begins with a few visions that leave them feeling very ill. Then it grows. After they get used to the more frequent visions, they have the ability to change them. And it's not just visions of the future, as you now know, they are of the past and present too. A true seer has the ability to change what they see, the ability to change the past…the present…the future. It's a dangerous business, Ron. After a few years they develop the ability to hear thoughts. The only known true seers became so sensitive to other's thoughts that they either locked themselves away in isolation…or became completely mad."

I sighed heavily, that wasn't exactly a happy story.

"If you are as you say," she continued quietly, "then run away, Ron. Voldemort will know about you -which is probably why he went after you- he'll attempt to twist your talent to his needs. If he can get you to alter things…it will be the end of the world."

"Don't you think I know that," I snapped with a quick temper. "Don't you think I know why he wants me on the Dark? I didn't ask for this, I don't want to be a bloody 'true seer' I just want to be me!"

"I'm sorry," Hermione, said, "I'm so sorry that this is happening to you. Go to Dumbledore, Ron, he'll help you."

I nearly snorted, sure he would help me. He had probably known all along, that's why he had sent me to "training" in the first place. My thoughts were interrupted as I felt a sharp pain in my arm. It burned and the pain blinded my senses.

"Ron," Hermione said sharply, "Ron, are you all right."

"Go," I croaked through the pain, "leave Hermione, before something happens to you."

"No," she said decisively, "I'm not leaving until we figure out something to do."

"He's coming." Her eyes widened in comprehension. "He's coming," I said once more, "and he will kill you if he finds you here. Please leave, Hermione, I have to know that you're safe."

"Come with me."

"I can't…he'll find me. Go, now." Her eyes darted around; she obviously didn't know what to do. In an attempt to get her to leave I tried more desperate measures. "Go to Dumbledore, Harry, my parents, anyone. If you stay here, we'll both die. Leave, get help."

I didn't really want her to get help; no one could help me now. I wanted her to leave though; I wanted her safety above anything else. It worked.

"I'll go to Dumbledore," she said painfully, "I'll tell him what's happened…he will help you." She took out her wand and looked at me with tears in her eyes, "I love you."

And then she was gone, and that hurt more than the mark on my arm ever could.

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A/N- wow, I updated relatively quickly. Shocking. So bittersweet Ron/Hermione…in a way. I couldn't torture them as much as I had originally planned to; she knows some of the truth. And she doesn't hate him. Some angst, but not a terribly high amount. Next chapter will hopefully be out just as quickly. Lol, sorry about the A Few Good Men thing I stuck in there…you know, the whole "I want the truth! You can't handle the truth!" Aww, gotta love overacting. Thank you Jack and Tom, you make movies worth making fun of. And if you have never heard that quote (in which case you must live under a rock) or never seen the movie…don't worry, you aren't missing anything.

Thank you to:

RonandHerm4eva (Lol, how was my plot twist? Surprise you at all with the seventh son thing…probably not because I think I may have mentioned it to you before and forgot about it. Oh well. And I actually wasn't too mean to Ron and Hermione this chapter…I think I'm getting soft.), eckles (Glad that you are enjoying the story! I love your penname by the way…eckles. Lol, I said it to myself like three times in a row, it just sounds nifty. Kudos on that, lol.), zoreo09 (Thanks for the encouragement and glad that you are liking the story!), Tiffiany-45 (Omg, I loved your Death to Smoochy quotes…I haven't seen that movie in forever but when I read the quotes I was cracking up for like five minutes. The "poking" quote is absolutely priceless. Glad you are still enjoying the story, and ff.net frustrates me at times too, but hopefully it's all fixed by now.), PyroAndrea (Glad that you like the plot and the story, and I was needlessly ticked to see that you spelled cool k-e-w-l…lol, now I don't feel all alone that I spell it that way.), Shakespeare's Muse (Really? You really think I'm evil? Aww, now that is just sweet! Lol, I love getting compliments, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Loved your story btw, I left you a review, but just wanted to tell you again!), Trempush (The ellipse thing is supposedly fixed, we will see though. Lol, this chapter and Hermione's reaction wasn't that bad, she stuck around for an explanation so it's all good…Now there is just the suspense of Voldemort coming next chapter, lol.)