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- I have a headache. Worse than a headache, a migraine. If someone would please just put me out of my misery and kill me it would be much appreciated. You know, perhaps since I have a migraine it probably isn't the smartest thing to be staring at a computer screen…oh well, I've never felt the need to exercise any common sense before, why start now?

Chapter Nineteen

Chained and Bound

I closed my eyes in anticipation of my unavoidable meeting with the dark lord. I would have to face him…have to be strong. I didn't feel strong though, I felt alone and weaker than a child.

He had branded me, marked me as his. I didn't know what the mark did to death eaters, I wasn't sure exactly what powers he held over me, but I knew he held some. Probably more than some, it must work as some sort of controlling charm. He could track me, force me to stay put so I could not run…and who knows what else.

Ever since the mark began burning I knew the pain of attempting to leave would be so great it would kill me. I had wanted Hermione to leave, wanted her to be safe above all things. But a part of me wanted to leave with her, to insure that we were both safe. I couldn't though; his spell on me forced me to stay where he wanted me.

He was getting closer…I could feel him. The mark burned with an intensity of a fire as he drew near. A pounding took over in my head until I felt that I would pass out from the pain of it all. Pounding of a drum, slamming into the walls and depths of my mind. Black spots overtook my vision as I fell down onto the floor with an overwhelming sense of dread.

~*~*~*~

It was dark. So dark that it hurt to even see. It wasn't like before, wasn't like my other visions. The darkness was like a fog, after a few minutes it began to lift…but I could still feel it around me, lurking in the background somewhere.

I was in an alley. Mold and dirt covered the walls that enclosed me and two dark shadows hid in the distance. I carefully walked towards the figures, dying to see what was going on and at the same time afraid to know.

They had hoods up for the protection of their identities. But I knew the voices, how could I not? Two women, equal in desperation, equal in pain and lack of hope.

"We must try," the one on the left, said without much conviction. Ginny, my sister.

"I do not see how we can attempt anymore than we have. We have lost, it is over." My heart began to beat faster, Hermione.

My sister whipped around as if she were disgusted to even look at Hermione another second. "If we do not do something we will surely die here!"

Hermione shrugged and made no attempt to get Ginny to look at her. "Better to die than continue to live under Voldemort's reign."

I tried to get a better look at Hermione, how far in the future was this? And I couldn't help but wonder, where was I? Why was the future me not here with Hermione, why was she thinking things like it was better to die, why was she not being protected by me?

Ginny turned back around, her voice rising, "he is lost to us, Hermione! You can't go through life searching for death just because Ron is gone. No one is more sorry than I am to have lost my brother, but there is nothing that can be done about it now. You have to live for the future, not wallow in the past."

"He isn't gone," Hermione whispered fiercely, "and I'll be damned if I write him off as a lost cause. He's the one that needs help but he is the only one who you are not making an attempt to save."

"Because he is not worth the effort. He is one of them, Hermione. He is not the man you and I love; he is nothing more than a monster. Be reasonable, there are people who we have a chance to save, and yet you are set on going into the lion's den to save someone who has no desire to be saved. He'd be better off dead than to be where he is now."

Hermione threw her hood back and glared at my sister with a passion and hatred that I didn't know she possessed. "And you are so quick to forget your precious 'Draco' are you, Ginny? The man you did everything to help is evil and the man who is good, who is trapped in the Dark, is the one you will sacrifice nothing for."

"You don't understand Draco," Ginny said softly, "we weren't what you seem to think we were. I was never involved with him, he was my…partner."

Partner? Their conversation was turning to a confusing place for me; it was surreal enough as it was. Ginny and Hermione had never hated each other, they had never been particularly close…but they never disliked each other.

"Partner," Hermione spat back, "sexually, you mean."

Ginny's own hood fell from her head, revealing her own angry features. "You know nothing about what I have been through. I never loved Draco in any way shape or form. I attempted one rescue mission for him because it was the least I could do. He is not the evil one; you are blinded by your own feelings for my brother. I love my brother, Hermione, I really do. But I can face facts; I can view this situation with a clear head. Forget about him and look around you for once, the only thing you see are the lies that he has told you. You're a smart girl, Hermione, start acting like it."

"I'm tired of being who everyone else wants me to be. Ron's losing his only chance to live and get away by being where he is. If you won't help me then I'll do it alone." Emphasizing her point Hermione turned on her heel and headed down the alley.

"Wait," Ginny called out sounding disappointed in herself. "I'll help," she said in a tone making it obvious that she felt she shouldn't. "I don't want you to go alone…I have a contact where they are keeping Ron, his guard. You won't be able to do it without me."

Hermione didn't turn around to face her. "Your contact is Draco, I assume? I would kill Ron myself before trusting him to that rat."

"That rat is the only prayer you have so I suggest you treat him with a little more respect."

"Always defending him, aren't you, Ginny? Forget it, I'll do it myself." In one swift movement Hermione had her wand out and disappeared before my sister could even get a word of protest in.

Rings of Ginny cursing into the darkness echoed in my mind as I woke.

~*~*~*~

No sooner had I slipped out of that vision feeling dizzy and ill when I felt the pull of another one coming on. My eyes seemed ready to roll into the back of my head, I couldn't take the pressure of another vision so soon, it would completely drain me.

Whispered voices…so far away. Two people were talking.

"Ron did not accept the position I offered him."

I heard a spell muttered and was pulled back from the vision before it had hardly begun. I was grateful though; I still had no idea in hell what the first one was about. But I could hear those words, the conversation between two people that I had started to eavesdrop on…both visions were so confusing.

"Ronald," a silky voice called out from a dark corner of the room. He was here, he had been watching me, observing and judging the amount of my talent. Seeing if I were worth the effort he had put out for me.

I felt like an animal at a pet shop, being looked over carefully to see if I were as good as I seemed. He needed to make sure I was broken in, housetrained and all.

"What do you want?" I spat, feeling defiant.

"I think that should be quite obvious."

"Yeah," I retorted quickly, "well too bad for you because I'm not who you think I am. I can't be your little 'change the future boy' so what do you think about that?" Which, you know, wasn't technically a lie, as I had no clue how to change what I saw in my vision

His nonchalance told me I was ineffective. "If you are inadequate I will dispose of you."

Well, that is certainly nice to hear. Inadequacy equals disposal, also known as death. Although it was hardly the time to have this line of thoughts I couldn't help observing how all of society, in essence, is like you-know-who. Everyone feels the need to get rid of something the second it no longer works. Rather than take the time to work with something, or someone, figure out what's wrong and attempting to fix it, we throw it, or them, away.

You-know-who seemed the type to attempt to torture his toys as a child if they broke, thinking pain would persuade them to work…

Again, wrong time to analyze this, but insightful nonetheless. "Ah," I finally responded, "that's nice."

"However," he rose from his seat, "you can be who I want you to be, and you will. You want to help me, Ronald; you want to work for me. I will give you everything."

"You can't give me what I truly want so I wouldn't go to that aspect of persuasion if I were you." I was feeling kind of proud of myself at this point; I was being all jaded and cynical acting. I wasn't cowering or showing fear…go me! Too bad I felt all the cowardice and fear that I wasn't showing. But looks and appearances are everything, right?

I didn't look at him as he began to speak once more, thinking about appearances had led me to think of his…which was not pleasant in the least. "You'll find I can give you whatever it is you desire. Know this though; if you do not help willingly you will help by force. I suggest the former as it is much more agreeable and far more profitable for you."

Work for you-know-who? Yeah, that sounded like a career dreams were made of. Please take note of the sarcasm in the previous sentence. "I already have a job, but thanks anyway for the offer. If I ever find myself in unemployment you'll be the first person I contact."

"Ah, yes," he moved into my line of vision, "young Mark would be your employer if I recall correctly. As Mark is in my employment then it seems that you already work for me…though indirectly."

Mark what? I wasn't sure if I had heard him correctly. "Mark," I said softly, "Mark works for you?"

"But of course."

"Why?" This was bad, this was very, very, bad. Like catastrophe bad.

"I pay very well." Oh, well there's a nice incentive.

I nearly smiled at my next statement, almost proud of myself that it was true. "Money doesn't interest me."

"It should," he said simply. "You have no reason to refuse my offer, no reason to stay in this 'good' that you believe yourself to be helping. There is no good, only power."

I felt numb, and more tired than I had ever been in my life. Everything seemed to mesh together, nothing shocked me. Mark was an agent for the Dark…well, that's nice. You-know-who wants me to be his own personal psychic friend, that's just a run-of-the-mill everyday thing. Hermione was here, told me she loves me, and then left. It all just struck me as funny, I had the sudden urge to laugh but ultimately decided that would make me look more insane than I wanted to look.

"I'd really rather be in business for myself," I said suddenly, feeling like I had some sort of death wish. "A free agent of sorts."

To my everlasting shock the dark lord took out his wand, the same wand that had killed and tortured so many people, and prepared to leave. "Very well," he said as if this were some sort of friendly conversation, "contact Melissa or Mark if you change your mind."

And then he left. Left me sitting in the midst of my own confusion knowing only one thing for sure: I have the most fucked up life in the world. I should really receive some sort of plaque or something for that feat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N- I'm not particularly happy with the Voldemort scene…I might change it later if I'm not too lazy. I got tired of it and just got into a dumb sort of sarcasm, so I apologize if it sucked. I'll be hopefully updating again soon, the real action of the story is finally starting up. Lol, it only took nineteen chapters to get to it too…and back to the sarcasm I go.

Thanks to my lovely reviewers, I would send you all cookies but I'm not into full-fledged stalker mode quite yet.

RonandHerm4eva (Lol, I love the whole vision thing…it makes it so much easier to scene skip in a way that actually makes sense. Not sure why I haven't done this before, I get to do future scenes right now. Lol, yeah, I'm in a rambling mood so sorry if that made no sense whatsoever.), Tiffiany-45 (Lol, I couldn't leave Hermione in the dark completely. I'm must be growing soft if I went out of my way to prevent angst…oh well. Dude, Death to Smoochy is seriously the best movie. I had to go watch it again after reading your quotes, I laugh harder every time that I see it.), eckles (Yes, Dumbledore does have some explaining to do…but as this is all in Ron's point-of-view I don't have to write that scene, lol. Ah the joys of first person writing…I get to skip over so much stuff.), Talia Moon (Lol, a lot of people were under the impression that someone else said that line from the summary. But I always had Hermione in my mind saying it so that's the way it worked out. Dumbledore does have some explanations to give, but they may not be what you expect. Lol, I love being evasive!), orli-enthusiast (Oh my God! You said my word! Confuzzled is the word I use all the time and it annoys everyone else…I feel as if we should start a club based on the word! Oh, and I also use the word spiffy a lot, and that also causes people to look at me strangely. Wow, you are my long lost word twin. Lol, and don't worry about not reviewing, I updated really quick…which was quite a feat for me!), KeeperOfTheMoon (Aww, I'm so glad that you love the story! I noticed you've been posting stories like crazy, I went to your bio page and was like damn. Lol, I'm in the process of reading your new stuff and have ever intention of reviewing when I stop being lazy.), Shakespeare's Muse (Lmao, the quickness of my last update almost caused me to pass out too. I'm glad you got on to my line of thinking about Molly and Arthur. I always found it odd that they had so many kids, so I thought maybe something like that happened to cause them to want so many…or maybe they just were never informed in the methods of pregnancy prevention, lol. Glad you enjoyed the last chapter!), bluehoax (Lol, I was happy that she finally got to find out the truth too, now the door is open for future R/Hr goodness! Glad you liked the whole bittersweet aspect, I always find angst to be a good thing, lol.), ilikechicken (Lol, love your screen name! I like chicken too. Especially with honey mustard sauce. Glad you are enjoying the story and your request for a happy ending has been dully noted, lol.), Sina Ba Ako (Lol, I'm glad that you love bittersweet romance because there is a lot of it in here. Thanks for your compliments on the story, it's always awesome to hear someone say that they love my fic!), Tom-Feltons-Hot (Glad that you're liking the story, and I hope that Ron going dark doesn't seem completely implausible after reading all of the story, thanks for reviewing!)