A/N: I would like to take this opportunity to thank my seven-year-old cousin. Devon. You heal all pain and I can't imagine a sunny summer day or a good rainy-day scary story without you. You are my sunshine and whenever you need me I'll be there. The Faerie is for you.



This story is dedicated to Devon.

Because hearing your laughter is the closest I've ever been to real-life magic.



Chapter. 3



~Ron~



I was sitting in the commons, in a big stuffed chair nestled in the corner, reading a lesson in my N.E.W.T.S. Potions text when Harry came in through the picture portal and walked over to me, haste in his step.

I looked up and smiled, "Hello Harry, how are you?"

"McGonagall wants to see you, Hermione and I in her office as soon as we can get there," Harry said, more worried than he wanted to let on.

"Alright, where's Hermione?" I asked, trying to look uncaring.

"She's waiting in the hall, didn't want to make a big scene. Come on, we're gonna go now," Harry said, turning around. I followed him out the portal and into the hall.

Hermione, Harry, and I walked down the corridor to McGonagall's chamber and Harry knocked on the door. The door swung open and the professor smiled.

"Come in, come in," She ushered us into the room and directed us to three large chairs sitting at her desk.

"I guess you all wonder why you are here," she asked. We all nodded.

"Well, I received a rather odd package by owl the other day. And it was addressed to the three of you."

McGonagall then reached underneath her desk and pulled out a package. The shape is impossible to describe except to say that it did not have a definite shape at all. It was simply a lump of matter wrapped in brown parcel paper and tied with twine. It was admittedly the most hideous package I'd ever seen.

"This was sent to *you*, addresses to.....all THREE of *us*?" Hermione asked, leaning over the monstrosity and wrinkling her nose femininely at it.

"Precisely. And It has no return address and no signature," McGonagall said.

"I guess we should open it," I said pulling the package closer to me and grabbing a hold of the twine, I pulled and the package flopped open reveling large stone fragments and a note.

Harry, Hermione and I looked at each other and Hermione reach over and picked the note up off the pieces of stone.

"Well, read it," Harry said, breaking the silence.

"Alright," she said, opening the letter and clearing her throat, "















+Dear Harry, Ron, and Hermione,

Use this rock in good taste. Assemble the pieces post-haste.

It will aid in a coming quest, Your final, your last, your biggest test.

Make sure you take these words to heart. Rethaef, erif, and a roodpart.

In an enemy an ally will show, and let the map lead the way that you go.

You, bosom friend have courage that's true. You, girl companion just need to be you.

And you with the mark of a curse on your head, forgo all thought, act on instinct instead.

For when the time comes you'll know what to do, step back and let your second finish fighting for you.

Good luck, and may you never falter where you step+,







"She looked up, "And that's where it ends. There's no more."

We all sat there in silence, not wanting to speak for fear that this awful nightmare would come true. It was the loudest silence I'd ever heard in my entire young life. I looked at Harry, for answers, for reassurance, but he only looked drained and hung his head, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes. Hermione just looked vacant, her eyes slightly up cast and her mouth was parted in a dainty frown. It was amazing to me, that the two people who I'd come to depend on when it came to having the right answers, looked just as confused, scared, and desperate as I was. That's when I decided that this time it was me who needed to be strong. It was me who could have all the answers, or at least, make them up as I go along.

"What map?" I asked, shattering the silence.

"What do yo mean?" asked Hermione, still icy over our latest little tiff.

"It said, 'let the map lead the way' What map is it talking about?"

"I don't know," said Harry, an air of disgust showing in his voice.

"There's something written on the paper that the stones were wrapped in,"McGonagall said. We all jumped, remembering she was in the room.

"Yeah, there is," I said, carefully moving the pieces and flattening the paper out. And indeed, it was a map.

"It looks like a series of..."Hermione trailed off.

"Caves. They kind of remind me of these old caves my brothers and I used to play in when we were little. They go under our house. But there's this whole section that's all different, so it can't be them."

"Well, regardless, I think Dumbledore should here about this as soon as possible." McGonagall said, regaining her bearings.

"Could you..?" Harry left the question unasked.

"Of course. For now, go back to your dormitory and relax. It's an off day, so enjoy it while you can."

"Thank you professor." Hermione said, awe over the situation still evident in her voice.

"Now shoo." the professor said, ushering us out of her room.

The silence in the hall after the professor's door closed was deafening.

"I'm going back to the common room. I need to read something. Anything." Hermione, said, padding down the hallway.

"I'm going back to the common room also. I left my rucksack and books there." I said, turning to follow Hermione, but on second thought, I looked back, "Harry?"

"Humm?" he said, looking distant.

"Don't be.....worried about this too much. There's nothing you can do you know? You were just born, the rest of the wizarding world decided that you were their savior, but you were just born, Harry."

Harry looked sideways at me and attempted a smile.

"You know, I keep you around for moments like these."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Ron, sometimes you step outside of the normal you, with all of your stubbornness and you always manage to make me feel better, even if the situation seems hopeless." He smiled, clamping a hand on my shoulder, "Thanks."



*****



"Alright class, tickle the top of the bud with the tip of your finger and you should start to see spots emerge all over the petals, now....." Professor Sprout was babbling on while demonstrating the taming techniques of the Red (sometimes spotted) Jumbo Aramis blossoms.

All of the sudden my Aramis blossom decided it was time for a good, BIG sneeze.

"AAAh...AAAHH...AAAAAHHHHH...CHOOOO!!!!" And with that, out came flying a little, round ball with twinkling wings.

"Ooff!" I heard a tiny voice say as the little chubby ball hit my chest, hanging on for dear life and then struggling up over my shoulder to hide at the nape of my neck, "Please don't let it eat me. It tried to eat me."

"Harry will you help me! What is this?" I asked, trying not to sound alarmed as the crimson flooded my face. I heard snickers from the other students, including Hermione who was standing on the other side of Harry, trying not to smile, because we still weren't speaking.

"Ron, calm down, I think it's a faerie."

"A what?"

"A faerie, Ron. You know, little creature with wings."

I looked at Harry with disbelief and then I reached up tentatively to try and touch it.

"No, please, just let me sit here for a moment. Can you move that away, that plant, because it tried to eat me, OH NOOOO!!!" it shrieked, climbing from my shoulder to the top of my head and cowering there. In the meantime, my Aramis opened in full bloom, awake and perfectly spotted, ready to hunt the little faerie, baring it's purple teeth and smelling from it's petals where the little creature could have gone.

"Professor Sprout! I think I need your help over here!" I said, trying to fight the monstrous carnivore of a plant.

Waking from her daze of amazement at the little thing, she rushed over.

"Mr. WEASLEY! What in the world....OH! Well, look at that." Her voice softened when she noticed the little thing that was now perched precariously on top of my head, holding onto my hair for dear life.

"Get it OFF!" I begged her, but she didn't seem to be listening, instead she was staring up at the little bugger with an expression of...joy, on her face.

"What's your name?" I heard the little thing whisper.

"Ron, my name is Ron. Now will you please *get off*!?" all at once, I felt the creature's weight shift and it rolled off my head and came tumbling down in front of me. I barely caught it in my left hand before *she* hit the table. Amazing pastel shimmers surrounded her small, transparent wings. She had chubby arms and legs and a round belly. Wearing only a nappy of vines and tiny leaves, her minuscule toes wriggled freely, brushing my wrist. Her face was beautiful and framed by gleaming blonde hair. It was round and smooth with tiny almond-shaped eyes and a small button nose that was nearly buried in her full cheeks and perfect, shiny little mouth. She looked like a small human child with tiny, gleaming wings and slightly lavender-tinted skin

"All you had to do was ask," she said, looking up at me with her crystal eyes. And with that I was gone. Her cheeks were so rosy and her smile was so innocent, that my manly little heart snapped in two and I was enraptured.

"Ron? Are you alright?" Professor Sprout said, causing me to snap out of my reverie.

"Uh...ye..yeah. I'm fine. What is this Professor?"

"That is a Faerie of pure Joy. I haven't seen one of those in fifty years. They're very rare, very rare indeed. They have healing powers for the body as well as the mind. They bring about a spirit of euphoria which calms humans." She reached for the faerie, but it whimpered, sprung up into the air, climbing quickly up my chest, down into my sweater and then popped her head back up through the neck hole, holding onto me by my red and gold Gryffindor tie, " And it seems, Mr. Weasley, that this particular faerie has become quite attached to you."

"Well," put my hand protectively over her shivering little body, "what exactly am I supposed to do with her?"

"Get your bag and go to Professor McGonagall's office, take her with you. You are excused from this lesson. Go."



*****



"So you can just...*keep* her?" Harry looked at me in shock.

"That's what McGonagall said. She told me that Faerie like her are endangered magical creatures. She said that it imprints, or attaches itself, to the first human it sees. Well, *I* was that person and she'll die if she's too far from me for too long. She can live in the dormitory and as long as she's not separated completely from me for more than about a day, she'll live a really long time." I looked down and the faerie was dancing on the common room floor to some whimsical tune that was playing in her head.

"And Dumbledore said you could carry her to classes everyday?" he asked, perplexed.

"Only the ones that are farthest from the Gryffindor tower. Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination. The rest of the day she can stay in the hospital wing, apparently she'll help reduce the pain of all the patients." I sat back and looked down at her, now playing idly with the fringe on the carpet.

"So what's her name?"

"What?" I asked.

"Well, she's kind of yours, and you can't just keep calling her 'the faerie', so what's her name?" he persisted.

"I don't know.....I'm not good with this kind of thing. I've never given anyone a name before."

"It's not hard Ron, just pick a name you like. Maybe an unusual name, or a family name."

I looked at her tiny hands and sighed, " I *normally* ask Hermione about things like this, but she's not SPEAKING to me." I made a disgusted sound.

"Why can't you just apologize?" Harry sighed.

"I TRIED. She said that I'm still not acting my age. I asked her how it is exactly that I'm supposed to be acting my age, but all she said was I'd have to figure that out on my own and until then, all homework help, problem solving, and general library knowledge would be suspended until further notice. I don't *understand* her!" I flopped back into my chair and ran a hand through my hair.

"Well, what did you say when you tried to apologize?"

"I said, I was sorry and that I understand why she got mad. I told her I wanted to go back to normal."

"Maybe she feels guilty about what she said to you or maybe she just wants you to admit that you were wrong. That could be it, in fact that sounds a lot like something she would get into her head. You could try that. I think I saw her heading toward her natural habitat." Harry smirked.

"Library?" I asked, almost chuckling.

"Where else?"

I rolled my eyes, collected the little faerie, and set off toward the library.