Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters, things ect. are not mine.

Hey everyone! I know, it's been months since I updated and I'm really sorry! I've just been so incredibly busy with everything that I just sort of forgot about my stories. Don't worry though, I'm back, although I can't promise that I'll update very regularlly. I feel like I should defend myself so here's what I've been doing since I last updated.

My soccer season finished in September and my team won the championships! We were down one nothing and then I scored to tie it up less then 5 minutes after the other team had scored on us. Then another girl on my team scored again so we won 2-1! I now have a shiny trophy from the season sitting on my bookcase!

I was in my school play ("Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat"), so that was from September until the end of November. I played Jacob's (that's Joseph's dad) concubine. I wasn't even a wife, I was a concubine-lol! I didn't have any solos or anything but that's fine, I'm not much of a singer anyway.

I went to Italy and Greece on a school trip for March Break and had the time of my life! My favourite places were definitely Pompeii and Delphi and I took an ungodly amount of pictures. It'd be different if I had a digital camera, but I don't so I had to buy more film in Rome and boy was it expensive! Had the time of my life though and I'd love to go back!

School has been chaotic! This is my last year of high school so I have had homework like no other. I also had four heavy writing courses first semester (History, Writer's Craft, English and Law) and then this semester I've had Peer Tutoring (it's half online, half me teaching a grade 10 history class with a real teacher), Math, Philosophy and DRAMA! Since I applied to a bunch of theatre programs I had a bunch of auditions, not to mention essays and questionnaires for the other programs I applied for. (I'll be majoring in history and drama in the fall!) It's just been nuts! Prom was a few weeks ago and even though I'm not a girlie girl I got all dressed up and everything. I got the most double takes ever-it was great! I know I'll sound like a nerd, but I'll say it anyway-it was basically how everyone reacted to Hermione at the Yule Ball, but because I'm an athlete.

I've had soccer and track like mad for the past few months as well, but track's finished and soccer has calmed down slightly now that the schedule is all worked out.

Anywho, all that being said, here is the long awaited chapter 10 of this lovely story! Enjoy and please review!

Chapter 10: Secrets Revealed

It was getting late and the house was quiet, but Ron couldn't sleep. Instead, he lay awake, staring at the dark ceiling as millions of thoughts buzzed through his head. Some thoughts were far more pleasant then others, but it seemed as though only the negative 'what ifs?' surfaced. On the one hand, he was quite happy about discovering Hermione wanted to be more than 'just friends,' but at the same time he was worried about it. What if she changed her mind? What if something went wrong with the relationship? Would they be able to go back to just being friends? And what would happen with Harry? Would he be mad about turning into the third wheel when they did stuff together?

Slowly, Ron realized that these were the least of his worries. Far more pressing then the anxiety of his first date, was the fear Voldemort instilled in him. If the past few days were any indication, Voldemort was not worried about hiding anymore and was set to strike down anyone who crossed him. Ron had never been as scared as he was now in his entire life and, for the first time, wondered if it was such a smart idea to be best friends with Voldemort's worst enemy. Possible life-threatening danger had not been listed in the job description when he became Harry's best friend.

Ron's problems could be separated into two distinct categories now; teenage drama, that he would probably laugh about when he was older, and extreme, life-threatening danger problems.

At least all this stuff will back a great story some day, he thought. Maybe I'll write a book about it and sell my story for millions about how I'm best friends with the famous Harry Potter.

The sound of a dog barking carried through the open window and Pig twittered in his cage, clearly unhappy about being cooped up inside for the past few days.

"I can't let you out," Ron said, as he padded over to his tiny owl. He picked up the bag of owl treats and pushed a few through the bars.

Still twittering like mad, Pig gobbled up the owl treats in record time, then zoomed around his cage.

"Stupid bird," Ron said. "Now be quiet, I need to sleep."

But Pig kept making a racket, so Ron threw a blanket over the cage to muffle the sound. The murmur of voices drifted in from outside.

"…but I don't trust it," said a woman's voice.

Ron turned and moved towards the window as quietly as he could. He looked down below and saw Julie talking with Shawn.

"Neither do I," Shawn agreed. "It's that clichéd 'too quiet' feeling, you know?"

Julie pulled her cloak tighter around her, "Do I ever," she said. "I think Ron was right though, Voldemort won't think to come back here."

"I don't know," Shawn said. "He's not stupid, he might suspect something's up."

The two moved around the right-hand corner and out of sight, still deep in conversation. As Ron watched, another pair of Aurors soon appeared from the left, but their voices were too low for him to hear. Deciding to get a snack, Ron walked over to his door, grabbing a shirt off his desk chair as he went. He pulled the shirt over his head and opened the door to the dark hallway. He heard the murmur of voices from Ginny's room and it took all of his will-power not to stop and listen. He heard the sound of muffled giggles and almost turned around to go back but forced himself to go down the stairs instead.

I don't need to know, he told himself firmly.

Quietly, Ron made his way downstairs, only to discover that his parents were talking in low voices in the kitchen. He peeked around the corner and saw them sitting at the kitchen table with cups of tea.

"You don't trust your own son?" Mrs. Weasley asked, her voice quivering slightly.

Mr. Weasley shook his head, but his reply was to quiet for Ron to hear.

"But Arthur, he's our son!"

"I know that Molly, but…Percy just doesn't seem to fit, you know? I think something happened, something changed him when he started working for Fudge."

"That doesn't mean he's working for Voldemort!"

Mr. Weasley sighed, "Look," he said wearily, "Voldemort didn't take any records on Percy. Why would he take stuff on everyone else and not Percy? Even if we were fighting I would wager he would still want to get his hands on something, just incase."

Suddenly, a loud roaring noise was heard from outside. The entire house shook and was filled with a blinding light. Ron nearly fell over from the force of the explosion, but managed to grab the doorframe.

"What was that?" Mrs. Weasley cried.

Julie burst through the door as the sound of more explosions and shouts ripped through the formerly quiet night air.

"We have to get out of here now!" she yelled above the din.

Someone wearing a dark cloak and mask leapt through the door at her, but she whirled around.

"Stupefy!" she shouted, and the person was blown backwards into the night.

"What's going on?" Ron asked.

"They're here, and he's with them!" Julie said. "Now go!"

Disoriented, and unsure of where to go, Ron stood in the middle of the hallway before Julie seized him by the back of his shirt and literally threw him up the stairs in front of her. He scrambled up the stairs after his parents to find Hermione and the rest of the Weasley clan huddled at the top clad in their pajamas.

"What's happening?" Charlie shouted above the noise.

"No time for explanations!" Julie replied. She looked around desperately for a split second before her eyes fell on the throw rug that carpeted the hallway. "Everyone on the rug!" she ordered. She raised her wand and pointed it at the rug. "Portus!"

The rug quivered beneath their feet before Ron felt a familiar jerking sensation behind his navel. In a whirl of colour and rushing wind, the group suddenly found themselves deposited in what appeared to be an office at the Ministry.

"Stay here!" Julie commanded before hurrying out the door.

"OK, what the bloody hell is going on?" demanded Fred.

"Voldemort obviously," replied Bill.

Ron felt numb.

It's my fault, he thought. I was the one who said we should stay at the Burrow. It was my idea. I should've just kept my mouth shut.

He slouched against the wall, his head in his hands, oblivious to the others talking frantically around him.

"Ron?"

The voice was soft, with a twinge of fear in it, and he felt the gentle touch of a hand on his shoulder.

"Ron, look at me," the voice commanded.

Ron looked up and found himself gazing into Hermione's eyes.

"It's my fault," he whispered, his voice cracking.

"No, it's not," Hermione reassured him. "It's Voldemort's."

"But I…" Ron started to protest.

"But nothing," Hermione said firmly. "I've had enough of people always blaming themselves for stuff that is beyond their control."

Ron settled himself on the floor and leaned against the cream coloured wall, but said nothing.

Hermione took his hands in hers, "It'll be alright," she said softly. "You'll see."

Julie suddenly reappeared with a fistful of wands. "I thought you might want these," she said, as she tossed each wand to its owner. Ron caught his without even thinking, and clutched it tightly in his fist.

"What's happening?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Let's just say if those spells weren't there, your house would already be destroyed," Julie said grimly. "As it stands right now it's holding up because we've sealed it off, but since Voldemort's with them…" she trailed off.

"But how did Voldemort find us?" Charlie asked.

"Jasmine," Julie replied through gritted teeth. A vase on the near by desk shattered, sending the flowers and ceramic pieces tumbling to the floor.

Everyone jumped and Mrs. Weasley let out a shriek.

"Sorry," Julie mumbled apologetically. A careless wave of her wand reassembled the vase. "Sometimes my emotions get the better of me. That's about the third time I've broken that vase this past month. Anyway, you guys are going to stay here in my office tonight. I wish I could give you better accommodations but this is the safest place we have at our disposal at the moment."

She extracted a folded bit of khaki coloured fabric from her desk drawer, before waving her wand and sending all the furniture sliding across the room where it stacked itself neatly in the corner. She spread the fabric out on the floor, gave it a prod with her wand, and instantly the fabric erected itself into a sizable tent.

She smiled, "I always knew my old camping supplies would come in use one day!" she said proudly. "Follow me," she instructed, and the group trooped into the tent after her.

Inside, Ron noticed that it was similar to the tents they had borrowed when they had seen the Quidditch World Cup, only it smelled nicer.

"This is your living room area," Julie said, indicating the room they were standing in. "The kitchen is over there and there should be some canned food in the cupboards. The kitchen and bathrooms have running water and you can use the juice crystals to make juice. There's three bathrooms-one in the master suite, and two by the other bedrooms. Along with the master bedroom there are five other bedrooms and each has a set of twin beds in them. Each closet in the bedrooms has extra sheets and blankets. The bathroom closets have towels, soap, shampoo-basically anything you might need. If you're bored that cabinet has a chess set, exploding snap, and a few other games. Feel free to look at any of the books I have in my office, they're mostly reference books but there's a few novels. I'll try to find some extra clothes for you guys so you have more than just your pajamas. As soon as the fighting stops I'll sneak into your house and round up your belongings. Which reminds me…"

She slipped out the door and returned a minute later with a large bird cage containing Pig, Errol and Hedwig, and a wicker basket, which she opened to reveal Crookshanks.

"I thought you might like to have these guys back," she said with a grin. "There should be some owl and cat food kicking around here somewhere from when I took my pets camping."

Hermione scooped up Crookshanks, "Thank you!" she said, as she scratched her cat behind the ears. Crookshanks purred in reply.

"No problem," Julie said with small smile. "Now I know it's going to be hard, but try to get some sleep. I'll be back in a few hours to check up on you guys."

"Are you going back to our house?" Charlie asked.

Julie didn't answer right away. "The less you know, the better," she said finally, but she didn't meet anyone's eyes. "I'm sealing you in my office so that no one can get in. If someone does manage to get in, or I don't come back by tomorrow night, lock yourselves in that closet." She indicated the closet at the end of the hallway. "That closet is the safest place in this tent, and there are very few who know how to enter it." She looked at her watch, "I should be back between 8 and 9 o'clock. Try to get some rest and I shall see you then."

"Goodnight Julie, and thank you!" Mrs. Weasley said, and the others followed her lead and a chorus of thank you's errupted.

Julie smiled slightly, "You're welcome," she said, before disappearing out the door.

"Well, Julie's right," Mrs. Weasley said as she turned to face everyone. "Off to bed you lot!"

There were no complaints from the group as the trudged off down the hallway to their respective rooms.

Ron crawled under the blankets, fully expecting to lie awake staring blankly at the ceiling all night, but as soon as he hit the pillows he exhaustion overtook him and he passed out.

After I found this chapter saved on a disk from ages ago I really didn't have to add much. In fact, I cut off the ending and I'm making that the beginning of a new chapter because I figured I'd had enough action for one chapter. Anywho, hope you enjoyed and please review! I promise I'll be better about updating in the future because now I've got a bit more free time on my hands. That and I want to get this close to, if not completely, done before the sixth book comes out. In any case, chapter 11 should be up soon because it's started already. I added a bit more spice to this chapter and did some hard-core editing on it last night. But I'm out. Ciao!

Megan