Part Four

The sun was blinding him now as it peaked over the trees, the sky brilliant and blue. He stared again at the spot where his patronus had vanished. His patronus. He turned around and faced his brothers.

Fred and George had never looked more alike. They were both stock still with identical looks of amazement and disbelief on their identical faces, their mouths gaping. Ron realized he must look equally silly with his jaw open and firmly closed his mouth. The twins mirrored him and shut their mouths. None of them said anything for a couple of minutes.

Ron tried to run over what had happened in his mind for future reference. He'd thought of Hermione. Of her hugging him tightly. It was so simple. His strongest happy thought was her.

And my patronus, Ron thought. What the hell was that? It was so bloody fast...maybe it's a cheetah or something?

His thoughts were broken by Fred who broke the silence at last.

"Blimey," he whispered.

Ron grinned at him.

"We knew you fancied her," said George. "But we didn't know you loved her."

"What?" said Ron. "I don't...she's just my best friend, that's all," he rattled off quickly.

"Oh c'mon," said Fred. "Pull the other one."

"We saw it," George added. "Hell, we were nearly blinded by it. We're not stupid, you know."

"Could've fooled me," growled Ron.

They stood looking at the space the patronus had been in silence for another minute.

"Do it again," whispered George. "It'll probably be better now that you know that you can do it."

"Yeah, we might be able to make out what it is," added Fred.

"Right," nodded Ron. He raised his wand and thought of Hermione, of her laughing face and the way the snowflakes decorated her hair in winter like stars in the sky. Of how her nose and cheeks would be rosy with the cold. How his heart beat faster when he looked at her. How his heart had raced when he'd hugged her at platform nine and three quarters.

An explosion of light enveloped him as something shot out of his wand. He was forced to take a step backwards to steady himself. His bright patronus leapt in front of him, veering from left to right in a cheerful run before fading away.

He recovered more quickly this time, though he felt sweaty and his heart was racing. Even though his patronus had been bright and nearly fully formed this time he still felt kind of disappointed.

He had wanted a big powerful patronus like Harry's. Like a lion, he had secretly hoped - he was a Gryffindor after all. Or even something interesting like Hermione's otter or George's hyaena. My only saving grace, he thought, is that it isn't a bloody guinea-pig!

He heard his brothers sniggering behind him and he cringed inside. Gits. He turned to face them, there was no getting away from it, might as well get it over with.

"Nice ickle patronus, Ickle Ronnikins," chuckled Fred.

"Scare the living daylights out of anyone, that will," George smirked.

"Shuddup," grumbled Ron.

"I hope he's toilet trained," continued Fred.

"Better than a bloody bird," snapped Ron.

"You think?" Said Fred. "At last count I believe my bloody bird could take on a ruddy big snake. What's your patronus gonna do? Fetch your slippers?"

"Piss off," Ron spat at Fred.

"Aw, it was so little and cute though," said George stepping towards his younger brother. "Just like you, Ickle Ronnikins." He reached up and ruffled Ron's already messy hair.

"Gerroff," snapped Ron, brushing his brother's arm away. "I'm taller than you, so I'm hardly little, am I?"

"Maybe we should ask Hermione for conformation of that, George?"

Ron snapped. Fred had stepped over a line. He thought for a second of punching his brother in the face, but instead raised his wand and yelled.

"Expecto patronum!"

His patronus leapt out of his wand and knocked Fred to the ground with an all mighty thud, then vanished.

"It's not so little now that you're sat on your arse, is it?" he said triumphantly to Fred.

"No," admitted Fred breathlessly. "He looked pretty fierce from here, actually."

"Good," said Ron, leaning down to give his brother a hand up whilst George did the same on Fred's other side.

"It was very good, y'know, Ron. Especially for a third try," said George more serious than the twins ever were.

"But do you think you can do it under pressure?" asked Fred, on his feet once more.

Ron shrugged.

"Don't worry, Ickle Prefect. We'll sort something out for you, won't we, George?"

"Anything for our little brother," said George, clapping his hand on Ron's back.

"What d'ya mean you'll sort something out for me? You're not going to put spiders in my bed again or something, are you?"

"That'd be telling," said Fred.

"It's got to be a surprise," finished George. "Else you won't know if you're ready or not."

"I s'pose," Ron said uncertainly.

"Now, let us shout you breakfast at the finest restaurant," Fred grinned.

"Otherwise known as cassa de Weasley," smiled George.

And Ron let his twin brothers lead him inside for breakfast.

The next few days at the Burrow were quiet ones, as with the twins at work and his Mum working for the Order, it was mostly just Ron and Ginny at home. They amused themselves by playing wizard chess and honing their diving techniques on their broomsticks. They often even made the family meal so as to save their Mother from more work.

Ron wrote to Hermione every couple of days, and she back to him. Her letters were mostly about Harry and schoolwork, much to his disapointment. Not that he's expected some great revelation about why she'd hugged him at the train station or anything. She was his friend, so maybe she'd just been happy that he'd made it out of the Department of Mysteries alive? His letters to her were brief and boring, but he made an effort all the same.

The only thing he had to tell her was about his Patronus, which he exercised early each morning after the twins had gone to work, but he wanted to keep it a secret from both her and Harry.

He didn't want her to realize that he'd jump in harms way for her, because he knew she wouldn't take kindly to the idea of being treated as if she were weak. Harry, he reckoned, had enough to deal with without being a tutor for his friend, and it would just be easier to keep it a secret from him.

Ron had written to Harry twice in the two weeks he'd been home, but had only received one reply. It had read:

Ron,

I'm alright. See you soon, I hope.

Tell Hermione to stop writing, would you?

Harry

He didn't sound very alright, and how could he be, but he didn't want to press the point. From what Hermione had told him she'd been doing enough for the both of him.

Although things were dull at the Burrow, there was a building sense of excitement. Hermione was due to arrive in two days time, and also the night of her arrival there would be a small farewell party for the twins who were moving into their new flat above their joke shop.

A sense of paranoia had also taken a hold on Ron in the last two weeks after his brothers had promised to test him and his patronus. He felt like Mad Eye Moody, as he patted his bed before getting in it each night or sniffing food before he ate it. With the twins anything was possible, be it big or small, but as yet, nothing. In the last few days running up to the farewell party Ron began to let his guard down. Surely they didn't have time to move flat and scare the living daylights out of him?...Did they?