Chapter Sixteen - Goodbyes, Lies and Inferi

Ron was breathing heavily and Harry's sleep was still light enough for the sound of Hermione's whispers to penetrate his subconscious and pull him back into the waking world.

"You're ok, you're with me. Please calm down."

She was still lying beside him, her arm draped over his chest as it rose and fell as if Ron had just been playing quiddich for an hour and a half, and she was holding herself up on her elbow. She saw that Harry had woken and whispered over to him urgently.

"He's having another nightmare."

Harry saw that Ron was thrashing around under the sheets and, when Hermione moved her hand from his chest to the side of his face, seemingly panicked by her touch.

"It's his claustrophobia Hermione," Harry whispered back, "don't lean over him like that, it's making him worse."

Hermione gave a little yelp as she pulled away from Ron, who shuddered at this sudden movement against his skin and murmured something between uneven breaths.

"Gemme out."

Hermione clasped her hand to her mouth and Harry crawled out of his bed, Ron's mind was back in that coffin, and he did the same thing he had tried to do the previous night. This time he was doing it for the right reason.

"Ennervate!"

Ron's eyes opened and he started shivering.

"It's ok mate, you were just having a bad dream, you're fine now," Harry smiled as he lifted a blanket off thefloor where Ron had kicked itand draped it around Ron's shoulders.

"S-s-sorry," Ron said, his shivering seeming to worsen.

"What are you sorry for?" Harry frowned.

Ron almost laughed as he shrugged and pulled the blanket around him tightly.

"I dunno."

Harry smiled and saw that Hermione was looking uncomfortable. She had pressed her back flat against the wall to ensure she wasn't crowding Ron or touching him in any way.

"Hermione, do you want to take off the hoops?" Harry asked her in an attempt to draw Ron's attention to her presence at his side.

Ron was indeed alerted, he turned and flinched at the unexpected sight of her on his bed, before he smiled at her and seemed to try to get his shivering under control.

"Morning," he said before looking at his shaking hands, "I don't know what's wrong, I'm not even cold."

Hermione seemed to build herself up to deal with another morning coaxing Ron out of his state of prolonged shock and put on a brave face for him.

"It'll pass soon enough," she beamed, "let's get that hoop off your arm shall we?"

Hermione, being the person whose blood had activated the hoops, was able to slide the hoop from Ron's arm with ease before doing the same for herself. Ron glanced at Harry with apprehension.

"So did it work then? Well I know it did, I didn't go anywhere did I? Did I?"

"No mate, you were right here the whole time," Harry had to remind himself not to pat Ron on the back as he said this, "you talked to them but that was it."

Ron's face fell.

"They came back for me?"

"You gave them what for, you actually shouted at them, you were brilliant."

Harry saw that these words didn't really make much of a difference to Ron, the knowledge that he was still being visited in the night taking up all the thought space in his head for the time being. Hermione put the hoops on the bedside table as she crawled off the bed, careful not to touch Ron while she did, and looked at him with the same overly chipper grin.

"I'll bring you up a cup of tea I think, would you like one Harry?"

Harry nodded. Hermione turned to make her way out when Ron lunged forward and grabbed her by the wrist. She gasped and froze, it was as if she had electricity passing through her, and stared at him in shock. Harry saw that Ron's shivering had subsided a little now but the tremors were still present in his voice as he spoke.

"You stayed with me didn't you?" he asked her.

"Yes," Hermione nodded breathlessly.

Ron let go of her wrist, she seemed to be greatly upset by this loss of contact, and he glanced over at the silver hoops before looking back at her again.

"Thank you."

Ron looked down at his hands and Hermione practically ran out of the room, Harry knew she would go straight to Mrs Weasley in tears, and Harry felt a pain building up inside. He was going to have to leave Ron behind, he knew it for sure now, he was going to be emotionally fragile for a long time and it was time they didn't have now that Voldemort knew that somebody was out to destroy his horcruxes.

"Ron, I need to talk to you about something," he began.

Ron was still staring at his hands, his fingertips looking sore and painful, when he responded with an eerily accurate guess at the topic in hand.

"You're going on without me aren't you?" Ron looked up and for a moment there was no discussion to be had, they both saw every possible angle in each other's sad eyes and the futility of going over it out loud seemed obvious.

"I'm sorry, I wish..."

"It's ok," Ron half smiled, "I can't go anywhere at the moment can I? I'm no good to anyone right now."

"No don't say that," Harry said, feeling empty inside.

"It's alright," Ron smiled a little more convincingly now, "at least we've found a way to stop me eh?"

Harry nodded. He didn't know why but he felt he had to tell Ron the truth about what had happened during the night.

"I almost woke you last night," Ron's eyes were wide and he paled even more than he already was, "I'm sorry, don't worry I didn't do it. Your dad stopped me, well no it was you, you stopped me."

"Why did you...?" Ron began.

"I was just so angry with them for what they did to you, I wanted to get them to face me, and I let my temper get the better of me as usual. I was going to..." Harry shook his head at his own hot-headedness and stupidity, "...I just needed to yell at them so much, to find out who the hell was doing this to you, that I was willing to let them posses you. I'm so sorry Ron."

Ron let the blanket slip from his shoulders, his shivering had finally stopped, and he crossed the room to sit beside Harry on his bed.

"It's ok, I understand, I'm kind of curious about who this bastard is myself," he shrugged.

Harry had to let Ron know what was weighing so heavy on his mind; he hoped that his best friend didn't hate him for it.

"That's not the point. I'm not leaving you behind because you're not up to the trip anymore, not just that, I have to leave you behind because I scared myself last night Ron. I'm scared of what I almost did. I can't trust myself to keep my cool when they're getting to you."

Ron and Harry both looked at the floorboards, tense and silent, for several seconds before Harry took a deep breath and told Ron the last of his worries.

"I found out last night that this person you're being manipulated by knows me. They're protecting me. They're risking you to protect me and I won't allow that. If I can get Hermione to stay with you I will. If they can find a way to hurt you then they might try to go through her as. This was why I wanted to go on my own in the first place. It's one thing for the people against me to be a threat to you both but now the people on my side are...they're...I won't stand for it anymore."

Ron looked shocked at this little speech and opened his mouth to say something but Harry raised his hand.

"Now that Hermione's bound to you she can't leave anyway, it's all worked out for the best."

"I don't think so," Hermione was standing at the bedroom door holding two cups of steaming hot tea and with a livid look on her face, "I could restrict Ron's movements from the other side of the world as long as he was held by that hoop, that was one of the reasons I was so against that bloody ritual in the first place, the bond of blood is an incredibly powerful way to contain somebody. I can be sure that he's safe without being anywhere near him."

"So you'd do that to him would you?" Harry snapped at her, "Bind him and rush out into all sorts of potentially fatal danger with me, risking your life, while he sits at the Burrow bound by your blood. That was another one of your worries wasn't it Hermione? The binder dies while Ron is bound to them and what if he's totally restricted at the time eh? What happens then Hermione? You're willing to risk that because I'm not!"

Hermione looked hurt, as if this had been Harry's plan all along and he had tricked her into doing the bond of blood to keep her from continuing the journey with him, and she looked as if she was going to yell at him until her face turned beetroot but something distracted her. Harry followed her fearful eyes to the spot where Ron had just fallen to his knees on the floor beside Harry. He dropped down beside him but there was some kind of blue light crackling all around him and he couldn't get close to his stricken friend.

There was a crash as both full cups of tea shattered on the ground and Hermione aimed her wand at Ron and screamed.

"Abrumpo, abrumpo, abrumpo!" she repeated with a fearful rage that Harry had never seen before, not even in the days of Umbridge, "Break the connection Ron, break it!"

Ron's eyes were glazed. This couldn't be, Harry thought to himself, Ron was awake. How could they be taking him over now?

"This isn't an oracle thing Harry, this is a viator spell, old magic. Somebody's using him to send a message to you but we can't let him deliver it."

"Why not?" Harry asked, sure he already knew the answer but desperately hoping he was wrong.

"As soon as he delivers the message he'll die!"

Before Harry could begin to perform the spell to break-off the connection being made with Ron his friends blue eyes glowed and an unfamiliar voice came from his lips.

"An old man with leaden-coloured skin stretched tight over his face, lips thin and bloodless and a half-open toothless mouth. Two piercing semi-luminous eyes set far back stare at you. The figure, hardly dressed, two filthy strips of calico wound round and round its emaciated body peruses you. Running away you are followed by it as it floats down the road. It is almost on top of you..."

"Ron you can control this, this isn't like the sleepwalking, you can stop this!" Hermione screamed at him.

"Beside the canal at Llangynidr. The inferi guards the secret that will deliver you the timeto destroythe dark lord's shattered soul."

The crackling blue light faded away and Ron's eyes lost their glow. He fell forward and extended his arms to hold himself up, he was sweating and panting, and the violent shivering had begun again.

Hermione grabbed him and pushed him back so he was resting against the foot of Harry's bed. She stared into his face and didn't seem to be able to believe her eyes.

"Ron? Oh my God Ron you're ok," she turned to face Harry and gasped, "that should've killed him."

"Oracles have a resilience to it."

Mrs Weasley's hollow voice sounded from the doorway, she had obviously heard the smashing cups and come to clear up the mess.

"It only works on a waxing moon, they won't be able to send you a direct message like that again for another month."

Ron shuddered and tried to speak, his voice seemed to have left him, and he cleared his throat and tried again as he looked to his mother.

"Mum?"

Mrs Weasley still seemed strangely distant.

"Yes dear?"

"What else didn't you tell me about myself?"

It had all been explained. Ron had listened silently and did nothing more than nod when his mother had finally let go of the last great secret. Nearly all oracles go insane if they are used for a prolonged period of time.

"What's a prolonged period of time?" Hermione had asked.

"More than twenty or thirty consecutive nights of visits, so I've heard," Mrs Weasley said with a sigh, "and when things like the viator spell and the spirit being drawn into the body to posses the host the deterioration happens even faster."

"Why didn't you tell us this when you told us about the whole oracle thing in the first place?" Harry said, trying to keep his cool.

The sad woman turned her eyes to Ron, who still sat in total silence, and shook her head in apology.

"I couldn't bear to think about it and I didn't want you to lose hope Ronnie. If you knew you might just give in to it and...stop fighting. You have so much on your mind and I didn't want to add another worry when it's something none of us can do anything about."

Ron met his mother's eyes and smiled.

"What's the use of worrying eh? It never was worthwhile."

Mrs Weasley actually laughed at this. Harry and Hermione were shocked at this unpredictable behaviour. She grabbed Ron into a hug that he didn't fight against and sang a familiar tune to her brave son. Despite her voice being muffled against Ron's shoulder Harry could still make out the words.

"Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile."

Ron glanced over to Hermione and rolled his eyes.

"Dad's muggle record collection, you wouldn't believe the kind of crap you people used to listen to to ignore the great wizarding war of the forties."

Hermione smiled before biting her lip and turning to Harry. They marvelled at the strength of will Ron was displaying, it was almost as if he was sick and tired of all the anxiety and had just decided to accept it all with a shrug. Hermione looked back as the mother and son separated from each other.

"Que sera sera eh?" Hermione asked with a sad smile.

Mrs Weasley's face lit up.

"Oh Hermione that one's my favourite!"

The older woman cupped Hermione's face with her hand and the two of them shared a silent exchange before she turned away and busied herself with making a fresh pot of tea. Ron's chair scraped on the stone floor as he got up.

"I don't know why you thought I wasn't prepared for a life of insanity mother, you did name me after crazy uncle Billius after all and that bloke was off his head!" he chuckled.

Mrs Weasley turned, her face red but her smile wide, and she huffed an exasperated breath.

"Don't let your father hear you saying that Ronald Weasley, he was very fond of batty old Billius, and he wouldn't thank you to bring up his little eccentricities in that derogatory manner."

Ron shrugged.

"All I'm saying is that you jinxed me. I always knew I was destined to be a nutter. In the wizarding world we call a spade a spade and a madman Billius, it's just the way it is."

Mrs Weasley's shoulders fell and began to shake, her head dropped and her palms were flat on the kitchen counter, as she began to cry loudly. Ron grabbed her and gave her another firm cuddle, once again his physical contact issues not noticeably affecting him as far as Harry could tell, and he tried to keep the smile on his face as he comforted her.

"Come on mum, don't do this, we think this is funny remember?" his mother squeezed him a little tighter to her and nodded, her face was still the picture of devastation though, "This is nothing, we're not going to worry about this, and how much more loopy can I get anyway?"

Mrs Weasley gave a tearful chuckle and sniffed.

"I am surprised you didn't snap sooner, having the twins for brothers and everything," she said, causing Ron to laugh and rub his mother's back, "and I should have sent you to St Mungo's for treatment when I heard about your little stroll in the forbidden forest in the second year."

Ron pulled back from his mother and frowned at the smiling woman who was doing her best to put on a brave face for him.

"How d'you mean?" he asked as he wiped away the tears that had been falling earlier.

"Well any arachnophobe who follows a trail of spiders into the lair of an enormous spider that wants to eat him is really in need of a head examination."

Ron snorted and even Harry found himself laughing now. He understood this new philosophy in the Weasley household. Worrying wasn't going to make any difference so they'd just bypass that emotion and resign themselves to the bad times ahead. The time should be spent laughing rather than crying. He glanced at Hermione, she couldn't seem to understand the use of this group denial and wasn't able to become a part of it right now, she rose from the table and ran out of the kitchen. Harry could've sworn he heard her fighting back a sob as she went.

Ron sighed and let his mother go, something she didn't seem to want but accepted all the same, and shrugged as he walked backwards toward the door.

"I s'pose I'd better..."

Mrs Weasley nodded.

"You go after her, I'll finish making the tea," she smiled.

Ron turned and followed Hermione out of the kitchen and up the stairs while Harry's eyes returned to Mrs Weasley and he gave a silent sigh.

"We have to laugh don't we Harry?" the woman said, her back still to him.

"Yeah we do," Harry smiled.

"We'll have a nice cup of tea and them I'll get out the map."

Harry frowned at this comment.

"Map?"

Mrs Weasley turned around to look at Harry as if she was being accused of gullibility.

"Well you want to find out where Llangynidr is don't you? Sounds Welsh to me, what do you think?"

Harry sighed a deeper and audible sigh now. Reality needed to be faced up to and the reality was that Harry needed to find out what the inferi Ron had spoken of in a place called Llangynidr was guarding for, or maybe from,Voldemort. He was going to be going without Ron, maybe without Hermione too, and leaving his best friend to slowly descend into madness in order to give him the information that he needed.

Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile...