Telling it like it was

It was somewhat surprising to Ron to see Harry, Ginny and Hermione sitting in the common room just before lunch. He had hoped to have a moment to figure out a way to tell them what happened in Egypt and why he hadn't told them before but they were already here.

"Hey guys, why aren't you in class?"

The three of them rushed over to Ron enveloped him in one really big hug. After it stopped Harry said "McGonagall let us miss class so we could go see you in a bit."

'Speaking of which how did you get out of the hospital ward?" Ginny queried.

"Moody told Madame Pomfrey that I was all right.

"Are you all right?" Hermione asked softly.

"Couldn't be better cutie."

"Well good" at that Hermione started hitting him on the arm and yelling at him.

"Of all the stupid, unthinking, reckless things you've ever done this takes the cake. I can not believe you tried to fight six Death Eaters alone. They could have killed you, you stupid git.

Ron tried to cover up from the unexpected attack but didn't seem to be doing a very good job of it.

"I mean really, do you think your head is just something to hold up your cannons hat? Damn it Ron what would have happened if we hadn't gotten there in time? I have been so busy with school and then the day I want to be able to spend with you Death Eaters attack. Oh god when the battle was over and I was looking around for you and I couldn't find you. Then I see Professor McGonagall standing over a body and I knew it was you. You weren't moving and there was so much blood. Then they brought you here and wouldn't let me see you. I was so scared Ron it was horrible."

Feeling tears start to slide down his own cheeks he grabbed her and held her tightly until the crying stopped. As he did that Harry walked up to him.

"Really mate we were scared to death, How about we not do that again?"

Ron looked at him softly saying "You know we can't make those kinds of promises Harry."

Ginny had squared herself in front of him.

"Hermione may be inclined to let you off easy but I'm not. I don't care how brave you think you are or how much good your doing. I had to sit here and watch Hermione cry her eyes out wondering if her boyfriend was dying or not and before you say she had that bloody necklace it's hard to believe a piece of jewelry when you see how bad a person is hurt."

"Ginny I wasn't hurt that badly just a few broken bones and a small cut or two."

"You idiot when they picked you up to get you back to the school one of those LITTLE CUTS fell open and I could see the top of your skull. You had lost so much blood from those LITTLE CUTS you were almost empty. You were busted up so badly even McGonagall was about to start crying."

"But you want to know what the worst part is Ron?" she continued without waiting for an answer.

"The worst part is Neville told Dean and Seamus what you did and those prats think you're a hero and they told everybody else. So now there are first years down in the Great Hall daydreaming about being a hero like you. What are you going to do when one of them tries to fight six Death Eaters? How are you going to feel then?"

Ginny had stopped yelling but was looking up at him daring him to say anything.

"What the bloody hell was I supposed to do Ginny? Let them keep torturing that man and his wife. Maybe I should have just ignored the fact that it was a trap to kill Harry? Does that sound like a good idea to you? You heard the prophecy, Harry has to kill Voldemort. I will do what ever I have to do to make sure Harry gets that chance. I am expendable, Harry isn't and that's how it is."

At that Hermione pulled her head out from his chest and stared at him open mouthed. Ginny just scowled and glared at him. Harry on the other hand looked stricken.

"Ron I....."

"Its ok mate, it's the way things are. You didn't ask for this stuff and it's not fair you have to deal with it. Everybody has to do their part and I'm just doing mine."

"While I have you all here and you're already mad at me I need to tell you guys something. It's something that happened in Egypt and I'm not really proud of it. In fact I wouldn't have told you at all but Moody seemed to think I should. So have a seat. I promise you will all be able to yell at me later."

Harry sat in one of the big chairs and Ginny sat in his lap. Hermione picked her favorite spot on the couch and they all looked at Ron.

"It was about half way through the summer. I had been working with Bill and had gotten pretty good about sniffing out hidden chambers where there might be more treasure. I had decided that morning I wanted to go check out a tributary that came of the main shaft in the pyramid we were exploring. Well as it turned out there was a hidden entrance to another shaft. I followed that shaft for a fair bit and it came to another door. After giving it the once over for traps I open the door and went inside. The room it opened into was fairly large in the middle it had a stone table with two jars on it one black jar and one silver jar. There also seemed to be some sort small pool behind it."

"I thought it was odd that the pool still had water in it but the people who built those pyramids were pretty smart so I guessed they could have figured out a way to keep it full.

I wanted to get a closer look at the jars before I tagged the passage here for retrieval by goblin teams. When I got about ten or so feet away a large black mist rose up from the black jar. It spread itself to about three times the width of a person and about that height as well. In the center of the mist I could see things that had happened in my life. Things I didn't like very much. I could see Malfoy making fun of my clothes. I could see people making fun of the robes I wore to the ball. I could see all the times something I did got ignored because Bill or Charlie or Percy or Fred or George had done it before and better than I did. I saw Harry in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. I saw how ood Harry and my brothers were at Quidditch and how bad I was at it. I saw Viktor be brave enough to ask Hermione to the ball and I saw me not be brave enough."

"As I watched I got angrier and angrier. It was like I heard a voice saying it wasn't my fault. That I had been wronged in some way. Sort of like I never got any credit for anything which was barmy but I still sort of believed it. Then I got even angrier and the voice started telling me that all I need to do was to start looking out for myself and I would be fine. I just needed to stop thinking about other people and do something for me and I'm ashamed to admit I listened to it. So I decided that I was going to come back this year and not worry about anything as sill as friends or a girlfriend and finally work on what I wanted to."

"Then something even more strange happened."