Talking to yourself
Ron watched the older man walk towards him. Even at this distance it was obvious who he was. It took him a few minutes to get to where Ron was standing and his breathing was heavy when he arrived.
"What do you want old man, I was trying to sleep?"
The older man laughed for a second then replied "I won't take too much of your time away from dreaming about the girl."
"Leave her out of it; besides I don't spend that much time dreaming about her."
"Don't try to lie to me boy, at your age I dreamt about her all the time."
"Well I'm not you am I?"
"Not yet you aren't but if you don't watch it you're going to be."
"I won't end up like that." Ron replied with a snarl.
"I remember feeling like that, like I knew what was right and what was wrong and there was no way I was going to be one of the bad guys."
"I'm telling you for the last time old man I won't do it."
"Good for you kid, stick to your guns but make sure all the same."
The older man looked at Ron with his one good eye and pushed the dark auburn hair from his forehead.
"I've got something else to show you. You need to remember this because I won't always be able to remind you."
The old man pushed the sleeve of his robes up and there on his left arm was the unmistakable tattoo of the Dark Mark.
"How in the bloody hell did you get that?"
"Well the short answer is Voldemort put it there. The long answer is a bit more complicated."
"I've got the time, I mean it's not like I'm getting any rest tonight anyway."
"Think about it kid, how does Voldemort get most of his Death Eaters? Not the ones like Malfoy or Dolohov, those bastards love what the Dark Lord let's them do. I'm not even talking about the one's like Black or Lestrange who never had much of a choice."
"I'm talking about the others, the ones who came to him willingly even though they weren't evil at the start. Some of them were afraid what would happen if they didn't. Some felt abandoned by everyone else and turned to the first person who offered them a place to call home. Others joined him out of spite or envy or jealousy."
"That's all well and good old man but how did you end up like that?" Ron persisted.
"Well mine was a combination, a little insecurity, a little envy and a mountain of hate."
"Who could you hate so much that you ended up with the Dark Mark on your arm?"
The older man laughed for a brief moment "I hated Death Eaters, I hunted them down and killed as many as I could get my hands on. In the end I killed so many with such disregard that I became like them. In the end I had the ministry hunting me for murdering Death Eaters. I had no where to go but to Voldemort, ironic eh?"
"That just bloody well sounds like the Ministry. Catching Death Eaters is too hard so we'll hunt the bloke who is getting rid of them." Ron fumed. 'As far as I'm concerned you could have killed every last one of them. Who would have missed them?"
"Who indeed?" the older gentleman replied.
"This isn't going to turn into a Death Eaters are people too speech is it because while I might think Hermione's the tiniest bit right about spew I refuse to feel sorry for Death Eaters."
"I didn't expect you would." The older man said sadly.
"Look I don't intend to get out of hand. I want us to win the war and then I can stop fighting. I'll get some boring old job and get married and have a houseful of kids."
"I thought that too, but the rush get from fighting is hard to resist. It gets harder over time until the only way you even feel alive is when you have your life on the line. You lose your friends and family because they can't stand to always wonder what night you're not going to come home safe. Then you don't fight for a cause, you fight because it's all you have left."
"Oh come on, Auror's fight and still have lives."
"Sure it can be done but it's hard and when you fight in a war it's not like fighting sometimes and then having breaks of time in between. The fires of war can burn your soul clean away kid."
"Ok I see what you're saying but I'll be ok. I've got Hermione to keep me straight and I'm not going to go crazy or anything."
"We'll see won't we kid?" the old man said walking away. "Try and get some rest you need to keep a clear head."
Ron watched the man walk down the street that he couldn't quiet place.
Then Ron sat straight up in his bed and quickly looked around the room.
"Those dreams again mate?" Harry drawled out.
Ron looked over at Harry "Yeah, not the bad ones though."
"Well it wasn't the good one's either thank Merlin."
"What good ones?" Ron smirked.
"The ones that start out with oh Hermione." Harry smirked right back.
Ron threw a pillow at Harry but since he was half asleep Harry managed to dodge it easily.
"Ok you win mate, I'm going to try and go back to sleep. Maybe I can even see Hermione this time." he laughed.
"Well if you do keep it to yourself please."
'Sure thing Harry, good night."
"Good night Ron."
A/N While I normally don't answer questions about plot lines and things like that so I don't spoil the story I feel like I need to answer one reviewer's questions. To belanna30 in answer to your first question that plot line will show up again for certain. Also you are correct in your interpretation to the second question.
This fic is not even close to finished and is more than likely going to the the first part of a four fic series. Some of the plot lines won't be fully tied up until the third fic and beyond.
It's sort of my personal tribute to the way J.K. Rowling puts that sort of thing in the books. Also stating this weekend the chapters should be a good deal longer. it has taken me a bit longer than I thought to lay out the story line.