Perfect Memory
By The Fallen Caryatid
PG-13
Ron/Hermione, other relationships yet to be decided.
Chapter Two: "We had the forest in our eyes"
He woke up in the cool shadows and pale green light. Ron hated forest light; it reminded him of her. A blurred face hovered over his; only golden eyes recognizable to his cloudy mind. He tried to say a name, but his voice failed him. He licked his lips and tried again. "Remus?"
His old professor sighed with relief. "Thank god you're awake. I was beginning to worry."
Everything came back to Ron in a rush. His capture, his torture…Harry in the cell, the wand, be chased, the final blackness… "Remus, it's Harry—he was taken away, he's going to try and face the Dark Lord alone!" Ron regretted the urgency in which he said this almost immediately, because he was rewarded with a stabbing in his side. Why hadn't Lupin healed him?
Remus Lupin glanced away, back across the golden field that met up to the emerald forest they were hidden in. Ron followed his gaze. Somewhere out there was the shed, and deep in that darkness was Harry. No matter what Harry had become, he was still his comrade. "Remus! What—look here! Harry doesn't have his wand, I don't think that…" He trailed off at the look werewolf was giving him. There was pity in those golden eyes. Pity that he didn't want, pity that reminded him of her—they had all looked at him like that, when she—"What." He snapped it out and surprised Lupin into speaking.
"It's Harry, Ron. He—he already met Voldemort. It's been hours since then. You've been out of it for hours."
Something clenched around Ron's heart. "No." The word was hardly more than a whisper and Ron's eyes were wide. "The prophecy. Which of them…the prophecy, Remus!"
Lupin gave a bitter smile, but there was joy in his eyes. "Voldemort is dead. Harry won the war."
Ron stared at the leaves and branches that twisted above, knotted as his insides felt. He could feel blood dripping down his side from some unrecognized wound. "He did it with out me. The bastard. Were you there?"
"Yes. But it was his war, Ron. We could only watch; there was nothing any of us could of done—" This ended in a choked sob. Ron was beginning to understand.
"No, no it wasn't. It wasn't his goddamned war! It was yours, and mine, and the Order's! It was never Harry's war. You just made him believe that. What have you done? What have we all done?" Comprehension was horrible…and it was too damn much.
"I need to tell you, Ron. It's Harry, he—" There were tears flowing from those guilty golden orbs.
But Ron wasn't there anymore. He was already fading out again. "Lupin, you idiot!" He mumbled in fumbling gasps. "Why didn't you heal me?"
"I—I didn't have a wand, how—"
"Maybe not yours, but Harry's was with me. Where are the others? What's going on, if it's as late as you say, we should have re-grouped." Those last comments took whatever strength he had left. He laid back on the carpet of pine needles with a heavy sigh, allowing the pain to over take him.
Lupin sobbed all the harder. "That's what I'm trying to tell you. It's Harry, he—"
But Ron didn't hear anymore, because the shadows of his memories had already engulfed him.
A/N:
This was short because the next chapter will be long. Ron just keeps going unconscious, huh? Must be all the stress and you know, blows to the head. Next chapter will be flashback time. All shall be revealed!