Chapter Six - Ron Unlimited

"Ronald."

Ron heard it the first time the familiar sounding voice called out to him but he refused to respond to it. He would stay sleeping, he would pretend he couldn't hear, and let the thing talking with Dumbledore's voice think that Harry and Hermione had come up with a cure and go away.

"Ronald come now, I know you can hear me."

He'd get bored and leave him alone soon. All Ron had to do was sit it out.

Don't open your eyes, don't make a sound, and don't let it get to you again.

"Ron of all the nights to waste time this really is the absolute worst you could have chosen now get up please."

Ron tried to block the voice out, tune into the sound of anything else around him, and he listened for some other sound to distract him from the voice of his old headmaster. There were no other sounds. There was nothing, Ron shivered.

"Please Ron; this is of the utmost importance, I beg of you to trust me. I haven't lead you into trouble thus far have I?"

Ron sat up; keeping his eyes closed, and rubbed his head vigorously with both hands. He wasn't really there, he was inside his head and he was pretending to be Dumbledore, he was pretending to be somebody Ron trusted to trick him.

"Ronald come now this is quite enough!" the voice sounded impatient and infuriated with him now.

Ha! Dumbledore's always super calm, I knew this wasn't him, I KNEW it!

Ron lay back down again and tried to send himself off to sleep once again. For a time it was quiet and Ron began to believe that he'd actually won this small battle for control of his sleep.

"Ronald Weasley, son of Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewitt, and the thing Harry Potter would miss most in the entire world. When you woke up after what happened at the Department of Mysteries last year the first thing you said to me was 'Why won't you let them die?', you were talking about the brains, you felt the pain of their captivity. Get up and believe that I am who I say I am. We have work to do."

Ron sat up and sighed, he didn't care if this really was Dumbledore.

"I've had enough."

"We're only just beginning Ronald," the silver ghostly Dumbledore said as he stood before him.

"No" Ron's head dropped as he spoke.

"Come now Ron, you saw the level of security at Gringotts for yourself, you can't expect to get through all of that without me."

Was he kidding? They couldn't break into Gringotts like this, one of them dead and the other asleep, Dumbledore was good but he wasn't that good.

"No more," Ron sighed, his head hung wearily.

"Look at me Ron; do you really believe I enjoy doing this to you?"

Ron's eyes drifted up to meet those of Dumbledore, he genuinely looked sad, but he still couldn't understand why he had been chosen to go through all of this.

"Why can't you find somebody else?"

"There is nobody else Ronald, your mother is the last surviving Prewitt and she passed the family gift on to you."

"The gift?" Ron frowned.

"Yes, I was surprised to discover it was you as well. I had assumed that if it was to appear in any of you it would be Ginevra, being the seventh child of course, but Gideon and Fabian recognised it in you the first time they saw you. Your uncles were oracles too you see?"

"What?" Ron had never met his uncles as far as he knew.

"You are an oracle Ron, you see and hear the dead and can communicate on their behalf, though you don't seem to be able to do it in the same way your uncles could but then again they were twins so their circumstances were very different."

"My family, do they know?" Ron asked, wondering why this had been kept from him for all this time.

"Molly does of course, after that night you were woken and she was faced with Gideon inside her youngest son's body, I have to say she was greatly distressed for you when she realised the truth."

"The truth?"

"To her great relief we found that only those who knew of your gift could use it to communicate with the living. Explaining why Sirius has never tried to use you to speak to Harry."

Ron couldn't take all of this in, it was too much, and he suddenly realised the pointlessness of him doing so anyway.

"Why are you telling me? It'll all be gone in the morning."

"I am telling you because you are before me now and you need to know. I need you to trust me."

"I don't know if I can" Ron could barely get the words out at all.

He was an oracle, Dumbledore wanted to drag him off on a mission in the middle of the night, and he just had to trust a dead man who knew more about him than he did.

"Your caution is wise but it delays us in our task Ron. Do you have your wand tonight?"

"I do."

Ron's fingers curled around his wand where it lay beneath his pillow.

"Good, you will need it."

"What for?" Ron asked.

"For casting the Imperius curse."

He was right, this wasn't Dumbledore, this was a trick.

"No," Ron stated, determined not to be used to hurt anybody against his will.

"Ron listen," Dumbledore began.

"No, it's...I can't" Ron's voice was breaking again.

"It's a necessity I'm afraid."

"It's an unforgivable curse!" Ron yelled his outrage at being asked to do this by the very person who was most opposed to the use of such curses.

"And in the control of a dark wizard it is indeed unforgivable but you and I will be wielding this curse together and neither you nor I wish to harm anyone. I have only ever asked wizards I trust implicitly to use unforgivable curses and I trust you Ronald, more than you trust yourself."

"But I can't, I'm not strong enough" Ron said with a shuddering breath.

"You underestimate yourself Ron. You are not filled with enough hate to use the cruciatus or the killing curse but with the right motivation and my help you can perform this spell to meet our needs. I will give you my strength and my power."

"I don't want it."

Dumbledore seemed to be losing patience with him now.

"Ronald, Harry and Hermione will be caught if they attempt to break into Gringotts and they will be sent to Azkaban. Is that what you want?"

Ron shook his head, the idea of Harry surrounded by so many Dementors every minute of the day was too much to think about, and thethought of Hermione in that place...he couldn't bear to contemplate it.

"Are we going now?" Ron asked Dumbledore.

The old wizard smiled and let himself relax for a moment before looking as if he had just seem something that caused him great concern.

"Yes Ron, but first I need you to cast an immobulus spell to your left and right immediately."

Ron frowned at this bizarre request, was he being attacked? Where were Harry and Hermione while this was happening?

"Do it now Ron!" Dumbledore ordered.

Ron gripped his wand tightly and withdrew it from beneath his pillow and flicked it to his right and then his left, muttering the spell quickly but clearly as he did.

"Immobulus!"

He looked to Dumbledore to see whether he had done what was needed correctly. The old wizard nodded.

"Thank you Ron. Now come with me."

Ron wriggled out of his sleeping bag and got to his feet. He walked toward Dumbledore who seemed to be taking in Ron's attire with a sad glance.

"Not even anything on your feet, you poor boy, I hope you learn the lesson all oracles must eventually learn and go to sleep in preparation for a long walk in the Artic in future," the ghostly figure placed his semi solid hand upon Ron's shoulder, "Whenever you're ready Ronald."

Ron felt something flow through him from the spot Dumbledore was touching him and suddenly saw the image of a darkened narrow room, full of tiny jackets and cloaks, and disapparated to the place he now had set inside his mind.

Ron tried to focus, he shook his head and blinked several times, but it was no use. He was just as blind as ever, only able to make out shapes and fuzzy outlines of the things around him, but for the clear image of Dumbledore just ahead of him.

"Now Ronald I'm afraid we are going to have to work extraordinarily quickly, too much time was wasted at the cave and I can not leave you while you are still within the walls of Gringotts or...well I simply won't leave you here Ron, you have my word."

Something about the sincerity in Dumbledore's voice as he said that made Ron feel suddenly safe despite his complete disorientation.

"Ok professor, just point me where you need me and I'll go," Ron said, gripping his wand a little tighter in his hand as he spoke.

"Now there is a way to do this quickly and efficiently but I won't do it unless you grant me the permission to do so Ron."

"Do what?" Ron was a little scared now, if Dumbledore was being hesitant then that couldn't be a good thing.

"It is a little invasive I'm afraid. You will never at any time lose control of yourself; I promise you that, it will not cause you any pain of any kind. One very positive thing about my doing this will mean you will be able to see what I see so you will know exactly what's going on."

Ron realised that Dumbledore still hadn't told him exactly what it was he wanted to do yet.

"Ok, so what are we talking about here?"

"We are talking about, only with your full consent, me partially possessing you and using your body to get this job done and get you to safety."

Ron swallowed.

"Possession?"

"Partial, only partial Ronald, and you can evict me at any time with ease. This isn't like the time you were woken when you were lost to the land of the living while your uncle took over entirely. This will be like me acting as your guide and steering you in the right direction but you never leave your body and I never enter any further than up to my elbows."

Ron looked alarmed at this statement.

"What does 'up to your elbows' mean exactly?"

Dumbledore chuckled at this and explained.

"I simply plunge my hands into your back and we walk together, you channelling my power and mingling it with your own, think of me as a kind of guide dog for the blind. You will be my master and I, the loyal hound."

Ron still wasn't sure what this was going to feel like but if it meant getting out of here as quickly as possible then he was up for it.

"So does that mean you'll be expecting a bone when we're done?" he asked the silver figure before him.

Dumbledore let out a delighted laugh and his eyes twinkled brilliantly.

"Oh I can see why Harry refuses to take on a death defying mission without you Ronald; it takes true courage to laugh in the face of adversity. Mind you, adversity does have quite a funny face."

Ron found himself laughing along with Dumbledore at this. He always said his headmaster was barking mad.

"Well come on then, let's do it."

Dumbledore stepped behind Ron and before he could ask how it was going to happen he felt something cold thrust into his back, making his entire body go rigid, and the room he had seen in his mind's eye when apparating zoomed into sharp focus. He felt momentarily dizzy before Dumbledore pushed him forward and the door ahead of them flew open without either of them doing anything to open it either physically or magically. That was when Ron felt it, the incredible power flowing into him and bursting to be released, and strode out and into an enormous hall overlooking a massive network of tunnels and side rooms beneath him. There were goblins and security trolls everywhere and they all turned and stared at Ron as one.

Almost fifty different mouths opened and several wands raised but Ron already had his own pointed ahead of him and he heard Dumbledore speak through him.

"Petrificus infenitum!"

Every living thing in the vicinity froze there and then.

"Obliviate!" Ron's voice yelled without his instruction and he moved forward.

Dumbledore had been quite right, it did indeed feel as if he was being steered from behind, and he was still quite rigid as the cool sensation of Dumbledore's arms in his back guiding him across the crowded floor and down into one of the many tunnels below reminded him that he was actually being guided from within.

As they stopped at the tracks Dumbledore raised Ron's left arm and summoned a cart while swishing the wand hand and casting a memory charm upon the goblin riding within. Ron stepped inside and flicked his wand again.

"Imperio! Take us to vault 3830 please.

"Vaults in that area require..." the goblin began in a strained voice.

"I am Olive Lotterby."

"You are Olive Lotterby." the goblin repeated blankly.

"You have verified my age and my bloodline."

"I have verified your age and your bloodline."

"You have the authority to open vault 3830 for Olive Lotterby."

"I have that authority."

"Go."

Ron felt himself shaking slightly and he heard Dumbledore's voice inside his head.

'Ronald stay calm, it's alright.'

"I know," Ron whispered to himself, "I'm fine, don't worry about me."

The cart hurtled along to the vault and Dumbledore sent a wave of warmth through Ron's body, stopping the shaking and calming his nerves, and he watched as the Goblin raised his gnarled hand to stop the cart suddenly.

"What happened?" Ron blinked.

"There is a security breach in Gringotts. All carts have been stopped and all tunnels are being checked by a team of aurors from the ministry," the goblin said without emotion.

Ron felt Dumbledore raise his wand arm and point it at the cart.

"Accelero invenio vault three thousand eight hundred and thirty!"

The cart almost took off as it tore up the track on its way to the vault once again. The goblin fell out after a rough bump and Ron's left hand sent a cushioning spell behind them to catch him before sending a wave of magic ahead of them from the tips of his fingers and down the tunnel.

"Permeo!" Ron felt them passing through several powerful magical barriers and saw figures up ahead with wand tips lit and aiming at them, Dumbledore raised the wand and pointed it at them, "Cado!"

The floor gave way beneath the figures and they fell through just before they had the chance to send any spells Ron's way. The cart was going so fast that it passed over the hole without even a judder. Ron heard Dumbledore's voice inside his head again.

'Ronald, remember to breath.'

Ron let out the breath he hadn't noticed he had been holding for an uncomfortably long time and was thrown from the cart as it came to an abrupt halt outside vault 3830. He hit the ground and Dumbledore left him momentarily. He was empty and blind again. He scrambled up to his feet and tried to feel his way around when he felt Dumbledore plunging his arms into his back again and the winding track ahead zoomed back into view, along with row upon row of numbered doors. He turned to his left to see the numbers they had been looking for and Ron realised that he had lost his wand and searched the floor for it.

"Accio wand!" Dumbledore said through Ron's lips and his wand flew into his hand.

'Put that away Ronald, the wandless magic is working more effectively than I would ever have predicted. You must be coming down with something.'

Ron tucked his wand in the waistband of his sweatpants and tried to keep his head as clear as possible.

"I didn't feel too good last night in the woods after Borgins."

'Never mind, that only helps our cause, now try to let me guide you and don't panic too much.'

Ron took a deep breath and nodded as Dumbledore placed his hand onto the vault and raw energy coursed through his arms and into the door.

"Abduco, abduco, abduco, abduco, abduco..." Ron began to sweat heavily and his knees were weakening but he concentrated on his breathing and told himself not to fight Dumbledore for control, "...abduco, abduco, abduco!"

Ron gasped as a gold cup with two handles, one on either side, emerged through thedoor as if it was liquid and rested in his hands. He clutched the cup and his vision went blurry for a second, causing him to sway slightly, and he reminded himself not to expel Dumbledore from him.

"Stay, don't leave me here please!" he whispered.

'I am still here Ronald, don't worry, we still have time enough to make our escape. Remember what I said, try not to panic, stress is what is driving me out.'

"I'm sorry," Ron sighed as he decided to focus his entire mind on taking slow deep calming breaths and letting Dumbledore concentrate on casting the spells and getting him out of there.

"Stop, you're under arrest!" a voice bellowed from behind them.

Ron just kept on breathing and he felt Dumbledore raise his hands to the figure holding them at wand point.

"Expelliarmus, petrificus maxima, abdo!"

The figure was gone and Ron was running towards the space they had been standing. Ron saw that they were at the top of a staircase in the entrance hall to Gringotts, he could see the huge doors leading back to Diagon Alley, and he went back to breathing again. He had to keep himself calm.

"Imperio crebro intus!" he heard himself shouting with both his arms outstretched.

Every goblin, security troll and auror went limp and impassive where they stood and Ron actually closed his eyes and screamed at himself to keep breathing and not to think about what he had just done.

"All of you cast a memory charm on the person standing next to you," Dumbledore instructed them.

Ron's ears were full of the sounds of murmurs and the whooshing of spells leaving wands.

"Now cast another obliviate spell on yourself."

Ron opened his eyes, he supposed Dumbledore wanted to be sure that nobody could identify Ron, and he exhaled another slow breath.

'You are doing splendidly Ronald, not long now I promise you.'

Ron started walking down the staircase and both his arms were still outstretched, the cup hooked over his right thumb by one of its handles, and Dumbledore yelled once more via Ron's vocal chords.

"You will all go about your usual business for thirty minutes before turning your wands on yourselves and lifting the imperius curse."

The people began to move again. Goblins did filing; trolls did inspections, customers made their transactions and aurors left to go back to headquarters. Ron crossed the floor and passed through the large doors and out into Diagon Alley. Ron felt the cool breeze upon his face and Dumbledore withdrew from his body he let out a shudder and his knees buckled on having full control back again.

"Ron are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he nodded with a hoarse voice as he struggled back up to his feet and tried to make out a familiar shape on the murky street.

"Oh dear of course, your vision would have left you again won't it?" Dumbledore muttered to himself as he took Ron's elbow and guided him down the street for a minute or two minutes before Ron decided to ask where they were going.

"You're going nowhere Weasley," said a sinister voice somewhere ahead of him.

"Who's that?" Ron said before icy cold arms thrust into his back again, filling him with power and dragging the dark shapes into perfect clarity before his eyes.

A group of hooded figures stood before them. Death Eaters blocking his path, about eight of them, and they all sent hexes his way at exactly the same time.

"Protego!" Ron said as he held out both hands and Dumbledore cast a shield in front of him to catch all the curses that were flying at him.

Ron tried to grab his wand from his sweatpants, he wanted to help, but Dumbledore was using his arms to send out more defensive spells and he couldn't do it.

"Obtineo! Oppugno! Compescor indentiem!"

'Please Ronald; don't fight me, not now!' Dumbledore pleaded with him.

"Stupefy!" Ron bellowed as the spell shot forth from the tips of his fingers and hit two of the Death Eaters.

One of the tallest Death Eaters ran at him just as another just behind sent a fatal cutting curse Ron's way.

"Sectum leto!"

The curse was deflected by Dumbledore and it hit the oncoming Death Eater who screamed in agony and fell onto Ron, blood spurting from his jugular all over Ron's t shirt and down the front of his sweatpants as the Death Eater slid down his body slowly and lay dead at his feet.

Ron felt sick all of a sudden and the Death Eaters who stood before him flickered back into shadows before becoming clear again.

'Ron please no!' Dumbledore said as he pushed further into his back, 'I know it seems impossible right now but please stay calm and let me defend you. If you reject me there's nothing I can do to help you'

Ron was about to begin taking the calming breaths again when a spell caught Dumbledore off guard while he worried about him and slammed Ron hard in the chest. He flew backwards and into a wall behind him, the side of his face smacking into a lamp post as he did, and he was amazed to still be feeling Dumbledore at his back despite this. He tried to breathe through the winding he had just taken and Dumbledore went on the offensive again.

"Absisto!"

Another of the Death Eaters disappeared into thin air. One of the hooded figures stepped forward and aimed their wand at Ron. Dumbledore raised Ron's arms to cast a counter spell but it was almost too late.

"Obtineo trunco pulpa!" the spell flew at him and wrapped around his arms, battering and grazing his skin.

It was agony, as if a dull wire brush was being ground into the flesh around his arms and trying to scour away his skin altogether. Dumbledore roared out a counter curse to stop the mutilation spell before it cut too deeply.

"Reluctor!"

The pain stopped and Ron gasped with relief.

'Try not to reject me Ron, try to stay strong for me and keep me with you.'

Dumbledore sounded fearful to Ron. He wondered how much time they had left before the old ghost would leave him. He cursed himself for wasting so much time back at the cave earlier. Their conversation seemed so long ago now.

"Aberro!" Dumbledore yelled through Ron and he felt himself being dragged along the ground and down the street, away from the fight.

Dumbledore was still with him, he could feel him piercing through his torso and sending out spells back towards the distant Death Eaters. Ron winced as his feet caught on jagged cobbles and debris on the street as he was dragged further and further.

'Not long now Ronald, I will hold them off, conceal you until morning and then I fear my time will be up for another night.'

Ron wanted to say something, to say thank you or goodbye or anything, but the soles of his feet suddenly scraped over what felt like broken glass and all he could do was yelp.

"Detino crebro! Obliviate!" Dumbledore shot down the street to the remaining Death Eaters before Ron was jerked out of the street and up the kerb to settle in a doorway, the ghost was leaning over him now and held his hands inside his chest as he said one last spell, "Dissimulo!"

Dumbledore pulled his hands out of Ron and the world was sucked away from him once again and he was returned to seeing nothing but shapeless shadows. Dumbledore leaned over Ron again, looking greatly concerned.

"Ronald, I'm so sorry, the ambush should have been expected. Are you badly hurt?"

Ron opened his mouth but his throat was too dry to speak so he merely shook his head and tried to smile.

"I have cast a spell over you to make you unnoticeable until daybreak so the Death Eaters shouldn't find you before your brothers. I'm afraid it is all I can do, you are too anxious to let me inhabit you any longer and my time is all but spent anyway."

Ron fought to speak but Dumbledore was fading away before him and his eyes were getting heavy. The shadows merged together to form total blackness and Dumbledore was gone with a whisper.

"As selfless as Nectan himself..."

"Ron?"

Ron heard his name, and the voice that said it sounded very familiar too, but he was more concerned with the pain that was shooting through his arms and the throbbing on one side of his head to waste too much time trying to identify it.

"Oh Fuck Ron, what the hell happened to you?"

Hands were on him now, trying to lift him into the sitting position. No that wasn't good, that hurt, he tried to force his eyes open but one of them felt as if it had a plum jammed into it and he couldn't.

"Fred!" the voice hollered from above him, so loud that it rattled his brain so hard that even his teeth hurt, "Fred get down here now!"

It was George, obviously, and he managed to open his good eye and squint up at his frightened looking older brother.

"I'm cold," he found himself saying, it wasn't a lie but it definitely wasn't one of his priority complaints either.

"Hey little brother, it's ok, we'll get you upstairs and fix you up ok?" George tried to smile at him.

"What in Merlin's name are you shouting about you...fuck that's not Ron is it?" that must've been Fred.

"Someone's beaten the shit out of him Fred and there's all this blood. I can't see where it's coming from."

Ron tried to look at himself on hearing that.

"Am I bleeding?"

"Shh, don't fidget until we can find out exactly how you're hurt ok?" Fred was crouching at Ron's side and pointing his wand at him now, "Mobil corpus!"

Ron floated upwards and was steered all the way up the stairs to the twin's flat above the shop.

"Set him on the sofa, I'll get out thefirst aid kit," George said as he went into another room.

Fred pointed his wand at Ron and said a cleaning spell, clearing away most of the blood and dirt, before staring at something in Ron's hand.

"What's that you've got there?"

Ron tilted his head to follow his brother's eyes and they fell upon a gold cup with two handles and a badger on the side. It was Hufflepuff's cup. It was a horcrux. It was the thing that they had just declared impossible to remove from Gringotts. It was in his hand.

Ron sat up sharply and winced while trembling violently.

"Whoa there Ronnie, what is it, you're ok now don't worry."

"This...this...where'd I get it? How did I get it? Where are Hermione and Harry? Why am I here? Fred what the fuck...?"

"Come on Ron, calm down a second will you? It's ok, I don't know what happened but I'll find out for you alright? You've just got to promise me to calm down though."

Ron struggled to get off the sofa and he grimaced and yelped as he put his feet on the floor, they were red raw all over as if they had been minced, despite this he still tried to stand up.

"I've got to get back to the cave. They'll be wondering where I am. I've...They'll be..." Ron looked up at Fred desperately as George came back in carrying a magical medical kit, "I did it again. It's supposed to stop. What if it never stops Fred?"

Fred turned anxiously to George who crouched at his side and rested his hand on Ron's knee.

"We don't know what you're talking about Ron; you've got to calm down for us ok?"

"Calm?" Ron blurted with disbelief, "Calm, how can I be calm with this?" he held up the cup, "How can I be calm George, how did I get it? I shouldn't have been able...what did I do?"

Fred turned to his twin and said, without any hesitation.

"Go and send an owl to Harry and Hermione now, get them here, I want some answers."

Ron began to struggle to get to his feet again.

"I'll apparate to them, I need to get back, let me apparate back to them."

Fred pushed him down and held him down.

"Ron no, you'll splinch yourself if you try to disparate on those feet, now sit still will you?"

"Get off me Fred, you have no idea what's going on, you have no idea what I've got here, you can't make me stay," Ron garbled as he struggled under his brother's weight.

"Oh no? George, get me the sleeping draught."

Ron's eyes widened and his face paled.

"Not sleep, don't send me to sleep please, they'll take me again!"

Fred stared down at his terrified little brother and then over to George who had just sent an owl flying out of the window. George took a step towards his brothers and swallowed.

"Is somebody after you Ron? Is somebody trying to take you somewhere?" he asked.

"I can't please, I can't sleep, that's when they come for me. They did this!"

Ron struggled to try to leave again and it took the two of them to hold him down this time, which then seemed to aggravate his injuries, Fred met George's eyes and they knew that they'd have to enforce sleep on their frantic little brother for his own good before he ended up hurting himself.

"George, the potion, now."