Detour

"Separating Ron and Harry is just about as impossible as separating Fred and George so there's no doubt at all that Harry's on the escort party."

Harry smiled at this and turned to see Ron giving him a strained grin in return. Ron's immune system seemed to have thrown him into toxic shock; his whole body had been shivering for almost an entire hour now. Healer Kalra was treating him while the Aurors announced the escort party for Ron's transfer to Hogwarts.

"Tonks will go on ahead to meet you on arrival," Moody continued, "Shacklebolt will follow on afterwards and I will be in charge of the security of St Mungo's until the both of you return with confirmation of Weasley's completed transfer. So all we need to clear up is who will be going along with Potter."

"I insist Mr Longbottom be in attendance at all times," Kalra said, pausing briefly from his treatment of Ron to say his piece, "Ron needs a specialist in treating his brain trauma with him. I won't take no for an answer on that."

"Fair enough," Moody nodded, "in fact I would also like to ask Granger to go along too. I understand she can stabilise him physically just as well as Longbottom can do mentally."

Hermione seemed to quiver as she sat up straight and gripped Ron's hand.

"Well I was going to whether you invited me or not!" she said sternly.

"Just as well then isn't it?" Moody said with a slight hint of amusement.

"Sir I would..." Percy began before Moody raised a finger and looked very stern indeed.

"There will be no Weasleys on the escort party!" Moody declared loudly, "this family is altogether far too emotionally volatile and once you let one of them come along they all want to come along so you can all fight over who goes along in the follow-up party once my confirmation of transfer comes through."

"Now hold on, Mad-eye!" Bill began to protest.

"Yes, yes I know, we have worked together and I can trust you and you are a Order member as well as a concerned relative blah blah blah..." Moody rolled his eyes, his magical one revolving three hundred and sixty degrees, "If you must Bill you can go ahead to receive the escort team with Tonks but only you!"

Mrs Weasley was being unusually quiet. Everybody guessed that she didn't want to jeopardise the fact that she had got her own way in the Ron transfer matter. The twins didn't seem too happy at being left out but Percy anxiously met Neville's eyes and seemed to give a nod of reassurance that Ron would be in safe hands.

"There, have the shakes gone?" Healer Kalra huffed wearily as he put his wand away and looked down at Ron.

Ron nodded and made a fist with his thumb and little finger extended, moving it downwards before putting his hand to his chin and moving it away.

"Good," the man said before putting a hand on Neville's shoulder and mumbling something into his ear. Neville nodded and swallowed.

"I'll make him keep it down," Neville murmured before taking a potion bottle from Kalra and slipping it into the pocket of his robes.

"So, we move in three minutes from..." Moody's magical eye revolved around to look out of the back of his skull at the clock on the wall and waited for the second hand to reach twelve, "...now!"

With that the Auror and his team stomped out of Ron's room while the Weasley's smiled anxiously at each other. Harry began to lace Ron's trainers onto his feet while Hermione pulled a jacket on and then took Ron's hand in hers with a nervous smile. Neville helped Ron to his feet before pointing up at the ceiling. Ron frowned and looked up, as did Harry and Hermione, and before he knew what was happening Neville had hold of him by his throat and was squeezing it so Ron gagged. Ron's eyes glared down at Neville but his head was still at that strange angle in the smaller wizard's grip while the potion bottle was withdrawn from within Neville's robes and its contents poured down Ron's throat.

Immediately Ron coughed but Neville threw the empty potion bottle away and clamped his hand over Ron's mouth while massaging his throat with his other hand as the potion went down the way it was supposed to.

"Sorry Ron but your gag reflex really is causing us a lot of trouble this morning and you have to have this before we can safely move you anywhere okay?"

Ron was almost purple in the face as he coughed again and Neville let go of his throat. His other hand was still clamped over Ron's mouth and the annoyed patient looked down at it and them back up at Neville before shrugging.

"I can't let you throw it up either," Neville winced apologetically.

Ron's eyes rolled and he sighed into Neville's clammy hand before his body jerked with a mini convulsion and he fought to stop himself from vomiting against Neville's palm.

"You do this and you're just going to have to swallow it back down again 'cause I'm not moving my hand," Neville warned with revulsion.

Ron nodded and closed his eyes in an attempt to overrule his natural instinct to reject this foreign liquid from inside him. He felt Hermione squeezing his hand a little tighter.

"Can't you do anything to override the instinct to purge in his brain Neville?" she asked as Ron had a mini convulsion and managed to repress it.

Neville frowned and shook his head.

"We've corrected it Hermione, he's just got this psychological thing going on now where he's got to used to puking after everything."

Hermione looked livid at Neville who jumped away from Ron and held both hands up in front of him for protection.

"If you're telling me you've made my boyfriend bulimic I'm going to kill you Neville!" she warned.

Ron glanced to Harry who was trying not to laugh before twirling his fingers in small circles skywards with a bemused look on his face.

"Don't worry Ron you're not bulimic!" Neville said frantically as he backed away from Hermione's rage.

Ron looked annoyed now and gave a very dramatic shrug followed by another twirl of his fingers and banging his fists together to make the sign for the letter 'B'.

"It's an illness, a psychological thing, when people make themselves throw up after eating."

Ron looked absolutely horrified at this and looked from Hermione to Neville and back again before spinning around to share a mortified glance with Harry, who wasn't helping Ron by laughing as much as he was doing right then.

"Um Hermione," Fred said, also fairly amused, "the idea of making yourself sick as soon as you've finished eating is about a blasphemous as you can get as far as Ron's concerned. I don't think you have to worry."

Ron made a snorting sound and folded his arms while shaking his head, his eyes still wide in disbelief.

"Well at least this little scene took your mind off the gag reflex eh Ron?" Neville grinned hopefully.

Ron blinked as he stared at Neville before suddenly realising what he was saying and thinking to himself before smiling and nodding. The potion was down and it was staying down it seemed.

"Right transfer party, let's move!" Moody yelled from the doorway.

It was time to go.

The green flames of the floo faded and the four of them fell forward and hit the solid stone floor in a cloud of soot.

The St Mungo's patient transportation fireplaces were extra large so a patient on a stretcher with healers in attendance could all transport together. They had been told that the fireplace in Hogwarts' hospital wing had been enlarged to receive Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville all at once but the fireplace they had just been forced out of was entirely too narrow for even two people.

"Is everybody alright?" Harry sputtered as he fanned a decades worth of chimney from his face.

"Oh very well Mr Potter," a silky voice sneered just as Harry felt his arm being forced up behind him while Hermione screamed out in what sounded like pain, "thank you for delivering us the final piece. We were growing impatient."

Harry's vision cleared enough to see the large hooded figure before him hauling Ron up to his feet by his hair while Neville and Hermione tried to fight off the other Death Eaters who were restraining them from helping him.

"Let him go!" Harry winced as his arm was wrenched further to the point of breaking.

The Death Eater who had hold of Ron slid his hood back from his face and sniggered.

"When we're done with him."

Ron's eyes met Harry's as the bald Death Eater with the hooked nose and the arm as thick as a tree trunk holding Ron in a tight headlock and tried to communicate something to him but Harry was in too much shock to follow the gist of it. Ron saw that Harry wasn't with him and quickly began to sign something before the Death Eater's other arm moved forward and his powerful hand curled around both Ron's wrists and held them together securely while laughing to his comrades.

"Hush now chatterbox," he taunted Ron who stared at Harry with wide eyes again, "now is not the time."

Harry swung his leg out in an attempt to kick the death eater who held Ron so securely but he was pulled backwards into a cell where he could hear Hermione and Neville being thrown down to the floor. Ron blew all the air out of his lungs and then closed his eyes. Harry stared at his best friend and tried to work out what he was doing.

"You can't do this, it won't work," Neville was yelling as he fought to escape the cell and get to Ron, "she's gone. We got rid of her. He can't give you what you want."

Neville was silenced by something dull thudding into him and Hermione screamed again before Neville coughed and wheezed as he hit the floor.

"He's not lying!" Harry bellowed as Ron, still with his eyes forced shut and seemingly holding his breath was dragged away down a long narrow hall, "Ravenclaw's gone, she's gone and he's sick. You can't do anything to bring her back, you'll just kill him."

"Liar!" the bald Death Eater snapped as Harry was shoved backwards into the cell and caught by a sobbing Hermione.

"Um Draper?" the hooded Death Eater who had just slammed the cell door closed on Harry's face and was now following on down the hallway, "You are aware that the vessel is trying to suffocate itself aren't you?"

Harry gasped, he now understood what Ron had been trying to tell him, he planned to make himself useless to them in any way he could even if it killed him. Draper was so stunned by this news that he dropped Ron to the stone floor and slapped him hard across the face. Ron's eyes opened but he still held his breath despite the unnerving shade of grey his skin had now become.

"So the vessel's empty is it?" Draper said as he dragged Ron back up to his feet and thrust him against the wall before balling his huge hand into an enormous fist, "Well why would he being doing this if that were the truth?"

Harry kicked at the locked door as Draper pulled back his arm and sent it back with great force into Ron's stomach. Ron couldn't continue to hold his breath against that and began gasping and coughing as he fell to the ground. Draper smiled nastily and pulled Ron back to his feet by the hair once more and pinned him to the wall by his throat while drawing back his fist for another powerful strike.

"Wait!" the other Death Eater said as he raised a hand before the bald wizard, "let's empty the vessel before we dispose of it shall we?"

The bald Death Eater lowered his arm and nodded before turning to smirk at Harry where he watched desperately from the tiny opening in the cell door before throwing Ron down onto the hard floor once again and kicking him all the way down to the end of the hallway and out of Harry's sight.

"Right to the very end and on the left Weasley, crawl there on your own or get kicked all the way it makes no difference to me boy," Draper's voice was saying casually as his footsteps grew more distant along with Ron's wheezes and gasps of pain.

"Leave him alone!" Hermione was shoving Harry to one side now and screeching out through the opening in the door.

"They're gone Hermione," Harry said in a hollow voice.

"They can still hear me," she said as she turned on him with tearful eyes before yelling back out towards the empty hallway, "Moody'll know something went wrong by now. They'll all be coming for us Ron. Hold on!"

There was a face at the small opening in the door all of a sudden and Hermione yelped and staggered back to be caught by Neville while the man in the leather skullcap with the brown rotting teeth chortled in at them.

"There ain't no one coming dearie," he said in a deep idiotic tone of voice, "'Fraid Ron's...gone!"

There was another deep spite filled laugh coming from somewhere outside the cell at this and the jailer turned to whoever they were and shared a dopey grin at his own clever little rhyme.

Hermione steeled herself to ignore the vile Death Eater and put her face back to the opening again and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"We're coming Ron! Don't give up okay? We're coming. I love you!"

The other jailer's face blocked the opening with his scarred fat face now and waggled his tongue at Hermione who jerked back from the door in disgust.

"You'll have to make do with loving me from now on mudblood!" he cackled.

"Don't talk to her!" Neville said as he slammed his palm at the opening to try and hit the man's vile face away from the door, "Don't call her that; don't even look at her!"

Both the jailers were roaring with laughter now. Harry held the shaking Hermione to him while reaching out to try and calm Neville down too. This was what they wanted. They wanted them upset and Harry wasn't willing to give them the satisfaction.

"Oh come on mate," the rotten-toothed Death Eater said with a smirk at Neville, "you're only sayin' that 'cause you fink yer luck's in don't cha?"

Neville was almost puce with rage as the fatter Death Eater forced his face to the opening and grinned nastily.

"Little mud blood likes a good seeing to by a pure blood don't she?"

"Yeah," the one with the black leather skull cap agreed with a dopey laugh, "and if she let's a dumb retard wiv no money like that," he jerked his head over his shoulder and down the hall Ron had just been kicked along, "stick it to 'er, she'll have anything."

The fat Death Eater howled with laughter at this and pointed to the furious looking Neville.

"Even an ugly fucker like you!"

Harry finally lost his cool and hurled himself at the door with all his strength, Neville joining him in his attempt to shoulder it off it's hinges while Hermione slid down the wall with her head in her hands.

"I'm going to kill you," Harry snarled at the mocking faces on the other side of the thick cell door as he and Neville pounded, "I'm gonna kill the lot of you but I'm killing you two fuckwits first!"

The idiotic Death Eater with the rotten teeth stood back from the door and held up four wands in his hand with a gleeful expression on his face.

"Not wivout these you ain't!"

Jess had heard the screaming and shouting and was already crying when the door to the dungeon groaned open and something heavily hit the floor in front of her. She heard the rattling of chains to her right and knew that it was the old deaf man that had also been taken prisoner. He could talk but his speech was a little difficult to make out. Obviously not being able to hear what sounds he was making himself didn't help him with his articulation but Jess thought he did very well despite that fact.

"No!" the deaf man was saying, with much emphasis on the letter 'N', "Thhh b-oi no-t w-ell!" the man carefully sounded out every word to make himself under stood.

"Ron?" Jess called out for him, knowing that the older wizard was clearly worried for Ron's well being before the Death Eaters had even begun the extraction process and they would keep talking about amongst themselves as if Jess and the minister were too stupid to understand them.

"Shut up the pair of you!" a deep growl echoed around the dungeon.

There was a cruel laugh and the chains to Jess' right rattled again.

"I love it when the mongoloid tries to talk!"

"Don't knock it you fool, we need him to be able to translate Ravenclaw articulately enough for us to get all those spells and incantations down correctly. If anything we should get him to practice."

"Tsk," another Death Eater said from directly in front of Jess where she assumed he was pulling faces just to be sure she really was blind again, "seriously Draper, you want him droning 'how now brown bloody cow' in that monotonous voice while we prepare? Do me a favour!"

"Shut up and leave him alone!" Jess said as she kicked out wildly with both her legs, not making contact with anything.

There was laughter around her before she felt breath against the side of her face and heard a whisper.

"You we don't need to hear anything from girl. You just activate the mute's possession and he signs the knowledge to the deaf fellow over there who speaks it, as much as you can call that damn grunting speech, to us."

"Hell of a lot of trouble we all went to working that one out too!" one of the men grumbled under his breath.

"Did I say that we should all listen to the general? Was that me saying that the whole time?" the Death Eater who had been speaking to Jess snapped at the others before pausing for their answer which never came, "No I don't think it was!"

"Sorry Draper," the sullen voice came from further away now, as if he had been shamed into taking several steps back.

There was a shuffling sound on the ground before Jess and she listened hard to try and make it out, then she heard it, a sharp intake of breath just like she used to hear when she was lost in the woods with Ron and he was in some sort of pain.

"What is this guys problem?" one of the Death Eater's muttered while a dull thudding sound made Jess think that Ron had just been kicked half heartedly.

"He's not well," Jess shouted out fearfully, "he needs a healer. He needs help!"

"He needs putting out of his misery," one of the cruel voices sniggered before Jess felt what she was sure was spit landing on her face, "all three of you lame dogs do. Cruel to keep you alive if you ask me."

There was lazy laughter before the sound of skin brushing and patting against skin seemed to distract her captors.

"Oh look, he's off," one of the men said with mild amusement.

"Kick him again," an annoyed voice from the far side of the dungeon suggested.

"Shut up Norris!" an exasperated voice sighed.

"He could be planning an escape with the deaf one in sign language, you shouldn't let them talk to each other until he's under the influence of Ravenclaw."

"What can he tell a deaf old man with no wand to do when the deaf old man with no wand is chained to the wall you imbecile?"

"Oh yeah," the distant voice mumbled.

Jess heard the deaf man's voice; he was trying to translate for Ron it seemed.

"W-oh-n-t wor-k."

"Oh won't it work?" the mocking tones of the Death Eater called Draper said, "Weasley doesn't think it's going to work. Why isn't it going to work Weasley? Do tell."

There were more sounds, the sounds of Ron signing, before the deaf man interrupted with his translations.

"Shhhh-ee d-oesn-t sssi-n," the old man did his best to sound out the words clearly.

"She doesn't sign? Ravenclaw you mean?" one of the Death Eater's said blankly.

"So what are you saying?" Draper asked.

"He's saying Ravenclaw can't tell you what you want to know because she doesn't know sign language so she can't talk to you even if she was in there still which she's not!" Jess said frantically before being silenced by a hard slap to her face.

"I told you there was no need for you to be talking at all!"

"There's going to be no talking from any of us you morons!" Jess hissed through the pain of her swollen lip, "Ron can't speak for her and the minister can't translate anything other then sign language which Ravenclaw doesn't know. You've messed this plan up good and proper!"

"Um," another voice Jess had never heard before interjected, "a side-note to this little problem that's been brought to our attention by the seer here, I thought you ought to know that there's activity outside our wards right now so I think whatever we're going to do with these three now is really the time to start doing it."

Harry was pacing up and down the tiny cell, desperately trying to think of something to do, while Neville tried to zone out the taunts of the two jailers and listen for any disturbance from the end of the hallway. Hermione was sitting quietly in the corner with her head in her hands, fighting back the tears that kept threatening to come, and every once in a while she would jump to her feet and try to trick the jailers into opening the door.

Harry had forbidden her from trying anything else after she had tried to get the stupider of the two to unlock the door to 'show her what a real pure-blood can do for a woman'. It had made him feel sick to think that Hermione was so desperate to get to Ron she would do anything, even cosy up to the scum of the wizarding world on the off chance they would open the door a crack.

There were heavy footsteps running down the hallway and Harry and Neville struggled for space to see outside through the small opening in the door. Hermione was practically climbing up their backs to see for herself.

"Where is he? Is it Ron? Where are they taking him?" she panicked.

"It's just Death Eaters Hermione," Neville said as he pressed his cheek right up against the door to try and get a better look around the corner.

Something that resembled a palm slammed against their faces, making them jump back from the door, as one of their jailers tried to get them to stop snooping while the other was called over by one of the departing dark wizards.

"There's a breech at the wards, watch the entrance and kill the prisoners."

Hermione gasped and Neville stared at Harry in shock.

"They're here," Harry smiled, "Moody and the Aurors, I told you they'd come. I knew they'd find us!"

Neville began thumping on the door of the cell as hard as he could.

"In here! We're in here!"

Harry was about to join in the racket making display as the jailers turned on them and raised their wands at the cell door with evil grins on their faces when the sound of Jess screaming at the top of her lungs made them all freeze on the spot.

"No! Please don't, you can't do this to him. It'll kill him please stop. Please don't make me do this. RON!"

Hermione shoved her way between Harry and Neville once again and began to holler through the opening with ear piercing volume.

"Ron they're coming, they're here, fight back. Fight them Ron. Hold on for me for one more minute please. I'm coming okay?"

Harry and Neville renewed their efforts to shoulder the door open again as the two jailers looked at each other uneasily and wondered how they should go about this treble execution.

"No!" Jess was still screaming, "Ron run! Ron why aren't you fighting them? What have you done to him? Ron!"

"What have you done you bastards?" Harry bellowed through the door, "You worthless cowards!"

"Let's shut him up first," the chubby jailer said as he pointed his wand at Harry while the other one nodded and Neville pulled Harry away from the door just as the fatal curse blazed through the opening in the door, exactly where Harry's face had been.

"What's your problem boys?" Neville yelled, "can't kill an unarmed man unless there's a locked door between you?"

Another green flash sliced through the air and bounced off the wall in an explosion of masonry.

"Don't hit the mudblood," the Death Eater with the rotten teeth said from the other side of the closed door, "I wanna take 'er up on 'er offer."

Jess was unchained from the wall of the dungeon and thrown to the floor where she heard laboured breathing very nearby.

"Ron?" she sobbed.

Something that sounded like a palm slapping against the stone floor sounded once.

"Don't worry, it'll be alright, she's all gone. The sapper said he drained you. They can't make me hurt you okay?"

Just as she heard another single slapping sound on the floor she was yanked into the sitting position by her hair while the Death Eater who towered above her barked his orders to the remaining dark wizards in the room.

"Get him over here and hold him still."

There was a dragging sound followed by a gasp that sounded so close Jess could almost feel it as well as hear it.

"Sss-t-op!" the deaf man tried to yell as he struggled against his chains.

"Hold out his arms," a Death Eater growled.

"No," Jess whimpered.

She heard a scuffle right in front of her that ended with a strangled sound and very heavy breathing.

"Make her do it, quickly."

Jess felt hands grabbing at her wrists and trying to pull them away from her body. She squirmed and struggled against the rough hands until there was an annoyed huff and she was thrown flat onto her back.

"Imperio!"

Suddenly everything in Jess was limp and heavy while her head was as light as the clouds.

"Sit up girl," a voice inside her head ordered and Jess complied, "Reach out in front of you with both hands."

A tear rolled down Jess' cheek as she did as she was told. She was screaming at herself on the inside but not a single sound left her lips. This couldn't be happening. She couldn't be manipulated and overpowered by evil men with wands again. She gave up last time, she waited to be saved and then curled up and hid for the rest of her life. This wasn't how it was going to be. Ron had made her see that. Ron had made her see.

Another tear rolled down Jess' cheek as she thought of Ron. Why did he have to suffer like this? Why did he have to be hurt by this cruellest of curses again? He had lost his voice because of somebody he cared about had been made to hurt him under this curse and now what was he going to lose? What would he lose because of Jess and her weakness? How must he be feeling to see yet another person he trusted doing the bidding of the Death Eaters? She tried to say she was sorry. She tried to stop. She tried to scream.

She felt her fingers touching flesh. The soft warm skin was trembling violently and her hands gripped tightly. She waited for the smell of blood. She waited for the horrific vision. She waited for the pain.

"Jess?"

This voice was new.

"Jess open your eyes."

Jess did as she was told but not because she had to. She shook with shock as she saw the smiling red head sitting before her. She gaped and stared down at her hands gripping his arms tightly and tried to let go.

"No don't!" Ron warned quickly.

She gasped and stared up at him again.

"You...You...You can talk? I can see!" she too was shaking just as much as Ron was now.

He laughed at her. She saw his smile and heard his laugh. She'd done neither thing before in her life and laughed herself as tears poured down her face.

"Not really Jess," he smiled at her as he leaned forward, "one of us is in the other's head. I don't know who. Probably me, I mean I am the one with...head issues after all!" he laughed again.

"We're talking in your head?"

"That's why you can see and I can talk? You don't need eyes or vocal chords inside your own head do you?" Ron shrugged.

Jess laughed again and tried to take in every single detail of Ron's face and voice while she could.

"I'm so pleased to see you Ron," she said with an excited squeal, "and hear you for real and I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for all this. It's all my fault."

Jess' face fell and she began to cry. Ron began to shush her while still keeping his arms under her grip. She looked back up into his blue eyes again. Blue eyes, Ron had blue eyes, she loved that colour all over again now that she could see it after all this time.

"They're going to work it out soon Jess and they're going to make you stop," Ron said urgently, "when you touch my arms we can talk because she's not in the scars anymore. The scars are just...well I dunno really but that's not where she's hiding."

Jess nodded and held on to Ron's arms tighter.

"They're working out that it's my head, I can hear them talking, they're going to make you let go and touch my head and then..."

"Then you'll talk to her won't you?" Jess said with a hopeful smile.

Ron smiled back and nodded.

"I think so yeah. We can come up with a plan and I don't want you to be scared okay? Don't worry and don't blame yourself and don't fight it when they tell you to touch my head alright? I need you to let me talk to her. You're saving me Jess," Ron smiled a little wider before shaking a little more, "you're saving me."

There was a blinding white light and Ron was gone along with everything else. Jess was drenched in an ice cold sweat and shaking as if she had been in a snowdrift for an hour. The voice in her head made its next demand of her.

"Touch his head!"

Jess felt at peace and, despite the imperious curse, almost smiled as she raised her hands and felt the soft hair tickling the palms of her hands.

"Place your hands on his head now!" the voice said again.

Jess did as she was told with only one thought repeating over and over inside her mind.

'I'm saving him!'