Catatonia

Draper stared at the two figures and waited.

"Why is nothing happening?" one of the more impatient Death Eaters frowned as he stepped forward.

Draper cursed under his breath and lifted the curse from the seer girl. She fell backwards hard and was panting and crying and then laughing to herself.

"What's so funny you daft bitch?" one of the young and frankly moronic wizards snapped as he waited with wand drawn at the door just in case the dungeon was breeched by the attackers outside.

"You'll see," the seer smiled.

Draper cracked the girl across the side of her face with his knuckles before crouching down in front of the vessel, the mute, and saw that he was sitting exactly as he had been when the seer removed her hands from his head. His clear blue eyes were open and staring off into space, unblinking. Draper waved his hand in front of the young wizard's face and then clicked his fingers but there was no reaction.

"What did you do?" he snarled at the dazed seer without tearing his eyes away from the pale face of the apparently catatonic vessel.

"Shit Draper," one of his inept accomplices crouched at his side and pinched at the redhead's earlobe as hard as he could with no reaction, "maybe they were right when they were telling us he was gone in the head. Maybe we've...I dunno broke him!"

Draper turned to the sandy haired Death Eater with distain at the lower class recruits they had to take on ever since the end of the war and the end of the thoroughbred Death Eaters as he knew them.

"That whole brain damage story was just a ruse being put about by the hospital to try and get us to stop our attack. He's not gone vegetable on us just yet, don't worry."

Draper turned to look back at the perfectly still and emotionless form of Ronald Weasley the youngest boy and the most unimpressive in a family of unimpressive pureblood wizards. He wasn't special, he wasn't powerful, and he wasn't even gifted. He had harnessed this power by accident and couldn't even activate it without a doddery mental patient of a seer laying hands upon him. The knowledge of Rowena Ravenclaw was taking up residence inside nothing more then a novelty receptacle. A receptacle easily broken so it would appear.

"You have to admit though," Draper pondered aloud while the room fell silent and everybody leaned in to listen to his thoughts, "it's very strange that they sent him on his transfer floo with two healers and a translator rather then Aurors isn't it?"

There was a group murmur. The chains behind Draper clanked against the wall while the old deaf man struggled in his degrading way to speak to them.

"'Eeel-ers! G-et th-a b-oy-ze eel-ers!"

"Shut up you infuriating droney old coot!" the impatient young Death Eater barked at the man he knew couldn't hear a word of his insults.

"No he's actually right, good point old man," Draper said, with his back to the minister so he couldn't even lip-read the compliment he had just been paid, "there is something wrong with this boy. They sent him with two healers, two, and not one trained security professional. Get me one of the healers in here now. I think we've...I think something's gone wrong."

The Death Eaters looked from one to the other in shock and Draper glared at them all and bellowed to the youngster at the door.

"GO!"

The Death Eater with the black leather skull cap and the rotten teeth was waving his wand wildly through the tiny opening in an attempt to hit whoever he could in the cramped cell. He really was an idiot though. Harry, Neville and Hermione were crouching directly beneath the opening, backs pressed hard against the door, watching the red and green flashes of light hitting the far wall and disintegrating into nothing.

"Stop you moron!" a frantic sounding voice called out as footsteps grew louder along the hallway outside, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

The wand tip was withdrawn from the opening and the skull capped Death Eater's idiotic voice grunted his explanation.

"Bexley told us to kill the prisoners jus' before 'ee followed the uvurs outside to fight. There's Aurors out there y'know?"

"Is there bloody really?" the livid young Death Eater declared before unlocking the door to the cell with a swish of his wand, "Well why don't the two of you go and join them while I take one of the healers through to Draper before he goes off on one and I tell him all his problems are your fault?"

"Wot are you? Like twelve or sumfink? I ain't takin' orders from you. Why would Draper want one of the mongs fixed up anyway?"

Neville couldn't stand this conversation anymore and just wanted to get the hell out of that cell and to Ron's side. He didn't doubt that it was his friend who was the one in need of help for a second.

"I'm his healer, let me go to him please," he shocked himself as he spoke; his voice was so steady and strong.

"Neville please let me go," Hermione scrambled up to her feet and gripped his sleeve as if it was a comfort blanket, "I have to see him please?"

"Listen your bloody mate's gone brain damaged on us and we need a kick-start so whichever one of you..."

"That's me!" Neville said as he turned to Hermione with determination, "It's his brain Hermione, I've got to go to him. You've got to let it be me."

Hermione made a strangled squealing sound at the back of her throat and Harry pulled her away from the door and shoved Neville out of it with his free hand.

"Hurry up and help him Neville," Harry snapped.

The cell door slammed closed on both their faces and Neville began to point out to the Death Eater who was hurrying him down the hall at wand point that he would need a wand if he were to do anything for Ron at all. He reached the end of the long narrow hallway and was shoved through a side door where he stumbled and fell over Jess where she was curled up holding her face and not making a sound.

The bald headed Death Eater, Draper, pointed his wand at Neville's face and nodded down to Ron.

"Do something."

Neville dropped to his knees and looked into Ron's glazed eyes. He seemed to be staring into space and breathing slowly and evenly as if he was in a state of deep sleep. Neville reached up to Draper and held out his hand.

"What are you doing?" the man said with distain for the round faced young healer.

"I need a wand if I'm going to treat his brain don't I?" Neville said with amazement at his own insolence.

"You think I'm going to put a wand in your hand?" Draper snorted before looking around at the other Death Eaters with amusement.

There was a collective snigger that made Neville so angry he could spit.

"Do you think I can snap somebody out of a catatonic state without a wand?"

Draper took in a deep breath and his lips twisted into a tight starfish shape before he jerked his head at the young Death Eater.

"Give him your wand."

"What?" the young man gasped.

"You heard me now do it!" Draper barked, "I'll be covering him the entire time."

Neville let out a shuddering sigh of relief that he was going to be armed to some extent once again. He lowered the arm that had been directed in Draper's direction and reached out to take the wand that was reluctantly on offer at his other side.

"Thank you," he mumbled before leaning in close to peer into Ron's eyes and blew into them slightly.

Ron didn't even blink.

"Shit," Neville whispered to himself and set about casting his routine brain check spells around Ron's head.

"What is it? Did he go into another magical coma because I know you can fix that can't you?" Draper said as he tightened his own grip on his wand.

"He's catatonic, not comatose," Neville snapped, "What did you do to him to put him in this state?"

"None of your business!" one of the Death Eaters blurted in a child-like fashion.

Neville rolled his eyes.

"Well I there's not a hell of a lot I can do to fix him if you won't let me in on what broke him in the first place is there?"

Draper crouched down beside Neville and jabbed the tip of his wand into Neville's ribs firmly.

"The seer touched his head," he said in a low voice as he twisted the wand tip as if trying to burrow it into Neville like a screw.

Neville put his own free hand to the side of Ron's head and looked at the lilac swirls of mist that were forming around his red hair. It was like a sunset in the dank dark dungeon. He read the brain trauma spell as it displayed the shadows of stress and activity inside Ron's head with a frown before looking back into the vacant eyes of his friend.

Ron had touched Jess' head and been able to astrally project himself into Harry's mind and speak to him while harnessing the power and knowledge of Ravenclaw. What kind of effect did Jess touching Ron's head have that he wasn't thinking of he asked himself?

"Well come on," Draper said with a grunt of impatience, "what do you see? Is he a vegetable or not?"

Neville glared up at the Death Eater and tried to keep his temper.

"No but I need Hermione for this, send one of your apes to fetch her for me."

"You impudent little..." Draper said with amazement.

"Oi you said you were the one to do this," the young Death Eater interrupted, "I heard you telling her she should let you go 'cause you're the brain guy. Were you lying then?"

"Or are you lying now?" Draper snarled darkly.

"Look there's things I can try but there's no point me waking him up just so he can go into multiple organ failure and die then and there! Did you call for a healer so you could kill him faster or so you could wake him up?" Neville said as he felt his face flushing bright pink.

Draper and the young Death Eater looked at each other for a moment.

"You can't be serious Draper," the younger man warned with a shake of the head.

"She doesn't get a wand, the two of them share the one he has, now go and fetch the other healer boy!" Draper ordered.

"But we can't treat him with one wand," Neville sputtered in disbelief.

"Oh come now Mr Longbottom," Draper smiled, "you've reversed an irreversible coma. I'm sure the two of you can work something out."

Hermione was huddled in the corner of the cell with Harry right beside her, hugging her tightly while she shook with sickened fear for Ron and Neville. Every now and then the two foolish jailers would shout something through the still open door, having refused to go outside with the others and join the fight against the Aurors, and they both kept their wands pointed at them at all times.

"What's taking them so long?" Harry murmured to himself as he looked to the open door and strained to listen to the sounds of duelling somewhere in the distance.

There were footsteps running from down the hallway again and Harry and Hermione sat up straight as the young Death Eater skidded to a halt in front of their cell and pointed at Hermione.

"You, with me, now!" he snapped before turning and running back the way he had come.

Without pause Hermione scrambled to her feet and ran after him. Harry got up to follow her but the two jailers blocked the door and poked their wands into his chest with cruel smirks.

Harry cursed under his breath and turned to begin pacing up and down the cell with exasperation. He ran his hands through his hair and wondered if he had every felt more useless in his entire life.

"I 'eard wot you did to yer mate Potter," the skull cap wearing jailer said as he watched the young man worrying, "sliced 'im up good and proper didn't cha?"

"Fuck you," Harry growled as he continued pacing.

"Poor old cloth ears in there eh? We wouldn't have had to bring 'im in at all if you hadn't hacked away freckles voice box in the first place," the other jailer sniggered.

Harry didn't even care enough about what they were saying to argue with them. He began to chew at his nails as he leaned against the wall of the cell and slid down it. He hoped Neville and Hermione were coming up with a plan to get them all out of this. He hoped that they hadn't been called upon because something had gone seriously wrong with Ron, Jess and the minister.

"Y'know wot Potter?" the skull capped jailer said with a cackle, "I know plenty of widows 'cause of you 'n ya mates, killed a lot of Death Eaters you did, and I reckon they'd enjoy a quiet little pure blood to play with. Obedient aren't they, mongs? The things those horny witches could do with 'im under Imperius eh? I 'ope ee don't die just for that."

"Shit Rich, we could make a fortune!" the other jailer was saying with enthusiasm, "D'you think Draper'll let us 'ave 'im afterwards?"

Harry felt as if his insides were boiling and he tried with all his strength not to launch himself at the pair of depraved idiots. If they weren't threatening to rape Hermione they were planning to pimp Ron to a bunch of sadistic Bellatrix Lestrange wannabes.

"Oh look at him," the tubby jailer grinned down at Harry as he did his best to ignore them, "takin' your little boy-toy away from ya aren't we?"

"Don't worry Potter," the skull capped jailer snorted, "If you get out of this alive come 'n find us, we'll give you a good price."

Harry was so livid it felt as if he was about to explode out of his own skin like a sausage frying in a pan. The fat Death Eater crouched down to force him to meet his eyes with a spiteful grin.

"How much d'you think a piece of that freckled arse is worth to 'im mate?"

Harry launched himself at the chubby jailer and set about pummelling every inch of his body while the skull capped bystander snapped out of his shock and tried to drag Harry off of his colleague.

"I'm going to kill the both of you I mean it. I swear on Albus Dumbledore's soul that you two will never lay your hands on either of my friends."

The skull capped Death Eater threw Harry back into the cell and swung a kick at his face which Harry managed to dodge with a roll over to his side just as a blinding flash of red light illuminated the fat jailer behind him and sent him crashing to the ground with a shocked expression on his face.

"If he doesn't I guarantee you we will," Fred's voice said from the entrance to the dungeon where he was flanked by his twin brother and Percy.

Harry felt like cheering but all he could do was dive for cover as the Death Eater who had been attacking him rose to turn his attention on the three redheads who were aiming their wands at him and bellowing at them with fear and rage.

"Too late boys, the retard's as good as dead!"

Percy looked as if his entire face had been transfigured into a tomato it was that red and he sent a crackling orange explosion of light from his wand tip and into the man's chest without uttering the incantation aloud. The Death Eater hit the ground like a stone and blood tricked from the corner of his mouth while Percy stood, rooted to the spot, shaking.

"We don't ever use that word!" he hissed through gritted teeth as his eyes stared down at the body on the ground as if they would never be able to blink again.

Fred made a dry gagging sound as he tried to say something before clearing his throat and lowering Percy's trembling wand arm while George put an arm around his older brother's back and gave him a jerk of a hug to try and snap him out of his shock.

"Nice one Perce," Fred just about managed to force himself to speak aloud.

Percy finally blinked and looked up at Harry, his garnet red face draining rapidly into porcelain white. Harry clambered to his feet and pulled his, Ron's, Hermione's and Neville's wands from the Death Eater's robes before looking at the three Weasley's standing in front of him.

"Is it just you three?" he asked anxiously.

"There's loads," George seemed to be the only one together enough to have a conversation right at that moment, "they're all still fighting outside. Charlie's watching the door for us until the rest of them can break through."

"Ron?" Percy finally said as he looked around the empty cell.

"They took him," Harry gulped as he pointed down the hallway, "then they came for healers, something's happened to him and now they're all down there."

Harry was already setting off as he finished speaking, Fred hot on his heels, but then the young Death Eater who had come to take Hermione earlier on reappeared and cast an unfamiliar spell across the entrance to the hallway and the four of them were unable to get through.

"Not finished yet lads," he winked before stepping back inside the dungeon and slamming the door closed behind him.

There she was.

Rowena Ravenclaw was standing in front of him in what felt like an ice-cold cloud but looked like a brilliant white frozen waterfall. Her long wavy jet black hair hung loosely down to her waist and she was dressed just as Jess had described her to him, in a bodice of armour with a long flowing blue skirt down to the floor. She looked old without looking old he thought to himself. He opened his mouth but no sound came out.

This wasn't because he couldn't speak but because he had no idea what to say to her. She smiled at him and took a step forward.

"Ronald," her voice sounded as if was coming at him from several directions at once and it made him shiver, "I'm so glad to be able to speak to you at last."

Ron tried to engage his brain back into talk mode. Why was this so hard? He'd done it easy enough with Jess hadn't he? Then again, this was definitely not Jess.

"I..." he began before freezing up and searching his mind for more words, "You..."

The graceful witch places her cool smooth hand upon Ron's cheek and he suddenly came to his senses.

"You have to go," he blurted desperately, "You have to go now or take me with you or something because we can't let them take you. We can't let them use you."

The woman smiled a little wider and Ron shuddered as he looked into her peacock blue eyes.

"Like you have been using me?"

Ron moved back from her touch and frowned. He shook his head and tried to assess what it was that this woman had planned if it wasn't an escape from his body and his mind.

"I never, it was never me, I didn't use you."

"You summoned me to harness my powers didn't you?" she said as her thin black eyebrow arched elegantly.

"No!" Ron said as he felt something inside his head causing him to feel a little dizzy all of a sudden and blinking it away, "I didn't...well I summoned you but I never knew it was you. I didn't know it was anybody. I was...I wasn't myself. I...It...It's complicated but I didn't want your thoughts I swear."

The brilliant white frozen waterfall melted within seconds and the surroundings were a much more mellow shade of blue now as the waterfall crashed silently beside them both.

"Ronald I know you were not aware of what you were doing. I know you didn't specifically summon my brain to you that night but when my thoughts latched on to your body you accepted them."

"I didn't," Ron protested as he held his scarred arms out in front of himself, "you wouldn't let go!"

Ravenclaw reached out for one of Ron's scarred arms and he pulled it away sharply. This wasn't going quite how he might have expected it.

"The thoughts could have crushed you. You could have been suffocated. You should have been driven insane on contact; anybody else would have, except you let them in. You let me burn my way through the flesh and lay dormant as a change of pigmentation. You didn't hear me speaking to you, not even in your sleep, but you let me in Ronald. Why did you let me in if you didn't want me?"

Ron held his arms to himself and shivered again as he thought.

"I wasn't...well. I don't remember why I did whatever I did I just remember..." Ron shook his head.

"What is it you remembered Ronald?" the woman said eagerly as she reached out for his arms once more.

"I remember that after Neville left me I stopped fighting you and you stopped fighting me and we just...looked at each other, except a brain can't look can it?" Ron finished with a mutter.

"A mind can always see Ronald," Ravenclaw smiled as the ground began to sprout fresh grass beneath their feet.

"What the?" Ron frowned as he watched the environment transform around him.

Finally Ravenclaw's fingers glided across his scarred skin and Ron felt warm again. He stopped talking and stared at the witch as she traced the patterns of the silver scars with her fingertips.

"You stopped fighting me and let me in that night, if you hadn't I wouldn't have been able to stop myself from driving you mad. Involuntary possession is very destructive but when the vessel allows it..."

"Enough of this vessel crap I am not a bloody vessel!" Ron's old voice finally remembered what it was good for, ranting and panicking, shouting and swearing.

"You are not a vessel Ronald, indeed you are correct," Ravenclaw said as both her hands gripped his forearms and she fixed his eyes with her own sternly, "You are a prison."

Ron gaped at her for a moment before leaning in a little closer.

"I'm a...?"

"You are a prison Ronald. I have two. My preserved brain at the ministry is one of them and these scars of yours are another. You set me free to a certain extent but I've been with you too long now and I've grown accustomed to your company."

"You've what?" Ron exclaimed.

The witch broke into a wide grin that seemed to bring the sun out over their strange little scene and she shook her head patiently.

"I just wanted you to let me go at first Ronald. I was simply trying to find a way out. The seer gave me the idea that maybe I could try to communicate with you in person, as we are doing now, only the effect on you physically was detrimental. I tried to stop before I hurt you. I locked myself out of your mind so I could cause no more damage but unfortunately I..."

"Locked me in," Ron nodded; he had heard his magical coma described like that before.

Ravenclaw sighed and shrugged. Ron's face crumpled at this and he almost tutted at her. All-powerful witches who founded the most influential wizarding school in history had no business shrugging. You shrug when you lose an argument. You shrug when you spill your soup down the front of your robes. You shrug when you drop your nineteenth quaffle in a row. You do not shrug when you put somebody into a three-week coma!

The woman suddenly threw back her head and laughed. Ron suddenly realised that he didn't have to be speaking out loud for her to hear him, they were both communicating inside his head after all. The witch's laughter sounded like the echo of a thousand glasses chinking together in a toast. Her eyes were almost glowing like the sea in a postcard Charlie had sent him once from something called a reef.

"Ronald my dear, wonderful boy, my host," she said in a sigh while Ron rolled his eyes at the term 'host', "I can make mistakes just as much as anybody. Godric could be mistaken; Helga, and I think you'll be the first to agree with me that Salazar was wrong about almost everything in the end. Even your friend Dumbledore made errors in judgement, poor Harry can testify to this I believe."

Ron swallowed and gave a nod.

"Well I tried to make myself known to you and only ended up making myself known to the sons of Slytherin. Once they knew there was a vessel carrying me it was only a matter of time for you I'm afraid. I had to increase my efforts to be heard, to warn you to get me out of your skin and free me from my earthly prisons only I seemed to just make things worse and worse for you."

Ron refrained from telling her she could say that again.

"I did try to assist you when it seemed you needed me most however. I apologise for the possessions but they were only to try and help you and your friends. I will need your help to do something similar once again."

"What? You need to posses me to fight off the Death Eaters?" Ron said, eager to start working on a plan not that his predicament was brought back to the forefront of his mind, "Go ahead, do it now."

Ravenclaw shook her head in apparent admiration and put her hand to Ron's cheek once again.

"Selflessness," she said with a smile, "you see this is why I have been able to live within you for so long, such selflessness. You do not even hesitate to offer yourself. Just like the night we met."

"...astrally projecting their minds outside his body so they can plan something..."

The foreign voice echoed around the landscape as if it was the voice of God in the heavens. It wasn't the voice of God at all though. Ron knew that for sure.

"Neville?" he stared at the clear blue sky in disbelief before looking back at Ravenclaw with wide eyes, "Where's he coming from?"

"He's trying to bring you back, but not by force, he knows we are plotting my escape and he's just holding the door ajar for us without dragging you away."

"So that's why I can hear him?" Ron smiled as he looked to the sky.

"Well it is more then likely that he is right beside you now," Ravenclaw smiled and shrugged again.

Ron was still not sure about this legendary witch being so casual. Wasn't she supposed to be all stoic and stern like McGonagall? Instinctively he looked to either side of himself, there was no Neville but then again he knew there wouldn't be.

"All we have to do is make sure his heart doesn't give out on him again so he's strong enough to fight when he comes back."

Ron laughed and looked back at Ravenclaw.

"That's my girlfriend," he shrugged, "this is so weird!"

"I understand Ronald but I need you to concentrate and listen to me right now," the woman said warmly but firmly.

Ron nodded his head and took a step towards her eagerly.

"These men, the sons of Slytherin," she began.

"The Death Eaters," Ron said with another nod.

"Indeed, well they want my lost magic. They desire to feel the power of the curses that died with me, my ancient and powerful magic."

"Of course they do, that's their thing," Ron said darkly.

"Well I'm going to give it to them," Ravenclaw said as if choosing a birthday present for a difficult relative after a long search.

"What? No!" Ron snapped with alarm, "That's not good. That's your plan, to give them what they want?"

"Exactly what they want Ronald," Ravenclaw nodded.