The rhythmic sound of the pipes dripping from the far corner of the room came as the first sign to Ron that he regained consciousness again. He tried to hold in an involuntary shudder as he cracked open his eyelids just enough to see whether he was alone this time. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he let out the breath he had been holding which quickly turned into a dry cough. The room was empty.

He wasn't sure how long he had been here, bound to this chair in a lightless room. But this was the fifth time he had lost consciousness, and the fifth time he had woken up in the darkness. At least this time he was alone, though there was no saying for how long that would last. The shudder he had previously repressed shot through him as he considered the likelihood that any minute now someone was bound to come into this tiny room and he'd be engulfed in pain all over again. As was becoming a ritual he started to twist his wrists desperately against the thick cords restraining him there despite the ache of his injured hands, but that only worked to further aggravate the deep cuts he had managed to saw into his arms from all of his previous attempts to break loose. He gave up quickly, not having the energy or optimism needed to continue.

There was no way to gauge time here, and it's not as if any of his captors had felt it necessary to give him such an update. He could only guess it had been several days based on his increasing hunger and dizziness each time he woke up. Between starvation and his injuries he had a pretty good feeling that regardless of how long he had been here he didn't have much time left. Thinking about this caused a twisted part inside of him to laugh mirthlessly. Here he was, terrified of dying, when according to the rest of the world he was already dead. It was a sick joke really, one he'd prefer not to be the punchline of, but as it was standing he seemed to be.

Never in his life had he wanted a time turner so much. He wished he could go back to the moment Robards had told him about this ridiculous fucking mission so he could properly tell him to shove it and head home. Or better yet, to go back a few months earlier, to that first week after things ended with Hermione. So instead of telling his family to kindly fuck off when they asked what happened he could have just told them everything there and then. Because really, what would have been the worst that could have happened, compared to what actually did? At the time he told himself he could never tell them the truth, it was too much. The idea of just announcing at the dinner table "well everyone, truth is I've been hiding my sexuality for years, and the best friend I'm in love with isn't the one I'm married to but the one dating my sister. Could you please pass the gravy?" didn't feel like it would go over too well. All he could think about then was the painful possibility that he'd lose them all, that his family would be ashamed of him, that Harry would never talk to him again. So he hid it, and the result of that was everything he had feared about coming clean, and so much worse.

Seeing as he had no access to a time turner he was stuck instead having to live in his 'what ifs'. The fantasies he had used to occupy his mind and maintain his sanity during his entire time undercover were the only thing keeping him sane now in between his bouts of questioning. He had hoped Dolohov and his psychotic friends would have realized by now that he had nothing of interest to offer them, but instead of acknowledging that the aurors really had no fucking idea what their organization was up to they had somehow convinced themselves that he must be a bloody master occlumens. When one of them had first suggested this Ron had actually laughed at him. That quickly led to two broken hands and his first encounter of unconsciousness in the room. Despite having been trained on how to survive under interrogation (including a terrible week where every trainee had to learn the effects of the cruciatus curse first hand), nothing could truly equip you to be ready for the real thing.

The pain he had felt since awakening started to fade as the dizziness increased. The dripping in the corner began to dissipate from his mind, and the darkness of the room was becoming indistinguishable from the darkness that was overtaking him once again as he allowed his eyes to close. Suddenly he heard another sound in the distance, creating an instant jolt of fear. He opened his eyes briefly once more and thought he saw a flash of bright blue in the corner of the room but couldn't keep his eyes open long enough to be sure. Feeling himself sink into unconsciousness yet again he couldn't help but hope that maybe this time he wouldn't wake back up.

/

It felt as if no time passed at all before Ron was waking up again. This time felt different though, and he noticed the silence first. The lack of that neverending dripping sound was new. Perhaps someone finally fixed the pipe.

That wasn't the only difference he realized as he felt himself becoming more alert. He seemed to be laying down now, and despite a splitting headache and feeling as shaky as ever, the dizziness that had been worsening for so long was gone. A cautious optimism overtook him as he experimentally moved his left hand from side to side, discovering it moved unrestrained.

"Shit I think he's waking up. Ron? Mate, you back with us?"

Ron's eyes slowly opened in response to the familiar voice. The room was blurry but he saw two people in front of him, both wearing turquoise robes. He suddenly recognized the flash of blue he had seen before passing out. His first impulse was to try to push himself up but he immediately regretted it the second he put pressure onto his hands and wrists, letting out a hoarse whine of pain and falling back soundly on his back.

"Wouldn't do that if I were you" a voice he didn't recognize chimed in. He shut his eyes tightly a few times trying to clear them and looked up to see a curly haired female healer walking into the room. As his eyes continued to adjust he recognized the two turquoise blurs next to him as David and Luggins, both looking wary and concerned. The healer who walked in stopped by Luggins, telling him to "budge up" before taking over his seat.

"I'm going to go grab Hawley" he told David, who nodded without looking at him.

"Can you tell me your name and where you are?" the healer asked.

"Ronald Weasley. And I have no idea. A hospital?" he said raspily, looking around the bright white room.

The healer nodded. "Good, and how are you feeling?"

"Never better," Ron croaked out in a deadpanned tone, feeling that was a ridiculous question for her to ask. He watched as the healer silently moved her wand to perform various spells over his body, though he wasn't sure what they were meant to do beyond creating different tingling sensations through his body, namely his hands.

"Well at least you got to keep your sense of humor. Looks like they did quite a number on you. You were very malnourished and dehydrated when they brought you in, but we can fix that up within a few days. Both of your hands and a few ribs were broken as well but they seem to have healed up nicely already, as have the cuts you had here and there with minimal scarring. One of your lungs was punctured which will take a little more time to heal, but it should be fine. I just wouldn't plan on taking up running as a hobby any time soon."

Ron nodded, not sure how to respond. He was still taking in the fact that he was really out of there, out of all of it. The desire to laugh and cry all at once was boiling inside as every emotion possible overtook him but he didn't really have the energy to do either. His breathing started to speed up though, earning a concerned look from the healer, who up to this point had taken a clipped business-like tone.

"I know this is probably quite overwhelming for you. You were gone for quite some time, and It'll take time to readjust, but I'm certain you'll manage," she added a little more gently than before, "you'll need to be on potions for the malnutrition and for your lung for a few more days." After a moment, she added "We'll also need to add one in for the nerve damage and associated pain."

"For the what damage?" Ron asked bewildered, noticing that this last bit of recovery information seemed to have been saved for last. The healer indicated towards his hands, which Ron looked down at. He noticed them shaking, something he was vaguely aware of starting even before he was rescued.

"The nerve damage. The cruciatus curse affects every nerve in your body. When used in excess, it can begin to damage the nerves. There's a mild effect of this throughout your body, but your hands seem to have gotten the brunt of it. As the bones were shattered in both the injuries likely exacerbated this effect."

Ron didn't say anything as he looked at his hands, trying and failing to slow the tremors. He noticed David, who had been uncharacteristically quiet as he sat in the room beside him turn towards the healer.

"So the potion you mentioned, that will cure him right?" he asked.

"Over time, yes" she answered, the clipped tone returning once again.

"How long?" Ron asked, not looking up from his own hands.

The healer didn't answer right away, and eventually Ron looked up at her. "We're not sure. Could be a few weeks, could be longer. We'll just have to play it by ear and see."

The healer seemed to take Ron's silence after that pronouncement as acceptance and went about introducing the new potions and dosages to him. He knew he should probably be listening, but he couldn't really get himself to focus. The last fifteen minutes had been far too overwhelming. For over five months he had been certain he was going to die as another person halfway across the world from home. And now, completely out of nowhere, it was over. He was alive. A little more broken than maybe he'd like, but alive and free nonetheless. He was so wrapped up in these shocking thoughts that he initially didn't see Hawley, Natalie, and Luggins enter the room, but became immediately alert once he noticed them.

"Well, I hope your friend here at least caught all of that" the healer told him, clearly a bit annoyed. "I'll be back in a few hours with your next dose" she told him before exiting the room.

"Glad to see you up and about! Er.. so to speak I mean" Hawley announced, clapping him gently on the shoulder. Ron winced and Hawley pulled back, frowning slightly.

"Did you get them?" Ron demanded pointedly.

"We got everyone who was present at the location you were being kept in. After the raid we contacted the rest of the auror department who went to the other buildings we knew were being occupied, but they had all been abandoned."

That was disappointing, but not all that surprising. Once one location had been compromised it wouldn't take long for the others to be alerted. There was only one person he was truly concerned with though.

"Dolohov?"

Hawley smiled, "Captured. Him and Rowle, as well as four others. He hit Daniels with a nasty curse but she's recovering just fine from what we've been told."

Relief like he hadn't felt in years swept over him as he laid back, smiling slightly. It wasn't all for nothing then.

"Ron," Hawley said gently, "I'm sure right now you'd probably just like to rest, but I'm going to need to know what happened between your last check in and us finding you. If you're not ready to talk about this now I'll give you some time, but the more we know now the sooner this can be over with."

Ron considered his words for a moment, feeling grateful the man was even offering him a reprieve from all of this. The information he had was urgent though, and he knew waiting wasn't going to make talking about it any easier. So he started speaking, beginning with the conversation he overheard with Rowle and Isaac, filling in any important information he needed to that he had not been able to convey over the brief check-ins that had occurred over the last few months. When he reached the point of discovering the letter he had to stop for some water, his voice becoming increasingly more hoarse and his chest starting to burn. The Australian team waited patiently with bated breath. As Ron continued to even his breathing, David finally broke the silence.

"So what did it say?" he asked impatiently.

Ron shot him an annoyed look before continuing, "It said the French delegate wasn't willing to be bribed anymore, that there wasn't time to orchestrate a replacement for them so the 'vote for freedom' was going to have to be won over without France."

"And what vote is that?" Hawley asked, frowning.

"With The International Confederation. I know they've been talking about convening again soon, because of all the muggle attacks that have been happening over the last dozen or so years. They started mentioning it as a possibility a couple of years back. I think that's how Dolohov must have gotten this idea. All these attacks he's planned, they've been on muggles in all these different countries, right? So what's that going to do to the International Confederation that's been dragging their heels on addressing this thing? They'd have to speed things along, finally meet to figure out how to stop these attacks."

"But how does that help?" Luggins interrupted, "How would having the Confederation meet to figure out how to stop attacks on muggles help him when he's the one behind the attacks?"

"Because the attacks weren't his end goal, they were just to help move things along. The bribes he was talking about in that meeting I overheard? And the people who've been imperiused? They're delegates for the International Confederation of Wizards. They must've been bribing, replacing, or imperiusing people for a while now. Maybe even years."

"So what is his end goal then?" Natalie asked, looking confused. Hawley, however, was beginning to look ill at ease.

Ron thought for a moment about how best to convey the theory that he'd been thinking about for days now, ever since reading that letter. "One of the things the death eaters were always talking about was not having to hide anymore once Voldemort took over. They're meeting to figure out how to protect muggles, right? Well, what if they decided the best way to 'protect them' is to take a more active role. Which they could only really do if they ended the International Statute of Secrecy."

"They couldn't do that though" Luggins said, shaking his head.

"Why not? They're the ones who made it, they could just as easily get rid of it" Hawley shot back grimly. Everyone took a moment to consider the gravity of that possibility. Hawley then nodded at Ron. "We'll reach out to the affected countries to let them know what we've found out. And what we suspect… I imagine the list of names you'd been sending us will help here." He reached out to clasp Ron's shoulder once again but seemed to remember the pained look Ron had responded with before and awkwardly moved to clasp his hands together instead. "Thank you Ron. Truly. Rest up, and let us know if you need anything, eh?"

Hawley, Natalie, and Luggins all left hastily, but David allowed himself to fall behind. He turned back around to Ron once everyone else had left the room.

"You're an idiot, you know that right?" he said harshly.

"I didn't, actually. Appreciate you letting me know'' Ron threw back tiredly. David didn't laugh.

"You went in there with absolutely no plan, on a whim. You should have contacted us first. You could have died."

Ron scowled, "I didn't exactly have time to. I got the information. And I didn't die, did I?"

"Not this time," David said softly. "Get some rest, Ron." And with that he exited the room, allowing Ron to let the exhaustion that had been threatening to consume him finally win over.