Chapter 6: Ron Remembers
"You two get the bloody hell right back here!" Ron bellowed hopping down the stairs still trying to get his jeans up around his waist. "I'm not letting you get away with this one!"
Ron tripped more than walked into the kitchen looking around for Harry and Ginny. He trailed from room to room with his anger rising more and more.
"Ron, settle down! It was only a joke that hurt nothing but your pride! Ginny probably only did it to try and cheer Harry up." Hermione said, bumping into him coming out of the downstairs bedroom, still buttoning the top two buttons on her blouse. "You know that he hasn't had much to enjoy or laugh about in years."
"Yea, but that enjoyment is at our bloody expense! As soon as they decide to come back, I am killing the both of them personally!"
"You'll do no such thing, Ronald!"
"Now you can't look me in the eye and say you're not mad at those two!"
"No, I'm not mad, embarrassed, but not angered at them." Hermione answered glaring at Ron staring him straight in the eye. "Now if you are through being childish I'm due at Parliament in an-"
"What do you do exactly for the Scottish Government?" Ron asked starting to cool down under Hermione's stare and sitting down at the table.
"I actually work for the Ministry of Magic, but I work as an External Liaison for Muggle Relations. When The Minister of Magic goes to the Muggle Prime Minister, I take that same information to Scotland's Parliament when there is a problem Scottish Muggles need to be aware of." She answered slipping on a pair of low-heeled shoes and pulling on a navy blue blazer that matched her knee length skirt. "And before you ask there are no real problems, I just have a meeting with heads of Parliament about an incident with a rampant Welsh Green that killed several farmers' sheep last week."
Ron looked dumbstruck at Hermione for moment. "Are you sure you aren't mad?"
"Ron, you are so thick sometimes!" Hermione said exasperated at Ron for caring about nothing that did not involve him directly. "And just why aren't you headed for the Ministry?"
"I took a couple weeks off. Quidditch won't start again until after the holidays and if the Gobstone's Club wants to have a meet while I'm away then Wilksborough can handle it."
Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron and headed for the fireplace. "Do try not to destroy my house while I'm out today. If Harry and Ginny get back before I return let this one incident slide...for me at least." Hermione took the lid off a blue and white pot on an adjacent shelf, tossed a handful of Floo Powder into the flames, stepped in side and yelled "Parliament" before disappearing.
"She's still nutters after all these years." Ron muttered when she was gone.
He got up from the table, walked into Hermione's sitting room and was about to stretch out on her sofa when a brightly colored book caught his eye lying on its side by a lamp and overlarge chair. As he made his way over to it he noticed what it was, a large photo/scrapbook. Picking it up and ruffling through the pages, he realized she had kept up with all his, Harry's and her adventures from school starting at around their third year. Flipping to the back of the book he saw the last thing pasted in was the article about his promotion to the Head of Magical Games and Sports almost two years ago except for a few ludicrous 'Where's Harry' articles that she had written 'HA HA' across the top of.
"We don't get much coverage anymore." He said with a small laugh and starting to remember the day of his, promotion and he had run into a half-pissed Harry who really did not know what he was doing.
Ron was headed toward the Atrium of the Ministry to accept the position of Head of Magical Games and Sports from former Head, Ludo Bagman, who was resigning after ten years with the department for health reasons, when he rounded a corner and ran head long into Harry, who was visibly trying to hide from public view.
"Harry! What brings you out into the real world?" Ron asked when he realized whom he almost knocked over.
Harry blinked a few times opened his moth and spoke in a slur Ron knew too well. "I came to wash you get promoted into that cushy job the Ministry bastards are giving you."
"Mate, have you been drinking?" Ron questioned knowing the answer from not only his speech, but from the smell that could only be Firewhiskey.
"I had a couple drinks today, why?" Harry replied swaying a little.
"Come on I think you need to sit for a moment before you lose your balance."
"I's OK, Ron, no need to worry about me, but I do need that seat come to think about it." He started toward a bench that had been pushed against the wall away from the main crowd of people. "What are you doing here when they are promoting you there?" Harry asked pointing to the spot Ron was standing on and then at the podium by the Fountain of Magical Brethren.
"I was about to go up there when I bumped into you remember?"
'What am I going to do with him if Hermione or Ginny spot him like this?' Ron asked himself helping Harry sit before he fell down, causing a scene. 'If they spot him in this condition we'll be pulled to bits.' Now looking at the reporters on one side of the Atrium.
He spotted Hermione and Ginny already seated toward the front of the crowd of chairs that had been placed in front of the podium, whispering back and forth between themselves.
"Damn it, Harry, why do you do this to yourself?' He thought still making sure no one was paying attention to what was happening with himself and Harry in the corner. 'Damn, damn, damn! Just bloody brilliant for this to happen today of all days he could have shown up!'
"Harry, I don't mean to be rude or anything like that, but I think it would be best if you went back home and slept a bit. Then later on maybe you could come by the Burrow for a little party among friends?" Ron knew as soon as he asked Harry would never show anywhere that may involve him being the center of attention.
"Ron, I's was here to do something, but it may be better if you do it for me, OK," Harry slurred out.
"Anything you need, mate."
"Tell Ginny that I...I care for her and...and...aw bloody hell who am I kidding. Just don't tell her you saw me this way."
"Sure, I'll never mention anything about today to anyone."
Harry nodded his head and with a 'pop' apparated away.
"Damn, I hope he got to where he was aiming. Damn, damn, damn!" Ron muttered, shaking his head, not in disgust, but heartbreak over seeing what his friend was doing to himself.
Though he told Harry, he would never tell Ginny about today he would later fill her in on everything over lunch the following weekend and he literally had to hold her back from running off to try to find Harry who had sealed himself away from everything.
Ron plopped down on the bench where Harry had just vacated and took a moment to clear his head before moving up next to Hermione and Ginny within the crowd before being called up for his promotion.
'Harry, why are doing this to yourself, then locking yourself away and making your location Unplottable?'
Ro n took a deep breath and scanned some of the other pages in the scrapbook before laying it aside and walking over to the mantle where several framed photos were sitting.
'Never thought I'd care about this stuff.' He thought picking up a picture from the day the three of them had graduated from Hogwarts. Ron had stifled a laugh as Ginny kept prancing around the picture as though she were the one leaving school. Picture Ron had his hand on Harry's shoulder and his arm around Hermione's waist, who was waving to whoever was taking the photo. 'Probably Colin Creevey.'
'The following year had been hard on us all, especially Harry, who took every Death Eater attack to heart, then he got word from Dumbledore that Voldemort was moving in on Hogwarts via Hogsmeade. We headed into battle with our hopes and fears riding high.
Harry made a run for the school against my wishes to get Ginny out onto the field before it got too thick for her to be safe, like she was going to be safe on the battlefield, and it was then I knew what Harry really felt for her even though he hadn't admitted anything to anyone. He kept telling her to stay down and away from the large groups of Death Eaters that were off to the left center of the Hogsmeade High Street as we tried to make it over to the hillside.'
Ron replaced the photo not wanting to remember more just now and left the room no longer angry at Ginny or Harry, knowing Hermione had been right about this morning. Harry needed a good laugh and if it came at his expense, well, then so be it.
"Actually, come to think of it, it was a good prank, but with something that big Fred and George had to have been involved in the thought process somewhere. I can almost smell their handy work." Ron said to himself leaving Hermione's for a walk down into the heart of the city where she lived to try to grab breakfast.