Being Ron Part 3

"Am I going to have to muzzle you, Auror Potter?"

Kingsley waited for Harry to realise that he was acting like a hyperactive child who'd been told he was going to get a puppy.

"But...he can handle it. He'll be an asset to the case and what's the point of bringing him in once a week if you just have him sitting around watching us filing case notes?"

"I know what Ron can do and that you want to show off his many talents but he's been on the job for a week. If you throw him into the maze with the Minotaur armed with nothing but a ball of string you can't expect it to work out as well as it did for Theseus."

"I have no idea what you just said," Harry said, blinking in order to animate his blank expression somewhat.

Kingsley rubbed at his temples and groaned.

"Imagine me telling you the incantation to conjure a Patronus and then expecting you to produce a corporeal Patronus first time."

Harry considered this.

"No," he said with a shake of the head, "because Ron's not totally new to this dangerous stuff. Ron has more experience than half of the Aurors on the team."

"Ron gained that experience gradually over time. Don't throw him in the deep end just because he can swim."

"I'm giving him something exciting to do," Harry said with a look of rebellion, "he's been bored enough this week. We're doing something productive, something stimulating, something that makes him feel important."

Kingsley snorted and pointed over Harry's shoulder.

"I don't think he needs you to give him that."

Harry turned and choked on his own gasp as he saw Gabrielle giving Ron a very thorough goodbye and good luck wish on the steps of the Ministry.

"I think she likes the robes," Kingsley muttered before slapping Harry on the back. "Take him on the safe mission and stop expecting him to hit his stride right away. He's the Ron who got left behind, not the one you idealised for five years."

"The Ron who went missing was a bloody good person!" Harry snapped.

"Yes he was, so don't ask him to change," Kingsley said before turning to walk away.

Harry looked back at his best friend and frowned.


Gabrielle's hands were everywhere. Ron kept giggling into her mouth when her fingers stroked down his sides towards his belly.

"Ron!" She slapped him and then nestled her head upon his chest as they hugged.

"I'm sorry, it tickles," he chuckled.

"You are supposed to be a big 'ard Auror."

"Aurors can be ticklish."

Gabrielle rose up onto her toes and kissed him again. Ron lost his hands in her hair and she moved her hands around his waist and up his back. Ron giggled again.

"Oh come on," Gabrielle huffed, "you never used to be this ticklish!"

"It's just a bit public," Ron said as he looked one way, into the street, and the other into the building. He spotted Harry watching them and wriggled out of Gabrielle's arms. "Shit, Harry's looking."

Gabrielle straightened her dress and glanced around for a moment before spotting Harry. She smiled and waved. He gave a limp wave back and then turned to hammer his finger against the button beside the lift doors.

"Ah look, 'arry is going," she said before flinging herself back at Ron again. "I 'ave missed you."

"It's been four days," Ron said before her lips covered his.

After several noisy kisses Gabrielle hung from his neck and looked up at him.

"But I've 'ad you with me all the time for so long. I miss 'aving you to talk to."

"Sorry," Ron said as he leant down to kiss her lips and smile, "I'll Floo call next week, I promise."

"And send your little doggie?"

"Mon petit chien," Ron nodded into another, softer kiss, "oui."

Gabrielle sank into his body and groaned.

"Oh I love it when you speak French."

"Well that's about all I've got so don't get too excited."

"Oh you know more than that, I know you do."

Ron glanced around before leaning in close and whispering.

"Donnez moi un sandwich au fromage. Je ne peux pas manger escargot." With that he shuddered and Gabrielle laughed.

"You won't eat snails but you'll eat 'aggis."

"Don't slag off 'aggis, McGonagall will give you a death glare."

Gabrielle started kissing Ron again, while pausing to murmur into his mouth every once in a while.

"When...do you...finish 'ere?"

"Mmmumph."

"I'll...come after...we can finish...this at Fleur's."

Ron twisted his lips away and panted into her face.

"I'm going home after work," he said with a shake of the head.

"We can do this in your room too," Gabrielle said with a wicked grin. "And maybe we can..."

"Gabs," Ron held her at arm's length and took a step away, "I'm at the Burrow for the weekend. I promised mum I'd spend some time with her."

Gabrielle shimmied out of his grip and back into his body. She pulled him down by the back of his head and reached up to kiss him again.

"I can do things your muzzer can't."

"Really, numph..." his explanation was muffled by the Frenchest of kisses. For a moment Ron lost himself, until hands slipped underneath his shirt. "Seriously..." Ron managed to break away to say, but Gabrielle's insistent kisses kept on coming, "...she's missed me an...muhhh...I promised."

"I've missed you too," Gabrielle purred.

"I know, this I could have done with sooner..." he was attacked by her mouth again and kept kissing her back until he flinched at the sensation of a hand sinking beneath his waistband. "Gabs, no!"

"Later then, in your room," she tilted her head to kiss his neck.

"Uhh...God, that's...Look, no!"

Gabrielle finally stopped to pout up at him.

"You missed me for four days. Mum's still not really had me back."

"'ow do you mean?"

"I was gone for five years and then I went to school for a year and then spent all summer with you, now I'm with the Aurors...I need to spend this weekend with her. I need to spend a few weekends with her."

"So when do we get to...?" she tailed off and waved her hand away to one side.

Ron leaned forward and gave her a light peck.

"Maybe we can meet in Hogsmeade during the week. I really need to see you during the week."

She reached up and cupped his face with one hand.

"It is really that bad?"

"Hagrid's becoming my best mate, Gabs," Ron said with a forlorn expression.

She smiled at him and nodded.

"We will get a room at the Three Broomsticks and 'ave some time to ourselves, yes?"

Ron gulped and nodded. Gabrielle kissed him again and then bounced backwards on the balls of her feet.

"Don't 'ave too much fun without me."

"I'll try," he said with a wave.

As she turned and left the building Ron set off for the lift to catch up with Harry. He noticed Lillycrap and his cronies examining a floor plan of the building to find out where they needed to go. Lillycrap was staring at Ron in a way he obviously didn't mean to be so noticeable.

"That was a girl, Lillycrap, a girl you don't have to pay for. Bet you didn't know they existed eh?" Ron jeered as he passed and hopped into the lift.

The others made to squeeze in with him so they could follow him to the briefing room.

"This one's full, I'm afraid. I'm sure you can find your own way there though, can't you?" Ron blocked the doors and pushed the button to close the doors.

"I'd say that was mean spirited but I've heard you've been on the receiving end of worse from them."

Ron jumped and spun around to see his dad smiling at him.

"Oh hi," Ron said happily, before registering what he'd just heard, "who's been talking to you?"

Arthur put a hand on his son's shoulder and gave a squeeze.

"A parent doesn't squeal on his spies. Besides, it's nice to know where you are...how you are. It's one of my little luxuries I hope you can forgive."

Ron realised his mother wasn't the only one who had missed him more that she let on.

"I'll see you at home, yeah?" Ron asked as the lift doors opened with a ping.

"You will, I'm looking forward to it," Arthur said with a warm smile and a light pat on the shoulder, "have a good day and be careful."

"Not going near any cupboards, I promise," Ron said as he watched his father step out of the lift, "and Harry's watching me too. Nothing to worry about."


Lillycrap was looking slightly grey in the face. Ron was holding the brass pin Harry had given him to jab into the assignments board. He was at the front of the queue, thanks to some interference from Harry, and under instructions to claim the secondary investigation team spot with the Potter pin.

Harry clearly believed that going for the second spot was a casual no pressure job for a first timer like Ron. He was so transparent sometimes. Ron took another look back at Lillycrap and the trainee was now taking slow, deep breaths while trying to control his visible nausea.

"What's with him?" Ron asked a Lillycrap crony between them.

"He's seventh in line, what d'you think is the matter 'number one'?" The crony said with a bitter scowl.

Ron looked back at the board. Of all the assignments on display there were the two prime spots for investigating, two for gathering witness statements, one for dealing with the family of the dead man, one for sitting in the office and doing the paperwork as it came in and one for the examination of the body.

The job nobody wanted was the paperwork. Ron took another look back at Lillycrap. He guessed that he'd happily trade the paperwork over the body, the only two jobs that were going to be left by the time he got to the front.

"Weasley?" An impatient voice was repeating the call forward to claim the assignment.

"Sorry, um," he looked to the trainee behind him, "you go ahead of me. I just need to talk to someone."

The other trainee looked ecstatic that they got first pick and hurried forward. Harry looked baffled and Ron waved to gain Lillycrap's attention.

"What?"

Ron hesitated, the man was an arsehole to him after all, but at the same time he had to work with all of these people as a team.

"You got dead guy or paperwork right?" Ron asked.

"Yes okay, gloat some more, Potter's pet!" Lillycrap spat.

"You want the paperwork but your Auror's gonna be pissed off with you if you chose that over anything else, right?"

Lillycrap glared at him.

"Yes."

"Auror Weasley, it's your turn. Or are you going to let another go ahead of you?"

Ron held up a finger to the lead Auror and then looked back at Lillycrap.

"Have you ever seen a dead body before, Lillycrap?"

The sick looking Auror shook his head.

"Weasley?"

Ron turned and stepped forward, raising Harry's brass pin. He pressed the pin into the spot for the examination of the corpse. He turned to walk back to a stunned looking Harry and muttered, under his breath.

"They're not ready for dead bodies, we've seen lots. Why don't we all work to our strengths for the first assignment, yeah?"

Harry smiled at Ron and slapped his shoulder.

"He's still going to be a bastard, y'know?"

"I know," Ron nodded, glancing across as Lillycrap pushed his pin into the family liaison space, avoiding his eyes, and shuffling off to rejoin his partner, "but he'll be a bastard who owes me."


The fireplace blazed green and Ron stepped out and into the kitchen of the Burrow.

"Ronnie!" Molly flung her arms up and then threw herself at her son.

"Hi mum," he chuckled as he gave her as much of a hug as he could manage with his arms pinned to his sides.

"Have you had a nice time with Harry? Nothing too dangerous, I hope."

"Very safe, studying a...sample from a crime scene," Ron said before kissing his mother on the cheek and then leaning over the stove to inhale his dinner through his long nose. "Mmmm, I've missed this."

Molly beamed and set about pulling Ron's Auror robes off his shoulders.

"Mum!" Ron protested. "I could be naked under these."

"Nothing I haven't seen before. You weren't as bashful when you were six, young man, I couldn't keep your clothes on you."

"Mum!" Ron cringed, despite the fact there was nobody around to hear this mortifying memory.

Molly cupped his face with her hand and smiled up at him.

"Everybody grew up so fast, and you...you stayed my baby for a little longer."

"Seriously, mum," Ron almost begged her to stop.

"You still grew too fast, even now, a big Auror off training." She started fussing over the dinner. "Can you set the table, dear?"

"Yeah," Ron said as he pulled open the cutlery draw and scooped up a handful of mismatched silverware.

"Ronnie, no, only three of us for dinner, remember?"

Ron paused and looked at the dozen or so knives and forks in his hand and suddenly realised that the house wasn't a full one any more.

"Right, sorry, just me, you and dad."

It threw him a little to be setting the table at the Burrow for three. Then it hit home just how much it must meant to his parents to have him back at home. They'd have sat at the table with just each other for the last few years.

The Weasleys were never a table for two family.

Outside the Burrow sounded the crack of Apparition and Ron opened the door for his father.

"Ah, thank you, Ron." He was in good spirits, as ever, and set down his tatty briefcase before planting a kiss on his wife. "Another productive day, family feud today. A Muggleborn left for her final year at Hogwarts and set a bunch of Wheezes booby traps all over the house. We've been back and forth all week putting things right and today everybody's joints reversed. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to catch a man running like an ostrich."

"Well you should have run normally, Arthur."

Ron snorted at this and his dad caught his eye and grinned.

"The man was running like the ostrich, my dear, his legs bent that way."

"Oh," she said, still not following this description as well as a chuckling Ron. "Well did you catch him?"

"He ran into a wall. It's very hard to run away from somebody when your legs are on backwards."

Ron finished setting the table and pulled out a chair to sit down and watch the familiar routine. He took comfort in the fact that it hadn't changed from how he remembered it.

True, there weren't any siblings or Harry to turn to and roll his eyes with but they were still the same old mum and dad.

"Good first day at the Ministry, Ron?" Arthur asked him as he tucked a napkin into his collar.

"It was okay. I'm owed a favour and I didn't mess anything up."

"Did you arrest anybody?" Molly asked, trying to sound enthusiastic about such things but her worry about her son's dangerous job showing through.

"No, just helping the proper Aurors with their investigation. They won't have me wrestling ostrich men to the ground any time soon." He teased.

"You are a proper Auror," Arthur said with pride. "You're keeping everybody's children safe."

Ron looked down at his knife and fork and tried not to think about how crappy his week had been.

"Yeah," he rolled back his shoulders and lifted his head high, chest attempting to inflate despite being too narrow to really pull off such a thing, "I'm feeling pretty good about what I'm doing. Lack of any action's a good thing after all eh? No danger for anyone."

Molly beamed at this.

"If you wanted to flex your muscles you could help me in the vegetable patch tomorrow," she suggested.

"Is that a euphemism or a nick name or something?" Ron asked with a suspicious squint.

His dad laughed and his mother huffed and wiped her hands on her pinny.

"All the veg is on the turn and I have to preserve as much as I can," she explained as she opened the blazing hot oven and her hair was pushed back from her face by the escaping hot air. "I'm going to make some chutney."

Ron slumped in his seat.

"I'm going to be digging up onions aren't I?" He groaned.

His dad grinned at him.

"I'd help you son but...oh my back," he rubbed at his back for effect, "and I'm getting on now while you're so young and fit."

"Hold on, has my five year vanishing act just been used as an excuse for me spending my Saturday digging?"

"Not all digging, I need all the tomatoes picked too!" Molly said as if turning his fingers black would be a nice rest from digging.

He never understood that. Tomatoes were red or orange or yellow, when they weren't ripe yet they were green, but no matter what colour the fruit or the vine he'd always get black fingers just from picking at one plant.

"I'll come out with sausage rolls and Cornish pasties for you. A hardworking young man needs a full stomach."

Ron looked at her with narrowed eyes.

"And fairy cakes!" She blurted.

"With icing?" Ron asked, cocking one eyebrow.

"With pink icing," Molly nodded.

"Mum!" Ron scowled. "I'm not a baby or a girl."

"White icing with rainbow coloured hundreds and thousands." Molly said with a knowing nod.

"That's better," Ron said with a dignified sniff as he moved his napkin beside his knife and waited for the space before him to be filled with food.

Molly and Arthur shared a look and smiled.

Their boy was really home.