A/N: So I have a food for thought question. I had a few people mention Ron and the spider boggart. Some were really supportive of the idea that it's still his boggart, some pointed out that they thought it wouldn't be the same thing still. Frankly, I agree. I was kind of between a rock and a hard place, because the moment was about Hermione and her realizing her own fear, whereas Ron was stepping in to keep her from getting hurt when she freezes up. To keep it from getting really complicated, I kept his as a spider. However, it's made me start thinking... could wizards and witches with more skill control their boggart? Like if they were stepping in knowing what they were combating, could they focus on the fear they were presenting? In which case, Hermione's came out uncontrolled. And maybe with Molly in OotP, she was so completely overwhelmed by that particular fear there was no setting it aside? Thoughts would be appreciated!
Anyway, I hope you like this next chapter. I was going to place this entire conflict in a single chapter, but it was getting a little long already, so at least one more chapter after this! Thanks for the reviews! I definitely appreciate it!
Muggle Artifacts
"Daddy, look at that broom!" Hugo gushed, staring into the shop window.
Ron couldn't help but feel glad that there may be a day he could buy that for his son; give him a great broom once he was at Hogwarts. And he didn't have to give up time to do it. George was already talking long term with him, saying they may move up the probationary period and Ron couldn't be more excited about the prospect.
"You'll have to save some serious allowances for that," Ron still said.
"What about for Christmas?"
"Maybe in about ten Christmases."
Hermione had been working on counting and letters with Hugo, and so he started to go through the numbers trying to figure out just when that would be. Rose tugged on his hand, wanting to go into the animal shop next door.
"Daddy, let's get a cat," Rose said.
"We need to ask Mum about that first," Ron said, tempering her immediate enthusiasm.
"But we can keep it at your flat," she calculated.
"No," Ron said. "Someday whatever's at the flat will have to go back home."
Rose pouted at her loss of leverage, but Ron pulled Hugo from the Quidditch shop window to go look at the cats. George finally showed up as they were coming out.
"Where's Fred?" Ron asked. "I thought you were bringing him with?"
"Angelina's mum kept dropping hints that she wanted him to stay," George said with a shrug. "Figured I'd still come hang with you lot."
"Uncle George," Rose said, indicating a secret. George bent down and she whispered none-too-softly in his ear. "If I get a cat, can he live in the flat above your shop?"
George looked up at Ron with a grin. "Well if it were up to me, I'd say yes," George said. "Absolutely. But I've always been nicer than your Dad."
"Thanks a lot," Ron said with a roll of his eye.
"Uncle George is okay with it!" Rose argued immediately. She continued with a litany of pleadings to get a cat as they moved on to Flourish and Blotts.
Rose was finally distracted, reading through some children's books and Hugo was mesmerized by a book with a man who was blowing up like a balloon on the cover. Ron noticed there was a leather bound anniversary edition of Hogwarts a History, and found another book he thought Hermione might enjoy, gathering up selections from each of the kids. Rose wanted to carry the bag. The three of them started to wander aimlessly, enjoying the sunshine.
"We have to go to Uncle George's shop still!" Hugo said with a gasp.
"It's Daddy's shop, too," Rose said with a roll of her eyes.
Hugo blinked as if he had just realized something. He looked up at Ron, uncertainly. "It's yours?"
"Uncle George and me work there together," Ron said with a nod.
"One more look at the broom first!" Hugo demanded, letting go of Ron's hand and rushing quickly around the corner.
"Hugo!" Ron shouted after him. He looked over and made sure George had Rose as he dashed after his son.
Just as he was turning the corner, the ground shook. People in the streets stopped, several screamed. Ron kept moving, looking through a dense crowd, calling Hugo's name. Hugo had stopped in the middle of the cobblestone street, looking skyward. Ron followed his eye line. Something almost transparent was moving up, doming around them, around Diagon Alley. Ron dashed forward, scooping Hugo up and turning just as a new wave of screams began. He rounded the corner again not looking back. George had picked Rose up as well and turned to run alongside them.
"The shop!" George said. They were one street over and cut across an alley. Ron pulled out his wand as George did the same. They came to the street and pulled up short, seeing a grey-haired creature tackle a witch to the ground, ripping and tearing at her shoulders as she screamed, pushing it back.
"Red caps!" George said, aiming a hex right at the little misshapen elf.
It rolled off of her, looking back at George with a snarl, red eyes wide. Rose squealed and dug her face into George's shoulder. Ron moved forward, putting out a hand and pulling the woman up as George pushed the creature back again. Ron supported the woman from one side as she limped along. They were to the door when five more came bounding, leaping down the street. Some witches and wizards had their wands out and defending. Others were diving into the nearest shop.
George went into his shop first. The woman leaned against the doorframe for support as Ron handed Hugo to George.
"Stay with your Uncle!" he shouted, then headed onto the street, sending jinxes and curses to the red caps aiming to attack, ushering people through the shop door. There was a jolt as the dome closed at the seam. Ron sent another spell, but nothing happened. He froze. He sent another. Nothing.
One wizard, at the end of the way, was tackled by a red cap and others ran. One came out from the right, another man with his daughter stumbling back. Ron ran forward, throwing his arm out down low. The red cap, concentrated on the other two victims, didn't even notice Ron there. It flipped over and landed hard on the cobble stone. Ron pulled the two to their feet, pushing them by the shoulder towards the shop.
He was the last one through, pulling the door closed, holding it there.
"Lock it!" Ron said.
One of the women that worked for them threw the lock and stepped back with a start as the recovered red cap hit the shop window, snarling with blood on its sharp teeth, eyes manic.
Rose and Hugo both wiggled down from George's arms and Ron opened his own, taking them both to him, pulling back to examine each. "You alright?" he asked.
Hugo's eyes were wide and Rose was tearing up. "It got you!" Rose said, pointing to his shoulder, splattered in blood.
Ron hadn't seen this and pulled the fabric from his skin. "It was just from helping," Ron said. "I'm not hurt, okay? We're going to be okay."
George ushered people around the shop, ordering his staff to create space in the store rooms and for everyone else to keep away from the windows. Red caps were still strolling back and forth along the streets, looking for easy victims.
"Rose, Hugo, go with Petrosinella," Ron said, handing them off to one of their more reliable clerks. "Watch Hugo closely, please."
Petrosinella nodded, surprisingly calm compared to those around her. Rose struggled to let go of Ron's hand but he nodded and promised he would be right back as he joined George.
"What is going on?" George said.
Ron looked out the window with him. "Look familiar?" Ron asked.
Understanding came over George. "The barriers," he said. "The ones—"
"I was investigating, yeah," Ron said.
"Were there ever red caps?" George asked.
"No," Ron said. "But they were never this large either. This has to cover a good portion of Diagon Alley."
"Okay," George said taking in the information. "What else do we know?"
"Can't get in, can't get out," Ron said. "My wand stopped working. Others stopped being able to defend, too."
"So we can't get a patronus message to the outside," George noted. "Even if it would get through."
"Shit," Ron muttered.
They were both watching outside when a loud voice echoed across the area. "Stay where you are," a male voice said. "Stay, and you remain safe. Leave, and you will continue to suffer."
Ron moved to the back, finding Rose and Hugo as the voice repeated this message three times. They were both tucked into Petrosinella and immediately lunged for him when he arrived. George was making the rounds, checking on those that had been injured. The shop appeared to have been fairly busy before the barrier began to move, including about two dozen other children. Ron sat with his own, holding tight and speaking reassuring words.
"Uncle Harry will get them," Hugo said at one point and Ron forced a smile, hoping Hugo was right.
Five minutes passed and the warning rang out again. The injured they had with them all were bandaged the best they could, unable to use magic to suture the wounds. The worst was the woman George had saved, who was laid out, a broken leg and a heavy loss of blood.
George came by Ron again, squatting down beside him and the kids. "Okay, we have to figure how to get out," George said.
"That's the bit of our schematics we were missing," Ron replied. "Remember?"
"There was always a weak point," George said. "Always."
"Right," Ron said. "But it was almost impossible to tell just where."
"But if we do some kind of curse… one that bulges. People will be inside anyway. Anyone that's not behind this, that is," George said.
If they did that kind of curse or hex, it would follow all the edges of the dome. Anyone out in the open might be affected, aside from the caster or anyone privy to what was about to happen and could shield themselves, and more importantly it would expose the crack—the weakness—wherever it was.
"What am I saying, we can't use our wands," George corrected himself.
"They can't hold the barrier without magic."
"There's a place where it's possible," George came to the same conclusion as Ron. Ron nodded. "Okay, so we figure out where they're at."
"That's our battle ground," Ron said. "If we're lucky, at least. We need to find other things that will work without additional casting, though."
"If we can, we also need to get people out of the way," George said. "Warn the others."
"The ground," Ron said. "It can't penetrate the ground."
"How does that help us?" George said.
"The basement," Ron countered.
"There's a grate into a muggle pipe system," Petrosinella said from where she sat.
"How do you know that?" Ron asked.
"There was one night that Jeremy left the Pygmy Puff cage open," Petrosinella explained. "A bunch ended up down in the basement and went through a vent. They were all stopped at that grate."
"I'll go check it out," George said. "Wait here."
"I'll show you," Petrosinella added, standing and walking to the back of the store room.
Ron sat against a display of love potions, pulling Rose and Hugo closer to him. "Don't look out the window," Ron kept telling Rose as her attention kept tugging towards the smeared red along one of the panes of glass.
Ron pulled the bag of books from Rose's hands, pulling one out and started to read, the sounds of other parents whispering to whimpering children as Ron waited. George came back, out of breath, but with a certainty that gave Ron hope.
"There's a gap. It's small, but I think we can work with it," George said.
"To do what?" Ron asked. "Were you able to do magic?"
"No," Petrosinella said.
The crowd gathered tightly around them, everyone hoping for answers. Ron set Rose and Hugo to his right and stood, telling Rose to read to her brother.
"So what are you thinking?" Ron asked. "If we can't do magic—"
"We can get the kids out of here," George said. "There's an underground tunnel system between the shops for emergencies. Assuming we can make sure there are people to intercept them at the first exit on the muggle side, we can go around to the other shops and get as many of the children to safety as possible."
"What about the rest of us?" A younger man asked. He wore a scowl.
"It's too small," George said. "And we can't expand the muggle end of it if our wands aren't working. There's no guarantee there won't be problems if the others try either. It could collapse the whole thing."
"So we're all just going to sit here and wait for the red caps to decide they'd like as well in the shops as on the streets, eh?" he said.
A girl that couldn't have been much older than Rose began to cry in earnest.
"If you're not going to help, why don't you at least not make things worse and shut your mouth, you prick," George snapped at him. "If you don't appreciate having shelter here, you're welcome to face the red caps on your own."
The man scowled, but seemed to think it was best to follow George's suggestion to shut up.
"How can we know someone will be there?" a woman with an arm wrapped around her son asked with a shaky voice.
"That's the next problem," George said, looking to Ron.
The Ministry had to be there by now. They had to be trying to piece things together on the other side of the barrier. Every time one had popped up, though, their previous tactics didn't work. It was like someone was testing them out… like the ones before this weren't the end goal. Understanding struck Ron and he knew he needed to talk to Harry. Or someone in the auror department.
"What if we got an owl…" Ron said.
"Daddy?" Rose said.
"Just a minute," Ron said. "If we get an owl, give it a letter—"
"Dad—"
"—and send it through the tunnels first."
"It won't be able to push up any cover on the street," Petrosinella said, shaking her head. "And we have no idea where an exit might lead. If there is one at all."
"If it was a small owl," Ron said. "A miniature. Or we could do a shrinking charm."
"Can't do magic," George remind him.
"Daddy…"
"What, Rose?" Ron turned to her.
"I want to call Mum," she said.
Ron blinked at her for several moments. "The phone," he muttered.
He pulled the cell phone from his back pocket. It was so rarely used that it had become this strange appendage he carried about with him. Ron had never even made an outgoing call, although on occasion Rose wanted to use it to call Hermione or her friends.
"What's that?" the surly man asked.
"Do you think it will work?" George added, ignoring him just as Ron did.
Ron concentrated on the phone, though, recalling how to ring Hermione. Her name was listed along with the Bringhurst Academy and the Grangers, just in case it was ever needed, but he fumbled around until that list popped up and he pressed her name. He held the phone to his ear, ignoring everyone else as he paced to a more empty space nearby. It rang over and over. The ringing was slightly static and he wondered if anything was really happening. Then there was a shuffling and the steady rhythm of the ringing was interrupted.
"Ron?" Hermione's shaky voice was on the other end. "Ron, is that you?"
Ron let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Yes, yes it's me!"
"Ron, what's happening?" her teary voice came through. "Where are Rose and Hugo? Are they alright?"
"We're all okay," Ron said. "Hermione, are you with Harry?"
There was some clanking and shuffling. "I put you on speaker," Hermione said.
"On what?"
"Harry can hear you," Hermione said. "We both can."
"Ron, what's going on in there?"
"I think everyone that was in the area when it started is in some shop or another," Ron said. "No deaths on our stretch, from what I can tell. Attacks stopped once we were off the streets."
"Attacks?" Harry asked.
"They've got red caps."
Harry cursed on the other end. "Alright, what else?"
Ron filled him in on everything he had noticed, everything that had happened since the barrier developed. How they didn't have magic and then went on to explain about George's idea for getting the children out of Diagon Alley.
"Get me a muggle city planning map!" Harry shouted the order, his voice breaking up here and there. "Focus around the areas extending from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes!"
"Harry, you aren't going to be able to use anything that worked before," Ron added.
"Why not?"
"They were testing it out," Ron said, floating his theory. Saying it out loud seemed to solidify the thoughts and somehow they ringed true. "All those little ones. They were all for this. They were all prototypes. They never broke the same way twice. We were helping them run trials."
Harry was silent for a bit. "Alright, we'll brainstorm over here."
"Daddy, I want to talk to Mum," Rose said again.
"Me, too," Hugo added.
"Alright," Ron agreed. "How do I get this on… the listening… everyone… thing?"
Hermione told him what button to push and Ron squatted down between his children, holding the phone upward.
"Hugo? Rose?" Hermione's voice broke through again.
"Hi, Mum," Rose said as though it was just a normal conversation. "We're being brave."
"I know you are, sweetheart," Hermione said. Ron could imagine her choking back her emotion to not worry the two of them. "You listen to your dad, okay? I'm here helping find a way to get you out, alright?"
"Daddy got you a book about Hogwarts," Hugo added. Ron couldn't help but grin. Of all the things Hugo could say in that moment, of course he would spoil any existing surprise. "But we didn't get to have lunch yet. I'm hungry."
"We'll go somewhere good to eat when you get out, alright?" Hermione said. "I love you. Mum loves you both so much."
The tears became more apparent in the final words. "Say goodbye to Mum," Ron nudged them. "I have to talk to her for a bit."
"Love you, Mum," Rose said.
"See you!" Hugo added.
Ron stood again, pushing the button so only he could hear. "We'll wait until Harry gives the go ahead and then try the tunnels," he said.
"Okay," Hermione said. "I can call you back soon. I think the battery might go down faster if you stay on the line."
"Hermione," Ron said.
"What?"
"I'll keep them safe, alright?"
There was silence for a few moments. "I know," Hermione said. "Please keep yourself safe, too…"
"I will." Ron hung up the phone and told the room what was said. There was a little relief among those with children at least, even if the other adults paced around.
Ron turned to George and Petrosinella. "We need to see what in here works still. What can be used for distractions or help us move safely about if we need to."
"I might have some invisibility items in the back," George said.
"Think they'll work?" Ron asked.
"If the charms have already been made, I would think so," George replied. "We can test them at least."
"I know where!" Petrosinella said, dashing away.
"When this is all over, remind me to give her a raise," George said. "What are you thinking?"
"Once we get the children out, we talk to Harry about an inside-outside effort. The weak spot is usually centered around the caster," Ron said. "We expose it, Harry's team exploits it."
"Uncle George, I'm hungry," Hugo complained again.
George shuffled around the shop, grabbing chocolate and candies to hand around to any of the children complaining. Some of the adults, for that matter. Petrosinella found the box of merchandise. When George tried a hat on, he disappeared completely.
The surly man dodged for the box and Ron stepped forward, pulling his wand and pointing it at him out of habit.
"You can't keep those to yourselves!" the man shouted, having stopped out of a similar impulse.
"Back off," Ron growled as George appeared again. The crowd was pressing towards them. "These will be given to anyone going outside."
He stepped forward, anger and fear competing as he shoved Ron. George didn't hesitate to grab one arm, twisting it forcefully behind the man's back until he groaned in pain. Petrosinella tossed George a pair of cuffs. A joke, really, to hook friends to random objects and see how long it took them to free themselves. George got it around one wrist, then the other. The man would never manage without looking at it.
"Looky there, those work, too," George said with a smirk. There were some complaints in the crowd. "Anyone who doesn't like it will be next!"
There were a few uncertain glances towards the cursing man, who George was escorting into an office. He shut the door on him.
"Alright, then," George said. "Anyone with children, towards the back. When we get the call with instructions we want to be ready to move."
This progress seemed a distraction for a while. It was another ten minutes before Ron's phone rang.
"From what we can tell, that's a dead water line set up next to you," Harry informed Ron. "We have someone at the bottom of the ladder, but it's too small—"
"Too small for an adult," Ron finished. "Yeah, I figured."
"We're only about a hundred yards from the edge of the Diagon Alley boundary," Harry said. "Do you have anything you can send them through with that has a light?"
George and Petrosinella rushed into action, finding products that glowed.
"We'll find some."
"Alright, then let's get this moving," Harry instructed.
"You lot follow me," Ron called out to the crowd of parents and children. He held Hugo in one arm, holding Rose's hand with the other as they descended into the basement, and then down a ladder into a large and open tunnel. Several children whimpered and Rose held tighter to his hand. George had handed out glowing objects in intervals so that there was a line of oddly floating lights leading up to the spot where a grate was still tightly set.
"Hold your sister's hand," Ron said, setting down Hugo.
Together Ron and George tugged and pulled the small cover, Harry's voice issuing instructions on his end in a static mumble from Ron's pocket. It finally released in a loud clank. Ron used the dim light from the phone, inspecting the muggle side. It was mostly concrete, though there were metal bits here and there and the light didn't give them a very good scope of what they were sending the kids into.
Ron looked back at the crowd. There were about two dozen all together, including Rose and Hugo. The oldest ones were ten, maybe eleven. One tall, thin girl might have been a little older—perhaps her parents home schooled her instead of sending her to Hogwarts—and there was at least one that was under one year. That child's mother was sobbing, bouncing her baby and kissing its cheek over and over.
"Let me know when we're looking for the first," Harry called out. Ron licked his lips.
"Let's start with the oldest," Ron said, looking towards the tall girl.
Her father wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. "No," he said. "I want to know this will work."
"There are aurors waiting on the other end," Ron said. "They'll be right there to take them to the surface."
"And until they get there?" another mother asked, her son around ten.
"Send your kid first, if you think it's so safe," the man said.
Ron felt his face burn. "She is six," Ron snapped. "We can at least send someone that can defend themselves or will have a good sense of whether or not they should turn back."
"I'll do it, Dad," Rose said.
"No," Ron said, turning with an argument loaded up as Rose reached out, taking his hand.
"Dad, I can do it," Rose said.
Ron turned as others around them grumbled and argued. He lowered himself. "Rose, we have to send someone else—"
Rose stopped him, placing a hand on each of his cheeks, looking into his face in the dark, her nose close to his. "Thirty seconds of brave, Dad," she said.
Ron considered it, looking at her determination. It was the same kind of determination that he had seen so often in Hermione. He looked around, seeing the other parents, none of them willing to be the first, yet here was his daughter, fearlessly ready to take the plunge. Ron pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her, closing his eyes. "Okay," he said quietly. He pulled back. "If you see anything you shouldn't, you come back, right?"
Rose nodded. She moved to the hole. George gave Ron a look, but helped Rose with a foot up. She looked back at Ron, holding the little glowing fake wand in front of her.
Ron held out a parchment, tucking into her back pocket. Information that Ron and George had decided would give them an idea of what would happen inside, in case they lost their connection.
"You give that to Uncle Harry," Ron said. "That way he knows what to do."
Rose nodded, turned, and began crawling into the darkness.
Thirty, Ron thought. Twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-seven…
Hermione stood at the front of a crowd with Ginny's arm around her, waiting for the first children to be brought from below. Harry had her phone and was standing on the other side of the blockade. Ron and the children's last words cycled in her mind. She hadn't told Ron she loved him. She hadn't said those words and she didn't know why, but she would say everything once Harry brought her phone back to her.
There was a flurry of activity around the hole and Harry bent down, arms reaching in. He pulled upward and Hermione's heart went faster than she ever thought possible, Rose in his arms—dirt covering her hands, knees, and feet, but otherwise looking well. Hermione reached out her arms as Harry carried Rose over.
"We have her," Harry said into the phone. "Ron, did you get that? Rose made it through."
Hermione pulled Rose into her as Rose wrapped her little arms around Hermione's neck.
"It's okay, Mum, don't cry," Rose said.
Hermione let out a choked laugh, pulling back to hold Rose's cheek in her hand. Ginny stood on the other side, petting Rose's hair as well, taking a long breath.
"This is for you, Uncle Harry," Rose added, pulling paper from her back pocket. Harry took it, then turned back towards the others, opening it up.
"Send them through," Harry said. "Let me know if you got that! Send them through!"
"Is he still on the phone?" Hermione asked, anxiety building back up.
"It's choppy," Harry replied.
Everyone waited as Hugo came next, followed by a steady stream of children, each carried to someone who knew them from the outside. Identification and reunification was conducted by a few members from the general law enforcement unit. Half the aurors were still working out how to get past the barrier while Harry and others were pulling more children out. One of the older boys had a baby attached to his front with a Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes smock. A healer took the younger, crying child to look it over as its anxious grandmother hovered nearby.
"How many more?" Harry asked, walking near Hermione again. Ron was on speaker again.
"Three right n... but George and Petro… coming back from one...shop," Ron said, his voice cutting in and out.
The three came through, then several others just after a long wait in between.
"We're…. up," Ron said.
"Repeat," Harry said loudly.
"... closing up," Ron's voice replied. "The grate, we're…. it up."
"Got it," Harry said.
"Can I talk to him?" Hermione said.
"If you can," Harry replied, handing it over, reading through the paper Rose had given him. "Everyone over here!" he shouted at those under his command.
Hermione told Hugo and Rose to stay with Ginny, walking away from the crowd as she plugged one ear with a single finger, switching the phone back and talking quickly.
"Ron? Ron are you still there?"
"... m here," he said.
"Ron, be careful," Hermione said, her heart pounding. He would take more risks now that Hugo and Rose were safe and Hermione knew it. He had known what this was and he was unlikely to just sit back and wait. "Ron, please just let Harry take care of this."
"... can't, but don't… there are... "
"Ron, I can't lose you," Hermione tried into the phone. She waited a minute. The static was still present, but she couldn't hear him say anything. "I can't handle the thought of you not being here and I need you to promise me that you won't go running into danger, Ron. Please… please, please."
"...Her—ione…"
"I love you, Ron," Hermione said, tears rolling down her face, the hand with the cell phone clutching it so hard it hurt. "Ron can you hear me?... Ron?"
There was static, then three terrible beeps. Hermione pulled the phone away from her ear. The call had ended.
Ron tried the phone again up in the shop, but it didn't work anymore.
"Alright, we have about twenty altogether," George said.
As soon as Harry confirmed Rose had made it through, George and Petrosinella split, visiting as many of the shops as were connected underground. That meant everything on the block. None had as many children as Ron and George's shop, but they were also able to request any decently trained witches and wizards willing to go out with them to follow them back to the shop.
"How many invisibility hats and cloaks?" Ron asked.
"Twenty-five," George replied.
"Perfect," Ron replied, heading towards the front of the mingling crowd.
Some of the parents were sitting in various corners and along the edges now. Others geared themselves up with their wands—something they would have to remind them wouldn't be useful until they got into the main area. Some of the other Wheezes employees had pulled out anything they thought would be useful—blunt objects to bat away red caps, loud and exploding items to create distractions and confuse those behind this, and any protective items they could scrounge up.
"They're almost ready for you," Petrosinella said.
Several of the others were looking his direction. Ron took a deep breath.
"Just give me a mo," Ron requested. She nodded and moved away. He pulled the folded slip of paper from his back pocket.
He had read it quickly with a smile when Rose and Hugo were first distracted when they first got to Diagon Alley. He tried the phone one more time. It wouldn't go through.
So instead he read the words on the page.
My favorite moments with my Sunshine:
Late night discussions
Good morning kisses
Dinners around the coffee table
Stolen moments at the Burrow
"I wish I had done everything on Earth with you." -F. Scott Fitzgerald
Ron turned the paper and wrote quickly, his handwriting more slanted and harder to read than her perfect script.
You're my everything.
Ron swallowed and folded it back up, sticking it in his pocket. He hoped he would be the one to deliver it.
He walked out of the office.
"Alright, here's the plan."
