A/N: Nothing new to say, but as always, please leave feedback if you're enjoying the story!

July 23, 1997

"Of course! Of course, that'll work!" Ron shouted.

Moments before, he had sat up straight in his bed, the sun already well over the horizon and casting a glare into his eyes. His sleep, while far better than the night before, had been filled with bizarre images of ideas to try to help protect his parents before he and Hermione inevitably left with Harry. At first, each was more mental than the last; one of his dreams even had him transfiguring himself to be a hundred meters tall so that he could simply step on You Know Who like an ant in the garden.

But one idea actually stuck. It had come just after he'd fallen back asleep at dawn, and it seemed like the best option. He would need help to execute it, but he had a feeling he knew who his best options would be for recruiting allies.

Hermione was sure to help. She knew the stakes and knew more than anyone how important it was to him. After their breakfast the previous day, they'd both gone back to sleep until early afternoon before spending the rest of the day trying to be as helpful as possible to Ron's mother. Mrs Weasley was still clearly upset about their plans, but she was at least talking with them again, albeit only to give them instructions on what still needed to be done around the house. The two of them didn't mind the work; it helped them try to get back in Mrs Weasley's good graces, and it allowed them to be together. Sometimes they would talk about their fears and concerns, sometimes they'd talk about silly, inconsequential things, and sometimes they wouldn't say anything at all, just enjoying each other's company.

Aside from Hermione, Ron suspected he could rely on his father for help. His mother had told Mr Weasley about their plans to drop out of Hogwarts straight away, and while he shared some of his mother's concerns, he had privately confided in Ron that he understood why they wanted to do what they could to help the cause. Fred and George would probably be up for assisting them as well, even if only to conduct research for future products. Besides, it would be hypocritical for either of them to chastise Ron and Hermione for leaving school early when they'd done the same thing.

While the idea made all the sense in the world to him, though, he still needed someone to agree with him that it would be doable and logical.

Bounding down the stairs, he knocked on Ginny's door as soon as he reached it. When nobody answered, he continued downstairs, delighted to find Hermione at the table eating a modest breakfast.

"Excellent, good morning!" he called as he sat down next to her and helped himself to some toast.

"Good morning to you too," she replied with a grin. "I think everyone else has already been through. This was just sitting on the table when I got here."

"Did you have a bit of a lie in as well?"

"I did. I think I've been way behind on sleep for a while now."

"Yeah, me too. Felt nice."

"Mmm."

Trying to be subtle, Ron's eyes darted around the room, trying to make sure they were truly alone. He didn't need anyone else overhearing his plans, especially people who didn't think they should be necessary in the first place.

"I'm glad I caught you, I had an idea and I wanted your opinion."

"Okay," she replied, setting down her toast and angling her body towards him. "What's your idea?"

He stopped himself, trying to avoid launch right into his story while his mouth was full, so he swallowed the large bite of toast and butter in his mouth before speaking. "Alright, so you know how I was talking about figuring out something I could do to try to protect my parents as best I could? I think I came up with something."

"Brilliant! Let's hear it!"

"Right, you know the ghoul in our attic, yeah?"

"Erm, I think so," she responded, her face dropping with distaste. "I don't think I've ever seen it, but I know you've mentioned it before."

"And you don't want to see it, believe me. Not the most pleasant creature. But potentially useful. See, for the longest time, he's been trying to sneak down into the rest of the house. My room is right underneath the attic, so I've caught him going through my things once or twice. Kind of disgusting, but I guess it's not a big deal, really. Anyway, I was thinking about offering him a deal. When we leave, I'll let him come down to my room and pretend to be me, only we'll transfigure him a bit to look like me and, most importantly, add some Spattergroit pustules. That way, we can tell everyone I'm home sick, and if anyone comes to the house to check on why I'm not at school, there would be someone who looks quite like me in my bed with a highly infectious disease. Nobody will come any closer to verify, I promise you that."

Hermione's arms were crossed over her chest as she listened to the plan, and her face betrayed her skepticism. "It sounds a bit barbaric to me. Changing something's appearance without its consent just to make things easier for you? I don't know, Ron. Besides, if he wants to get out of the attic, why not just set him free? Why keep him captive?"

"You think he's captive?" Ron asked, his eyes nearly bugging out of his head. "We've asked if he wants to leave loads of times! Mum said that when we were babies, he'd bang on pipes all the time and wake us up from our naps. She was furious with him, tried to get him to leave over and over again, but it never worked. He wants to be here. He likes it up in the attic because there are lots of bugs and mice and stuff that he can eat. He just has a…I suppose I'd call it a curiosity about the rest of the house, my room in particular. For some reason, he wants to be there. Dunno why, not like I keep a bunch of bugs around."

"I see," she said, her forehead still creased in concentration. "I suppose if it's his choice, then."

"It would be, and I'm almost sure he'll go for it. Ghouls could care less what they look like. And trust me, just about anything we do to him would be an improvement."

"Ronald! That's cruel!"

"It's true, though, innit? They're not known for their beauty."

She scoffed and took another bite of her breakfast. "Still."

"But what do you think? Does the plan make sense? I know it's not ideal, but it's the best I could come up with."

"It would give you a reasonable alibi, I suppose. And you're right, nobody would want to come into that room if they thought someone had Spattergroit. I remember reading about it back in fourth year. It's horribly contagious."

"Exactly. So nobody will wonder why I'm not there, it'll be obvious. Gits like Snape may not believe it, but they'll have no way of confirming either way."

"You're right, he wouldn't," she said, her gaze wandering around the room as she searched for any possible flaw in the plan. "I have to say, so long as the ghoul isn't forced into anything, it's a pretty good idea."

Ron smiled, hoping he wasn't blushing. "Really?"

A warm smile accompanied his answer. "Really. You've clearly thought it through. It's not perfect, but I don't think anything would be. It wouldn't attract attention; in fact, it would specifically repel it. It's an ironclad reason to be absent that, while unverifiable, is still quite feasible."

"I'm glad you agree, I really think it would help. At least I can feel like I'm doing something, you know?"

"I do. You know I do," she answered, her eyes flashing briefly with sadness.

Her concurrence with his plan made him feel like he was on top of the world. It wasn't often that he could impress Hermione Granger with nothing but his intellect, but he cherished the opportunities and celebrated them when they finally came around.

"Anyway," he continued, "The biggest problem is that I don't really know all of the spellwork that would be needed for a project like that."

Hermione nodded and tapped her chin. "I'm afraid I don't either. I could have a look through my textbooks today, but pustules can be difficult, especially if they have to look a certain way."

"I was thinking about asking Dad for help. If he agrees, perhaps he and I could do it tonight after Mum goes to bed. Fred and George might be able to help, too. They make disgusting things every day, I'll bet they know something."

"Maybe so," she said with a laugh. "I can help too if you like."

"Might look kind of suspicious if you sneak out of Ginny's room after Mum's asleep, though, wouldn't it? I'm not sure if she knows about our plan not to return to school yet. She knew Mum was upset with me, but probably not why. Unless you've told her…"

"I've talked around it, although she might assume. I didn't say anything directly. Perhaps Harry has, but it's hard to know. Either way, you're right, that would be hard to explain. Besides, if she catches me heading upstairs towards your room in the middle of the night," Hermione continued, the tips of her ears turning red, "she's liable to make…assumptions."

"What assumptions? We already said she doesn't know about the plan," he replied.

"Nothing to do with the plan…"

It was embarrassing how long it took him to catch on to her meaning, and once he finally understood, he could barely look Hermione in the eye. "Oh. Erm, right. Wouldn't…wouldn't want that."

"Right," she replied, just as successfully avoiding his gaze.

"Alright, so you–you definitely won't help. Better that way, yeah?"

"Sure, besides, it seems like you'll have more than enough assistance."

"I'm sure we can figure it out. I'll ask them later."

The rest of the day passed in a flurry of cleaning and housework. As soon as they finished the rest of their mostly silent breakfast, Mrs Weasley bustled into the kitchen and gave them marching orders for the day, most of which involved tidying up the main living areas. Their conversation persisted throughout the afternoon as they worked, although somewhat more awkwardly than usual. The fact that Hermione was worried about whether Ginny would think she and Ron were trying to meet up at night was revealing. Much to his disappointment, he didn't think there was that much to know; they were friends, and no matter his desire to change things, that was it. But knowing that Hermione even considered those possibilities as well was…intriguing.

Both Fred and George returned to the Burrow for dinner that evening, and while their mother was cleaning up after the meal, Ron cornered them in the living room and pitched his plan. Surprisingly, they were more skeptical than he thought they would be about him, Harry, and Hermione dropping out of Hogwarts, but once he was able to convince them that he wasn't changing his mind, they agreed to help for the sake of the family.

It was much harder to find time to talk with Mr Weasley alone as he and Ron's mum tended to spend their evenings within earshot of each other. But when he ducked outside to look for something in the shed, Ron followed him and mentioned his idea. While Arthur Weasley wasn't exactly gung ho about his youngest son putting himself in harm's way, he still agreed to help, telling Ron multiple times that he was impressed at how much consideration he paid the family.

With everyone on board, all they had to do was wait for Mrs Weasley to go to bed. After what seemed like their hundredth game of Exploding Snap, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George were ready to call it quits and give up until Mrs Weasley yawned, stood up from her favorite chair, turned off the wireless, and bid everyone good night. Hermione wished them all good luck, grinned back at Ron as she stood up, and headed up to Ginny's room once the matriarch of the family was sound asleep.

Only then did the four Weasley men sneak up the staircase and into the attic, wands drawn just in case. The ghoul was snacking on a pair of moths when they arrived and turned to look at them, startled at the sudden attention. One at a time, all four of them tried to explain the plan in slow, deliberate English. It was hard to tell exactly what was going through the ghoul's mind, but there was one combination of words and gestures to which he consistently responded well.

"Downstairs?" Ron asked, pointing to the floor. "My room?"

The ghoul nodded vigorously and tried to follow them at first, thinking he was being invited down immediately. When he realized that the invitation was for later, he seemed disappointed, but still grunted his agreement and allowed the Weasleys to start their alterations. Ron did an excellent job transfiguring the ghoul's sparse hair to look like his own while Fred and George expertly placed pustules around the face, arms, legs, and chest. Mr Weasley stretched the ghoul almost fifteen centimeters taller to come close to matching Ron's height.

For the finishing touch, Ron snuck back down to his room and grabbed an old pair of pyjamas. He offered them to the ghoul, who seemed excited to try on clothing for the first time. It took him several attempts to get the pants on, and he tripped and fell multiple times. George had to button the shirt with magic, but by the time they were done, he bore more than a passing resemblance to Ron Weasley. At least, as long as nobody looked that closely.

Satisfied with a job well done, they all retreated to their separate bedrooms. It didn't take Ron too long to get ready for bed, and by the time his head hit the pillow, his life seemed to be in a much better place than it had been just twenty-four hours prior. He finally knew he was doing something useful to help his family, which was doing wonders at minimizing his feelings of grief at the prospect of leaving them soon. Everyone except Ginny knew about the fact that the three of them wouldn't be returning to Hogwarts, and not having to keep that secret from as many people was a huge relief as well.

Perhaps most importantly, though, his relationship with Hermione had improved tenfold since they had apologized to each other. He couldn't wait to wake up the next morning and spend the day with her again. Even though he knew that the two of them would be together every day for the foreseeable future, these last few days of summer before Harry arrived needed to be cherished. More than anything, he was seeing the possibility of a future with the girl of his dreams, and carefree days with her were going to be few and far between. He needed to take advantage of them while he could.