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Chapter 2 – Mistakes Were Made

"Ron! Can you hear me? RON!"

Five more minutes. Ron thought and tried to roll over… but his body wouldn't move, reminding him of what he had just done.

He felt like a tremendously heavy blanket was pressing down on him; he was utterly, completely exhausted and couldn't figure out why. The ritual took more power the further back the caster was trying to go, which is why Hermione had insisted that they should go back no further than three years – to the summer after their 5th year. If they collapsed from magical exhaustion it would draw unwanted attention and the planned three year jump shouldn't have been more severe than a particularly intense workout.

"Ron, please wake up! Open your eyes, Ron!"

Someone was calling his name, and she sounded utterly panicked. It would really be rude to keep her waiting, especially when she sounded so familiar.

Ron cracked open an eye and saw a red-headed girl nearly nose-to-nose with him with tears streaming down her cheeks. With a small groan he opened his other eye too. "Ginny?"

Ginny threw herself on his chest and wrapped her arms around him, causing him to "Oof" weakly in protest. "Ron! You're awake! I was so scared!"

Ron felt his eyes grow moist, and it was lucky he was too tired to react more strongly. Otherwise it would have been impossible to hide the heartache he was feeling seeing his baby sister alive again. She had been one of the many fatalities of the battle for Hogwarts, and Ron had never found out how she had died. Imagining various gruesome ways it could have happened had caused endless nightmares. Despite his overwhelming joy, something about Ginny seemed… off.

Ginny raised her head off his chest and noticed his tears. "Oh, am I hurting you? I'm so sorry!" and she pushed herself off him.

"S'okay." Ron mumbled. He tried to reach up and touch Ginny's face, but couldn't manage more than a twitch. Suddenly he noticed how young Ginny looked and realized what was wrong.

As if noticing Ginny's age were a trigger, memories started coming to him. He could remember playing hide and seek with Ginny just as clearly as painting his own blood in the ritual circle. Like braiding two strings together, Ron's most recent memories of the future and the present twisted together. He remembered running up to Ginny to tag her, and then feeling something slam into him and knock him off his feet before he blacked out.

Ron Weasley was only ten years old. He had made a mistake, that's why he was so tired. Instead of a draining three-year jump, he had somehow managed to power a jump back nearly nine years. It was a wonder he was even conscious.

All his plans, all his contingencies were totally useless now. He needed to create a new plan, and he needed to get back on his feet.

"Ginny, can you get me something?" Ron tried not to make a face at how odd his voice sounded to his ears – had his voice really been so high before puberty?

Ginny sniffled and nodded. "Of course. Should I go get mum?"

"No!" Ron tried to shout, but it came out more like a wheeze. "I need… potions out of mum's cabinet. Do you know what a Strengthening Solution or a Pepper-Up Potion looks like?"

Ginny bit her lip. "I can recognize a Pepper-Up potion, but not the other one."

"I think I'm going to need both." Ron paused, trying to recall what a Strengthening Solution looked like. "It's a purple-red potion, really thick. It'll be labeled too. Think you can you grab them without mum noticing?"

Ginny nodded and jumped to her feet. "I'll be right back, don't worry!"

Ron listened to his sister's footsteps recede into the distance, hoping that she wouldn't be caught. If their mum saw Ron like this – unable to move, suffering from severe magical exhaustion – she'd whisk him off to St. Mungo's in a heartbeat. With no ready excuse for his condition Ron couldn't run the risk of some sharp Healer getting a little too nosy and detecting the magical signature of a time-turner; Hermione had been confident it would be noticed if anyone looked closely enough. With the amount of magic Ron had used it would take weeks for it to fade completely.

Sure, there were definite advantages to going so far back in time, but at the same time the risk was much greater too. In a time of peace aberrant behavior or strange occurrences would stand out much more strongly than against the backdrop of You-Know-Who's resurrection. Ron had more time to fix things, but first and foremost he needed to avoid attention from anyone that could guess what he had done.

It wasn't well known, but "severe time manipulation" carried a sentence of death by Dementor's Kiss. Light or Dark, wizards feared the consequences of meddling with time. Who knew what would happen if some moron went and screwed it up?

Of course, that fear was only a large one if you thought that Fate controlled you; and that messing with someone's destiny would bring about dire consequences. Hermione thought that was a load of bunk, and had tried to explain her reasoning to Ron using a lot of unfamiliar words like "multiverse". Ron just thought all the hand-wringing about Fate sounded an awful lot like Trelawney, which automatically made him doubt it.

That didn't make getting caught any less dangerous.

Ron blinked slowly, absently watching the leaves on the orchard trees above him. He had to think of something to tell Ginny, something that would make him guilty enough to explain not telling their mum, but not so outrageous that it was unbelievable. What could a ten-year-old get up to that would drain all their magical reserves?

Ron's musings were interrupted by the sound of rapid footsteps, and a few seconds later Ginny popped back into his field of vision.

"There are people from the Ministry here! They knocked on the front door while I was sneaking out the back – it's the accidental magic reversal squad!"

Ron said a word that caused Ginny to slap his arm. "Please Ginny, help me drink the potions!"

Looking rebellious, Ginny dropped to her knees and uncorked the first vial. She tilted his head up and put the vial to his mouth, pouring it slowly. "Ronald Bilius, you are going to explain everything to me when this is over."

Ron felt steam start to billow out his ears, and hoped it would stop before the Ministry wizards found him. It would be easier to lie if they didn't know he had already taken potions - that he should really look at lot worse. Ginny finished pouring the second potion down his throat, and Ron felt vigor return to his limbs. He pushed himself awkwardly to a sitting position. In the distance, he heard his mum calling their names. His time was running out.

"Ginny," he said urgently, "I'm going to tell them I tried to do a spell. Play along?"

Ginny stared at him for a long moment, during which they could hear their mum's voice getting closer. Finally she nodded, and shoved something into his hand.

Ron looked down. "Ginny, how did you get mum's wand?"

Despite the gravity of the moment Ginny grinned. "I nicked it this morning. I was going to try the Bat-Bogey Hex again."

Ron smothered his laughter, not wanting to draw the adults to him. "All right, stand back for a mo'. I have to make this look real." Ginny backed away, and Ron carefully pointed the wand away from both her and the direction of the Burrow. "Expecto Patronum!" He incanted quietly, with just enough force for the wand to register the attempt, but not enough to actually cast it. The effort sapped him of much of his potion-induced energy, but since he wasn't flat on his back again he thought it was well worth it.

"Is steam still coming out my ears?"

Ginny shook her head.

"Excellent. Remember, follow my lead." Ginny nodded. "Call for mum, sound really scared."

"Like I've just found you." nodded Ginny, who then raised her voice to a scream that threatened to rupture Ron's eardrums. "MUUUUUUUUUM!"

"Warn a bloke next time." Ron muttered, causing Ginny to grin at him again.

Molly Weasley and two wizards in official grey robes came barreling into view. "Ginny! Ron! What happened?"

Ron did his best to look embarrassed and held up the wand. "Wanted to scare Ginny," he said sheepishly. "I read a spell out of one of Charlie's books."

Mrs. Weasley drew herself up for what was sure to be an impressive telling-off, but was cut off by one of the Ministry wizards who extended a hand towards Ron. "Let me see that wand, young man."

Ron handed it over and the ministry wizard cast prior incantato, causing a faint silver mist to come out of the wand and a faint feeling of happiness to wash over those assembled.

Both the Ministry wizards raised their eyebrows. "A Patronus charm, Mr. Weasley?" asked the wizard holding Mrs. Weasley's wand.

Ron felt his ears start to turn red – he'd never been a good liar. Hopefully now the tell-tale sign would be mistaken for embarrassment. "I didn't think it would be so hard."

The wizard smiled indulgently and turned to Mrs. Weasley. "Well, if he was happy when he tried to cast that would explain the surge we detected – even if the spell failed." He handed the wand to her. "He'll be tired for a day or so, but otherwise he should be all right – bed rest will fix him up just fine. He's still too young for a penalty, so I think we're done here."

Ron felt an irrational surge of resentment that the official was talking as if Ron weren't there, but sat on the emotion firmly. There was no point in raising a stink about it, after all the goal was to draw as little attention to himself as possible. On the other hand, a ten-year-old boy may well be expected to be rash even when the consequences of speaking up would be a higher probability of punishment.

While Ron dithered over whether or not he should complain, the ministry officials said their goodbyes and apparated away. As the twin cracks echoed in the orchard, the three Weasleys were left staring at each other in silence for several seconds.

Finally Mrs. Weasley reached out and helped Ron to his feet. The world seemed to spin around Ron as all the blood rushed from his head. He gritted his teeth and did his best not to show how faint he felt, but his mum had always had an extra sense about someone feeling even the slightest bit off. She reached out and grabbed his chin, forcing Ron to look her in the eye.

"Ronald?"

Ron's breath hitched. With the immediate danger of discovery gone, it really hit Ron that his mum was there, alive, in front of him. He wanted nothing more than to throw himself at her, to weep for everything he'd lost, to pretend things would be all right as long as he was safe in her arms. It took every drop of his willpower to keep his hands at his sides and his eyes clear.

"I'm just a bit dizzy, Mum." He said, voice a husky with repressed emotion.

Mrs. Weasley turned his face from side to side, searching his face for something. Ron couldn't say if she found what she was looking for – several emotions flickered across her face but too quickly for him to identify. Finally she released his chin and took him gently by the upper arm. "To bed with you. Come along Ginny."

They walked back to the Burrow at what Mrs. Weasley probably thought was an easy pace but in Ron's current state was brutal. He didn't dare complain, not wanting to give any extra clues to his true weakness. By the time they reached the kitchen door Ron was nearly panting with effort.

It was lucky then, that Mrs. Weasley didn't look at him closely but gave him a little push towards the stairs. "Straight to bed with you, young man." She said briskly.

Ron reached the staircase without wobbling too much, but as he put his hand on the railing his curiosity overcame him and he looked back. Mrs. Weasley was standing in the middle of the sitting room, staring at him with her hands on her hips.

"You… you're not going to yell at me?" He asked tentatively.

Mrs. Weasley opened her mouth and drew in a sharp breath, "I will not-" she seemed to change her mind about what she wanted to say, and took a steadying breath. "I will not be shouting at you just yet. But don't you think you aren't in a lot of trouble for doing something so dangerous!" She turned on her heel and marched into the kitchen. "To bed! Now!" she called over her shoulder.

Ron turned back to go up the stairs, but stopped when he caught Ginny's eye. She stood behind the couch with one hand on its back, and stared at him with surprising intensity for a nine-year-old. He mouthed "Later" at Ginny, and began the long ascent to his room.

By the time he reached the fifth landing Ron was gasping for breath and supporting most of his weight on the railing. Vision going grey around the edges, he pushed open his door and was too tired to even remove his shoes as he collapsed on the bed.

I'll make plans tomorrow. Was his last thought before sleep claimed him.

End Chapter 2


Notes: I had this chapter mostly done before I posted the first chapter, future updates will not be this prompt. Apologies.