Chapter 14

Hermione sat down with her book bag at the desk in Harry's bedroom. She reached into the bag for her book on Dark Demons. Hermione gasped... It was gone. And there was only one person who would have taken it. Nobody else would have dared to touch Hermione's things. She touched Harry's shoulder,

"Harry, wake up. This isn't good. Ron took one of my books on Demons" She said.

Harry opened his eyes and sat right up, waking Alex.

"Mmmm... Glad to see you Harry," Alex murmured.

"I'm glad to see you too Alex. And don't worry. I don't care what McGonagall says, you can stay in my quarters for the rest of the school-year. I don't want anyone facing danger alone. What about you Hermione? I'd love it if you both stayed here at night instead of at Gryffindor Tower."

"We can discuss that later, right now we have to find Ron before he does something so dreadful that he can't come back from it." Tears welled in her eyes. "Harry, there is not one good spell in the entire book. It's all dark magic of the worst sort. Blood Sacrifice and Ritual Cannibalism features heavily in it. If Ron is feeling paranoid enough, he won't bother looking for a spell-book on conjuring demons without dark magic. He'll just try to pick the least horrible of a bunch of horrible options."

"What's the least horrible option in that book then?" Asked Harry, hoping it would be something like pricking a finger for a drop of blood. But Hermione looked so distraught, that he knew it must be really bad. "How bad is it?" asked Harry gravely.

"Harry, even the least horrible spell requires a human sacrifice. And the victim nearly always has to be a...a virgin in these sorts of rituals. But believe me when I say that the spells get much worse than killing a child. You really don't want to know what the worst is." Hermione glanced at Alex, but she didn't seem keen to press Hermione at the moment.

"Right then," Harry said, "I'll take your word for it Hermione. So I think we..."

"..should tell Professor McGonogall and start looking for Ron!" finished Alex.

"I agree." Said Hermione simply and sadly.

"Wait," Harry said, "Seriously Hermione, I know things have been bad, but do you really think Ron is capable of murdering someone? I... I know we've discussed things. But..."

"I wouldn't have ever believed Ron could commit murder Harry, but you didn't see the look on Ron's face when he attacked Alex. And it wasn't just a jinx or a hex, it was a full on curse-not an Unforgivable, but a curse nonetheless. And..." Hermione gulped, and her eyes filled with tears. "And I never thought he'd ever try to join Slytherin, or start talking about being a Pure-Blood. That was always one of the things I loved about Ron. He hated all of that stuff and always stuck up for me when somebody called me Mudblood."

"If Ron can put something he's believed his whole life aside, then I don't know what Ron is capable of anymore..." Hermione finished,

Harry sighed. He knew Hermione was right. But as angry as he was at Ron, he was still having a hard time believing that Ron would actually go as far as to murder someone. Ron had been Harry's best friend for 8 years. But if Ron had snapped altogether, Harry had to admit that anything was possible.

Alex said nothing. She knew how hard it was when a good friend went wrong.

"Okay, it's settled," Harry said. "But we won't need to waste a lot of time looking for Ron. He'll be in..."

"...the Chamber of Secrets." Hermione finished.

It hadn't taken them long to convince Professor McGonagall that something was wrong with Ron.

"When I saw that boy at the Slytherin table, I couldn't believe my eyes." She said with a strained voice. "And I had my suspicions that something was off a few weeks ago when Professor Slughorn told me that Mr Weasley had asked him if anybody had switched Houses before."

"I've known the Weasleys for years, and none of them have ever shown any inclination whatsoever towards the Dark Arts or Slytherin. I don't know what Mr Weasley is capable of in his current condition, but I'm not going to wait and see. I'll notify the rest of the staff im..."

"NO!" Harry exclaimed loudly, "Ron may have turned into a nutter-but I can't forget that he's been my best friend for nearly 8 years. I don't want to hurt him if I can stop him before he harms anybody. He belongs in St Mungo's, not Azkaban. Hermione and Alex and I can handle Ron. We just need you to be prepared if things go wrong. Just tell Professor Slughorn and Madame Pomfrey for now, and tell them to keep it hushed up until we bring Ron in."

Ron looked over at Derek who was still asleep. They had spent Friday and Saturday night together in the Chamber of Secrets. It was the perfect place, Ron thought. None of the other students except for Harry, Ginny, and Hermione knew the way in. But Ron didn't really think they'd come looking for him. They'd be happy that he was gone.

Ron picked up the book of Demonology and began reading it some more. He pored over it obsessively, looking for something that would work which he could live with doing. Ron wondered if maybe he was aiming too high. Perhaps he could live with some of it. he wouldn't know until he tried it. Once he had a Demon, Ron would never have to do anything like that again. Was once enough to damage your soul irredeemably? He hoped not.

Now that Ron was giving this some serious thought, his next problem was that he couldn't think of anybody who he hated so much that he could snuff them. He was practically a Slytherin now, so they were off-limits. And the only other people he really hated a lot right now were Harry and Harry's girlfriends (which included Ginny in Ron's mind) .

Most of the spells he had seen also required that the sacrificial victim should be a virgin, but Ron had found one which didn't have that requirement. So that solved at least one problem. Ron kept wracking his brains until he remembered that there was someone...

Ron crept stealthily through the castle. It was Sunday afternoon and most students would be outside. Ron wished he had Harry's map so he could find Max Russo more easily.