Author's note. Glad this story has been received so well and thanks to all the reviews I've gotten. There is a warning for swearing in this chapter, as it is Ron.

Suggestions are welcome.

Enjoy and please review.

Ron's POV

Ron came awake with an unpleasant start, his heart pounding madly as sweat poured off his body. For a few minutes, it was all he could do to bring his frantic breathing under control but it wasn't easy. All he could do was gasp and desperately try to gulp in air as his chest squeezed tightly and his heart gave alarming flutters. He grasped his bedcovers and gritted his teeth, trying to force his body into a calm state.

"You're alive...you're bloody alive...get a grip,"

His treacherous heart refused to comply at first and he had no idea how long spent bent over, but eventually, it did slow down a bit. His breathing was still rather ragged, it felt like he'd just outrun a hundred Death Eaters, baying for his blood. Ron panted, causally glancing around before jolting in shock.

Not only was he back in his bedroom at the Burrow but he appeared...to be eleven again. He opened and closed his mouth several times, wondering if this was some sort of weird dream. But it felt too real to be a dream, especially when he rapped his knuckles on his old, squeaky headboard. He really seemed to be here in his eleven year old body, back home in the Burrow.

...HOW THE HELL HAD THAT HAPPENED!

One moment, he was watching Harry finally defeat that bastard and the next thing he knew, he was here, waking up in bed. It didn't make sense and he wasn't ashamed to admit he was scared. It couldn't have been a dream, he could not have just dreamt the last seven years, it just wasn't possible. Although technically this shouldn't be possible either...

"Bloody hell," Ron grumbled, sinking back against his pillow.

What the hell was he supposed to do now, Harry and Hermione weren't here and he didn't even know what the date was here. It was probably summer due to how warm it felt but apart from that, he hadn't a clue. He'd have to check the calendar downstairs or something, see how long until September the first.

Ron glanced out his window but it didn't offer any clues as to the time. It was dark so it must be at least midnight or later but it certainly wasn't close to dawn. Well, Harry and Hermione, whether they'd gone back in time or not, would probably be asleep at the moment. Or maybe like him, panicking about the situation they'd found themselves in.

Of course they probably wouldn't be panicking as much as he was, they never did. Hermione would grab a few books to research this strange occurrence while Harry would be coming up with some sort of plan. He was just left to scrabble madly about, like a fish out of water. Could he maybe use Errol to contact the others, surely they would have gone back in time with him?

"Bloody hell," Ron muttered again, he felt so helpless here. Sometimes he felt like such a joke...

Wait...joke...twins...Fred!

"F-Fred?" Ron whimpered hoarsely, remembering his brother's cold body, a ghost of a laugh still tracing his features. Of George who looked like someone had stabbed him right through the heart as he'd knelt by his twin's head while their mum had sobbed her heart out over Fred. He barely knew what the others expressions of grief were, just that they had all been suffering.

But...if he was back in time, then...Fred was still alive!

Without another thought, Ron threw back the covers of his bed and leapt out of it and across the room. He was loud enough to wake Scabbers the rat who blinked curiously at his new master's hasty departure but Ron was too caught up with emotion to even notice. The red head flung open his door and pounded down the stairs, not caring who he woke up.

With a clatter, he arrived at the landing to Fred and George's room and flung the door open, ignoring the sounds of people waking up and flinging himself inside. For a moment, he paused; the twins had a habit of switching beds, just to annoy their mum in the morning. But he only did this for a moment because as soon as his eyes took in the fact that both beds were occupied by two identical lumps.

"FRED!" Ron howled, charging forward and leaping into Fred's bed and hugging the lump as tightly as possible.

He had to hear a heartbeat; he wouldn't accept Fred being alive unless he felt a heartbeat.

"Mehhrrr?" the lump grumbled in protest as it realised something was hugging it tightly but Ron didn't stop what he was doing.

Distantly, he could hear the sounds of people getting up and exclaiming grumpily but he ignored them. The cover shifted as the lump struggled to wake and move, and this meant that Ron now came into contact with the pyjama covered chest. He eagerly buried his face against it, inhaling the warmth the body gave. He pressed the side of his ear firmly on the chest and felt his heart jolt as he detected a heartbeat.

"Fred...," he whimpered, as he continued hugging his rapidly waking up brother, tears leaking from his eyes.

"What the hell...Ron?" came George's very confused and groggy voice.

"Ron?" came...Fred's voice as the boy struggled to sit up but it wasn't easy, Ron was big for an eleven year old. "What are you doing?"

"You're alive...you're alive," Ron gasped before bursting into tears, and burying his face against Fred's body, crying his heard out.

"Bloody Merlin," Fred swore before saying. "Get mum and dad George, he's gone crazy."

"Yeah," George said, although he sounded a lot more worried. George had always been the more sensitive twin; you could see he was the 'good' one. Well, if you had to label one as the evil one, that would be Fred but it wasn't all that obvious unless you really knew them. Ron had sometimes joked about that with Ginny when they were younger, as Fred tended to do the slightly nastier jokes but he didn't care about that now.

All he cared about was holding his big brother and never letting go.

He barely heard George leave the room to fetch their parents; he was too busy sobbing in relief. Fred was alive, he was actually alive, they were all alive and he was never going to let anything happen to them ever again. Whatever it took, they would all remain safe and whole.

"George, what is going on, who is making all that noise? If you two have been up to something..."

"It's not us, it's Ron," came Goerge's slightly offended but still worried voice. "He just came into our bedroom crying..."

"Crying?" came his dad's voice and a moment later, the two Weasley parents came hurrying in, along with George.

"Ron!" his mum exclaimed in shock as she saw the state her youngest son was in. "Ron, what's happened?"

"He's gone barmy," Fred mumbled, completely unsure what to do.

"Fred," Ron heard his dad say sternly as they approached the bed.

"Ronnie, what's wrong," his mum cooed as she gently placed a hand on Ron's back. "What's upsetting you?"

Ron however found he couldn't answer; he was just too overwhelmed with what had happened. Less than an hour or so ago, he'd been fighting for his life, he'd thought his best friend had been killed and...he'd stood over Fred's cold body. And now he was bloody back in time and didn't even know if his friends were too.

"Ron?" his dad asked a little more softly. "Son, can you tell us what's wrong?"

Ron shook his head wildly, he couldn't move from his position against Fred's chest. His mum was gently rubbing his back, trying to calm him down. George walked over so that he was sitting beside his brother who was still struggling to sit up properly. His dad also came closely so that he too could stroke his youngest son's back.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Molly asked her son, not able to think of another reason why he might have reacted in this way.

Ron paused and then nodded shortly; it certainly had been a nightmare.

"Oh Ron," Molly said soothingly. "You know dreams are nothing to get upset about, they're not real."

"It felt real," Ron somehow managed to choke out.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Arthur suggested just as a new Weasley came stomping into the room.

"What is going on?" Percy Weasley demanded pompously. "Some of us are trying to sleep."

"We're having a midnight party, Perce," Fred said sarcastically. "Ron had a nightmare or something."

"Yes and we're trying to comfort him," Molly said rather pointedly and Percy stood there rather awkwardly.

"Ah...what was it about?" he finally asked.

"Fred dying," Ron choked out and nearly everyone gasped and he felt Fred stiffen briefly before relaxing.

"So...what did I die of?" Fred now asked cheerfully. "For being too awesome?"

"Nah, that would be me," George interjected. "You probably saw your own reflection."

"Boys," Molly said sharply. "Don't make fun of your brother, this is serious."

"Ron," Arthur said very gently. "Why don't we call go downstairs and have some hot chocolate? You can tell us all about your dream then."

"Okay," Ron said, still rather choked out but a tiny bit calmer.

"You can let go now," Fred said, although he didn't say it as sarcastically as normally.

Ron very slowly peeled himself off his brother and Molly took him in her arms. He heard a whispered incantation and suddenly he was a lot lighter than before, meaning she could lift him up onto her hip and carry him away. As they all slowly exited the room, Ron laying his head on her shoulder, Ginny appeared.

"What's happening?" she asked, yawning very widely, her feet peeking from under her long nightdress.

"Ron had a nightmare," Percy informed her and she stared wide eyed at her brother.

Normally, Ron would have felt beyond embarrassed by his emotions were in too much of an upheaval to really care. They all trooped down to the kitchen were Arthur sat down on the sofa where Molly deposited Ron before hurrying to prepare hot chocolate for everyone. All the other Weasley kids all found places to sit, staring very intently at Ron.

Ron felt his ears go a bit red but was more focused on being hugged by his dad. Soon, the smell of cooking milk and melting chocolate could be smelt wafting through the kitchen, managing to relax everyone.

"Now, what was your nightmare all about?" Arthur asked gently, wanting to get things going.

"About the future," Ron mumbled, knowing this was going to sound really stupid. "When I'm of age."

"Scary thought, that," Fred said under his breath.

"So you dreamed about being older?" Arthur said and Ron nodded.

"Yeah and I was at Hogwarts, there was a massive battle between us and Voldemort..."

Ron only realised what he'd said when everyone flinched and Ginny actually gave a squeak of terror. He could barely believe what he'd said, after all he'd told Harry and Hermione. But somehow, he wasn't scared of saying the name anymore.

"Ron," Molly scolded, almost upsetting her pan of milk. "Don't say that name."

"Sorry," Ron mumbled, feeling a bit calmer. "Anyway, we were all fighting...and Percy had just hit the Minister with a jinx."

"Percy jinked someone?" both twins exclaimed in complete shock. "You're kidding."

Ginny's mouth was open and Percy looked very shocked and rather ruffled at this. Ron smiled slightly and said.

"It's okay, it was a Death Eater called Thicknesse, he'd helped kill the last Minister."

"Well um," Arthur said with a blink. "That sounds very courageous of Percy."

"Yeah and he told a joke," Ron added, which seemed to shock everyone more than the fact the third eldest Weasley child had jinxed someone.

"He told a joke?" Fred exclaimed in disbelief. "Now that I can't believe."

He paused and then asked with a grin.

"Did I die of shock?"

"No," Ron said, suddenly serious again. "Percy...he said...right after jinxing Thicknesse...'Did I tell you Minister, I'm resigning?' You found that really funny, Fred."

"I can see why," George said with a grin. "That's some delivery Percy, who knew you had it in you."

Percy didn't seem to know what to say so he stayed silent.

"You...you said," Ron choked out. "That you couldn't believe Percy had told a joke that you couldn't remember the last time he'd told one."

"Then what?" Fred asked quite cheerfully as Molly started putting the finishing touches to her hot chocolate.

"You died," Ron said flatly and everything went still.

Molly stopped stirring, Ginny stopped fidgeting, Percy almost fell off the chair arm rest he'd been sitting on and the twins flinched. Arthur had stiffened but then relaxed, hugging Ron tighter than ever as the tears started to flow down Ron's face.

"It was an explosion...no one else was hurt...you didn't even look hurt but you wouldn't get up. G-George wasn't there."

"Where was I?" George asked softly.

"Fighting somewhere else," Ron said, eye red from crying. "I...I'll never forget the look on your face...when you saw..."

George's face had gone white; he was obviously picturing this very scenario. The silence was of course, broken by Fred.

"Hey, it was only a dream Ron, it wasn't real. I'm here, I'm alright."

"It felt real," Ron repeated from earlier. "You were so cold...I couldn't feel a heartbeat."

"Ah," Fred said awkwardly as Molly came rushing over with hot chocolate. "Yeah...that explains the...yeah..."

"Ronnie," Molly cooed, depositing herself on the sofa as mugs floated to everyone. "I know it was a scary nightmare but everything's okay now. When you go to Hogwarts, you'll be perfectly safe; there won't be any battle there. And certainly not one involving You-Know-who."

"No," Ron thought mentally as he hugged her back. "There bloody won't be. Not if I have anything to say about it."

Author's note. Hope that was okay for Ron, I figured being transported back into your eleven year old body and finding out your dead brother is still alive would leave you pretty emotional as well. Next, we have Hermione's POV and probably back to Harry as well.