Chapter Nine: Going, Going, Gone

Ron had made his plan with Hermione on the trip back on the train. He was going to wait until it was really late and just go. However, Hermione had found that useful Undetectable Extension Charm in one of her advanced books that had made everything even easier. Another bonus was the charm made the bag weightless too, but now all he had to do was wait for his father to come home from work and go to bed with his mother who was waiting up for him.

While he waited, Ron wrote a letter to his family, pouring all his anger into it, and finished his packing by putting his trunk into the charmed bag.

The moment he heard his parents coming up the stairs, his heart started to beat furiously. He knew he needed to wait for at least twenty minutes to be on the safe side before leaving his bedroom for the last time. Ron made the time go by listing all the things he loved about Hermione, which took even longer than the twenty minutes he allowed himself and so over half an hour later, he grabbed the extended bag with his belongings, crept downstairs to the kitchen and then out of the backdoor.

Once outside, he walked past the broom shed, the pond, and his father's shed for the last time, before leaving the Burrow and its surrounding area forever. Once out of the enchantments that surrounded the area, Ron continued to walk down to the village of Ottery St Catchpole.

The village was a muggle one with a few wizards who lived nearby. As Ron walked through the village he realised that this would probably be the last time he would see it for a very long time. Once he got to a reasonable distance from the village he stuck out his right hand.

A moment or two later there was a loud bang and a purple triple decker bus appeared and stopped. Ron stepped on board to be greeted by the conductor.

'Welcome to the –' the pimply young wizard began but Ron cut across him.

'Spare me the introduction, mate, just tell me how much to get out of here.'

'Depends on where you wanna go,' said the conductor.

'Ashford, Kent,' said Ron.

'Thirteen Sickles,' said the conductor, 'but for fourteen you get a hot chocolate, and for fifteen –'

Ron cut across him again.

'Here's a Galleon and keep the change,' he said and gave him one of the Galleons that he had taken from Potter on the train home and sat down on a chair.

'Thanks,' said the conductor, before saying, 'off we go!' to the driver.

The bus then started to move with another bang and almost had Ron flying out of his seat and thinking it was a good decision to not get a hot chocolate. The bus moved very fast through town after town, city after city. Places covered in darkness went by in a blur. The bus made a stop occasionally to collect a couple more passengers but Ron did not let them see him as the bus brought him closer to Hermione.

The conductor approached him and said, 'What did you say your name was?'

'I didn't,' replied Ron.

'What part of Ashford do you want dropping off at?' he asked.

'There's a pub called "The Queen's Head",' Ron told him.

The conductor nodded and left to tell the driver.

For the rest of the journey, Ron was left alone and when they finally arrived, he was glad to be off the bus at last. He turned to the conductor and said, 'Thank you very much, and if anyone asks you about me, can you tell them you dropped me off in Bristol?'

'Sure, mate, take care now,' said the conductor, before the bus left with another loud bang.

Now that Ron was alone he took in his surroundings. He noticed a couple of parked cars and a vandalised phone box. A wall covered in graffiti. It was then that there was a flashing light. Ron saw it in the corner of his eye so he did not see where it came from until the flashing light occurred again. He saw it coming from one of the parked cars. He saw the passenger door open and a girl stepped out and waved him over to them. Ron carefully crossed the road and made his way to the car and saw that the girl was Hermione, he then ran the last few steps and when he reached her he hugged her fiercely, whispering, 'I missed you so much,' over and over again, as Hermione whispered back to him, 'Me too.'

They shared a passionate snog before a voice said, 'Good evening, Ron.'

Ron and Hermione broke apart blushing. Ron then said, 'Good evening, Mrs Granger, er, sorry about all the inconvenience of my arrival and everything.'

Mrs Granger smiled and said, 'Don't apologise, Ron, my husband would have loved to have been here to collect you as to him it's all very "Bondian" and spy-like, but he has appointments in the morning, as for me, I can tell you make Hermione very happy, and if she's happy that's all that matters. Anyway, it's getting late and we should get home.'

'Right you are, Mrs Granger,' said Ron, before getting in the back seat of the car. Hermione closed the front passenger side door and got in the back with Ron and wrapped herself into his body and he held her in return.

Hermione's mother then climbed back into the car and started the engine, as she slyly used the rear-view mirror to look at Hermione and Ron before re-adjusting it to its proper place and started to drive them home.

'Ron?' said Mrs Granger.

'Yes, Mrs Granger?' he replied.

'Call me Helen, Mrs Granger was my mother-in-law,' she told him.

'Whatever you say, Helen,' said Ron.

Helen smiled and continued to drive and got them home safely. Once there, they quietly showed Ron to his room, which was opposite Hermione's, before all three of them went to bed.

0o0

When Molly Weasley awoke the next morning she decided she would take Ron to Auntie Muriel's house after breakfast. She gave her husband a shake and he awoke with a grunt before getting out of bed to wash and dress for the day as Molly too washed and dressed for the day.

Once she was ready she went down to the kitchen to start breakfast. A few minutes later she was joined by her husband who sat at the table and read the morning paper. Molly noticed the frowns upon her husband's brow and guessed that he had found the latest barb in the Prophet about Harry. When his breakfast was ready she put it on the table in front of him and received a kiss in return before he started to eat. Knowing that the children would not be up for a while yet, she took a seat next to her husband and ate her breakfast too, as they ate in confortable silence.

When Arthur had finished, he washed up his own plate and utensils before giving her another kiss and bidding her good day as she did the same in return. Bill was up half an hour later and she cooked him his breakfast. He gave her his thanks and ate quietly, thinking to himself. Twenty minutes later, Ginny joined them at the breakfast table, and Molly gave her plenty of food. Ten minutes later they were all joined by the twins, who were each given large portions to eat. As Molly wasn't cooking for Ron anymore, she sat down with her children and waited for Ron to join them. As they ate, she also informed them that she would be taking Ron to Muriel's after breakfast. This brought about a nasty grin on Ginny's face, which quickly disappeared.

As Fred and George had finished their breakfast, they waited for Ron to join them all, but Ron did not come down at all.

'Where is that boy? Doesn't he know how busy we're going to be?' Molly hissed.

'Do you want me to go and wake him?' Bill offered.

'No, I'll do it,' replied Molly, giving Bill a smile before getting to her feet. Molly then climbed the stairs up to the attic bedroom that had been Ron's for so very long. When she got to his door she knocked but got no answer. She knocked again, louder this time, but still no answer. So this time she opened the door and walked into the room.

There was no sign of Ron or his belongings. On the bed she saw an envelope on top of what looked like a book. Molly snatched up the envelope, took out the parchment and began to read.

To whom it may concern,

By the time you read this I shall be gone, and gone for good. I've left behind a stack of photographs of your new son/brother, Harry, to pore over instead. I hope you will all be very happy together, if he doesn't get you all killed, that is.

Now that my third biggest fear has become a reality, I no longer consider myself a Weasley. You all turned your back on me in favour of the fucking Boy Who Lived, and truthfully I'm not surprised as I expected it, one way or another. Six members of my own family betrayed me to get rid of me in exchange for Harry fucking Potter, well fine, just don't come crying back to me when he gets you hurt or killed. You are no longer my family and you can kiss my arse.

I have nothing more to say to any of you, except don't try to contact me, don't try to find me.

The real strange thing is that I don't hate you, I guess you are just no longer important enough for me to hate, any of you. Even you, Ginevra, a wand-happy little bitch who turned on me with the promise of being closer to her precious Potter and most likely becoming nothing more than his fucking concubine, but, hey, if the cap fits … and it's the only way for you to trap him …

Then there's Fred and George, who also turned on me, though I do not know why. Frankly, I don't give a fuck as I'll no longer have to put up with being pranked, taunted and teased by the two of you any longer.

Bill and Charlie as well, eh? You judged me on my fucking schoolwork and the way I used to treat Hermione? Well, don't worry; I treat Hermione like a queen now she's my girlfriend, despite Potter's attempt to make her go out with someone she does not love!

Then there is my loving mother. I do not remember the last time you gave me a hug, or told me that you cared about me in some way, or any way, for that matter. You expect me to do as well as the rest but it will never matter as five other brothers, well, three of them at least, have done it all already between them! I'm not Bill, who was cool, smart, and Head Boy, I'm not Charlie, who was Quidditch Captain and went to work with Dragons, I'm not Percy, who was smart and Head Boy too, I'm not Fred and George, funny, smart and popular, and I'm not Ginevra, I was not born the girl you so desperately wanted. I know I was such a disappointment to you when I was born. I know my place as the last person in your list of people you care the most about, and I'm even below that old bag, Muriel, who you were going to foist upon me for seven fucking weeks! As a matter of fact you showed me last summer what you think of me when you gave me those shitty fucking dress robes to wear to the Yule Ball, and bought your precious little girl, who was too young to even go to said ball, a new dress she might not have needed! Of course she did need it when Neville Longbottom, Potter's new curse-dummy, invited her. You should have waited until she was actually invited by someone before buying her a dress and bought me decent robes back in the summer. But, oh no, you couldn't bring yourself to put someone else ahead of precious little Ginevra, could you? You probably thought, "Fuck Ron, he doesn't matter, I never wanted him anyway, and no girl is going to want to go with him to the Yule Ball, he's far too ugly and immature, but the boys will all be lining up to ask my dear Ginevra!"

Oh, and another thing, why was I the only one of us to start Hogwarts without a wand of their own? Why did I have to wait two fucking years for a wand of my own? Oh, hang on, that's right, I wasn't wanted by you, was I, mother dear? Maybe not having my own wand was one of the reasons my marks aren't so good? Maybe the reason I don't apply myself is because I still believe that I'm wasting my time trying to emulate my brothers, and that I'm crap at magic, despite having my own wand? Is it any fucking wonder I have an inferiority complex?

This concludes my goodbye letter to you all. Dad, if you're reading this and only just finding out what has happened, don't blame yourself, you work hard for your family and I appreciate all the time we had together. Percy, well, I don't actually know what to say to you except that I'm sorry I never treated you better. Dad, Percy, I love you very much, but I had to leave. As for the rest of you … well, see above, especially the part about not trying to contact me or trying to find me.

Oh, and one more thing, could one of you useless arses make sure that Pig is returned to Snuffles? I do not think it would be appropriate for me to keep Pig as I am no longer friends with the godson of Snuffles, thank you.

Ron

When Molly finished the letter, she ran downstairs to show the others.

Bill read the letter aloud to them all as they listened.

Once he was finished, Ginny said, 'Good riddance to him!'

Molly was sitting in her seat staring into space sadly and did not hear her daughter's words. Bill went back up to Ron's room and saw the photo album on the bed. He opened it and saw that Ron was true to his word as inside were pictures of Harry with himself and Hermione cut out of them. Bill sighed and took the album downstairs and showed them its contents.

All five of them knew one thing; they had lost Ron forever.