I wonder what Ron's been up to all this time...

Chapter 19

Ron Weasley sat, despondent, in the corner of a small, filthy shed that sat on the outskirts of an equally small muggle town. He had been trying desperately to get back to Harry and Hermione ever since the day he had left. The problem was, he'd had no idea how to find them, or even where to start searching.

He figured that it was probably a good thing. After all, if he couldn't find a trace of them anywhere, the Death Eaters and Snatchers probably hadn't been able to track them down, either. He had run into a group of Snatchers the day after he had left, and had narrowly escaped them. He didn't relish the idea of the sadistic fucks getting ahold of either Harry or Hermione.

The thought that they were likely still undiscovered may have been some small comfort, but it certainly didn't help him feel better as he spent night after night hiding and sleeping in run down barns and dilapidated, leaky sheds. His thoughts were constantly consumed by worry for them; where were they? And how in Godric's name had he ever been able to just leave them?

Logically, he knew that at least a small part of the reason was the influence that the Horcrux had exerted over him. He still couldn't reason out, even after all of this time, why it had affected him so much more than it had either Harry or Hermione. He also knew, though, that most of it had stemmed from himself and not from the dark object. He had been so…jealous.

He had been jealous of Hermione's clearly deep feelings for Malfoy. Having assumed that those feelings would disappear upon their separation, only to watch them grow stronger, had caused his resentment to fester inside of him. He had also been jealous over the brother-sister bond that Harry and Hermione had always had, which he had never fully understood but had always looked at from the outside and envied.

The physical pain he had been in following his splinching had certainly not helped to improve his temperament, nor had the mental agony that he had fought with every day over his family: missing them, wondering if they were all still safe, still – alive.

All of those things had come together, boiling up inside of him until it had spilled over and onto his unsuspecting friends as he had lost his temper in a most spectacular and asshole-ish fashion. The consequences of that temper, thought, had been catastrophic. He had left his friends when they had both needed him most, and he didn't know that he would ever be able to truly make it up to them.

Before he could even attempt to mend the bridges that he had set ablaze on his departure, however, he had to find them. In addition to that first run in with the Snatchers the morning after leaving, he'd been ambushed two other times. He'd gotten lucky both times and had even managed to snag a few of their wands, just as a backup. They were stored safely in his pack at the moment.

As he sat in the corner of the drafty, dirty building he played idly with the Deluminator that Dumbledore had bequeathed him in his will. Suddenly, he heard Hermione's voice say his name. He stared at the object in confusion, certain that her voice had come from inside of it. After at least twenty minutes of hearing nothing more, he had finally decided that he was officially going barmy. Then, he heard it again. Only this time, it wasn't Hermione's voice that spoke his name: it was Harry's.

He clicked the button of the Deluminator and watched, awestruck, as a small orb of light floated out of it and towards his own body. The light bounced along until it came to rest on his chest, just over his heart. He was suddenly filled with a certainty that, should he Apparate, the light would guide him to where he needed to be. He waved his wand, packing up the few things that he still possessed into his pack, then rose to his feet and twisted on the spot and Apparated away, his destination unknown.

After a few crushing, uncomfortable moments he landed heavily in the middle of a snow-covered forest. He looked around, wondering where he was but was unable to glean any answers in the darkness of the night. He decided to sit down and wait, hoping that, if they were there, Harry or Hermione would show themselves soon.

Ron was woken at dawn by the sun peeking through the trees to glint brightly in his eyes as it reflected of the untouched snow. As he looked around, checking again in the light of day for any clues as to his best friends' whereabouts, suddenly Harry appeared as if out of nowhere.

Heart in his throat, Ron rose to his feet before calling out softly:

"Harry."

He watched as Harry spun on his heel, wand raised and ready to strike. He did not lower it upon realizing who had called for him, which Ron understood. That did not make it hurt any less, though.

"What kind of sandwich did your mother pack you for the train ride to Hogwarts our first year?" Harry asked him, voice stern and wand at the ready.

It only took a moment for Ron to pull the memory to mind, and his face twisted up into a rueful grimace.

"Corned beef. She always forgets that I don't like it."

He watched as Harry's wand finally lowered to point at the ground.

"I had to make sure it was you, not someone pretending to be you," Harry said, tone wary. Ron nodded in understanding.

"I'm sorry, mate," Ron blurted out, diving right into what he had been rehearsing in his head for weeks now. "I'm not going to try to excuse what I did or blame it on anything apart from my own jealousy and hurt feelings."

Harry finally smiled then: a small, reserved smile but a smile, nonetheless.

"I'm just glad you're back," Harry told him before walking over to him and pulling him in for a hug.

"Come on," Harry said. "I'll get you through the wards."

Ron hadn't really expected a warm welcome once he had found the two, but Harry's reception was warmer than he could have ever asked for. Hermione's though, was frosty and biting. After chasing Harry around the fire for several moments, trying to retrieve her wand from him, she finally threw her hands up in the air before turning back to him and pointing at him with an accusing finger.

"If you think that you can just waltz back here after all this time, like nothing ever happened, you are truly delusional! I begged you to stay, but you still left us. You have a long way to go before you earn my forgiveness, Ronald Weasley!"

Ron hung his head in shame. He didn't need Hermione to tell him what he had known to be true the very second he had left.

"I know, Hermione," he said somberly. "I knew it as soon as I left. I understand if you can't forgive me, if we can never go back to the way things were before. But I'm still going to try to do whatever it takes to earn your forgiveness."

Song Inspiration: Hello – Adele