Chapter 69

"Weasley! Weasley, cover Potter and Ryan now! They're being overrun!"

Ron turned from where he was holding off two Black Robes, his jaw almost hitting the floor when he saw the large number of enemies coming toward Harry and Ryan. Had it not been such dire circumstances and his best friend and colleague weren't about to be overrun and possibly killed, he might have stopped to admire just how many of them there were. They were still vast in numbers all these months later, but had been impossible to track down, showing up at random places in Britain in droves.

There was no time to stare, though. Instead, he left Dean to fend off two on his own and bolted across the square to help the others. Four more Aurors appeared alongside them, and now seven of them stood opposite the dozens of Black Robes, trying not to be killed.

It was Derby this time. Not far, Ron was all too aware of, from his home in Nottingham. When he'd been given the location, he was filled with a moment's panic, but the rush to get there had overtaken any unease he might have felt for the danger his neighbours might be in, and he'd Apparated directly to the square where the Black Robes were once again terrorising unsuspecting Muggles.

He'd gone into battle mode immediately, Stunning and fighting, surprisingly feeling at home on a battleground. It felt good to have his wand out again, to use the spells he'd trained for, and this time, he was determined he wasn't going to be taken out by any of them.

Some Black Robes fell, but with every one that fell, two more would appear.

"Where the hell are they coming from?" Ron cried. "This is half the wizarding world on their side." It felt like it, at least. There weren't that many wizards in Britain for them to be a local organisation. This had to be a group of people from all over the world. They had to be. But what the hell did they want? He couldn't justify so many people wanting to scare and kill innocent Muggles.

"I don't know!" Harry shouted over the roar of magic and screams. "I don't —" He swore, his attention momentarily diverted. Oliveri had fallen, Ron could see.

Ron knew then that they weren't going to win this battle standing as they were, wands drawn. He'd learnt in training that being an Auror meant so much more than wandwork. It also required a type of intelligence Ron had never been sure he possessed, along with stealth, and so much more.

He lowered his wand, ducking behind Harry briefly to take in his surroundings. Everyone was so occupied in battling that he doubted anyone else had had a chance to take note of where the Black Robes were coming from. Last time, they'd approached from all directions, surrounding them and almost defeating them; but this time they all appeared from the same direction. Of course, there could be others lurking elsewhere, but instinct told Ron that wasn't the case today.

Muggles were hiding behind statues, buildings, and a whole heap of them had locked themselves inside shops, their noses pressed against the windows in terror as they peered out at the fight unfolding before them.

But the way was clear.

"What are you doing?" Harry shouted over his shoulder, his eyes staying focused on his opponent. "Get back in —"

"We need to corner them!" Ron replied.

"What?"

"Corner them and then get them all bound. They've locked themselves in. There's no backup behind us."

"Isn't that what we're trying to do?" Harry asked.

"We're trying to take them out, but there's too many of them," Ron said.

"Robards' orders were to —"

Ron didn't care about Robards right now, and he said as much using a string of words that his mother would have pulled his ear for. Robards was as much locked in as the rest of them. He may have been Head Auror, and had he been given the chance, he might have noticed, too, but the fact was, in this moment, Ron was the only one who had the sight to see where they were going wrong.

"We're too worried about them coming from behind, but they're not," Ron told Harry confidently. "If they were, they'd be here now, they'd have us circled. So we need to press forward."

"There's too many —"

"Just press forward!" Ron shouted, now that the others could hear. "They want us to stand and fight where they have the leverage, but if we move forward, they're back into a corner. It'll be a lot easier to… they won't want to risk injuring themselves."

"Nor do we!"

"Just bloody do it!" Ron cried. "Trust me. You trust me, right?" He was panting heavily, breathless from yelling and fighting.

There was a moment Harry didn't say anything, his attention seemingly focused solely on defending himself from the repeated spells coming their way. Ron joined Harry in line again, deflecting three spells in the space of a few seconds.

Then, seeming to make up his mind, Harry roared, "Move forward!" He said it with such authority that no one questioned him. They all started forward, firing and deflecting as they did.

"What is going on?" Robards cried. "All of you, get —"

"The corner!" Ron cried. "They have nowhere to go!" He sent a Stunning spell hurtling into the chest of a petite Black Robe. He or she crumpled to the ground, and as the Black Robes now retreated, they were trampled on by their own people.

Robards seemed to spot what Ron was talking about, for he changed his attention to the large mass. "Forward!" he called. "Everyone, move forward!"

And they all did. A handful of Aurors against at least sixty Black Robes. They pressed hard, the inexperienced Black Robes falling over one another the further they were backed up. Some went down at the hands of bodies knocking them over, others in an attempt to flee. But Ron had been right — now that they were so close, they were more reluctant to fire off spells out of fear of hitting their own or having the spell deflected back on them.

The experienced Aurors now found it easier to take them down. Some did flee, breaking the ranks and running. But most were knocked out by Stunners or other non-lethal spells, until only a handful remained left to fight.

"Surrender!" Robards shouted. "Surrender now!"

Of the seven that were left standing, three ran. Seeing that their comrades had abandoned ship, the four remaining Black Robes made the very smart decision and lowered their wands. They could have made an attempt to take out another Auror, but the penalty for such an action wouldn't have been worth it.

Ron shot rope from his wand, and with another flick, had it wrapped tightly around a standing Black Robe. The others did the same, walking among the ranks of fallen witches and wizards and binding them in turn.

"I have a count of fifty-seven, sir," Dean said, coming to stand by Robards, panting.

"Fifty-eight," Harry cut in, indicating a lone Black Robe a little way from the rest of the group.

Ron nodded. "Fifty-eight."

Robards nodded, too. "Bring them all in. Weasley, Ryan, Potter, get them to the Ministry — take as many as you can at once. We'll get them in for questioning, break any silencing charms if you can and hope we can get to the bottom of this once and for all.

"The rest of you, secure the area and then we'll start the long process of erasing as many memories as we can." Robards sounded tired as he waved a vague hand in the direction of the many Muggles who had witnessed the event. "Word will get out this time. More witnesses, more people who ran. The Ministry will be busy in all areas because of this."

Everyone moved to do as instructed, Ron squatting beside two unconscious people. He gripped each of them by the ropes that bound them and hauled them to their feet. He gripped his wand tight in his hand and spun, not caring all that much if one of them got Splinched along the way.

…

"I just don't get it." Hermione came to stand beside Ron, her arms folded across her chest. They were in one of the courtrooms, each Black Robe bound to a chair by an exuberant number of powerful spells. She and Ron stood by the door, watching them. "Who are these people? What do they want?"

"Something we all want an answer to," Ron said.

"They just seem to have no purpose to what they're doing. It almost feels like they're in this for the fun of it. As if they're out there causing terror just because they can."

Ron watched the prisoners for a moment longer, before turning his focus fully to his wife. "The Azkaban cells will be getting full soon," he commented.

Hermione shook her head, looking exasperated. "They can't all go there," she said. "This is beyond anything we've ever seen. We can't even find the resources to conduct a fair trial for all of them. It will take years to get through that. And I don't even know what we could do for them if we did."

Ron almost laughed. "You don't actually want to represent them, do you? Hermione —"

"That's the problem," Hermione said, "I don't. Nor does anyone else. Even if I wanted to, what fair case could I come up with? They can't or won't speak about what their reason is. How am I supposed to defend that?" She looked troubled as she watched the mass of people in the chairs. They'd all been unmasked, the large majority of them teenagers — eighteen or nineteen. "What are they doing?" She said it so quietly that Ron knew it was a question for herself. He answered anyway.

"I wonder if they even know."

Harry joined them by the entrance, a scratch on his cheek now sporting dried blood.

"You alright?" he asked Ron.

"Yeah, didn't land in hospital this time, so I'm good." He tried to smile, but suddenly fatigue hit him and he shrugged instead.

"I think we won that because of you, mate," Harry said.

Hermione shifted beside him, eyes staring up. "What did you do?"

"My job." Ron shrugged again.

"He saved all our asses, that's what," Harry said, grinning. "You should hear Robards going on about it upstairs."

"What's he saying?" Ron demanded, feeling his heart start to beat a little faster. The last thing he needed today was his boss ranting at him for breaking orders.

"That it's thanks to you that we got out of this. You're his new favourite. You'll be promoted to second in charge after this. Robards is your number one fan."

Harry had said it as a joke, but Ron's ears went red, and Hermione's hand rested on his arm. "You're a hero," she said gently.

"I'm not," Ron insisted, folding his arms across his chest. "As I said, I was just doing my job. It was part of training to look at every angle. Any one of you would have done it had you not all been forced into battle."

"Yeah, but it was you," Harry said. "And that's what matters right now. Who knows what would have happened if you hadn't bothered to check behind you and realise there was no one coming up behind us."

Ron stared at his feet, though he knew Hermione was gazing up at him with admiration. "I was just doing my job," he muttered.

"And you did a damn good job, apparently," Hermione said. "You're a good Auror."

"You're an amazing Auror," Harry corrected. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Ron didn't respond.

"Anyway," Harry said, "Robards wants to see you. So, you need to head up."

Ron nodded and Harry turned around, leaving him alone with Hermione again.

"He's right, you know," she said.

"Maybe."

"Stop selling yourself short, Ron. You always do it. You really are a great Auror, and no matter how you feel about it, that won't change." She paused for a moment, searching for the right words. Ron kept his eyes focused on the prisoners. "You know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think that after today, you've realised that it's not as terrible as you thought it was. That maybe… maybe you actually enjoyed today."

As usual, Hermione seemed able to read him like an open book. He couldn't hide his thoughts from her no matter how hard he tried. The truth was, today had elicited some kind of enjoyment within him, and it confused him. He'd spent the last few months determined that he wanted out of this job. But now, after today, it had felt good to be there. It felt right; like he belonged.

"You were injured last time, Ron. Of course you're going to feel miserable afterwards. But today, you're a hero."

"I'm not a —"

Hermione reached up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "Well, you are to me." She fell back down and smiled up at him. He sighed, turning to face her. "Go up and see Robards," she said. "I'll see you at home."

Ron kissed her forehead in farewell and made the trek back up to the Auror office. Robards greeted him with a wide smile.

"Weasley!" he cried, and Ron suddenly felt all eyes on him. He went red.

"Come here, come with me!" Robards said. "You too, Potter. Ryan."

The three men followed Robards from the Auror office and down the corridor to the Head Auror's personal office. Ron felt a wild thrill encompass him as he stepped inside. He wasn't being called into this office to be reprimanded; the look on Robards' face told him that. It was because he had done well, he'd seen something no one else had. This was everything he'd imagined being an Auror would entail. Being out, bringing in Dark Wizards and then being praised for the effort. It was because of him that most of the Black Robes were captured and no Auror had been killed in the process.

"Sit, sit," Robards said to them all cheerfully. He sat himself and continued immediately, "We need people to locate where they're hiding."

"What?" Harry asked, sounding confused. "What do you mean —"

"A second attack means Edinborough wasn't a once off. They are what Muggles would consider a terrorist organisation. Their main goals are to cause terror and to kill. Which means we need to get to the bottom of it soon."

No one spoke.

"Do you know how many Muggles died today?" Robards continued.

They all shook their heads.

"Seven. Seven unnecessary deaths today in this attack. And it's our fault — the wizarding community. We were making progress, looking to relax rules around the Statute of Secrecy, working towards a positive relationship. But now Kingsley has to deal with a furious Prime Minister who wants to cut ties all together."

Ron felt sick. Seven deaths. He looked away.

"I want the three of you to investigate," Robards pressed. "I'm sending you on a mission." His eyes flicked to Ron, grinning. "It's what you've wanted, isn't it, Weasley?"

"Yes," Ron said, feeling another thrill shoot through him. "Yes."

Robards nodded. "You showed quality today, Weasley. Seeing something the rest of us were too distracted to see. It's because of you that we are sitting here talking about it. You've earned your place. All of you have."

Ron flushed, but this time it was due to pride. He smiled ever so slightly.

"When do we leave, sir?" Harry asked.

"This Friday," Robards said. "It will give us a few days for us to try and narrow down a location and a starting point. For now, I want the three of you down in those courtrooms helping Granger process the prisoners and breaking the silencing charms on them. We need to know all we can — people's lives are at stake."

…

Ron waited until after dinner to bring up the mission with Hermione. He felt absolutely wrecked after the events of that afternoon, and after a day of processing almost sixty people, Hermione hadn't felt much like cooking either. Her eyes had dark circles under them. She looked exhausted.

So, they'd bought fish and chips from a place nearby and sat in front of the TV to eat it. Afterwards, Ron was going upstairs to collapse into bed.

He wasn't sure how Hermione might take him going away, so he'd been playing with the words in his head to make sure he got it right. He thought she'd be excited, but it was really the first time they'd been separated since… well, for a very long time. It felt strange just thinking about sleeping in a bed that didn't have her in it with him.

"I've got to go —"

"I was going to wait until Friday, but —"

They looked at each other and then grinned. They'd sat in silence for ten minutes, and then suddenly, they'd both tried to speak at the same time.

"Can I go first?" Ron asked, feeling the need to get it out.

Hermione nodded. "Of course."

"I'm going away on a mission," he told her. "To figure out where the Black Robes are keeping up. It'll be the first actual mission." He said it with a smile.

"Oh!" Hermione said, and a smile of her own graced her face. "Oh, that's wonderful, Ron! When are you going?"

"Friday. Come back Sunday."

At that, her face fell, but she recovered quickly, another smile forming in its place. But Ron had seen it, remembering her words, 'I was going to wait until Friday…'

"What did you want to do on Friday?" he asked her curiously.

Her eyes widened as if she hadn't expected him to remember. "Oh… oh, that." She laughed in an attempt to brush it off. "I was just trying to plan a date for us in the evening. Nothing we can't do when you get back. I have the day off on Friday, you see."

Ron narrowed his eyes. "You gave yourself a day off?"

Her cheeks tinged pink. "Yes. Kind of a… a day of self care. And then a date with you in the evening." She shook her head. "But it doesn't matter. We can do it when you get back. This is more important." She smiled and Ron returned it, feeling awed that she'd been planning something for them.

"I should be back by midday Sunday," he said. "If all goes to plan. We're mostly just investigating, so I can't see why not. Can we go out Sunday instead?"

"Absolutely!" Hermione answered. "I look forward to it.". She gave him another smile and Ron put his arm across her shoulders to draw her close to him.

"So, you think you might stay with being an Auror?" Hermione asked as she laid her head against his shoulder. "I mean, you're not thinking of leaving anymore?"

Ron had a good feeling inside him. It was as if some dead weight had been lifted off his chest and he felt like he could breathe again.

"Yeah…" he said slowly. "Yeah. I think I want to stay."

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and sit down for Ron's rollercoaster tennis match with himself about whether he wants to stay witht he Aurors!