A/N: Standard written for The Houses Competition Year 10 round 3.

Summary: ONE-SHOT. Ron Weasley is called to collect a puffskein that was set loose in a muggle town called Market Rasen. For this particular case, he needs his deluminator. So when he finds his aqua-coloured protective case empty, he needs to find his deluminator, and fast! Romione.

House: Gryffindor

Class: Charms

Category: Standard

Word Count: 2155

Prompt(s):

[Theme] Loss of an item/object/thing (living or dead, permanent, or temporary)

[Colour] Aqua

Suzanne's prompt jar: [Sentence] It all started on a dark evening.

Warnings: None

Disclaimers: I do not own the Harry Potter universe.

The Story of Ron's Deluminator

It all started on a dark evening. Even though it was only 18:10, it was dark and stormy outside, and the lights were keeping the darkness out of the Weasley-Granger family home. Ron had the night shift this evening, and as a team leader in the Auror Department, he was always expected to be the first to arrive at work.

Before leaving for work, he did his usual pre-work routine, so he walked to the kitchen. There was his wife already cooking a lovely pumpkin-dragon stew, whilst some classical music played in the background. He kissed Hermione and wished her a nice night with the kids. He made his way to the living room, where Rose was reading in front of the fireplace, clearly completely engrossed in a book called 'The Augurey's Cry'. Ron said goodbye to Rose who did not hear him. He decided to press a kiss on the top of her head which she barely seemed to register.

Then he walked over to the foyer and smiled instantly when he saw his son, Hugo, zooming around on a toy broomstick.

"Dad! Look what I can do!" Hugo shouted in enthusiasm.

Hugo dove straight towards the wall and just before crashing into it, he made a sharp turn to the left, but not quick enough, still crashing into the wall with his side. Hugo barely noticed the crash and kept on flying, but when a lightning strike made the lights flicker, he stopped flying for a second and slowly continued when the light was back on.

Ron, who hadn't noticed his son's discomfort, started laughing and was glad that Hermione had injury-proofed the foyer with all the spells she could find so that Hugo could live out all his best flying tricks without getting hurt too much.

"I'm off to work, sport. You play nice with your sister, alright?"

"Yeah, will do. Bye, Dad!"

Ron scruffled Hugo's hair before leaving the foyer and walking to the apparition point. Before leaving, he went through the checklist in his head.

Wand? Check. Protective cloak? Check. Deluminator? He checked his left inside pocket and took out the aqua-coloured protective case of his deluminator, which Harry had given him for his birthday, and put it back into his pocket. Check. Putting up safety wards around the house? He raised his wand and placed the last few protective enchantments, checking that off in his mind too. He apparated to the Ministry of Magic.

"Auror Weasley, it is a good thing you have come early, sir. There is a situation in a muggle town called Market Rasen. For some reason, there is a luminescent puffskein running wild in that town."

"I beg your pardon?" Ron asked surprised.

"Someone came to the office a few hours ago telling us that their kid used the parent's wand to magically engineer the puffskein to light up in the dark. So, the kid, in fear that the puffskein would be killed if it got found, took the bus to a nearby village to set it loose. But now it's getting dark, and we figured it was time to find the beast and take it back here to headquarters. Since we've been asked to use as little magic as possible, we figured you could use your Put-Outer, sir, to quickly find the beast."

"I see, thank you, Roberts. I have it right here."

Ron took the aqua-coloured protective case out of his left inside pocket and opened it. He turned it upside down to let the cigarette lighter-like object fall into his hands.

But nothing fell into his hands. The aqua case was empty!

Panic washed over Ron as he quickly began thinking about where it could be. Harry used it often during his work as an auror, and both Harry's invisibility cloak and the Put-Outer were exchanged daily between the two friends. Logically, that's where the deluminator had to be!

Ron saw Roberts looking at him with mild alarm too. So, Ron told him the bad news, "Hey, I can't seem to find it. I think Harry used it and forgot to put it back. But if he didn't, it might take a while before I am back."

"Of course, sir. What would you like me to tell the team?"

Ron's mind raced through the different options.

"You know what? You wanted more responsibility, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Why don't you take the team to Market Rasen and try to find and collect the beast," Ron held up a finger, "without using visible magic," he stipulated.

"Really, sir?" Roberts asked in excitement.

"Absolutely. It might take a while before I can find Harry, but send me a patronus if it is urgent."

"You got it, sir. I won't let you down!"

Ron smiled approvingly, clapping Roberts on the back before heading off frantically in the direction of Harry's office.

On his way to Harry's office, he decided to stop at his own office first to ensure that he himself had not left the deluminator in his top drawer, or that Harry had left it there for him. Not finding it there, he frantically ransacked the rest of his drawers and office but still came up empty.

Heading towards Harry's office, he saw that the lights in Harry's office were off, but Ron was pleased to see that his assistant was there. She always knew where Harry was. So, Ron walked straight to the desk of Harry's assistant.

The elderly woman called Beverly Pratt had shiny silver glasses and a tight updo as always. She sat behind her desk and busied herself with organising a gigantic pile of files. The efficient fingers were a dark, warm contrast to the stark whiteness of the parchment files.

"Auror Weasley. How may I help you?" Mrs. Pratt asked without looking up from her paperwork.

Ron always hated how she knew everything that was going on around her without ever looking up. He figured that she was, not counting Hermione and maybe Professor McGonagall, the most competent and logical witch he'd ever met.

"Good evening, Mrs. Pratt, do you know where Harry is? I need to find him as he forgot to bring my deluminator back."

This statement made her look up from her paperwork.

"I see," she sighed.

"Auror Weasley, I hate to disappoint you, but I thought you would be aware that Mr. Potter is currently having a week of vacation."

Ron groaned and rolled his eyes in remembrance. He nodded and was about to go to visit Harry on his holiday when Mrs. Pratt continued, "And he confirmed to me that he had ticked off everything on the to-do list that I made for him. This list included returning the deluminator to you and placing the invisibility cloak in the place it is always kept."

"Oh." This news surprised Ron and now he seriously began to doubt if he hadn't already received the deluminator from Harry then.

"Are you sure?" Ron asked.

And the words weren't even out of his mouth when he realised that it was a stupid question. Of course, she was sure. She was always sure. So, Ron hastened to say, "My apologies, Mrs. Pratt. Of course, you're sure. I'm just racking my brain to figure out where I left it. I need it as soon as possible for a mission and-"

Mrs. Pratt stopped organising the files into different piles and looked straight at Ron.

"Where did you see it last?" she asked in a tone that could almost be described as motherly.

"I-I-"

Ron racked his brain. Three days before, he'd used the deluminator in the mission near Brathay Bay. Two days ago, Harry had come to his house to return the deluminator and told him he was going on holiday, and yesterday he used it to fix the light in the bathroom at home. He kept it with his wand nearly all the time. So, it was either still in his nightstand, or in his pocket. But why was the aqua case in his pocket whilst the deluminator was not?

"I last saw the deluminator yesterday at home. But the point is that I never leave it out of my protective case." Ron showed the protective case to Mrs. Pratt.

"Is that case a gift from Mr. Potter?" she asked, interested.

Ron looked up in surprise. "How did you know?"

"Because it is Mr. Potter's favourite colour and he always tries to give gifts in that colour. He says seeing that colour around brightens his day. He gave me this glasses case a few weeks ago."

Mrs. Pratt took a bright, aqua-coloured glasses case from her desk with her initials engraved on it.

"Right." Ron was at a loss for words at the moment.

Mrs. Pratt noticed that Ron did not know what to say and smiled at him.

"So, back to the case at hand. Auror Weasley, it appears that unless someone broke into your home and took it away, the deluminator is still there. Maybe it has fallen out of its case without you noticing. Or someone took it out and did not put it back after use," Mrs. Pratt said logically.

And as if a light bulb appeared above Ron's head, he suddenly realised what probably had happened.

"Mrs. Pratt, you are a genius!"

The elderly woman had already returned to working on organising her files and smiled whilst shaking her head in an amused manner. Ron stormed off to the Ministry's fireplaces to floo back home.

When he stepped back inside his living room, he realised that it was all dark at home.

"Hello?" he said into the complete darkness.

No one replied.

"Hello?" he asked, a bit louder.

"Ron? Is that you?" Hermione's voice sounded from the direction of the kitchen.

"Yes, it's me! What is going on here?"

"Well, we are playing hide-and-seek," Hermione explained.

"Okay, but why is it so dark?" Ron asked quickly.

"Rose wanted to play hide-and-seek in complete darkness. She told me that you agreed with her borrowing the deluminator so that we could play," Hermione explained. Ron could tell by Hermione's voice that she also knew something was up.

"Rose, we can talk about this later, but I need the deluminator now."

Hugo started giggling a little nervously because he knew Rose would be in big trouble once their parents got their hands on the deluminator.

Rose, on the other hand, was utterly silent.

"Rose, please, it's for a mission to save an innocent puffskein from a bad fate."

Softly, a movement was heard from the far corner of the living room. A click sounded, and suddenly the light was back in the living room.

Hugo immediately ran to Hermione and grabbed her leg, and Ron felt relief when he realised that the deluminator had been found. Then, he turned to Rose and felt his anger rising.

"I'm sorry, Dad," Rose said in a small voice, staring at the ground whilst extending the deluminator to him.

"I just wanted to help Hugo to be less afraid of the dark. Like you did for me. And I thought if you didn't notice it missing, it wouldn't hurt anyone."

Ron, whose anger had risen when he found out that his daughter stole one of his most valuable materialistic possessions, suddenly felt pride take its place.

A few tears prickled in his eyes, and he smiled so broad that he was speechless for a moment.

Ron wrapped his big arms around his daughter and pressed a bunch of kisses on her cheek. "You make me so proud, Rosie. That was very sweet of you."

"Really?" the words were barely audible from her mouth.

"Really," Ron assured her.

He softly took the deluminator from her hands and then, a small, but watery smile appeared on her lips.

"But next time, ask me because I do need this for my job sometimes. Promise?" Ron said, in the strictest voice he could muster—which was not strict at all.

"I promise," Rose said, her voice a little more powerful now.

"Good. Now, give me one last kiss. Daddy must save a luminescent puffskein." Meanwhile, he placed the deluminator back in the protective, aqua-coloured case.

"Luminescent?" Rose and Hermione asked, interested at the same time.

Ron laughed and said, "It appears that children who want something can be very resourceful."

Hermione laughed and Rose smiled self-consciously.

"Mum, what is lumisint?" Hugo asked, pulling on Hermione's sleeve.

Ron made his way back to the fireplace, stepped in, and said before flooing off, "I love you."

With a chorus of 'I love you too's' Ron left his home feeling all warm inside.

It was time to save an innocent luminescent puffskein and bring it back to its original owner if his boss would let him. Yet, Ron was going to try hard to get it back to the child because it was important.