Autumn 1991

Ronald Weasley

Ron's heart hammered against his ribcage, and his stomach tightened, twisting itself into knots and threatening to make him sick. He laid still on his back, staring at the emerald canopy as he took shallow breaths. He tried to remember his dream and why it had woken him, he vaguely remembered something about a broomstick cracking, but nothing else. He sighed, thankful at least that he hadn't had one of the other dreams, the kind that left him exhausted afterwards.

He pushed the covers off of himself, his limbs feeling slightly sluggish and heavy with the anxiety that pulsed in his veins. It made him frown, he shouldn't have felt so nervous. After all, it wasn't he who was taking a risk. Theo had made it clear that he would take the fall for anything that went wrong. Still, he wasn't sure if Malfoy would care to look at who took responsibility or if he would lash out at any and all of them for the events that were going to unfold. And if anything went wrong, Ron frowned, there would be hell to pay for all of them. It wouldn't matter if Theo took responsibility if the professors found out that they had all knowingly let the conspiracy take place.

The consequences spiralled through his mind, each worse than the last. He imagined having to fight Malfoy and wondered if Crabbe or Goyle would break his arm like promised. He hoped not, broken arms probably made it hard to perform magic. Of course, if that happened he would also have to mend broken trust. Percy would probably be angry at him, maybe Sal too. That made him feel even more terrible seeing as those were two of the only people he hadn't already disappointed.

Ron pulled himself out of his bed and forced his legs to carry him to the shower. The hot water beat his skin red, but he enjoyed the sensation working its way through his muscles. When he was finished, he inspected himself in the mirror, carefully monitoring the shadows beneath his eyes. They seemed less pronounced that morning, probably because he had managed at least eight hours of sleep. If he was lucky, he would get another six that night and then maybe they would seem less like circles and more like slightly grey smudges.

After dressing, he left the dormitory, noting that he was the last to wake. It didn't take him very long to locate Blaise in the common room, a large roll of parchment unrolled in front of him, his eyes busy at work proof-reading an assignment. Across from Blaise, Daphne wrote something of her own, although it was on a small card and more likely to be a letter than any assignment. Ron slotted himself into one of the free chairs, drawing both sets of eyes as he did so with an audible thump.

"Morning," he greeted them with a mumble.

Daphne tilted her head slightly before she returned the gesture. Blaise just nodded, his eyes quickly flicking back to his work and shifting down the paper.

"It's happening at breakfast, right?" He asked. Although he knew the answer, he wanted to bring up the subject.

Blaise froze and looked up again. "It is," he said and thinned his lips, "I was hoping that Theo wouldn't find the potion he was looking for. He was here already this morning, and he found a permanent hair dye potion."

"He left something for you," Daphne added. She reached into her pocket and handed him a small blue vial.

Ron turned it over in his hands and read the label 'dreamless sleep'. "Why would he get me this?"

"He's trying to buy loyalty," Daphne shrugged. "It's up to you to decide if you let him."

"Put it away," Blaise cautioned. "If Snape sees it, he'll think you broke into the storeroom."

Ron slipped the potion into his pocket. A part of him wanted the relief of at least a night without dreaming but another part of him was worried that Theo might expect some sort of repayment. It only added more to the confusion he was already dealing with.

"It's a terrible idea," Daphne said. "This isn't a prank, it's bordering on assault. If he gets caught, he's going to be expelled. Which is fine, I don't care what school Nott goes to, but he can at least wait until we've gotten something out of him."

"Or Malfoy kills him," Blaise shrugged.

"You think he'll react badly?" Ron asked, still doubting which way the plan would go.

"I don't know for certain," Blaise answered, "but I wouldn't be surprised if he decides to get revenge. It's better if we just learn to ignore each other."

Daphne gave Blaise a narrow glare. "Ignore each other? That's wishful thinking, Zabini."

"Call it a wish then," Blaise said idly.

"I wish the morning was just over," Ron added. "I'm feeling nervous."

"Not very Gryffindor of you," Daphne said with a raised eyebrow.

Ron rolled her eyes at her. "Gryffindors get nervous too, Percy does all the time."

"Perhaps," she said softly before standing to her feet. "Well, if you two are ready, we should head to breakfast."

Blaise frowned slightly and rolled his papers back together. Once he had gathered his things, they left the common room and made their way towards the great hall.

They stepped through the towering doors, the hall already humming with the sounds of students. Cutlery clinked against plates and the entire room had a slightly orange sheen as the long ceiling above melted away into the sky and the rising sun. Ron found his eyes running the length of the Gryffindor table, catching and then continuing on both Harry and his brothers. He hoped that Theo and Tracey had kept the smoke bombs clear of the twins, he wouldn't like to imagine what the retribution might be if they saw it as a challenge.

The Slytherin table was half-full, small clusters of their housemates gathered in cliques. Theo and Tracey sat near the group's usual end, their heads bent close as they whispered over their plates of eggs and toast. Ron felt his stomach flip again, the smell of food only serving to unsettle him. He felt his face pale as he took one of the empty spaces on the bench.

Theo looked up at Ron and smirked, giving him a slow small nod. He had an unnerving calmness that only made Ron worry more. Theo didn't look like he had spent the last few hours sneaking around and plotting revenge, instead he looked like he had conquered something, his posture nearly as good as Daphne's and his eyes shining brightly in the mixture of candlelight and dawn sunshine.

Theo leaned back on his side of the table and swept his eyes across the great hall nonchalantly. "Everyone ready?" he asked in a low voice.

Daphne didn't look up from her plate. "As ready as I'll ever be."

"No," Ron said, feeling his pulse quicken.

"That's about what I expected," Theo shrugged. "Zabini?"

Blaise shook his head. "It's a dumb idea."

"Tssk, I didn't think you would be so jealous."

Blaise rolled his eyes and swept a pile of scrambled eggs onto his plate. Ron did his best to mimic him, but couldn't bring himself to actually try any of the food.

"Retribution," Theo spoke softly. "Is a pleasure, gentlemen. The sooner you realise that the sooner you can start enjoying what's about to happen."

"And if Malfoy feels the same way?" Ron asked.

"Well, then it just gives me a chance to try again."

Daphne looked up from her plate and glared at him. "If Malfoy feels the same way, I'm going to have to find Tracey a new potions partner. Your arms will be bent so far backwards it will take Madam Pomfrey a week to fix them."

"Someone isn't very friendly this morning," Theo teased. "So worried about Tracey? Not at all about me?"

"Worried that you're going to make things worse," she said lightly. "But, as I have no other ideas, I have no choice but to hope you aren't as stupid as you seem to be."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

The room seemed strangely normal, and it somewhat settled Ron to think that no one was aware of what was going to happen. Some of the older Slytherin students erupted in a small chorus of laughter, completely unaware of the plot that was brewing under their nose. Ron wondered if they were even aware that there was trouble with the first years. Daphne had explained to him the house dynamics, but he still struggled to tell which group was which and whether or not they were paying them any attention. He had caught an older girl giving him a strange look once before but it might have just been because he was a Weasley. Thankfully, the constant questions about his sorting had been replaced mostly by weary glares.

Ron was tempted to pick up his fork and try to eat something when he heard the sudden whoosh of overhead wings. He clenched his jaw and waited as the sounds of hundreds of owls filled the room, their wings casting shadows in the glimmering rays of sunlight. Ron's eyes flicked upwards, tracking a few of the birds, wondering when something would happen.

Without warning, small puffs of smoke exploded in rapid succession all across the great hall. Think clouds of fog and colour obscuring the room with loud explosions followed by the screams of students and a couple of fits of coughing.

"Merlin's beard!" Ron heard someone shout from across the room, the voice drowned out by the rising volume of gasps and yelps.

It took only a few seconds for the room to be unrecognisable, tables and figures that were only a few feet away completely vanishing in the cover. A loud crash came from the Hufflepuff table and Ron watched as the shadow of a student loomed close before being knocked away by the hoot of a disoriented owl.

Theo wore the biggest grin that Ron had ever seen and Tracey stifled a giggle beside him. "Well," he said, raising his voice to be heard over the chaos, "it's brilliant, isn't it?"

Daphne looked less than impressed. She wrinkled her nose and glared at Theo. "Brilliant? This is a disaster waiting to happen."

Theo didn't bother responding, instead, he took to his feet and disappeared into the haze.

Ron felt his heart race faster and faster. The smoke, the shouts, the hint of black powder in the air, all of it made him feel like he was sinking. It smelt like burning, like the raging infernos that ravaged the campsites in his vision. He pushed his eyes together as tightly as he could trying to drown out the rest of the world but shadows moved and twisted around him. His shut eyes filled with the glow of green light and he heard angry harsh whispers in his ears. Sweat collected in his fists which he had clenched without even realising it. The green glowing wisps began to form together, the hazy shape of a !

He opened his eyes widely, flooding them with the itchy smoke. He could hardly breathe, he knew the smoke was safe but still he gasped for 's not right, it's not right, it's not stood up without even really meaning to and before he knew it he was making his way towards the centre of the table.

He heard someone stand up behind him and follow, he didn't turn to look, his mind solely focused on preventing Theo from making a dangerous mistake. He knew what they were doing was wrong, he had tried his best to ignore the tightness in his chest, but he could no longer help it. Sal's words about giving your enemy an opportunity to be better rang loudly in his ears and he realised that they weren't meant for Theo but for Malfoy. How could Malfoy be anything but an arse if they never even gave him a chance? He was meant to protect Hogwarts, all of it, and that included Malfoy didn't it?

"Malfoy!" Ron said nearly stumbling into him if it wasn't for Crabbe blocking him with an outstretched hand.

"Weasley?" Malfoy frowned. "Have you come to gloat about what your idiot brothers did?"

What?He looked around , right, the smoke.

"No," he said quickly. His eyes darted to the shadowed plate on the table. "I… I came to apologise," he lied.

His words caused Malfoy to snicker. "Apologise? It's about damn time one of you Weasley's took some responsibility."

"About the other day, when you met me and Harry in the upper corridors."

"I told you you were playing with fire, Weasley," Draco said, a smug smile pulling at his lips. "Nice to see you're not a complete waste of space for once. If you manage not to botch things up, you could even make something of yourself. Though I wouldn't hold my breath on you joining proper society."

Suddenly Ron felt himself yanked aside as Daphne came tumbling past him, her hand landed firmly in the middle of Draco's plate and sent it tumbling onto the floor. She scrambled back to an upright position muttering apologies as she did so.

Malfoy's smile had turned into a thin frown, and there was redness in his pale skin. "You mangy dolt!"

Ron stepped between them.

"Run along, Weasley, and take Greengrass with you before Crabbe here decides to break her nose," Draco sneered. "Next time, if you're hoping to crawl back and make amends with me, at least have the decency to bring something of value unlike Greengrass here."

They only stepped a foot away before Ron began to whisper. "Why did you do that?" he asked.

Daphne gave him a disgusted look, picking bits of bacon out of her sleeve. "For our alliance, Weasley. Don't be daft, I don't make a habit of falling into breakfast."

"But, I mean, why?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because you're an idiot, and you had no plan for stopping Nott's plan. I had to improvise. If you told me you wanted to stop him, I would have had Tracey switch out his potion for something bootless. Instead, you didn't tell me anything and now I have to get my robes washed. Which, by the way, you're paying for."

"I just decided it wasn't worth it," Ron explained. "I just decided we can't go through with it."

"Which is an idiotic thing to do," she countered. "Acting on impulse only makes for bad planning, it's something a Gryffindor does, not a Slytherin."

"Thank you," he added sheepishly. "For helping."

"Another deal," Daphne said. "I expect you to be as committed to helping me and Tracey as we are to you."

Ron only nodded, mauling over her words carefully. He knew she was right, he had been slightly idiotic. If Malfoy had decided to eat any of his food while Ron was fake apologising then he might have been implicated in the plot. Or worse, he frowned, Malfoy would blame him entirely.

Ron wasn't sure what had come over him, he had started to see the vision again, the giant snake wrapping through the mouth of a skull, and it was as if his body was screaming at him to follow the deep feeling he had in his gut. The feeling which he should have listened to far earlier into the discussion about revenge on Malfoy. It was like an impulse, a deep itch he couldn't scratch, urging him to intervene. He swallowed harshly, not sure if the feeling was his own anxiety and nervousness or an echo of his vision. Either way, he had done it. He had ruined Theo's plan.

Ron sat back in his spot at the table and he reached inside of his robe pocket to grasp his wand tightly, using the warmth to comfort him as he glanced nervously across the table at Theo. Theo raised an eyebrow at him, sensing the tension but Ron was sure he didn't understand why.

"I ruined it," Ron said softly to him. "I couldn't let you give him the potion."

Daphne, Tracey, and Blaise froze in place, glancing between them both.

Theo feigned a frown before his lips twitched into a bright smirk. "Weasley, Weasley, Weasley," he said slowly. "Do you think I'm stupid? I mean truly?"

Wait, what?Ron was suddenly very confused. He had expected Theo to be livid or to do something completely foul like call him a poverty-stricken blood-traitor.

Theo reached into his robe pocket and placed a small orange vial on the table between them. It was completely unopened, with not a single drop missing. Ron's mind reeled with what that could possibly mean.

"And here I thought Greengrass knew how to play," Theo said smugly. "I didn't spike Malfoy's food, I knew you didn't want me to. I'm not a complete monster and there are other ways to get ahead."

Ron felt his eye twitch, suddenly realising that all of the pressure he had been feeling was for absolutely nothing. He could barely speak.

"You're an idiot," Daphne scolded Theo. "If you weren't going to do it then why tell us you were?"

Tracey couldn't stop herself from giggling.

"To test you," Blaise guessed, which earned a nod from Theo.

"I wanted to see exactly who I was getting along with," he explained further. "And, I must say that I am both impressed and disappointed. Impressed that you had the guts to foil what I had planned, Weasley, but also disappointed that you didn't just plainly ask me not to do it. Am I truly so scary?"

"You wouldn't have listened," Ron tried to justify.

"Or maybe I would have," Theo shrugged. "Now we will never know, but what we will know is that you're soft. You felt bad for Draco of all people. Which isn't a bad thing, but it means I know now what I can and can not share with you." Theo laughed a little. "Trust is a two-way street. And I think I've decided which potions partner I prefer." He tilted his head slightly towards Tracey.

"I've been feeling like hell all morning," Ron grumbled.

"But you didn't ask me not to do it," Theo shrugged. "Too afraid of my devilish good looks."

Ron took a few deep breaths feeling once again like he would like to punch Theo squarely in the nose. Instead, he reached forward and took a piece of bacon from the centre plate, using it to stop himself from saying anything else at all. Theodore Nott, he decided, was a liar in the house of liars.