Autumn 1991

Ronald Weasley

The halls had grown colder later in the day, so much so that the air seemed to scrape along Ron's skin and pierce deeply into his bones. It caused him to shiver slightly as he made his way from their last afternoon class and towards the great hall for the Hallowe'en feast. Despite the excited chatter that emanated from the other first years who joined him in the hall, Ron wore a slight scowl, he was not in any mood to celebrate.

Ron hadn't intended to hurt Granger's feelings but he couldn't stop himself from replaying the moment he had made her cry over and over again in his mind. He regretted it. The word had almost fallen out of his mouth with the subtle disregard that Slytherin allowed. He had, incidentally, become the villain she imagined him to be, and Ron felt as if he had stuck a knife into his own ribs. He had done exactly what his family had expected of him.

He had decided to apologise only a few minutes after Hermione had left the library.

Even though she had accused him of doing something he hadn't done, he didn't have to be such a twat. Guilt clawed at him like a hungry beast inside his stomach and it only grew worse when Hermione failed to attend any of their shared classes. Ron drifted idly through their lessons and gave only half-hearted attempts at participation. Even Flitwick had asked him if he needed to go to the infirmary, to which Ron said no.I belong in Azkaban.

The great hall had shifted again, the orange candles now hovered above arrays of perfectly round pumpkins and the room seemed to glow in hues of orange and purple. The pumpkins were carved with all sorts of faces that moved about the surface, blinking their eyes and shifting their teeth. Inside the mouths, magic flames flickered casting faint shadows across sections of the tables. Above the candles and pumpkins, a thousand bats scurried around the tall ceiling. It looked as if the entire sky was drowned out by a mass of wings and swooping little creatures. The tables weren't adorned like normal,instead they had been set with the same large golden trays that had been used for the opening banquet. They looked far more smart than the plain wooden ones used during normal dinner. Usually where there were pitchers of pumpkin juice, there were now crystalline tanks sporting little spouts that leaked drops of deep red liquid.

Ron ran his eyes over the Gryffindor table. Just as he had feared, Hermione was nowhere to be seen. He felt ill and knew he wouldn't properly enjoy the feast. Which, he imagined he shouldn't have, given that he had taken the night from Granger too. It was only right that he didn't have a good time, he was a villain. Not yet a dark wizard, but he imagined making girls cry was usually one of the prerequisites.

He slid into a spot alongside Blaise, not bothering to look up at any of his friends. And while they made attempts to grab his attention, they felt futile as he couldn't calm his mind enough to listen properly. Daphne gave him an intrigued look, and Blaise matched it in kind with a small reassuring smile.

Ron had told Blaise earlier about what had happened; under the promise of secrecy. His friend had tried his best to cheer him up while simultaneously trying to make a stupid feather float into the air. Ron had not even bothered, and had just taken the strange looks Professor McGgonall had given him. Blaise had told him repeatedly that he had done nothing wrong, but Ron could not believe that. If he hadn't done anything, then he wouldn't feel so rotten.

Whatever had been going on between Theo and Tracey that morning seemed to have cleared up as they joked happily about Hallowe'en and Theo's desire to see a vampire. Daphne made a joke about Theo just wanting someone to give him a kiss and it brought a subtle redness to his neck.

The platters filled all at once and a small cheer spread through the room. There were some normal things to eat such as jacketed potatoes or stew but most of the platters nearly toppled over with different sorts of sweets. Ron watched as Daphne piled her plate mostly with liquorice wands. Despite feeling sick, he reached out and took a chocolate frog from the centre. He didn't bother with the card, even though he collected them, instead he just grabbed the frog tightly and shoved it into his mouth. The sweetness felt entirely unearned.

Only a few moments after everyone had started to eat, the doors to the room swung open and Professor Quirrell sprinted in. His turban rested far back on his head looking almost as if it was going to sink down his back. He had a look of terror on his face.

The room quieted as mostly everyone stared in his direction. Ron felt his heart beat fast in his chest. He reached into his robes and gripped his wand tightly.

The Professor reached the head table and nearly fell into Dumbledore's meal. "A troll! In the dungeons! I thought you ought to know…" he said before slumping to the floor.

The students erupted in loud screaming, as panic flashed like lightning through the room. Ron stood to his feet alongside his friends, his wand coming free of his robes and being held tightly by his side.

Dumbledore sent three purple fireworks out of the tip of his wand and high into the air, scattering bats out of the way and ushering in only a small moment of silence.

"Prefects!" Dumbledore said loudly. "Escort your houses back to their dormitories!"

The panic returned, only under some semblance of control. The prefects, as if they were sheep dogs, began herding students into large clumps by house.

Ron felt his blood run cold. He raked his eyes through the crowds and tried to get another look at the Gryffindors. His vision was blocked mostly by groups of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. He couldn't stop himself from thinking of Granger. After all, she didn't know that there was a troll inside the school.

Ron took a deep gulp of air and pushed himself under the arm of one of the Slytherin prefects, forcing himself into the Ravenclaw clump.

Ron avoided several limbs to the face as he pushed through, having to crawl under both the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables unceremoniously. When he finally made it to the Gryffindors, he forced himself alongside the first years.

"Ron?" Neville noticed him first, the boy's eyes widening. His name caused a few more heads to turn his way, including Harry's.

"What's he doing here?" A girl, Lavender Brown, asked.

Ron shook his head quickly. "Where's Hermione?" He asked. His voice sounded a little panicked.

A look of recognition washed over Harry's face. "She hasn't been here," he put together. "She doesn't know about the troll!" Ron nodded.

"She was crying," Lavender Brown said again. "I heard her in the girl's toilets. She isn't in the dungeons."

Ron swallowed 's my fault if she dies.

He didn't wait for anyone else to say anything, instead he pushed his way back into the Hufflepuffs and filtered out the great hall door. It was only once he had made it to the stairs that Ron noticed Harry was following closely behind him.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Helping you, of course," Harry replied. Ron only nodded and continued to push his way through the crowds.

Finally, they managed to break through and enter a section of the second floor that wasn't overflowing with students.

"Do you know why Hermione was crying?" Harry asked him. Ron stopped dead in his tracks and frowned.

"I called her a git," he muttered. He half expected Harry to act as rotten as he felt.

Harry nodded. "She is… a little overbearing."

Ron said nothing and continued to work his way down the hall. They turned the corner when Harry placed a hand on Ron's shoulder nearly dragging him to a stop. They ducked quickly behind a large statue of a gryphon.

"Do you smell that?" Harry asked him.

Ron sniffed the air hesitantly, a foul smell drifting lightly under his nostrils. It was as if someone had decided to burn a pile of soiled bandages and shite in the middle of the hallway.

"What is that?" He asked Harry.

Before Harry could even open his mouth to answer, they were interrupted by the sounds of gigantic shuffling feet. From somewhere down the hallway, the troll grunted heavily towards them.

Ron and Harry pressed themselves into the shadows behind the Griffin as hard as they could. Ron's heart rattled against his ribs, and for a moment he almost felt as if he would pass out. It was only the fact that Hermione could die that kept him from running away and looking for the professors. After all, he thought, wasn't this what Sal was training him for? To protect Hogwarts? He bit the inside of his cheek, hard enough to draw out the taste of iron.

Down the hall, the troll emerged in a patch of silver fucker!

The troll stood at least eleven feet tall with blue-grey skin that seemed to hide both large lumps of fat and wide muscles. It had arms and legs almost as round as Ron's torso, and in its left hand, it dragged a large tree branch across the floor.

Harry sucked in a short breath next to Ron. Ron wanted to turn to him and tell him to run away, but he wasn't sure how fast the troll could move. And he didn't think he would feel any better if he somehow managed to get the boy-who-lived killed alongside himself.

The troll stopped aside an open doorway and peered inside as if it were considering the interior. It took a moment before it finally made up its mind and lumbered its large body through the door with a slight shimmy at a time.

Where is it going?

Ron noticed that a key hung out of the door, already in the lock. It wasn't the best plan he had ever had, he was almost sure that the troll could break down the door. But, he turned to Harry anyway.

"The door!" He whispered. "It has a key! We can lock him inside."

Harry parted his mouth slightly and peered around him to take a look. Suddenly, his eyes widened and a shocked expression adorned his face. "Ron! That's the girls' toilets!"

Ron felt his heart sink into his stomach.

A high-pitched scream echoed down the hall from the room that the troll had entered. Ron felt his eyes water slightly as he imagined Hermione's dead body. It was only the warmth of his wand and Harry yanking him forward that stopped him from collapsing into himself. His eyes flashed with green light as if the serpent raced alongside him and down the hall. The smell of the troll was drowned out in the odour of smoke.

Hermione had shrunk herself against the far wall, and pressed herself beneath the last lonely sink. Her face was beaten red and her eyes looked absolutely wild, her hair taking no definitive shape. The troll marched towards her, its tree branch smashing into the plumping and taking bits of mirror out of the wall.

"Confuse it!" Harry said desperately. Ron watched as he picked up a bit of pipe and threw it against the other wall.

"Oi!" Ron called, "why don't you kill someone else!" He followed Harry's lead and picked up a chunk of mirror from the floor. He chucked it at the troll, hitting it in its shoulder and creating a slight scratch that swelled with a little bit of blood.

The troll stopped in its tracks and turned its tiny head over its .

The troll focused on Ron and started to march towards him, the club raised up above its head so that it scraped along the ceiling.

Ron watched Harry run along the other side of the room, behind the troll to get to Hermione. He tried to get her to her feet, but she remained frozen in place. A look of terror on her face.

The troll loomed closer, and Ron knew he had only a second before the branch would come down on top of him. He gripped his wand tightly and pointed it towards the troll.

"Expelliarmus!" He shouted. The spell ripped out of the tip of his wand almost violently. It splashed into the troll's chest and caused him to stumble a single step backwards. The branch in his hand jerked slightly but not enough to lodge it free.

Suddenly, from somewhere behind the troll, Harry kept onto its back. Ron watched in absolute horror as the boy-who-lived shoved his wand up the troll's wide gross the fuck!?

The troll howled in pain and began to trash its arms around the room attempting to get Harry off its back. Ron launched another disarming spell but once again it only served to make the troll more angry.

Harry lost his grip and went flying across the room. Ron felt his heart leap into his chest as the boy smashed into one of the stalls hard enough that his body made a dent in the thin wall. Ron held his breath, watching as Harry lay on the floor. It took a moment, but eventually, he rolled over, clutching at his stomach with both his arms.

Ron turned back towards the troll just in time to dash away from a large swing of the branch. It crashed into the floor and sent tile spraying in an arc. A piece of the tile caught Ron on the cheek, opening a deep gash and sleeping blood out over his face.

An inferno sparked in Ron's stomach. He felt a sudden anger, far stronger than he had ever felt before. Beneath the slickness of his own blood, his cheeks grew warm and pink.

Ron stepped aside so that he was firing towards the wall where no one but the troll was. He clenched his jaw tightly and held out his wand in front of him.

With a large sweep, he grunted the words as harshly as he could "Bombarda Maxima!"

The brightest light he had ever seen spread out from his wand in front of him and crashed into the centre of the troll. It was as if the world had suddenly slowed to a crawl as he watched the troll disintegrate into a thousand chunks of red mist. The room began to rain blood before the spell continued through the troll and hit the back wall. The wall groaned with a large wave of brick and dust spreading through the air.

Ron's eyes went dark and he fell limply to the floor.