Ron Potter and the Next Generation by PEMDAS
Chapter Notes: This is the last chapter of the story before the epilogue, so enjoy!
Ron was once again numb with shock. In just over thirty hours, he had lost his father, said a final goodbye to him, and was now walking in his arms up to the castle. He was unaware of his surroundings until they rounded a corner and met Peeves the Poltergeist. Peeves stopped and stared at Professor Potter, walking towards him. “Can it be Potter?” the poltergeist said, rubbing his eyes. “Potter is alive?”
“Yes, Peeves, I was never dead,” Professor Potter said tiredly. “I may explain myself to you later.”
Peeves, eyes wide, did something he had done to only two students before in his life: he bowed. “Wee Potter pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes!” he said gleefully. “You are a genius, Potter!”
“Yes, thank you, Peeves,” Professor Potter said, a bit annoyed now, and they walked into his office. Ron sat down in a chair as his father closed and locked the door behind them, sitting across from Ron. He sat directly in front of Ron, rather than behind a desk. This conversation would be father-son, rather than professor-student.
“Ron, I said it earlier, but I wish to tell you especially that I’m sorry for what I did to you. I know that you had blamed yourself for my death, even though it really wasn’t...”
“But it was!” Ron insisted, closing his eyes momentarily in shame. “I could’ve gone for help, but I made Harry go with me to take them ourselves.”
“Ron, just know that I would’ve done the same if I were in your position,” Professor Potter said. His green eyes pierced Ron’s brown ones. “I don’t blame you for what you did. When I was your age, I didn’t trust adults, either, and like you, I didn’t realize that they were actually smarter than I was, and had only my best interests in mind.”
“Best interests?” Ron said quietly, but angrily. Several months of anger towards his father began bubbling up to the surface as he, too, stood up. “Then why did you try to keep me and Ron cooped up in the castle all year like good little boys? You never paid attention to the rules! You never avoided trouble when it came your way!” Just as he was getting on a roll, Professor Potter stopped him with one hand.
“I understand what you’re saying, Ron,” he said quietly. “I would be angry, too. In fact, I was.”
“What do you mean?” Ron asked, still angry, but calming down a bit. “It’s not like you were being cooped up when you were at Hogwarts!”
“Not in the ways you would think,” Professor Potter said, frowning. “It’s a vicious cycle, really. I felt the same way when Sirius Black tried to do it to me. He was a Marauder with your grandfather, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew...the ultimate troublemaker. In my fifth year, right after Voldemort regained his body, Sirius tried to tell me to keep my head down; stay out of harm’s way...I got angry and disobeyed him. I tried to take matters into my own hands.”
“Like me,” Ron said quietly.
“Exactly,” Professor Potter said. “The end of my fifth year was almost exactly like your incident two days ago. I witnessed in my mind Sirius being captured by Voldemort and brought into the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. I chose not to attempt to get help from other adults, because they had denied me my basic freedoms all year. You know the rest: I overestimated myself. Sirius was killed. I knew it was all my fault.”
“But it wasn’t your fault at all!” Ron said. “You were tricked by Voldemort! You couldn’t stop him from invading your mind!”
“Survivor’s guilt, Ron,” Professor Potter explained. “Everyone who is in such a situation had experienced it. I felt it, because I survived while Sirius died. You survived while I had supposedly died, as well. It was basically my fault for what happened to me. I made the same mistake that Sirius made with me “ and that Dumbledore made with Sirius and me “ which is trying to keep the other on a short leash.
“Dumbledore tried to keep Sirius at Grimmauld Place, afraid that he would be captured by the Ministry and thrown back in Azkaban. He also tried to keep me at Privet Drive all summer after my fourth year, afraid that I would run into trouble with Voldemort, which I did, with the dementors. Sirius tried to keep me out of trouble, afraid that he could lose the closest thing to a family member he’d ever known. And I tried to keep you isolated from the outside world, knowing perfectly well that you were trying to solve the Death Eater mystery on your own, and afraid that you would do something stupid to corrupt the Order’s plans of taking over the hideout.”
“You knew all this time?” Ron asked, incredulous. “You knew where the Death Eaters were hiding?”
“Of course we did,” Professor Potter said matter-of-factly. “We told the papers that the magical scans of the forest produced no results. Well, actually, they did. We managed to find the hideout by discovering the misplaced dirt over the hideout which had magic lingering on it from when they magically buried the hideout. We were able to install hidden cameras within the hideout to keep an eye on things. We did not want to barge in on them, because if anything went wrong, they would relocate, and we’d lose our lead.”
“What were you going to do?” Ron asked, curious now.
Professor Potter shrugged. “The initial plan was to cast an anti-Apparation charm on the structure, and then blow the entire thing while they are trapped. Of course, that was problematic, as it would require sending someone into the structure undetected. By the way, how did you and Harry manage it?” Ron was surprised at the sudden question.
“We-we stole the magic glasses from your desk during detention,” Ron said quietly, ashamed. “The ones that you modeled after Mad-Eye Moody’s magic eye.”
Professor Potter examined Ron for a few seconds, then nodded. “Brilliant,” he said quietly.
“Then-then you’re not mad?” Ron asked timidly.
“Of course not,” Professor Potter said. “I’ve stolen my share of things from teachers’ offices in my day. And to be frank, I was rather expecting you to try to steal the Map and Cloak back from me. I never even thought of the glasses...good thinking...and taking the documents from Professor Snape’s office to try and rat out the student in the Death Eater costume a few weeks ago...”
“Thanks,” Ron said quietly. Then, he realized something. “You knew that Marilyn Malfoy was the student in the Death Eater costume the whole time, didn’t you?”
“Naturally,” Professor Potter replied. “I knew you suspected her, but as I said, it was confidential information. We chose not to inform the Ministry who the student was, saying it wasn’t their business to punish students for incidents on school grounds, so she was allowed to remain at Hogwarts. Now, of course, she is buried under twenty feet of dirt and rubble to show for her efforts.”
Ron gave a small “ha!” before realizing the enormity of that statement. “Why didn’t you just wait until the Ministry arrived, and let the Death Eaters go back to Azkaban?”
“There were many reasons,” Professor Potter replied. “For one, I was weak. I needed to escape as quickly as possible. Also, I needed to end the battle soon, or more Order members would have fallen. Besides that, Azkaban has proven to have many flaws. It is no longer a safe and foolproof to keep Dark wizards and witches locked up. I am going to talk to the Ministry soon about reconstructing an old wizard prison, Durmengard...I think they’ll find it suitable if my plans work.”
“What did you do while everyone thought you were dead?” Ron asked immediately. “You could’ve told me or Mum...”
“It would have ruined the effect at the funeral,” Professor Potter said, smirking slightly. “It was the ultimate prank, but yes, it was cruel. I spend the day hiding out in the dungeons, in Snape’s office, reading the papers and listening to the wizarding radio. I must say, it worked...the world was basically in turmoil. I’m glad that I pulled it off, but I regret the effect it had on my family, especially you.”
Ron nodded. It all made sense now. “What are you going to do now?” he asked.
“Well, I think it’s time we went out to talk to the Prophet,” Professor Potter said. “Who am I to deny them a headline story? I can see the headline now: ‘Harry Potter: The Boy Who Lived, Died, and Lived’.”
Ron laughed, then realized what he’d said. “What do you mean, ‘we’?” he asked. “Why me?”
“Well, you single-handedly took on four dozen Death Eaters, didn’t you?” Professor Potter said, a twinkle in his green eyes. “I suppose Harry wouldn’t mind having a little fame, either.”
“He’d like that,” Ron said, smiling. “I think I would, too.” With that, Professor Potter put an arm around his son’s shoulder, and together, father and son walked from the office to face the world.
Author’s Note: The end! Well, technically, there is one more chapter (an epilogue), but this is basically the end of Ron Potter’s adventure with the Death Eaters. Let me know what you thought; stick around a few more days for the epilogue! Please review with your thoughts!