Bill opened with a standard king’s pawn. The responding move was obvious, but I just stared at the board, not quite seeing it. “Your move, Ron. And if you keep clawing at your hair like that, you’ll be balder than Dad by the time you reach my age.”
“What?” I looked up and noticed him watching me intently.
After a minute, he said, “Look, Ron. You can still stay here as long as you want, but it seems to me that you’d rather be out there doing something, so I can’t help but wonder why you’re still moping around.”
Sighing, I sat back in my chair and shut my eyes. “I don’t know where to start, Bill. They could be anywhere. And even if I did know where to look, who’s to say they’d take me back?”
“Are you mad? Do you honestly believe in your heart…Oh, I give up. If you won’t take my word for it “ Fleur! Come in here a moment, will you?” He glanced at me, livid scars writhing, jaw tightening, as the sounds of the oven door slamming and of dainty footsteps signaled Fleur’s approach. She was wiping her hands on a flowery apron when she reached the door.
Glancing between Bill and me, she merely raised her eyebrows and waited for him to speak.
“Sweetheart, my little brother here seems to need some incentive to go and make up with the other two. He seems convinced that there’s something going on between them and that they wouldn’t want him back. I can’t get through to him, so maybe he’ll listen to you.”
She gazed at me with an unreadable expression for a long while until I finally began to squirm under the scrutiny.
“Why would ‘e theenk such a theeng?”
Bill turned to me, clearly not intending to answer for me.
And then I got annoyed. “It might seem silly to the both of you; Bill, you’ve always looked like a rock star, hell, the scars just make you look even tougher, and Fleur, when’s the last time any bloke didn’t break his neck to get a glimpse of you? You don’t understand what it’s been like to be Harry’s best friend all these years! And mostly I’m fine with it, but the one thing I couldn’t stand… If Hermione were to… What if she really….”
I let out a growl of frustration. They could never get it.
“And you don’t know Hermione’s temper! She’d kill me right now as soon as look at me. And yeah, I know I’d deserve it! I wouldn’t even argue or beg for forgiveness, but what chance do I have?” I moaned the last, my voice breaking slightly.
“They love you,” said Bill.
I laughed at that. “Oh right. They love me so much that Harry sent me packing and Hermione chose him over me. That’s much better than sending me a bouquet of roses, how stupid of me.” I saw their angry frowns and backed off. “Anyway, it’s not like they really need me. Hermione’s got all the brains, and she’s amazing with a wand. Harry’s even better, and I know he’d protect her. I’m just in the way. I mean when we were attacked in that café, all I managed to do was get myself hit with a spell and tied up. I’m rubbish!”
Bill was shaking his head, and Fleur moved into the room to sit on the arm of his chair. She draped an arm around his shoulders, and seeing them so close made my throat tighten up. God, how I wanted to see Hermione again. I knew Bill and Fleur were right. There was no more hiding. I’d have to get off my arse and at least try to find my friends, even if they sent me away again.
“Ron?” I dragged myself away from my thoughts to look over at Bill. “Weren’t you the one who ended up vomiting slugs defending Hermione’s honor?” I nodded, unsure what he was getting at. “Not Harry. And weren’t you the one, broken leg and all, to step in front of Harry when you thought Sirius was out to murder him?”
“Well, yes, but how did you know….”
“Not Hermione. Right. And last year when you almost died, didn’t Hermione stay by your bedside? Oh, and remind me, was it Harry that she turned to for comfort after Dumbledore died, or was that you? Hmm… I can see how you’d think she was in love with Harry!” I jumped at Bill’s raised voice. “And of course, our sister was only a convenient diversion for Harry while he was waiting to get you out of the way so he could get at Hermione! It all makes sense now!”
“Well, when you say it like that, of course it seems like…” Why did I even try to talk my way out of this?
“Fleur, tell Ron what Hermione said before the wedding.”
Fleur smirked. “She kept going back and forth about ‘er dress. ‘Which color do you zink Ron will like better, Geeny?’ Fifty times she asked. And zen when she saw you in your dress robes, merde, I zought she might faint.”
“Harry looks better in dress robes,” I mumbled weakly, but inwardly, I was pleased that she’d cared what I would like.
“Oh pleeze,” Fleur laughed. “’E eez too skinny. Women like a bit of muscle in zeir men.” She gave Bill a squeeze and he reached up to kiss her.
I couldn’t help but laugh. Harry was a bit on the small side.
“But even if I left right now, I still don’t know where to go.”
“You’ll just have to follow your heart, won’t you then,” Bill said, briefly tearing himself away from Fleur’s kisses.
I left my brother and his wife to their moment and went up to gather my things. All day long I’d had a gnawing in my gut like something wasn’t right. I needed to get going as soon as possible, just take my chances and start checking some of the places we’d talked about investigating. Harry had been pretty keen on visiting Godric’s Hollow - perhaps I’d start there.
Bill had loaned me some clothes when I’d arrived, and I bundled them together on the dresser. It was late. I settled myself by the window, and suddenly my skin began to prickle, the hairs of my arms standing on top of goose bumps. I felt the most compelling sense of urgency, not because of what Bill and Fleur had said, but… I wasn’t sure why.
A light tap at the door drew my thoughts back to the room, and Bill poked his head in.
“Sorry about that before. Newlyweds. You know how it is.” I didn’t, but the sheepish look on Bill’s face was priceless nonetheless.
“It’s all right. But next time, you know, you do have a room you can go to.” I smirked and turned back to the window as Bill chuckled behind me. “Thanks for what you said earlier. I’m shoving off in the morning. I’d leave now “ I feel like something’s wrong “ but that would be suicidal.”
Bill nodded and came into the room to stand near the dresser. “Listen, I meant every word. Even if they’re angry, they need you. Harry will never be able protect Hermione the way you will “ he’s so focused on saving the entire Wizarding world, how could he always keep both eyes on her? And she’s got to be driving him bonkers, she’s so serious all the time. No offense!” As Bill spoke, he Summoned a small rucksack and the wireless into the room. “My point is,” he continued, “that you mean more to people “ especially your friends and your family “ than you think.” He placed a hand on his chest. “I think you’ll be much more welcomed than you expect.”
I was stunned and moved; a familiar moistness at the corners of my eyes inspired me to walk over to Bill, put my arms around him, and squeeze. He returned the gesture warmly. I would miss him.
When we released each other, he said, “Take the wireless so you can keep updated out there.” He left with a wink, and I returned to my spot by the window, willing the sun to hurry over the horizon.
I must have fallen asleep at the windowsill, listening to the wireless. I awoke and found that the sun had risen. Leave it to me to oversleep, I thought, smacking myself in the head. Then there was a crackling sound, as if the wireless had lost its station, and I heard…
“Ron!”
It was Hermione’s voice, and it had come from my pocket! I reached in and pulled out the Deluminator. It looked the same, so I figured that I must have been dreaming, but something made me click it. The lamplight went out as usual, but this time, there was a bluish ball of light pulsing outside the window. It just hovered there as if waiting for me to do something. I threw everything from the dresser into the rucksack and ran down to the garden to find the blue light still there. Some instinct told me that it would lead me back to them, back to her.
I approached the light, a little frightened but determined, and waited for it to move. When it did, I was shocked to find it moving toward me, and I shouted out as I felt it burrow into my chest, right into my heart. It was as if the light was guiding me, and I knew exactly where to go.
I Apparated to the side of a snow-covered hill knowing full well that I couldn’t see through Hermione’s Disillusionment charm, so I started poking around and calling out for them. Several times I kicked my foot in frustration, but in the end, I found a tree to prop myself up against, curled up in Bill’s sleeping bag, and waited. There was no sleep for me that night; the second they dropped the protections, I needed to be awake. But nothing happened. The hot spot in my chest cooled, and I knew I’d somehow missed them.
At nightfall, fighting disappointment and despair, I clicked the Deluminator again and was led to a forest. The air itself felt enchanted, and not a single creature stirred. I roamed about silently for a while, occasionally calling out, but mostly just watching. I knew, as well as I knew every member of the Chudley Cannons, that I would find them before the night was out.
Finally, a movement in the distance caught my eye; a silver deer had appeared, obviously a Patronus. It had to be Harry’s, and if he was casting a Patronus, he must have been in trouble! It looked somehow different than I had always seen it, but I knew that Patronuses could change their form. I looked deeper into the darkness, and there he was! Harry was following the deer. But something was strange. The doe had suddenly disappeared, and Harry had stopped near a pool of water, hesitated, and had begun to remove his clothing. Not a great time for a swim, I thought, and then I wondered if he was under some sort of spell. He went under the water, and it only took a second of splashing and of him not re-emerging to realize that he was in trouble. I raced to him, and as I ran, I saw the shadow of someone watching. But I couldn’t stop to check. I flung myself into the icy water after Harry and pulled his thrashing body up out of the water.
The locket was strangling him, so with frozen fingers, I grasped the chain and tore it apart. Harry lay gasping for breath at my feet, curled in the snow, as I tried to regain my own breathing. There was no way of telling if I’d be forgiven when he saw me standing there, but I already felt that I’d finally done something worthwhile. I had made it home just in time.
A/N: To the best of my understanding, Ron was away from Harry and Hermione for at least two and a half weeks, but possibly as long as three weeks and change. So, for my own convenience, I’ve used the two and a half week time frame for this story. There is some paraphrasing in this chapter from Deathly Hallows chapter 19.