Chapter 9: ch 9
I appeared outside the cemetery and immediately cast the disillusionment charm. I couldn't run or the spell wouldn't hold so I started quickly walking, going at the fastest pace possible to keep the charm up.
I rounded a particularly large tomb and then I could see them.
Fuck!
Pettigrew was clutching at his new stump of an arm and a pale skeletal figure was strutting around in front of a group of robed figures.
I'm too late. I thought as I took in the sight of Voldemort and his death eaters.
I started moving slower, knowing that he would recognize the shimmer of a fast moving disillusionment charm. My mind was racing at a fast pace, trying to make something of the situation.
I could try and catch him off guard and just kill him. I'm not even sure I can cast the killing curse, and that's the only thing that is fast enough to work. I thought.
I continued to get closer as I was thinking and saw the body of Cedric Diggory laying unnaturally still, not breathing.
No. I thought taking in the sight before me.
I was around thirty yards from Voldemort himself and I could finally see him as he turned around. His face was pale and stretched thin over his bones, his eyes were red, and his nose was nonexistent. He is an abomination. I couldn't help but think
My mind continued to race a mile a minute as I took in the sight, looking for a way to salvage the situation.
I kept creeping closer and closer, and eventually I was standing off to the side of the death eaters, at an angle to strike at Voldemort if I needed to, while also staying out of the path of any spells that may be flung.
I can't do anything ...I have to wait it out. I thought as I came to the conclusion to not act.
If I see it go bad, then I'll intervene. I thought as I tuned into the conversation. Apparently I had been lost in my thoughts because Pettigrew was undoing the bonds on Harry and gave him his wand back.
"You've been taught how to duel. Harry Potter? We bow to each other, Harry. Come, the niceties must be observed...Dumbledore would like you to show manners...Bow to death Harry." Voldemort said as his wand flickered and a word was whispered across the wind.
Harry obeyed and his upper body lurched forward into a bow, before he snapped back upright and brought his wand up.
"Very good, and now you face me like a man ...straight backed and proud, the way your father died…"
He took in a breath before he finished. "And now, we duel."
A cruciatus curse flew through the air and connected with Harry. His screams echoed across the cemetery. I looked away, unable to stomach how much of a coward I was for not stopping him.
My eyes locked onto Peter, admiring his hand with awe and immediately I came up with a plan.
"I WON'T!"
I barely heard Harry shrug off Voldemort's imperius. Instead, I began moving again, slowly. I had to get to the opposite side where I had a good view of Pettigrew.
I saw Harry dive behind a headstone. I didn't hear any of the dialogue, instead I was focusing myself for what I was about to do.
"Expelliarmus!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
The red and green beams of light connected and immediately turned into a pure gold color. Priori Incantatem. I thought taking in the rare phenomenon.
The death eaters were scrambling around, yelling to their master for instructions.
"Do nothing." Voldemort yelled to them, obviously interested in the new development. They obeyed him but all of them had their wands in their hands.
Wisps of grey smoke broke out from their wands and started forming into shapes that I knew would be the distraction for Harry to get out of here.
I mentally started preparing myself. It felt like an eternity before I heard the words.
"NOW!"
The golden light ripped apart and Harry took off in the opposite direction as me, towards Cedric's body. My disillusionment fell off of me in response to my wishes.
"Stun him!" I heard Voldemort shout as soon as I acted.
I took aim and sent a stunner, followed by a summoning charm. The red light flew true and hit Pettigrew in the back, and soon his body was sent hurtling through the air towards me.
Time seemed to slow down because when Pettigrew was about half way through the air, I saw Voldemort turn to me, no doubt feeling the magic. His eyes widened and his wand rose.
I sent him a smirk right before Pettigrew touched my outstretched hand. Then the world twisted.
I landed in a heap, with Peter's fat frame landing on top of me. I heaved, trying to get the air back into my lungs.
After I successfully caught my breath I began to look around for my other prisoner. At the same time, a scream rang out from the stadium. Harry is back.
"Impressive. Although he always was an idiot." I heard Barty say from the exact spot I left him.
My wand was up and pointed at him before I realized he was still in the chair, bound. I was actually surprised he hadn't managed to escape.
"Impressive magic. I thought for sure I would be able to escape, but the chair wouldn't tip over, and I'm pretty sure my left arm is dislocated. Wouldn't mind letting me out would ya?" Barty said in response to my questioning gaze.
He was right, it looked like the ropes had dug in very very tight and were still squeezing. I guess my magic reacted to my will, and I didn't want him to move. Maybe I wanted to hurt him too?
I didn't want to let him out but I didn't want him to suffer needlessly so stunned him once again. I need to think.
There were still cries coming from the stadium although there were quieting once everyone realized that there was a dead boy laying before them.
I couldn't save him. My brain supplied as it continued to run through appropriate scenarios to get out of this mess.
Worst comes to worst. I do still have a favor I can call in from Dumbledore.
Eventually I came up with a decent plan, one that hinged on Harry not being present for it.
I stunned my two prisoners once more for good measure, then I bound and disillusioned Pettigrew behind a tree in case the magic wore out and started sprinting towards the stands.
As I got there I noticed Harry being escorted away by Snape. Dumbledore was talking to Fudge about the incident no doubt.
"Professor! Headmaster!" I yelled as I sprinted up, getting everyone's attention. "Professor Moody attacked me, and then it wasn't Professor Moody, and then I reacted and now he isn't moving." I started yelling distraughtly. My acting really is superb. Off to the side, I noticed Harry turn toward me but Snape kept leading him away.
Dumbledore was the first to react, as usual. "Calm down Mr. Weasley. Where is he?" He responded without the usual twinkle in his eye and the Elder Wand in hand.
"This way." I said waving my arm and leading him and a few other wizards towards the sight of our duel. Aurors?
It didn't take long to arrive on the scene and I thanked my guardian angel for them both still being stunned and bound.
"Barty?" I heard Fudge mutter as he took in the sight of the unconscious wizard.
The body took all of the attention off of me and somewhere in the back of my mind I was alerted to the ring on my finger, the one that was supposedly illegal for a minor to possess. I waited for everyone to put their full attention on the body before slipping it off my finger and into my robes.
"He's still breathing." I heard one of the other wizards tell everyone. "But he's pretty banged up."
"You did this kid?" A tall black man turned to me and asked.
"Like I said, I just reacted. I didn't hurt him did I?" I said putting on my distressed fifteen year old face.
"He'll live." Was all I got in response.
"Ron, come on. The aurors will take care of Mr. Crouch. Let's attend to Mr. Potter." Dumbledore said from beside me, placing a hand on my shoulder.
I looked up at him and made the faintest nod and trace of my eyes to where the body of Pettigrew laid, invisible.
He met my eyes and suddenly I could feel something touching my mind. I compiled and sent him images of exactly what I wanted him to know, then I cleared my mind, as my occlumency lessons had been teaching me.
To any outsider, it would appear as if his face didn't move at all, but his eyes told a completely different story. It wasn't a disappointed or even a surprised stare but an almost accusatory one instead.
'POP'. I heard from behind us, the aurors had taken the body back to wherever they take prisoners. Azkaban. My mind supplied.
"Minister, I must see Ron back to his family. We will meet to talk in the morning?" Dumbledore half asked, half told Fudge.
"What?! We must talk about this at once." Fudge responded, no doubt wondering about his position as minister.
"My first priority is to my students. I'm sure you can understand, I'm afraid I must insist." He said with a tone of finality.
Fudge gave me a look, one of rage, turned and disapparated. Dumbledore was moving instantly. He rounded the tree quickly.
A wave of his wand and Pettigrew appeared for a moment and then turned invisible again.
"Grab my hand." He stated and I wasted no time in complying.
A flash of flame and the feeling of being misplaced in space and time was the only thing I felt for a moment.
I landed on my feet in the middle of Dumbledore's office. I looked around and most of the artifacts were still in the same place.
"Ron?" Harry asked from his seat in the room.
Snape was in the corner looking at his forearm and tracing the lines on the now obvious dark mark. There was a shaggy black dog sitting next to Harry also. Sirius.
Dumbledore slowly moved over to his seat and sat down, he melted in the seat as he released a very large breath of air. It lasted for a second before he straightened up and turned towards Harry.
"What happened?" Dumbledore spoke.
Snape's head whipped around at the noise and became very engrossed in the conversation.
"He's back, Voldemort is back!" Harry exclaimed.
"How? Tell me everything my boy, start from the beginning." Dumbledore replied.
Harry obliged him, starting from when he went in the maze. He told them how he used the point-me spell to help guide him through the maze, how he ran into Cedric, and faced the sphinx, and how they touched the cup together.
Didn't Barty help Harry throughout the maze? He couldn't have had time, did he imperius someone? I thought realized he wouldn't have enough time with dueling me.
I was interrupted by Dumbledore. "And you, Mr. Weasley? What really happened?"
Is Harry done already? I thought in response.
"I was sitting in the stands next to Hermione, when someone tried to cast the imperius on me. I quickly made an excuse to get away from the rest of the students, because I wasn't sure if the culprit would try again. I should have gotten a professor, but I decided to lure them away from my classmates and deal with it myself. It was professor Moody, he cast something that I could feel, not sure what it was but after that a stunner came flying through the air but I was prepared." I paused a second to collect my thoughts and recall the duel.
"I blocked it an…" I was interrupted before I could continue.
"You blocked it?" The familiar drawl of Snape met my ears.
"Yes sir, the protego charm." I answered respectfully.
"And then…" He said back to me.
"He must not have expected me to block it because he only sent the one spell, I attacked him with a disarming and stunning spell, he blocked the first and the second hit. Then when I walk over to him, it wasn't professor Moody at all, but that man that you saw headmaster." I finished nodding to him.
"And Pettigrew?" Dumbledore cut in.
"He apparated next to us, and I just reacted and stunned him. Maybe he was sent to check on that other guy, what was his name?" I asked.
"Barty Crouch Jr., a notorious death eater. He was supposed to be in Azkaban." Dumbledore answered me.
"Maybe Voldemort…" They both flinched at the name. "...sent him to check up on Barty?" I asked.
"A sound theory." Was the only response I got.
"It's good right, this is Sirius' freedom." I said happy at the development.
Everyone seemed relatively surprised I said that to them. Then Dumbledore's face split into a smile.
"Let me make a floo call."
Finally. I thought as I spotted the familiar distortion of air that signalled the disillusionment charm.
"You look beautiful." I said to the shimmering air.
"You haven't even seen me yet." The familiar voice of Fleur sounded out as the charm dropped.
Mine dropped at the same time and I was on her in no time. It was the first time I had initiated any kiss or physical affection, normally she is the aggressor.
"Mmmm hello to you too." She greeted playfully.
"Sorry, I was worried about you." I responded honestly.
Her eyes narrowed at me in the night. "I am not some flower that will wilt and die without a fight. I may not be a prodigious dueler like you but I can hold my own." She said getting her point across.
"I know, I can't help it."
I gathered myself. Ok pull yourself together, she's ok, enough vulnerability. I told myself straightening up and hardening myself a little.
"I have good news." She said after a little bit of just embracing each other.
"Oh?"
"Gringotts offered me a position this summer, and I accepted."
Oh. I thought as my stomach dropped. That's supposed to be good news. That's also where she will meet my brother. My traitorous thoughts supplied.
"I'll be closer to you." She elaborated. Obviously my thoughts had leaked onto my face.
I quickly smiled at her to show I was happy. "That is good news." I supplied while beating back my insecurities screaming at me from the back of my mind.
I gave her another kiss. "I have something for you."
"Oh, is that what I keep feeling in your robes?" She said with a smile.
"I have a lot of things I want to give you in these robes ...but this is what I mean." I said pulling out a journal.
I was rewarded with a smile and a confused look. "Thanks? I think."
"It has a twin, anything you write in here will be transferred to mine. It also has a charm to ring whenever someone has written in it, that can be linked to a piece of jewelry, if you aren't always near it to hear it chime." I said as I held up my own copy of the journal.
She snatched her copy out of my hand and then jumped into my arms again. Our lips met again but not like the times before. Before it was passionate, not this time. It was primal, raw, and an extreme turn on.
My body reacted, and my right hand dropped and grabbed a handful of her perfect ass while my left wrapped itself around the back of her neck to deepen it. She absolutely melted at the attention.
Her moan brought me back to reality and I decided to end our little display before we went too far on the lawn of Hogwarts.
"What are you doing to me Ron Weasley?" A rhetorical question obviously.
I didn't respond and she didn't want me to. "My parents have figured it out." She continued after I didn't answer. "I don't think they think it's you, but it'll be easy to figure out. They'll want to meet you soon."
I actually smiled at that, those meetings always made memories, whether good or bad.
"Ok, when?"
"I don't know. I have never brought a boy home." She replied honestly.
"My parents have no idea. I haven't seen them since the start of the term." I responded. "They will find out quick this summer." I continued.
I felt her smile against my chest. "We'll schedule our meetups in the journal."
"Ok. I should be getting back, they'll be looking for me." Fleur told me, her body tightened its hold on me.
"We'll see each other soon."
"Mum, dad, it's good to see you." I said looking at my parents who I hadn't seen since the beginning of the school year.
Molly embraced me first and then dad.
"Oh Ron, we are so proud of you."
"Thanks mum. Couldn't slack off for forever right?" I said earning chuckles.
"Don't forget us Ronnikins, you think you can ignore us for the whole year and get away with it?" The twins sounded out from behind me.
Shit.
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