Always the Sidekick

Chapter 1

It had been almost five years since that day on the Hogwarts Express when Ron met Harry. And in those five years the two had been through horrific terrors and incredible excitement. Ron never knew it was possible to have a friend like Harry. Someone he cared about like a brother, yet wasn't a brother.

Ron stirred in his bed. The sun was beaming through his window on the top floor of the Burrow. It took him only a minute to realize that night was the last night he would spend in his bed. Today they were going to Grimmuald Place. The headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. The reason his parents had given was so they would be closer to the Order, to help out more, but Ron knew the real reason.

He had only been home from Hogwarts a week when he heard yelling coming from downstairs but hadn't thought much of it. Ron assumed it was just his mother yelling at the twins. He continued reading his magazine on the Chudley Cannons. It was only when Fred and George knocked on his door that he realized his mother wasn't yelling at them.

The twins entered Ron's room, closely followed by a stressed-looking Ginny.

"Are you hearing this?" George asked Ron, tearing the magazine from his hands.

"Hey, I was reading that," Ron said grumpily.

"Well, listen." Fred said, handing him an Extendible ear and putting a hand on Ginny's shoulder to comfort her.

When Ron strained his ears, he could hear into the kitchen.

"He's unstable. He's been making up stories for ages, and if you keep on pretending you believe them he'll just keep doing it."

"We aren't pretending, Percy," Ron heard his father say.

"So since you believe Harry you don't believe Fudge?" Percy shouted.

"I believe Fudge is setting the entire world up for disaster if he keeps refusing to look at the facts."

"The facts?" Percy said. "The fact is that Harry has been making up incredible stories since he was eleven. Nobody really knows what happened when he went to get the Sorcerer's Stone. He dragged Ron through the forbidden forest. He's troubled. And you can't over look the fact that Sirius Black happened to disappear the night Harry met him. What if Harry is in league with Black? He's dangerous."

Ron looked around the room at his siblings. None of them knew Sirius was really framed and was sacrificing greatly to protect Harry. He was suddenly glad his mother hadn't told any of the other children about Sirius. Percy would have told Fudge for sure. His room was so quiet he could hear breathing coming from Ginny. Ron went back to listening.

"I can't live in a house with people who refuse to accept the truth."

Ron's glance met Fred's, and Fred looked like he wanted to run downstairs and punch Percy. They heard a door slam, and then it was quiet. Only because they had on the extendible ears could they hear the muffled sobs of their mother.

Yeah, Ron knew the real reason they were going to Grimmuald Place was because his mother couldn't bare to walk past Percy's empty room anymore. He tried not to think about it.

His parents had tried to conceive for years after Charlie and they'd had no luck. They tried every spell and charm they knew until one day a wizard came to them with an experimental charm. They were hesitant at first, but Molly wanted a daughter so badly that after a few more months they gave in and tried the charm. Before this charm they had quite a good amount of galleons in Gringotts, but this single charm would drain all their money. Still, it would be worth it for Molly to finally have her little girl. It only took one time and Molly was with child again. Overjoyed and relieved, Percy came into the world. Done hoping she could have any more children, she just accepted she would never have a daughter and concentrated on the three lovely boys she had.

About the time Bill started Hogwarts, however, Molly was feeling the need to try again for a baby. Taking all the money they had saved over the past few years, they tried a lesseffective charm that cost quite a bit less money. Their bank account drained yet again, and few frustrating months of trying, eventually the twins came.

"Some people just can't have daughters," Molly's sister Virginia said. It seemed now that she was done having children. The twins were precocious even at that age. They seemed to time their fussiness to compliment each other. Just as Molly would get one content, the other would fuss. She was lucky with those two to have Charlie at home to help with Percy, who was quite an easygoing toddler. Percy didn't need much attention; he was perfectly content to be read to. When Charlie started Hogwarts the next year, and Molly's time was ragged, Percy taught himself how to read.

It seemed like Molly had finally got the house running smoothly again. Arthur had built a playroom just under the attic and when Molly'd had enough of the twins she could put them in there. It was a surprise now when Molly was so tired and sick all the time. She couldn't figure what was wrong. It was summer, and there were no illnesses going around. All the children were home, luckily, so she was able to rest while the older children took care of the younger ones. But when it was time for Hogwarts to start up again, Molly couldn't deny it anymore. There was something terribly wrong with her. She'd been sick for months, and though her announcements that it was the twins literally making her sick and tired had been humorous at first, there was nothing funny about how she felt. Taking her three-year-old and her one-year-old twins with her she went to see a medi-witch.

"You're going to have a baby," the witch announced happily. Molly looked at the three boys she had with her, the twins trying desperately to get out of the cuddle charm that was keeping them in their buggy, and smiled. She loved her sons, but something inside her told her this time was special. This baby was the girl. She knew it. She even went home that evening to her husband and baked a pink cake with the word "baby" charmed on it. This time her little girl was coming.

"Ron, we are leaving in two hours; will you be packed by then?" he heard his mother's voice.

"All right," Ron sighed, finally getting out of bed.

He stumbled down the stairs into the kitchen of the Burrow and found it in a state unlike any other he'd seen. There were boxes everywhere, things in them, but the kitchen was still stocked full of stuff. It didn't look like they were packing tomove out, just putting some old things away. When Ron looked into one box he saw pictures, drawings, an old stuffed animal and a blanket. He then realized these were Percy's things. Were they going to send these things to him?

"Breakfast, Ron," his mother said, putting a plate of bangers and eggs on the table for him.

"Like I was saying," George said, sitting across from Fred, already dressed and ready to go, "just burn the stuff."

It was clear almost immediately that he was talking about the box of Percy's things.

"Percy owled and asked Mum and Dad for all his things," Fred said to Ron as Ron put a sausage into his mouth.

"The git," George said. At this, Molly whacked the back of his head with her hand.

"Ouch, Mum," he said, rubbing it.

"Well, you shouldn't talk about your brother that way," she said, but something in her voice told them there was more to it than that.

The rest of breakfast was filled with small talk, and an hour and a half later they were on their way to Grimmuald Place.

"Budge up. God you take up space," George mumbled.

They were all cramped into a small object like a trunk. It was quite amazing, actually, that they were all able to fit in there.

"When was the last time you brushed your teeth? Your breath stinks like cabbage." Ron said snidely.

"Shut it, git," George retorted.

"Boys," Molly said sternly. "We won't go anywhere if you can't be quiet."

The trunk was dark and smelled like the air after a rainstorm. Now, with all the people crammed in there, it was starting to get the smell of bodies just after a rainstorm.

"Fred, your elbow is poking into my ribs," Ginny said.

"Sorry," Fred said, shifting his weight.

"Ouch. That was my head you just knocked," Ron said.

"It won't hurt anything," Fred said in an amused voice.

"BOYS," Molly said again. They were silent. Then Molly began a chant Ron had never heard before. It sounded like nonsense words. But moments later he felt movement from the trunk. His stomach felt like it was floating, and George's breath no longer seemed that important. If anyone else was talking he wouldn't have been able to tell. There seemed to be a whirring noise in his ear. He could still feel bodies around him, but his head spun and he felt disoriented enough that he couldn't tell who the bodies belonged to. Then with a jolt the trunk stopped moving.

"Here we are," Molly said cheerfully, like her body hadn't just all contorted and felt like it got caught in a blender.

A moment later the air seemed lighter, and he was blinded by a light. The trunk had opened, and he stepped out of it into the darkest house he'd ever been in.