Always the Sidekick

Chapter 19

"Ron." Someone was tapping Ron on the shoulder. "Wake up." His head hurt. He didn't want to open his eyes. His mind wandered to the last thing he could remember. Death Eaters. Mina. Hermione's screams. Voldemort. His eyes shot open; no longer was he worried about the pain in his head.

Harry was looking at him, his eyes concerned. "We need to get out of here. Can you move?"

Ron sat up and immediately groaned from the ache in his head. He tried to stand, but his legs seemed to have forgotten how to work. Harry stood back. "Wingardium Leviosa," he said. Ron's body floated upward. It was an odd sensation. But it was welcome. Ron's head ached so much now he could barely think. He drifted in and out of consciousness as Harry walked him across a grassy field for what felt like ages.

They stopped, and Harry set Ron down gently in a grassy knoll. He looked helpless. "I can't levitate you back to Hogwarts. It's hundreds of miles away." Harry looked out over the plain.

Ron remembered something. "You," he gasped. It still hurt to move.

"What?" Harry rounded on Ron.

"You're a Portkey." Ron remembered now. He performed the charm on Harry just last night. The memory was cloudy, like he was seeing it through someone else's eyes, but he remembered now.

"I don't think I am," Harry said to him.

"I did it. Last night in your sleep. Let me touch your torso, and we'll be back at Hogwarts." Ron's breath was shallow.

Harry looked at him suspiciously. Of course, Ron thought. Of course Harry wouldn't trust him. Ron didn't blame him. He closed his eyes again. "You go then. Without me. You Apparate. Leave me."

He prepared to watch Harry disappear, but to his surprise Harry helped Ron to his feet and placed his hand on Harry's own chest. Within seconds the Portkey took effect.

Harry and Ron arrived in Gryffindor Tower in their dorm room, the exact place they'd left just hours before. Ron had never been so happy to see his bed. He stumbled across the room and fell onto the bed. Harry's eyes stayed on him.

"What?" Ron asked, lying down.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked. It was now that Ron realized Harry had a large gash across his cheek and looked to be in a great deal of pain. It was now also that he remembered they weren't alone in that old house.

Tired, Ron sat back up and walked to Harry. "Do you need to go to Pomfrey?" he asked.

"Probably should. You should get checked out, too. I need to talk to McGonagall first."

Harry put his hand on the doorknob and began to turn it when Ron asked, "Where's Hermione?"

Harry's hand stopped mid-turn. "I'm not sure." Harry swallowed and turned to look at Ron. "We were in the room just after you passed out. It was awful." Harry's eyes were becoming moist. "She was being tortured. And I couldn't do a thing about it because we were outnumbered three to one. When they finally took the curse off her, she wasn't moving. She looked pale and..." He stopped again; now his eyes glazed over as if he were seeing it again. "I thought she was dead." Harry's voice cracked.

Ron put a hand on Harry's shoulder. He realized he hadn't been alone with Harry in months. Maybe they could become friends again. But then Ron realized . He wasn't even sure why.

"The room of Death Eaters turned to me. They told me that if I did what they asked, Hermione wouldn't be killed. But I told them I wouldn't go with them until you and she were back here. That's when they put the Cruciatus on me. I'm not sure how long I was under the Cruciatus Curse. It seemed like ages, but it could have only been minutes. Next thing I remembered Hermione was gone. And so were half the Death Eaters. I was able to take the ones that were in the room. A few Stunning Spells, and they were out cold. But I don't know what they did to Hermione." Harry's eyes met Ron's.

Ron couldn't help but remember her screams. The look on her face while they were torturing her. "We have to find her," he said, a manic energy hitting him. He stared at the door, when it flew open and Hermione panted into their dormitory.

"What happened?" Harry asked. Her eye was bruised, and her lip was bleeding.

"It's not important. I need you to come with me to the fifth floor. It's urgent." She said this to Ron, but Harry answered.

"Have you seen Pomfrey? What's going on? How did you escape?"

"Now, follow me." Hermione acted as though she hadn't even heard Harry. She looked directly at Ron and motioned him out of the room. Harry followed closely behind them.

Hermione took them to an empty classroom on the fifth floor. It was dusty and smelled of mold. It seemed like it hadn't been used in years. In the corner lying on a cot was - "Mina." Ron walked to her and looked down at her. "What happened to her?"

"I had to stun her to get her back here." Hermione walked tentatively toward Ron.

"You stunned her?" he asked defiantly. "Why?"

"I need to get some information from her. She's the only one who can tell us what's going on." She reached inside her robes and pulled out a vial of purple liquid.

"Veritaserum?" Ron asked. "Is that necessary? Can't we just ask her?"

Hermione gave him the familiar look of stupidity. Of course they couldn't ask her. Ron felt dumb even thinking that. He himself had become suspicious of her recently. But he always forgot about that when they were together.

"After you left," Hermione pointed to Harry, "Malfoy and Mina took me inoard, and Malfoy tried to bind me. I was quicker though. I put a curse on him and started to grab Mina when Malfoy, through his curse, flung in front of her and struck me." Hermione absentmindedly put a hand on her cheek. "It threw me off enough that I didn't see him grab Mina and head out the door. It was then that I realized she must be carrying some important information if Malfoy wanted her so badly. I meant to stun Mina, but the spell hit Malfoy. This seemed to startle Mina, and she stood there, staring at him. That made it easy for me to do the curse on her and bring her back here."

"How?" Harry asked. "How did you get her here? You couldn't Apparate."

Hermione had a smug look on her face. "I used a Transferring Spell. I was able to transfer her to Hogsmeade where I could levitate her inside the castle and she wouldn't be seen after I placed the Disillusionment Charm on her. It just looked like I was walking back alone." She blushed when Ron looked at her, amazed.

After another moment, Hermione tipped Mina's mouth open and poured the potion in her mouth. Then she said, "ack">Ennervate."

Mina's eyes opened, and she sat quietly, not moving.

"Mina?" Hermione asked. She'd never done this before; it was kind of nerving. Ron was standing a few feet behind her, Harry at his side. "How did you end up at Hogwarts?" she started.

"I knew that if my parents died, I would be left in the care of Uncle Thornton. That would put me in Hogwarts. It was planned that way." Mina spoke in monotone, her eyes glazed and blank.

Hermione looked confused. "You planned on your parents dying?"

"I herry it out. Lucius Malfoy and a few of the Dark Lord's other supporters came to me. I have known the Malfoy family all my life. I trusted them. Lucius said he would take me under his wing if we disposed of my parents."

Hermione looked shocked. Ron felt a lurch in his stomach. Mina was friendly with Lucius Malfoy. "How did you dispose of your parents?" Hermione asked timidly. She wasn't sure she really wanted to know.

"It was easy and not detectable as Dark Arts. I placed them under the Imperius Curse, and then I told my father to take my mother up on her broomstick and throw her to the ground. When he did that, I then told him to do the same to himself. It was quick and simple. The Dark Lord was pleased with me."

Hermione got a disgusted look on her face but continued. "Why did you have to dispose of your parents? Couldn't they have just sent you to Hogwarts?"

"They were trying to get me out of my betrothal." Mina stroked her left ring finger, as if there was something on it.

"Betrothal?" Hermione asked.

"When a wizarding family as old as the Lovegoods want to keep pure blood in the family, they have to arrange for another pureblood to marry their offspring. It's common."

Hermione glanced at Ron who nodded. It was a common practice among wizards who wanted the keep the bloodline pure.

"Why were they interested in getting you out of the betrothal?" Hermione asked.

"They suspected how k and evil the Dark Lord was. They didn't want me betrothed to his supporter. They tried to rid themselves of any Dark Magic."

Hermione thought she knew the answer to the next question. "Who was it you were betrothed to?"

"Draco Malfoy. Our mothers were best friends in their day. The two attractive blonde Slytherins. Of course Narcissa had been betrothed to Lucius from the time she was born, much the same as Draco and I. When our mothers became pregnant within months of each other, they had hoped for a match. When they discovered Narcissa was having a boy and my mother was having a girl, well, the betrothal was finalized. We were born to be together." She smiled.

Ron's face was starting to turn green now. He looked at Harry out of the corner of his eye. Harry looked disgusted too.

"But your parents wanted out of the agreement?" id, trying to keep herself as poised as possible.

"Yes. They tried to get the Ministry to destroy the agreement. They almost had it done, too, when the Dark Lord got wind of it. He wanted to destroy me as well, but Draco stepped in. We promised to raise our children in service to the Dark Lord. He spared my life but ordered me to aid in my parents' removal. Once their deaths were completed, I was sent to Uncle Thornton, but not before joining my real family in a celebration."

"Your real family?" Hermione asked. At this point, nothing could surprise her.

"The Malfoys. It was during this time Draco and I swore we would fulfill our commitment to the Dark Lord and to each other. It was during this time our relationship was consummated."

Ron felt as if he would be sick. He let her touch him. He let Mina be with him in the most intimate way had been with Malfoy in the same way. He backed into a wall and slid to the floor.

Hermione noticed but continued. There were more questions to be answered. "How does Ron Weasley fall into this picture?"

"He was the closest thing to Potter. Plus, he was a Weasley, whom the Dark Lord always wanted to destroy. So it was quite lucky when the Weasleys became so close to Potter. It would make the plan much easier to carry out."

"Why was Ron so important?"

Mina's eyes got big, but they were still vacant. "The Dark Lord went to another Seer after the fumble at the Department of Mysteries. He was told that he would meet his destruction from his mortal enemy with the help of a red weasel. That meant one of the Weasleys was going to help him. It was part of the plan to make the Weasley family suffer enough trials they wouldn't be interesteng Harry."

"What was the plan?" Hermione looked like she had a million questions she wanted to ask.

"I was to lure Ron into my trust. I was to make him think I was a friend. Then we would use him to get to Potter. Potter trusted Ron. He would do whatever it took to ensure his safety. Or so we thought.

"It turned out Ron had his eye on someone else. Making my job increasingly difficult. I had a gift that I thought would be enough to manipulate him, but it turned out I needed more help. This was when Lucius kidnapped Ron and made his mind open more to my gift. This way it was easier to manipulate him."

Hermione glanced at Ron again. "Gift?" Then she turned back to Mina.

"I am a Creparatus." She smiled proudly.

Hermione understood now. "And you're part veela."

"Yes. Very little veela. It stems from the Lovegood side. Luna is also part veela, but there are small enough amounts in both of us it won't usually appear. But when you mix that with my being a Creparatus, then it works quite well.

"Ron started becoming suspicious though. His mind was hard to manipulate. He's a very stubborn boy. It took quite a bit longer than the Dark Lord would have liked. But the plan was carried out. And Weasley almost destroyed Potter."

Hermione looked at the floor where Ron was sitting then back at Mina. "Stupefy," she said tod once again Mina was stunned.

Hermione walked cautiously to Ron and sat next to him. "Are you all right?"

Ron didn't say anything, just shook his head. Harry approached timidly.

"Hermione," he said in a whisper, "what is a Crepara...whatever?"

"Creparatus." Hermione looked at him. "It's a magical creature of sorts. Creparatus can manipulate people to do whatever they want by touching them. Most of them are registered at the Ministry, since that could be considered a danger. There are only something like forty registered in the world. Creparatus have to touch their victims every twelve hours, or their power wears off. When Mina was away from Ron for more than twelve hours, he started to realize he didn't really like her." Hermione looked bashful then whispered, "Like last summer."

Ron felt increasingly daft. He wanted to crawl into a hole. "You knew she was part veela. You didn't tell me." He didn't look at Hermione. He didn't look at anything except the concrete floor.

"Would it have made any difference? I just figured it out recently anyway. I asked Luna for help. We went through her family records and stuff. That's how I found out their great-great-grandmother was a veela."

"Is being a Creparatus hereditary?" Harry asked.

"No, it's a gift you're born with. But it has nothing to do with heredity or genes or anything. It's like a witch being born in a Muggle family. It's all coincidence. Muggles have them, too, but they aren't as strong. They can manipulate the body, but not the mind." Hermione put her hand on Ron's. "I'm sorry," she said.

Ron met her eyes. His heart ached. His body ached. He wanted more than anything to go back to his dormitory and just sleep forever.

"What are you going to do with her?" Harry asked, motioning toward Mina.

"I'll take her to McGonagall. I'll tell her everything Mina just said." Hermione and Harry helped Ron to his feet, and then Hermione walked to Mina and levitated her. They walked out the door together.

When Ron arrived back in Gryffindor Tower, his mind was swimming once again. He'd been duped by Mina. She never really cared about him. He almost killed Harry. Harry, who was now sitting by Ron on his bed, looking very concerned. Harry, the oho knew Ron better than anyone else. Even better than Hermione.

Ron sighed. Hermione. He'd done a terrible thing to her. All because of Mina. He was a terrible person, he thought. Ron hung his head in his hands. They were dripping wet. He didn't realize that it was from the tears that were seeping from his eyes. He was so in love with Hermione. So in love with someone he'd hurt beyond repair. It was painful. His body ached, his heart ached, but oddly, his soul ached. His soul ached. He tried to push it away. He tried to keep the images of her hurt face from his mind. They seemed to be permanently imprinted. They wouldn't go away. Her pain. He did that. He caused her pain. It tore him apart.

"Will you be all right?" Harry asked quietly.

Ron didn't say anything. He didn't really know if he would be all right.

"Can I do anything?"

Ron looked at Harry. There was something. "Could you get some Fortuna Powder?" His voice shook.

Harry looked at Ron helplessly. He shook his head. "I can't. Sorry."

Ron put his head back in his hands. "Then there's nothing you can do," he mumbled into his hands.

Ron felt the bed rise, signaling Harry had got up. Ron stayed still. So still. Maybe, he thought, if he stayed still, his heart would just stop beating. Stop hurting. Just stop.

Ron heard Harry place something on the nightstand, and then the dormitory door closed. After a moment Ron looked at the nightstand. Green bottle. He picked it up. Old Ogden's Firewhisky. Ron removed the cap and drank.