The Horror Of Being Ron Weasley

A tall figure appeared at the door. "Ron?" it stepped into the light, revealing a very worried looking Mr. Weasley, "Are you alright?"

Ron sighed and sat down again, placing his head in his hands. "I'm fine, I thought the Death Eaters were back!"

The rest of the family (excluding Bill and Charlie) came into the room. All with looks of fear on their faces. Ginny and his mum ran over and enveloped him in hugs, "Oh dear! You must have been scared to death!" Molly shrieked.

Percy came over and said something very different, "Ron you idiot!" everyone turned and stared, "Why didn't you lock the doors?! I thought that Dad told you to!"

"I forgot, plus, haven't you ever heard of a spell called Alohomora?"

"You are an idiot aren't you! We have the Weasley Charm on the whole house! Only we can unlock the doors!"

Ron looked up at his family sheepishly, "You really expect me to remember something-anything after two Death Eaters where in the same room as me?!" he finished angrily.

No one answered. No one had been through that ordeal just a while ago. Fred and George walked up, "I think we ought to see if anything was taken." George said with a frown.

Arthur nodded, "Yes, everyone check the rooms, if you notice anything missing, report back here and tell us."

At these words, everybody split up except for Ron and his parents. Molly looked down at her youngest son, concern in her eyes. "Are you alright?"

He thought about the question for a moment and answered, "Yes, I'm fine. They didn't do anything to me and they weren't here long."

"Do you have any idea why they were here?" his father asked.

"No, but they were looking for someone. A he, that leaves about two people out."

"Where were you when they came in?"

"Down in the cellar cleaning it out, I hid behind some boxes. When they came down, they said it looked like no one had been down there in years, so they left."

Molly had her eyebrows raised, "Oh, Ron honey, it's good that they left, but it seems like you weren't doing a very good job of cleaning."

Arthur looked down at his wife, "Molly?" then his eyes widened, "Ron, did you find anything down there?"

He felt the golden figure eight on his chest, "No, just a bunch of junk," he lied.

"Oh good."

Ginny came into the kitchen, "Nothing is missing from any of the rooms, Ron, you should check yours."

"No, they didn't go upstairs, they were probably here for less than five minutes," he stood up and headed to the stairs, "I'm going up to my room."

Ginny sat down at the table and looked at her parents, "Is he alright? Why couldn't he have come to the Ministry with us, he might work there when he gets older. You made Fred and George come."

"You all know that Ron doesn't want to work at the Ministry. He complains about it all the time," Molly explained, "You would be great, the Junior Workers Program is for you."

"Fred and George want to open up a joke shop though!"

"We signed them up so they can learn how to manage the money and supplies, as much as we don't want them to do it."

"Oh," Ginny sighed.

"Don't worry about your brother," her father put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "I'll be right back."

Ron watched from the shadows as his father went down the cellar. *So that's why I wasn't invited, they don't want me working for the Ministry! Well, that's good!* He quietly headed up to his room, knowing that his parents actually did listen to what he said, *Sometimes.*

* * *

Over the next month, Ron never stayed home alone, but the Death Eaters didn't come back. Ron never took the amulet off, except to shower. He didn't quite feel right without it though. He had gotten all his school supplies a week before, and more hand-me-down robes, since he never seemed to stop growing. It was now the foggy morning of September first. The Weasleys all clambered onto Platform 9 3/4 with all their belongings. Fred and George had separated and walked over to Lee Jordan, Ginny had done the same. Molly leaned down and gave Ron a big hug and kiss, "Now if anything goes wrong, go strait to Dumbledore."

"Yes Mum!"

He separated and ran to where two familiar people where standing. A girl with long bushy brown hair and a tall boy with jet black hair and glasses. "Hello Ron!" Hermione chirped.

Harry turned around and smiled as he looked up, "Well Ron, how's the weather up there?"

They all laughed and piled into a compartment. "So Harry, how have the Muggles been treating you?" Ron asked.

"Well, they weren't especially happy about those candies Fred and George gave Dudley last summer, but they didn't treat me too badly."

They talked for a while and bought some snacks from the food trolley. Suddenly out of the blue, Hermione asked, "Ron, what happened to you over the summer that was interesting?"

He looked up bewildered, he hadn't told anyone about the horrible visit. *Should I tell them? I hate to lie, but, oh well. . .* "Er, well, I was cleaning out the cellar one day and some Death Eaters came into the house."

"WHAT?!" they shrieked in unison.

Ron didn't look up but just nodded.

"Why didn't you tell us?!" Harry asked.

"I didn't really want to think about it, or worry you."

"Well we found out anyway!" Hermione stood up, "Don't you trust us?"

"Yes, but -"

"Why didn't you owl us then? Why were they there? Did they hurt you?"

"No."

"Well, you're extremely calm!" Harry burst out, "One of my best friends was attacked by Death Eaters!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't want to bother you Hermione, because you were probably off with Krum! Harry, you just went through the thing with Cedric!"

Hermione answered in a soft voice, "Ron you're our friend. Now, are you alright?"

"I seem to be getting that a lot, but I'm fine," he looked up to the window, "We should change into our robes, looks like we're almost there."

They nodded and changed, when they emerged, Hermione gave Ron an odd look, "Ron, why are you wearing a necklace?"

He looked down and hastily stuffed it back into his shirt. Harry laughed, "What is it? It looks kind of familiar."

"It does?"

Hermione nodded in agreement, "It looks like a Connection Amulet, I've read about them."

"Of course you have; you've read about everything," Ron teased.

She gave him a sarcastic smile, "Well at least I read. I don't remember what the Connection Amulets do, but I'll look it up later. Where did you get it?"

"I found it in our cellar."

"Oh, is it old?"

"I don't know."

Harry stared at Ron, "Can I have a look at it?"

Ron nodded and reluctantly took it off. Harry reached out and as he touched it, it turned charcoal black. "Whoa!"

He dropped it to the ground and it turned gold again. Ron picked it up, "What the hell?"

"That was odd! There's a golden figure eight like that on my knife, the one that Sirius gave me last Christmas!" Harry explained.

"Really?" Hermione looked up at the boys.

Harry nodded as the train came to a halt. They piled out and headed up to the castle, Hermione, giving them both worried looks.