Variations

Chapter 14: Interlude with a Blood Traitor

"Hello."

The voice was quiet. Ron was surprised he could hear it over the fuzz in his brain and the familiar tickle that meant he'd just been stunned and reawakened.

"Who are you?" Ron asked groggily, struggling to open his eyes. The last thing he remembered was running down a hallway with Harry, looking for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. They had been attacked by wizards with stunning spells, too many to count and too fast to dodge.

"It's funny that we should meet like this."

"Who are you?" Ron demanded, much more forcefully this time.

"Don't you recognize me," the other person replied, and Ron finally forced his eyes open. Squinting into the bright light, he saw a Death Eater, Avery, sitting against the wall across from him in a small room. Even more troubling, though, was the fact that Harry was nowhere to be seen. Ron was certain that they'd been together when they were ambushed. They must have been separated while they were unconscious.

"What do you want with me?" Ron asked, purposefully avoiding Avery's question. He'd noticed that Death Eaters don't like to be ignored, but it was really Harry who was good at this sort of thing, bantering with their enemies.

Avery blinked, and, surprisingly, allowed himself to be forced to his point.

"I want to know why you Weasleys became blood traitors."

"You what?" Ron asked blankly, sitting up. He wasn't restrained, but his wand was gone.

"Your bloodline goes back as far as anyone's," Avery continued. "The Dark Lord would have welcomed your family into his ranks. You could have gotten a share in his power. Why did you choose to fight him?"

"I dunno," Ron muttered. "I guess we're just not as fond of killing as the rest of you." The very idea that he was sitting there, having this conversation while a war was being waged right outside, while Harry was in danger and Hermione was missing, was ludicrous.

"The Dark Lord instructed me to kill you," Avery replied. "I am risking his displeasure by talking to you. Tell me what I want to know."

"Why do you care?" Ron retorted. "Do you think that if you learn the reason why one family resists You-Know-Who it will help you convert the rest of England?"

"My Master is in one of the dungeons, about to kill your friend," Avery replied. "The Dark Lord thinks this will make him unstoppable. I want to know what we will lose when he succeeds."

Ron tried to speak, choked, and swallowed, heart pounding after hearing the danger Harry was in.

"Nothing you'd care about," Ron muttered when he'd finally found his voice again.

"Tell me or I'll kill you," Avery shouted.

"Sounds like I'm dead anyway," Ron shouted back, realizing that he no longer cared about angering the Death Eater. "We don't think of ourselves as blood traitors. You do."

"There must be a reason," Avery demanded.

"There's not just one reason," Ron exclaimed. "My...my brother got married last summer. When's the last time you had a wedding among your Death Eater friends, if you even call each other your friends.

"Alright, that's what you'd lose," Ron continued angrily, gaining speed, "spending time with people because you want to, not because you want something from them. Even when you're having the most horrible time of your life, it's still alright, because you're enjoying each other's company. I guess that's my reason. I don't know if it's anyone else's."

Avery seemed to ponder this for a moment, then he got to his feet and reached into his pocket. Ron flinched, but when no spell struck him he looked up. Avery was holding out a wand, handle first. It was Ron's wand. Ron eyed the Death Eater warily, but when he made no move, Ron reached out and grabbed his wand.

"Go help your friend," Avery said, helping Ron to his feet.

"What?" Ron stammered, staring at his wand as though it couldn't possibly be real.

"Before it's too late," Avery urged.

"But..."

"I have reasons too, now go," Avery commanded, finally shoving Ron out the door.

Ron allowed himself to be forced away and hurried off, gaining speed as he realized that he wasn't being followed and he had to get to Harry as quickly as possible. Avery had mentioned dungeons, so Ron ran there. Ron searched as quickly as he could for any sign of Harry. He was running out of places to look and growing desperate when, at last, he found him.

The light in the room was dim, but just enough to see that Harry was lying in the corner nearest to Ron, bound hand and foot, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was standing opposite him, wand raised. Then, Voldemort struck.

Ron didn't stop to think, or consider what he was about to do. He just ran and jumped and the spell hit him instead of Harry. The next thing he knew was pain, and then nothing. And that was all he could remember.