The Collapse

Ron feels like he's drowning in a fiery red lake. Most people would say an ocean, or the sea, but Ron has never been to either. There is a lake a few kilometres from The Burrow, though. When his brothers would come home for the holidays, the family would pack a large picnic basket and spend the day on its banks. In the summers, they'd swim and play on the sandy banks. But during the winters they would take their few pairs of dilapidated ice skates and each take turns at going around the lake a few times. His mum would sit on the charmed and always warm blanket, poking at mugs of cocoa with her wand to keep them steaming. Baby Ginny would be bundled up and at her side. He loved those days. The walk to and from would always be a production; Bill running ahead; the twins stopping to examine things; and him whining to be picked up and carried. But he always loved to have the large crowd of his family surrounding him.

But now... now the numbers have dwindled. Charlie is gone. Dead. Hence the drowning in a lake. And not even as a casualty of the War, but trampled by one of his damned dragons. With more and more of the Ministry's pygmy owls swarming the Great Hall with the sombre indigo of a condolence letter clutched in their talons, there is no time to spare to mourn the loss of a man who didn't die a hero's death.

The halls are silent; the common rooms are decked in black. A lot of students didn't come back after the summer break. Some were pulled out for... 'political' reasons. Some, like Seamus, left the country with their families. Classes are no longer carried out in the normal vein. Or any vein, really. Most teachers are in the Order and actively fighting back against Voldemort. Dumbledore keeps the school open with the hope that his students are safe there. So far, he's been right. No one has been physically touched by the War being fought outside the castle. But emotionally...

No one has been spared in the fight against Voldemort. Every family has lost someone. Some dead, some to the lure of power that the Dark Lord promises. Ron, he's had to watch Percy's estrangement from his family turn into a smouldering scar on his brother's arm. Ron blushes scarlet with shame every time he sees Snape -- Snape was present at Percy's initiation, and he had seen his brother simpering at the feet of evil.

Percy, with all his misguided advice, and determination, and will to succeed -- to know that he was now so trumped up with visions of power and wealth that he wilfully took orders from someone who was calling for the mass murder of millions of people -- well, it's no wonder that Ron's walk is so unsteady.

And now, with Charlie's death added to it all, Ron spends most of his time in the common room, curled up in a chair near the fire, staring. Hermione has her own grief and set of problems. Her parents have fled the country along with a host of other non-magical parents. She hasn't heard from them in several months, as communication is limited. She doesn't even know where they are. And Harry... well, Harry hasn't been the same since he lost Sirius. His unwavering hatred for Voldemort and his Death Eaters is so strong and brutal that it caused problems between the two of them after they heard about Percy.

Ron tried to keep himself strong for Ginny in the beginning, but Ginny seems to be doing fine on her own. She huddles in the library with Dean, trying to ease his pain. Dean hasn't cried since the day he received the letter that said his father had been killed, and his mother and two sisters had gone into hiding. Instead, he is rigid with suppressed grief and horror. Ron doesn't know about how Harry caught Ginny collapsed in an unused classroom one evening, sobbing into her fists. He doesn't know that part of her devotion to Dean is out of guilt from what she did with Harry that night.

Ron writes long letters to everyone in his family, not knowing when -- or if -- he'll see them again. His sense of mortality scares his mum, who writes letters daily, most of them stained with tears. Bill's replies are always short, offering assurances. The letters from the twins keep Ron up to speed with the happenings at their factory and shop. They've altered some of their inventions, and have come out with new things that are proving to be very helpful in the War effort. Ron is proud of them.

Ron doesn't know how much longer until things break apart. Harry is chomping at the bit to leave the castle and go after Voldemort. His blind hatred for the Dark Lord and his dark followers is corroding away at what little control he has left. Ron knows that Dumbledore can't hold Harry back for much longer. He knows the rest of the school expects him to go off with Harry, to be at his side for every second of the battle.

But he's not going. Ron is content to sit in the Gryffindor common room and wait for the end.