Promise

Promise

...by Rochelle Lynne...

I dream of fire when you‘re touching my hand,

But it twists into smoke when I turn on the lights.

-You Don’t See Me, Josie and The Pussycats

"It's just horrible, isn't it?" Molly Weasley said as she came into the doorway of Number 12, setting down her bags with a small thump. She was speaking in a hushed tone, and Ron barley had time to glance around the dark interior of the house before his mum shepherd him, Ginny, Fred and George into the kitchen. She winced as she looked around the kitchen; Jars of bits of things and evil looking tapestries flagged the wall. It smelt like mold, and Ron had to resist the urge to gag.

"I'll say, this place looks like the darkest of the worst sort," Fred said gratingly as he looked around at George who nodded and scowled. Molly, who had said such a similar thing earlier, frowned at the two of them.

"Oh hush, you two. It's just Sirius' old house," she snapped at them as she wandered over to the dirty old sink. Ron glanced at the nearest tapestry hanging on the wall. Sirius’ family was wealthy, he knew that. But to have such extravagant works of art in the kitchen? Ron frowned and leaned forward, taking a closer look at the tapestry, which was of a hunting scene. The colors were muted and dark, except for the jewel tone of red that appeared to be splattered over it. It took Ron a moment to realize that the colors were blood, and the animals bleeding appeared to be elks, giants, centaurs, unicorns, and... humans. No, Ron corrected himself with a sick feeling bubbling in his stomach, Muggles.

"Now I know why he ran away when he was sixteen," George said, coming up to stand next to Ron and watching the tapestry with dark flashing eyes. Dark wizards rode horses after the creatures their wands blasting small jets of white light. Fred came up on Ron's other shoulder.

"Bet he couldn't stand it here," he said with false cheerfulness.

"Don't you two get any ideas. Besides, that was supposed to be a piece of classified information," Molly snapped as she lifted her shoe to kill something that had scurried out from underneath the sink. Ron turned around; a bit ashen faced, and hoped it wasn't a spider.

"Yeah well... Sirius likes to tell stories..." Fred said loftily. He turned from the tapestry on the wall and bent to examine an odd looking water pump by the wall. Ron glanced at Ginny for a moment; she was sitting at the table, her legs tucked underneath her, looking very peaky.

"We're classified classy guys, I suppose that's why we know it," George added with a wink at Ginny. Ron supposed it was supposed to cheer her up, and she offered a weak smile in return. Ron flinched as he saw a spider scatter across the wall.

"I don't like it here," he said, stepping towards the center of the room very quickly.

"Awww... ickle Ronnikins scared of the big wizard house?" Fred cooed, grinning as he looked up from his pump.

"Shut up, you two were just talking about how horrible it was," Ron said angrily. Ginny's face split into a smile.

"I suppose he's right, Fred," George said with an uncharacteristically grim look as Fred shrugged, going back to the odd water pump that was intriguing him.

"Ah, the Weasley's," came a voice from the doorway. Ron's head snapped around and he saw Albus Dumbledore, standing in the doorway, his blue eyes twinkling underneath his half moon glasses. His hand ran down his beard as he nodded a greeting to each of them. Molly dropped the dusty silver mug she was holding and wiped her hand on her dress, coming up to Dumbledore eagerly.

"Hello Albus, how is everything going with the Order?" she asked in a hushed tone that carried though the kitchen none-the-less. Ron leaned forward, hopeful that his mum would let something slip. She had kept them all in the dark for the past week, announcing that they were leaving for a long trip just this morning. Ron and his siblings found it very annoying that her and their dad would have whispered conversations in the kitchen, but stop abruptly as soon as one of them came into the room. He wished he could read minds. "Is everything alright?" Molly pressed.

"Fine, Molly. But I need to talk to your four youngest for a moment," he said, looking amused that all four of them had been obviously trying to listen to what their mother was saying. He can't blame us, Ron thought snippily. His mother had been content to keep all of them in the dark about anything that had been going on. In just a short week, Bill and Charlie had visited the Burrow more times than they could count, Bill had moved to Gringotts in Daigon Alley presently, and Percy had left the house. Ron frowned. He hated Percy for what he said, and what it had done to his mother. He tried to push that out of his mind. He didn't like thinking about that.

"We prefer to be grouped in the five oldest," Fred piped up cheekily.

"Or just the dashingly handsome group," George added, giving them all a smarmy grin. Molly tried to swat at him as Fred and George exited into the hall, smoothing their hair back with their hands in a very good imitation of Lockhart. Ron frowned a bit deeper. He didn’t like him either.

"Very well, if you will excuse us, Molly. I believe that Miss Granger is already in the study," Dumbledore said, looking highly amused at the twins' antics of humor. Ron stopped mid way though the door.

"Hermione's here already?" he asked urgently. She was already in the house? Had he been here first, or had she passed though the door without him even hearing it. If she had been here before, how long? Had she asked to see him?

"Yes, Mr. Weasley, now if you will all follow me..." Dumbledore said, waiting for Ginny to get up from the table. They followed him silently down the hallway, letting Ginny walk before them. Ron scowled as the twins dropped to the back of the line to walk on either side of him. They started walking up a staircase when George leaned in.

"Calm down Ronnie," he snickered, pinching Ron's arm with a wink. Ron jerked his arm away angrily.

"Yes, Hermione's likely not to be that happy to see you," Fred added, causing Ron to become pink at the tips of his ears.

"Shut up," he mumbled underneath his breath as Dumbledore stopped at one of the many doors down the hallway. He opened it and saw that it was a library and a study. Shelves of books lined the walls, and desks and comfy looking couches were sitting in the middle of the room. Ghostly white sheets draped across them. Ron's palms started to sweat as he saw Hermione seated on one of the only clean pieces of furniture in the room. Her back was to them, but Ron knew he couldn't mistake that bushy hair anywhere.

"Ah, Miss Granger, it seems that the Weasley's have finally arrived," Dumbledore said cheerfully from the doorway. Ron watched him nimbly step off to the side for a moment, wondering why he was moving to such an odd place when suddenly a large mass of bushy hair was clouding his view.

"Ron!"

Hermione had grabbed him in a hug before he had a chance to do anything else. He hesitantly placed his arms around her, but after a few seconds, he started to struggle.

"I can't breathe Hermione," he squeaked. Hermione instantly let him go, blushing furiously. Ron ignored the twins as they snickered.

"Oh Ron! It's been wretched being away from Hogwarts, the wizarding world... Luckily I've been reading the Daily Prophet so-" she stopped, having caught sight of Ron's youngest sister. "Ginny!" she cried, running forward and giving her an ecstatic hug, although Ron noticed that she didn't hug her quite so tightly.

"Hello Hermione," Ginny grinned over the mass of hair. Hermione let her go and turned to see the twins, who both had their arms wide open for a hug and were grinning broadly.

"I don't trust you two," she told them suspiciously. They gasped and looked at each other in mock horror.

"I'm hurt," whimpered Fred.

"Yes, such an ice queen with us, but we loooove her anyway," George swooned, batting his eyelashes. Ron scowled. George’s grin widened.

"How could we not?" Fred implored, clutching his heart and giving Hermione a pleading look.

"I still don't trust you," she repeated, crossing her arms across her chest. Ginny snickered.

"I'm wounded. The fair lady denies me her trust!" wailed George, crumpling to the dusty floor in a fit of sobs.

"Oh woe to you!" Fred said heartily, thumping him on the back. Hermione backed away from them and hid on the other side of Ron, who glared at the twins. Maybe he could get Ginny to teach him that Bat Boogey Hex…

"Ahem," Dumbledore said his eyes trained on the ceiling as if he had no idea of what had just happened. The twins stood up properly and Ron turned to face him. "Now that I can see that we have all gotten properly together, I can get to the point of why I called you here. It is a quite serious matter, and one that requires a vow of secrecy on your part," Dumbledore said quite sternly.

"What is it?" Ginny asked boldly. She sat down on the couch Hermione had been sitting at moments ago, and the other four-followed suit.

"Well, Miss Weasley, as you and I know, Harry was put back with his relatives on Privet Drive this summer," started the old wizard. Ginny and the other's scowled and Ron interrupted.

"We know that, Mum hasn't let me send him a letter yet," he said a bit perturbed. To his chagrin, Dumbledore smiled brightly.

"Ah, good. I'm glad to see that Molly has already thought of that," he said tapping his fingers together, quite pleased. There was a moment of silence, when Dumbledore seemed to be debating on what he was going to say next. He looked at them all carefully before going on. "Have any of you ever heard of the Order of the Phoenix?"

"I think Bill said something about it once... a really really long time ago," George said, to Ron's surprise. Ron looked at him, and the recent memory of his mother asking Dumbledore something about some Order downstairs came into his head.

"Ah yes, Bill would still remember it. He was about thirteen when Voldermort fell the first time. I don't doubt that he would have known about the Order, from your parents no less. He seems to have started the Weasley streak of curiosity," Dumbledore said a bit fondly, smiling, no doubt, about the memory of a young Bill.

"I never realized that he was already thirteen..." Fred said, his face a bit startled.

"Yeah, a bit weird, isn't it?" George asked, looking at his twin.

"Weird indeed. Now I don't have much time, and no doubt your parents will fill you in on the rest of this, but all of you are going to be living here for the rest of the summer," Dumbledore said quite cheerfully. However, he was the only one how had a smile on his face.

"But it's a Dark house," Ron stated, wondering if the Headmaster was crazy. It had taken Ron about three seconds to feel the Dark Magic pulsing from the walls. He suppressed an urge to wrap his arms around himself as he was reminded of the tapestry downstairs.

"I can feel it. It's almost b-breathing Dark." Ginny added, her face going slightly pale. Ron saw Dumbledore give her a slightly strange look for a few minutes. The room fell to silence as he seemed to be searching her for something. Dumbledore’s eyes lit with a knowing suspicion before breaking his eye contact and nodding.

"It is a Dark house, but it is also Headquarters to the Order of the Phoenix."

"Brilliant!" Fred said at once.

"Awesome!" George said at the same time.

"Your parents have joined. And After talking with Mr. and Mrs. Granger, they decided that Hermione would be safest here," Dumbledore said, his eyes still twinkling.

"But what about her parents? Are they safe?" Ron demanded. He had been wondering this for the whole seven days from when he had been back at home. The possibilities of what the Deatheaters might do to their family had cost him a great deal of sleep.

"I cast a Fidelius charm on their house, for wizarding purposes only. I'm secret keeper, naturally," Dumbledore told him quite calmly. Ron sat back, relived, and ignored the look on Hermione's face as she peered at him curiously. "Now because of where we are, and what you are liable to see, I must ask all of you to give me a sworn sign of loyalty, not only to your parents and myself, but to the whole order," he said quietly, taking out a large red leather tome with a golden phoenix stamped on the front of it. The book was enchanted so that the golden flames danced merrily. The five students exchanged glances curiously. Dumbledore set the book on the musty table in front of them. "Place your wand in your right hand and put the tips on the book, in the center. Speak 'I am loyal to the Order of the Phoenix.'" he instructed them. "It is a magical contract."

There was a moment when no one moved, then, bravely, Ginny extended her wand and set the tip squarely on the tail of the phoenix. The rest of them followed suit.

"I am loyal to the Order of the Phoenix," they chorused. The book hummed for a moment, before glowing a bright red and settling down, the flames still flickering.

"Ah, I believe that will do quite nicely. Remember, all that happens within this house must stay a secret. You are free to go," he told them with a smile as he tucked the book underneath his arm and it seemed to disappear. Fred and George got up and ran happily from the room, no doubt to interrogate their mother on the Order.

"Miss Granger, Mister Weasley, could you stay for a moment? And Miss Weasley, could I ask you to stay outside, I must speak to you after I am done," Dumbledore said with a pointed look at Ginny. Ron stopped at his awkward position at half getting up from the couch. He plopped back onto it, feeling rather stupid as Ginny got up and quietly exited the room.

"Now, I really must hurry, but I need you to swear to me that you will not be writing Harry any owls this summer," Dumbledore said, leaning forward and looking at Ron and Hermione very closely.

"What?" Ron asked, aghast. No owls to Harry?

"Nothing about the Order, I mean. The owls could be intercepted. Voldermort knows about the Order this time, and we must take precautions," Dumbledore explained, his lips firmly pressing themselves into a line.

"But Harry will go mad! You know how he is. He's only been gone a week, and he's probably already in a temper," Hermione protested, standing up quickly. Ron raised his eyebrows at her in surprise. He had never heard her talk to anyone this way. Dumbledore looked at her intently.

"You can still write him, and assure him that you are together, but it is imperative-"

"There are other ways to send messages," she argued, crossing her arms over her chest. Now Ron was really surprised. She was challenging him? He looked between them, and could almost see the stubbornness of Hermione fighting with the wisdom of Dumbledore. They held fixed glances for almost a full minute before anyone spoke.

"I don't want him knowing anything right now. It's for the best," Dumbledore said a final note ringing in his voice. Ron ignored it and stood up also.

"Why?" he asked.

"It's for the best," the Headmaster repeated.

"I don't like this," Hermione scowled at Dumbledore. "I don't like this at all, and I think it's wrong," she said furiously, crossing her arms and glaring at Dumbledore quite angrily.

"I'm with her," Ron said.

"I need you both to swear to me that you won't tell him anything," Dumbledore said urgently, a quiet note of pleading his voice. This stumped Ron more than anything. He had never expected him to use this tactic. He exchanged dark looks with Hermione, who finally nodded, not looking very happy.

"Fine," she huffed.

"Mr. Weasley?" Dumbledore asked. Ron rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"Fine."

"Good, now if you could send Ginny in, I need to speak with her," Dumbledore said, watching them as they left the library.

"You can go in now," Hermione told Ginny as they passed her in the hallway. She was sitting on the floor and looking white as a sheet. Ron frowned at her and was about to ask her a question when she ducked her red head though the door and shut it in his face. He was about to mutter something very rude underneath his breath when Hermione placed a hand on his arm and got his attention.

"I don't like this Ron," she said, removing her hand and leaning against the hallway door.

"I don't either," he agreed. Harry would be horribly angry with them next time he saw them, and somehow Ron didn't think that putting the blame on Dumbledore was going to fix that.

"Harry's is going to be livid at us for keeping secrets from him. He's holed up in that wretched Muggle house," Hermione sighed, crossing her arms. Ron looked at her helplessly.

"Well we can write him now, and let him know that we're staying together," he suggested stupidly. He leaned on the wall next to her, and tried to ignore the bit of her bushy hair that fell onto his jumper.

"Ron, that would make him feel worse," Hermione sighed, turning her face to look at him. Ron's brow furrowed.

"Why?"

"Well, because it would seem like we had plan.... that you ask-... h-he'll think that we're just having fun without him," she finished lamely, in a faint shade of pink. She bit her lip and looked at the ground with very great interest.

"But shouldn't he know?" Ron asked, getting more confused.

"I suppose so. Look, Ron, I'm kind of peaky, I'm going to go to my room and have a lie down," she said, lifting her weight from the hallway wall and standing, tucking her hair behind her ears. She avoided his eyes as she turned and began to walk towards the stairs.

"Hermione?" Ron called, desperate to stop her for some reason. He didn't know what he was doing, but he knew that this... it felt wrong. He had just seen her again, and it didn't seem fair that he had lost so many nights of sleep worrying about her and she didn't seem to care. She wanted to go and lie down while he stood stupidly in the hallway, knowing that he had missed something. He missed something she had said again, but he didn't know what it was.

"Yes Ron?" Hermione asked, taking a step back towards him. He realized at once that she didn't know that he had been worried... but something forced him to take a step closer to her and swallow the lump that was starting to rise in his throat.

"I-I missed you," he said a bit awkwardly. Hermione looked at him very oddly for a moment before smiling.

"It's only been a week, Ron," she said, shaking her head and making to move again. Ron reached out and grabbed her wrist.

"I know, but.. well, I've been worrying about you. Staying with your parents and all. They're only Muggles and Harry's family has all these ancient protections on their house, and my family's full of wizards, but your parent's haven't got anything that could stand up to You-Know-Who," he said very quickly, as if this would somehow make it easier to say. Hermione looked at him with the same look as before.

"You heard Dumbledore, I have the Fidelius charm on my house now," she said. Ron was vaguely aware that he still had her wrist in his hands. He didn't let go, but looked at her, perturbed that she was brushing this aside so easily.

"Yeah, well thanks a lot for telling me! I've haven't gotten a nights decent sleep the whole bloody week," he retorted, scowling.

"Really?" she asked curiously. Ron felt his ears grow hot and dropped her wrist.

"Yeah," he admitted a bit sheepishly. Hermione studied his face for a second before taking a deep breath. And without warning, did the one other thing that Ron had been mulling over for the past seven days. She stood on tiptoe and kissed him very briefly on his cheek. Ron wondered jealously if Harry had felt like this when she kissed him. His neck grew hot and she pulled away, both of them blushing furiously.

"I've missed you too," she said quietly. Then she turned and walked down the hallway. "I'll be down for dinner," she called. Ron dazedly touched the spot where she had kissed him and shook his head, a wide grin covering his face. As soon as she disappeared down the hallway, a loud catcall came from the opposite direction, and Ron looked down, to see two flesh colored strings by his feet, which were inching away like worms.

"Ooo, Ronniekins, I've missed you!"

Startled, he turned around, and saw Fred and George clutching each other tightly. George was mimicking Hermione in a very high-pitched voice, while Fred stood on tiptoes, and dangled his arms uselessly.

"And I you," Fred said, reaching up his hands and pinching them to make them red. Ron gaped at them, his mouth half open.

"Don't write Harry about us! He'll think we're snogging!" George pleaded, throwing himself at Fred's chest and very nearly knocking them both to the floor.

"Eh, what? I'll ignore that obvious hint and stand here like the stupid bloke I am and blush," Fred said stupidly.

"Shut up!" Ron barked at them. They laughed at his back as he walked away and placed a hand to his cheek. He had to wait a whole week after Harry to get his kiss from Hermione, but he somehow wouldn't trade places with him for all the gold in the world.

And he was sure that he wasn't going to tell him about that.