Carve Me A Grave With My Name On It

Four corridors, two staircases, and one stop at the lavatory later, Ron finally arrived at the dungeons where Snape held his potions classes. Slightly out of breath, he stopped outside the chamber door. Nervous as he was, Ron knew he could take whatever the spiteful professor threw his way. Detentions wouldn´t matter as he wouldn´t be able to attend them dead, and losing House points were the least of his cares. Taking a last deep breath, he slowly pushed the door open, to see that his fellow Housemates and the Slytherins noticed his late entrance.

"Mr. Weasley, how pleasant for you to grace us with your presence," said a deep, sullen voice from the head of the dungeon. No problem, Snape, Ron grinned to himself. "Are you aware that this class has begun approximately twenty minutes ago?"

"Am I that late?" Ron replied without even thinking about whom he was speaking to. The Slytherins snickered as they sensed he was in deep shit. Ron himself realized this the moment he got Dumbledore´s message.

Snape ignored his comment. That´s not good... his mind sensed. "Due to you extreme tardiness, forty points will be taken from Gryffindor House, and if I´m not mistaken, Weasley, you had also lost an additional twenty this morning? Your Housemates should thank you for their drop from the top spot for the House Cup."

Ron knew Snape was encouraging him. He ignored it, and waited for Snape to state how many detentions he would be attending. "Also, as punishment, you will be serving a week´s worth of detentions with either me or Filch. Now, if you would, find a seat," he ended with a sneer.

Sighing, Ron dragged his things and sat down at a table in the very back, in a dark corner of the chilly room. Leisurely, he took out his cauldron and materials, ignoring the looks of triumph on the Slytherins´ faces and the defeated expressions of his fellow Gryffindors. They´d get over it. As soon as Harry did something heroic and victorious, his House would again be in the lead, and the Slytherins would be grim and vulgar once again. Taking out a quill, he looked up to see Snape glaring at him. What now?

"If you would please join us and take a seat somewhere a little more..."

"It´s just as dark and dreary back here as it is there. Believe me, sir," Ron tried his best to sneer, "I´m not missing much."

That did it. If looks had the ability to kill, Ron would´ve been dead five times already. He could see the anger rising in his professor, and he was starting to get the idea that maybe it wasn´t exactly intelligent to get fresh with an ex-Death Eater. Ron almost closed his eyes, waiting to be hit with something like Avada Kedavra. Instead, he watched as the professor strode back toward his seat.

"How dare you talk back to me with such a lack of respect. I swear..." he started, but then stopped. "Get out of my sight."

"Where do you want me to go?"

"Dumbledore, now. Go!" Snape roared.

Ron threw his supplies back into his bag, crossly. That was a waste of time, he told himself. To state the truth, he didn´t really care about being sent to Dumbledore. To him, the Headmaster was a big softy. As respectable and powerful as the man was, to Ron, he was but a lighthearted child underneath. If Snape thought Dumbledore would expel him, he was in for some surprise. If there was ever a time Ron could´ve been expelled from Hogwarts, it would´ve been in his second year, when Harry and he drove his father´s illegally enchanted, flying car to school because they couldn´t make it onto the train. Not only that, but they had crashed into the old Whomping Willow, and had also been seen by Muggles. But no, both Dumbledore and McGonagall had let them off the hook, giving the two only detentions. Ron grinned as he remembered the looks on his Housemates´ faces when they found out that the story was true.

Ron snapped back to reality as he realized he was supposed to be leaving the dungeons. He gave Snape a glare that matched his, as he casually and calmly walked out the door. Ron hadn´t even bothered to notice the students of the class, Slytherin and Gryffindor, were staring at him, eyes wide, mouths hanging open in amazement that the red head even dared to tousle Snape. Traveling through the corridors he had only just been racing through, he laughed at the absurdness of the situation he was in. He gave lip to Snape and was forced to see a man with the personality of a butterfly, without even being given further punishment. It was quite a morning he was having.

The corridors leading to Dumbledore´s Headquarters were tricky to find. His office had been changed in location the year before to waylay any intruders or unwelcome guests. Paranoid that man is getting, Ron felt. The only way students were to get to the Headmaster, was by being accompanied by a professor. The more Ron thought about the changes the school has been going through the more the back of his mind laughed. He remembered how last year, Dumbledore had taken three months to trust the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. It was only after then had he showed her the chamber. And yet, at the end of the year, she´d found a brilliant way to lose the reliance they had. This, Ron had not wanted to think about.

Finding his way easily, Ron leisurely walked to Dumbledore´s office. Of course he would know where the place was. The number of times he´d been there during the previous year with Harry were almost uncountable. This visit with Dumbledore would be quite different though, he realized. As Ron thought about their barges in on the headmaster´s meetings or tea breaks, it hit him that all the visits had been about Harry or he had been with someone else. Perhaps this visit would also lead to the topic of Harry. Argh, everything is about him isn´t it? bitterly, he thought.

Turning corners, climbing stairways, going through doors hidden behind drapery, and then following more corridors, at last he reached his destination. It was at the very end of a long hidden chamber. If anyone had stumbled upon this place, not knowing what it lead to, they´d certainly turn back from the sheer threatening décor of the chamber. Truly brilliant, but definitely paranoid, Ron grinned, good old Dumbledore. Reaching the stone gargoyle, Ron stopped to take a long breath. If one hadn´t noticed, the redhead had been walking for quite some time over the course of the morning without a proper break or proper meal. Still panting, he took his time to ponder the password. It would be something with candy, obviously. The way Dumbledore would give himself away at times was so amusing to Ron.

"Sugar Quills? No? How about... Cockroach Clusters? Hm..." Ron thought for another second. Candy, you love candy Ron, come on, get with it. "Chocolate Frogs? Oh, I know, Canary Creams!"

Nothing worked. Ron just stood there. Perhaps he had finally come to his senses and used valid passwords that would definitely keep a person guessing. Damn Snape for not telling me. This was probably the punishment that he had meant to give Ron, keep him standing there, vulnerable for more loss of points for keeping Dumbledore waiting. It then reminded Ron that he was not supposed to care. What am I so anxious about anyways?

After standing there for a few minutes, the gargoyle moved. Hah, Ron thought, perhaps it´s tired of sensing me standing here. But he soon realized it was because someone was exiting. It didn´t surprise when Professor Lupin stepped out. This year, Remus Lupin was back with several heavy precautions regarding his lycanthrope. Some students still feared the man with his being a werewolf as they all found out back in Ron´s third year, but the older students knew he was harmless. But it was he, like Dumbledore and Sirius, who valued Harry´s safety more than anything and it annoyed Ron. As he waited for Lupin to get out of the way, the man spotted him. Oh great.

"Ron. Shouldn´t you be in class?" the man asked with a curious look etched on his face.

"Yes, well, Snape blew up on me and sent me here."

"Oh. And he didn´t give you the password. I see. Well, it´s Sherbet Lemon."

"Thanks."

Professor Lupin looked at the teenage boy standing in front of him who suddenly looked down at his shoes. He frowned as though Ron had just used explicit language with him, but it was because of Ron´s action that he began to worry.

"Are you feeling okay, young man?"

Ron wouldn´t look up at his amiable professor who had sometimes tried to treat students like he was their father. It sometimes bothered Ron that the man would act this way. It was mostly for Harry that he acted fatherly, and he only shared the compassion for the other students to show he cared for everyone else to. Kind of phony was what Ron thought of it.

"No, Professor... I mean, yes, sir, I´m fine."

Professor Lupin gave him a disbelieving gaze that Ron noticed.

"Really, sir, I´m peachy!" Ron almost yelled. He just wanted the man to leave him alone. He would deal with the same thing in the company of Dumbledore. Lupin sighed, and giving up he turned to go.

"Well, if so, then good luck with the Headmaster. Although, I can´t understand why you´d be so spiffing if you just had a quarrel with Severus," the professor seemed to ponder a bit. "Anyway, have a nice day, Ron."

The man left. Leaving Ron to finally to deal with Dumbledore in peace. As Ron turned back to face the gargoyle, he stretched to remember the password that Lupin just told him. He had a very bad short-term memory, and it was due to this it took him a while to think of the password. It finally came back to him.

"Sherbet Lem―" he stopped.

For a second Ron had thought someone was talking to him. He swiveled backwards to see if Lupin was calling to him or something. No one was there; the corridor was empty. But he just left a second ago. Ron suddenly felt a drop in temperature in the chamber. Oh no. Something inside of him felt the need to grab hold of another object. Ron sensed he was going through another spasm of terror as he did early in the morning in bed. Palms and forehead sweating, he latched onto the gargoyle. The voices were coming back.

"How could he possibly do such a thing?" said the voice, and it wasn´t Harry or Hermione. Same distant and almost inaudible obscurity, but the voice was of an adult.

"He was suffering," another older man´s voice seemed to answer. It was Dumbledore. "You saw it in him too, did you not?"

"He said he was fine."

"He was in denial," said a different from the two.

Then it hit Ron. It was Professor Lupin, Dumbledore and Snape. Their voices, even Snape´s sounded a bit sad. Ron nearly gasped at the feeling of sudden guilt.

"But why would he go this far? Didn´t he know how much he meant to Harry and especially Hermione?" Lupin inquired.

"I do not know. He must have been in pain more than any of us thought," answered the old man.

"He had such promise."

"He was a fool to do this," Snape seemed to say viciously. "He was a fool... torn... by... jealousy... and..."

What else he was torn by, he didn´t know. The voices faded away. Still clutching the gargoyle with moist hands, his eyes were wide and bulging. He was practically slumped onto the floor, and his body refused to move. So Ron just sat there trying to take in everything he had just heard. After a minute, a steady flow of blood began rushing through his veins. Finally, he was able to breathe again, but raggedly, he panted. Guilt also streamed through him. And all he wanted to do was run back to his dormitory or the astronomy tower or anywhere. He just wanted to be away from these people.

Ron finally regained the strength to move his body. Unsteadily, he pulled himself up from the stone gargoyle, and decided that he would not see Dumbledore. He couldn´t see this man. Not then. He turned to go, with his head hanging in shame. But then the worst possible thing at that moment had occurred. The gargoyle seemed to be moving out of the way again. And Ron knew exactly whom it would be walking out.

"Mr. Weasley, I have been waiting for your arrival."

And there he was, Dumbledore, in the flesh. All Ron could do was turn around to face him, nod his head, and follow, miserably, up the moving stairs to the headmaster´s office. Damn my life.