[ CHAPTER 40 ]
A FAMILIAR FACE
[ I'm gonna write it in stone
That you were my home
My home ]
____________________
"YOU JUST DISSAPARATED?"
Ron looked bashful. On Christmas morning, they had all gathered in the living room, where Violetta and Fred had managed to light a small fire in the fireplace and Emily and Ginny had spent the early morning decorating the living room with lights and tinsel they had found in a box in the attic. Kate had bewitched some candles to float around, similar to the way they used to at Hogwarts.
They had spent the morning gathered in the living room, sitting around the small fireplace in which bright green flames (the color had been Ginny's idea) danced around. Ron had been telling them about how he had ended up in Hogsmeade.
"I was seeing red. . . The horcrux feltlike it was magnifiying my anger to 100, it was blinding,"
Emily's eyes locked with his, and she looked borderline angry. "I don't care how angry you are, Ron, you don't leave your friends behind,"
"And after that?" Ginny asked hastily, knowing full well both Ron and Emily could be volatile and not wanting it to escalate to an argument.
"After that. . . well, I disapparated straight into a band of Snatchers," he concluded.
"A band of what?" Ginny asked with a frown, but Emily, Kate and Violetta knew what he meant. They had received several muggle-born refugees hiding from snatchers.
"They're gangs trying to earn gold by rounding up Muggle-borns and blood traitors, there's a reward from the Ministry for everyone captured," Kate enlightened her.
Ron nodded. "I was on my own and I look like I might be school age; they got really excited, thought I was a Muggle-born in hiding. I had to talk fast to get out of being dragged to the Ministry."
"What did you say to them?" Violetta asked, from where she was sat on the floor leaning against Fred's legs.
"Told them I was Stan Shunpike. First person I could think of."
"And they believed that?"
"They weren't the brightest. Anyway, they had a row about whether I was Stan or not. Then two of them got into a fight and while the others were distracted I managed to hit the one holding me in the stomach, grabbed his wand, Disarmed the bloke holding mine, and Disapparated. I didn't do it so well, Splinched myself again" — Ron held up his right hand to show two missing fingernails— "and I came out miles from where we were. By the time I got back to that bit of riverbank where we'd been . . . they'd gone."
"I spent weeks looking around for them, avoiding Snatchers. I was with Bill and Fleur for a bit, at Shell Cottage,"
Emily had heard of it. For extra precaution, not all Order members really knew the exact addresses of the safe houses, only those using them and the secret-keepers.
"And then I took off again. They suggested Hogsmeade because Aberforth was here. . . Bill was anxious to see how you were Gin, and they thought maybe Harry had come here. And then I ran into Emily. . ."
"And what's your plan now?" Kate asked, and Ron shrugged.
"I've got to keep looking, haven't I?" he said, "I want to help them,"
"Then you never should have left in the first place," Emily snapped, arms crossed over her chest, but Ron didn't argue with her.
"I know," he said, sounding defeated, "I regretted it the minute I first disapparated,"
For a moment, nobody said anything.
"Well. . ." Fred said uneasily, "I better go check on the pie,"
"I'll. . .uh. . .come," Violetta said, and Kate nodded.
"I'd better write to the Order, let them know you're here and not. . .well er–. . .dead,"
Ron gave a grateful nod, and before they knew it, the living room had emptied save for Ginny, Emily and Ron.
Ginny watched her brother and her girlfriend carefully. It was clear they needed to say things to one another. She cleared her throat.
"I promised Seamus I'd be back in the Room this morning," she said, and Emily looked up.
"Can you check on a patient of mine?" she asked her, as Ginny grabbed her coat, which had been slung over the armrest of a chair. Emily stood up.
"Sure," she said with a small smile, "He new?"
"Came in yesterday," Emily said uneasily, "Theodore Nott. Haven't had the time to tell you,"
Emily's chest felt tight and part of her felt like she needed to be sick when she thought of the way she had left the Room yesterday.
It wasn't remorse, but it wasn't happiness, either.
"The Slytherin?" Ron interjected, and Emily nodded curtly. He took notice of the way she wrung her hands together, and the expression on her face.
It was the same one she had worn in the Great Hall in their sixth year, the night after the Christmas Party. While the split lip was missing, the look in her eyes was identical.
"I'll let you know," Ginny said, before she leaned in and gave Emily a quick kiss.
Ron said nothing. If he was surprised, he hid it well.
"I'll be back tomorrow, okay? Merry Christmas," she said softly, and Emily smiled.
"Merry Christmas, Gin," she said, and with that, Ginny turned to Ron.
"You better still be here when I'm back, okay?" she said jokingly, and he smiled.
"Can't make any promises," he said, and she shook her head with a smile before she stepped out of the door.
Emily didn't sit down until she had heard her footsteps echo down the stairs and the thump of the front door closing behind her.
She didn't look at Ron, here eyes stubbornly pointed at the floor,
"I hope to hell you kicked Nott's ass to Jupiter and back," he said, and she let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in.
"Something like that," she replied, before looking up at him.
There was a moment when they looked at each other in silence.
"Ginny always did have a thing for my friends," he said nonchalantly, and Emily couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her lips.
Ron let out an accompanying chuckle, and for a moment the tension that had been there a minute ago was gone. When the laughter had died out, Ron shook his head with a smile.
"No, but seriously Em, what the hell?" he asked, and she shook her head with a final chuckle.
"Honestly?" she said, "I don't know,"
"How long have you been. . .?"
"Just a couple of months," Emily said, and Ron raised his eyebrows, "I know, I should've said something,"
"No, no. . . Don't know how you would've been able to. Can't exactly address a letter to nowhere," he joked, "I am surprised though. . . I was pretty convinced Harry was it for you,"
Emily's heart clenched.
"He was," she said softly, looking down to her lap, and there was another silence. She could feel Ron's eyes on her.
"I think he still is, Emily," he told her, and she couldn't stop the tear running down her cheek, and she watched it fall onto her hand.
She took a breath, before looking up at Ron, their eyes meeting. "He broke up with me, Ron. And to be honest, he said some pretty mean things to me while doing it,"
He nodded. "Sounds like him. Can't say he hasn't been miserable though, if that makes you feel better,"
She let out a soft laugh. "That makes it a little better,"
Another silence.
"You're my friend Em, but Ginny is my sister," he told her, "So please, just. . . mind her feelings? I can tell she really likes you,"
Emily nodded. "Yeah, I will,"
"I'll let him know you're alive," he said, and she let out a breath of laughter, "When I find them,"
"How are you even going to find them Ron? Nobody knows where they are," she said.
As if on cue, Emily heard Hermione's voice. Ron must've heard it too, because both of them shot to their feet.
"What the hell. . .?" Ron asked, eyes as wide as saucers. Emily mirrored his expression. She was convinced she had just heard Hermione speak, but the house was quiet.
Just when Emily thought she must've had some crazy hallucination, she heard it again.
"Ron. . ." it was barely a whisper, but she'd recognize the voice everywhere.
The third time they heard it, Emily strained her ears. It sounded like it was coming from Ron's pocket. Ron followed her look, before stuffing his hand inside her pocket and pulling out a small, rectangular object that looked like a lighter.
"What–"
"From Dumbledore," he told her, and Hermione's voice came from it once more, clearer and louder this time.
"Ron. . ."
"The Deluminator?" she asked, and he nodded. There were footsteps and Fred popped his head around the corner.
"Either I'm nuts, or I swear by Merlin's saggy left tit I just heard Hermione," he said, and his eyes narrowed to look at the deluminator, "What's that?"
Emily and Ron looked at each other, and she could feel excitement brewing inside her.
"Grab your pack," she told him quickly, and Ron frowned.
"But–"
"Ron," he said urgently, excitedly, "You have to press it! I think it'll help you find them,"
His eyes widened, before he rushed into the hall, followed by Emily, heart beating out of her chest.
"What's going on?" Fred asked, and Violetta came out of the kitchen as well.
Emily and Ron rushed down the stairs, to the hallway, where his pack and coat stood.
"Em?" Violetta called down the stairs, but Emily ignored her, handing Ron his coat. Just as he had slung his pack over his shoulder, and his finger hovered the deluminator button, Emily stopped him.
"What?" he asked, and before he could say another word, she had wrapped her arms around his neck and had hugged him tight to her. Her eyes began to water.
"Take care of yourself," she whispered, "Come back to your family,"
When they pulled away and their eyes met, he nodded at her.
"I'll see you?" he said, and she smiled through her teary gaze.
"Yes," she promised, "Good luck Ron,"
With a last smile in her direction, he clicked the Deluminator. A small ball of light emerged from the object, floated in mid-air a couple of seconds, before it zoomed towards Ron, and went right through his chest.
He closed his eyes, took a staggering breath, and with a loud crack, he dissaparated.
– END OF PART TWO –