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hillnerd · 2 years ago

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Waking Up - Ch 12

AO3 FFN Beginning of story | Previous Chapter

chapter word count 13573

Chapter warnings: action 'violence' and descriptions of combat-like situations, tension, cursing, brief descriptions of injuries

As per usual, I am immensely grateful to my beta reader @abradystrix

Hope you like this new chapter!

Previously in Waking Up: Ron gets off of his shift at the Pub, and is told not to come back until exams are over. The past is still haunting him, as is his fight with Hermione. He receives the official Auror Recruit books from his dad, Ginny warns him to look after himself instead of putting Harry first, and he studies with Hermione (who makes some handle duelling dummies to practice his flying with). He and Harry have a small tiff about Ron over-extending himself, but it's fine the next day as they head into the first exam together.

It's all rather tame flying exercises until Musaad introduces the seccond half of the exam: "In the north is an enemy base for you to capture," said Sealy-Pearce, pointing to the X on the map. At this base is a flag- as soon as one of you captures the flag, the base is considered captured whether or not you've defeated all of the enemy."

"The enemy is entrenched behind hefty defences. There are brooms for all of you at your destination, but they won't be immediately available. You'll find them in a red shed a short way from your arrival point. Your jackets will protect you from any sort of critical damage. If you're hit or harmed in a way that would normally kill a person or incapacitate them, the vest will act as a port key, and you will be brought back here. That will be the end of this C.R.E. for you."

"You'll begin at this arrival point," said Mussaad, pointing to the O on the map. "From there you will make your way toward the enemy camp. The terrain has slopes leading up from the lake." "There are two things to look out for along the way: one is the enemy emplacements all along the coast of the lake. There will be heavy spell-fire to avoid. The enemy will have much stronger spells than the ones you saw here— shield charms will only do so much."

"The second is booby traps. Tread and fly carefully. They have been lain all across the area leading up to the base. You should be able to see them and can use spells to detect them as well, but be careful. Accidentally triggering one will mean major spell damage. If you have the knowledge, you can dismantle them." "Use your wits, act as a team, and use the varied strengths of the team to your advantage. We want to see your resilience, not just your flying skills." Musaad waved his wand and a black door appeared.

Chapter 12 - Combat Readiness Exam #2- part 2

They walked into darkness. It took a moment for Ron's eyes to adjust. There was a bright almost full moon above them revealing a large lake with rolling hills and wood, but even with that the lakeshore was shrouded in murky nightfall and any distinct details were nearly impossible to make out. The nearby woods loomed up a hill with no distinct path ahead. The lake's beach was empty, save a few large rocks covered in dried silt and old reeds.

Ron's boots sunk into the sodden earth as the group slowly stepped forward.

"Ugh… Disgusting!" Theold complained, shaking his leg to dislodge the mud.

"Hominem Revelio," Harry whispered, waving his wand. Nothing happened.

"No one's here," said Ramona with a relieved sigh.

Ron's neck prickled. He didn't know how, but he could feel they were being watched. It was similar to the feeling he'd had when Voldemort's name had been jinxed; Harry and Hermione hadn't been able to feel it, but he somehow could. It felt something like when there was a sudden change of pressure in the air and your ears sort of wanted to pop— only it was his whole body feeling the mild discombobulation and he could hear fine.

As they slowly edged forward he could feel it pressing on him, and his scarred arms ached just a bit.

"There's the broom shed," said Vyse, walking up beside them.

He pointed and sure enough the same red 'broom mansion' they'd used in the first part of the exam was across the beach, nestled next to the pitch black woods. It couldn't be more than eighty or so metres away.

Ramona moved as if to Apparate but nothing happened.

"There are anti-Apparition wards up."

"Then we need to tread extra carefully, we don't know—" Neville began, but Theold pushed past him, slicking back his bouffant.

"Let's get out of this muck."

Ramona moved forward as well.

"Wait! Both of you, something's out there," Ron said, jogging ahead and putting his arm out.

"What?" Ramona asked, snarky as usual. "There aren't any people. Can you see or hear something?"

"No," he said, knowing he sounded a bit daft. "I'm not sure what it is… I just can sort of… feel it."

"Oh, well if you can feel it," said Ramona with a snort, Theold looked just as amused.

"What do you think it is?" asked Harry, turning to him, thankfully taking his gut feeling seriously.

"I don't know… Something's out there… Watching us… Maybe it's a dummy or one of those traps or something…"

"Well, while you figure it out, I'm going to get a broom," said Ramona.

"Right? My boots are getting soggy standing here," said Theold.

"Stop!" Ordered Harry, but the two barrelled ahead.

"Please just wait a second," pleaded Ron, the desperation in his voice slowing Ramona, at least. "Let me at least check for traps. Captionem depre—"

"It's just right there. I want to get this thing over with," interrupted Theold, taking a few long strides forward. Nothing happened. The night sky was clear and Theold's steps were the only sound.

He turned around and smiled at them.

"See? There's nothing —"

A concussive blast of red lights shot through the air, exploding the lake shore in a hail of dirt clods, and striking Theold square in the chest. His feet had barely left the ground when he disappeared into nothingness.

The spells continued to rain down, before turning their way towards the group, ploughing the earth up with ear-tearing strikes.

On instinct Harry and Ron sprinted towards the rocks they'd just passed.

"HIDE BEHIND THE ROCKS!" Harry yelled to the slower recruits.

The recruits retreated behind the rocks. Ron pulled his legs into his chest in time to avoid a spell ripping past him. Recruits threw themselves to the ground and huddled together like a nest of starlings as the blasts continued.

Ramona was a few metres behind them, a purple shield charm on her back. It kept the spells at bay until one aimed low and shot apart the earth at her feet. She made an inelegant dive behind the rocks.

"NOW WILL YOU LISTEN TO US?" Ron bellowed over the den.

She said nothing, but closed her eyes tight and pulled her ankle towards her.

Harry, Ron and Vyse began throwing spells around the rock in the direction of the spells. Visibility was too low to see anything beyond the red lights of the spells that wouldn't stop. Nothing the recruits aimed connected: maybe the dummies firing on them had excellent shield charms; either way they were fucking cornered less than a minute into their exam.

Kevin threw a giant crackling explosion, but it did nothing to stop the spells shattering the earth around them. "HOW THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GET OVER THERE NOW?"

"WHAT'S THE PLAN?" hollered Neville.

Harry squared his shoulders. "WE NEED TO GET TO THE BROOMS! ACCIO BROOM!"

They waited through the malay, but no broom came to them.

"I CAN RUN FOR IT AND GET THEM!" Vyse volunteered.

"NO! YOU'D END UP LIKE THEOLD!" Ron shook his head and put his hands tights against his ears. He needed to think! The spells vibrated his chest and rang his ears.

The recruits lobbed spell after spell but nothing made the torrent ease.

It was an onslaught none of them could outrun. Ron was a bit faster than the lot, but he'd have to be dumb as Goyle to go out there. Dumb… Dummy!

They were being attacked by dummies! Battle dummies could only be taught so much and respond so well— they all had some sort of limitation! He just needed to test them.

A dirt clod hit his boot and invitingly bounced next to his hand. Without another thought he grabbed the clod and threw it in a high arc. It landed, bouncing and rolling undisturbed along the ground. Either the dummies weren't stupid enough to aim at something small and inanimate, or they couldn't see well enough to hit it.

He made a nearby dirt clod glow then threw it in the same high arc. It bounced and landed before being pulverised by several blasts. Ron grinned. Whatever were attacking them were powerful, but reactive, had bad eyesight and were on the dumb side.

"SEE WHAT YOU CAN CONJURE UP TO DISTRACT THEM! PUT IT OVER AWAY FROM US!" he yelled to the group.

Ron demonstrated, conjuring some birds and sending them along the lakeshore toward the forest. As the golden birds flew, giant craters followed in their wake.

Ron could just see the vague dark outline of a large battle dummy floating away, spells firmly aimed after the birds.

The rest of the group began conjuring a myriad of animals and spelling glowing stones to roll. Soon the dummies and their blasts were all lured far enough away the recruits no longer had to yell.

Quiet finally found them again. They gave a collective sigh of relief.

"We'll that was fucking awful!" Ron said, putting a finger in his still ringing ear and finding a dirt clod in it. Ramona was still holding her ankle. "Y'okay?"

"Fine," she answered through gritted teeth, eyes still closed.

Ron gave a shrug. If she wanted to ruin her chances by ignoring an injury that was on her.

"Should we run for it now?" asked Vyse, looking uncomfortable to stay in one place long.

As stupid as the dummies were, Ron needed to see if they'd stay distracted. He tossed another glowing dirt clod. Seconds later a spell ripped it in two.

"Running's out. Those things could turn on us in a second," said Harry, shaking his head.

"We need to get the brooms, though!" Vase insisted.

"Even if we do, what then?" Neville asked. "We need a plan before we leave this spot."

"I have the map," said Ramona. She let out a hissing breath before opening her eyes and expanding the map, laying it out in front of Ron and Harry.

Ron lit his wand and the two friends studied the paper. It was a topographic map, same as the one Musaad had shown them, with lines all over it and symbols, but Ron knew shit all about reading maps like that and there was no map key to tell what the symbols meant. Forest to the Northeast. Lake to the West. Flag well on the other side of both surrounded by some squares he assumed were buildings. Ron looked and looked, but nothing came to him. "Okay… I don't know much about these sorts of maps."

"It's topographical," said Ramona, as if that were enough.

"Yeah, I know that, but I don't know how to read it beyond the basics of, like, forest, lake, building, flag."

"I can't believe you don't know how to read a topographic map!" She rolled her eyes, then looked around. Everyone was shrugging and looking expectantly at her. "What, none of you know how to read it?"

"Explain it to us," said Harry.

She huffed, but acquiesced. "Each of these lines shows the elevation level of the land. The closer together the lines are, the taller something is. See how the lines are so close in the forest? It means the summit in the forest is steep. They colour coded for forest density too, so it's dark green where the trees grow close, and practically brown in places like the lake shore where there aren't trees."

Everyone nodded except Vyse. "Like Potter said, explain it to us."

"The forest is steep and dense so it'll be hard to fly through, moron!" she snapped.

Ron looked to the ground to think. Neville and Kevin would struggle to get through that sort of terrain. Just seeing the edge of the woods he could tell it was steep and craggy. The woods looked about as dark as the inside of his trainers. By wandlight the weakest flyers wouldn't stand a chance trying to dodge between trees.

The map had the lake in blue, but beyond it was a pale green with some sort of line through it.

"And what about there?" Ron asked, pointing across the water on the map. "That river?"

"Either it's a dried up river or an abandoned path, they didn't colour code it for water."

"So it'd be easier for people to fly through to get to the base."

"If we can get across the lake at all," said Ramona, frowning across the actual lake in front of them.

"Our goal is to get the flag," said Harry, bringing the group's attention to him. "We need to expect traps and battle dummies around the base. What would it look like if we came from the valley?"

"The valley trail is flush against the base where the flag is," Ramona reported. "The trail is low and there's too much ground to cover for us to get the flag easily. The flag is closer to the forest."

"So it would be better to come from the forest for the flag, and not from the valley," said Harry.

Ramona nodded. "Especially if those Bots are out there."

"Bots?" asked Neville.

"The battle dummies. They sort of work like robots… So, Bots," Ramona said as if the explanation made any sense. The hell was a robot?

"If we come from the forest couldn't the Bots' spells knock trees on top of us?" asked Claudia.

If they all were clustered together in the trees it could be just as bad as a long stretch of land, and give them few options for whatever they faced.

"We need to split up," said Ron, looking intently at the map. "One team will fly from the valley and butt up to the base, attacking from behind the buildings. The other will fly from the trees. Between the two teams we can distract the… 'Bots' enough for one of us to get the flag."

"That is a great idea, Ron…but we still don't have our brooms," Neville noted.

"There has to be a way to get in there," said Harry, looking rather determined and heroic as he said it. Ron knew he could never look half that commanding or cool.

"If we run out there, we're sitting ducks," protested Ramona. "They can see us coming the whole way."

An idea began to form. Ron smiled. "Then we have to make it so they can't see us!"

"Oh, if that's all!"

"What are you thinking?" asked Harry, ignoring Ramona's put upon scoff.

"Smoke and a little distraction," said Ron, looking about him. There was an old barrel half in the lake. That would be perfect. He Accioed it towards them and tried to remember the spells Hermione had done the day before.

"A few of us who run the fastest will go to the brooms. We can use a smoke screen to cover us."

"Who was fast in their first C.R.E.?" asked Neville.

Ron, Harry, Vyse and Claudia raised their hands. Ramona had been a fast runner, but surprisingly didn't raise her hand.

"You were fast too, Ramona," prompted Kevin.

"I'd rather go the valley route," she sharply replied.

Ron rolled his eyes. "After we run, one of us can bring the brooms back to the valley group."

"That's a lot of risk for that person, though," piped Claudia. "You have to go out there twice!"

"I'll fly back with them, since it's my idea," said Ron. It wouldn't hurt for them to have at least one person who could fly well and wasn't injured. "Then the four of us can make more smoke cover and fly across the lake. We'll take the valley while the other three take the forest."

"What's to keep the Bots from attacking people on the lake besides smoke?" Kevin asked, peering at the lake with uncertainty.

Ron gave the barrel a pat. "This."

Whether it was Ron's ability to explain himself, or Harry and Neville's fervent support, the rest of the recruits were swayed and agreed to his plan.

They split into the two teams, fastest runners facing towards the 'broom mansion', while Neville, Kevin and Ramona were aimed towards the distant Bots.

"Let's do this," called Harry.

They all nodded.

Kevin, Ramona and Neville began to supply a smoke screen with their wands. It slowly rolled and spread across the land until even the moon was nothing more than a faint glow behind the shroud of fog.

"Ready?" Harry asked the Forest team. They gave various signals of assent, but it wasn't needed. They all had determined and focused gazes on their tasks, wands poised for action, bodies ready to sprint across the muddy flat. "On my signal."

Harry put his fist in the air signalling the team to hold as he peaked around the rocks. Ron threw a glowing dirt clod into the fog and it was left undisturbed on the ground. They wouldn't be seen by the Bots.

"Let's go."

With a great push off, Ron sprinted along the muddy ground, heart pounding in his chest. He sprinted as fast his long legs could carry him. Even after stumbling in muddy spell-holes a few times, he reached the Broom Mansion first and panted out the Captionem Deprehensio spell for traps.

"No traps," he told the others as they arrived. He opened the doors and found the exact same scratched broom he'd had before. He claimed it and waited for the others to do the same.

"When you've reached the base, send a Patronus," said Harry.

Ron flinched. He hadn't made one in so long he wasn't sure he could. He hadn't tried since the battle of Hogwarts, and that Patronus had failed him. But, if Harry needed him to do it he'd make it happen. Worst case he could have Neville do it.

"Send your stag when you're ready to move in on the flag."

Harry nodded.

Ron put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "See you on the other side."

"See you on the other side." Harry put a hand on Ron's shoulder, the grip a little too hard. There was a slight tremor there.

"Okay?" Ron quietly asked so no one else could hear.

His friend nodded, and looked toward the woods. "The fog is thinning out. We need to move."

Ron felt a pang of something akin to jealousy as the trio flew away without him. It was strange to not be in it with Harry as he went into action.

The Forest Team safely made it across the flat, and he could just see their outlines disappear into the trees, Harry's glasses giving a glint of moonlight his way.

With a grunt, Ron tied the rest of the brooms with conjured rope and swiped at his fringe. A small breeze blew his fringe into his eyes a second time and his stomach clenched. The fucking wind!

He looked with dread as the fog they'd laid out began to dissipate. The full moon was revealed, shining down on his path.

"Shit shit shit shitshitshitshit!" Ron cursed as he mounted his broom and began the flight to the rocks.

He laid flat against his broom in an attempt to speed it forward, but felt his broom jerk to the side. The load of the brooms made his own lag, wobble and tilt to the right. He would have to go at a piddling speed to fly straight.

He'd gotten halfway across the flat when a single bright spell shot through the air. The ground shattered, throwing dirt up his nose and making his eyes water.

He wrenched his broom up, narrowly avoiding the incoming volley, but the quick brake sent him spinning in the wrong direction.

"Fuck!"

His broom stuttered and shook as he just managed to fly upwards to avoid the incoming dirt and rocks. He was rocked back and forth like when someone heavily stepped on the edge of a canoe. He couldn't properly fly with the other brooms attached to him. With a whip of his wand he blindly sent the bundle of brooms flying ahead, hoping one of his teammates would be able to grab them.

A volley of spells battered the air around him as he bobbed and weaved, gaining altitude. High in the air he could avoid the shrapnel at least. He dared to glance down at Neville, Ramona and Kevin mounting their brooms, but otherwise the team stayed in place.

The fog was holding on the water, but just barely. Even if they resupplied the fog, it wouldn't be able to last with the wind picking up.

Another spell shot past him, and Ron did a neckbreak loop-de-loop to avoid the following volley, pushing his broom to the brink of its turn radius. The fingers of his left hand burned at the pull. His broom barely stabilised, and he could feel his bollocks getting uncomfortably squeezed as he took another turn.

In a desperate push, Ron plummeted towards the rocks, nearly crashing into the earth.

"RELEASE THE FUCKING BARREL!" Ron roared at Kevin who yelped, and set the barrel into motion.

Like a drunk toddler, the barrel lunged forward, swaying back and forth with four limbs waving in the air. With a sound loud as a firecracker, the limbs started firing off spells. They couldn't do much more than make noise and blue light, but that's all Ron needed.

Kevin pushed the groaning barrel forward and it lumbered towards the Bots. It was an inviting target and the Bots immediately took to it, aiming their spells at the lurching contraption. If Kevin hadn't put the shield charms on it, it probably would have been blasted to splinters.

"Across the water! Before the fog clears!" Ron ordered before pushing off towards the valley.

It could have been a nice flight to enjoy if there weren't the impending threat of a blasting curse ending his Auror career before it even started, and an ache in his lungs from panting in panic. He'd never gotten to fly over the lake at Hogwarts, but he imagined it could have been something like this. Watching his misty reflection as it waved and distorted with each passing water ripple was a bit hypnotic.

The valley was farther away than it looked, but after a few minutes of flying he finally landed far enough inland that the Bots wouldn't be able to see. He rubbed his face to warm it. The air over the water had been cold, and felt near freezing as the whip of the wind hit his freckled nose. His attempts to warm himself did little to help when he realised he was still alone.

He looked across the water and saw Ramona, Kevin and Neville going at a snail's pace. Their form was all wrong to fly fast. Ramona was fastest, but nowhere near the capable speed he'd seen earlier in the C.R.E., only one of her legs pulled in tight enough to go fast.

Neville and Kevin ambled, not fully going straight much of the time.

"Hurry up," Ron breathed, watching them. He looked towards the shore and could just see the blue lights of his Barrel-Bot diminishing. "Shit. HURRY UP!"

The lights of the Barrel sparked one last time before going black.

Stillness and darkness took over the shore. The moon shone bright over the lake, reflecting through the deadly clear air onto the water.

There was a loud crack, a short cry, then a splash as Ramona's broom was hit with a red spell, sending her falling into the water, broom splintered to pieces.

Immediately a volley of spells continued her way.

Somehow she'd not been taken out; the bright purple of her shield charm glowed, but it invited even more spells.

The Bots couldn't see Kevin and Neville for the glowing shield bobbing in the water. They made attempts to retrieve her from the water, but couldn't get close enough. At this rate Ron's whole team would get blasted out of the sky.

"Fucking fuckety fuck fuck fuck!"

Ron remounted his broom and flew to his teammates as quickly as he could.

Ramona's shield charm kept deflecting spells, but he could see how exhausted she looked as spells rained down on her, pushing her under the water again and again.

"KEEP GOING! I'VE GOT HER!" Ron shouted, zooming towards her splashes.

He wouldn't be able to get to her from above. There were too many spells now.

'This is going to suck.'

Without another thought he set his wand alight, took a deep breath, and flew his broom into the water.

He could see her legs kicking in the distance, and could hear the splashes and spells. The sound was loud, but thick and strange under the dark water. His lungs ached as he grabbed her foot and pulled her underwater. She panicked and kicked him hard in the chin, slamming his teeth together with a painful clack. He held fast and continued their path a few metres out before his lungs demanded he re-emerge.

They both gasped as they breached the water. He saw the recognition in her face of what had happened, but neither bothered to try and speak, too grateful for air. Unable to speak he silently forced her onto the broom and flew them towards the valley. Spells blasted the water, making the water sting as it sprayed them. This parcel was less ungainly than the clutch of brooms, and he was able to manoeuvre; not as well as when flying solo, but well enough to avoid the explosions of water around them. With a final lurch they zoomed to the depths of the valley shore where Kevin and Neville were waiting for them.

Ron felt his legs going weak as they landed in the dry river bed. He fell into a relieved pile on the ground, gasping onto the dirt. Ramona dropped beside him in fitful coughing spasms.

"That was fucking amazing!" Kevin whooped.

Ron shivered as he tried to sit up, stupidly using his left arm. He bit his lip to stop from crying out as shoots of burning pain radiated up and down. He tried to make a fist. His fingers trembled and hesitated.

Damn damn damn! Not now! Not fucking now you stupid fucking arm!

The valley was a dry river bed, dirt packed in tight. He slapped his hand onto the dirt a few times until he could feel the fingers moving.

"Here, Kevin, do some warming charms. I'll conjure some blankets," he heard Neville say.

A moment later warm air rushed over him. He could feel his hands again, but the pain hadn't subsided much.

"You are absolutely bonkers!" Kevin smiled at Ron. "What were you thinking?"

"We're a team," Ron shrugged, discreetly massaging his arm.

"A team that's down one broom. We'll need to plan for that," Neville noted.

Ramona gave a glare so powerful Kevin took a step back.

"I think it's okay for us to walk a bit," Neville continued. "It's dark and there could be traps, right? If we fly we could hurry straight into one."

Kevin nodded, looking relieved to be off his broom.

"Only for a bit. This C.R.E. is about flying and we don't want the other team's arses going cold waiting for us," said Ron, deciding it best to just purposefully ignore the pain radiating down his side. "Ramona, do you still have the map?"

Still seated on the ground, she immediately took it out, performed a drying charm and handed it to him.

Ron lit his wand and began inspecting the map. Perhaps he could do a Captionem Deprehensio and get that information onto the map? He wasn't quite sure how the trap detecting spell worked when it came to distance and didn't know what the different colours stood for, but it'd be something.

"Ron, you're bleeding," said Neville.

Ron was aching so much he couldn't begin to know the source of said bleeding. He started looking about himself.

"Your chin," said Neville, pointing to his own in demonstration.

"Oh…" He winced as he put his hand to his chin. Ramona's underwater kick must have been harder than he thought. It wouldn't help the team to bring up Ramona's place in it, though. "Yeah a bit of rock hit me when I was flying. Didn't realise it actually did damage."

Ramona shot a confused look his way, but he ignored her.

His left hand fumbled while pulling his shirt up. He pressed it to his chin and Merlin there was a lot of blood. Ron did a quick Episkey on himself. It wasn't aimed well, but the bleeding mostly stopped.

"Captionem Deprehensio," he said with a few waves of his wand. Blue white lines shot out and began a series of patterns through the air. It almost looked like a three dimensional map, but instead of showing landmarks it showed magical signatures. "Alright… Some of these traps are low and some are high. I can't know exactly where they are, or what kind of traps they are, but since we know the order they go in, that can help us navigate them."

"It looks like a mess of lines to me," said Kevin with a shrug as the spell faded away.

Ron gave his best approximation of where they would be and placed some marks on the map. "It'll be something like this. Once we run into one of them we can get a better idea where the rest are by comparison, I bet."

"So we need to purposefully set off a trap?" asked Kevin.

"It's the only way I see to have the map be accurate," Ron shrugged. "The next one is up and to the left so we can send some rocks in to set off traps."

The group began to move further into the misty valley, all except for Ramona.

"You coming?" asked Ron.

"I can't," she said, looking down at her ankle.

Ron sighed. He knew she'd been hurt. "Can you stand?"

She shook her head.

"Let's see it, then." Ramona hesitated before beginning to unlace her boot. The ankle was an ugly mass of purple and blue bruises and swollen up like a toad.

"Is it sprained or broken?" asked Kevin.

"I don't know!" she barked.

Ron felt it with his fingers. To her credit she hissed but didn't cry out. He'd had plenty of broken bones over the years; if her ankle was broken it couldn't be more than a hairline fracture. He did an Episkey on the ankle and did a Ferula charm to conjure a brace and bandage for her ankle. She tenderly put her boot back on and attempted to stand.

"Better?"

"A bit…"

"Can you fly?"

"Yes…"

"Can you fly as well as you usually do?"

She faltered before shaking her head.

"Okay… You'll hover on my broom beside us. If we need to fly, I'll jump on and steer." He stared at her, hoping she wouldn't argue. More probably due to the pain than her wanting to merrily get along, she agreed.

Neville helped Ramona onto the broom, and they were on their way.

Ron used the 'Point Me' spell and took lead with the map, Ramona threw rocks ahead to check for the upcoming trap's location, Neville lit the way for them and Kevin had complex defensive spells he maintained around them. Nothing bigger than a flea would be able to get to them.

The valley was quiet and misty, the only sound being their footsteps and the occasional breeze through the trees.

"There are about three traps down the valley we'll need to avoid," Ron reported to the group. He wanted to keep Neville and Kevin off their brooms as long as possible. Both were strong and competent wizards on the ground, but on brooms they were as useless as a flobberworm on a moped. If the traps ahead were anything akin to the onslaught at the lake, he'd need them in top form. "We have some time until we get to the first one, I reckon."

"Since we have some time, let's get to know one another. How about name and what you've been up to since graduation?" said Neville with a kind smile. He made it seem like a social hour invitation, but Ron had a feeling he was probing for more useful information on Kevin and Ramona.

"I'm Kevin Gunther." He gave a little salute to the group. "Er… I graduated from Hogwarts in '95, and worked at the Coastal Magical Law Enforcement Patrol. We mostly do defensive border control and deal with customs. Considered leaving when the Ministry fell, but my position made it easy to help Muggleborns escape, so I stayed."

So that explained the advanced Defensive work.

"I'm Neville Longbottom. Haven't graduated from Hogwarts, technically. I'm a terrible flyer, alright with D.A.D.A., but Herbology is my strong suit." He definitely was underselling himself and what he'd been up to during the war. "What about you, Ramona?"

She gave them a baleful look and threw a rock before capitulating.

"Ramona Higgins. Graduated in '97. I'm an adequate flyer when not injured. I'm best at engineering spells, but I'm good at duelling too. I was head of the duelling club in my house."

"What house?" asked Ron.

"Hufflepuff."

Huh. Ron would've pegged her for a Slytherin given how salty she was, but then again he'd known a few loathsome Hufflepuffs over the years.

"What did you do after you graduated?" asked Neville.

Ramona's somewhat open expression shuttered. "Survived."

The three Wizards nodded. Ron knew better than to poke, despite how curious he was. Who knows what sort of horrors anyone could have seen in the last year.

"What about you, Ron?" asked Kevin.

"Oh! Er… I'm just another Weasley," he said, feeling his cheeks burn. Despite knowing the general things he was supposed to say his mind was going spectacularly blank. "Didn't go to school last year at all, so… Yeah never graduated…"

"Is there anything you're good at?" asked Ramona, throwing another rock. The look on her face clearly told him she thought the answer was no.

"I dunno… I'm good at chess and I'm a pretty good flyer."

"Pretty good?" Kevin snorted. "You should have seen those moves you pulled back there. Bet you were ace if you played Quidditch."

"I saw his games. He wasn't," Ramona supplied.

"He was," Neville corrected, tone light but with an undercurrent of steeliness. "He basically won the House cup for us in our 5th year and was responsible for most of our wins in 6th year too."

"Even if he finally managed to eke out some wins, chess and being a good flyer will only get one so far," Ramona snarked.

"If it weren't for Ron's flying and quick thinking you'd still be in that lake," replied Neville.

"I would have figured something out. I wasn't sitting and waiting for help from him!"

Neville opened his mouth to reply but Ron put up a hand. "Is there a particular reason you hate my guts so much?"

Ramona turned her nose up. "I don't feel anything about you."

"Well that's obviously not true," Ron snorted. "What have I ever done to you?"

"Oh you've never done a thing to or for me!" Ramona spat, before bringing the broom to a halt. "The map!"

She pointed and sure enough they were right below one of the golden dots. Shit… The quartet came to a halt and listened. Nothing was there except mist. Slowly all wands raised higher into the air.

"Maybe it won't be triggered by us walking by," said Kevin, looking around them.

"Maybe…" said Ron, feeling a chill pass through him. If he hadn't been distracted he might have felt the magic pulsing and pressing against him. His arms began to ache. Everything did. Even his lungs.

Kevin gave a cough, followed by Neville and Ramona. Finally Ron felt his own lungs spasm.

"We should— " Cough. "Hurry through," he wheezed, voice gravelly. His body suddenly felt heavy and his eyesight foggy. Ramona had a deep attack of coughs and hunched over on the broom. "Ramona, I'll fly."

She turned her face to him and Ron retreated back a few paces.

Her once young face had fallen and sunk into a wizened husk. Her skin was sagged and leathery. She looked as if she'd aged a hundred years.

He reached towards the broom but his hand could barely clutch it. His hands withered before his eyes, becoming age-spotted and stiff. The veins were like gnarled roots and his knuckles more resembled the elder wand than fingers.

Panicked he turned and saw Neville and Kevin were just as affected by whatever spell this was. Both were stooping. The fat in their cheeks and around their orbital bones hollowed. Their skin thinned and wrinkled, and their muscles were wasting away, making their clothes billow around them.

"Fly!" Ron croaked.

The old men slowly mounted their brooms and took off. Ron struggled to lift his leg high enough to mount his. He stiffly pushed off and felt his hip ache at the sudden action. He steered the broom as best he could, hitting a few branches he swore hadn't been there as Ramona's crackled old voice gave a complaint he couldn't properly hear. His eyesight was so blurred his long nose rubbed the map as he held it close enough to see. With great difficulty he found a spot on the map without any glowing dots.

Upon landing he kept the broom floating for Ramona. If her joints and bones were anything like his, she wouldn't be able to take a step off that broom with her hurt ankle. His back ached and his hip nearly gave out as he fumbled his way off the broom. His bad arm lost most of its mobility. He kept it clutched to his middle as it burned and throbbed.

"We can't do shit in this state" he wheezed.

Not wanting to risk an actual hip break Ron conjured some chairs for them to sit on and a mirror to inspect himself as well as he could, given his now blurry eyesight.

"Oh fuck," he muttered, seeing his aged face. At least he had his hair. He looked a bit like if Aunt Muriel and Dumbledore had an ancient baby— which was quite frankly a terrifying thought. He'd grown a short white beard and had wrinkles everywhere he could see. His face was thin and he looked decrepit as a mummy he'd seen in Egypt.

Neville had a friendly Santa-ish sort of look to him, while Kevin looked craggy and leathery. Ramona's sulky face didn't age well and looked very much like a crone Ron had seen in a comic book once.

"Lord, my feet ache," Kevin moaned.

"Makes me appreciate how spry my gran is, given her age," said Neville, trying to stretch his back and failing miserably.

Hopefully they could solve this before Hermione saw him again. It was one thing to grow old with someone, but another entirely to see a preview of what their old selves would be like. What if she opted out? What if he was stuck as an old man the rest of his life? Okay, that was stupid… They wouldn't curse any of them permanently. But enough to have to sit out of the rest of the C.R.E.? Yeah, he could see that demented Musaad doing something like this.

Ron was distracted from his disturbing reflection by Nevile kneeling to the ground and giving a small cry of, "Argh, my knees!"

"Nev, you okay?"

"Yes," Neville said, crooked hands patting the ground. "I can't see it well, but are these Droseras?"

"Do you have dementia?" Ron asked, stooping to help his friend up.

"No!" Neville laughed, waving Ron away and putting his face next to the ground. "No… I think these are Droseras… A sort of Sundew. It's a plant used for elixirs, including alchemical ones… Supposedly they're an ingredient for a certain magical item you went after in first year."

"The Philosopher's Stone?" Ron asked, stooping down to look at the strange little plants. Even with his wand lit and nose practically touching them, it was difficult to see them. What he could make out of them was green little blurs.

Ramona, still on her broom, hovered nearby. "You went after a Philosoph—"

"Not now," Ron hissed. "Is it normal for Dro-whatchamacallits to be growing in a forest like this?"

"It's not unheard of, but they normally grow in bogs. It's crazy lucky for us to come across them in a forest like this."

"I doubt it's luck," said Ron. This had to be part of the exam.

Neville squinted at the plants. "Drat! I need glasses. I can't see this well enough to tell."

"Here," Kevin said, bringing out a pair of glasses. "They're my readers. I brought them in case I needed them."

"Good man," said Neville, taking the pair and balancing them on his now ruddy and much more substantial nose. "Ah hah! These are Drosera rotundifolia! We can make a little compound with these— it has healing properties and can probably counteract whatever this ageing spell is. Might be a tasty tea!"

With some clever spell work by Ramona they had a mortar and pestle available, and Kevin produced a rather dainty tea set. Neville dehydrated the plants and Ron made a fire for them to brew.

"Is it ready yet?" Ramona asked after they'd watched the pot for an excruciating half hour.

"Not yet. Another fifteen or so, probably, for it to break down," Neville said, checking inside the pot.

"Do you think this is what we'll actually look like when we're old?" Kevin asked, frowning into the conjured mirror.

"If we lived another hundred fifty years or so, maybe," Ron said, not willing to look in the mirror again.

"You look like a short-bearded, straight nosed Dumbledore. That's not too bad," said Kevin, poking his flabby cheeks. "I look awful."

Ron didn't say it, but Kevin looked a bit like a shaved boarhound mixed with an apple that had been left in the cupboard too long.

As the concoction brewed, Ramona hovered on her broom near Neville. "Is it ready yet?" she asked for a fifth time.

"Almost," he said, waving his wand over the tea pot then pouring it out into the cups.

Ron gave it a sniff and felt his gut quiver at the weird smell. "Drink it in one swallow. I doubt it'll taste good."

The four took their cups, Kevin, Neville and Ron clinking them together, and then all four of them downed it. It tasted a bit like dandelion. Not too bad.

They stared at one another, breaths bated. An aftertaste of bitter rotting lettuce started to settle on Ron's tongue. He nearly gagged at the taste. Throwing up would most likely keep the tea from working, so Ron forced his stomach to keep everything in place.

Kevin was unable to do the same, and vomited in a nearby shrub.

"Keep it down. If it's going to work you need to keep it down," Neville said, patting Kevin's back and offering another cup, but the larger man promptly threw that one up too.

It didn't feel like the brew was doing a thing. Ron was about to say so when he realised his hips and back weren't aching so badly.

He stepped over the conjured mirror, with much greater ease than before, and stooped to find he no longer looked an ancient two hundred years! The deepest wrinkles were slowly flattening as if an army of tiny elves were ironing them out under his skin. He still looked older though— maybe thirty or fortyish. He had a tough, dare he think it, almost dashing look to him with the red beard and uniform. He found he didn't mind this look. Maybe Hermione getting a look at this would be a good thing. He looked way less gangly than he normally did. It was a bit like looking into the Mirror of Erised. He stroked the beard into place.

Realising he'd been preening a bit too long, he stepped back. Neville looked the same 'age' as Ron, and carried himself well with broad shoulders and a wise look to his ruddy face. Ramona still was a dour thing, but now she looked a powerful and sturdy forty. Kevin didn't look as young as they. He'd managed to absorb some of the tea, but looked a hardy eighty or so years old.

"Shall we have another brew?" asked Neville.

"That took ages," said Ramona, flexing her foot. "Though I think it might have healed my ankle most of the way… Is it possible to just chew on the herb or something?"

"It needs to be brewed for the nutrients to properly break down," said Neville, looking to Kevin. "Do you feel well enough to move on?"

Kevin did a few squats and waved his wand through the air. "It's not that bad. I feel a touch stiff, but other than that, I feel okay."

"Glad you're spry," grinned Ron. "Why don't you and Neville get some more of that plant while Ramona and I look at her ankle."

The pair nodded and began gathering plants while Ron gestured to the chair and had her sit. She looked unhappy about it, but undid the laces of her boot and offered her foot to Ron. Unbandaged, her limb looked significantly less swollen than before and the bruising was a sickly green of a days old bruise.

"We have to finish this C.R.E. smoothly," Ron said, testing her ankle at a variety of angles. "We walked into that trap because we were distracted. Whatever it is you have against me, you need to table it until after."

"I don't have anything against—"

"Don't fucking lie, Ramona," Ron said, inadvertently squeezing her ankle too hard, making her wince. He was about to apologise, but stopped himself. Maybe a play of intimidation would work with her. Being nice and even saving her from drowning hadn't worked. He looked a bit tougher with the beard and could put on a show if he had to. "You want to pass this exam. I want to pass this exam. So far our wants are aligned."

He conjured a new bandage and began to hand-tie it.

"I saved your arse before, but I won't save your arse again if you can't be a true team player. If all you are is a distraction… well… I play chess." He pulled the bandage tight. "Sometimes a few sacrifices are necessary."

He looked up at her through his eyebrows, weighing if the ruse had worked.

She glared back at him, but he could just see a bit of fear in her eyes. Good.

"We have a few of the plants steeping in some insulated flasks," Neville called out to them.

"Great!" Ron said, giving a broad smile he dropped the moment he turned around. "Isn't that great, Ramona?"

Ramona nervously nodded. "Yeah… Yeah… Good job, everyone."

Kevin gave a smile and a wrinkly thumbs up, while Neville looked between the two, obviously curious at the change in Ramona's attitude.

They prepared to fly when Kevin gave a little moan as he mounted the broom.

"What's up?" asked Ron.

"My hips are all old-man sore… I already suck at flying… This is going to make me even worse."

Ron felt his annoyance spike, but bit his lip to keep from cursing. Could anything else go wrong? He was fucking luckless.

"How about you ride with me, then. Ramona, your ankle is mostly better. Why don't you have a broom to yourself?"

"Okay... Thank you."

Neville's expression went from curious to all out suspicious. He frowned at Ron, quirking his head in question.

'Later,' Ron mouthed, barely containing a triumphant smile.

Without Ramona's attitude to distract him, it was a lot easier to navigate them well around any of the traps. He was able to adjust the map and scale it properly after the run in with the ageing spell.

After a good forty five minutes of flying they landed at the base. Half his team looked poorly. Kevin looked ancient and worn out, while Ramona limped as soon as she landed.

"Harry will send a signal when he's in place," Ron told them. Soon Harry would come with his Patronus to save the day and the burden of leadership wouldn't be on Ron anymore. He was exhausted, his arm still smarted like a bad sunburn, and he positively ached for a nap.

Bossing people about was not something he enjoyed or was used to. Even as a Prefect he'd wriggled out of most leadership opportunities. Collaborating, sure, he quite liked that. But leading?

On this mission he'd had to be in charge the whole time, an experience he'd only had a few times in his life. In all the action he'd seen over the years other people took charge most of the time.

Harry was a natural leader, and Hermione was smart and outspoken. Between the two of them it left little he needed to say or decide. He would just do what needed to be done and add in his two knuts when they'd run out of ideas… He stepped up when no one else could, but leadership expectations felt strange and daunting. It was like trying on jeans that were too tight but the legs were too long.

"What should we do until then?" asked Kevin.

Ron let out an involuntary moan. He just wanted a moment where he didn't need to have answers… Ron hesitated and looked about him trying to come up with inspiration, but felt completely without solutions.

"Maybe we should scout a bit? Make sure we know what we're up against?" suggested Neville.

Ron gave him a grateful nod. "Nev and I can scout while you two heal up. As soon as that potion's ready, try to down more, Kevin. And Ramona, ice your ankle and elevate it."

Neither argued with him. He was used to people arguing with him, ignoring him or just doubting… It all felt wrong… He was tired and would rather have to argue to be heard than have the stage all the time.

Ron and Neville carefully walked the perimeter of the tree line. He did the Captionem Deprehensio spell again and there seemed to be no hidden spells.

There wasn't much to see of the base except its wooden back fence. The buildings were low and simply made timber structures, a contrast to the large hill of forest behind it. There was no sign of Bot, life, or the flag they needed to capture.

"So… Ramona has been surprisingly obliging recently…" Neville said as he carefully stepped over a fallen tree limb.

Ron smiled, but hesitated. Harry usually approved of more ruthless tactics, but Neville he wasn't too sure of.

"I… might've mildly threatened her…"

"Mildly threatened?"

"Made a veiled threat that I'd take her out if she couldn't be a good teammate."

Neville's eyebrows shot up, before a smile began to creep onto his face. "Bold move, Weasley."

"Hey, I tried everything else!"

"You did," Neville assured him. "I just don't get why she seems to loathe you so much."

"Maybe I just have a loathable face."

"She didn't seem fond of Harry either. Do you know her?"

Ron couldn't recall seeing her before Auror exams. He'd done plenty to make people mad over the years, but those people were nearly all Death Eaters and their kids… If she was a Hufflepuff and going out for Auror a Deatheater connection was unlikely. Neville agreed as they speculated.

"Maybe it was something I did or didn't do in the war," Ron said. "She said I'd 'never done anything to or for her'?"

"What could it be?"

"Search me... She's about as forthcoming as a barnacle about it." Ron looked to the hill. Where the fuck was Harry? "Let's get back to the others."

Shrouded in the cover of the trees the quartet waited for Harry's Patronus to come. As they waited they sipped at the rancid sundew concoction. Slowly the group de-aged until they all looked like they were in their mid twenties, with the exception of Kevin, who, after failing to keep down much of the sundew, looked like a middle-aged man.

The edges of dawn had just begun to change the sky, and a gentle breeze blew, but Harry's Patronus had yet to arrive.

"Do you think he's okay?" Kevin asked.

"He's fine," clipped Ron, more to reassure himself than anyone else.

"Maybe you misheard and we should be the ones sending a signal," said Ramona.

Ron grit his teeth. He hadn't misheard. But something could be wrong…

"I'll send a signal," said Ron, feeling his stomach lurch.

He had not attempted a Patronus in over a month, and that one had flickered and failed.

The time before that had been the night he left Harry and Hermione… He had been able to cast a Patronus, but that led to the Snatchers spotting him.

"Ron?" Neville asked.

He could feel dark thoughts clouding his mind and horrid memories fighting to take him over.

"Yeah, give us a sec."

Ron took a deep breath and let his thoughts turn inward.

'Okay… think it out…. The last times circumstances were different. We were in a war… we aren't in one now. There were Dementors before… there isn't even one Dementor now. There were dangerous wizards about and I was alone… Now there is no one real and I am not alone… I am not alone…'

He let the breath out.

Okay… he could do this.

All he had to do was picture something that made him perfectly happy. That should be easy enough.

It took a moment to reorient himself, but logically he knew he had so many happy memories to choose from. His finest memories almost all held Hermione.

The hardest part was picking one memory in particular. His mind was a jumble of smiles and laughs, kisses and touches, hugs and perfect incandescent moments. Combing out one moment felt impossible. Could he concentrate on just her? And the fact that she was his? And the fact that he was hers and he wasn't alone?

Probably not. And he didn't want some flimsy Patronus attempt in front of the others… No, he needed a good one… It took a moment before he thought of a day that could work… Maybe… It was sad at times, but the happy parts… they were something special.

It had been the worst day of his life. His brother was dead. So many people he knew were dead. His family felt shattered. He felt shattered and unable to take a deep enough breath. He'd taken a shower where a million little cuts and burns branded into his skin stung. As he walked out he saw Hermione sitting on his bed. He hadn't expected her, but there she sat. Her hair was still wet and hanging in uneven strands. It looked like she'd shorn off pieces of it. Given how singed she was after the battle, it made sense. She was on his bed in one of his jumpers biting her lip unsurely.

"I wasn't sure if it was… I didn't know if you wanted to be alone or not, but it's been so long since we've slept more than ten feet away from each other and it felt odd trying to fall asleep in my old dorm room knowing you are so far away."

She suddenly sprung from the bed, "But I can go if you prefer your privacy. We would be getting back to how we used to do things, and maybe that's best after everything, because—" She stopped her babbling as Ron gently placed a finger on her lips.

"Stay," he said, giving her a bit of a smile. It was probably feeble and unpleasant, but she unsurely smiled back.

"I don't have to…" she murmured, his finger still resting near her bottom lip. Her bottom lip that he'd gotten to kiss earlier. Her bottom lip that positively called for him to kiss it again.

He settled for leaning in and kissing her cheek. "Stay."

"Are you sure?"

He leaned down further and kissed just below her ear. "Stay."

Relief flickered across her face, and the ghost of a blush grew across her cheeks; a blush he'd put there. Her relief perfectly mirrored his feeling of having her near, and her blush reflected a growing heat in his own cheeks.

"I'll stay," she said, looking at his lips.

"Good."

And then they kissed. It was intimate, but pure, hot, but restrained, filled with a raw feeling of connection he'd never imagined a simple kiss could embody. He had so many emotions threatening to bludgeon him, but just being alive and knowing Hermione wanted and needed him as much as he did her… It somehow made him feel he could breathe underwater and weather anything.

Then his eyes filled with tears and he had to look away and swipe them. Why the bloody hell he was wanting to cry during a kiss he had no idea… He wasn't even thinking about anything sad.

She understood somehow, because she put her lithe little hand beside his cheek and nodded before leading him by the hand to the bed. She fluffed the pillow, tucked him into bed, grabbed another pillow and curled up right beside him, stroking his hair and idly talking about Hogwarts a History.

"Some day I'll read it for you," he yawned, turning into her touch.

"You don't have to… I can always tell you the best parts."

"Hermione Granger offering to let me skip a reading?"

"Ron Weasley offering to read a giant book?"

He laughed and leaned up again to kiss her and she curled around him. Though they were in bed with one another for the first time with no one else about, there was no tension.

"We made it out okay," he said before yawning into her hair.

"Mmhmm," she hummed against his neck. "Together."

They were okay and for the first time in a year he dozed off feeling safe.

"Expecto Patronum," he said. His wand lit and his Jack Russell terrier Patronus burst forth, mutely yapping and scurrying around his feet. Thank Merlin, he'd been able to do it.

"Find Harry," he told it, wishing he'd learned to make his Patronus talk. With a flick of his wand the terrier took off at a blistering pace, scrabbling off into the distance.

He could hear spells of explosions following it.

"Fuck! Bots!" He'd absolutely forgotten about them. They were following his Patronus like they'd followed his conjured birds and dirt clods at the lake. He could only hope he'd not sent Bots raining down on Harry and his team.

He couldn't see the Bots, but could see the debris and dust left behind from their spells trailing on the wind.

At least Harry's team had the side of the valley protecting them. Aiming spells up the hill would be difficult for the Bots.

The spells stopped after a short time, so either his Patronus outstripped the Bots, or the Bots moved fast enough to chase it down far enough into the distance he couldn't hear the spells… Merlin, he hoped for the former.

They waited with bated breath, then heard the spells begin again. Was that Harry?

"He must be signalling back," said Kevin with a smile.

"He's using a Patronus too?" asked Ramona.

Ron nodded, then cursed as he and Ramona thought the same thing.

"They're coming this way!" she hissed.

"Put up a shield!" he hollered to the group.

Ramona, Ron and Kevin conjured shields as Neville sliced his wand at a tree. The gargantuan fir gave a groan before falling in front of them, small needles and dirt flying up.

A moment later the spells struck the earth near them. He couldn't check for the Patronus without risking tree shrapnel to the face.

The telltale glow of a Patronus burst through the tree, but his relief withered and fell out the bottom of his stomach.

The Patronus was a kestrel, not a stag.

He could feel Neville's eyes on him.

Ron took a broken bit of bark from the tree and made it glow before Leviosa-ing it deeper into the camp. The spells followed.

"That wasn't Harry's," whispered Neville.

"I know," Ron moaned. This made their plan for victory feel even more tenuous. They might not have Harry at all. Who knew how much of Harry's team has made it through?

His arm hurt. His mind was flayed. His energy was flagging.

"Okay…" said Ron trying to cobble together a plan. "We'll make more of our own dummies from this tree to distract the Bots."

He severed the felled tree in a few places.

"Should we make mist again for cover?" asked Neville.

Ron shook his head. "Sun's coming up and there's too much wind. It would dissipate in seconds."

He did a few spells on the large bits of tree.

"Anyone good at Disillusionment spells on people?" asked Neville.

The group shook their heads.

"We'll have to go in with good defence and hope these dummies distract them enough," said Ron, doing the last touches to the nearest log-turned-battle-dummy. "Kevin, you're best at defence. When we move forward, do your strongest shield. Stay on foot— your spells are at your best when you're on the ground."

Kevin gave a nod.

"Neville, you're good at offensive spells. You'll cover Ramona and I from behind the shield."

"I'll stay on foot too," Neville added, shrinking his broom down.

"And Ramona and I will fly. We'll be beside you with offensive spells. When we see our opportunity we'll fly in, spells blaring, to get that flag."

The unspoken problem was how on earth could he manage to find an opportunity?

They finished creating dummies from the felled trees and sent them to the east and west, away from both them and the forest. The sound of Bot spells trailed in their wake.

The quartet arranged themselves at the back gate and moved forward. Despite the adrenaline pumping through him, Ron could feel the underlying fatigue pulling at him.

The base's buildings were all empty, with no sign of Bot or other enchantment.

Ron did another check, and reported there were no hidden spells or enchantments.

"Thank Merlin," Neville said, stepping forward and tripping a bit. "What the—?"

Wrapped around his boot was a piece of wire, barely thicker than a thread.

The group looked in puzzlement before a large red flare burst above them.

"I thought there were no traps!" cried Kevin.

"No wizard traps! This is Muggle," said Ramona. "It was a tripwire for the flare."

The flare did nothing particularly menacing in and of itself; all it did was hover and glow. The ensuing explosions brought by the silent call echoed through the valley and made the ground shake.

"Get against the building!" Kevin shouted at them. They quickly put their backs to the building, while Kevin strengthened their shield. "You can shoot around the sides, but nothing can get through the shield itself."

For the first time Ron was able to see the Bots without a cloak of darkness or debris to hide them. There were dozens of them, their bulbous bodies able to magically hover high and fast. They didn't have faces, just cavernous holes that would shift and twist on the end of a plated articulating neck. Hideous and massive, they were shaped like an armoured spider-tick with six jagged mechanical arms holding wands, all aimed right at his team.

Spells split the ground and hit the defensive shield with a sharp crack of splintered light.

Kevin's barrier held, surprisingly impenetrable despite the amount of spells striking and fracturing around them.

Ron, Ramona and Neville threw a battery of spells. They hit Bots in the face and body again and again, but nothing got through. There were no openings to fly through.

A small movement up the hill caught his eye— there were three dots flying down the hill. Harry and the others!

"THEY'RE OKAY!" shouted Neville.

They might just make it out of this with everyone unharmed and passing this hellish exam.

They just needed to distract the Bots long enough for Harry to get the flag. He flew with speed towards the flag, but spells were just as heavy for Harry's team as Ron's, and they quickly retreated back.

"WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING TO STOP SOME OF THE BOTS!" Ron screamed over the den of spells.

"NOTHING'S GETTING THROUGH!" Neville yelled back.

Ramona did a large sweep of her wand and suddenly the noise died down to a muffled series of thuds that more resembled the sounds of his ghoul than a barrage of explosions.

"Nice," he said, despite himself.

"I just wish I'd thought of it earlier," she said, putting her hands over her ears and massaging.

"They have to have some weakness," said Ron, "y'know, besides shiny objects."

"Well we need to hurry up and find it. I don't know how much longer Kevin can keep this shield up."

Kevin held the barrier with gritted teeth, his forearms flexed and straining.

"Okay… The Bots have defensive shields protecting them, but somehow they keep getting spells through," said Ron, aiming another spell around their own shield.

"Is it even possible to have a shield work both ways?" Neville asked Kevin, whose wand arm was shaking.

"No, there has to be a hole," Kevin gritted out, tossing his sweaty fringe out of his eyes.

Ramona watched the Bots before her eyebrows shot up. "Their wands are getting through! Maybe if we aim down their arms we can get our own spells in."

She pointed at the nearest Bot. "Look there— where their arms attach to the body? There's a tiny gap that opens up into the body of the Bot. If you shoot straight down the arm a spell could get in there and cause some damage!"

Ron watched and sure enough he could see it, a gap no wider than a few fingers showed when they raised their plated arms. It was a tiny, nearly impossible target.

"Aim near the base of their arms."

"Brilliant," Ron grunted, carefully aligning his wand.

He waited until a Bot raised its wand high, then took his shot, aiming a precise explosive spell under the arm. A plume of smoke and scattered Bot-parts signalled his success.

"Fuck me, he hit it!" Kevin laughed.

"It worked!" Ramona crowed, looking pleased for the first time in the exam. She and Neville took aim, and though their shots weren't nearly as accurate as Ron's, they too eventually found some successes, temporarily stunning the Bots.

As more and more Bots became disabled, Harry's group began to descend down the hill again.

Ron grinned watching his friend fly fast as a sparrow down the hill, clearing past trees, glasses glinting as the sun crested the horizon. Harry was going to win it for them. He was near to the flag, his arm outstretched and ready to swipe it.

Then a series of flares went off around the flag.

The remaining Bots abandoned Ron's team and immediately hurled themselves towards the flag. Claudia and Vyse were driven back up the hill while Harry flew into a building.

"No no no, over here!" Ron shouted at the Bots. "OVER HERE YOU STUPID FUCKING THINGS!"

Ron threw debris and spells, he even hovered a flaming piece of tree roughly the size of a centaur, but nothing brought the Bots back towards them. They stayed glued to the flag and began ignoring everything, until there was a movement up the hill.

Claudia and Vyse had begun their descent again and the Bots immediately lobbed spells their way.

Ron aimed a flock of birds to distract them, but they ignored it and only sought the movements of recruits.

The Bots had gotten smarter.

"There are only about seven Bots left. If we pick enough of them off then one of us can get in there," said Ramona.

"We can't aim from here, we need to get closer…" said Ron, staring ahead to the wide open space leading up to the flag. There was no cover at all, and Kevin was scarlet and sweat drenched from the strain of keeping their shield up so long.

Though he was some distance away Ron caught Harry's eye and gave a large shrug. His best friend shook his head in return. Harry didn't know what to do, and neither did Ron.

"What do we do now?" Ramona asked no one in particular. The other two looked to Ron.

Ron ignored their eyes and stared at the ground.

Harry didn't have an opening… Kevin was throttled… Neville couldn't fly to get close… that left Ron and Ramona… The Bots weren't moving from anything just wandering by now. They were smarter and hunting down people…

"Someone needs to serve as a distraction and fly in there… When the Bots are distracted someone else can grab the flag."

Kevin stared at Ron aghast. "Whoever does that is Bot-fodder!"

Neville gave a sigh before putting up a hand. "I can do it."

"Sorry mate, you're not fast enough," Ron replied. "It has to be someone fast enough to lead them away and not get hit for at least a minute or two. This fucking test won't end until at least one of us has won the flag, or all of us have lost…So…" he shrugged.

"So you're saying there isn't a way to do this without losing someone…" said Ramona.

"If the flag is swiped quickly, maybe everyone can pass…" Ron replied, giving Ramona a sardonic smile. "But sometimes sacrifices have to be made."

"No way!" Ramona hissed. "I won't do it! You can't make me fail my exam!"

"You're a fast flyer," said Ron, mounting his broom.

Did he have the guts to do it? To make that sort of sacrifice?

"I won't do it!" she screeched.

There were two other exams, after all.

"Failing one won't get you kicked out of the program," Ron muttered, looking at the Bots and then across the empty yard to Harry. He signalled him to be prepared, and Harry nodded, readying himself on his broom.

His arm ached. His palms were wet with perspiration. His gut was clenched. He needed to do this quickly, like ripping off a plaster.

"Kevin, get them close. Neville, aim well and hit hard. And Ramona," said Ron with a sigh. "Get the flag fast."

"Wait, Ron, maybe you don't—"

Whatever Neville was going to say was left behind as Ron flew full force ahead towards the Bots.

He'd been the sacrifice before and he could do it again.

The Bots turned their blank pitch black voids for faces towards him. Their arms all aimed his way.

The ground split below him as he flew. Dirt and smoke threatened to choke him as the bombardment slammed down around him. He barely avoided the blasts and his arm ached at the tight manoeuvres as he weaved and bobbed around the spells.

He needed to find elevation, and fast.

With a giant pull that painfully snapped his neck back, he was in the air. Higher and higher he flew, with spells rushing by him. He could hear the metal and wood unpleasantly scrapping one another just behind him; the Bots were following him.

He was so high his ears popped, but he couldn't dare look back to see the Bots on his tail or if his team was doing what he asked of them. One backward glance could end him. He wished he could see Harry or Ramona's moment of victory, or feel that moment of victory with them.

All he could see was spells hurtling past him into the light orange sky. All he could feel was the slam of his momentum sharply stopping.

His arm twisted unpleasantly before cracking and whipping in a painfully wrong angle as his broom shattered. His wand twirled away from him, far from his grasp.

He was falling.

His legs kicked uselessly. His body flailed at nothing as he plummeted.

He couldn't catch a breath as he spun and tumbled, vision reduced to dizzying streaks of brown and orange.

He tried to remain calm as the earth loomed closer. Any second and he would be Port-keyed back to base by the vest and be told he'd failed the exam.

But the vest didn't do anything. The familiar pull of a portkey didn't come. He was falling to his death and nothing was stopping it.

The ground was getting closer and closer.

The small dots of Harry and Ramona flying towards the flag were rapidly coming into focus.

He was wandless and could do nothing but watch as the ground sped up towards him, every blade of grass and rock zooming larger and larger.

He thought of his family's laughs, and Harry's smile, and Hermione's everything before he slammed his eyes shut and felt himself twist and suddenly pull. His back hit something solid and all the wind was knocked out of him.

He gasped for air that wouldn't come and opened his eyes to see the sunny blue of the training pitch and Musaad and Sealy-Pearce standing over him.

"Episkey," said Selay-Pearce with a painful poke at his arm. There was a terrible crunching sound and a sharp pain as the bones snapped back into place. She did some other spells to his arm as he fruitlessly attempted to catch air in his lungs.

"Ventus Saeptum," Musaad encanted over Ron's stomach. His frozen diaphragm suddenly worked and he gasped and panted trying to find a rhythm for his lungs. "Take a few slow breaths."

Ron did what he could to slow down his breathing. He tried to just feel the grass against the back of his head and take in his surroundings.

Theold was lounging in a nearby chair, while Sealy-Pearce and Musaad stood nearby Ron, looking down in concern.

He'd been falling. He'd thought he was going to slam into the earth and fucking die. And that fucking weirdo Musaad had let it happen.

"What the fuck!?" Ron managed, before pushing himself up with his right arm. He didn't bother with the left; he could feel it struggling to even flex.

The practice pitch was merry with little dandelions swaying around him. With the clawing rage working its way through Ron he swatted a few of the stupid flowers away. "Why didn't the vest get me back sooner?!"

"It only brings you back if you're hit with something that would kill or incapacitate you— The Bot hit your broom, not you, so in this case, the ground was the incapacitating hit," reported Sealy-Pearce.

"Well- well that's fucked up! This whole thing was fucked up!"

"Amen!" said Theold from his nearby chair.

"Oh don't you fucking start!" Ron yelled, looking about for his wand. He ignored Musaad's proffered hand and stood up on his own.

"Where the fuck is my fucking—!"

As if summoned by his question, a Bot popped out of nowhere and politely offered him his wand back. Ron snatched it back before stomping off a few feet and kicking a dandelion head off its stalk.

"Do you need any pain relieving spells or a Healer?" asked Sealy-Pearce.

"No," Ron rumbled, without thinking.

"Then are you ready for the report of your performance?" she asked, coming closer.

"I know how I did!" Ron growled, closing his eyes tight. His anger was starting to fracture and he could feel the horrid sensation of tears starting to sting his eyes. He'd failed. After everything, he'd given it up. Hopefully not in vain. "How did the team do? Did they get the flag?"

"Ramona Higgins got the flag a moment ago," said Sealy-Pearce, pointing to a series of floating mirror-like frames he hadn't noticed. They showed different views of each recruit celebrating as the Bots' arms lowered and the team swarmed a smug looking Ramona to congratulate her for getting the flag.

"Good for her," said Ron, trying to will himself to feel fully happy for them. He almost did. They all were hugging and bouncing up and down and he had helped them with that, at least at the end. They were okay. They'd made it through.

"This way," said Musaad, motioning Ron towards the door, making him tear his eyes away from the people who had actually passed the exam.

He followed Musaad to the locker room. While behind him and out of sight he uselessly tried to flex his left arm Sealy-Pearce had healed. It was numb and the fingers didn't want to do anything, so he let it hang.

"So… can I go and take a shower now?" asked Ron, hoping to wash the stink and defeat off in peace and perhaps massage his arm to get it working again.

"Not yet," said Musaad, the sadist.

He motioned Ron over to a small flimsy looking table, where a variety of quills were filling scrolls of parchment. Some were filling out a spreadsheet with numbers and symbols that meant nothing to Ron. Another quill was finishing up a set of lines on a map, and another few were finishing up long paragraphs of writing. As the purple quill finished dotting a few I's, Musaad grabbed the parchment out from under it. The quill gave an offended few stabs at Musaad before a new parchment flew into place and it continued writing.

Musaad rolled through the scroll before stopping it and handing it to Ron.

He took the scroll and began to read the blue ink;

Weasley: Don't fucking lie, Ramona.

Weasley squeezes Higgins ankle.

Weasley: You want to pass this exam. I want to pass this exam. So far our wants are aligned

Weasley bandages Higgins ankle

Weasley: I saved your arse before, but I won't save your arse again if you can't be a true team player. If all you are is a distraction… well… I play chess… Sometimes a few sacrifices are necessary.

Ron felt his stomach drop somewhere around his bollocks.

"Do you normally threaten people to get people to comply?" asked Musaad, carefully studying Ron's mortified and quickly reddening face.

"Erm… No sir. I didn't mean that, of course, but I just thought if she thought I was that maybe…" his voice trailed off.

"You did what you must to ensure a fellow recruit performed," said Musaad with a nod. "I was impressed by it all, Weasley. The intuition, the plans, the leadership, the flying, your sacrifice…"

He picked up the spreadsheet, having to wave off the quill trying to write a touch more on it. "Great scores across the board. You took my advice from last exam; you didn't let your nerves stop you and went all out."

Musaad gave the parchment another look before something like a grin began to form on his face. "A most excellent job."

"But I didn't pass…" Ron mumbled, looking down to his mud covered shoes.

"Are your ears made of cloth?" asked Musaad, voice sharp.

Ron looked up, startled.

"This exam was to measure flying skills and resilience, see how you work with others and see how you react in the field under battlefare conditions. You were beyond proficient and were highly effective in every measurable category."

"But I didn't make it to the end."

"I said that would be the end of the C.R.E. for you, not that it would lead to a failed exam. You passed with flying colours," said Musaad, giving Ron a stout look.

"I passed," Ron breathed out, feeling boneless and woozy.

"Keep it up, recruit," said Musaad, giving him a small punch to the chest before heading back to the door. "You can take your shower now."

Ron vaguely nodded as he numbly walked into the shower and let the water soak him, clothes and all. He'd done it. With a groan he let himself slide down the wall.

With some massaging and hot water his arm finally listened to him. Everything from his scalp to his toenails ached. Maybe he should have taken up Sealy-Pearce on the pain relieving spells.

"Ron?" he heard Harry's voice.

"Harry!" Ron called back, feeling a grin split his face.

His friend poked his head in and the two smiled at one another.

"Normally you take off the clothes and then shower.," teased Harry.

"Normally you take an exam and the most you deal with is ink under your fingernails," Ron groaned, forcing himself to a stand.

Harry laughed and slid across the shower tiles to give Ron a hug. "We did it!"

"Yes we fucking did!" Ron laughed back. "That was fucking brutal."

"Yeah… yeah it was." Harry gave a grimace. "You alright? That was some mad moves you pulled!"

"M'fine," Ron said with a wave of his wand to dry himself. "How'd it go with your team?"

"Not the best," Harry said without expanding on it. Ron would have to ask about Harry's lack of Patronus once they got home.

"Well, I got to find out what I'll look like at the ripe old age of five hundred, so that was horrific. Nearly as bad as dealing with Ramona!"

"I can imagine," said Harry as they walked into the locker room, loudly proclaiming, "Man of the Hour is here!"

Ron was immediately lifted off the ground by Kevin in a crushing hug.

"Fucking madman!" he crowed, large arms shaking Ron about like a ragdoll.

"Amazing!" Neville said as Claudia and Vyse clapped, all broadly smiling at him.

"You did alright," Ramona managed to say as she walked to the showers.

"Wow, that's practically a gold-plated medal from her," said Neville under his breath.

"I'll clear some room over the hearth."

The group dispersed after singing his praises for a solid ten minutes, leaving Ron well chuffed and red-faced. The group properly showered and changed before Harry and he walked out into the hall to find Percy, sitting in a chair that hadn't been there before.

"Percy?" asked Ron, looking about. "What are you—"

"Oh good! I didn't miss you!" he said, pushing his glasses up his freckled nose and disappearing the chair.

"Is something wrong? Is everything okay?" asked Ron, feeling panic begin to well.

"No, no, nothing wrong," he said with a wave of his hand. "Congratulations on your exam. I hope you don't mind, I asked to be informed and they said you did quite well."

"Oh yeah… I did okay."

"He did brilliant," said Harry, giving him a rough elbow in the side.

"You didn't have to come down to congratulate me… I'll see you at dinner tonight."

"I know that, but I just wanted to immediately tell you… But it's private," Percy looked nervously between them. It was still odd to see Percy looking uncertain about anything, much less looking nervous about Ron's reaction. "Well, this is why I came."

He handed papers over to Ron. He read a bunch of tosh before finally finding:

Doctors Hugo and Jean Granger - FOUND.

-----

Thanks so much for reading! I'm trying to catch up on responding to comments (anxiety was getting to me for a while there)- I was super nervous about this chapter as I'm not used to writing much in the way of action- but hopefully you found this entertaining!

Next time: Hermione's POV

#waking up #ron weasley #my writing #harry potter fanfiction #romione #auror ron

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