ch 13

'Platform 9 ¾'. The sign read as I walked through the barrier that separated the non-magical and magical train stations.

The platform has long been considered one of the finest examples of arithmancy and spatial enlargement charms.

I wore fashionable robes of black and red. An auror level basilisk skin wand holster fits snugly on my right arm under the sleeves of my robes. Two wands rest inside, I only trust one of them. The other is to get me out of trouble, for when trouble, inevitably, finds me this year. My chest is inside my left pocket, shrunk and featherlight. Inside, there are books people would kill to have, and there are books I would give away for free if I could. For example, our newest DADA book.

It's bloody useless. I couldn't help but think.

Harry walks beside me, a good three inches taller than he was two months ago, courtesy of the nutrition potions Sirius and him shared. I have no idea what's under his robes, and I don't want to know.

"Sorry about your cousin mate." I spoke now that we were alone and away from the rest of our entourage.

He didn't say anything at first, he seemed surprised that I would mention it. "Got what he deserved."

He was just a child. I couldn't help but think. Now he is a vegetable, thanks to a couple of Dementors.

I honestly didn't think the dementor attack would happen once I changed the events of the summer. I was under the impression that because everyone knew the boy-who-lived moved in with his godfather, no one would bother wasting an attack that wouldn't succeed.

I was wrong. My mind supplied. It was a successful attack on the boy-who-lived, a message sent. 'Keep your mouth shut' If I interpret it correctly.

"He's still family." I croaked out.

"That what you think about Percy?" His cheekily replied.

"Ha, yes actually. He may be an idiot, but he's family."

We settled into silence as the rest of my family caught up with Sirius and Hermione.

"You all behave yourselves at school this year yeah?" Arthur told us as they approached.

Sirius stood behind him comically shaking his head no and pretending to puke before dad saw our eyes and whipped around.

Sirius never missed a beat and stopped before he could see him. "Yes, don't get into any trouble, mind Snivellus and Minerva." He spoke with an unnaturally straight face.

Smiles broke our faces, even Hermione's at his antics.

"We'll miss you." I told them as I turned around, in a hurry to get away from their suffocating presences.

I love my family. But a part of me wants my own independence while corresponding with them about three times a week ...maybe. So a whole summer of someone of them breathing down my neck wears on my nerves.

Gotta be teenage rebellion. I thought to myself.

"Try not to run, Ronnikins." I heard from my shoulder.

"Fred." I greeted my brother. I reached the train without looking behind me the whole time. I crossed the threshold right behind Harry, letting him take the lead to find us a compartment.

"I'm not Fred." He responded too quickly.

"Mmmmhmmm." I replied not believing him one bit.

"You've become no fun, Ronnikins." George said from my other ear.

I expected both of them to keep teasing me but when I looked back, they had both disappeared somewhere, which made me slightly sad about the way that I have been treating them lately.

I shook off the guilt I felt with a reminder of how high the stakes are this year. Fortune favors the bold.

"This one work?" Harry asked finding an empty compartment near the middle of the train.

"Yea for sure." I told him as I stepped to the side to let Hermione in first.

She must have been behind the twins. I thought as she walked past me.

"Thanks." She muttered surprised at my manners.

I smiled at her and I immediately felt another wave of guilt, similar to how I felt with the twins. I should probably take more of an effort for the people that love me.

We all took our seats in the compartment. I sit next to Hermione to let Harry have the other side to himself.

"Did you both finish your summer assignments?" Hermione asked us as both Harry and me pulled out a book from our robes, intent on reading the time away.

"Yes, around the third day into the summer actually." I responded truthfully. I can't stand to let work build up. I thought to myself remembering my past life. It's odd too because I used to be a notorious procrastinator in school in my last life, but the workforce beat that out of me fairly quick.

"Yes, would you look it over for me?" Harry asked her.

I watched as her face brightened, like a light coming from a dark tunnel. It was in that moment that I realized she must think she is losing us as friends, I decided I was tired of pushing people away. We may never be what we were or what we were supposed to be but that doesn't mean I have to cut her off.

"Of course." Hermione responded.

"Mine too?" I asked her curiously.

"I would love too Ronald." She said with a wide smile.

It took us a moment to dig the homework out of our trunks but once we did, she poured over our work hungrily. I didn't notice that she picked up Harry's homework first because of the book in my hands, a particularly helpful tome about dueling tactics that involve incorporating the elements.

It was a very old book, written by a wizard lost to time, apparently he was some legendary dueler at the time. It was his life's work, and Sirius let me take it to school with me. It apparently was a prerequisite to his 'real' book, at least that's what was mentioned in the book, I wasn't even sure the sequel was in the Black library.

It took Hermione a couple hours to finish the homework, it was significantly more work that the previous years, to help us prepare for our OWL year. So when I looked up from my book I didn't expect all of my work to lay neatly stacked off to the side, with no marks on it, no comments on them at all.

The two of them were too busy going over Harry's work, going over the things he could have mentioned, the theory he could have included. Eventually they stopped and I looked to her with a look that said 'do your worst'.

"Ron, do you mind if I use an example similar to yours for McGonagall's question about switching spells. I never thought about questioning the mass of the objects you wanted to switch?" Hermione asked me.

Oh so she did already read mine. I thought realizing I must have not noticed it, as I was engrossed in my book.

"Yes sure, did you have any advice on where I can improve?" I asked trying to get to the point.

She glowered at me then, much to my surprise. "No, there wasn't even any grammatical mistakes I could see. Not to mention the theories that you threw around, do all of those actually exist?" Hermione finished with a question.

"Yes, some of them are from sixth and seventh year material, and the others wouldn't be found in the school textbooks." I answered truthfully.

"Sixth and seventh year? You're using seventh year material to research fifth year homework? Doesn't that kind of defeat the point?" She asked confused.

Harry felt the need to answer for me because he spoke before I could. "Not to research Hermione. He's on the seventh year material." The way he said it was so casual, not even looking up from his book.

I shot him a look. That's not information I want spreading. I thought and my look must have said the same thing because Harry's head shot up once he realized what he said.

"Sorry mate. Just slipped." Harry said before I could say anything.

I turned my gaze back to Hermione to see what her reaction might be. She wasn't looking at either of us, instead she seemed off in a daze. Then it was like a switch flipped.

"Seventh year..." She almost whispered. "Seventh year!" She said standing up then. "You're on seventh year material? Is that what you were doing all last year?"

"...and this summer." Harry cut in once again from the side. I shot him a look of absolute murder.

If he speaks about my abilities like that again I might curse him. I thought to myself.

"When were you going to tell me?" She asked, hurt more than angry.

I thought about lying, I really did, but I decided that wasn't the avenue to take today.

"I wasn't, at least not anytime soon. Maybe after the war…" I responded.

"The war? What war?!" She shouted then.

Oh shit did I just say that? It can be played off easily. I thought to myself about my slip up.

"There is a war coming Hermione." My wand shot into my hand and I waved it, casting the same charm I used to keep Bill out of the conversation with my father. "We all know Voldemort is back Hermione. What happens next?"

She put the pieces together, and intellectually we all knew that this would be the outcome of the recent developments of the previous year. But it was just now hitting her what is to come.

We were all quiet for a moment as she processed what she was hearing. I shot a look to Harry and noticed that his eyes were on her and not his book, worry and something else in his eyes.

"Why you then? Even if there is a war, we'll be at Hogwarts protected by Dumbledore. The aurors will fight the war." She deduced from that brilliant mind.

A fair assumption, but wrong nonetheless. Oh what the ritual would do to her, it wouldn't be fair to the rest of us. I couldn't help but think to myself at her already impressive intellect.

"I wish that were the case, but we're best friends of the boy-who-lived, and he damn sure isn't going to stay out of the war." I said continuing before she could respond. "And Dumbledore is over a hundred years old, more than likely, he won't survive this war." I tell her finally.

She shot Harry a look, I wasn't sure if it was because of his silence in defending Dumbledore or because she knew I was right about him joining the war eventually.

"Not to mention, nearly my whole family is in the Order. I refuse to lose any of them." I said aloud to everyone when they said nothing.

She never even looked at me, instead she kept staring at Harry, he met her gaze calmly, much more calmly than he would have just two months ago.

"And you? It's plain enough to see that you agree? Are you preparing for war also?" Hermione asked with a bit of bite in her tone.

"Absolutely." Harry responded without pause, his tone didn't waver, he is committed.

He's happy with his new power. I thought to myself, observing the two of them. Too happy?

She threw her hands up in the air at the situation. Then they came back down and she rested her face in them, upset. Then her head shot up.

"That's what you two have been doing all summer. How far along are YOU then?" She asked pointing towards him.

We both caught her real question. 'How advanced are you?'

"I just started, but I'm about halfway through this year in all the wand subjects." Harry told her.

He had been following the same route in his studies that I did, he is almost completely uninterested in the other subjects that don't require a wand. It made sense, it was always his strong point.

"But your homework had as many holes in it than last year." She said.

I held a hand up to him, so that he didn't tell her about the ritual. He got the idea to because he nodded to me.

"That was before I …started." He responded.

It was true of course, he completed the homework at the Dursley's before Sirius had been released to go home. It had been a way to distract his mind from the stress of not knowing how Sirius was doing. Around a month before his ritual and a week before he decided to take things seriously and ask me for help. His progress has been scary the past few weeks, not outstripping my own but scary nonetheless.

A bell sounded throughout the train, signaling it was time for the prefects and the head boy and girl to meet for the year.

Harry and Hermione both got up, Harry to get dressed and Hermione to reach into her bag for her prefect badge. This was a small change from canon that could have huge impacts. Harry got the prefect badge instead of me. The day our letter came in the mail, no one was surprised at the outcome except for me. I was not disappointed, in fact I was relieved. It gives me more freedom to do the things that I need to do this year, and I think Dumbledore knew that also.

I know that McGonagall is the one who appoints the badges but I also know that it wasn't her decision this year. Mainly because of the anonymous message I had at the bottom of my Hogwarts letter.

There was no author, it read. 'He needs the responsibility.' And I couldn't agree more with the old wizard.

It was the same reasoning he probably used in canon, that Ron needed to grow in maturity to help the boy-who-lived. Now it is Harry who needs responsibility help him mature. I also think it's because he has had word of Harry's improvement over the summer. He's preparing him for a leadership. I'm sure in his mind, it makes Harry a greater sacrifice. Manipulative old fucker.

I was actually surprised that the bell came so late, we were already a couple hours in the train ride. Harry and Hermione left without saying anything else about our discussion. Instead Harry acted like nothing had happened and Hermione was thinking.

"See you in a bit."

The rest of the train ride was awkward when it wasn't Harry and Hermione's turn for patrols. Eventually it ended, though I was by myself, so I stayed reading until everyone else had been escorted off.

I hopped out of my seat to follow the last body off of the train noticing it was the head boy of our year, he had a glazed look on his face as he passed by. I moved to follow but a flash of black caught the corner of my eye as I exited my compartment.

My curiosity got the better of me and I made a decision. My wand touched the tip of my head as I disillusioned myself. Then I moved the direction of the other body I saw.

I moved slowly and quietly until I heard the voices.

"...ur fathers name." An unfamiliar voice said.

"I am not responsible for his mistakes." Another more familiar voice sounded out.

Nott? I thought recognizing the voice.

"It's your burden to bear all the same. Do this and you'll earn your freedom." The unfamiliar voice said.

"I'll never be free!" Nott shouted at the other.

"Watch your tone."

There was silence then, I assumed they were having a stare down. I couldn't risk moving in to the light and them see any shiver of the air. So I waited and listened.

"You have your orders."

And then there was a body moving. He wore the black and silver robes of Slytherin. A seventh year. I noticed as he walked past me, took a left, and walked towards the castle.

Nott didn't move and neither did I, I wanted to see if I could get anymore information. I wasn't wrong, I heard sniffling and I could tell he was crying. I continued to wait, letting him have his moment. I thought about leaving him on his own but I just couldn't stomach leaving him here, alone.

It's obvious Voldemort has given him a task. I thought dissecting the conversation. And if he is doing it for freedom then he must not believe in the cause, or at the very least not want to be a death eater.

I continued to ponder my options while he sobbed in the compartment. Why am I here, if not to help. I finally decided.

I stepped into the doorway and sure enough it was Theodore Nott, he didn't see any distortions in the air because of his feet pulled up to his chin and his head down. I made my presence known by dispelling the charm.

I sat there for a moment before he recognized me, ready to defend myself if he reacted poorly.

He slowly pulled himself together and unwrapped his limbs. He wasn't as tall as I was, but taller than Harry, and skinny, very skinny. He obviously didn't eat much.

His head shot up when he noticed the body, next his wand shot into his hand much of the same way mine did. Relatively fast draw. I commented to myself.

He didn't cast anything, but I could tell he thought about it.

I decided to break the tension before he did something stupid. "You alright?"

He ignored my question. "How much did you hear?" Nott asked.

"You have your orders." I said simply.

Relief flooded through him when I said that, happy that I didn't know anything direct.

"Voldemort has a task for you?" I asked deciding to be blunt. "And you don't like it."

He flinched at the name. "That's none of your business Weasley." Nott responded.

"I have a feeling it will be. I can protect you, from him." I told him.

He laughed at that, I didn't. I kept a cold gaze on him the entire time, trying to demonstrate that I was serious.

"No one can."

"That's simply not true. Sometime soon, I will get a message to you, and then I will prove to you that I can. Understood?" I finished with a question.

"Wha..?" I interrupted him.

"I can give you your freedom."

Then I walked out.

I missed the sorting. I thought to myself noticing that our conversation took significantly longer than I thought. Umbridge was in the middle of her speech when I opened the door to the great hall. Her words died at the interruption.

I found my seat next to Harry with all eyes on me.

"Hem, hem…" And then I tuned her out.

She will not torture anyone this year. I will not allow it. I told myself trying to contain my anger at her future actions.

"Where have you been mate?" Harry whispered beside me.

"I'll tell you later. We need to have a talk somewhere private tomorrow, this year will be huge." I told him.

Luckily the pink toad finished her speech and food was brought out for us to eat. I caught Dumbledore's eye multiple times during the night, trying to get an audience. I succeeded on the third try, with multiple nods of my head, very indiscreet stuff.

He finished his dinner and leaned to whisper something in McGonagall's ear and walked behind the professor's table and ...disappeared. I took it as my cue and got up with a goodbye to Harry and Hermione and left the great hall, heading in the direction of the headmasters office.

Soon enough I was there and without the need of a password, the staircase started spinning. I hopped on it like the few times I had been here before. I rose into the legendary man office and was surprised to find him already waiting on me. I was sure I would beat him back.

"You were very discreet in your attempts to speak to me Mr. Weasley." Dumbledore joked from behind his desk.

"Your last letter said we would need to talk at the beginning of term." I responded.

"I believe I meant sometime after the feast, or perhaps the next day."

"Semantics." I said waving my hand in the air.

He grinned at that. "Yes well this works all the same." He looked away from me after he told me that. "I have something for you." He said pointing to the papers on the desk. "I need you to sign here saying you understand the ramifications of taking your OWLs early. And here acknowledging the time and date."

I silently whooped for joy, this meant that the paperwork had gone through the proper channels and was approved by everyone. All I had to do was sign the legal stuff, and take the tests during Yule break. It's great having Albus Dumbledore in your corner.

I walked up to his desk and signed everything with the quill he had waiting for me.

"I must admit that I need something in return Mr. Weasley." He started.

I was actually surprised at that. "Oh?"

"Yes, I'm afraid that I have enemies closing in on the school, enemies on all sides." Dumbledore looked three hundred years old when he said that.

"So, much of the same?" I replied cheekily.

He ignored my humor that time as he stood up and walked around to pet Fawkes. "I have much to do still, my friend." That wasn't for me obviously.

Then he addressed me. "Umbridge will attempt to remove me from my post this year, and she has the backing of the ministry, she might succeed. I also have Voldemort and the Order to take care of, the school will need someone to protect it. I fear the staff are too ...reliant… on their positions to help."

Meaning he needs them here as spies. And they are the best in their fields, he still wants us to get a good education. Can't have them oppose the ministry and get the boot for it.

"I need someone with the spine to do what is necessary. Someone not afraid of the powers that be." He said that last part with a pointed look in my direction.

"Why not Harry?" I asked.

"He gets enough bad press with the media, it's part of the reason why I made him prefect over you. People need to see him doing things inside the law, he needs validity. More for the adults out there in the world, than the children."

"And I don't." I said to myself than anyone else.

Well that is a lot of pressure. I thought digesting his words. But it doesn't change anything.

"It's a good thing I already thought of this then, headmaster." I told him before he could continue. He just looked at me, waiting for me to finish. "I want to start a defense group."

"A defense group?" He asked with a tilt of his head and twinkle in his eye, not at all believing that it would be a defense group. "What would be the focus?"

I knew better than to lie so I told the truth. "To prepare them for the war to come."

Neither of us spoke then. Instead, he stared at me, and stared at me, and stared at me. I met his eyes with my own during the whole process, confident in my ability to defend my mind from any probes, none came. The twinkle in his eye was gone, he was thinking.

"You want to create an army?" He asked. He was obviously trying to come to terms that I had already considered or had prepared myself to do just what he was asking.

"No, no. The main focus of the group is to get everyone fourth year and up to be able to survive the war. The younger years can come but I won't be able to do much with them, their magic is too early in its development. That is the main focus, I promise." I answered.

"And the other purpose?"

"Unity, I want to invite everyone, not just Gryffindor, I don't care if their father is a death eater, I don't care if they have the mark. I want to create comradery between people of our ages that will last for the rest of our lives." I gambled telling him my whole plan but I know he has good intentions and he can see the benefit.

"You want to try and save some of the children from the sins of their father? Show them a better way? But you would risk showing your talents to do it? Tom will know of your abilities, your advancements, immediately and not just yours, he will know Harry's too. He will take measures against you. Are you prepared for that?" Dumbledore asked me but he knew that I have been thinking this over.

"There was always going to be a time when I would step onto the battlefield, this just prepares everyone else around me a little more." I said in response.

"Your family ...Fleur?" He asked then, searching for a weakness in my plans.

So he knows about her. I thought and remembered that my family knew and so did the Order. But Voldy doesn't, and won't for a while.

"She wouldn't let me hide her away if I tried. Plus, she is a capable witch."

He smiled at that, but he didn't look convinced.

"That's all good and well. But why? I don't intend to let your classmates ever see the war, they will be safe here." He told me.

"We both know he is too much for you." I said simply and he flinched. "It's another reason why you're putting Harry as prefect, getting him used to the responsibility of keeping everyone in line, letting other people see him in a position of authority. You're grooming him to lead if you fall."

He actually smiled then, not a grin like normal and no twinkling. He actually smiled like he had been caught red handed.

"Why come to me and not McGonagall?" Dumbledore asked me then.

"Your stamp of approval is much harder to remove than hers." I answered.

His eyes twinkled then before he replied.

"Oh this will be fun."

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