The Keeper of the Fires

All hell broke loose in a second.

Moments before Harry had been asking to wait until he gave the order, then the intruders attacked and holding fire didn't make sense anymore. The first masked men had raised shields as soon as they arrived but the ones who followed attacked without asking questions, shooting all kinds of curses and hexes even before putting their second foot on the ground.

"The Barricades!" Harry shouted, tackling Turner to the ground as a purple beam passed just inches above them. Turner only thanked him with a weak nod, his eyes were wide. It was obvious it had been a long time since the blond man had any kind of action.

"Almost there!" Ron yelled as he raised big stone slabs from the left-wing of the Ministry towards the centre, in the direction of the Black Memorial. The young Auror who had found them in the Floo Network Office, Parker, was helping him.

Once the barricades were in place, Ron turned around, trying to understand the state of things under the blasting sounds and the spells racing over their heads. It was not good.

Harry was in the centre, shooting stunners from one side of the Memorial. He was pushing his forces to strike at different weak points of the attackers. With a quick glimpse, Ron saw a few masked men down thanks to Harry's tactics but that was not very inspiring after looking at two Aurors down on their side of the Atrium. There were not many of them and each wand was pure gold. One of the Aurors on the floor had a look on his eyes that Ron had seen before, the face of the killing curse. He gritted his teeth and gripped his wand more tightly. These Aurors were very young, some of them still in training, barely out of Hogwarts, he was sure.

"Ron, I need you on the other flank!" Harry yelled. Ron only nodded and bolted towards the other side of the Memorial, commanding his own share of young recruits.

It was madness. Everything was so dark that only the masks and the multicoloured lights flying over the Atrium were visible. It was like a twisted version of George's fireworks exploding from one side to the other. Dozens and dozens of spells fired from each side even before the previous round hit their targets.

"There! Over there too!" he was yelling to his recruits, "Parker! To your right!"

"Yes sir."

At that moment, and without Ron seeing it coming, Raymond Turner fell to the floor, lifeless.

Cold sweat dripped from Ron's forehead, as memories from darker days came to him. Almost all of the young Aurors were petrified in fear, with wide eyes and trembling hands. Fortunately, though, Parker was not one of them.

"Don't get distracted!" Harry was yelling hysterically, "We still have a battle here!"

Ron could understand why the new guys were distracted, all they had done so far were drills and this was a real battle. No, not a battle, a slaughter, that was what it was. A bloody slaughter.

They were outnumbered, probably one to three, Ron guessed.

"Oh Hermione," Ron mumbled thinking of his wife and the last thing he said to her when he left her barely an hour ago. Regret hit him at the same time he kept throwing curses toward the fireplaces. He should have hugged her more, he should have told her how much he loved her at least one more time.

She was right after all, as she always was. It was always going to be the Ministry, St Mungo's was surely a distraction. Ron wondered how would she react when she found out about the attack on the Ministry, would it be soon? Or would it be in the morning? Who would tell her? Would she read it in the Prophet? Would Ron still be alive? Would Harry?

Ron's heart shrank by the weight of those questions. It hurt more thinking about her finding out than about his own hopeless fate.

"Who the hell are they!?" a brown-haired bloke at Harry's side shouted in desperation, "Is this about Azkaban? We need back up!"

"Shut up and keep firing Bernard!" another lad answered him.

"Bollocks! There are way too many! We won't make it!"

"Focus! Remember your training!" Harry shouted, shaking a few lads around.

Everyone was already waiting for their final moments when a few lights rained down on the enemies. Ron turned back and he saw a few Aurors on the Ministry's windows. Ernie MacMillan was among them.

"It was about time! About bloody time, Ernie!" Ron yelled, laughing and resting a bit with his back against the Memorial.

From their high position, Ernie's guys were able to put down a lot of masked men pretty quickly. That gave Harry, Ron, and the rest of the Aurors at the Atrium a healthy space to breathe.

Harry and Ron got closer to talk about their plans and where it was best to hit. They also took a few seconds to Reenervate a couple of Aurors who were only stunned next to them. Although, there were grim stares too when they recognized the faces of the fallen ones.

"Okay Ron, you should take the right-wing, there's a weak spot near the centre," said Harry.

"Way ahead of you mate, already saw it."

Harry nodded, "Let's go before Ernie gets hit. The surprise should have passed by now and—"

BOOM!

Whatever Harry had tried to say was lost because at that very moment the whole Black Memorial exploded into a thousand pieces. Chunks of black obsidian rained down on them, covering the entire Atrium. Ron thought the rocks were never going to stop falling.

"Bloody Hell! What the hell's going on?!" he yelled. Ron was shielded from the main explosion by one piece of rock that remained intact, but he was still strongly thrown to his side. When he raised his head, a cloud of fine black dust was covering his red hair.

It was as if time had stopped and suddenly he couldn't hear the curses, any of them. There was only a buzzing sound and clouds of black dust.

Ron coughed as he found shelter behind one big rock, and, as the dust settled, he was able to recognize figures on the floor. Some of them soon started to move and stand up slowly, others didn't move and Ron didn't know if they would ever move again. He couldn't see Harry but that was mostly because large pieces of black obsidian now separated both sides. He convinced himself that his brother-in-law was okay, he had to be, just thinking about surviving and having to give that news to Ginny tore him apart.

A new round of spells was fired as the enemies tried to take advantage of the confusion. Fortunately, a good number of Protegos were raised, Ron's included. He hoped they could shield not only themselves but the guys on the floor too.

Then Ron felt dread setting in again as the first guy from the windows fell to the floor. The masked men were aiming at the Ministry's walls too. How long until they took down the few wands Ernie had up there? Those men were what kept them alive at the Atrium.

All of the world twirled in Ron's eyes. Blasting lights of all the colours of the rainbow hitting against solid but weakened shields, debris scattered around the Atrium, chunks of concrete falling from the Ministry's windows, shouts of pain and mourn. Ron felt himself back to that horrible day. He saw pieces of Hogwarts' gargoyles on every chunk of black obsidian, he saw killing curses on every spell, he saw Fred's face on every fallen Auror.

"Death Eaters, they must be Death Eaters!" he mumbled to himself, and putting a knee on the ground, he started answering the fire.

The enemy didn't expect that because they lost three masked men with Ron's first blow. A smile appeared on his face when he saw the young Aurors following him. Parker was still there and he even gave Ron a thumbs up.

A few feet away there was a piece of the Memorial that still had most of its letters, the golden engraving shining. Ron thought that it spelled 'Weasley' and that caught his attention, however, he could be seeing things too.

Ron was desperate, he couldn't put aside his thoughts about Hermione, Ginny or the rest of his family. Harry's child could be growing up without a father, like Teddy. Ron was not seeing any way out, he was feeling that it was only a matter of time now. They had fought before but never like this, not since the war, and still, they had more defences and friends then. They were going to lose, there was no other outcome.

A lonely tear streamed down Ron's cheek, taking the black powder with it on its way to his chin. All that black dust felt like coal and the Atrium like a mine without an exit. The fur-growing trifle and the party seemed like ages ago now.

"Ron! Where are you?!" Harry yelled from the other side of the Memorial.

Even when his best friend's presence didn't change much, he couldn't stop himself from grinning like a madman, "Right here mate, holding this side!" he yelled back.

"Brilliant, keep doing just that!" Harry huffed.

If they were going down, they were going together, and putting up a hell of a fight.

Out of nowhere, Harry reached him, crawling behind the debris. His whole face was filled with black dust too, except for his eyes which were shielded by round-shaped glasses. The right half of his glasses seemed broken but Harry made a quick Reparo and turned to look at him, still throwing stunners at the enemy.

"There are so many of them. I didn't expect—" Harry tried, running out of air for a tic, "I think I took a few of them down but—" he said.

"I know," Ron said, quite shaken too. "We have to do something mate, we can't die here."

Ron was thinking of Hermione, surely Harry was thinking of Ginny, and the rest of the Aurors of their own families. No one had been expecting to die when they left their homes that day. And just when he was about to take George's offer.

"We need back up."

"What about Ernie?"

"I gave him the sign as soon as I could." Harry interrupted, "Not sure if he has had time to give the notice, curses are raining on him too. If they abandon their positions, even for a short time, we could be doomed down here."

"Blimey, guess we are toasted, eh?" Ron answered with a half-hearted smile, he shot an orange spell that hit one masked man on the far left of the attackers.

"We need more wands. We need to let Redfern know, and we need Kingsley too. We need... a distraction." said Harry.

Harry turned his head to both sides, analysing the situation as Ron followed him with the look. They had about ten Aurors left, against thirty or forty of the enemies still standing and firing.

"Wands ready! I'm going to make us a distraction!" his friend yelled, shaking a bit the dust out of his face, the lightning bolt scar became visible again.

"Harry, what— what the hell are you— ARE YOU NUTS!?" Ron said as Harry stood up.

Ron tried to pull him down but, from his place on the floor, it was useless. Soon the shouts came and the spells against them decreased for a moment. The enemy was surprised too.

"It's Potter!" a distant voice echoed in a foreign accent.

However, before the masked men could react, a white and blue light came out of Harry's wand, brightening the whole Atrium.

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry Potter's voice echoed throughout the entire hall and a massive stag raced towards the enemy. It was even bigger than Ron. It sure scared the whole pack of attackers, who instinctively tried to cover.

"NOW!"

Ron didn't have to ask, he just raised his body and motioned for every Auror to do the same behind him. "EVERYONE! NOW IS OUR CHANCE!"

The whole defence raised at the same time, firing endless curses. So many enemies fell that Ron could actually hear them hitting against the floor. There were still many of them on the last lines who weren't hit or found cover against the fireplaces but Ron was sure the move was amazing. More than ten masked men were down with the surprise blow and not even one of the Aurors was hit.

Harry, Ron, and the entire Auror group dropped back quickly, dodging the green lights that flew above them. They were agitated but smiling.

"Great move Potter!" the Bernard guy said.

"That was unexpected, brilliant!" one of the few elder Aurors added, he was almost forty and with a light brown hair that went all the way to his shoulders.

Harry didn't answer, and a moment later more surprise gasps were heard from the enemies. Ron raised an eyebrow but their doubts cleared once Harry's majestic stag stood in front of them. It had returned.

With a muted voice and barely looking at the figure, Harry spoke quickly, "Marcus, we have a situation. We need all the wands we can get. We're under attack at the Atrium of the Ministry. Outnumbered. We won't hold on much longer, hurry, help." He sighed the last part then turned to look at the stag again. "Go."

The silvery stag left looking for its receiver.

The enemies growled as the silver animal crossed through them once again. They were furious, Ron heard them shuffling closer, advancing. The excitement of beating a bunch of them in the surprise attack came down again with the lack of hope in Harry's message.

"Don't let them get closer!" Ron yelled.

As the Aurors resumed the fight, Ron turned to look at Harry, who was still sitting against the floor breathing heavily. His friend appeared to be drained, that was the biggest Patronus Ron had ever seen him do.

"Harry? Harry... Harry!" Ron yelled, and finally, Harry turned to look at him. "Are you all right, mate?"

He nodded and turned over to the enemy once more, he kept throwing curses. Ron did the same, he wanted to ask his friend to rest but there was no point to that. This was it, and they had to throw everything they got. Maybe if they were lucky they would hold long enough for Redfern to arrive.

"Take that you ruddy masked pricks!"

They kept the fight going for a while, but their side was starting to get tired. They were barely seven of them, against over twenty attackers, and they were getting closer. They were already at the memorial while the retreating Aurors were just a few feet from the main door now. They didn't have much time left and Harry was surely about to order a full retreat.

At that moment, all kinds of shouts echoed and red light flooded the Atrium from the fireplaces. The reinforcements had arrived but they had a hard time against the cloaked figures once the surprise was over, the Floo entrances didn't give them much cover.

"Merlin! Are those the reinforcements?" one young lad asked in a good shock.

Harry answered smiling "Sort of, I think I recognize a few from Redfern's and Kingsley's staff. Not enough to be the proper reinforcements though. Redfern must be still waking some guys."

"I don't care who they are," Ron added laughing, "For me those are reinforcements! Take that you bloody Death Eaters!"

The new Auror force gave Harry's and Ron's group precious seconds to move forward. They needed better positions, now that reinforcements were here they didn't need to retreat and there was a chance of grabbing the attackers under crossfire. Harry remained at the centre, just behind the remains of the black memorial, while Ron raced to the left.

And they attacked back. The enemies, who for a moment had been surprised, were now confused and without an obvious shelter for the spells coming from both sides.

Ron smiled, and when he turned to look at Harry he seemed more hopeful too. They were winning, he couldn't believe it.

Parker was beyond excitement. They all had thought they were doomed and now everything seemed to be moving forward. Ron even sighed thinking he was going to be able to see his wife again.

"Weasley sir, we are winning," the young Auror laughed loudly, "I didn't think I was going to say this but we're—"

He didn't say anything else because then young Parker fell to the floor without any life left in his eyes. Ron was shocked and, as he turned back, he saw the rain of curses coming down. Ernie was not there. The Ministry's windows were firing at them.

One strike after the other, the green light fell upon them. It came almost slowly, one shy gleam at a time, staining the darkness like a storm of green spears. Cold and certain.

Silence reigned, or maybe not, it was hard to tell for Ron. Aside from his own heart's beating roughly against his chest, the redhead couldn't hear a bloody thing.

Once the sound finally reached his ears, it came all at once, violently. What he heard was not the sound of yells though, nothing like it. The yells were far away, at the fireplaces, in a different world. What Ron heard was the sound of corpses falling to the floor with a quiet thud. Almost in the same rhythm.

Ron had dodged just in time, not knowing how many of the other Aurors were still alive. He wanted more than anything else to find Harry, to know he made it. Even so, when the green light faded, he heard that little voice inside his head reminding him of his training, reminding him of the war. 'Cover yourself, you idiot!' shouted that voice.

The redhead turned around, most of the rocks and black debris were too small to hide in, and the Ministry windows were brightening with green again.

"Weasley, sir! Over here!"

Ron turned desperately, a few feet away he found the source of the voice. It was an Auror, young but not as much as Parker, closer to Ron's age it seemed. It was odd to have a clear memory at that moment, but her name came to him without effort, Penelope Padgett. The woman's eyes were urging him to hurry, covered under a golden sculpture of some old wizard and pieces of broken stones. Ron raced to her without thinking it twice. He made it, just barely.

Whoever the wizard depicted in that golden sculpture was, Ron promised himself to look up his name later, he owed him one.

He had a moment to breathe after the second round of killing curses ended. He saw Harry on the other side of the building, painfully alone, yet still alive. He was crouched under the biggest remains of the Black Memorial, utterly covered in black dust. He was moving his green eyes from side to side, once he met Ron he let out a sigh of relief. The whole space separating them was filled with rocks and corpses, young Parker among them.

They couldn't let the sorrow overcome them though, this was not a drill, a distraction could cost them dearly. They were not the same school blokes who were surprised in the middle of the war anymore, they were trained Aurors, they needed to be strong and leave the mourning for later.

Both of them forced themselves to look away, towards the Ministry building. There they found the culprit.

Almost twenty high spaces were used by cloaked figures and none by Aurors. Ernie was not there. How did they get access to the fireplaces inside the Ministry? Very few offices got direct connections and, considering the hour, all should be blocked.

The Auror reinforcements in the entrance of the Atrium had been hit by the surprise attack as well. They were being wiped out by the green curses that kept flying down on them. A few of those curses were still trying to hit Ron and Harry but their hideouts kept them safe for the time being. Ron wondered for how much longer.

"That was a close one," said Penelope, the Auror next to Ron.

"A close one? Are you bloody kidding me?! A tad closer and we would be on the floor now," Ron was heaving, "Thanks by the way."

"No problem sir, I got your back," she said with a smile. It was odd hearing her addressing him as 'sir' when she looked almost his age. Ron didn't have a high position in the Office, still, the fact he was Harry's right hand always grabbed attention. Besides, he was a war hero too.

It was difficult to know what to do next at the Atrium. They couldn't come out without being hit and staying was suicide as things were going.

"This is a bad day to die, tomorrow is my birthday," the Auror next to Ron said, "Tuesday the second that is, it's already Monday now I reckon."

Without knowing if she was joking or not, Ron stared at her, "If we get out of this, remind me to get you a cake," he said, "Hell, I'll make it myself, just don't expect it to be anything but dreadful."

"I'll see it done sir." replied the woman.

"RON!" Harry's voice suddenly reached them through the madness that was the Atrium.

At once, Ron turned towards the place where his best mate was trying to avoid the curses. Harry was pointing towards the building. It took Ron some time and a couple of dodged curses to realize what Harry was trying to say. At one of the windows, there was a man without a cloak. It was Dolohov.

The frown came to Ron naturally. He couldn't stand any Death Eater, still, it was not the same with the newer ones. Dolohov reminded him too much of that day, he hated him almost as much as he hated Rookwood.

"RON! We need to go inside!" Harry yelled the moment Dolohov moved into the building.

It was madness for sure but still far from the barmiest thing they had done, they couldn't stay there either way. So Ron nodded and let Penelope know. And they ran. They ran faster than Ron ever remembered running. They ran from opposite sides of the battlefield towards the building, through the main gates, as curses blasted behind them.

Then they were in.

The entrance was empty, almost silent, no sign of a struggle. Ron turned to his back and saw the curses still crashing down outside.

It was then that another wave of reinforcements arrived, with the Head Auror leading them. More would surely come. That made Ron wonder how the cloaked figures planned to escape, it was obvious the full muscle of the department was going to arrive sooner or later. They couldn't be that naive.

"Well about time," Penelope said.

Ron didn't know if the news had broken publicly already or if someone at the Office had let Hermione know by now. He hoped she was not that worried, even when she had every reason in the world to be.

It seemed surreal to be apart from the fight now. Outside the new reinforcements were fighting the guys at the windows and the remaining enemy force in the Atrium. Dolohov's men still had the higher ground, it would take a while before Redfern could reach the door.

"So now what, sir?" Penelope asked Harry.

"We must block their entrance. They are getting inside through a fireplace. There's no other way."

"Which one? Aren't they all locked?" asked the woman.

Harry turned to Ron, "There's an unlocked one. Used for maintenance."

It was not hard to understand Harry's intention. Had the battle changed Harry's opinion of Hermione's idea?

"Are you sure?" he asked his friend.

Harry nodded, "It's the only possible entrance. We have to check there first."

And so they left.

It took them little time to arrive at the Department of Magical Transportation. On the way there, they took down a few unsuspecting enemies by the windows, hopefully in Redfern's benefit. Even when Ron kept his eyes open for Dolohov, there was just no sign of the fugitive.

The bad feeling Ron had at the start of the day had skyrocketed by now. All the way to their destination, Hermione's words kept spinning about on his head.

They soon reached the Fireplace Maintenance Office and outside they found three figures standing over a man. The man was all tied up and, when Ron saw him, he was taken aback at once. It was Tobias Bosley, the supposedly dead fireplace worker.

Harry exchanged a knowing look with him.

"Look who honored us with his visit," said one of the masked figures. She was a woman with short brown hair. Ron couldn't see more of her as her face was covered by one of those black masks.

"Is it really Harry Potter? The savior of everything and everyone?" added the mocking voice of a man next to her, also masked. He was an American, that much Ron could tell.

Harry gave a step forward, speaking with the hardest tone he could muster, "Release this man. Now."

"We would rather not. You see, we're enjoying his company," said the American.

Tobias was gagged so he couldn't speak, he only thrashed about on the floor, his eyes looking at Harry with hope. Standing beside Tobias there was a third enemy, a bull of a man, massive and muscular.

"Sod off, all of you," said the bull-man in a raspy foreign accent, he looked at Harry as if daring him to attack him. "Potter- you're a berk!"

Penelope Padgett raised her wand, not showing fear to the giant man, "You better surrender, you can't escape and the reinforcements are here."

If the cloaked figures were surprised they didn't show it. "We're not afraid of old Marcus Redfern. Let him come." said the woman.

Why were they so calm knowing they were surely going to lose? They had the fireplace as an escape route but what did they gain by attacking the Ministry if they were going to retreat empty-handed? Then everything made sense at once. Hermione's worries, Dolohov going into the building, the whole attack. They came for something, they weren't planning on returning empty-handed.

Something they needed to open... something about a mirror… That's what the note had said. Then there was that device Hermione mentioned, that window. Ron wasn't entirely sure what did all mean, but he knew where to find answers.

"Bollocks! You're just wasting our time. Where are Dolohov and the rest of you? Are they heading downstairs?" Ron asked.

The masked woman didn't change her tone, "That's none of your business."

Dolohov was not here because of the battle, he wanted something else. Could it be the same thing that Hermione was worried about? That time- thing? Whatever he wanted couldn't be good if they were willing to risk this much.

Ron turned to his best mate, "You know where we have to go?"

Harry nodded, unflinching, "We can't leave this man here though."

Seemed like there was no way around it and these three looked like they were going to be a tougher thing than the others they had faced on the way there. They were not regular enemies, at least that much was true.

"Expelliarmus!" Ron yelled as he pointed at the American man, trying to get him off-guard. The woman was faster though, she blocked Ron's curse and sent a desk flying at him, which he managed to dodge clumsily.

The battle started. When he saw Ron on his feet, Harry went directly to the American, which made the bigger one follow the woman after Ron. Luckily, Penelope hexed the bull into a broom closet, leaving Ron just the woman to worry about.

At once, Ron discovered his rival was just too bloody fast. Ron kept dodging and blocking all the time, as she didn't give him much time to try anything else. She could block and attack and turn gracefully around, all at the same time.

Around him, the battle was confusing. Ron saw the huge man standing away from a smashed closet, going after Penelope. Harry was close by, trying to catch the other one somewhere around the Portkey Office.

"You're better than I thought Weasley." said the masked woman, whose voice sounded somewhat young.

Ron almost lost his footing on her last attack. Fortunately, he had rolled over just as a metal drawer came flying at him, then jumped into the small office that had belonged to Tobias. Ron had absolutely no idea who this woman was, all he could tell was that she was a hell of a duelist.

"Harry!" Ron shouted when he heard a massive explosion outside. He would have raced to his friend if the masked women hadn't been blocking the door.

"You have to go over me first," she said. With a swift flick of her wand, she made the desk blow and the papers were thrown in the air. She then transfigured them into sharp knives, from which Ron barely escaped. He did get a scratch on his cheek.

"Blimey! You're mental!"

That woman was fierce as fire. She jumped over desks and did backflips when Ron least expected it, she was definitely of the athletic type.

Ron found his chance soon enough. He levitated the hat rack in the small office, which he threw at her. The woman stumbled but didn't fall, instead, she rushed outside. Ron went after her.

Outside the fight was almost over. The American was on the floor unconscious and his mask had fallen in the struggle. His face was the one of that criminal from the reports, Garvan Ferrara, the arsonist bloke. His mustache could rival Vernon Dursley's, yet his body was thin instead of walrus-size. His presence explained the earlier explosion and the small green fires burning here and there.

The room was soaked as there were emergency clouds raining over the fires. Weirdly enough, Ron remembered Hagrid's old umbrella, as if covering himself from the raining clouds was important at the moment.

Harry was with Penelope, standing over the big man, who was also unconscious and tied up. The man had lost his mask as well, which let his beard out in the open, unruly and hard as wire. Ron looked for his own rival and he found the woman by a wall, dragging a terrified Tobias Bosley. She was breathing hard and soaked from the rain clouds, she threw her mask away.

Ron expected her to be ugly or have a crazy look to her, like Bellatrix, however, he was surprised by the beautiful looking woman in front of him. Her straight and unruly hair was short, but still long enough to fall gracefully over her forehead. There, her almond-shaped eyes stood up, outlined in black, almost like a cat. Her teeth were large and looked wonky, but somehow seemed to fit her.

All three wands pointed at the woman. She was surrounded.

Harry frowned after a brief surprise. "That's Aster Prince," he said, "She worked in this department, she was supposed to be in Azkaban's explosion."

The surprise hit Ron as well, who remembered her picture in the reports now. Another supposedly dead person. Hermione didn't see this one coming though. How did that change things?

"Is she the traitor? The rat?" Ron asked with a frown.

"We can't know yet, she might be under the Imperious," said Harry. "Let's get this over with and catch Dolohov. We'll see about that later."

Ron nodded. The three Aurors approached the woman, she didn't look like giving up.

"Throw your wands! You're not going to ruin this for me." She yelled, losing her temper. She had made Tobias stand up and was using him as a shield.

"Let him go." insisted Harry.

The woman, Aster Prince apparently, pressed the tip of her wand forcibly to the man's throat. "Just give me a reason."

Harry nodded to them. They knelt and put their wands down, not standing away from their weapons. If she made a move against one of them, the other two would certainly get her.

"Back away!"

Ron shook his head at Harry. They couldn't be that foolish to leave their wands. What else could they do? If this was one of those muggle movies this would be the point when something unexpected happened. Unfortunately, there was nothing to help them, the reinforcements were still fighting outside, Ron could hear them through the opened windows. Also, he didn't have a second wand in his pocket, all he had in his pockets were a couple of sickles and...

Suddenly, Ron's eyes opened at once, staring at the clouds still raining water on the whole room. The green fires were almost off.

"Back off, I said!"

Ron turned to Harry, "I'll give you a shot. Don't blow it." he whispered.

"Ron, what—?"

"You prats, you want me to repeat that, don't you?" Prince insisted, pressing her wand even harder against the keeper of the fireplaces.

Ron nodded to Harry and stood up, leaving his wand there, his hands raised in the air. "All right, you win. I'm stepping back," he said, he even gave his back to the woman.

"Ron!" Harry called.

Honestly, Ron couldn't say he was displaying Gryffindor's courage, at the time it felt more like he was doing something completely nutter. He closed his eyes and hoped the woman didn't kill him right then and there. Still, he did what he had to do. He put his right hand in his pocket and took out the Party Blasters, all of them. Those things threw confetti when in touch with saliva, or any other source of water hopefully.

It all happened quickly. Aster Prince yelled as Ron threw the prank items, which exploded in a world of multicolored paper. Voices echoed and Ron made everything in his power to jump away from the curse he knew was coming. He was hit though, hard on his chest at first then again at his back. After that, everything turned black.