By My Side: 04 | Rated: R | Ron Weasley Centric
Title: By My Side
Rating: R for language in later chapters
Pairings: Canon pairings
Words: 1,500 ish
Warnings: Angst again! :D Are you spotting a theme here?
Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter characters, I am merely playing with them. I shall return then when I'm done!
Authors Note: Firstly thank you to mrsquizzical and oncelikeshari for reading it through and putting up with my 'is this okay...how about this?' questions, of which there were many! Secondly thanks to my super fast beta deenas. Yes that's right, I've been through the beta process before putting it up on here, shock horror!
I cannot take credit for the baseline plot of this fic. I blatantly stole borrowed it from Stargate SG-1, series 7, which they then recycled in Stargate Atlantis, series 2, so you know, if they can use it twice, I can borrow it this once!
Chapter 3: Arthur
He blinked, squinted at the entrance to the cave and then shut his eyes again. He opened his eyes once more and blinked a few more times.
He left me! He left me here, on my own.
He was shocked to find tears in his eyes. Harry had left him there, injured, wandless and extremely vulnerable.
Tears fell from his eyes and ran down his cheeks. He was too tired to wipe them off his face and didn’t really feel like it.
He just didn’t understand why Harry would leave him. It just wasn’t like Harry to leave anyone when they needed help, regardless of who they were, or whether they deserved his help.
He just wanted to curl up and sleep but his stomach was hurting through lack of food. He tried to work out how much time had gone by. He guessed it was afternoon but he had no way of knowing, not having put his watch on when he left the house the night before. Whatever the time, he hadn’t eaten in well over 12 hours and his body was reminding him of the fact.
He stood up slowly and waited for the dizziness to overtake him. He was surprised when it didn’t, so took the opportunity to look for some food. He walked out the cave and looked back over his shoulder, he couldn’t see the cave at all and knew the chances were he wouldn’t be able to find it again. He looked around and decided his best idea was to leave himself some kind of sign and at least try and take a logical path through the trees.
He picked up piles of fallen leaves and piled them as high as he could outside from where he had just emerged. He grabbed a small fallen branch and forced it into the ground in the middle of the pile of leaves.
‘Well, if any small animals come by it’ll entertain them for a minute before collapsing on top of them, but it’s the best I can do!’
He kicked around the leaves, and spotted very quickly what he was looking for, a large stone.
He started walking away from the invisible cave with his makeshift marker and every tree he went past he scored an arrow into the bark pointing back to where he had found temporary sanctuary.
…
He had walked for longer than he wanted and it had taken him longer than his head appreciated to get back to the cave. Lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t marked the trees as often as he should and so the further he went out, the fewer his marks had become. But he had managed to get back with a pocket full of berries and the other filled with mushrooms. Not having his wand to do anything to them, least of all check that they weren’t in fact going to either poison him or send him to a colourful wonderland full of dancing pixies, he ate the berries and mushrooms raw.
‘Hermione, when I see you next, I’m going to apologise for moaning about the food you made on the Horcrux hunt!’
His makeshift tea did little to relieve his hunger, but it was something. What weighed on his mind were his thoughts when he had woken up.
He knew it was probably because of his head injury that he was confused as to what had happened. In all fairness it was his head injury that had manifested this problem in the first place. But he couldn’t help but feel guilty for thinking that Harry had found him and then left him. Harry would never do that to him. Ever. And he felt disgusted with himself that he had ever let the thought cross his mind.
No, Harry would never abandon his friends when they needed him, neither would Hermione, but he had. He had left the both of them when they were all stressed, tired, running out of ideas and when they all needed each other the most.
‘I’m a crap friend,’ he mumbled to himself.
His head was starting to throb again so he leant against the wall of the cave and brought his knees up to his chest. He sighed deeply.
‘I didn’t mean to hurt them!’ he said to his knees.
‘And they know that!’
Ron turned his head to the right, and he saw his Dad sat next to him. Realising what he was and resigning himself to the fact that this was going to carry on happening until his concussion was healed, he smiled and was happy to have the company. He frowned when his mind turned back to his previous trail of thought.
‘I left them when they needed me!’
‘And the second you left, you wanted to go back to them.’
‘That’s beside the point! I believed everything that thing made me think, even though deep down I knew it was exaggerated or just spouting utter bollocks! I let it get to me when I should have ignored it. Harry and Hermione weren’t affected by it.’
‘Harry and Hermione had less things to worry about than you!’
Ron turned and looked at his dad properly.
‘Dad, they didn’t. Harry wasn’t going to forget that he had Voldemort to finish off in a hurry and Hermione had the pressure of coming up with ideas on where and what Voldy’s Horcruxes were. We never actually told her that was her job but we were depending on her to find something out and give us something to go after! All I had to do was keep the both of them sane but I couldn’t even do that properly!’
Arthur sighed. ‘Ron, as much as you hate to admit it, you care a lot about what people think of you, especially people who you care about. If Harry or Hermione said things when either of them were wearing the Horcrux, then chances are, even if they didn’t mean them or said something flippantly, you stored those little pieces of information in that brain of yours and when you were wearing the locket, they assaulted you all at once. As well as all that, you had your brothers and sister to worry about, as well as your old mum and dad.’
Ron smirked. ‘Don’t let mum hear you calling her old!’
‘Well, I doubt you’ll ever say it to her face, so I’d say I’m all right!’
‘Right,’ Ron said with a nod, remembering once again, he was talking to a figment of his imagination.
‘But, I don’t think you need me to tell you that you were stupid going out without telling anyone where you were going, do you?’
Ron laughed out loud. ‘No, I think I’ve learnt my lesson.’
‘Everyone’ll be frantic looking for you, you know.’
‘I think everyone is exaggerating slightly, don’t you?’
‘You’ve got a lot of friends, Ron, you make people laugh, you’re there when they need reassuring and you’re just a rock to them.’
‘Comic relief isn’t something to shout about,’ Ron mumbled to his knees.
‘I think Fred would’ve disagreed with you on that one, don’t you? And I think George would have something to say too! I tell you something, Ron, if I could go through my days making everyone around me smile and happy, I’d be a very proud man. But you’re more than that, Ron, so much more.’
‘Is that why you’re here?’ Ron asked. ‘To remind me of who I am in case I go mad and forget what makes me, me?’
‘In truth, I don’t know why I’m here, but while I am, I’ll remind you what a strong person you are, and that you’re strong for other people as well as yourself. You can do a lot of things when you put your mind to it, Ron, remember that.’
Ron shifted slightly and that’s when he realised his backside had gone numb. His head throbbed slightly and his stomach started squirming.
‘Word of advice, Ron,’ Arthur said as he stood up.
Ron burped behind his hand and grimaced. ‘What’s that then?’
‘Don’t throw up in the place you might have to sleep in.’
As Arthur finished his sentence Ron’s stomach turned over. He scrambled to his feet and ran out of the cave. He kept on running until he started to wretch and then fell to his knees at the foot of the nearest tree. He emptied the contents of his stomach - which wasn’t a great deal - onto the leaf covered earth and collapsed in a heap on the ground.
For the fourth time in too few hours, he fell unconscious.
Rating: R for language in later chapters
Pairings: Canon pairings
Words: 1,500 ish
Warnings: Angst again! :D Are you spotting a theme here?
Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter characters, I am merely playing with them. I shall return then when I'm done!
Authors Note: Firstly thank you to mrsquizzical and oncelikeshari for reading it through and putting up with my 'is this okay...how about this?' questions, of which there were many! Secondly thanks to my super fast beta deenas. Yes that's right, I've been through the beta process before putting it up on here, shock horror!
I cannot take credit for the baseline plot of this fic. I blatantly stole borrowed it from Stargate SG-1, series 7, which they then recycled in Stargate Atlantis, series 2, so you know, if they can use it twice, I can borrow it this once!
Chapter 3: Arthur
He blinked, squinted at the entrance to the cave and then shut his eyes again. He opened his eyes once more and blinked a few more times.
He left me! He left me here, on my own.
He was shocked to find tears in his eyes. Harry had left him there, injured, wandless and extremely vulnerable.
Tears fell from his eyes and ran down his cheeks. He was too tired to wipe them off his face and didn’t really feel like it.
He just didn’t understand why Harry would leave him. It just wasn’t like Harry to leave anyone when they needed help, regardless of who they were, or whether they deserved his help.
He just wanted to curl up and sleep but his stomach was hurting through lack of food. He tried to work out how much time had gone by. He guessed it was afternoon but he had no way of knowing, not having put his watch on when he left the house the night before. Whatever the time, he hadn’t eaten in well over 12 hours and his body was reminding him of the fact.
He stood up slowly and waited for the dizziness to overtake him. He was surprised when it didn’t, so took the opportunity to look for some food. He walked out the cave and looked back over his shoulder, he couldn’t see the cave at all and knew the chances were he wouldn’t be able to find it again. He looked around and decided his best idea was to leave himself some kind of sign and at least try and take a logical path through the trees.
He picked up piles of fallen leaves and piled them as high as he could outside from where he had just emerged. He grabbed a small fallen branch and forced it into the ground in the middle of the pile of leaves.
‘Well, if any small animals come by it’ll entertain them for a minute before collapsing on top of them, but it’s the best I can do!’
He kicked around the leaves, and spotted very quickly what he was looking for, a large stone.
He started walking away from the invisible cave with his makeshift marker and every tree he went past he scored an arrow into the bark pointing back to where he had found temporary sanctuary.
…
He had walked for longer than he wanted and it had taken him longer than his head appreciated to get back to the cave. Lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t marked the trees as often as he should and so the further he went out, the fewer his marks had become. But he had managed to get back with a pocket full of berries and the other filled with mushrooms. Not having his wand to do anything to them, least of all check that they weren’t in fact going to either poison him or send him to a colourful wonderland full of dancing pixies, he ate the berries and mushrooms raw.
‘Hermione, when I see you next, I’m going to apologise for moaning about the food you made on the Horcrux hunt!’
His makeshift tea did little to relieve his hunger, but it was something. What weighed on his mind were his thoughts when he had woken up.
He knew it was probably because of his head injury that he was confused as to what had happened. In all fairness it was his head injury that had manifested this problem in the first place. But he couldn’t help but feel guilty for thinking that Harry had found him and then left him. Harry would never do that to him. Ever. And he felt disgusted with himself that he had ever let the thought cross his mind.
No, Harry would never abandon his friends when they needed him, neither would Hermione, but he had. He had left the both of them when they were all stressed, tired, running out of ideas and when they all needed each other the most.
‘I’m a crap friend,’ he mumbled to himself.
His head was starting to throb again so he leant against the wall of the cave and brought his knees up to his chest. He sighed deeply.
‘I didn’t mean to hurt them!’ he said to his knees.
‘And they know that!’
Ron turned his head to the right, and he saw his Dad sat next to him. Realising what he was and resigning himself to the fact that this was going to carry on happening until his concussion was healed, he smiled and was happy to have the company. He frowned when his mind turned back to his previous trail of thought.
‘I left them when they needed me!’
‘And the second you left, you wanted to go back to them.’
‘That’s beside the point! I believed everything that thing made me think, even though deep down I knew it was exaggerated or just spouting utter bollocks! I let it get to me when I should have ignored it. Harry and Hermione weren’t affected by it.’
‘Harry and Hermione had less things to worry about than you!’
Ron turned and looked at his dad properly.
‘Dad, they didn’t. Harry wasn’t going to forget that he had Voldemort to finish off in a hurry and Hermione had the pressure of coming up with ideas on where and what Voldy’s Horcruxes were. We never actually told her that was her job but we were depending on her to find something out and give us something to go after! All I had to do was keep the both of them sane but I couldn’t even do that properly!’
Arthur sighed. ‘Ron, as much as you hate to admit it, you care a lot about what people think of you, especially people who you care about. If Harry or Hermione said things when either of them were wearing the Horcrux, then chances are, even if they didn’t mean them or said something flippantly, you stored those little pieces of information in that brain of yours and when you were wearing the locket, they assaulted you all at once. As well as all that, you had your brothers and sister to worry about, as well as your old mum and dad.’
Ron smirked. ‘Don’t let mum hear you calling her old!’
‘Well, I doubt you’ll ever say it to her face, so I’d say I’m all right!’
‘Right,’ Ron said with a nod, remembering once again, he was talking to a figment of his imagination.
‘But, I don’t think you need me to tell you that you were stupid going out without telling anyone where you were going, do you?’
Ron laughed out loud. ‘No, I think I’ve learnt my lesson.’
‘Everyone’ll be frantic looking for you, you know.’
‘I think everyone is exaggerating slightly, don’t you?’
‘You’ve got a lot of friends, Ron, you make people laugh, you’re there when they need reassuring and you’re just a rock to them.’
‘Comic relief isn’t something to shout about,’ Ron mumbled to his knees.
‘I think Fred would’ve disagreed with you on that one, don’t you? And I think George would have something to say too! I tell you something, Ron, if I could go through my days making everyone around me smile and happy, I’d be a very proud man. But you’re more than that, Ron, so much more.’
‘Is that why you’re here?’ Ron asked. ‘To remind me of who I am in case I go mad and forget what makes me, me?’
‘In truth, I don’t know why I’m here, but while I am, I’ll remind you what a strong person you are, and that you’re strong for other people as well as yourself. You can do a lot of things when you put your mind to it, Ron, remember that.’
Ron shifted slightly and that’s when he realised his backside had gone numb. His head throbbed slightly and his stomach started squirming.
‘Word of advice, Ron,’ Arthur said as he stood up.
Ron burped behind his hand and grimaced. ‘What’s that then?’
‘Don’t throw up in the place you might have to sleep in.’
As Arthur finished his sentence Ron’s stomach turned over. He scrambled to his feet and ran out of the cave. He kept on running until he started to wretch and then fell to his knees at the foot of the nearest tree. He emptied the contents of his stomach - which wasn’t a great deal - onto the leaf covered earth and collapsed in a heap on the ground.
For the fourth time in too few hours, he fell unconscious.