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Ch 14 Consequences Part 2
🕑 Added 2024-08-21 15:31:08 +0000 UTC"By the way, did you see the look on Hannah's face," Ginny said to Hermione and Luna in a gossipy tone, "The girl was positively glowing since this morning and I hadn't seen the smile leave her face even once... She got quite lucky there, didn't she," she said with a faint hint of jealousy in her tone, making Hermione unconsciously nod her head in agreement.
And that was how their journey back home went, the others gossiping in low voices and Ron trying his best to get as much sleep as he could.
Draco and his goonies had apparently tried to start something at some point with Harry when he was on his way back from the bathroom but apparently, they had been very unlucky and had been retaliated against by the whole of DA before being thrown into an empty compartment with various shades of facial disfigurement but other than that the trip was relatively peaceful.
This meant that when the train finally pulled up to the platform, Ron could positively say that he felt like a human once again.
"Ah! I can't wait to get home and eat some real food after so long..." Ron muttered with a happy smile on his face as he pulled his luggage from over the racks. Sam had no memories of what it felt like to have a home where a loving mother cooks for you, so safe to say it was something he was looking forward to very much.
"Um, Ron," Harry's voice abruptly came from his place where he was looking out the window, "From what I am seeing, I don't think you'll be getting anything to eat for quite a while... "
"Huh, Why? What happened—" Ron's question abruptly got stuck in his throat and his eyes widened dramatically because when he glanced outside at the platform 3/4, he found waiting for him almost half the Weasley family including the Twins, in their new fancy clothes, Arthur Weasley and a very angry... Molly Weasley.
The Weasley Matriarch was just standing there silently but the aura she was realising was so ominous that her own family was giving her a wide berth and were looking at her sideways with wary eyes as if she was a pressure cooker on the verge of exploding and Ron just knew that he was the fuse that would set her... off.
"Er... you don't think she found out about the... night. Do you?"
"Do you not remember Mcgonagall's face from last night... I tell you, that woman was out for blood. I bet she sent letters to the parents the moment we were out of her office... Thankfully I don't have to worry about anything with the Dursleys," Harry answered with a strange look on his face. He never imagined that there would come a day when he would be grateful for the fact that the Drursleys were his official guardians.
"I'll pray for you, Ron," Hermione said sympathetically, patting Ron's shoulder while looking at him as if he was a dead man walking, "Good luck."
Ron wanted nothing more than to hide in the train and to let it take him back to Hogwarts but the others didn't think it was a viable idea and they convinced him that the more he delayed the more dreadful it would get so he should just get it over with. 'Easy for them to say it, those bastards...'
And so Ron was forced out of the train, kicking and screaming(metaphorically), and the moment he got down, the eyes of the entire Weasley family zoned in on him, picking his familiar red hair from the crowd of students easily, making Ron flinch.
Especially when he felt the heat of his mother's gaze... Ron shivered as if he was being attacked by Dementors and the urge to run away rose up in him once again.
Being afraid of his mother was so ingrained in the boy's body that not even the memories of Sam, who had been an orphan his whole life, could help him.
Thankfully, it didn't seem like she was going to start screaming right there and then, which would have been quite humiliating... but her eyes— were spitting fire at him as if she wanted to immolate him and they promised untold amount of pain, and they showed that she was quite close to losing it.
"Um, Harry, do you think I can come with you?" Ron asked hesitantly as he dragged his feet as slowly as he could towards his family, "The Dursleys can't be that worse, can they?"
Harry snorted, "Well, if you can tolerate mild starving and doing innumerable amounts of chores, then sure they aren't that bad..."
"Argh! Shit!" If there was one thing this body couldn't handle, then it was starving... because after all, only the soul inside had been modified, and the physical side of things had mostly remained the same.
Along the way they also met, Madam Longbottom who was searching for her grandson. She stopped the three to thank them for bringing Neville along for the ride when they went on these brave adventures.
Though, it was kind of hard to tell from her face, whether she was talking about the fight in the DOM or the Hufflepuff invasion last night. And neither Harry nor Ron were interested in asking her.
But no matter how much Ron dragged his feet, destiny is inevitable... And so they arrived in front of the Weasleys, and the traitors that they were, Harry and Hermione took one look at Ron's mom and immediately decided to distance themselves from him.
They gave him a wide berth and went around the Weasley Matriarch to meet with the other order members standing behind them, including Tonks, Lupin and Moody, and Ginny Weasley, the little critter, who had been even faster than Harry and Hermione and had scurried away at the first chance, with ease of long practise, from Ron at the first sight of her mom so that she didn't get dragged into the mess.
And so Ron gulped as he found himself standing alone in front of his mother, who somehow managed to tower over him, despite her diminutive height.
"Um, Molly—"
"Arthur." Mrs Weasley interrupted her husband in such a calm tone that it made, both the father and the son flinch simultaneously, "I am going to take Ron home first. You can bring his luggage and others later."
"I... Alright." he sighed before turning to look at his son with something akin to pity and then decisively turning his head away so that he didn't have to look at the plea in his son's eyes and feel guilty.
Ron's face paled even further at that, he had been hoping to have the presence of his family with him to dilute her anger, and now to find out that he would be facing her alone... it was all turning out to be the worst-case scenario.
The twins would have especially been helpful for that, but when he looked towards them with a beseeching gaze all he found was pride, respect and a little bit of sympathy, their eyes were looking at him as if he was a martyr sacrificing himself for the good cause, 'We'll remember you, brother,' They mouthed while saluting him.
"Let's go," Molly said or rather commanded quietly and then without waiting for Ron to speak, she took her son's hand off his trolly and then in the next second they side-apparated out of the platform.
The last view Ron saw before he was whisked away, was of his friends and family standing there silently their gazes filled with sympathy, guilt and a little bit of schadenfreude, but not a single one of them gathered up their courage to step out and help him.
In fact, he even caught a glimpse of money changing some hands which meant that those cruel bastards from the order even had a bet going on about his fate, which was just... salt on the wounds.
It all just honestly made him lose his trust in humanity as a whole and made Ron wonder if... joining the dark side wouldn't be a healthier choice for his future.
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Comments
Alkole
Honestly yh plus they deserve it for all the spider pranks they've done on him
Levitress
lol Glad to get another chapter. I have been enjoying this story and keep hoping for more update. I am always chomping for the next chapter. I was really hoping Ron would have walked up to his family and thrown the twins under the bus by saying like "Thanks for the help getting that drink last night, it was awesome till we got caught" That would have been golden.
