Chapter 19: Breakfast with Ron
July 8 - 4:20am - Grimmauld Place
'Harry, it's a brain. Look!" Ron called giggling. He caught the brain in his hands, and the tentacles wrapped themselves around him. Panic rose within him as it attached itself to him. 'You're not good enough,' a voice whispered. 'Always the sidekick, the little brother, you're nothing on your own.' Ron shook his head trying to get the voice to stop. 'You'll never get the girl. You're not good enough. She'll choose the hero, and you'll never be the hero,' the voice continued. He moaned in his sleep and rolled over struggling against the tentacles and the words.
A voice crying out in a near scream woke him from his nightmare. 'Damn, Harry and his bloody nightmares,' Ron cursed sitting up in bed. He raked a hand through his hair. The moaning continued as the thoughts from his nightmare receded. 'He even interferes with my nightmares,' he thought grumbling.
He stood slowly blinking in the darkness trying to see his way across the room. He felt a twinge for cursing his friend. Harry had dealt with a lot in his life. He pushed aside his previous thoughts, and hastened to his friend's bedside. It was only when he reached it that he realized it wasn't Harry's bed, and then it all came flooding back. He wasn't at Hogwarts. The Burrow was attacked and he was at Grimmauld. Then who was in the other bed? He looked down curious at the figure who was thrashing about in the hospital style bed. As some covers fell back he saw a flash of pale blonde hair.
"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed jumping backwards from the bed. 'How long have I been asleep?' The figure lying on the bed was none other than Draco Malfoy. "Has everyone gone bloody mad?" 'Why would Malfoy be here? And why'd they leave him alone with me?' He debated waking the Slytherin and asking him why he was there. Ron eyed the Slytherin closely. His eyes had adjusted to the darkened room with only its handful of candles burning low. The Slytherin was obviously having a rough night. He pushed aside his sympathy, and decided to go in search of answers.
Moments later he slipped from the room in his pajamas. Unsure exactly what time it was, he wound his way towards the kitchen. Everyone always seemed to congregate to the kitchen. Besides, it couldn't hurt to have a snack before breakfast, he decided as his stomach grumbled loudly. The kitchen was well-lite and clean, and Ron marveled a bit at the changes that had been made to the outdated and dark kitchen he remembered. Dobby met him as he came through the door. The house elf wore red shorts, a bright yellow children's shirt, and at least three different pairs of colorful socks on each foot. Several of Hermione's knitted caps sat atop his head and he smiled broadly.
"What would Ron Wheezy like for breakfast?" Dobby greeted.
"Whatever you're making, Dobby," Ron replied all thoughts of Malfoy and getting answers temporarily forgotten. His stomach grumbled again. The house elf nodded and scurried away. Ron made his way to the table and sat down at the first available seat. Dobby set a glass and a pitcher of pumpkin juice on the table before him, then snapped his fingers and a plate of toast and fresh fruit appeared.
"Dobby will fetch more in a moment," the house elf apologized.
"Thanks, Dobby," Ron said grabbing a piece of toast and buttering it quickly. He could smell the bangers and bacon cooking and his mouth was already watering. Munching on his toast while he waited, he asked, "what time is it, Dobby?"
"It's barely 4:30 in the morning," Dobby answered easily. "Harry Potter and some of the others will be down soon." Ron poured himself some pumpkin juice after he finished his first piece of toast. Just as he took his first drink Luna walked into the room.
"Good morning, Ronald, good morning, Dobby," Luna greeted smiling at first Ron, and then Dobby. She sat down across from Ron, and pulled the tray of fruit towards herself. Ron swallowed and nodded at her greeting. He wasn't quite sure what to say to her.
"Hello, Miss Luna," Dobby said placing a platter of bangers on the table between the two. He added another piled high with pancakes, and yet another with bacon. A basket of muffins soon joined the platters of food, and Ron began heaping his plate full of the various items. Luna carefully placed some fresh fruit and muffins on her own plate.
"How are you feeling?" Luna questioned. Ron looked up from his food. He swallowed before answering.
"Good." He looked back down at his plate quickly and took another bite of sausage. He'd never been alone with Looney before and still wasn't sure what to say. It was much easier to focus on the delicious breakfast before him as he felt like he hadn't eaten in days.
"It's nice to see you out of bed," Luna continued trying to strike up a real conversation with the quiet red head. Ron didn't know how to respond, but then remembered with a flash of inspiration the question that had prompted him to seek out the others.
"What's Malfoy doing here?" He knew he sounded a little gruff, but he'd hastily swallowed his last bite before asking, so he figured they balanced each other out a bit.
"Harry said that Draco and Hannah flooed here to escape from some death eaters. Draco suffered some pretty serious injuries and Madam Pomfrey insisted he remain in the hospital for a few days before anyone even considered moving him somewhere else," Luna explained as best she could.
"How did he get through the wards?" Ron pushed even more curious. Luna merely shrugged and carefully tore her muffin in half. Ron watched her arrange her food on her plate for a moment as he continued to eat.
"What are you doing?" He questioned after watching her spend several minutes studying half of her muffin which she held in her hand.
"Checking for knarble eggs," Luna replied. Satisfied with her inspection she took a bite of the muffin and chewed slowly.
"Oh," Ron muttered. Apparently, Luna was just as crazy as ever. Harry entered the room just as Ron looked down and began eating in earnest again.
"Morning, Luna," he called, "Ron, it's great to see you mate. Hello, Dobby."
Harry sat down beside Luna facing his friend. He poured himself some pumpkin juice. "Would you like some, Luna?" Luna nodded and he poured her some as well.
"Thank you, Harry," Luna said softly.
"How about you, Ron?" Harry added looking to his best friend and his half empty glass.
"I'm fine," Ron replied. Harry set the pitcher down and took a long drink.
"Good morning, Harry Potter," Dobby greeted placing items on Harry's plate.
"Dobby, I can't eat all this," Harry protested looking down at his heaping plate filled with what looked like every breakfast food imaginable.
"Harry Potter needs to eat. He will need his strength for fighting," Dobby insisted stubbornly.
"What fighting?" Ron asked curious looking to his best friend for information. He felt completely out of the look in terms of what was going on around Grimmauld.
"Moody is teaching us how to duel and whipping us into shape," Harry informed his friend. "You'll likely be downstairs training with us as soon as Madam Pomfrey clears you to do so." He spread some strawberry jam on a piece of toast and began to eat. Hermione and Neville entered the room talking quietly as Harry finished his toast, and Ron finished off his second plate of food.
"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed when she saw him. She hurried to his side and hugged him tightly. Ron blushed at her show of concern, but enjoyed it nevertheless.
"Hey, Ron," Neville said then greeted Luna and Harry as well. Hermione let him go before sitting down beside him. Neville slid into the seat next to Harry and poured both he and Hermione a glass of juice. Dobby added more food to the platters, smiling and greeting the new arrivals himself.
"I should check on Draco," Luna said abruptly rising to her feet. She carried her empty plate to the sink and headed for the door.
"Be careful near him, Luna," Harry cautioned. "We still don't know that we can trust him." Luna looked at him for a moment, and then nodded her head slightly before leaving the room.
"We need to get moving ourselves," Hermione added looking at her watch. "We don't want to be late."
"You've barely eaten anything," Ron protested looking from Hermione to her nearly empty plate.
"I'm not that hungry," Hermione replied taking the last bite of her muffin and swallowing it with the rest of her juice. She stood and carried her plate to the sink.
"But all you had was a muffin, even Loony ate more than that," Ron argued.
"Her name isn't Loony, Ron, it's Luna," Harry said as he stood and added his plate to Hermione and Luna's in the sink.
"Not you, too," Ron added. "You've only had some toast and bacon."
"I'll eat more at lunch," Harry said avoiding his friend's eyes. Neville finished off his own piece of toast and sausage before getting up as well.
"Why aren't any of you eating?" Ron questioned confused.
"Really, Ron, we ate, just not a huge breakfast," Hermione pointed out as Neville's plate joined the others.
"We really need to get downstairs, mate," Harry stated heading towards the door.
"We'll talk more this evening," Hermione added following him.
"Bye, Ron," Neville said with a little wave as he, too, left the room. Ron just stared after them for several long moments. Something was definitely going on here, he just didn't know what.
* * * * * *
July 8 - 5:15am - Grimmauld Place
"Wotcher, Bill, did you get a chance to talk to Dudley?" Tonks questioned when she saw Bill heading downstairs. The pink haired auror had just left her room to grab a quick breakfast before work. Bill turned at her question.
"Briefly, he wouldn't let me in the room and I didn't push it. I've bribed him into joining me on a trip to Diagon Alley this morning. If he really is a wizard he's going to need a wand and some books and supplies. He thinks he's just getting the opportunity to get out of here and go shopping," Bill explained smiling.
"It did seem that his parent's indulged him a lot," Tonks remarked thinking about all the times she had been on guard duty at Privet Drive and seen Dudley talking excitedly about one new item after another to his friends.
"Exactly, and it gets him away from Grimmauld which he obviously hates. It also plays to his ego of getting to do something that Harry won't," Bill added. "I can remember plenty of times when one or another of my brother's would be jealous of something I got to do before them."
"Brilliant," Tonks interjected smiling broadly at him. "I knew consulting you on this would be an excellent idea."
"Yeah, well, we'll see if it works as well as I hope," Bill answered and the two continued down the stairs to the kitchen as Bill talked more about his plans for Dudley. As they entered the kitchen, they saw both Dobby and Mrs. Weasley moving around cooking and cleaning.
"Oy, Mum, Dobby can handle things, you should sit down and eat," Charlie Weasley insisted from his own seat at the table. Arthur and Charlie had been explaining everything that had happened to Ron in the last few days, although neither mentioned Harry and Hermione's new status or any real discussion of the Order and what they were doing.
Bill and Tonks joined the others at the table, each filling their plates. Molly finally wandered over to the table and sat down beside her youngest son pulling him in tight against her in one of her famous nearly bone-crushing hugs.
"Why aren't you eating?" She questioned in concern.
"I ate earlier, mum, honest. I had three helpings of pretty much everything," Ron replied pulling away from his mother. He debated saying something about his friends, but decided to give them another chance before seeking his mother on them about their eating habits.
"Alright, dear, it just seems odd to not see you eating," Molly replied ruffling his hair.
"Mum, stop," Ron complained patting his hair down embarrassed at his mom treating him like a little kid.
"She's been worried about you little brother," Bill admonished smiling at his youngest brother. "She's just got to make sure you're alright." Ron sighed as he knew this meant even more attention from his already over protective mother. He loved her dearly, but sometimes wished she'd back off a bit.
"So when do I start training like Harry and the others?" Ron asked deciding to change the subject. He looked expectantly around the table. No one seemed to meet his eyes. After several moments of silence, he tried again, "well, when?"
"Ron, we're just not sure you should be quite so involved in everything. I mean you and Ginny are so young, and we'd like to try to keep you as safe as possible," Molly Weasley explained.
"But learning defensive spells will help us better protect ourselves," Ron argued not seeing the logic in keeping he and his sister in the dark. "And I'm over a year older than Ginny, why can't I learn?"
"We do want you to learn more defensive spells, but that's what school is for dear. Besides, Moody's teaching methods are more than a little dangerous," Molly insisted thinking of the cuts and splinters Hermione had reported to her with, and who knew what would happen today.
Before Ron could argue further, Fred and George appeared in the kitchen with loud cracks.
"Ickle Ronnikins," the both exclaimed in unison, as a small display of fireworks seemed to go off sparkling all around the kitchen.
"Stop it, right now, you two, goodness," Molly scolded.
"It's a celebration, mum," George said.
"Yeah, we're just having some fun," Fred added smiling and grabbing a couple of muffins from the basket on the table.
"We'd stay for more, but we really have to be going now," George explained also grabbing a couple of muffins. He threw the muffins into the air juggling them easily.
"Aren't you supposed to have three when you do that?" Charlie suggested smiling.
"And risk dropping my breakfast on the floor?" George deadpanned as he held one muffin in each hand.
"No way!" Both twins said then disapparated again with simultaneous cracks.
"I'd better get moving, too," Arthur Weasley said looking at his watch. "Goodbye all," he added before kissing Molly briefly on the cheek and flooeing off to work. Tonks polished off the last of her breakfast, and rose from her seat as well.
"I had better be leaving as well. There's a lot to do today," she placed her plate in the sink and left the kitchen.
"Ron, you should take it easy today, after all it's your first day out of bed," Molly suggested getting to her feet as well and going back to straightening things in the kitchen. Although Dobby had things under control, she just didn't feel right, letting him do all the work.
"I guess I should see if Dudley's ready to go," Bill remarked finished with his breakfast as well.
"Do you need any help this morning? I'm not due at work for another couple of hours," Charlie volunteered thinking a day in Diagon Alley sounded like fun even if they would have to keep an eye on Dudley Dursley.
"It might be a good idea considering how many attacks we've had lately," Bill replied thoughtfully.
"It's settled then, I have some stuff I'd like to check on in Diagon Alley as well," Charlie added putting his plate in the sink as well, which Dobby had charmed to wash the dishes.
"May I go along?" Ron asked excited at the prospect of going to Diagon Alley.
"Absolutely not," Molly insisted before anyone else could say a thing. Ron just hung his head and sighed, he knew there was no point in arguing with her.
"Maybe next time," Bill said trying to cheer Ron up a little. "OWL results will be here before you know it, and then you'll have some shopping to do." Ron groaned. He really didn't want to think about OWL results. He wasn't like Hermione, and honestly wouldn't mind if the results didn't come until the day before school started. Bill and Charlie smiled in sympathy because each knew that their brother was thinking of their mother's response if he hadn't done so well. They both left the room silently.
Molly prepared a tray of food for Narcissa Malfoy and left the room only a moment later, leaving Ron once again, sitting alone at the breakfast table at Grimmauld with even more to think about then before.
* * * * * *
Thanks so much for the reviews, the questions, and the helpful comments. They really mean a lot to me, and have helped me to fix mistakes and plan for future chapters. So sorry this got out later than intended, but things got busier than I expected. Hope you like it, and keep reviewing!