Chapter Five - The Argument
My heart was racing as I saw Mother looking at me with a gentle smile. It would have made me happy if her mouth wasn't leaking blood. Everywhere I looked there was blood. I tried screaming, I tried pushing her away, but I couldn't move. I was paralyzed.
I woke up with a start, screaming as I saw the small room covered with blood. Someone lit their wand and shook me, but I couldn't stop. I still saw blood. "John! John!" I heard the voice, male, slightly familiar. "John, listen to me! Stop it!"
I couldn't. I felt so guilty because I simply couldn't stop screaming. "Stop shaking him, Ronald!" It was a female voice, but I barely heard it. Was he shaking me? I couldn't even feel it anymore. All I felt was cold blood creeping up over my skin.
I felt strong arms around me, rocking me, comforting me. "Go back to bed, Mum. I can do this," I heard Uncle saying. I was starting to calm down. I wasn't screaming anymore, but I was sobbing uncontrollably.
"Ronald, you can't take care of this child! You can barely take care of yourself!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed.
I buried my face on Uncle's shoulder, trying to tune them out as they argued. "Enough, both of you," I heard another male voice, stern but calm. "Let Ron handle this, honey," he said. Mrs Weasley was protesting, but apparently walked away from the room.
I was glad. I wasn't used to so much attention. I was used to Mother's care, which was a lot, but I felt free. Mrs Weasley, while I had barely interacted with her, made me feel trapped. "It's okay, John," Uncle muttered. "I'm here."
I realized I had stopped crying, and was simply whimpering. "I want Mother," I blurted out.
"I know," he said. He pulled away slightly and I noticed there was a candle on the nightstand. "John, are you hungry?" he asked.
It hit me then, that this was the same man who hadn't said much to me when I arrived. Uncle had been rather quiet and had seemed to be avoiding me. But now, he was the opposite. Probably my nightmare had scared him. Maybe he thought I was some special kid that needed special attention...
My stomach growled. I wasn't sure how long I had been asleep, but it seemed to be very dark outside. And inside the house the lights were out. "Yes," I answered, my voice was raspy from all the yelling.
He took my hand and led me through the darkness. The tip of his wand was lit, casting shadows around us. "There's a bit of leftovers from dinner. Mashed potatoes and meat, is that okay?" he asked. I nodded, almost eagerly. Really, at that time, I could have eaten a rock cake. And Mother had told me it wasn't a good idea to eat rock cakes.
The leftovers consisted of one plate of mashed potatoes and roasted beef. I ate it all. Uncle made some tea, and served me a cup when I was done. "Thank you, Uncle," I said politely as I cleaned my mouth with a napkin.
Uncle stopped pouring himself a cup of tea and looked at me for a moment, and then went back to his tea. "You're welcome, John."
We drank in silence for a few minutes, until a pounding noise made us jump on our seats. "What are you doing here at this hour?" It was Mrs Weasley again, but she didn't seem to notice me there. "I thought you promised not to-!"
"It was my fault, ma'am," I blurted out loudly enough for her to hear. "I was hungry." Mrs Weasley jumped slightly and looked over at me. I couldn't blame her for not seeing me. The kitchen was being lit by Uncle's wand on the other side of the table.
"It's okay, John," Mrs Weasley said, going over to me and hugging me again. Uncle was looking at me as if I were a ghost. "I'm not mad at you." I managed to catch Uncle rolling his eyes at this statement.
I shifted uncomfortably in the woman's arms until she let go. "Go back to sleep, Mum. I'll take him to his room when we finish our tea," he said. There was a hint of annoyance in his voice.
Mrs Weasley was already arguing before he even finished his sentence. "Ronald, I thought we talked about this before!" She grabbed his cup and sniffed at it. "What's in here?"
"Tea," he grunted, trying to snatch the cup from her hands. "I'm drinking tea. It came from the same kettle as his tea came from. Today we talked about this, I promised-"
"Don't play games with me, Ronald!" Mrs Weasley snapped. "It's not like you to ignore an excuse to drown yourself in-!"
"He is worth it!" Uncle bellowed, standing up abruptly and motioning at me. "I told you today, I won't ruin this! I'm doing it for them! And for myself!"
There was a long pause as they both glared at each other. "Are you two done?" We all jumped, this time because a man was standing at the bottom of the stairs. "Will you two ever stop fighting in front of the boy?" I couldn't make out his appearance because of the lack of light, but I knew it was Mr Weasley.
Mrs Weasley sighed and made to grab my hand. I stood up and walked around the table, towards Uncle. I could tell they were both surprised. "Johnny," the woman started in an overly soft voice adults often adopted when talking to one-year-old children.
"Leave him alone, honey," Mr Weasley said softly. "Let our son do this."
Uncle looked at his father, and I thought his eyes were shining oddly. "Thanks, Dad," he said. "Come on, John. We'll finish the tea on the way," he said as he put his wand on his chest pocket and grabbed both cups. I followed after him, not looking back at the couple.
Notes: We see that Ron has had some problems in the past, and that Mrs Weasley does not trust his
supposed "progress". She doesn't think he's responsible enough to look after John.
On the other hand, John trusts him and not Mrs Weasley. She is too overwhelming for him. Hermione raised him to be
independent, despite their strong mother/son bond.