The Draag Stone

The Draag Stone

A bird was chirping him back to consciousness. His arm thrummed alarmingly, not leaving any other part of his body much room for complaint. The air smelled of the sea, and he wanted to fill his lungs, but his chest would not allow him to take a deep breath. Neither would his eyes stay open in the bright light. And so he resigned himself to shallow breathing and listening to the distant waves.

An undetermined time later, something swished over his left temple, rousing him to awareness again. Something kept nagging at his consciousness, insisting that it wasn't right for him to be relaxing here, that he should be elsewhere, and a lot more active. With the next swish, he turned his head that way, incidentally away from the sun. His lost sister was sitting next to him. This, he knew immediately did not tally with anything that had happened recently. She was holding his head in her lap, stroking him. "Ginny?" he croaked, unsure if he was dreaming or what it might mean if he was not.

Ginny looked into his face, and her features softened as she let out a long breath. "Ron, oh Merlin, Ron, it's so good to see you. How are you?"

Ron rolled on his side to bring one elbow under his body, but Ginny gently held him back. "Take your time; there's no one else here. Are you somewhat comfortable?"

He looked around, gathering his thoughts. He was lying on a tiny patch of grassland surrounded by rocks, feet bathing in the sun. The frayed holes and tears in his robes forced the events on the rocky isle back into Ron's memory. Harry had insisted on accompanying the party, and if he failed all was lost. A jet of adrenaline pulsed through Ron and demanded immediate action. "I must go..."

Not yet sitting properly, Ron swayed from lack of blood to the head and was forced to lie down again.

"No, Ron. You can't fight just now. Just rest," his sister said.

The Order was fighting and had been hard pressed, and lingering wasn't right! But Ron could not jar his body into motion. As he relented, a groan escaped him, and he hated himself for showing weakness.

Ginny plucked at his sleeve and asked, "You need this arm taken care of. Can the Order go to St Mungo's?"

Ron gave a minute shake of his head and was glad this didn't cause him vertigo. "The Ministry couldn't hold it, but Hogwarts is open to us."

"Too bad it is at the other end of the country. All of the Order members will go there, right?"

"Yes." Ron knew that even people from outside the Order had started choosing Hogwarts over St Mungo's, and the Order had in fact recruited secondary members right out of Pomfrey's claws, but he didn't find the strength to elaborate. "The hospital wing is usually full," he added instead.

After several, gradually deepening breaths, Ron took in the situation at last. "But... but, Ginny, what are you doing here?"

Her new smile washed refreshingly over his soul even if her eyes were swollen with tears as she replied. "So you finally noticed? Well, I am helping you. Now, let me think."

More slowly this time, Ron hoisted himself on his good elbow and appraised her. Her straight hair lifted around her in the breeze, her alert eyes observed the surroundings but turned to check on him regularly. She looked older than he remembered and more serious. Not that it should surprise him. Ron shook himself and pulled his legs under himself to get into an upright position opposite her.

She furrowed her brow in concentration, but whatever it was she came up with didn't seem to really convince her. "We should leave, but I can't Apparate yet. Can you Apparate us both? Are you strong enough?"

This was his chance! Eagerly he checked his limbs. All except for his right arm felt acceptable, and even this limb did feel a little better now. A lot better, if he just wanted it. "Yes, of course," he replied and stood up to prove it. The nerves in his arm protested as he worked his fingers individually, but he took care to not show the pain.

"Ron, don't rush into things. Side-Along Apparition isn't the same. Have you even done this before?"

What was she thinking? She pretty well knew he was licensed. "We're being drilled, if you remember. Side-Along and distance Apparition. I can do more than one hundred miles now. Give me your hand."

However, she held up said hand instead, palm towards her brother. "One warning still. If you break as much as my toenail, Severus will have your throat. Still willing to Apparate? Good. Now Apparate us over there." She jerked her head to an outcrop of rock twenty yards away.

They appeared safely near the rocks, and Ron stood his ground. He knew that he had to be strong for two. Ron also knew he had to tread carefully around Ginny to not scare her off. Hermione had performed research on hostages and how they idealised their keeper, something called after a capital on the continent. Ginny might not see things as they were.

"Excellent," she proclaimed. Then she examined Ron's limbs and head, just like his mother did whenever he returned home these days. He didn't fight it. "Are you all right, Ron? Drained?"

Truth be told, Ron had nearly fainted, but he would never say so. He was in charge here, and he had to bring her up to Scotland! He took his time to strengthen his voice, but the pain and the blood throbbing in his palm caused him draw in his breath. "I'm... fine." He could have cursed himself for his slip.

"I see. Apparition is to be limited," Ginny remarked matter-of-factly.

Looking up into the bright, blue sky, her eyes followed a flock of seagulls. "If we could simply fly like them... Oh, but we can! Yes, that's it! Ron, tell me, is The Burrow still standing? Can we fetch brooms from there?" She was all excited now.

I couldn't have planned this better, Ron thought. For the time being, I'll just play along and not rouse her suspicion. Aloud, he stated, "I don't see why not. I can Apparate us that far, I'm positive."

"Wonderful. Let's hurry, as long as they're still fighting. We cannot be found together." She took the Portkey, fingered around with her wand, murmuring, and finally sent it back over to their first landing place. "You hold me properly again... off to The Burrow."

They almost lost their balance when Ron landed them at the edge of their old makeshift Quidditch field.

"Good place," Ginny said. "We can take a short rest here, I hope. How's your arm?"

A tell-tale, angry violet line started at his wrist and extended one third the way to the pitch of his elbow. A sepsis! Maybe Apparition wasn't such a good idea with a wounded arm?

"You need rest. I will go to the house; wait here," she commanded and left quickly.

Conserving his strength, Ron lay down and watched his sister stride forth determinately. When she approached the berry bushes, a thought crossed his mind. She doesn't know the new wards! She'll get caught in them, and Dad will come and find us. This whole operation was far simpler than he had imagined.

However, waving her wand in a most skilled fashion, his little sister passed through the garden door with ease. Oh, bugger! Within seconds the inner wards were also down. That was bloody brilliant, Ron had to admit. And she has torn down Snape's wards, too. Or, she said so. Ron still didn't believe in this story. Too groggy to develop a plan, he continued just watching her.

She was aiming at their shed, and its door flung open, two brooms zooming to her.

Instead of quickly returning to him, she seemed to ponder about something, weighing her choices. Finally pointing her wand to the second floor, she stood still for some time, as if waiting. A greenish object flopped down to her. She then aimed at what Ron thought was their parents' room, and lots of small items tumbled down, landing softly at her feet.

Finally, she summoned objects from the kitchen that she had to catch deftly.

Another pause before she decisively raised the wand to her own window. Ron double-checked sharply in disbelief, but this was indeed her blue-silver, cuddly unicorn! A picture flared up in his mind of a Ginny not more than twice its size, the horn-tip in her sweaty, little fist and the thumb in her mouth. The Ginny of today coddled it shortly before it followed the rest. Ah, the green thing is the old rucksack Charlie often used for weekend trips with that Muggle friend of his.

When all the Summoned items were packed, she shrunk the bag.

Panting slightly, she arrived and cast an ignore-me spell and a Muffliato. "I'm not sure how good the tap water will be, but it is all there was. Hm, I left a few of the old wards down," Ginny mused. "Should I..."

"No, stay! All valuables are at H… in Headquarters," Ron assured her while downing the water and opening the chocolate she had brought. Warmth spread through his aching body. "Good thinking!" he acknowledged her.

"Yes, well, I do recall my brother's preferences. Oh, Ron." And suddenly a wave of sentimentality swept over Ginny and she clutched his shoulder. "I'm so glad to see you. It's been so long." Now she was positively crying.

He embraced her one-handedly and patted her back. Tears tickled down his cheeks now as well.

Ginny! Here she is, in my care alone, and I'm not strong enough to handle it! Ron felt the responsibility crashing over him. I'm not at my best with this arm, and magically I'll never be her match anyway. I have to exploit her own ideas, pretend to cooperate, lure her.

"It's been months, Ginny. I cannot believe you made it. Tell me, now. Tell me everything!" He smoothed her hair away from her face and rubbed at the smudge of chocolate he had left near her ear. Holding her at arm's length, he had a thorough look at her. Her hair was shorter than he remembered and not nearly as shiny as it should be. Her face and arms sported scratches and bruises. Ron shuddered, imagining what Madam Pomfrey would find under her clothes, which were mended and nondescript and certainly no comparison to the pristine dress code Snape himself kept. Was it a wonder she was crying?

Ron should have remonstrated with her but could not summon the strength. He should leave her to do the talking. "How were they treating you? What can I do?"

"I'm fine. Really. You need not do anything. I've just been missing everyone so much."

Ron snorted. "You tell me you lived in a house with this git, in the company of Death Eaters, and your only problem was you don't see us?" He felt her stiffening at his side. This had come out all wrong! "Now... I mean... we all missed you, and of course, you missed us. But I cannot believe that it's all. What did they make you do? What has HE... made you do?"

"Severus is good to me. Always. And he sees to it that others are as well. Didn't Fleur pass on our message?"

Heat crawled up Ron's neck and ears. That mischievous, false witch! Ginny used to hate her and call her Phlegm all the time! Where has this gone, why would she suddenly confide in her? How can she expect me to listen to her? That woman failed to return Ginny when she had had the chance. This had been her one, great opportunity in this war, in which she otherwise had no part—not that Ron minded!

Ron was about to say this, but looking at his sister's distraught face, he swallowed down the impulse—Mad-Eye be thanked for all his drills. Instead, he stomped off to cool down and lay out his strategy. Ginny might in fact believe in all this!

Returning, Ron just noted, "Yes, well, that. We have no proof Snape didn't Confound her."

"Can't you see that I'm fine? I can do magic as normal, and I can talk normally. Do you want me to do funny exercises?"

Sighing, Ron went for the most obvious signs that contradicted Ginny's own impression. "You've scratches all over, you're bony and look exhausted, your robe is worn and mended..."

Swiftly, she stood and glared up at him menacingly. "If you recall, we have been covered in the debris of a collapsing house. Did you expect me to conjure a mirror and run a series of freshening-up spells? Or was I right in rather saving your hide, Ron Weasley? Severus takes high risks to protect me."

"What did he do to you? What am I to expect underneath these rags?"

"You stop this right now, or I'll be on my way alone. Search for a new, less emotional topic; there's plenty to discuss. You can brush the debris out of my hair, if it helps you cope," she growled.

Well, if he couldn’t reach her directly, he’d try another tack.

"So what did you do all day?"

By the sound of it, she had attended regular classes at that shady place they called Salazar's Academy, and if her memory could be trusted, then in a quite unspectacular fashion. Lectures, homework, pranks, good teachers and lousy ones. It sounded far too normal to be true. Their subjects had been a bit different, that seemed all.

Ron recalled that neither the Ministry nor the Order had located the school yet but there were rumours all around.

"So, for more than two months," Ginny concluded, "I have now been a student again. Our O.W.L.s were ruddy tough. A nightmare, to be precise."

"Yeah," Ron snorted, recalling the discussion between Sprout, McGonagall and Lupin about the O.W.L.s that had been filed at the Ministry not long ago. "I've heard about those. I bet the teachers filled the exam papers for you, too. This wasn't quite normal school material, was it?"

"What? Who dares to claim that they did? I worked hard for that, spent nights and weekends revising. You can ask Hermione what hard work is, since I doubt you know. These exams were certainly harder than Hogwarts makes them. And I tell you, this is a straightforward school. Strict as it gets. There were pranks, sure, but no stupid little house fights."

"Snape being the headmaster for his beloved Slytherins?"

"He isn't! He teaches two subjects and... has other tasks. And would you please stop talking like that about your brother-in-law!" she snarled.

That thought made Ron's flesh creep even without any particular image in mind. "Don't worry, Ginny, this marriage will be annulled, and then you're free." Ron laughed, hoping to extract a smile from her.

Her reaction was frighteningly sincere. "Oh, no, it won't just be annulled. We've gone into this union with open eyes. Severus is... very... considerate, accommodating..." Her face hadn't shown any emotion as she had searched for a word, but her features straightened with the last sentences.

Without missing a beat, she changed topic. "We must leave this place, it's too obvious. Are you able to Apparate us further?"

Ron felt his ears redden, but he knew he had to drop the discussion before it became a fight. He assessed his body. It sure felt better, didn't it? "Where do you want us to go?"

"Well, I was hoping... Do you remember the Draag Stone, where Bill took us after that dreadful fight with Fred and George that left us covered in boils? Can you Apparate us there? For the rest we'll then take the brooms."

Ron certainly remembered how his mother had gone all red and short of breath at the sight. Bill had stormed in and put them all into a Full Body-Bind before sorting them out. Without much ado their brother had snatched a few random shoes, and they'd found themselves in more than enough fresh air. Ron vividly recalled the tiring hike up the hill in badly adjusted footwear, which Bill proclaimed would remove excessive energy out of their systems. When they were cold, their usually good-natured brother had only growled they had to speed up to get warm.

He could picture the large rock very well, too, including the surrounding in which Bill had after all made them search unicorns and chase dragons to keep them going. But in addition to the scenery, he would need the rough direction to Apparate them, and Ron didn't have a clue where it was situated.

"You better pause somewhere north of Birmingham." Ginny said, pointing. "From there its just north-east, opposite the sun."

As Ron nodded, relieved that he would find his target now, she added lightly, "Just don't land us anywhere too close to the Creeveys."

Ron froze. Boisterously cheery Colin Creevey had been her mate, even her partner in Herbology and Charms. They had regularly been seen brooding over the same books. The Ginny he remembered would never talk about the dead in such a casual manner! Clearly, something is amiss here. If only he knew how to handle her, how to react.

Don't put your foot into it before you understand it, a voice called out in his head. Time and again Ron had heard how he was always speaking before thinking. If in his current, weakened state he wasn't as explosive, then all the better. So Ron swallowed hard and embraced his little sister protectively. "That... will be fine, Ginny. Do we have to take all this stuff along?"

"Yes, well, I thought so. Listen, you cannot take me and two brooms anyway, right? What if I take one broom along the first time? Only if you're truly up to it, you re-Apparate here and return with the bag and the other broom. If not we've got one broom at least. And if you're stranded here, well, you do have another broom," she added, frowning.

The poisonous line on Ron's arm was a bit longer than when they had landed. "I'd like to stop the blood stream now before it gets worse," Ginny said. "It will hurt dreadfully, though."

Horrified, Ron blurted out, "You want to bind the upper arm and shut the blood circulation? Without a pain killer? No bloody way!"

"Look, Ron, we must Apparate quite a distance! Then we cannot reach help before it's dark. I do have a pain killer that's not going to make you too drowsy." She produced a small phial out of the folds of her robe.

Ron downed it, praying that Remus was right and Snape would never misbrew his potions. Besides, Ginny might have given it to him as well.

Ginny pulled some linen fabric out of the bag, tore off a long strip, and while Ron clenched his teeth, she bound and magicked it tight. Tighter. Tightest. Ron nearly collapsed but composed himself with an iron will. "I'm all right."

"You're strong!"

He grabbed her free hand and gathered his energy to whisk them away.

Ginny caught a deep breath as she looked at the Draag Stone, a rock approximately 30 feet high that Muggles today called the Drake Stone.

Ron had landed them safely, only taken a breather and a drink and then rushed off with a thumbs up to gather the satchel and the second broom.

Back at The Burrow, though, Ron had been oddly lethargic. He had relented shockingly smoothly whenever he had crossed a line and Ginny had become angry. This was not at all the demeanour she remembered of her hotheaded brother. No, this wasn't exactly what had happened. Ron had stomped off with anger-red ears but suppressed his temper until he had been able to talk calmly again. Mum wants us to tread around Aunt Muriel in this fashion to avoid her tantrums! What is going on here? Am I some kind of lunatic who goes ballistic at the slightest provocation?

Ginny recalled a similar discussion on the evening before her first trip to Hogwarts. Hasn't Mum told Dad to suppress his emotions when dealing with a Malfoy? I'm my own family's new nemesis.

She kicked at the shrubs with such violence that a Muggle boy fled back to hold his mother's leg for security. The world just wasn't fair! Ron treading carefully around her, so that he would not reveal too much, just in case... and I didn't spill the beans either, just in case he gets caught by our—their... by Death Eaters. Real ones, that is.

Her wand heated perilously in her pocketed hand, and the boy's mother and elder sister gave her an extra hard stare.

To calm down, Ginny strode off and forced herself to recall how Bill had taken them to this place long ago. He too had been fuming back then. When they had reached the stone, his fury had ebbed and he had told them how druids and sorceresses had applied an ancient magic on the peculiar rock. It had happened after Ollivander's shop was founded, but long before Hogwarts was founded, he had explained to Ginny, as these events were about the only references she knew. Wizard children with certain diseases were still brought here on auspicious nights and handed over the stone to heal them. Ginny had not understood it then, but from her memory it could have been lung or liver dysfunctions.

The original idea of the old warlocks giving magic to Squibs had, however, never been achieved. Ginny wondered if the parents of Squibs, especially Lucius Malfoy, would even have attempted the conversion had it been possible.

Swiftly she looked around, but there wasn't a magical being in sight.

Instead of listening to Bill, Ron had immediately crawled off into the brushes to search for Imps or Jobberknolls. Or yetis or dragons; Ron had certainly not been picky. Funny, how all these beasts had all seemed equally exciting to both of them at this age.

Despite the horrible start, that had been a most wonderful afternoon for the three of them and brought Bill even closer to her heart. Bill, her eldest brother, always considerate for their mother and ready to take charge, at the same time smart and funny and never, ever conventional.

Her smile froze on her face when she arrived at her broom to notice how much the shadows had turned. A lot of time had passed since Ron had left!

Had he planned on leaving her here? Would he alert the Order? Was there anything in his demeanour that hinted at his plans?

She sat down hugging her knees, well concealed by notice-me-not charms. More time passed, and Ron had still not returned.

With a jolt Ginny suddenly remembered that she had not told Ron yet about Ollivander's hint on the black Hippogriff. It would be the first thing to tell him, when—if he returned.

A/N

Do join me in thanking my new beta, Sunrisejuliette, and MagicAlly, who betaed and Britpicked this chapter. They have saved me from embarrassment over publishing severe inconsistencies and absurd phrasing.