Harry Potter and the Winters After the War

Chapter 49 - Facing the Music

                Ron hovered on his broom above the western coast of England, buffeted by the wind with Wendy, Charlie, and Mr. Weasley hovering beside him while he carefully watched Dudley’s dove. The bird hesitated in its flight as though struggling to maintain its bearings in the storm while searching for Harry. The wind was blowing, it was still snowing and it was dark, but as Ron hovered there he realized that faint lights from the muggle villages and roadways below were able to reach them though the clouds and the snow, giving them an advantage in navigation that Harry probably hadn’t had during the day. As suddenly as the dove had paused its determined flight, it set out again, this time headed even more certainly in a specific direction with the three Weasleys and Wendy directly behind it. Less than a mile inland, the dove quickly dipped down and disappeared into a gap near the roof of a muggle barn.

“Here Dad!” Ron shouted. “They must be in here!”

Ron didn’t wait for an answer. It was bloody freezing here at the coast in the storm, and knowing that Harry had been here for hours increased his sense of urgency about finding him. Ron set down beside the barn, tossed his broom down beside the door and rushed inside with his wand lit before the other three had properly found a place to land. He shone his light around but the only living things he encountered were the bunch of cows huddled there closely together, instinctively sharing body heat to keep themselves warm. Ron spotted a ladder attached to one of the aged barn’s support posts in their midst. He waded in amongst the animals, slipping on the slush and manure covered floor, and climbed up it before anyone else entered the barn. Shining the light from his wand frantically around he searched amongst the hay in the loft. Harry had to be there. The dove was in the rafters above, but where was he? Then he saw him…or rather the hem of Harry’s cloak where it was incompletely covered by the hay.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING HARRY!” Ron shouted as he leapt from the top of the ladder onto the loosely piled hay, pulling his black haired friend from the straw, ripping him out of the arms of the tiny woman he’d been passionately kissing while laying mostly buried in the hay.

Harry looked up in shock at his red-haired friend who was shouting furiously, fist pulled back and ready to punch him. Harry rolled trying to dodge the punch, and Ron’s fist merely cuffed his ear, but Ron lunged after him and managed to grab hold of the front of Harry’s robes with both fists. His left hand still held his illuminated wand which was now only inches from Harry’s chin. Ron yanked him up to his feet by the front of his robes.

 “You’re engaged to my sister! And I find you cheating on her?” Ron growled, his voice filled with shock, fury and rage.  He threw another punch and this one landed solidly against the side of Harry’s face, the force of the blow snapping his head to the side.

“Ohhh…Ron? What are you doing here Ron?” Harry asked, the shocked surprise from the punch as much as Ron’s sudden appearance evident in his voice, while the light from Ron’s wand shone in his face and he tried to pull free. Laura, emerged from the straw showing only curious surprise as she watched the two friends struggle together in the uncertain footing offered by the hay.

“I’m here rescuing you, you arse.” Ron roughly pulled Harry closer, still manhandling his friend by the front of his robes. “The question is, what are you doing?” Ron retorted trying to punch Harry again, but Harry twisted in Ron’s grip and dodged the blow.

“This isn’t what it looks like,” Harry insisted trying to pull free of Ron’s iron fisted grasp. He was fairly certain Ron was going to try to punch him again, and he was right, but his realization came too late. A moment later Ron’s fist made contact with the side of Harry’s face for a second and third time, knocking his glasses into the hay. “I wasn’t cheating!” Harry declared through a mouth full of blood.