The Adventures of Roonil Wazlib part 1

The Reunion

Ron hadn't been as happy in the last few months as he was right now. Shell Cottage was small & rustic, but also very comfortable. Even with 5 people, there never seemed to be a lack of room. For the first time in what felt like years Ron was able to eat his fill of delicious meals prepared by Fleur & Burns (both of whom could conjure up wonders in the kitchen). Ron took several long walks along the beach, sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied by Burns. He was a fascinating wizard & Ron enjoyed his company immensely.

It wasn't apparent that first day that Ron had met Burns, but his left arm was made of some sort of metal. The dragon accident that Charlie teased Burns about had actually been very serious, and could have taken Burns' life if Charlie hadn't been there & intervened quickly. "That's when I knew he was The One," said Burns. "You wouldn't believe how romantic it is to be saved from death." His burnt arm wasn't salvageable, but a very talented healer worked her magic & crafted Burns' new one out of a mysterious metal only found in Africa. It was pretty much perfect. It never got tired, repelled dirt & water, didn't rust, had excellent reflexes, and the strength of about 10 trolls. It was one of the coolest things Ron had ever seen.

Ron was glad that Bill & Fleur had decided to stay. They had been living at the small flat Fleur had been renting since before their wedding. Lately they had seen men in long, stylish coats and cloaks hanging around the neighborhood. They always had one hand in a pocket. Clearly they were Death Eaters. Seeing as it was a Muggle area, they thought it was important to vacate before a confrontation took place. Fleur was reasonably sure that Death Eaters wouldn't care if Muggles saw them using magic. Easy enough to obliviate the truth out of their non-magical brains, or Avada Kedavra them. The possibility of Bill & Fleur returning to the Weasley home had been discussed, and ruled out as far too dangerous. While the Fidelius charm concealed the exact location of the home, it was well known what general direction it was located in. Nobody in the house could come or go without great risk. It didn't help that Xenophilius Lovegood, the idiot, hadn't done a thing to protect his own home, which was less than a mile away. It stood against the sky like a turret, it was impossible to miss, and therefore served as an indicator that the Weasley home was close by. Molly would have loved to have gone up there to talk some sense into Xeno's addled brain, but Arthur deemed it too risky, and his sons agreed, and they managed to talk Molly out of it. Nobody had seen Xeno since Bill & Fleur's wedding, and therefore they had no idea where his loyalties might lie these days. After publishing an edition of The Quibbler insisting that the English magical community throw its support behind Harry Potter, Xeno seemed to have stopped publishing the tabloid, as no further issues were distributed after that.

Ron would have dearly loved to go home, even for just a short visit, but Bill had flatly refused to even consider it. "You've no idea how closely we're being watched, Ron. Everybody knows that Harry was considered a part of our family, and everybody reckons he'll show up at our house eventually. I just pray that he has enough sense to realize that's the absolute LAST place he should go."

"He does," said Ron absentmindedly. "We've been having quite a time finding places to put up the tent. The whole point has been to stay as far away from inhabited places as we can. Harry knows better than to show up anywhere he might be expected." Ron felt a small twinge of guilt; he knew that Harry & Hermione were talking about exploring Godric's Hollow, where Death Eaters were also likely to show up. Of course he couldn't tell any of them about Harry & Hermione's whereabouts & plans, but this little lie still bothered him. Bill was one of his favorite people in the world, and Ron hated being dishonest with him.

After 5 days of relaxing & catching up with his brothers (and getting to know his siblings-in-law better), Ron got a surprise he hadn't expected. He had been in the kitchen while Burns magicked up stacks of pancakes & sausages (he was an excellent cook, though Fleur seemed a little put out by his dominance of the kitchen), when he heard a familiar voice from the living room. "I brought some supplies because you know how he likes to eat. I can't imagine they've been eating very well in that blasted tent, poor Ronnie."

"MUM!!!" Ron cried excitedly, leaping over the back of the sofa & nearly knocking it over.

"RONNIE!!!" Molly exclaimed, her voice full of emotion. They met near the doorway to the kitchen, where Molly administered one of her famous rib-cracking hugs. "I missed you so, so much, you just have no idea," she wept, wetting Ron's red hair with her tears. "Bill thought it was a bad idea for me to come" she shot a momentarily glare towards her oldest son as she pulled away from Ron, while holding both of his hands in hers " but there's no way they could keep me away. Finally Dumbledore agreed, though he made me promise not to ask any questions about where you had been and what you've been up to. I can't really see why he'd try to come between a mother & her son like that, but Dumbledore seems to know best as always." Molly exhaled a rattled, emotion filled breath, then started crying again in earnest. "You look so thin, there's nobody to look after you three, where are Harry & Hermione? I'm sure they're just as much in need of feeding up as you are." She looked around the small room expectantly, as if she were waiting for Harry to spring out from behind the curtains.

"Uhhh, I'm not sure. I sort of, well, left."

"You LEFT?!?!? Ronald Bilius Weasley!" she exclaimed, hitting him on the arm with the canvas bag she was carrying, which was much heavier than it looked. "Why in the world...oh, never mind that, that's a question & apparently questions are NOT ALLOWED. If you are ALLOWED TO ANSWER, can you at least tell me if they're ok?"

"When I left they were fine, though I'm sure they're not too happy with me."

"I'm not terribly happy with you either! If what you three are up to is really so important, you've no business leaving them when they might need you! If you agreed to do a job, Ron, you need to see it through. It's just the right thing to do."

"I know, Mum, I know, but I'm not sure how to get back to them. I'm not even sure where they are right now."

"You haven't even tried," said Charlie. "Maybe you could apparate to where they are? Dumbledore once told me it's possible to apparate to people you are close to, without knowing exactly where they are."

Hmmm, Dumbledore...an idea popped into Ron's head, he filed it away for further examination when he would be alone later that night.

"Speaking of people you feel close to, how are things with Hermione going? You seemed to be getting awfully fond of each other last summer at the wedding." Molly said with a sly look on her face.

"Uhhh, I don't think we're as close as we were. Things were kind of strained when I left. I kind of...yelled at her."

"You WHAT?!?!? Ron, how do you expect to get closer to her when you're YELLING at her? I raised you better than to YELL at your GIRLFRIEND!"

At this, Charlie & Burns exchanged a significant look. Bill seemed to pick up on this & understand its meaning. "Don't worry, Mum, Fleur & I will have a word with him about it when he's less distracted." Fleur had a bemused look on her face. She wasn't really sure how she got dragged into this conversation, or what she'd have to contribute. She had decided to say this, but before she got it out Bill said, "Well enough about that, what food did you bring us?" as he started rummaging through the canvas bag that was packed with food, having been magically extended inside.

HEY YOU YES YOU: Thanks for reading my story! Here comes the hard part...I know where I'm going but still not sure how to get there, or how to finish up after the big climax of the story. Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated. Oh and sorry about the crossover! I've read that a lot of fan fic people look down on this, but I really couldn't resist putting one of my favorite characters from one world into one of my other favorite worlds. It just proved too tempting.