Harry Potter One-Shots

Stay With Me (Ron Weasley)

WORD COUNT: 979

A/N: I had to switch the plot just a little bit to make it fit as a Ron imagine, so just pretend for one chapter that Harry had taken Hermione into the Chamber with him and not Ron, okay? Thank youuu

It had happened. The Chamber of Secrets had been opened, and a student had been taken. Not just any student, though. Ginny Weasley, my best friend's little sister. Ron was like a shell of his usual self; he wasn't talking or eating or complaining about homework. In fact, he was sort of just... existing. We were sitting in Dumbledore's office, waiting tensely with the rest of the Weasley family for Harry's return from the Chamber of Secrets. McGonagall was furious that he had gone into the Chamber on his own, without the help of a teacher, but then Dumbledore pointed out that he and Hermione had taken a teacher -- Professor Lockhart, the stupidest man to ever walk the halls of Hogwarts.

Ron and I sat in one corner of Dumbledore's office, in silence. The twins were also uncharacteristically still, sitting in chairs next to each other with their elbows on their knees and their hands folded, staring straight ahead and not saying anything. Percy's leg was bouncing incessantly in the chair in which he sat, but he would alternate between sitting and bouncing his leg and jumping up to pace the room every few minutes. Molly and Arthur had been ushered in a few minutes after all the Weasley children had been summoned, and had run to hug Ron the second they arrived, but were now standing off to one side of the office in hushed conversation with Professor McGonagall. I felt a bit out of place, seeing as I was the only non-Weasley present, but Ron had insisted I come with because Harry and Hermione, our other best friends, were somewhere deep in the hidden chamber of the school.

The waiting was the worst part. At first, I had tried to offer Ron some comforting words, but quickly stopped when it became evident that they were not working and not wanted. For the better part of the next two hours, we sat in silence, only to receive the occasional respite from staring at fixed points in space by one of Dumbledore's portraits moving or adding a comment. I was exhausted but too nervous to sleep.

After long last, Dumbledore stood with no explanation, and the next second a burning flame ignited in the middle of the room and Fawkes the phoenix appeared with four people clutching onto his tail feathers. A dirty and bloodied Harry, barely conscious, was carrying a pale, almost lifeless Ginny and accompanying them, Hermione and a rather disheveled Lockhart, who it became very clear had no clue what was happening. All four of them were ushered off to the hospital wing to recover, and the atmosphere in Dumbledore's office changed almost immediately. Fred and George were practically buzzing around the room, letting out all the pent-up energy from sitting still for the last few hours. On the other hand, Percy had collapsed into an armchair, suddenly losing all his nervous energy. Molly Weasley burst into tears and cried into Arthur's chest for awhile, then pulled herself together and insist that we head to the hospital wing to keep watch over our friends.

Ron didn't say a word the whole walk to the hospital wing, but I could tell by his demeanor that he was feeling a weight lifted off his shoulders. We arrived in the ward and immediately swarmed upon Harry and Hermione, who were awake, to ask them what had happened. Ginny was still unconscious, and Madame Pomfrey kept her hidden behind a screen so she could rest and gain her energy back. Lockhard, it seemed, needed more serious medical attention, so he had been taken off to St. Mungo's by a pair of Healers before we had gotten to the ward.

At the end of the night, after saying goodbye to his parents and leaving the hospital wing where Harry and Ginny were spending the night recovering, Ron and I walked back to Gryffindor tower. He had been silent for most of the night, but now that we were alone he wouldn't stop talking.

"I was so worried about her, you know, but Harry did his best and obviously it all worked out, and I'm not saying I blame her, I'm really not, but I just don't understand why she thought it would be a good idea to write all her deepest darkest secrets in a journal that wrote back to you, it's not like she hadn't heard Dad say a million times, Don't trust something that thinks for itself if you can't see where it -"

"Where it keeps its brain, I know. I've heard you say that about ten times already tonight, Ron," I teased, punching him lightly in the shoulder. He looked shaken out of his thoughts for a second, but smiled and rolled his eyes at me. The rest of the walk back to the tower consisted of a recap of the night's events, picking apart every detail. When we reached the portrait hole and climbed through, Ron stopped in the middle of the common room.

"Y/N... I know this seems dumb, but... would you stay with me tonight? I don't think I want to be alone," he muttered, looking at his shoes.

"Of course Ron! I'll sleep in Harry's bed tonight, I wouldn't leave you alone after what happened," I exclaimed, instinctively grabbing his hand. When I realized what I was doing, I dropped it like it was a burning hot coal, but Ron was already red as a tomato, and I felt exactly as red as he looked.

"Er... a-alright then, you can just... I'll... I'll just meet you there?" he stammered, rubbing the back of his neck. I nodded quickly and turned around as fast as I could, hoping to remove myself from the situation.

"Oh, and Y/N?" he called after me. I turned around, halfway up the staircase to my dormitory.

"Thank you."