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Tweak says, "No ossifer, I'm not drunk!"

WEASLEY, ron b. (pigwidgeoned) wrote in pandorarpg,
@ 2012-01-05 22:04:00

Entry tags:

!status: incomplete, ^date: november 10 2003, character: hermione granger, character: ron weasley

Characters: Hermione Granger & Ron Weasley
Setting: Hermione's flat, 10 November 2003, 5:54pm
Rating: General Public
Summary: Ron goes to tell Hermione about his ridiculous day so she doesn't read about it in the Prophet.

While he could probably use the rest, he still had to make one last stop after leaving Percy's flat if he hoped to sleep peacefully at all that night. Or not be woken by the sound of Hermione pounding down his front door. He didn't like showing up unannounced but he knew better than to not let her know about any of this. If they mentioned his name in the Prophet - even in passing - she would likely have a Hippogriff right before she began beating him over the head with one of her books which would probably be rather large and heavy and he didn't really care to live that experience out.

So he apparated to London near Hermione's flat and knocked on the door, hands shoved in his pockets as per usual when he was uncomfortable and unsure of what to say. There were no flowers in hand today, only the imaginary chessboard at the ready, with the hope that he might at least make some moves forward tonight after having discussed some of this new information with Hermione. So long as she wasn't fussing over his involvement in Penelope's murder overmuch.

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hermoniny
2012-01-06 04:37 am UTC (link)

Hermione was curled up in her favorite chair with a book about dreams and visions, something she'd never bothered to look into too much in the past, but obviously were much more important at the present. She was dressed comfortably, in a simple tank top and sweater and loose pants, with her hair pulled up and out of the way without much care for appearance. Suddenly there was a knock on her door, and she hadn't been expecting anyone, at least she was pretty sure she hadn't been. She closed her book and went to the door, looking out the peep hole and seeing Ron standing on the other side. Her throat dried up a bit, because the only time he'd come unannounced to her door recently was with bad news, and she really hoped nothing too serious had happened.

She opened the door and smiled. "Hi Ron, come on in," she was a little afraid to ask what was up, but she could tell by his body language that he was uncomfortable. The only good thing was that he didn't look terribly distraught, so if something had happened, it wasn't as bad as the last time he'd brought her bad news. "Something's happened, hasn't it?" she asked as she closed the door and looked worriedly at him. Really, at this point, as long as he was ok, it couldn't be too bad. He was the one that mattered most to her, so at least he was standing in her living room.

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pigwidgeoned
2012-01-06 05:02 am UTC (link)

Ron sighed and nodded. "Can we sit down?" He was glad that he'd had the foresight to shower and change before he came over because his appearance when he stopped by Percy's flat was like death compared to what he looked like now. No torn jeans or blood-stained shirts to put Hermione off, though that didn't take the mental images from him and when he was going to explain it to her, well that wasn't going to make them go away either.

"Someone else has been murdered, Hermione," Ron said once they had sat down. He ran his hands over his knees and thighs, trying to calm his nerves. He sighed and looked down at his lap. "It was - it was Penelope Clearwater." This was nothing like when he'd brought the news of Harry's death. The shock wasn't in him and he wasn't really sure why. Maybe because he had been there and seen it for himself? Maybe because he just didn't know her well enough.

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hermoniny
2012-01-06 06:28 am UTC (link)

Hermione deposited him on her couch before hurrying to the kitchen to get the pot of tea she'd made. She cast a quick warming charm on it before pouring it into two cups and quickly returning to the couch to sit beside him. She placed both cups on the coffee table, there if he wanted it, but not requiring him to drink it either. She put a hand on his shoulder, seeing that he seemed disturbed by whatever had happened.

When he finally said who had died, Hermione felt a cold grip on her stomach. While she was sure that it hadn't played a role in what had happened, Penelope was a muggleborn, like herself, and any time something happened to a muggleborn, Hermione always worried a little more. But she didn't let it show. She hadn't known Penelope all that well either, and she knew she had been through quite an ordeal during their 7th year due to her blood status. The only other thing she knew about the girl was that she was Percy's ex-girlfriend. "Do you know if it was related to the others? Or perhaps because she was looking into the murder of her brother?" Hermione didn't really know what else to say, and had no idea that Ron's particular involvement in this case went further.

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pigwidgeoned
2012-01-06 06:42 am UTC (link)

Ron nodded thanks to Hermione when she brought the tea, but he couldn't drink it. Normally he'd take it for something to do but he just didn't have the ability to make himself do that sort of thing right then. It was hard enough say what he needed to say to her, especially when he knew how she'd react. And he knew that his preface of, "Don't freak out, okay?" was not going to work but he said it anyway.

"I do know that it's related to the others, 'Mione, because I er, well I saw her die. I was supposed to meet Penny today to talk about her brother but she never showed up and the lady at the book shoppe said that wasn't normal for her so I got a bit worried and went to her flat and, well - the murderer was there still and Penny was dying." Ron stopped there because he knew that Hermione needed time to react to the news and he didn't know how bad it was going to be.

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hermoniny
2012-01-06 08:37 pm UTC (link)

He was right, his "don't freak out" statement only made her tense with worry and anticipation for whatever bomb he was about to drop on her. Of course, even with the warning, she hadn't expected exactly what he said, and her heart skipped a beat from fear before she remembered he was sitting next to her, not dead on Penelope's apartment floor, but that was a small comfort as the realization of how close he was to danger on a fairly regular basis really hit home for her in that moment.

She hugged him before she dared say anything. "You saw her? I'm so glad she didn't try and kill you too then, I'm assuming you stopped at the Ministry before coming here. Ron this might be the first real lead on all these cases. While I'm not in the least bit glad you had to be in harms way for that break, I'm glad we have it." She took his hands in her own before asking the quesiton that really mattered. "Are you alright?" She meant other than physically, because he appeared to be in one piece, but watching someone die, especially in an unpleasant way, wasn't easy on anyone, and she was worried about him.

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pigwidgeoned
2012-01-06 09:16 pm UTC (link)

Ron shrugged, nodding. It might be the best information they'd got so far, he did agree. He was a bit surprised she didn't hit him for getting it the way he did though. Well it wasn't like it was his fault or anything but when were girls ever rational about this sort of thing?

"I'm okay. I mean, there wasn't anything I could do for her. She wasn't moving when I got there and the witch started attacking me. I could barely defend myself, much less try and save Penelope. I don't think my basic healing spells would have worked anyhow. She was too far gone by then..." He hated to say it like that, but he knew it was the truth and he wasn't going to lie to himself about it. It didn't really change the vision behind his eyelids of all the blood he saw everywhere, but that was something else altogether. Ron squeezed her hands a bit.

"It's not that much of a lead, though. I mean that witch - she wasn't Pandora. Not the picture Luna found of her with the deep red hair. This witch had dark hair and was really short, but she had so much blood all over her I honestly could see much of her face-" Ron wanted to jump into all the new information at once but he wasn't sure where he should really start. "There is some stuff I saw though."

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hermoniny
2012-01-09 03:19 am UTC (link)

Of course when he said that he'd been attacked, her blood ran cold. There was no doubt he could see her pale as the blood drained from her face. "She attacked you? You're sure you're alright? She didn't hit you with some curse that is dormant first?" It was a little rediculous, but she couldn't take any risks, she couldn't lose him. She was terrified at the idea of this dangerous witch attacking him, even more so becuase he was on his own. "You shouldn't go anywhere without back up," she said suddenly. "Ron what if she had decided to kill you rather than leaving you behind? You were by yourself!" It seemed to hit her then, and she really felt like freaking out, but she controlled herself, putting her hands over her face and breathing deeply for a few moments.

Of course that information worried her. "She wasn't Pandora? So there's either two murderers out there, or we've been following the completely wrong lead?" That made her heart sink a little more. All that meant was all the work they'd done was for nothing. All those sleepless days she'd spent so far researching Pandora was a waste, and now she had to start all over. It just made her want to cry, she was so tired and run down from all of this. "What did you see?" she asked after a moment. It was so much to take in, and just thinking about how close she'd come to losing him and being completely alone made her shiver.

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pigwidgeoned
2012-01-09 03:43 am UTC (link)

Ron responded the only way he knew how: by getting defensive. "Hermione, Penny was in trouble - or at least I thought she was in trouble - I couldn't wait for backup to arrive! The witch would have killed her and left already and we wouldn't have any of the new information we have now! Besides, she didn't kill me, alright! I'm right here!"

Ron shook his head. "No, she wasn't Pandora, but that doesn't mean she wasn't under Imperius or possessed. Something wasn't right with her, Hermione. She was much too powerful. I was able to hit her wand hand with an Impediment jinx so I thought I'd gained the upper hand, yeah? But then she raises her other hand and performs wandless magic. This is no ordinary witch."

He wanted to continue on, but he didn't want to give her too much information all at once. He needed her to comment on each bit as he went, because he needed her opinion to add to his own thoughts on what he'd seen.

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hermoniny
2012-01-09 04:04 am UTC (link)

The defensiveness didn't make her feel better. "I know, you were worried, you were doing the right thing, I'm just saying in case this happens again. Ron if you run into this woman again at another scene, she isn't going to let you live again." Hermione wasn't going to say it, but she wondered why she'd let Ron go this time. She was so relieved she had, but she didn't understand it, it didn't make sense. Hermione didn't want to start an argument or get him riled, she couldn't imagine how bad he must be feeling already, she didn't want to make it worse.

"Wandless magic?" That honestly scared Hermione. "I've... I've never heard of someone in our lifetime being capable of that. I don't know if Dumbledore could even do that. This... this is worse that we thought. Ron, how much of this can we share with the DA? We may need all the heads we can get on this, because it is just getting more complicated."

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pigwidgeoned
2012-01-09 04:28 am UTC (link)

Ron wasn't so sure. "I haven't got a memory though, 'Mione. I wasn't of any use to her, remember? She's killing those with the nightmares. And she told me she wanted me to live with memory of Penny's death and she wanted me to tell people that she couldn't be conquered. She said 'the only man who ever could is long dead and you are all playthings to me' or something like that. What do you think she meant - she'd been conquered once before?"

Ron looked at her meaningfully. "We need to share all of it, I would say. That was the point of the first meeting, yeah, to pool our knowledge? Well now we have more. This witch had a box with her - I think it might be the box that was stolen from the Department of Mysteries. She took it out of her robes before Penny had died and opened it, then set it on the floor. And then Penny's spot on her arm, I watched it...detach from her arm. It turned into smoke and flew into that box, which then closed by itself. The dark spots are the memories, 'Mione, that's why they're not on the bodies when we find them."

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hermoniny
2012-01-09 05:59 am UTC (link)

"True, but you saw her, and while you might not have gotten a great look at her, she could have thought you did. I mean, I have a hard time believing she's not going to kill someone just because they don't have a memory. Look at the ways she's killed the others, she clearly enjoys it. Even if there isn't a memory for her in the end." Hermione was more rambling now than anything, no longer looking at Ron, but more speaking as things entered her mind.

"I'm glad you feel that way, because I agree. The more all of us as a group know, the more we'll be able to figure out." The box peaked her interest. "Really?" she pushed a few things around on her coffee table before she found her note pad, covered and filled almost completely with scrawled notes on all the things she'd been looking into since this started, and wrote down the box and what Ron said about it and the memories. That would be good information to have once she got into the DoM. "It makes sense, really. I mean, only the people who are reliving those memories are carrying the mark of them. It's like a cancer, an invasion of the body, leaving a mark as proof. But the thing with cancer is it can be removed..." she trailed off before scribbling some more notes down.

"There has to be another way to get rid of those memories without killing a person. What if we could simulate death, like one of those living death potions, so the person appears to be dead, physically. Perhaps whatever it is that triggers the memory to release from the person will be triggered in something like that. If we can free those memories before she can, then we may be able to destroy them in the process. If they're so important to her, they must mean power, why else would she risk so much and go to such trouble." Hermione looked up at Ron, hoping she didn't sound completely mental at this point, talking about simulating death like symptoms on the people who had these nightmares. Of course, if she had them, she'd be working out an experiment already to try, but alas, it wouldn't be that easy.

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pigwidgeoned
2012-01-09 03:48 pm UTC (link)

Ron shrugged. "I don't know. So far she hasn't killed anyone who hasn't had a memory. Everyone who has been killed has had one, so she might be more focused on that at the moment than wasting her time with others, even if she does enjoy killing them when she does it."

Ron listened to her carefully. He didn't know much about diseases or cancer so he wasn't sure what she meant, but he perked up when she mentioned the rest. "Yeah right, that might work!" he thought about the smoke and how it flew to the box and frowned a moment. "But what about the box? We won't have it. If we don't, what happens when the memory leaves the body? If it doesn't have the box to go to - well, won't it just go back into the person? Or maybe into another person? Like the memories did to begin with when they went into all these people?" Ron didn't like the idea of freeing their friends of these memories only to have them go right back in or jumping into some other unsuspecting witch or wizard.

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