InsaneJournal

Who: Ron Weasley and Fabian Prewett
What: Some uncle-nephew bonding time
When: During the week of spring break.
Where: A flying field near Ottery St Catchpole
Warnings: Better not be any or Molly will wash their mouths out with soap!



The practice field near Ottery St Catchpole was getting a workout this week, what with all the students home from school and relatives skiving off to spend a bit of time with them. Fabian wasn't sorry to be among them. He'd brought an extra-large picnic basket full of substantial sandwiches as well as the usual ploughman's lunch; Ron's appetite was no secret to Fabian.

They were sitting on the side of one of the hills on the edge of the field while they ate, watching other flyers. Fabian had his broom, recently repaired, for flying after lunch, and had offered Ron a chance at duelling practice if he wanted it. For now, though, they were working their way through the picnic from Fabian's hamper.

"So," Fabian said, handing Ron another half of a roast beef sandwich, "I reckon you're getting sick of being asked this, but have you thought about what you're going to do with yourself after your NEWTs?"

Yes, Ron was sick of hearing that question as there was no shortage of it being asked over the last year. He sighed heavily and then shrugged with one shoulder. "Dunno," he said. "Don't really have any ideas yet. Nothing really stands out. Maybe I'll just go work for Fred and George like Percy does."

"I was glad to see Fred and George took Percy on, but it doesn't really seem like the sort of job he'd enjoy. He seems more like a Ministry sort of bloke, or maybe someone who should work in the office at Gringotts. It's a lot harder to figure out what to do with yourself if you don't have a firm plan for your life, or if your plan plows into the ground like an out-of-control broom." Fabian said this with a sympathy that implied some personal experience with this point.

Between bites of cheese and bread, he continued, "Have you thought about what kind of job you'd like? I mean, like working conditions and all: whether you'd sit at a desk or be out and about on the street or in the countryside; whether you'd rather work with a group, or one person, or alone; whether you want a job that deals with the public; all those kind of things? The work week is long enough once you get out of school without your job being something you hate."

"Well, yeah, that's Percy, but not me. Percy won't last in that job but he was let off of his Ministry job so I think he'll eventually go back. I don't think I'm cut out for a Ministry job. I don't much like the idea of sitting at a desk like Dad or anything." Ron hadn't really thought about it in all the ways that his uncle was talking about it. But the problem was, he couldn't think about what he might not hate. He knew he ought to have a better idea what he liked and didn't like at this point but what he really wanted to do was just -- nothing.

"Do you like the idea of working for Fred and George? Because if you do, and they can take you on--" which Fabian thought they could, and might even if they couldn't "--there's no reason you shouldn't. If you think you could handle the runes and the arithmancy, there's no reason you couldn't apprentice with me, for that matter. I didn't take NEWTs in either of those subjects myself so I had to learn them when I apprenticed with Mr Fletwock. And while I do spend some time at a desk, I spend more of it out and about, either talking to clients or walking the properties I'm warding."

Ron looked at his uncle, surprised. "You'd want me to apprentice with you?" he asked, eyes wide. "Really?" That wasn't something he ever thought about because arithmancy and runes weren't really things that Ron ever considered. He'd never taken a class it in at all. He doubted he'd do well. He figured it it were between that and his brothers, he was probably better suited for sales and customer service. But that didn't mean he wasn't willing to listen to what his uncle had to say.

Fabian nodded. "I'd be willing to give it a try, if you wanted, and you thought it was a sort of work you--enjoyed isn't the right word, exactly, but I get some enjoyment out of my job on good days. There are always going to be days when it's dragging your arse out of bed and showing up, just like there are days when it's dragging your arse out of bed to go to classes. The upside of it being a job is that you get paid for showing up and doing the work. The downside is that getting sacked is a bigger deal than losing House points." This was a talk nobody had had with Fabian when he was eighteen, and Fabian had wished that someone had. "Also, honestly, if you try something and fail at it, it's not the end of the world. I took training or apprenticeship or whatever you want to call it twice, and I'm not working in either profession now. And say what you like about all my choices, I've got a decent job and make a fair livelihood at it."

Ron took a long moment to scratch at the side of his head and nod a few times, letting everything sink in. He wasn't so sure that he liked the idea of hating his job, whatever that ended up being. And it wasn't that he hated classes or anything but there were days it was a chore. Was the rest of his life going to a chore like this? "I dunno," he said. "I'll think about it."

Between the two of them, the lunch Fabian had packed was rapidly disappearing. "You only have to take a decision after you take your NEWTs. And your mum and dad aren't likely to toss you out of the Burrow if you take a bit of time to think about it after that.

"There are also some Ministry jobs you could try for. Things like--I personally wouldn't do Obliviators, but there are people who help fix magics that go wrong. Or Hit Wizards or Magical Law Patrol. Those jobs don't require all the NEWTs you need for jobs like Auror, but they'd still get you out and talking to people.

"You have lots of choices, Ron. I'm sure you'll find something you like most of the time." Fabian gave Ron an encouraging grin, or at least one Fabian hoped was encouraging.

'Most of the time' wasn't all of the time and Ron nodded, faking a tight smile, since his uncle was just trying to be encouraging. "Yeah, well maybe in the meantime I oughta just talk to Fred and George," he mumbled a little bit, finishing off what was left of his too-small sandwich. He took a long drink to wash it down. "You know, until I figure something else out."

Fabian found another sandwich in the hamper and offered it to Ron.

"That's a perfectly valid thing to do. People--" and here Fabian thought of his own parents, whom they were both expecting to see this weekend "--act like you ought to know what you want to do for the rest of your life before you get out of school. I wanted nothing more than to be an Auror, and that didn't work out for me, and I had no idea what I wanted to do after that. If you spend a year or two figuring out what you want, it's not like that's a crime. And some people don't get their happiness from being in a job. They work to pay their bills and do something they love in their spare time. If that's you, there's no crime in that either."

Which Fabian figured was about all the job talk poor Ron needed, so he changed the subject. "I'd ask how classes are going, but that's got to be worse for you than asking about jobs, so I won't. I hear there are extra dueling lessons with Rem--Professor Lupin. Are you taking those?"

He took the sandwich eagerly, his stomach still growling, and grinned a bit lopsidedly. He didn't have much of anything to say with everything else. He figured his parents want him to know what he was going to do but he luckily hadn't done much talking to them about it. Maybe he ought to. He filed that away, too, thinking that was probably a good idea. Maybe not while he was home on break though. Distance might be for the best in this case.

"Classes are fine. Everyone's a mess 'cause of NEWTs though. I miss the days when I didn't have to worry about big tests like that." Ron spoke around the sandwich and washed it down with more to drink. "Yeah, I've been going to those. They're fine, I guess. Best one was when we got to duel the professors though."

Fabian washed down the last of the cheese with a swallow of his water. "If you want, we could do a little one-on-one dueling. I don't fight within Dueling Club rules any more, but I have some practical experience that might be fun for you to try out against. I could teach you a few tricks, but only if you're actually interested. I promise I won't be offended if you say no." Ron and Ginny were the hardest of Molly's brood for Fabian to know how to deal with. The ickle twins had some memories of him from before the war, but Ron had still been tiny and Ginny hadn't even been born when he'd been arrested. Trying to treat them like both beloved family members and young adults (or near adults, and certainly people whose concerns merited the same consideration as their parents') in their own right was a balance Fabian found difficult to strike.

That sounded like something Ron would definitely like to do, even though he suspected he'd be really awful in comparison to Fabian. Besides the years and years of experience and, well, other things, Ron just wasn't very confident in his own dueling abilities. "Yeah," he said quickly, "I'd like that."

"Good." There was a grin from Fabian and the sound of genuine pleasure in his voice. "A little extra practice in dueling never hurt anyone. Especially not in times when there are troublemakers out and about." Which was all Fabian wanted to say about the need for the Weasleys to take their self-defence seriously for the moment. "What would you like to work on, offence or defence or a little of everything? Or something a bit more advanced like trying to integrate wordless spells?"

Wordless spells was not something he was interested it, not really, not when he knew he wasn't any good at it. But he didn't say anything about that. "Whatever you think's best, really," he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"For you, Ron, I think self-defence is best to start with, and then some offence. If you're not going for something like Hit Wizard or Auror as a career, you don't seem like you'll need a lot of hard hitting. Just enough to run someone off. My experience with Death Eaters and the like is that if you hold them off long enough for someone to get wind of what they're doing--if they don't get the jump on you at the start of things and get you down--you're likely to make it through. And surviving is more important than being a hero and taking them down." Fabian caught Ron's gaze as best he could and held it. "I mean that."

Ron nodded but something was bothering him, just a little, in the back of his mind. "So you think that I'll need to know how to defend myself, that Death Eaters might attack me or my friends?"

Threading the needle between honesty and scaring Ron was going to be difficult. Fabian hesitated for a moment, putting a couple of grapes in his mouth to buy a moment of thinking time, before he answered. What he said was: "I don't think you're a front-line target or anything. But after what happened to your Uncle Bilius, and after I've been named and threatened, we can't count it out either. Also, some of your friends and yearmates were named and threatened, and if you were with them, you might be able to help, or to get away and call for help.

"I'd rather teach you something you didn't turn out to need, which is most likely, than ignore the small chance you might get into trouble and leave you undefended if it came. Is that a fair answer?"

Ron rubbed the back of his neck and lowered what was left of his sandwich, nodding. "Yeah, that makes sense. I'm game for anything. I'm not awful but could definitely use some help. Thanks."

"I'm happy to do it. There's one more sandwich in the hamper if you want it, and then we'll have at." The amount of practising Fabian had been doing should be enough to keep him from hesitating much when he had to test Ron's shielding, he thought, but there would always be a moment when his stomach dropped when he had to aim his wand at a friend or one of his kin. This was a good cause, though, and Ron needed to know how to take care of himself. Even if, as Fabian hoped, Ron never had to use that knowledge.