Ron felt a little surge of guilt as he wondered how long it would take for word that he had run away again to reach his mother's ears. "A day off sounds like a good idea," he said, taking up his bowl. "That might be enough time to think of something to tell them that doesn't send Mum off the deep end. Probably better leave out the bit about running around in the woods messing with swords."
Even if he spent the day lounging around doing nothing but freezing, it felt wonderful to know that weight of guilt would be off his shoulders at last. He was where he belonged again, he was sure of it - and they had made some actual progress, something he'd thought pretty near impossible, not long ago. The last thing he'd expected was to return to see things looking up - but here they were.