Spitfire is an alternative history from mid Deathly Hallows onwards.

Trigger Warnings: I think it's fairly obvious by now that I touch on dark subject matter. Spitfire is no different. But for those who still insist they want one: Psychological damage. PTSD. Torture. Post War topics. Major Character Death. Racism against werewolves. Disfiguration. Homelessness.

[Feel free to skip this and move on to the first chapter: this is entirely an Author's note on both my writing style and the story itself. This is merely for those who have been following me for years and me answering some questions that have come up. There are NO author's notes in the chapters. I have put everything I want to say here.]

Author's Note

I'm so excited for this! While I was writing 'Stay Standing' I kept getting side tracked by the idea of Ron not ever returning when he left. All the possibilities and potential for an alternate world came to mind.

I started drafting in a notebook.

There were times when plot bunnies of the five missing weeks in Stay Standing mingled with this story. When it would take me a month to try to decide what belonged where. I started separating ideas into another folder and it just kept piling up.

I started working on this alternative time line where nothing after Ron left the tent was the same. What would happen if Ron never came back? Ron was vital in restoring hope, of moving their plans forward, and getting Harry and Hermione back on track.

So what if he just… didn't come back?

A much harsher world where the war was more devastating. That's what. Following the ripple affects of the war and Harry and Hermione as they live their lives.

And the funnest part.

Where is Ron Weasley?

Romance

Over and over again, I have people question why there isn't Romance in my work despite the obvious Ron/Hermione pairing. The answer is simple: I am Asexual. So where I think I'm putting a TON of romance in there, most people squint and go… I can… kinda see it? I am incapable of understanding romantic relationships. I have never HAD a romantic interest, physical desire, or even loneliness/want for companionship outside of friendship with another human being. I cannot write this for you guys. I don't know how. What you see is me trying my very best to write emotions that I have never experienced before (but rather, have only read about in books). So, please, understand that while I understand a LOT about how people work and the complexities of relationships, romance will never be my strong suit. In fact, 'Fidelius,' another project I'm working on featuring Aurors Harry and Ron and Law Maker Hermione is my determined attempt at creating romance (It's failing epically, btw, I def. won't be able to label it romance, but I am trying super hard at it).

Fidelius: Ron and Hermione's relationship is failing and she can't figure out why. Ron doesn't seem to want to touch her, but he's the perfect boyfriend otherwise. Meanwhile Auror partners Harry and Ron have just been put onto separate teams and neither of them are happy about it.

Spitfire

Spitfire is about more than learning to forgive, it's about learning the value of those you take advantage of, that at the end of the day, it's never one person's fault or one person's responsibility to try to earn forgiveness.

In the original Deathly Hallows, it always bothered me that it was always Ron's fault in an argument, no matter how untrue or true that was. Harry should have been honest about his frustrations with Dumbledore's plans. Harry shouldn't have been angry at Ron for listening to the radio for signs of his family. Hermione and Ron shouldn't have talked behind Harry's back. Hermione should have- at least once for fucks sake, shown Ron she valued him. Ron shouldn't have been a prat about Harry not knowing what to do. Ron shouldn't have made Hermione choose. Harry shouldn't have told Ron to leave and Ron shouldn't' have left.

Yet Ron was the one groveling when he came back.

The small reassurance from Harry that Hermione and he were like siblings and the mention of Hermione crying every night; that was all Harry told Ron. Neither of them said sorry for the way they acted. Neither of them told Ron that he was valuable or that they missed him. Neither of them ever said they were glad to see Ron.

Ron who is the type of person to need that sort of reassurance.

Sure, we know Harry missed Ron like crazy, but he never told Ron that. We know Hermione loves him and that she was devastated by his leaving, but no one ever told Ron that. Ron who feels out of place in his family and who feels jealousy that his best friend is so well liked and popular, who 'knows' that Hermione prefers Harry because isn't it obvious? Isn't the way Hermione asks Harry about his scars so caring? The way she mother hen's him and the way she is so gentle with Harry and no one else? The soft way she speaks that is never directed at Ron?

Hermione has always shown Harry preferential treatment.

When Ron is groveling and brown nosing after coming back, when he's trying to be positive and get them moving, neither Harry or Hermione showed in any way how much they appreciated it or that Ron was making a difference. There was never any moment of forgiveness either for Hermione. It was a slow 'willingness' to let Ron in.

It bothered me that everyone knows Ron wears his heart on his sleeve, that he's blunt and honest and blunders a lot, but tries his best. They know Ron isn't the type to pick up on subtlety. They know Ron is clueless when it comes to delicate situations and that he needs to be told by those he loves and trust that he is important in order to really believe it himself and yet…

No one does.

Instead there is this stubborn belief that they are in the right. Always. Ron is constantly reminded of his humility by being humiliated and pushed down. There is a sort of sadistic comic relief garnered to him in the books that leaves me feeling a little sick rather than chuckling. The way people treat him like a fool despite the ring of truth he has to say.

Spitfire is about resolving this for me. While writing it, I garnered a satisfaction in seeing the slow realization by the characters of what it means to lose Ron Weasley and what it will take to get him back.

One Last Warning: I do plan on making this a threesome trio fic. Slow burn. VERY slow burn. And probably will look more like a friendship than anything (as I've said before, I'm asexual). I will be trying my best though. Threesomes have always made more sense to me in the complexity and support they can give and threesome relationship's always seem to be the healthiest in the books I've read. It makes sense to me that these three would end up together, though that's probably my lack of understanding in the basics of romantic relationships more than anything else.

This will be slightly different than my last stories because each chapter will be less than 5,000 words. Most of my chapters for my other stories run me about 10,000 to 20,000 words long. I'm hoping that cutting down on the length of the chapters will allow me to do faster updates. Currently I have 14 chapters written for Spitfire running the length of about 45,000 words so far. I have four future chapters written as well (21,22,23,24) so about 60,000 written. The first two 'arcs' are done. I'm well into the third arc. This story is looking as if it might have seven or eight arcs. The outline is still working itself out.

I hope you enjoy all the stories I've been scribbling away at.