Ron took a deep breath in.

Held it.

Slowly exhaled.

He opened his eyes; he felt calm and in control again. The embers of rage still burned deep inside, but at least he wasn't in danger of acting impulsively.

Looking around at the broken remains of faceless dummies the mini-RoR had spawned for Ron to take his anger out on, he felt some satisfaction at the results of the spells he'd been throwing around for the last 20 minutes. He was only four years into his magical education, and he could already cause such damage. Ron felt…good when he examined the strength of his magic and body.

Ron wasn't deluding himself into thinking he was all powerful, yet. But seeing the results of his years of study was very satisfying. Ron also recognized that he wasn't anywhere near the peak of his abilities, so he didn't feel complacency.

His cultivation techniques had 9 levels built into them, and he was only at the first level. Currently, all his stats were above 160. From what he could tell, he would reach the second level when he raised his stats to 200. It would take him quite a few years to get to level 9 at the rate he was going, but he wasn't discouraged. All it would take is daily effort and he'd get there.

Sighing, Ron patted the remaining dust from his clothes. The brief bout of destruction that he'd indulged in had taken the edge off of his anger when thinking about his brother Bill's situation.

Going into his store, he quickly purchased the needed potion to enable the growth of a magical core. Ron hoped the potion would work for Bill's situation. According to his status page, being a wizard was part of a bloodline. And creating a magical core in a muggle might be similar to the ninja bloodline potion, granting the muggle a wizarding bloodline. So Ron was unsure if the same potion would work on someone who already had the wizarding bloodline to regrow his magical core.

But it was the only hope Bill had in this situation to save his magic, thus saving his life.

Ron exited the mini-RoR. He saw his family still huddled around Bill's room, watching Bill play with a ball like a little kid. It was heartbreaking for the family to see their eldest son/brother in such a situation. As the eldest he'd always been a role model for his younger siblings. He always seemed to have such a joy in living. Seeing him reduced to a mental 5 year old in a man's body was difficult for them.

When Ron had left earlier he'd noticed that his father, Arthur, had stopped anyone from questioning where Ron was going. Smart man, that Arthur. He was aware that different people react and process grief and bad news differently. Better that Ron blow up on practice dummies rather than at his family in a moment of anger.

Ron walked up to Molly. "Mum, there's something we can try. The guild store has that potion that can make a muggle grow a magical core. I've got it right here." Ron held out the potion. "I don't know if it'll work, but it's worth a try."

Sobbing, Molly grabbed Ron in a hug. "Oh, Ronnie. You're a good boy. Will it really work?" Molly sobbed.

"Dunno, mum. But it's really the only chance we've got to save Bill."

Nodding, Molly took the potion from Ron and poured it down Bill's throat. Ron looked around at the hopeful faces of his siblings and parents. He really hoped this worked.

After drinking the potion, Bill fell unconscious. But he was twitching around, as if unsettled. Arthur levitated Bill into his bed, and then conjured couches for everyone to sit on while waiting. They would hold vigil over Bill until he woke, hopefully having recovered his magic.

Several minutes later, Ron heard the door to their room open. Looking over, he saw Charlie enter. Charlie quickly hugged his parents then siblings in greeting. Looking over at Bill in the bed, he asked how Bill was.

Ron sat back and let the conversation flow over him. His new family, all together again in the wake of an attack on one of them. His mind went back to the unknown group who attacked his family. He thought about how vulnerable his family was here in the inn. They didn't have any home, any defenses. Anyone can enter and attack his parents, siblings, and him at any time they want.

Whoever the group was, they would have been fools if they didn't interrogate his brother of any intel he had. The magic of the oaths would have kept most of their secrets safe. But there was a lot to be learned just from knowing Bill's identity and researching who the Weasley family interacted with. And who those people interacted with.

Ron needed to do the same thing against his enemy, because at the moment they are completely unknown. Once he gets an identity of someone in the group, he could start tracing it back. But how to catch that tiger tail sticking out of the brush?

Ron starting planning his steps in his mind. First, defense and protection. Second, intelligence. Third, preparation. Fourth, attack.

Ron stood up from his seat. Tapping Arthur and Charlie's shoulders, Ron motioned for them to follow him to talk away from Molly and her vigil on Bill. Fred and George noticed their movements and got up to follow. Ginny looked up, staring in Ron's eyes for a moment; then went back to sitting vigil with Molly.

Ron led the group back to his room, requesting of the mini-RoR a room that can assure their privacy. Once inside, Ron began casting more anti-eavesdropping spells. Once he was sure no one would overhear them, he turned to Arthur. Ron hesitated, not sure how to broach the topic he was about to bring up.

Seeing that Ron was unsure how to begin, Arthur briefly smiled. "Go ahead, Ron. Say whatever you've got to say, son."

Nodding decisively, Ron began. "Whoever that group is that attacked the pyramid and Bill, knows all about us. They've already done a number on Bill. They've threatened to do worse. We're vulnerable here in the inn. It's not our property and there is little we can do to set up protections. Relying on our unknown enemy's kindness to not attack us again would be foolish. We need to leave the inn and move somewhere more defensible. Especially with Bill so vulnerable."

Arthur smiled sadly. "Son, even with the portion of the treasure we got from the pyramid, we don't have enough to buy and ward our own place. Between the costs of buying out our contract here at the inn, property costs, warding costs, Hogwarts tuition, and other expenses, we don't have enough to move."

Ron grimaced. He hadn't been sure of just how much the family had, since Arthur and Molly felt that it wasn't something their kids needed to worry about. Molly especially seemed to have strict ideas of what their kids should and should not worry about, and the finances, or lack thereof, was one of those areas only adults should worry about.

Ron hadn't been planning on revealing his own finances and business to his parents anytime soon. But the safety of his family was more important than not bruising his parent's ego with the knowledge that their 15 year old son was rich and more successful than them.

Ron looked at his father and older brothers. "I've got a place for us to go." Ron stated.

Arthur and Charlie looked at each other, questions passing back and forth unsaid. Fred and George were staring at Ron in confusion.

"What do you mean you have a place?" Arthur eventually asked. "How did you get this "place"?"

Ron scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. "You know those UMALTs that I found?" At their nod, Ron continued. "Well, back in first year I sold several of them to the Potters. With that money and the help of some elves I've bonded to, I captured the acromantulas in the forbidden forest and created a silk farm. It pays well. Well enough that I got a plot of land and have started a potions ingredient farm. We can move to that plot of land and build a new Weasley Family Burrow."

Arthur looked like he was about to start lecturing Ron for a moment. Then Arthur paused for a bit to take a deep breath. He thought about what Ron said and its ramifications for a while.

Charlie looked like he wanted to start questioning Ron about how he captured and held the acromantulas but barely held off until their father finished his questioning. Charlie and his fascination with beasties still amused Ron. Fred and George meanwhile had their heads together, whispering something Ron wasn't paying attention to.

"Son." Arthur looked Ron straight in the eye. "How did you do, er…accomplish this and why haven't you told us about it before?"

"Well, the how was easy, dad. Magic." Ron shrugged at their eye rolling. "Yeah yeah. Just a second, let me show you." Ron then had the mini-RoR bring in an example of his portkey turret. He then explained how he and his elves had set up the turrets in the forest to capture all the acromantulas. He then explained his trunk farms and ranches, and how the elves keep the acromantulas fed and gather the silk to be sold.

"As to why I didn't tell you yet? That's even easier." Clearing his voice, Ron started to imitate Molly's voice. "Oh Ron, you don't need to worry about that. You just enjoy being a kid for a while longer. Let us adults worry about that." Ron paused, eyeing his father knowingly. Arthur looked a bit sheepish at his spot on imitation of Molly and her likely response to any of their children trying to build a business.

"You've got to admit dad, he's right about mum's reaction!" Fred exclaimed while George just laughed. Charlie was chuckling while poking Arthur on the shoulder knowingly.

Arthur had a sheepish smile on his face. "Yes. Well. Your mother has your best interests in mind. She loves you all." Arthur loyally defended his wife.

"We know dad." George chimed in.

"We've felt her love often!" Fred exclaimed while exaggeratedly rubbing his backside. Ron laughed along with his family at the joke.

"I knew that if I brought the idea to you then Mum wouldn't go for it." Ron stated when the laughter died down. "So I just did it on my own. With several elves to work with and act as my proxy in buying and selling it was easy to set up. I had them buy a piece of land to set up our trunk farms and ranches. So we can set up a household and defenses there for the Weasley clan."

Arthur still looked a little hesitant to make the plunge.

"Dad." Charlie put his hand on Arthur's shoulder. "We all love and respect you and Mum. You two have worked so hard for us to get a good education. But we're in a vulnerable position right now. I'm still a pretty green dragon handler and I don't make much yet. But Me and Bill have been saving up as much as we could to get you and Mum a house so you could stop living here in the inn. We know you've always taken pride in providing for us, but let us do this for you and Mum and the family."

"Me and George have already stopped pranking as much and set up a joke shop by owl mail. We've been trying to save up some too for the same reason." Arthur looked surprised at the admission from his chaos loving twin sons.

"We figure we've got one more year to perfect our stock before we graduated. Then, when we graduated, we planned to open a store in Diagon. Once we made enough we were going to rebuild the Burrow." George added on.

Arthur looked back and forth between his sons, proud at them, and gratified at the men they were becoming. Ron would never admit later that he'd felt all those squishy emotions. And a group hug definitely didn't happen. They were all manly men, dammit. But it was a good moment, at least until Fred and George goosed the rest of them. Damn troublemakers.

The group of men then trooped back to join Molly and Ginny at Bill's bedside to resume their vigil.

Ron stayed up with his family all night watching over Bill. He could see that the potion was doing something for Bill, but they were unsure if it was really working to restore Bill's magic to him. After an hour, it seemed Bill fell into a deep sleep, no longer tossing and turning.

In the morning, Arthur left to keep the inn running, while Charlie fetched Madam Pomfrey to give a check up on Bill. The staff of Hogwarts had long since become members of the guild. The professors were very helpful for the student members, and the guild provided the teachers many resources and new books they could find nowhere else.

Judging from the guild chat, everyone was very invested in the results of Bill taking the potion. One of the biggest fears magicals had from making oaths was an accident occurring and losing their magic. Their whole life and identities were wrapped up in their ability to do magic. So the idea that they could regain their magic if something were to happen to them was of great importance to them.

Ron wondered if it was something he should be concerned about. If someone could betray the Guild, then chug a potion they'd previously purchased to regain their magic, then the deterrence of the oaths didn't mean as much. He'd have to figure something out to prevent that kind of nefarious backstabbing later.

Ron ate his breakfast as he watched Madam Pomfrey waving her wand over Bill, running her diagnostic spells. It looked like it took all of Molly's will not to badger Pomfrey for answers and let the woman work. Arthur took a break from running the inn to come in for the news.

"Good news, Molly, Arthur." Pomfrey stated while looking at the distraught mother and father. "His core has reestablished itself. He'll be fine now." Molly collapsed in a chair nearby from the sudden relief of all her nerves and hopes being wound so tight. "That was the good news." Pomfrey stated briskly after giving Molly a moment. "The not so good news is that whatever was done to his mind can't be undone. Right now, mentally, he's about five years old. All his memories after that time are just…gone."

Molly sobbed at that news, while Arthur did his best to comfort her.

"Isn't there anyway to get his memories back?" Arthur asked.

"I'm afraid not. Not at this time. We've consulted with everyone we can about this issue. Whatever they did wasn't obliviation. They didn't just cover over the memories. They erased them somehow. I'm sorry to say, but your son will have to grow up again from five years of age on." Pomfrey paused to let them digest that bit before she continued on.

"After consulting several healers at St. Mungos, the best thing you can do for him now is a permanent de-aging potion. It'll let him grow up again normally, hit puberty at the right mental age, and is the best thing for him, really. Otherwise he'll have to deal with adult impulses and urges with a five year old mind. And that would be quite difficult for him to handle. It's not something a five year old is equipped to understand, mentally. Best to let him grow into it as he matures and grows up again."

While Arthur and Molly talked with Pomfrey about obtaining the potion to de-age Bill, Ron stepped up next to Ginny, who was standing at the head of the bed Bill was laying on. Ron wrapped his arm around Ginny's shoulders in a half hug.

"How are you doing, Ginny?" Ron asked his sister.

"This sucks." Ginny answered, sadly running her fingers through Bill's hair. "Bill was always the cool older brother, taking my side against you jerks growing up." Ron cough laughed at that. "He was always my favorite brother because of that, always on my side. And now that he needs help, there's nothing we can do. There's nothing I can do to help him!" Ginny sobbed a little.

Ron tightened his hug on his sister to comfort her. "Yeah, we can't get him his memory back for him. And it'll feel like we've lost him, our cool, oldest brother." Ron paused to let that sink in. It really would be like Bill died, in a way. Everything that made Bill, Bill, was stripped away. So the grieving process would still go on, even though Bill was alive. "But you're wrong, you know. There's plenty we can do to help him from now on. I won't lie, and say it will ever be the same, but Bill will still be with us, even if he's now going to be our youngest brother instead of our oldest."

George and then Fred joined Ron in hugging their sister while Charlie had joined Arthur and Molly in talking with Pomfrey.

"You know," Fred stated thoughtfully. "Now that Bill will change position from the eldest to the youngest, he needs a nickname to reflect his unusual status."

"You're right, brother mine. Something unique." George added in.

"He'll have been on both sides of the age bracket." Fred added in.

"Yes, just like a book end." George smiled as he added in.

"I think we have a winner." Fred declared with a straight face. "Bookend Bill!"

Ginny growled as she glared at the twins. "You are not calling Bill that!"

"Wingside William?" George asked, which earned him a punch on the shoulder from Ginny.

"No, absolutely not!"

Ron decided he'd best step back from the "brainstorming" session the twins were engaging in to lighten the mood. The twins seemed to be pathologically driven to drive the gloom away, even if they had to throw themselves under the batbogey bus to accomplish it.

"Bellend Weasley?" Was suggested to the annoyed screech of Ginny.

'And out comes the wands.' Ron thought with a smile, as Ginny started chasing the twins around in order to end their quest for stupid nicknames. Ron just shielded himself and Bill, staying out of the confrontation while enjoying the entertainment.

Once Arthur convinced Molly of the need to move to a more secure location, in order to protect their family, things moved quickly. Ron's family had packed, informed the owner of the inn, paid off the fee for breaking the contract on such short notice, and moved into their new home by that evening.

To help them with the move, Ron had introduced the elves to his family, which led to interesting reactions on the part of the Weasleys. Fred and George had run into many of the house elves in the kitchens of Hogwarts, and so the unusual size of the elves had shocked them. Ron could tell that Arthur and Charlie were also curious about how the elves had grown so much, as well as their atypical behavior, but they chose to go along without questions for the time being.

The house that came with the land Ron had purchased wasn't anything special from the outside. It was a simple two story muggle looking country home sitting on a 2 acre lot. There were six rooms, two baths, a kitchen, a dining room, and a living room. Due to the liberal use of magic, however, each room was spacious and had a private bath, and there was plenty of elbow room at the dining table.

In the yard behind the house was a barn, where the elves had set up the trunks for the farms, ranches, and their own living spaces to raise their families. No matter the great changes the elves had gone through since they were house elves, some habits were harder to break than others, and living in small spaces was one of those habits. So the ability to have as much trunk space as they needed, while not taking up much room on Ron's land, satisfied the elves need to live small and hidden.

The de-aging potion for Bill would take a few more days to prepare, so while Ron's parents were preoccupied with taking care of Bill at the moment, Ron would have some time to arrange matters.

Shortly after Ron had newly arrived in this world, the Weasleys had been forced to sell their home to make ends meet. During that time Ron had made some suggestions to Arthur and Molly on what they could do for work in order to stay in Britain, but his parents had chosen a different path. Using one of Bill's contacts they had found work at the wizarding inn in Egypt, instead of taking a chance on working in the muggle world to make money.

Ron had learned at least one lesson from this, namely that while his parents saw him as a kid, they would not have any real faith or trust in his "outlandish" ideas. Working in the muggle world was definitely out there for anyone born and raised in the wizarding world. So Ron didn't really blame them for not striking out into new territory, even if he had been a bit frustrated at the time.

But now, Ron wasn't going to throw ideas out there for his parents to ignore. It was time to get a little more direct. He would present his parents with an already formed business to run that would be profitable for them, so they wouldn't have to rely on their son for their income. It would save their pride and give them something better to do than work for minimum wages for someone else.

So later in the first night in their new home, and after everyone had gone to bed, Ron called Spartacus in for a serious planning session.

The first issue Ron addressed with Spartacus was the need for more elves in service. If Ron wanted the elf-power to be able to expand his business, spy on his unknown enemy, explore the ninja lands, and watch over his family, then he needed to induct more elves into his strange family.

Spartacus promised Ron that he would be able to recruit at least 20 more elves by the end of the week, and more in the following weeks to come. Spartacus would then split them up into their future jobs and they would begin training for their various tasks, once the aftermath of the naming ritual ran its course.

One group would be detailed to continue explorations of the ninja land. They would spy and record all they could of the ninja or samurai lives and training methods and skills. The more skills they could bring over and make available to guild members, the quicker the guild could start becoming more powerful.

The way the guild store was set up now was that in order for a skill, technique, or item to become available for guild members to purchase from the store, the initial buyer of the technique had to pay a much higher price. This "unlocked" the item for purchase. There were incentives and kickbacks for the guild members that unlocked items, so that there was a carrot for such behavior. However Ron was impatient for the ninja skills to become available to the guild members. If he added the training scrolls to the guild store, it would unlock the skills and techniques for purchase immediately.

The slow method of waiting for someone in the guild to get interested in ninja skills, save enough points, and finally unlock it, was too slow for Ron. These ninja skills, known only to his guild in the wizarding world, were the quickest way for his guild member's combat and survival skills to increase quickly. In the uncertain conflict with an unknown enemy, Ron was feeling quite a bit of pressure and responsibility to make sure his guild members had a better than "decent" chance to survive.

These ninja skills would give the guild an edge on their enemy. So Ron instructed Spartacus to train a batch of elves to explore the ninja world and bring back training manuals, information, and samples of new plants and animals for possible potions or selling.

Secondly, Ron and Spartacus talked about the need to expand their business. If they were going to fight a shadowy organization, they needed to have money, goods, and services exclusive to them.

Ron knew there were many new guild members from the tier two and three schools that were now getting a good education. But if, upon graduation, there was no available jobs for the newly educated, then these guild members would become disillusioned by the lack of opportunities. Sure, they now had hope from getting a good education. But what good is education alone in feeding their family if there was no work and income as a result?

So Ron and Spartacus started making plans to expand their business. They would start hiring guild members looking for work. Potioneers, medics, enchanters, rune scholars, warders, beast wranglers, crafters, and many more professions were needed to build and expand the market.

Diagon Alley was already packed full. It had been there for many years, and London had grown around it. Ron and Spartacus started making plans for building a new wizarding shopping center away from any city. They would be in control of the land and businesses. Ron planned to put together proposals for the other members of the guild who had many resources they could invest into such an endeavor.

As well off as Ron was now, he was still not rich enough to bankroll the new shopping alley solo. So including the other members in such a venture would allow them to control the setup, instead of just inviting people willy nilly and hoping for the best.

And if their well planned alley just happened to have strong defenses and counter attack wards in case some nameless bastards tried to take what isn't theirs again? Well, one can only hope those greedy blackguards tried to steal from them again. They could have the pleasure of having their hands chopped off.

Last of all was the issue of setting up elf spies and guards around the wizarding world. Ron knew that if he left the enemy in hiding they would be emboldened to attack again. Especially as his business and fortunes grew, those thieves would be eyeing him and his money from the shadows. It was imperative that the elves try to get information on just who they were.

Spartacus and his family would start organizing the elf gossiping network. Just as was proven to Ron about the guild oaths not being 100% effective in preventing his enemies from getting intel from his people. The loyalty of the house elves to their masters wouldn't prevent some loose lips from spraying him a trail to follow.

As Ron was preparing for bed after the meeting with Spartacus, he realized that he felt some amount of…satisfaction. He was still angered by the attack, but he was moving everyone in the right direction to prepare for conflict. Everything that he could think of doing was being delegated out. His people and elves were on the job.

And he was looking forward to the results.