A/N:
July 16th 2020, Still bleak, still going, the future holds something good for all of us. We will get through this."

Chapter 3

The Bravest of The Three

On a moonless summer night in the country side, there was a boy, a young boy, perhaps in his mid teens looking out a window. A window that was attached to the edge of a crooked wall. A crooked wall that was part of a room sticking out at an odd angle from a house. A house that seemed like a collection of rooms stuck together, as if by glue, or maybe, by Magic. The boy was Ronald Weasley. The youngest son of the Weasley clan, and one of Harry Potter's two best friends. He was staring out of his window, located just below the attic, into the darkness surrounding the Burrow. It had been more than a week since he'd been told about the attack on Harry's house. He was worried and he felt absolutely useless as things stood. He had tried to ask his parents about Harry's whereabouts only to be denied any new information. All anyone would tell him was, "Harry's safe, you'll see him soon." It was frustrating. It also made him feel bad about himself, thinking about the same time last year, when Harry was the one stuck alone without any information.

It was tough being in a house full of Order Members, but being the youngest of them and not of age yet he was kept away from all the important meetings. He was stuck alone with Ginny. Argh! He had come to hate Ginny, he did not realize when she'd suddenly become this annoying teenager dating his roommate from school. Maybe it was the stress but tempers had been flying high that evening in the Weasley household. Arthur Weasley, the head of their clan had not returned home yet, 'Order Business' was all Ron knew about his father's whereabouts. Molly Weasley was downstairs making dinner, Dinner that Ron wasn't getting tonight because of the extremely loud row he had with Ginny earlier that day that got both of them grounded without dinners. Not like he cared much, his mother's cooking had also taken a hit, she spent less time watching the food and more time staring that the special Weasley clock.

The clock with a hand for each of the Weasley family members, rather than telling the time, indicated the status of each member of the Weasley family. Instead of numbers, there were various phrases such as "home," "school," "work," "travelling," "lost," "dentist," "hospital," "prison," and "mortal peril". These days the hands for any of the members not at the Burrow or at headquarters would generally point to "mortal peril."

Ron was hungry though, he was really hungry, something he was famous at school for. Always being hungry and eating like a hippogriff. Maybe if he apologized to Ginny and then the two of them went down together Molly would relent and give them some food. Ofcourse she would, she was Molly Weasley. She loved feeding her children.

Ron sighed and walked out of his room, down a flight of stairs and then knocked on his younger sister's room. His only sister's room. Ginny Weasley was the youngest child of the family and no matter how much they fought, Ron knew that he loved her. Sure! somewhere deep down.

Ron knocked again, there was no answer so decided to go down and face his Mother alone. By now he was almost dizzy with hunger. He walked down another few flights of stairs arriving in the kitchen. Molly looked up at him, she was lazily pointing her wand at a bowl and ladle, mixing away some batter on its own. When she saw Ron enter all the color drained from her face. That, was strange. Ron stood there frozen, this was not the reaction he expected. He expected his mother to turn red, not colorless. He expected her to shout at him, or atleast tell him to go back to his room because he wasn't getting any dinner tonight. No, he realized, it wasn't his arrival that elicited that reaction. Dread filled his entire body as he realized his mother was not staring at him but rather a few inches to his right, straight at the Weasley family clock.

Ron turned around slowly, time seemed to slow down as mother and son watched as three hands started to move away from "Home". They were moving, slowly, both of them knew where they were going, what they did not know was- why? Had something changed? Did Dumbledore die? Was everyone now in more danger or was it something about the Burrow? Just as the three tiny hands came to a halt at "Mortal Peril" their questions were answered in the worst way possible.

It was as if all the air was sucked out of the kitchen followed by a huge explosion right outside their front door. Molly was the first to react, all the lights in the house went out with a flick of her wand. They could see brief flashes of spellfire outside, red, green, and bright yellow. They knew someone from the order was always assigned to the Burrow, they knew being close to Harry they were a target and Dumbledore wanted to keep them as safe as possible. They heard a few shrieks, a few thuds and then- silence. Ginny had rushed down the stairs after the explosion, she had clearly been crying before and she was crying out of fear right now. Her body was trembling and she had death written all over her face.

The three of them were crouching near the kitchen table now, holding hands. They noticed that the spellfire and commotion outside had been replaced by an eerie silence now. They knew it could only mean one thing, if the order member had survived he would have been coming into the house to check on them. Since that was not the case, it could only mean that whoever was defending them was either dead or they'd managed to escape.

"Wonnie Wonnie! Come out and play!" the unmistakable cackle of Bellatrix Lestrange rang out into the silent night followed by laughter. Laughter by so many different voices that the three Weasleys were scared scared to even think about how outnumbered they were. "Wonniekins! We know you're in there! Did you forget your pet knows how to get into the cracks of your old hut?"

The three Weasley's were trembling in fear right now, Ron looked at his mother, trying to calm his nerves. He knew their options were closing fast and he knew that he was probably the main target of this attack. There are times when your life flashes past your eyes, this was one of those times. Ron quickly thought back to the first day of school, his first ride on the Hogwarts express. His decision to sit with Harry and their eventual friendship. Had he, in that moment 5 years ago, sealed the fate of his mother and his sister? Were they going to die because the 11-year old Ron was starstruck by Harry and really, really wanted to be his friend? Perhaps, perhaps it would have happened irrespective of him trying. They both ended up in Gryffindor after all. Gryffindor- brave, reckless, stupid. It was finally time for him to prove he belonged there.

"Mom," He whispered, "I'm going to create a diversion…" "No!" Molly cut him off, sensing where this conversation was headed. "Listen to me Mother!" Ron cut her off again, a sense of urgency in his voice, along with a steely determination.

"Even if you try to distract the Death Eaters while I and Ginny make a run for it, neither of us can apparate, we would only make it so far before they catch up to us. Don't forget that they're probably here for me more than anyone else and there's a good chance they want me alive as bait for Harry. If I take Ginny they will hunt us down and probably kill her and they'll surely kill you as you try to distract them. The only thing that makes sense is I create a distraction while you two make a run for it. I'm assuming they've erected anti-apparition wards so take Ginny through the meadow and try apparating there. See if you can get help, but make sure they arrive in numbers. I'll try to buy time and not let them take me away for as long as I can."

Molly was in shock, everything her son was saying seemed true, she would probably last a few seconds against the Death Eaters outside if she was lucky and Ron, on the other hand may not be killed by them right away. There would be a chance to rescue him and there would be a chance to save her precious Ginny. She had tears in her eyes as she nodded slowly. "Ron I'm so sorry..." She started but Ron raised his hand to make her stop. "Now mother! Be ready, I'm going to the front door and pretend I want to surrender, I hope I can get the attention of as many of them as I can" With that Ron tightly squeezed his mother in a quick hug and crawled his way towards the front of the house.

Molly know they wouldn't have a lot of time. She quickly disillusioned herself and her daughter. Ginny seemed to have lost her voice, she was sobbing silently as she held onto her mother. They both crawled to the kitchen door that opened into their chicken coup and backyard, ready to dash for it. Molly could clearly feel the weight of anti-apparition wards and knew she'd probably have to sprint around a 100 yards before she made it to a safe enough distance to apparate.

"I'm coming out! I want to give up!" They heard Ron shout followed by laughter. It was clear that there was atleast one voice at the back of the house too. But Molly was hoping they might be able to slip past that person. "I'm coming out! Now!" She heard Ron say, she knew that was her cue. She slid the back door open just as she heard more laughter and her front door opening. It was pitch dark on this side of the house, the Death Eaters had clearly lit their wands at the front of the house and the house itself was creating a long narrow shadow that Molly thought would work to her advantage. She pushed Ginny in front of her and the two of them started moving away from the house keeping as low as possible. She'd heard the voice laughing slightly to their left so she veered to the right and continued through the bushes and open vegetation behind the Weasley home.

It was then that she heard a voice that chilled her to her bones, it was coming from the front of the house, clear, as if magically amplified, "Ah! The best friend! Come, come Ronald Weasley, I have so much I wish to ask you about your little friend, Potter" While she had never heard Voldemort's voice herself, Molly knew it had to be him. Lord Voldemort was outside her house and her youngest son was facing him alone as she fled. She heard some words being spoken, she could make out Ron's voice but she was getting farther and farther away from the house now. There was a lit breeze and it was masking the sounds coming from the house, it was probably also masking their escape sounds, silent as they were trying to be they were still making some noise while rushing away.

All of a sudden Molly felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her body, she knew she'd crossed the threshold of the anti-apparition wards. She held tightly onto Ginny's arm and twisted on the spot disappearing with a faint pop along with her daughter.

She reappeared in London, outside the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, tears were running down both their faces as they ran towards the door. Dumbledore had charmed the front door using some very complex wards, it was able to recognize order members and clicked open as Molly pulled at the front handle. They were barely two feet inside when they saw Dumbledore and Remus Lupin walk out of the kitchen door, obviously coming to check who had arrived unannounced at the headquarters at this hour.

Dumbledore's demeanor changed instantly as he saw their tear soaked disheveled appearances. "How many?" was all he said as he quickly walked over to Molly and Ginny, Remus following in his wake.

"I don't know Dumbledore! Too many, and they have Ron!" Molly was starting to get hysterical now. Having more adults around them had allowed her to show her weakness. She knew her daughter was safe and she could openly worry about her son now. She grabbed Dumbledore by his hand and looked at him beseechingly, "My son! Dumbledore! They have my son!" She continued to sob and then all she could manage before collapsing on the floor was, "He's there too."

Dumbledore left the crying woman where she was on the floor, he was afraid her tears may not stop for a long time if what he feared came true. He had to act quickly and decisively. The order and DMLE had trained for a scenario where Privet Drive was attacked countless times. The Burrow was never considered as big a priority. Clearly he'd been wrong. Clearly a young man's life was now at stake because he was wrong, again. "Remus, apparate atleast half a kilometer away from the Burrow, North, near where the path to their house meets the main road to Ottery St Cachpole. Try not to be seen, I'll try to gather as many of us as I can and meet you there. We need to go in together, wait for me to arrive and don't do anything stupid." As he was finishing his last words there was a flash of light and he disappeared along with a young Fawkes who was barely able to fly.

Dumbledore arrived, once again, with a flash of fire in the middle of the DMLE. Kingsley and Proudfoot were the only ones there at this hour. They were accompanied by a young witch Dumbledore did not recognize as a past Hogwarts student. He repeated the same instructions he'd given Remus before disappearing in Phoenix Fire once again. This time he reappeared in the living room of a rundown house outside London. He knew he did not have the time to gather a lot of people one by one, and if he was going to be short on numbers he was going to take in the best.

Mad-eye looked up at him from his dining table. The sudden arrival of the Wizard and the look on his face told him everything he needed to know. He stood up, grabbed Dumbledore's arm and nodded. Bless him, Alastor would follow Dumbledore blindly into a volcano. Blindly and bravely. Dumbledore turned slightly and they popped into existence next to Remus and the three Aurors waiting for them.

At a distance they he could make out the modest outline of the Burrow up in thick flames. There wasn't any spellfire or other activity near the house. The surroundings were well lit by the intensity of the flames. "Let's get closer then, in the middle of the front yard, wands out and together, 3, 2, 1" And the 5 wizards and 1 witch apparated right in front of the Burrow. The heat was intense and all of them instinctively used a cooling charm on themselves. It looked like the Death Eaters were gone, Dumbledore could generally sense magic about him and there wasn't any right now.

He had barely started scanning his surroundings when he heard a grunt from Mad Eye who started limping towards a large tree near the front of the house. Dumbledore's heart stopped for a moment when he saw the reason why Moody had started walking towards the tree. There, Crucified side by side on the large trunk were two bodies. Motionless, lifeless, magicless. The others followed Moody and Dumbledore.

As he approached, Dumbledore flicked his wand and the bodies were released from their cruel bonds and floated gently to the ground. The first, was an order member. Penelope Clearwater, He recognized her face instantly, lifeless as it had been three years ago when the Basilisk ran amok at Hogwarts. And then he had to face what he'd been dreading for years now. Someone dead as a direct result of his quest to bring Harry face to face with Tom, Someone whose loss he knew would devastate Harry. One from the famous trio of Hogwarts, Ronald Weasley lay dead in front of them, he wasn't the smartest of the three friends, He wasn't the kindest of them either. He was, the bravest of the three.