Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does.

Chapter 1:

Burning. How Ron wished he were burning instead of suffering another night full of Crucios. At least if he was burning he could die from the flames.

"The smoke inhalation will kill you," Hermione's voice reminded Ron. She said those same words that day Hermione mentioned she was scared of fires. A secret she never even told Harry.

Weeks before this night Ron never believed he wished he could die. But, after weeks in Voldemort's Death Eater's captivity, death was his greatest desire. Not fame. Not money. Not any of his petty longings. Not even a scrumptious meal.

How did he end up here? How did he reach this point of hopelessness?

Well, first a locket screwed with his mind. A trolled-up locket gave him nights of endless nightmares of Harry and Hermione crackling at his failure to do anything right. He could still remember the first dream. In it Ron tried to do a spell to clean up a mess, but every time Ron reached for his wand, it would tap dance away, laughing viciously. He had spent every waking moment hearing Harry and Hermione's voices in his head, taunting him, telling him to just leave the two heroes, reminding him that he was worthless. Soon, Ron thought he was worthless, that he was causing the hunt's constant failure. His self-pity became too much to bear and he did the worst action imaginable. He left his friends. Left them in a tent to handle on an impossible mission. Left them with the locket that broke him.

Right after Ron apparated away, he found himself surrounded by a group of Snatchers who scoffed his proclamation of his identity.

"I know Stan," a Snatcher drawled, scratching Ron's cheek. "You're not him. Face too smooth. His hair isn't red."

Ron could not escape, the Snatcher's grip was too tight and soon they learned his identity from Lucius Malfoy. What amazed Ron was Draco Malfoy, a boy Ron hated, tried to save Ron by refusing name him. It worked until Mr. Malfoy screwed the ferret's efforts.

Ron was now a prisoner in a stuffy, dark basement. Every day he would see daylight for a second out of Malfoy Manor's windows before undergoing more pain. Bellatrix Lestrange and the other masked Death Eaters would ask the same questions over and over again.

Where is Harry Potter?

Where is his Mudblood?

Why do you continue to stay silent?

Do you think your blood traitor family can protect you?

What do you think of us making sure you can stay silent forever?

Once Voldemort watched. His frightening skeleton-like face first beamed and then turned into a furious when he realized Ron was clueless about Harry Potter's current location.

Every night he, Luna and Ollivander would talk about their plans for escape. Each failed. Like the time Ollivander tried a Body-Bind Curse on a guard with his self-made wand that dripped of sand. The wand wasn't powerful enough to do even one spell. Like the time Luna picked the lock from the inside with a turtle shell she had kept hidden. A guard found them tight when they started to walk up the stairs.

Tonight was Ron's final effort. Draco Malfoy, for some reason Ron did not comprehend, promised to help him and the others. Malfoy made a sleeping potion that he was going to provide to the other Death Eaters in the house. Malfoy admitted his struggles to Ron against the door yesterday. How he hated to use a potion on his family, but also how he hated the Dark Lord's regime more.

His mind kept telling him, "Malfoy is a bigot. Malfoy is a slimy ferret. Don't trust him. Don't trust him."

But Ron trusted Malfoy because of those comments. He could hear a genuine sorrow beneath those words. Even more, everytime he doubted Malfoy, Ron remembered that Malfoy was his only hope for freedom.

Hours later, when the questioning finished, Wormtail dragged Ron once again to the cell. If he had more strength, Ron might care to scratch the eyes of the traitorous rat. But, in that moment, the pain twitching all over his body was too much to do anything but walking.

In the dark room, Ollivander looked solemnly at the wall and Luna smiled. She shared a nice story to Ron. In the story she and her father swam in a lake and listened to a Hippocamp splash in the water. The friendly animal brushed his mane against Luna's chin and told her about a spectacular spell that would harm the worst of men and cure the most honest of souls.

By the end of her story, Ron could finally stretch his arms without a throbbing sensation.

"It tickled so nice," Luna murmured. "When I came back after using the spell on Voldemort. He tickled me everywhere and hugged me nice. He was a good friend. Like you Ron. You lifted my spirit in so many ways the last few weeks."

"You two, Luna," Ron exclaimed, leaning against the hard wall. His desire for life returned now that his body did not suffer new onsets of pain. The plan will work. He was sure of it.

He explained the plan to Luna and Ollivander. Luna sat up with a grin while Ollivader sank into a scrunched up position like a cat hiding from its abusive owners.

"I'm not joining you in another disaster," the wandmaker snapped hopelessly. "No more. No more."

Ron imagined that Ollivander was thinking about the past punishments to their failed escape attempts. Being squeezed by a hinkypunk and thrown against the ceiling weren't good memories to Ron either.

Before either Ron or Luna could persuade the man, the door opened. His hand shivering madly, Malfoy gestured for them to leave. Once Ron and Luna excited, he handed them each a wand and quickly snapped one from his pocket. "Come quick. I'm not sure how it'll last."

Ollivander just shook his head, looking darkly at the ground.

"Ollivander is not coming," Luna explained.

"Fine by me." Malfoy shrugged and motioned them to follow him.

Ron smiled when he noticed Wormtail snoring by the cell. He kicked his ex-rat in the face for good measure. Now that felt good.

They quietly entered a secret passage way. Water dripped in the tunnel as the three scurried down the narrow path. Ron bit his tongue hard when he saw a spider crawling on the wall. Ron shook, stepping backwards. He would do anything to escape the spider closing in on his face.

"Weasley, what are you doing?" Malfoy scowled. "This is an escape plan not the time to act like a spooked muggle."

"Spider," Ron whispered.

Malfoy snickered, "One measly little insect." He pushed the insect onto Ron's shoulder. He could feel it ticklish legs. He could feel it ready to bit his neck. "It's not going to hurt you, you moron."

Angry, Ron flung the spider onto Malfoy's face. "Take that Malfoy."

"Ron's scared of spiders," Luna explained. "Ginny thinks it's a stupid fear. I think it makes sense. Spider bites are pretty awful."

"Ick. Nasty bug," Malfoy exclaimed, now alarmed by the bug's legs walking up his nose. He wacked the bug onto the floor and killed it with his shoe.

Ron marveled at the boy's unrefined words from a boy who always mocked Ron when he said similar stuff. Ron couldn't wait until Harry and Hermione heard about this.

"Lets go," Luna ordered softly. "Lovely place as this is, I do long for a warm spring night breeze."

They continued walking through the tunnel. This time Luna thankfully pocketed every spider so Ron would not have to encounter any. Finally they reached the end of the tunnel. Malfoy pushed the small door in front of them and peeked out.

"Troll guts," Malfoy groaned. He turned to Ron and Luna, eyes wide. "We were too slow. Father…"

Malfoy pushed by Ron and Luna and ran back through the tunnel.

"Where are you going Malfoy?" Ron started to run after the slicked-haired boy when heard Luna squeak and turned to find Mr. Malfoy pushing her on the ground.

"So you two thought you could escape?" The blond man grinned a dark expression. He clutched Luna's arm so hard, Ron could see a red mark in the darkness. When Luna shot a bright yellow spell, it missed Mr. Malfoy by an inch. "Not on my watch."

Screwed. Ron was screwed and it was all Malfoy's fault. He should have never trusted that coward. Ron would have continued groaning inwardly, when he realized he had a wand. The weeks of not having a wand had left him unaccustomed to thinking about using a wand. But not anymore, now he would fight.

"Studify," Ron cried. The red light missed, but distracted Mr. Malfoy. This allowed Luna to lean under and hex Mr. Malfoy's private parts.

"Ow," Mr. Malfoy screeched. The man's long blond hair ruffled in every direction as he jumped.

This time Ron's Studify worked because the man was in so much pain, Mr. Malfoy could not focus on their fight.

"Good job Luna," Ron cheered. "Take that Malfoy."

Luna grinned.

"Good job, but there are more awake besides father," Malfoy's voice cut in. The blond boy looked sadly on the ground. "There everywhere, soon they will be here too."

"You awful coward," Ron yelled. "You left us. Wouldn't even fight you Daddy. Your still on their side aren't you?"

"Maybe I did not want to fight my father," Malfoy yelled back. "Did you even think that? But no you and your group have to always be the morally superior idiots. I am freaking tired of it."

Luna sighed, "We need to focus. The Wrackspurts are becoming crazy by all this tension."

Malfoy nodded. "But we can't get out of here. There is no way. We have to do Plan B."

"Plan B? What the bloody hell are you getting at?" Ron wondered how they could have a goal beyond escaping the manor.

"I want you to drink this," Malfoy demanded. The blond pulled out three vials and handed it to Luna and Ron. "Its my own creation. It should help go back in time and end this regime."

"With a potion?" Ron asked. That sounded absurd. Especially since Malfoy was only eighteen. Too young for such a discovery that many failed to create. He looked into the blue-colored liquid sprinkled with shiny red spots. Could this really reverse time?

"Just drink it. Look, I'll take it first. Trust me or stay locked up," Malfoy commanded before drinking his vial.

Luna advised, "We should, Ron. Lets see what happens."

Ron shook his head. "I trusted him once and he left us to fight alone. I can't."

Luna gulped her vial. "Ron, please."

Ron could not let Luna suffer this potion alone. He already forced Harry and Hermione to continue the Horcrux Hunt without him. As soon as Ron swallowed the potion, Malfoy fell flat on the ground.

Ron sighed, "Maybe its just a sleeping potion. Do you really think we can go back in time?"

Luna shrugged her shoulders. "Anything is possible."

And even if they slept forever or died, both options were better than living in Voldmort's empire. But he hoped to Merlin and all things Gryffindor that this potion did something useful.

Luna dropped to ground too. Ron was now alone in the tunnel. Some spiders escaped from Luna's pocket. Their tiny legs were coming closer and closer to his bare feet. Ron stumbled backwards and then all he could see was darkness.

The next thing Ron remembered was opening his eyes to a strange scene. He was no longer in the horrifying, spider-infested tunnel. Instead he was in the Great Hall at Hogwarts.

Ron heard cheering around him. A tall boy with a bright smile walked past. Was that Cedric Diggory? Did Malfoy's potion really work? By Merlin, was he back in 1994?

"Too bad," a boy sighed next to him. "I know you wanted Angelina, Ron, but I guess we will have to deal with him."

Ron turned to look at the boy next to him. The boy had the messy locks Ron expected but not the color. The boy's hair bore a reddish-brown color. Maybe Harry's hair was redder when Ron was younger and he never noticed.

"Whatever, it'll be fun to watch Diggory lose," a black-skinned boy cheered. Was that Dean? He looked the same, but why would Dean interact casually with Ron and his friends. They only really talked in the dorms.

A paper flew from the Goblet in the front of the room.

"What the," Dean cried, his face both excited and confused.

Ron wished the paper did not come. Soon the room will be in chaos. He would need to choose between acting the way he did at fourteen or the way he truly felt. Flobberworm fibers. He was going to stand by Harry this time.

"Harry Potter," Dumbledore whispered.

Silence and then a small boy with messy dark hair stood from the Hufflepuff table and walked to the staff table where an unfamiliar teacher sat. A red-haired woman hugged the boy tight.

"And here he does it again," the messy-haired boy next to Ron shouted. "Another bloody thing for me to fix."

"Come on Marcus," Dean exclaimed. "You're brother needs you. Oh, marvelous savior."

So that's why the boy's hair was different. He was not Harry. But Harry did not have a brother. Ron glanced across the room and saw Malfoy with a confused expression. Next he looked at Luna and she winked. Yes, he needed to talk with Malfoy and Luna to find the answer. Whether it was a crazy dream, a different time or whatever.

AN-

Welcome to Those Tragic Souls.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

HappyTerrier