A/N: Ronald Weasley went through a rather bleak period after Fred's death. He found that running away was his only option. This story is about where he went and what he did. Strong sexual content warning. Totally a figment of my imagination. My first Ron Weasley without Charlie Weasley story. Based on characters created by J. K. Rowling --Rita

Chapter 1—Alone in an Alternate Universe

Ron Weasley woke up without a clue where he was. Of course he was lying next to a naked woman who was sound asleep. He looked at her face. She was young, not like the last one who could have been his mother's age. He rubbed his face, trying to get that rotten feeling out of his skull. His mouth tasted like gin and cigarettes. The girl next to him rolled over on her back, opened her mouth and began to snore.

He got up quietly. He looked around for his trousers and stepped on an empty gin bottle that clanged loudly as he kicked it out of the way. He looked around for his wand, too, but realized he didn't have one. He was no longer in the magical world.

He stood in the middle of the flat stark naked. He needed to find his trousers and the rest of his clothes before the girl woke up and started to ask questions. He moved a stack of pillows and found one of his boots and his shorts. He pulled on his underwear and went over the flat looking for the boot's mate.

"Fuck!" he said under his breath. "Where're my fucking clothes?"

The girl stirred. She blinked a couple of times and sat up in the bed. She ran her fingers through her hair and smiled timidly at him.

"Hi," she said shyly. She pulled the covers up over her breasts.

"Hi," he answered. He smiled at her. "I didn't mean to wake you up. I was looking for my clothes."

"Oh!" She looked around, and smiled. "I think we started down stairs," she said, staring to get up.

"It's okay," Ron said. "Don't move." This was the awkward part. He remembered nothing of the night before, but that was no reason to be impolite. He owed her a good morning kiss at the very least. He walked over to the bed and leaned over and kissed her. She threw her arms around him and kissed him back.

"Good morning," she said, clearly eager for something more.

Ron sighed. What the fuck, he thought. He sat down next to her and began kissing her. He threw the blanket off her and lay on top of her, kissing her, deepening the kiss until her response matched his.

"Condom," she said breathlessly. It was a statement, not a question. Had he been in his world that would not have been a concern, but he couldn't very well magic a condom out of thin air, could he?

"Sorry, baby," he said thickly and pulled away. "Fresh out."

She looked disappointed and for a second he thought she'd tell him not to worry about it, but she kissed him and pushed him away. "Shit," she said and sighed heavily. "Too bad."

She got up and walked into her bathroom while he made it downstairs. There they were, his clothes and the other boot, strung in a path leading up to the staircase. He sat down on the last stair and finished getting dressed.

Once he got his boots on, he looked around the apartment for a clue to what the girl's name was. He would never see her again, but it would be nice to at least know her name. Her purse was sitting on the kitchen table so he pulled out her wallet. Her name was Gillian Morgan. He saw the money stuffed into her wallet and he pulled out a few bills and stuffed them into his trouser pocket. He heard a noise upstairs and quickly put the wallet back into her purse.

He was standing over the sink, looking out the window when she finally came downstairs. She was wearing a short kimono style robe. She was putting her hair up into a knot and had a lit cigarette in her mouth. Ron took the cigarette out from between her lips, kissed her and took a long draw on the cigarette. He inhaled and put he cigarette back between her lips.

"Do you want breakfast?" Gillian asked, grabbing the coffee pot and filling it with water.

"Nah, that's all right. I have to get going anyway. Thanks for last night," he said.

She smiled seductively at him. "My pleasure," she said. Her smile faded. "Will I see you again?" she asked, not certain of the answer.

"Yeah sure," he promised vaguely.

"I wish you had that rubber," she said grinding out her cigarette.

"Me, too," he grinned. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close and kissed her. "Bye," he said, turning her loose.

"Bye," she repeated and watched as he walked out the front door.

He needed to get something to eat and thanks to Gillian's unwitting generosity, he now had money for breakfast and a pack of cigarettes. He stood at the base of Gillian's front stoop trying to decide which way to go. He wasn't familiar with this area of town. Hell, he wasn't familiar with any of the city, but he managed to find his way into night clubs where he was very handy at getting free drinks and picking up girls.

In the right light, Ron looked enough like the muggle Prince Harry to get the attention and girls he needed. Never mind that his hair was much redder and he had a lot more freckles than the good prince, but what did it matter, anyway?

He walked into a convenience store and bought a container of orange juice and a pack of cigarettes and paid with the £10 note. He drank the orange juice out of the container and it left a nasty taste in his mouth. He needed a toothbrush. He opened the pack of cigarettes and looked in his pocket for a match. He found the matchbook and inside the cover, there was a name and number written on it. He looked at the girlish scrawl, but didn't recognize the name or the number. He turned the matchbook over and looked at the logo on the front. He had picked the matchbook up from a nightclub somewhere. The name on the matchbook was The Magic Club. He laughed. How ironic.

He had walked away from his parents' house after a loud argument with his father and brother Bill. Ronald was screwing up his life and he needed to get focused.

Well, that was exactly what he was doing now. He walked away from his family, his friends and the wizarding world. His best friends Harry and Hermione tried to talk some sense into him, but he ignored them. Fuck them all, he told them. The last sound he heard from the Burrow was his mother crying.

That was two years ago and he hadn't heard a word from his family since. He disappeared into the non-magical community and he spent the first year and a half drunk. He was totally unprepared for life without magic, but he started to adapt. He knew where to get free meals and if he stayed clean, he could pick up women who were always willing to give him a place to live until he fucked that up.

He was "finding" himself. But it wasn't working out very well. He was worse off than before but he thought it was too late for him to go home again. He'd burnt too many bridges.

Ronald went past a newsstand and bought a paper. He knew there was a section in the paper that advertised jobs. He couldn't do too much, but he was strong. He seemed to be hungry all the time and thought about working in a restaurant. He'd seen enough servers to figure out that he could wait tables. He possessed the famous Weasley charm, and he reckoned he'd be able to make enough money to live and maybe they'd even feed him. Besides if he worked at the right restaurants, the high end ones, he could meet wealthy older women who seemed to love to give him money.

Ron circled a bunch of restaurants he knew that were upscale. He was good looking and young, he shouldn't have any problem getting the job he wanted.

And it wasn't. He got a job offer to start that evening at the first restaurant he went to. They even supplied the uniforms. The problem was he didn't have any papers to prove he was legal. He spoke with the right accent, but still he had to prove he was legal to work. He promised to show the owners his papers as soon as possible. Maybe they'd forget about it, once he proved himself to be invaluable.

He counted his money and figured out he had enough to get a room for the day. He needed a shower and a place to change clothes. He wasn't going to be homeless any longer. Maybe his life was turning around. This was the first time in two years when he wanted to do something other than drink and fuck.

Having found a room close to the restaurant, he took a good hard look at himself in the mirror. He still had the same haircut since he was 11 years old. A kind of bowler cut. He took some hair crème that he'd bought along with a hair brush and a new toothbrush, and smoothed his hair back. He looked more mature and he liked it. Now he looked like a grown-up. What would Hermione think of him now?

Fuck, he thought. Why did he think about her? After all this time. He was sure she'd probably gotten married by now. He left her without any hope of returning and she must have gone on with her life. Maybe she'd married Harry. He felt a strange twinge. Not Harry, he thought. Maybe that asshole Viktor Krum she was so hot after.

"My life's a fucking mess!" he yelled at his image in the mirror. He expected his reflection to agree with him, but his image just taunted him.

He had to be at the restaurant by four-thirty. He had plenty of time, but he wanted to get there early to impress the owners. He laid out his new uniform carefully. He'd need a new pair of shoes which he couldn't afford until he got paid. For tonight he'd wear his black trainers. He knew that muggles never looked at people's shoes.

He got to the restaurant with a few minutes to spare. The chefs were going over the menu for the night. He got to sample the entrees, so he'd know what to recommend. The other server staff seemed very nice. He became friendly with them right away. They didn't know he was a loser or ran away from his perfect life. The girls liked him and men were willing to give him a chance. He found out where the hide out was where they could grab a quick smoke. One of the girls, Melanie was his trainer. She told him that they would share tips. She helped him understand the menu and what to push.

"Always push the appetizers and the desserts," Melanie said. "We get paid bonuses for the appetizers and desserts we sell. You look like you could sell the women anything."

Ronald blushed a little. It felt good hearing nice things about him. There was one person in the universe didn't think he was a loser.

They sat in the break room waiting for the dining room to open. Melanie gave him some more hints. Keep the water glasses filled and the alcohol flowing. Smile a lot. Don't interrupt conversations. Be humble. Kiss ass.

Ron laughed.

"That's it," Melanie said, flicking the ash off her cigarette. "Smile just like that. They'll love you."

She reached out and touched the hair that grew in a small patch under his bottom lip. "Women like that, too," she said. "It's sexy. A soul patch. It makes you want to kiss it."

Ron laughed again. He scraped his top teeth over the spot. "Be my guest."

Melanie gave him a strange look. Then she smiled and shook her head. "You're not my type." She said.

"How do you know I'm not your type?" he asked in a playful tone.

"You don't have a vagina." She said. She crushed out her cigarette and looked at her watch. "It's time." He stood up next to her and she smoothed down his jacket.

Dinner service was hectic, but Ron proved to be an excellent server. He took Melanie's advice to heart and he turned on the charm, especially with the older women. They thought he was so cute. He managed to sell more desserts than anyone and he was given a bonus at the end of the shift, which he had to split with Melanie.

Service was just about over when Melanie and a few of the others asked if he wanted to go out with them to a nearby club with them when the restaurant closed. He agreed to go and was looking forward to a few drinks with his new friends.

The last of the customers were starting to leave and Melanie told him to go to another section and help clear the tables. He started to the section when he looked up and saw someone he knew from his other life. It was Cho Chang. She was with a muggle Ronald didn't know. He stared at her without her looking at him. Then she looked up to say something to her friend when she spotted him. She smiled her shy smile at him. He just looked at her, staring. His body felt like it was on fire. It wasn't that he was sexually attracted to her, he never understood what Harry saw in her; it was that she was the first magical person he had recognized in almost three years. He couldn't describe the feeling in his belly. This was someone from his world. Everything came rushing back to him. He was a wizard. He couldn't escape that part of his life.

All of a sudden felt a deep ache in his heart. He couldn't understand and he sure as hell couldn't explain it. Suddenly, he reached into his pocket and got out the matchbook. The Magic Club. He had to go there. The person who gave him the matchbook with the name and number was there. They could tell him everything he needed to know.