Chapter Text
The Courtyard
Ron’s Pov [The abandoned Courtyard- around 6 PM, 14th October, 1994]
As Ron Weasley waited for his chess partner, sitting patiently on the benches of the abandoned courtyard of Hogwarts east wing, he reflected on the many changes he had made over the summer and the few weeks since their fourth year had begun.
It all started when Bill surprised Ron on the King’s Cross Station after Ron’s 3rd year had ended.
That night after everyone had had their fill of Molly Weasley’s sumptuous cooking, Bill rounded up an unsuspecting Ron for a heart-to-heart. His eldest brother was very interested in all the shenanigans Ron had been up to since he started Hogwarts and a bit surprised but an eternally grateful Ron, that his oldest brother had shown interest in his life, spilled pretty much everything.
Bill had given him such a patient ear that Ron had been worried that he might start laughing or somehow this Bill would transform into a giant spider as the twins had been able to pull wool over his eyes yet again.
But none of that had happened, instead Bill had raised his right arm and pulled up his sleeve to show a nasty gash that was new but healed. It turned out that Bill had mishandled a cursed object due to his overconfidence. Ron had sat wide-eyed as his older brother rarely admitted to mistakes, at least that is how he remembered things to be, and certainly not to the likes of him.
A visibly confused but elated—to have been let in on a secret—Ron sat in rapt attention as Bill praised him for his bravery and then chided him for his lack of preparation.
After another tiresome school year, a tongue lashing the first day of his return wasn’t something Ron had wanted but somehow the harshness of Bill’s words when contrasted with the events of his past three years seemed justified. Ron truly had been woefully unprepared to take on the challenges that he so willingly threw himself head-on into.
The evening had ended with Bill’s promise to help Ron sort out his priorities and help train him for the next 2 weeks while he was still on compulsory leave.
As Ron had bid goodnight to Bill before starting for his own attic bedroom, his curiosity won over the overwhelming feeling of gratitude that had had him in a daze all evening and Ron had asked his older brother the reason behind such generosity and the sudden interest. Bill simply said that a close friend of his, who would jump in to face dangers for others without a second thought was severely injured that night Bill got his injury. This reminded Bill of Ron and he vowed that he would do everything to ensure that his smart, brave, compassionate and somewhat messy eater brother would be prepared for all that life threw at him.
Ron hadn’t hugged anyone so hard as he’d hugged Bill that night.
He had climbed the remainder of the stairs to the attic like a strutting peacock, the memory still brought joy to Ron.
Bill had woken Ron up at the crack of dawn and the two had spent a good part of the whole morning and a small part of the afternoon planning on the focus areas for the youngest Weasley brother.
It was decided that Ron would drop Divination and take up Ancient Runes, Bill gave him the relevant books and his old notes. Percy had also been overjoyed to see the beginnings of a transformation in Ron and had leant him all his notes. A quick look at them made Ron believe that Merlin himself must have intervened for him to be bestowed with such treasure.
Even the Potions notes made sense to him. How had he spent 3 years at Hogwarts without once asking for help from his older brothers? He had wondered, till the twins had started mocking Ron for being an aspiring swot but one hard look from Bill had shut them up and Ron hoped Bill would simply take a transfer back to England.
Notes sorted, they had sent letters to Professor McGonagall requesting for a change in his electives and how could Ron ensure a spot in Ancient Runes without having studied it in his 3rd Year? He also wrote a letter to Hermione to ask for her notes on Ancient Runes and to inform her about his pledge to take his studies a lot more seriously.
He wasn’t sure why, but the prospect of Hermione liking his new self was something that filled him with joy and butterflies.
Over the course of the next two weeks, primarily Bill and Percy, whenever he could find time from his new job at the ministry, had helped Ron get a crash course in Ancient Runes as well as Transfiguration, DADA, Charms & Potions.
As it turned out, Ron wasn’t hopeless in the subjects, well except Potions. But even there his understanding had vastly improved.
The twins, who had tried to poke fun at him along with Ginny, eventually got bored as their parents started talking about how the three could be more like Ron anytime they teased him.
Hermione had made copies for not only Ancient Runes but also all the other subjects for the past 3 years. Ron was glad that he had sent Hermes instead of Pig, whom he had sent to Remus, upon Bill’s urging to ask about suggestions on duelling & DADA. For his little owl would have surely not made it back with so much weight.
They had also received a letter from Professor McGonagall letting them know that Ron would receive further instructions from Professor Babbling. He would need to show competence on some assignments as well as a written exam to be given in the 1st week of his return to Hogwarts. If he were to not clear the exam he would be asked to go back to Divination.
Since Ron had no desire to lose face in front of his family, Bill and especially Hermione, he had redoubled his efforts.
The day Bill was to leave for Egypt they had been surprised with a visit from Remus and Sirius.
Ron did not know what Bill spoke about with Remus (the professor had insisted that he be called by his first name) but it resulted in Ron being packed off to Grimmauld Place from 9 am to 6 pm every day.
Ron knew that his parents couldn’t afford a tutor and Remus was categorically opposed to being paid, so Ron would take Molly’s home cooked meals, cakes and other delicacies for Remus and Sirius each day.
What had surprised him the most was that since Sirius’s home belonged to an old, powerful Pureblood family, Ron was able to do magic without triggering the Trace while he was over there.
Harry was a little miffed, that much Ron could glean from his letters, since he was forced to remain with his awful relatives upon Dumbledore’s orders. Ron had repeatedly asked Sirius and Remus to help him fetch Harry but they had to toe Dumbledore’s line despite wanting the same thing as Ron.
At least Ron’s lessons had gone swimmingly. One day, closer to the Quidditch world cup, Remus had declared to a shocked Molly when everyone had gathered for dinner at The Burrow, that Ron was actually a gifted student when he put his mind to it and to top it all Ron was also a natural at duelling.
To help improve Ron’s chances at duelling competitions, both Sirius and Remus had helped convince his parents that with a few more months of preparation, Ron would be able to start competing in the amateur leagues as he had also shown aptitude for wandless magic, which would give a clear advantage at that level.
Ron was particularly excited because it meant that he could stand out from his brothers and also make some extra galleons to help buy a good broom for Quidditch, though he would have to use the school’s broom for his 4th year tryouts.
Bill had been so happy to receive the duelling news from Ron that he had sent him a new wand holder and some rare books on DADA.
Even the twins and Ginny had shown begrudging respect for his newfound competence and Ron had never been happier. A significant part of his joy also came from the regular correspondence with Hermione as they discussed all manner of magical theory and Hermione would send him her notes and observations for next year’s subjects.
His joy of that transformative summer peaked when the trio had all come together for the Quidditch World cup and what he thought was going to be a great day was marred by the Death Eater attack.
This reinforced his decision to work hard to become better at duelling and magic in general. He finally understood that being powerful was the only way to help the ones he loved.
They had finally reached Hogwarts and the news of the Triwizard tournament and Harry’s inclusion had taken him by surprise but the Chess and Duelling tournaments, with top prizes of 500 Galleons each, that were to be held along with the main tournament, gave Ron so much to focus on along with his studies that he had felt positively overwhelmed and that had prompted him to ask a visibly giddy Hermione to help him with his schedule.
As Ron had cleared his Ancient Runes examinations with a strong Exceeds Expectations, he had one more class with Hermione which made him feel good though it felt bad to leave Harry behind in Divination. Ron had started to realise that he enjoyed spending time with Hermione and perhaps in a way that was different, much different to how he liked spending time with Harry.
He thought that given how Hermione responded she too liked spending time with him and the way she had hugged him and then kissed his cheek when he had given her Sugar Quills and a nice Silver Quill for her birthday had buoyed Ron’s spirits and had given him courage to ask her out to the end of year Yule Ball.
He remembered how excited he was when he told Harry what he was going to do and his spirits had only soared when an encouraging Harry had sent him to the library to ask Hermione to the Yule Ball.
Only to be dashed to see an excited Viktor—fucking—Krum give Hermione a hug, promising her that she would not regret going to the Ball with him. Ron had caught Hermione’s eye and for a second, he thought that she looked conflicted but that was perhaps only because Ron had almost barged in on her happy moment.
Ron had simply turned on his feet and dashed. He had run into Harry and told him what had happened, in no mood to sit around and hear words of sympathy Ron had run off to the deserted part of the castle. And had set up his chess board in the abandoned courtyard to prepare for the first round of matches.
Since that day he had divided his time between classes, helping Harry, along with Hermione, with the clue of the first task, fighting off Slytherins who would spread those Potter Stinks badges and practicing chess and duelling in the abandoned courtyard. Sometimes Harry would join him to practice duelling or to play a game of chess. A couple of times he had brought Neville with him too.
Hermione had tried to talk to him and he had initially wanted to brush her off but he thought that Krum—an international Quidditch star, rich, older and famous was an obviously better pick so who was he to lay a claim on Hermione? After all, she did choose someone superior. It did not hurt any less but he had been learning to channel his energy better during his solitary stints in the courtyard.
All this was turned on its head when Daphne—Slytherin Ice Queen—Greengrass had shown up in the courtyard with her own chess set a week or so ago.
Initially Ron had been greatly perturbed by the intrusion but slowly and steadily they had both realised that the first round of chess tournament was in the 1st week of November and it would not hurt to practice with another player.
She wasn’t as good as Ron but was a better challenge than anyone else; it also helped that she had access to various popular and unique chess books and was not averse to sharing. In fact, she was downright pleasant if Ron were to be honest with himself.
That one of the prettiest girls in their year and a Slytherin at that was spending time with Ron was a secret that wasn’t going to be kept under the wraps for long and it eventually came out with the twins making fun of him in the Gryffindor common room, even Ginny had given him a hard time.
Harry had been a bit surprised but pleased and Hermione didn’t seem too happy but she was going out—how Ron hated to think about that—with Harry’s competitor so Ron wasn’t too inclined to give much weight to what her opinion on the matter may or may not have been.
Other than the mess that was his personal life, things had been going well for Ron. He was in regular correspondence with Remus and Bill who had been helping him with new spells and techniques for his duelling preparation.
Ron had been surprising his professors with his performance. He could tell that Professor McGonagall had a new, proud glint in her eyes whenever Ron raised his hand to answer a question. Snape was annoying as always but at least Ron was doing better in his classes.
He could also tell that Hermione was happy with this change but what was the point in dwelling on that. His only job was to present a happy face to her and not let her know whether he was disappointed or not. Both as a means of not appearing weak and also sparing her his feelings, after all it was not her fault that she had chosen the better man.
He was broken from his thoughts by a familiar sarcastic voice that had started giving him some joy over the past week and a half.
“Pray tell me why are we sulking today?” She asked in a sing-song voice that inadvertently made Ron break into a smile.