Categories > Books > Harry Potter > With the Last of This Day's Sun
/Convalescence/
City of Sores
Give me your tired and your wicked
Give me your dollar whores
Down on the Boulevard, children are sold to
Pave the way
For your streets of gold
Further down the river, far from the beautiful architecture and pleasant scenery of the bourgeoisie, there is a place where the façade drops away. Where the rotten core of the town is revealed.
He arrives early in the morning, some time before he is set to meet with Hermione, and spends the time wondering among the people in the market square. Some have come to buy perishable items, vegetables and fruits, sprigs of parsley and rosemary. Others have come for the human wares.
Ron passes by the center of the square where a permanent dais sits displaying muggle born wizards and witches. They are young, early teens most of them, some slightly older, some younger. And they can be bought for the right price...for any purpose.
He turns his face as he passes, unable to meet the gaze of a small pale girl with red hair.
He can do nothing for them. They are not what he is here for. Not today.
There is a small side street that offers a fair view of the square's center and he slips into it, grateful for the coolness of its shade. He kneels by a riotous mass of snowdrops that have begun to climb along the alley wall. His eyes close and he breathes in the fresh scent of them, the heavy mud smell of the river.
A glint of gold catches his eye when he opens them again, and he pushes back several bulbs to reveal a small plaque, bearing the inscription:
/Will your loving kindness be declared by your grave or your faithfulness by destruction?/
He frowns down at the plaque, turns away when he hears his name whispered.
She stands behind him, a dark cloak about her shoulders, hood pushing her curls around her face, framing her paleness.
"Mione..." He grasps her hand as she gives a small smile.
"Let's walk."
They walk with the river, the sun, the wind, and the market at their backs.
"You're part of the resistance corps?"
She nods.
"How did you know I would be there?"
"I didn't...but I had counted on someone from your group to come examine the area fairly soon...and then I saw you, and..."
"Dobby's a part of the group, I take it."
Her face lights in a smile. "He's helped with quite a lot." A pause, and she takes a breath. "Ron, there's something-"
He's taken up her hand again without truly realizing it, her left, where a ring sparkles on the third finger. He stares at the stone for a moment, watching the light skitter through the cut emeralds.
"That last Christmas, wasn't it? When you didn't come to the burrow with me and-Harry..."
She blinks and barely nods.
He runs his thumb across the ring then meets her eyes with a small smile. "Whatever gives you happiness, Mione."
She smiles and squeezes his hand before her face turns somber once more. "There's something you have to know, Ron. Harry-he's alive."
It feels like someone has just wiped down his face with an ice-cold cloth, but before he can utter even a single question she is speaking again.
"Lucius Malfoy has him...it seems-he has from the beginning."
"Goddamn, I knew it." He kicks a clod of lose soil into the water. "And that idiot Fudge...Malfoy's lapdog from the start." He turns back to her. "How did you find out? Was it Harry-did he contact you?"
She shakes her head. "Dobby...worked for the family for years, he knows the homes inside and out-and..." Here she seems to choke. "Ron...what he saw..." She shakes her head, sending a single pearlescent tear falling to the ground.
"We're not leaving him."
Again she shakes her head. "No. We have arrangements to meet with others across the towns, and...if you will all commit?" He nods. "We know where there main residence is...and we know that," she lowers her voice until it's a bare whisper, "Voldemort is often seen there, as well."
"Good." His eyes narrow. "Two snakes with one stone."
City of Sores
Give me your tired and your wicked
Give me your dollar whores
Down on the Boulevard, children are sold to
Pave the way
For your streets of gold
Further down the river, far from the beautiful architecture and pleasant scenery of the bourgeoisie, there is a place where the façade drops away. Where the rotten core of the town is revealed.
He arrives early in the morning, some time before he is set to meet with Hermione, and spends the time wondering among the people in the market square. Some have come to buy perishable items, vegetables and fruits, sprigs of parsley and rosemary. Others have come for the human wares.
Ron passes by the center of the square where a permanent dais sits displaying muggle born wizards and witches. They are young, early teens most of them, some slightly older, some younger. And they can be bought for the right price...for any purpose.
He turns his face as he passes, unable to meet the gaze of a small pale girl with red hair.
He can do nothing for them. They are not what he is here for. Not today.
There is a small side street that offers a fair view of the square's center and he slips into it, grateful for the coolness of its shade. He kneels by a riotous mass of snowdrops that have begun to climb along the alley wall. His eyes close and he breathes in the fresh scent of them, the heavy mud smell of the river.
A glint of gold catches his eye when he opens them again, and he pushes back several bulbs to reveal a small plaque, bearing the inscription:
/Will your loving kindness be declared by your grave or your faithfulness by destruction?/
He frowns down at the plaque, turns away when he hears his name whispered.
She stands behind him, a dark cloak about her shoulders, hood pushing her curls around her face, framing her paleness.
"Mione..." He grasps her hand as she gives a small smile.
"Let's walk."
They walk with the river, the sun, the wind, and the market at their backs.
"You're part of the resistance corps?"
She nods.
"How did you know I would be there?"
"I didn't...but I had counted on someone from your group to come examine the area fairly soon...and then I saw you, and..."
"Dobby's a part of the group, I take it."
Her face lights in a smile. "He's helped with quite a lot." A pause, and she takes a breath. "Ron, there's something-"
He's taken up her hand again without truly realizing it, her left, where a ring sparkles on the third finger. He stares at the stone for a moment, watching the light skitter through the cut emeralds.
"That last Christmas, wasn't it? When you didn't come to the burrow with me and-Harry..."
She blinks and barely nods.
He runs his thumb across the ring then meets her eyes with a small smile. "Whatever gives you happiness, Mione."
She smiles and squeezes his hand before her face turns somber once more. "There's something you have to know, Ron. Harry-he's alive."
It feels like someone has just wiped down his face with an ice-cold cloth, but before he can utter even a single question she is speaking again.
"Lucius Malfoy has him...it seems-he has from the beginning."
"Goddamn, I knew it." He kicks a clod of lose soil into the water. "And that idiot Fudge...Malfoy's lapdog from the start." He turns back to her. "How did you find out? Was it Harry-did he contact you?"
She shakes her head. "Dobby...worked for the family for years, he knows the homes inside and out-and..." Here she seems to choke. "Ron...what he saw..." She shakes her head, sending a single pearlescent tear falling to the ground.
"We're not leaving him."
Again she shakes her head. "No. We have arrangements to meet with others across the towns, and...if you will all commit?" He nods. "We know where there main residence is...and we know that," she lowers her voice until it's a bare whisper, "Voldemort is often seen there, as well."
"Good." His eyes narrow. "Two snakes with one stone."
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