Seven Years Lost

Did time stand still? He asked himself as he looked at the house. It was like walking into on old memory. The burrow remained just as it always was, albeit a little less chickens about, but the same.



“You lived here?” Sergei asked.



“Yes I did.” He laughed. “Come on let’s go.”



With son in hand, Ron knocked on the door. The perspiration began as he heard footsteps approach and his heart jumped when the door opened.



His father had aged only slightly over the years. A few more wrinkles and a little more grey were the only tell tale signs. “Ronald?” His face when from shock to elation. Ron nodded and Arthur Weasley immediately engulfed his youngest son in a hug.



“You’re home Ron.” Ron hugged his father as he felt the older man’s body tremble. Ron had to fight his own emotions back as his father held his shoulders at arms length, letting a few tears fall.



“Welcome him son.” He said with his trademark grin.



“Thanks dad.” He looked to his side. “Sergei this is my father. Father this is my son Sergei.” Arthur’s smile broadened and he knelt down.



“That makes me your grandfather then doesn’t it?” Sergei looked into this man’s face and all he could do was nod. To be readily accepted by this man as family was a hope of his, and he didn’t know what to see.



“Arthur, who is it?” Ron looked up in time to see his mother coming from the kitchen. She looked at the door and froze but Ron knew it was only momentary.



“Hello mum.” She dropped his dish towel and ran to him, with her arms open. She let her tears fall with loud sobs as she hugged him. His mother was never one to hold things back.



“You’re home now Ron right?” She said with her overflowing tears.



“I’m in England now for good mum,” he said, “me and my son.” Molly’s eyes drifted down to the boy.



“Your son?” He nodded. He saw Sergei was a little frightened of what she would say, but he was soon assured when Molly hugged him as well. “Come in both of you.”



They were ushered inside and Ron looked about his around his former home while his mother asked Sergei as many questions as he asked her. It was still the same, just neater with the clothes and mess a house full of kids normally has now gone. “You can have your old room, Ron, Sergei can have the twins room.”



“We’ll be staying at the Three Broomsticks while we’re house hunting.” Ron told her.



“Nonsense,” Ron rolled his eyes a little, “you haven’t been home for years Ron, this is…….” She spoke in her normal excitement, but a hand on her shoulder from her husband stopped her. He had seen Ron’s eyes. It was the same frustration he had seen when Ron was almost finished with Hogwarts.



His mother was always quick with commands regarding her family but when it came to her youngest son she just couldn’t seem to let go. However, Ron was a man now, and a father. It was time Molly saw him as such or they would lose him for another seven years. It was a chance Arthur wasn’t willing to take no matter how Molly felt.



“If you want to stay at the inn that‘s your decision, but just know that we would love it if you and Sergei stayed here while you look for a house. We have plenty of room after all.” Ron respected his father more now then any other time just for understanding that he didn’t want to deal with an overbearing mother anymore. With the knowledge that he had the support of his father, dealing with his mother might be tolerable, but he still had to make him position known.



“Alright then, we’ll stay here. It won’t be for long though, just until we find the right house.” Molly’s face brightened immediately.



While Ron led Sergei upstairs Arthur sent a series of letters through the floo. “This was my room.” He told his son. Pulling out his wand while his son looked out the window. He had some of their luggage shrunk down in his rucksack, the rest was safely shrunk down in a storage space until they had a home to sent it to.



Sergei had been unpacking his trunk when he came running into Ron’s room with his face frozen in panic. Confusion left him when he heard the sound of feet thundering up the stairs. “Ron…. Ron!!!!!!” To anyone else the voices sounded identical, but Ron could tell Fred from George through a thunderstorm in the middle of the Russian wilderness.



He smiled as his brothers came forward and engulfed him in a twin hug, lifting him off the floor. “The Weasley keeper comes home!” Fred said.



“It’s about time.” George added.



“Yes I know.” Ron said, still smiling as his brothers took seats in his room. One on a chair, the other on his now empty trunk.



“What’s this dad said…..”



“About a son?” Fred filled in with his brother. Ron kept smiling thinking that some things never changed.



“Yes.” He held out a hand and the boy took it. “This is my son Sergei. Sergei these are my brothers Fred and his twin George. They had the room you are using.”



“Hey there, welcome to the family.” George said shaking his hand.



“We have a shop in Diagon Alley, and in Hogsmeade, you can come by anytime you want.” Fred told him.



Sergei gave them a nod, not saying a word. “Sergei why don’t you go get ready for dinner, we have an invitation tonight remember. I don’t think we‘ll have time to change when everyone arrives.” Fred and George watched the boy leave.



“He’s not yours.” George said without question.



“He is now.” Ron said sitting on his bed facing his brothers.



“Where did you find him?” Fred asked.



“At the manor I was working at. Me and his father have worked together since I left. He died and I put in to adopt Sergei.”



“What about the mother?” George asked.



“There isn’t one.” Ron said turning his back and putting away a stack of jeans in a drawer. Fred and George exchanged a look and said nothing. It was obvious that Ron would say no more.



Through the next few hours Ron ended up introducing Sergei to the majority of his family including Harry, who had married his sister.



During a spare moment Harry pulled Ron aside while Sergei got to know Charlie. It was plain to see that Sergei wasn’t Ron’s child but just as he had promised everyone accepted him without a challenge.



“Have you see her?” Harry asked quietly when they were out of everyone’s earshot.



“I will. Draco invited Sergei and me to dinner. She’ll be there. They both will.” Harry nodded. “How do you think he will take me talking to her?” Ron wanted to be prepared for all situations.



“He’ll be glad. He knew he should have refused Hermione until she called it off with you, but he couldn’t resist.” Ron nodded, as a man he knew the weakness of temptation. Especially when it came to Hermione. She was indeed remarkable.



“Well I feel better knowing that the evening should be alright.”



“It will be, trust me.” Harry looked aside to make sure they were still not being heard. “He came to me when he was trying to get Hermione to move in with him. He wanted me to write to you asking if you would talk to her. He thought if she had settled old issues with you, she might be more secure to live with him.”



“Really?” Ron was shocked.



“Yes, before you found the letter when Hermione was trying to figure out how to tell you he wanted to explain himself but Hermione had said that she needed to tell you herself. When he came to me after she confessed, he said he wanted to speak man to man but you had already left by then.”



Ron digested what he had heard. So he had wanted to clear the air for some time did he? This boded well for Ron. He wanted to find closure and if the man Hermione was living with wanted the same thing it would make the life he wanted for Sergei a guarantee.



“Do you know if he still feels the same way?” Ron asked him.



“I don’t see why he wouldn’t.” Harry said.



“Ronald,” Molly nearly pushed Harry into the wall as she spoke, “why don’t you take Sergei out tomorrow, it’s his first night in a new home we should celebrate.”



“I’m sorry mum, but Draco invited us this afternoon and he’s expecting us to be there.”



“But surely he would underst……” Arthur’s hand on her shoulder halted her speech.



“We would love to have a family dinner to welcome Sergei.” He said calmly.



“I know and when we find a home I plan to have a huge party not only to welcome him to the family, but his birthday isn’t to far away.” This placated Molly for the moment and she left. Seeing how Ron responded to his father made it obvious she would not get her way.



Later in the evening as Ron finished dressing Sergei walked in. “Who was the girl you and Harry were talking about?”



“You heard us talking?” Ron asked with a smile.



“I also heard you and that blonde man talking about her too.” He admitted a little ashamed that he had overheard.



“Have a seat here Sergei.” The young man settled the bed with his legs folded under him, mirroring Ron. “Her name is Hermione and she was my girlfriend before you were born. We had been best mates since we were about eleven years old and she was my girlfriend when we were about sixteen or seventeen, and after we left Hogwarts we started out with our jobs. She was a book publisher, and I studied and learned creature care.”



“That’s how you were able to work with father.” Sergei said with a smile.



“Yes it is. A little over seven years ago I got a job offer, and wanted to ask her what she thought about it, so I went to her flat. I found a letter from a man, and when I asked her about it, she admitted that she had dated him as well.”



Sergei’s brow furled. “At the same time?”



“Yes.” Ron said with a sad look. “She loved him but she cared about me since we had been friends for so long and didn’t know how to tell me that she had fallen in love.”



“Why is that so hard to say?” Ron felt envy as the simplicity that Sergei saw things with.



“She thought my feelings would be hurt. She didn’t want me think that she didn’t care about me.” Ron looked closer at Sergei. “I was hurt by the fact that I wasn’t the man she wanted but I was more hurt that she didn’t tell me. I understand now why she didn’t, and I forgave her for that. I just haven’t said anything to her.”



“Why not?” He asked.



“When I learned the truth I ran away. I know it’s a childish thing to do but I just wanted to get away. I took the job offer and came to Russia to work with your father without telling anyone. I only told Harry where I was but I asked him not to tell anyone. He is the only one I spoke to from England for the past seven years. Now that I’m back in England I need to make peace with her.”



“Do you think she wants to talk to you after you ran away?” Sergei asked in childlike curiosity.



“Yes, I think she does. Draco and Harry have told me that she still feels bad about what she did.” Ron told him.



Sergei seemed satisfied with the answers he was given. As he left the room, Ron finished dressing suddenly growing nervous, but since he had Sergei he had learned to control his emotions rather then let them overtake him. He put his nerves under lock and key and left with his son to Malfoy Manor.





Molly watched her son and new grandchild vanish in the night and shook her head. “Molly, come on now.” She turned and saw her husband looking at her from the kitchen entryway.



“It isn’t fair Arthur. He is my son and now I have a grandson and the first night home he goes to friends. They should be here with us. And what’s this about a home right away, He has plenty of time to find a home, he doesn’t have to rush.



“Molly, he’s a father now. He wants to show Sergei a good example of a man. That means providing him with a home of his own. Leave him be Molly. He’s been gone for too long, and I’d like him to have reason to stay now.”



Molly fell silent and just continued drying an already clean goblet.