Eve of Armageddon

Ronald Weasley, Ernie MacMillan, and Padma Patil all stood in the corridor outside the Headmaster\'s office. Each was a prefect, and Ron was Head Boy. The Head Girl, Hermione Granger, was nowhere to be seen, but she was not needed for this simple diplomatic task. Still, Ron sincerely wished that he was able to see her tonight, even though she was always so preoccupied with the man she was seeing, whomever he was.

The time passed slowly as they waited for the guests of Hogwarts to descend from Dumbledore\'s private keep.

Finally, the staircase began to revolve and the meeting let out. Professor Snape, the only Slytherin, save for Malfoy\'s mother, to still be at the school, exited first. He nodded stiffly at the prefects and walked toward the stairs that led down towards the dungeons.

Bill and Charlie Weasley came out next. They were very serious as they passed the seventh year students, but Bill gave a quick wink to Ron before the pair mounted their brooms and flew out the nearest window. Charlie\'s dragons could be heard flying overhead, guarding the school as a first wave of defense against the Death Eaters.

Next came Mad Eye Moody, a former Gryffindor, but he shook his head negatively when Ron rose to greet him. \"No thanks, Ron. I\'ll be roomin\' with Hagrid. At least in his cabin I can see trouble comin\'.\" He walked to the end of the hall, turned his head back and forth suspiciously, and then opted to come back and leave the other way.

Next came Ron\'s Mum and Dad. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley walked up to their son and hugged him. \"We\'ll see you at home when this is all over dear,\" Molly assured him. \"Just remember that we love you, no matter what happens.\" And with that, they left down the stairs to go home. Former Gryffindors as they were, Ron already knew that none of his family would be staying save for Ginny, who was already in bed.

Fred and George came out next. They were all smiles as they passed. They each handed Ron a toffee as they departed, but he wasn\'t fool enough to eat them.

Finally, out came a large group of people that Ron recognized from the Order. Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Emmeline Vance walked over to Padma, who would show them to their guest quarters in the Ravenclaw dormitories. Dedalus Diggle and Elphias Doge followed Ernie to their Hufflepuff guest rooms, and Nymphadora Tonks walked over to Ron. \"Awright there, Ron?\"

\"Yes. Hello, Tonks.\"

\"How\'ve you been?\" she asked as they started to walk to the Gryffindor tower.

\"Fine.\" She smiled a little. He didn\'t sound fine.

\"Mmm. Well, I\'m glad to hear that.\"

They walked on in silence until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

\"Password, please,\" she prompted them.

\"Dumbledore\'s Army,\" Ron stated in a clear voice. The painting swung open to reveal the common room. Tonks followed Ron inside, giggling hysterically.

\"Capital password! Just capital!\"

\"Glad you approve,\" Ron muttered disinterestedly.

\"Oh sure. You sound it,\" she answered sarcastically, the corner of her mouth turned up in an amused smirk.

Ron looked over at her and sighed. \"I\'m sorry, Tonks. I\'m not much of a host tonight, I s\'ppose. I\'ve just got a lot on my mind.\"

She nodded. \"Yes. I think we all do at that. But if you wish to talk to someone about what\'s bothering you, I\'d be happy to listen.\" She went over to one of the plush armchairs near the fireplace. \"Come. Sit.\" She patted the chair near hers. \"Tell me your troubles, young Weasley. Perhaps I may be able to help.\"

\"No, thanks.\"

Tonks smiled. \"Ron, you know, I once heard a Muggle expression that went, \'tomorrow isn\'t promised to any of us\'. No one understands that fact better than an Auror. Perhaps I can give you some insight into your problem while we still have a tomorrow to look forward to. Please, Ron. I really do just want to help. I don\'t want to pry, truly I don\'t. But we all need our minds to be clear in the morning. A troubling preoccupation for any of us could make that Muggle expression a reality.\"

Ron stared into the fire, deciding what he should do. Finally, he shrugged and went over to plop down in the proffered chair. He sighed heavily, and then addressed her solemnly.

\"Tonks, did you ever love someone, not act on it, and then live in regret of losing them for the rest of your days?\"

She blinked in puzzlement then thought of her own preoccupation with the very handsome oldest Weasley brother. Bill had never given her the time of day though. She was too much of a tomboy, and he was into more \'prissy witches\', as Tonks called them.

\"Perhaps . . .\" she answered noncommittally. \"So, who\'s the lucky girl then?\"

He blushed. \"Well, I can\'t tell you for the sake of allowing her privacy, but I can say that I am most definitely not lucky. Quite the reverse, actually.\" Tonks just sat and listened as Ron explained to her that he\'d always loved Hermione and that he\'d probably die the next day without ever having been with her. \"And then I confronted her about him, and she said she\'d gotten tired of waiting for me to make up my mind that I wanted her, so she was now with someone else. She wouldn\'t tell me who.\"

\"And does Hermione know how you feel?\"

Ron\'s eyes widened. \"Who said anything about Hermione?\"

She chuckled. \"You didn\'t have to. I have eyes.\"

He sighed in defeat. \"Okay. You\'re right. But you can\'t tell her . . . ever!\"

She raised her wand in salute. \"You have my word as an Auror that this conversation shall never leave this room.\"

He smiled in amusement. \"Thanks.\"

Tonks looked Ron up and down. He was tall and handsome just like Bill. She was struck with a very interesting, if not rather naughty idea. She flushed a bit at the thought, but decided to brooch the subject with him anyway.

\"Ron, I have an idea, and I just want to raise the issue with you, but please don\'t take offense, because it\'s only a suggestion.\"

\"All right,\" he answered uncertainly.

\"Is it the relationship with Hermione that you will regret losing, or is it mostly the sex?\"

His eyes became nearly as wide as Dobby\'s at her candid question, but he thought carefully as to answer her truthfully. He thought about all the time he, Harry and Hermione had spent together over the years, as well as the closeness that each had with the other two. There was such purity in their friendship. If anything happened to him or Harry or Hermione, he would not feel regret as their friend. They\'d had the best friendship they could, and he couldn\'t love either of them more for that reason.

\"Well, I guess we already have a great relationship. I\'ve even kissed her before, but we never once were intimate. Not even just sleeping in the same bed. It feels like that part of my relationship with her is missing.\"

\"I see. Well, I have a rather radical notion of how we could help each other out. First, I\'d like to tell you that I wasn\'t quite honest enough with you earlier when you asked if I\'d loved someone who I could never have. I have. And you can\'t laugh when I tell you who it is.\"

\"I won\'t. You didn\'t laugh at me.\"

\"Okay. Well, it\'s your older brother.\"

Ron\'s face scrunched up in disgust. \"Not Percy?!?\"

\"That little git? Oh heavens, no!\" She realized that she\'d just insulted his family member. \"Uh, sorry. Didn\'t mean to cast aspersions.\"

\"S\'okay. I think everyone but Mum feels the same these days.\"

Tonks nodded and smiled sadly. This was no time for families to hold bad feelings. They should have been banding together. Who knew if they\'d ever have another chance? \"In any case, I meant no disrespect.\"

Ron waved a dismissive hand. \"I know. So if you didn\'t mean him, then who?\"

\"Well, Bill.\"

Ron\'s jaw dropped. That was a big surprise. Tonks and the types of witches Bill usually dated were like night and day. \"I see,\" he said. He didn\'t know what else to say!

\"Well, I take it from the look on your face that you fully understand my dilemma. I\'m not exactly Bill\'s bottle of butterbeer.\"

Ron jerked his mouth shut. \"I . . . I mean I didn\'t . . .\"

\"Oh, it\'s all right, Ron! I resigned myself to the fact that I\'d never be with Bill ages ago, but that doesn\'t mean that I don\'t feel a tinge of hurt over it every now and again.\"

\"I wish there was something I could do to help you.\"

\"Oh but there is!\"

\"Really? What?\"

\"Well, I don\'t know if you\'ve noticed, but you\'ve rather turned out to be the near spitting image of your brother.\"

Ron gave her a suspicious look. \"And?\"

\"And, I think you\'re very handsome. I wouldn\'t ordinarily look at a man so much younger than me, but you really have filled out nicely.\"

Ron could see where this was going and rose to leave. \"Good night, Tonks.\"

\"No, wait! As I said, it\'s only a suggestion, and I mean no offense.\"

Ron stopped where he was standing and came back over to hover above her. \"You know, I didn\'t say I was just generally horny. I said I wanted to be with Hermione. I don\'t think you\'re unattractive, Tonks. In fact, you\'ve got a very pretty face and you\'re wicked cool for being a Metamorphmagus, even if you weren\'t an Auror, but my longing isn\'t for sex. It\'s for love.\"

\"I understand that, Ron. It\'s love I want, too. And in my own way, I do love your brother. Oh, it may just be longing for what I can\'t have, but I will never really know that unless I can be with Bill.\"

\"Or someone who looks a lot like him?\" Ron asked testily.

\"Yes. That could work too. In fact, it might even be a better test. If sleeping with you could satisfy me, then it was never Bill the person, but Bill the handsome wizard, that I was infatuated with.\"

\"Well that\'s all well and good for you, but what about me? How the bloody hell is sleeping with you going to help me deal with my regrets about never being with Hermione?\"

Tonks chuckled a bit then rose to her feet. She screwed up her face as if concentrating really hard and changed form. Ron watched in awe as Nymphadora Tonks changed before his eyes into Hermione Granger. He was so shocked at the transformation that it almost didn\'t register at first when she stepped over to him and kissed him gently.

\"Is this to your liking?\" she asked, still in her own voice.

He nodded numbly. He reached out a tentative hand and lightly stroked her face, as if to test to see if she was real. \"Hermione,\" he muttered.

\"No. But a very decent facsimile. So what do you say, Ron? Do we help each other out or not?\"

He continued to stare at her in reverent amazement. Finally, he grasped her around the waist and pulled her to him. He bent and kissed her hungrily, plumbing her mouth mercilessly with his tongue. When he pulled away, she was breathless.

\"I\'ll . . . take that . . . as a \'yes\',\" she panted. \"But if we\'re really going to do this, we need to be discreet.\" She rapped herself on the head with her wand and seemed to disappear before Ron\'s eyes. She had cast a Disillusionment charm on herself. \"Mad-Eye taught me that one. I thought it was a brilliant spell when I saw him cast it on Harry a couple years back. Well, let\'s be off then.\" As she walked, she picked up the coloring of everything around her, no matter where she moved, just like a chameleon.

It was dark in Gryffindor tower, so as they ascended the stairs to the boys\' dormitory and walked through the rooms without anyone being aware that Ron was not alone. They came to the private bedroom that the house-elves had prepared for Mad-Eye. As the former Auror was known for his paranoia, his room was far removed from any others that might have been occupied. This would provide them with a safe haven where they would be unlikely to be heard.

Once they were alone inside, she removed the Disillusionment charm and tucked her wand into her robes. Ron immediately pulled “Hermione” to him again. He stroked his fingers over her bushy hair, chuckling to himself at the difference of length and texture from Tonks\'s own. \"Quite impressive. Except the voice.\"

\"Yes. You don\'t exactly sound like Bill, either.\"

He smirked. \"Naw. Guess I don\'t. So I guess, we should do this . . . quietly?\"

She smiled and caressed his cheek. \"I think that would be best.\"

Ron tilted her head up to receive another smoldering kiss, his tongue darting in and out of her mouth, tasting and teasing her simultaneously. She sighed and tangled her fingers in his hair. He was certainly talented to be so young and inexperienced. Perhaps this would be just what the healer ordered.

She pulled her wand from her robes, but Ron grabbed her hand and covered her mouth before she could speak. He was fully into his fantasy now, and her speaking a spell to undress them would only ruin it. Besides, it was more fun to do it by hand.

He removed first his robe then hers, tossing them on the floor. He walked her backwards toward the bed and pulled her down onto the bed on top of him. She straddled her legs on either side of him and he slid his hand down to her rear. He pressed her small body against him as he raised his pelvis up to increase their stimulation. She whispered a soft moan against his mouth and broke the kiss to sit up and remove his shirt. The two and a half years he spent as Quidditch keeper had given Ron excellent muscle tone. She spread her fingers out across his chest and slid them over his skin. She delighted in the feel of his pecs clenching under her hands. She kissed her way across his chest, stopping to lick each nipple until it was a tight little nub.

Ron sat up and gently pushed her down to lie on her back. He stripped her of her clothing until she was gloriously naked. He wondered briefly if this was the shape of Hermione\'s body or if it was all Tonks, but it didn\'t matter either way. She was beautiful, whomever she was.

He stretched out beside her and wasted no time with pleasantries, charting a course directly for her breasts. He cupped the soft mounds in his hands, as if testing their weight. He bent to kiss her on the lips again, and then took one dark pink areola into his mouth. She gasped and closed her eyes. She was careful not to be too vocal.

He toyed with her other breast, stoking and pinching the nipple until it was aching, while he sucked gently on the other. He then switched his mouth and hand, so that he could give them both equal attention. She writhed beneath him, running her fingers through his hair, thrusting her hips up in the hopes that he would lay on top of her.

He was fascinated with her breasts, and he almost didn\'t want to leave them be. He circled each nipple with his tongue, then grasped a handful of each breast, forcing them together and then flicked his tongue lightly on the very tip of each. The snakelike action sent hnto nto a fit of high pitched gasping. He then blew gently on her wet skin. The cool air made her nipples ache even more with her need, and her juices flowed out from her valley. She finally got her hand down between them and she gave the bulge in his pants a firm squeeze.

He groaned and moved up to kiss her. They kissed madly, trying to devour each other. She loosened his pants completely and slipped her hand inside. She gently lifted his erect manhood out from his fly. She pumped her hand up and down along his length as he twitched and pulsed in her grasp.

He put his hands between her legs and slowan han his fingertips along her silky, moistened flesh. She took his hand and guided him to the places that felt best. He followed her lead and was soon stroking her clit like a seasoned pro. He then lowered himself to flick his tongue on the hardened little nub. He moved his own pelvis up to where she could return the favor. \"Hermione\" took him into moutmouth to give him just a few gentle moments of oral pleasure. She didn\'t want to bring him too close to the edge.

She finally just stroked him with her hand, which glided along him more easily since he was now so well lubricated. She moved her hand faster and slightly increased her grip on him, until he stopped to extricate himself from her hand. He smiled at her and kissed her hand. She grinned and blushed. She\'d nearly brought him off before they\'d even had a chance to truly join.

He stood and removed his remaining clothes. She smiled appraisingly up at his tall, strapping physique. He settled back down to lie on top of her, his upper body elevated above her as he braced himself on his knuckles. \"Hermione\" took hold of him again, gave a few quick pumps, and then pushed him inside her while lifting her hips to receive him. They both cried out, their voices made husky with desire. \"Hermione\" was no virgin, but she was a little tight. Ron moved very slowly at first, but soon he was thrusting into her with gusto. She gripped his buttocks tightly, forcing him to fuck her harder. The bed creaked and groaned beneath them as they shrieked and moaned in pleasure. She placed a hand at his nape and forced his head down to kiss her. He drove her nearly out of her mind by thrusting his tongue in and out of her mouth in unison with the thrusting of his cock.

He then sat up to change their position a bit. She turned on her side and he sat back on his haunches and pulled her leg straight up to rest against his chest. He then plunged back into her. He held her leg close to his torso while rapidly pumping into her. He watched as her large breasts bounced back and forth with each thrust. It drove him right to the edge. He could feel his climax building, so he reached down and rubbed her clit like a madman. She screamed in ecstasy as he brought her to a violent orgasm that just preceded his own. He spilled his essence inside her, and the throbbing vibrations of his cock brought her to her pinnacle a second time. He withdrew and fell over beside her, gasping for air. When his heart was only slightly thrumming against his ribcage, he propped up on his elbow and looked down at her face.

He ran his fingers along her arm. \"I have a question for you.\"

\"Ask away,\" she replied with a yawn.

\"Is this your body or hers?\"

She smiled. \"Mine. I\'ve never seen hers.\"

He kissed her on the forehead. \"Bill doesn\'t know what he\'s missing.\" She blushed prettily and changed back into herself. She curled up against him and drifted right to sleep. He realized then, seeing her face again in the afterglow, that this had been enough. He knew she wasn\'t really Hermione, but he didn\'t care. A wave of relief washed over him, and he laid down to sleep with a smile.

Two hours later, Tonks awoke and got dressed. She cast the Disillusionment spell on herself again, and walked over to kiss Ron on the cheek. She then left him alone with his dreams, now certain that she truly did love Bill, although if Ron ever wanted to fool around again, she certainly wouldn\'t decline. \'Head Boy,\' she thought with a naughty grin. \'Heh. I\'ll say!\'

She went back the way she and Ron had come, when she noticed that Harry\'s bed was empty. That gave her aea. ea. She scrunched up her face in concentration and changed into Harry Potter. She lifted the Disillusionment charm and walked purposefully back toward the common room. She would become herself again there and go up to bed in the girls\' dormitory. Wherever that bed was! She\'d forgotten to ask Ron. \'Ah, well,\' she thought. \'I\'ll find it in due time.\' Nothing so minor as a lack of a place to sleep could bring her down now!

On her way down the stairs from the dorm, she met the real Harry. He looked at her with wide haunted eyes as she descended the stairs towards him. She changed back into herself and winked at him, then went down the stairs sighing, \"Weasley\".

Harry smiled in bemusement. \"Good for you, Ron,\" he muttered. Still, it was his civic duty as the Head Boy\'s best friend to rib him mercilessly about it.

Ron had awakened to find himself alone, and returned to his room, where Harry was waiting for him. After only ten minutes, he escaped to the common room to get away from his friend\'s teasing.

He curled up as best he could on one of the couches in front of the fire. Before he was even close to being asleep, he heard a soft rapping on the outer door.

Then he heard the Fat Lady complain to the person about the late hour.

Ron opened the door to find probably the last person he\'d expect except Voldemort. Narcissa Malfoy was standing there looking down her nose at Ron. A real feat since he was almost a foot taller than her. She handed him what he instantly recognized as Harry\'s map. He asked her, \"Where did you get this?\"

\"I saw young Potter drop it and I was returning it. I would have been here sooner, but the bloody stairs kept moving so that I couldn\'t get here.\"

Ron was skeptical. She was, after all, Draco\'s mother. Lucius\'s wife. He made no move to take the map. He smelled a rat, and this time it wasn\'t Scabbers.

\"I can see on your face that you don\'t believe me. I\'m telling the truth, but I understand why you mightn\'t believe me.\"

At that moment, Dobby Apparated into the common room and added some logs to the fire. He was humming off key and wearing a lot of socks and hats. Narcissa and he made eye contact, and he immediately stopped working. She smiled uncertainly at him. He stared in shock for a moment then curtly nodded his head a bit and Disapparated.

Narcissa turned to Ron and told him \"Look, just return Potter\'s map before it falls into the wrong hands.\"

Ron said, \"Perhaps it already has,\" to which Narcissa replied that if it already had, Harry would not have gotten it back.

\"I assure you that everything is not always as it seems.\" And then she just turned and walked away as Ron shut the door behind her.

Once she was out of earshot of the Fat Lady, she added quietly to herself, \"Good hunting to you, Harry Potter. Some of us are not so easily freed as with a simple sock.\"

END OF PART 3

THE END