Title: Twiga

Author: Lena

Pairing: Ron/Harry

Rating: PG-13, Part Three NC-17

Genre: Drama

Warnings: None

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry or Ron or anything in the HP world. JKR does (and Warner Bros). *sigh*

Summary: Ron and Harry must go to Kenya to search out Death Eaters. Ron wants to protect Harry and will do anything in his power to do that.

Author’s note: ‘Twiga’ means giraffe in Swahili. This is written for the 2005 FQF at the hprwfqf community. Thanks as always to lorien_eve for the beta and everything else...

Challenge #64 "One of the boys is/becomes an Animagus and copes with stress by retreating into his animal form. The other boy finds out."

Link: http://www.livejournal.com/community/hprwfqf/.

Part One

The train lurched forward. Harry grabbed Ron’s arm to keep from sliding off the side of the seat.

“Bloody hell!” Ron looked out of the window at the flat, desolate plain. “This trip is going to be downright horrible.”

Harry nodded, but said, “Yeah, but since we had no choice…”

“We never do.”

Harry and Ron had been Aurors for a couple of years and had now been sent to the last place they thought they would ever be sent: Kenya. They were told that a group of Death Eaters were seen in the deserts of Kenya. Usually the magical world of Kenya kept to themselves, but when a Dark Mark appeared one night outside of Nairobi, frightening not only witches and wizards, but Muggles as well, the Kenya Ministry of Magic officials asked for outside help.

The train lurched violently again.

“Why, when there is nothing but flat land, does the damn train lurch like this?” asked Ron.

“Dunno,” said Harry, as he grabbed Ron’s arm again.

They were heading east from Nairobi towards the small town of Garassi. There they would stay at a game preserve where they could keep an eye on a few people that were rumored to be Death Eaters. They were to interact with the tourists and pretend to be enjoying themselves.

“This is nothing like the Hogwarts Express,” sighed Ron.

Harry nodded his head and scooted closer to Ron.

Finally, many hours later, the train slowed as they pulled into a small station. Ron looked out the window. There was not much to see. There was a faded sign that said, ‘Garassi’ hanging from a rod above a ticket window. There was a small platform with one person standing towards the end. He was a tall black man, wearing a long white robe and a small wrap around his head. Ron suspected this was whom he and Harry were to meet.

They got up from their seats and each grabbed a piece of luggage from the rack above them. When they walked out of the door of the train, the heat hit them like a wall.

“Oh God, it’s fucking hot!”

“It was hot in Nairobi, Harry.”

“Yes, but…” Harry stopped when the extremely tall man waiting on the platform approached them.

“Hello, you are Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley?” He slightly bowed to them, before shaking Ron’s hand, then Harry’s.

“Yes, I’m Harry. This is Ron. And you are?”

“My name is John Mutua. I am here to take you to the game preserve and brief you on the suspected Death Eaters.”

“Oh, you are a wizard, then.”

John looked oddly at Ron. “But, of course.”

Harry and Ron followed John to a pickup truck that was parked next to the platform. They placed their luggage into the bed and crawled into the cab of the truck. John walked around to the right side of the truck and climbed into the driver’s seat.

The trip to the game preserve did not take long, and soon they drove up to a three story building with huge picture windows. It was a small hotel-type building topped with dark brown shingles and brown trim around the edges.

John stopped the car in front and the three men got out. Harry and Ron grabbed their luggage and followed John into the hotel. John took them up two flights of stairs, and at the end of the hall, opened a door. It was a small, but cozy, room with one large bed in the middle. There was a desk with a chair against the wall. A huge picture window was across from the door.

“Wow, Harry, look! It’s beautiful.” Ron walked up to the window and looked out. The flat plain that they had bounced along on the train was vast, but with hues of sandy browns and beiges. There were small bushes and tall trees along parts of the horizon. Ron could see a few giraffes walking near the hotel, occasionally stopping to chew on the leaves of the trees. They, too, were different shades of browns and beiges, with some yellows and oranges thrown in. Ron had never seen anything like it.

He turned back to Harry. “Do you know what those animals are? I think I’ve seen them in a book before.”

Harry walked over to Ron and looked out the window. He turned to Ron with a questioning look on his face. “You don’t know what those animals are?”

Ron shook his head. “Like I said, I think I’ve seen them in a book, but…what are they, Harry?”

“They’re giraffes. We have them in zoos at home.”

“Oh. You know, I’ve never been to a zoo.”

Harry touched Ron’s hand. “We have to fix that when we get home.”

John cleared his throat. Harry and Ron turned to him. He nodded. “I will leave you be for a while. Please come down to the dining room in two hours for a debriefing.”

Harry didn’t let go of Ron’s hand as he said, “Yes, of course.”

John turned and left the room, closing the door behind him.

*****

Two hours later, fresh from time alone and a shower, Harry and Ron walked down one flight of stairs to the dining room.

They walked into the spacious room. Three of the walls had large windows, with white flowing curtains pinned back on each side. There were two giraffes standing right outside the window, seeming to look in. Ron ran over to the window, pressing his face to the pane.

Harry glanced over to John, who looked amused. Harry said, “As you heard, he’s never seen giraffes before.”

John walked gracefully over to the window and stood next to Ron. “In the morning during breakfast, we open the windows and they stick their heads in.”

Ron’s month popped open. “You mean they come in while we’re eating?”

“Well, they don’t come in, but yes, we open the windows in the morning when it is cooler and they stick their heads in. They don’t bother, really. They don’t eat off the table!”

Harry laughed, “Maybe that’s what Ron’s concerned with!”

“Harry!” whined Ron, but then he looked back at Harry and smiled. “No, I think these giraffes are so…I don’t know. They’re so tall and colorful and…and…” His voice trailed off.

“They are strong, proud, regal-looking animals, are they not?” John said softly.

Ron looked at him, then back at Harry. He whispered, “Yes.”

*****

After the briefing, Harry and Ron went back to their room to relax before dinner. They already knew that possible Death Eaters had been near the game preserve after the Dark Mark had been seen in the sky outside of Nairobi, but they had not known that someone had been killed. Voldemort had not been seen, but there were Aurors dispatched to places in and around Nairobi to watch. Harry and Ron’s job would be to keep an eye on this part of the east region of the country. They were also told that if anything happened in another place, one or both of them could be moved.

Ron didn’t like this part of the plan. He never liked it when there was a possibility that Harry would be sent somewhere without him. He didn’t like it at home either, but it seemed more dangerous in a foreign country. They knew some of the other Aurors who were in Kenya with them, but there was no one who they were close to, or anyone from the Ministry of Magic in London. Kenya had dispatched help from many different countries.

Ron lay on the bed, contemplating all they had just learned. “I don’t like it, Harry.”

Harry walked out of the loo and back into the bedroom. “I know, but there’s not much we can do about it, Ron.”

Ron sighed and turned to face Harry. He patted the bed next to him and Harry crawl up beside him. He buried his head into Harry’s neck, and Harry wrapped his arms around him.

“I hate it,” said Ron in a muffled voice.

As he stroked Ron’s soft, long ginger hair, Harry whispered, “I do, too.”

*****

At breakfast the next morning, the windows were wide open and the giraffes were poking their heads in and out. Ron and Harry sat across from the window, so they could see the savannah in front of them and so Ron could see the giraffes better.

Harry was fanning himself with his hand. “It’s so hot!”

“You’ve been complaining since you got here, Harry. It’s not that bad.”

“Yes, it is!”

Ron snorted at him and got up, leaving his food untouched. He walked to the window, and a giraffe walked up to him. The giraffe brushed gently against Ron’s cheek, and Ron reached his hand out to pet the giraffe on the nose. The giraffe nudged Ron’s hand up, and Ron moved his hand in between the two horns on the top of the giraffe’s head. He scratched the hair and around the horns. The giraffe made a soft noise, and Ron chuckled at it.

“Wow, Ron. That giraffe likes you!” Harry called out.

John chimed in, “Ron seems to have a special way with our giraffes here.”

Ron turned towards Harry and John and smirked. “I just really love these animals. They’re wonderful.”

Ron gave the giraffe one last scratch and turned back to the table. As he moved away, the giraffe barely snorted but it startled Ron. He turned back and said, “I’ll pet you later.” The giraffe moved away from the window and walked away.

Harry’s jaw dropped as Ron sat down. “What, Harry?”

“That giraffe seemed to understand you.”

Ron shrugged. John said, “Like I said, Ron has a special way.”

“Why is that?” Harry asked.

John said, “Who knows really? I mean, sometimes people feel close to certain animals for any number of reasons. They feel strength or power from them, or perhaps they feel make them feel better about themselves.”

Harry looked thoughtful. “Like maybe, when a certain animal just fits who you are? Like when someone is an Animagus…or…” Harry stopped. Ron looked at him.

John said, looking straight at Harry, “Yes, or someone’s Patronus.”

Harry looked startled, but then realized, of course, John must have been briefed on Ron and Harry and knew everything about them. Ron hadn’t had a Patronus to this point, but it was possible that it could be a giraffe.

Ron remained quiet, but a sudden thought rushed into his head. Could his Patronus be a giraffe? Or could he become an Animagus? The moment he saw those animals, he felt something inside. He couldn’t understand what it was, but he knew it was something important. He wanted to be like those animals. Strong, important, and legs tall enough to stomp any Death Eater that came near Harry. Ron smiled to himself at the thought.

*****

That evening, they were sleeping curled up against each other when Harry was jolted awake by a banging on the door. Harry bolted from the bed, rushing towards the door. Ron stirred in the bed, muttering to himself.

“Who is it?” Harry said over the noise.

“It is John, let me in!”

Harry quickly opened the door, and John burst into the room. He didn’t give Harry a chance to speak. “You are needed in Nairobi. You-Know-Who has been seen!”

“What?” Harry groped towards the nightstand for his glasses and called for Ron to wake up. “Ron!”

Ron stirred again and groaned, “What time is it?”

“Ron, get up!” exclaimed Harry more forcefully.

Ron finally sat up in bed. “Why?”

“Harry must go to Nairobi. I’ve had communication that You-Know-Who has been seen!”

“Hang on…Ron’s going too, right?” Harry looked over at Ron.

“No, we’ve been told that he must stay here and complete the search of the two Death Eaters.”

Ron crawled out of bed and stood next to Harry, “Oh, no, Harry’s not going anywhere by himself.”

“He must, Ron.”

“NO!” Ron placed his arm around Harry’s shoulders protectively. “I have to go with him.”

“Who ordered this anyway?” Harry asked reasonably.

“Your country’s Ministry of Magic,” replied John.

“Who?”

“An Order member within the Ministry.”

Ron groaned and Harry rolled his eyes. “Dumbledore,” they said together.

“Bloody hell, Harry, why must he always do this?”

“Dunno. But the prophecy, you know.”

“But it doesn’t say you must fight him alone, does it?” Ron still had his arm around Harry, but his other hand was in a clenched fist.

“Honestly, Ron…I…I don’t want to go alone, but if I have to…” Harry sighed. He was resigned to whatever needed to be done.

“No, Harry!” Ron moved his arm from around Harry and stood in front of him. Both hands when clenched in rage. His face was flushed pink and his mouth was set determinedly.

“John, please leave us.” Harry moved closer to Ron.

“You must leave!”

“Please, one moment!” Harry turned to look at John and pleaded with his eyes to have a moment alone with Ron.

“Very well…” John was annoyed, but left the room.