Title: Where You Find It

Author: Lena

Pairing: Ron/Remus, Ron/Harry, past Remus/Sirius

Rating: Chapter 1 - PG-13

Genre: War Fic, Angst, Romance, loads of things…

Warnings: Not really…although, I guess HBP pretty much didn’t happen…

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry or Ron or anything in the HP world. Darn it.

Summary: The War has started and Harry is missing. Ron finds someone surprising to love. Someone he never thought he would have so much in common.

Author’s Notes: Each chapter represents some of the different stages in a relationship. The pairing idea came from Matilda Bishop. So, thank you to her! And thank you so much, as always, to my beta and friend, Lorien_Eve.

Chapter One - Meeting

At the edge of the woods, one dusky late afternoon, Ron, Harry and Hermione, faced off against a group of Death Eaters. Ron knew Lucius Malfoy was a part of the group, but the surprise had been that there was a shorter, quicker Death Eater at Malfoy’s elbow.

Ron could hear voices flying through the air, screaming curses. He could hear Harry’s above them all.

He turned to try to find Hermione and Harry in the smoke that had settled down onto the clearing. He could hear them, but he couldn’t see. He yelled out. “Harry! Hermione!”

“Ron?” Hermione yelled back.

“Over here! Harry??”

The sudden silence was deafening to Ron. He yelled again for Harry.

Nothing.

“HARRY!!” His voice lifted an octave, as panic rose in his chest.

He could see nothing, and then he squinted, as he saw movement through the moving clouds of smoke.

“Harry?” he whispered.

Then he saw long, bushy hair. “No, Ron, it’s me.”

She walked closer, and they both looked around and realized there were no Death Eaters around them. And there was no Harry.

*****

Hermione touched Ron on the arm and said, “Ron, we need to summon the Order.”

Ron nodded his head, but said nothing. He began walking around the clearing, looking for Harry.

The smoke had dissipated, as Lupin, McGonagall and others from the Order appeared.

“Ron, please? We need to talk to everyone,” Hermione begged.

“No.” Ron continued walking. Looking behind trees, looking in bushes, looking in ditches, looking…

“Ron…”

He shook his head.

“Ron, you aren’t helping Harry, now. You need to talk to us, so we can find him. He isn’t here.”

Ron looked up at the deeper voice that was speaking to him. It was Remus Lupin. Ron felt his heart fall, as he realized that Harry really wasn’t there. Lupin was right. He needed to help the Order find Harry.

Ron walked over to the group and began to tell them everything that had happened and which Death Eaters had been there. He made sure to include that the elder Malfoy had been there and his suspicion that Draco had been with him.

*****

Ron laid on the sofa, staring at the ceiling, as Viktor Krum tapped his foot impatiently and stood over him.

“Er-mi-o-nee!!”

Hermione ran in from the kitchen carrying a glass of firewhiskey. “What, Viktor?”

“Ow long is ‘e going to be on ‘r cooch?”

Hermione handed Ron the glass, but he ignored it and muttered, “Should have told him. Should have told him.”

“He knows, Ron.” She turned to Viktor. “Please, Viktor!”

Viktor ran his hand through his hair impatiently. He walked into the bedroom, leaving Hermione and Ron alone.

“I should have told him. I should have told him. And now he’s gone.”

“Oh, Ron! Stop it! We will find him and he knows you loved him. He knows! He loves you, too. I know, with this war and everything, you couldn’t really be together, but…”

Ron interrupted by grabbing the glass from her and gulped a swig of the firewhiskey, then said, “But you and Vicky have made a life together! Harry and I could have!”

Hermione ignored the old nickname and said, “That’s different. You and Harry are part of the Order and work for the Ministry. Viktor…” She pronounced it emphatically, “…is here because he loves me and wants to help, but since he doesn’t belong to the Order, he doesn’t have the responsibility that you and Harry do…”

“Great. Once again, no happiness for Harry Potter and his stupid friend, Ron Weasley.”

Hermione looked at him hard. “Knock it off, Ron. You aren’t helping Harry.”

“Shut it.” Ron took another swig and stood up. He quickly finished the liquid, then said, “I’m leaving. Three days on your ‘cooch” as he says, is long enough. I’ll be at my flat.”

“Ron…” Hermione said softly, through gritted teeth.

“Fuck.” Ron placed the glass down on the table nearest him and Disapparated.

*****

Ron went to work the next morning. He sat at his desk, shoving the piles of paperwork aside. There was a debriefing in five minutes and he needed his notepad.

He wasn’t thrilled with being back at work, but hanging around on Viktor’s couch wasn’t feasible anymore and he certainly did not want to be alone at his flat, sulking.

He knew, too, if there were to be news about Harry, he would hear it first at the Ministry.

“Shit.” Ron pulled out his wand and waved it above his desk. The paperwork parted as the notepad came into view. Ron put his wand away, grabbed his notepad, and a quill. He got up quickly and hurried to the meeting.

*****

He was the last one to arrive, but since that wasn’t out of the ordinary, no one said anything. He looked around the room before he sat down. There was Tonks, with green hair, Shacklebolt, Moody, who was staring at him with that annoying spinning eye, and Remus Lupin. Ron sat down at the other end of the table, away from Moody.

“Hey, Tonks,” said Ron, as he sat down. He threw his notepad and quill on the table.

Tonks smiled at him, changing her hair to red. Ron stifled a laugh, as Moody turned to him.

“All right, enough! We are going pair up and send people out to different locations. We do believe wherever Harry is, that the Malfoys are involved. Not just Ron’s eyewitness account of the younger Malfoy being there, but of spies that we’ve had out the last few days,” said Moody.

Moody pointed at the map in front of him. “Tonks, Shacklebolt. You will go to Knockturn Alley. Check on Borgin and Burkes. Weasley, Lupin. You go to the Shrieking Shack. We will meet back here for another meeting day after tomorrow. Be safe everyone! I’ll be available here to track everything.”

Ron looked at Lupin. This was the shortest meeting ever with Moody in charge. Usually he babbled on for an hour about constant vigilance. And the Shrieking Shack? That took Ron back to his third year.

Everyone got up, grabbed their belongings and headed for the door.

Lupin said goodbye to Tonks and Shacklebolt. Ron nodded quickly, then turned to Lupin. “Okay, what was that all about?”

“What?”

“The five minute meeting and us going to the Shrieking Shack?”

Lupin shrugged and continued down the hallway.

Ron narrowed his eyes. He knew Lupin knew more about what was going on, but decided to wait to find out.

*****

Within the hour, Ron and Lupin were headed towards the Whomping Willow.

“Okay, tell me.”

“Tell you what?” asked Lupin.

“Come on! Moody can be a crackpot, but he never does anything without a reason. There aren’t going to be any clues here! Why did he send us?”

“He told me not to say anything.”

Ron fumed. “That man still treats me as if I were his student! I’m twenty-two years old, and an Auror. I think I can be told what’s going on, especially since Harry is involved!”

Lupin grimaced.

“That man still calls me ‘boy’, for Merlin’s sake. For that matter, no one can call me by my name. It’s ‘boy this’ or ‘Weasley that’…”

“I call you Ron.”

Ron stopped. Remus did treat him like an adult, and he had been his former professor as well. He had always treated Harry, Ron and Hermione like they had a thought in their heads, and not like children.

He turned to Remus. “Yes, you do. Thank you. You realize I’m an adult. So tell me.”

Remus sighed, but said, “All right.”

They stopped just short of the Whomping Willow. Remus continued, “You and Harry have been partners for a long time. Alastor is concerned about you being able to partner with anyone else.”

“Yeah?”

“So, I suggested I partner with you, since I used to be your teacher.”

“Okay…”

“Alastor thought it was a good idea, but wanted our first mission to be something both of us were familiar with, since we’ve never worked as Aurors together.”

“Oh.” Ron realized he wasn’t mistaken when he remembered back to his third year. There was a reason to remember.

“Right. So, we aren’t doing much, really. I guess Alastor thought we would search the place and bond or something.”

“Well, we could sort of search so we can tell him we did, then sneak over to Hogsmeade for the rest of the day and talk about old times,” suggested Ron.

Remus nodded his head. “Sounds right to me.”

They continued to the Whomping Willow and Remus pushed the knobbly part of the bottom of the tree, to stop the branches from threatening them. They crawled in through the passageway and up the stairs to the Shrieking Shack.

Ron sneezed as he reached the top step. “Bloody hell! This place is a bigger wreck than I remember it!”

Remus kicked at a loose doorknob rolling around on the floor.

“That bed. Damn Sirius. That broken leg hurt!” Ron sat on the bed and the dust billowed from it, surrounding him. He sneezed again.

Remus laughed. “Well, now remember, I came here a lot when I was a teenager!”

“That’s right. That must have been tough.”

Remus turned away. “Not really. I had James and Sirius with me.”

“It’s always good to have your mates close by--” Ron stopped. He thought about Harry. “Damn it,” he whispered.

“What is it, Ron?”

Ron got up off the bed and touched the top of the dusty piano. “Nothing, just…”

Remus left him alone for the time being. He said, “Merlin, remember Snape coming in? Harry certainly disarmed him.”

Ron laughed loudly. “That was a laugh, wasn’t it? And Hermione was so upset at you!”

Remus rolled his eyes. “She had me figured out, that’s for sure. How are she and Viktor doing?”

“Oh, they’re fine. That’s why I showed up to work today. Viktor was sick of me laying on their couch for the last three days.”

“Well, three days is probably a bit too long.”

Ron snorted. “Yeah, and I think Hermione was tired of running back and forth to the kitchen getting me firewhiskey.”

“That would be a pain in the arse. Or would that just be you?”

“What? Me, a pain in the arse?”

Remus chuckled. He said, “Are we done searching?”

“Yes, we are. Let’s get out of here.”

*****

They walked down the main street of Hogsmeade. It was a clear day, so it was busy in some of the shops.

“Let’s go into Honeydukes!” Ron ran across the street and peered into the candy store window.

Remus followed him, slowly. He watched as Ron shielded his eyes from the shine of the sun, so he could see the display better. He walked to the door and opened it. “Come on, Ron.”

Ron went in. He walked up to the piles of candy on the counter. He picked up the package of a chocolate frog.

“Are those your favourite?” asked Remus.

“No, they’re Harry’s.” Ron put the frog down and walked over to a pile of small bags filled with Droobles. “These are my favourite.” He grabbed a bag and tossed a coin onto the counter. He reached in the bag and pulled out a Drooble. He popped it in his mouth and started chewing. “Mmmmm…”

They left the store and continued down the street.

Remus put his hand in his pockets. “Can I ask you something, Ron?”

“Sure…” His voice was muffled.

“Were you and Harry…oh, I shouldn’t ask. This is none of my business.”

Ron stopped in the middle of the road. He looked at Remus. “Were me and Harry what?”

“No, sorry…sorry.”

“I know everyone thought we had something going on.”

“Yes.”

“Well, no…not really…we never had time…never made time…you know Harry, being all noble, not wanting to get close and risk…” Ron stopped.

“Yes, we know about Harry. He needs to grab happiness when he can and stop waiting for a time when this will all stop. You need to do that, too.”

Ron started walking again, fast. Remus tried to keep up with him. “Ron, wait. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. It’s the truth, and I blew it, too.”

“Don’t do this to yourself. You deserve happiness, too.”

Ron’s face looked worn and tired. “I want to go home and get some sleep. Are we done for the day?”

“Yes,” whispered Remus.

Ron turned and walked briskly down the street, leaving Remus behind.

*****

The Aurors met again a few days later. This time Ron and Remus had an actual place to go visit. They headed to Godric’s Hollow. Nobody had been there in a few years, but Moody felt that this being Harry’s home, it was possible someone had been there since Harry’s disappearance.

Ron and Remus checked the place out. Remus pointed out the still-smouldering corners of the destroyed house.

“It’s been in some sort of state like this since…” Ron stopped.

“Yeah, that’s what Alastor said. I don’t think we are going to find anything here.”

“I don’t either.” Ron turned to Remus and grabbed his arm. “Look, I’m sorry about the other day. Walking away like that.”

“Don’t worry. I understand.”

“No, you were only telling me the truth and I needed to hear it.”

“But you didn’t ask my opinion. I just gave it without thinking.”

“You were thinking. Correctly, I might add and anyway, friends should tell each other what they need to hear.” Ron let go of Remus's arm and kicked at a brick.

Remus covered a gasp. He never realized that Ron now considered him a friend. He liked that.

Ron continued, “You know there were times when I felt like I should tell Harry what he needed to hear. Or to shut it. Especially in fifth year, when he was so angry about everything. I hated being prefect. I hated it. I didn’t want to tell people off. I just wanted to get through school.”

Remus smiled.

“What?” said Ron, annoyed.

“Nothing,” he said, as he laughed.

Ron scowled at him.

“You sound like me.” Remus continued to laugh.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, in school I was prefect, too, and I hated it, because Dumbledore figured I should keep Sirius and James in line. But Sirius, at least, wouldn’t have listened. He would laugh and ignore me.”

“Harry wouldn’t have laughed. He would’ve been mad, for a little while anyway, but Fred and George would’ve laughed themselves to death. Once, they were doing something and Hermione told me to tell them off. There was no way I was going to tell off my brothers. So she did it, but got mad at me, because I wasn’t doing my,” Ron enunciated the next two words in a Hermione-esque voice. “…prefect duties.”

Remus laughed again. “Well, school’s over and we don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

They continued walking, quiet for a moment, and then Ron asked, “Were you popular in school?”

Remus clutched his hands behind his back. “Not really. I was only popular because of James and Sirius.”

“Oh.”

“Why do you ask?”

“I, well…no reason.”

“Right.” Remus looked sideways at Ron.

They were quiet again for a few moments.

“But I thought it was Peter that was the…you know…the follower?”

“Didn’t Harry talk to you about any of this?”

“Harry doesn’t talk much about his dad and Sirius, and I don’t make him.”

Remus nodded his head, and then continued, “Peter was the follower. Sirius and James were excellent mates, but sometimes I felt they could’ve done without me. You know, if I disappeared, they wouldn’t have really noticed.”

“Oh,” Ron looked thoughtful, then said, “But didn’t they decide to be Animagi to help you? I mean, that sounds like some good mates.”

“Yes, you’re right, but when you’re a teenager…anyway, now that I’m older, I know they were my best mates. They wanted me around because they liked me, loved me, especially Sirius.”

Ron raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more about the subject. He hadn’t really realized how much he and Remus had in common, and how easily they could talk to each other. He wished he had known this sooner.