Work Text:
July 1999
He couldn’t believe he was a prisoner. Him. Ronald Weasley, best friend of Harry Potter, an aide to the defeat of Voldemort. He’d been in Azkaban for nine months, ever since he called the Hermione boggart a mudblood. When it was explained to him during his arraignment that one of the expressed terms of his parole sentence was “disuse of certain discriminatory words and/or phrases” and by calling anything a mudblood as he did with the boggart he was in violation of his terms he fumed but didn’t say anything further as he had clearly used up any remaining goodwill with the arraignment panel by saying that Draco and Lucius were the second comings of Voldemort and that he was simply trying to warn the Wizarding public. When it was pointed out to him that falsifying or attempting to falsify information in the Wizarding world was a serious offence, one that his best friend the great Harry Potter had experienced and who would’ve been convicted of if not for Dumbledore’s last-minute defence, Ron sat quietly for the remainder of his hearing.
Following the hearing in which he was remanded into Azkaban prison indefinitely until a Wizengamot hearing was scheduled, he was in a mood. The guards at Azkaban—the notorious prison no longer used Dementors as guards, only for occasions such as the Kiss—laughed at him when he told them to not touch him because he was a war hero. They laughed at him throughout his processing, saying things like, “Some hero you were kid, ran away then ran back when everything was gonna finally end, what a wanker”, “Coward”, and “Miserable, ungrateful little shite”.
After he signed his prison paperwork, the guards confiscated his wand, which for him was now nothing more than a bit and a half of dead wood. The improved Azkaban wards—because of Sirius—prevented prisoners from using any magic. He was tossed into a filthy restroom area and told, “You have five minutes to go do your business in a proper restroom because from here on out it’s a bucket in the corner for you.” After five minutes, he was dragged out and thrown into a shower area, then they turned a large cold hose on him, while laughing at his sputtering and water spitting attempts. After they were finished, they tossed him an oversized orange jumpsuit with the nameplate reading, “Prisoner 5433-1” and after he put it on they magically cuffed his hands and feet and told him to march.
The guards led him to a lift then up three flights of stairs which were harder to manoeuvre because of the heavy cuffs on his feet. Along the way they pointed out that they think he’ll like his new home, that’s what the ‘1’ on his jumpsuit meant. He was the highest priority. He should feel honoured, they laughed. They told him that all he had to do was go about living his life now that Voldemort was gone, but instead, he decided to be stupid and cause trouble. No one in the Wizarding world cared that he didn’t receive an award for defeating Voldemort which he didn’t even do, that was ultimately Harry Potter’s job. All he had to do was go about living his life and staying out of serious trouble. When he had enough of their taunting lecture, he asked why the hell did they care? When one of them angrily told him that Voldemort’s Death Eaters killed his muggle-born wife and half-blooded children for no reason other than just because they were who they were and that in the post-Voldemort world everyone with magic and even those without deserved the right to live freely, so his ideas of nobility and righteousness shat on everything those that actually fought in the war fought to end so he deserved Azkaban, he regretted asking.
When they reached his cell they told him to make himself feel at home and pushed him into the narrow, windowless three-metre by four-metre cell that had nothing but a straw-filled bed and wool blanket, and two rusty buckets in the corner, one filled with water. When they closed the door on him with him still on the ground, they told him through the door that Fridays were ‘new bucket days’ and that meals will be brought to and collected from him by elves, as would the buckets.
Ron kept some semblance of sanity by counting how many times the elves would bring him food, which was always some type of gruel, a stale biscuit, and water. He tried saving the biscuit for later one time by hiding it under his bed but when the elf came to collect his food tray and cup the biscuit also disappeared. He learned thereafter to eat all he was given or else he’d go hungry. Or hungrier. He remembered time by counting when the elves would come and replace his buckets. Always an empty one and one with water.
He tried asking one of the elves to help him escape after eight bucket replacements—two months—because he knew that elves couldn’t refuse when somebody asked them for something, but they ignored his request saying, “Youse a baddie, no elf help for you.” After two more bucket changes, Ron saw how skinny and yellowish his skin was becoming, he was sure he had bags under his eyes by now and he was definitely sure his hair was filthy. He tried holding out hope that at least his family would come and visit him because he knew prisoners occasionally got familial visits, but instead the only one to see him in the months he was in Azkaban was the Assistant to the Director of Azkaban Management and he only saw Ron to tell him that his disciplinary hearing before the Wizengamot was going to be delayed but didn’t tell him why or when he would know, just that it was. Ron had lost all sense of hope by then and resigned himself to dying in prison until one day his cell door opened and the guards told him to get up that today was his hearing. They tossed him into the top floor shower area and hosed him off—his first "shower" in months—before spelling him dry, then they made him march toward the lifts.
When he was Side-Apparated to the Ministry he squinted at the brightness of the lights, they were the first sources of light he had seen in months.
After Ron was presented to the Wizengamot and witnessed Draco Malfoy presenting a resolution that would make Harry the new Head of the Improper Use of Magic Office and when he welcomed Harry like he was just another Ministry worker and not the saviour of the Wizarding world he swore he never hated Draco Malfoy more. And then things took a turn. After Ron was asked trivial questions by Malfoy—which he didn’t know the answers to—why would he, he was a wizard and that was all that mattered. But then when Malfoy presented Hermione’s father as a witness to Ron’s Death Eater rant in front of the twins store he knew he was doomed.
Mr Granger told the Wizengamot that what Ron said was completely untrue, that Lucius and Draco were not the second comings of Voldemort in fact both were tortured by Voldemort despite being the monster’s most relied upon supporters. Mr Granger also said that Ron’s rant set off London’s bombing raid sirens, which hadn’t been in use since World War II, for several minutes because government officials didn’t know what was the cause of the noise. That prompted the four Tube stations in and around Charing Cross Rd to be put in lockdown because there was fear there might be an imminent terror attack. Mr Granger said because of the lockdown he was late for a root canal surgery on the deputy Prime Minister, which cost him an extra £150. When Malfoy asked Mr Granger if he thought Ron deserved Azkaban, his answer filled Ron with some hope, only for it to be snuffed out. Mr Granger said that despite not knowing the condition of Azkaban prison or of the Wizarding judicial system, nobody unless they committed a serious or unthinkable act deserves prison. But because he knew enough about the Wizarding world now because of his daughter and he knew that only serious offenders are sentenced to Azkaban so what Ron did was probably justified particularly because of the Statute of Secrecy and especially due to the post-Voldemort rebuilding the Wizarding world was currently going through. After that, Malfoy presented a resolution that was first backed by Lord Abbott, Hannah’s father. Ron knew he hated Hufflepuffs for a reason and this was proof.
When all the Lords voted unanimously in favour of Malfoy’s resolution, Ron’s last slim hope was if all the Ministry officials voted against it. He hoped that if Harry voted against it the other Ministry officials would fall into place but when Harry voted in favour, that was the end of it.
When the Chief Warlock said that he would be Obliviated and made to live as a muggle come noon on 1 August, he couldn’t believe it. Instead of being praised for his actions against Voldemort, he was now going to be a muggle.
When the Malfoys, Madame Bones, and Kingsley came to see him after he was taken away he had little fight left except for a need to understand. When Malfoy explained the point of the War using his memory of the giant life-sized chessboard to explain it, replacing several pieces with members of the Order to punctuate his point, Ron understood. Because in his original match on the chessboard, he had sacrificed several pieces, including himself, but Malfoy didn’t. In fact, Malfoy didn’t lose a single important piece that he replaced with an Order member, just two pawns. When Malfoy explained that Dumbledore originally set up the board to test one’s use of strategy so that he himself could use that same strategy against Voldemort, that Ron was not the intended strategist he had in mind. When Malfoy told him their First Year quest for the stone was a useless and dangerous endeavour, Ron silently couldn’t deny that, even though at the time he thought it was just a great adventure. When Malfoy and his father showed him their unbranded forearms and told him that only the actual death of Voldemort could render their arms unblemished because the Dark Mark was ultimately tied to Voldemort himself. That had Voldemort lived after the Final Battle only to be temporarily disembodied like he was until Fourth Year then the Dark Mark would have remained a dormant scar. So the Malfoys weren’t the second comings of anything. After saying that the Malfoys left, only to be replaced by Harry and Professor McGonagall. When the Chief Warlock, Minister for Magic, his former Transfiguration professor, and his best friend began telling him essentially what the Azkaban guards had the first day he was formally imprisoned, he truly understood how much he had fucked up. But it was too late for apologies, he was bound for the muggle world from now on. When Ron was returned to his cell after everyone had gone, he began to cry.
Before 1 August, his family did visit him although they didn’t say much except to wish him the best. He thanked them but once he was back in his cell he scoffed at their words. The best would be if he was freed and allowed to keep his magic and see his family and take his N.E.W.T.s and live, but he couldn’t blame them for that, it was his fault. On 1 August, he was woken up early, tossed his normal clothes and told to get cleaned up. This time he was put in a clean shower area, he thought it was probably the guards shower area. He took his time since he wasn’t told he had a time limit, but he knew that his time as a wizard would be over by noon. After he properly showered and dressed he was led into a small room only slightly larger than his cell, except this one had no bed or buckets, just a table, a couple of chairs, and a couple of candles for light. He was told to sit and then was left alone. After 20 minutes, so he guessed since there was no clock, an elf came and asked him what he would like to eat, it said he could have anything when he asked what he could get. Ron supposed this was akin to the last meal concept that muggles in their prisons got, which his father was fascinated by. He asked for all his favourites, and minutes later it was served to him. He ate and drank to his heart’s content, not caring that this would be the last elf-made meal he would get.
Then at ten till noon, the door of his room opened and in stepped two Aurors, Mr Ollivander, and Harry. Harry read his charges again and the verdict and the punishment, then an Auror showed him his wand and asked him to take hold of it. He did and then the other Auror asked Mr Ollivander if the wand Ron was holding truly was Ron Weasley’s wand, which Mr Ollivander replied it was, he never forgot any wand he made and sold, after that Mr Ollivander left. Then one of the Aurors took his wand from him, said a spell, which he didn’t quite catch and snapped his wand in half and then set the pieces on fire. Ron watched as his wand was burned into nothing but ash. After that an Auror told him to sit, then they bound his hands to the armrests and told him to keep still—it would hurt less if he did. The Obliviation was more painful than Ron expected, now he knew why Lockhart was a permanent member of St. Mungo’s psych ward. After the Obliviate, the other Auror cast a spell on him, although he didn’t know what and how or if what they were doing was possible, they were just pointing sticks at him, what could you do with a stick except for maybe jabbing someone and maybe take out an eye. After they stopped, he felt slightly tingly. Then the one of them with glasses spoke, he asked him what his name was to which he replied, “Ronald Weasley”; where was he born which again Ron replied, “London, England”; who his parents were again he responded, “US Army Major Oliver Weasley and Agatha Holden”. Apparently that was the answer they were looking for because all three of them smiled, Ron wondered if he’d been in a car accident and these were the first responders? Then the one with glasses asked again, “Do you know who I am?” Ron shook his head and said, “No, should I?” That caused them to smile again.
“Is this a psych evaluation? Did I hit my head or something?” Ron asked trying to understand where he was and who these people were.
“No sir, just some basic questions, can you tell me your address?”
“Uh sure, it’s Apartment 75 171st Street Flushing, New York.”
“Do you know what year it is and who’s the President?”
“1999 and Bill Clinton.”
“Excellent. One more question, do you believe in magic?”
“Magic? What are you talking about, magic isn’t real.”
“Of course not, my mistake,” Glasses smiled, “Well Mr Weasley thank you for your time, your help in our research survey is most appreciated. Step out through that door please.”
Then next thing Ron Weasley remembered he was jolted awake on his couch by the sound of “Wheel of Fortune” playing on the TV.
“Holy hell, what a dream.”