Hermione was nearly beside herself with anxiety and fear. Her beloved Hogwarts was falling apart around her, her best friend was off looking for a horcrux that he had no idea where to find, and her friends, family really, were fighting a swarm of evil wizards and creatures that killed without blinking. She and Ron had no idea what to do about it all and were running through the thick of it as though they might find inspiration somewhere in the mess.
They rounded a corner and found themselves face-to-face with four Death Eaters. Outnumbered two to one, Hermione felt her heart jump to her throat. This was it. She was about to die. Worse still, her beloved Ron was going to as well. Ron didn't seem to share her sentiment however. He jumped in front of her, shielding her with his own body and cast two stupefy charms in quick succession at the two nearest Death Eaters. Hermione watched in admiration and disbelief as two of their opponents crumpled leaving the playing field much more even. Drawing hope from this, Hermione stepped from behind her long-time crush and engaged the third Death Eater while Ron made short work of the fourth. When they were once again blissfully alone and safe, Hermione turned to Ron and said,
"That was incredible Ronald!"
"Always the tone of surprise," he smiled endearingly as he used their inside-joke.
Suddenly he gasped causing Hermione to look around in alarm thinking that some new attack had befallen them. Her alarm quickly turned to annoyance then to excitement as Ron exclaimed,
"The Chamber of Secrets!"
"What about it?"
"The basilisk! I bet we could get a few of its fangs—they can destroy horcruxes right?"
"Brilliant Ron, that's brilliant!" Hermione cried as hope seized her like a shot of adrenaline. She could have kissed him. In fact, she was seriously contemplating leaning over and doing it. He might have been thinking along the same lines because he gave her a funny look. Then he spoke.
"You have a huge smudge on the side of your face."
The juxtaposition between what she thought he had been about to do and what he said caused her to respond sharply.
"Oh let me go run off and find a mirror. Or maybe I can ask one of the many creatures trying to kill me if they have a tissue."
"Come on Mione you know that's not how I meant that."
"How did you mean it then?"
She couldn't decipher his expression. It was filled with both longing and fear, confusion and clarity. Finally he said, "We should head to the Chamber."
"Yes uh...right yes...good idea," Hermione said feeling flustered.
Getting to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom meant fighting their way through two hoards of Death Eaters and darting around a giant whose gigantic feet threatened to crush them at every turn. Hermione's feeling of elation at their success was quickly smothered by a bleak feeling of helplessness. A chill filled the air causing her arms to erupt in goosebumps. All that she could think about was how some of her friends were certainly dead. They couldn't have all survived. How could she ever be cheerful again when some of her loved ones had had their lives snatched away from them? She heard Ron's voice echoing from far away as though he was calling to her from the other end of a tunnel.
"DEMENTORS!"
Sluggishly, Hermione raised her wand arm and pointed it at the group of dementors that were swarming her and Ron, leaching the joy out of them. She thought about what made her happiest, and abruptly Ron's face filled her mind. She saw him smiling at her, heard his voice saying her name, felt his fingers gently brushing a stray strand of hair from her face. She suddenly felt full of warmth and happiness and drawing from that she cast her Patronus, gazing in wonder as her otter chased the dementors away. It was the strongest Patronus she had ever cast.
"Nice job!" Ron exclaimed.
Smiling softly she replied, "Always the tone of surprise."
Shaking his head in amusement he grabbed her hand and began pulling her down the hall toward the bathroom.
Miraculously, they reached their destination in one piece.
"Now what?" Hermione asked. "You have to possess the ability to speak Parsletongue in order to open it," she continued, gesturing at the sink.
"Harry talks in his sleep, have you noticed?"
"No! Of course not!" Hermione protested.
"Oh. Well he does," Ron said matter-of-factly as though it was the most obvious explanation in the world. Without further ado, he turned to the sink and began making strange sounds, both silky and raspy. Hermione looked on in wonder as the sink began to glow before sinking into the ground leaving a dark hole in its stead.
"This is it?" she asked nervously.
"This is it," Ron replied. "Ready?"
Nodding, Hermione said, "For Harry."
Brushing his finger along her jaw, Ron affirmed, "For Harry."
The next several minutes passed in an anxious blur. They rode down the pipe to the Chamber, groaning in disgust at the pile of bones that softened their landing. They hurried through the tunnel to the entrance of the Chamber with Ron once again using Parsletongue to open the door. At long last, they found themselves in the Chamber of Secrets staring at the huge skeleton of the basilisk. Hermione felt like crying as she looked at the solution to their problems. She felt a renewed sense of hope as it struck her that maybe, just maybe, they could defeat all these horcruxes.
Walking up to the skeleton, Ron wrenched a fang out of the great skull and handed it to Hermione. "It's your turn."
"No. I couldn't!" She protested trying to push it back to him but he persevered.
"Yes you can. I know you can."
Sighing, she summoned Hufflepuff's cup from her beaded bag and before she could lose her nerve, plunged the fang into the cup right between the two handles. A piercing screech cut through the air, mounting in a crescendo of both volume and despair. It ripped at Hermione's eardrums, chasing her and Ron from the Chamber, down the passage, and up the slide. They only stopped to draw breath when they had reached the relative safety of the washroom.
Hermione didn't know what came over her. Maybe it was the power she felt knowing that she had just defeated a horcrux. If she could do that, she could do anything. Maybe the battle had made her realise how precious life is and that not a single moment should be wasted. Whatever the reason, once she had caught her breath she said, "You know in the many daydreams I've had about you pulling me into a bathroom, this was never what I had in mind."
His laughter sounded both bemused and elated. When he spoke however, it was on a completely different subject.
"What were you thinking about when you cast that Patronus? Whatever it was it must have made you very happy because it was one of the strongest ones I've ever seen."
"I was thinking about you," was all that she managed to say before he was upon her, his mouth capturing hers.
When they broke apart, he asked her in a husky voice if that had been more along the lines of what she had imagined when she had daydreamed about them.
As Hermione kissed him in affirmation she thought about how they had gone hunting for horcruxes and basilisk fangs, but they had discovered something much more magical. Well, maybe not discovered. After all, she had come to the realisation that it had been there all along.