Ron was gone, and that was it. Hermione frantically continued to disassemble her shield charm, scattering it into nothingness. She flew out of the entrance, unaware of the loud crack that had rung out a few moments before.
"RON!" She called, her eyes scanning across the still woods, the cold air nipping at her exposed neck. "RON!" Her voice rang out once more, a shiver zipping down her spine.
Looking out across emptiness, her heart sank, feeling as if it had left her body all together. Forcing herself back inside the tent, she collapsed into the nearest chair and began to sob. Hermione was barely aware of the form that crossed across the floor of the tent, picking up a familiar object that had recently been thrown to the floor, wearing it across his neck.
Her tears continued to fall down her cheeks, and she could barely look up, let alone take out a book to distract her. Her mind was racing, yet stalled. Thinking, yet shocked. Alive, yet dead.
Her relationship had grown with Ron, something she had hoped would blossom into something more. He had begun to level out, take more care in her rather than whatever crossed his mind… And then he was gone. In a flash of anger imbued by the hatred of Voldemort, her friend - maybe eventually something more - was gone.
The light flickered out, and she was left in darkness. Sitting up, her eyes slowly adjusting, she saw Harry lying in the corner, his back turned to her. She guessed he didn't want to talk about it, and that was perfectly fine with Hermione for the moment. After debating for a moment, she decided to stay in the chair. She didn't trust herself to be able to move without crying.
She let herself fall to sleep, where the darkness enveloped her before dissipating a few moments later. The sun had come up, shining through the opening in the tent. Blinking a few times, she found Harry sitting at the table, hunched over something.
"Morning." She croaked.
He sighed. "Morning." He took a sip of his coffee and ruffled his hair, his back turned away from her. They sat in silence for the remainder of the morning.
Finally she had enough courage to take out a book, and she began to translate The Tales of Beedle the Bard. She had just begun to translate a story called The Tale of the Three Brothers. It was very interesting, yet completely implausible. Her thoughts briefly lingered on the topic of Harry's invisibility cloak before brushing it aside.
It was late into the afternoon before she finally took a break from translating the old story, having just finished it. She stretched her arms, and all the thoughts, fear, and emotion of the past day came rushing back to her, clouding her thoughts. Briefly, she thought about discussing their plans with Harry, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. If they talked, they would ultimately lead to the events of the night before, and she didn't know if she was quite up for that.
Standing up, she poured herself a cup of tea before grabbing a scavenged egg she had pre cooked early the night before. It tasted terrible, but she didn't mind, and she sat down with a less mentally strenuous book. She flipped through the pages casually, researching through possible locations for the Sword of Gryffindor, which seemed to nearly be a lost cause.
She soon found information on Godric's Hollow, which was home to many famous witches and wizards throughout the ages. It seemed like a likely area for such an object, especially knowing Dumbledore. He seemed to like to toy with her even in his death, setting up puzzle after puzzle, needing each one solved to be able to solve each other one. A seemingly impossible task.
Night quickly broke the will of the sun, forcing it out of the sky. It was her watch, and she silently passed Harry out the tent. She quickly lit her wand and stared into the inky blackness of the forest. Everything was quiet, eerily quiet. A twig snapped next to her, causing her to jump as a bunny streaked across in front of her. Her nerves were shot, and she needed something to calm herself down.
Taking a deep breath, she thought of a happy memory, when Ron had kissed… Ron. She held back her tears, and searched her mind for another memory, one that specifically lacked a certain redhead. She thought of Harry's birthday, the look on his face when she gave him a gift…
A silvery otter jumped out of her wand, bounding silently around the forest. "Petting" the subtle form of light, she felt calm and at peace. Even thoughts of Ron didn't touch her. She kept watch through the rest of the night.
It was nearly morning when her eyes closed as she slowly sunk to the ground. Hermione was exhausted, and the next thing she knew, she was waking up in the tent, covered with her blankets. Rubbing the bleariness out of her eyes, she found Harry sitting in a chair next to her.
"Morning." He said as he took a sip of coffee.
"Oh hell, Harry." Hermione huffed groggily. "I'm not doing this for another morning. I need someone to talk to."
"I know."
"Then why are you ignoring me."
Harry rolled his eyes. "It couldn't possibly be because my best friend, or at least who I thought was my best friend, just left me."
Tears began to well up in her eyes. "Oh. And I couldn't have possibly lost my friend, maybe something more…" She swallowed hard.
"Then you could have left!"
"But I didn't Harry! I wanted to stick by you! I believe in you! I want to help you!"
"Great lot that's done, hasn't it." He stood quickly from his chair. "I'll be outside." As soon as he left, Hermione broke. The tears rolled down her cheeks as she sobbed. She couldn't stop them, and she lay there, feeling abandoned, until she cried herself to sleep.
The next day, she and Harry packed up the tent in silence, apparating to another place in Britain. She quickly put up the usual protection charms and enchantments. Harry sat inside, and so she stayed out of the tent, pulling a book out of her bag to try and use it as a shield against her thoughts. It didn't work.
She was becoming sick and tired of it. Hermione felt alone, and she didn't stay with Harry to be alone. She stayed to help him, and if he didn't want her help, then he wasn't going to have a good time. She pledged that she wouldn't leave him, that he was her priority, and him wallowing in self pity was helping no one, especially the rest of the world he was supposed to be saving.
The tent flaps were forced aside without a single touch from Hermione as she barged into the tent, her wand out. She marched over to Harry who quickly dropped his wand in shock. He seemed to be suppressing a grin, but his eyes shone dark and almost brown, a shocking feature that would normally resemble an emerald.
"Now I don't know what's going on, but this is brilliant." Harry said. "Terrifying, yet brilliant."
"Oh shut it." Hermione growled. "Talk to me, or I swear I will hex you, Potter." She quickly summoned his wand from the floor, shoving it in her back pocket.
"Since when have you called me Potter?"
"Since when have you been a self-pitying prick?" Hermione nearly grinned, but she managed to keep a straight face. "Besides fifth year?"
Harry sighed. "Fine, just put the wand down." She pointed the wand straight at his face. "Or keep the wand up. It's a really nice wand."
Hermione's eyes hardened to a chocolate color. "We need to talk, Harry. I need to talk. So please…"
"What's there to talk about?"
Her eyes widened in anger. "What's there- How about Ron? How about our plans moving forward? How about how I feel like you're abandoning me even though I stayed with you!"
"I'm not abandoning you-"
"Then prove it!" She hissed. "Tell me it's going to be okay! If I cry, don't let me be alone! Just-"
"I'm sorry Hermione. It's just…" Harry put his face into his hands. "A lot's been going on lately, and Ron's kind of gotten into my head. We've barely made any progress, and then I lost him, I'm losing you…"
Hermione nearly dropped her wand. "You… You're not losing me. I'm here. I will always be here."
He sighed. "Ron's a git."
"Don't you think that's a bit much-"
"Not really. He left me, but he more importantly left you. That shouldn't have happened."
"I know, Harry… But he wasn't in his right mind."
"No, but all the horcrux did was increase his feelings and thoughts until they came boiling out." Harry explained.
Hermione passed him back his wand seeing that he was willing to participate in a conversation. "I know… I just… I'm scared, Harry. I'm scared for us. I'm scared for him. I just…"
"Hermione-"
"Just… I want to figure this out. It's driving me mad."
Harry twirled his wand thoughtfully in his hands. His eyes flashed the same dull green as before. "If you think it's driving you mad…"
"Let's not make this a competition, Harry. Please." Hermione pleaded.
Harry conceded, turning back to his wand and the Horcrux. Hermione, feeling as if something heavy had been lifted off of her chest, set across from Harry and pulled out a book. They sat in silence as for a while before another question reached the forefront of her mind.
"Harry?"
"Yes, Hermione?" He replied.
She took a deep breath before looking into his eyes. "Everything is going to be okay, right?"
His eyes gleamed maliciously for a split second before they returned to their diluted state. "You know what, Hermione? I don't know anymore." He spit out. "I'd love to say that the next Horcrux is just a few feet away with the sword laying beside it, but that's becoming more and more unlikely."
"Harry-"
"And now that it's only us, the odds of us surviving just dropped, not that Ron was much help anyways, but he was still there."
"Harry-"
"The whole world is counting on me to do some impossible task Dumbledore's left me, and it freaking sucks. Merlin does it suck! I don't know what I'm doing, and we could die any day now for all I know."
"Harry you need to take the Horcrux off. You've had it on-"
"And another thing!" He nearly shouted. "All our friends are dying at home while we're parading out to our deaths out here! While we're doing nothing, sitting on our arses, our friends are dying or being tortured! It'd almost be easier if we just gave ourselves up! At least I could stop them from being hurt."
"Harry-"
"Stop interrupting me!" He yelled at her, causing her to flinch. She was caught gazing at his eyes. The Horcrux must have been dulling them, slowly taking away the light that once shone within him. "You have done nothing but nag me since first year! It would probably be better if you left too! At least I'd be able to only have to look after myself!"
Hermione was nearly terrified, and she didn't dare think about summoning the locket in fear of causing Harry to lash out at her. "Harry, just please calm down. It's the locket… This isn't you!"
"SHUT UP!" He banged his wand on the table in anger. a blue light shot out of the end of the wand. Hurtling forward, it caught Hermione directly in the face, causing her world to go dark.
She screamed in pain as she fell out of her chair, her hands clasped to her face. Her agony echoed across the room, jolting Harry out of the influence of the Horcrux, who hurled it across the tent. Or at least that's what Hermione guessed what the loud thunk in the background was.
Slowly her head was lifted into Harry's arms, who forced her hands away from her eyes. Blinking, her eyes open, she saw nothing but darkness.
"Harry, I can't see. Harry! I can't see!"