Author's Note: Hey guys! Well, here's the first chapter of Love is a Battlefield for you. I actually had this story completely different; it was going to be my version of the seventh book. But, I was sure that I wouldn't be able to finish it before the real seventh book came out. So, I'm just starting from there quest (and I say quest for lack of a better word) to finding one of the last Horcruxes. Well, enjoy the story and please, please, please review. Especially if there's something you think I can fix. Thank you!
Disclaimer: No, Harry Potter is not mine. I know, I know, unbelievable. Surely something like that could only be thought up by the clever and creative mind of isn't-it-obvious, but no there is another with skills close to, almost equal to, mine.
I'm joking. Obviously J. K. is much better than I am. Just in case anyone took that seriously, I don't want people thinking I'm cocky. Okay, now the actual story.
Chapter One: Ravenclaw's Wand
Ron groaned, quietly. He hadn't eaten in who knew how long, his legs were shaking from being crouched down for so long, and he could barely keep his eyes open due to the lack of sleep he'd had. Nevertheless, he crept on, silently. He had no idea where he was. Some forest in some country where there was some horcrux waiting to be found. They had figured out, thanks to Hermione, that if anything was sensed three feet into the air or higher they would drop into an endless pit that would be revealed from underneath them. Thank God she had had the idea to send a patronus through first. Thank God she had decided to wear a skirt that was ripped so easily on the tree branch and was now at least three inches above her knees. "No, Ron, don't go there" he thought to himself.
"There." Harry whispered. He pointed upwards to the tops of the trees that surrounded them. A wand was entangled with branches but sticking straight up. So this meant they had to find some way to break through the enchantment that was stopping them from standing up without dying. Nothing was ever easy.
"A wand?" Hermione asked, quietly. She looked over at Harry.
"Ravenclaws, probably." Ron answered quickly. Hermione turned her head to him.
"Oh. How'd you know that?" She asked, looking impressed. Ron tried not to look too proud.
"Harry's not the only one who knows this stuff. I am capable of figuring things out myself." Ron shot at her. He tried to sound annoyed but was to excited that he had beat Harry to answering one of Hermione's questions.
"I never said you couldn't, Ron." Hermione said, quickly.
"Shut up!" said Harry. He noticed their voices were subtly getting louder and the last thing he needed was a crowd of Death Eaters to swarm on them. "Help me think of how to get up there."
Hermione and Ron stopped arguing and realized the difficulty of this task. "Apparating wouldn't work, would it?" Ron asked.
"No. Voldemort wouldn't be that obvious." Harry said, and Ron decided not to argue.
It was at least 20 minutes before Hermione came up with an idea. She looked up at Harry and bit her lip.
"I think, I might know," she said slowly. Harry turned so quickly the other two could hear his neck crack.
"Well, spit it out." Ron said.
"Well, Voldemort would need a way to get to it, in case he needed to move it. So we should try something he would do." She said, cautiously.
"And that would be…." Harry asked.
"I think Voldemort has his snake climb, or slither, or whatever it is snakes do, up that tree." Hermione said. She pointed to the tree where the wand was located.
"Anyone who can turn into a snake and hasn't told me, speak up now." Ron said. Hermione ignored him and went on.
"I think I might be able to turn one of you into a snake, so you can get up there."
"Might? You might be able to turn us into an animal so that we might pass this enchantment Voldemort put in the forest. But not for sure." Ron said. "Well Harry you can do the honors."
"We'll do a test run first." Hermione said, shooting Ron a glare. She whispered a spell and a nearby twig on the ground turned into an ivy-colored snake. Hermione then muttered another spell, so she could force it up the tree. The snake went up the tree without getting hurt. She then made it go back down the tree. Again, nothing happened.
"You did it! Hermione, how do you think of these things?" Ron said, clearly amazed.
"You sound surprised." Hermione said, not even looking at him. Ron couldn't help but smile. "Well, which one of you wants to be turned to a snake?"
Ron looked at Harry, who gulped nervously then nodded. "I'll do it, Hermione." Harry said.
"Okay," She took a deep breath. Then another. And another. "Okay," she repeated.
"Get to it, woman!" Ron said, impatiently. Hermione shot him another glare.
"Ready?" she asked Harry. Harry was pale and trembling and looked far from ready, but he nodded. Hermione muttered the same spell looking directly at Harry, and concentrating very hard. Harry began to morph, slowly, into a snake. When he was all transformed, Hermione pointed to the tree he was to climb and Harry slid towards it. In any other circumstance, Ron would have been on the floor laughing at the sight of his best friend in the form of a snake. Before Harry had headed toward the tree, Ron had even noticed a lightning bolt-shaped scar on the snake's forehead.
"Hermione and Ron watched, nervously, as Harry crawled up the tree, grabbed the wand and pulled it out of the tree's grip. Hermione and Ron sighed, glad there were no other tricks. Harry slithered back down to them and dropped the wand at Ron's feet. Hermione let out a final sigh of relief and smiled. She pointed her wand at Harry and silently turned him back to normal. Ron let out a laugh.
"You make one ugly snake." He said and Harry smiled at him. "Any idea how to get out of here, Brains?" Ron asked Hermione. She blushed at the compliment of being called "Brains" and then said:
"I think we should be safe to apparate out of the forest, but I don't think we'll be able to apparate much farter than 5 or 6 feet outside of it. So I'll just imagine the part-"
"What do you mean 'you'? We're apparating, too." Ron said.
"You haven't passed the test Ron. And this is the worst time to have someone splinch." Ron looked incrediously at Harry, but he shrugged.
"She's right. Let's not take chances." Ron scowled but did agree.
"Okay, Harry first," Hermione said holding out her arms for him to hold on to. "Just think about the outskirts of this forest." Harry shut his eyes and imagined the place where he, Ron, and Hermione had entered this forest. In a second, he and Hermione were being pulled inward, tightly. They could feel the air all around them. They didn't have time to take a breath before they felt themselves land on ground. They opened their eyes to find themselves on the border of the woods. Hermione sighed with relief. Now, all she had to do was remember where she had left Ron. She crouched down, making sure she wouldn't set off any alarms when she got there, and imagined the big tree she had just left. In an instant, she was by Ron's side.
"Hey." Ron said.
"Ready to get out of here?" Hermione asked.
"No, actually, I thought I would stay here for awhile. You know, build a vacation home." Ron said, sarcastically. Hermione rolled her eyes and put out her arm. Ron hesitated for a split second then reached out and grabbed her arm. It felt….right. Hermione flushed a deep red that Ron couldn't notice thanks to the darkness in the forest.
"Okay, here we go." Hermione and Ron shut their eyes tightly. They felt the wind flying past them, they felt their bodies being smashed together, they felt the force and the energy. Then it all stopped. Hermione opened her eyes quickly and gasped. She was still inside the forest. She could see the way out; she could see where the light was coming from, so she knew that they couldn't be too far in. But still, she had messed up.
"What happened?" asked Ron.
"I must have been distracted when-" but she stopped quickly and blushed again when she realized what she had almost said. Ron cleared his throat, awkwardly. "Should we try again?"
Ron thought quickly. "No! I don't want to mess up again. We're not in too far, let's just walk, well crawl."
"Um, sure okay." Hermione nodded. They started towards the light.
"I don't believe it." Ron said, out of nowhere.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"After Harry destroys the wand, we'll only have that snake and Voldemort himself. I don't believe it, y'know."
"Yeah. I mean, think about it. Only weeks ago, we were on the Hogwarts Express. The next thing to do is to…" she paused, "to face Voldemort himself." She finished. They stopped and looked at each other.
"You scared?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, I am." Hermione answered not looking at him.
"Don't be," Ron said nonchalantly. "You'll be fine with me and Harry." Hermione smiled shyly. They kept walking, but never looked away from one another.
"Whoa!" Ron said as he fell face first to the ground. He had not seen a twig and tripped over it. Hermione tries to hide a laugh (unsuccessfully) and leaned down toward him.
"You okay?" she asked smiling.
"Fine." Ron grunted and spit out some dirt. Hermione laughed again, which made Ron smile.
"Look, there's Harry." Hermione said. The crawled out from the trees and saw Harry, looking worried.
"Where've you been?" Harry asked quickly, helping them up. "What happened?" he asked Ron whose face was dirty and scratched form the fall he took.
"We didn't apparate far enough and decided to walk the rest of the way to prevent it from happening again." Hermione said. "Sorry if we worried you."
"It's fine, as long as you guys are alright. You are alright, aren't you?" he asked Ron.
"Yeah, I just tripped." Ron said getting up and brushing off his pants. Harry snorted. "Oh shut up. Did you destroy that thing yet?" Ron asked quickly.
"Yeah it snapped really easy. You, know this means all we have to do is take out Voldemort and his snake." Harry replied.
"All we have to do?" Hermione asked incredulously. "Harry when we 'take out Voldemort' we'll be saving the world!"
"Hey, it only took seven days to make. Saving it can't be that big of deal." Ron smiled.
Author's Note: Wellllll? How'd you guys like it? Please review! I love reviews with a passion! You'd be making me super happy!! Thanks!