For Round 8 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. My additional prompts were difficult, demon and beastly.
"Ron, grumbling about how much you hate this place isn't going to help anything," Hermione pointed out for what felt like the hundredth time in only the last five minutes. The Battle of Hogwarts, as it was to be later known was raging in the floors above them. They had entered the Chamber of Secrets in the hope of finding a basilisk fang so they they could destroy the next horcrux.
Ron simply huffed like a petulant child in response as they continued to make their way through the rubble of the Chamber. Of course Hermione understood why her best friend -and long time crush, not that that mattered anymore - would not be happy with their current location, after everything that had happened in their second year. However, Hermione wasn't exactly looking forward to seeing the basilisk again, even if the demon was as dead as a door nail. She was managing not to grumble about it.
It wasn't long after that, that they turned a corner and the massive snake came into view. She glanced at Ron, only to see the not so encouraging sight of him becoming ghostly pale. She turned back to the basilisk, wondering if she was going that pale. She definitely felt sick as she looked upon the corpse of the basilisk that had petrified her five years before.
Death and distance did nothing to improve the creature's beastly features or the rancid smell emanating from it, Hermione thought vaguely as she started to approach it. There had been no discussion before they had entered the Chamber about who would be removing the basilisk fang, but Hermione continued to move forward as if she had accepted her fate days before they had entered the Chamber. Which of course was impossible, considering how spur of the moment their plan had been.
Finally, Hermione knelt down in front of the creature's mouth. She sensed, rather than saw Ron kneeling down beside her. "We'll need more than one," he explained as if she had asked him what he was doing, "It'll be quicker if we both do it," he continued , sounding both determined and repulsed by the idea. Hermione simply nodded, reaching out to grasp one of the fangs. From the corner of her eye, she saw Ron do the same.
"On three?" She suggested softly.
"On three," he agreed.
"Okay. One...two...three!" Both teenagers started to pull the fang they were gripping on to. It wasn't as difficult as Hermione had anticipated it being, taking only a few seconds of hard pulling for the fang to come free. Then again, she realised that she shouldn't be so surprised - the thing had been dead for years, it wasn't like it's gums were going to put up much resistance while they were decomposing. "How many do you think we'll need?" She asked, already reaching out to grab a second fang.
Ron shrugged, copying her actions. "How about we take out three each? Six should be enough," he suggested after a brief moment of thought.
She nodded, "Alright," she agreed, unable to think of a better plan. Pulling out the next two fangs were as quick and easy as pulling out the first one. It wasn't long before they were carefully picking their way back through the rubble towards the exit of the Chamber. Hermione carried the six, extremely light fangs as Ron stared intently at the Maruaders Map, so focused that every so often he stumbled on a stray rock
. Finally, he put the map away as they approached the broomstick they had left at the Chamber's entrance so that they could get out again. "I think he's going to the Room of Requirement," he stated as he picked up the broomstick and mounted it. Hesitantly, Hermione tucked the fangs under one arm and mounted the broom, tightly wrapping her free arm around Ron. Merlin, she really hated flying.
"Okay, at least that's not too far away," she murmured as Ron took off and they started flying back up the hole that lead to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
The higher they got, the louder the sounds of the Battle became.
As the map promised they found Harry outside the Room of Requirement. On the way there, Ron had made Hermione give him some of the basilisk fangs so that there would be less of a chance of losing them.
As soon as they found Harry they started to talk about what they had to do plans rarely worked out like they should, but they had to talk and prepare anyway, otherwise things would just end up worse than when they did plan.
They didn't have much time. Their school was literally crumbling around them, the force of some of the spells being used echoing dangerously throughout the building. They had to start moving. However, just as they were about to set off, Ron called out.
"Hang on a moment! We've forgotten someone!"
Hermione and Harry stopped and turned to Ron, dumbfounded. "Who?" Hermione asked finally.
"The house elves. They'll all be down in the kitchen, won't they?" He pointed out and Hermione felt a pang of guilt that she hadn't stopped to think about the elves, too preoccupied with everything else to even remember their place in the kitchens.
"You mean we ought to get them fighting?" Harry piped up beside her, not entirely sure what Ron was getting at.
"No, I mean, we should tell them to get out. We don't want anymore Dobbies do we? We can't order them to die for us-"
Hermione dropped the basilisk fangs onto the floor, running over to Ron. Without any of the romance she had once hoped for this moment, she pulled Ron into a kiss, letting out a quiet squeal of surprise as she heard him drop everything and wrap his arms around her, lifting her off the ground as they kissed.
Faintly, Hermione could still hear the Battle raging in the corridors of Hogwarts and she was almost positive that Harry was saying something to them, but she ignored all of it for just a moment. She wasn't going to die without letting Ronald Weasley know how she really felt. She refused to. She loved Ron and she needed him to know before they continued fighting.
"Oi, there's a war going on here!" Harry's sudden shout was the thing that finally made them break apart, their arms still wrapped tightly around each other, as if they never intended on letting the other person go again. They both turned to look at Harry at the same time, sporting the same kind of dazed expressions.
"I know mate, so it's now or never, isn't it?" Ron asked, his voice sounding as dazed as his face looked.