Chapter 2

Hermione was sitting just outside the tent under a tree. She wore a blanket around her although she was already well protected by an armor of clothes. On

her lap lay the book Dumbledore had given her, The Tales Of Beadle The Bard, but she was not reading. She wasn't even looking at it. Instead she was looking

at the woods in front of her. She was impatient and desperate and indescribably worried. She was worried for Harry.

Harry had been away for an hour now or maybe even more. Time is one thing they didn't have. "Why is he taking this long?" she muttered to herself as she sat

there. He had her wand but still there were enemies out there waiting to catch the Boy-Who-Lived and take him to the Dark Lord. To punish him. To torture

him. To kill him... "No..." she suddenly yelled at herself as the thoughts came to her. She jerked out of her daydream and stood up abruptly and the book fell

down into the snow. She looked at the book for a moment, and something caught her eye. 'That symbol... it was carved in the grave as well, and in the letter,' she

thought. 'There must be a connection...Argh...' She hated it when she didn't have all the answers. She had been thinking about this for days now, she hadn't

even sleep properly for the past few days. "That stupid symbol," she muttered in anger. "This stupid book, how can we destroy Voldemort and his Horcruxes by

reading this bloody stupid book that should belong to a child, not a eighteen-year-old witch! and why is Harry taking this long? is he's in trouble? What if he's lost in

the forest? He hasn't eaten all day. I should look for him, what was I thinking? If something happens to him..." And with that frantic thought she stormed into the

tent to fetch Harry's cloak. She came out quickly, almost at a run but then she stopped. Harry stood in front of her, cold water dripping from his clothes, his hair

messier than usual. She threw herself on him, so relieved to see him unharmed. But why was he in this state? "Why the bloody hell are you wet? What were you

thinking Harry James Potter!" she barked angrily. "Hermione, I-I..." "-was taking a nice swim on some lake to catch a severe cold?" she finished for him sarcastically.

"What were you thinking you idiot, I was worried sick! What if something bad happened to you? You were gone for an hour! What were you doing for so long - did you

ever think of the fact that I might think that you were leaving me, Harry? Alone like he did?" she finished in one breath. "Don't ever do that again, please don't."

"Hey 'Mione..." Harry wanted to say something soothing to her, his heart was melting, but Ron had spoken first. Hermione looked in the direction from where

the voice came. She was resting her head on Harry's shoulders, rubbing his arms, trying to dry him. She met Ron's eyes and took several feet backwards. Ron

was standing a bit far from where Harry was standing. He had a strange look on his face, and Hermione realized that this not not an illusion. Ron was indeed

standing there holding the Godric Gryffindor's sword. Harry and Ron both thought that Hermione was going to run away from them but instead she just stood

there with a look on her face that was a mixture of sadness, shock, relief, and horror. Ron was confused and tried to open his mouth to say something but

nothing came out. 'Why is she just standing there? She should be mad at me, she should be yelling at me, trying to hex me and then hopefully hug me since I came

back for them, for her..." The thoughts were running through his mind but Hermione just stood there frozen. Harry wanted to ease the tension so broke the

silence. "'Mione, he came back. We... Ron destroyed the Horcrux." He showed Hermione the broken locket and threw the locket at her feet, not trusting himself to

go to her. But as he started to take a few steps toward her at that exact moment Hermione fainted and fell to the ground. The last thing she saw was Harry

running toward her. "Harry..." was all she could say before blackness blinded her. Ron didn't move, hel stood there looking at her fallen body and Harry

desperately trying to wake her up and then he realized " I should have never left her, it was all my fault and now she was gone forever". He sighed and took his

first step towards them.