Chapter III: Unions and Separations

"Failure!"

Selenius Greengrass screamed in pain as the Torture Curse overrode his senses. It was like a thousand knives stabbed him over and over again on every inch of his body. Needless to add, it hurt – and gods the pain was simply blinding. Selenius was a proud man, and he was not one to give in so easily and flail around like a worm… but the Dark Lord was furious. In his fury, Selenius was sure the mad man's Torture Curse increased in pain tenfold, at least.

Lord Voldemort paced in front of his throne, releasing his curse from over Selenius. His slit red eyes glared at the man sprawled at his feet while his flat snake-like nose flared with contempt.

"I am a merciful lord, Selenius" Voldemort spat as he creepily caressed his wand. "I gave you an opportunity to redeem yourself in my eyes and what do you do? You fail me". He smirked "and you know how I deal with failure".

"M-my lord" wheezed a shaking Selenius. "I-I have…"

"Speak up, you worthless imbecile" Voldemort growled. "Of all my servants, you are certainly one of my most pathetic ones. Unable to cast powerful spells, incapable of doing the Unforgivables properly… if you weren't such an expert in creating your Dark-Hands I would have never been so kind as to include you in my Inner Circle."

Selenius bitterly remembered he hadn't had much of a choice. It was joining the evil club or be tortured every single bit information he had in his area of expertise to the brink death, without adding what would have happened to his brother and his family. Regardless, he pressed on.

"M-my lord" he declared. "I-I have enough essence to f-find the Potter brat and his side-kicks. M-my d-dark hands a-are on their trail! I s-swear!"

Voldemort sneered. "And you believe you will succeed?" He asked with disdain.

"Yes" Selenius panted. He looked up at the Dark Lord, straight to the eyes. "I only need time".

"Time?" Voldemort growled. "You pathetic excuse of a wizard!" He proceeded to torture Selenius more, relishing at the screams of pain that came from said man. As he stopped the curse, the Dark Lord carried on "and how much time would that be?"

"I-I'm searching one measly brat and h-his side-kicks across th-the entire country – as-as we st-stand m'lord, I don't even know if he is even IN the country at all" Selenius bravely carried on.

The Dark Lord's response was three seconds under the Torture Curse. "I don't want excuses!" Voldemort roared.

"Then kill me!" Selenius yelled back, furious, sapphire eyes glowing with rage "and you will take far longer to find the brat".

Voldemort stared back at him, somewhat surprised at the servant's outburst, only to smirk. "I see…" he hummed, making Selenius gulp. "You are right, my friend" he conceded "I am too busy, performing important duties as Lord of this realm, to hunt Potter and no other servant of mine has your skills. Very well, Selenius, you'll get your wish: take your time, but bring me Potter and his side-kicks".

Selenius sighed with relief.

"I will, however, be keeping a monthly tab on your progress" Voldemort drawled on, circling around the trembling servant. "Now, let's address your sudden impertinence…"

Selenius knew right away the Dark Lord would not let his outburst slide easily, and he hated being right about that.

Ginny Weasley was worried sick. She paced and paced but nothing helped. Instead, she tried sitting down on one of the hard, ancient couches Selenius had managed to procure. The redhead looked at the nearest boarded window, tempted to tear it apart if only to catch a glimpse of the dark world outside, a world that had Selenius Greengrass in its midst.

The young woman distractedly flattened her elegant blood-red dress. It was old-fashioned and something she would have never worn. Thing was, she didn't want to be a burden. Selenius was more than kind enough to get her dresses, and she felt wrong taking offence on them. He did give her a pair of pants and shirts… but it wasn't the same. She couldn't deny she kind of liked wearing them (particularly because neither her mother nor brothers were around to comment on them) but also because of the way Selenius looked at her.

Ginny sighed, closing her eyes and leaning back on her couch. She was going mad if she wanted to draw the attention of someone so much older than her, especially in the way she wanted. Sadly, she couldn't help herself! The heart wants what the heart wants. He was elegant, handsome, muscular and very well-educated. She enjoyed how he treated her not as a child or princess, but his equal. He taught her powers that she had been long denied and worried about her in a way that was more different and, somehow, more touching than the worries of her family.

It was ridiculous! Months before she had been a sassy tomboy that had Harry Potter as a boyfriend! Now she was here, fawning over an older man and acting the part of the house-wife. If her mother ever saw her like this she would be bound to congratulate Selenius. Of course, Molly Weasley would be rather vocal on her opinion of such an older man taking advantage of her daughter like said girl would want him to.

"Master!" Dobby and Winky cried out in unison as they hurried over to the library.

Ginny jumped to her feet and followed after the two elves. Something in her gut told her this was not going to be good. That he would appear with an arm missing, dying or worse. She had imagined so much of that in the months she had been with Selenius. To think it was already December…

"Oh, Sel!" Ginny cried out as she saw Selenius, lying on the ground, surrounded by the tall bookshelves of the small library. He was face down and, by the looks of it, in pain.

The man groaned, shaking a bit, as Dobby and Winky fretted around the man, unable to do anything. Ginny rushed to the man's side, pulling him over to check his paled face. She felt tears running down her cheeks as a weak Selenius moaned agonizingly in her arms, his handsome face devoid of the strength and conviction it usually had.

"Sel, what happened to you?" She asked.

"B-Bloody C-cruciatus" he swore, half-lidded Sapphire eyes meeting her chocolate eyes.

"W-what c-can I do?" Ginny stammered, feeling helpless.

"Y-you don-don't have to w-worry" Selenius slurred, a trembling hand moving to caress her cheek. She pressed her cheek into in response, enjoying what little affect he expressed, even in such delusional state.

"You aren't going to die, are you?" Ginny asked, afraid. "I don't want to be alone…"

"Shhhh" Selenius whispered, smiling endearingly "I'm not going to die…"

"What happened?" Ginny wondered.

"Got my arse handed to me" Selenius huffed, closing his eyes to grit his teeth. "I only need rest".

"I'll take you to your bed" Ginny decided firmly. "Come on" she told him as she pulled him up, an arm over her shoulder.

Selenius struggled to get on her feet, but thankfully he could manage to walk. Ginny was just as thankful as she doubted she had the strength to drag his whole weight up the stairs. Together, the two marched up and right into Selenius' room. With a simple double-bed and a bedside table, Ginny could easily realize that Selenius was not a man of luxuries. If anything, he only used the bed to sleep, which made Ginny ponder on what he had meant about nasty things in his bedroom. Had it been a lie?

Ginny didn't think much about her surroundings, focusing on carrying the trembling man to his bed. He was heavy, a result of his muscles no doubt, but the trench coat was probably the main reason. Regardless, she was utterly exhausted by the point Selenius fell back on his bed, sighing with relief.

Ginny studied the wizard, wondering what had been done to him. He mentioned the Cruciatus, the Torture Curse, but why would Death Eaters use it on him rather than killing curses? He frowned, perplexed.

"You are shaking" Ginny remarked, suddenly feeling like an idiot for pointing out the obvious.

"A side effect of prolonged exposure to the Cruciatus" wheezed Selenius as he gritted his teeth. "I guess they didn't like my humour…"

"Oh, Sel…" Ginny shook her head "you were caught?"

"I was looking around the forests when the bloody bastards showed up" Selenius retold convincingly. "Sadly, one can't block the Unforgivables… that gives the Death Munchers an edge in combat".

"You can't block them?" Ginny blinked at him, surprised.

He shook his head, gritting his teeth in pain once again. "Thankfully I have a few tricks under my sleeve… or nose if you will" he chuckled.

Ginny smirked at that. "The Black-Sneeze?" She queried with an amused face. Selenius simply grinned back at her.

"No one expects the Black Sneeze" he joked, earning a giggle from the redhead. It was a short-lived moment of levity, unfortunately, as Selenius hissed after a sudden wave of pain.

"Is there something I can get you?" Ginny wondered quickly, her worry returning in full force.

"Something to eat would be nice" he grunted. "But you shouldn't bother-" whatever he was going to say died down on his lips as the young redhead rushed out, leaving a befuddled Selenius behind. He shook his head "she could have asked the elves" he grumbled, mostly to himself.

As it was, it took only thirty minutes for Ginny to return with a tray of something in her hands. However, to Selenius, it was a matter of seconds as he dozed off, his vision spinning and his mind hazy. He had been tortured a bit lot this time, perhaps more than he remember the Dark Lord ever doing.

"Hey" Ginny's voice softly woke him up.

"Hey" Selenius groaned. Ginny smiled at him, a blush colouring her freckled cheeks. She pulled a strand of hair behind an ear as he eyed the plate of what he assumed was either stew or soup. "You didn't have to…" he whispered weakly.

"Here, let me" she said, offering a spoonful of the meal.

Selenius looked at her brown eyes. "Really, Ginny" he insisted.

Ginny, however, was undeterred. "You've been more than kind to me and you have protected me, Sel. I think it's time I repay the favour" she smiled angelically, her face gaining a red shade that confused the man.

Selenius was, unfortunately, too weak to protest and, much to his eternal shame, was nursed by the girl. Still, it could have been worse. For some reason she really seemed invested in helping a miserable excuse of a dark wizard like him.

It was December and they had nothing. Harry huffed and puffed, but nothing helped to change their situation. He glared at the large poster Hermione and he had built with the spare parchment they had. They had written down their best ideas, on one side what the Horcruxes could be and on the other ideas on how to destroy them. He scrunched his face, angry at the few words.

Hermione seemed entertained between glancing at their poster, hang for them to examine from their eating table, and studying Harry every now and then, worried. Ron sat opposite her, scowling at a bowl of porridge.

"I can't believe the only things we have are 'fiend-fire' and 'basilisk venom'" Harry sighed, sitting on his chair, between Ron and Hermione. He ignored his own bowl of porridge, not in the mood to satiate his hunger. "What the heck was Dumbledore even thinking?"

"He couldn't have known" Hermione replied.

"No, Hermione, he must have known! He knew right away the Diary was a Horcrux and that a basilisk fang was what destroyed it" Harry shot back. "He could have told me beforehand, y'know, have me return to the Chamber of Secrets and pull a fang of my own! Why didn't he say anything?" He looked at the bushy-haired witch. Hermione bit her lower lip, hesitant to reply. "Alright, yeah, I was an idiot for not realizing sooner" he muttered "but I thought we had more time!"

"I don't think Dumbledore knew he was going to die either" Hermione mused.

"Hermione, don't you remember his arm?" Harry pondered, thoughtful.

"Yes, it looked… withered" Hermione slowly nodded.

"It was a curse from a Horcrux… the Gaunt family's ring, probably" Harry reasoned. "He knew he was dying… and yet, he didn't arm me with anything!" He roared, furious, as he stood up, ready to punch something.

"Harry…" Hermione pleaded. It was enough for emerald-eyed wizard to calm down and be sedated.

"Sorry, it's just that…" Harry sighed, returning to his seat. "Merlin, it was like Dumbledore purposely wanted me to be this useless. I trusted him and he didn't even bother training me to deal with the Horcruxes. I mean, he must have had something to at least detect them. Yet, all he ever showed me were memories of Tom?"

"Harry, he was neither omnipotent nor omnipresent" Hermione stated. "He wasn't perfect. He was rather flawed in his own way, and don't forget he had many other responsibilities that demanded his attention. He was the leader of the Order of the Phoenix, the Ministry needed his support ever so often and he was also in charge of protecting the school".

"And he failed at all of that" Harry leaned back, resigned. "For all his wisdom, all his knowledge… his biggest flaw was not being capable of trusting others".

"I think we are more at fault of that than he was" Hermione shook her head. "I mean, we all put our trust on him, we all had this unbreakable faith that he was almost like a Merlin reincarnate. He was a man – extremely powerful and in a level of his own – but a mortal nonetheless".

"Yeah, guess you are right" Harry conceded. "But it was both things: we trusted him, and he wasn't up to the challenge. He could have told Kingsley about the Horcruxes, or Tonks, and have the two join us in this hunt. Instead, he trusted me… and didn't bother giving me anything to help. Except that snitch". He frowned "what the heck was up with the gifts anyway? The Put-Outter for Ron, a snitch for me and a children's book for you? Why didn't he give me the Sword of Gryffindor?"

His eyes suddenly widened. He wasn't the only one. He soon saw that Hermione too had the same epiphany.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, grinning "the Sword!"

"It was soaked in basilisk venom and because it is goblin made…" Harry remembered from his talk with Dumbledore on his second year when he had asked about the object with which he had slain a basilisk.

"…the sword must have absorbed the venom!" Hermione finished.

"The Sword can destroy Horcruxes!" Harry concluded.

Hermione and Harry traded cheerful grin before she rushed to the board and added it to the list.

"Don't get your hopes up" Ron suddenly muttered, still scowling at his bowl. "Remember where the Sword is? If I remember right, it is in the Headmaster's office".

"Crap" Harry swore. "You know, this is the kind of thing Dumbledore should have foreseen! Why not leave it somewhere hidden for me to find and leave some clue for wherever I needed it?"

"Harry" Hermione sighed, unwilling to go back to trying to defend the late Headmaster.

"I say we go to Hogwarts" Ron stated.

Hermione and Harry looked at him incredulously. However, Ron was not to be deterred.

"We need at least to get basilisk fangs" Ron pointed at the poster. "So unless you want to walk around with that Horcrux" he aimed a finger at the hanging locket "we must destroy it somehow".

"Ron, we can't go to Hogwarts" Hermione told the redhead. "We have already discussed this. The wards would pick us in an instant and whoever is headmaster will probably alert You-Know-Who".

"Don't give me that crap!" Ron yelled. "All sorts of things got into Hogwarts with Dumbledore being none the wiser! Are you bloody going to tell me now we can't slip in like Sirius did?"

Hermione looked at Ron, intimidated by his outburst. Harry too was rather surprised by how much bite his friend's words had. Something was troubling him, and greatly so.

"We can't just sit around doing nothing!" Ron was on his feet, blue eyes burning with hatred and fury. It was more baffling than anything to see the redhead in such a state. "We are wasting our time like idiots!" He turned to Harry, and suddenly the bespectacled boy recoiled. When had Ron been this heated towards him? "I can't bloody believe you spent an entire summer doing nothing! Dumbledore gave you tips and bits of You-Know-Who to learn and all you did was - what? – sit around your room and think about Ginny?"

Harry couldn't help shrinking back. What had gotten into Ron? However, a part of him was also offended… and miserable.

"Ronald!" Hermione yelled admonishingly. "Don't shout at Harry!"

"OH, sod off!" Ron roared at her. She shrunk back too, frightened. "For all your smarts you aren't any better than him!" He pointed at Harry. "We are all a bunch of idiots that way over our heads! We are sitting here while people are dying! Fucking dying! There is a war out there and we are here, camping it out."

"Ron, we can't -" Harry mumbled, unable to formulate a response in his head. He was too shaken by Ron's new attitude.

"Shut it, Harry" Ron spat. "Don't tell me we wouldn't be safer finding and rallying the Order of the Phoenix! We need Aurors on our side! Kingsley, Tonks… heck, even Lupin or Bill would do! We need freaking help! We should have gone to them ages ago! But you are too proud, aren't you?" He squinted dangerously at Harry, who once again shrunk back. "You want to take down You-Know-Who by yourself. Harry bloody Potter, off to another adventure, dragging his two sidekicks with him! I've got news Harry: we aren't at Hogwarts anymore! There is no Dumbledore, no phoenix, no brother wands, no nonsense or bloody lucky stars this time!"

Harry blinked once, twice… and so forth, losing count and staring blankly at the red-haired young man. His mind was jammed with emotions, riddled with a thousand thoughts – clogged with the inability to comprehend what had overtaken Ron's good nature. It hurt, like a dagger in his chest, to have Ron of all people say that to him.

"Well?" Ron puffed, red-faced and winded by his long and loud rant.

"Ron… we don't even know where they are" Harry told his friend, in a soothed tone. "They are probably all in hiding. It would be risky for us as well as for them to go looking for whoever remains of the Order".

"We can't sit around" Ron growled.

"Ron, what's gotten into you?" Hermione asked, fighting back tears.

"What's gotten into me? Gotten into me?" Ron bared his teeth, almost like a wild beast ready to leash out at them. It was scary, to say the least. "My family is out there, gods know if they are- they are…" his anger was quickly replaced with absolute fear.

Suddenly, Harry understood. Ron was going mad with dread and worry, being cut from the outside world and unable to tell what was happening to his relatives. Was one brother dead? Had one been taken captive? Had they all been wiped out?

"And we are doing nothing!" Ron's anger was returning, but this time he was venting off on poor Hermione. "We are stuck! We are running out of food! We don't have enough books to learn good spells, or to learn anything of use! We don't know what's going on out there! Is You-Know-Who killing everyone we know? How many people are left?"

"Ron, we all knew what this hunt meant" Harry reminded his friend, trying – and failing – not to lose his own temper. "What the fuck did you think this would be like? That we would sit around a fire, with marshmallows and sing kumbaya?" As expected, the muggle references flew right over Ron's head. Still, whether he understood them or not didn't mean the redhead didn't catch the meaning.

"I fucking know that!" Ron retorted, although his face did pause with curiosity at the word 'kumbaya'. "But I fucking thought you had a plan! Or Dumbledore! Or you!" He glared at Hermione. "Instead here we are, like a trio of idiots waiting for your usual luck, right Harry? If we wait long enough you'll get a sign or maybe someone might show up to tell you what to do next, right? Heck, maybe even Snape might send a patronus to help when you least expect it, right?"

"If you don't want to stay, Ron, then leave!" Harry yelled.

Ron, for a moment, stared at his friend, shocked. Harry too couldn't believe the words that had escaped his mouth. Still, he didn't apologize. It was when Ron stubbornly scowled at Harry realized his mistake.

"Fine!" Ron spat. "I'll leave" he turned around.

"Ron, what-?" Hermione was saying, rushing to stop her boyfriend. When a hand reached over his shoulder, he recoiled, slapping it away.

"Don't give me that!" Ron hissed. Hermione stepped back, sniffing as she fought back tears. "You think I didn't notice? That I can't see how you two talk to each other? How you think I'm useless?" He turned to Harry "that's it, isn't it? Ron Weasley, Harry Potter's bloody sidekick". He looked at Hermione "and your stupid, lazy and emotionally-stunted boyfriend. Off with it" he spat "I hope you two can finally get to it and fuck each other! See that I care!"

And with that he went to his bunk bed and picked his meagre belongings. Harry went to Hermione, unsure what to do. In the end, she took the lead and latched onto him, breaking into tears. Harry couldn't believe this was happening. Ron was… leaving? Again? His jaw tightened as he looked at his distraught friend. She didn't deserve this.

Ron, as he walked right to the tent's exist, sent one last angry glance at the two, scowling when he saw Hermione in Harry's arms. The emerald-eyed boy glared at the redhead's back.

"I won't forgive you this time, Ron" he threatened.

Ron's hands were clenched into fists. "Fine" he murmured, stepping out and into the wilderness. As he left, Hermione's crying turn to inconsolable wailing. Harry struggled with her in his arms; his own heart ached, broken. How had things come down to this?