It took a few seconds for Hermione's statement to sink into him fully. When he finally came back to his senses and realized what she had said he instantly took up a serious face and looked back at her. He motioned for them to follow him upstairs. Once they were in Ron's room Harry locked the door and silenced the room before sitting on his bed and looking back the Hermione.
"Which one and where?" asked Harry.
"Well we aren't sure which one it is, but we are sure that one is in southern France," said Hermione. "It seemed that Voldemort had this one place next to a volcano that he was found at during the last time he was in power and when he was first discovered at it it was obvious it was one of his hideouts, it was like a small cabin, suitable to live in and everything. And I'll bet you every book I have that one of the horcruxes is there. After he was discovered there and he fled it was searched and anything that looked like it was dangerous was taken, everything else was left and nobody has been there since. I think we should check it out and see if we can find anything."
Harry stared at Hermione as if he'd never seen another girl before and found himself wanting to kneel at her feet and praise her for her brilliance.
"But how will we get there, we don't know what it looks like so we can't apparate there?" asked Ron.
Harry felt that Ron had a pretty good point, they couldn't apparate there and that would complicate things. They had to do this without anyone knowing what they were doing and also do it in a short amount of time so they could get back before anyone knew they were gone.
"It's obvious that we're going to have to do this during the night but we'll have to make sure we can get back before morning so nobody will know we're gone," said Harry. "But what other way is there to get there quickly besides apparating? Riding brooms wouldn't be fast enough, not even my Firebolt can get there very quickly and no offense but your broom isn't as fast as mine," Harry said looking at Ron. "And also, no offense again but Hermione is no flier?"
"No I am not, I've only been on a broom once and that was back in our first year when we were going after the Sorcerer's Stone in that flying key room," said Hermione laughing as she remembered back to their first year. "Even then I was dreadful, and I haven't been on a broom since so I'd still be dreadful."
The three friends all sat down and started thinking about a way that they could do this and not be discovered by anyone. Harry put his face in his hands and just stared at the darkness in his palms. They sat there for about twenty minutes before Hermione finally broke the silence.
"Wait, I think I know a way that could work," she said looking up.
Harry snapped his eyes onto her and once again looked like he was about ready to worship her for being so brilliant. Ron was also looking at her like he was in complete awe, but there was also something else in his eyes Harry noticed that was more than just awe.
"Well, what is it," Ron asked looking anxious.
"Well, what if Harry took his broom tonight and found the place himself, that way he could find out what it looks like and everything, then he could apparate back here after he finds it," said Hermione looking at both Harry and Ron in turn, turning her head every couple seconds. "Then tomorrow we can side apparate with him to the volcano and we'll have the whole night to see what we can find, and easily be back before morning and before anyone knows that we're gone."
Ron was now looking at her with his mouth hanging open, as if he was about to drop to his knees and bow to her like a queen and kiss her feet. Harry didn't blame him for being in awe but thought maybe he was overreacting just a little bit and that he better snap his eyes back into his sockets before Hermione saw him and he embarrassed himself. But sure enough Hermione looked at him before he did and Ron didn't even change his face as she stared at him with a confused expression.
"Er, Ron, are you okay?" asked Hermione. Ron didn't even acknowledge her, instead he just inclined his head to the side a little bit.
"Er, Ron," said Hermione again waving her hand in his face.
Ron finally realized what he was doing and closed his mouth and sat back up strait.
"Oh er, yea, I'm okay, I was just thinking of, what a good idea that is," said Ron while stuttering.
Harry grinned at his friend so that he wouldn't see. Why couldn't Ron just tell Hermione that he was head over heels in love with her, everyone in Gryffindor knew it and thought they would be the perfect match, so why couldn't he grow some balls and talk to her. They were after all in Gryffindor but Ron didn't show it very much at times. Then Harry remembered everything he had gone through while he was crushing on Ginny last year and how he had waited so long to make a move on her. But he also didn't take at least two years, possibly more, which is how long he's known Ron fancied Hermione. He'd suspected it for a long time now, but it became obvious that he was when he saw her at the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum. Maybe he'd have to take matters into his own hands and try to get them together himself if nothing happened soon.
"What about you Harry?" said Hermione turning to him.
Remembering what they were talking about Harry looked at her.
"I think it's brilliant, but we'll still have to be careful and make sure nobody figures out what we're up to," said Harry.
Hermione then got up and moved into the center of the room.
"Okay, so Harry will go find the volcano tonight and then tomorrow we'll all side apparate together tomorrow night to see what we can find, and Harry when you go tonight don't do anything crazy, like try to find the horcrux yourself, you know that it would be safer with all three of us there in case anything happens."
Harry nodded his head to show that he wouldn't, even though he hadn't planned on doing that anyway, he did know that he would need all three of them there to do this. So after one last run through the plan they all headed back downstairs to get dinner and celebrate Harry passing his apparation.
Later that night when everyone had gone to bed Harry, Ron, and Hermione had stayed up in the living room saying that they were working on something for the Order, and since everyone knew that they were members now they decided not to question them and just leave them alone. After waiting an hour after everyone had gone to bed Hermione pulled out a map of France and showed Harry where he needed to go to find the volcano.
"It's right here next to this wizarding town called Capatan, about five miles west of it you'll find the volcano. In the old reports it says that Voldemort's hideout is located on the eastern side of the volcano, in a little cavern that is hard to see with all the darkness that surrounds it."
Harry nodded at her to say he understood, and got up and quietly made his way upstairs to get his Firebolt. Quietly sneaking back downstairs Harry said good-bye to Ron and Hermione and assured them he'd be back before morning, and if he couldn't find it by 5 A.M. he'd come back anyway and try again tomorrow. So with one last wave he took off into the night and headed south towards France.
It took a good five hours for him to get to Capatan and by the time he did he was really sore in his crotch and getting really sleepy, despite all the wind blowing in his face as he flew. He then checked the compass he'd attached to his broom from the broomstick service kit Hermione had given him for his thirteenth birthday and headed west. But once he looked east he saw the compass would no longer be necessary to finding the volcano for he could already see it from where he was hovering. He flew over to it and landed on the eastern side and hopped off. Lighting the tip of his wand he started looking for any sign of some little cavern. He walked up and down the little hills but found nothing. Then finally after about an hour he walking behind one big rock he found himself standing right in front of a small entrance to a cave and looked inside. One glace into it told him that he had found what he was looking for, for he could see scattered artifacts on the volcano rock floor but the giveaway was on the rock floor. A skeleton was laying there with a serpent slithering around in its mouth, the dark mark was formed right into the solid rock. Remembering the promise he made that he'd wait until they were all there he looked around so that he would remember where he was for apparating here next time, then apparated back to the Burrow.
Harry spent all of the next morning filling in Ron and Hermione of what the place was like and what he had seen of the cavern from the outside, and that it was definitely Voldemort's old hideout because of the dark mark he's seen on the ground.
Again after everyone had gone to bed they all met in the living room and got ready to go. Ron and Hermione each took one of Harry's hands and stood huddled together. Harry then focused on the volcano he'd visited last night and the entrance to the cave at the base of it. Suddenly they were gone with a pop and standing right in front of the cave the next instant.
"Wow, I've never actually seen a volcano up close before," said Hermione looking up at the volcano astounded.
"Neither have I, but I must say it's pretty damn amazing," said Ron also looking around.
"All right, here's the entrance to the cave right here, and there's the dark mark on the ground just like I told you," said Harry pointing to the entrance.
"Okay, let's go then, but keep your guard on at all times, who knows what could be in there," said Hermione taking her wand out and stepping forward.
Harry and Ron took their own wands out and entered right behind Hermione. Once they got inside they all spread out and started looking around. The inside of the cave was a little bigger than the common room in Gryffindor Tower but had much less stuff in it. Other than a small bed and table in one of the corners there wasn't anything larger than a couple open trunks spread out around the room.
Harry started looking for anything that looked like a locket or a fancy looking cup, but couldn't find anything. Looking up he suddenly turned to the others with an idea.
"Hey, I'll try to summon it. I'm not sure if it'll work but no harm in trying."
"I guess not, go ahead Harry," said Hermione.
Harry looked to the center of the room and waved his wand.
"Accio horcrux," said Harry.
Just as Harry expected, nothing happened. He tried another two times just for good measure but again had nothing. Lowering his wand the three kept inspecting the room, looking for anything that looked out of the ordinary. Harry began walking along the walls, putting his hand on the solid stone, feeling all over as he walked along the side of the room.
As he got closer to the corner though he suddenly put his hand on a very cold spot. The sudden change in temperature on the wall got him to look a little closer, putting his face right next to it and putting his ear against it knocking. It quickly became apparent that this part of the wall was made of metal and had some charm to make it look like it was still solid stone.
"Look here, this part of the wall is made of metal and been charmed to still look like stone. I'll bet you my broomstick there's something hiding right here," said Harry. "Voldemort must have blasted a hole in the wall and hid something in it, then re-sealed it so that it wouldn't be found."
Ron and Hermione stepped closer and looked at the wall themselves, then turned to look at each other then back to Harry nodding.
"Step aside," said Harry lifting his wand and pointing it to the wall.
Ron and Hermione moved and Harry focused on the wall.
"Reducto," Harry said and the wall blasted apart to reveal a small space with a little trunk sitting in it.
"Bingo," said Ron stepping beside Harry looking at the trunk.
Stepping right up to the trunk Harry reached down and opened it, and grinned wider then he could ever remember grinning as he gazed down upon a golden locket with a large golden chain, the real locket horcrux.
"It's Slytherin's locket," said Hermione smiling. "We got one, that makes a total of four now."
"All thanks to you really," said Harry turning to Hermione. "You're the one that figured out about this place."
Hermione blushed and looked away.
"Hey I helped too," said Ron.
"Yea, you helped as in you handed me my reports when I asked for them," said Hermione turning back around.
"What, I also, er, I also helped by..." said Ron but couldn't come up with anything.
"Just stop talking Ronald," said Hermione but her voice had turned softer and Harry thought he heard a little sniff in her voice, but Ron seemed not to notice.
"We got what we came for, let's just get rid of this thing and get out of here," said Harry.
Picking up the locket Harry threw it into the air and pointed his wand at it.
"Reducto," Harry said again shooting a jet of light at the locket. The locket instantly caught on fire and fell to the ground, but when the fire went down the locket didn't even have a scratch.
Harry looked at the locket now puzzled, though at the same time not completely surprised because he would have been kinda suspicious if it was that easy to destroy the horcruxes, the others certainly hadn't been this easy.
"Reducto," Harry said again more aggressively this time violently pointing his wand at the locket, but again nothing happened. It slowly dawned on Harry that they would have to figure out another way to destroy the horcruxes in addition to just finding them.
Turning around to face Ron and Hermione again they both realized what he was thinking.
"Now not only do we have to find the rest of them, but figure out how to destroy them," Harry said picking the locket back up.
"Well at least we found the thing, so we're moving in the right direction," Hermione said sounding compassionate.
"All right, just then we have three to go," said Ron. "Now we just have Hufflepuff's cup, something of Ravenclaw's, that snake of you-kn...er, that snake of Voldemort's, and then Voldemort himself."
"Then maybe I'll finally be able to live my life the way I want to live it," said Harry with a sigh.
"Don't worry Harry, we'll get through this, everything will be...HARRY, RON, LOOK OUT," Hermione said looking up and suddenly panicking.
Harry looked up and gasped. The roof of the cave was breaking and seconds away from falling down on top of them. Harry instantly realized what was going on. Voldemort must have charmed the locket so that if anything happened to it, the cave would automatically start to break up and fall apart. Large chunks of rocks were starting to fall all around them and cause the cave to shake. Trying to get out Harry, Ron, and Hermione side stepped the falling rocks trying to get to the exit, barely avoiding being hit several times. But one rock landed right in front of Ron and he stepped before he saw it and tripped over it, landing on the rock floor with a big THUD. The next moment he was looking straight up and saw death coming to claim him, another rock bigger than his head had broken off directly above him and was falling right to his face.
Harry was too scared and shocked to even raise his wand to try to save him. But luckily Hermione was able to see it and take matters into her own hands.
"Immobulous," he heard her shout in panic just before the rock crushed Ron's head. The rock suddenly stopped falling and was hovering less than a foot away from his face. Too scared at what had just happened to move he just lay there; completely unaware of anything that was happening. How long Ron actually lay there he didn't know, it could have been several hours and he wouldn't have noticed, until Harry hurried beside him and helped him to his feet.
"Are you all right Ron," said Harry checking over him to see if he was injured at all.
Ron couldn't answer, he was still in shock. All the rocks had stopped falling and the cave was now covered in piles of rubble from the rocks breaking after they hit the ground. Finally realizing again where he was Ron looked at Harry who also was wearing a pale face.
"That was way too close, I thought I was dead," said Ron.
"I know mate, you almost had your arse totally crushed, or more like your head totally crushed," said Harry. "We should have known something like that would have happened once we took the locket, I can't believe we didn't expect it. Thank god though Hermione saw the roof start to break up."
Ron then remembered that Hermione had just saved him from that rock smashing his face into a pancake. Looking over at her he saw a completely terrified look on her face. Walking over to her he put a hand on her shoulder to calm her.
"Thanks Hermione, I really owe you one," said Ron.
"Oh Ron I thought you were dead, I didn't think I stopped the rock in time for a second there, I thought you were going to be crushed," Hermione said as she flung her arms around him. Ron embraced her to comfort her and to ensure her that she had done a good job. Then before he could stop himself he placed his lips against hers. Hermione looked totally shocked at what was happening, but she only closed her eyes and deepened the kiss. When they separated after a couple minutes Ron put his hand in her hair and stroked it with his fingers.
"Hermione, I can't keep myself from not telling you any more, I'm in love with you. I've been in love with you ever since our second year and I saw you petrified in the hospital wing. Ever since then I've wanted to just take you in my arms and confess to you, but I just never could. And now after that I realized I could have died and not gotten to ever tell you, so before anything like that ever happens again I want you to know how I feel about you."
Hermione looked into his eyes and Harry saw them light up at what he had said.
"Oh Ron, I've wanted to tell you the exact same thing. I've loved you for so long and I just didn't know how to tell you. Even when I went to the Yule Ball with Victor I was always thinking of you and how I wished it was really you that I was dancing with all night. I love you so much Ronald Weasley."
When she finished confessing she threw her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him. Ron embraced her with his own arms and held her as close to him as he could.
Harry was a little surprised by their sudden actions but he didn't say anything to them, he wanted to let them enjoy this moment now that they were finally confessing that they were in love with each other. Letting her go Ron stepped back and turned around to look at Harry.
"It's about bloody time you two realize you are made for each other," said Harry smiling at his two best friends. "You only waited at least five years by the sound of it, who knows it could possibly be more, and until you're both adults to stop living in denial."
"Oh shut up Harry," said Hermione smiling at him and leaning on Ron's shoulder.
"Well I think it's about time to get out of here before anything else happens," said Harry.
"You don't need to tell me twice mate, I'm in no hurry to get my arse killed, besides I think I have some talking to do with Hermione when we get back," said Ron putting his arm around her waist and smiling at her.
They all quickly walked out of the cave and stood there for a minute. After a minute they all embraced each other in a three way hug to show that they were glad that they were all okay and that they were glad they had succeeded in their mission. Separating after a minute they all focused on the Burrow and apparated home to get some much needed rest and so Ron and Hermione could have their talk. It sure had been another eventful night for the three friends.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione appeared in the backyard of the Burrow trying to keep as quiet as they could so they wouldn't wake anybody. Harry gave a quick look to them both to remind them to keep as quiet as possible they all moved to the door and slowly opened it. Harry took a quick peek inside to make sure nobody was in the living room or the kitchen. Seeing all the rooms empty he ushered for Ron and Hermione to follow him. Ron came in last and closed the door behind him then took Hermione's hand in his own. Pulling her close to him he gave her a smile which she returned. As they all made their way to the staircase to get to bed before anyone could discover them they didn't realize that somebody was waiting in the corner for them to come back.
"And where have you three been this evening," the person asked.