This is part 3 of my mini series, hope you enjoy :) I apologize for the angsty/upsetting mood of this, but it's hard to write circa battle/DH without being angsty...well, for me at least.


"When she's asleep the air she's breathing is for you…"

When Harry had the horcrux around his neck, she barely noticed a difference. He sat outside of the tent most of the time, usually muttering to himself. There was one instance where Ron and Hermione sat together in the tent, both unable to fall asleep, and whispered to each other. Harry opened the tent and yelled in to them.

"If neither of you can sleep then YOU can wear this damn locket!" They were alarmed, then went back to bed, not wanting to anger him any more.

When Hermione had the horcrux she came to notice that she was often sad. Basically, to her at least, wearing the locket was like having an emotionally vamped period. When she wore it, it was oftentimes at night (the boys rarely let her keep guard at night) and she couldn't let her feelings go. The horcrux whispered nasty, wretched things to her, always making her depressed and a smidge irritable. Looking back on it, she realized she had only exploded once, and he was there to carry the load of the horcrux for her.

But when Ron had the horcrux, she noticed an immediate change in him. His eyes grew tired, and he no longer wore the crooked grin she loved. When he got off from his rage that night, she wanted to cry, to go to him and help him like he had for her just a few days prior.

"Why don't you just leave, then?" Harry yelled, giving Ron a challenging look. Ron looked once at Hermione, and she thought he might change her mind. She gave him a pleading look, trying to send him a signal through her expression. Her brain refused to connect to her mouth, refused to let her say the words she most desperately wanted to say. Stay, Ron. Please. Something clouded over his eyes, and he broke their gaze.

"Fine." And he walked away. She tried to follow him, tried to catch up. He was too fast. She pushed her way though undergrowth and the crowd of pine trees that invaded the forest, trying to find the place where he had disapparated. Soon, she found herself lost. A million emotions seeped into her brain, like a terrible rainstorm. Fear, and pain; the most incredible pain she had ever felt. When her brain had flooded, she collapsed, thinking only of him, no longer able to call his name.

Harry found her after a while of searching and picked her up from the bed of leaves she lay in. She was asleep, and looked almost peaceful. When the light of the tent illuminated her face, the illusion of peace evaporated. She had tear stains on her face, through scrapes and dirt. He placed her gently into her bed and walked away. She whimpered in her sleep, and her word was one he barely caught.

"Ron…" And she began to cry once more.