Chapter 10

"Blimey Hermione, it's freezing!" Ron grumbled, trudging through the snow that was falling thick and fast; it now reached his ankles. The pair of them were now in a forest in the far north of Scotland which Hermione had traced George's tracks to. While Hermione was staying focused on the task in hand, Ron was hating the cold and wished there was a more simple way to find his brother.

Hermione glared at Ron. "Do you want to find George, or not?" She paused, and when Ron said nothing, she said: "Good. Now, be quiet won't you? Are you going to stop moaning? I'm trying to find out which way he went."

Ron rolled his eyes and went back to rubbing his hands. He would have used magic to warm himself up, but Hermione said her tracking spell would be interfered by any magic other than George's.

She balanced her wand on her hand, muttered something that Ron couldn't quite make out, and her wand spun on her hand before stopping in a certain direction.

"It's that way," she said, and Ron followed her through the trees.

At one point, Hermione pushed a branch out her way, which then promptly flung back into Ron's face, leaving him with a face full of snow and an attractive red mark spreading from ear to ear. Hermione didn't even notice, as she was so focused on finding George.

A few hours later, Ron was beginning to get frustrated; they had found no visible evidence that George had been there and Hermione had been utterly silent the whole time they had been walking,

"Hermione, when are we..."

"Sssssshhhh!" she hissed. "I can hear something!"

When Ron listened, he realised she was right. Someone (or something) was moving in the trees. Ron moved forward in front of Hermione, protecting her. Although she was better at magic than him, the person in the trees might be even better than her, and if anyone was going to be hit by a spell, he was not going to let it be Hermione.

"Come out," he said warily. The figure behind the trees moved closer.

"Be careful!" Hermione whispered. "That could be anyone, we don't know if they will hurt us or not."

"It's fine, Hermione, don't worry about me."

The person paused a second, before emerging out of the trees.

"No, I'm not going to curse you! Lower your wands!" the stranger cried.

Hermione lowered her wand gingerly, but Ron kept it up,

"I won't lower mine until you lower yours!" he warned. "Go on! We trust you as much as you trust us, which isn't much!"

The man looked irritated. "Actually, I'm here to help you., but if you're going to act like that then maybe I won't bother."

Hermione pushed Ron out of her way.

"I'm Hermione and this is Ron," she said, being as friendly as she could. "What's your name?"

The man glared at Ron once more, but answered Hermione. "I'm called Eideard and I know who you are looking for."

"George? You've got George?" Ron accused.

Eideard looked positively outraged. "I wouldn't say got if I were you, boy. I don't kidnap people." He looked back at Hermione; clearly if he was going to speak civilly to anyone it wasn't going to be Ron.

"George is back at our camp. He ran away when we told him that we couldn't bring his twin back-" Ron groaned, if not with worry for George but in disappointment that Fred couldn't be saved. Hermione however did not look shocked, but was worried all the same.

"I went into the woods to find him, but I fear it was too late. The cold has really got to him," he continued.

"What? No, it can't be too late!" Ron cried.

"He is still breathing, if that's what you mean, but I don't hold out much hope, it seems like George has just... given up."

"He won't give up, he can't," Ron growled.

"Please, can you take us to him?" asked Hermione. "Maybe if Ron was there, he might fight it."

"I hope you're right," Eideard said, and he beckoned to the pair of them to follow him.

George was drifting. A voice was calling to him.

"Don't do this, George," the voice pleaded.

"What does it matter?" he replied. "Would you want me to live an unhappy life? Because that's what my life would be, forever haunted, forever sad."

"But I don't want to you die either. Why would I want that?"

George couldn't answer the question.

"If you die, you will hurt your family more. Are you a selfish person, George? Would you honestly hurt the others more, just to end your suffering?"

"I... well... no, you're right. I wouldn't."

"George, wake up." the voice said, but George could hear someone else as well.

"Wake up, wake up!" Both voices urged.

George didn't want to, he wanted to keep drifting, but he could feel himself coming back to reality.

"Come on!" The voice was now singular. The voice of his head had gone. "Are you with me, George?" The voice was urgent, desperate. "Please, wake up!"

George opened one bleary eye.

"I will if you stop shouting," he croaked.

The figure next to him (who was not quite clear to George yet- his vision was blurred and distorted) laughed in relief.

"Thank God, George, I thought we'd lost you!"

"Ron, is that you?"

"Yes, it's me."

"W...what are you doing here?" George asked, his throat dry and his head splitting from pain.

"We came to save you, of course!"

"We?" he wondered aloud.

"Yeah, me and Hermione."

"Save me from what?" he asked, although of course he knew the answer.

"We... we were worried you'd do something... stupid." Ron said, looking nervous.

"Oh yeah, thanks," George said sarcastically, but secretly, he knew Ron was right. He rolled over so his back was facing Ron.

"Please, I'm tired," he said. "I don't feel like talking right now."

He could imagine Ron's worried face as he left, but he didn't care. The fact was, he knew it was the best thing for everyone else that he had woken up, but now what was he going to do? Live a life without Fred? Because that was impossible.

A/N: Hope you liked this! Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed so far, it has really encouraged me to write more :D Heck, review again if you feel like it :P It will make my day, really it will. Thanks for reading! :D