Chapter 10

Bella's POV

After my little moment outside, I joined the others inside the quiet tent.

"Harry," I greeted in a whisper not wanting to disturb Ron, "Remember the dream we had the other night with Olivnder?"

"It was hard to forget it. What about it?" I sat beside him at the table.

"Well, I asked Hermione about that wand, the elder wand, to see if she had ever heard of it."

"And did she?"

"I was going to tell you earlier but then so much happened and it completely slipped my mind. Apparently, there's this tale of these three objects called the Deathly Hallows, one of them which is the elder wand. Supposedly it's the most powerful wand to have ever existed and those who use it are able to perform feats of magic that's impossibly hard even by the standards of skilled wizards."

"And if Voldemort wants to get his hands on it…"

"Then that would be incredibly bad for all of us."

Pause.

"What do we do?" Harry asked in concern.

"As much as I hate to say it, I don't think there's anything we can do. We don't know barely anything about this wand, never mind enough to find it. The best thing we can do is continue finding the Horcruxes but…if you want me to, I'll do some digging through Hermione's books and see if I can come across anything?"

"Please do, thank you."

Rising to me feet I forced a light smiled, "I'll go get dressed.

I changed into a comfortable cream jumper and loose-fitting pair of jeans; much more appropriate than the pencil skirt and blazer which disposed of with pleasure.

It had been, maybe an hour since we had arrived; this was the disadvantage of being phoneless…and watchless I suppose. I don't suppose Hermione packed a watch in that bag of hers?

Ron had yet to wake and so because of his condition we felt it best to leave him to rest while we went out to try and destroy the locket; it was after all best to let him get all his energy back for our next move. Whatever that might be. It was a miracle we got the lead to the Ministry in the first place.

Grabbing the Horcrux from the table besides my makeshift bed the three of us headed deeper into the forest as to not wake Ron with our commotion.

None of us knew what to expect.

Placing the locket carefully on the ground I took out my wand and went first,

"Incedio!" The locket itself set on fire however did not burn.

"Impervious!" Hermione yelled. Yet again the locket did nothing but fly across the floor.

Harry tried next but despite our best efforts nothing seemed to work.

"Reducto!" I screamed once more in a fury. Again and again, spell after spell but nothing we did even left so much as a scratch on that stupid locket.

"Great. We have Horcrux and we can't even destroy." I grumbled in annoyance, running a hand through my tangled hair in annoyance. I just wanted the damn thing to go, it represented everything broken in my life. My parent's death, my screwed up teenage years, this insane path I was thrusted into the day I was born. I wanted- I needed it gone. I needed rest, undisturbed sleep. I needed to be able to live without looking over my shoulder in fear every day.

I wanted, for the first time in my life, to live a normal life. Or, what was considered normal by my standards.

Angrily, I turned on my heel and stormed back over in the direction of the tent as Harry placed the locket around his neck and declared that we all needed to take turns watching it. Frustration coursing through my veins I continued past the dark olive tent, the Autumn leaves crunching under my heavy footsteps. With the protective barrier only covering so much I could only go so far; Approaching a small tree stump not too far from the tent itself, I deemed it safe and threw myself on the ground not caring that I was going to stain these clean jeans brown.

Throwing my face into my hands I let out a gurgle of provoked sounds. Pain tingling at the front of my temple I pressed harder against my face to numb the pain.

As much as I loved being reunited with my brother and friends, having my magic back and feeling a sense of fulfilment by what I hoped was helping others, there wasn't much I missed about this life. Every year there was a different threat, each getting worse than the last. When I was younger I considered Hogwarts my home. It was my saving grace, my safe place away from the Dursley's where for once in my life I wasn't living in a shadow or being hidden in shame but now, now Forks was my home. I missed it.

In a second the tingling discomfort become throbbing agony and I stifled a tormented scream,

'Tell me. Tell me Gregorovitch!' Voldemort's hissed, his voice laced with fury as he exploded the pile of books from the shelf that the sat on, 'Who was it? The thief, who?!'

The man, Gregorovitch cowered against the wall, his entire body trembling, his face cut and riddled with purple bruises.

'It was a boy. It was he who took it and then I never saw it again. I swear, I swear on my own life.' His voice wavered.

'Oh, I believe you.' He smirked a snake like smirk, 'Avada Kadava!" His body fell lifeless to the floor.

Gasping for breath desperately like a mad man choking on water I bolted onto my hands and knees as I waited for the nausea to pass.

Twigs snapped from ahead of me, "I thought the visions had stopped" Hermione sighed as she appeared in front of me, "You can't keep letting him in."

"We try Hermione," I growled through clenched teeth. I didn't mean to lose my temper but these visions, being forced to watch helplessly was maddening.

There was a pause, "What did you see?" She asked dropping the previous subject.

"You-Know-Who, he's found Gregorovitch."

"The wandmaker?" She said surprised.

I nodded, "Voldemort, he wants something. Desperately like his life depends on it. Do you think he means to Elder wand?"

"It's possible." She helped me to my feet and we made our way back to the tent, "Though people who posses the elder wand always meet a violent end. One person having that much power isn't good for anyone, and the cycle repeats. I doubt most people these days would even know who was in its possession."

"He said something about a boy stealing it in the night? But he never said who. Whoever it was must have been known by Voldemort…" I trailed trying to rack my brain for answers.

"He was known for being in possession of the elder wand for some time, the history books say he tried to duplicate its power. And Gregorovitch?"

Sadly, I shook my head, "He's dead."

We arrived back at the tent in silence, our silence interrupted by the sound of a radio from inside the tent; the broadcast seemingly listing of names.

Harry, twitching on the floor, moved to head inside (seemingly to turn off the radio) when Hermione stopped him.

"It's driving me nuts Hermione," Harry clenched, "What does is he hoping to hear? Good news?"

"I think he's just hoping he just doesn't hear bad news." The radio, it was listing off the dead…

My heart sunk. We hadn't even been gone a week and bodies were already being dropped.

"How long until we can travel again?" I asked hoping the answer was soon. I was itching to get this over with and the openness of the forest was already making me anxious.

"I'm not sure" She shrugged sheepishly, "I am doing what I can Harry, Ron's body has been through a lot." She added quickly once she saw the look on Harry's face.

"Well you're not doing enough" Harry barked, his eyes cold.

"Wow, Harry-"

"Take it off" Hermione demanded.

Take what off? The locket?

Sighing, Harry reached for the locket and pulled it from around his neck.

"You wouldn't be saying any of this if you weren't wearing it, " She gloomily replied as Harry dropped the locket into the palm of her hand.

Hermione headed for the tent, leaving the pair of us outside.

"Hey, you okay?" Watching Harry bark off like that was an unusual sight, plus it brought back some unhappy memories.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine its just- being around a Horcrux like that, it's hard to explain…"

"It's okay. Want to go do some research on how to destroy it?"

"Hermione brought books I presume?"

"Oh, tons." I smirked, "We have A LOT of reading material to go through."

Ron was sat staring emotionless at the tent wall as he clutched the chunky radio to his chest. Physically, he was looking better than just over an hour ago where he lay bleeding almost unconscious on the floor but mentally… I think things were finally beginning to take their toll.

Grabbing piles of Hermione's books, we moved to the table in the next room. Luckily, the tent was six rooms deep so we all had a place to go before we went stir crazy in each other's presence and we tried to kill each other. Though I think Ron was already headed down that path.

"Do you want me to see if I can find anything about the wand?" I offered, todays vision still fresh in my mind.

"Please." Harry replied not taking his head from the large book once.

Pages and pages and we still hadn't found a single useful thing; not about destroying the Horcrux's or about the elder wand. I lowered my head, resting it against the open book in defeat. Maybe this was pointless? Maybe we weren't going to find anything that could help?

"I need some fresh air. You coming?" I asked turning to face my equally tired bother.

One in front of the other we headed outside into the darkening evening. How long had we spent scanning through books?

The evening had always been my favourite time of the day. As a kid it had meant an escape from the Dursley's torment and as a teenager sleep was a get away of my responsibilities. These days it signalled time alone with Edward.

Don't think about him. It will just hurt more. Focus Bella.

Hermione was stood frozen at the bottom of the gentle hill. Moving to stand next to her I noticed that she was breathing heavily.

"There were Snatchers." She whispered faintly.

Snatchers? Did they know where we were? Had we left a trail open for them to follow us…? I couldn't think of any mistakes that could have lead them to us. Maybe it was just pure coincidence?

"I they could smell my perfume," Hermione said shaken as we walked back in the direction we had come from.

"As much as I, and the others, appreciate the small of lavender," I smiled at her trying to help her relax, "Maybe just don't wear any."

"At least we know that your enchantments work."

There was silence for a moment then Harry began to talk;

"When are we going?" Harry asked once more.

"I've told you Harry, Ron isn't strong enough to apparate yet"

"Then we can go by foot." He seemed determined.

Hermione sighed, feeling the beginning of an argument approaching I intervened before it could take place.

"We've all had a long and stressful day. How about we get some rest and, in the morning, we regroup and see how everyone is feeling. Then try to make a plan, okay?" Neither of them contradicted so I assumed the plan was in place.

Turning, I saw Ron hovering at the door, the emotionless look from earlier still frozen on his face. I was beginning to feel worried for him. I couldn't tell if maybe it was his injury or if the magnitude of this outing was finally getting to him. I smiled as I walked past but he made no movement to react. Instead he glared, turned and stormed past me.

Ron was one of my closest friends. He was Harry's best friends and practically family…had something changed? I couldn't help but let my insecurities get the better of me, maybe he had decided that being friends with us was too much and that we weren't worth it.

Tiredness aching in my bones I stripped into my underwear and climbed under the covers. It felt empty without an additional body at my side.