Hermione stood frozen, her eyes squeezed tightly shut; she thought the curse would hit her.

'Come on Hermione, when would I ever fire a Crucio curse at you?' Smirked Ron, he walked calmly up to her as her attacker squirmed in immense pain on the floor. He gently reached out and grabbed her hand, expecting her to finch at his touch, but she didn't. 'Hello, any one home?'

'Yes, yes Ron, there is,' the normal Hermione was back. 'Now, where did the others go?' She quickly stopped a tear from falling from her eyes; she had thought she was going to be killed or worse.

Hermione followed Ron through a door and a low corridor, both of them on guard and not knowing what would be around the next corner.

'There,' whispered Ron as they saw the group walking through a huge room filled with rows of shelves, all of them had strange, glowing balls on them.

'Come on then,' Hermione grabbed Ron's hand and began to pull him with her. But Ron stopped.

'No, it will be best if I wait in the background. You might need a knight in shining armour,' he winked and watched Hermione as she quickly ran to her friends.

'Hermione!' Called Ginny and gave her a quick hug. 'What happened? We saw Dolohovgrab you, how did you get away?' It was obvious that the rest of the group, minus Luna, had the exact same question.

'Oh, I just gave him a quick leglocking curse, he was rather slow,' her answer seemed to fulfil their wonderings and she quickly changed the subject. 'What is this place?'

'These are prophecies, each one of them different,' answered Luna dreamily, she had began to wonder off, Neville pulled her back to the main group; safety was in numbers.

'Sirius should be here!' Yelled Harry frustratingly; he didn't want this to be a trap; he'd never forgive himself if he led his trusting, best friends to their deaths.

'Sorry, I don't think he got the invitation,' laughed a manic deranged woman, her cruel laugh echoed around the room. 'Have the little children come to play?'

'Bellatrix Lestrange,' whispered Neville in mortal fear, his body began to quake and pale.

'Maybe I can collect the whole set of crazed Longbottoms,' she gave her crazed laugh again, the black cloaks behind her stood still, waiting for her orders.

'Where's Sirius?' Yelled Harry.

'No need to shout boy, we're only here,' she teased, walking towards the group. Hermione span around.

'Harry, they're behind us.'

'And at the sides,' added Ginny nervously. They created an outward circle, spinning slowly around; their eyes watchful and alert. Hermione whispered something to Harry and the game of Chinese whispers began.

'It's rude to whisper; didn't your blood-traitor whore of a mother teach you that?' Bellatrix sneered at Ginny.

'She's not a blood-traitor or a whore,' Ginny was usually the strongest of a group but these odds were stacked against them and she could smell death, tears began to form. Harry grabbed her hand tightly.

'Aww, Potter's got a whore! Shame you're going to die,' Bellatrix's eyes twinkled with insanity.

'Go!'

There was a blur of movement and the shelves began to crash, but not before Hermione had grabbed a certain, rather special prophecy; she'd figured it out.

'GET THEM!'

The group ran and ran and fired curses backwards, not caring if they hit or missed, not caring as their legs began to burn. This was life or death and they didn't feel like dying today. A door appeared before them and they raced through it, slamming it shut behind them.

'The spell won't hold for long,' puffed Hermione out of breath. 'Which door?' She looked expectantly at Harry; he'd had dreams about this place before, surely he would know where to go now. All around them where doors, each on exactly the same style, shape and colour; Harry knew he couldn't seem confused, so picked the one directly in front of him with confidence.

'Brains?' They had walked into a room full of tanks, each one contained a brain; some green, some pink, some pea-sized, some ostrich-egg-sized, some vein-y, some smooth, some see-through, some pure-black; there was a lot of brains.

'Where do they get them from?' Ginny began wondering around the room, the mystery and zaniness of the brains and their room totally took her mind from the danger and circumstance she was in. 'What's in these?' She said as she pointed to a row of different sized and shaped bottles, the labels of which were faded and impossible to read.

'I don't know but I don't think its pumpkin juice,' said Harry as he walked to stand beside her. The rest of the group had now walked nearly the length of the room and all had their backs to the original door, there was another at the other end and walking through it seemed the only logical thing to do.

'What was that?' Harry span around, his wand raised.

'I heard nothing,' whispered Hermione, due to Harry's alarmed state, she was now instinctively on her guard too.

'I did,' said Ginny agreeing with Harry, even if she hadn't heard anything she would have said she did, just to agree with Harry, but this time she had. 'It sounded like a creaking door.'

'Well the one behind us didn't open,' said Neville, stating the obvious fact. 'So it must have been that one.'

They saw a flash of movement and began firing at it for all they're worth, it could be a death eater, it could be their killer.

'BLOODY HELL, IT'S JUST ME!' Roared a voice over the smashing of glass.

'STOP!' Yelled Hermione, recognising the deep voice; the group halted. 'Ron?'

'Yeah, who did you think it was? The Grim Reaper?'

'What are you doing here?' Asked Harry, asking the question Luna, Neville and Ginny were all thinking.

'Saving Hermione's and probably your lives, no need to thank me,' Ron smiled.

'Hermione-,'

'No Harry, if it hadn't been for Ron, I wouldn't have been here,' she gave Ron an appreciative smile, having not thanked him yet.

'And I just put a few death eaters out of action a few minutes ago,' he smiled proudly.

'How do we know that you're not on your mummy's side?'

'Oooh, harsh,' answered Ron. 'I'm not and you'll just have to take my word for it.'

'I trust him Harry, he saved my life,' she looked pleadingly at Harry, who gave a short sigh.

'Ok, ok, you can come with us.' He was secretly happy that Ron was coming with them; even though of late he didn't really like Ron, there was something about his presence that made you feel safe and protected. He could see why Hermione wanted Ron with them.

'Brains?'

'That's what I said,' smiled Neville. Ron stepped gently over broken glass and made his way over to the group.

'Bloody hell!' One of the brains leapt up and latched onto Ron's arm. 'Gettit off!' He yelled in pain, furiously trying to shake it off. Hermione quickly ran to his add, grabbing it and trying to rip it off and after that didn't work she raised her wand to it. 'Don't you dare! You'll have my arm off!' Ron growled, looking threateningly at her wand.

Soon the others came to his aid and they all tried to rip it off, but with no luck. Ron's colour began to fade and his legs began to become weak and shake.

'Let's just go,' he murmured, all strength gone from his once deep, rich voice. With Neville helping his to walk, he followed the group through the next door, hoping that wherever it led was safe, warm and maybe had a kitchen.

'Where are we?' Asked Ginny as they stepped through the door. It was more a chamber than a room, its ceiling not visible from the floor; the walls were steep and rough and like the floor seemed to be made out of rusty-red dirt; the air was stuffy and slightly humid; there was nothing in the room but a stone, grey arch with a floating, near transparent curtain-like material in the middle of it.

The group turned around the leave but the door had disappeared.

'Guys, I don't think Ron's well,' said Neville, once again stating the obvious; Ron was a ghostly white and clutched onto Neville like it was his only hope. They quickly sat him down and Hermione touched his forehead. She instinctively pulled her hand away as soon as she touched his skin.

'He's burning up,' in contrast to his snow skin, which implied he would be freezing, he was actually fire hot and increasing rapidly. Luna's hand shook slightly as she pointed to the brain.

'It's pulsing,' she whispered; the black brain was pulsing slightly, like a heart, and had definitely grown in size. It was feeding.

'We've got to get it off and soon.'

'Not before we get out of here.'

'We meet again, my pretties.'

'Hello Mum,' whispered Ron with a small manic laugh, which was only audible to the group huddled near him. Bellatrix stood just in front of the arch, five death eaters standing guard behind her.

'What have you got there?' She asked, her head dropped to one side, like a curious animal having heard a new sound. Hermione thought about hiding it behind her back but knew it was too late; she said nothing. 'Maybe you should give it here.'

'No,' she said defiantly, hoping her voice would sound strong and confident.

'I don't like 'no's. Give.' Hermione wasn't going to do no such thing, she handed it to a waiting Harry.

'Why do you want it?' He asked and when Bellatrix laughed, he held it upside down only the tops of his fingertips holding it. 'Why?' He knew now that it was important; there had been a small flash of fear in her eyes at its new position. However, she would never say anything; she preferred action to words.

'Have it your way,' she gave a creepy smiled and raised her wand.

'I want it that way, tell me why, ain't nothing but a heart break, tell me why, ain't nothing but a mistake, tell me why, I never wanna hear you say I want it that waaaay. Wooo, go Ron, encore, encore,' Ron gave himself a small clap and cheer for his singing; he sounded delusional and mad, the brain's pulsing became quicker than ever.

'Seems someone's broken out of the Lunatic Asylum,' laughed Bellatrix; she couldn't see Ron due to the group standing protectively around him and she hadn't ever heard her son speak so didn't know his voice.

'Luna, mooner, spooner, lamb bhuna,' giggled Ron hysterically. He began to rock himself back and forwards with a slight crazed giggle.

'We need to get him out of here!' Whispered Hermione to Harry with force; if Bellatrix realised who this person was they would stand no chance in protecting or saving him from her. 'I've got an idea.'

Harry said nothing but gave a small nod to signify he'd heard and trusted her to do what she thought was a good idea; Hermione's ideas usually worked well.

Hermione turned around; the group shuffled themselves so that her gap was taken up. Their half circle had to stay complete. She knelt down to Ron.

'Ron, Ron, listen to me,' but Ron seemed to not want to do anything such thing, he just continued to giggle and indistinctively murmur to himself. 'This is going to hurt a little, okay?'

Ron didn't seem to understand the warning and ignored her speech completely. She gave a sad sigh and pointed her wand to his face.

'Oooh, stick.'

There was a bright flash of green light.

'Killed 'im have you?' Bellatrix gave a manic laugh. 'Now, give the ball.'

'Ball? I wanna play catch!' Yelled a bright, happy voice.

Harry swiftly turned around.

He knew that Ron should be there but Ron wasn't.

This Ron had short black hair, a mousey nose, thin lips, high graceful cheekbones and bushy eyebrows; it as a new person. The voice had changed too; it was a pitch higher with a slight Scottish accent but it still sounded crazy.

'Let's play catch!' Ron jumped up and began shuffling left and right, his arms out waiting to catch the ball he heard about. Bellatrix just gave a laugh and pointed her wand at Ron.

'Now, hand it over or I'll put this one out of his misery.'

'No!' Yelled the group.

'Give,' she beckoned it forward.

Hermione whispered something to Harry and he gave a small, sad nod; this was their only option now. This time there was too many death eaters and they would have to drag Ron with them; they couldn't give it over but they couldn't have Ron killed.

Once again, Hermione called Ron, he turned around and she aimed her wand at his smiling face, reversing her previous appearance spell. She pulled him next to her and made him look Bellatrix in the eyes.

'Would you kill your son?'