I return!
Sorry I didn't post the next chapter although I had it, I got distracted ^^'
Hope you guys enjoy this one, it answers a few questions.
Don't forget to review (it helps!) :)
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Anyhow, here's the it is, Ron woke up in cold sweats in the dead on night. There was a storm raging outside, light flashing, trees crashing and rain battering the windows. Another loud sound pulled him out of bed again, and he grabbed his wand, inching towards the window in nothing but his trousers. The last few months hadn't been kind to him, and he had lost all the extra weight he once had. He was now only muscle and had a gaunt face with large black circles under his eyes.
Reaching the window, he peered out into the night, wand pressed to the wall. Another flash of light lit up the garden, and he sighed in relief when he realised no one was there. He turned to watch the girl sleeping by his side.
Robbie had kindly hidden them in his house, refusing to send them back out onto the street when Ron had told them they would at attract danger. But Robbie was a farmer, a tough, kind man who refused to see any harm come to the two young people as long as he could help it. He had bandaged up Luna, using all of his Muggle medicine and bandages, before going off to cook dinner for them. And that had been the end of that discussion.
The house was a small one, with only one extra bedroom with a double bed in it. Ron wouldn't have said it for the world, but he had been immensely relieved to sleep in a bed for once. That was of course until the nightmares had stopped him from sleeping. Every night, he dreamt of horrible things, seeing the bodies of those he loved sprawled out in a see of blood, and the cackling laughter of Draco Malfoy in the background. He'd wake up in a panic, before realising where he was, but the thoughts never left him. How were his two best friends? He loved them both and they were currently Merlin knew where with the least trustworthy person on this side of the planet.
The thoughts were also getting worse, like constant whispers in his ears. They tortured him, convincing him to attack Robbie and make the house a safe haven, to leave Luna because she was weak... But that was what held him back. Every time he caught himself thinking like that, he looked over to his injured friend and realised his mind was being poisoned. Indeed, the blond Ravenclaw still hadn't woken up, although her skin had regained colours from resting for two days straight and her breathing was more peaceful now. She was the perfect image of a sleeping angel, as laid immobile in the double bed, her blond hair spread out on the pillows, surrounding her sleeping face like a halo...
She was tucked in on the double bed. Too tired to transfigure it and too afraid to wake her before her body was ready, Ron had simply left it as it was and had laid next to here for the few hours of sleep he could get per night. He knew a girl wouldn't really like waking next to someone whom she didn't care for, but he'd figured he'd just deal with that when the time came. If she ever woke up.
With a sigh, Ron turned back to the window. He felt incapable of sleeping, unable to face the fear that his nightmares were sure to bring him. The night sky lit up with another flash of lightening, and for a second, he could've sworn he'd seen a shape fight against the wind. A screech suddenly pierced the silence, soon drowned in the sound of an almighty crash of thunder. Ron backed off hurriedly, raising his arm as he did and a figure flew straight into the window.
The creature screeched in pain and disappeared before coming back towards the window, struggling to stay at its height as the battering wind threw gallons of water at it.
It was an owl! Ron hurried over to the opening, unclipped the glass and pulled it open, letting the exhausted bird fly into the room. A roll of parchment was strapped to its ankle.
Closing the window, Ron rushed over to the owl, and, although the voices were still sounding in his head, telling him to do atrocious things to the inferior species, he picked it up gently and laid it on the bed. It was a huge grey and black owl, and it seemed it would be majestic when... well when not entirely soaked. He pointed his wand at the animal, and gently dried it, warming it up as he did. The owl hooted gratefully, before extending its leg and closing its eyes. With a tight throat, Ron undid the not around its ankle and retrieved the small piece of paper. Someone had thought to use an impermeable charm and thus it seemed intact. Running through the lines, he realised it was in Harry's handwriting.
R,
With ferret in the DA. Safe for now, what about you? Answer quickly, Sky will find a safe path to us.
PS: She said to keep it off your neck!
Love x
With a frown and a grimace, Ron walked to the cupboard, which stood next to the window, and took the horcrux off his neck before throwing it inside and shutting the door. Immediately, he felt something lift off his shoulder and breathed in more serenely than he'd done in days. The voices also suddenly seemed to suddenly dissipate from his mind, like a cloud of fog lifting.
"What a pretty bird..."
The dreamy voice had been only a whisper, yet it made Ron spin round as he would have if someone had burst into the room whilst sounding a gong.
"Luna!" he said in a low voice. He didn't want to wake Robbie and his wife. "How are you feeling?!"
He'd rushed over to the bed and sat on the edge of it, looking warily at her tired face. He eyes were barely open, but she was sporting a serene smile, as she would always. He reached out and placed a large freckly hand over her forehead. Her temperature had gone back to normal, thankfully.
"I've been better," she said truthfully with a little more strength to her voice. "Although this is more comfortable than the dungeons I suppose... where are we?"
Ron explained quickly what had happened; from the moment her patronus had reached them, to the moment Robbie had saved them and brought them back. She nodded thoughtfully, before saying:
"He seems like a nice person. Could I have some water please?"
He rushed to get the jug from the bedside table and handed her a glass, which he kept filling up until she had nearly emptied the jug and begged no more. She then looked back up at him, her eyes already full of sleep. As if she knew she was going to succumb again to rest, she waved him closer, and he leaned in.
"There was something that woman said when she thought I had passed out..."
"Which woman?"
"Draco Malfoy's aunt I think, the one who scared the other Death Eaters. Anyways, she was telling this to the other men in there, boasting about it really..."
She cleared her throat and carried on.
"From what I understood, she was hiding something for You-Know-Who, she said something about the goblins being able to handle such an important honour, and that it was her vault that had been deemed the best. Does it hold any importance for you?"
Her voice was faint, and as Ron sat up straight again, he pulled the duvet back up to her chin.
"That's bloody brilliant Luna! I'll explain when you wake up. Rest some more, I'll send a note to Harry. Sound good?"
Luna nodded vaguely, a dreamy smile still playing on her lips as her eyelids fluttered to a close. She then fell back into a lighter sleep, and with a sigh of relief, Ron snuck into the Muggle living room, found a pen and wrote and answer to his best friends. He'd send Sky back to them as soon as the owl had rested and the storm had stopped.
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"Why me?"
The question had been barely a whisper, but Draco had heard it.
"What do you mean?" he asked nevertheless.
"Why me?" Hermione repeated, bringing her eyes back up to meet his. They no longer looked full of a stirring fury, but rather were curious. He decided he liked this look much more on her.
"I'm not sure..." he said as if thinking out loud. It was true, he wasn't really sure. "I always watched you from afar. At first, I hated you, as I was taught to hate you for your bloodline..." He noticed Hermione shrug her shoulders slightly, encouraging him to continue. He did so with a tiny bit more hope. "During 6th year I spent a lot of time trying to figure things out in the abandoned toilets on the 3rd floor. Turns out, Myrtle lived in there."
"Moaning Myrtle?" interrupted Hermione.
"She prefers not to be called that you know," he smirked down at her. "But yes, Moaning Myrtle. At first she was a right pain, but I eventually became... well you could call us friends I suppose."
His pride churned at the thought of it, but really, that was how it had been he realised with surprise.
"She told me about our second year, and how you guys had spent so much time in there. I became... interested."
He fought to control the small blush that crept up on the back of his neck. Malfoys do not blush.
"Anyways," he carried on, trying to ignore the intensity of Hermione's stare on his face. "I started watching you guys more closely, and if we're being completely honest..." he looked down to see her nod eagerly. He held back a sigh and kept going. "Well honestly I was jealous."
"Jealous?" repeated the Gryffindor, still staring at him. Merlin, did that girl ever blink?
"Yes, jealous of Scarhead and the Weasel, happy?" he frowned at her.
To his great annoyance, her face transformed into what seemed to be an expression of "Awww that's so cute!" and he swore silently. Malfoys were not cute!
"So, why?" encouraged Hermione, fighting to bring her face back to normal. She nearly managed, nearly. Draco gave a long, pained sigh, one that expresses just how much one has suffered.
"I'd been given a mission: kill Dumbledore, the only person who seemed to still believe in me, or watch my parents die, the only people who actually loved me. I didn't know what to do! And then there was Potter."
He had spat out the name with hatred and jealousy, but then his face relaxed into a sorrowful expression. Anyone could have seen that he hated being the cause of all this misery, and Hermione kept on listening, knowing that she'd never get to hear this again.
"Oh Potter was all happy all right," Draco carried on, his eyes lost in the distance as if he'd forgotten Hermione was there besides him. "Potter had had more encounters with the Dark Lord than I could count, and yet he'd always come out of them fine, whilst I'd met him once and had to choose between murdering someone or being murdered. And all of this, was mostly because he had you."
For the first time in a while, he brought his gaze down to meet Hermione's, and tucked a lost strand of her behind her ear. He didn't seem to notice her breath hitch in her throat, or if he did he didn't comment on it. Instead, he kept talking. It was as if a tap had been opened and he couldn't shut it just yet.
"Potter and Weaselbee were terrible in class, couldn't figure out anything for themselves, and yet you were always with them, always guiding them. I was in the hospital wing when you got petrified in second year, I saw the message you left them. Without you, the two idiots would have been just that: not heroes, idiots. Just the way I was without you. I started thinking that if I'd had someone like you by my side... well then maybe I wouldn't be forced to make those choices, I wouldn't have to kill Dumbledore, or see you hate me so much."
Hermione took a sharp breath, trying to contain the tears that were threatening to fall. She was usually a sensitive person, and she could just imagine how lonely and torn he must have felt. And yet he'd been thinking of her? No one could here such a story and not feel touched.
"I got worried for you too, because the two idiots got you hurt so often and that I was putting everyone in danger... Well, it was stupid, but that was it. That's why I got worried that I'd get you and the stupid Chosen One in danger. As much as I hated it, I knew he was necessary to win the oncoming war, so I created my version of the taboo jinx after hearing VoldyFace talk about it, and put it on you without noticing. It was my last line of hope before I had to act and bring the Death Eaters into Hogwarts. Then Snape killed Dumbledore and I was dragged away, but I couldn't stop thinking of you, Hermione. Sure you were just another person, but you incarnated all those who wouldn't believe I never wanted a part in this, and you represented the people who were on the side of good, the ones fighting the Dark Lord. I started hating him, planning and plotting to destroy him, but I soon realised I was foolish and couldn't do it on my own. That's when I decided to use the taboo jinx to find you and protect you, all three of you. It wasn't just a charm to protect you all during the invasion of Hogwarts anymore, it was my only link to the good side of this war."
He cleared his throat, reaching the end of his speech and getting increasingly uncomfortable as he did so. He had talked a lot.
"Well there you have it. Hermione, I swear I only ever used the charm so I could help you, so that I could help the Order. Snape told me about it, but he obviously couldn't get me in this late in the war, no one would have trusted me. Although we're allies now, I didn't lift the charm because I like having a link to you, and knowing you're safe. In fact, I'm glad I did, or I would've never found out about you guys today, least at all found you. Then, what would the world have done without The-Boy-Who-Lived and his faithful sidekick?"
He smirked at her and she let out an ungraceful snort. That's when then suddenly realised that they were practically stuck together and both took a quick step backwards.
"'Mione!" a voice shouted from their left, accompanying a set of quick footsteps.
Draco raised his eyes to the ceiling. Honestly, did he have to interrupt them all the time?
"What is it WonderBoy?" asked Draco in a drawling and unpleasant voice as Harry ran into sight.
Harry slowed down and stared at Hermione with a raised eyebrow. No doubt he was surprised that, first: she hadn't turned him into a ferret, and second that she hadn't reacted to his nickname for him. Usually that really pissed her off...
"Sky!" Hermione suddenly realised as the bird left Harry's shoulder and flew over to its owner's arm, cooing as Draco ran a finger down his neck and along his wings. "Did he bring anything?"
Harry walked over to her and handed over the small, ruffled letter.
"I haven't read it yet," he said without taking his suspicious glare off of Malfoy.
Ripping open the seal, Hermione started reading out the small, scruffy handwriting so they could all hear what the letter said:
L & I OK. Still fixing.
Can't make it to DA, meet in London? Important News.
Do it fast.
PS: I swear, if the ferret does anything...
Harry, Hermione and Draco were standing in front of an old, expensive looking diadem. On the front of it was a homage to Rowena Ravenclaw, her insignia being easily recognizable in the large precious gems. Draco cleared his throat, making the two others towards him.
"So what do we do with this?"
After having received the answer from Ron, Harry and Hermione had practically cheered in relief. Practically; they were in a war after all. The letter, however, had stirred a sense of hurry in them, and they had planned their next day carefully.
That evening, they would destroy the first horcrux, that being the Ravenclaw diadem. Hermione had been relieved to know that Harry had included a warning of the Slytherin necklace in his note to Ron, and that had reminded them that they needed to get rid of this one before anything else distracted.
That was therefore their first task. Then they had planned to eat, noticing that they had enough food to last them a couple of days, then they'd be off to sleep. The next task would be packing, planning a safe way out of Hogwarts and what to do to reach their friends when they got to London. Hermione also needed to finish a certain potion, which she'd said would be able to cure all of Luna's cuts as she was pretty sure Ron knew no healing spells and that her wounds might have gotten infected.
They gone over his note to them dozens of times, finally coming to the conclusion that he'd found somewhere safe to hide them, most likely a barn or something, and that he was letting Luna recuperate for a bit. A small part of Hermione had remembered why she liked Ron in the first place, reminding her of his rare but caring intentions towards his friends. Then another part of her had imagined a large, silver hippogriff that had kicked out all her loving thoughts of her ginger friend. As she stood between Draco and Harry, her romantic thoughts still spun in a turmoil in her head, make her groan to shake them off.
Once the strange trio had devised a plan, Harry and sent Sky back to Ron with an answer. It simply said:
2 days, three streets down from Snuffles.
They hoped that would be enough to find him, but there was enough uncertainty in the air to make both Harry and Hermione anxious. Draco having been on many less crazy adventures as the golden trio had, he seemed calmer and unaware of just how many things could go wrong on their trip to London. Instead, he regularly glanced over to where Hermione stood, confidence filling his grey eyes. He'd seen them all come out of danger more times than he could count, mainly thanks to her genius, and for once he felt confident because he had her by his side.
He looked back over to the innocent-looking object set on the floor.
"We've got to destroy it quickly," answered Harry, all past hatred for the blond man gone from his voice as he concentrated with the task at hand. "If we don't it'll only get stronger from the attacks we inflict on it."
"So... you two have done this before right?"
The two Gryffindors glanced at each other awkwardly, before Hermione answered.
"Well... not exactly... Actually, Harry destroyed one back in second year, but we haven't had to do it whilst it was still dormant. We're pretty sure it's going to fight back."
Draco looked back at the diadem, dread filling his stomach. He hadn't even picked up on Harry's second year exploits in his worry.
"So, who starts?" Harry asked no one in particular.
"Maybe you should Harry," answered Hermione with an apologetic look. "You've faced one before, so..."
She drifted off, embarrassed by how cowardly she sounded, and Harry nodded in understanding, owning himself a snort from Draco. "He thinks he's sooo noble..." Draco thought bitterly, though glad he got to see what happened before confronting the cursed object.
"Right, ready?" Hermione asked Harry.
Another nod. She handed him the goblin sword Draco had retrieved from his father's study, and as he held it in front of him, Hermione carefully poured a small vial of poison over the blade. She knew what was in it and didn't care to touch it. The Draught of Death didn't make for a happy day.
"Okay," said Harry, trying to sound confident. "Here goes nothing."
Hermione and Draco took a few steps backwards, and as Draco put his wand back in his pocket, Hermione shook her head at him.
"We might need our wands," she said as only explanation before she turned her attention back to her best friend.
Harry had practically reached the horcrux when a thick, black smoke suddenly spilled out of the metal, engulfing the diadem in an impenetrable cloud. The smoke crawled along the floor like a disease, covering their feet and thickening to reach their knees. Hermione looked up and saw that Harry wasn't moving, his eyes scanning the floor for the horcrux.
"Harry!" she screamed as the deadly looking smoke crawled up his legs and his torso. She had a terrible feeling about it. "Don't breathe it in!"
It was too late for warnings. The smoke suddenly gathered in a tornado of darkness, surrounding her best friend entirely, making him disappear from their sight. A terrible woman's scream suddenly irrupted from the living smoke, piercing their ears from its intensity. Then the smoke subsided, revealing Harry's body on the ground.
HA! Is this a cliffy? ^^
Tell me what you think! x