Disclaimer: I am not Joanne.
Soon after Ron and Hermione made peace with one another, they all apparated back to Spinner's End. It was clear that the two were a couple now, even if they did not come right out and say it. They didn't really need to. They held hands all the time, and Ivy even caught them kissing once.
But the good mood did not last. After their escapade at the Ministry, things slowed down almost to a stop. They did not dare leave the house as long as they had no idea where to search for the next horcrux, and they had nothing to do but read and reread their studied material, practice and practice spells that they had mastered long ago. Ron was particularly restless.
"We should be out there doing something!" Ron said with a frustrated wave to the door.
"What do you suggest?" Ivy huffed. Her hormones made every emotion see felt become magnified by ten, so at the moment her patience with Ron's whining had dwindled down to nothing.
"Something! We expected that Dumbledore would have told you something. Anything! We thought you would be prepared!"
"Well I am sorry for being upfront with you. I told you everything I know. I am sorry that this is not living up to your idea of a grand adventure."
"But we are just sitting here! We will never find the horcruxes if we just wait for them to come to us!"
"Then where should we look? Just travel around the country side until we find it stashed under a hay-bale? In case you haven't noticed, Ron, I'm pregnant! I can't just go running around month after month!"
"Well that is your fault for letting a greasy old creeper knock you up when you are supposed to be fighting a war."
A loud slap echoed around the room as her palm made contact with his cheek. He looked at her in surprise and fury.
"If you want to leave, than get out!" Ivy snapped.
"Fine!" Ron yelled, getting to his feet and taking several steps to the door. He looked over his shoulder at his girlfriend. "Coming Hermione?"
"Ron... Ron, I can't, we have to stay together..."
"Fine. Fine. I see how it is. Friends first, right?" he sneered.
No... No, Ron, it isn't like that at all..."
But he ignored her and stomped out the front door. Hermione followed him, calling his name, but he apparated away. Hermione grew still and silent, tears streaking her cheeks as she looked at the spot where he vanished. She stayed where she was only for a few moment, knowing that it was dangerous to be outside. Without a word she sat next to Ivy, who put her arm around her friend and let her cry on her shoulder.
...
"Hermione, I want to check out Godric's Hollow." Ivy said.
"What?"
"Well, it is where Voldemort lost everything. It may be the sort of place where he would hide a horcrux. And... I would like to see where my parents are buried. At least once before this all starts."
"Okay." Hermione finally said. "We can go check it out. But we will go at night. Under the invisibility cloak."
When night fell, Ivy and Hermione covered themselves in James Potter's cloak and disapperated to Godric's Hollow. Ivy's first impression was of a gingerbread village. All of the buildings looked like little cottages, and everything was covered in a layer of snow.
"Well, it looks as if being invisible is useless." Hermione sighed. "Our footprints would just give us away."
"Look. The graveyard." Ivy said, pulling her friend over to the gate.
"Oh, Ivy..."
Ivy followed Hermione's line of sight to find a large statue of a stone family. A kind-faced, pretty woman held a baby, while a messy haired and spectacled father had his arms around them both. It was a monument to her family.
Ivy found tears in her eyes and had to look away. She wiped her eyes while she was pretending to look at the names on the headstones. Eventually she came across the one that she was looking for: It was a double headstone, with both of their names, and underneath them the dates of their birth and death. The inscription read: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."
Ivy stood silently, staring at it for a long time. She felt as if she should pray or something.
Hermione moved first. She took out her wand and conjured a ring of flowers and set it down on the grave. Ivy gave her friend a wordless nod of gratitude before turning back to her parents.
"Thanks mum. Thanks dad. I love you." She whispered.
...
There next stop was Ivy's old home. Half of the house was gone, and when they searched inside everything was gone. It had either been confiscated by the Ministry or ransacked by vultures.
"Ivy... Ivy that lady is staring at us." Hermione whispered as they prepared to leave. Ivy turned to see an old woman on the street, eyeing them carefully. She motioned for them to follow her.
"Should we trust her?" Ivy asked.
"I think so. I believe that is Bathilda Bagshot. She wrote A History of Magic, and she was said to be a close friend of the Dumbledore family."
"Maybe she knows something." Ivy said, her hope rising.
"Maybe." Hermione agreed, biting her lip. "But we should be careful..."
They followed the silent woman to a house just two doors down. She then motioned for Hermione to stay where she was and pulled Ivy upstairs. She still remained quiet.
"Ms. Bagshot? Please... did you have a reason for bringing us here?" Ivy asked.
"A reason? Yes." The old woman hissed. Ivy frowned. Something about her gave Ivy the creeps, and that voice wasn't helping. It was a cold, high voice that should not have come from a little old lady. It reminded her eerily of Voldemort's voice...
"What do you want?" Ivy asked suspiciously, but Bathilda was cut off from answering due to a shrill scream that came from downstairs.
"Hermione!" Ivy cried, starting to run toward the stairs. But Bathilda pushed her to the ground with a force that belied her age, and began to quiver so hard that her loose skin began to shake. And then droop... And then start to shed, revealing a snake underneath...
Ivy reached for her wand, but the snake struck out at her and she was forced to roll over to avoid the venomous fangs. Her wand fell from her grasp in the process.
"Reducto!" yelled a familiar male voice from the doorway. The spell bounced off the snake and hit the wall, making it crumble instantly. A brick in the rubble collided with Ivy's head, and her vision began to darken. She was only vaguely aware of the hands grabbing her and pulling her away.
...
When she woke up again, she was in her bed and two familiar faces hovered over her.
"Ron?" She asked. "What are you doing here? And why do you have a black eye?"
"Well, the black eye is courtesy of Hermione." Ron flushed. "The rest is a bit of a long story... I didn't go home once I left. I started looking around in places I thought horcruxes might be, but of course I didn't get anywhere. But tonight as I was playing with my deluminator, I heard Hermione screaming from inside the light to conjured. I knew I had to help, so I let the little ball float inside my chest-" he tapped his heart "-and then I disapperated. It brought me right to her."
"And then?" Ivy prompted. "Why did you scream Hermione?"
"You know how the snake was wearing Bathilda's skin? Well, I found the rest." She said softly, looking sick.
"Yeah, and when I got there, she told me you were upstairs, so I went and found you being attacked by it. I cast a Reducto Curse, which didn't effect it at all, but made the wall blast apart. It was a good enough distraction to get you away. Then once we were safe, Hermione laid into me and gave me this shiner." Ron finished.
Ivy frowned and looked around.
"Where is my wand?" She asked. Her friends exchanged a look, and Hermione's lip quivered.
"I-I grabbed it for you Ivy but..."
"But what?" Ivy pressed, feeling her chest restrict. Hermione reached into her pocket and pulled out what remained of her wand, cleanly snapped in two and only held together by the visible strand of a phoenix feather.
"We've tried everything, but nothing fixed it." Ron said quietly.
Ivy didn't say anything. She had her wand ever since she visited Ollivander's when she was elven years old. Now that she no longer had it, Ivy felt more helpless than she ever had before.