"Mistakes are always forgivable,
if one has the courage to admit them,"
- Bruce Lee.
On Christmas Day, Hermione took over watch at midnight. Lydia gratefully crawled into bed, sinking into her pillows. Her dreams were confusing. Nagini weaved in and out of them with Ron stood over George's dead body, screaming at her about how this was all her fault. Lee Jordan stood behind them, commenting on everything as though he was commentating during a Quidditch match. She turned her back on Ron, trying to get away from it all, only to look into a mirror where her eyes glowed red like Voldemort's.
Harry shook her awake and passed her wand back to her. Since Hermione had accidentally broken his, he had started using hers. Hermione had reasoned that because they were twins, it would be more effective then if he used hers. He hadn't snapped at Hermione for anything, but Lydia could tell that he was holding back from getting really angry at her.
"Is there no way you can fix it?" He asked over breakfast that day.
Hermione tugged at the Horcrux around her neck and, quite patiently said, "No, Harry, you know I can't. I've already told you. When a wand is damaged that much, there's nothing you can do about it. Do you not remember Ron's wand in second year?"
With Harry being in this much of a bad mood, Lydia felt as though Hermione was being very courageous in bringing Ron up. He clenched his jaw and looked away for a moment before looking back up, and Lydia could tell that the smile on his face was forced.
"I know. I'll get a proper one,"
They moved again that day. Hermione had become quite paranoid and was convinced that she could hear someone moving around near them and talking loudly. Lydia thought that she might have gone mad, but knew better than to get on the wrong side of Hermione when she was like this. They packed everything up and moved to yet another forest. Lydia thought she might die if she ever had to walk into a forest again after this.
"Where are we?" Harry asked.
"Forest of Dean," Hermione explained, "I came camping here once with mum and dad,"
Lydia looked around, "All forests look the same and I hate them all,"
"You're a little ball of sunshine, aren't you?" Harry said brightly.
"That's all I'm here for," she beamed.
She offered to take first watch. Harry pretended to kick up a fuss about it, but Lydia knew that he didn't really care. Although she would never say it to him, Lydia felt as though she wouldn't have slept well knowing that Harry would be looking out for them using a wand that he couldn't cast even the most simple of spells with. Hermione made her promise to wake her up at midnight and then bid her goodnight, disappearing into the tent and holding The Tales of Beedle the Bard close to her chest.
"Night," Harry said.
Lydia pulled an armchair into the mouth of the tent and, wrapping herself up in five jumpers and covering herself in all the blankets that she kept on her bed, she curled up in the chair and tightly gripped her wand. The snow that was falling thick and fast was actually quite unnerving. She kept on thinking that she could see a figure moving in the trees and, twice, she thought she heard someone call her name.
"You're just hearing things," she told herself firmly, "there's no one around. It's just us,"
Her mind wandered back to Godric's Hollow, and back to the statue of Lydia, Harry and their parents. She wondered if James had known of its existence. Had he gone back to Godric's Hollow? He must have done...how else would he have come back to life? He must have woken up again in the place that he had thought home. Lydia frowned and picked at the thread on her jumper. Why had she never asked him that? She couldn't understand how, between her and Harry, they had never asked what had actually happened when he had come back to life. Had he woke up below ground or above? How did he get back to Hogwarts? Had he been buried with his wand? If he was, he could have easily Apparated away...but, no, because Lydia struggled to do the most simple spells when she was tired in the morning, how on earth would James have managed to Apparate after fourteen years of being dead?
There was so much she should have asked him when he was around. She should have asked more about Lily. They had only ever spoke about her in passing apart from once in the Christmas of Lydia's fifth year. "I see a lot of your mother in you," he had told her. Lydia snorted to herself. She felt like the direct antithesis of Lily Potter. Lily Potter, who was in Gryffindor and never accused of being a Dark Witch. Lily Potter who Hagrid had once told her was one of the most powerful witches that he knew, but only ever used the power she had for good.
Lily Potter would never have killed a Death Eater. It was strange, really, because the Death Eaters probably didn't think about the people they killed once it was done, but Lydia couldn't stop thinking about what she had done. She had felt that the Killing Curse was beneath her and so had compensated by killing that man in the most violent way possible. Did that really make her any different from the likes of Bellatrix Lestrange? It was the sort of thing that Bellatrix would have done and that didn't fill Lydia with much joy. Not much did. She thought about the look on George's face after she had killed the Death Eater and it made her feel even worse. It was the first time she had ever known him to not immediately smile when he saw her.
Harry wouldn't have done that. If Harry had been in her shoes, he would probably have just disarmed the Death Eater and moved on. Lydia often thought that things would be ten times better if she was more like Harry. He always seemed to be able to do the right thing and he was hated by people on the other side, not by people who were supposedly their allies. She wondered how many people counted themselves as allies of just the Boy who Lived, and not his possibly evil sister.
That had essentially been what Rita Skeeter had written in their fourth year: "Whilst Harry Potter might be your stereotypical handsome hero, the Girl who Lived might be anything but your stereotypical righteous heroine. With a Slytherin tie hanging around her neck and a glare that could cut someone in half, I wonder how she could have ever possibly vanquished the Dark Lord once and for all. If anything, she herself looks like she's halfway to become the next You-Know-Who!" Lydia snorted as she remembered that particular article. Fred and George reacted to it in the only way Fred and George could. Whenever they passed her in the corridor they would loudly say, "The Dark Lady is coming through! She's late for Transfiguration and will kill you if you don't move out the way!"
It was hard to believe that back in fourth year, Lydia's biggest worries were what Rita Skeeter would next write about her and what she was going to do with her hair at the Yule Ball. If she could go back and find her fourteen year old self, she'd probably tell her to actually enjoy herself because soon, everything would go to shit. Complete and utter shit.
A bright light distracted her from her thoughts. Frowning, Lydia looked up. At first, she thought that it was a massive group of people with torches, but she quickly recognised it as the silvery glow of a Patronus Charm. They weren't the only Wizards in the forest. Lydia glanced behind her at the tent and almost went to shout for Harry and Hermione, but something told her that this was something just for her.
Gripping her wand tightly in her hand, Lydia slowly rose from the chair and walked towards the light. The closer she got, the more she could see that it had a shape. Heart beating with a mixture of fear and excitement, Lydia peered closer to it and she was sure that her heart stopped beating for a second.
It was a Doe.
Her immediate thought was that she had accidentally cast a Patronus without realising, but that was practically impossible. It was a tricky piece of magic that even the most experienced wizards couldn't cast. Then, her mind went straight to her mother. It couldn't be Lily. She was dead. Lydia had seen her grave but, then again, they had thought that James had been dead all that time and yet he came back. Could this Doe be about to lead her to Lily Potter back from the dead?
The Doe turned around and began to walk through the trees. A sense of calm overtook Lydia and she knew that as long as she was with this Doe, nothing could hurt her and so she hastened to follow her. The Doe, not being a physical being, walked gracefully over the overgrown roots of the trees, whereas Lydia kept on tripping over and there was a few times where she definitely nearly broke her ankle, but she didn't care. She needed to know what the Doe was about to show her.
They emerged from the trees to a clearing. Lydia whirled around, looking for her mother but she was not there. Disheartened, Lydia turned to look at the Doe. She bowed her head and then disappeared, bathing the clearing in darkness.
"No!" She exclaimed, suddenly realising how ridiculously stupid she had been to come away from the protection of the tent alone. Anyone could be around. She was half-expecting to see a flash of green light heading straight towards her. God, she thought, that would be an embarrassing way to die.
"Lumos," she whispered, still glancing around.
Something red caught her eye and she hurried towards a pond that had frozen over. There was something beneath the ice but she couldn't quite see what it was. If this was Voldemort's plan to lure her away from Harry and Hermione, it was working. She knew that she should probably go and get them both, but there was something keeping her in this clearing and she wouldn't leave until she figured out what it was.
"Lumos Maxima,"
The light on the tip of her wand grew brighter and she moved it closer to the pond and, in her excitement, slipped on the ice and fell to her knees for the Sword of Gryffindor was just below the ice. Lydia spun around again, facing the trees, trying to see if the caster of the Patronus had hung around.
"Mum?" She called, "Pr-Professor Dumbledore?" She knew that both of these people were a long shot, but a girl could hope. "Anyone?" There was no answer and she quickly shut up, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention. If some Muggles found her, she couldn't think of many good excuses as to why there was a sword in the pond other than she was doing some sort of scavenger hunt.
Lydia straightened up again and looked down at it. The water was probably below freezing, but she couldn't really wait for the weather to warm up to get it. She glanced around. If this was the real sword, and she hoped to Merlin that it was, then she couldn't walk away from it. The Horcrux hung heavier than it ever had done around her neck. They had to get rid of it. They had to destroy it so that they could destroy him once and for all.
What was it that Dumbledore had said to her in second year? "Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that sword out of the hat,". On reflection, Lydia felt that there was a difference between pulling a sword out of a hat than out of icy water but, then again, at least there was no Basilisk this time. Moreover, Lydia didn't feel like a true Gryffindor. She didn't even feel like a true Slytherin. She wasn't quite sure what it meant to be true to either house.
"Alright, Dumbledore," she muttered, "time to find out how Gryffindor I actually am," she pointed her wand at the ice, "Diffindo," the ice cracked she stepped on it slightly with her foot. It gave way and sank to the bottom of the pond. Lydia bent down slightly and put the tip of her finger into the water, pulling it out straight away as the cold washed over her.
What was it that the Sorting Hat had said about Gryffindor? "Their daring, nerve and chivalry set Gryffindors apart,". Lydia bit down on her lip, she wasn't feeling very daring and she certainly didn't have have the nerve to jump into some freezing water. Surely there was a better way for her to get the sword, after all Slytherin's would do anything to achieve what they wanted, including jumping into water.
"Oh, fuck it, I'll be dead soon anyway," she said to no one in particular, carefully placing her wand on the floor so that it shone on the Sword. She put a Weightlessness Charm on her clothes, in the hope that keeping them on would somehow keep her warm. Terrified of losing the Horcrux when they were the closest to destroying it than they had been in a while, she kept in around her neck. "OK, Potter, let's get this over and done with. You've swam in the Black Lake, you'll be fine,"
Taking a deep breath and sending a quick prayer to a God that she didn't quite believe in, Lydia jumped in. The icy coldness washed over immediately and the breath rushed from her body. She forced her eyes open and saw the Sword at the bottom. As she dived own, the Horcrux seemed to come to life. It shot upwards and began to wrap itself tightly around her neck, pulling her to the ground. Lydia tried to scream, but she just took in a mouthful of water. She thrashed around in the water, her hands snatching at the Horcrux, trying to get it off her, but it was as though it was attached to her skin.
Any energy that she did have seemed to drain away from her and she began to sink that bottom of the pond, her eyes slowly shutting. Arms, presumably deaths, wrapped around her middle and she felt herself calm down again. It was over. She had done what she could, but it had not been enough.
Her head broke the surface of the water and the breath rushed back into her body. Someone pushed her back onto dry land and she stayed there, coughing and spluttering, her glasses askew. She was quite confused as to whether she was dead or alive. She felt like she was alive, but she had never been dead, so she could draw no reasonable comparison.
"You idiot," someone said, pulling her up. They sounded familiar, "Why didn't you take that thing off before you dived?"
Lydia grabbed her glasses off the floor and shoved them back onto her face. The blurry figure in front of her came into focus. It was Ron. He was drenched, his sopping hair plastered to his face. In one hand, he held the Sword and in the other, the Horcrux. They stood apart from each other. There was a part of her that wanted to curse him into next year, but the better part of her won. Completely disregarding all the horrible things that he had said to her, Lydia launched herself at him, throwing his arms around his neck. He yelped slightly but hugged her back.
"I thought you were going to curse me," he muttered, though he sounded relieved.
"I'd never c-curse you," she said, her teeth chattering from the cold, "A-apart from a-all those times I've cursed y-you," she looked over his shoulder, "s-so it was you?"
"Yeah," he said, sounding confused.
"Y-you cast the Doe?"
"No!" he said, "my Patronus is a Jack Russell...I thought it was you,"
Lydia shook her head, "N-no. It came to me,"
"Oh," he said frowning, "I thought I saw someone over there but then I saw you jump in the pool and I didn't want to wait around in case you didn't come back out,"
"Why are you here?" Lydia asked, "After everything-"
"Well, I, you know, I came back. If, um, if you still want me..." He cleared his throat, looking awkward.
"Ron," she said, "obviously we still want you. You're my best friend. You just saved my life,"
"Yeah, well, I thought...I thought..." Ron stammered, "Whatever. I got the Sword," he held it up, "Do you think that it's the real one?"
"Only one way to find out," Lydia said, "It can destroy Horcruxes," she explained, "if it's the real one, it'll be impregnated with Basilisk venom. It should destroy it,"
She took the Horcrux off him and placed it on a bolder, staring at it in apprehension. Lydia knew that if they managed to destroy that here, they would be one step closer to destroying him. They were one step closer to all of this ending. Ron offered Lydia the Sword but she shook her head.
"No," Lydia said, "It should be you,"
"Me?" Ron asked, looking shock, "why?"
"Because you pulled the Sword out of the pool," Lydia said, "It has to be you. The Locket affected you more than it did me, Harry or Hermione. You have to do it. Please, Ron, we need to destroy it now."
He didn't say anything.
"I'm going to ask it to open," she said, her voice surprisingly calm, "and then stab it. Ready?"
He swallowed and then nodded, moving closer to the locket. Lydia turned away from Ron and looked at the Locket. It was easy to imagine that the green serpentine 'S' as a real slithering snake. She could hear Ron breathing heavily behind her and began to worry that he might start having a panic attack, which was the last thing any of them needed.
"One...two...three...open," the last word came out as a hiss. The golden doors of the locket swung open, revealing a blinking living eye. It was not the scarlet, slitted eye of Lord Voldemort, but the dark eye of Tom Riddle.
"Stab," said Lydia.
Ron raised the sword and Lydia held her breath, waiting for it to all be over. But then, a voice hissed from out of the Horcrux, taking them both by surprise.
"I have seen your heart, and it is mine," it hissed, "I have seen your dreams, Ronald Weasley, and I have seen your fears. All your desire is possible, but all that you dread is also possible..."
"Don't listen to it, Ron!" Lydia shouted, "just stab it! Stab it!"
But he had frozen, the sword held above his head.
"Least loved, always, by the mother who craved a daughter...least loved, now, by he girl who prefers your friend...second best, always, eternally overshadowed..."
"STAB IT!" Lydia bellowed.
Riddles eye suddenly gleamed scarlet and something rose out of the locket. It was Harry and Hermione, but they didn't look like themselves at all. Lydia actually took a step back from the locket.
Riddle-Harry laughed, "Why return? We were better without you, happier without you, glad of your absence...we laughed at your stupidity, your cowardice, your presumption-"
"S-stab it!" Lydia said weakly.
"Presumption!" Riddle-Hermione echoed. Ron stared at her, horrified yet transfixed. His arm hung limply at his sword, the sword almost falling out of his hand, "who could look at you, who would ever look at you, beside Harry Potter? What have you ever done, compared with the Chosen One? What are you compared with the Boy Who Lived?"
"Stab it, Ron!" Lydia yelled, "COME ON!"
"You're mother confessed," Riddle-Harry sneered, "that she would have preferred me as a son, would be glad to exchange..."
"Who wouldn't prefer, what woman would take you? You are nothing, nothing, nothing to him," crooned Riddle-Hermione, and she wrapped him in an embrace and their lips met.
"RON! GET ON WITH IT!" Lydia screamed, "COME ON!"
Finally, Ron raised his arms above his head and moved forward to the locket. He glanced back at Lydia, and, for a moment, she thought that she saw a trace of red in his eyes. The sword flashed and he thrust the sword into the locket. There was a long, drawn-out scream and the clang of metal on metal.
Slowly, Lydia walked towards Ron. His eyes were back to their usual blue, though they were bloodshot. She turned to look at the locket, it was completely mangled and smoke rose from it, curling in the air.
"R-Ron," Lydia said, rushing towards him as he fell to his knees, "It's-it's alright..." She dropped next to him and hugged him. The fact that he didn't shove her away from him was a good sign. "It's not like that. Harry and Hermione, I mean. She cried for weeks she did, when you left. Barely looked at Harry. She's never looked at Harry, not when you're there anyway," He still didn't say anything and she carried on, "Harry loves Hermione like a sister in the same way I love you like a brother,"
It took him awhile but he finally pulled away, looking at her with tears streaming down his face.
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice thick with tears, "I'm sorry that I was a prat and left. And I'm sorry...I'm sorry about what I said about George. I know it wasn't your fault and-" he glanced at her ring, "-and I know that you care about him, a lot. And, I know we're technically not supposed to talk about your wedding, but I can't wait until you're officially a Weasley," he grinned at her, "Lydia Weasley has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
"Who said you're invited, dickhead?"
"Oh," Ron said, the grin melting off his face, "I just...you know...but...obviously...your wedding...and I supposed George would invite me but-p
"Ron," Lydia said, "It was a joke. Obviously you're coming,"
"Yeah, obviously,"
Lydia grinned at him and picked his bag off the ground, "Come on, let's go and find the tent,"
It didn't take them long to find it. Not because it was easy to find, but because Harry and Hermione seemed to be running around, shouting her name. Lydia hadn't even thought about the fact that they might have woken up and found her to be missing.
"Lydia?" Harry was shouting, "Lydia? Lyds? Where are you? Lyds!"
"I'm here!" Lydia shouted, "Harry!"
"You absolute twat! You're genuinely the stupidest person I know!" He yelled, "Hermione! She's here! You can't just walk away from us like that! I thought you were dead! I was terrified, I was..." he trailed off as his eyes fell on Ron, "What are you doing here?"
Lydia interjected before Ron could answer.
"He destroyed the Horcrux," she said quickly, grabbing Ron's arm and pulling it up so that Harry could see the the mangled locked, "I found the Sword and he pulled it out and destroyed it. He saved my life, Harry,"
The last sentence seemed to stir something in him.
"He saved your life?" Harry asked quietly.
"Yeah," Lydia said, "It was in a pool and I jumped in to get it and I was still wearing the Horcrux. It tried to strangle me and I nearly drowned until he pulled me out. If he hadn't have found me, I would have died,"
Ron cleared his throat, "I wish I didn't leave. The moment I went, I wanted to come back but I couldn't find you. Your enchantments work. I couldn't see a thing,"
Harry and Ron looked at each other for a moment and then, at the exact same time, they walked forward and hugged. Lydia felt herself calm down. She had been terrified that Harry would try to attack Ron again.
"Lydia? Harry?"
Hermione ran over to them. Her face flushed. She looked at Lydia, shaking her head. "You c-can't, you can't do that! I thought- RON?" She screamed the last word so loudly that Lydia yelped slightly.
"Hey," he said, smiling slightly and holding his arms up.
Hermione rushed towards him, and Lydia thought that she might hug him, but then she started punching every inch of his body that she could reach, "You complete arse Ronald Weasley!" She shouted, "You crawl back here after weeks and all you say is 'hey'?"
She turned back round to Harry who jumped backwards from her.
"Where's my wand, Harry?" She asked.
"I don't know!" Harry said, walking away from her, "I don't have it!"
"Why would he have your wand?" Ron asked.
Hermione ignored him and turned to Lydia, holding out her hand. Lydia shook her head, hiding her wand behind her back.
"Give me your wand!" Hermione said.
"No!" Lydia said.
"Lydia Lily Potter, you give me your wand right now!"
There was nothing scarier than Hermione using her full name, but she refused to back down, "No, I'm not giving you my wand!"
"I-I'm sorry!" Ron said, saving Lydia from the wrath of Hermione, "I wanted to come back as soon as I left! I did! I've had a right hard time, I have! When I Disapparated away, I Apparated straight into a group of Snatchers-"
"Snatchers?" Lydia asked.
"They're a group of people who round up all the Muggle-borns. When I ran into them, they thought I might look like school-age and thought I was a Muggle-born in hiding. I told them I was Stan Shunpike, he was the first person I thought of, anyway, whilst they were arguing I stunned one of them and got their wand. They weren't very smart though. One of them was definitely part troll," he glanced at Hermione, as if hoping she would laugh, but she was still glaring at him, and so he carried on, "I Apparated away and then splinched myself again," and he held his hand up, showing missing fingernails.
"Oh, you lost some fingernails?" Hermione asked in a mock sympathetic voice, "How hard must that have been for you, Ronald? It really does put our struggles into perspective doesn't it, Harry, Lydia? Why, all we've had to deal with it You-Know-Who's snake trying to kill us and then the man himself turning up and missing us by minutes! But, no! Let's all worry about Ron Weasley and his fucking fingernails! What a hard time you've had Ron!"
Lydia winced. She had known Hermione long enough to know that things were starting to get dangerous when Hermione started swearing. It almost made Lydia miss Nagini.
"You-Know-Who's snake?" Ron asked, his mouth hanging open, but then his voice changed. "I've just destroyed a bloody Horcrux, you know!"
"How do you have the Sword of Gryffindor?" Hermione asked, turning on Lydia.
"It was in a pool," Lydia said and she quickly explained what had happened.
"How did you find us?" Hermione asked.
"I've been staying in little pubs around the country, trying to shake people off my tail. Anyway, there was this one night when I was messing about with the Deluminator and then I heard Hermione," He said, "She said- she said my name. And then this ball of light appeared, and it flew into my chest, right about here," he pointed at his heart, "and then I knew where to go to find you. It took me ages though. I only found you because I saw Lydia,"
"W-well, you're here now," Harry said, "and that's all that matters,"
Harry looked at Lydia and jerked his head at Hermione. Putting her wand in her bun, she walked over to Hermione and put her arms around her shoulders.
"Come on, 'Mione," she said, "let's go and complain about the love of your life,"
"He's not the love of my life," Hermione muttered.
"That's what you think," Lydia said knowingly, "I'm really good at Divination, remember?"
Hermione laughed, "Yeah, and you're also really good at potions,"
"I don't like how sarcastic you've suddenly got," Lydia said, "And it's really important to me that you know that,"