Chapter 10: Black and White.
"You promised to give us Harry Potter, and what did we get? Hundreds of Acromantulas!"
"I couldn't know..."
"YOU COULDN'T KNOW!?"
"Still, the battle has been a great victory. They had many more casualties than us. And the old man is..."
"It's not enough. Harry Potter is still alive! You have failed... Crucio!"
Ron fell to the floor, writhing, as his cries echoed through the room. Only Bellatrix and a few other Death Eaters were present, watching the show with indifference.
"Hogwarts... The tunnels." The pain barely let him speak, but he had to finish what he had started... or die trying.
Voldemort raised his wand. "Tunnels?... What are you talking about?"
"The old man... Dumbledore... He's dying... without him, the castle's defences are weakened... Only he knew about the tunnels. They will be unguarded, we can enter Hogwarts through them."
"Tunnels, you say... While I was in the castle there was only one tunnel, and it was destroyed. Are you telling me that now there are more tunnels linking the inside of Hogwarts to the outside?"
"There are several. A few were destroyed, but others are still intact. Only Potter's father and his friends knew about them, the rest of the students and teachers never knew of their existence. Now that Dumbledore is agonising and Potter is in the hospital wing, It will be easy to use them to take the castle and end the war once and for all."
Voldemort seemed to weigh in. "According to my informants, Dumbledore is in San Mungo. But it wouldn't be the first time the old man faked his own death."
"It was my lord who brought him down. It can't be a farce."
"Right... And if what you say about the tunnels is true, Hogwarts would fall easily and with it, the last remnants of resistance."
"It is true my lord. They really do exist, I have used them more than once."
"And they were discovered by James Potter and his friends... Wormtail!"
A few seconds later a stunted, trembling figure approached his master.
"What do you wish, my lord?"
"Is it true what he claims? Is there a network of tunnels linking the castle to the outside? A network you never informed me about?"
"My lord, they had a map, the tunnels were on it. But I never knew exactly where they were! They never let me see it!"
"Wormtail... Why do you lie? Don't you realize Voldemort will always see through your pathetic excuses?"
"My Lord. It wasn't important. I never thought..."
"No, Wormtail. You never thought." Voldemort raised his wand.
"No! My lord... Sorry, sorry!" Pettigrew knelt down shaking like a leaf.
"You are forgiven. Avada Kedavra!"
With a wave of his wand, he threw the corpse into a corner of the room.
"Weasley, I want you to tell me everything you know about those tunnels. Everything."
"Ron! Wake up! You're having a nightmare!"
In front of him, still out of focus, was Hermione's face. Ron was lying on something soft and warm, much more comfortable than the hard, cold floor he was used to. He looked around quite disoriented. They were in a small room with barely enough space for two beds, and a tiny table with a chair.
"What? Where are we...?"
"Don't worry. We are safe. In a hotel room. It's almost daylight."
Ron recalled everything. Now they were staying in a Muggle hotel. They could eat all they needed and sleep in a soft, warm bed. Without a doubt, their life was much better since Hermione had changed her mind about his innocence.
"Are you feeling better? I tried to wake you up but I couldn't, it's like you're in a trance."
"Don't worry, it was just another one of my nightmares... the usual."
"There is nothing usual about these nightmares, and you have them more and more often. They remind me too much of when Harry had his visions. Maybe I could try to make a potion, or use some Muggle medicine."
It was amazing how Hermione had gone from obsessively despising him, to caring about him with the same intensity.
"Why do you care so much? A few days ago you hated my guts, and suddenly you believe in my innocence without a doubt. What if you're wrong? What if I really did all those things?"
"I'm not wrong: I know you, and I know you could never do such a thing." Her voice couldn't be more firm and certain.
"Yes. It's easy for you. You don't have to see... everything."
Hermione pushed his fringe aside in a loving gesture. "I know it's hard, but you can't let them affect you so much."
"Yes. I know: with all the spells I have in me, those nightmares could be almost anything. But the problem is that they're too detailed and realistic. I have no doubt that they are memories. My memories."
What could he do, lie to her? She had trusted him. He could only tell her the truth. Whatever it took.
Over the next few hours, Ron explained all his nightmares trying not to leave out any details, however horrible or unimportant they might seem. Hermione kept taking notes of everything he said, becoming paler and paler as the hours passed.
Ron dropped on his bed, totally exhausted. "I should have told you all this earlier, but I guess I didn't want to admit that I'm a monster. I'm sorry." What else could he say?
"Ron. Look at me." He obeyed reluctantly. "I have to think about all this. It's a lot of information."
"Yes... And all horrible."
Hermione ignored him and kept talking. "But I still believe in you. That man you remember is not you. There has to be a logical explanation, and I'm going to find it."
"There is: It's me. Don't you remember what Dumbledore said when he was trying to cure me, or whatever it was: I'm evil."
"Don't say that! Dumbledore never said you were evil. He said that there was evil in your heart, which is not the same thing."
Ron raised his eyebrows. "It looks the same to me."
"You have evil in your heart, like everyone else. To a greater or lesser extent we all do. Maybe Dumbledore was... examining you, or looking for something."
"And what he was finding wasn't very good... Wasn't it?"
"No. It was bad, but no one is just his faults. Not all people are the same way. Some persons are... Grey. In all their lives they do nothing bad, but also nothing good. They just let themselves go throughout their lives."
"Now, I'm grey?"
Hermione smiled fondly at him. "No. You are anything but grey. You are very emotional. You feel a lot, both for bad and for good. You have an incredible capacity for goodness, but you can also be cruel. I know that better than anyone else!"
"You really know how to make a person feel good." Ron said with irony.
"It's the truth. In all the years I've known you, you've made me cry more times than anyone else."
Hermione raised her hand to silence Ron before he could protest. "But for every time you've made me cry, you've made me laugh ten times. You may have great faults, but you also have immense virtues. You are all black and white. The opposite of a grey person."
"Then I am black and white. Half good and half evil."
"No. You have much more white. You may have some faults, but you are a good person."
"Thanks... I guess." Ron didn't seem too convinced.
"Ron. We all have a cruel side. And I'm no exception. Didn't I try to pluck your eyes out with some stupid magic birds? All because you kissed a girl!"
"Hermione, I never..."
"No. No matter what the circumstances. Such an attack is horrible and unjustifiable. If you hadn't lied to Mrs Pomfrey I'd have lost my prefect's badge... at least. The truth is that we all have an odious and cruel side. You, me, Harry, Ginny, everyone. Once we've cleared this up, how about a bite to eat and rest? All this has exhausted us."
"Okay. I'm going to freshen up and..."
Ron felt like a knife was cutting him time and time again. He squeezed his hand against his forearm and readied to endure the pain. It was already the third time this had happened to him. He could only wait.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes. This time it takes longer to disappear."
His arm was covered in cuts again. Always different cuts, but forming the same word: COME.
Hermione kissed him tenderly on the temple and sat down on the bed to wait by his side.
"Thinking about all this." He pointed to all the notes he had taken. "And in the cuts... And also in the black and white thing. I think it's all starting to come together."
"Do you know what happened yet?" Ron asked in amazement.
"No, but I think I have a theory... We'd better start from the beginning..."
What will be Hermione's theory?
Yes. I know I've left it in a shameless" cliffhanger. But in a few days, the next chapter will be on-line... Lets hope.