It had been a long while since Harry and the others had last contacted me through the mirror, though when I heard Harry's dry voice croaking my name, I immediately demanded to know where they were, knowing instinctively that something was wrong. He struggled to find the code before he eventually just gave up and told me where to find them, making me worry all the more. He sounded defeated, so I rushed to find them and Harry was already waiting for me just outside the border of their barrier enchantments. "What's happened? Tell me what's wrong."
"Ron left."
"I…what? He what?" Harry looked angry and betrayed, but mostly lost. He didn't know what to do, so after I'd pulled myself back together from my shock, I tenderly guided him back into the safety of the enchantments and brought him into the tent where Hermione looked up from where she had been curled up on her bunk, eyes red and swollen from crying.
"Mia!"
"I see you guys could do with a proper meal and some cheering up. Come on, come down here and get some love." I invited, opening up my arms and Hermione choked on a sob as she staggered into them, hiding herself away in my embrace as I did my best to comfort and support her. Once the crying had subdued, I then sat her down in the comfiest place the tent had to offer and waved my wand in order to begin making tea before I then also embraced Harry, though this was a firm and quick gesture before I then placed my hands on his shoulders and made him sit down. They were both rather lifeless, not knowing what to do or say so I busied myself with fussing over them, putting food on the table for them to eat, gave Harry's growing hair a trim so that it was as neat and tidy as possible, then proceeded to gather all of the dirty washing which had been left abandoned in the corner of the tent in order to wash it thoroughly.
I used the biggest cauldron Hermione had in her bag, filling it with water and boiling it quickly before pouring in washing powder and fabric softener then dumped the first load in before flicking my wand to make it all spin quickly, creating a whirlpool in the centre as the clothes were washed through thoroughly and once I was satisfied, I scrubbed at them to make sure that they were properly relieved of any mud or grime before I then hung them evaporated the water and folded the clothes up into piles, setting them aside before starting on the next load. I did this in silence, taking care of the both of them until they were ready to talk, and once they felt a little more comforted, wearing fresh clothes and having showered and eaten, we all sat down together. "Tell me what happened." I began tentatively, all of us having our hands wrapped around our cups of tea.
"It was an argument." Harry told me simply, glancing at Hermione. "We were camping on a river bank when we heard people talking nearby. Ted Tonks, Dean Thomas, Dirk Cresswell and a few goblins too. We listened in but didn't tell them we were there, and they got to talking. They started on about something that had happened at Hogwarts with Ginny, Neville and Luna, I don't know if you know…"
"I know. Kreacher and Dobby came to tell me almost the moment it happened. They're safe and well, I've been checking up on them. Continue." I invited, taking a sip of my tea since it was still rather hot, almost scalding my lip before I set it back down again.
"Good, I'm glad. Anyway, they mentioned that they'd been after the sword which was in the headmaster's office, but then one of the goblins revealed that after the sword was taken back and sent to be kept in a safe in Hogwarts, he'd realised it was a fake but didn't tell anyone. Then, Hermione got the portrait we took from Grimmauld Place, you know, the one of your great-grandfather or something? Yeah, him. We asked him about the sword, and he told us that the last time that he'd seen the real sword was when Dumbledore used it to break open the ring. Marvolo's ring. The one that Dumbledore found to be a Horcrux. That's when Hermione and I realised that that's the reason Dumbledore wanted me to have it."
"Goblin made artefacts don't rust or dull, and goblin made swords imbue that which strengthens them. When Harry used the sword to kill the basilisk in second year, it became saturated in its venom, which means it's capable of destroying Horcruxes." Hermione continued, cuddled up in a large cardigan which I silently noticed was Ron's. "But the one in Snape's office was a fake, which made Harry and I rather excited, trying to figure out where the real one could be and R…Ron was upset that we were going off on one without including him."
"He was in a foul mood. As usual." Harry muttered, glaring at his drink which he was yet to actually touch. "We rowed about the fact that we hadn't been having much success with all this, that we now had another thing we needed to find. He'd been carrying the locket in his pocket since you'd told us not to wear it, but it seemed to still be affecting him worse than Hermione or me. Anyway, he stormed off, disapparated, and now he's gone." I thought for a moment, processing it all before giving a lengthy sigh.
"You wait until his brothers find out. They'll kill him." I finally said, having nothing else at hand. There were no words available in any language at my disposal which could make them feel better, so I decided that it would be best if I stayed with them for a while. I called for Fawkes, gave him a message and sent him to carry it to Moody and my dad, explaining that I would be helping Harry for a while and to only call me back if there was an emergency. Right now, Harry and Hermione needed me most. I took care of them, doing all the cooking and washing, reinforced their defences so that no one really needed to be on watch at night and introduced them to the radio station that Lee hosted, which also provided some rather good music.
It was something to fill the silences when I had chattered myself hoarse, and gradually, over a couple of days, the two seemed to improve. Hermione seemed to have taken Ron's abandonment the worst as there were some real feelings between them, but I assured her that he was just an arse still in the process of growing up and that he just needed some time to cool his head before he would try looking for them again.
The weather was turning for the worse, but I had enough experience with dealing in all kinds of weather and had an arsenal of spells to combat rain, sleet, snow and winds. Every night the tent was kept at a warm temperature no matter how cold and horrid it was outside, the tent giving not so much as a quiver as it remained untouched by the elements. After a few days, Harry announced that he wanted to go to Godric's Hollow and Hermione, who had been conferring with me over a strange marking in the book Dumbledore had left her, agreed.
It was Harry who recognised the mark, a triangle with a circle within it and a line up the middle, recalling that Xenopholus Lovegood had worn the same symbol and that Viktor had told him it was Grindlewald's sign. None of us knew what it meant, but I implored Hermione to try and learn more about it, since Dumbledore wouldn't have given her that book for no reason, then proceeded to help them plan their journey to Godric's Hollow. I knew that Harry wanted to visit his parents' graves, and Hermione was convinced that Dumbledore would have left the sword there for Harry to find. It made sense, so I was all for going. We planned everything, and since I had not been contacted by the Order for help on anything, I decided to go with them. "Are you sure Mia? You don't have to, you know. There must be so much that you've got to do…"
"They can manage without me for a few more days Hermione, don't worry. Besides, it'll be better having another pair of eyes to watch your backs. I still think you should let me go ahead and scout the area to make sure everything's safe." I said to them both, but Harry didn't want me risking myself on my own, saying that we were all going together and we'd deal with any danger we found there together too. He was just too chivalrous for his own good, but I went ahead of them anyway. Disguised and unrecognisable, I scoured the town and found no charms or enchantments set up anywhere that alarmed me, save for the ones on Harry's old house and the war memorial near the church which was actually a statue of Harry and his parents.
Satisfied that it was safe, I returned and we all prepared to go together, arriving just as the bells toiled upon the hour, and it was then that I remembered it was Christmas Eve. It was both a sad and happy notion. Happy for the season, yet sad that I wouldn't be able to enjoy it like I had done so many previous years. Still, I was with Harry and Hermione, so that was something at the very least. Let's just hope that next Christmas, we'd have cause for a greater celebration.