Act XII
Snake Bit/P
Over the next several days, Harry and Hermione made love several more times. The newness of the act had great appeal for them. Considering their lack of progress hunting horcruxes, it was a needed diversion./P
Harry was concerned Hermione might get pregnant. How would they deal with a child? They were having enough trouble just taking care of themselves. However, Hermione claimed to know a spell to prevent pregnancy. She said there was also a potion to prevent pregnancy. However, she had no way of obtaining it or the ingredients to make it. Harry took her at her word./P
One evening, as Harry was resting after dinner and Hermione was outside reading in the dying daylight of the shortening days, he pulled out the snitch Dumbledore had left him in his will. He had looked at it hundreds of times, wondering why Dumbledore had left it to him. What was the reason? What was its value?/P
Suddenly, Harry remembered the moment he caught the snitch in that first match. He had not caught it with his hand. He almost swallowed it as he tumbled off his broomstick. He raised it to his lips and touched them. As he pulled it away, he saw something etching itself on the snitch. It was a message that said, 'I open at the close'./P
Harry immediately jumped up and ran outside. He called to her as he carefully hopscotched his way across the rugged limestone overlooking Malham Cove. She looked up from her book as he approached./P
"The snitch," he exclaimed. "It's like you said. Snitches have flesh memories."/P
"Yes," she said. "I thought it would open when you touched it."/P
"I know. It does have a flesh memory," he replied as he reached out to hand it to her. "But I didn't touch it with my hand when I caught it. I almost swallowed it."/P
"That's right. You did."/P
"Look at it. There's an inscription."/P
Hermione turned it until she saw the words. "I open at the close," she said in a quizzical voice as she read it. What do you suppose it means?"/P
"I have no idea. I thought you might."/P
Hermione held up the book in the fading light and said, "I found something too. It's this mark. Someone inked it in. What do you suppose it means?"/P
"I don't know but Luna's dad was wearing it at the wedding," he responded in a voice indicating he wished he had an answer. "I keep thinking that we need to go to Godric's Hollow."/P
"That would be extraordinarily dangerous."/P
"I know. But we don't have any clues and we need the sword to destroy the locket. It's where he grew up. It's where my parents died. It means something to Dumbledore. I think it is the kind of place where he would hide the sword."/P
"I have to admit," said Hermione with a resigned tone. "I have been feeling the same thing. Let's go inside where it is warm and make a plan./P
Hermione insisted they use polyjuice potion for the trip, but Harry was adamantly opposed. He did not want to visit his birthplace and the place where his parents died disguised as someone else. After hours of debate, Harry won out and they prepared to make the trip. /P
Just after nightfall of the next day, Harry and Hermione appeared under the cloak of invisibility on a snow-covered street in Godric's Hollow. They moved up the street under the cover of the cloak and first saw a muggle war memorial that was actually a statue of James, Lily, and baby Harry only visible to magical eyes. /P
They then found a cemetery and wandered through the knee-deep snow in hopes of finding the graves of his parents. They first found the grave of Kendra and Ariana Dumbledore. Then, the grave of an Ignotus Peverell caught Hermione's eye because it bore that same, strange symbol like the one in the book and that Harry said Xenophilius Lovegood was wearing at Bill and Fleur's wedding. Finally, they found the grave of Harry's parents. Hermione conjured some flowers for him to place on it as he wept over the grave./P
Once they left the graveyard, they moved up the street until they arrived at the home where his parents had died and Voldemort had lost his powers. Everything had gone well so far, even though it was a sad visit. They were reading a magical sign covered with graffiti and support for Harry from well-wishers when they saw the form of an elderly lady slowly approaching. /P
The lady never spoke, but it was quite clear that she was Bathilda Bagshot. She led them to her home and they went inside. That is when things took a turn for the worse. /P
The strange, mute Bathilda turned out to be Nagini. Nagini attacked Harry in the upstairs bedroom while he was looking at pictures. Nagini bit Harry on the arm during their fight. If not for Hermione's quick intervention, Nagini might have killed Harry. They escaped, but Harry's wand was broken in the process./P
Harry spent several fitful days and nights recovering from the venom in the bite. He questioned what they were doing, why Dumbledore had given them so little information, and never told him about his past. Hermione provided all the care and comfort she could as he healed. She had moved them to the Forest of Dean near Gloucester, where they broke their pattern of moving every day during Harry's recovery. /P
Late one afternoon, they were sitting under a tree talking in the cold, January air. They were both feeling discouraged about their overall lack of progress. They had no idea how they were going to destroy the locket and they had no leads on finding any of the other horcruxes. Voldemort was most certainly hunting them./P
"Maybe we should just stay here, Harry," said Hermione in a wishful, melancholy voice. "Grow old together."/P
"I know what you mean," replied Harry. "But you know we can't. It's impossible."/P
"Yes, I know. The quest," moaned Hermione./P
"Well, there's that. But we can't just live the rest of our lives in a tent, stealing food, following around. Watching out for snatchers," said Harry, trying to sound rational while being sensitive to her mood./P
"I suppose," replied Hermione. "I think I'll go inside. It's getting too dark to read."/P
"Okay. I'll stay out here and watch our camp."/P
Hermione got up and gave Harry a warm kiss before pointing herself off toward the tent. Harry adjusted himself against the tree he was leaning on./P
"Come inside and warm up if you get chilly."/P
Harry listened to her words as she disappeared into the tent.. He wondered if they meant something more than her simple concern over the temperature of their snowy surroundings. They had not made love since before the incident in Godric's Hollow. He was feeling much better now. Maybe a bit of frolicking would cheer both of them up. /P
Suddenly, he saw a light in the tree. A few seconds later, a spectral doe stepped into view. It was almost certainly a patronus. But why was it here? Whose was it?/P
Harry stood up and walked in the direction of the doe. It turned and moved into the trees as he followed. His feet crunched on the snowy, frozen leaves like he was a landscape of frosted breakfast cereal, Deeper and deeper into the wood he followed it until he found himself standing on the edge of a small pond. /P
The doe walked to the center of the pond and then transformed into a ball of brilliant, white light. The light sank down and passed through the ice illuminating the water hidden below. Harry walked up to the spot where it had disappeared and peered downward. He saw a sword, the same sword he had used to kill the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets years ago. It was the Sword of Gryffindor lying on the bottom of the pond. /P
Harry looked at the sword. He knew he had to get it. He also knew the water was freezing cold beneath the ice. He tried using the summoning charm several times to no avail. He was clearly going to have to go into the frigid water in order to retrieve it./P
"Diffindo!" he said with a circular swish of Hermione's wand. A hole appeared in the ice large enough for him to pass through. A few seconds later he used the water-heating charm he had learned from Remus years ago to dissolve the chunks of ice bobbing in the hole. As much as he wished it, he knew the charm would never be able to warm the entire pond./P
Harry walked back to the shore and disrobed down to his knickers. Even though he knew he was alone in the middle of the forest, his sense of modesty prevented him from totally undressing./P
"This is crazy. This is crazy," he thought as the ice creaked and groaned under his feet as he approached the hole with an air of false bravura intended to steel him against what he knew he had to do. /P
The sword was still there when he made it back to the hole. It shimmered in the luminescence cast on it by the moon and starlight. He hesitated but knew what he had to do. There was no need to torture himself standing on the brink. With a deep breath, he jumped into the icy water./P
The water hit him like a gigantic hand crushing his body. His muscles clenched and his eyes burned in the freezing liquid. Then, just as he managed to reach out to grab the sword, the locket...why had he not taken off that damnedable thing...attacked him. /P
The chain on the locket pulled him away from the sword and started to strangle him. He fought it, pounding on the ice as he struggled to get back to the hole before he ran out of air. However, the cold of the water weakened his muscles and befuddled his mind. Within seconds, he was slipping through a door into eternal darkness./P
Then, just as the door was closing, something, someone grabbed him and pulled him upward. It had to be Hermione. Who else could it be?/P
Seconds later, he was on the ice shaking his head, trying to regain his grasp of reality. "Hermione! Are you mental? What were you thinking, jumping in there?" he sputtered as he rolled over and saw the face of Ron./P
Harry was suddenly speechless as they both looked at each other. How had Ron suddenly appeared to save his life after all of this time?
"Ron," Harry finally managed to blurt out./P
"Yeah," replied Ron, not sure of the reception he was about to receive./P
"What are you doing here? How did you find us?"/P
"Long story. Are you alright?"/P
"Yes. Spectacular. You have the sword."/P
Harry gave Ron a hug and then proceeded to get dressed. He used the drying charm Hermione had taught him to both dry their clothes and warm them back up./P
"What happened in the water?" asked Ron. "I saw you jump in, then all Hell seemed to break loose."/P
"This bloody locket," said Harry as he pulled it off and threw it on the ground. It tried to kill me to stop me from getting the sword. We have to destroy it, now."/P
"Right," said Ron as he looked at it, then at the sword. "We need to do it, now."/P
Harry laid the locket on a stone and told Ron to hit it with the sword when he opened it. Ron tried to beg off, saying the locket affected him more than it did Harry and Hermione. Harry insisted until Ron agreed. /P
Ron raised the sword as Harry spoke to the locket in parseltongue. No sooner did it open than it started to assail Ron with cruel taunts. Ron collapsed as it berated him. Harry kept telling him it was lying to him and to strike it. Finally, after several moments of torture, Ron rose up and struck the locket with a mighty stroke of the sword. There was a screaming explosion of smoke and sparks that knocked both Ron and Harry backward, then it was over. The broken locket lay on the ground. It was a horcrux no more. /P
Harry and Ron gathered themselves and headed back to the tent to tell Hermione the good news. All of the animus of the past few months was gone. He was back to fine with his best buddy. He expected the same from Hermione after a bit of explaining and a wee bit of possible cussing.'/P
All of sudden, as they approached the tent, a familiar scent announced itself in Harry's nose. It was roses and a hint of jasmine. He knew what this meant./P
During his absence, Hermione had slipped into the nearby village of Cinderford and used his invisibility cloak to procure some candles and a fortuitously fresh pumpkin pudding from a bakery shop. As was her custom, she left a generous amount of money behind in the stores before returning to the tent for an evening of well-mannered licentiousness. /P
"Oh, bloody hell!" thought Harry as the obvious meaning of the smell slapped him up aside the brain. "This isn't going to end well."/P
Harry stopped just outside the tent. He didn't want to announce his return for fear Hermione might come outside in a state that might prove inappropriate for the situation. With a finger over his lips and his other held up with its palm outward, he quietly signaled Ron to wait where he was while he poked his head inside the tent./P
A moment later, he peeled back the tent flap just far enough to poke his head inside. The air was heavily perfumed with the floral fragrances mixed with the spiciness of the pudding which was warming itself over a bluebell flame. Hermione was lying naked inside her open, fluffy rub on their communal bed./P
Hi, darling. Come in. I'll help you warm yourself up. I've been waiting for you," she said as she picked up a glob of the pudding with a pair of fingers and deposited it between her breasts, and then smeared it downward to her navel./P
"Yeah...uh...uh...right," stammered Harry. "You need to close your robe and come outside. I have something to show you."/P
Hermione frowned but got up. Harry's request was a major buzzkill to the mood of the moment, and not in the least bit welcome. However, she gathered the robe around herself and put on her slippers as she walked to the front of the tent as Harry stepped outside./P
Hermione tossed open the tent flap and stepped out a few seconds later. She was greeted by the cheesy grin of Ron. He was holding the Sword of Gryffindor in one hand the broken remains of the Slytherin Locket in the other. /P
"Hey," said Ron with a forced smile as Hermione froze, her robe almost falling embarrassingly open before she caught it at the last second.
"Hey? Hey? You're gone for months and now you show up and say 'Hey'. What the fu…" she snarled. "Where's my wand? Give me my wand, Harry."/P
Harry backed away. He knew giving her the wand would be disastrous. Hermione turned back toward Ron with the intent to physically attack him. Harry cast a Protego charm between them until she calmed down./P
Hermione was not just pissed that Ron's appearance was interrupting her carefully planned interlude. She also never let go of or forgave him for abandoning them, especially in a manner that had tossed her into the middle of the fray by causing her to choose whether to leave or stay. /P
Suddenly, Hermione noticed the broken locket in Ron's hand. "You destroyed it!" she blurted out./P
"Yeah. I did."/P
"And why do you have the Sword of Gryffindor?" she asked as she noticed it in Ron's hand."/P
"I can answer that," said Harry, trying to defuse the situation./P
Hermione gave Harry a look that could wither the strongest of men. He went silent and stepped back out of the line of fire./P
It did matter that he was carrying the sword and the broken locket. All of the pent-up anger and frustration she has stored up was unleashed on Ron for abandoning them. No amount of apologies or attempts to explain his desire to return to them two seconds after he left were sufficient. There was a gaping wound between them that was going to require a great deal of time and cautious handling to heal./P
Hermione turned and disappeared back into the tent. Ron took a step to follow her but was stopped by Harry. /P
"I think she needs some alone time," said Harry as he turned Ron around and started walking in the moonlight. "I am really grateful you arrived when you did. I think I was a goner if you hadn't pulled me out of the water. But the timing was not so good for Hermione. She wasn't just mad at you for the whole disappearance thing. I think you interrupted something Hermione had planned for us."/P
"Ohhhh," said Ron, getting the sense of what Harry was implying. "The two of you are...uh...I mean...uh...you're. I'm sorry, mate."/P
"It's okay," replied Harry as they trudged around the snowy perimeter of the camp. "But I don't think Hermione sees it the same way. She's...well...she's going to need a little time to sort things out./P
"Right," said Ron. "I can leave...go back to Bill and Fleur's if you want./P
"No. No. Definitely not. You're part of the team. We need you here. We just need some time to sort it out."/P
"I'll try to be respectful./P
"Thanks."/P
They continued their walk until they had gone full-circle and arrived back at the tent. As they neared the opening, they saw several candles and remains of the pudding strewn across the ground near their fire ring as a caterpillar approached the budding fruit on the Tree of Love./P
Chapter XIII
Bicycle with Three Wheels
Harry and Ron entered the tent after a few hesitant moments. The communal bed was broken apart and the two pieces were placed back in their original positions. All indications of the romance between Harry and Hermione were gone. The temperature in the tent was much cooler than in recent times./P
Ron quietly walked over to his bed and placed his backpack on it. The dust and a pair of spider webs on it indicated it had not been touched in recent times. Fortunately for Ron, the spiders had long since abandoned the webs. He cleared them away and gently brushed off the dust while trying to remain invisible. /P
Harry approached Hermione. She was lying on her bed reading a thick, ancient-looking leathery book. She looked up at him with an emotionless face. She was not exactly mad at Harry, just annoyed, perhaps a bit disappointed. However, she was definitely angry at Ron and upset about the loss of a well-planned evening./P
"What do you want?" she asked with an air of cool indifference./P
"Can we talk?" asked Harry in a pleading voice./P
"What do you want to talk about?" said Hermione with a raised eyebrow. "I can't think of anything I want to discuss."/P
"Please," asked Harry in a suppressed voice. "Let's step outside for a minute. I really need to talk to you."/P
Hermione gave Harry a look indicating she was finding his request a great imposition. Then her eyes went upward and she took a great big breath followed by an equally large exhale as she half slammed her book closed. /P
"This had better be worth my time," she said in a put-upon voice as she stood up./P
Harry walked out of the tent as she followed. Once they were out of earshot, Harry paused and reached out to take her hand. Hermione stopped short and made no effort to respond by taking the offering./P
"Listen," said Harry assertively as he jumped into their talk with both feet. "I would be dead now if Ron hadn't shown up when he did."
"What the hell are you talking about?" said Hermione, shaking her head like she was a long way from buying what he was going to try to sell her./P
"I saw a patronus. It was a doe. I followed it into the woods and out onto an icy pond. The patronus sunk through the ice and revealed the sword on the bottom. I cut a hole in the ice with the severing spell. Then I undressed and jumped into the water to get the sword."/P
Harry could see she was not staying with him. It felt likely she would walk away any second. He needed to hurry up his spiel./P
"I jumped in the water and that bloody locket tried to strangle me with the chain as I touched the sword. I couldn't get out. I started to blackout," said Harry in an urgent way. Hermione suddenly started to listen to him. "All of a sudden, I felt a hand pulling me out of the water. I thought it was you. When I saw it was Ron, I was just as startled as you were."/P
"Okay. He saved you. But I am still mad at him for what he did."/P
"I wasn't happy he came back either, but he did save my life, and he said he feels crappy about what he did. But he didn't know how to get back after he left." /P
"How did he find us?" asked Hermione, now involved in the discussion./P
"I think it is better he explains that," said Harry, hoping to get the two of them talking. "Let's go back inside."/P
"Okay."/P
Harry and Hermione walked back inside the warm tent. Ron looked at them with a sheepish face. He was still pretty certain he was not out of Hermione's woodshed./P
Suddenly, Hermione looked directly at him and said, "How did you find us?"/P
Ron looked at Harry. Harry gave him a look and nod telling him to start spilling what he had told him on the way back from the pond.
"It was this," said Ron as he quickly dug through his pockets and pulled out the deluminator. "It does more than just turn on and off lights. I don't know how it works, but I was lying in bed on Christmas morning fiddling with it. All of a sudden, I heard a voice. Your voice. I clicked…"/P
"...My voice? And what did I say, may I ask?"/P
"Uh...uh...my name. My name and something about wands," stammered Ron, knowing this might be his chance to make amends. "I...I clicked it and a ball of light appeared. It floated across the room and through the wall. I ran downstairs and out the door. It was floating in the garden. It floated at me and went inside my chest. I clicked the deluminator again. A second later, I appeared on a hill. I knew you were nearby but hidden with your protective charms. I walked around for three days hoping one of you would show yourself. Finally, Harry did. "/P
Hermione stood silent, clearly evaluating Ron's story. Finally, she said, "Are you hungry?"/P
"Hungry? Uh...uh...uh...starving. I haven't eaten for three days."/P
Hermione pulled out a box and opened it. It was full of snacks. She put it in front of Ron as she said, "I am still mad at you, but you need to eat. I'm not taking care of you if you get sick."/P
Hermione picked up a book and walked out of the room. Ron dug into the snack box as Harry sat down next to him./P
After a few snacks, Ron said, "You guys are really in love, aren't you?"/P
"Yes," replied Harry. "I am pretty sure that we are."/P
"I figured out a lot of things watching Bill and Fleur. Anytime you need some alone time together, just give me a look," said Ron in a sincere voice. "I'll take off. I get it."/P
'Thanks, mate."/P
Harry gave Ron the abridged version of what happened while he was gone. The biggest highlight was the trip to Godric's Hollow with all they saw and the incident with Bathilda who turned out to be Nagini and Harry getting bit and having his wand broken. That left them at Ron's return and the interruption of Hermione's planned evening./P
"Do you think she's ever going to forgive me?"/P
"I think it will take time. Keep talking about that ball of light from her voice touching your heart. That'll help. And give us...well...uh...her some extra space."/P
"Right. OH! I just remembered," blurted Ron as he reached into his bag and pulled out a short, blackish wand. "You need a wand. I have one here. It's a blackthorn, ten inches. Nothing special. I took it off a snatcher. But I imagine it will do."/P
Harry took the wand and gave it a few swishes and flicks that caused the bluebell flame on the table to explode in size and then shrink back to normal. Hermione must have heard the noise. She walked into the room just as Harry put the wand on the table./P
"We have to talk," she said./P
"Right," replied Ron in a sheepish voice brought on by the thought this was probably going to be about him and it was not going to be pleasant./P
Hermione plopped down the copy of Rita Skeeter's book about Dumbledore on the table in front of Harry and Ron. It was opened to the place showing the Deathly Hallows symbol on the picture of a letter./P
"This mark," she said as she pointed to it. "It keeps popping up. It was in Beedle the Bard. Xenophilius Lovegood was wearing it at the wedding and it was in the graveyard in Godric's Hollow…"/P
"...It was on the sign over Grigorovich's Wand shop," interrupted Harry./P
"Yes," said Hermione, reclaiming the conversation as Ron sat quietly as he breathed a sigh of relief that he was not be verbally attacked as he had feared. " We don't know what this symbol is. I want to go see Xenophilius Lovegood. He knows something...something we need to know if we are going to continue."/P
"I agree with Hermione," blurted out Ron, finally finding the courage to speak before Harry could say anything. "Let's vote on it. Who wants to go see Lovegood?"/P
Ron raised his hand as he gave the others an eager look. Hermione rolled her eyes and raised her eyebrows as she closed the book and walked away./P
"Now that was some right proper butt-kissing," said Harry in a hushed voice./P
"Oh, shut up," replied Ron with a grin. "I think I'll go for a walk. See you in a couple of hours as the caterpillar walked off the branch on the Tree of Love and disappeared. /P
Ron wandered aimlessly through the woodlands. It was a clear night with the slimmest of fingernail trimmings of a moon sitting amidst an uncountable backdrop of twinkling stars. The woods were silent, except for the sounds of his boots shattering the frozen leaves beneath the thin covering of snow. /P
Suddenly, he froze as he heard something. It was a strange, rustling noise. He could not make it out, but he was certain it was not human in origin. A moment later he saw a pine marten. It was dragging a grouse through the leaves. It must have happened onto its nest and managed to kill it. /P
"Whew!" he thought as the marten passed him by without detecting him. "That was scary. Maybe I should head back toward the tent."/P
Once he made it back to camp, he walked up quietly so he could try to detect whether or not it was safe to reenter the tent. As he listened, he heard Harry and Hermione talking. They were discussing what they should ask Luna's father. Harry noted that the trip was going to be particularly close to The Burrow. Ron would surely want to visit, but it was impossible./P
"Hello," said Ron as he stood at the door./P
"Come in," said Hermione in the most cheerful voice he had heard from her since his return./P
On the table were three bowls and forks, and a loaf of bread. Hermione was finishing up heating spaghetti and meat sauce in a couple of large tins labeled Heinz. She was wrapped up tight in her fluffy robe. Her hair was fairly disheveled. Harry had on his pants and a jumper. He gave Ron a smile and wink that told Ron all he needed to know.