Sorry this is rushed, this was written for a Dark Fic exchange and I forgot about the deadline and then BOOM had to do this all at the end. Hopefully you like, happy Spooktober!

POP!

Harry blinked, trying to orient himself as he finished apparating. In all directions there were trees. Nothing but trees, trees, and more trees. He let go of Ron's and Hermione's hands to stretch, feeling exhaustion deep in his bones. They had been on the run now for months, never staying in one place for more than a day or two. He didn't recognize this bit of forest, but he didn't expect to – they rotated who led the apparition to make it harder to be tracked.

Wearily, he pulled out his wand and started placing the by-now all too familiar spells of protection. Anti-detection, anti-apparition, invisibility… The trees rusted in the breeze, leaves fiery reds and golds. It was already late fall. Everyone back at Hogwarts must be getting ready for the Halloween feast, he realized, glancing guiltily at Ron placing the same enchantments on the other side of the camp and then at Hermione setting up the tent. They had followed him willingly on this journey to find and destroy the Horcruxes, but he didn't have much to show for it, just that stupid locket and no way to destroy it.

Harry unconsciously rubbed the side of his neck. Although it wasn't his turn to wear the locket, he could sometimes still feel the weight of its chain, disproportionate to the thin gold loops it was made from. He fought to push down a wave of hopelessness and frustration. The other two were trusting him, believed in him, probably thought that he had to have a plan, only he didn't. But it would do no good to worry about all that right now when it was late and they still needed food and water. Sticking his wand in his back pocket, he passed by Hermione to grab a pail for water.

"I saw a small stream over there, I'll be right back," he said, feeling loud in their tired silence. Ron grunted in acknowledgement, pocketing his own wand and kicking up sticks for firewood. Harry avoided Hermione's gaze, but he felt her eyes boring into his back as he walked away from them. Hermione probably knew that he didn't know what he was doing. She was as perceptive as she was clever, there was no way she hadn't caught on that something was amiss. Thoroughly in foul spirits, Harry splashed his face in the small stream before filling the pail. Tomorrow. He'd talk to the others tomorrow, give them a chance to back out if they wanted to, admit that there was no grand plan and that they had sacrificed everything just to follow him wander aimlessly through the countryside. It wasn't a happy thought, but he felt more resolute having made the decision.

He carried the water back to their camp, placing the pail next to Ron's rather small and haphazard stack of frowned. Harry frowned. Clearly Ron was in a sour mood as well, but that was no excuse for not doing his part. Sighing, Harry rolled his shoulders to prepare himself for whatever lay beyond the tent flap, and walked in.

Ron lay on one of the bottom bunks, his legs spilling out the side and blocking the main path. Hermione was nowhere to be seen.

"Oi," Harry said, kicking Ron's boot with his own. Ron grunted, but otherwise ignored him. "Oi," Harry repeated louder, "What're you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Looks like you're okay with slacking – what's that about?"

"What'chu on about?" Ron finally made eye contact with Harry. Scowling, he rolled out of the bunk, stepping closer ominously. "Think I'm not pulling my own weight, huh?"

"Well you can't just pick up the first sticks you see and call it a day, we need more than that if we want heat and hot food. You shouldn't expect Hermione or me to do our work and yours."

Ron scoffed. "Hot food, when was the last time we've had any sort of proper food that's worth heating?" he asked derisively.

"Hey, nobody said it was going to be a laugh travelling around like this -!"

"I never said I thought it'd be a laugh! But I never expected to go starving from one meal to the next. We could nick some things from the nearest muggle village, but nooo- "

"Harry? Ron? You in there?" Hermione suddenly called from outside the tent.

"Yeah, we're here," Harry replied. Ron sneered but didn't say anything.

"I need to talk to you guys, can you hear me alright."

"We can hear you, but why don't you come in here?"

"C'mon," said Ron, moving towards the exit. "Let's just get out of here." He pushed on the tent flap door, but nothing happened. "What the-?" He groped around in his pocket for a moment, before throwing a bewildered look at Harry. Ron started patting down his pants pockets with increasing panic, looking around himself and running his hands along the bed. "Where's my wand?"

Harry reached for his wand only to find his was missing too. An icy feeling flooded the pit of his stomach. "Hermione," he called slowly, "What happened to our wands?"

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked with mock innocence.

"Where are our wands, Hermione? This isn't funny!"

"I'm not trying to be funny," Hermione replied from outside the tent, her voice calm and cold. "I just thought that we should have a little talk, that's all, and I needed to get your full attention."

"You're right mental, did you know that?" Ron snapped, trying and failing to open the tent entrance again. "Taking our wands... Why couldn't you have just brought whatever it is up over supper, huh?"

"You know, it'd be a lot easier to talk with you if we could stand face-to-face," Harry tried to reason with her, looking imploringly at Ron, who mouthed the word "mental".

"Not until you listen to what I have to say."

"Hermione, whatever it is, I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement once you let us out?"

"Just let us out already!"

Hermione's laughter was high-pitched and strange. "Look, you can't get out until after you both make an Unbreakable Vow with me."

Ron and Harry gaped at each other, stunned and horrified. "You want us to what?!" Ron spluttered. "Hermione!"

"I won't lift the spell on the tent until after you've made the vow with me." Hermione reiterated stubbornly.

"We could just apparate out!" Ron cried defiantly. "Couldn't we?" he asked in an undertone to Harry, who shook his head.

"We've sealed the camp, remember? No one can go in or out." In a louder voice, he said, "Is that really necessary? You can trust us, Hermione!"

"Trust you? Trust you? When we've been going in circles and you don't even have the decency to tell us that you don't know shit about how to destroy Horcruxes nor even where the other ones are?"

Ron looked like someone had just slapped him across the face. He stared slack-jawed at Harry. "You wha-?"

"Or you Ron, you think we don't notice that you leave all the problem solving to me and Harry? To say nothing of the fact that you barely help with the chores or even suggest new places to camp. No, neither of you have been particularly trustworthy nor even helpful as of late. Now if we could just get a move on with the vow, we're running a little short on time."

And sure enough, Harry noticed that the tent was starting to fill with smoke. "No no no no no...!" He ran into the kitchen for something to help put out a fire, but flames were already flickering in the corners of the tent, licking at base of the walls. There was nothing, no water and he had left the pail outside earlier. Even the little hand towels were gone. It was either terrible luck or... Hermione had planned for this, too. That small detail of the missing towels was the thing that finally convinced him that this was no game and they were in serious danger. "Hermione! What's gotten into you?! Cut it out, this is far enough! "

Smoke with building up thick and fast as the enchanted flames - they must be enchanted to be moving so fast! - spread throughout the tent. Coughing, Harry called over to Ron. "I'm going to try and bust out the back!"

He saw Ron sneer. "Yeah, well, forgive me if I don't follow you in that, oh great leader. Good luck with that, though."

Angry, Harry spun around. "Look, I'm sorry I wasn't up-front with you from the start, but we have to get out of here first! Then, I dunno, you can hit me or something." Ron rolled his eyes, but didn't offer any more protests when Harry, changing tack, hurried over beside him and said, "What if we try both going at the door together? Ready? On the count of three: one... two... three!"

Hermione absentmindedly toyed with the chain around her neck as she watched the tent buckle from the boys trying to force their way through. The golden pendant lay heavy and comforting against her chest. They wouldn't be able to escape, she was confident in that. She had charmed the whole tent so even if they had had their wands, they still wouldn't have been able to get out without a complicated bit of spell-work, something that neither of them would know let alone be able to guess. It was pathetic, really, how dull they each were at the end of the day. Looking back on it now, she couldn't say for sure why she had stuck with them for so long when combined they had just about as much cleverness as she had in her smallest finger. They were sweet and she was fond of them, of course, but they were utterly useless for important matters like Horcruxes. It had been laughably easy to swipe their wands out of their back pockets earlier, really with minimal planning. She had only had to wait for each one to pass by and reach out. They hadn't noticed a thing. It wasn't nearly as difficult as, say, when she had to sneak a chunk of each of their hair while they had been sleeping. It should be almost time to use them. She grasped the hairs in her hand, leaving her fist inside her pocket where it was warm.

"Are you ready to make the vow now?" She stood calmly as shouts and curses emanated from the tent. It was a pity honestly, she hadn't wanted to go this far originally, but she had long since come to the realization that this was the only way to get the two of them to agree to an Unbreakable Vow, and that vow was the only way to stop Lord Voldemort. The tent was already half-consumed in flames. They wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer, and sure enough...

"Alright! Alright, we'll do it!"

Hermione flicked her wand to keep the flames from growing any further, but she did not disperse them. She walked up to the tent, pulling out her fist and placing her wand so that it touched both the hair in her hand and the tent wall. "Will you, Harry and Ron, forfeit your search for the Horcruxes and stop all attempts, current or future, to kill Vol- He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, unless I call upon you otherwise?"

Silence, and then a quiet, "Hermione, why?"

"Will you?"

"I will." That was Ron. "I'm done with this bloody mess."

"... I will."

A thin tongue of brilliant flame issued from Hermione's wand and wound its way around the tent like a red-hot wire. Good, that settled it then. She stood up, dusting off her hands and letting the hair fall to the forest floor. It had served its purpose. She felt lighter, no longer weighed down by the others, no longer having to plan around their egos or their propensities for getting into danger. Really, they would be much better off this way, safe and comforted at home. She would be able to end the war much more quickly, too, which could only be better for everyone.

She walked to the edge of the camp's boundaries, setting Ron's and Harry's wands down before waving hers and vanishing the fire. This part would have to be done quickly - she didn't want either of the boys accidentally dying by chasing after her. With a flick of her wand, she released the spells on the tent, then crossed the protective boundary and disapperated.

It was time to see what the "brightest witch of our age" could do.