"I'm sorry," he said in a thick voice. "I'm sorry I left. I know I was a— a— "

He looked around at the darkness, as if hoping a bad enough word would swoop down upon him and claim him.

"You've sort of made up for it tonight," said Harry. "Getting the sword. Finishing off the Horcrux. Saving my life."

"That makes me sound a lot cooler than I was," Ron mumbled. "Stuff like that always sounds cooler than it really was," said Harry. "I've been trying to tell you that for years."

Simultaneously they walked forward and hugged, Harry gripping the still-sopping back of Ron's jacket.

"And now," said Harry as they broke apart, "all we've got to do is find the tent again."

But it was not difficult. Though the walk through the dark forest with the doe had seemed lengthy, with Ron by his side the journey back seemed to take a surprisingly short time. Harry could not wait to wake Hermione, and it was with a quickening excitement that he entered the tent. Ron lagging a little behind him. It was gloriously warm after the pool and the forest, the only illumination through the bluebell flames still shimmering in a bowl on the floor.

Harry eagerly made his way around the tent softly calling "Hermione?". Ron nervously shuffled in place as he stood near the couch.

"Hermione?", Harry continued. His face seemed confused now and it was obvious she wasn't here.

"What is it?" Ron asked.

Harry paused in thought for a moment before answering, "I don't think she's here but-", he paused again to look around once more for good measure. "But I don't know where she would be. She doesn't have a wand on her".

"Yeah, I noticed you have her wand, what happened to yours?". As Ron was talking he noticed something and began to walk over to examine it.

"It broke at Godric's Hollow. It's a long story to be honest. Hermione and I will catch you up on it".

Ron mumbled in agreement and picked up a folded price of paper on the coffee table.

Harry

Ron opened it and began to read it.

1:13am

If you get back before me, I went out to look for you. Not sure how long you'd been gone but I waited a bit and got worried. I'll come back by 2 to check if you made it back here.

-Hermione

"Oy, what's that?", Harry called over curiously.

Ron looked up from the note in his hand to answer, "Hermione went out looking for you. She said she'll be back around 2", he glanced at the time: 2:04. Ron flipped the paper over in his hand and thought about what they should do. The snow was accumulating fast on their walk back to the tent. He didn't like the idea of her alone in the dark without a wand or the protection charm let alone during a snowstorm.

"Alright, well this weather has gotten ugly in the past hour so if she's not back soon we should look for her".

"I agree" anxiously looked back at the time. 2:06. Ron wanted to head out now as he felt uneasy about the whole situation. One of his mates already almost died tonight. He couldn't stand the thought of something happening to Hermione also. He spent the whole walk back to the tent anxious about her reaction to his return. Now as every uneasy minute passes he just wants to see her no matter how furious she might be with him. "Alright, well I say we leave in soon so let's get ready in the next couple of minutes". Harry nodded in agreement.

Soon they ventured back outside and were met once again with icy wind on their faces. They hadn't really discussed a strategy of where to look. Almost as if Harry could read his mind he asked, "Should we split up?"

Splitting up would cover more ground but Ron was worried that would just end up with another person lost. "Let's stick together for now and we'll split up if we have to. I'm hoping we'll find her soon".

Harry nodded and added, "Alright, let's head this direction first and search within a large perimeter circle around the tent" and motioned his head east. As they started walking Ron couldn't help but notice an increasingly uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Everything will be fine he told himself. It has to be.