Chapter Twenty-Four - The Never-ending Horcrux

Ron crawled on his hands and knees to the top of the crooked stairway.

"Oh great, so we've got to go all the way back down again?" Harry grumbled.

Ron was looking down at the stairs and a magical energy began to form along the stairs all the way down to the ground, like a carpet rolled down them and pulled taught so it made a perfect smooth slope, Harry saw that he was nodding before turning his head over his shoulder to the two of them behind him but not fixing his glassy eyes on any particular point.

"Harry, Hermione, we can slide down. It won't be as bad." Ron said in that same familiar whisper.

Harry sighed and glanced at Hermione who seemed to be hoping that not as bad wasn't an understatement. Ron sat himself upon the magical slide and pushed off, gliding smoothly down the crooked stairs and Harry stood aside to let Hermione go ahead of him.

"I don't know if you're being chivalrous or cowardly," she muttered as she positioned herself on the magical surface.

Harry shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

"A bit of both."

Hermione gave a strained smile and pushed herself down the slope. Harry decided that hesitating would only make it worse and threw himself down after her.

It was a strange sensation indeed. It was as if he was surfing on dry water or sledding on warm snow, it was quite pleasant, and it was very fast. He saw Hermione toppling off the end and landing on Ron's back. Ron himself had landed face down and Harry tried to get some kind of purchase on the magical surface to slow him down without much success.

WUMPH!

Harry managed to miss landing on Hermione and Ron but in the process had landed quite hard on his side, winding him a little, and his watering eyes made out Hermione rolling off Ron and helping him to his feet. Ron seemed to be ok, despite Hermione's heavy landing, and Harry struggled up to his feet as Ron frowned and spoke to his dead buddy.

"I've heard of that place somewhere."

Hermione blew her dishevelled hair out of her face and looked up at Harry.

"So I take it we're going somewhere else now."

Harry nodded.

"It would appear so."

"And Fawkes?" Ron asked, taking a step away from the two of them.

"Ah so it is Fawkes we're looking for," Harry said, sounding almost happy at this news.

Hermione wasn't joining Harry in his state of comfort; however, she was looking concerned at the alarmed look on Ron's face.

"What?" Ron said, with what sounded like disbelief and slight annoyance, "They can't go, I can't take them into that, what kind of plan it that?"

Harry joined Hermione in her state of anxiety now. This was obviously going to be very dangerous and Ron wasn't willing to take them along.

"Hermione I don't care what he says or how nicely he says it, this time I'm going with him," Harry said with fierce determination.

"That makes two of us then," she nodded, her jaw set and her eyes boring into the back of Ron's head almost daring him to try and leave her behind.

"Not really," Ron said with insolence.

Harry and Hermione glanced at each other and Hermione absent-mindedly fingered the silver hoop around her wrist. Harry knew she was making sure he was well and truly bound to her without realising she was doing it.

"Of course I do," Ron said with a huff.

Harry took a step closer to try and get a better look at Ron's face as he spoke to the dead man, as he did Ron shook his head and looked down. Harry looked at the empty space in front of Ron and thought about telling him, the spectre he now strongly suspected to be Dumbledore, to convince Ron to let them come with him but he and Ron seemed to be having a heated conversation.

"But..." Ron began and stopped, obviously having been interrupted before he could protest.

"Tell him we're going!" Hermione shouted into space, obviously having the same thought Harry had just had moments earlier.

Ron looked back up at the space and seemed a little less tense.

"Yeah, I forgot about that, ok let's go."

Harry was about to ask the spirit if the ' let's ' part of ' let's go ' was directed at himself and Hermione as well when he saw Ron reaching out his arms and begin groping around for them. He found Hermione almost immediately as she was at his side and flailed his other arm about a little further.

"Harry we need to go now, take my arm," Ron said urgently and Harry linked his arm with Ron's tightly, "right. Wands out at the ready ok?"

Harry pulled his wand out of his pocket and saw Hermione doing the same on Ron's other side.

"So it looks like we're apparating into an ambush then doesn't it?" Harry asked Hermione with a forced smile.

"Maybe we're apparating into something really good, like a huge vat of candy floss and we need our wands to gather it up in lieu of a stick."

Harry was about to point out to Hermione that optimism didn't sound right coming from her when Ron let out a small chuckle.

"That's not how things tend to work out for us is it?"

Harry and Hermione blinked at him and broke into laughter that faded as quickly as the amusement on Ron's face did, he looked very grave now and liked his lips as he gave a determined nod before letting out a shiver. Before Harry could wonder why Ron had felt such a sudden chill the three of them had disapparated.

A ruined old castle whirred into vision and Harry let go of Ron's arm as he looked at his surroundings with caution, holding his wand in readiness for a surprise attack. There was none. He remained cautious as Ron and Hermione seemed to be taking in their surroundings with great suspicion.

"Are they here?" Ron asked the spirit.

Harry scanned every possible hiding place he could think of in and around the ruined castle and hoped that Hermione was doing the same. It wasn't long before Ron had instructions for them.

"Be alert you guys, something's not right."

Harry was about to snort that this was pretty obvious when he saw Ron slam hard into the soft grass beneath their feet as if pushed by a giant invisible hand. A green light whizzed between Harry and Hermione and struck a tree a little way away from the three of them. Harry gasped at Hermione.

"Did you do that?"

Hermione saw Ron fighting to get back up to his feet, thankfully ok.

"It wasn't me, I didn't even see it coming to knock him out of the way."

"Where, where are they, I can't see?" Ron said as he managed to stand up again and cast his blank gaze all around him.

"You and me both!" Harry snorted before suddenly seeing Death Eaters everywhere.

"Where the hell did they come from?" Hermione screeched as she aimed her wand at as many of them as she could, "Protego!"

A dozen or so hexes bounced off her shield charm and Harry found himself having to do the same on his side. This was too much, there were too many of them and Ron couldn't even see them to defend himself against attack, what were they going to do?

"Ah so the only pure blood among you is blind is he?" a disgustingly familiar high-pitched voice sneered with obvious amusement.

"Voldemort!" Harry hissed as Hermione tried to throw a shield around the three of them but only managing to hold it for just over a second.

"Dirvo!" Ron yelled as he extended his empty wand hand in Voldemort's direction and the snake-like face seemed genuinely surprised before waving his hand and shielding himself from Ron's attack with ease.

Harry allowed himself to smile as he turned on the Death Eater who was trying to blindside him.

"Oppugno!" he said aloud while internally thinking, ' that'll teach you to underestimate a Weasley you murdering bastard '

Ron looked utterly confused as he battled an enemy he couldn't see but took a step toward Voldemort nevertheless and threw both his arms forward and bellowed a spell to restrain him.

"Captivas!"

Voldemort seemed to be rigid for a moment before looking livid and throwing off an invisible binding, his eyes flashing red.

"Absisto! Reluctor crebo! Abeo!" Hermione was hurling spells in every direction, one Death Eater being blasted through one of the castle walls, two others who were throwing unforgivable curses at Harry suddenly fighting against the air as if it was pulling their wand arms away from their intended target and another who was turning on Hermione after having his spell deflected by Harry disappeared where he stood, "Ron, no!"

She had screamed as she allowed herself to look at Voldemort, the red eyes burning as he spat the killing curse while aiming his wand at the wandless Ron.

"Avada Ke-"

Harry had abandoned his defensive spells and turned on Voldemort with incredible fury.

"Expelliarmus!"

Voldemort's wand didn't go anywhere but his aim was thrown off and a Death Eater over Ron's shoulder hit the ground stone dead. Hermione yelped and her body thudded to the ground, Harry hoped she'd just been knocked of her feet or immobilised and nothing worse but he didn't have the luxury of time to turn his head to see as on his undefended side he heard a dozen voices hurling different hexes at him but he wasn't able to counter them all at once. Hermione screamed again as Ron's body suddenly tensed as if he had been stabbed before he threw his arms forward again and yelled.

"Contego! Detino!" raw white energy was crackling between Ron's fingers as Voldemort was hit full on with a double-whammy of a shield charm and enough power to hold him off long enough for Ron to throw his left arm out to send another powerful defensive spell at every one of the Death Eaters' hexes as the were about to hit Harry, "Oppugno!"

Voldemort was shaking off the detainment spell and Harry could see that Ron needed Hermione back on her feet and back in the battle but he couldn't afford to turn his back on the Death Eaters on his side again.

"Protego! Petrificus totalus! Stupefy! Stupefy" Stupef-"

One of the spells got through his defences and he felt his body hit with the force of a cannonball and fell to his knees. He saw Ron lower the hand that was concentrating on holding Voldemort at bay and he tried to scream at Ron to keep holding him off and not to worry about them but he couldn't find the breath. Ron's hands were right over Hermione's prostrate body now and he freed her from whatever was keeping her from the fight.

"Solvo!"

Hermione jumped back to her feet and blasted the last of the Death Eaters on her side into the deep empty moat around the ruined castle at the exact same moment Voldemort looked victorious and shook off the last of Ron's spell.

"You just let your guard down to save the mudblood boy, whatever power you are channelling is mine now," Voldemort aimed his wand at Ron and Harry pointed his own at the serpentine wizard but couldn't find the breath to defend his vulnerable friend.

"No Tom, I won't let you do this," Ron shouted, shocking Harry out of his desperate state.

Did he just call Lord Voldemort Tom?

"Permeo pulpa! Accio power!" the dark wizard said without hesitation.

Ron's arms were thrown back up in front of him again, his open palms sending the same white energy crackling between his fingers as he shouted with an unfamiliar kind of rage.

"Everbero!"

A blood red lightning bolt shot out of both of Ron's palms and hit Voldemort, slicing through his own incoming spells along the way, causing the wizard to stagger backwards and blood to appear through his robes at his chest. Harry couldn't quite believe what he was seeing, Ron had drawn blood, Voldemort was bleeding.

"Yes!" Harry hissed as he struggled back to his feet, the sight of Voldemort on the back foot filling him with extra strength.

Ron barely had time to take a breath deep enough to utter his next spell as he pointed his arms to either side of him and then upwards.

"Contineo!"

The large shimmering bubble shield Hermione had tried to hold Ron inside at the Riddle house surrounded them, Death Eater curses bouncing off as if they were nothing but rubber balls being hurled at a brick wall. Harry let out a laugh and suddenly remembered just how much his chest hurt and fell back to his knees. He didn't know what he had been hit with but it hurt. Suddenly Ron's body wasn't as tense as it had been during his face-off with Voldemort and he looked panicked.

"What?" Ron gasped, and began to feel around himself blindly, "Harry where are you, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, watch your own back Ron," Harry wheezed as he looked down the neck of his sweatshirt and saw a bruise the size of a platter from the great hall discolouring almost all of his torso.

Ron dropped to his knees and fumbled around for Harry's body, Hermione was scanning the situation outside the bubble as Ron crawled around looking for his invisible wounded friend, Harry didn't know how long the bubble shield would hold but he didn't want to be on the ground with Ron when it did.

"I'm here, patch me up quickly Ron, Hermione can't hold them all off alone."

Ron's hand found Harry's body and rested upon his chest before he shouted the healing spell at the exact same moment Voldemort was able to break through the bubble shield.

"Sano! Corrigo sano!" Ron completed the spell and turned as if hearing somebody calling his name.

If I can not have your power then neither can you," Voldemort growled before hurling a spell from his wand directly at the distracted body of Harry's best friend, "Adficio!"

"No!" Harry yelled.

Hermione threw a re-enforcement charm at the failing bubble shield and it flickered once before dying and, despite seemingly being focused on something at his side Ron somehow cast a wispy shield in front of him without even raising his arms to do so. The shield was too fragile though, as if his not being focused upon it's formation depleted its effectiveness, and Voldemort's curse fractured the shield in the centre. A little of the curse's kick having been taken by the shield, but not nearly enough, Harry and Hermione could only watch in horror as Ron was struck, still on his hands and knees from healing Harry's wounds. His elbows gave way, unable to support him any longer, and he fell face down onto the grass.

Harry and Hermione both turned to face Voldemort and the remaining Death Eaters, who now flanked their jubilant master, and screamed with fearful fury.

"Reluctor!"

The spell to fight against the dark wizards shot forth from Harry's wand and Hermione's simultaneously and seemed to meet a third spell from nowhere in the middle and the power of the three castings knocked the group of Death eaters away from Voldemort like bowling pins. The dark lord himself was shaken but managed to retain his footing nevertheless. Maybe the third spell was Ron's, he was still fighting with them from the ground, despite not moving very much, and that meant he was still with them. Ron was still in the fight, they would just have to cover for him until he was back on his feet and his spirit could blast away with their extra strength power and they'd be able to get away. They had overcome every one of those damn Death Eaters, they could escape Voldemort alive, he knew they could.

Harry heard a groan from the body at his feet and chanced a quick glance down at Ron who was grimacing with the effort to raise his arm. Harry turned back to send another shield charm in front of himself and Hermione, although she had already thrown one up herself that was twice as strong as his, and heard Ron's weakened whisper.

"Acerbus!"

As soon as the spell swirled around Voldemort and plunged him into darkness Ron collapsed completely, his head dropping, his breath inaudible and his eyes slowly closing.

"Ron no," Hermione sobbed, not tearing her eyes away from the thick black cloud he had enveloped Voldemort in to render him as temporarily blind as Ron had been in the battle, and gripping her wand tightly ready to make Voldemort pay for whatever he had done to her boyfriend.

Harry stood at Hermione's side, ready to finish Voldemort off, ready for vengeance. Just as the red eyes began to shine through the dissipating black fog Harry heard the desperately weak croak from the ground.

"Oppugno!"

Harry's heart lifted, just a little, as he heard his friend's barely audible voice still fighting back, still defending the three of them. He saw that Ron couldn't lift his arm but was directing his fingers at the blackness that held Voldemort at bay. The spell wasn't anything that could hurt him, Ron was too weak to deliver anything now, but that didn't matter. Ron was fighting. He was still fighting with them. Voldemort wasn't going to win this time, he wasn't going to take another person Harry loved away from him, and he cast his own spell.

"Expecto Patronum!" he hollered as he harnessed that marvellous thought and watched as the stag charged into the darkness and set upon Voldemort.

"Sectum doleo!" Voldemort's enraged voice roared from within the darkness and Harry felt himself slashed with what felt like a dull blade, the pain was excruciating and he fell to his knees beside Ron, whose eyes were starting to close again.

"No Ron, stay with us, we need you."

Harry's voice was drowned out by the defensive spell Hermione threw into the darkness and the second wave of Voldemort's attack on Harry.

"Protego!"

"Claudeo! Plaga everbero!"

Hermione's spell was lost in the black fog and Harry felt himself knocked backwards, flat on his back, as his leg was inflamed with pain and wounds of all varieties broke the surface of his skin, some bleeding and some bruising. He was battered and lame, Ron was fading fast and Hermione had to face Lord Voldemort alone.

"Labor lapsus profundum!" she screamed, still not letting herself be distracted by Ron and Harry's conditions as she stepped in front of both of them and held her wand firmly.

Harry saw Ron's eyes close and a warm yellow light waft around him very briefly before fading, the spirit was trying to help him but wasn't strong enough without Ron to channel their powers. He reached out a bloodied hand and shook Ron.

"Please stay with us mate, don't give up," Harry pleaded and let out a relieved shudder as Ron forced his eyes open again, "that's it! You're not going anywhere just yet are you? You're not going anywhere."

Harry winced and smiled at the same time as Hermione ignored the two of them, or at least appeared to, and drew a deep breath and cast a spell with such ferocity that she sounded like McGonagall handing out multiple detentions.

"Everbero crebro!"

"Herm..." Ron's voice struggled to make even the slightest of sounds, "...Hermione."

Harry looked up at Hermione, who was in no position to chat right now.

"Protego crebro!" she yelled at the sight of a jet of orange light zooming out from the blackness, "I can hear you Ron, hold on."

"Her-minnie...?"

Suddenly the weak wispy spell shot out in all directions around them and a fragile shield surrounded them on all sides. Hermione allowed her self to fall to her knees and take Ron's hand. He whispered something but his voice was almost nothing more than a breath now and she lowered her ear to his lips.

"What was that?" she asked with a resolve etched onto her face that told Harry she wasn't going to let her emotions get to her, she had to keep her head clear to hold Voldemort off.

Harry saw Ron's lips moving and Hermione biting her lip and nodding.

"Right you are," she said as she pulled back and looked down at him but his eyes were closed completely and his lips were parted and totally still now.

Harry shook Ron roughly, he didn't flinch, and he felt his head spin with a combination of panic and his injuries making him slump to the ground alongside his still friend. There was a shattering sound and the barrier disintegrated with the force of one of Voldemort's spells. Harry nudged Ron again as he felt a shooting pain from his injured leg all the way up to his pounding head, but the other boy still didn't move, and rested his face on the cool grass. He spotted the snake-like features emerging from the blackness and the cruel grin that twisted is lips when he saw Harry and Ron sprawled on the ground. Hermione yelled a disarming spell followed by a banishing spell but both were deflected with ease.

"Pathetic little girl," he sneered, "if Potter cannot best me in this battle what on earth makes you think you can?"

Harry shook Ron again, a wave of pain coursing through his battered frame and making him see spots before his eyes, he patted him on the side of the face and begged him to come round again.

"Ron please."

"Reluctor!" Hermione said with determination.

"Depulso!" Voldemort sighed lazily as Hermione was knocked off her feet and landed heavily upon Harry and Ron, Harry couldn't think for several seconds, the pain was too much, when he eventually came to his senses he caught the tail end of the dark wizard's speech, "...I don't need to replace the wretched horcruxes mudblood, you can kill Nagini if you can find her and you can do your best to kill me in my human form but that last little piece of my soul, that is forever immortal."

"No, there's a way around anything, nothing is infallible. Nothing is immortal," Hermione said, her voice betraying her confidence in that statement.

"I am immortal foolish witch, as long as Dumbledore's phoenix...or should I say Griffindor's phoenix, is immortal I am immortal. Can you find a way to kill a phoenix and keep it dead little bookworm?"

Hermione didn't answer. Harry didn't think she'd answered anyway. He couldn't hear anything anymore, or see anything through his closed eyelids, and he felt Ron's limp arm at his side as he fell into unconsciousness.

He's still warm. Ron's not dead.

Something gripped him so hard that the agonising pain almost woke him up...almost.

He wondered if Sirius and Dumbledore would be waiting for him.

Then he heard several of the same fragmented and weakened spells, similar to the shield that had been cast to protect Ron from the attack, flying Voldemort's way from the middle of nowhere but they were of no consequence to the dark lord. All they seemed to do was distract and intrigue him.

Harry didn't want to leave Hermione to fight alone…he didn't…he couldn't…he did.