Disclaimer: I own nothing that you will be able to recognize.

A/N: Hey, what do you think? I've updated quite early this time, are you happy? I wanted to ask you something (you that are reading right now ). I'm writing another fan fiction, it's a Harry/Hermione story, it is called 'I Will Remember You' and the first chapter is on line since 03/10/04. I need a beta-reader, so if somebody would like to beta-read for me just let me know, ok? (I know that it's a pretty stupid thing to ask for a beta-reader for a Harry/Hermione story in the Author's Note of a Ron/Hermione fiction, but it doesn't hurt to try, does it?)

To flyingthoroughbred: Thank you so much for beta-reading this chapter, and thank you for saying that you liked it.

In the Forest

"Harry! Slow down!" cried Ron from behind him.

"Ron, we don't have time; they are coming!" cried back Harry.

Harry heard a noise at his back, like someone was falling.

Ron's steps faded away, and Harry stopped, "What's wrong?" he asked rudely turning towards Ron and Draco.

Draco was on the ground and his arm was bleeding copiously; Ron was next to him on his knees.

"Malfoy is wrong," said Ron angrily, "He cannot run in these conditions. We have to carry him."

"I won't let you or Potter carry me anywhere," answered Draco, trying to stand up, but he fell again on his back and let escape a painful sound.

"We can leave you here then," said Ron quickly.

"That would be fine with me," said Draco, looking mischievously at Ron.

"We can't leave him here; we have to bring him back to Hogwarts," Harry interrupted them.

"Ok, but what do we do? He doesn't want to collaborate," said Ron, glancing at Draco.

Harry looked around searching for something that could bring him help: the trees, the ground, his bag – his bag! His Invisibility Cloak.

"Ron, take him near that tree," he said, nodding towards the Forest, "And stay close to him."

Ron made a disgusted face and, against his will, pulled Draco near a tree and sat down next to him.

"Hey, Weasley, don't touch me," Harry heard Draco said.

"Oh, don't worry," he heard Ron answering.

Harry sighed and took out of his bag the Invisibility Cloak and sat down next to Draco on the other side.

"Hey, why do I have to stay in the middle? Between you two?" lamented Draco.

"Because you are the one that cannot protect himself-"

"Yeah, you are the impotent one," said Ron, stressing the word 'impotent'.

"Weasley, I-"

"Shut up!" said Harry.

They stopped talking, and Harry covered the three of them with the Invisibility Cloak.

"Ron, fold your leg, it isn't completely covered by the cloak," whispered Harry.

"What do you expect Potter? Weasley can't even-"

"Stop it Malfoy; he is my friend," interrupted him, Harry did.

Ron smirked, and Draco elbowed him in the stomach.

"Ouch!" said Ron.

"Sssh! Someone's coming," whispered Harry.

At that very moment two hooded figures passed a few inches from Ron's left foot.

They all held their breaths and waited.

One of the two figures stopped very near to Draco.

She took away the hood and looked around.

She was Bellatrix.

"What are you doing, Bella?" said the other Death Eater, "He isn't here, we would see him."

"I'm not stupid," hissed Bellatrix, "I can feel him."

She sniffed the air like a dog and looked exactly in Draco's direction.

Draco tried not to move, but he was shaking from the injury and from the fool-piercing glance of his aunt.

Harry too was having several difficulties controlling himself from jumping from under the Cloak and pointing his wand at Sirius' murderer.

Ron, on the contrary, was not aware of what was happening to the other two; he was too busy on paying attention to his feet.

"Let's go Bella, there's nobody here," said the Death Eater, breaking the silence.

Bellatrix took away her eyes from Draco and hid her head under the hood again.

"Oh, little Drakey," called Bellatrix walking away behind the Death Eater. "Where are you? Your little auntie doesn't want to hurt you," she said, imitating a child.

"Have they gone?" asked Ron.

"Sssh," answered Harry and Draco together.

They didn't speak for, at least twenty minutes; then, Harry let out a sigh of relief.

"I think we can get out of here," said Draco.

"Yeah, it must be safe now," said Harry.

"Let's go then," answered Ron.

Harry took away the Cloak and stood up.

"Well, it wasn't difficult, was it?" asked Ron getting on his feet.

"They can come back," said Harry looking in the direction of where the two Death Eaters disappeared, "They will come back for sure, we better move."

Harry cleaned his robes of leaves and earth and took his bag from the ground.

"Let's go Ron; Malfoy, you – Draco!"

Draco was still on the ground, motionless; his arm was bleeding worse than ever.

"What's the matter with him?" asked Ron, touching him with his foot.

"He is loosing too much blood," said Harry, loads more worried about him than Ron, "We have to find something, a charm or a potion, we-"

"We could also leave him here and-"

"Ron!" cried Harry, "We have to cure him, now, we don't have much time to loose in chats. Now, if you want to think of something useful, please."

"Sorry," said Ron in an unconvincing tone of voice, "Let me think, potions, potion, Polyjuice Potion? No it takes a month to get ready and it isn't useful now – Draft of Peace? No, he doesn't need it; well we could give it to Bellatrix and, no wait – Doxycide? No I guess it won't have effect on him – oh gosh! I think I need a Wit-Sharpening Potion!"

"Ron calm down, no potions, we don't have the time for making a potion, think of a spell," said Harry listening to Draco's pulse, "He is alive, his heart is still beating."

"A spell? Well, that's good, I'm better at spells than at potions – let me think – what about 'Accio'?"

"Oh yes, we can summon a stethoscope and-"

"What is a stethoscope?"

"Never mind. Think again."

"Hmmm, ok, we can use 'Aparecium', no wait, we-"

"Ron do you think that these spells will help save Malfoy in some way?"

"I don't know, but I cannot think of anything, but hey what about 'Avada Kedavra'?"

Harry glanced at him, and Ron became silent at once.

Then he looked back at Draco and thought quickly of something that could have helped him.

"Oh yes," said Harry, causing suddenly Ron to jump "'Ennervate!'" he said, pointing his wand at Draco.

A white light sparkled from his wand and hit Draco on his chest.

"Hmmm," lamented Draco, bringing his left hand to his right arm.

"Malfoy, are you all right?" asked Harry quietly.

Draco opened his eyes and looked at him as if he were coming from another planet, "Shouldn't I be, Potter?" he asked rudely.

Harry glanced at him, "Ron next time remind me to use the 'Avada Kedavra' spell, will you?"

"Of course Harry," answered Ron.

Draco smirked and glanced back at Harry.

"Let's go now, we have already lost too much time," said Harry, looking at the sky where the first stars were visible.

Draco put his hands on the ground and pushed on them to stand up, but, as he tried to take some steps, he failed and had to seize Harry's arm to stop himself from falling on the ground.

"Ok, well, I think that we better spend the night here," said Harry, holding Draco.

"What?" asked Ron in disbelief, "No we can't; we have to be there in a couple of days. Dumbledore said-"

"Dumbledore said that we had to find him in a couple of days, but not that we had to be back on a determinate date," answered Harry, helping Draco to sit down.

"But there are plenty of Death Eaters here," said Draco.

"Twitchy little ferret, aren't you Malfoy?" said Ron, sounding exactly like Hermione did in their fourth year.

Both Draco and Harry looked at him without speaking; Draco glared and Harry looked at him with pity.

After some seconds of silence Harry coughed and spoke.

"Ron and I will stay up at turn and will mount the guard, and tomorrow we will get to Hogwarts," he said resolutely.

Draco and Ron nodded, even if they didn't agree with him.

"Malfoy you have got to get some rest or you won't be able to get to Hogwarts anyway," said Harry.

"Ok, you are the boss," said Draco sarcastically.

"I will mount the guard first," said Ron "I couldn't resist too much next to – him."

"I couldn't resist either," retorted Draco calmly.

"Well, maybe you would prefer your auntie with you," said Ron.

"Oh well, I hope she will find you, Weasel," smirked Draco.

"Watch your mouth, Malfoy."

"You too, Weasley."

Ron looked at him with hate, "I'm going to look around here to see if this place is safe," he said to Harry and disappeared into the darkness of the Forest.

Harry followed him with his eyes as long as he could see him and, when it became too dark for distinguishing anything amongst the trees of the forest, he gazed at the place where Ron had disappeared.

"Are you hungry?" Harry asked Draco, sitting next to him.

Draco nodded, and Harry handed him one of Ron's sandwiches.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Draco suddenly.

"What?"

"What's wrong with Weasley?"

"Nothing, why?"

"Come on, Potter, do you really think that I'm that stupid?"

"Why should there be something wrong with him?"

"Because he used the 'Densaugeo' with me and he has just called me exactly what that Granger did in our – what was it? – fourth year..."

"I would never believe that you would have remembered something like that, Malfoy," said Harry in disbelief.

Malfoy blushed. "Yeah, s-strange, isn't it?" he said, trying to sound casually.

"Yeah, strange," said Harry sarcastically, "That way are you blushing, Drakey?"

"Blushing? Me? You are dreaming, Potter. Anyway even if I would have blushed it would be none of your business," answered Draco turning his head to the other side.

Harry's mouth opened wide, "You liked Hermione!"

"No, I didn't'!" He almost screamed, jerking his head towards Harry.

"It wasn't a question, Malfoy," grinned Harry.

Draco seized Harry's arm and got closer to him, "Ok, Potter," he almost whispered, "Lot's of people liked her, she was – well – cool, but everybody knew that she liked your other sidekick, Weasley. Anyway," he said raising his voice, "How did we come to this? Oh yeah, we were talking about Weasley."

"Ok, but swear to me that you won't tell Ron what I'm gonna tell you," said Harry.

"I swear," said Draco, grinning and crossing his fingers behind his back.

Harry did a small summary of all the events that occurred in the months before that night.

At the end Draco asked, "Why doesn't she cure herself with magic? I can't believe that a smart girl like her hadn't thought about that."

"Naturally, she had already thought about this, but she doesn't want to use magic for curing herself," answered Harry in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Then she must have become very stupid in these years. Why whouldn't she want to cure herself? Maybe she desires death now?"

"No Malfoy, she doesn't desire to die as much as you do. Anyway she doesn't want to use magic for two simple reasons: firstly she swore she would not have used magic anymore when she left Hogwarts, and then only Dark Magic could save someone's life in a situation like this."

Draco muttered something like 'Gryffindors' but he was interrupted before he could have really said something by a noise.

Crack.

They both turned their heads towards the place where the noise was coming from. Ron was standing in front of them, pale and wet.

"Death Eater," he whispered, "Very near."

"What?" whispered Harry back.

"There is a little place without trees over there," said Ron, indicating a point in the Forest, "They lit a fire and were saying some strange spells, I caught some words and I didn't like them at all."

"For example?" asked Draco.

"They said the name of You-Know-Who, Dark Spells and stuff like that."

"How many Death Eaters were there?" asked Harry, visibly worried.

"Twenty, maybe twenty-five," Ron whispered.

"They are trying to give the Dark Lord a real body. Trying to bring him definitely back in life. We have to stop them," said Draco, trying to put himself on his feet.

"We can't win against them, Malfoy," said Harry shooting his head around, "They are too many for us."

"I thought that the Boy-Who-Lived, would never speak like that," snapped Draco.

"I'm speaking like that because, they are twenty Death Eaters and we are only two, yes, Malfoy," he added, noticing that Draco was going to say something back to him, "Only two, you are too badly injured to fight."

"Ok, let's put it this way, I won't come back to Hogwarts if we don't at least interrupt the ritual," said Draco seriously now almost on his feet.

"If we go there we won't come back to Hogwarts in any case, because they are going to kill us, Malfoy," snapped Harry.

"Guys," said Ron, calmly interrupting the fight, "I think I've got an idea."

"I can almost see your brain working, Ron," said Harry.

"Wow, what an event it must be," said Draco grinning.

Ron, however, wasn't really listening to them, he was thinking about what to do in the next ten minutes. He was fighting with the idea of making Draco fly exactly above the Death Eaters' heads, with a Wingardium Leviosa spell, and let him fall down in the cauldron that they were using for bringing Voldemort back to life. But he couldn't do this thing, 'We have to bring him back to Hogwarts,' he thought annoyingly.

Well, it was a good plan, he thought, anyway Plan B.

"Ok, listen now," he said to Harry and Draco, "We have to pass on Plan B."

"Plan B? What was Plan A, Weasley?" asked Draco.

"I don't think you wanna know, Malfoy," answered Ron, grinning.

Draco glared at him.

Ron cleared his throat, "Now, if you don't interrupt me anymo-"

"Oh, stop it Weasley, I would like to be at Hogwarts before Hagrid is made Headmaster," snapped Malfoy.

"Oh, stop it the both of you," said Harry angrily, "Ron, come on, we don't have time for all of this.

"Ok, ok, sorry," answered Ron, blushing a little, "Anyway, I think that we can do something."

"How?" asked Harry sceptically, "It's just the three of us against – them."

"I know, I know. But you are the Boy-Who-Lived, I'm an Auror and Malfoy, well, Malfoy is Malfoy. Anyway the point is that we have to interrupt the ritual. We don't have to defeat them, just interrupt the ritual and run away as fast as we can."

"Ron," sighed Harry, "I don't think that Malfoy can run very fast."

"I can run as fast as I want, Potter. Don't you dare start worrying about me," snapped Draco at Harry.

"Good little ferret," joked Ron.

"Weasley, I swear that when this thing is all over, I'm – I'm-"

"Yeah, yeah, we know that, Malfoy," said Harry in an annoyed voice, "Just let's come back to the plan now, ok?"

Everybody nodded.

"Ok, Malfoy will act as bait, while Harry and I-"

"What? Why do I have to act as bait? Why can't be Potter or you, Weasley?" roared Draco.

"Because," sighed Ron, "They don't know that we are here, we will come out at the right moment, when they will be all distracted by your presence."

"Do you really think that they are so stupid? And what should I do? Walking in the middle of the ritual like I'm just having a walk in the Forest?"

"Oh well, Malfoy, you could also think of something by yourself, or do I have to think of everything?"

"I'm just saying that your idea is really stupid; ask Potter and you will see," snapped Draco, turning his head towards Harry.

They both looked at Harry, who seemed very absorbed in something.

"Harry?" asked Ron, "What do you think?"

Harry looked at Draco and then at Ron, "I think it's a great idea, Ron."

"Yes, Weasley 1 – Malfoy 0," sang Ron.

Malfoy glared at Ron and then at Harry and muttered the same thing as before 'Gryffindors' and stuff like that.

"Ok, now seriously," said Harry, "What will we do?"

"Well, I was thinking about Malfoy pretending to be very injured-"

"I'm very injured!" protested Draco.

"Yeah, yeah, I was just thinking a little bit more injured than now, I mean, you can still speak, can't you? You could pretend that you cannot speak at all. You run towards the Forest in their direction and-"

"I cannot speak, but I can run? Have I ever told you that you are a genius, Weasley?" said Draco mischievously.

"Well, Malfoy, you are running away from something, ok?"

"Something what?"

"I don't know yet, but we can use transfiguration for changing some of these trees into something that scares you."

"I'm sorry, Weasley, but there's nothing that scares me," hissed Draco.

"Really? When we went into the Forest in our first year, you didn't seem so sure," said Harry smiling.

"We were just 11," protested Draco.

"Yeah, yeah, anyway remind me what you were afraid of – oh yes, werewolves."

"Ok, we will transfigure something into a werewolf, and-"

"Just a little thing, Weasley, tonight there is not the full moon," hissed Draco.

Harry and Ron cursed themselves for their stupidity. "Oh well, I can't believe that werewolves are the only things that you are afraid of," said Harry, trying to sound casual.

"Come on Drakey, tell us what scares you," said Ron grinning.

"There's nothing that scares me, Weasel," hissed Draco back to Ron, "Transform whatever you want into whatever you think will scare me, I will just run, that's all."

"What about snakes?"

"Oh yes of course, Ron, a Slytherin will be surely afraid of snakes," said Harry, turning his head.

"What about spiders?" asked Ron, uncertainly.

"We-," Harry was trying to say, but Draco interrupted him.

"Oh, what a great idea Weasley," he said trying without success to hide his joy, "I think that spiders will be a great choice."

Harry glared at him, "Well, Ron, if you don't want spiders, we can create something else, you-"

"No, it's ok, I gave you the idea," said Ron firmly.

"Did you hear him, Potter? It's his idea, but, Weasley, I'm sorry to tell you that nobody would be scared by some little spiders – what about a nice Acromantula?"

"Malfoy you really are-"

"It's fine for me," said Ron.

Malfoy smirked and Harry rolled his eyes, "Ok, ok," he said, "Malfoy, you have to go very near to the place where the Death Eaters are standing, at our sign you will start to run towards them as fast as you can, ok?"

Draco nodded, "What will be the sign?"

"Hmmm, red sparkles from my wand. They won't be too high or strong, so pay attention, ok?" said Harry.

Draco nodded again.

"Ron, I think you should go on the other side of the open space, and wait there. We will come from two different ways, so they will be a little bit disoriented."

"And when will I know that the battle has started?" asked Ron quizzically.

"Hmmm, no signals, because we are too far and the Death Eaters will be able to see it too. Let me think – oh yes, wait a moment," said Harry searching in his pockets, "Here you are," he said giving Ron a little clepsydra, "I've got one too, it's fifteen minutes long. Turn it now and when it finishes we'll jump out from the Forest, ok?"

Ron nodded, "Good luck Harry."

"Good luck to you too," he said while Ron was disappearing between the trees.

He waited until Ron's steps faded away and then turned towards a large trunk and whispered "Feravertur".

The trunk was transformed into a big black spider, an Acromantula. Harry guided his creature in Draco's direction and made him run towards him.

At the same time that the Acromantula sped in Draco's direction he sent red sparkles from his wand.

Draco saw the sparkles and started to run towards the Death Eaters. Behind him he heard crashing trees and trunks; the Acromantula was getting nearer.

Harry closed his eyes and followed slowly behind Draco and the Acromantula.

He looked at the clepsydra, ten minutes to go.

All he had to do now was enjoy the scene of Draco in the hands of the Death Eaters, until it was his time.

Ron, on the other side of the open space, was thinking exactly the same thing.

Draco, on the contrary, didn't have loads of time for thinking about himself, he was just running as fast as he could, and, if he had to tell the truth, he wasn't really fast.

His arm hurt and his leg was pulsing painfully.

Finally, he saw a big fire in front of him and loads of hooded people.

The scene wasn't very focused, he felt that his senses were abandoning him, but he didn't stop running.

A woman raised her wand and scream "Immobilus" to him. He stopped in the middle of the run, one leg up and one down.

Then someone screamed an Avada Kedavra spell against the Acromantula, which exploded in little pieces.

"Why didn't you kill him, Bellatrix?" asked a man.

The woman that sent the spell took off her hood and came near Draco with a mischievously evil grin on her face.

"Because," she said, tossing Draco's hair gently, "The Dark Lord himself wants to kill him, and I won't be the one that is gonna take away his personal fun. But," she added, looking sharply at the man who spoke, "If you want to kill him, Goyle, do whatever you please. For me it will be a pleasure watching the Dark Lord killing you with pain."

Goyle murmured something incompressible, and turned his back to Bellatrix and Draco.

Bellatrix smiled and pointed her wand at Draco's chest murmuring, "Finite Incantatem". Draco opened his eyes and turned his pale face to his aunt.

In the meantime, both Harry and Ron watched their clepsydras, seven minutes to go.

"Oh, Drakey," said Bellatrix in a childish voice, "I don't know if you are really so stupid like you seem, or if this is all a stupid plan for I don't know what kind of thing."

Draco was sweating, he wasn't unsure about what to say, and he didn't know if he had to answer.

Bellatrix was still looking at him, madness in her eyes.

"Come on, you escaped from us, how can you be so stupid to come back? If you are trying to stop us from bringing the Dark Lord back to life, then you are surely very stupid, you are too weak to fight us and even if you were strong, we are too many for you."

"M-maybe I was just escaping from an Aromantula, don't you think?" said Draco trying to sound innocent.

Four minutes to go.

"You are telling me that you cannot fight a spider?" asked Bellatrix suspiciously.

"I don't have my wand with me."

Belatrix glared at him.

"Bellatrix!" called a man who was next to the Acramantula ruins.

"Look after him," said Bellatrix to another hooded woman, and she moved towards the man that called her.

Draco saw them talking and touching the ground, then, after a couple of minutes, Bellatrix came back to him again.

Two minutes to go.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked Draco, "The Acromantula was just a trunk – what are you up to?"

One minute to go.

Draco stayed silent.

Bellatrix started to laugh, a cold terrible laugh, then she pointed her wand to her nephew's chest and smiled mischievously. "I'm sure that Lord Voldemort won't be angry with me, if I kill you right now, he will surely understand if I tell him that you were doing something against him," she said in her childish voice.

Ten, nine, eight… Bellatrix touched Draco's chest with her wand; seven, six, five, four… she opened her mouth to say something; three, two, one.

"Avada-" she was interrupted by screams and green and red sparkles. Two men were running from two different directions sending spells to all the Death Eaters they found in their path. Bellatrix let Draco go and ran in the middle of the open space, where stood the fire and the cauldron.

She looked at one of the men, "Potter," she hissed like a snake.

"Don't let them come near here," she said to a Death Eater who nodded back to her; then she turned towards the cauldron and started to say spells and prayers to the Dark Lord.

Ron and Harry where doing their best for fighting the Death Eaters, they attacked by surprise, but the Death Eaters were too many for them.

Anyway the real problem was Bellatrix, she was succeeding in bringing Voldemort back to life, and both Ron and Harry were too busy with all the Death Eaters for caring about her.

On the contrary, it seemed that nobody cared about Draco. He was on the ground barely breathing. He watched the 'battle field' and he found Ron and Harry far away at his right, some of the Death Eaters around them. Lots of hooded people were on the ground most of them dead and the others almost dead. In the middle of the field there was his aunt, Bellatrix, trying to complete the ritual by herself, and she was almost succeeding in it.

With all the strength that he could find in his weak and injured body, Draco got on his feet and moved slowly towards Bellatrix. She was showing him her back, so all he had to do was to make as few noises as he could.

He wasn't sure about what he was going to do to her aunt, but he knew that he had to hurry up because his strength was fading away very quickly.

He started to run towards her, all the screams from the battle field covered his heavy steps.

He arrived at her back very quickly and with all his strength he pushed Bellatrix in the cauldron, and then pushed the cauldron off the fire, spilling the potion all over the grass.

Bellatrix had just the time to scream, and then she was gone.

Everybody, good and evil, heard her scream and they froze.

When they became aware of what happened, fear appeared on their faces.

All the Death Eaters started to run into the Forest, some of them leaving their wands behind them.

Ron and Harry ran towards Draco. When they reached him he was as cold as stone.

"I-is he dead?" asked Ron, paler than usual.

Harry touched his wrist.

"He is not," he said in relief, "But he won't last too much longer. We have to reach Hogwarts as soon as we can."

"Now we don't have to pay attention anymore, it doesn't really matter if somebody will see us," said Ron.

"Right," answered Harry, "That's why we are going back to Hogwarts on our brooms."

"Accio Firebolt," said Harry while Ron was summoning his own broomstick.

Their brooms arrived in less than ten seconds.

Harry got on his broomstick with Draco sitting in front of him; he had to pay attention not to cause him to fall off.

After only fifteen minutes of flying, they were landing on the deserted Hogwarts grounds.