Chapter Two - Talking in Your Sleep

"Sorry Hermione, what were you going to tell me?"

"I was just going to fill you in on the basic facts but you don't have to humour me, I'll just deal with Ron by myself tonight."

Bloody hell, did she not understand the word discretion when I used it?

"You're going to have to stop saying stuff like that Hermione, it'll give people the wrong idea" Ron said before re-arranging the contents of his back pack.

Ron wondered if she kept making little slip-ups like that because she was getting increasingly flustered around him these days. They were both a little weirded out when they had first got together and they were both excited and self conscious at Bill and Fleur's wedding, desperately searching for places to hide and get up to all sorts of mischief while also terrified of rushing into any kind of relationship when they knew that they would be living in each other's pockets for Merlin knew how long while helping Harry on his mission. He had thought he was playing it pretty cool but Hermione was forever losing her composure in front of Harry and he couldn't work out why she wasn't able to keep up the act like he could. They had agreed after all, this wasn't to become a distraction and they weren't going to make Harry feel like a gooseberry, their friendship was too important to risk with a relationship that was probably going to crash and burn any day now.

Well that was an awful thing to think about but Ron couldn't help it, he was used to ruining things as far as Hermione was concerned, it would only be a matter of time.

Wouldn't it?

"Right then, sleepwalking or somnambulism usually happens in childhood and very rarely continues into adulthood. You will find it incredibly difficult arousing a patient during an episode. The patient is not aware of what is happening and not formulating memories of his or her actions, this amnesia only lasts a short time after waking."

"Tell me something I don't know" Ron mumbled, he hated being told about the things he'd done and stared at as if he was expected to provide some sort of explanation for his actions.

"The sleep walking only ever happens when the patient is in a state of deep sleep which usually occurs three or four hours in," Hermione continued, "Adult sleepwalkers can be more aggressive and there is potential for self-injury."

Hermione stalled at this paragraph. Ron knew that she was trying not to get upset about that side of his problem, he hadn't told them about the time he almost froze to death in the snow as a kid, and he felt a pair of eyes on him as he faked untying a knot in his shoelace. Hermione took a deep breath and carried on reading.

"If the patient is suffering from a fever the symptoms can become much worse. Ah, here it is," she said with a confident tone as she pointed to the sentence she was reading aloud, "It is a common misconception that sleepwalkers shouldn't be woken. See I told you it was a myth didn't I?"

Merlin Hermione, why can't you just take somebody else's word for it just once? She'd rather wake me and have me go crazy on her than back down and follow my advice about it.

Ron kicked at his misshapen back pack and growled with annoyance.

"Bloody thing!"

Hermione looked from Harry to Ron with concern as she closed the book and got to her feet, crossing the cave as she spoke.

"This is a muggle medical book Ron, I don't doubt that there could be a big difference between magical somnambulism and muggle somnambulism, Harry and I will still follow your mother's advice and be sure not to wake you up I promise."

Ron let his shoulders loosen up a little on hearing this and stared at her for a second before nodding.

"Thanks. It might not even happen again eh?" he said with a hopeful smile.

Hermione grinned back at him.

"There's absolutely no reason to think it will."

Hermione turned back to shrink the library book and stuff it into the mini library in her own backpack and Harry leaned in to whisper something to her. Ron tried not to feel paranoid and carried on with his own preparations to leave. Were they just humouring him he wondered? He really hoped she meant what she said and wouldn't try to wake him if it happened again. He couldn't take it if he hurt either of them in his sleep. He couldn't take it if he broke Hermione's heart in the same way he had temporarily broken his mother's.

Of all the talents a wizard could posses and Ron's had to be the ability to upset people while unconscious.

He looked over to his two friends, still talking about him under their breath, wondering how to ask him to go back home and leave them to defeat You-Know-Who alone no doubt. He decided to remind them that he was still there and not planning on going anywhere until this thing was over.

"Right so where else can you think of from what you saw of Riddle's childhood then Harry?" Ron called over to them as he hoisted his backpack over his shoulders.

Harry and Hermione flinched and recovered from the interruption quickly.

"You said he was really fond of the school didn't you? He kept wanting to come back to Hogwarts all the time" Hermione pondered.

That didn't mean what he thought it meant did it?

"Please don't tell me we have to go back into the Chamber of secrets again" Ron pleaded with them.

"Well that can be a last resort," Harry smiled a smile of sympathy at him, "I've been thinking actually, he spent a lot of time at the Riddle house considering how much he hated that family."

"There's an idea," Hermione nodded.

"Come on then, let's go," Ron said, glad for a change of focus away from him.

Who'd have thought he'd ever embrace the idea of going to a known Death Eater hangout to avoid being the centre of attention?

ooo

The Riddle House was bathed in brilliant sunlight when they arrived, Ron felt thankful that they weren't doing this at night, and they approached it with a relaxed caution. There was still caution all the same.

"You don't think he still uses this place do you?" Ron asked.

"I'm sure Voldemort doesn't but you never can tell where you'll find a Death Eater these days can you?" Harry said bitterly, "wands out just to be safe though alright?"

Ron and Hermione complied and the three of them approached the house.

Ron felt Hermione's hand brush against his as they followed close behind Harry, who always insisted on going into dangerous situations a slight fraction ahead of both of them, and he glanced at her and smiled as reassuring a smile as he could manage at that moment. She curled one of her fingers around his little finger and squeezed before letting go and whispering to Harry.

"So of all the things that could be a horcrux here what do you think's the most likely then Harry?"

"Well all I know is that Dumbledore felt pretty sure that Nagini was one of them, she could be here I suppose."

"Oh great," Ron muttered as they neared the large oak door at the front of the house, he didn't have much of a fear of snakes but he wasn't looking to acquire one either.

"Then," Harry went on, "there's that goblet thing of Helga Hufflepuff's, I can't think why that would be here though, at least I've seen Nagini here so that would make sense."

"Well it looks the sort of place to be filled with old relics so an ancient cup would blend in easily wouldn't it?" Hermione ventured as her own fingers tightened around the handle of her wand.

"Isn't this place generally known to be deserted though? It's a bit open for thieves isn't it? Surely anything of value would've been nicked ages ago" Ron stopped at the doorstep to the Riddle house and prepared himself for an attack he hoped wouldn't come.

"That's why this place screams snake to me for that very same reason mate," Harry said, his face grim, "she's her own defence isn't she? That fake horcrux, that had a hell of a lot of protection and surely if something like that was in place here then there'd be a lot more dead and missing muggles connected to this place than just the Riddles and that old man a few years back."

"We still don't know what it is of Gryffindor that we're looking for do we?" Hermione said; they had gone along with Dumbledore's inkling that it was more likely that one of the horcruxes was Gryffindor and not Ravenclaw's, she flicked her wand and unlocked the door, "We could be walking into anything."

"Or even worse," Harry said as he took a deep breath and stepped into the house, "nothing."

They started off investigating the house together but Ron didn't really feel able to concentrate and was pretty sure that Hermione was having the same problem as every time he glanced at her to check that she was alright she was staring right back at him. He wondered if she was just keeping an eye on him like he was with her or if this had something to do with last night. He cursed himself internally and shook his head, he was getting really paranoid about this sleep walking thing now, and it was only once, only one night. It probably wouldn't happen again at all so why was he stressing about it so much?

"Are you ok Ron?" he heard her whisper over his shoulder.

He jumped, not having heard her approach him while in his deep thought, this seemed to worry her even more and she placed her hand on his arm gently.

"Yeah, I'm just a bit tightly wound what with being here and everything, constant vigilance remember?" he grinned.

She wasn't buying it for a second and squeezed his arm, pulling him down to her level.

"You look as if you've got the problems of the world on your mind, what's wrong?"

He smiled his best fake smile and stood up straight again, shaking off her grip, and crossing the reception area to go back into the entrance hall where Harry was examining several jewelled artefacts with scepticism.

"Just being here that's all, don't you feel weird about it Hermione?"

He didn't wait for her response. He joined Harry who, to his great relief, suggested they split up to cover the house before nightfall. Hermione was going to cover the ground floor, Ron the second and Harry the third, and when they were all done they were going to venture up into the attic together.

Ron was searching the second floor, feeling strange at how much more relaxed he was to be on his own in the house frequented by the dark lord and his murderous followers than he had been while in the company of Hermione just before, and wondered what he would do if he ran into that bastard Wormtail.

I'd kill him. I'd boil him alive. I'd transfigure him into a slug and pour salt over him...yeah, that last one was good, and he knew how to conjure salt too.

"Where are you little sluggy? I've got a treat for you."

He didn't know why he felt the need to talk aloud to himself as he searched, it was hardly the epitome of stealth, but he just needed to reassure himself that he was confident and prepared. Nobody would be taking him by surprise today. He was ready for them, whoever they were; he was ready for them all.

He saw one of the doors open a slight crack and kicked it wide with his foot while aiming his wand in readiness to attack. That was when he saw it, the snake, it was huge and coiled and right in front of him ready to pounce.

"Detineo!" he yelled as a flash of brilliant light shot out from the tip of his wand and hit the flimsy patterned paper-like thing he had just mistaken for Nagini.

He stumbled backwards and knocked over an empty bird cage which in turn fell and smashed several perfume bottles and a large powder puff on a nearby dresser. Ron spluttered and regained his footing, trying not to inhale the scented white powder that now filled the bedroom he had just done a demolition job on, and couldn't quite believe that he hadn't smashed the large mirror that was there. It would've been just his luck really; maybe that was a good sign.

He heard Hermione calling out his name as she ran up the stairs noisily and then he heard Harry's feet pounding down from the floor above him. Well he'd just caused a hell of scene hadn't he? He took a step toward the thing he had attacked and groaned, he may as well have been fighting You-Know-Who's toenail clippings for all the good he had done them in blasting away at a snakeskin, and he backed out of the room, wafting dust and debris away from himself and sputtering.

"What happened?" Harry demanded as he ran to him as he brushed himself down and looked at his two worried friends, slightly embarrassed.

"False alarm. All my fault. Sorry."

"What were you defending yourself against?" Hermione snapped, obviously annoyed at Ron having given her such a scare in this huge intimidating house.

The dust had settled a little now and Ron ventured back inside the room to pick up a long fresh snakeskin with his wand.

"I only caught it out of the corner of my eye and I sort of panicked" Ron explained with a shrug.

Hermione backed away a step.

"That looks as if it came from a big snake."

Harry nodded.

"That looks as if it came from Nagini."

Ron let the snakeskin slide off of his wand and coughed some more of the stale ladies vanity products from his lungs as he walked back over to the two of them at the doorway.

"So does that mean we just missed her or I just tipped her off that we're here?" he asked Harry, fearing the answer was the latter of the two scenarios.

Harry thought about this for a moment and then lowered his wand.

"I think that when we find Nagini we find either Voldemort himself or a hell of a lot of Death Eaters. I can't see her slithering around by herself can you?"

"So," Hermione tilted her head at an angle and squinted at Harry, "there was a horcrux here and there isn't now."

Harry raised his eyes to the ceiling and said the one thing that none of them wanted to hear.

"If there is there's only one place left to look...in the attic."

ooo

The attic was dark and musty smelling. Ron felt his skin crawl as soon as he stepped off the top rung of the ladder and balanced upon the wooden beams, this place would be crawling with spiders. He tried to remain as calm as he could, distracting himself by turning to help Hermione up and keeping hold of her while she regained her balance, but a strand of her long hair brushed against his arm and he couldn't help but shudder at the sensation. His skin felt itchy and he felt as if invisible arachnids were crawling all over every inch of him, it was the psychological side of his phobia, he knew that, he just had to keep reminding himself that they weren't on him. They weren't on him and they weren't near him and they were probably terrified of him and running for cover right now. Running away on long hairy legs; so many legs, so fast that you couldn't even see them. He subconsciously scratched his back.

Harry took a step forward, it didn't appear that he saw that there wasn't a solid floor in the attic, and he lost his footing. He seemed to twist his ankle as he slipped off the narrow beam he had been balancing upon. Ron's arm had caught Harry as he fell and Hermione's voice broke the darkness.

"Lumos!"

Harry stumbled against Ron and he struggled to keep the both of them upright. Ron managed to find a secondary beam to rest his other foot, making himself a lot more solid as he braced himself to pull Harry up to rest both feet on the widest beam beneath him.

"Cheers mate," Harry winced.

"Well this is going to be more difficult than we thought isn't it?" Ron huffed as Hermione's wand light was directed around the walls of the attic, "Balancing across a rotten piece of wood three inches wide in the dark, looking for something that you don't recognise or that could be a huge snake with huge fangs..."

"With a sprained ankle?" Harry added.

"Well there is that too" Ron shrugged as he shifted his weight out from beneath Harry and manoeuvred himself in front of him on the widest beam, he had to say it as he knew that they were probably both thinking it anyway, "and you do realise that if a spider lands on me I'm going to completely lose my composure."

Harry smiled at him through the obvious pain in his ankle. They both looked to Hermione who rolled her eyes.

"So essentially this is all down to me then is it?" she huffed.

As Hermione lightly hoped onto a beam to her left and began to walk along it with ease Ron raised his eyebrows at her sense of balance. She glanced across at him as he tried to find a way to balance on the narrow beams with his large feet and he smiled at her and mouthed the words 'very impressive', she almost glowed for a moment before continuing on her way with total nonchalance.

"I used to want to be a gymnast before I found out I was a witch, the beam was never my best apparatus though, but you never forget do you? Like riding a bike isn't it?" she said as she reached the far wall of the attic.

"I'd like to see you riding a bike up here," Ron snorted as he lit his own wand.

The light immediately illuminated a massive cobweb right in front of his face, he was barely and inch away from touching it with his nose, and he felt an uncontrollable wave of panic grip him and he flinched away from the fine thread before remembering that his balance wasn't secure enough for such a movement and jumping across to the next beam over. He tried to find his centre of gravity and keep himself steady while he moved his feet further apart to steady himself a little more. All the while he was losing the battle to calm his nerves. His heart thudded and he feared that it was so loud that it was echoing around the attic.

I can't do this, there everywhere, they're in the shadows and they'll be on me any minute now.

"Ron please try to stay calm," Hermione huffed as she set about rummaging through the dusty shelves, "they're more scared of you than you are of them you know?"

"I seriously doubt that Hermione!" Ron snapped, trying in vain to keep his breathing regulated.

He glanced up at the roof above him and wondered how many spiders were dangling right over his head. What if they fell on him? What if they dropped on him and got under his t shirt? He shuddered and tried to progress along the beam a little further but couldn't shake the feeling that his skin was crawling alive with cobwebs and insects and creepy crawlies of every kind.

"So when you eventually get to your side of the wall remember you're looking for a gold cup with a badger on it, anything with something to do with Godric Gryffindor or a locket with an 'S' engraved on it" Hermione called across to him.

Ron scowled at the back of her head. She never seemed to understand just how badly he was affected by his fear of spiders. She and Harry seemed to treat it as if it was some kind of joke most of the time. If he had something to throw at her right then he would have done.

"Thank you for emphasising the word eventually Hermione. It's so nice to be reminded that, yet again, I'm nowhere near as good as you at something" Ron snapped.

He didn't wait around to see if she glared back at him as he saw a large cobweb in his path and took three rapid but deep breaths in and out to build himself up before batting it away with a cringe. He felt sick as the strands clung to the hairs on his arm and he brushed them away frantically while fighting to keep his balance.

"Can we concentrate guys?" Harry called to the two of them from his spot beside the ladder.

Easy for you to say injured-boy!

"We?" Ron's head snapped around to glare at Harry before he realised that Harry knew just how hard this was for him and he gave him an uneasy smile, "I'll take a twisted ankle over this anytime, you want to swap over?"

Harry chuckled and Ron seemed to find it in himself to walk the last few feet of the beam without stopping to freak out about everything that crawled over him on his way. He took a deep breath and faced the back wall before hopping, he had intended to just run for it but the first step he took was into something that tickled his neck and made him jump into the air, along the beam and throwing himself against the shelving against the wall. He braced his back against the shelves and clawed at every inch of himself, to get rid of the cocoon of cobwebs, dead flies and ravenous spiders that his mind but not his eye saw as clear as day. He felt very shaky and pathetic and couldn't look at Hermione, ashamed of himself for being such a baby about all this, but Harry's voice called over to him giving him hope that maybe he wasn't a total loser.

"See, you faced your fears, you can do anything now Ron."

Ron began his search of the items on the shelf in front of him. He couldn't believe that Hermione hadn't even given him any credit for holding himself together this far. When it comes to the sleepwalking, which he'd rather forget, she's all about the reassurances but when he really needed a bit of sympathy and comfort from her she's silent as a grave. He suddenly realised that he was swearing to himself out loud and his ears burned. He swallowed and called back over his shoulder to Harry.

"I've got to get back yet."

He saw the silhouette of a cup or a jug and wrenched it out of its hiding place and into the light. It was a tarnished looking tankard, not what they were looking for at all and he threw it to one side.

"Gold with two handles Ron," Hermione said.

Oh now she speaks to me, let me know when I'm doing things wrong don't bother talking to me otherwise; I'm not bloody worth it.

"I don't think there's anything up here Harry, this is all just muggle junk," she called back to Harry, ignoring Ron's scowl.

"This was the most obvious place to look wasn't it?" Harry's said, "And isn't it obvious that he wouldn't hide something that valuable in such an obvious place as this? I'm such an idiot!"

"Harry don't say that. Even if this turns out to be a non-productive day at least we have another place to cross of the list. We can only find these things by narrowing the list of places they could be down."

Am I even here? He's not doing anything! He's just moaning and she's being nice to him.

Ron shook his head and carried on rummaging around for possibilities. He was letting his anxiety make him all irrational and tetchy. Hermione wasn't his mother for crying out loud, she didn't need to congratulate him for walking through a spider's web. How pathetic was that? How pathetic was he?

Get a grip Weasley.

He took another calming breath and opened a small wooden jewellery box and yelped like a puppy who had it's tail stamped on as a spider with a tiny body but exceptionally long legs scampered out and along his finger, across his hand and set off up his forearm at an alarming pace. He stumbled backwards and slipped off the beam.

"Agh, bloody hell!" Ron said.

Then the floor gave way beneath him while he desperately tried to shake off the spider and the darkness of the attic was sucked away from him and replaced by a blur of bright sunlight and then he felt his back slam hard against the springs of a mattress before he bounced up and slammed down hard on the floor beside the bed he had obviously just landed upon.

He felt his brain shaking inside his skull and a feeling similar to sea sickness before he was once again plunged into darkness. It was darker than the attic, it was black and silent and...then there was nothing.

"Ronald? Ronald are you hurt?"

Ron opened his eyes and felt as if he had an axe embedded in his skull.

"My head," he mumbled.

He tried to focus as he saw a grey coloured figure looming over him, hands reaching out and resting so lightly upon his face it was as if they weren't there at all.

"Hold still Ronald, I will heal you as much as I can do in my present state."

Ron felt warmth flowing through his head and the pain receded. He blinked his eyes and stared at the person who was now taking a step back to smile at him. He suddenly felt as if his world had come crashing down all around him.

"Professor, oh Merlin am I dead?"

"No no Ronald, you are merely sleeping," Dumbledore chuckled, "I am just watching over you until Harry and Hermione can reach you. Do not fear you will wake soon enough."

Ron tried to nod but he was having trouble processing his thoughts at that moment. He looked around himself and could only see a smoky haze. There was a bright square light behind Dumbledore and he felt sure that it was a door. He needed to get outside for some air. He needed to clear his head. He struggled to his feet and staggered over to the door. He slammed against it and then understood that it was a window.

Oh well, same difference, it'll still get me out of here.

He slid the window open and sat on the ledge, swinging a leg outside.

"No Ronald, where is it that you think you're going?" Dumbledore asked, momentarily distracting him from crawling the rest of the way out of the window.

He felt himself yanked back away from the window by the waist and he slammed backwards onto the floor, flat on his back but with something warm and soft beneath him.

"Now I think we'd all prefer it if you took the stairs rather than the window if you don't mind. Come, I'll show you out the safe way, I have no desire to stay in this place either."

Ron got to his feet and tried to follow Dumbledore but felt a tug on his arm holding him back. Then there was warmth as if somebody was touching his face, he tried to see but all he could make out were dark shadows moving around in front of him.

"Ignore them Ron, they won't ever hurt you unless I warn you that they're dangerous do you understand? Now come with me, I think we need to get you onto the ground floor just to be safe."

Ron pushed forward against the shadow, the barrier that seemed to want to keep him from following Dumbledore, but he kept fighting against it. He felt quite strong even if he couldn't quite place himself in a time or place at the moment. Dumbledore wouldn't lie to him; he could trust Dumbledore, even if he was a bit...dead. Eventually he forced his way through the barrier and followed the old man down the ghostly looking tunnel.

"Now we have stairs here Ronald so you need to concentrate quite hard, I can't catch you you see and the last thing I want is to see you get hurt any more than you already are."

Ron nodded and tried to focus on the stairs that plunged downwards before him. He couldn't make them out as well as he would've liked to so he descended them more through instinct and by feeling for the edges with his feet and lowering himself down slowly. Soon after starting down the stairs he felt a support around his arm and Dumbledore smiled up at him from the bottom.

"One of the shadows is guiding you, they won't let you fall now, you can relax Ronald, you're almost here."

Ron found himself walking the last few steps with greater ease than the first few and as soon as he set foot on the floor Dumbledore gestured outside.

"You know after your mother told me of your unique condition I did quite a bit of reading and it's not uncommon for those like yourself to be drawn to the light. You can be like moths if left to your own devices, something to do with the fact that the walkabouts tend to always occur during the dead of night you seem to seek out the light, although those like you are very rarely left to your own devices. These episodes are always instigated by one who wants to use the...well, what I mean to say is you will always have me as a guide Ronald so you won't go walking off any cliffs under my supervision I can assure you." the old wizard smiled.

Ron passed through the narrow doorway and into the blazing light. He didn't have anywhere to go so he just kept on going forward until something solid but springy pushed him back and he could go no further.

"Ah now this is a containment spell Ronald, never mind, we had no plans to travel today, in fact I hadn't expected to be seeing you until tonight but your accident has given us an opportunity to get right to it sooner rather than later. How is your head now may I ask?"

Ron leaned against the spongy clear barrier and thought about the dull pain in his head, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it had been.

"Still a little sore?" Dumbledore frowned.

Ron nodded and stepped back from the barrier to stare at him. He looked better than he had during the last year of his life that was for sure. He actually looked pretty happy for a dead guy. One thing Ron really liked about him was how in-focus he was, it felt good to have something to look at properly.

"I can see you as if you're really there," he said, his voice sounding foreign to him.

"Well I am really here Ronald, where else would I be?" the old wizard smiled.

Ron didn't really have an answer for that.

"I think, in time, you will be able to get a better feel for your surroundings but the shadows will always remain shadows I'm afraid. Now let's get you out of here and see if we can pass on my message shall we?"

Ron nodded.

"Who do I tell and what do I tell them?"

"Ah now well you're a little to raw for the real stuff just yet, you'll scare them and confuse yourself, I think a written note might suffice until we both get used to this. I'm a first timer you see."

"Me too," Ron smiled.

"Actually no you're not Ronald, you have done this many times before, and only you are unable to remember. Now wand out and let's disperse this barrier of Miss Grangers shall we?"

Ron withdrew his wand and pointed it at the barrier as Dumbledore stood behind him and rested his hands upon his shoulders and whispered into his ear.

"Solvo."

"Solvo!" Ron said as a burst of energy flowed through him and out of his wand, hitting the barrier and making it fall away as far as his fuzzy vision would let him see.

"Good Ronald now I need you to turn back and walk toward the two shadows you can see over there, behind them are three bags, one of them will have some kind of paper to write upon and a quill or a pencil of some sort. I need you to find them as quickly as possible as we are running out of time do you understand?"

Ron took a deep breath and nodded before walking back toward the two shadows that had been helping him down the stairs earlier on. He knelt between them, feeling one of the shadows resist slightly before his hands found a colourful blur and plunged inside to feel around for something to write with.

"When you find the quill and parchment you need to write a note for Harry and Hermione telling them they have to go to Mr Borgin's house, not the shop you hear, the Borgin home?"

Ron wasn't about to send his friends off into Death Eater territory with out him and he told Dumbledore so.

"Not without me."

"They will wait for you Ronald; you know that, they'll never leave you behind."

Ron suddenly felt as if something was touching his face again, lifting his chin and he shook it off to turn his attention back to finding something to write this message down. After a moment he looked up at Dumbledore and asked him a question that was playing on his mind.

"When are you going to leave me?"

"When it's done Ronald."

Ron felt something brush against his still hand inside the bag but maintained his focus upon Dumbledore.

"When it's over?" he asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore nodded solemnly.

"How long?"

"As long as it takes you to help them find them all."

Ron lowered his head and sighed.

"I can't see them. They're like shadows"

"Write it down for them then, and quickly Mr Weasley, my time with you this afternoon is almost spent."

Ron renewed his efforts to find something to pass on Dumbledore's message with, blindly feeling around the contents with his fingertips for a familiar shape, the shape of a feather quill or the texture of a roll of parchment. Then he felt it, a quill, just at the same moment Dumbledore said with considerable urgency.

"To your left Ronald, there's a book, do it now before it's too late!"

Ron plunged his left arm into one of the shadows and felt a book against his fingers, he curled them around and snatched it towards himself, while at the same time yanking the quill from the bag and scratching away on the page of the open book he had on his knees.

Dumbledore watched him and sighed sadly.

"Alas, I cannot think of everything, maybe tonight Ronald, we can try this again tonight."

What was he talking about? I'm writing his damn message aren't I?

Ron suddenly felt his right arm being tugged at by one of the shadows, he tried to fight against it but now the tip of his quill was being pulled around in every direction instead. If these shadows really were Harry and Hermione then what the hell were they playing at? His hand and the quill were suddenly free to write again and Dumbledore seemed excited.

"Quickly Ronald, this is our last chance this afternoon, get the name down now!"

Ron wrote the last part of his sentence and realised he could see the shapes of the letters forming, so that was it, he hadn't inked the quill, he'd just write the name and then go back to the beginning to go over the first part of the message.

B

He had to write this clearly so even he could read it in his semi blind state.

O

Either his sight was improving or his handwriting was he thought.

R

Dumbledore was becoming blurry now, he was saying something but he couldn't make it out, he seemed to be fading away. Ron couldn't stop though, he had to finish.

G

He had to finish this for Dumbledore.

I

Nearly there, why did his head hurt so much?

N

He was falling asleep, everything was getting dark.

S

He couldn't feel the quill in his hand, he couldn't feel his hand, and he couldn't feel anything but the overwhelming need to sleep.

So he did.

ooo