Chapter Nineteen - Reunions

They had been pondering the Pettigrew problem for some time now. There must be a way to track down an animagus; it was a magical transformation therefore some kind of magical trail must have been left behind somewhere.

"Well I'm not sure if Wormtail's a great hider or not. I mean he did manage to stay hidden for twelve years but at the same time he also managed to make his escape when he knew Sirius was onto him and not have the brains to get any further than Hagrid's hut in all that time he was gone."

"Hagrid," Hermione said thoughtfully, Ron and Harry looked at each other and shared a bemused shrug, "he'd know how to catch a snake wouldn't he?"

Harry seemed quite happy about the idea of seeing Hagrid again and was full of enthusiasm.

"We'll go to the Three Broomsticks and send him an owl."

Ron wasn't quite so eager to see the half giant though. It wasn't that Ron didn't like Hagrid, nothing could be further from the truth, it was just that Hagrid tended to like things that could kill Ron a little too much. He pictured the great hairy softie introducing Grawp to the multiple offspring of Aragog and wondering why it wasn't a love-in. He also wasn't too keen about going to Hogsmede for a flying visit and then receiving an angry letter from his sister when she inevitably found out he'd been in town and not come to see her.

She had been quite upset the last time he'd seen her. She had just had a nasty row with Harry about him leaving her behind to keep her safe while risking the life of her brother without a second thought. That had hurt Harry more than he had let on at the time, Ron knew that, and he also knew that Ginny would kill him if she ever found out how badly the quest had gone for them so far. For all their bickering and sibling teasing Ron and Ginny were closer to each other than any of their other brothers. She could drive him crazy and some days he wanted to shove her head first into a bowl of porridge but when she hurt so did he and he knew that she worried about him almost as much as his mother did. He had to admit, he was quite a magnet for peril.

He knew she would be worrying, he hadn't sent her an owl or anything, and their mother was a terrible liar so Ginny would have known that something had gone wrong. Maybe she knew they went back to the Burrow for a few days. Maybe he should ask Hagrid to pass on a message to her or something. Maybe Hagrid could let him go in to see her, Fred and George had showed up unannounced on his birthday hadn't they? Well he had been told they had, he never actually got to see them what with the whole poisoning thing, but they hadn't finished their Hogwarts education and they were allowed to come back to see their family.

"Maybe I could go and see..." Ron stopped himself when he realised that Harry might not want to have to think about Ginny right now, "...some of the guys."

He was obviously not quite as good at covering up as he had hoped; maybe he got that from his mother, and felt Harry's foot kicking at his own.

"You should go and see Ginny, she'd really like that Ron, I bet she's really missing you," Harry smiled.

Ron felt bad for his friend, he probably wanted to see Ginny too, or maybe that was the last thing he wanted and Ron had just dragged her back into his head with a painful vengeance.

"You could come?" he suggested, doubtfully.

"You and I both know that's not a good idea," Harry said with wide eyes.

Ron lowered his head and felt Hermione taking his hand and giving it a squeeze.

"Go and see your sister Ron, we'll talk to Hagrid and fill you in when you get back."

He looked up at her and couldn't imagine what it would have felt like if he hadn't been able to carry on with the mission and been left back at the Burrow worrying about Hermione. It would have been worse for Ginny. It wasn't just Harry out there risking his life but her brother and her friend as well. He owed her a visit, some comfort and reassurance at least, and he nodded. He was going back to Hogwarts.

Ron made his way toward the portrait hole with Neville. His old roommate had spotted him heading up to McGonagall's office to ask her for the password to the Gryffindor common room and told him that he was just on his way back after charms class and they had been chatting non-stop ever since.

So you've been all over the place then?" Neville had asked.

"Pretty much, I didn't get to go to Wales though," Ron shrugged.

"Why's that," Neville frowned as he stood outside the portrait hole, "did you get separated or something?"

"Um," Ron had been trying to keep the talk of their mission so far to a minimum but it was hard when Neville was being as inquisitive as he was, "no I just...I couldn't go that's all."

"Oh well Ginny'll be pleased to see you, ballyhoo," Neville turned and said to the fat lady before continuing on as if he hadn't interrupted his sentence at all, "I've been looking out for her for you. She's been scouring the Daily Prophet for news of the three of you and she got very upset about a letter from home but when I read it it didn't say anything other than you'd stopped by for a visit."

Ron felt as if his head was spinning as they climbed through the portrait hole.

"Wait, what's this, I stopped by where?"

"Your mum's, she wrote to Ginny and said you'd come home for a visit and Ginny went mental."

Oh great, well done mum, what must she have read into that?

"Well thanks for looking out for her mate I really appreciate..."

"Ron!" Seamus and Dean exclaimed in unison.

"Oh hi guys," he grinned as the mini reunion of his roommates began to unfold.

"Where's Harry?" Dean said, looking over Ron's shoulder as if Harry was prone to hiding behind him from time to time.

"Where've ya been? When you never came back we thought...well we didn't know what to think and your sister wasn't very informative," Seamus babbled excitedly.

"Well she doesn't bloody talk to me at all anymore!" snorted Dean.

"Er well..." Ron began.

"I mean I only asked her why you hadn't come back to school and she practically knocked me out!" Dean said, fairly offended that he was being blamed for the absence of another Weasley at Hogwarts.

"Will you shut up about your ex and let the man talk?" Seamus huffed, "So what happened at Gringotts then, that was you three weren't it? I've got a bet with Ernie Macmillan that..."

Ron's throat suddenly went dry and he felt the need to run away and hide in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"What? How do you...what makes you think it was me...us I mean?"

Seamus took Ron's sudden terror as evidence enough that it was indeed him who had caused all the havoc at Gringots that night and simply folded his arms smugly. Dean looked at him mightily impressed before slapping him on the shoulder and nodding them over to sit down by the fire.

"Well to be honest mate," Dean said with a shrug, "after the Department of Mysteries we all know that a bunch of Death Eaters either arrested or dead has got to be down to you three somehow and considering the bizarre circumstances of the robbery..."

"What bizarre circumstances?" Ron snapped, he tried to remember the exact words of the newspaper article but could only recall the horrific description of the unforgivable curses he had used in his sleep.

Neville was sitting forward in his seat and lowering his voice as the portrait hole opened again and a crowd of people came pouring in, the others mirrored his movement to listen.

"Well somebody went to a lot of trouble to take no money whatsoever didn't they? This wasn't a proper robbery, this was like the one in our first year that professor Quirrel did and that was for the Philosopher's stone wasn't it? This had your mission written all over it."

Ron frowned and hoped that nobody else was so easily able to connect him to the break in, he didn't fancy surviving everything he had already lived through only to spend the rest of his life in Azkaban.

"So what was it you took then?" Seamus asked eyes wide.

Ron opened his mouth to try and tell them to keep this to themselves and that he couldn't really tell them anything until this was all over and maybe not even then when another voice interrupted him before he could even begin.

"Listen, this is D.A. business right Ron?" Neville said, casting a glance over at Ron who breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, "And as D.A. members we should respect the secrecy of the D.A. and keep this to ourselves. This is a mission in progress and not idle gossip."

"Bloody hell Neville what happened to you?" Ron said with disbelief.

Neville blushed and looked into the fire while Dean and Seamus laughed.

"He became all empowered when he got a girlfriend," Seamus chuckled.

"You got a girlfriend?" Ron asked, almost feeling proud of his friend for such an accomplishment, "Who is she, is it Luna?"

Neville glanced back and shook his head, face burning bright red.

"Susan Bones," he mumbled, "we kind of bonded over y'know family stuff."

Ron's smile faded as he remembered that Voldemort had been a destructive force in both the Longbottom's and the Bones' lives and nodded.

"Good for you," he said as he punched him in the arm, "she's cool."

Neville looked incredibly pleased with himself just as Seamus and Dean looked incredibly frightened at something over Ron's shoulder and quickly averted their eyes. Ron prepared himself for the wrath of Ginny.

"Ron?"

That wasn't Ginny's voice. That was another voice he knew well. That was the last voice he ever wanted to hear right now. That was the voice of...

"Lavender?" he said meekly as he cringed and turned his head to meet the eyes of his former girlfriend.

"You're back?" she said, Parvatti at her side, attempting to hold her up apparently.

"No I'm...visiting Ginny," he said as he got to his feet and turned to face her properly.

Lavender's eyes darted around the common room before fixing back on him and growing even wider.

"Are you on your own?"

"No Harry and Her...no I'm not, we were in Hogsmede on...D.A. business and I thought I'd come in and see my sister."

Lavender seemed to just stare into him with even more intensity and she didn't say another word to him. She was on the verge of explosion by the looks of it. Parvatti rubbed her back in an effort to calm her down and looked at Ron with an awkward smile.

"Hi Ron, you look well"

"Really?" Ron blinked.

"No," Parvatti said with a kind of apologetic honesty.

"Oh," Ron said as he felt himself deflate with confusion.

"Well I'll just be taking Ron down to the great hall for some lunch then," Neville said as he leapt to his feet and dragged Ron out of this most uncomfortable situation and back through the portrait hole, "I'm sure that's where Ginny must be by now."

"Yeah," Ron mumbled, still in shock as he and Lavender were pulled away from each other by their respective friends before any tears or shouting erupted, "Ginny..."

Ron was shoved back outside, where he tripped in a most undignified manner, and Neville closed the portrait hole just as the sound of Lavender's wailing began.

"Thanks for that," he said to Neville, still in a state of shock.

"Anytime," Neville chuckled as the set off for the stairs down to the great hall.

"I've never had an ex before," Ron explained to Neville as they entered the room Ron missed most of all at Hogwarts, when it was meal time at least, "I don't know what you're supposed to do with them."

"You're not supposed to do anything with them; you're supposed to avoid them."

"I didn't go looking for her!" Ron said with incredulity as a shrill exclamation pierced his eardrum and he turned to see his sister hurtling towards him at an unstoppable rate.

"Good Godric what are you doing here, what's happened, what's gone wrong?" she yammered just before slamming into him and squeezing him so tightly that he feared his eyes were about to bulge out of their sockets.

Ron could see that this little scene was drawing quite a lot of attention to him, and not just from the other students, McGonagall was getting to her feet at the teacher's table and peering down to see what all the commotion was about.

"Are you alright?" Ginny was still firing questions at him without leaving a pause for him to answer as she let him go and began her mini-mum scan for visible injuries or hardships, "Is it all over? Where are Harry and Hermione? What's going on Ron? You look thin have you been eating properly?"

"Gin please, I could've sent a picture of myself for all the part I'm playing in this conversation!" Ron snapped.

Neville leaned in to whisper into Ginny's ear, just loud enough for Ron to hear.

"Give him a break Ginny, he's just run into Lavender."

Ginny took this information with as much horror as she would if Neville had told her he had just been offered the cursed defence against the dark arts position.

"Oooh, I bet that was a barrel of laughs."

Ron rolled his eyes and heaved a deep sigh. Ginny seemed to finally be in a position to actually listen to him and tugged at his arm to come and sit with her. He allowed himself to be dragged behind his sister while turning to thank Neville for his help as his amused but sympathetic friend joined his girlfriend for lunch.

"So sit down you," Ginny ordered as she shoved him down and seated herself beside him, "and explain to me why you had to go back home."

"I didn't have to go back home I just decided to go back home for a visit, y'know, to put mum's mind at ease."

Ron was trying to disarm her with the winning smile but Ginny was using her sibling immunity to her best ability and not falling for it for a second. He looked away from her and decided that he may as well eat while he could, it was nice not to have to cook for a change, and he began to load up his plate with roast potatoes.

"Fred and George won't answer my owls either," Ginny said, as he began to fill her own plate while keeping a constant eye on Ron to read his reaction to anything she said.

Ron shrugged and scooped a small mountain of garden peas onto his plate beside the potatoes.

"That's my fault is it?" he asked as he avoided her eye.

Ginny sucked her teeth and plunged her fork into a slice of gammon.

"Well I tried to floo them a while back and got that shop girl who works for them, what's her name? Verity, that's it, well she said that they were both away because of a family emergency and that George would be back soon to do his shift. Why did they have to cover the shop in shifts eh Ron? What family emergency was I not informed about?"

Ron shook his head and wondered if there was any way out of this.

"Come on Gin, they're probably just skiving or staying out late with their girlfriends or something, why am I expected to answer for them?"

He looked across the table at a steaming dish of something yellow and lumpy that a third year girl was putting onto her plate and called over to her.

"Excuse me," the girl jumped at being addressed by the now pretty famous in his own right Ron Weasley, and froze in the middle of her ladling, "what's that you've got there?"

"It's...It's...It's..." she stammered nervously.

One of the girl's friends took pity on her and smiled down at him.

"It's cauliflower cheese."

Ron lifted his plate and leaned over the table, holding it out to the nervous third year.

"Cool, can you plonk a dollop on there for me please?"

The girl giggled and dropped the ladleful she had been suspending in mid air onto his plate. He grinned at her and sat back down, trying not to notice that the two girls were now blushing and giggling uncontrollably. He had noticed quite a bit of that the year before from the younger ones, he wondered when he went from the kind of boy girls crossed rooms to avoid to the kid who made women like Lavender go all...well, Lavender over him. He hadn't done anything differently, he was still him.

"When you've quite finished flirting with twelve year olds I expect some answers, and since when do you lean over a platter of roast beef and Shepard's pie to get a portion of cauliflower cheese?"

"Look Ginny I came by to say hello because I was in the area, I didn't come to see you for this, besides their thirteen at least," Ron huffed as he scanned the table for anything else that took his fancy.

"Well what did you expect?" Ginny exclaimed rather too loudly before lowering her voice so only he could hear her, "Mum oh so casually mentions that you are staying for a few days and constantly refers to you as Ronnie in her letter, she only calls you that when she's obscenely proud of you or when you're sick or hurt."

"And it's so hard for you to believe she was proud of me?" Ron grumbled through a mouthful of roast potato, "She couldn't have been proud of me for coming back from the first part of our mission and not being hurt in any way? That's unfeasible is it?"

Ginny wiped her face.

"Don't say unfeasible with your mouth full."

Ron swallowed.

"Sorry."

Ginny looked away from him and the two of them ate in silence for a couple of minutes.

"So," Ginny eventually said after pausing to take a drink of pumpkin juice, "you said you've completed part of your mission, how many parts are there in all? Are you nearly done?"

Ron swallowed the mouthful of cauliflower cheese and turned to give her a weary look.

"Just let it go will you Gin?"

"Can you at least tell me what you're doing in Hogsmede?" she pressed as she tossed her knife and fork down onto the plate and turned on her seat to face him side-on.

"We're just picking up some supplies that's all."

"You couldn't have done that in Diagon Alley?"

"Listen Ginny if you'd rather I hadn't come then..." Ron began to stand up but Ginny grabbed his arm and pulled him back down again.

"No don't go, I didn't mean anything by it, I'm just worried about you all. I'm worried about you Ron. You used to tell me everything when we were little."

He looked down at his dinner plate and pushed aside his own cutlery as he sighed.

"Yeah well none of my secrets were dangerous when I was a kid, not the ones I knew about anyway."

Ginny frowned and put her hand on his arm.

"What do you mean? What dangerous secrets have you found out about yourself?"

"I didn't say that."

"You're not saying anything," Ginny whined as she dropped her hands down into her lap and stared down at them with a frown.

"Look Gin I missed you, that's why I came to see you, and I thought that if you saw that I was alright and I told you we were all doing fine you wouldn't worry so much but you're just worrying more now. I didn't mean for that."

She smiled at him and he took a sip from his glass of gillywater and looked down at Ginny's plate before realising that he had given an involuntary wince at the sight of the slice of dead pig on her plate. He saw his sister pretending not to have noticed and said a silent thank you just as the deserts appeared upon the table.

"So Neville's got a girlfriend eh?" he said as he picked up a chocolate éclair.

"Yeah," Ginny nodded as she did the same, "he seems really happy."

Ron shifted on his seat to face Ginny and held the end of the éclair up to his mouth.

"You ready?" he asked her as she did the same with hers and nodded, "Ok, on three. One...two..."

They both clamped their mouths over the end of their éclairs and sucked as hard as they could. Ron's éclair was hollowed out a fraction of a second before Ginny's and he jumped to his feet in celebration.

"The undefeated champion!" he said, arms aloft.

"Only because your mouth's bigger than everybody else's!" Ginny chuckled as she wiped cream off of her chin.

"Ugh, that's gross!" Padma Patil grimaced from over on the Ravenclaw table.

Ron turned and looked down at her with a look of outrage plastered all over his face.

"This is a time honoured after dinner game, none of your charades lark, duelling éclairs are what make this country great."

Padma arched her eyebrows in scepticism.

"Unless you don't think you're up to challenging the National champion for the last five years in a row."

"National?" Padma said with obvious amusement.

"Until I can find a foreigner to challenge yes but don't worry I do intend to gain global domination within your lifetime."

Ginny held her sides and doubled up with laughter at Padma Patil's desperate fight not to give in and laugh herself.

"How about a house to house challenge for now eh?" Ron said, throwing out that grin of his for good measure, "Gryffindor verses Ravenclaw, éclairs at three paces, you and me what do you say?"

Roars erupted from both the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables drawing attention from the Hufflepuff and Slytherin crowds too. Padma rolled up her sleeves and got to her feet.

"Somebody get me an éclair!"

Ron had never felt sicker in his entire life.

But you don't get to become the champion by backing down after the tenth or eleventh challenge he told himself and after taking several bows and saying goodbye to Neville and his other half he let Ginny walk him as far as the main doors before giving her a very long hug.

"Try not to worry so much ok?" he smiled as the broke apart.

"Not possible," she shrugged, "try to stay out of trouble."

Ron shrugged back at her.

"Not possible."

They smiled sadly before Ron turned his back and set off down the steps to go and meet Harry and Hermione back at the pub.

"Oi you there, boy!" he heard the familiar voice of Filch calling out for him from behind Ginny, who also turned to stare at him in some confusion.

"Are you talking to me?" Ron frowned.

"Yes you! I've a message for you from Hagrid, he says to meet him and his other guests in his hut, and let him know he can pass on his own bleedin' messages in future I ain't no errand boy."

Ron nodded before glancing over at Ginny and rolling his eyes.

"I'll be sure to tell him that, thank you. Bye Gin."

Ginny waved at him and he set off for Hagrid's hut.

Ron had barely even walked in through the door before Hagrid slammed into him and he found his face buried into his stomach while the half giant hugged him with all the strength of a full grown grizzly bear. If it had been anybody else but Hagrid Ron might have had to put his claustrophobia calming technique into practice.

"Ron, good to see yeh again, have some tea and help yourself to sausage rolls."

"Shanksh aggid," was all Ron could manage to say through his compressed face.

The half giant finally let him go and Ron tried to regain some composure as he caught his breath and sat down between Harry and Hermione. He didn't even manage to say hello to his friends before a plate of home made sausage rolls were thrust under his nose.

I don't need that ordinarily but after all those éclairs there's a real risk of projectile vomiting here!

He tried his very best not to look disgusted as he pushed the plate away from himself. He glanced up at Hagrid with a smile.

"I ate with Ginny thanks Hagrid."

"Ah come on Ron, I know you've always got room for food, you're not tellin' me that you're full are yeh?" Hagrid chuckled.

He pushed the plate back under Ron's nose and he couldn't hide his revulsion this time around as the smell of the sausage meat hit him at the same time he looked down at the pink ground pork and felt everything he had ever eaten in his lifetime threaten to come flooding back out of him.

"Hagrid," Hermione pulled the plate out of his hands and put it to one side with a smile, "Ron's actually a vegetarian now."

Oh Godric bless you Hermione!

Hagrid's entire face crumpled up causing him to resemble a pair of buffalo snuggling together for warmth in the dead of winter. Hermione cast an uncertain glance over at Ron who must've still been looking fairly disturbed because she turned back to Hagrid with uncertainty.

"Well for now anyway," she added her little amendment.

"No," Ron quickly corrected her, he knew now that he was never going to be able to get past this revulsion no matter how much he meditated or how many years went by, that taste and smell and feeling would never go away, "for good, forever."

Hagrid looked from Ron to Hermione to Harry and then seemed to reluctantly accept this without question.

"I really did eat quite a lot in the great hall Hagrid, its fine really," Ron grinned in an effort to let Hagrid know that it wasn't an aversion to his cooking, although he did suffer from one of those as well.

"Rock cake?" Hagrid asked cautiously.

Ron rather liked having teeth but didn't want to offend the big softie any more than he already had and reached out to take the smallest one he could find.

"Thanks Hagrid."

Hagrid seemed happy at this and sat down while Ron attempted to soften the cake a little more by dipping it into his tea.

"So do we have anything then?" he asked them as he began to gnaw at the very edge of the cake.

"Well no, but we do have something from Hagrid that could help us if we found some of the rat's fur or blood, I don't suppose you kept any of Scabbers' fur did you?" Hermione asked doubtfully.

Ron shook his head, he'd pretty much gone on a purge of everything he had to with that detestable little rodent after coming home from his third year at school.

"Scabbers?" Hagrid frowned.

"Well we'd need something of the rat or the snake to make Hagrid's tracker thingy work but I have no idea where to get hold of either," Hermione sighed.

"If we knew where to go to get the snake's blood we'd be right where we wanted to be anyway wouldn't we?" Harry said.

Ron couldn't be bothered to keep up the pretence that he was actually eating the rock cake any more and tossed it back onto the table. He sat back in his seat and wondered why it had to be Nagini's blood, if it could be Scabbers' fur then surely...

"Well we know where to find her snakeskin don't we? Would that do the trick Hagrid?"

Harry and Hermione both jumped up from the table before Hagrid could answer. Ron flinched at this sudden burst of energy from his, until very recently, despondent friends.

"Of course!" Harry said, smacking himself on the forehead.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Hermione squealed.

Ron looked at the pair of them and wondered if they had been skirting around the obvious as always.

"Have I been an accidental genius again?" he asked them.

Hermione laughed and bent over, taking his face in her hands, and planted a kiss on his cheek. He smiled at her before jumping almost through the roof when Hagrid suddenly exclaimed out of nowhere.

"Is there anything I can bloody talk about?"

What the hell was that?

Harry shook with laughter and gave the half giant a sympathetic shrug while Ron looked to Hermione in utter confusion.

"He's just a bit frustrated about being kept in the dark that's all," Hermione whispered to him.

Maybe he and Ginny could form some kind of club.

They were following the jagged trail of yellow light that had drifted from the tracker all the way out of Hogsmede and had been walking in silence for quite some time before Ron grew anxious about them just strolling into another ambush and broke the silence.

"So as we've got time to kill maybe we should come up with a plan of action."

"A strategy you mean?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," Ron shrugged, "you've got to think ahead haven't you? Winging it gets you so far and then it's the better prepared person who gets the upper hand."

"This is the chess player in you coming out isn't it?" Harry smirked.

Ron smiled as he realised that he had just sounded more like Harry during a D.A. meeting then himself. He was right though, Ron was a tactician and he really didn't like just jumping into a situation like this without any kind of plan of attack or defence.

"Yeah, well I didn't have a battle plan last time did I and look how badly that went," he said as he tried not to look quite so embarrassed.

Hermione linked her arm with his and he felt as if he was being silly, after all he did have his own little army of the dead fighting beside him then, which was something of a strategy he supposed. This time it would just be him though and if it came down to him and him alone then he wanted to plan ahead. He smiled down at Hermione as she began to give his ego a mini boost while they walked on.

"That wasn't your fault, you couldn't plan your next move when you couldn't see any of the pieces on the board, you were fighting blind and I think you did brilliantly."

"Well that was mostly him wasn't it? Eyes in the back of his head they way you two described it," Ron mumbled, more to himself than to them.

"No it wasn't like that at all Ron," Harry said, "it was more like he was the eyes in the back of your head. You two make a good team."

Hermione nodded and Ron saw her head drop. He was about to ask her what was wrong when her voice drifted up to meet his ears.

"That's true Ron, the power comes from the two of you together, when you were...well when you were taken out of the game he could barely create any kind of substantial spell at all. It was just like wisps of coloured smoke coming out of nowhere."

Hermione sighed deeply and Ron wondered how long she had needed to fight alone after he and Harry had collapsed. It made him feel sick to think that he had left her to face Voldemort all by herself. She'd done it though and she'd saved both his and Harry's lives. She was amazing and he hoped that she knew it. He hoped that he told her often enough. They walked in silence a little further and Ron wondered what the biggest problem was going to be in the next fight when it came. Pettigrew wasn't a stunningly proficient wizard and Nagini was a stunningly vicious snake so the best choice he could make in protecting Hermione, or paying her back at least, would be to take the snake with Harry. There was still that niggle though, that burn in the depth of his gut that screamed to take on Wormtail. He had lived with his family, eaten scraps from their table, slept in Ron's bed. That last one had always been the hardest pill to swallow as far as Ron was concerned.

"Well I'll go after Sc..." Ron stopped himself from calling his old pet by its old name, "Pettigrew, he's my pest to deal with."

"He owes it to you to face you properly," Harry agreed, "hexing you while you were injured to save his worthless skin that night...he's got it coming the coward."

Then it hit him, he had attacked him while he was hurt hadn't he? Quite a nasty little curse it had been too.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that was him!"

Hermione was laughing at him.

"What?" Ron asked her.

"It's just comical how you remember every little thing you've ever done wrong and yet one of the most heroic things any of us have ever seen you do just slipped your mind!"

Ron struggled not to blush. He'd never been called heroic before, idiotic but not heroic, and he quite liked the sound of it.

"Right well that leaves me and Hermione to catch Nagini," Harry smiled, "piece of cake!"

"Do we really have to catch her? Can't we just kill her on sight?" Hermione said coldly.

Is this the same Hermione who wants to save the house elves?

"I never thought a day would come when I'd hear you say something like that," Ron said with an uncomfortable kind of awe.

"Well these are dark days and they call for desperate measures," Hermione said clinically before stiffening, "speaking of which..."

She put her hand into her pocket and pulled out the silver hoops of the bond of blood. She looked very anxious Ron thought, he guessed it was because she hated the things so much, and he wondered why she was getting them out now. It wasn't anywhere near nightfall and they weren't going to start camping just yet were they?

"...pop this on for me would you?" she said as she held up one of the hoops.

Ron wondered if she wanted to go into battle with his spiritual partner rather than just him.

"What for?" he asked her, almost hurt at the suggestion, "I'm not going in asleep Hermione."

"I know that Ron but I still want you to let me put it on you," she looked him in the eye, "you trust me don't you?"

What a ridiculous question.

"Of course I trust you ya twit," he laughed as he offered his arm for her to slide the hoop upon, "I just know how much you hate using these things so you kind of took me by surprise that's all."

As Hermione pushed the hoop up Ron's arm and past his elbow Ron looked over at Harry who was looking quite oddly at Hermione, as if she had just suggested doing some dark magic on him rather than wanting to do something to keep him safe, and he shrugged at him with a smile. This was nobody's idea solution after all but there was no need to make her feel bad about it was there, after all they were the ones who talked her into doing the binding spell in the first place.

"Better to be safe than sorry I suppose eh?" he said to Harry.

Harry nodded before walking on after the tiny guiding light ahead of them.

"Oi mate, you don't want to go into battle like that do ya?" Harry pointed down to Ron's shoelaces which had both come undone somehow.

"How the bloody hell did I manage that?" he grumbled under his breath as he crouched down and set about tying them again.

Harry and Hermione were still going onwards at quite a rate, Ron wondered if the tracker had sped up or something. He looked back down and finished tying the first shoe. As he shuffled his weight over to the other side to tie his other shoe he thought he heard Harry and Hermione's voices talking quite rapidly.

Oh shit he wasn't going to miss the battle because he was doing his shoelaces up was he?

He squinted down the path to see then talking quite heatedly, it was almost like they used to when they were fighting over telling him the truth about his episodes. Why would they be fighting again he asked himself? He turned his attention back to his shoe; the sooner he got back to them and found out what was up the better.

He finished the job and looked back at his friends who were now standing on the spot facing each other and Hermione was pointing into Harry's chest and waving her arm around animatedly. She looked as if she was trying to prove him wrong about something. Maybe this was a battle plan that they didn't agree on. He straightened up and began to jog back over to the two of them.

Just as Ron reached the two of them Hermione turned and stomped off after the tiny yellow trail as it darted off on its crooked little way. As she went he heard her calling back to Harry.

"You know what I meant."

Ron stopped beside Harry and slapped him on the back.

"What was that?" he asked warily.

Harry stared at him for a second.

"What was what?"

Ron nodded to Hermione several steps ahead of them.

"You two, you looked kind of serious."

"Oh just battle plans and snake attack strategies that's all," Harry smiled and shrugged.

"That's all is it?" Ron said with great sarcasm, "And there was me thinking it was something difficult and hazardous."

Harry laughed. Ron wasn't buying that excuse but they really didn't need to get into a heavy debate about whatever it was right now so he kept his mouth shut. He noticed Harry staring at the silver hoop that floated around his upper arm.

"That thing comfortable?"

Ron glanced down at the hoop and shrugged.

"I don't notice it until she starts throwing me around accidentally," he chuckled.

Harry didn't laugh with him, not even a small smile, and Ron realised what they had been fighting about. They were fighting about the bond of blood. This confused Ron though; Hermione had been the one to suggest using the hoop this time, in fact loads of times recently, so why would she still be giving Harry a hard time about wanting to use them?

"Look!" Hermione interrupted Ron just as he was about to ask that very question, "The light's changed direction, it's heading toward the Shrieking Shack."

"Of course," Harry gasped, "that idiot Pettigrew would've chosen one of the only hiding places he had that had no connection from Voldemort, his childhood bloody secret."

"No imagination that little rat," Ron scowled as they ran to catch up with Hermione and followed the light into the rickety old house.