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Ch.3

A United Trio

Previously:

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat; he hadn't told anyone—not even Ron or Hermione-- what Rookwood had said yet, and he wanted to leave it at that. It was too intense to even think about.

Harry suddenly found extreme interest in a stain on the paisley rug that lay beneath him. It was a sort of pinkish color, or maybe it only looked like that because the rug was pink. He swallowed hard feeling the lump in his throat tighten. Where was Dumbledore when Harry needed him most?

"Harry?" Lupin asked soothingly, "Can you tell us?"

Something inside of Harry was telling him to just say what bloody happened but a bigger part of him wanted to keep it locked up. He furiously shook his head while still focusing on the coral stain.

"Then we're gonna hafta perform the Legilimency charm on ya'," Moody said matter-of-factly, "Agree to it?"

Harry nodded finally.

Mad-Eye pointed his wand at Harry as he loudly cried, "Legilimens!"

A large cloud hovered over Harry's head. The distinct silence in the room was suddenly interrupted with, "CRUCIO!"

Ron went limp after suffering through an excruciating pain. He swayed on his broom before his entire body threw itself off.

"RON!" Ginny bellowed loud enough for the whole Wizarding World to hear.

His body finally reached the ground with a thunderous THUD. Dolohov then blasted Ron's broom, but before Dolohov could curse Ginny, Harry yelled, "Petrficus Totalus!" Dolohov's body went rigid-- his eyes bulging out of their sockets-- before falling off of his broom.

"Potter!" a very angry Rookwood shrilled as he landed on the ground. Harry quickly landed too before drawing forth his wand at Rookwood who lowly chuckled

"You have no idea what we're going to do, DO you POTTER?" He smiled menacingly, "The Dark Lord is getting more powerful each and everyday! With that old bat, Dumble-AHH!" He dodged to the left, just missing the piercing green light that originated from Harry's wand.

"You think you're so clever, Potter, but you're not. Thick-headed Potter doesn't even see what's right in front of him."

"What do you mean?" Harry screamed

"Dear old Hogwarts is in danger," He cackled again, this time more mysteriously, "We've got our eyes on the Mudbloods too; Dolohov was hoping to get your friend, Granger, today, but it seems…" With that, he Disapparated, just seconds before Lupin, Tonks, and Moody popped in.

Harry tightly shut his eyes after the memory cloud slowly faded away.

Hermione's stomach was in knots; she squirmed impatiently on the couch as she watched Harry's memory end; she could've been killed today. It all seemed unreal, but then again, it all made perfect sense. The room was completely quiet; save for Hermione's nails tapping against an end table. She was nervous and wasn't the only one. Ron's brows were wrinkled as he repeatedly grinded his teeth and played with his hands. His pallid face held a scared, confused, and anxious expression all at once. There was something about his edginess and insecurity that made Hermione long to embrace him in the warmest hug; he needed as much comfort as she did.

She looked back at Harry who was rubbing his hand against his forehead; she knew he didn't deserve this.

Tonks' bright pink hair looked a tad washed out as if it were describing exactly what she was feeling at that moment. She kept opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water; there was something she wanted to say. In the next five minutes, she finally managed to break the silence,

"I-I'm…I'm sure Headmistress McGonagall has been informed of this already, but Remus, Alastor, and I should go see her anyway," she turned her attention to the raven-haired boy who had finally looked up, "Harry, I know this must've been hard, but thank you for doing it nevertheless," She smiled affectionately before motioning for Mad-Eye and Lupin to join her.

"I'm coming too, Tonks," Mr. Weasley said sturdily. She nodded in approval before the four of them Disapparated.

"Harry, dear," Mrs. Weasley softly began, "are you…alright?"

Harry made a sharp nod and then hurriedly ran upstairs. Hermione sunk low in the sofa as she thought, all of this on his BIRTHDAY! She shook her head in disbelief.

"Well you three…" Mrs. Weasley made eye-contact with Ginny, Ron, and Hermione, "you better get some sleep. Oh, and Ron, make sure Harry's alright…"

With each step Ron made down the stairs, the floorboard creaked eerily. It was times like these where Ron wished he could float like a ghost. When he reached Ginny and Hermione's temporary bedroom, he used his index finger to lightly tap it open, Thank Merlin that they didn't close it all the way. He tip-toed to Hermione's bed; the moonlight had crept in from the window making Hermione glow a bright blue. She had a few untamed curls sitting on her face, and she looked so peaceful considering the events that had just taken place. The corners of her mouth twitched as she sighed sweetly. I wonder what she's dreaming of, Ron pondered. He hated waking this sleeping beauty up, but he had to. He kneeled down to be eye-level with her.

"Hermione," he whispered.

Her eyes shifted under her eyelids, her brows crumpled. Ron placed his hand on her cheek, but then immediately took it off after feeling the intense heat seeping from her face. She was warm. He thought of lifting the blanket off of her, but he suddenly felt that it wasn't that great of an idea.

"Hermione," he said a tad louder, but not loud enough to wake Ginny.

"Hmm?" her eyes flapped open, puzzlement filling them. "Ron?" she said a little too loudly.

Ron unknowingly placed a finger on her lips; they mustn't wake Ginny! By then, Hermione was fully awake. She looked down at the finger touching her lips. Ron saw this and shot his hand away like he had previously done. "Hermione…well, first I should ask, how are you?"

She smiled contently, "I'm fine…now."

He grinned sheepishly and nodded, "Good. Um, I came to get you because Harry needs to talk to us…about something."

"Oh," she stretched her arms with a yawn, "let me just…"

Ron let out his hand to help her out. She stared at it for a while, which made Ron feel a little uncomfortable. He began to bring his hand in, but Hermione grabbed it, "Thank you, Ron."

Hermione watched as Harry paced his way back and forth muttering unrecognizable things to himself. He turned his head and faced Ron and her who were sitting impatiently on Ron's bed, "If we…No, never mind." With that, Harry went straight back to striding.

"Well, we could…," he began again, "no, that wouldn't work either." He shook his head busily.

"Harry, we've been sitting here for thirty minutes, just watching you march back and forth," Hermione swung her head from side to side to emphasize 'back and forth'. "What are you trying to say anyway, Harry?"

"We need to leave," he bluntly stated before adding, "now."

Hermione attentively nodded her head as if fully agreeing with Harry's plan, "It's now or never," she said while looking at Ron who hadn't said a word yet. "What do you think, Ron?"

His words fumbled as he said, "notrightnow."

"What was that, Ron?" Hermione asked, truthfully not knowing what he said. But Harry seemed to understand Ron's mumbling perfectly; after all, he only bunked with Ron for six years!

"What's your reason?" Harry asked curiously

"My M-Mum," he mumbled once again.

Hermione looked from Harry to Ron and then from Ron to Harry. She honestly had no clue…OHHH!

"What do you mean, Ron?" Hermione asked though she knew exactly what he meant. She studied his expression; his face had gone a tad pink after she had asked this. He lowered his gaze and cracked a knuckle or two.

"She'll be really…upset that we just left, you know?" His voice quivered a bit before adding, "I don't want to have this thought in the back of my mind that my mum has no idea where we are… She'll be more worried than she'd be if we told her."

Harry patted Ron's back understandingly. Hermione just sighed; Ron really cared about his family, and it made him all the more endearing and loyal. She couldn't help but think what type of husband and father he'd be, he'll be a wonderful father and such a devoted husband; I just wish I could be the one he was devoted to…Wait, what am I saying? Hello, Hermione! You're supposed to be thinking about the Horcruxes right now! But thinking about being the future Mrs. Ron Weasley is so much more comforting…

"Uh, Hermione?"

Startled, Hermione woke herself from her daydream.

"Did you hear what I said?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

Her face turned the color of Ron's hair as she shook her head in embarrassment.

"I said that we can wait until tomorrow where we'll tell Ron's parents only that we're leaving. Then,"

"We will leave," Ron stated confidently. Hermione bobbed her head in agreement.

"Well," she began rather exasperated, "It's four in the morning, and I'm not the least bit tired," she smiled widely at her sarcastic remark.

"Alright, alright," Harry said with a soft laugh, "you can leave now."

All three of them laughed, but it wasn't necessarily about what Harry had just said. Hermione felt they all hadn't laughed together in the longest time; she knew that none of them had "searching for Horcruxes" on the top of their list of things to do in the summer, but it was a task they had to complete.

It was sort of silly, laughing about something that wasn't even that funny, but none of them could stop. Ron's face was bright red while he rolled on the floor with Harry. Hermione, at first, giggled delicately, but after seeing Ron and Harry roaring with hilarity, she joined them. The trio rolled on the floor together for a few more minutes before finally catching their breaths. They sat still in a circle on the carpet letting out tiny snorts every once in a while. Hermione sighed,

"Well, I should get going then. Thank you, guys. I haven't laughed this hard in ages."

"I think the last time I laughed this hard was when Malfoy turned into a bouncing ferret," Ron said while smirking. Harry chuckled a bit while Hermione giggled. She stopped suddenly when she remembered how she'd get back to her room. It was too dark to go alone…

Just then, Harry stood up to say, "Gotta use the bathroom," and he quickly dashed out the door. Ron laughed a bit,

"Guess he had to go, huh?"

Hermione smiled at Ron's humor but suddenly found herself talking, "Ron?" she said timidly.

"Yea?"

"Well…um…could you take me back to my room?" He eyed her for a while with a somewhat shocked expression, but it softened as he amiably said,

"Of course, Hermione."

Hermione felt color rush into her cheeks.

Well, here he was again, at Hermione and Ginny's bedroom door. Ron stared down at the blackness underneath him; it really was hard to see. The whole way down from his room, Ron had held Hermione's hand tightly as if he was afraid he'd lose her. Leaving tomorrow for the Horcruxes had really taken a toll on Ron; his heart ached at the fact that one of them could die. Thinking about that made Ron's stomach do six back flips and four somersaults. He couldn't lose Hermione. He didn't really know why he felt this strongly about losing her, but the micro-mini voice that hardly ever spoke inside him insisted that he was in love…in love with Hermione Jane Granger. Ron tried to deny this as much as he could, but that little voice was terribly strong. Before Ron had a chance to say anything, he felt a warm peck on his…cheek. Hermione had just kissed his…cheek.

"Thank you, Ron," she whispered, "you really are my best friend."

Friend. Friend? Oh.

"You're…you're welcome, Hermione," he said rather ineptly.

She ran her hand through his hair quickly and then froze. Okaayyy, she just ran her fingers through my hair…

Though it was dark, Ron could see too eyes that were insanely wide. So this wasn't only awkward for him.

Why did I do that? Well, his hair is practically inviting people to run their fingers through it. I'm sure everyone does that…No, no, I know why I did that. I'm in love with Ronald Weasley. Merlin!

"Well…I…er…should go in now," Hermione ran into her room and quickly closed the door behind her leaving a very confused Ron standing outside.

A/N: well, there ya go! I really enjoyed writing this chapter! Please rate and review and let me know what you think! Thanks mucho!

fernie