"You first."

They'd placed the locket on a fallen log and stood a few feet back, though a part of Harry knew it wasn't going to be as easy as shooting a spell at the thing. But they had to try just in case it was.

"Dissendium!"

"Incendio!"

"Expulso!"

"Diffindo!"

"Reducto!"

"Confringo!"

"Sectumsempra!"

A barrage of spells and hexes from Harry and Hermione both didn't even make a dent in the locket, and though Harry expected it, it didn't make it any less frustrating. Once the last set of flames had gone down and Harry made sure it looked untouched (it did), he huffed, putting the chain around his neck. Immediately, he felt a heaviness on his soul.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked in concern.

Harry shoved it down the front of his shirt as if that might help. "We have to keep it safe until we figure out how to destroy it."

"Seems strange, mate," Ron piped up. "Dumbledore sends you off to find all these horcruxes but doesn't tell you how to destroy them. Doesn't that bother you?"

It did. It bothered Harry a lot, but he didn't want to shed a bad light on Dumbledore when he was sure he had good intentions. Or when it didn't matter what he thought. Dumbledore may not have known, either, and now he was dead, so they'd never be sure.

When they got back to the tent, Hermione pulled a potions book from her bag she "borrowed" from the library. "We might as well make what we can. You never know what's going to come in handy. The least we could do is have some healing potions on hand and maybe some more Polyjuice." She quickly flipped through the book and made a mental list. "Some of these I should be able to find in the forest, but some will be… trickier. We might need to make a supply run." Harry tried to not listen to Hermione mumbling to herself between making lists and writing things down, circling them. It was very quickly getting on his nerves for a reason he couldn't pinpoint.

Thankfully, Ron found the radio and had turned it on to give them some kind of background noise. They spent the next couple days theorizing, researching, and getting used to surviving and living together, taking shifts on watch every few hours. Ron was dying to bring up Hermione when she was out on watch and he and Harry were alone together, but neither of them wanted to focus on that. Ron just couldn't help notice the glances when the other wasn't looking, but he was confident, given who they were, they wouldn't make things too awkward for him if they couldn't help it. He offered to take watch more often to give them some time alone in hopes things would get settled, but they didn't want him on watch much because of his arm (Hermione insisted) and nothing ever seemed to change, except for the radio.

What began as announcements turned into Missing Persons lists that seemed to get longer and longer as the days went on. It was extremely irritating, and it made Harry want to spend as much time outside the tent as possible. After a few days, it became unbearable.

It didn't help that he kept having visions of Voldemort, either. "I thought it had stopped. You can't keep letting him in, Harry," she said comfortingly at the look on Harry's face when she came back from gathering some plants and herbs, clear that he'd had a vision again. He looked agitated, off. She sat down on the ground across from him.

"You Know Who has found Gregorovitch."

"The wand maker?"

Harry nodded. "He wants something that Gregorovitch used to have, but I don't know what. And he wants it desperately. I mean, it's as if his life depends on it." A particularly loud change of frequency inside the tent had Harry turning angrily, intending on going back in to show Ron exactly what he needed to do with that bloody radio.

"Don't," Hermione interrupted. "It comforts him."

"It sets my teeth on edge. What is he expecting to hear, good news?"

Hermione sighed, shaking her head. "I think he's just hoping he doesn't hear bad news."

Harry stood back up; he had to get away from it. From them. "How long before he can travel?"

He'd been asking that question a lot lately, and Hermione didn't see the rush. They were protected, they weren't traced, and as long as nothing changed, they'd be safe here until Ron was healed. But healing from a splinch took time, and with the physical exertion it took to Apparate, Hermione didn't want to take any chances. "I'm doing everything I can."

"You're not doing enough!"

That was the last straw. She could tell he'd been building up, especially over the last day or two, and particularly when they were alone. They'd barely talked to each other when Ron was on watch and they had the tent to themselves, mostly because Harry had been snippy. His outburst only confirmed her suspicion, and when he moved to storm off somewhere, she stood quickly. "Take it off." He paused, looking at her. "I said take it off. Now."

He sighed in annoyance, but pulled the locket out of his shirt and up over his head, setting it into her hand gentler than she expected, almost lingering. His shoulders relaxed and the crease in his brow vanished. "Better?"

It took him a couple seconds to answer, distracted by how beautiful her eyes were. He hadn't remembered them looking like that since they left Grimmauld Place. She seemed to sense that something had changed in him, too, and gave him a small smile. "Loads."

"We'll take it in turns, okay?" It was the logical thing to do so none of them became too affected by it. Otherwise, they'd end up killing each other before Voldemort could. A few hours at a time during the day was probably best, and one of them would get it at night in a rotation. It was a lot to keep up with, but they had to keep their spirits up.

She'd taken watch that night after wearing the locket for the majority of the day, surprised that it didn't seem to affect her as much as the boys. Ron had taken it to bed a couple hours before she left to go outside. It wasn't too cold yet, but she made a small fire, mostly for light and a good reference of where the tent was in case she ventured too far. Hermione had no idea what time it was, but she felt like she'd been outside for hours. The crack of a twig drew her attention - they hadn't seen many animals while they were here, and her fears assumed the worst: Snatchers.

Hesitantly and as quietly as possible, she stood to investigate. If her enchantments didn't work and whoever was out there could see them, they'd have to leave whether Ron was ready or not. She tried to steady her breathing; once she moved away from the fire, there wasn't much light. But her eyes adjusted fairly quickly and she stilled, scanning the trees before moving again. As she got to the edge of the barrier, the shuffling started again, accompanied by muffled voices.

Three men were coming, carrying someone with them. She couldn't tell anything about these men - nothing recognizable - but she knew they were Snatchers. She slowed her breath as they went by so they wouldn't hear, but one of them stopped a few feet past her.

"What's that?" he asked. Hermione's eyes widened; at least they didn't see her. "What's that smell?"

Her perfume.

The man moved back to her and she held her breath, only letting it out once he got distracted with his friend, who had dropped the body onto the ground from exertion, and they started walking again.

"Snatchers." Harry's voice behind her made Hermione jump. "Good to know your enchantments work."

"He could smell my perfume," she whispered. "We can't stay here much longer."

He tugged her arm around, turning her back towards the tent. "I thought you were asleep."

"I wasn't. I mean, I fell asleep at the table, but when I woke up, I heard the radio. Snape's headmaster."

"What?!"

"I know. They couldn't say much more than that, but I can't imagine it's a good thing."

"Oh no," Hermione groaned as they got closer to the tent. "What about Phineas? Maybe we can ask him to… to give us some information."

"That git's not going to tell us a thing. And even if he does, he's on Snape's side. He might tell him where we are if we take him out of your bag. We need to move."

"I told you, Ron's not strong enough to Apparate. Not yet."

"Then we'll go on foot. We won't be able to go as far, but if the Snatchers know someone's here, they might come back."

"I suppose that's the only option."

"And next time, Hermione, as much as I like your perfume, just don't wear any."

Hermione grinned. "Well, I've got to keep up appearances," she teased.

"Not if it risks our lives. Seriously." Her face fell and she nodded.

"Right. I know. It's stupid, but…"

"Hey, you smell better than us whether you wear it or not. Believe me, you don't need it." He shot her a smile as Hermione put the fire out and they slipped back into the tent. Ron was up.

"What have you two been doing?" he asked accusingly.

"Nothing," Hermione quickly answered. "We need to pack up. We're leaving in the morning."

Ron sat up in his bunk a little straighter. "Why, what's going on?"

"I saw Snatchers in the woods. They didn't find us, but I don't want to take any chances. I know you're not ready to Apparate, so we're going to have to walk. Hopefully we can find somewhere else inconspicuous to set up camp."

Ron's eyes flicked between them, but he didn't say anything else about it. "We're walking across all of England to search for these things?"

"We don't have any other choice right now," Hermione sighed as she began packing up the kitchen. "Until you can Apparate, we'll have to go the long way. But as long as we can rest and we have supplies, we should be okay."

"Hermione, I'm fine to Apparate."

"You're not, Ron," she insisted. "And even if you are, I don't want to take any chances of using our medical supplies when we don't have to."

"Besides," Harry chimed in, sitting down next to him, "you told me you've been getting stir crazy. I think some fresh air and some exercise will be good for all of us."

Exercise, it turned out, was definitely an understatement. Hermione had a few locations pre-planned on a map; they were far away enough from each other that they would be okay to Apparate, but walking to the next one was going to take a week, at least. She didn't tell them that until a few hours of walking the next morning after a quick breakfast.

"A week?" Harry questioned, exasperated. "Hermione, you couldn't have picked anywhere closer?"

"I didn't count on us walking, Harry!"

"Well, there's nowhere between here and there we can stop?"

"We're stopping to sleep," she argued. "And that's without a lot of coverage per day, so the farther we go, the less time it'll take. Do you have any other complaints before we've barely gotten started?"

Harry glanced at the chain around her neck. "Do you want me to take the locket?"

"No. You're in a foul enough mood as it is."

"And you aren't?"

Hermione stopped in her tracks, and Harry knew he'd said the wrong thing. She turned, opened her mouth to say something, but closed it and took a deep breath before turning back around, staring straight ahead.

It was quiet until lunch when Hermione stopped them in a small clearing to pull out the sandwiches she'd made for them. She tossed Harry's to him and the locket wasn't far behind.

"I'm sorry, Hermione," he muttered as he sat down next to her.

"You should be." Despite her words, Harry could tell she did feel better. He put the locket on and swallowed down the feeling.

"You've done a lot for us. Everything, I feel like. You've been a lifesaver with your planning and… we wouldn't last two days without you, Hermione. Truly. And I know you know that and we've been ungrateful. I've been ungrateful. So… thank you."

Hermione was silent for a few seconds, taking a bite of her sandwich, but smiled softly. "You're welcome. And you're glad I can control my emotions. That locket is… despicable. I hate it. The things it makes me think…"

"I know," Ron added. "It's like… you don't know whether you actually think what you think you're thinking or if it's just the locket."

"That's why I like switching."

"I'll take it for the rest of the day," Harry offered. "Ron, you got it last night and Hermione… you deserve a break."

"Harry, you need the least time with it. You're more vulnerable with it on."

"I'll figure it out. If we need to change it up later, I'll let you know."

Hermione raised an eyebrow in skepticism, but just continued eating. They didn't waste any more time resting when they were done, and by the end of the night, they were too exhausted to do much except collapse into the bunks and sleep.

Ron had the locket the next morning, then Harry took it back after lunch so Hermione could be the one to sleep with it that night. She didn't mind taking the night shift; sleeping with it just gave her bad dreams, and she'd prefer those over bad waking thoughts. She'd also found, however, it wore down on her impulse control, which was scary.

Hermione had always prided herself in her ability to be logical, think clearly, and stay calm under pressure. She had a lot of knowledge about a lot of things, which she had relied on the past seventeen years. One of the things she had no experience with, however, was living with Harry and Ron. Not that they were difficult to live with, per se, but lately, especially when she had the locket on at night, they'd been popping into her dreams in a way that made her eager to get rid of it as soon as she woke up. And in the times she was awake, she'd catch herself staring. At shoulders, at lips, at bare chests when she got the accidental glimpse. A part of her was ashamed. She had no right thinking about things like that, but she couldn't refuse to wear the locket, and she wondered if it affected the boys the same way.

If Harry was unsure of whether he liked Hermione or not, the horcrux made up his mind for him. He'd gotten better at controlling himself by talking himself out of it, but the jealousy he felt when he'd be getting supplies and he knew Ron and Hermione were in the tent together made him never want to leave her side. It was maddening, and worse, he didn't even know if it was real. Because when he took it off, it stopped - mostly. But living in close quarters with someone with barely any privacy, sleeping in a bed next to someone else's… he had a scary feeling that if Ron wasn't here, things would be different. Especially when he caught her staring, too. It sent a chill down his spine when they'd make accidental eye contact.

On their last day of travel, Harry awoke to find Hermione's bed empty except for the locket, covers pushed back in a hurry. Ron was still sleeping, so he didn't take it, figuring it would be safe, and left the tent.

"Hermione?" They had set up camp next to an abandoned farm with a run-down barn for extra shelter or when they needed some fresh air. They would have kept going, but some of the clouds forming overhead started to look eerily similar to Death Eaters, so they figured it would be best to take cover either way. They hid out in it while the clouds passed, realizing it would be perfect, and it was big enough to cover the whole tent with plenty of room to spare. Rain was pouring outside, loud enough to echo off the beams; Hermione might not have even heard him if she wanted to answer. "Hermione?" he called again, a little louder, before he saw her sitting on one of the hay bales, leaning up against a support with her head in her hands. He calmly approached her and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Hey…"

She gasped at his touch, clearly not paying attention to anything around her, but once she looked into Harry's eyes, she immediately broke down into tears. "Oh, Harry…"

He couldn't do anything but pull her to her feet and into his chest in a tight embrace. "Hey… it's all right. I'm here. What happened?"

"I-I… I had a dream that I… that I k-killed you, Harry," she cried. "I'm so sorry. I… I woke up and I just got so scared that I had to leave. I know it wasn't real but it was still so scary and I wanted to get away from you just in case-"

"I know," Harry replied, rubbing her back while she took deep breaths. "I've had nightmares too."

"They usually haven't been that bad, it just felt so real… my emotions felt so real, it was like…"

"Hey." He pushed her away a little bit to get her hair out of her eyes and cup her cheeks. "I'm okay. I know you wouldn't hurt me, Hermione. But like you said, you can't let him get to you, all right? It's You Know Who. He messes with your emotions. Gives you bad thoughts. But don't let him in your head. You're stronger than him, Hermione."

She was staring at him again, trying to get her breathing back to normal. Harry was there. He was safe. He was… close. Very close. And his hands were warm on her cheeks. Her eyes glanced down to his lips and she wondered for a moment if-

"Get your hands off her, Harry!"

Ron's voice made Hermione snap away. "Ron? N-No, we were just… he was…" But she stepped away, realizing what had almost happened. Then the confusion set in. Ron had no reason to be jealous. He didn't even like her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Harry asked, torn between pushing Hermione further to show Ron there was nothing going on, not that he understood why he'd even care, and pulling her closer for protection. When Ron pulled his wand, though, Harry stepped farther away, his hands raised.

"Ron, don't!" Hermione pleaded.

"No! I'm sick of being a bloody third wheel with you two. You were about to kiss him, weren't you?!"

"I-I…" she stammered.

"So what if she was?" Harry defended, and Hermione's heart fluttered a little. "What do you care? You told me you'd be fine with it!"

"What?!" Hermione looked back and forth between them. "You've talked about this?!"

Ron ignored her. "Maybe I've changed my mind!"

"You don't just get to do that!"

"Well maybe I just don't like seeing you with your hands all over her."

"Well maybe I don't understand why the hell you care!"

"Stop it! Both of you!" Hermione screamed, stepping between them. "Ron, lower your wand." When he didn't move, she scowled. Pulling out hers and pointing it at him, she continued. "Lower your wand or I'll do it for you."

Ron weighed his options. Hermione was serious - she had no qualms about shooting spells at him. But he felt a rage for Harry he hadn't felt in a long time. Not wanting to make Hermione wait in fear of getting hurt, he straightened, took a breath, and pocketed his wand.

"Now take that damn locket off," she ordered. Hermione wasn't one to curse; Ron's resolve dropped immediately at her words, like he was coming out of a trance. He pulled the chain over his head and threw it on the ground, his posture relaxing immediately as his head cleared.

He knew he needed to say something, to apologize, but none of it felt like it would be enough. What would he have done if Hermione hadn't stopped him? "Harry, I-"

"Don't," Harry interrupted. "It's fine. Let's just… get back inside. Have some breakfast. We can't go until the rain lets up anyway. Might as well wait it out." He moved towards Ron, who didn't budge, picked up the locket from off the barn floor, and went back inside the tent without another word.

"Hermione…"

"Don't you dare pretend you feel anything for me again, understand?" Only then did she put away her wand.

"It's that bloody locket. It makes me feel-"

"I know what it does. But it's putting me through enough without you adding to it. And maybe that's the point, I don't know. But please." Her stern eyes softened. "You made up your mind." She took a deep breath, leading him back to the tent. "How's your arm?"

"Fine. Can you check if I can Apparate yet?"

"Sure."

Harry had started breakfast and had two mugs of tea on the table for them. Hermione could tell Harry didn't want to be bothered, so she led Ron to the table and untied the sling and started unbuttoning his shirt with shaky hands.

"I can do it," he insisted, gently pushing her away to take over, undoing the buttons and shrugging one arm out of the shoulder. Hermione ran her hands over the scars, taking his hand and manipulating his arm.

"Does anything hurt?" she asked.

"No, it feels great," Ron replied.

Hermione smiled. "Well, I think you're ready. We need to get you training again too. I'm sure you've lost a little strength." She pushed one of the mugs of tea over to Ron and wrapped both of her hands around the other. "Do you think I should talk to him about…?"

Ron shook his head. "Not right now. I think that's a conversation to have when you're alone, if you want to have it at all."

"I don't know. It's… hard to tell what I feel."

"Then maybe you need to figure that out first."

Hermione nodded. She briefly looked over her shoulder at Harry across the tent as he cooked. "I don't want to ruin any of our friendships. We just have to stay strong around each other. Until we destroy the horcrux, it's going to be a long journey. We can't let this thing get between us."

"Yeah…"

"You're lucky Harry can be very forgiving when he wants to be." Ron huffed out a laugh. "I'm going to go see if he wants any help, okay?"

"All right," Ron said with a nod.

Hermione took a deep breath as she approached Harry, not sure of what she even wanted to say, but she felt she needed to say something. Maybe she should start off casual.

"I can't believe you two were talking about you kissing me," she began with a smirk. He let out a small laugh in return.

"It wasn't like that, I promise."

"Oh really? What was it like, then?"

He shook his head. "Nothing that's worth dealing with right now."

"Why, because it's about feelings?" Harry didn't respond, and Hermione gripped the mug a little tighter. "That's exactly why we need to talk about it, though, right? If this horcrux is messing with our feelings, we need to get everything out now so we know what's real."

"I already don't know what's real, Hermione," Harry admitted, taking a break from cooking to step back and look at her. "Even before we got this, I… I haven't been worrying about it. You've said you feel selfish with all of this and I absolutely agree. With You Know Who messing with us, the stronger our feelings become, the more vulnerable we are. And I don't want to lose you because of feelings." He turned back to the pan, and Hermione had a hunch it was to avoid eye contact.

She knew he was right, but there was a part of her that had already gotten frustrated in the week they'd been traveling. Maybe it was the confinement or the pressure or stress, but it would be easier to air it all out now to avoid confusion. But if Harry had been confused about his feelings before all this started, that definitely didn't help. Then again, so had she. She'd been confused for months. Hermione took a sip of her tea and sighed. "I can take over if you want to go talk with Ron."

"I don't really."

"All right. That's fair. He didn't mean-"

"I know he didn't mean it, but if this thing is powerful enough to make him feel things he doesn't even feel, what's it going to do to us?"

"That's a loaded question," she scoffed with a laugh. "Thank you for the tea."

"I figured we might need it."

"Ron's arm is all better," she offered softly. "He'll be able to Apparate again after we pack up. I know it's the last day, but it's better than walking all day, especially in the rain."

"Perfect. Then we'll be changing locations more often, right?"

"If we have to. At least while we're not actively searching. We can research wherever. If we find a lead, we'll go, but packing all this up every time is a lot more work than I'd like to do more than necessary," she laughed.

"Okay, that's fair." Harry smiled softly, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her into a side hug before letting her go, maybe lingering a little longer than he should have. "We'll figure it out. We'll switch more often if we need to."

Hermione swallowed at his closeness again and made a conscious decision not to look down at his lips to see if they were just as inviting as they had been a few minutes ago, and stepped away before she could think about it any further. "Are you feeling okay right now?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think the yelling helps," he laughed.

"I told Ron he needs to start training to get his strength back up. We all do, honestly, just to learn what we can and how to use what spells we have. Maybe you two can duel it out," Hermione teased.

"And what, you get to kiss the winner?" Harry smirked, earning him a smack in the arm.

"Shut up, Harry. Finish making breakfast. Pretty sure I know who would win, though," she added as she went back to the table.

It didn't take very long for Harry to finish, and Hermione was proud when he pointedly took a seat next to Ron after handing out plates.

"Ron's on board with heading out after we eat," Hermione began as she started eating. "Then we'll start working on what to practice. It's naïve to think we won't be fighting anyone this whole trip."

"And Death Eaters are strong. And fast," Harry added. "Add nonverbals to the list."

Ron listened closely, getting more and more nervous. Spells had never been his strong suit, but he'd do his best. He didn't miss how tightly Hermione gripped his hand when they were ready to leave and the look of relief when they showed up at their destination in one piece.

"Wow," Harry sighed. "Hermione, this is beautiful."

After the forests and flat fields they'd been moving through for the past week, the rolling hills in front of them were a refreshing sight. It was a little chillier than when they left, so they must be further north. There were a couple cottages off in the distance and some sheep, but they were far away enough from anyone that they shouldn't get suspicious, especially with their enchantments. And the sun was out, which was nice.

They took a couple minutes to enjoy their surroundings, in which time Hermione didn't let go of either of their hands. Harry found himself absentmindedly running his thumb over the back of her hand, but once he realized it, he let go slowly and cleared his throat. Hermione glanced over at him with a small blush.

"Well, let's get settled in, then. You two can set the tent up and I'll work on enchantments." Having Ron and Hermione go off alone, giving them permission, sent a pang of hurt through his heart, but he pushed it down. Nothing was going to happen between them. He had to stop pretending he didn't care, because deep down, he did. But Ron had assured him Hermione was into Harry. Even still, the way Ron reacted when he had the locket on made him nervous. Ron had never been great at sorting out his feelings until it was too late. Clearly, he was the most affected by the Dark magic, considering how angry he'd gotten this morning with having worn it only a few minutes. And as much as he hated it, that meant that he and Hermione needed to be taking the brunt of it, at least for the moment.

He made quick work of the enchantments, but with an extra hand on Ron's part, the tent was already set up by the time he was done. When he pushed the flap back, he was grateful to find Hermione sitting in one chair and reading while Ron was on the bed, fiddling with the radio. They'd been listening to it at night, mostly, but every once in a while, they'd have it going during the day just to listen for any updates on Hogwarts or anyone's whereabouts. Luckily, no one they knew had been on the list of missing people or deaths. Yet.

"I found a couple boulders we can practice on if we don't want to duel. If we do duel, though, I want to make sure you two are comfortable with protective and defensive spells. I know it's been a while since we went over them. They might save your life."

Harry didn't waste any time dragging them out of the tent and over to the boulders, despite both Ron's and Hermione's protesting. "Let's start with Protego. It's the quickest, easiest, most valuable. And we need to get it nonverbal. Hermione." He took out his wand and she quickly did the same.

"Stupefy!"

"Protego!" The spell ricocheted off an invisible force in front of Hermione as she flicked her wand up, soaring somewhere into the sky. "Really?!" she panted. "That's what you're starting with?!"

"You think I'm gonna go easy on you?" he smirked. "We're not going to get time to prepare." There was a part of him that really enjoyed the shock and semi-fear on her face. "Petrificus Totalus!" he shot in Ron's direction, who'd pulled out his wand as well.

"Protego!"

Harry had to duck out of the way as the spell went straight back for him. "Brilliant, Ron!" he laughed. "Again!"

They spent the next fifteen minutes practicing shields and shooting spells at each other, dodging and panting, until a leg locker from Harry was a little too fast for Hermione's shield and she collapsed to the ground with a gasp.

"Hermione!" He rushed towards her. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry. I thought you were ready…"

But Hermione was laughing. "I'm fine, Harry! It's just a leg locker." Even Ron couldn't help but laugh.

Harry fought back a smile as he muttered the counter-curse before reaching a hand out to help her up, which she gratefully took, not breaking eye contact until she was on her feet. "Maybe we should take a break."

"Agreed."

Ron sat down on one of the boulders. "This is a lot more fun than walking all day."

"I know! It's like we're at school."

"Well," Ron replied, "a lot more fun than school." He paused, wiping his hands on his pants. "Do you think they're okay? Ginny and Luna and Neville?"

"They can take care of themselves," Harry answered quickly. "So with the three of them together, I'm surprised they haven't created an uprising yet."

"They're kind of like us," Hermione laughed. "Except they don't get into as much trouble."

"Debatable," Ron smirked.

They only took a couple more minutes of rest before Harry ushered them up again and it was another hour before they were finished. Ron had taken it easy since he wasn't back to his usual strength just yet - plus, he really enjoyed watching Harry and Hermione fight each other.

Only once Harry was absolutely exhausted did he surrender to Hermione, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "We should do this more often," he laughed, pulling her in for a hug, who pushed him away.

"You stink, Harry. Go take a shower," she laughed. "The locket needs a good bath anyway, I'm sure." Once he was heading back, Hermione turned to Ron. "You did so well today, Ron. I'm really proud of you."

"Thanks," Ron beamed. "It's kind of a little more motivating when my life's depending on it." He got up to head back towards the tent. "Did you let Harry hit you on purpose?"

"No, of course not! I was tired. I've never really dueled before. Much less for this long. All it made me realize is we've got a long way to go before we're ready to fight You Know Who. All of us."

"We'll get there."

"I know we will. I just hope we have enough time."