Ron had forgotten how exhausting dueling with Harry and Hermione was. True to his word, Harry spent the first part of their practice time on trees and other non-living targets he could find until he was able to control his new wand better, while Ron sparred with Hermione. And Harry had been right - she was terrifying. Impressively so. He barely had time to breathe between spells, which he was used to, but he wasn't expecting her to be so powerful. Her spells knocked him back when they didn't even mean to while blinding jets of light soared past his head. Eventually, when she had him pinned against a tree with his arms and legs bound in ropes and her wand pointed directly at his chest, she stopped.

"You have to fight back, Ron," she panted.

"You're not… giving me a chance, Hermione."

"I do this with Harry all the time."

"And it's hot as hell," Harry's voice came from a couple yards away. He was leaning against a tree he'd been practicing on. He'd never really gotten to watch her fight, having always been on the receiving end, and it really was incredible. Ron looked terrified, and he knew it was partially because Hermione had some lingering anger to take out on him, not that Harry was about to stop her. But with her ponytail falling down and her nose red from the cold after she'd just handed Ron's ass to him was turning him on more than it probably should.

"You try being bloody tied to a tree and see how you feel!"

"Oh, we've done that," Hermione reminded him.

"Gross. Can you let me go now?"

"Relashio."

Ron slumped down from the tree, rubbing his arms softly. "I think I need a break. Do you mind if I go inside for a bit?"

"No, go ahead," Harry said, his eyes still on Hermione, which Ron definitely noticed.

"I'll give you ten minutes. That's it!" he called as he walked back into the tent.

As soon as Ron was gone, Hermione had Harry's warmth against her front, rough bark against her back, and Harry's mouth on hers. She instantly gripped at his sweater, smiling into the kiss and eagerly returning it.

"What's gotten into you?" Hermione laughed breathlessly as Harry pulled away after a few seconds.

"I just haven't seen you fight before. Not really. Not like this. And knowing Ron's going to be here for a while, I figured I may as well take what I can get, right?"

"Don't remind me," Hermione groaned, resting against the tree and playing with Harry's hair a little bit. "I've already extensively grieved the loss of our alone time, believe me."

"Well, we waited three months, right? I guess we can wait a little longer again."

"I know, but I was just looking forward to-"

"Me too."

She smiled sweetly, kissing him again. "You don't think I'm being too hard on him, do you?"

"No, not at all. He needs to be prepared. And he kind of deserves it. I'd love to practice on him too."

"But I don't want you to kill him, Harry."

"I'm in control, I promise! Please, Hermione. Just… one little spell just to make sure I'm good to use it."

Hermione had never had trouble saying no to him in the past, but she'd found that since he'd been so physical with her, it had become much harder to refuse anything he asked.

"Fine," she said after a few seconds. "One spell to start off with."

"And you let him fight back," Harry insisted. Hermione groaned in frustration. "Look, he's no good to us if he can't fight, either."

"All right, you can practice on him and I'll go easy on him. And I got us to keep our bed, so you should be thankful for that."

"That'll be fun in the morning."

"Guess we'll just have to be quiet then, won't we?" Hermione smirked, kissing Harry again before moving out from the tree and walking away, leaving Harry's jaw on the ground.

They were all ready for bed by the time dinner came around, having been dueling for most of the day, and Hermione made some quick calculations before they started cooking to make sure there'd consistently be enough food for all three of them again.

Ron had offered to help, but Hermione insisted that she was okay, and since Harry had made breakfast, she took dinner, and it was a system that had worked for them. It left Harry and Ron on the loveseat, feeling much friendlier with each other after dueling, with Harry reading and Ron… staring at Hermione.

"Can you please stop staring at her?" Harry whispered under his breath. "It makes me uncomfortable."

"Sorry," Ron quickly said, looking down at his hands. "It's just… she's like a whole different person. In a good way, I mean. Confident and… powerful." He lowered his voice. "Is that what getting shagged's supposed to do?"

"I heard that, Ronald."

"It's what two near-death experiences will do, Ron." It was only then Harry and Hermione realized they hadn't told him. Ron paled a little.

"What do you mean? What happened?"

"We went on a potion supply run at Mullpeppers."

"You went to Diagon Alley? Are you mad?"

"We had no choice," Hermione chimed in before Harry could get upset, moving to sit down on the bed while everything warmed up. She knew he still took some of the blame for that night and probably always would, no matter how much she tried to convince him otherwise. "We were running low and it was either Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley. We tried Polyjuice Potion, but the buildings had enchantments on them that erased all that as soon as we walked through the door. They knew we were there before we even realized. Harry was brilliant, actually. He saved my life."

"Two Death Eaters, one werewolf. We're lucky they didn't have more. Hermione got scratched and…"

"I'm okay now, though," she quickly interrupted. "Just a few scars. I was lucky."

"And then last night, we went to Godric's Hollow to look for the sword. You Know Who was there waiting for me. The snake had gotten into Bathilda Bagshot's body somehow. Animated her. She attacked me and Hermione got me out of there. That's when my wand broke."

Ron flopped against the back of the loveseat. "Bloody hell. And I thought you two were out here like you were on holiday or something. Looking for clues, of course, but… I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. Leaving. Not… trying my hardest at practice today-"

"Ron, it's okay. You're just a little rusty."

"No, let me finish. I know I should have stayed with you. If something happened to either one of you, I'd never be able to live with myself. I'm sorry about the… the shagging joke, Hermione. You've always been a brilliant witch."

She nodded, but smiled a little. "I would ask how you know, but I figured you'd guess. It's… not entirely untrue, though. I mean, I do feel… different. It's just a little strange talking about it with you considering this time last year, I was…"

"I get it," Ron said. "I think making jokes is just how I cope with it all, so I'm sorry. I know it was insensitive."

"And degrading," Hermione added. "But I'm glad you're back, truly. Even with Harry and me being together, it still felt like something in this tent was missing."

Harry hadn't realized it until she said it, but that's why it felt off. He'd still been angry with Ron for leaving, but happy that he was gone in others, because if he hadn't left, he wouldn't have been with Hermione for the past three months. She may have still felt like she fancied him, which would have just made him more frustrated and angry. He was grateful, and last night, he'd gotten over it. Confident in the way Hermione felt about him, he wasn't jealous anymore. And he was pretty sure that Hermione, being confident in her feelings as well, had released any resentment against him. They called him back because he'd been forgiven.

Though it didn't stop Harry feeling a little annoyed when Hermione stood, pulled Ron up off the loveseat, and hugged him for what seemed to be a very long time. It was more of seeing Ron's hands where his had been last night, even in the most innocent of places, after he'd been the only one touching her for so long. But he didn't say anything - he had no reason to think that Hermione would have any thoughts past friendship about Ron anymore. When she finally pulled away, Ron's hand at her waist, Harry could feel a different kind of comfort between the two of them that he couldn't quite provide anymore. It was a weird feeling he wasn't sure how to describe, but it wasn't upsetting.

Hermione could sense an odd energy coming from Harry, and she wasn't sure where it stemmed from, but she could only imagine it was due to her hug with Ron. She'd been nervous about him coming back, but now that he was, she felt such sincerity and honesty from him that provided an extra layer of protection. The brother she never had. Crush aside, once Ron had become her friend, his true Gryffindor loyalty had shined through, even with the occasional cracks. She'd had them with him and with Harry alike. It didn't mean she wouldn't give her all to defend them.

But she had to give Harry some credit, too. She was sure he was feeling a little weird about the whole thing; he'd had reservations about her feelings for a while, but she loved him, and she wasn't mad at him for wanting him to prove it every once in a while. She moved from Ron and leaned down to kiss Harry softly.

"Well, that'll take some getting used to," Ron laughed.

"It better not take you long, then, because I'm not stopping kissing him for your sake." And she did again for good measure. "Come on, dinner's probably almost ready."

Ron got up quickly at the prospect of food, and Harry followed. Dinner was quiet, and Hermione sat down across from Harry, partially so she could nudge their feet together under the table. They spent the meal catching up on what was going on with the Order and what they'd gotten from Hogwarts, which was nothing. Letters were screened before entering or leaving the castle, so anything Ginny sent home had been coded to ask questions, but not give anything away, and they couldn't ask.

"It's a stalemate," Ron explained. "But with Snape still headmaster, I can't even imagine what she's going through."

"Why did she even go back? Why did any of them go back?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Information. I think they all stayed at the castle over Christmas break, too. Except Luna."

"Perfect, so she'll be home when we go." Hermione spent a few moments filling Ron in on all the instances of the symbol they'd found.

"I just remembered - it was outside of Gregorovitch's wand shop, too. In one of the visions I had."

Hermione quickly summoned a piece of paper and a pen she'd picked up at the Muggle store they visited (easier than carrying around quills and ink), jotting down the wandmaker's name on the list of potential places to visit. "If we don't have any luck with Xenophilius, we can see if we can locate Gregorovitch, though I'd hope we'd find a clue tomorrow. At least somewhere to start."

"Do you think I'm ready?" Ron asked, looking between both of them with sincere worry that he wasn't.

"Yes. We shouldn't be in a lot of danger, and if you just… keep calm, you'll be fine. I think that's the most important thing. The more flustered you get, the easier it is to take advantage of you. Can you do that?"

Ron nodded. "I'll do my best." And Hermione was at least appreciative of his honestly.

After dinner, they cleaned everything up and got ready for bed. Harry and Hermione worked together to quickly move the potions station and conjure Ron's bed back. She tried not to groan at the sight of it, knowing it would be the first night of many that she and Harry wouldn't get any alone time. Not that it was utterly necessary, of course, but now that she'd gotten a taste, she hadn't planned on giving it up so soon. At least Ron was a heavy sleeper. As she was setting the blankets on Ron's bunk, she noticed Harry had stilled out of the corner of her eye. "Harry, what is it?"

"I thought I saw… a weird light outside. I'm going to go check it out. I'll be right back." He grabbed his wand off the kitchen table and snuck to the entrance.

"Harry, no. You're not going out there alone."

"Then come with me."

"And what, leave Ron in the bathroom? The wards haven't gone off - I'm sure it's nothing."

"It doesn't feel like nothing."

Hermione swallowed thickly as Ron appeared in his pajamas.

"What's going on?" he asked, noticing the change in atmosphere.

"Harry thinks he saw something outside. Ron, go with him."

"What?"

"Please. Unless you want to make your own bed."

Ron looked between them before letting out a sigh and grabbing his wand. "Come on, Harry. I won't let you get hurt."

Harry rolled his eyes, but headed out the entrance of the tent with Ron close behind. "So what was it you saw?" he asked.

"A-A light or something? I don't know where it was coming from, but it moved. Different than moonlight. I don't think it's anything… malicious, necessarily." He stood still and quiet, his eyes scanning the forest around them in the darkness until he saw it. "There." A wispy glowing blue doe. "It's a Patronus…" And it was calling him.

"That means someone's close by, doesn't it?" Ron asked as they began to follow it.

"Not necessarily. Remember, Kingsley sent his to the wedding. And your dad sent his to Grimmauld Place."

"So whose is it?"

"No idea."

It didn't take them long to follow the doe to a small frozen pond. They stopped at the edge, but the doe kept walking over the ice until it transformed into just a ball of light before sinking beneath the surface.

Harry frowned and looked at Ron, who just shrugged. But as he took a step onto the ice himself, Ron grabbed his arm. "What are you doing?!"

"Following it."

"You're mad. It might not hold."

"That's what you're here for, I suppose." Ron reluctantly let go, and Harry hesitantly took another step. When the ice held, he looked back at Ron with a nod. Slow, steady steps moved him further out, to the spot the doe sank, and he wiped the layer of frost off the ice. "Ron…" he called, a little shaky with excitement and nerves all the same, "Ron… the sword. It's the sword."

"You sure?"

"Positive. Diffindo." He waited a few seconds as the ice cracked and sank. "Accio sword." It didn't move. A chill went down his spine as he realized what he was going to have to do. "Ron, I have to go in after it."

"What?! No way!"

He was already shedding his sweater and shirt, working on his shoes. "There's no other way. We need to get it."

"Just think about this for a second, mate. There's got to be something else. You'll freeze to death."

"There may be another way, but this is the fastest. Have my clothes ready. You know a drying spell. Hermione's got plenty that will fix me up back at the tent." He already felt like he was going to freeze as he stripped down to his underwear in the biting air, not even wanting to think what the water was going to feel like. He thought Ron was yelling something behind him, but he didn't give himself time to hear before he jumped in.

He felt like his heart was going to stop from the shock. Goosebumps raked over his skin immediately, so fast that it hurt. His lungs were already freezing up, but he had to open his eyes. Once he did, he had to close them again at the temperature. This had been a terrible idea, but the quicker he got the sword, the quicker he could get warm. They could destroy the horcrux. He could get back to Hermione, warm in bed next to her. That was the thought that finally got him to open his eyes, at least until he could see the sword. He could swim in that general direction and feel around. He urged his muscles to cooperate, to move forward, and he was almost touching the sword when something tightened around his neck. The locket was quickly cutting off his air supply. He should have taken it off.

"Ron!" he tried to call, but nothing came out, and water flowing into his mouth burned his throat and nearly had him gasping for air that wasn't available. The locket was pulling him to the surface, under the ice, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break it with his fist, but he wasn't opposed to shattering all the bones in his hand trying. He was running out of air. His vision started to go black. "Ron!"

Something splashed into the water next to him, and a few seconds later, he felt the cold night on his face, freezing him further, but at least he could breathe. Once he was on flat ground, he coughed the water out of his lungs and took a deep breath before tugging the locket off and throwing it to the ground. "Ron?"

"Yeah," a voice next to him panted. "Are you all right?"

Harry wiped the water from his eyes and felt around for his glasses. A fully clothed, soaked and shivering Ron was sitting next to him, sword of Gryffindor in one hand.

"You got it."

"Yeah," he repeated.

Harry cast drying and warming charms on himself, shuddering at the change in temperature before doing the same to Ron and getting his clothes back on.

Ron seemed a little shocked, but he cast the same charms on himself, not letting the sword out of his hand.

Once they were warmer and dressed, and Ron was a little more coherent, Harry picked up the locket hesitantly and placed it on a fallen log. "Ron, I want you to destroy it."

Ron's eyes flicked between the sword in his hand and the locket. "I-I can't. It affects me more than it does you."

"All the more reason for you to be the one to do it. I believe in you. You want to be a part of ending this war, you want to help, then do this. Help us take him out."

Ron swallowed hard and nodded, fingers tightening around the sword's hilt. "O-Okay."

"Now, I'm going to have to speak to it to open it. Then don't hesitate. I have no idea what's going to come out of it, but whatever it is, it won't be pretty."

"Just do it."

Harry watched carefully as Ron readied the sword, shaky but determined. A quick phrase in Parseltongue and the locket shot open, knocking Harry and Ron both flat on their backs as Ron gazed up at something Harry couldn't see.

"Ron, kill it!" he yelled, not understanding what was going on. What was Ron looking at? It didn't make sense. Then it clicked - Voldemort must be projecting something only Ron could see, something specific to him, getting in his head like he tried to do when they wore it. He moved as much as he could towards him, still staying a safe distance just in case something went wrong, ending up backed against the log. "Ron, it's lying!"

The sound of Harry's voice seemed to pull him back to reality, and he stood, the sword high over his head, running towards him. For a split second, Harry cowered in on himself, worried that Ron was going to hit him with it, but the sword smashed the locket flat, leaving a burnt spot in its wake.

And Harry felt it in his chest. He clutched his shirt tightly, suddenly feeling like he was about to pass out. His scar burned like a hot iron on his forehead. He saw a flash of Voldemort doing the same. As quickly as the pain came, though, it was gone, and Harry looked up at Ron, who had a very worried expression on his face.

"You all right, mate?"

"Y-Yeah… yeah. What happened? What did you see?"

"My worst nightmares," Ron admitted painfully. "My family was dead and you… you and Hermione were dead. And… You Know Who just kept telling me it was my fault, that I'm useless, that I was too stupid to protect them, that I didn't know anything." A few tears dripped down Ron's cheeks and Harry pulled him into a tight embrace.

"Look what you just did," Harry reminded him. "You killed a piece of him and he couldn't do a damn thing about it, could he?"

"It was your voice that did it. Brought my mind right again. Everything just felt so real. I thought for sure-"

"I'm here now. We're all here and we're all okay." He stood, pulling Ron to his feet and making sure he was okay to walk back to the tent before grabbing the locket and shoving it in his pocket. The thought of knowing he'd never had to wear it again was like going full speed on his Firebolt. "Let's get back. I'm sure Hermione's worried sick." Ron took another moment to calm himself before nodding and walking back with Harry.

A faceful of hair was what greeted Harry as soon as he stepped foot inside. "Oh, thank God you're all right," Hermione panted, only pulling away to kiss him hard for a couple seconds. "What happened? I felt… I felt you get hurt, Harry."

"You what?"

"I don't know. It was strange, like… it's hard to explain, but I knew something had happened and I wanted to go after you but I didn't want to leave the tent unattended and I knew you had Ron with you, so I hoped you'd be okay."

"The horcrux tried to drown me," Harry explained. "Ron jumped in after me and saved me."

It was only then she really remembered that Ron was still there, and rushed to hug him just as tight. "Ron, oh, thank goodness. What were you doing in water!?" Ron shifted a little from her hug and she heard something clink softly against the floor. When she pulled away, her jaw dropped. "Is that… is that the sword of Gryffindor?!"

"Yeah," Ron replied proudly, "it was in the pond."

"How did you find it?!"

"A Patronus," Harry answered. "I don't know whose it was. It was a doe."

"Yours is a stag, right?" Hermione felt a small pang of jealousy, but quickly pushed it down. That was a stupid thought. She had no claim to him.

"Yeah. I don't know anyone with a doe, though. But…" he pulled the destroyed horcrux out of his pocket and tossed it to Hermione.

"You destroyed it."

"Ron destroyed it."

"Amazing! Ron, I'm so proud of you!" She hugged him again, and he returned it with the arm that wasn't holding the sword.

"Yeah, well… least I could do, isn't it?"

Harry seemed almost hesitant to crawl into the bed next to Hermione, but he did, nuzzling into her hair as she curled against his side and noticing the lack of the horcrux between them. She carefully took his glasses off and set them down on the nightstand before draping an arm over his stomach.

"About what you said in the forest earlier," he whispered, and he couldn't see Hermione in the dim light, but he knew she was blushing.

"I was only teasing, Harry. I don't think I'm comfortable with doing anything while Ron's ten feet away. At least while he's awake." Though the excitement from the two of them coming back as heroes hadn't done much to lessen her desire for Harry. If anything, it made her want him even more.

"Fancy staying up for a bit, then?" he smirked, leaning down to kiss her. Even the gentlest of kisses affected her differently now if it went on for too long. Knowing what could come out of it excited her, turned her on, and made her heart beat harder with all the love she had for him. It was more than she'd ever felt before, and her head was spinning trying to determine what was what until she decided it didn't matter. Her feelings were intertwined, just like the two of them were now, and she could feel something else new washing over her - was that his magic? It was warm and tingly, and it only got stronger when he rolled them over so she was fully on top of him, knees straddling his hips. She whined against his lips as she felt something else, too.

"Harry, we can't," she whispered.

"I know, I know. I just wanted to see how this felt."

"And?"

"Amazing."

She rocked against him involuntarily and bit her lip hard, squeezing her eyes shut to keep from making any noise. "I definitely don't mind this. I'll add it to the list."

"You have a list?"

"I do now."

"Oi!" Ron called from his bed, turning over his shoulder to face them. "You two going at it is not the soundtrack I want to fall asleep to." He flopped back to look at the wall.

"Sorry," Harry managed, but he wasn't sorry. Not at all. Hermione grinned and moved to lay back down next to him again, on his chest, a hand around his waist. "Goodnight, Hermione," he announced loudly.

"Goodnight, Harry. I love you."

"Love you, too."