Chapter 2
Hermione woke to be lying on a soft bed of leaves, with a face hanging over her. She jumped back.
"Ron? Is that you?" she asked.
"Yes, it's me, Hermione."
Hermione looked around her. "But—but where are we? Surely we aren't at Harry's anymore? We're sitting in a clearing! Ron, you—you! Where did you take me?"
"Somewhere far away, Hermione. I couldn't tell you what I am going to in front of Harry."
"Then what are you going to tell me?"
"I love you, Hermione. That is what I tell you. I love you. Now, I have a question. Do you love me?"
Hermione stared at Ron. How could he ask such a question? After going out with Lavender in their 6th year, and he had long since nursed a soft spot for the attractive bar maiden Madame Rosemerta of the Three Broomsticks. So how could he ask the question? Was she just part of a plot to get another? And did she really love him?
She looked into Ron's face as she thought. She saw the eager look on his face. But she knew that you could force an expression or emotion on your face, but your eyes never told lies. She looked into his eyes, deep, deep into them, and she saw it there as well. And then she asked herself the question again; did she really love him? She thought about it for a long time, searching deep within her. A smile came to her lips.
"Yes, Ron, I do." She said softly.
She put her face forward and Ron kissed her.
Meanwhile, back in Harry's small cottage, Harry became upset and frantic, thinking that Ron and Hermione had been captured. Little did he know that Ron had spirited Hermione away in the night, he felt determined to find them. He grabbed his wand and his glasses off his bedside table and rushed out the door.
He believed this was the work of the Death Eaters, or maybe Lord Voldemort himself. He had spent the past eleven years hunting down the last Horcruxes, and he had destroyed them all but one. He believed it to be Hufflepuff's cup, but he was not entirely sure. He came up with a theory as he walked along.
It was this: Lord Voldemort or the Death Eaters had captured Hermione and Ron, and Harry would have to find the last Horcrux and destroy it. The he would hunt down Lord Voldemort and kill him, and the Death Eaters would flee, willingly releasing Ron and Hermione. It would all fit in!
Certain that he had found the answer, he grinned from ear to ear, although he knew his job would not be easy. But his grin faded away as another thought came to mind: If Lord Voldemort had come to kidnap Hermione and Ron, then why did he not finish Harry off before going? There would be only one explanation to that, and it was this: Lord Voldemort could not have come to kidnap Hermione and Ron; it would be the Death Eaters that did it. They would not have killed Harry themselves; he could faintly recall the words that were spoken by Voldemort in the graveyard in his fourth year, when Priori Incantatum had occurred, when their wands had connected: He's mine to finish! Mine! Voldemort wanted to kill Harry himself, so he had sent his Death Eaters to find Ron and Hermione. He would not suspect that Ron and Hermione where with Harry, so he would use them as bait for Harry to come rescue them, then he could kill him! It all fit now!
Dumbledore's teachings, Harry observed, had paid off well. And he quickened his pace and set forth on his quest to rescue Ron and Hermione.