Disclaimer: I don't own anything
A/N: I want to apologize for the delay upon posting this. Earlier in the week I wrote this out and then I promptly lost it. So I spent a good part of the week searching for it and then the rest of the week lamenting the lost work. Anyway, once I got over it, I decided to update anyway. Sorry again for the delay.
Chapter Thirteen
I'm suffocating!
At least, that's what Hermione thought as she woke up the next morning, gasping for air. She struggled to sit up, her arms flailing beneath her robes and almost immediately the sensation disappeared as cool air flooded her lungs. Glancing around, Hermione realized she hadn't been suffocating at all, but rather had been stuck beneath Ron's heavy arm. She couldn't tell if he had shifted in the night or if they both had, but she was keenly aware that they were much closer to eachother than they had been when they had fallen asleep the night before.
"What—what's going on?" Ron asked tiredly, roused by the sudden force at which Hermione had shoved his arm off of her chest.
"Nothing—I was just getting up," Hermione said quickly, fighting off the urge to grab Ron and kiss him in all of his ruffled, yawning glory. He just looked so cute; his unruly hair poking up all around his face, his cheeks ruddy from sleep and his eyes blinking tiredly. He just looked so—my god Hermione, get a grip on yourself! Nothing is going to get done with you slobbering all over Ron every day! You need to stop thinking with your hormones and start thinking with your head! Hermione reprimanded herself silently.
"Oh bloody hell, my back is killing me. I think I slept on a bloody rock all night!" Ron moaned, rising to his feet. Hermione couldn't help smiling at the way his clothes were twisted all around his body, evidence of his restless night.
"We should start back to Hogwarts as soon as we can—we don't want to wait any longer than we absolutely have to—Harry could be in serious danger," Hermione said, abruptly changing the subject. Ron nodded in agreement, immediately snapping awake. He glanced over towards Hermione who was brushing the dust and pine needles from her robe. Her hair was matted down into a hundred tangles and one of her cheeks had the faint outline of her wand (which Ron assumed she had accidentally slept on), but she still looked stunning. He couldn't believe he had spent the entire night just a few inches away from her. I was just a few inches away from her crazy hair, her beautiful eyes and her soft lips, Ron thought, a smile playing over his own lips. Harry would die if I told him about our kiss—he's been rooting for me to make a move ever since I told him about my feelings for Hermione. At the thought of Harry, Ron felt a pang of sadness. His best friend was god knows where, and all he could focus on was Hermione's lips, her smell and the way her body had felt against his. I'm a bloody awful best friend, Ron thought bitterly, rubbing the final bit of sleep from his eyes. Hermione had already picked up their makeshift campground and looked ready to go.
"I think as soon as we get back to our brooms one of us should head to Hogwarts and one of us should go straight to the ministry. That way we can have the help of the Hogwarts staff and the Aurors." Hermione mused sagely. Ron nodded in agreement, hastily tossing his dirty robe over his shoulders. He didn't bother dusting anything off of it as Hermione had so he resembled somewhat of a forest animal, covered in pine needles, dirt and various foliage from surrounding plants. Hermione glanced at him, stifling a giggle.
"You look absolutely ridiculous," she snickered and watched as Ron's face became rosy with embarrassment.
"Well you don't look too good yourself—you're hair looks like a gnome's nest." He pointed out defiantly and watched as Hermione's hand flew involuntarily to her hair. For a second she thought about discussing the fact that gnome's rarely lived in nests anymore and if they did, they were not known for being particularly messy creatures, but at the last minute she decided against it. Instead, her fingers picked over the knots, trying in vain to smooth them out. It was useless, a task that she would have to ask Lavender to help her with upon her return to Hogwarts.
"Well this certainly isn't getting us anywhere—instead of picking at my appearance, why don't we do something productive for a change and start going back," Hermione snapped, giving up on her hair. Ron shrugged and watched with a bemused smile as Hermione stormed off into the forest.
"Ouch—oh bloody hell," Hermione snapped bitterly as a twig reached out, catching on her robes and scraping against her exposed skin. It had been happening quite often and was beginning to grate against Hermione's already-worn-down nerves. "This didn't happen when we were coming in to this blasted forest!" She brushed at the thin line of blood rising up from her pale skin. Ron reached out, trying to soothe her nerves.
"Calm down Hermione—you aren't going to help anyone if you can't cool down enough to concentrate." Ron said quietly. How can I 'calm down' when I can't even think straight! Hermione asked herself furious at her own odd behavior. Ever since their last kiss Hermione couldn't seem to keep Ron out of her head. As hard as she tried to focus on the seriousness of the situation her thoughts kept returning to Ron's smell and his lips and the way it had felt to wake up next to him.
"I am calm," Hermione snarled with more vehemence than she felt. She wasn't really angry, but frustrated at herself and the situation at hand. Ron put a comforting hand on her shoulder, not put off in the least at Hermione's harshness. He knew how she got when she couldn't figure something out.
"Fine, just try and focus on the task at hand. First things first; we need to get out of this forest for one. We'll handle the rest when we get to it." Ron said sensibly. Hermione massaged her temples, trying to clear her head. It was near impossible with Ron so close at hand. The place where his hand rested on her shoulder burned fiercely, as if her whole body was on fire. He smelled wonderful too, like pine and woods and adventure—Oh Lord Hermione, get a grip on yourself. Now you aren't even making any sense! He smells like adventure? What does that even mean? You are acting ridiculous! If you're so distracted by him why don't you just eliminate the problem? Why don't you just—
"Oomph!" Ron exhaled loudly as Hermione grabbed him suddenly, pulling him towards her. She gripped the front of his robes so tightly that it was impossible for him to pull away—not that he was making much of an attempt. On the contrary, he was just as much into it as she was and made no effort to stop her advances. Hermione held onto him tightly, her mouth on his as fireworks went off inside her body. She felt as if a thousand chemical explosions were reacting and going off where Ron was pressed into her. For his part, Ron held onto Hermione tightly, his hands gripping her waist as if he were afraid she would suddenly come to her senses and pull away. Hermione however showed no signs of regret at her actions. Her hands moved from his robes up to his neck where she proceeded to toy with his hair. Ron's scalp tingled at her touch, embracing Hermione's bold touch.
"Oh my god," Hermione mumbled breathily after a few minutes. Her breath was coming in heavily and almost desperately, reeling from her actions. She and Ron had embraced each other with a fierce hunger, as if both had been longing for the other's touch for a while, and now Hermione was beginning to feel the toll of it. Still, she wasn't going to lose her focus.
"I know," Ron mumbled distractedly, reluctant to break the moment. He leaned in to catch Hermione's lips on his own once more and was surprised when Hermione held up her hands, pushing him away.
"No, no—not the kissing. Look," Hermione said, staring out past Ron's shoulder. He looked over his shoulder slowly, unwillingly turning away from Hermione.
"What, pray tell am I supposed to be looking at?" Ron asked in annoyance. Whatever she saw better be pretty damn good, Ron thought, slightly perturbed at the interruption.
"Look," Hermione instructed him, pointing towards a particularly dense part of the forest. For a minute all Ron saw was darkness, but then there was a sudden flicker of green light. Ron blinked, wondering whether or not he had actually seen something or if his eyes were playing tricks on him. Suddenly there was another flicker, this time longer and more distinct. There was definitely something there; there was no denying it now.
"Do you think that's—," Ron began but was cut off quickly by Hermione's nods.
"Yeah, that's Harry. I'd bet my life on it."
"Hermione—wait! You don't even know what you're running towards! Whatever got Harry could just as easily get you!" Ron cried, racing after Hermione. It was useless though as Hermione was far too distracted by following the light than listening to Ron.
"Come on!" She called over her shoulder, urging Ron to keep the pace with her. He sighed, trailing after his as best he could. His shins were suffering major scratches and he had stubbed his toe on more roots than he could count, but at the moment, all he cared about was catching up to Hermione.
"Hermione—stop!" Ron demanded with so much authority that Hermione stopped dead in her tracks. She spun around, narrowly avoiding colliding with Ron who was caught off guard by her sudden pause.
"What?" Hermione demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. Her breath was labored and game in heavy gasps but she didn't seem to notice. "Ron, don't you realize that we could be this close (She held up her fingers to indicate the proximity) to rescuing Harry? We can't keep slowing down!"
"Keep slowing down? Hermione, we haven't slowed down since you saw that blasted light! If you keep going at this pace then by the time we do get to Harry and whoever has him, we'll be too exhausted to fight! You need to take a break—we need to take a break." Hermione crossed her arms and stared at Ron skeptically.
"Snogging won't help us 'preserve any energy' either Ron. We need to focus if we're going to get this done." Ron tossed his arms skyward, feeling increasingly frustrated.
"Hermione I wasn't suggesting we snog. I was saying that we shouldn't sprint towards the light—or whatever it is. We need to take this easy and plan something out before busting in on whatever it turns out to be." Hermione eyed him cautiously, the weight of his words sinking in.
"We never plan these things in advance. We always dive into these things blindly and they always turn out fine," Hermione said ignorantly.
"And afterwards we always say how we're going to do things right next time because we always end up hurt or in the infirmary or with someone's death on our hands." Hermione shrugged reluctantly.
"I guess you're right, but look at that—the light is so close! Let's go!" Hermione said enthusiastically, rushing towards the new direction of the light. Ron slapped his forehead in disbelief.
"Bloody hell there is no reasoning with that woman," Ron mumbled to himself before rushing after Hermione's fleeting form.
"What the—?"
"Shhh!" Hermione hissed as Ron tumbled over her crouching form. He had been following her when suddenly she had disappeared. After a few minutes of searching it appeared as though he had finally caught up with her—crouching low next to an overgrown bush.
"What the hell are you doing down here?" Ron asked, nursing the bruise on his shin as Hermione motioned for him to be quiet.
"Look—it's Harry. Or at least, one of them is." Before Ron could ask what she meant by that he caught sight of where Hermione was pointing. What he saw made him reel back in shock. Sitting in the clearing where the green light was emanating from were two distinct forms. Both were tall and slightly gangly, with a mass of dark hair. Both were hunched over, staring into the fire. Both had slightly crooked glasses and an off-center scar gracing both of their foreheads. There was no denying it; both were unmistakably Harry.
"So—what do we do now? There's no telling which one is the real Harry." Ron said at a loss for any real thought.
"Remember when Harry—I mean, the imposter—pushed me from that cliff? I knew it wasn't Harry because of the eyes. The eyes were completely different. They were—evil. All we need to know is in the face."
"And how do you suggest that we figure that out? Just jump out and surprise them? Because who knows who else could be lurking around the campsite. This whole setup itself could be a prank to get us all together here." Ron said, climbing to his feet. Hermione rolled her eyes although whether or not Ron could see that in the darkness was unknown.
"Don't be so daft Ron, look at Harry! The real Harry. He's right there! He would help us. Plus, do you think he would have lured us in with those green flashes if it was dangerous?" Hermione reasoned. Ron stared at her in disbelief. Why was she being so ignorant of the situation he wondered.
"Hermione—who knows if Harry was the one who was sending out the light? It could easily be a plot to lure us in here completely unprepared. And don't you think that if Harry was capable of helping us he would have done something already? He probably doesn't even have his wand with him!" Hermione sighed, fighting off the urge to pull Ron close to her once more. His arm was touching hers and it was almost too much to bear—Get a grip on yourself! You need to focus, Hermione scolded inwardly. She stared into the clearing once more, staring at the two Harry's.
"I think you're wrong. We should just run in there and get Harry. He needs us." Ron slapped his forehead, realizing that Hermione really wasn't listening to a word of reason. He was about to say something else when a sudden shiver stopped him. It raced up his spine, sending all the hairs on his neck on end. He shuddered. Apparently Hermione had felt it too because she shifted in the leaves. She opened her mouth but no sound came out. Instead, the sound came from behind, a sneering voice full of cunning.
"Oh come now Granger, I thought you were the smart one of the bunch. I guess things change though now, don't they? Much like Weasley's little love potion seems to have changed hands." The voice taunted. For a minute everything was silent as Hermione let the words sink in. Then, as realization hit, she felt something in her stomach lurch sickeningly.
"Oh my god," she whispered as the speaker grasped her roughly, dragging her out of hiding.
