A/N: Updated 4th October 2016 - This has been revised by Whitesquirrel, thanks to them for this, the intention was to make it flow better.

If you were in a certain secluded clearing of a remote forest in the hills of Penrith, you would come across a small, A-frame tent that looked like it would only be suitable for two people on a hike. Other than the occupants of the tent, there are no human beings within half a mile. From the sounds of it, the tent is larger on the inside than the outside, just like the Tardis, otherwise, why would they be shouting at each other?

"That's IT!" Ron yelled. "Harry, I have had enough of this wandering around aimlessly stuff, I thought Dumbledore told you what you had to do?"

"Honestly Ron, he didn't. All he told me was that the horcruxes needed destroying. So what did you expect, we'd find and destroy a horcrux every other day and you'd be back home with mummy by Christmas?

"I thought that he would have left you with some semblance of an idea about how to get this job done, and soon so we could end He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as soon as possible!"

"He told me that we needed to find and destroy them, and that it would take all three of us working together to do it."

"Really, cause it seems to be you two looking and me sitting doing nothing from where I am."

"You could always help in the researching that we need to do."

"And do what? You know I am better at strategy."

"We are both aware of that courtesy of first year when you beat McGonagall's Chess set. After that who said that it was me that had to go on, not Hermione, not them but me? It was you Ron, and since then we have had falling outs; the Triwizard tournament is an example, you wanted me to tell you how I got my name in the cup, and you wouldn't believe that I didn't want to be in it. We didn't speak until after the first task, and then you came running back to me along with the rest of Gryffindor because all of you thought I had a chance of winning the whole thing. Is it going to be that you run whenever something doesn't go your way or when someone tells you something you don't like? I certainly can't tell you when this is going to end any more than Hermione or your mum can but, if you've had enough and don't want to carry on, then you know where the exit is and don't expect me to be waiting for you to return. What Hermione does is her own choice and if she chooses to wait then fine, but I will not be waiting here for you.

"He didn't mean that at all Ron," Hermione says. "Please stay."

"Of course he meant it," Ron states bitterly. "When does he say something he doesn't mean? I might come back, I might not, depends on how I feel and whether or not it's worth the effort.

Ron stalks and Hermione walks out through the tent door, and from inside the tent a crack is audible followed shortly after by Hermione returning with body language screaming that she had lost a last minute attempt to change one of her best friend's minds.

"There he's gone," Hermione says. "I hope you are happy with yourself now."

"Of course I'm not," Harry says. "It's just, I think that we all need some time away from doing this. This hunt has dragged on for long enough and we are all tired of it. Don't complain, I can see it in your mannerisms. You used to be trying to get as much information as you could before going to bed, but recently you've just been skimming the books before saying that there is nothing in them. Even without getting new books you would've poured over the old ones for any missed detail at least 10 times, if not more."

"I suppose you're right, and I was not that bad, and we all do need a break, but where do we go? You-Know-Who has the ministry, so any international portkeys are out. Ron has legged it so we can't use 'The Burrow'. You don't know where the Dursleys have gone to even start having a chance of finding them. I know you don't like them but it would be a base, and my parents are in Australia with no knowledge that they have a daughter, which brings us back to the problem with Voldemort...

Cracks sounded from outside.

"Hermione, should we be able to hear that?"

"Umm, No, and that sounded like apparition and only..."

"Whoever said the dark lord's name, come out here with everyone else from in that tent."

"Shit, snatchers. What protections can we get up?" Harry asks.

"Lass, there is no point in answering that and any attempt will do you no good Laddie! You are surrounded and there is no escape, come out slowly and we will not kill you—yet. Try to fight us or don't come out within ten second and you will die here."

"Herm, we appear to be outnumbered here so, fight or run?

"Why are you asking me? And what chance do we have if we fight?"

"You are good with the plans and with me and you, I think we don't have a bad chance if it is evenly matched, they don't sound like the smartest..."

"TIME'S UP! FIRE!"

From seemingly every direction possible in that secluded clearing, there are shouts of "REDUCTO!" that are immediately followed by two shouts of "PROTEGO MAXIMUS!"

Harry and Hermione drop to the ground as the attackers' curses bombard their shields.

"Any idea how long can we last?" Harry asks.

"It depends purely on how much magical power they have and how soon they can get help," Hermione says.

"If that help doesn't come quick, I am really tempted to give up here."

"You can't! Everyone who is fighting with you will give up too, and then You-Know-Who will win and force the world into the dark ages again."

"How do you suggest we escape this, then?"

"I have an idea—not a good one, but an idea none the less."

"Please explain, and sooner rather than later."

"We apparate out of here."

"If we try that and one of them hits us as we go, what happens?" Harry asked. "And where do we go?"

"Godfather's house?"

"Not too bad an idea, apart from it being known to the Ministry."

"I'm thinking fast here, do you have an idea?"

"I know that this sort of situation isn't good for either of us. It sort got out of hand faster than anything else."

"It could be worse," Hermione says. "Look at everything we have done; Troll in first year, basilisk in second year, escapee in third, tournament in fourth, and start of second war in fifth. You have more going on than most people hear about in a lifetime, let alone do any of it."

"You were with me for the majority of that."

"I am aware of that, apart from the basilisk, hey, do you remember those beginner runes lessons in second year?"

"Vaguely. Why?"

"Do you think you can shield long enough for me to make a basic rune shield?"

"How long do you need?"

"A couple of minutes should be enough," she says.

Outside the tent, the lead Snatcher berates his team: "I thought that you would have been able to sort this problem by now?"

"These are really powerful people, and it sounds like it could be some of the Resistance," one of the others says.

"What gives you that idea?"

"They appear to be referencing Potter's adventures in school."

"If that's true, then there is likely a bonus coming our way. I'm getting more people."

Back in the tent, Harry and Hermione are growing more frantic. "You charge it. I'll keep defending," Harry says. "It sounds like they've figured out who we are."

"Working on it, I should be done in three, two—"

"BOMBARDA!"

From about half a mile away from the tent, there is a faint scream. The scream seems to be of an ethereal nature. Now, this forest already has a reputation for the supernatural. It does not need another story to add to the rumours that there have been multiple murders between the trees, and no blood, bones, or cadavers were ever collected. This is the first night in 17 years that a scream had emanated from a living person in those pines. It would also not be the last that night, as shortly after the feminine scream, a second scream also originates from within the canvas, this one is definitely a masculine scream, though. This would be the first night that the locals all think the same thing: 'The people who died there don't like us walking over the places where they drew their final breaths.' If only one person would walk over that land in the next hour, they would see two bodies lying prone and both absent a limb from the socket down and the floor around becoming tainted with the unbidden flow from the two people's arteries.

Meanwhile, Ron appears at the end of a lake. "Idiots, neither of them know what they're doing," he says to himself. "Dumbledore did give them a plan and chose not to tell me, all because I wasn't smart enough, or the Boy-Who-Lived. No, I was just the tag-along, not important enough to be told anything. Stuff it. I'll show them, I'll get a horcrux and destroy it without their help. Where's that quill and parchment? Oh, I left them at the tent. SHIT! OK, what can I use instead, stone on stone? That works. Okay, so what horcruxes are there to kill? Harry destroyed the diary and Quirrell, Dumbledore got the ring, they have the locket, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has the snake, which leaves whatever of Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaw's. No way could something of Gryffindor's become a horcrux, especially not one of His, a hard-core Slytherin. I need to know what Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were known for. Ravenclaws are book smart, Hufflepuffs are loyal, what could be classed as loyal? And where would they hide it? Oh, that is too much effort right now, so let's focus on Ravenclaw."

"Could it be in a library? If so, where is the biggest in the country? And would it be muggle or magical? If it's magical, then it has to be Hogwarts or the ministry, if muggle, then I have no idea."

"Ravenclaw is famous for having the brainy, so it would probably be something for brains, what makes people smarter? That coffee thing Hermione mentioned? It seems too widespread. Can't be that. I might find something in a library, more likely to be some reference in a muggle library in mythology.

"Okay, my plan is to go into a muggle library and research in mythology until I find something that would fit with increasing knowledge on a personal level and get a leg up on everyone else. So, lets head to Diagon alley and head into the muggle world from there."

Ron Apparates into a side alley off of Diagon Alley. "Wow, still not used to that," he says. "Which side alley am I in? Ah, right next to Ollivander's. I need to get through the Cauldron without someone recognising me. It'd be useful to have Harry's cloak here. I forgot that I need to get some muggle money first. Otherwise I'm going nowhere."

After a quick about face towards the brilliant white marble building at the confluence of two lesser routes that lead from Diagon Alley, he attempts to blend in with the few people milling about, and still try not to draw attention to himself.

Once inside the marble structure, the ginger notices that there are nearly no humans inside. Staff-wise, that was normal, but customer-wise, it is a bit of a different matter. Still trying to avoid being recognised, Ron quickly heads to the nearest teller.

"What is your business today wizard?" the teller says.

"I would like to transfer some galleons into Muggle money."

"Reason?"

"Excuse me?"

"The ministry needs a reason for the new paperwork associated with this type of transaction."

"Shopping trip, I prefer the feel of muggle underwear."

"Very well, how much would you like to transfer?"

"2 Galleons, 4 Sickles and 17 Knuts."

"That will get you £55.84."

"Thank you, goodbye."

"May your vaults overflow with gold, wizard," the goblin says, muttering the addendum, "for the short amount of time you have left."

When Ron Weasley stepped inside Gringotts on that cold winters day, he had no idea that he would not survive more than five minutes upon his leaving.

"There he is!"

"Kill him!"

"Oh crap!" he says.

Ron decides to turn on the spot in order to get away and thinks of his bedroom back at the Burrow. However, he forgets that a rushed apparition over 150 miles is not a good idea

"He left his leg behind," the first Death Eater says.

"Yup, looks like there's a way, finally, to pressure Weasley Senior into telling us where Potter is."

"Are you sure it was a Weasley?"

"With that hair, no doubt."

"Fair point, so blackmail time?"

"Is the leg yours?

"No, but it's not yours either."

"Under that theory, and given that he was a fugitive, the leg now belongs to the dark lord, so I think it would be a good idea to let him decide what to do with it."

"OK, but who takes it?

"You."

"But, you're the one supposedly in charge here."

"And I'm delegating, so do it."

"Fine, but I also announce it to him."

"Do you really think that the dark lord will want someone just walking in with a severed leg? It needs to be announced that something like that is coming into the throne room."

"You're right, and unfortunately, when you're right, you're very right."