We fell back into the rhythm of camping. We each took a watch a night. We each took a turn with the locket. We drank a lot of tea to keep warm. We didn't speak much of Christmas or Godric's Hollow or the lack of hot showers in our lives. It was almost as if nothing had ever happened. Part of me hurt, but it was just easier this way I guessed.
I wondered how long we might be out here. It had already felt like such a long time. Over four months we had been at this search, and we hadn't made much progress. It was frustrating to have to put up with the locket and the hunger and the cold. But we did it, and no one complained.
The journal that Harry gave me for Christmas was such a great, thoughtful gift. I used it right away, talking about what we were up to. My first journal was in the pocket in my bag, so it wouldn't get lost. Maybe some day they would be valuable resources. Or at least, if we got out of here in one piece, it would be a fun read. I had not let myself dream much of what I would do when life was normal again, though it was hard to resist. I wanted a proper bed with a thick duvet, tabloids, and junk food. I imagined going on a proper date with Harry... somewhere nice where we could have a quiet dinner of delicious food and talk. I smiled thinking about how nice all of these things would be.
I realized it was pretty late, it must have been getting time for my watch. I got up, wrapped a sweatshirt around myself, and went to go relieve Harry from his shift. But he was not sitting on the couch like I expected him to be.
I was a little alarmed. Where had he gone? Had something happened? Hermione was still on the top bunk, I had heard her snoring as I left. I checked Harry's bed, but it was empty. My heart beat wildly in my chest... I didn't think anyone would be able to kidnap him. But maybe if he had fallen asleep? Who would have left us there, though?
At the edge of the tent, I saw footsteps in the snow. I squinted, looking into the dark night and seeing if Harry was anywhere outside. The foot prints went over the hill and out of site. But there was only one set of footprints out, so I wondered where the hell he could have gone?
I didn't know what to do. I could stay here and wait for him to come back. But what if he wasn't going to come back? Maybe he had given up. He had been wearing the locket tonight. The anxiety this caused me hurt my chest. He would not do that to us. I hated myself for even thinking that thought.
I grabbed my wand and followed the footsteps, as quietly as possible, though the snow was crunchy. I could hear noises beyond as far as I could see, and rushed towards them. They did not sound malevolent, but I was still afraid. Luckily, tonight, the moon was bright and full in the sky and gave enough light for me to see where I was going.
At the bottom of the hill, two figures came into view. I could tell that one of them was Harry and let out the breath I had been holding. He was alive and safe, it seemed. The other one... I couldn't tell. That made me nervous. I could see a shiny glint of metal on the other figure and kept my wand out, just in case.
They were walking toward me, though they did not yet see me. As they stepped out of the trees, I could see- Ron! How was he here?
I ran down the hill now, towards them, trying hard not to slip and fall. I wanted to yell to them but didn't know who or what else might be in the forest, so instead I flew down the hill.
"Kat!" Harry yelled, obviously less concerned than I was. I was pretty close to them now, and smacked into him. He was freezing and damp and not wearing a shirt.
"You idiot!" I said. "You just leave like that and don't think to even leave a note? How scary do you think it is to wake up and find not even a trace of you?"
He squeezed me tightly, kissing . "I'm sorry," he said. "But look who I found?"
I let go of Harry and hugged Ron. "I'm so happy to see you," I said. I was so happy to see his smiling face. He was also damp. What had they been up to? "I missed you."
"Good to see you too," he said, and in the moonlight I could see his grin.
"Can we go inside?" I asked. "It's so cold out here, I can't imagine how you two feel."
"It's freezing," Harry admitted.
"Well I'm not so sure I care about you, Mr. Goes-off-and-leaves-me-to-worry... but I do feel poorly for Ron here," I said, giddy from the cold and relief and Ron's presence.
"Oh, shush, you," Harry said, laughing and pulling me closer. it was so nice to see the smile on his face and the happiness in his eyes. He had his best friend back and was so happy about that.
"So..." Ron said. "You two are...?" He made a gesture
"Mmmhm," I said. As much as I had been afraid when I found he was missing, I still adored him. I looked up at him and couldn't help but smile.
"Well," Ron said. "Wow. That's fantastic... good for you two."
His grin was sincere and made me smile even more. Fifteen minutes ago, I had been more anxious than ever before. But it had ended so much better than I ever thought possible.
"Oh, Kat, look at this," Harry said, dangling the locket in front of me. I couldn't help but gasp when I noticed that the locket was mangled and destroyed. "Ron destroyed it. We don't have to suffer through wearing it anymore."
"Pinch me, I must be dreaming," I said, immense relief flooding me. Everything was so great. Ron was back, the locket was destroyed... I couldn't ask for much else. "How did you destroy it?"
Ron picked up a sword that must have been the shiny glint I'd seen earlier. "Sword of Gryffindor. Only shows up to a true Gryffindor when it's really needed... also pretty good for destroying Horcruxes, apparently."
"This is fantastic," I said. We were nearly at the tent now. I looked up, and standing in the openinig of the tent was Hermione. She had her hand on her hip and I could tell she was seething just by looking at her.
She left the tent and walked toward us, without saying a word. She stopped just before Ron. I thought maybe she was going to hug him, but instead she started punching him. I had not expected that from her.
"You- complete- arse- Ronald- Weasley!" she yelled. I looked on in shock, not sure if I should intervene or what. Harry had the same look of shock on his face.
"Ouch! Hermione! Get off!" Ron said, trying to duck. He backed away, using his hands to shield his face.
"You- crawl- back- here- after- weeks- and- weeks- and-" she reached for her wand.
"Expelliarmus!" I yelled, and her wand flew out of her hand. I picked it up off the ground.
"Kat!" she yelled."You give me back that wand!" She moved towards me, looking read to wrestle the wand.
"Protego!" Harry said, and Hermione was knocked backwards. I hoped that this would give her the minute she needed to calm down, take a deep breath, and just appreciate that we had Ron back. But she got right back up and still was angry.
"Give me back my wand, Kat!" she said.
"Calm down-" Harry said.
"I will not calm down," she yelled. I had been friends with Hermione for over a year now, and had never seen her this angry before. It was really absurd. She was normally so calm and collected. She must have hit her breaking point. "Don't you dare tell me what to do, Harry! Give it back now!"
Harry took the wand from my hand and put it in his pocket. I thought this would push her buttons but she just turned and directed her rage at Ron. "And YOU!" she yelled. "I ran after you! I begged you to stay!"
She appeared to be making the transition from enraged to very upset, and it was very sad.
"Hermione," Ron said. "I'm sorry, I'm really-"
"Oh, you're sorry?" she laughed. I could see the tears in her eyes. I had been too distracted by my friends to notice how absolutely frigid it was out here. Considering Ron and Harry were wet, I wanted to move this inside. I pulled Harry in with me, and Ron followed. This forced her to come in as well. "You think that's enough? You think you can just waltz back in here and all will be forgiven with a sorry?"
"What do you want me to say?" he asked. Harry scooted into the section of the tent where his bed was set up, looking for dry clothing. He never took his eyes off them though. I didn't know what to do- it was as if I was stuck there waiting, unable to do anything. I was almost glad Ron was fighting back, though.
"Rack your brains, Ron," Hermione said, backing up further into the tent. "I'll wait. Should only take a few seconds!"
I bit my lip. She was seriously pissed if she had gone that low. Ron was not that stupid. He had found us, after all.
"Hermione," Harry said, coming out into the main room again, and looking a bit upset himself. "That was unnecessary. Ron just saved my-"
"I don't care!" she screamed. Tears were streaming down her face. It was just an incredibly awkward and powerful moment. Would tonight be the end? We'd be split apart because of this? When Ron had left, it had not felt so monumental. But now... I gulped. "I don't care what he's done! He left us! We could have been dead for all he knew!"
"I knew you weren't dead!" Ron yelled. I moved behind him and put my hand on his shoulder to stop him from going anywhere. "Harry's all over the Prophet, all over the radio, they're looking for us everywhere. There are mental, mental rumors flying around everywhere. I would know if you were dead!"
Hermione just turned away from him, still crying angry tears.
"Look, Hermione," Ron said. "I wanted to come back the moment I'd gone. Kat had let go of me, and she had made the right choice. I Disapparated and walked straight into a gang of Snatchers and I was stuck."
"A gang of what?" Harry asked, taking Hermione's arm and sitting down on the couch. She sat down on the couch as well, but about as far from him as she could muster. She crossed her arms and legs ever so tightly.
"Snatches. They're everywhere. They go around rounding up Muggle-borns and blood traitors, to earn gold from the Ministry. I was alone and I'm school aged. They thought I might have been a rogue Muggle born and got really excited. I had to do some quick talking to get out of that one... told them I was Stan Shunpike."
"And they believed you?" Harry asked, laughing.
"Weren't the brightest," he said. "Definitely got some trolls in that lot... they way they smell, ugh..."
Hermione remained stony, looking far off. I wanted to give her a hug or something.
"Anyways, they didn't quite believe me. There were five of them and only one of me, plus they got my wand. Two of them started bickering, so I used that as an oppurtunity to get away. I splinched myself again." He held up his pinky finger... where there was supposed to be a fingernail, there was just flat skin. I grimaced.
"I came back as quickly as I could, but I couldn't find you."
"How gripping," Hermione said sarcastically. "So you, what, retreated back to Mummy? While we, oh let's see, we fought off hypothermia, the flu, nearly starved to death, oh, not to forget a You-Know-Who possessed snakes in Godric's Hollow... really puts it into perspective, huh?" She didn't wait for an answer to keep talking. "What I really want to know is how exactly you managed to find us, so I can fix that and we wont have any more unwanted guests."
"Hermione," I said, finally opening my mouth. "I think that's a little over the top..."
"I don't," she snorted.
"With this," Ron said. He pulled out something that looked like a cigarette lighter.
"The Deluminator?" Hermione asked. It was the first time since Ron showed up that her face did not look like it was made of stone.
"It doesn't just turn lights on and off," he explained. "I don't know how or why... but a few days ago... I was sitting in my bed, listening to the radio and wishing I was with you lot. All of a sudden, I heard you... I heard your voice, Hermione."
"Me?" she asked, looking less and less upset by the moment.
"Your voice," he said. "Was coming out of this. You said my name. Ron."
Hermione began blushing, and started looking at her shoes.
"So I took it out, and I clicked it. A blue light came out, just a little ball of light. It was pulsing. I gathered all my stuff, put it in my ruck sack, and off I went. The light led me out to the garden... and it just... went inside me. I know that sounds loony, but it did. I could feel it. It was hot, but once it was inside me, I knew what to do. It took me a few days... but it led me here. Your charms- they really work. I wouldn't have seen or heard you if Harry hadn't broken them..."
Harry helped Ron tell the story of how they destroyed the Horcrux. By the end of it, Hermione's anger had melted away almost completely.
"I guess I forgive you then," she said, quietly.
Ron smiled a small smile. "Thank you," he said, softly.
I glanced at the watch on Harry's wrist... it said it was nearly four in the morning.
"I took some food," Ron said. "Kat, I'm assuming that's still your domain?"
I nodded and he handed me his rucksack. There was freshly made bread, cookies and tea cakes, candy from Honeydukes, a bottle of firewhiskey... and four perfect bottles of Butterbeer.
"Oh, yeah, take those out now," he said. "We're all back together. We deserve a little celebration."
I smiled, and took it all into the kitchen area.
Author's Note: I know, I'm terrible at updating, but at least this time I already have the next chapter written and betaed :) Thank you to potter-reading-coastie for his help. Hope that everyone is well- let me know what you think of the chapter!