A/N: I am so sorry for not updating on time! To the people who read my other story From Out and Beyond, I'm sadly changing the schedule. I'll only be updating that story on Saturday's for now on, but I'm keeping the said schedule for this story which is Mondays and Thursdays. Anyways, I've read your reviews and I noticed that you guys might be catching onto Hermione's strange behavior. Do not fear, the explanation is here! Thanks to JeanAndBilius, WeasleyIsMyKing540, ShilenKnight, fons19, Robbie1979, loverhr and Orange Chicken for your fabulous reviews!

As always, feedback is appreciated! :D

Warning: Swearing

Disclaimer: I do not own any of this amazing characters who are owned by the brilliant J.K. Rowling!

Chapter 29 ~ Voldemort's Pursuit

For the past two weeks, Ron felt like he was gonna die. His emotions weren't kept in check lately. He had numerous close transformation into something he didn't want to be. He'd been ignoring everyone, including his best friends and little sister.

Though today, it was going to change. He was going to go to Hogsmeade along with his best mate, Harry and his little sister, Ginny. Ginny told him that Hermione was going with Viktor, for a brief meeting though. Ron sighed out, as he got ready for the day. He wore his ugly maroon colored jumper, and he tried his best to fit in his hand-me-down pants which were a little too short for him. He begged his mother to buy him a new pair of pants, but she was too busy cleaning out letters that seemed to come from the Ministry about him.

Ron especially, felt bad for his father. Ron knew that his father had to go through crowds and crowds of reporters, because of him. Ron sighed, and rubbed his face in frustration. He ruffled his shaggy red-orange hair, making his locks go all over the place. He stood up and went down to eat breakfast.

When he arrived, he saw Harry and Ginny, but he didn't see the girl who ate and read her book at the same time. Ron approached them and sat next to his best mate.

"Where's Hermione?" Ron questioned them. Ginny pulled her away head from her bowl of cereal and said, "She went off to the loo."

Ron frowned, as he grabbed his breakfast.

"Ron," Ginny said her older brother's name. Ron looked up from his food.

"Are you alright? You haven't exactly been acting like yourself lately. You've just kinda shunned everyone for the past weeks," Ginny shrugged. Ron sighed.

"It's about Viktor," Ron mumbled. Ginny sighed out.

"What happened this time?" Harry joined in the conversation.

"Viktor is the bloody werewolf hunter who tried to kill Hermione and I," Ron said. "He's with Karkaroff and a Death Eater. They're trying to get to drink or be injected with a new and improved version of Liquid Lunar. I bet you, it's gonna force me to make me go beserk."

Ginny and Harry's eyes widened in surprise.

"How do you know?" Ginny eyed him.

"They bloody captured me. They tried injecting me with the bloody potion," Ron said to her. Before Ginny could retort back, Harry bet her to it.

"Ron's right. Dumbledore told me all about it," Harry stood by his best mate's side. Ron looked at him in shock.

"He told you about the conversation I had with him up at the Astronomy Tower?" Harry nodded his head.

"That's why we need to keep an eye out on Viktor. I have a gut feeling that he's going to do something to either you or Hermione. Maybe even to the both of you," Harry said to his best mate.

Ron turned to face her perplexed sister. By the looks of it, she seemed to be processing the truth. Ginny knew that by the look of seriousness in her brother's eyes indicated he wasn't telling a lie. Ginny bit her bottom lip.

"Gin?" Ron called out. Ginny looked at him. "Now you know the truth about that Bulgarian git."

"I just can't believe it," Ginny said in a sad tone. "Hermione and I trusted him!" It was a pain in the arse to see Ginny so sad like this. She felt betrayed and battered to the ground. Ron hugged her sister. She hugged back. They both smiled. They haven't hugged like this in such a long time. Just from this hug, Ron's grumpy emotions were kicked out from his head.

"Don't worry, Gin. I'll beat his bloody pumpkin head to pulp," Ron promised her in a whisper. Ginny have him a silent thank you.

"Now, we need to tell Hermione," Ron said. He then, sensed her coming her way. Hermione looked at him with a smile, as if though she hadn't seen him in a long time.

"Good morning," she greeted her friends with a smile and went to seat in front of the three. Ron eyed her with suspicion. Hermione grabbed prepared herself her usual breakfast and ate slowly, as she read a novel. She then, saw Ron staring at her.

"Oh Ron," Hermione jumped a little. "Are you alright? You've been shunning us for the past weeks. Is something the matter?"

"Don't you remember our row in front of Vick- Viktor?" Ron said shocked and perplexed at the same time.

"What? What row?" Hermione said in shock. "What happened? Did I do something? I recall that the last time we met was two weeks ago in the morning."

What the bloody hell, Ron said as his eyes widened slightly. He looked into Hermione's eyes, to see a hint that she wasn't telling to complete truth. Her forehead was glistening with sweat.

"You're lying," Ron growled at her, as he shot daggers at her fake innocence.

"No, I am not!" Hermione retorted.

Ron sighed in frustration and ran his hands through his hair. "I know when you lie, Hermione."

Ginny and Harry looked at one another, confused of the matter at hand. True, Hermione seemed to being lying, but it felt like she was forced to lie.

"Hermione, is there something we don't know about?" Ginny eyed her. Hermione looked at her warm brown eyes and shook her head sideways. Harry caught her biting her bottom lip.

Harry said, "Hermione, just tell us. We won't tell anyone else."

Hermione her face. Her locks were scattered in a messy way. Her bangs shadowed her face from the three of them. She let out a sob and glistening tears came streaming down her face slowly. She wiped her tears and snot with her long sleeves. Hermione then, stood up to exit to Great Hall.

"Hermione," Harry called out, as he was about to stand up and go after her. Well, not until Ron made the first move, making Ginny hold Harry down.

"Merlin's beard, this year is more eventful than the last years. Don't you think, Harry?" Ginny turned to face Harry's face to see him grunting in pain, as he touched his scar. Instinctively, Ginny tried to have Harry face her, but her plan failed.

After a few seconds, the pain stopped. Harry took deep breaths, until he finally faced the youngest Weasley. He could see her warm brown eyes widened in concern.

"Voldemort, he's angry," Harry breathed out.

"Angry about what?" Ginny said with worriness in her voice.

Harry took a deep breath and gulped silently. He then said something Ginny wouldn't expect in her whole life. "He's angry with, R-Ron." Ginny's eyes widened in shock. Her big brother was making the most feared wizard of all angry. It could lead him to a dangerous path that will insure pain for not only him but his whole family and friends. Harry then, continued on after he took a breath, "He's angry that he escaped from one of his Death Eaters. He's planning for Ron to go berserk and kill." Harry paused. "To kill and kill, until Ron is comfortable with it."

Ginny almost puked by the information. "Holy hell, he's really that pissed off?"

"I'm afraid so," Harry said with a worried face. Then, he snapped out of his thoughts to say, "Come on, we have to tell Dumbledore, immediately!"

"Hermione!" Ron cried her name out with desperation. He ran faster and faster, until he caught up with Hermione.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Ron said softly. He held Hermione's hand, but she flinched away from him. She looked at him with a face full of sorrow. Her eyes were glistening, and she was still sniffing up her snot, as she wiped the remaining tears that fell from her cold chocolate brown eyes. Ron's eyes softened at the sight of how vulnerable she looked like. He tried to reach out for her, but he failed, when a familiar voice came in.

"Leave 'er alone, Vonald."

Ron's eyes shot up to the source of the voice. Ron had a scowl on his face. He almost looked like he wanted to pounce on him, and beat his head till it turned to pulp. He saw Viktor pulling off a very serious face. His mouth was straight and his eyes looked directly at him. Ron rolled his eyes.

"Hermione," Ron looked at Hermione. "Is he the cause?"

It took her a bit for Hermione to respond. After the awkward moment of silence, she finally took a deep breath. "Ron, Viktor has been helping me these past weeks."

Taken back by surprise, Ron opened his mouth to respond, but Hermione beat him right to it. "It's not what you think, Ronald." She paused for a bit, as unshed tears showed in her eyes. "It's - it's about my parents." She stood back from Ron. "They sent me an owl talking about seeing weird people with a mask on their face and they were wearing genuine black robes."

"They were Death Eaters," Viktor clarified. Hermione nodded her head slowly.

Ron growled out, Viktor's presumably a Death Eater. But he it most definitely a werewolf hunter.

"But that still doesn't answer the question why you lied to us at breakfast," Ron pointed out.

"I wanted to forget about the whole row between us, Ronald. I didn't want that row to add to the things I have to ponder about," Hermione responded. "Just stop accusing Viktor, for everything. He's helped me cheer up a bit. I'd wish for you to compromise with him, at least."

Oh hell no. I'm not going to shake his stupid hand, Ron said to himself. But it's Hermione's request.

Ron's tensed body fell of its structure. He took a deep breath to try and collect himself. He looked at Hermione. She saw that his crystal blue eyes were filled with guilt. Her eyes softened at the sight of his pair of deep blue eyes, showing her how guilty he genuinely was. "Hermione, I'm sorry. I didn't know that was happening to you. I just-," he apologized to her with sincerity.. "I'm just really worried, you know? I can tend to be overprotective git at times, but it's for the sake of protecting you." Ron shrugged. He could see how Hermione's eyes softened a bit, when he finished his apology. They both tried to smile at each other, but they just couldn't for some odd reason

"Come here, Vick- Viktor," Ron said, trying to maintain a calm façade.

Viktor slowly approached to Ron's tall frame. He extended his hand out and they both shook hands. Both their hands were firm and sweaty, as they shook.

"You better not hurt her, you arse," Ron whispered to him.

"Don't vorry, I have evrthing in control," Viktor responded with a smirk.

Hermione, who was completely oblivious to their whisperings, smiled at them compromising. Though soon, her smile turned into a sad smile. As if it was forced. After their shook hands, Hermione waved them a goodbye, until Ron reached out for her.

"Hermione, I have an idea to keep your parents safe," Ron said to her, gaining her full attention. "I can owl my parents to arrange some spells around your parents house."

Hermione smiled broadly. Him and her knew that this was a real smile she displayed. "Ron, you caring git," Hermione teased him with a smile. He placed on his famous lopsided grin.

"See, not all gits are arseholes," Ron shrugged.

"Language, Ronald," Hermione rolled her eyes very briefly, until she went back to smiling. "But seriously, thank you."

With that Hermione and Ron waved each other a farewell.

As soon as Ron turned around, Viktor mysteriously disappeared. Ron's long nose wrinkled in disgust of the thought of Hermione and Viktor getting all close. He sighed and went off to find and hang out with Harry.

"Hey, Ickle Ronniekins!" The twins said in sync.

"Have you guys seen Harry or Ginny?" He questioned them.

"Oh! There's Harry!" Fred said out loud, as he pointed right over Ron's shoulder. Ron turned around, but he sensed that this was some kind of prank they were trying to pull off in front of the people in the halls. The twins seemed to be looking at him with their infamous mischievous smirks that crept along their pale faces. Ron's eyes narrowed at the fact that they were about to make him look like a fool in front of everyone.

"C'mon, Ron," George smirked. "Don't keep Harry from waiting any longer."

Ron groaned, and he accepted his faith. He walked up to the seemed-to-be fake duplicate of Harry. Ron opened his mouth to only be greeted with Harry exploding. As the explosion happened, spiders came jumping at Ron. Ron scream out in terror. When he shoved the spiders off of him, they turned to dust.

"Bloody sp-spiders!" Ron yelled out, as his voice cracked. He looked at the twins with full of blazing fury. The students who were at the halls laughed at him. Their laughed echoed across the halls, to alert more people.

"You bastard!" Ron yelled at the twins, as he shoved off the last remaining spiders.

"Buy now!" George called out to the students in the halls.

"Our new product is only 5 galleons!" Fred called out to them, as well. Soon, there was a line of students buying their new product. Ron scowled and went off to find Harry and Ginny along with Dumbledore. They seemed to be heading down to his office. He swiftly went up to them, making them jump a bit by his sudden appearance.

"Ron," Ginny said. "Glad you came. You're just in time."

Soon, the youngest brother of the Weasleys saw their face full of worry and sorrow. Ginny looked like she was about the faint. Harry looked angry yet worried at the same time. Dumbledore tried to keep a calm and collective face, but it was clear that he seemed extremely worried.

"What's wrong?" Ron questioned them.

Harry looked up at him. "Ron, there's something you need to know. It's very urgent."

"It's not very pretty, as well," Ginny quietly added.

Oh shit, Ron said to himself. This gotta be good..

"YOU IMBECILE!" Said a man with long silver blonde hair. He hit the man with messy black hair and a crooked jaw.

"I'm sorry, alright! Weasley is a feisty one, I'm tellin' ya!" The man who got hit said to him.

"Shut up, the both of you!" Came a spine chilling voice. A man with crooked and yellow disgusting teeth came in. His two front teeth were big and his hair was singed. Along his side, was a infamous werewolf. The werewolf held the body of a odd looking corpse who had the palest flesh anyone who lay their eyes on. His noses looked like it belong to a snake, and he was completely bald.

"You idiots don't understand how important it is to have him in our side!" The corpse wheezed at all of them. "He is the key to us winning, once and for all!"

"How so, sir. He is a blood traitor," the man with long hair said.

"Do not question me, Lucius," the corpse hissed at him. "Get back to it! We still have to wait until Potter does the thirds task." The men bowed to him.

"Then, the fun can begin," it said with a an evil smirk.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Have a nice day! :D