Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

This chapter was written before I realized that you probably can't Apparate into a house for security reasons. However, in OotP, Fred and George Apparated from their bedroom at Grimmauld place into Harry and Ron's, so I figured there were some circumstances in which it was possible. I took it to mean that if you live at/are in a specific place, you can Apparate throughout it. Therefore, (for the purpose of this story) Hermione, Harry and Ron can Apparate throughout The Burrow.

Chapter Twelve: Apparating
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Ron's mind was racing.

How could his mum honestly think he'd be able to go to bed after the adventure he'd just been on? He'd gone on an Order mission – with Aurors and everything! He had trekked through a dark, dangerous (not to mention spider-infested) cave and stolen a seventh of You-Know-Who's soul! And after doing all that ... he was expected to sleep?

Really?

Crack.

'Ron?'

'Harry?' Ron sat up and squinted in the dark, trying to figure out where Harry's voice had come from. He reached for his wand, but Harry had already whispered 'Lumos' and illuminated the room. 'What're you doing here?'

Being that it was back to being only the four children and Mr and Mrs Weasley in the house, they were all given their own rooms. Harry was currently staying in Fred and George's old room, while Hermione was put up in Percy's.

'I couldn't sleep, and I had a feeling you couldn't, either,' said Harry. 'Come on, get out of bed. We're going to Hermione's room.'

'Why?' asked Ron.

'I think we know Hermione rather well by now, and I'd be willing to bet my Firebolt that she's awake, too,' said Harry. 'Only she'd never directly break the rules and get out of bed on her own, so we'll need to coerce her into it. Does that sound about right?'

'I suppose.'

'So, let's go.' Ron didn't move. 'Fine, stay here if you'd like. I'm Apparating to Hermione's room whether you're coming along or not,' stated Harry.

Ron didn't like the idea of Harry and Hermione alone in her bedroom in the middle of the night. 'We're just going to pop in, without any warning? She won't like that. Maybe we shouldn't ...' said Ron, though he lacked conviction.

'The worst case scenario, she's asleep. In which case, we'll just Disapparate out and she'll be none the wiser.'

Ron nodded and grabbed his wand – just incase – before he and Harry Apparated to Hermione's bedroom. Apparently, neither boy had gotten the hang of things, because they both landed on the floor with a thud.

'It's about time you two showed up,' said Hermione in a business-like tone. By the light of Harry's wand, Ron could see that she had been sitting up and waiting for them. 'I was beginning to think you were actually sleeping.' Crookshanks meowed and leapt off the bed to brush against Ron's leg.

'Lumos,' muttered Ron and Hermione at the same time. He suddenly wished he'd had the sense to change his clothes before suddenly appearing in Hermione's room. He normally wore his pajamas, the ones he'd long since outgrown, but tonight proved too warm and he'd finally just stripped down to his boxers and a t-shirt before settling into bed. And there he stood, in front of Hermione, in his shirt and boxers – his Chudley Cannon boxers.

'Sleeping – us? Come off it,' said Harry, who, by Ron's inspection, was wearing the exact same thing as he was. His boxers were blue, and not Chudley Cannon, though. 'Shall we go get Ginny?'

'Oh, I think we'd better. She might kill us if she found out we didn't include her in this,' said Hermione, getting out of bed. Noticing that her sleepwear was just as scant as his and Harry's, Ron forced himself to look away.

Moments later, he was standing in Ginny's room, Hermione and Harry on either side of him. The landing was slightly better than it had been previously; instead of falling, he merely stumbled a little.

'Gin? Are you awake?' whispered Harry.

'Harry?' Ginny sat up quickly. 'Do you – oh, hey everyone.'

'Were you sleeping?' asked Hermione, a small smile on her face. 'We can leave if you were.'

'No,' she said quickly, 'I wasn't. I'm dying to hear about the mission.' Ginny flung herself off her bed and sat on the floor. 'Somebody start talking.'

Ron laughed appreciatively and sat down. Harry and Hermione followed suit. 'We'll get to that later. First, I want to hear what happened with Hermione.'

'I – um –'

'She can't answer that,' Ginny interjected. 'She hasn't got a clue what happened. She passed out right after she got back to Headquarters.'

'What?' hissed Ron.

Harry gave Hermione a concerned look before casting a Silencing Charm on the room. 'You passed out?' he asked. 'Merlin, I didn't realize you were hurt that badly.'

'I was fine,' Hermione maintained.

'Whatever you say,' said Ginny. 'Hey, I would've traded places with her in a second. She was on the couch enjoying a nice nap while I was pacing the room, all but pulling my hair out over you two idiots,' she said, looking from Harry to Ron and back.

'You didn't need to worry about us,' Harry said quietly.

'Of course I did!' insisted Ginny. 'She's the careful one of you lot. When she turned up like that –'

'I was fine!'

'– I could only imagine the state you two would be in when you got back ... if you even got back at all!'

'We were in good hands,' argued Ron. 'Harry's a brilliant leader.'

Ginny shook her head. 'It's not that I don't trust Harry's abilities –'

'Good,' said Ron, 'because he's got some wicked abilities. You should've seen it. He did this thing with his hands ... it was wandless magic!'

'He did?' asked Ginny.

'I did?' asked Harry.

'You did,' Hermione confirmed. 'It was rather interesting, actually.' She turned to Ginny. 'We were walking – in pitch darkness, mind you – and all of a sudden Harry stopped and started feeling the wall.'

Ginny laughed. 'That sounds a bit nutty to me.'

'Yeah, I thought he was mad at first,' agreed Ron. 'But then he started tracing this pattern on the wall – with his eyes closed – and this beam of light shot out of his hand!'

'It did?' asked Ginny.

'It did?' Harry asked incredulously.

'You didn't know?' questioned Hermione.

'No. I felt something but I thought maybe I just imagined it. My eyes were closed, remember? I figured my hand just brushed against something and it made me feel that way.'

'Well, you did some sort of wandless magic,' said Hermione. 'That's probably how the planks appeared, in the first place. But how did you know when to stop? I could barely see an inch in front of my face, and you managed to keep us from falling into that water.'

'I guess I have better eyesight then you do,' replied Harry.

Ron rolled his eyes. 'You have better eyesight? You wear glasses! And your eyes were shut, anyway.'

'How did you do it?' asked Ginny.

'I don't know ... after we got past the stairs and started walking, I shut my eyes,' said Harry. 'It was easier, in a way, almost like I knew where I was going and where everything was even though I couldn't really see it. When we came up to the water, I ... knew, but I didn't know how I knew. It was almost like someone was telling me what to do.'

'Voldemort?' asked Ginny, her voice barely above a whisper.

'No,' Harry said firmly. 'It's different when he's in my head ... I don't know what it was, really.'

'What is ... like another sense?' Hermione asked.

'Not really,' Harry said. 'It's ... it's complicated. I can't explain it. But whatever it was, it was definitely a good thing.'

'Is that how you knew what to do on the wall? It looked like you were writing some kind of code, or something, in order for those planks to appear.'

'I guess. My eyes were shut, but I could see the pattern in my head. I tried to trace it out on the wall.'

'That sounds really weird,' said Ginny. 'Well, not weird, but ... certainly not normal!'

Harry grinned and shrugged. 'Dumbledore said that magic always leaves traces. I guess I know Voldemort well enough to identify his, and I know what to do to counter it.'

'I suppose that's possible,' Hermione said thoughtfully.

'He's tried to kill you more times than I can count ... if you don't know him well by now, I'd think there was something seriously wrong with you,' laughed Ron.

'So ... what happened after I left you?' asked Hermione. 'After you crossed the planks, what did you do?'

'Well, we walked for a bit more, and then Harry told us to stop again,' Ron recalled. 'All of these weird, sharp-looking things, like the one that cut Hermione, shot out at us. We had to stay really low to the ground, or else we would set off this sort of alarm and more would've flown out at us. So we started crawling on the ground, inching our way further, when we came to more water. Harry did that weird thing with his hands again and more planks appeared – but there was only two that time.'

Harry now looked as confused and intrigued as Hermione and Ginny did. 'I did more wandless magic?'

'You don't realize when you're doing it?' Hermione asked, sounding flabbergasted.

'His eyes were shut again,' explained Ron. 'But anyway, we were lying there on the ground, and we knew we had to cross the planks, but there was no way that we'd be able to do it without standing. Unless we wanted to wind up in the water ...' he shuddered.

'What did you do?' Ginny asked.

Ron grinned. 'I was sure we were either going to rot there forever or get hit with one of those flying things and die. But out of nowhere, Harry stood up.'

'He did what?'

'I did what?'

'Harry stood up,' said Ron. He turned to Harry. 'You – you don't remember?'

'No, I don't remember ... that ...' he muttered.

'It was bloody amazing,' exclaimed Ron. 'He stood up, but nothing shot out at him! It was like he figured out how to move without being detected. And then he turned to Moody, Bill and me – we were all still on the ground, scared out of our minds – and he said, "Who's going to come across with me?" Then he stared at us like we were just on the ground to take a bloody nap or something!'

Ginny laughed and Harry gaped at Ron in disbelief.

'Who went?' asked Hermione, though she sounded like she already knew the answer.

'I did, of course,' Ron said proudly. 'But it was a lot harder than it seemed ... none of us wanted to get up, incase we triggered those things again. But Harry was looking at me like I had two heads because I was still flat against the ground, so I got up. Nothing happened, and so Moody and Bill got up, too. Bill started arguing with me, saying he'd go with Harry because I wasn't ready to handle it.'

'How did you convince him?' asked Ginny.

Ron shrugged. 'I got on one of the planks before he could stop me. Harry was on the other one already, and Bill couldn't come after me because three people would've done something funny and we all would've been killed. He and Moody had no choice but to wait there for us.'

'It was just the two of you?' Hermione gasped.

'What happened next?' asked Ginny.

Ron opened his mouth to reply, but firmly shut it as the floorboard outside of Ginny's room creaked. Someone was outside the door.

'That,' Ron said, 'is a story for another time.'

Ginny groaned but nodded, climbing back into her bed. 'I rather enjoyed this. We should do it again sometime,' she said. Harry lifted the Silencing Charm and the trio Disapparated.

……………………………………………………………

Harry Apparated into Ron's room a second after Ron did.

Yawning and looking slightly concerned about something, Ron asked, 'You really don't remember doing any of that?'

Harry shook his head as Ron cast a Silencing Charm on the room. 'No, I don't,' he said truthfully. He couldn't understand why he didn't remember. Ron wouldn't lie about something like that, so it had to have happened. Had he just blocked it out? And had he really done wandless magic, without even realizing it?

'Weird,' said Ron. 'Y'know ... you're kind of scary, in a way.'

'What?' asked Harry. 'Why?'

'Well, not scary, really. More like intimidating. If you hadn't been my best mate for the past six years, I don't think I'd know how to handle myself around you.'

'Really?'

'Definitely,' said Ron. 'Come on, you've got to admit it. Some of the things that you do are a little... y'know?'

'I honestly haven't thought about it,' said Harry. He intimidated Ron? He hadn't meant to. Did everyone else feel this way around him? Did Ginny?

'Don't get me wrong, the stuff you do is amazing,' Ron said quickly, 'but it's still a little strange. I mean, you're barely seventeen, and you can do wandless magic! You can walk around in the dark – in a huge trap set up by You-Know-Who – with your eyes closed, and somehow manage to do better than the rest of us could with our eyes open and our wands raised.'

'Yeah, but I didn't –'

'Blimey, Harry, you can do all that – you can fight You-Know-Who and survive every time – but you still can't even be proud of yourself.'

'Fine, would you rather me be full of myself?' Harry asked, feeling his anger rise to the surface. 'Would you rather me embrace the fact that I'm the bloody Chosen One? Trust me, Ron, it isn't as wonderful as it might seem!'

'I didn't say it was ... I just said that it wouldn't kill you to acknowledge the fact that you can do a lot of great things!' exclaimed Ron.

'The way I see it, I'm not doing anything particularly wonderful. It's not like I want to do these things. In fact, I'd gladly trade lives with anyone else in a second,' snapped Harry. 'You think I was looking for Horcruxes tonight because I want to? Incase you haven't noticed, I don't have a choice!'

'What do you mean?'

'You can decide whether or not you want to fight – you can show up or not show up, and I'm sorry, but it doesn't really seal anyone's fate if you don't. But me ... I have to fight. If I don't, Voldemort takes over and everybody suffers,' Harry said quietly. 'If I don't, nobody can stop him. You know about the prophecy, you know that I'm the only one who can get rid of him.'

'I guess,' mumbled Ron.

'Yeah, and I can't just turn my back on that. If my parents had never been killed ...or if I had never survived ... if the name Harry Potter had never meant anything to anyone ... I wouldn't do these "intimidating things". I do them because my parents are dead, and I'm not. I do them because being Harry Potter means doing dangerous things from time to time. I do them so I can kill Voldemort, so I can get revenge for what he did to me and my parents, and so I can finally have some peace.'

'You'll be pretty relieved once this is over then, huh?'

'You have no idea,' said Harry. He hesitated before deciding he could talk openly to Ron. He had virtually no secrets from his best friend. 'Who knows ... maybe I'll die in the end. But I don't even think I'd care,' he whispered.

'What?' Ron hissed. 'What the hell are you talking about? You don't mean that!'

'I do. As long as I defeat Voldemort, I really couldn't care less about what happens to me,' admitted Harry. 'If I live, great, I'll be with you and Hermione and ... and Ginny. But if I die, I'll be with my parents and Sirius. Either way, it sounds fine to me. I'm prepared to die for the cause. I've been prepared since I was eleven. Death is just the next great adventure,' he said, echoing Dumbledore's words.

Ron looked as if he might be sick. 'You – you can't be serious! Harry, you aren't going to die!'

'You don't know that,' said Harry. 'I wake up every single day knowing that it might be my last, that it might be the day Voldemort decides to come for me. Can you say that? Can you say that you could die at any moment?'

'No,' Ron said, shaking his head.

'And I'm glad for that. But I can, and after a while, you learn to accept it.'

Ron shook his head again and sat down on his bed, still looking shocked at the thought of Harry dying. Harry was rather surprised that their conversation was lasting as long as it was. Normally, whenever he talked about Voldemort or dying, Ron found a way to change the subject. Perhaps he didn't realize just how real the situation was until they went on the mission for the Horcrux. Perhaps the fact that Hermione had been injured sort of drove home the fact that, at any given moment, it could be the end of the Golden Trio.

'Let's face it,' Harry whispered, 'I'm a marked man. I have been since I was one year old. Even if I get rid of Voldemort, his followers will still be alive. They'll still want me dead.'

'That's why you've got me. You take care of Voldemort, and I'll take care of his Death Eaters,' Ron said.

'And what've I got Hermione for? She's not going to like not being included in our plans,' laughed Harry.

'Well ... she'll have to deal with that,' Ron said curtly. 'She and Ginny can sit at home and wait for us to come back, like tonight.'

Harry smiled and nodded. Speaking of Ginny ... he needed to see her. They hadn't had a chance to be alone since he'd gotten back, and a part of him was crying out for her. 'I'm getting a bit tired,' he lied. He faked a yawn and said, 'I'll be going to bed now.'

'Right,' said Ron. 'I will, too.' Harry didn't believe him for a minute.

He Apparated back into Ginny's room, and grinned when he saw her sitting up in her bed, waiting for him. She got up and threw her arms around him.

'I thought you were dead tonight,' she whispered.

Harry laughed softly and then mentally scolded himself. 'Why?'

'Hermione was cut really badly ... you didn't see her ... she was so bloody pale. And I remembered McGonagall saying Voldemort might've known what we were up to,' she said quietly. She took a deep, shaky breath and Harry knew that she was crying. 'I thought that m-maybe some Death Eaters h-had shown up. And y-you were gone s-so long and I ...' her sobs drowned out the rest of what she said. Harry hated himself. What did he do to deserve her? Why did she have to give a damn about him? Why did she have to be sick with worry every time he did something dangerous? He did a lot of dangerous things. Was she going to be affected like this every time? If she didn't care, it would have been easier. But if she didn't care ... Harry would be empty. He'd be utterly lost without her. He kissed her forehead and rubbed her back lightly. When she calmed down, she pulled away and asked, 'Will you stay with me tonight?'

'Your mum will kill you if she finds us in the morning. She'll tell your dad, and he'll tell your brothers, who will kill me.'

'I don't care if you don't,' she whispered. He hesitated. 'Let's quit dancing around the subject, Harry.' She paused for a moment. 'You can't promise me that you'll be alive in a year, but you can at least promise that you'll stay tonight. My mum might walk in tomorrow and see you in my bed. I don't care. Do you?'

Harry shook his head. 'No. I don't care, Gin.' She smiled and nodded. 'Nox,' he said, putting out the light of his wand.

They crawled into bed and Harry held onto her as her breathing evened out and she fell asleep with her head on his chest.

Harry would die for the cause. He would die for his friends. And he would definitely die for the girl in his arms.

But maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't have to.

If he lived, it would be for them. It would be for Ginny.

……………………………………………………………

It was too hot in Hermione's room. She couldn't sleep. She had spent the last five minutes or so, since returning to her room, trying to get comfortable. The blankets on her bed were too heavy to sleep under, so she finally settled for lying on top of them. She sighed and tried to clear her head, but it was useless. She had too much on her mind to fall asleep now.

Crack.

Hermione sat up and looked around.

'Are you awake?' she heard Ron whisper.

'I am now,' she laughed, reaching for her wand. 'Lumos,' she whispered.

'Sorry,' he apologized. 'I hope I didn't – I can go, if –'

'No,' Hermione said quickly. 'Stay. I need to talk to you.' She gestured toward the opposite end of her bed and Ron sat down beside her feet, a strange expression on his face. Merlin, he was on her bed!

'What d'you need to talk about?' asked Ron. He stretched out and stifled a yawn, staring at her with serious eyes.

'I ...' She couldn't say it. She couldn't admit that she had been wrong about something. It almost never happened! Sighing, she looked down at her hands and said quietly, 'You were right.'

Ron laughed. 'Excuse me? Did I just hear you say that I was right about something?'

'No need to rub it in!'

Ron stuck out his tongue and laughed again. 'Well ... are you going to tell me what I was right about? Or am I supposed to guess?'

'You were right when you told me to get back to Headquarters,' she admitted. 'I wasn't fine. The Healer said that if I hadn't gotten back when I did, I – I would've died.'

The smug smile slid off of Ron's face, and was replaced with a look similar to the one he made when he was coughing up slugs in their second year. 'Shite ... but – but you're okay now, right?' He got up and moved closer to her.

'Yes, I'm fine.' Ron rolled his eyes and Hermione laughed.

'It wouldn't kill you to take that word out of your vocabulary,' Ron scolded.

'Nice choice of words ...'

'Sorry.'

'No, I'm sorry,' said Hermione. 'I knew I was hurt but I was too stubborn to admit it. I didn't want to leave.'

'I know that you don't like to admit that you need help, but –'

'That's not why I didn't want to go,' she confessed. 'I've never not gone on a mission with you and Harry – not counting second year when I was Petrified – and the thought of sitting at Headquarters while you were out there wasn't the most appealing. I was afraid that you two would get hurt and I wouldn't be there to help.'

'Oh, please. You can't get rid of me that easily.'

She smiled. 'Get rid of you? I wouldn't dream of it. Of course, sometimes I'd rather like to smack you ...'

Ron looked down at his hands. 'I have been quite a git in the past, haven't I?'

'You sure have,' said Hermione. She laughed and Ron grinned up at her. 'Although I've done a thing or two to provoke you, I suppose.'

'Maybe,' Ron said lightly. 'But a few things, I've done on my own. Like calling you "a nightmare," or when I talk with my mouth full just to irritate you, or –'

'Snogging Lavender?' Hermione asked quietly. She could've kicked herself when she saw the pained expression on his face. Maybe he had dated Lavender to get back at her, but it wasn't right of her to throw it in his face – especially when they were actually having a civil conversation. Though she was sure he was about to mention it, anyway.

Ron frowned and nodded. 'Snogging Lavender, definitely, that was one.' His eyes left hers again and traveled down to her previously-injured shoulder. He moved the strap of her top out of the way and brushed his thumb softly against her skin. She inhaled sharply and he pulled away as if he'd been burned. 'Did that hurt?'

'No,' she said. 'It ... it was okay.' In truth, it was much better than okay. She couldn't believe the sensations he could create just by touching her shoulder. Since when did she start melting at his touch?

'About, um, Lavender,' he said slowly, not making eye contact. 'I didn't – I mean, you were – she was ...'

'She was what?' asked Hermione, thoroughly amused.

'She was an absolute nightmare,' laughed Ron.

'Hey,' said Hermione, 'I take offence to that! As I was once deemed "a nightmare" by you, I feel it's rather unfair for me to have to share that title with Lavender Brown. I'd like to think I fall under a different heading that her.'

'Trust me, you're a whole other category,' insisted Ron. She felt herself blush and was thankful that Ron still wouldn't look at her. 'And I think we already covered that I was a git when I said that about you. But since you like being "a nightmare", I guess I'll need another term for her.'

'I can think of a few. My favourite is "a vindictive, manipulative, insecure, annoying, thick, utterly miserable, absolutely –"'

'That works, yeah,' Ron said. His amused cobalt eyes trained themselves on hers again. 'I can't believe I dated her.'

'I can't, either.'

He took a deep breath before saying, 'I – I ...' he sighed. 'I think I'll go to bed now.' Hermione tried to hide her disappointment. She had been sure he was going to say something ... else. 'I'll see you in the morning.'

'Right,' said Hermione. 'Goodnight.'

Ron smiled weakly. Putting a hand on her cheek, he said, 'I'm glad you're okay.'

Before she could say anything, he Disapparated.

……………………………………………………………

I despise school. But, until my parents start taking my suggestions, I need to continue attending. Bear with me, please.