A/N: Thank you for the reviews everyone!

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter characters and storyline all belong to J. K. Rowling

4. – The Ring and the Broken Chain.

In which Ron makes an unexpected discovery and argues with Ginny.

The meal had been very pleasant, only made better by his recent realizations. Having finished his codfish soup, Ron decided to take a stroll through the suddenly charming village of Porthleven. Maybe he could even look in on Dawn. He felt as if he was able to handle anything. He'd handled Narcissa Malfoy and her house elves splendidly, had he not?

As he came up to the portal of Tensington Street, he couldn't help glancing into the window of the furniture shop. It seemed that they did not just sell furniture, but antiques and other interesting items. He stood there admiring the bric-a-brac for a while, until his eyes fell upon something which made his heart stop.

Fortunately, it soon started beating again, almost twice as fast as it usually did, as he hurried into the shop to take a closer look. When he had been staring at the items for a while, a small man who was probably the shopkeeper came up to him and said,

"Hello sir, may I help you? Um, are you interested in these? There's quite a history behind them, you know."

"Where did you get them?" said Ron, still staring at the things.

"These are a part of the Ormanda Dylan set. She died 50 years ago, but we still haven't managed to sell all of her stuff. She used to collect interesting things she found at the shore. These things… don't recall how old they're supposed to be, but a few hundred years at least, I heard. Quite valuable they are. And see this ring? You can still read the engraving. A bit of an odd thing for someone to have written on a ring several hundred years ago, but there you are – people are strange. If Death doesn't do us part soon. – Ron. Heh. Not quite romantic but, well."

Ron was in a state of shock, and didn't hear that the old man was speaking until he said,

"Sometimes I wonder what became of the lass who wore it. If death did part them, or if they lived happily ever after. I think they did, don't you?"

"No," said Ron.

"Well, I suppose I'm a hopeless romantic, aren't I," said the man, shrugging.

"Yeah… how much do these cost, by the way?"

"£250," said the man. When Ron didn't speak, he said, "Well, I know it's a bit, but they're worth every penny, aren't they?"

"No," said Ron, laying them back in their case on the windowsill. "They're worth a lot more."

"Now who's the romantic, eh?" said the man, chuckling.

"Well, I'll think about it," said Ron. "I don't have any money with me right now. Bye."

"See you then," said the man, and he went back to the counter.

Ron walked out of the shop, but he left the door slightly ajar. When the shopkeeper wasn't looking, the two items, a ring and a strange-looking necklace, rose up from their case, almost as if of their own accord, and zoomed out door into Ron's waiting hands.

Pop!

Ron appeared outside of his and Ginny's house. He really hoped she was home, because this cemented his case, as well as raising more questions which he wasn't sure he could answer by himself. Thankfully, he immediately spotted her mane of red hair through the window. He ran up the garden path, barged inside without bothering to ask her the question, and got stunned for his trouble.

"Enervate!"

When he came to he was tied up head to foot, and his head pounded. He must have hit the floor very hard.

"Ginny!" he said, indignantly. "It's me!"

"Oh yeah?" said Ginny, who was standing over him, twirling her wand. "Then answer me this: Whose idiot brother managed to knock down an entire wall of his house, scaring his poor mother half to death, when playing with his uncle's battering ram?"

"What are you talking about? You know that was granddad!"

Ginny smiled.

"That's right!" she said, and released him with a wave of her wand. "But you shouldn't just come running into my house like that."

"Your house? I pay half of the bills, it's half mine," said Ron.

"I'll call it yours when you do your share of housework," Ginny snapped.

"I do my share! I mow the lawn, don't I?"

"What lawn? You mean that little spot of grass outside the door? We're talking about three square metres! When I do all the cooking-"

"You keep saying you can't eat my food! What do you want me to do about it?"

Her eyes filled up with tears and for a moment he thought he had managed to somehow hurt her feelings again, when without warning she flung her arms around him.

"Ron! You're back!" she choked out. "You're acting normal again! What happened? Did you find anything out?"

"Brace yourself," said Ron, grinning once he'd recovered from her dramatic change of mood. "They're not dead."

Ginny's eyes became as round as dinner plates. She sank into a chair at the table, breathing heavily.

"What… how… are you sure?" she whispered.

"Almost positive, although I don't know how exactly. Look at these things I found in a muggle shop." He held out the ring first.

Having read the inscription, Ginny opened and closed her mouth several times before she said,

"That's your engagement ring! The one you gave to Hermione!" then she frowned. "Is that what you wrote on it? No wonder she wouldn't show it to me. She was furious with you for days, wasn't she?"

"It seemed appropriate at the time. How was I supposed to know?" said Ron, dismissively.

"Yeah, well," said Ginny. Then she looked worried, as a thought seemed to strike her. "But Ron, someone must have just fished it out of the water just after they died."

"No, don't you see? It was an antiquity," said Ron excitedly. "They'd had it in the shop for over fifty years, and the shopkeeper told me it was several hundred years old!"

"But Ron… what does this mean? They can't have… unless…"

"Look at this," said Ron, taking out the other item from his pocket and laying it on the table.

Ginny stared at it for a full minute. Then she slowly lifted her gaze, and looked at Ron.

"It's…"

"A broken time turner, yeah."

"But… how?"

"You see, I got the idea when I was looking at the sea. They were attacked at about one o'clock in the morning, right? But the tide is so far out by then, that they couldn't have landed in the water. So why weren't there any bodies? And you know, according to the witness, Hermione was fiddling with something all the while they were being attacked. It must have been the time-turner. And – well, this is just a guess, but I think they were wearing their costumes."

"If we could find outwhen the costumes are from,"said Ginny, her eyes almost glowing. "We might get an idea of how far back they went!"

"Exactly!" said Ron.

Then all of a sudden Ginny's face fell.

"But Ron, even if they did go back in time, they couldn't possibly have survived that fall, could they?"

They were silent for a minute and a half.

"Well… maybe… maybe one of them wasn't unconscious, and cast a cushioning charm," said Ron.

"How do we know? They haven't come back, have they?"

"Their time-turner broke, obviously. The only way to find out for sure is to go back to when they did, isn't it?"

"I guess, but I don't see how we can do that," said Ginny, tiredly.

"Well, they're bound to have left behind some clues. I'm going to look over Hermione's letter again. Maybe she left something in there, in code."

"Why would she leave something in code?"

"Going back in time on a whim isn't exactly legal is it?"

Ginny frowned.

"Going back in time on a whim isn't exactly like Hermione, is it? Even Harry wouldn't do that. They must have had a really good reason. Otherwise, why didn't they wait till you came up? Why didn't they owl me, for that matter?"

"Why would they owl you?"

Ginny threw a nearby hardcover book at him, which hit him on the ear.

"Ouch! Ginny!"

"I'm serious, Ron! Harry always used to tell me stuff! Come on, you confided in Hermione, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah, but that's different."

Ginny shook her head. Then, evidently deciding Ron couldn't help being stupid, she went on developing her theory.

"Anyway, they must have had a really good reason - urgent too, by the looks of it, to travel back in time."

"I'll give you an urgent reason. They were surrounded by Death Eaters!"

"Oh, come on Ron! Obviously it was planned. What I'm getting at is, if we find out why they went back we'll probably be a lot closer to finding out when. Do you follow me?"

"Um, yes, I think so," said Ron, sarcastically.

"Well, good," said Ginny. She settled back in her chair, glaring at him.

After another moments' pause, Ron said,

"I'll look at the letter again, and then I'll go through their things to see if I can find the costumes, or any other things that might tell us where they are. Alright?"

"Fine," said Ginny, tonelessly.

"Er… what will you be doing?"

"I'll just go for a walk."

"Right."

"See you soon," said Ginny, getting up and pulling on her coat. "Bye."

"Bye," said Ron. For a split second he wondered where she was going, but his thoughts soon turned to the matter at hand. He pulled the letter out of the pocket of his coat, which he had not yet taken off. He unfolded it, glanced at it, and was yet again reminded of how ridiculous it was. Yet this only strengthened his idea that there was a coded message hidden within it. He looked through it carefully, reading aloud to himself.

"Dear Ron,

We are all fine. Have you had a good stay in Romania? Gone With the Wind is a good film, I saw it alone yesterday, but I don't think you would have liked it.

Back at Hogwarts, hardly a day went by when I didn't see you, and it feels weird that you've been away for two weeks. In a week I'll see you again, but until then, I'll feel very lonely. Time and again, I wish you were here. Don't think too much about it though. Worry not, for, as I said, we are quite happy!

If all goes well, we'll see each other again soon!

Love, Hermione."

Ron read it, re-read it, and read it once more before it hit him. Of course. Obviously! It didn't tell him anything he hadn't already figured out for himself, but it proved his theory was right. Besides, knowing that they actually had left a message for him made him feel a lot happier, and more determined than ever to find them. He knew they were alive. He wouldn't even allow himself to consider that they might not be. "They couldn't possibly have survived that fall," Ginny had said. Preposterous! This was Harry Potter and Hermione Granger they were talking about. The Boy Who Turned Surviving Into An Art Form and the brightest witch of the century. They wouldn't allow little drop like that to kill them, would they?

No, Ron decided. Never. He tucked back the letter into his coat pocket. Then he found a piece of parchment and penned a quick note, telling Ginny he was going to Hermione's house. Leaving it on the kitchen table for her to find, he walked out at a brisk pace. When he was outside he disapparated.