Hey, everybody! Today's the day! The sun is shining, the tank is clean and we are getting outta here! (I just needed to say that.) It's Saturday! As promised!
wisegirl2772- yeah, I felt really bad for making Draco think that she was dead, so I had to write it. I hope this chapter is good too!
xXMizz Alec VolturiXx- thank you! I spent a whole week writing this chapter, so hopefully this one is long enough, and there are no grammatical errors like my previous chapters that someone pointed out to me. I was so embarrassed, but I'm gonna fix it! :)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Nature of the Locket
Evangeline groaned, rolling onto her side. Everything felt sore. She made a mental note on how she kept waking up like this. Groaning, and hoping to sleep for a little while longer. Yet at the same time her body was telling her that it was time to get up, that it wanted to move and more importantly to be fed.
She was ravenously hungry.
Bear claws sounded really good at the moment.
Opening her eyes she found herself on the bottom bunk of the bed. She tried to rub the sleep from her eyes, and found that she was bound by ropes. What the. . ? Evangeline lifted her head and found that her feet too, were bound by rope. How in Merlin's name had she ended up like this? Grunting she pushed herself into a sitting position, leaning down to untie the ropes around her ankles. Once that was done she went to her hands.
"Quick, Hermione! She's escaping!" called a frantic voice. Looking up Evangeline had time to register Ron barreling towards her, before being tackled to the floor.
"What is going on!" she screamed.
Ron fought to get her hands, sitting on her abdomen. What had she done now?
"Stop it, Ron!" cried Hermione running in. She pulled the crazy red head off Evangeline before turning to her with a breathless look. Hermione stared expectantly at her.
"What?" Evangeline said.
"Don't you . . . remember anything? From last night?"
"Last night?" Evangeline said bewildered. "What did I do last night?"
Harry walked into the tent, looking livid. But once he saw Evangeline on the floor, and Hermione's look he addressed Evangeline calmly.
"Remember the talk we had about werewolves at Grimmauld Place?" he hinted. Evangeline's eyes widened as she remembered discussing werewolves, the full moon, and being moonstruck. Groaning she buried her face in her hands.
"The full moon, I forgot! Did I . . . do anything?"
Harry shared a look with Hermione, and Ron. Clearly they found something amusing. And it did not make Evangeline happy.
"What? What did I do? Tell me!" she demanded.
"Well, you started singing," explained Hermione. Evangeline cringed. She'd never really liked singing, despite being good at it. "Then you tried dancing with Harry, until you just started to stare at the moon and attack anyone who tried to take you back into the tent. You were . . . pretty wild."
"Oh, I was furry wasn't I?"
"Yes," Ron laughed. Hermione shot him a glare.
"No, you were only entranced by the moon. We had to put a shirt on you," Hermione said.
"What!"
"It was nothing bad!" Hermione said quickly, "you had on a camisole."
Evangeline let out a breath of relief. She considered herself lucky. The only thing that really bothered her was the fact that she couldn't remember what had happened at all.
That, and the fact that she seemed to have tried to strip tease. She felt embarrassed, and humiliated. Stupid moon. For a fleeting moment she envisioned herself finding Greyback, and strangling him to death. That would never happen. He was giganormous, and she was fun-sized.
"Ugh, my life is just getting better and better," she said sarcastically. Hermione raised her brows and said nothing. Ron decided to go sit in a chair in the main area of the tent, resuming his angst filled brooding look. Evangeline chose to wisely ignore this. She wasn't in the mood to mess with him.
Harry took a seat, with a frustrated sigh. Running his hand through his wild black hair, reminding Evangeline painfully of when Draco did the same thing. She averted her eyes and fought against the sudden onslaught of tears. Mentally she scolded herself.
Who cries over stuff like that? What was she, a big blubbering crybaby? Draco was alive. She wasn't mourning his death, just separated from him. Another image of herself strangling Greyback came to her mind; it was this werewolf stuff, she was sure of it.
Clearing her throat she began to speak, "So, what were you guys up to?"
"Trying to destroy the Locket," Hermione said with a sigh. Harry angrily flung the Slytherin locket to the floor, glaring at it.
"Nothing works!" he seethed.
"Something powerful then," Hermione stated smartly. Ron rolled his eyes in glum silence.
It was silent then, no one spoke. Each staring off into space, deep in thought. Evangeline shifted her weight uncomfortably, unused to such silences unless she was reading. Her stomach gurgled then, signifying her state of hunger. Ron's eyes snapped to hers, openly hostile.
"Oh, your hungry too? Expect us to feed you then?" he snapped. Evangeline stood, outraged.
"What's got you in a snit?" she demanded.
"Oh, I don't know," he told her with disgust, "maybe the fact that I've only had toadstools after nearly bleeding to death!"
"Ron!" said Harry. "Shut it!"
"Well I've had nothing!" Evangeline yelled back.
"Stop it!" Hermione cried intervening as Ron rose unsteadily to his feet. Her chest rose rapidly, as she breathed heavily. Ron glared at Evangeline, and she glared back. "We need to focus," she continued slowly. Evangeline sank back into the mattress, as Ron went back to his chair.
"We need to find out where we're going, and what we're going to do, most importantly food," she told them, her eyes shifting over to Ron. He glared at the wall of the tent sourly. Evangeline figured he'd never gone long without eating a meal, or skipped any meals. He was a mommy's boy. Evangeline on-the-other-hand had, had her fair share of skipped meals. Her father was quick to punish misbehavior with no dinners.
"So where next?" asked Ron.
After deciding to get food they cleared camp and apparated to the outskirts of a small market town. There they pitched the tent in the shelter of a small group of trees surrounded by freshly cast defensive enchantments. Once done, Harry went into town to bring back food.
They didn't have to wait long. As Evangeline sat cross-legged on the floor, Harry burst onto the tent with one word, "dementors."
To say the least they were greatly disappointed. Ron threw a huge fit, and fought with Harry until Hermione intervened, again. Evangeline chose to stay silent in her spot on the floor.
"Harry, give me the locket!" cried Hermione, holding out her hand expectantly. "Come on," she said impatiently clicking her fingers at him when he blinked stupidly at her, "the Horcrux, Harry, you're wearing it!"
Harry lifted the golden locket over his head, looking instantly better the moment it passed over his head and into the hand of Hermione. His face cleared of any sourness, and he visibly brightened.
"Better?"
"Yeah! Loads!" said Harry.
"We take turns wearing it," offered Evangeline from the floor. All eyes on her she continued her idea. It hit her like a bolt of lightening. "The Horcrux makes you feel terrible, or act strange, so . . . we take turns wearing it so that no one wears it all the time. Nobody keeps it on for too long."
"Great," said Ron irritably. Evangeline shot him a glare. "Now that we've sorted that out, can we get some food?"
They moved again, this time in a field belonging to a farm in the middle of the countryside. There they managed to get some eggs and bread. As they sat around the table eating, Hermione spoke with a troubled voice. She had been the one that had opposed the idea of taking the eggs and bread. Ron's attitude though had ended it.
"It's not stealing, is it? Not if I left some money under the chicken coop?"
" 'Er-my-nee, 'oo worry 'oo much. 'Elax!" Ron said with bulging cheeks, as he ate. Evangeline rolled her eyes and finished off her bread. Her first meal since before they had infiltrated the Ministry.
They settled into a constant routine. Stay in one place for a day or two, apparate to another location. Scavenge for food, listen to Ron complain over food, plan where they were going next.
Harry figured that if they were to find any more Horcrux's, Voldemort would've most likely hidden them in places important to him. Hogwarts, Borgin and Burkes, then Albania. Each consisting of a period where he had spent his life. The list formed the basis of their speculations. Evangeline learned to tune the discussions out, and just nod here and there when needed.
"Albania, then," Ron said sarcastically one afternoon. "Shouldn't take more than one day to search."
"There can't be anything there. He'd already made five of his Horcruxes before he went into exile, and Dumbledore was certain the snake is the sixth," said Hermione. "We know the snake's not in Albania, it's usually with Vol-"
"Didn't I ask you to stop saying that?"
"Fine! The snake is usually with You-Know-Who - happy?"
"No."
Evangeline groaned and buried her head in her arms on the table. Ron had yet again not been fed, so he was even more snappy than usual. Harry sighed with irritation, thumping his fist on top of the table.
"I think he might have hidden something at Hogwarts. Dumbledore told me that he didn't know all of Hogwart's secrets. So, Vol-"
"Oi!"
"YOU-KNOW-WHO, then!" Harry shouted. "You-Know-Who, must've put something at Hogwarts."
"Oh, come on," scoffed Ron, "his school?"
"It makes sense," said Evangeline slowly. "From what Harry's told us, You-Know-Who lived there for a long time. It was his first real home after the orphanage, so it must be special-"
"Yes," Ron muttered sarcastically, tugging the gold chain around his neck. "I would just leave something that important at my school. Very smart, Ev." Fleetingly, Evangeline wondered what Harry and Hermione would do if she punched Ron as hard as she could. The cons of such an action outweighed the pros, so she sighed, stomping out of the tent.
They traveled to London then, searching the orphanage, which turned out had been demolished many years before. Where it once stood, were tall tower block offices. Disheartened, they apparated all over the countryside. Pitching their tent at a new location every night, and going most days without a meal or two. Ron was growing moodier and moodier.
When Evangeline wore the locket, she was nearly as bad as Ron. Snappy, and grumpy, she opted to lay in bed all day. Suffice to say, she was not bothered much when wearing the locket. Hermione made sure to take the locket several days before the next full moon, it didn't help much.
Evangeline spent her next full moon hunched over a bucket, throwing up. Her hate for Greyback grew, with each retching. The next morning, left her winded, and craving food. Anything really. Evangeline had even allowed Hermione to feed her watered down wild mushroom soup. Despite its bland taste she ate all of it.
One night they sat in the common area of the tent, Ron brooding over his lack of food, Hermione pouring over a book, and Harry staring up at the snitch he had received back at Fleur and Bill's wedding. Evangeline lay in her bed contemplating where they were to go next.
Today was her birthday, if she was correct. October the sixth. Today she was seventeen. Evangeline sighed, fiddling with the silver locket around her neck. The one from Draco. Happy Birthday, she said to herself. She hadn't even told Hermione, Harry or Ron. It didn't seem right to be celebrating her birthday. Even if now she was considered a legal magical adult. Of course it was depressing. No one knew.
"Harry!" cried Hermione jumping up from her seat. Harry and Ron started, Evangeline jumped to her feet. Hermione stood beaming, as if she'd won a prize.
"Harry, the sword can destroy Horcruxes!"
"The sword?" asked Harry.
"Yes! Godric Gryffindor's sword. Goblin-made blades imbibe only that which strengthen them - I can't believe I didn't see this before!" she said excitedly. "Harry, that sword's impregnated with basilisk venom! The same venom you used to destroy You-Know-Who's diary our second year!"
Understanding dawned on Harry's face.
"Then, Dumbledore didn't give it to me because he still needed it, he wanted to use it on the locket -"
"- and he must have realized they wouldn't let you have it if he put it in his will -"
"- so he made a copy -"
"- and put a fake in the glass case -"
"- and left the real one - where?"
Harry and Hermione stared at each other; each seeming to expect the other to know the answer. Evangeline sat back down on her bunk and watched them. The Gryffindor sword? How did it fit into all of this. And why were they talking about a fake sword. Evangeline frowned as she thought back to a conversation weeks prior. They had been discussing ways on how to destroy Horcruxes. Harry and Hermione debating which way to do it, Ron . . . being Ron. She had spaced out. But she remembered them mentioning something about a Gryffindor sword. Something about there being one in his office.
"Think!" whispered Hermione. "Think! Where would he have left it?"
"Not at Hogwarts," Harry said, and began pacing.
"Somewhere in Hogsmeade?" suggested Hermione.
"The Shrieking Shack?" said Harry. "Nobody ever goes in there."
"But Snape knows how to get in, wouldn't that be a bit risky?"
"Dumbledore trusted Snape," Harry reminded her. Evangeline flinched as the comment brought up the image of Dumbledore flying over the battlements of the Astronomy Tower. Mentally she chided herself for letting it get to her.
"True," Hermione mused.
"So where do you reckon he would've hidden the sword?" said Harry. "Hogsmeade, perhaps? What d'you reckon, Ron? Ron?" Harry looked around, looking bewildered until he saw Ron watching them with a stony look.
"Oh, remembered me, have you" he snapped.
"What?"
He snorted and glared at them. "You two carry on. Don't let me spoil your fun."
"What's wrong?" asked Evangeline, her brow creasing with worry.
"Wrong?" said Ron, sarcastically. "Nothings wrong, according to you all."
Outside there were several plunks on the canvas of the tent. Evangeline glanced up, it had started to rain. They sat in silence for a moment. Ron glaring at them, and Harry sharing a look with Hermione, before Harry frowned at Ron.
"Well, somethings wrong," he said, "spit it out will you?"
Ron stalked over to them, looking mean and unlike himself. Even when he was in his hungry moods where he complained all the time. This was a darker side of Ron. Evangeline stood quickly, unable to make her body move another inch.
"All right, I'll spit it out. Don't expect me to skip and down the tent because there's some other damn thing we've got to find. Just add it to the list of stuff you don't know."
"I don't know?" repeated Harry. "I don't know?"
As they stared at each other the rain began to fall even harder against the tent. The air seemed to drop by ten degrees and Evangeline shivered, pulling her sweater tighter around her body. Ron swept his gaze over each of them.
"Don't expect me to act like I'm having the time of my life," he said, "you know, with my arm mangled and nothing to eat and freezing my backside off every night. I just kinda hoped that after running around for a few weeks we might've achieved something."
"Ron," said Hermione in a quiet voice. She was eying him warily.
"I thought you knew what you'd signed up for?" said Harry.
"Yeah, I thought I did too."
"So what part of it isn't living up to your expectations?" asked Harry in an angry voice. Each word getting louder. "Did you think that we'd be finding Horcruxes everyday? Living it up in five-star hotels? Did you think that you'd be back to Mummy by Christmas?"
"We thought you knew what you were doing!" shouted Ron. His chest rose and fell rapidly, eyes wide. "We thought Dumbledore had told you what to do, we thought you had a plan!"
"Ron!" gasped Evangeline, as Harry recoiled as if he'd been hit. Ron turned to her with hostility in his face. She stumbled backwards as he advanced on her.
"And you! You've been nothing but a pain, since the very start!" he ranted. "You came here and acted like you owned everything, worming your way into our lives, like you belonged!"
"Take off the locket, Ron!" pleaded Hermione, her voice unusually high. "Please take it off. You wouldn't be talking like this if you hadn't been wearing it all day."
"Yeah, he would," said Harry. Ron paused, towering in front of Evangeline. "D'you think I haven't noticed you whispering stuff behind my back? D'you think I didn't guess you were thinking this stuff?"
"Harry, we weren't -"
"Don't lie!" Ron snapped at Hermione.
"We didn't talk about you Harry, honest!" squeaked Evangeline. Ron's eyes blazed with a mad-like rage.
It happened so suddenly, Evangeline didn't even realize what had happened until she was lying on the floor, spitting out blood. Raising a hand to her face, she whipped off the blood around her mouth. Sending a shocked look at Ron. Hermione's eyes were wide, and Harry was staring at her.
"Y-you hit me," she whispered, in disbelief.
Harry drew his wand, Ron did the same. Before either could cast a spell, Hermione threw herself between the two. She raised her wand.
"Protego!"
A shield expanded between the two, forcing them to back away from each other. Harry and Ron glared at each other. The only word to describe the way they looked at each other was pure and plain hatred.
"Leave the Horcrux," Harry hissed.
Ron pulled the gold chain over his head, and threw it to the ground. His scary look diminishing, as he turned to Hermione.
"Are you coming?"
"I . . ." she paused and glanced at Harry, and then Evangeline. "Yes - yes, I'm staying, Ron. We said we'd go, we said we'd help -"
"I get it," said Ron accusingly. "You choose him."
He grabbed his bag and went to the entrance. As he pulled back the flap he looked at Evangeline.
"I've wanted to do that all year," he said. He left, going out into the rain. Now a full blown storm as thunder boomed over their heads and lightening streaked the sky. Hermione ran after him with a cry.
"Ron! Wait!" she cried into the storm as she left the tent. Harry stood still and listened to her pleas, as Evangeline picked herself up off the floor. "Ron! Come back! Please! Come back! RON!"
There was a loud crack, and Hermione's pleas turned into sobs. After a few minutes she returned dripping wet. She said nothing as she threw herself down onto Evangeline's bed and started to cry. Harry stood watching for a moment, before he took Ron's blankets and threw them over Hermione.
With a dazed glance to Evangeline, he crawled into his own bunk. Evangeline stood in the center of the tent, listening to the sound of pounding rain. The throbbing of her cheek, a living reminder that Ron had once been there.
The locket lay on the ground, untouched.
DUN DUN DUNNNNNN! This chapter was interesting!
Thank you to all who've reviewed! And please, REVIEW! Hope you enjoyed it!
~CHAO