Chapter Thirteen

Ron was taken aback by Hermione saying she would turn into Bellatrix, "Hermione, you don't have to. I already said I would take the potion."

She faced him and said forcefully, "No Ron, you don't have to."

"But Hermione, sh-she…hurt you. How could you even bear to be her?"

"That's it though. She's hurt other people far worse than me and she must be stopped. If that means I have to turn into her then so be it."

"Yes, she must be stopped, but it doesn't matter which of us turns into her. I will take the potion." Ron's said, his voice rising.

Hermione was getting fired up, "It does matter though!"

"No-"

"Ron! I am saying I will do it! Please don't make this more difficult than it already is!"

"That's exactly the opposite of what I am trying to do! I am trying to make this easier for you! Why won't you let me take the potion!"

"Because I have to!" Hermione shouted. Tears started flowing from her eyes.

Ron calmed down at the sight of her tears, "But why?"

"Because once You-Know-Who is dead and that witch has been captured, I want to go up to her and tell her that it was her fault her beloved Master is dead. We got the horcrux her Master trusted her to keep safe because she was foolish enough to give us all of the means to break into her vault. And it was me, a Mudblood, who turned into her so that we could simply stroll through the front doors of Gingotts." Hermione barely finished before she fully burst into tears.

Ron quickly closed the distance between then and wrapped her in his arms. She buried her face in his shoulder. It pained Ron to see her so upset, but he was also amazed at how strong she was. She was willing to become the woman who tortured her not only for the benefit of others, but for the benefit of herself. It would be her revenge. "She picked the wrong person to hurt and we are going to make her regret it."

Hermione calmed down enough to whisper, "Can I tell you something though?"

Ron stroked her hair, "Sure."

"I am set on taking the potion and there's no changing my mind about it, but…I am s-scared Ron."

"It's going to be okay. I'll be right there with you." He stopped to think about it for a second, "Disguising me as a henchman is still part of the plan right?"

"I hope so. I don't think I could pull off being her all by myself."

"Okay good." Ron said and then realized how it could be taken the wrong way, "I mean, it's good that I'm going to be a henchman. I wasn't saying it is good that you are incapable of being believable on your own—which I'm sure you could be—"

Hermione chucked a little, "It's okay Ron, I understood what you meant."

"Oh, you did. Okay." Ron hoped the redness in his cheeks would quickly fade.

Ron and Hermione still held onto each other, cherishing the contact. Even though Hermione had stopped crying, Ron could feel her shivering and he thought it was time for him to act, so he asked, "Are you cold?"

"A little." Hermione answered slightly ashamed.

"I think I have just the thing." Ron said, trying to hide his excitement. He reluctantly let go of her, took out his wand, and pointed it towards the cottage, "Accio sweater!"

For the next several seconds, Hermione gave him a confused look while he waited for the jumper to make its way to him.

Once it was in his hands, Hermione's eyes went wide when she was certain it was what she thought it might be. "This better have been a mistake."

"It wasn't—" Ron started to say.

"How dare you! Y—"

Ron dropped the jumper and put his hands up in front of him as a sign to calm down and also in case she wanted to attack him. "No no no! Wait! Let me explain!"

"Well go ahead and start explaining!"

"I thought maybe we could burn it." He answered with his hands still up in case she didn't agree with that either.

Her expression softened, "Burn it?"

"Yeah. You know, like get rid of the chill along with it and its bad memories."

"Oh. That is a nice idea."

"I thought it might be." Ron said with relief.

"Thanks, and I'm sorry for blowing up on you like that."

"It's okay, I probably should have told you about my plan first."

"That would have helped."

"I'll keep that in mind for the future. For now, let's get rid of this thing." He offered her his wand so she wouldn't have to use the current one she had to use; Bellatrix's. "Do you want to do the honors?"

"Sure, but first," She gratefully took the wand, thanking him for the kind gesture with a smile, and pointed it at the ground. She moved the wand in a circle while she said, "Protego." She saw Ron about to question her so she explained, "We don't want it getting out of hand and starting a wildfire or something."

"Good thinking."

Hermione kicked the sweated onto the now protected patch of grass and took a deep breath. She looked over at Ron, who gave her an encouraging smile. She gave a small smile in return and started to say "Inc—wait!"

"What? What's wrong? Is this too much for you? I'm sorry! I knew it was a bad idea—"

"No Ron, it's okay." Hermione chuckled at how scared he got."But you are right, this is too much for me. You should do it with me."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You deserve to be a part of this just as much as me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I won't do it without you." Hermione said firmly.

"All right." He chuckled, "If you insist."

Hermione held up the wand again and Ron put his hand around it as well, covering her hand halfway.

"Ready?" Ron asked.

Hermione nodded her head, "On the count of three. One, two, three-"

"Incendio!" They said in unison.