A/N: Hope you all are enjoying. I would SUPER appreciate some reviews, Constructive criticism welcome!

Chapter 2

"RON" Hermione yelled, woken up by a nightmare. Harry bolted around from the entrance of the tent where he sat keeping guard, wand at the ready. He glanced widely around, but there was no one in the tent with them.

There was only Hermione, sitting straight up in her bed. Ron had left only an hour or two ago. Hermione had lay in her bed and cried. Harry had chosen to give her some extra blankets and then sit out on guard and let her be. He noticed that eventually her crying had stopped as, Harry figured, she had cried herself to sleep

Lowering his wand, he walked over to her and sat on the edge of her bed. "It was a dream, Hermione"

She looked up at him with tear filled eyes.

"He's gone," she whispered. All Harry could do in response was nod. Talking about Ron's exit would be too painful for both of them.

It had been mere hours since Ron had left, but already the impossible mission they were on seemed even more doomed. Hermione had barely been able to stop crying at all, and must have drifted off for minutes before the nightmare awoke her.

"Can I show you something?" She whispered. Harry nodded, unsure of what she could possibly want to show him at this hour. She pulled out her beaded back and whispered "accio watch." A delicate woman's wristwatch flew out and landed neatly in Hermione's outstretch hand. Wordlessly she handed the watch over to Harry.

Instead of telling time like his watch did, it was reminiscent of the Weasley family clock. Places were written around the edge the exact same way. Home. School. Shopping. Work. Travel. There were other places too, but the hands of the watch distracted Harry from reading all of them. There were three little hands with three little faces on it. Squinting closer he that the three faces were his, Hermione's and Ron's.

"Oh wow" he gasped "where did you get this." He whispered.

"It was a gift from my mum, before all this happened. Ms. Weasley charmed it for her and they gave it to me for my birthday this year." Hermione sniffed. "My mom told me, one day she hopes I can add children to it, like the Weasley clock." Harry smiled sadly. The thought of children for any of them seemed like an impossible dream. He had never even thought of Hermione as a mother but, now that the thought crossed his mind, he could see it.

The same way his subconscious occasionally let him daydream of a future with Ginny, he could see Hermione, looking on with a smile, as Ron played with a laughing redheaded child with frizzy hair and freckles. It was a different life. A life Harry didn't even realize that he wanted so badly for his best friends until right then.

The watch was truly a beautiful gift from a mother who had no way of appreciating the danger her daughter would face.

"Why haven't you been wearing it?" He asked, curiously.

"For now, I just find it scary and depressing. Look at where we are pointed"

Harry looked back at the watch. All three of the hands were pointed at the noon position. "Mortal Peril."

"It's been like that since I got it. My mother was very uneasy, but, Ms. Weasley lied to her and told her that it took some time to adjust and was just setting itself at the noon position." she sniffed again. "Thankfully, my mum had no idea what was really going on in the wizarding world."

"I keep thinking that Ron's should go back to home. He is a pureblood, he should be safe now that he is not with us." Harry stared at the watch again. Ron's hand didn't move from mortal peril.

"Well the Weasley's are being tracked." Harry said, remember the file in Umbridge's office. "I'm sure he is home safe." But as soon as he said it, he didn't believe it. Something just felt wrong.

He took out the Marauders Map, and checked to see if Ron's name reappeared in the Gryffindor common room. After searching among the dots for a few minutes, he was forced to conclude that Ron had not returned to school either. His eyes lingered on Ginny's dot, in the 6th year girls dormitory room for just a few seconds before he placed the map back in his moleskin pouch.

"I'm worried, Harry." Hermione whispered, her eyes on her wristwatch, and Harry could see them filling with tears again.

"Me too." Harry concurred.

Hermione was well beyond the point of worried. She couldn't even begin to explain the level of her fear to Harry. Ron was, well, everything. The thought of never seeing him again made her feel physically sick. What if she died and never got to tell him how she felt? Or worse, what if something happened to him. She would have no way of knowing and no way of helping him. And if something happened to him, he would die thinking she had chosen Harry over him.

Hermione Granger, brightest witch of her age, lay back in her bed and cried herself back to sleep.