Author's Notes: As I type this, it has been nearly three months since I lost posted a chapter for this story. I'm sure some of you thought I must've died (in fact, one of you sent me a message saying exactly that!). Well, as Paul McCartney once said, "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
While we're on the subject of Sir Paul, I've got a friend. Now, admittedly, this friend is quite the conspiracy nut – he once told me he was driving down the road late at night and was sure that a bunch of government sanctioned stealth helicopters were trailing him…no doubt trying to follow him to his stash of weapons…did I mention he's a gun nut as well? He once walked into the comic book store I was working in on a sluggishly slow Tuesday afternoon, pulled an automatic "street sweeper" shotgun and a LAW rocket from his duffel bag and said "Hey [Hawk], look what I got." Not a good day…though I certainly didn't have to worry about falling asleep on the job after that. Anyway, so my friend, he totally believes that Paul McCartney really did die back in 1966. In fact, he refers to pre-1966 Paul McCartney as "real" Paul, and post-1966 Paul McCartney as "new" Paul. He's got a laundry list of "evidence" as well…he's even convinced two of my other friends that it's true.
Jesus…I gotta get new friends.
Anyway, back to what I was saying! I'm not dead. This chapter just kicked my ass, plain and simple. I had such a massive case of Writer's Block it wasn't even funny. The idea for the chapter was there…it was in my head…I could frickin' SEE IT when I closed my eyes…but it was LOCKED up there…it wouldn't come out no matter how hard I tried. And I tried. I tried for three frickin' months.
To quote Baby O from the Nicolas Cage explosiongasmic action film Con Air, it was time to "fight, fuck, or hit the fence". I decided to hit the fence. If my brain wasn't going to let me have Chapter 23 as I had originally imagineered it in my head, then fuck my brain! I'd work around my brain.
About a week ago, I started working on a new chapter…something I had given the working title of "Chapter 23-A"; admittedly, not an original title, but I was past caring at that point.
Chapter 23-A deviated considerably from what I had envisioned for this chapter and, worse, it would completely require me to change several future chapters that were either already written or in the planning stages; simply put, Chapter 23-A was a game-changer. But it had to be done, if I was ever going to get back to work on this story.
The sad part about all this is that I wrote this chapter in less than a week after trying, painfully, to extract the original chapter from my brain. Three months were wasted, and I'm sure countless readers were disappointed. And worst of all, I didn't win that award my story was nominated for over on LiveJournal (not that losing had anything to do with me not getting this thing written on time…I just felt like pointing it out…maybe I'll incur some sympathy from my more faithful readers).
Anyway, it's three months late, it's completely different than what I had originally intended to write (well…except for the basilisk thing…that was always gonna happen), but it's here. So without further ado (except for some Thank Yous and a Disclaimer), here it is: Chapter 23.
Thank Yous: First, let me say a big thank you to anyone who is still patiently awaiting this story's updates. I assure you, it hasn't been abandoned, it won't be abandoned; I'll complete it no matter how many three-month-long breaks I have to take while fighting my own brain. Second, as usual, I want to thank CutewithAcapital-Q for being an awesome beta, who patiently waited for me to get this done, while being an excellent sounding board for any ideas I had. Thanks, Cutie…you're the cat's pajamas.
Disclaimer: As always, the Harry Potter universe is J.K. Rowling's.
MIRROR, MIRROR
Chapter 23 – "Reflections of Disaster"
Ron turned to face the voice that had surprised him, and didn't know whether to laugh or yell at what he saw before him: Hermione Granger, walking towards him with her wand-tip lit and held above her head while wearing a blindfold.
"What in the name of Merlin's left shoe are you doing here, Hermione?" Ron exclaimed, pulling off the invisibility cloak and rushing over to the brunette.
"I followed you, of course," Hermione replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
"How could you follow me? I was invisible," he replied.
"I know," she said, nodding, "Is that an invisibility cloak? Where did you get it? I've read about those; they're supposed to be terribly rare." Hermione reached out and lightly touched the liquid-smooth texture of the silvery-grey cloak in Ron's hands.
"That doesn't matter right now, Hermione," Ron snapped, pulling the cloak away from her and stuffing it into his rucksack, "You didn't answer my question. How did you follow me if I was invisible?"
He saw her brow furrow and her mouth tighten into a harsh line, and he suspected that, beneath her blindfold, she was giving him a rather cross look for speaking to her in that tone and for snatching the cloak away from her before she could examine it thoroughly.
The fact that they were having this discussion while both being blindfolded seemed a bit asinine to Ron, so he canceled the Sight of the Unseeing spell and whipped off his blindfold, prompting Hermione to do the same.
He was right. She was giving him a cross look.
"When I saw that you were skipping breakfast," Hermione explained in a confrontational tone, fairly glaring at Ron, "I knew you were going to do it today. I hid behind one of the suits of armor on the seventh floor and waited for you to pass by so I could follow you."
"But I was invisible!" he exclaimed in frustration.
"You were," she agreed, nodding, "Mostly. When I heard the portrait of the Fat Lady open and close, I knew you'd be passing me in a matter of moments on your way down the stairs…only, you didn't. All I saw was the tail end of a broom floating a few inches above the floor moving towards the stairs…that's when I realized you were somehow invisible."
"You followed my broom?"
Hermione nodded again, "Your cloak must have caught on your broom's bristles preventing it from covering your broom completely."
Ron couldn't believe he had been so careless. Anyone could have seen him and followed him to the Chamber of Secrets. The fact that Hermione had followed him, and not someone like Filch or Malfoy, was a stroke of luck.
"When I saw you entering the girl's lavatory, I was starting to wonder if you really were going down into the Chamber of Secrets today," she continued, "Especially after the things Professor Umbridge said about you in class."
Ron rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth at the embarrassing memory of their DADA teacher blurting out in the middle of class that she'd caught him "lurking about" in the girl's bathroom.
Hermione didn't seem to notice his displeasure as she continued rattling on, "Of course, once I followed you into the bathroom and saw the gaping hole in the floor, I knew the truth. I can't believe the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was in a bathroom."
"What I can't believe is that you skived off class and followed me down here!" Ron said exasperatedly, "Don't you realize how dangerous it is down here?"
"I know it's dangerous, Ron, but I want to help!" Hermione shot back emphatically, "You shouldn't have to do this on your own just because Dumbledore says so!"
Ron looked at her, his mouth gaping open for a few moments before smiling lopsidedly at her. Her willingness to disobey the school's headmaster was very familiar. This was the Hermione he knew…this was his Hermione. Unfortunately, that made him even more frustrated that she would needlessly put herself in danger.
"I'm glad you want to help me," Ron said, "But this is way too dangerous!"
"Well, I'm here now," she said, matter-of-factly, "And since I have no way of getting back up that pipe, you're rather stuck with me."
He was about to suggest flying her back up the pipe to the safety of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, but she cut him off before he could get a word in edgewise.
"What was it I saw you take?" she asked, reaching over and tugging at his rucksack, "You were invisible…but I could see your hand floating in mid-air. You were taking things out of those niches in the wall. What is it? Is that what Dumbledore sent you down here for?"
"Yes, it is," he replied begrudgingly, narrowing his eyes at her, "But I'm not going to tell you any more than that. Bloody Hell, Hermione, it's bad enough you came down here without you getting mixed up in everything else that's going on."
Hermione narrowed her eyes right back at Ron and folded her arms across her chest. "I can help you."
"I know you can help me," he agreed, though his voice was still full of frustration, "But I just --"
Ron stopped talking mid-rant as the sound of a soft hissing noise somewhere out in the darkness drew his attention. He could hear something out there moving quietly, and he was immediately overcome with the feeling of being watched.
"Did you hear that?" Ron asked in a hushed tone.
"You don't suppose it's the basilisk, do you?" Hermione replied, grabbing his arm tightly, her eyes wide with fear.
"I dunno," Ron said, shaking his head, "I reckon it could be…"
"Better safe than sorry," Hermione said, hurriedly putting her blindfold back on and casting the spell that allowed her to see with her eyes closed, "If you're done down here, we should go."
Ron nodded. He was about to follow suit and direct Hermione to mount his broom, when the sounds of footsteps began echoing towards them from back the way they had come.
"Shite!" Ron cursed in a harsh whisper.
"Who is it?" Hermione asked, her voice tinged with fear.
"I have no idea," Ron told her, reaching in to his rucksack and grabbing the invisibility cloak. He shoved it into her hands. "Put that on and keep absolutely quiet."
"But…"
"Do it!"
His harsh tone and steely glare made Hermione act without questioning him again. She quickly threw the cloak over herself and Ron watched as she disappeared from view, hoping that she'd done it in time for the new arrival not to have seen her.
The footsteps grew closer and Ron kept his wand at the ready. He watched as a robed figure emerged from the darkness, the eerie green light of the Chamber glinting off of round spectacles as the new arrival made himself known. There was a surprised gasp from the seemingly empty space beside Ron as Harry Potter came into view, and Ron had to hiss at Hermione to remind her to remain silent.
"Well, well, Weasley," Harry began with a malicious sneer, "The thorn in my side has decided to deliver himself directly into my grasp. Very sporting of you."
Harry moved past Ron and cast a glance at the empty wall niches before taking a seat in the stone throne and leaning back comfortably, as if he were settling into an armchair in the lounge of his own home.
Ron was at a loss for what to do. He wasn't prepared for a direct confrontation with Harry, and to make matters worse, he had to worry about Hermione's safety as well. Harry continued to talk as Ron tried to formulate a plan for getting himself and Hermione safely out of the Chamber of Secrets.
"You certainly have proven difficult to eliminate, Weasley," Harry continued, something very similar to a vicious smile twisting his features, "Managing to survive the basilisk through sheer blind luck three years ago was one thing, but surviving the Killing Curse this summer is quite another. That really is rather extraordinary. Especially since I was sure that I saw you die."
"That was you?" Ron exclaimed in shock, the sound of his voice covering up the surprised gasp coming from the empty air next to him. Ron felt his stomach sink. If Harry had been the one who had killed the other Ron, then there really was no telling what he was capable of doing while he was under the sway of Riddle's diary. The danger he and Hermione were in, now that they were facing Harry, had just multiplied exponentially.
"It was me," Harry admitted, his face split by an evil grin, "Would you like to tell me how it is that you're still around to cause me grief?"
There was no way Ron was going to answer that question. Even if he wanted to, spilling the beans to Harry, when he was still obviously under the control of Riddle's diary, would have to be one of the stupidest things he could do; especially with Hermione there. He could feel her moving anxiously beside him, and he was sure that she, too, wanted to know how he'd survived the Killing Curse.
Ron stood his ground and set his jaw defiantly, refusing to answer Harry's question. Silence hung heavy in the air for several moments until Harry waved a hand dismissively in Ron's direction.
"No matter, Weasley; keep your secrets. As they say, the third time's the charm. You'll not be leaving the Chamber of Secrets alive." Harry stood and turned to face the statue of Salazar Slytherin, "Since the Killing Curse has proven unreliable…and since there are no reflective surfaces down here to prevent you from receiving the full effect of its gaze, I thought you might enjoy another encounter with the King of Serpents. After all, you came all this way…and what journey into the Chamber of Secrets would be complete without a visit from the basilisk?"
"We have to get out of here right now," Ron whispered to Hermione out of the corner of his mouth as Harry continued on, seeming to enjoy the sound of his own voice.
"How?" Hermione asked, sounding frantic beneath the invisibility cloak.
"My broom," Ron explained, pushing the Cleansweep in her direction, "Get on, but try to stay under the cloak; he doesn't know you're here, and I'd like to keep it that way."
"I can't do that, Ron…I hate flying!"
Harry had begun speaking directly to the statue, drowning out the whispered conversation between Ron and Hermione…only the sounds coming from his mouth weren't words; they were guttural hisses Ron recognized immediately as Parseltongue.
"We're running out of time, Hermione, just do it!" Ron urged, doing his best to keep his voice down to a whisper.
"What is that?" Hermione asked, "Why is he hissing at the statue?"
"It's Parseltongue…he's summoning the basilisk."
The sound of stone scraping against stone filled the Chamber, and Ron looked up in time to see the mouth of the Slytherin statue open up and a monstrous snake slither forth and drop from the opening, landing so heavily that the floor itself shook with the impact. The thing was at least fifty feet long and bright green with a blunt head and a body as thick as a tree trunk
"Ron, your blindfold!" Hermione gasped as the basilisk began to uncoil itself.
"I'll take care of it," Ron nodded, putting his blindfold back on and casting the Sight of the Unseeing spell, "Now get on the broom."
"But…"
"No time to argue!" Ron snapped, "Get on the bloody broom!"
"Fine!"
The broom was snatched from Ron's grasp and he watched as it seemed to float a couple of feet off the floor, dipping slightly when Hermione invisibly straddled it. He was about to climb on the broom and fly them out of the Chamber when Harry's attention was focused back on him.
"Oh no, Weasley you'll not be escaping this time. The King of Serpents is anxious to renew your acquaintance, and you don't want to be rude and leave without saying hello," Harry said mockingly as Ron made for the broom, "Nagini…restrain our guest."
At first, Ron had no idea who Harry was talking to, but he was suddenly made completely aware, as the largest snake he had ever seen – this side of the basilisk – lunged at him from the shadows. The snake was some twelve feet long with a pointed head and a diamond pattern running down its back. Its mouth was agape as it sprang at him, its razor-sharp fangs glinting in the dim light of the Chamber.
Ron jumped back, startled by the sudden appearance of the snake. He stumbled over some loose stones and fell, landing hard on his rear-end, less than a yard separating him from the snake.
"No!" the disembodied voice of Hermione screamed from the direction of the broom, "Protego!"
The lunging snake smacked up against the invisible barrier of the Shield charm that Hermione had cast around Ron. The redhead breathed a momentary sigh of relief and shot a grateful look in Hermione's direction.
"So you're not alone, eh Weasley?" Harry hissed, "Does your invisible little friend know that you led her down here to die? Nagini…find the girl."
Hermione had protected him with the Shield charm, but now she was in danger. Ron didn't know if the snake would be able to find her under the invisibility cloak, but he didn't want to take the chance and find out. The snake was already moving towards the broom, so he needed to act fast.
BOOM!
Magnum's Stunner was the first spell that came to mind for Ron, and the sound of it going off echoed throughout the Chamber of Secrets like a cannon shot. Ron was thrown back by the force of the spell, hitting the backside of the Shield that had surrounded him like a bubble. The Shield absorbed the impact of the spell's recoil, and Ron dropped to the ground unharmed.
At the same time, the blast of red light exploding from his wand-tip shattered the front of the Shield, canceling out the spell. The snake was slithering rapidly towards Hermione as the spell hit it and launched it into the air, sending it sailing across the Chamber to slam into one of the massive pillars supporting the ceiling.
"You will pay for that, Weasley!" Harry bellowed furiously, "Get him…kill him! Kill them both!"
Ron jumped to his feet and ran towards the broom. The snake that Harry had called Nagini was lying limply on the floor, clearly dazed from its unexpected flight across the Chamber. Ron knew that Harry's last command was aimed at the basilisk which, up to this point, had been coiled up, awaiting its master's order. It was definitely time to leave.
"I hope you're still on the broom, Hermione," Ron said as he jumped onto his Cleansweep and kicked off. He could feel Hermione in front of him, so he knew that she was, in fact, still on the broom. He could feel her shaking as the broom rose quickly into the air, and he couldn't be sure if it was from a fear of flying, a fear of the basilisk, or a combination of the two.
"Please don't let me fall," Hermione squeaked from in front of him.
"Wouldn't think of it," Ron said, closing his arms more tightly around her. Protecting her from falling was not going to be a problem…protecting her from the fifty-foot snake or the insane teenage wizard waiting below was a bit more difficult.
Ron turned the broom and zipped off in the direction of the door. He could feel Hermione moving in front of him, and her squirming was making it a bit difficult to fly straight.
"Sit still, Hermione, before I crash us into one of those columns!"
"Ron, stop the broom!" Hermione called from the empty air in front of him, "Stop right now!"
"Stop? Are you mental?" Ron snapped harshly, "We need to keep moving!"
"We forgot about the rooster!" Hermione explained.
"There's no time for that," he said, "The jumper I was going to Transfigure is in the bottom of my rucksack and I'd rather get us out of here than waste time rummaging through my bloody bag!"
"Just stop, Ron, I have an idea," she replied plaintively, "Please?"
Against his better judgment, Ron pulled the broom to a halt, hovering far above the basilisk which had been keeping pace with them. The gigantic serpent couldn't reach them in the air, but they'd have to drop down near the ground to get through the door leading out of the Chamber, and that's when they ran the risk of being caught by the monster and its poisonous fangs.
Harry must have decided to stop sitting idly by and waiting for his serpentine friends to do the job, because Ron had to juke quickly to the left to avoid a curse that was headed their way. Another curse followed close behind and Ron managed to avoid it as well, but he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to do so.
"Whatever you're gonna do, do it now!" Ron yelled, keeping his eyes trained on Harry's wand, waiting for another curse he'd need to dodge.
"Patience is a virtue," Hermione's voice called out to him.
"Not right now, it isn't!"
He could feel Hermione twisting about again, the silky material of the invisibility cloak brushing against him as she did. He was about to ask her what she was up to, but another curse from Harry put his attention back on keeping them alive instead of whatever Hermione was doing.
Ron could hear Hermione reciting the incantation for the Transfiguration spell she had taught him. He watched in disbelief as the stone seat…the throne Harry had been so comfortably perched in earlier…began changing. The dark, coarse rock began to look softer…fluffier…and the whole thing started to take on a decidedly less chair-like shape.
"What is this? What are you doing?" Harry snapped as he, too, noticed the throne undergoing its sudden transformation.
Moments later, where once had been a rough-hewn stone seat, seemingly grown from the very floor of the Chamber itself, there now stood a dark-feathered rooster of a similar size.
"Nice one, Hermione," Ron said.
"Thank you," Hermione replied, and he could feel her shifting again, no doubt putting both hands on the broomstick once again in preparation for more aerial maneuvering, "Now let's get out of here!"
"What? No!" Harry yelled, apparently understanding what was about to transpire. He turned his wand on the large chicken now standing in front of him.
Before Harry could cast a spell to get rid of it, however, the recently transfigured rooster took notice of the basilisk just as the great snake took notice of it. The King of Serpents turned its huge body quickly and attempted to flee from its newfound foe in the opposite direction. It wasn't quick enough, however, as the cockerel puffed itself up and began crowing at the top of its lungs.
The sound of the crowing echoed through the Chamber, bouncing and reverberating off the walls. The noise seemed to cause the basilisk an immense amount of pain, as the monstrous serpent began writhing and throwing itself about, slamming into the stone pillars which held up the Chamber's ceiling.
"NOOOO!" Harry bellowed, watching the death throes of the mighty snake. He threw a curse at the rooster, causing the bird to explode in a blast of blood, feathers, and steaming chicken bits, but it was too little, too late. With a resounding thud, the basilisk crashed to the floor and ceased to move; its great sinewy form reduced to nothing more than a lifeless corpse. "Damn you, Weasley!"
"Time to go," Ron said, pulling on the broom handle and turning them towards the far end of the Chamber once more. The Cleansweep took off like a shot towards the exit.
For a few moments, he honestly thought their escape was going to run smoothly. The basilisk was dead thanks to its rather anticlimactic encounter with a throne-sized rooster, and there was no way humanly possible for Harry to move fast enough to catch them while they were on a broom and he was on foot.
However, as the Chamber's exit came into view and Ron dropped them down towards the floor, his stomach dropped as he saw that the door was closed. Getting it to re-open would take time they really didn't have to spare.
"Ron, the door's closed!" Hermione exclaimed frantically, stating the obvious.
"I'll just have to tell it to open up, then," he replied, looking back over his shoulder to make sure Harry hadn't had a chance to fire another spell their way.
"Tell it to…what are you talking about?" she asked, starting to sound hysterical. He could feel her moving around in front of him and suspected she was trying to turn around to look at him, even though he couldn't see her.
Before Ron could explain, they were hovering a few feet off the ground in front of the sealed door. He could tell she was frightened and needed reassurance that they were going to make it, but he needed to focus on the task at hand.
"Ron, what…?"
"Shh!" Ron snapped, cutting Hermione off, "I need to concentrate."
Hermione went silent and Ron began to once again run through the series of sounds in his head that made up the Parseltongue word for "open". He began hissing at the closed door, but nothing happened.
"Dammit!" he cursed, running a hand nervously through his hair. He'd had time to get it wrong a few times when he'd tried this before; he wasn't being chased by an insane classmate and his huge pet snake then. He took a deep breath and tried again, but once more nothing happened.
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked heatedly. He could hear the fear in her voice and couldn't really blame her.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Ron snapped, "I'm trying to open the effing door!"
"Well it looks like all you're doing is hissing at it!" she snapped back just as angrily, "This was your great plan? Hissing?"
"SHUT UP!" Ron yelled, frustration and fear getting the better of him, "I need to concentrate and you're not helping!"
The Cleansweep suddenly gave a mighty jerk, and Ron had to hold on tight to keep the broom from crashing into the wall. He glanced at the tail end of the broomstick and noticed that the bristles were smoking slightly. He could see Harry was rapidly approaching and knew he must have hit the broom with a spell. He was coming towards them so fast, he almost seemed to be flying…but Ron knew that couldn't be possible.
"You'll not escape that way, Weasley!" Harry yelled, firing off another spell, "You and your invisible friend will die down here in the Chamber of Secrets!"
Ron pulled up hard on the broom handle, sending the Cleansweep back into the air, avoiding Harry's latest spell by inches. The broomstick shuddered noticeably as it climbed towards the shadowed ceiling of the Chamber, and Ron could only hope that the broom would hold together long enough for them to get out of this alive.
"Hold on tight," Ron told Hermione as he sent the broom flying off down the length of the Chamber away from the sealed door and Harry, "This is gonna be a bumpy ride."
The only response Ron got was a muted whimper from the empty air in front of him, and he knew Hermione must be scared to death right now…he wasn't too far from it, himself. He had wanted to keep her safe and not get her mixed up in all this; now, however, she was about as mixed up in it as she could get, and he didn't know if either one of them would live to see another day.
As they passed over the dead body of the basilisk, the broom sputtering and shaking as they flew in the direction of the statue of Salazar Slytherin, Ron saw a possible escape route. He had no idea where the tunnel beneath the Slytherin statue led, but if there was the possibility of escaping through it, he figured it was worth a shot.
Hermione screamed as Ron dived towards the floor, leveling off in time to fly straight through the entrance to the tunnel. The tunnel was pitch black and the broom kept bumping into the rough stone walls; it was becoming harder and harder to control and didn't seem to want to fly in a straight line.
"Lumos!"
Hermione lit the tip of her wand and even though the source of the light was invisible, it still served to provide enough illumination for Ron to keep the bucking broom flying more-or-less down the center of the tunnel, though the damaged Cleansweep fought him the entire way.
The tunnel twisted and turned and had a definite upward slope. This gave Ron the hope that it was, in fact, a way out. Though if it did lead out of the Chamber of Secrets, he wondered why Harry hadn't done anything to seal it off as he had the door leading back towards the pipes.
The dark tunnel seemed to go on forever, but finally, Ron could see daylight ahead and he spurred the sputtering broomstick onward. There was a definite opening at the end of the tunnel, with trees visible beyond. He could almost smell the fresh air.
It wasn't until they were right on top of the opening that Ron noticed an odd sort of haze across the opening. They were too close and moving too fast for him to stop the broom before they passed through the opening. The air seemed to crackle around them as they flew out of the tunnel.
The instant they exited the tunnel, the silence of the forest was rent asunder by a bloodcurdling scream. It took a moment for Ron to realize that the scream was coming from him and that Hermione, too, was wailing in pain.
He felt like he was on fire, his flesh feeling as though it were blistering and cracking; his very blood seemed to be boiling in his veins. His vision blurred, and at long last, Ron lost control of the broom.
With a resounding crack, the Cleansweep Eleven crashed headlong into a massive oak tree, unseating Ron and Hermione immediately. Ron grunted in pain as he bounced off the gnarled trunk of the tree before slamming heavily into the hard ground.
He struggled to sit up despite the burning sensation threatening to overwhelm him, inside and out. A sharp pain pierced his side as he moved, making it hard to breathe, and he couldn't help thinking that he'd broken some ribs.
Even though his vision was blurred, he spotted Hermione a few feet away. She was lying crumpled on the ground and unmoving; though he could just make out the rise and fall of her chest. She was alive, at least. Half of her body was covered by the cloak and still invisible, and it gave the disturbing impression that she had been cut in half at the waist.
Ron's mind was swimming in pain, but one thought did manage to break through the sea of unending agony: they needed help.
He began crawling towards Hermione, his body protesting his every movement with a new blast of pain. He pitched forward, staggering as his hands became tangled up with several pieces of wood; looking down, his head feeling as though it would explode, Ron found his Cleansweep, broken and charred as if thrown into a roaring fire, burnt tail twigs littering the ground in every direction.
Ron couldn't be bothered with the fate of his once-prized broom at the moment; getting to Hermione and making sure she was alright and then getting them back to the castle was the important thing. As he drew closer, he could see Hermione's flesh bubbling and blistering. Looking down at his own hands, concentrating on taking a really good look at himself finally, Ron saw that his skin, too, was in the same condition.
A large blister on the back of his hand burst open painfully with an eruption of blood and pus and Ron felt sick. Before he could give over to the feeling and vomit, however, the sound of something moving through the dried leaves behind him drew his attention. Ron's brain was nearly ready to shut down from the body-wracking pain he was in, but he was cognizant enough to realize that he and Hermione were still in imminent danger.
The rustling leaves were drowned out by a thunderous sound nearby that shook the very ground. Ron struggled to find his wand as he turned to face the new danger head-on. If he was lucky, whatever it was would put him out of his misery.
A flash of tan scales and a brown diamond pattern told Ron that the snake from the Chamber…Harry's snake…had caught up with him – no doubt ready to mete out a measure of revenge. The snake was poised to strike and he knew there was no Shield charm to save him this time.
The snake lunged, fangs bared for the kill; before it could reach Ron, however, a jet of flame burst forth, enveloping the massive snake and incinerating it on the spot as it thrashed and writhed violently on the forest floor.
Ron looked sluggishly towards the source of the flame and found himself gazing through hazy, unfocused eyes at what appeared to be a very large dragon. As if being face-to-face with a dragon wasn't bad enough, now that the snake was little more than a charcoal briquette, the dragon seemed determined to turn its fiery attention towards him.
He was a goner. He knew he was a goner. He was weak and in pain, he could barely see, he could hardly think straight, and he couldn't find his wand. There was no way he was getting out of this one alive.
If he was surprised seeing a dragon roaming through the Forbidden Forest (in a land where the only dragons were supposed to be securely tucked away at a protected reserve in Wales), then seeing a sixteen-foot tall giant showing up and proceeding to wrestle the dragon left Ron in a complete state of shock and awe.
Giants and dragons wandering freely about Britain; it didn't make sense…it seemed insane…until the third unexpected surprise visitor reared his shaggy head.
"Grawp…Norbert…stop yer rough-housin' you lot! Ye'll ge' the centaurs in more of a strop'n they already are. What've yeh done, Norbert, wha'…Weasley?"
Hagrid. Giants and dragons and Hagrid; now it all made sense. That was Ron's last conscious thought before it all overwhelmed his pain-addled mind and the world went black.
Author's End Notes: Well...there ya' go. Maybe not worth waiting three months for, but at least it's here. I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to let me know. Chapter 24 is on it's way, though I can't confidently say it'll be two weeks...not after coming off a three month Writer's Block.