Ron's Point of View

It was dark inside the house, with only a few candles lighting its dusty halls. It smelled of dust, unwashed clothes, moth balls and stale food, instantly bringing me back to my Aunt Muriels. I hated the smell of her house, it smelled like old people, and made the already run down house seem even older.

"Bathilda?" Harry repeated as the old women he was assuming was Bathilda set her shawl on the table. She nodded at him, turning and faced him, her ancient face blank. She stared at him for a moment with her creepy blank eyes before she turned and shuffled into what was probably a sitting room. Harry stepped forward, clearly intending on following her. Had he gone completely mental? Every cell in my brain was screaming out 'not a good idea!' On a scale of one to ten on the disturbing scale this place was way past fifty.

"Harry, I'm not sure about this," Hermione whispered, grabbing his arm. She was the brightest witch of her age for a reason.

"Yeah mate, this is weird." I said, glancing at the door longingly. It would be so easy to grab Harry and drag him out of here.

"Look at the size of her, I think we could overpower her if we had to," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "Listen, I should have told you, I knew she wasn't all there. Muriel called her 'gaga.'"

"Muriel's gaga!" I countered, still glancing at the door. I wonder how hard it would be to petrify Harry and drag him out of here. Sure, the witch may look weak, but I doubted she would be. Fred and George didn't look strong at first glance, but Merlin help the idiot who thought they could take them. A strange hissing snarling noise came from the next room and Harry stepped forward again. The noise was annoyingly familiar, but I couldn't place it, it was like hearing the tune to a familiar song but being unable to think of the lyrics.

"It's okay," he said reassuringly, and then he walked into the room. Hermione and I were right behind him. The worried feeling I'd had earlier had only intensified. I was now positive this was not a good idea. That had me a little worried, I was in an ancient house, the only occupant of which was a little old witch. We really wouldn't have any trouble taking her down. I could revert to my suggestion for Harry in first year, we could always just punch her out.

Just when had I gotten so paranoid?

Bathilda was tottering around the room lighting candles, but it was still very dark, not to
mention extremely dirty. It was honestly disgusting, even to me and I lived in a room that rivaled a pig sty. The smell changed from just mildew to something much, much worse, like meat that had gone extremely bad. I moved next to Hermione, feeling extremely worried, and protective. If something happened to either of these two, I might as well just off myself, there'd be no going back home. George would kill me over 'Mione, and everyone would kill me over Harry. Harry, completely oblivious to the panic Hermione and I were feeling was helping the old woman light her candles.

"Mrs. - Miss - Bagshot?" he said suddenly, pointing at some old picture. "Who is this?"

"Who is this person?" He asked again, holding up the picture. I'd never seen the wizard before, but Harry clearly had. I wasn't really surprised, it was probably something he'd seen through his link with Voldemort.

"Do you know who this is?" he repeated in a much slower and louder voice than usual. "This man? Do you know him? What's he called?"

"Who is this man?" he repeated loudly. I glanced at Hermione who looked back at me with wide eyes. Normally I'd have found this whole thing funny, the fact that we were in this house, lighting this old hags candles, Harry yelling some question at her.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione asked, stepping forward.

"This picture. Hermione, it's the thief, the thief who stole from Gregorovitch! Please!" he
said to Bathilda. "Who is this?"

"Why did you have us come here?" I asked, stiffening in suspicion. Hermione glanced at me before moving towards Harry.

. "Was there something you wanted to tell us?" She asked. I turned towards her eagerly, hoping she would answer so that we could get out of here.

Do you want us to leave?" Harry asked. She shook her head and then looked up at the ceiling.

"Oh, right... I think she wants me to go upstairs with her." What? Was he mental? Had he completely lost it? Why in the name of Merlin's saggy pants would he follow her anywhere? Why had we even followed her here?

"You're joking, right?" I finally asked, trying not to look too surprised.

"No, I think she wants us to follow her."

"All right," Hermione said, sighing, "let's go." Bathilda shook her head with surprising vigor, once more pointing first at Harry, then to herself.

"She wants me to go with her, alone." Harry said, stepping forward.

"Hell no." I said stepping forward. It was time to put an end to this whole crazy event. At the same moment Hermione asked why.

"Maybe Dumbledore told her to give the sword to me, and only to me?" Harry said, stepping forward again.

"Isn't it a little strange that she knows who you are?" I asked, feeling extremely bewildered that I was the one who was being logical. "You're a girl at the moment, how'd she figure out who you were?"

"She just knows Ron." Harry said, sounding annoyed. Why was he annoyed at me? He was following the crazy hag and I was annoying?

"Fine. You can go, but be quick. I'm only giving you five minutes before I go up there." Hermione said, gripping her wand tightly. What? She was letting him leave?

"Thanks." Harry said, heading for the stairs.

He disappeared up the landing, leaving Hermione and me alone downstairs.

"We're not actually leaving him alone with that creepy old witch, are we?" I asked, hoping that she wasn't actually planning on doing just that. She shook her head no.

"To quote you from earlier, Hell no!" She said, we both stepped forward and headed for the stairs, the moment our foot touched the first step I heard a yelp and crash of glass.

"Harry?" Hermione shrieked, running right behind me. We ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I reached it first, bellowing in pain as my potion faded and my features returned to there normal shape. The searing pain was awful but I ignored it, rushing up to the door and throwing it open. Hermione screamed behind me as we saw what was in the room. Harry was lying on the floor, the giant snake of Voldemort's, Nagini, winding herself around him, crushing him.

"STUPIFY!" I bellowed, running into the room and throwing stunners. Hermione ran in behind me, pulling Harry up as the snake slithered towards me. He grabbed his wand off the floor. Mean while, I now had to deal with one big snake. She was speeding towards me, and none of my stunners seemed to be doing any damage.

"He's coming!" Harry bellowed, his hand flying to his forehead. I sure hoped he didn't mean the 'he' I thought he did, but I really didn't have time to worry about it. Nagini was almost on top of me. Hermione shot another spell at the snake as I dived away from the big snake. Fighting was not working at the moment, so, I was choosing flight. Not the masculine way, but heck, if I lived I didn't care. The ground exploded beneath us at the force of a spell Hermione shot and we were falling. Rubble flew everywhere and I couldn't help but cry out in pain as a plank of wood tore into my arm. I landed in a corner, and Nagini was still coming for me. Merlin, what would it take to kill this blasted snake?

"Reducto!" Harry said, gasping for air. His curse hit the snake square on her back, making her recoil in pain. I jumped up at the distraction, gasping in pain as my arm exploded in pain. Hermione snatched my hand, causing it to hurt even more, and twisted into the air.

We reappeared back in some forest, I'd lost track of which was which, they really all just looked the same. We must have been too every single forest in this country. Hermione jumped up the moment we landed and started throwing up the protective charms while I grabbed the tent out of her bag.

"Hermione." Harry gasped, and then he fell over, his face pale and his shirt becoming soaked in blood as he regained his real form.

"Harry!" Hermione screamed, running forward and grabbing his arms. She tore the cloak from his shoulders and gasped in shock as she saw the slash in his side. How had that happened? What had hurt him?

I had gotten the tent up by now and ran to her side. Harry was gasping for breath, his side bleeding heavily and his face turning even paler.

"Let's get him inside, out of the cold." I said, picking my best mate up and carrying him towards the tent.

{}o{}o{}

It took Harry three days before he finally came out of the trance like state he had descended into. He was crying out about wands and thief's the entire time, really bloody annoying, and scary. It was like he was locked in Voldemort's mind. His wound became infected and we couldn't get the locket off his neck. It burned our hands any time we tried to grab it off his neck. We were thoroughly stumped, not unusual for me, but extremely unusual for Hermione. Hermione hadn't learned a lot of healing charms, and I didn't know any. Finally, we used a severing charm to get the locket off, but not before it left a burn mark on his chest.

Just what Harry needed, another scar. That made the scars from Umbridge, Nagini's bite mark, the burn marks from the dragon, the scar from where they took his blood to bring You-Know-Who back, and of course, his lightning scar.

Now though, Hermione was tending to Harry's wounds while I was out trying to scavenge something for us to eat. I was not having much luck, I was beginning to discover why we ate so many wild mushrooms, that was the only thing that grew out here!

"Ron! He's up!" Hermione's voice came from the tent and I turned around from the woods, racing back to the tent excitedly.

"How long have I been out?" Harry's voice asked as I came running into the room. I was grinning broadly and couldn't stop my grin. I was holding a bunch of mushrooms in my hands and I didn't even notice.

"A few days." Was Hermione's answer, she leaned back on her legs and I lowered myself beside her, resting my hands on Harry's bed.

"You feeling all right?" I asked, checking him over and deciding he looked alright, a little pale, but alright. I realized I was still holding the mushrooms and set them down beside myself.

"Has it really been a couple of days?" Harry asked, looking shocked.

"You've been ill," Hermione said, glancing at me.

"Ill?" Harry questioned. His eyes were wide and shocked. Why else did he think he was lying in a bed?

"You've been out cold." I explained, cutting Hermione off. "I think that snake did something to you, you were yelling out in your sleep."

"We couldn't get the Horcrux." Hermione said, sounding guilty.

"Huh?"

"It was like it latched onto you, we had to use a severing charm." I said, lowering my eyes to his chest where the burn mark was. Harry's eyes followed mine before he raised his head and looked me in the eyes.

"Where is it?"

"In my bag. I don't think we should wear it for a while. I need to fix the chain anyway." Hermione answered, pointing to the bag lying beside her.

"What exactly happened up there, mate?" I asked, finally losing my patience. I had to know, I'd never done well with curiosity.

"She was the snake." Harry answered, a distant look in his eyes. "He was inside her all the time, I'm not sure how, but she was the snake the whole time."

"Merlin's beard." I gasped.

"Yeah." Was Harry's only reply.

It was well into January before Harry was well enough to travel regularly again. We went to the forest of Dean, a place Hermione had visited as a child. Harry took the first watch, feeling he hadn't been doing enough lately. He was wearing the locket again, even though we told him not to. The man was stubborn, he wouldn't take no as an answer. I tried to sleep, I honestly did, but there was nothing for it. So I got up and went out to stay with him.

And he was gone.

I stood there for a moment, shocked and honestly, scared. Harry was gone and I had no idea where he had gone. A cold wind blew through the trees, chilling me and bringing me back to my senses. I started running into the woods, calling out Harry's name like a maniac. I was running aimlessly, no idea where he was or when he had left. I was about to double back and try the other direction when I heard an almost deafening crack. It was coming from my left so I turned and ran that way, ignoring the ache that was growing in my chest from trying to breath in the cold air.

I ran into a clearing, still calling out Harry's name like an idiot when I finally found him. He was standing in front of a pool nothing with nothing but his underwear on. He moved, shuffling his feet and I saw a glint of gold around his neck. I had forgotten he was wearing it tonight. What was wrong with him? What was he-MERLIN'S BEARD!

He jumped into the water, he jumped into a frozen lake in nothing but his underwear, completely alone, and with the effing Horcrux around his neck! He was still trying to recover from his wounds, and he had just dived into a lake. I moved without further thought, already throwing off my robe and heading towards the lake. I grabbed my wand firm in hand and stopped in front of the lake. Harry wasn't coming back up. I took a deep breath and jumped, forgetting the fact that I couldn't actually swim in my panic. The water was unbelievable cold, but extremely clear. Harry was struggling in front of me, his hands clenched around his neck and his fingers clawing t the Horcrux. At his feet was the sword of Gryffindor. I moved forward, instinct taking over and grabbed Harry around the middle before snatching up the sword and kicking off the ground.

I climbed out of the water, pulling Harry with me before I dropped him onto the snow. I took in a deep breath, coughing violently and shaking as the cold air hit my soaked clothes and body. Harry was retching on the ground, shivering violently as he too tried to regain his breath. I took another deep breath, wincing in pain as my soar chest flared, and stepped towards him.

"Are…You…Mental?" I asked moving the Horcrux over to other hand with the sword of Gryffindor, and pulling out my wand. I waved my wand over him and then me, my drying charm worked and I felt immensely better.
Harry sat back on his legs, pulling himself up as he looked at me in shock. He grabbed his sweater off the ground and pulled it on. I stepped closer, stowing my wand in my pocket.

"Why the hell didn't you take this thing off?" I asked, shaking the Horcrux to indicate what I was talking about.

"Did you cast the doe?" he asked, looking at me with wide eyes as he pulled on his last article of clothing.

"What doe?"

"The doe patronus."

"Huh? No, my patronus is a Labrador, remember?"

"You got the sword." He said, sounding thoroughly surprised.

"Yeah, wasn't it what you were going for?" I asked, he nodded his head, a faint grin forming on his lips. "How'd it get in the pool?" I asked.

"Whoever cast the patronus must have done it." Harry said, shivering. He took a deep breath and walked forward, grabbing the Horcrux from me before turning and placing it on a flat rock.

"Come here." He said, beckoning me forward. I stepped toward him and offered him the sword, but he shook his head.

"What?" I questioned, shock filling me. "You want me to do it?"

"Yeah," he answered, sounding calm, I was now extremely not calm. I did not want to mess with that thing. "You retrieved the sword, that means you get to do it."

"I'm going to open it, and then you'll stab it. Do it quick because whatever's in there will put up a fight. The bit of soul in the diary tried to kill me."

"How are you going to open it?" I asked, unable to stop myself. We'd all tried opening it, loads of times, but never actually managed to do it.

"I'm going to ask it to open with Parsel tongue." He said. Great, I had no excuses; I had to stab the bloody thing. I took a deep breath and stepped forward, gripping the sword tightly in my hand.

"On three." He said, and then turned back towards the locket. "One… Two…Three…" and then he made a snarl hissing noise and the locket burst open. Two scarlet eyes looked up at me from the golden windows, and I raised the sword to stab it.

"I have seen your heart, and it is mine."

A/N: Well that was a fun change of pace, I've never done Ron before. Hope you all liked it, I never really felt like Ron would have left during Deathly Hallows, but I loved that he destroyed the Horcrux, even if I don't like him and 'Mione together.