Chapter 8 - Ten years and Blessings (Prompts)

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"What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking of telling Ron, that's for sure."

Hermione stared at him incredulously. "Are you blaming me for this?"

Harry didn't even miss a beat before he replied, "A little. Yeah."

"I didn't know he would want to search for the stone for himself."

"He just lost his brother, Hermione. What did you think he would do?"

She stared at him silently, the twitch of her lips showing her reluctant acceptance of what he had told her. "I thought he would know better," Hermione said softly, her tone dipping as she wrapped her arms around herself.

Harry felt his heart go out to her. She hadn't felt true loss the way he and Ron had; and part of him knew that he couldn't expect her to understand all of it. "Death has a way of making the best of us pick the wrong choices."

"Is that why you wanted to find the stone? To see Fred?"

Honestly, he didn't know exactly why he wanted to find the stone. All he knew was that he'd had the impulse to go search for it barely a few moments ago.

"Or were you thinking about seeing your parents?" she asked more gently.

"I don't know," Harry mumbled honestly. Had he thought about it? He had. But was that his main reason for planning to leave the Burrow in the middle of the night to search for a bloody rock buried in a vast area of natural growth? He wasn't entirely sure.

"What are we going to do?" Shaking her head in disbelief, Hermione looked up sadly, almost like a prayer to the heavens. "We can't let him get that stone. It'll destroy him."

He knew she was right. But he couldn't help but have a little more faith in Ron. "Hermione, where do you see yourself in ten years?"

Hermione looked at him in surprise. "What?"

He had a point with this line of questioning. It was just hard to articulate. "Where do you see yourself in ten years?"

"Harry, that's just-" She stopped when he looked at her meaningfully. "I don't know," she said helplessly. "I just don't. If you asked me that question before sixth year, I would have had a ten year plan laid out. But not now. Not since we began the Horcrux hunt."

"Neither do I. Neither do Ron, Ginny, George or anyone else who survived the war. But I do know one thing. If Ron feels that he needs to see Fred one more time, we should give him the chance. If we hide it from him, ten years down the line, he'll still look for it. You know how stubborn he can get."

Hermione shook her head in disagreement. "No. It's too risky."

"He just needs a glimpse."

"And where does it stop? There's one Resurrection Stone, Harry, and hundreds who have lost their loved ones. Where does it stop?"

He hated to admit it, but she was right. On the other hand, this was Ron they were talking about. "Don't you trust him?"

The question seemed to unnerve her. "Of course I trust him. I trust him with my life."

That last sentence was extremely specific for him not to notice the implication under it. "But?"

She hesitated a moment before continuing. "But I don't trust him to make the right decision. Not the way I trust you."

He hadn't expected her to say that about him; and it made him extremely uncomfortable to hear it. "I'm not perfect. I've made a lot of wrong choices."

"No you're not perfect; but you walked away from the Mirror of Erised."

He had forgotten about that. "Ron did too."

But Hermione was already shaking her head. "If Ron was the master of the Elder Wand, he would have kept it. He wouldn't have placed it back in the tomb like you did. You know I'm right about this, Harry."

He stayed silent, knowing that she was speaking the truth, but reluctant to admit it out loud.

"We all have our faults. You're emotional to a fault, I'm extremely logical to a fault, and Ron is passionate to a fault." He was about to deny this when she spoke over him. "Don't try denying it, Harry. If I told you today that the only way to save my life was to sacrifice yours, wouldn't you do the very thing I wouldn't want you to do to save my life?"

Harry swallowed self-consciously, the idea of losing Hermione in any way pressing hard into his chest and causing him to feel suffocated by that very thought. He didn't like that feeling. "I would do anything, Hermione, you know that."

She smiled kindly at him. "And therein lies your fault." Straightening her shoulders, she started walking towards the Apparition point.

"Where are you going?"

Hermione continued to move; not even slowing down when Harry joined her. "I'm going to find that stone and I'm going to hide it."

"Then I'm coming with you."

"Of course you are. Honestly, Harry Potter, what would you do without me?"

Harry grinned as he matched her stride for stride. "Trust me; I count my blessings every day to make sure I never find out."

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