Ron was going to vomit, that much he was sure of. He'd been falling and turning for what felt like hours. At the start, he'd tried to grasp onto something, to find solid ground. But the attempts were for naught. Eventually he realized the ride went a lot smoother if he relaxed his body and just fell, accepting whatever waited at the bottom of all this.

Oh God, is Hermione experiencing this too?

Before Ron could dwell on the thought, his body hit something. At last. It felt like he landed in a pocket of air, in a vacuum, and then he fell again, this time a shorter distance. The surface he fell against was more solid than the first and Ron landed with a loud "Oof!"

It felt like the universe had rushed back to him in an instant. After all that time in empty darkness, the glare of the moon above made him close his eyes tightly. He could hear everything; someone was indeed retching not too far off and somewhere in the distance there was a howling. It couldn't be…was that a werewolf?

"Ron," someone said roughly. He turned his head, still squinting against the moon, to see the face of his best mate not five feet away from him.

"Harry?" Ron sat up quickly, instantly regretting it. "What're you doing here?"

"Same as you, I s'pose," his friend replied. Ron watched as he straightened his glasses on his nose. "Merlin, that was worse than apparating."

"I don't understand, you were behind me," Ron said. He looked around and saw three dark figures ten yards away. He squinted and tried to make out who they were. Definitely not female. Not Hermione. "I thought the circle closed up right behind me."

Harry nodded.

"I wasn't going to make it, so I grabbed onto your ankle. I got pulled in with you."

Ron ran a worried hand through his hair then made his first effort to stand. His legs gave out on the first try and he had to steady himself with his hands on his knees. Pushing up again, he was able to stand, but he still felt wobbly.

"Harry! Ron!" a voice yelled from across the field. "Is that you?"

"Neville?"

Sure enough, their old friend was jogging slowly toward them. Behind him, two other men walked at a sluggish pace.

"What are you doing here, mate?" Harry asked. His voice was surprised but not overly shocked to see the young man.

"Don't know, really," Neville said with a good natured shrug. "I saw those girls disappearing and I ran. We have to help them!"

Ron's face was set in stone as Neville spoke. He was already scanning the field looking for their next move. Hermione had to be here somewhere, he just had to figure out how to get to her. About twenty yards away there seemed to be a narrow path flanked by a forest at either side. At the head of the path Ron saw something glittering stuck into the ground.

"We must move," a thick voice said. Ron snapped his attention back at the sound.

"Seriously!" Ron shouted as the hulking figure of Viktor Krum came into sight. "You're here again?"

Krum gave the redhead a cursory glance then looked away. He gave a curt nod to both Neville and Harry as he joined the circle of young men. A fifth man joined them then, his skin dark as cobalt and his expression fierce.

"Who're you?" Ron asked quickly.

"Roberto," the young man replied, his expression just as serious as Ron's. "We need to go."

"Wait," Harry said. He held his hand out to still Ron, who had already turned to run off. "There was someone else. I saw another bloke jump in. Where is he?"

"Harry's right," Neville said, looking around to search for the missing figure. "I saw him too."

"That does not make sense," Viktor argued. "There are supposed to be five knights, and there are five of us here."

"Are you calling Harry a liar?" Ron asked menacingly. His fists were balled up and he was quickly losing his patience. They didn't have time for this.

"Calm down," Harry said, putting a steadying hand on Ron's shoulder. Turning to the others, he said, "I don't think I count. I came in holding onto Ron and…" Harry trailed off.

"What is it?" Neville asked, confused.

"I wasn't exactly running toward one of the princesses," Harry said slowly. "I don't think it counts if you jump in after one of the ladies in waiting."

Ron nodded in understanding, looking off into the distance.

"You think the fifth knight didn't come through?" Roberto asked. "Why would that be?"

"Dunno," Harry replied thoughtfully. "Maybe, whoever he was supposed to save, maybe she didn't make it through whatever we're about to face here."

Ron shuddered at the thought and closed his eyes for a brief second. Opening his eyes again, he said a terse, "C'mon."

The men moved forward then toward the path. Getting closer, Ron saw that the glittering object was actually four items. There, stuck in the ground before the passage, were four tall, gleaming swords.

"Wicked," Neville whispered, picking one up and whipping it through the air a few times. Roberto and Krum stepped up and each pulled one of the shining weapons into their hands. Standing in front of the fourth, Ron and Harry looked at the lone sword between them.

"I think that's meant for you, mate," Harry said quietly. Ron nodded and pulled the sword up with purpose.

"Let's go."

Then men moved quickly down the path, holding their swords firmly in their hands. The pale moonlight led them along their quest, the sounds of the howling the only noise any of them could hear. The thick trees blocked their vision on either side, but at the end of the long path Ron could tell there was an opening.

As the group drew closer a field revealed itself. Rushing forward the men spread out to scope the area. As Ron reached the end of the field his feet kicked up a few pebbles. The pebbles flew over the edge of the field and Ron realized they were at the top of a giant cliff.

"We have to climb down," Roberto said. The man stood at the top of a narrow path of rocks winding down the cliff. Roberto held up a woman's shoe as if to prove his point. "It's what the girls did."

As Ron moved toward the rocks he saw a pair of silver shoes. On the strap was a small crystal butterfly, the same crystal butterfly he'd seen as he looked down at his feet while dancing earlier. His throat suddenly felt tight.

"Harry," Ron said in a pained voice. "Those are Hermione's shoes."

Harry spared a glance at the shoes then kept moving toward the rocks.

"That's good Ron. It means she was here."

Ron nodded and shook his head to clear it, then moved to climb down the rocks. He held his sword in one hand as he carefully followed Roberto. Above him he saw Harry do the same and above Harry came Neville and Krum. The climb was steep but little by little the men progressed, until finally they had all reached solid ground.

"I would have paid money to watch Lavender do that," Neville said, amusement in his voice.

"What now?" Ron asked, anxious to keep moving. Harry pointed to a spot in the distance.

"I hear something coming from over there."

The men moved quickly but cautiously to discover what awaited them. A brush of trees concealed the source of the noise, but as they grew closer, each man could finally see the massive body of the three-head of the monster.

"What the bloody hell is that?"

"It's a hydra, Ron."

Ron looked at Neville, who was still staring straight at the beast. Neville looked back at the other men after a moment and realized they were all staring at him in confusion.

"It's a mythical monster," he explained. "It has three heads."

"Yes, we can see that!"

"So, we take the heads off!" Krum said loudly, holding his sword out in front of him for emphasis.

"No!" Neville said quickly. "The thing about the hydra is, its heads are deadly. But, if you cut one off, three more just grow back in its place."

Perfect, Ron thought.

"So how are we supposed to defeat the bloody thing?"

"Go for the heart?" Roberto asked. Ron shook his head. Something didn't make sense to him.

"The girls got past it," he said. "But it's still alive. They didn't kill it."

"Of course they didn't," Harry said with a laugh. "Can you imagine Hermione letting someone kill a magical creature?"

"That's it Harry!" Ron ran suddenly out to the clearing to stand fifteen feet from the monster. As soon as the hydra saw him it reared up on its legs, roaring in protest. The scream blew Ron's hair back.

"What's it?" Harry yelled. "Ron, what's it?"

"This place is meant to protect creatures!" Ron yelled back. Looking down at the sword in his hand, he made a show of raising it up then throwing it to the ground. The beast stopped screaming at that, but still wavered over Ron menacingly.

"Easy, easy," Ron said, his hands out in front of him. "I'm not going to hurt you, just be a nice, calm hedro."

"Hy-dra, Ron. It's pronounced hy-dra."

"Not the time Neville!" Ron yelled back.

"Sorry!"

The animal slowly began lowering its heads as Ron continued soothing words. At the movement, the rest of the men quietly made their way around the body of the beast, locating a small door behind the creature. Ron gently bent to the ground and grasped his sword once more, holding it behind his back and keeping his other hand out in front him. Then, he moved swiftly around the hydra and through the door, slamming it shut behind him.