Chapter 30:

Normal Pov

Hermione whipped around to look at Harry. Neither of them dared say more in front of Phineas Nigellus, who had at least managed to locate the exit. Juliunna's lips twitched softly.

"Well, good night to you," he said a little waspishly, and he began to move out of sight again. Only the edge of his hat brim remained in view when Harry gave a sudden shout.

"Wait! Have you told Snape you saw this?"

Phineas Nigellus stuck his blindfolded head back into the picture.

"Professor Snape has more important things on his mind that the many eccentricities of Albus Dumbledore. Good-bye, Potter!"

And with that, he vanished completely, leaving behind him nothing but his murky backdrop.

"Harry!" Hermione cried.

"I know!" Harry shouted. Unable to contain himself, he punched the air; it was more than he had dared to hope for. He strode up and down the tent, feeling that he could have run a mile; he did not even feel hungry anymore. Hermione was squashing Phineas Nigellus's back into the beaded bag; when she had fastened the clasp she threw the bag aside and raised a shining face to Harry.

"The sword can destroy Horcruxes! Goblin-made blades imbibe only that which strengthens them Harry, that sword's impregnated with basilisk venom!"

"And Dumbledore didn't give it to me because he still needed it, he wanted to use it on the locket."

" and he must have realized they wouldn't let you have it if he put it in his will-!" Juliunna said, standing up.

" so he made a copy " Harry said.

" and put a fake in the glass case " Hermione speedily said.

" and he left the real one where?" Juliunna said curiously.

They gazed at east other Harry felt that the answer was dangling invisibly in the air above them, tantalizingly close. Why hadn't Dumbledore told him? Or had he, in fact, told Harry, but Harry had not realized it at the time?

"Think!" whispered Hermione. "Think! Where would he have left it?"

"Not at Hogwarts," said Harry, resuming his pacing.

"Somewhere in Hogsmeade?" suggested Hermione.

"The Shrieking Shack?" said Harry. "Nobody ever goes in there."

"But Snape knows how to get in, wouldn't that be a bit risky?"

"Dumbledore trusted Snape," Harry reminded her.

"Not enough to tell him that he had swapped the swords," Juliunna smirked.

"Yeah, you're right!" said Harry, and he felt even more cheered at the thought that Dumbledore had had some reservations, however faint, about Snape's trustworthiness. "So, would he have hidden the sword well away from Hogsmeade, then? What d'you reckon, Ron? Ron?"

Harry looked around. For one bewildered moment he thought that Ron had left the tent, then realized that Ron was lying in the shadow of a bunk, looking stony.

"Oh, remembered me, have you?" he said.

"What?"

Ron snorted as he stared up at the underside of the upper bunk.

"You three carry on. Don't let me spoil your fun."

Perplexed, Harry looked to Hermione for help, but she shook her head, apparently as nonplussed as he was. He looked to Juliunna, who was narrowing her eyes at Ron.

"What's the problem?" asked Harry.

"Problem? There's no problem," Ron said sourly, still refusing to look at Harry. "Not according to you, anyways."

There were several plunks on the canvas over their heads. It had started to rain.

"Well, you've obviously got a problem," said Harry. "Spit it out, will you?"

Ron swung his long legs off the bed and sat up. He looked mean, unlike himself.

"All right, I'll spit it out. Don't expect me to skip up and down the tent because there's some other damn thing we've got to find. Just add it to the list of stuff you don't know."

"I don't know?" repeated Harry. "I don't know?"

Plunk, plunk, plunk. The rain was falling harder and heavier; it pattered on the leaf-strewn bank all around them and into the river chattering through the dark. Dread doused Harry's jubilation; Ron was saying exactly what he had suspected and feared him to be thinking.

"It's not like I'm not having the time of my life here," said Ron, "you know, with my arm mangled and nothing to eat and freezing my backside off every night. I just hoped, you know, after we'd been running round a few weeks, we'd have achieved something."

"Ron," Hermione said, but in such a quiet voice that Ron could pretend not to have heard it over the loud tattoo the rain was beating on the tent.

"I thought you knew what you'd signed up for." Juliunna said, narrowing her eyes.

"Yeah, I thought I did too." He said with a frown.

"So what part of it isn't living up to your expectations?" asked Harry. Anger was coming to his defense now. "Did you think we'd be staying in five-star hotels? Finding a Horcrux every other day? Did you think you'd be back to Mummy by Christmas?"

"We thought you knew what you were doing!" shouted Ron, standing up, and his words Harry like scalding knives. "We thought Dumbledore had told you what to do, we thought you had a real plan!"

"Ron!" said Hermione, this time clearly audible over the rain thundering on the tent roof, but again, he ignored her.

"Well, sorry to let you down," said Harry, his voice quite calm even though he felt hollow, inadequate. "I've been straight with you from the start. I told you everything Dumbledore told me. And in the case you haven't noticed, we've found one Horcrux "

"Yeah, and we're about as near getting rid of it as we are to finding the rest of them. Nowhere effing near in other words."

"Take off the locket, Ron," Juliunna said, her voice unusually high. "Please take it off. You wouldn't be talking like this if you hadn't been wearing it all day."

"Yeah, he would," said Harry, who did not want excuses made for Ron. He turned to Hermione, who went pink. "D'you think I haven't noticed the two of you whispering behind my back? D'you think I didn't guess you were thinking this stuff?"

"Harry, we weren't "

"Don't lie!" Ron hurled at her. "You said it too, you said you were disappointed, you said you'd thought he had a bit more to go on than."

"I didn't say it like that Harry, I didn't!" Hermione cried.

The rain was pounding the tent, tears were pouring down Hermione's face, and the excitement of a few minutes before had vanished as if it had never been, a short-lived firework that had flared and died, leaving everything dark, wet, and cold. The sword of Gryffindor was hidden they knew not where, and their were four teenagers in a tent whose only achievement was not, yet, to be dead.

"So why are you still here?" Harry asked Ron.

"Screw you," said Ron.

"Go home then," said Harry.

"Yeah, maybe I will!" shouted Ron, and he took several steps toward Harry, who did not back away. "Didn't you hear what they said about my sister? But you don't give a rat's fart, do you, it's only the Forbidden Forest, Harry I've-Faced-Worse Potter doesn't care what happened to her in there. Well, I do, all right, giant spiders and mental stuff "

"I was only saying she was with the others, they were with Hagrid."

"Yeah, I get it, you don't care! And what about the rest of my family, 'the Weasleys don't need another kid injured,' did you hear that?"

"Yeah, I-!"

"Not bothered what it meant, though?"

"Ron!" said Hermione, forcing her way between them. "I don't think it means anything new has happened, anything we don't know about; think, Ron, Bill's already scared, plenty of people must have seen that George has lost an ear by now, and you're supposed to be on your deathbed with spattergroit, I'm sure that's all he meant." Hermione said, and Juliunna nodded.

"Oh, you're sure, are you? Right then, well, I won't bother myself about them. It's all right for you, isn't it, with your parents safely out of the way "

"My parents are dead!" Harry bellowed.

"And mine could be going the same way!" yelled Ron.

"Then GO!" roared Harry. "Go back to them, pretend you're got over your spattergroit and Mummy'll be able to feed you up and "

Ron made a sudden movement: Harry reacted, but before either wand was clear of its owner's pocket, Hermione had raised her own.

"Protego!" she cried, and an invisible shield expanded between her and Harry on the one side and Ron and Juliunna on the other; all of them were forced backward a few steps by the strength of the spell, and Harry and Ron glared from either side of the transparent barrier as though they were seeing each other clearly for the first time. Harry felt a corrosive hatred toward Ron: Something had broken between them.

"Leave the Horcrux," Harry snapped.

Ron wrenched the chain from over his head and cast the locket into a nearby chair. He turned to Hermione.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you staying, or what?"

"I..." She looked anguished. "Yes, yes, I'm staying. Ron, we said we'd go with Harry, we said we'd help."

"You?" Ron said, rounding on Juliunna, and she bit her lip. She nodded.

"Hurry up." He nodded to her.

"Why?" Harry snapped at her. She strode around the spell and gave Harry and Hermione and quick hug. "I'll calm him down." She whispered. Hermione nodded as Juliunna walked back to Ron's side. Ron stared back at Harry. "I hate you-!"

"I hate you too." Harry snarled.

Juliunna took one last look at them, and then Ron's hand was on her wrist, dragging her out of tent.
"I get it. You choose him." He said to Hermione, whose eyes were widening.

"What? No-!"
"Wait Ron, no please come back, come back!" Hermione said, running forward, forgetting about the shield.

She was impeded by her own Shield Charm; by the time she had removed it he had already stormed into the night, pulling Juliunna along. Harry stood quite still and silent, listening to Hermione sobbing and calling Ron's name amongst the trees.

After a few minutes she returned, her sopping hair plastered to her face.

"Their g-g-gone! Disapparated!"

She threw herself into a chair, curled up, and started to cry.

Harry felt dazed. He stooped, picked up the Horcrux, and placed it around his own neck. He dragged blankets off Ron's bunk and threw them over Hermione. Then he climbed onto his own bed and stared up at the dark canvas roof, listening to the pounding of the rain.

…

Juliunna and Ron landed in an alley. They both sighed. "Maybe… Maybe I overreacted." He said, letting go of her wrist. She nodded. "Yes, and you should go back."

He turned to her. "What?"

"Ron I've been in a tent with nothing to eat but berries and mushrooms. I didn't want to say it to their face, but I think I'm done." She sighed. Ron bit his lip.

"Are you sure?"

"No I'm not sure. But I think we should think about it, decide what we're going to do." She said, and Ron nodded.

"Yeah. Let's go get something to eat first." He murmured. They turned around, and froze. Five men were standing at the entrance of the alley, blocking their way out. They were all wearing dark cloaks and smirking. They were all very young looking, about twenty. They strode forward, looking excited.

"Hello." Ron started, and then they were surrounding. Ron made a slight move towards his pocket, but one of them grabbed him, another checked his pocket and took his wand.

"Oh no." Juliunna murmured as another grabbed her, and checked her pockets.

"They look school age." One said excitedly. "What's your name?" He said to Ron. Juliunna's lips twitched softly. His voice was slightly slow, and he sounded dim witted. She looked around and saw that they were all stupid looking. Young and easy to trick.

"Stan Shunpike." Ron muttered quickly.

"And you?" Another asked, leaning forward. His hand reached up and stroked her cheek. Ron frowned.

She tried to think as fast as she could. "Pansy. Pansy Parkinson." She said fluently, frowning. But she wasn't fast enough. The one with the hand on her cheek leaned in, smelling strongly of peppermint candy.

"Are you sure? It took you long enough to answer."

"Well, to be honest, I was wondering what you meant when you asked for my name. Was it the first name, my middle name, or my last name you wanted? I wondered if you wanted the full potential, and it seemed that you did, but then I was thinking about the artificial potential of other information. You all seem young, would you have wanted a short version of our nickname, and in what language would you prefer? English? And then I started thinking about the-!"

"Okay, never mind." He said. He took his hand off and turned to Ron. "Sorry Stan, we didn't know it was you. You're a pureblood, and I know that there was a Pansy Parkinson on the list of prestigious purebloods."

"What?" The one holding Juliunna said. "How do we know he's Stan?"

"Because I said he is!" The other said. The one holding Ron's wand growled. "Wasn't Stan in Azkaban?"

"I was broken out." Ron said excitedly, fighting back a smile.

"See. Broken out!"

"Of Azkaban? By You Know Who?" One said.

"We're snatchers. Can't we just hurry up and snatch?!"

"That doesn't even make sense!" Another one shouted.

At that moment, just as two of them got into the fight, Juliunna just realized that Ron was moving. He lifted his elbow and hit the one holding him in the stomach hard, and grabbed his wand. Juliunna watched as the man leaned forward and she rounded around. Her fist connected with the man's nose hard, and he stumbled over his feet. As he hit the floor, Ron collided with her, wrapping an arm around her waist. He turned the wand on the guys, still fighting. "Expelliarmus!" He snapped. His wand flew out of a snatcher's hand, and Juliunna caught it in mid air. He turned around and disappeared into mid air, bringing Juliunna with him.

They material six feet in the air, and screamed shortly as they fell. They landed in a river stream, and hit the water hard. It was at least knee deep, and Juliunna turned over in disgust, standing up.

"Ron. Get up." She snapped. He stood up, and shook his wet hair. He had fallen on his back. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah…. Nope." He said quickly, lifted up his hands. "I splinched myself again." She looked closely at his hands. There were two missing fingernails on his hand. She immediately checked herself. "I'm good. Dammit Ron." She snapped. "Where are we?"

"Near the campsite. We must be miles away from it." He frowned.

"Let's go." She frowned. They slugged out of the river. Overhead of them, a loud crack of thunder made them both jumped, and the rain started up heavily.
"Oh this is great!" Juliunna laughed angrily. She speed walked and held her arms together tightly, trying to warm up. Ron hurried up to her.

"What do you think that was about?" He asked. Rain pelted hard on there faces, and they started to walk at a slow trudge, for the heavy rain was accompanied by bristling, howling wind, that fought very hard to keep them away.

"I don't know." She shouted over the loud wind. She yelped and jumped back as a ball of lightning flew downwards, stayed for a few seconds, and then disappeared. Ron frowned.

"Maybe this isn't a good idea. We should try and find shelter, and then get back to the site when the rain stops!" He shouted at her.

"Ron! If they leave the next morning as planned, which we both know they will, then we won't be able to find them! We're just going to have to rough it out!" She yelled at him.

But a half hour later, there was no chance of reaching the camp site in this weather. It turns out that the stream they were in, lead to even bigger lake that was seen right beside them. And it had overflowed. Lightning struck the trees creating small fires that were immediately put out by the heavy rain. And they knew that they had gone very little in the half hour. They were soaked and freezing, and not to mention hungry and tired. And to their horror, Ron thought he heard howling in the near distance, so they found a large tree.

Ron used his wand to cut a sloppy cut away crawlspace that was put at a position above their knees, so it would stay dry inside if the river reached the tree. They crawled inside and grudgingly thought about how it would be to go back home to the Burrow, but couldn't risk Apparating now. They had no idea if it was safe to go back, if there weren't any death eaters at the home, interrogating the family. Juliunna knew for a fact that the Weasley's were being watched.

Glad to be out of the freezing rain, they wrapped their arms around there knees and shivered against their wet clothing.

"I'm freezing." Ron grumbled.

"I know." She said, gritting her teeth.

"I'm hungry."
"What else is new?!" She snapped at him. He frowned and lifted his head from his knees. "Should we huddle together for warmth."

"Eww." She said, wincing awkwardly, but nodded with a grimace. She crawled forward and leaned against him. "Do me a favor and don't tell Hermione." She said. He nodded, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

"You have no problem kissing me, but you drawl the line at a hug that will save our lives?" He chuckled with force, for his lips had just turned blue and it was getting hard to talk.

"Yep." She said.

She knew that this technique wasn't going to work for a while. Unless they took off their wet clothes, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

…

The next morning, Juliunna awoke with a start. "Get up Ron." She said quickly. He detached himself from her, and yawned.

"What?"

"I think it's the afternoon." She said quickly. They both jumped up and scrambled out of the hole, falling on the floor with a quick snap.

"Quick Ron. Try Apparating to the outskirts of the Protective Boundaries of the site." She said nervously. The sun was up completely, heating them up softly. The rain was nowhere to be seen. She knew from the book, that it was raining heavily when Hermione and Harry left, so they missed them. Ron nodded and gripped her hand tight.

The turned and materialized on the outskirts. They both ran forward, Ron expecting to cross the barrier and see the tent. He frowned. "Their gone." He said.

"Yep." She frowned, popping her lips. What were they going to do now?

"I don't think we should go to the burrow." He said, turning back to her. "Why?" She asked. He strode forward and grabbed her wrist. "Let's go to Bill and Fleur's cottage. I think its better if we stay there instead of home." He said, and Juliunna nodded.

"Let's go. Doesn't matter anyway." She said with a shrug. With a turn, they disappeared into thin air, leaving an echoing popping sound.