A/N: Yes, I know, now it's December and I haven't updated anything since around the end of August…my bad. But I'm here now, that's all that matters right?! I had started writing this at the end of August actually, so I had good intentions, but then I got to school…I'm in my fifth year, I have GCSE's to worry about here! Anyway, I figured I should take a break from working and let you all read what happens next in this story. I'll shut up now, enjoy!

Ron's POV:

"Bloody hell!"

We stood across from each other, as though we were total strangers, despite the fact that we were best friends…once.

"What the hell were you thinking, Harry?!" I yelled, astonished by the situation we were in. I'd followed that ball of light around the forests of Britain, and finally Harry decided to show up…but then he threw himself into a frozen pond. Not good.

"I'll explain later, but right now you have a horcrux to destroy," said Harry, dripping and breathless.

"Me?!" I asked, bewildered.

"Why not? You're here now, you saved me from drowning, you may as well play a part in all this," explained Harry, handing me the sword we had just retrieved. Reluctantly I knelt before the locket Harry placed on the leafy ground, while he sat opposite me on the other side of the horcrux. "On three," Harry said, trying to calm me down; he must have noticed my shaking hands. I held the sword, poised above the accessory that had given me hell for the last however many months, ready to strike. "One…two…three!" He said something in Parseltongue, thereby opening the locket which blew us apart at an alarming rate, giving cause for serious damage. But it wasn't my sore backside that I was worrying about. Spiders, that's what came first in the series of horrors. They crawled towards me in that way of theirs, so creepy…urgh. Next came pictures of my family in the sky, towering over me like the branches of the trees; being tortured, sent to prison, dead dead dead, every time there was death, all while Voldemort's voice commentated the picture show, like a vivid storyteller; bringing the story to life with his words.

The worst came last though, when Harry and Hermione, or scarily beautiful versions of them, walked up to me in the fog created by the cold weather. They began to speak, making me doubt anything and everything I'd ever believed in. It made me question what they'd done here, without me. I mean, we're 18 for Godric's sake! We all have…needs. It took every ounce of sanity left within me not to just...whatever, that was the past. But what if they had…you know. No, I had to keep telling myself how ridiculous it was. I mean…she wouldn't of…Harry knew I…

"Who would look at you, next to Harry Potter? What woman would choose you, compared with the Chosen One?" smirked 'perfect' Hermione, above me and startlingly beautiful against the night's sky.

And that was when the kissing started. I won't go into too much detail, but it started agonisingly slowly, like they wanted to draw out each second together… then it turned more passionate, more urgent. I tried looking away, but every time I tried closing my eyes they were still there…following me. This was when I noticed they were both naked; the mist somehow looked charmed, covering up the bare essentials, but with enough on show to display their…situation, so I couldn't even get any pleasure from seeing her…get. .Ronald.

I felt grey. The kissing session continued as I looked on in plain astonishment at the scene before me, wallowing in my little pit of despair at the thought of losing her…until I couldn't take it anymore. I felt a rush of courage; I couldn't let Voldemort manipulate me like this, he wasn't going to get into my head, not this head! He couldn't treat me like I was a worthless rag doll, with ginger hair and a serious crush on the smartest witch of our age! The only way I would be worthless would be without my spirit, and I had no point on this planet without the two people in front of me. They were my best friends, through thick and thin, and I knew that neither of them would do this to me.

I found myself getting up; I hadn't realised how far the horcrux had flung me when it had opened, and charging at that wretched locket, bring the sword down on it and hearing the most blood-curdling scream I had ever heard. But then it was over, and the next thing I knew I was kneeling back on the ground, where I'd been only a few minutes ago, completely boggled.

Hermione's POV:

I was walking across a field. It was a very large field. So large in fact that all I could see was grass. And flowers, lots of flowers. For miles and miles.

And then I saw him, far off in the distance, walking towards me. I shouted his name, beginning to run. But he wasn't running. He didn't even acknowledge me. I shouted again, calling him to me, so we could hug and laugh and reunite at last. But there was someone coming up behind him. It was Lavender, skipping towards him. He turned to greet her, and as he waved, she stopped dead in her tracks, and ran her finger from her forehead to about where her belly-button might be, like she was unzipping an invisible jacket…

The sky turned blood-red as Lavenders figure melted to the floor, as Nagini sprung out of her remains, lurching at Ron, attacking him, aiming at his chest, his neck, his face, and he fell to the ground, completely helpless as a large pool of blood gathered around him. I began running again, trying to figure out some way to get the snake off him without killing myself in the process as my legs bounded towards him…but I hit a wall…no, not a wall, more like a barrier, causing my body to bounce backwards and I heard a hard 'thump' as I hit the ground. I felt the pain in my back side, but paid no attention to it as I looked on helplessly as Ron was attacked.

I heard a faint voice behind me. "Hermione!" It was Harry; I knew his voice better than anyone's, but when I turned the field was empty. I kept turning and turning, spinning round trying to find my best friend, desperate to get out of this field and off to somewhere where peace would be my life.

Then I woke up. I was back in the tent, panting as I heard my name being called again, coming from the forest outside. Harry.

I jumped up anxiously, grabbing my jumper (Harry already had my wand) and ran out into the numbing cold. I was about to ask what was the matter when I saw a blob of ginger hair out of blurry eyes, tired from sleep. I blinked several times, wiping my eyes in utter disbelief. My heart ceased to beat as I took in his demeanour, the way he was dressed, the way his ginger hair was styled, the shade of his eyes. I failed to notice the broken locket dangling from his grasp, mainly because my brain was buzzing; is this a dream? Is he real? Can I touch him?

"Hey," he said. I was torn between running up and hugging him, kissing him, the option that would make me feel so safe and secure once more, a feeling I'd longed for all the time he'd been away…or I could scream at him. I chose to go for the latter.

"Hey?! You leave us, stranded, alone for weeks without any note of how you were or where you were or whether you were coming back to us at all, and then you come back here, after all this time, and all you can think of to say is 'hey'? Of all things, 'hey'?!" By this time I was just in front of his face, pointing my finger at his, so close I could poke his out of, one of those beautiful blue orbs that just make me want to…no, stop it Hermione, get a grip, remember you're angry at him!

And then suddenly, just as I paused to catch some breath after my rant, he came out with this speech. It wasn't like anything I'd ever heard, with stories of Snatchers, pubs and back alleys. Then he explained about how he'd found us, slipping in a comment on my shield spells to try and butter me up presumably. But most importantly he told us of a ball of light coming out of the Deluminator and hitting his chest, mentioning something about my voice coming out of the said "ball of light".

I would of melted, but I was still so mad that he'd left me I knew I couldn't just break down, or run and kiss him, or do any of those stupid little girl reactions, because I wasn't a little girl anymore. I was fighting for my survival in a forest with my "team", and he was part of that team, and I'd trusted him, and then he'd just gone. Disappeared. Never to be seen again as far as I could tell. And then he just suddenly decides to come back, thinking "oh, this is fine, I'll just swan in there and say something to make Hermione melt because she's so pathetic like that," and so on and so forth. Basically, he wasn't getting away with the last few months so easily, no matter how heroic he had been in saving Harry and stabbing the Horcrux.

Saving Harry was the only reason I was letting him back in the tent at all, to be honest. He's going to pay, basically.

And on that thought, I turned and walked back into the tent.

Ron's POV:

"Hey." One word that I grew to regret quite bloody quickly. But damn, I'd forgotten how amazingly powerful she looked when she was angry, in a really strangely sexy way, you know; with her hair looking all swishy and massive and bushy and cute, then her arms flying wildly everywhere as she tried to get some unknown point across, and her eyes, those beautiful chocolate brown pools I just wanted to…stop Ron, she's just ruined your reunion! …Okay, so maybe I ruined our reunion, but that's completely irrelevant…

In my head there was a hell of a lot less shouting, and a few more hugs, maybe even a passionate kiss to top it all off?! …Yeah, that dream couldn't have been further from the truth. Then again, most of the dreams I have about Hermione aren't likely to come true anyway, especially not now that I've gone and pissed her off again, so she's not really likely to…but that's another story.

When she finally stopped screaming at me, I tried to explain to her about everything. Well, not everything, like I didn't tell her that I think I love her or any of that stuff, because that wouldn't be right, would it, I'm not totally stupid. Just about where I went, and about the Snatchers, and finally about the Deluminator. I even fitted in a complement about how great her shield spells must be working because I couldn't find them for ages, but I don't think it worked, she's going to stay mad at me for a while, I'm sure. She's not one to forget these sorts of things, our Hermione. This is definitely going to be a long couple of weeks.

A/N: I hope you liked it. I don't have much to say, so just review it please! Oh, and if you feel like PMing me with any questions or ideas for future chapters or for my other stories then feel free, I like to feel loved. And finally, Merry Christmas Potterheads, Fans and Readers, you all mean the world to me. Thanks for being here this last year, bring on 2013! xx