The corridor in front of us was empty, thankfully. I stood slightly behind Ron and gripped his hand tighter, my eyes darting constantly in fear of being caught or recognized by the Carrows, Snape or a loitering Slytherin.

Neither us moved. The only sound to be heard was of our shallow breathing and Peeves cackling away somewhere in the distance.

"Damn, if only we had the map, or the Cloak!", I moaned softly. Both of these possessions were with Harry and Luna.

"It's OK. Get your wand out, we need to be alert. Which floor do you reckon we're on?"

"I don't know... Ron what do we do now?" I was begin to panic. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea...

"Hermione, calm down!" Ron urged quietly but firmly. It was odd how Ron had suddenly stepped up and taken charge, as if he knew that he had to be strong for me. He had been acting quite different ever since Malfoy Manor, or was it that he had always been like this, and I never noticed before? I turned red as I thought about our time at Shell Cottage... Ron had been by my side for almost every minute we spent there. We had always been close friends, but that awkwardness had lurked between us for years. Despite me being weak and tired and almost unable to move from one room to another, I felt as though Ron and I had never been closer. He would pull my chair open at dinner, ask me if I needed anything every fifteen minutes, and we were somehow always touching as we walked, either our hands linked or his arm draped lightly across my shoulder. But surely, that must have been because I was still raw and fragile from the ordeal, yes, that was it. He was just taking care of me, it was perfectly normal. Maybe things were just the same as before?

"I think we should keep moving, otherwise we'll never get to the girls' bathroom" Ron's voice broke me out of my thoughts. I nodded once and tried not to be aware of our still joined hands.

We crept slowly along the wall of the corridor, constantly waiting for someone to catch us, but no one was in sight.

"Down here!" Ron pulled me down a flight of stairs and onto another corridor. We kept this up, hiding behind statues and darting across stairs and corridors.

"Ron! This is the one!", I exclaimed as we reached the bathroom. The door was ajar. Ron kicked it open and we stepped inside. The floor was wet and slippery, but it looked the same as ever. Old memories of icky tasting potion and a lot of cat's fur began playing through my mind.

"Thank Merlin that Myrtle isn't around this time", Ron said darkly after checking everywhere. He then looked around the sinks. After a few seconds, he raised the broomstick and pointed it toward a broken sink. On approaching closer, I could see a serpent that had been engraved on the tap. "So this is the one..." I breathed out. He nodded and said, "Now's the tough part, though. We can only get in if I ask it to open in Parseltongue..." He trailed off, ears suddenly getting red. I folded my hands over my chest in worry.

"B-but I can have a go at it! How hard can it be?! I mean, I heard Harry when he had to open Slytherin's locket. Maybe I can mimic him!" Ron added hastily in a voice that sounded like he was trying to convince himself. I winced, 'Well, you can try, but still..."

"Hermione I've got to! We're the only ones who can end this!" Ron said feverishly. I gulped and nodded again, jerking my head toward the sink.

"Here goes nothing.."

For the next ten minutes, Ron struggled in vain. It took all of my strength and will power to keep a straight face at his attempts and frustrations. Ron was beginning to lose patience, and his voice was turning from a hiss to a growl, when suddenly the sink started to lower itself and revealed a dark passage.

"Oh Ron, that was brilliant! You got it right!" I squealed and clutched his forearm. He still looked slightly annoyed but smiled widely down at me. "That or the sink was beginning to take pity on me." I simply rolled my eyes at him.

"You jump first, I'll be right behind you", Ron told me. I glanced nervously down the pipe. I sat down, let my legs dangle into the abyss, before letting go and sliding downwards. The pipe was dark, slimy and winding. From somewhere above me, I could hear Ron thudding against the pipe, his broomstick loudly clanging against the metal. I finally landed on the damp floor. I got up and looked around, but it was far to dark to make out any passageway.

Behind me, a broomstick fell to the floor, followed by Ron. He reached for my outstretched hand and got to his feet, brushing off his knees. Picking up the broomstick, he raised his want and whispered,"lumos" I did the same with my own.

"Whoa, I remember this place, still got the same creepiness to it", Ron muttered. The walls were dark and covered with slime. Ron tugged on my sleeve and asked, "Are you okay?" I gulped and blushed at look of worry and tenderness on his face. It reminded me of that time when he was talking about the Cattermoles and I figured I must have been looking at him the same way at that time. It reminded me of when I first woke up in Shell Cottage, feeling nothing but weak and empty, hearing nothing but waves sloshing against rocks, and seeing nothing but too wide blue eyes looking at me with worry, the freckles dotted across his nose and cheeks, his face closer than it had ever been in that moment...

"I'm fine, Ron, let's keep going", my voice wavered, but if Ron noticed, he chose not to comment. Damn, I have to stop getting carried away like this.

He lead me down the passage way and started talking fast. "Okay, so I haven't actually been inside the chamber. There's these rocks which sort of caved in, so Lockhart and I couldn't go beyond...there it is!" We reached a large rock boulder. "Ginny and Harry had managed to climb out of that, but of course they were much smaller at the time", he pointed at the gap in the rock.

"Diffindo!", I cried, and the boulder came tumbling down.

"Good thinking!", Ron said and together we climbed over the rocks to cross over. The path seemed really long and we had to walk quite a distance. I was about to complain and demand we stop for a few minutes when we reached a closed doorway, on which two serpents were engraved. The looked eerily real, and their eyes seemed to be alive.

"Aw ruddy hell, looks like its back to the Parseltongue", Ron muttered angrily and promptly began to hiss again. This time, however, he got it right within minutes.

"Ahhh!' I yelped in fright and hugged Ron as the serpents moved away from each other. The doorway swung open wide, revealing the Chamber.

"Er...'Mione?" Ron asked tentatively. I realized that I was stilling holding him tightly. "Right sorry.." I mumbled and quickly let go. Ron stepped forward and climbed into the doorway. Once I had climbed in, the doorway swung shut loudly. I turned to face Ron, "Well, this is now or never, I guess."

Ron smiled down at me and something unknown glittered in his eyes. "Now or never", he whispered back and together we walked inside.