I have no excuses for my lack of updates. I am truly sorry and hope this makes it up for you. Enjoy!

Harry/Hermione POV

Hermione thought that things would be awkward between her and Harry now that their feelings were out in the open. It turns out that their revelations had quite the opposite effect. Now that the each new for sure how they felt about each other things started to move along. The trust and care between them was present before, the only difference now was that these feelings were strengthened by their desire to be together.

Both teens were still unsure as to what to do about telling Ron, if he ever rejoined their trio. They had put off talking about the subject and non-surprisingly, Hermione was the one to bring it up one night as they were eating dinner.

"Harry," she waited until he looked up wanting to have his full attention. He gave her a smile and she continued, "What are we going to tell Ron?" It surprised both of them to hear her say his name out loud. It was the first time she had said his name since he left the group.

"We just tell him that with him gone, we found out that we had feelings for each other. Stronger than anything we've felt for another before." He said this with full resolution and sure of that this course of action was the best.

"Just like that?" Hermione was still hesitant. "What if he doesn't understand? What if he leaves again?"

"Then he leaves. Hermione, if Ron truly is our friend, he will have to eventually accept it. I am not going to let his feelings stand in the way of mine anymore. We can't always be worried about what others will say and not enjoy being together."

"I just worry that we will never be able to fix this rift in our friendship with him. You know how Ron is. And I don't want to hurt him."

"We will try not to. Besides, who knows if Ron will ever decide to join up with us again? We don't even know if that's possible now that he's most likely lost all trace of our whereabouts. We've been to many places since he's been gone." Harry could still see the hesitation in her face. He wanted to reassure her that things would work out but he couldn't if he didn't know if they would himself. He took her hand and whispered in her ear, "Don't worry too much, we'll face this together when the time comes."

That night, Harry went outside to keep watch and think about his conversation with Hermione. He was sure that if Ron ever rejoined them he would be upfront about his feelings for Hermione. He wasn't sure where that would lead them but he was not willing to leave her. Not when he had just gotten her.

Eventually he would have to talk to Ginny as well. They were broken up when he left but she may want things to resume when he gets back. He would have to let her know that it's not possible.

All of these thoughts kept Harry's mind busy that it took a while for him to realize that he had walked far beyond the wards of their camp. As he looked around, he saw a bright light and followed it until he was able to see what it was. It was a silver doe. He clearly identified it as a patronus. But what was a patronus doing out in the middle of the forest? Who had conjured it and for what purpose? He immediately froze. Was it possible that there were dementors in the forest?

Harry tried to get closer to the doe but it started to move as if it wanted him to follow it. The doe led him to the river. There he saw his next big surprise. There in the river was the sword of Gryffindor. It was strange that the object they most needed to get rid of the Horcrux in the locket would be here within his reach. Maybe the person who cast the patronus placed it there and led him to it.

Without thinking about it further Harry jumped in and dove for the sword. He was close to reaching it when he felt something strangling him. It was the locket; he had forgotten to take it off. He struggled against it but the locket held him tighter. The locket seemed to sense the danger of the sword and wanted to prevent him from obtaining it. Harry struggled against it but it was no use and then everything went black.

Ron/Pansy POV

It was a few days before Ron and Pansy decided they were ready to move on. They had decided that they would follow the river and try to come up with a plan on finding Harry and Hermione. They weren't sure how they would find them but they knew that they just had to.

Ron kept trying with the wireless every chance they stopped to rest. So far they had no luck in tuning into the Order's news broadcast. He had tried every single Order related word that he could think of but none of it ever worked.

"Maybe you should start writing down what you've used. That way you don't repeat yourself so much," Pansy said in a teasing tone.

"Are you getting tired of my voice?" Ron asked back in the same tone. Ever since that night when they had talked about their feelings, Ron and Pansy had taken up a flirty tone with each other. They were more comfortable teasing and joking around. They hoped this meant that they were moving in the right direction with their relationship. A relationship that had yet to be fully defined but they had decided they would talk about when they felt ready.

There were still so many obstacles to them being together in their opinion. They were en route to meeting up with Ron's friends; friends who may have an objection to their newly found feelings. And to top things off, one of those friends might still be interested in him. Sure they had decided they would have to talk to her about this new situation but it would not be easy and things may get awkward for the group once they were all together. For now, they had just decided to cross that bridge when they got to it. Though, it did seem that they would approach said bridge much sooner than later.

Sometime in the evening, Ron started hearing two familiar voices. At first, he just thought he was going crazy. Those voices sounded an awful lot like Harry and Hermione's. Once they set up camp for the night he heard them again.

He was getting ready for bed when he finally spoke up, "Pansy, I think I'm going crazy."

"Already getting second thoughts about being with me?" she asked teasingly yet she truly was fearful that she was right.

"No, I'm sure about that. Look, I think I'm hearing voices."

"What do you mean? What, or should I say, whose voices are you hearing?"

"I think I hear my friends. I hear them saying my name. It sounds like faint whispers."

Just then he took the deluminator out of his pocket and set it on the table. This time, he and Pansy both heard the whisper of Ron's name.

"They're coming from the deluminator. So this must be what it does," Ron mused. "I mean, besides taking out the lights. Dumbledore gave me a way to find my friends. He must have known I'd eventually ditch them and would need a way back to them."

"But how do we use it to find them?" Pansy asked as Ron clicked the deluminator.

It took out their candles and started to glow. The light coming from the deluminator came out in an orb shape that hovered in front of Ron. He made to touch it but it started to move. It was as though it wanted Ron to follow it.

"I think it wants me to follow it."

"Well let's go," Pansy said grabbing her shoes.

"Wait, I think you should stay here. We have no idea where this could be leading us. I'll follow it for a while and see what it does and then come get you." Pansy started to protest but Ron kissed her and then said, "I promise I won't leave you."

Pansy nodded and then let him go. She trusted that he would come back to her.

Ron followed the light out into the night. It took him slowly up along the river. It had been a while and still no sign of his friends, or whatever this weird light wanted to show him. He was about to give up when he saw a strange figure up ahead. It looked like something he'd seen before. A patronus.

He followed the light leading him to the patronus as quickly as he could when the patronus suddenly disappeared into the water. The light illuminated the river and he could see somebody in the water reaching for something. Ron watched the person try to grab the object and struggle against an unseen force. The person would drown if they didn't come up soon. He had to do something to help them.

Ron jumped in the river and helped the person out. It was a struggle as the person was being weighed down by something and they seemed to have passed out. Once he got them out of the water and laid them on the shore, he saw that the person he had just saved was none other than Harry Potter.

Originally I thought this would be just a filler chapter but I think it does move the plot along...right? Anyway, I hope you liked it. If you did, let me know. If you didn't let me know as well. If you have a good idea for the story or just want to share a good joke, go ahead and let me know as well.