December 26th, 1am
"Stupid ball of light. Where in the bloody fucking hell are you taking me, you stupid twat." Ronald muttered under his breath as he followed the ball of light that led him through the woods.
The woods were thick, and the snow and rain muddied the ground. Ron had fallen over twice now and skinned his knee through his trousers. It was getting late, and he was pissed like a Hungarian horntail in the tournament. Heavy drops hit his face, and he was ready to turn tail and return home. His mum packed dinners for him to give Harry and Hermione, and he brought them home each night.
The light led him into a small clearing with a tiny lake, and Ron groaned, "Taking me to fucking nowhere," he clicked his diluminator and froze.
Clothes were lying near the water's edge, tossed in a pile. Ron moved closer, inspecting them. A blue sweater, blue jeans, and a wand were tucked in the pocket...
Harry's clothes and his wand!
Ron's mind raced. Had he found them? He didn't have time to think because bubbles popped at the lake's surface, and Harry thrashed about violently underwater.
He did everything he could think of and ran to pull Harry out. The water was freezing, and Ron began to shiver and shake immediately as he entered. He grabbed Harry by his neck and yanked. He saw the sword out of the corner of his eyes and yanked it up, too.
Harry shook and spat water as he yanked the locket off his neck, "Hermione..."
"Are you mental?" Ron screamed, swinging the sword around by the hilt.
Looking up at Ron, Harry yelled, confused, "It was you!"
Hands on his hips, Ron gives a no-duh face, "Well, yeah. Bit obvious, I'd think."
"And the doe. That was you as well."
"No, I reckoned it was you."
"My Patronus is a stag."
Ron scoffs and rolls his eyes, "Right. Antlers," he brings his arms up, vaguely pantomiming antlers, but the effect is lost, what with the sword and locket dangling from his hands.
"You didn't see anyone else?"
"No, I... I did think maybe I saw something... when I was running," he points with the sword, "over there."
"I reckon whoever cast the doe, put the sword in that pool hoping we'd find it."
"And we did, didn't we?" His words hang in the chilly winter air as Harry eyes Ron.
Harry then steps forward and dangles the locket close to the sword, and it immediately begins twitching and swinging. "See that? It knows. " Harry looks at Ron long and hard, " It's afraid, "Do it."
"What? No. Harry. That thing's bad for me. I can't handle it. I'm not making excuses for how I acted, but that thing affects me more than it affects you and Hermione. It made me think stuff... stuff I was thinking anyway, but it made everything worse."
"All the more reason."
"No, I can't."
"Then why are you here?" Harry asks, pissed off, "Why did you come back?" Harry's tone is stern, meant to wound his best friend.
Ron steps back, grips the sword with both hands, and Harry nods.
"I'll have to speak to it for it to open. When it does, don't hesitate. I don't know what's in here, but it'll put up a fight. The bit of Riddle in his diary tried to kill me."
Ron nods, swallowing hard as Harry sweeps a layer of frost from a flat rock and lays the locket down. Harry steps back, and Ron grips the sword tighter in his hands, taking a deep breath, not feeling ready.
"On three. One. Two. Three," in parseltongue, "Take me inside..."
With an aggressive click, the twin doors of the locket swing open, revealing behind each glass window a black eye meant to be Tom Riddle's eyes.
"Stab it, Ron. Now."
Ron raises his trembling hands and poises the sword. Then a hiss from the Horcrux echoes, "I have seen your heart, and it is mine..."
Harry begs, "Don't listen to it."
"... I have seen your dreams, Ronald Weasley, and your fears..."
"Ron! Don't listen to it!"
"Least loved by the mother who craved a daughter. Least loved by the girl who prefers your best friend..."
"Ron. Stab it!"
The locket moves under Harry's fingers, turning white hot, forcing him to release it.
As the eyes gleam bloody red, Harry grimaces as bright, blinding light fleshes to reveal two ghostly figures of Harry and Hermione.
Ghost Harry laughs, "We were better and happier without you."
"Who could look at you beside the Harry Potter? What are you, compared with the Chosen One...?" Ghostly Hermione taunts.
Ron stands transfixed, sword in hand, horrified as his nightmare plays out.
"Ron. It lies! Stab it! Stab it!"
"Your mother confessed that she would have preferred me as a son..." ghost Harry grins, embracing his companion.
"Who wouldn't prefer him? What woman would take you? You are nothing, nothing, nothing to him..." The ghostly Hermione, frighteningly beautiful, entwines herself around the ethereal Harry, her hair running like silk over their faces as she leans forward and covers his mouth with hers.
"Do it, Ron! Kill it!"
Ron's head turns to face the real Harry, and Harry freezes.
Rage fits Ron's every pore, and all he can think of is killing his best friend. The sword is heavy as he lifts it above his head. The ghostly figures continued to laugh, entwined around one another, until Ron jumped and swung the blade at the locket.
The blade shatters the glass windows, and the terrifying eyes fade, leaving nothing but broken glass and twisted metal.
The forest was silent around them. Nothing dared to breathe.
Harry eyed the shattered locket almost as if he were expecting it to burst into flames when he turned his gaze on Ron, who stands alone, with the sword dangling from the end of his arm and his chest heaving. Harry scooped up the locket and scrutinized it before walking to Ron and pulling him into a tight hug.
"After you left, she cried for a week," Hurry pulled back and smiled, "She's like my sister."
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I left."
"You've made up for it tonight. Getting the sword. Finishing off the Horcrux..."
Ron interrupted, "Saving your life..."
They laughed, "That too."
"And just think of it—only three to go.
Harry led them through the woods until they came upon the hidden tent.
"Hermione!" Harry called out as they approached.
She stirs inside the tent and sits up with her bushy hair standing on end. Pushing her hair out of her face, she peers through the tent flap.
Harry stuck the sword in the ground and motioned to Ron, who stood awkwardly behind him.
As Hermione emerges, she blinks against the brightness of the rising sun blinded by them, "Everything all right?"
Harry motions to Ron again, "Fine, actually... more than fine."
Ron looks away, feeling ashamed, "Hey."
Hermione blinks and then, in a flash of rage, charges at Ron, who realizes too late that she's not happy to see him.
He's not able to dodge her punches. "Wo - hey - ouch!"
"You - complete - arse - Ronald - Weasley! You crawl back here after all these weeks and say, 'Hey?'" She turns to Harry, thrusting her hand, "Where's my wand? Harry, where's my wand!"
Harry places his hand over his pocket where her wand is hiding and backs away slowly, "Um... I don't know?"
" Harry James Potter, you give me my wand!"
Genuinely curious, Ron asks, "How come he's got your wand?"
"Never mind why he's got my wand..." there was a short pause, "What is that?" She stares at the blackened locket dangling in Ron's hand, "You destroyed it?"
Ron and Harry nod.
"And exactly how is it you have the Sword of Gryffindor?"
"It's a long story," Harry says slowly.
"Don't think this changes anything, Ronald."
"No, of course not. I only destroyed a bloody freaking Horcrux! Why would that change anything? Do you know what it was like for me to hear those words coming from you? To see you doing those things..." He stops, realizing that he hasn't told her yet
"What happened out there?"
"It's a long story."
"Look, I wanted to come back the minute I'd left. I just... didn't know how to find you."
"Exactly how did you find us?"
Ron dug in his pocket and pulled out his deluminator, "With this. It doesn't just turn off lights." he began to rant, "I don't know exactly how it works, but Christmas morning, I was sleeping outside the Burrow because Hunn was giving birth and Ginny brought over a bunch of students for a break... anyway, I was sleeping when I heard it..."
"It?" Hermione and Harry asked
"A voice. Your voice, Hermione. Coming out of this."
"And what may I ask, did I say?
"My name. Just my name. Like a whisper."
Harry backs away slowly, trying to give them privacy but also listening in.
"So I took this and clicked it, and this tiny ball of light appeared, and I knew."
"Knew what?" Harry whispered, too curious not to keep his mouth shut.
He shrugged, "Just knew on account of Hermione's voice. Sure enough, the ball of light floated toward me, right to my chest, and went straight through here." Ron touches a point over his heart. "I could feel it inside me. It was warm, like the first sip of a good cup of tea. I knew it would take me where I needed to go."
Hermione was listening closely, her stiff posture relaxing.
"So I apparated and came out on this hillside. It was dark. I didn't have any idea where I was. I just had to hope one of you would show yourselves, and in the end, you did."
Hermione turns to the tent and leads them inside to follow her. They sat around a small heater, "Tell us what we missed." Hermione said, pouring tea.
"I don't even know where to start."
"You said Hunn gave birth?"
Ron's face lit up, "Yeah, on Christmas!"
"Was it a boy or a girl?"
"Twin boys! They named them Issac and Hayate."
...
December 27th
"Shh, Hayate, mommy is sleeping," George hushed as he rocked his crying son slowly and held him to his bare chest, trying to get him back to sleep.
Fred sat in the corner, grinning as he held Issac tightly in his arms and rocked, feeling utterly content with his sleeping son.
Hunn fell asleep shortly after feeding the boys, and Fred and George stepped up to keep them calm while she rested in the other room. Even if she were awake, they would still be there holding their boys while they slept and memorizing the slight differences in their identical faces.
"George?"
"Hhmm."
"What are we going to do?"
Fear filled him from head to toe, "I don't know Freddy."
"How are we going to keep them safe?"
George gently set Hayate down in his cradle and sat on the floor, "I don't know."
Fred put Issac beside his brother so he could plop down next to George and lean on him. Being close always helped him feel at ease, "We have to do something."
The silence grew between them until George stood and yanked Fred to his feet, "We'll expose them."
"Who?"
"The Death Eaters and anyone working for Voldemort."
Fred cringed but nodded, "Okay. When?"
"Now."
They wasted no time in booting up their equipment and going live. Fred explained their plan and their listeners to turn on every radio they could, take notes, and tell everyone what they were about to hear.
"Alright..."
"...No jokes today."
"Pull out your pens and make sure to send an owl to everyone you know... "
"...We're leaking the names of every Death Eater we know..."
"... and every corrupt ass in the ministry working for Voldemort."
"We want everyone to know who to watch out for."
"We'll start easy. Bellatrix Lastrange. You-know-whos go to lackey from day one."
"Lucius Malfoy, and Draco Malfoy. Lucius has been in the game from near the beginning, and Draco joined last year and caused the break-in at Hogwarts."
"We were there, saw the whole thing go down," he embellished, "You may not believe us. You don't have to, but we are warning you. Watch out."
They went on for what felt like hours until they reached the end of the list. George sighed, "I'm not gonna lie, that was a long list, and we couldn't give many details in our explanations because it would have given away who we are..."
"...but we hope that this will help someone out there."
"Be safe, and make sure to listen in soon," They turned off their equipment and wanted to collapse onto the floor until delicate arms embraced them from behind, placing her lips on each of their cheeks in turn.
"I love you," Hunn whispered. She had listened to their entire broadcast from the beginning.
"I love you too," Fred and George told her to speak simultaneously.
...
Returning to Hogwarts
"Neville, what did they do to you!" Ginny shouted, rushing to her friend's side. Neville was covered head to toe in bruises and cuts worse than before the holiday.
He shrugged, "They caught me a few times going to get food until Seamus and I found Aberforth."
"Who?"
"Aberforth Dumbledore. He runs the Hog's Head down in the village."
Ginny was amazed, "How did you find him?"
Neville collapsed onto a sofa near the fireplace, "I went in one night to cover for Seamus, and when I was lying down, the portrait started to wave. I watched, and she walked away until her portrait popped open."
"What happened?
"Well, there was a tunnel inside. So I crawled through until I found Aberforth sipping tea," Neville laughed, "He was not happy to see me, but his sister's portrait ripped him a new arsehole," he laughed again.
"He'll help us?"
Neville nodded, "Kinda. He won't fight, but he sends us food."