Title: War Within a Breath
Author: Muddgutts
Rating: PG-13 (for strong language)
Ships: H/Hr
AN: I'm sorry that this took so long to post, and I'm sorry about the cliffhanger in chapter 3. I hope that you like how this plays out, because I found it very hard to write. A fight of this kind has a mind of its own and could change the whole story. So I tried my best, and I hope you like it. I would like to thank Artemis for recommending War Within a Breath here at Portkey. It really made me feel great to see that post. Of course I wouldn't be able to finish this without AnneU she's helped me so much with this chapter, Thanks.
Last Chapter
Harry gathered himself after the last hit rubbing his jaw and shot Ron a smile with blood trickling out of the corners of his mouth. "I hope that's not the best you can do either. That's pathetic really."
"Oh don't worry there's a lot more where that came from. I grew up with five brothers, remember. I'll kick your arse!"
With the lighting quickness he reserved for catching the snitch Harry punched Ron right in his gut, dropping him to his knees. He towered above him and growled at him, "You may have had five brothers, but I had the one thing you didn't," he paused to spit a wad of blood on the floor, "I had DUDLEY!"
Hermione yanked her arm free from Neville's grip and drew her wand and pointed it at both of them. "Stop it right this instant! Or I'll curse both of you!" They paused and looked over at her. "Now what the HELL are your playing at, Ron?"
He stood slowly and when he reached his full height he said through clenched teeth, "This is about YOU and Mister Wonderful here - screwing around behind my back!"
~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter 4
~ ~ ~ ~
"What!"
"Ron what are you talking about? Nothing is going on BEHIND your back!" Hermione yelled, breaking away from Ginny, Luna, and Neville.
Ron stood there staring at her, his chest heaved in deep breaths as he tried to collect himself. With his hands still up and ready to fight Harry demanded, "Well! . . . You better start talking or I swear I'm going to deck you!"
"Come on then!" Ron said stepping forward.
The wand in Hermione's hand crackled with electricity, as she jumped between them. "No, I said no more fighting!" She rounded on Ron with so much anger in her eyes that he took a few steps back from her. "Answer my question, Ron! What do you think is going behind your back?"
"Where did you sleep last night? Huh?" Ron said with a little twitch in his eyebrow. Hermione's mouth fell open and she spun around to look at Harry. As they looked at each other with the same stunned look on their faces, so Harry just shrugged his shoulders.
"I fell asleep in Harry's room last night. So what! Nothing happened." Hermione said and Ginny and Luna broke into low whispers behind her.
"Yeah right! Do I look that stupid? Why are you staring at him then? You haven't taken your eyes off of him for the last twenty minutes!" Ron accused, inching above her as he yelled.
Hermione shoved him in the chest hard with both hands and her voice cracked. "So what! I'm NOT your girlfriend! I don't have to ask your permission to LOOK at someone, or to like them either so just stop acting the fool!"
"Right there! See, I knew it," he said, pointing his finger in her face, "I knew it!"
Hermione rapped Ron across his finger with her wand and eyed him fiercely. "Get your finger out of my face! Right now, Ronald Weasley, or you'll be pulling back a stump next time."
Shaking his brushed finger through the air Ron cursed under his breath, "How did it happen huh? Did you throw yourself at his feet like some first year proclaiming your undying love for him, or did you just want to be the first?"
"Fine! You asked for it that time!" Hermione yelled drawing her wand back into the air, but stopped short from casting her spell when Harry slammed Ron against the wall.
Harry had his forearm up against Ron's throat pinning him to the wall. "What's your problem? WE DID NOT SLEEP TOGETHER!" he roared at Ron at the top of his lungs. "Why do you always have to insult her like that? It's like you enjoy making her feel bad or something!"
"I do not."
"You do too, and it makes me sick! I thought after the Yule Ball you couldn't go any lower, but then you pull this. I don't want to hear you talking like that to her anymore!"
Ron pushed back off the wall getting Harry's arm off of him, "Why, is she your girlfriend now?"
"No, you prat, she's not my girlfriend," he said slowly looking back to Hermione. There was a look of uncertainty on her face, and silence hung over the room for a moment. Harry turned back to Ron and said, "I'll tell you this, though, I'm not afraid to ask her. Unlike somebody I know."
Looking utterly disgusted at Harry Ron shook his head. "You would do that to me, wouldn't you?"
"Why not?" Harry said throwing his hands in the air. "I've sat back and watched you act like an idiot for two years now. Did you ever tell her how you feel? NO!"
Ron looked away from them feeling very embarrassed to have this information thrown around like this in front of Hermione. She sighed and put her wand back in her pocket, and when Ron finally looked up at her she looked disappointed at him.
"You spent all that time together last summer," Harry continued to rant, "did you tell her? No! You two were even prefects together, and you still didn't have the balls to say anything!"
Starting to get mad again, Ron pushed his shame back inside himself and squared off with Harry. "That's because every second of the day she was always talking about YOU! Between reading every book ever made and her rambling on about you I couldn't get a word in edge-wise! It was always Harry this, or Harry that! It was starting to make me sick!"
"Well maybe if you'd paid more attention to your prefect duties we would have something else to talk about. You never backed me up against Fred and George! Why did I have to do all the work?" Hermione bellowed, closing in on him.
Ron's eyes flashed between Harry and Hermione, who now stood close to each other again. "Oh that's right." He snapped his fingers and clasped his hands together over his heart, and in a high-pitched voice at mimicked Hermione's and said, "Oh Harry! You too? I knew it! I knew it." His fake smile evaporated as he moved very close to Hermione, "You never thought I was good enough to be a prefect, did you? As soon as you saw the badge you thought it was Harry's badge, right?"
Hermione's mouth flopped open a few times then she sputtered, "No, it was a mistake. I just assumed it was his."
"And why would you assume that?" Ron folded his arms across his chest now, looking proud to have gotten the truth out of her. "Maybe because The-Boy-Who-Lived is also The-Boy-Who-Gets-Everything too!"
"I do not, Ron, and you know it!" Harry protested, placing a hand on Hermione's shoulder.
Ron frowned and shook his head. "It's not enough that you're the richest or most famous is it? You just had to sweep in and take Hermione too."
"I did not! What . . ." Harry started but was cut off by Ron's yelling.
"You always do Harry! You turn back Voldemort in your first year at Hogwarts. Your FIRST year! Then you find the Chamber of Secrets and kill the basilisk. Save Sirius from dying in third year and win the Quidditch cup on top of it. Then you win the bloody Tri-Wizard tournament too! What's left for me? Nothing, that's what, I'm just your goofy side-kick with stupid ginger hair!"
"I never asked for any of that to happen to me!" Harry screamed at Ron, burning inside with hate. "Do you think I enjoy having Voldemort chasing me around trying to kill me?"
"Well it sure as hell didn't stop you from moving in on the one girl I liked, now did it?" Ron snarled at him.
"I don't remember you ever coming to me and telling me how you felt about her. So why should I tell you how I feel?" Harry said with a sweep of his arm.
Ron's eyes practically bulged out of his head. "You bloody bastard! I didn't have to say a thing. We had an understanding."
"I don't remember us having a contract about girls either."
"Well, I was just waiting for the right time to bring it up is all." Ron mumbled as he turned away from everyone. Hermione's head sagged to her chest.
Harry watched as his two best friends and the pain this whole mix up was causing everyone, "Maybe I should just tell them about the Prophecy and be done with it? That way it would be in the open and . . ." He stopped mid-thought and the images from his dream came flooding back. All the bodies on the grass and Dumbledore's words too, "They died because they didn't know! I never told them." He knew what he had to do, but not now not like this.
"Listen, Ron," Harry countered. "I don't know what's going to happen from one day to the next with this psycho on the loose out there, but I'm not holding back anymore." Harry slipped his hand into Hermione's and stopped for a second to look at her. "I do like Hermione, okay? I told her that this morning"-Ron turned his back on them now-"and I do want her to be my girlfriend."
Looking at Hermione, Harry squeezed her hand a little. "Is that okay?" She didn't speak but silently nodded 'Yes' and he kissed her quickly on the cheek. Unknown to the trio the door to the room slowly opened and Ginny, Luna, and Neville slipped out of the room. As the door closed Ron turned around and seeing Harry and Hermione standing together hand in hand his frown deepened and he flopped down on the bed.
Hermione walked over and sat next to him and took his hand in hers. She started to message the finger she hit with her wand, "Ron? How come you never told me?"
"I don't know why I never said anything. Maybe I was hoping you would figure it out, and give me a sign or something," he said with his eyes down cast and his shoulders shacked as a lone tear fell on Hermione's hand. Ron sucked in a deep breath and looked up at her, his eyes where very red and puffy as he asked, "Why him and not me?"
Slowly Hermione's hand raised to his face and she caressed his cheek as she spoke softly to him, "Ron I, . . . I don't know why really, but you have always been here in my heart too," she extended her other hand out to Harry and he took it kneeling down in front of Ron. Hermione looked deeply into Ron's cobalt eyes and said, "You've been the brother that I never had growing up Ron. Nothing will ever change that."
Ron's head fell into his hands as he moaned, "Oh god, that's like the kiss of death."
Harry couldn't help but laugh a little at Ron's statement. "At least she didn't say, 'Can't we just be friends?' You've reached brother status now." Hermione looked at Harry and her eyes went wide. How could he make a joke about this?
Ron's shoulders started to bounce up and down and a small laugh escaped from under his hands. He looked up from behind his hands at Harry and smiled a little, "You're such an ass. You know that right?" Both Harry and Hermione smiled back at him and Harry gave him a playful punch in the knees. Ron's eyes light up and he dove off the bed on top of Harry sending them both to the floor. They play punched and pushed each other as the rolled into the other beds, and Harry bumped his head on the post.
They all laughed for a minute as Harry rubbed his bruised head. Hermione checked it to make sure it was fine, and as Harry was going to stand up Ron's hand extended out to him. As Harry took Ron's hand and stood up they both stopped and stared into each other's eyes for a moment. With a slow nod of his head Ron said to Harry, "I'm a, well you know about the stuff I said before, I'm sorry, Harry," he finished lamely and offered his hand to Harry.
Harry accepted his hand in a rather Spartan handshake. It was the kind that Quidditch players gave only to members of their own team, a true sign of friendship and brotherhood. "It's all right, Ron. I think this summer is starting to get to all of us." Harry turned away from Hermione and pulled Ron close and said, "So are you," he made a gesture between him and Hermione, "are you going to be okay with this?"
Running his fingers through his hair Ron said, "No, but I'll get used to it." They turned back to Hermione and she was bouncing a little on the balls of her feet waiting to see what would happen, and when they turned back to her she gave off a tiny little sob and jumped on to them crushing them in a hug.
After Ron was able to finally breath again he turned to Harry and asked, "Hey do you mind if I talk to Hermione alone for awhile? I think I have some explaining to do."
Harry just nodded and then gave Hermione a small kiss before heading down stairs as an old grandfather clock at the end of the hall struck 7:30 pm.
~*~
Riddle Mansion 7:45pm
The door to the bathroom inside Voldemort's room opened slowly, squeaking on the hinges as Bellatrix exited. She walked into the main room drying herself with a towel, and made her way over to the cauldron boiling in the corner. The contents inside bubbled and steamed sending a bluish mist into the air. Inhaling deeply of its fragrance Bellatrix moved over to the small shelf by the window. Her fingers bounced from one jar to the next till she found what she needed. As she picked up the jar of dried Shark Fin someone behind her coughed loudly.
"May I ask what you're doing with my supplies…Bellatrix?" Servus Snape asked in a low dry tone.
Bellatrix didn't bother to cover herself as she turned and started walking towards the door. "No Snape. You may not ask." With the jar still in her hands she left, slamming the door. Snape dashed over to his shelf of ingredients and did a quick inventory and discovered what it was she had taken. He sat in silence for a few minutes thinking about what use she could have for dried shark fins, and started thumbing through his large tomb of potions and enchantments.
Thirty minutes later as Bellatrix was in her room mixing the last of the shark fin into a small copper jar when she heard a rapping at her window. She leapt to her feet and pushed the window open to the muggy night air. In through the window a black raven flew onto her bed. Slowly a large smile grew on her face and she slowly kneeled down in front of the black bird. Stroking the feathers on its head, she stroked the feathers on its head and coed, "Who's a good bird?"
Slowly she raised her wand to her throat and talked to the bird. "They're there, aren't they?" The raven flapped his wings and gave a little squawk.
Bellatrix jumped to her feet and clapping her hands together, "I knew it! I've got you now." Quickly she threw her robes on and ran out into the hallway and screamed, "Nott!" She waited for a second then heard him running up the stairs. Nott slid to a halt by her door. The corner of her mouth curled into a smirk.
"It's time to go," she ordered. "Gather the men and meet me downstairs in five minutes."
Nott bowed slightly before leaving. "Yes, Mistress."
"And Nott," she eyed him closely now, "you had better be right about your little friends. Are you sure we can trust them?"
"I worked in the Ministry of Magic for over ten years. I know how to deal with them, leave it to me," Nott said as he cracked his knuckles. Bellatrix nodded and returned to her room again. Through the door she could hear Nott calling out for everyone to prepare to leave.
Bellatrix sat back down on her bed and reach under her pillow and pulled out the old photo of the Potter wedding. She ran her fingers over Sirius's face slowly, "It's time to play again, Sirius."
~*~
Stay tuned the action half of this fiction is about to explode. I'll try to update faster next chapter. Thanks for reading, and as always your input about this chapter is always helpful to me, thanks.