Disclaimer: All characters, events and references drawn from HP belong to J.K. Rowling, etc., respectively, everything else is my own invention.
FORESIGHT
PART FIVE
"There you are!" Ron shouted at them from the woods as he and George came blasting out into the clearing.
Harry and Hermione both let out a tremendous sigh of relief, their hearts racing. As Ron and his brother approached them, the hands which had held on to each other so tightly, now shot apart faster than a Firebolt. They both felt uneasy at the moment, unsure of how to act towards one another. Harry was embarrassed at his own cowardice in the face of his friends. Was Hermione's love, and what just happened between them, not more important than silly pretense in trying not to hurt Ron? They hadn't yet had the chance to talk about what they were going to do and now they had to face it headlong.
Everything in the past few hours had been like a dream world to both of them - a place where only Hermione and Harry existed. A place where they were free to be together without interference, disapproval or disruption. But now that Ron had appeared, the reality of their lives had charged in and cast all those moments in a strange light. Harry was confused and he sensed the same in Hermione.
"Where have you two been?" Ron asked, glancing down at their hands briefly.
"Lost!" Hermione responded, fumbling around for some rational answer, trying not to look Ron in the eyes.
"What happened back there?" Harry jumped in after noticing Ron give Hermione a strange look.
"Where's Fred and Ginny? Are they okay?" he continued.
"They're fine, Harry," George answered with a smile. "They're back at the camp right now."
"What happened, though…when the Death Eaters appeared?" Harry insisted from the both of them.
"When you two bolted, George and Fred apparated after you, while Ginny and I fled in the opposite direction." Ron replied. "We had a couple of them Death Eaters on our tail, until Ginny surprised them with some moves I've never seen before. Man, you should have seen her, Harry! I don't know where she learned to fight like that."
Harry smiled, remembering Ginny's wand work in the Forbidden Forest.
"And you two must have hidden yourselves quite well." George stepped in looking at both of them. "Fred and I searched for over half an hour for you before we got back to Ron and Ginny."
"Wait, you said 'camp', George, what do you mean?" Hermione asked the tall, lanky red-head.
"Fred and George had one of Dad's old tents stashed away in case we couldn't make it all the way home." Ron replied before George could open his mouth. "You remember that old piece of cloth we stayed in during the World Cup, the one with the three rooms in it?"
Both of them nodded
"So…you aren't trying to reach the Burrow tonight?" Harry asked.
"No, too dangerous with those Black Hats all over the place." George said as he began to motion to the three of them. "Speaking of which, I think we better get back to Fred and Ginny. Ron and I haven't seen any of those thugs lately, but they could show up at any moment."
The four of them began to walk upstream by the river, as Harry and Hermione had earlier.
"So, what happened to you two?" Ron asked the two of them, turning his head to ask as he walked ahead of them.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other. Both of them felt like they had just murdered someone and were disposing of the body when Ron showed up.
"We…were chased by three Death Eaters, Ron," He started, choosing his words carefully. "They were good too. We can't figure out how they knew where we had run to so quickly."
"They are sneaky gits aren't they?" George responded. "If you two had your wands, though, I'm sure they would have wished they had never set foot near you, from what Ron here tells me."
But Harry didn't hear anything George had said. He was struggling. This was harder than he thought it would be. Now that he and Hermione had truly begun to share something he hadn't been sure he would ever have, the realization that everything would now change between the three of them was overwhelming. He was torn between his love for Hermione, the intense desire to be with her again and his loyalty to his first, best friend. Why is this happening now? The three of them had come so close to finishing this whole ordeal and now with the last leg of the trip before them, Harry was seeing that close knit between them, that had withstood all manner of fallouts and perils, in danger of unraveling - perhaps even permanently. Maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought, he tried to convince himself. The confusion made it difficult to work out what might or might not be.
Harry looked at Ron walking in front of him. They had been pals since the beginning. No matter how much Ron complained about things in this world, a world which according to him had seemed determined to put him under it's foot, he had remained a steadfast and loyal friend. Despite their fallout over Ron's completely unfounded accusations of him over the Goblet of Fire incident, Harry always felt that their friendship would last forever somehow. The two of them had had such good times and had gotten through so many scrapes - he didn't think he would ever get that expression on Ron's face out of his head again when they had wandered into Aragog's lair in their second year. It didn't hurt too that Ron's family had taken such an interest in Harry and had pretty much adopted him as one of their own. He liked being considered an unofficial 'Weasley', a family he never had.
Because of his loyalty to Ron, he had taken his side more than not when it came to a dispute with Hermione. This made him uneasy. Hermione was dead accurate about Ron's struggle with a sense of worth and identity among the Weasleys. With so many brothers and an 'upstart' sister threatening to outshine him, Harry had come to see how insecure Ron really was beneath all the jokes and quips he would make. He could act tough or indifferent towards others around him, but Harry saw how intimidated Ron would feel when someone even 'suggested' showing him up. Especially Hermione.
Harry had always had a hard time understanding why Ron was so intimidated by her. Perhaps because she was smarter than Ron and she was a girl. Or perhaps he felt threatened by the idea that Hermione would get more of Harry's attention than himself. Maybe that's why Ron seemed so hell bent, sometimes, on trying to make her look worse than him. Harry shook his head. He had tolerated that nonsense too. It made him angry so many times to hear Ron call her 'mental.' And how many times did Hermione, despite her well proven ability to hold her own with Ron, forgive him and even try to make things better between them. He thought about how she had bent over backwards in their sixth year to get Ron to like her. She even did something Harry thought was so un-Hermione-like to help get Ron on the Quidditch team. And yet through all of this, that ungrateful git would just act as though he had deserved it. Harry felt a slow, boiling anger at Ron just thinking about all that now. But maybe it was just because of his heightened feelings for Hermione.
Still, Ron had been such a good friend to Harry who, before meeting him on platform nine and three quarters, had known nothing of friends or loyalty from anyone. He had shown a real spark of valor when he put his own life at risk for Hermione and himself on that chessboard in the Hogwart's dungeon. Harry saw that Ron could really shine in terms of dedication and sacrifice for others, although he wondered if Ron didn't do it sometimes just to get the attention. However, he was an essential part of this little team, out to 'save the world,' and they needed Ron by their side, as he had been these past months.
Hermione. Just thinking about her now brought out such an ache of longing in him. He turned to look at her. She was walking, looking down at the ground and thinking. He knew her well. He was certain she was going over everything that had just happened to them back at the river. He even sensed something of a hidden joy in her gait and expression now. He was so glad to not see her under the weight of that burden that had come between the two of them. He was thrilled at the idea that she was thinking about him, about their moments together. She was so beautiful. He looked down at her hand as they walked within just a few feet of each other. He wanted so badly just to reach out and take it, intertwining his fingers with hers. He turned away again, breathing a little harder.
"Harry, are you okay?" Ron asked him, upon looking back to see Harry wilt a little in his thoughts about Hermione.
"Fine…I'm fine, Ron." Harry quickly uttered, feeling nervous again.
"Both of you have to be exhausted," George stated, "but don't worry, the camp is just over this ridge."
Harry looked at Hermione again. She was gazing at him with a deep longing herself now, but a little concerned.
The four of them walked up a steep incline to a small ridge that stretched for several dozen meters on either side of them. When they arrived at the top, they all paused to rest. Harry and Hermione were looking down into a valley before them. A large clearing about the size of a Quidditch pitch was surrounded by woods on all sides. Harry looked up into the sky, the moon was crested slightly over them, it's light the brightest it had been all night. Not a cloud in the sky and the stars were breathtakingly beautiful, strewn horizon to horizon like a vast array of jewels. Harry looked down into the clearing again. It seemed to be man-made, it's circular form almost too perfect for nature. Perhaps some ancient people used this ground as a sacred site like so many all over the British countryside. It looked like the perfect place to hold some secret ceremony or sacrifice without being noticed. That something in his mind began nagging him again. He couldn't place it, but everything from the escape, to the Death Eater's chase, to Hermione and him alone by the river, to this clearing, seemed odd in his mind while looking into that glen.
"The camp's over there." George spoke, pointing to a patch of pines off to the right of the clearing into the woods.
"Harry, can you see it yet?" Ron asked him with a sense of excitement.
"No, not through the trees…" Harry replied.
"Not the tent, Harry, look!" Ron exclaimed motioning his arm in a circle around the whole area.
Harry screwed up his eyes looking into the half-lit woods around the clearing and happened to pick up something sparkling, faintly. As he scanned further, he noticed the sparkling effect seemed to begin on one side, arching over the whole clearing, and sloping gently down on the other side. It was so faint, he thought he wouldn't have even noticed it if Ron hadn't pointed it out.
"Wait 'til we get closer." Ron added.
As the four of them now descended down the other side into the glen, Harry looked over at Hermione one more time. She now had that look of immense curiosity in her expression that had gotten her into trouble more than one time with several of the professors at the school over the years. She just had to know what Ron was talking about. It was killing her. Harry smiled. That's my girl.
After reaching the bottom, they walked through the pine studded wood that preceded the clearing ahead. The moon continued to cast it's light as brightly as possible through the branches overhead.
"Here it is, Harry, watch this." Ron spoke, acting like he was about to show off.
The redhead stretched out his long, thin arm and Harry saw what looked like the sparkle of diamonds around Ron's hand as it passed through midair and disappeared. Ron shot a smile at both Hermione and Harry as he moved the rest of his body through it, his shaggy red hair standing on end as though he had put his hand on a live wire, then he disappeared completely. George passed on through and vanished as though he had done it a hundred times, his orange hair doing the same as Ron's. Then Harry and Hermione walked through. Harry could feel every hair on his head and body standing on end. There was a sensation of floating, that made him feel like he would suddenly drift into space if he remained in the 'field' too long. Coming out on the other side, Harry looked back at the tiny sparkles and then he, Ron and George looked at Hermione. The three of them starting laughing at the picture of Hermione trying to straighten out her bushy brown hair that was in frazzles around her face and sticking up in back.
"Shut up, you three!" she shot at them, not being able to keep from laughing herself.
"Cool, huh?" Ron asked Harry.
"What is it?" Harry inquired, noticing that Hermione was now listening intently while trying to get her hair straight again.
"That, is a little spell Fred and I found a few years back," George spoke with a sense of pride. "You cast it over whatever you want and anyone looking in from the outside can't see you…"
"And no one can apparate in or out either," Ron interrupted his older brother, "No Death Eaters surprising us in here."
"Ghosts aren't terribly fond of it for some reason," George mused with an inquisitive look, "Fred and I tried this one out at Hogwarts one time. Sir Nicholas wouldn't even go near it."
"Where did you learn this spell, George? What is it called?" Hermione asked, now quite enthralled.
"The 'Invitalis Incantation'…Fred and I came across it while browsing in the restricted section of Hogwart's library one time." George answered almost as if was trying to cover up the real answer.
"And how did you two get into the restricted section?" Hermione quizzed him as though she were a professor catching them in the act.
"Oh, that's easy, we've done it dozens of times - you just have to know how to get Madam Pince and that bag Filch indisposed at the same time. Plus a few other tricks to get around the lock on the door." George stated, his eyebrows arching slightly and smiling.
They moved out into the clearing. It seemed larger to Harry down here than he thought it was from the ridge. As they walked across it's grassy length, covered bluish white with the wash of the moon's glow, Harry felt a little uneasy for some reason. He glanced at Hermione who seemed to be occupied with George's statements. She too looked a little uncomfortable. Maybe it was the field they had passed through, giving their stomachs a churn, he thought.
The four of them came to the tent, sitting squarely between two pines at the edge of the clearing. George stepped in, followed by Ron, then Hermione and Harry after. When they entered, Harry saw the familiar interior of the old tent. The same furniture in the living space, the kitchen in back and bedrooms off to the sides. And, he noticed, it still smelled like cats. Ginny had been sitting on a plush chair on one side, when she saw them enter, and stood up. Fred looked up lazily from the sofa with the old patchwork cover that looked as if Mrs.Weasley herself had created it.
"Well, it's about time!" Fred chirped at the sight of Harry and Hermione with a big smile. "Ron and George didn't catch you two snogging out there did they?" he continued, starting to sit up, shifting his eyebrows at both of them.
It's was as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water on Harry and Hermione. Hermione's face tuned beet red in the candlelight that filled the living space around them. Harry's face went white on the other hand and a strange silence fell over everyone for a brief moment. To Harry's eyes, Ron didn't seem to know whether to laugh or cry, his face contorted in a curious display of sudden interest in their own faces.
"Just joking!" Fred bellowed out," Come on in, relax. We've got all sorts of goodies to eat and drink. And I'm sure you're both very tired."
Fred emphasized that last adjective as though he were secretly trying to keep the joke alive. Ginny walked by and gave Fred a sound slap on the back of his head, with Fred yelping out an 'ow!'
"Fred Weasley, leave them alone, will you." Ginny scolded him, sounding to Harry vaguely similar to Mrs. Weasley.
Ginny walked up to Harry and put her arms around his neck with a tight hug. Harry, astonished, lightly placed his hands on her back in turn, shocked at her sudden display of affection.
"I'm so glad the two of you are alright, Harry" she said, without even so much as a glance towards Hermione.
"Thanks, so am I." Harry returned, looking over to Hermione who was still red in the face, but for quite a different reason.
Everyone had finally settled down, crashed on the floor or the furniture, and Ron helped himself to some food as though he hadn't eaten in months. Harry sat down on the floor with his back against the sofa where Ron and Fred were sitting. Hermione too sat on the floor, her back up against an old cabinet on the other side. Fred, George, Ron and Ginny rattled away about the night's events, veering off occasionally into subjects like Quidditch and the Weasley twin's little business in Hogsmeade, occasionally arguing and name calling with each other over petty differences. Things seemed normal for everyone except two.
Harry had only one thing on his mind, and he couldn't shake it. His time with Hermione. The air in the room seemed so tense and awkward to him and when glancing at Hermione on the other side, gathered she felt pretty much the same. Ginny came in from the kitchen with two hot cups of tea, giving one to Hermione, who barely acknowledged the deed, and the other to Harry. Harry tried to sip the warm liquid, but found it difficult - despite all the running and walking, he just wasn't hungry or thirsty. It was driving him crazy. He had not felt so intense a longing for anyone like this. He would look over at her, trying not to be too obvious, and each time he saw her, it brought to his mind that kiss, being in her warm embrace, seeing her eyes sparkle with such happiness. He wanted so terribly to go over to her now, at the very least to just be next to her… Harry's head dropped slightly and he shuttered.
"What's bugging you, Harry?" Ron asked through a mouthful of food. "You've been acting funny since we found you two by the river."
Harry looked up, an expression of surprise on his face.
"I…think I'm just tired," He managed to say. "I'm going to go to bed. See you all in the morning." He stood up while speaking.
"Yeah, get some rest, Harry, you'll need it." Fred said.
Harry took one last glance at Hermione. She looked at him as though she was bursting to run over to him, and then she returned to her tea cup which rattled slightly on the saucer in her trembling hand.
Harry walked into the small bedroom where he and Ron were to sleep and crashed on his bed, his mind reeling with emotion. He took off his glasses and closed his eyes, hoping to fall asleep and release the pressure and confusion that he found himself swimming in since they had been alone together. His last conscious thoughts were of her. Her tears in the dark. Her quiet tears. Tears of his own formed as the pang of wanting to be with her again came over him, until he lost consciousness.
Harry was awakened suddenly. He did not know whether it was a noise that startled him or the dull pain in his scar. He lay on the bed, eyes wide open, horribly awake. Something was wrong…