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It was raining.
It always rained nowadays. The clouds constantly obscured the soft warmth of the sun. The land was covered by dull palettes of grey and more grey. If it wasn't rain, it was always something. Ron couldn't remember the last time he saw the sun.
Ron turned around, stepping inside the tent to seek shelter from the steady drum of the rain. Inside, Neville and Hermione were huddled over a small fire, eager to steal its warmth in an effort to dry themselves from the soaking rain.
"You two shouldn't have gone running through the woods," Ron clucked.
"What were we supposed to do?" Neville said through chattering teeth, "There were Mixers after us."
"Maybe you shouldn't have been wandering through the woods in the first place?" Ron shot back.
"Give me a break," Neville grumbled, "Just needed some fresh air."
Ron almost reminded him that fresh air was a severely lacking commodity nowadays. Instead, he bit his tongue and stopped the retort. Tensions were high enough as it is and for once, Ron didn't look to add any more tension for the sake of winning the argument.
"I'm okay, by the way," Hermione miserably chipped in.
"At least you brought him back," Ron admitted.
Hermione was silent as she rubbed her hands back and forth to create some friction and generate a bit of heat. It wasn't a particularly cold month. Winter had not quite set in yet, but the rain and lack of sun didn't do much to raise the temperature. Ron was still holding out for a slight break in the sky and a bit of reassurance that the sun didn't just vanish.
"So what next?" Ron interrupted the small silence.
Neville touched the locket hanging on his neck. Finding the locket had been easy enough. Before Dumbledore died, Neville went with the former Headmaster to a cave where Voldemort apparently hid one of his Horcruxes. Though the journey almost claimed Dumbledore's life, they had successfully retrieved the Horcrux. It was Dumbledore's last act of help before he died. Unfortunately for the trio, they still didn't have a way to destroy the Horcrux.
"We need to find Hufflepuff's cup," Hermione concluded.
"I thought that's what we were doing the whole time," Ron complained.
"It's not as easy as wandering through the woods and stumbling upon a Hufflepuff heirloom," Hermione glared at Ron, "We thought that maybe the Smith family would have it but they don't. After that incident with the Mixers, we've been forced to stay on the run since apparently Voldemort is still after Neville."
Hermione intoned the last part with more than enough sarcasm. Honestly, it was a bit unnecessary on her part. But even she wasn't immune to the cabin fever and paranoia of being on the run. Ron rubbed his forehead in frustration as he sought to find a way to locate the cup.
"There has to be some other way. Where would Voldemort put it? He likes trophies so he's not just going to leave it anywhere. Would he give it to someone he trusts?" Ron wondered out loud.
Hermione looked surprised at the veracity of Ron's theory, "I suppose that makes a bit of sense. But who would Voldemort trust?"
"Bellatrix," Neville growled, "And Bates. Those are the only two."
Neville was angry at the mention of both Bellatrix and Bates. Ron worried for him. Neville wore the locket more than either Ron or Hermione. Ron certainly felt the pressure and heaviness of the locket when he was wearing the damned thing, but Neville insisted on wearing it most of the time. It couldn't possibly be healthy for him.
"There's no way of finding them though," Ron reasoned.
"We'll just have to keep looking," Hermione tiredly sat back on her haunches, leaning away from the fire.
Ron looked hesitantly at Neville, "What if we…"
"No!" Hermione yelled, glaring at Ron angrily, "We can't do that."
"Just a suggestion," Ron raised his hands placidly.
"It's a dumb suggestion. Neville needs to keep that connection closed. Do you remember what happened last time?" Hermione looked at Ron pointedly.
"Fair point."
"What's the point?" Neville shuffled his feet against the dirt, his expression desolate, "I can stop Voldemort from retrieving any physical memories, but I still feel his mood swings and that. Every now and then, I can just feel his hatred."
"You just have to keep trying the Occlumency," Hermione rubbed Neville's arm soothingly.
"Hopefully."
Ron took a seat and rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he ran different scenarios in his head. They needed some way to find Bellatrix. That in itself was already a tough task, but what were they to do once they found the crazed witch? Interrogate her? They had no veritaserum and they certainly couldn't Crucio it out of her. Unless…Bellatrix kept the cup with her at all times. It wasn't completely implausible. If Voldemort gave Bellatrix such an important object, it would stand to reason that she either wouldn't let it out of her sight or keep it in a highly protected area. They just needed a way…
"What if we capture one of the Mixers?" Ron suddenly voiced his thoughts.
"After we capture one, then what? Even if we find out where Bellatrix is, there's no way to wrangle the information out of her,"" Hermione was on the same wavelength as Ron but for once, Ron was one step ahead.
"Second year," Ron smiled.
"Second year?" Neville asked.
"Polyjuice! We find a Mixer or a Death Eater, get them to say the location and then polyjuice them. We can check and see if the cup is there without getting in any trouble," Ron grinned as he finished his plan.
Hermione frowned then frowned even deeper as she looked at Ron, "You might actually be right."
"Don't look too happy," Ron said smugly.
"It'll still take a month for the Polyjuice to brew but after that…" Hermione nodded as she saw the merits of the plan.
"One month. What could possibly happen?" Ron rhetorically asked.
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It was best not to wonder what would happen could possibly happen in one month.
The trio spent the better part of the month stealing the proper ingredients from various wizarding locales. Surprisingly enough, stealing the ingredients wasn't the hard part of the mission. Avoiding the Mixers and the sudden escalation of the war proved to be the tougher task. All around them, Mixers, Death Eaters, and other creatures were popping through Muggle towns and attacking their various residents. Hermione, Neville, and Ron were constantly on the move to avoid patrols and other random attacks. Voldemort was still searching for Neville.
More than once, Neville complained about feeling Voldemort's anger or occasionally his glee. All the while, the locket still swung around his neck, a mocking symbol of their inability to destroy the Horcrux. They knew of no way to destroy it. Dumbledore didn't leave them with any specific instructions for the destruction of the dark objects. Hermione theorized various ways to obliterate the object, but it was to no avail. No amount of Redcutors or curses even dented the locket.
"Is there anything else we need?" Ron asked as he surveyed the makeshift potions lab. If they could make Polyjuice potion in the stall of a bathroom, they could certainly make one while running away from various attackers and bounty hunters.
"No, we have everything. It'll take -" Hermione crossed off a day on her calendar, "- three more days to finish brewing."
"Guess we need to just do the other part then," Ron admitted with a sigh.
Currently, the trio were somewhere south of the greater Manchester area. After successfully evading a Death Eater infested area, they settled in an empty clearing. They were careful to place the proper wards around their camp area to make it difficult for anyone to find them. Unfortunately, they needed to wander back to a strong Death Eater area in order to capture one of them.
"What do you think?" Ron asked, "Back south?"
"I suppose. There were about three or four camps we walked by that were full of Mixers. We need to find one that will know where Bellatrix is. He or she has to be a relatively high ranking member," Hermione concluded.
"That should make it easier," Ron sardonically moaned.
"Quite," Hermione sighed as she stirred the concoction.
"Hullo," Neville tiredly rubbed his eyes as he entered the main living area of the tent. The tent was separated into one living area that had a small table for eating and three other separate rooms for each member.
Neville plopped down, still tired from his shift as lookout, "How's the potion coming along?"
"Three days," Hermione promptly answered, "We just need to find someone to impersonate."
"Got it," Neville absent-mindedly rubbed the chain around his neck.
Hermione looked at him in worry and gently said, "You want me to take a turn with it?"
"Nope," Neville abruptly stood, sending his chair sliding backwards with a screech, "Let's head on out."
He left the room quickly, leaving Hermione and Ron mystified at his rather abrupt exit. Hermione turned to Ron, her face scrunched in exasperating stress, "Does he seem okay to you?"
Ron shrugged, "It's hard to be okay with some evil psycho ordering everyone to try and kill you. I reckon we should give him break."
"No, you imbecile, I mean the locket," Hermione snapped.
"I knew that," Ron furiously defended, "I offered to wear the damn thing, but Neville wouldn't have any of it."
"You should have tried harder," Hermione insisted.
"I'm trying as hard as I bloody can, but he won't let go of it," Ron hissed through his teeth, trying to keep his voice down so Neville couldn't hear their argument.
"Dammit," Hermione cursed as she ran a hand through her bushy hair, "He can't keep wearing it. The negative effects of the locket will wear him down just like the diary wore down Ginny."
"You don't think I know that?" Ron angered at the mention of his sister.
"I know you know that," Hermione replied testily.
"Is everything alright?" Neville re-entered the room, slinging on a jacket and looking at them curiously.
"Everything's fine," Hermione smoothly replied.
"Okay," Neville still eyed them warily, "We should get moving. I remember a Death Eater camp somewhere in the Midlands that was pretty big. Bellatrix will probably be there."
"That's fine. Just let me pack up for a second," Hermione turned around and glared at Ron so Neville couldn't see. Ron barely suppressed an eye roll.
"Get it from him," Hermione hissed at Ron as she passed him to get to her room. Ron sighed, not relishing the task that was beset upon him.
The trio packed up their camp and proceeded south to the Midlands. It was inevitable that they would have to venture into the large Death Eater camp they passed. They didn't see any Mixers to the North where the Tower had less influence. The strong congregation of Death Eaters and Mixers were mostly located in Southern England. Hermione theorized that the Tower must have a strong compulsion charm that attracts the attention and adoration of regular non-magic folk.
They usually traveled at night, but they were in a rush since capturing a Death Eater was maximum priority. If they couldn't capture one before the three days ended, the potion would be ruined and they would need to start all over again. They couldn't afford such a setback since every second wasted strengthened Voldemort's power. So they trudged through the daylight, careful to avoid the main roads or any suspicious movements. Not even regular Muggles could be trusted. Voldemort had made them aware of Neville's presence. They walked along an empty dirt road, keeping quiet as they didn't want to attract any unnecessary attention. One could never know whether or not there was someone listening to a relatively light conversation. Any sense of Neville's presence would alert Voldemort.
"We're almost there," Hermione said as she consulted her map, "If I marked this correctly, the Death Eater camp should be in a clearing a few kilometers ahead."
"Good," Neville rubbed the chain again.
Hermione shot Ron a look behind Neville's back at Neville's movement. Ron threw her a frustrated look, indicating with a few hand motions that he was trying. Hermione mimicked back that he should try harder. Ron simply threw his hands up in the air with an exasperated groan.
"You alright, Ron?" Neville turned around and looked at his friend.
"All fine, just so chipper to waltz into a Death Eater camp."
"No need to be so sarcastic," Neville frowned as he turned his head back around and picked up the pace.
Hermione sent Ron a look as if to say, "Look what you did."
Ron shook his head and stomped his way forward so he walking side to side with Neville, "Sorry about that. You know how tetchy I can get when we're about to do something a bit dangerous."
Neville smiled wistfully, "Yeah, usually we're just sneaking around the castle. Simpler times, eh?"
"If only."
They were approaching an incline that Ron recognized. He signaled for the other two to stay low as they crouched along the path, hoping to disguise themselves from any lookouts. As they reached the top of the crest, they peered over and discovered the camp.
Rows and rows of tents were pitched in the basin-like area. Angry yells and screams could be heard from where they were perched and Ron could distinctly make out a dragon chained to the ground on the other side of the camp. He gulped as he inspected the other dangers. A strong combination of Death Eaters and Mixers milled about. However, it was quite obvious that the Death Eaters and Mixers were in segregated camps. Ron could tell where the wizards started and ended as their camp wore their distinctly recognizable robes. The Mixers, on the other hand, were dressed in more Muggle affair, wearing long, black coats with dark head coverings.
"That's a lot of people," Ron whispered.
"Guess we have a lot of targets then," Hermione said breathlessly as her eyes constantly flittered about, taking in the vast amount of information provided by the Death Eater camp.
"You see that?" Neville shifted over on his belly and pointed to a row of people walking in the distance, "That must be where they leave and enter the camp."
Indeed, the camp was surrounded by a fence and only had one gate. It didn't quite matter for the wizards as they could take flight whenever they wanted, so they assumed that it was their for the Mixers protection. Neville once again pointed out a row of people walking along the front gate and leaving the compound.
"We'll have to snatch one of them while they're leaving on a patrol," Hermione brought out her pair of Omnioculars.
As she scanned the compound, she suddenly stopped and clicked a few dials on the Omniocular. She wordlessly handed it to Neville. Neville picked it up with an air of curiosity and held it up to his eyes. Ron watched as his face turned stony with anger. Neville handed the Omniocular to Ron without saying anything, leaving Ron curious as to what they both saw. Raising the device to his eyes, Ron immediately knew why they were furious.
Bellatrix was in the camp.
"Well…at least we won't have to go very far," Ron said as he handed it back to Hermione.
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They waited a day to study the rotation. People were constantly filing in and out of the compound, but Hermione finally found a pattern to their patrol. Somehow, the Mixers were stuck doing the routine patrols around the compound. Three groups of four usually circled around the area, but they were clearly not paying attention to much. It was apparent that they didn't think anyone would actually dare attack them. All they would have to do is isolate one of the patrols around the back of the compound, stun and befuddle all but one of them, and take the remaining patrol in their custody.
Night fell as the trio moved from their camp a few kilometers away from the Death Eater compound. They took positions along the path the patrol usually followed and bided their time, knowing that the Mixers would arrive eventually. On cue, a group of four Mixers emerged around the bend, their guns slung around their shoulders.
Ron, Neville, and Hermione were disillusioned and almost imperceptible to the human eye in the dark. Since Neville was quickest on the trigger, he would have to be the one to figure two Stunners since the Mixers outnumbered them. Ron was crouched behind a tree as he took careful aim at the leftmost Mixer.
"Have you heard?" one of the Mixers said loudly, "Potter's group took out another patrol just a day ago."
Ron froze at the mention of his friend. He had almost forgotten about Harry as the boy had left for the army so long ago. Caught up in the hunt for the Horcruxes, Ron barely spared him a thought and was surprised to see his name mentioned by the Mixers.
"No survivors again," one of the other Mixers chuckled darkly, "Hopefully I don't run into the bugger."
The Mixers were almost in the exact area needed to hide them from any watching eyes. It would only take them a couple more seconds to walk into their trap.
"Patrol had a troll with them too. Looks like they're going to have to throw more at Potter if they really want to take him down."
"Stupefy!"
Three voices yelled and four spells were incanted at the same time as they successfully orchestrated the takedown. Hermione and Neville immediately took of their Disillusionment charm as they raced to the fallen four.
"This one," Neville grunted as he pulled one of the Mixers off to the side.
Hermione was busy casting memory and befuddlement charms on the other stunned Mixers. It would do them no good to have Bellatrix discover that one of the Mixers were kidnapped while on patrol. Hermione was simply going to implant a memory that one of the Mixers wandered off in anger after a harsh argument.
"Wait," Hermione gasped as they were about to leave.
She shuffled over to the man that Neville picked to polyjuice. Ripping off his beanie, she groaned as she discovered that he was bald.
"Another one, we need one of the others," Hermione desperately cast the memory charms on the bald Mixer.
"Shit," Ron muttered as he pulled off the beanie of another patrol. Thankfully, he had a full mane of hair.
"We need to go," Neville said as he spied another patrol walking in their direction, just a couple of minutes out of the way.
Ron levitated the other Mixer out of the path of the woods as Hermione and Neville revived the rest of the patrol.
"Now listen," Hermione told them in their befuddled state, "Your friend wandered off into the woods after you argued about uniform policies. Me and my friends were never here."
The three men nodded dumbly as Hermione continued to flesh out the implanted story.
"Hermione, leave," Neville pulled her arm as he spotted the other patrol coming closer.
They scampered back into the woods just before the next patrol arrived to find three confused men.
----------------------------------------------
"Tell me again why we didn't just take one little piece of his hair?" Ron asked as they stared at their unconscious prisoner.
"We need to know if he knows anything about Bellatrix and the Horcrux," Neville stared at the prisoner with a hard look on his face.
"Let's just get this over with," Hermione shivered ,"We need to do this before the potion goes bad."
Neville nodded and cast the appropriate spell to wake the Muggle. The man's eyes snapped open and blinked as he adjusted to the dim light of the room. He struggled momentarily to move but found himself bounded by several lines of rope. Twisting his head so he could see his kidnappers, the man found three teenagers looking at him intensely.
"Who the fuck are you?" he spat.
Neville immediately hit him with a Stinging hex.
"Ow! What the bloody…" the man trailed off in several curses as he reacted to the pain, "The Dark Lord will -"
Neville cast a silencing charm on him. The man continued to talk though no sounds were actually escaping from his vocal chords. It took him a couple seconds to realize his dumbness. Once he realized his disability, he tried insisting through various facial expressions. When it became apparent that Neville was completely willing to let the man stay silent his whole life, the man started to plead with his eyes.
Reversing the silencing charm, Neville spoke and cut off the man, "Let's try this again. If you answer all our questions, we'll let you go. Scot-free."
The man seemed to consider his options as he inspected the three teenagers. The girl was a bit squeamish so far, but the other two didn't seem to care if he died right there. Not one to take chances, the man nodded his agreement.
"Good," Neville bent his knees so he was at face level with the man, "What's your name?"
"Stephen," he answered hesitantly.
"Okay, Stephen. Obviously you know that we're wizards. Except we're the type of wizards that want to defeat Voldemort."
Stephen scoffed, "Of course I know who you are. You're Longbottom. Funny last name you have there."
"Thanks," Neville said dryly, "What can you tell me about Bellatrix LeStrange?"
"That crazy bitch? Why would I tell you anything about her? She'd kill me."
Neville sighed and raised his wand. The man suddenly yelled, "Wait! No! Don't do anything! Just - okay, I'll tell you."
His wand still raised, Neville looked at Stephen expectantly.
"What do you want to know?" Stephen eyed the wand with trepidation.
"Does she keep something with her the whole time? A little trinket? Or maybe she keeps something in the compound under guard?" Neville questioned him.
Stephen hesitated and Ron caught the nervous expression in his face. He knew something.
"Neville, why don't you just use the Cruciatus on him? We don't have time to waste," Ron was counting on the fact that Stephen knew the particular curse.
"NO!" Stephen yelled, his eyes widening at the very name, "She keeps something. It's guarded."
"Where?" Neville pressed.
Stephen visibly gulped, "It's guarded by the dragon."
"Oh," Hermione squeaked, clearly not expecting that answer.
"The dragon that's here? That dragon that's in the compound?"
Stephen nodded, "It's guarded at all times by the damned thing. I don't know exactly what it is, but it's kept in a safe with the dragon's eggs."
"Great," Ron muttered as he walked out of the room.
Neville and Hermione followed suit, presumably incapacitating Stephen. They found Ron pacing the table with his face in his hands.
"A dragon?! We're supposed to get the Horcrux from a dragon?!" Ron exclaimed.
"Fleur and Krum did it during the tournament. Why can't we?" Neville shrugged.
"Fleur and Krum didn't have to do it in a camp full of Death Eaters!" Ron countered.
"Well if you have any other ideas, feel free to chime on in!" Neville yelled back.
"This is bloody ridiculous," Ron said under his breathe.
"We can do this," Hermione insisted, "We just need a plan."
"Only one of us can go in there. We can't go and capture more patrols without raising suspicion. So one of us is going to in there, fool the rest of the Death Eater camp, fight the dragon to get the Horcrux, and then eventually escape without anyone noticing," Ron listed off the increasingly difficult tasks.
"No one said you had to come along," Neville's hands turned into fists as he growled at Ron.
"And yet I'm here."
Neville kicked at the ground in frustration and brought his hand up to touch the chain of the locket. Ron saw the slight movement and snorted.
"Can you please take off the damn thing for a little while? It's not like it's going to grow legs and walk about somewhere."
Neville stiffened at the implicit mention of the locket. He kept his hand on the chain as he turned to face his best friend, "Why? You want to wear it, don't you?"
"I don't want to wear it, but I thought we agreed to take turns with it. That way one of us won't get stuck with it," Ron pointedly looked at Neville.
"I'm fine with it."
"Obviously not. You're moody and temperamental and it's hasn't gotten any better when you wear the stupid locket."
"This isn't some sort of inferiority complex again, is it?" Neville sneered, "Do you want to wear it because you're afraid I'll take all the credit for it?"
Ron didn't hesitate a second to punch Neville in the face. Neville wheeled to the ground, clutching his face in shock. Ron stood over him, heaving angry breathes as he glared at his friend. He was angry that Neville would insinuate such things. He was angry that Neville seemed to take him for granted. Ron turned to Hermione, his anger directed at her as well. Not once did she try to stop Neville's tirade or veer off their argument. Ron turned on his heel and wordlessly exited the tent.
He stormed outside, walking the opposite direction of the Death Eater camp. He just needed some space, some fresh air as it were. Ron shook his head as he angrily stomped on stray branches and leaves.
"Stupid, smarmy bastard," Ron said as he continued to stomp around immaturely.
Satisfied that he had effectively crunched every stray twig in a six foot radius, Ron took a seat against a tree trunk, blowing the hair in front of his eyes. Truthfully, Ron never felt that he belonged in this quest. He wasn't as brave or Neville or as smart as Hermione. Frankly, there were only two things he excelled in: Quidditch and chess. Ron didn't know when his abilities as a Keeper would come into action against Voldemort and being good at chess doesn't translate into being a good strategist in real life. In chess, there were no consequences when you sacrificed a piece. In real life, someone could die if you made a mistake. Ron felt as if the only thing he could offer the trio was his temperament.
But maybe that's the exact thing the trio needed. Maybe Ron's sudden bursts of anger and happiness balanced out Neville's moodiness and Hermione's calming rationality. Maybe it was Ron's joking attitude that kept things light hearted. Although he sometimes went overboard with his jokes, he never meant them to truly hurt anyone. It wasn't some sort of passive-aggressive act. Perhaps they needed him to interject in times such as these.
Ron pondered these thoughts as he sat against the trunk of the tree, feeling incredibly dejected. Could he really leave them now? Could he really walk out on them when they were about to embark on such a dangerous task? It would be beyond cowardice to leave Neville and Hermione to fight a dragon and escape a Death Eater camp by themselves. Ron's family definitely taught him one thing: leave no man behind.
Ron found it a bit amusing he arrived at his decision so quickly. Not half an hour had passed since he stormed out of the tent after hitting Neville. If Ron were honest though, he was a bit frightened at the prospect of staying outside any longer. He had left the area of wards quite some distance ago and the Death Eater camp was way too close for comfort.
But Ron wasn't going to go back with his tail tucked between his legs. He was right; Neville was being a prick about the locket.
With that in mind, Ron carefully walked into the tent, intent on apologizing for hitting Neville but not for yelling at him about the locket. But the main living area was abandoned with no sign of either Neville or Hermione. Ron could hear voices in the back where their rooms were located and started walking over there. As he approached Hermione's room, Ron stopped as he heard the contents of the conversation. Unable to himself, Ron guiltily eavesdropped outside her room. He was in earshot but didn't dare peek inside.
"Stop moving," Hermione's voice sounded annoyed.
"Sorry," Neville mumbled.
"It doesn't look so bad. You'll have a bruise but nothing's broken," Hermione delivered the prognosis.
"That's good to know," Neville sarcastically said.
"You can be as sarcastic and fickle as you want to be, but Ron has a point."
"Oh, so you're taking his side?"
"I'm not taking anyone's side," Hermione raised her voice but stayed calm, "You shouldn't be wearing the locket all the time. You can put it down for a second or give it to one of us. It's better for everyone that way."
"Not you too," Neville groaned. Ron could hear the creak of a bed and a set of footsteps hit the ground. He concluded that Neville rolled off the bed and stood in front of it.
"Just for a little. Please," Hermione pleaded.
After a moment, Ron heard a heavy thunk on table by Hermione's bed. Presumably, it was the locket.
"There? Better?" Neville rhetorically asked.
"Loads," Hermione replied.
"You know I can't say no to you," Neville said in a softer voice.
Hermione laughed, "You know that's not true at all."
Ron could hear the bed creak several times, indicating Hermione's movement.
"Sit down, I'm going to take another look at the bruise. I think I can do something about it," Hermione ordered.
Ron could hear Neville sit down and Hermione cluck her tongue as she inspected it.
"I don't know. Not much -"
"Ow!" Neville exclaimed.
"Sorry!" Hermione apologized earnestly, "Didn't mean to poke it."
"S'okay," Neville paused, "You know you're very pretty."
Ron was sure his eyebrows lifted off his head at this comment.
"Neville," Hermione chuckled nervously.
Ron heard a sudden shift on the bed and didn't need to imagine what just happened.
"Neville!" Hermione said in a strangled voice, "I'm - I'm sorry. Just…"
"What? I thought - I thought you - well - you know…" Neville trailed off.
"Neville, I'm sorry. I really am - I just - I don't know how I feel about you or if I feel anything like…that," Hermione lamely finished.
"But me and you…"
"I love you, Neville. You know I do. I just, there's…"
"It's about Harry, isn't it?" Neville said angrily.
"No! Yes! I don't - it's complicated," Hermione stuttered.
"What's wrong with me?"
"There's nothing wrong with you! There is not one single thing wrong with you, Neville. There's just - there's just Harry," Hermione admitted.
"Oh."
A hush fell over the room and Ron slowly let out a breathe he didn't know he was holding. The tension was running in him and he wasn't even involved in the conversation! He couldn't possibly walk away now, so Ron kept listening for the conversation to resume.
"Neville? Please say something," Hermione sounded desperate.
"What's there to say?" Neville said in a deep, chill voice.
"Anything. Tell me how you feel. Tell me something."
"What if there was no Harry?" Neville asked.
"I don't know," Hermione honestly answered, "I can't think of that."
"I see."
Ron heard Neville abruptly stand and start to leave the room. Ron panicked; he would surely be caught eavesdropping on this sensitive situation. Luckily, Hermione saved the day.
"Wait," Hermione called out, "Neville! We need to talk about this."
"What's there to talk about? Neville repeated in the same angry, deep voice, "You like Harry. You don't like me."
"No -"
"Shut up."
Ron didn't like that tone one bit.
"Neville…let go of me," Hermione said in a shaky voice.
Ron was starting to worry and slowly retrieved his wand out of his holster.
"No," Neville responded in a voice that was not his.
Hermione suddenly shrieked and Ron heard the bed suddenly groan heavily as if something had been tossed on it.
"Neville! Stop it!"
The sound of fabric ripping was enough to finally spur Ron into action. He jumped to the flap where the entrance of the room would be located but found nothing there. Ron frantically scratched against the leather material of the tent but found that the entrance flap was somehow sealed. Meanwhile, Hermione continued to shriek and yell.
Ron stepped back and pointed his wand at the leather material of the tent, "Diffindo."
Thankfully, the charm worked and split a makeshift entrance into Hermione's room. Ron jumped in and was horrified at the sight. Neville had Hermione pinned on the bed, his legs and arms effectively caging her beneath him. Various parts of her shirt were torn apart, leaving her exposed to him.
"STUPEFY!"
Ron roared the spell but was agonized to see it bend around Neville. Neville didn't seem to even notice the spell as he continued his forced assault on Hermione.
"RON, HELP!" Hermione shrieked as Neville muffled her mouth with his.
Unable to think of anything else, Ron gave an almighty yell and hurled his body at Neville. He knocked the lighter boy off Hermione and onto the ground. Neville tried to fight his grapple for a moment but Ron was too strong and had grown up with too many brothers. He pinned Neville to the ground and reared back his fist. For the second time in an hour, Ron punched Neville square in the face. He heard the satisfying crack of Neville's nose breaking. Neville groaned and brought his hands to his face, not bothering to escape from Ron's grasp on the ground.
Ron jumped off him once he realized that Neville stopped fighting. His best friend was still rolling on the ground, clutching his bleeding nose. Ron took one look back at Hermione and knew he had to take her away. Throwing a blanket over her, Ron ushered her out of the room with one look back at Neville.
Neville looked up in time to see Hermione flee the room with a blanket wrapped tightly around her. He met Ron's furious glare with a look of astonishment on his face. It was as if he had no clue what just happened. But Ron knew it wasn't the same as all of Voldemort's other intrusions. He knew because he saw Neville's face suddenly fall as he realized the consequences of his actions.
"Ron, I -"
Ron left before Neville could say anything else.
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Neville came to Ron's room twice in an attempt to apologize. Each time, Hermione would suddenly shiver at the sound of his voice. Ron simply told Neville to fuck off and to leave them alone.
Ron did not know what to do to console Hermione. That was always Neville's job - and recently, Harry's. He settled with patting her on the back occasionally and murmuring nonsensical words but couldn't do much else. He simply waited until she fell asleep. Ron tucked her in and sighed. She was wearing one of his shirts as Neville had effectively ripped off the one she was wearing. Fearful that Neville would try to confront them if he left the room, Ron settled with giving her one of his shirts until they could figure things out. Ron slept on the floor, his mind filled with Neville's unusual, cold voice.
It was Hermione who woke him up the next morning. She shook his shoulder, looking at him worriedly, her eyes going back and forth between him and the flap leading to his room.
"What's wrong?" Ron tiredly asked.
"I think Neville's gone," Hermione whispered.
"Gone?" Ron suddenly sat up.
"I went outside," Hermione gulped, "It was just to get some of my clothes, but he's gone. I couldn't hear him in his room so I looked in and he wasn't there. Ron…the Polyjuice is gone too."
"Shit," Ron realized what Neville was going to do.
Leaping up, Ron hastily scrambled to put his clothes on. Hermione was already dressed and biting her lip in worry. Once they were fully dressed, they investigated the situation in totality. Neville was neither in his room nor was he in Hermione's room. The Polyjuice potion was gone, but their prisoner Stephen was still bound in the conjured, extra room. That left only one logical conclusion: Neville was going after the Horcrux.
Ron and Hermione fled the room and ran to the hill that led to the basin where the camp was located. As they emerged over the horizon, they were shocked to see that the Death Eater camp was in full chaos. The dragon was off his chains and stomping through the camp, destroying everything in sight. Bright streaks of light were hitting the dragon but not affecting it in any way. The dragon, a Hungarian Horntail by the looks of it, opened it's mouth and jettisoned fire in a wide radius, killing and injuring various Death Eaters and Mixers.
"Stupid, fucking idiot," Ron cursed as he started running down the hill, Hermione close behind him.
The Death Eaters and Mixers probably didn't even notice the two teenagers streaking through the crowd. They were too preoccupied with either battling the dragon or running away from it. Ron and Hermione weaved in and out of the crowd, sending spells in various directions as no one really attempted to stop them. They needed to find Neville and extract him before he killed himself.
Ron ducked as a body went flying over his head, smashing against the tent behind him. Clutching Hermione's hand tightly, Ron kept moving against the crowd, hoping to find Neville in the crowd of people. Hermione shoved a Death Eater out of the way as she struggled to stay with Ron and avoid the dragon at the same time. Out of the corner of his eye, Ron spotted Neville's familiar face running from something.
"Neville!" Ron yelled.
That was a mistake. The dragon noticed the raised voice and swung its head to face Ron and Hermione. Ron suddenly froze, entranced by the dragon's gaze. He watched as the dragon opened it's mouth, the two little slits with the all consuming fire noticeable. He could feel the heat as the dragon let loose, but he couldn't feel the pain.
Ron was shocked to see some sort of shield deflecting the fire away from him. Looking up, Ron could see wizards on broomsticks flying above him, their wands pointed at the dragon. Not bothering to see who saved him from certain death, Ron pulled Hermione in the direction where he last saw Neville. The dragon was now preoccupied with the flying forces. It flapped it's wings weakly but was unable to lift off the ground. Someone had cursed it's wings so it couldn't fly. The wizards on the brooms took pot shots at it as they circled out of it's reach.
He spotted Neville streaking into a tent, something big clutched in his arms. Ron followed him and avoided a few more errant spells. Finally arriving at the tent, Ron wrenched it opened and ran inside, pulling Hermione along. Inside, Neville had already opened the tent and was staring at its contents.
"Neville! We need to get out of here! The dragon's going to eat us alive!" Ron yelled at him.
Neville didn't respond, frozen by the sight of whatever was inside the safe. Groaning to himself, Ron crawled his way over to Neville and pulled the boy by his shoulder.
"Neville, we need to…" Ron trailed off as he caught sight of what was in the safe or rather what wasn't in the safe.
There was nothing in the safe.
"It's empty…Stephen tricked us…" Neville was in shock.
There was a sinking feeling in Ron's stomach as he realized the failure of their mission, but they couldn't dwell any longer. He hauled Neville up by the armpits and despite all of Neville's actions in the past twenty-four hours, he helped his friend along.
"We'll get it later. Don't worry. Right now, we need to get out of here," Ron hoped that Neville would recognize the direness of their situation.
"Right," Neville nodded.
Unfortunately for them, the dragon decided that they were it's prey. Hermione shrieked as the tent was lifted off the ground, torn away by the dragon's claws. The dragon stood over them, it's head twitching in anger as it stared at the three teenagers. Ron couldn't see any of the flying wizards that saved him before and knew of nothing that could possibly stop the dragon. The dragon opened it's mouth and Ron could already feel the intense heat though the fire had not yet come. Frozen again by the dragon, Ron closed his eyes and accepted the inevitable.
Yet, saved by another deus ex machina, Ron was relieved to find a wizard jump in front of them and conjure a dark, blue shield. The fire couldn't penetrate the shield and Ron watched as the wizard actually pushed back the fire. Looking up, Ron spotted a masked figure jump off his broom and onto the dragon's neck. Racing up the column of the spine, the masked figure reached the head of the dragon and pointed his wand at the crown of his head. Ron didn't know what spell the masked man used, but it caused the dragon's head to explode in a brilliant shower of blood.
The mystery wizard waved his hand and stopped the blood from spilling all over them. He turned around and whistled lowly as he watched the dragon's headless corpse collapse before him. As he turned around, Ron was shocked to recognize the unruly black hair and the vivid, green eyes.
"You three sure know how to get in a spot of trouble," Harry said.
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