Just after setting up the tent in a new part of the forest for the fourth time in two weeks, Ron shoved past Harry and I while we celebrated how little time it had taken us to finish.

"Come on," Ron said grumpily. "Dinner."

We followed him into the tent, marvelling at how large it was on the inside despite its small appearance. I helped set the table and we sat down.

Slytherin's locket bounced against Ron's chest as he took a seat. He didn't bother to hide how angry he was.

Hermione and Harry began talking about the Horcruxes.

"We should go after Hufflepuff's cup next," Hermione suggested.

"Well, where do you think You-Know-Who could've hidden it?" asked Harry. It took me a minute to remember the taboo on Voldemort's name.

"Ron?" Hermione said, looking at the ginger.

"Remembered me, have you?" Ron said, frowning.

"What?"

"You two carry on," he said coldly. "Don't let me spoil all the fun."

"What's the problem?"

"Problem? There's no problem," said Ron, staring down at this hands, "not according to you, anyway."

A light sound told me that it had started raining outside; perfect weather for the mood.

"Well, you've obviously got a problem," I said, standing up. "Spit it out, would you?"

"Fine, I'll spit it out," Ron growled. "Don't expect me to skip up and down the tent because there's another damn thing we need to find. Just add it to the list of stuff you don't know."

"We don't know?" repeated Harry. "We don't know?"

"It's not like I'm not having the time of my life here," said Ron, scowling, "you know, with my arm mangled and nothing to eat and freezing my backside off every night. I just hoped, you know, after we'd been running around a few weeks, we'd have achieved something."

"Ron," Hermione said quietly.

"I thought you knew what you'd signed up for," I said defensively.

"Yeah, I thought I did too."

"So, what part of it isn't like up to your expectations?" Harry asked. "Did you think we'd be staying in five-star hotels? Finding a Horcrux every other day? Think you'd be back to Mummy by Christmas?"

"I thought you knew what you were doing!" shouted Ron, standing up. "I thought you had a real plan!"

"Ron!" Hermione shouted. Ron ignored her.

"Well, sorry to let you down," Harry said, voice hollow. "I've been straight with you from the start. I told you everything Dumbledore told me. And in case you haven't noticed, we've found one Horcrux--"

"We're about as near getting rid of it as we are finding them! In other words, nowhere near!"

"Take off the locket, Ron," I said, trying to calm down. "Please take it off. You wouldn't be talking like this if you hadn't been wearing it all day."

"Yeah, he would," said Harry, his patience gone. "D'you think we haven't noticed you three whispering behind our backs? D'you think I didn't guess you were thinking this stuff?"

"Harry," said Hermione, her voice oddly high, "we haven't--"

"Don't lie!" Ron yelled. "You said it too, you said you were disappointed--"

"I didn't say it like that, Harry, I didn't!" Hermione cried.

The excitement of a few minutes ago was gone. Tears poured down Hermione's face as the rain pounded the tent.

"Then why are you still here?" I asked Ron.

"Go home," said Harry.

"Maybe I will!" Ron stepped up to my brother. "Didn't you say what they said about my sister? But you don't give a rat's fart, do you, it's only the Forbidden Forest, Harry-I've-Faced-Worse-Potter doesn't care what happens to her in there! Well, I do!"

"She was with the others and Hagrid—"

"Yeah, we get it, you don't care about my family!"

"Ron!" Hermione forced her way in between the two. "I don't think it means anything new has happened. Bill's already scarred, plenty of people have seen George's missing ear by now, and you're supposed to be on your deathbed with spattergroit, I'm sure that's all he meant—"

"Oh, you're sure, are you? Right then, I won't bother myself with them. It's alright for you two, isn't it, with your parents safe?"

"Our parents are dead!" I yelled.

"And mine could be going the same way!" Ron answered.

"Then GO!" yelled Harry. "Go back to them, pretend you've gotten over your spattergroit and Mummy'll be able to feed you and-–"

Ron jerked forward, ready to fight, but Hermione created a shield to block him from touching Harry. Ron stumbled backwards, alone on his side of the shield. When he stood up again, he shot a glare at Harry.

"Leave the Horcrux."

Ron ripped it off and stormed out the tent.

"Ron!" Hermione yelled, rushing out after him.

He ignored her.

"Ron!" she yelled again.

And he was gone.

Hermione slowly walked back in, tears in her eyes. "He D-Disapparated."

We slowly climbed into our beds, listening to the rain and Hermione's sobs.

~~~

"Hermione," Harry said some three weeks and seven campsites after Ron left, "I want to go to Godric's Hollow."

"Harry! That's brilliant!" Hermione responded happily. "We can meet Bathilda Bagshot and talk about the sword! If anyone knew about it, it would be her!"

"You just want to see their graves, don't you?" I whispered to Harry.

"Yeah."

We moved our campsite once more and then we were close enough to Godric's Hollow that we could go. Hermione had extra Polyjuice potion from or visit to the Ministry, so we used that to hide our identities.

We walked from the campsite into the town. "Wow," I whispered, looking around.

"Harry, I think it's Christmas!" Hermione said, pointing at a large decorated tree in the town square. Fluffy snow fell softly onto the tree and the ground around us.

Soon, we made our way to the graveyard.

"Y/n, look at this." Hermione pointed to a grave. "That mark has been appearing in the book Dumbledore gave me!"

"Odd."

"Y/n!" Harry shouted. I ran over to him, eager to finally see our parents' graves.

When I reached them, I looked down sadly. Here lie James and Lily Potter, the double tombstone read.

"I think we should go now," said Hermione, walking out of the graveyard. Sadly, Harry and I followed.

We walked toward Bathilda Bagshot's house.
Once inside, I noticed that everything was coated with a layer of dust even thicker than the one at Grimmauld place.

A woman walked down the stairs.

"Are you Bathilda Bagshot?" Hermione asked.

She nodded.

"Come," she said in a low tone.

I looked back at Hermine, who looked puzzled.

"Come," Bathilda repeated.

Hermione stayed behind in the sitting room while Harry and I climbed the creaking stairs with Bathilda.

The woman let out a hiss and melded into a snake, falling to the ground momentarily before jumping up to bite us. Hermione dashed up the stairs and suddenly we crashed through a window, shattered glass raining everywhere.

As we crashed to the ground, Voldemort's pale face appeared in the house, staring down at us angrily.

~~~

My eyes opened slowly, exhaustion aching through my bones. I was laying on my bed in the tent, Hermione standing by me.

I sat up. "What happened?"

"Well, all I know is that so-called Bathilda took you upstairs, turned into Nagini, You-Know-Who's snake, and then You-Know-Who himself came and I had to shoot you out of the window."

I tried to stand up, but I fell back again, my scar searing with pain. Voldemort was extremely angry.

Hermione made me stay on my bed, so I took a moment to think. Were Draco and Star okay? Should I be mad at Star for rushing them out of there? Would they actually have died if they stayed?

I felt my eyes blurring with tears. I missed them so much. Draco always made me feel safe, but when I need him most, he's not here. I hated this.

~~~

Later that night, it was Harry's turn to do the watch, and I decided to join him.

"Harry?" I said, sitting down next to him.

"Yes?"

"Do you think Ron's okay?"

"I wish I could say yes," he answered slowly, "but I can't. I hope so, though. Hermione's so sad without him."

"Yeah. I know how that feels."

"Do you miss Malfoy?"

I nodded hesitantly. "I could have saved him and Star. If I had just had more time, I could have convinced them to join us."

"There's no point in dwelling over the past, Y/n," Harry said calmly. "You did what you could."

"I-I know." Tears welled in my eyes at the memory of the night they left. "But—"

"No buts. Even though I don't like them, I understand that you care about them."

I wiped the water from my face quickly. "Bloody Hell, Harry. I miss them so much it hurts."

Harry put his arm around me to comfort me. I was about to reciprocate the hug, but a silver doe appeared in front of us.

Harry and I stood up, following the doe into the forest. It ran until it reached a large, icy lake, then it dispersed.

"I'm going in," said Harry, looking through the ice. "The sword of Gryffindor is in there."

"How do you know?"

"I have a feeling," Harry said, even though it sounded more like a question.

Quickly, Harry took off his shirt and jeans and spelled the ice so it broke. He dove in.

I sat down, expecting Harry to come back in just a few seconds. I started to get worried, though, when two minutes passed.

A quick movement caught my attention and suddenly, Ron was next to me.

"Ron!" I shouted. "You're back!"

"Yeah," he said, looking at the water. "Is he okay?"

Without waiting for an answer, Ron dove in and pulled Harry onto the bank. Ron swam back down and got the sword.

"Why," Ron said, falling into the snow, "the hell didn't you take this off?" He pointed at the Slytherin locket, still dangling on Harry's neck.

Harry ripped it off and I saw a large red mark where it had been.

"Ron?" Harry asked.

"That's me."

Harry got up quickly, dressed, and hugged Ron.

"Time to destroy this thing," I said, walking next to them and pointing at the locket now in Ron's hand.

We walked over to a flat rock, where Ron placed the locket.

"As soon as I open it, you swing the sword down and destroy it."

"Got it," Ron said, holding the sword. 

Harry said, "Open," in Parseltongue and the locket swung open.

A weird, grey cloud-like substance poured from the locket. It formed into two people: Harry and Hermione.

"Now, Ron!"

He didn't move.

"Who would ever want a son like you?" locket-Hermione said, pulling locket-Harry closer. "Your mother told me herself, she would much rather have Harry as a son than you."

"RON!" Harry yelled.

Locket-Harry and locket-Hermione began kissing. The grey mist grew started growing larger.

"ARGHHH!"

Ron slammed the sword down, shattering the locket in a clean cut. He fell to his knees, shaking.

"Thank you, Ron," I said, helping him up. "Oh, Merlin, Hermione's going to kill him."

We pulled him along to the tent.

"Hermione!" I said, shaking her awake.

"Huh?" she said, sitting up. "If someone's not dead or hurt, you will be for waking me up."
Hermione walked with me to where Ron stood.

"Ronald, you complete arse!" Hermione said, punching Ron with every word.

"Ow!"

"Protego!" I said, blocking Hermione from hurting Ron.

"Give me my wand, Y/n!" said Hermione, walking toward him. "Give me my wand!"

"No!"

Hermione backed up. "You're actually back."

"She really missed you," I whispered. "She cried for a week."

"Really?"

"Yeah." I grabbed Ron's arm and dragged him to his bed. "Go to bed. We've had a long night."