Rosabella Black|Daughter Of Sirius Black|(Book 7)

Deathly Hallows

Harry's Point Of View:
I had not expected Hermione's anger to abate over night and was therefore unsurprised that she communicated mainly by dirty looks and pointed silences the next morning. Ron responded by maintaining an unnaturally somber demeanor in her presence as an outward sign of continuing remorse.
In fact, when all three of us were together I felt like the only non - mourner at a poorly attended funeral. During those few moments Ron and I spent alone, however (collecting water and searching the undergrowth for mushrooms). Ron became shamelessly cheery.
   "Someone helped us. I hope it was Ro but still someone helped us. Someone sent that doe, Someone's on our side, One Horcrux down, mate!" Ron kept saying.

Bolstered by the destruction of the locket we set to debating the possible locations of the other Horcruxes and even though we had discussed the matter so often before. I felt optimistic, certain that more breakthroughs would succeed the first. Hermione's sulkiness could not mar my buoyant spirits. The sudden upswing in our fortunes, the appearance of the mysterious doe, the recovery of Gryffindor's sword, and above all, Ron's return made me so happy that it was quite difficult to maintain a straight face.

Late in the afternoon Ron and I escaped Hermione's baleful presence again and under the pretense of scouring the bare hedges for nonexistent blackberries, we continued our ongoing exchange of news. I had finally managed to tell Ron the whole story of Hermione's and mines various wanderings, right up to the full story of what had happened at Godric's Hollow. Ron was now filling me in on everything he had discovered about the wider Wizarding world during his weeks away.
    ". . . and how did you find out about the Taboo?" Ron asked me after explaining the many desperate attempts of Muggle - borns to evade the Ministry.
   "The what?" I asked.
   "You and Hermione have stopped saying You - Know - Who's name!" Ron said.
   "Oh, yeah, Well, it's just a bad habit we've slipped into. But I haven't got a problem calling him V –" I said.
   "NO!" Ron roared, causing me to jump into the hedge and Hermione (nose buried in a book at the tent entrance) to scowl over at us.
    "Sorry, but the name's been jinxed, Harry, that's how they track people! Using his name breaks protective enchantments, it causes some kind of magical disturbance – it's how they found us in Tottenham Court Road!" Ron said, wrenching me back out of the brambles.
     "Because we used his name?" I questioned.
   "Exactly! You've got to give them credit, it makes sense. It was only people who were serious about standing up to him, like Dumbledore, who even dared use it. Now they've put a Taboo on it, anyone who says it is trackable – quick - and - easy way to find Order members! They nearly got Kingsley –" Ron said.
   "You're kidding?" I said.
   "Yeah, a bunch of Death Eaters cornered him, Bill said but he fought his way out. He's on the run now just like us." Ron said and scratched his chin thoughtfully with the end of his wand.   
   "You don't reckon Kingsley could have sent that doe?" Ron said, hopefully.
   "His Patronus is a lynx, we saw it at the wedding, remember?" I reminded him.
   "Oh yeah. . ." Ron said.

We moved farther along the hedge, away from the tent and Hermione.
    "Harry. . . you don't reckon it could've been Dumbledore?" Ron said.
   "Dumbledore what?" I asked in bewilderment.
Ron looked a little embarrassed.   
    "Dumbledore . . . the doe? I mean,he had the real sword last, didn't he?" Ron said in a low voice, watching me out if the corner of his eyes.
I did not laugh at Ron, because I understood too well the longing behind the question. The idea that Dumbledore had managed to come back to us, that he was watching over us, would have been inexpressibly comforting.

I shook his head.

   "Dumbledore's dead. I saw it happen, I saw the body. He's definitely gone. Anyway his Patronus was a phoenix, not a doe." I said.
   "Patronuses can change, though can't they? Tonks's changed didn't it? So did Ro's." Ron said.
    "Yeah, but if Dumbledore was alive, why wouldn't he show himself? Why wouldn't he just hand us the sword?" I said.
   "Search me. Same reason he didn't give it to you while he was alive? Same reason he left you an old Snitch and Hermione a book of kid's stories?" Ron said.
   "Which is what?" I asked, turning to look Ron full in the face desperate for the answer.
   "I dunno. Sometimes I've thought, when I've been a bit hacked off, he was having a laugh or – or he just wanted to make it more difficult. But I don't think so, not anymore. He knew what he was doing when he gave me the Deluminator, didn't he? He — well," Ron said and his ears turned bright red and he became engrossed in a tuft of grass at his feet, which he prodded with his toe,
    "he must've known I'd run out on you." Ron finished.
    "No. He must've known you'd always want to come back." I corrected him.