Chapter Twenty-One

5.3K 160 61
                                    

Vote if you enjoy!



Ron falls to his knees. The sword slips from his hand. Harry pulls himself up and walks over to the log, where he picks up the smashed necklace, eyeing the locket as the fabric inside it continues to smoke. He walks over to Ron, placing a hand on his shoulder and looking down at him.

"She cried for a week, after you left," Harry says. Ron sniffs, "She's like my sister."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I left." Ron mumbles,

"You've made up for it by doing what you've done. You kept Clara safe, you destroyed the Horcrux-"

"Save your life," Ron murmurs, and Harry smiles,

"That too."

As the sun starts to rise, we collect our things and follow Harry towards where they're camped.

xxx

As we approach the tent, I bite my lip, unsure as to what to expect from Hermione. The fire smoulders quietly outside of the tent's doors. Harry grins,

"Hermione!"

I hear something from inside the tent, and then shes emerges, blinking in the dull morning light,

"Is everything alright?" She freezes, her eyes falling on me, and then Ron. Harry grabs me and pulls me out of her way quicker than I could've managed as she storms up to him, starting to throw punches,

"Hey, ow, Hermi-"

"You - complete - arse - Ronald Weasley!" She shrieks, yanking his rucksack off him and throwing it at him with all the force she can muster. Her shoulders are hunched and her hands are fists. I gulp. She glances at me, gritting her teeth and stepping towards me. I go to step back, but step onto my bad leg and whimper, staggering into Harry. She stops,

"The only reason I'm not hitting you is that I don't need to... But you!" She turns back to Ron, her eyes like daggers, she glances at Harry, "Harry, where's my wand?"

Harry shrugs, "I don't-"

"Where's my wand?!"

"Why does he have your wand?" Ron buts in,

"Nevermind why he has my wand!" Hermione falters, her eyes narrowing, "What's that?"

Ron raises the smashes locket up, and Hermione's eyes widen.

"You destroyed it?"

Ron nods.

"And how exactly is it you have the sword of Gryffindor?"

"It's a long story."

She glances at me, and then Ron, "Don't think this changes anything."

xxx

I sit outside, picking at the thawed ground below me and running my thumb over Draco's ring. We've been here for almost a month, not needing to move, watching as the snow melts and spring starts peaking its head in. My leg doesn't heal quickly this time. I can walk normally again, but I can't run for the life of me. The ice water didn't help anything. Neither did the apparating. One or both of them tore open a few sections of my scar again.

Hermione sits opposite me, leaning on a tree and biting her lip. She's reading the book Dumbledore gave her. The Fellowship Of The Ring sits next to me on the forest floor. I have one chapter left. I don't want to read it yet. I won't have anything left to read.

"Hermione?"

"Mm?"

"Do you think I'll ever see him again?"

Hermione looks up from her book, furrowing her brow, "I don't know, honestly."

I nod, looking back down at my hands.

"You might, but I don't know if it'll be..." She searches for the right words, "I don't know if it'll be pleasant."

We might be fighting against each other. We might be attending the other's funeral. We might both be dead.

She returns to her book, not knowing what else to say. I do the same, and as the last inches of the book slowly drift off the pages and into my mind, I feel as though I'm losing track of him, too. I feel as though as the book ends, we finally are as well.

Then shouldering their burdens, they set off, seeking a path that would bring them over the grey hills of the Emyn Muil, and down into the Land of Shadow.

I close the book, taking a deep breath.

I hear Hermione snap her book closed and get up.

"Clara, come inside."

I nod and try to pull myself up, wincing slightly as I gain my balance. She watches me, knowing I'll refuse her help. I need to get used to doing it on my own. She leads me into the tent, where th boys are sitting on the bottom bunk in the first room.

"We need to talk." She says matter-of-factly, and Ron leaps to his feet, standing next to me.

"Alright," Ron says,

She ignores him, "I want to see Xenophilius Lovegood."

"Pardon?" I say, confused,

She rolls her eyes, opening her book and pointing to a symbol, a triangle with a line running from top to bottom, splitting the circle that sits inside in half. I frown at it, feeling a sense of familiarity. It looks like a strange eye.

"See this? It's a letter Dumbledore wrote to Grindelwald. Look at the signature. It's the mark again." She explains, "It keeps cropping up. Here. In Beedle the Bard. In the graveyard in Godric's Hollow - "

"What does it mean?" Ron asks, and Hermione sighs,

"Harry, you don't have a clue where the next Horcrux is. And neither do I. But this, this means something. I'm sure of it."

I motion at the book asking to see it, and she hands it to me. I eye the symbol, biting my lip.

"I think Hermione's right. I think we ought to go and see Lovegood. What say we vote on it? Those in favour..." I jab Ron in the ribs, and he drops his raised hand. Hermione and Harry glance at each other, with concerned and slightly amused looks on their faces.

xxx

Guess who's birthday it is

Mine

Ya girl is 17 kiddos

The War | The Sister Book #4 | Harry Potter FanfictionWhere stories live. Discover now