To Thwart The Darkness {Book 3}

The Terrible Taste of Heartache

A/N: Jetlag sucks.

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Hogwarts

After Nico had woken up and Will had made sure that he was okay, Will had attended to the other unconscious detention students. Then they slowly made their way back to their common rooms. The Hufflepuffs, with Nat and Piper leading them, split off in the entrance hall. Jason made sure that the Ravenclaws all got to the west tower and Will lead the Gryffindors with Nico on his shoulder. The few Slytherins who were there insisted that they could get to the dungeons on their own.

Enough was enough, Will thought as they stepped through the portrait into the Gryffindor common room. He had to do something, but he could think about all of that after Nico woke up. Neville, Seamus and Lavender were all sitting around the fireplace when they walked in. Neville saw and swore colourfully, scrambling to get up. Seamus and Lavender hurried over to help the injured students.

"Get everyone to bed," Neville commanded and they all trickled up the stairs, leaving the older kids alone. "What happened?"

"Detention," Will forced himself to reply. Nico's unconscious head was warm on his arm. He was relatively healed, but remnants of the punishment remained. "Please," his voice broke, "take him upstairs." Seamus gingerly took Nico from Will and carried him up the stairs. The moment they were out of sight, Will broke down into throaty sobs. Neville immediately led him over to the couch where he collapsed into himself. Lavender and Neville let him cry without saying anything.

The stress of this war, the Carrows, healing his boyfriend, the friends from Hogwarts that will die, everything had gotten too much for Will. He couldn't handle it anymore.

---

A Lake, Somewhere in England

Annabeth refused to go back into the tent. After Hermione had taken the barrier down, the three of them had rushed out. Only the wind and rain greeted them. There was no one. Even Dean's group had moved on to get out of the rain. Percy and Ron were no where to be seen.

But Annabeth wouldn't listen to reason.

Harry and Hermione begged her to come back into the tent, that it was hopeless because Ron could have apparated anywhere, but she ignored them and continued to shout for Percy. To run through the forest, dodging trees left and right, desperately looking for her fiancé.

The only thought racing through her mind was not again.

This couldn't be happening again. She can't have lost him again. Not again. Not again.

She was soaked to the teeth, the rain had gotten heavier as she ran, before Hermione caught up with her. Annabeth tried to resist when Hermione wrapped her arms around her, but Annabeth's arms shivered and shook and were too numb to move properly.

Harry wasn't far behind, a protective barrier over his head like an umbrella. The magic umbrella spread to cover the trio.

Annabeth was too cold to cry.

---

Shell Cottage

Percy stopped talking to Ron after the first day. By the second, he wouldn't even look at him. By the fifth, Percy avoided being in the same room as him altogether.

Percy was mad. No, he was beyond mad. He was furious.

After Ron had apparated them to the beach in front of Shell Cottage, Percy had gone silent. He'd looked around, realising exactly what happened, and slowly spun in a circle, taking it all in. When he turned back around to Ron, there was a cyclone in his eyes.

"Take me back."

It had been he last thing that Percy had said to Ron and it still echoed around in his mind, even after six whole days. Ron was still angry at Harry, and this silence from Percy was just fuelling that fire. He couldn't even enjoy his time with his brother and sister in law.

Bill and Fleur had taken them in. The cottage wasn't big enough for all of them, but they managed. Percy and Ron slept in the attic and helped Fleur with the household chores. Well, Percy helped. Ron sat, fuming, on the stairs out the front, staring at the crashing waves on the beach.

Ron still couldn't believe that Hermione had stayed with Harry. No, let him rephrase that, he could believe it. He just thought that maybe she would have changed her mind when Ron asked.

It was always Harry and Hermione. Harry was the Chosen One and Hermione was the brains. Ron was... he was just Ron. The redhead whose best friend was the Chosen One.

The salty air chilled his lungs and made him shiver. He brought his legs up to his chest but didn't go back inside.

He wished Hermione was here, with him. But she'd just talk about how I need to go back to Harry, he thought bitterly. It's always Harry, Harry, Harry. Ginny was obsessed with him. Hermione was obsessed with him. Even Ron's own mother was obsessed with the bloody Chosen One.

But without the Horcrux around his neck, these thoughts left Ron feeling empty and hollow. There was no anger behind them anymore, not really. There was a small spark of something in the back of his throat that kept him from admitting that maybe it was an overreaction to apparate away, but it wasn't anything that allowed Ron to truely grump.

So he stayed on the porch steps, staring at the blueish grey ocean and the dark clouds that were drifting further and further away.

He missed Hermione. The jealousy that had been eating him up for years had finally revealed it's ugly head and Ron had lost two of his best friends.

He didn't even realise he was crying.