Harry took his turn again with wearing the Horcrux around his neck. It was another quiet night in their next hiding place. A light rainstorm came upon them, pitter-pattering against the canvas of the tent. Harry sat far from them in a distance.

"He doesn't know what he's doing. Does he?" Ron finally asked in a bitter tone.

Annie glared. Ron ignored her.

"That's my brother you're talking about," she snapped. "Please be a bit more cautious with your words, Ron."

Unfortunately, Hermione had seemed to agree with Ron, making Annie feel a bit pissed about everything.

After a few days of nothing, they were sitting in their campout once more. Ron was lying on the lower bunk with his arm no longer in its sling. Hermione had decided to take it off a couple of days ago, but she was still hesitant about Apparating anywhere .

No sound was heard, except for the gentle snipping noises of her scissors as she cut Sera's brother's hair. Finally, she came to a halt, looking stunned.

"Oh, my God," she whispered in amazement.

"What?" Annie asked, looking up from her journal.

Annie had never seen Hermione look so excited ever since she realized that all of her friends had been safe after the rescue/suicide mission that everyone had been willing to take in order to save her brother and bring him safely to the Burrow.

Hermione immediately abandoned the scissors and rushed straight to the kitchen table.

"I'll tell you in a minute!"

Annie got to her feet, intrigued by what had made Hermione so excited in the first place.

"Maybe you could tell us, now?" Annie asked in a hopeful voice.

Luckily, Hermione seemed to have given in. She grinned broadly as she pulled out her A History of Magic out of her beaded bag.

"Yeah? So, what? What does a sword being goblin-made have to do with destroying the Horcruxes?" Annie asked, confused.

"No, no, no! said Hermione. "You don't understand, do you? Dirt and rust has no effect on the blade. Which means, it only takes what makes it stronger."

Annie was still confused. She had no idea what Hermione was coming up with. Hermione only huffed and turned to face Annie.

"Annie. You destroyed Tom Riddle's diary with a Basilisk fang in the Chamber of Secrets after Tom Riddle had tried to kidnap and kill Dante, right?"

"I did. So, what? Are you telling me that you've got one of those bloody things in your bag? I never want to go near those things again. Even today, the Basilisk still gives me nightmares. And it's been years since the Chamber of Secrets ordeal."

Hermione cut her off with a groan of disbelief. "Don't you see, Annie?! In the Chamber of Secrets, you stabbed the Basilisk with the Sword of Gryffindor in our second year, didn't you?"

"I don't need to be put through those memories again, Hermione," Annie reminded her. "Can you please just get to the point?"

"Annie, how are you so oblivious to everything right now? Don't you get it? The blade is impregnated with the Basilisk's venom!"

Annie pondered over Hermione's words for a moment. It finally dawned on her.

Hermione was right. How was she so stupid to not recognize what Hermione had been telling her the entire time? She found herself repeating her friend's words.

"It only takes in that which makes it stronger . . ."

"Exactly!" Hermione breathed, her eyes bright with a hint of delight in her voice. "Which means -"

"It can destroy Horcruxes! And not with just the Basilisk fangs! God, Hermione! What would we do without you?"

"Which is why Dumbledore left it to you in his Will, Annie! If you saved Dante by killing the Basilisk with that sword, and the Basilisk venom was running in its veins -"

Annie found herself beaming at Hermione, proud at what she had just discovered.

"You're brilliant, Hermione!" she gushed. "You truly are!"

Hermione blushed at Annie's words. "I'm actually highly intelligent, which allows me to look past the extraneous details and perceive clearly that which others tend to overlook."

Annie nodded. "Okay. The only problem is that -"

The lights suddenly flickered on and off from Ron's Deluminator. They turned to face Ron, who came from the corner. He had a scowl on his face, which Annie thought was unusual. She frowned in return.

"What's up with you?" Annie asked, alarmed.

Ron's scowl only deepened.

"The sword was stolen." Everyone stared at each other in surprise. "Yeah, that's right. I'm still here. Carry on with your chatting without me. Don't let me spoil your fun."

Everyone glanced at each other. Annie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"What's got your wand in a knot?" she asked. At the same time, her brother asked,

"What's up with you?"

Ron only scowled, glancing from one twin to the other.

"Problem? There's no problem with me. Not according to you, anyways."

Heavier drops of rain began to pitter-patter on the rough canvas of the tent. A tense silence filled the air. Sera could feel Dante tensing nervously against her.

"Look. Whatever it is, don't be shy," Harry blurted out. "If you've got something to say, spill it out. Don't be afraid."

Ron glared at them. "All right. I'll spill it out. Don't expect me to skip up and come down because now there's some other damn thing that we've gotta now find."

"Ron, it's not like we're going to be looking for the sword right away," Annie chided gently. "The sword comes to the person who needs it the most, remember?"

Ron seemed to ignore her. Harry frowned Ron, looking confused.

"I thought that you knew what you signed up for at the end of last year."

"Yeah, I've thought so, too."

"I don't understand. What part of this wasn't living up to your expectations? Did you expect to stay at a five-star hotel every other night? Finding Horcruxes every other day? Did you think that you'd be back at your Mum's by Christmas?"

"No," Ron bit back in return. "I just reckoned that, after all this time, we would have achieved something by now. I reckoned that you knew what you were doing. I reckoned that Dumbledore would have told you something that was worthwhile! I thought you had a proper plan!"

"I told you everything that Dumbledore had told me!" Harry shot back. "And, in case you haven't noticed, we've already found a Horcrux! At least two of them are already destroyed!"

"Yeah?! And we're about as near as getting rid of it as we were finding the rest of them, aren't we?!"

Annie watched the argument nervously with tears in her eyes. She had never seen her brother, or Ron, argue with each other. It made her extremely nervous and was very much afraid that, if they did not make up quickly, Ron would definitely leave them.

"Boys! Stop, please!" she pleaded. She tried to hurry over towards them, but Dante had pulled her back. He did not want her to get hurt in case an actual, physical fight broke out between the two boys.

"Take it off, Ron," Hermione pleaded desperately. Annie knew that she was talking about the Horcrux. "Please take it off. You wouldn't be behaving like this if you haven't had it on all day -"

"Yeah, he would," Harry immediately interrupted. "D'you think I would have noticed that the two of you have been whispering to each other behind my back? D'you think I would have guessed what you two were thinking about me?"

"Harry, we promise! We weren't -" Hermione began in a small voice. But Ron interrupted her, yelling back at Harry.

"Don't lie! You've said it, too! You said that you were disappointed -"

"No! I didn't! Not like that! Harry, I swear, I didn't -"

"Do you know why I've been listening to the radio every night, Harry?!" Ron practically bellowed. "Do you?! It's to make sure that I don't hear my little sister's name?! Fred and George?! My Mum and D -"

"You're telling me that you don't think that I listen to all that crap, too?! You think that I don't know what it's like to have people sacrificing their lives for me, left and right?! To save me and my sister?!"

"NO!" Ron roared. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE! YOU CLEARLY DON'T! YOU AND ANNIE - YOU HAVE NO FAMILY! YOUR PARENTS ARE CLEARLY DEAD!"

Annie gasped at Ron's words and tears came to her eyes. Yes, Ron knew that hers and Harry's parents were dead. But she was sure that Ron didn't mean to say those words. Not on purpose. Dante noticed the shocked look on Annie's face, which had now drained of its color. He carefully walked over towards the shocked girl and put a hesitant arm around her waist.

Both boys glared at each other in silence. Then, Harry was the first to lash out, trying to rip at Ron's throat while Ron tried to rip out his best friend's hair. If they weren't careful, they were going to end up hurting each other, and not just mentally.

"STOP!" Hermione pleaded desperately in the background. "Stop - please!"

She ripped both boys away while Annie and Dante watched, dumbfounded and shocked. Too shocked to say anything or move. Harry finally pointed his wand at Ron's neck.

"Go, then!" Harry spat furiously. "Leave, if that's what you want! But you're not going anywhere with that thing around your neck!"

Ron shot Harry a murderous look. Then he yanked the chain off his neck before tossing it aside. It landed in the shadows, somewhere within the corner of the tent. He turned to glare at Hermione.

"And you?" he seethed. "Are you coming, or are you staying?"

Hermione blinked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"M-Me?"

"Are you staying, or are you coming?"

Hermione said nothing, but the answer seemed to be evident in her eyes. Ron's own eyes burned with jealousy.

"Fine. I get it. By the way, I saw you two together the other night. Yeah, that's right. You didn't know that I knew that you were going behind my back, were you?"

Hermione looked quite confused and hurt. Ron turned to face Annie and Dante, who were still standing in the same place, still looking shocked by the scene that had folded in front of them. Sera's heart beat painfully against her ribs.

"I don't need to ask either of you," Ron bit at them. "I can see it in your eyes - you're going nowhere."

And with that, he turned on his heel, and left the tent.

Lightning flashed in the air, followed by a loud crack of thunder. Rain poured down even harder, landing heavily against the rough canvas of the tent.

"Ron," Hermione breathed anxiously. "No - Ron! Come back!"

Ron did not listen. Harry glared angrily at the Horcrux that now laid on the hard sofa in front of them. Hermione continued to scream out Ron's name pleadingly. But seconds later, she came back in, looking distraught and lost.

"He - He's gone!" she declared, spluttering in shock. Her hair was now soaked, despite being in the rain for only a few seconds. "He's Disapparated!"

***Okay, I had originally planned on having Dante leave with Ron, but there's a reason why I had Dumbledore give Dante his vial of Phoenix tears. So we'll see how it turns out. Saying no more here, I don't want to spoil anything 😈😈😈***