Butterfly Effect ; H. Potter

132. it's nice to have a friend.

Antheia blinked. She was surrounded by trees once again but this time, the leaves were huge and the trees taller than any other she had ever seen — except perhaps the Whomping Willow. She looked around, processing what had just happened. Her eyes found Ron, his back to her. He had not yet realized she had come with him.

"Ronald."

Ron whipped around, his eyes widening at the sight of her.

"What? What in the bloody hell are you doing here? How are you -"

"I grabbed your arm to stop you," interrupted Antheia impatiently, "but you had just started to Disapparate away. I didn't know you were going to leave that quickly! Ron, we have to go back -"

Ron groaned, his hands covering his face.

"I can't go back!" he said. "I just stormed out! Harry's going to hate me if I go back now!"

"You want to go back though, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" said Ron miserably. "I wasn't really mad, well — I was, but it was more that bloody locket."

Antheia sighed; she put her hands on her head, wondering the outcome of her two choices — going back sooner or later.

"We could go back and see if Harry's calmed down," said Antheia. "He probably has. He's your best friend; he can't stay mad at you."

"No!" snapped Ron. "I just stormed out! Hermione's going to kill me!"

"If Hermione is your biggest fear right now, should we even be on the hunt for Vol—"

"Don't say his name!"

"—You-Know-Who?"

Ron sighed in relief. He looked around, taking in the landscape around him.

"Could we set up a tent here somehow?" he asked. Antheia thought for a moment. All the camping supplies were in Hermione's bag. They had nothing but their wands with them.

"All we can do is set up some spells for protection," she said. "What was it Hermione was always saying? Muffliato ... Protego Maxima ..."

Ron sat down against a tree stump. "We should head back tomorrow after we get some rest. Theia, I — I really am sorry for storming out and taking you with me."

Antheia moved her wand over the invisible barrier that was now surrounding them. "Yeah, you were a huge git. Let's just get some sleep. You think a rock would be too hard of a pillow?"

"I'd rather sleep on the top of a dragon."

"The rock it is."

Shockingly enough, Antheia and Ron slept quite soundly that night. In their dreams, they would enter a world that was entirely their own, not Voldemort's or the Ministry's. And in her deepest and most fantastical dreams, Antheia was back at Hogwarts, eating dinner in the Great Hall accompanied by Headmaster Dumbledore.

─ ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─

The two of them awoke early that morning, woken up by the sun rising over the horizon. If they weren't in their current situation, Antheia thought she might've felt at peace where she was.

"No food, right?" asked Ron. "Hermione said you can't make food out of nothing."

"Wow, Ron, you actually listened to Hermione?" said Antheia, laughing. "I think we should head back now. Hopefully, they're still at the same spot."

"You think we can find them, with all the protection spells Hermione put in place?" said Ron anxiously. "We can't see them, we can't hear them, we can't —"