𝑈𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 ☾ 𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑜 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑓𝑜𝑦

Three To Go ☾ 7-09

I was inside now, huddling at the table with Draco, as we reviewed more books Hermione had brought with her. Frustrated with our fruitless search, I huffed a sigh and notified Draco and Hermione that I'd be going outside for a break. Draco whispered for me to be careful and squeezed my hand as I stepped outside. Harry was supposed to be sitting out here on watch, but he was nowhere to be found. I took a few steps forward and noticed a discarded blanket and Harry's mirror shard on the ground. Concerned, I wrapped his blanket around my shoulders and started walking to look for him.

I followed his frosted footprints over to a small frozen pond, an outcropping from the large river a ways away. Harry's clothes lay discarded on the bank of the pond, and I heard mild thumping and thrashing from underneath the ice.

"Harry! What the bloody hell are you doing?" I cried, rushing over to him and using my wand to melt the ice. The locket clinked against his chest as I pulled him up over the edge. I hurried him over to the side and used the blanket to dry him off as quickly as I could. As he started to pull the cold but still dry clothes over his head, I heard a splash in the pond. Whipping around, Harry and I were astonished to see the one and only Ron Weasley. He clutched the sword of Gryffindor in his hand, and was shivering in his now sopping wet clothes.

"Are you mental?" He asked, walking toward us.

"Thanks Aurora." Harry mumbled and I nodded, looking up at Ron. "You cast the doe as well, then?" Harry asked looking up at his former best friend. Ron frowned.

"I thought that was you." He said to Harry.

"No, my patronus is a stag." Harry answered.

"And yours is a dog, isn't it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at Ron. He nodded.

"Right, yeah. Stags have antlers." He muttered to himself. Harry nodded and shivered in the cold. We quickly moved somewhat closer to the tent, but far enough away to prevent any damage from what we were about to do. Harry took the locket off of his neck, and placed it carefully on a log.

"Alright, Ron." Harry said, stepping back and gesturing to the locket. I crossed my arms in front of me, starting to regret the lack of layers.

"I can't handle it." Ron argued, his face plastered with worry. "That thing affects me more than it affects you all."

"All the more reason." Harry argued back.

"No, I can't." Ron stepped back, still holding the sword.

"Then why are you here?" Harry stated blatantly, frowning. "Why did you come back?" When Ron didn't answer, he sighed and looked down at his feet before looking back up. "Now, I'll have to speak to it in order for it to open. When it does, don't hesitate. I don't know what's in there but I know it'll put up a fight. The bit of Riddle that was in that diary tried to kill me."

"Right." Ron breathed, looking nervous. I put my hand on his shoulder, prepared to take over should anything happen.

"One... two..." As Harry counted, Ron raised the sword high over his head, posed to strike. "Three." He whispered and hissed in the familiar parseltongue, and the locket flipped open. It screeched and hissed with the exposure, and whatever was inside paused a moment before bursting out in a furious swirl of blackness. It was like ink, and the force of it knocked us all to the ground. I covered my ears as the harsh and high-pitched screeches assaulted my ears. The ink-like blackness formed the shapes of our nightmares, including dementors, hideous-looking demons, and Voldemort himself.

"I have seen your heart," A hissing voice echoed from the locket, and I scrambled back from the lick of blackness that shot toward Ron and I. It targeted him, for he was the one with the power to kill it. "And it is mine. I have seen your dreams, Ronald Weasley, and I have seen your fears." Ron scrambled back toward me as a collection of blank tarantulas formed from the ink and smoke, crawling toward him in a wave of legs and pincers. "Least loved by your mother who craved a daughter. Least loved by the girl who prefers your friend." Harry jerked forward from the other side of the smoke.