THE NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH | RON WEASLEY [BOOK FIVE]

13. YOU CAN SMILE NOW

"We were better without you, happier without you." the figure that was Harry said, walking hand-in-hand with the false image of Gene.

"Who could look at you beside Harry Potter? What are you, compared with the Chosen One?" Gene heard her voice say, though it wasn't her.

She looked past the smoke, blinking rapidly as she watched Ron standing transfixed by the image, sword in hand.

"It lies! Stab it! Ron, stab it!" Harry's voice pulled Gene from her gaze.

"Your mother confessed that she would have preferred me as a son." the figure of Harry spoke.

"What woman would take you? You are nothing. Nothing. Nothing, beside him." her image spoke, taunting Ron.

Gene watched on in horror, her and Harry's ghostly figures entwining around one another, her hair running like silken thread across their faces, blending into the plume of black smoke as they leant forward, the figure of Gene covering Harry's mouth with hers.

"Kill it, Ron! Please." Gene cried out, clambering to her feet as she watched Ron's head turn to her, before Harry.

She watched a trace of scarlet flicker in his eyes, raising the sword high, and for a moment, Gene held her breath, just as he ran forward, bringing the blade down hard and cleaving the locket.

Another rush of wind sends Gene flying backwards, her back hitting a tree trunk as a scream echoed throughout the forest, sending their ghostly figures to dust.

Quiet.

Gene pulled herself to her feet, using the tree for strength as she stepped closer, eyeing the shattered locket and taking it into her trembling hand carefully. It was over.

She dared to look up now, her eyes on Ron as he fell to his knees, the sword hitting the ice, swallowing hard as he looked back at her. Harry walked over, sitting beside Ron as they panted for breath. Gene figured that was him being forgiven. But not by her.

"Just think– only three to go." Ron breathed out.

Harry nodded, breathing heavily as he took the sword in his hand, standing to his feet. He gave Gene a nod, almost reassuring, before walking ahead as light began to stream through the canopy.

He had left them now, Gene and Ron, alone. They stared at one another, not a single word being uttered. It was the way it had always been between them, it seemed. Words remaining unspoken. Gene decided it would stay that way, at least until she didn't feel like strangling Ron every time she looked his way.

Gene turned on her heel when Ron began to walk toward her, following Harry's figure through the forest instead. She only made it halfway when realisation dawned on her, her chest feeling cold and not because of the Horcrux.

She stood outside the tent, by the dwindling fire she had forged hours before and began to kick the debris aside. Her brows were furrowed as her hand lifted to her chest, glancing down to see why she had felt so cold. Her locket, the one from Sirius, the one that had belonged to her mother, had gone.

"No." she whispered, her breathing quickening as her eyes pricked with tears. She glanced around herself, hoping to spot the glimmer of light reflect from it, to no avail.

"Gene, what is it?" Ron asked, stood behind her and she fell to her knees, clawing at the dirt, digging through leaves and sticks, as she began to truly cry.

She ran a hand through her hair frustratedly, looking past Ron to return to the pool of ice, realising it must have fallen somewhere there. She went to brush past him hastily, and she might have made it, if Ron hadn't pulled her back, his arms wrapped around her tightly, as much as she tried to resist.