Call Me Yours
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Fifty-Seven: Ron's Breakdown
Looking pale, Ron leans against the trunk of a tree. Harry and Hermione exchanged a nod. He raises his wand. Harry shouts, "Dissendium!" The locket spins rapidly into position but remains intact. After reading the herbology book all night, Y/n took a small nap in the tent.
"Incendio!" Hermione continued. Flames engulf the locket, and its metal flesh turns scarlet, but then the flames die.
"Expulso!"
The tree stump explodes, but the locket remains unmarked. "Confringo!" The ground beneath the stump craters, but the locket remains untouched. Hermione lowers her wand, and Y/n walked out of the tent rubbing her eyes.
Harry continues on, firing a succession of spells, looking almost possessed. Hermione studies him oddly until, finally, he stops. All goes silent except for the leaves shifting in wind above. Then, slowly, another sound comes clear a tickling. Coming from the locket. "It's angry."
Hermione shivers. Harry steps forward, kneels down and takes the locket by its chain. It ticks He slings it over his neck. Rises. "Har, what are you doing?" Y/n asked, he glanced over at her sitting next to Ron now.
"We have to keep it safe until we can figure out how to destroy it..." Harry explained, looking over at his girlfriend.
"I can put it in my bag --" Hermione said.
Harry shook his head looking over at Hermione, "Seems strange, mate. Dumbledore sends you off to find a load of Horcruxes but doesn't bother to tell you how to destroy them. Doesn't that bother you?" Harry studies the locket, whose ticking has slowed, then walks off.
As Y/n watched her boyfriend, she knew he was annoyed based on his body language. After sighing, she got up and followed him. Hermione eyes Ron, who returns her glance, then pushes away from the tree and walks off slowly in the opposite direction. "Harry, he means the best...you know that?" Y/n said. Harry hummed in response, Y/n moved closer to him. "Hi..."
"Hey..." He responded.
"I love you..." Y/n told him, again.
"I love you too..." Harry said turning and looking at her, he kissed her temple calming her back down. He was going to try and not let the necklace get to Y/n. "I just don't know how, I'm going to break this thing..."
Y/n wrapped her arms around Harry, placing her head on his chest lovingly. "Well...you will wind up doing it...Har" Said Y/n, Harry kissed the top of her head "For now...I'm going to try and finish that book,"
He nodded watching his girlfriend walk towards the tent.
⁂
A new day has dawned, and Ron lies in his cot fiddling with the radio. Occasionally, voices can be heard in the static. After turning over the Mirror fragment in his fingers, Harry stares into the distance at Y/n as she collects flowers. Her beauty caught his attention. Upon seeing him, she smiled and waved, before walking over and joining Hermione.
As he tilts the mirror, the radio spits static, and Ron is able to be seen. A glance at the mirror causes him to squirm, but he holds back his anger. While studying the locket's metal skin, he notices the fissures in the metal. A sudden wine flows from his lips. He spills the locket onto the chain as his hand is raised. A band of constricting skin surrounds his scar.
"Tell me, Gregorovitch. Tell me where it is..." Voldemort's voice said, Harry couldn't see anyone yet.
An old man with pure-white hair and a bushy beard cowers in a dark corner. "I told you! I no longer have it! It was stolen from me! Many years ago!" He shouted.
Gregorovitch reports: "You wouldn't aim to lie to me, would you, Gregorovitch?" Voldemort reaches a bony handout, and Gregorovitch reacts with fear.
A hall of shadows. A younger Gregorovitch hurries toward a distant room, a lantern bobbing in his hand. "I speak the truth! I remember like it was yesterday..." He pleaded.
Gregorovitch bursts inside a workshop, lantern swaying. Wood shavings litter the floor. On the window ledge, perched like a giant bird, a young man with white hair and one eye white, grins devilishly, then raises his wand. A blast of light comes out of it.
Back in the wand shop, Gregorovitch's face stricken with terror, as Voldemort's want tip blazes with light. "Who was he? The thief?" Voldemort asked pointing his wand at the man.
"Just a boy! Not of the village. It was he who took it. I never saw it again. I swear on my life."
"I believe you..." A burst of green light engulfed the room.
Harry's eyes flutter open. He sees Y/n, beautiful in the amber dusk, standing a bit away, studying him. "I thought it had stopped," Hermione mentioned, suddenly being next to Y/n. Harry looks at her, shakes his head. "You can't let him in, Harry. Dumbledore himself said it. You have to close your mind. It's too dangerous --"
"It's not a candle I can blow out, Hermione. It always burns, even if it's just a flicker. Can you understand that?" Harry eyes her, then looks at Y/n, She frowns, concerned.
"What did you see?" Y/n asked.
"He's found him. Vol--" He stops, glancing back toward the tent, toward Ron, Y/n looked over at the boy with a small smile. "You-Know-Who. He's found Gregorovitch --"
"The wandmaker?" Hermione asked.
"Yes. How'd you know?"
"Viktor got his wand from Gregorovitch. Most Durmstrang students did at one time. What's he got to do with You-Know-Who?"
"You-Know-Who wants something Gregorovitch once had -- dunno what. But he's desperate to have it. It's as if his life depends on it...and there was a man...with platinum hair and one white eye...You-know-who never said his name..."
Y/n studies Harry, knowing who he was talking about. "Grindlewald..." Y/n muttered, looking at the ground. Harry and Hermione studied the girl. "Newt fought him...with Tina..." The radio statics from inside the tent. Harry's eyes flare; he starts to speak, "Don't -- It...comforts him." She warned.
"Well, it sets my teeth on edge. What's he expecting to hear? The good news?" Harry asked her.
"I think he just hopes he doesn't hear bad news. It gets him through the day...." Hermione explained.
"Besides, I want to hear it as well..." Y/n said, "It's hopeful..."
After studying Hermione for a second, Harry asked, "What helps you get through your day?".
"We've all made sacrifices, Harry." Hermione walked towards the tent leaving the couple alone at night.
A nod towards the tent is Harry's only expression as he eyes her expressionlessly. "When will he be able to travel?" Harry asked.
"don't know." Y/n explained, "He got hurt really bad...I'm trying to do my best to help..."
"You're not doing enough," Harry shouted at his girlfriend.
In his angry profile, Y/N studies Harry. Then, calmly saying, "Please take it off.", Harry turned to see Y/n closely studying him. She points at his throat, toward the locket. "Take it off. Har..." Harry slips the locket off of his neck. "How are you feeling?"
"Better..." Harry muttered. "Sorry, M'love..."
Y/n takes the locket, cradles it in her fingers. "It's okay...I know it wasn't you..." She explained. "The four of us should take turns. Okay?" Y/n slips it over her neck. She frowns briefly, sensing its presence, then looks up at Harry. He studies her, then smiled a little grabbing Harry's hand and pulling him towards the tent.
Harry tried to stay calm hearing the static, Y/n's presence calmed him down. Y/n sat on the couch trying to ignore the feeling of the necklace. She opened the herbology book flipping through it. Harry studied her before walking over and sitting next to her.
Y/n placed her head on Harry's shoulder laying closer to him, "Hermione...I can make dinner if you want?" She spoke looking over her getting ready to cook. Hermione sent her a small smile.
"Thanks, I might go for a nap..." Hermione said.
Y/n stood up closing the book and pecking Harry on the lips, "I can help, if you'd like..." Harry said to his girlfriend standing up as well. Y/n shook her head making her way towards the kitchen area.
"Thanks, but I can do it myself," She said, trying to calm down because of the necklace.
Harry nodded, and she walked into the kitchen and began to prepare dinner for everyone. The mushrooms were still there, as they always are. As Harry studied Y/n, he was enchanted by her beauty. The woman was still very polite and positive despite wearing the necklace.
⁂
After dinner, later that night. Harry's arms were around Y/n as she slept with her briefcase next to her. Ron was sleeping next to the radio as it was still crackling. The dark, frigid night has Hermione huddled outside, shaking.
Her eyes rake the trees. Deep within, there is, for the briefest of instances movement. Or so it seems. She squints. Sees nothing. Returns her chin to her chest. As she does, something carries on the air laughter. The cackle of men? Or so it seems.
Her chin rises. She looks again into the trees. Harry reaches out, starts to turn the radio off when: "...Severus Snape, newly appointed Headmaster of Hogwarts..." As the signal fades, Harry rolls onto his side and twists the dial, trying not to wake Y/n up.
Despite that, she didn't wear the necklace around her neck, it was on the side of the bed near her. As Harry grabs his rucksack, he pulls out the wrinkled Marauder's Map from his rucksack. As Hermione's shadow rises, it moves away from Harry. "...bears little resemblance to the school under Dumbledore. Snape's curriculum is severe, reflecting the wishes of the Dark Lord, and infractions are dealt with harshly by the two Death Eaters on staff..."
Harry peers at the map before him and, sure enough, discovers Snape's name drifting about Dumbledore's office.
Hermione moves deeper into the trees, then stops. shadows splinter amid the towering trunks and voices come clearer. Standing utterly still, Hermione watches as a gang of snatchers make their way in her direction.
They look unwashed and feral as if they've been in the wild for some time. As they pass, within feet of her, but unable to see her, only Hermione's eyes track their passage. As before Scabior leads the way, Fenrir greyback at his side. Abruptly, Scabior stops, eyes narrowing. "What's that? That... smell?"
The others glance about dumbly. Scabior retraces his steps until he stands directly in front of Hermione, his eyes looking right through her. He leans forward ever-so-slightly, only inches from her neck,
Then, slowly, Scabior pulls back, eyes probing the darkness, before withdrawing, leading the others away. The last pair drag what appear to be bodies. As they vanish within the trees, Hermione finally breathes. "Snatchers." She spins, finds Harry standing a few feet off. "Y/n did well with the enchantments...She still has her shoes as well..."
"He could smell it. My perfume."
Ron pushes past the tent flap, peers into the darkness. In the distance, he sees Harry and Hermione. Standing close. Hermione hugs herself. Shivers. "We have to leave. We're not safe here." Harry explained.
"I told you. Ron's not strong enough to Apparate yet, Y/n said" Hermione mentioned.
"Then we'll go by foot." Harry brought up.
⁂
Y/n, Harry, Hermione, Ron, walk up a hill. Y/n hummed softly to herself. Then he turns. Harry stops and listens. Hermione trailing a few feet behind, stops, eyeing him questioningly. Y/n sent Harry a small smile which he sent back before continuing to walk.
The four scarper into a listing barn and throw shut the doors, They peer upward through the skeletal remains of the hayloft, their faces lashed with light, they see Death eaters strafe the blue above.
The rotting timber buzzes and bats dance crazily in the loft above. Gradually, the sound recedes. The bats settle.
An epic flyover. Three small figures move slowly below. Y/n and Ron trail the other two: Harry and Hermione. Ron glances about sullenly, staring at the forsaken landscape, then looks up ahead to Harry and Hermione.
Y/n was still humming looking around the landscape, she seemed to be in a better mood than anyone else. The sight of them, walking side-by-side, does nothing to improve Ron's mood. "I'm hungry," Ron said, Y/n, Harry and Hermione stop, turn. Study him for a moment.
"What?" Harry asked.
"I'm hungry," Ron repeated, Y/n glances at Harry, who continues to stare at Ron, as if taking the measure of him.
"Here," Y/n said, she dug into a bag she made out of flowers and handed Ron a charming strawberry.
Ron furrowed his eye taking the strawberry. "When did you get those?" Hermione said after Y/n handed them out.
"They are old strawberries..." She explained, Ron scrunched up his face. "That I charmed to bring back to life...Mum taught me that..."
Harry studied Y/n, who went to go and fix the sling around Ron's arm. He studied the two before turning away. "We should continue walking" He sharply said, Y/n fixed his sling and noticed the Horcrux around his neck as the four kept on walking.
"Did you just make the strawberries?" Hermione asked.
"Last night, I got bored..." Y/n explained.
She hummed and continued to walk next to Harry who seemed more annoyed. "It's my turn with the necklace" Harry stated. Ron looked at his sharply before taking it off and handing it to Harry who put it around his neck, Y/n knew it wasn't going to better his mood
Later, in the afternoon. A light rain falls, Harry, was now wearing the locket, he walked the perimeter of the camp. He glowers toward the tent in the distance. In the tent, safe, warm and out of earshot, Y/n tends to Ron's arm again, as he stares at Harry. Hermione was also looking around the camp. "He doesn't know what he's doing, does he?" Ron asked.
A frown creases Y/n's forehead as she studies Ron, then she glances at Harry, "None of us does..." Y/n mentioned, "But we are getting there...How is your arm feeling?"
"Better..." Ron muttered turning and glancing at his arm.
Y/n hummed letting go of the bandage and standing up. Helping Ron up as well.
There were charred husks of a few RVs scattered throughout the ash-covered park. Hermione and Harry, following Y/n and Ron, take a moment to pause. As her eyes scan the scorched ground, she fixes her gaze on a blackened swing, swaying back and forth in a tiny playground.
The familiarity of everything stared at her as she furrowed her brow. A shiny toy did not belong to a muggle; she crouches and picks it up. Ron suddenly said, "Wizards were here.".
Harry and Ron looked at Hermione as she said, "I do not like this place.".
"Can we go?" Y/n suddenly said placing the bear back onto the floor.
In a nod, he grabbed the hand of his girlfriend and ensured that they walked together. His question was, "How's everything?". Before continuing to walk, Y/n nodded to him.
⁂
A rabbit hopped out of a hole and nosed its way into some brush as Ron looked towards it. As Ron raises his wand, he is poised to fire when. An explosion close to the rabbit's rump causes the rabbit to flee. Harry appears seconds later, giving chase. Ron curses and pelts afterwards.
Harry and Ron follow the rabbit through the forest, avoiding blow after blow as it zigzags through the trees.
As their aim becomes increasingly erratic, they begin laughing. Harry spins fire more playfully at Ron after a limb explodes above his head. As one blast narrowly misses Harry, the two exchange several more blasts. As instinctively as he could, Ron casts his eyes wide and fires back, narrowly missing him.
When they heard "Oui!" both of them stopped laughing and became scared. The shaking rabbit was being held by Y/n as she walked towards them. "Did you try to kill it?"
Both men replied, "No," as quickly as they could.
Her gaze shifted to her boyfriend, then to Ron. Y/n said as she walked away holding the rabbit to her chest, "Stick with mushrooms, You're not killing a small creature.". Harry looked at Ron.
The man rubbed his injured arm and asked, "Is that thing going to stay? Or will it be dinner?".
Harry commented, "I'd prefer to eat mushrooms rather than upset her." Harry walked over catching up to his girlfriend. "Are you keeping that?"
The rabbit patted Y/n's head as she turned to stare at him, "Yes..." she muttered. The head of Banjo Harry grinned as he kissed it.
⁂
As Ron lies on his back, staring down at the tent ceiling, listening to the radio's murmur, Y/n lies on Hermione's bed, playing with the rabbit that lies inside the briefcase, which Y/n switched so it could access different environments. There was no doubt in her mind that she missed her partner in crime, Pippa.
Using the wand between her right and left hands, Hermione trims Harry's hair and flips pages of A History of Magic as she runs her finger through his hair with her left hand. "Oh my god!" she thought as she stood up.
"What?" Harry asked as he walked away.
She walked over to the table and sat down, opening the book, saying, "The Sword of Gryffindor? It's made by Goblins.".
Harry commented, "That's brilliant.".
"You don't understand. Dirt and rust have no effect on the blade. it only takes in that which makes it stronger." Hermione continued. Harry furrowed his eyes, not quite with the girl. "Harry. You already destroyed one Horcrux, right? Tom Riddle's diary -- in the Chamber of Secrets."
"With a basilisk fang. If you tell me you've got one of those in that bloody beaded bag of yours" Harry explained to the girl across from him.
"Don't you see! In the Chamber of Secrets, you stabbed the basilisk with the Sword of Gryffindor." Hermione explained. "Its blade is impregnated with basilisk venom."
"It only takes in that which makes it stronger..."
"Exactly! Which means..."
"...it can destroy Horcruxes," Harry said.
Hermione looked at the boy and closed the book in front of her and said, "Which is why Dumbledore left it to you in his will.".
Harry opens the book and begins reading. "You're brilliant, Hermione. Really." He said.
"Actually, I'm highly logical, which allows me to look past the extraneous detail and perceive clearly that which others overlook."
"There's only one problem..."
After all the lights went out, Y/n closed her briefcase and let Banjo roam inside. Ron said, "The sword's been stolen," and the lights came back on. In the midst of the first drops of rain, Hermione and Harry glance at Ron, lying in the shadows of his bunk, holding a Deluminator in hand.
Walking over, Y/N looked at what was going on. You two can have fun without me." Harry glances at Y/n, who is studying Ron, while he says, "I'm still here. But don't let me spoil your fun.".
"What's the problem?" Harry asked turning to Ron again.
"Problem? There's no problem. Not according to you, anyway."
The canvas of the tent begins to pelt with heavy raindrops. Cause Y/n to look up at the indent it was making. "Look, don't be shy. If you've got something to say, spit it out." Harry said standing up.
Ron swings out of the bunk. As his face meets the light, he looks mean, the locket chain glittering. "All right, I'll spit it out. Don't expect me to skip up and down because now there's some other damn thing we've got to find."
"Ron..." Hermione warned.
"Harry" Y/n warned softly.
"I thought you knew what you signed up for," Harry said.
Ron nodded looking around the tent. "Yeah, I thought I did too."
"I don't understand. What part of this isn't living up to your expectations? Did you think we'd be staying in five-star hotels? Finding a Horcrux every other day? Did you think you'd be back to Mummy by Christmas?" Harry spoke.
"No, I just reckoned after all this time, we'd have actually achieved something. I reckoned you knew what you were doing. I reckoned Dumbledore had told you something worthwhile! I reckoned you had a plan!" Ron shouted.
"I've told you everything Dumbledore told me! And in case you haven't noticed, we've found a Horcrux!" Harry shouted back.
"Yeah, and we're about as near getting rid of it as we are to finding the rest of them, aren't we!"
Hermione glanced down to Ron's neck noticing the Horcrux;. "Take it off, Ron. Please take it off. You wouldn't be talking like this if you hadn't been wearing it all day" Hermione mentioned trying to take the locket off.
Ron just moved away, "Yeah, he would. D'you think I haven't noticed the two of you whispering behind my back? D'you think I haven't guessed what you were thinking?" Harry said looking over to Y/n and Ron.
"Harry, we weren't sayi-"
"Don't lie! You said it, too, you said you were disappointed-" Ron said turning to Y/n.
"I didn't...I said we don't know what we are doing....but close..." Y/n explained.
Harry scoffed, "Do you know why I listen to that radio, every night? Do you! To make sure I don't hear Ginny's name or Fred or George or Mum or --" Ron explained raising his voice, looking over at Harry.
"You think I don't listen! You think I don't know what it's like --" Harry shouted pointing at the radio.
"NO! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE! YOUR PARENTS ARE DEAD! YOU HAVE NO FAMILY!"
The silence was deafening. Ron glares at Harry. Hermione and Y/n looked stunned. Suddenly, they both rush forward and lock on each other's throats, Both of the girls, rushes in. Hermione shouted, "Stop! Stop!".
They let go, step back. Y/n as holding onto Harry's arm. He snatched his arm from his girlfriend's hand. Harry points to Ron's neck. "Go then. But leave that." Hermione, eyes flashing with panic, glances from Harry to Ron.
Ron strips the chain from his neck, casts it away, then turns to Hermione and Y/n. "And you both?" Ron asked.
"Me?"
"Are you staying? Or coming?" Hermione looks anguished, glancing from one to the other. The canvas streams with rain behind her.
Y/n glanced over to Harry, knowing that he just needed some space and not wanting Ron to be out there alone without anyone. "Fine. I get it. I saw you two the other night. Yeah, that's right. Didn't know I knew, did you?"
"What? Ron, no -- please --" He whips aside the tent flap and the RAIN ROARS. As Hermione rushes after him, she tips over the radio.
Harry turned to Y/n, "What are you going to do? Stay here? Or follow him like always?" Harry asked looking at her. Y/n furrowed her eyebrows looking at Harry. "Don't give me that look, You have been on top of him since we started this trip"
"Harry he's been hurt since we started this trip" Y/n calmly said, "I would treat you the same way..."
Y/n considered it before grabbing her briefcase, walking out of the tent and following Ron. Harry scoffed. In tears and with her hair soaked, Hermione called out, "Y/n?...Are you going with him?"
"I have to, He can't just be around alone..." Hermione nodded before hugging Y/n, The girl went into the tent as Y/n skipped to catch up with Ron.
"You don't know where your going do you?" She asked turning to the boy.
Ron jumped turning to her holding her briefcase. "Don't think you would come with me?" Ron mumbled waiting for Y/n to walk up to him.
"I don't think it's safe to leave one go off...on their own" Y/n mentioned.
Ron hummed with a nod, The two walked in silence. Y/n didn't know how to feel now knowing that Harry was jealous of her and Ron being so close and leaving with him made it worse. "You don't think you can apparate do you?"
"I'm not sure, your the one that was taking care of my arm-" Ron mumbled. "I mean we can try..." Y/n nodded grabbing onto Ron's hand stopping him from moving.