SOLID ground touched my feet upon impact. Too tired to stand upright, I stumbled forwards and fell, lying face-down atop the dirt-covered leaves and cold earth.
I heaved in one large inhale through my nose, then another until my heart rate slowed and and even supply of air was back in my lungs. I could have stayed in that position longer, listening to the distant sounds of birds chirping and the rustling of tree leaves around me, but a strangled gasp sounded to my right.
Slowly, I lifted myself up and turned around to investigate where it had come from; nothing prepared me for what I saw.
Blood. Red and vivid, stood out against Ron's pale and freckled skin. It drenched his entire left side, staining darkly through his shirt. I held a hand to my mouth to stifle a yelp, my eyes unwavering despite it stinging from unshed tears.
Hermione was already kneeled beside him, her hands also stained with his blood as she quickly worked on the wound.
"Hermio. . ." my voice broke. "What happened—?"
A rustle of leaves beside me, and Harry too, was kneeling beside me as he surveyed Ron with a pale face.
"Splinched," Hermione said shakily. "Harry, quickly, in my bag, there's a small bottle labeled Essence of Dittany—"
"Bag—right—" he dashed off to get it.
"Margo, you have to help me. . ." she swallowed a sob, "help me stop the bleeding."
I didn't hesitate to place my hands on top of the piece of cloth she was using to apply pressure on his upper arm, though I doubt it was even a fraction of help compared to how big the wound actually was.
Don't think about it, I repeated to myself, for every time I studied the wound longer than a second, I could feel the contents of my stomach slowly rise up. It was probably one of the worst Splinched injuries I've ever seen; it was like Ron's entire arm had been mauled off.
"Quickly!" Hermione said shrilly.
"Accio Dittany!"
I tried not to think about whether it was a bad or good thing Ron wasn't making a sound. Harry finally appeared beside us, holding a small brown bottle in his shaking hands.
"He's fainted," Hermione said. Ah, that explains why. "Unstopper it for me, Harry, my hands are shaking."
It was an effort to block out the coppery smell of blood, especially when my nose suddenly started to run because of how hard I was tearing up.
Hermione took the bottle and poured three drops of the potion directly on his wound. As soon as the liquid made contact with skin, a greenish smoke billowed upwards and away, until finally the bleeding stopped, the skin was growing back, and Ron was no longer twitching.
I let out a relieved sound.
"Wow," Harry said.
"It's all I feel safe doing," Hermione said shakily. "There are spells that would put him completely right, but I daren't try in case I do them wrong and cause more damage. . .he's lost so much blood already. . ."
I Scourgified my hands as well as Hermione's and everything we had touched. "You made the right move, Hermione. Thank Merlin he's okay," I said, brushing the hairs away from Ron's face.
"How did he get hurt? I mean—why are we here?" Harry asked her. "I thought we were going back to Grimmauld Place?"
It was only then I fully realized my surroundings: a forest, with tall trees that had healthy, green leaves and sunlight flitting through the open crevices above the canopy.
Everything came crashing down on me; how Yaxely had chased us, how we were on the very front door of Grimmauld Place until that scream sounded, and then everything turned black.
"He saw us, didn't he?" I said quietly.
She nodded, looking close to tears. "I don't think we're going to be able to go back there."
"What d'you—?"
"As we Disapparated," she clarified, "Yaxley caught hold of me, and I couldn't get rid of him, he was too strong, and he was still holding on when we arrived at Grimmauld Place, and then—well, I think he must've seen the door, and thought we were stopping there, so he slackened his grip and I managed to shake him off and I brought us here instead!"
Harry's face was still scrunched up in confusion. "But then, where's he? Hang on. . .you don't mean he's at Grimmauld Place? He can't get in there?"
I placed a tentative hand on his shoulder. "We're Secret Keepers, Harry, we practically handed it to him on a silver platter. So, yeah, I think he can. . ." Even telling him that, handing that sort of information to him, was already weighing down my already-guilty conscience.
"Harry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Hermione cried.
"Don't be stupid," he quickly assured, "it wasn't your fault! If anything, it was mine. . ." he pulled out an object from his jacket pocket and held it out to us.
At first I thought it was a marble, but Harry twisted it to reveal one bright blue iris staring right at us. I reeled backwards.
"Is that—?" I gasped.
"Moody's eye," Harry said glumly. "Umbridge had stuck it to her office door, to spy on people. I couldn't leave it there. . .but that's how they knew there were intruders."
"That bitch," I whispered. Harry grunted in agreement.
"Hey." I squeezed his shoulder comfortingly. "Don't blame yourself, it wasn't your fault either. It's no one's fault," I told the two of them. "We managed to get the locket, that's what's important. Let's focus on the Horcruxes for now, alright?"
Ron groaned softly in between us and opened his eyes to blink up at his new surroundings. Relieved, I dropped my hand from Harry's shoulder to place it on Ron's for comfort.
"How d'you feel?" Hermione asked him softly.
"You alright, Ron?"
He groaned again. "Lousy. Where are we?"
"In the woods where they held the Quidditch World Cup. I wanted somewhere enclosed, undercover, and this was—"
"—the first place you thought of," Harry completed for her.
"D'you reckon we should move on?" Ron asked.
"Oh, no," I said immediately. "No, no, not when you're still injured, Ron. We're gonna need some time to gather our heads — plan and stuff — and for you to heal."
"Alright, mother hen," he mumbled.
"Let's stay here for now," Harry agreed.
Hermione let out an audible sigh of relief and sprang to her feet. "If we're staying, we should put some protective enchantments around the place."
And so we watched in silence as she worked, muttering enchantments I've never heard of under her breath, wondering whether the four of us would ever find the the next Horcruxes just in time.
SOMETIMES we humans tend to forget how big our world really is. It was just unfortunate that being on the run made me realize that.
Others had the luxury of traveling to different countries and exotic places, each one more unique than the last. The furthest I've gone was spending one summer in the beaches of Brighton. Sure, I've seen the vast countryside on the journey to Scotland but I've never actually been in it; never felt the tall grass that would tickle my arms, or the smell of the meadow and fields.
Until now. Except that it wasn't the vast countryside, but rather cold forests that stretched for miles in all directions. It was likely the only place that would help us stay under the radar, and nowhere near busy towns or open areas.
Shelter and warmth was easy to come by, especially since we got magic on our hands. Food, however. . .that was an entirely different mission.
Everyone of us was always on edge whenever we had to stick with bland soup for dinner due to the lack of ingredients we found; Hermione and I managed without complaints, but Ron on the other hand. . .whenever he opened his mouth to go off, Harry always had to snap in. It would take Hermione and I around five minutes before we can calm them down. Sometimes more.
Not to mention, having that wretched locket with us proved to be an even further nuisance than we first thought. A few weeks ago, Harry and Ron almost had a full blown argument on the spot, as usual. Luckily, Hermione — ever the clever one she is — realized that the cursed locket around Harry's neck was behind all the unpleasantness and moodiness and every other 'ness' in the English language.
Which is why we now had to take turns wearing the locket from time to time — to ensure that one of us wouldn't be burdened with the full evil force of it.
When it came to my turn, though. . .it was like I was on the brink of giving up and letting all the hope I had in me vanish.
I had hoped that that day wouldn't come, yet fate has other plans like it always does.
The cold woke me up first, followed by the distant voices just outside the tent. I heard the stream of the river rush by, reminding me that we were still in Wales. Disoriented, I stood from my cot, not even realizing that I had slept until evening when I took that afternoon nap.
Just as I was about to head to where the other three were, I stopped short when I saw them perfectly standing side-to-side just in front of the tent's entrance.
I furrowed my brows and went towards them. "Uh, what are you guys doing—?"
"Shhh!" All three of them hissed at me.
"There's a Muffliato Charm around us, you know," I said dryly.
Instead of the reaction I was expecting, Ron turned around with a pale face, followed by Hermione and Harry who looked equally as worried.
"What's wrong?" I said as I straightened.
"Ginny—the sword—"
"I know!" Hermione said, then immediately lunged for her beaded bag and sank her entire arm in.
I blinked. "I'm sorry, but can someone please explain what the hell is going on?"
"It's Ginny," Ron said. "She—she broke into Snape's office to get the Sword of Gryffindor—"
"What?" I blanched. Ron nodded, unable to continue after that.
"But—wait, how'd you even know this?" I scrunched up my eyebrows. "Did I really sleep for that long—?"
"Here. . ." Hermione heaved, "we. . .are. . ." She pulled out an entire picture frame and set it against the side of the tent with Harry's help.
I gaped, seeing the familiar colors and fabric, as well as the sleeping face of the man in the painting; a painting that I've seen too many times cooped up in Grimmauld Place. "Is that. . .Phineas Nigellus's portrait?" I asked incredulously.
Hermione nodded with a tired pant. "If somebody swapped the real sword for the fake while it was in Dumbledore's office, Phineas Nigellus would have seen it happen, he hangs right beside the case!"
"Unless he was asleep," Harry said.
Hermione kneeled in front of the portrait. I crossed my arms and stood beside her, the two boys on either side of us. She pointed her wand at Phineas's portrait.
"Er—Phineas?" she asked unsurely. "Phineas Nigellus?"
I cleared my throat. "Mister Phineas Nigellus, may we please talk to you about something?"
"Good to know at least one of you has some manners," the painting grunted, about to open his eyes until—
"Obscuro!" Hermione cried. Immediately, a black blindfold wrapped around the outside of the portrait, just enough to cover where his eyes were.
"What—how dare—what are you—?"
"I'm very sorry, Professor Black," Hermione said, "but it's a necessary precaution!"
"Remove this foul addition at once! Remove it, I say! You are ruining a great work of art! Where am I? What is going on?"
"Are all Blacks this dramatic?" I muttered under my breath. Ron let out a quiet snort.
"Never mind where we are," Harry said. Phineas froze at the sound of his voice.
"Can that possible be the voice of the elusive Mr. Potter?"
"Maybe. We've got a couple of questions to ask you — about the sword of Gryffindor."
"Ah," Phineas said dryly, "yes. That silly girl acted most unwisely there—"
"Hey!" I exclaimed as Ron said, "Shut up about my sister."
Phineas rose his eyebrows. "Who else is here? Your tone displeases me! The girl and her friends were foolhardy in the extreme. Thieving from the Headmaster!"
"They weren't thieving," Harry countered. "The sword isn't Snape's."
"It belongs to Professor Snape's school. Exactly what claim did the Weasley girl have upon it? She deserved her punishment, as did the idiot Longbottom and the Lovegood oddity!"
I clenched my fists. "No one deserves to be punished for doing the right thing! And don't insult my friends in front of me."
"Neville is not an idiot and Luna is not an oddity!" Hermione added.
"Where am I?" the portrait merely repeated, trying to wrestle the blindfold around his portrait. "Where have you brought me? Why have you removed me from the house of my forebears?"
"Never mind that!" Harry said urgently. "How did Snape punish Ginny, Neville and Luna?"
"Professor Snape sent them into the Forbidden Forest, to do some work for the oaf, Hagrid."
My shoulders sagged with immense relief that it wasn't some awful punishment from the Carrows. The amount of unnerving stories I heard about them was already bad, and now that they're an authority at Hogwarts. . .I shudder to think of the worst possible outcomes.
"Hagrid's not an oaf!" Hermione said angrily.
"And Snape might've thought that was a punishment," Harry said, "but Ginny, Neville and Luna probably had a good laugh with Hagrid. The Forbidden Forest. . .they've faced plenty worse than the Forbidden Forest, big deal!"
"I really hope you don't jinx that," I said to him.
"What we really want to know, Professor Black," Hermione tried again, "is whether anyone else has, um, taken the sword out at all? Maybe it's been taken away for cleaning or—or something?"
Phineas let out a big snicker. "Muggle-borns. Goblin-made armor does not require cleaning, simple girl. Goblins' silver repels mundane dirt, imbibing only that which strengthens it."
"Don't call Hermione simple."
"I grow weary of contradiction," Phineas said monotonously. "Perhaps it is time for me to return to the Headmaster's office?"
Still having the blindfold tied to cover his eyes, his hands reached out to feel around his portrait when Harry suddenly said, "Dumbledore! Can't you bring us Dumbledore?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Professor Dumbledore's portrait — couldn't you bring him along, here, into yours?"
"Evidently it is not only Muggle-borns who are ignorant, Potter. The portraits of Hogwarts may commune with each other, but they cannot travel outside the castle except to visit a painting of themselves hanging elsewhere. Dumbledore cannot come here with me, and after the treatment I have revived at your hands, I can assure you that I shall not be making a return visit!"
"Dramatic, I'm telling you," I mumbled to myself.
"Professor Black, couldn't you just tell us, please, when was the last time the sword of as taken out of its case? Before Ginny took it out, I mean?"
Phineas snorted. "I believe that the last time I saw the sword of Gryffindor leave its case was when Professor Dumbledore used it to break open a ring."
My senses jolted as Hermione and I locked eyes, immediately knowing what Phineas was talking about.
"Well, goodnight to you," he said.
"Wait!" Harry shouted. "Have you told Snape you saw this?"
"Professor Snape has more important things on his mind than the many eccentricities of Albus Dumbledore. Goodbye, Potter!"
Phineas Nigellus turned his back to us and vanished from the portrait, leaving behind the greenish, murky background of his painting.
"Important things?" I scoffed. "He's probably just terrorizing everyone at school, don't you agree—?" I turned around to glance at Ron, stopping short on my sentence when I realized he wasn't there anymore.
I frowned, wondering when he could have possibly vanished when he was right here just a second ago. I was about to ask Harry and Hermione, but upon seeing that they were having an intense conversation with hands flying about and frustrated faces, I ventured deeper into the tent alone and found him lying on his bunk bed.
"Oh, there you are," I said. "Did you hear what Phineas said about your sister, Neville and Luna? I swear, it's like Sirius and Tonks' mum are the only good Blacks. And Regulus too, I suppose."
Ron let out a grunt and continued staring at the bottom of the bunk above him.
My frown deepened. "Ron, you feeling alright?"
"What d'you reckon, Ron? Margo?" Harry's voice rang out throughout the tent.
"We're in here!" I called, before he could think we went outside the tent; the amount of times we all thought that because the tent was like the size of a flat.
"Oh, remembered me, have you?" Ron said stonily when Harry and Hermione stood beside me.
"What?"
"You two carry on," he snorted. "Don't let me spoil your fun."
Worry started to eat at my gut the more Ron's words became sharper and sharper. Harry glanced at Hermione and I with a closed lip despite the questions that he evidently wanted to ask written on his face. I just shrugged half-heartedly, feeling that something unpleasant was about to happen.
"What's the problem?" Harry asked.
"Problem? There's no problem. Not according to you, anyway."
In the midst of the silence that ensued, small pitter-patters could be heard above our heads, becoming louder and louder each second. I looked up, seeing the tent's canvas become darker with every drop of the beat; it had started to rain.
"Well, you've obviously got a problem," Harry said rather roughly. "Spit it out, will you?"
"Harry," I wanted quietly.
Ron immediately swung himself up to look at us with a glower on his face. I clenched my jaw to keep myself from saying anything, only fiddling with my thumbs to somehow keep my mind busy elsewhere.
"All right, I'll spit it out. Don't expect me to skip up and down the tent because there's some other damn thing we've got to find," he said. "Just add it to the list of stuff you don't know."
"Ron," I couldn't help but snap.
"I don't know?" Harry said incredulously. "I don't know?"
Hermione and I glanced at each other with dread.
Not again.
"It's not like I'm not having the time of my life here," Ron continued, "you know, with my arm mangled and nothing to eat and freezing my backside off every night. I just hoped, you know. after we'd been running round a few weeks, we'd have achieved something."
"Ron," Hermione said quietly.
"I thought you knew what you'd signed up for," Harry said.
"Yeah, I thought I did too."
With my heart beating loudly in my chest, I couldn't take it anymore.
"Stop it, you two," I hissed, then willed my voice to become calmer. "Ron, I know it's been hard, but we managed to find the locket didn't we? And now we know how to destroy it." I turned to Harry, looked back at Ron, and said to no one in particular, "We have to keep working together if we want this to work. You two have been fighting right at the start of this mission, and frankly, Hermione and I are sick of it."
"Tell that to Ron, then," Harry said quickly. "What part of it isn't living up to your expectations?" he asked him. "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!" I said exasperatedly.
"We thought you knew what you were doing!" Ron shouted, rising quickly from the bunk bed. "We thought Dumbledore had told you what to do, we thought you had a real plan!"
"Ron!" Hermione and I said with alarm.
The pitter-patter above our heads morphed into vicious thundering — the only sound that could be heard all over save for Harry and Ron's shouting.
"Well, sorry to let you down," Harry said coldly. "I've been straight with you from the start, I told you everything Dumbledore told me. And in case you haven't noticed, we've found one Horcrux like Margo said—"
"Yeah," Ron said equally as cold, "and we're about as near getting rid of it as we are to finding the rest of them — nowhere effing near, in other words!"
"Take off the locket, Ron," Hermione said shakily. "Please take it off. You wouldn't be talking like this if you hadn't been wearing it all day."
I opened my mouth to add in a comment, anything that could desperate fizzle out the ongoing fire, but Harry beat me to it.
"Yeah, he would," he countered roughy. "D'you think I haven't noticed the two of you whispering behind my back? D'you think I didn't guess you were thinking this stuff?"
"Harry, we weren't—"
"Don't lie!" Ron told her. "You said it too, you said you were disappointed, you said you'd thought he had a bit more to go on than—"
"I didn't say it like that — Harry, I didn't!" Hermione cried, tears pouring down her face like the rain pouring outside.
"Stop it!" I said loudly and quickly. "We shouldn't be fighting like this—!"
"So why are you still here?" Harry asked Ron, completely ignoring my pleas for the past minute.
"Search me."
"Go home, then."
"Harry!"
"Yeah, maybe I will!" Ron shouted.
I stood in the sidelines, watching hopelessly as Harry and Ron continued shouting at each other, faces morphing with anger as Hermione stood watching them too, red in the face as she cried and cried.
Blocking them out was easy for the first few seconds; with the rain pouring outside in buckets and creating a constant beat on the tent above my head, it was a distraction to the screams that echoed around me.
Until Ron made a sudden move, a glint of his wand caught in the lamplight, and the power of Hermione's spell had me stumbling a few steps backwards.
"Protego!" she cried, forming the invisible barrier between the two boys.
It was silent after that, but no words were needed to convey the message that hung around the air.
"Leave the Horcrux," Harry said.
Ron glared at him viciously before untangling the chain from his neck, and throwing it to the ground with such force.
"What are you doing?" he suddenly said to Hermione.
"What do you mean?"
"Are you staying or, what?" I blinked out of my reverie upon hearing his words. I glanced at Harry with panic, wondering if he was really letting this happen but already got my answer when I glimpsed at his stone cold face.
Hermione had a look of anguish on her face, but sucked it up and told him firmly, "Yes—yes, I'm staying, Ron, we said we'd go with Harry, we said we'd help—"
"I get it. You choose him."
"Ron. . ." I said, but he didn't bother to glance at me.
"Ron, no—please—come back, come back!"
I looked at Harry again. "Aren't you going to say something to him!" I asked incredulously angry.
Before he can answer, I blindly took my beaded bag and dashed after Ron and into the night, cold rain immediately seeping into my clothes and wetting my hair.
"Ron!" I screamed, running towards him with no thought in my head except for 'run faster'.
I willed my legs to kick harder, not caring if I were to slip on any ice-covered ground, as long as I reached him on time. Distantly, I can hear Hermione running after us too, screaming for him to come back.
"RON!" I screamed again.
He was right outside the boundary of the enchantments, holding his bag firmly on the good shoulder and staring determinedly into the distance.
I ran and I ran, just a fingertip's breadth away from his arm; and when I finally held onto him, a sucking sensation erupted in my gut, followed by a shout of warning.
Searing pain erupted on my right leg. The last thing I saw was the clear night sky, before darkness, once again, consumed me.
~
DEAR READERS,
this scene always,,, 👎🏻 nope
this was actually a rlly long chapter 4K words so y'all better enjoy it 😡 (pretty please?) i'm also updating this during my bio lecture i rlly hope it makes sense sksjs
what do you think is gonna happen to margo and ron? are you glad she left with him or nah?
i also wanna like apologize cause the lack of draco scenes in this is hahaha whew 😹👍🏻 but i swearrrr i'll make it up to you guys on god ❤️
much lovee!!!
— S.
~