Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and Whatnot

When I opened my eyes, I saw a lot of green. We were in some forest, but I didn’t know the name, I’d never been here before.

Then, I sat up and saw the others lying close by, Ron closest to me, his left side covered in blood.

“Ron!” I gasped, crawling over to him.

“What’s happened to him?” Harry asked, looking like he was about to be sick.

“Splinched,” said Hermione, starting to work on tearing off Ron’s sleeve.

“In my bag, there’s a bottle labeled ‘Essence of-“

“Dittany, got it” I said, grabbing my wand to accio the bottle.

I brought it over to her, and saw that Ron’s eyelids were half closed.

“He’s fainted,” she said, not looking much better herself “Unstopper it for me, Harry, my hands are shaking.”

Harry took the bottle and wrenched the stopper off. Herms poured a few drops onto Ron’s wound. The bleeding quickly stopped and new skin began to stretch over the spot.

“It’s all I feel safe doing,” said Hermione. “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…”

“How did he get hurt? I mean-“ Harry started.

“Why are we here?” I asked.

“I thought we were going back to Grimmauld place?”

Hermione took a deep breath and said “Harry I don’t think we’ll be able to go back there.”

“What d’you - ?”

“As we Diapparated, 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 have 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!”

I didn’t pay attention to the rest of the discussion, I knew what it meant. Yaxley was at Grimmauld Place and since Hermione had been a Secret-keeper for it, she had passed the secret to him by accidentally taking him inside the Fidelius Charm’s protection. He would be able to get in and let others in as well. Poor Kreacher, expecting us back for dinner and receiving Yaxley and probably other Ministry members instead.

“Harry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” she said.

“Don’t be stupid, it wasn’t your fault! If anything, it was mine…” he took out Moody’s eye.

Oh right, I forgot about the eye, that’s what tipped them off in the first place. Ron groaned then and we all turned to him.

“How d’you feel?” Hermione whispered.

“Lousy,” croaked Ron. “Where are we?”

“In the woods where they held the Quidditch World Cup” said Hermione. “I wanted somewhere enclosed, undercover, and this was –“

“- the first place you thought of” finished Harry.

I looked at him and realized we were thinking the same thing. The last time we Apparated to the first place Hermione thought of, Death Eaters had found us. We still didn’t know how. I glanced around at the trees surrounding us.

“Should we move on?” I asked hesitantly, glancing at Ron.

“Let’s stay here for now.” Harry said.

I was worried still, but relieved because Ron looked in no condition to be moved at the present.

Hermione began running around muttering charms and enchantments to protect our area of the woods from being seen, heard, or attacked. I dug in her bag for the tent I knew she had in there. I tried pulling it out, but only got one pole, so I did a Summoning charm again instead.

I looked at the lump of canvas, muttering “Now what was it -? How do I -?”

“Erecto!” Hermione said, pointing at the mass, then turning back to her skyward enchantments.

“Thanks!” I said as it flew up and settled back to the ground, fully constructed.

Hermione finished her incantations and said “That’s as much as I can do. At the very least, we should know they’re coming, I can’t guarantee it will keep out Vol –“

“Don’t say the name!” Ron yelled harshly.

We all looked at him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, trying to raise himself up a bit “but it feels like a – jinx or something. Can’t we call him You-Know-Who – please?”

“Dumbledore said fear of a name –“ began Harry.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, mate, calling You-Know-Who by his name didn’t do Dumbledore much good in the end,” snapped Ron. “Just – just show You-Know-Who some respect, will you?”

“Respect?” Harry repeated, but Hermione gave him a warning look.

We carried Ron into the tent and laid him on the bottom bunk. He closed his eyes and stayed quiet for a few minutes while Herms made us tea. Then, Ron broke the silence, wondering what had happened to the Cattermoles.

“Blimey, I hope they escaped,” he said. “I didn’t get the feeling Reg Cattermole was all that quick-witted, though, the way everyone was talking to me when I was him. God, I hope they made it…If they both end up in Azkaban because of us…”

It was then that I noticed Hermione’s expression. She was looking at Ron while he worried about the fate of the Cattermoles with such a tenderness in her eyes that it surprised me at first. I smiled a bit, and I took another sip of tea to hide it.

“So have you got it?” Harry asked, startling her a bit.

“Got – got what?”

“What did we just go through all that for? The locket! Where’s the locket?”

“You got it?” Ron and I yelled at the same time.

He tried to raise himself up on his pillows more, saying “No one tells me anything! Blimey, you could have mentioned it!”

“Well, we were running for our lives from the Death Eaters, weren’t we?” said Hermione. “Here.”

She pulled it out of her pocket and handed it to Ron. I went over to study it as well. It was quite large, and had the letter S, inlaid with green stones. It still looked perfect. We decided it probably hadn’t been destroyed yet. We’d have to find a way to open it before we could get rid of it.

Then, we started making plans for the night. We would need to keep watch and probably find some food. We would take turns being lookout at the mouth of the tent. Unfortunately, Herms and I hadn’t packed food in our bags since we assumed we would be going back to Grimmauld Place.

Hermione went out to the forest to collect some wild mushrooms and make a soup. I let her do that alone since Herbology was one of the subjects I didn’t pay as much attention in, despite still getting good grades. I kept watch while she was doing that and Harry was looking after Ron. Her cooking skills, however, were not as good as her ability to identify non-poisonous mushrooms. I really should have let Mrs. Weasley teach me some of those cooking spells.

Harry offered to do the watch overnight, so Herms and I sat talking quietly to Ron until he fell asleep. Afterwards, we each went to bed as well. I had trouble falling asleep as I usually did. My thoughts always turned either to George and how he was doing or to Harry and trying to understand what he was doing.

I was awoken by Harry outside. He was moaning and saying things about a thief. He said a name…I couldn’t quite make it out, Gremoratich? I got up the same time as Hermione and she rushed out of the tent.

“Harry!”

“Dream,” I heard him mutter.

I didn’t know who he was trying to fool, we all knew it was his scar. I heard him arguing with Hermione, then he came stalking in. He climbed up to the top bunk and lay down. I went over and sat on Ron’s bunk, moving his legs over gently.

“Harry?” I said quietly.

“What’s You-Kow-Who doing?” Ron asked.

“He found Gregorovitch. He had him tied up, he was torturing him.”

“How’s Gregorovitch supposed to make him a new wand if he’s tied up?”

“I dunno…It’s weird isn’t it? He wanted something from Gregorovitch. He asked him to hand it over, but Gregorovitch said it had been stolen from him…and then…then…”

“I don’t think it’s a new wand he wants, then.” I said.

“He read Gregorovitch’s mind, and I saw this young bloke perched on a windowsill, and he fired a curse at Gregorovitch and jumped out of sight. He stole it, he stole whatever You-Know-Who’s after. And I…I think I’ve seen him somewhere…”

“You’ve seen him? Or You-Know-Who’s seen him? Cause he could be familiar to You-Know-Who, making him seem familiar to you.” I said.

“I’m pretty sure…pretty sure I’ve seen him.”

“Couldn’t you see what the thief was holding?” Ron asked.

“No…it must’ve been something small.”

“Harry? Harry, you don’t reckon You-Know-Who’s after something else to turn into a Horcrux?” Ron said.

“I don’t know,” Harry answered slowly. “Maybe. But wouldn’t it be dangerous for him to make another one? Didn’t Hermione say he had pushed his soul to the limit already?”

“Yeah, but maybe he doesn’t know that.”

“Yeah…maybe.”

I patted Ron’s leg then got up and went to my own bed where I attempted to fall asleep again, with Ron’s snoring echoing around the tent.