Chapter 2
Percy’s words collided with his mother’s- “No, Ron, don’t-”
“Where have you got to go, there’s nowhere- nowhere-” Arthur tried helplessly.
Bill, who had been silent up to this point, put his hand on Mr. Weasley’s shoulder.
“Let him go, Dad,” he said quietly.
Ron looked up at all of them, quite obviously choked up. Hermione tried to push away the thought that this was the first in quite some time that he’d had his entire family acknowledging him with care like this.
Finally, pressing his lips together for a moment, fighting tears, he turned in her direction.
“Please, Harry, we can tell them now, can’t we?”
There wasn’t a word. Hermione could not speak out. Her throat was closing up and she could feel the all-too familiar feeling of hot tears burning at the corner of her eyes.
“W-Harry?”
Ron stood up, looking around wildly.
“Harry-”
And then suddenly he stopped looking, and his eyes met hers. Wide and wild and terrified as ever.
“Hermione, have you- did you see him??”
She bit her lip and shook her head, feeling faint. Ron looked desperate.
“Well then where-”
His words stopped and he caught his breath, so going pale she could see every freckle on his nose. She wanted oh-so-badly to turn away, to squeeze her eyes shut and deny everything, to deny the facts that they both were well aware of.
“You don’t think-”
Hermione couldn’t meet his eyes. Instead she swallowed and looked up at the ceiling for a moment, and then she nodded. Ron stared at her, horrified.
And then without any warning, he turned and sprinted toward the doors of the Great Hall, trainers squeaking on the grimy ground, and she nearly jumped-
“RON!!” Mrs. Weasley screamed.
Without any second’s hesitation other than a quick look to Ron’s mum, Hermione bolted after him.
“RON!!”
Hermione raced down the corridors, trying to catch up to Ron, who was rather a lot faster than her. Her feet were pounding on the pavement, and she was doing her best not to look when she passed a body or any sort of spot of blood. Now was not the time to get queasy.
“Ron!! Please, wait!!”
Ron didn’t stop, but he did glance back at her to make sure she was still behind him. Before Hermione could register the look on his face, he did a double take and spun around, snapping out his wand-
“Reducto!!”
She nearly screamed as the jinx rattled past her, and just barely missed Nearly Headless Nick, who had clearly been the target. The ghost swerved out of the way, exclaiming in shock, and moved on.
Ron had stopped now, breathing very hard. His knuckles were white with how tightly he was gripping his wand.
“Oh- not a Death Eater.” He snapped his attention back to Hermione, who had finally caught up to him. “Hermione, let’s go-”
“Ron, wait, please- wait-” Hermione was out of breath, and she could feel the stiff, sticky feeling of dried tear stains on her cheeks. “Wait.”
Ron stuck his wand in his back pocket (he always did, against the advice of Professor Moody), and then suddenly he was grabbing her upper arms and looking her directly in the eyes for a moment.
“Hermione. I think-” His eyes started darting around her face for a moment, and he was still breathing hard. “Look, I think Harry’s gone to the forest. Alright?”
Very aware of how tightly he was holding her, she met his gaze, eyes swimming with worry. “I-I think so too. I think you’re right. But-”
Ron was nodding and turning away a little, as if to immediately jump back to the search.
“Ron, wait.”
He turned back to her, exasperated, his voice rising a little in frustration. “What, what could we possibly have to wait for right now, Hermione??” There was a little desperate edge to his voice. “We’ve got to stop him- stop Harry!”
“I know, I know, I know you want to, but- Ron, honestly, w-we don’t know where he’s gone, and it’ll be much too late before we even find him-”
Ron stopped, mouth opening a little and brow furrowed. He stared at her, shocked.
“So, what, you’re saying we should just let Harry get killed?”