Venatio

There was a noise in the cubicle behind them; Harry looked around; Yaxley had just appeared. 

‘LET'S GO!’ Harry yelled. He seized Hermione by the hand and Ron by the arm and turned on the spot. 

Darkness engulfed them along with the sensation of compressing bands, but something was wrong… Hermione's hand seemed to be sliding out of his grip….

He wondered whether he was going to suffocate, he could not breathe or see and the only solid things in the world were Ron’s arm and Hermiones fingers, which were slowly slipping away..

And then he saw the door of number twelve, Grimmauld Place, with its serpent door knocker, but before he could draw breath there was a scream and a flash of purple light; Hermione's hand was suddenly vice-like upon his and everything went dark again. 

Harry reopened his eyes to be dazzled with gold and green. He had no clue what had happened, only that he now seemed to be lying on what appeared to be leaves and twigs. The squeeze of compression had not yet left his lungs and Harry coughed violently. Turning over on hands and knees to press hands against his trembling chest. A flash of freckled ankle reassured him. Looking around, Harry could see that they seemed to be in a forest, and apart from the three of them, no other people or animals occupied the area. 

He met Hermione’s panicked gaze as she cradled Ron’s head in her arms, the moment he looked down to his friend, all worries of company fled his mind. Blood drenched the whole left side of Ron's face, his whitish grey-tinged skin contrasting starkly with the violent colour. The Polyjuice Potion had worn off; Ron had shed Cattermole’s appearance and Harry’s mind was whirring at his obvious injury.

‘What’s happened to him?’

‘Splinched’ said Hermione, her fingers frantically opening Ron’s sleeve where the blood was the darkest.

He watched, horrified, as she tore Ron’s shirt. Splinching had always been regarded as something comical, but this …. His insides crawled unpleasantly at the sight of Ron’s upper arm, a great chunk missing -as though it had been scooped cleanly away with a knife. 

‘Harry, quickly, in my bag, there's a small bottle labelled Essence of Dittany - ’

‘Bag - right -‘

Harry sped over to where Hermione had landed, seizing the beaded bag as he thrusted his hand inside it, object after object clamouring for his attention. He felt the leather spines of books, heels of shoes, the crinkled edge of loose parchment - 

‘Quickly!’

Harry jolted, grabbed his wand from the ground and pointed it into the inky depths of the magical bag.

‘Accio dittany!’

A small brown bottle immediately zoomed towards him, he caught it, immediately running back to Hemrione and a rapidly worsening Ron, whose eyes were now half closed, strips of white eyeball all that was visible between lids. 

‘He’s fainted’, said Hermione, who was rather grey-tinged herself.

‘Unstopped it for me, Harry, my hands are shaking’.

Harry wrenched the stopper off the little bottle, Hermione took it and poured three drops of the liquid onto the still-bleeding wound. Greenish smoke billowed upwards and when it cleared, Harry could see the bleeding had stopped. The wound was now not gaping open and looked several days old, new skin stretched tightly over what had been moments ago, bleeding flesh. 

Hermione was taking deep breaths when Harry glanced up at her. Her face had some colour returned and she looked calmer. ‘It’s all I feel safe doing’, she admitted. ‘There are spells but I darent try them in case something went wrong and more damage was caused’. 

Harry felt a quick rush of admiration for her quick thinking, a sliver of self-hatred accompanying it. What if Hermione had been the one injured? Would he and Ron have known what to do? It was best not to think about ….

‘I- I don't understand, how did he get hurt?’ He shook his head, ‘Why didn’t we go to Grimmauld Place?’

Hermione took another deep breath, wiping her hands on the robes they had worn to the ministry. She looked close to tears.

‘Harry, I don’t think we'll be able to go back there’.

‘What d’you -?’

‘As we Disapperated, Yaxley caught hold of me, I couldnt get rid of him, he was too strong, and he was 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’. 

‘But then, Hang on … you don't mean he’s at Grimmauld place? He can’t get in there!’

Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears as she nodded. 

‘Harry, I think he can. I - I forced him to let go with a Revulsion jinx, but I’d already taken him inside the Fidelius Charm’s protection. Since Dumbledore died, we’re Secret Keepers, so I’ve given him the secret, haven’t I?’

There was no use pretending, Harry was sure she was right and it was a serious blow. If Yaxley could get inside the house, there was no way they could return. Even now, he could be bringing other Death Eaters in there by Apparition. As miserable of a residence Grimmauld Place had been, it had been safe. And, Harry thought bitterly, It had been Sirius’s. Even Kreacher had been much happier and friendly, he imangined the house-elf busying himself over the steak and kidney pie that Harry, Ron and Hemrione would never eat. 

‘Harry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!’

‘Don’t be stupid Hermione, It wasn’t your fault! If anything, it was mine … ‘ 

Reaching into his pocket, Harry showed her what had adorned Umbridge’s door. Mad-Eye’s eye. She recoiled, looking horrified. 

‘She had it stuck to her office door, to spy on people. I couldn't leave it there .. but that’s how they knew there were intruders’. 

‘That vile woman!’ Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. 

Hermione’s face which previously had been pale was becoming red with rage, she glanced at Harry and placed her hand on his. Biting her lip nervously. 

‘I would’ve done the same Harry’. 

He blushed with embarrassment at the causal gesture, looking away. ‘Anyway- where are we?’

Harry glanced around the forest clearing once more as Hermione quickly wiped her eyes on the sleeve of the ministry workers uniform she was wearing.

‘Oh! The Forest of Dean. My parents took me here once- it was the only place I could think of’.

A low groan interrupted them, they both looked over to Ron. Harry winced at his condition. 

‘We should set up camp’.

‘There’s a tent in my bag .. you might want to magic it out, it's probably at the bottom’.

Harry crouched over the beaded bag, wand held above its open entrance.

‘Accio tent’

A bundle of brown coloured fabric shot up in a blur, Harry ducked to avoid collision. Falling backwards as the tent set itself up in the small clearing. 

Hermione walked past him, gathering up the open bag as she made her way into the tent. 

‘Can you bring Ron In?’

‘Sure- locomotor’

Ron’s body followed Harry mid-air. Narrowly missing several rocks and tree roots as he followed Hermione into the tent.

She was unpacking items from the bag, Harry found a small area that contained two beds and placed Ron down on one of them. He raised his gaze to look around the wizarding tent. It was slightly smaller than the one the Weasley’s had used at the Quidditch Cup, with three rooms and a larger living area that contained a kitchen. 

‘We should set up wards’ Hermione was facing him, hair pulled back into a loose bun. 

Harry nodded and the two of them went outside.

They circled the perimeter of the tent, wands waving and spells muttered under their breaths. Harry was glad he had read the book Hermione had gotten him for Christmas now. 

After they had finished they went inside and changed out of the ministry robes they had been wearing. Harry’s stomach grumbled loudly and he felt a brief pan of longing once more for Kreacher's cooking. 

‘Have we got any food?’

Hermione produced a tin of beans from one of the cupboards. Harry glanced around her shoulder and noticed the sparse quantity. 

‘Not much. I hadn’t had the time to grab more’.

They later sat over a small fire that had a tin saucepan resting on top. Both holding bowls of the tinned beans and eating quietly. Harry wondered what they would do when Ron awoke, they only had enough to feed three mouths for under a week.

Suddenly he shot up, quickly jogging back inside the tent. When he came back out Hermione was staring at him with curiosity.

He revealed slytherins amulet as he sat back down, shadows from the fire dancing along its surface. The gleaming locket reflected his furrowed brows as Harry looked it over. 

‘What should we do with it now?’ Hermione’s voice made him look at her, a frown decorated the edges of her mouth.

He shrugged. ‘We can’t destroy it yet- not without Gryffindor’s sword”.

Harry held the locket at eye level, watching the way it swung. Almost hypnotically. 

‘We should take turns wearing it’ Hermione had her arms crossed over her knees, empty bowl at her feet.

‘I-I mean we don’t know if the locket will affect us’. She looked nervous. ‘It’s made from extremely dark magic Harry’.

He rubbed his fingers over the silver chain. ‘I know Hermione’. He lifted the locket over his head, letting it rest on his chest.

‘I’ll wear it first. We can swap tomorrow’.

Later at night, Harry lay awake. The locket seemed to synchronise with the rhythmic beating of his heart. Lulling him to sleep slowly one beat at a time.

Ba-dum.

His eyes fluttered close. He was so very tired.

Ba-dum.

They would figure out what to do about their food supplies tomorrow.

Ba-dum.

He was just going to rest for a bit.

Ba-dum. 

Only for a small while …

Ba-dum.

As Harry drifted into slumber the locket that was tucked under his shirt glittered dangerously in warning.