94 hp Diagon Alley

on the gurgling river.Fear dampened Harry's joy: Ron was saying exactly what Harry suspected and feared he would think.

"I've definitely had a bit of a lifetime here," said Ron, "you know, with a crippled arm and nothing to eat—only goddamn wild mushrooms, and the back skins froze off every night. You know, I Just hoping, after a couple of weeks of running around, we can get something done."

"Ron," said Hermione, but so low that Ron could pretend not to hear the rain pattering against the tent.

"I thought you knew what operation you were in," said Harry.

"Yeah, I thought I knew that too."

"So, which part didn't live up to your expectations?" Harry asked, his exasperation making him defensive. "You thought we'd be living in a five-star hotel? Finding a Horcrux every other day? You thought Christmas would do the trick?" Are you going back to Mommy?"

"We thought you knew what you were doing!" cried Ron, standing up.His words pierced Harry's heart like a hot knife. "We thought Dumbledore told you what to do, we thought you had a real plan!"

"Ron!" said Hermione, audible this time over the rain pattering on the roof of the tent, but he still ignored her.

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you," said Harry, his voice quite calm, though he felt hollow and weak, "I've been blunt with you from the beginning, telling you what Dumbledore told me everything. In case you haven't noticed, we already know how to destroy a Horcrux—"

"Yeah, it's easy for us to destroy it, as easy as finding a few other Horcruxes—fucking out of reach, in other words."

"Stop it, Ron." Hermione stopped him loudly.

"I see," said Harry, turning to Hermione. "Do you think I haven't noticed you two whispering behind my back? Do you think I can't guess what you're thinking?"

"Harry, we didn't—" said Hermione anxiously.

"Don't get mad at her!" Ron yelled at him, "We couldn't survive two days without Hermione - we had no food, lived in the tent she brought, and had to count on Phineas in her bag The portrait looks for clues—”

"We don't blame you - Harry, I don't!" cried Hermione.

The rain was beating furiously on the tent, and tears were streaming down Hermione's face.The excitement of a few minutes ago vanished without a trace, as if it had never been there before, like a firework and then extinguished, leaving behind darkness, dampness and coldness.Gryffindor's sword is hidden somewhere, they are just three teenagers hiding in a tent, the only problem is that they are not dead.

"Then why are you still here?" Harry asked Ron.

"I don't know," said Ron.

"Then go home," said Harry.

"Yeah, maybe I should!" cried Ron, taking a few steps towards Harry, who didn't back away. "Didn't you hear what they said about my sister? But you don't really care, do you, it's just Forbidden Forest, 'I've been through worse' - big hero Harry Potter doesn't care what she encounters there, but I do, giant spiders and maddening things -"

"I'm just saying - she's with her companions, with Hagrid -"

"—Yeah, I get it, you don't care! And my family, 'No more Weasley kids get hurt', you hear that?"

"I heard, I—"

"Didn't think about what that meant?"

"Ron!" said Hermione, pushing between them. "I don't think that means anything new, something we don't know about. Come to think of it, Ron, Bill has got his scars, and many people now probably I've seen that George's missing an ear, and you're sick with pimples, and I believe that's what it means—"

"Oh, you believe it, don't you? Well, I won't have to think about them. You two think it's okay, don't you, and your parents are safe anyway—"

"My parents are dead!" Harry yelled.

"It could be the same for my parents!" exclaimed Ron.

"Let's go, then!" growled Harry. "Go back to them and pretend you're free from pox and Mummy will feed you well—"

Ron made a sudden move, and Harry reacted quickly, but Hermione had already raised hers before their wands were out of their pockets.

"Armor protection!" she cried.Immediately an invisible wall formed, she and Harry on one side, Ron on the other.All three were shocked by the power of the spell and took a few steps back.Harry and Ron glared across the transparent barrier, as if seeing each other clearly for the first time.Harry already regretted the argument, but he didn't want to make peace with Ron at all right now.

Ron also looked at Harry with incredible eyes, as if he was not the same as before.Then he turned to Hermione.

"What are you going to do?"

"What did you say?"

"Are you on his side?"

"I..." she looked distressed, "yes - yes. Ron, we said we were going to help Harry -"

"I understand."

"Ron, no - please - come back, come back!"

"Don't bother," said Ron in a muffled voice. "I - the most useless of us, go out and get something to eat. Don't follow me, just leave me alone."

She was blocked by the Iron Armor Charm she cast, and by the time she removed it, Ron had rushed into the night.Harry stood there dumbfounded and silent when he heard Hermione crying and calling Ron's name in the woods.

She came back a few minutes later, her hair wet to her face.

"He-he-he's gone! Apparated!"

She plopped down on a chair, curled up and cried.

Harry was at a loss.He tore off the blanket that Ron had made, put it on for Hermione, and climbed into his own bunk, staring at the dark tent roof, listening to the sound of the rain.The last ray of hope in my heart was also shattered, and Ron really left.

"Hi, Neville."

The portrait of Ariana Dumbledore slowly moved away, and a head emerged from the dark hole in the wall. His appearance was terrible: one eye was swollen, blue and purple. "Good evening, Gwen."

"Where's Ginny?" Gwen looked behind him, "She's due to give me a new order today, and I'm not complaining, but the students bought too many decoy bombs and stealth smoke/mist/bombs— — Merlin, what happened to your face?"

Neville was sitting at the entrance of the cave, half hidden behind the portrait.He was completely different from his usual cowardly, "Ginny, Luna and I tried to steal Gryffindor's sword from Snape's office."

Gwen was so frightened that the package in her hand fell to the ground, "Are you crazy! Did she get caught?"

"We've all been caught." Neville waved his hand indifferently.

Gwen wanted to sneak into Hogwarts through the secret passage with one leap, but Neville was so frightened by her that he quickly stretched out his arm to stop her.

"what are you going to do?"

"Go and save Ginny, what will her family do if they know about it-I would rather she no longer go to school, what is Hogwarts like now? The Death Eater Carlo asked students Practicing the Cruciatus Curse on people in solitary confinement, driving Muggle-born students away, and making half-blood wizards skip school?"

"Don't worry, Gwen." Neville spoke so fast for the first time. "We were indeed caught by Snape, but he just made us work for Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest."

Gwen stopped scratching the corner of the wall, "Fortunately—", she subconsciously wanted to say, fortunately, Professor Snape caught them, and nothing serious happened.But seeing Neville's expression, Gwen's words turned around, and her tongue was hooked back by the golden thread, "I mean, fortunately Snape...thought the Forbidden Forest was a terrible punishment."

"So Ginny and Luna are fine, but they have to stay in the dormitory honestly after curfew today, Alecto Caro is very dissatisfied with this confinement, staring at them all day long, trying to find an excuse to punish Jin Ni."

Gwen finally put her heart back into her stomach, and gave Neville a large bag of Weasley joke products in her hand, and stuffed a few bottles of viscous yellow ointment into his hands, pointing to the boy's swollen eyeballs, " Bruise remover."

"Thank you." Neville put it away with a smile, and handed the students a small bag of Galleons and Silver Sickles to Gwen, "But I'd better not use it, the wound heals too quickly, Death Eaters It's time to find a new way to torture us."

"It can't always be like this." Gwen felt uncomfortable, "Students are living in dire straits."

"We have a few senior students covering them, former DA members." Neville puffed up his chest, "We have tried all the tricks Fred and George used against Umbridge, if they still It's fine at school..."

"If only Dumbledore was still there." Gwen was a little fussy. She really didn't understand that Hogwarts had fallen, so why didn't Dumbledore come forward to protect the little wizards?

"Things are not so difficult," Neville comforted Gwen in turn. "At least Malfoy can't keep an eye on Harry now. He hardly troubles Gryffindor recently."

Gwen sighed, "If you need anything, you know how to find us. Also, persuade Ginny to give up the sword, unless she calls someone outside to help - otherwise even if she resents me, I will tell her brother and Mom and Dad."

Neville waved his hand, but he didn't know whether he listened or not, and dragged a big bag and disappeared at the end of the tunnel.

All night, Ron did not show up near the tent.