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Believe that Magic Works (9/10) - R/Hr - PG-13
Title: Believe that Magic Works (9/10)
Author: shocfix
Pairing: Ron/Hermione
Words: 3600
Rating: PG-13

Written for sugarandginger’s Definitive Ron/Hermione Year Seven Novella Challenge

As the Trio set off on their search for the Horcruxes, Ron finally accepts that he wants to look after his two best friends in completely different ways

As the Trio set off on their search for the Horcruxes, Ron finally accepts that he wants to look after his two best friends in completely different ways

Many thanks for the betas by the awesome rosina_alcona, magicofisis and ella_bane, and for running the whole thing to tarie.

And for Glockgal, Hibiscus, Hill, Karasu Hime, Littlun, Lou, Luckilyotto, Moonytoes, Neb and Really Corking for the amazing art – I have no words to tell you how sexy it is when people draw for my stories.


Chapter 9 : Where It All Ends
****
We were already up when Harry arrived at five o'clock the next morning.

Actually, we had barely slept; I had held her all night and we had talked.

And kissed.

A lot.

Having a shag to remember her by felt wrong, but we tried to fit in a lifetime of kisses in one night.

I’m sure there were a lot of things I should have said, too; but I’m equally sure I’d have messed it up and said the wrong thing. Kissing seemed like a much safer option.

I’d definitely got the hang of kissing.

And then she went back to her room to get dressed and we stumbled downstairs and put the kettle on.

Harry Apparated in shortly afterwards and slumped at the kitchen table, pouring himself a coffee.

He looked me up and down. All three of us had dressed in black, but why was he frowning at me?

"Ron," he yawned, "why have you shaved?"

"What?" I asked.

"Why have you shaved for facing Death Eaters?" he asked, scratching his own jaw.

Hermione frowned at me, too, and I think I blushed. "I shaved for kissing Hermione afterwards," I said, with dignity.

Hermione bit her lip.

Harry laughed. "Seriously?" he asked.

"What's wrong with that?" I asked defensively.

"Nothing," Hermione said, kissing me on the cheek.

"Wrong?" Harry said. "Nothing. It's just so… optimistic."

I shrugged. "Yeah, well," I muttered. "And we didn't shag, either."

Hermione tutted at me and Harry raised an eyebrow. "Uh, do I want to know why not?"

"Because it'd be shagging because we're gonna die; which we're not. Tomorrow night we can shag because we're gonna live."

Hermione blushed.

"Oh," Harry said, still looking surprised. "You…"

"…don't want to know what you and Ginny got up to," I interrupted.

He flushed and looked away. Hermione gave me a very wary look, but what did they think I was going to do? Beat up the Boy Who Lived and send You Know Who a note, apologising for standing him up?

"Like I said," I pointed out. "Not my business. Now, we have a snake to kill, is that right?"

Harry nodded enthusiastically and cautiously met my eyes, relaxing when he realised I wasn't going to hit him.

"I told Remus what we were doing," he said. "Although not the why we’re killing the snake first. He's bringing the Order."

"How many people are going to go tiptoeing into the house?" Hermione demanded. "Will we be able to get close enough to him?"

"They're gonna wait outside," Harry said. "Hopefully we can get to him without him being surrounded by Death Eaters, but if Mad Eye sees anything suspicious, they'll follow us in."

oOoOo

So, we Apparated to the cemetery in Little Hangleton, in the valley below the big house.

Harry looked around him and his jaw clenched and we knew what he was remembering.

"Could you drum up a snake and check they're still in the house?" I asked Harry and Hermione tutted.

"Snakes are cold blooded, Ron," she explained. "They won't be up at five o'clock in the morning."

I kissed her on the cheek.

"What’s that for?" she asked.

"Just like old times," I said. "I love you explaining stuff to me. It turns me on."

She shook her head and I could hear her muttering behind me as Harry led the way up the hill.

Led the three of us.

To find You Know Who.

And I wanted to just grab them both and Apparate them away and keep them safe.

That had been my job for so long. Well, I guess if today went according to plan, that that would be it. Safe. Over. Finished. Though I doubt I would ever get out of the habit of looking out for them; and I wouldn’t want to.

We slipped through a gap in the high and moth eaten hedge that surrounded the old house and crossed the overgrown gardens, hiding behind trees and bushes as the sun came up and struck the dusty windows high above us.

We reached the house and hugged the wall, stopping in the shadows, we peeped round the corner towards the front of the house.

It seemed we didn't need to sneak around to find You Know Who.

It seemed the snakes weren't above selling information to both sides.

He was sitting at a small table, looking out over the lawns of the old house.

The table was set for tea, with delicate, old china and Nagini was curled around his feet.

"How come she's up so early?" I whispered.

"She probably sleeps by a fire, she doesn't need to sun herself…"

"Shush," Harry interrupted us.

"Well, how come he's breakfasting on the lawn?" I asked.

"Because he's waiting for me," Harry whispered.

"So, what do we do?" Hermione whispered back.

Harry shrugged. "We go and have a cup of tea?"

"You are not just walking out there, Harry," Hermione whispered furiously.

"Well," Harry replied. "We need some of distraction, I don’t like the idea of him watching us approach, but we have to get out there."

I don't know why I thought of it, but a Charm from fifth year popped into my head and I took out my wand. You Know Who was between us and the tea table and I pointed my wand at one of the cups and whispered my Charm.

The cup grew rather long, spindly legs and staggered to the edge of the table, where it fell with a crash and You Know Who leapt to his feet to look round the far side of the house.

I looked back to see Harry and Hermione gaping at me. "Well," I muttered, as we slipped around the corner of the house and approached the lawns. "I always knew that Charm has some use."

Harry was almost laughing as we approached You Know Who. Hermione and I flanked him, which I didn't like. I hated not having her next to me; close enough to touch.

But Harry was all that mattered now.

And I hated it. Hermione had been very definite about this; if I saved her life and risked Harry’s, she would never speak to me again. I just didn’t know if I could do it.

You Know Who turned to face us and my blood literally ran cold.

"Harry," he hissed.

"Tom," Harry said, pleasantly, and I could almost feel Hermione rolling her eyes, but if doing his Professor Dumbledore impression helped, then I was all for it.

We needed every bit of help we could get.

"Here alone, Harry?" You Know Who sneered. "So brave, such a Gryffindor."

"I'm not alone," Harry said, gesturing to Hermione and me.

"Nor am I," You Know Who said, gesturing to the doors of the old house. They creaked open theatrically, and cloaked and hooded figures filed out, coming to stand behind him.

Some I didn't recognise, though I didn't dismiss them as I looked from face to face.

Some I did.

I heard Harry gasp involuntarily.

Snape.

Staring over our heads, his eyes narrowed, his jaw set.

Next to him was Malfoy. He was visibly trembling and his eyes darted round the garden frantically, not looking straight at us.

There were two of the Death Eaters we had fought last year.

And there was Greyback.

I clenched my hands into fists. If there was just any chance I could get to him… but my Mum would kill me. I almost laughed. What a stupid thing to worry about.

And there. Lurking in the background, trying to hide behind the bigger and better Death Eaters.

Wormtail.

Even better.

He was mine. Hopefully Bill would arrive with the Order and deal with Greyback.

Hopefully the Order would arrive and keep the Death Eaters off our backs, because we had hoped for a shot at You Know Who before his troops arrived.

With a nod of his head, You Know Who beckoned Greyback forward. "No tame werewolf with you today, Harry?" he said lazily. "What an oversight."

Greyback stalked forward, smiling at Harry with pointed teeth; Harry swallowed audibly and took a step backwards.

There were a series of pops behind us and I risked a quick glance over my shoulder.

In the dawn's light I could see Aurors and Order members running up the lawns; I could see far too many flashes of red hair and I turned to face the Death Eaters again, not entirely comforted by the presence of back-up if I had to worry about them, too.

Greyback dropped his cloak and rolled up his sleeves, revealing long yellow finger nails on hands held as claws as he neared Harry; I looked round wildly panicking, I just didn't know what to do.

But then there was a flurry of movement and someone was there, grabbing Greyback from behind, whimpering as he bent him backwards and wrapped his hand tightly around the werewolf's throat.

"No," a voice shouted angrily, as Greyback fell to his knees, gasping for breath as the hand squeezed.

The silver hand.

I was standing there, shaking; I simply couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Why would Wormtail do this? Why throw his life away like this. What had Greyback ever done to him?

And then his eyes met Harry's over the stilled body of the werewolf. "I'm sorry," he whispered, as he was cut down from behind by You Know Who's curse.

Someone cried out behind us, and I was pretty sure it was Remus, but I didn't have time to think about what had just happened, because the Death Eaters were upon us and all hell broke loose. I tried to keep an eye on Harry as I fought, but he moved too quickly.

You Know Who didn’t enter the fray, and we were soon swirled away from him.

I don't know how long we fought for; time moved strangely.

In flashes I saw Hermione, but couldn't reach her; I saw Ginny and made a mental note to have a very stern word with Remus later for letting himself be talked into bringing her; I saw Neville and Tonks and my dad and Bill.

At one point I had disarmed and stunned someone I didn't recognise and I turned to see Harry.

I leapt over my fallen Death Eater and ran toward him.

He was fighting Malfoy, and he was falling back.



Harry was frowning and fighting defensively and I wanted to thump him.

After being obsessed by what Malfoy was doing all last year - OK, he'd been proved right, Malfoy had been up to something – he had barely mentioned him this year.

But I knew my Harry; I knew he felt guilty.

As usual.

He felt that Malfoy had been trapped into doing what he had done; that he'd been terrified for his life, that he should have taken the chance that Professor Dumbledore had given him.

Harry wished he could have done something last year, but that didn't mean he shouldn't fight back now. It didn’t mean that he should continue to give ground and just block Malfoy’s attack.

Because Malfoy kept on coming.

He wasn't trembling now. He may not have had the balls to kill Dumbledore, but he'd love to finish Harry off. This was personal; this had nothing to do with You Know Who, or Death Eaters or Unbreakable Vows.

From the far side of their battle I saw two other people running towards them and I redoubled my efforts.

Hermione.

And Snape.

Then there were just the five of us, cut off from the fighting all over the grounds.

And Snape spoke to Malfoy.

"Leave him, Draco," he said firmly, and Malfoy faltered for the first time, his eyes flickering towards Snape.

Harry still didn't take the offensive, the idiot.

"Yes, I know," Malfoy spat, sneering at Harry. "We have to take him to the Dark Lord."

"We have to let him face the Dark Lord," Snape agreed quietly. "Because only Potter can defeat him."

All four of us turned to stare blankly at Snape.

How could he pretend to hope that Harry could be victorious?

"No," Malfoy said. "You can't want that. After everything that's happened. Everything you did. No."

He turned and attacked Harry with a blizzard of curses, and Harry continued to fall back, being hit by some of them as he frowned at Snape.

"Draco!" Snape shouted. "Stop! Potter is the only one who can end this. I haven't worked for all these years to have you spoil things now."

And he came between them, just as Malfoy, with hatred in his eyes, cast the Killing Curse at Harry.

Snape's body arched backwards and bore Harry to the ground and there was a ringing silence.

Malfoy stared down at them. At Snape's empty eyes. At Harry, struggling to his feet. Then he whirled away and lunged at Hermione, pulling her against him like a shield, with his arm tight around her waist, and putting his wand to her throat.

"You don't want me to harm your Mudblood, do you Potter?" he hissed, backing away from us.

Harry and I followed, slowly.

"Let her go, Malfoy," Harry said. "I have no issues with you. Let her go and you can get away from here."

Malfoy shook his head wildly, his hair flying into his eyes. "No," he said, stumbling backwards. “Do you think I want to touch her? But I’m not letting you or the Weasel get a clear shot at me now.”

"You let her go," I shouted and Hermione shook her head at me, obviously not trusting me not to do something stupid.

But then Malfoy smirked at me and ran his hand up from her waist and cupped her breast and I lunged forwards and Harry swiftly reached out his free hand and grabbed my sleeve. "Not yet," he whispered.

Hermione was not going quietly. She dragged her feet, tripping over things she couldn't see and he turned her around, burying his hand in her hair and holding her face against his neck. "She comes with me," he said.

He took another step backwards, bracing his legs further apart as he pulled her after him.

And Hermione's knee came up, hard, between his legs.

That’s my girl. Although her knee will obviously need disinfecting.

He let go of her, gasping for air and she threw herself to the ground.

He fell to his knees, tears in his eyes, and I stepped closer.

"Ron, no!" Hermione shouted, as my hand tightened around my wand.

I don't think I would really have done it, but my eyes were on his throat and "Sectumsempra" was on the tip of my tongue.

But I heard her voice and I stopped, transferred my wand to my left hand, and punched him.

His head snapped back and he measured his length on the ground, out cold.



"Ron!" Hermione admonished.

"Excellent," Harry said. "C'mon."

I hauled Hermione to her feet and we raced after him. "Are you just going to leave him unconscious?" she asked as we ran.

"I could stamp on his face if you like," I panted and I could hear her rolling her eyes.

We ran back onto the front lawns to find various battles still underway. I looked frantically for Ginny and found her vaulting over a fallen Death Eater and rushing to help Neville.

Ducking under a curse from the Death Eater that Remus was duelling, I followed Harry towards the house. You Know Who was standing on the gravel path, his snake curved around his feet, watching the carnage, watching Harry racing towards him.

"Where have you been?" he asked, as Harry skidded to a halt.

Harry squared his shoulders and looked up at him.

"Vanquishing evil, you know how it is," Harry drawled.

"Busy day?" You Know Who asked him idly.

Harry shrugged. "Oh, no major evil so far, but things are looking up."

Harry seemed relaxed, but I was close to screaming, and was just desperate for him to make his move.

"Shall we see what you've learnt, Harry?" You Know Who asked.

"Oh, I think you'll find I've learnt a lot," Harry said raising his wand.

And You Know Who raised his.

The whizzing of curses behind us had stopped, and I think everyone had turned to watch what was happening.

Well, Harry's moment had arrived.

Everyone was waiting for him to attack You Know Who.

Well, everyone but me and Hermione.

We tried hard not to look at the snake.

We looked at You Know Who's face. And, as someone whose worst fears live under a log, I tried not to flinch; I knew Harry and Hermione were looking him in the face.

A face that, behind the nightmare, was insufferably smug and superior, so obviously thinking that the foolish little Boy Who Lived may have trained hard for this moment, may think he was ready, but he didn't know one crucial thing.

Didn't know that You Know Who had gone further in his quest for immortality than any other wizard. That he was safe; his soul protected and tethered to this world by the precious pieces so painfully ripped and so carefully hidden.

He contemptuously flicked a curse at Harry, which Harry easily blocked.

Harry retaliated; You Know Who didn't even blink as he deflected it. I'm not sure that Snake Eyes actually could blink, but I was sure that I wanted to grab Harry and scream, "Kill the snake!"

Harry smiled.

And his next curse was fatal.

It hit Nagini right between the eyes and she reeled; her head fell onto her coils, which stopped moving.

And then started moving again. Started jerking; writhing.

There was a horrible, echoing scream coming from somewhere deep within the unfortunate reptile, which then exploded, showering us with the now traditional black slime.

At least it was body temperature this time.

There were shouts from behind us, but we looked at You Know Who.

As he frowned down at the remains of his beloved snake; as he looked up at Harry, wondering what the hell had just happened.

Had Harry's curse missed its intended target?

Why would he deliberately kill the snake?

Harry smiled and You Know Who took a step backwards.

You could see the realisation hit him.

Harry knew.

He knew about the Horcruxes.

He knew he had had to kill Nagini first.

Which meant that Harry wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t already destroyed the other Horcruxes.

And now he faced Harry without realising he was once again mortal.

"No!" he screamed, backing away.

And Harry's curse cut him down.

I heard gasps and screams behind me, but all I could do was think, "Please. Please, please, please let him be dead; don't let him have made another Horcrux with the piece he'd ripped out of Harry. I want him dead. I shaved, I want to kiss Hermione. I don't want to die when we are so close. I want to kiss Hermione."

And then the screaming stopped.

And You Know Who lay sprawled on his back, eyes wide open and rather surprised.

And then his skin started bubbling, like something was trapped inside him, like the last twisted part of his soul hadn't been strong enough to die peacefully, to move on.

His body twisted, limbs flailing; it arched horribly and Harry, Hermione and I drew closer together.

And then he exploded.

My favourite black slime erupting into the air and coating the path, the lawn, the remains of his snake.

And Harry.

And Hermione.

And me.

I wiped You Know Who out of my eyes and blinked.

Behind us there was shouting. Cheers? A few pops as Death Eaters Disapparated before Aurors could throw anti-Apparition charms at them.

And then Hermione threw herself at me.

After a brief, crushing hug she pulled back and wiped my face ineffectually.

I ran my fingers over her cheeks, scraping off the gunk.

"Ron," she half laughed, sounding slightly hysterical and I hugged her again.

Then we turned to Harry.

She gently wiped some of the slime off his face.

"Harry?" she said.

"Harry?" I echoed, suddenly scared that You Know Who's demise had ripped something else out of him.

Hermione took off his glasses and wiped them and he blinked owlishly at me.

He lifted his wand and I flinched. Then I kicked myself for flinching.

"Scourgify," he whispered, first for me, then Hermione, then, finally, for himself.

"Thanks," I murmured.

"Well," he shrugged. "I know you have plans with Hermione; I wouldn't want to cramp your style – especially when you are wearing your black jeans."

"Well, you always said the Death Eaters wouldn't stand a chance if I wore these jeans," I laughed and he smiled and Hermione handed him his glasses and he put them back on and then the three of us were hugging, so tightly he couldn't breathe.

And I didn't particularly want to.

Because my two favourite people in the world were in my arms and alive.

And Hermione was stroking my face and Harry's, and Harry was half-strangling me and I had my hand in his hair, holding on for dear life.

But then the sound of the rest of the world pierced our bubble and I let go.

And Ginny was there, throwing herself into Harry's arms and almost knocking him to the ground as their feet skidded in the remains of You Know Who.

Voldemort. The remains of Voldemort.

And then Bill was hugging me and ruffling my hair, and my dad was hugging me and crying, and people were popping in and out of the gardens and Harry saw Scrimgeour bearing down on him.

"No," Harry said, stiffening.

"I'll deal with it," Remus said and Harry nodded at me and Disapparated, taking Ginny along with him.

And Hermione and I followed.

oOoOo