………………………………
We nearly flew into the wall opposite Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom before Ron turned the broom.
We sped off, down the corridors and up the staircases we had crept down so cautiously such a short time ago. Then, as we reached the fifth floor, there was an enormous blast of sound and the entire School shook menacingly. There were yelling and screams all around and somewhere in the distance I thought I heard a dog’s bark. I jumped in surprise and dropped half my fangs. Ron pulled the broom to a standstill and we leaped off.
I scrambled to pick up the fangs I had dropped. Ron stuffed Cho’s broom under his arm and bent to help. Straightening up I was just about to suggest we go look for Harry, make sure he was alright, when someone started yelling and I looked up to find a familiar messy-haired boy with a lightening scar charging toward us. It was Harry, of course. The knot that had been in my stomach ever since Voldemort’s voice had startled us in the underground tunnel relaxed.
“-have you been?”* he was bellowing.
“Chamber of Secrets,”* Ron replied before I could open my mouth.
“Chamber- what?”* Harry asked confusedly as he skidded to a halt before us. I hurried to answer.
“It was Ron, all Ron’s idea!”* I gasped happily. “Wasn’t it absolutely brilliant? There we were, after you left, and I said to Ron, even if we find the other one, how are we going to get rid of it? We still hadn’t got rid of the cup! And then he thought of it! The basilisk!”*
“What the-?” *
“Something to get rid of Horcruxes,”* Ron said modestly.
Harry stared at us for a moment and I could see his mind struggling to comprehend the way mine had.
“But how did you get in there? You need to speak Parseltongue!”* he said at last.
“He did!”* I said, still awed. “Show him, Ron!”*
Ron made the hissing sound again.
“It’s what you did to open the locket. I had to have a few goes to get it right, but we got there in the end,”* he said with a shrug.
“He was amazing! Amazing!”* I said emphatically.
“So…”* said Harry, still running a little slow, “So…”*
“So we’re another Horcrux down,”* said Ron, producing the Horcrux from his inner coat pocket with a flourish. “Hermione stabbed it.”* I grinned and blushed. “Thought she should. She hasn’t had the pleasure yet.”*
Harry looked dumbfounded.
“Genius!”* he roared.
I beamed, remembering saying almost the same thing when Ron had suggested the idea.
“It was nothing,”* said Ron, grinning happily. “So what’s new with you?”*
There was another explosion from somewhere above us and we all looked up as a flurry of dust fell from the ceiling. Someone screamed. Harry’s smile faded.
Suddenly business-like he said, “I know what the diadem looks like, and I know where it is. He hid it exactly where I hid my old Potions book, where everyone’s been hiding stuff for centuries. He thought he was the only one to find it. Come on.”*
There was another explosion and all of Hogwarts shook once more as we ran down the corridor after him, through the hidden doorway and down the twisting staircase to the Room of Requirement.
I was surprised to see Tonks, Ginny, and Neville’s gran, still wearing the hat with the stuffed bird on it that we had met her in three years before, all standing there. It seemed that we had interrupted their conversation. There was a moment of silence and then they started asking Harry questions.
We’ll need everyone to be out of the Room of Requirement to use it… I thought rather distractedly as Mrs. Longbottom hurried up the stairs. What is Tonks doing here? Shouldn’t she be with her baby? At Mrs. Tonks house?
“I couldn’t stand not knowing- She’ll look after him- have you seen Remus?”* Tonks answered my question, or rather the one Harry had said out loud, before I could ask it. Her face was a pale circle of worry. As soon as Harry told her when he had last seen her husband she tore off up the stairs. Two down, one to go, I thought as I turned to Ginny.
“Ginny, I’m sorry, but we need you to leave too,”* Harry began. Ginny grinned wickedly. “Just for a bit. Then you can come back in,”* Harry continued quickly. He sounded anxious. “And then you can come back in!”* he repeated as she sprinted up the stairs. “You’ve got to come back in!”* he shouted after her. Was Ginny supposed to be here? She was underage, after all… I was just about ready to run after her when Ron spoke.
“Hang on a moment!”* He said loudly. His face was worried. “We’ve forgotten someone!”*
I searched my memory. There wasn’t anyone in the Room of Requirement besides the three of us now and the school seemed mostly deserted. Surely the teachers had evacuated the students?
“Who?”* I asked, curious.
“The house elves,”* Ron said.“They’ll all be down in the kitchen, won’t they?”*
My heart started pounding. Ron gets it. After all these years, he finally sees that they’re people! My brain was numb. Ron was just full of surprises tonight. He had done his homework, and now he was remembering the ones that even I had forgotten in the rush to destroy Horcruxes! Ron is growing up, I thought dimly. Ron is maturing. Ron has grown some sympathy. His emotional range has finally extended to more than a teaspoon.
Harry was asking if Ron thought the house-elves should fight.
Harry doesn’t get it.
“No, I mean we should get them to get out,”* Ron said solemnly.
I was flying. Is this the Ron who scorned S.P.E.W. from the moment I started it? Is this the Ron who fantasized about continuing the Black family tradition with Kreacher’s head mounted next on the wall? Is this the Ron who has been unable to understand the most flagrant hints of affection I could possibly throw? Is this the Ron I grew to like so much? No. This was a better Ron. This was the Ron I had hoped he would become. This was the Ron who had shone through the shell that was the other Ron. This was the Ron I had come to love.
“-don’t want any more Dobbies, do we?”* he was saying fervently. “We can’t order them to die for us-“*
The basilisk fangs fell from my arms as I threw myself forward, flung my arms around his neck and kissed him hard on the lips for the first time. The next moment I cannot describe. It was him and I alone in the world, finally understanding each other fully. Nothing else mattered. The fear, the worry, the battle raging in halls outside faded from my mind. There was nothing but Ron, and I was kissing him…and he was kissing me back.
Harry was saying something but I didn’t care. Everything Ron had ever done wrong was being made right, he had redeemed himself completely in my eyes and this was his redemption. Every unkind word he had said, every feeling he had bruised, every moment of every day after he had left and before he had returned was forgiven. The slate was clean.
“OI!* yelled Harry. “There’s a war going on here!”*
And suddenly I was back in reality, my arms around Ron’s neck, as I turned to look bemusedly at Harry. Ron grinned and said exactly what I would have if I had been able to utter a word.
“I know, mate. So it’s now or never, isn’t it?”*
I blushed happily.
“Never mind about that, what about the Horcrux? D’you think you could just- just hold it in until we’ve got the diadem?”* Harry asked exasperatedly, his eyebrows high on his forehead.
Horcrux… wait…Oh, yeah,I thought, guiltily.
“Yeah- right- sorry-“* Ron said, and bent over to pick up the basilisk fangs that were scattered over the floor around us. His face and ears were pink. I bent to help him. He moved closer on the pretext of picking up a fang right at my feet.
“I thought you were going to warn me.”
I looked up at him, confused. He was grinning and looking at me out of the corner of his eyes.
“You know, you said you would warn me the next time you were about to fly at me for no reason.”
I laughed softly and straightened up, my arms full of fangs. Ron stood up too, and as we followed Harry to the cupboard staircase I leaned closer to him.
“I had very good reasons for that one.”
We started up the staircase.
“Do you accept advance warnings?” I asked quietly as we rounded a bend in the stairway. I saw Ron nod out of the corner of my eye.
“Well then. Consider yourself warned, Ronald.”
I grinned and sped up. Just let him think about that, I thought, smiling. Behind me I thought I heard Ron chuckle.
The End.
Through Different Eyes by hogwartsbookworm
Chapter Notes: Ron finally understands SPEW, and… well. You should already know what happens next. Location: Hogwarts- halls and the Room of Requirement.
Chapter Endnotes: *Marked quotes are from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pages 622 and 623.I hope you enjoyed this story from Hermione’s perspective. I know I enjoyed writing it! If you enjoyed my writing, please, feel free to check out my other stories. I don’t do anything above 3rd-5th years, and I won’t do anything that requires certain warnings. =)
Thanks for reading From Wading to Redemption!