Keeping a Promise

Chapter 13

All six of us stared at the single, long, coarse hair, which was plucked from the sweater Hermione, that laid curled in a small, glass phial on the mantelpiece. I shook my head in disgust. I was so glad that I was not the one that had to ingest the essence of Bellatrix Lestrange. 

"Can I change my mind?" Astoria gagged a little after saying that sentence. 

Ron laughed. "Yeah, no. You definitely can't. There is no way in hell we are letting Hermione play this part. We would fail." 

Hermione smacked him in the arm. "We would not, Ronald." 

I jumped when the door to the room opened. Griphook entered the room. I saw Harry grab the hilt of Godric's sword and pull the sword closer to him. I knew that he wouldn't want to part with the sword just yet. 

"We've been checking over the last minute stuff, Griphook," Harry said. "We've told Marcus and Alex  that we're leaving tomorrow, and we've asked them not to see us off." 

We had been firm on the point that Marcus and Alex not now about the task we were doing. Marcus had already expressed that he didn't want me to go. I knew that I had to though. I needed to be able to save Draco. I reached up and grabbed my ring in my hand. 

"Wait," I said, watching Harry pull out a wand. "Is that your wand?" 

He shook his head. "No, mine broke. I actually stole this wand." 

"It looks very familiar," I then remembered where they had come from before coming here. "Is that Draco's wand?" 

"It sure is," Ron interjected. "He had to steal a wand to save his life, and Draco was the closest one to him. So, he snatched it right out of his hand." 

"How is Draco supposed to defend himself now?" I looked at Harry and crossed my arms over my chest. "He's defenseless! He needs to protect himself. He will die if he doesn't have his wand!" 

"Calm down, Court," Ron reached out for me, but I pulled away from him. "Harry had to protect himself." 

"We just found out that Draco has been prophesized to die, so finding out you guys stole his wand is no great news to the girl who's in love with him," Astoria rolled her eyes. 

"And you bitches had to go and make it easier for him to die," Kam scoffed. 

"We had no idea," Harry said, "but it's every man for himself out there right now." 

I shook my head. "This just means that we have to get to Gringotts faster," I sighed. "I'm going to go for a walk." 

I made my way to the beach on my own. Kam was going to follow me, but Astoria stopped her. I had to be by myself right now. I was so worried about Draco. I really hoped that he was trying to full fill his promise. I let the waves crash over my feet, which did make me feel better. 

"Court." 

I looked over to see Ron. I quickly looked away and back out to the ocean. I didn't want this to happen right now. He was the last person that I wanted to see. I can't let myself be alone with him. We were prophesied to be together, to have an attraction to each other. 

"Hey," I turned and started walking towards the house. "I'm really tired. I'm going to bed." 

He then grabbed me and pulled me towards him. He started kissing me passionately. I pushed him away, but his arms were still around my waist. I shook my head no and was going to verbally protest, but he kissed me again. He laid me down on the wet sand and started kissing me down my neck and then my collar bone. It felt nice. 

"Wait," I said, but not very loudly. 

Next thing I knew, I woke up in the sand with Ron's arms around me. I closed my eyes and tried not to cry. This pull between us had caused me to cheat on Draco. This was entirely my fault. It had been a while since I had done anything. It felt so good though. I moved Ron's arm from around me and grabbed my ring. I couldn't help but break down into sobs. 

"Whoa," Ron said while he sat up. "Court, I'm so sorry. I just couldn't help it." 

I shook my head. "No, this was my fault." 

"I shouldn't have done it. I just got into a fight with Hermione," he started cry as well. 

"You two are together?" I said, wiping at my tears. 

He shook his head. "No, I've still been too chicken shit to say anything," he shivered from his sobs. "I just wanted to feel something nice with someone. I should've asked you first." 

"You didn't need to ask. I should've been more vocal," I leaned my head on his shoulder. "I should've been the one to say no." 

"Let's just agree that this was a mutual feeling. I don't know why but I still feel this connection with you." 

I sat up. "It's part of the cycle. We're prophesized to be together after Draco dies, but I'm not blaming the cycle...fully. We still have self control." 

"We need to stay away from each other. We cannot be alone." 

I nodded. "I completely agree. I'm going in the house. You stay here for a little bit, then head inside." 

I got up and walked away without looking back at him. My fingers played with my ring the whole way while tears streamed down my face. I opened the door and saw Alex sitting at the table, drinking tea. She motioned for me to join her. 

"Can't sleep either?" She asked. 

I shook my head. "I guess you can say that." 

"I'm really worried about you guys," she said as she poured me a cup. "You shouldn't have to go, but I understand. Dumbledore needs you, teenagers, to finish things that he couldn't. That man was one of the greatest wizards of all time, but I am disappointed that he felt the need to incorporate teenagers in a war." 

I took a sip of my tea. "He is not the one that involved us. Trust me on that. He was just a messenger, I promise you that." 

When the morning came, I still hadn't slept any. I was still sitting at the kitchen table, but I was by myself. Kam and Astoria came in and sat down with me. Ron came inside at that moment. We made eye contact. I looked away quickly. Last night just made things weird. We were both vulnerable in front of each other. 

"What's going on?" Kam asked. "Courtney is blushing, and Ron's ears are read. Something happened, and you whores are going to tell us." 

I shook my head. "Nothing happened." 

Hermione walked into the room as well. "Good, you're all awake. Astoria, are you reading for today?" 

She nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be." 

"Wait," Herms looked from me to Kam to Ron to Astoria. "What's going on?" 

"Nothing," Ron blurted out. "I'll go get Harry, and we can get ready to go." 

"This is going to be a long day," Kam announced to the whole room before putting her head down on the table. 

She was right about that. 

A/N: Well, I wasn't planning on that to happen. It just kind of flowed out of me while I was writing. It feels like it should be in the story. But here we go, back into the war! Love you all. Thanks for reading! <3