𝒯𝒽ℯ 𝒫𝓇ℴ𝓂𝒾𝓈ℯ𝒹 𝒪𝓃ℯ | 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲 |

#9 Mugs of Hot Coffee

139 days before

Ron and I apparated to a cliff near Brighton - the first place I thought about as we did so, because I spent a holiday there with my family once. A safe place for me, you might say.

My body felt loose of every energy I had left, apparation was the pure definition of exhaustion for me. Ron's arm was properly healed enough, but even he was tired by the amount of magic it took to get us to the place. And we weren't at all prepared for such a dangerous trip alone. We hadn't got a tent, we hadn't a plan what to do or where to go next and especially we hadn't an idea where we could stay the night.

It needed a few minutes on that cliff, a few deep breaths without the weight off the Horcrux around his neck, that he regretted everything he said. Ron rumbled on about how stupid he was for saying those things, how bad he felt for throwing such horrible words at his best friend and about getting me into that mess too, while I was probably the worst person to do so, since everyone thought I was dead.

It was cold these next days. It had to be Christmas soon judging the snow, which covered the ground since a few days. But since we were just on the edge of a hill, looking down on Brighton from above, we couldn't see the Christmas decorations from our hiding position in the shadows.

We got shelter in a small wooden stand on the edge of a tree group, definitely not the saftest place to be, but we trained our protective charms since we got quiet the experience with that and shot a spell at some more branches and leaves to get it around the place to be shield from the cold breeze. A charmed fire enough to keep us warm.

Actually, it was quite cozy for a natural camp and enough for the rest we needed until we could go to find Hermione and Harry again.

I was running out of Polyjuice Potion, so we needed to stay an extra week after we prepared ourselves again. The thought about being on that provisionally hide longer than a few days was scary, especially with the time running against us. The longer we needed to find the others, the more difficult it would be to get a hold on their tracks.

"So, where do we start?", Ron asked as he sat down next to me and the bubbling kettles on a tree stamp near our shelter. The deluminator seemed heavy in his hands, the silver material shining in the weak sunlight breaking through the curtains of clouds.

"I would say, we're going back to where we left them. I'm sure they already moved forward, but I told Hermione to leave some tracks for us.", I said and stirred the potion.

„Do you think we find them?", he asked shyly as I drew my wand to distract myself from the idea of wander around aimlessly in nothing but the protection of each other.

I flicked it a bit to let the snow in front of us dance almost like the small rhythm we normally danced on balls, sparkling in the upcoming sun. I always was an early bird, I always loved the sunrises. I just wished it wouldn't be because of another nightmare that I couldn't sleep anymore.

„Well, I hope we do.", I breathed out and watched the flakes dance. „We only need to think like Hermione, she sure came up with something they could follow."

„Nobody can think like Hermione.", Ron huffed amused, but wasn't lifting his eyes from the spell. „She's special."

„Yeah, she is.", I smiled to his side, before I let the hand, which wasn't holding the wand, moving around in circles over the kettle to stir the potion. „You need to apologize as soon as we find them."

As I looked into Ron's face, his lips scrunched a bit. Something he did as soon as he was embarrassed off something. A face I knew from the many times he failed at answering Hermione's questions in times we quizzed ourselves before an exam. It was almost funny how far away a normal exam day seemed to be.