Book 7: Harry Potter male reader insert

Chapter 20: Godric's Hollow

When (Y/n) woke the following day it was several seconds before he remembered what had happened. He didn't wish that Ron had left, but still everything he had said to (Y/n) weighed heavily on his mind.

(Y/n) watched from the corner as Harry jumped down from his own bed, keeping his eyes averted from Ron's. Hermione, who was already busy in the kitchen, did not wish Harry good morning, but turned her face away quickly as he went by.

(Y/n) knew that Ron wouldn't be coming back, even if he wanted to as their protective enchantments meant that it would be impossible, once they vacated this spot, for Ron to find them again.

He and Hermione ate breakfast in silence, while (Y/n) said by them in silence, he couldn't even think about eating.

Hermione's eyes were puffy and red; she looked as if she had not slept. They packed up their things, Hermione dawdling. (Y/n) knew why she wanted to spend their time on the riverbank; several times he saw her look up eagerly, and he was sure she had deluded herself into thinking that she heard footsteps through the heavy rain, but no red-haired figure appeared between the trees.

Every time Harry imitated her, looking around, and (Y/n) would silently put his arm around Hermione's shoulder, who often times would burrow her head into his arm and silently weep.

Every single word Ron had said to (Y/n) would reverberate around his head, stinging him again and again, each word shattering his confidence.

The muddy river beside them was rising rapidly and would soon spill over onto their bank. They had lingered a good hour after they would usually have departed their campsite. Finally having entirely repacked the beaded bag three times, Hermione seemed unable to find any more reasons to delay: She and (Y/n) gasped hands, while Harry grabbed her arm and they Disapparated, reappearing on a windswept heather-covered hillside.

The instant they arrived, Hermione shook off Harry's hand and walked away from him, (Y/n) following her, finally sitting down on a large rock, her face on her knees, with (Y/n)'s arm around her, shaking with sobs.

They did not discuss Ron at all over the next few days, in fact (Y/n) didn't discuss anything for the next few days, he didn't even speak for a while, scared that Ron was right and the other two were judging his every word; that they had always judged his every word.

Meanwhile Harry had started bringing out the Marauder's map and examining it by wandlight. (Y/n) assumed he was checking to see if Ron's labeled dot would reappear in the corridors of Hogwarts, proving that he had returned to the comfortable castle, protected by his status of pureblood.

Whether or not Ron did appear on the map (Y/n) would never know as not once did he mention it. By day, they devoted themselves to trying to determine the possible locations of Gryffindor's sword, but the more Harry and Hermione talked about the places in which Dumbledore might have hidden it, the more desperate and far-fetched their speculation became.

They had discovered one Horcrux, but they had no means of destroying it: The others were as unattainable as they had ever been.

They were spending many evenings in near silence as Harry and Hermione were starting to follow (Y/n)'s lead of silence. After a while Hermione took to bringing out Phineas Nigellus's portrait and propping it up in a chair, as though he might fill part of the gaping hole left by Ron's departure.

Despite his previous assertion that he would never visit them again, Phineas Nigellus did not seem able to resist the chance to find out more about what Harry was up to and consented to reappear, blindfolded, every few days of so. (Y/n) couldn't care less if he visited or not, sure he was company, but at the moment (Y/n) didn't care.