What's at Heart

The Man With Two Faces

A wizard's body was an extraordinary thing. It could be slammed, crushed, and ripped apart by magic, and a brother pulling too hard on your hair, and repaired.

It still bloody hurt.

Ron lay in a miserably painful way with stone steps in his back and Neville crushing him further into them as if his body were trying to take a souvenir home via lodged into his spine.

The eight of them all sat up with now familiar groans of pain, Ron had to remove Nevilles leg from his face to do so, and found themselves in a room only four people in history had once visited.

Harry had landed in front of the mirror once more, and had that look on his face like he was about to scream nonsense and run off into some dangerous adventure. Thankfully he wouldn't get very far in here, but Ron still hauled himself up to go over and check. "What's on your mind?"

"I'm wondering if we should nick the stone while we're in here," Harry was tapping his pocket and studying his reflection. "This should be the last of it, but still, that immortal drink that won't curse us would make me feel better about, when we get back."

Ron didn't even bother to deny a greedy grin of his own as he considered the prospects, all of that gold so his mum and dad would never have to worry again, shoving a few fat galleons in Percy's face. He might even come sniveling back home if he heard they'd all made something of themselves-

"Don't even think of it!" Hermione gasped, appearing in the mirror behind them like a scolding angel on their shoulders.

Harry gave a furtive look to Sirius, clearly his godfathers reckless mortality was still a thorn in his best mate's side. Ron couldn't blame the guy, he wouldn't want to be locked up in that old house after all this freedom when they got back and might go off pulling more crazy stunts and wrestling a werewolf.

"We're still in the past!" Hermione shrieked, grabbing Harry's shoulder and tugging to make him turn away and see her. "Haven't I warned you about time magic before! What if you pull it out and something's gone terribly wrong when we get it back!"

Harry hesitated, clearly unconvinced, and Ron agreed, "you worry to much. There's nobody here for it to hurt," his heart still felt like a crushed rabbit his mom couldn't magic back to life no matter how Ginny cried that day in the garden. He'd go mental if he never got another moment with any of his family, he had to get back to them, and all of this couldn't be for nothing!

"We don't know what we're affecting as we go through all this," she, as usual, had the book clamped tight in her hand. "Please Harry," she beseeched him, "listen to me, this is to dangerous to mess with."

Ron's blood boiled. He felt dismissed, invisible to her as usual, his thoughts never good enough to be heard by her unless he barbed her enough she had to snap back. "Hermione, you're not the boss of us! It was destroyed last time so Voldemort wouldn't come back, but he is! Harry nearly died to get the ruddy thing once, why shouldn't he get something more than a pat on the back and a bloody House Cup out of it!"

Her dark brown eyes snapped to him now, fury on her lips-

"Guys!"

Harry looked fondly exasperated between the two of them, already shaking his head. "I thought you said you were going to stop with the constant bickering?" He even laughed.

"I, I was, that is to say, we were-" Hermione went pink and began babbling.

Ron rolled his eyes, unimpressed. "I was agreeing with you!"

"Well it didn't work anyways," Harry sighed, gesturing to the mirror. The two blinked as he gave them a smile that wasn't nearly as guilty as it should be.