Atlas Malfoy and how history repeats itself

Part 47

I hate walking. Through fields, and forests, and on beaches, and in barns. I actually don't have it in me anymore. I see little things that kids have clearly left behind while fleeing. A little doll fell from a tree onto my foot a while back. It killed me inside. I put it back in the tree. When my leg is good we travel. When it isn't, I see how people get restless.

Hermione is cutting Harry's hair when she suddenly jumps up with an idea. She says, "The sword of Gryffindor! It's goblin made."
"Brilliant," Harry says suspiciously.
"You don't understand!" Hermione says, spinning her book round so we can see the page, "Dirt and rust have no effect on the blade. It just makes it stronger."
"And?" Harry says, looking up from the book. It suddenly hits me. I say, "Wait, so when Harry defeated the basilisk-"
"And its blood went on the sword-" Hermione squeals.
"It's blood stayed on the blade!" I scream. She hugs me and Harry says, "Hold on... so if we can get the blade, we can destroy horcruxes!"
"So now all we need to do is find the sword," I say, "And then it'll be impregnated with the poison from the snake so it will be able to break horcruxes. That's why Dumbledore left it to you in the will, Harry. It's so you can-"

All the light in the tent disappears, and reappears a few seconds later. Ron is stood with a little contraption in his hand and glaring. He says, "That's right. I'm still here. But you three carry on, don't let me spoil the fun."
"What is your problem?" I snap. Ron scoffs, "Problem? There's no problem."
"No, spit it out." Harry is furious. Ron says, "Alright. Don't expect me to be grateful because there is another stupid thing we now have to find."
"I thought you knew what you were signing up for."
"So did I. I just thought Atlas would have maybe been told more than nothing by her stupid family. I thought Atlas would have been able to maybe not drag us all behind. If she hadn't upset her aunt, she would be able to walk. And if you had got any more details, we would be getting somewhere." Ron glares as Harry storms down, ranting. Hermione follows him down and I race to Ron. 
"You think I love this situation I'm in?" I scream. Ron turns round to me and says, "Do you know why I listen to the radio each night? To make sure I don't hear that your family have killed Mum, or Ginny, or Fred, or George."
"You think I want them to be how they are?" I scream.
"YOU'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING TO HELP THOUGH. ARE YOU?" Ron yells back, "NOT WITH ATLAS'S PARENTS KILLING EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO HAS A PROBLEM WITH THEM. NOT WILL ATLAS BEING A MURDER BABY. AND YOUR PARENTS ARE DEAD, YOU DON'T KNOW HOW IT FEELS. YOU HAVE NO FAMILY."
I take a step in shock. Harry gasps and yells, "GO. GO THEN."
Ron slams the locket off and I sit back down on the bench. He storms out the tent, leaving us. Hermione freezes before running after him, calling his name for ages. Harry looks at me and I say, "Murder baby. He called me a murder baby. I'm not apart of that family."
"I have no family," Harry says, sitting down next to me with his head in his hands. I lean my head on his shoulder and say, "I consider you my family Harry."
"You are my family Atlas."

A few days go by, and Hermione does nothing but cry. Every time we leave a place, she leaves something of hers so Ron will be able to find us. I daren't tell her there is no point. I sit in the tent, reading over Regulus's stuff. There must be something I'm missing. There must be some reason as to why this is happening. I flick on the radio, only to hear a voice boom, "Pure blood witch, Atlas Black, was seen months ago at the ministry, where she was dragged out by Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley. Her mother is here with a message."
I hold my breath as silence crackles for a second, before mum's voice says, "Atlas, baby, if you can hear me, please come home. Es wird ganz normal weitergehen. Please come home."

I turn the radio off and groan. It will continue as normal. Ez wird ganz normal weitergehen. Who is she trying to lie to? Bellatrix will be all over me, but wont trust me till I beg her to. Lucius wont look at me. The Dark Lord could kill me for all I know. Just brilliant. It's cool and dark and suddenly, Harry walks in, dragging his feet. I turn the radio to a channel I know music will be playing on, and Hermione whispers, "I love this song."
Harry walks over, holding out his hand. I nod, knowing Hermione might refuse if I don't. They get up, and both slowly dance to the middle of the tent. I smile, a tear rolling down my face. They both get faster and I wipe my eyes. It's the first time I've seen them smile in a while. I hum along to the song, rocking left to right and smiling. Hermione comes and sits back down after the dance and she says, "That felt really good."
"You looked beautiful." I say as she leans in to hug me. I stroke her hair and she whispers, "Your mum wants you to go home."
"Yeah," I agree, "But she says things will go back to normal. I don't know what normal she is thinking of, but it is different to mine. It'll never be normal again. Not after this."
Hermione nods and asks, "If you could have never met Harry, Ron and I, would you go back in time and stop it?"
"No." I say, shutting it down immediately. She clearly wants more, so I say, "If I hadn't had met you, I would have been pretty lonely. I probably would have never got slammed against that wall, and then I never would've got my walking stick. The only reason I wasn't asked to be a death eater was because of my leg. And I wouldn't know about Sirius. I also probably wouldn't have had crucio used on me, but you win some you lose some."
"No?" Hermione is gawping at me and I say, "What do you mean?"
"Having an unforgivable curse used on you is not a 'you win some, you lose some' type of situation? That is abuse."
"Yeah, but it was my aunt."
"And?" Hermione scoffs.
"And," I retort, "She is a mental one. She went to Azkaban. I really don't expect her to be normal. I have to pretend to be in awe of her and blah, blah, blah."
"BLAH BLAH BLAH-"

"Can we go to Godric's hollow then?" Harry says, his voice making me jump.
"Hermione," I groan, "Tell him no."
"Well, Harry..." Hermione says, standing up, "We already spoke about this. Atlas, we're going tomorrow."