Courage - Harry Potter

-108-

Book: Courage
Chapter 108
Word Count: 3416

When Layla woke the following day it was several seconds before she remembered what had happened. Then she hoped, childishly, that it had been a dream, that Ron was still there and never left. Yet by turning her head on her pillow, she could see Ron's deserted bunk. It was like a dead body in the way it seemed to draw her eyes.

Harry was still sleeping, Layla realised, as his arm was still tightly wrapped around the brunette. Softly pushing his arm away, Layla jumped down from the bed. Hermione was already busy in the kitchen, so Layla silently walked over.

"Good morning..."

"Morning," replied Hermione, not bothering to even lift her head. Layla sighed and the two fell into an awkward silence. Only a few minutes later, Harry woke up. Layla shot Harry a half-hearted smile, and Hermione did not even wish Harry good morning, but turned her face away quickly as he went by.

The three of them ate breakfast in silence. Hermione's eyes were puffy and red; she looked as if she had not slept. They packed up their things, Hermione dawdling. Layla knew why she wanted to spin out their time on the riverbank; several times, she saw Hermione look up eagerly, and Layla was sure her friend had deluded herself into thinking that she heard footsteps through the heavy rain, but no red-haired figure appeared between the trees.

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, Layla, and Harry grasped hands and Disapparated, reappearing on a windswept heather-covered hillside.

The instant they arrived, Hermione dropped Layla's and Harry's hands and walked away from them, finally sitting down on a large rock; her face on her knees, shaking with sobs. As Harry strode off through the heather to perform the protective enchantments, Layla walked over to sit beside Hermione, the two sitting in silence. Layla did not know how to confront her best friend.

They did not discuss Ron at all over the next few days. By day, they devoted themselves to trying to determine the possible locations of Gryffindor's sword, but the more they 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, and 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 or so. Layla was even glad to see him, because he was company, albeit of a snide and taunting kind. They relished any news about what was happening in Hogwarts, though Phineas Nigellus was not an ideal informer. He venerated Snape, the first Slytherin headmaster since he himself had controlled the school, and they had to be careful not to criticize or ask impertinent questions about Snape, or Phineas Nigellus would instantly leave his painting.

However, he did let drop certain snippets. Snape seemed to be facing a constant, low level of mutiny from a hard core of students. Ginny had been banned from going into Hogsmeade. Snape had reinstated Umbridge's old decree forbidding gatherings of three or more students or any unofficial student societies.

From all of these things, Layla deduced that Ginny, and probably Neville and Luna along with her, had been doing their best to continue Dumbledore's Army.