The Beauty of the Beast [Dramione]

A Ring and a Letter

Hey guys, it's me again. I know, it's been forever. I'm definitely not the committed one in this relationship...sorry. I wrote this chapter in a guilty 2-hour period, and it might be slightly choppy, but then again I'm a little out of practice...

Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Harry Potter Series!

Enjoy, and I'll see you at the bottom.

Part One: Harry

"Here." Bill Weasly dropped a plain, heavy, golden ring into Harry's outstretched hand that was almost identical to a wedding band, except that judging by the weight, Harry estimated it was pure gold. As soon as the ring touched his skin, he felt a slight hum, and he swore that he could nearly feel the ring moving. After a brief moment, it went still. Turning the small token over in his fingers, Harry noticed where had once been a plain surface was an engraved insignia: a stag. As he ran a finger over the molded contours of the small engraving, small writing appeared, etched in the space below the stag: Harry James Potter. The writing disappeared almost as soon as it had appeared, and Harry blinked, trying to remember if it had been there at all.

"They've been charmed to recognize the owner, and only the owner. It shows your patronus on the front, but only when you're holding it. To anyone else it's an ordinary ring." Bill explained. Harry continued to look at the ring, and Bill, noticing his confusion, rushed to explain himself a bit more.

"It's not just jewelry, mate. I've also charmed them to act as a sort of Death Eater radar: if there are death eater's near, it will heat up. Not enough to seriously burn you, of course, but enough to get you to notice. Also, if you haven't worn it in over 8 hours, it assumes that you've been kidnapped and stripped of possessions, and sends out a 'distress call' of sorts. Basically, it just will transmit a message to all of us, and everyone else's will glow a bright blue. They were made just before the battle, but we weren't able to finish our work on them, because of the circumstances. So just make sure you keep it on you, yeah? We'll all be needing one for, well, you know."

He didn't say it out loud, but Harry knew he was talking about rescuing Hermione. He and Kingsley had been talking for days with the other senior Order members after Jacob had been brought back about their "next steps".

Having said his piece, Bill gave a brief nod, and stepped out of the room, ducking to avoid hitting his head on the door frame.

Holding the ring in his palm, Harry idly wondered if a ring had been made for Ron and Hermione as well, if they had been made before the battle. He smiled, imagining the conversation that would've have taken place were they here to receive their own ring:

"Bloody hell, I'm not wearing a ring, 'Mione. That stuff's for girls and Bill. Not every Weasly's a cross dresser, you know, however much Fred and George act like it…"

"For goodness sake Ronald, simply because it's made of gold doesn't make it a woman's jewelrypiece! I'm not asking you to give up your manhood, or whatever's left of it, honestly, you can wear it around your neck if you're that disturbed by wearing a ring!"

"What, like a necklace? Not bloody likely! I'll take the ring then, but I won't like it."

"Thank you for at least making an effort to be reasonable, I'm sure we'll all be gravely affected by your sorrow."

Harry could almost see the two of them in the room with him, bickering. Although he still felt a pang of sadness, he could no longer muster up enough energy to cry. His emotion had become the driving motivation in the operation to rescue Hermione, as his sadness turned to grim determination.