✔️ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐎 → ℎ. 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦

10 | S P L I T

  

"SHE CAN'T — SHE is not —"

   "Harry ..."

   "No! Hermione, she can't! She's okay, she's ..." Harry ran his fingers through his messy hair. "I would have felt it! Like I felt her pain when they tortured her and — She's not ... Ember is not ..."

   The word wouldn't leave his lips, and a heavy silence hung over the trios heads, the newspaper still in front of them. Harry grabbed it, examining the picture on the front page; Ember, with a stern look upon her face, the only movement was her blinking every now and then.

   "So what now? Are we trying to find her?" Ron's voice was husky, as if he hadn't used it in ages, but truth was he still didn't find the air to breathe. Even though Harry's words enlightened a tiny flame of hope, the weight of this devastating headline was still weighing heavy on his chest.

   "Oh boys, we — we shouldn't", Hermione said, her eyes rimmed red.

   "What do you mean we shouldn't?", Ron sharply asked. "We should at least — I dunno ... check if she's okay!"

   But Hermione just shook her head. "Remember what we're here for, Ron. We have a mission! If Harry's right, she's okay, she's fine."

   "And if he's not right?" Ron threw a pleading gaze at his best friend. Harry's eyes were still fixed on the Daily Prophet, but Ron wasn't sure if he did even see it. Even though Harry's words had sounded like he'd never been more sure about anything in his life, by the look upon his face Ron could tell that it had been nothing than a desperate begging.

   Harry's eyes were still fixated on his sister's blank face, Ron's words ringing in his ears. And if he's not right? But what if he was not right? His brain turned blank, his heart seemed to have stopped, but his lips were moving without him realising that he gave it permission.

   "Then there's nothing we can do", he said in a plain voice, taking his eyes from Ember's picture, just in the right moment to see that something behind Ron's blue eyes shattered.

   "You can't be serious!", Harry's best friend snapped, his face vivid. "You can't just sit here and do nothing! It's your sister, for Merlin's sake!"

   "Dumbledore's mission —"

   "Screw Dumbledore!", barked Ron. "What are we even doing here? Were searching Horcruxes for months now and what happened? We don't even know how to destroy this one, and we have no fucking idea where the rest of those things are hidden!"

   "Ron —", Hermione whispered, still tears running down her cheeks. But Ron didn't let her speak.

   "No, don't even try!", he hissed, before turning back to Harry. "So you want to sit around here and do nothing? Thought the second task of the Triwizard Tournament told you a lesson, Harry. She's s'posed to be your priority! She's your family!" 

   "Ron, take the necklace off", Hermione spoke in a weak voice, while Harry's face grew pale. "You wore it all day, you wouldn't say those things —"

   "No, this is exactly what I would say!", Ron yelled. "It is Ember! Aren't you even curious what she did around Wiltshire when she's supposed to be safe and well at Remus' home? Contact him! At least ask him what he knows!"

   "We can't risk to give away our hideout", Harry explained in a deadpanned voice.

   "You —"

   "Do you think I do this, because I want to?", Harry barked, cutting Ron off. "I have to, and Ember knows about that!"

   "No, she doesn't, because you didn't tell her shit!", Ron screamed back at his best friend. "You never told her what we're up to! What if she got caught looking for you? Because that's exactly what Emmie would do, looking for you to help you! That's what she always does, no matter how awful you treat her!"

   "I am trying to protect her! I never told her anything about all those things from the very start, because I want to protect her! Don't you think just because you started snogging her lately, you know more about or care more about Ember than I do!"

   Ron's ears turned red and for a second he looked like he was about to hit Harry. "You still underestimate her", he hissed. "You see nothing but the little girl when looking at her!"

   "What I do is knowing that Ember would understand why I have to stay here and keep on looking for a way to destroy those Horcruxes! I know she would want me to find a way to end this, all of this; the murders and people vanishing and families being torn apart!" Harry's hand started shaking. Halfway he hoped, Ron would take his next words into action, halfway he feared it, as he said, "Go then. Look for Ember! I grant you, she won't be pleased if you find her. When you find her", he added to those last words, demanding that there was no room for an if.

   Ron just stood there for the split of a second that seemed to turn into eternity, before his own shaking fingers grabbed for Slytherin's locket, pulling it over his head.

   "Fine", Ron hissed, still the necklace in his hand. "Anything I shall tell her when I found her? Like you don't give a damn about whether she's alive or dead?"

   "Ron, give me the locket", Hermione said in a pleading voice. "Give it to me and calm down, we — we can talk about this —"

   "Let him go", Harry sharply cut her off.

   Ron threw the necklace at Hermione, who caught it as if it was a raw egg, before he stomped out of the tent. There was a loud crack, and then nothing.

   "What — Harry! What was that for?", Hermione half-sobbed.

   But Harry's eyes were fixed on the tent's exit, he heard the blood rushing through his head.

   "I hope he'll find her", he then muttered, getting up and stepped out into the night.

—