The Boy who lived and The Boy who survived (Drarry)

Chapter 53: Fiendfyre In The Room Of Requirement

2 Years Ago. The Battle of Hogwarts. Hogwarts Castle.

"I know what the diadem looks like, and I know where it is," said Harry, talking fast, while dragging Draco by the hand behind him. "He hid it exactly where I had my old Potions book, where you repaired the old vanishing cabinet, where everyone's been hiding stuff for centuries. He thought he was the only one to find it. Come on."

Without waiting for a response from Draco, he skidded around a final corner and with a yell of mingled relief and fury he saw them: Ron and Hermione; both with their arms full of large, curved, dirty yellow objects, Ron with a broomstick under his arms. Harry took in their messy selves and hadn't even noticed that the two were holding hands.

"Where the hell have you been?" Harry shouted.

"Chamber of Secrets," said Ron.

"Chamber - what?" said Harry, coming to an unsteady halt before them.

"Remember when we told you we had a way to destroy them?" said Hermione breathlessly. "With the basilisk fang?!"

"What the -?" Harry shook his head fiercely. "I didn't think you meant storming off to the bloody Chamber of Secrets!"

"But how did you get in there?" Draco asked, staring from the fangs to Ron. "You need to speak Parseltongue! Potter told me that was the only way you could get in."

"He did!" whispered Hermione. "Show them, Ron!"

Ron made a horrible strangled hissing noise.

"It's what you did to open the locket," he told Harry apologetically. "I had to have a few goes to get it right, but," he shrugged modestly, "we got there in the end."

"He was amazing!" said Hermione. "Amazing!"

"So..." Harry and Draco were struggling to keep up.

"So we're another Horcrux down," said Ron, and from under his jacket, he pulled the mangled remains of Hufflepuff's cup. "Hermione stabbed it. Thought she should. She hasn't had the pleasure yet."

"Genius!" yelled Harry.

"It was nothing," said Ron, though he looked delighted with himself. "So what's new with you?"

As he said it, that was when Harry noticed their entwined hands. He raised his eyebrows in shock and awe and looked back up at his two best friends.

"Is this the moment?" He smiled weakly at them.

Ron and Hermione simply looked at each other with a soft smile.

"Oh, the moment has already happened," Ron said with a chuckle without looking away from Hermione, who was looking back at him with just as much awe and love.

"What, in the Chamber of Secrets?" Came Draco's scoff.

"Yeah..." Hermione replied weakly, momentarily lost in Ron's eyes. "Where you kissed me."

"And I'm about to do it again." Ron's smile widened as he drew their faces closer together.

But the moment between the two ended as quickly as it came as Draco snapped his fingers in front of their faces.

"Oi, lovebirds." He scoffed with a small smile he tried to hide without success. "Don't mean to burst your bubble but there's a war going on here."

"I know, sorry," said Ron, who looked as though he had recently been hit on the back of the head with a Bludger, "so it's now or never, isn't it?"

"Never mind that, what about the Horcrux?" Harry said, suddenly remembering the task at hand. "D'you think you could just - just hold it in until we've got the diadem?"