Ineffable | Harry Potter - George Weasley // COMPLETED

56 | The Tale of the Three Brothers

As Hermione sat in the snow against a tree, a blanket covering her lap as she read, the smoke of the once burning fire lifted into the air before disappearing. Harry emerged from the tent soon after, as we had been staying in this area of forest for a while, trying to recover after visiting Godric's Hollow.

"Are you feeling better?" Hermione's eyes travelled up from her book.

Sighing, Harry's breath fogged up the air as he walked over to us. "You've outdone yourself this time, Hermione." Harry gazed around at the snow-covered landscape.

"The Forest of Dean," Hermione told him. "I came here once with mom and dad, years ago. It's just how I remember it. The trees, the river, everything. Like nothing's changed. Not true, of course. Everything's changed. If I brought my parents back here now, they probably wouldn't recognize any of it. Not the trees, not the river...not even me. Maybe we should just stay here. Grow old."

"Hermione-" I started, knowing that Hermione had erased herself from her parent's memories before the year begun.

"It's fine," she assured me before looking to Harry. "You wanted to know who the boy in the photograph was. I know. Gellert Grindelwald."

As Hermione held out the book she had been reading, Harry took it from her. "He's the thief I saw in Gregorovitch's Wand Shop. Speaking of which, where is my wand?"

Exhaling, I pulled out the broken pieces of Harry's wand. "As we were leaving Godric's Hollow, I cast a curse and it rebounded. I'm sorry...in the moment it seemed like it was what I had to do. Hermione and I, we tried to mend it but-"

"It's done." Harry huffed as he set the book down. "Leave me yours. Go inside and get warm. I'll take the locket as well."

Handing over my wand as Hermione handed over the locket, we watched as Harry took the items before stalking off further into the trees. When he finally returned an hour or so later, he offered to take watch as the sun started to set.

Knowing that Harry wasn't offering to be kind, but offering because he wanted to be alone, Hermione and I agreed and crawled into bed. It was still cold in the tent, and the blankets did little to keep me and my freezing feet warm, but it was better than sleeping outside.

When morning broke the next day, Hermione and I were woken by the sound of Harry calling our names. Getting up out of bed, Hermione and I groaned as we left the warmth of our blankets and headed outside.

"Is everything all right?" I asked.

"It's fine," Harry said. "Actually, you know, it's more than fine."

That's when we spotted Ron. He looked soaking wet, just like Harry did, but he was holding the Sword of Gryffindor and looked ten times happier than when he had left. "Hey." he smiled.

Marching over, Hermione ripped the bag off of his shoulders as she began throwing leaves and hitting him. "You complete ass, Ronald Weasley," she growled, grabbing the bag and hitting him with that too. "You show up here after weeks, and you say 'hey'? What is that?"

Holding up the destroyed locket, Ron smiled. "You destroyed it." I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

"And how is it that you just happen to have the Sword of Gryffindor?" Hermione remained angry.

"It's a long story," Harry answered.

Shaking her head, Hermione turned back to the tent. "Don't think this changes anything."

"Oh, of course not." Ron huffed. "I only just destroyed a bloody Horcrux. Why would that change anything? Look, I wanted to come back as soon as I left. I just didn't know how to find you."