Ride the lighting

Part 3

Hermione apparated them to the Forest of Dean and immediately began casting the protection charms.

Harry put up the tent and started a fire.

Neither said anything, both preoccupied by their very different thoughts.

The fight with Nagini had been too close for comfort, and the searing pain in Harry's head as Voldermort arrived on the scene froze his whole body completely. If it hadn't been for Hermione, he would have died then and there.

And seeing Nagini coming out of Bathilda Bagshot's body like that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Hermione, on the other hand wasn't thinking about the fight at all. She was desperately counting back the weeks in her head, trying to make the terrifying thought in her mind go away, telling the resulting calculation that it was wrong and there was no way.

She was also berating herself for not realising and allowing the days to meld together the way they had. It couldn't possibly be six weeks since Ron left.

But she couldn't tell Harry, she couldn't give him another mind-boggling worry until she was absolutely sure. And she couldn't make sure with him around.

Once Harry had put the tent was up and Hermione was sure that she had placed enough spells on the surrounding area, they went inside and sat down at the wooden table.

Hermione began to shake immediately. Harry assumed the shock had caught up with her and walked around the table to put his arm around her, but she shrugged it off and moved to the other side of the tent.

"'Mione, what's wrong?" Harry asked, astounded. She had never shrugged him off in almost seven years of friendship.

"Nothing, I just felt claustrophobic suddenly" she lied.

"Okay. Just breathe, calm down. Can I do something?" Harry asked, he didn't like seeing Hermione so frazzled.

"No, honestly Harry I'm fine. I'll take the first watch" she said, marching out of the tent.

....

The next day Hermione sat with her books around her again. She began to look for the spell or potion that might prove her worries wrong.

"Hermione you've looked through the books a hundred times. We won't be able to summon the sword, we need to think of another way" Harry tried taking the book out of her hand. The obsessive way she had been looking through them that morning was worrying him.

"Harry I need to keep busy" she lied.

Luckily the next book she came across gave her exactly what she needed. She told Harry to go and look for food, promising to stop looking through the books, and watched him walk until he was out of sight before going back inside and pulling her wand from her sleeve.

With a deep breath she cast the spell and felt the world crash down around her as a blue light shone from her wand.

She cast the spell three times, just to make absolutely sure, but there was no doubt about it. She sat down heavily on the bed and put her head in her hands, allowing the tears to slowly leak from her eyes.

She allowed herself the time to cry but knew she had to pull herself together before Harry came back, because she had to tell him, and to do that she would have to be calm.

She cast 'Aguamenti' into the basin of the kitchen and washed her face, trying to hide the evidence of her tears. She tied the tendrils of hair that had come loose back up and made herself look half-way presentable and sat at the table just as Harry walked back in.