The Light in the Dark | Neville Longbottom

Chapter 86: Slytherin's Locket

October 2nd, 1997

We passed by 12 Grimmauld Place, I saw the house. For a second, I thought the four of us had successfully broken into the Ministry of Magic and made it back safe. But then I was lying on the ground in the middle of the forest while someone screamed.

"HARRY! DAWN!" a voice cried, "PLEASE! ONE OF YOU, HELP!"

As my eyes refocused, someone stepped over me, and a locket brushed by my face. I slowly sat up and noticed Hermione beside Ron's twitching body while Harry dug through her beaded bag.

"THE DITTANY, HARRY!" Hermione cried, "GRAB THE DITTANY!"

"BLIMEY, 'MIONE!" Harry spat, pulling out his wand and holding it to the bag, "IT'S NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND ANYTHING IN HERE WITH ALL THE BOOKS! ACCIO DITTANY!"

A vial of Dittany flew into Harry's hands before he hastily threw it to Hermione, who started applying it to Ron's wounds. I crawled over to where they were gathered, noticing the wound on Ron's arm - it looked like his arm had been cut off. Slowly, Ron stopped twitching and shaking, and the wound formed a gnarly scar.

"Oh no, he's passed out... I didn't... I didn't think that he would've been splinched this badly!" Hermione trembled, reaching for her bag and fumbling through it, "But that man... I had to get rid of him!"

"What did you do?" Harry asked coldly.

"Yaxley, he was too strong, but he must've thought we were stopping at Grimmauld Place," Hermione explained shakily, "He slackened his grip, and I was able to shake him off."

"Hold on, did you drop him at Grimmauld Place?" Harry questioned frantically.

Hermione shrugged, "I don't know, Harry! I just knew it wasn't safe for us to be there anymore if he was, so I apparated us here!"

"It's not your fault, 'Mione," I assured, "No one could've predicted that he was going to follow us!"

Ignoring my comment, Harry stood up and looked around the forest, "Where even are we?"

Hermione pulled some bandages from her bag, wrapping them around Ron's arm, "The Forest of Dean. When I was younger, I used to camp here with my parents-"

The rest of Hermione's faltering sentence was cut off by sniffles, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Her parents were still a touchy subject, and now she was even farther from them. Harry and I exchanged awkward looks as Hermione cried quietly to herself.

"Well... what are you two waiting for?" Hermione asked harshly, wiping her eyes, "Go set up camp! The tent's in my bag..."

Quickly, Harry and I shuffled away from Hermione and Ron, rumbling through her bag to find the tent. It was nearly impossible to find anything in there. I came upon books, potions, quills, and sweets before I found the tent.

Pulling the tent out the bag, I faced Harry, "How do you suppose we put this up?"

Harry shrugged rudely, "I don't know... Just throw it at the ground and see what happens..."

I nodded stiffly, following Harry's command. I threw the tent at the ground, and to my surprise, it set itself up. Almost... the tent did hit a tree, indenting the structure, but besides that... My attempt to put up a tent was successful.

I faced Harry, a smug look on my face, "Your advice worked!"

"Brilliant!" Harry scoffed jokingly, approaching the tent.

The two of us walked inside, gasping when we entered. I knew that most wizard tents were enchanted, but I've never actually seen one - the Malfoys didn't enjoy camping. Hermione's tent was booked with two separate rooms; probably one for Ron and Harry and the other for me and Hermione, a kitchen with a stove, a dining area, and a loo.