The Light in the Dark | Neville Longbottom

Chapter 87: Basilisk Venom

I didn't know where we were.

What day it was.

What time it was... Although from the position from the sun, I assumed it was sometime past noon.

But what I did know was walking... setting up camp... placing more protective enchantments... switching out who wore the horcrux every couple of hours... rationing the little food we had left... deciding who was losing a night's sleep to keep lookout... and then repeating the entire thing in the morning.

I couldn't remember the last time I spoke to either Remus or Neville, even though I remembered Neville's last message perfectly. There was still no change. Several days or weeks... or however long it's been... I've still received no response.

We were no step closer to finding another horcrux nor destroying the one we had, creating all sorts of tension between the group. Ron and Harry have gotten into multiple rows over the past few days; mostly over nosh as we were running out. Last night, Hermione said she would've gone into town under polyjuice potion to grab some if we stopped complaining. And since her bed was empty when I woke up this morning, she seemed to have kept her word.

About a week ago... or maybe it was two weeks ago — I stopped keeping track of the dates — I found an abandoned radio while we were walking. We fixed it up... got it working again. It took us a while, but we found the wizard stations. Unfortunately, all of them were being patrolled by the Ministry, which was controlled by Voldemort, so the information told was entirely inaccurate. We only ever listened to the death toll, which was always accurate. They'd list names, and we sat around hoping that the next person wasn't somebody that we knew. But sometimes they played music... which was nice.

"Runnin' like a hairy troll... Learnin' to rock and roll... Spinning' round like a crazy elf... Dancing' by himself-"

"Would you turn that off?" Ron asked rudely.

Hesitantly, I turned off the radio, allowing silence to fill the group once again. Hermione shot me a concerned look while Harry ignored Ron's comment. Like I said... It's been a while since we've seen our families, our friends, our partners... all of us were a bit on edge.

I inhaled sharply, "Erm... Where are we heading next?"

"I don't know." Harry said coldly.

"You never know..." Ron hissed.

Harry abruptly turned around, pursing his lips, "I'll know it when I see, Ron... Okay?"

Without another word, Harry whipped back around, continuing his trek through the forest. Ron stopped for a moment, turned to Hermione, and whispered something to her. Hermione returned a few comforting words and a hug before following Harry. I walked a couple paces behind the trio. I felt that it was best for me to stay out of the growing tension bubble before it exploded. I didn't want to be around when it did.

But Ron was right, Harry didn't know where he was going. We never traveled to the same place twice, so everywhere was new territory. At the moment, we were walking through a dense forest of tall oak trees. My feet sank into the ground with each step, meaning that it had rained the night prior. I also knew that it was getting closer to winter. I wasn't sweating as much in the jumpers I wore to cover my dark mark.

"Here." Harry said.

Hermione raised an eyebrow, "Here? But the ground's soaking wet!"

"Even more reason for a deatheater to avoid this part of the forest," Harry shrugged, throwing his rucksack on the ground, "Now c'mon... Let's set up camp for the night."

Reluctantly, the three of us obliged, setting up camp for the hundredth time. We used to have lively conversations while doing this. We talked about mundane things from school (usually the teachers and other students) and silly secrets from our personal lives. Occasionally, we'd play a little game of I-Spy... but that didn't happen anymore. It was silent while setting up the camp... has been for a while now.