Ethereal ✭Fred Weasley✭

92.

Two weeks had passed and Sophia couldn't say that she had enjoyed it too much. Every few days, they would relocate to another forest that Hermione seemed to think of out of thin air. This way, Snatchers would never somehow stumble upon their barrier and suspect that someone didn't want to be found. The tent was nice enough and provided enough shelter for them to sleep decently. A lot of stealing went on from Muggle shops in order for them to eat every day, but that had become the norm. Sophia once felt bad about it, but she got to a point where her hunger distinguished all other logic. The cold nights were spent around the small fires that Hermione had taught them to conjure inside small jars and had made the chilly times a bit more bearable.

As for the Slytherin locket, the original trio had agreed to take turns in holding it around their necks for safe keeping. Sophia had offered herself as a holder at the start of the rotation despite their objections of her not being involved in their mission. But she had barely lasted a day with it on. The negative energy and evil voices that made their way into her being was too much. She had thrown it down on to the floor after a sinister dark thought she'd rather not think about ever again. That ended her involvement and she was frankly relieved.

With this rotation, it sometimes was hard to monitor. With Sophia being the observer, she could tell when someone had been wearing it for more than their allocated time. They would get agitated and angry. It was like the locket festered into their soul and would start to coat it with dark magic. Even logical Hermione would be seen degrading into an evil state of mind that radiated to hang inside the tent's atmosphere. And it was this poor monitoring of the locket's rotation that caused the ripple in the mission among the usually close trio.

Ron and Sophia were sitting in Ron's room of the tent listening to the radio. Potterwatch had just finished its latest segment and the two were listening to the crackling that followed, taking in the updates on the missing personal and state of the Wizarding world. Fred had continued to refer to Sophia as Comet throughout the broadcasts and had made it customary to say that he hoped she was safe and that he missed her terribly. And every time, Sophia felt herself warm at his speeches and sit with a small smile on her face.

It was because of this lingering feeling that Sophia didn't hear Harry and Hermione speaking in the next room, and only snapped out of her trance when Ron stood up from the bed. She sat up from her laying position and watched as Ron walked through the cloth door with his hand clenched around his Deluminator. Out of pure curiosity, she followed after him after she turned the radio off.

She was greeted by darkness and silence at first, but was soon greeted by the heads of Harry and Hermione swiveling around to her and Ron's direction when the lamps around the room lit up. Ron shut his Delumintor once it had done its purpose of gaining the attention of the room and his arm slung back down by his side as if it wasn't his own.

"Yeah, we're still here," Ron aimed his condescending tone at the two who stared at him oddly. "Forgot about us while you two were doing what huh? Working out how to spend another two weeks doing nothing?"

"We're working as quickly as we can Ron," Hermione intervened but Ron wasn't listening. His eyes were mainly staring at Harry who stood there with a now defensive look.

"Oh yeah, definitely," Ron sarcastically agreed.

"Not getting cold feet are you?" Harry spoke up and walked away from the picnic table to stand in front of Ron. "Did you think we were going to be staying in five-star hotels? A warm bed every night? I thought you knew what you were signing up for."

"I thought so too," Ron nodded. "But I thought you knew what you were doing."

"I know as much as you do! I only know that Dumbledore gave me a job to do!" Harry started yelling and this just made it worst.