Love's Greatest Sacrifice

Ron was now twenty yards away from the Whomping Willow, and still sprinting as fast as his long legs would take him. he knew he had to get to Harry in time, before this warning became a reality. And if Harry had, in fact, been captured by Lord Voldemort as Ron assumed, then he had little to no time left.

As Hermione called after Ron down various corridors, she caught a short glimpse of something red outside one of the windows. Something red moving at an enormous speed towards the Whomping Willow. She gasped and pressed her face against the glass.

She saw Ron jogging, for what had seemed like no reason, until she noticed the erie blue figure he was chasing after.

"Ron! Don't, what are you- Harry!" she screeched as she suddenly identified the light blue figure with unmistakable glasses.

"Oh, no," she cried. "Harry's in danger, and... Ron... He's going to sacrifice himself! I- I can't... reach him in time. I- I have to do something."

She rushed up to the boys' dormitory, and burst in without carrying that Neville and Seamus were standing inside, staring at her as she tore apart Ron's trunk.

"A brush!" she exclaimed.

Hermione dashed into the hallway, brush in hand, opened her book to page 268 and, with tears in her eyes, began the incantation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ron had followed Harry's specter for what seemed like ages. He would have ignited his wand tip, but the specter gave off enough luminescence for Ron to make his way through the dark tunnel. It was kind of creepy, he thought, looking at the back of his best friends ghost.... Well, he thought, shaking his head roughly, It's not his ghost. He knew what it was, and it was definitely not his ghost.

And it's not going to be, he added shakily. Ron tried with all his willpower to stop thinking about what he might have to do. He of course wished this hadn't happened so suddenly. He wished Hermione had found a proper protection spell to use for Harry, but... it was too late now. Ron gulped. At least Hermione was safe. His legs and arms were shaking so badly that he nearly tripped.

Finally, he found that he and ghost Harry had reached the entrance to the shrieking shack. He clambered in, and frantically followed the specter up the dusty stairs. Ron didn't have a clue what he was going to do, or whether Voldemort himself was here with Harry. But he hoped he would know exactly what to do once the situation had become clear.

Harry's specter motioned urgently for Ron to follow him into a room. Ron recognized it instantly as the room Sirius had dragged him to.

Harry's specter stood patiently by the bed, but there was no sign of real Harry. Ron scanned the warm, dusty room for any sign of struggle.

wait a minute, he thought. Something's... off. The room... The room is warm! Hermione said it gets freezing whenever there's a specter around!

Ron barely had time to register this before he felt ropes bind his hands and feet. He dropped to the ground, his wand flying out of his hand and spinning across the floor, finally landing at the hem of a black cloak.

"Sca- Wormtail!" Ron said, gaping.

Wormtail did not look him in the eye. He stood nervously pacing at the foot of the bed, with an almost guilty look on his foul, pointed, rat face.

"You rat-fink!" Ron shouted. "Where's Harry, eh?"

"Harry Potter," Wormtail said, his face drooping, "is, not..here."

"What?!" Ron barked.

He then rambled off every curse he could think of, and even invented some new ones.

"He w-will be here," said Wormtail, suddenly more frightened than before, "once, once, the Dark lord is here," he said weakly.

"And what's the deal with that thing?!" Ron screeched, motioning his eyes towards the direction of the specter.

"The Dark Lord knew of your awareness of a particular kind of apparition. He lured you away from Hogwarts with this creation, knowing that you would follow it to save Harry Potter from apparent danger. As soon as he arrives," he added meekly, "he will show you to Harry Potter."

"And have him chase after me?" Ron shrieked indignantly.

"Naturally," Wormtail mumbled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Hermione had completed the incantation for the Love-binding spell, she felt oddly numb. The repercussions of what she had just performed were cataclysmic, and yet she felt no regret. She felt no happiness either, but that was to be expected. She had just traded... just traded her life for another's. She knew Ron would never forgive her for what she'd done. If he knew, she thought, he wouldn't try to sacrifice his life to save Harry. If he knew she would be the one to die by that action. She gazed phlegmatically at the brush she had used to retrieve Ron's organic material. It's straight, red hairs still glistened. Then slowly, as if she had been in a dream state, reality came crashing back around her. Harry was captured, Ron had gone after him, and she could die if she didn't stop him.

She jumped up as if electrocuted, and went scurrying down the stairs. She would have to catch them both at the shrieking shack, and then... well, they would find a way out.

As she was rushing down the staircase, she bumped into someone and sent his glasses flying.

"Harry!!!!"

"Y-yes?" Harry said, bewildered.

"What- what are you? Where's Ron?!!!!"

"I don't know," he said, retrieving his glasses, "the last time I saw him was at quidditch practice."

"QUIDDITCH PRACTICE?!"

"What? Is something wrong?" Harry said quietly.

"YES SOMETHING'S WRONG!! Ron saw your specter go into the shrieking shack! He followed it, and-"

Hermione was cut off by a sudden shout in Harry's direction. He was kneeling on the floor, clutching his forehead, and screaming bloody murder. Hermione gazed at him, petrified, as he continued to yell.

"Harry, you're scaring me!"

"He's got," Harry stammered, gasping.

"Who?!!! Where's Ron?!!!" Hermione screamed.

"Voldemort's got Ron."

Hermione's face drooped into a cold and desolate grimace. It was obviously a lure; if Harry went after Ron, he, Harry, would probably die. Unless Ron really did put himself in a situation where he willingly threw himself in front of a killing curse in hopes to save Harry, which meant that she would die. Not going after him was obviously not an option however, so she would have to find some way to keep them all alive.

Her lip trembled. Harry, who had now regained his strength after the vision, was pulling her arm in the direction of the stairs. Solemnly, she descended the staircase with him, feeling as if she was marching her way to the gallows.

"Harry, you know it's a trap," she said miserably.

"I know, and I don't care."

"Harry, we're not all going to come out aliv-" she tried to warn, but Harry was already several paces ahead of her, running as fast as he could towards the great oak doors which lead to the Hogwarts grounds.

She hastily quickened her step, hoping that she might at least get there before Ron had a chance to sacrifice himself, or rather, sacrifice her.

Hermione burst through the great doors just in time to see Harry running across the grounds towards the Whomping Willow. She dove after him, jumping the las five steps of the platform leading to the front doors. She landed on her feet with a thud, and continued to chase after Harry.

Her efforts paid off it seemed, when she reached the Whomping Willow at the same time as him. Panting, she silently followed him under the cavernous roots, after she had prodded the knot of the willow with a long stick.

"Harry, he knows you're coming."

"Probably."

"Well, I guess he sent a fake specter- to lead Ron on a wild goose chase. Specters don't usually lead people anywhere. They're not that helpful. All they do is show up and act creepy. I read it earlier."

"Mmm hmm." Harry mumbled absentmindedly. Beads of nervous sweat were soaking his hairline.

"But how did Vol-Voldemort know you wouldn't be with Ron when he saw the specter? Where were you?" Hermione whispered, trying to distract herself.

"I was in Snape's office. Malfoy up and cursed himself when he was standing next to me! A pretty terrible one too. He had worms covering his face. So he told Snape I had hexed him. Luckily McGonagal was a witness and saw Malfoy point his wand at his own stupid face, but I've only just gotten away."

"Malfoy was in on it?!!" she gasped.

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised," he said darkly.

Harry and Hermione reached the opening to the Shrieking Shack, and climbed inside.

A foreboding chill seeped through the walls, and from the prominence of Harry's scar, they knew that Voldemort was somewhere in here. Harry's eyes were starting to water from the pain in his forehead, and he winced as they followed the trail of Ron's size 13 footprints in the dust.

What did Harry think was going to happen? Hermione thought to herself. The minute they opened that door, Voldemort would simply curse them dead and be done with it.

Doubt plagued her as Harry reached for the handle of the door Ron's footprints had led them to. Wands firmly in hand, they pushed the door open a few inches.

"Harry, go back now!" came Ron's panicked voice.

Ron, you moron, Hermione thought, way to tell him who's coming. But she regretted thinking it. She knew Voldemort would know they were there. Ron truly was just giving them a last chance to run.

"Oh no, please don't go," came a cruel hiss. "Why don't you join us?"

An invisible force yanked Harry and Hermione into the room like a bungee cord. They piled on top of Ron, who was sitting with his back to the wall.

"Ron!" Hermione squeaked. "I have to tell you something."

"Silence," said Voldemort lazily. He waved his wand and performed a silencing charm on all three of them. "Oh, I almost forgot," he said. "Expelliarmus!"

They watched as their wands soared out of their hands, making two graceful arches before landing on the ground with a clatter.

"Could this have been at all easier?" Voldemort laughed. Wormtail chuckled nervously.

"The famous Harry Potter, brought down without his wand while lying in a dusty pile on the floor," Voldemort said silkily.

Harry shook his head in silent anger.

"Of course, having the task competed will make up for the lackluster performance."

Voldemort raised his wand, flourishing it in sick pleasure, a prepared to perform the curse.

Many things happen it what feels like slow motion. Hermione saw Voldemort slowly move his lips, forming each letter. She saw Ron slowly lung in front of Harry's torso, and she saw herself, as if from a third party perspective, leap forward and attach herself to Ron's middle, wishing to at least hug him one last time as she heard Voldemort utter the last syllable.

A blinding green light flashed in front of Harry's eyes as he helpless sat shielded behind his two best friends.