Harry and Hermione looked at each other.

harry and hermione looked at each other.

"i'm sorry," ron said, moaning a little as he raised himself to look at them, "but it feels like a - a jinx or something. can't we call him you-know-who - please?"

"dumbledore said fear of a name -" began harry.

"in case you hadn't noticed, mate, calling you-know-who by his name didn't do dumbledore much good in the end," ron snapped back. "just - just show you-know-who some converse shoes respect, will you?"

"irespect?i" harry repeated, but hermione shot him a warning look; apparently he was not to argue with ron while the latter was in such a weakened condition.

harry and hermione half carried, half dragged ron through the entrance of the tent. the interior was exactly as harry remembered it; a small flat, complete with bathroom and tiny kitchen. he shoved aside an old armchair and lowered ron carefully onto cheap uggs the lower berth of a bunk bed. even this very short journey had turned ron whiter still, and once they had settled him on the mattress he closed his eyes again and did not speak for a while.

"i'll make some tea," said hermione breathlessly, pulling kettle and mugs from the depths of her bag and heading toward the kitchen.

harry found the hot drink as welcome as the firewhisky had been on the night that mad-eye had died; it seemed to burn away a little of the fear fluttering in his chest. after a minute or two, ron broke the silence. ugg classic short chestnut

"what d'you reckon happened to the women's ugg cattermoles?"

"with any luck, they'll have got away," said hermione, clutching her hot mug for comfort. "as long as mr. cattermole had his wits about him, he'll have transported mrs. cattermole by side-along-apparition and they'll be fleeing the country right now with their children. that's what harry told her to do."

"blimey, i hope they escaped," said ron, leaning back on his pillows. the tea seemed to be doing him good; a little of his color had returned. "i didn't get the feeling reg cattermole was all that quick-witted, cheap uggs though, the way everyone was talking to me when i was him. god, i hope they made it. . . . if they both end up in azkaban because of us . . ."

harry looked over at hermione and the question he had been about to ask - about whether mrs. cattermole's lack of a wand would prevent her apparating alongside her husband - died in his throat. hermione was watching ron fret over the fate of the cattermoles, and there was such bailey button tenderness in her expression that harry felt almost as if he had surprised her in the act of kissing him.

"so, have you got it?" harry asked her, partly to remind her that he was there.

"got - got what?" she said with a little start.

"what did we just go through all that for? the locket! where's the locket?"

"iyou got it?i" shouted ron, raising himself a little higher on his pillows. "no one tells me anything! blimey, you could have mentioned it!" "well, we were running for our lives from uggs on sale the death eaters, weren't we?" said hermione. "here."

and she pulled the locket out of the pocket of her robes and handed it to ron.

it was as large as a chicken's egg. an ornate letter isi, inlaid with many small green stones, glinted dully in the diffused light shining through the tent's canvas roof.

"there isn't any chance someone's destroyed it since kreacher had it?" ugg classic short chestnut asked ron hopefully. "i mean, are we sure it's still a horcrux?"

"i think so," said hermione, taking it back from him and looking at it closely. "there'd be some sign of damage if it had been magically destroyed."

she passed it to harry, who turned it over in his fingers. the thing looked perfect, pristine. he remembered the mangled remains of the diary, and how the stone in the horcrux ring had been cracked open when dumbledore destroyed it.

"i reckon kreacher's right," said harry. "we're going to have to work out how to open this thing before we can uggs on sale destroy it."

sudden awareness of what he was holding, of what lived behind the little golden doors, hit harry as he spoke. even after all their efforts to find it, he felt a violent urge to fling the locket from him. mastering himself again, he tried to prise the locket apart with his fingers, then attempted the charm hermione had used to open regulus's bedroom door. neither worked. he handed the locket back to ron cheap uggs and hermione, each of whom did their best, but were no more successful at opening it than he had been.