The Sword of Gryffindor

Harry followed the Patronus deeper into the woods until it came upon a frozen pond. It stopped its journey there, probably waiting for Harry to approach it. And Harry did. But once his feet reaches the frozen surface, the doe gave him spared him a glance before disappearing into thin air.

Harry frantically looked around for it although he was certain it was completely gone and would not return. He pondered the doe's reason for leading him there. His eyes scanned the area before they rested on the place where the doe last stood. A glint from underwater caught his eyes and he cautiously approached the spot. Upon reaching it without slipping, his eyes widened as it caught the glistening object beneath the surface.

"The Sword of Gryffindor!" Harry exclaimed ecstatically. Oddly, all lingering thoughts of a possibly worried or fuming Hermione flew out of his mind. He reached for his wand and pointed it on the frozen surface. He took a step back and aimed.

"Reducto!" Harry exclaimed. An angry red streak shot out of his wand and on the frozen surface. A hole big enough for him to swim through appeared, revealing the Sword of Gryffindor in all its glory. Grinning proudly at himself, he stripped down to his boxers, shivering from the winter air in the process. He set his wand down on his pile of clothes then dived into the hole and swam towards the sword with ease. As soon as he reached the bottom of the pond, he grabbed the hilt of the sword and returned to the surface. When his head emerged from the water, he gulped in huge amounts of air and panted.

Shivering uncontrollably now, he struggled to get out of the water. He placed he sword on the frozen surface and lifted himself from the water. He paused and panted whilst his body shook violently from the cold. Standing up, he quickly dressed up and cast a drying and warming charm on himself lest he suffered form hypothermia. He wasn't planning to die yet. As soon as the charm took effect, he sighed, relieved. He grabbed his wand and the sword then made his way back to the tent.

When the tent came into view, he caught sight of a worried looking Hermione at the entrance of the tent.

'Oh, shite, she's gonna kill me,' he thought.

He daintily approached the tent with his head down. He then heard her stomp through the forest floor towards him.

"Harry James Potter, where have you been?! I was bloody worried sick! Don't you dare run off like that again! You could have been killed out there! You should have at least woken me up to let me know where you were running off to..." Hermione rambled, not noticing the fact that a sword was in his hand in favor of venting out her anger.

"Wait, Hermione, calm down. Let me explain-" Harry wasn't just sure she'd kill him. He knew- if her cursing was any indication. She was downright livid with him.

"Calm down?! How can I bloody calm down?! I thought you were abducted or worse killed by a Snatcher..."

In exasperation, he held up the Sword of Gryffindor. Hermione froze in mid-sentence.

"Wha- but- how- the Sword of Gryffindor- you found it!" Hermione stammered, astonished.

Harry chuckled lightly. "Will you let me explain now?"

Hermione glared at him and stomped back into the tent with Harry following closely behind. She then turned on to him with a glare still on her face.

"You better have a good explanation to have me bloody worried about you," she demanded, crossing her arms.

Harry had paused a second at the action as her crossed arms had accidentally puffed up her chest. He swallowed thickly after a moment before forcing himself to tear his eyes away from her chest and look her into the eyes.

"Well, a few moments after you went back into the tent, I noticed a bright light on the corner of my eye. It was a Patrouns- a doe. I didn't know who'd cast it but it looked an awful lot like my mum's so I went to approach it. When I was close enough to observe it, it walked away. I followed after it because it seemed it was leading me somewhere. It stopped on a frozen pond. When I made to approach it again, it disappeared. I looked around for it for a while then gave up. I became curious as to why it led me here then I looked at the spot where it last stood on. I saw a glint underwater and when I took a closer look, it was the Sword of Gryffindor. I blasted a hole on the frozen surface and went to retrieve it."

"You swam into the pond?! Harry, that's dangerous! You could've suffered from hypothermia and died! Don't tell me you forgot you could've just summoned the bloody thing!"

Harry blinked then looked at her sheepishly. "W-Well... I..."

Hermione looked at him incredulously. "You forgot, didn't you?! Bloody hell, Harry! What was I supposed to do if you died?!"

"Hermione, I'm really sorry. I'm alive, alright? And we've got something to destroy Horcruxes now! Speaking of which, we need to destroy the locket now."

He made to walk away from her but she grabbed his elbow and turned him towards her again. "Oh, no, you don't, mister. You can't just walk away from me- again- or have you forgotten you're still in trouble for pulling that reckless stunt?"

She grabbed both his shoulders and gazed firmly albeit with a little softness into his eyes. "We need to set some ground rules here, Harry. We've only each other now. You're all I have left. We have to work together. We can't afford any more mistakes. Where you go, I go. I'm here for a reason and that is to help you win this war. Harry, we need each other. If you need to investigate something, tell me and I'll do the same thing for you. Imagine being in my place, Harry. What if I had disappeared to follow a clue and left you here to figure out what had happened to me?" When she had finished, tears were glistening in her eyes.

Harry looked at her with guilt written all over his face. He'd never thought of that way before. As usual, he never thinks anything through- always rushing forward without thinking of the consequences. "I-I'm... I'm really, really sorry, Hermione. Truly, I am. I promise never to repeat that mistake again."

He dropped the sword and pulled her into a much needed hug. She wrapped her arms around his waist, buried her face into his shoulder, and began to sob. Harry's guilt had doubled and threatened to crush his heart in a vice grip. It was his fault she was crying. He'd made her cry and he wanted to kill himself for it. He had to make it up to her- anything to see her smile again.

"I... I thought I'd lost you. Promise me, never leave me again, Harry. Please, you're all I have left," she sobbed into his ear.

He kissed her temple and whispered,"Never again, Hermione. I swear I'll do anything in my power to never leave you again. Ever."

Hermione sniffed a little then lifted her head to smile at him. "I'll take you up on that, Mr. Potter."

Harry chuckled. "I know you will. Now, I don't mind staying like this forever but we need a Horcrux to destroy."

Hermione nodded in response then let him go as he grabbed the sword from the floor. Smiling at her, he walked over to the beaded bag on her bed and pulled out Slytherin's locket. With Hermione's arm entwined around his own, they walked out the tent.

Little did they know how that promise will turn out in the end.