'And I fixed your arm,' put in Fred, twirling his wand like a baton. 'No problem.'
'But what are you doing here?' said Harry in amazement. 'Don't tell me you were taking your dad's car for a midnight spin and you just happened to spot me toppling over a cliff.'
'Not hardly,' said Ron. 'As to that…' He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, which he threw in Harry's lap. 'I was going to be really pissed off at you,' said Ron, 'but since you've just fallen off a massive cliff, I'll give you a break.'
Harry unfolded the paper wonderingly. It was a note, addressed to HARRY POTTER, and he had to scan it twice before the contents sank in. 'It's the ransom note,' he said, amazed. 'The one Wormtail sent to me at school, telling me they had Sirius here.' He looked at Ron in wonder. 'How did you get hold of it?'
'Harry, you thundering great prat,' said Ron in disgust. 'I opened your mail, of course. What'd you think I was going to do? You and Hermione vanish, and then I get this mad note from her — remind me to show it to you- saying she's gone off with you on some sort of rescue mission and not to tell anyone. Well, naturally I knew something very bizarre was up, so when this nasty-looking black bird arrived the next day with a letter for you, of course I opened it.'
'And a bloody good thing he did,' interjected Fred.
'So I showed it to Fred and George right away, and we went rushing home and got Dad's new car that he bought with the money from the joke shop, which of course he'd enchanted to fly — and we blackmailed him by threatening to tell Mum, so he had to give it to us — and then we followed the instructions from the ransom note and came on here.' Ron beamed. 'And in the nick of time, I might add — we just managed to fly onto the grounds when we looked down, and there you were, dangling right off the edge of the cliff with Hermione holding on to you. It was a shock, I'll tell you. And then you let go and you fell, just hurtled down, mind, it was really terrifying, so George jammed on the accelerator and we rocketed straight down and swerved under you to catch you.' Ron sighed in satisfaction. 'It was better than the Wronski Feint.'
Harry didn't share Ron's enthusiasm. Instead he put his hands over his face. 'Oh,' he moaned, 'Hermione. Oh, no.'
'You kept yelling for her while you were coming around,' said George, in the tone of one imparting significant information.
'I had a dream she was hitting me with a tennis racket,' muttered Harry between his fingers.
'Right,' said Ron, who obviously did not believe him.
'We've got to get back to the path,' said Harry anxiously. 'Hermione and Sirius, they probably think I'm dead. And Malfoy-he ran off-' 'That reminds me of another question I had,' said Ron. 'There was a lot of stuff in Hermione's mad note about Malfoy — what on earth was she going on about, Harry?'
'Just bring the car back up,' said Harry. 'I'll explain on the way.'
It took a little while for them to rise back up to the top of the Pit. On the way, Harry described the events of the past few days to the other occupants of the car.
Fred and George were a very good audience, booing and cheering and yelling in all the right places. Ron, however, was a different matter.
'Hermione kissed Malfoy?' he demanded when Harry was done talking. 'Draco Malfoy?'
'Just that once,' said Harry. 'That I know about,' he added, crinkling his brow.
'Hermione kissed MALFOY?' Ron said again.
'Did I mention the big scary demon arm?' asked Harry.
'Yeah,' said Ron, 'But Hermione — ' 'Oh, shut up, Ron, do,' pleaded George. 'You're giving me a headache.'
'That's just not like her,' said Ron in amazement. 'I thought — I mean, you know -
her and you,' he said, and trailed off at the look on Harry's face. 'Or not,' he added hastily.
'We're here,' said George, and indeed they were pulling level with the walkway.
The Weasleys leaped out of the car, Harry, on legs that were still very wobbly, followed them.
At first it looked to them like there was only one person sitting on the path. Then, as they drew closer, they realized it was Sirius, holding Hermione, who was sobbing into his shoulder.
Hermione rarely cried, and Harry had never heard her cry like that. It was a horrible, lost, awful sound. He started forward but couldn?t make his legs work right. He stumbled, and George caught him. 'Easy there, Potter,' he said, and Harry started to walk forward.
Hearing George, Sirius glanced up. His eyes widened when he saw Harry, and he grinned all over his face. Gently, he put his hands on Hermiones shoulders and pried her off him. 'Uh, Hermione,' he said. 'Hermione,' and he put his hand under her chin and turned her head.
Hermione followed his gaze and saw…
Ron?
She didn't even stop to think how Ron might have gotten there, just gasped once and leaped to her feet, flinging herself on him, sobbing hysterically into his shirt front. 'Ron, oh Ron, Harry's dead, I'm so sorry, it's my fault, I really tried — ' Ron patted her head. 'Dead, did you say?' he said, not sounding the least bit sad.
'Well, it was bound to happen.'
Hermione pulled back a little and looked up at him uncertainly. 'What?'
'Well, he led such a risky sort of life,' said Ron, ignoring the shocked look on her face, 'Don?t you think? I suppose the only thing for us to do is dedicate the rest of our lives to making sure the memory of Harry never fades from the recollection of the wizarding world. Perhaps a zonking great monument is the way to go. Some huge block of marble with a statue of our favorite midget in glasses right on top.
We can get Fred and George to fund the construction.' Seeing her expression, Ron relented and shut up. 'Hermione, you great ninny,' he said with a grin. 'Look behind me.'
She turned her head and saw Fred and George Weasley standing behind her, grinning like mad. And between them, looking very much the worse for wear, with his hair sticking up every which way and his glasses on
