"Oh, you reckon so, do you? I told you, I didn't buy your gifts. But it's nice to finally hear your thoughts on the matter. Do you think I'm the new Dark Lord as well? Never mind, it doesn't really matter what you think. You lost my trust ages ago. The only reason I let you in my house is because of Hermione, but now even that isn't enough. Get out," the younger man snarled as he got up from the sofa and pointed to the Floo.
"Fine," the traitor snapped, throwing down the half-eaten food he had taken, and leaving the package by the chair. "Come on, Hermione, we're out of here." He went to grab Hermione's arm, but she pushed his hand away, forcefully.
"I can't believe you said that!" the shocked girl shouted as she stood and put some distance between her and her soon to be ex. She made her way over to her younger friend. "After everything Harry did to end the war, you go and accuse him of being Dark. He died for us, or don't you remember that?"
"And he probably used Dark Magic to come back," Ron stated, throwing his hands in the air. "How else could he have risen from the dead? Skeeter said only a Dark Lord could have done the things he did. Or don't you remember he use the Imperius Curse on the goblins?" he yelled back, very upset that she would defend Harry. "It's all his fault my family can't go into Gringotts. Bill lost his job and had to move away because of him."
"You agreed with what we had to do at Gringotts," Hydrus snarled in defense, folding his arms across his chest. "You said it was the only way. Now you're denying it."
"It's still Dark Magic and you were the only one that was able to pull it off, making you a Dark Wizard," Ron snapped. He rounded on Hermione, his face red with rage, spittle flying. "I can't believe you're taking his side over mine. Makes me wonder if I wasn't right all along, that you two were sneaking behind my back getting up to no good."
The angry redhead then turned back to Hydrus. He face morphed into scorn, much like Malfoy's. "Harry Bloody Potter always has to get everything," he sneered, "the fame, the gold and now my girl. Poor little orphan had to live without his parents, boohoo. Stupid wanker can't be happy with what he's got, no he has to cry and whine that he doesn't have a family. I know you're trying to take mine, why else would George come here more often than he comes to the Burrow?" he accused. "Guess what, arsehole, you can't have them. I think, I'll just go and tell Kingsley all about what happened in Gringotts. I know he's looking for you, he'll listen to me. I'm a war hero after all." Conveniently forget his vow, it would serve the idiot right if Hydrus let him do just that, but he really didn't need Kingsley hunting him as a criminal.
"Right," the former Potter said decisively when Ron finished yelling. "Sorry, Hermione," he said quietly. He pulled out the Elder Wand and clearly said, "Obliviate," taking all the information of the break-in, this fight and where Hydrus lived from the backstabbing bastard's mind.
"Stupefy," he said, causing the idiot to fall. He again apologized to his best friend. "I took all his memories about Gringotts— even the planning we did at Shell Cottage— the last hour and also where I live. I left everything else, so he'll probably still be mad at me for not going back to school, but he'll no longer have reason to think I've gone Dark. His jealousy isn't something I can take from him without wiping everything," he explained.
If Ron hadn't been the youngest male member of the Weasleys, he would of. It was only his respect for the others in that family that stayed his hand. There was no way they could afford to take care of someone like Lockhart.
"No, I understand why you did that," Hermione said, causing the tense young man to relax. "Remember I did the same to my parents, if on a grander scale, and even though I regret it now, I'd probably do it again to protect them," she sighed. "I'll take him back to the Burrow and when the break is over, I'll be breaking up with him. I never knew he was thinking all those things about you. He only ever complained about Quidditch. It is a good thing we took the vow to never talk to anyone about what happened last year."
She shook her head sadly, running reasons for a break-up through her mind. Harry couldn't be mentioned at all. She could use Ron's lack of compassion about retrieving her parents as an excuse to dump him.
"Still, it's sad that this had to happen," he said as he discreetly stowed the wand away, hoping Hermione was too stunned to realize what it was.
"Give me a few minutes to get him back to the Burrow, and I'll come back and we can talk about why you still have the Elder Wand," she said, shooting him a knowing look. "I'm going to wake Ron, you better hide."
Hydrus sighed; he should have known he couldn't get much past her. He nodded and moved out of sight.
After a few minutes contemplation, Hermione hit the downed boy on the forehead with the heel of her shoe, making a lump. She put her shoe back on and then woke Ron up.
"What happened? Where are we?" the groggy teen asked as he rubbed the sore spot, not recognizing the clean room.
"I can't tell you where we are, it's under a Fidelius, don't you remember? You had a bad reaction to the tea, or it could have been the biscuits, since neither me nor Harry ate any. You started to sway and then fell forward and hit your head on the table," she said, pointing to the disarrayed tea service.
"What happened to Harry? Aren't we supposed to be visiting him?"
"He was rather upset that you might have been potioned, so he went to ask his… help how something like that could happen. You know there are people out to kill him," she explained rather quickly. "We should go and see your mum; she might be able to diagnose what the potion was." She then guided the redhead to the Floo and they went back to the Burrow.
After they left, Hydrus pondered on just how much he should confide to Hermione. This latest spat with Ron showed that she was going to stand by the dark-haired immortal, no matter what. But he also knew that she'd be disappointed about his plans for revenge. There was no telling how she would react to him going back in time. She was very forceful about paradoxes when they used the time turner in third year. He concluded he'd tell her about the ghosts, and see how she reacted to that. He was still thinking it over when the Floo activated and Hermione stepped out.
"Did Molly buy your story?"