hey! Here's the new chapter! I'm gonna try to post the final chapter on my birthday, so I might be postign more quickly for the next couple of weeks, so be prepared. I hope you enjoy.



Chapter 19


The next few weeks were quiet, and we really found nothing new on how Lalanos got to the forest.

Both Charlie and I had made a quick recovery (thanks to Madam Pomfrey), but Tonks was still in major shock from the events.

This haunted me. I told her to not put on that Ring again, but she didn’t listen. The dementor probably wouldn’t have caused her so much pain if she wasn’t wearing it.

I would visit her constantly, and we would converse about simple things. I would bring her school work, and she would tell me of all the other kids with maladies.

“See that kid over there,” she whispered pointing to a boy who was covered with bandages from head to toe. “He fell through that trick stair going up to the charms department.”

I stared at him in wonder. The poor kid.

Tonks sighed. “What?” I asked, concerned.

“Do I still have to go to that detention with Professor Ports tomorrow?” she questioned me with pain in her eyes.

“Yeah,” I answered.

She groaned over-exaggerating her pain. “It’s not fair! I’m still bed-ridden and I have to spend my entire evening with that no-good evil…” she obviously couldn’t find words to describe my grandfather, so she sunk her head into her pillow and yelled.

Madam Pomfrey obviously heard this and therefore gave me an evil look from across the room. It was saying Quit bothering my patients or I’ll kick you out.

So I decided to tell Tonks to calm down, and she eventually did. I then glanced down at her right hand. “Are you wearing the… the…”

She looked down to where I was pointing. She quickly put her hand under her sheets. “Tonks,” I chastised her quietly. “You know you shouldn’t wear it. It causes so much trouble.”

“I know Bandy, I know, it’s just…” she brought it up slowly to her face. The Mithril glimmered in the sun pouring out of the windows. “It’s just so tempting.”

I remembered Frodo and not being able to give up the Ring of Power on Mt. Doom, and Gollum going as far as killing to get the Ring of Power. It of course is a different Ring, but it has the same effect on mortals. I shuddered to think that Tonks could ever become something as terrible as Gollum. “I know it must be Tonks, but you don’t want to end up like… Gollum do you?”

She sighed. She had read The Hobbit and she absolutely positively knew who Gollum was, and I could tell she didn’t’ want to be like him either. “Fine,” Tonks said, taking it off. “If you want it so much, you can have it.”

She held it out to me, and I was almost tempted to take it. The most powerful Ring left in the world, and it could be mine. But then again, “No Tonks, this is your burden to carry. Fate gave it to you for a reason.”

Tonks sighed. “Then what am I supposed to do?”

I stared up at her from my spot on the stool next to her bed. Finally, I went to Madam Pomfrey, “Excuse me, Madam?” Her eyes bored into mine.

“Yes, Mr. Gardner?”

“Umm… could I have a piece of string?”

She gave me a look of bewilderment at such an odd request, but waved her wand and there appeared a piece of basic string. If it was that easy, she coul’ve given me a nice gold chain. But that didn’t matter. “Thank you Madam Pomfrey,” I said with the most sincerity.

“You are very welcome my boy,” she replied with a smirk.

I came back to Tonks. “Give me the Ring,” I commanded her.

She did so, and I could feel the power of it flow through my hand. It was a miraculous but horrifying feeling. After I threaded the Ring onto the string, I quickly handed it back to her. “Put it around your neck. That’s how Frodo Baggins kept the Ring of Power in the old tales.”

Tonks put her head through the loop, and the mithril Ring lay around her neck. “Now keep this under your clothes. Don’t let anyone hold it.”

“You’ve got it Bandy,” she stared at me.

“Well, I better let you get some rest,” I said to her. “You still have that detention.”

“Yeah,” she replied. “Bandy,” she called as I made my way to the door.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you,” she told me.

“For what?” I asked curiously.

“For everything.” She smiled, and I smiled back. At that I walked out of the door, and made my way back to the common room, grateful for having such great friends.