Hi all. This is my first attempt at writing a fanfic. I hope you like it. If so please leave me feedback. You can find the thread for it at the end of the chapter.



It was nearing dusk on a cool summers night in July. A mysterious figure wound it’s way through the many streets of London. Every now and then they would stop and listen for something and quickly hurry on. The person was wearing a dark hooded robe and moved very quickly and with great agility. The muggles who were hurrying home from their day at work gave no notice to what was happening around them. This suited the person, as they had no desire to be noticed.
Then suddenly a faint pop could be heard. The figure stopped and turned towards the noise. Standing there behind a telephone box another figure had appeared out of nowhere. They were also wearing the same hooded robes as the original person. The new figure came out of the shadows and approached quietly.
“What are you doing here?” the first hissed, moving closer to the new person.
“I came to find you”the new arrival replied.
There came a small laugh from the first.
“I don’t need your or anyone else’s help, I can find this on my own. Now leave me, and don’t tell anyone that you have seen me, or you might meet the same sticky end as your old friend”
The two figures glared at each other. The second person nodded their head and vanished from view.
With a glance to see that the scene hadn’t been witnessed, the man rearranged his cloak and kept on with the search.

He moved quickly from street to street until he was at an abandoned house in an empty street. The house would have been very fine in its day, although the bricks had started to crumble, the roof was full of holes and a few of the windows had been smashed by the local kids. The front yard was overgrown with an assortment of weeds that were almost up to the fence, which made it hard to make it to the front door. The hooded man reached into his robes and produced a thin wooden wand. With a swift flick the weeds were flattened and he made his way up to the front door.

With another tap of the wand the door opened easily, just if someone was home and was letting them in. As the wizard stepped over the threshold the door shut quietly behind them. The house was dusty and smelt like something had died.
The man walked on and up a rickety old staircase. At the top of the landing the wizard stopped and whispered something causing one of the doors on the top floor to open. With a gentle flick of a hand the hood of the robe was pushed off, revealing a young man. He was around 17 and had deep blue eyes and dark brown hair, which gave him a look of being a lot older than he was.
He started towards the opened door, the wallpaper on the walls of the hall had faded and had peeled off in most places. He stepped around broken floor boards and walked into the room. He lit his wand and scanned the room. His eyes stopped on a dusty old cupboard. There was nothing special about this cupboard but he knew what it contained was of great importance, not only to him but to someone else.
He reached to open the doors but found them stuck, with a quick spell he was able to unlock them. In the cupboard was an assortment of old books, photo frames and lots of dust. However, right at the back behind an old cooking book was something wrapped in a dirty old rag. He reached in and retrieved the item, it was quite light to hold. As he started to unwrap it, the beating of his heart was growing ever faster. He stared at the object in his hand, he couldn’t believe that he had found it after all this time looking.
Then he heard what he had been fearing all night. There was a noise coming from downstairs. He quickly wrapped the object back up and hid it in his robes. Just as the door to the room began to open, he turned on the spot and apparated into the night.


I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I know it doesn't tell you a lot but there will be more.

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Here is the first part of the second chapter

CHAPTER 2
Part one

It was getting late and Harry was busy cleaning up Hedwig’s birdcage from the many tiny skeletons that littered the bottom of her cage. Hedwig had gone off on her nightly hunt, which usually resulted in her bringing back a gift for Harry, usually a dead mouse or frog.

Harry yawned and looked at the clock that was beside his bed. It read 11.32pm. But Harry wasn’t ready to go to bed just yet, he had been having trouble sleeping lately. His dreams were always the same, they always had Dumbledore and Snape in them. No matter how many times he dreamed them, the same outcome always happened. Dumbledore dies and Snape runs away. But tonight something different had happened. His dream was about his mother Lily. It was a strange dream, nothing made sense. All he got was flashes of her writing in a book and of a house that Harry didn’t know.
He didn’t know what to make of it.

Just then Hedwig returned, breaking Harry’s thoughts. This time instead of a dead animal for Harry, she was carrying a letter.
Hedwig gently landed on Harry’s night stand and stuck out her leg for Harry to take the letter off.
“Good girl Hedwig” Harry told her.
She gave Harry a loving nip and flew back out the window to continue on her hunt.
Harry gave up on the cleaning and sat down on the edge of his bed to read the letter.
He quickly opened it and saw that it was from Hermione. Harry’s heart fell a bit. He was hoping that it might be from Ginny. Since he had left school he hadn’t heard from her, he was starting to wonder if he had done the right thing in breaking up with her.
“Of course I did” he muttered to himself.
He knew it was the right thing to do, no matter how much his heart ached.
Harry flattened out the letter and began to read.

Dear Harry,
I am starting to wonder if you have received any of my other letters, since you haven’t been replying to them. I know you must think that I am being a pain, but I have to try to convince you to come back to Hogwarts.
You must of got the letter from Professor McGonagall that told us that the school is going to re open in September. I know you did because I have sent an owl to Professor McGonagall asking her if she did send one to you. And she told me that she had.
Please Harry you must return to school, we really need you there. It just wouldn’t be the same without you.
Ron is going to return to school. However, just between you and me I think if I said I would be going to school on Mars he would follow me there too. He is become very attached to me lately. As much as I adore Ron it is getting a bit smothering.
I hope when you arrive for Bill and Fleur’s wedding he might let up.
Please reply when you get this message.
Because if you don’t I wont be sending you a birthday present.

Love
Hermione.

Harry laughed at Hermione’s last comment and thought he better reply this time.
He quickly wrote back saying that he would think about returning to school and that he couldn’t wait to see them all soon.
“That will keep her happy for awhile” Harry thought to himself.
He folded up the letter and put in on his nightstand waiting for when Hedwig would return.


I know it is short but I will post the 2nd part later today.

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Well here is the second part of this chapter.

CHAPTER TWO

PART 2

It was only 3 days until Harry’s 17th birthday. He couldn’t wait until then, he would finally be free to go and live his own life, away from the Dursley’s and away from his horrible childhood that he had to endure. He never thought that this day would come.

The day after his birthday he had planned to pack up his belongings (not that he owned a lot of things) and leave number 4 Privet Drive forever. He was going to stay at the Burrow until September, and then he was going off to find the other Horcruxes that were still out there.

Harry was starting to feel sleepy when suddenly there was a loud noise from below him in the living room. He quickly jumped to his feet, grabbing his wand he ran out of his bedroom and down the stairs.

What lay before him was unbelievable. There in his living room stood two hooded figures who had their wands out and were pointing them at something or someone. They were laughing so hideously it made the hairs on the back of Harry’s neck stand up.
They were Death Eaters.
Harry wished he had been quieter because they heard him coming and they were ready for him.
In a split second Harry was thrown back against the wall, his back smashing into the many pictures of Dudley, that his Aunt Petunia had so lovingly adorned the house with.
Harry was stuck he couldn’t move.
“ What are you going to do now, heh Potter?” the first Death Eater laughed.
Harry looked to his right and saw that his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had been tied up and gagged. They both looked like they were about to faint. Harry looked to his left but there was no sign of Dudley.
Harry was wondering where he might be. Then Harry caught a sight of a big bottom that was sticking out from behind what was left of the lounge. Dudley was trying to crawl away from the Death Eaters.
The wizards saw Dudley and cracked up laughing at the sight of this massive boy in his pyjama’s crawling along the ground.
“Let’s have some fun with this muggle!” the taller Death Eater said to his friend.
He turned his wand on Dudley and yelled “cruccio”
Dudley screamed and was pushed forward onto his little piggy nose, writhing in pain.
“Dudley, Dudley” Harry yelled “Get out of here, run away”
Dudley tried to get up but the spell was forcing him down.
“Leave him alone” Harry yelled at the Death Eater “It’s me you want”
“You’re right” he snarled and turned his attention back towards Harry.
Dudley was released from the spell.
Harry was helpless, he couldn’t move and he couldn’t reach his wand which had fallen to the floor when he was attacked.
“Not so tough are you Potter” the littler Death Eater taunted.
Harry looked down and saw Dudley pick up his wand. Dudley was shaking so badly that he couldn’t hold onto the wand with one hand, but he was past scared, he stood up and pointed the wand at the two attackers.
“What are you going to do with that, you fat little muggle? Are you going to throw it at me” The two Death Eaters laughed even harder, this made Dudley even more angrier.
He stood up straight and said the first thing that came to his mind, knowing it was going to be the last thing that he ever said, “ Get away and leave my family alone”
The last thing Dudley saw was the Death Eaters faces change from glee to horror. And then he knew no more.



Hi everyone, here is the next chapter. I hope you like it.

CHAPTER 3

As Harry slid down the wall he still couldn’t believe what had just happened in front of him. Where, only moments ago there stood two Death Eaters there now stood only Dudley, in the middle of the living room still shaking all of over from what just happened.

Harry was picking himself up off the floor and turned to see if his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were okay. They were both still sitting on the floor with their eyes bulging and their mouths wide open. Aunt Petunia looked like she was about to cry.

Dudley looked down at Harry’s wand that was still in his pudgy hand, he then turned to look at his parents.
“Mum” Dudley wailed “I didn’t mean to” and he quickly threw the wand to Harry who caught it and stuck in his jeans pocket.

Uncle Vernon was rapidly turning purple.
“What happened?” he demanded looking at Harry as he got to his feet
“What have you done to my son?”
“Me? I have done nothing to your precious son, but it looks like I am not the only wizard in the family” Harry said smiling, knowing what was coming.
“I knew something like this would happen, having him here.” Uncle Vernon said while pointing a finger at Harry. “He has infected Dudley”
Aunt Petunia was now quietly sobbing on the floor.
“Don’t be so stupid” Harry replied “I guess it just skipped a generation”
“But I don’t want to be like him” Dudley cried “Do something”
“You can’t do anything about it, you are now a wizard.” Harry said

“But why didn’t this happen before now?” Aunt Petunia asked as she was pulled to her feet by Uncle Vernon.
“I’m not sure, it is different with everyone.” Harry said
“It could have something to do with Dudley turning 17. In the wizarding world he is now of age. Maybe he wasn’t ready before.”

Dudley was shuffling towards his parents looking for the same attention from them as he always got. But Aunt Petunia didn’t know whether to hug him or not, she thought she might become magical next if she touched him. So she just stood next to Uncle Vernon and stared at him with big tears in her eyes.
“Mum, Dad it’s not my fault, I didn’t want this to happen. I won’t do it again.” He cried.
“Go to your room” his father said quietly
Dudley’s round face broke into a huge sob and he ran off up the stairs to his bedroom.

There was now an uncomfortable silence. Harry wasn’t sure if he should stay and see if they wanted to discuss what had just happened or if he should go to his room as well.

“Do you want to talk about what just happened?” Harry asked
Uncle Vernon was consoling a crying Aunt Petunia , he looked up at Harry and said
“Nothing happened here, alright. NOTHING”
With that he turned and walked Aunt Petunia out to the kitchen to make her a cup of tea.
Harry was amazed that they could just ignore the fact that their own son, their little Dudley wuddley was now a wizard.
He decided to go to his room, and write to Ron and Hermione to tell them what had happened.

As he walked past Dudley’s room he could hear him throwing things around and ripping things up, Harry thought about going in to see him, but then he changed his mind and would wait until he had settled down.

Harry quickly wrote the letters to his friends and then he changed into his pyjamas and climbed into bed. His clock now read 1:17am, Harry took off his glasses and turned off the light, still amazed at what had happened.
Just then Harry thought, how did the Death Eaters gain access to the house? There was meant to be a protection spell on it. Had the security worn off now that Dumbledore is dead or maybe because he is so close to turning 17. Dumbledore did say that it would stop once that happened. Harry’s head began to hurt. He thought that he had better write a letter to someone to ask the questions that are now bugging him. Maybe he should write to Remus Lupin, he usually has answers to Harry’s problems.
Harry decided he would do it in the morning.

He rolled over and closed his eyes, thinking about what was going to happen.
“I’ll take on whatever comes next” Harry thought as he quickly fell asleep.

CHAPTER 4

Harry woke early the next morning, the sun hadn’t even risen in the sky yet. He wished that he could get back to sleep, but his mind was still racing with everything that had happened the night before. He dragged himself out of bed and went to his desk where he took a piece of parchment from out of his drawer and sat down to write a letter to Remus Lupin. Harry didn’t know what to write, what if Lupin didn’t know anything about the protection spell that Dumbledore had set up when Harry came to live at the Dursley’s. He wrote what he needed to ask hoping that he would get answers. After Harry had finished the letter he left in on the table with the other two letters he had written previously.
Harry got up from his chair and stood up to stretch, he looked out of the window and saw that the sun had risen and it was looking like a beautiful day.

Harry heard his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia heading down the stairs towards the kitchen for breakfast. Harry waited for awhile before heading down himself. Once he got down the stairs he heard shouting and crying going on in the kitchen. He knew what the arguments were about even before he set foot in the room. The shouting would be coming from his Uncle Vernon, it was the only way he knew how to express himself when he was angry, and Aunt Petunia on the other hand dealt with her anger the way she knew how by crying. The reason for this behaviour was that last night they all found out that Dudley had magical powers. Which came to a great shock for everyone, especially Harry. He wasn’t sure how to take the news, he wasn’t ready to share his world yet, especially not with his spoilt rotten cousin.

Harry let himself into the kitchen, and as soon as he did all the commotion stopped. Harry was so used to being ignored in this house it didn’t bother him in the slightest.

Harry helped himself to a piece of toast and a cup of tea. He sat in silence eating, watching his Uncle and Auntie glare at each other and occasionally they would throw a nasty look at Harry.
“Where’s Dudley” Harry asked quietly, realising that his cousin who never missed out on a meal wasn’t sitting at the table.
He didn’t get any response to his question, only another mean glare.
“So they want to play this game do they?” Harry thought to himself and continued to eat his breakfast in silence. “Only two more days” he thought then he could leave.

Then something strange happened, which was saying something because strange things always seemed to happen to Harry. In the middle of eating his piece of marmalade toast Harry began to get a funny sensation behind his left eye. He started to rub his eyes, hoping it would go away, but instead Harry got a vision. The vision was of his Mother. She was sitting at a desk writing in a book, she looked happy. Then just as quickly as it came it was gone. Harry thought that he had fallen asleep at the table, since he didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. But when he glanced upwards his Uncle and Auntie were looking at him with very strange looks on their faces.
“What did you say boy?” his Uncle Vernon asked
“Huh?” was all Harry replied.
“Don’t Huh me, I asked you a question” Uncle Vernon spat back, his face was turning pink.
“I didn’t say anything” Harry said in his defence
“You mumbled something about Godfreys Hallow, or something” his Uncle said
“Godric’s Hollow, you mean?” Harry asked with a surprise.
“I think so” his Auntie mumbled
“Now there will be no more of this nonsense at the table” Uncle Vernon demanded “I want everyone to be quiet”
He had started to turn purple, not a good sign Harry thought. Just then Dudley waddled through the kitchen door. He looked like he hadn’t got much sleep during the night either. He was still wearing his pyjama’s and his blond hair was so messed up, it looked like he had a bird nesting in it.

“Sit down Dudley, have some breakfast” his father said to him in an over the top cheery voice. “I guess they are going to pretend it never happened after all” Harry thought to himself.

Harry finished his breakfast, got up and put his dirty dishes in the sink then walked out the room shaking his head, thinking to himself how pathetic this family really is. I will be so glad to leave.

Once back in his bedroom he woke up Hedwig (who wasn’t to pleased to be woken up this early) so he could send the letters that he had written last night to Ron, Hermione and the one for Lupin. After Hedwig had flown out the window, but not before she flapped her wings a bit hard in Harry’s face, he sat down at his desk and thought about the vision he just had at the breakfast table. If that is what it was. Harry had never had anything like that happen to him before, that’s if you don’t count the endless visions he had of Voldemort a couple of years ago. But there was something different about this one. He knew it was definitely from the past because his Mum and Dad had died 16 years ago. But he felt a kind of warmth when the vision came to him, almost like it was his Mum reaching out to him from beyond the grave.

Harry sat there for a while contemplating what the vision might mean. He had a look through his old Divination school books, to see whether or not they help him with an answer. But even they couldn’t help. They were mostly about predicting the future not about recalling events from the past.

For the rest of the day Harry stayed in his room. He didn’t want to be anywhere near the rest of his family. Instead his thoughts strayed to Ginny. He started thinking what she was doing right now, whether or not she was thinking about him. He also thought about the way her red hair use to sparkle in the sunlight and how he use to love running his hands through it, the warmth of her smile when she saw Harry and how sweet she tasted when they kissed.
“Stop it” he told himself. “This isn’t going to help.”
But no matter how many times he tried to think of other things his mind always came back to Ginny.

Finally it was getting dark outside, and Harry’s stomach gave a groan. He realised that he had nothing to eat since breakfast this morning. Just as he stood up to go downstairs that funny feeling came back and his vision returned once again. This time it was different than the first. He was seeing his Father, James. But it was as if he was seeing him from his Mothers perspective. They were in a nice looking room, James was going from door to door of the house checking to see if they were all locked. He then turned towards Harry and said “I think we will be safe here”
All of a sudden Harry was aware that he was back in his own bedroom, and his Father had gone.
“Whoa” Harry said. “what is going on?”
He sat down on his bed again and took in what he had just seen. Even though he couldn’t remember what it looked like, he was sure that he had just seen his parents house at Godric’s Hollow. It must have been when his Mum and Dad went into hiding.
“Just before they were murdered” Harry thought solemnly.

Harry decided to write down what he had just seen in one of his notebooks. He also added the vision that came to him at breakfast. He thought by writing them down they might start to make more sense.

Harry’s stomach gave another groan, so he put his notebook away and headed downstairs to see what was for dinner. Everything was quiet when he reached the living room. As Harry stepped into the room he noticed that his Aunt Petunia had tried to clean up the mess that the two Death Eaters had made, but the lounge was still in many little pieces and all the picture frames that Harry had broken were now in a neat pile on the cupboard. Harry thought to himself if they are nice to me I might repair them when I turn 17. It is the least I can do since the Death Eaters were coming for me.

Harry entered the kitchen and realised that there was no one in there. Instead he found a note from his Uncle and Auntie saying that they were taking Dudley to his Aunt Marge’s and that he wasn’t allowed to touch anything until they got back later tonight. And that Harry’s dinner was in the fridge. Harry went over to see what she left for him and found a plain ham sandwich and a glass of water. Harry took the food and headed over to the dinner table to eat, it was then he heard a light tapping noise coming from the window above the kitchen sink. Harry went to investigate and saw that it was Pig, Ron’s owl.
Harry slid open the window and the tiny bird shot into the room like a bullet.
He bounced off all the walls and appliances until finally coming to rest on the kitchen table. Harry went over to the bird and took off the letter that was attached to his little leg.

It read

To Harry,

I can’t believe that your cousin is now a wizard. How did the muggles take it? Not too good I expect. I asked my Dad if this has ever happened before and he says some witches and wizards have been known to get their magical powers later in life. He wasn’t to surprised by the news.
I can’t wait for you to arrive. It has been great around here lately. Hermione has been helping with Bill and Fleur’s wedding plans. I don’t know if she has told you mate but we have been getting a lot closer lately. I feel as if I am in a dream. It has been wonderful with her here.
The only thing that is bringing the whole house down at the moment is Ginny. She has been so miserable since we got home, that she has locked herself in her room and will only come down for meals.

You really know how to make a girl upset don’t you?

Anyway I hope you have a great birthday and I will see you when you get here

Your mate
Ron.


Harry folded the letter up and fed what was left of his dry sandwich to Pigwidgeon, who after having a rest was ready to head home. Harry drank his drink then went to put the dirty dishes into the sink. As he did another vision happened right before his eyes. It was another vision of his Mum again. She was sitting at a writing desk and was writing something in an old book. Once she had finished she shut the book and it was then that Harry noticed the gold writing that was embossed onto the front. To Harry’s surprise it read;







PLEASE LEAVE ME FEEDBACK IF YOU READ THIS CHAPTER.
FEEDBACK THREAD IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE.

Hi everyone. Here is the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Please leave feedback.





The day before Harry’s birthday started out as an uneventful one, but it didn’t end that way. He spent the majority of this time in his room, cleaning up and packing away all of his belongings into his trunk. He made sure that he had collected all the things that he had hidden away over the last couple of years. He didn’t want to leave anything behind, because he had no desire to ever return to 4 Privet Drive.
Hermione was arriving in two days to help him apparate his possessions to the Weasleys home. He wished he could apparate himself but until he could go for the test he would have to rely on Hermione to get him out of here.
He was thinking about what he should do with his old school books, when Hedwig came flying in the open window and landed on Harry’s shoulder. She had a letter attached to her leg, which she held out obligingly for Harry to remove. He quickly unfurled the letter and saw that it was from Lupin. Harry was relieved to see that he had written back so quickly. Hedwig flew back to her cage for a drink and Harry went to sit down at his desk to read the letter.

To Harry,

It sounds like you have had a couple of hectic days. I am glad to hear that you weren’t hurt by the surprise visit you got from the Death Eaters. I don’t know a great deal about the protection spell that Dumbledore had set up for when you came to live there, but I do believe it has probably been lifting ever so slightly due to a combination of the death of Dumbledore and of you becoming of age.
I think it was a test of Voldemort’s to see whether or not the spell had indeed vanished. I don’t think he could have entered the premise’s himself but the Death Eaters might have been able to. And sadly he was right. I think that the best thing now would be for you to leave as soon as possible.
Well I hope this has helped. With everything going well I will see you at the wedding.

Yours sincerely
Remus Lupin.


So Lupin thought that he should leave as soon as possible. “That’s great news” Harry thought. He quickly took out a blank piece of parchment and wrote to Hermione asking her if she would be able to come and collect him today. With the letter finished he called Hedwig down from her perch.
“Can you take this to Hermione for me please. You will need to wait for a answer to bring back, Ok” Harry finished tying the letter to her leg and took her over to the open window. Hedwig gave a hoot and flew off. Harry watched her until she was gone then he hurried downstairs to give the good news to his Uncle and Auntie.

He found them sitting in the kitchen eating their lunch in complete silence. There was no sign of Dudley, which was a sign that they must of left him at Aunt Marge’s. Harry wondered what they had told Aunt Marge about why he was staying with her. Harry laughed to himself wondering if Dudley would accidentally do magic while he was there.

“I have something that I need to discuss with you both” Harry began
“What is it?” his Uncle Vernon asked without looking up at him.
“I have decided it will be best for all of us if I leave today. I realise I am putting you in danger now that there is no protection spell for the house” Harry continued.
“What protection spell?” his Uncle interrupted, finally looking up at Harry.
“The one that Professor Dumbledore had placed when I came to live here” Harry replied. “He did explain it to you last year when he came to visit”
“When are you leaving?” his Uncle asked looking happy with the prospect of not having Harry living with them anymore.
“Later today, I have to wait for my friend Hermione to come and help me with my things” Harry said
“Well don’t ask us to help, we are too busy” his Uncle said before he started back eating his lunch.
“I wouldn’t dream of asking you” Harry said as he turned to leave the kitchen. But before he leave he heard a noise at the back door.

“What’s that?” Aunt Petunia shrieked. “It’s not them back is it?”
“Sshhh. Just stay there” Harry told them both.
Harry instinctively withdrew his wand from his pocket and went to see what the noise was. He quietly tiptoed up to the back door, then there was the noise again. Harry reached out to the handle and gently turned it, just as he did something whooshed past him, knocking him over. Aunt Petunia screamed.
“Not again” Uncle Vernon yelled.
Harry looked around and saw a tawny owl resting on the back of one of the dining room chairs. It had its leg out waiting for someone to take the letter that it was carrying. Harry approached the owl and removed the scroll. As soon as it was free the owl took flight and left the kitchen.
“I hate owls” Uncle Vernon mumbled
The letter wasn’t addressed to Harry, this time it read,

To Mr Dudley Dursley,
4 Privet Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey


Both Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon looked at each other and then at the letter. Harry handed the letter out to them, so they could read it, since Dudley wasn’t here himself.
“Here” Harry said “Read it”
But neither of them took any steps towards Harry , so he decided to open the letter himself.
He read it aloud.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall

Dear Mr Dursley,

It has come to my recent attention that you are now eligible to come to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment that you will need.

I understand this has come as a bit of a shock, if you or your parents want to discuss any of this with myself I will gladly be of assistance.

Term begins on 1st September. I will be waiting for your response. Please send your message by owl.

Yours sincerely

Minerva McGonagall
Headmistress

P.S. - The owl that delivered this message will stay with you until you send a reply back.

“That horrible animal is staying here?” Aunt Petunia asked in a disgusted voice
“Just until Dudley sends his answer” Harry replied
“That’s easy” Uncle Vernon said, standing up looking outside at the owl which was now perched in a tree having a rest, “He’s not going anywhere, except back to Smeltings where he belongs”
“But he can do magic” Harry argued back “He won’t fit in at a muggle school, he should be going to Hogwarts where he will learn more about magic”
“HE WILL NOT BE GOING” Uncle Vernon bellowed at Harry.
“It is not your choice” Harry yelled back. He wasn’t afraid of his Uncle anymore. Harry had grown so much he now stood taller than him.
“It should be up to Dudley if he wants to go or not”
“But Dudley isn’t here is he. He doesn’t even have to know that there was any letter” his Aunt Petunia piped up in the background.
Harry shook his head “Don’t you remember what happened when you destroyed all my acceptance letters? They kept coming until I sent a reply. Do you want that to happen again?”
Uncle Vernon thought about that for awhile and then looked up at his wife who shrugged her shoulders.
“Go to your room” Uncle Vernon demanded
“What are you going to do” Harry insisted
“That is none of your business, now go”
Harry took that as a final answer and left to return to his room, to see if Hedwig had returned while he was downstairs.


Harry took the stairs two at a time and hurried into his room. It was beginning to look empty now. He had just about everything packed and ready to go. He now had to wait for Hermione to arrive.

Harry laid down on his bed and waited for Hedwig’s return. He was just in the middle of a daydream that involved himself and Ginny when his head started pounding. He sat up and once again he was able to see the diary that his Mother had been writing in earlier. He then sensed that someone was standing behind him and turned around and saw his Dad standing there holding Harry when he was a baby. He smiled and said “Are you still writing in that book Lily?”
“I have to” a voice came from within Harry “ I need to write down everything that we have been doing to stop all these dreadful things from ever happening again”
It is here just in case Harry needs some information when he grows up. And if we can’t be here to give it to him in person then I want him to be able to read about it”
“But honey” James said as he stepped closer to Lily “I am sure that we will be fine. Dumbledore has assured us our location is hidden”
“I don’t know James” Lily replied “ I have a funny feeling that something is wrong”
James put his arm around Lily and it was then that Harry was back in his room.
Harry was breathing hard from what he had just seen. He could still feel his Fathers arms as they held his Mum.

Harry got up and retrieved his notebook out of his trunk and wrote this new revelation in . He was starting to understand what the images were about. Obviously he had to find this diary of his Mum’s. He wondered where it might be. Could it possibly be still in their old home at Godric’s Hollow? He would have to find it.

In the middle of Harry’s thoughts about where the diary could be hidden, Hedwig returned. She dropped the letter she had in her beak and then flew up to her cage and turned away from Harry as if to say please don’t send me out again, I need a rest.
“Thank you Hedwig. Don’t worry that is the last letter today” Harry reassured her.
He opened the letter and read it.

Dear Harry,

I will be happy to come and get you today. Professor Lupin told us what had happened yesterday. We were all so worried. You know if you return to Hogwarts you will be well protected there!
I will be at your home at 4pm.
I hope you have packed everything because I don’t want to take to long. There is a lot of work to do here.

See you soon
Love
Hermione.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief that his time here was only hours away. He returned to packing away the last of his belongings and then went downstairs to wait for Hermione.

Harry was sitting on the bottom of the stairs in the hall waiting for Hermione arrive. He didn’t know where she might appear, but knowing Hermione she wouldn’t just apparate herself right in the middle of the lounge room, as some wizards might.
Harry checked his watch again, he still had 10 minutes until 4pm.
“I hope Hermione won’t be late” Harry thought.
Just then the door from the kitchen opened and in walked his Aunt Petunia. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days. She was carrying her cleaning equipment into the lounge room to start cleaning in there again. Ever since the shocking news of Dudley becoming a wizard all she had been doing is cleaning every single room in the house again and again.
Harry thought if he was going to do what he had planned he better do it now before his Uncle Vernon came in. Harry stood up from his step and started towards his Aunt Petunia. She mustn’t have seen Harry sitting on the stairs as she gave a little startled jump when she realised someone else was in the room with her.
“It’s alright, Aunt Petunia, it’s only me” Harry quickly said “I wanted to have a word with you before I left”
Aunt Petunia looked behind her to see if Vernon had followed her into the living room. When she saw that they were alone she quietly replied “What do you want?”
Harry was pleased to see that she would talk to him, he thought that she might refuse.
“I know that you are upset about Dudley becoming a wizard, but I thought you might have some questions that you might like to ask” Harry enquired.
His Aunt Petunia looked like she was going to start crying again, instead she grabbed her duster and began dusting the TV set.
Harry walked over to her and touched her on the shoulder, something he had never done before. She gave a shudder at his touch but she turned around to face him.
“Look” Harry started “I understand that you don’t want to talk about this right now” With that Harry gave a look back towards the kitchen door “but if you ever want to get word to me just write me a letter and give it to Mrs Figg across the road. She will know where to find me. Uncle Vernon doesn’t even have to know”
Aunt Petunia looked confused “Why Mrs Figg?”
“Because she is a squib” Harry told her, and by the look on her face he explained “ A squib is a person that is born into a magical family but can’t do any magic themselves”
Harry could see that his Aunt Petunia was in two minds. When it was just Harry she could tell herself that he was a little freak just like his mother, but now that it has happened to her own son who could she put the blame on.
“Ok” she whispered.
“But don’t tell Vernon. He would be so irate”
She was about say something else to Harry but at that moment Uncle Vernon came walking in from the kitchen with such an angry look on his face that Harry was sure that another owl had flown into the house again.
Instead he told Harry in an irritated voice. “You have a visitor”
“Where?” Harry asked looking behind his Uncle’s massive frame.
His Uncle gave a jerk of his head to indicate the kitchen.

Harry left his Uncle and Auntie and went to see who the visitor was. He pushed open the door and found Hermione sitting at the table.
“Harry!” She exclaimed and jumped up and ran over to hug him.
“It is great to see you” she exclaimed
“Thank heavens you’re here. I can’t stand to be here a moment longer” Harry replied.
“I think that I might have upset your Uncle” she admitted to Harry, looking sheepishly.
“Why, what did you do?” Harry laughed.
“Well, I thought it would be safer if I apparated inside the house, so that I wasn’t seen by any of the neighbours. But when I arrived in the kitchen I think I almost gave your Uncle a heart attack. Didn’t you tell them that I was coming Harry?” Hermione asked
“I did” Harry explained “But I don’t think I told them how you would be arriving”
Hermione shook her bushy head in annoyance.
“Come on Harry, lets get you out of here. Ron is dying to see you. He wanted to come with me, but I told him I couldn’t apparate all three of us together.”
Harry gave Hermione a look of surprise, because it was not like Hermione to admit that she couldn’t do something.
“Well I have never apparated with two extra people before” Hermione gushed.
“come on lets go”
With that she pushed Harry towards the door and out to the living room.

“Hello.” Hermione introduced herself to Harry’s Uncle and Auntie. “ I’m Hermione Granger. I go to school with Harry”
“I think they might of guessed that” Harry whispered trying not to laugh.
Hermione ignored him and took a step back behind Harry.
“Come on, lets go and get my things”
Harry took Hermione’s hand and led her upstairs.

Harry opened the door to his room and let Hermione in. He had everything ready to go.
“Maybe you could let Hedwig fly to the Burrow. It might be a bit scary for her to be apparated” Hermione suggested.
“Good idea” Harry said and went over to Hedwig who was sound asleep in her cage.
It took a bit of persuasion from Harry to convince her to wake up, but when Harry said that he would have to leave her here at the Dursley’s she gave Harry a hoot and flapped her wings ready for the long flight to the Burrow.
Harry took her from the cage and let her out the window. “I’ll see you there soon” Harry told Hedwig.
Meanwhile Hermione had already apparated Harry’s trunk and Hedwig’s cage to the Weasley’s.
“Well are you ready to go?” Hermione asked Harry.
“More than ready” Harry replied with a smile he couldn’t hide.
“Well go and say goodbye to your Aunt and Uncle then we will go” Hermione told him.
Harry didn’t really want to say goodbye. What was he going to say to them? “Thanks for all the mistreatment and miserable years you have put me through?”
Than he thought of his parents and what they would expect from him, so he walked out of his bedroom for the last time and went downstairs to find them.

Harry found his Uncle and Auntie in the kitchen. Uncle Vernon was reading a newspaper and Aunt Petunia was busy wiping down the kitchen cupboards. Neither of them glanced up when Harry and Hermione entered the room.
Hermione felt awkward standing there in the silent gleaming kitchen. She had never been ignored like this before. She was starting to understand why Harry hated coming here every summer.
“I’m going now” Harry said in an unemotional voice.
His Uncle and Auntie continued to ignore him.
“You could at least say goodbye” Hermione blurted out from behind Harry.
This got their attention. They looked up at Hermione with such amazement that she would dare talk to them this way.
“Don’t worry about it Hermione. I am used to it” Harry said. “Let’s just go”
Harry held onto Hermione’s arm as she turned gracefully on the spot. At once, there was that horrible sensation again. The feeling of being squeezed through something that was very small. Just when he thought he couldn’t endure any more he realised that they were now standing in Mrs Weasley’s kitchen, breathing in the delicious aroma of her cooking.

Harry still didn’t think that he would ever get used to the feeling of apparating. But he had to admit it was an excellent way to travel.

“Harry!” exclaimed Mrs Weasley “ How good to see you again” She rushed over to where Harry had just appeared and gave him a huge hug.
“Good to see you too Mrs Weasley” Harry said after she had let him go.
“You still haven’t stopped growing then I see” She said eyeing him up and down. “Just like Ron!”
“Where is Ron, Mrs Weasley?” Hermione asked
“I think he is up in his room” she told them
“Are you hungry Harry?” she asked him
“Yeah I am a bit” Harry admitted.
“Well give me a minute and I will whip something up for you” Mrs Weasley said happily.
“Ok, we will go and find Ron then we will be back” Harry said.

Harry and Hermione headed up the staircase to go to Ron’s room. Hermione was chattering all the way, she was so excited about starting her final year at Hogwarts, and of course she managed to add in that Harry was making a huge mistake not returning with them. They had just reached the landing when Ginny came out of her bedroom door. She spotted Harry walking towards her with Hermione and she wished that she could turn invisible on will.
“Hi Ginny” Hermione said in an overly cheery voice. “Do you know where Ron is?”
Ginny was still staring at Harry, her feet were fixed to the floor.
“Um… I think he is in his room” Ginny finally responded.
“Hi Harry” She said quietly “ How are you?”
“I’m fine. How has your summer been?” Harry replied a bit too politely.
“Not bad”
“We will see you later Ginny, Ok?” Hermione said pulling Harry towards Ron’s door.

“Why did you do that for?” Harry asked Hermione angrily “I wanted to talk to her”
“I’m sorry Harry, but Ginny has been so miserable lately, I think the more she sees and talks to you the worse she will get” Hermione truthfully replied.
“Well that is just stupid. Because she will have to get used to me being here”
Hermione was starting to go all pink from embarrassment. “Can we talk about this later” she pleaded with Harry.
Just then Ron came bursting out of his door and almost collided straight into Harry and Hermione.
“Harry, you’re here!” he yelled. “I just saw your trunk and cage arrive and I guessed that you wouldn’t be far away”
Ron had the biggest smile on his face that Harry had ever seen. It made Harry forget about his argument with Hermione and he smiled back at Ron and clapped him on the back.
“So how’s it going?” Harry asked, looking sideways at Hermione.
“Great” Ron replied, moving past Harry and kissing Hermione on the lips.
Harry could see that Hermione was a bit embarrassed to kiss so openly in public but she willingly kissed Ron back all the same.
“Well, I guess things are definitely going to be different around you two now” Harry laughed.
“But it is a good thing, right Harry?” Ron asked hoping for Harry’s approval.
“Yeah, as long as you don’t get as bad as you and Lavender did last year!”
“Well I definitely won’t be calling him Won Won” Hermione said laughing.
Ron’s ears had started to turn red but he laughed along with them.
“Since we have now found you, lets go down and get something to eat” Harry said “Your Mum is making something for us”
“Alright lets go” Ron agreed, shutting his bedroom door.
He took Hermione’s hand and they all headed back down the stairs, to the mouth-watering smells that were wafting from the kitchen.

When they were halfway down the stairs they heard a disturbance coming from the kitchen. It sounded as if all of Mrs Weasley’s pots and pans had fallen out of the cupboards crashing to the floor. The trio ran the rest of the way down the stairs and found a huge mess in the kitchen with Mrs Weasley standing in the middle of it, her hands were clasped over her mouth.
“What happened?” Ron exclaimed.
“It wasn’t me” Mrs Weasley said angrily “It was ……”
Before Mrs Weasley could finish her sentence, standing up in the middle of the clutter was Winky, Mr Crouch’s old house elf.
“Winky” Mrs Weasley finished.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. I really enjoyed writing it.




The fact that Winky was at the Weasley’s astounded Harry. The look on his face must have shown, because Mrs Weasley said “Harry dear, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Harry replied he then turned to Ron and asked “How come Winky is here?”

“Professor McGonagall sent her here” Ron explained. “Apparently she wasn’t doing very well at Hogwarts. The only thing that made her happy was the thought of coming to work for another family”

Winky was clothed in a little white pinafore dress that had a small W embroided on the front left hand side. She was looking a lot happier than the last time Harry had seen her at Hogwarts with Dobby.

Hermione had walked away from the conversation and left the kitchen to go outside. Obviously she was still unhappy with elves being used as servants.

“How long has she been here?” Harry asked watching Winky help Mrs Weasley put all the saucepans back in their cupboards.

“Only about a week” Ron said. “She is still crying over Mr Crouch. But she is getting better”

“Hello Winky” Harry said, making Winky jump “How are you enjoying working here?”

“Hello Mr Harry Potter sir. I is liking the work very much. Winky is very happy” she said, curtsying very low.

“Come on Harry” Ron said tugging his arm “Let’s go outside and find Hermione.”

“Don’t go too far” Mrs Weasley said “Dinner won’t be too long” and she turned back to watch as Winky helped her to make dinner.

Harry and Ron left the kitchen and stepped outside into the fading sunlight. They spotted Hermione sitting under a tall elm tree picking off the petals of a bright orange flower.

“So does he love you or not?” Harry laughed pointing out the flower petals to

Hermione when she gave him a blank look.
She quickly threw the remainder of the flower away and got to her feet, brushing dirt off of her jeans.

“Well what do you want to do now?” Ron asked the pair of them.

Hermione shrugged and looked to Harry for an idea.

“How about a game of quidditch?” Harry suggested.

“But there is only three of us” Hermione pointed out.

“We would have to ask Ginny to play as well” Ron said

“I don’t mind sitting out” Hermione said “You guys know that I don’t like flying that much”

“Are you sure?” Ron asked with concern.

“I’m sure, but I like watching you play though” Hermione said affectionately to Ron.

Harry noticed that Ron’s ears had started to turn pink, so he turned away to go and get his broom from their bedroom. When Harry returned he found Ron and Hermione standing behind the big elm tree tenderly kissing.

“Ahem” Harry interrupted.

Both Ron and Hermione jumped apart so quickly that Ron hit himself on a low branch of the tree.

“Sorry mate” Harry laughed. “Go and get your broom and I will wait here for you”

Ron returned quickly and they played one on one Quidditich with Hermione watching them. It was getting dark when Winky came out and informed them that dinner was ready.
The three of them joined the rest of the family at the dinner table. It was the smallest gathering Harry had eaten with since coming to the Burrow. There was only Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Harry.
Harry always loved Mrs Weasley’s cooking and tonight was no exception. Harry helped himself to three servings of stew and two helpings of ice cream and pudding.
By the time Harry made his way up to bed he was bursting at the seams.

Harry had started changing into his pyjamas when another of the visions came to him. He was seeing things through his Mothers eyes again. She was walking through the hallway of their home at Godric’s Hollow. Lily was sweetly humming a tune as she walked into a room that looked like a miniature library. She walked up to a painting that was of a trio of witches making potions. Lily reached out and gently made a circling motion using her index finger over the potion in the painting. Just then the witches cackled and the portrait swung open revealing a hole in the wall. Lily placed the diary that she had been carrying into the hole and closed the painting back over it again.
Harry awoke from the vision with sweat dripping off of his face. It was then that he realised he wasn’t alone; Harry looked up and saw Ginny standing at the door with a desperate look of concern written all over her face.

“Ginny” Harry gasped realising that he hadn’t finished getting his pyjama’s on when the vision appeared.

“What are you doing here” Harry said while he was busy doing up the buttons on his pyjama top.

“I came into talk to you, before Ron came up” Ginny admitted looking a bit embarrassed. “I knocked but I didn’t get any reply. I was worried so I opened the door and saw you in a kind of trance. What happened?”

Harry hadn’t told any of his friends about the visions yet and wasn’t sure that he was ready to explain what was happening. He looked up at Ginny and was so taken aback by the look on her face that he told her all about the visions of his Mother and Father and of the diary that he kept on seeing.
Ginny sat quietly on Ron’s bed across from Harry and listened intently to what he told her.
“Harry, you know what this means don’t you?” Ginny said “You have to find that diary. It must be of great importance if you are having visions of your Mum”

“I know. I was planning on going to Godric’s Hollow after Bill and Fleur’s wedding next week.” Harry told her. “I just haven’t told Ron and Hermione yet. So if you don’t mind not saying anything until I get the chance to, I would really appreciate it.”

Ginny nodded, and then she reached inside her jumper and produced a small red box that had a gold bow on top.

“I wanted to give this to you for your birthday tomorrow. But I wanted to do it in private” she quietly said to Harry “I hope you like it”

Harry reached out and took the present, briefly brushing his hand against Ginny’s. He was still effected whenever she was near him. He carefully undid the gold bow and he opened the box. Inside was a tiny heart shaped silver frame with a photo of the two of them kissing and smiling at each other. He remembered when the picture was taken last year at Hogwarts; it was the happiest Harry had ever been. Ginny was relieved to see that it brought a smile to his face.

“I wasn’t sure whether to give it to you or not.” Ginny confessed “But I thought that you can take the picture with you where ever you go and remember that I will always love you”
With that she stood up and leaned over and gave Harry a small kiss.
“Happy Birthday, Harry” she said as she left and headed back to her room.

Harry watched her leave and then he sat on his bed looking at the photo that Ginny had just given him until Ron came up to go to bed as well.

“What’s that” Ron asked when he saw Harry quickly try to hide the present.
Harry reluctantly showed him the photo.
“I thought that you guys broke up” Ron said, trying not to look at the picture of Harry kissing his little sister.
“We did” Harry said, putting the frame back in its box.
“But I do still have feelings for her and she told me that she will always love me” Harry told Ron in a hushed voice.
Ron looked back at Harry but he didn’t know what to say next, so he got up and started to get changed into his pyjamas.

Harry climbed into his bed and laid down with the little red box underneath his pillow.
He turned towards Ron, who was also now in his own bed, and said with a cheeky smile “So did you say goodnight to Hermione?”
Ron’s ears turned a magnificent magenta.
“Might have!” he mumbled
Ron turned off the light and got under his Chudley Cannon’s bedspread to go to sleep.
Harry laughed, turned over and fell asleep.

All night Harry tossed and turned continuously. He had dream after dream all of his Mother and the diary. Then just after midnight Harry got the shock of his life.
His dreams brought him the greatest gift he could ever ask for, his Mother. Harry wasn’t sure if he was actually dreaming or if it was another vision.
He was standing in a sunny field full of beautiful flowers and coming towards him was his Mother, Lily. She walked right up to Harry and embraced him tightly; she was so close he could even breathe in her sweet scented perfume.

“Harry” Lily said as she stepped back to look at him. “I don’t have a lot of time”

“What do you mean?” Harry asked confused “I thought I was dreaming”

“No, my darling boy. This isn’t a dream. I have come to you now on your 17th birthday to warn you” she gently told him.

“Warn me about what?”

“About your final fight with Lord Voldemort. Your Father and I can see all that has happened and all that will happen” she explained.

“I can’t tell you everything that will happen, as you have to follow your own path, but I can point you in the right direction” Lily said.

“I have been sending the visions that you have been getting” she told him

“I thought that I was going crazy” Harry told his Mother “ I didn’t know where they were coming from”
Lily reached out a hand and stroked Harry’s face gently, “Of course you aren’t going crazy. But what I have to tell you is important so please listen carefully”

“I need you to go to our old home at Godric’s Hollow. I know the house had been destroyed but you should be able to find what you are looking for” she told Harry as they walked together through the field.

“Is it the diary that I am looking for Mum?” Harry asked.

“Yes Harry. The diary holds the key to your success. Now I have to go. Please be careful and remember that your father and I will always by watching and that we love you very much.” she told Harry with tears in her eyes.

“I love both of you too.” Harry told her. He leant forward and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

Lily turned and started walking away, and then she called out to him “Happy Birthday Harry”.

“Thanks Mum” he called back.

Harry didn’t know how long he stood in that field but it was the happiest he had felt in a long time. When Harry awoke in the morning he was still smiling, it was the best start to a birthday he ever had.

“Happy Birthday Harry” Ron mumbled sleepily as he got out of bed.
“Thanks mate” Harry replied back happily.
He was lying in bed remembering what had happened to him during the night. Harry could still smell the perfume that his Mother was wearing. He hoped that he would remember that scent forever.
Just then the door to the boy’s room swung open and Hermione came running in.
“Happy Birthday Harry” Hermione sang and then she sat down on his bed and gave him a quick hug.
“Here you go” she said giving Harry his present “I hope you like it. I wasn’t sure what to get you”
She gave Harry a card and a thin box. After reading the card he placed it next to his bed and then he began to open his present. Inside were two Quidditch tickets to go and see the Chudley Cannons play the Holyhead Harpies later in the year.
“Wow, Hermione. This is great. Thanks a lot” Harry gushed.
“Don’t mention it” she said as she walked over to Ron and gave him a peck on the cheek.
“Now hurry up and get dressed. Mrs Weasley has planned a big birthday breakfast for you Harry” Hermione told them both as she left the room.
Ron got up and came to see the tickets that Hermione had gotten for Harry.
“Wow, these are really good seats” Ron said elatedly “Who are you going to take with you?”
“I don’t know” Harry replied
He saw Ron’s head drop in disappointment. Harry knew he was a fan of the Chudley Cannon’s, ever since he was little.
Harry smiled and said “Of course if you aren’t busy snogging Hermione maybe you might like to come with me!”
Ron looked up at Harry in amazement.
“Really? I would love to come” he exclaimed “Thanks Harry”
“Come on, lets get down to breakfast I’m starving” Harry said as he began to pull on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

Once Ron had gotten dressed they headed downstairs to the kitchen.
They were greeted by the smells of bacon, toast and coffee. The dining room table was full of food. There were pancake stacks dripping with syrup, crispy bacon, roasted tomatoes, fried eggs, toast and all different types of juice.
“Happy Birthday Harry” Mrs Weasley said affectionately as she came and gave him a huge hug.
“Mr Weasley sends his best wishes but he had to go into work early today as there was a big meeting that he had to attend. So he will see you tonight” She told Harry.
“Now come and let me fill up your plate”

As Harry sat down at the table he noticed that Ginny wasn’t there. Mrs Weasley noticed as well. “Winky can you please go and get Ginny and tell her that breakfast is ready” she asked Winky

“Yes Mrs Weasley” Winky obeyed, she gave a little curtsey and left the room
“Mum is still finding it hard to relinquish some of the household chores over to Winky” Ron told Harry while he piled his plate high with all the food on the table
Mrs Weasley heard his conversation and added “Well after doing everything here by myself for the past 25 years it does take some getting used to”

Just then Winky came back and announced “Miss Ginny is coming down soon”
“Thankyou Winky” Mrs Weasley said

Harry was just about ready to give up eating anymore food when Ginny finally arrived for breakfast. Harry thought that she looked magnificent. Her hair had been freshly washed and hung gently around her shoulders; she was wearing a pair of faded denim jeans and a bright pink tank top.

“Sorry I’m late mum, but I slept in” she apologised.
“Now that Ginny is here we can give Harry his present. It isn’t much but I thought we could have a party for later on tonight, if you would like?” Mrs Weasley said
She handed over a brightly wrapped parcel to Harry.\
“Thanks Mrs Weasley, a party would be great”
He unwrapped his present and found a new pair of gloves for wearing when he played Quidditch. They were in the colours of gold and red, Gryffindor colours.
“They are great.” Harry said as he tried them on.
“They have a charm on them to help you hold onto the snitch when you catch it” Ron said excitedly.
Harry examined them with delight. Just then his heart dropped at the thought that he would never get the chance to play Quidditch for the Gryffindor team again. Since he had decided not to return to school.
He put the thought out of his mind and finished his breakfast.
“How about a game of Quidditch outside, Ron?” Harry asked after he had finished eating.
“I thought you would never ask” Ron laughed
“Do you want to play Ginny?” Harry enquired.
“I would love to but Mum and I have to meet Fleur in Diagon Alley for my final dress fitting” she told him disappointedly
“How’s it going” Hermione asked
“I really love the colour. It should look very pretty when it is finished” she told Hermione.
“When is the wedding going to be held” Harry asked Mrs Weasley.
“It will be next Saturday at sunset” Mrs Weasley told him.
“Why sunset? Don’t people normally get married during the day time?”
“Well that it is probably true for muggle’s, but for a magical wedding we get married at either sunset or at sunrise” she explained to him.
“How come?” Harry asked, he was always fascinated by the traditions of the magical world.
“Our ceremony is called a Hand Fasting. It is a sacred ritual that is presided over by a High Priestess. It is normally performed at the time where the sun and the moon are both present.”
“It sort of sounds like an unbreakable vow” Harry thought out loud.
“It does follow in the same manner. It binds the two people to those vows, but they don’t get killed if one breaks it.”
“It sounds lovely” Hermione sighed and she looked over at Ron and smiled.
This made Ron’s ears brightly red.
“Do you want to come to Diagon Alley as well Hermione?” Mrs Weasley asked.
“That would be great, I have a few things I need to get for school.”
Hermione and Ginny then raced back upstairs to put on some make up to go shopping.

“Well I guess it is just you and me” Harry said to Ron
“Excellent. We can play Quidditch all day” Ron said excitedly.

After saying goodbye to the girls the two boys headed outside with their broomsticks in tow to play.

By the time it was lunch Ron and Harry had exhausted themselves playing Quidditch. Harry had beaten him quite a few times that he was starting to feel bad for Ron and decided to take it a bit easier on him. This pleased Ron as he started to get some wins under his belt.

They headed back indoors where they found Winky busy cleaning the lounge room.
“Would masters like something to eat?” she asked them.
“That would be great. Thanks Winky” Ron said.
“It will be my pleasure” she squeaked and ran off into the kitchen.

In five minutes flat she returned to the boys with a plate of assorted sandwiches. She gave a little curtsey once again and went back to her cleaning.
“I love having a house elf” Ron said after he had finished his first sandwich.
“I don’t think Hermione has warmed up to the idea yet, has she?” Harry said.
“No. She is still on about elf rights. She started on at my Mum when Winky came to live here, but she has quickly learnt to bite her tongue now because Mum would get angry every time Hermione ranted about it”

They spent the rest of the day playing Wizard chess, where Ron got his own back. Beating Harry 10 games to 2.

They were just about to start playing explodable snap when the girls returned via Floo Powder from Diagon Alley. They entered carrying an array of shopping bags. Ginny was also carrying her bridesmaid dress over her shoulder.

Hermione was eager to show Harry and Ron all her new school things. When they didn’t really show much of an interest she stormed off and went and sat down in the lounge room and started reading her new text books.

Mrs Weasley glanced up at her clock that she keeps up on the wall of the lounge room, it tells her where everyone in their family is at that particular point in time.
“It looks like your father is on his way home” she told Ron
She then went into the kitchen to await his arrival, which only took a couple of minutes as he apparated home from his work at the ministry.

Harry heard the back door being opened and the sound of Mr Weasley greeting his wife in the kitchen.
Harry and Ron went into the kitchen when they heard their names being called out.
“Hi Dad” Ron said
“Hi Ron. Harry how good it is to see you again. How are things going?” Mr Weasley asked shaking hands with Harry.
“Things are much better now that I am here. Thanks for the birthday present by the way” Harry said.
“That’s ok. Happy 17th birthday” he told Harry “That’s the reason I wanted to talk to you both.” He took them towards the dining room table and sat down.
Once they were all seated Mr Weasley gave them his news.
“Well boys, I have organised a time for both of you to sit for your apparition licence. I thought that now Harry is 17 you should both be able to apparate when you need to.”
“That’s great Dad” Ron said excitedly. “When can we go?”
“On Monday morning. The instructor will come here and examine you both” He told them.
“But that’s only two days away” Ron said nervously, remembering how close he came to passing the first time.
“Don’t worry Ron, you will definitely pass this time” Harry reassured him.
“I hope so”

Ron went into tell Hermione the good news and left Harry alone with Mr Weasley.
“I hear that we are having a party tonight” Mr Weasley said good heartedly as he poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice.
“Just a small party” Harry told him.
“Sounds like fun”
“I could do with some fun” Harry admitted “ I think that I will go and get ready”
Harry got up and went upstairs to have a shower and dress for the party.

When Harry came back downstairs he found that everyone had gone outside. There they had set up a long table full of party food. Harry felt so lucky to have such great friends as Ron and Hermione. He watched as the pair talked quietly to each other, Ron then saw Harry and they stopped talking and came over to see him.

“Well Happy Birthday” Ron said giving him a slap on the back.
“I think Mum wanted to see you” he told Harry
“Why?” Harry asked
“I think she has something for you” he said

Harry left Hermione and Ron to go look for Mrs Weasley. He found her in the kitchen busy making a punch for them to drink.
“Did you want to see me, Mrs Weasley?” Harry asked
“Yes, Harry. This parcel arrived for you this afternoon” she told Harry showing him a box wrapped in midnight blue paper.
“Who’s it from?” Harry asked looking for a note.
“I don’t know. There was no letter with it” she said

Harry opened the present and found a letter inside it read;



Dear Harry,

Professor Dumbledore’s will has finally been found and he left this for you. I thought it appropiate to send it to you for your birthday. He would be so happy to see you return to Hogwarts but it is still your decision. I have included your train ticket with this gift just in case you change your mind.

Happy Birthday

Yours faithfully
Professor Minerva McGonagall.


Harry put the train ticket in his pocket and continued to open his present. Inside was an elaborate gold watch. It had a different face than a normal watch, it had many little stars and a moon moving around the dial with a picture of Hogwarts in the middle.
He put it on and looked at it.
“Who sent you that?” Mrs Weasley asked admiring his gift.
“Professor Dumbledore” Harry quietly said.
“He really had a soft spot for you Harry”
“He was a great man” Harry said, he could feel tears welling up in his eyes.

“Well we can’t stand here all night. There is a party happening outside” Mrs Weasley said changing the mood.
Harry agreed and went back outside to join his friends. When he stepped outside he realised that they were more people at the Burrow than before.
Joining them was Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas and the twins Fred and George.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY” they all cried
Then Mrs Weasley produced a huge birthday cake with golden candy snitches decorated all over it.
Fred and George provided the entertainment with a display of their new line of fireworks. This amazed everybody, especially their Mum.
“If you boys did this kind of work at school, you would have got terrific grades” she told them over the noise of the brilliant fireworks.
“But Mum, this is what we have always been good at. Don’t you want us to do something that makes us happy?” Fred said to her
“You know I do.” Mrs Weasley proudly said to her twin sons.
Harry watched the fireworks and partied with his friends until it was time for them all to leave.
“Catch you guys later” Dean called as he apparated
“Thanks for the party, it was great” Seamus called as he apparated himself and Neville home.
“Bye. See you at school” Neville called.
Harry turned to head inside when Ginny caught him by the arm
“Can we talk?” she asked shyly
“Sure. Lets go down further in the garden, where we can have some privacy” Harry told her.
The walked in silence down towards the back garden fence. There Ginny turned to Harry and looked at him with a very serious face.
“Harry, I am having a very hard time being apart from you. Is there any way I can convince you to change your mind?” she pleaded
Harry turned away from her and looked out across the field behind the fence.
“Ginny, you know I can’t be with you. I have explained why. I know it is hard for you it is hard for my as well” he told her honestly.
“I don’t want to see anything bad happen to you. I couldn’t live with myself if you got hurt” Harry explained
Ginny took a step back from him and said with a hurt tone
“That is just a lame excuse. We could still be together. I know how to look after myself.”
“I know you do. Please can we not fight about this. I don’t want to loose you as a friend as well” he asked
“Well maybe I don’t want to be your friend.” Ginny said harshly “I might get hurt”
She turned and stormed off back to the house, leaving Harry standing out in the garden trying to understand what went so wrong.




Well I hope you liked it. I know it was a bit boring but it had to be done.
Please leave feedback.

Harry and Ron spent the day after Harry’s birthday practising their apparating. Hermione was more than happy to act as their teacher.
“Ron, you’re not concentrating properly” Hermione reprimanded Ron for the umpteenth time.
“Well it is kind of hard when my girlfriend won’t even give me a kiss” Ron joked
“So I’m your girlfriend now am I” Hermione said grinning back at him
“If you want to be” Ron said uncomfortably
Hermione walked over to Ron and put her arms around his neck. She looked up at him and said “I would love to be your girlfriend”
Ron’s ears went the most brilliant shade of red as he leant down and kissed Hermione.

Harry had witnessed this tender moment between his two best friends. He wished he could feel happy for them but he only felt numb. The fight he had with Ginny last night had left him stunned. He longed for the day when he didn’t have to keep her at arms length but now he had to as it was in her best interest not his.

“Earth to Harry” Hermione called out.
Harry turned his attention back to his friends and away from the fantasy that was playing in his mind.

“Now remember” Hermione told them “Destination, Determination, Deliberation”
“We know, we know” both Ron and Harry said loudly.

By late afternoon, Harry and Ron could equally apparate with ease. This made Hermione very happy as she was always pleased to be able to help the boys.

After realising there wasn’t anything else to learn they headed inside to see if their dinner was ready.

Dinner was a noisy affair as the twins had dropped in to have tea as well. Harry tried to get Ginny’s attention but she ignored his every effort.

After dinner Harry excused himself and retreated to his bedroom. He wasn’t in the mood to be around laughing people when he was feeling so low.
He changed into his pyjamas and climbed into his warm bed. His thoughts strayed to the tasks that still lay before him. As soon as the wedding was over he was off to Godric’s Hollow to find his Mum’s diary. With these thoughts running through his mind Harry fell asleep.

The next morning dawned bright and promised to be a good day for all. After breakfast Harry, Ron and Hermione went outside and helped Mrs Weasley degnome the garden in time for the wedding which was going to be held in 6 days.
At exactly 10 o’clock their apparition instructor Wilkie Twycross appeared at the back door to hold the examination.

“Now boys” he began “Who is going to go first?”
“Me, I guess” Ron said uncertainly
“Ok then. I will ask you to apparate yourself to the front of your house” He told Ron.
Ron took a step forward and took a deep breath.
“Good luck Ron. You can do it” Harry whispered.
Ron turned himself on the spot and then he was gone.
“I’ll be right back” Wilkie Twycross said to Harry
Then he disappeared to go and join Ron.
Harry stood alone in the back garden for about 5 minutes, waiting for Ron to return.

Harry was thinking about Ginny again when he heard two faint pops. He looked up and saw Ron looking expectantly at Mr Twycross.
He was looking at a clipboard which just magically appeared in his hands. He started marking things off and then looked at Ron an announced “You passed”
“Yeah!” Ron shouted elatedly.

“Ok, Mr Potter. It is now your turn. Will you please apparate to the front of the house”

“Ok” Harry said

“Good luck Harry” Ron said encouragingly

Harry remembering the three D’s the best he could, he closed his eyes and stepped forward into the familiar feeling of being squeezed to death. He opened his eyes and realised he had done a perfect apparition. Harry looked around and saw Wilkie Twycross standing right beside him smiling.
“Now Mr Potter I will ask you to apparate to the end of the forest over there” he instructed to Harry.
Harry once again performed the instructions perfectly. This continued for another 5 times until they were once again in the back garden of the Burrow.

Mr Twycross then produced his clipboard and marked Harry’s test.
“You have also passed Mr Potter” he read out
Ron gave Harry a congratulatory handshake “I knew you would pass”
“Thanks Ron” Harry beamed back.
“Here you go gentlemen. These are your certificates” he handed both the boys golden slips of paper with their licence details on them.

“Now, if you will excuse me, I must be off. Lots to do” he waved goodbye and then disappeared.

No sooner had Wilkie Twycross left when Hermione came running outside to hear the good news.
“Well?” she puffed, trying to catch her breath. “What happened?”
“We passed” they both shouted.
Hermione grabbed them both in a bear hug and squeezed them tight.
“I knew you would” she told them knowingly.

“Let’s go inside and tell your Mum” Hermione said taking Ron by the hand and leading him towards the back door.




They all entered the kitchen and told Mrs Weasley their good news.
“That is wonderful. I knew you could do it” she told them proudly.

Harry then turned to his friends and said “Can you come upstairs with me? I need to talk to you about something”
“Sure Harry” Ron said

When they got to their bedroom, Harry shut the door behind him and sat down on his bed .
Hermione and Ron were sitting on Ron’s bed with a look of expectation on both of their faces.
“What do you want to talk about?” Hermione asked
“Well, I need to tell you what happened to me before I came here.” Harry began
He then continued to tell them both all about the visions he had. Both Ron and Hermione sat and listened to Harry intently.
When he had finished telling them about his last vision, the one where his Mum actually came to him, Hermione had tears glistening in her eyes and Ron was shaking his head from side to side in disbelief.
“I guess we know what we are going to be looking for a Godric’s Hollow” Hermione stated.
“You guys don’t have to come with me. I mean if you would rather stay here and enjoy each others company” Harry told them
“We know we don’t have to come but we wouldn’t have it any other way.” Ron said honestly.
“Besides” Hermione added “We can still be together even if we are with you too, Harry”
“Thanks guys. I really appreciate your friendship” Harry said

The rest of the week passed quickly. With all the wedding plans that were happening around the house, there was never a dull moment. Still Harry didn’t get a chance to talk to Ginny, where ever he went she was nowhere to be seen. Harry started to think that she was using an invisibility cloak. He was really missing her.

When Friday rolled around the house was a sea of people. All the Weasley boys had returned home for the wedding, except for Percy. He stated on his invitation that he would come for the wedding but wouldn’t be staying for any family reunions. This saddened Mrs Weasley very much. But for the sake of her other children she put on her bravest face and continued on with the preparations.

Late on Friday Bill and Fleur arrived at the Burrow with Fleur’s parents and her little sister Gabrielle. Fleur was just as beautiful as Harry remembered. Her long blonde hair floated around her shoulders and she was dressed in a mid blue robe. Bill still had a lot of scars on his face, which looked like they would never heal properly. But he looked happy and healthy which told Harry how much in love he must be.
Gabrielle asked for Ginny then took of into the house to be with her.
“ ‘arry!” Fleur exclaimed when she saw him standing behind Ron. “ ‘ow are you?”
She leaned forward and kissed his cheeks.

“Hi Fleur. I am really well” Harry said

“Hi Fleur” Ron called out

“ ‘ello my little brother” she replied, and then she gave him a kiss as well, much to Hermione’s displeasure.

“Well everything is just about ready for tomorrow” Mrs Weasley explained to Bill and Fleur.
“We will be putting a charm on the house to change its appearance” Bill said to his Mum. “I hope you don’t mind”
“That’s fine” she said reluctantly
“Where’s Dad?” Bill asked
“Still at work. It has been so busy lately, poor Arthur has been putting in a lot of over time. At least he now gets paid for all his long hours.” Molly said happily.
Harry knew that the extra income was always needed.

“And Professor McGonagall is allowing us to borrow about a dozen of the school’s house elves to help with the serving tomorrow” she told Bill
“That will be a great help” Bill said appreciatively
Hermione gave a tutting noise and Harry could see she didn’t approve of the house elves coming to the wedding as servants.
Bill and Fleur then took her parents to show them exactly where they were going to be married.
Mrs Weasley had magically made a gorgeous arch that was filled with flowers and fairies, and there were rows of seats waiting for the guests to arrive tomorrow.
All the food had been lovingly prepared by Mrs Weasley and Winky. Harry thought it was going to be a feast to remember.

They all went to bed early that night to prepare for the long day that was ahead of them tomorrow.

The morning of the wedding dawned bright and beautiful. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the birds were chirping as if they knew what day it was.

Harry climbed out of bed and found Ron’s bed empty. He wondered where Ron might have gone so early in the morning. It was so out of character for him to be up this early.
Harry went and had a shower and got dressed in his old clothes. Since the wedding wasn’t until tonight he thought that he would get changed into his dress robes much later on.

He headed downstairs and joined the rest of the Weasley family at the breakfast table.
“Morning Harry” Mr Weasley called out.
The kitchen table had been magically extended to fit everyone around. There was Bil, Charlie, George, Fred, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Harry and couple of Bill’s friends that Harry hadn’t met yet.


Harry helped himself to some toast that was floating in mid air from one end of the table to the other.
“Harry. I want you to meet some friends of mine” Bill said
“This is Douglas Kinbrook.” he pointed to a short stout black haired wizard, who waved to Harry
“And this is Ethan Ballard. They both work with me at Gringott’s” A blond haired wizard on the other side of Bill gave Harry a friendly wave and continued to eat his breakfast.
“So where is Fleur staying?” Hermione asked Bill
“She is staying in Hogmeade with her relatives. They will apparate here when the ceremony begins. I can’t wait to see her.” Bill sighed
There was a knock from the back door and Mr Weasley got up to see who was here this early in the morning.
“Arthur!” came the voice of Remus Lupin
“Remus, how good to see you come in”
Remus stepped inside and holding his hand was Tonks, who was smiling brightly
“Hi Tonks” Mrs Weasley called out from the breakfast table.
“Wotcher Molly” she replied back cheerily. “Looks like it is going to be a beautiful day”
“I know. Thank goodness for small favours” Mrs Weasley said

After breakfast Harry, Ron and Hermione went outside to watch Bill and his friends transform the burrow into a magnificent fairytale castle.
“It will disappear in a day’s time” Bill told them “It is a design of Fleur’s; this is the type of buildings she has in her country. So I hope she likes it”
“She will love it” Hermione said

The three of them spent the rest of day trying to stay out of the way of Mrs Weasley. She was getting herself so worried that everything wasn’t going to turn out perfectly.
Mr Weasley was trying to help her in the kitchen to lighten her load but she kept on getting angry so he joined everyone else in the garden for a game of Quidditch.
They had just enough people to make two teams. The first team was Harry (seeker), Fred George (beaters), Ron (keeper), Charlie, and Hermione (chasers) against Bill (keeper), Douglas, Ethan (beaters), Mr Weasley, Remus Lupin (chasers) and Ginny (seeker). Tonks was going to be the umpire.


The game was a light hearted one with Harry’s team beating Bill’s team 3 games to 2. Ginny showed that she had improved greatly which made Harry proud that she should able to help the Gryffindor team to victory this year.

The game was over when Mrs Weasley came outside and screamed at Bill for playing as he would hurt himself and he wouldn’t be able to get married and all her work would be for nothing.

They trudged inside and got cleaned up. Professor McGonagall had arrived with the house elves that she had promised. They were all standing in the kitchen with their little Hogwart’s tea towels hung over their scrawny bodies.

Mrs Weasley was giving them all instructions about how and when she wanted the meals delivered.

Harry headed upstairs to get changed into his dress robes. He was using the same ones that he wore to the Yule Ball, but he had Mrs Weasley lengthen them, as he had grown considerably since then.

He had finished getting changed when Ron came bursting in, he was already in his new dress robes.
“Hurry up Harry. Mum is going bonkers downstairs she wants us all down in the garden to get out photos taken”
“But I’m not family” Harry protested
“Might as well be” Ron laughed “I think Mum wants to adopt you!”
Harry finished brushing his hair and followed Ron downstairs.

They joined the rest of the Weasley’s and Hermione to have their photo’s taken.
When they finally had finished they headed off to the where the wedding was going to take place.
They took 3 seats close to the front and watched as all the guests arrived. There were witches and wizards Harry knew such as Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mad eye Moody. Lupin and Tonks. Then they were others Harry couldn’t only guess to be Fleur’s friends and family. The seats surrounding them quickly filled and then Harry saw Bill stand out in front of everyone joined by his best man Charlie and groomsman Douglas. There was also an elderly looking witch with long silver hair in a ethereal white gown, Harry guessed she must be the High Priestess Mrs Weasley told him about.
Just as the sun was going down Harry heard barely audible sounds over his head. He looked up and saw that there were dozens of fairies singing. All the fairies were lit up in different colours, they were sending a rainbow of colours over all the guests. Just then the fairies stopped singing and the guests turned around in their chairs to see a White Palomino horse and carriage come into view. Out of the carriage came Fleur’s father, then Gabrielle and Ginny and then Fleur.
Harry didn’t even see the bride as he couldn’t take his eyes off of Ginny. She looked so beautiful in her golden gown. Her hair had been swept up off her shoulders and was tumbling softly down. She glanced over at Harry as she walked down the aisle. He have a small smile.

The bridal party made their way down to the front of the altar where they recited their vows.

The High Priestess began “We are gathered here today, to unite two souls as one.
Do you Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour join us here of your own free will.
To acknowledge the eternal bond shared by both of you?”

Bill and Fleur looked at each other and said unanimously “I do”
They then turned and joined hands at the request of the High Priestess.

Fleur gave her vows to Bill “Through all the tears and struggles, I knew we
would make it. I promise to love and respect you from this point forward as your wife.
As my husband, my friend and my soul mate, all I am is yours”

Mrs Weasley gave a silent sob into her hanky.

Bill replied with this vows “You are the best thing to happen to me. I was afraid you were too good to be true, that maybe I didn’t deserve someone so pure and beautiful and loving as you are. But here we are, surrounded by the people that I love the most.
I feel so proud and so blessed to be your Husband.
I was born to love you and I always will.”

The High Priestess turned to the guests and spoke “Here before witnesses
Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour, have sworn their vows to each other.
With this cord, I bind them to those vows”
She produced a thin golden cord which wrapped itself over their hands and glowed when they spoke these final words: “Heart to thee
Body to thee
Always and forever
So mote it be”
They then kissed to seal their union. The guests were on their feet clapping and cheering. Over their heads tiny little fireworks in all different colours were going off much to the delight of everyone. The High Priestess then announced;
“May I pronounce, Mr and Mrs Bill Weasley”

Harry clapped enthusiastically along with the rest of the congregation, giving their congratulations to the newly married couple. Both Bill and Fleur looked so happy, it made Harry envious to the point that it created ill feelings in him. He looked to where Ginny was standing; she was smiling brightly at her older brother and his new wife. Harry felt a rush of love he had never experienced before. He watched as the bridal party made their way back down the aisle and out to the beautiful gardens for the photo’s to be taken.
“Come on” Hermione said “Let’s go and find where we are sitting for dinner”
Ron had gone to join his family for the portraits, so it left Harry and Hermione on their own.

They walked amongst all of the round tables that had been placed in the back garden. Each one was covered with white tablecloths and they had little cherubs floating above each of them, decorating it with showers of little silver hearts. There was also a longer table placed at the far end of the garden, Harry assumed this would be for the bridal party. Right in the middle of all the tables there was a dance floor, big enough for everyone to get up and have a good time. Harry wasn’t too keen on dancing though, remembering back to the awful dance he had to endure for the Yule Ball, that was enough to put him off forever. But he started to think how it might be dancing with someone that you actually had feelings for. Harry thought he might enjoy the experience then.
Suddenly Harry realised that Hermione was laughing at him.
“What?” he asked
“You should see the look on your face! You have the silliest grin I have ever seen. What were you thinking about?”
“I was thinking about dancing and how much I hate it” he lied
However, Hermione wasn’t buying into the lie.
“I think you might have been thinking about dancing with a certain girl?”
Harry smiled coyly at her and walked off to find the place cards on the table that had their names on them.
After finding their places Harry and Hermione were joined by a very happy Tonks and Lupin.
“What a beautiful wedding” Tonks gushed
“I know, I cried during the ceremony” Hermione told her.
Harry and Lupin were feeling a bit left out with the girls talking of marriage and decided to go and see where they could get drinks,
They had walked no further than a couple of feet when a house elf approached them an asked “Would sirs like a drink?”
“Four butter beers please” Lupin said
The elf returned quickly with the drinks on a tray. Harry and Remus took the drinks and then went to give the other two to Hermione and Tonks.
Finally they were seated and then they listened to all the speeches and anecdotes from certain members of each of the families and from friends.

The sun had completely set by the time the meals were finished and everyone was sitting back in their seats feeling full and content. All the talking was suddenly quietened by the sound of music being played from a muggle record player.

Everyone watched as the Bride and Groom rose and found their way to the dance floor. They were closely followed by the remainder of the bridal party.
Harry watched as Ginny and her partner danced across the floor, he wished it was him dancing with her.
It wasn’t long before the dance floor was filled with the rest of the guests. Even Ron had swallowed his pride and asked Hermione to dance with him.
Harry got up from his seat and walked over to the back fence away from the festivities. Everyone was having such a good time, so what was wrong with him? He should be feeling happy that Bill and Fleur were able to find love in these dark times.

He must a stood out there for a while as he saw Hermione and Ron looking around to see where he had gone. Harry was staring out into the distance when he heard footsteps behind him, he was sure it was Ron and was about to let fly a joke about him having two left feet on the dancing floor, when he realised it was Ginny standing there.

She was standing at about an arms distance to Harry; she was silhouetted against the many fairy lights that were shimmering above the party guests. Which gave her an ethereal glow, Harry thought she looked like an angel.

“You look very beautiful” Harry told her with such love in his voice it shocked even him.
Ginny was taken aback by the emotion that was coming from him.
“Thank you. I was hoping that you would like my new robes.” she did a little twirl in her golden robes to show it off for him. Then Ginny took a step forward and bravely asked “Do you want to dance with me, Harry?”

Harry shifted his weight and looked down at his shoes, because he knew if he kept on staring into Ginny’s beautiful face he would not be able to say no.
“Ginny I wish I could but I can’t”
“Harry, how long is it going to be before we can be together? A year, five, ten maybe or maybe never. What if something terrible happens to you and we never get the chance to be happy again” Ginny said with a tremble in her voice
“You can’t promise me that you will come back for me once this is all over”
“Of course I will come back for you Ginny, I love you”
Harry took a step closer and took her by the hand.
“I know it isn’t fair, but I don’t want to be putting you in harms way”
“Harry do you think that I am going to let you put me in a little bubble where I can’t be hurt? Why should we have to give up what makes us happy, we aren’t living then we are just existing.”
Harry’s was in two minds. Should he dance with Ginny which would make him happier than anything or should he just walk away and keep her safe, but he would be miserable.
He looked at her small hands that he had enclosed in his and then he took his gaze up to her face. With one look into her eyes he melted and gave in.


“Ok” Harry simply stated

“What?” Ginny said with an amused look
“I agree with what you said. I would love to dance with you. But we still need to talk about where this relationship is going and how we can keep you safe” Harry told her.
He then pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her slender body. He kissed her tenderly at first, but it got more passionate the longer they stayed.
Ginny pulled away giggling “I think we should head back to the party, people might be wondering where we have gone”
“Let them wonder” he told her
Harry then pulled her back to him for another kiss.

He wasn’t sure how long they stayed out there by the back fence but the next thing he knew someone was a tapping him lightly on his shoulder. Harry turned to see who had interrupted this special moment and found a smiling Hermione looking at them.

“Um, I thought you guys should know that Bill and Fleur are leaving.” she told them

“Thanks Hermione” Ginny said blushing

Harry took Ginny’s hand and they all went over to where the guests were standing waiting to say their goodbyes to the bride and groom before they headed of on their honeymoon.

Ginny released her hand from Harry’s and went to join her family.
Hermione looked up at Harry’s face and smirked.
“What?” Harry asked
“Nothing” was Hermione’s reply
“Ok tell me I have been an idiot” he sighed, knowing she wanted to say it.
“You’ve been an idiot. But I knew you would come to your senses eventually” Hermione declared
“I am still not very happy with the idea that Ginny might be used as bait though” Harry whispered
“Well, maybe we can keep your relationship just between the four of us” Hermione suggested.
“Sounds like a good idea to me” came another voice.
Harry turned and saw Ginny standing behind him.
She took his hands again and looked into his green eyes.
“We don’t have to be public about it, just keep it to when we are alone” she said
“Sounds like a good plan Harry” Ron nodded approvingly
“You only say that because you don’t like seeing me kissing Harry” Ginny pouted
“Well you are my little sister.”
“I am not that little anymore Ron” Ginny said, her voice beginning to get angry
“Well I still don’t like it” Ron said, his voice getting louder too.
Hermione stepped in front of Ron. She took him by the shoulders and standing on her tiptoes she kissed him.
“Will you please stop worrying about Ginny. Just be glad she is with your best friend and not with someone you don’t like” Hermione told him.
Ron nodded and then apologized to Ginny.
“Come on I think it is getting late. We should head up to bed” Harry announced.
They all agreed and heading indoors.
The guests had all started to head home and the music had been turned off. The house elves were busy cleaning up the mess which was a relief for Mrs Weasley who was not feeling up to cleaning at that moment having had a few too many fire whiskeys.

After saying his goodnight to Ginny, which Ron decidedly took no notice of, Harry headed up to his room to change into his pyjamas.

Not long after Harry had settled himself down to sleep, Ron walked in humming a little tune.
“You seem happy” Harry pointed out to his best friend.
“Yep! I still can’t believe that Hermione likes me”
“Just don’t blow it. Because I couldn’t stand it if you guys broke up.” Harry told him
“Trust me mate. I will be doing everything in my powers to keep her close”

As Ron climbed into his own bed he turned to Harry and asked;
“So why did you decide to get back with Ginny. I thought you split up so she would be safe”
“I know. But I was missing her so much. I still don’t want her to get hurt, so I think we might have to talk about this relationship before we get too serious” Harry said, stifling a yawn.
“Good”
Harry turned over and almost instantly he fell asleep.
Once again Harry’s sleep was interrupted by dreams. This time he dreamt of Ginny.
The dreams were a montage of his memories of the fiery redhead with whom he had fallen madly in love with.
His was dreaming of seeing again a young Ginny at Platform 9&¾ when Harry first met the Weasley family. Then it was during his second year when she used to get all tongue tied around Harry, and then it was when Harry saved her from Tom Riddle. His dreams then showed Ginny kissing him after they had won the Quidditch cup the previous year. Then they were at 12 Grimmauld place cleaning out the cupboards and rooms. He was watching as Ginny brushed the cobwebs from her long hair. Then she held out her hand for Harry to take something. His hand brushed hers as he took the item from her.
“Here Harry” she said “see if you can open this”
Harry looked down into his hand and saw a locket, it was heavy and ornate.
He tried to open it but it was stuck, so he tossed to Ron to see if he could open it.
Ron couldn’t either so he tossed it into the rubbish bag along with the rest of the things they found in that old house.

Harry bolted upright, he was wide awake. He turned to Ron who was snoring loudly in his bed and tried to rouse him.
“Ron, Ron, Wake up”
Ron opened his eyes slightly and asked “What’s the matter?”
“We have to go back to 12 Grimmauld Place”
“Why, I didn’t think that you wanted to go back there ever”
“I have to now. I think I know where the locket is” Harry told him.

Harry spent the next morning explaining his dream to Hermione and Ginny. Hermione was excited that Harry had finally found the clue they needed to find their first Horcrux.
They were all sitting around in the lounge room; Harry and Ginny were sitting closely together on the 2 seater lounge whilst Ron sat in the single chair with Hermione sitting next to him on the arm rest her arm resting comfortably around Ron’s shoulder.
“I can’t believe that we had it in our hands” Ron angrily said.
“There is still every chance that it is not the locket that we are looking for” Harry told them all honestly.
“It has to be” Ginny said “Why else would you be dreaming about it?”

Harry hadn’t been entirely truthful with everyone about the full content of his dream. He had only told them about the locket and where he had seen it, not about the montage of Ginny that took up the majority of his dream.

“I suppose” Harry agreed

“So when do we go” Ron asked, getting all excited.

“Calm down Ronald” Hermione chastised him “We don’t even know if the Order is still using it as headquarters or not. We can’t just apparate in and go looking for the locket. We have to think about it first”

“Hermione is right” Harry said, making Hermione beam brightly.
“I have to talk to someone about the house. Even though I own it I can’t even access it without having permission from the secret keeper, and I have no idea who that might be now that Professor Dumbledore has gone.. And I am sure you can’t just apparate straight in the house anyway. I bet there is a spell to prevent some wizards from turning up unwanted”

Ron’s excitement waned, “Well who can we ask?”

Harry thought about it for awhile until he came up with an idea.
“How about Professor McGonagall? She knows about me inheriting the house and she is in the Order.” Harry asked them.

Hermione nodded her bushy head and added “Good idea Harry. She would be the perfect person to ask. She might even be the secret keeper.”

“How are you going to find her? Maybe she has gone on holidays” Ginny piped up.

Ron gave a little laugh which made Hermione give him a strange look.
“What is so funny” she asked him
“I was just thinking about Professor McGonagall on holidays! I don’t think she knows how to have fun” he said laughing
“Ronald” Hermione snapped “That’s not nice”
With that she got up from her seat and went and sat on the other single seat across from him.
“Aw, come on Hermione, I was only joking”

Hermione turned to Harry with a serious look on her face and said

“Maybe if you send Hedwig with a letter to Hogwarts you might catch her there”

“Well we have to try something.” Harry agreed.

Ginny jumped up from the lounge chair and went to the cupboard to find a piece of parchment and quill. She quickly reclaimed her place next to Harry and watched as he wrote the letter to McGonagall.

After he had finished he let the rest of the group read it before heading up to his room to wake up Hedwig. She hadn’t been on a delivery for awhile and Harry hoped that she wouldn’t be too cross with him. He decided to play it safe and take an owl treat to placate her.

Harry found Hedwig asleep in her cage on the top of the wardrobe next to Ron’s miniature owl Pig.
“Hedwig” Harry called to her “I need you to take a letter for me”
She raised her snowy white face from under her wings and gave a soft hoot at Harry and flew down to greet him. He feed her the owl treat, which she gratefully accepted. Harry tied the letter to her leg and took her to the window.
“I need you to take this to Professor McGonagall. She should be at Hogwarts. Please hurry”
Hedwig flapped her majestic wings and with a soft whoosh she flew away from the Burrow.

“Well I guess all we can do now is wait” Harry said
“I think I can find something for us to do while we wait” Ginny whispered in his ear.
“What did she say” Ron asked, looking at Harry’s gigantic grin and then back to Ginny again.
“Nothing” Harry laughed, and then he grabbed Ginny’s hand and raced down the stairs and out into the bright sunshine.

They collapsed in a fit of laughter under the huge elm tree.
“That was fun. Did you see the colour of Ron’s ears? I have never seen them turn that red before” Ginny giggled.
“Poor Ron. It must be hard.” Harry said “But that won’t stop me doing this”
He took Ginny in his arms and gently kissed her all over her face. He ran his hands through her long red hair and over the small of her back.
“I love you Ginny” he told her
“I know.” she replied “I love you too”
Harry thought that there was never going to be another moment in time that could top this one right now.

They laid in each others arms until Mrs Weasley called out to them from the back door to come inside. They had a visitor.

Harry slowly rose to his feet, not wanting to lose the moment. He held out his hand and pulled Ginny up to meet him. He didn’t let go of her until they reached the house. Since they were trying to keep their relationship private they thought they had better look like only friends in front of the mysterious visitor.

Harry walked into the kitchen and found Professor McGonagall sitting at the Weasley kitchen table having a cup of tea with Mrs Weasley. Winky quickly poured another cup of tea for Harry when he sat down to join them.

“Harry, I just got your message” the Professor told him “And I thought it best if I came to talk to you personally”

“I understand that you want to know if the premises at 12 Grimmauld Place are vacant. I am here to tell you it is empty. We have since moved the headquarters to another location. We thought it best with all that has happened” she said grimly, taking another sip of her tea.

Harry understood that she was talking about Snape now joining the Death Eaters openly and with the death of Harry’s favourite wizard, Albus Dumbledore.

“ I wasn’t sure if you would want to return to this house after everything that you have been through”

Suddenly Mrs Weasley spoke up from across the kitchen “Why do you want to go back to that awful place Harry? When there are more things for you here?”

“You know that I love coming here, Mrs Weasley. You have been more of a family to me than those muggle relatives of mine ever could be” Harry told her truthfully.
“But I can’t stay here forever. I need a place to stay until I can find somewhere I want to live”
Harry could see that Mrs Weasley was starting to get teary, so he rose from his seat and walked over to her and whispered.
“I have always thought of you as the mother I never had, even though I wont be here I will always feel that way”
He leant forward and kissed her on the cheek. But before Harry could return to his seat Mrs Weasley grabbed him in a huge back breaking hug and kissed him back. She then left the kitchen wiping the tears from her face.
Feeling slightly embarrassed in front of Professor McGonagall, Harry took his seat and waited for the Professor to continue with her message.

“I have been asked to be secret keeper of 12 Grimmauld Place until the time came to hand the property over to you. I will understand if you want to change the identity of the secret keeper now” she told Harry

“No, I think I would prefer you to remain secret keeper for me” Harry said after thinking it through.

Professor McGonagall took a piece of parchment from her robes which had the address of Harry’s inherited house. She handed it to Harry who read it and placed it back in his own pocket.
Professor McGonagall then rose to her feet and started walking back towards the fireplace; obviously she had arrived via floo powder.
“Have you given anymore thought about whether you will be returning to school or not” She asked Harry
Harry stared back at his old school teacher. His mind was now not so certain anymore. He had to have more time to think it through.
“I haven’t made up my mind Professor. I hope that is alright. I will let you know before the month is up” he promised.
“Very well, Potter. I will look forward to hearing from you.” she took a step into the fireplace with her Floo powder in hand “Please be careful” she added before she called out “Hogwarts” and then she was gone in a flash of green flames.

Harry made his way back towards the living room, where his two best friends and his girlfriend were sitting. Harry was sure that they had heard everything that happened and he was right. As soon as he entered he saw Ron trying to hide a long flesh coloured string in his jacket.

“It’s okay Ron. I guessed you guys would be listening anyway” Harry smiled

“I told him not to” Hermione interjected “It should have been a private conversation” with that she threw Ron a nasty look that could kill.

“It’s ok Hermione” Harry comforted her “I was coming to tell you what had happened anyway. Now I don’t have to”

“I told you Hermione” Ron added in “I said that Harry wouldn’t mind”

Hermione shot Ron another glare that made him quickly shut up.

“So I guess you are now going to leave” Ginny said disappointed.

“Yeah.” Harry responded “Don’t get too upset, I will be back for you soon ok”

He leant over towards her and as he kissed her softly, he could taste the saltiness of her tears.

Harry pulled her into a hug then when she had cheered up a bit they all got up and headed towards their rooms to pack the things they might need while they are staying at 12 Grimmauld Place.

Mrs Weasley had talked them all into staying for lunch; she had sent a message to Mr Weasley to come home for lunch as well so he could say goodbye.
They had all settled themselves around the kitchen table and enjoyed the feast that Winky had prepared for them.

Mrs Weasley’s happiness had significantly improved. Although she was a bit hesitant at letting Ron join Harry at 12 Grimmauld Place, but Mr Weasley plainly told her that he was of age and he could go wherever he pleased.
“Just as long as he is back before he goes off to school” she told him firmly.
“I promise Mum” Ron said
Once lunch was finished Mr Weasley informed them all that he had to head back to the office. As he had an array on confiscated items that needed to be processed.
He shook hands with both of the boys and gave Hermione a hug before he stepped into the fire shouting “Ministry of Magic”

The trio walked out into the back garden with their belongings in backpacks.
They thought they would leave their trunks behind and collect them at a later time. Harry had asked Mrs Weasley to send Hedwig on once she had woken up.

Harry took Ginny in his arms again, she rested her head against his chest and sighed.
“Don’t be gone too long, ok?” she told him.
“I promise. Nothing will keep me from you” He bent down and kissed her lovingly before he stepped back to be able to apparate.
“Are you ready?” Harry asked his two best friends
“Sure are” Hermione replied
“Exactly where are we going to apparate to?” Ron asked warily.
“There is a bit of an alley way near the house. I thought we might not be seen there” Harry suggested.
With a final goodbye to Ginny and Mrs Weasley the three of them all turned on the spot at the same time and vanished from view.

Harry closed his eyes as he started to feel that uncomfortable feeling of compression again. He concentrated hard on his destination because it had been awhile since he had visited his god father’s old home.
As soon as he realised that he had arrived he opened his eyes and looked around to see if Ron and Hermione had turned up at the correct location with him.
Harry heard a faint pop behind him and turned to see who it was. Standing behind him was Ron.
“I did it” he cheered. Ron then looked around and asked “Where’s Hermione?”
“I don’t know. She should have been here by now” Harry said concerned.
The boys walked the length of the alley way and back again waiting for Hermione to arrive.
Ron was starting to get anxious when they finally saw Hermione arrive it front of them.
She looked all frustrated and her hair was bushier than ever. Ron and Harry ran up to greet her, but all they got back was an aggressive huff.
“What happened to you?” Ron asked concernedHermione looked like she would rather not say.
“Come on Hermione, where did you apparate to” Harry asked
“I got stuck in a tree at the park across the road” she quietly told them
Harry and Ron burst out laughing much to the abhorrence of Hermione.
“Come on” she said angrily at the boys.
They walked around the corner of the alley way, the boys still laughing hard. They found where number 12 should have been standing. Harry took out the piece of parchment that he had received from Professor McGonagall and showed it to Hermione and Ron. Once they had all read it Harry set the paper alight with the tip of his wand.
All of a sudden number 11 and 13 Grimmauld Place made way for the inflation of number 12. Harry made his way up the worn stone steps once again and reached the black shabby door. He reached past the silver serpent door knocker and tapped the door once with his wand. They heard all the loud clicks and the clatter of the chain unfastening as the door slowly opened letting them inside.
“Come on inside quickly” Harry told them both as they entered.
They stepped over the threshold and into the total darkness of the entrance hall. Harry lit his wand followed by Ron and Hermione doing the same.
Even with the house being cleaned when they stayed here a couple of years ago it still smelled dusty and damp.
As Harry walked down the hallway he used his wand to light up the old fashioned gas lamps along the walls. They cast a flickering weak light against the peeling wall papered walls.
The three of them headed into the kitchen through the door at the end of the hallway.
Harry dumped his backpack on the floor as he set about finding the light switches to put an end to the darkness.
Hermione began unpacking her bag, she had been given a heap of food from Mrs Weasley. It had been shrunk down to fit it all in her backpack. Hermione placed all the miniature food and drinks on the kitchen table and then using her wand she enlarged the food and started to put it all away in the kitchen cupboards.
“I think we might be into some cleaning spells soon” Ron said, looking around the musty kitchen.
“I think so, but which ones?” Harry asked.
“Oh, honestly boys I am sure you never pay attention in class” Hermione said exasperatedly.
“But you do. That is why we love you so much” Ron said giving her a hug.
“You really don’t think that I still fall for that old line do you?” she asked
“I was hoping you would” Ron joked.
Hermione smiled sweetly at him and walked out of the kitchen to go and find a bedroom.
“Well I guess we are on our own” Harry amused.
The both looked around at the kitchen and decided to go and find a bedroom and unpack their belongings.
The boys headed out the door and tiptoed past the curtains that hung over Mrs Black’s portrait. Harry knew he had to find a way to get rid of that painting
They climbed the stairs and separated to find a room for themselves.
Harry choose the room that had once belonged to Sirius. The room had a friendlier feel to it then the other many rooms in this bleak house. After unpacking his few belongings he sat down on the comfy bed and started to think about how he was going to find the locket.
He pulled from the pockets of his jeans the fake Horcrux that caused all the recent strife in Harry’s life. He opened it and took out the message that was still inside. Harry read it again;

To the Dark Lord
I know I will be dead long before you read this
But I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret.
I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.
I face death in the hope that when you meet your match,
You will be mortal once more.
R.A.B

Harry turned the locket over in his hands thinking about what he was going to do next.
All of a sudden Harry gasped at the thought that just came to him. He jumped off the bed and ran out into the hall opening all the bedroom doors looking for which room Ron had chosen. The second door Harry opened had Ron’s backpack on the bed but there was no sign of Ron. Harry continued opening the doors until he found what he was looking for. In this bedroom there on the bed was Ron and Hermione in a passionate embrace. Harry quietly closed the door and knocked, pretending that he hadn’t just seen his two best friends in such a close way.

“Come in” he heard Hermione call out

Harry stepped over the threshold and found Hermione still sitting on her bed but Ron was now standing over by the window looking decidedly embarrassed.

“I need you guys downstairs in the drawing room. I just had a great idea.”

They all left the bedroom and headed downstairs, past the troll foot umbrella, all the ugly house elf severed heads and then quietly past the mad portrait of Mrs Black.
Harry led them into the drawing room, which had gotten a lot messier since the order had vacated the premises.
He hurried into the room and crossed the floor heading towards the far wall and the tapestry he remembered Sirius showing him the last time he was here.
“What’s up Harry?” Ron asked, giving Hermione a questionable look.
“I had a thought upstairs” Harry mumbled while he searched the tapestry.

The tapestry was just as worn as he remembered it. Harry scanned it searching for the name he was looking for. He ran his fingers along the golden embroidery thread that still gleamed brightly, he found where Sirius’ name had been made destroyed then followed his fingers down to his younger brother.
“Regulus Black” Harry murmured to himself
“What Harry?” Hermione asked
“Sirius’ younger brother was called Regulus Black.” Harry told them getting to his feet.
“So?” Ron said unconcerned.
“The locket Ron, I never thought about it before, it could have been Regulus who stole the Horcrux and replaced it with the fake”
Hermione was looking at Harry with scepticism.
“I want to believe you, but there is still not a lot to go with”
“Well we have to find out what his middle name was. If it begins with an A then we probably have a winner” Harry told them.
“Well, who are we going to ask? Everyone in the Black family is dead, unless you want to ask Bellatrix Lestrange?” Ron asked
Harry didn’t think about that, who was he going to ask?
He walked out of the drawing room dejectedly and headed towards the kitchen. He was starting to feel the pangs of hunger and there was nothing else to do.
Ron and Hermione followed Harry and sat down at the kitchen table watching him make some lunch. He joined them and sat eating feeling like he had the answer within his grasp but it was quickly getting away from him.
Hermione suddenly got an excited look and turned to Harry “What about Kreacher?” she asked him.
“That’s brilliant Hermione” Harry said jumping to his feet. Then he abruptly came to a halt. “I’m not sure that he will be very helpful. Even though I am his master he still won’t tell me things about the Black family”
“Well it is all we have” Hermione advised him
Harry agreed and called out to his less than obliging house elf .
“Kreacher”
There came a faint pop and the trio turned to see the old elf standing in the kitchen. At the sight of Harry he threw himself into a low bow that crushed his snout like nose against the cold floor.
“Master called” he said with a strain of hatred.
“I need you to tell me about Regulus”
Kreacher looked at Harry with amazement
“Why does young master want to know about the youngest son of my old mistress?”
“I need you to tell me what his middle name was”
Kreacher looked up at Harry and stared at him with wide eyes, surprised at the question.
“Well Kreacher, answer me” Harry angrily said.
“Give him a chance Harry.” Hermione sympathetically said.
Kreacher started mumbling “What is the mud blood saying about Kreacher. Kreacher will pretend not to hear”
Ron stepped towards the ageing house elf and threatened him “If you call her that ever again I will personally add your head to the collection on the stairs, alright”
Kreacher stared at Ron with huge bloodshot eyes and mumbled “Filthy blood traitor, what would my mistress say”
“Enough Kreacher” Harry yelled” I forbid you from saying anything more derogatory about my friends. They will be staying here and I don’t want to hear anything about it ok” he declared.
Kreacher bowed ridiculously low again and then regained his stance and stared at Harry once again.
“Young master Regulus’s middle name was given to him from his grandfather. It is most fitting for his pure blood stature.”
“What was the name” Harry said, starting to get irritated with the questioning.
“Alcaeus”
All three of them looked at one another excitedly.
“I was right. It must have been him” Harry said.
“Well now we need to find the locket. What do you think happened to it” Ron asked.
“The last thing I remember is it getting thrown in a large rubbish bag. I don’t know where it went from there”
“I know someone who might know” Ron claimed
“Who?” both Hermione and Harry asked
“My Mum”
“Well we can’t go and ask her now, it is getting late and we haven’t even thought about dinner. I am starving” Hermione said
Harry turned to look at Kreacher and asked “What am I going to do with him?”
“That’s up to you mate” Ron told him, while he was starting to go through the food that Hermione had brought with her.
“Master must do as master sees fit” Kreacher replied looking at Harry with his big tennis ball eyes. “But Kreacher could help young master clean up the most noble house of Black”
Harry looked over at his friends, but they were of no help. Hermione was nodding her head in agreement whilst Ron was shaking his furiously.
He looked back down at Kreacher and said “Ok. You can stay for now. But you are not to leave the kitchen during the night and you must stay away from Mrs Blacks portrait at all times.”
Kreacher’s eyes started to well with tears at the thought of not being able to talk to his beloved old mistress, but he agreed with Harry’s terms.
“You may go to your room now. I will call you when I need you” Harry instructed.
“Thankyou Master” Kreacher bowed again and then shuffled off to his little room under the boiler.
“You put too much trust in that little sneak, Harry” Ron told him, while he waited for Hermione to finish with their dinner.
“But I might need him for something else later.” Harry told him.
Hermione was ignoring the conversation between the two boys as they never understood her point of view when it came to the welfare of House elves.


After a generous dinner of shepherd’s pie the three settled down for their first night at 12 Grimmauld Place.

The next morning Harry arose to the sounds of thunder and lightning. He peered through the dusty curtains at the grey sky outside.
The weather reflected Harry’s mood. He was feeling a bit miserable today. Ginny came to him his dreams again last night, and he woke up feeling a bit dejected. He was really missing her.
Just then there was a knock at his bedroom door, Harry pulled the covers up over his pyjamas, in case it was Hermione.
“Come in” he called.
The door opened to show a petite redhead standing in the doorway. Harry thought he must still be dreaming.
Ginny was smiling at Harry’s astonished face.
“Surprise” she called as she swept into the room and plunked herself down on Harry’s bed. Ginny threw her arms around Harry and held him tightly.
“What are you doing here?” Harry asked, he pulled her slowly away from him so he could get a good look.
“I came here with Mum this morning.”
“But how did you find the place, when you haven’t been told by the new secret keeper” Harry enquired
“Ron came home this morning and asked Mum to come back with him. Said that you needed some help cleaning or something”
Harry laughed and shook his head.
“We were going to clean the place ourselves. But I guess Ron can’t live without his Mum”
Ginny snuggled into Harry on the large comfy bed.
“I really missed you” she told him lovingly
Harry reached down and took her face in his hands then he drew her towards him. He kissed her with such fervour it made his head spin.
They were rudely interrupted by another knock on his bedroom door. This time it was Hermione who suggested that they might want to come downstairs as Mrs Weasley was wondering where Ginny had gotten to.
Ginny gave Harry one more kiss then leapt from his bed and left the room while he got changed.

Harry came downstairs and found everyone in the kitchen. Ginny gave Harry a sly smile as he sat down to join them.
“There you are Harry, I thought you were going to sleep the day away, it is almost 10 o’clock” Mrs Weasley playfully scolded him.
“I didn’t get much sleep last night, strange bed and all.”
“That’s understandable. Now Ron has asked me to come and help with cleaning”
Harry looked over at Ron, who gave Harry a sheepish look back.
“That’s great Mrs Weasley, but I need to ask you something first. Do you remember the last time we were here and we cleaned out the drawing room on the first floor?”
Mrs Weasley nodded.
“What ever happened to all the things that we threw out” Harry asked, he didn’t want to say exactly what he was looking for, that conversation could wait for another time.
Mrs Weasley thought about it hard and then told Harry “I am sure Arthur took all the bags outside and threw them into the incinerator”
Harry’s shoulders slumped; he was never going to find the locket now.
“Where exactly is this incinerator, Mrs Weasley?” Hermione asked, obviously she knew something Harry did not.
“It is out in the back garden” she told Hermione plainly

All three of them looked around the kitchen, all searching for the same thing, a back door.
Mrs Weasley guessed what they were looking for, as she laughed at their curious faces.
“The back door is concealed” she told them.
“That is brilliant” Ron whispered.
Harry got up from his seat and pulled his wand from his back pocket of his jeans. He walked around the room trying to sense where the door might be. He had seen Professor Dumbledore do this many a time but he was getting nothing.
Mrs Weasley got up from her seat and walked over to where Harry was. She pointed her wand at a knot hole in the wall and said “Manifesto door”
Before their eyes a solid wood door appeared in the wall.
“I wonder how many more secret’s there are around this place” Hermione wondered out loud.
Harry went up to the door and gave the golden antique door knob a twist. It turned effortlessly, as if it were brand new. Harry peered out into the back yard. It looked more like an overgrown swamp, than a back yard, especially where he grew up.

Hermione, Ron and Ginny followed Harry out into the backyard. There was a light rain falling, which made everything feel fresh.
Mrs Weasley also came out with them to show them where the incinerator was. She walked over to a small brick feature in the middle of the overgrown weeds.
“Well there it is kids. That is where Arthur burnt all the things we found”
“Thanks Mum” Ron told her
“Well I will head back inside and see what Winky is up too. I sent her off to clean, goodness knows where she has gone to”
The four of them watched as Mrs Weasley shut the back door and then Hermione got on her knees and stuck her hands inside the incinerator much to Ron’s surprise,
“What are you doing Hermione?”
She didn’t answer him but continued to feel around amongst the ashes. Her face lit up with a smile as she pulled from the remains a silver locket.
Harry let out a gasp and then took it from her.
“How did you know it was still alright” he asked her, turning it over and over in his hands to see if it was what he had been searching for.
“Just a hunch” she told him proudly, getting to her feet and brushing the dirt off her jeans.
“Is it the real one?” Ron asked.
Harry looked at the heavy golden locket, with an ornate looking s on the front of it. He remembered seeing this locket in a memory Dumbledore had shown him only last year.
“I’m sure”
He place the locket in his pocket, glanced up at Ginny and took her hand and led her back inside.

Harry and the others spent the remainder of the day helping Mrs Weasley and Winky make the house once more habitable.

As soon as they had done most of the cleaning Mrs Weasley decided it was time for Ginny and herself to return back to the burrow.

“But Mum I want to stay here with these guys” she complained.

“Maybe later Ginny, but I need you at home right now. Go and say your goodbyes, I will wait in the hallway for you”

Ginny took Harry’s hand and directed him towards a secluded area under the stairs.
She kissed him gently, and Harry ran his hands through her vivid red hair.
“I can’t stand to be apart” she told sadly.
“It won’t be for long” he told calmly.
After about 10 minutes of goodbyes Mrs Weasley started calling Ginny to hurry up.
Once they had left the house, Harry went up to his room to study the locket in private.
So this is what Dumbledore was willing to sacrifice his life for, Harry thought to himself.
He tried to open it, but it was still stuck shut. He got off his bed and started searching the room for something to open it with. He was sure Sirius would have had something like that in here.
He searched a wardrobe and found only Sirius’ old clothes, the dresser didn’t contain much more. He reached under the bed and found an old chest. He reached out for the chest and grabbed it. He dragged it out from under the bed and into the light.
It had Sirius’ initial’s embossed on it along with the Black family crest.
Harry tried to open it but it was also locked.
“****” Harry swore. He took his wand from his pocket and pointed it at the wooden chest and said clearly “Alohomora”
The lock opened with a clear ‘click’, Harry excitedly opened the trunk and peered inside.
Harry pushed aside old text books and dirty robes, he found potion vials and handwritten spells to what they were for Harry had no idea. Then in the bottom of the trunk was a photo. There in black and white was his Dad at his age with his arm around Sirius’ shoulder. He looked so happy, and so much like me Harry thought.
Harry took hold of the frame and at once he felt that familiar jerk from behind the navel. His feet left the safety of his bedroom and he was speeding forward in a howl of wind and swirling colour. He couldn’t release his hand from the photo frame.
His feet slammed into the ground and he fell over. Harry looked up and saw where he had landed. He had never intended to end up here, well not yet anyway.

Harry stood up slowly and brushed the dirt off of his denim jeans. He looked down at the photo frame that was lying on the ground beside him; he could still see the smiling faces of his father and Sirius looking back up at him. Harry took a look around at his surroundings. He was standing right in front of his parents destroyed home in Godrics Hollow.
Harry was standing out by the old front gate and staring at the Potters old family home. The brick house which Harry lived until he was one was just about gone. Amongst the debris there was a fireplace that had survived the damage caused by Voldemort and a corner wall of one room was still standing. The rest of the house lay in ruins all over the ground. Harry started up the front path, stepping over pieces of timber and a multitude of bricks that lay everywhere.
He walked into the middle of the rubble and stared around at the disaster that lay before him, Harry wondered why no-one bothered to clean it up, especially when it had been like this for the past 16 years.
Harry bent over and picked up the remnants of what looked like an old book, the pages were so delicate it crumbled in Harry’s hand.

“How am I meant to find the diary, in all this” Harry mumbled to himself. “It’s hopeless”
He kicked at a pile of rubbish, hurting his foot in the process. He limped over to the fireplace and leant against it as he rubbed his foot. It was then that Harry remembered seeing this fireplace before. It was in the visions that he had recently of his mum Lily. He looked around and saw the old writing desk that his mother had sat at to write in the diary, it was lying on the ground and was broken in many places, but Harry remembered it just the same.
He began searching through the rubbish looking for the painting of the witches. It just might still be here, Harry thought hopefully to himself. He pushed aside charred pieces of wood and heavy sheets of tin, and there underneath a pile of bricks was the torn picture of the three witches. Harry lifted it out and placed in on the fireplace. He retrieved his wand from his back pocket and cast reparo on the painting. The picture magically repaired it self, much to the delight of the witches in the painting. Harry took it over to the wall that was still standing and using a permanent sticking charm, attached it back where it belonged.

“I hope this works”

Harry reached out with his index finger and traced a circle over the witch’s cauldron, just as he had seen his mother do it. The witches gave a loud cackle and the painting swung open, much to Harry’s pleasure. There behind the painting was a neat hole that had not only the diary that he had come to find but there were other treasures in there that he had not anticipated on.

Harry lifted out the diary carefully, hoping it was still in one piece. It was still as new as Harry had seen in his visions. He ran his hand over the gold embossing of his mothers name. Harry then reached in the hole and retrieved an old family album. His heart started to beat faster as he never had any photo’s of his family before.
Besides the few that Hagrid had found for him in his first year at Hogwarts, which now filled his own photo album.

There were also other pieces of paper in the concealed hole that Harry took to be important documents regarding his parents will.

Harry took all the belongings from their hiding place and shut the painting back over it, the painting (now repaired) looked out of place in the terrible surroundings.

Harry sat down on a pile of bricks and started looking through the photo album. He found a lot of photos of his mum and dad. There were photos from their school days, when they graduated from Hogwarts, and from their wedding. Harry found photos of his grandparents, both the Potters and the Evans at the wedding of their respective children. Harry had never seen photos of his grandparents before, they all looked so happy like the celebration would never end.
Harry closed the book and stood up; he headed back towards the front gate to take the Portkey back to 12 Grimmauld Place.
Harry found it hard trying to hold onto all his findings while he was being transported back. There was no way he was going to let go of these precious belongings, not when he had been without them for so long.

Before he knew it, his feet were slammed back onto the wooden floor boards in his bedroom. He took the photo frame and his parents documents and put them all in Sirius’ old trunk.

Harry wondered if Ron and Hermione were still up. He didn’t know exactly how long he had been gone for. He hadn’t worn the watch that he received from Dumbledore yet, as he didn’t want anything bad to happen to it. He tiptoed down the hallway and found the house in darkness, so he went back into his room quietly and shut the door.

The next morning Harry arose and headed down stairs to tell his two best friends about his little adventure during the previous night. He brought the diary with him to share but he left the photo album upstairs on the bedside table. He had been up most of the night looking at the pictures of his family.
As Harry neared the kitchen he heard Ron and Hermione arguing about something. This didn’t bother Harry as he knew this was how their relationship had always been and probably will be forever.
The arguing abruptly stopped the moment Harry entered the room.

“Harry!” Ron said surprisingly “How are you?”
“Fine” Harry answered suspiciously. “What’s going on?”
Harry looked between the two of his friends waiting for one of them to tell him what was happening.
Hermione let out a loud huff, glared at Ron and left the room.
“What have you done now?” Harry asked his red haired friend.
“I really don’t know.” Ron told him “We were fine one second having a bit of a hug, then I said something about not wanting to go back to school, and she became all huffy”
Harry wasn’t surprised at Hermione’s reaction to Ron’s news; she had been on Harry’s back all summer long trying to get Harry to change his mind.

“What’s that?” Ron asked pointing to the diary Harry was holding.
“It’s my mum’s diary”
“How did you get it?” Ron asked amazed.
“Where did Hermione go? I want to tell you both”
Ron quickly ran out of the kitchen to hunt down where Hermione had disappeared to.
Harry sat down and waited until they returned.
When Hermione came in she was trying hard to stay away from Ron, knowing if he tried to talk to her about his schooling again she would get angry once more.

“Ron, said that you wanted to see me” Hermione said plainly to Harry.

Harry showed her the diary, which quickly brought a smile to her face.

“How did you get it?” she asked, repeating what Ron had already asked.

Harry started to tell them of him finding the hidden Portkey in Sirius’ room and where it took him to. Both his friends were sitting at the table with their mouths wide open in amazement.
After Harry had finished recounting his story he opened the diary and read the first page out loud.

15th November, 1980

Dear Diary,

As this is my first ever entry in my new diary I wanted to begin with wonderful news. James and I just found out that we are expecting our first child. We are both over the moon with joy. James is so excited that he has told all his friends, he couldn’t wait.
We also found out that friends of ours Alice and Frank Longbottom are also expecting their first child around the same time. I hope that our children will be life long friends.

My only regret is that this baby will grow up without any grandparents to spoil them. I am sure that my parents would have adored this grandchild, but they have passed on. So have James’ parents.

I am sure that we will have all the love this child needs to grow up into a wonderful magical human being.

Lily

Harry sat looking at his mother’s handwriting, the ink had started to fade in places but her words came through as strong and loving as Harry had hoped they would.

“That is amazing Harry” Hermione said, wiping tears from her face.

“What else is in there” Ron asked

Harry quickly read through the next few pages, they all contained mostly the same feelings. How excited they both were about becoming parents for the first time, when she first felt the baby move and James wanting to call the baby James Jnr, as he was certain it was going to be a boy, but Lily had other idea’s. There was also a part in her diary about how she went to visit her sister Petunia to impart her good news, but she never even made it past the front door let alone into the house she now owned with her new husband Vernon Dursley, but Lily did get a glimpse of Petunia and realised that her older sister was also pregnant.

Harry closed the diary and placed in on the table in front of him. He was feeling overly emotional at the moment reading first hand about what his Mum and Dad were going through even before he was born.

“I will read some more later” Harry told them

Ron started to open his mouth to ask why when Hermione punched him under the table.
“Ow! What was that for” Ron complained.
She shot him a look that told him to keep his thoughts to himself for now. Hermione understood quite clearly why Harry was putting the diary aside.

“Well have you had any thoughts about how we are going to destroy the locket” Harry asked Hermione, changing the subject.

Hermione shook her head. “I don’t know where we could get the information we need for something so complex.”

“Couldn’t we ask someone for help?” Ron added

“We couldn’t risk letting people know what we are up to. That is what Dumbledore told me last year, I had to keep it a secret except from you guys of course”

“What we need is a library of dark magic spells and rituals” Ron said half joking.

Hermione jumped to her feet and gave Ron a kiss “Ron you are brilliant” she shrieked.

“I am?” he said bewildered.

“But where would we find a library like that?” Harry asked an excited Hermione.

“I am sure with this house being as large as it is, and with the Black family being who they were, I am sure we might find something here to help us”

Harry thought about what Hermione said for a second, trying to remember if Sirius had mentioned anything about a library being hidden in the house. He couldn’t remember anything like that.
“I don’t remember Sirius saying anything about this place having a library or a secret one at that” Harry told her dejectedly

Hermione didn’t seem perturbed at all; she was still in deep thought about this new theory.

“What about Kreacher?” she said turning her attention towards Harry. “Maybe you could ask him if he knows anything”

Ron gave a small snort of laughter, which made Hermione turn her head quickly in his direction.
“What is so wrong with that?” she demanded.
“Kreacher telling us where there are secret rooms in his family home? I don’t like your chances”
“Maybe so, but that is all Harry has to go on”

But Harry was having a thought all of his own, which he relayed to his friends.
“What if I acquired Kreachers memories and look at them in a Pensieve, just like Dumbledore did with that House elf of Hepzibah Smith?”

“That’s a great idea Harry, but we don’t have a Pensieve” Hermione told him sadly.

Harry hadn’t thought about that, and was now disappointed that his solution would be of no help.

“Well I guess we can try and ask him” Harry said

Ron gave his shoulders a shrug to say ‘whatever’ and waited while Harry called for the old house elf to come.

Kreacher apparated into the kitchen, with a loud crack and bowed. “Master wants Kreacher?”
“Yes, I want you to tell me if there are any more secret rooms to this place. We need to find if Mrs Black had a library here” Harry told him firmly.
Kreacher glared at Harry with such distaste, he thought that Kreacher might start ranting again, but instead his face turned into a sort of smile, which frightened Harry more.
“Mistress didn’t have any secret rooms” Kreacher told him happily. “No libraries either”
Harry was a bit suspicious of Kreacher’s sudden happiness to tell Harry this news that he thought he might have to reword his question to get a different answer.

“Kreacher, did anyone who lived here have a secret room?”

Kreacher’s smile suddenly left his wrinkly face. “Young master Regulus had a secret room, only him and Kreacher knew of” he painfully told Harry.
“Where was it” Harry asked excitedly.
Kreacher got up and left the kitchen; the trio quickly got to their feet and followed him out into the hallway.
He led them out past Mrs Blacks sleeping portrait, Harry thought he was going to take them up the stair case but Kreacher took them past the stairs to a small painting hanging on the wall. The painting was of an old wizard sitting at desk writing in a book. Here he pointed at the wall.
“What?” Ron demanded
“Is it here?” Harry asked.
Kreacher looked from Ron to Harry and nodded.
“How do we get in?” Hermione asked a reluctant Kreacher
Kreacher wouldn’t even look at Hermione, so Harry repeated her question.
This time he answered, “Master needs to use his wand to open the secret door”
All three of them produced their wands and pointed them at the painting.
Ron looked at Harry and Hermione and whispered “What spell do we use?”
Harry didn’t have a clue either, so he looked to Hermione.
“It must have been a password.” she announced “Like what we use to open the portrait at school”
“Do you know the password Kreacher” Harry asked hopefully
Kreacher looked at Harry wanting not to tell his master the news he needed, but being under Harry’s rule, he had no other choice.
“It’s Noir Royale” Kreacher told him unhappily.
“Thank you Kreacher” Hermione said
“Give it up Hermione, he is never going to like you” Ron told her
“Does master want anything else?”
“No thanks. That is all. You can go back to cleaning again” Harry instructed him.
Kreacher wandered off muttering under his breath, when he was out of sight Harry turned to Ron and Hermione.
“You ready?”
They both nodded their agreement.
Harry pointed his wand at the painting and said the password “Noir Royale”
The little wizard in the painting got up from his seat and waved his arm, as he did the painting started to grow in size, it didn’t stop until it had reached the size of a door. It then swung open revealing a dark room.
Harry lit his wand and stepped inside, his two best friends following closely behind him.

As Harry stepped into the darkened room, he was met with a strong pungent smell that almost brought tears to his eyes.

“Whoa! What is that awful smell” Ron said from behind Harry.

Hermione began coughing and followed them into the room. From what Harry could make out, the room was roughly the size of his dormitory back at Hogwarts.
He still couldn’t see very clearly, even with all three of their wands lit. Hermione overcame this problem, with her wand pointing at the ceiling she used a non-verbal spell to bring light to the foul smelling room.

“Well done Hermione” Harry mumbled from under his hand, which he had placed over this face trying to keep the smell out.

“Why don’t we use the bubble head charm” Ron suggested.

Hermione quickly turned her wand on herself and cast the spell, she breathed with relief at the fresh air that she now had. The boys copied her and cast it upon themselves as well.
Once they were safely behind their bubbles the three of them started looking around the room.
There was a number of bookcases that were overflowing with books of all sizes, Hermione headed straight over to have a look at these.
Ron and Harry proceeded to have a look at an old dusty cupboard that housed a lot of vials and potions.
There were vials with dark brown potions, green ones and a bright pink one.

“What do you think these are used for?” Ron asked Harry

“I have no idea.” Harry said inspecting a vial that seemed to have a clear potion in it that was bubbling away.

“They certainly look like dark magic to me”

The two boys continued on their search of the mysterious room. They found dragon claws, hippogriff feathers, snake skins and also a collection of shrunken skulls which Ron thought were ‘cool’.

Harry wondered if Sirius knew about his brother’s deep obsession with the dark arts. He supposed he must have known something, since he went off to join the Death Eaters.

Hermione was still searching through the large collection of books, when Harry found something that fascinated him. There on the back wall were several sheets of parchment. Harry took a step closer to the parchment to see what was written on it. To Harry it looked like a jumbled up mess of writing, but as he got closer he realised that it was a sort of journal.

“Hey Hermione come check this out”

Hermione reluctantly left her stack of books and came over to see what Harry had found.

“What is it Harry”

“Look at this. What do you make of it?” Harry asked

Hermione took a closer look at the sheets of parchment. She took a while examining all the writing, during that time Ron came over as well to see what Harry had found.

“This is great Harry. Do you realise what this is?” Hermione gushed

“Well no, that is what you are here for”

Ron laughed at Harry’s comment, which made Hermione blush.

“Well, all this writing is Regulus’s journal about how he was going to destroy the Horcrux”

Harry and Ron both looked at Hermione in amazement.

“See this one here” Hermione told the two boys, pointing to the first of the parchments “This one he writes about how he is going to go about getting the soul out of the locket”
She walked on and pointed to the next lot of scribbles “This one he is working out how to destroy the soul. But this last one, he is all over the place. I am not sure what he is trying to figure out here”

Hermione looked frustrated with not be able to work out the last problem.
Harry took a look at the journal of Sirius’ younger brother. He thought to himself that he must have been working on this for a long time. There were a lot of findings here; this would have taken the three of them months to collect. If they could only work out how to put all this to use, it would be of great help.

“Of course” Harry heard Hermione shriek excitedly

She turned back to the boys with such exhilaration on her face, it was hard for her to contain herself. Hermione decided to take off the bubble head charm to be able to talk more freely. Ron and Harry watched Hermione take a breath of air, she signalled that the smell had receded.

Once all three of them were free from their bubble heads, Hermione eagerly resumed what she had discovered in Regulus’ third piece of parchment.

“Well, after reading how he had discovered how to rid the locket of the soul and then how to destroy it, I realised something. He was working on how to protect himself from being possessed from the soul once it was released.”

“How would he do that?” Ron asked impatiently

“That’s just it Ron, he didn’t get around to working that part out” Hermione told him

“I guess Voldemort got to him before he could destroy the Horcrux” Harry sadly assumed.

“I think Regulus believed that once the soul was free from the locket it would possess the person who released it.” Hermione told them as she kept on deciphering the parchment.

“So how can we destroy it without becoming possessed by an evil mass murderer?” Ron asked

“I’m not sure” Hermione mumbled. “I think I might need more time to read this”

Harry’s excitement quickly subsided with the thought that they might never be able to overcome this final hurdle. He walked away from Hermione and Ron, feeling depressed. Harry was so sure that finding this secret room would definitely be the start to destroy the Horcruxes.

“I’m going back out” he told the other two.

Ron came jogging after him, not wanting to stay too long in the musty room.

“I’ll come with you, I’m starving.”

They turned to see if Hermione was going to come as well, but she was so immersed in the parchment that she just gave them a feeble wave and went back to her wall.

“She will be there all day if we let her. It will bug her until she finds out how to finish what Regulus had started” Ron laughed

The two boys went into the kitchen to find something to eat, however they soon realised that their food supplies were quickly disappearing.

“I think we might have to go and get some more food” Harry informed Ron.

“Excellent. I have been wanting to go to Diagon Alley”

“Where can we buy food supplies in Diagon Alley?” Harry asked

“My Mum gets our groceries from the wizard supermarket. They have an excellent selection of food.”

“Well I guess we will have to make a trip”

The boys sat at the table eating their lunch and discussing what they were going to buy at Diagon Alley. Ron was telling Harry about the expandable meals that come in different sizes, the smallest starts at the size of a pack of playing cards.

“They’re great. We sometimes get them when we go camping”

Ron was just about to tell Harry about all the different sweets they sell, when the door bell rang unexpectedly.
Both Harry and Ron looked at each other in astonishment

“Who could that be?” Harry asked Ron, they both left the kitchen and headed to the front door.
As they walked down the hallway, Hermione poked her bushy head out from the secret room. “Was that the door bell” she inquired
“Yes” Harry said “You better come out of there and close the portrait behind you”
Hermione followed Harry’s instructions, once the portrait had been minimized back to its original proportions, the trio headed to see who their visitor was.

Harry carefully opened the heavy black door and peered through the opening.

“Hello Mr Potter” came the voice of their old transfiguration teacher.

Harry opened the door wider to let her in.

“Hello Professor McGonagall”

“I was hoping to find you three at home” she said as she entered the dark hallway.

She closed the door behind her, then took off her travelling cloak and hung it up.

“Can we go somewhere to talk?” she enquired.

“Sure, the kitchen is probably the best place” Harry suggested, and then he led them
all back down the hallway.

“Can I offer you a cup of tea Professor?” Hermione asked politely

“That would be lovely Miss Granger”

Hermione quickly busied herself finding everything she needed, once she had returned with a steaming pot of tea and 4 cups, Professor McGonagall explained why she was there.

“I have come here today to deliver your Hogwarts letters.” she said producing two fat envelopes and handed them to Hermione and Ron.

“I have been trying to hand deliver as many as I can. Some of the other teachers are also helping”
“But why not use owls as usual?” Hermione asked as she carefully opened her letter.

“We are afraid that the owls might not reach the students. There has been a significant number of owl’s go missing recently. Plus we also want to let parents know that we are putting the security at Hogwarts at the top most maximum level.”

Hermione let out a small shriek of delight, as dignified as she could muster with Professor McGonagall sitting next to her.

“What is it Hermione?” Ron asked

Hermione held out a round silver badge with HG engraved on it.

“Well Done Hermione” Harry congratulated her.

Ron was hopefully looking in his envelope for a matching badge but all he had was his start of term letter.

“I’m sorry Mr Weasley, but I couldn’t make you Head Boy. I would have made you Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team but we have decided to postpone Quidditch for now”

Ron nodded his head and slumped back into his chair.
Professor McGonagall then turned her attention back to Harry.
Harry knew what was coming next.
Professor McGonagall produced a third envelope that had Harry’s name written on the front.

“I have also brought you your letter Harry. I know you said that you have decided not to come back to finish your schooling but I would like you to hold onto it, just in case”

Harry reluctantly took the letter from her and placed it on the table in front of him.
He took another sip of his tea, not sure what to say. He didn’t want to say anything that would seem mean, so he just kept on drinking.

Professor McGonagall drained the last remnants of her cup of tea and then stood up from her seat.
“Well, I will see you all on the 1st of September. Miss Granger you will need to be present at the prefect’s carriage to hand out the list of passwords, which you will find is also in your envelope”

“Thank you so much.” Hermione hesitated “I was wondering Professor, can you tell me who the Head Boy is?”

Professor McGonagall looked like she didn’t want to say in front of Ron but decided Hermione had the right to know.

“Since the majority of the boys that were made prefects have left school and wont be returning. I had to choose someone who Professor Dumbledore had thought was worthy of being named Head Boy. His name is Ben Chapman and he is in Ravenclaw.” She told them

“What happened to Anthony Goldstein?” Ron asked

“His Father was killed by some Death Eaters. Apparently they came to his home to take him with them, but he fought them off. I am most aggrieved to say that the Death Eaters were more prepared. Anthony has decided to stay at home with his Mother”

“That’s terrible” Hermione said sadly.

Professor McGonagall headed out the doorway with Hermione close behind.

“Thank you for the tea, if there is anything that you need to discuss between now and when school re-opens, you may reach me via the Floo network at Hogwarts.”

“Thank you Professor” Hermione said.

Once Hermione had closed the front door on her new Head Mistress she rejoined the boys in the kitchen.
She noticed that Ron was looking quite moody.

“What’s the matter with you?” Hermione asked carefully.

“Doesn’t matter” Ron said grumpily, and he got up from his chair and left the kitchen.
Hermione watched as her boyfriend left and then she turned to Harry and asked “What is wrong with Ron?”

“I think he was hoping to be Head Boy. He won’t say anything but he knows how important it is to you and he probably wants to be on the same academic level” Harry told her

“But that is silly. He doesn’t have to be Head Boy to impress me”

“Well maybe you should tell him that” Harry suggested.

Hermione turned and left the kitchen. She wanted to find where Ron had disappeared to. She didn’t have to go far as she found him sitting on the stairs. Hermione walked up the stairs and sat down next to him.

“Are you alright?” she tenderly asked

“Yeah. I’ll be ok”. Hermione was relieved to hear that Ron was sounding more like himself.

“I guess I got a bit disappointed when I realised I won’t be joining you at school as Head Boy.”

Hermione gave Ron a playful smile “I thought that you weren’t coming back to school?”
“Yeah, I didn’t really mean that.” Ron put his arm around Hermione’s shoulder and pulled her closer to him “I could handle you getting angry at me about not returning to school, but do you think that I could deal with my Mum’s anger?”

“Chicken” Hermione giggled

Ron then started tickling her, she screamed with laughter until she managed to pin him up against the stair they were sitting on. She then leant forward and gave him a loving kiss to show her real feelings.

Harry didn’t see much of Hermione and Ron over the next couple of days. He preferred to stay in his room and read through the entries in his Mother’s diary. The other two remained in the secret hideaway, working out the puzzle that Regulus had left behind.

Harry spread himself out on his bed and read through his Mothers thoughts and desires for him. Harry quickly read through a lot of pages that contained the same kind of entries. They were all about his Mothers feelings of happiness for her unborn child and her concern to keep him safe. However, when Harry turned to the next page he realised that the writing was different. Harry sat up and took more notice of this new entry. He quickly realised that the handwriting was his Dad’s.

Dear Diary,

I am writing this entry for Lily, mainly because she asked me to, but also for myself, as we have finally become parents. Lily had the baby early this morning. She had a boy, I knew she would. We have decided to name him Harry James Potter. I think it is a great strong name.

It was an amazing feeling holding him for the first time. Lily says he looks just like me, with my unruly black hair and the Potter chin.

I am really looking forward to the day when I can take Harry to Quidditch games and help him with his homework, when he goes to Hogwarts. All I can ask is that he will do better at school than I did. I hope he takes after his Mother when it comes to his schooling, she constantly got high grades not like me, I was always fooling around with my friends. I think that is all I want for my son, to finish school and find a decent job and be happy.

I think I am going to love being a Dad.

James.

Harry re read his Dad’s entry again and again. He was so full of happiness and excitement for the future. Harry felt that familiar pang in his stomach at what should have been for him and not what he got.
“It’s not fair” he said to himself.
He shut the diary and laid himself back against his pillows thinking about what he had just read. He felt guilty for not returning to school, since he found out that was all his Dad had wanted for him. Harry started to consider maybe he should rethink his future plans. Harry pushed himself into a sitting position and then he put the diary away back in the cupboard by his bed.
Harry left the bedroom and headed downstairs to see what Ron and Hermione were up to.

When Harry reached the landing he found the secret doorway wide open, he couldn’t hear anything coming from inside and wondered if his two friends were even in there. He stepped into the magically lit room and found them both down by the end wall. Hermione was busily writing in a book, and Ron was sitting on the floor sound asleep. Harry walked up to them as quietly as he could then he let out a loud “Hello”.
Hermione let out a loud scream and Ron slid down the wall and onto the floor in surprise.
“Harry, that wasn’t funny” Hermione said breathlessly.
“It certainly looked funny” Harry said laughing.
“Where have you been?” Ron asked getting to his feet.
“Just up in my room, reading my Mum’s diary. So how’s it going?”
Hermione turned away from her work and glared at Harry, she looked like she hadn’t had a decent nights sleep in a couple of days, her hair was decidedly bushier than normal and she looked agitated. Harry thought he knew what her answer was going to be.
“I have had no luck. I don’t know what to do about protecting us from the soul” she sighed, slumping down on the floor by Ron’s feet.
Harry knelt down by her and patted her on her head.
“Poor Hermione, I think you need break” he suggested.
“I keep telling her that, but she won’t listen to me” Ron told him.
“Well I was thinking that we should make a trip to Diagon Alley. School is starting in a couple of weeks and I guess we all need new school robes”
Hermione nodded and then she realised what Harry just said.
“Did you just say that you needed new school robes?”
Harry smiled at her “Yeah, I have decided to change my plans”
“What made you change your mind?” Ron asked
“My Dad” Harry told them both.
“What?”
“It was something that my Dad wrote in my Mum’s diary. So I believe that I owe him that at least.”
Hermione jumped to her feet and grabbed Harry’s hands.
“That is wonderful Harry. I am so happy. It just wouldn’t be the same at Hogwarts without you”
Ron nodded in agreement.
“So what do you say about a trip to Diagon Alley?” Harry asked
“I say lets go” Ron said enthusiastically.

Hermione picked up the book she was working in and followed the two boys out of the room.

“So how are we going to get there?” Harry asked.
“I think we should Apparate there, what do you think Hermione?” Ron asked his girlfriend.
“I think it is either that or use Floo powder” she advised them.
Harry wasn’t keen on either way, but he did prefer to Apparate more than use Floo powder.
“I think we should Apparate.” Harry agreed with Ron

After deciding on where they were going to apparate to, as they all wanted to end up at the same destination this time, Ron still hadn’t let Hermione forget about the time she apparated into the tree.

They all arrived together out the front of Flourish and Blotts.

“Everyone alright?” Harry asked.

Ron and Hermione nodded, and then joined Harry as he walked off towards Gringotts to withdraw some of his gold out of his family vault.

“It is so eerie here” Hermione said quietly, she took Ron’s hand and started walking more quickly.

“Come on, let’s hurry up so we can get out of here” Ron said to the others.

Harry led his friends up the white stone stairs of the wizarding bank and pulled open the heavy bronze door, Harry noticed that there was no uniformed Goblin waiting to open the door for him this time. They headed towards the second set of silver doors and pulled them open. As they stepped inside the darkened room, they noticed that Gringotts had employed trolls as security guards, there was one standing next to each of the doors that led the customers out into the vaults.

“I hate trolls” Hermione whispered, she peered at them as they walked towards the front counter.

As Harry walked across the marble floor his footsteps made loud noises in the deserted building. They were the only customers in Gringotts, which was a first for Harry. Ron and Hermione followed behind him as quietly as they could.

Harry walked up to the Head Goblin that was perched up on a high stool behind a counter. He had a look of suspicion on his darkened face as the three of them approached him. The Goblin stared at Harry with menacing eyes, and then he glared at Ron and Hermione.

“I wish to make a withdrawal” Harry told the goblin
“And what is your name?”
“Harry Potter” he informed the angry goblin.
He looked Harry up and down, trying to determine whether or not he was the real Harry Potter.
“Do you have your key?” he asked
Harry had nearly forgotten about his key, he dug into his jeans pocket and pulled out the tiny golden key, and handed it over.
The Goblin took out his wand and passed it over the key and performed an inaudible spell to make sure it wasn’t a fake one.
“Vault 687” the Goblin announced.
Harry could hear Ron give a sigh of relief behind him.
“I will have someone take you down to the vault in a minute. Please wait over there” the Goblin pointed a knarled finger over to the far wall.

Harry turned and walked over to wait for their escort. Hermione stood behind both Ron and Harry watching the trolls intently; the trolls were staring at them menacingly and making low grunting sounds in their direction. This was making her feel very uneasy.


A tiny weather beaten goblin then emerged from the door and looked over the three teenagers waiting by the door.

“I am Batnor” the goblin introduced himself, giving Harry a small bow. He then reached into his jacket and produced a thin metal wand; it was like the type they use at the Ministry of Magic.
“I must do a security inspection before you are allowed into the tunnels.” he told the three of them
Harry stepped forward and let Batnor wave the metal wand over his body, once he was sure that Harry wasn’t concealing anything sinister he moved onto Hermione and Ron.

“This way” Batnor told them and opened the door leading out into the tunnels.

Hermione was looking apprehensive as she had never been into the Gringotts vaults before.
“Don’t worry Hermione, the ride is fun” Ron told her with a large smile.

Batnor led them down the narrow passageway; Harry could see Hermione’s anxious face in the light given off by the flaming torches that were lit all along the wall. They finally reached the little railway tracks and Batnor gave a high whistle and a small cart trundled up to meet them.

Once they were all seated, although rather uncomfortably, they were off. The cart sped along the winding track as fast as Harry had remembered it. He took a look over at Hermione and saw that she had her eyes tightly shut; Ron was enjoying the ride and holding onto her at the same time.
They hurtled through the maze, turning left then right, each sharp turn Hermione let out a scream. They passed the underground lake with all the stalagmites and stalactites, and then the cart gradually began to slow down. Hermione finally opened her eyes when it came to a stop.

“Vault 687” Batnor announced.

Harry left the cart with the goblin and waited while he opened the heavy vault door.
When Harry entered the chamber he noticed that his gold had significantly increased.
Harry turned to Batnor and questioned him on the contents.

“Mr Potter received a large deposit of gold last year from a deceased relative.” he advised Harry “Mr Potter can get a statement from the head Goblin when he leaves if he wishes”

Harry turned back to his mounds of Gold Galleons, Silver Sickles and Bronze Knuts and filled his money bag until it couldn’t hold anymore.
Harry left the vault and closed the door behind him. He could see Ron looking in the other direction, not wanting to see how much gold Harry owned. This was still a sore point for Ron, even though he didn’t blame Harry for his wealth it was still hard for him to deal with it.

“Let’s get out of here” Harry said, much to the delight of Hermione.
After one wild ride out of the darkened tunnels they made it back to the beginning.
Batnor led them out to the main entrance and bade them goodbye.

Ron and Hermione started to head out to the silver double doors but were stopped when they realised that Harry was walking in the other direction.

“Harry where are you going?” Ron called out.

“Hang on a moment” Harry called back. He went back to the Head Goblin and got his statement of the deposits and withdrawals. He folded it up and placed it into his pocket.

They left the gloomy bank and stepped down the steps into the bright sunshine, they then tried to decide where they should go next.

“I am glad to be out of there” Ron sighed as they headed towards Madam Malkins to get fitted for new school robes.

As they entered the brightly lit shop Harry was knocked for six by a certain redheaded girl throwing herself into his arms.
“Harry, I have missed you” she cried as she gave him a long kiss. Harry could hear someone behind him clearing their throat a little too loud. He turned around and saw Mrs Weasley standing next to the Ron, looking at the pair of lovebirds with amusement.
“You should have told me that you were coming to Diagon Alley today, we could’ve done our shopping together. It would be a lot safer” Mrs Weasley reprimanded Ron.

“It was only decided at the last moment, Mrs Weasley” Hermione said as she stood still while Mrs Malkin measured her up for her new robes.

“Well then I guess it was lucky that we bumped into you.” she said as she paid for Ron and Ginny’s new school robes.

Once Harry was done getting his new robes fitted, much to Ginny’s delight that he was returning to school with her, they all left the shop and continued with their shopping.
Mrs Weasley helped Harry buy some groceries, making sure that they bought healthy food and not all the sweets that Ron wanted.

When they had bought all they needed they headed outside and joined the other shoppers who were rushing about trying to finish their shopping in a hurry. It broke Harry’s heart to see Diagon Alley looking like a ghost town. It made Harry more determined to see the end of Voldemort’s rein.
They headed back to the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron, so that Mrs Weasley and Ginny could use the Floo network to get back to the burrow. While they were there Harry bought a case of butterbeer from Tom the barman and then sent them magically to 12 Grimmauld Place so he didn’t have to carry the heavy load.

“Mum, can I go back with Harry?” Ginny asked in her most polite voice.

“I’m not sure Ginny” Mrs Weasley said to her youngest child.

“Please Mum, just for a couple of days” she pleaded.

“Oh, okay” Mrs Weasley conceded

Ginny gave her Mum a hug and kiss to thank her.

“Please behave yourself Ginny. That goes for all of you. I am trusting you all to act like sensible young adults.” She informed them.

“We will” they all chorused.

“Ginny I will send Winky with some of your clothes later tonight.”
“Thanks Mum, you’re the best” Ginny replied happily.

They said their goodbyes to Mrs Weasley as she disappeared in a blaze of green flames in the fireplace of the Leaky Cauldron, and got themselves ready to apparate back to 12 Grimmauld Place.

Harry took a hold of Ginny and apparated them back. They arrived in the kitchen only seconds before Ron and Hermione appeared.
They unpacked all the groceries into the kitchen cupboards and then went upstairs to put all their bits and pieces they bought for school away.

Ginny followed Harry into his room and sat down on the large bed, she watched as Harry packed away his things into his trunk.

“I still can’t believe that you are really coming back to school Harry!” she happily exclaimed. She lay down on the bed and as she turned onto her side she saw the diary that Harry had left on the bedside table.

“What’s that Harry?” she asked as she picked it up and started to read it.

“It was my Mum’s diary” Harry told her “I found it at their home in Godric’s Hollow”

“Wow” Ginny whispered “This is amazing”

“I know she really knew how to put her feelings into words didn’t she” Harry said distractedly while he put his new potion ingredients away.

“No, I was talking about this plan she had” Ginny said out of the blue.
“What?” Harry exclaimed.

He quickly went over to Ginny and took the diary from her and read the page that the diary was opened to. Harry took a while reading the entry as he couldn’t believe this was written by his Mother. Ginny was reading it over Harry’s shoulder and gasped when she had finished reading.

“Well I think that this will really help you out Harry” Ginny declared

“I know. But I think we might have to talk to the other person who helped my Mum come up with this plan” Harry agreed.

Harry looked over at Ginny who was re reading the last entry of Lily Potter’s diary.

“You know how important this could be?” Ginny told him eagerly

Harry stood up from the bed trying to decide on what his next step would be to be able to bring his Mothers plans to life.

“How do you think we can get a hold of him?” Harry asked Ginny.

“Well maybe you could send a letter to Professor McGonagall. She would know where he might be” she suggested.

“Good idea” Harry said. He hurried over to his trunk and took out a piece of parchment, his new eagle quill and a bottle of ink and then set about writing this letter.

“You might also want to tell her that you are coming back to Hogwarts” Ginny reminded him.

Harry nodded, when he had finished he rolled up his short letter and called Hedwig down from her perch. He secured the letter to her leg and carried her over to the window. It took both Harry and Ginny all their strength to open the resistant window, but finally it was wide enough for Hedwig to get out.

“Come on Harry, there is nothing we can do now, so let’s go down to the kitchen and make dinner” Ginny suggested

Without any hesitation Harry took a hold of her small hand and followed her down the stairs, they found Ron and Hermione still in the secret room. After convincing Hermione to take a break they made their way into the kitchen.

In the middle of their dinner they were interrupted by the ringing of the front door bell.
This not only made the four of them jump in surprise but it also set off Mrs Black’s portrait.
‘Filth, Scum! Dirty Mudbloods, Besmirching the house of my Fathers’ She yelled.
Hermione hurried off to shut the moth eaten velvet curtains back over the large painting while Harry answered the front door. He had an idea who might be calling on them at this hour but he was cautious just the same.
Harry called out through the door “Who is it?”
“It’s Remus Lupin” came the reply.
Harry decided to play it safe and ask a security question
“In our third year what form did Ron’s boggart take?” Harry asked
“A huge spider”
Harry unlocked the door and let in Remus Lupin. Once he was inside he shook hands with him.
“Harry, how have you been?”

“Not bad” Harry said as he led them both down the darkened hallway and into the brightly lit kitchen.

“Professor Lupin!” Hermione exclaimed “What a surprise”

“Well I would prefer you call me Remus now, not Professor Lupin and I thought Harry asked me here?” he said confusingly.

“I did” Harry quickly replied “But I didn’t get a chance to explain to Ron and Hermione yet”

Remus took a seat at the dinner table and accepted the bottle of butterbeer that Ginny gave to him.

“So, Harry. What is this important news of yours?” he inquired.

“I found my Mum’s diary” he started to tell Remus “At their home in Godrics Hollow”

“Really? What was in it?” he asked carefully.

“Well it mainly is about how happy my Mum and Dad were when they had me, but I also found something quite interesting in there”

“What was it Harry?” Ron interrupted

“It was a plan that my Mum was working on with Remus” Harry told them, looking over at Remus.

Remus took another sip of his butterbeer and nodded to Harry, in an understanding of what was coming next.

“What plan?” Hermione asked eagerly

“It was a combined idea of mine and Lily’s” Remus spoke up “We had the thought that maybe we could come up with a kind of locater map that showed up anyone who had been branded with the Dark Mark”

“How could that work?” Hermione asked Remus inquisitively

“Well that’s just it Hermione, we didn’t get a chance to finish it” he told her sadly.

Harry decided to apparate up to his bedroom to retrieve the diary and bring it back for Remus to look through. When he returned Remus was still explaining how he and Lily were hoping to finish the map. Harry handed the diary to Remus, he opened to the page that Ginny had found later that day.

Everyone around him sat in complete silence waiting for him to finish reading.
After a few minutes he placed the diary on the table in front of him and turned to face Harry.

“Do you still have the map Remus?” Harry asked him, breaking the silence.

“Yes, I kept it all these years, hoping that maybe one day I might be able to complete it. You see I kept the map and Lily had the potion ingredients written down as a security measure. They were no good separately, so it would be useless if someone had possession of one of these things”

“Can I read it Harry?” Hermione asked, reaching for the diary.
“Sure.” Harry told her
“Was there a problem with the map?” Ginny asked Remus from the other end of the table.
Remus turned to face her “Not with the map no, we based that on the concept of the Marauder’s Map. It was the potion part that was stumping Lily, there seemed to be an ingredient that she needed to finish it and she couldn’t work out what it was.”

“If we could get this to work, we could easily find where the Death Eaters are hiding” Ron said elatedly

“I know, that was our plan as well” Remus replied

Harry’s head felt like it was going to burst open from all the half finished ideas in this house that needed completing . He really wanted to finish these things before he returned to Hogwarts.

“Well maybe I could take a look at the potion ingredients Lily had originally come up with and see if I can find the final component.” Hermione said.

“That would be great if you could Hermione. I think the Order of the Phoenix would appreciate all the help it can get” he told her happily.

“Well if that is all, I must be off.” Remus said as he got up from his seat “I promised Tonks that I wouldn’t be home late tonight”

Hermione quickly jumped out of her chair “Umm, Remus could I have a word with you in private?” she asked, much to the confusing looks of Harry, Ron and Ginny.

Once Hermione and Remus had left Ron turned to Harry and asked “What was that about?”

“Don’t look at me mate. I have no idea!” Harry replied “Do you know anything Ginny?”

She looked just as puzzled as the boys and she shook her head to Harry’s question.

After a while they heard the front door being opened and shut again. Then Hermione appeared back in the kitchen with a very delighted look on her face.

“What was that about?” Ron asked in a jealous tone.

“I thought I might ask Remus for his opinion on the Horcrux protecting spell” she explained
“What! You told him what we are doing” Harry yelled
Hermione looked hurt by Harry’s accusations “No, of course not. I made up a story about a school project I am working on.”

“Sorry” Harry apologised sheepishly.

“That’s alright. I need to go back into the room and put the finishing touches on this spell and then I think by tomorrow we should be ready” she told him.

After Hermione left the kitchen, Ginny turned to Harry and asked “I hope you are going to tell me what that was all about?”

“I will, but not right now” he promised.

Ron polished off his drink and decided to go and help Hermione, leaving Harry and Ginny alone once again.

“So what this all about Harry? What is a Horcrux?” she asked

Harry got up from his seat and sat down on one that was closer to Ginny, he then began to tell her all about his lessons with Professor Dumbledore during his last year at Hogwarts. Ginny listened intently to all of Harry’s stories. By the end she was so overwhelmed with what lay before her boyfriend, she automatically reached out and kissed him hard.

“I had no idea you were so involved in this war. I am so proud of you” she told him.

As Harry leant forward to hug Ginny, there was a loud ‘crack’. They both spun around to see who had apparated into the house and found Winky the house elf standing in the room holding a large overnight bag.

“This is for you, Mistress Ginny” Winky said, giving a little curtsey.

Ginny got to her feet, embarrassed to be caught in that situation by their house elf. She took her bag from Winky and thanked her.

“Mistress Molly has asked me to come and stay here, to help out with the cooking and cleaning” Winky said merrily.

“I think Mum just wants to keep an eye on us Harry!” Ginny whispered in Harry’s ear.

“Thankyou Winky, your help will be much needed.” Harry told the little elf.

She happily wiggled her ears and skipped off to find herself a room to sleep in.

“Just watch out for Kreacher” Harry called out after her.

Early the next morning Harry was awoken by Ginny sneaking into his bed.

“Good Morning Harry.” she purred as she snuggled in next to him. “I couldn’t sleep so I thought that I would come in and see you. I hope you don’t mind”

“I don’t mind in the slightest. Just don’t let Winky catch you” Harry laughed

They laid together until the sun started to peak in through the grimy window.
Harry looked down at his girlfriend, he gently pushed her long red hair away from her face. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this content, he wished that he didn’t have to get up, he could’ve just stayed there all day long.

He leant down and kissed her on her forehead “Wake up sleeping beauty” he said tenderly.
Ginny stirred and peeked up at Harry. “Morning” she said groggily

“I think we should get up. I bet Hermione is downstairs waiting for us to get this spell underway”

Ginny slowly got out of Harry’s bed and tiptoed across the floor, careful not to make too much noise. She blew Harry a kiss as she shut the door.

Harry climbed out of bed and got himself dressed. He then headed downstairs to have some breakfast. In the kitchen he found Hermione and Ron sitting at the table eating bowls of cereal.

“Morning Harry” Ron said sleepily.
“Hi guys. I thought you would be up” Harry said as he helped himself to a bowl of cereal as well.
“So everything ready for this spell Hermione?”
Hermione nodded at Harry, as she had just taken a large mouthful of her breakfast.

“After breakfast I will discuss with you what needs to be done” she told him

What about Ginny?” Ron asked

“I hadn’t thought about her” Hermione admitted out loud.

“That’s nice to hear Hermione” Ginny said pretending to be hurt.

“I didn’t mean it that way” Hermione quickly answered.

“I know” Ginny laughed taking a seat next to Harry. “I just always like to see you get all flustered”

Hermione’s cheeks glowed red and she quickly finished her breakfast in silence. Once she was done she turned to the other three.

“Well, when you are all finished meet me in the secret room and we will get this Horcrux destroyed”

As soon as they had all finished eating they went to find Hermione. Harry was feeling extremely nervous, he was afraid that something bad would happen and someone might get hurt. He looked over at Ginny as she walked next to him, he wanted to tell her to wait in the kitchen for him, but he knew that she wouldn’t agree to his request so he gave her hand an extra squeeze and led her into the darkened room.

“What is this place?” Ginny asked in amazement.
“It was a secret room that Sirius’ younger brother Regulus had used to concoct all his plans” Harry told her as they wound their way around the high bookcases. There at the back of the room they found Hermione. She had set up an area where they would be performing the ritual.
She had drawn a circle on the ground with what looked like to Harry to be coloured sand. She was sitting cross-legged on the outside of the circle and had the locket in the middle.
“Harry I need you to stand behind me” she told him in a firm commanding voice “Ginny you can sit here next to me and Ron, I need you to sit on my other side”

Everyone did what they were instructed to do and waited with bated breath for Hermione to continue.

She picked up a book that was sitting in her lap and opened it up to a page that she had been working on, she then took a deep breath and turned to her friends.

“Well this is what I found from Regulus’ notes” she began “I hope that I have done this right”

“I have full belief in you Hermione” Harry said with conviction, Hermione gave him a weak smile and continued.

“I think the reason Regulus couldn’t destroy the Horcrux was because he wasn’t skilled enough to do it by himself, that is why I believe we need all of us to overcome the magical barriers that Voldemort has placed on the locket”

“But some of us aren’t that skilled Hermione” Ron objected, shifting uncomfortably on the floor.

“Don’t talk rubbish Ron, you have great skills, and I just wish you would believe in yourself more” Hermione said affectionately

“Right, back to business.” Hermione said in a louder voice “Ron, here is the incantation you will need to open the locket” with that she tore out a piece of paper from her book and handed it to him.
“Ginny you can help me with the spell to destroy the soul” she handed Ginny a piece of paper also.

Hermione then turned around to face Harry, this made him feel nervous as he had guessed what his job was going to be.

“Harry, I need you to cast the best Patronus you can conjure up. I believe this was the part that Regulus was missing from the equation”

“Are you sure this will work” Harry asked uncertainly

“Pretty much. This is what I discussed with Remus and he seemed to think that it would hold a soul at bay for a short time”

“Only a short time?” Harry remarked “How short?”

Hermione once again gave that look of being over worked. “Long enough I think, so that we can say the spell to destroy it. It is the best we got” She told him

Harry decided she was right and started thinking about the happiest thing he could think of, since they needed a strong Patronus. He didn’t have to think long, his gaze moved down to Ginny’s crimson hair and all at once he felt a surge of happiness well up inside him, just as it did earlier that morning.

“I’m ready Hermione” Harry told her

“Ok, Ron you go first, Harry you need to be ready to cast the Patronus charm and then Ginny and I will do our spell” She looked over at everyone and took out her wand “OK lets do this”

Ron took out his wand, which was shaking mildly, and read out the incantation.

“Resero Occultus Insum” Ron looked down at the heavy silver locket, half expecting nothing to happen, but the locket door sprung open letting out a cloud of black smoke.

“Now Harry” Hermione yelled

Harry let his love for Ginny fill him up and shouted “Expecto Patronum”. There before his eyes he saw the brightly illuminated stag erupt from his wand tip. Harry coaxed it forward to stand in front of his friends, blocking them from danger. He could see the black smoke that had come from the locket was starting to take form. His Patronus reached the smoke right before it could reach the girls.

“Hurry up Hermione, this is not going to hold for long” Harry shouted

“Now Ginny” Hermione called out. Both of the girls took hold of the paper and said the spell out loud.

“ Ruo Arcanum Nefaria Anima” The black smoke didn’t disappear, Hermione looked worried.

“Say it again Ginny” she instructed loudly. After the second time the spell knocked the smoke back up against the circle, but it was still there.

“I don’t know what else to do” Hermione shrieked.

“Come here all of you” Harry commanded. They all stood up quickly and made their way over to Harry’s side.

“Let’s all say it together” he suggested.

Hermione held out the paper so they could all see it clearly. Harry still had his Patronus spell working, but it was failing quickly with the despair that was overcoming him.
In a quick movement Harry let the Patronus spell fall and said the spell with his three closest friends.

“Ruo Arcanum Nefaria Anima” they all shouted together.

The black smoke twisted and turned in the circle and then with a deafening roar the four friends were thrown across the room, Harry’s head smacked into one of the bookcases and he passed out, but not before he heard someone scream.

“Ginny” he weakly called out before the blackness of unconsciousness over took him.

Hi everyone, sorry for the time in between chapters. But I haven't been very well. This chapter isn't very long, I just wanted to get something down.



The next thing Harry remembered was someone shaking him awake.

“Harry, Harry. Are you alright?” he heard Ron’s concerned voice from above him.

Harry opened his eyes and saw Ron sitting next to him, he tried to sit himself upright but found it difficult.

“Take it easy Harry, you have been out to it for awhile now” Ron informed him, helping Harry to sit up against the bookcase.

“What happened?” Harry asked groggily, feeling his head with his hand.

“Well, after the soul was destroyed it sent us all flying across the room” Ron told him carefully, not wanting to upset him.

Harry took his hand away from his head and saw that it was covered in blood.

“Geez, Harry. I think you might need to see someone about that”

Ron took a hold of Harry’s arm and helped him to stand up. He steadied himself against his best friend and looked around the room, which looked like a bomb had detonated in it.

“Where is Ginny and Hermione?” Harry asked, realising that they were alone.

“Hermione had to take Ginny to St Mungo’s Harry”

“What? Is she alright” Harry exclaimed, forgetting about the pain that he was in.

“I don’t know, when she was thrown across the room, she must have broken one of the potion vials and it spilt on her”

“Well we have to go and see her” Harry told Ron.

“I know, I have been waiting for you to wake up” Ron said, helping Harry across the destroyed room.

Once they had left the secret room, Ron shut the entrance and then followed Harry into the kitchen.

“How are we getting there?” Harry asked once Ron had entered.

“Floo powder I think. I don’t recon that you would be up to apparating”

“I think you might be right” Harry said as he held his hand against his head. The pain was starting to take a hold of Harry; he sat down on one of the chairs and rested.
“We will go once you are ready” Ron told him, looking worried at his friend.

Harry stood up and proceeded to the fireplace. “I’m ready let’s go”

Ron watched as Harry took a hand full of Floo powder and stepped inside the giant stone fireplace. He steadied himself against the cool of the bricks, his head was starting to pound even harder now. He started to think of Ginny again, hoping that she was going to be alright. He then stood up properly and took a deep breath.

“St. Mungo’s” Harry called out as he threw the Floo powder into the grate.

Then Harry was engulfed in emerald flames, he began spinning very fast, he saw glimpses other wizarding rooms as he sped towards the wizard hospital. He started to slow down, and then he finally came to a halt in the fireplace of the entrance hall of St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Harry had only just stepped out of the way when Ron had appeared right behind him.

“Come on Harry. Let’s see where she is” Ron grabbed Harry around his waist and helped him towards the front desk where the same little plump blonde witch he had seen a couple of years earlier was serving a young wizard, who had a pair of extra eyes growing out the back of his head.
“Fourth Floor” said the witch, after hearing the wizard’s problem. The man disappeared through the double doors beside the desk. “Next!”
Ron stepped forward towards the desk.
“Hello” he said “my sister Ginny Weasley was brought here earlier. I was hoping you could tell me where she is”
The witch ran her long fingernails down a long list in front of her. “Yes, Ginny Weasley. She is on the third floor” pointing to the double doors next to her desk.
“Thanks” Ron said as he followed Harry through the double doors. They started up the rickety stair case and slowly made their way to the third floor.

They found Ginny sitting up in one of the beds talking to Mrs Weasley; Hermione was sitting in a wooden chair next to the bed. She jumped up when she saw Ron and Harry enter the ward.
“I was wondering when you two would turn up” she said, trying to sound like she wasn’t worried.
“I had to wait for Harry to wake up.” he told her giving her a hug.

Harry walked over to Ginny and sat down on her bed, trying to disguise the fact that he was in a lot of pain.
“Are you alright?” he asked touching her on her arm, which had been bandaged by one of the healers.
“Yeah, I’m fine. The potion that spilt on me burnt my skin.” she told him “Nothing too serious. Are you alright?”
“Yeah. Just a bump on my head. I’ll be fine” he lied.
“But you might not have been alright” Mrs Weasley said “What were you all doing?” she asked looking at the four of them.
“It was just an accident Mum” Ginny said not looking at her mother. “It wasn’t anyone’s fault”
Mrs Weasley wasn’t going to take that as an answer. “I wasn’t saying it was anyone’s fault. I am just worried about all of you staying in that horrible house. There are many dangerous things there.”
Just then one of St. Mungo’s healers came into the room, interrupting Mrs Weasley’s scolding‘s. She was carrying a tall glass full of blue liquid that was smoking from the top, she handed it to Ginny “This potion will help in the healing process of your burns. You must drink it all up in one mouthful, and then you will be free to go home” she informed her.

Ginny took the glass from the witch and looked into it with disgust. “Well here goes nothing” she said to the others standing around her.
She began drinking the liquid and scrunched up her face in abhorrence from the taste. Once she had finished drinking the healer took the glass and requested that Mrs Weasley come with her to the desk to sign Ginny’s release forms.

“That was disgusting” Ginny exclaimed.
“So how do you feel?” Harry asked, still trying not to pass out from the pain of his head injury.
“Better, I think” Ginny told him.

Ron, who had been watching Harry ever since they had arrived at the hospital, became more concerned for his best friend and left the room. He returned a few minutes later with Ginny’s healer.

“I have been told that you have a nasty gash on your head, Mr Potter” she said to Harry.

“It’s nothing” Harry said, trying not to make a big deal of it in front of Ginny.

“I’ll be the judge of that thankyou” the witch said in a motherly tone. “Come over here please”. She took Harry over to another one of the empty beds in the ward and started to examine his wound.

“That’s a nice cut you have there.” she mentioned quietly to Harry.

“You will be able to mend it, won’t you?” Ron asked, making Harry jump as he didn’t realise that he was standing right behind him.

“Of course I can mend it. Stand back please” she instructed to Ron.

The healer then took out her wand and performed a couple of elaborate wand movements above Harry’s injury. He could feel the skin knitting back together again, then the witch put her wand away and declared Harry mended.

“Thanks” Harry said feeling the spot where she had just fixed.

He jumped off the bed and walked over to Ginny, Harry couldn’t tell if she was angry or upset at him. “Why didn’t you say that you were hurt?” she asked
“I wanted to make sure you were alright first. I wasn’t in that much pain” Harry lied.

Ginny glared at him for a moment and then she threw herself into his arms, where she held him so tight Harry thought that she was trying to crush his ribs.

“Well, kids it is time to leave” Mrs Weasley said, returning to the room. “And Ginny, you are to come home with me. No arguments”

“But why Mum? I want to go back with these guys” she complained

“I said no arguments. Now let’s go” Mrs Weasley commanded. Ginny knew that she had no chance of changing her Mother’s mind so she grudgingly got up of her hospital bed and followed her out of the ward.

Once they had made it back downstairs, Mrs Weasley instructed to Ginny to step into the fireplace to take the Floo network back to the burrow.
“Mum, what about my clothes that are at Harry’s?” Ginny reminded her.
“I’ll bring them over later if you like” Harry suggested.
“Thank you Harry that would be very helpful. I would like Ginny to go home and rest for awhile” Mrs Weasley said approvingly.

Harry, Ron and Hermione then watched as Mrs Weasley and Ginny vanished in a blaze of bright green flames. Then one by one the friends stepped into the fire themselves and transported back to 12 Grimmauld Place.

As soon as they arrived back to the dark kitchen, Harry turned to Hermione and finally asked the question he had been dying to ask ever since arriving at St. Mungo’s.
“So did we do it?”
Hermione put her hand into her jeans pocket and produced the locket. “We did it” she exclaimed. She gave the locket to Harry, who took it and carefully opened it. This time it opened effortlessly.
“I can’t believe that we did it” Ron said, looking over at Harry from above Hermione’s brown hair. She had come over to Ron for a celebratory kiss and hug.

“This is for Professor Dumbledore” Harry said to his two best friends. “At least we could do what he had lost his life for”

Hermione let go of Ron and went over to the cupboard and brought back three butterbeers. She handed them out to the two boys, holding hers up she toasted “To Professor Dumbledore. May his brilliant mind and his many talents not be forgotten”

They clinked their bottles together saying “ Dumbledore”

Harry gave a silent toast of his own to his favourite Headmaster. Telling him that he would finish the work that he had started, no matter what the cost. It would end with him.

During the last week of their school holidays, the trio spent the majority of their time at 12 Grimmauld Place. Hermione had holed herself up in the secret room of Regulus Black, scouring through book after book looking for a way to help Remus Lupin solve the problem with the Death Eaters locater map. Ron never strayed to far from Hermione’s side, only leaving when Harry would every so often, reappear downstairs. Harry had been regularly visiting Ginny at the Burrow. She was making a full recovery, much to Harry’s delight. When he wasn’t with Ginny, he would sit in his room reading through the remainder of his Mothers diary. The closer he came to the end of diary, the more frightened his mothers writing became. She wrote about going into hiding in Godrics Hollow and having the feeling that they had been deceived by someone. This really hit a sore point with Harry; he couldn’t imagine feeling so betrayed by a friend. Peter Pettigrew was another name on his list of enemies that he was eventually going to have to kill. Finally Harry came to the end of the diary; he had turned the page and only found blank pages before him. He slowly closed the diary and held it against his chest. Tears came to his eyes and one gently ran down his cheek, Harry brushed it away. He decided the time had come, to put away childish thoughts and dreams and to grow up as he had a lot of unpleasant work in front of him. So he got up of the bed and put the diary away, then headed down stairs to find Ron and Hermione.

“So I guess we are going to have to leave soon?” Ron said during dinner that night.
Harry glanced up at Ron, halfway through eating his steak pie.
“Yeah. I think we will probably have to leave in a couple of days. Since this is our last week before we leave for Hogwarts”
“Do you think I could take some of the books from secret room with me when I leave?” Hermione asked Harry hopefully.
“What for?” Ron asked “Don’t you think you will get enough books when we start our last year”
Hermione glanced at Ron with frustration “No Ronald. I need them for the dark magic they hold. I am hoping to finish the locater map for the Order”
“Of course you can take them. I don’t care. As long as they come in handy for our side.” Harry told her unconcerned.
Hermione became overly happy at Harry’s decision. “I will go and look through them. There are so many, I don’t know which ones will be more useful” With that she got up from the table and left the kitchen in a hurry.
“Do you think she wants to finish her pie?” Ron asked, eyeing Hermione’s plate. Harry shrugged and continued eating his own dinner.

That night Harry went to bed early, he had a million thoughts running through his mind at once. He had left Ron and Hermione downstairs arguing about how many books Hermione wanted to bring with her. Harry tried to get some sleep but he just kept tossing and turning. After a couple of hours he gave up trying to sleep and got up from his bed and started pacing the floor. He wished he had a Pensieve; he could certainly do with fewer thoughts at the moment. He then had a brilliant idea, an idea that would definitely help him to relax. Harry walked over to his bedroom door and opened it quietly, he peered carefully out into the hallway and found it in total darkness, obviously Ron and Hermione had given up their argument and gone to bed.
Harry closed the door and collected his wand from the little wooden table beside his bed. He decided that he had better do this quietly or he will be in a lot of trouble. Harry stood in the middle of the room and thought about where he wanted to be, more than any other place at that moment. He turned on the spot and felt that all too uncomfortable feeling of compression, when he reopened his eyes he was standing in a small room that was in complete darkness.

Harry carefully made his way across the room until he came to a bed. He reached out and felt along the bed, to find a safe place to sit on; he then took out his wand and silently cast the lumos charm, lighting the end of his wand. Harry could now see perfectly, he gazed down at the bed and smiled at the sleeping form of Ginny. She didn’t even stir at Harry’s wand light. He reached out and stroked her hair tenderly; she gave a small groan and turned over. She then opened her eyes and grinned at the sight of Harry sitting on the edge of her bed.

“Harry!” she exclaimed in a surprise, quickly sitting up “What are you doing here? Did something happen? Is Ron alright?”

“Calm down” Harry soothed “Everyone is fine. I just needed to see you, I always feel so much better when we are together. I hope you don’t mind me coming unexpected?”

Ginny blushed at Harry’s comments “Of course I don’t mind, but you had better put out your wand light or my Mum will be in here. Then we will both be in trouble”

Harry grinned and silently used the Nox charm, which turned the room once again back into a velvety darkness.

“Do you want to lie down with me?” Ginny asked Harry nervously, she was glad the room was dark because she would hate Harry to see that it wasn’t only Ron who turned red when he is embarrassed.

“Ok.” Harry replied just as nervously. He took off his shoes and climbed into the small bed alongside Ginny. Harry lay down and held Ginny against him, as if by magic all his worries and anxieties left him. He breathed a deep calming breath and closed his eyes. “You had better wake up early, so you can apparate back before we get caught” Ginny warned him.

“I will” Harry promised. He then fell into the best sleep he had had for a long time.

Ginny awoke the next morning, before Harry and gave him a jab with her elbow. “Harry” she whispered “Harry, you must get up. I can hear my Mum downstairs”

Harry’s eyes shot open and he bolted out of bed and grabbed his shoes. He leaned down to Ginny and kissed her affectionately; he looked into her eyes and said what he had wanted to say for a long time “I love you Ginny”.

“I love you too” she whispered “But you had better leave” she kissed him again and watched as he apparated out of her room. Ginny sank back down into the warmth of her bed; she could still feel where Harry had kissed her. Just then her Mum knocked on her door and entered her room. “Morning Ginny. Are you coming down for breakfast this morning?”

“Sure Mum” Ginny said smiling.

“Why are you so happy this morning dear?” Mrs Weasley enquired

“Oh, I just had a wonderful dream” Ginny gushed.

Back at 12 Grimmauld Place, Harry had left his room after having a long hot shower. As he walked down the stairs towards the kitchen, he hummed a tune that was stuck in his head. He thought he knew the tune but couldn’t remember where he had heard it before. After breakfast Harry joined Hermione to see how far she had come to finding the secret ingredient to his Mothers potion.

Harry found Hermione sitting alone at a wooden desk, hidden from view by a huge pile of heavy books that were balancing in front of her.

“How’s it going Hermione?” Harry asked, Hermione looked up from her reading and shook her head.
“I’m not getting very far Harry.” she admitted “This potion is far beyond what I have learnt from school. Your Mum definitely was an expert potion maker”
“It’s a pity that I didn’t inherit her skills” Harry laughed “It would make studying a lot easier”
“Was there anything at all in her diary about the potion?” Hermione asked hopefully.
“No. It was only about the plan that she and Remus had invented”
Hermione loudly shut the book she was reading and leaned forwards onto it.

“How about we leave today?” Harry suggested. “I mean there is nothing else keeping us here, is there?”

“I think that is a good idea. I’m sure you are dying to see Ginny.” Hermione smiled knowingly.

Harry was about to ask what she knew when Ron came walking into the room, looking very annoyed about something.
“What’s wrong Ron?” Hermione asked
“It’s that disgusting house elf. Do you know where I just caught him?” Ron said
Harry and Hermione shook their heads.
“I found him in my room talking to a painting. And it wasn’t just any painting mate, it was the painting of Sirius’ Auntie Elladora” Ron told them
“Wasn’t she the one who tried to force the Ministry to make muggle hunting legal?” Hermione asked
“That’s the one. I wonder if she has another painting somewhere else?” Ron suggested.

Harry was furious with himself, he hadn’t thought of this. He had banned Kreacher from talking to Mrs Black’s portrait, but hadn’t thought about any of the other paintings that were in the house. Harry stormed out of the darkened room and ran up the stairs two at a time. He entered Ron’s room and didn’t see Kreacher anywhere. The only painting that was in the room was empty, its occupant had left the painting and most probably had travelled to another painting somewhere else.

“KREACHER” Harry yelled at the top of his lungs.

Harry heard footsteps coming up the stairs and turned to see Ron and Hermione come into the room.

“Where is he?” Ron asked looking around the room “He was just here”

“KREACHER, COME HERE AT ONCE” Harry bellowed again, making Hermione jump.

“Master called” came a croaky voice from the doorway.

“Who have you been talking to?” Harry demanded, glaring at the sight of the old elf.

“No one master” Kreacher smiled.

“Don’t lie to me Kreacher. Ron saw you talking to this painting” Harry said pointing a finger to the dirty brown frame that was hanging above the bed.

Kreacher shot a look over at Ron, with his blood shot golf ball eyes. “Filthy muggle lover” he grumbled “Can’t keep his nose out of Black family secrets”

“ENOUGH” Harry yelled, striding over to where Kreacher was standing. He grabbed Kreacher by his tea towel and held him up in the air.

“Harry, don’t” Hermione cried.

“Stay out of this Hermione” Harry warned “Who were you sending messages to?”

Kreacher smiled an evil grin at Harry “Mistress Elladora has gone to see her other painting, the one at Mistress Bellatrix’s home.”

Harry dropped Kreacher to the ground as if an electrical bolt had zapped him. “You must go to Hogwarts this instant. I forbid you to talk to anyone, be it elf, human or painting. Do you understand?”

Kreacher bowed low and nodded, and then he was gone with a loud crack.

“Harry what are we going to do?” Hermione said concerned.

“I think we had better pack up our things and apparate back to the burrow as quickly as possible.” Harry instructed to his friends. “Where is Winky? I haven’t seen her around”

“When we took Ginny to Hospital, Winky went home to tell my Mum what had happened.” Ron told Harry as they hurried down the stairs “She must have stayed there”

“That’s good. At least we are the only ones who know what Kreacher has been up to”

Harry and Ron started packing up the food they had bought only recently and shrunk them down, so they could fit them all into one box. Hermione had returned once again to the secret room and packed up all the things that she wanted to take with her.

Then they all went upstairs to pack their own belongings away. Harry took out Sirius’ old trunk and put his own things into it. He decided he would take the photo of his dad and Sirius that was a Portkey to his parents hide out in Godrics Hollow. Once Harry had packed everything he sent the trunk onto the burrow. He didn’t want to have to carry it. He left the room and closed the door behind him, and then he went into Ron’s room to see if he was finished. Ron wasn’t in there, so Harry headed downstairs to find where he was.

“You don’t think that the Death Eaters will turn up here, do you Harry?” Ron asked as soon as he saw Harry coming down the stairs.

“I’m not sure? This place is concealed, but I don’t want to risk them finding us. Not yet anyway.” Harry admitted.

“Are you ready to go?” Hermione asked, she looked like she wanted to leave right now.

Harry nodded and looked at Ron who also nodded in agreement.

Harry waited for Ron and Hermione to apparated first then he did the same.

Apparating this time didn’t seem to bother Harry as much as it did in the past, he guessed he was getting used to the feeling. But he was really missing flying on his broom, once he was back at the Burrow he would have to go for a long fly, maybe take Ginny with him for a picnic, Harry thought to himself.

Back at the Burrow, they all surprised Mrs Weasley who was in the middle of peeling some carrots for lunch.

“What a wonderful surprise” she cheered “Are you here to stay?” she asked Ron, giving him a hug.

“Yes Mum. We really missed your cooking.” Ron told her.

Mrs Weasley gave him another hug and then stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on his cheek. “You are a sweet talker Ronald Weasley!”

She then hugged Harry and Hermione and returned to peeling her carrots, instructing Winky that they needed to cook more for dinner.

Harry, Hermione and Ron headed up the stairs, towards Ron’s bedroom, to make sure all their luggage had arrived safely.

Once Harry had put his things away safely he excused himself and went to find Ginny.

He found her out in the vegetable garden picking green beans for lunch. She let out a shriek when she saw Harry walking across the lawn towards her. She ran full pelt over to Harry, who caught her up in his arms when she reached him.

“Harry! I’ve missed you so much.” Ginny exclaimed as she hugged Harry tightly.

“I’ve missed you too” Harry replied. “I have good news”

“What is it?” Ginny laughed

“I am back to stay. Well just until school goes back anyway” Harry told her happily.

“That’s wonderful” she said delightedly.

Harry took her by the hand and walked back to the vegetable patch to help her pick the beans.

“So what have you been up to?” Ginny asked as she knelt down in the dark brown soil.

“Not a lot. It was getting boring back at the house so we all decided to come back” he lied.
Harry didn’t want to tell Ginny the truth about why they had really come back, he thought that the bad news could wait for a while. He wasn’t quite ready for the bad things that were on their way, he just wanted to enjoy what good times he had now.

The morning of the 1st of September dawned bright and cheerful. Harry made his way down the winding staircase to the commotion that was coming from the Weasley kitchen. Harry could hear Mrs Weasley’s voice above everything else that was happening.
“Hurry up Ron. If you don’t get a move on and eat we will be late” she warned her youngest son.
Harry entered the room and sat himself down at the table along with the rest of the Weasley family and Hermione.
“About time Harry, Mum was just about ready to send Winky up to get you. Apparently we are running late” Ron whispered to his best mate.
“So, everything is the same as it usually is” Harry joked.

After they had finished their breakfast, Mrs Weasley sent them all to their rooms to finish packing and to bring down their trunks, ready to be taken to the train station.

Since everyone except Ginny could apparate, Mr Weasley thought this would be a safer way to arrive, since they couldn’t get ministry cars this year. Mr Weasley magically transported all their trunks to the station where Mad Eye Moody was waiting for them, then they all left the Burrow and arrived at the station.

After making sure that they weren’t being watched they went through the barrier two at a time and made their way onto Platform 9 ¾. Standing in front of them was the gleaming scarlet engine, gently puffing away waiting for the students to say their goodbyes and climb aboard.

“There aren’t a lot of students going back, is there?” Ron pointed out, noticing the decline in numbers that were mulling quietly around the steam engine. Mothers and Fathers were making sure that their children were safely on board before standing back and waving goodbye.

“Come on you lot” Mr Weasley said “Let’s get you guys on board, it is nearly 11 o’clock”

They found Mad Eye Moody at the end of the train with their trunks, waiting patiently. He was scanning the crowd watching out for any suspicious activity.

“Everything going alright, Mad Eye?” Mr Weasley asked, looking around the large group of people.

“So far” Mad Eye grumbled back “Better hurry up and get on board though.”

“Is he the only member from the order here Dad?” Ron asked his father.

“No Ron. There are a few more members positioned strategically around the train. Remus is standing back there” he pointed over to where a shabby wizard was standing against a brick wall.
“I’m also on duty to make sure Harry makes it onto the train and Dedalus Diggle is at the other end of the platform keeping an eye out as well. Plus there are more members on the train itself” Arthur explained.

“Ok Arthur, you get Harry and Ron seated and I will get Ginny on board.” Mrs Weasley instructed.
“But Mum, we are all sitting together” Ginny laughed at her worried Mother.
“Oh right. Well come on lets go” Mrs Weasley said
“What about Hermione? Doesn’t she get protection?” Ron argued

“It’s okay Ron. I have to go to the Prefects carriage and speak to the new Prefects” Hermione explained. “I will see you guys later on” With that she kissed Ron on his cheek and ran off to the top end of the train.

Since there wasn’t a lot of students on board it made getting a compartment to themselves easy. Harry, Ron and Ginny took the first empty compartment together. They then said their goodbyes to Mr and Mrs Weasley and watched as they disembarked the train.

Harry slumped down into his seat, and pulled Ginny down to sit next to him.
“I can’t believe this will be the last time we will ride together to Hogwarts Harry” Ginny said thoughtfully, looking down at her and Harry’s fingers that were entwined.

“I just hope there will still be a Hogwarts for you to return to next year” Harry told her optimistically.

Just then the door to their compartment was opened and Neville Longbottom poked his head in, “Can I join you?” he asked hopefully

“Of course you can Neville. Come in” Harry said, happy to see his fellow Gryffindor student.

Neville came in saying hello to Ron and Ginny and then sat down next to Ron.
“Where’s Hermione?” he asked, noticing that there was someone missing.

“She’s up in the Prefect carriage. She was made Head Girl” Ron said as a matter of fact.

“Well that was no surprise.” Neville laughed “But who is Head Boy?” he asked

“Ben Chapman from Ravenclaw” Harry said watching Ron’s reaction to Neville’s question. Harry knew how much Ron really wanted to be Head Boy, even though he would never admit it.

“Oh, I don’t really know much about him” Neville admitted “I thought that Ron might be Head Boy.”

Ron shrugged and then looked out the window at the countryside that was speeding by.

“I hope that the tea trolley lady hurry’s up, I’m starving” Ginny said, trying to change the subject.

They spent the next couple of hours playing exploding snap. The deck had just exploded once again in Harry’s face, as he was clearing the smoke away from his eyes Hermione entered the carriage and collapsed in a heap next to Ron.
“Is there anything to eat?” she asked, looking over at Ron.

“I saved you a couple of pumpkin pasties” Ron said, handing them over to his girlfriend.

“Thanks” Hermione said gratefully, then she took out her wand and used her magical talents to warm up the pasties.

“So” Ginny said obviously dying to hear some gossip “What is this Ben Chapman like?”

“He seems alright, I guess. I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to him.” Hermione said.
Ron looked at Hermione with a questionable look, but preferred to keep his silence.

“I did see Tonks though. She is one of the members here on the train. She couldn’t talk for long but she did say they heard rumours that Voldemort was going to send Death Eaters to attack the train. Everyone is very worried.”

Harry had wondered how long it would take for Voldemort to launch a full scale attack on the wizarding community as a whole. He questioned himself whether this had something to do with what Kreacher had been doing when Ron caught him talking to the portrait. Harry would be discussing this with his defiant house elf, when he had the chance.

Harry turned towards the window and looked out at country side that was swiftly moving by. He noticed that the scenery had begun to change from green hillsides to the rocky mountains that surrounded Hogsmeade.

“I think we are nearly there” Harry said “I guess we had better get our school robes on”

Hermione had just gotten up from her seat, ready to leave her friends and return to her Head Girl duties, when their compartment door was opened once again and standing in the doorway was a tall dark haired boy.
“Are you ready Hermione?” he asked “I think we will be arriving soon”
“I was just coming Ben” Hermione replied, from behind her she heard Ron give an overly loud Hmmph.
“Ben, do you know my friends. This is Ron and Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom and that is Harry Potter” Hermione said
“I have seen you guys around school, but I have never had any subjects with you” Ben said politely.
“Well I guess we better go.” Hermione said “I will see you guys in the Great Hall”
“It was nice to meet you all. I hope we can catch up later on” Ben said courteously.

“He seemed nice” Ginny said, after Hermione and Ben had left.

“Did you notice that she didn’t introduce me as her boyfriend” Ron said angrily.

“I don’t think that she meant anything by it” Harry said, trying to soothe Ron’s annoyance. “I think she was just in a hurry”

“Well why didn’t she then? I think she is embarrassed to say it to anyone” Ron said.

“Don’t be so stupid Ron. You know that Hermione doesn’t think like that. You are just being jealous because you weren’t made Head Boy” Ginny said candidly.

“That’s ridiculous” Ron said, trying to sound convincingly.

Just then the train came to a halt and they could see the other students making their way off the train.

“Hermione’s your girlfriend?” Neville said shockingly.

Harry laughed and followed Ginny out onto Hogsmeade station’s platform.

Once everyone had disembarked off the train Harry could see just how few students were returning to Hogwarts. There was at least ½ the normal amount of witches and wizards that were normally at school.

“Firs’- years o’er here” came a familiar voice. Harry, Ron, Ginny and Neville turned and saw the gigantic form of Hagrid at the other end of the platform. He was beckoning to the few terrified first years that had arrived for their first time at Hogwarts. Hagrid saw Harry and the others and gave them a huge wave, almost taking out a group of third year students with his arm. Ginny giggled at the sight, then she took Harry’s hand and followed him towards the carriages that were waiting to take them up to the castle. Ginny still felt it was weird that there were actual creatures that pulled these carriages, even though she had ridden on one she still would like to see what they look like. Harry had tried to describe them to her, but if it meant seeing someone die then she would be happy to never see what they look like.

“Ginny are you alright?” Harry asked, looking at her in concern.

“What?” Ginny said snapping out of her reverie. “I’m fine just anxious .”

Harry gave her hand a squeeze, understanding what she was going through. The time that Harry had in finding a way to defeat Voldemort was quickly running out. He was also feeling apprehensive about his upcoming battle.

Ron and Neville jumped in the carriage with Harry and Ginny and once they were all seated, Ron shut the door and the coach set off up the bumpy road swaying with each turn. As the carriage trundled up the path Harry could see the stone columns with the winged boars come into view. Then they passed through the heavy wrought iron gates and the carriage picked up speed on the long sloping drive up to the castle‘s front steps.
They finally had arrived back at Hogwarts, once the carriages came to a complete halt Harry opened the door and stepped out of the carriage. He stepped around to the front of the carriage and patted the Thestral gently on its head. These creatures still fascinated him. He then glanced up at the huge stone castle in front of him, suddenly he was feeling at peace and was looking forward to his last year at school.
“Come on Harry, lets get inside. I think it is going to rain” Ginny said looking up into the darkening sky. She took a hold of Harry’s hand and leads him up the stone stairs and into the famous school where Harry would spend the next year getting ready for his final battle.

Harry and Ginny made their way into the great hall and sat down at their usual place at the Gryffindor house table. Harry looked up at the students who were filing into the hall and noticed that there wasn’t a great deal of Slytherin students returning to Hogwarts this year. Harry pointed this out to Ron who had just sat down on the other side of Harry.
“Well does that surprise you? I’d say most of their parents were probably Death Eaters and the other half are probably too scared to send them”

As the hall filled up, Hermione finally made her way down to their table and plonked herself down in the seat that Ron had been saving for her next to him.
“Everything alright?” Ron asked, looking at his exhausted girlfriend.
“Yeah, I just didn’t think there would be this much running around” Hermione admitted.

Just then Professor McGonagall stood up from her chair and proceeded to the front of the teachers table, to address the students. The idle chatter that had been getting louder ever since the students had entered the hall suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

Professor McGonagall looked the same as always. Her salt and pepper hair was pulled tightly back into a neat bun, her sharp eyes were watching over the students that were still talking, were framed in square glasses, but it was her face that had changed. The usual stern look she gave everyone had softened somewhat, Harry noticed.

“Welcome” she called out, her voice travelling across the hall. “Welcome to everyone for another year at Hogwarts. I am pleased to see so many of you have returned. There are many issues to discuss with you, but first we will have the sorting of the new students.”

Just then Hagrid came thumping through the huge doors with a small gathering of terrified looking first year students walking behind him. Hagrid took them up to the front of the hall where Professor Flitwick was waiting for them with a stool and the famous sorting hat. He placed the hat on the stool and stood back. Everyone waited with bated breath for the sorting hats song. The seam in the brim suddenly ripped open and the hat began to sing;

When I was made many years ago
Hogwarts was shiny new,
The four founders worked immensely hard
To prove their methods true.

Joined by a common goal,
The four found a way
To share their magical talents
With the students of their day.

The bravest and the boldest,
Went to gallant Gryffindor,

The smart and the clever
Went to brainy Ravenclaw.

While Slytherin took only those
With cunning deeds to their name,

And loyal Hufflepuff said
I’ll take the rest and treat them all the same.

Not enough years of happiness
To many of us fight,
I am now here to split you
And I worry it’s not right.

With these troubled days ahead
We must be united in our goal,
Or we will crumble once again
And our Hogwarts will take its toll.

I hope you have listened to my song,
For my words are very true
Now please come up and put me on
And get this sorting through.


Everyone clapped to the hats newest song and watched as one by one the new students went up to get sorted into their new houses.

Gryffindor gained 6 new faces they were Caitlin Brice, Harrison Lampshire, Kane Leahy, Erina Douglas, Tabitha Taylor and Michael Brown.

Professor McGonagall stood up once again and waited for there to be silence.
“Welcome to our newest students. We all hope you enjoy your first year at Hogwarts. Now I must explain to you that there is going to be greater security placed on the castle this year. I must implore to you all too please follow these rules as they are there for your own benefit. All students will not be allowed to wander outside after 6pm every night, unless with a teacher for lessons. If anyone has anything they might like to discuss with me please feel free to come to me. Now we also have a new teacher with us this year, I am pleased to introduce you all to Professor Ziva McGrath. She has consented to taking up the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts position”

A witch to Professor McGonagall’s right stood up and waved a quick hello. She was in her mid thirties and had a lot of dark brown hair.

“She looks nice.” Ron said out loud, he turned around when Hermione gave him a jab in the side of his ribs. “Well nicer than Professor Umbridge anyway” he conceded.

“Now I think that will do for speeches for tonight.” With a wave of her arm the golden plates and goblets in front of them filled up with food and drink. Harry was feeling very ravenous all of a sudden and he helped himself to everything in his reach.

It was a delicious feast as usual; the Hall echoed with talk and laughter as everyone settled down and enjoyed the delicious food.

When the last morsel of pumpkin tart had been eaten and everyone was painfully rubbing their stomachs, Professor McGonagall called out it was time for everyone to head up to their dormitories.
Ron looked over at Hermione who hadn’t moved to take care of the first years. “Aren’t you forgetting something Hermione? Don’t you have to show the midgets where to go?”
“Don’t be mean Ron, anyway that is the prefects job not mine” Hermione told him.
Then they saw the new Gryffindor prefects take the first years up the stairs towards Gryffindor tower.
“Come on lets go. I’m so tired” Hermione suggested.
They all headed up the huge staircase towards their warm beds; just as they made it to the second floor Harry noticed a familiar figure coming their way.
“Hi Hermione” called Ben as he rounded the corner by the painting of the wizards playing chess.
“Hi Ben” Hermione replied. “Looking forward to class tomorrow?”
“Sure am. I told you that I will outdo you this year in Ancient Runes didn’t I” he teased.
Hermione went all red, “Well, we will have to wait and see wont we!” she chided.
“See ya guys” Ben called to Harry and Ron as he sauntered off towards the Ravenclaw dormitories.
Ron all of a sudden stopped Hermione in the hallway and stood in front of her.
“What was all that about?” he demanded
“What? He was just being friendly” she said all embarrassed to be discussing this in front of Harry.
“I think he wants to be more than just friends Hermione” Ron spat back, and then he stormed off by himself towards the seventh floor.
Hermione looked to Harry with a blank look on her face “What is his problem?” she asked him.
Harry shrugged and walked off after Ron.
“Boys” Hermione said under her breath, as she proceeded to her own private room now that she was Head Girl.
As she entered her room she slumped down on her bed and thought about Ron, he made her so angry some times. Why did he have to be so jealous all the time? She thought to herself.
Then her thoughts strayed to Ben, she had to admit that she admired his work ethic and his sense of humour. They already seemed to get along well, and those deep blue eyes of his were mesmerizing. “What am I thinking about?” she said to herself.
She then got ready for bed and set her alarm for an early start.
She wanted to make sure she was ready for her first day of her seventh and final year.

Harry arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast early the next morning, with Ron following closely behind yawning loudly. They piled their plates high with stacks of toast, fried eggs and crispy bacon. They were soon joined by Ginny and Hermione, who helped themselves to some breakfast as well.
“Has anyone noticed that Seamus isn’t here?” Harry pointed out.
“Yeah, Dean told me that his Mum refused to send him this year. He said that Seamus was totally outraged” Ron told them all.
“A lot of parents are too afraid to send their kids to school now what with all the Death Eater activity” Ginny whispered to them.

Not long after they had finished their breakfast, they saw Professor McGonagall coming along their table handing out their timetables. When she reached the trio she immediately cleared them to continue on with the subjects they had started last year. She then turned to Ginny and looked at her O.W.L grades that were printed on a piece of parchment in her hands.
“I was pleased to see that we had another Gryffindor student gain the highest O.W.L grades again. Well Done Miss Weasley.” Professor McGonagall congratulated Ginny.
“Why didn’t you say what grades you got?” Harry enquired at his girlfriend
“I don’t know. It just never came up” Ginny told him blushing profusely.
Professor McGonagall handed Ginny her timetable and proceeded onto the rest of the Gryffindor table.
“No wonder Mum was in such a good mood!” Ron laughed

Harry checked his timetable and found that he had a free period now, with Ron and then they all had Defence Against the Dark Arts double lesson.

After saying goodbye to Ginny and Hermione, the two boys returned to the common room, which was nearly empty except for Neville and a couple of sixth year students.

“Hi Ron. Hi Harry. Are you looking forward to our Defence Against the Dark Arts class? I wonder what this new teacher is like?” Neville asked as he kept his pet toad Trevor from escaping from him.

“It should be interesting with a new teacher, she definitely has to be better than her last two predecessors” Ron said

“I bet she won’t be as good a teacher as Harry though” Neville said quietly

Harry smiled at Neville, slightly embarrassed by this confession.

An hour later they grudgingly left the common room to head down four floors to their first class of the year. Just as Harry was heading out the portrait hole, he was surprised by Ginny trying to come in from the other direction. After a quick kiss Harry hurried off down the stairs to catch up with Ron and Neville. Hermione was already waiting outside the classroom with Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, who looked away the moment Ron came too close to her.

The classroom door opened quietly and Professor McGrath stepped out into the corridor and greeted her year seven students.
“Welcome everyone, please come inside and find yourself a table” she warmly instructed.
Harry looked around the room as they entered; Professor McGrath had taken down the gloomy dark curtains and the gruesome pictures that Professor Snape had adorned the room with last year. The room had a much happier feel to it; Harry hoped this was going to be a good year to learn some new skills.

“Welcome. My name is Professor Ziva McGrath.” She introduced herself. She began walking around the small class, talking as she went. “This is my first teaching position, so I hope you will all be patient with me. I have been trained as an Auror with the Ministry of Magic, but I was asked by Professor McGonagall to teach this year.” she made her way back to the front of the class “Does anyone have any questions?” she asked

Hermione’s hand shot into the air, “Yes. What is your name?” Professor McGrath asked “Hermione Granger. Professor, I was wondering if you could tell us what we will be studying this year”

“I was just about to get to that. We will be practicing our non verbal spells more, and learning harder defensive spells.”

“Excellent” Harry whispered to Ron, this is exactly what he needed this year.

They spent the remainder of the class, paired up practicing their non verbal spells. Hermione of course was the best in the class, being able to do them proficiently last year, but by the end of the lesson, most of the class had been able to cast one spell non verbally, even Neville sent Dean Thomas’ wand flying with expelliarmous.

“That was an excellent lesson” Professor McGrath said, when everyone was packing up their books, getting ready to leave. “I would like everyone to read the first chapter in your text book by our next lesson please. That is all” and she dismissed them.

Harry was heading out the door, when Professor McGrath called him back in.
“I will catch up with you guys” Harry told Hermione and Ron.
He walked back into the room and found Professor McGrath sitting at her desk, she was holding onto an envelope.
“Professor McGonagall asked me to hand this to you, I nearly forgot” she smiled at Harry amiably. “Well done today in class Harry. Now you better get a move on or you will be late for your next lesson”
Harry took the envelope and left the classroom at a quickened pace, as he had Herbology next which was outside in the castle grounds.
Harry decided to read the letter as he walked down the stairs; he ripped open the envelope and took out the letter.
He quickly read the note to himself, trying hard not to collide with anyone as he had his eyes on the letter not on where he was going.
Professor McGonagall had asked him to come to her office later that day, revealing that the new password to gain access to her office was ‘Ginger Newts’, her favourite biscuit . Harry folded the letter back up and placed it in his robe pockets. He wondered what Professor McGonagall wanted to discuss with him. She probably wants me to tell her what Professor Dumbledore and I were doing last year, Harry thought to himself.

Once Harry had made it to Herbology he told Ron and Hermione what the letter was about and what he thought she might want from him. Ron agreed with Harry but Hermione thought she might have something new to discuss with him.
“I think Professor McGonagall understands that you can’t tell her about last year and the Horcruxes” Hermione whispered, making sure that no one could hear her. “Maybe she wants to discuss something else”

“Maybe.” Harry agreed, he then fell silent as Professor Sprout appeared and their class began.

After dinner that night, Harry was able to spend some time alone with Ginny, which was something that he had been wanting to do all day. It was hard knowing that she was in the same castle as him, but he couldn’t see her. They were sitting together on one of the comfy chairs in front of the fire place.
Ginny had her head resting on Harry’s shoulder as he told her about his upcoming appointment with Professor McGonagall. They were just discussing what the meeting could be about when Ron came into the common room and slumped down into one of the other chairs.
“What’s up Ron?” Harry enquired, noticing Ron’s perturbed look.
“It’s Hermione” Ron began “She has been off with that Ben guy again.”
“Ron, they are both head boy and girl. They probably have some work to do around the school” Ginny laughed at her older brother’s jealousy.
“She is in the library with him, studying” Ron said angrily
“So?” Ginny said, watching as Ron’s face turned a deeper shade of pink.
“So? She should be with me studying” he complained.
“Sorry to leave this interesting conversation but I better go and see Professor McGonagall” Harry said standing up. He bent down and kissed Ginny on her forehead “I will see you soon” he told them both.

Harry made his through the corridors that were rapidly becoming deserted as everyone was heading to their respective common rooms. He stopped when he reached the spot where a solitary gargoyle stood up against the wall.
“Ginger Newts” said Harry. The gargoyle leapt aside; the wall behind it began to reveal a stone spiral staircase. Harry stepped onto the moving stairs and he was carried up to McGonagall’s office door.
Harry knocked.
“Come in” came his Headmistresses voice.
Harry pushed on the brass door handle and opened the door, “Good evening, Professor” said Harry, walking into the circular room.
“Harry, I am glad you could make it”
Professor McGonagall pointed to one of the chairs that were in front of her desk for Harry to sit down on.
As he sat down on the hard wooden chair, he looked up at the portrait of his late Headmaster. Professor Dumbledore was sitting peacefully in his golden frame, looking out across his old office. He smiled at Harry and then he rose out of his chair and left his painting.
Professor McGonagall looked over her shoulder at what had captured Harry’s attention.
“He has been doing that a lot lately” she informed Harry “I don’t know where he has been going”
Harry shifted uncomfortably on his seat, wanting Professor McGonagall to get a hurry on with whatever she had called him here for.
“Now, Potter. The reason I called you in here tonight is to discuss with you a few important matters”
Harry sat up straighter and listened intently, “The first matter is to tell you that your cousin Dudley has decided not to attend Hogwarts. I have been to see his parents but I was not very welcome in their home”
“I bet they weren’t very happy with your visit!” Harry said amusingly.
“No.” Professor McGonagall said sternly “They told me in no uncertain terms that Dudley will not be turning into a ‘freak’. I am sure that is what they told me”
“Sounds about right” Harry agreed.
“Now the next thing is that Order would like to have yourself, Miss Granger and Mr Weasley available to attend some of our meetings.”
“Really!” Harry exclaimed “How come?”
“Now that you are all of age, and know what is happening we believe you three might be able to come in handy.”
Harry’s chest swelled with pride at what he was hearing. This was the first time ever he felt like he was being treated as an adult, not as a child.
“I will let you know when the next meeting will take place.” she told him.
Harry was just about to get up and leave, thinking that was all she had to tell him.
“One more thing before you leave Harry. I need to tell you about Professor McGrath. How much do you know about her?”
“Um… She told us that she was trained as an Auror and this is her first teaching job” Harry quickly remembered
Professor McGonagall nodded and then she got up from her chair and proceeded over to the heavy wooden door and cast a spell on it.
Harry must have looked puzzled at what she was doing. “I have just cast an impenetrable charm on this door, as I do not wish us to be heard” she said as she once again took her seat across from Harry.
“Professor McGrath is also here on behalf of the Order. Did you notice that your Defence Against the Dark Arts class was mainly made up your old DA members?”
Harry stopped and thought about this startling new fact, now he realised that there were no Slytherin’s in the class for the first time in six years.
“Why’s that Professor?” Harry enquired.
“Because she is going to help you all with your defensive spell work. This way no one will be any more to the wise that you are gaining extra help outside the normal curriculum.” she smiled
Harry was shocked to hear of this news, “So no one else knows that she is actually training us to help fight with the Order?”
“That’s correct; I am the only teacher here, besides Professor McGrath, who knows of this”
“Can I tell Ron and Hermione?” Harry asked cautiously.
“Yes, as long as they realise not to divulge this information to anyone else” she warned.
“They can keep a secret” Harry reassured her.
“Well, I think that is all for now. I will be in contact with you shortly to inform you of the next meeting for the Order” she said as she stood up from her desk.

“Ok. Thank you Professor” said Harry, as he left the room and headed back towards the Fat Lady’s portrait.

Ron and Ginny were eagerly awaiting Harry’s return to find out what the important news could be. Harry felt bad that he wasn’t going to be able to tell Ginny the full story but at least she could know some of it.

“Well, what did McGonagall want?” Ron asked, looking up from the text book he was reading for Defence Against the Dark Arts.
Harry took his seat next to Ginny once again, who was also immersed in a thick text book.
“Mainly just to tell me about Dudley, and that he isn’t coming to Hogwarts”
“I bet you are relieved about that!” Ron laughed, “But it would have been funny to see your oversized cousin trying to fit in around here”
Harry was pleased that Dudley wouldn’t be coming, but he felt sorry for him at the same time. Because his life now would never be the same again.

“Was that all that she wanted Harry?” Ginny asked, looking away from her studies.
“Pretty much.” Harry lied. He looked away from Ginny and glanced up at the clock on the wall “Well I suppose I better get my books out as well. Otherwise I wont get anything done tonight”

The three of them sat quietly in the common room until Hermione returned from her duties as Head Girl at 10pm. Her hair was all messed up and her cheeks very pink.
Ron jumped to his feet at the sight of his girlfriend “What have you been doing?” he accused her.
“Ben and I have been outside with Mr Filch trying to find Mrs Norris. Appartently she has gone missing” said Hermione
“You and Ben?” he shouted
“Yes, what’s the matter with that?” she replied
“You are certainly spending a lot of time with him. One might think you are up to no good Hermione” Ron indicated
Hermione’s face went from nice to furious in a matter of seconds. “How dare you say that to me, Ronald Weasley. You know exactly what I have been doing.”
Ron opened his mouth to add more objections to Hermione’s new found friendship but she stormed away off towards her bedroom.
Ron let out a loud growl and kicked the chair next to him. He then slumped back into his seat.
“Ron, you have to be more trusting of her” Harry warned him
“Why should I?” he questioned Harry angrily.
“Because you will probably lose her” Ginny told him honestly.
“I don’t know what else to do.” Ron admitted, his anger suddenly disappearing.
Harry went over to his best friend and sat down with him on the lounge chair.
“You need to calm down a bit mate. She will always have other friends besides you. But she choose to be with you, not anyone else.”

Ron nodded and then left Harry and Ginny and headed up to the boys room at the top of the stairs.

“I was hoping this wouldn’t happen” Harry confessed to Ginny, who came to join him on the lounge.
“Me too. But maybe they weren’t meant to be together”
Harry looked over at his girlfriend and silently hoped that they wouldn’t also meet the same horrible ending.
“Well I am off to bed. I will see you in the morning Harry” she leaned over and gently kissed him on the lips.

Harry watched as she walked away from him and out of sight. Harry didn’t know how long he sat there in the common room after Ginny left, but he started to feel hungry again, as he didn’t eat a lot at dinner time. He had been too interested in what Professor McGonagall had to say to him.

Harry ran up stairs to his room and quietly made his way across the room to the trunk that was standing at the end of his bed. He retrieved his Dad’s old invisibility cloak and tiptoed out of the room. He threw the cloak over himself and made his way out of the portrait hole and down the stairs to the kitchen.

Harry had just made it to the third floor when he heard the footsteps coming in his direction. He stopped and waited for the person to go past him before he continued down the stairs. He watched as a familiar person came around the corner, it was Ben. Harry wondered what he was doing out here at this time of night. Ben seemed to be looking around making sure he was alone, and then he stepped behind one of the larger stone statues in the hallway. Harry observed closely as Ben reached into a bag he was carrying and took out an invisibility cloak. He gave one more look around and then he threw the cloak over himself and he was gone.




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Harry headed downstairs the next morning, still trying to make sense of what he had witnessed the night before. He hadn’t told anyone what he had seen because he had gone to bed late, and when he got up Ron had left the bedroom.

Harry found Ginny sitting with her friends in the Great Hall eating their breakfast; Harry waved to her as he entered and then went and sat with Ron and Hermione.
Who were obviously still not talking to each other. Harry ignored their behaviour and started on his breakfast.

“I’ve got to talk to you two sometime today” Harry whispered to them as he was finishing off his toast.
“What’s up Harry?” Ron asked
“I can’t discuss it here. Maybe during our free period after lunch” Harry suggested
“Ok. I will meet you there” Hermione said as she got up from her seat “I’ve got to go to my lesson”
Ron watched as she marched out of the Great Hall and then he collapsed onto the table in front of him with his head between his hands.
“So I take it you and Hermione are still arguing?” said Harry, shovelling a huge piece of bacon into his mouth at once.
Ron nodded despairingly without any noise.
“Good morning” came a sweet voice from behind Harry; he looked around and found Ginny standing behind him. Harry’s heart started pumping a bit faster, as it always did whenever she was around him.
“Are you going to class soon?” she asked Harry
“Yeah, I am just waiting for your brother to pry himself off of the table” Harry joked
“What class do you have this morning?” Ginny asked
“Potions and then Charms” he told her.
“How are yeh all goin’” said Hagrid, who had just come down from the staff’s table.
“Oh good thanks Hagrid. Sorry we haven’t had a chance to see you but with all the new security it has been a bit hard” Harry said, making sure Hagrid didn’t feel like they had been avoiding him.
“Nah. I have been busy myself. Professor McGonagall has me doing some secret work” he whispered in Harry’s direction.
“What sort of secret work Hagrid?” Ron asked
Hagrid tapped his nose with his over sized finger, “That is between me and the Headmistress. Well best be off, got a class to get ready for this morning”
Harry waved as Hagrid thumped out of the hall, “Well we all best go or we will be late”
Ginny gave Harry’s hand a tight squeeze and then ran off up the stairs in the entrance hall.

Harry and Ron made their way down the familiar path towards the dungeon classroom that they had for potions. When they arrived in the corridor they saw that the number of students was now half of what it was in the previous year. They noticed that the door to classroom was already open so they made their way into the musty room and sat down at the table with Hermione and Ernie Macmillan.
“Harry, Ron” Ernie said happily, extending out his hand to the two Gryffindor boys. “How are you?”
“Fine” Ron mumbled, glancing over at Hermione.
Harry sat down next to Hermione, as Ron had already sat down opposite her.

“Well then.” came a loud voice from in front of the class. Professor Horace Slughorn was standing by his desk, with an enormous grin showing from under his great walrus moustache. “Welcome back, but it seems our numbers have decreased some what”

He scanned the class and was pleased to see that his favourite student, Harry had returned.
“Not to matter, not to matter. We will press on. Today we will be revising what we learnt last year, as most of that will be present in your N.E.W.T exams later this year” he told the class. Hermione gave her full attention to what Slughorn was saying.
For the rest of the class they read through the different potions they had already made and then Slughorn threw them a surprise pop quiz, which no one (but Hermione of course) was ready for. Harry had to work from Hermione’s text book as he still had his hidden in the room of requirement. He made a mental note to go and retrieve it, since Snape was obviously not returning to teach at Hogwarts.

An hour and a half later they all trudged out of potions with their heads bursting full of information.
“That was an excellent lesson” Hermione boasted as she looked at her test results.
Harry and Ron looked at each other and then quickly shoved their tests into their book bags.

After their Charms lesson, the trio made their way to lunch. They had just walked into the hall when they were stopped by Ben.
“Hi guys” he said cheerfully
“Hi Ben, what’s up?” Hermione asked
“Professor McGonagall wants to see us in her office”
“Oh ok. I will see you two for the free period” she said to them as Ben pulled her out of the hallway.
Ron stormed off towards their usual seats and started piling everything he could reach onto his plate.
“If you eat like this every time she talks to him, then you are going to look like Slughorn!” Harry joked
Ron ignored him and kept on eating.
Dean and Neville gave Harry a ‘what’s up with him?’ look; Harry just shook his head and concentrated on his meal.
Once they had done eating Harry took the dejected Ron up to the Gryffindor tower and waited for Hermione to turn up. Harry was dying to tell them everything that had happened.
“Where is she?” Ron muttered angrily
“I’m sure she will be here soon” Harry placated him, looking over to the clock on the wall; Harry noticed that Hermione was already 15 minutes late.

Hermione then came hurriedly into the common room, “I’m sorry I’m late but Professor McGonagall wanted to discuss something’s with us” she apologised.
Harry looked around the common room at the other Gryffindor students that obviously had a free period now as well. Harry took out his wand and silently cast the Muffliato charm on the area around them as he did not their conversation to be heard by anyone else.
“You know that I don’t like you using that” Hermione said angrily
“I know, but what I got to say is very secret” Harry told her, moving in closer.
Ron moved in closer as well eager to hear what Harry had to say.
“Well the first thing is that the Order of the Phoenix wants us to attend some of their meetings”
Both Ron and Hermione’s faces looked just as Harry’s did when McGonagall had told him.
“Wow! That’s excellent” Ron exclaimed
“I wonder why they want our help now.” Hermione questioned them.
“McGonagall said now that we are of age and know what is going on they could use our help” Harry told her.
“The other exciting news is that Professor McGrath is actually from the Order. McGonagall had her come here to teach us spells and defensive work not in the standard school curriculum”
Once again Hermione and Ron where lost for words, so Harry continued.
“Did you guys notice that our Defence against the Dark Arts class was mostly made up of DA members?”
This made them think back to their class yesterday, “Now that you say that, I was wondering where all the Slytherin’s went to” Hermione said.
“Now you can’t say this to anyone, not even Ben. Alright Hermione?” Harry warned her.
“I wouldn’t tell him” Hermione said hurt “I know how important it is”
She then stood up and glanced over at Ron, hoping that he might jump to her defence, but he just sat there fiddling with a loose thread from his robes.
“Well if that is it, I am going to go down and find something to eat” she told them.
“See you later” Ron said quietly.
Harry waited for Hermione to leave the common room and then he turned back to Ron.
“I have something else to tell you about” Harry explained “I couldn’t tell you when Hermione was here, I don’t know how she would react”
“What is it?” Ron asked
“It is about that guy Ben”
Ron suddenly became a lot happier “Did you find something out about him?”
“Not exactly. I saw him last night hiding behind one of the statues on the third floor and then he slipped an invisibility cloak over himself and vanished” Harry said, recounting what had happened.
“Where do you think he went?” Ron asked suspiciously
“I have no idea, but I would like to know” said Harry, he jumped to his feet and crossed the common room floor and led the way through the door to the boys’ staircase.
“What are we doing Harry?” Ron panted, trying to keep up.
Harry flung open the door to their dormitory and hurried over to his trunk and began to rummage in it, while Ron waited impatiently.
“Harry….”
He had found it, a folded piece of blank parchment, which he now smoothed out and tapped with the tip of his wand.
“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good”
At once, the Marauder’s Map appeared on the parchment. Here amongst the detailed plan of the castle were tiny moving black dots, which were labelled with every person’s name and where they were at the precise point in time.
“Harry, what are you looking for?” Ron asked
“I want to see where Ben is. Help me look”
They laid the map out on Ron’s bed and they leaned over it, searching.
After a short while Harry detected him in the library.
“At least he isn’t with Hermione, she is still in the Great Hall eating” Ron pointed, looking a bit relieved.
“See I told you not to worry” Harry told his best friend.
“Well I will be keeping an eye on him, especially during the later hours of the day” he said firmly
“But can you see where he is going if he has an invisibility cloak on?” Ron asked
“Yeah, it still works, I will show you.” With that Harry retrieved his own cloak and covered himself, while Ron kept an eye on Harry’s own labelled black dot.
“Excellent” Ron said happily
Harry had just taken the cloak off when the dormitory door was opened and Dean and Neville entered the room. They quickly wiped the map clean and stored it back in Harry’s trunk. After a quick chat with Dean and Neville they headed out to their next lesson.
Over the next couple of days Harry kept a vigilant watch on Ben’s late night activities. But he had no success, ‘maybe he was just visiting some girl on another floor’ Harry thought to himself, he might ask Hermione if Ben had a girlfriend.

One night Harry fell asleep while he was watching the Marauder’s Map, during his sleep he had disturbing dreams about Ben working for Voldemort. He was bringing the Dark Lord vital information about Harry. Then all Harry could hear was music, he had heard this music before, it was very soothing and made Harry feel as if everything was going to be alright. Harry awoke the next morning, feeling utterly confused about his latest dream.

When the weekend finally rolled around Harry was glad for the chance to relax a bit, plus it also gave him and Ginny time to spend together, something they had been finding it hard to do, with all the school work that the teachers were piling on them and Harry’s late night monitoring of Ben’s activity.

Harry had told Ginny of what he had seen Ben do, earlier in the week and what he had been doing since.
“I don’t know Harry. He seems like a nice guy, from what Hermione has told me anyway. I don’t think he would be doing anything bad” Ginny said.
They were taking advantage of the rare sunny afternoon that had presented on Saturday; they had escaped from Ron and were lounging under the huge tree down by the black lake.
“It still seems suspicious though. I did ask Hermione if Ben had a girlfriend but she didn’t know.” Harry explained, running his fingertips through Ginny’s long red hair.

“Well maybe there is some other way to see what he is up to” Ginny suggested.
“I don’t know what” Harry admitted.
“Hey!” Harry said suddenly remembering something “Do you want to come inside and help me with something?”
“Help you with what?” Ginny asked warily.
“I will tell you when we get there” Harry said smiling; he jumped to his feet and held out his hand to Ginny and then helped her to her feet.
They hurried inside and made their way up the staircase. Harry led Ginny up to the seventh floor, she thought that Harry was going to led her into their common room but he went right on past the Fat Lady’s portrait. They continued down the corridor to the stretch of wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls to do ballet.
“What are we doing back here?” Ginny asked, noticing where they were.
“I have to get something” Harry told her, he then closed his eyes and began to walk back and forth in front of the blank wall thinking I need a place to hide my book……..I need a place to hide my book……..I need a place to hide my book…
After walking past the wall three times he re opened his eyes and saw the door to the Room of Requirements. He opened the door and held it open for Ginny; he then followed her inside and closed it quietly.
Ginny gasped. “I know it is huge isn’t it” Harry said in response to her look of amazement. “Come on this way” he took hold of her small hand and led her though the many alleyways trying to remember the exact way to his old potions book.
They passed many mountains of treasures and broken furniture, until he spotted the enormous stuffed troll and remembered it wasn’t much further. Harry walked on a bit further and took the next left, noticing that the vanishing cabinet that Malfoy repaired last year had gone. When Harry pointed this out to Ginny she said “They probably got rid of it, once they realised what they were capable of doing”
Harry finally came across the large cupboard, Ginny laughed when she saw the bust of the ugly old warlock wearing the wig and tiara sitting on top of the old cupboard.
“I put that there to remind me where I put my book” Harry told, opening the cupboard’s creaking doors. He lifted the cage with the five legged skeleton in it, out of the way and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his Advanced Potion Making book still sitting where he had left it.
“Is that what you came looking for?” Ginny asked amusingly “A book?”
“It’s not just any book, it used to belong to Snape” he told her impressively.
“Is that the one that you were doing the spells from last year?”
“Yeah the one and the same. I hid it when Snape became sceptical of how I did the hex on Malfoy” he told her as they made their way back out of the dusty room.
When they made it to the door, Harry listened intently to make sure no one was outside in the corridor. When he was sure it was all clear, he gradually opened the door and let Ginny and himself out.
“You know Hermione isn’t going to be pleased that you have that book back”
“I know. She didn’t like it last year when I out did her in Potions” Harry laughed.

Later that night when everyone had retreated to their bedrooms, Harry and Ron took the Marauder’s Map and headed downstairs to sit in the comfort of the common room.
Harry took out the map and spread it open across the floor. He then tapped it with his wand and watched as all the details of Hogwarts came into view.
“Where is he?” Harry said to Ron, they both began scanning the map.
“There he is” Ron said jubilantly, and he pointed to a little floating black dot that was moving quickly up the staircase away from the Ravenclaw’s home room.
“Well he is definitely in a hurry” Harry said, stating the obvious.
They watched him move through out the castle, interested to see what he was up to.
“Maybe he is just doing his Head Boy duties” Harry suggested
Ron quickly looked around the map and disagreed “If he was don’t you think that Hermione would be with him, and not in her bedroom”
“Good point Ron”
They watched a bit longer then all of a sudden Ben’s black dot stopped, then they saw him head into one of the secret tunnel’s that led out of Hogwarts.
“Didn’t you say the Filch knows about those tunnels?” Ron asked confused
“Yeah he does. At least that is what Fred and George told me”
They watched as Ben’s little dot was out of the Marauders Map and obviously out of Hogwarts.
“This definitely shows that he is up to something doesn’t it?” Ron said to Harry, obviously happy that he now had some dirt on Ben.

“Are you going to tell Hermione?” Ron asked, looking over at Harry.
“Not right away, I want to know what he is up to first.”
“How are we going to know what he is doing? Even if we follow him under your invisibility cloak we still wont know where he is” Ron indicated
Harry sat back against the lounge chair and thought about what they were going to do.
“Maybe we could ask someone?” Ron suggested
“But who would know about tracking someone?” Harry thought out loud.
The two boys sat together on the floor of their common room for a while contemplating who could help them. Then suddenly Ron’s face lit up with an idea.
“How about Fred and George? I’m sure they might have some way of finding someone. Now that they are making a lot of defensive items for the Ministry”
“Sounds like a great idea” Harry jumped to his feet and went over to the table by the tall window and found a piece of paper, a quill and ink and then set about writing his letter to the Weasley twins.
After finishing it Harry sealed it so it couldn’t be opened by anyone else, and then he and Ron scaled the stairs to the owlery. Harry found Hedwig happily eating a mouse high up in the rafters.
“Hedwig” he called to her “I need you to take a letter for me”
She swallowed the rest of her mouse and swooped down onto Harry’s arm.
“Good girl, I need you to take this to Fred and George” Ron carefully tied the note to her leg and then stood back as she flapped her snowy white wings and took off through the open windows.



I wonder where Ben is going? And is Hermione cheating on Ron? At least Harry and Ginny are looking strong. Well for now anyway!! Please leave feedback I always look forward to reading your comments

Harry waited each morning during the next couple of weeks for a sighting of his snowy white owl Hedwig. He had been waiting for a reply from the Weasley twins about a way to follow someone who is invisible. He had been keeping up a constant vigil each night with Ron’s help watching Ben’s every move with the Marauders Map. They had seen him leave the castle on numerous occasions, each time leaving through the same passageway on the third floor. They still hadn’t told Hermione of their plan about Ben as they didn’t know how she would react to them spying on her new friend. Even if they wanted to talk to her they found it hard, as they hadn’t seen her around the castle much lately. She had been spending the majority of her free time either in the library or with Ben patrolling the school.

Early into the third week, Harry finally got the reply that he had been waiting for. He was sitting in the common room with Ron in between classes when he heard Hedwig tapping against the window. He crossed the floor and opened the window to let her in; she flew down to the lounge and held out her leg so Harry could untie the unusually large letter that she was carrying.

“About time, those two sent back a reply” Ron said, watching as Harry opened the letter.
Hidden inside the letter was a small bottle of blue liquid, Harry took it out and examined it and then he tossed it to Ron. Harry then unfurled the letter and read it loud.

Dear Harry & Ron,

Sorry for taking so long in writing back to you guys. We have been extra busy lately, our business has been booming and we have been doing some work for the Order. It was a shame that you didn’t write who you wanted to follow, but knowing you Harry we are sure you have got good reasons.
Anyway not too long ago we were approached by the Ministry of Magic for some help with the same problem you came to us for. We have prepared this potion to overcome this dilemma. What you need to do is pour some of the potion onto the person’s shoes and then you need to charm your glasses to be able to see where their footprints led to.
The charm for your glasses is Aperio. I hope this works for you.

Yours sincerely

Fred & George

P.S - We hope you and Ginny have been behaving yourselves!!

Harry laughed at the last line of the twins’ letter, and then took back the little bottle of blue potion from Ron.

“You’re lucky that the twins have been getting a lot of work from the Ministry. Dad thinks that the twins will be set up life if they keep on supplying the Ministry with these defensive spells” Ron told Harry proudly. “So when do you want to do this?”

“I will keep an eye on Ben, but he seems to head out mainly on the weekend. So I think we will plan it then” Harry informed him.

“Cool.” Ron whispered.

They had been joined by a group of year six girls, which meant that their break time was over and they had to head off to class. Harry took the bottle and letter and hid them in his book bag. He then followed Ron out of the portrait hole and into the corridor.

Hermione meanwhile was keeping herself very busy with all the school work she was getting from her teachers. Even she was finding some of her classes harder this year, if it wasn’t for Ben’s help with her last essay in Ancient Runes, she didn’t think that she would have got a passing grade. Hermione really admired Ben; he was very much the type of boy that she found easy to talk to. Besides Harry and Ron, he was the only other boy that she could call a true friend. He always seemed to be there for her when she needed a shoulder to cry on. Ron had been driving her crazy lately, especially with his overly jealous tendencies.

She was sitting at her usual desk in the library after class one dark and miserable day. She had the same pile of books open in front of her and she was neurotically scanning through each of the books, searching for the answer‘s to her latest obsession. She had been coming to the library everyday trying to finish this work. However, it wasn’t schoolwork she was doing; she was busily trying to finish the potion that Lily Potter had started with Remus Lupin 17 years ago. If she could find the missing ingredients she would be able to complete the potion that went with the locator map that would help the Order find Death Eaters in hiding.

She was just about to give up for the day when she looked up at a smiling face looking down at her.
“How long have you been here?” Ben asked
Hermione rubbed her eyes and then sat back in her chair “For a couple of hours I think” she admitted
“I thought you were going to come and help me today” Ben pouted, taking a seat across from Hermione, smiling at the sight of her.
“I know I’m sorry. But I really want to get this work finished” she told him, trying to put the books away before Ben could read the titles of some of the darker books.
“You still haven’t told me what you are working on Hermione” Ben said, trying to sneak a glimpse of what she was writing.
“It’s nothing much, just a personal obsession” she joked, putting the rest of her books away.
“Well, maybe I am interested in your obsessions”
Hermione looked up at Ben shocked by his honesty. She blushed profusely and then looked away quickly.
“Um….. Ben you do know that I have a boyfriend?” she asked him
“Yeah I know. That isn’t going to stop you being friends with me now is it?”
Hermione thought of Ron and what he would say if he heard Ben say that. But Hermione always went with her own initiative and this was no different to any other times.
“Of course I still want to stay friends” she said sweetly, looking into his deep blue eyes. She was always astounded by the reactions she felt when she looked into his eyes. He seemed to have such an old soul, and that showed through in the way he looked at her.
“Well come on then, lets go and see what the house elves have cooked us for dinner” he suggested, holding out his hand.
Hermione hesitated for a second and then she grinned and gave Ben her book bag that was over flowing with books.
He took it and threw it over his shoulder and followed her out of the library.

When Hermione entered the Great Hall, she was laughing at a joke Ben had just told her. She didn’t realise she was being watched by a familiar red haired boy sitting at the end of one of the dinner tables.
She took her book bag back from Ben, said goodbye and went off to sit with Ron and Harry.
“Hi guys” she said happily, plonking her heavy bag on the floor by her feet. “What’s for dinner today?”
Harry looked over at Hermione “You are in a happy mood”
“Am I?” she asked, reaching for some chicken and potatoes.
“What have you been doing?” Harry asked, helping himself to more dinner.
Ron looked slowly up at his girlfriend, wanting to hear her answer.
“Nothing really, I have just been in the library working on your Mum’s potion” she said
“Did you finish it?” Ron asked hopefully
Hermione swallowed the mouthful of food and answered “Not yet, but I am getting there”
“Let us know if you need any help” Harry offered
“I will, but there isn’t much else to do at the moment, except trying to decipher those awful dark magic books” she said quietly, as she watched a group of students walk past their table.

Harry waited until they were sure that they weren’t going to be overheard, “I am hoping to hear from Professor McGonagall soon, when we can go to one of the Order’s meetings”
“Me too” Ron said “It will be good to hear how close they are coming to finding Voldemort”
“But it won’t matter if they find him Ron” Hermione interrupted “If he still has his Horcruxes then he will still be alive. We really need to find out where the other three might be”
Harry agreed with Hermione, he hadn’t given his Horcrux hunt much thought lately, what with spending time with Ginny, going to class and doing his homework. Plus now the mystery with Ben, he just didn’t have any time left in the day to find the remaining Horcruxes.
“We will have to make some time soon, so we can discuss where we are up to with looking for the next Horcrux” Harry whispered to Hermione and Ron.

“Well this Saturday is our first Hogsmeade weekend; maybe if we stay behind we can talk more freely.” Hermione suggested.
Ron looked dejected “Oh come on Hermione, I was really looking forward to going to Hogsmeade.”
“Why’s that Ron? Have you been missing Madam Rosmerta?” Hermione joked, watching as Ron’s face went pink.
“No! I was hoping you and I could spend some time alone, since I haven’t seen much of you in the past month” he mumbled
“Oh!” was all Hermione said, she was obviously embarrassed by Ron’s attempt to spend time with her.
“Well maybe we could go for a couple of hours in the morning. What do you think Harry?”
“Hmm?” Harry’s mind was elsewhere, he was in the middle of a daydream, which included himself and Ginny spending some alone time as well.
“I think that sounds great” Harry said “I think we could all do with some time together, not thinking about school work or anything else”

So they planned to return to Hogwarts at 1pm to discuss the remaining Horcruxes, which they still had no idea where they might be hidden.

After they had returned to the Gryffindor common room, Harry and Ron waited until Hermione had left for her nightly patrols of the school corridors, so they could discuss the plans they had made for following Ben.

“The tricky part is how are we going to pour the potion onto Ben’s shoes, without him becoming suspicious?” said Harry, looking over to Ron hoping that he might come up with a brilliant answer.
“It’s a pity we haven’t got Hermione in on this plan, as she can get close to him without rousing any doubts.” Ron said “I don’t know how we are going to do it?”

Harry sat back against the lounge and thought about how this might work.
“Maybe we could ask Ginny for help?” he suggested “She knows we are doing, and she can be pretty sneaky when she wants to be”
“Tell me about it, when we were young, she use to always find a way to slip her brussell sprouts off her own plate and onto mine. Then I would get into trouble for not eating my vegetables” Ron complained
Harry laughed out loud “Well let’s go and ask her if she will help us.” he said.

He looked around the common room, which was full of Gryffindor students, many trying to get some homework done but many of them were either talking in close little groups or playing games to pass the time.

Harry found Ginny sitting with a couple of sixth year girls, looking through a muggle teen magazine. When they saw Harry and Ron making a line straight for their table they quickly hid the glossy magazine under the school books that were spread out all over the table.

Ginny grinned at Harry as he came closer to her, “Hi there” she giggled “I have been over here waiting for you to come and see me”

“Sorry, but we have been busy. Can we talk to you over here?” he asked her sweetly.
Ginny’s friends all giggled as she got up from her chair and took Harry’s hand. Harry thought he would never understand why girls had to giggle all the time; it didn’t make sense to him.

“What’s up?” she asked, sitting extra close to Harry on the lounge, ignoring Ron’s looks of aversion.

Harry leaned in and whispered their plan to her, Ginny smiled wider at what Harry was asking her to do. She was amazed that he had come to her for help, she knew how important it was to Harry to find out where Ben was going at night.

“So do you think you can do it?” Ron asked, once Harry leant away from Ginny’s ear.

“I should be able to. Let me think about it for a day, I’m not to sure how to get that close to him yet, but I will. Don’t worry” she assured them both.

“Now there was another thing I had to ask you to” Harry said, looking a bit embarrassed to discuss this in front of Ron.
“I was hoping you would come with me on Saturday to Hogsmeade. I want us to spend some time together” he invited. But there was no need to wait for her answer, as she was thrilled that he had suggested it.

“I would love to spend the day with you at Hogsmeade” she said affectionately. As Harry leaned over and kissed Ginny, Ron decidedly looked in the other direction. No matter how happy he was that Ginny and Harry had gotten together, it was still weird to watch his little sister snog his best friend. And especially in the middle of the common room.
“Hey, I thought you two were going to keep this relationship of yours a secret?” Ron said, remembering what Harry had told them all back at Bill and Fleur’s wedding.

“I know I said that, but I it was too hard trying to keep a secret. I want to be able to enjoy myself now if Voldemort is going to do me in later” Harry confessed.

“Well as long as you don’t enjoy yourself too much” Ron warned

Ginny glared at Ron with such a menacing stare that he got up from his seat and wandered off to find someone else to talk to.

“What’s the matter with Ron?” Harry asked, watching as Ron sat down with Neville and Dean in the far corner of the room.
“Oh nothing. He is just jealous” said Ginny, stretching out her legs over Harry’s lap and staring into his green eyes.

“Have you thought about what you are going to do when this is all over?” she asked him

“I don’t like to think that far ahead” Harry told her openly.
“Can’t you just tell me, I want to know” she persisted, giving Harry her best pout.

“Well, when it is all over and if I am still here then you will be the first person I will discuss my future with, because I want my future to be with you” Harry told her honestly.

Ginny’s deep brown eyes began to fill with tears at Harry’s words, she didn’t know if it was from him saying that he might die in the battle or that he wants to spend his future with her. She had mixed emotions. Harry reached over and brushed the tears that had started to fall, “What’s wrong?” he asked, looking confused.
Ginny tried to smile but she couldn’t, so she just buried her face into Harry’s chest.
“Don’t worry Ginny, everything will be fine.” he comforted her, stroking her long red hair, while she sobbed softly into his shirt.
They sat together on the lounge until everyone else had gone to bed, not wanting to leave each other’s side.

When Harry awoke on Saturday morning, it took him a moment to remember why he was in such a good mood. He had been looking forward to this day all week. He sat up and pulled back the curtains of his four poster bed, he looked over at Ron’s bed but he found that his best friend had already gotten up. That wasn’t like Ron, Harry thought to himself, getting up early on a Saturday.

Harry swung his legs around and jumped out of bed. Once he had done showering he dressed at top speed, in a pair of denim jeans and his favourite t-shirt and headed down the spiral staircase towards the common room. There was a no one here so he decided to head towards the Great Hall and get some breakfast.

Harry made his way over to where Ron was sitting staring into a bowl of porridge.
“Must be interesting porridge” Harry joked, sitting down on the bench next to Ron.
“Huh?” Ron said, suddenly coming out of his reverie. “Oh hi Harry”
“You alright mate?” Harry asked, as he helped himself to some breakfast as well.
“Yeah, I have been up for hours. I couldn’t sleep”
Harry wondered what could be wrong with him. “Anything I can help with?” he offered.
“Not unless you can stop me thinking stupid thoughts” Ron said, pushing away his uneaten bowl of porridge.
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t stop thinking that Hermione would rather be with someone else instead of me” he said quietly to Harry.
“Why would you think that” Harry asked, but already knew what Ron’s answer was.
“Maybe because she never spends anytime with me, she is always off with Ben”
Harry finished his breakfast and turned towards Ron, he could see how hurt Ron was feeling “Well maybe you can talk to Hermione about it today in Hogsmeade” Harry suggested.
“Yeah maybe” Ron said rather dejectedly.
“When are we meeting the girls?” Harry asked, trying to change the subject to a happier one.
Ron looked down at his watch, “In half an hour”

Until they were ready to leave they talked about the other plan they had for tonight. Ginny still hadn’t told them what she had planned for spilling the potion onto Ben’s shoes, but Harry had complete faith in his girlfriend.

When the time came for the two boys to meet their respective girlfriends, they went out and waited for them in the entrance hall. They didn’t have to wait long, no sooner had they started to talk about where they wanted to go in Hogsmeade Hermione and Ginny appeared on the grand staircase.

They were both dressed in their muggle clothes; however Harry thought Ginny looked terrific. She had pulled her vivid red hair back into an elegant braid and she was wearing make up. Not a lot, like some of the girls here, but just enough to accentuate her bright brown eyes.
“You look wonderful” Harry whispered to her as she leant over to give Harry a kiss hello.
“Thanks. So do you”
Once they had showed Mr Filch their permission slips and he was certain that they weren’t harbouring any dark objects, they left the safety of the Hogwarts castle and followed the other students down the dusty path that led to Hogsmeade. Harry was pleased to see Hermione holding Ron’s hand as they all walked together; at least Ron was in a better mood now.

Once they had arrived in the wizarding village the two couples decided to go their separate ways, but promised to meet back in the Gryffindor common room at 1pm.

Harry and Ginny walked slowly arm in arm down the main street, they were disappointed that Zonko’s joke shop was still boarded up, but there was a notice pinned to the shop’s door. They stepped closer to read what it said;




“Wow!” Harry exclaimed “Did you know about this?” he asked Ginny
She looked just as impressed as he did, “I knew they were talking about it but I didn’t know they were actually going to do it”
“Business must certainly be booming” Harry said as they walked on further down the street.

Ginny pointed in the direction of Honeydukes sweet shop, which was still open thankfully. They pushed their way into the over crowded shop and breathed in the rich toffee scented air. They wandered around the small shop, stopping to pick up some bags of lollies. Once they had purchased their sweets, Harry suggested they make their way over to Madame Puddifoots tea shop. He had only been there once before, with Cho Chang and he hadn’t really enjoyed himself then, but he was sure it would be different this time.

Harry and Ginny entered the small little tea shop and made their way around the small circular tables to an empty table by the window. They had just sat down when a portly lady with her shiny black hair back in a bun approached their table “What can I get for you two?” she asked
“Two coffees please” Ginny answered.
Harry reached over and took Ginny’s smaller hands in his. He was just about to lean over and give her a kiss when he heard “Harry. Ginny!”
Harry looked up and saw Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood entering the shop. Neville waved enthusiastically to them while Luna looked dreamily around the frilly little tea room. Harry noticed that Neville was holding onto Luna’s hand as they made their way towards their table.
“Hi guys. How’s it going?” Neville asked
“Good. How are you Luna?” Harry enquired, Luna looked around at the sound of her name “Oh hi Harry. Hi Ginny. I didn’t see you there. Isn’t this a charming little shop” she said absent-mindedly.
They were interrupted by Madame Puddifoots returning to deliver Harry and Ginny’s coffee.
“Well have fun” Neville said embarrassed, and then went and found a table for him and Luna.

“That’s a new relationship” Ginny smirked “I didn’t know about that one”
“I’m happy for Neville. I never thought he would find himself a girlfriend” Harry said, watching as Neville tried to get Luna’s attention off the tea shop décor and onto him.

After finishing their coffee, Harry and Ginny said goodbye to Luna and Neville and headed further down the street. They were just about to go into the post office to look at the owls when Harry noticed Ron and Hermione heading their way.

“Hey you two. Where are you going?” Ginny called out to her brother and Hermione

Hermione seemed to be pulling Ron along the street. “I am trying to get Ron to come with me to Madame Puddifoots for a coffee”

“You should go Ron, there is something quite interesting going on in there” Harry said enticingly. Ginny playfully smacked him on his arm, “That’s mean Harry. Neville can go out with who ever he wants to”

This got Ron’s attention “Who is Neville dating? Tell me”

“Go and find out for yourself” said Harry, as he followed Ginny into the post office.

After they had seen everything at Hogsmeade, Harry and Ginny decided to head back up to school and have some dinner.

As they were going past the Hog’s head pub, Harry noticed that there seemed to be a large congregation of wizards coming out of the derelict pub. Harry thought he had never seen such a large group of wizards ever in the Hog’s Head. He wasn’t really giving it much thought until another wizard stepped out of the dark bar and out into the bright sunlight, it was Ben.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw Harry and Ginny watching him.

“Oh hi Harry, hi Ginny. How are you both?” he said, looking like he just had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Hi Ben, what were you doing in the Hog’s Head?” Harry asked innocently

“I…..uh… was going to the toilet. The one at the Three Broomsticks was too busy” he quickly said, trying to disguise his uncomfortableness in being caught.

“Okay, sorry to bother you” said Harry, making nothing of this new revelation.

“I can’t wait till tonight to find out where he is going” Harry said as they walked slowly back up the path towards Hogwarts.

By the time Hermione and Ron made it back, Harry and Ginny had already worked out how she was going to carry out her secret mission that night.
Harry was pleased to see that Ron was looking a great deal happier than he was when he left this morning.

They all decided they would have more secrecy if they left the common room, which was starting to fill up with students returning from Hogsmeade, and move their discussions to the Hermione’s private bedroom.

“Wow. It certainly pays to be Head Girl, doesn’t it Hermione” Ron joked, as they all entered the oversized bedroom. It was basically decorated, with a couple of tapestries on the stone walls. There was a queen sized four poster bed, a book shelf crammed full with books of all sizes and colours, a table 4 chairs and a large squishy pink sofa.
She even had her own bathroom, which Ron thought wasn’t fair.

They spent the remainder of the afternoon, sitting around the table discussing where the remaining Horcruxes could be hidden.

“Well maybe, Voldemort has hidden one here at Hogwarts?” Ron suggested

Harry shook his head negatively “I don’t think he had any chance too. I did see one of Dumbledore’s memories last year when Riddle came to the school apparently looking for a job, but he wasn’t allowed to wander the school. As far as I know he never returned”

“Well what are the other 3 Horcruxes, maybe we should start there” Hermione recommended, preparing to write it down on a large sheet of parchment.

“What Dumbledore told me, there is Helga Hufflepuff’s cup, Voldemorts snake Nagini, and something from either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor” Harry told them, listing them on his fingers.

“Well we know that Voldemort keeps Nagini close to him, so she is probably the last one to destroy, it is finding the other two that is going to be hard” Hermione said, writing everything down and analysing it.

“If we only knew what the unknown object was, not knowing is going to make things very difficult” said Ginny, watching as Harry paced the bedroom floor.

“So I guess the best thing is to find out where Voldemort has hidden the cup” Ron said simply

“I agree” Harry piped up from across the room “So where do we start looking?” he asked
Hermione began scribbling madly on the parchment in front of her, getting the attention of the other three. They all sat there and watched as Hermione worked, when she finally stopped writing she looked up at the faces that were staring down at her.

“Well?” Ron said, breaking the silence “What have you been writing?”

“I was just trying to figure out from what Harry has told us about Voldemort, where he might have hidden the cup. Since he leaves his Horcruxes in areas that hold special meaning to him” she explained

Harry came back to the table and sat down next to Ginny again, “I was thinking about where he might have gone after he had stolen the locket and the cup from Hepzibah Smith. Because according to Dumbledore, Voldemort just disappeared for about 10 years.”
“But he had to be somewhere, right?” Ron put forward, trying not to be left out of the conversation.
“So I say that is the first thing we need to find out” Hermione told them

Harry looked down at his watch, and was amazed to see that it was nearly 5 o’clock.
“I think that will have to wait for another time Hermione, it is getting late” Harry told her, not wanting to reveal why he was calling a stop to their meeting.

Hermione was suddenly in a frenzy realising that they were late for dinner.

“Come on, we should have been downstairs half an hour ago” she shrieked, ushering them all out of her bedroom.

“We will meet you down there Hermione” Harry said, motioning for the other two to stay with him “I need to show something to Ron that is in our room”

Hermione wasn’t really paying attention to what Harry was saying, but they watched as she ran down the stairs to the Great Hall before they approached the Fat Lady.

“Password?” she said in a bored voice.

“Flitterbloom” Harry replied

The painting swung forward revealing the entrance hole to the Gryffindor room.

Harry led the way in followed closely by Ginny and then Ron.

“What are we doing Harry?” Ron complained, he obviously wanted to get down to dinner.

Harry didn’t reply but just ran up the stairs to the Year 7 boy’s dormitory and retrieved his book bag that he had stored in his trunk.

He emptied the contents of the bag onto his bed, and sorted through it all until he found the small vial of blue potion that he had received from George and Fred Weasley earlier that week. He gave it to Ginny and watched as she hid it in her robes.

“So how are you going to get it onto his shoes?” Ron asked, confused by the situation.

“Leave that up to me” Ginny said cheekily, she kissed Harry on his cheek and then waited for him to pack away his book bag, so they could all head down to dinner.

Once they were seated around the long wooden Gryffindor table, they helped themselves to the delicious smelling dinner that was in front of them.

In the middle of eating her dinner, Ginny stood up from her seat and walked around the room over to where the Ravenclaw table was situated. She was pleased to see that the first part of her plan was in order, she had asked Luna to make sure that she sat next to Ben at dinner time. Ginny couldn’t help but laugh to herself at the sight of Luna in her butterbeer cork necklace and her famous radish earrings, happily talking Ben’s ear off. As Ginny got nearer to where they were sitting she could hear Luna talking to Ben about her theories on the furry coated snarf, a creature that lives up north in the coldest of regions.

“Hi Luna” Ginny cheerfully said “Can I sit down and talk to you for a moment?”
“Sure you can” said Luna, scooting over so Ginny could sit between her and Ben.

“Hi Ben” she said, not paying too much attention to him. She sat down with her back to Ben and began talking to Luna about their transfiguration essay.

When she was sure that Ben wasn’t listening to what they were discussing, Ginny reached into her robe pocket and carefully pulled out the potion vial. She concealed it in her left hand and reached out with her right and picked up Luna’s spoon. She then threw the spoon under the table and immediately told Luna that she would retrieve it for her. Just as Ginny bent under the table she pulled the stopper out of the vial and then in one swift movement she emptied the blue liquid onto Ben’s black school shoes. She then picked up the wayward spoon and gave it back to Luna with her apologies for knocking it onto the floor.

She winked at Luna and returned to her seat next to Harry.

“Well did you do it?” Harry whispered to her, she quickly showed Harry the empty vial and gave him a quick peck on his cheek before helping herself to the many different puddings that had just appeared for dessert.

Harry had just finished eating when Ron gave him a soft kick under the table.
“What?” Harry silently mouthed
Ron motioned for Harry to look behind him as he turned around he saw Ben leaving the Great Hall.
Harry was feeling excited about the impending mission he had tonight, he needed to head up to his bedroom and keep an eye of Ben with the Marauder’s Map. They waited until Hermione left their table and went to join Ben to do their nightly patrolling of the school corridors with the prefects.

Harry, Ron and Ginny sat down on Harry’s bed and watched as the outline of Hogwarts became clearer on the map.
“Now all we have to do is wait” Harry said and laid back against his pillows, keeping an eye of Ben’s little black dot.

After a couple of hours Ron informed the other two that Hermione had finished her nightly patrol and had returned to her bedroom.
“I thought we were meant to be watching Ben?” Ginny laughed at her older brother.
“I was…I am… I mean well Hermione was with him wasn’t she? Now Ben should be heading to his bedroom as well, but look he is coming up the staircase”

Harry quickly leaned over the map and watched where Ben was heading to.

“He’s going back to the hidden exit on the third floor” Harry pointed out.

Their plan was rudely interrupted by Neville and Dean coming to bed. Harry swiftly moved the Marauders Map from view, folded it up and handed it to Ginny who placed it in her jacket pocket. He then opened his trunk and rummaged through until he found his Dad’s old invisibility cloak, he rolled it up into a small ball and covertly handed it to Ron, who left the room with Ginny.

“We will go downstairs so you guys can get some sleep” Harry said to Neville and Dean, hoping that they didn‘t see anything.
“Thanks Harry” Dean said

They entered the common room and found that it was nearly empty, they made their way over to a secluded area and spread the map out again, hoping that Ben hadn’t yet left the school grounds yet.

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good” Harry whispered as he tapped the map with his wand.

“Where is he?” Ginny said worriedly

Harry quickly scanned the area that they had last seen Ben at and saw nothing.
“He’s gone. Great” Harry said, slamming his fist down on the map. Making the other Gryffindor students in the room jump.

“Harry, why don’t you head to the same spot and see if you can find his footsteps” Ron suggested

“Good idea” Harry said, his mood lightening all of a sudden. He looked around to make sure that they weren’t being watched . He took off his glasses and tapped them with his wand lightly saying the spell so he could see Ben’s footsteps. He then quickly slipped under his invisibility cloak and turned to Ginny.

“Ginny can you go out the portrait hole so I can follow” Harry quietly spoke to her from under his cloak.

He got up and followed her out into the corridor, “Good luck, and please be careful” she softly told him. “I will. See you soon”

He quickly ran down the staircase towards the third floor, careful not to make too much noise. The hallway where Ben had disappeared was deathly quiet.
Harry then noticed a mass of blue footprints leading towards the large stone statue hiding the exit. Harry removed his glasses and the footprints disappeared, “Excellent!” Harry exclaimed, relieved that the spell had worked properly.

He checked that the hallway was clear and then went over to the statue, quietly said “Dissendium” tapping the stone sculpture with his wand. The statue moved forward away from the wall revealing a small opening behind it. Harry saw that Ben’s footsteps had entered the tunnel, so he followed. The tunnel was pitch black so Harry cast the Lumos spell to see where he was going. His heart started beating excitedly as he ran down the dusty tunnel, following the blue foot prints. The passage twisted and turned until it straightened out and came to an end. Harry then started up a set of worn stone steps that led him out into an empty room.

Still following Ben he opened the old wooden door and stepped out into the dark night. Harry glanced around at his surroundings and realised he was standing in one of the side streets in Hogsmeade. He looked around to see where Ben had gone next. Still hidden under his cloak Harry followed the footsteps down the street until they led him into the Hog’s Head pub.
Harry tried the door, hoping that it wasn’t locked and was pleasantly surprised when the door easily swung open. He quickly made his way in and found Ben sitting at a table with a couple of wizards. He couldn’t hear what they were discussing but it seemed to be getting heated as one of the unknown wizards slammed his glass down on the dusty round table and pointed a gnarled finger at Ben.
Harry carefully made his way to a table behind him, trying to listen to what the conversation was about.

“Well if you can’t tell me anything, then what use are you?” Ben menacingly spoke to the shorter of the two wizards. Harry had never heard Ben speak with such hatred before.
Ben leaned in towards his companions, spoke again quietly and then finished his drink in one mouthful. He got up from his chair and moved towards the door, then unexpectedly the wizard that Ben had the argument with stood up and pulled his wand out of his cloak.
He had it pointed straight at Ben’s back, Harry noticed that Ben had no idea that this wizard was about to jinx him. Harry did the only thing that came to his mind, he threw off the cloak and shouted “Stupefy” There was a blast of red light and the wizard was rendered unconscious, Ben suddenly turned around at the sound of Harry’s voice. He whipped out his own wand and caught the other wizard with “Petrificus Totalus” before he could even get out his wand.
He stared at Harry unbelievably “Where did you come from?”
Harry looked around the pub and smiled sheepishly at Ben.

“Were you following me Harry?” Ben asked again, this time a little louder.
Harry looked around at the barman, who had stopped wiping down the counter to see what the commotion was.
“Can we talk somewhere else?” Harry whispered, not to wanting to be heard.
Ben looked suspiciously at Harry but nodded in agreement and followed Harry out of the Hog’s Head and back down the side street towards the abandoned shop that housed the entrance to the hidden tunnel into Hogwarts.
Harry turned the handle of the shop but it was locked.
“Out the way” Ben said, retrieving his wand he cast a silent spell on the door which let them enter. “Hurry up and get in, I can hear someone coming” Ben hissed.
Harry quickly entered the room and stepped out of the way to let Ben in as well. He softly shut the door and lent against it, listening for the voices he had heard earlier.

After a minute, Ben came away from the door “I think they have gone”
“Who do you think it was?” asked Harry
“Someone who is not very happy with me, just leave it at that ok” Ben said grumpily.
Harry looked up at Ben, he was very tall for his age and his face had a look of someone that has had to grow up quickly. Harry wondered for the umpteenth time tonight what business he had with those wizards.

“So why were you following me tonight Potter?” Ben asked him again.
Harry didn’t know how he should answer this question; he still didn’t have any proof that Ben was who he said he was.
“How do I know I can trust you?” Harry said defensively
“Because I know what you have been doing, Harry.” he said quietly, as he walked across the room to a pile of wooden crates. He pulled one out for Harry and then he sat down as well.
Harry asked him sceptically “What do you mean you know what I have been doing?”
“I know about the Horcruxes Harry” he revealed carefully.
Harry was taken aback by Ben’s disclosure, ‘how could he know’ Harry thought. His mind was racing at what this could mean for him.
“What do you know?” Harry asked, questioning him on his knowledge, just in case this was a rouse to get information out of him.
“Well I know that Voldemort made seven Horcruxes. They are parts of his soul that he has hidden in certain objects. I know that you have destroyed the diary and Professor Dumbledore has destroyed Marvolo Gaunt’s ring”
Harry was astounded by what Ben knew; he thought he was the only one besides Ron, Hermione and Ginny that knew. This was so unexpected.
“I have also destroyed the locket, which once belonged to Merope Gaunt” Harry told him proudly.
This time it was Ben’s turn to be amazed. “Wow Harry, I didn’t know if anyone had even found that locket. Where did you find it?
Harry thought about making up a story about where he found it but he decided that since Ben had been so honest with him, it was all he could do in return.
“I found it at my Godfathers family house”
“Who’s your Godfather?” Ben asked genuinely interested in hearing about Harry’s story.
“Well he is dead now. It was Sirius Black” Harry got the reaction that he was waiting for.
“You’re kidding me? The Sirius Black? The wizard that the ministry was hunting down after he escaped from Azkaban?” Ben asked totally flabbergasted.
“The one and the same”
Ben shifted on his seat “But, didn’t I hear when he escaped four years ago wasn’t he coming after you?”
Harry laughed, he had nearly forgotten about the terror he felt back then, knowing that a mass murdering wizard was coming for him. “He wasn’t a murderer. He was framed for those killings by the same wizard that betrayed my parents” Harry explained “He was coming for me, but he wanted to tell me that it wasn’t him. He was a really cool guy; you would have liked him a lot”

“So back to the Horcruxes” Harry said changing the subject “How do you know about them?”
“My Grandfather told me about them years ago. He used to go to school with Tom Riddle. Grandad told me about how he had many lessons with Tom and how much a favourite he was with the teachers, especially Professor Slughorn.” Ben looked down at the invisibility cloak he had resting in his lap “Grandad was never asked to be part of the Professor’s special club, but he used to sneak in wearing this very same cloak and listen to their conversations. But one day he overheard Professor Slughorn explaining to Riddle what Horcruxes were and how a wizard would go about making one.”
Harry didn’t know what to say, so he waited for Ben to continue.
“Grandad was shocked and appalled that Riddle asked if making seven Horcruxes would be stronger. He told me that he feared Tom Riddle so much more after what he had heard that day, and he never went back to one of the ‘Slug Clubs’ meetings again.”
“So your Grandfather knew that Voldemort had ripped his soul apart?” Harry asked still confused to where Ben fitted in to this.
“Yes, he took it upon himself to find out what he had concealed them in. But poor Grandad died before I could finish what he had started”
“Can I ask how did you know that I was looking for them as well?” Harry enquired
“Well to cut a long story short, Grandad knew that Professor Dumbledore suspected Riddle as well. They had actually been conversing for years on the whereabouts of the Horcruxes. But since Grandad died I am guessing Dumbledore continued on the search by himself until he told you about it” Ben smiled fondly at Harry “Grandad always said how much Professor Dumbledore admired you and how he wished he could give you a better future to grow into”
Harry looked down at the ground and wished for the millionth time that Dumbledore was still here, helping him and guiding him.

“So where do we go to next” Harry asked quietly “Do we go and find the last three Horcruxes together?”
“Well the last two anyway” Ben smiled mischievously at Harry.
Harry looked confused again “What do you mean?”
“I found what I think is a Horcrux earlier this year”
Harry’s eyes bulged and he ran his hand through his untidy hair, not believing what he was hearing.
“What did you find the cup?”
“No I found the music box” he said dragging out Harry’s reaction
“What music box?” Harry asked surprised
“The one that use to belong to Rowena Ravenclaw and ……. To my family”
Those last words dropped like a bomb on Harry, “Your family?” he gasped.
“Yeah, I am the heir to Ravenclaw” he said casually.
Harry opened his mouth to talk and then closed it again; he didn’t know what to say.

“The answer to what you probably want to ask is, No. Nobody at the school knows, Professor Dumbledore was the only one that knew”

“Have you destroyed the Horcrux yet?” Harry finally got the words out.

“No” Ben said in a frustrated voice “I can’t figure it out how to rid the music box of the soul and keep the box in tact. I don’t want to destroy a family heirloom”

“I think we should go and see Hermione” Harry said to Ben, standing up off the wooden crate. His legs had started to go numb from the hardness of the box.

“Why Hermione?”
“Because it was her that came up with the spell to rid the locket of Riddles soul. Granted we did have a little bit of trouble but we did it anyway”

Ben smiled widely “I knew Hermione was special, she is one amazing witch isn’t she”

Harry then had to ask the question, it was not for his sanity but for Ron’s “Ah Ben, do you like Hermione?”

“Sure I do. Why do you ask?”

“No, I meant do you like her?” Harry asked, putting the emphasis on ‘like’ to make Ben understand what he really meant.

“Ohh!…….Well yeah I do, but I wouldn’t dream of interfering with her relationship with Ron.” he honestly admitted. “You won’t tell them will you?”

“Nah. I think there are a lot of things from this conversation that we need to keep to ourselves. What do you say?” Harry asked, holding out his hand.

Ben looked at Harry’s outstretched hand strangely and then looked up at Harry with a befuddled look.

“Didn’t you do Muggle studies?” Harry laughed “It is what Muggle’s do to seal an agreement. Just take my hand and shake it”

Ben obligingly shook Harry’s hand and then he burst out laughing at what had happened.

“What’s so funny?” Harry asked as they made their way back down the tunnel towards Hogwarts.
Once Ben had caught his breath he told Harry that he thought he would never be caught sneaking out of Hogwarts, let alone by the famous Harry Potter.
“What can I tell my friends about you, because they will be waiting for me to tell them what you have been doing” Harry said
“Well maybe that I know about the Horcruxes and that I want to help, but don’t tell them that I am related to Ravenclaw ok. I don’t want anyone to treat my differently” he pleaded with Harry.
“It’s alright. I understand” Harry told him
They had made it back up the dark tunnel and were back at the statue. Harry wished he had brought his Marauders Map with him, because they couldn’t tell if there was anyone lurking out in the corridor.

The two boys stepped out from behind the huge stone statue, and covered themselves with their own invisibility cloaks.

“Should we make a time to catch up tomorrow?” Ben suggested

“Yeah. I think that would be a great idea. Where do you want to meet?” Harry asked

“How about my bedroom, at least it will be private.”

“Sounds good. You don’t mind if I bring Ron, Hermione and Ginny do you? They have been helping me along and I think we really need them”

“No, I think the more help we have the better, Hermione knows where my bedroom is so do you want to meet at around 10am tomorrow?” he put to Harry.

“Ok we will meet you there” Harry was just about to walk away when he thought of something that Ben had said “Hey Ben, how does Hermione know where your bedroom is?”

There was no reply, either Ben had quickly walked away or he didn’t want to answer Harry’s question.

Harry had a rude awakening early the next morning; Ron had ripped back the curtains from around his bed letting in the blinding sunshine from outside the windows.

“Well, what happened” Ron eagerly asked, jumping up and down on Harry’s bed.

“What…?” Harry groggily said, trying to reach for his glasses that were next to his bed.

“What happened? The suspense has been killing me!” Ron exclaimed just a little too loudly, for the next thing he knew someone had thrown a pillow from across the room and had hit him in the side of the head, causing him to fall off Harry’s bed.

“Did you get him?” a sleepy voice came from the other side of Harry

“Yep” said Dean happily and he rolled over and went back to sleep.

Ron gingerly got back to his feet and sat back down on the end of Harry’s bed. “Sorry guys, I forgot you were still sleeping” he whispered to Neville and Dean.

“Well are you going to tell me or do I have to send Ginny up here to perform the Bat-Bogey Hex on you?” Ron said quite seriously

“Alright, alright. Let me get dressed and I will meet you downstairs. Can you go and find Hermione and ask her to bring Ginny as well, because I want to tell you all what happened”
Ron jumped off the bed and dressed at break neck speed and then he rushed off down the stairs to go and wake up Hermione.

Harry went over in his mind again the events of last night and what he was going to tell his best friends. Because he was going to be true to his word and only tell them the bare essentials of Ben’s story.

After he had dressed he made his way down the stone spiral staircase and towards the common room, hoping that it wouldn’t be too crowded because he didn’t want anyone eaves dropping on their conversation. He was relieved to see the only person that was in the room was Ron; he was sitting on the edge of the large lounge obviously agitated by the constant tapping of his feet and hands.

“Harry, finally. What took you so long?” he said “Hermione has just gone up to get Ginny, they should be down soon.”

Harry sat down with Ron and waited patiently for the girls to arrive. Ron was just about ready to try and run up the stairs to the girls dormitory when they saw them walking towards them.

“’bout time” Ron exclaimed.

“Morning to you to Ron” Ginny snapped at her brother annoyingly, she then sat down next to Harry and said good morning in a different way, with a long kiss.

“So what happened?” she asked

“Well I think we need to explain what we have been doing for Hermione’s sake first.”
Harry said, looking guiltily over at Hermione.

“What do you mean Harry?” she asked cautiously “What have you three been up to?”

“Well a couple of weeks ago I was on my way down to kitchens after dark to get something to eat” Harry began “I was concealed under my invisibility cloak so I wouldn’t be noticed, but I saw something else I hadn’t counted on”

This got Hermione’s attention greatly, “What did you see?”

“I saw Ben disappear under his very own invisibility cloak” he gently told her, knowing that she would soon barrage him with an explanation of Ben’s actions.

“So, do you think he was up to no good?” Hermione argued

“Well what would you think Hermione?” Ron said back angrily “If it was anyone else but wonderful Ben, you would be thinking the worse”

Hermione glared at Ron so menacingly, he quickly looked back at Harry to continue on with the story. “Go on Harry tell her what happened next”

“So, we decided to watch Ben on the Marauder’s Map and see where he was going on these little night time wanders of his”

Hermione folded her arms in a protective manner and spoke out “So where was he going?”

“We didn’t know Hermione.” Ginny said “That is why we had Harry follow him last night.”

“But how could you follow him when he was invisible?” she put towards the group

“Well that came from the brilliant minds of Fred and George. They sent us a potion that had to be split on his shoes and then Harry cast a spell on his glasses to be able to follow the footsteps” Ron told her in one long breath.

“I can’t believe you would do something like this Harry. He is Head Boy. Do you really think he was a spy or something?” she said defending Ben right down to the last.

“Well I didn’t know what to think Hermione that is why we did what we did. And just because he is Head Boy doesn’t mean a thing. Tom Riddle was Head Boy and look where he ended up” Harry disputed heatedly.
Hermione was at a loss for words, she knew Ben was a good guy but Harry did have the right to his suspicions.

“Well what did you find out?” she asked flatly.

“I followed him to the Hog’s Head pub” Harry told them all
“Didn’t we see him coming out of there yesterday?” Ginny remembered
“Yeah, I think he went back to finish some business he had there.” Harry told her.
Ron moved closer to the edge of the sofa in anticipation “What was he doing?” he asked
“Well believe it or not, Ben is actually looking for the Horcruxes just like us.”
“What?” they all said together, with looks of disbelief written all over their faces.
“How does he know about the Horcruxes” Hermione whispered as a group of second years walked past them and out the portrait hole to go and have breakfast.
Harry then proceeded to tell them about Ben’s Grandfather and how he came to know about Voldemorts Horcrux quest.
“This is unbelievable” Ginny gasped.
Harry smiled at his girlfriend “There is still something even more unbelievable I have to tell you” he paused for dramatic effect “Ben has actually found one”

“I told you he was not evil” Hermione said in triumph, Ron just sneered at her.

“What did he find Harry?” Ginny enquired

“It was Rowena Ravenclaw’s music box” he told them all, they were all blown away by this unexpected outcome, just as he had been last night.

“Ben wants us to meet him in his bedroom at 10am to discuss how we are going to rid the music box of this soul” Harry explained

Ron didn’t look too pleased having to go to Ben’s room and to be in such close quarters with this guy. “Why can’t we meet somewhere else” he asked Harry

“Because I am guessing he has the music box in his room, and he doesn’t want to bring it out into the open” Harry told Ron.

“Oh!” Ron said slumping back against the lounge. He would go but he didn’t have to like it.

“This is excellent news Harry. We finally get some new help in this hunt. I hate to be the one to say it but we were at a dead end” Hermione pointed out honestly.

“I know. I am just glad we now know that Ben is an ally not an enemy.” Harry told her thankfully.

Harry stomach gave a loud groan, making Ginny burst into giggles “I think someone is hungry” she laughed.

Harry leapt on top of her and started to tickle her ferociously. “I think someone is ticklish” he laughed.

“Come on you two, let’s go down to breakfast before Ron starts to eat the cushions” Hermione teased her boyfriend playfully.

After breakfast the two couples waited in the common room playing a game of wizard chess until 10 o’clock arrived. When Ron and Ginny started arguing about a move that Ron had just made, Harry took Hermione aside to talk to her before they headed off to Ben’s.

“What’s the matter?” Hermione asked, laughing as Ginny took Ron’s bishop and threw it across the room.

“I wanted to ask you where Ben’s bedroom is” Harry said quietly “He said you knew, and I didn’t want to ask you in front of Ron, you know how jealous he gets”

Hermione eyes grew wider at Harry’s comments, “It’s not what you think Harry” she quickly said “I had to go there to get a book from him, that’s all”

“Hey, I believe you. But I don’t think that is how Ron will see it.” Harry told her frankly.

“Thanks Harry, his bedroom is on the fifth floor across from the Prefects bathroom.” she told him quickly as she saw Ron and Ginny heading their way.

“Are you two about ready to go, it is nearly 10 o’clock” Ron said

“Yep lets go” Harry said, and took Ginny’s hand and led the way out of the portrait hole.

“So where are we going Harry?” Ron asked

“Ben’s room is on the fifth floor, across from the statue of Boris the Bewildered” Harry told him.

When they had reached Ben’s door, Harry knocked and waited for it to be opened.
They only had to wait a second for Ben to answer.

“Hey guys, come on in. Don’t mind the mess.” Ben said casually, opening the door wider to let them all inside.

“Hi Ben” Hermione said as she walked over the threshold.

Ben led them all over to a large wooden table, similar to the one in Hermione’s room. They sat down and watched as Ben went over to a trunk that was at the end of his bed; he unlocked the trunk with a tap of his wand and retrieved a small package wrapped up in a dirty cloth.
“Well I guess you all came to see this” he said as he brought it over to the table and sat it in front of him. He slowly unwrapped it and handed it over to Harry.
He took the music box from Ben; it was a heavy bronze box adorned with 4 large blue shiny crystals set strategically around the base and on the dome top was an eagle embossed in mother of pearl.

“It’s beautiful” Ginny said admiring the small bronze box.

“How does it open?” Hermione asked, gazing adoringly at it.

“Here let me show you” Ben said, holding out his hand for Harry to give it back.

He took it and positioned his hands around the box, he then pressed the middle of each of the bright blue crystals and the dome top began to open up like a flower opening its petals. As it opened a sweet melody played and it revealed another secret, a solitary figure skating on what looked like an ice pond. And from above her head snow fell down in soft flakes covering the tiny skater as she made intricate patterns on the ice in time with the melody that continued to play.

“Wow! I’ve never seen anything so beautiful” Hermione said softly

Harry suddenly remembered hearing the melody of the music box before.

“What is it Harry?” Ginny said, noticing the look of Harry’s face had changed.

“It is just that I remember hearing that music somewhere before” he told them all

“Where could you have heard it?” Ron asked, looking concerned at his best friend.

Harry tried to remember “I think it was in a dream”

“What is it with you and your dreams lately Harry?” Ron laughed “I think Trelawney might be out of a job soon, if you keep this up”

“I don’t think so” Harry said

Ben was looking impressed with Harry’s recollection, “I wonder why you would be dreaming about this, I mean you haven’t even seen it before, have you?” Ben asked

“No. Ever since I turned 17 this summer I have been having dreams that have been helping with our search of the Horcruxes” Harry explained “I don’t know where they have been coming from”

“Well if Harry is having dreams about this particular melody then I think it is safe to assume that it is indeed the Horcrux that we have been searching for” Hermione conveyed to the group.

“So I suppose the next thing is how do we get the soul out of the music box, without destroying it?” Ben asked

“I think it would be safe to use the same spell as the one on the locket” Hermione said, she was holding onto the intricate box examining it fully.

“When do you want to do it?” Ben asked looking excited by the sudden development of destroying the Horcrux.

“Well….I need to gather all my things together from last time” Hermione pondered “Maybe later this afternoon”

Everyone agreed with Hermione’s decision and arranged to meet back at Ben’s room at 4 pm that afternoon.

“Ron can you come with me and help get things ready” Hermione asked him sweetly.

“Sure” Ron quickly replied and followed Hermione back to her room, leaving Harry and Ginny alone with Ben.

“Well I guess we will see you later” Harry said, noticing that Bens gaze followed Hermione out of his room.

“What? Oh ok. Back here at 4 then” he said smiling happily.

Harry and Ginny then proceeded out into the fifth floor corridor, “Do you want to go and see Hagrid?” Harry proposed

“Ok, gives us something to do to pass the time. I’ve got homework but I don’t think I would be able to concentrate on it anyway”

So taking hold of Ginny’s hand, Harry walked down the stairs and out into the sunny grounds. He looked over at her and he felt his heart ache in his chest, he knew he had to survive this upcoming battle because he now knew what he wanted for his future…..to have a family of his own with Ginny.

After spending an afternoon with Hagrid, Harry and Ginny were ready to head back to Ben’s room to see if they were all ready to destroy the new Horcrux that Ben had found in Rowena Ravenclaw’s music box.

They made their way back up the stone staircase discussing the possibilities of everything going to plan this time.

“Well at least this time we have another wizard helping” Harry said raising Ginny’s hopes.

They walked down the fifth floor corridor until they came up to the door to Ben’s private bedroom. Harry knocked loudly and waited to be let in.

“Hi Harry, hi Ginny. Come in, Hermione is just ready to start setting up” he told them both.

They crossed the spacious room to where Hermione and Ron were busy pouring coloured sand in a circle.

“Is it going to be the same when we destroyed the locket Horcrux?” Harry asked watching as Hermione got out her notes.

“Yeah, I figure it worked last time so it should work again” she said

“What can I do Hermione?” Ben asked

“I think you can help Harry, last time he had to let down the shield to help us with the incantation now he doesn’t have to” she informed him

Hermione then proceeded to hand out the pieces of paper with the appropriate spell on it.

“Ben you need to place the music box in the middle of the circle” Hermione instructed.

He did as he was asked and stepped back out of the circle and waited for Hermione’s directions.

“Ok, Ron and Ginny you two can sit where you sat last time, and Harry you Ben need to stand behind us”

“So Ben can you cast a Patronus?” Harry asked

“Yeah, what form does your’s take Harry?”

“Mine turns into a stag” Harry said proudly “What about you”

“An Eagle” Ben said “I guess it has something to do with my ancestry” he added quietly.

“Makes sense” Harry said “Ok so it is our job to cast the Patronus charm to stop the soul from getting to close to the other three”

Ben nodded as he listened to Harry’s directions.

“If it doesn’t look like it is working, drop your shield and help them out ok”

“Not a problem” Ben said raring to go.

“Ok, is everyone ready?” Hermione called out, looking around to the two boys standing behind her.

She took their nodding to mean yes.

“Alright, Ron you go first again and then Ginny and I will do our spell” Hermione said.

Ron took a deep breath and pointed his wand at the music box.

“Resero Occultus Insum” he said loudly.

The music box lid opened and the melody was heard throughout the room.

“Now Harry” Hermione said

Harry found it easy to think of something happy with Ginny sitting right in front of him. He turned to Ben and saw him standing next to him with his eyes closed; Harry wondered what Ben was thinking.

Both Harry and Ben then shouted at once “Expecto Patronum”. Both of their patronuses were released and stood as guards in front of Hermione, Ron and Ginny.

“Ok Ginny you ready?” Hermione asked nervously

Ginny nodded and held out the piece of paper with the spell written on it.

Together the girls chanted “Ruo Arcanum Nefaria Anima” The Music box shook violently and the small figure skater was skating furiously around her small ice pond.

Then the same black smoke rose out of the box as it did with the locket, it tried to escape the protective circle but it was trapped.

Hermione turned to Ron “Say it with us” she said

So all three said the spell together, “Ruo Arcanum Nefaria Anima”. With Ben and
Harry’s Patronus spell working well together to protect them, the spell worked as it should have the first time. The black smoke twisted and turned in the circle and then it let out a high pitched scream as it suddenly disappeared.

Harry let down his Patronus shield and Ben followed suit.

“Is that it?” Ben asked “Is it gone?”

Everyone didn’t move they were waiting for something else to happen, but it never did.

“Well, that was sort of anti climatic compared to last time” Ginny said, almost disappointed.

“Be thankful you didn’t end up in hospital again” Harry said, leaning down and ruffling her hair playfully.

Ron stood up and stretched his long lanky frame, “Well that’s now four Horcruxes gone. Only two to go”

“I wonder if Voldemort know how close we are coming to destroying him?” asked Hermione interestedly.

“I am sure he knows something, but maybe not this” Harry thought out loud.

“Well if that is it I need to go and finish an essay for Arithmancy” Hermione said to the group.

She got up and started to pack up the ingredients that she brought with her.

“I’ll come with you Hermione, I need you to look at my Potions essay” Ron said to her.

“Haven’t you finished that yet Ron?” she scolded him, shaking her head.

“Well I have been a bit busy” he said trying not to make himself look bad in front of Ben. “So will you have a look at it for me?”

Hermione smiled warmly at him “Of course I will. We will see you guys later” she went to pick up her heavy load of books but Ron quickly stepped in and took them for her.

Ben went and retrieved the music box and checked it over, finding that it was still in perfect condition he wrapped it back up again and placed it back in its hiding place.

Harry and Ginny then said their goodbyes, left the bedroom and headed down the stairs towards the great hall for dinner.

“I can’t believe its over” Ginny said happily as she held onto Harry’s hand

“I know what you mean, it seemed easier this time”

“So what next?” she asked

“I guess I will have to find where Voldemort has hidden Hufflepuff’s cup” Harry said quietly as they entered the busy dining hall.

They couple had just sat down when Professor McGonagall came walking hurriedly over to their table.

“Harry, there you are. I have been looking for you all day” she said sternly.

“Sorry Professor we have been doing homework” Harry said trying to sound truthful.

Professor McGonagall looked at him austerely through her square glasses “I need you to gather Mr Weasley and Miss Granger and meet me in my office tonight at 8pm.” she told him.

Harry thought they were in trouble for something “How come Professor?” he asked concerned.

“You’re not in trouble if that is what you are thinking. I need you to accompany me to the meeting for the Order tonight”

Harry had forgotten that she had promised that Harry, Ron and Hermione could attend the meetings for the Order of the Phoenix.

“Great, we will be there” he promised

Harry watched as Professor McGonagall strided back up the hall to her seat in the middle of teachers table. She sat down and leaned over to Professor McGrath and whispered something in her ear. She nodded in return and looked in Harry’s direction.

Once Ginny and Harry had finished their dinner they headed back out the hall to go and find Hermione and Ron to tell them the news.

At eight o’clock sharp that evening Harry, Ron and Hermione presented themselves at Professor McGonagall’s office. Harry knocked twice on the highly polished oak door with the brass knocker shaped as a griffin and waited patiently.

“Come in” Professor McGonagall called out.

The trio entered the room and crossed the wooden floor to where their Headmistress was sitting behind her desk, busily writing in a large book.

“Good evening you three please have a seat I won’t be a minute” she kindly instructed and went back to her writing.

They sat down in the hard wooden chairs across from her and looked at each other elatedly. They were so excited about what they might hear tonight at the meeting it was giving Ron the hiccups.

Finally Professor McGonagall put down her eagle quill and got up from her chair. She walked over to a tall cupboard and brought out an old looking rusty teapot and placed it carefully on her desk.

“I take it you have all used a Portkey before?” she asked, as she took out her wand. The three of them nodded unanimously.
She then raised her wand and murmured “Portus” as she did the teapot trembled and glowed brightly blue, then all of a sudden it stopped and looked the same as it did before.

“Where exactly is the new headquarters Professor?” Harry asked curiously, since he knew that they were no longer working out of Sirius’ old house.

“It is in an abandoned warehouse in London. That is all I can tell you at the moment” she informed him.

“Come here then, on the count of three” she quickly told them.

They gathered around the teapot and reached out to touch a part of it “one….two…..three”
Harry felt the powerful jerk from behind his bellybutton, the wooden floor beneath his feet vanished; he was stuck to the teapot along with the other three who were banging into each other as they sped forwards. Then with a gust of wind their feet touched the ground once more.

Harry realised that this was the first time he had managed to stay on his feet after travelling via Portkey. Hermione and Ron had also landed feet first this time as well,

“This way” Professor McGonagall said to them as she headed off in a different
direction. “Keep up you three” she demanded.

They followed her into what seemed to be a darkened hall, at the end Harry could see a light glowing from under a door.

They followed Professor McGonagall through this door, which led them into a huge meeting area. In the middle of the room was a long wooden table which was
surrounded by at least two dozen straight backed chairs, on the table were papers and scrolls that had been left out after a previous meeting. Harry walked around the room looking at the overly large notice board that was stuck to a blank wall. On the board were the names of known Death Eaters, many had lines through them signifying that they had been killed, there was also many smaller notes about sightings of Voldemort and his followers.

“Would you like me to show you around, since the other members haven’t arrived yet?” Professor McGonagall asked

“Yes please” Hermione said, jumping at the chance to look around the new headquarters.

They followed Professor McGonagall through another door this one led into a cosy looking sitting room. There was a roaring fire and surrounding it were several squishy lounge chairs, in all different kinds of materials.

They then went to another door which was the kitchen; here they found Mrs Weasley and Winky the house elf, busily cooking a large pot of her famous onion soup.

She turned as she heard the door being opened and let out a loud cry as she saw her youngest son and his two best friends standing in the room with her. She ran across the room and threw her arms around Ron’s chest and squeezed him tightly.
“Ron…Ron. I can’t believe you are here” she cried “How are you?”
Ron pulled away from his Mother’s firm embrace, embarrassed by her overly emotional state.
“I’m good Mum” he replied.
Mrs Weasley sniffed then she stepped over to give Harry and Hermione a hug as well.
“It is so good to see you all here. How is Ginny?” she asked, looking at Harry.
Harry was startled by her directing the question at him “um… she is good. She really wanted to come as well but she wasn’t allowed”
Mrs Weasley smiled warmly at Harry “Well I better get back to making supper or we wont have anything to eat later” she said, then she went back to the pot of soup she had cooking on the stove.

“Molly do you when the others are arriving” Professor McGonagall asked

“They should be here soon. I know that Arthur was collecting some new evidence for the meeting but I don’t know about the rest”

“Ok, we will go and wait in the meeting room” she said to Mrs Weasley.

She turned and led them back out into the conference area, once there they all took a seat and waited for the others to arrive.

“Are there any other rooms here Professor?” Hermione asked, trying to make conversation.

“Yes, there are a number of bedrooms here as well. They are used if a witch or wizard is in trouble and need a place to stay hidden” she explained.

Ron was just about to make a comment when the heard heavy footsteps approaching. The door to the room was swung open revealing a group of witches and wizards who had arrived for the meeting. Amongst the group were Ron’s Dad Arthur and his older brothers Bill, Charlie, George and Fred. They all greeted the boys with warm hellos and slaps on the backs and Hermione received kisses on her cheeks. Obviously they all heard that Ron and Hermione were going out.
They had all settled around the table when the door opened again this time it was Remus Lupin and Tonks who had arrived, followed closely by Mad Eye Moody and an elderly wizard who looked very familiar to Harry.
“Who’s that?” Harry whispered to Hermione, she looked over at the wizard who had just entered.
“Isn’t he the bartender of the Hog’s Head pub?” she asked
Harry nodded, realising that is where he had seen him before. “I didn’t know that he was part of the order”

Once everyone was seated around the table the meeting was called to order by Arthur Weasley.

“Good evening everyone. I am glad you all could make it to this meeting” he began. “As you have probably noticed we have three new members joining us here tonight”
He said pointing to Harry, Ron and Hermione.
“They will be sitting in on some of our meetings and helping out where they can”
The group clapped and welcomed them warmly.
“Now of to business. I have been informed of some very good news on our behalf. This should also please Harry. Our informant has told me that Peter Pettigrew has been killed in an ambush that went wrong”
This news brought a lot of cheering and applause from around the table. Remus got up from his seat and went over to the large notice board; he took out his wand and ran it across Pettigrew’s name leaving behind a black line through it.
Harry could feel his insides squirming, he was overly happy that the wizard that had betrayed his parents had finally gotten what he deserved, but he was also annoyed that he didn’t get the chance to get rid of him.
He listened as Arthur continued on with the story of the ambush, what Harry could understand from it was that the Order had managed to get the information from a spy who was right in amongst Voldemorts followers. The Order were tipped off before the attack happened and were able to set a trap for the Death Eaters. Thankfully it worked and they were able to kill the four Death Eaters that had been sent to kill one of the Ministry’s high officials.

Harry wondered who this spy could be, and whether or not they could be trusted fully.

One by one the members had their turns to divulge any information they might have received since the last meeting.

Kingsley Shacklebolt was the last to stand up “I have been alerted that there has been an attempt on Rufus Scrimgeour’s life in the past couple of days” he told the group in his deep slow voice.

“Well that was to be expected” Bill said “What is being done about it”

“All I have been told is that the Minister’s security has been tripled and they have now have the situation under control” Shacklebolt said as he took his seat once more.

“Ha” the Hog’s head bartender blurted out loudly

“Do you have something to add Aberforth?” Arthur asked the aging wizard.

“Aberforth?” Harry whispered to Hermione “Is that Dumbledores brother?”

“It must be, he was in the order originally wasn’t he?” she whispered back.

Aberforth stood up as quickly as his aching joints would let him. “It’s just that I do get a lot of seedy clientele in my pub and I hear things. It wont matter what security the Minister of Magic has I have heard that he is at the top of He Who Must Not Be Named hit list.” he told the group, he then sat down again.

“Okay, thank you Aberforth for that information” Arthur said “Now I think that is all for tonight, if you would like to stay I think Molly has something delicious for our supper tonight”

As the meeting was finished the witches and wizards started to get up from their seats and started talking amongst themselves. Ron inclined towards Harry and said “I don’t know why we had to be here for this, we weren’t even given a job to do”

Harry shrugged his shoulders and got up from the hard chair and stretched his legs. He then joined Ron and Hermione in a chat with the other Weasley boys.

“So Bill, where’s Fleur?” Hermione asked “I thought she might have been here with you”

“Nah!” Bill said giving Hermione a huge grin “She went back to her home to gather some help for the Order” he said proudly
“Poor Billy has been so lonely!” Charlie said giving his older brother a big hug
“Not that lonely mate” Bill said shoving Charlie away playfully.
Ron laughed out loud; he really enjoyed having his big brothers around it made everything seem not as bad as it really was.

Mrs Weasley then appeared from the kitchen with the large pot of soup floating in front of her “Whose hungry” she called out. Everyone then took their seats again waiting to be served the delicious smelling soup.

After supper everyone started to make their way home, until it was only the three of them with Professor McGonagall, Arthur Weasley.

“Are we heading back soon Professor?” Hermione asked, obviously wanting to return to do some school work.

“Shortly, but first we need to discuss with you three the reason for needing you here tonight” Arthur said, looking serious at them.

Ron, Hermione and Harry looked at each other with interest and then waited for the news.

“Well as you might have heard tonight, we have a spy in Voldemorts camp” Arthur continued. “He has been passing us information for the last couple of months, which have proved invaluable”

“He has asked us specifically that you three be present tonight as he needed to discuss an important matter with you” Professor McGonagall stated, looking at them all over the rims of her square glasses.

Harry wondered who on earth this spy was and what he wanted with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

“Are you sure it isn’t a trap Dad, you know to get to Harry?” Ron asked

Harry looked immediately over to Mr Weasley he hadn’t thought of that scenario.

“We are sure Ron, only Professor McGonagall and myself know of this person and we will be asking you three to be just as secretive with this information. Because if it gets out that he is helping us he will be killed”

Harry still didn’t know if he would be able to trust this wizard and he told them of his fears.
“Look what happened last time, when you thought you had a spy working for you, he turned at a crucial point and killed our leader” he was of course referring to Snape.

“I understand how you must be feeling Harry” Arthur said calmly “But he has proven beyond a doubt that he is working for us, and that is all I will go into at the time being”

Harry sat back in his chair and realised he would have to go along with the plan, just hoping it wouldn’t back fire this time.

“So? When does he get here” Ron said anxiously looking around the empty room.

“I will go and get him” Professor McGonagall got up from her chair and left the room, they could hear her walking out in the hall and then her footsteps were silenced.
Harry looked nervously at his two friends, who looked just as apprehensive as him.

Suddenly they heard footsteps returning and turned to see who the informant was.
Professor McGonagall pushed open the door and returned to her seat at the table,
They all looked at the door wondering when this mysterious person would appear.

“He will be down in a minute. He is a bit nervous as he is afraid that you will attack him Harry” she said quietly but sternly “So I will ask you to please refrain from any verbal abuse and listen to what he has to say”

Harry nodded but he was more confused than ever as to who the spy was. Then he heard footsteps coming down the hall, everyone turned to the door as it was pushed slowly open.

Harry heard Hermione gasp as a white haired wizard stepped into the bright room.

“Draco!” Harry blurted out.

Harry almost fell out of his chair at the sight of Draco Malfoy entering the kitchen.

“You’ve got to be kidding me” Ron angrily spat “Him! He is the spy?”

Draco glared at Ron, obviously wishing that he was free to hex him. But instead he just walked around the table and sat opposite Harry, Ron and Hermione. They watched every step he made and glowered at him from across the table.

“Now I know that you three have your questions about this but we can hear them later” Professor McGonagall started before anyone else could get a word in. “Draco has put himself in great risk to bring us the information we need on a regular basis”

“How can you trust him after what he did last year? Or don’t you remember that it was him that brought the Death Eaters into Hogwarts” Harry yelled pointing his finger in Draco’s direction.

“Please Harry calm down” Arthur Weasley said loudly “We have told you that we trust Draco’s intentions.”

Harry slumped back in his chair and furiously crossed his arms, not wanting to look at the sight of the Draco sitting in front of him smirking.

“Now we really need you three to listen to what Draco has to say then you can go back to school” Professor McGonagall told them all firmly.

The three friends nodded silently and then sat back in their chairs and waited to hear what Malfoy had to say to them.

“Thank you Professor. I was expecting this reaction from them anyway. And I must say that I don’t blame them for their outbursts, I just hope that I can gain their trust in time” Malfoy said quietly.

“Not likely” Ron mumbled under his breath.

“Well the reason I am here is to hand something of great importance over to Harry. Since I believe it will come in handy for later” with that Draco took out his wand, putting Harry, Hermione and Ron on alert waiting for him to attack them. Instead he tapped his hand making a scroll of parchment appear. He then handed it to Harry. “I found this in my Aunt Bellatrix’s home hidden in her security vault” he told them

Harry took the scroll from Draco, he turned it over but he couldn’t see how to open it.

“How do I open it” Harry asked

“Just tap it with your wand and say open in Parseltongue” Draco explained

Harry closed his eyes and thought hard about what he had to do, he then tapped the wand and spoke ‘open’ in Parseltongue. At once the scroll opened to reveal a long piece of parchment, which had elegant writing from top to bottom. It was adorned by a large picture of a dragon at the very bottom and felt very old to Harry.

“How did you know that would work?” Hermione challenged Draco

“I just guessed. The other scrolls I could open but this one just stayed shut no matter what spell I used. I thought since Harry shared the same talents as the Dark Lord he should be able to open it” he told her plainly.

“What does it say Harry?” Ron asked, keeping a close eye on Draco.

Harry rolled the paper out flat and read it out loud.

Legion of the Cimmerii

As the 2nd Millennia draws nigh, the souls of the four tribes will be released by the wizard with the ultimate power who will defeat all that rise against him.

The wizard will bring unity to the wizarding world, and will possess the four sacred objects to release the Legion of the Cimmerii from their deathly prison.


Harry looked up at the faces that were staring at him in silence, Ron’s face was screwed up in confusion and Hermione’s eyes seemed to be bursting out of her face in excitement.

“What does all this mean?” Arthur asked Professor McGonagall “Have you heard of this Legion of the Cimmerii before Minerva?”

“I have heard of the legend of the Cimmerii people, but I thought that it was just a myth” she said in disbelief.

“Well I guess we were all myth taken” Harry joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Who were they Professor?” Hermione asked

“The Cimmerii were a tribal community that existed before any other society. There have been stories of them as far back as the Stone Age; they lived in peaceful harmony using their magic until they were overthrown by the Romans and the Celts. But I have never thought this was real” she said with uncertainty.

Everyone continued to stare at Professor McGonagall with bated breath waiting to hear more of her story.

“From what I remember from my studies the Cimmerii tribes were split when they were invaded. After that there isn’t a lot of information about what happened to them, some say that the head of each of the four tribes were sent into exile for misusing their powers. But nothing has ever been proven”

Harry read through the prophecy once again trying to understand what it said more clearly.

“Do you think that Voldemort believed this to be about him?” Harry asked

Hermione took the parchment out of Harry’s hands and read it silently,
“It would probably be why he had it, what other reason would he need it. Maybe he believes that he is the wizard with the ultimate power.” she said.

“I don’t think that we will solve this tonight, can Mr Potter take this scroll back to school with him” Professor McGonagall asked Draco.

He nodded “Sure anything to help bring down the evil maniac that destroyed my family” he said angrily.

Harry rolled up the scroll and held onto it tight, he was very interested to get it back to Hogwarts and go through it clue by clue.

“I had better get going Professor” Draco said as he got up off of his chair “Let me know what you find out from that parchment”

Professor McGonagall also stood up and she placed a hand warmly on his shoulder “We will Draco, now please take care. We will see you soon” she said kindly.
Draco looked over at Harry, Ron and Hermione and nodded his farewell then he hurriedly left the kitchen.

Ron let out a low whistle “Can we trust him with this Harry?”

Harry looked at his best friend with uncertainty “I guess he is all we have”

“Well come on you three, best we head back to school” Professor McGonagall told them.

“Bye Dad” Ron said to his father who had gotten up to say his goodbyes “Tell Mum we will see her soon”

“I will. Now you three go and behave yourselves and don’t go talking about what has gone on here tonight” he warned them

“We won’t” Hermione said

Professor McGonagall led them back out to the darkened hallway where they had left the teapot Portkey.

After another uncomfortable journey they were standing back in Professor McGonagall’s office.

“Goodnight Professor” Harry said as they left the room and headed back down the corridor to the Gryffindor tower.

When they entered the common room they found it was completely empty
“Crikey what time is it Hermione?” Ron asked
Hermione pulled back her sleeve and checked her watch “It’s 10 minutes till midnight” she revealed “I think we had better get off to bed since we have classes tomorrow”

She gave Ron a quick kiss and headed off to her bedroom. The boys then copied her and went upstairs to their warm beds that were waiting for them.

During their free periods all week Harry, Ron and Hermione read and reread the Cimmerii Prophecy trying to make sense out of it.

“I don’t know what we can learn from it” Hermione said late one Thursday after their school lessons were over. She had given up trying to decipher the text and had slumped down in one of the comfy chairs she had in her private bedroom.
Ron and Harry were also exhausted from trying to understand the lost text.

“Maybe it isn’t going to be of any help” Ron said rubbing his sore eyes.

Harry disagreed; he had a feeling this scroll was going to be of great importance to his mission. He just needed the chance to confirm it but his efforts were proving fruitless.

“Maybe we could go to Ben for help since he knows about the Horcruxes” Hermione quietly suggested not wanting Ron to become jealous again.

“I think that is a great idea Hermione. Since we aren’t getting anywhere doing it ourselves, it wouldn’t hurt to get some fresh ideas” Harry agreed.

Harry rolled up the scroll and suggested that they head down for their dinner.

“I will ask Ben tonight during our patrols if he can join us tomorrow after lessons” Hermione said to Ron and Harry while they were eating.

“Ok, let us know what time to turn up” Harry said in the middle of eating half an apple pie.

They finished their dinner and headed back up to the dormitory to get stuck into the huge pile of homework that kept on getting larger since they had been spending the majority of their free time trying to understand the Cimmerii prophecy.

The next day proved to be an exciting day; in Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor McGrath had arranged a test of what they had learnt so far that year. She had set up a simulation test where each of the students had to fight a series of enemies with different types of spells. And if the students didn’t use non verbal spells they would lose points. Harry scored a perfect score which he was thrilled about; he went to see how well Ron and Hermione had done in the test. Ron was looking very pleased with himself.
“How did you do Ron?” Harry asked
Ron held up his test he scored 97 out of 100.
“Well done, that is excellent” Harry exclaimed “How about you Hermione?”
She slowly held up her test for Harry to see, she had scored 94 out of 100. Harry could see that she was clearly disappointed in her score.
“That is excellent Hermione” Harry said trying hard to cheer her up.
She shoved the test roughly back into her book bag and gave Harry a look as if to say don’t lie to me.
“It doesn’t matter what I got” she said “I was really pleased for Ron actually. He has been working hard to get this good”
Ron looked a bit surprised by his girlfriend’s honest comment.
“Thanks Hermione, that means a lot coming from you”

After their classes were over they all went to Hermione’s room to do some homework while they waited for Ben to arrive. They had just finished their foot long essay on the importance of using the right ingredients in potions when there was a knock on the door, Hermione got up from her chair to let Ben in.

“How are you all going?” he greeted them all
Harry said hello back but Ron just mumbled something under his breath and went back to finishing his essay.

“So what was the great emergency” Ben said as he sat down on an empty chair.

Harry handed the rolled up scroll to Ben, who took it with a curious look and read it quietly.
“Where did you get this?” Ben asked Harry with a look of apprehension.
“I can’t tell you Ben I’m sorry.”
He read the prophecy again then rolled it back up and placed it on the table.
“Why do you ask?” Ron asked
“Because when I was hanging around with a group of, let’s say questionable wizards. They were discussing a story that sounded a lot like this prophecy” Ben told them.
Ron eyed him suspiciously “Why were you hanging around wizards like that?”
Ben gave Ron an annoyed look back “Because it was the only way I could get help to find where the other Horcruxes might be.”
Ron gave a low snort got up from his chair and crossed the room to sit on Hermione’s bed. She followed him to talk to him in private.

“Sorry” Harry said quietly, embarrassed by Ron’s actions.
Ben shrugged “I am very interested if this might hold a clue that we haven’t thought of” he spoke softly to Harry.

Harry unrolled the scroll once again and held it open on the table to read it again. Ben took out his wand and tried a few inaudible spells to see if there was anything hidden on the paper.
Harry was just about to tell him that they had already tried that when the bottom half of the parchment glowed.
“What did you do?” Harry said surprised.
Ben took a hold of the paper as well to read what had just appeared underneath the large Dragon picture.

“If you wish to know what secrets the dragon hides come now and materialise.”

The last thing Harry heard was the scream of Hermione calling his name.

Harry thought that was the strangest feeling he had ever felt. One moment he was standing in Hermione’s room and the next he was standing alongside Ben in a great cavernous hall.

“Where are we Harry?” Ben’s asked his voice echoing in the large room.

“I’m not sure” Harry replied quieter looking around at where they were.

Ben rolled up the scroll, which he was still holding onto and tucked it into the pocket of his school robes.
“Come on lets have a look around” Ben suggested.
Harry hesitated for a second but didn’t fancy being left standing all alone in a strange place so he followed Ben. They silently walked around the room looking at the various pictures that adorned the high stone walls. The pictures showed many different battles and victories of war.

Harry found a wooden door hidden behind a dusty tapestry, but it failed to open even when he cast Alohomora on it.

“So what do we do now?” Harry said staring at Ben.
“Why do you ask me? It’s not like I meant to bring us here” Ben said defending himself.
“Well maybe you should have thought twice before reading an incantation on an ancient prophecy” Harry spat at him, furious for the mess they were now both in.
How was he ever going to get back to Hogwarts and more importantly Ginny? He hadn’t even told her about the prophecy that Draco had given to him. Then it hit him, Draco. Maybe this was his plan; he knew Harry would find a way to read the hidden spell at the bottom of the scroll which would send Harry here out of the way.

“Stupid” Harry hissed at himself “How could I be so trusting?” he stormed off in the opposite direction of Ben.

Ben looked confusingly at Harry “Why do you blame me?”

“I don’t blame you” Harry told him honestly “I blame the person who gave me that scroll”

“And you still won’t tell me who gave it to you?” Ben queried, walking over to where Harry was leaning against a far wall.

“No. I’m sorry but I promised Professor McGonagall I wouldn’t”

Ben admired Harry’s sense of propriety; he understood why Hermione’s friendship with Harry was so strong.

“Come on, I’m sure there is something here to help us get back home” Ben suggested hopefully to Harry.

Harry took a deep breath and decided that Ben was right; he had to be more positive about getting home. “Ok, I’ll follow you”

They walked the length of the hall and back checking for any hidden passageways or doors that could be opened, but they found none. They seemed to be locked inside this big empty room.

“This doesn’t make sense” Harry said frustratingly to Ben “Why would this spell bring us here and then leave us trapped?”

Ben sat down on the stone floor and rested his head in his hands, trying to think if there was a something he was missing. “Was there anything special about this parchment” he asked Harry, holding out the scroll for him.

Harry joined him on the cold hard floor and took the prophecy from him. “Well besides that it seems to out date the wizarding world as we know it. It was given to me because it couldn’t be opened”

“So then how did you open it?” Ben asked inquisitively.

“It had to be opened by someone who can speak Parselmouth” Harry said

“And what? You can speak Parselmouth?” Ben said shocked by this revelation.

Harry nodded, “Apparently when Voldemort attacked me when I was one, some of his powers were transferred into me. Speaking this snake language was one of them” Harry said telling Ben one his most guarded secrets.

“Wow!” Ben gushed “What else did he give you”

Harry didn’t really want to divulge his other secrets at the moment so he fobbed Ben off “Not much else that is the main one.”

“So if talking Parselmouth opened the scroll, maybe speaking it again now might help us to get out of this depressing room” Ben hoped.

Harry stood up and decided to give it a go, what did he have to lose?
“What should I say?” he asked Ben
Ben scanned the room and his eyes came to rest on the tapestry that concealed the wooden door. “Maybe you could ask that door to open up” he suggested, pointing to the wall.
Harry agreed and made his way across the room, he pulled back the tapestry closed his eyes and concentrated hard. “Open” Harry hissed in Parselmouth. Even before he had opened his eyes he heard the door give a soft click and it effortlessly swung open before them.

They both stood before the new opening not quite decided if they were willing to venture into the unknown.
“Might as well go in” Harry said, he took out his wand and lit the end before stepping over the threshold.

His wand light illuminated the walls with an eerie glow. They walked down the long passageway carefully treading over the odd scurrying spider. Harry thought to himself he was glad Ron hadn’t come.
“I’ve got the strangest feeling like we are being watched” Ben whispered to Harry, who was in front of him.
“Me too” Harry whispered back.

They started to feel like this passageway was going to go on for ever, when they finally came across another wooden door. Harry reached out his hand and turned the brass door knob hard to the left, he was surprised to feel it turn in his hand. He thought that this door might be magically locked as well. Ben must have been thinking the same thing “Did it open?” he asked quietly.
Harry nodded and then he put out his wand light, Ben did the same and followed him through this second door.

They found themselves in another room; this one was much smaller about the same size as their Gryffindor common room. The room was brightly lit by a row of stained glass windows high up in the wall. Harry thought that the pictures in each of windows were beautiful, there was something in them that reminded him of something but he couldn’t put his finger on what. There were two long wooden tables in the middle of the room that looked like they were there for eating sumptuous meals on. But what caught Ben’s attention was at the far end of the room were four large chairs, you would not be mistaken if you called them thrones. The wall above the chairs was decorated with an enormous tapestry of a red dragon, its eyes glittered in the sunshine that was streaming in through the windows. Harry thought the eyes looked like the rubies that filled the Gryffindor hourglass. Both he and Ben were transfixed by the beauty of the picture that they didn’t realise there was a solitary figure standing behind them.
“Hello, we have been waiting for you Mr Potter”.

************************************************************
*********

“Harry…Harry” Hermione called out as she watched him disappear into nothingness with Ben.
Ron spun around on Hermione’s bed at the sound of her shrieking. “Where did he go?” he asked
Hermione looked like she was just about to burst into tears “I don’t know Ron. The last thing I heard was Ben reading something and then they both disappeared” she sobbed.
Ron quickly crossed the room to where Hermione was standing and pulled her close to him. “Don’t worry. Harry will be fine, he is always doing this sort of thing” he reassured her.
Hermione cried gently into Ron’s shoulder “I knew there was something funny about this. Why would Malfoy give Harry this scroll when it seemed to be of great importance to Voldemort?” Ron said grumpily.

“I’m just afraid Ron” Hermione said as she lifted her face up off of Ron’s chest
“Harry will be fine”
“I’m afraid because the last time Harry was magically transported somewhere with someone who was not meant to go that person was killed, and I am afraid that Ben will meet the same fate as Cedric” she whimpered, her eyes starting to fill up with tears again.
Ron held her out at arms length and glared at her “So it is Ben you are worried about, not Harry” he said angrily.
Hermione wiped the few tears that had escaped off of her cheeks “I am still worried about Harry what kind of friend do you think I am”
“I don’t know anymore Hermione. I think that you would rather be closer to Ben than to me or Harry” he retorted
“Why do you hate Ben so much?” she asked her jealous boyfriend “I thought that you had gotten past this distrust.”
Ron moved away from her and sat down “I don’t hate him exactly. It’s just that I don’t feel like you and I connect much these days. You seem to have more in common with Ben and I have seen the way he looks at you” he honestly told her.

“Look Ron, I do admit that you and I have been having our problems lately but I don’t have any romantic feelings for Ben. I do like him, but that is it” she said as she sat down on his lap. She then took his face in her hands and looked straight into his blue eyes “I love you Ron” she then proceeded to kiss him deeply. Her passion caught him off guard for a second, and then he grabbed her around her waist and pulled her into him for another kiss.

“What were we talking about?” Ron asked dreamily as Hermione kissed him softy on his neck.
“I can’t remember” Hermione giggled.
Ron suddenly remembered what had begun this outburst of ardour “Hermione we forgot about Harry. Do you think we should do something?”
She sat upright, feeling guilty for forgetting the plight of one her best friends “Maybe we should go and see Professor McGonagall”
“Good idea” Ron said, giving Hermione one last kiss before following her out of her bedroom and into the corridor.

As they were walking past the Gryffindor portrait of the Fat Lady it swung open and Ginny came climbing out.

“Hey you two. Do you know where Harry is by any chance? I have been looking everywhere for him and I can’t seem to find him” Ginny asked

Hermione looked at Ron in awkwardness, not sure what they should tell her.
Ginny looked at Hermione and back at Ron again waiting for an answer.
“Well. Where is he?” she asked again.

“We aren’t quite sure” Ron said honestly “But I am sure he is fine”
Ron’s answer didn’t make Ginny feel any better so she turned to Hermione for answers instead.

“Look don’t worry Ginny, he is doing something for the Order. We are on our way to see Professor McGonagall to discuss it with her” Hermione said trying to put Ginny’s mind at ease.

“Well as soon as you hear anything you let me know ok” Ginny demanded

“Of course” Hermione said patting her on her shoulder. “Now we have to go”

They said goodbye to Ginny and made their way down the corridor to Professor McGonagall’s office. They arrived in front of the huge bronze griffin and then Ron realised that they didn’t know the password to enter.
“How are we going to get in Hermione?” he asked
“I know the password Ron. Benefits of being Head Girl I suppose” she smiled
“Kneazle” Hermione called out.
At once the great bronze statue sprung to life and started to revolve upwards, revealing a stone staircase. Hermione and Ron jumped onto the stairs and made their way up to the top to the Headmistresses office door.

Hermione knocked loudly hoping that Professor McGonagall was actually in her office. Her worries were soon put to rest when she heard McGonagall call out “Come in”
Ron pushed the door open and followed Hermione inside. They found Professor McGonagall in the middle of grading papers. She looked up at her visitors obviously stressed from something.
“What can I do for you two?” she asked brusquely.
“Well Professor it has to do with that prophecy that Malfoy gave to Harry” Hermione began.
“What about it Miss Granger” Professor McGonagall said without looking up from her markings.
“Well there was a hidden incantation at the bottom of it and when it was read out loud
Harry… um….. Disappeared”
“What?” Professor McGonagall shouted just a bit too loud. “What do you mean he has disappeared?”
“We don’t know anything else I’m afraid Professor. We came to you because we didn’t know what else to do” Hermione said, her voice had started to shake with emotion.
Professor McGonagall took a deep breath and straightened her glasses “I apologise for my temper, it has been a very busy day and this is just too much I’m afraid”
“It’s alright, but there is another matter that you might not like” Hermione told her “Harry wasn’t alone, he had Ben Chapman with him”
This didn’t please Professor McGonagall very much “Why did Mr Chapman go with Harry?”
“I can’t tell you everything but Ben has been helping Harry lately and it was him that discovered the hidden incantation on the prophecy” Hermione said
Professor McGonagall stood up from her chair and started to pace her office, Ron watched as she walked past the portrait of Professor Dumbledore, she glanced up at his impressive figure obviously hoping to gain some kind of knowledge to where Harry might be. But Dumbledore remained silent and still. Professor McGonagall came back to her desk and sat back down again.
“Well I am at a loss for where Harry might be, so for the time being no one but the three of us will be aware that these two are missing. If they aren’t back by this time tomorrow come back and see me again and we will arrange a meeting with the order” she discussed with them.

“Ok Professor” Hermione said standing up “Thank you”

Ron followed Hermione out of the Headmistresses office and back towards the Gryffindor tower.
“What are we going to tell Ginny?” he asked Hermione “She will want to know what is going on. You know her, she won’t take no for an answer”
“Well we can’t tell her what we don’t know. We will just tell her that we don’t know anything new” Hermione firmly said as they entered the portrait hole.
Ron took Hermione by her hand and led her over to a secluded part of the common room. “Do you think Harry and Ben will be ok? I mean no one knows where they are and we can’t go and rescue them if they get in trouble” he quietly said, obviously showing he was getting worried about the disappearance.
“All we can do is have faith in Harry. He wouldn’t have come this far only to fail now. He’ll be back”
Hermione wished she believed in her own words; but she felt like she wasn’t going to see them ever again and it hurt too much to say it out loud.

Harry and Ben spun around at the sound of the voice behind them, they pulled out their wands from their robe pockets and were ready to defend themselves. But standing just behind them was an elderly wizard, he was dressed in long blue robes and his greying hair and beard were of a phenomenal length. He smiled kindly at Harry and Ben and then he spread opened his arms in a welcoming gesture.

“Welcome, welcome. You don’t know how long we have waited for you to arrive here Mr Potter” he said in a booming voice.

Harry didn’t lower his wand “How do you know my name?” he demanded

“Because we have been watching you, Harry.” the wizard simply stated “Come now, put away your wands and follow me. We have a lot to discuss and only a little time to do it in”

Harry looked over at Ben who was looking just as confused as he did. “What do you think?” Harry whispered. Ben was still looking at the wizard with suspicion. When the boys didn’t move the wizard lowered his arms and looked disappointed.

“I understand your distrust. Is there anything I can do or say that might ease your minds?” he gently asked.

“What is your name?” Ben insisted. “And why should we trust you?”

“My name is Elder Saus and I can only insist that you come with me so I can take you to my brethren and there we can tell you why we needed you here.” he said warmly but firmly.

Harry thought about the possibilities that this might be one big trap but he was willing to see where this Elder wanted to take him as well “Ok we will come with you, but we are keeping our wands out.” Harry agreed.

“As you wish” Saus said with a small bow in Harry’s direction “this way please” and he lead them out of the small room through a pair of great wooden double doors. As the doors were pushed open the sunlight burst into the room so brightly it hurt Harry’s eyes. He quickly put his hands in front of his eyes to block the glare, it took awhile for his eyesight to adjust to the brightness but once it did he realised they were standing in the middle of a ring of small huts. Harry could hear the sounds of waves hitting the shore in the near distance and overhead many gulls flew in different directions “Are we on an island?” Harry asked Saus.

“Yes Mr Potter. This has been our home for many years now.” he told them as they walked towards another of the many huts. “We are unable to leave this island and we are unable to die. We were exiled here by our oppressors a long time ago” he explained briefly.

Harry wondered just how old Saus must be if he couldn’t die. He followed the ancient wizard up the steps of the biggest hut in the circle; Ben was close behind Harry still with his wand at the ready.
Saus knocked on the door and waited for a reply. The door was opened and one by one they filed into the room which Harry noticed was a lot bigger on the inside that it looked on the outside.

“Please wait here, I will be back in a minute” Saus pointed to a couple of chairs and then he quickly left the room through another door and the far end of the room.

“What do you think is going on Harry?” Ben asked, looking around the magically enhanced room. He was obviously impressed with the detail that these wizards had been able to conjure up.

“I’m not sure Ben. But I don’t think that we are in danger here” Harry said as he placed his wand back in his robe pockets.

“How can you be so sure” Ben questioned him “They haven’t shown me anything to trust them yet, so I will be keeping my wand out alright?”

Harry nodded and then he waited patiently for Saus to return.

When he did return he wasn’t alone, with him were three wizards and a witch. They were dressed the same as Saus but in different colours. As they entered the room their faces showed the excitement they felt at the arrival of Harry and Ben. Saus introduced each of them to the two boys.

The first wizard was the tallest out of the group, he wore deep green robes, and his hair was a light shade of red and was cut very short. “This is Elder Emerylon” He bowed low to Harry and stepped aside. The next wizard was a very happy looking one; he wore red robes with flecks of gold through it, he squeaked hello as Saus introduced him “This is Elder Japheth”
“Hello” Harry said as he stepped aside and the witch was introduced.
“This is Elder Delphina, she is our healer as well as our seer. She was the one who has been keeping an eye on you” Saus said with a smile.
“Nice to meet you” Harry said apprehensively, the witch wore silver rimmed glasses and a golden robe. Her long silver hair flowed around her like it was constantly being blown by an invisible breeze. She reached out and took Harry’s hand in hers and held it softly, she looked deep into his green eyes and a wide smile came to her face. She then let go of his hand and stepped over to stand with the other two wizards. Harry felt unsure about what she just did or saw as he took a step back to stand next to Ben.

“And this is our Grand Elder Enkur” Saus said impressively as he moved aside to introduce this last wizard “He is the head of our council and the real reason why you are here today” he told Harry.

Grand Elder Enkur was dressed the same as the other Elders but his robes were a brilliant shade of purple. It was the deepest colour of purple Harry had ever seen. He also had a long silver beard and hair which was tied up at certain intervals with golden threads. His face had remnants of scars that hadn’t faded with time, he looked like an old battle warrior Harry had seen in his History of Magic text books back at school.

“We are pleased to finally have you here Harry Potter” Enkur said in a low resonant voice, his deep brown eyes had a look of wisdom in them that reminded Harry of Dumbledore’s blue twinkling ones.

Harry shook hands with the Grand Elder and then he introduced Ben to them “I would like to introduce you to my friend Ben Chapman”

“Yes we know who he is” Elder Delphina said dreamily as she looked over at Ben and smiled knowingly at him. “We know he is the heir of Rowena Ravenclaw one of the four founders of your school Hogwarts and we also know what he is searching for”

Ben’s face went from one of scepticism to one of disbelief “How….. I mean …. What?” he stammered.

“Before you leave I will tell you what you have been searching for” Delphina told him.

“Now we don’t have a lot of time left, so lets get down to business” Grand Elder Enkur said to the group “let’s all sit down and have a cool drink” He pointed the group towards the chairs that were sitting around a square table. Each of the Elders took a seat and then Ben and Harry took a seat next to each other. Once they were all seated Enkur conjured up seven glasses of water for them all to drink.

“Well I will start at the beginning of this story but it is really the end of the story for us” Grand Elder Enkur began “It all begins with the prophecy that brought you two to us. We had that scroll in our possession ever since we were banished here. Delphina has been searching the wizarding world for the wizard we believed the prophecy was written about”

“About 50 years ago we approached a young wizard who we believed held the key to our release” Delphina told Harry and Ben in a mystical voice “We brought him here to our island and explained to him our plight. He seemed very interested to helping us but only if we helped him with his dreams of unifying the wizarding world. We believed he wanted what we wanted but we were deceived”

Delphina looked over at Enkur before she continued with her story, he nodded for her to carry on “So for 15 years we trained this wizard with all that we knew, he was so eager to learn all about our dark rituals that we didn’t see what he was really planning.” she took a calming sip of her water before resuming “One night he attacked us, he was so strong we didn’t stand a chance. As you can see Enkur still bears the marks that wizard left on him. We went into hiding and when morning dawned he was gone and he has never returned since.”

“We always worried that since he took the scroll with him that he would find a way back to us but he never did.” Grand Elder Enkur said “Ever since then we have watched the rage and destruction of this wizard and his followers and hoped that one day there would be someone who would stand up and bring peace back to the wizarding world”

“And that is where you come into this story Harry” Delphina told him straightening her silver glasses on her face.

“The wizard you brought here was Voldemort wasn’t it?” Ben said

“Yes” Enkur said gravely “We believed he was the one the prophecy talked about, since he was the heir of Salazar Slytherin one of the most powerful wizards of all time. We believed he was a force of good but we were severely mistaken”

“Obviously” Ben murmured under his breath.

“So now you believe that the prophecy is about me” Harry said astonished about what they were telling him. “What if you have it wrong again?”

Delphina gave Harry a harsh look, which reminded him of how Professor McGonagall looked at him sometimes. “I have been watching you all your life Harry, ever since Riddle attacked you. I am certain my premonition is correct this time”

“So what do you need me to do” Harry asked hesitantly.

“We will give you the strength of our ancestors to be able to defeat Riddle. But once the deed is over and if you are still alive then we will need you to return to us with the four founders objects to release us from our prison” she told him in a business like voice.

Harry digested this information, he felt overwhelmed by their readiness to help him defeat Voldemort.

“I have only found three of the four founders objects, we don’t know where to look for the fourth one” Harry admitted

“Yes we know.” Delphina enlightened him “When you are not looking for it that is when you will find it”

Harry was confused by her statement, ‘What does she mean by that?’ he asked himself

Grand Elder Enkur stood up from his chair and looked serenely at Harry “Are you ready young Harry to endure the strength and powers of our ancestors?”

Harry wasn’t sure what he felt about this but he figured if this would help to survive his battle with Voldemort then bring it on.

He stood up from his chair as well “Yes I am.”

“Very good. Will you please follow me we will go to the ceremonial room to perform the ritual and then we will send you both back to where you belong”
Harry and Ben followed the five Elders out of the hut and back across the way to a smaller dwelling. They made their way through a large silver door and followed them into a circular room that was decorated with different types of dragons. They were coloured the same as the Elders robes. And each dragon had a gem stone of the same colour set as an eye. At the end of the room stood an oversized cupboard that was filled with gold, silver and bronze cups, ornaments and plates. It reminded Harry of a pirate’s treasure trove.

Harry was ushered to stand in the middle of the room and each of the Elders stood around him in a circle. They then each placed a hand above his head and started chanting in a language Harry had not heard before. Their chant became faster and louder and he was starting to feel like he was going to pass out. Harry closed his eyes and all of a sudden he could see the story of the Cimmerii pass before him just like he was watching a movie.

In a flash it was over and Harry was left wondering if they had actually given him the strength he needed, as he didn’t feel any different. He looked up at Grand Elder Enkur and spoke quietly “Is that it?”
“Yes, that is all we can do for you. The rest is up to you and your friends” he told Harry.
Elder Delphina then left the circle and went to talk to Ben. She took him aside and talked to him in a quiet tone, Harry couldn’t make out what she was saying. But whatever was spoken seemed to surprise Ben as he looked like he was in disbelief.
Delphina walked back to the group leaving Ben standing alone staring at the wall across from him obviously taken aback by Delphina’s insight.

“Now it is time that we returned you both to your school. But before we do we have a gift for you Harry” Enkur said turned towards Elder Japheth and held out his hand. Japheth reached inside his red robes and brought out a small golden cup with two finely wrought handles. He carefully handed it to Enkur who in turn presented it to Harry.

“Please take this as a token of our gratitude” Enkur said to Harry. He took the cup and realised that he had seen this particular cup before, he had seen it in a memory.
He traced his fingertips over the engraving of a badger and then glanced up at the Elders with a look of recognition.

“How did you get this cup?” Harry asked “It has been missing for nearly 50 years”
“Well we found it hidden in the room that Riddle used when he was here. Elder Emerylon knew what was hidden inside the cup and we have rid the cup of the soul that was concealed within it.”

Harry thought this was the best news he had heard in a long time, he had found another Horcrux and this time he didn’t even have to go through the process of ridding it of the soul that Voldemort placed inside it. Harry gratefully took the cup and held on to it tightly, he wasn’t going to let it go now.

“Now Ben if you will stand next to Harry we will send you back to school.” Enkur instructed.

Ben did as he was told and stood next to Harry not really listening to what was going on around him, his mind was still trying to process the news that Delphina had told him.

“Thankyou all so much for your help and guidance” Harry said gratefully “I will return once the war is over”

“I will be keeping a close eye on you Harry and you too Ben” Delphina said in her mystical voice, giving them both a friendly smile.

Once everyone had said their goodbyes, Enkur placed a hand on each of the boy’s shoulders and spoke something softly to himself. Then Harry and Ben found themselves instantly transported across the continent and back into Hermione’s bedroom.

Hermione’s room was in complete darkness when they returned. Harry and Ben tried to be as quiet as they could as they left her room but Harry accidentally tripped over her book bag and fell over with a loud crash.

“Who’s there?” came a groggy voice in the dark. Then a light came on and they saw the shocked face of Hermione peeking out from under her bed covers.

“Harry! Ben! Where have you been? We have been so worried” she shrieked as she jumped out of bed and rushed over to the boys to hug them tightly “So where were you?”

Harry took a deep breath and then explained all about their encounter with the Cimmerii Elders. After he told her all about the extra powers they had endowed him with he showed her the small golden cup that once belonged to Helga Hufflepuff.

“And they just gave it to you” she exclaimed in disbelief, running her fingers over the embossed badger.

Harry nodded and then stifled a yawn. “Can we continue this conversation tomorrow? I am really tired”

“Of course, you two head off to bed and we will talk tomorrow” Hermione said in a mothering tone.

Harry took the small golden cup and returned to his bedroom. He tiptoed into the room and got undressed quietly, before he climbed into bed he placed the cup on his bed side table. He glanced at it knowing that the battle with Voldemort was getting so close now he was eager for it to be over.

Harry was glad the next day was Sunday, as it gave him a chance to have a sleep in. When he awoke he was the only one left in the Gryffindor boy’s bedroom. After showering and getting dressed, Harry headed down the stone spiral staircase towards the common room and to find where Ginny might be. He did find Ron however playing wizard chess with Neville.

“Checkmate” Ron said lazily
“Not again” Neville groaned “That’s five in a row”
Ron leaned back against his chair and popped a chocolate frog into his mouth.
“ ‘arry!” Ron said almost choking on his favourite treat “You’re awake”
“Good observations Ron!” Harry laughed “Have you seen your sister anywhere?”
Ron thought about it for a while “Last time I saw her she was heading outside to do some reading”
“Thanks, I will catch up with you later ok?” Harry said.
“Alright” Ron said as he started to put his chess pieces back in their starting positions.
“Bye Harry” Neville called out as he moved his first pawn to begin a new game.

Harry quickly headed down the stair case and out the front door of the castle. The sun was shining brightly and a lot of students were taking advantage of their last chance to bask in the fading warmth of autumn.
Harry found Ginny sitting alone by the huge oak tree alongside the black lake. She looked up as soon as she heard Harry’s footsteps getting louder as he drew nearer.
Her face broke out into a huge smile as she saw her boyfriend heading in her direction.
“Harry” she said happily “I was wondering where you were. I couldn’t find you at all yesterday”
Harry sat down next to her on the soft grass and leaned over and kissed her deeply.
“I’m sorry Ginny. Something happened and I couldn’t tell anyone where I was. But I am back now and I have some excellent news” he told her cheerfully.
Ginny laid her head in Harry’s lap her flaming red hair spread out like a fire across Harry’s blue jeans. She looked up into his green eyes and listened as he told her all about where he had gone during the previous day, all about the Elders and what they had done for Harry. She gave him her fullest attention as he talked and talked; when he finally stopped she sat up.
“So now you have only one Horcrux to go” she replied enthusiastically.
“Yeah, the end is certainly coming near now” Harry whispered
“Do you think that Voldemort knows that he has only one Horcrux left?” Ginny asked.
“I asked Dumbledore that very same question last year and he seemed to think that he doesn’t know when his Horcruxes are destroyed” Harry told her.
“So what is next?” Ginny asked.
“I’m not sure” Harry said truthfully “I think I might have to arrange a meeting with Remus to discuss what the Order is up to. To see where we go next”
“Sounds like a plan to me” she said trying to be serious.
She jumped to her feet and stuck out her hand for Harry to take a hold of.
“Where are we going?” he asked confused, as he stood up.
“Hermione wanted to see you. She sounded pretty excited actually” Ginny told him.
Holding hands they headed back inside the castle and proceeded up the moving staircase until they got to the seventh floor. Harry knocked when they arrived in front of Hermione’s door, there was no answer.
“Where do you think she is?” Harry asked as he turned around to face Ginny.
She shrugged her shoulders to indicate that she didn’t know. They sat down in the corridor to wait for Hermione’s arrival.
Harry was in the middle of teaching Ginny the old muggle game of rock, paper, scissors when a flustered Hermione came running towards them.
“There you are” she scolded Harry “I have been everywhere looking for you”
“We have been here waiting for you” he told her, feeling a bit taken aback by her reprimand.
“Well come inside I have something great to discuss with you” Hermione opened her door which was magically locked and let them in.

Harry watched as Hermione ran off to her trunk at the end of her bed and delved through its contents looking for something.
“What are you doing?” Harry laughed.
“Here it is” Hermione said out loud, she pulled out a stack of papers and brought them over to the round wooden table that was situated in the middle of her bedroom.
She spread the notes out over the table and then she took a seat next to Harry.
He was trying to read the notes but they were full of Hermione’s scribbles that were very hard to read.
“What is all this about?” Ginny asked, trying to read Hermione’s notes as well.
“This is all my work on trying to complete that Death Eater locater map that your Mum started” she told Harry
“I had hit a brick wall weeks ago and I didn’t know what else to use to try and finish the potion”
“So did you find the missing ingredient?” Harry asked impatiently
“I didn’t no. But Ben did!” she said breathlessly.
“How did Ben find out what you were doing?” Harry questioned her.
“He didn’t. It was something that he told me this morning. He said where you two went yesterday, you met a group of ancient wizards and one of them knew what I was doing” she said in an amazed voice “She told Ben to tell me to that the missing ingredient was blood. And not just any blood but your blood Harry”
Harry was stunned “My blood? But why would my blood be the missing ingredient when it is a locater map for Death Eaters. I’m definitely not a Death Eater”
Hermione smiled at him “Of course you’re not a Death Eater. But Voldemort is the head of them isn’t he?”
Ginny sat up straight in her chair, she had just understood what Hermione was getting at.
“And your blood runs through his veins” she said in a final tone.
“They told Ben all that?” he asked
“No, they only told Ben that the final ingredient was blood I had to figure out whose blood they were talking about” she said proudly.
“Excellent work Hermione” Harry said elatedly
“When will the potion be ready?” Ginny asked before Harry had a chance to ask.
“Give me a week to make sure that it is working the way it should be and then I think we should arrange a meeting with Remus to show him the map”
Harry gave a little chuckle “I was going to make a meeting with Remus myself. Great minds think a like, hey Hermione!”
“I hate to say this but I need some of your blood Harry” she said looking a bit squeamish.
“How much?” he asked nervously
“I’m not sure how much is going to be needed”
“Well lucky it is for a good cause isn’t it!” Harry said trying to make a joke to lighten the situation.
He held out his arm and waited for Hermione to cut him, she had a hold of her silver potions knife which was shaking badly.
“I can’t do it” she said as she placed the knife down on the table.
“Chicken” Ginny said, she picked up the knife and made a small cut in the crook of Harry’s arm.
“Ouch!” he yelped “Careful that hurt”
“Sorry, I will kiss it better later on okay” she smiled
Hermione held a glass vial under Harry’s cut and caught the blood as it dripped off his arm. “I think that will do for now” she said as soon as the small glass vial was half full of Harry’s deep crimson blood.
Ginny took out her wand and cast a non verbal spell over Harry’s cut and mended it in a heart beat.
“Wow Ginny. Where did you learn to do that?” Harry said running his hand over where the cut was. There wasn’t even a scar left.
“Oh, I pick things up from here and there” she said
“You would be a good healer” Hermione said as she put the vial into a small pouch they by the sounds of it also held the other ingredients needed to finish the potion.
“Thanks Hermione” Ginny said happily
“Do you want any help with the potion Hermione?” Harry asked
“No thanks, I need to be alone so I can concentrate fully on what I am doing” she said as she busied herself around her room gathering the other things she needed.
“Ok, let us know when you are finished” Ginny said eagerly
“Or if you need more blood” Harry said as he left the room.

Harry and Ginny returned to the common room to find Ron and tell him what they had been doing with Hermione.
They found him talking about his favourite Quidditch team the Chudley Cannons with a group of third year students Harry didn’t know.
Ron quickly excused himself when he saw that Harry was trying to get his attention.
“Sorry to drag you away from that intellectual discussion Ronald” Ginny chided
“Shut up you” Ron said, looking embarrassed
Harry led Ron up the stairs towards their dormitory and held the door of their bedroom open as Ginny made her way up as well.
Harry then proceeded to tell Ron about everything. All about where he was yesterday and what happened, he told about Hermione’s revelation about finding out the final ingredient to the Death Eater locater map potion. Every now and then Ron would interrupt Harry with a gasp or a “really!” When he had finally told Ron everything he was exhausted. This was the third time this morning that he had to recollect his memories and he was tired of hearing himself talk.
Ron got up from his bed and started pacing the room deep in thought. Harry and Ginny watched as he walked back and forth, on his fifth trip around the room Ginny stood up and grabbed a hold of her big brother.
“Enough with the pacing, you are making me dizzy!” she said irritably.
“Sorry” Ron mumbled and sat back down on his bed again.
“What’s up?” Harry asked concerned.
Ron ran his hands through his bright red hair and let out a long breath “It’s just that with Hermione finishing the potion and you have nearly got all of the Horcruxes of You Know Who, it means that we are going to have to go to war soon”
Harry nodded his head, he understood how Ron was feeling. He himself was feeling anxious and afraid with their impending fate.
“I’ve got a good feeling about this Ron” Harry said trying to make Ron feel more confident “Especially now that the Elders have given me their powers”
Ron looked over at Harry and all of a sudden burst out in a fit of laughter.
“What?” Harry said trying not to laugh as well.
Ron finally composed himself and said “You make it sound like you are a superhero, but you are still Harry with your skinny body and glasses you don‘t look like you have all these powers. It is just funny that’s all”
“Hey, that’s my boyfriend you are making fun of” Ginny said as she slapped Ron on his arm.
“Ow! I was only kidding” he said throwing his hands up in defeat.

Harry, Ron and Ginny spent the remainder of Sunday outside playing a mock game of Quidditch with some of the other Gryffindor students who were willing to play as well.
They drew quite a crowd as they played all afternoon; Harry’s team easily won numerous times. As the sun began to set Professor McGonagall came striding out onto the Quidditch pitch and hollered at them all to head inside the castle as dinner had been served and only half the students had turned up.
Harry flew down to the field and dismounted his broom, he looked up and saw McGonagall heading in his direction looking very cross.
Ginny and Ron came over to stand next to Harry to take the blame as well.
“Mr Potter do you realize what time it is?” she started
“I’m sorry Professor we just got carried away” he apologised.
Professor McGonagall looked from Harry to Ron and Ginny and then her face softened. “I understand that you all miss playing Quidditch but we have a curfew for a reason and I expect it to be adhered to”
“Sorry Professor” they all said as one.
“I would hate to see anything bad happen to any of you” she told them as they headed back up to the castle.
Harry felt bad that he had forgotten about the curfew, he didn’t like letting Professor McGonagall down and he was certain she had more pressing issues to be worrying about then his stupidity.
They quickly went upstairs and returned their broomsticks back in their bedrooms, washed up and headed back down the stairs for dinner.

All week Harry and Ron kept on bugging Hermione about the success of the potion that she was brewing in her room.
“So how’s it going?” Harry asked for the millionth time, late one Thursday afternoon while they were all sitting outside in the Herbology greenhouse.
Hermione gave them both an exasperated look “I think I have it right this time” she said quietly as she listened to what Professor Sprout was trying to tell them.
“So do you think it is time to test it?” Harry softly said.
Hermione looked a bit apprehensive at that thought.
“What’s the matter Hermione?” Ron said
Hermione waited until Professor Sprout had walked past their table and had headed down towards where Neville was sitting.
“I am just nervous that it isn’t going to work” she said
Ron put an arm around her shoulder and comforted her “Of course it is going to work, you’re a brilliant witch”
“Thanks Ron” she said slightly happier. “Well maybe we can ask Professor McGonagall if we can use her fire to get in contact with Remus so we can ask him when would be the best time to finalise the map.”
“I will ask her after dinner” Harry said softly as Professor Sprout came back to see if they had completed their work.

After dinner was over Harry made his way up to the teachers table to talk to Professor McGonagall. After being stopped by Hagrid and asked to tell him everything that Harry had been up to, he finally made his way along the table to where the Headmistress was sitting.
“Professor” Harry said quietly to her so he wasn’t overheard “I was wondering if I could use your fire to contact Remus Lupin tonight”
Professor McGonagall looked at Harry over the top of her square spectacles “Alright, I am assuming it has something to do with the order”
Harry nodded vigorously “Yes it is really important”
“I will meet you up in my office a 7pm and the password is Flitterbloom” she said and then turned back to her conversation with Professor McGrath.
Harry hurried back to the Gryffindor table to tell his friends the good news.

That night at 7 o’clock sharp Harry arrived at the entrance to Professor McGonagall office with Hermione close by his side. She desperately wanted to come so she could tell Lupin how she finished the potion. But Harry thought she just didn’t want to miss out on the acknowledgement for herself.

Professor McGonagall let them into her office and they followed her over to the fireplace that they were going to use to talk to Lupin.
“I have spoken to Remus earlier and he is expecting you. He is currently at the Orders headquarters. So I will connect you to him as you don’t know where the headquarters are” she told them simply.
Professor McGonagall then reached into the small pot that she kept close to the fireplace and took out a handful of the Floo powder, she leant into the fireplace and at the same time she threw in the powder and said the destination quietly so that she couldn’t be heard. She called out to Lupin who must have been sitting quite close to the fireplace on his side as Harry saw his head come into view almost instantly.
Professor McGonagall stood up and left them to their conversation.

“Harry, Hermione it is so good to see you both. How are you?” Lupin said as his head floated in the green flames.
“Good thanks” Harry said for both of them.
“So what did you need to tell me?” he asked curiously
“Well, I finished the potion for the Death Eater map” Hermione said with pleasure.
Lupin’s face said it all “Really, that is excellent news Hermione” he gushed
“We were wondering when we could get together to put the potion with the map” Harry said
“Well if it is alright with Professor McGonagall you can come here tomorrow night after you finish lessons for the day” he told them happily
After a brief talk about what else they had been up to, Harry and Hermione waited as Lupin spoke to Professor McGonagall.
Once the bright green flames had subsided Professor McGonagall turned back to Harry and confirmed that they would accompany her to the Orders headquarters tomorrow after classes.
“Can Ron come as well Professor?” Harry asked hopefully
“I would naturally assume that the three of you come as a package deal” Professor McGonagall said good naturedly.
Hermione let out a little giggle at the Professor’s attempt of a joke.
After saying goodnight they headed back to the Gryffindor common room to tell Ron and Ginny what they would be doing tomorrow.
“You know that Ginny isn’t going to like being told she can’t come” Hermione told him.
Harry knew this, but she had to stay behind as she wasn’t of age yet and couldn’t attend the meetings of the Order of the Phoenix.
“She will understand” Harry said hopefully.

That night Harry didn’t sleep very well, he kept on having strange dreams where he was standing in an eerie place he didn’t recognise but standing before him was a solitary figure shrouded in a dark robe. He couldn’t see their face but when they started laughing Harry recognised it at once, the wizard standing before him was Voldemort.


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Harry never told anyone about the dream he had of Voldemort, it happened again last night and Harry was starting to feel as if it was one of his dreams that eventually came to fruition. He knew if he told his friends they would think the same and then they would act all weird around him and he didn’t need that now.

It was Friday afternoon and he was sitting in the common room during a free period with Ron and Hermione. They were meant to be working on an essay for Professor Flitwick’s class but they had given up as they were all too excited about the pending meeting they had with Remus Lupin at the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix later that afternoon.
“So tell me again Hermione how did Ben figure out that the final ingredient was Voldemorts blood or more importantly Harry’s blood” Ron asked
“I have already told you Ron, he was given the information by one of the Cimmerii Elders that Harry and Ben saw” Hermione told him again.
“But maybe that is what he wants you to believe, you didn’t actually see the Elder talk to Ben did you Hermione?” Ron challenged her.
“But I did” Harry interrupted “I saw the Seer Delphina take Ben aside and talk to him in private”
“Oh” Ron said dejectedly
“Give it up Ron, you have to stop feeling threatened by him. Ben has proven his loyalty again and again and still you don’t trust him” Hermione said angrily.
“And you do I suppose?” Ron threw back at her.
“Yes I do” she argued back “But……”
Ron sat forward on his chair in anticipation “But what?”
“It is just he has been acting really strange around me ever since he got back from his little trip with Harry” she confided in her two closest friends. “Nothing else happened did it Harry?”
“Well the only thing that has been confusing me is that the seer told Ben that she would tell him when we left what he had been seeking and I am sure that is not the final ingredient to the potion you were making” Harry said recalling the past events.
“So do you think he was told something else?” Hermione asked
“I think so”
“I wonder what it was” Ron speculated “Maybe you should go and ask him Hermione”
“It’s none of my business. Besides we have more important matters to deal with” Hermione told him sternly
“When are we going to see Lupin, Harry?” Ron asked giving up on the Ben problem.
“Professor McGonagall said we can go after classes are finished, but I want to wait and see Ginny before we leave. She made me promise”
“And I need to go and see Ben. Don’t give me that look Ron, I need to see him to let him know that I won’t be here to patrol the corridors with him this evening” Hermione said over Ron’s grumbling.
“Well once we are ready do you want to meet here and then we will all go to McGonagall’s office together?” Harry proposed
They all agreed and finished doing their homework, still feeling apprehensive about what laid before them.
They arrived at Professor McGonagall’s door together and waited to be let inside. Hermione carried with her the completed potion in several small glass bottles. She wanted to take more than was needed in case something went wrong.
“Come in you three, can you please wait over by my desk as I need to finish writing this letter to Remus. I will need you to take it to him for me” she instructed in her usual manner.
They waited patiently until Professor McGonagall finished what she was writing, she then rolled it up and sealed it with her wand. She leaned over her desk and handed it to Harry.
“Please give this only to Remus, not to anyone else” she told him
Harry nodded and put the rolled up parchment in a pocket inside his robes.
“Aren’t you coming Professor?” Hermione asked
“No Miss Granger, I am needed here this evening” she replied kindly
Professor McGonagall turned to one of the overflowing cabinets that stood behind her desk and removed the same old rusty tea pot that they used as a Portkey the last time they visited the Order’s headquarters
She tapped it with her wand and said “Portus” quietly, the tea pot trembled and glowed bright blue and then it sat still once more.
Harry, Hermione and Ron gathered around the teapot and they each placed a finger on a part of it.
“Ready, one two three” Professor McGonagall said at once
They were then on their way hurtling through space towards the Warehouse that the Order were using. Harry could feel himself continuously bumping into Hermione, he was sure she would end up as a walking bruise. Then just as quickly as they were sent tearing through the air they had arrived at the Order of the Phoenix.
“I hate Portkeys” Hermione stated as she rubbed her arms and sides.
“Sorry about that” Harry apologised.
They had arrived in the meeting room of the headquarters, which at the time being was empty.
“I wonder where everyone is?” Ron speculated as he looked around the room.
Not much had changed since they had been last time, except that there were a few more lines through some Death Eater photo’s meaning that they had been either killed or had been sent to Azkaban.
Harry was just about to call out to see if anyone was actually there when the door swung open and Remus Lupin walked in.
“There you are, I was wondering where you three would turn up”
He strode over to the group and shook hands with them. He was looking the happiest Harry had ever seen him, even the shabbiness of his robes and the greying of his hair didn’t conceal the fact that he was overjoyed about something.
“I can’t believe that you were able to finish the potion Hermione, I am really excited to see how it works with the map”
“I’m just as nervous to see if my potion actually works the way Lily had described it in her notes” Hermione said,
“For the hundredth time Hermione, the potion will be perfect. Just like you” Ron said but the last three words he said only so Hermione could hear.
“Oh, before I forget Professor McGonagall asked me to give this to you” Harry said as he reached into his robes and pulled out the sealed up parchment.
Remus took out his wand and tapped the scroll lightly; it sprung open and laid flat on the table in front of him. He quickly read the letter and then he rolled it back up and sealed it once again and tucked it inside his robes.
“Thankyou Harry. Now let’s get on with this map before the other members of the Order turn up and see what we are up to”
“But you are going to tell them about it eventually aren’t you?” Ron asked puzzled.
“Yes, but I want to wait until I am sure that it works one hundred percent before I tell the rest of the Order”
Remus reached into the other side of his robes and pulled out a thick piece of parchment which reminded Harry a lot of the Marauders Map. He unfolded it and laid it on the long wooden table. The parchment was completely blank but Harry knew there was something magical hidden inside it so he wasn’t worried.
Hermione took out one of the glass vials and gave it to Lupin, who in turn took out a dropper from another pocket. He pulled out the stopper and placed the dropper inside the clear liquid, he extracted a small amount of the potion and dripped it strategically over the map. As he did he mumbled what Harry could make out was a spell of some sort. Once he was done he stood back and watched as the map started to glow with glimmering little lights. The lights sent off sparks that flew into the air high above Harry’s head, then all of a sudden the sparks turned green and let off one loud crack and then it folded itself up neatly and waited for someone to open it.
“So how do we open it?” Ron asked Lupin quietly.
Lupin thought to himself for a while and then he brought out his wand again and tapped the map. “Reveal to me, the Death Eaters who hide from sight”
He opened the map and laid it out flat, Harry was confused to see that the map was still blank.
“Did something go wrong?” he asked
“No, we just have to choose an area to find some Death Eaters” Remus told him
“Wow” Ron said impressively
“Let’s try Azkaban” Remus said to the group as he tapped the map with his wand, “at least we should see if the map is working the way it should as we know there are Death Eaters there”
At once the map started to fill up with lines and rooms that showed them the details of the wizarding prison Azkaban. But the most important detail was that the prison was a glow of green lights.
“It worked” Hermione said thankfully.
“Can I try a place?” Harry asked
“Sure Harry, give it a go” Remus told him.
Harry took out his wand and tapped it lightly “Hogwarts” he said. Hermione and Ron looked at him curiously.
The map changed instantaneously into the outline of Hogwarts castle, it looked just like his Marauders Map. There were no glow of green lights this time and Harry looked a bit disappointed by the revelation that there were no Death Eaters at Hogwarts.
“Why do you look so dismayed Harry? It is a good thing that there are no hidden Death Eaters at Hogwarts isn’t it?” Remus asked
“Of course it is good, I was just checking something” he said not looking over at Hermione, he could feel her glaring at him.
“Are you satisfied now?” she said crossly
“I’m sorry Hermione I had to check, not only for Ben but for any of the other students and teachers” he apologised
“Well let’s check another location” Hermione said changing the subject
“Where to?” Ron asked
She took out her wand and then tapped the map “How about Hogsmeade” Hermione said.
Then the map obligingly changed from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade village before their eyes.
“This map is excellent Remus” Harry said as he scanned the new map “How many different areas can we look through?”
“Most of London and the surrounding wizarding areas” he told him.
“Look at this Harry” Ron said pointing to an area of the Hogsmeade map that had a small cluster of green lights
“Looks like there are some Death Eaters in the Hogshead pub” Remus said “I think that I should get the Order of the Phoenix in on this now”
“Can we come too?” Harry asked hopefully
Remus shook his head “No, I’m sorry Harry. You had better get back to school where you will be safe. But don’t worry we will bring you in on the war sooner then you probably want to”
Harry regretfully agreed and headed back to the Portkey with Hermione and Ron.
“Ok, but let us know how you go”
Remus nodded his head “I will, but I am sure that once the Ministry finds out that we are responsible for taking out some of the Death Eaters they will want to print it up in the Daily Prophet”
“Are you going to tell the Ministry about the map?” Hermione asked cautiously
“No way. We would never get it back”
They found the old rusty teapot and turned back to Remus to say their goodbyes.
“Good luck with the map and be careful” Harry said to him as Remus shook his hand firmly
“Thanks to all of you, we could never have gotten this far without your help” he told them all appreciatively.
They all took a hold of the tea pot and waited for the sudden jerk that accompanied Portkey travel.
After another bumpy ride they arrived back in Professor McGonagall’s office, they heard the clock above the fireplace chime nine times as they were welcomed back by their Head mistress.
“How did it go?” she asked inquisitively
“Excellently” Ron told her
“Are you going to tell me what happened at headquarters?” Professor McGonagall asked
Harry thought maybe they shouldn’t say anything but then he realised that Remus would probably be contacting her soon to get her to assist them with the capture of the Death Eaters they had found at the Hogshead pub.
“Well it was a plan that my Mother and Remus had designed before she was killed.” Harry began “It was a Death Eater locater map and Hermione has just been able to finish the potion that was needed to make the map work”
Professor McGonagall looked slightly impressed by Harry’s tale and she looked over at Hermione with an expression of astonishment on her face.
“And is that what you have been doing with Remus?” she asked as she looked at the three students standing in front of her nodding their heads in unison.
“And did it work?” she asked, trying to conceal the excitement that was starting to build up in her voice.
“It did Professor” Hermione told her proudly “We did a search of Hogwarts and found that thankfully there are no Death Eaters here. But we did find some at the Hogshead pub that is why we had to come back as Remus said that he was going to organize a raid with the Order”
“You three had better run along to your common room as I think I had best go and see Remus” she told them
They quickly said goodbye and headed back down the stone spiral staircase and back to the Gryffindor common room.

Monday morning dawned grey and miserable and the rain outside the castle lashed heavily against the high windows of the Great Hall, the magical ceiling looked just as dark as the clouds outside.
Harry looked above his head as the many different coloured owls flew around the massive hall. As they flapped their wings they would splatter the students below with droplets of water from the rain outside that had gathered on their feathers.
Hermione had just received her usual copy of the Daily Prophet and was tucking a Knut into the little leather pocket that was attached to the owl’s leg.
Harry and Ron had stopped eating their breakfast to wait to hear what news the newspaper had to say. Hermione unfurled the paper and laid it out flat so that they could all read it. On the front page there was a huge article about how the Ministry had overcome a group of Death Eaters who were in hiding at an undisclosed location. The report went on to say that the Ministry had gained an anonymous tip off of the whereabouts of the four Death Eaters. Auror’s were sent in to take charge of the situation but they were unable to take the Death Eaters into custody. Regrettably the Auror’s were attacked and when they retaliated the Death Eaters in question were killed. Rufus Scrimegeour is praising the efforts of the Auror’s and their quick thinking skills that saved their lives and brought a glimmer of hope to the wizarding world.
Once they had finished reading the report they went back to eating their breakfast again.
“So those were the Death Eaters that you found on the map?” Ginny asked, she had been told all about the map by Harry and was amazed at the talents of her friends.
“I am pretty sure they were” Harry said as he finished off the remainder of his cereal.
“This is excellent news, we might actually be able to win this war after all”
“Let’s not get too excited” Hermione warned her.

All week long each copy of the Daily Prophet brought with it news of more captures and sometimes killings of Death Eaters. The Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimegeour was starting to come out in the open more now that there seemed to be a lot less Death Eaters in the wizarding world.

But then during the second week of the Ministries assault on the Death Eaters, there came some devastating news that the Minister of Magic had been attacked at work and he was in a serious condition in St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies.
The feeling around now was one of fear again, after a week of starting to feel like the war was going their way it had suddenly shifted back to Voldemorts advantage.
“How could this happen?” Ginny asked as she re read the article again “I thought they said that the Minister had a security plan devised to keep him away from the Death Eaters”
“I don’t know Ginny” Hermione said “Maybe something went wrong”
“Or maybe they dropped his security because of the lack of Death Eaters around” Ron suggested
They were sitting in their common room discussing the news when Professor McGonagall entered through the portrait hole and came over to join them she wore a look of worry all over her face.
“Hello Professor, have you seen the Daily Prophet?” Hermione said, holding the newspaper up
“Yes I have Miss Granger. But I need you four to accompany me back to my office immediately” she told them.
Harry noticed that she looked quite upset, maybe the time had come for them to go to fight Voldemort and she wasn’t happy with sending students onto the battle field.
The followed her back down the corridor and to the entrance of her office. As soon as the stone statue sprang to life they quickly jumped onto the moving stone stairs and waited until they reached the top. None of them spoke a word of what was happening not until they walked into Professor McGonagall’s office and saw Mrs Weasley sitting alone in a large chair sniffing quietly.
“Mum” Ginny and Ron both said at once and crossed the room hastily to their mother.
“What’s wrong?” Ginny asked looking concerned
Mrs Weasley looked into the two faces of her youngest children and burst into tears, Ginny put her arms around her Mum and looked to Professor McGonagall in confusion “What is going on Professor?” she asked
“I take it you have all read about the Minister of Magic’s unfortunate circumstances” she asked
“Yeah, but why is my Mum crying about the Minister” Ron said puzzled
“The Minister of Magic is fine, it was his body double that was attacked by the Death Eaters.” she told him gently
“Who was his body double” Ron asked not really wanting to hear the answer
Mrs Weasley stopped crying, wiped her tears away and then took a hold of Ron and Ginny “It was Percy. He was helping the Minister” she said sadly
“Is he alright” Ginny asked, the tears welling up in her eyes.
Mrs Weasley shook her head in distress and then she dropped a bombshell they all weren‘t waiting for “He was killed”

The week following Percy Weasley’s murder was a grim one. Both Harry and Hermione had left Hogwarts with Ron and Ginny and they had all returned to The Burrow at the insistence of Mr Weasley. The funeral which was held only the day before was a very sad affair and all of the Weasley family attended from all over the country. It was the first funeral for a very long time for the Weasley clan and they all felt that this was the first of many more deaths that would come with the impending war.
Harry had always regarded himself a part of the Weasley family but with this tragedy he felt like he was intruding on their sorrow. However, he was glad to be there when he was able to comfort Ginny in her most desperate hour. She had taken Percy’s death quite hard as did Ron; they felt bad that they didn’t have the chance to make amends with their older brother before his untimely demise. Even Fred and George had the maturity not to bring with them any jokes from their shop to the funeral, even if they wanted to give Percy their own style of a wake. But they knew that they would be next in the ground if their Mum caught them.

The four friends were sitting together in the sitting room watching the roaring fire that was crackling merrily in the fireplace; no one said anything but they just sat in silence in their own memories.
Mrs Weasley was in the kitchen trying to keep herself busy as when she stopped she would quickly burst into tears again, Ginny had been trying to get her mum to take some time off the housework but she would hear nothing of it.
They were just contemplating maybe getting out Ron’s old Wizard chess game when they heard a knock at the back door, the four of them peered into the kitchen to see who the visitor was. Ron thought it was probably just another well wisher coming to pay their respects but he was mistaken when he saw Neville Longbottom walk slowly into the warm and inviting house.
“Ron…..you have a visitor” Mrs Weasley called out from the kitchen
Ron jumped up from his chair and went out to welcome Neville.
“Neville! What are you doing here?” he asked in surprise
They walked into the sitting room and joined the other three who were waiting. Neville sat slowly down on an empty chair and said hello to Harry, Hermione and Ginny.
“I wanted to come and say how sorry I was to hear about your brother” Neville said quietly “I know how it feels to lose someone from your family”
“Thanks Neville, I appreciate it” Ron said appreciatively.
“Did you skip classes to come here?” Hermione asked
Neville looked at her puzzled “Didn’t you guys hear?”
They all shook their heads “Hear what Neville?” Harry asked curiously
“That they have shut down the school. We were all sent home three days ago” he told them all
“What happened?” Hermione asked almost in tears
“It was the school board. Professor McGonagall told us that many of the parents wanted their children sent home as they don’t think that they are safe at school. So the governors decided to close the school for now as some of them had been threatened to close to school or be cursed”
“What about all our belongings?” Harry said remembering he had left most of his things in his room.
“Professor McGonagall said that she would bring them to you as soon as she had time”
Harry relaxed at that response, at least he would have his Dad’s invisibility cloak soon if he needed it.
“How’s Luna?” Ginny asked. It was the first time she had talked all day.
Neville looked a bit taken aback by her question “Umm… she’s good. She went home to see her Dad. But she did promise that she would visit soon” his face brightened at the thought of Luna visiting him.
“Have you told your Gran about her yet?” Harry wondered out loud
“Yeah. I thought I had better before she turned up on our doorstep. Gran was happy to hear that I had a girlfriend” Neville told them all a bit embarrassed.
“Good for you Neville. It is good to hear of some happy news” Ginny said softly.
They sat around for the rest of the afternoon talking and playing a few games of chess, until Neville announced that he had better get back to his house.
“Promise me that if you need my help with anything you will contact me ok” Neville said in an older tone of voice, he didn’t sound like the Neville they knew “Especially if you are going off after any Death Eaters. Because there is a particular couple that I would like to settle a score with” No one had to ask who he was talking about, it was Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange. The married Death Eaters who had tortured Neville’s parents into insanity with the Cruciatus curse.
He wouldn’t leave until Harry promised him that he would contact him as soon as they get the nod to go into war with the Ministry of Magic. Once he was convinced of a chance of revenge he said goodbye and apparated from the back garden back to his Gran’s house.
“Do you think he has told his Gran that he wants to go off and fight Death Eaters?” Ron asked amused
“He probably has. She would be proud that he was willing to stand up to the people who hurt his Mum and Dad” Harry said knowing how much Mrs Longbottom wanted Neville to be like his Dad.

During the next couple of weeks the trio attended numerous meetings for the Order of the Phoenix and spent the rest of their time learning new spells for defence as well as new attacking spells. Hermione had gone home for a couple of days to see her parents as they hadn’t seen her since Hogwarts had closed down. She arrived back at the Burrow with an arm full of books and a worried look on her face.

“Everything alright at home Hermione?” Ron asked when he noticed the gloomy look on his girlfriends face.
“Yeah, Mum and Dad are fine. They don’t know the full extent of why Hogwarts was closed but they are happy for me to stay here for awhile.” she told them as she unloaded her heavy pile of books onto Ron’s bed.
“So are you upset because there is no school or is there another reason” Ron teased
Hermione looked up at Ron in trepidation, she really wanted to discuss what was bothering her but she knew he wouldn’t really want to listen to what she had to say since it regarded Ben.
She pasted a false smile on her face “Nah I’m fine. Just worried we aren’t going to be ready for when Voldemort attacks” she lied.
Ron sat down with her and wrapped her up in a huge bear hug “Don’t worry, we have our secret weapon”
Hermione looked back at him in puzzlement “What?”
“Harry!” Ron smiled
Hermione laughed “So have you seen our secret weapon anywhere?”
“He was taking Ginny off for a picnic in the meadow” Ron said pretending to be sick
“Well at least he is romantic” Hermione said in a pretend hurt voice
“I’m romantic!” Ron said as he jumped to his feet offended by her accusation.
Hermione pulled him down next to her on his bed “I was only joking Ron, you need to calm down”
“Well maybe we could plan to do something together” Ron murmured quietly
Hermione gave him a short sweet kiss “I would love that”

That night there was a full house for dinner, ever since Percy had been killed the other Weasley boy’s had been spending more time at their parents home. It was a jovial affair as Fleur and Bill had just announced that they were expecting their first child. Mr and Mrs Weasley jumped up from their seats and hugged their oldest son and his wife tightly, after many rounds of congratulations they were all sitting back around the table again. Mr Weasley then conjured up some of his favourite mulled mead for everyone to drink a toast to.
“To Bill and Fleur” Mr Weasley said as he held up his glass prompting everyone around him to do the same “Congratulations on the soon to be arrival of your first child and may he be as good looking as his Grandpa!”
Everyone laughed heartily at this joke “What if it is a girl Dad?” Ginny said
“Then she will be as gorgeous as her Grandma!”
Mrs Weasley blushed bright red and then she continued on with the toast “let’s hope that this is an omen for the good times ahead”
Everyone cheered and drank up their drinks, however the celebrating was short lived as all of a sudden a silver creature had appeared in the Weasley kitchen and it had come alongside Arthur Weasley. Everyone watched as it seemed to be talking to him, as he listened his face fell.
“What is it Arthur?” Molly Weasley asked her husband with a look of anticipation on her aging face.
Then the silver creature which Harry couldn’t tell what it was, disappeared into the air. He knew that it had to be a Patronus that was sent by some one in the Order of the Phoenix as it was only them that Dumbledore had taught how do perform the spell.
Arthur looked solemnly around the table at his ever growing family, “That was Remus; they need us all at headquarters right now”
Molly quickly sprang to her feet “Let me get these four up stairs first…”
Arthur interrupted her “No Molly. Remus said that Harry, Ron and Hermione had to come along as well.”
“Well I’m not staying here by myself!” Ginny burst out loudly
“No you will have to come too. It will be safer” her Dad said to her
Molly and Winky quickly cleared the kitchen table of the remnants of their dinner.
“If there is anything that you need go and get it now as we will all is leaving in five minutes” Arthur hurriedly told everyone.
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny dashed off up the rickety staircase and into their bedrooms. He threw open his trunk that Professor McGonagall had finally delivered for him last week, he rummaged around inside until he found what he was searching for, his Dad’s invisibility cloak.
Once he had finished he left the room giving it one last look; hoping against all hopes that he would once again be able to return when this was all over.
He bumped into Hermione as she and Ginny were leaving their room as well, they were both looking slightly sick.
“Everything will be fine” Harry reassured them both.
Hermione gave a little squeak and continued hurriedly down the stairs and back into the warm kitchen.
“Everyone here?” Arthur called out, Molly began counting heads and when she was satisfied that all her family were present she nodded to Arthur.
But Ginny noticed that someone was missing from the group “Where is Fleur?” she asked
“I convinced her to return to our home with Winky. I didn’t want her to get hurt not now that she is pregnant” Bill told his little sister
“That’s good” Ginny said
“How are we getting there Dad?” Ron asked inquisitively.
“Since most of us know where the headquarters are, we will apparate and you four can side-along apparate with us” Arthur explained
Once Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had been partnered up they all apparated at once and arrived together in the sitting room of the Order’s command centre.

The headquarters was a hive of activity; no one seemed to notice that a group of ten witches and wizards had just appeared out of thin air. Everyone was busily running around talking or sending messages off into the night.
Arthur, Bill and Charlie joined in the confusion and hurried off towards the main room where all the activity seemed to be the loudest.
“Come one you lot, let’s go and see what we can do to help” Molly suggested
They walked into the conference room and waited as Arthur talked animatedly with Remus and Mad Eye Moody. Harry and Ron looked around the room to see if Draco Malfoy was still here. But even amongst the multitude of witches and wizards that were coming back and forth they didn’t manage to see him.
Arthur finally left his conversation and came back to fill everyone else in on what was happening. Molly put an arm protectively around Ginny as if to shield her from what was coming.
“Well we have some good news and some bad news” Arthur began looking nervously at Harry.
“What’s the news Dad, the suspense is killing us” Fred asked
Arthur took a deep breath “Well the bad news is that we have lost more members of our Order and some Auror’s from the Ministry” he said sadly.
“Anyone we know?” Molly asked
Arthur nodded “Death Eaters have killed Emmeline Vance, Elphias Doge and Kingsley Shacklebolt”
Molly gasped “Oh no”
“We can grieve for them later” Arthur said strongly “Because we have more pressing matters at the time being”
Molly wiped away the tears that were falling down her cheeks and straightened herself up again.
“We have just had some rather vital information given to us from inside Voldemorts’ ranks” Arthur began, looking to Harry and Ron as they should know who he was talking about.
“All this time we have been trying to get information on Voldemorts whereabouts. Even with that wonderful locator map that you were able to make, we still hadn’t been able to find where he had been hiding”
We believe that he had performed a complex spell to cloak his location” Charlie said interrupting his father “That is why we haven’t been able to find him”
“That is until now” Arthur added
Everyone turned back to Arthur with shocked looks on their faces
“You know where he is?” Harry said
“He has moved out into the open with a group of his most loyal Death Eaters.”
“Why would he do that?” Hermione asked
Arthur looked back at his two oldest sons before continuing “The Order don’t want this to be let out, but we have been told that he has surfaced now to draw Harry to him.”
“So this is it” Harry silently said to Mr Weasley “He is ready for the end”
Ginny let out a small whimper “Don’t talk like that Harry”
He knew he was right, he could feel it inside himself that this was the end. And he was ready to walk into the battle a free man and face his arch enemy for the last time.
“Harry is right. Voldemort is indeed taunting him to come out and fight”
“How can you be sure Arthur? I don’t think Harry should go into this” Molly told him angrily
Arthur Weasley came over to his wife and hugged her and then he faced the group again “We are sure because he is in Godrics Hollow and he sent a message for Harry”
Arthur revealed a small piece of parchment that had been stained with blood, Harry gingerly took it and read it to himself.
“Where did they get the letter from?” Ron curiously asked his Dad, he watched as Harry read the letter.
“Kingsley Shacklebolt was able to apparate back here before he died, he was given the note to pass on to you Harry” Arthur explained
“What does it say Harry?” Fred and George asked at the same time.
Harry cleared his throat but he seemed to have something large stuck in it, he looked up at the expectant faces around him and read the short letter to them.

“It says I am waiting for you Harry.”



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CHAPTER 35

Harry had quickly left the madness of the conference room and ran upstairs to find himself a quiet space where he could sit alone in the darkness and reflect on what was happening. He had just settled himself down on a bed in an empty room when someone sharply knocked on the door.
“Harry….Harry. Are you in there?” Ron’s voice came from outside in the corridor.
Harry begrudgingly got up from the soft bed and opened the door a crack; he could see Ron’s freckly face peering in at him concerned.
“Are you alright mate?” he asked
Harry nodded “Yeah, I just need some time to be alone. I will be down in a minute. Tell everyone not to worry ok”
Ron hesitated for a moment and then he gave Harry a half grin, “Alright. Don’t be too long as things are heating up downstairs”
“Bye” Harry said as he watched Ron retreat and head back towards the stairs, he shut the door and returned to the bed to think.
He looked down and noticed that he still had in his hand the crumbled up note that he had received from Voldemort, he read the short message again. He stared at the elegant writing and all the hatred in his body swelled up so much he could not think straight. He did the only thing that came to his mind; he placed the note on the small table that stood beside the bed. Harry reached into his robes, pulled out his wand, and pointed at the blood stained parchment “Incendio” he said firmly and watched as the paper caught fire and burnt until there was nothing left but a small pile of ash. Harry leant forward and rested his aching head in his hands.
“Am I ready for this?” Harry asked himself, he just wished he had an answer that would stop the butterflies in his stomach.
Whatever his answer would have been it didn’t matter as he was interrupted when Ron came barging back into the room. He threw open the door and looked around in the darkness for Harry.
“Ron, I said I will be down in a minute,” Harry angrily said, couldn’t he ever just have a moment to himself.
It was then that Harry realised something was wrong “Sorry Harry, but something terrible has happened. Dad said you need to come now”
Harry quickly jumped off the bed, all of the thoughts he was just bombarded with instantaneously left his mind as he raced out of the room following Ron back downstairs and into the conference room.
When they entered the room, it was jam packed full with all of the members of the Order of the Phoenix. They wound their way through the crowd until they found the rest of the Weasley family and Hermione standing over by the far wall. Mr Weasley was standing at the front of the room with Mad Eye Moody, Remus Lupin and Professor McGonagall. They were quietly discussing something that had the whole crowd waiting to hear what was going on.
Remus then turned towards the group and held up his hands to get silence “Thankyou all for coming sorry for the delay but we have just been given some terrible news” he said loudly so everyone in the room could hear “We have just learnt that the wizard prison Azkaban was been attacked and all of the Death Eaters who were incarcerated have been set free and the guards have all been killed”
This brought gasps and looks of horror from everyone who was standing in the large room.
“What does this mean Remus” called out a short witch who was standing to the left of Harry.
Remus turned to face her “It means that we are going to war …… tonight”
Everyone was knocked back by this declaration; no one it seemed was ready for this to happen so quickly.
“Why tonight?” a tall dark wizard called from the other side of the room.
“Because we know where Voldemort is” Mad Eye Moody said gruffly “And it is about time we put an end to his reign once and for all”
This brought cheers and clapping from the majority of the group and stunned silence from the remainder.
“We have organised a battle plan so we can be assured that our tactics will bring us victory” Arthur Weasley said to the group “If everyone could come up in groups of four and see what we need you to do that would be great”
At once, the mass of people started to make their way to the head of the table where the four leaders of the group were handing out orders. Harry quickly excused himself from the congregation and hurried out into the empty sitting room. Making sure no one had followed him he brought out his wand and cast the Patronus spell. From the tip of his wand, a silvery mist came flooding out and it immediately changed into the shape that his Patronus always took, a stag. Since there were no Dementors around the stag stood in front of Harry waiting to be told what to do.
“Neville, it is happening tonight. We will be apparating to Godrics Hollow shortly, meet us outside the town perimeter in 30 minutes, Harry.” At once the silver stag turned and disappeared through the wall. Harry quickly tucked his wand back inside his robes and rejoined the rest of the group.
“Where did you go?” Ginny hissed at him, grabbing a hold of his arm and pulling him to one side away from the others.
“I just sent a message to Neville to meet us at Godrics Hollow.” Harry whispered to her “I didn’t think that the adult members would approve of a bunch of school kids joining in the fight so I sent the message in private, he has every right to be there as well”
“I want to come too, but there is no way Mum is going to let me” Ginny desperately said to Harry.
He wanted the same thing as Mrs Weasley did, to keep Ginny away from the horror that were about to unfold but he also wanted her to be at his side, just in case he didn’t come back.
“I have got my invisibility cloak in my pocket; if we can get in a group away from Mad Eye then I will bring you with me. But you have to promise if I tell you to hide you will and if I tell you to run you will no questions asked” he said to her, looking straight into her bright brown eyes.
She knew she had to agree with his terms or he would leave her behind “Ok I promise”
The stood together and waited with Ron and Hermione until Remus had finished with handing out orders. He spoke quickly to Arthur Weasley inclining his head towards the four of them occasionally; he then walked swiftly around the large wooden table and made his way over to them.
“How are you all feeling?” he asked noticing the hesitant looks that were etched on their faces.
“Nervous” Ron mumbled and looked sideways at Hermione who had turned a delicate shade of green.
“Don’t worry, you three won’t be right in the action. I will need you to guard the perimeter of the area that surrounds us. You can act as snipers in the bush and take out stragglers”
“So I take it we are going to Godrics Hollow then” Harry said. He noticed that the irony hadn’t been wasted on Remus either.
“It is a cruel game he is playing, but I think we can make him play by our rules” Remus said with a smile.
He then looked to Ginny “I’m sorry Ginny, but you will have to stay behind. You are too young to come”
“But it’s not fair.” she shrieked, pretending to be upset “I should be able to go as well”
Remus placed a friendly hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze “If it was up to me I would, but your parents said that you must not come. Which is probably the more sensible decision”
Ginny’s eyes started to well up with tears and then she turned to Harry for a reassuring hug before she ran off into the sitting room.
“I’m sorry Harry, but it is for the best” Remus said “Now when you are ready you can apparate yourselves to the outskirts of the town and wait there for my instructions”

Harry watched as Remus rejoined the group and then there came a continuous popping sound as one by one the members of the order apparated out to Godrics Hollow.
“Are we going?” Ron asked nervously looking between Harry and Hermione.
“In a minute” Harry said, looking distracted. He was trying to find where he had hidden his invisibility cloak so he could give it to Ginny, he was sure that he had put it in the deep pocket inside his robes but now it was not there. Harry started to panic at the thought of losing his most favourite possession. It was then that he felt a sharp poke in his ribs, he twisted around to yell at Ron but he saw no one.
He then felt another poke and he heard a familiar voice from nowhere “Boo”
“Ginny is that you?” Harry whispered
She let the cloak drop off her head revealing a huge smile “Who else would it be?” she laughed
Ron got a huge shock from seeing his sister’s head appear from nowhere.
“Ginny! What are you doing with Harry’s invisibility cloak” he demanded.
“Calm down Ron” Ginny retorted “I am coming with you guys”
“No you are not, you heard what Remus said. And if Mum caught you…”
Ginny let the rest of the cloak slip to the floor, now only her feet were invisible. She put her hands on her hips in a defiant look and glared sternly at her brother “Well she won’t know, not if you don’t go blabbing your big mouth”
Hermione stepped in the middle of the beginning of this family feud. “Can you two please stop. We have to get going or we will be late and Remus will come back to see where we are”
“I second that. Come on” Harry said
He watched as Ginny replaced the cloak again and became invisible once more, he waited until she grabbed a hold of his arm before he gave the all clear for them to apparate to Godrics Hollow.
“Everyone ready?” he asked surveying his friends.
“Lets get this done” Ron said with a more confident tone
Hermione agreed and she was the first one to apparate, Ron followed closely after and then Harry turned to where Ginny was standing next to him.
“Are you sure you want to come?” he asked
“Do you really have to ask me that?”
“Sorry” Harry apologised “Hold on tight cause we are off”
Harry felt Ginny take an extra tight hold of his arm as he turned on the spot. Then he had the sensation of pressure from all sides of his body and everything went black. Suddenly he could feel the coldness of the night sky around him as they arrived in the darkness at Godrics Hollow.
Harry turned to his right and found Ron and Hermione standing beside him but they were busily watching something that was happening in front of them. Harry followed their gaze and saw a group of wizards from the Order of the Phoenix walking slowly down an empty road, they all had their wands out ready for any attack.
“It is hard to believe that this is actually happening” Hermione stated anxiously
Harry looked around to see exactly where they were, they were standing in a gathering of thick trees on top of a small hill that overlooked the muggle town of Godrics Hollow. Harry could see that it was a rather small town nestled in a valley surrounded by trees. In the streets below he could see several figures slinking around in the darkness, they were only illuminated occasionally as they passed under the glow of the streetlights.
Suddenly from behind him Harry heard the sound of leaves rustling and a branch being snapped as someone stepped on it. Hermione froze and looked horrified over at Ron “What should we do?” she whispered
Ron looked just as alarmed as she did and didn’t answer.
“Don’t move until I say so” Harry softly told them
They all waited expectantly for when they were discovered. Just as they were starting to get anxious they heard someone call out faintly “Harry….Harry. Where are you?”
Harry felt his heart return to normal as he recognised that voice.
“It’s only Neville” Harry told them happily.
Ron let out the huge breath of air he had been keeping inside “I thought we were busted then” he half laughed half shrieked.
Harry cupped his mouth and called out “Neville over here”
They all waited for Neville to follow the sound of Harry’s voice and find where they were standing. Finally after five minutes of continuous help Neville stumbled out of the trees and found Harry, Ron and Hermione.
“Sorry guys” Neville apologised sheepishly “I was never good at following directions.”
Harry patted him on his shoulder “That’s alright. We haven’t been here long anyway”
“So what is happening?” Neville asked
“Not much at the moment. Remus told us to wait here until he needs us” Harry explained quietly
“What did you tell your Gran to get out of the house?” Ron asked curiously
“I told her I was going to see Luna.” Neville said sadly “ I couldn’t tell her the truth she would have locked me up”
“That is why I am under the cloak” Ginny mumbled
Neville looked confusedly around at the sound of Ginny’s voice “Is Ginny here?”
“Yeah, she wasn’t allowed to come either so she is keeping under my cloak until we are needed” Harry told him
“Harry” Hermione whispered “I just thought of something that you might not want to hear”
“What is it Hermione” Harry said as he surveyed the town down below.
“Haven’t you still got another Horcrux still to destroy?”
Harry felt his heart drop to his feet. He had been caught up in the frenzy of the impending battle that he had totally forgotten about the last Horcrux that would stop him from killing Voldemort for good.
“Oh no. I totally forgot. What am I going to do?”
“Do you have any ideas what it might be?” Hermione asked
“Well Dumbledore always thought that it might be Voldemorts pet snake Nagini” Harry told them all.
“Well if Voldemort is here wouldn’t he bring her with him” Ginny said from under the cloak.
“Makes sense” Ron agreed “Well maybe we should go and see if we can find where she is hiding”
“I don’t think that we should all go, it would be too dangerous.” Hermione said
“I agree with Hermione, I will go with Ginny so that we can take the invisibility cloak and stay undetected” Harry said
“Alright but please don’t do anything impulsive Harry” Hermione begged him
“You know me Hermione”
“That’s what I am afraid of” she replied
Harry gave her a quick hug and then he jumped under the cloak as Ginny held it up for him to see where she was.
“Let’s go” he whispered
“What is going on” Neville finally asked
“You tell him Hermione” Ron said “I’ll watch out for trouble”

Harry and Ginny carefully made their way down the small hill and into the township. They had to move slowly as the cloak was now too small to cover them both fully if Harry stood straight up. So he had to bend over as they moved along, it wasn’t comfortable but it would keep them both safe. They walked along the streets keeping their eyes open for any movements that would give away Nagini’s location.
“She has to be around somewhere” Ginny whispered.
“Maybe we should look around the houses that are on the outskirts of town” Harry suggested hesitantly
“Ok. You lead the way” Ginny agreed
As they headed out of town they heard the sounds of hexes being fired and yelling coming from the street behind them.
Harry looked over at Ginny as they hurriedly along “ Don’t worry Gin. I’m sure everyone will be fine” he comforted her
“You can’t promise me that Harry. I have already lost one brother in this fight and now the rest of my family are in the middle of this war.”
“I know. Let’s just hope that we find this snake soon so I can take out Voldemort and then we can all go home”
Ginny didn’t feel much better after hearing Harry’s words of comfort. She took a hold of his hand and gave it a tight squeeze.
They made their way to a group of older style houses that were standing hidden behind a forest of trees and overgrown weeds. They were busily looking around the third house when they heard a group of voices coming from behind a tall tree that was blocking their view.
Harry seized Ginny’s hand harder to get her to stop “Wait a minute” he whispered to her.
They watched as four Death Eaters came into view “Where is he?” one demanded
“Nott has him bound up in that house there” the other told him pointing to a small cottage in a clearing not too far from where they were standing.
“Come on. We have our orders to go and take out the Ministry scum that has come”
Harry and Ginny stayed as still as they could as they watched the four-masked Death Eaters disapparate from their sight.
“Who do you think they have in that house?” Ginny said worriedly
“I don’t know. Let’s find out” Harry suggested
Ginny agreed and hurried along with Harry towards the small cottage. They both grabbed their wands and held them out ready for any other Death Eaters who might still be in hiding in the house.
They walked softly up to the front door that had been broken and was laying flat on the ground in front of the house. Harry and Ginny carefully stepped around the door and made their way into the derelict house. They saw a source of light coming from a room down a dark corridor. Harry could make out someone, probably the Death Eater Nott’s footsteps from inside the room.
They waited outside the door listening to make sure that there was only one Death Eater in the room, otherwise they would be in serious trouble.
“So are you going to tell me what you were doing here” Nott said angrily to the unknown hostage. There was no reply and suddenly Nott yelled “Crucio” and then there was a blast of light as the hostage was obviously attacked.
Harry could hear someone else scream out in horror from the torture curse.
Harry had heard enough, he opened the door to the room, which made Nott turn around abruptly. He released the curse to see who had entered the room, when he didn’t see anyone he started to get nervous and stuck out his wand ready to jinx anyone who approached.
“Stupefy” Harry called out from under the concealment of his invisibility cloak, the red blast hit Nott straight in his chest hurtling him across the small room and into the wall with a loud crash. Nott fell to the ground and laid there spread out unconscious on the dusty floor.
After a quick surveillance of the room Harry realised that they were alone, he dropped the cloak and hurried over to the wizard who was still reeling from the pain of the Cruciatus curse.
“Are you alright” Harry carefully asked
The wizard lifted his head and Harry was caught of guard by the surprise of seeing Ben looking up into his face.
“Ben! What are you doing here” Harry gasped as he hurried to untie him from his bindings.
“They caught me trying to infiltrate their meeting” Ben said obviously still hurting from that last spell.
Harry had finished untying him and was helping him to his feet when Ginny suddenly shushed them both “I hear something” she told them quietly
Harry helped Ben over to the doorway and leant him against the wall for support.
“I’ll go and have a look. Ginny I need my cloak” Harry said softly, he took the cloak from her and covered himself over and stepped out into the corridor. He tiptoed down the hallway and listened for what Ginny had heard. He was just about to go back and tell her that she was hearing things when he heard a noise coming from the room across from him. The sound wasn’t someone’s footsteps but a softer sound.
Harry went to investigate the noise curious to what could be making such a strange sound. He creeped into the room which at one stage might have resembled a living room, there was a broken fireplace, a couple of armchairs that had been ripped in places and the stuffing was protruding out. There was a side table and a broken lamp standing next to it both were covered in an inch of dust. Harry carefully looked around the room not seeing anything out of the ordinary ‘maybe someone is under an invisibility cloak like me’ Harry thought to himself. But just then he noticed a long scaly tail winding its way around the back of the armchairs.
“Nagini!” Harry murmured
The snake must have heard Harry as she poked her large head out from her hiding place, he could see her emerald eyes flicker as she looked around the room. She couldn’t see Harry but with her tongue she could taste that someone was in the room with her.
“Who is it?” she hissed, Harry could understand what she was saying from his Parselmouth ability.
Harry decided this was the perfect time to kill Nagini, she was alone and Voldemort was nowhere to save her.
Harry concentrated hard and spoke to her in Parselmouth “I am here come on out” he hissed.
“Is that you master?” She hissed as she slid across the floor, leaving a trail behind her in the dust.
“It’s alright Nagini I am here” Harry hissed to her, luring her out into the open so he could attack her.
Harry thought she didn’t really believe he was Voldemort so he had to act quickly before she attacked him. He took a hold of his wand tightly and aimed it at the overly large snake that was only a couple of feet away from where he was hidden.
“Master?” she asked again
Harry took a deep breath and shouted “Avada Kedavra!” A bolt of green light left his wand and shot straight at Nagini killing her at once. Harry didn’t move, he stood there rooted to the spot looking at the lifeless body of Nagini. It was the first time he had killed something and he felt remorse he had never felt before. He was never going to be able to defeat Voldemort with these feelings inside him so he turned and left the room and headed back to where Ginny and Ben where still hiding.
As he walked into the room Harry took off the cloak and revealed himself, which brought a slight shriek from Ginny. “Harry thank goodness you are back. I want to get out of here”
“I agree, let’s go” Harry said “How are you feeling Ben?”
“I’m still a bit weak but I will be fine” Ben said with a small smile.
“Did you find out what that noise was that I heard?” Ginny asked as she and Harry helped Ben walk out of the cottage.
“It was Nagini. I killed her” Harry said quietly as they walked out across the field in front of the house.
“Really!” Ginny exclaimed “So do you think she was the last Horcrux?”
“I hope so” Harry whispered
They had managed to escape from the Death Eaters and were now hiding in amongst a large group of trees close to the main part of Godrics Hollow.
“So why were you trying to infiltrate a Death Eater’s meeting. It is kind of dangerous” Harry said as they sat down on the mossy earth to let Ben have a rest before they continued.
“I was hoping to get information about where Voldemort was hiding so I could find out where the rest of his Horcruxes were hidden” Ben said “But it looks like you might have finished the job yourself”
“I hope you‘re right ” Harry told him
“Come on I think we had better get going” Ginny said nervously looking around them.
Harry helped Ben to his feet and they set off towards where they had left Ron, Hermione and Neville waiting in amongst the trees.


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Harry and Ginny stumbled through the thickness of the trees that surrounded Godrics Hollow, the night sky was completely dark due to the lack of stars that were out that evening.
“Where are we going Harry?” Ben whispered
Harry stopped for a moment trying to get his bearings “I am looking for where we left the others”
“I think it is this way Harry. These trees look familiar,” Ginny pointed out.
Harry looked over at the spot Ginny was indicating and agreed that it indeed was the way. After a short trip up the hill and fighting their way through the trees they came to where Hermione, Ron and Neville were standing.
“Harry!” Ron shouted
“Shhh!” Hermione scolded him “We might be heard”
“Sorry” Ron said quietly “We were getting worried that something happened to you”
“We’re fine. But look who we found” Harry said as Ben and Ginny came into view.
“Ben!” Hermione gasped, “What are you doing here?”
Ben collapsed onto the ground by her feet and lay there trying to catch his breath.
“What’s wrong with him?” Hermione asked Harry, as she quickly kneeled down next to him to see if she could help him.
“We found him in an abandoned house. The Death Eaters had him bound up and they were torturing him,” Harry told her softly
“What? Why did they want him?” Ron said looking suspiciously at Ben lying on the ground with his head in his girlfriends lap.
“They found out who I really am” Ben whispered “And they weren’t very happy to see me” he laughed
“So who are you?” Neville blurted out from behind Ron.
Ben looked up at Harry and then he looked at Hermione with regret in his deep blue eyes “I am the heir of Rowena Ravenclaw and I have been on a mission to retrieve the music box at any cost”
“Thank goodness” Hermione whispered
“Why do you say that Hermione. I thought you would be mad at me for lying to you all this time,” Ben said confused
“Don’t be silly. I am just glad that you aren’t a Death Eater,” she laughed
“Is that what you thought?” he said trying hard not to laugh as it hurt too much.
“Well some of us did” she said and looked back at Ron.
Ben sat himself up and stretched out his arms trying to work the pain out of his body.
“Are you going to be alright?” Hermione asked caringly.
“Yeah I think so. I am just so grateful that Harry showed up when he did, because I don’t think that I could have held out much longer”
“Well at least I found Nagini while we were rescuing Ben” Harry told the others.
“Did you kill her?” Ron asked
“I did but I don’t know if she was the last Horcrux though” Harry said as wandered away from the group
Hermione jumped to her feet helping Ben up as she did. She quickly followed Harry and grabbed him by his arm.
“Why what happened?”
“Well you know when we destroyed the last couple of Horcruxes it always emitted a black shadow when it was destroyed” Harry explained
Hermione nodded “Didn’t it happen this time?”
“No. Nothing happened. What if she isn’t the Horcrux? What if there is still another one out there,” Harry said frantically.
“Calm down Harry” Ginny said, taking a hold of his hand. “I am sure there is a logical explanation to what happened”
Ron, Ben and Neville joined them and listened to what was going on.
“Can you think of anything that Professor Dumbledore told you about the Horcruxes, Harry?” Hermione asked, trying to help him put the pieces of the puzzle together.
“Well he thought that Nagini was indeed a Horcrux, I remember asking him if you could use animals as Horcruxes” Harry told her, thinking back to last year when everything was still alright.
“And what did he say?” Ben interrupted
“He told me that it was inadvisable to do so as it was risky to confide part of your soul in something that could think and move for itself”
“Maybe she was the Horcrux after all” Ginny revealed, everyone turned to hear what she had to say “Maybe being an animal makes the soul react differently. When she died maybe his soul became trapped within her soul and they both left her body together”
“That’s a lot of maybe’s Gin!” Harry said, smiling gratefully at her. He always appreciated how she was able to make him see the positive side of things, no matter how bad they seem.
“But I see what you are getting at. The room was pretty dark as well, so if the soul did leave her body maybe I missed it” Harry said, he felt like he was grasping at straws but anything was better than nothing.
“So are we agreeing that she was a Horcrux?” Hermione raised the question she knew Ron was desperate to ask.
“I think so Hermione. Well if I kill Voldemort and he doesn’t die then we know we were wrong,” he laughed half-heartedly.
“Harry” Neville said in a frightened voice “What’s that?”
Harry turned to where Neville was standing and looked out to the distance to see what had startled him.
He could see something big coming their way. It was glowing brightly and it was heading straight in their direction. Harry looked hard at the figure that was fast approaching and when he realised what it was he let out a short sharp bark of a laugh.
“What is it?” Ron said cowering behind a tree with Hermione.
Before Harry could answer the large silvery creature had come up alongside him and stood there waiting for Harry to listen to what it had to say.
“It’s only Remus’ Patronus. He must be ready for us,” Harry told them all.
“That is so cool” Ben gushed, “How do you do that?”
“It was an invention of Professor Dumbledore’s. It was a safe way for the Order to communicate with each other without being intercepted by the enemy,” Hermione told him knowingly.
Harry listened to the message from Remus and then the great big silvery creature dissipated into the night air.
“What did he say Harry?” Ron said, finally coming out of his hiding place.
Harry looked around at his friends who were all waiting to hear when they would go into battle.
“He says that we are needed now, they are losing numbers too quickly. We are to come down into the town and spread out so that we can take out any Death Eaters who are waiting in the rear”
Harry remained in the same spot looking at his friends before he finished what he had been advised to do.
“Is there anything else Harry?” Hermione asked
“Yes there is. Remus also said that we are allowed to use any Unforgivable curses on the Death Eaters that we find” Harry slowly told them all.
Ron let out a low whistle “Never thought I would ever hear that”
“I suppose we have to defend ourselves. The Death Eaters will be performing them on us so lets hope we can get our curses in first” Harry spoke quietly but firmly.
“Is everyone ready to go?” he asked for the last time.

So the group of four wizards and two witches made their way down the hill and into the streets of Godrics Hollow below. Hermione suggested that they would be safer if they split up into three groups of two. So Ben and Neville took the eastern streets, Ron and Hermione took the western streets and Harry and Ginny went north.
They hadn’t gone far when Harry noticed a small Death Eater poking his head out behind a corner of a house.
“What should we do?” Ginny nervously whispered to Harry
Harry stood up straight and held his wand ever so steady, he knew what he had to do.
He waited until he had a clear shot of the Death Eater, it didn’t take much of him to kill Nagini but he knew that he had to build up his emotions if he wanted to be able to perform the killing curse properly on a grown wizard. He couldn’t risk the curse not working and the Death Eater turning on him and Ginny.
He thought about the hatred he had for Voldemort and what it had cost him growing up, he could feel his wand start to shake in his hand from the overflowing loathing that was emanating from his body.
Finally, the masked wizard stepped out of his hiding place and turned around in the direction of Harry and Ginny. He seemed surprised that there were two kids standing right behind him, he didn’t get a chance to use his wand as Harry delivered the fatal blow, “Avada Kedavra” he yelled. Ginny watched in terror as a jet of bright green light left Harry’s wand and struck the Death Eater squarely in his chest. They watched as he fell soundlessly to the ground and his wand fell out of his outstretched hand.

“Well that’s one down” Harry said, as he took Ginny by the hand and lead her carefully around the corpse.
“This is terrible” Ginny mumbled
“Well it is either them or us” Harry said plainly; not nearly as affected by causing the death as he thought he would be.
“I know” Ginny whispered, looking up at Harry’s hardened face “I just hope we make it out in one piece”
Harry didn’t answer, he couldn’t think about that now. He had a job to do and he needed to feel no emotions. That is what always betrayed him in the end.
“Come on. Let’s go this way” Harry suggested as he pulled her around the back of another house.
As they quietly made their way to the back of the house, they came across Tonks in the middle of a battle with a large Death Eater.
They were duelling so fast that their wands were like blurs, sparks were flying from the tips and Tonks seemed to be smiling, which seemed strange to Harry as he couldn’t see how she feeling so happy when she was battling for her life. Harry stepped forward to give Tonks a hand when he accidentally stepped on a bunch of twigs making a loud crunch sound. This made the Death Eater pause for a second to see who it was; it was time enough for Tonks to cast the killing curse. Sending the Death Eater flying backwards into a large oak tree and coming to rest face first in the dirt.
Tonks spun around with her wand pointing straight at Harry “Harry!” she gasped trying to catch her breath “It’s you. I thought you were another Death Eater”

“Are you alright?” Harry asked
“Yeah I’m good now. Thanks for the diversion” she said gratefully, “Come with me, I want to go and find Remus. The last time I saw him he was in the middle of fighting off a Death Eater” she spun back around and ran off into the night to search for him, she was obviously concerned about him.
Harry and Ginny ran off after Tonks, they ran as fast as they could trying hard to catch up with her.
“Wow she’s fast” Ginny puffed as she tried hard to run alongside Harry.
They caught the sight of Tonks’ robes as she whipped around the side of a tall building that lead them into a deserted street.
She waited for them to catch up and then she hurried off towards where she had last seen Remus fighting.
“Can you see him anywhere?” Harry said, looking around to make sure they weren’t followed.
Tonks looked around the vicinity and found a body lying off to the side of the street; she let out a small “no” and took off towards the body. They couldn’t see the face of the victim as they were lying face down on the sidewalk. Harry helped Tonks turn the body over and he felt his body soar as they noticed the body had its face covered with a mask that the Death Eaters wore.
“Thank goodness” Tonks whispered, as she bent over to remove the horrible mask.
“Who is it?” Ginny asked bending over trying to see the face.
“It’s Mulciber” Tonks told her, as she got to her feet and surveyed the area looking for her favourite werewolf.
“I’m sure he is fine” Harry said
Tonks nodded her head “Well I think we should split up. You two try to keep yourselves safe ok?” she said pointing to Ginny
“We will. You too” Ginny said
Harry and Ginny watched as Tonks changed her appearance, her hair became darker and longer and her nose grew longer and pointier. She could almost pass as Snape’s twin sister.
“I love watching her do that” Ginny said admiring Tonks’ natural ability of being a Metamorphmagus.
They stepped away from the deceased body of Mulciber and started walking down the street keeping to the shadows trying to stay inconspicuous.
They made it down to the end of the street when they were shaken by the sudden sound of loud blasts that were coming from various wands and the shouting and yelling of curses that were coming from Death Eaters and Ministry officials alike.
Harry noticed that the Death Eaters seemed to be winning the battle as there was a large group that had surrounded the Ministry members.
Flashes of red, green and purple were being shot in all directions, Harry and Ginny had to duck numerous times as some of the shots whizzed over the top of their heads.
Harry and Ginny slowly crept around the corner and starting sending curses towards the Death Eaters. Ginny managed to cast a brilliant Bat bogey hex at Goyle’s father and Harry cast Petrificus Totalus at Dolohov stopping him from casting his renowned curse that sent off a brilliant purple light that caused several injuries to the victim.
They hadn’t been helping for long when a group of wizards and witches from the Order of the Phoenix came running towards the large group wands at the ready, casting spells and curses as they approached.
The Death Eaters that were still standing saw the influx of wizards and witches coming in their direction.
“Time to go, spread out” Bellatrix yelled out the order. One by one they apparated and the Ministry officials ran off in different directions to find where they apparated too. The Order however, had rallied around Remus Lupin who had turned up with the other members. He had the locater map out and was issuing out orders to those who had arrived with him, telling them the locations where the Death Eaters were hiding.
Remus turned towards Harry once the last of the members had disappeared, leaving them alone.
“I thought I asked you to stay behind” Remus spoke quietly to Ginny
She stood tall and took a hold of Harry’s hand “I promised Harry that I would be here to help him and I live up to my promises”
Remus stared at her for a minute and then he smiled at her “You are certainly a Weasley! But please keep her safe Harry, or it will be both our heads if something were to happen to her”
“What can we do to help?” Harry asked pointing to the map.
Remus looked down at his map and found a lone Death Eater hanging around by a huge stone fountain that was in the centre of the town square.
“Here” he pointed to a part of the map “You two take out this one. It looks safe enough. If you get into trouble send up red sparks and someone will come”
Remus turned around and started to head off but he turned back to Harry “Have you see Tonks by any chance? I haven’t caught sight of her for awhile”
Harry was pleased he could tell him some good news “We just left her only about ten minutes ago. She was looking for you”
Remus looked relieved at the news “Thanks Harry. Now hurry up go and please stay safe”
Harry and Ginny ran off in the opposite direction that Remus was taking and ran down the length of the street heading towards the centre of town. They had turned a corner and ran straight into Ron and Hermione who were heading towards a different location.
“Hey you two, how’s it going” Ron said in a cheery voice
“Why are you so happy?” Ginny said
“I don’t think there are any Death Eaters here, because we haven’t seen any” Ron joked.
“Well big brother we were just in the middle of a full out attack. And now we are on our way to take out another one” Ginny said, knocking the grin off of Ron’s face.
“Well please be safe and if you see Ben anywhere can you let him know that he still has to talk to me” Hermione told them
They said goodbye again and walked off towards where the stone fountain was situated and hopefully where they would find the solitary Death Eater they had come to find.

The darkness started to lift as the first stars of the night came out, giving an eerie glow over the buildings and houses. When they finally made their way to the fountain Harry pulled Ginny aside and handed her his invisibility cloak once again.
“Here take it” Harry told her
“Why?” Ginny said, with her hands planted defiantly on her hips giving Harry a look of such stubbornness.
“Because you promised me that you would listen to me and do what I asked of you. Now please cover up and if you see me in trouble you have my blessings to use what ever curse you can think of” Harry said to her.
Ginny reluctantly took a hold of the silky cloak and threw it over her head. Harry stepped away from where she was hiding and softly crept around to the fountain to find where this Death Eater might be concealed. The noise of the water constantly gushing out of the top of the fountain disguised the sound Harry’s sneaker’s made on the loose bricks beneath his feet. He was rounding the large fountain when he was struck from behind by a curse. The force of it threw him to the ground, causing his nose to break as he hit the hard floor. Harry could feel the hot blood as it gushed from his nose and down his face. He turned over to see the figure of a masked wizard standing over him, his wand was pointed straight at Harry’s chest.
“Why if it isn’t little Harry Potter” the Death Eater tormented “And what would you be doing out here. Isn‘t it past your bedtime?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know!” Harry retaliated
The Death Eater cast a curse at Harry which caused him to pull his legs up to his body in such pain. He knew what the Cruciatus curse felt like to recognise it.
The Death Eater released the curse “I would kill you myself, but the Dark Lord has forbidden us to. But he didn’t say that we couldn’t torture you”
Harry groaned loudly from the pain and rolled over to his side.
“What’s the matter little Potter. Are you going to start crying?”
Harry couldn’t move his legs, they seemed to be made of lead and he was pinned down to the ground. He watched helplessly as the Death Eater brought his wand back towards Harry again, ready to cause more pain. All of a sudden Harry saw a flash of green light coming from across the way hitting the large Death Eater squarely in the back, causing him to topple over and fall to the ground. Harry quickly rolled out of the way before he fell on top of him. He stood up and gave the lifeless body a kick, making him roll over. As he was just about to remove the mask he heard Ginny’s footsteps heading in his direction.
“Thanks Ginny. I was hoping you would step in” Harry said
“I told you that you needed me”
“Let’s see who we have here” Harry said, he reached down and took off the heavy mask revealing the face of the Death Eater.
“Do you know who that is?” Ginny asked staring into the face of the man she just killed.
“It’s Rodolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix’s husband” Harry informed her.
Harry stood back away from the body and joined Ginny. He reached out and pulled her into him, “Are you alright?” he asked her concerned.
Ginny nodded and continued to look at the body that was lying in an awkward position on the stone floor.
“I will be fine. I think we had better go before more turn up”
“Ok, let’s go and find Ron and Hermione” Harry suggested “Can you please put the cloak back on before we go”
This time Ginny didn’t argue, she diligently did as she was asked and then she followed Harry as they left the town square.
They had only just walked a short distance when Harry heard a faint popping sound, he turned back to where he had heard it and saw a robed figure bent over the body of Lestrange. Harry knew that it could only be one person, Bellatrix.
“Ginny move out the way NOW” Harry hissed at her frantically.
“NO” Bellatrix screamed as she realised her husband had fallen. She looked up the street and her eyes caught the sight of Harry.
“You!” she yelled as she jumped to her feet “You did this. How dare you!”
“That’s funny coming from you Bellatrix. You kill and torture innocent people without a care in your body and now you are screaming at me because I have killed the evil maniac that was your husband!” Harry taunted her, watching as she walked
towards him. Her wand was out and she started to send off curses and hexes one after the other. Harry remembered his training with Professor McGrath and cast a shield charm just in time to block the barrage from hitting him.
Harry began casting curses back at Bellatrix, but time and time again she blocked his attacks sending more in his direction. Harry dove to the ground and rolled out the way of another of her curses.
“Come on Potter, take it like a man.” she spat at him.
Harry was so tired from casting all his spells non verbally, he yelled out “Stupefy”
Bellatrix laughed in her usual malevolent tone as Harry latest curse failed to reach it’s destination.
Harry quickly got to his feet; he looked to where Bellatrix was standing only seconds ago now she was gone. Harry was just about to call out to Ginny when he heard footsteps from behind him; he spun around just in time to see Bellatrix slash at Harry with her wand. The time from when Bellatrix cast the Sectumsempra spell seemed like an eternity to Harry. He was watching everything like it was happening in slow motion. His mind told him to cast his shield charm but as he lifted his wand he was shocked by the sudden appearance of someone standing in front of him and taking the full blast of Bellatrix’s curse.
“What?” Bellatrix screamed “Why did you do that?”
She stood there stunned watching as Severus Snape fell slowly to the ground in front of Harry, blood was flowing freely from the various wounds that had been caused from the violent attack.
Harry looked over at Bellatrix who was staring at Snape stunned by his actions. Harry was just about to send a killing curse in her direction when her face became distorted in pain and she fell to the ground writhing in agony. Standing behind her with his wand out was Neville, the hatred he felt for this particular witch was powering him on to cast the best curse he had ever cast before.
“Doesn’t feel to good when you are the one at the receiving end does it?” Neville screamed, his face was screwed up in delight as he watched her squirming on the ground.
“Neville” Harry called out “Let her go, we will bind her up and get the Ministry to take her back to Azkaban where she belongs.”
Neville looked up at Harry with amazement realising for the first time that there were other people watching him. He stopped the Cruciatus curse and stood glaring at the sight of Bellatrix puffing and panting on the ground. Just when Harry thought that Neville would listen to what he had told him he pointed his wand at her once more and shouted “Avada Kedavra”
Bellatrix Lestrange laid still on the ground, she was only mere metres away from the body of her beloved husband Rodolphus.
Neville looked over at Harry, his face had taken on a new look. Harry had never seen Neville with such a mature appearance before.
“I’m sorry Harry, but I had to do it” he said “I’m sure you of all people would understand”
Harry knew what it had meant to Neville to be able to be the one to take the life of one of the Death Eaters that caused the tragedy in his family.
Neville smiled wide at Harry, “What until I tell my Gran….” the rest of Neville’s words were cut short as his face turned from happiness into one of bewilderment as he fell to the ground with a deafening thump.
Harry’s felt the fury rise in his body as he stared at the Death Eater who was standing only feet behind Neville.
“Noooooo” Harry yelled, raising his wand he cast every spell and curse he knew at the masked attacker. Harry could feel his blood starting to boil as the Death Eater blocked his curses repeatedly. Finally Harry caught him off guard with the Bat Bogey hex of Ginny’s. As he was busily trying to stop the flapping wings that had sprouted out of his nose Harry sent the killing curse directly at him. The Death Eaters mask shattered into tiny pieces as the curse hit him in the face.
Harry watched as the Death Eater was thrown backwards from the force of the spell. Harry wanted to continue to cause this man pain but he heard Ginny call out to him.
He turned and saw that she was cradling Neville’s head, tears were pouring out of her brown eyes. Harry rushed over to her and knelt down beside his weeping girlfriend. He looked down into Neville’s round face and all he could see was peace. Harry could feel the tears threatening to spill down his own cheeks so he stood up and walked over to where he could see Snape lying on the ground. He was still alive, he had held out a hand for Harry to come to him. Harry walked over to where his old Potions teacher lay on the ground dying.
Harry knelt down next to him, “Is there anything I can do for you?” he asked looking at the cuts that were still oozing blood.
“No” Snape whispered.
“Can’t you heal yourself, like you did to Malfoy?” Harry wondered,
“No, the wounds are too deep. Listen to me Harry” Snape tried hard to talk but the pain was causing him to slip in and out of consciousness.
“I am not sorry for how I treated you all these years. It was necessary” he blurted out
“How can you say that? Do you know how miserable you made my life?” Harry snarled at him. He didn’t care if Snape was in agony Harry was still reeling from the hurt of just losing one of his best friends.
“I know. Please know that I was always working for Dumbledore, his death was the only way he saw for us to get Draco out of the mess he was in”
Harry looked away from Snape and watched as Ginny laid Neville’s head down gently on the ground. She then got up and walked over to join Harry.
“I don’t believe you” Harry said angrily “There is always a way”
“You were always so stubborn Harry, just like your Mother” he laughed
Harry looked down at the man that had caused him so much anguish and felt sorry for him.
“Please let me help you” Harry begged
“This is my fate. I must pay for the pain I have caused” With a final groan, Severus Snape clutched at his chest and then his hand slowly fell off onto the ground by his side.
Harry stared into Snape’s face and tried to feel remorse, but it wouldn’t come. He got to his feet and wiped away the dried up blood that was still on his face when he had fallen face first onto the road.
The sound of footsteps fast approaching brought Harry out of his reverie and he turned towards the noise with his wand pointing straight out.
As the figure approached they slowed down and surveyed the scene they had just walked into.
“Harry!” Ben exclaimed “What happened?” he asked looking at all the dead bodies that were lying all around him.
Harry didn’t know where to start, he wanted to take a hold of Ginny and just run away from all this madness. But he knew if he ran now this would never be over, he must finish this now so they could have a normal future to look forward to.
“Is that Neville?” Ben asked as he walked around looking at who the deceased people were. He bent down and looked into Neville’s face.
“He just took off, I didn’t know where he went to” Ben explained sadly “I should have been here”
“It’s not your fault Ben. He was ambushed by that Death Eater” Ginny said pointing to the body.
“What do we do now?” Ben asked looking over to Harry for answers.
“I think we should get Hermione and Ron here. We should all be together, we will be stronger that way” Harry suggested.
He took out his wand again and cast the Patronus charm. He gave his Stag the message and watched as it bounded away towards the far side of town.
The three of them sat around in silence as they waited for the arrival of Hermione and Ron. Harry could hear the sounds of battles happening in different parts of Godrics Hollow. Soon it would be over, however it ended.

Harry was beginning to get anxious from the wait, when Ron and Hermione apparated together in front of where Harry was sitting. They were closely followed by Professor McGonagall and Hagrid.
Hermione hurried over to Harry and hugged him tight “Are you sure you’re alright?” she asked “Professor McGonagall found us and she was asking where you might be, I think she was worried something had happened to you”
They looked over to where Professor McGonagall was kneeling beside Neville. She was softly crying into a tartan Handkerchief.
“What am I going to tell his Grandmother?” she said sadly
“You can tell her that he died a Hero. He saved me from Bellatrix Lestrange and then he killed her himself” Harry told her proudly.
“Did he? Well he did prove himself in the end, Augustus will be proud of him”
Harry turned away from his headmistress and watched as Hermione rushed over to Ben to see if he was ok. He seemed to be avoiding her gaze as if there was something he was not willing to reveal to her.
Ben turned away and walked over the stone water fountain and sat down on the edge of it looking out into the distance. Hermione was left standing by herself staring at him in disbelief. Harry walked over to her “Are you alright?” he asked
“I’m not sure” Hermione said in an empty voice “But now isn’t the time to worry about it.” she told him firmly.
Harry nodded and decided he needed to get away from everyone for a minute to have a time to himself. Ginny watched him as he walked silently away from them and rounded a corner. She knew he needed to regain his thoughts before they carried on with the fighting.
Harry found himself walking into a small park, which had been until recently well cared for. The grass needed cutting and there were dead flowers all over the ground. He sat down on one of the park benches that were situated under a group of tall elm trees.
He rested his head into his hands and thought about the events that had happened tonight. ‘Why did this have to happen?’ he asked himself, he looked up and stared out into the night sky hoping for a ray of hope, but nothing came.

“Well, well, well” came an icy voice
Harry quickly stood up and turned towards the source of the voice. Standing about ten metres away from him was Voldemort. He was dressed in his usual dark robes and he was smiling maniacally at Harry.
“Finally it comes down to us doesn’t it Harry” he spoke gently
Harry didn’t speak, but he glared at the snake like face of his arch enemy.
“I have been waiting a long time to face you Harry. But I guess you already know that. I’m sure that the mud blood lover Dumbledore told about the prophecy?”
“Don’t you dare speak his name” Harry spat at him furiously “You have no right”
Voldemort looked at Harry with such enjoyment it was making Harry feel irate.
Suddenly there came the popping sound of someone apparating, in the distance Harry could make out the shapes of four Death Eaters. They walked up to where their leader was standing and waited behind him for directions.
“So few” Voldemort said as he looked at who had come to join him in watching him attack Harry.
“Don’t go looking for Bellatrix, she’s dead” Harry said to him in a cheerful tone.
“No matter, I don’t need any of them anymore.” He said as a matter of fact “Because I wont be making the same mistake twice.”
With that he pulled out his wand sending a red flash in Harry’s direction. He was able to repel the curse sending it back at Voldemort. Then Harry watched in dread as the four Death Eaters took out their wands as well and started sending curses in his directions. Harry made the quick decision that he couldn’t shield himself from all the curses so he made a run for it, dashing behind a huge stone statue of a man riding a horse. He could hear the statue explode above his head and as the broken statue showered him in stone below he could hear Voldemort issuing out orders.
Harry wished he had his invisibility cloak on him at the exact moment, he quickly sent red sparks flying into the air and stepped away from what was left of the statue and hid behind a tree.
“Come on Harry, we aren’t going to play this silly game again are we?” Voldemort taunted him.
Suddenly a masked face appeared around the tree and he grabbed at Harry’s arm trying to drag him out of his hiding place. Harry shouted “Impedimenta” causing the Death Eater to come to a complete halt, giving Harry enough time for him to escape from his clutches. He rounded another tree and was ambushed by another Death Eater, this time Harry was too slow. He had been hit by a jinx that threw him back against the tree, he could feel blood oozing down his cheeks as he regained his breath. He quickly pointed his wand at his attackers and thought “Levicorpus” Harry watched in delight as the Death Eater was suddenly lifted up into the air by his feet. He started to yell out for help so Harry hit him with the Langlock jinx to keep him quiet.
Harry carefully made his way back out into the park hoping he could slip out undetected and look for help, but his efforts were in vain as once he set foot onto the grass he was grabbed from behind by two sets of muscly arms.
“Harry. Don’t you know there is no point trying to hide from me.” came Voldemort’s disdainful voice.
“Why don’t you let me go and then we can fight this out like we were supposed to?” Harry suggested looking into Voldemorts face.
“Alright Harry, let him go McNair” he ordered
Harry was suddenly released and he was standing on his own facing three Death Eaters and Voldemort.
All of a sudden they were footsteps heading in their direction, Harry could make out the shapes of the people entering the park as the group he left standing around by the fountain only minutes ago, plus a few extra had joined as well.
“Harry are you alright” Professor McGonagall said staring intently at the domineering form of Voldemort as she stood next to Harry.
Harry nodded and watched as Remus, Tonks and Arthur Weasley also joined their side.
Just as Hermione, Ron and Ginny had taken their place alongside Harry, they were greeted by curses and jinxes being sent in their direction. Harry was constantly being shoved to the back of the group as they tried to protect him from Voldemort. He didn’t want to be protected anymore because every time someone had stood in front to protect him they had died doing it.
The older wizards were shooting curses and hexes just as fast as they were receiving them. Arthur was knocked backwards by a stunning spell and he lay winded on the grass next to Harry. As he watched his friends battling in front of him his head started to pound, Harry closed his eyes trying to get the dizzy feeling to stop. As he stood there reeling from the pain he could suddenly hear some words repeating themselves over and over again in his mind. He listened to what they were saying and then he understood what he had to do; so he quietly spoke the words under his breath so he wouldn’t be heard.

In this time and in this hour; I call upon the ancient power,
Help me rid this world of fear; and all the evil that is near.
For those who stood before me and fell; for those who stand before me now.
Whether it’s friends or family, teachers or lovers.
Bring me the strength that I request; help me end this evil quest.

Harry spoke the rhyme again and again, each time he did he felt the power that was inside him fill up different parts of his body. When he stopped reciting he could feel his body begin to vibrate with power and strength. He looked up at the fight that was still happening in front of him, he could see Hagrid standing in front of Hermione, Ginny and Ron. He had his arms stretched out protecting them from the spells that one of the Death Eaters was casting. The majority of the curses were rebounding off of Hagrid’s giant form, but one caught him in the face, causing him to yell out in pain and drop to his knees, leaving all of Harry’s friends unprotected.
Harry heard himself shout “No More” and all of a sudden he felt the power inside of him burst out and it went through the air like a shock wave. It tore through the Death Eaters leaving nothing behind but a pile of ash on the ground. Harry glanced slowly around and saw Voldemort watch in disbelief as his last defender turned to dust.
Ginny, Ron and Hermione turned to Harry to see where the power had come from and they were all amazed at the sight they were presented with.
“Harry. You’re glowing” Ginny said in an awe inspiring voice.
Voldemort suddenly disapparated into the night. Harry felt that the power had finally taken him over, he ignored the calls from his friends and apparated after him. He didn’t know where he was going but he felt that he was following Voldemort in the right direction. He couldn’t understand what was happening to him so he just let it happen.
He finally reappeared in the same graveyard he had been brought to three years ago, after he had won the Triwizard Tornament with Cedric Diggory. It seemed like a different lifetime to Harry.
Voldemort was standing beside his father’s grave obviously waiting for Harry to arrive. He sent off a stunning curse as soon as he saw him appear. However, Harry some how knew what he was going to do and cast a shield charm easily to reflect the red light. It rebounded off and hit a stone angel that stood upon another grave stone.
“How?” Voldemort questioned him, when time and time again Harry thwarted his attempts.
“I am here to finally defeat you Tom Riddle” Harry said simply
Voldemort laughed “You can’t defeat me, I am immortal. No one has ever had the power that I posses.”
“And no one ever will again” Harry told him, as he walked closer to where Voldemort was standing.
“Do you really think you can kill me Harry? I am past death.”
Harry gave him a small smile “I know about your Horcruxes and they are gone”
Voldemort stared hard into Harry’s green eyes and looked to see if he was lying.
“You can not kill me” Voldemort yelled at him, bringing his wand back up to meet Harry again. But Harry, had already cast the killing curse at him. He watched as the bright green light wound it’s way through the air and landed right in the middle of Voldemorts robed chest. The look on his face was mingled with surprise and horror as he was thrown backwards against the tombstone of Tom Riddle Senior.




I hope that you all enjoyed reading my fanfic. Please leave feedback. I appreciate any comments you may have. Thanks

The week after the battle, Harry was spending it at the Burrow with Ron, Hermione and Ginny. He had been invited to numerous celebrations but he had declined the lot of them. It was the last thing on Harry’s mind to celebrate at the moment as he was still in shock from the terrible events that had occurred during the final fight he had with Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Mainly being the death of his fellow Gryffindor, Neville Longbottom.
Ever since he had returned to the Burrow he had been getting letter after letter from the Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. He wrote constantly asking Harry to come to the Ministry to give his account of what had happened when he faced Voldemort. He also wanted Harry to come to a celebration that the Ministry was holding to show to the public that the rumours the Daily Prophet had printed about Harry’s demise in the war being a farce.
Harry continually ignored the Minister’s letters until the one day the Minister himself turned up at the Weasley house.
“I have to say that I am a bit disappointed in you Harry” Rufus Scrimgeour had said to him, making himself at home in Mrs Weasley’s kitchen.
“Why’s that Minister?” Harry dryly replied, he enjoyed annoying Scrimgeour.
Scrimgeour tried his best not to look too aggressive with Harry “I thought you would’ve come to our celebrations. Seeing you were the guest of honour” he plastered a fake smile on his face, but most of it was concealed behind his bushy beard.
“I’m sorry Minister. But I had better things to do” Harry said, showing the Minister that he was once again wasting his time trying to get Harry to be the Ministries lap dog.
Rufus Scrimgeour took one last look at Harry with such contempt. He then proceeded to reach into his royal blue robes and pulled out a golden star that had been attached to a long golden chain.
“Here, this was for you.” he said thrusting the medal in Harry’s direction.
Harry looked at the medal as it hung in the air from the Ministers hand.
“There were more people then just me at this war” Harry said, looking from the medal back to Scrimgeour’s exasperated face.
“Look Harry, just take it. I understand you don’t want anything more to do with the Ministry and I promise you this is the last time we will meet” Scrimgeour said gruffly.
Harry took the medal and mumbled thanks, as he watched the Minister get up from his chair and stomp out of kitchen.
Harry held up the shiny medal and saw that it was engraved with the words HERO. Harry baulked at the revere that was attached to it, he didn’t want to keep it. He wasn’t a hero, far from it in his mind. The heroes were the witches and wizards who had died in the battle. It was because of them that they were now free. Harry then had a brilliant idea; he hurried into the sitting room where Ron and Hermione were embroiled in a heated match of wizard’s chess. Ron’s face was looking flustered as Hermione cheerfully called out “Checkmate”. Ron looked hopefully down at the chess pieces he had left standing on the board and then realised that he had finally been beaten by Hermione.
“So did I win?” she asked
“Yeah you did. Well done” Ron said, genuinely happy that her years of practice had finally paid off.
“Hi Harry” Hermione said as she saw him enter the warm sitting room.
“What have you got there?” Ron asked as he noticed the shiny gold star in Harry’s hand.
Harry held it out for his friends to see “The Minister of Magic just delivered it for me”
“Really?” Hermione said as she held out her hand to have a closer look at the medal.
Harry joined them on the sofa. “So are you going to wear it everywhere?” Ron joked, placing the medal around his own neck and doing a little parade with it on.
“Don’t be stupid Ron, like I would wear something as pretentious as that!” Harry exclaimed.
“So what are you going to do with it Harry?” Hermione asked
“I was thinking about giving it to Neville’s Grandmother. What do you guys think?” he asked them quietly.
Ron quickly took off the medal and placed it back in Harry’s hands, ashamed by what he had said “I think it is a wonderful idea Harry” Hermione told him with a tear in her eyes.
“Me too” Ron said softly.
The three of them then fell silent as they suddenly remembered losing one of their closest friends.
Harry then let out a small laugh, which made Hermione and Ron look up at him puzzled by this sudden outburst of laughter.
“What?” Ron asked
“I was just remembering when I first met Neville.” Harry told them fondly “He was looking for his toad, Trevor”
“As usual” Ron said laughing along with Harry.
“I don’t think that Trevor really liked being a pet” Hermione said, smiling fondly at the thoughts that were running through her mind.
Just then Ginny entered the room, she walked straight over to the lounge and sat down right next to Harry.
“What are you guys laughing about?” she asked, smiling herself and the lightened atmosphere of the room. She hadn’t heard Harry laugh since they had returned from the battle.
“We were just talking about Neville and the things we remembered about him the most” Harry told her.
Ginny’s face broke out into a huge smile “I will always remember him for the excellent night we had at the Yule Ball”
“Why?” Harry suddenly asked “What did you guys get up too?”
Ginny wiggled her eyebrows at him and then she burst out into giggles “He was a wonderful dancer that is all. I had a great night”
“Oh!” Harry said, feeling terrible that he had gotten jealous over an incident that had happened well over three years ago.
“Do you want us to come with you when you take the medal to Mrs Longbottom?” Hermione asked
Harry nodded his head; he didn’t really want to go by himself. “Thanks Hermione that would be great”.

As Christmas fast approached Harry remained at The Burrow with Ron and Ginny and their family, since he had nowhere else to go. Hermione had returned home after they had visited with Neville’s Grandmother. Harry and Ginny felt bad when they tried to spend some time together as it left Ron all alone. So they put their relationship on hold so Ron wouldn’t feel so left out.

Christmas morning brought with it a fresh layer of snow on the ground outside. Harry felt that his emotional state was slowly returning to normal, as he no longer felt bad if he laughed and spent a wonderful afternoon with his girlfriend or when he was playing Quidditch with Ron, Fred & George. He finally felt free and content, the way he had always envisioned his life being. He had been woken up by Ron shouting at him “It’s Christmas Harry. Get up!” and then the warmth of his blankets were ripped off of him as Ron pulled them onto the floor and dashed out of the door.
“I’ll get you!” Harry playfully yelled as he jumped out of bed and grabbed his dressing gown as he bolted out of the room and down the wooden staircase after his best mate.
Harry found Ron in the lounge room with the rest of the Weasley family busily unwrapping presents.
“Merry Christmas Harry” Mrs Weasley called out merrily to him as he entered the living room.
Ginny jumped up from her pile of presents she had already opened and hurried over to Harry and threw her arms around his neck.
“Merry Christmas” she whispered to him, as she leaned into him and kissed him gently on his lips.
“Mmmm.” Harry said as he revelled in the kiss “Merry Christmas to you too”
“Come on Ginny. Let Harry in so he can get to his presents” Mrs Weasley said trying to sound annoyed by Ginny displaying such love for Harry; but secretly she was over the moon that her only daughter had fallen in love with Harry. She couldn’t have asked for a nicer boy to let her daughter date.
“Sit down Harry.” Mrs Weasley said fondly to him “Looks like you have a nice pile of presents to open”
Harry took a hold of Ginny’s hand and went over to where his Christmas presents were waiting for him.

The day after Christmas Hermione showed up on the Weasley’s doorstep with her arms overflowing with her school things ready for when they all needed to return to Hogwarts to finish their last year of school.
“Hi Hermione” Ginny called out as she entered the kitchen
“Did you have a good Christmas?” Hermione asked as she gratefully emptied her books and things onto the large kitchen table.
“Excellent. How about you?”
“It was quiet, just Mum, Dad and me” Hermione told her as she sat down. “So where are Ron and Harry?”
Ginny smiled knowingly at her “I was wondering how long it would take you to ask where Ron was” she laughed
Hermione’s cheeks turned bright pink.
“It’s alright Hermione. It just goes to show how much you fancy my brother that’s all”
Hermione shifted uncomfortably in her seat “So where are they?” she asked again.
“Upstairs, helping Dad shift some furniture around. He wanted to do it the Muggle way” Ginny chuckled.
Just then they heard a loud thump and then there were the sounds of footsteps coming down the staircase.
“I told you it wouldn’t fit there Dad” they could hear Ron talking.
“Well we made it fit didn’t we boys” Mr Weasley laughed as they entered the kitchen.
“Hermione!” Ron exclaimed “When did you get here?”
“Just now” she said as Ron rushed over to her to give her a kiss.
“I see you are ready to go back to school” Mr Weasley said, taking note of all the books that covered his table. He had joined the kids at the table with a bottle of Butterbeer for them all.
“I am really looking forward to it” she smiled as she appreciatively took the Butterbeer and took a long gulp.
Mr Weasley polished off his bottle and then he stood back up “Well I might go out into the garden and give Molly a hand to De Gnome the garden”
Hermione was busily discussing with Ron and Harry what their thoughts were now about what they were planning to do after they finish their schooling.
“I always dreamed of being an Auror, but now I don’t know if I really want to go down that track” Harry told his friends honestly “I will have to think about what else I would be happy doing”
“What about you Hermione” Ginny asked “Have you thought about what career you would like”
“I’m not sure. I have been thinking about it lately and I am still uncertain” she explained
“Well I still want to be an Auror” Ron said undoubtedly
“Well you had better work hard for the rest of the year if you are going to get the grades you need” Hermione told him sternly.
“Yes I know Hermione” Ron said “But you will help me if I get into trouble won’t you?”
Hermione’s face softened at Ron’s request “Of course I will” she said gently.
The four friends were then surprised by knock on the door. Ron jumped up to see who it was. He opened the door and was surprised when he saw Ben standing in front of him.
“Hi Ron. I hope you don’t mind but I am looking for Hermione” he said trying to sound casual.
“Not at all mate. She’s here. Come in” Ron said opening the door wider to let him in.
“Hi Harry, Ginny” Ben greeted “Did you have a nice Christmas?”
“Good thanks” Harry said “Did you?”
“Yeah it was alright. Umm… Hermione can we go somewhere to talk in private?” he asked carefully.
Hermione was caught off guard by Ben’s sudden request “Sure. Let’s go in the sitting room.” she slowly rose from her chair and led the way towards the lounge room.

“What do you want to talk about?” Hermione asked casually.
Ben sat himself down on the old lounge chair and nervously ran his hands through his dark hair. He slowly looked up at Hermione and she became anxious herself at his behaviour.
“What ever it is Ben you can tell me” she said softly to him.
“I know I can” he told her. “I just don’t know where to start”
“Start at the beginning” she suggested.
“Well…….I was told sometime ago from an elderly family relative that when I was born our family was in a feud with another wizarding family”
Ben looked back down at his lap and at his wand that he was turning around and around in his large hands.
Hermione waited patiently for him to continue.
“As you know my family is the direct descendants of Rowena Ravenclaw, and we had a few enemies. When I was born I was taken away from my family and sent to a Muggle hospital. They thought by hiding me it would drive my parents mad. However, thankfully my parents were able to find me. And now I have just learnt that my Mum gave birth to twins.”
Hermione gasped at Ben’s story “So you have a brother or sister somewhere?”
Ben nodded “My Mum and Dad weren’t able to find out where she was sent. Until now”
Hermione gave Ben an amazed look “What are you saying Ben?” she accused
“I am saying Hermione, that you are my sister” he quickly told her.
She stood up from her chair as if she was zapped from behind, “Don’t be silly Ben. I’m Muggle born.”
“Are you sure about that Hermione?” Ben questioned her.
Hermione shook her bushy head and stared inquisitively at Ben not knowing what to say to his accusations.
Ben stood up and reached out her, but she took a couple of steps away “I’m sorry to spring this on you Hermione, but I am certain you are my twin sister”
“But how can you be certain Ben? What proof do you have?”
“Well I had my suspicions before but it was confirmed by the Cimmerii Seer. She told me plainly that you were who I was searching for” Ben told her gently, trying to ease her mind.
She continued to stare at him, “I… I … I have to go” she mumbled and she quickly left the lounge room and proceeded towards the back door of the Burrow. Hermione walked hurriedly out of the house despite questions from her best friends. She had to get answers.

“What is going on Ben?” Ron asked as he watched Hermione Disapparate at the back door.
“I don’t think I should be the one to tell you. I will wait until Hermione returns” he told them
Harry looked from Ron to Ben and thought a change of subject was in order “So Ben when do you think we should return to the Cimmerii?”
“Probably soon, as we have to return to school next week” Ben suggested
“I agree, how about we go tomorrow and get it over with”
“Not a problem. I will meet you here early tomorrow morning” Ben said then he quickly said goodbye to them all and hurried out the door and Disapparated.
“I wonder what that was all about?” Ginny speculated, looking at her brother who was still watching out the window for where Hermione had just disappeared from.
“Ron, I’m sure Hermione is fine” Ginny told him.
“Yeah. I’m just worried about her” Ron said quietly.

The trio spent the rest of the day silently wondering about why Hermione had quickly left the Burrow without a word to anyone. Ron was trying his hardest to remain calm but he really wanted to apparate off after his girlfriend and find out what it was that Ben had said that had upset her so much.

The following morning Ben returned as he had promised and he had brought with him the ornate music box that had once belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw.
“Are you ready to go Harry, I want to get back as my family needs me as soon as possible”
“No worries” Harry said as he opened the tightly furled scroll that would take them back to the island that the Cimmerii lived on.
“Do you have the other three objects that we need?” Ben asked curiously
“Yep” Harry said patting the inside of his robes “It took me a bit to convince Professor McGonagall to let me borrow Godric Gryffindor’s sword but after I explained what it was needed for she reluctantly gave it to me. But under strict measures that I bring it back in one piece when I return”
“Excellent. Let’s get going” Ben said eager to get back.
“Hang on a moment” Ginny interrupted, as she walked in the room “Please be careful and hurry back. I miss you when you are gone too long” she whispered in his ear.
“I will” Harry said smiling widely at his girlfriend. He kissed her tenderly and stepped back next to Ben holding out the prophecy for them both to read.

Harry read the line that was written at the bottom of the parchment.
“If you wish to know what secrets the dragon hides come now and materialise”

This time Harry was ready for the weird sensation that came with travelling in this manner.

They had arrived back in the circular room that was decorated with the different dragons, and the cupboards that housed all their gold and silver heirlooms.
The boys turned around to see if there was anyone in the room with them, but they found themselves alone.

“Come on let’s go and find where the Elders are” Harry said as he set off towards the large silver doors that would lead them out onto the island.

Harry and Ben found the Elders congregating in the large hut that Elder Saus had introduced them to the others the last time they had visited.

“Harry! Ben!” Grand Elder Enkur welcomed them both warmly as they entered the room. “Welcome back, we have been waiting for your return”

“We came as soon as we could” Harry told him.

“Did you bring the objects with you?” Elder Emerylon asked, looking as regal as ever in his deep green robes.

Harry and Ben brought out the four objects and laid them out on a table in the centre of the room for them all to see.

The five Cimmerii Elders walked over to the table and ran their hands over the objects making sure that these were indeed the items that belonged to the four founders of Hogwarts.

Delphina turned to Harry and spoke softly “I watched you kill the traitor Riddle. Are you alright?” she asked genuinely worried about him.

“I wasn’t at first but now I couldn’t be better” Harry told her happily.
“I am glad to hear that” she said and then she rejoined her brethren.
Grand Elder Enkur clapped his hands together “Let us go” he said.
The other Elders waited for him to leave the hut and then they followed behind him, Harry and Ben quickly grabbed the objects and followed them out into the bright sunlight.
The followed the brilliantly coloured Elders through the array of huts and into a smaller hut they had been in before. The entered the room and watched as four of the five Elders walked across the room and sat down in one of the four wooden chairs that were situated at the top of the room. The brilliant stained glass windows were shining brightly onto the bare floor casting all their colours across the room.
Harry watched as Elder Delphina waved her hand and made a large stone block appear out of nowhere.
“Please come forward and place your objects here” she explained to the boys in her ethereal voice.
They advanced forward and found that in the stone block there were indentations that each of the objects fitted into snugly.
Ben placed the music box in its hole then stepped back and let Harry place the locket, the cup and Gryffindor’s sword in each of their own special positions.
Harry stepped back watched as the stone block began to glow brightly, when Delphina stepped back away from it and rejoined her other Elders it also started to vibrate loudly.
Harry looked up at the Elders who were all seated beneath the beautiful tapestry of the red dragon, and watched as they smiled serenely at him and awaited their fate.
“Thankyou Harry” Saus called out over the noise of the vibrating stone. “We can now rest in peace”
The stone gave a final blast of golden light which made Harry and Ben look away. When the light faded Harry looked back and saw that the Elders had vanished, leaving behind their colourful robes lying on the floor besides each of their chairs.

“Is it over?” Ben asked surveying the area.
“Yeah I think so” Harry replied walking back to the stone block and he retrieved the locket, cup, music box and sword. He handed the music box back to Ben and put his own objects back inside his robes, however he decided to hold onto the sword.
“Hang on Harry. What’s that?” Ben asked pointing towards something that was left resting alongside on of the chairs.
Harry walked up to the object with Ben and pulled it out. It was wrapped up with a large sheet. There was a small piece of parchment attached to the sheet, Ben took it off read it and then handed it to Harry. “It’s for you” he told him. Harry gave Gryffindor’s sword to Ben so he had his hands free.
Harry read it to himself
“Dear Harry, here is a small token of our appreciation. We hope you enjoy it for the remainder of your days”
Harry pulled it off the sheet and revealed a beautiful painting underneath it. It was quite a large painting that brought a tear to Harry’s eye.
“Who are they?” Ben asked, looking at the portrait.
Harry took a moment and then a smile softly crept across his face. “That is my Mum and Dad.” Harry told him
“And who is that?” Ben enquired pointing to another person in the painting.
“That is my Godfather Sirius Black”
Harry glanced at the portrait and grinned at the smiling faces of his parents and their best friend. Harry thought it was the best present he had ever gotten, and when he found a house of his own it would be hung up in a place of honour.
“Come on lets get back” Harry said to Ben as he continued to gaze at the wonderful painting.
“Alright, but how do we get back without the Elders help?” Ben asked concerned.
“I think I can do it by apparating us home” Harry said thinking deeply.
He held onto the painting with one hand and held onto Ben’s arm with his other. He closed his eyes and thought about where he wanted to go and then he stepped forward into nothingness and felt the pressure squeezing him from all sides. Before he knew it they had returned to the Burrow where Ron, Hermione and Ginny were waiting for them.
“Harry!” Ginny squealed at the sight of her boyfriend. “You’re back!”
Harry carefully stood the painting he was holding against a wall and then he took her in his arms and held her tightly, never wanting to let her go again.
Harry glanced around the room at his two best friends Ron and Hermione who were sitting together; Ron had his arm around Hermione’s shoulders.
“Is everything alright Hermione?” Harry asked
“Yeah. I got some difficult news and it is taking me a while to come to terms with what it means” she said, choosing her words carefully as Ben was listening intently.
She looked over at Ben and smiled warmly at him “You were right. I spoke to my parents and they told me that they adopted me. They had been wanting to tell me for some time now and I think they were relieved that it is now out in the open” she told him.
Harry couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and looking at Ron and Ginny’s expressions he guessed they had been discussing this before he and Ben arrived.
“So what does this mean Hermione? Do you know who your real parents are?” Harry asked
Hermione walked slowly around the table to where Ben was standing and she stood straight in front of him “I am Ben’s twin sister” she announced “He has been looking for me for quite some time”
“I can’t believe it” Harry said excitedly “So you aren’t Muggle born after all”
“Looks like I have a lot of catching up to do” Hermione said nervously looking up at Ben.
“We all do” he replied back smiling happily at his newly found sister.
Harry held out his hand and took Ginny’s smaller one in his, he looked happily around at the room at his friends that were gathered here with him. Harry thought that he was looking forward to what the future would bring and the changes that would come with it.
“What are you thinking about Harry?” Ginny asked looking at him with a worried expression.
“Just that I am looking forward to what the future will bring” he told her as he held her gently around her waist.
“So am I” she whispered. Ginny then stood on her tiptoe and kissed Harry gently first on his lips, then on each cheek and lastly she kissed him on his scar.




Well I hope you all enjoyed my fanfic. I am working on a sequel to this story. So if you are interested keep an eye out later in the month for it.Thanks to everyone who has left feedback in the past.