My muse is driving me up the wall. She won't let me quit. This is Monday's chapter, and it was originally supposed to be the last one. There was going to be an epilogue tomorrow to tie everything up. However, that is not how it seems to be going. I'm sure you noticed in the last chapter that I couldn't possibly tie everything up today. Well, you're right. I can't. My new trajectory is this chapter, and two, maybe three more then the epilogue, providing of course, that my muse doesn't add another twist or two into my plotline. I hope everyone enjoys this. I know it's taken a lot of time to figure out how to do this, with what I originally had planned, and what my muse apparently planned for me. This is totally different than I had anticipated, but I think it's going to be even better than what I had thought about doing. So, enjoy, and don't forget to review! Voting has now begun everyone, so don't forget to sign in and rate this fic!
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Harry and Hermione were supposed to be in Mexico, trekking over ruins and swimming with dolphins. Or at least, Harry was supposed to be swimming with dolphins. Instead, they were at home, in their room, changing into jeans and robes to head off and destroy Voldemort. Again.
Hermione wrestled her hair into a ponytail. It was uncomfortably reminiscent of its frizzy days. She'd had to brush out the curls, and her hair hadn't decided to behave. It had frizzed so it appeared as if she was the owner of an Afro. Which was why it had been forced into slight submission, but putting it into a ponytail.
Harry was standing by the door, watching in mild amusement as she changed from her wedding dress into jeans and a sweater he recognized as the one he'd given her for the previous Christmas. Around her neck was the slim diamond choker he and Draco had picked out for her the night before the wedding. He'd had Draco give it to her when he went to tell her that Sirius did, in fact, know where the locket had gone. Her only other jewelry was her engagement ring, which she never took off, and her wedding band, a simple platinum band engraved with his name and their wedding date. He wore a matching one with her name on his left ring finger. He'd been surprised to note that wearing a wedding band didn't feel awkward.
Hermione finished scrubbing the remnants of her makeup from her face and crossed the room, pulling on her boots as she went. "Okay. I'm ready. Let's get this done so we can go to Mexico." She looked at her husband. "We were supposed to be locked in our hotel room with the `do not disturb' sign on the door by now."
Harry took her hand. "I know. Believe me, I know. We'll just hurry up and save the world and then go on our Honeymoon."
"We aren't going, are we?"
Harry shook his head. "Probably not, no." he offered her an apologetic look. "I am sorry, Herms."
Hermione shrugged. "Welcome to our lives. Get married at six, off to fight the most evil and powerful wizard to ever exist by nine."
At least she was taking it in stride. Harry had expected her to be much angrier at having her wedding day and Honeymoon ruined the way that it had been. He knew just about every other woman would have been. "We can try to go away for a few days after this is over." He offered, but Hermione shook her head.
"I have to go back to work and you have games. Let's just forget it, Harry. It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that we have the rest of our life to go to Mexico. This is more important that anything else."
Harry squeezed her fingers. "I love you, Hermione. I really do."
"I know you do. I love you too. Now stop feeling guilty about ruining our Honeymoon. Better to never go than to get pulled away in the middle of it by this, which is what would have happened."
Draco came to the top of the stairs. "Are you two coming or are we doing this without you?"
"We're ready." Hermione led the men down the stairs. "Where's Ron?"
"On his way." Draco cringed. "I let him take Carys to Molly. He was going there with Luna anyway."
"And Ginny?"
"Will be damned if you tell her to stay home like a good little girl." Ginny said, walking in from the kitchen. Like Hermione, she'd decided to forego robes. It was cold outside, and robes and a cloak were harder to run in than a coat. Draco and Harry had been told to dress like Muggles. Both were helpless to resist their wives.
Hermione nodded. "All right then. Is Sirius coming?"
"He's in the kitchen talking to James and Lily and Lupin." Ginny shook her head. "Wood and Alisa are in there too. They took Mikayla to Mum. It looks like we're going to have quite the motley crew going with us on this."
Harry shrugged. "The more the merrier I suppose. There's no telling how many Death Eaters there will be if they've managed to get their hands on the Horcrux."
Hermione sat down on a bar stool in the kitchen. "If they have the Horcrux, then this gets even more dangerous. Since there's a piece of Voldemort's soul left inside it, it can be used, with the proper spell and potion, to conjure him a body. Voldemort wouldn't have the part of the soul as it would evaporate during the process of making him a body, but he would be corporeal again, and that mean trouble for us."
Harry looked at his wife. "Are you sure you won't stay here, `Mione? With the baby…" he trailed off as Hermione's gaze sharpened on him.
"No. I will not stay here. I haven't let you face something without me yet, and I'm not about to start now. Either we do it together or we don't do it at all."
James laughed, slung an arm around his son. "That's exactly what your mother said to me when I suggested she wait with Luna and the Weasley's at the Burrow."
Lily slid her arm around Hermione. "And in both cases, it's true. James was getting me in trouble the moment he stepped foot into my car, and thirty years later, he's still doing it."
Hermione let herself lean on Lily for a moment. "You mean it doesn't end?"
"Never."
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The group arrived at the OADUWW at nine thirty. Lavender had grumbled about letting them in, but since she'd also gone to school with Draco, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny, she knew that what they wanted, they got. It had been useless to protest. So she opened up the office, gave them a strict warning not to damage anything and went home.
Harry sat down at the desk, and booted up the computer. Lavender's family was mostly Muggle, so she'd insisted on the use of computers. It made things so much easier. More efficient. And Lavender Brown liked things to be efficient. And lavender if at all possible. Which was why the computer was bright purple.
"Okay, Sirius, what was the date of the donation?"
Sirius shrugged. "I don't know, Harry. Sometime in September of your fifth year."
Harry entered the month and scrolled down. "Did you give it under your name?"
"No. I was still wanted by Azkaban, remember? I used my brother's name. Regalus."
Harry spotted it, clicked on the name. There was a detailed inventory list. "Okay. I think this is it." He squinted. "This has to be Lavender's own language. Gaudy, oversized, ostentatious, most likely fake, broken locket. Fit for Halloween, costume party or someone with no sense of style. Unfit for any wardrobe outside that of Madonna or Cher. Possibly acceptable for an Anna Nicole Smith or Britney Spears impersonator." Harry's brow furrowed. "Can anyone tell if this is what we're looking for?"
Ginny had managed to decipher most of that. "I think that means it's a big locket that doesn't open. Keep going."
"Emblazoned with a cheesy lame, serpentine S that covers any possible beauty and desirability the locket may have had." Harry looked at Ginny. "Does that mean a snake shaped like an S?"
"I believe so, yes. Does it say anything else?"
"Given to a very unfashionable woman with obviously fake blonde hair and two inch long nails painted a garish blue. Very disturbing. Application number four two seven three nine w." Harry rubbed his eyed. "Finally something useful." He heard Hermione rustling through the application files as he shut the computer down. Hermione pulled one out.
"Here we go." Hermione's face drained of color. "That moron!"
Harry snatched the file from Hermione. He hit the desk with his fist hard enough to make a pretty crystal rabbit fall off and crash on the floor. "Dammit! Why can't we get a break?!"
Draco crossed his arms, prepared for the worst. "What is it? Whom'd they give it to?"
"Borgin's wife. Borgin of Borgin and Burke's."
Draco nearly laughed. "This just gets better and better. If he realized what it was, you can imagine that it went straight to the hands of a Death Eater."
Harry nodded. "For a price, of course. And if I remember right, Borgin and Burke's shop keep meticulous records."
"That they do. So do we break in?"
Harry returned Draco's grin. "We break in. Herms, we're going to need your neat little spell again."
Hermione took out her wand. "Coming right up."
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Borgin and Burke's shop was locked up tight, and the Apparation wards were first class. But that didn't stop Hermione's spell. They all Apparated into the store undetected. Hermione finessed the office lock open and they all crowded inside. Hermione opened the drawer marked `L'.
"Okay, we've got three different lockets brought in on that date." She riffled through the sheets of parchment. "No descriptions. Probably to keep people from doing what we're doing right now. All three were sold to different people. Good Merlin, Kingsley Shacklebolt bought one of them."
Harry grabbed the parchment. "I know he isn't a Death Eater. Neither are these people. At least I don't think they are. Draco?"
Draco took the files. "This one is. Pretty high up in the pecking order too. Ian Flemming. One of Dad's assistants."
Harry handed his parents the third file. It was of a woman by the name of Susanna Rafael. "Go see if this pans out."
James looked it over. "Remus, care to join us?"
Lupin shrugged. "Why not? Let's meet up at your house afterward."
The three adults Apparated as Harry handed the three women Kingsley Shacklebolt's file. "You three handle Shacklebolt. Just in case he is a Death Eater."
Hermione took the file. "We're on it. Do you think there's a chance he is?"
Harry shrugged. "God, I hope not. That would mean there's no telling how deep the network goes. First the Minister of Magic, and then the person in charge of the Aurors? That could be bad."
Hermione grinned. "And we'll handle it if it is."
Harry waited until the women had Apparated. Wood, Draco and Ron would be going with him to the known Death Eater's house. They exchanged a look, then Apparated.
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And at different points of the world, three groups of people knocked on three different doors, all holding their breath and hoping that their house would be the one to hold the locket. And at those three houses, the ten people who had dedicated their lives to defeating Death Eaters and Voldemort were met with Death Eaters. Each house had the Dark Mark above it. Apparently the Death Eaters had discovered the same thing as Harry. What had been a semi dangerous situation had just gotten much more grave. Especially for the two women carrying babies. They were in a weakened state, and less magical that they would have been had they already given birth. About a third of their magical ability was going to keeping the baby safe and protected, which left Lily and Hermione very vulnerable. Their only saving grace was that they were the two most powerful witches in the world, and most people were afraid of them both.
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