A hum filled the air and Harry strained to listen to who it could be. After a few seconds of terror, Harry recognised the tune to be 'Weasley is our King'. He hung his head in relief as Luna entered the hallway.
"You know," she said "you two are awfully lucky that I happen to have very good hearing. You are also lucky that I came down here to get Ron his pumpkin juice rather than let him get it himself." She smiled serenely at them as if this they were discussing the weather. Hermione mumbled an apology and rushed away from them. Harry sighed and wished that the floor would open up and swallow him. Then he remembered the room of requirement and quickly changed his mind.
"Love can be quite confusing sometimes, can't it?" said Luna conversationally.
"I'm not in love Luna," said Harry beginning to feel irritated. "We're just, well… I don't know what we are right now! But nothing to do with love. Why is this happening now? Why couldn't I have just carried on liking Ginny? She's my best friend! Why is my life always such a mess?"
"You know my mother once told me that love is a branch of magic in itself." said Luna sympathetically "You can't control who you fall in love with and when it happens. What I do know is that it doesn't happen very often. You can't punish yourself for the way you're feeling Harry. You just feel funny about it all because you've been best friends for such a long time. Daddy always said that being friends with someone before you love them is the closest kind of love you can get. He and mother were best friends for a long time before they got married." Harry was grateful that her speech had finally ended; it made him feel very uncomfortable that Luna was talking about him and Hermione this way. He angrily found himself wondering why he had offered someone that is clearly insane to come and stay with him. He nodded his head curtly towards Luna, and made his way to the back garden. Luna just smiled to herself as she made her way to the kitchen and the pumpkin juice.
Harry sat down outside and ignored the slight chill of the night. 'Why can't I control myself?' he thought 'I've heard Mr. Weasley joking about 'young boys' but this is ridiculous.' His mind wandered to Hermione again and he found that he was angry with her too. He told her they couldn't do anything, and yet she threw herself at him anyway! He knew he was being unreasonable, but being angry helped him not think about Hermione and what they had just done…again.
"Harry," said Hermione quietly from behind him. She saw him stiffen and slowly moved to sit down next to him. "I want to talk to you…about us."
"We shouldn't have done that Hermione. That could have just as easily been Ron! Can you imagine what he'd do if he found out about…this" said Harry.
"What exactly is 'this' Harry?" asked Hermione quietly. Harry looked at her for a moment and found that he was nervous. What was he supposed to say?
"Well, uh, I don't know…" said Harry, and was very glad that it was dark out so that Hermione couldn't see the redness creeping into his face.
"I had a chat with Ginny while we were at Hogwarts. She seems pretty sure that you're going to go back to her. I don't want to be someone you're with because you're trying to get over someone else. I also don't want to be kissed one minute and ignored the next." said Hermione, and waited anxiously for his reply.
"I don't want to be with Ginny. I'm not kissing you because I'm heartbroken," said Harry. He stood up and began pacing back and forth, trying to think of how to tell her how he was feeling without sounding like a total prat. "I wasn't with Cho for very long, and me and Ginny only lasted a couple of months. Look at what's happened between them and me. Our friendship is ruined. What happens when we break up? You're my best friend, I don't want to wreck that." He looked at her intently, hoping that she would understand.
"Why are you planning on us breaking up before we've even started anything Harry?" she said, "You can't just assume that we won't last because your relationships didn't last with those two."
"But can we risk trying it? Think of everything we're risking. Our friendship. The friendship we have with Ron. Everything could be ruined!" said Harry, his voice rising.
"Do you want to ignore what's between us Harry?" asked Hermione, and tried to blink back the tears that were threatening to fall. "Can you ignore it? I don't know if I can. I know I should be more worried about Ron, but when I'm with you I can't think of him or anyone else." Harry had the urge to go over and kiss her senseless, but he knew that would be the wrong thing to do. Instead he breathed deeply and looked at the stars and tried to think about what it was he really wanted, and what price he would have to pay to get it.
"Will you give me some time Hermione? I can't do something like this to Ron without thinking it through properly. I just need some more time…" Hermione nodded and felt her hot tears splash on her cheeks. Harry sat down next to her and put his arms around her shoulders. They sat like that for a long time, watching the stars and saying nothing…neither wanting the moment to end.
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Harry, Hermione, Ron, Luna and Susan entered Grimmauld place at a quarter to seven. No one else seemed to be there yet so they managed to get the best seats around the kitchen table. Harry looked around and thought of Sirius making breakfast in here…He got up from the table to go for a walk around. Ron and Hermione stood up with him as if sensing his frame of mind. He smiled gratefully at them as they made there way towards the hallway.
"Guess Luna and I have to stay here then?" asked Susan worriedly.
"Don't worry Sue," said Ron, "we'll be back in a jiffy. Just got to take a look around…" He smiled comically at them both before they exited the kitchen.
As Harry walked through the rooms at Grimmauld place he could almost picture Sirius walking around there all by himself. He felt the loss of his Godfather deeply. Hermione seemed to sense his mood and she touched his arm briefly. He smiled at her and they carried on walking from room to room. As if sensing his mood Ron decided to speak-
"Hey, remember Sirius putting Santa hats and beards on these elves heads?" he chuckled. Harry smiled at Ron and allowed himself to remember Sirius during the happier times.
"I remember the Christmas carols he sang a couple of years ago, and how many decorations he put up to make us all feel better when Arthur was in the hospital." said Hermione, and smiled wistfully as she looked around the place.
"Yeah," said Harry smiling "He really got into the Christmas spirit…" They walked around for a while longer, going from room to room when until they were almost at the kitchen again. Hermione looked at the cupboard that had been Kreacher's den and hurried towards it. Ron let out a loud groan and Harry inwardly agreed.
"Why are you looking in there Hermione?" he asked with a look of disgust on his face "You don't know what filthy things he could have left in there!" Hermione bent down and opened the cupboard door.
"Look!" she said excitedly pointing into the cupboard. "He took the blanket I made him!"
"Yeah, probably burnt it…" said Ron, which earned him a smack on the arm from Hermione.
"Look at all the stuff in here, I thought Sirius managed to throw most of this stuff out." said Harry as he gingerly lifted the rags to see the items Kreacher had saved from the bin. "Look, there's that ring that belonged to Sirius' dad! He must have gone digging through the dustbins outside to get it back!"
"That's disgusting." said Ron and made a move to leave. Hermione followed Ron down the hallway. It took them both a couple of minutes to realise that Harry wasn't moving.
"Harry?" said Ron "Are you, uh, coming or what?" Harry didn't say anything, and seemed almost frozen to the spot. They made there way back to him, wondering what was wrong with their friend. As they peered over Harry and into the cupboard they saw that he was holding a very heavy locket. The one that they had been unable to open during their cleaning session, what seemed to be a very long time ago. Hermione gasped and knelt next to Harry.
"Regulus" she whispered and Harry nodded slightly. Ron looked from the locket, to Harry and then to Hermione.
"Uh…what are you two doing? It looks like you're possessed by Kreacher or something," said Ron worriedly. Harry stood up with the locket and turned around to show it to Ron. Ron's eyes grew wide as he saw where Harry had wiped at the metal. An ornate S was inscribed into the locket.
"Slytherin's locket!" said Ron in awe "What the bloody hell is it doing here? And why was Kreacher sleeping with a bit of Snake faces soul!"
"Ssh!" whispered Hermione "Don't' you see? RAB is Regulus Black! He must have found out about this when he became a death eater!"
"I bet that's why he wanted to back out!" Harry whispered to them "Somehow he found out that Voldemort was going to make Horcruxes! He tried to quit being a death eater. He must have found this Horcrux before he was killed and hidden it here!"
There was suddenly a huge commotion in the kitchen, and Harry shoved the locket deep into his pocket. Hermione quickly shut the cupboard door, and they all tried to gather their thoughts. It looked like the members of the Order were here, and by the sounds of it there were a lot more people than last time…
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