A/N: Enjoy! It's 5:30am right now and I'm off to work so I promise I'll reply to reviews when I get home.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Nope. Otherwise I'd have a job where I didn't have to get up before sunrise on Saturdays. :/
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As Ginny left the room, an overwhelming thought came into her head. What if Harry really had died? She didn't want to think about that, but it was a thought she'd not been allowing herself to ponder for years. This time was no different. Ginny didn't want to contemplate the idea of Harry's death anymore than the rest of her family did.
Instead she focused her thoughts on someone else. Hermione. It was thanks to her that things with Harry had been ruined. She'd figured out that Ginny had used a love potion at Hogwarts, and had figured out that she gave it to him again that morning. She'd stolen Harry away from her in the short time they'd been together in London, and she'd ruined Ginny's grand plan at life.
For years Ginny had hoped that one day Harry would fall in love with her. It was no secret that he was wealthy, both his parents and his godfather, Sirius, had left him large amounts of gold. He had matured over the years into a handsome young man, and he was certainly the most desirable bachelor in the Wizarding world. She had always believed that Harry would win the war, and she had thought that if they ended up together, he would take care of her and they would live happily ever after.
And then Hermione had come along and ruined it all. She and Harry had been growing closer and closer ever since they met. They were constantly seeking comfort with each other, and Hermione had become the only person other than Dumbledore who could calm Harry down when he was angry. There had been so many signs that the two of them would eventually start a relationship that Ginny knew she had to take drastic action if she wanted her plans to work.
Ginny began to feel extreme hatred towards the older witch. She stomped up the stairs to her bedroom, imagining that every time her foot landed it was directly onto Hermione's face. Reaching her room, she began to pack some clothes and necessities into a backpack. She would've much rather levitated everything into her trunk and shrunken it afterwards, but now that she had snapped her wand, she couldn't. Instead she packed light, choosing only what she would need most.
Satisfied with the meagre belongings she had chosen, Ginny headed back down the stairs. Molly Weasley was standing at the bottom of the steps, hands on her hips, glaring at her daughter.
"And just where do you think you're going?" she said shrilly.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "I need to think, mum, and I need to figure some things out for myself. I'm leaving, and I don't know when I'll be coming back."
"If you think for one instant that I am going to let you leave this house-" Mrs. Weasley began, but Arthur's hand on her shoulder squeezed tightly, almost telling her to stop.
"Let her go," Arthur said sadly. "If we don't, she'll just mope around the house, and who knows what else. She's a big girl, Molly, she'll be safe."
Before her mother could argue, Ginny turned on her heel and walked out the front door.
"Arthur, are you crazy? We have to go after her!" Molly shrieked, turning her glare on her husband.
He sighed, pulling his wife into his arms. "She'll be fine, I'll have the Order keep an eye on her."
Sniffling, Molly hugged her husband tighter. "I just hope she's okay. We'll have to get her a new wand, we can't let her go unprotected like this."
"We will, dear, but she has to come back to us first."
As Arthur consoled his wife, he was secretly hoping that he had done the right thing in letting his daughter go. They could easily send her owls and trace her throughout England, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't be enough. They needed to get her another wand, and fast.
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Back in Godric's Hollow, Harry's hunger had been temporarily satisfied. He and Hermione lay on the floor, Harry propped up on one elbow so that he could look into her eyes. "So what do we do now?" he asked.
Hermione thought for a moment. "Well, technically you're still under Ginny's love potion, and it's only the rings that are keeping you sane. I think we need to find an antidote just in case something happens to your ring."
"That only solves one problem, though. We still need to find the rest of the Horcruxes." He reminded her, lightly kissing her forehead.
"And destroy them," Hermione said quietly.
The young couple lay there silently for a few moments before either of them could think of something to say again. They had been blissfully ignorant of the Horcrux mission the last few days, focusing instead on each other, and both felt guilty for having neglected the search.
"First thing's first," Hermione broke the silence, sitting up. "We have to solve this love potion problem. And then we'll make lists. Lists of the Horcruxes: the ones that have been destroyed, the ones we still need to find, and the ones we don't know. We can go from there," she suggested, already getting up from the floor.
"Where are you going?" Harry asked.
She had already begun to head out of the room. "To see if your parents had a library of some sort," she said, entering the hallway. She was opening door after door as Harry got up to follow her. "Aha!" she exclaimed. The ninth door she opened had several bookshelves lining the walls, as well as several very comfortable looking chairs. Almost skipping to the bookshelves, Hermione crooked her head to the right and began to read the titles. Finding something interesting, she lifted it from the shelf and settled down to flip through the pages.
Harry remained standing, staring around at the room. "This was my dad's room," he said softly.
"How do you know?" Hermione looked up from the pages.
His eyes focused on something on the wall behind Hermione's head. "There's a broomstick," he said simply.
Hermione turned around. On the wall there was certainly a broomstick, framed in a glass case, with a plaque next to it.
James Potter
Gryffindor Chaser
Hogwarts Quidditch Champion
Harry began to explore the room, noticing little things that had belonged to his father. "Hermione?" he said in a quiet voice.
She looked at him, closing the book. "What is it, Harry?" she asked.
"This house was destroyed when Voldemort attacked. A cleaning charm is one thing, but for the house to rebuild itself? It seems a little strange." He was thinking now about that night, and how Voldemort had killed his parents and demolished his home in an attempt to kill him as well.
"I don't know, Harry," she admitted, "but I'll do my best to figure it out."
Harry was examining the book titles when Hermione spoke again.
"Found it," she said, grinning.
"The charm on the house?" he asked.
She shook her head. "No, but I figured out what potion Professor Slughorn brewed to give Ron when he'd swallowed some love potion. You said it was clear, right?"
Harry nodded. "Clear liquid. Ron drank it, then he gave us some mead, and that's when Ron swallowed the whole cup and landed himself in the hospital wing."
Hermione's face darkened as she remembered that day. Shaking her head to rid herself of the memories, she focused back on the pages in front of her. "I can brew this easily, Harry. If you could just get my potions kit out of my trunk?" she asked, settling herself on the floor. She conjured a glass bottle and settled in as Harry returned with her kit.
Her features screwed up in concentration, Hermione began to add pinches of seemingly random ingredients to the bottle. Harry was confused as some of the ingredients she used, but he said nothing.
Moments later Hermione was finished, the glass bottle filled with clear liquid.
"Now you'll have to take the ring off, Harry," she said, "and then drink the potion."
"You'll have to make up something to make me drink it though. Slughorn told Ron it was a nerve tonic to calm him down for when Romilda got there," he chuckled, remembering Ron's temporary potion-induced infatuation with the girl.
He took the bottle in his hand and slipped the chain with the ring from his neck, handing it to Hermione. Seconds after the metal was no longer touching his skin, Harry began to look around frantically.
"Where's Ginny? Where'd she go? Don't tell me she left me, I just saw her this morning and she was-"
"Calm down, Harry!" Hermione instructed, almost laughing at her boyfriend's condition. She was less angry this time, as she knew he was holding the antidote in his hand. "What kind of impression are you going to make on the girl if you're a blathering, blubbering mess? Hey, I've got an idea!" she said brightly. She was definitely having more fun this time around.
"Will it help me get Ginny?" he asked excitedly.
Hermione nodded. "Girls like confidence, you know. Not panicky boys who obsess over everything. You see that bottle in your hand?" she pointed, watching as Harry's eyes widened. "It's a potion to calm you down, and make you act more suave when Ginny gets here. She won't be able to resist you if you drink that."
Before Hermione could offer any more seemingly encouraging words, Harry had drained the entire bottle. He sank back into a chair, appearing to be worn out. Hermione quickly slipped the chain with his dad's ring back around his neck, and waited for his reaction.
Harry? She held his hand in hers.
'Mione? He was okay. He looked at the empty bottle in his hand. I'm back to normal? He asked.
Nodding, Hermione leaned down to kiss him. He quickly grabbed her and pulled her down onto his lap, similar to what he had done with Ginny earlier that morning. Not waiting for his lips to touch hers, Hermione made the first move, tangling her fingers in his hair as she pulled him closer to deepen their kiss.
"Definitely back to normal," Harry chuckled.
The teens spent the rest of the evening in Harry's parents' library; absorbing what knowledge they could from the books there. Lily and James Potter's taste in reading material included things that even the Restricted Section at Hogwarts didn't contain. There were several books that mentioned Horcruxes in one way or another, but it took them until late in the evening to find a book that went into great detail on the subject.
As Hermione pored over the section on Horcruxes, Harry contemplated his parents' book collection. He supposed that they had so many books on Dark Magic because of their fight against Voldemort, but it still made him a touch uneasy.
Flipping the pages of Dark Magicks that she had found in the bottom corner of one of the bookshelves, Hermione's eyes began to brighten. "Harry," she began, "I think I may have found an easier way of destroying the Horcruxes!"
Intrigued by the concept, Harry quickly began to peer over her shoulder, reading the text that was scrawled in ancient-looking script across the pages.
The Horcrux
The only way to create a Horcrux is to take the life of another living being. This is done in an effort to preserve one's own soul, thereby making them immortal until the Horcruxes are destroyed. By taking another's life, the caster of the Horcrux spell is splitting their soul into pieces. They must immediately cast the spell to ensure that the separated soul fragment finds a new place of residence in the inanimate object intended to become the Horcrux.
To destroy a Horcrux, most witches and wizards believe that it takes an extreme amount of force, when truly the concept is quite simple. One must evaluate the Horcrux to determine what sort of material it has been fabricated from. Simply find a way to destroy that material, while forgetting the soul fragment that resides inside the object. Once a method of destruction has been chosen, it becomes increasingly simple. While destroying the Horcrux with a method in accordance to the properties of the object, one must use the incantation "Destrucrux", which will in turn not only ensure permanent annihilation of the Horcrux as a material substance, it will also eradicate the existence of the remaining soul fragment.
It was at that point where Harry stopped reading. He kissed Hermione's neck, proclaiming her genius.
"I didn't do anything, Harry," she blushed. "I found a couple of paragraphs in a book is all."
"And would I have had the patience to read through every book?" he teased, pulling her up from the floor. "Let's go make those lists you mentioned."
Hermione's eyes shone. She loved to organize things, and she knew that her organizational skills would help them in the search to destroy the Horcruxes. Retrieving a roll of parchment, her favourite quill and some ink, she settled down and began to work.
As Hermione's hand raced across the width of the parchment, Harry continued to browse through the tomes in the library. One particular title caught his eye: The Magical Home: Cleaning Up Without Really Doing Any Work. Harry chuckled to himself. From what he had been told of his father from Sirius and Remus, he had a feeling that this was a book he had recommended purchasing. Flicking through the pages, Harry's eyes landed on one particular charm. Reparenhus. Scanning the paragraph below the charm, Harry quickly deduced its purpose. It was apparently most commonly used in childproofing magical homes, due to instances of accidental magic in powerful witch and wizard toddlers. If a baby accidentally performed some sort of magic, it could have vast magical repercussions on the physical stature of the house.
Harry's mind flashed back to the snake in the zoo when he was eleven. He hadn't meant to, but he had accidentally removed the glass from its' habitat. He understood exactly why the spell had been created. It was the same as a Muggle parent putting up baby gates or those annoying plastic covers for electrical plugs, and even more irritating, the little plastic knobs to keep children-and subsequently the father of the child after a midnight snack-out of the fridge and kitchen cupboards. His dad must have used the charm on the house shortly after he was born, just in case something should happen like Harry accidentally blowing out an entire wall. The house would repair itself.
"I figured out the house charm," he said, bringing the book over to Hermione.
She raised her head, a triumphant look in her eyes. She had written several lists, using quite a few feet of parchment. "Perfect timing," she grinned, holding up her parchment. "I just finished all of my lists. I have facts about Horcruxes, the method of destroying them, the ones we know exist, and the destroyed Horcruxes, and what the remaining Horcruxes could possibly be."
Harry held out his book, and reached for her roll of parchment. "Trade?" he offered. He knew that Hermione would be impressed with the simplicity of the spell on the house and it's massive effectiveness.
As she devoured the words on the page, Harry was reading over her lists. He skipped over the facts and methods of destroying them, as they had just covered that in the book she had found. Instead he focused on the remaining and destroyed Horcruxes, and what the candidates for the fifth and sixth Horcruxes could be.
Remaining Horcruxes
A cup belonging to Helga Hufflepuff. Known to be small and made of gold with a badger design.
A locket belonging to Salazar Slytherin. Known to be gold, and marked with Slytherin's crest, a snake-like
S.
Both formerly belonged to Hepzibah Smith, stolen by Voldemort after her murder.
Cup was last seen in Hepzibah Smith's possession, whereas the locket was kept in a cave. Locket has been removed by one R.A.B., and is hidden elsewhere.
Harry's heart ached at the reminder of the cave by the sea, where he had force-fed Dumbledore the potion that ultimately weakened him to a point where he was unable to fight off Severus Snape's killing curse. He shook the thought off, refusing to allow himself to become depressed again. It was hard enough being in his parents' home; he didn't need the reminder of his failure to help Headmaster Dumbledore. He moved on to the next list.
Destroyed Horcruxes
The Diary of Tom Riddle, passed to Ginny Weasley directly from Lucius Malfoy. Destroyed by Harry Potter by the use of a Basilisk fang. Basilisk's venom was poisonous enough to destroy not only part of the diary itself, but also the soul inside.
Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, discovered by Dumbledore in the remains of the Gaunt house. Destroyed by an unknown method by Dumbledore, leaving the ring for the most part intact with the exception of a crack down the centre of the Peverell Coat of Arms engraving on the stone. Soul fragment destroyed.
Harry shuddered at the reminder of the Chamber of Secrets, where he had found Ginny unconscious and had battled the Basilisk and Tom Riddle's memory. He had not known at the time that he was destroying a piece of Voldemort's soul when he had stabbed the diary with the Basilisk fang that had broken off in his arm, but he was glad that he had done it anyway. He focused his attentions on the remaining list he was interested in.
Horcrux Candidates Numbers Five and Six
In keeping with Voldemort's obsession with turning artefacts belonging to the Hogwarts Founders into Horcruxes, we can only assume that the fifth and sixth Horcruxes are items that had belonged to Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw.
The major known artefacts of Gryffindor's are the Sorting Hat and Gryffindor's Sword. These are unlikely Horcruxes as they have resided in Dumbledore's office for years. Other lesser known artefacts are Gryffindor's Shield, emblazoned with his symbol of a lion; Gryffindor's Bow and Arrow, with the feathers of the arrows characteristically coloured in red and gold, and the twine of the bow being of the same colours; and finally Gryffindor's Clasp, as he is seen wearing in the Chocolate Frog Cards. It is gold, in the shape of a lion's head, and held his cloak together at the front.
There are no major known artefacts belonging to Rowena Ravenclaw, but we can assume that any artefact that is blue, bronze, a combination of the two and/or emblazoned with an eagle may have belonged to her, particularly if that eagle coincides with the initial "R".
Definitely impressed with Hermione's knowledge, Harry returned to the section on Gryffindor's artefacts. He'd had no clue that anything of his remained other than the Sorting Hat and the Sword. A shield, bow and arrow, and a brooch certainly widened the possibilities for Horcruxes, especially when they had to be close to a murder that Voldemort had committed.
Turning to look at his girlfriend, Harry realized that Hermione was now engrossed in the book he had given her. "This truly is remarkable magic, Harry," she commented, regarding the vast number of spells. "I've never been able to use any house-cleaning spells, really, since I've not spent that many summers at home with my parents. I can certainly see now how much easier they would make daily life. And the spell that's on the house; that's really impressive! I can tell that it was designed to baby-proof an entire house, but to the extent where everything rebuilds itself is just incredible."
Harry gently pried the book from her hands and placed it back on the shelf. "'Mione, do you have any idea what time it is?" he asked, motioning towards the clock on the wall.
"Sweet Merlin, it's nearly midnight!" she said, surprised. They had spent nearly twelve hours reading in the study, and hadn't had anything to eat.
Sensing her thoughts, Harry conjured a meal onto the coffee table right before Hermione's eyes. "I'm hungry too," he smiled, digging into the mashed potatoes. There were sautéed chicken breasts, carrots in a brown sugar and honey glaze, and a big tureen filled with gravy.
All thoughts of books left Hermione's mind as she salivated over the food laid out before her. She savoured the taste of the food on her tongue, silently thanking Merlin that Harry's conjuring skills were not only top notch, but that they were capable of creating such flavourful food.
Shortly after they ate the young couple began to feel sleepy. Heading down the hall together, they soon found a bedroom that appeared to have been the guest room. Too tired to care that there was only one queen-sized bed to share between the two of them, Hermione snuggled under the covers and sighed contentedly.
Harry was tired, but he wasn't too tired to choose not to compromise his girlfriend. He made a motion to curl up on the floor with nothing but a pillow when Hermione grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the bed.
"No need to be proper, Mr. Potter," she scolded gently, "we're both exhausted and you're not going to get a good night's sleep on the floor. I trust you," she said, flipping back the covers and inviting him into the bed. "It's not like there's much we haven't done anyway."
Without a moment's hesitation after such a succinct reminder, Harry climbed in between the soft sheets and fell asleep mere seconds after his head hit the pillow. He hadn't noticed Hermione turning to face him, or wedging herself in underneath his arm so that he held her as she, too, fell asleep.