Unofficial Portkey Archive

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it belongs to JK Rowling, etc etc.

Authors Note: A few people have wondered what Harry and Hermione got each other for Christmas in their reviews, but it wasn't really important, so it hasn't been included in my story. Sorry if you were looking forward to it, but I think you can use your imagination. Anyway, thanks for the reviews. I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter Eighteen

Hermione spent the Christmas break with her parents at their home in Oxford. Her parents quizzed her on her grades at school, as was expected, and Hermione told them all about her classes. Hermione could tell her Mother was dying to ask her if she had made any new friends - which was something she did every time Hermione came home. When her Mother finally cornered her in her room, Hermione was resigned to her fate. No child liked to divulge the details of their first relationship.

"Hermione dear," her Mother said, as she came into her room, "what are you doing hiding up here? Your Aunt Mary is here, you know."

"Oh," Hermione said, perking up, seeing a chance to escape, "then I guess I'll go say hi." And she got up to leave.

"Wait a moment dear," her Mother cut her off, "I'd like to talk to you privately for a moment. Your Father doesn't think I should pester you, but he doesn't understand how a girls mind works. I want to know if you've made any new friends yet, like we talked about before you left for school."

"Erm," Hermione bit her lip as she sat back down on her bed, "I guess you could say that."

"So you have made some friends?" Jane Granger asked.

"A friend..." Hermione mumbled.

"Just one friend?" Her Mother queried. "Well," she went on, "I suppose that's better than nothing. So who is this new friend?"

"His name is Harry," Hermione said.

"Another boy." Jane said thoughtfully.

"Yes," Hermione replied with a sigh, "another boy."

"How did you meet him then?"

"He sort of," Hermione paused in thought, "well, he introduced himself to me. Then we started studying together almost every day. He's really smart mum." Hermione couldn't keep the pride out of her voice when she said that last part, and her Mother noticed.

"Oh," her Mother hummed, "I see. You like this boy then?"

"Like?" Hermione asked in confusion. "Of course I like him. He's my friend."

"You know what I meant Hermione," her Mother chastised her.

"What do you..." Hermione stopped, finally realising what her mum meant, "Oh...well..."

"Well?"

"I," Hermione couldn't help herself: she blushed, and then whispered, "he's my...boyfriend."

"Your Boyfriend?" Jane Granger gasped and then beamed a smile at her blushing daughter. "Oh Hermione dear, why didn't you say? That's wonderful!"

"Uh..." Hermione blanched.

"How long have you been seeing him?" Her Mother asked, but didn't wait for a response. "What's he like?"

"Mum!" Hermione cut in before her Mother could go on. "Please."

"Sorry dear," her Mother said with a shy smile, "I'm just so happy for you."

"Me too," Hermione mumbled. "Harry is the best thing that ever happened to me. He's really smart, like I said, and powerful, he can do things with a wand I can't even imagine. He even invented a charm - he's amazing! And he...he's really handsome."

"Oh dear!" Her Mother wrapped her up in a big hug. "I'm glad you finally found someone. He sounds...nice. How long have you been seeing him? Have far have you gone with him?"

"Mother!" Hermione gasped, surprised.

"I need to know Hermione," her Mother defended herself, "we've never had the talk, you know. I just want to make sure you haven't made a mistake."

"I...we haven't done that, if that's what you're asking." Hermione fumbled. "We just kiss, that's all. I've been seeing him for a few months."

"And why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to do it in person." Hermione said. "I was waiting for the right moment."

"Well," Jane Granger hemmed, "better late than never. But I think we need to talk about sex dear."

"Oh mum." Hermione put her face in her hands, groaning. It was going to be a long night.

(----)

Harry returned to Hogwarts before the rest of the returning students, via the Floo network, appearing in the flames of Dumbledore's fire and emerging into the Headmaster's chamber. Dumbledore greeted him enthusiastically from behind his desk as Harry dusted himself off.

"Before you go Harry," Dumbledore said, as he put his hand on the door handle to leave the room, "I'd like to see you for another lesson tomorrow. I believe you know the password."

"I do," Harry said, nodding his head, "I'll see you then Professor."

"Good day Harry."

When Harry entered the Slytherin common room Draco was there to greet him, calling him over to the fireside seats. Harry took a seat and propped his feet up on one of the cushions.

"I have another lesson with Dumbledore tomorrow," Harry said, after looking around the room to make sure no one was listening in.

"I'm sure that'll be fun," Draco said sarcastically, "all he ever does is show you pointless memories about the Dark Lord. It's a waste of time, if you ask me. He should be showing you spells that can help you kill him, not memories that'll bore you to sleep."

"I'm not sure Dumbledore expects me to kill Voldemort," Harry said thoughtfully, "at least, not in the traditional sense. Besides, we can't battle each other with magic remember? Our wands don't work against the other. If we tried to battle with magic, we'd just cause Priori Incantatem."

"Then what?" Draco asked, frowning. "You going to taunt him with your memories of his childhood until he...what? Has a mental break down and cries himself to death?"

Harry chuckled. "I really have no idea...yet."

Draco shook his head. "And what about our Junior Death Eater? Any new clues? Ideas?"

"Not yet," Harry replied, "but I've been thinking about it. I still say the best guess is Travis Grimsby. He fits the bill perfectly. I just need to find a way to see if he's been marked with the Dark Mark."

"I told you," Draco said warningly, "I'm not going to ask the girls if anyone has seen him naked, so don't even think about it!"

"Don't worry," Harry said with a laugh, "I don't think he'd let them see him naked anyway, if he is branded. Plus, we have no idea when he was branded, if he was branded, so any answer we get will likely be misleading. I think the best bet is to use the Invisibility Cloak and sneak into his dorm room. Maybe I can...I don't know..."

"See him naked?" Draco chuckled. "Ah, the price you pay for being a good guy."

"Shut it Malfoy."

"Harry!" A loud squeal erupted from over by the entrance to the common room, and the next second; Harry had a lap full of excited, obsessed girl.

"Draco!" Another loud squeal echoed, and over the mane of dark hair obscuring his face, Harry saw Pansy Parkinson launch herself into Draco's lap.

"Ugh!" Draco grunted, shoving Pansy away from him. "Get off Parkinson."

"Heather," Harry said irritably, "would you get off my lap."

"Oh," Heather Pritchard jumped back to a standing position before Harry, "I'm sorry Harry. Are you hurt? What happened?"

"What do you two bints want?" Draco asked angrily.

"We missed you sweetie!" Pansy cooed, reaching out and trying to play with a lock of Draco's hair from her seat beside his.

Draco slapped her hand away before she could touch his immaculate hair. Harry hid a smile behind his hand, catching Draco's eyes, which narrowed warningly.

"Are you okay Harry?" Heather asked, sitting on the arm of his chair. "You seem distracted."

Harry shook his head and made to stand up, but then he got an idea, and sat back down. Draco looked at him questioningly and Harry silenced him with a look.

"I'm okay Pritchard," Harry said with a sigh, "just a little worried about this rumour I heard."

"What is it?" Heather asked with an anxious look on her face.

"It's a bit embarrassing," Harry said, staring down at his shoes.

"You can tell me anything Harry," Heather cooed, "I promise I won't tell anyone."

"Well," Harry said, catching her eyes, "I just heard...I heard that Travis Grimsby," Harry lowered his voice to a whisper so that only Heather could hear him, "has a tattoo of a heart with my name written across it. I heard that he's gay and that he fancies me."

"Oh my!" Heather drew back with a gasp, a horrified look on her face, which was soon followed by a blush. She looked as if Harry had just told her the world was going to end.

"I know," Harry continued, "if this gets out any further, I'll be ruined. Look, could you do me a favour? Can you pay some extra attention to Grimsby, see if you can, you know," Harry wagged his eyebrows, "use your seductive wiles and beauty to get him naked. I just need to know if it's true or not. Would you do that for me baby?"

"Oh course!" Heather said breathlessly. "I would do anything for you Harry! Anything. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

"Good," Harry said, sitting back in his chair when she stood abruptly and grabbed Pansy's arm.

"Come on Pansy," Heather said, "we've got work to do." And the two clueless Slytherins raced off towards the girl's dormitories.

"Harry?" Draco asked, looking confused. "What are you doing?"

"Well," Harry put his arm out on either side of him, along the backs of the armchair, kicking his feet up again onto the stool before him, "I just thought, those two annoying harpies have been bugging us for years. Why not put them to some use?"

Draco laughed. "I guess, what did you say to her?"

"Never mind that," Harry waved it off, "the only thing that matters is this: by the end of the week, I'm pretty sure we'll know whether Grimsby is the Junior Death Eater or not."

Draco shook his head. "You know," he said, "sometimes I wonder why the sorting hat put you in Slytherin, but then you go and do something so devilishly Slytherin, I wonder how you could be anywhere but Slytherin."

Harry just shrugged.

(----)

Harry and Hermione are sitting Slytherin's Chamber, a large selection of books arrayed before them. It was the day after Dumbledore's third lesson and Harry had told Draco all about it after the lesson the night before. Today it was Hermione's turn.

"So," Hermione said, trying to get her head around the information Harry was telling her, "first he showed you the memory of Morfin telling Vol-Volde...You Know Who about his family, before You Know Who went and killed the Riddles, including his father?"

"Yeah," Harry confirmed, "and then he showed me a memory he got from Slughorn, where Voldemort, then only known as Tom Riddle, asked Slughorn about something called Horcruxes. The memory had been tampered with, Dumbledore said, and it was pretty obvious. When Riddle asked about Horcruxes, it got all foggy, and I heard Slughorn shouting at him, something along the lines of 'I don't know anything about Horcruxes'. Obviously, Slughorn doesn't want Dumbledore to know what actually happened. These Horcruxes must be bad stuff, most likely Dark Magic, and I think Slughorn told Riddle about them."

"Horcruxes." Hermione hummed. "I've never even heard of them."

"Me either," Harry said, casting his eyes over to Slytherin's library, "but I think I know where to find out about them."

"Oh no," Hermione moaned, following his gaze, "don't Harry. I don't like the thought of you reading those Dark Arts books. Please, Harry, please don't read them."

"I have to Hermione," Harry said, "I have to find out about these Horcruxes."

"I know," Hermione said, "just don't read them. We can look in the school Library. I'll check all of my books. Just please don't read them."

"We won't find them there Hermione," Harry said.

"I..." Hermione fumbled. "Please just give me a chance to find them. If I don't then...I guess you can read them, but please give me a chance first. Promise me Harry."

"I...Oh, fine." Harry said, giving in to Hermione's pleading look. "I can't say no to you."

Hermione beamed a smile at him. "Thank you Harry."

"Yeah," Harry waved it away, "it's okay. Anyway - as I was saying, the memory was tampered with. Dumbledore wants me to get the real one from Slughorn."

"How?" Hermione asked inquisitively.

"Because Slughorns weakness is people like me," Harry said, "he seeks them out, you see. He tries to collect them, Dumbledore's words, not mine. If anyone can get it from him, it'll be me. I'll make him tell me."

"How?"

"I don't know yet," Harry said, "but I'll figure it out."

"Good luck."

(----)

Harry contemplated how to get the true memory from Slughorn all night, but by the time his next potions lesson came around, he was no closer to having any plan. He decided to just ask Slughorn about it, upfront, and see how the old wizard reacted. After waiting for the class to end, and giving Draco and Blaise a nod to dismiss them, he approached Slughorns front desk. He saw Hermione watching him from the doorway, and smiled when she gave him an encouraging smile.

"Oho," Slughorn said, spotting Harry approaching him, "and to what do I owe this prestigious pleasure? The great Harry Potter approaching me, when he always spurns my invitations."

"Sir," Harry said, ignoring the jab at his shadowy nature. He hadn't attended one of Slughorns meetings, even though he was always invited. "I was wondering if we could have a word."

"Very well," Slughorn said, sitting down behind his desk, his belly almost popping the button of his trouser with strain, "what would you like to talk about?"

"Well," Harry said, placing his hands on the wizards desk and leaning forward, "I wanted to ask you about Horcruxes."

Slughorn went very still, but didn't say a word.

"Or rather," Harry went on, "a similar situation you found yourself in, almost fifty years ago, with another student."

"I have no idea what you're going on about," Slughorn said stiffly, getting up again and walking away from Harry.

"I think you do," Harry said, and for the first time, he tested his Legilimency skills. He caught Slughorns eye and probed with his mind, but was quickly blocked by some powerful Occlumency walls. The only thing he saw was a foggy vision of a young Voldemort, standing before Slughorn, but then it was gone, before it was even really there.

"Oho," Slughorn said, waving a finger at him, "I wouldn't try that again Harry."

"Don't play dumb with me Professor," Harry said, narrowing his eyes, "I know you talked to Riddle about Horcruxes. I may not know what they are, but I know they can't be good. You told him, didn't you?"

"I told you," Slughorn said, turning his back on Harry, "I have no idea what you are talking about boy. I suggest you leave before you get in trouble."

Harry sighed. "Fair enough," Harry said, leaving the classroom. He stopped outside and cast his eyes back, watching as Slughorn collapsed back against his desk and ran a podgy old hand over his forehead. It was a long shot anyway, but Harry was certain now. Slughorn was definitely hiding the real memory, and he was ashamed of it.

(----)

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