Disclaimer: Do I own Harry Potter? Ummmm no, no I don't.
Hermione had been home for three days now and already things had slipped back into their normal monotony. He turned around in his bed to stare at the clock on his dresser. Eight o'clock a.m. Hermione was probably already in the library after having her usual cup of coffee and two pieces of toast with orange marmalade. (So he knew exactly how she liked her coffee and what she ate for breakfast, big deal.) Ron was probably still sleeping as he always did until nine o'clock. The sun made bright kaleidoscope patterns on the floor as the light cascaded through the holes in the ratty curtains. He had never bothered to charm or fix anything in the room to make it his own. This room was Sirius's, not his. Ron was probably still sleeping as he always did until nine o'clock. He thought he could hear Remus and Tonks moving about in the kitchen fixing breakfast.
Lupin and Tonks had come to Grimmuld yesterday to check on the three teenagers. It was nice to have the happy couple in the house; Tonks's bright pink hair never failed to brighten up the room. He rubbed his eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment just thinking. Finally, he staggered over to his dresser and pulled out a shirt. On top of the dresser sat the opened letter from Ginny. He put on the green shirt he had pulled out and turned back to the letter. He was a bit glad that the post had been stopped. He had no idea what to say to Ginny. He didn't even want to deal with any of that right now. He had bigger things to deal with right now, like the locket inside his top drawer. He sighed and closed his door before heading down to the kitchen.
"Good morning, Harry!" Tonks greeted cheerfully as she busied herself with making a cup of tea.
"Good morning, Tonks, Remus." He nodded curtly to both of them before taking up the steaming cup that Hermione had left him. She would usually leave him a cup of coffee with a heating charm on it to keep it the perfect temperature. Remus looked up from behind The Daily Prophet. Newspapers and magazines were the only kind of literature allowed to be sent by post. Taking a sip of his coffee he sat down across from Lupin.
"Well, I'm off to help Hermione." Tonks left for the library. He watched her leave before turning his attention to Remus.
"Remus?" He asked awkwardly. He didn't really want to ask this of him. Why drag more people into his problem?
"Yes, Harry?"
"I have to talk to you about something. It's about what Ron, Hermione, and me are doing here." Remus put down his paper and looked at Harry expectantly.
"Ah, of course, the mysterious task left by Dumbledore. Do I get to know what it is?" he paused for a moment. He needed help, Lupin knew all about dark artifacts. He had to ask Lupin.
"Have you ever heard of a Horcrux?" Lupin's eyes grew very dark. There was a tense moment of silence as realization dawned on Lupin.
"…No," his voice was filled with disbelief, "he couldn't have."
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He went to the library where Ron and Hermione were talking. He could hear Ron's voice coming in loud and clear.
"You know, he never talks about that stuff. I didn't even know he liked Ginny…" he knocked on the door softly, certainly startling the two inside. They both looked up at him expectantly as he came in and sat down on the floor next to them.
"Lupin is gonna help us destroy it tomorrow although he doesn't know any more about how to destroy them than we do." He looked down at his hands in utter defeat. Hermione grabbed his hand in hers and squeezed it gently.
"Don't worry Harry, we can do this. I just know we can." He looked into her sparkling eyes and for a moment, in the warmth of her hand, he didn't care about Horcruxes or prophecies or Voldemort. For one moment he was a seventeen year old boy with a crush on a girl and she was holding his hand. "Plus I've written down loads of spells that just might help us." He was pulled out of his momentary respite and thrown back into the real world. They sat in silence for a few moments, and all he could think about was Dumbledore's dead, black hand and the cracked black ring.
"I need breakfast, and yes I will die if I don't eat now, Hermione." Ron smiled as he left the room. This was the first time he had been alone with Hermione since before she had left for Hogwarts. The close proximity to Hermione was making his thoughts all fuzzy.
"So,"
"So,"
"You've been pretty quiet lately. Is everything alright?" she looked into his eyes and he saw deep concern.
"I'm fine," he answered quickly and she sighed.
"Of course." He knew she was upset but he didn't want to talk about his problems. So instead he examined the library.
"Merlin, you look like a professor with all these books."
"Well, I'm not one yet but-"
"Yet?" Hermione smiled shyly. She looked so pretty when she was flustered.
"Well, yes, I mean, I've kind of always thought becoming a professor would be the best career choice for me. You know how much I like my studies and Hogwarts and essays so it just kind of made sense. You know? I don't know, it's just kind of a silly idea…" she threaded her fingers together and stared down at her lap. Harry smiled sadly. They were treading on dangerous ground.
"It's not silly Hermione. You'd make a brilliant teacher. Charms or Transfiguration?" She smiled at him. They weren't supposed to talk about their futures.
"I never could decide which one to do." It was an unspoken rule: Nothing was certain.
"I could see you being a great charms teacher. It's 'Wingardium Levio-sa'" he mimicked her and she swatted his arm.
"I do not sound like that!" He laughed and grabbed her hand in his. He held onto it for longer than he should, but right now, for some reason, he didn't care. There was almost a tense moment between them and he grew silent. "Well what about you? What do you want to be?" An auror. But that was so long ago. So long ago. He hadn't thought about the future in a very long time. Generally, it just made him sad. Why plan for a future that he won't have? He looked away from her and scratched the back of his head.
"I, well I haven't really planned for anything after… it's just that… I don't know." Hermione stood up and walked over to a book case and pulled out a large dusty book.
"Did you get Ginny's letter? I slipped it under your door." Her voice had changed, it was much more business like than two seconds before, but he still silently thanked her for the subject change, even if it was about his relationships (or lack there of).
"Yeah, I did thanks." He watched her movements carefully as she paged through the large book.
"It must have been nice to hear from her." He continued to watch her and when he didn't answer she looked up at him. He shrugged and gave her a lopsided smile. She brushed her hair behind her ear and smiled before returning to her book.
"Of course it was nice. It certainly made me feel bad for leaving her behind." Hermione dipped her head down closer to her book and she stiffened a bit. "But I know it was the right thing to do." She looked up and bit her lip in a self-conscious nervousness.
"So tomorrow, we destroy it?" He nodded. "Good, seems a bit sad though, it really was a lovely locket." Hermione laughed as he chucked a pillow at her.
"You're such a girl, Hermione." He smiled happily as Hermione tried to seem offended.
"Well I should hope so! Honestly you sound like Ron in fourth year! Now get out before I hex you into next Saturday!" she laughed and threw a pillow at him.
He ducked out of the room and headed down to the living room to see if Ron was up for a game of wizard chess. She could always do that, even when he was in the foulest of moods, she could always pull him out of it for just a few moments of happiness.
A/N: The reviews are so fantastic! Expect a few more chapters in the next few days! Winter break woohoo! The upcoming chapters get pretty good (that's just my opinion though…)!