A/N: Hi! Thank you for your reviews; I can't even explain you how happy they make me feel... I hope they keep coming! I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: Nah- uh. Only the plot.
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The afternoon sun shone over them as they apparated in that nasty old neighborhood, which had not changed one bit since their fifth year, except perhaps for the filth on the sidewalks. They had paid the Dursley's a last visit, so Harry could retrieve his clothes and belongings, and then they had gone to Hermione's house so she could also change and get some clothes. Currently, Harry and Hermione tightly clutched their wands in their pockets, walking slowly towards the empty street over which the unplotabble Grimmauld Place was supposed to be. Though it was highly improbable that Death Eaters would attack by daytime, it was better to be safe than sorry...
"Harry..." Hermione suddenly said, breaking the silence, "I was thinking... Who's the secret keeper for Grimmauld Place?" Harry stopped dead at his tracks at this question. They were a block away from the house, still.
"It was Dumbledore," Harry replied. Hermione bit her lower lip.
"Oh, no... The spell must have lifted; what if the Death Eaters already found the place and destroyed it?? The Horcrux!" Hermione moaned, cradling her cheeks with her hands. Harry gulped and ran his fingers through his hair- he had not thought of that. The mere thought that they had been so close to the Horcrux just to have it snatched away from his grip was almost unbearable...
"So what do you suggest we do?" Harry asked. "I could take out the invisibility cloak and we could sneak in?" Hermione bit her lower lip and frowned.
"I think it's too risky; they could see part of our bodies... I think that we have to go for the Disillusionment charm again," she replied. Harry agreed with his head and Hermione followed suit; she grabbed him by the hand and led him behind a big dumpster as she took out her wand. She rapped Harry's head first and then hers, using -Harry supposed- the nonverbal spells he had never mastered. Once they were camouflaged they broke into a run to get to Grimmauld Place, and when they did Hermione winced. The old house was plainly visible, still in one piece, but visible.
"There's no Dark Mark above it," Harry said barely above a whisper.
"There was no one to murder inside," Hermione retorted in the same voice, as they carefully approached the house. "Let's look through the windows..." With a ghost like tread, each of them took a peek inside from the different windows, and saw that everything was in order. They rounded all the windows around the perimeter of the house, and it seemed perfectly empty... When Harry and Hermione met each other again (it took some time to identify the silhouettes) at the front door, everything seemed to be okay inside of Grimmauld Place.
"Should we go in?" Hermione whispered, finding it very annoying that she couldn't see Harry as she spoke, or as he replied.
"We must," Harry whispered back. "There's a Horcrux in there... In any case, we go in, get the locket, and hide until we find a new secret keeper or something," he suggested. "What if we Accio the locket??" Harry said excitedly. "That's it! We open one of these windows, we summon it-"
"Harry, no!" Hermione whispered, scared. "What if the Death Eaters have it? Remember that when you summon something, no matter what it is, it comes to you... What if, I don't know, Malfoy's mother has it? Or Bellatrix... Even Snape! They'd notice if the locket just went flying out of their living rooms," she rationalized.
"You're right," he grunted. "It's just... I don't want to enter Sirius's house..." he mumbled, embarrassed.
"Okay... I'll go." At this comment Harry frowned, unable to see Hermione's face, but he knew that she was determined. Did she really believe that he was going to let her go in just like that? It was almost insulting.
"Are you crazy?!" he hissed angrily. "Honestly, Hermione! If we have to go in, I'll enter!"
"And have you forgotten what I told you on the wedding? I'm not leaving you alone!" she hissed back. Harry rubbed the `invisible' bridge of his nose at this.
"Okay, okay," he said, admitting defeat. "Let's both enter... I'll go first."
"Nonsense," Hermione snapped. "We'll go together; and we better hurry before the charms lift," she added. The sun was already setting in the horizon, and invisible as they may be, it was not safe to linger outside.
"Grab my hand; I can't see you," Harry said, stretching out his hand and coming in contact with something warm that he assumed was Hermione's arm, but it didn't exactly feel like an arm.
"Harry... Um... I don't mind you touching my breast, but this is neither the time nor the place," Hermione's amused voice reached his ears, and Harry lifted his hand immediately.
"Sorry!" he exclaimed, his voice resembling a squeak. It was lucky that he had the charm on and that it was dark; he could almost feel the heat that his cheeks were sending off. He felt Hermione's hand grab his.
"C'mon," she only said, and they went up the worn steps towards the wooden, old door. "Ready?" she asked.
"Yeah." Harry saw the outline of Hermione's wand but didn't hear her mutter any spell, and still the `click' of the front door being unlocked could be heard. Breathing in deeply as Hermione squeezed his hand, Harry carefully pushed the door open. Inside it was completely dark, and nothing happened as they stepped through the doorframe and inside the house.
Clear inches of dust muffled their footsteps as Hermione closed the door behind them and they made their way towards the kitchen, wands out and ready. Harry and Hermione shared the equal tense silence as they warily inspected the house, which was, surprisingly, in complete order. Nothing was out of place, there was nothing broken, and there were no signs of any kind of struggle...
"Do you know how to place safety wards?" Hermione breathed. Harry shook his head no, straining his ears in case he heard something in the upper floors, but it was only their breathing what resounded in the darkness that surrounded them. "Let's split up," she suggested.
"Hermione, not again-"
"Listen to me," she cut him off. "I know how to take care of myself. I'll seal the windows and doors with the Colloportus," she whispered. Harry scowled.
"And what do I do, sit on the couch and read the Daily Prophet?"
"Either you can keep complaining, help me seal everything, or you can inspect the upper floors as I take care of the ground one," Hermione told him. "It'll be faster if we split up." Harry reluctantly came to the conclusion that Hermione was right, but still didn't fancy the idea of leaving her alone. He knew perfectly well that she could take care of herself, but it was just his protective streak acting.
"Alright," he said. "But first, let's cast the charms over ourselves again... I'll do it," he offered, rapping Hermione's head with his wand and then his own. "If you're not up there in fifteen minutes, I'll come down again," he warned.
"Just go," she replied, and Harry heard her footsteps going over towards the front door, and then that odd squelching sound that meant that the door was sealed. He sighed as he made for the staircase, making a mental note to ask Hermione help him perfect those accursed nonverbal spells.
True to her word, Hermione went up to the upper floors in less that fifteen minutes and found Harry in the third landing, sealing the windows and doors that they would not use. The charms were beginning to wear out again, but none of them replaced them- It was pretty obvious that this house was as empty as it could be. Harry let out an exclamation of triumph as he magically sealed the last window, making Hermione smile.
"Everything sealed?" she asked, going over towards Harry.
"Yep," he said with a wide smile. "You know, I was thinking... What if we place a Confundus on the house, so it looks as if this spot was empty? Not nearly as effective as the Fidelius, I know, but..."
"I think that's a great idea," Hermione said. "We'll have to go outside to do it, though..."
"C'mon, the sooner the better," Harry urged, already walking towards the staircase, Hermione on his heels. When they reached the ground floor, breathless, Hermione immediately went over to the windows to take a look outside.
"All clear," she told Harry, and then she proceeded to go over to the door, pointing her wand at it-
"Wait," Harry said, taking out a minuscule strap of silver material out of his pocket. "Engorgio," he said, laying the tip of his wand over the fabric, and returned his invisible cloak to its normal size so he could put it on. "Go ahead." Hermione nodded and the door unlocked once more; Harry quickly went out of the house and Hermione worriedly closed the door behind him; she didn't like the idea of him being out there on the street alone... She needn't worry, though, for Harry knocked on the door five minutes later, and reentered the house very much alive... Hermione, again, sealed the door.
"What do we do now?" she wanted to know. "Do we look for the locket?" she asked Harry, but he didn't seem to be listening. He was looking around him with a sad, nostalgic look. "Harry...?"
"I never wanted to come back here," he said with a strangely hollow voice. Hermione's brow furrowed sadly and she went over to put her arms around his waist, not knowing what to say. "It's just..."
"It's alright, Harry... You don't need to explain," she said. Harry's arm returned her embrace, and she felt him kiss her hair.
"Thank you," he told her. "I don't feel like looking for the locket right now," he added. "I don't know if you realize this, but last night we didn't sleep..." Hermione broke the embrace, smiling.
"Yeah, let's get some sleep..." she agreed. Harry walked over to the living room and examined it critically.
"I'll need to clean the couch, though," he said, peering down on a dust covered couch. Hermione raised her eyebrows at this, putting her hands on her hips.
"And who said you're sleeping on a couch, Mr. Potter?" she questioned. Harry turned around with an incredulous frown.
"Don't you even think of suggesting that you should sleep here-"
"Actually, I was about to suggest that we should sleep on a bed, upstairs," Hermione said with a smug smile, and Harry's throat dried up at the suggestion. "As long as you keep your hands to yourself, though... Now you have no charm to blame," she added. Harry smiled sheepishly and walked over to Hermione, kissing her softly as an apology; Hermione grabbed his hand and smiled as she guided him upstairs in silence.
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"This is hopeless!" Harry exclaimed, throwing the locket to the wall violently.
"Harry, that isn't going to help!" Hermione declared in a huff, going over to where the locket had fallen, and picked it up.
After four days of combing through the house for the locket, they had found it hidden inside Kreacher's `room', among the sheets that had served as the elf's bed. It had been so bizarre to hold the innocent looking locket knowing that you were holding a part of someone's soul... A piece of Voldemort's soul rested inside the very locket that Hermione had curtly picked up and placed on the table. They had tried every spell they knew with no success; they had tried hitting, kicking, stomping on it, but the locket would not open.
"Then what is going to help?" Harry argued, pacing around the kitchen. "We've tried everything!"
"How did you destroy Voldemort's diary?" Hermione asked; she had run her fingers through her hair so many times out of frustration that it had swelled two times its normal volume, making her look like a lion.
"I pierced it with the basilisk's fang," Harry replied, still pacing. "The snake had bit me, so I took the fang out of my arm and impaled the diary with it," he explained. Hermione frowned at this, staring at the locket fixedly, trying to find a connection, something that they could have missed... As she concentrated on the locket in front of her, she felt something- a tingle that invaded her whole body, a lightening of understanding... She didn't know what it was, or where it came from, but it was bright and invigorating...
"Harry," Hermione said, with her eyes wide open, "Voldemort could only touch you when Pettigrew put your blood on the potion, right?" she asked.
"Yeah," Harry replied absentmindedly. "And still he couldn't possess me because I have the capacity to love," he added. Hermione nodded slowly.
"And you say that the fang went right through your arm? So it was drenched with your blood?"
"I don't know if it went `right through my arm', but it's quite possible that it had my blood on it, yes," he said. "Why are you asking-" he cut himself off as he stopped pacing, looking at Hermione, who looked back at him with her mouth slightly open. "My blood... My blood!" Harry exclaimed, going over the table to pick up the locket. "Do you think that it'll destroy this?" he asked excitedly. Hermione grinned and nodded just as eagerly, but just as she was about to speak, they heard someone knocking on a door. Hermione and Harry immediately took out their wands as Harry hastily put the locket in his pocket.
"Was that here?" Hermione asked in a whisper. Harry shrugged.
"I don't-"
A more forceful knocking on the door interrupted him, and they both straightened up and tiptoed towards the kitchen door, peeking behind the doorframe. Whoever was knocking had to be a wizard or a witch... Harry gazed at Hermione and she nodded, as the knocking persisted, and together they made their way towards the front door in silence. With one last gaze at each other and a nod, Harry tore the door open as Hermione pointed her wand at the face of whom other but Ron, who had frozen at the sight of both wands pointing straight at this face; he still had his fist in the air as to continue knocking.
"Ron?" Hermione asked, hesitant, her wand not moving an inch. Ron nodded slowly, still looking dumbfounded.
"Prove it!" Harry ordered. "What shape does Hermione's Patronus take?" Ron swallowed.
"An- an otter," he croaked. At this Harry and Hermione lowered their wands from Ron's face, allowing him to breathe properly again, and stood aside so he could enter. Once he had, and the door was safely closed behind them, Ron broke eye contact and suddenly found the floor to be very interesting. Harry crossed his arms and Hermione simply stared at him in silence. "I'm- I'm sorry," Ron finally mumbled, looking up at them. "I was acting like a prat." Hermione allowed her face to relax a bit, but Harry's face took a little longer to soften up. "I was being a rightful git, and you two didn't deserve it," he added.
"And?" Hermione prompted. Ron blushed.
"I shouldn't have... Well, what I said to you... Sorry," he muttered. Hermione's smile widened and she went over to hug him.
"Forgiven," she told him. "I'm glad you came around." Ron smiled back at her and then gazed hopefully at Harry, who in the end also smiled and stepped towards Ron, patting him on the shoulder.
"Yeah, apology accepted," Harry told him. "Call Hermione a tart again and I'll kill you, but there are bigger things going on now," he added, making Ron smile nervously, because he knew that some part of Harry really meant it.
"We may have found the way to destroy the next Horcrux!" Hermione squeaked.
"Horcrux? What Horcrux?" Ron asked, bewildered and amazed.
"Remember the locket that we found while cleaning the house in our fifth year? The one no one could open?" Hermione asked him.
"No," Ron answered, raising his right eyebrow.
"Come, we'll tell you all about it," Hermione told him, grabbing both Harry and Ron by the arms to drag them back into the kitchen. Ron and Harry shared a knowing smile at Hermione's attitude, and both grinned when she asked them why they were smiling like that.
After all, some things never changed.
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A/N: Well, there it is... This chapter was going to be a lot longer, but I decided to cut it in two... As for Ron's reaction after the fight, as well as him spotting the house, they'll be a more detailed explanation of it in the following chapters. As usual, reviews are always more than welcome. Thanks for reading!
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