Endlong into Midnight

CHAPTER SIX
The Isle of Revenants

After hours of tossing and turning, Hermione finally fell asleep at six in the morning. She didn't wake until the evening, and despite having slept nearly twelve hours she was neither rested nor refreshed. The Cruciatus Curse left one with bad dreams in addition to the pain. She creaked out of bed, her muscles protesting every movement, and changed into fresh clothes before shuffling her way into the kitchen. Lupin sat at the table, looking drawn and gray, parchments and a copy of the Daily Prophet spread across the table in front of him. At his right, a cup of tea steamed away, untouched.

He looked up as she lowered herself into a chair, wishing that pain potions would help. "Good evening, Hermione," he said.

"Good evening." She pulled the copy of the Prophet across to her. Aurors Battle Insurgents in Stockbridge Main; 12 Insurgents Killed was the banner headline. The actual number of dead was five, including three of her Hogwarts classmates. She sighed and unfolded the paper. "What rubbish."

"Well, yes," Remus said. "Tea?"

"Oh, please."

Lupin stood and busied himself with the teakettle. Frowning, Hermione scanned the article. As with most Prophet articles these days, it substituted pomp and bombast for accuracy and content. Hermione raised an eyebrow as she read of how "Aurors" had arrived in Stockbridge Main to defend the village from a threat, only to be ambushed by "insurgents" who scattered upon encountering resistance. Her gambit with Melville was only mentioned near the end of the article as an "unsuccessful attempt at negotations." It was all the typical Ministry self-aggrandizing trash, more concerned with propping up the Ministry's reputation than with telling the truth. Hermione looked up briefly as Remus set a fresh cup of tea in front of her. "Thank you."

"You're quite welcome." He retook his seat and went back to reading parchments, absently scratching at his temple. Hermione, after scanning a few more pages, disgustedly flipped the Prophet shut and pushed it back toward Lupin.

She sipped at her tea, which was pleasantly warm, and gazed out the window. In the fading light of the evening, rain dribbled down the window while the branches on the tree in the back garden skittered in the wind. The clock on the kitchen wall ticked loudly. Across from her, Remus frowned and scratched notes on a parchment. Hermione rummaged through the many things in her head that she needed to say, and finally settled upon, "There's been no word from Wesley. I checked my mobile for messages. He hasn't called."

"Well, I suppose that's to be expected," Lupin said. "It's only been a few days since he started researching."

They fell silent again. Hermione drank half her cup of tea and then asked, "Did you visit the families today?"

Lupin paused in his writing. "I did. I've returned all the . . . bodies . . . to their families. It was . . . well, it's never something I look forward to. It was especially hard talking to Leonard Lovegood. He didn't take the news well."

"I would have gone with you, if you'd woken me."

"Hermione, you're still recovering from the Cruciatus Curse. You needed the rest. It's all right. You've certainly done your share of notifications in the past."

She scowled but didn't argue the point. After nearly twelve hours of sleep, she still felt like she'd been stepped on by a dragon. Lupin blew gently on his parchment to dry the ink, then flipped it over and went on writing. Outside, darkness had fallen. Hermione stared into her cup of tea and pondered what they were going to do next. The silence of the house weighed heavily around her. Finally, she asked, "Are Angel and Spike downstairs?"

"No, they said they had to go into Newcastle for something. I let them borrow the car. They left just before you got up." Remus smiled slightly. "There was something of a dispute over who drove."

Hermione pictured it and half-smiled. "I'm sure there was. Who ended up driving?"

"Angel did."

She thought. Angel did seem the type to neurotically insist on driving everywhere. He also, she suspected, controlled the radio station with an iron fist.

"About last night," Hermione said, surprising herself. She hadn't really meant to say anything.

Lupin gave her a politely inquisitive look.

"When I didn't leave -- I didn't mean -- I don't like losing. I didn't want to lose like that. That with Melville -- that was something I had to try."

"It's all right to apologize, Hermione."

"No -- I can't yet. I'm not sorry for what I did and I'd try it again if I had the whole thing to do over. I just don't want you to think it's something I had against you. I didn't mean anything by it."

Lupin looked at her, rueful amusement on his face. "I know. You're very like Sirius that way."

Hermione pursed her lips. Sirius Black had been, by the end of his life, a man consumed by his flaws.

"I'm not saying that to criticize you, Hermione." Lupin set down his quill. "Sirius didn't like losing much either. He also had trouble apologizing sometimes. It took him two years to apologize for sending Severus Snape after me during our sixth year. Sirius did what he thought he had to, right or wrong."

Hermione looked down, picking up her teacup and swirling the dregs of tea around. Remus had a point: from S.P.E.W. to her gambit with Melville, she'd always done what she thought she needed to. But to be compared to Sirius . . . Sirius had been rash and impulsive, not always given to thinking a situation through all the way. Was she really the same way?

Lupin opened his mouth as if to say more, but both of them jumped at the sound of the door opening. Footsteps echoed down the front hall. Hermione reached into the pocket of her skirt to draw her wand, while Remus half-stood, also drawing his wand.

The footsteps paused in the entryway to the kitchen. "What did you do?" a cheery voice said. "The infirmary was packed when I woke up."

"Ginny!" Hermione exclaimed. "You're all right!"

"Of course I am," Ginny said, grinning. "Madam Pomfrey kicked me out early. She said she needed the bed for Hogwarts students."

Lupin studied Ginny critically. "You don't look well."

Hermione frowned. Ginny was pale with dark circles under her eyes, looking tired and sheepish. "I still have some potions I have to take. But I'm well enough that I can come back and help. Madam Pomfrey was going spare trying to take care of everyone. What did you do?" Ginny walked over to the kitchen table and dropped into a chair.

Hermione shoved the Prophet at Ginny. "We tried to prevent a cleansing."

As Ginny's eyes flicked over the headline, her lips thinned and went hard. "Doesn't look like it went well."

"No," Lupin said, "it didn't."

Scowling, Ginny unfolded the paper so she could read the second half of the article. "Twelve dead?"

"Five," Hermione corrected, grimacing.

"Who?"

"Luna," Hermione said, and Ginny pursed her lips. She continued, "Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott. William Summers and Laura Madley."

"Damn it," Ginny said, with some fury. She wadded the Prophet into a ball and pitched it at the bin; with typical Chaser accuracy, it dropped neatly into the can. She flopped back into her chair. "This is rubbish."

"The Prophet usually is," said Remus.

"Not just the Prophet, although you're right about that. I mean everything. It's all rubbish. Five dead in one night. Muggle cleansings. This Horcrux thing. Voldemort. If you told me when I started Hogwarts that ten years later I'd be wandering around England looking for little bits of Lord Voldemort's soul, I'd've said you needed your head examined."

"It isn't precisely what I told McGonagall I wanted to do at Careers Advice," Hermione admitted.

Ginny snorted. "You probably told Professor McGonagall you wanted to help the house-elves."

"Actually," Hermione said, very dignified, "I said I was interested in teaching, maybe at Hogwarts or another wizarding school. Then I said I'd like to do something to help the house-elves."

"What did you tell Professor McGonagall you wanted to be, Remus?" Ginny asked.

"Normal," he said absently, digging through his pile of parchment. He paused. "Or a librarian. Speaking of that Horcrux thing." Lupin laid the Horcrux map Wesley had created on the table. "We should probably start looking for the second Horcrux."

"We don't even know what to do with the one we have," Ginny pointed out.

"That's true, but Wesley is working on finding that out, and so there's no harm in looking for the second one."

Hermione peered at the rough map, trying to line it up to the map of the United Kingdom in her head. "That one looks like it might be near Manchester," she said, pointing.

"You might be onto something." Lupin turned the map around to face him. "It looks like it's north of the city. Any underground weapons depots near Manchester, Hermione?"

She shook her head, smiling crookedly at his joke. "If there are, only the government knows about them."

"We could use some sort of Dark magic detector to help us find it," Ginny said. "I mean -- a Horcrux that contains a piece of Voldemort's soul? That's got to be the evilest thing in town. So unless someone's killing puppies nearby, a Dark magic detector ought to find it -- right?"

Lupin nodded at her approvingly. "Good to see you did actually manage to learn something in Defense Against the Dark Arts. With some of your teachers -- but I shouldn't criticize Hogwarts staff --"

"Well, Barty Crouch was an effective teacher," Ginny said. "Shame about the being evil thing."

"We'd need something like a Secrecy Sensor," Hermione mused, "but tuned to Dark magic instead of lies."

"It wouldn't be that hard to charm a Secrecy Sensor into sensing Dark magic," Lupin said. "Start with a Confundus Charm, so it forgets its originial purpose, and work from there." At Ginny's amused and questioning look, he said, "Sirius and I -- well, I did most of the charming, but it was Sirius's idea -- tuned our fifth year Defense professor's Secrecy Sensor to vibrate every time he said the words 'Dark Arts'. He never did figure out what had happened. I took the charms off at the end of the year."

"Do we even have a Secrecy Sensor handy?" Ginny asked.

"There's a Secrecy Sensor at my flat in London," Remus said, "but we can't go there -- Aurors are watching the building."

Hermione considered for a moment. Moody's office -- the fake Moody's office -- had been plastered with Dark Detectors. Alastor Moody had apparently reclaimed some of them after he was freed from his trunk, but others had stayed at the castle, because she had seen them -- "I know where we can get a Secrecy Sensor," she said.

Ginny looked at her searchingly for a moment, then blinked. "Oh!"

"I'll just be a minute," Hermione said, standing. Focusing on the Hogwarts gates, she started the turn --

-- and popped out near the Hogwarts gates. She could feel a headache starting behind her eyes, reminding her of the folly of Apparating after taking a Dark curse. Night had fallen here, too, and she shivered, wishing she had thought to put on a jacket before Apparating. A quick flick of her wand, and her Patronus streaked off toward Hagrid's hut with a message. She hunched into herself, tucking her hands under her arms, and pondered if it was worth it to cast a quick Warming Charm.

Hagrid lumbered up to the gates soon enough, keys jingling in his had. "Evenin', Hermione," he said, unlocking the gates. "Are yeh comin' up here to visit the infirmary?"

She smiled wanly at him, now seriously considering that Warming Charm. "I will, yes."

"Give 'em a hello from Hagrid," he said, swinging the gates open. "Good luck with whatever it is yeh're doin'."

"Thank you, Hagrid," Hermione said. She made her best speed up to the castle, through the Entrance Hall and up seven flights of stairs. The way to the Room of Requirement was old and familiar by now, both from five years of Order meetings and, before that, the D.A. meetings in her fifth year. She paced back and forth in front of the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy, thinking, I need into the room where the D.A. met. I need into the room for the D.A. meetings.

After her third trip up and down the hall, Hermione turned and saw, much to her relief, a very familiar well-polished door with a brass handle. She hurried over to open the door, and --

And there it was again, the cavernous meeting room, torch-lit, book-lined, cushions neatly stacked in one corner. She smiled, briefly remembering that first lesson and the joy she had felt when she realized that her plan to counter Umbridge was going to work. Hermione quickly walked to the back of the room, where the bookshelves were festooned with Dark detectors, and pulled down a Secrecy Sensor. Its many small aerials vibrated slightly, responding to the movement, and then stilled.

"I could use a bag to carry this in," she said, and added, as an afterthought, "and a jacket." As she said it, she spotted a lumpy knitted cardigan hanging on a hook on the wall like it had always been there. Taking the cardigan down, she found a replica of the overstuffed bookbag she had carried through her Hogwarts years. She had to smile again; the Room of Requirement never forgot, it seemed.

"Thank you," she said, shrugging into the cardigan, which was electric blue and knit to the approximate thickness of cast iron. She tucked the Secrecy Sensor into the bag and, slinging it over her shoulder, slipped out of the room.

*****

Hermione returned to the farmhouse outside Newcastle to find Ginny setting the table while Remus stood over a steaming pot on the hob. Ginny glanced up at her and then said, with a revolted expression on her face, "Where did you get that?"

"This?" Hermione asked, carefully setting the bag with the Secrecy Sensor next to her chair and hanging the cardigan over the back of her chair. "I found it in the Room of Requirement."

"It looks like it was knitted by a Grindylow," Ginny said.

"It's very warm," Hermione said, "and looks don't matter."

"They do when something looks like that. Ugh."

"Dinner," Remus said, turning from the stove.

The meal passed quickly. Hermione set the Secrecy Sensor on the table, and they ate vegetable soup while discussing how best to turn it into a Dark detector. After dinner, Ginny headed upstairs, saying she needed a rest. Hermione and Lupin worked for another two hours, casting various charms and at one point, out of sheer frustration, simply telling the Secrecy Sensor, "You're going to detect Dark magic now, all right?"

Near nine o'clock in the evening, both of them sat back, tired from the casting, out of ideas and unsure even if the charms had worked. "The trouble is," said Hermione, "is that we don't really have anything we can use to test if the Sensor's working. For all we know, now it finds lost puppies. No, we need . . ."

"Well, I could . . ." Remus reached out a hand to the Secrecy Sensor. It whined quietly, upscaling as his hand approached, and the tiny aerials waved and shuddered as if caught in the wake of someone's passing. "Not Dark enough, apparently," he said. "Or at least, not this time of the month."

"I just wish we could be sure," Hermione mused. "Maybe it needs an . . ." She pointed her wand at the Secrecy Sensor. "Oblitesco!"

"Mmm. That might work. Or . . ." Lupin trailed off as the Secrecy Sensor's whining suddenly jumped in volume, the aerials jittering all over. Hermione looked back and forth between it and the door, pulling her wand out of her pocket and standing to face the entry into the kitchen. Beside her, Lupin did the same, advancing slightly to give him a clear shot to the front door.

"What is it?" she whispered, shifting back and forth slightly.

"I suppose we'll find out," Lupin said out of the corner of his mouth.

Hermione heard the sound of a car pulling up and parking on gravel. Footsteps. Then the front door opened --

"What, whoa, hey!" Spike said, raising his hands in the air like he was being robbed. "What's all this about? Can't say I'm not used to getting this sort of a reception."

Both Hermione and Lupin lowered their wands. Behind them, the Secrecy Sensor was buzzing and thrashing as if caught in a violent storm. Lupin gave Hermione an impressed look. "I'd say it works. Well done, Hermione."

"Thank you," she said.

Spike edged into the foyer. Angel appeared behind him in the door. "Spike," he said, "despite how much standing around you do, no one is going to stop to admire you, so could you move out of the doorway?"

"Hang on there, then," Spike said. "This lot are armed and dangerous. Might help to know what's going on."

"I do apologize," Lupin said, beckoning them in. "We've rigged a Secrecy Sensor to search for Dark objects to help us find the second Horcrux. Apparently, you qualify."

"I'd be more surprised if we didn't," Angel said.

Hermione grabbed the Secrecy Sensor and stuffed it back in the bag, which did muffle the buzzing and whining somewhat. "I'm sorry," she said, "but at least now we know it works."

"I'll just be downstairs," Spike said quickly, heading for the cellar stairs with great speed.

"I've got to --" Angel held up a bag. "Can I just put this in the fridge?"

"Oh, certainly," Remus said, snatching the Secrecy Sensor, which was threatening to wobble itself off the kitchen table. He turned, considering, and then shut the bag in a kitchen cabinet. Angel slipped his bag into the fridge and then trotted down the cellar stairs without saying another word.

"So," Hermione said. "Should we go to Manchester tomorrow?"

"I suppose. We'll have to drive, though, so we'll need to start off early."

"What are we going to do about Angel and Spike? If we go during the day, they can't go with us -- sunlight . . ."

"Well, there's no harm in going to find the Horcrux. If we do find it, we can Apparate back for them after dark."

"All right." Hermione stretched and then winced. The kitchen chairs hadn't done anything to help the soreness she still felt. "I think I'll turn in."

"Good night, Hermione," said Remus. As she headed up the stairs, she saw him start shuffling his parchments again.

*****

They finally started for Manchester around ten, Saturday morning, mostly because of Ginny, who, when awakened at seven, complained that she was still recuperating and slept another two hours. Manchester was three hours' drive from Newcastle, and although the journey was more pleasant than their flight from Bath, it still dragged. The windscreen wipers pushed feebly at the falling rain, making a squeaking noise as they oscillated. Hermione alternately watched the map and the moors, blurred by the rain, while Ginny dozed and Remus kept his own counsel. Again, Hermione tuned the car's ancient radio to Radio 3, and the presenter chatted softly about new CD releases as they bore south.

As they drove through the junction with the M1, Remus spoke up. "How north is north of the city?"

Hermione squinted at the map. "Not far, I don't think, but I can't tell -- have you an atlas?"

"Glove box," Remus said, nodding at the dashboard on the passenger side. Hermione pried open the glove compartment and started pawing through a welter of vehicle registrations, insurance forms and other debris that had accumulated in Remus's ownership of the car. Finally, she found a pocket atlas and held Wesley's map up to it, frowning back and forth between the two.

Ginny leaned forward from the back seat, staring over Hermione's right shoulder. "Directly north, I think. Maybe around -- Hermione, tilt the atlas this way -- maybe around Bolton?"

"As good a start as any," Lupin said. Ginny flopped back into the back seat, and the three of them fell back into silence. Hermione stared idly at traffic on the M62, watching cars and counting down the junctions until they hit Manchester. As they drove into the outer limits of the urban sprawl surrounding Manchester, she carefully pulled the Secrecy Sensor out of her bag and set it on the seat between her and Lupin. It vibrated softly, its many aerials chittering against one another.

"The trouble is that I'm not sure it's strong enough to detect what we're looking for," Hermione said, worrying at her bottom lip. "We've a lot of territory to cover since we can't narrow the map down any, and remember last night -- it didn't start warning us about Angel and Spike until they were practically on top of us."

"How do you propose that we strengthen it, then?"

"Amplification Charm," Ginny said from the back seat. Hermione turned her head, looking at Ginny out of her peripheral vision, and Ginny shrugged. "It's usually used on ears, I know. But shouldn't it work?"

"I can't see it doing any harm even if it doesn't."

"Well, all right, then," Hermione said, and she pulled her wand from the pocket of her jacket. "Amplificare!" Her spell hit the Secrecy Sensor, which hummed as if resonating from the spell, and then its buzzing and clacking upscaled rapidly.

"Now we've just got to find this Horcrux before one of us goes mad and chucks the Sensor out the window," said Ginny.

*****

It took hours to narrow down the possible location of the second Horcrux, and both Hermione and Ginny were ready to hurl the Sensor out of the car long before the afternoon was over. The modified Sensor was tremendously sensitive and began flailing as if caught in a hurricane long before they reached Bolton. (Hermione suspected that sitting next to Remus, who was a werewolf, after all, hadn't done much to help the Sensor's accuracy.) They were responding to sometimes minute changes in the Sensor's status, arguing over whether the loud noise it was emitting was more of a squeak or a squeal, and whether the aerials were waving north by east or north-northeast. The three of them were thoroughly disgruntled with the search and with each other by the time they stopped in a chip shop for lunch.

"We're never going to find it," Ginny said, frowning at her plate.

Hermione rubbed her eyes. "We're so close. It's definitely louder near Bury. Maybe if we . . ."

"It's been exactly the same the entire time we've been driving around. The entire time -- back and forth on that road, we even went out to --" Ginny scowled and scrunched her nose, thinking -- "Pendleton or wherever, and it didn't change. We're going to have to try something else."

"I think if we just try a bit longer, maybe go a little further north --"

"How much further north, the Lake District? And don't forget we've still got to drive back to Newcastle tonight, unless you plan on Ap --"

"Ginny!" Hermione said, and nodded at the young Muggle sitting two tables behind them -- true, he did seem absorbed in his textbook, but one could never be sure.

"-- popping back, then, and taking the car with you."

"We can stay here if we don't find it," Hermione said. "Can't we, Remus?"

He looked up from his plate of chips with an expression that said he had hoped to stay out of this argument and said, "We do keep a house in Manchester, yes."

"And what about Angel and Spike? We'd just leave them in Newcastle?"

"No," said Hermione, the plan forming in her head, "we could pop back and bring them and our luggage along once we were settled at the house. It's probably a good idea to move anyway. With all the -- popping -- that's been going on lately, the Ministry is sure to know where we're at. Better to leave before they catch up with us."

"Oh, all right," Ginny said, "but if this hasn't worked by tomorrow evening then it will definitely be time to try something else."

"We'll have found it by then," Hermione said, with a confidence she wasn't entirely sure she felt.

After lunch they piled back into Lupin's car, resuming the search after a quick stop at a petrol station for a fill-up. Hermione argued that they should focus on Bury, as she was sure the aerials on their souped-up Secrecy Sensor had been twitching that way. They spent the later part of the afternoon driving in circles around the town center while Hermione tried to tune the aerial. She finally managed to narrow it to south of the city center, and then further narrowed it by removing the Amplification Charm from the Sensor and monitoring it as Lupin drove the orderly streets of an older neighborhood.

"This street," she said as the car passed another tidy row of terrace houses. "It's somewhere along this street."

Remus quietly and neatly parked the car, and Hermione fretted a moment -- she needed to take the Sensor along with her to find the exact house, but she couldn't very well haul something that looked like the mutant offspring of an aerial and a Christmas tree along a Muggle street, especially not with it squawking the way it was. She settled for zapping it with a Shrinking Charm and a Silencing Charm before slipping it into her pocket, hoping the vibrations would guide her. Lupin put up an umbrella to shelter them from the rain and the three of them set off along the street, trying not to look too suspicious. Hermione kept a hand on her pocket, frowning with concentration.

They walked nearly to the end of the street, but finally Hermione stopped them. "It's not vibrating as much," she said. "It's back this way." She, Lupin and Ginny backtracked three houses before she stopped. "This one."

Beside her, Ginny looked up at the house. It was much like every other house on the street, two stories, made of brick, older style and projecting an air of genteel shabbiness. Prim curtains, shut tight, hung in the windows. Dubiously, Ginny said, "Voldemort is hiding the second horcrux in a Muggle house?"

"Well, we don't know that it's the second Horcrux," Lupin pointed out. "Only that there is a source of Dark magic in that house."

"Come on," Hermione said, "let's see who's home." She started up the walk, Remus and Ginny following behind.

"If it isn't a Horcrux, I'm not sure I want to meet the sorts of Muggles who are hiding Dark magic in their home," Ginny muttered.

The three of them squeezed onto the stoop. Hermione smartly rapped on the front door, twice, before spotting a buzzer and ringing that.

"One moment!" they heard a voice call from within the house, and then the sound of footsteps. A blurry face appeared in the lead glass window in the front door, and then the door was pulled open.

"What are you doing here?" the house's owner said, blinking at them.

Hermione blinked back, temporarily stunned.

Percy Weasley stood in the doorway of his home, looking as if he'd swallowed a live fish by mistake.

*****

The four of them stared at each other for a moment. Percy seemed to have been struck dumb by the sight of the leader of the Order of the Phoenix, his dead brother's fiancee, and his sister on his doorstep. If he was shocked, it was nothing to what Hermione was feeling. Percy, messing with Dark magic? I'd never believe it.

But he always has been ambitious, she thought. And Ron did worry about him. But he left the Ministry after Lucius Malfoy came to power . . .

"Percy?" Ginny asked, her tone both amazed and disgusted.

"Percy?" A woman's voice echoed her from within the house. "Percy, who is it? Is it the Girl Guides again?"

"It's all right, Penny," Percy said, half-turning away from the trio on his stoop. "Just someone who got the wrong house by mistake." He gave them an angry and frightened look before snapping the door shut.

"Now just a minute," Ginny said. She stormed past Hermione and pounded on the door. "Percy, you stupid berk, let us in! We wouldn't have come to see you if it weren't important, you sodding twit, so open the door and let us in!" She paused, and then resumed pounding on the door with increased vigor. "It's about that bloody Horcrux you've got, and we know you've got it, no mistake --"

Percy wrenched the door open; Ginny nearly smacked him in the face before she caught herself. "What about a Horcrux?"

"Why don't you let us in and we'll discuss it?" Remus said reasonably.

Percy's lips thinned, but he said, "All right. Come in." He stepped aside, holding the door open, and the three of them trooped inside. He was guiding the three of them to the parlor, which was clean and neat if a bit plain, when a curly-haired woman with a baby on her hip stepped out of the kitchen at the rear of the house. Hermione's eyes widened with recognition. Penelope Clearwater!

"Percy," Penelope said, jogging the baby a bit as he reached for her hair, "what's going on? What are --" Her gaze fell on Ginny, then Remus and Hermione, and she gave them the same sort of fearful and furious look Percy had given them earlier.

"It's all right, Penny," Percy said, adjusting his glasses. "I'll explain after they've left. Just -- get dinner for Marcus. It's all right."

"All right," Penelope said, but she looked troubled.

Percy led his guests into the parlor, gesturing to them to settle on a sofa while he sat on a cozy-looking chair. Hermione took a moment to study him. He looked older, of course -- it had been nearly five years since she saw him last. He wore his hair shorter than he used to, perhaps to cover the fact that he was already balding, and he'd switched from the thick, horn-rimmed glasses to nearly rimless lenses. At the moment, he also looked irate, much as he used to when he caught Fred and George in some sort of mischief at Hogwarts, but underneath the anger there was a layer of worry. Percy, Hermione guessed, had been living with his secrets long enough to be concerned about what happened when they came to light.

Beside her on the sofa, Ginny looked to be in a towering fury. Probably best if Remus or I do the talking then, she thought, and she nudged Lupin, who was sitting on her other side. He leaned away from her but made no move to speak, and the four of them sat in an uncomfortable silence for what felt like several dozen years. Eventually, Percy said, "I don't know what you're doing here, or how you found me."

"It's been a long road to your door, Mr. Weasley," Lupin said. "Do you know what a Horcrux is?"

Face and voice tight, Percy said, "No."

"Not many do. It's been restricted information for many years, mostly because they're extremely Dark magic, and the Ministry doesn't want anyone getting ideas. A Horcrux is a little piece of someone's soul, cut off and sealed away inside an object. Very powerful. But also very evil. And not safe to have around in the least."

Percy swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"Lord Voldemort made Horcruxes," continued Lupin, conversationally. "It's why he's been so hard to kill. Seven of them, through the years, pieces of his soul tucked away inside some of the most valuable artifacts of the wizarding world." He shifted, leaning forward. "And after Voldemort finished making his Horcruxes, he gave them to his loyal followers to hide. You might remember your sixth year at Hogwarts, what happened to Ginny? That was caused by a Horcrux. The Horcrux given to Lucius Malfoy."

Lupin paused, his face going hard. "We know there's a Horcrux in this house, Percy. Where is it?"

"Now wait just one minute!" Percy said, getting to his feet. "You cannot come into my home and accuse me of being some -- some Dark supporter and hiding things for You-Know-Who --"

"And why can't we?" Ginny snapped, also standing. "After all you've done? So bloody proud of the way Fudge was using you to spy on Dad, your lips were glued so tightly to Fudge's arse it's a wonder you didn't get pulled with him when he was tossed out of office, and we all know who it was that was really running the Ministry when Fudge was Minister -- same person it is now, Lucius Malfoy! And you wonder why we wonder? You've never admitted to us that you were wrong, never apologized for the way you've treated Mum, and Dad -- and then after Malfoy came to power you worked for him, too, didn't you? Until one day you just up and bloody disappeared, we didn't find out you were gone for weeks, since you wouldn't bloody talk to any of us -- for all we knew you'd turned and had your first assignment and maybe even gone off and got killed."

Percy stared at Ginny, and Hermione could see the hurt underneath the outrage. "And Mum -- you don't know what this has done to Mum," Ginny continued. "You've been a right bloody bastard to Mum and she doesn't deserve it. She's already lost two sons, and it's like she's lost a third because you've been gone for so long, and why? Because you're an enormous wanker, so far as I can tell -- that, or you've gone Dark and I'm not sure which reason Mum would rather it be. Dark is bad enough. But knowing, every day, that you haven't come home because you're the biggest bloody tosser that ever walked the planet?" Ginny shook her head.

"Get out," Percy said, his ears and cheeks very red. "I won't have these unfounded accusations. You have no right --"

"Ginny," Lupin said, "sit down. You're not helping matters."

Glowering at her brother, Ginny sank back to her seat on the sofa. Percy said, voice constricted, "I still want you out of my home --"

Interrupting loudly, Lupin said, "Now, I apologize for accusing you of being a Dark supporter, Percy -- unless you are one, in which case I say a-ha! But the fact remains that there is a Horcrux in this house, and we're not going to leave until we have it, so you might as well sit down and take this time to explain yourself."

Percy, clearly furious, stood his ground for several seconds before resuming his seat. After a long pause, he spoke. "I did make some mistakes as Fudge's assistant."

"Mistakes?" Ginny snorted. "You disowned us. You said Harry was crazy. You supported Umbridge."

"Mistakes," Percy said firmly. "I was young, and Fudge was powerful -- although I realize now that, as you said, that power was mostly due to Lucius Malfoy -- and I did have ambitions. It was clear, at the time, which way the wind was blowing at the Ministry, and it was also made clear that if I wished to keep my position, I'd have to . . . adopt a position favorable to Ministry policy."

"Lie and kiss arse, you mean."

"There wasn't any proof he was back, besides Harry's word, at the time," Percy said. "Who wanted to believe that You-Know-Who could be back? Certainly not Cornelius Fudge, nor I. You don't know what it was like before You-Know-Who fell, and the years after; you're too young. I remember just a bit. Dad was gone all the time and Mum was so scared --"

Percy pursed his lips. "Then Fudge was forced out of power and Scrimgeour elected Minister. You all made it obvious that even if I wished to apologize, I would not be accepted -- I seem to remember you flinging a tureen of mashed turnip at me --"

"You deserved it!" Ginny spluttered. "You'd been an enormous pillock the year before, and we could tell you didn't even want to be there -- not hugging Mum back when she hugged you . . ."

"At any rate," Percy said, "I stayed on with Scrimgeour. But then he was murdered, and Lucius Malfoy became Minister." He paused. "Malfoy kept me on for a few weeks. He had me do mostly menial tasks, things that house-elves normally do -- I think he was testing the extent of my loyalty to the Minister."

Percy gave Lupin a dignified look. "I failed. The last thing he asked me to do -- I wasn't willing to do it. Malfoy demoted me to the Centaur Office. The writing was clearly on the wall. Penny and I began preparing to run.

"After a few weeks, Malfoy called me into his office and gave me an ultimatum. He said that either I could join the Death Eaters and do my part to 'redeem the Weasley name,' as he put it, or . . . well. It wasn't a hard decision. I packed up my desk and Penny and I ran. We've been in hiding ever since."

"And the Horcrux?" Lupin asked.

"If this Horcrux is what I believe it is, I've had it since shortly before my demotion to the Centaur Liaison Office. Malfoy told me one day that there was a locket he wanted for his wife and he told me it was up to me to use 'any method necessary' to retrieve it.

"I went to meet with the man who had the locket. He was a historian, some sort of collector -- he was very upset when he heard what I wanted and who wanted it. He said the locket was cursed and evil and that Malfoy shouldn't have it. He hadn't any intention of giving it to me or to anyone; he said that as soon as he could figure out how, he was going to destroy it."

Percy looked down. "I panicked. I knew Malfoy wanted the locket quite badly and I'd, er, heard what he did to other staff members who hadn't done as he asked.

"I punched the man and took the locket. I intended to take it back to Malfoy, but when I felt it . . . I could feel that there was something off about it. It was unsettling. I kept the locket and told Malfoy that the man had destroyed it before I arrived. He didn't take that well. That was when he demoted me to the Centaur Office."

"Wait, you punched someone?" Ginny said, looking incredulous. "When did you learn to punch?"

"Bill taught me when we were younger," Percy said stiffly.

"Could we see this locket, Percy?" Lupin asked.

"Certainly." Percy rose and left the parlor.

Hermione turned to Ginny. "You've been wanting to say all that for a long time, haven't you?"

"Years," Ginny said. "It's just been sort of . . . brewing."

Lupin said, "A locket. Slytherin's locket?"

"Sounds like it must be," said Hermione. "The original of the one Harry and Dumbledore went to fetch sixth year."

Lupin shook his head. "All these years, and we thought it was missing. And it turns out that Percy Weasley, of all people, is the one that's been holding on to it."

Percy reappeared downstairs several minutes later holding a velvet bag. "This is it," he said, opening the bag and upending it over the coffee table. A tarnished silver locket fell onto the table with a metallic clunk. Lupin frowned and leaned back into the sofa.

Both Hermione and Ginny gasped. "I've seen that," Ginny said.

"We found it when we were cleaning out Sirius's house," said Hermione. "None of us could open it. I thought Mrs. Weasley had set it aside to be destroyed."

"Kreacher," Lupin said. "She probably didn't notice he'd taken it back."

Ginny said, "But how did it get from --" she struggled a bit with the bounds of the Fidelius Charm, as Percy was not a member of the Order and was not in on the secret -- "there to here?"

Hermione frowned. "I remember -- during sixth year, Harry caught Mundungus Fletcher selling stolen silver from Sirius's house to Aberforth Dumbledore."

"Entirely likely that he took this as well." Lupin gestured at the locket. "Would one of you please pick it up?"

Ginny reached out and took the locket. Hermione felt the Secrecy Sensor in her pocket go into overdrive, buzzing and shaking and feeling like it was trying to burrow into her side. She looked over at the locket, which Ginny was holding on her opened palm.

Even through the tarnish, she could see it was made of fine silver. It bore a filigree S on the front, with meticulously worked lines that reminded Hermione of coiled snakes worked around it. She twitched, feeling what Percy had said about the locket. It had to be something that Slytherin had done to it, though, because she had handled Ravenclaw's brooch and it felt like a normal piece of jewelry. She glanced over at Remus, who was trying to examine the locket while leaning as far away from it as possible and had turned a pale shade of green.

Lupin broke off staring at the locket and looked up at Percy. "We'll need to take this with us."

"That's quite all right with me," Percy said. "I've never felt quite right having it in the house. Marcus is young yet and I've kept it hidden, but I worried that when he was older --"

Ginny managed a smile. "Mum'll go spare when she hears about this. Fleur is just about ready to pop, and Mum's been all a-twitter over 'her first grandbaby'. She'll go mad when she hears that she's already got one."

"Don't tell her."

"Are you mental?" Ginny demanded. "Of course I'm going to tell her. All Mum has wanted to know since you disappeared is that you're all right."

"I'll tell her myself, Ginny," Percy said. "I will. I just -- I've been waiting until I know that we'll be safe, Penny, Marcus and I."

"If you want, the Order can provide some security for you, Percy," said Remus. "It'd take a few days, but we do have the ability to perform the Fidelius Charm."

Percy swallowed and seemed to be debating with himself. Turning red again, he said, "I think that -- Yes. We'd appreciate that."

"All right," Lupin said. "I'll have someone contact you tomorrow to start on that." He stood, prompting Hermione and Ginny to stand also, and extended a hand to Percy. "I apologize for the way this went. I imagine it wasn't quite how you planned to reunite with your family."

Managing a shaky smile, Percy shook hands with Remus. "It was rather unexpected," he said, and used his other hand to slide his glasses back up his nose.

Hermione handed Ginny the jewelry bag and Ginny slid the locket back into it. Remus started to regain some of his normal color. "Are we quite ready to go?" he asked.

Ginny frowned and pursed her lips before looking to Percy. "Before we leave, could I meet Marcus?"

"Well, certainly," said Percy, looking both surprised and gratified. "He's having his dinner right now, of course, but you could go in and see him."

"He's my nephew," Ginny said, apparently in response to the look on Percy's face. "You're still a tosser, but he's my nephew." She stalked out of the lounge.

"Excuse me, Percy," Hermione murmured, and she slipped out of the lounge after Ginny. She caught up with Ginny in the kitchen, nearly running into Ginny's back.

"Hello, Marcus," Ginny said gently. "I'm your Aunt Ginny."

Hermione leaned around Ginny, trying to see into the kitchen. Ginny stepped aside, revealing a ginger baby who could have passed for an infant version of Ron -- although his hair was darker than Ron's carroty orange, more of an auburn. Marcus gazed up at Ginny bemusedly from his high chair, a bowl of mush forgotten on the tray in front of him. Looking at him, Hermione felt a pang for the loss of Ron. Some wounds, she reflected, were slower to heal than others.

Penelope sat in a chair across from Marcus, looking harried if pleased. "He looks just like his uncles," Hermione said to her. "I've seen pictures."

Penelope smiled. "Percy says that too."

"How old is he?" asked Ginny.

"A year," Penelope said as Marcus babbled at Ginny and reached out a sticky hand for her. "You'll have to forgive him. He doesn't see many people besides us."

"It's all right," Ginny said. "He's just a baby."

"He's a good one, mostly." Penelope's expression went wistful. "Percy and I have talked about maybe having another child, but . . ."

Hearing footsteps behind her, Hermione turned. Percy appeared in the doorway, followed by Remus. "It's all right, Penelope," Lupin said. "We're taking this Horcrux off your hands, and the Order can protect you. You'll be able to live your life how you want."

"Is everything all right, Penny?" Percy asked.

"We're just talking baby," Penelope said. "We're all right."

Lupin cleared his throat slightly. "It's a long way back to Newcastle," he said. "Perhaps we should get started."

"Oh, all right," Ginny said. "We should." She waggled her fingers at Marcus and looked to Penelope. "Thank you for letting me talk to him."

"You're welcome," said Penelope.

"We'll be in touch," Lupin said to Percy, and the three of them left.

*****

The rest of the weekend passed quietly. Hermione slept late on Sunday morning, still recovering from the battle at Stockbridge Main, and then spent most of the day knitting. Remus was in and out during the day, consumed by the preparations for the Fidelius Charm, and Ginny was swept up in them also. In what was perhaps the start of a reconciliation between the Weasley siblings, Ginny had volunteered to be the Secret-Keeper for Percy and Penelope, and Percy had agreed.

Spike and Angel were restless -- bored, Hermione could tell. She wondered for a moment at what sort of life they must have led in Los Angeles and then went back to her knitting.

Evening fell upon the house. Hermione dug through her yarn bag, finally coming upon a ball of soft blue yarn that she had bought several years ago and never had occasion to use. She smiled, a little sadly, and started casting on.

She was midway through a baby hat when she heard her mobile phone start ringing. Hastily, she shoved her needles into the ball of yarn and sprinted for her purse in the kitchen. There were only a few people who had reason to call her on her mobile, and all of those reasons were urgent.

She managed to catch the phone just before it went to voicemail. "Hello?" she said.

"Miss Granger?" Wesley's tinny voice said.

"Speaking. Have you found anything?"

"I have indeed. That was what I was calling to tell you."

Hermione listened as Wesley described his three days in the Wolfram & Hart library. She nodded a few times, and then her eyes went wide as she realized what it was he was saying. "Could you hold just a moment?" she asked, already taking the phone away from her ear.

"Remus!" she called, hurrying toward the front of the house.

"Yes, Hermione?" he said from the parlor. She paused in the doorway and he looked up at her, surrounded by a welter of books, candles, and other magical paraphernalia.

"It's Wesley," she said. "He's on the phone right now."

She held her mobile out to Lupin.

"He says he's figured out how to destroy the Horcruxes."