Borrowed Time

Over the next few days, Harry and his two best friends divided their time three ways: unsuccessfully dodging Mrs. Weasley's attempts to make them help with wedding preparations; snogging their respective significant others; and hiding up in Ron's bedroom, discussing their future plans. Ginny occasionally tried to interfere with the latter -wanting to be included in those plans - but eventually she agreed to abide by Harry's wishes and leave them to their plotting.

Though he was loath to admit it, Harry knew they could have used another brilliant mind. They had attacked the riddle of the Horcruxes from every angle, but were still uncertain how to proceed. He only hoped that they would have some sort of plan by the time they quit the Burrow for Godric's Hollow.

"Let's go over this again," Hermione urged, drawing out her sheaf of notes once more.

Ron groaned. "We've been over it a hundred times already," he protested. "It's got us nowhere."

"I doubt any flash of insight is going to hit us," Harry agreed. "Still, maybe we'll see something we've missed."

Ron flopped onto the bed on his back, looking put upon, but said nothing.

"All right," Hermione began. "Here's what we know so far. There are, presumably, six Horcruxes."

"Five now," Ron interjected.

"Well...yes," Hermione agreed. "First there's the locket. Time of creation unknown, current whereabouts unknown. Apparently taken by someone with the initials R.A.B.

"Then there's the cup, taken from Hepzibah Smith and, we can guess, created at the time of her murder. Current whereabouts also unknown."

"And then that horrid snake. We know, Hermione," Ron grumbled.

Hermione fixed Ron with a level glare, and then continued to read. "That leaves two more Horcruxes. Professor Dumbledore believed that one is Voldemort's familiar, Nagini. That's going to be a fun one to deal with. The other, he believed to be an artifact belonging to Rowena Ravenclaw. Current whereabouts once again unknown."

Ron pulled himself into a sitting position. "I don't reckon You-Know-Who will have left the bloody things lying about, waiting for us to come along. What's your smart idea for getting past the enchantments? Even Dumbledore couldn't do it without getting himself in a right state, could he?"

"If we can even find the damned things," Harry added with a sigh. He dug his fists into his eyes.

"There's something we're missing," Hermione said, reading over the notes again as if she would suddenly find the answer written there in the margins.

Ron flopped back down, his lips moving as he silently recited the information to himself again.

Harry dropped down onto the bed, bouncing his friends and drawing their attention to them. "We're so fucked."

~~~~

A quarter of an hour later, the three friends were still brainstorming and still getting no where. The door opened, startling them and drawing their attention; Hermione crushed the parchments to her chest almost guiltily.

"Ginny," Harry began when he saw who their visitor was, "we're kind of...."

"Do shut up, Harry," she replied cheerfully as she stepped into the room. A second later, Bill followed her inside and shut the door.

"What...?"

"Bill is a curse-breaker," Ginny announced.

"Um, yeah," Ron said slowly. "I know. He is my brother, too, you realise."

"Actually," Bill said, with a crooked grin, "I'm a first rate curse-breaker, if I do say so myself."

Understanding dawned in Hermione's eyes, but the two boys continued to stare, obviously confused.

"Extendable ears?" Hermione asked.

Ginny held out her open hand, revealing a flesh-coloured bit of string. "Of course. You didn't think I'd really given up, did you?"

The boys' confusion immediately cleared, and Harry looked at Ginny with a mixture of irritation and pride in his eyes.

"Let me see your notes," Bill said, holding out his hand. Hermione immediately handed them over, and after a quick scan of them, Bill looked up at Harry. "You know more, don't you?"

Harry shrugged. "Nothing important."

Bill smiled his crooked smile again. "You let me be the judge of that. There may be something you think is insignificant that's really the key to this mess."

"If I don't know what's important, how will I know what to tell you?" Harry asked, his voice rising slightly in frustration.

Bill nodded, understanding. "You'll just have to tell me everything. It would be best if I could see what you saw, sort of dig into your memories. Unfortunately, I'm not a Legilimens."

"What about a Pensieve?" Hermione asked.

"Exactly what I was going to suggest," Bill replied. "They aren't terribly rare or anything, but they aren't exactly easy to come by either. I'll see if I can't find one in the next few days."

"You've so much to do as it is," Harry said. "You don't have to...."

"Yes, I do," Bill said firmly. "We've all of us a responsibility to do all we can to be rid of him, Harry. I'll make the time."