Pieces of a Soul

Chapter Four: United We Stand

Just as he had been after Uncle Vernon's and Dudley's deaths, Harry could not bring himself to feel any real emotion over Aunt Petunia's sudden departure from Grimmauld Place at breakfast. He had watched her go, knowing that she was in as much danger as she ever had been, but he had not tried to stop her.

If what she had said the previous night was true and Voldemort had really killed his grandparents, who were both Muggles, but had not gone after the Potters even before he had chosen Harry as the one who posed the most threat, it was clear that for some reason, Voldemort had an interest in the Evans family. Exactly why, Harry could not even guess.

He really wanted to talk to his guardian, but Lupin had, as usual, left the house right after breakfast, only giving Harry a chance to wave a half-hearted goodbye but not to ask any questions. He had found over the past several days that Lupin generally left early in the morning, not to return until dinnertime or later. Harry supposed he was still trying to recruit the werewolves into the Order of the Phoenix.

Shortly after Lupin had gone, Harry went back up to Sirius's old room, which had become his room over the course of the past year. He knew that Ginny, Ron and Hermione wouldn't be far behind him; Mrs. Weasley had enlisted their help in cleaning the kitchen but had excused Harry because he was "looking a bit peaky, dear," and needed his rest.

Going to his trunk, which Bill had been thoughtful enough to get from the Dursleys for him, he dug down to the very bottom, where he had packed Dumbledore's packet of parchment. He counted himself quite lucky that he hadn't been working directly with it on the night of the battle; he supposed the notes he had been making when the Dark Mark had been cast were long gone, and he vaguely remembered spilling ink on them, anyway.

Sitting cross-legged on the big bed, Harry organized the notes, as had become his habit, into six piles: the notes he had made, information about the horcruxes that had already been accounted for, and a stack each for the four remaining ones.

Of the four remaining horcruxes, it seemed as though Dumbledore had only discovered the identities of two: a locket belonging to Salazar Slytherin and a cup which had once belonged to Helga Hufflepuff. The Headmaster had believed, especially after figuring out the existence of these two, that Voldemort would have wanted something belonging to each of the four founders of Hogwarts, who were still heralded as some of the most powerful wizards in history. Unfortunately, his research had not been complete, and there was very little information on the possible objects of Rowena Ravenclaw and Godric Gryffindor.

Sighing, Harry took the stack of parchment which contained information on Slytherin's locket. It really was time to let his friends take a look at this; he needed Hermione to help with the translations of both ancient runes and Latin, Ron to try to help him discover any strategy Voldemort may have had in the hiding of the objects, and Ginny to...well, he just needed Ginny, even more than the other two, if that were possible.

The night of the battle at Privet Drive, Harry had been trying to find more information on a sketch he had found in Dumbledore's notes, a sketch of an elaborate "S" surrounded by intertwined serpents. Harry knew that must have been one of the Slytherin family symbols, but he also felt like he had seen it somewhere before.

A soft knock sounded on the door, but it opened before he had a chance to respond. "Harry?" Ginny asked, peeking her head in, "may we come in?"

"Ginny!" exclaimed an astounded Ron from behind her. "You didn't even wait for him to answer! You could have seen him in his - "

"Oh, stop it, Ron," Ginny snapped. "Harry's perfectly decent."

"Of course he is," Hermione said with strained patience. "Now, if you two don't mind, maybe we can stop standing around in the corridor, arguing like schoolchildren?"

"Well, we are schoolchildren, aren't we?" Harry heard Ron respond in a loud undertone, and he chuckled in spite of himself.

"First years, then, Ronald," Hermione retorted. "Harry?"

"Come in," Harry said, still grinning slightly as the three of them came in and settled themselves on chairs on one side of the bed. Hermione's eyes widened when she saw the sheer amount of information that was spread out around Harry, and he could see her eagerness to begin as easily as if she had worn a sign on her forehead.

Ron, however, sighed. "Honestly, why couldn't Professor Dumbledore have just left you his old broomstick or something?"

Before he could stop himself, Harry laughed his first real laugh since Dumbledore's death. For some reason, Ron's comment seemed much funnier than it ought to have been, and Harry was forcibly reminded of the image that had come into his head at the funeral at the beginning of the summer: Dumbledore, his silver hair and beard flying out behind him, streaking through the sky above the Quidditch pitch in hot pursuit of the Golden Snitch.

"So what are we looking at here, love?" Ginny asked when he had stopped laughing.

Harry's expression sobered instantly, and for the next ten minutes Ron, Hermione and Ginny listened, their expressions growing in horror with each word, as Harry explained about the horcruxes. When he had finished, everyone was silent for a few moments.

"Tom's diary was one of these - these horcruxes?" Ginny finally asked, looking a bit paler than usual. Somehow, it seemed even worse to think she had been possessed by a real bit of Tom Riddle's soul, rather than merely his memory.

Harry nodded, shooting her what he hoped was a comforting and encouraging glance.

"And the ring," Ron mumbled. "That blasted ring." It was clear that the memory of Dumbledore's death in Hyde Park had rushed to the forefront of his mind as he thought about what had happened as Dumbledore destroyed it. Quietly and without discussion, the four friends took one another's hands, forming a rough circle as they lent comfort to one another.

"Which one are you going to try to find first?" Ginny asked quietly after a few moments.

"Slytherin's locket," Harry answered definitely. "That's the one we've got the most information about right now. Moony's been trying to find out about some of the others. He's the only person who knows about this aside from us." He nodded his head towards the stacks of parchment, loath to break the comforting connection of Ginny's and Hermione's hands in each of his.

Almost as though they had read his thoughts, Ginny and Hermione both squeezed his hands softly before letting go. Hermione took the parchment that Harry had indicated and began to look at it.

"The inscription on the locket," she said ponderingly. "It's how we'll know we have the right one, but where do we even begin looking?"

"Borgin and Burks?" Ron suggested.

"Maybe," Harry replied as Hermione passed the notes over to Ginny, the same thought having occurred to him. "Even if he doesn't have it, he might know where to start looking. I feel like I've seen it before -"

Ginny gasped when she saw the drawing of the locket's inscription. "Harry! It's here!"

Ron, Hermione and Harry all turned to gape at her. "Here?" Ron asked. "You're barking! Why would it have been here?"

"I don't know, Ron," Ginny replied evenly, "but it is. Remember summer before last when Mum made us clean up around here?"

Ron groaned. That summer, the first they had spent at Headquarters, had sometimes seemed as though it was one endless day of housework as Mrs. Weasley had set out to purge the house of dirt and old artifacts.

"It was in that cabinet in the parlor," Ginny continued, ignoring Ron's groan at the memory.

Suddenly, Harry remembered the dusty old locket. Before tossing it into the rubbish bags, he had glanced at it. "Ginny's right," he said, feeling both excited and nervous. "It was one of the dark objects we were trying to get rid of. I binned it, though."

"Kreacher!" Hermione exclaimed. "He kept trying to take things out of the bags. Maybe he kept it!"

"Kreacher's not around anymore," Ron reminded her. "He left the house and went to the Malfoys, right, Harry?"

"Dumbledore said Narcissa probably killed him," Harry said flatly, not liking to remember the treacherous house-elf. "He was addled after the Order forced him to tell his part in..." he trailed off. Even now, well over a year later, it was very painful for him to think about the Department of Mysteries and the death of his godfather.

"We could ask her," Ginny suggested. "She's still at Hogwarts. I heard Mum and Dad talking about it before your birthday."

"We could do that," Ron said, liking the idea.

"Why don't we have a look at Kreacher's room first?" Hermione said quietly. "He lived here, under the boiler, remember? If he did take it, maybe it's there."

Harry jumped up, his heart pounding. "Let's go look," he said, but he could hardly believe that it would be that easy.

The four of them pounded down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Oh, ho!" Mr. Weasley greeted them as they burst through the door. "Off for an adventure, I see! Splendid! Can I come?" He stood up eagerly, forgetting the cup of tea Molly had just made for him to drink while she scrubbed the floors.

"Not right now, Dad," Ron said gently.

"What are you four up to?" Mrs. Weasley asked suspiciously. "Arthur, dear, sit back down. They're not going anywhere, are you?"

"We just wanted to nip down to the basement for a moment," Ginny explained casually. "I noticed that there wasn't any butterbeer in the cupboard last night, and we wanted some. I thought there might be some old bottles down there. It gets better with age, you know."

Harry disguised his amazement with some difficulty, trying to look as though this had indeed been the plan all along. Behind him, Ron nodded vigorously while Hermione examined a small tear on the sleeve of her t-shirt.

Mrs. Weasley looked at them, not sure whether or not to believe the story. After a few moments, however, she seemed unable to find the harm in going down into the old basement, no matter what they were really after. "Alright, then," she said. "Go find your butterbeer if it's down there, and mind you don't get your clothes dirty. I've just done the wash."

"Can't I go, Molly?" Arthur asked. "There might be batteries down there!"

"There are no batteries, Dad," Ginny said, kissing the balding top of his head. "But we'll bring you some butterbeer if we can find any, how's that?"

"Is there Firewhisky?" he responded hopefully, twisting his head to look at her.

Everyone in the room had to chuckle at that question, even Mrs. Weasley.

"Sure thing, Dad," Ron replied, anxious to get down and search Kreacher's area. "We'll be back in a bit."

Mrs. Weasley sighed as she looked at the four of them retreating down the stairs into the cellar. She knew they were hiding something, but when weren't they?

* * *

Hermione led them straight to Kreacher's old bed, a pile of rags with a small dent in the center where the house-elf had slept.

"He used the quilt I gave him for Christmas," she whispered sadly. Indeed, the brightly patched, elf-sized quilt, though now quite as dirty as everything else in the 'den,' was wadded up on one side.

"He used to have all sorts of picture frames and goblets and other rubbish down here," Harry said furiously, looking around. There was nothing like that there now. Besides his blankets, the space under the boiler was quite empty. He began rifling through the rags, throwing them aside until he reached the bare floor.

"It's no good, Harry," Ginny said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder as he investigated the floorboards, looking for a loose one. When he did pull one of the planks up, however, he saw only bare dirt. There was no room under here to hide anything.

"If it was here," Hermione concluded. "It's not anymore. We might as well go back upstairs," she continued, rubbing her nose to keep from sneezing.

"Not before we look and see if there's some butterbeer," Ginny reminded them. "We told Mum that's what we were after, remember?"

"I could do with some, anyway," Ron said hopefully. "I'm parched."

Upon further investigation of the cellar, they did indeed find a small carton full of dusty butterbeer bottles, and Harry carried it back upstairs, knowing Mrs. Weasley was less likely to tell him off for dirtying his shirt than she was Ron or Ginny.

"Found some, I see," Mrs. Weasley commented as they came back into the kitchen. "Find anything else?" she asked shrewdly.

"Firewhisky?" Mr. Weasley asked hopefully, and he looked down with apparent dismay at his herbal tea when Ginny shook her head.

"This is all we found, Mrs. Weasley," Harry answered truthfully. He had never found it easy to lie to her, so in that respect, he was glad they hadn't brought the locket back up with them.

Molly looked at them piercingly; after raising seven children, she knew when she was not being told the whole truth. After a moment, however, when none of them volunteered any additional information, she sighed. "Right, then," she said briskly. "Why don't all of you sit down and have your butterbeer, and Harry, dear, you'll need to change your shirt."

"Actually, Mum, is it OK if we go upstairs while we drink it?" Ginny asked.

Molly sighed again, now certain beyond all doubt that they were keeping something from her. Knowing her children as well as she did, however, she knew that asking them directly would get her nowhere. "Very well," she said resignedly, and watched them leave the room once again.

"Quiet lot, that," Mr. Weasley commented as the door swung shut.

* * *

"So what are we going to do now?" Ron asked after taking a swig of tepid butterbeer. They had all returned to Harry's room and were settled comfortably on the big bed. Harry was leaning back, his head resting comfortably in Ginny's lap, but Hermione was looking through the information on Slytherin's locket again, thinking they had missed some clue to its location.

"I've got to find it, and the other four, as quickly as I can," Harry said seriously. "This can't go on."

All three of them nodded in agreement, but no one spoke at first, each of them lost in their private thoughts.

"You're not going back to Hogwarts, are you, Harry?" Hermione finally asked.

It cost Harry a great deal to answer. "No," he said. "We can't afford to wait another year." This had been at the back of his mind ever since he had first read what Dumbledore had left him. Now that he knew how much work and travel would likely be required to find the other four horcruxes, not to mention destroy him, Harry knew he could not return to school.

"I didn't think you would, mate," Ron said. "I could tell you were thinking about it even before you told us all this." He indicated the mess of papers in the center of the bed.

"We're going with you, Harry," Hermione said quietly, but in a tone that brokered no arguments.

"No," Harry said automatically. He was not about to lead his friends into danger yet again.

"We're overage wizards," Ron stated. "It's not for you to decide what we do or don't do."

"What about your NEWTs, Hermione?" Harry asked, trying to appeal to her sense of academic responsibility.

"I can still take them," Hermione said. "There is no rule that says you have to be enrolled in school to sign up for the test, is there? We'll simply have to study on the road."

Ginny remained silent.

"I don't think - "Harry began.

"Harry, mate, we've been by you in everything," Ron said. "For six years, we've been by you. We're not about to leave you alone now, when the stakes are this high, are we?"

"No, we're not," Hermione added.

"What about me?" Ginny asked quietly.

"You're not of age," Ron said simply. "You've got to go back to school. Mum'll never let you come."

"If you think for one minute that you're going to go off and leave me," Ginny said, rising to her knees and causing Harry's head to bounce off the mattress, "you've got another think coming, and you - "

"Ginny," Hermione wheedled. "I wish you could come, I really do, but you know you won't be allowed."

"I'd like to see Mum try and stop me!" Ginny raged, jumping off the bed and beginning to pace, her face as fiery red as her hair.

"You're underage," Harry said. "You can't perform magic outside of school."

"That's bunk, Harry," Ginny retorted. "If I'm traveling with three adult wizards, who's going to know?"

"Ginny, you need to go back to Hogwarts," Harry replied firmly. "Someone's got to be there to lead the D.A., and how are you going to become a Healer if you don't take any NEWT classes?"

"You're not leaving me!" she cried shrilly. "You're not leaving me behind!"

"None of you is going anywhere but Hogwarts," said a voice from the doorway, and they all jumped. They had been so busy trying to calm Ginny down that they hadn't noticed when Mrs. Weasley had slipped in a few minutes before.

How long has she been listening? Harry wondered, hoping she hadn't heard anything about the horcruxes. He quickly used his wand to sweep the parchment back into the leather pack before she saw any of it.

"Mum, listen," Ron began.

"No, Ronald Weasley, you listen," Mrs. Weasley growled. "I don't know what you four are planning, but you may put a stopper in it right at this moment. All four of you are going back to Hogwarts, and that is the last word on the matter."

"No, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry in the same serious tone he had used while talking with the Dursleys about Voldemort. "You know the Prophecy; you know that I am the one who has to put a stop to this. It can't wait while I finish school. How many more people will die?" His voice broke just the slightest bit as he thought of those who already had.

"Remus will never allow it," she retorted, but her voice wavered.

"He will," Harry replied. "He knows what I have to do."

"We're going with him, Mum," Ron stated. "He can't go alone; you know he can't."

"Ronald," she snapped.

"I'm of age now," Ron replied, keeping his tone mature and reasonable. "This is the right thing to do, and it is what I'm going to do."

"I am as well," Hermione put in. "We swore we'd stand by Harry - "

"Do you not think I and the rest of the Order have sworn the same thing?" Mrs. Weasley asked sharply. "Do you believe that you are the only ones who care for him, the only ones who care to win this war?"

"I'm going, too," Ginny said softly.

"You most certainly are not, young lady!" Mrs. Weasley flared. "You are underage and still under my protection and authority, and you will be going back to school! Ronald, you will be as well, and Hermione, you may be certain that I will owl your parents about this." Her eyes filled with tears even as she ranted at them. In her heart of hearts, she knew she could not stop the older three from going where they would. Under Wizarding law, it was their decision now, and she knew it.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, hating himself for causing her pain when she had given him so much, "but I don't have a choice. I am ready to go it alone."

"No way, Harry," Ron and Hermione said together.

"What about me?" Ginny yelled.

"You are going back to school!" Mrs. Weasley retorted. "I would suggest that the rest of you do the same." She softened. "Harry, dear, you are still only a boy who has just turned seventeen. You're not ready...you're not..." she trailed off, blinking furiously to try and stop her tears.

"I am," Harry replied, "and I am not going straight for him. There are some things I need to do first."

"What are you planning?" Mrs. Weasley asked desperately.

"We've got to find him, for one," Hermione answered. "No one knows where he is or what his plans are."

Harry shot Hermione a look of thanks. "She's right," he said.

"Please, Harry," Molly pleaded. "Ron, Hermione...please. Don't do this."

"We've got to, Mum," Ron said, and Harry and Hermione nodded.

"What about me?" Ginny said scathingly. "I'll just sit at school like a good little girl, shall I?"

"Ginny, I need you at the school," Harry said. "I need you to lead the D.A. I need you to keep an eye on things there for me, because I doubt it will be long before Hogwarts is attacked now that...now that Dumbledore's gone."

"That's not good enough, Harry!" Ginny cried. "I want to be with you, to help you! I need you, too!"

"Ginevra, you will be returning to school," snapped Molly, determined that she would exercise her one last bit of parental authority to keep her daughter as safe as possible.

"I won't!" Ginny replied obstinately. "I'll follow you! I'll run away!"

"You won't run," Harry said before Mrs. Weasley could start shouting. "You won't because you know what I say is true. You know I need you to be there, to be strong. You won't be alone, Ginny."

"You're not going, Ginevra," Mrs. Weasley repeated. "That is my final word. You are still my child, and I'll not have you..."

"Mum!" Ginny protested, beginning to sob with frustration. Once again, she could sense that she was not going to win, and all she could think about was the fact that Harry might not return.

"I'm sorry, dear," Mrs. Weasley said a little more kindly. "But it's not your time...not yet...and I hope, not ever."

"I'll do the best I can to ensure that," Harry said, looking directly into Mrs. Weasley's eyes. "I promise you I will."

"You shouldn't have to," Mrs. Weasley whispered, sounding old and defeated. "But I know you will."

Without another word, she turned and left the room. Harry immediately went to Ginny, who stiffened as he put his arms around her. Signaling to Ron and Hermione that he wanted time alone with her, he led her to the bed, sitting down on the edge and continuing to hold her even though she did not return the gesture.

"I can't believe you're really going to leave me behind, Harry," Ginny finally whispered after everyone else had left the room. "You're letting Ron and Hermione go; why not me?"

Harry searched for the right words, knowing that if he did not find them, Ginny would likely attempt to follow them no matter what her parents said.

"Ginny...it's not that I don't want you with me. It's not that, and it never will be," Harry began, noticing that Ginny relaxed against him just the tiniest bit as he said it. "But there are just too many things...your mum, the fact that you can't do magic outside school, the fact that it might keep you from being a Healer in the end..."

"None of that matters, Harry," Ginny said. "Nothing matters as much as winning the war, nothing matters as much as being with you." She did not yet voice her worst fear, though it was at the forefront of her mind. If Harry had used Legilimency at that moment, he would have seen it as clearly as Tofty had seen her Boggart during her OWL test.

"How's the Ministry going to notice I'm doing magic if I'm with you?" she asked quietly. "They can't tell who did it, just that it had been done."

"We can't risk anything that could draw the Ministry's attention to us," Harry said firmly, glad, at least, that he could give a strong answer to that question. "We can't trust them, not when we don't know if they are all on our side."

"Mum would come around," Ginny stated her next argument. "It's not like she would disown me or anything. She knows how important it is for you to have loved ones around you."

"I don't know if she would or not," Harry said honestly. "But Ginny, you just got to the middle of the matter, didn't you? I need the people I love," his voice cracked a bit, "to be safe. I need to know you're as safe as you can be, because I'm going to need you before the end."

"What do you mean?" Ginny relaxed a little more as she asked him this, finding it hard to resist the warmth of his arms and body surrounding hers.

"Ginny, I could never take Voldemort on without you. I still don't know exactly how I'm going to do it, but I do know that much already. And if something happens to you..." He shuddered at the thought and fell silent for a moment before continuing, "If something happens to you, I don't know if I could go on. I don't know if I could fight him, and I'm sure I couldn't win. For now, until it's time, I need you safe. I've got to know you're as safe as you can be, and you and I both know that's at Hogwarts."

At these words, Ginny finally relaxed completely, wrapping her arms around Harry and leaning her head into the hollow at the base of Harry's neck.

"There's another thing, too, Ginny," Harry continued, tracing his fingers in small circles on her back. "Remember what you said to me before school ended, about our future?" He felt her nod. "You told me once that you'd always wanted to be a Healer. I want that for you, and for it, you need your classes. You know you do. When we finally finish this and our lives begin, I want you to have every dream you've ever wanted...I want you to be a Healer, and I want you to have your home, your family...everything."

"What about you?" Ginny asked.

"I still want to be an Auror," Harry said, smiling slightly. "But if I do manage to pull this off, I don't think they're going to require NEWTs for me to get into the program, are they?"

Ginny giggled a bit in spite of herself. "I'd hope not," she admitted, but then grew serious again as she asked, "But Harry, why are you letting Ron and Hermione go?"

"I didn't want them to originally," Harry admitted, "but I can't do this part of it without them. Besides, they are of age, and no one's going to have any grounds to stop them if they want to follow me."

"You need them, but you don't need me," Ginny stated, pulling away from him. "You don't trust me like you trust them."

"No, Ginny," Harry said firmly. "Don't think like that. When the time comes, I want you at my side. I'll need you even more than the other two, but I told you before, I need you at school right now. I wasn't kidding about that. The D.A. has to continue. It's serious now; it may be Hogwarts' last line of defense if it's attacked. You can keep training them, and Tonks and some of the others can help you if you want them to. And you need to take your classes so you can be a Healer after school."

After a few very tense moments, Ginny finally nodded her head in acceptance, partly because of Harry's admission that he would need her to fight with him in the end. She knew a lot of this came because he was trying to shield her as long as he could, but she could also find the sense in his words.

"Thank you, Ginny," Harry murmured, kissing the top of her head before raising her chin up so he could kiss her lips.

Mrs. Weasley called for them to go to lunch a few minutes later, and they broke apart. A new understanding seemed to have come between them as they joined hands and went downstairs to the kitchen, for they had resolved without words to enjoy every moment that they could enjoy together before the time came all too soon for Harry to go.

* * *

True to their unspoken agreement, Harry and Ginny spent as much time together as possible before August 31, and where you found one of them, you would almost invariably find the other.

Most of their time was spent in the company of Ron and Hermione, poring over the books from the Black family library and Dumbledore's notes, trying to find any clues to the location of Slytherin's locket and Hufflepuff's cup, and looking over historical accounts of the four founders, trying to figure out which items Voldemort might have chosen to house two pieces of his soul. Each one seemed as unlikely as the next, and frustration was starting to cause them to be a little punchy.

Very early one morning, after having stayed up most of the night talking and researching, they were giggling over the possibility that Voldemort might have used one of Rowena Ravenclaw's brassieres, which were rumored to have been enchanted to enhance her beauty. Mr. Weasley poked his head into the room just as Ron was pantomiming Voldemort donning the garment in order to perform the spell, and his face was more serious than they had seen it since Harry's birthday. All four of them abruptly stopped laughing.

"Hello, you four," he said. "Have any of you seen Molly? I need her, please, I need her." His voice, as it had been for almost a month, was a strange mixture of adult timbre and childlike tone, but there was nothing amusing about it just now; he seemed as though he was about to cry.

"No, we haven't seen her yet," Ginny said, looking at her father critically. "Dad? You can come in. You look like you might need to sit down." She opened the door fully to reveal Mr. Weasley, still dressed in his maroon bathrobe, one of his feet slippered and the other bare.

All four teenagers looked worried as Ginny took her father by the elbow, leading him to one of the armchairs near the fire. In his left hand, he clutched a copy of the Daily Prophet, but it was too crumpled for them to tell what it said.

When she had gotten her father settled into one of the chairs, Ginny crouched down to look into his face, just as if he had been a small child to whom she wanted to give her full attention. "Dad?" she asked, her voice laced with the same note of concern that they often heard from her mother. "What's happened?"

"Molly," he muttered. "I need Molly, please."

"Hermione?" Ginny asked quietly without looking up. "Could you please find Mum?"

Without a word, Hermione hurried out of the room in search of Mrs. Weasley. They knew she would not have left the house without telling them first, but Grimmauld Place had many rooms, and it was hard to tell where Mrs. Weasley might be doing housework or working on something for the Order.

Ginny touched her father's cheek with such tenderness that Harry was suddenly hit with a fierce bolt of pride and love even stronger than that which he already felt. She'll make a great Healer, he thought as he continued to watch her smooth her father's hair and talk to him in the same soft and calming voice. If I can just...

"Harry, I need you to come over here," Ginny said softly, her face having gone incredibly pale. "You too, Ron. Quickly, please."

She had gently pried the crumpled Prophet from Mr. Weasley's hands as she spoke to him, and it was evident that only her desire not to alarm him was keeping her from crying out for her mother as loudly as she could.

DEMENTORS ATTACK DIAGON ALLEY

At approximately one o'clock this morning, the popular Wizarding marketplace known as Diagon Alley was attacked by no fewer than fifty Dementors. The creatures, which used to guard the Azkaban fortress...

"Diagon Alley was attacked again?" Harry asked in horror.

Ron suddenly dashed out of the room without a word of explanation, his face as chalky white as Ginny's, his freckles standing out in sharp relief.

"He's gone to look at the clock," Ginny said in understanding. "No, don't, Dad...it's OK..." she crooned to Mr. Weasley as he started to cry. "Hermione's gone to find Mum. Everything is going to be just fine, you'll see."

Neither Harry nor Ginny was certain of that anymore, but the words seemed to calm Mr. Weasley somewhat. Harry thought he had seen few more pitiful sights than this once-strong wizard so overcome by emotions and helpless to do anything about the events occurring. He had been coming more and more to himself over the past week, but he still had a long way to go before he could even return to his job at the Ministry.

They didn't have long to wait. Only another minute or so had passed before Mrs. Weasley bustled into the room. "I just heard, and I would have kept the paper from him if I'd been able to. Dratted delivery owls still don't remember that they are to deliver to me now. Darling," she soothed as she reached Arthur, "everything is fine. I've spoken to George and Percy and they weren't harmed."

"Thank Merlin," Arthur said quietly, sounding just like the man they all remembered from before the battle. "I was so worried."

"I just checked the clock," Ron announced as he came back into the room. "It says - Oh, hi, Mum."

"Yes, everyone made it through," Lupin announced as he entered the room, removing his traveling cloak and hanging it. "The Aurors were able to drive them away with the help of some of the shop owners, George and Percy included."

Without thinking, Mrs. Weasley sank onto her husband's lap as she thought about what could have happened to two of her sons.

"Where have you been?" Harry asked Lupin with interest. He had tried to contact him via the amulet the night before, intent upon finally asking some questions which had been burning into him ever since Aunt Petunia had gone, but Lupin had not answered.

"Out and about," Lupin answered evasively, giving Harry a meaningful look. "I've been trying to find Mundungus Fletcher."

"Pop!" Mr. Weasley said suddenly. "Disapparated, didn't he?"

Everyone turned to look at him; this was the first time they had heard him talk about the night the battle had taken place. It was common knowledge that Mundungus had Disapparated almost the moment the Dark Mark had been cast because Mr. Weasley had told Shacklebolt about it as they had entered the battle. Since he had been hit with the curse that night, however, Arthur had not mentioned the battle or anything leading up to it.

"Yes, dear, he Disapparated," Mrs. Weasley agreed.

"Not much trace of him, if any," Lupin continued.

"He'll turn up," Molly said grimly. "He'll come around when things get hard for him; he always does."

"Coward," Mr. Weasley muttered. "He's not very brave, is he?"

"You could bloody well say that," Ron said fiercely, for he, as well as Harry, Hermione and Ginny, knew how urgent it was that they find him. They had to find out if he knew where Slytherin's locket was before it made its way back into the wrong hands.

While the rest of the occupants in the room discussed the Dementor attack in increasingly worried tones, Harry caught Lupin's eye and jerked his head towards the doorway. Lupin, understanding that Harry needed to talk to him privately, followed him out of the bedroom door and down the hall to the library.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Lupin said immediately after the door had closed behind him. "I know you've wanted to talk to me."

"What happened to my mother's parents?" Harry asked without preamble. "How come no one ever told me that Voldemort killed them as well?"

"Petunia told you that, did she?" Lupin asked with a trace of bitterness in his voice.

"Yes," Harry said, "but she can't have been the only one who knew."

"Of course not, Harry," Lupin said tiredly, "but none of the Order members could ever know beyond doubt what had happened to them, for Petunia had had them buried before she ever bothered to contact your mother, and Lily was devastated. She and James were in hiding by then, so they had not had any news either, but we had no indication that Voldemort even knew who your mother's parents were, much less where."

"There had to be a way to know," Harry argued.

"There were traces of magic on the Evans' house, of course, but those could also have been from Lily's most recent visit just after you were born. Without being able to see or examine their bodies, we just couldn't know for sure. Petunia was not there when they died, but she's always been certain it had something to do with the Wizarding world, even though the Muggle doctors said that they died naturally. That's part of the reason she hates us so much."

"So how come no one ever told me?" Harry asked, still incensed. "Even if you don't know for sure, don't you think I have a right to know what you know?"

"I don't know, Harry," Lupin answered. "Of course you have a right to know about your family, but since we didn't even know for sure, we just...we didn't want..."

"To upset me?" Harry suggested icily.

"It was a mistake," Lupin admitted. "I should have realized Petunia would say something to you eventually. For what it is worth, though, we honestly do not believe that Voldemort had anything to do with their deaths."

Harry considered for a moment and then nodded grudgingly. "You should have told me," was all he said in conclusion.

"Yes, Harry, I should have," Lupin replied. "I'm sorry."

"Alright, then," Harry said. They didn't have time to argue about things that had happened in the past, and he knew it. "Did you find anything about Mundungus Fletcher?"

"I'm afraid not," Lupin said regretfully. "One thing about Dung is that he's right good at getting underground when he's in trouble. He knows we'll have a thing or two to say to him after what happened on Privet Drive, and he's not looking forward to it."

"Mrs. Weasley thinks he'll turn up," Harry said. "But how long will it take?"

Lupin sighed. "There's no telling," he said wearily. "He could pop up today, or it could be weeks or even months. She's right - he'll come when he's either out of money or in some sort of trouble that he reckons is worse than what we'll do to him for deserting Arthur in battle."

"We have to find him first," Harry said definitely. "We can't wait on this, Moony."

"I know, Harry," Lupin replied. "I'll keep looking, ok? In the meantime, what are you going to do about school?"

"I'm not going to go back," Harry said simply. "There's no time."

Lupin nodded. "I should argue with you," he said. "But you're right. What about the others?"

"Ron and Hermione are coming with me."

"What about Ginny?" Lupin asked. "It doesn't seem as though she'd agree to stay behind."

"She said she understood," said Harry uncertainly. "But I'm not sure yet."

"If I could make a suggestion," Lupin began.

Harry nodded.

"Ride the train with Ginny to Hogwarts. You'll need to talk to Aberforth Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall before you set out anyway, and that might make Ginny feel a bit better."

"It also might not be so bad to be seen on the train," Harry mused, liking the idea. As certain as he was that Ginny needed to go back to school, he did not like the idea of being parted from her any more than she did.

"Don't make the mistake of thinking that the Death Eaters will believe you've gone back to school," Lupin warned. "That will only work for the duration of the train ride. Once the students realize you won't be joining them in classes, word will spread like wildfire."

"Especially the Slytherins," Harry muttered.

"Still, however, taking the train to school will likely do no harm. I'll arrange for you to stay at the Hog's Head if you'd like."

Harry nodded. "Thanks," he said. Seeing Aberforth and Professor McGonagall before he set off was a sound idea, and he might be able to pick up clues to Mundungus Fletcher's whereabouts in the Hog's Head, which attracted some of the more questionable members of the Wizarding community. A sudden thought entered his head. "Where will you be during all of this, Moony?"

"I'm still working underground like I was last year," Lupin replied. "Trying to recruit more of my kind into the Order, but it's not going so well."

"Have you gotten anyone?" Harry asked curiously. From what he had heard, most werewolves did not feel friendly toward the Wizarding community due to laws and regulations passed by ministry officials like Dolores Umbridge.

"There are a few of my kind who have lost family members or friends to the Death Eaters," Lupin responded. "But other than that, most of them seem to think we are more likely to regain our rights by fighting on Voldemort's side."

"No one will have any rights under Voldemort," Harry said bitterly. "Surely they realize that."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple, Harry," Lupin said seriously. "It is quite possible that part-humans like werewolves and vampires will have considerably more freedom under Voldemort's reign than under the current Ministry."

"Only if they serve him," Harry spat.

"Harry, don't you understand? Most of them will be serving him simply by allowing themselves to live by their own natures. Werewolves and vampires, especially those who make no effort to restrain themselves from preying on humans, cause fear even in the bravest of wizards. Whether or not the werewolf or vampire is actually working under Voldemort's command, he or she is still doing exactly what he wants them to do."

Harry was silent for a moment as he mulled this over. "Moony," he asked slowly, "are you saying that your life would be better under Voldemort's reign?"

"No, Harry," Lupin replied very seriously. "My life will be better when the laws are changed, but never, ever would I consider it better to live under a ruler such as Voldemort. To live in fear is only an existence; it is not a life."

"Thanks, Moony," Harry said sincerely, and they exchanged a rough, one-armed hug before Harry returned to the others and Lupin left in time for an interview with a young werewolf in Devonshire.

* * *

The night of August 31 was almost surreal in its simplicity, as the only one packing to go to school was Ginny, who was doing so only after another heated argument with her mother. The usual din caused by missing items, unmatched socks, and torn robes was replaced by an almost unnatural quiet as Ginny packed alone in her room, not even allowing Harry to keep her company.

Ginny had seemed glad when Harry told her that he would be riding the train with her and would be staying in Hogsmeade for a few days after start-of-term, but she hadn't let that stop her from pleading with him one more time to intervene on her behalf with Molly. When he had refused, she had retreated into her room, muttering sullenly that she had to get packed.

Ron and Hermione had decided to stay at Grimmauld Place while Harry went to Hogwarts in order to continue searching the house and the Black family library for information on the horcruxes. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were going to return to the Burrow now that Mr. Weasley was recovering and was no longer under Madam Pomfrey's care. They wanted to strengthen the wards around the house; the idea of something happening to it was horrible to both of them. Ron and Hermione knew they'd have much more freedom to search away from Mrs. Weasley's piercing gaze.

After a grudging kiss goodnight from Ginny, Harry settled into his room to try to sleep. A huge weight was bearing down on his chest, the weight of the knowledge that he would never again return to Hogwarts as a student and of the fact that Ginny did not seem to be ready to forgive him for not allowing her to accompany him on his search for the horcruxes. Hedwig flew from her perch on top of the chest of drawers in the corner and alighted on his shoulder, sensing that he needed some company.

"Everything's changing, Hedwig," Harry murmured, stroking the downy feathers on her chest softly. "I hope I'm doing the right thing."

As he fell into an uncomfortable sleep, Harry could not be sure that he was.