Vater

When Hermione appeared at Grimmauld Place with Ron, she found Harry pacing furiously.

"What took you so long? I was about to go back!" he snarled at her.

Hermione deposited Ron on the couch and gave Harry a cool look.

"I was talking to Professor Snape."

"What for?"

"To attempt to make up for your idiocy."

A pained expression appeared on his face.

"Look, Hermione...I didn't really know that it would work. It - it never does."

"You've tried it before?" Hermione was looking so shocked that Harry felt himself go red. He nodded, staring at the floor.

"When?" she demanded.

"On Bellatrix Lestrange...after she killed Sirius....and on Snape, after he killed Dumbledore."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes...it wouldn't work then...you have to want to cause the pain; righteous anger wouldn't do it."

"That's what Lestrange said, too. With Snape, he thwarted me before I could finish the curse."

Harry slumped down on the edge of Ron's couch.

"How's he?" he asked quietly.

Hermione hesitated, not sure which 'he' was being referred to.

"He's fine," she said finally, referring both to Ron and Snape. Harry looked at her, and their eyes exchanged the message.

Ron groaned and his eyes snapped open.

"What happened?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

"We collapsed at Snape's place. He helped us. Then we came back," Hermione said.

"How are you feeling?" Harry asked.

"'M fine."

Hermione fetched a potion and made Ron drink it. She made Harry apply the cream Snape had given. Then she drank a potion herself.

"No more active work for a few days," she said sternly. "We deserve a break, and we'll take it. We might as well sit and figure out how to destroy the two Horcruxes we have."

Harry nodded meekly. Ron nodded as well.

Hermione flicked her wand and food appeared. They ate in silence. Then she pulled out a couple of potions and added them to their orange juices.

"Sleep and nutrition," she said, when Harry cocked an eyebrow. They drank and retired to bed.

When Harry woke up, it was already noon. Since Ron was still asleep across the room, he assumed that Hermione had applied the cream to his arm. The pain had lessened a lot, and he felt a lot better, too. He looked around and found Hermione propped up with a book.

"Hey," he said softly.

She looked at him and smiled.

"Good that you're up. How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

"The arm?"

"Hurts a lot less."

"Good, good..." she muttered absently and returned to her book.

"What are you reading?" he asked curiously.

"The Dark Immortal."

"What?"

Hermione marked the page and closed the book before turning to him.

"I found the book in the library downstairs...there was a hidden section we'd never seen before. It has around fifty books, none of which would be allowed even into the restricted section of Hogwarts."

"That bad, eh?"

"Well, yeah. This one discusses the lost art of Horcrux-making in detail. I'm sure Voldemort only modified the methods stated here. This book says that you should make only one, because going in for the second would kill your spirit, and probably you as well. So, Voldemort must've done something before he started making the Horcruxes that kept him alive through the process of splitting his soul into seven fragments."

"Does it say anything about destroying a Horcrux?"

"Yes. Avada Kedavra without hate, or something lethal that is intimately connected to the conception of the Horcrux - and they suggest that the second be used, for it is safer. The Killing Curse has side-effects."

"But we don't know how these two were made!" Harry cried.

Hermione sighed.

"I'll enter his mind and try to find out how he made them," Harry said.

"No!"

"We don't have any other option, Hermione."

"Yes, we do. We can try to find out things about them, and deduce their methods of production."

"And how do we do that?" Harry asked angrily.

"Lupin and Snape...Lupin can tell us about Regulus and Snape can tell us about the brooch.

"And what do we do when they ask us why we want to know this stuff?"

"We'll think of something."

"Why don't we just Avada Kedavra them? I can deal with blackened hands...and I won't even have to deal with that if you can manage to make sufficient amounts of that cream."

"Harry, that is not the only back-lash! It call be anything! It can be a rebounded Killing Curse; it can be a Dementor's Kiss!"

"Then I have to look into his head, Hermione," Harry said quietly.

"Only as a last resort...please, Harry. Let us talk to Lupin first! Please!" Hermione was near-hysterical.

Harry remembered the last time Hermione had pleaded with him like this...before they'd flown off to the Ministry to rescue Sirius in his fifth year...and he had not forgotten the disastrous outcome, either. He was not about to repeat the same mistake.

"Very well."

Hermione looked enormously relieved. They sat silently for sometime, until the silence was broken by Ron's screaming.