A/N: Please keep those reviews coming!

The Riddle House

Potter Castle:

It was midmorning the next day when Harry finally arrived home. He was immediately confronted by his two best friends as well as his fiance and a very angry werewolf. "Where the hell were you Harry!" yelled an irate Remus.

"I was at Hogwarts the entire time, and no I cannot tell you what went on." at their disappointed faces he continued, "But we will be hunting down another horcrux today.".

"So where is it?" Hermoine asked.

"It is in the one place that may have become more important to the dark lord than Hogwarts itself. The cup of Hufflepuff is located in the basement of Riddle Manor." Harry replied evenly.

"But why would that be more important to Voldemort than school?" Ginny asked perplexed.

"It was the site of his first murders outside of school, and the site where he made his first horcrux, not to mention he was reborn there.".

"Allright, so when are we going?" Remus asked as he strode through the doorway, extendable ear in hand.

"Damn it!" Harry exclaimed, "How long were you out there?".

"We, meaning Tonks and I heard everything. She's grabbing her stuff and then we can go.".

"You can tell her to slow down, we aren't leaving until noon." Harry replied.

"Why." Ginny asked curiously.

"Well, most of the death eaters are 'respectable' citizens with normal day jobs, so we can expect the house to be less heavily defended during the daylight hours." He replied.

"I guess that makes sense, so what should we do in the meantime?" Ginny asked seductively.

"I can think of a few things" Harry replied while quickly grabbing his fiance and rushing up the stairs into their bedroom.

The rest of the group watched them dissapear and waited until the door had slammed shut before anyone spoke, predictably it was Ron. "That's bloody lucky of him, some guys don't always get what they want." he said, shooting a meaningful glare at Hermoine.

"Well Ronald," she replied, stressing his full name the way his mother or sister would, "with you being so utterly ridiculous about Harry and Ginny, I wasn't about to allow you to become a hipocrite.".

"Wait, you flipped out about Harry and Ginny having sex, all while pushing to have it yourself? You better hope your sister never finds out." Tonks said as she too strode through the open doorway.

"Well that is completely different!" Ron yelled indignantly.

"Well until you can give me a good reason as to why it is so different, we will not be doing any of the things Ginny seems to enjoy so much." Hermoine replied acidly. Tonks, sensing one of the famous fights coming on fled out of the room, closing the door behind her, when those two fought, anyone nearby was likely to be drawn in.

Hours later, when Harry and Ginny had re-emerged from their bedroom looking slightly more tired than before, the group prepared to leave for Riddle Manor. "Right, if you get into trouble use the portkey I gave you, it should be powerful enough to punch through the wards around Riddle Manor." Harry said.

"We are not going to leave you alone in there under any circumstances Harry!" Tonks exclaimed.

"Look, I'm going to tell you exactly what Ablus told me before we went to the cave. I am taking you with me on one condition: that you obey any command that I may give you instantly, and without question. Even if it includes 'Run', 'Hide' or 'Go Back'. I can just as easily stun you and leave you behind. Do you all understand". Everyone nodded, and Harry took out a rope that would be their portkey to the edge of the wards, "Ready? One. Two. Three. Activate!". And in a flash, they were gone.

Riddle Manor:

They reappeared within sight of the manor, and with a wave of Harry's wand, there was a gap in the weak outer wards wide enough to allow them passage. Walking soundlessly, the group wound there way up the hill, past the old caretaker's house to the manor itself. Motioning for the rest of his companions to stop, Harry stepped forward, waving his wand over the door in front of him and the wall immediately surrounding it he chanted something indistinguishable in what appeared to be Latin. Turning to face his friends he said, "I don't suppose anyone here has taken the Dark Mark.". At their indignant looks he continued, "We need someone with the mark to open the door or we will set off the wards.".

"Can't you go in with Fawkes?" Ginny asked in a hushed tone.

"No, I can't risk that Voldemort could have wards that would alert him to Fawkes, he isn't exactly unknown to the Dark Lord after all the battles the two of them fought." Harry replied. "We're going to have to smash our way in and be as quick as we can about finding the horcrux. Remus, can you and Tonks help me put up our own wards?". Both nodded and the three of them walked a few paces away to preform their own warding spells. Nearly fifteen minutes later they were done, Harry motioned for them all to step away from the door, "Reducto!" he yelled, the jet of light sailed towards its target and impacted, leaving a number of small cracks. Ron looked stipified, while Harry muttered something that sounded like "Very good Tom." under his breath, suddenly before anyone could recover from their shock he yelled another spell "Avada Kedavera!". The green spell hit the door and shattered it, Harry was only a moment behind it, immediately stunning the death eater that was sitting in the first room. "Remus, Tonks, stay outside and tell us if any death eaters arrive, the rest of you are with me.".

Harry descended into the basement of the old manor, to his friends he appeared to be walking in circles until he suddenly stopped and made for a stretch of blank wall. Closing his eyes, he ran his hand over the surface of the wall.

"What are you doing Harry?" Hermoine asked curiously.

"Dumbledore taught me how to 'read' magic, I'm looking for Voldemort's spells on this doorway." Harry replied.

"Mate, that's just a wall." Ron said slowly. Moments after he finished, the wall shimmered and disappeared, leaving a hallway that opened into a large room. And there sitting on a pedastal in the center was Hufflepuff's cup. Ron made to step forward and grab it, but was stopped by Harry's arm on his shoulder.

"It could be warded." he warned quietly. Brandishing his wand, Harry murmured a spell that sent a wave of blue energy down the hallway, at a number of points along the walls, red spots began to appear. Harry moved slowly down the hallway, dispelling the harmful traps as he went. The group finally made it to the room at the end of the precarious hall and they stood around the Cup. Harry made to reach for it but was stopped by an invisible barrier.

"What does it mean?" Hermoine asked.

"It means that we have to devise a way to get through the barrier. Tom wants us to work for it, obviously he knows that time would be a factor when his horcrux is hidden in his own safe house." Harry explained while waving his wand in a complex motion. "Albus would be so disappointed." he said under his breath.

"Why would Dumbledore be disappointed Harry?" Ginny asked.

"You see," Harry said while gesturing at the now visable ward around the horcrux, "I need to use a dagger conjured by someone else to cut my arm and pay the blood toll that will allow me to remove the Cup.".

"Of course!" Hermoine explained, "That makes it so that no one could steal it by themselves, and the dagger probably has to have been conjured from inside this room to further prevent theft.".

"Very good Hermoine," Harry said, "Now who would like to do the honors?". Hermoine quickly conjured a large and very sharp dagger, which Harry used to slice open his are, from wrist to elbow. Then, holding his arm over the ward, he waited until enough blood had flowed to cover the entire surface of the barrier ward itself. The dome shuddered and collapsed, Harry waved his wand over his arm and grabbed the cup, placing the object into his robes for safekeeping. He then conjured another, that would look the same from the opening, just in case Voldemort checked anytime soon. "We must go, I just lost a lot of blood and I need to lie down.". Leaning on Ginny, he walked out and closed the fake portion of wall. They stumbled outside and came face to face with a very worried Tonks.

"What happened!" she asked in a quiet, yet worried tone.

"We got it, but we have to leave now." Harry answered, holding out the rope they had used earlier. Everyone grabbed on and they were transported back to Potter Castle.

Potter Castle:

Remus, Tonks, Ron and Hermoine were sitting in the small living room on the first floor, waiting for Ginny, who despite Harry's protests, was making sure that the 'Chosen One' recovered from their mission.

Ginny emerged from the bedroom she shared with Harry nearly a half hour after they had all arrived. "Harry is by far the most stubborn man I have ever known! All he said to me for twenty minutes was 'I'm fine', thank Merlin Dobby managed to nick a blood restorative potion from the Hogwarts infirmary or our golden boy might not be with us again for a long time.".

"Harry always has been able to take major injuries and pull through." Remus thought aloud. "He lost a lot of blood that night in the graveyard too, not many wizards could have been in fighting shape after that ritual.".

"But I still don't understand where Harry learned to use the killing curse." Hermoine said.

"I've been saying it for days Hermoine, Harry is going dark!" Ron exclaimed.

"My fiance is not going dark!" Ginny yelled right back, "Why don't we wait for him to explain himself before we jump to conclusions.".

"Ginny's right." Tonks interjected before the two red heads could fight any more.

"Fine! I'm going to bed." Ron spat before abruptly leaving the room.

"What's his problem?" Ginny asked.

"Ron has been jealous of Harry since fourth year." Hermoine explained, "Then last year he gets all these special lessons, not to mention that he is the richest man in England. This huge estate didn't help Harry's cause either. Ron has been growing apart from Harry for a while now, I've been trying to keep him in line, and for the most part it has worked.".

"I hope it doesn't all come back to blow up in your face." Remus said after a moment of thought.

"Monny's right" a newly arrived George said from the doorway.

"Yeah, but Mum is a more pressing problem." Fred added as Ginny hugged both of them.

"What exactly is Molly's problem with Harry and Ginny's relationship?" Tonks asked.

"Well, she has taken it upon herself to be Harry's surrogate mother, you could tell when both she and Sirius were around our favorite seeker." George said.

"And with Gin-Gin here being her only daughter she is already very overprotective. That was only increased after her first year incident." Fred continued.

"So when Harry and our lovely sister kicked their relationship up a notch she was shocked…"

"…appaled even.".

"And Dad took it so well. So Mum did the only thing that made sense to her at the time, she vowed to stop it.".

"She really does deep down want this to happen, just later than it is going to.".

"Well she has nothing to worry about then, Harry refuses to marry until he is at least out of school, even then we have Voldemort to worry about.". Ginny said.

"Then you need to both sit down and talk to her tomorrow. You have to stop her before she makes too much of a mess of things." Hermoine interjected thoughtfully.

"Okay, we will do that tomorrow." Ginny replied. "That is if I can convince Harry of course, he has taken Mum's attitude much harder than he has shown.". A floor above them, the supposedly sleeping Harry was quietly opening what had become one of his most prized possessions. It was time to update Albus on their progress, he only hoped that he was back in bed before Ginny came upstairs.