Harry waited all night with Ron in the hospital wing to make sure that there were no complications with his recovery. Madame Pomfrey commended Harry on his swift response, for if Harry hadn't thought so quickly on his toes, Ron may be dead. Hermione and Lia brought plates of breakfast as soon as the sun had risen, everyone eager for Ron to wake from his sleep. Lavender rushed in, out of breath, and shooting Hermione a glare that could kill. At his bedside, she brushed strands of orange hair from his face and whined things that were inaudible to Harry, Hermione and Lia. Hermione scoffed at Lavender, it was pathetic to her the way she coddled Ron. His eyes began to flutter and his fingers began to move, but the words muttered from his mouth surprised everyone.
"Her… Hermione….." He whimpered.
Lavender was appalled, throwing his hand to the side of the bed and tears running down her face. Hermione scooted Lavender over and took Ron's wiggling fingers in her hands as he whispered her name a few more times.
Hermione and Harry spent the rest of the afternoon with Ron, due to the fact that Madame Pomfrey sent him out of the hospital wing only a little after four. Hermione was able to put everything behind her, and asked Ginny to join her in a dinner with her brother. The three reconciled, and Hermione swore she would never let anything come in between her and Ron again. This is the same night that Hermione and Ginny ended everything they had going on between each other.
News of Dumbledore's return spread fast, and Harry knew that soon after Dumbledore be summoning for his presence to wonder what information Harry was able to get from Slughorn. Truth be told, Harry wasn't able to really get much from Slughorn, so he almost dreaded Dumbledore asking to speak with him. Harry couldn't say that he didn't try and research on the matter, but personal research on a nearly restricted topic was impossible.
Harry rested on his bed, books piled around in small stacks about dark curses and spells while Ron laid back munching on snacks that Hermione brought him from the Great Hall.
"You know Harry, if this topic was so top secret, why doesn't Dumbledore try himself to figure it out? A hundred year old wizard would have a better shot at figuring it out over a 6th year." Ron said with his mouth half full.
The door flung open and Harry kicked a few books from his bed from shock.
"You owe me." Lia announced plopping next to Harry's castle of books.
"For what exactly?" Harry asked.
"Well one, you missed a quiz on nonverbal spells, and I was able to sway Snape from just failing you for the lesson and convinced him that Ron was still too weak to be on his own. Two, Dumbledore caught me going from the dungeons to here and asked me where you've been and how much progress you've made on Slughorn. Naturally, I lied and said that you're so close you can almost taste it, and I let him know all the "information you've come up with", which is actually my own personal research because I can see that clearly you still aren't close. Dumbledore is going to find you tomorrow, and I would hope by then you would be closer to finding out what Slughorn told Riddle."
"Perfect. You're perfect." Harry whimpered.
"No, not charming me today. Dumbledore seems really concerned; I think things are getting serious Harry. You have to get that information."
"I've got nothing more than what we learn in class, and a bit of snooping around the restricted section. Slughorn refuses to see me whatsoever. What do you have?"
"Well, being an SI, I do have more access to things, and Slughorn doesn't think I am trying to pry information from him….. He let me into his office to grab some extra supplies for a DADA lesson, and well… I may have been able to break into a locked cabinet drawer… I found this."
Lia pulled out a scrap of paper about the size of her palm with ripped edges and a few sentences of writing upon it.
"Slughorn would never let Dumbledore in his office for more than a few minutes, so he must've not been able to get ahold of this. The little bit that's here… well it's not much…but, it says something about being able to rip your soul into parts. That's about it. That there's a type of dark magic that allows you the partition your soul, Slughorn knows the rest and you have to find out, Harry."
"He dodges me every chance I get to speak to him. There is no spell that would make him squeal and unless you can break into Snape's vault and get me veritaserum, then I am out of ideas. "
Harry watched as the sunlight began to crest in the sky, shining directly into the golden sparkling locks coming from Lia's head. The idea popped into Harry's head, causing him to spring from the bed and ravage through his top dresser drawer.
"Felix." He muttered as his flimsy fingers unscrewed the silver cap.
The liquid had a strange texture as it slid down Harry's throat, almost like chilled flaky oil. Ron and Lia sat on the edge of the bed waiting for something to happen, soon after Harry's face curled into a wide smile.
"I'll see you guys later." Harry bounced from the bed and took his leave.
Blowing right past Lia, Harry had a strong urge to go to Hagrid's hut. Passing Hermione, she wasn't able to talk any sense into him; like his feet led his path and his brain ignored everything else. Ron and Lia watched Harry trounce through the courtyard straight out to the edges of the castle until his silhouette was too tiny to see in the horizon. Hermione had joined the two and read children's stories out loud to pass the time.
Lia had dozed off on Harry's bed and Hermione snuggled close against Ron's legs waiting for Harry's return. The sun had completely set by the time Harry finally made it back up into the castle tower. The slight creak of the door caused all three resting bodies to shoot up and nearly smother Harry in attention waiting to see if he was successful or not.
"Felix must've not worn off yet if I have such a pretty girl laying in my bed." Harry chuckled.
"Get of it, Harry." Ron demanded, leaning on the very edge of the bed.
"Alright, alright…." Harry said, twiddling a tiny vial in his hand filled with a silvery liquid.
"You did it, Harry!" Hermione cried flinging her arms around his neck.
"Hagrid and Slughorn had a bit too much mead. Slughorn was vulnerable and a bit drunk; pulled the memory right out of his head. After bragging about my mother of course, which was a nice trade off."
Harry set the vial safely in a holder on top of the chestnut mantle and joined his girlfriend nuzzled in his giant fluffy comforter.
"Since you brought such great news, I should probably let out mine too." Lia propped up against Harry's headboard.
"Draco stopped coming to tutoring."
"That's a relief.-"
"Harry!" Hermione spat.
"Anyway…. I've been trying to catch him around seeing as that McGonagall's having a giant exam on liquid transfiguration next week. He's been almost avoiding me. The few times he has stopped to speak with me he's almost been frantic."
She paused.
"Obviously I've been listening to everything the Order has been saying, and what you three have been saying… so I started to follow him in my free period."
"He will always be just in eyesight, then I will physically see him enter a door, but when I try to see where it leads, it ends up being an empty room, or a nice quiet study with a fire roaring, but Draco not in sight."
"The Room of Requirement."
"The room of what?" Lia asked.
"The Room of Requirement is a room that only appears for one when it's needed but can be undetectable by others. He's up to something." Hermione explained.
"I knew towards the end of our lessons he became more distracted. I did my best to keep him focused, but nothing could keep that boy's head on track."
The room went awkwardly silent, and Felix was out of Harry's reach to try and save the situation.
"Come on, Hermione. The boys need rest, they have a game tomorrow."
The ladies left the room and short after Harry and Ron left no extra time to stay up and chat about what had happened that day.
The evening Quidditch game caused a rowdy buzz in the halls, a Ravenclaw and Gryffindor match was scheduled for after suppertime. This gave Dumbledore just enough time to summon Harry into his office to review the memory that Harry was able to receive. Ron and Hermione met Lia down at the Quidditch field so Ron could do a bit of practicing. Lucky enough for Ron, Lia was a seeker and knew a bit about keeping to help him brush off the rust from the holiday season. Lia knew that by lunchtime Harry would be done with Dumbledore so she kept Ron's refresh short and to the point. Ron showed much improvement from him last game, and even though still recovering from his poisoning, he showed a promising demeanor.
Lia flashed around the field a few times on Harry's broom, catching the snitch over and over, impressing Hermione and Ron without even trying.
"She's better than Harry." Ron whispered, putting his equipment away.
"I was thinking the same thing." Hermione chuckled back, helping Ron shut the Quiddich trunk.
Lia floated down and planted her two feet on the still rather yellow looking field. Her snitch folded its wings up into a tight ball, where she put it back into her pocket and ran toward Ron and Hermione.
"Harry should be back, yeah?" Lia walked off in front of them.
After placing Harry's boom back into his dented locker, the three made their way back up to the castle just in time for a late lunch. Ron snatched up a table where there was still a fresh batch of fish and chips and the end while Lia and Hermione grabbed drinks for the four of them. Hermione was especially impatient waiting for Harry to get back making that painfully clear by the way she tapped her foot against the solid marble flooring.
The Great Hall had only two other students gathering their late lunches along with the three waiting. It wasn't long until Harry strode in, with the same clunky sideways walk, fists clenched to his sides. Hermione waved manically, feeling a bit silly after she realized that there was no possible way Harry would not have been able to find them. Harry sat, looking rather shaken, without saying word.
"I saved you some fish, Harry." Ron gestured.
"I'm not really hungry right now, Ron." Harry politely declined.
"Harry…." Hermione empathized.
"Horcruxes."
The table went cold, they hadn't ever heard that word before, but it sent chills down their spines.
"He's got horcruxes."
Everyone anticipated Harry's explanation, but it clearly wasn't easy for him.
"Voldemort used the darkest types of magic to create Horcruxes. You keep a part of your soul in an artifact, so essentially as long as the artifact stays intact, you are immortal."
"How does one keep a part of their soul inside of something?" Ron asked with a mouthful of bread.
"By doing something horrible… like murder. It splits the soul, and a piece of it latches on to a nearby object."
"That ring that Dumbledore keeps in his desk, that's one isn't it?" Lia asked.
"Yeah, Tom Riddle's diary, the ring, Salazaar's locket, Helga Hufflepuff's cup, something of Rowena Ravenclaw's and a few more things that Dumbledore is still working on."
"So, once the Horcruxes are destroyed-"
"He can be killed." Harry added.
Only sounds of cups against tables could be heard in the Great Hall. Harry took leave again, Ron joining him soon after to get ready for the Quidditch game. Lia and Hermione knew they were going to have to leave early from the castle to get a decent seat at the game, but Lia couldn't leave in good conscious without even wishing Harry good luck. After bundling up, and painting their faces, the girls crossed the common room and Hermione and Ginny waited at the top of the stairs while Lia approached the wooden door. Ron was just exiting the dorm leaving the door cracked just enough for a beam of dim light to escape.
"He hasn't said a word. He's geared up, but hasn't spoken." Ron whispered, then disappeared down the hallway.
Lia went to push the door open, but something stopped her. Pressing her lips against the corner of the open door, Lia spoke softly into the open crease.
"Harry… I know this is a lot for you right now, but don't shut down. There is hope. There is always hope, don't forget that."
Not a mutter was returned before Lia took her leave and joined her group. The stands were roaring before the players took flight, and Gryffindor was exceptionally excited after hearing about Lia training with Ron and her natural abilities as a player. Luna joined the girls still wearing her lion hat, even though Gryffindor was playing against her own house. The players took stance on the field and the screams were deafening. Harry entered with his head toward the ground completely zoning out the hundreds of students screaming his name.
This game was the shortest game in Hogwarts history. Harry caught the snitch before the first point was even scored, and the player's brooms barely left the ground.