Author's Notes: I gave up most internet activity for Lent. Since I didn't give up writing the stories though, I think I'll get through more chapters here in the coming weeks. No promises, but the shift in time already prompted the completion of this chapter.

Chapter 14: Fire and Ice

Hermione was sitting alone in the common room. She was still having the dreams about her parents being killed and try as she might, she couldn't shake them. She hated them and understood now why Ron often seemed reluctant to push hard on the memory charms.

"You're up early." Hermione turned and saw Ron there.

"I could say the same," Hermione replied. "What are you doing up?"

Ron shook his head. "Just nightmares. Since we started back on the charms, I have them almost every night."

Hermione breathed hard. "I have them now too."

Hermione could see sadness in Ron face. She didn't understand it. "You've had to deal with them longer than me."

Ron sat beside her. "Bad enough one of us has them. I was hoping you wouldn't have them too. I mean Ginny has them sometimes too, but not like me."

Hermione asked, "What happened in yours?" Quickly she added, "If you don't mind me asking."

Ron shook his head. "I remember the night everything went to hell."

Hermione said, "The Battle of Hogwarts."

Ron said, "Yeah. You remember it?"

Hermione thought hard. Something seemed vaguely familiar, but that was all the further it went. She shook her head. "No. I think I just remember what Ginny told us. Do you?"

Ron looked up. "Pieces of it. I remember seeing Harry dead. I also remember asking someone about Mum and the others and..." Ron took a breath. "After I woke up, I kept looking at Harry. A part of me just didn't believe he was alive. I almost wrote to Mum too."

Hermione nodded understanding. "I kept wanting to be with my parents over Christmas. I know I led to their death."

Ron looked at her with confusion. "What?"

"That's what I wanted to figure out. I kept dreaming about Death Eaters killing them in our house. I wasn't sure at first it was real, but I keep having the dream."

Hermione could feel tears building up. She looked away and put a hand to her eyes.

They sat in silence for a minute and then Ron put his hand on Hermione's shoulder to get her to turn around. "Hermione, that's not real. I mean, I don't think it is."

Angrily Hermione pulled her arm away. She knew that, but he of all people should know that didn't make any difference. "I know it's not going to happen, but it still feels real."

"No. I mean I don't think it happened. You got them out of the country somehow... You put a spell on them."

Hermione looked him straight in the eyes, wanting to believe him but not sure she could. "I did what?"

"You made them leave before Voldemort took over. We can ask Ginny to be sure, but I'm almost positive on that. I was the only one of the three of us with family left here when we started looking for the Horcruxes and..."

Now it was Ron's turn to look away. He stared at the fire. Hermione considered things for herself. She both wanted so much to believe Ron and at the same time knew that if he was right, she was failing miserably with the memory charms. She'd get flashes here and there, but if even the nightmares she thought were memories were fake then she hadn't made much progress. Ron was a lot further even though he only seemed to be half trying.

Hermione looked at Ron and saw the weariness there. He'd come back from Christmas looking refreshed. She'd seen that, but two weeks back with memory charms and it was very clear he wasn't sleeping much. He hadn't exactly been doing well in his classes either. She thought back to last year when she thought she had repressed memories and was using a memory charm to bring back the worst of her memories. He didn't look all that much better than she guessed she had. He hid it a little better, but she was starting to see beyond the surface in him a little better.

Before Hermione knew what she was doing, she put her arms around Ron and hugged him. "I'm sorry you have to go through all of this. If mine are just dreams, yours must be worse."

Ron was kind of startled, but gently hugged back. After a few moments,Hermione let go and they both looked away from each other a little embarrassed.

Both went back to bed and Ron, much to his surprise, was able to go back to sleep.

The fire grew bigger. Percy said, "Let's try bringing it down just a little."

Together, him and Ginny managed to shrink the fire. Next they moved it to the side. This part was really getting easy now. The trick had been learning to control it so you didn't get a lot of normal fires all over the place. The Fireling fire didn't look any different from normal fire and would quickly turn into a normal fire if the spell wasn't kept going. If regular fires started spreading around the room, it would be easy to loose track of which was which and would probably also mean things would get hot enough that they would have to leave.

Despite the difficulties though, Ginny didn't think they were going to get any better. "I think we are ready."

Percy shook his head. "I don't know. That room is really big with a lot of flammable material. Keeping just this fire isn't going to be easy."

Ginny said, "No, but spending another month practicing isn't going to get us much more ready than now."

Percy sighed, but agreed. "Saturday?"

Ginny shook her head. "Saturday is quidditch. I don't want to do this tired. Sunday?"

Percy nodded.

Hermione hurried up to Harry and Ron as they were heading for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Two years of knowing her meant both of them knew she was almost bursting waiting to tell them something.

Hermione reached them, but before she said anything, Ron said, "Hi Hermione. I wanted to tell you about the lecture in History of Magic yesterday. I think I slept through half of it, but all the same it was the most..."

Hermione ignored Ron as he knew she would. Quietly, but definitely with excitement, Hermione said, "It is the Diadem of Ravenclaw we are looking for. Harry, you, well the other you was right about that, and I know how he figured it out. It really was genius."

"Thanks," Harry said, not quite sure how to take the compliment for something he'd never done.

Ron looked around and saw no one very near by, but decided this should be quick in open spaces. "How?"

"I talked to the Grey Lady. It took a long time to convince her to talk, but I got enough out of her to verify that it's almost certainly the diadem You-Know-Who was using."

Harry said, "What about the Room of Requirement?"

Hermione shook her head and slowed down a little to give them some extra time. "Nothing from her suggested that. I think the other you may have just guessed that because the room was perfect for hiding, but also almost forgotten."

Ron looked around again. They were going to be late for class given how much they had slowed down, but he was in no rush to hear Lockhart speak anyway. He said, "Ginny and Percy say they'll use the Fireling fire Sunday so we should know for sure if we missed it in there somewhere."

Harry added, "Sirius is coming to see the game Saturday. He got special permission. Him and Fred and George plan on looking around the castle together to see if there are any hidden rooms all three might remember. If it's not in the Room of Requirement, maybe they'll figure out another room it could be in."

Hermione said, "Good. Maybe we can figure this one out soon."

Harry landed to thunderous applause. The snitch had seemed really quick today, but Ravenclaw's new seeker, Cho Chang had never been closer to the snitch than he had been. The score had been completely lopsided, but if Slytherin beat Hufflepuff (which should be a given), the game between the two would decide the championship.

As he hit the ground he looked around. He saw Sirius in the stands. That felt special in a way he really didn't understand. He saw Ginny coming down beside him and told her she did great on one of the scores. He'd accidentally almost blocked it heading for the snitch, but she'd found a way around and scored still.

It was past curfew, but Sirius, Fred, George, and Harry were walking around the castle. Sirius used the invisibility cloak as he wasn't technically supposed to be here while Fred and George used the Marauder's Map to keep them away from everyone. They were slowly walking through the castle.

Walking around the 7th floor, Sirius asked, "So where is this Room of Requirement?"

Harry pointed out its location.

Out of everyone's view, Sirius shook his head. "Don't know how we missed that one. If the House-elves used it, we should have figured it out."

Sirius stopped walking and Fred bumped into him. Fred said, "Watch it. We can't see you remember?"

Sirius ignored him. He pulled off the cloak and became visible to everyone.

George said, "What are you doing?"

Sirius walked up to the wall opposite the Room of Requirement and put his hand on it. "Do you two ever remember there being a door here?"

The twins exchanged glances. Fred said, "I've never seen one."

George said, "If there was, it was before we really learned the layout of the school."

Harry said, "What do you remember?"

Sirius laughed. "It just seemed so unimportant at the time."

Simultaneously, the 3 boys said, "What?"

Sirius looked around the hall and smiled, reliving old memories. "James and I were out 4th year at night. We... well James found out Lily was going to sneak out and meet with a boy."

Harry said, "Really? My mum sneaked out?"

Sirius nodded. "It wasn't like her at all and I never heard of her doing it again. We never did find out exactly why she did. Our imaginations, especially James', went places of course."

Fred said, "What happened?"

"We looked where we had heard she'd be, but didn't run into her again until she got back to Gryffindor Tower. James was mad like he always was when Lily was around Snape, but she wouldn't say anything."

Fred said, "Harry's mum..."

George finished, "and Snape."

Harry couldn't say anything at all.

Sirius tried to explain quickly. "Lily and Snape knew each other before Hogwarts."

Finally Harry got out. "My mum and Snape were friends?"

They were clearly to a topic Sirius didn't care for. "I guess you could call them that at that point. They got along well when they were younger and barely at all when they were older. James was jealous for awhile, especially around then."

Harry said, "You guys..."

Sirius said, "The point is that on that night, when we were heading back to the tower, James asked me if I saw a door here. I tried to remember and vaguely remembered walking past something here, but our minds weren't focused on that then. When we checked back later, it wasn't there so we guessed we'd just imagined it."

Ginny was pacing around the common room Sunday morning. Sirius and the twins had been all around the castle yesterday and while they had combined stories to guess the locations of a few possible hidden rooms, there was no reason to believe the Horcrux was in any of them and all would take work to figure out. Ginny desperately hoped today would end the search for this Horcrux and none of that would be necessary.

Ron, up surprisingly early, walked up to her and handed her a couple pieces of fruit. "Figured you'd need some breakfast. What's wrong?"

Ginny said, "Nothing."

Ron looked around and then said, "I thought you'd be happy. Finally figuring out for sure if it's in Room of Requirement."

Ginny shook her head. "Maybe. It just...It's beginning to feel like last summer all over again. I spent so much time preparing so that the we'd get that diary and it may have messed everything up. Now, we've literally spent more than half the school year looking in that room and there's a good chance it's not there."

Ron looked down, obviously having similar feeling. "I know, but maybe it's hidden in something and we just missed it. Voldemort would do something like that."

Ginny nodded. "Yeah I know and maybe Hermione is wrong about it being the diadem at all and it's something else in the room we haven't checked yet."

Ron looked skeptical of that to put it mildly. "The Grey Lady told You-Know-Who about the diadem."

Defensively Ginny said, "It could be something else though. The Grey Lady's story fits with Voldemort, but he might have found another object in Romania too and used it instead. Maybe the diadem he thought was too important to turn into a Horcrux."

Ron didn't say anything and Ginny finally sighed and said, "I just hope all that time in there hasn't been a waste."

Ron said, "It hasn't been. Even if it's not there, we'll know now. It was the natural place to start looking and a hard one to figure out for sure. Now we know."

That didn't make Ginny feel much better, but she appreciated the effort. It also occurred to her that this felt very different than the 12 year old Ron she remembered before. Ginny hugged Ron, which prompted a few laughs from students on the other side of the room. Ginny ignored it. She looked at the time and started walking to leave the tower. Percy was getting done with prefect duties and should be meeting her shortly.

As she walked out of Gryffindor tower and left the fat lady behind, she realized she had a crowd walking quickly to catch up to her. Harry, Ron, Hermione and the twins were following her. She turned to them. "You guys don't have to come."

"You think we'd miss this?" said Ron.

Ginny said, "This isn't an easy thing to control."

Fred said, "All the more reason we should be there."

Harry added, "If there is trouble, better that we are there to help."

Ginny didn't like it and knew Percy wasn't going to either, but she didn't feel like she could fight it, not when a part of her was angry for being left out herself. "OK, but stay toward the door. If you guys are all around the room, it's going to make it harder for us and I don't want any of you burned."

As the group sat, Percy gave a speech basically telling them everything Ginny just had.

Fred and George scoffed, but Ginny nodded. She wasn't expecting any problems, but with all this fire around, someone could certainly get burnt if they were out of place.

When Percy was done, he looked to all the giant piles. They had individually checked a lot of items, but were barely half way through still. If all went well, they'd know by the end of today if the diadem (or anything else that could be a Horcrux) was here at all.

Ginny and Percy exchanged glances. Without a word between them, together they said, "Relvente touch."

Fire jumped from their wands into a section in the corner of the room. They kept their distance and kept the fire hot trying to burn through the pile quickly. On the edges, it started to turn to normal fire and spread and it took all their concentration to keep that in check. Ginny realized, this was going to be a longer process than she wanted.

As time went, they gradually increased the size of the fires. While it made both the users nervous, it also made things go quicker.

Percy said, "I think we've gone far enough with direct control."

Ginny said, "I'm not sure. When we let go it turns to regular fire pretty quick."

Percy said, "It doesn't matter. We'll let it burn itself out and start again if we need to."

Ginny nodded. Most the remaining items were toward the front of the room and it was getting hot working with them. She needed a break. They'd leave the fires and then come back and search through the items that survived.

Together, Ginny and Percy gave one last big push to the fire and it expanded greatly.

Percy let go of his spell and was turning to the others. Ginny was about to when the fire hit an item with a particularly strong curse on it.

A great light sprung toward her. Ginny started to duck, but by the time she realized what was going on, she knew it would do no good.

At the last minute, a body pushed her out of the way and she hit the ground hard.

It took a minute for Ginny to come to. She was sweating profusely from all the fires. Her right leg was bleeding a lot having hit something sharp and her head was pounding. She stood up quickly, and fell back down. No one caught her and she banged her already bleeding knee hard. She got back up grimacing, but ignoring the pain. She looked to where she had been standing. Everyone was gathered around someone on the ground and speaking quickly.

Ginny panicked. What had she done? She got back up and ignoring the pounding in her head and in her leg made it to the group. She looked to who had saved her and on the ground, not moving at all, was Harry. His face was purple.

Frantically Ginny said, "Is he OK?"

Fred and George started lifting him up. Percy said, "Careful. We don't know what that was. It may spread to you."

Hermione said, "Maybe we should use a lifting charm."

Ron said, "Should someone go ahead?"

Images of the older Harry being left in this very room sprang forth in Ginny's mind. She screamed, "IS HE ALIVE?"

Hermione turned to her for a second. "Yes, but his breathing is pretty light."

Ron took Harry's feet, while the twins took his midsection and head. Ginny tried to help, but realized she was just in the way. She rushed forward as quick as she could and opened the door.

The group left the Room of Requirement and started walking down the hall. The first person they saw wasn't the one Ginny would have picked.

Lockhart said, "What is this?" He saw Harry. "He needs medical attention immediately." Lockhart pulled out his wand.

Ginny pulled out her own and pointed it at him. "Don't even think about it."

He stood stunned for a second and said, "Highly inappropriate. 10 points from Gryffindor. I know what I'm doing here I assure you. Just like in Hungry 3 years ago."

Ginny didn't drop her wand and everyone was still walking.

Lockhart conceded. "OK let's get him to the hospital wing."

The group was forced to stay outside as Madame Pomfrey worked. Dumbledore and Snape also quickly walked inside. Ginny was left with nothing but her thoughts, and as the shock slowly lifted away, she didn't want them. Why had she let the whole group be in the room? There was nothing they could do to help. Heck why hadn't she just told Dumbledore this idea and let him do it?

Dumbledore walked outside. Everyone turned to him. He didn't wait for questions. "Harry will be fine. He will be weak for awhile, but he will live."

Ginny first felt great relief as everyone cheered. After that passed, it went back to regret. "Shall live" meant it had been bad.

Dumbledore stood deliberately in-front of the door. He said, "I'm afraid Madam Pomfrey will not be allowing visitors for some time." Loud protests could be heard. Dumbledore ignored them. "Please return to Gryffindor tower."

Protests continued for a moments, but as Dumbledore stood there and didn't respond, the group started to head up. Ron looked at Ginny. Before he said anything though, Dumbledore said, "I believe that in the excitement, Ginny's injured leg was missed. Please come with me Miss Weasley."

Gratefully, Ginny followed Dumbledore into the hospital wing. As she walked, she became vaguely conscious of the fact she did have a bit of a limp and her leg still did feel pretty bad.

Ginny looked to Harry and saw Madame Pomfrey with him on the other side of the hall saying some spells. He looked like he was under a sleeping potion now. Madame Pomfrey looked up as they entered, but Dumbledore told her not to rush.

As Dumbledore helped Ginny to a bed, he asked, "Are you OK Miss Weasley?"

Ginny looked at Harry, unable to move her eyes away. "Am I OK? I just got Harry seriously hurt."

Dumbledore sat beside her. "It is regrettable what happened. It does however not do good to dwell on it. Harry will be alright."

Ginny said, "How bad was it?"

Dumbledore looked away considering something. "I am technically not supposed to say anything about a students' medical condition to another student." Ginny started to interrupt, but Dumbledore raised his hand. "Given circumstances, I will say to you though."

Ginny listened closely, scared at what he was going to say. He said, "The curse that hit Harry was designed to stay in the body until it killed him."

Ginny gasped. "It's still in him?"

Dumbledore continued. "Do not worry about that. As I said, he will live. The spell was powerful, but old and weakened. We have been weakening its effects with spells and potions of our own as well. With some luck, we'll have him back to normal soon."

Ginny said, "But you don't know if you can get rid of it entirely?"

Dumbledore paused. "Madame Pomfrey is not sure. Even if we can't it will be manageable until it dissipates naturally in a year or two. A few extra potions should keep it under control."

Ginny put her head down feeling defeated.

Dumbledore said, "Your plan was sound. There were very few curses that would be able to defend against a Fireling spell. It's an old and difficult spell, but it is also one difficult to adapt against."

Ginny didn't say anything and the plan was anything but sound. Dumbledore said, "Madame Pomfrey will be here in a minute. If there is anything I can get you, let me know."

Dumbledore got up. Quietly, Ginny said, "You guys were right. I'll quit fighting."

Dumbledore looked at her. "Right about what?"

Ginny never looked up, just stared at the floor. "This whole year, I've felt like I've been left out, but no matter what I remember, I'm just a stupid kid. I'll leave the rest to the adults."

Dumbledore sat back down. "Please, look at me Ginny."

Ginny kept looking down. After a full 30 seconds of silence she finally glanced up at him, but without much concentration. Dumbledore said, "Even though your mother would not be trilled to know I'm saying this, I don't think that would be proper. I do still expect you, your siblings, and your friends to locate the Horcrux hidden at Hogwarts."

Percy finally sighed and gave up. He'd been the last. He'd wanted to find it, wanted the month preparing the curse fire for this room to be worth it. "Sorry guys. You're right. It's not here."

Author's Note: As I've put before/after some chapters since the beginning, the details of Ravenclaw's Diadem would be changed from the book. I should note though that everything else remains the same.

Note #2: The next chapter will probably be titled the Calm Before the Storm. While I'm not as happy with my writing of this year as I was with year #1 (especially Ron and Hermione as I feel I've let them searching for memories be too big a part of their roles too long), I think the climax of this year will be better than year 1. At the very least, it will be longer and there will be important and separate roles for all the main characters. Year 3 will be the last in this story, but I haven't decided just how long it will be. It's very possible the whole story climax will not be at the end of the school year. Like with the differences between year 1 and 2, the story will change directions a lot going into year 3.

Thank you guys for the reviews. Anyone who likes it, please continue to review (good and bad).

omega13a: Thank you for the review, and very good point about Fudge. I honestly had forgotten that. It's been too long since I've read the books and will have to get back to them to try to avoid/explain those details better. I guess my reasoning will be that while maybe he was there and in charge when Sirius was arrested, the decision to avoid using veritaserum in cases was done at a higher level (possibly to protect people like Malfoy). Fudge, in releasing Sirius, would explain that he felt uneasy at the time and now gets the chance to correct for past injustices of a poor Minister of Magic.

Lywick: I forgot that Harry opened it first (it really has been too long since I've read the books). It feels to me like the venom on the knife should still be able to penetrate, but you're right I should have caught that fact. It would have been perfect for getting the kids there, which was otherwise something I couldn't justify.