I hope all of the Americans had a lovely Independence day, and the Non-Americans have just had a lovely week over all!
The weekend had gone by rather quickly. It was Easter Sunday, and Mrs. Weasley had prepared enough food to feed all of Gryffindor. Hermione and Fred had tried to sneak off for their date after dinner, but he had been pulled into de-gnoming the garden, so Hermione had settled for playing exploding snaps with George, Remus, and Sirius.
As the game progressed, and it was clear that no one else was paying attention to them, they began to explain her situation to the elder men. Well, the modified version of her situation, which included a very vague description of falsified prophecy. It had been a long stretch, but it seemed neither of them had heard of her dislike for divination. She explained to them that she wouldn't be telling Harry, in case it wasn't fulfilled; there was simply no sense in worrying him. They seemed to understand fully, and promised they would make sure to stay in touch with Harry throughout the next few days.
Then came the hard part, explaining how she knew about the horcruxes. She had put a lot of thought into what she would say, but in the end, she went with telling them it was just a lucky guess.
"A guess?" Sirius said, an incredulous look on his face. "Then how do you know what he chose for his horcruxes? And how do you know theres six?"
She sighed, knowing they were too wise to take her for face value. "Well, the diary for one. I've researched horcruxes, when I was looking for ways he could have been resurrected. The reaction the diary had matched that of a destroyed horcrux. And I'm not entirely sure what he chose, I just have more guesses." She lied, hoping they were buying it.
"As for the amount, another guess," She winced at the look Sirius was giving her. "Six is a powerful number. There is dark magic in the number six, and those magical properties are more than enough reason to create six, if you already consider yourself the Dark Lord." This Sirius seemed to accept. She had decided to leave Harry out, because she knew there was no way she could explain knowing about it, and she was pretty sure she had it covered anyway.
Remus, on the other hand, seemed to trust her word for all of it. "What were you thinking they could be? Other than the diary, of course."
She smiled at him gratefully. "Well, most likely things that are important to him. Perhaps something of his family's. Probably not the Riddles, but the Gaunts. I'm not sure if they had anything that would be matter to him-"
"They do! The Gaunt family ring! It can be traced back to Salazar himself!" Sirius said, proud of his own knowledge of pure-blood families, for once.
Hermione nodded, "It's a good possibility, then. Also, I think there's something else of Slytherin's that he may have used. Remember the locket we found that no one could open?"
Sirius's jaw dropped, "Of course. Leave it to my brother to be stashing something like that!" He huffed.
She continued, "And clearly, his snake. Not only is the snake his close companion, of sorts, he always has it with him." The men seemed openly surprised by how much thought Hermione had put into this, but then again they didn't know that she had already destroyed the horcruxes, and so she had prior knowledge.
"And then he would also use items that people wouldn't think to look for. Things that had been lost, or forgotten. When you guys think of lost things, what do you think of?"
George grinned wildly, "The Ravenclaw diagram thingy! Luna told me about it once, and no one's been able to find it for centuries! That'd be perfect!" Hermione grinned back at him. She hadn't told George what the Horcruxes were, and she was proud he had been able to figure it out on his own.
"That's what I was thinking, too! But it's a diadem. And I'm fairly sure I've seen it in the Room of Requirement."
"So then there's one more." Remus said. "Any idea what it might be?"
Hermione grimaced, "Not really, no. I was thinking probably something of Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, since he had used something from Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Do you guys have any ideas?" Please guess, please guess, please, please please...
They seemed to be pushing idea's around in their head.
Sirius sat back, "Well if it had been from Gryffindor, it would have been the sword, and if it had been from Ravenclaw it would have to be the goblet." He shrugged. "That's all I've got."
Remus shook his head, "It can't be the sword, Harry used it to kill the basilisk, it would be infused with its venom. And since that's what destroyed the diary I think it's safe to say the sword, if it had been a horcrux, would have been destroyed as well. Besides, Voldemort hated Gryffindor... No, it would have to be the goblet, I'm almost sure of it."
"Well, personally I don't see why we have to let Dumbledore have all the fun. I have the locket back at Grimmauld Place... Why can't Remus and I destroy it?"
Hermione had been impressed with how quickly that had accepted her "idea" as fact, and how they put things together so simply. "Well, I don't suppose you have a basilisk hanging around, do you?" Hermione said. "Because that's the only way I know to destroy them."
Sirius shook his head. "Didn't you hear Remus just now? The sword. Dumbledore left it at my house when it first became a headquarter for the Order. We'll use that."
Hermione nodded slowly, as if just considering this. "That... that could work..."
"And the diadem. Get that from the Room of Requirement if you can. We'll owl Dumbledore about the rest when we've taken care of the locket." Remus said, as he threw down another card on the pile. Just as he did the entire stack exploded, ending their game. He sighed, "It's probably about time to get you lot back to school anyway."
Hermione and George nodded, then went up stairs to gather their things. "So, you and Luna, then?" Hermione asked casually.
George nodded. "She's... different than all the rest, you know?"
She thought of Fred, and the way he made her feel. "Different I understand," She said nodding.
George laughed. "Stop that. I can practically hear you thinking about Freddie." Hermione's jaw dropped and she slapped George on the shoulder.
"No I wasn't!" She tried to deny it, but her voice was strangled.
"Yes, you were! Anyone can see how he gets to you!" George taunted, but in a warm voice.
"I am not that obvious, George!" Her face was slightly flushed at being caught.
"You so are! Your face gets all peaceful, and your voice gets all dreamy. It's sickening, really." She would have been offended, but she knew he was only teasing.
"Oi! At least I don't blubber around when I try to talk to him, unlike someone." George blushed.
"That was only once! And it wasn't my fault! I was testing out a new product, and it made my tongue swell! Luna just happened to be around before the swelling went down!"
Hermione snorted, "Right. I'm so sure that's what it was." She grinned as he huffed playfully.
"Meanie." He stuck his tongue out and crossed his arms over his chest..
"You look like a toddler when you do that," She teased.
"You look like a toddler when you do that," George mimicked in a snotty voice, before dropping his arms and laughing.
Hermione couldn't remember the last time she had laughed like that with Ron or Harry.
When did George become my best friend?
She shook her head, as if to shake away the thought, and pushed him into his and Fred's room, before continuing up to Ginny's. Hermione really should have started packing earlier, but the day had been so-well, happy, that Hermione couldn't bare to end it earlier than she had to. Though tomorrow was bound to end badly, just as it had before, Hermione tried to ignore the gut wrenching feeling in her stomach. She had done all she could, the rest would have to be left to fate. And fate, Hermione had always said, was a load of crap.
Well, yes I have had this written for awhile, but I've just been too busy to post it! Sorry dears! But its up now! And thank you all for understanding about my job! I'm going to try to write on my days off, and then post once a week, but I'm not sure if that will work.