"Listen, guys." Said Hermione, as she paced around the shack.

Ron, who was chewing on a particularly disgusting Bertie's Every Flavour Bean, looked up.

Harry looked up as well, his hand closed tightly over the snitch Dumbledore had given him.

"Time is running out. We need to find a way to get into Hogwarts before it's too late."

Harry sighed. "We can't just get up one day and expect to be let through into the school, without any repercussions. We'll need some sort of plan, but so far, we have no way to sneak in anyways."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to try! We've been cooped up in this shack for about a week, we need to do something!"

Ron spit out the jelly bean, grimacing at the yellowish green glob in his hand. "I reckon we should just get to the station, first." He said.

Hermione glanced up towards the ceiling thoughtfully. "You know...that isn't such a bad idea..."

"That isn't such a bad idea?!" Harry argued. "I'm sure they're there, waiting for us to get to the station and attempt to sneak into Hogwarts. Vol-...Tom's not that stupid you know."

"But, we can't stay here forever and wait for the perfect moment, Harry! We still have other Horcruxes, and the more we wait, the more he gains power. Regardless, I'm sure he's known for quite a while that we're hunting Horcruxes—there's no point in denying it." She added, as Harry opened his mouth to protest.

"Bet he's already looking for you now; right at this moment!" Ron chimed in, reaching for a seemingly harmless pink bean from the bag.

Harry fingered the Snitch in his hand, lost in thought. "Maybe I should just try to reach him—and see what exactly he's doing right now...then we can find out if-"

"Harry, no!" Hermione shouted, looking as if she wanted to shake the notion out of him. "That's exactly what he wants!"

"There's no time to worry about that! I agree, we need to get into Hogwarts, but it'd be better if we know exactly what we're up against, wouldn't it?" he reasoned.

"That doesn't sound safe, mate." Ron replied. "Remember what happened in 5th year?"

Harry shot him a look. He knew exactly what Ron was referring to, and he hated that Ron had made the accusation. It'd been haunting him ever since Sirius died, and he definitely did not need Ron to bring it back up. But he sighed, nonetheless. "Alright, alright. We can go to the station. But we'll need the map, to make sure there are no prying eyes." He pointed to the Marauder's Map which he'd flung sleepily on his bed earlier.

"Excellent!" said Hermione, a pleased gleam in her eyes.

This time, Harry exchanged a knowing look with Ron, who grinned back. They both knew that this was the first time Hermione seemed excited about something in a while...even though to most, her endeavors would actually be quite frightening.

She chewed her lip thoughtfully. "Perhaps we should put all of our things in my bag, for now. We wouldn't want to leave everything here—especially if we successfully get to Hogwarts. Are we heading out now?"

Ron blinked.

"I guess so." Harry replied. "There's no need in putting it off, now that we have a plan."

Ron blinked again. "What?...So that's it? That's all we had to do?"

Harry shrugged, and Hermione nodded, as though she were saying "Honestly, Ronald!" in the back of her mind.

"I believe it would be best if we Apparate underneath the invisibility cloak." She suggested.

Harry brought it out from somewhere underneath his bed. "Are you sure we can all fit underneath this?" he asked skeptically.

"I'm sure no one will pay attention to our feet!" Ron piped up.

"We could always cast a Disillusionment Charm on ourselves. That way no one could see our feet anyways." Said Hermione.

Harry nodded. "That's brilliant, Hermione." Yet, he shuddered a bit as he remembered the strange sensation of the Disillusionment Charm when Mad-Eye first introduced him to Grimmauld Place. 'Mad-Eye...' he suddenly felt a twinge of guilt and remorse.

He felt Hermione nudge him. "Harry...?"

"Oh, right. Here." He handed over the Marauder's map, as well as a jacket he'd worn the previous night; and she stowed it away in her bag.

"Alright then!" she said briskly. "It's all settled then."

"Finally..." Ron complained, and Hermione rolled her eyes. "As if you could come up with a plan, Ronald..." she responded airily, punctuating her words with a tap on each of their heads, and ending with a flourish of her wand towards herself.

"What was that?" Harry inquired.

Hermione unfolded the invisibility cloak, and covered the three of them as best as she could. "The spell is altered slightly, when one casts it upon herself." She answered. "Merlin, Ron, you're getting so tall!"

"Oi!" said Ron.

"Alright...remember to hold on to the invisibility cloak, and close the door after you step out, okay?" Hermione warned them, opening the door slowly. "The enchantments will lift once all of us leave, and there's no one left to protect the area."

They stepped out at once, Ron holding his nose to prevent himself from sneezing.

"I'm going to Apparate now..." Hermione whispered. "Do you two have everything; just to make sure?"

Ron sighed in annoyance, and Harry countered with, "Just do it, Hermione!"

"Alright, alright!" she hissed. "Wait, before we-"

"NOW!" Harry and Ron bellowed at the same time, the latter almost knocking the cloak off himself.

"Very subtle, Potter."

They all halted, Hermione feeling an urge to choke the two exasperating boys beside her. And then she looked up at their imposter.

Ron groaned. "Oh, bloody hell."


Author's Note- I wonder who that could be...anyways, when I'm uploading it, it's still Harry's birthday, so...HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY! (And J.K. Rowling, the wonderful author of the world I post fanfiction under as we speak.) Also, do any of you have a Pottermore? Because I do, and we all got a pleasant surprise this morning when both the rest of the Prisoner of Azkaban and the new formatting updated. The thing is though, the dueling kind of sucks now. :( Legit, you're lucky if you get like 60 points on a spell; it's so difficult. Ah, well, I suppose I'll have to earn housepoints by making potions and collecting random, and mostly useless, crap. Hmm...well that escalated quickly! LOL Goodnight everyone, I hope you had a great day, and that you liked the chapter! Some Dramione goodness to come, I pinky promise! :)