There are sections of this chapter that go against canon in HBP. I know I had said that this was canon compliant up until the end of the sixth book/movie, whatever, but turns out my mind changed. Sorry about that!

I don't own Harry Potter.

…

That Tuesday, most of the members of the DA had managed to cast their first silent stunner. They spent most of the lesson perfecting that skill, and then Harry told them – with Hermione translating –what they would be working on next.

"Does anyone remember one of the tactics I used in my duel against Hermione in the first DADA class of this term?"

"Well…you used a shield…" Parvati said, obviously trying to recall the duel in more detail and being frustrated that she couldn't remember more.

"He evened the playing field," Padma said, standing beside her twin. When everyone turned to look at her, and Harry gave her an encouraging nod, she continued. "Well, since Harry's…well…mute, he made Hermione's tongue stick to the roof of her mouth so she couldn't speak incantations either. That way, both of them could only cast spells silently."

"Right. I did that because I knew that without being able to speak incantations, Hermione's repertoire of spells would be greatly reduced. Furthermore, I had been working on silent magic all summer, and had by then recovered the ability to cast most of the spells I had already learned."He paused, giving Hermione a moment to finish her translation, and then got to his main point. "Most witches and wizards have only a very basic knowledge, if any knowledge, of silent magic. Most never have to fight; why bother with practicing silent magic if most of the magic you use will be household spells? There is just no sense in spending hours of time practicing something you have no use for.

"But in a duel, if you can't cast a good number of spells silently, and your opponent finds a way to silence you…you're in trouble. You won't be able to fight back effectively, and you won't be able to cast the counter-curse for whatever silenced you in the first place. So, next meeting, we will be practicing multiple curses that silence an opponent, as well as their counter-curses. I'd like you all to do some research on curses that manage this, whether they are simple jinxes or curses that…" Harry paused, closing his eyes to bring his thoughts back together. "…have more permanent effects."Harry took a deep breath, seeing all the sympathetic looks he was receiving. "Try to find their counter-curses – if there is one, mind you - as well. Next meeting we'll go over what everyone has found."

…

Quidditch practice was satisfying, to say the least. Harry had scheduled it right after the DA meeting. After remembering the night his life had changed so drastically, Harry loved the chance to forget about it by focusing fully on his death-defying aerial stunts.

Another boost to his spirits was that one of his newest chasers, Brianna, had apparently dedicated herself to learning Harry's language. She greeted him with a signed, "What are we doing today?"

Harry had grinned, and thanked her for caring enough to want to know BSL. Meanwhile, the rest of the team apart from Ron and Ginny looked on, somewhat bemused, as Harry and Brianna carried out an entirely silent conversation.

Later, Harry heard from Hermione that the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team had shown up at her sign language group, not wanting to be left out of any conversations. Another thought amongst the team members was that it might come in handy for mid-game planning without the other team finding out what they were saying.

It had made Harry quite happy.

…

Ollivander's Attacked!

By Rita Skeeter

Yesterday evening, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named launched a surprise attack in Diagon Alley, causing untold damage to storefronts and killing over a dozen witches and wizards, with many others injured. Witnesses say that You-Know-Who was there himself, posing the question – what was so important that the Dark Lord deemed it necessary for him to involve himself in the attack?

His main target seems to have been Ollivander's wand shop, as it was this well-respected store that took the most damage, with the front of the store being severely damaged by fire and many unsold wands having been destroyed. The most alarming fact of this particular attack, however, is that Garrick Ollivander is missing. Witnesses saw the death eaters taking a wizard – his face covered by a sack – by Apparition from outside the wand shop. Aurors suspect that the captive was indeed Mr. Ollivander, but have no leads on why You-Know-Who kidnapped the renowned wand-maker.

The Minister gave a statement this morning: "Although there are currently no leads as to where the Death Eaters took Mr. Ollivander, the Ministry is not daunted. The damages to Diagon Alley are already being repaired, and measures are being taken to ensure the future safety of the occupants of the alley. Please rest assured that the Ministry is doing everything in its power to prevent another attack such as this."

Pius Thicknesse, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, also assured us that his aurors are doing everything they can to track down Garrick Ollivander and will be patrolling Diagon Alley more heavily in the coming months to help prevent future attacks.

For a list of deaths caused by this attack, see the next page.

For more information on Garrick Ollivander, see pg. 4.

For more information on Minister Rufus Scrimgeor, see pg. 7.

For more Information on Pius Thicknesse, see pg. 8.

…

"This is the first major attack from Voldemort in weeks," Hermione mused as she scanned over the paper one more time.

"Why would he want Ollivander?" Ginny asked. "Ollivander is too old to be a fighter, and he has no position in the Ministry or Hogwarts."

"Maybe You-Know-Who needs information about his wand?" Ron wondered. "Wouldn't that be great, You-Know-Who's wand malfunctioning."

"He probably wants to figure out how he can circumvent the link between my wand and his. Although, why he waited this long to try to get the information from Ollivander, I don't know,"Harry signed.

"You're probably right," Hermione agreed. "I just hope Mr. Ollivander is alright."

…

"Ouch! Watch where you're stepping!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't bloody see where my feet are, let alone yours!"

"It's not too hard, Ronald, just walk in a straight line and you'll manage it!"

Hermione and Ron were bickering again, and although Harry usually didn't mind it, right now it was grating on his nerves. Is this what they do every patrol they go on together?

They were out in the castle corridors, looking for horcruxes. Of course, to anyone else it looked as if Hermione and Ron were simply patrolling, as all prefects did. No one could see Harry, hidden beneath his invisibility cloak, trailing behind his less-than-subtle friends.

Harry sighed inaudibly and made certain that there was no one else around. Then, he freed an arm from his cloak and pulled the hood off his head. He got Ron and Hermione's attention by tapping their shoulders.

They turned, momentarily forgetting their argument, and stared at Harry curiously.

He put a finger to his lips and then glared, wishing he could have just shushed them. But of course, he had to risk being seen in order to try to tell them to be quiet.

"Sorry mate." Ron said, thankfully much quieter. Harry replaced his cloak after one last glare, and they continued down the corridor in silence.

Hermione's position as Head Girl certainly came in handy, Harry mused, as she and the Head Boy, Anthony Goldstein of Ravenclaw, were the ones who organized the prefect patrols. Because of that, Hermione was able to organize many patrols in which she and Ron were paired up, and that frequented remote parts of the castle. Anthony's only suspicion about her odd plans were that she and Ron were secretly having nighttime snogging sessions, and he cheerily worked around Hermione's preferred plans, teasing her all along, much to her irritation.

It made Harry especially grateful that it hadn't been a sour Slytherin who had been awarded the position of Head Boy.

This midnight search of the castle was their fourth attempt to find anything remotely related to horcruxes within the castle. They had already searched the trophy room, the practically abandoned third-floor corridor nearby where they had found Fluffy in their first year, the dungeons, and the myriad of abandoned classrooms near the Ravenclaw Tower.

Now they were wandering the seventh floor, occasionally stopping to ask the portraits if there were any secretive or abandoned areas nearby.

Mostly, the replies they got weren't very positive.

They were about to turn around to head back to the Gryffindor Tower when Ron, surprisingly, had an idea.

"What about the Room of Requirement?"

The question, sudden and unexpected in the silence of the darkened corridor, caused Hermione and Harry both to stop in their tracks.

"How would the room help us find a horcrux?" Hermione asked.

"Well, it's supposed to give you what you need, right? So if we tell it we need to find a horcrux in Hogwarts, maybe it will show us where to look."

Hermione and Harry both stared at Ron, both wondering why they hadn't thought of something so simple before.

"It's worth a shot. If it doesn't work, at least we will have scratched another option off the list," Hermione said.

"You good, Harry?" Ron asked, looking vainly around to make sure that Harry was indeed there and had heard their plans. Harry poked a hand out from the cloak and gave his friends a thumbs-up.

"Right. We'll have to be quick, though, Ernie and Hannah will be along soon to take over our patrol," Hermione warned.

They made it to the Room of Requirement and Harry quickly opened it, repeating, we need to find the horcrux in Hogwartsin his head. The doors appeared and the three slipped inside, closing the door softly behind them.

What greeted them was a cavernous room filled with piles of junk. From books, to furniture, to jewelry, to bird cages, anything you could think of was resting in dusty piles towering yards above them. Hermione and Ron looked around curiously, having never seen this particular form of the Room of Requirement before, but Harry recognized it instantly.

It was the Room of Hidden Things, the place he had hidden the dangerous Potions text book from his previous year.

He removed his cloak, staring around and wondering: if the horcrux was in here, how on earth were they going to find it amidst the mountains of junk?

"What is this place?" Ron asked.

Harry quickly explained what the room was.

"Do you think it is in here?" Hermione asked.

"I can't think of another reason the Room would show us this particular form."

They stood, mostly staring around, overwhelmed.

"Accio Horcrux!"Hermione incanted, but there was no indication her spelled had worked. Harry grimaced. Unless they thought of something, they had several very long nights ahead of them.

"We don't have time to start a search now, especially since we aren't even sure what we're looking for," Hermione said, pursing her lips. "We'll have to sneak back tomorrow night – I can't arrange our next patrol in the same area, Anthony might get suspicious."

She and Ron turned to leave, and Harry was about to follow them when he had an idea.

Direct me to the horcrux, he thought, concentrating on his intent, and let his wand turn on his open palm.

"Harry? What is it?" Hermione asked, standing in the open doorway. She had realized that Harry wasn't following her and Ron.

The wand settled on Harry's palm, causing Harry to smile triumphantly. He motioned Hermione and Ron over, and then pointed to his wand.

"What did you do?" Hermione asked.

"It will direct us to the horcrux,"Harry explained.

Hermione shook her head, still not used to Harry's ability to get his magic and wand to do nearly whatever he wished.

They set off amongst the unstable towers of debris, their eyes glued to Harry's wand, which would rotate every so often to correct their path. They walked for nearly half an hour before the wand led Harry straight up to a marble statue of a wizard, covered in cobwebs and with a tattered cloak draped over one of its shoulders.

Atop its head sat an abnormally clean and glistening silver tiara, with the metal shaped into an eagle and set with a blue gemstone.

"That's it." Hermione breathed. "It's Ravenclaw's lost diadem. We were right."

Ron reached up for it, but Harry slapped his hand away.

"We don't know if touching it is dangerous,"he signed.

"Sorry," Ron said, backing up a step.

"We'll have to pick it up with a cloth or something,"Harry signed after tucking his wand back into his pocket. Ron picked up the tattered cloak and shook it, trying to rid it of most of the dust.

"This'll work," he said.

"Where should we put it?" Hermione whispered, her eyes fixed on the dark artifact. Her hand kept twitching, as if she wanted to reach up and touch it but was restraining herself.

"Nowhere is safer than here, right now,"Harry pointed out. "Even if someone finds this room, they'd have to be really lucky to find the diadem."Ron nodded agreement and replaced the cloak on the statue, but Hermione seemed oblivious to the conversation. Harry doubted she had even taken her eyes off of the diadem to see what he had signed.

"It's so…beautiful." Hermione breathed. Slowly, her hand began to reach out. Her eyes had taken on a glassy sheen. She was just moments away from touching the diadem.

Harry grabbed her reaching arm, but her other arm shot out to grab the diadem instead. Thinking of Ginny's possession, Harry knocked the horcrux out of her reach and locked his grip around her wrists, keeping her from touching the thing. She was in some sort of trance, Harry was sure of it, and he didn't want the trance to develop into a Voldemort-possessed Hermione.

Ron grabbed the cloak and used it to pick up the horcrux and shove it into a leaning wardrobe. Hermione struggled against Harry, her eyes fixed on the spot where the wardrobe door hid the diadem from view. Harry kept his grip firm, though, and began to push his friend away from the horcrux.

"We definitely need to get out of here," Ron said. Harry nodded desperately, still trying to push Hermione away from the wardrobe.

"Let me help," Ron said, coming forward to help get Hermione away from the dark influence of the horcrux.

Harry wished Ron would just stun her, but he couldn't sign that to his friend when he was so preoccupied with Hermione's flailing arms.

Thankfully, Ron seemed to realize what Harry had: they weren't going to get out of the room for hours if they had to fight Hermione every inch of the way. Ron backed away, drew his wand, and silently sent a carefully-aimed stunner at Hermione.

Her knees buckled as she fell unconscious, and she would have crashed to the floor had Harry not caught her and then eased her back onto the ground.

Ron shook his head.

"Blimey. You think that was the horcrux?"

Harry nodded, wandlessly casting a levitation charm on Hermione so that they could get out of the room.

"Er…Harry, do you know how to get back to the door?" Ron asked worriedly. Harry frowned. In truth, he had been so focused on his wand on their way to the diadem that he hadn't thought to keep an eye on his surroundings. He'd have to use the same magic he used to find the diadem to find the exit.

Harry shook his head at Ron, carefully keeping his extended arm steady, so that Hermione wouldn't wobble.

Ron scratched the back of his head.

"I suppose I'll have to levitate Hermione with my wand while you do that spell you used earlier." Ron said. Harry nodded, and gently lowered Hermione back to the ground so that Ron could cast his own levitation charm.

"If she begins to wake up, lower her and cast another stunner. We can't be sure that she isn't still under the horcrux's influence until we're out of the room."

"You think it's still affecting her?" Ron asked, wide-eyed. Harry grimaced.

"We can't be sure. I just don't want to take the chance of her waking up and then dashing off and touching the diadem again before we can stop her."

Ron bit his lip, but nodded. Harry cast his spell, and they set off, keeping an eye on Harry's wand and Hermione both.

After several minutes of silent walking, Ron asked:

"She'll be fine, right?"

Harry couldn't answer while maintaining his spell, so they continued the trek to the door in oppressive silence.

…

As soon as they got out of the room and had shut the door behind them, Ron woke Hermione up.

"Ennervate."

It took a few moments, but Hermione groggily opened her eyes and blinked.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I'll explain on the way back to the tower; Ernie and Hannah are somewhere around here." Ron said. He helped Hermione to her feet while Harry exchanged his wand for his invisibility cloak.

As they started for the tower, Ron informed Hermione of what had happened. Her memories had blanked out a few moments after they had found the diadem – it reminded Harry and Ron both of the memory blanks Ginny had spoken of from her own experience of possession.

"So I was possessed?" Hermione asked. Despite her stoic face, there was a tremor in her voice that betrayed her fear.

"Harry thinks you were in a sort of trance, but if you had managed to put on the diadem you would have been fully possessed," Ron said quietly. Hermione shuddered.

Harry merely padded along behind them, listening with half an ear. He was wondering how they were going to deal with all the horcruxes if they all tried to possess him and his friends. Also, why hadn't Ron and Harry felt the diadem's effects? It had been pretty obvious to Harry that Hermione had been mesmerized by the horcrux shortly after she laid eyes on it.

Additionally, how were they going to destroy the things? The only known ways of destroying a horcrux was either by basilisk venom, fiendfyre, or an exorcism.

Fiendfyre was a phenomenally powerful curse that required extreme amounts of mental and magical control, making it tough to master. The spell could go disastrously wrong if the caster could not maintain control over it. Harry didn't consider it an option because of the danger involved in casting it, but he surprisingly wasn't too bothered that it was a dark curse.

An exorcism required a Runes Master and an expert in Soul Magic, and while Hermione had taken the Ancient Runes class, she did not know nearly enough about the subject to conduct an exorcism ritual. And they wouldn't even know where to start looking for an expert in Soul Magic.

Basilisk venom, then, was their last option. The only thing was, the venom was extremely rare and also extremely expensive. Harry would be able to pay for it, ifthey could find some available.

Harry nearly walked straight into Ron and Hermione – they had stopped short, and Harry had to crane his neck to see why.

Ernie MacMillan and Hannah Abbot, hufflepuff seventh-year prefects, had just entered the corridor, and had spotted Hermione and Ron.

"What are you two still doing out? Your patrol ended half an hour ago." Ernie said.

Ron opened his mouth, but Hermione beat him to it.

"Er…we were…erm…" Hermione looked to the ground, and to Harry's amazement she even began to blush. Ernie's suspicious expression suddenly turned into a grin.

"Oh, I see. Catching some private snog time? Can't really blame you two, though." The boy said, giving Ron and Hermione a wink. Hannah giggled.

"Er…we'll just be going." Ron stuttered, blushing too. Ernie grinned and motioned them to pass.

"Hope you had a nice time!" He called after them.

Ron, Hermione, and consequently Harry hurried their pace.

…

"There are going to be rumors all over the school!" Ron complained as they headed down to breakfast.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I couldn't think of anything else as an excuse!" Hermione replied. "And why do you care if the school thinks that we're snogging instead of patrolling? I would have thought you would like the attention."

"Yeah, but… the rumors. They'll be going crazy by the time we get to lunch." Ron whined.

"Welcome to my world,"Harry signed curtly.

He knew he was probably being a little rude, but he hadn't gotten much sleep due to their escapade in the Room of Hidden Things and the fact that his mind had been so busy trying to figure out their horcrux problem afterwards that he'd been up for an additional hour. As a result, he was grumpy and irritated and not in the mood for Hermione and Ron's bickering.

His friends obviously took the hint, and they walked to the Great Hall in awkward silence.

"Why do you three look so gloomy?" Ginny asked as they sat down next to her at the Gryffindor table. Ron and Hermione told Ginny about their midnight doings – after Hermione had erected a privacy ward, of course – while Harry moodily spooned some fruit onto his plate and began eating.

"…and Harry's grumpy because he didn't get enough sleep."

Harry's head shot up at the mention of his name. His three friends were staring at him, as if expecting some sort of response.

He glanced between them, chewing his breakfast in the hope that it would give him enough energy to drag himself through the morning's classes.

"Is there anything else bothering you?" Ginny asked him.

Harry set down his fork.

"I can't figure out how we're going to destroy these bloody horcruxes!"he signed sharply.

"Don't let yourself dwell on it. There's no point in getting yourself so frustrated that you can't think straight," Hermione advised. Harry pushed his plate back and face-planted on the table.

"I'm tired enough that I can't think straight, with or without frustration,"he signed over the top of his own head.

His friends exchanged glances.

"Here Harry, take this." A small vial containing a red potion was in Harry's field of vision when he raised his head slightly. It was being held by Hermione, who was waiting patiently for him to take it.

He raised his eyebrow.

"Pepper-up potion. Don't let the teachers see; I'm not sure how they'd react to anyone taking a potion without Madam Pomfrey's approval," Hermione said. "Take it!"

Harry snatched the potion and downed it gratefully. He felt a tingle of energy run through him, and he sent Hermione a smile.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. But I think it's best if we give ourselves a break tonight," Hermione said, smirking. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Are you all excited for the feast tomorrow?" Ginny asked.

"What..? Oh, right, the Halloween feast."Harry had forgotten about that. He sighed. "I feel like something bad always happens on Halloween."

"It does have a bit of history, doesn't it?" Ron said. He picked at his eggs.

"Yeah," Harry replied, lowering his head as his thoughts turned to his parents. Tomorrow was the sixteenth anniversary of when they had been murdered.

"Hey, Harry, when is the first Quidditch match? I would have thought you'd know by now, seeing as you're captain," Ginny asked. Harry gratefully seized on the new subject.

"It's two weeks from tomorrow. It's us against Hufflepuff."

For the remainder of breakfast they chatted about strategies to beat the Hufflepuffs, and Harry shoved his depressing thoughts about his parents and Halloweens in general to the back of his mind. He could mope tomorrow – providing Fate didn't decide to muck up this Halloween, too.

…

I am sorry again for the long time it took me to get this posted. This chapter was actually finished a while ago but I was too lazy to do that final proofread.