They all tried, in their own way, to keep Harry engaged as Lily whipped up dinner far faster than any Muggle could. The good of magic, Harry absently thought, as she got the best results by letting him help in the kitchen and watch. Seeing his mother doing such a mundane task helped clear his mind in some way, but the pit of unease never really left. He couldn't put a name on this sudden collapse of attention on his part. The dark sorrow of this journey shouldn't have felt any more harrowing than any other bit of news he'd been remembering, but his mind wasn't having it, he could not shake off the growing unease in him.
This didn't stop him from savoring his dinner with gusto, or diving with determination into their chats about anything and nothing. It helped, but never really got to the level of ease he could allow himself to relax.
Remus had to tug hard to get the book pulled out of the couch cushions where James had shoved it. Harry immediately wanted to chuck it into the fireplace all over again. He slumped into his seat feeling as exhausted as if he'd had no break from any of this for a lifetime already, but still managed the slightest of comfort as his parents again sat down on either side of him. No matter what he couldn't wrench free from his mind, he'd never ignore that miracle.
James beamed at Harry, telling him with every confidence that was the best the man would want.
Harry didn't seem as convinced, surely Moody would have much preferred a proper burial instead of a trinket of his, but who knew what the Ministry had done with his body, Harry got the feeling this was as good as he could ever give.
"You didn't think Ron and Hermione would like to come?" Lily asked in surprise.
"I, needed a moment alone, this seemed like a good time," Harry said softly. "I told them I did it later when Hermione asked what I'd done with it, and they both just went quiet for a moment, didn't seem upset though."
"Did you have that in your pocket this whole time?" Sirius couldn't help but ask.
Harry ignored him.
"I've never been so sure of anything," Remus agreed.
"So, off to a farm?" Lily chuckled.
"Don't be ridiculous Lils," James smirked, "any market would do to buy the ingredients. Hermione did say she had a bunch of Muggle money on hand for this trip."
Harry quickly reminded, "we don't want to be seen doing that!"
"By Muggles?" James asked in surprise. "Any one of you could have easily disguised yourselves even if that was the fear. Okay, maybe not Ron, I don't think he's ever even gone with his mother to do that kind of shopping," he finished with a chuckle.
Harry grumbled to himself about being cautious but could think of no other comeback.
Harry sunk low in his seat with shame, while his family looked at each other with worry.
"Your magic can waver with your confidence," Remus began with worry, but James quickly countered, "he should be more fueled than ever though! So they don't have an immediate plan of where to go to next, he still has this one."
"And he's been acting even more doom and gloom since he got it," Sirius sighed. "There's just no pleasing some people," he tried for a smirk at Harry, who barely returned it.
Lily's thoughts began to wander with confusion and concern. They'd thought nothing of Harry keeping the locket on his person because he had no reason to grow emotionally dependent on it, but what if it did have other magic embedded in it? Had they glossed over too quickly the dangers this could lead to? Just because Voldemort had intended it as nothing more than a Horcrux didn't mean he hadn't set some other enchantments in it for anyone who handled it. They hadn't seen Umbridge acting any differently wearing it though, certainly not this almost depressive state her son constantly seemed in, so was she looking for a problem that only existed in his mind for the task ahead?
James had a very curious look on his face as well as he eyed his son, offering, "do you think it's worse now because you have two souls on you?"
Harry gaped for a moment, his mind feeling like it had been kicked he was so thrown off, before he realized what his dad had said and he nodded slowly that seemed reasonable.
Sirius went white in shock at a new idea that occurred to him, but he managed to say it while only stuttering once. "Well then, I don't know why you didn't leave it behind! If the dementor's k-kissed it, problem solved!"
"Would it really be though?" Remus had that curious, introspective look they hadn't seen in quite some time now that he was being faced with a new beasts challenge. "The question lies in the magic that we haven't had a chance to study, but Hermione said so long as its receptacle stays intact so too will the Horcrux. Even if a dementor decided to do this, and that's a strange if in itself about their recognition of finding part of a soul worthy, wouldn't the soul be able to simply appear right back in the Horcrux?"
Harry watched him feeling particularly flummoxed. Not for the first time he wondered what it would have been like to bring Professor Lupin along on this journey, and this exact conversation would have likely happened, but more than that the idea had never occurred to any of them. Harry finally told them as such and Lily kept going before anymore disturbing questions could be brought up.
"Priorities," Remus rolled his eyes.
"I don't think Ron's ever had to go without food," Sirius noticed with a shrug, thinking Harry's problem was more important, but this hadn't passed his notice either. "Neither have we, honestly, I can't imagine it makes things better."
"Yesterday he wasn't wearing that Horcrux," Lily noted aloud.
"You really think that's it?" James asked in surprise. "But Harry's not-"
"I know he's not emotionally attached to it," she quickly agreed, "nor in the same sort of danger even Ginny was, but it's the only thing I can think of for the way he's been since they got it."
"How have I been?" Harry tried to ask evasively, but even to himself it sounded lackluster and filled with his own ever growing worries. He wasn't even wearing it, but just the memory of it pressing in on him was causing him to feel like he was carrying around the whole of Hogwarts on his back.
Lily tisked as she eyed him, like she was hoping he was joking. Then she realized he was just trying to brush this off and swatted him before urging Remus on.
Sirius frowned in particular for that reminder, even understanding why now didn't make it feel any better for him or anyone, but then the expression deepened with confusion. Neville had been in the same compartment and, as they'd sadly later learned, lived through something almost similar to Harry. He wouldn't wish Neville had succumbed as well, but why didn't he suffer similar to Harry? Had the boy possibly not been present when, well...he let his mind trail off with a painful wince, almost happy to not bring this up and never get an answer.
"Some bloody sympathy for Harry's magic more than his stomach wouldn't kill him," James scowled.
Harry couldn't help but agree, a kindling of annoyance for his best friend much higher than it had been in a very long time.
"Because this is really how I wanted to spend my night," Sirius groaned at this petty argument, it really was unlike these two and starting to freak him out a bit.
"It's encouraging she's thinking the same as you dear," James told his wife, jiggling his knee uneasily and wishing he still had his infant in his arms, that the bottle he'd nursed him over dinner had lasted forever just for that moment. His child no matter what age always helped soothe his nerves, but the babe who couldn't talk stressed him out less.
They all let out a breath of relief, Harry's loudest of all. He shivered slightly and rubbed at his arms, as if to chase away the rest of that sensation, even if it had always been in his head.
"Right!" Sirius clapped his hands together with actual excitement. "Back off for dinner then, now with chocolate for dessert!"
James chucked a pillow at him for his one track mind.
"It doesn't seem likely," Remus muttered his disagreement, but there was also no denying the connection anymore either.
"I wouldn't base all possessions off of Ginny's one experience," James wearily told his son. "You've been under the Imperius Curse, that's a form of possession and you can remember everything that happens then as well."
Harry muttered a thanks he didn't really feel for reminding him he could be wrong. James didn't press his point, as these were two very similar incidents, both involving Horcruxs and all.
"I don't think having it in your pocket counts as lying around," Remus still tried, knowing it was a lost cause.
"My wand once went missing without my notice," Harry shot back. "I'm not taking chances!" He couldn't tell if it was of any comfort at all he no longer had this locket on his possession now. Had they found some way to destroy it, or had some mishap indeed happened and he had lost it again for a careless day?
"That's, as fair a conclusion as anything," Remus sighed.
James fought back the urge to smack someone who wasn't here, trying his hardest not to be too hard on Ron for this attitude since they'd found at least a temporary solution to his sons problem and he was genuinely smiling again, relaxing back into his seat for the first time since he'd had the memory replaced of having that thing on.
Harry watched them snicker as Lily's suggestion was actually used. Sirius went farther by saying, "I think you should make that your new base!"
"I'm not convinced the farmer wouldn't notice food for the three of them going missing so frequently, it could put him out," Lily disagreed.
"Traveling around to different farms then," Sirius shrugged.
"Exactly how many farm locations do you know?" Harry rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "We stumbled across this one and got lucky."
"Well then, don't count out your local wildlife for food, or chance more markets, or-"
"Sirius!" James sighed. "Exactly how useful is this, pointing out how Harry should have been getting food, instead of from the kitchen behind us?"
"Fine," he sighed, though he still felt more bad for Ron than anything. They were struggling with this concept on the first few days, it was making him uneasy.
"I'm sure that's a very confused, but delighted farmer," Lily snickered.
"I'm sure he's been telling her that for years," Remus smirked. "It'll sink in any day now."
"Oh, he does admit to it!" James scowled.
"I never denied they kept food away sometimes as a punishment," Harry shrugged, wincing at the look his father gave him for reminding what he had been evasive about. He decided to keep to himself how this seemed to be doing him some good, or at least, he felt better prepared for this life on the lam than others.
They all muttered and shifted with unease while Harry gave them a scowl, wanting to snap they should be grateful he was prioritizing safety over all. They kept their silence though, forcing themselves to remember there wasn't anything they could do about it now.
Harry stiffened, biting words on the edge of his tongue with no one to shoot them at in here. Even counting those lowly months from his fourth year, he'd fought more with Ron in these consecutive weeks than he had in all of knowing him. It wasn't leading to much of an 'adventure.'
"I can't even blame him," Sirius sighed, even having just eaten, the idea of this grueling task on an empty stomach seemed impossible.
"I can!" James huffed. "What good's it doing him to constantly point this out?"
"Let's see you try it," Sirius rolled his eyes. "I doubt it would go well, you couldn't go more than a week without going into the kitchens for extra snacks."
"Like you'd be any better," James muttered as answer, which Sirius didn't deny.
"Well there's your answer right there," Remus shrugged. "You need to continue all of what Dumbledore was doing, not just the Horcrux part. You need to keep digging into Voldemort's past and where he'd have put these."
Harry twitched uneasily again for the semi-reprimand, and got defensive. "How was I supposed to do that? I don't have any idea how Dumbledore got a hold of those memories, the man didn't even seem to have anymore to go off of after that cave or I'd think he would have said so!"
He was near shouting at the end and realized it, apologizing quickly. Remus didn't seem bothered, he'd gotten into worse scrapes recently over something much less that indeed was in no way Harry's fault. He honestly agreed, they had no more idea what else there was to go on, but these three doing nothing about it but repetitive conversations wasn't helping matters.
"I don't suppose he'd be stupid enough to hide one at old Hepzibah's place?" Sirius offered with a sigh.
"Seems unlikely, he stole them from there, and no matter how much time went in between I don't think he'd likely come back," Remus disagreed. "Besides, he wouldn't keep them somewhere so public, and Dumbledore said the rest of her family inherited everything but those two, surely they're still on the lookout for them to this day."
"Maybe he built himself his own mansion, like he thought he deserved, and put one there," James offered.
"Can't imagine how Harry would be able to figure that out," Lily shivered at the idea of Harry going into Voldemort's home. There was no doubt it would be even worse than Grimmwauld place as far as terrifying homes.
"Well, he's not wrong," James agreed with that logic. "You do need a bit more to go on."
"If only you'd ever known where Quirrell ran into him there, it seems likely he was hiding out with one of his Horcruxes," Lily agreed.
"Did we ever find out the reason Voldemort went there?" Sirius muttered to himself, but could recall nothing.
"Padfoot's got a point," Remus agreed. "He seems to have a motive for every other place, that's a bit outside of our area."
"Another orphanage field trip?" James offered sarcastically, but it was all the more discouraging they were quickly realizing more every moment they had no idea what Voldemort's motive for doing hardly any of this was.
"At least he's honest," Remus snorted.
"It seems possible, though perhaps not straight away if he'd hidden it somewhere in there," Sirius speculated. "Lucius would have had that diary on him the day you saw him in there, and no magic went off alerting Borgin something like that was in there, so he'd have to inspect it by hand. If, say, Voldemort hid it inside that Vanishing Cabinet, well, no one would have known for years."
"I don't like the idea of them raiding that shop in every corner for the chance to come across something they might not recognize anymore than Borgin," James sighed.
Harry couldn't help but smile around at them all anyways. The miserable time clouding his mind being consistently broken up by those around him offering new ideas or just a breath of new air was the best thing he never would have thought to ask for. "It's better than nothing," Harry thanked them by pointing out, "I hope we try a bit of everything." Even as Remus went back to the book though, his mood stayed in a constant flux of being sucked back into the drab past.
"I've always said you have better impulse control than I do," James snorted.
"He did put one there Harry," Lily reminded in confusion. "The diary."
"He didn't hide that there," Harry just as quickly pointed out. "Malfoy gave it to Ginny to go there. Sure that might have been Voldemort's plan as well some day, but he had it somewhere else, hidden safe with the Malfoy's. There could still be another inside the school."
"You think it's, down in the Chamber?" James asked uneasily.
"Could be anywhere," Sirius sighed in exhaustion at the idea, then shivered in disgust. If what Harry was saying was true, they would have walked past it for seven years of their life and never even realized it.
"She really has far too much faith in him," Remus muttered, well aware of how hypocritical he sounded to himself. "He certainly didn't find the diary until it was long done-"
"He didn't even find it, Harry put it in his lap," James recalled with disgust.
"I can't think of any way to, track these things, to check where any of them could be," Lily sighed at the almost endless possibility of it all. Even with Harry having access to Voldemort's mind, he couldn't exactly pluck out this vital information.
"We were having the same problem," Harry groaned.
"This is getting stupid," James snapped. "Why's Ron being a prick about this, now of all times? He's never been so adamant about something so stupid in the past!"
"The paranoia's setting in all around!" Sirius tried to say in a goofy whimsical kind of way, but it didn't come across right. They were all getting more stressed and uneasy the more Harry fought with his friends about this. They'd have thought these three would have worked this problem out better amongst themselves.
"I can see it," Sirius met Harry's eyes. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, to understand any of Voldemort's deranged mind, but the place was an escape from a life you were born into. He didn't disagree with Harry at all.
For once Harry didn't at all feel ashamed of this similarity being highlighted, if it helped him to stop Voldemort than that was the real difference.
"See if that works some sense into him," James mock pleasantly agreed.
"Never seems to do Sirius any good," Remus rolled his eyes.
"That's a lot of assumptions," Lily arched a brow in disagreement. "Dumbledore has no proof one way or another Voldemort never actually found this other founders object, he just guessed that's what Voldemort would be using. He could have come across it while he was still in school and Voldemort didn't have proof of it like he did the ring."
"You try telling her that," Harry grumbled. As always it had been impossible to sway Hermione to his opinion.
"Voldemort could have done it himself honestly," Sirius shrugged.
Lily shivered at the idea of orphans still being inside while he'd done this, and hoped he'd just never thought of the place again.
"It would be like Harry putting one at the Dursleys, or me one in Grimmwuald place," Sirius muttered in disgust, but agreement.
"I think we're missing some extra layer of problem here," Remus frowned as he eyed Sirius. "We're assuming they'll all be at some place Voldemort intended. That locket switched hands, what, four times before Harry tracked it down, and I don't think Voldemort's even realized it."
Harry threw his hands up in exasperation and collapsed in his seat with exhaustion at just the implication of that. Remus winced but didn't bother to apologize, he couldn't take it back considering how true that was.
Harry perked up with excitement, some feeling definitely tingling in the base of his mind for this place being mentioned.
The others noticed. "Riddle never had money as a kid to have had a vault there," James cocked his head to the side, "and I don't think being a megalomaniac oppressor rakes in the galleons much for him to have set up an account there now."
"The idea still holds some merit," Remus offered. "As Hagrid once said, it's the safest place to keep something, the goblins would do the work for him of making it almost impossible to get anything out of there."
"Now we're back to the exact same problem though, how to search such a place," Sirius sighed, fingers crossed in particular they were off the mark on this one. He had no desire to go there any time soon, considering what was in the bowels of that bank.
"The goblins might help Harry figure it out though," Lily said with a bit of excitement, just because she'd seen her boy growing despondent again already. "They don't want Voldemort in power anymore than us, if Harry asks them they might tell."
"I wouldn't bet on it," Remus shook his head in disagreement. Goblin politics were a sticky mess even before wizards got involved into their affairs.
"That makes a perverse amount of sense," Remus said in sympathy. "That scar seems to be your link to Voldemort, for whatever inexplicable reason, and the Horcrux is also housing his soul."
Harry turned white as snow for a moment and looked likely to faint, but his parents offered comfort at once to distract him while Sirius smacked Moony. He winced and did apologize for that one, they'd all long since realized pointing that stuff out to Harry never seemed to help him.
"Does he still think Voldemort's hanging around the Burrow?" James asked in confusion.
"It's a little fair," Sirius shrugged. "The first time Ron got a full blast of the power of this, was the snake attacking his dad who seemingly had nothing to do with anything."
James nodded his agreement to that.
"Um, I'm hoping for the exact opposite!" Lily screeched, eyes particularly on Remus but mind on everyone. None of them had yet learned what had become of their friend after that disastrous fight with Harry, whether he'd even gone back to Tonks or what he was doing now, and through Voldemort's eyes was certainly not a way they wanted to find out.
"That's, both a good thing and a bad thing," Remus hedged to try and distract them all from the unknown they couldn't bare to face. "As long as he knows no more about it than us, he'll stay distracted from, well farthing this crusade of killing the world."
"Always looking on the bright side you are," Sirius snickered in agreement.
"What other new avenues were you trying?" Remus asked.
Harry fidgeted uncomfortably with a scowl in place, and they all winced at the heavy silence that followed. They gathered from it the three seemed to have resorted to not talking at all, for everything they all wanted to know varied so greatly at this point any topic was shot down by the other two. This inevitably wasn't going to last long without someone having quite an awful fight, even the best of friends needed a break from each other, especially in such a high tense environment as they were now constantly living.
"Wouldn't be the first time," Lily groaned at this repetition, didn't they know how much that hurt him?
"Doesn't make it less bloody annoying," Harry snapped.
"That's ridiculous, no way they'd think you were hiding something like that," James rolled his eyes. "You've always shared everything every step of the way, sometimes when they didn't even return the favor!"
Harry wasn't going to disagree, his bad mood at the idea of his friends reaching the highest peak it ever head.
"Leadership?" Lily scoffed. "I thought this was supposed to be a group effort, and to be honest you all seem to be lacking on helping each other from what I'm hearing."
"Is it beyond you to even go filch a paper?" Sirius asked, completely aghast this was the route Harry was on. "Even while you were in school that's how you learned the majority of what was going on around you, that and eavesdropping on the teachers-"
"And Hermione's library," Remus inserted.
"Right," Sirius waved his hand so dramatically he smacked Remus in the face without noticing. "I really don't understand any of you thinking just spinning in the same circles at this point is helping."
"We really weren't talking much at all to get out of it," Harry grudgingly admitted, but tried to say defensively no matter how weak it was.
"You do realize that's not making us feel any better," James needlessly pointed out, and when Harry didn't respond to that Remus rushed on in hopes the cycle would break, soon.
"It does seem that way to those not in the know," Sirius sighed, remembering back to his excitement of learning how to do spells to make cake just appear in front of him before McGonagall crushed that dream.
"She was," James scoffed, forcing himself not to make a crack about him dropping out of school possibly two years too early.
"Actually I just went with it, because she's the best at charms, what she's implying didn't even occur to me until she pointed it out," Remus shrugged.
"Do you really want to be agreeing with Ron right now?" James rolled his eyes at Moony.
"Not particularly, even when he's making a good point it sounds ass worthy," Remus shrugged.
"Surprised she hasn't done that long before now honestly," Lily agreed.
"I'm surprised Harry, you usually just walk away," James tried for a laugh, but Harry paid him no mind, answering in an almost absent way. "That's not why."
Intrigued, but also weary something had finally snapped Harry's attention away, Remus read on carefully.
"I'd almost forgot what it was to feel adrenaline by this time, all my senses were on high alert," Harry muttered, even now shifting in place and fighting the urge to draw his wand on nothing in this brightly lit living room.
"I'm sure it's not Death Eaters again, there's been to much space between whatever happened to you at that café," Lily urged herself to remain calm as much as anyone.
"Shouldn't be an enemy at all, but then again, those Sneakoscopes are never easy to interpret," Sirius muttered.
James resisted the urge to point out Harry really could have been doing that much more often. Though it would have been repetitive to constantly be summoning fish to you, it still sounded better than the plants they'd been living off of, but now didn't seem the time.
"I suddenly have no idea what's going on," Remus muttered, gazing down at this revelation.
"A human, traveling around with goblins!" Sirius agreed slowly. "The world truly has gone mad by your time Harry."
It only took a moment for them to think of a cheerful man named Ted Harry had a vague memory of. "Oh no," Remus went a ghastly color and shook all over. His eyes darted to the door with dread again, but this time for the entirely opposite reason. If he'd gone back, and been to late to save a family housing a Muggle-born like Ted Tonks...or worse he didn't know at all and still didn't care-
Sirius had to pinch him hard to get his attention and force him to keep going, reminding him the others were having just as dreadful thoughts.
"Oh thank Merlin," Remus whispered, losing all air and rubbing at his face to try and force blood flow to come back. Even with the confirmation Ted had decided to make a run for it rather than being forced into it, he couldn't fight off the image now dancing in his head, which had seamlessly merged with the one James had begun. What if he was wrong, and he would do the child more good than harm? Then it was all ripped away from him before he'd given himself a chance, he suddenly couldn't live with that idea anymore than inflicting his infection on an innocent child in the first place. The two ideas twirled side by side, spinning until his whole head was likely to fall right off.
"Moony," James called gently, just about the only thing that would have got his attention. Prongs had made his view perfectly clear on at least one of these issues. "Tonks is fine, her dad would have mentioned otherwise."
He felt weak, like the monster he still was, admitting even half of him had been nursing the same worry and decided to just ignore him.
Even someone who didn't know him as well as they did would have seen this farce, and James exchanged a look with Lily. Not quite hopeful, but the urge to hope Remus was starting to hear some of what they were saying.
"Surely not the Dean from your year?" Sirius asked with just as much excitement at this coincidence as to break the heavy silence.
"That was definitely his voice!" Harry cheered, allowing the distraction for this good news. A part of him he hadn't even realized was there until now had been worried for his dorm mate and every student at school he knew of their heritage like the Creevy's, who would have been suffering for this like Hermione.
"But then, you'd think he'd be with his mother!" Lily yelped in concern.
"Not if they didn't know where she was living, if maybe someone like McGonagall had brushed all records of the Muggleborns addresses from the school so they couldn't get mail anymore," James quickly tried to explain, rather than the horrid alternative his mum was already dead.
"I thought that was done by some quill," Harry couldn't help but ask anyways, even with the more gruesome option now being even more likely.
"Just because magic normally does it, doesn't mean it can't be done manually," Sirius said with confidence. "There are more than the Weasley's fighting back, I just know it. Those Death Eater's are likely having to hunt down door to door, and dare not go into the open against all Muggles just yet when there's still rebellion afloat. Dean probably left his mother somewhere secure, maybe even with Seamus' mum, before he took off!"
Harry didn't know how 'safe' anyone would be with Mrs. Finnigan, considering she hadn't even believed him when You-Know-Who had even first been back and how she felt about the views going on now, let alone the fact Seamus' own dad would be in much the same situation as Dean's mum so would one witch be able to protect two Muggles? Let alone Dean's three little sisters, whom his old dorm mate had mentioned sporadically. Harry didn't even know their names and still worried about their safety.
Remus was sufficiently distracted from his own future dilemma at all of these prospects about people they had an even less grasp on than his future wife, and, child- "then why wouldn't Dean have just stayed with them, if he felt his mum was safe?"
No one had anymore comebacks, and it only made their worry grow for this future.
"Again?" James muttered distractedly, something seemed to be wrong with that poor bloke every time he was mentioned.
"I find that very hard to imagine," Remus said quietly. While the species as a whole had no love of wizards, he found it unlikely they'd go so far as to help along the decimation of more than half their population, they more likely stayed out of it than anything and gave the wrong impression in this way.
Harry spluttered in disbelief at this idea, but none of the others looked very surprised. It made a certain amount of sense, after all the Death Eater's weren't just going to let the piles of gold under their feet not be in their hands along with every life they wanted. The goblins would do what they could to hold their ground, but already it was apparent things weren't going to last much longer.
"I'd do that myself for free," James leered.
"Speak for yourself, I'm not getting eaten by a bloody dragon when I can curse the Death Eaters much easier," Sirius grumbled.
"I, think I get it," Remus muttered, looking to the others as if for confirmation at this idea on the edge of his mind, but it wasn't quite coming into focus. Sirius waved him on impatiently, muttering about goblins and their riddles and hoping for a straight answer.
Lily spluttered something indecent in her shock, but Remus was going on with a sort of high now for getting an answer to something! The sword was still at school?! Or not, depending on whatever it was these goblins were talking about- he forced his own brain to shut off this time and read on in a hurry.
Remus made a disgusted little noise anyone was still asking for something relevant to be coming of that, he had half a mind to put the useless thing out of business at this rate.
"I still don't see what the goblins have to do with the sword," Sirius muttered as he bounced uneasily in place for a clear explanation.
Harry startled in a panic, Ginny's name on his lips in true fear for what this could mean!
"That's actually a good question," Sirius agreed. "What reason does she have for this?"
"She knows it was left to Harry," James reminded. "Maybe she was trying to steal it for him, only knowing it was supposed to be his and some way to spite Snape?"
"I'm okay with that," Sirius viciously agreed.
"Did you guys miss the part where they were caught!" Harry hissed, Lily having to hold his arm to stop him tearing the book from Remus to find out what had happened in consequence for this.
Harry suddenly looked as if he had to go to the bathroom terribly, he was bouncing in place and his expression was screwed up with immense pain.
Sirius tried to laugh in relief, but he was the only one. He still tried in a forced cheerful tone, "well, Dumbledore must have switched it out then, in case this happened."
"That can't be right," Lily disagreed, "he was planning to give it to Harry, he wouldn't give him a fake."
"There's no way it was swapped any other time in Dumbledore's care, he would have known," James returned.
"Maybe Ginny did manage to swap it with a fake before Snape noticed?" Remus offered.
"It's, possible, but I find it hard to believe," Sirius scratched at his nose in thought.
Harry couldn't think of anything to say, shivering in place and fighting off the urge to roll into the fetal position and never come out. Answers were right on the edge of his mind, he'd swear steam was coming out of his ears- but the others finally stopped their speculations and went back for more answers, though none of them really thought the goblin knew where the real one was.
They all tried to join in as well, especially the Marauders as they valued this underhanded trickery to Snape, but it was still forced as they all knew what this really was, just another layer of the puzzle being added.
"I almost forgot about that," Sirius snickered with a sideways look at Harry.
"I didn't," James rolled his eyes, he'd had a list of everyone who'd asked Lily out before she said yes to him.
"I'm a bit surprised you haven't revealed yourself by now to be asking this yourself," Remus offered.
"Hadn't even occurred to me yet, we were still listening," Harry shrugged.
"Poor Seamus, I'll bet that's who he's really wanting to ask about," Lily sighed, thinking of the two inseparable friends now on opposite ends like this, how many countless students were feeling even more alone because their friends couldn't be there.
Harry spluttered in concern, clutching the ring on his finger painfully tight to him now.
Remus couldn't help but silently tick off on his head all of it, Ginny, Charlie and Fred seemed the only one's unscathed by this war as far as the public knew, and they knew better, the youngest had suffered Voldemort's soul first!
"I do usually cause those, but I don't think that needed to be brought up right now," Sirius shrugged, but Harry didn't even flinch at the old joke as James poked him instead.
"I always said I liked Ted's sense of humor too," Sirius said bleakly, not caring he was jabbed again. He watched Harry relax and mutter to himself in relief which was all that mattered.
"You're on the run from psychopaths who want you dead because you couldn't prove you're not a pureblood bastard like half of those liars!" Lily said in pure disgust. "I'd think the truth would be obvious!"
Harry offered her a thankful smile, to all of them. Even with his past as evidence, some part of him still seemed to expect someone to call him on these stories as all in his head in a far more figurative sense.
"I always knew we underestimated the rest of your dorm mates," Remus said fondly.
"It wasn't doing Dumbledore much good from what I was hearing," James huffed in protest. "Just because he doesn't publicize his every move like those useless Minister's were doesn't mean he's not doing something important!"
"I wish I could even before this," Sirius perked up with interest for where this was heading.
Lily cooed with pride there really were still people out there aside from the Order doing the right thing!
"He's just jealous," Remus rolled his eyes.
"He'll probably be getting them any moment now," Sirius snorted at the reactions they'd be hearing of Harry announcing himself.
"They'll never," both his parents vowed at once.
"If anything, because they would have already publicized the hell out of it just to prove they had and crush any last resistance," Remus agreed.
"Can't just take the easy answer can you Moony?" Sirius rolled his eyes.
"You really weren't going to have a chat with them!" James asked in surprise. "You could trust them at least enough not to drag you off to Voldemort right away, and the lot of you are having the problem of not knowing anything that's going on! If you hadn't stumbled across this, Merlin knows how long you would have kept going."
"I certainly wasn't going to risk it that moment," Harry defended, "and I'd rather discuss what we just heard with them first," he finished with some high end emotion. Excitement he was sure, there was something even more important he was about to remember.
"That's brilliant!" Sirius even pumped the air with his fist in triumph. "That painting's going to be useful for something, he'd have seen what happened!"
"I'm convinced those portraits don't ever sleep, they've learned to fake it for so long they can't," James tried to brush aside, though they all worried if this had been the case.
"Sucking up to him also does wonders," Sirius rolled his eyes even in his excitement.
Sirius snickered with delight, but while James looked amused as well he still asked, "why? What good would it do him to see the inside of your tent? He already knows he's been relocated from his house, though he may not recognize Hermione's voice well enough to know who she'd be with," he finally conceded.
"Why's she still calling him that?" Sirius rolled his eyes.
Remus face palmed while James looked at Harry in disbelief. "You couldn't go a whole minute keeping your mouth shut while Hermione asked this?"
Harry tried his best to ignore him and focus on the book, it wasn't working as Remus was clucking his tongue and laughing just as much.
James couldn't help but burst out laughing. "I'll bet Neville hasn't had a detention in there since first year, I'm sure he's not pleased at the repeat performance."
"I'd probably be living in that Forest rather than that joke of a school," Sirius smirked.
"She's really not doing herself any good by correcting him," Lily shifted anxiously for the rest of the answers they were hoping for.
"I recall yours not being a particular cake walk," Remus shivered in remembrance.
"I'm sure, what with me not being around and all, they really were just doing something that didn't put them in danger with Hagrid around," Harry beamed.
The lot of them shivered for the suggestion, it had been on all of their minds with the Carrows running that school.
"I wonder if the blindfold will come off when he leaves the painting," Sirius sighed with regret.
"Sadly not Harry," Lily gently explained. "Only the paintings can travel between their partners, they can't share that with someone."
Harry nodded in disappointment, but his turbulent emotions wouldn't let him feel too down. He still felt high energy for something else happening tonight, though the longer he thought about it, it wasn't feeling like a good thing.
"There it is!" James whooped with excitement. "Proof we were right, Dumbledore didn't leave you entirely empty handed!"
"Or at least, he tried not to," Lily sighed with agreement. Even the noble way Scrimgeour went out didn't make his final actions feel any better.
"I can't imagine why he would if he hadn't asked!" Remus gasped. "Now he probably will just because of this Harry!"
He shrunk back at the scolding and agreed that had been a very impulsive question he hadn't thought through, either way the answer wouldn't be of help to him.
"That I do believe," Sirius snorted, remembering their prediction Snape would be run ragged even more than Umbridge by that school.
"You had me up until there," Remus frowned at them assuming it was Dumbledore who had done this. "I can't imagine when Dumbledore would have done this, let alone why. You yourself just said he was still using it to destroy Horcruxes."
"Maybe he had someone tasked with doing it, it's so valuable he must have had a contingency for this," Harry insisted as his mind scrambled to put something together all the while nailing him with pain again. "McGonagall?" He tried, swallowing painfully and gave up on anything else.
The others didn't argue the point, as they had no more idea about this.
"Where's Ron on this?" Lily asked in surprise, as he hadn't been mentioned through all of this.
Harry didn't even seem to hear her he was so distracted.
"That man and those bloody riddles of his are going to be the death of m- you," Sirius quickly changed words at the last minute, but this brutal reminder only caused his friends to flinch again.
"It's, possible," James agreed, looking a bit amused at this. It was certainly a place he'd go and check on again just for nostalgia, before the even more sharp reminder hit him of what happened the last time his three friends had all been in there with Harry. Not a particular occasion he wanted to look back on.
"He hid a lot of stuff from the rest of the Order, I don't know how I take that," Remus grumbled, shifting protectively close to Sirius.
"Sorry Harry, I don't think you got that one," Lily sighed heavily, her own burden of carrying this around never having left until it was too late as well.
"What's his problem?" James asked in surprise. "You lot have just been given a major revelation, where's the cheer you three have desperately needed?"
Harry didn't answer, again, and they looked at him in surprise to see him taking on a defensive face, something they'd seen a lot recently as they continued to hack into his every move with more questions than he ever had answers to. Couldn't anyone ever just give him a break?!
Remus shifted uneasily, he was getting a very ugly reminder of how Ron was acting the night Harry's name came out of the Goblet, and none of them at all liked how this was starting.
"All of you don't know," James dangerously corrected in a cold voice. What was with him doing nothing but complaining lately, when usually Ron was their best source of amusement!
"It all had to come out eventually," Lily tried to hedge this upcoming fight. "At least now the lot of you can, work it out," she finished in a small voice as Harry's face continued to grow far more stormy than whatever rain had been happening during this.
"They, have," Sirius bristled for these accusations. "All thanks too Harry! If he hadn't dragged them to Grimmwauld place they never would have found out about Regulus and the Locket! He's the one who got left the sword to give this hint! What's Ron done then?"
Harry didn't feel any better for the validations, for no matter what Sirius or anyone around him said, none of them were the ones he truly needed to talk to right now.
"There's no way he, I mean to say surely," Lily couldn't believe Ron had really been thinking any such thing, but the hard truth was maybe he hadn't thought this through as much as the other two. Harry and Hermione had assured they had nothing to go back to until this was done, Ron didn't have that same luxury, and the bitter reminder of what his family was going through while he wasn't there must have struck him even harder than any of them would have guessed.
"Now he is just being delusional," Remus grumbled under his breath, he'd been reading all of this in a very subdued voice for yet another fight breaking out amongst a close nit family.
"I think he needed to get this off his chest," Lily insisted. "You'll all feel much better airing this out."
"Maybe you lot could even, I don't know, try to get in contact with the rest of the Weasley's somehow," James offered in consolation. "Go visit the twins shops in disguise and pass along a message, do something to make him feel better about his family being on the outs."
Harry wished he'd thought of that, he wished he'd thought of anything other than the rage coloring his mind now.
Remus' voice continued to grow ever fainter, they were having to strain to hear him now. It felt like even more walls were closing in around Harry, that even without trying now Voldemort was taking over even in places he never should have before. Harry and his friends were the heart of their future, and now they were being forced to listen to it break, again.
"Don't," James whispered, looking suddenly terrified at his son. "Don't goad him like that, he, he might-"
"He'll really do it if Hermione doesn't do something, fast," Sirius finished viciously, bright anger beginning to flare up in him for this new path having been kicked wide open.
While it was true they'd almost laughed this instance off, it was now very clear Ron hadn't. This little nugget may have even been some kind of confirmation to him of how much he was missing out on learning of his family from strangers now. They were all stricken this was how he was handling it, but holding this firmly in mind kept them from even considering joining Harry's taunts of Ron abandoning one family for another.
"Don't care? Don't care!" James blustered, his hands flying around for some way to emphasize how ludicrous he found that statement. He was well aware that was the only family his son had ever known, and Ron nor anyone could take that away from him! As much as he still harbored a grudge against Molly for the way she'd treated Sirius, as angry as he was at Ron right now, he still understood why he was saying these things, he just wasn't happy about it.
Remus was down to whispering by then, and still recoiled in disgust for having said something so callous as that. James and Lily would be no more voluntarily out of the way of this than Voldemort would wave a white flag.
Harry tried to hold onto his anger in all of this, that Ron of all people had been the reason he'd been forced to shout this to the heavens again in his life, but the feeling was already being diminished as he only shared his best friends fears.
All five of them winced at that deceleration, the four around Harry knowing all to well how that could happen, and how permanent it could be, but still trying their best to cling that Harry would not suffer this as well.
Remus couldn't bare to keep going for fear of that answer, eyes flickering to Harry's stricken face. How alone had the boy truly been before being dumped into their life?
Some part of Harry's mind wanted to laugh at that, for Ron's belief people always chose him and his best friend had once again been over looked. He'd never seen it that way, and Ron was once again. Had they ever seen things clearly before now? In that one bleak second where he'd been the one to tear these two apart, Harry couldn't recall a single moment of the past six years of his life where the three could smile.
Some absent part of Sirius' fried brain remembered what had started this, if perhaps Ted and Dean would get a nasty surprise and somehow stop this horrid event from continuing, but the hope was dashed with the next words out of Moony's mouth.
"No, no, no," Lily shook her head furiously to clear that away. "You, you two, you'll work this out! He'll, you," she trailed off miserably as Harry gave nothing away, his face pale but completely set in his past outrage. He wished he could look ahead and promise Voldemort was not the reason for another friendship torn beyond repair, but for all he knew this was the last time he'd ever seen Ron.
HPHPHPHPHPHPHP
Okay, so we know that's not true, but it's a great cliffhanger anyways.
This is a moment loads of Ron haters love to say, how he abandoned them again! Yet, I really get this one. Unlike in GoF where he was being a giant turd, I can genuinely see where Ron's worry for his family finally pushed him too far in having to hear of news of his sister like this. The rest of the circumstances weren't helping, and finally Harry and Ron pushed each other too far. I know the anger should be there, but I can't fully justify it, I couldn't have them shouting about him during this.
That being said, this plot point annoys the crap out of me more than any other in series, because it's pointless. At least in other parts of the plot I've griped about in the past still had something to do with furthering characters, the mess of six, Remus/ Tonks, take your pick, but what does doing this to Ron serve? Absolutely nothing. The information he comes back with could have just as easily been gained if these three idiots had taken a break and gone to visit the Weasley's like should have happened, instead of Ron storming off. It's a pointless thread, in the last book of the series!
Lastly, I'll stop harping on the food thing after this chapter, but really these three were limiting themselves far more than they should for no good reason except to make this situation extra miserable. So Harry's plan to use the invisibility cloak once didn't work, you really couldn't have tried again? They heard the idea of summoning fish, and yet we're never shown them recreating that idea even if they didn't think of it themselves. Even if Hermione forgot to pack food, of all things when she packed a library, no one ever suggested going into a Muggle town to buy some? Admittedly Ron or Harry should have also thought up packing for the food and it's not entirely Hermione's fault, but I didn't see them offering ideas either. It feels contrived, and I'll be honest, my first time reading this book up to this point had been a lot of disappointment. Next chapter isn't even anything better to look forward to! Just a different kind of awful...