Prompt: "Take a walk with me," he whispered in her ear. "I have to tell you something." (O 70)

This drabble is a sixth-year A/U in which Harry and Ginny date earlier than they did in HBP. It takes place right after the end of Ch.23: Horcruxes where Harry confides in Ginny about the horcruxes and is rated T.

Note: this prompt is on my bingo card.

The word was still reverberating around his head, trying to make it the sole focus of Harry's thoughts as he walked back in the dead late night silence of the castle halls towards Gryffindor Tower.

Horcruxes.

It was how Voldemort had cheated death for so long, how he was able to somehow come back from the dead, and be reborn into the horrid monster that he was. And, with a small pang as the thought crossed his mind, how the diary had been able to possess and try to drain Ginny of her soul and life force.

He and Ginny really had been touched by Voldemort in ways the average witch or wizard never or ever would have been. It was why he was able to understand what she went through with the Chamber and the diary, and why she was able to best understand what it was like to be hunted, possessed, and have his life torn apart by the evil known as Voldemort.

He reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, absent mindedly giving her the password. The portrait swung open and he stepped into the common room, removing his invisibility cloak as he entered through the portrait hole.

Harry could see that Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had waited up for him, only to fall asleep on the couches in front of the fireplace due to the late hour. He would tell Ron and Hermione what transpired later; but right now, Harry felt he could only talk to Ginny about this.

Ginny stirred on the couch as he leaned over her and gently kissed her lips to wake her up.

"Harry," she mumbled sleepily after a minute, rubbing her eyes to wipe the sleep from them.

"Take a walk with me," he whisperer in her ear. "I have to tell you something."

Harry could tell she was a bit confused by his request given it was past one in the morning now, but regardless, she took his hand and got off the couch to stand next to him. He threw the invisibility cloak over both of them and led her out of the portrait hole.

They walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes till they came across an abandoned classroom a floor down. Harry led Ginny in and removed the cloak. Even with the late hour and that no one besides Filtch or another adult might be up, he still threw a Muffiato at the door just to be safe.

"What's wrong, Harry, how did it go? Were you able to get the memory from Slughorn?" Ginny asked concernedly, taking a seat on the old teacher's desk at the front of the room.

Harry walked over to where she sat, standing right in front of her. He took a deep breath before letting it out. "Yeah, I was able to get him drunk enough that I was able to persuade him to give me the memory of him talking to Riddle about how to make a horcrux. It's not pleasant, Ginny, you have to willingly murder someone and them take the damaged part of your soul you created through the act of murder and place it in a vessel. It's how he's been able to cheat death for so long, he's essentially made himself immortal by creating horcruxes. It's a horrible way to try and achieve it, but Riddle has such tunnel vision when it comes to cheating death that I don't think he cared exactly how he achieved it."

Ginny looked at him wide-eyed. "Wait, you said horcruxes, as in,"

"He made multiple? Yes, yes he made multiple." Harry finished for her.

"How many did he make?"

"Six."

"Six!"

"Yeah."

"Damnit. Does Dumbledore have any idea as to what they might be?"

"Well, he managed to already find one this past summer. A ring that belonged to the Gaunt family. That's why Dumbledore's hand is blackened and shriveled, he was cursed while retrieving it. As to what the others are, he and I agree that he got a hold of Slytherin's locket and Hufflepuff's cup and used those. We think he must have found something of Ravenclaw's, but Dumbledore's not sure what it could be. And we also believe that he turned Nagini into a horcrux since he's able to control her so much."

"But that's only five, what's the possible sixth one?"

Harry hesitated, taking in a breath to steady himself. "Well, I already destroyed one without realizing what it was at the time." He met her eyes as they widened in shock, the realization of his words sinking in. He wished he didn't have to tell her, but she needed, deserved to know what really happened to her.

"You mean the diary?" Ginny asked, slightly horrified and sickened at what she had really been written in.

"Yes." Harry whispered. "It was why the diary was able to possess you the way it did, it was trying to use your essence to bring Voldemort back. But that's what also makes it even more remarkable that you fought him off on your own for as long as you did, anyone else wouldn't have been able to do what you did."

He felt her legs wrap around his legs and bum, bringing him in closer to her body until their chests were touching. She brought her hands up and across his chest, letting them rest on his shoulders. He felt himself shiver in pleasure at her touch.

"Thank you for telling me, Harry." Ginny gave him a small smile that he couldn't help but return.

"You deserve to know the whole truth, Gin."

"And I appreciate that you're not keeping me in the dark."

Harry sighed. "I know what it's like to be kept in the dark, you don't deserve that with something as important as this. Sometimes I feel like you're the only one who really understands what's going on or what I'm going to have to face. I mean, Ron and Hermione are great and all, but,"

"They don't fully get what you're trying to tell them or they haven't experienced what you've been through."

"Yeah, exactly. I know I'll tell both of them about finally finding out what a horcrux is, but sometimes I feel like they don't understand the severity or seriousness of what's going on and what Voldemort's capable of. Take for example Malfoy; Hermione keeps insisting that he's not a Death Eater because Voldemort wouldn't take an underage recruit despite all the shady things he's been doing lately. Ron doesn't really believe me either since he agrees with Hermione. You're the only one who's actually listened to me and does believe that he's working for Riddle."

"I've seen enough of his memories that I know Riddle doesn't care about someone's age, he'll use and hurt anyone regardless of how old they are. And yes, he's been acting very suspicious the last few months. Not to mention he looks like he hasn't seen the sun since September."

"Yeah, I noticed too that he's not looking very well. I wish I could figure out what game he's playing."

Harry's thoughts drifted back to wondering what it was exactly Malfoy was up to. He just knew Malfoy was responsible for what happened to Katie with the cursed necklace, and he was sure he was also involved in Ron's poisoning. Whatever it was, it had to be for Voldemort, and Harry had a feeling Voldemort was setting Malfoy up to fail in order to punish the older Malfoy for his own failings in the Ministry last June.

Of course, then his thoughts turned to Voldemort himself and what he had just learned of the bastard's attempts at trying to obtain immortality. It had been bad enough to know that he would have to be the one to rid the world of the monster once and for all, but now knowing that in order to do so, he had to find four objects that could be God know's where in the world. It just seemed like such a daunting task, like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but was now being asked to find multiple needles in a haystack the size of Mount Everest…

"Hey, none of that. If anyone can do this and win, it's you." Ginny's reassuring words and her fingers gently playing with the hairs at the nape of his neck dragged him out of his morse thoughts. It was like she knew exactly what he was thinking, and it wasn't for the first time he wondered if she really could read his mind.

"I'm glad you have faith in me, sometimes I don't feel like I can do this." Harry confessed, leaning his forehead against her's.

Ginny smiled sweetly at him. "Well then, I'll just have to remind you that you're not alone in all of this and that I believe in you when you get all moody and far away in your thoughts, and make sure you know I'll aways be fighting right next to you no matter what comes our way." And with that, she fervently captured his lips with hers, fingers moving upwards and deeper into his unruly hair.

It still amazed Harry that Ginny had the ability to make him forget everything wrong with the world and also feel like he could take on anything in the world at the same time. Moments like this where her lips moved passionately against his and her lithe body was pressed tightly against his made him remember what he wanted in life, wanted to fight for:

A future with Ginny.

Sometimes he really didn't know what he would do without Ginny. Probably be much more moody, broody, and alone feeling he was sure of that. He had meant it when he said she was the only person who really understood him. She was his best source of support and comfort, here in her arms and lost in the sweet oblivion of her love and her body.

They broke apart after a few minutes, both gasping for air but neither wanting to separate from the other.

"I love you." Harry said against her lips.

He felt her smile as she replied, "I love you too." and proceeded to kiss him again as they lost themselves in each other.

Voldemort, Malfoy, and all his worries could go sod themselves for the rest of the night.