It's so hard to pry away.
Pry out from under all the lies,
and distractions of the world,
You've seen what they can do,
but you can't see your way out.

August 26th 9AM Friday

Arthur and Molly found us in the attic around six. They had definitely been excited when we told them my idea and both of them wanted to help us search the attic for the missing clock hand. Unfortunately Arthur had to leave for work but Molly agreed to join us in looking through the boxes.

It was a difficult job for Ginny and Molly Weasley. The boxes were full of memories for each of them. Molly had begun crying when she opened the first box containing Percy's old things but after a few more boxes she regained control of herself and now only flinched slightly when each lid was pulled off. Ginny was approaching the task with little or no emotion whatsoever. She ripped through each box like it meant nothing to her. I could see in her eyes that it would all come up on her later though. She would definitely cry over it, but it would be while she was alone in the dark where no one would be able to see or hear her.

"Is anyone here?!" a voice called out from downstairs. I recognized it as Draco's instantly and yelled down to him.

"We're up in the attic!" I yelled. There was a moment of silence and we all stood still as we waited for Draco to reply.

"Sev," Draco's voice wafted up from downstairs, "I think that was Jenny. Did you hear that? Do you think that was Jenny?"

"Yes Draco," Severus' irritated voice answered, "I heard her and if you would have been paying attention you would have heard her say she is in the attic." There was another moment of silence and suddenly Draco's head popped through the hole in the attic floor.

"What are you doing up here?" he asked as he climbed up.

"Draco would you hurry up," Severus said from somewhere below him. After some further grumbling Severus and Draco were finally standing in the attic. Both of them had to lean down slightly to keep from hitting their heads on the ceiling.

"We're trying to find Harry's clock hand," Ginny said as she ripped open another box, "Want to help?" Draco shrugged and walked over to Ginny to help her look through the newly opened box. Severus anxiously glanced around the attic before walking toward me.

"You don't have to help if you don't want to," I whispered to him as he began opening a box. He didn't reply to my question, instead he began digging through the box sitting in front of him.

No one spoke as we riffled through the Weasleys' past with little regard. Every once in awhile Draco would grumble about the dust or Molly would gasp while uncovering some forgotten treasure. Ginny, Severus and I remained silent. I felt uncomfortable seeing such personal things. Ginny was still trying to convince herself that what she was doing wasn't affecting her at all. As for Severus, well, he was being himself, cold and unreadable, wearing the perfect mask for a spy.

"I found the Harry box!" Ginny exclaimed suddenly as she lifted up a box and set it in the middle of the attic. She plopped down next to it on the floor and began pulling out the contents.

"The Harry box?" I asked.

"It's all of Harry's things that he left behind," Draco said reverently as he sat down next to Ginny and began investigating the objects she was pulling out and putting on the floor beside her.

"I'm sure you'll be able to find it in there," Molly said and I could see her bloodshot eyes becoming wet once again, "I think I'll go down and make us some breakfast." She quickly descended the attic steps and was gone.

I went and sat down next to Ginny, Draco and the Harry box. Severus strode over to stand next to me. He seemed to be uncertain as to whether he should sit or stand so I made the decision for him and pulled him down to sit next to me. He gave me a nervous half smile before intently staring down at the floor in front of him.

We came up with a system of looking through the things in the Harry box. Ginny would pull them out; Draco would look at them and then pass them over to Severus and myself. A small brown photo album was passed to me first. I took a moment to flip through it as Severus watched over my shoulder.

"Okay Sev," I said as I flipped through the pages, "you're going to have to tell me who some of these people are. I mean, I know some of them, but I may need your help on a few." He nodded in understanding.

I flipped through many of the pictures of Harry taken when he was in school but stopped when I came to a picture of a man and woman holding a baby. The man had messy black hair and glasses and the woman had beautiful red hair and green eyes. I knew who they were immediately.

"Harry and his parents," Severus explained when I paused at the picture, "James Potter and Lily Evans." I nodded my head and continued to flip through the pages. After I was done looking through the album I closed it softly and set it on the floor next to me.

Next Draco passed me a few old school books. I glanced at them for a moment before setting them off to the side. I was a bit puzzled when the next thing Draco passed me was a gray feather and I was a little more than surprised when Severus leaned over my shoulder to blow on it revealing it to be white and not gray.

"It was Hedwig's," Draco explained as I examined the feather more closely before setting it carefully on the floor in front of me. It would come with me downstairs, I decided, since it was something that could not be replaced.

"Wow Draco," Ginny suddenly exclaimed, "look at this! I was sure he'd taken this with him." She waved a piece of parchment in front of him and he snatched it away from her.

"I hate to tell you this Gin," he said as he examined the parchment, "but this isn't what you think it is."

"What is it?" I asked on confusion.

"It's the Marauder's Map," replied Ginny, "I'd recognize it anywhere."

"So that's the map of Hogwarts?" I questioned as Draco shook his head.

"Nope," he said, "it looks the same but it's not."

"How can you tell?" asked Ginny as she leaned over to look at the parchment.

"The Marauder's Map," Draco explained, "never had a picture of a snake in the corner."

"Let me see that," Severus said suddenly as he grabbed the parchment away from Draco. He eyed it for a moment before gasping in surprise.

"What is it Sev?" asked Draco.

"I recognize this," he said, "It's a map, but it's not a map of Hogwarts that's for certain."

"Then what is it a map of?" I asked in frustration.

"Riddle mansion," Severus replied in a whisper.

"What?!" Draco exclaimed as he snatched the parchment back and eyed it warily, "No way!"

"I'm afraid so," said Severus, "I remember seeing Potter with it."

"Let's activate it," Ginny said excitedly as she pulled the map from Draco's tight grasp. She grabbed her wand and held it to the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." She sighed dejectedly as nothing happened.

"That won't work," Severus explained.

"Then what will?" Draco asked in an annoyed tone as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Nothing," Severus said with a sigh, "the password's in Parseltongue." I knew from the books on my father that he was a Parselmouth which meant that he could speak Parseltongue. Or in other words, he could talk to snakes.

"Well, Harry was a Parselmouth," Ginny said and everyone turned to look at me, "perhaps you are as well Jenny."

"Leave him alone," I yelled and the snake stopped for a moment as it headed toward Lucas.

"Jenny, what are you doing?" Lucas asked fearfully. I wasn't paying attention to him though; I kept my eyes firmly trained on the snake that was slithering across the grass towards him.

"I will bite him for crossing my path," said a disembodied voice.

"NO!" I shouted, "Please leave him alone." The snake stopped once again and seemed to consider my request before turning and heading in the other direction. I let out a sigh of relief and turned to see if Lucas was okay.

His expression was full of fear as our eyes met. "Lucas I…" before I could say anything more he stood up and ran away from me. I stood there for a moment in shock of what had just happened before I ran after him.

"No," I said firmly, leaving no room for argument, "I'm not a Parselmouth."

"But how can you be sure?" Ginny questioned.

"Don't you think I'd know if I could talk to snakes," I replied with a glare. We fell into an uncomfortable silence until Molly's voice called out from downstairs.

"Breakfast is ready!"

Ginny and Draco glanced at me nervously before standing up and walking toward the attic stairs. After they were gone Severus stood up and brushed off his robes. He extended a hand to me and I accepted it gratefully. Our eyes locked as he continued to hold my hand in his own.

"Severus…" I began but was interrupted.

"I was jealous of Potter's Parselmouth ability."

"What?" I asked in confusion as he led me to the attic steps.

"I've always wanted to talk to snakes," he replied simply as he dropped my hand and stepped gracefully down the attic stairs.

THREE HOURS LATER

"We're never going to find that stupid thing," Draco huffed as he blew the dust off another box. After three hours we still were unable to find the stupid clock hand and everyone was getting more and more frustrated as time passed. Severus and I had carefully packed up the Harry box hours ago and we set it near the entrance to the attic so that it could be brought down later. I was looking forward to further investigating its contents.

"It has to be up here somewhere," Molly replied, "we'll just have to keep looking."

"I think I found it!" Ginny suddenly exclaimed and we all rushed over to stand next to her. In her hands she held a small wooden box.

"Are you going to open it or not?" Draco snapped. Molly shot him an angry look in return but Ginny didn't seem to notice either of them as she slowly lifted the lid of the box.

Everyone leaned over to get a better look and my breath caught in my throat as I stared down at the small clock hand. Staring up at us from the little rounded end of the hand was my father, James Riddle, not the Boy-Who-Lived Harry Potter.

"I didn't know the pictures could age," I said.

"Of course they can dear," Molly said as she continued to stare at the picture sadly, "The pictures on the clock are spelled differently then regular magical photographs."

"Why don't we head downstairs and see about reattaching it to the clock," Draco said as Ginny closed the lid on the box. A feeling of sadness swept through me for a moment after seeing my father once again.

Everyone left the attic one by one. Draco walked ahead of me while Severus walked behind me. As we descended the stairs Draco glanced back to give me a reassuring smile. I gave him a sad smile in return and continued to follow.

"So how do we put the hand back on?" I asked as we all entered the kitchen.

"We're going to need to hire someone to come and reattach it," Molly explained, "I'd much rather have someone come here to do it then send the clock off." I nodded my head in understanding.

"It's going to have to be someone extremely trustworthy," Draco added, "Any wizard or witch who sees that picture is going to know right away who it is." Everyone sat down at the kitchen table and everyone except me began throwing out names of people who might be able to reattach the clock hand. I sat there silently as I listened to them run through names. Some of the names I recognized, some I didn't, but I didn't know enough about them to know who we could trust and who we couldn't.

"I know someone who would be perfect," Ginny said suddenly and everyone fell silent.

"Ginny…" Molly began but Ginny cut her off.

"Mum, you know he would be able to do it and he'd keep his mouth shut," she explained, "Just because we used to be married doesn't mean we're not still friends."

"Who is it?" I asked anxiously.

"Dean Thomas," Ginny said, "he was my first husband. He's a genius when it comes to these types of things and I'm sure he'd be more than happy to help."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Molly said as she glanced nervously at Draco who was intently staring at the top of the kitchen table. I looked back and forth between the two before looking over at Severus to see if he could give me a hint as to what was going on. He wasn't much help though as he seemed to have become quite interested in a spoon that had been left on the table from breakfast.

"He is the best," Draco said suddenly, "and I'm sure he wouldn't tell anyone." He rose from the table and began to walk out of the kitchen. "I have some errands to run but I'll be back later." And with that he disappeared through the kitchen door and was gone.

Molly got up and went after him while Severus remained focused on the spoon in front of him. I was quite confused by the whole situation until I saw the pained expression on Ginny's face and suddenly I understood everything.

"Loneliness or obligation?" I asked as her eyes met mine.

"Loneliness," she replied as she stood up to leave the kitchen and contact Dean.