A/N: I have been REALLY slow to update this time round! End of year exams are coming round, so who knows when chapter 18 will come out... ) hehehe... anywayz, hope you enjoy this one!

s: um... constructive review! ) hehehe... I take it to mean that you like it... ) which is good! Thanks! At least you take the time to write SOMETHING!

sassy, I'm glad you like that little bit of info. Action? What action? gives innocent look I'm not really good at writing that sorta stuff... but I'll give it a go... maybe a little in this chapter? ) you may be surprised!

Chapter 17:

Harry rubbed his head as he yawned. It had been a long time since he'd slept in his bed. Even going back to the Dursleys' wouldn't be too bad. But no, he couldn't, not after he'd gone through so much already.

"Harry?" he heard Miranda murmur next to him.

"Yeah?"

"Will you ever go home?"

Harry thought about this, then quietly, he said, "I'm not sure I know where home is..."

She gave him an understanding look. "I know how you feel."

They sat in silence on the park bench, before Harry spoke up again, a firm look of determination set on his face.

"I've found him."

Miranda looked at him quizzically. "Huh?"

"Voldemort."

"Oh." Then, "Harry, you can't go after him!"

He turned to her. "Why?!? You don't even know what I'm talking about!"

She swallowed fearfully. "I know that you can't defeat him by yourself," she said quietly.

Harry ran his hands through his hair, sighing. "Not you too."

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone thinks that I can do this battle with Voldemort by myself, that I need Ron and Hermione there to help me. But the prophecy said that he must die at my hand."

"But what about the 'power that the Dark Lord knows not'?" Miranda quipped.

Harry looked at her, shocked. "How do you...?"

Miranda blushed, realising her mistake. "Um... er..." she stammered.

"Miranda?" he prompted.

She finally relented. "I've been owling Hermione," she admitted.

Harry's face went blank, before his face grew red in anger. "Do you know how easy it is to intercept owls?!?"

Miranda bit her bottom lip. "I know, but..."

"No buts!" Harry interjected.

"I'm sorry," she said tearfully.

Harry closed his eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry. What have you been telling her?"

"I've only been telling her that we're ok." She paused. "And that you've been doing that Occu-seeing thing."

He thought about this, then, "So she knows where we are?"

Miranda shook her head. "I've only told her that I'm with you, and that we're ok."

"Alright. Can you send her another owl, and tell her that we're going after him, though don't tell her that I told you to send it?"

Miranda nodded, and took out her notebook.

Dear Hermione, she began.

Sorry I haven't owled you in a while. Harry's found Voldemort.

Miranda stopped writing. "Are you going to tell her where he is?"

Harry shook his head. "No, just keep writing, tell her that we don't want to be found."

Miranda nodded obediently. "Alright."

He won't say where he is, but I have a feeling that we're going to be doing something soon.

One more thing. Don't come after us. I think it would be for the best if you just left us alone.

Love you.

Love, Miranda.

Hermione looked up as an owl swooped down to drop something in front of her breakfast. She caught it in her hands. It was from Miranda. She read over it quickly, and then turned pale.

"'Mione? What is it?" Ron looked over at her, concerned. He took the letter from her hand, pausing to see if she minded him reading it. She made no motion to take it back, so he read over it. His eyes went wide.

"What?!?" asked Ginny, frustrated.

"He's going after Voldemort," Ron said, shakily.

At this Hermione looked up, a small smile on her face.

Ron looked at her oddly. "What?"

"You said his name."

"I did?" Ron thought back to what he had just said, then shrugged. "It seems al that scary now, does it?"

"We have to tell McGonagall," Ginny said quietly.

"Tell me what, Miss Weasley?" The professor had appeared behind them.

Ginny blushed, then prodded Ron. "You tell her," she whispered.

Ron shook his head and looked to Hermione.

"Well? I'm waiting."

Hermione shook her head at Ron and Ginny and sighed. "Harry's going after Voldemort."

At the sound of the Dark Wizard's name, Professor McGonagall took a sharp intake of breath, then said, "I see."

"That's it?" Ron blurted out.

Professor McGonagall gave him a sharp look. "Mr Weasley, we are doing everything in our power to find him. It is not as easy as it sounds, I can assure you. If we knew something like this would happen, we would have put a tracking spell on him a long time ago."

"Minerva?" Professor Dumbledore had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, but considering he was a wizard, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Albus," she greeted him.

Dumbledore turned to look at Hermione, Ron and Ginny, who had leaned forward, hanging on every word. "Have you three finished breakfast?"

They all nodded, even Ron who hadn't yet taken a bite.

"Well then, follow me. Minerva, you too."

They headed up to Dumbledore's office.

"Sit, please."

They all sat down on chairs that Dumbledore had pulled up around the table, simply with a wave of his hand.

"We've found him."

A/N: There we go! It's taken me a while and I apologise to you guys over and over again! I hope you like it! I'm gonna introduce a review quota at the moment. Say, 5 reviews, seeing as I know not that many people review. If you get 10 or more, I'll put up TWO chapters! ) so you know what you gotta do now! RR!!!