Disclaimer: I do not own or have any rights to Harry Potter or chapter titles 11 onwards

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Chapter 22: Living on a Prayer

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Early November 1997

Remus was startled early in the morning by a black haired fiend bursting into his chambers while he sat reading the Daily Prophet and drinking his morning tea.

"Professor Lupin," Harry exclaimed excitedly, eyes flashing like he just had the most brilliant idea.

"What is it Harry?" Remus asked curiously.

"That ring, the one Hermione gave Sirius, do you have it, like you had the jacket, can I pleeeaase give it to Sirius, it'll cheer him up, maybe give him some more hope, I mean I know we'll find Hermione but his eyes are just so dull, and I really want to help him, so do you have it, can I give it to him now?" Harry rambled until Remus held up a hand.

"Harry," he said gently trying to calm the over excited boy. "I don't have Sirius' ring, I've already looked."

Harry's excited expression immediately fell. "Oh."

"I'm sorry Harry, but I have no idea where it is." Remus apologized, he had actually looked for the ring the week after Hermione had dissapeared, his search however had been in vain."Have you read any of that book yet?" he asked, trying to changing the subject.

Harry nodded. "I've started it but I haven't found anything yet," he said dejectedly.

Remus smiled. "It's a nice autumn day; I'd suggest the tree next to the lake, Hermione liked to sit and read there when it was warmer."

Harry followed Remus' gaze and nodded. "Thank you Remus," he said walking to the door.

"You're welcome Harry, and remember," he called before Harry closed the door, "sometimes two pairs of eyes are better than one."

Harry stood still for a second, staring curiously at the werewolf, who had a very familiar twinkle in his eyes that was usually associated with the headmaster.

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Harry settled himself on the cool grass under the tree by the lake and leaned back, 'A Time Travellers Guide to the way of Time' sitting in his lap as he looked out over the lake.

His thoughts wandered for a while over the previous six years; his times with Ron, his times with Hermione. He looked down at the book in his lap and opened it to the page he had last read. He wasn't getting very far, but while he was still at Hogwarts and not an official member of the Order there wasn't much else he could do.

Before he started to read however a shadow fell over him, he looked up and met the eyes of Ginny Weasley.

"Hey Harry," she said quietly. "Thought you might like some company"

Harry was about to refuse the youngest Weasley when he thought of what Remus had told him. 'Two pairs of eyes are better than one'. He looked back up at the red head and patted the ground next to him, inviting her to sit down.

She obliged and looked at the book in his hands. "What are you reading?" she asked inquisitively.

"It's a time travel book," he answered.

"Oh, trying to help Hermione?" she asked, Harry had told Ginny what happened to his friend, he knew what it was like to be left out of the loop and didn't want to put Ginny in that situation.

Harry nodded. "It hasn't helped yet, I can't seem to be able to find anything."

Ginny shrugged. "Well read out loud, I'm sure two minds will work better than one."

Harry smiled at how much she just then sounded like Remus and started to read. Ginny listened to the sound of his voice while gazing out across the lake, asking him to repeat a piece of information occasionally.

"'A Time Trap is a room where a person is trapped unless freed by a witch or wizard from the outside. Time Traps are very rare and are a form of Dark Magic usually used to hold prisoners. It is known as a Time Trap because time is slowed down, although it is not yet known how much due to the fact that only a scattered amount of Time Traps have ever been found. What can be said is that they can only be found by someone who knows where to look; usually the creator of the Time Trap or someone that has been shown it, a random passer by will never know the room is there'."

Harry finished the paragraph and looked up at Ginny who was staring back at him with equally wide eyes. This was a possibility; this was a very good possibility. Without saying anything Harry jumped up, grabbed Ginny's hand, pulled her up and started to run back to the castle.

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Sirius was getting frustrated, he was presently in his quarters with half the Order getting absolutely nowhere in the search for Hermione. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, the situation was getting out of hand, they needed a new approach and they needed it now.

As he pondered this Harry burst into the room dragging Ginny along behind him.

"SIRIUS!" he yelled looking around for his godfather, ignoring the other members of the Order.

"Harry," the black haired man said, standing up and walking over quickly to his godson, wondering what had made him so excited.

"I think we might have found something that can help," he said while he caught his breath, out of the corner of his eyes Sirius saw Ginny smile slightly at being included in the find.

"Come over and sit down," Sirius said leading them over to the table on which Remus was sitting surrounded by Order members, reading through various reports.

Once Harry was seated he handed Sirius the book and pointed to the page he and Ginny had found. Sirius read while Remus stood and went to read over his friends shoulder.

"This is a very good find Harry," Remus commended. "It explains why we cannot find Hermione using locator spells."

Sirius face however had fallen. "It also means that it will be almost impossible to find her."

Ginny looked slightly confused at the emotion she saw in Sirius' face, the man in front of her looked on the verge of tears.

Harry tried to give his godfather a comforting smile. "At least we have another angle to try Sirius."

Sirius nodded blankly but stood and left the room to his bed chambers. Harry and Remus exchanged worried glances; Sirius was beginning to fall into a deep depression with only one sure cure: Hermione.

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Later on that evening Harry and Ginny were making their way back to the Gryffindor tower, the Order meeting had been a long one, Dumbledore had assigned Tonks and Kingsley to question the Death Eaters further and include inquiries into Time Traps. Dumbledore also increased the search for Lucius Malfoy, though Harry didn't know whether this was due to the fact that Sirius believes so much that he had something to do with Hermione's disappearance or the fact that Dumbledore himself believed the Death Eater was involved.

Harry stopped suddenly, catching Ginny's arm in his hand to stop her as well, they weren't alone in the corridor and Harry knew it.

"Who's there?" he asked hand gripping his wand.

"Now Potter, no need to pull that out," came an icy voice, a familiar figure stepped out from behind a statue and Harry's eyes narrowed.

"What do you want?" Harry asked the figure in front of him.

The figure smiled slightly. "Believe it or not Potter, I have information that can help you, I'd like to pass it over."

Harry stood shell shocked eyes wide. "You want to help me, help Hermione?" he asked in surprise.

"Yes"

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