Chapter Seven:
"Harry!" Hermione cried the moment Harry had closed the door. She'd come running into the room, and gave Harry a hug. "Hi," Harry replied. "How are you?" she asked, looking concerned. Harry looked around the dark room and gave an involuntary shudder. The truth was, he felt horrible. He was overwhelmed with thoughts of Sirius.
"Fine," he replied. "Let's get out of here though," he said, motioning to the grungy hallway they were standing in. Together they lifted the trunk, although that was not needed as it was still feather-light, and carried it into the kitchen. Everything looked the same as it had the last summer, only a thin layer of dust had settled over everything, as no one had been here for a whole year, ever since they had vacated the building and removed Headquarters from here. Except for Mundungus, Harry thought, starting to feel angrier. Mundungus had been stealing from Sirius, selling his things illegally. But he was in Azkaban now. Serves him right. The thieving, idiotic loser. And certainly, Bellatrix Lestrange had not been here. Dumbledore had thought she might have decided to move in- the home was supposed to go to her, the closest relative to Sirius still alive. But it seemed no one had inhabited this house for quite a while. Harry noticed Hermione was staring at him.
"Oh, yes, happy birthday," she said with a smile, and pulled something out of her pocket. Harry unwrapped the package slowly, and inside he found a box of familiar-looking stones. "They're called Nellaphims," Hermione began to explain. "I know," Harry cut her off. "Lupin got me some too." He sat the stones down on the table and took a seat.
"Oh," said Hermione, her voice sounding slightly hurt, as Harry had not seemed to like her present much. "Well, I thought you'd need some cheering up," she tried. "Yeah," Harry said. "Thanks."
Hermione changed the subject. She seemed to be more on task now. She pulled out a great pile of notes. "I've had some ideas for the Horcruxes," she said. "Oh yeah, me too," Harry said, grateful the subject had left changed, leaving the sadness behind. Harry pulled out his notes too. The pair chatted long into the night, theorizing what the Horcruxes were, where they could be. They took more notes too. They came to some conclusions. They decided to go to Godric's Hollow tomorrow and see what was even there; neither of them knew anything about it. Harry wanted to go, though. But first they would get Harry's apparition license. Just when the conversation was winding down, Harry remembered the other list he had made. He pulled it out and pushed it toward Hermione.
Her eyes widened as she read. "Harry, what-?" she started, looking up from the parchment. Her face looked fearful. Hermione seemed at a loss for words. "I know it's a lot," Harry began, "but we could try to get some of them in when have a little extra time, right?" Hermione stared unblinkingly at him. "Harry, I'm worrying about you."
"You don't like the ideas?" Harry asked. He thought she would understand. Okay, he could admit he'd gone a little overboard with Ron's description of death, but he thought the idea of trapping Malfoy in the lion's cage was at least worth a try.
"Harry, what's happened? You've changed. Why do you suddenly want to hurt all these people?" Hermione asked, her voice shaking. "You're right," Harry said, covering for himself. "I don't really want to do that. I just got carried away." He took his list and put it away. "I think I'll go to bed now." And he left the room with Hermione still sitting at the kitchen table, staring unbelievingly at Harry.