The remainder of summer break passed uneventfully. Things were so boring, in fact, that Harry and Ron were ecstatic when Hermione arrived a week before the end of break. Between the three of them they immediately started theorizing about the remaining Horcruxes and where they could be.
"You know, Harry," said Hermione after she had finished writing up a massive list of what the Horcruxes could be, including an old shoe and the Chamber of Secrets, "maybe Voldemort is just trying to make us think that the Horcruxes are in hard-to-find places. For all we know, they could be hidden right in front of our eyes!"
Ron looked at her incredulously. "Do you think he would really do that? I mean, come on…"
"Actually, you have a point, Hermione," said Harry. "It is kind of in his style to hide things right under our noses. Remember the journal? We actually had it in our possession for awhile. And even himself, for crying out loud. He lived on the back of Quirrel's head for months. Maybe we are looking too far into this. But where, and what, could they be?"
No one had an answer to that. No matter how hard they thought, the trio couldn't come up with an explanation as to where the remaining Horcruxes could be hidden, or even what they could be.
"Well, let's think this through logically." said Harry. "We know for a fact that the diary was a Horcrux. I destroyed that one in the Chamber of Secrets."
"So that's one. Out of six." said Hermione.
"Right," continued Harry, "and we also know that Marvolo's ring was a Horcrux, but that one was destroyed too."
"That's two." said Hermione.
"OK, and we also know that Slytherin's locket is or was a Horcrux. The problem with that one is that it's missing. So we have no way of really knowing if it's been destroyed or not. And besides those three, there's one more that we can be sure of: Hufflepuff's cup. Again, though, we have no idea where it is or if it's been destroyed, but I think it's probably safe to say that it's still an active Horcrux."
"So that's four" said Hermione.
"Ok, so there have to be two more. Since there's an artifact from Slytherin and Hufflepuff, it's probably a good bet to say that the other two are most likely artifacts from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. The only surviving artifacts from Gryffindor that we know of are the sword and the Sorting Hat. I highly doubt that the hat is a Horcrux, but we can check it out. The sword, on the other hand, has much more possibility. I had never seen it before I pulled it out of the hat in the Chamber of Secrets, so there's the off chance that it could have been in Voldemort's possession at some point."
Hermione looked apprehensive. "Harry, that sounds a little off to me, but I'm sure we can check both the sword and the hat once we get to Hogwarts. But are there any Ravenclaw artifacts that we know of?"
Harry grimaced. "That's the hardest part right now…we don't know of any. However, the school library probably has a book or three on Rowena Ravenclaw, so we should start there. But for now maybe we can find something in 'Hogwarts, A History.' Let's get to work!"
Several hours passed.
"I give up!" cried Ron after staring at the massive tome of Hogwarts history. "I just can't look at this anymore. Harry, for all we know, we could run into this missing Horcrux at Hogwarts or something. Let's give it a rest for awhile!"
They actually had to give it a rest, for the next morning, three owls arrived at the Burrow with a letter from Hogwarts for each of them. The sheets of parchment that they pulled out of their respective envelopes was covered in miniscule writing with the new security measures that were being put into place. Hermione cleared her throat and read the list aloud so that everyone could hear it.
"A list of the new measures being instituted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the protection of the students and staff. One: all students must be inside the castle by seven o'clock each night, unless they are accompanied by a professor and have an adequate reason for being on the grounds or are taking part in a class such as Astronomy. Two: All students must be in their common rooms from eleven o'clock PM to six-thirty AM, unless there is a dire emergency. Three: All incoming and outgoing packages will be inspected with Dark Detectors to detect the presence of dark magic. Four: All students' belongings will be subject to non-invasive search when they arrive at Hogwarts. There are no exceptions to these rules. See you September first. Sincerely, Professor Minerva McGonagall." Hermione finished and looked around to see Mr. and Mrs. Weasley nodding approvingly and her fellow schoolmates shrugging and exchanging looks that said 'OK, we can deal with that'.
Later, up in Ron's room, out of earshot of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, they discussed what the new measures meant.
"Well, not much really seems different from the past few years." Said Ginny, "Maybe there's something they're not telling us."
"Ginny, you're being paranoid!" said Ron.
"Ron, be nice," snapped Harry, "she could be right. They've probably put some new spells or something on the castle to make it safer."
"That's right." said Hermione. "The Ministry obviously doesn't want any more trouble at Hogwarts, so they're probably instituting some things to avoid any…problems."
They continued talking about what was going to be different at Hogwarts this year, until Mrs. Weasley came upstairs and told them all to get to bed. Tomorrow they were going to Diagon Alley.