The List

By: lbfan

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, the characters, and the world which was created in the books. These are all owned by JK Rowling, AOL Time Warner, and many publishers around the world. This is written for entertainment purposes only. No profit will be made from this story.

Chapter 3 – Discoveries Amongst the Debris

It had been about a week since the dementor attack in Diagon Alley. Hermione submitted a letter to Gilbert Wimple of the Committee on Experimental Charms, explaining that development phase of the charm was completed. Some final testing was still required before she could claim completion. By notifying the committee, Hermione was following the ministry rules for spell creation. She only hopes that others would master the spell before Voldemort discovered her discovery. The last thing she wanted to do was boot Harry Potter from the number one spot on the Voldemort's most wanted list. Because of this, she had marked all of her correspondences as confidential.

This was the day which Harry and Hermione had left the disgruntled Ron behind to attend the Slughorn's summer party. True to his nature, Horace had found an unknowingly generous muggle family to share their beautiful home and garden with his party guests. To prevent detection, he placed muggle-repelling and fidellus charms, and many other wards on the establishment. All the guest's arrival times were staggered to allow him time to reveal the fidellus password for the party location and prevented un-wanted guests. Harry and Hermione were the last guests scheduled to arrive.

As Horace Slughorn escorted them into the party, he queried Harry, "Did you break up with Ginny Weasley?"

Harry gave a very ashamed look before asking, "Why?"

Slughorn explained, "When I was inviting Ginny, she asked if you were going to attend. When I told her that Hermione and you were already confirmed, she suddenly remembered that she had to work today. It is as if she is trying to avoid you."

Harry did not really want to justify why he broke up with Ginny to anyone. He could not even do a good job justifying it to himself anymore. Harry said, "Well, yeah… I said that we should go our own ways, since being with me earns her a bulls-eye target on her back."

"Oh dear boy," Slughorn started. "Need not worry about her, it is better this way. Believe me, if you can casually break up with her that easily, then it really was not meant to be. It is better to end it while you're young and single, then when you are married. There are so many potential suitors out there to see. Just take for instance the lovely young lady beside you," referring to Hermione.

Harry looked like he was going to be sick. It was only easy at the moment, he had been tortured at the thought ever since. He hoped that it was not easy for her as well. If she did not attend that day, then maybe it was hard on her too. Consumed in his own thoughts, he was surprised by the look on Hermione's face.

Hermione was flushed. Noticing that he was looking at her, she stopped him by saying, "Don't say a word. Come on, let's go mingle."

Slughorn caught Harry before he could get too far, and said, "Harry, come let me introduce you to Gwenog Jones, captain of the Holyhead Harpies quidditch team."

When Hermione saw him looking at her, she shrugged, "You go ahead. Come find me later."

Harry was actually happy to ditch Hermione. She had been especially bossy since had asked her to be his guardian. He figured that this was just apart of her feminine nurturing nature, which maked Harry and Ron her family which she was protecting. She had always been this way during revisions each year. By allowing her to deal with the Dursleys, he must had given her license to run his life. It would definitely be murder if they were in a romantic relationship together.

Horace took Harry over to a taller than average woman with a solid, athletic build. She must had been in her 30's, but she still looked attractive. He introduced Harry, and Gwenog's eyes lit up. She said, "Harry Potter, it is a special pleasure for me to meet your acquaintance. I have heard so much of you."

Harry sarcastically replied, "Yeah, about the boy-who-lived, or the chosen one?"

Gwenog was quick to correct, "No, I meant about you being the youngest seeker at Hogwarts in over 100 years, and how you have never had a game where you didn't catch the snitch, if you forget about the ones where you fell off your broom. Oh, and I'm sorry to hear about that McLaggen incident. That was awful. Oh bugger, here he comes again. When you're out-of-school, look me up. I got to go, bye. "

Sure enough, just like his ears were burning, Cormac came over to Harry. "Hey Harry, have you seen Gwenog Jones?" he asked.

Harry thought it would had been safer if he just pretended to be ignorant. He replied, "Erm, Gwenog who?"

Cormac decided that he did not want to share this jewel of a find with Harry, so he casually noted, "Oh, a beautiful middle-aged woman about this tall." He gestured about the right height.

It was time to derail him from his obsessive search, so Harry asked, "Who is that man in the corner wearing the florescent green robes?"

Irritated, Cormac looked over where Harry was pointed, and said, "That's Ciceron Markiss. He owns Zonkos."

Harry took a sudden interest, and asked, "Cormac, would you introduce me to him?"

Looking around, Cormac could not find Gwenog anywhere, so he relented to Harry. He gestured to Harry and said, "Come on then, I'll introduce you."

They weaved through the party guest until they came across two gentlemen talking in the corner. Cormac introduced, "Mr. Markiss and Mr. Flume, this is Harry Potter." Cormac then turned back and replied, "Harry, this is Ciceron Markiss and Ambrosius Flume."

Harry's face lit up as he recognized the man from the basement of Honeydukes. He said, "Mr. Flume it is good to see you. As a student I have always enjoyed your products." Harry turned towards Mr. Markiss, and inquired, "McLaggen said that you own Zonkos."

As if Harry touched a piece of pride in him, he brightened up and responded, "Well yes, I do. Zonkos have been in my family for 95 years."

Harry said, "I bet the situation at Hogwarts has been difficult to your business this last year. Not to mention the new competition with Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Your business is probably taking heavy losses." If there was anything that he could have said to make him mad, this must had been it.

Markiss, bristled at this in utter contempt, and said, as he was turning his back on him, "I have nothing to say to you, boy!"

Harry tried to recover by saying, "Mr. Markiss, I only brought that up because I want to help."

Still agitated, he sharply turned to Harry and asked, "How can you help?"

"Mr. Markiss," Harry started. "I would like to buy Zonkos, or at least the Hogsmeade store. If you are interested, please send me some summary reports of your books, like a balance sheet. I have plenty of galleons in my vaults which I could use to liquidate your interests in this business before the losses get worse." Harry was not going to tell him, but he was actually doing this to expand his investment in Fred and George's business.

Threatened by this buy-out offer, he sized Harry up a bit. He did not have the trademark red hair of his competitors, so he said, "I'll give it some consideration." He then turned his back on Harry and continued his discussion with Ambrosius Flume.

Harry did not feel that the discussion went to well, but it was just an opportunity. His eyes started to wander until he found a short and gentle man, a few yards away just standing without anyone to talk to. Harry decided to introduce himself, and walked up to him.

"Hello there," Harry called, "I'm Harry Potter." He then waited for the usual reaction.

The gentleman replied, "Hello, it's good to meet you. My name is Dirk Creswell. What brings you to this party?"

Harry was shocked. He sounded legitimately ignorant of his un-earned fame; how blissful. Harry smiled and asked, "I've heard your name before. Aren't you someone important at the Ministry?"

Harry was going to milk this man for a normal conversation as long as it would last.

Astonished, the gentleman said, "Yes, well… no, I'm just a head of department for the Goblins Liaison's office. You know, in the ministry, this is about a low management as you can go. The only one who has a more humble position is the poor bloke who took the Head of Enchanted Muggle Artifacts job."

Harry insisted, "Don't let anyone tell you different. As far as I'm concerned, you have one of the most important jobs in the whole ministry. I personally would like to talk to Ragnok to persuade his assistance. How do I talk to goblins without insulting them? I want to assure them that I'm sincere."

Dirk's face was lit up as he spent the next 20 minutes animatedly discussing goblin culture and customs. As Harry was listening, he took short glances around the crowd to find Hermione. Once, he saw Gwenog who shot him a quick wink before disappearing again. He was just going to ask Dirk what happened to Cuthbert Mockridge when he spotted Hermione waving at him and earnestly beckoning him over. Politely excusing himself, Harry went over to Hermione to see who she was talking to.

As Harry approached, Hermione eagerly introduced him, "Mr. and Mrs. Belby, this is my friend, Harry Potter." She then turned to Harry, and said, "Harry, this is Damocles Belby and his wife Lynthia. Damocles is the inventor of the Wolfsbane potion. He is giving me some tips on making it more palatable. Why I called you over here is because Damocles feels that he close to discovering the cure for lycanthropy."

Harry's jaw just about dropped. Did he hear this right, a cure? His first thought was Remus Lupin, if he was cured, he would be able to lead a normal life and teach at Hogwarts. Harry asked Hermione, "What do you think we should do to help?" Harry did not want to come right out and ask Mr. and Mrs. Belby, because they seemed a little mysterious and private. It was difficult to for him read them.

Hermione answered, "I believe you should fund their research."

"Yes," Harry replied, now looking at Damocles Belby, "I would like to assist you in developing your cure in the shortest amount of time possible. How much do you need?"

If there was any doubt in Lynthia's face, it was gone then. As for Damocles, he looked like he was going to faint. He knew that connections were made at Horace's parties, but he did not expect to find a venture capitalist to fully fund his work. Damocles stammered, "I would say about 50 man months and 30 thousand galleons."

Harry looked at Hermione to see what her reaction would be. Hermione's face was full of anxiety, but a small smile indicatied that he should be able to do it. Harry turned to Damocles and said, "It is a deal, 5 thousand galleons a week for the first six weeks, but you have to allow Hermione here to participate in the research. She is the brightest witch I know, if anyone can help you, she can. Staff up your team, I want to have a proof of concept demonstration in two weeks. After the cure has been found, I will need enough to cure 200 werewolves."

Damocles looked troubled, but he nodded in agreement.

Harry turned to Hermione, and asked her, "Hermione, could you take care of all of the legal paperwork. He can retain property of the cure, but I want to retain the development staff to produce and sell the cure royalty free for two years."

Harry then turned to Damocles and stated, "I must enforce upon you the importance of this cure. Voldemort have been actively recruiting werewolves, and werewolf attacks are becoming more frequent and vicious. In order for me to stop Voldemort and the violence, I must stop the dark creatures from turning to him. This is a life or death situation for thousands of lives. Security must be considered foremost. As soon as he hears about what you are doing, Voldemort will try to stop you. Work quickly and publish your works as soon as possible."

This pet project of his all-of-a-sudden took on a life of its own. No longer was this a hobby in the garage, but now a top-secret military development lab. With the risk of being killed, Damocles looked like he was going to back out or become sick.

Lynthia saw this and gave him a re-assuring hug and told him that everything would be alright.

Damocles looked over her shoulder at Harry and nodded.

Harry smiled back. He saw one more person he wanted to talk to. It was getting late and the guests would be leaving soon.

Hermione followed Harry for a while, and then asked, "Harry, was scaring him like that necessary?"

Harry replied, "We have to be honest with him. It is a lot of gold we are throwing at him, and I have to know that he is taking this very seriously."

When Harry approached Eldred Worple, he said, "Mr. Worple, I was hoping to find you here."

Eldred almost wet his pants in excitement. Elated, Eldred asked, "Does this mean that you will allow me to write a book on you?"

Harry smiled, but said, "No, it's not my biography, but I do need your help writing a book. This book is an Advanced Potions text which has been getting me outstanding on every assignment and potion. What makes this book important to me is that the potion instructions are by a fugitive Death Eater who killed Albus Dumbledore. By publishing these potion directions, I'm hoping that it will satisfy his hunger for recognition and fame. Besides, in this book, he proudly refers to himself as the Half-Blood Prince. As you see, this can't help his cause with Voldemort and his fellow death eaters, who pride themselves on pure-blood virtues."

Looking skeptical, Eldred asked, "I don't know. Are you sure that this will sell well? You seem so confident that this will give this Death Eater fame. What's in it for me?"

Harry turned and asked, "Hermione, would you mind finding Professor Slughorn for me." He turned back to Eldred and reassured him, "Mr. Worple, publishers give higher commissions on text books then normal books. The current text book for advanced potions has been written over 50 years ago, and the changes to the instructions are so numerous and successful that this will sell throughout the world. Even if you have to share the profit from this book, you will still make piles of gold."

Hermione returned with Horace Slughorn in tow. Horace asked, "Harry my boy, what can I do for you?"

Harry asked him, "Professor, if Mr. Worple wrote a potions text book which would make all of your students do as well as I did last year, would you require your students to use his book instead?"

Slughorn answered without even thinking, "Yes, of course. Is that how you were doing it, Harry? You were using different instructions?"

Hermione looked smug, and Harry was a bit flushed as he answered, "Yes professor, the book which I was using had handwritten connotations and revisions to the potions. I am asking Mr. Worple to publish these new potions instruction in a new textbook. It would mean a lot to me if you would give this book your endorsement."

Horace paused for a moment of thought and said, "I will have to see the book first."

Eldred had an excited gleam in his eyes and asked, "When can we get started?"

Harry was pleased that he could get his help. Harry said, "Lets get together in 15 days, I have too much going on before then, and I need to retrieve the book from where I hid it."

Harry and Hermione said their good-byes and left the party. As they approached the apparition area, Hermione chided him, "Harry, do you know how stupid you look wearing un-matching socks? What is wrong with you?"

As they walked and apparated, Harry explained to Hermione, "I had asked Dobby over to talk about house elf customs and culture. After our discussion it was apparent that house elves hold on to their belonging to a family as a since of pride and identity. Dobby told me that out of anything in the world, he just wanted to serve me."

Hermione's mouth dropped at the connotation. Her eyes bore into Harry with a steely glare, as she said "Harry, you didn't. What about S.P.E.W.? What about me? Did you ever consider how I would feel?"

Harry turned to look directly at her, and said, "Hermione, you mean the world to me, and even I don't believe in house elf enslavement. I thought about this long and hard. Hoping that you would approve, I came up with a mutual servitude bond where we bond our families together forever. Participation is optional, and is based on our mutual love and family honor. Dobby is never paid, because he mutually owns everything I own. Belonging is everything. He is my house elf, and I..." Pulling up his pants legs to point out his socks, he continued, "and I am his wizard." With a worried look, he was holding his breath, hoping for a favorable reaction.

Hermione had her contemplative look about her as they walked in silence. When she broke the silence, she said, "I'm sorry Harry. It was wrong for me to jump to such a rash judgment. Even I have been struggling with the issue of house elves needing belonging. You have taken a very bold step to ensure Dobby's happiness. I can't see any other wizard or witch doing the same. What you did took a lot of faith and heart. I am very proud of you, Harry." A tear slid down her cheek to the brim of her smile.

Harry let out his breath in relief, and embraced Hermione in a brief hug. "Thank you, your approval means so much to me." As they were almost in front of the Dursley's house, he took a quick glance at his bedroom window to see if Ron caught his embrace with Hermione.

This did not go unnoticed by Hermione. She just smiled and shook her head. They went inside and told Ron everything about the party, except for the hug at the end.

After Hermione left, and Ron and Harry were getting ready for bed, Harry made another feeble attempt to compose that letter. This one, like all the previous ones, ended up as a wadded up piece of parchment in the bin. Noticing Hedwig's glare, Harry smoothed her anger by promising to write someone, and wrote Neville a note asking him to pick them up at the burrow on the night of the wedding at 9:00 p.m.

After Hedwig left, Harry did his occlumency exercises. Occlumency, even without a legilimency partner, was helping him a lot. In his occlumency exercises, he was classifying his memories, and creating layered shields. The benefit he had found was in remembering things as they were yesterday. Just earlier in the day at the party, he could tell that his shields were working when someone tried to peek at his thoughts. He was not sure who it was, but he could sense the intrusion. To strengthen his shields, he had taken to meditating in the morning when he does his Tai Chi exercises.

The next afternoon, after the noon time meal, Ron Hermione and Harry went to Diagon Alley to do some shopping. Ron had most of his shopping already done, so he went to the candy and joke shops. Hermione was looking for another robe, beauty products, and of coarse, books. Harry had not gone shopping since the dementor incident a week ago. He still needed to get a wedding and a birthday present. Harry asked Hermione to pick him up a book at Flourish and Blotts called Goblin Customs and Culture. This was a book which Dirk Cresswell suggested him read.

He failed to talk to Fred and George about his offer to purchase Zonkos from Mr. Markiss. When looking through the walls of the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, he found the woman, who maked his insides turn to knots, behind their counter. He could not face her just yet.

Harry was at his last store visit, getting a present wrapped, when someone disappeared suddenly. This was not so disconcerting except that it seemed that they took a picture of him while the young sales clerk was overtly flirting with him across the counter. Other than that incident, the shopping trip went very smoothly.

Harry and Ron met up with Hermione in Flourish and Blotts. They had to plead to get her to reluctantly leave the bookstore.

Back at the Dursleys, they noticed many changes since they arrived a month ago. The landscaping service had turned the front lawn into a perfectly manicured garden. It even had a small fountain. The house was fitted with a security alarm system, but they haven't yet armed it. The Dursleys were probably waiting for their tenants to leave first. The inside of the house was newly painted, except for Harry and Ron's room. A soft Berber carpet covered the floor wall to wall. Even the kitchen showed evidence of re-modeling. The old sofa was replaced with a new leather one, and the dinette was now a vintage cherry look with a high gloss finish.

Harry turned to Ron and Hermione and remarked, "Well, I don't think they are going to miss us when we leave tomorrow."

Hermione had a smirk on her face when she said, "Yes they will, when they see that you have withdrawn what was left of your account out of the bank."

Later that evening, Harry was longing for something to write. He just had to say something. He had not written her all summer. There must be something he could say to her. The problem was when ever he tried to put his feeling onto the page, they came out too mushy or too cold. He figured that he would just have to apologize to her in person when he saw her the next day. It was probably better if Hedwig was not seen flying to the burrow anyways.

After Ron and Harry got dressed in the morning, Harry called Dobby and asked him to pack the trunks. When he was done, he wanted the cages and the trunks taken to the Burrow. Harry had to make sure Dobby would get the things under the floorboard as well.

Ron and Harry went downstairs to eat breakfast and say their good-byes to everyone.

Harry called for Kreacher. Kreacher appeared to be slightly bruised, but overall better then he was two weeks ago when he commanded him to work here. He was standing a little straighter and looked younger. Harry ordered him, "Study the house carefully and to note the electrical, cable and phone wiring in the walls. If there was an attack on the house which you can't stop, save yourself and hide. When everyone leaves, rebuild or repair any damage which had been made to the house."

Harry told the Dursleys that they should leave on a holiday for at least two weeks so that they would not be present when his birthday came around. The wards protecting the house would fall, and he expected there would be a frenzied attack by Voldemort. He then assured them that once he determined that Harry was no longer living there, they would leave them alone. Just in case, Kreacher was to stay, protect, and serve them.

Once Hermione arrived, they all left. It was not at all as he imagined. He used to replay this event in his mind again and again seeing himself hexing the Dursleys, or at least leaving a big scratch on the floor from his trunk. He could not even imagined leaving a scuff mark on the floor with his shoe. He actually felt sorry for them, for what they were going to face. This was still a red-letter day in his life, but transition would bring new opportunity.

The three of them quietly walked down to Mrs. Figg's house to borrow the floo for the last time. Harry petted her cats and gave Mrs. Figg a hug good-bye. They floo'ed to a pre-arranged wizarding pub in Wales where Remus Lupin was waiting for them.

Remus greeted them casually, "It looks like you faired the Dursleys well. Hello Hermione, Ron, how are you two doing?"

Ron answered, "I thought living at the Burrow was bad. Harry said that this was a good summer for him, but I still thought that the muggles were nutters. However, we did get a lot of our work done while we were there."

Hermione said with a scowl, "I didn't stay with them at the house, but I was there enough to get a taste of them."

Harry added, "Life at the Dursleys is typically filled with abuse and hatred. With my two best friends staying with me, it made the stay a whole new experience. These two have changed everything for me. This has been the best summer of my life, and it's not over with yet."

Remus guided them out of the pub and down the road. Harry received a few double-takes from some of the residents as they passed. One of men residents who was driving by waved to Harry as if he was a familiar face.

Harry smiled and waved back.

Ron asked Harry, "Who are you waving to?"

Harry replied, "Isn't it obvious? They think that I'm my dad. It won't be long before he realizes that he just waved to someone who has been dead for 15 years."

It only took them 15 minutes of walking until they came upon a grove of trees nestled along the road. There was not really anything special about the trees, but it seem to effect Remus quite a bit. He was looking at the trees fondly and a tear was brimming in his eye.

"Remus, what is it?" Hermione asked.

Remus broke out of his trance, and looked at Hermione, then the other two. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said. He was fishing in his pocket until he came to a slip of paper which had the pass-phrase spelled out on it. The paper looked like a fortune from a Chinese restaurant fortune cookie. On the paper the red typed lettering said, "Welcome to Godric's Hollow where it all started." Showing the paper to the three of them, he asked for them to concentrate on what it said and look over at the grove of trees. Suddenly it came into view. A driveway lead from where they were standing up to the wreckage of a home.

Harry called Dobby. A moment later he popped in front of him. "Yes Master, what can I do for you?" Dobby asked with a wide smile on his face. Harry asked Dobby if he can see something over in the grove of trees. Dobby nodded and said, "It is a collapsed house."

Harry looked over at Remus, then turned back to Dobby. Harry asked, "Dobby, can you fix the house?"

Dobby popped around the wreckage analyzing how much of the original structure was available to work with. He returned to Harry and said, "I could, fix it. It looks like the building collapsed into the cellar. I will need to call on some favors, but it will take about an hour." With that, Dobby disappeared in a pop.

Remus said, "I don't remember a cellar. That is not possible."

Dobby returned with a dozen other elves. It actually only took them 40 minutes, but the house was whole and complete. There were no signs of weather damage or wear. Dobby and the other elves approached Harry and reported, "Master, the building is repaired. We had to use one of the trees in the back to create a missing support and beam for the basement. It looked as if the witch or wizard who made the basement died and the magic holding up the house left. As a result, the house collapsed into the cellar. The house is now safe to live in. We tried to restore it to the original condition as much as possible."

Harry bowed deeply to Dobby and the other elves. Hermione followed with a low and well practiced curtsy. Ron and Remus looked at each other in puzzlement then clumsily half-bowed themselves. Harry said, "Thank you Dobby, you are truly a great house elf. I'm honored to have you as my elf." Harry then turned to the other elves, and said, "Thank you everyone for your help. Because of you, I have my long lost home back. Please do not speak of this to your masters or anyone else until I or Voldemort dies. All of you have done a good job, and I hold all of you in my debt. You may all return to your homes, and Thank you."

As the elves were leaving, Harry turned to Dobby and asked, "Can we trust them with this secret?" Dobby answered, "Dobby is sorry Harry Potter. Dobby didn't know it was a secret. They should be able to keep the secret, unless their masters command them to tell. Some of their masters are your enemies. Dobby was bad, Bad Dobby." Dobby summoned a large stick and started to beat himself with it.

Harry intervened and grabbed the stick from his hands. "Dobby must not punish himself. It is not Dobby's fault. I didn't tell Dobby about the secret. It is my fault, not yours." Harry said, trying to comfort him. Harry told him quietly, "Dobby is a good house elf. I am happy and proud of him." Dobby gave Harry a tearful hug of thanks.

Harry turned to the others, and said, "Well, we can't stay here, but we should go inside and gather up any valuables and clues that can help us." Harry turned back to Dobby and asked, "Will you show us around?"

Dobby took them all inside the house. Remus was surprised at accuracy and quality of the restoration. It truly felt as if he went back 15 years to when Lily and James were living. Remarkably, the house even seemed to have the smell it had back then. Once inside, Remus was not the only one who was lost in the past. Harry too, had snippets of visions from his past in the house. Little things like the carpet, the couch and the windows seemed to bring a flood of memories back to him.

Ron went upstairs to take a look around. Remus went over to the dining room, still lost in his memories. Hermione gave Harry a small hug, and told him to take his time.

Hermione called, "Dobby, how do I get down to the cellar?"

Dobby looked at Harry, and felt very sad. Dobby said, "There's a secret door in the back of the pantry in the kitchen."

Hermione noticed his response and said to Dobby, "Don't worry about Harry, you have done a very good thing here, Dobby. Harry is just recounting all of the missing memories which he is experiencing. He just wishes he could have always remembered these memories. That is what's making him sad. Dobby will you show me the pantry?"

Hermione followed Dobby into the kitchen where in back of the pantry was the trace of a door. Hermione asked Dobby to dispose of all of the old food, and then she started to look for a way to open the door. It was clever when she found it. A small lever under the bottom shelf allowed the shelves slide out without dropping their contents. After the shelves were in the kitchen, the door behind the shelves swung to the side allowing passage. Hermione lit her wand and went through the door. At this point, Remus noticed the transformation of the pantry, and in shock, followed Hermione down the steep stairs down into the cellar.

At the bottom of the stairs, there was a small alcove which had an Iron-bar-style prison door. Hermione gasped, and asked Remus, "Is this a dungeon?"

Again, a tear glided down Remus's cheek, as he answered, "No Hermione, this is exactly what the best friend of a werewolf would do if he was to make a cellar under his house."

Upstairs, Harry walked through an open door on his right to see Ron pulling boxes out of a closet. "Ron," Harry asked, "what are you doing?"

Ron just about jumped out of his skin. After catching his breath, Ron said, "You said to gather up anything of value. Well, these boxes have notes and pictures in them. Don't you want us to take them with us?"

Harry said, "Erm,… yes. I just hoping I could look at all of the rooms first before we just start picking through them."

"Oh, sorry mate," Ron said.

"No problem, go on with what you were doing. I'll just look around." Harry said.

Harry started over to the dresser where he saw a jewelry box. When he opened the box, he noticed a few earrings, necklaces, and a simple gold ring with a solitaire diamond. Harry closed the jewelry box and placed it on top of the boxes which Ron had already set aside to go with them. He took a few pictures off the wall, and then went into the next room. This room looked like it was the guest room. There was not much to find in there. The closet looked like it was kept empty for long-term guests.

He skipped over the bathroom and went into his room. In the corner of the room was a crib and changing table. There were a few toys in the room, but nothing that a nearly 17 year-old man would want. However, a picture hung on the wall which looked like it could have been his grand parents. He did take that. Hoping that nothing happened to the house after they left, Harry hoped to use some of the baby things for his own children someday.

Harry silently kicked himself. He was actually thinking of married life with Ginny and a baby. He broke up with her!

Done with all of the rooms upstairs, Harry went downstairs to search for an office or someplace where his mum or dad would pay the bills and keep records. He searched the family room, the dining room, the kitchen and laundry. He took a peek into the garage. There was no car or motorbike, just some tools.

Since he exhausted everywhere else, he headed down into the cellar and through the Iron door. Inside, he found Hermione and Remus going through papers. It looked as though this was the office. Held up in this house in hiding, they must had been busy doing the same kind of research which he, Ron, and Hermione were doing this summer. Remus found the Marauder's notes on Animalgus training and Hermione was going over documents of his mum's which seem to be Gryffindor paraphernalia.

Apparently, the genealogy of Gryffindor was passed down through one of his squib daughters in the muggle world, from mother to daughter. With the secret legend that one daughter of line would be a powerful witch. When the line of Gryffindor ends with no more female to carry on the line, a male would be born who would bring hope and justice back to the world.

Apparently, Harry's mum, Lily Evans Potter, was a descendent of the Gryffindor line. That was what irritated his Aunt Petunia so much. She was the eldest sister, but when Lily shown that she was the witch, whom the myth spoke of, all of the Gryffindor treasures and blessings fell upon her instead. Not only did Lily, being the younger sibling took her blessing, but also somehow prevented his aunt from having a daughter of her own. Of course, the only real treasure was a chest which was enchanted so that only he could touch and no one could open.

Up on the wall of the cellar room was written, 'From the line of Gryffindor, a hero will rise.' "Well," Harry said, "That doesn't say much, except that mum was proud of our heritage."

Ron just entered the room and noticed the saying on the wall. Ron said, "From the line of Gryffindor, a hero will rise. He will strike down the serpent and vanquish the Dark Wizard. Where there was no hope, light will shine once more." Hermione's face dropped in shock. Remus and Harry looked at him in question.

Hermione quickly approached him and asked, "Where did that come from?"

Ron said, "You should know. It is written in Hogwarts: A History. It's the prophecy of Gryffindor."

Hermione grabbed Ron and kissed him. Ron kissed back, but he still did it half-hearted, and in question.

After they broke apart, Ron asked, "What did I do to deserve that?"

Hermione said, "You read it! You read my favorite book. Not only that, you quoted a line from it." Her eyes were sparkling with excitement. She soon realized what she did and tried to go back to what she was doing without blushing too much.

Ron smirked as he said off-handedly, "Well the book did come highly recommended by a very beautiful, brilliant witch."

Harry wanted to ask Hermione, 'If I read the book I would get the same from you?' He thought better and kept his mouth shut. After all, he did not want to invite something he really did not want. He just wanted to tease her.

Remus just looked at them slightly amused.

To cut the tension in the air, Ron said, "I got to go, I don't want to be late for the wedding rehearsal. Come by around 8:00, OK?"

Harry found a multi-compartment trunk like the one which Mad-Eye Moody spent the school year in, two years ago. This one had an engraved plate on the front with the name 'Potter' on it. They used this trunk to store the many useful things they found.

Looking at the numerous bookcases Hermione was ecstatic at all the books she had not read. Some of them even caught Harry's eye. Harry also grabbed a few robes and other clothes from his dad's things.

Dobby fed them an early dinner, and they wrapped up everything in time to travel to the Burrow at 8:00. When they got to the pub, Remus said, "I'm going home. I'll see you tomorrow at the wedding."

Hermione insisted Harry to grab her arm, because she did not want to floo to the Burrow on a night like this. "It would be better if we apparated to the yard, and knocked at the door."

Harry reluctantly gave in, and lightly held her arm. He remembered what Albus told him, 'You don't have to hold on tight.' With that, they apparated to the Burrow with a pop.

Harry's arrival was greeted unenthusiastically, except by the twins and Gabriele. Harry's heart leaped out of his chest when he saw Ginny. This quickly changed when her smile faded and she turned to go up the stairs.

George said, "Hey Bill, why don't we take Harry and Ron with us tonight?"

Fred added, "Yeah, I think Harry knows a thing or two about stags." He gave Harry a knowing look.

From behind Harry's back, on the stairs, Ginny gave Bill a glare.

Bill said, "I'm sorry Harry, you're still underage, maybe next time." He hoped that pacified his sister. He then turned to Ron and said, "But, Ron on the other hand."

Ron saw Hermione's scrutinizing glare and said, "I'm sorry Bill, I'll stay here with Harry tonight. Have a good time."

Ginny retreated up the stairs, and the men left for the night. Ron tugged at Harry's arm and said to everyone who were left, "Good night. We'll see you in the morning."

Everyone, but Mrs. Weasley said, "Good night," back. Mrs. Weasley just gave Harry a spiteful glare.

Ron guided Harry out the front door, before he said, "We're staying in the garage tonight. Mum's in a right state at us at the moment, and she committed my room to other guests."

When they arrived at the garage, there were two cots, their trunks, and cages. Hedwig hooted a hello from the rafters. Harry's new trunk from Godric's Hollow was right by the others. They both changed and went to sleep.