Well, I'm back! Thankyou so much for your wonderful reviews! At least most of them were wonderful. OMG, I'm so sorry about the major spoiler in the summary! I can't believe I did that! Eeek! Anyway, it's gone now, thank goodness, so now we can get on with the story. What did you all think of HBP anyway? I'd like to hear your opinions. I thought it was good, but my all time favourite is POA.

I understand that most of you all liked the character Mel, which is good coz I enjoy writing her. She is a bit of a mystery right now to everyone, but all will be revealed about her in due time - that is, her name, history, who bit her, etc.

Keep the reviews up, I love hearing from you. For now, enjoy chapter two!

Chapter 2 - A whole lotta Phlemn

"Harry!"

...before moving to London in 1016. From there, Rowena settled down to work as a wand maker for...

"Harry! Wakey, wakey!"

She enjoyed her life but, according to close friend, Mary Lore, often said that she wanted to do something more useful with her life...

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!"

Harry jumped about a foot in the air at the loud disturbance and looked up quickly from the very old, very big book sprawled out on Ron's Chudley Cannon's bedspread to come face to face with Ron himself.

"What? What's wrong!" he asked in alarm.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Nothing's wrong, no one's dead and the house isn't on fire, Mr Save the World."

Harry scowled. "Well, why did you decide that now would be a perfect time to scare me to death? And don't call me that!"

Ron settled himself comfortably in the old wooden chair beside the bed. "I just thought that if you delve any deeper into that thing then you might get lost in it and never come out. You should thank me!"

Harry sighed. "Ron this is important. It's the only way I can find the Horcruxes."

"Exactly how can reading-" Ron leaned over to lift the book up slightly and peer at the cover tittle "-a biography on Rowena Ravenclaw help to find the Horcruxes?"

Harry yanked the book out of his friend's grasp. "Dumbledore said that one of the Horcruxes is most likely something owned by Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. I reckon the best way to start is by looking for possesions owned by either of them."

"But it could be anything," the redhead protested. "Ravenclaw probably had tons of posessions, they wouldn't all be written down in a book, would they?"

"Well, it's better than doing nothing," Harry replied shortly. The truth was, he really didn't have any other ideas on how to find the Horcruxes. This was the only method he could think of right now, but he had to admit that Ron had a point. The Horcruxes could be anywhere and Harry had a feeling that Voldemort would have put them in items a little less conspicuous than something written in a published book.

Still, ever since Dumbledore had died, Harry was ready to do anything to avenge him. Even if it meant emptying half of his money vault and ordering the oldest and most fragile book on the planet especially from Belgium. This, he had done the minute he had arived at the Burrow after three his last two weeks at the Dursley's forever. Both Harry and his relatives were positively ecstatic to see the back of each other.

So far, he had had no luck whatsoever, but didn't intend on giving up any time soon.

Ron scrutinised him for a moment before saying, "Well, mate, you do what you like, but please cut down on the reading a tad. You're starting to remind me of Hermione and I don't think I could handle that. Although she hasn't been doing as much reading as she used to lately, don't you think?"

Harry smirked. "I wouldn't know, Ron, I didn't spend a week at her house. But I would say that if she isn't reading as much as she used to, it would be because she found other things to focus her attention on; i. e. you."

For the first week of the holidays Ron had spent a week at Hermione's house. Harry would have gone too, but had to return to the Dursleys until his seventeenth birthday. Despite his dissapointment, however, he had a feeling that he probably would have felt a little left out.

Ron went almost as red as his hair at Harry's words. No matter how much experience he'd had with Lavender the previous year, he was still getting used to the idea that he was completely infatuated with a girl he had been friends with for the past six years.

"Yeah, well..."

"FLEEEEEUUUUUURRRRRR!"

The scream was loud, high pitched, and full of panic. Harry and Ron gave one look at each other before sprinting downstairs.

They practically flew down each of the Weasleys' many storys, scared at what they might find at the bottom. Harry's feet were just touching the ground level when he found himself almost pressed up against a pale face with two big brown eyes framed by a mane of flaming red hair.

Both Harry and Ginny just froze in surprise for a moment, gazing into each other's eyes until Ginny gave a little head shake and pulled away, her face a faint pink colour. Harry just stood there for a moment, blinking stupidly until he too came to his senses and stepped back, feeling his own cheeks heat up also.

There was a moment of awkwardness as both teenagers studied the ground. Ever since breaking up with Ginny at Dumbledore's funeral, Harry had been avoiding the pretty redhead distinctly. The truth was, he had, with a vast amount of guilt, found that it was a lot harder than he had assumed it would be. After spending the last few weeks of school as a couple, he was finding it almost unbearable to live in the same house as her without a single kiss, hug or physical contact whatsoever. But he knew he had to do it. For he stood by what he said before and if Ginny was to die in this war simply because of his desire, he would never forgive himself. But it was hard. So he surmised that the only way for it too work was to spend as little time with her as possible, and she wasn't taking it too well. It broke his heart to see those warm brown eyes go cold each time he looked away or made a point of putting at least two metres between them whenever they were in the same room. He didn't like it, but he had to do it.

Fortunately, the silence was broken by Ron, who, seemingly unaware of the tension, looked at his sister questioningly.

"Gin, what's going on down here? Who screamed?" he asked, craning his neck to look around his sister.

Ginny, finally coming out of her cold stupour, faced her brother. "Oh, it was that little girl, you know, Phlem's sister."

"Gabrielle," Harry filled in.

She nodded without looking at him. "She came running into the kitchen screaming hysterically with that werewolf girl close behind."

"What, that scary girl with with grey hair? Damn she gives me the creeps!"

"She's not that bad, Ron. Just - temperamental."

"You mean agro, crazy and without any idea of personal hygiene whatsoever."

Ginny scowled. "You're just jealous that she got into the Order at fourteen years old and you had to wait until you were seventeen."

"She is not in the Order!" Ron protested. "She's too young!"

"She gives information, which is a hellova lot more than you do, so she's in the Order."

"Why are you defending her!" he asked angrily.

"Because I'm sick of you putting everyone down out of jealousy!" With those parting words she brushed past them and made her way upstairs without glancing at Harry.

Ron shook his head dispairingly at his sister's retreating back before turning to his friend. "What is her problem lately, anyway?"

Harry didn't answer. He knew perfectly well what was upsetting Ginny so much but didn't think Ron was the best person to voice his thoughts to. Maybe Hermione when she got there.

Fortunately Ron wasn't in nearly as bad a mood as his sister and got over it pretty quickly.

"Come on, mate. Let's go see what all the fuss is about."

Harry, his bare arm still tingling from where Ginny had brushed past him, brought his mind back to Earth and followed the redhead.

The kitchen was fairly crowded. Many of the Order members were staying at the Burrow for Fleur and Bill's wedding which would take place the next day. Most of them, like Mad Eye Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, all the Hogwarts proffesors who were part of the Order and a variety of other Aurors were arriving on the day of the wedding, but Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks (who rarely ever left each other's side these days) were there, along with the rest of the Weasleys (except for Percy who had yet to show any interest in the affairs of his family as of yet). Hermione, who was spending time with her parents for the time being, would be arriving later that day.

Ginny, who was still coming to accept Fleur as a sister in law, had been most distraught to find that the part Veela also had a fairly large family who was attending the wedding and even more so to find that her mother, father and two younger sisters were staying at their house for a few days until the wedding. The family, whom Ginny had labeled, 'a whole lotta phlem' were pretty much like the bride; blonde, beautiful, with a distinct disliking for British food.

Fleur herself, was at this moment, holding a very pale Gabrielle by her shoulders and asking her what the matter was, watched on in concern by Remus, Tonks, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George and Mrs Weasley. Bill, who had recovered from his werewolf attack, was very heavily scarred as they expected, but his cheerful, carefree hadn't changed in the least and he now jokingly reffered to his injuries as 'battle scars'. He otherwise hadn't shown any 'wolfish' traits as Remus had predicted, except for a rather bark-like laugh and a slight tendency to growl when angry. He was now standing with his hands reassuringly on his future wife's shoulder's.

"Where's Mum, Daddy and Genevieve?" the youngest Delacour asked her sister.

"Zey 'ave gone shopping in ze villiage," Fleur replied. "Gabrielle, you 'ave to tell me what happened. Why are you so scared?"

Gabrielle gulped. "I - I..." She looked very hesitant.

"What did you do to 'er?" Fleur accused, shooting a look at the door. Harry and Ron followed her gaze, noticing for the first time the scruffy, scrawny girl standing in the doorway. Mel Tark was the newest and youngest addition to the Order, a fourteen year old werewolf who had been living underground with Fenrir Greyback's 'pack' as she called it, since the age of three. Remus had brought her back to live at Grimmauld Place, which was still being used as Headquarters and had brought her to the Burrow with him for the wedding in case some of Greyback's lot stopped by if she left alone. No living thing could get into the old Black residence without special permission and instructions from one of the Order of course, but Remus was smart enough to assume Mel would get restless enough to go outside by herself once in a while, which was something they could not risk. Harry felt rather uneasy the first time he had heard about this. It was the same thing that had led to Sirius' death a year before.

"No, she didn't do anything! I - I think it's my fault," Gabrielle said. Harry noticed that, for some reason, her English was better than her sister's.

"It's all right, you can tell us," Bill said reassuringly.

She looked at him, then at Fluer, who nodded.

The young girl took a deep breath, then said very quickly, "I touched a rock and everyone started getting hurt."

Bill and Fleur exchanged bewildered looks before turning back to Gabrielle.

"What rock?"

"'Oo is everyone?"

Her eyes started to tear up. "I don't know, I just..."

"Zere, zere, it eez alright, you don't 'ave to explain eet all," Fleur said, pulling Gabrielle into a into a smothering hug. Then her eyes narrowed sharply as she looked over at Mel, who had yet to say a word. "But I sink zat you 'ave somezinc to tell us. What eez wrong with my sister?"

Everyone looked at her. The silence stretched on while Mel stared each of them in the eye with that uncomfortable, icy grey gaze. Harry was beginning to think she wouldn't say anything at all when she finally said in a low, raspy voice, "I need to talk to you." She was looking right at Remus at the time and it was clear that the words were meant for no one but him. He seemed to be the only one she trusted at the moment.

The older werewolf frowned but didn't argue. "All right then, Mel. Molly, can we finish out conversation later?"

Remus waited for Mrs Weasley's nod before standing up and following Mel out the door that led to the hall. But before they were all the way through, Fluer called out angrily, "Wait just a minute! I think my sister - "

"Your sister is tough. She'll be fine. Won't you?" Mel said, looking over at Gabrielle. The little girl looked quite a lot happier at these words and gave a small nod and smile. Fluer looked rather surprised, as though she was used to people fawning and worrying over her sister rather than commenting on her hardiness.

As the pair of werewolves departed the kitchen, the conversations started up again. Harry and Ron, however, looked at each other.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked bemusedly.

"Dunno," Harry replied. "But I plan to find out." And with that, he headed for the door that the two werewolves had just dissapeared through. Ron looked baffled for a moment before a smirk spread over his freckly face and he followed his friend inconspicously into the corridoor. Everyone was too absorbed in their own conversations to take any notice, which was good. Eavesdropping worked so much better when it was done without a witness.