Les Notes: Sorry about the wand thing. Darn my memory… I knew I shouldn't have taken calculus this year. It's frying my brain.
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Harry ran upstairs to his room in Grimmauld Place. He wanted to change out of the clothes he'd been wearing for way too long, plus he needed to hide the stuffed dog before Hermione saw him with it again.
He hid the dog under his pillow and opened his trunk to get out his clothes. As he was putting on new pants, he noticed that they were a little tighter than they used to be…
"Harry?" Hermione said, looking in the door. "Oh, sorry."
"No, it's alright." He slipped his shirt on and grabbed his cloak. "Besides, it's nothing you haven't seen before, right?" He walked past her, smiling widely.
"Harry Potter!"
"You two were in that room for a long time. Who knows what could have happened?"
"Oh, you…" she sighed. "I should have known. That really is all that boys think about, isn't it?"
"No, not always. I wasn't thinking about anything, but now that you mention it -" Hermione shoved him down the stairs.
They met Ron halfway down. He looked at them suspiciously. "Where to next?" He asked Harry.
"I dunno. I just wanted to get away from your mum… no offense."
"No, I get it, believe me." The three of them went to the kitchen. "You should have seen when we all got chicken pox."
"I've never had chicken pox." Hermione said as she sat down at the table.
"Never?" Ron said. She shook her head. Harry was silent. "I suppose you're going to say that we should be talking about horcruxes instead of chicken pox, right?"
"I wasn't going to say anything." Harry said absently. He was thinking, but not about horcruxes or chicken pox.
"Well, we should be talking about horcruxes." Hermione said. "I mean, the faster we find them the better, right?" Harry wasn't paying attention. "Harry?"
"Hmm?"
"Horcruxes?"
"What about them?"
"Don't you want to look for one?"
"Not really. But I guess I have no choice in the matter."
"We still don't know if he had a shield in the first place." Ron reminded them.
"The shield doesn't matter." Harry said, still only half in the conversation. "It isn't the shield."
"Then what is it?" Hermione asked. "What else would he use as the Gryffindor horcrux?"
"He doesn't have one. Yet."
"He doesn't have a Gryffindor horcrux?" Ron asked, apparently confused.
"No, not yet."
"How do you know?"
"Because I just know. It isn't a shield. It's something else." Hermione raised her eyebrows.
"Then what do you think it is?"
"I said already that he doesn't have one yet. He still needs to get one."
Ron shook his head. "Sorry Harry, but you're not making much sense. If he doesn't already have the horcrux, then why would he bother making one now?"
"He knows we're looking for them. So making a new one and keeping it close to him would ensure that we could never get to it - at least not without going through him."
"Do you have any proof?" Hermione asked.
Harry sighed, starting to get annoyed. "I don't know how I know. I just do. I know that Voldemort doesn't have the Gryffindor horcrux yet, whether you believe me or not."
"Okay, okay." Hermione said quickly. "Calm down. All I'm saying is you should make sure."
"I know." Harry said, leaning back in his chair. "Sorry - I didn't mean to -"
"It's alright." Hermione said quickly. "You look like there's something other than horcruxes on your mind." Harry nodded, but didn't say anything. "Are you going to share with us?"
"I'm worried about Hogwarts." Harry said quietly. "Now that Dumbledore's gone..."
"You think he'll attack the school?" Ron asked.
"Well, he loved it so much and got kind of mad when they didn't let him teach - so maybe since Dumbledore isn't around anymore -" Harry stopped. Someone had just entered the house. A lot of someones - half the Order had just arrived. "D'you think I should tell them?"
"About Hogwarts?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded, standing up to see exactly who was entering. "I don't think it would do much good. They'll probably just shoo you away."
"I'm going to say something anyway. Couldn't hurt, right?" Harry walked toward the aurors, not waiting to hear if they thought it could hurt. He came upon Tonks, who was looking for Lupin anxiously. "Tonks?"
"Yes?"
"You're still stationed in Hogsmeade, right?"
"Last time I checked." She said, spotting Lupin and beginning to walk away from Harry.
"I think Hogwarts is in danger of an attack." Harry said quickly. He only meant to stop her, but more than five people turned to look at him.
Lupin came up to Harry. "I know you're worried, but trust me, there is no way that any Death Eater could-"
"Then how do you explain what happened last year?" Harry blurted out. "How do you explain how a load of Death Eaters practically walked right in when the Aurors, the Ministry, and Dumbledore were guarding the school?"
"Harry we took care of Mr. Malfoy and -"
"No, you don't understand!"
"Half of the aurors in England are guarding Hogwarts right now," Lupin said quickly, so as to shut Harry up. "Both on the inside and outside. Everything will be okay."
Harry sighed. "Fine then. Don't believe me. I mean, no one ever believed me when I told them about Malfoy. I'm only the person who's in charge of killing one of the most powerful wizards ever - but what would I know about the situation?" All of the aurors in the room were now looking at Harry, but Harry didn't care. "Why would my opinion matter? I'm just a child, right? That's all I am to you. Nothing important - If it weren't for me, you'd all probably be dead now. But don't listen when I try to tell you something important. Just ignore me like you always have." Lupin tried to say something, but Harry stormed off upstairs before he got the chance.
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Several days later, Harry was sitting in his room, looking over the memories again. It wasn't the shield - he knew it wasn't - but then what was it? And how would Voldemort go about getting it? Harry sighed, completely frustrated. Maybe I was wrong about the shield... it makes about as much sense as anything else...
He gave up and went downstairs. There weren't any Order members there, and he hadn't exactly been on good terms with them since he'd lost his temper in front of them. There wasn't any sign of his two best friends either, but he knew where they probably were. He fell onto a couch and closed his eyes, enjoying the silence.
But it didn't last very long. Soon he heard someone coming downstairs quietly. "Harry?" he heard. It was Hermione. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah." Harry said, not opening his eyes.
"You're voice is raspy - I think you're getting sick again."
"I'm fine. It's just a sore throat."
"If you say so."
"I do. What are you and Ronnykins doing up there?"
"Nothing..." She said as she began to walk away. Harry rolled his eyes.
"You shouldn't deny it."
"I'm not denying anything!"
"Maybe we should ask him that." Harry said. He could hear Ron coming downstairs.
"Ask me what?" Ron asked. Harry told him. Ron looked at Hermione, and then back to Harry. "Well, it's nothing you and Ginny haven't done, right?"
"And how would you know what we have and have not done?" Harry asked. "Have you been snooping?"
"No... but I can guess."
"Okay, enough of this!" Hermione said. "There are more important things to talk about."
"I agree," Harry said. "Besides, I don't care either way. I was just curious."
"Horcrux time?" Ron asked, sitting on a couch opposite of Harry's.
"Sure." Harry said, sitting up. "I was wondering - d'you think Dumbledore ever told McGonagall about the horcruxes?"
"Probably." Hermione said, joining Ron on the couch. "She was his right hand woman, right? He had to have said something, in case something would happen to him. That way she could have as much information on - Voldemort - as possible."
"Makes sense to me." Harry said. "But what if he -" Harry never got to finish his sentence. At that moment, nearly every member of the Order crowded into the house and met in the kitchen. "Now what?"
"Emergency meeting." Ron said, looking over the couch.
"I'm seriously starting to reconsider allowing them to use this house."
"We should go upstairs, so that we don't bother them." Hermione said. She and Ron got up, but Harry didn't move. "Are you coming?"
"I guess. Someone's got to keep you two out of trouble."
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Everything was dark. Harry looked around, wondering where he was. He couldn't see anything. Suddenly, someone started screaming. It was a girl - no, it wasn't just a girl. It was Ginny, and someone was hurting her. Harry tried to find her, but it was too dark. He called to her, but the screaming grew softer until it disappeared all together.
Harry woke up quickly. It was only a dream... he lied back down, breathing deeply to slow down his heart.Calmdown, it was just a dream.
He could hear someone in the hallway, and he got up to look. Ron and Hermione were near the stairs, peeping down to try to see the meeting below. "What are you doing?" Harry asked. Hermione jumped.
"Don't do that!" She hissed.
"There still in the meeting." Ron said, still looking down. "I think they have a new record for the longest meeting -six hours and twenty-five minutes."
"Wonder what's so important." Harry said, joining them on the stairs. A few members left the room, went outside, and apparated away. They were leaving, slowly. Harry stood up again and went downstairs.
"Where're you going?" Hermione asked.
"To see what's going on." He walked downstairs and waited for the next person to leave. A wizard that looked younger than Tonks left the room. Harry stopped him. "What's going on in there?"
"Lots of things." the young wizard said. "Some stuff about Death Eaters and all that."
"So where's everyone going?"
"Back to their posts. Can't stay away for too long, now can they? Only the heads are staying behind. Trying to make a plan, I'd guess." Harry let the young man leave and snuck up to the kitchen door. Only a few were left, including Lupin, Tonks, Moody, and Bill Weasley.
"We're going to have to let them go home." Moody said. "There's no other way. The parents have control."
"But then the school will have to close for good." Lupin said. Harry guessed they were talking about Hogwarts.
"No one would want their child to stay there after what happened last night." Tonks said. "And Moody's right - we have no control over it."
"What about the ones that were taken?" Lupin asked. "We have to tell their families." Harry felt as if someone had stunned him. They hadn't said the exact words, but he knew what it meant. The dream... it all made sense...
"I'll take care of mine." Bill said. "You're on your own with the others."
"Poor Molly." Tonks said. "First her boys, and now this. Who's going to tell Harry?"
"I'll do that too." Bill said. "In the morning though. No sense in waking him up."
"Yeah, the poor thing might never sleep again."
Harry walked back upstairs, too stunned to care if they heard him or not. He walked straight past Ron and Hermione, ignoring them when they asked what had happened. He went into his room and locked the door.
