Chapter 7: The Secret Life of Ronald Weasley

"Ron, will you please pay attention!" Harry practically shouted during Defense Against the Dark Arts. It took a few seconds before Ron looked up. He had been distracted all day. Harry wondered why. "Ron, I don't want to give you detention, but this is really important." He tried not to notice that Ron turned back to the window after he realized Harry wasn't talking to him anymore.

The bell rang and Ron still sat at the table. Hermione hovered in the doorway with her bag. Harry waved her off and walked up to Ron. "Okay, what's up?" he demanded.

"What? Oh, nothing," Ron said, unconvincingly.

"I don't believe you. You know I don't. Tell me what's really going on. Hermione's getting worried too. And I think Ginny's finally caught on. What's up?" he said forcefully, pushing him back into the chair when he tried to get up and go to the door. Ron stared at him, as though the thing he wanted most was to leave and not tell Harry what he was thinking about. "Ron, please. I promise I won't tell anyone else."

Ron sighed. "It's Lavender." Harry's eyes opened in shock. "No, no. Of course we're not back together. It's not possible. She's dead. You-know-who killed her. And her family. Parvati wrote me," he said, seeing the look on Harry's face. "It's just…this is really…really happening. One day you can be joking and walking around with your friends and then…it's over." For a moment, both were silent. "So many people have died. Cedric. Sirius. Percy. Lavender. All because of V-voldemort. One man who went wrong. I don't understand how one man can do all this." Harry opened his mouth to speak, but Ron stopped him. "No, I don't want to stop searching. I want to find the horcruxes with you, and Hermione, and end this. I want everything to be…normal."

"Harry! It's a letter from Mundungus!" Hermione exclaimed, thrusting a bit of parchment into his hand at the beginning of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Ron was standing excitedly beside her. Harry opened the letter.

Potter,

Sorry, I sold that necklace ages ago. Got a good price for it from Borgin and Burke's. Said they'd had it before. You said you wouldn't do anything if I told you, so you'd better be telling the truth.

Mundungus

Harry sighed. "He's sold it. Borgin and Burke's again. We'll go there this weekend if McGonagall lets us. Sit down, class is about to start." Surprisingly, Harry wasn't upset with Mundungus. The news that the locket had been sold did not shock him. In fact, Harry was glad it had been. Hepzibah Smith had had a lot of money. The only family Harry thought of that had a lot of money was the Malfoys. And as Lucius was still in Azkaban, there was little chance the necklace had been sold.

This thought helped him get through the rest of the day. After he taught his classmates, he still had dinner, homework, quidditch practice, homework, patrolling the corridors, and more homework.

Professor McGonagall had agreed to allow Harry, Ron, and Hermione to continue their search for the locket that weekend. It was a Hogsmeade weekend and Harry doubted if anyone would even notice they were gone. While doing his homework and patrolling, he thought of exactly how they would obtain the necklace. First, they would apparate to Diagon Alley, he decided. Then they would go to Knockturn Alley and Borgin and Burke's. But then what? Would Harry have to empty the contents of his Gringotts vault to pay for the locket? Would they have to resort to torture?

The more he thought about it, the more he dreaded Saturday coming. When it finally did, very few students decided to brave the wind and rain to make the journey to Hogsmeade. Only those that fancied a butter beer or sweets from Honeyduke's.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked silently down the road towards the Hog's Head. After they'd passed the stile, they disapparated, reappearing in a deserted Diagon Alley seconds later.

Pulling up their hoods, they headed down Knockturn Alley and into Borgin and Burke's. Ron waited at the counter for the shopkeeper to come out of the back while Harry and Hermione looked around for the necklace. Borgin finally appeared, whipping his hands on a dirty cloth. "What do you want?" he asked maliciously, as though daring them to speak.

"We're looking for a locket. It used to belong to Salazar Slytherin. I believe Mundungus Fletcher sold it to you a few months ago," Harry said calmly, though he clutched his wand under his cloak. He could see Borgin trying to see the face under the hood, but Harry only tilted his head forward more. "We're in a hurry, if you don't mind," Harry said sharply.

"Yeah, he sold it to me," Borgin said, "But I don't seem to remember if we sold it again or not." Harry understood and threw a sack of galleons onto the counter. "We've still got it, but it's going to cost you a lot more than that." The man went into the back again, and came back lugging a heavy wooded case. He opened it and Harry's eyes widened. It was the locket. Right in front of him. Slytherin's locket. The horcrux. "I won't take less than 10,000 galleons for it." Only 10,000? That was less than Harry had expected. The small, though magically enlarged, trunk they carried with them held 12,000 galleons.

Harry put the trunk on the counter. "12,000 galleons and you won't tell anyone you've sold this." As Borgin counted the money, his eyes lighting as he passed 10,000, he handed Harry the heavy box with the locket in it. While his back was turned, Harry, Ron, and Hermione disapparated.

Harry could not believe their luck. They were running back through Hogsmeade, a few students were staring at them as they passed, but Harry didn't notice. The chilly wind whipped at their faces. It seemed to take them forever to get to Harry's empty office.

This was one thing that was always good about being a teacher. Harry, Ron, and Hermione never had to find an empty classroom to avoid being seen. They spent most of their time in his office, thinking up ways to get to the horcruxes. No one ever disturbed them, though Harry didn't know why this was. He supposed it was because he had never had to given anyone detention, as they were all very attentive in his classes, but this was probably not because the classes themselves were so interesting.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione asked as Harry wrapped the necklace in a cloth and shoved it deep into his trunk.

"I'm putting it away," Harry said. "I'm saving this one for right before I kill him." He closed the truck and shoved it back into the bottom of his wardrobe. He couldn't help but go over the list in his head. The ring, the diary, the locket, the snake, the cup, and something of Gryffindor or Ravenclaw's. Only two horcruxes left. All they had to do was find the thing of Gryffindor or Ravenclaw's, and find Voldemort. When the found Voldemort, they would find the snake.

"Harry, what if someone-"

"No one else knows it's here. Don't tell anyone, not even Ginny or Neville." Ron and Hermione looked as though they had secretly already agreed to this. Harry closed and locked his wardrobe, then sat at his desk. "We still need to find the thing of Gryffindor or Ravenclaw's. But…we don't have any idea where to start. Dumbledore said he didn't think it was something of Gryffindor's because the only known artifact was the sword, and that's been in his office since 2nd year. It has to be something of Ravenclaw's. Should we start in the library?"

Ron and Hermione were silent. Harry stared at them. They seemed bemused, as though they couldn't understand what Harry was saying, or why he was saying this. Did they want to stop? Did they wonder why he wasn't destroying the locket?

The weight that had been lifted from Harry's chest early was back, and this time it seemed heavier.

Hermione opened her mouth to speak, changed her mind, and started again, "I'll go to the library tomorrow. We should get started on our homework. We'll see you tomorrow, Harry."

They each gave him a weak smile and left the office. He was alone again. For some reason, he liked being alone. Being alone was like being under the invisibility cloak. No one could as him anything. Sometimes when he was alone, he put on the cloak, in case someone wanted to see him. The only time he really talked was during his classes and to Ron and Hermione. Occasionally, Ginny would stop by, but they wouldn't talk. They would just sit together and think. Harry had a lot to think about. The horcruxes, Voldemort, school. He supposed Ginny was thinking about the same things, but worrying more about Harry than them. She didn't talk much either, and always seemed to be looking at him, as if he was going to disappear at any moment.

It was only 6 o'clock, but Harry got into his bed and wrapped himself in the covers. His mind kept straying to the bottom of his trunk, where the locket was safely hidden.

Only one horcrux remained. Hermione was going to start researching in the library tomorrow. Harry felt that tomorrow couldn't come fast enough. They were one-step closer to defeating Voldemort.

As he drifted off to sleep, images floated through his head. The horcruxes floated by, one by one. Ron and Hermione were talking to him, but they were talking in Parseltongue, and then they turned into Ginny. She was softly touching his face, whispering about how happy they would have been together. He blinked and she suddenly turned transparent. "Why, Harry?" her ghost asked, "Why didn't you save me?"

He woke with a start, realized it was just a dream, and then went back to sleep.