Review Responses:

To my dear reviewers in general: Thank you for giving me your opinions about when Harry should begin searching, and I must say I agree with you. Even if you weren't sure when Harry should begin, I thank you anyway.

karenS: I hadn't thought of that, you might be right. I'll try looking for it in HBP.

Shoia: I am sorry to say that I don't have an official updating schedule planned. Unlike my previous stories, I haven't written the story in advance, so I'm coming up with chapters and plots as I go. I'm thinking that they will stay this length, but there might be an unusually long chapter every now and then.

1stkitty: Thank you very much for your idea, I might use it, though I also might change it a little bit. But whatever I do, I'll make sure to let you know in the R-R section before the chapter.

Chapter Three: Do--Don't

Harry was contemplating when and where to begin his search for Voldemort's horcruxes in the Marauders' Den when his pondering was interrupted by a knock on the door. He looked up as it opened and smiled when he saw Remus, followed by his two best friends, Ron and Hermione.

"Hey mate," Ron greeted with a smile, "How's it like not being at the Dursleys?"

Harry chuckled. "It's only been two days, but it's good. How are you two doing?"

"Alright," Hermione said softly.

"Not too bad," said Ron, "The house's been overflowing with people, relatives mainly, they're all trying to get information about Bill's and Fleur's wedding."

Harry smiled, imagining the Burrow swarming with red-heads. "Do you know the date yet?"

Ron answered, "Yeah, it's in a week."

So I'll have a week to plan, thought Harry, rubbing the arm of his chair.

"I'll leave you three alone for a bit," Remus said, glancing back at the stairs.

Ron and Hermione hid grins, confusing Harry slightly, but he answered. "Alright." When Remus had left and his footsteps had faded, Harry asked, "What's so funny?"

"Tonks is waiting for him downstairs," Hermione said with a slight giggle.

Catching on, Harry laughed. "Well, come on, have a seat."

The two sat next to each other on the couch across from Harry. "This place is pretty cool," Ron said, looking around, "But it needs a poster of the Cannons."

Hermione rolled her eyes, muttering "Boys and Quidditch." However, Ron didn't hear. "You know that we're coming with you still, right?" she then said earnestly, looking at Harry. "Even though you said we shouldn't bother coming over to your relatives'."

Harry nodded. "I know, but are you sure you want to? Are you sure you want to give up school?"

Ron nodded, looking a little downcast. "It won't be the same without..." he swallowed. "Without him."

Hermione bit her lip. "I agree, it just wouldn't feel right, not seeing him up there everyday, I don't think I could ever learn there again. Besides, learning isn't...isn't as important as...as finishing this."

Harry knew that it had taken Hermione a lot to say that, and it made him feel slightly less like he was forcing them into a dangerous situation. "Do you guys know if the Order is still...active?"

Ron's face was solemn. "They're trying to keep it together, but a lot of people aren't attending the meetings, which're being held at our house now. There's a board in charge instead of just one person. My dad, Mad-Eye, McGonagall, and Remus are on it. There's talk about trying to find a new spy, but...it's not really working out. Everyone seemed to kinda loose their energy when...when he died."

Harry nodded, understanding that, without Dumbledore, a lot of things would never be the same. "We'll just have to get them a reason to get their energy back then," he said firmly.

Hermione smiled slightly, "Yes, we will. Have you talked to Ginny about what you're going to do?"

Ron became suddenly interested in the magazine shelves in the corner and got up, picking one out and flipping through the pages; apparently he still wasn't quite used to Harry going out with his little sister.

"Not really," Harry answered, "I mean, I told her that we couldn't really go out with each other, since Voldemort uses people I care for against me." He looked meaningfully at Hermione and Ron.

"We're still coming with you," she said immediately. "Go on."

He nodded, appreciating further the loyalty and care his friends had towards him. "She seemed to understand, but I don't think she'd understand why I want her to stay here, rather than traveling around with me."

"Why do you want her to?" Hermione asked. "Wouldn't you want her with you, so you can see that she's safe? Rather than wondering if she's alright?"

Harry squirmed in his seat. Why did Hermione always have to make so much sense? "I guess... but I might be bringing her into danger too."

She sighed. "She knows that Harry, and if I know Ginny, she'll find a way to be with you, danger or no."

Harry rapidly thought of a way to get off the subject, he didn't want to make that decision right now. "Do you have any idea where information on Horcruxes might be?"

Thankfully, his idea worked. Hermione thought for a moment, then launched off into a miniature history lecture, full of the names of places, libraries, people, and other such things that Harry didn't know. After about ten minutes of the torturous babble, Harry and Ron were saved by Remus coming back in.

"Care for some lunch?" he asked.

"Yes!" Ron and Harry shouted. Hermione didn't see why they were so excited.

Ron and Hermione left about an hour after lunch along with Tonks, leaving Harry and Remus alone to talk. Once again they went up to the Marauders' Den, where they pulled out some of the old 'prank-logs' Sirius had kept. Harry was surprised by his father's and Sirius' creativity, and Remus' talent for making the pranks work. They went through three albums, and Harry had begun to feel sorry for Lecktor Smit, the Astronomy professor that the Marauders had formedan enmity towards. They'd pulled the most pranks on him, followed by Lucius Malfoy and his cronies, and Severus Snape. During the Snape pranks, Harry was torn. He wanted to laugh at the murderer's humiliation, but he couldn't; he remembered that, back then, Snape was no murderer, not even a Death Eater yet. So, instead, Harry just skipped those pictures.

After looking and talking about the logs, they moved on to another album that Remus had made. It was called the 'Date Log'. The pictures and descriptions in it were solely dedicated to Prongs' many attempts to get Lily to go out with him. Harry then realized where his lack of tact with girls had come from, along with his tendency to try and flatten his hair when nervously speaking with one.

However, James turned out to be a lot showier than Harry was, and was hopeless when it came to Lily. The log also had letters and poems James had written to Lily, but never sent. The poems were so horrible, it made Harry and Remus cry tears of laughter. The letters were sappy, and had sarcastic comments written in the margins by Sirius, followed by angry responses by James.

It was time for dinner by the time they stopped looking at the various logs and Harry's abs were hurting from laughing so much; he doubted he'd ever laughed so much in his life at one time. They went down the stairs and to the kitchen, where dinner was begun.

A knock on the door roused Harry from sleep. He rolled over on his bed, rubbing at his face to help dispel the sleepiness. "Yeeaaahh?" he yawned, and the door opened.

Remus came in, looking much too awake for Harry's taste. "How late did you stay up last night?" he asked in an amused tone.

Harry lazily scratched his head, thinking back. He'd spent quite a few hours going through his old school books, reviewing spells and practicing them a bit. He'd then taken a look in his history book, hoping to find some information on the things Hermione had mentioned. Ultimately, he'd found nothing and had ended up falling asleep. "Umm... I dunno." He answered, "Why?"

Moony said, "It's almost time for lunch."

Harry yelped, jumping out of bed. "Lunch?" he exclaimed in surprise; he'd never slept that late in the Dursleys. Aunt Petunia always woke me up early, he then thought. "Sorry about that."

"Not a problem; it's not like I have anything crucially important to do. But I was wondering if you wanted to go get some clothes."

Harry blinked. "Huh?"

Remus motioned to Harry's dresser. "I saw your things, they look worse than mine," he said with a half smile, "And you've only your school robes. I'm not good at removing embroidery, and I doubt you want to wear them in public."

Harry scratched his head again, "Umm, alright. Under one condition."

He raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"You get new clothes too."

"I don't need them."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

"Do."

"Don't."

"Do."

"Don't."

"Don't."

"Do."

Harry smirked triumphantly, causing Remus to roll his eyes. "Fine, you win. Merlin, you can be worse than your mother like that."

Harry grinned. "I remember Slughorn saying that he thought my mum should've been in Slytherin."

Remus nodded. "She was a clever witch, but it put her in Gryffindor over Slytherin because of her heritage."

"So the Hat is prejudiced too, huh?" Harry growled.

"No, no, not at all!" Remus amended. "It's just that Slytherin wasn't a very safe house for muggle-borns at that time." Harry relaxed, and Remus went back to the original subject. "So, would you like to go after lunch? Or eat out?"

He rubbed his nose. "After lunch, maybe then I'll be more awake." Remus laughed.

Harry was indeed more awake after he'd dressed and eaten. When the dishes were cleaned, Remus apperated them both to Diagon Alley, which wasn't swarming with people as Harry was used to. He knew thatthe reason was fear, fear that Voldemort or his followers would appear at any moment.

They made their way to Gringotts, where they took a rapid ride down to Harry's vault, which had gotten much fuller due to his inheritance from Sirius. To his surprise, there were other things in there as well, and the vault had magically increased in size. Furniture, books, and chests were in there as well as various brooms and Quidditch supplies. "James and Lily had a lot of their things transferred to their vault when they went into hiding," Remus explained when Harry asked once they were back on ground level.

They walked out of the marble white building, making their way down the alley. The store keepers were not unaffected by the sense of paranoia that had settled on the magical world. Madam Malkin was not her usual cheerful self; in fact, she was very downcast as she measured Remus and Harry. Harry stood in silence as the tape measure whizzed around him, feeling oppressed by the saddened atmosphere of the store. Remus and Harry only spoke when she asked them what color and style of robes they wanted. Quickly they made their choices, shrinking the bags they'd been placed in until they could carry them in their pockets.

"How about we go to muggle London for the rest of the stuff?" Harry suggested.

Remus nodded, "Sounds like a good idea, hopefully it will be a lot more cheerful around there." Moony then apperated them once more, this time to an alley behind a restaurant, where they casually strolled out of, unnoticed by the other pedestrians.

Harry's feelings lifted immediately, a sense of excitement growing in him, since he'd only been out shopping once with Aunt Petunia for his glasses, and that had been when he was too young to remember it much. He was a little embarrassed when he told Remus that he didn't know where to go, but thankfully the werewolf knew London very well, and was able to tell Harry stories of James' helplessness when it came to navigating muggle cities and stores, causing the younger wizard to feel much better about himself.

They went to about three stores, one for shoes, another for clothes, and a third just for the heck of it. Harry and Remus ended up shrinking several more bags before they considered themselves done. "Mind if we backtrack a bit?" Remus asked, "I need to pick up some ingredients at the Apothecary."

"Sure," Harry replied. And as he agreed, he realized something. He would have to backtrack in order to move forward in his search for the horcruxes.

That meant he had to go see Dumbledore.

A/N: My apologies for the lack of interesting material for you to read, I hope the next chapter will more than make up for it. Again, I would appreciate questions, comments, or anything of the reviewing nature, and again I thank you for reading. -A. S. Leif