A/N: Thanks to lissy86, KnifeThrowaStarr, Avanell, and evil-mastermind666 for theirreviews of chapter seven. I really appreciate everyone's positve reviews. Keep them coming.

Do not give in to misfortune

Attack on Ravenclaw Manor

Deidre Dearborn, descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the four founders of Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was found dead late last night in the front yard of the, until now, long-lost ancestral home of Rowena Ravenclaw. Deidre Dearborn vanished from the public's eye after her husband, Caradoc Dearborn, and her two sons, Baeddan and Gareth Dearborn, were killed by You-Know-Who's followers.

It is suspected that she was a victim of fowl play. Attacks have been occurring with increasing frequency the last few weeks, since the death of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, who, up until his death, had been the Headmaster of Hogwarts. You-Know-Who and/or his followers are believed to be involved in thismost recentattack.

Deidre Dearborn was discovered at approximately 4:15 AM. An eye-witness and friend of Mrs. Dearborn has gone on record as seeing four young people flee the seen after a flash of green light, which could only have been the killing curse, lit up the area. It is believed that those seen fleeing the area were two young men and women. But, as the eye-witness said: "They were too far away to know for sure. But, two of them did have long hair. Not that it seems to matter nowadays. Boys these days with their ridiculous long hair. Why, in my day…"

Lupin laid the Daily Prophet down on the kitchen table in the Burrow and looked at the Arthur and Molly, who were sitting across from him.

"What do you think?" he asked, looking at the two worried parents.

"It could be them," Arthur said. "The description fits and the fact that it happened at Ravenclaw makes sense. Looking for the Horcruxes and all."

Lupin nodded. "If it is them, it's the first sighting since they left four months ago."

"Well, let's say that it is them. Do we have any idea of where they are now?" Molly asked. She, like the others, but more so because of her nature, weren't doing so well. Constant worry and fear for loved ones, no matter how capable you believed them to be, would have that effect.

"Well, we still visit Grimmauld Place frequently to see if there has been activity there. Tonks and Kingsley are constantly on the watch for possible sightings matching their description. Other than that…"

"Why can't we start looking for the Horcruxes ourselves?" Molly demanded. "If we do that, then we can find them."

"You know that won't work, Molly," Arthur said quietly. "They know more about the Horcruxes – and every thing else that's going on – than we do."

"I can't believe that Dumbledore did that! We are the ones in the Order. They should never have been told more than the Order. They aren't old enough to deal with this." At the end of her short rant, Molly sank weakly, totally defeated, into her seat. Arthur reached behind her and rubbed her back soothingly.

Lupin sighed, partially understanding some of her frustration. He, like Molly, didn't understand why they hadn't been told about the Horcruxes. Unlike Molly though, Lupin did believe that they were old enough to deal with the stuff that was happening – no matter how unfair it was that they had to do so.

"Have you talked to Hermione's parents recently?" Lupin asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Yes, we visited them a week ago. We're going to go visit them later today. They get the Prophet now so they probably read the article. We just want to tell them our suspicions of the article being about Hermione and the others."

Lupin nodded. "It must be really hard for them. Their daughter being in such a dangerous position, and one that they don't understand."

"Trust me, Remus, you're children being in danger is never easy to accept, even when you understand the situation," Arthur said, thinking about his son and daughter, both of which were in danger. He sighed. To be honest, he was thinking about all of them, Harry and Hermione as well. After all the years they had joined the Weasley family for summer and winter holidays, Harry and Hermione had become part of their family and it bothered him – as well as his wife – to think about any of them in danger.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny trudged heavily into the muggle hotel room they had rented with Hermione's money. They knew they wouldn't be able to stay there long. The person they rented the room from had already looked at them suspiciously because of their age. But, for now, they just wanted to sleep and recover from the horror that occurred only a few hours ago.

"What are you doing here, Ginny?" Ron asked. He was the only one who hadn't heard the story yet or, in Hermione's case, been part of the scheme of hiding Ginny's true identity.

Ginny sat down one of the two beds in the room and yanked her shoes off. "I am here to help you three."

"You can't even do magic. How can you help? Mum and Dad are going to angry at you."

"Like they aren't going to be angry at you, too. And, just because I can't do magic, doesn't mean I can't help. Like I told Harry already, I kicked the Pogrebin and I found Ravenclaw's manor…"

Hermione let out an indignant yell. "Hey! You aren't the only one who found Ravenclaw's manor!"

Ginny rolled her eyes slightly, but smiled at Hermione. "Sorry."

Ron's eyes narrowed. "How did you pull off disguising yourself as that Annora girl that Hermione knew?"

Harry spoke up at this point, glaring at Hermione as he spoke. "Hermione helped her brew the Polyjuice Potion with the donation of Hermione's cousin's hair. They were in on it together."

Ron moved his gaze from Harry to Hermione, his eyes narrowing as well.

Hermione huffed. "Well, I do think that Ginny needs to be here. Looking for the Horcruxes won't be that dangerous…"

"You're right, Hermione. There was no danger a few hours ago when we were running away from Death Eaters. Mrs. Dearborn didn't die." Harry's sarcasm was so painfully evident; no one knew how to react other than cringe and the reminder of Mrs. Dearborn's death.

Hermione sucked in a shaky breath. She had really liked Mrs. Dearborn and doubted that she would ever forget her. "I know Harry. Even so, I do think that Ginny needs to be here. Anyway, you heard Mrs. Dearborn, Ginny is important."

"But,…"

"No. End of discussion. I am staying," Ginny spoke up, her tone set with finality. To further bring this point home, she pulled the blankets down and lay on the bed she had, until then, been sitting on.

Harry and Ron silently decided to let the matter drop for the moment and went about settling into bed.

Hermione walked over to the bed Ginny was occupying and lay down on the other half while Harry and Ron lay down on the remaining bed.

None of them slept well; the image of Mrs. Dearborn being killed kept flashing under their eyelids.

The next morning, the four got up and ordered some breakfast from the hotel.

"Should we stay here or move on to somewhere else?" Ron asked, after swallowing a huge forkful of eggs.

Hermione put down her partially eaten piece of toast. "I think we should leave. We already drew enough attention to ourselves because of our age and how late it was when we checked in."

Ron nodded. He had been thinking the same thing.

Harry and Ginny agreed to this.

"Where should we go?" Ginny asked, looking over at Harry.

"Well, eventually we need to go to Grimmauld Place. I'm kind of nervous about going there though because the Order may still have meetings there."

Ron shook his head. "They probably moved Order meetings somewhere else, maybe the Burrow. They don't have a secret keeper for Grimmauld Place anymore since…Well, anyway, I doubt they have meetings there anymore."

Harry pushed the sausage around on his plate. "That's true," he mumbled.

After breakfast was finished, they checked out of the hotel.

They apparated easily to Grimmauld Place, they had been there multiple times.

"Now, what exactly were we looking for here?" Ginny asked, letting go of Harry's arm. He had offered to do side-along apparition with her.

"Well," Harry said climbing the stairs, the other three following him. "When we were staying here the summer before last we had to clean the house and I remember seeing the locket that wouldn't open. I think it's a Horcrux."

"You mean there was one here?" Ginny asked. So close and they hadn't even known.

Harry nodded.

Hermione shook her head. "It can't be here anymore though. Remember, we saw Dumbledore's brother buying something off of Mundungus Fletcher."

"Exactly. That's why we are here. We need to see how much Fletcher got from the house. If there is anything left worth taking, we can keep a watch on the house. You know, wait from him to come back."

"But, if he took everything of value, what are we going to do?" Hermione said, following Harry into the drawing room, Ron and Ginny right behind them.

"Then, we visit Aberforth."

The four teenagers looked all through the house, but were disappointed and, especially in Harry's case, upset to find that Mundungus had all but cleaned the place out.

"Well, so much for that idea," Ron sighed, pushing away the pile of junk he had been sifting through.

The others nodded, looking away from their own piles. They hadn't found anything either.

"We need to visit Aberforth. He works in Hogsmeade at Hog's Head. We have to be careful and not stay very long though. We don't know what he may do when he sees us."

At the other's worried glances, Harry elaborated. "He may be in contact with the Order. I don't know how loyal he is though. Remember, we also don't know how many people know that we are missing."

The other three nodded and were soon apparating, Ginny once again doing side-along apparition with Harry, to the Hog's Head.

Harry and the others sat to the back in the shadows of the dank pub.

The usual suspicious people were sitting around the pub hunched over their drinks.

"He's up there, behind the counter," Harry whispered, leaning toward the other three to make sure his voice didn't carry. "I'll go up there and talk to him."

Harry started to get up from his seat when Hermione stopped him. "What are you going to say Harry?"

Harry sat back in his chair. "I'm going to ask him what he did with the stolen locket he bought off Mundungus."

"That's what I thought. You can't act accusing. He won't tell you anything if you threaten him. Or act threatening," Hermione added when Harry tried to say he wasn't going to threaten him.

"Hermione, let me just do this my way." Harry got up from the chair and stalked across the pub to the counter.

Hermione huffed.

Harry came back a few minutes later. He looked both smug and frustrated.

"I got the information…"

At this Hermione snorted angrily.

"But, someone must have found out about it or figured it was worth a lot of money because it was stolen a month ago."

Hermione smirked at this.

"Shut up, Hermione. Like you knew that was going to happen.

Hermione's shoulders slumped. "I know. I'm sorry, Harry. What are we going to do now? It could be anywhere."

"I know." Harry let out a frustrated sigh.

"Did he have any idea who might have taken it?" Ginny asked.

Harry shook his head.

A shabby-cloaked figure that had arrived shortly after them and had, up until this point, been sitting by the bar, came over to them, casting a shadow across their table.

"You looking for the locket with the snake on it?" a voice croaked under the hood.

"Why?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowing as he tried to see the hooded person's face. It was impossible though. The person's face was in total shadow.

"I might know where it is."

The four of them shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

"Where?" Harry asked cautiously.

"After it was stolen from the barkeep, it exchanged hands several times. The last person I know to have been in possession of it was a wizard by the name of Ian Daley. You can find him at The Crow's Nest, a pub in Scotland. He frequents the place daily. He should be there in another two hours. The fireplace is over there."

"Why are you helping us?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"I want this war to end just as much as any of you. I have faith in you all. Good luck." With that, the still-disguised figure left the pub with a resonating crack.