Disclaimer- J.K. Rowling/Warner Bros. own all things Potter. This story is in no way intended as an infringement of that copyright.

Chapter 15

After Kreacher had left, Dobby was called. It was only seconds from the time that Harry had called the house elf's name before he was standing in front of them. When he appeared the group was standing in the kitchen waiting for him.

"Harry Potter needs Dobby?"

Harry nodded and smiled, "Thanks for coming, Dobby,"

"How can Dobby be of service?"

"Dobby," Hermione interjected now, "Do you remember when we talked about how you would help us and bring us food and things like that?"

Nodding his head, she went on; "Well, that's what we need. Food. There's some stuff already here. Mostly what we need are things like milk, eggs, fruit, and stuff like that. If you can get any medicines that would be helpful too but it's not as urgent right now,"

"Dobby can get the food that Harry Potter and his friends need. Dobby will shop for these things when he shops for the house at Grimmauld Place,"

"Thank you, Dobby," Harry smiled.

"Dobby, how are..." Ginny swallowed hard, "How are my Mom and Dad?"

Immediately Dobby's face fell. He looked distinctly troubled as he looked sadly at first Ginny, then Ron, then at Harry and Hermione.

"They are most aggrieved about Harry Potter and his friends leaving the safety of their home. Mr. Weezy was giving comfort to Mrs. Weezy. He was giving her hugs and letter her cry on his shoulder..."

"Will you tell them..." Ron started looking very troubled by what he was hearing.

"He can't, Ron." Harry said gently.

Looking up at Harry angrily Ron asked; "Why can't he tell them anything?"

"Because then Mom and Dad will start asking questions. Questions that Dobby can't answer," Ginny replied evenly.

Looking over at her he saw Ginny looking back at him. She didn't look happy, but shrugged her shoulders. It looked to Harry as though she'd thought of this a long time ago. He smiled sadly at her and then turned back to Ron.

"I'm sorry, mate. Really I am. The last thing I wanted to do was to hurt them again. Especially after everything else they've been through,"

Ron shook his head; "Bloody Hell I can't wait for all of this to be over,"

"You knew what we were getting into!" Harry argued.

"Yes, I did. But that doesn't mean I have to like it," Ron left the room and went upstairs.

Harry flopped down heavily into the easy chair with a deep sigh, "I'm sorry,"

"We knew what we were getting into, Harry. We made the choice and its not like you didn't warn us," Hermione said softly.

She reached out and put a warm hand on his arm, "Just like you don't particularly like staying here with everything this house reminds you of, there's going to be parts of this excursion that the rest of us won't like. Ron just became uncomfortably aware of his,"

He looked up into her eyes and saw Ginny standing behind her looking on earnestly. Hermione's face was as kind as it was serious. He then noticed Dobby standing uncomfortably nearby, looking vastly troubled.

"Thanks, Dobby. You can go ahead and go now. Thank you for your help," Harry told him.

The elf only nodded and disapparated away.

There was some surprise when Kreacher didn't return within a few hours. When Harry voiced his concerns, it was Ron who addressed them; "It's not like Dung is going to make himself easy to find now, is it? An old con like him? You can bet he's laying low and checking his options,"

"Especially after you accosted him last year," Hermione added dryly.

"Wait, what's this? What did you do, Harry?" Ginny wanted to know.

It took a few minutes and Ron and Hermione's help to do it properly for Harry to explain to Ginny about how he'd caught Mundungus selling some of the more valuable items from Sirius' house. He then went on to describe the confrontation he'd had with the conniving, crafty, wizard.

Ginny looked outraged by the time Harry was done explaining things but it was Ron who seemed the least flustered by it;

"Come on now, a hippogriff isn't going to change its feathers now is it? And Dung's not going to change who he is. He saw an opportunity and he took advantage of it,"

"That doesn't mean it's not wrong," Ginny argued.

"It is wrong, but just because its wrong doesn't mean its going to stop ol' Dung," Ron shrugged unfazed by his sister's outrage.

Ginny looked like she had more to say on the topic but didn't get a chance. Hermione decided it was a good time for a change of subject; "So, since we don't know how long Kreacher is going to be, why don't we do something?"

"Like what, Hermione?" Ginny asked grumpily.

"Well, why don't we work on learning new spells? We haven't learned much by way of healing magic yet. Why don't we start there?"

She went into the entryway where her beaded bag was and came back into the living room with it. Harry watched his friend quietly as she opened up the bag and started rummaging around through it.

Seeing Hermione reaching down to her armpits in a bag that to the casual observer would have been impossible to do this with, in this house struck Harry as funny.

The sound of her digging around inside it, stacks of books falling over, the sounds of metal striking metal, glass clinking, and stacks of clothes and blankets toppling coming from a small ladies handbag made him smile at first. Then he chuckled. Then he broke out in full blown side splitting laughter.

He was laughing so hard that his stomach hurt and the looks on the faces of his friends around him made the scene all the more funny. None of them seemed at all surprised to see Hermione reaching around in her bag the way she would go through a large steamer trunk. They did however look at Harry as if something was very wrong with him.

"Uh...Harry?" Ron looked nervous.

"Harry, what is it? Are you okay?"

It took him several minutes to be able to calm down enough to speak. When he did, Harry had just time enough to draw in a breath when a sudden, blazing, blinding, all encompassing pain tore through his head. It felt like something was trying to break open his skull from the inside out.

The pain was so terrible, so agonizing, he couldn't hear his friends as they reacted to this sudden turn of events with concern. There was no way to know that they were shouting at him, trying to find out what had gone so suddenly and drastically wrong.

He couldn't feel his throat as he screamed himself silent or taste the blood from his tongue which he'd nearly bitten through. He didn't feel his fingernails as they dug into his scalp nor his nose crunch and break from the force of it hitting the floor.

And then Harry was moving. It felt rather like he was flying through the air. The rage and anger he felt as he coursed through the clouds high over the landscape below flowed through his veins.

There had been no word on Potter, his friends, or anyone from the vaulted Order of the Phoenix in some time. The Aurors Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks, both suspected members of the Order, had recently thwarted his plans to kidnap another Hogwarts teacher; the Seer Trelawney.

She had been taken from under his nose. Now he was hearing about two of his Death Eaters, two who had been responsible for watching the suspected location of the Order of the Phoenix, who had recently been found far away from their station.

Upon interrogation it was learned that the Imperius Curse had been placed on them and their memories obliviated. Those to whom he had set the task of retrieving the memories of what had happened, still had not come up with anything. It would fall to him to right that. This inconvenience was not conducive to completing his current goal: locating the Wand of Destiny.

He would need that wand if he was to defeat Harry Potter. Potter; the source of his current rage. That he had escaped from Hogwarts and had done so with the help of Dumbledore from within his portrait also aggrieved him immensely. Yet Snape had stepped in when he, Lord Voldemort, had wanted to destroy the painting.

That he had done so had shocked Voldemort, though Snape's reasoning was sound. The man in the portrait could still be of use to them. Even if only as a source of information on Harry Potter.

It still angered him greatly that Potter he had not been able to surmise the reasons for Potter's coming to Hogwarts. The only thing he had clearly been able to determine was that Potter had obtained fangs from the long dead Basilisk in the Chamber under the school.

Why would Potter need those fangs? They couldn't be of any use to him, unless... Could he have surmised the reason why Voldemort could not die? Could Potter have learned the secret that even his own followers did not know?

He lamented the fact that he had not taken the opportunity to think on this topic sooner. If Potter did know, how would he have found out? Dumbledore? Intelligences had been made available to him that Potter and Dumbledore had been spending much more time together than was normal for Headmaster and pupil. Even than was normal for Teacher and student. Could this have been what the venerable old man had been teaching him?

As the flight overland crossed over the waters of the channel, Voldemort stopped in midair. It wasn't so very far to the cave. He could visit it and then resume his journey to visit the wandmaker, Gregorovich. He would need the blood of someone to get through the entrance and to drink the potion in the basin. Someone he could sacrifice to the infiri in the lake.

The decision made, Voldemort changed his destination. He turned back towards the land and the cave by the sea. He would visit this Horcrux and then resume his journey if all was well.

"Harry? Harry can you hear me?" Ginny was asking.

She sounded very far away.

"It looks like the worst of it is over," He heard Hermione's voice now, on the other side of him. She too sounded strangely far away.

One thing Harry knew was that he hurt. His chest hurt, his throat felt raw and abused, his face throbbed, ached, and he was having a devil of a time breathing. But for all this pain, it was nothing compared to the pain in his head. Even that was but a shadow of the pain he'd felt this time.

"I've got the wet towels," Harry heard Ron say. He sounded clearer than the others somehow.

"Give them here," Ginny instructed.

The next thing he felt was a cool, wet cloth against his face. It felt so good against the pain in his head, neck, and chest that he relaxed into it.

"That's right, love. It's better now, isn't it?" Ginny cooed.

She sounded closer now. Right next to him in fact. Harry realized then that his experience in the mind of Voldemort was over. He was coming back to his senses.

"Tergio," Hermione incanted gently.

The smell of vomit was gone now and Ginny was wiping determinedly at his face now.

"Ron, help me roll him over," Ginny asked.

He was on his stomach? He felt hands tentatively try and work their way under him and then roll him over on to his back.

"It looks like his nose is broken," Ron observed in a troubled voice.

"He hit his face really hard, Ron. What did you expect? Episkey!" Hermione sounded both relieved and frustrated.

A white hot pain, a dull ache, and then relief. His breathing came much easier now and except for where his lips had mashed into the floor, the pain in his face was gone at least. That was something. Harry tried opening his eyes.

"Harry? Love, are you okay?" Ginny asked, her voice laced with concern.

"You gave us a right scare there, mate. I don't mind telling you," Ron said from his kneeling position next to him.

Reaching up now to hold his hand to his head, Harry tried to speak. His throat was so raw that no words would come. He started choking on something. Rolling over he coughed, gagged, and sputtered until the mess of blood that had been sitting in his throat was expelled. Without saying anything, Hermione wordlessly cleaned that up too.

Harry nodded at her thankfully. She smiled in return, but it didn't reach her eyes. They were red, puffy, and swollen. She had been crying. Looking now at Ginny, he saw her eyes looked scared and glassy. She had not yet succumbed to tears.

When he looked at Ron, Harry noticed that his friend looked like he'd just had the wits scared out of him. His skin was ghostly pale and he wouldn't look Harry in the eyes for very long.

"Sorry," Harry whispered faintly.

"This was a bad one, wasn't it?" Ron asked.

He looked as if he was just confirming something he already knew. Harry nodded and winced. The pain in his head didn't like this movement. Neither did the pain in his throat.

"Why didn't you try to block him out, Harry?" Hermione sniffled.

"Oh come off it, Hermione! It's not like he had a chance to. You saw how fast it happened!" Ginny growled.

Looking as if she'd been slapped, Hermione jerked back. Ron put an arm around her protectively, "Don't get mad at her, she's just concerned for Harry. He's never had one this bad before. Not like I've ever seen anyway,"

Harry's mind was reeling. The visions he'd shared with Voldemort were still very clear in his mind. He closed his eyes again and shook his head only to gasp at the pain the movement caused.

"Harry?" Ginny's voice was worried.

"I shouldn't do that," Harry rasped quietly.

He saw his friends smile back at him weakly. They helped him sit up and Harry felt the wet mess on his shirt. Ginny helped him get it off while Hermione found him a clean one in her bag.

Once he had a clean shirt on, Harry took the glass of water Hermione offered to him and sipped at it carefully. The cool liquid felt very soothing on his raw throat.

Carefully, slowly, he got up and then sat down heavily on the couch. Ginny sat next to him and continued to wipe at his face and neck with the cool, wet cloth. Harry closed his eyes and relaxed a bit.

"Um, Harry?" Ron asked tentatively.

Opening his eyes he looked around. His glasses hadn't come off but they were dirty. He cleaned them quickly and put them back on.

"What is it, Ron?" Harry asked in a horse whisper.

"Wha, what happened? What did you see?" Ron prodded gently.

"Voldemort," Harry closed his eyes, "He's starting to figure things out,"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"The Horcruxes," He sighed. There was nothing to be done about it.

"Harry, we're kind of in the dark here," Hermione urged impatiently.

"He's in a rage. Some of his plans were upset by Kingsley and Tonks. He's on his way to visit someone named Gregorovich..."

"The wandmaker?" Hermione asked suddenly.

"I don't know," Harry replied finishing off his water, "Anyway, he got to thinking about why it was that I was at Hogwarts. He wasn't so far from the cave where the locket was, so he's gone to check it out,"

"He's what?" Ron's face went pale.

Looking at Hermione and Ginny, Harry could see that they too hadn't liked what they had heard. Not that he could blame them.

"Harry do you know what this means?" Hermione asked.

"Yes Hermione, I do. It means that our hunt for the Horcruxes is about to get a lot more difficult. It means that we still have to find them, and..." Harry stood up now and felt none too steady on his feet, "It means that when he finds out that the one Kreacher is looking for is gone, that he's going to be very angry. So angry that what I just went through won't even compare,"

"Where are you going?" Ginny asked as she followed him off the couch.

"Upstairs to lie down. When he finds that Horcrux gone, I think I'll know about it and all I can do is watch it happen,"

First fear and then horror shone in the others faces as they realized the gravity of what Harry had said. His connection with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was going to open again and Harry wasn't looking forward to it.

He couldn't bare to see the looks on their faces as he turned to leave the room. Secretly he was grateful that no one followed him. That was short lived when he heard soft footsteps behind him as he walked down the short hall, up the stairs, and down the hall to his room.

"You don't have to do this," Harry rasped quietly, "I know it's not fun to watch,"

Shaking her head at him, Ginny just came forward. She helped Harry onto his bed and then held him close to her while he closed his eyes to rest.

Even though he couldn't say it out loud, Harry was grateful that she was there. He turned his head into her and let the warmth of her presence lull him into a wakeful sleep.

When it finally happened, the shock of Harry suddenly sitting bolt upright in bed sent Ginny tumbling to the floor. Within seconds Ron and Hermione dashed into the room. This time they were ready. Hermione had a bowl of water and some towels. Ron carried a couple phials of potions in his hands.

While Ginny tried her best to hold and comfort Harry, the other two could only sit helplessly by and watch.

From inside the mind of Voldemort, Harry saw him use the Imperius curse on an old hobo he'd found not long after he had come to the village. The old muggle had been easy to subdue to his will.

From there Voldemort had taken the old man and lifted them both off the cliff and down to the cave. It was a simple matter to slice open the palm of the muggle and use his blood to gain entry to the chamber of the lake. He raised the boat and together they sailed across the lake to where the basin holding the Horcrux was kept.

After quickly planting the suggestion that the liquid in the bowl was some kind of liquor, the muggle fool had eagerly consumed the potion in the basin thinking it would make him drunk. Instead it had introduced the worthless thing to the horrors that haunted his past.

That was when his rage began. It was gone! The locket which has been so carefully and thoughtfully placed was not where he had left it. Dumbledore! It could only be the old man.

With a flick of his wrist, Voldemort sent the wailing old muggle into the water to meet the infiri. He then used his magic to propel the boat back across the lake while his mind churned and his rage boiled over.

That the one who had helped him hide this was dead was good. But it proved that trusting others was a mistake. One that had to be rectified.

Nagini was on a mission. She would have to be brought home and watched carefully. No longer would she leave his side. The cup was hidden in Bellatrix's family vault. It would have to be moved, but where? He already had one Horcrux hidden within Hogwarts and he didn't like the idea of keeping two of them so close together. But where?

Voldemort's angry mind drifted towards the diadem of Ravenclaw and where he'd hidden it, all those years ago. It would be a good idea to check it. He had only to visit the castle and if he did it late at night, no one need know.

That fool Lucius had unwittingly given one Horcrux away. From what he had learned, it nearly worked. If Harry Potter hadn't have intervened, he could have returned two years sooner.

For a short time, keeping the diadem at Hogwarts would do no harm. He could keep it somewhere safe and there were many places that would make a good, though temporary home.

The problem of what to do with the Cup of Hufflepuff solved for now. His mind turned towards the ring. That old ring of old Gaunt. That needed to be checked too. The items were more important. They must be kept secret. They must be kept safe.

When Harry's eyes opened it was to the faces of three very concerned friends. All wore the same wide eyed expression of fear and grave concern. All three had faces that were white and devoid of blood. When he blinked his eyes, even that action caused him pain and a lot of it. This one had been the worst yet.

His throat was in pain and his face was wet. He tried to swallow but that action was agonizingly painful. His head felt as if a dozen dragons were fighting a raging battle inside it.

"Harry?" Ginny asked in a tiny, fearful voice.

He gave the tiniest of nods before the motion triggered his stomach and he rolled over and threw up.

All three jumped back out of the way.

"T-Tergio!" Hermione managed vanishing the mess.

The pain from moving so quickly and from the sudden expectoration from his stomach was so intense it brought tears to his eyes. Immediately Ginny was there with a wet cloth.

It felt cool and pleasant against his skin. Closing his eyes he allowed the sensation to help him relax. His mind was spinning and his thoughts drifting.

"Harry, here take this," Hermione said.

He opened his eyes and saw her shaking hand with a phial of potion in it. Ginny took it from her and unstoppered it. Her hand shook though less than Hermione's. Ever so gently Ginny helped Harry lift up his head and gingerly she administered it.

The pain of the liquid in his throat was quickly replaced by a cooling sensation that tasted horribly vile and then it was gone. The raw pain of his throat now felt like a severe ache. Soon after that the pain in his head started dissipating.

"Thanks," Harry said weakly.

"Harry," Ron began, "That was..."

"Horrible! I've never seen you like that. The other times you saw into his mind were nothing like what happened today. Harry, what's going on?" Hermione asked tearfully.

"I don't know, Hermione. I really don't know. But it's not something I want to repeat," Harry closed his eyes before a thought struck him, "Did you hear anything?"

"Only you screaming for the most part. You were talking but by then your voice was gone so we couldn't hear what it was you were saying," Ron explained.

In low, level tones, Harry explained what it was that he had seen during this excursion into the mind of Voldemort. He watched their faces carefully as he explained what he'd learned.

Voldemort knew about the locket. He knew about the diary. He was more angry about the locket than Harry had ever heard of him being before. It was confirmed that his snake, Nagini was a Horcrux. Harry then bestowed upon them the news of the cup and the diadem.

He told them of Voldemort going to check on the ring before he went to talk to Gregorovich at someplace called Nurmengard. The ring that was long gone and destroyed. Harry pretended not to see the looks on the other's faces when they realized what it would mean for him when Voldemort found out about that.

"So that means we need to get to Hogwarts, doesn't it?" Ginny asked.

"Harry, school has begun. There's no way to get in there without putting other people in danger," Hermione cautioned him.

"Well right now Hermione, there's nothing to be done for that. All we can do for now is wait for Kreacher. After we're done with the locket, then we'll have to look at what we can do to destroy the rest," Harry sighed and looked out the window.

However he looked at it, this was not going to be any kind of an easy task.

That evening was one that Harry spent in his bed. The two occurrences of seeing into Voldemort's mind and the aftermath of that, especially the second one had completely exhausted him.

He lay quietly for a long while with just his eyes open staring off into nothing. His mind had so many things whirling through it, it was hard to keep track of it all. So many things were happening and they were happening all at once.

The others stayed with him at first but when it was clear that the worst of it was over, at least for now. Eventually Ron's stomach started growling. Hermione smiled at his sheepish look and accompanied him downstairs. Ginny however insisted on staying with Harry.

While he was touched by the action, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty. He knew that he would be poor company but she didn't seem to mind. In fact she just pulled him close and stroked his hair and encouraged him to sleep.

Harry didn't think he could sleep, but he did. When he finally closed his eyes it was to that deep restful slumber that only comes after a hard day. It was a dreamless sleep.

When Harry next opened his eyes, it was to a darkened room. He was lying under his blankets on his bed but still in his clothes. Ron was snoring gently beside him He looked around and found his wand and glasses carefully laid on his nightstand next to a glass of water.

Clearly Ginny had continued to help him after he'd slept.

His mind wandered aimlessly. Today had certainly not gone as he had expected. The sight of Hermione reaching into that bag nearly up to her armpits when in the muggle world there was no physical way it could happen was what had made him laugh. He'd never gotten a chance to explain this before the "episodes" happened.

What he'd seen had been even more frightening. In all the time since Harry had been seeing into Voldemort's mind, never had the experience been so painful. Was it because the anger had been greater than usual?

A noise in the hall caught his attention. A floor board had squeaked. Someone was out there. The doorknob turned and the door opened slowly and in the dark without his glasses Harry had a hard time seeing.

A head with long, straight hair carefully peeked in. He smiled at the figure in the darkness. Even though he couldn't quite see exactly who it was, Harry would have bet his Firebolt, Wand, and half the money in his Gringotts account that it was Ginny.

"Harry? Are you okay?" She asked in a whisper.

"Alright I guess,"

"Do you need anything?" She asked.

He sat up in bed and she watched him carefully from the door. Harry then stood up and swayed uncertainly before he caught his balance and made his way to where Ginny stood.

"What are you doing?" She asked carefully.

"Loo," Harry said with a bit of a smile as he moved past her and to the bathroom.

When he came out he was a little surprised to see Ginny still there waiting for him. He smiled at her and she back at him. Harry realized then that he wasn't tired.

Walking down the hall he went back into his bedroom and picked up his glasses and his wand. Then he left his room again to go downstairs.

While he moved around easily enough, it wasn't without pain. His muscles all over his body were stiff and sore, the legs and back especially.

"Aren't you going back to bed?" Ginny asked as she followed him downstairs.

"I'm not going to be able to sleep,"

"You did sleep quite a long time today," The look on her face was teasing but there was concern in her eyes.

"You know, just because I'm up doesn't mean you have to be. You should go to bed," Harry urged.

She just continued to look at him and raised her eyebrows at him. The smile that played around her lips told him quite enough. She wasn't going to bed either.

"Suit yourself then," He turned and went downstairs.

Going into the kitchen, Harry put on water for tea. In this house, in this kitchen, it was a task he'd done a thousand times before. So many times he did it by rote not paying any attention to what it was he was doing. Thus he was quite aware that Ginny had followed him into the kitchen and was now standing right behind him.

"Dobby came back from doing the shopping not long after you went upstairs," She said quietly.

Her voice sounded odd. Like she was holding something back. Turning around he saw her looking at him strangely; like she couldn't quite figure something out.

"What is it?" He asked.

"You,"

"Me? What about me?" Harry was curious.

She hadn't said it in an accusing tone. More like she was genuinely baffled by something. However she seemed to want to talk about it so Harry didn't have long to wait for an answer.

"You've been through the ringer today. I saw things...scary things. You were rolling all over on the floor and moving around so much no one could get near you. You'd tense up so tight and hold it for so long it looked like you were going to explode. I've never seen anything like it. Yet here you are, making tea in the middle of the night like nothing happened,"

Turning now back to the tea, Harry took a moment to collect his thoughts before he answered; "When I was eight I got sick. Really sick. I probably should have been taken to the doctor and given something. Except that I wasn't. My Aunt and Uncle didn't care; I still had to get up. I still had chores to do. Washing the dishes, doing the laundry, cleaning and vacuuming the house, dusting and polishing the furniture and the floors. I was made to weed the garden, trim the roses, cut the grass, and take out the garbage. Just because I was sick didn't mean I could get out of doing anything. I guess it kind of taught me something; What happens to you can only hold you down if you let it,"

"Harry," Ginny began but she couldn't finish it.

He felt her staring at him. He knew it as surely as he knew that he wouldn't sleep again until that night. Still he didn't turn around. He didn't want to face her and look into her eyes and see what he knew he would see there. The anger, outrage or injustice of it all.

"It's all done and over now isn't it? Its not like I can do anything about it now, can I? All I can do is go on," Harry shrugged.

The next thing he felt was Ginny's arms encircling his waist and her head on his back. He leaned back into her a bit and closed his eyes momentarily. They remained this way until the tea kettle started to whistle.

Harry put tea in two cups and then poured water over it to let it steep. Then he turned around and faced her. As he looked at her she returned his gaze. There was a fire in her eyes that he recognized. It was defiance.

Without a word, she was daring him to say something, do something, anything to continue excusing the actions of his relatives. He knew the expression she wore all too well. It was one she affected every time she'd heard about some injustice or torment his family had inflicted upon him. For their sake, Harry hoped that Ginny never met them. He didn't think they'd survive unscathed.

When he didn't say anything to her after a few moments her eyes softened. She smiled at him and then reached around him and grabbed both cups of tea. Carrying them into the living room, she sat them down on the coffee table in front of the couch. Then sitting down herself she reached up and gently pulled him down next to her.

Wrapping her arms around him tightly she held him close against her. He could feel her breathing and the rhythmic beat of her heart as she turned around and faced him.

Then her breath was warm on his face as she closed the distance between them. The tea sat forgotten on the table as her lips met his. Tenderly at first then with more determination. Harry's pains and aches were forgotten in those moments as he felt himself truly relax into Ginny's arms. Forgotten just as surely as if he'd never suffered them at all.

Later that morning when Hermione and Ron came downstairs, everyone spent a quiet, lazy morning just engaging in idle conversation. They didn't discus the things that were foremost on their minds; Kreacher and what had happened to Harry the day before.

Ron kept looking at Harry in sidelong glances which Harry ignored. He felt as though his friend was expecting him to have another episode. Hermione seemed to be ignoring this as well. She did however reach into her beaded bag to retrieve a few of the books that were stashed in there.

"What are you looking for, Hermione?" Ginny asked.

Harry was watching her as she was reaching around in the bag. For some reason it wasn't nearly as funny as it had been the day before.

"The books on magical healing. Potions can do a lot, but there's stuff that we don't know that we should," Hermione's voice was muffled as she searched her bag.

"Like that Episkey spell. That came in right handy, didn't it?" Ron asked looking at Harry.

"Here they are!" Hermione looked triumphant as she held up first one large book and then two smaller ones.

"Yeah, it did. Anyone hungry?" Harry answered Ron as he stood up and walked out of the living room.

"I am," Ron's eyes lit up at the mention of food.

"Ron, you're always hungry," Ginny shook her head at her brother as she watched Harry leave the room. Ginny made to get up and follow him but Hermione beat her to it.

Harry heard the footsteps following him and he had a very good idea as to whose they were. He knew that Hermione would want to talk to him at some point, even if it was only to badger him about using Occlumency.

In the kitchen he went about the task of making a late breakfast or early lunch. Today, given as tired as he was, it would be simple fare; meat, cheese, crackers, and maybe some pickled cucumber chips or olives.

"Do you need any help?"

Hermione's voice was tentative. She sounded almost like she didn't know what else to say. Turning around now to look at her, he saw how worried the look was on her face. Especially in her eyes.

He smiled tiredly at her, "This won't take long,"

She studied him for a long minute. Harry waited for her to finish her observation to see where her mind was going.

"Are you okay, Harry?" She finally asked.

He gave a humorless chuckle, "What makes you ask that?"

"Harry...I..."

He cut her off, not wanting to be rude but more not wanting to be hassled about the Occlumency thing again, "No, Hermione. I'm not okay. Not really. And don't ask me about Occlumency either. I've never been able to get the hang of that and you know it,"

She looked a little hurt by his chastisement but continued on; "I wasn't going to ask you about that,"

Immediately feeling guilty now for making her feel bad, Harry sighed; "What were you going to ask about then?"

She came forward and embraced him tightly. The strength of it startled him, "Seeing you like that yesterday...Harry, I've never been so scared. Or felt so powerless,"

He returned the embrace understanding now what it was that was worrying her so much. The fact was it scared him too. It was almost as if the connection was getting stronger.

"I'm sorry, Hermione. Really I am. I didn't mean to scare anyone,"

"We know that, Harry. We just wish there was something we could do to make it stop,"

"So do I," He sighed feeling there was more truth to this than he wanted to admit.

"At least we're doing something about it. It has to end sometime, right?"

Harry appreciated Hermione's positive attitude. She was right of course. It did have to end. The fact that Voldemort put as much stake in the prophecy as he did was proof enough of that. What scared him was the thought of how high the cost would be when everything was said and done. Figuring it was best not to voice this worry, he just let that thought go for now.

"When Kreacher gets back things will be better. You'll see," Harry told her with a confidence he didn't really feel.

"How so?"

"We can finally get rid of that damned Horcrux. Then we'll only have three more to go before...before I finish this,"

"Before we finish this you mean," Hermione's eyes were deadly serious and Harry knew that arguing with her would do little good.

"Alright, before we finish this. Come on now, lets get lunch finished before Ron's stomach eats a hole through him, shall we?"