A/N: Hello to all. So sorry it took so long to update. It's just that…well, never mind, I'll add it to the author's note at the bottom. For now, just read on. But I would like to thank all of those who have helped me so much throughout this entire process! My reviewers. I love you guys.
"You don't know what letter he was talking about?" Ginny turned her head so that she could she Harry's face.
"No, should I?" Harry said puzzled.
"Well, he made it sound as though you should know. I mean, he didn't tell me," Ginny said, looking concerned.
"Oh, Harry, please!" Hermione said in a familiar exasperated tone, "The letter, the note you found inside the locket!"
"Oh, of course," Harry murmured, abashed.
"Yes, of course," Hermione said, "Honestly, Harry! Where is that letter? We haven't looked at it since the end of last term."
"We had other things to worry about, though, didn't we?" Ron threw in. He slid his hand into Hermione's seemingly to test the waters. She was very possibly still angry about Ron' outburst earlier. But, she grasped his hand in hers—though without looking at him—and continued to look expectantly at Harry.
Harry sighed, and shifted Ginny to the arm of the chair as he delved into his pocket. From within his jeans came the locket and the crumpled paper, looking the worse for wear.
Ginny took the paper from him, "Alright, Dumbledore made it sound as though we should know the person who signed this."
"But I looked all over the library!" Hermione exclaimed, "I'm sure I was thorough."
"Sometimes, Hermione, no matter how hard you look it takes a while to see what's right in front of your face," Ron said.
"Yeah," Harry said, "Just look at you two."
"I think that was his point, Harry," Ginny giggled, "Now, let me just read this."
And she read it aloud.
To the Dark Lord
I know I will be long dead before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more.
R.A.B
"So, do you think Dumbledore believes that this Horcrux still needs to be destroyed? I mean, he's sure that this R.A.B person didn't get rid of it?" Harry asked.
"Doesn't sound like it, does it?" Ginny said, "It sounded as though he thought we should know who 'R.A.B' is. Do we?"
"If it's someone we know, we'll recognize the last name, won't we. So, let's go through all the last names we know that begin with a 'B'."
"Bones," offered Ginny.
"Yes, but Amelia Bones just died last year, so it can't have been her," Hermione said thoughtfully.
There was silence in the room as all four considered everything they knew.
"Binns," said Ron excitedly, "Professor Binns has been dead for years! It could be him."
"Oh, Ron, really," Ginny said, "Professor Binns doesn't even realize he's dead, I don't think he even knows he has students half the time. I sincerely doubt that he went hunting for Voldemort's Horcrux."
Ron shuddered as Ginny said his name.
"You really should get used to that," Hermione said, "You're probably going to come face to face with him sooner or later, and wouldn't it be embarrassing if he just said his name and you passed out."
"Yeah, like we're going to stand around and introduce ourselves," Ron muttered, but he remained silent after that.
Harry who had been sitting thoughtfully and silently through this murmured under his breath.
"What was that, Harry?" Ginny asked.
"How could we be so stupid? Black!"
"Harry, Sirius couldn't have…" Hermione started, "I mean, his initials aren't R and A. And he would have told us."
"No," Harry said impatiently, "Not Sirius. His brother, Regulus."
"But wasn't his brother a Death Eater?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, he was. And he was killed for chickening out! That's what Sirius told me," Harry was beginning to get excited now.
"But, Harry, just because Regulus 'chickened out' doesn't mean that he committed some sort of treason against Voldemort," Hermione said.
"It would make sense, though! IT sounds as though Voldemort doesn't even know his Horcrux has been destroyed. What if Regulus destroyed it and then, I don't know, quit. Then he was killed. It makes sense!"
"It does, Harry," said Ginny tentatively, "but don't you think that Sirius would have known where Regulus hid the Horcrux if he hadn't destroyed it?"
"Not if Sirius wasn't there at the time," Harry said.
"Harry! I've just thought of something!" Ron said, "Sirius hadn't been back to Grimmauld Place for years before the Order used it as headquarters. That could mean it was there while we were, the Horcrux, I mean."
"Think hard," Harry said, "We cleaned that place from top to bottom. Do any of you remember coming across a locket. We wouldn't have given it a second thought if it had a Slytherin crest on it because the whole lot of the Blacks had been in Slytherin except for Sirius."
"Harry, I think we're getting ahead of ourselves," Hermione said cautiously, "If we agree that Regulus Black is indeed 'R.A.B' then why would he hide the locket in his own house. Wouldn't that be a bit obvious?"
"Hermione, if Voldemort doesn't know it's missing, who'd be looking for it?" Ron asked.
"The letter says 'I know I will be long dead before you read this...', but that still sounds as though Regulus expected Voldemort to find it eventually. That would mean that he would be searching for the lost Horcrux, and wouldn't Grimmauld Place be the first place Voldemort looked?"
"Doesn't sound as though this Regulus fellow was as clever as Sirius, though does it?" Ron said, "If he got into this whole Death Eater gig in the first place. Maybe he didn't have time to hide in anywhere else."
"I think Regulus is our best bet," Ginny said, "And I think the best placed to start would be Grimmauld Place."
"Yeah, I agree," Harry said as Ron nodded his assent as well.
"Well," Hermione hemmed, "I suppose that if we have no where else to begin, Grimmauld Place would be the best starting point."
"Great," Harry said, "Now, I know it was a really long time ago, but try to remember if you ever came across a locket that looks like this," Harry held up the phony Horcrux, "but with a Slytherin crest on it."
"Hermione can probably remember every lecture she's had in every single class since first year," Ron said, "So, she'll remember."
Hermione looked flattered, although Ron's tone had been sarcastic.
"That doesn't mean you shouldn't be scraping your memory," Hermione told him with a squeeze of his hand.
After a quarter of an hour of silence, Ginny said, "Maybe we should use the Pensieve."
"What for?" Ron said, "Hermione's got a moving slide show going in her head, or something. Give her a few more minutes, and she'll have remembered everything that we did that summer."
Predictably, the three heard a gasp a few moments later from Hermione.
"It was there! Remember, we were cleaning the house and we found a locket that we couldn't break! That was it. We didn't pay it any mind because we were more concerned with the Order and with waiting for your next outburst, Harry."
Harry looked ashamed, "Yeah, I was in a right state that year wasn't I? Sorry about that."
"Not the issue now, Harry," Hermione said, "The Horcrux was there! Under the same roof as us for an entire summer and we never knew!"
"So, we didn't get rid of it," Harry said, suddenly recalling the locket, "I remember because we had to run and help Ron because some old, purple robes were trying to strangle him."
"Well, the house belongs to you now, Harry, so we can go anytime," Ginny said, "I mean, I know you want to go to Godric's Hollow first. TO se your parent's graves."
"Yeah," Harry nodded, "I do. But straight after that, we'll be off to Grimmauld Place. I haven't found anything yet to search for in Godric's Hollow, so we might as well go to Grimmauld Place. At least we'll be doing something."
Hermione gasped suddenly.
"What is it?" Ron asked.
"Mundungus!"
"What?" all three of the others asked.
"Mundungus! Harry, remember last year? He stole all of that stuff!"
"Oh no!" Harry said.
"What?" Ginny asked, "Mundungus has been stealing Harry's stuff?"
"Yeah, he looted Grimmauld Place last year," Ron explained, "But maybe he didn't get the locket."
"I hope not," Harry said menacingly, for his sake.
"Listen, Harry, if we get there and we can't find the locket, we'll track Mundungus down, all right?" Ginny said consolingly.
"I think we should get to bed," Hermione said suddenly, "We have a lot of things to do before we go, and we're going to need our strength."
The four stood up and walked into the hallway. Before they split to go into their respective rooms, Ginny kissed Harry goodnight.
"Thanks for deciding to let me come," she smiled.
"Yeah, because I really had a choice," Harry said.
"Harry, you had to learn what I had to learn," Ron said, holding onto Hermione, "When you find yourself pathetically in love with a girl who has too much brains for her own good,"
"Hey!" interjected Hermione. Ron ignored her and continued.
"They will find a way to do the very things you're scared for them to do. You just have to accept that they're strong enough. Truth be told, these two are probably stronger than us," Ron said wisely.
"So does this mean you're all right with me going as well then?" Ginny asked Ron.
"No!" Ron said, "You're still my little sister, and no matte how tough my little sister may be, she should still be locked up in a tower somewhere, guarded by a dragon, away from any type of danger."
"What if the tower collapses?" Ginny asked with a smile, "Built on a horrible foundation, you know."
"Or," Hermione jumped in with a laugh, "the dragon guarding the tower suddenly decides that it's hungry and breaks the tower down to eat Ginny."
"Or," Ginny added, "I could suffer from some horrible disease, and no one would ever know."
"Or," Hermione began, but Ron cut her off.
"Very funny, you two," he said, "I get the point."
"Well, goodnight," Harry said, kissing Ginny again. A
After Ron and Hermione had said their goodnights as well, the girls headed to their room, but Hermione called back to them.
"So, it starts tomorrow, doesn't it?" she said with a sad sort of smile.
"What does?" Ron asked.
"The part of our lives that completely alienates us from childhood."
"Yeah, I reckon so," Ron said gravely.
"You three don't have to go through it, you know?" Harry said, though he remembered what Hermione had said at the end of the last year, and knew she was going to repeat it.
"Honestly Harry! How many times do I have to bring this up?" she asked, and then got very quiet, "You told us once—well, more than once now—that there was time if we wanted to go back. We have had so much time, Harry. Nearly seven years, to be exact. We're with you."
"We'll always be with you, mate," Ron said, clapping a hand on Harry's shoulder.
"I think I've proven more than once that I'm pretty hard to shake, Potter," Ginny smiled, "So I'd like to see you try it again."
"Right, well," Harry was, again, at a loss for word, "Thanks."
"Tomorrow, then," Hermione said, bidding them goodnight once more.
Harry got into bed thinking that he was possibly the luckiest person alive. With three people he loved so much sticking by him even in the worst of times. And they would get worse, but, no matter how bad, he would have them with him. Always.
A/N: Ok, so what did you think? Here's the thing, I think I've lost you guys somewhere along the way. SO, this may be the last chapter of Life Goes ON…not for sure, but I'm thinking so. But whether or not I'm done with Life Goes On, there will be more fics. I'm thinking I might write something else, though I'm not sure what. I may even pick Life Goes On up again, but I'm just not sure. So, I love you guys and if this is it, I want you all to know how much your words have meant to me. I love you guys, and please bestow the loving reviews you always have in this—possibly—last chapter.