A/N: Sorry this has taken so long - the muse left me bereft for awhile, and a bout of the flu didn't help matters. I appreciate your patience. As always - thanks to Jocelyn, my beta.

Chapter Eight

Things were relatively quiet in the weeks after the wedding. Summer was drawing to a close, and the approach of winter was already being heralded by the turning of the leaves, and a sharp coolness to the air that became evident as the sun went down each day. Normally, this would have brought thoughts of another school year starting, but this year no students would board the Hogwarts Express, the Sorting Hat would add no new faces to the Houses, and there would be no Dumbledore to greet new and returning students at a feast that would not take place.

Hermione and Harry walked the Hogwarts grounds in the waning sunlight of late afternoon. Recently returned from following up an unsubstantiated lead on the cup of Helga Hufflepuff, Harry was dispirited, shuffling his feet through the leaves that had gathered at the edges of the path. Hermione watched him out of the corner of her eye. He'd changed so much in the past year. In her estimation, he appeared older, cynical, and hardened. There seemed little left of the boy she'd met years before, with the wondering green eyes, and the easy smile. Oh, he still smiled, but it never seemed to reach his eyes anymore. Without realizing it, Hermione sighed out loud.

"Hey," Harry said. "What's bothering you?"

"Everything," she replied. "It seems so wrong that the only students here are the ones that are hiding out. We're all Death Eater targets for one reason or another, either because of the wizard family we belong to or," she paused, "because we're not...part of a wizard family. Who would have thought it would come to this?"

Harry nodded grimly. "Yeah. And I don't think it's going to get better any time soon. Not if we can't find the Horcruxes."

"There have to be clues of some kind in the castle," Hermione insisted. "Anything that belonged to the Four Founders must be linked to Hogwarts in some manner. We'll find something here. I know we will."

"Maybe." Harry seemed unconvinced.

They walked on, and silence stretched between them, until Hermione began to feel uncomfortable. Casting about in her mind for another subject, she inquired, "Where's Ron? Didn't he want to come out and walk?"

Harry seemed reluctant to meet her eyes. "He's...he wanted to stay inside...had something to do, I guess."

"Oh," Hermione replied. She was fairly certain from Harry's reaction, exactly what Ron's "something to do" involved. "I suppose he's spending time with Luna."

He looked at her in surprise. "You aren't upset?"

She shook her head. "Not really. I've been thinking for awhile that Ron needed someone a little less serious than me. We really don't have much in common."

Harry looked skeptical. She shrugged, then a thought occurred to her. "Speaking of Luna, do you realize that she's the only Ravenclaw who remained behind when the school closed?"

When he nodded, she continued. "We ought to ask her what her house is taught about Rowena Ravenclaw. She might know of an artifact that's gone missing, significant enough to be used for a Horcrux."

"Good idea," Harry replied. "And let's go talk to McGonagall. She should be able to answer the same questions about Gryffindor."

"Or the Headmaster...I mean, his portrait. He seems to have retained a great deal of Dumbledore's knowledge."

"It's worth a try," Harry agreed.

They turned back towards the castle, following the low wall that skirted the west edge of the grounds. As they came around toward the front entrance, Hermione gasped and Harry stopped cold.

"Who are they, and what are they here for?" Hermione asked nervously.

Harry stared at the large group of robed individuals approaching the entrance. "Ministry officials and Aurors. Look – there's Percy Weasley." They hurried towards the doors for a better look, and Hermione gave a groan.

"I don't believe it! It's Fudge in the lead. What can they possibly want?"

"This way," Harry said urgently, pulling at her hand and leading her to a small side entrance. "We'll get there before them and be able to see what happens when they get in."

They ran through the side passage and came out in the large entrance hall. The Headmistress, with Professor Flitwick and Remus Lupin beside her, was waiting. Hermione and Harry joined the small group of students gathered behind her.

The former Minister of Magic advanced pompously into the entrance hall with his entourage close behind. Percy Weasley was at his elbow, and on his face was the same look of superiority that Fudge displayed.

Headmistress McGonagall greeted them coldly. "I assume you have a reason for arriving here in force...Mr. Fudge."

He flushed, and there was no facade of friendship in his voice. "I am here as the representative of Minister Scrimgeour, acting with his full authority."

"Acting to what purpose, may I inquire?"

"This school was closed per the instruction of its Board of Governors, Madam. Yet you continue to maintain students here. May I inquire as to your purpose?" Fudge sneered.

"The students who remain here are pursuing their education independently, and with the full knowledge and agreement of their families," she answered him.

"The Ministry does not recognize this purpose as falling within the guidelines for a wizard education. Furthermore, as there is a war on..."

Harry snorted loudly, and rolled his eyes. Fudge sputtered for a moment.

"As I said, as there is a war on, the Ministry feels that these students belong with their families. We are here to expedite their return."

Professor Flitwick took a step forward, his squeaky voice shaking with outrage. "We have the permission of their families to have these children here. They won't be safe outside..."

Percy Weasley cut him off. "With all due respect, Professor, the Ministry does not agree that Hogwarts presents a haven for these children. They will be safer in the arms of their families."

Hermione felt someone reach over and take her hand. Next to her, Luna was shaking. "Don't worry," she whispered. "They can't make us leave."

Remus Lupin took a step forward. "We don't recognize the Ministry's authority in this matter. This school, as you said, is run by a Board of Governors, and we've received no word from them that would require us to release these students to you."

Fudge glared at him. "You are not a professor at this school, and you are not involved in this in any way. The fact that the Headmistress of Hogwarts permits you to remain on the grounds is testament to her lack of judgment...werewolf!"

Lupin stiffened; the students behind him hissed. The Aurors flanking Fudge already had their wands out and aimed at him.

Harry started forward, and Hermione grabbed his arm to restrain him. On the other side, Ron appeared and did the same. "Wait!" she hissed at him. "Let McGonagall handle this."

The Headmistress stepped to Lupin's side and placed a warning hand on his arm. He looked directly at her for a second, then moved back to stand with Professor Flitwick.

Percy Weasley produced a document, which he handed to her. "I think this should convince you that the Board of Governors agrees with us on this matter."

The Headmistress read over the document quickly, and her lips compressed into a tight line. She turned to the two men beside her. "They have conceded to the Ministry and are directing that all underage students be removed."

Behind her, Hermione could hear some of the students whispering among themselves, and a few began to cry. Under the direction of Percy Weasley, the Aurors stepped over to the students, taking names, and directing them to the door. A particularly burly Auror confronted the group standing around Hermione.

"What's your name, girl?" He pointed at Luna. Hermione squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"My name is Luna Lovegood, and I am seventeen." Luna's lie sounded entirely convincing. The Auror simply made a notation on his paper and then pointed at Neville. "And you?"

Neville's voice was surprisingly steady. "Neville Longbottom, and I'm of age."

Once again, the Auror paid scant attention to the answer. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Hermione realized that this action had to be aimed at one specific student.

The Auror had moved on to Ron. "You're a Weasley, with that head of red hair. Which one are you?"

Ron stared at the man and didn't answer. The Auror turned and hollered, "Hey, Weasley! This one of your brothers?"

Percy walked over and looked at Ron. His eyes flickered towards Hermione and Harry, then back to his brother. "This is my youngest brother, Ron," he replied, and then with a voice so cold that Hermione couldn't believe it, "and he's underage. Take him out of here."

"No!" Ron yelled. Two other Aurors had joined the first and they leveled wands at the furious boy. "That's a lie! He has no right to decide for me! I'm staying!" At his side, Harry began yelling as well, and Hermione stood stunned, fearful that one of the boys would pull a wand and be injured. Professor McGonagall and Remus Lupin, attracted by the commotion, hurried over.

"Ronald Weasley is of age. We have his records in my office." McGonagall insisted.

"Sorry, Madam," one of the Aurors replied. "But we'll have to follow Mr. Weasley's instructions."

The Headmistress turned to Ron. "Go with them, and I'll contact your parents. This will be straightened out quickly."

Ron's furious face was as red as his hair, but he nodded to her. Refusing to acknowledge his brother, he walked off, closely shadowed by one of the Aurors. The focus turned to Harry.

"No need to ask your name," the burly Auror stated. "Come with me."

Lupin stepped between them. "This boy is of legal age. He turned seventeen in July."

The Auror grimaced. "I don't intend to take your word for it. He'll have to accompany us to the Ministry, and we'll decide whether or not he can remain."

Lupin stayed where he was. "I'm also the boy's guardian, and I have documentation to prove it. I say he stays."

Professor McGonagall had joined them. "We have the papers representing Mr. Lupin's authority in this and I would be happy to produce them for you."

The Auror remained silent, staring at Lupin. It was obvious that he wanted to take Harry, but was unsure of his grounds in the face of the declarations by Lupin and the Headmistress. Hermione was watching nervously, when someone touched her arm. She turned and found herself looking at Percy Weasley.

"Hermione, I'd like to speak to you for a moment."

She wondered that he could be so collected, after witnessing his brother's fury. He indicated a small alcove and Hermione followed him, away from the others.

"That was a horrid thing you just did!" Hermione stated. "Ron is not going to forgive that."

"I'm not here to discuss my brother with you," Percy replied. "I'd like to offer you some advice."

"Really," Hermione snapped. "And why would you want to advise me?"

"Only because you're a friend of the family and I know how they feel about you," Percy answered stiffly. "You'd be wise to take a different tone with me. You could use a friend in the Ministry."

"Friend?" The word dripped with sarcasm, and Hermione had to fight the urge to slap his face.

"All right...that's enough. Listen to me, Hermione, because this is for your own good." His face was red and angry. "Get out of here. Go back to your parents and be a Muggle. You've no place here. Go back to them and be safe."

"You forget," Hermione responded acidly, "as Fudge informed us...there's a war on, and as you are well aware, Muggles aren't safe anywhere!

"You're a target," Percy declared. "Potter has made you one, just as he's done to Ron and the rest of my family! Wise up and get out of here." He paused and looked at her with disgust. "You have no place in our world."

Hermione took a step backwards, shocked by the look of loathing on his face. She'd known that Percy was angry with his family, but she hadn't realized that he'd included her with them. For one terrible moment, she thought he meant to strike her, but he turned away.

"You've been warned." He walked off, and she stayed where she was, shaking.

"Hermione?" Lupin came up to her, and looked at her with concern. "What did he say to you?"

"Nothing important. What about Harry?" Her voice shook in spite of her effort to control it, and Lupin gave her another long look.

"They're leaving him here. I don't think they expected a challenge. I'm sure they never considered the possibility that Harry would have a guardian present to back him up."

Hermione nodded. "And Ron. What..."

He interrupted her. "Already done. Professor Flitwick flooed a message to Arthur, and he's meeting Ron at the Ministry. I think it's likely that Ron will be back here before the end of the day."

"But the others..."

Lupin shook his head grimly. "I imagine that their families will be subject to retaliation for trying to hide them here. Voldemort has someone pulling strings at the Ministry to arrange this, I've no doubt." He put a reassuring arm around her. "But they didn't get Harry, and they didn't get you, or Luna, or Neville. And Ron will be back."

She nodded and tried to smile, but found herself crying instead.

The next day, Hermione paced nervously in the Headmistress's office. Luna and Neville had joined her there, and together with Professor McGonagall, they waited for word from the Burrow. Harry and Remus had gone there the previous evening to wait for Ron, and they'd not yet heard from them.

Professor McGonagall had dark shadows under her eyes, marking the results of a sleepless night. The Order had been in emergency session, trying to follow up on as many of the removed students and their families as possible. Some had been assisted to go into hiding at other locations, but for two of the families it had been too late. The Dark Mark had appeared over their homes, and both families had been wiped out.

Luna's father and Neville's grandmother had been contacted, and documentation obtained by the Headmistress to prevent their being taken from Hogwarts, although another such action was not expected. It had been a particularly clumsy attempt to get at Harry, and Hermione couldn't help but wonder who had conceived the idea in the first place. Nagging in the back of her mind was the thought that it could have been Percy Weasley, but in spite of his words to her, she couldn't fathom the possibility that Percy could be in league with the Death Eaters.

Dumbledore attempted to lighten the tense atmosphere. "You are all so grave and quiet! Minerva, don't you have that container of sherbet lemons in the top right hand drawer? Offer them around, why don't you – or call the house elves for a spread. I warrant none of these children has eaten this morning."

The Headmistress looked up from the stack of papers in front of her, and put down her quill. "A good idea, Albus." She summoned an elf, and a breakfast tray appeared on a corner table. "Help yourselves to anything. Miss Granger, if you would be so kind, I would like a cup of tea."

Hermione froze for a moment. I would like a cup of tea. As she complied with the request, her mind raced. Where is he now? Does he know about what's happened here? She set a cup down on the desk, and returned to the tray to set up her own plate. She'd been down in the dungeons a few times in the last weeks preparing potions, but he'd not put in an appearance. She wished now that there was some way to talk to him. Surely he would know who had set up the attempt to take Harry. And if Percy was working against the Order, he'd undoubtedly know about that as well.

Neville suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence. "I wish I could be sure that my Gran was safe. Maybe I should go home."

Luna shook her head. "If there's trouble, she'll be better off for not having to worry about you. I think she'd like you to stay here."

Hermione thought it strange to hear such a common sense statement coming from Luna. The girl seemed focused on stirring a smear on jam on her plate with her fingernail. She'd been so calm when she responded to the Auror's confrontation that Hermione had been impressed. Luna had certain aspects of her character that seemed to appear at the oddest times. She certainly didn't fit the image of a typical Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw...

"Luna," Hermione asked, "have you ever heard of a library or personal study here in the castle that belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw?"

Without raising her eyes from her plate, Luna responded, "Yes, she had a study where she did all her work and kept her books."

Dumbledore straightened up in his chair and leaned forward in the portrait. "An interesting question – what brought it to mind?"

"I've heard rumors that each of the Founders had private libraries that are located somewhere in the castle. Do you know where they are?" Hermione watched him as he considered her question.

"Well, my dear, I am aware of their existence. I have actually only been in two of them, but not Ravenclaw's."

Professor McGonagall set aside her cup of tea. "I've been told of them, but I haven't had the chance to research their whereabouts."

"As Headmistress, Minerva, you would be able to enter any of them, but for anyone else, it's more difficult," explained Dumbledore.

"Difficult in what way?" Hermione noticed that both Luna and Neville were following the conversation.

"You would be able to enter Gryffindor's study, if you located it, but not any of the other three. Only a member of their house can be admitted; anyone else would have to accompany that member."

Luna paused from sucking on a jam-covered finger. "I've been in Ravenclaw's study."

Neville spun around. "Really! How'd you find it?"

"I asked."

Hermione felt a momentary urge to throttle the dreamy girl. "Who did you ask?"

Luna cocked her head to one side and stared at the ceiling. "Did you know that Hogwarts feels things? Like feeling your thoughts?"

The Headmistress was staring at the girl in perplexity. "Feels things – do you mean the building itself?"

"Not just the building. Hogwarts – the castle and all the magic inside it. I've spoken to it."

Neville looked at Luna as if he wished there were more than just a couple of chairs between them. Hermione suddenly thought about the ten rubies in the hourglass. Hogwarts as a sentient being – Snape believed in it. "How did you speak to it, and did it respond to you?"

"I was wondering about Rowena Ravenclaw's room, and the fifth floor staircase took me there. I could show you the way if you'd like." The others in the room stared at her in amazement.

"Go ahead. Let me know what you find," Professor McGonagall instructed.

Hermione and Neville followed Luna out of the office and they headed to the center of the building. On the first stairway, Luna paused for a moment, and then it swung over and connected them with the next floor.

"Just follow me, and let the staircases take us there," Luna told them. The next staircase and the next swung them in different directions, and Hermione realized they were heading towards an area of the castle she hadn't explored before. Finally, they reached the fifth floor. Luna glanced around uncertainly, then simply requested, "Direct me." Long unused sconces flared to light in a dim, empty hall that stretched away from them. Luna led the way, and the others followed behind her. In the light, Hermione could see that they were approaching a curved archway, upon which was carved the relief of an eagle in flight. Ravenclaw!

Luna stepped forward and placed her hand on the eagle. Hermione and Neville held their breaths. A slow rumbling began, and the center of the archway slid back to reveal an opening. The three of them slipped through and the archway rumbled again as it closed behind them. The darkness was absolute, then Luna simply clapped her hands, and candles lit themselves throughout the room. They were standing in a small study, with a polished oak desk in front of them, and bookshelves lined up behind it. The room was cold and had the faint, unpleasant smell of an ancient chamber, long locked away. Portraits hung along the side walls, most of them empty.

"This was her personal study," Luna explained. "Why did you want to see it?"

Hermione glanced around. "I wanted to see if anything was missing. We've told you about the Horcruxes. We think that Voldemort might have taken something from each of the Four Founders." She ticked the items off on her fingers. "We know he used a ring and a locket belonging to Slytherin. He's also got a cup that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff. It stands to reason that he would have something of Ravenclaw's as well."

Neville turned around from the shelves he was examining. "There aren't any knickknacks in here, or anything that looks personal. What could he have taken?"

Hermione looked over the desk. A bronze inkwell, with a number of quills in a wooden holder beside it, was the only large item there. She scanned the room for something resembling the crystal case of Slytherin, but there didn't appear to be anything like it.

Luna was watching her. "Does it have to have been something of hers, or just something tied to Ravenclaw house?"

"I think we should consider any possibility." Hermione said.

"Well, then, what about the seal?"

Hermione suppressed a sigh of exasperation. "What seal, Luna?"

"It would have been right there." She indicated an empty frame on the wall between two bookshelves, located directly behind Ravenclaw's desk. "But it's been gone for a long time."

"Luna," Neville said carefully, "what kind of seal was it and how long has it been gone?"

"Oh," Luna wrinkled up her face while she thought, "It's been gone since the 1940s. It was a bronze seal that Rowena Ravenclaw had cast for her house. About this big," she rounded her hands to show the size, "and the Ravenclaw eagle was pressed into it. There's a copy of it above the fireplace in the Ravenclaw common room, but the original is gone."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "That has to be it – what Tom Riddle would have taken. The question is: who did he kill to make the Horcrux and where did he hide the seal?"

The three of them returned to the Headmistress's office and made their report. Professor McGonagall turned to the portrait. "What do you think, Albus?"

"I think they're on the right track. Tom Riddle would have wanted to make a trial of the Horcrux spell, and he may have come up with his idea of using items from the Founders early on." He paused, then continued. "He may have moved the item later, but it's equally probable that it is somewhere here at Hogwarts still."

"What about the Sword of Gryffindor?" Neville asked. "Is there any way that it could have been used?"

"It's highly unlikely," Dumbledore said. "It would never have worked against the basilisk if Voldemort had infected it."

Professor McGonagall walked over to the wall and took down the sword, the large ruby in the hilt flashing brightly. She laid the sword on the desk and the others came over for a closer look. Passing her wand over it, she chanted a series of spells, but no change in the sword became evident.

"Apparently you are right, Albus. The sword appears unaffected." Replacing it on the wall, she turned to the others and remarked dryly, "I would certainly hope that Gryffindor would be more resistant to the machinations of Voldemort than the other houses."

Hermione and Neville laughed in agreement, then the Floo suddenly roared to life. Everyone in the room turned eagerly to greet the returnees. As they arrived, it took only a glance to see that something was terribly wrong. Remus stepped through first, his face grim. Harry and Ron followed in quick succession, their faces white and Harry practically supporting his friend.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Hermione cried out in fear.

Another burst of flame from the hearth, and Arthur Weasley stepped through, carrying in his arms the limp form of Ginny Weasley.

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