Thank you to all of my pat re on supporters with special thanks to the awesome people Ibuki Mioda, SvenGTX and Jack Schriner.

Chapters 7 & 8 are already posted there. For those interested /Lowten on that sight will take you to the page.

Chapter 6

Harry and Hermione were finding third year classes as easy as they found first and second year. They both found Trelawney less infuriating, given they now knew that she did actually give genuine prophecy. Strangely, she also stopped with the whole grim nonsense this year, which made them wonder if the seer was actually seeing Sirius and was misinterpreting what she saw, though she didn't quit with the warnings of fire and death in his future. The one class that wasn't just a breeze was Ancient Runes, and that was just for Harry because the class was only new for him. Memorising the runes for Younger Futhark (a Nordic rune set) was challenging, but as Harry had a lot less studying to do it was more than manageable.

Care of Magical Creatures was easy but also different. Hermione was right when she guessed that the new teacher wasn't Hagrid. Instead they had a middle aged man, Professor Goldhorn, teaching the class. His first few lessons were on owls, krups and kneazles. He had told them he was taking a probability approach to deciding what creatures they would study; the more likely they were to come into contact with a creature, the sooner they would learn about it. It made sense to them, but the two did find the class a little boring compared to Hagrid's classes, though Hermione did look rather smug when the kneazle ignored everyone else and jumped into her arms.

They got to the Room of Requirement on the weekend. Hermione had used the time turner to give them a perfect alibi, and they ducked into the room of hidden things not long before curfew. As long as they were less than six hours in the room, then they would still be back in the common room on time.

Hermione had never seen the room of hidden things before and was equal parts fascinated and horrified. On one hand, the room was a pile of disorganised mess that needed cleaning; on the other, the room was almost like an archaeologist's dream. There were also a number of books hidden there, but the condition of a lot of the books was bad enough that it was almost blasphemous to the bushy haired bibliophile. One book that looked like someone had used it as target practice particularly upset her. Searching for the diadem took them over an hour, as the mounds of hidden objects were not easy to navigate and the hall was huge, at least ten times larger than the Great Hall.

Eventually Harry spotted the familiar chipped bust of an ugly old warlock and called to Hermione, knowing they were close. They started digging through a few of the neighboring piles looking for the legendary lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw. It took them another hour to find it, only because Hermione found it first and discarded it into a pile. It was only when Harry was re-checking the piles of discarded items that he found it. He held it up to look at it and to make sure it was what they were looking for when Hermione spoke up.

"Harry, why are you wasting your time looking at an old piece of costume jewellery, we need to find the tiara." Hermione sounded a little annoyed at him, but he could tell she was just vexed that the search was taking so long.

"Um Hermione, what does it look like I'm holding to you?" Harry asked, genuinely curious.

"A gaudy plastic toy tiara that looks like it belongs to a five year old girl. Why?"

"Because I think this is the diadem we are looking for." Harry told her.

"Harry don't be ridicu…" Hermione paused and then there was a flash of understanding in her eyes. "Oh, it must have been under some type of perception filter spell." Hermione started thinking it through out loud. "Anyone looking for it would probably see anything but the diadem; no, not anything, but something that they would consider unimportant. But why could you see it, Harry? Maybe because you had seen it before when you weren't looking for it? No, that doesn't make sense, people could recognise the diadem after accidentally running into it, so it must be something about you specifically Harry. Oh, I know, it's the protection from your mum. It specifically defends you from Voldemort's magic, so the perception filter never took hold on you."

Hermione's rambling finally faded away as Harry shook his head in amusement, before he pulled a basilisk fang from a pouch in his pocket. "OK let's destroy it."

"Are you sure this is a horcrux? It would be a shame to destroy such an artifact. I mean, it's Ravenclaw's diadem. It's supposed to make the wearer smarter, that's such amazing magic that it's important to preserve it if we can."

"I can feel it, Hermione, it's like the locket." Harry told her as he looked around for something to place the horcrux on so he could stab it.

"But you need to be sure Harry." Hermione pleaded, but Harry was too focused on his task to hear the tone in voice.

"I'm sure Mione, trust me." Harry answered as he spotted a table that was whole but looked as though someone had spilled an acid or something on it, destroying the looks of the table. Harry set the diadem on the table and prepared to stab it with the fang. However, his danger senses went wild and he jumped back from the diadem quickly. However, he found that the danger wasn't from the diadem itself, but from the beam of red light that came from his left and would have hit his side if he hadn't moved. He looked to the left, trying to find the source of the spell, only to see Hermione with her wand pointed at him moving through the motions to cast another spell.

Harry dived behind a pile of hidden things, dodging Hermione's second stunner. "Hermione! What are you doing?!

"The diadem is too impotent to let you destroy it, Harry," Hermione said, though her voice was emotionless. Harry could believe Hermione hexing him in a fit of rage or slapping him silly if she was upset because he had done something stupid. She was the type of person who did things with a burning passion, but she was never cold like this.

"Hermione, this isn't you. The Horcrux is using you to defend itself." Harry tried to reason with her, but he still pulled out his wand to defend himself.

"No Harry, it's not the Horcrux. We can cleanse the diadem and protect it. I'm sure I can work out how to do it. I just need to use the diadem then I'll be smart enough to fix everything."

Harry had heard enough, he couldn't let Hermione put the Horcrux on her head. He stood out from behind the pile of junk he was sheltering behind and fired a stunner at Hermione. She held her ground and put up a shield reflecting Harry's spell back at him. The two started trading spells back and forth, both of them sticking to non-lethal and easily reversible prank spells. Even if both of them were going all out in trying to subdue the other, subconsciously neither wanted to hurt the other.

Eventually Harry was able to catch Hermione's ankle with a Jelly-Legs Jinx, and when she lost her balance he hit her with a full body bind. "I'm sorry, Hermione, but I think that the diadem was influencing you the same way the diary influenced Ginny." Harry told her as he cleared all the junk off of a sofa that looked like a tiger had made it into a scratch toy at some point but would still be more comfortable for Hermione than laying in a pile of random junk. He levitated her onto the seat, picked up the Horcrux that had been knocked over in the fight, set it back on the table, and stabbed the thing with the fang still in his hand. Black ichor bubbled up from where Harry stabbed it and screamed in pain and fury at what Harry had done.

After Harry was finished, he went and sat next to Hermione, pulling her wand from where she still held it in her hand and started performing the counter jinxes on her. As soon as the full body bind was lifted, Hermione threw herself at him. For a moment, Harry thought she was going to start slapping him for destroying the diadem, but instead she pulled him into a hug and started crying into his shoulder, choking out the words "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," between sobs.

It took time for Harry to help Hermione put herself together enough to explain. "It was like I was under the Imperius curse. It kept telling me that I needed to kill you and put on the diadem. It was so strong, Harry, I'm so sorry. I couldn't fight it. I tried and tried, but I couldn't do anything."

"Hermione, you say you couldn't fight it, but think about the spells you cast." He paused for a moment so Hermione could think about it. "Not one of the spells you cast would have hurt me, and you know plenty of spells that could have killed me if you hit me with them. Yet every spell you cast wouldn't have given me worse than a headache. So don't tell me you didn't fight it, you fought it hard Hermione."

That was indeed what Hermione needed to hear, as it calmed her down somewhat, but even then it wasn't an instant cure. Harry needed to hug her for almost half the night before they were ready to leave and go back to bed. They left the room and got under the invisibility cloak before Hermione pulled out her time turner and gave it a bunch of turns. Harry had thought that they would go back in time inside the room, but Hermione had quickly put a stop to that idea. "Harry, do you have any idea what would happen to us if we travelled back in time to a time before the Room of Requirement was opened?" Hermione had asked, and Harry had replied in the negative. "Neither do I, and I don't want to find out by experimenting like that. What if we go back and we are inside a wall?" Both of them had shuddered at that idea and had agreed that they would do all their time travel in places that were always present, if it was possible.

-ϟϟϟ-

With one more Horcrux destroyed, the two of them turned their mind to the ring. Thanks to what Dumbledore told Harry in the previous timeline, they knew that particular horcrux was in the Gaunt family hovel outside of Little Hangleton. The problem was, that was all they knew; well, that and Dumbledore had suffered a curse while collecting the ring.

The first step was easy enough, Hermione had her parents send her an atlas of the UK. After that, it had just been a matter of looking the village up, and Little Hangleton was just a little dot in the middle of nothing in the county of Yorkshire. Now they had a location, but not much else. If they were at home, Hermione would have gone to the library and asked for a copy of the survey map for the area, in the hope they could work out likely spots where the Gaunt property was, but such a map wouldn't be in Hogwarts library.

So, their best course of action was to go there. Only, that was rather difficult when they were supposed to be in school. They couldn't just disappear from the school. Well, they could, even without the Marauders' Map each of them knew at least three ways out of the castle and two ways in, but as they had an entire village to search, it wasn't like they could get that done in a couple of hours. It could take them up to a day to locate the shack, and maybe up to a week to survey the place before they could do anything. On top of that, there was the Reasonable Restriction on Underage Sorcery to consider. How could they get the ring if they couldn't use any magic? They would need a competent adult with them to cast the spells, but who could they tell the truth to without them being dragged to St. Mungo's?

-ϟϟϟ-

October came along, and with it the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year. Harry was able to go this year because Sirius had signed his form straight away, instead of needing to coerce his uncle into doing so. Harry and Hermione decided to go down and have a look around, more so for a break than the expectation that anything would be new. They had been trying to prepare for scouting out Little Hangleton but were having trouble still. They decided to walk to the village this time; it was cold out due to being in the Scottish Highlands, but the weather was clear and the walk was enjoyable. About halfway down to the village, Hermione had gotten a little cold and had decided that the best way to deal with it was to hug Harry and steal his body warmth.

The walk was thoroughly enjoyable and the two soon found their way into the village. First stop, as always when Hermione was a part of the group, was Tomes and Scrolls. Hermione asked if they had any books on the Gaunt family, but they didn't. Business out of the way, they still looked around at the books. Harry found a book on basic Occlumency that he decided to get, mostly because he wanted to check if Snape had accidentally taught him anything or if, as Harry suspected, he was making it easier for Voldemort to invade his mind. Hermione (being Hermione) had brought herself three new books with complicated titles that Harry wouldn't even try to understand.

Once they were done in the bookshop they started checking other stores. They went into the apothecary and bought enough ingredients for half of the Gryffindor third years to practice potions on for the rest of the year. A number of their potential plans needed potions, and it was easier to buy the ingredients than try and swipe them from the school stores.

They did find one shop they had ignored previously but decided to take a look. Ferlet & Son seemed to be a wix pawn shop, so Harry and Hermione looked around. There were a lot of the usual things you would see in a muggle counterpart, such as a display case of jewellery, although there were separate sections each for purely decorative pieces and pieces that had some type of magical effect. There was also stuff that would never appear in a muggle pawn broker, for example the selection of broomsticks that were mounted on one section of wall. Harry, of course, went to them first to check them out. There were a few Cleansweep Fives and Sixes and a Comet 230. Decent brooms, but nothing exciting.

They browsed the other shelves as well. Most of it was boring to the two of them: self-stirring cauldrons, records from magical artists, books from Hogwarts subjects that people had dropped (including a stack of Lockhart's books that they may as well have relabeled as fuel for fire). There was an enchanted tea set that Hermione looked at for a while but decided against buying. One thing they grabbed immediately when Harry found it was a wizarding tent. Even secondhand it set Harry back 85 galleons, but the inside was in better shape than the one they had borrowed from the Weasleys for the Horcrux hunt, and with them keeping their distance from Ron this time that tent didn't seem like it would be available if they needed it. Not that they planned on needing it, but it seemed like a good idea to have it and not need it rather than need it and not have it.

Once they finished looking around the pawn shop, they started hitting the old favourites, in part because it had been so long since they had been there but also because they weren't supposed to have been to the village before and they wanted to keep up appearances. They went to Honeydukes, where Harry had to struggle not to spend too much there. He bought himself a supply of their best chocolate, jellied slugs, and a large bag of mint humbugs. Hermione got herself a supply of sugar quills and a few cauldron cakes. After that, they were feeling the chill of the Scottish climate and decided to retreat inside the Three Broomsticks and warm up a bit. Hermione grabbed a seat in one of the few free booths and Harry went to get the drinks.

It was good seeing Rosmerta smiling again, even if it was a little strained as she did her best to serve the large crowd of Hogwarts students on top of her regulars. The war hadn't been kind to her, and while she hadn't been targeted specifically she had faced at least one Unforgivable curse. Plus, the war wasn't exactly good for profits, as everyone had stayed hidden at home rather than going out to drink.

"What can I get you, love?" Rosmerta finally worked her way through the crowd of customers battling for her attention and addressed Harry.

"Two large warm butterbeers please." He replied, placing a galleon on the counter.

"Coming right up." She swept the coin into a drawer and set two large beer glasses under a barrel. With a tap of her wand, the sweet buttery beer started to slowly flow into the glasses, warming as it went until it was slightly steaming in the glass. "So, you're a third year right? I don't recall seeing you here before." Rosmerta asked as she counted out his change, ten sickles and a few knuts.

Harry dropped the knuts in a large whisky bottle that took the place of a tip jar and pocketed the silver. "Yeah, this is my first time visiting the village. A few of the older years recommended here to Hermione and myself," he pointed Hermione out to the woman, "and a warm drink to ward off the chill seems like just the thing."

"Well, I recommend this or firewhisky for warding off chills, but you'll need to wait a few years before you get to order that. Now you and your girlfriend enjoy, and come see me if you need anything." She said the last bit as she set the two beer glasses in front of Harry, and before he could say anything else she was off dealing with another customer.

Harry went to the table Hermione had claimed and sat down next to her. Hermione took her butterbeer and took a drink. "Mmm. It's been years since I last had a butterbeer." Her words barely registered to Harry, and noticing that something was off Hermione asked. "Harry, what's up?" Again Harry was lost in his thoughts, so Hermione poked him and asked again.

"It's nothing. Rosmerta just assumed we were a couple, and it got me wondering how many other people think that. I mean, as far as most of the school is concerned we disappear together a lot, and I wouldn't be surprised that Sirius and your parents think the same thing."

"Probably about half," Hermione replied. "Lavender and Parvati grill me on being your girlfriend every few months, and Mum has made a few comments so she definitely thinks we are together. It doesn't help that I am a hugger and I hug you a lot more than anyone else." She had obviously thought about this already, but if her dorm mates were teasing her a little about it, then how could she not?

Harry, knowing Hermione as well as he did, could hear the hesitation in her voice. She was worried that Harry would stop the hugs now that he realised that it led to people thinking they were a couple. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a side hug. "Well, I for one wouldn't give up your hugs for the world," he said, taking a drink from his butterbeer. Now that he was drinking it again (and Hermione reminded him how long it had been), he realised he really had missed this. Not just the butterbeer, but the sitting there enjoying it with someone he cared about. That had been even longer since his last good butterbeer. Once the war was in full swing, butterbeer was more of something to do while you fretted and waited for news.

"So Harry, I had an idea when you bought the tent." Hermione said, still snuggled into his side.

"Oh?" Harry asked.

"You and I should go on a camping trip to Little Hangleton over Easter." Hermione told him.

Harry was a little surprised by the idea, but instantly saw some problems. "I doubt your parents would agree to their fourteen-year-old daughter going off across the country on her own with no one but a teenage boy. I'm not sure Sirius would be too happy with that either, or maybe he would be but for all the wrong reasons."

"Well that's easy enough, we won't tell them. We normally stay at school over Easter anyway, so none of them would think it weird that we don't go home, and if we aren't here everyone else will just assume we went back to London." She was right, Harry thought. As long as they left on the Express, the teachers and other students would just assume they went home for the break.

"OK, what do we need to pull this off?" Harry asked, not expecting Hermione to have a full plan yet, but he needed to know what she had worked out so far. Hermione pulled out a sheet of parchment and the two of them started to plan what they would need.