Upon waking up, there were quite a few moments where I didn't recognize my surroundings. Oh, what a headache that summoned. I felt like I had been hit with a Bludger between the eyes.
A quick glance at my watch showed it was well after noon, but that was okay. A little bit of sunlight streamed into the windows, but there was way too much dust to have full light.
I heard the noises of other people, and followed them into the kitchen. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all sat at the large kitchen table, talking in hushed voices.
When they saw me, they stopped talking. It felt so incredibly awkward. I was already sort of regretting hopping onto this bandwagon. "Wow," I said. "Er, this is awkward."
"Breakfast?" Hermione asked, standing up. She picked up a pot on the stove that had really runny scrambled eggs in them. Obviously, I would be taking over the cooking on this little expedition, because there was no way we were eating like that.
" I'm all set, thanks," I said, sitting down. I wasn't fully awake yet. "What's going on?"
"We're just discussing what next," Harry said.
"What's the plan?" I asked.
"Still working on that one, actually..." Hermione said. She hadn't sat back down, instead she leaned against the counter. "Harry said you brought supplies?"
"Oh, yeah, loads of them," I said.
"Want to organize them?" she asked.
I grabbed my bag and followed her upstairs. It was a very strange house, with pictures on the walls that didn't look so friendly. I mainly kept close to Hermione. I felt afraid that if I got lost, they wouldn't see me again.
She took me to a room where she and Ron had obviously slept last night. There was a bed of pillows set up next to a couch. Her purse of stuff was hiding under her pillow. I couldn't imagine that was comfortable, but it kept it safe.
She began to pull the things she had out, and it seemed like we had different priorities in this. She had more books, whereas I had focused more on our survival.
"How much money do we have?" I asked her, picking up my piggy bank.
"We have a good amount, I think," she said, picking up a wallet. "I have some money in here. We shouldn't need too much money, I think."
"Food?" I asked.
She shrugged. "It looks like you've got plenty for us there," she said. She was right, I probably had enough food to feed us all for about ten days. But some of it was perishable, and I didn't want to deplete our resources so early.
"But we have access to food in London right now," I said. "I would rather spend money on that than not have food later. Harry said we don't know how long we're going to be on this little... trip, and we don't know where we will be. We can eat the perishables now, but I would rather spend money to get food while we have access to it."
"That makes sense," she said. "This is why I'm glad you're here, you think about this stuff better than I do."
I arranged the cans into ten groups that would feed us for one day, before tying them together with twine she had in her bag.
"Here, give me half of those. We don't want all the supplies in one place," she said. "You've got loads of clothing."
"You don't?" I asked.
"Two outfit changes each," she said.
I took stock of what I had again. I had twelve T-shirts, six sweaters, three pairs of sneakers, and three pairs of pants. "Here, take another T-shirt... and do you think Harry or Ron would wear these shirts? They belonged to Adam, so they should fit, he's a bit bigger than either of them."
"I'm sure they would," she said.
"I'm saving the rest of the shirts until these ones get ratty or something, but here, why don't you keep a few in your bag. You can have these three sweaters, though I'm not sure you need them yet because it's July, I just thought it would be good to have," I explained.
She nodded, and we rearranged the goods. I got some of her books. "What have you done about Adam?" she asked. "You didn't tell him where you are, did you?"
"I broke up with him last night," I told her. "But I wouldn't tell him where I was going. I think he knows I'm with you guys though."
"I'm sorry," she said. "I know I've asked a lot of you for you to be here."
"The breakup was coming anyways," I said. "Don't worry... I'm amazed Harry and Ginny are still together if he wouldn't bring her along for this."
"Kat?" Hermione asked, raising an eybrow at me. "Ginny dumped Harry ages ago..."
"What?" I asked, in disbelief. "He never mentioned it to me. How could he have not mentioned that?"
She just shrugged.
"Do you know why?"
"It's complicated," she said. I knew that meant she knew why, but wasn't going to tell me. I just sighed. It looked like there would be plenty of time to get it out of her. "Is that a journal?"
I picked up the leather journal that Adam had given me. I was actually glad I had remembered to bring it along. "We should keep a catalog of what we have," I said. "There are a few potions I would like to make, while we have access to supplies."
"Like what?" she asked.
"Pain potion is always good to have, maybe something to strengthen our immune systems, or some nutritional supplement ones. I dunno."
She nodded. "I think that's a good idea," she said. "You can make all of those potions yourself?"
I nodded. They would be really easy. I took a catalog of what we had, in the last two pages of the journal. I would write about our journey in the front of the book. I wanted to remember every second of this. Although helping Hermione made me feel productive, like I was playing an actual part in this little production, I still felt off. They were a very established group, and I felt left out. I wanted to be a part of them. I knew there was no way to immediately gain the closeness of more than five years of friendship, but I did want to feel more like I belonged.
I wandered off, wanting to explore the house while it was light out. The place was terribly dusty, but far less terrifying in the day time. I found a bedroom that looked pretty clean, and decided to sit in here for awhile. There were two twin beds and a desk, and it was empty other than that. I sat at the desk and took out my journal. I didn't mind having the time alone, to think.
I started thinking on the paper. I jotted down all the questions I had, and my general feelings. I was feeling a lot of things. I was concerned about my family. I was lonely. And somewhere deep inside of me, I was just a little excited.
Where are we going?
How long are we going to be gone?
What are we doing?
How much danger will I be in?
Those were the questions that summed up my fears the best. I knew that Harry had already sort of answered the first two questions, as even he didn't know the answers. Thinking about the last twenty four hours, it was insanity that so much had happened.
I was alone in the small room for most of the day, as afternoon faded into evening. Through the small window over the desk, I could see the London sky, clear for once, turn to a dark orange and I knew it was getting late.
There was a knock on the door, and then it opened. Harry stood in the doorway. "Hey," he said.
"Hi," I said, turning around.
"Have you been up here all afternoon?"
I nodded. "Is that all right?" I asked.
"Yeah, of course," he said. "You can sleep in here if you'd like."
"Thanks," I said. He sat on one of the beds, so I knew he was staying for a bit. "Explanation time?"
He nodded. "I'm going to do my best," he said. "I've never had to explain this to someone before, so it may be rough... but, yeah..."
"Just do your best," I said. I got comfortable because I had a feeling I could be here for a while.
"All right," he said. "Let's see... There was a prophecy made about Voldemort and I when I was just a baby... Professor Trelawney made it. We found this out at the end of our fifth year, it was in the Department of Mysteries."
"What does the prophecy say?" I asked.
""The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..." he said. He said the words slowly, with his eyes closed, as if it pained him to remember them.
It took me a good minute or so to digest exactly what he was telling me. "You're going to die?" I asked him. I was trying to remain calm and listen to everything he had to say before I began to freak out.
He shrugged. "It's always a possibility," he said, quietly. He still wouldn't meet me in the eye. "But at least one of us, him or me, will be dead at the end of this."
"Wow," was all I could manage to say to him. I was a little bit stunned by this, but knew this was only the beginning of his story.
"Unfortunately for us, he made it a bit more difficult... Do you know what a Horcrux is?"
I had never heard the word before, so I silently shook my head.
"It's... it's when someone splits their soul and puts part of it in another object," he said.
I grimaced. What a terrible, hideous thing for someone to do. How could they ever do that? "You mean, You-Know-Who has done that?"
"Say his name, Kat," he said. "When you talk about him, say his name. But yes, he has. At least six times."
I almost felt sick to my stomach. "I'm afraid to ask how," I said.
"Killing people," he said. "Though he did kill more than seven people."
I just shook my head. My body felt flushed and weak, I was so strongly disgusted. I couldn't believe what was going on.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
I tried to swallow my disgust. "You can go on," I said. I didn't want him to think I was a wimp or anything.
"Anyways, until we destroy these Horcruxes... I can't kill him," he said.
"So we're basically on a treasure hunt?" I asked him.
"I guess you could say that," he said. "We've already got a few of them, if that makes it any better... I destroyed his journal when I was in Second Year... Dumbledore destroyed Marvolo Guant- that's Tom Riddle's grandfather's ring. We know some of the others... Helga Hufflepuff's goblet... his snake, Nagini... Slytherin's locket, which is a bit of a complicated story... we thought we had the locket. Dumbledore and I got it the night that he was killed. But it was a fake..."
He pulled a locket out of his pocket, and handed it to me. It was beautifully crafted. I opened it and a note fell out. I picked it up and straightened the paper so I would be able to read it.
To the Dark Lord - I know I will be dead long 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.
"R.A.B.?" I asked.
"Regulus Arcturus Black," he told me. "My godfather, Sirius' younger brother. While you were up here, we talked to Kreacher, the Black Family's house elf... he's mine now, I guess, but he's tracking down the real locket."
I nodded. "Okay," I said. I wasn't sure exactly what else to say.
"And once he finds it we will destroy it," he said. "It's not easy but it has to be done."
"Okay," I said.
"I want to go to Godric's Hollow," he said. "I think that will be a good place to start. I want to see my parent's house, and talk to Bathilda Bagshot. It seems she might have some clues to this treasure hunt, as you called it."
"That sounds like a good idea," I told him. I also wanted to see his parents house, and he seemed to think it was a good first step. I was going to support him with that.
"It's going to be dangerous," he said. "But I won't do anything to put you in harm's way if I can stop it. You know that, right?"
I looked up at him and he finally met my eyes. I did trust him, really. "Yeah," I said. "I do."
"Good," he said. "I think... I think I've explained everything for right now. Maybe we should go downstairs and see if Ron or Hermione has come up with dinner."
I snorted, knowing Ron definitely hadn't, and I seriously hoped that Hermione hadn't. Her eggs this morning had been quite pitiful, and I wanted something good to eat. "I will take charge of dinner," I said. "No more watery scrambled eggs."
"Thank God," he said.
We both stood up and walked downstairs together.
Author's Note: Another chapter! I think the interesting bits are starting, haha. I was a little bit disappointed with the reviews last time- not in quantity, but it quality. I would really like more constructive reviews! If you're taking the time to review, which I REALLY appreciate, please make it something of quality! It's the only reward I get for writing. Anyways, let me know what you think. Thanks!