Chapter 23:

Alicia didn't sleep that night. Hermione sobbed practically the entire night away, drifting in and out of consciousness. Alicia took it upon herself to sit at the tent entrance, some hot tea in her hands to keep her awake, and watch the rain fall on the river beside them. When morning came she washed and dressed before making them all breakfast, allowing Hermione to stay in her place. Harry woke up after they did and Hermione brewed some tea as he went to clean himself up.

They ate breakfast in silence, none even greeting one another with the morning light. Hermione's eyes were red and puffy from crying. They packed up their things, Hermione dawdling. Alicia assumed she secretly hoped, a night away from them, and Ron would be back realising what a terrible mistake he made.

They'd known one another for six years now, and Ron and Harry had had only one row and that was in their fourth year of Hogwarts, but eventually Ron, who'd been jealous and overreacted, had come around when he saw sense. He and Hermione had had several where one had done something and Ron usually took it too far — though Hermione took it too far with the Lavender incident — but always they made up.

The issue was, the argument usually lasted ages and forgiveness never happened for a few months. Alicia believed it unlikely for Ron to settle down until he'd eaten something, had the horcrux off for a while and realise now he was away from the three, what was there for him to do now?

By then though, it'd be too late.

Alicia didn't bother to hesitate. She packed, she took down the enchantments and she ignored Harry and Hermione as they looked around the trees and through the pouring rain several times as if believing themselves to have heard something. But the red-haired figure did not appear from between the trees.

The muddy river beside them was rising rapidly and would soon spill over onto their bank. They had lingered a good hour after they would usually have departed their campsite. Finally having entirely repacked the beaded bag three times, Hermione seemed unable to find any more reasons to delay: Alicia stood waiting and Hermione moved over to her, grasped Harry's and her hands and Disapparated, reappearing on a windswept heather-covered hillside.

The instant they arrived, Hermione dropped Harry's hand and walked away from him, finally sitting down on a large rock, her face on her knees, shaking with sobs.

Alicia began to walk around and she put up the enchantments as Harry seemed rooted to the spot, watching her. But standing around was not going to get them anywhere. Alicia had spend several weeks away from Fred and knew how hard it was to leave on a good term, for Hermione to have been left by Ron, and believe she cared more for Harry… it was definitely going to chew her up. Alicia didn't expect Hermione to get better, not completely, and so, as she pitched the tent and Harry finally moved to come and help her, they seemed to make a silent agreement to not mention Ron.

And they didn't.

They did not discuss Ron at all over the next few days. Harry's anger simmered, sometimes falling into sadness as his mind went through the words Ron had spoken. Hermione it seemed didn't force the issue to talk about it and Alicia believed she wanted to even less than he did.

Alicia said nothing herself. It was not her place.

Despite this, Hermione still cried at night, when she thought the other two couldn't hear, and it got to the point were Alicia moved over to her and had pulled her into a hug, Hermione sobbed into her shoulder. Alicia knew Harry was aware of this too, and during her watches at the tent entrance she'd noticed him staring at the Marauder's Map, which she'd packed and brought with her, at wand light. She assumed he was waiting for Ron's name to appear on it.

Alicia didn't believe it would. What would Ron's family say when he came crawling back, believing he'd ditched Harry and Alicia, because things are moving slow? If someone had said such to her, she'd have believed that was all the more reason to stay. Mrs Weasley had not wanted them to ditch school for their unknown mission, and now her son had run off on his best friend because he was impatient. She hoped if he did go back Fred might remember her mirror and call her, asking what happened and threatening to drown Ronald.

Maybe Ron wouldn't go back home then, perhaps he was aware of this possible outcome as well. So then, what was he to do?

Alicia didn't tell the other two this, what with their cone of silence in ignoring Ron's existence. Instead, by day, they devoted themselves to trying to determine the possible locations of Gryffindor's sword, but the more they talked about the places in which Dumbledore might have hidden it, the more desperate and far-fetched their speculation became. Dumbledore had never mentioned a place he would hide something, and Alicia, so much better informed than Harry, had no idea where he'd put it. They had no leads on the sword, no leads on the Horcruxes and nothing to do but continue to run around the countryside pitching and unpitching their tent.

Alicia still had a small inkling that maybe Snape had the sword, but of course this was not something she could discuss with Harry and Hermione. What she did know was that if Snape had the sword and was under orders to get it to Harry, and had placed a fake sword in Gringotts to keep the Ministry from discovering this plan, he'd need to know where the three were first.

Alicia knew exactly how to get the information to him, the only issue was they never said somewhere longer than a day. And she couldn't be taking out the portrait every morning to tell Phineas where they were without Harry and Hermione noticing.

As it turned out, she didn't have to. They were spending many evenings in near silence, and Hermione took to bringing out Phineas Nigellus's portrait and propping it up in a chair, as though he might fill part of the gaping hole left by Ron's departure. Despite his previous assertion that he would never visit them again, Phineas Nigellus did not seem able to resist the chance to find out more about what Harry was up to, and consented to reappear, blindfolded, every few days or so.

They relished any news about what was happening at Hogwarts, though Phineas Nigellus was not an ideal informer. He venerated Snape, the first Slytherin headmaster since he himself had controlled the school, and they had to be careful not to criticise or ask impertinent questions about Snape, or Phineas Nigellus would instantly leave his painting. Alicia was best at this and Harry and Hermione had quickly caught onto this fact. This meant Alicia spoke to him the most, but always with Harry and Hermione leaning over her shoulders.

Phineas, though trying not to give information on Snape, did let drop certain snippets. Snape seemed to be facing a constant, low level of mutiny from a hard core of students. Alicia instantly assumed it'd be the D.A, for who else would it be? Ginny had been banned from going into Hogsmeade. Snape had reinstated Umbridge's old decree forbidding gatherings of three or more students or any unofficial student societies.

From all of these things, it was indeed a likely theory that Ginny, and probably Neville and Luna along with her, had been doing their best to continue Dumbledore's Army. Indeed, as Phineas Nigellus talked about Snape's crackdown, Alicia did wonder what it would be like to be in the castle, where she could see if she could talk to Snape. She wondered what it would be like, having everyone think you killed someone you respected more than anyone. If it was she, she'd be happy if at least one person knew the truth, believed differently. Though, she wondered if her knowing would put Snape at ease at all… of course she had tried to tell him at the end of last year but… whether he'd understood was another matter.

Much to Alicia's relief, but no one else's, Phineas had also tried to slip in some leading questions about Harry and Hermione's whereabouts. Hermione however shoved him back inside the beaded bag every time he did this, and Phineas Nigellus invariably refused to reappear for several days after these unceremonious good-byes. It made Alicia trying to get to the portrait in the dead of night when she knew Hermione and Harry were asleep to talk to Phineas, very difficult.

The weather grew colder and colder, Alicia being the least affected thanks to her Phoenix flint.

"What?" Harry asked when she asked why she wasn't shivering.

"The necklace Hagrid gave me, the stone, it protects the wearer from the cold." she shrugged obviously.

They did not dare remain in any one area too long, so rather than staying in the south of England, where a hard ground frost was the worst of their worries, they continued to meander up and down the country, braving a mountainside, where sleet pounded the tent; a wide, flat marsh, where the tent was flooded with chill water; and a tiny island in the middle of a Scottish loch, where snow half buried the tent in the night.

They had already spotted Christmas trees twinkling from several sitting room windows, Christmas was clearly approaching and Alicia found it surprising she'd been running for four months already now. It seemed so much less.

Harry it seemed was working himself up to something and Alicia could feel his anxiousness as he prepared himself to tell the two girls. They had just eaten an unusually good meal: Hermione had been to a supermarket under the Invisibility Cloak (scrupulously dropping the money into an open till as she left), and all three had stomachs full of spaghetti Bolognese and tinned pears.

Alicia's thoughts were confirmed when Harry had suggested that they take a few hours' break from wearing the Horcrux, which was hanging over the end of the bunk beside him.

"Alright then Harry, spit it out." Alicia said as she sat herself in a chair opposite Hermione, who had The Tales of Beedle the Bard beside her yet again as well as Spellman's Syllabary on the arm of the chair.

He looked at her and she rose a eyebrow as he cleared his throat.

"Well, I've been thinking, and —"

"Harry, could you help me with something?" Hermione cut him off and the twins looked at her confused.

Apparently she had not been listening. She leaned forward and held out The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

"Look at that symbol," she said, pointing to the top of a page. Alicia and Harry peered down at the title, written in runes, and there was a picture of what looked like a triangular eye, its pupil crossed with a vertical line.

"I never took Ancient Runes, Hermione."

"I did and I don't recognise it." Alicia mumbled confused.

"I know that, but it isn't a rune and it's not in the syllabary, either. All along I thought it was a picture of an eye, but I don't think it is! It's been inked in, look, somebody's drawn it there, it isn't really part of the book. Think, have you ever seen it before?"

"No… No, wait a moment." Harry looked closer. "Isn't it the same symbol Luna's dad was wearing round his neck?"

"Well, that's what I thought too!"

"Luna's dad was wearing a symbol?" Alicia asked looking surprised.

"You were too busy with Fred, yes he was." Hermione nodded.

"Then it's Grindelwald's mark." Harry said

She stared at him, openmouthed.

"What?"

"Krum told me, apparently it's carved into one of the hallways from when Grindelwald was there. Krum wanted to duel Xeno right there and then but didn't because he was Fleur's guest and I convinced him Luna's dad didn't likely know it's meaning. Apparently people have copied it, people who thought he was right in his views and those who had their families hurt by Grindelwald like Krum put them in their place. He was very sure of what it was."

Hermione looked astonished and Alicia unsure.

"Grindelwald's mark?" Hermione asked. She looked from Harry to the weird symbol and back again. "I've never heard that Grindelwald had a mark. There's no mention of it in anything I've ever read about him."

"Me either, and if he had a mark, don't you think it'd be very well known?" Alicia said thinking.

"Well, like I say, Krum reckoned that symbol was carved on a wall at Durmstrang, and Grindelwald put it there."

She fell back into the old armchair, frowning.

"That's very odd. If it's a symbol of Dark Magic, what's it doing in a book of children's stories?"

"Yeah, it is weird," said Harry. "And you'd think Scrimgeour would have recognised it. He was Minister, he ought to have been expert on Dark stuff."

"I know… Perhaps he thought it was an eye, just like I did. All the other stories have little pictures over the titles."

She did not speak, but continued to pore over the strange mark.

"Maybe Dumbledore inked it in." Alicia said thinking "I mean he gave you the book. And maybe it's not a Dark Mark, but a symbol for something that Grindelwald knew about. I mean if it was his mark specifically then everyone would likely have known about it, but seeing as they didn't… then maybe it's something he knew about?" she offered.

"But what?" Hermione asked. Alicia shrugged

"I wouldn't know, I've never seen it. But if Dumbledore put it in your book it must be important."

"Maybe it's the clue to another Horcrux!"

"Seems like a crap clue." Alicia mumbled "That isn't time wasting." she added before they fell into silence, the two girls pondering.

Harry tried speaking again.

"Hermione?"

"Hmm?"

"I've been thinking. I — I want to go to Godric's Hollow."

She looked up at him, but her eyes were unfocused, while Alicia stared at her brother, her mouth slightly open.

"Harry I don't—"

"Yes," Hermione said and Alicia looked shocked. "Yes, I've been wondering that too. I really think we'll have to."

"Did you hear me right?" he asked.

"Of course I did. You want to go to Godric's Hollow. I agree, I think we should. I mean, I can't think of anywhere else it could be either. It'll be dangerous, but the more I think about it, the more likely it seems it's there."

Alicia was bewildered by what she was hearing.

"Er — what's there?" asked Harry.

At that, Hermione's bewilderment echoed Alicia's.

"Well, the sword, Harry! Dumbledore must have known you'd want to go back there, and I mean, Godric's Hollow is Godric Gryffindor's birthplace —"

"Really? Gryffindor came from Godric's Hollow?"

"It's right there in the title…" Alicia said obviously.

"Harry, did you ever even open A History of Magic?"

"Erm," he said, smiling for what felt like the first time in months. "I might've opened it, you know, when I bought it… just the once…"

"Well, as the village is named after him I'd have thought you might have made the connection," said Hermione. She sounded much more like her old self than she had done of late. "There's a bit about the village in A History of Magic, wait…"

She opened the beaded bag and rummaged for a while, finally extracting her copy of their old school textbook, A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot, which she thumbed through until finding the page she wanted.

" 'Upon the signature of the International Statute of Secrecy in 1689, wizards went into hiding for good. It was natural, perhaps, that they formed their own small communities within a community. Many small villages and hamlets attracted several magical families, who banded together for mutual support and protection. The villages of Tinworth in Cornwall, Upper Flagley in Yorkshire, and Ottery St. Catchpole on the south coast of England were notable homes to knots of Wizarding families who lived alongside tolerant and sometimes Confunded Muggles. Most celebrated of these half-magical dwelling places is, perhaps, Godric's Hollow, the West Country village where the great wizard Godric Gryffindor was born, and where Bowman Wright, Wizarding smith, forged the first Golden Snitch. The graveyard is full of the names of ancient magical families, and this accounts, no doubt, for the stories of hauntings that have dogged the little church beside it for many centuries.'

"You and your parents aren't mentioned," Hermione said, closing the book, "because Professor Bagshot doesn't cover anything later than the end of the nineteenth century. But you see? Godric's Hollow, Godric Gryffindor, Gryffindor's sword; don't you think Dumbledore would have expected you to make the connection?"

"Oh yeah…"

"No!" Alicia said staring in disbelief. "We're not going to Godric's Hollow!"

"Alicia the sword—"

"Wont be there!" Alicia counteracted Hermione. "Godric's Hollow is so obvious now Harry and I can apparate. He might not be able to understand love but even Tom Riddle went looking for his family, despite them having been gone and even Tom saw similarities between himself and Harry. It's exactly where he'd plant a trap for us! It's for that reason Dumbledore would never put the sword there. It'd be much too dangerous." she looked at them both as if they were stupid. Harry looked at her incredulously and she sighed. "Look, I'd love to think the sword would be in such an easy spot, and visiting mum and dad…" she frowned "I can see the appeal but, the graves aren't going anywhere and we can't do something to dramatic!"

"Why not! We've been doing nothing but hiding out for weeks!" Harry snapped at her.

"It seems like trouble for something that's not there." Alicia said "I've gotten enough feelings to know somethings and I'm telling you, Godrics Hollow is a no."

Harry and Hermione shared a look saying both wanting to disagree.

"We have to check Alicia."

"Dumbledore wouldn't do something that reckless to us." Alicia believed

"But Alicia, remember what Muriel said?" Harry asked.

"Who?" Hermione asked at the same time Alicia said "No."

"You know," he hesitated. "Ginny's great-aunt. At the wedding. The one who said you had skinny ankles."

"Oh," said Hermione. It was a sticky moment but Harry rushed on:

"She said Bathilda Bagshot still lives in Godric's Hollow."

"Bathilda Bagshot," murmured Hermione, running her index finger over Bathilda's embossed name on the front cover of A History of Magic. "Well, I suppose —"

She gasped so dramatically that Harry's insides turned over; he drew his wand, looking around at the entrance, half expecting to see a hand forcing its way through the entrance flap, but there was nothing there.

"What?" he said, half angry, half relieved as Alicia had simply groaned. "What did you do that for? I thought you'd seen a Death Eater unzipping the tent, at least —"

"Harry, what if Bathilda's got the sword? What if Dumbledore entrusted it to her?"

Alicia stomped her foot childishly and began to pace in aggravation. She ignored Harry's burning wish with his doubts at Hermione's words but the fact that Harry agreed with Hermione next made her want to leave the tent until she could cool off enough to bring a sensible argument to put them both off it.

"Yeah, he might have done! So, are we going to go to Godric's Hollow?"

"Yes, but we'll have to think it through carefully, Harry." She was sitting up now. "We'll need to practice Disapparating together under the Invisibility Cloak for a start, and perhaps Disillusionment Charms would be sensible too, unless you think we should go the whole hog and use Polyjuice Potion? In that case we'll need to collect hair from somebody. I actually think we'd better do that, Harry, the thicker our disguises the better…"

Alicia stood as Harry nodded and agreed when ever Hermione paused and waited for someone to address her.

Hermione did.

"Alicia."

"I don't want to do it. Everything in me screams we're running headlong into a trap."

"Which is why we need to be careful." Hermione nodded "Everything we can think of for protection." Alicia looked between them both stubbornly as she had her lips pursed together.

"I'm being overthrown and outvoted here no matter what I say aren't I." it wasn't much of a question but both Hermione and Harry nodded anyway.

She huffed and threw her hands into the air, storming to the kitchen to make herself some tea for something to do.