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Chapter Eight: The Meeting
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'What is she doing here?' Mrs Weasley demanded when Harry and Ginny entered the room. She, Mr Weasley, Bill, Kingsley, Tonks, Lupin, McGonagall, Moody, Ron and Hermione were sitting around a large table.

McGonagall merely shook her head and pointed accusingly at Harry. Harry smiled and saw Ginny stop dead in her tracks. He knew what was going to happen. Mrs Weasley was going to bully him into having Ginny leave the meeting. He would feel guilty for going against her (she let him into her home ... he was on her clock!) and would wind up backing down and accepting defeat.Didn't Mrs Weasley realize that this was bigger than her not wanting Ginny to discuss Voldemort with them? Couldn't she understand that her daughter might actually be useful? Harry had already fought with McGonagall, something he never thought he'd do, and he wasn't about to give in now.

He stood his ground. 'She's sitting in on the meeting, Mrs Weasley,' explained Harry. He tried to sound polite – the last thing he wanted to do was offend her – but it was important to him that Ginny be present, and he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

'No, she most certainly is not,' said Mrs Weasley, her voice loud and annoyed. 'Ginny is not of legal age and as her parent, I'm forbidding her from attending this meeting.'

A flicker of annoyance passed through him, as well. 'Fine,' said Harry. Mrs Weasley smiled triumphantly. 'Call us when you're through, then.' He turned to Ginny and nodded encouragingly, telling her to follow his lead. 'Come on, Gin, let's go.'

'Where do you think you're going, Potter?' Mad-Eye Moody called after them.

Harry turned back to face them again. He smiled with false innocence and said, 'To the kitchen, to get something to eat. I'm rather famished.'

'This isn't the time for food, boy. This meeting revolves around you,' Moody said.

'See, that's what I thought, too,' Harry said. He knew he was about to get nasty, and was surprised that he didn't feel awkward or nervous about lecturing a group full of adults. 'I want Ginny to be here. But, since that obviously won't happen, I'm forced to wonder if anything I have to say will have any impact at all.'

'Of course it will be, Harry,' Lupin said soothingly. 'Haven't you heard? From here on out, you're in charge.'

Harry shrugged. 'Apparently, I'm not.' He wanted to show them that he meant business, and if that meant walking out of the meeting, so be it. He was stubborn all the way down to his toes. 'I've already explained to Professor McGonagall that I think Ginny deserves to be here –' he looked at Mrs Weasley 'whether some of you want her to be or not.'

'Well, Potter,' Moody growled sarcastically, drawing Harry's attention back to the man with the magical eye, 'forgive us for not accepting the idea of being bossed around by a child with open arms.'

Harry felt his blood boil. He wasn't a child, why didn't anyone understand that? Hadn't he proved, by now, that he could handle things that a simple child couldn't? 'First of all,' snapped Harry, 'I'm not a child. I'm seventeen, incase you didn't know.' Moody rolled his normal eye. 'And secondly, perhaps you shouldn't complain about the fact that I'm bossing you around, and should instead focus on more important questions, such as "what the hell did I do wrong that a mere seventeen year old has been put in charge of me?" Now, unless you have any other snide remarks, Ginny and I are leaving.' He saw Ginny staring at him in shock. She offered him a weak smile.

'You aren't as important as you think, Potter,' Moody barked.

Harry gritted his teeth and balled his fists. Something about Moody had always rubbed him the wrong way, but this was too much. 'Really?' argued Harry. 'That's funny; because what I think is that we're standing in my house right now. What I think is that I've been asked to lead the Order missions, a job that I'm fairly certain you weren't considered for. What I think is that if I don't feel like fighting Voldemort, you'll end up dead, or in the crazy ward at St. Mungo's. What I think is that you need to swallow your pride and suck it up, because I'm sure it wouldn't exactly be a confidence booster if I pointed out the fact that, regardless of what you say, I am still the one giving the orders here, or if I told you that I didn't want you involved as far as my missions are concerned.'

The room was silent as Harry and Moody glared at each other. He felt an overwhelming sense of pride and thrill course through his veins as he realized what he just said. Had he really said those things to a room full of respected Aurors and other important witches and wizards? Ginny was gazing at Harry with a new sense of admiration. Ron and Hermione hadn't moved or spoken since the arguing began, but both looked rather pleased by it all. Perhaps they were just relieved that his temper wasn't being directed at them for once.

Moody seemed oddly calm and composed. Harry detected something in his non-magical eye, something that oddly resembled respect. Moody gave a small nod and couldn't keep the grin off of his old face as he stared, rather impressed, at Harry.

'Please stay, Harry,' requested Tonks.

Harry smiled warmly at Tonks, whose hair was down to the middle of her back and a brilliant shade of blue. 'I'm aware that it's going to be awkward for most of you, having to take orders from –' he looked amusedly at Moody 'a child, but I hope you can all get past it rather quickly. The point of me being put "in charge", as you say, isn't to sacrifice your dignity. It's because I – well –' he stopped and looked around the room.

He contemplated what he was about to say, feeling assured that everyone in the room could be trusted. The Weasleys would never betray him. Lupin was the last Marauder, the last remaining connection to Harry's parents – he needed Harry just as much as Harry needed him. Tonks was somewhat of a sister to him ... she knew Sirius, she had been his relative, and she was the only one who felt a loss like he did when Sirius died. Kingsley Shacklebolt had proven time and time again that he was reliable and clearly on their side. Alastor Moody (provided that this was the real Moody and not another imposter) was trustworthy as well, though he could be a little threatening at times. And McGonagall already knew, as did Hermione, Ginny and Ron.

He continued quietly, 'Let's just say they aren't calling me the "Chosen One" for nothing.' Everybody looked rather surprised at his announcement; not because they hadn't already expected as much, but because Harry wasn't one to reveal such private information.

'We understand,' Arthur said. Bill nodded.

'So,' Harry said, feeling confident once more, 'you're all going to listen to me?'

There was a loud reply of 'Yes', coming from everyone except Ginny, Hermione and Ron, who were watching Harry with disbelief. They had seen him in this position before, when he had led the DA meetings and when they had flown off to the Department of Mysteries, but they had never expected to see this side of him again today, under these circumstances. He was being a leader. He had these adults hanging wrapped around his finger.

'You'll respect my decisions, even if you don't always agree with them?' asked Harry, focusing his attention on Mrs Weasley.

Once again, the Order members, Molly Weasley included, responded with a 'Yes'.

'Good,' Harry said, walking deeper into the room. 'Pull up a chair, Ginny; we have Order business to discuss.'

……………………………………………………………

The Order meeting had been nothing like Ginny imagined it to be.

It was mostly McGonagall and other members talking about recent attacks, and all the other occurrences that Ginny had already heard about, through the Daily Prophet. Some of the facts were different, as expected, but the general concept had not varied.

Of course, she wasn't complaining. She was so thrilled that she was finally included that she didn't even become bored as Kingsley Shacklebolt droned on and on. She hung on his every word (though everyone else had long since tuned out) and stared at him with slight awe and admiration, letting it sink in that she was at an Order meeting. When she noticed Harry was staring at her with a curious expression on his face, she blushed and avoided looking at Kingsley for the rest of the conference.

She avoided looking at Harry, as well, but for different reasons. She was still in utter shock and disbelief. He had defended her, and stood up to her mother. That had never happened before, as far as Ginny knew, and she had close to sixteen years of experience in that area. She was rather impressed – and, to be perfectly honest, turned on – by the way he hadn't taken any flack from anyone, even someone as scary as a tag team of her mum and Mad-Eye Moody. He had done it for her. He hadn't gained anything by standing up to them all (other than a small bit of respect, perhaps) but she had. What he said made the difference between her sitting in on the meeting and her sitting down in the kitchen, waiting anxiously with Fred and George, as the others finished.

She held back a grin as she pictured her idiot brothers, complaining because she was allowed insider information while they were forbidden from attending. She scanned the area, half expecting to find an Extendable Ear, but remembered that McGonagall had placed an Imperturbable Charm on the room after Ginny and Harry sat down and the discussion began.

Harry wasn't talking nearly as much as Ginny had expected him to. In fact, she wasn't sure if he'd spoken at all since McGonagall and Kingsley took over. She knew that the purpose of this small gathering was to bring Harry up to speed, but she never realized that they'd need to talk a lot in order to do so.

'And now that we are all on the same page,' McGonagall said when Kingsley finished his monologue, 'I will turn the floor over to Harry.' She nodded in his direction, and everyone focused their attention on him. 'Everybody present, and only everybody present, have been told about the Horcruxes. Nobody outside of this room should have any information on them,' she said forcefully, giving meaningful looks to everyone at the table. She turned to Harry. 'They only have the general idea of what a Horcrux is. They know that they're a way to preserve someone's soul, and that Voldemort has used many – seven, as far as we know. Now, Potter, if you would please let us in on the important details you and Albus had discussed, as even I do not know them.'

'Okay,' Harry said, standing up. 'Dumbledore showed me a bunch of memories he'd collected, using the Penseive in his office. The point was to teach me about Voldemort,' explained Harry. 'The memories I was shown took me through Voldemort's life, detailing his thirst for power and the reasons why he wanted to eliminate any "bad blood" in the wizarding world.'

Ron scoffed and stared at Harry expectantly, waiting for him to go on. Ginny bit back a laugh as everyone in the room turned to glare at her brother.

'I can't even begin to explain anything without telling you about his past, so I need to start there,' said Harry. 'Just bear with me, please. Voldemort's mum, Merope, lived with her brother, Morfin, and their father, Marvolo. Marvolo was the heir of Salazar Slytherin. Merope fell in love with a Muggle from the town, named Tom Riddle.'

'That's a bit rich,' said Bill. 'You-Know-Who's a half-blood and he thinks he has the right to weed out other half-bloods?'

'The hypocrisy of Lord Voldemort is not the topic of discussion,' said McGonagall, though she looked rather amused. 'Continue, Potter.'

'Right, well, Merope used a love potion and tricked Tom Riddle into marrying her. After a while, though, Tom came to his senses and left her,' continued Harry. 'By then, Merope was pregnant. She gave birth at an orphanage, intending to give her baby up once he was born, and died almost immediately after. But before she did, she made sure her baby was named Tom Marvolo Riddle.'

Ginny shuddered, having heard that name far too many times for her liking, but said nothing.

'Growing up, Voldemort bullied all the kids at the orphanage. He would always take their things and hide them in his room. As Dumbledore said, he liked to "collect trophies" for whenever he did something he thought was particularly great. When Dumbledore went there, to tell him about Hogwarts and bring him to school, the woman who ran the place told him that he did weird, frightening things.'

'Like what?' inquired Kingsley.

'Once, on some trip with the other kids, Voldemort brought two of them into a cave with him. When they came out, the two were ... odd.'

'Oh.'

'Yeah,' said Harry. 'Voldemort figured it must've been his dad who was magical, not his mum, but when he discovered that it was the other way around he instantly hated his father and, by association, all Muggles. When he got out of Hogwarts, he tracked down his uncle, Morfin, and stole Morfin's wand. He used it to kill his father, Tom Riddle Senior, and his grandparents. He, of course, framed Morfin for the whole thing.'

'Naturally,' Lupin said, a smile playing at his lips.

'Then, awhile later,' Harry recounted, 'Voldemort went to this woman's house. They knew each other, it seemed. The woman was some distant descendant of Helga Hufflepuff, and she showed him a cup that once belonged to Hufflepuff, and a locket with the Slytherin mark on it. Voldemort ended up killing her.'

Harry paused, apparently waiting for someone to interject, but nobody spoke. They were all listening intently, watching him. Ginny was amazed at how easily Voldemort could kill. But then she remembered that he tried to kill Harry when he was only a baby. You had to be truly evil to do that ... to even think about dong that.

'Horace Slughorn was the one who told him about Horcruxes, and what they did. That's when Voldemort got the bright idea to make seven of them.'

'Yes, but – how does knowing You-Know-Who's life story help us to find these Horcruxes?' Tonks asked.

'He liked to collect trophies, remember me saying that?' Harry said. Everyone nodded. 'When he framed his uncle for murder, he stole Slytherin's ring, something Morfin had because he was the new heir of Slytherin, after Marvolo died. He turned it into a Horcrux, and Dumbledore found it in the ruins of Morfin's house. He destroyed it.'

Ginny looked around the room. There were many confused faces around the table. Everybody was practically on the edge of their seats, waiting for the moment that Harry would say something important and everyone would understand.

'When he killed that woman, he stole the Hufflepuff cup and the Slytherin locket from her. He made those into Horcruxes, too,' Harry said. 'He hides important pieces in places that are equally important to him.'

'So it's just a matter of knowing where to look?' asked Lupin.

'Not exactly, no. You need to know what you're looking for, which is why examining Voldemort's past is so crucial, because we wouldn't have known anything without doing so. Voldemort's diary –' Harry's eyes lingered on Ginny 'which he gave to Lucius Malfoy for safekeeping, was another Horcrux. I destroyed it in my second year.'

'We've already found two, which means we have five to go, is that right?' Mr Weasley asked.

'I'm not exactly sure,' answered Harry. 'The locket was hidden in the cave where he took those kids when he was young. That's where I was the night Hogwarts got invaded – I was with Dumbledore, and we went to find it. When we got there, it had already been stolen, and there was a note left, which Professor McGonagall will probably show you later. Judging by what the note says, though, I'm fairly certain that it's been destroyed.'

'We're down to four,' stated Moody.

'Three, actually,' Harry corrected. 'You have to keep in mind that one Horcrux is literally inside of Voldemort. We only need to find three more.'

'One is obviously the cup,' McGonagall said. 'But what are the other two?'

'I'm almost positive that one is something that previously belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw,' said Harry. 'Voldemort tried to collect something from all four founders, but he never succeeded on getting something of Gryffindor's, I know that for sure. And Professor Dumbledore believed that the final one is Voldemort's snake.'

'Is that wise, though?' asked Hermione. 'A snake already has a soul ...'

'Yeah, it sounds bloody stupid to me,' agreed Harry. 'But Dumbledore and I both agreed that Voldemort was planning on making his final Horcrux after he killed me. And since that never happened, he had to improvise.'

'When do we start?'

'What?' Harry asked.

'When do we start?' Lupin repeated. 'We need to look for these Horcruxes, don't we?'

'It's not that cut and dry,' Harry said. 'We need to research and visit a lot of places before we can do anything. If we make even one wrong move, Voldemort will know everything and we'll be in danger. Of course, he's bound to know a bit, since Snape is with him now,' he added bitterly, 'but not everything.'

'What's your plan, Harry?' asked Mr Weasley. Ginny crossed her fingers under the table and hoped that it included her in some important way or another.

'I want Hermione to assist with the research, checking facts and dates and looking for a possible object that can be linked to Rowena Ravenclaw. If that's okay with her,' he said, nodding at Hermione.

'Anything I can do to help, I'll do,' she smiled.

'Great. I want Ron to help plan the missions. He'll basically help whenever we get a lead and need to check it out. That means,' Harry explained, looking at Ron now, 'that you and Hermione will probably need to communicate a lot. No fighting allowed.' Hermione and Ron nodded sheepishly. 'Ron, you'll also come up with strategies, always staying two steps ahead.'

'Just like in chess,' Ron laughed. 'I've got it covered.'

'Ginny,' continued Harry, 'you'll mostly be helping Hermione or Ron, whichever one needs you. You can't come with us when we retrieve the Horcruxes, though I know you'd be very useful.' She smiled and felt warmth inside of her that she was sure wasn't caused by the summer heat outside. Harry thought she'd be useful! Oh, if only her mum would let her go with them. 'Since you'll be staying behind on the missions, if any Order members get hurt, I'd appreciate it if you could help heal them. It would look too suspicious if everyone went to St Mungo's, y'know, so if they aren't serious injuries, we'll be forced to heal them ourselves. There will be first aid kits and I'm sure we can get a few Healers in the Order to help, but we'll need you. Is that okay?'

'Yeah, I can do it, Harry,' she said.

'So when d'you think we'll start the missions?' Ron asked excitedly.

'Why does it matter to you?' Mrs Weasley snapped.

'I'm going, Mum! So is Hermione!' yelled Ron defensively.

'NO, YOU AREN'T!'

'YES, I AM!'

'Harry, knock some sense into this boy. Tell him he isn't going,' demanded Mrs Weasley. Ginny held her breath and studied Harry, sure that he would crack and give in to her mother.

Harry looked uneasily at her. 'He's going, Mrs Weasley. Hermione is, too.'

……………………………………………………………

Ron's head hurt. He had never heard his mother scream so much in his entire life, and that was a huge revelation. His mother always screamed about one thing or another. His earliest memory was of her yelling at Fred and George for trying to prank him in some way or another. Speaking of Fred and George, Ron was glad that they had gone back to the shop, because they were getting on his last nerve.

'Glad we got that out of the way,' muttered Harry when the four friends collapsed on the two couches in the sitting room. Ginny sat down beside Harry, so Ron sat beside Hermione. There was no longer that uncomfortable tension between them, like there had been prior to the meeting. Arguing was what they did best, and for once, it was directed at someone other than each other. That was huge for them, and in a way, it was a semi-breakthrough.

'I feel like I need another Hangover Potion,' Ginny laughed. 'Oh, I've completely forgotten about my skin! Am I still as orange as before?' Honestly, Ron had forgotten about her skin, too. It was strange how quickly he'd gotten used to her looking like that.

'No,' answered Hermione. 'Whatever it was that Fred gave you, it worked really well. You're almost back to normal.'

'Yeah, they're lucky,' grumbled Harry. Ron smirked at his friend. He was about to speak when Harry looked up at him and said, 'You never did answer my question.'

'What question?'

'What happened with you two last night?' Ron felt his face heat up.

'Let's just say that Ginny wasn't the only one to suffer, courtesy of the twins,' Hermione sighed.

'What does that mean?' Ginny asked curiously. Hermione laughed. Ron looked around the room, desperate to not meet anybody's eyes. Hermione was about to tell their story, and he almost couldn't bear the sheer humiliation of it all.

'When I woke up this morning, I was in your brother's bed, in almost nothing but my knickers,' she recalled. Ron had to look at his friends when he heard Ginny gasp. His sister's mouth was wide open in shock and Harry's eyes were significantly larger than usual.

'It was just a silly joke!' Ron said hastily. 'We passed out and they put us in there because they knew we'd wake up and be mortified.' He couldn't help the bitterness in his voice, though he had to admit, it was rather nice waking up to Hermione. Perhaps if she hadn't screamed, he would've had time to enjoy it.

'My brothers undressed you? Those sick bastards!' cried Ginny.

'No, they didn't,' said Hermione. 'I was ... already undressed ...'

'In Ron's room?' asked Harry.

'Yes,' Ron and Hermione said in unison.

'You were undressed?' asked Ginny.

'Yes,' they said together.

'In Ron's bedroom?' Harry asked again.

'Yes.' Hermione sounded annoyed, and Ron sounded embarrassed.

Ginny gave them a skeptical look. 'You two didn't –'

'NO!'

'Are you sure?' she asked.

'Positive,' Ron lied. He wasn't actually sure what happened last night. He couldn't remember anything after an enchanted ceiling in the drawing room. How had they gotten back to the bedroom, anyway?

'We were getting on our pajamas,' laughed Hermione.

'Why –?'

'Don't ask. I have no clue why,' Hermione said. She sounded rather exasperated. Wisely, neither Ginny nor Harry asked any more questions regarding the matter.

They sat in comfortable silence for awhile. Ron started thinking about Grimmauld Place. He hadn't been there since two Christmases ago, when his dad had been bitten by the snake and Harry dreamt about it. He'd never forget that Christmas. His father had almost died, he learned that Harry may have been getting possessed by You-Know-Who, and he finally met Neville's parents – in the closed ward of St Mungo's. Add in Lockhart and Kreacher, and you've got yourself one hell of a Christmas.

'Remember when Buckbeak was right upstairs?' asked Hermione. Apparently, she had been thinking about the house they were currently in, just as Ron had. 'How did the floor not cave in from his weight? I imagine that a Hippogriffis rather heavy.'

'Sirius probably had someone magically enforce the floor,' said Harry. Ron froze. He hadn't heard Harry willingly talk about Sirius since the Department of Mysteries.

'Probably,' murmured Hermione.

Ron was desperate to steer the conversation away from Sirius. 'Remember when Mum made us clean out this entire place?' he asked.

'Yeah,' said Harry. 'We found loads of junk.'

'Some of it was rather nice, though,' objected Ginny. 'I really liked that –'

She paused and got a strange look on her face. After a moment, she gasped so loud that Ron almost couldn't believe it had come from her small body. She immediately got to her feet and looked at Ron, Hermione and Harry with an expression of utmost shock and excitement on her face. She covered her mouth with her hand and gave a squeal.

'Of course! That's it!' she squeaked.

'What's it?' Hermione asked. Ron was relieved to find that he was not the only clueless person in the room, and also pleasantly surprised that Hermione didn't immediately understand what was going on. It was comforting to see her looking puzzled for once.

'What we've – what you – the –'

'Merlin, Ginny, spit it out!' Ron bellowed.

'Why didn't we think of it before?' his sister asked, more to herself than anyone else. 'It's so obvious ...'

'What's obvious?' demanded Harry. 'Just tell us already!' She remained silent for a moment, her brow furrowed and her face scrunched in deep thought.

'It – it had to be ... there's no other place ...' she muttered. She looked up, excitement dancing behind her eyes. 'IT'S HERE!' With that, she scurried off, leaving the confused trio in her wake.

'What was that all about?' asked Hermione when Ginny was gone.

'You do that to us all the time,' exclaimed Ron. 'It's bloody annoying, isn't it?'

……………………………………………………………

Hermione went upstairs an hour later to find Ginny tearing through drawers, cupboards, and any other place she could find.

'What are you doing?'

Ginny jumped and whirled around to face her. 'Merlin, don't sneak up on me like that. You nearly scared me to death!'

'Sorry,' said Hermione, though she didn't feel all that sorry. 'But what are you doing in here? If Harry catches you in here, going through the drawers, you're in big trouble.'

'Maybe not,' Ginny beamed. 'I think I've just figured out something important ... I'm not sure yet, though. I need to keep looking. Do me a favour, and tell me if you hear Harry coming.'

Hermione nodded and Ginny turned back to what she was doing. Hermione looked around the dusty bedroom, one that had been vacant for a whole year. She had never been in this room when it was his bedroom, but then again, it would've been rather inappropriate if she had been in there. Inappropriate. Kind of like snooping through all of his things, like Ginny was doing.

Hermione gingerly walked deeper into the room and sat down on the bed. She put her hands up against the cold wall and could feel the energy that was still housed within the room. The pillows were dirty, and if Hermione were to hit them, she could be sure dust would rise up into her face.

There weren't many personal effects in the room, as she noticed upon further inspection of her surroundings. Three pictures were visible; one of Sirius, Lily and James, another of Sirius and Harry, and the last of the three true Marauders, but judging by a gaping hole to the right of Remus Lupin, Hermione could tell that Peter Pettigrew had also been there, but had been magically removed.

The curtains were probably home to several Doxies, and the window beneath the curtains was dirty and looked like it needed a good cleaning. Everything in this room looked like it needed a good cleaning.

But, thought Hermione, there's nobody here to clean it anymore.

They'd never gotten to celebrate the anniversary of Sirius Black's death. Perhaps they were too wrapped up with Dumbledore's passing, or the closing of Hogwarts, or thinking about Horcruxes, or preparations for the wedding, because they never really sat down and acknowledged that it had been a year since Sirius went through the veil. School had been cut short, so they had been on summer holidays on his anniversary. Hermione had known which day it was. Not by looking at a calendar, though she had used one to double-check, but because Hedwig hadn't shown up at The Burrow with a letter on that particular day. She, Ron and Ginny exchanged messages with Harry, via owls, rather often, sometimes even twice or three times a day. Harry had mentioned in one of his earlier letters that he greatly enjoyed the way his uncle hollered every time an owl flew into the house, but Hermione knew his fervor for communication with them was due to loneliness, and the fact that he missed them.

Nobody said anything about it, or bothered to owl Harry and ask if he was alright, when they didn't receive a letter from him that day. As Ginny pointed out, when Mrs Weasley decided he was depressed and needed to be rescued from his aunt and uncle's house immediately, Harry hadn't moped around or complained once about Sirius. He had bounced back almost as if it'd never happened, as if Sirius was still at Grimmauld Place, waiting for their next visit. Don't you think, Ginny had said, that he's earned one day of grieving?

So they let Harry grieve. At The Burrow, however, there would be no time for grieving. The wedding was soon approaching, and many important details were yet to be decided and confirmed. It was a madhouse. Not once, during the entire twenty-four hours of the day marking the death of Sirius, did anyone light a candle, say a prayer, or do anything else as a tribute.

They waited until the next morning, when Hedwig arrived during breakfast, before writing their friend, and life went on.

Life was still going on, but as Hermione sat on her dead friend's bed and looked around his empty room, she realized that it hadn't; not really. They were right back where they'd been a year ago, only Sirius was missing. He wasn't upstairs feeding Buckbeak, or locked in a room with the other members of the Order, discussing their next move. He was dead, wandering beyond some strange veil, and he would never come back.

Sirius wasn't there to sleep in his bed, or change his clothes, or even to yell awful things at Kreacher. He was gone. They'd never see him again.

Hermione had gotten used to not seeing Sirius – they hadn't seem him very much in previous years, while away at Hogwarts, anyway – but the fact hit her now in a way that she hadn't expected.

She felt tears sting her eyes as she curled her feet up underneath her body and rested against the wall. She was so consumed in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed Harry enter the room.

'What're you doing?' he demanded. Ron came in behind him. Ginny dropped the object she'd been holding and quickly spun around, casting a dangerous look at Hermione, who was supposed to warn her about Harry. 'What in bloody hell d'you think you're doing?'

Hermione hastily wiped her eyes, but made no effort to get up and help Ginny explain. She was rather curious as to what the girl was doing, and was half-hoping Harry would crack her and she'd confess to whatever crazy plan she'd developed.

'Don't be mad,' pleaded Ginny, 'but I'm going through his things.'

'Yeah, I got that,' Harry said dryly. 'Why? He never went through your things.' The look on his face told Hermione that while he acted strong, deep down, he was still the lonely little boy who desperately wanted nothing more than to not be who he was – the famous Harry Potter, the boy who had lost anyone and everyone he cared about. She had a newfound understanding and respect for why Harry had broken up with Ginny, though she still didn't agree with what they were currently doing.

Ginny looked frantically at Hermione and Ron, begging them for help. 'I – I know that I he didn't,' she muttered. 'I thought you'd be happy ...'

'Why would I be happy that you're rifling through Sirius's old things?'

'Because,' said Ginny, looking exasperated, 'I've just found your bloody Horcrux.'

……………………………………………………………