"I despise this place," Harry sighed, flopping melancholically onto a couch in the drawing-room.

The portrait of Mrs. Black could be heard even from a floor away. "FILTHY BLOOD TRAITORS IN MY HOUSE, DIRTY BRATS..."

Harry stamped on the floor. "Shut up!"

"At least you got to do what you set out to do," Ginny reasoned, settling down next to Harry.

He shook his head. "They weren't there," he muttered.

"What?"

"They weren't there. My parents-- they weren't buried in that cemetery. Their headstones were there, but they weren't."

"How do you know?"

"I just do. I could tell. Something about it-- it was all wrong."

"Well, if they weren't buried at Godric's Hollow-- I mean, who would know?"

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the silver locket he and Dumbledore had retrieved from the cave last year. "Dumbledore would know," he sighed, curling his fingers around the cold metal. "But he's gone. And thanks to R.A.B., he's gone for nothing."

Hermione entered the room and handed him one of the butterbeers she was carrying. "Don't blame R.A.B.," she counseled.

"Yeah," Ron agreed, taking a swig off of his. "Blame Malfoy and Snape."

"If I ever get my hands on that greasy-haired git--" Harry gritted his teeth.

"I can't believe Sirius was related to the Malfoys," Hermione mused, studying the Black family tapestry.

"No, he's not," Harry said sourly. "His mother disowned him, remember? Blasted him right off the tree, because he wouldn't give in to the pure-blood mania. But as for his perfect little brother... I'm surprised she didn't raise a statue of him for giving his life as a Death Eater..."

"I thought Sirius said Voldemort killed him?" Ginny wondered out loud.

Harry shrugged. "What's the difference?"

But Hermione's face was screwed up, processing all this information. "What if," she said slowly, "Regulus wasn't the perfect Death Eater son? What if he betrayed Voldemort?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Voldemort killed Regulus... the locket, Harry. R.A.B. You don't think..."

"Regulus Black?" He sat up straight.

She turned back and scanned the tapestry. "Look... his grandfather was named Arcturus. If he was named for his grandfather... Regulus Arcturus Black. It's quite possible."

"Then... I wonder if he did destroy it?" Ginny raised an eyebrow.

Hermione furrowed her brow. "What did the note say again? Didn't R.A.B. know he was going to die?"

"I know I will be dead long before you read this," Harry quoted from memory. "That's what it said."

"Maybe he knew Voldemort would find out what he was doing and come after him."

Harry thought about this. "D'you think he had time to destroy it, then?"

Hermione shrugged. "If not..."

"Then it's hidden again." With a sigh, he sank back into the cushions.

"Or You-Know-Who has it," Ron interjected.

"Even better, then," Harry said listlessly, and Ginny shot Ron a dirty look.

Just then, the front door creaked open. Ron and Harry stared at each other, wide-eyed, as feet shuffled across the hardwood floors and the latch clicked shut.

"Bloody hell," squeaked Ron, gulping. "It's Bellatrix and Pettigrew... they must've killed Professor Wingfield, and now..."

A smile broke across Hermione's face. "Ron," she laughed, as a murmur of voices rippled through the house, "it's your mother."

His eyes grew wide. "Bloody hell. Now I really don't want to go down there." He turned to his sister. "She's going to murder us, Gin."

She shrugged. "We're big kids, we can take care of ourselves," came her nonchalant response, and she sprang off the couch and headed for the stairs.

"Mental, that one," Ron muttered, and followed her.

"You two!" Mrs. Weasley's hands flew to her hips. "Sneaking off in the middle of the night like that without saying goodbye... you could have died and I wouldn't have seen you! Don't you ever do that to me again!"

Harry stood back, amused. It was like watching a live Howler.

"Mum, we had to go with Harry, and we knew you wouldn't let us go if you knew," Ginny explained. "I left a note--"

"I read it," Mrs. Weasley replied, her head wagging wildly, "and you never mentioned where you were going-- what you were doing-- for all I knew, Ginevra Weasley, you were going off with Harry to--"

"Mum," Ginny said exasperatedly.

"We went to Godric's Hollow," Harry told her, now a very bright shade of scarlet.

"Well why didn't you tell us?" Mrs. Weasley threw her hands in the air. "We could have sent Aurors-- members of the Order, at least--"

"I don't want a crowd of protectors," Harry said. "That's why I never told anyone." He paused. "Besides that, we ran into an Auror anyway."

"Who?"

"Eva Wingfield," Harry replied.

Mrs. Weasley appeared confused for a moment.

"Minerva's convinced her to teach at Hogwarts," said Mr. Weasley, and a look of understanding washed over his wife's face.

"So she's back then," Mrs. Weasley said. "That's good news."

"Back?" Harry arched an eyebrow.

"At any rate," she continued, as if he hadn't spoken, "I'm just glad you're safe."

"Me too," Ron agreed. "After being attacked by my rat. Again."

"Peter Pettigrew attacked you?" Mr. Weasley looked from his son to Harry.

"Yeah. And Bellatrix Lestrange, too." He told them the story.

"Merlin's beard." Arthur let out a low whistle. "So Death Eaters are able to attack Harry at Godric's Hollow..."

Mrs. Weasley shot a silencing scowl at her husband, and he closed his mouth. "Well," she said brightly, "the Order'll be coming shortly. We've got a meeting today."

"Just as well," Hermione said with a yawn. "I could do with some sleep."

At that, Harry suddenly realized how tired he was. "Yeah," he agreed, "me too. We haven't slept at all."

"That's settled, then. Ron and Harry, you take that room on the second floor again-- Ginny and Hermione, you know where yours is. You all can take a nice nap, and I'll wake you up when it's time for dinner. Off with you, then!"

Deciding it would be best not to argue with Mrs. Weasley, Harry led the group up the stairs.

"Blimey," Ron exhaled, "got lucky there."

"Told you," Ginny said. "Besides, you know Mum wouldn't commit murder. She couldn't shout at us if she got thrown in Azkaban, and you know how she'd miss that."

Harry laughed and laid a kiss on the top of her head. "Sweet dreams," he said as they reached the landing, and the girls split off in a different direction.

"Home sweet home," quipped Ron as they entered their quarters and kicked off their shoes.

Harry crawled under the covers and shut his eyes. He could hear Ron's voice saying something, but the words sounded like Mermish as he slipped into dreams.

"Get up!" Hermione bounced on the side of Ron's bed. "C'mon!"

"Bloody hell, woman," groused Ron, shielding his face. "Could you be a little more gentle?"

"Mmrph," Harry groaned, emerging from his nest of blankets. "We've only been sleeping a couple minutes... what d'you want?"

Ginny giggled. "You've been sleeping for over three hours. And as for gentle--" she turned to her brother-- "we tried. Neither one of you would budge."

"So I take it... it's dinnertime?" Ron yawned.

"Your mom's famous stew," Hermione replied.

Harry swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Now that's reason to get up."

"I don't know why you're always raving about that stew," Ron said as they made their way downstairs.

"Try eating sticks of celery and pear halves for weeks, then tell me about it."

"Your cousin's still on his diet, then?" asked Hermione.

Harry nodded. "Fat lot of good it does though, especially since Aunt Petunia keeps caving in to the great lump."

They all laughed, pushing their way into the kitchen.

"Morning, ickle Ronniekins," teased George at once, pinching his kid brother's cheeks.

Hermione laughed.

"Oh, don't encourage it," groaned Ron.

"Better listen to him," Fred advised.

"Wouldn't want a domestic dispute now, would we?" George tousled Hermione's hair, and she shot him a dirty look.

"And Harry, you dog!" Fred set a stack of bowls on the table and put an arm around him. "Maybe with dating you, our sister won't feel the need to snog half of Hogwarts..."

"I have not," Ginny said indignantly, "snogged half of Hogwarts."

Ron sniggered.

"Alright, now," said Mrs. Weasley warningly, setting a cauldron of stew on the table. "Fred, would you get the bread, please?"

"Get the bread, Fred," George echoed in a singsong voice, ducking as Fred chucked a carrot at him.

"Wotcher, Harry," came Tonks' familiar greeting, and Harry turned to see her grinning at him. "Haven't seen you in ages."

He laughed. "If you say so, Tonks."

Lupin swept in and pulled up a chair. "Looks delicious, Molly." He gestured for Tonks to sit next to him, and she did.

Harry slid in to a seat between Ron and Ginny on the opposite side of the table and ladled himself a bowl of stew as the table filled in. "I don't think there are going to be enough bowls," he noted.

"Oh, Mundungus," Molly said. "I didn't think you were staying?"

"Can't turn down that stew o' yours, Molly, y'know that." He gave her a wink.

Despite herself, Mrs. Weasley allowed herself a small smile. "Ron, would you mind getting us some more bowls? I think there are some in that cupboard there."

"Sure, Mum." He rose to his feet and opened the door. "Ugh... I don't think you want anything from in here."

Mrs. Weasley wrinkled her nose. "Oh, that's Kreacher's little nest." She reached in and picked up a shining object. "Look at this. It's one of the silver goblets Sirius wanted out of here." She glanced at Harry.

Harry suddenly felt his veins run cold. "Throw it away," he demanded immediately.

Mundungus' eyes lit up at once. "Oh, but that's goblin-wrought silver, it is..."

"Throw it away," he repeated firmly, and shoveled a spoonful of stew into his mouth. "That bloody house-elf probably stole half the stuff Sirius wanted to get rid of... all those wretched disgusting family heirlooms..." In his mind, he could hear the portrait of Walburga screeching.

"So," said Hermione brightly, after a moment of uncomfortable silence in which Ron opened another cupboard and found a stack of bowls, "I heard you're coming to teach at Hogwarts, Tonks."

Tonks beamed. "Sure am." She turned to Lupin. "Remus knew that they'd need a new Transfiguration teacher, and he spoke to Professor McGonagall-- she talked to me about it the very next day."

"Wicked," Ron said. "I can't wait."

She blushed and returned to her stew.

"I hear," Lupin began, "that you already met your other new teacher?"

"Yeah," Ginny told him, and paused. "I hope she's okay."

"Hestia went to check on her," Lupin reassured her.

Harry looked up. "Is she a member of the Order of the Phoenix then? I mean-- I've never seen her here, or anything."

Mrs. Weasley and Lupin exchanged looks. "She was a member of the Order in its old days," Lupin answered. "But after--" He sighed, dropping his spoon into his bowl. "After what happened with your parents, she really lost a lot of self-confidence. She's pretty much just lived a peaceful life since then... kind of cut off from our world."

"It took a lot of convincing to get her to come teach at Hogwarts," Mr. Weasley said. "But she's a great witch."

"We learned a little bit about her in third year," Hermione piped up, with a nod to Lupin. "She defeated Damon Melton in the First War."

"That she did," Lupin said. "A very evil wizard he was, too."

Mrs. Weasley scowled. "He may as well have been the spawn of You-Know-Who," she said with great distaste.

"So she'll be able to teach us something," Hermione nodded.

"I'd say so." Mrs. Weasley got to her feet. "I almost forgot--we have dessert today."

Tonks smiled brightly. "I made it," she blurted out. "It's Black Forest Trifle."

"Looks delicious," Harry said, hurriedly finishing up his stew as Mrs. Weasley brought it over.

"I didn't know you could cook, Tonks," Fred jested, grinning over at her.

"My attempt to become domesticated," she returned with a smile.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Weasley was bustling around, trying to find more dishes. "Where is that silverware?" she muttered to herself, peering around the kitchen. "Ah." She lifted a large chest from the top of a china cabinet and opened it. "What--" She pulled a shining gold tiara out. "This isn't a fork."

Ron laughed. "What's that doing in the kitchen?"

"It's beautiful," Ginny breathed. "Let me try it on!" She sprang up from her chair and grabbed it out of her mother's hands, setting it on her head. "How do I look?" she asked, twirling for Harry.

He chuckled. "Like a princess."

She beamed.

"There was tons of lovely old jewelry in here," Tonks said. "Remember when we started cleaning this place, Molly?"

"Yes," Mrs. Weasley said. "Boxes of the stuff. Mrs. Black's." She sighed. "It's a pity Sirius had us throw it all out, really."

Mundungus shook his head in agreement. "Shame."

"She had quite the collection," Tonks continued, ignoring Mundungus. "I wish we could have gotten that old locket pried open. I was curious to see the photos inside. My family history's not so illustrious, but I'm still interested--"

Harry held up both hands. "Wait. What old locket?"

"We found a heavy old locket one day," Tonks told him. "But none of us could get it open. I think you even tried, if I remember right."

Harry pressed his fists into his eyes. "Did it-- did it have a letter "S" engraved on the front?"

"Dunno," Tonks replied. "It could have, I don't remember."

Mrs. Weasley wiped her hands on her robes. "It did, Tonks. Remember? Alastor thought--"

"I said it was probably something of Slytherin's, bein' in this house," growled Mad-Eye, "and you'd be better off leavin' it be."

"But what happened to it?" asked Harry. He was gripping the arms of his chair so hard that his knuckles were turning white.

"Sirius probably threw it out," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Or someone rescued it from the trash and sold it," said Harry, turning on Mundungus.

"Now wait just a minute, I never--"

"You've been nicking Sirius' stuff the whole time!" Harry burst out.

Mrs. Weasley wore a confused expression. "Harry, dear. Why is it so important?"

He pulled the fake Horcrux from his pocket and slammed it on the table. "This is why!" he cried. "The initials on the note... R.A.B... someone took the real locket, the real Horcrux, someone who was close to Voldemort... a Death Eater... and he hid it here."

The entire table stared blankly back at him.

"Regulus Black!" he yelled.

A look of understanding washed over Lupin's face. "Regulus," he said. "Of course. Why didn't I see it?"

"So," Harry continued, glaring at Mundungus, "if you stole it and pawned it, you'd better be able to tell me where to find it, because I swear--"

"Hold on!" Mundungus cried. "I didn't steal it! Sirius must've thrown it away, 'e must've... I didn't..."

Mad-Eye got to his feet. "Lucky thing for us," he said shortly, "I always carry a bit of Veritaserum on me at all times for just this sort of situation."

Mundungus' eyes grew wide. "There'll be no need for that, I'm tellin' the truth..."

"We'll soon find out," Mad-Eye said sharply, and poured the contents of the vial down Mundungus' throat.

"What's yer name?" said Mad-Eye. His voice was gruff.

"Mundungus Fletcher."

"And have you been stealin' things from this house?"

"Yes! But I swear," he shuddered violently, "not that."

"Say it again. Did you take any locket from this house?"

"No!"

Satisfied, he gave a nod to Harry and returned to his chair.

Mundungus trembled and downed his butterbeer. "There, now," he said. "Happy?"

Harry sat back in defeat. "Sirius must have thrown it away, then." He shook his head. "How am I going to find it now?"

"Or maybe not," Ginny voiced. "There's one more person who's been stealing stuff from here. Or should I say elf?"

"Kreacher." Harry rose to his feet and went to the door.

"What are you doing?" Ron wanted to know.

"There's loads of stuff in here that he's nicked," Harry explained. "Maybe it's in here." He tossed the house-elf's moth-eaten blanket into the middle of the kitchen floor and dug around, lighting his wand to look into the dark corners, prying up loose tiles. He found plenty of Kreacher's odds and ends and other rescued heirlooms, but no locket.

"No luck?" Mrs. Weasley set a dish of trifle in front of Ginny.

He shook his head.

"Well, there's one more place to check, you know." She dished up another serving and set it in front of him as he sat down.

"Where's that?"

"The Hogwarts Express leaves tomorrow morning."