Harry was just turning back from releasing Hedwig out of a window with another letter, when there was loud crack, and Hermione unexpectedly appeared right in front of him.
Unfortunately, he couldn't stop himself in time and collided with her, despite trying to change his direction at the last second.
"Eeeeeeiigh,' said Hermione, as Harry bore down on her.
"Arrghhh," said Harry, at the same time.
The armload of books she had been carrying went flying as she desperately grabbed onto him to stop herself from falling. Harry stumbled and threw his arms around her in reflex before his momentum and sudden twist spun them around as they fell over.
Hermione landed heavily on Harry, winding him with an elbow to the stomach. He gasped for air, but got a mouthful of the witch's bushy hair for his trouble.
They lay there for a second, neither speaking in the stunned aftermath of the accident.
"Hello, Hermione," said Harry brightly, once his breath returned and he had cleared the hair from his mouth.
"Hello, Harry," said Hermione, ginning and propping herself up on his chest to look at him. "Is that what it is like for you when you use a Portkey or the Floo?"
"Nah," he said, smiling. "I don't usually have the luxury of landing on something as soft as my best friend."
"Soft?" she said, trying to look serious but failing as her grin widened. "I think you should consider revising your definition if you consider your bony ribs as something soft!"
"Really? I suppose yours are better?" he asked.
Then he grabbed her and started tickling.
She squealed and tried to roll off him, causing them both to roll further along the floor, laughing as Harry relentlessly tortured her. Her feeble attempts to escape or retaliate were severely hindered by Harry's superior strength and pre-emptive strike.
Eventually he relented and let her get up, but only after she had loudly admitted that his ribs were in fact of the appropriate softness, and that her own sharp angles were the cause of their shared pain as she had clumsily Apparated in on top of him.
Settling down, Harry quickly filled her in on finding out Regulus was R.A.B, but omitted any mention of Kreacher's attack and subsequent injuries. She became just as excited as Harry had been and insisted he take her up to see the tapestry, even though it offered no further help.
"You have done a really good job here, Harry," she complimented, indicating the furniture inside the tent he had hastily erected in one of the many empty bed rooms of the manor.
Trying to sleep in the huge, memory filled house had proven difficult for Harry, so, after hours of waging a loosing battle for sleep, he had set up the tent and retreated to its much more comforting surrounds.
Over a butterbeer, he explained about wanting to practice nonverbal spells and demonstrated his increased proficiency. Hermione was impressed and even appeared to be a little proud of his progress.
She also gave his book collection a quick going over, snorting with laughter when he showed her some of rediscovered, long forgotten graffiti in the older school texts, before showing him the volumes she had brought with her.
"I am still on holidays with my parents," she explained. "I have a few hours tonight while they are out for dinner, but I haven't been able to do much. Of course it's not night here yet. Anyway, I think Ron has been too busy helping with the wedding to do anything."
Harry laughed, wondering what Ron could be doing except getting in the way.
"He is desperate to get out of the Burrow, but nobody will Apparate him over and he knows it is too dangerous to just come walking in."
"Why doesn't he just do it on his own?" Harry asked.
"He is too scared," Hermione answered, shyly. "He is worried that, since he lost that eyebrow, he might not be able to do it at all. A lot of witches and wizards can't Apparate you know. There is even a whole branch of research investigating if it is just psychological, or if it is something magical that stops them from being able to."
Harry guessed that Hermione had been looking into it; her words had that sort of a ring to them. It would be just like Hermione to research Ron's fear, like it was a fascinating school project rather than a slightly embarrassing personal problem.
He browsed through the books she brought. Most of them were about the Hogwarts Founders with a magical antique collector's journal called 'Ancient Artefacts' and a book about day to day lives of a thousand years ago.
"I have found lots of possible things that he could have made his other Horcrux out of," she told him, showing the page markers she had filled the books with. "But it is almost impossible to track any of them."
Harry flipped through a few pages of drawings of various items ranging from belt buckles to quills. Although some where quite ornate, it would be easy to dismiss most of them as ordinary everyday objects.
"So I think the best thing to do is to continue along the same way the headmaster was. We should try and track where You-Know-Who has been. If we can find the hiding spots, we will find the Horcruxes, not matter what they are."
"I agree," he said. "I was just thinking the same thing last night."
Harry then filled her in on his plan to attend the wedding, something that she admitted they had all been discussing and worrying about.
"It doesn't really matter if you are seen there, Harry," she tried to reassure him. "Eventually somebody is going to work out the three of us are together. It's just a matter of time."
"Sure, but the longer we can keep it a secret, the safer everybody will be," he argued.
"Everybody except for you," she said pointedly. "You will seem like an easier target if you are apparently alone."
He hadn't really considered that, and didn't want to now, so he changed the subject to talk about Dumbledore's legacy and his idea of putting the memories directly into his own head.
Hermione was horrified.
"It is way too big a risk," she said. "Anything could go wrong, you could serious damage yourself, and you will probably destroy the memory."
Harry was disappointed by her rejection of his idea, but agreed to not try anything until they had explored every avenue.
"I'll write some letters of enquiry," she said. "I'll pretend we are looking for an expensive present for Bill and Fleur."
"Meanwhile," he added darkly, "there is always Knockturn Alley to try."
He was a bit surprised when she didn't immediately object.
"I am not sure of Borgin and Burkes are still open after the cabinet incident," she said thoughtfully. "But I bet there are a few other stores, or people, that might be able to help you. We can always just go to Hogwarts and ask Professor McGonagall too, as a last resort."
Hedwig flew into the room as the two teenagers sat talking, and landed on Harry, making sure he noticed her. He took the letter she carried and opened it up.
"It's from Neville," he told Hermione. "He's in."
Hermione Apparated to Ron's house and returned with him a while later.
The redheaded young man was extremely happy to be away from the wedding-mad house and accepted a butterbeer from Harry gratefully.
"Wish I had a place of me own," he said, as they lounged around. "Be nice to have a bathroom to myself for a change."
Hermione frowned at Ron, but didn't say anything. Harry just laughed, although he was nervous that Ron might suffer another bout of jealousy over their wealth difference.
"Don't know what you are complaining about, Ron," he said. "At least you can leave and go outside. In some ways I was better off at the Dursley's - At least there I could go do some gardening."
"Let's go visit that fat cousin of yours; I was looking forward to practicing some hexes on him," suggested the redhead. "I got a couple of real special ones from Fred and George to try out on him."
"Ron!" protested Hermione. "That's Muggle baiting and illegal."
"Don't worry mate, I already got him pretty good," Harry assured him.
Harry proceeded to tell them about his Dudley encounter. Ron laughed so hard he fell off the lounge and Hermione giggled despite trying hard not to.
"I would have paid to have seen that," Ron said, gasping for breath.
"So how is the wedding going?" Harry asked, ignoring Hermione's urgent signalling not to.
For the next twenty minutes he endured Ron's ranting about mad women and the insanity that the word 'marriage' must provoke. Harry gathered that things had not been smooth sailing between Bill's fiancé and Mrs. Weasley, despite the latter's acceptance of the inevitability of the marriage.
The biggest bone of contention had been the location of the ceremony and subsequent celebration.
Mrs Weasley had tried to insist on having everything at the Burrow, but the Delacour family had an unbroken tradition dating back several hundred years of all being married in a particular magical grove in France, and since it was Fleur's wedding, she decided that it was going to be held there.
"I thought that part was settled," said Ron, "but then she goes and tells us the whole has to be done in the nude, and not just for the bridal party, but for all the guests as well!"
Harry sprayed his drink all over the room.
"Oh my," was all that Hermione said.
Mrs Weasley had fainted at hearing that.
Finally Fleur had agreed to a less traditional ceremony, but only because Bill had asked her nicely and promised her something special for the honeymoon.
Due to the war, both had agreed to limit the number of people at the reception severely, but Harry and Hermione were invited due to being such close friends with Ron. The reception itself was to be held at an undisclosed castle that was being secretly prepared for the festivities with a lot of extra security. Guests would be taken by Portkey at a specific time, and return keys had been arranged.
They went over Harry's plan to attend in fine detail and could find no major flaws with it. It wasn't perfect, but it should work. He would be leaving from the Burrow with Ron, Hermione and the Weasleys that were not part of the bridal party, after first going to Neville's.
Ron and Hermione could get ready at Grimmauld Place and Apparate directly to Ron's house.
"It's a bit dangerous, for Dobby I mean, isn't it?" Hermione piped up suddenly changing the subject. "I mean, making him your secret keeper."
"Yeah, mate," said Ron. "He is not exactly the brightest star in the sky. Got his wand pointed backwards a bit that one."
"Ron!"
"Oh, come on, Hermione. He is downright strange, or are you forgetting that he turned on his last masters in order to nearly kill Harry?"
"He was protecting Harry!"
"And doing a great job of it too I must say, what with the broken arm and all. He'll probably go and tell the Ministry where Harry is, just so that they can protect him too."
"I am sure he is perfectly trustworthy," Hermione said, but her tone made Harry feel she actually thought Ron had made a good point. "What's more important is that if anybody finds out he is Harry's secret keeper, they might try and force the secret out of him. It is very dangerous, not to mention taking advantage of him when he hero worships you."
"Trust me, Hermione," Harry said to the worried looking young witch. "I don't want anything to happen to Dobby, but he is pretty safe while he is working at Hogwarts, and nobody would suspect him, especially not Death Eaters. It's perfect."
"Yeah," added Ron. "And you could always pay him to do it for you."
"That's a great idea, Ron," agreed Hermione.
"It is?" he asked, taken aback that Hermione had taken his joking suggestion seriously.
"Yes. Harry, you could pay Dobby to be your secret keeper, that way he isn't giving up any of his freedom at all."
Harry groaned inwardly, imaging how well Dobby would take the news that Harry wanted to pay him for a job he had agreed to take on as a friend.
Maybe I'll just hire him outright, thought Harry. That will keep them both happy.
The revelation of Harry finding out who R.A.B. was, got Ron very excited as they explored the possibilities presented by the knowledge. Ron agreed to try and find out more about Regulus from his parents without being obvious, while Hermione was already making plans to try and find out where he his body had been discovered after his murder. All three of them agreed it was highly unlikely that he had the Horcrux with him, or that Voldemort had found out Regulus had discovered his secret, since the fake locket had been left in the cave.
Soon it was time for Hermione to return to her parents. She offered to side-along Ron back to his house, but Harry convinced him to stay for a while longer and Floo back, considering the risk of the Floo network being watched to be fairly minimal.
"What's this rot with you not Apparating?" Harry asked, as soon as Hermione had left. "Have you told her you have your licence?"
Ron shook his head, his face turning the shade of red that signified he was embarrassed.
If Ron couldn't Apparate, they could be in real trouble. Not only would it be difficult to escape if they were to get into a fight, but some of the places they were likely to go might not have any other means of getting there, aside from Muggle ones. Moody's words about possibly becoming winded performing side-along Apparition were worrying enough to Harry to make him determined to push Ron into getting over whatever issue he had.
"I just, well, er, you know."
"No, Ron, I don't. Explain it to me."
"What if I splinch myself again?" Ron finally said in a rush.
"Then we'll have something funny to laugh about for weeks," Harry laughed unsympathetically. "Now get up and Apparate to the kitchen or I'll hex you."
"What? Wait-"
"Too late!" Harry cried, as he fired off a burst of water at Ron and then Apparated away.
He waited two minutes, then Apparated back and hit Ron again from the other side.
"Bloody hell!" yelled a very startled and slightly wet Ron. "I was just about to go, you could have killed me!"
"Do it now or get wet, Ron," Harry said, hitting him with a burst of freezing cold water a third time before Apparating away again.
He was about to go back for another shot when there was a loud crack and Ron suddenly appeared in front of him.
"I did it!" Ron yelled excitedly.
"Well done," Harry yelled back. Then hit him again and Apparated away laughing.
"That's it!" snarled Ron furiously, before Apparating out after him.
And thus was born the highly dangerous, but very exciting, game of Apparition tag.