Hermione and Ron returned almost every day. Hermione only stayed a few hours at a time, but Ron spent the better part of each day and even some nights with Harry, possibly because he was still trying to avoid the 'insanity of matrimony' as he liked to refer to it when Hermione was not around.
Tonks and Lupin both stopped in regularly to check up on Harry, but seeing he was well accompanied, they were only too happy to disappear again, presumedly to spend more time alone together.
Ron was even more easily bored by the research than Harry, despite the many breaks they took, and Harry was increasingly more irritated by his inaction and lack of real progress. Although he itched to get out searching for the disconnected parts of Voldemort's soul, he knew it would be harder than finding a Crup at a cat-show.
So they agreed to spend some more time practicing nonverbal spells by cleaning the house, despite Ron's alleged allergy to housework, while searching for anything to do with Regulus. There was only a slight possibility he had left any clues behind, but they had to try, and at least it gave them something to do.
As usual, the work involved a fair bit of horseplay, and lots of Reparo spells, especially whenever they found an infestation of some pest or another that had to be dealt with using slightly more violent spells. There was a definite improvement in their nonverbal abilities, along with a noticeable increase in their casting proficiency of many of the domestic spells Hogwarts had only taught them in passing.
"Fat load of good it will do to be able to cast a really good Scourify silently," joked Ron, "unless the Death Eater is mortally afraid of being clean!"
"Should work on Snape then, or his hair at least," said Harry, sweeping a section of floor with a soft wind charm.
Ron was shocked to silence for a second at Harry's flippant comment, but burst out laughing and added that half of the Slytherin house was probably in trouble now they had mastered a way of getting them clean involuntarily.
Harry did agree with Ron's original point though, so they set aside some time to practice duelling in the largest bedroom, the one that Buckbeak had lived in during his stay.
As they practiced, Harry's mind kept wandering back to the duel with Snape. He had been defeated so easily, and it really galled him. A stinging hex to the side of his head wrenched him painfully out of his memories as he dropped his wand in a reflex reaction to the curse.
"What happened to you?" Ron asked him, after performing the counter spell. "You weren't even looking."
Harry grumbled and explained how he had gotten distracted thinking about the solid thrashing Snape had given him.
"The git wasn't even trying," he complained. "He just stood there insulting me and brushing aside every spell I threw at him, sometimes before I could even finish casting it."
Ron sat down next to Harry on the floor.
"Remember that time he tried to curse you and you threw him into the desk with your shield?" Ron asked, smiling at the memory. "He couldn't stop that one."
"Yeah, well, it must have been a fluke, because I didn't even get close last time. He could tell exactly what I was going to cast, even when I didn't say the words. It had to be Legilimency."
"You been practicing Occlumency?" asked Ron.
Harry nodded, but he knew all his 'clear your mind' practice was not going to help him in a fight. None of the books he owned gave very much in the way of helpful advice, either being too vague to be understood or expecting the person reading them to already be versed in the discipline.
"Well the only thing to do then is get faster," said Ron. "Throw enough at him fast enough and I doubt if he could stop it all, but you are going to have to make sure you don't just drift off like you did a few minutes ago!"
They resumed practicing, Harry sacrificing the more complicated spells for the simple strategy of overloading Ron in the way he had suggested.
"Stupefy!" Harry yelled, then dodged to one side to avoid Ron's attack and almost instantly cast a silent Levicorpus. The second spell was on its way before the red light of the first spell had even reached Ron.
Ron batted away the Stupefy, but was caught out by the second nonverbal spell and found himself hoisted into the air. Unfortunately for Harry, that didn't stop the upside down wizard from continuing to fight, although it did seriously disrupt his aim and ability to dodge.
Ron started firing wildly in Harry's general direction, apparently hoping to catch him with a lucky shot. The pure randomness of the attack nearly payed off as Harry threw himself to one side only to nearly get hit by a spell that had been nowhere near the mark. The extra second he lost in recovering from the lucky shot cost him dearly as Ron managed to cast his own Levicorpus. For a stunned moment they stared at each other, both hanging upside on opposite sides of room, but then both immediately started casting furiously again, each trying to get the other first.
Just as Harry managed to land an Expelliarmus and disarm Ron, he himself collected a bludgeoning hex to the shoulder, causing his wand to drop from his hand as his whole arm went numb at the brutal blow.
"Any idea how long this spell lasts?" asked Ron, after watching Harry make yet another futile attempt to reach his wand.
"Nope, but I sure hope it finishes before Hermione gets here," answered Harry trying to use his shirt like a fishing line to hook his wand.
When Hermione discovered they had been spending more time 'playing' than researching, she immediately drew up some training plans for them, causing Ron to moan. "And no more duelling when it is just the two of you here," she insisted, although Harry suspected she knew exactly how futile that order was.
"It's just like we were back at school!" Ron complained secretly to Harry. "Classes and schedules and homework and such. She had better not be planing on testing us."
Harry tended to agree with him, but had to admit some of the exercises Hermione had copied from various defence books sounded interesting. He found he was particularly good at one where he had to stand perfectly still and use shields and counter spells only, while Ron got to randomly fire different spells at him. Harry discovered the momentary panic of having to decide whether to cast a shield or a counter was very exciting, especially since Ron never repeated the same pattern of spells twice.
Ron liked it too, although only because he got to curse Harry a lot more times than would normally happen in a duel between the two. He wasn't so keen on taking the place of the target though, his shield being nowhere near as strong.
They even made a visit to Diagon alley, both wearing disguises, to stock up on Harry's 'Meals in a Tin' collection and butterbeer supplies. Ron was openly shocked at the price of the food, but Harry was happy to pay for the convenience and intrigued by some of the choices, like the camel-hump pie, or haggis.
Harry was also glad to see more people out and about. Groups of Aurors casually walked the streets, stopping to have a friendly chat with random people as they went. The difference that small change made was astounding to him, although Ron found it a bit annoying when a group stopped them as they left the supermarket loaded with their supplies.
"Hello, boys," the lead Auror said. "Bit young to be out and about alone aren't you?"
"We're of age," answered Ron defensively.
"And we are meeting our parents a bit further down the road," added Harry hastily. The last thing he wanted was to attract attention or have a confrontation. "We got stuck lugging the bags," he explained indicating the bags full of shrunken groceries.
The Aurors laughed, but cautioned them to not spend too much time alone in the streets. They offered to escort them back to their parents, but Harry waved them off with a story about wanting to secretly duck into Quality Quidditch Supplies, earning another good-natured laugh from the squad.
They did duck into the Quidditch store, and Harry bought a set of second hand Quidditch practice balls. They spent some time marvelling at the new brooms, and discussed if he should buy a couple of the best brooms for Ron and Hermione to ride, during their 'quest', as Ron had taken to calling it.
It surprised Harry that Ron was willing to let him spend such an amount without getting jealous or thinking Harry was buying him off, but didn't comment about his friend's new attitude for fear of stirring up a Thestral nest of trouble.
In the end, they couldn't agree on which brooms to get. The newer, faster models of broom were expensive enough to make Harry do a double take, and Ron made a persuasive argument against them.
"Great for playing Quidditch," he said. "But we are not going to be playing Quidditch."
"Speed and agility are probably going to be important, especially if we are dodging spells or Dementors or something, but how well do you think these brooms can take a hit? They are not made for it."
"Look at what happened to your Nimbus 2000 when it met the Whomping Willow; toothpicks. And don't forget how you fell off it."
"We want something a bit more robust, even if it isn't as flashy. The brooms they sell here are the best in world for Quidditch, but they are not made to take into a fight."
Harry reluctantly agreed, trusting Ron's superior knowledge of brooms. He still felt speed and agility would be the deciding factors in a fight, but Ron promised to show him some books about Auror brooms from around the world.
They also picked up a small radio, and a few other bits and pieces, including more books on defence, historical antiques, the Hogwarts Founders, and Quidditch, of course.
Meanwhile, Hermione's dedication to research and study had reached new heights. She pushed herself relentlessly and tried to get Ron and Harry to do the same, with very limited success.
It took drastic measures to convince her to join in a game of Apparition tag.
She was at first appalled at their blatant disregard for safety, but after having Harry or Ron repeatedly appear nearby and hit her with various hexes and jinxes before Disapparating away again, she growled in frustration and joined in with a vengeance.
"Lucky shot!" claimed Ron, a short while later as he tried the counter to a jinx that had fused his legs together. He was hampered by another jinx that was making his arms shake violently, and by the green hair sprouting in long, curly ribbons from his nose down to where his knees should have been.
"That's what I said too," Harry said solemnly, whilst glued spreadeagled and upside down on a wall, six feet off the ground and with ferociously itchy, short blue hair covering his entire body.
Worried about possibly having to go to St Mungos for treatment if they kept it up, the three agreed to limit the game to stupefy spells and shields, but they both had to be cast silently or the rule breaker would suffer a jelly legs or itching curse as penalty.
Any hex or curse could be used when they were duelling in the largest bedroom though. Harry selected various new spells from his collections of books and the three of them practiced each day against each other. Hermione also insisted they learn a few more healing spells and a bit more about fixing splinches, since she was sure it was only a matter of time before one of them came apart, literally.
"What difference does it make if I can't un-splinch as well as you, Hermione?" Ron asked, after one practice session. "Just so long as I can find whichever part of Harry he has left behind, you can always stick it back on later."
Harry laughed as his best friends once again started bickering, then Apparated himself away to avoid having to listen to it anymore.
Hermione's shriek at his sudden move was still fading away when he reappeared in the kitchen. She still hadn't gotten used to Harry and Ron just popping around, and probably wouldn't for a while.
Compared to the two boys, the twins had been practically restrained after they learned to Apparate.
Their use of other magic was rampant too. Continuing the tradition they had established in the tent on Privet Drive, they used spells for every conceivable situation, and, at Harry's insistence, always tried silently first. Hermione never had to repeat a spell, but both Harry and Ron often took multiple tries to make things work, especially new spells they had not practiced much.
Books floated, following them around, pens wrote without a hand holding them, food and drink appeared regularly, sometimes without anyone remembering who it was that summoned it!
Harry grabbed a few butterbeers from the fridge and decided to walk back, just to keep Hermione on edge.
He entered the room, but stopped before saying anything. Ron and Hermione were sitting side by side on the same couch with their backs to him. He decided to sneak up and give them both a scare, since they were probably waiting for him to Apparate back.
"Are you staying until the Wedding now?" Ron asked, sounding suspiciously hopeful.
Hermione gave him a thoughtful look before answering.
"Yes," she said. "My parents are currently on a romantic cruise in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, so I can stay for a few days."
"Can you stay here with us?" Ron asked, just a little too eagerly. He seemed to realise his enthusiasm had come through in his voice though, and quickly tried to play it down. "Er, I mean it just seems silly for you to stay at your house, alone, when you can stay here, with us."
"Sure," she said almost shyly.
"Excellent," said Ron, with a huge grin.
Harry thought the exchange was little unusual, but didn't comment. They had been dancing around each other for at least half of the last year but didn't seem to have progressed any further in their relationship.
"Butterbeers!" he called out loudly from about a foot away of where they sat.
Hermione gave her loudest shriek yet, and jumped so high she lost her grip on the book she was holding. Ron fell completely off the couch.
Harry laughed and levitated them their drinks, knowing they would get him back eventually, probably when he was least expecting it.
Although Ron and Hermione bickered frequently, there was a real argument when she started talking about arranging for Ron to get his Apparition license at the same time as Harry, and they finally told her about already having them.
While she was happy that Harry had taken and passed his test, she was a bit upset at Ron for not doing it.
"Why, Hermione?" he asked. "You can clearly see that I can Apparate."
To prove the point, he twirled on the spot and shifted a few feet away with a loud double crack. They had become good quickly, but Harry was impressed at how smoothly Ron performed the short-haul jump; it was like watching their instructor at Hogwarts.
"That's not the point, Ron," she argued. "You should have taken the test, just to prove to yourself that you could do it."
Ron clearly didn't understand her logic, and frankly, neither did Harry.
"Do you want me to give it back and go do the test again?" he asked. "Would that make you happy?"
"No," she snapped." There is no point since you can obviously pass now."
"Then what is the problem?"
Hermione puffed and tried a different explanation.
"Ron, what happens the next time you have to take a test or do something under pressure?" she asked. "If you have faced the stress of the test and passed, you would be better prepared for the next time."
"Hermione," Ron answered, rather patronisingly. "I am not planing on taking any more tests, but if I do, it is not going to make any difference since, I know I can Apparate without having to pass a stupid test!"
Harry decided they were getting far too serious, so deliberately broke the rules by squirting them both a magically conjured stream of water and then quickly Apparating away laughing.
It only took them three minutes to catch him, but they left him pinned to the wall where the house-elf heads used to be for at least three times that long.
"What about Egypt?" asked Harry, during one of their all too frequent research sessions. "Everybody knows that the pharaohs were made keen on staying alive forever. It seems pretty reasonable to expect Riddle went there and had a look to see what they discovered."
Hermione agreed it was a possibility, but Ron, surprisingly, thought it unlikely.
"I can tell you one thing for sure," he said. "There was nothing like that in the bits we saw. Crazy beggars pulled their brains out with sticks and pickled them thinking they could use them again when they came back!"
Harry found the foreign country almost as interesting as Hermione did, although she was really only interested in the magic the ancients had used to protect their crypts. He soon lost himself in the stories and tales of a culture so unlike anything he had ever encountered before, that it was another world to him. The extent of his immersion only became evident when he noticed it was suddenly too dark to read, and looked up to find Ron had been slowly enclosing him inside a magically constructed pyramid of books.
He did uncover a few salient facts amongst the legends and folklore, including the information that mummies were actually the oldest form of Inferi. The bandages and steps taken to preserve the bodies had originally been to keep the un-dead creatures for falling apart too quickly once they had been reanimated.
"That's a lovely thought," said Ron. "Riddle probably went there to learn all about it then. I mean, who better to learn from than the guys who invented it?"
Without a more solid lead on where to look or what to look for, they agreed a trip was premature, but Ron promised to ask Bill about the country a bit more, since he had spent years working on unopened tombs, but not until the honeymoon was over. Harry felt quite disappointed at not having a reason to go, but knew waiting until they had something more solid to look into was probably the right thing to do.
Still, he felt a certain pull, an unusual longing to visit the Land of the Pharaohs, and so decided that he would one day walk the ancient places and discover the secrets of the sands for himself. It was the first time he could ever recall making plans in the future that did not involve Hogwarts, Dark Wizards, Quidditch, or a fiery red haired witch.
As the day of the wedding quickly approached, Ron tried to convince Harry to go to Bill's 'Stag Party', but Harry was already reluctant before, and was definitely not in the mood now.
Hermione looked like she wanted to 'talk', but Harry saw Ron give her a warning glance when he thought Harry wasn't looking.
Instead, she decided to go and keep Ginny company, since the younger girl would not be going to the 'Hen's Night' with Fleur because she was also still underage. It didn't surprise Harry or Ron that Hermione was not interest in it at all.
Although he was used to having the house to himself most nights, Harry felt strangely lonely that night. He was glad to have a few books on Egyptian magic and history to browse through, but it didn't quite fill the void of his missing friends that night.
Going to bed early proved to be a mistake. Instead of drifting off into a peaceful slumber, he dreamed of finding Horcruxes in the cupboard under the stairs of Privet Drive. When he tried to take them out, either Petunia or Vernon would force him to put them back, while Dumbledore watched silently, shaking his head sadly at his failure.
Between the dream-come-nightmare, and the mixed feelings of dread and anticipation, he barely slept at all.