Picking Up the Pieces
Chapter Five
Parting of Ways and Draco's Nocturnal Issues
The next morning finally brought the thunderstorm that had been threatening Fleur's wedding. She and Bill were already happily apparated off to their honeymoon.
Hermione sat in the kitchen, staring at the window.
Hypnotized by the rain against the glass, she pushed
her spoon lazily around in her bowl of cereal.
Last night had been nice. Weird, but nice.
As if summoned by her thinking about him, a sleepy-eyed Ron stumbled into the kitchen. His hair was sticking up at odd angles, and his blue eyes were slightly out-of-focus.
He saw her sitting there, and stopped.
"Morning." Hermione said, taking a bite of cereal.
"Hey." Ron poured himself a bowl of cereal, sitting acros from her.
"Sleep well?" She asked.
"Yeah. Well sort of. Harry and I got to talking"
Ron lowered his voice significantly, "Got to talking
about when we're going to leave."
"Soon, you think?" She replied in a whisper.
"The sooner the better. What are you going to tell your parents?"
"I don't really know. I mean, Hogwarts-wise, I'm an adult in a few months. And I know I couldn't just go home and bide time until we leave. We need to start looking soon. I've already been researching a tracking kind of spell we might able to reverse to possibly find the location of the Horcruxes. And also...well, a potion we could take so no one could find us."
"Sounds complicated."
"It is."
"And I guess...we can't really filch things from Snape's cabinets anymore." Ron said, shaking his head.
"We won't have to. We can get most of it ourselves."
"I know. It's just sinking in how big this all is."
"What are you going to tell your parents?"
"I don't know if I am going to tell them anything. Mum will have kittens, Dad's worried enough as is...I'll just leave them a note explaining."
"Very mature." Hermione grinned.
Ginny walked in then, her long red hair thrown into a messy bun.
Hermione and Ron both fell silent.
"No need to stop your super-secret planning on my account." Ginny sighed, getting an apple.
"Gin-"
"Seriously, I don't care."
Ginny had seemed to decide that if she feigned total apathy towards their little mission, it would be easier not to be included in it. She had barely even spoken to Hermione last night when they'd been getting ready for bed and going to sleep, and that was usually the time they got all their good girl talk in.
Hermione personally thought she was being a little immature.
Harry joined them then as well, looking very sleepy.
"Morning." He grunted, flopping down next to Ron.
"You look terrible." Ginny said with no emotion,
looking at Harry.
"Thanks loads." Harry replied, picking at a plate of biscuits Mrs.Weasley had already layed out for them.
Mrs. Weasley walked into the kitchen then, carrying a plate of bacon and eggs.
"Well, don't we all look cheerful." She said, looking between them.
"Couldn't sleep." They all chorused.
"Too much wedding excitement?" She asked, sitting next
to Ginny as Mr. Weasley bustled through the kitchen,
getting ready for work.
"Yeah, that must be it." Ginny said, still looking at Harry, not angrily but rather as though he was the person her eyes naturally gravitated towards.
"It really was nice, wasn't it?" Mrs. Weasley said,
smiling at them all.
"Really nice, Mrs. Weasley. Everything looked beautiful." Hermione finally said when no one else replied.
"Did everyone else already leave?" Ron looked out in the empty living room.
"Yes, dear. Charlie, Fred, George, and Kingsley had to apparate off to work early this morning. The Delacours also had to get back to France."
"What about Lupin and Tonks?" Ron asked.
"Well, I'm sure she wanted to give him a nice send off before he had to go to back to that dreadful assignment." Mrs. Weasley said, choosing her words carefully.
"I'm sure she did." Ginny giggled slightly.
Mrs. Weasley shot her a look.
"I'm off to work, darling," Mr. Weasley said, kissing Mrs. Weasley's cheek, "Bye, kids."
"Bye, Mr. Weasley." They all chimed in.
Hermione took the paper from the middle of the table,
opening it so Harry and Ron could see it.
She quickly scanned the front page.
"Anything about him?" Harry asked, spitting the word "him" out as if it was the most vile curseword he could think of.
"No. Nothing."
"Dad says the Ministry can't even find one greasy hair from his head. And they've looked everywhere."
"It just doesn't make sense. Why would Snape blow the cover he's had for so long to bail an idiot like Malfoy out?" Ginny suddenly said.
No one had an answer.
Draco Malfoy lay sprawled out in bed, drenched with sweat from another nightmare. They all seemed so real...so close he could still feel Voldemort's cold fingers against his skin, making his Dark Mark burn until it bled...
Draco shuddered, rolling over onto his side.
He could hear Snape in the next room, quill scratching out against parchment.
"Draco." Snape's voice suddenly spoke.
Draco cleared his throat, sitting up.
"Yes, Professor?" He said into the air.
"No need to call me that anymore. We're not at school,
nor shall we ever be returning. I merely wanted to let
you know that you've been screaming in your sleep.
It's weak, and very dangerous. I would suggest
practicing your Occlumency more diligently."
"You said I was a natural at Occlumency." Draco said,
getting out of bed, and walking into the next room,
where Snape's back was to him.
Draco found it somewhat funny that Snape still wore
his billowing black robes this late at night.
Although, Snape wearing any kind of nightclothes was
almost too hilarious to picture.
Draco fought down a smile at the mental image.
"You are very skilled at Occlumency, especially to be your age. But still having control of your mind during sleep is one the most difficult and advanced skills as Occlumens must acquire for their skill to be effective."
"Can you tell me how?" Draco asked, suddenly feeling very awkward just standing there.
They had been traveling together for several weeks now, and Snape still addressed him very formally. It was unnerving.
"Some other time. It's very late."
"What are you writing?" Draco asked suddenly.
"A diary entry." Snape replied sarcastically.
Draco smiled. Finally, he had cracked a joke.
"No, really."
"No, really it's none of your concern who my correspondents are, Mr. Malfoy."
"All right. Sorry. Can I write anyone? My mum, or my friends?"
"No. I've already informed your mother that we...you are quite all right and safe with me."
"Oh. Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
"I'm just going to..." Draco motioned towards his room.
Snape still didn't look at him.
"Night." Snape said shortly.
"Night." Draco gave him a small wave, then felt like an idiot, and gladly went back to his room.
Tonks sat at her desk, twirling a quill between her fingers. She just couldn't focus on the mound of paperwork in front of her.
So much for the life of Auror being all glamour and danger, she thought with a humorless laugh.
Kingsley came over to her desk.
"Hey there." He said, looking at her glum expression.
"Hey...shouldn't you be at the Minister's office?"
"I'm heading there now. You all right?"
She forced a smile.
"Yeah, of course."
"He left already?" Kingsley asked, leaning against her cubicle.
Tonks swallowed hard, feeling a sharp stab of pain in her chest.
"Yes. This morning."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be." She said, not really wanting to talk about this.
"Well, anyway--Demetrius asked me to give you this assignment. At least it'll get you away from the desk for a few days. Plus, it has some information you should find rather amusing." Kingsley handed her a red slip of paper.
"Thanks." Tonks said, scanning it curiously.
"Take care of yourself, Tonks."
"Yeah. Have a good day at work." She said absently,
reading the paper with growing interest.
Ms. Nymphadora Tonks-
I would appreciate it greatly if you would acquire all
the information possible on Regulus Black. We have
reason to believe he may be, posthumously or not,
instrumental in the search for
He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. You might want to start with
his childhood address, 12 Grimmauld Place.
-Mr. Demetrius Langner
Tonks tucked the piece of paper into her bag,
gratefully leaving the mound of paperwork behind.
12 Grimmauld Place, she thought with a wry grin,
however would she find it?
Sometime later that night, Hermione came into Ron and Harry's room.
Ron whipped around, pulling his covers over him.
"Hermione, you could knock occasionally. What if we hadn't been dressed?"
"Do you and Harry regularly hang out half-dressed"
She raised an eyebrow.
"You're onto us." Harry said, from behind a book.
She sat down on the end of Ron's bed, and Harry lowered his book.
"What's up?" He asked.
"I just...I think we should leave soon. There's loads to do, and wasting time isn't getting us any closer to stopping Voldemort."
Ron, for once, didn't wince.
"What, like, leave tonight?" Ron looked at her,
surprised.
She shrugged.
"I'm ready." Harry said softly.
"I mean, Harry, you've already been to the Dursley's for the last time, and you said you wanted to...go see where you parents are buried, right?"
"Right."
"Well, Ron and I could go get the supplies we need
while you're there, meet up with you, and then we
could start trying to find the rest of the Horcruxes.
I've already got an idea of a spell we could try."
"Sounds like a good plan." Harry nodded. He'd been ready to go since they had gotten here.
Ron looked a little nervous.
"Ron, if you don't want to go-"
"Of course I'm going. J-Just let me write a note to my parents and pack up my things."
"I'll go get my things together as well. Let's meet
downstairs in thirty minutes." Hermione nodded,
getting up to leave.
"Ginny asleep?" Harry asked after Hermione as she went to leave.
"Yes." Hermione looked at him with a sad expression.
"All right. We'll meet you downstairs."
Later that night, as the full moon shone down over the lawn, the three friends made their way to the woods by the Burrow. Harry was going to apparate to Godric's Hollow, and Ron and Hermione were going to Apparate to Diagon Alley. Ron had assured her he would take all of his body parts with him this time.
They all stood there for a moment, all feeling suddenly very small in the face of such an adult task.
"We'll send you an owl when we're coming, mate." Ron
said, clapping a hand on Harry's shoulder.
"Be careful, Harry." Hermione hugged him tightly.
"You two watch your back as well. See you soon."
And with those parting words, Ron grabbed Hermione's hand and they disappeared from sight. Harry took a deep, steeling breath. He was finally going home.
The next morning, Ginny awoke to find a letter on her bedside table, her name scrawled in Harry's distinctive handwriting on the envelope.
He was gone.
A/N- Please review!