Author's Notes: Oh, I got two reviews! Thanks to the people that took their time to submit one. I truly appreciate it. Remember I'm without a beta, although most of the original fic was beta-read. Please be merciful and honest if you think I need one again with the rewriting. I also know that my vocabulary is limited. I've been flamed by people saying that my vocabulary is bland before, not in this fic though. Please don't flame me. I've been honest about my limited vocabulary. I don't deny it, but I'll try to rewrite as best as I can.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine. I'm just another poor fan.

Song: 'True Blue' by Zone (Tetsuwan Atom / Astro Boy)

Ch. 4: Three Stressed Days and a Gloomy Birthday

It was night by the time the four people arrived at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. The journey by car had been tiring and Ron didn't feel like being in a car ever again. Having travelled to Hogwarts in his dad's Ford Anglia when they were twelve years old had been horrible, and Harry's obsession with driving kept reminding him of those long hours full of hunger and thirst. At least on their way to the House of Black they had stopped for food, groceries, and basic items needed. That was definitely an advantage when you were traveling by car on earth and not on air.

The house definitely needed some cleaning. Ron started to tell Harry to call Kreacher, but Harry told him that he preferred the house elf in Hogwarts. Hermione automatically agreed with Harry, giving Ron a glare, and the redhead would have never expected Snape to support him anyway. Snape remained quiet. Harry was doubtful at first about using magic to clean. He stared at the ex-Potions master and Snape gazed back boringly and asked: "Is the Ministry aware of the house elf being in Hogwarts?"

Harry shook his head and replied sourly: "I don't think so, sir."

"It will be just cleaning charms so they won't care. They might assume that the house elf decided to clean, Potter," Snape sneered.

"What about the underage magic?" asked Harry.

"They never know who performed the magic or did you already forget that little detail?" Snape looked revolted about simply having to have what he considered a very stupid conversation with Potter.

Harry nodded. If the Ministry had known the exact wizard performing magic they wouldn't have accused him of what Dobby did in the Dursleys' house before he started in 2nd year. "Then may I assume that it will be safe to clean here using magic, sir?" Harry spat the question and reinforced the last word with mild anger while Snape simply scowled as a reply, hatred showing in his features.

Harry went to the bathroom in a foul mood, cleaned it with a flick of his wand and well chosen words, and prepared a very aromatic bath. He went to Snape and spoke to the greasy haired man in a faked soft voice: "The bath is ready... for you." Snape left towards the bathroom in a stormy fashion while the three teens started to give a general cleaning to the whole house. Harry was still worried because he wasn't seventeen yet, although he was going to be of age in two days, even if he couldn't be identified through simple cleaning charms. The doubts were always there and now it was worse when they had a fugitive with them, and one that was definitely not to their liking unlike it had been with Sirius Black. Harry was supposed to be with his aunt, and that was what the Ministry believed. Harry then asked the other two why had Ministry wizards arrived in Godric's Hollow and Hermione quickly replied:

"That's quite easy to figure Harry. We used lots of jinxes and hexes when we saw Snape. They were attacks, not innocent charms. They were obviously detected as attacks. The Ministry can't identify the caster, but they do detect the spells used. It was obvious they were going to investigate... They sure took their time though..." Hermione was thinking aloud. "Maybe they had to break wards or something, but Snape could easily get through..."

Harry suddenly remembered that the Ministry had indeed known that the spell used by Dobby in the Dursleys' home had been a levitating one. What Hermione had just said made perfect sense. They were simply cleaning at that moment so that was to be ignored. The Ministry personnel could indeed think it was Kreacher, but there was a bit of a flaw to that reasoning. Why couldn't the Ministry detect where Voldemort hid of the dark lord used magic? Why couldn't they detect when Death Eaters killed someone until the mark was set on the scene for everyone to see? In the end he decided to ignore his questions, at least for the moment.

Harry soon reminded his friends about Mrs. Black's portrait. They were going to be as quiet as possible and avoid yelling at all costs.

Day One

The next day Snape, Weasley, Granger, and Potter started to look for the locket, but they couldn't find it anywhere. Harry was trying to break his head trying to remember where they had placed it during the original cleaning of the house while at the same time fearing that as dirty as it was 'Dung' could have taken it. Hermione suddenly rolled her eyes: "Let's just summon it!"

Harry then mechanically started to reply: "I don't think it will..."

"Accio Horcrux!" Harry gaped when the grime filled locket easily came from an unidentified part of the house and landed on Hermione's hand. "You see? That was easy, wasn't it?"

Harry then felt like banging his head against a wall. Of course it would work there... It was 'his' house, not Voldemort's damned cave. The Horcrux had been removed from the cave by R.A.B. There was no reason why it couldn't be summoned now.

Severus removed the Horcrux from the girl's hands and Harry glared at him. "I will let you destroy it, Potter, but you do remember what happened to your adored Headmaster's hand, do you?"

Harry's eyes softened a bit, almost against his will. Unfortunately the git was right, although he wasn't exactly going to admit it verbally so he simply nodded.

Ron pointed at the Horcrux with his wand: "Alohomora!" Everyone blinked at his lame attempt. "Well, I was just trying..." he justified.

Little by little they all tried every means possible to open the heavy locket. They even cleaned it to see if that somehow helped. It was golden again and looked just like Harry had seen it in Dumbledore's Pensieve. It was indeed Slytherin's locket and the simple fact that Hermione had summoned it as Horcrux and it had responded, confirmed it for what it was.

The three teens along with the adult only stopped trying to open the item for basic needs like eating or going to the loo, but throughout the rest of the day they kept trying to open the locket in vain.

Day Two

It was Harry's birthday, but that had to be ignored for the time being. Hermione spent hours searching through books on Dark Arts that were in the house's library, but couldn't find anything. In little time Ron and Harry had joined her in research while Snape kept chanting in many languages, his eyes fixed at the golden object that contained a fragment of the Dark Lord's soul.

During lunch they all felt worn out. Harry couldn't bear the thought of going through one of those horrible books again, but Hermione kept reminding him that they hadn't gone through all of the books yet. In frustration they returned to their tasks. Snape was using obscure spells that Harry didn't exactly want to know about and after spending a whole hour trying to figure how to help the ex-Potions master he returned to the dreaded books. Ron was lying on a mess of those books looking tired and Hermione glared at Ron every few minutes. She then looked at Harry with a half smile: "Managed something?" Harry shook his head and the Hermione sighed: "There are only ten books left." She looked almost saddened, knowing that the book search would be over soon.

Harry started to go through one of the books while Hermione picked up another. Ron didn't seem in the mood to even glance at another book so he left to see if he could actually manage something with Snape.

By dinner time they were all frustrated. There were no books left and the teens kept looking at the older man as if waiting for him to come up with an idea, something that made Snape uncomfortable. Severus knew that there had to be a way, but he was out of spells and chants. None of those had worked so far.

"Why don't we just forget about the bloody Horcrux for a while and just celebrate Harry's seventeenth birthday?" Ron asked trying to lighten the foul moods.

Harry just lifted his eyes a bit while Hermione nodded. Severus suddenly stood from the dinner table and with a flick of his wand made ingredients mix and in just a few minutes he had baked a simple cake and placed it on the table, surprising the teens. Severus then silently sat again. The moods hadn't changed at all, but Ron started to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Harry in a tone that sounded proper for a funeral hymn. Hermione joined the redhead in a very low voice. Harry just stared at the table while Snape remained completely silent. No one was going to make Severus Snape sing for the life of him.

Hermione passed a knife to Harry and he cut the cake and put four pieces in four plates. They all ate quietly, but after eating Ron and Hermione actually gave Harry presents. They hadn't forgotten and have had the presents hidden in their backpacks all along. Of course, when they had bought the presents they had never thought the birthday would turn out like that. Just then an owl arrived and pecked on the kitchen window. Harry quickly stood and opened the window for the snowy owl. The sudden appearance of Hedwig somehow lifted his spirits. He softly spoke to the beautiful owl while caressing her head: "You found me. Nice girl." He gave her some of the leftovers from dinner and even a bit of cake. The owl was quite happy and pecked her master lovingly. Harry then removed the envelope that was tied to the owl's leg along with a small package, opened the envelope, and removed the letter. He smiled at first, but then frowned while reading.

"What's wrong?", Hermione asked. Harry gave the letter to her and she read it out loud:

"Hello Harry! First of all, Happy Birthday! Here I send you a small present as I don't know if this owl of yours can carry something heavier! It's a diary and I'm also sending you some money. I thought that you might like to write your adventures in the diary to read it to your children in the future... Funny thought! Yes, I want to think that you will survive. Well, I've been alright. The same day you left Kate came. Do you remember her? She is the only friend that has remained by my side after all that has happened. She's been brilliant and now we get together every day. She is a widow too so she understands me a lot.

"Your owl is okay, but she keeps bringing me mice every single day! I think I have already buried ten in our garden, but she makes a nice pet plus she is useful to communicate with you!

"Now to what I really wanted to warn you about. Exactly the day you left, just like Kate, a man came. He said his name was Rufus Scrimgeour and that he wanted you to move with him for the rest of the summer. I told him that you had left on a long vacation with your friends. When he asked me where I told him that you were in South America. I don't think he believed me, but I did not trust that man and as I know there are bad people after you I know that I can't trust anyone. He then claimed to be the Minister of Magic himself and I told him that even if he had been the Queen of England I wouldn't have told him where you were. I'm actually glad that I don't know where you are! I don't want to know either so don't tell me anything! I almost felt as if he could have read my mind if I had known! After having the nerve of asking for tea and inviting himself in he left after a while. He seemed to be exploring the house while inside! Just wanted you to know. Take care of yourself, Harry.

"Love,

Aunt Petunia"

"That man is insufferable!" exclaimed Hermione after having read the letter aloud.

"He is a bloody bastard! Never thought there was going to be someone worse than Percy!" Ron decided to add.

Harry was pacing from side to side thinking. Why had that man bothered to come to Privet Drive? What was that of wanting him, Harry, to spend the rest of the summer in his house? Harry didn't like it at all.

"I guess you are as much of a fugitive as me now, Potter. The whole Ministry of Magic must be looking for you now after confirming that you are not with your relatives." Snape smirked. The thought of the Ministry trying to locate Harry as much as they were trying to track him was deliciously wicked in his opinion.

Harry quickly made a reply for his aunt so she would know that he was alive and well, completely ignoring the git. He also thanked her for trying to hide the fact about his mission and wrote her that he would be a nomad for quite some time. He thanked her for the presents and the warning and after writing a 'take care' he tied the letter to Hedwig's leg. He signed the letter as 'your nephew' just in case and didn't write her name. He told Hedwig to be very careful and the owl left.

A little while later Hermione prepared a bucket with her dirty clothes to wash them. "What do you have there, Hermione?" asked Ron.

"Dirty clothes. I'm going to wash them now," Hermione stated matter of factly.

"Oh, great! Do mine too!" Ron summoned his dirty clothes and they entered Hermione's bucket. Harry laughed and also summoned his dirty clothes into the bucket. Snape looked at the scene amused.

"What do you two think I am? A maid?" Hermione asked with fire in her eyes.

"I thought you were offering and as you are going to wash anyway..." Ron explained.

"And it's my birthday," Harry added with a grin.

Hermione stormed out of the room with the bucket. A while later she came back with the clean clothes and threw Ron's on his face and gently placed Harry's on his hands. Harry's clothes had even been neatly folded. "Hey!" Ron complained.

"Don't you dare!" Hermione warned the redhead and then glared at Harry too. "Next time you try to pull the same thing on me your clothes will be all pink! And that applies to both of you!" She was about to storm out of the living room when Mrs. Black's portrait started to scream, but it was quieted in seconds. They all stared at Snape, but he feigned innocence. Harry decided to take a look at the portrait and was surprised to see a metallic muzzle painted on Mrs. Black's mouth.

That night Harry couldn't sleep. The thought of the Ministry looking for him plus their failed attempts in destroying the Horcrux were driving him mad. Moving in his bed looking for a comfortable position he wondered who was worse, Cornelius Fudge or Rufus Scrimgeour. He also started to wonder if the new Minister had freed Stan Shunpike. The thought itself made anger spring inside him and that anger rose when he thought of Scrimgeour using Legilimency on his aunt. It sure sounded like the man had tried it.

Day Three

The third day arrived and this time the four of them were tampering with the damned Horcrux. Suddenly Hermione sighed and asked: "How can this be opened? Is there a potion or something that can actually open this thing?"

Ron and Harry sighed, but Snape opened his eyes wide and glanced at the girl. He ran out of the living room and went to the basement of the House of Black. Dark wizards always had Potions' laboratories in their basements and that house was no exception. Snape started to look for different ingredients and was relieved when he found everything he needed. The ingredients were old, but he knew that they could last even centuries with the proper spells and the ingredients had been indeed heavily guarded with the required preserving charms. He quickly cleaned a cauldron, lit a fire underneath it and started to work in deep concentration. Soon the three teens joined him. They were silent, but watching in awe at the man's ability. Severus ignored their presence for a while, but after some time he spoke: "It's a simple potion. It will be ready in five hours."

They had lunch with yearning moods, hoping for the potion to work, but they still had to wait four more hours to know. They ate with anxious faces and Harry wondered if the food would actually stay in his stomach. He thought that the others were probably thinking like him.

XxXxX

The four hours passed and the potion was ready at last. Snape carefully poured some of the potion in a flask and they all followed him into the living room. Ron carefully placed Slytherin's locket on a table and Snape signaled for them to get as far from the table as they could. He took a deep breath and poured the potion over the locket. The object started to glow for a minute and then snapped open, startling them all. What looked like dark smoke started to rise from the object and Harry quickly chanted in a strange language with glazed eyes, pointing at the smoke with his wand. The smoke then vanished and a tremor shook the whole house. Hermione hugged Ron in nervousness, both getting against a wall, Harry held the sofa, and Snape supported himself with the table. Soon the mild earthquake stopped and they all felt the room getting very cold. Snape looked at them and there was an odd expression on his face: "We have to get out of here fast."

The air seemed to be getting colder and heavier. It wasn't easy to breathe and Ron looked out the window as a creepy feeling surrounded him. The youngest of the Weasley boys started to tremble and turned very white. His lips were pale and with a shaky voice he spoke: "Harry, do you remember when Seamus asked about the difference between a ghost and an Inferius?"

Worried, Harry responded: "Yes. Why, Ron?"

"Now I definitely can confirm that they are not transparent like ghosts..."

Harry looked at his trembling friend and his voice came out a bit nervous: "Ron... Tell me you are joking." The redhead shook his head.

Hermione then approached the window to confirm what Ron was saying. She screamed in horror as a putrid arm broke through the glass and grabbed her by the hair.