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Chapter 7
Skye flounced about the outer edge of a lush gated garden, fidgeting with the ring finger of her right hand. Her eyes seemed to dance glinting in the harsh moonlight, transitioning between their usual jovial green, and a murky maroon.
She appeared lost, and annoyed. After what seemed to be hours she tired of her pacing and finally took root. In fact, she ceased all movement, in some ways it even appeared as though she had stopped breathing.
"Through the gate." She began to chant in a small voice. "Through the gate, secrets wait."
Silence once more engulfed the small wooded area, and Skye sank to her knees in the dewy grass, stretching her arms towards the sky. The moon light seemed to stream upon her right ring finger, teasing her mothers ring from her until it was floating in the expanse between herself and the gate shielding the garden entrance.
"Sacrifice." Skye whispered as she became bathed in moonlight, hovering further and further from the ground. "Required." She murmured, closing her eyes and lifting her face skyward. As she floated higher and higher, the ring inched toward the gate, spinning and spiraling through the air.
The atmosphere grew stale, and electrified. The ring stalled midair before darting swiftly toward the gate, lodging itself squarely in the gates center notch. At that precise moment the beam of light receded and Skye fell to the ground with a sickening thud.
"Draw courage from truth and strength from within." A voice boomed, engulfing the clearing. The gate inched open as the scene seemed to fade, spinning and spiraling from view.
The sun burst through the large windows, and the warm breeze wafted through the room as three teens bolted out of their slumber. The air hung heavily around them, and for a moment they each, in turn, forgot to breathe.
"Did..." Harry began to speak, though he was unsure how to continue. Hermione answered as Ron nodded, assenting truth in his unasked question.
"You don't think..." Ron began. "Could... Is it possible..."
"Skye?" Harry questioned.
"You don't think she... maybe?" Ron finished.
"Certainly not." Hermione interjected, not at all certain.
Ron nodded as Harry slipped the chain from around his neck where Skye's ring was strung. "At the very least, someone's trying to tell us something." He spoke contemplatively as he laid the ring and its chain against the coffee tables middle.
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Fred nudged the door open with his shoulder, balancing the paper bags in his hands. It was hard to believe that a month ago today he had walked out on his remaining family, to enter this world so foreign to him. Tapping the door closed with his foot, he moved silently through the hall and deposited the bags on the kitchen counter.
Taking a moment to fill a glass with water, he moved to the adjoining study, leaning against the doorway to quietly observe a very pensive albus Dumbledore. He sat hunched over a desk against the farthest wall, meticulously examining his right hand. Laying next to his trembling left hand on the desk were the sources of his worsening ailments, a ring that had once belonged to the gaunt family, and a locket that the duo had previously retrieved. An experience that Fred would prefer to forget, and yet managed to relieve in his dreams on a daily basis.
"Albus?" Fred punctured the silence as he took a tentative step forward. "How are you feeling?" He asked, offering Dumbledore the water glass.
He made an attempt to smile, though the twinkle had left his eyes, and it came off as more of a grimace. "Too early to tell I'm afraid." Fred nodded. Taking a seat in the chair opposite his older companion.
"You look troubled. Is there something wrong with the locket?"
"Many things." Dumbledore murmered, peeking out the window before turning to face Fred once again. "The foremost being, that it is not the correct one."
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Several hours later found Fred gingerly removing the tea kettle from the stove top and filling two cups, dunking tea bags in and out of the cups steamy surfaces. "Did you make any progress at the market this morning?" Dumbledore asked as he accepted the cup offered by his young traveling companion.
Silently, Fred stalked to the window sill, taking a seat, resting his cheek against the dewy window pane. "I've nearly earned his confidence, I think. Though..." Fred hesitated. "I can't help but wonder, it's just, you seem to know him, wouldn't it... if I were just to mention your name..." Fred paused, turning to his mentor.
"No good would come with the mention of my name." Dumbledore spoke gently, tracing the rim of his tea cup.
Fred nodded, returning his gaze to the inky, sullen skies beyond the window pane. Contemplatively Fred slid his finger through the dew that had condensed on the glass. Nothing seems to be going the way that it should. What aren't you telling me?
✤
Ginny pressed her head into the back of the couch. "What answer could there possibly be?" She asked, lifting her head. Luna shrugged.
"What did the note say again?" Neville asked.
"'The locket is a fake. It's up to the three of you to find the real one.' What makes him think that we are going to be able to find this locket?" The room lapsed into a clouded silence, shrowded in doubt and contemplation.
"A locket did you say?" Luna questioned.
"Yeah." Ginny replied, contorting her face and releasing a pronounced sigh. "A locker, and of course not just any locket..." Falling silent she shook her head as if to clear it. "Why do you ask?"
"I believe... if I'm not mistaken, and I'm not, but you once mentioned stumbling upon a curious locket." Clearly befuddled by Luna's speculation Ginny remained silent and contemplative. "You said something about its extreme reluctance to reveal its inner chambers."
"Grimmauld place!" She exclaimed, triumphantly. "Of course! A locket, the locket."
"Precisely." Luna agreed, as though the answer had been obvious to her all along.
✤
"I don't think we should all go." Hermione proclaimed, pushing her food around her plate.
"Oh?" Ron replied, as Harry remained silent, studying his friend.
"I'm not going with you. I think you and Harry should go check it out, while I work on researching and unearthing the other horcrux." Hermione offered resolutely as she intensely studied her plate.
"Splitting up is almost never a good strategy." Ron declared heatedly. "What if something were to happen, what are you going to do without Harry or me here to help you."
"In case you haven't noticed Ronald, which you obviously haven't, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I'm a big girl." Hermione defensively declared, rising from her chair and placing her hands firmly on the table top.
"Right." Ron answered sardonically. "Of course Hermione, your perfectly capable of taking care of yourself." He continued, also getting up out of his chair. "Its not like you were abducted last year or anything." The air grew thick around the trio, and Hermione looked as if all the wind had been knocked out of her momentarily.
"How dare you." Hermione's whisper boomed across the room. "How dare you even imagine through that at me Ronald Weasley."
"How dare I what. Hermione? How dare I bring the truth into the matter? Is that what you mean? Because, in all honesty, when you talk about staying behind the past does become an issue."
"In this case the past is completely irrelevant, and you know that. In the first place I wasn't expecting anything to happen at that time, and now I'm very conscious of the fact, and in the second the first time around we were all at Hogwarts. You couldn't do anything that time, what do you think you could do a second time." The room once more lapsed into silence, the combatants angry and seething, and Harry still seated, still observing his friends.
"Why can't you understand? As smart as you are Hermione, why can't you just understand?" Ron murmured, meeting her gaze. "Some things are about more than you. What makes you think that I can just walk away and leave you here? There are too many people involved. It's not only a matter of how Harry and I would feel if something happened to you. What about the Order?" Ron paused for a moment, willing Hermione to continue to meet his gaze. "What about Fred?"
Hermione tipped her head back to stare up at the ceiling. "Fred would understand, he'd agree that some choices have to be made." She said softly.
"It's a good idea." Harry interjected. "Hermione should stay."
"What?" Ron turned to his friend. "You can't possibly be serious. No way."
Harry shrugged, standing to better look Ron in the eye. "Ron, you have to admit it, Hermione's right, as usual. At this point it's not about what we want to do, it's about what we have to do. Some choices have to be made, and this seems to be one of them."
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Ginny slipped through the hall and down the stairs, tip toeing through the kitchen and gently vacating the house. The moon hung high in the sky, illuminating the yard of The Burrow. Silently, she moved down the path leading away from her childhood home. Moving swiftly, and remaining cognitive of her surroundings, she made it to a fork in the road, just out of sight of her house.
Waiting there were Luna and Neville, both hidden behind their cloaks. "Lets get this party started." Luna spoke jovially as was her want, and the trio moved through the still night, seeking to fulfil their task.
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It took far too long for me to update. I know. I'm sorry. But on a brighter note, I'm hoping to be finished with this before the last book comes out. Fingers crossed everyone!
Quickly, before I head out, I'd like to make a few short acknowledgments. First and foremost, thank you tutucute4u for your constant support and kind words, they are always appreciated. Thank you to ravendove2007, one of my good friends who is always willing to tell me what she really thinks. And last, but certainly not least, I send out thanks to my newest reviewer, pstibbons who along with some really fun comments, has given me some valuable criticism, which I hope to use. Though if I can't slip it in at this point I'll definitely use it in rewrites of these stories.
Thank you all so much!
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Peace out and all that Jazz!