"Now that we've destroyed one Horcrux, how are we gonna find the others?" Ron asked on one late evening a few days later. He pulled his feet up into a sitting position on his bed.
"Eh…." Harry mumbled, who was laying down on his bed.
"Well, I think I know a few places where they might be," said Hermione briskly, who was sitting in a pouf on the floor between Harry and Ron's bed, a book perched upon her crisscrossed legs, Hogwarts, A History.
"You do?" said Harry anxiously.
"Yes - but they're just ideas…." Hermione confessed bluntly.
"Go on," Ron prompted.
"Don't you remember how Voldemort hid one of his Horcruxes in a place where he had spent some of his time in his childhood? I'm guessing other places that Voldemort's been are where his other Horcruxes lie."
"Like the orphanage?" Ron guessed excitedly.
"Mhm," mused Hermione, flipping through the pages in her book.
"Maybe the Riddle house!" Harry also guessed.
"You name it," Hermione said. "Those are places we can check."
"Let's see," Ron said, holding up his fingers. "If the snake is a Horcrux, we know she's with Vol - thingy," he put up a finger. "and then there's three places the Horcruxes might be: Orphanage, Riddle house, and maybe Riddle's graveyard…."
"I do not want to go back there," said Harry shortly.
"It may be where the Horcrux is, Harry!" said Hermione with the slightest air of impatience.
"Fine, fine…." Harry said. "I think I know how to get there, fortunately."
"How?" Ron asked.
"Triwizard Cup," Harry answered simply.
"But that means - " said Hermione slowly.
" - we'd have to go back to Hogwarts to get it," Ron finished.
Harry thought for a moment.
"We'll save that Horcrux for last, if you don't mind."
"Fine," Hermione said. "But in the meantime, we may want to research where Voldemort's orphanage was located; that will be our first step."
"Okey-doke," said Ron, falling back onto his bed. "How about tomorrow we find out where the orphanage is, and maybe find a train or something to get us there."
"But we can Apparate," Hermione reminded him.
"Yeah, but you don't know what it looks like, now do you?"
"Oh, right…." Hermione said, shutting her book. "Well, good-night."
And with that, Hermione strode out the door.
"Hey, Harry, in two days it's your birthday," said Ron abruptly, breaking the silence.
"Yeah," said Harry. "Wait, don't tell me you forgot!"
"Don't worry, I've got a present for you." Ron said, and turned off the lamp on his bedside table, sending the room into darkness.
"Ah, there you two are!"
Harry and Ron stepped into the kitchen in the morning, expecting to see Hermione, but instead saw Mrs. Weasley, bustling up to them.
"Don't think I don't know what you three are up to," she said crossly. "I know - "
"About Horcruxes?" Ron cut in.
Harry could've kicked him. What if that wasn't what Mrs. Weasley was talking about?
"Yes!" Mrs. Weasley said stiffly. "We've seen more life than you two have, and already knew about Horcruxes - "
"Thanks, Mum, but we don't need help," said Ron simply.
"Help?" repeated Mrs. Weasley, wide-eyed. "What do you mean, 'help'? Ron - you're not - ?"
"Only a few to go," Ron said placidly.
"WHAT?" screamed Mrs. Weasley, her voice echoing throughout the house. "YOU LOT ARE GOING AROUND DESTROYING YOU-KNOW-WHO'S HORCRUXES?"
"Keep it down, Mum!" said Ron frantically, for Mrs. Black's portrait bloodcurdling scream was filling the house.
Hermione poked her head through the doorway, along with Ginny and Mr. Weasley, who had just arrived in the kitchen.
"What's this?" said Mr. Weasley, striding into the room and up to his wife. "What about Horcruxes?"
"Yes!" said Mrs. Weasley angrily, now looking back and forth between Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"They're so young - they can't - why would you be doing this?"
"Eh…prophecy," said Ron. "Now that we've got Slytherin's locket - "
"YOU'VE ALREADY DESTROYED ONE!?" Mrs. Weasley yelled, yet again. "RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY - "
"Mum!" Ron said, now impatient. "Keep your hair on - we know what we're doing here, okay?"
"But you're only children!" Mrs. Weasley said tearful whine. "You could get hurt - "
"Hermione and I are adults now, and couldn't we all get hurt, even walking down the street? There's Death Eater's everywhere trying to do us in."
"Oh - but, Ron - you're just - " Mrs. Weasley choked, terrified at the thought of her child and two other people she cared about going after Horcruxes. "You're just - my little boy, all grown up now and risking your neck out there - "
Ron turned a bright pink as his mother started to cry.
"I need a moment," Mrs. Weasley said through a gasp, and ran out the door. Mr. Weasley followed anxiously.
There was a pause between Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, along with Mrs. Black's screams. Her screams were finally muffled by the curtains around her portrait and then her voice died. Then -
"So…" said Ginny conversationally, "what are Horcruxes?"
"How did this happen?" said Hermione, rounding on Ron. "What did you do, Ronald?"
"Always jump to conclusions, do you?" Ron said stiffly. "For your information, I didn't do anything."
"Well, then how'd she find out?"
"Mum has her sources," said Ron with a shrug.
Hermione huffed angrily.
"Fine. Well, it might interest you to know that last night I was doing some research in a book covering our area of Britain, and I think I found - " She glanced at Ginny, who had an eyebrow raised and muttered, "Voldemort's orphanage."
Harry and Ron nodded, sat down at the table, and helped themselves to the breakfast in front of them. Ginny followed suit, looking extremely put out.
They hadn't been eating for a minute when there was a knock on the door.
Mrs. Weasley was seen through the doorway, rushing through the hallway to answer the door. Harry bent his neck to get a better view of who was there through the open door.
It was none other than Tonks, though hardly recognizable: her hair was long, layered gray. Her hair seemed to match her expression: grim. As she spoke to Mrs. Weasley, Harry could only hear tidbits of her hollow-sounding voice.
"…hurt…trying to recover…not…worry about…"
So someone was hurt, but they will be okay? Harry thought quizzically. He glanced over at Ron, who had also abandoned his breakfast and was trying to listen. He wasn't the onlyone, though, for Hermione and Ginny were also looking over at Tonks.
"Oh, dear," Mrs. Weasley's voice said sadly. "Do you want to stay here for the time being? We have extra rooms…"
"Thank you, Molly," said Tonks. "That'd be nice."
"Well, come in, we're just having breakfast," Mrs. Weasley prompted.
Mrs. Weasley came back into the kitchen, conjured another chair, plate, and silverware with her wand, and Tonks followed.
But after seeing the foursome through the kitchen door, Tonks scrunched up her face, and in a moment, her hair was short, curly, and a vivid neon green. Once arriving in the kitchen, she had a weary smile.
"Wotcher," she said.
"Hi Tonks," their voices chimed in unison.
"Nice hair," Ginny said, "better than that look you just had."
"Oh, you saw that?" Tonks let out a weak laugh. "Yeah, I prefer this one." She twirled a curl in her finger.
"So, where's Lupin?" Harry asked.
"Oh - " Tonks said, and her hair seemed to wilt. "Erm - "
"You're done eating? Good," said Mrs. Weasley abruptly and anxiously. "Well, off you go!"
And she practically pushed them all out the door. This left Harry wondering if Mrs. Weasley had even looked at their plates, because neither of them had hardly touched their food.