Thanks again for the totally awesome response last chapter! I hope you guys enjoy this one :)

Disclaimer: Idea is CaseyLove's, anything you recognize (characters, settings, events) is JKRs

Chapter 8: Previews & Planning

Once inside, Ginny realized that the tent, though large, was going to seem slightly small with four people and a baby living in it. It was nearly identical to the one the boys had shared at the Quidditch World Cup, with a kitchen, table and chairs, two sofas, a bathroom, and two sets of bunk beds. However, this one also had a cradle where James would sleep ,and was already scattered with baby toys from Hermione's beaded bag.

"Wow," Ginny said, trying not to be upset at the lack of space, "this is pretty nice." No one said anything, but Ginny was hardly paying attention-she was silently bemoaning the fact that there would be almost no privacy, which meant no sex.

"I have some tea bags," Hermione finally said. "Why don't I brew those and we can sit and talk about what to do?"

Harry and Ginny thought this was a great idea, so while Hermione brewed up the tea, Ginny fed James and Harry changed his nappy. They had just settled him into his cradle when Hermione brought the tea over to the sofa they were sitting on.

"It's Earl Grey. Sorry, Ginny, I know that's not your favorite."

"I'll survive," Ginny said, smiling. Hermione gave her a small smile in return, then settled herself on the sofa across from them. For a moment, no one spoke, then Ron moaned. Hermione set down her tea and hurried over to him.

"How are you feeling?"

"Not bloody wonderful," Ron replied, and Ginny could hear the strain in his voice. "What happened?"

"You got Splinched when we Apparated away from Lupin and Tonks' place," Hermione explained. "I put essence of dittany on it, and it's not completely healed, but you're in a lot better shape."

"Do you have anything for pain?" Ron asked.

"Well, not available," Hermione said. "I could mix up a pain draught, if you'd like-"

"Please do," Ron said, laying his head back down on his pillow. "Oh, hey, you two. James okay?"

"He's fine," Ginny replied, leaning over to glance in the cradle. "Sleeping, actually, thank Merlin. Hopefully he'll sleep for a bit."

Hermione had returned to the floor in front of the two sofas and was digging through her bag. "Oh, yeah, I almost forgot," she said in a somewhat shocked voice. "I got this from Umbridge at the Ministry." She tossed a heavy gold locket on the floor at Ginny's feet.

"What is it?" she asked, leaning over to pick it up.

"A Horcrux," Harry said quietly, and Ginny dropped it like it had burned her.

"Oh," she said. All of a sudden, the temperature of the room seemed to have dropped ten degrees. She remembered all too well Tom Riddle's diary from her first year at Hogwarts, how the thing had taken her over and forced her to release the Basilisk. She remembered how he had forced her to go down to the chamber and await her death, and she definitely remembered the hours leading up to her losing conciousness. To this day, she had never felt so scared and alone as she had that year.

An urge to fling the thing across the room overtook her. She controlled herself and asked timidly, "Um...is it safe to touch?"

"Yes," Hermione replied. "The only reason the diary controlled you is because you got so close to it emotionally. Physical contact won't have the same effect."

"All the same," Ginny said, looking at it warily. Harry leaned over, picked it up, and flung it back at Hermione.

"So we got it," Ron said weakly. "Now what do we do with it?"

"We try to destroy it," Harry said, and Ron gave a snort.

"No kidding. But how do we do that?" he asked. Both boys looked at Hermione.

"What?" she asked, glancing up from studying the locket.

"Well, you're the expert on Horcruxes here, we figured you'd know how to destroy it," Ron said. "You and that bloody book of yours."

"I already told you-to destroy the Horcrux, you have to destroy it's home. We have to figure out a way to mangle the locket beyond magical repair. There are few things in this world that can do such things. Basilisk venom is the most common way."

"The most common way?" Ginny asked. "Do people regularly destroy Horcruxes or something?"

"No," Hermione replied. "This is only based off of the little we do know about them. I think, in the entire history of magic, that there have only been about eight Horcruxes ever created, not counting Vol-"

"Please don't say his name!" Ron objected. "I mean, come on, just-just don't say it!"

"Fine!" Hermione exclaimed. "Not counting You-Know-Who's Horcruxes! Better?"

"No," Ron grumbled. "Is my tea done?"

The kettle whistled at that very moment, cutting off Ginny's scathing remark. Hermione, though glaring daggers at Ron, did get up and prepare him a cup of tea. She slammed it down in front of him, causing a bit of the hot water to spill over the edge. Ron yelped, but Hermione ignored him and sat back down in front of Harry and Ginny.

"So," she continued, as though nothing had happened, "I would say it's going to be very hard to destroy that thing."

"D'you think if we opened it, it would help?" Harry asked thoughtfully. "I mean, it might, it might not, who knows?"

"It might..." Hermione said slowly. "Nothing happened when we opened the diary until we wrote in it. I would guess the locket is the same way. If we could figure out what makes it open, that might help us, yes."

"Let me see it," Harry requested, and Hermione passed him the locket. He ran his fingers over it, looking for a button or something, tried to pull it apart, and failed. He pulled out his wand and tried to open it magically, but still, nothing happened. Frustrated, he held it out to Ginny.

She slowly reached out her hand and took it. The cold metal rested in her palm, glistening innocently in the lamplight. Nothing happened-she didn't feel any different. Cautiously, she ran her fingers along the crack like Harry had, but found nothing.

Suddenly, a sense of revulsion filled her and she flung the locket away, resisting the urge to gag.

"Ginny?" Harry asked. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," she replied, getting up and walking away towards the bathroom, trying not to let any of them see the tears in her eyes.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked, and she could hear him getting up to follow her.

"Yes, Harry, I'm fine," she retorted, giving a bit of an edge to her voice as she slammed the bathroom door behind her. She leaned against it and took two deep breaths. It was fine, she told herself, there was nothing wrong with her. The locket hadn't taken her over. She was herself.

Angrily, Ginny turned on the water and began to wash her face, not really knowing why. She supposed she was angry with herself for being so afraid of a piece of jewelry, and maybe a little ashamed that she hadn't gotten over something that happened when she was eleven, for Merlin's sake. She dried her face off in the towel and stared at her face in the mirror.

It was still her face, still the same red hair and round nose and freckles that she'd grown up with all her life. But something about her eyes was different now. Her eyes looked...almost older, more mature in a way that scared her. She supposed a lot had happened to her in the past year-she'd had a child, gotten married, been tortured, and had embarked on a dangerous quest with three other teenagers. It was enough to change anyone.

And yet, she was still the scared eleven year old who needed her friend Tom, and confided everything to him, the same girl who'd been played like a fool by him. The girl who was so haunted by the memories that she couldn't even hold a fucking piece of jewelry.

A knock on the door scared her so badly she let out a small screech, then mentally cursed herself. "Who is it?" she called.

"It's Harry," he said, his voice gentle. "Ginny, please let me in."

She sighed and turned the lock so he could come in, then sat down uncertainly on the toilet lid. He squeezed into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. There was so little room, her face was almost in his stomach.

"Hey, love," he said softly. "C'mere."

And that was all it took for the tears she'd been fighting to spill over. She stood up and buried her face in his chest and let him hold her. He murmured soothingly in her ear and rubbed her back and let her ruin his shirt like any good husband would.

"I'm s-sorry," she said finally, pulling away.

"Don't be sorry," he said. "I've had Vol-You-Know-Who in my head before, too, I know how it feels. I shouldn't have expected you to deal with that Horcrux, I'm the one who should be sorry."

"I have to get over this fear at some point," Ginny objected. "I'm being stupid, holding on to that ridiculous memory-I was eleven, I should be over this!"

"Ginny, that kind of experience is going to stick with you for the rest of your life, and there's nothing you can do about that. It...it's not something that goes away," he said, and she knew he understood. "Things like that...they're always going to haunt you at night, you're always going to see them in the shadows. You can't get rid of it, it's a part of you. You just have to learn to deal with it, or find the person who can help you through all that, because no, it's not something you can do on your own."

Ginny didn't say anything for a moment, simply wrapped her arms around Harry and put her head on his shoulder. She let her mind go blank of all thoughts of Horcruxes and Voldemort and simply let him hold her, enjoyed his warmth, the way his body felt pressed against hers. For just that moment, she let herself be a teenager, standing with the person she loved most in the entire world, and let herself be comforted by him.

"Thanks," she finally said into his shoulder. "I love you."

"I love you too," he whispered, then kissed her once, twice, three, four times, and lead her out of the bathroom.

That night was a long one for them all. James was extremely restless, which affected all of them, as they were in such a small tent. Ron couldn't sleep in his usual position because of his arm, and his shouts of pain rang out regularly through the tent, and Ginny woke everybody up screaming more than once.

All in all, the dull, gray morning that greeted them represented their mood exactly. Everyone was tired, crabby, and hungry, and to make matters worse, Harry had decided that in order to keep the locket safe, he would wear it around his neck, which in turn made Ginny avoid him like the plague.

They moved their camp that day, to a spot just outside a town, and Hermione hurried off to buy some groceries. She had come back with only a few bags, out of breath and looking scared out of her mind.

"Dementors," she panted. "We have to get out of here."

So they did, moving instead to a deserted moor for the rest of the day. Harry turned crabby and started yelling at everyone until Hermione finally realized the Horcrux was affecting his mood and decided they should wear it in turns. James spent most of the day fussing, due to the weather, and Ginny did her best to be patient with him. It wasn't until nightfall that anything happened at all.

"Ouch!" Harry yelled, slamming his palm into his forehead.

"What?" Ginny asked, looking up from James. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm-I'm fine," he replied. "I just...need some air." He strode out of the tent, and they could hear his footsteps crunching off into the distance. Eventually, they stopped, and Ginny guessed he had sat down.

"Needs some air, ha," Ron grumbled. "We all know he saw something."

Hermione sighed in frustration and set her mug down with a loud THUNK. "He's got to stop doing that," she said. "Dumbledore wanted him to keep You-Know-Who out, and he was right. Harry's just too stubborn to see that."

"I dunno, Hermione," Ginny said slowly. "I mean, it's come in useful before, hasn't it?"

"And it also got Sirius killed and the rest of us in huge danger!" Hermione retorted. "Tell me, Ginny, how is that good?"

"Well, for starters, it also got the Ministry to finally pull their heads out of their arses and realize You-Know-Who was back, and as I recall it also kept the prophecy out of his hands!"

"At the cost of Sirius' life," Hermione said softly. "It wasn't worth it."

Ginny couldn't argue with her. Instead, she leaned down and scooped up James, preparing to feed him. She was just finishing up when Harry finally came stumping back in.

"He killed Gregorovitch," he said softly before Hermione could say anything. "He went to his shop, and interrogated him, and Gregorovitch told him everything he wanted, but he killed him anyway."

"You shouldn't have let him in," Hermione said. "You know Dumbledore wanted-"

"Well Dumbledore isn't here right now, Hermione!" Harry snapped. "And you know I try, I just can't seem to figure it out!"

"If you actually put some effort into your Occlumency, then maybe-"

"Do you think I like having him in my head?" Harry was yelling now. "Well, let me tell you, I don't, but until we defeat him or I learn this stupid concept, I'm going to deal with it and use the information against him!"

James, scared by all the yelling, started to cry. Ginny stood up and got him his soother, then slowly rocked him until he'd calmed down.

"Sorry," Harry muttered to her. "Forgot he doesn't like loud noises." He accepted James from Ginny and began to walk around the tent with him in an effort to get him to fall asleep.

"I'll take the first watch," Hermione said, her voice chilly. Harry looked up at her as she left the tent, but no one followed her. They could see the light of her wand as she settled down on the forest floor and stared stonily out into the night.

There was a long silence until Ron finally spoke. "Why'd he want Gregorovitch, mate?"

"I dunno," Harry replied. "He wasn't looking for a new wand, because he killed him right afterwards."

"What did he want from Gregorovitch?" Ginny asked, sitting down on the couch.

"He looked into his mind for a memory," Harry replied, sitting next to her. "The memory was of a young bloke, and the bloke stole something from him, something important. I...the bloke looks familiar to me, but I can't for the life of me remember where I've seen him before."

A silence followed Harry's words as they all thought about it.

"Well, I definitely wouldn't want to be him," Ron said, and they heard the shifting of his blankets as he rolled over. "Poor bloke."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, a small smile creeping onto his face as he stared down at James.

"Well, night," Ron said, yawning.

"Night," Harry and Ginny replied. Ginny leaned into Harry and gave her son a smile. He wrapped one arm around her and they spent a few moments like that, reveling in each other's warmth and comfort, glad that neither of them were wearing the locket. It would be Ginny's turn tomorrow, and though she despised the locket with all of her being, she didn't want Harry, Ron, and Hermione to have to wear it alone.

"You'll be okay," he murmured to her, somehow reading her thoughts."It just makes you crabby."

"Because he's getting inside you, Harry," Ginny reminded him. "But I don't want to talk about it tonight."

"Okay," he replied, kissing her forehead gently. They sat in silence a little while longer until James' eyelids finally fluttered shut. Harry got up and laid him in his crib, then returned to Ginny. He laid down on the couch, all the way stretched out, and pulled her down next to him. Well, more like on top of him-the couch was too small for two people to lay side-by-side.

Ginny's head was right over his heart, and she could hear the steady beating there. It comforted her, and she was just closing her eyes when Harry spoke again.

"I just wish I could figure out what it was. That the thief stole, I mean. It was obviously important to him."

"Do you think it'd give us an advantage over him?" Ginny asked.

"Maybe. If he wants it badly enough."

"Well, it's probably dangerous, deadly, or both," Ginny pointed out, "so I don't know if it'd be a good idea to carry it around with us."

"We're already carrying a Horcrux around with us," Harry pointed out. "How much more of a dangerous object can we get?" He chuckled, and Ginny let out a small giggle as well, despite the fact that it wasn't at all funny. Sometimes, when there was nothing more for it, laughter lightened any situation.

"We should be getting to sleep," Ginny said finally. "We'll be up with James at least six times tonight."

"Six? That's ridiculous. I'm thinking closer to ten."

"Want to bet on that, Potter?" she teased, tilting her face up to see his expression.

"Sure. Five Sickles on more than ten times," he said, a smile she hadn't seen in awhile on his face.

"You're on," Ginny said, and they shook on it. "And you are so going to lose."

"If you say so, dear," he said, smirking at her. She leaned up and kissed him, just to shut him up, but he responded, and soon she was entirely on top of him and his hands were creeping up under her shirt and hers at the buttons of his.

"We can't do this," she whispered as he kissed up and down her neck. "Hermione's outside and Ron's on the other side of the tent."

He sighed and kissed her again. "I know. This tent really needs more space."

Ginny let out a breathless laugh, then slid halfway off of him and nestled her head on his shoulder, both of them breathing hard.

"Goodnight," he said, stroking her hair.

"Goodnight," she replied, and they both drifted off to the most peaceful sleep either of them had had in a long time.

;) Obviously they can't get up to too much in that tent...partially the reason I'm making it so small...hehe. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review!

Lovelovelove -D-