A/N: I assume everyone has read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. If not… be warned, I'm incorporating it into my story. I'm not going fully in depth with the DH scenes. I've got enough to try to write without wracking my poor brain into getting precise details for something everyone should have at least some vague idea about. So, excuse the rushed scenes of this and any future chapters like this one.
"My Lord," Severus Snape bowed his greasy head to the Dark Lord.
"Once the Ministry is taken, you will become Headmaster of Hogwarts," Voldemort said. "I want you to implement any rule to keep the students in check. And, have the Carrows as head of discipline."
"Everything will be as you wish, my Lord," Snape said smoothly.
"Does anyone know how Lucius's boy is doing?" Voldemort asked, changing the subject rather abruptly.
"No one has been in contact with him since he left the country to do your bidding," Snape said.
"For his family's sake, I would hope he hasn't deserted our cause," Voldemort threatened.
Voldemort ended the private meeting between the two then. Nagini, the great snake that was also Voldemort's horcrux, slithered towards him. He absently stroked his pet's head with his fingers.
Soon, everything will be mine, and Harry Potter will be dead, He thought. And no one will get in my way!
Harry woke, his scar burning a bit. It wasn't the searing pain he felt when he crossed into Voldemort's mind, but it hurt nonetheless. Voldemort must have taken care of some business that pleased him.
Rubbing it, he saw that it was still dark out, with just a hint of light. It was time to get up anyway, if he was to say bye to Eragon. He looked over, and found that Ron was still sleeping. Picking up his pillow, he threw it and hit Ron in the face. Ron woke up angry.
"Why'd you do that, I was having such a nice dream!" Ron demanded in a hiss.
"Don't you want to say bye to Eragon? This may be the last we see him for a while," Harry said. "It's almost first light."
"Alright, alright, I'm up, now. And I was just about to…. Never mind that," Ron said.
Harry dismissed the last with a shrug. Who was he to force Ron to tell his dream? Harry got up and dressed quickly. Ron was slower, still quite groggy from sleep.
Downstairs, Hermione was already up. Ginny was up, too. Harry couldn't afford to put Ginny in harms way by dating her. Not only would he not forgive himself if something happened, but Ron would be down his throat too.
Eragon was already up, too. He was packed and ready, waiting for his friends to wish him luck. Garrow didn't need a cage, for Eragon had trained the bird to stay close when not off delivering mail.
"This is bye, for now, I guess," Harry said as they all walked out to the back door where Saphira was waiting.
"Remember, if anything happens, send Hedwig. If I don't hear from you for say, two weeks, I'll send Garrow," Eragon said.
"Let us know what's going on in Alagaesia, too!" Hermione replied.
"Fair enough," Eragon said.
Time to go, little one, Saphira said, nudging her Rider with her nose.
"Alright, Saphira! Let me say good bye first," Eragon laughed. "Well, I guess this is goodbye, for now."
"See you!" the group called as Eragon swiftly mounted.
"Remember, if you need any help, I'll be glad to help!" Eragon said.
Then Saphira took off, into the twilight sky. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny watched as all too soon the Rider and dragon became a speck in the sky.
"Let's go back inside," Harry said.
"Mum's going to make us work, you know, with the wedding and all," Ron said.
Ron's prediction came true. There was still so much work to be done for the wedding, and Harry's birthday, which happened to be the day before the wedding. When Harry's birthday came, the house was almost ready for the wedding the next day.
Hermione had gotten Harry a new Sneakoscope, and Ron had to give Harry his present in private. It was a book called Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches.
During the dinner that night, however, Scrimgeour came. The Minister of Magic wanted to see Harry, Ron and Hermione alone. It was about Dumbledore's will.
"Do any of you know why Albus Dumbledore would give Ron the Deluminator?" Scrimgeour asked after reading the first item of the will.
"No," Ron said.
"Hmm. I see. Well, the next item, to Hermione Granger, a book called, The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Perhaps there's a code inside the book?" Scrimgeour asked.
"No, there's no code," Hermione said after a glancing through the book. It was written in runes.
"And finally, Mr. Harry Potter," Scrimgeour said, "Gets an old Snitch. The one he caught in his first game. There must be something inside."
Harry thought for sure that it would open when he touched it, but it didn't, to his relief. He looked at Scrimgeour.
"It also says in the will that you are to have the sword of Godric Gryffindor, but that wasn't in Dumbledore's power to give," Scrimgeour said. "It belongs to Hogwarts."
"But Harry pulled that sword from the Sorting Hat! It should belong to him!" Hermione jumped up.
"Yeah!" Ron added, jumping up as well.
"Dumbledore left a mission for you, to kill You-Know-Who with Gryffindor's sword!" Scrimgeour accused them.
"That's an interesting theory. Has anyone tried to ram a sword through Voldemort?" Harry asked.
The Weasley family came in then, wanting to know what the shouting was about. The Minister of Magic looked flustered a moment, and then said, "We just had a difference of opinions. Good day," and with that, he left out the front door.
"What did he want to speak to the three of you about?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"Dumbledore's will," Harry said, and left it at that.
The rest of dinner was quiet, and hurried. It was as if something big was going to go down, and soon.
That night, when Ron was almost asleep, Harry thought of something. Why wasn't he in trouble for the bit of magic he performed in Alagaesia? When he asked Ron this, all he got was a "Dunno. Could have been interference from something, or perhaps the Trace doesn't work when you're out of country. Don't worry about it."
The next day was the wedding. It was the first wedding Harry had ever been to, so he really couldn't compare Muggle weddings to wizarding weddings. Unfortunately, in the interest to keep him safe in the unknown times, he had to pretend to be someone else, a distant cousin to the Weasley family, by using Polyjuice Potion.
Harry had, of course, read the Daily Prophet that had the article of Rita Skeeter's book, and he began to have doubts about Dumbledore. The Weasleys' Aunt Muriel only added to his doubts. Everyone around him told him to keep true to the image he already had of Dumbledore, but he wanted the truth. He would just have to find out on his own. Which meant waiting for a bit, at least.
It was during the reception that the lynx Patronus came with the message that the Ministry had fallen. Then the Death Eaters came, and everyone scrambled. Harry, Ron, and Hermione Apparated to a busy street in London. Muggles hurried along, not noticing the trio who suddenly appeared.
"Follow me," Hermione told the other two. It was nearing twilight, and she led the way to an old, twenty-four hour café. Hermione, who was dressed in a blue dress with a beaded bag, pulled out Harry's invisibility cloak from the bag and ordered him to put it on. Harry did so.
"How did you fit that in there?" Ron asked.
"I used a spell to expand the space in the bag. This morning, I packed everything I thought we'd need to hunt the horcruxes," Hermione said.
"Voldemort was busy while we were gone, wasn't he?" Harry said.
"Yeah," Ron agreed. "But even if we were home, we couldn't have done a bloody thing about it."
Just then, two big, familiar looking men walked into the café. They sat behind the booth that the trio had sat in. Harry kept staring at their faces; quite sure that he knew them from somewhere. When they started pulling out their wands did it hit him: these were Death Eaters!
Harry pulled out his own wand quickly, and Stunned one of the Death Eaters. The other's spell barely missed Ron by a hair. Hermione shrieked, and Harry cast the stunning spell on the other Death Eater.
The waitress, who had just come out to take Ron and Hermione's orders, screamed at the site of the two men slumped over.
"For the love of—" Hermione stated. "I'll have to use a memory charm, on all of them."
"How'd they find us so quickly?" Harry asked.
"I don't know!" Hermione yelled. They had already stunned the waitress. Hermione performed the memory charm, and the three Disapparated. They went to Number 12, Grimould Place.
"Will we be safe here?" Ron asked. "Snape knows the place."
"Forgot about that," Harry said. "But didn't the Order put spells up to protect it from Death Eaters?"
"That's no guarantee," Hermione said.
"What else are we supposed to do?" Harry asked.
"I don't know!"
"We'll just have to take our chances," Harry said.
Once they had disarmed the spell Mad-Eye Moody had cast to protect the place from Snape, they warily went up the stairs and looked around. Seeing nothing alarming, they settled down in a room and went to sleep.
The next day, Harry realized that he'd left Hedwig behind. How were they to keep in touch with Eragon now? He hoped Hedwig would be okay.
"Now what?" Ron asked later that morning.
"We look for horcruxes. What else?" Harry said.
"Dunno," Ron admitted.
"We have to find out who R.A.B. is, first. That's the only clue we have," Hermione said.
It took three days for them to get accustomed enough to the house to explore it. Harry found part of a letter his mom wrote Sirius when he was one years old in Sirius's old room. He looked around for the next page, but it was missing.
The house looked like it had been gone through. Papers fluttered, and no room was spared. There was one room that was locked, but Hermione unlocked it with a spell. It was Regulus's room.
It suddenly dawned on the trio that they had found R.A.B. But the room had also been rummaged through, and the real locket was nowhere to be found.
As the three sat in the kitchen, thinking it over, Hermione asked about Kreacher. The house elf should had a habit of stealing things back from the Order, so maybe he would know where the locket was. First, Harry checked Kreacher's cupboard. It wasn't there.
"Kreacher!" Harry summoned his house elf.
When the house elf appeared, Harry asked the elf about the locket, and told him to answer truthfully. When Kreacher had confirmed that yes, he did steal the locket back, and yes, Mundungus Fletcher had come and stolen it and anything else of value, Harry asked how the locket had come into the Regulus's possession in the first place.
Kreacher told how Voldemort needed an elf for a test subject for the hiding place of the locket. Then he told how Regulus had become disaffected, and drank the potion, just as Kreacher had done a few years before, and told Kreacher to destroy the locket.
Then, Harry gave the locket Regulus had used to replace the horcrux to Kreacher. Kreacher was ecstatic at such a kind act.
"Now, Kreacher, would you please get Mundungus Fletcher and bring him here?" Harry asked after the elf had gotten over the shock. The house elf promptly went to do his job.
"Harry, I think that was the kindest act Kreacher has seen in years," Hermione said after Kreacher disappeared.
"I think you're right," Harry said. "All he needed was a little kindness."
They waited three days, even forgetting that Kreacher had gone to get Mundungus. When Mundungus realized where he was and who was there, he was apologetic for stealing everything. He said he already sold the candlesticks…
"We don't care about that stuff," Harry said.
"Then what did you have me brought here for?" Mundungus asked.
"There was a locket with the stuff you stole. That is what we want," Harry said.
"I don't have it. It was taken from me by some woman in the Ministry. A toad like woman," Mundungus cowered.
"I believe you," Harry said. "You may leave."
Once Mundungus was gone, the three sat, waiting for another to say something.
Finally, Harry broke the silence. "I guess we break into the ministry."
