I really don't like this chapter at all. But I hope you enjoy (:

HORCRUXES.

"Darcy," Harry breathed in my ear. "Refill the bottle."

While the tipsy Hagrid and Slughorn were telling stories, I pointed my wand at the bottle of wine Hagrid had. It refilled instantly and I hid my wand as they glanced at Harry and me. Harry and I sat there for about an hour before the two adults were slurring their sentences and actually looked more than a bit tipsy. I kept looking to Harry, wondering what to do next.

"The good die young," Hagrid muttered. "My dad was no age to go… nor was your mum and dad…" His eyes met mine and then Harry's. Slughorn and Hagrid began to sing an old wizard folk song and Harry and I looked at each other again. After the last line, he sighed, "Terrible…" Hagrid leaned back and began to snore.

"Sorry," Slughorn hiccupped. "Can't carry a tune to save my life."

"He wasn't talking about your singing," Harry said quietly. "He was talking about our mum and dad dying."

"Oh," Slughorn said. "That is terrible… terrible… I don't suppose either of you remember?"

Harry looked to me and I swallowed loudly. "I was still a little child," I said. "My dad died first. Did you know that?"

Slughorn shook his head.

"Voldemort killed my dad and then walked right past him to get to my mum." Slughorn shuddered at the sound of his name, but I ignored it. "He told her to get out of the way, that he only wanted Harry and she and I could survive, but she didn't move."

Slughorn stared at me. "That's awful."

"It is," I whispered. "She didn't move away and I was in Harry's crib, holding him tightly. That's where mum put me. I was so scared. Dad was dead, but she didn't want Harry or me to die too. She pleaded with Voldemort, but he just laughed…"

"Enough!" Slughorn said suddenly and I jumped. "I don't need to hear that… I don't want to…"

"I forgot," I replied. "You liked her, didn't you?"

"Liked her?" Slughorn's eyes were filling with tears. "I don't imagine anyone who met her wouldn't have liked her…"

"But you won't help her son," said Harry. "She gave me and Darcy her life, but you won't give me a memory."

"It isn't a question… If it were to help you, of course…" Slughorn paused. "But no purpose can be served…"

"Dumbledore needs information," Harry continued. "We need information." Harry leaned forward, looking Slughorn directly in the eyes. "I am the Chosen One. I have to kill him. I need that memory."

"You are the Chosen One?" Slughorn asked quietly.

Harry nodded.

"But then… my dear boy… you're asking a great deal… you're asking me, in fact, to aid you in your attempt to destroy –"

"You don't want to get rid of the wizard who killed Lily Evans?" I asked.

"Of course I do, but –"

"You're scared he'll find out you helped?" I said quietly. I knew exactly how he felt.

Slughorn didn't say anything.

"Be brave like our mother, Professor…" Harry whispered.

"I am not proud…" Slughorn breathed, his voice trembling. "I am ashamed of what – of what that memory shows… I think I may have done great damage that day…"

"You'd cancel out anything you did by giving me the memory," Harry said. "It would be a very brave and noble thing to do."

There was a long, long silence and only Hagrid's heavy breathing and snoring broke it. Slughorn suddenly reached in his pocket very slowly and pulled out his wand; with his other hand, he extracted a vial from his cloak. Touching the tip of his wand to his temple, he withdrew it and a long, silvery wisp came out of his head, attached to the wand. He lowered it into the vial in his wand and corked the bottle. He passed it to me, who passed it to Harry.

"Thank you," Harry said.

Slughorn had tears trickling down his cheeks. He looked directly at me. "You look just like her… Just don't think badly of me once you've seen it…"

Slughorn put his arms on the table, buried his face in them, and fell asleep.

Harry and I grinned at each other and crept out of Hagrid's hut. It was dark out and I pulled out my wand, muttering, "Lumos." We looked at the vial of Slughorn's memory. "You did it…" I breathed. "You got the memory."

"We got the memory," Harry sounded out of breath. We met eyes and smiled again, hugging each other.

"We've got to hurry back up to the castle," I told him, grabbing his hand. We began to run up the steps to the castle. "Or else Filch will lock the front doors."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"We got the memory," I sighed happily, closing the door to my quarters. Lupin looked up at me from the couch and smiled. "We got it."

"That's great," he said, standing up and hugging me. "You okay?"

"I'm just… excited," I replied, hugging him back. "I was nervous, but I don't think Slughorn will remember anything in the morning."

"What happened?"

"He's drunk. Down at Hagrid's."

"You left him there?"

"We couldn't bring him back," I shrugged. "He's too heavy to drag back up the steps to the castle."

"True." He kissed the top of my head. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

He touched my cheeks with his hands and kissed my lips. His lips trailed down to my neck and I felt my knees go weak. He smiled against my skin and peeled off my shirt, dropping it to the ground. He pulled away and smirked. I grabbed his hands and dragged him to the bedroom.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Okay." Harry and I sat down on my bed and I pointed my wand towards the closed door. "Muffliato." I yelled real loud and Lupin didn't yell back, so I figured that the spell was working. "Tell me everything."

"A Horcrux. That's what Voldemort asked Slughorn."

I shook my head. "What's a Horcrux?"

Harry's face contorted as he thought for a moment. "It's something or an object you conceal your soul into. So you cannot die. Your physical body can die, but your soul lives on in said object."

"Just one object?"

"It can be as many as you want. In Voldemort's case, it's six."

"Six Horcruxes? What are they?"

"I have no idea," Harry sighed.

"Okay, how do you make a Horcrux?"

"Murder," he said grimly. "And by the time he asked Slughorn about the Horcruxes, he already killed his father and grandparents."

"So," I sighed, looking at Harry seriously. "Even if we try to kill Voldemort, there's no way we'd be able to do it because of his Horcruxes."

"That's exactly what I'm saying and Dumbledore said that if he finds a Horcrux, he'll take me along."

"That's where Dumbledore's been going… he's been going to find Horcruxes? Harry, is that safe?"

"What do you mean 'is it safe'?" Harry snorted. "Is anything we do safe?"

"True," I said quietly. "How do you destroy a Horcrux?"

Harry bit his lip. "I have no idea."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I couldn't sleep that night. Lupin had fallen asleep long before me and I was still wide awake at around two in the morning. Thoughts raced through my head – what was going to happen to me and Lupin? Would I have to leave him? How would I be able to hide the subject of Horcruxes from him? And what was going to happen if Harry and Dumbledore did find a Horcrux? Would they go on to try and find the others?

I rolled over and wrapped my arms around Lupin's waist and he stirred.

"You alright, love?" he said quietly.

I pressed my lips to his neck. "I love you."

"Mhm," he replied. "I love you, too. What's going on?"

"I just really love you."

Lupin opened his eyes all the way and looked at me carefully. He held onto my hands tightly. "Where are you going? What's going on, Darcy?"

"Nothing," I whispered. I maneuvered on top of him and straddled his waist. I kissed him softly. "You won't ever leave me, will you?"

"No. You know I would hate being without you."

"And you'll support me no matter what?" I asked him quietly, kissing his jaw line.

"No matter what," he rasped. "Is something going to happen? Should I be worried?" I kissed his cheek and below his ear. His whole body tensed up and he sucked in a deep breath. "Darcy –"

"What's wrong?" I breathed. I smirked and kissed him again.

"N – nothing," Lupin held my waist and pushed me lightly away and looked very seriously at me. "Don't avoid this, Darcy. What is going on? Tell me what you're thinking."

"But I can't say," I paused. "I don't know what I'm thinking. I'm just so confused."

"About what?"

"About you. And Harry. And us."

"What about us?" Lupin sighed. "I thought we agreed that Harry comes first and I completely understand. Why? Are you having second thoughts?"

"I'm scared that something is going to happen," I bit my lip. "Between us and I'm scared I'm going to lose you."

"Lose me?" Lupin chuckled. "No, no, that won't happen. I'll be behind you one hundred percent no matter what. You have nothing to worry about." He slightly lifted my shirt and his thumbs caressed my bare stomach. I was getting distracted. I couldn't think straight. It was already late…

"How do you know that?"

"I don't." He gave me a reassuring smile. "But I'm sure everything will be okay. And we'll be fine. We're going to be together for a long time."

I smiled weakly. "Forever?"

Lupin chuckled and nodded, kissing my lips. "Forever."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Snape looked up at me while he waved his wand, cleaning up the paper scraps on the floor beside me. "You look distracted."

"A little bit."

He didn't ask why, which I was happy about. How was I supposed to explain my situation to Snape if I couldn't even talk to Lupin about it? I rubbed my eyes and then sighed.

"There's a war going on and I'm here in Hogwarts, doing nothing," I said, mostly to myself than to Snape, but he looked up at me again and raised an eyebrow. "When I could be out fighting."

"That's what the Aurors are for."

"I could be an Auror."

"But this is exactly why we, the Order, didn't want you becoming one in the first place," Snape told me. "We didn't want you out there fighting. They'd put you out there first, making you one of the first to die."

"But I'd be fighting at least. Harry and I aren't doing anything. Without Harry, the Aurors can't do anything. They can kill as many Death Eaters as they want, but they can't hurt Voldemort."

"And where are you in all of this?" Snape asked. "If Harry truly is the Chosen One –" he sneered. "Then what are you supposed to do?"

"Protect him!" I replied loudly. "That's what I'm supposed to do. That's what siblings do. I suppose you wouldn't know. How many people have you at least attempted to protect?"

Snape shot me a look I never wanted to see again. "Yes, I suppose I just should have left you with no arm when Draco spilled that potion all over you." He spoke icily. "I think the look would suit you."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," I whispered, looking away. "I didn't mean to say that."

"I'm not going to tell you what to do," Snape retorted. "But if you honestly are thinking about going after The Dark Lord yourself, you will die. You're still a child. He will kill you without thinking. If he knows you're out after him, he will track you down and kill you and your brother."

"I know that Harry comes first," I said. "But I love Remus and I really don't want to leave him."

Snape stared at me for a long time as I thought and then, "Staying here with Lupin would be the easy way out," he said in a surprisingly nice tone that I had never heard him speak in before. "And I would be very disappointed to see you take the easy way out."

"So you want me to go out and get myself killed?"

"No, not particularly," Snape continued. "I want you to do what's right and prove to me that your boyfriend doesn't come before your own family."

He stood up quickly as if he regretted saying that and he went to walk past me, out of his room, but as he stood next to me, his left arm flinched. He brought it back to his body and then reached out again and awkwardly patted my shoulder. I tensed up and looked at Snape and he pulled his arm away and walked towards the door. He grabbed onto the handle and there was a horrible scream.

We looked at each other again.

"Did you hear that?" I asked and he nodded. I jumped up and followed him as we ran out of the room. We followed the screams of both boy and girl up the stairs to the outside of the first floor bathroom, water at our feet, and a crying Draco Malfoy inside.