Hi guys! I know I've been slow updating, but work is killing me omg my manager gives me a shit ton of hours and I've requested off, but he still puts me on the schedule and I don't even know. But whatever. So I hope you enjoy this! As you can see, this story is coming to a close!

THE PLAN.

"So…" Harry thought for a moment, scratching his chin with this quill. "What's the answer to this? The antidote to –"

"I'm sure the Half Blood Prince can tell you," I snapped. I was hanging over my bed, my head touching the ground. Ron sat on the floor, a chessboard in between us. The light from the full moon lit the carpeted ground and gave Ron and me perfect light to play chess. Five candles were burning in the bedroom, lighting up the rest of the room for Harry to finish their homework. I ordered my queen to take Ron's pawn and he groaned.

"When'd you get so good at this?" he complained.

"I've played a lot with Remus," I replied with a grin as he took my knight. "Anyway Harry, I'm still mad at you for what you've done."

"Doesn't matter," he mumbled. "I don't have the book anymore."

"Did you throw it away? Burn it so no one else can see it?"

"No! I just hid it in a place I'd never find it again," he sighed. "And now my grade is seriously hurting and Hermione's grade is the top in potions again."

Hermione, who had been reading while propped up on my pillows, smiled proudly. "Good for you, Harry," I said to him, calling out 'Checkmate!'. "Although, I think I would have destroyed it. You never know if someone will find it. Your hiding place may be someone else's."

Harry ignored me.

"Why are you on the floor, Ron?" Hermione asked, raising a thin eyebrow and Ron snorted.

"You think I'm going to sit up there?" he cackled. "Who knows what kind of dirty deeds Darcy and Remus have performed on that bed? I'll stick to the floor, thanks."

Hermione scrunched her nose. I protested. "I changed the sheets!" I rolled my eyes.

It was quiet for a few moments. The only sounds were of Ron and I scooping up our broken chess pieces off the board. Soon enough, Harry spoke again. "What are you going to do about him, Darcy?"

"About who?" I asked.

"Remus. What happens when we find a Horcrux?"

"Look," I sighed and I sat up, Ron repairing the pieces with his wand. "Dumbledore made it clear that it's to be you destroying these Horcruxes, right? I don't need to go anywhere with you and Dumbledore. We'll come back next year and everything will be normal. If Remus ever gets wind that you and Dumbledore are leaving Hogwarts together, then I'll make something up. But he won't get suspicious. I'll keep him busy."

Harry scrunched his nose, not amused. "But this is between the four of us. Remus is going to know something is up when all four of us are meeting several nights in a row and talking about what's going on."

"He doesn't need to know!" I yelled.

"Darcy, there's no way around this!" Harry said sharply and I shook my head, looking out the window towards the forest. "Remus cannot know about this! If he knows, then we might as well just give up and have Voldemort kill us because the Order will be out hunting Horcruxes. The Order doesn't know all the stuff we know about Voldemort and his Horcruxes. With Dumbledore around, we'll be safe. I'll be safe."

"No, no, no, don't give me that," I told him. "How many times has Dumbledore been around to protect us? You? What about the Chamber of Secrets? Or with Quirrel? What about when Voldemort returned at the end of the tournament? Dumbledore wasn't even here last year! Voldemort knows that with Dumbledore you're safe, so he knows he'll have to separate us from Dumbledore in order to get to us."

"She's right, you know," Ron added, sitting up on the bed beside Darcy. "Voldemort has a plan and he knows exactly what he's doing."

Hermione nodded. "Everytime you've faced him, Harry, it hasn't come down to skill or power. It's come down to luck. Voldemort is more powerful than all of us; his power is almost as great as Dumbledore's. Maybe we should tell the Order? You'd have more protection."

"No!" Harry hissed. "All four of us can beat Voldemort with a strategy and the first part of said strategy is destroying all his Horcruxes."

I breathed in deeply. "I just don't think Remus would tell –"

"He would," Harry told me a bit calmer. "He cares about your protection and if he knows that we're hunting Horcruxes - with Dumbledore or not – he's going to want to make sure you've got all sorts of protection. That means the Order!"

"So where are you going with this?" I asked.

"Everyone knows where I'm going with this," Harry bit his lip. "And I think you know it, too. If you want to help us destroy these Horcruxes, you can't be with Remus. And I think Dumbledore would agree."

"You can't do this!"

"We have to!" Harry argued. "You know it's for the best!"

"You're making me choose!"

"It should be an easy decision!" Harry retorted. "If Remus really loves you, he'll wait for you. Darcy, we're family…"

I knew I should have just said yes to Harry's idea right away. I knew the right thing to do would be to leave Lupin to help Harry, Hermione, and Ron. But what Harry said really made me think – would Lupin really wait for me? I knew he loved me; he proved it every day. He told me all the time. We loved each other and we were looking to the future now, thinking about marriage and having a family… being together forever… The only problem was I wasn't so sure that he'd wait for me. I wanted to be with him and I wanted to be with him through this because I wanted to make sure that he wouldn't leave me. He promised he wouldn't leave me so I was too afraid to break it off. I wasn't even sure how long it would take to destroy all the Horcruxes.

"It's more difficult to choose than you think," I muttered.

Harry shrugged and nodded slightly. "I understand it's hard, but you've got to do what's right. We're in this together. You and me and Ron and Hermione. If I was to choose between Ginny and you, you know who'd I'd pick, Darcy."

"But you'd feel just as conflicted!" I said.

"Think about it, Harry," Hermione attempted to reason. "She and Remus have been together longer than you and Ginny have been. And you two don't really love each other, do you? If you had to pick, it'd be a bit easier for you!"

"Thank you!" I gasped.

"It's not like I can tell Remus why I'm leaving him!" I continued. "I'd just have to trust that he'd wait for me. It'd be easier if I could just tell him, 'oh yeah, I'll be out destroying Horcruxes with Harry and Dumbledore!'. He'd understand then… He would wait for me…"

"So you doubt the fact that he loves you?" Harry asked. "Darcy, I know he does, but choosing him over me would be the easy way out. Don't you understand? You have to do what's right and help us defeat Voldemort! You do want to defeat him, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" I snapped. "We don't even really know what's going on with the Horcruxes right now. Has Dumbledore even found one?"

Harry was silent. "He thinks so."

Hermione gasped and Ron's eyes widened. "He has?" Ron repeated.

"Yeah, and I'm supposed to go with him tomorrow night," Harry looked right into my eyes. "You've got to decide quickly and make it happen, Darcy. Who knows what's going to happen after this?"

I was silent.

"Darcy, we'll be here for you," Ron told me soothingly. He touched my shoulder. "And I know that we can't give you what Remus does, but we can try. We can love you, too. And it's not like he's going to just stop loving you…"

"He's right," Hermione said.

"When should I tell him?" I asked sadly, lowering my eyes.

"Well," Harry seemed to give this great thought. "We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow night. If it's something we can hide, then you can be with him for as long as you'd like. But –"

He stopped short and I looked at Harry again. "Okay," I rasped.

Harry smiled and wrapped his arms around me. "Thank you."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"OW!"

I rushed into the bedroom to see Lupin holding his foot and sitting on the bed. He bent over and picked up a small piece of stone and I grinned.

"Ron was here last night, wasn't he?" he grumbled.

"Yeah."

"He missed a piece of his queen." Lupin threw it into the wastebasket and climbed into bed, closing his eyes.

"It's only seven o'clock," I sighed, sitting down beside him on the bed. I ran my fingers through his hair. "Don't you want to at least try to stay up a little longer with me?"

"I'm still sore, love," he replied gently. "We've got all our lives to stay up however long we want. One night won't kill you, will it?"

"I suppose not," I murmured.

"You could just fall asleep with me right now," he suggested.

"I can't."

"Why's that?"

"I have business to discuss with Dumbledore tonight," I told him, clearing my throat.

"About?"

"Oh, just what's going to happen next year… If I'll come back with Snape or Slughorn or whoever," I lied.

"I'd rather you not be Snape's assistant, Darcy," he told me sternly. "You know why."

"Well, it probably won't be Snape. Dumbledore thinks I should stick to potions, but I don't like Slughorn much." I kissed his forehead. After a few minutes, Lupin had fallen sound asleep and I walked back out the sitting room, closing the bedroom door quietly behind me.

I wasn't ready for that night. I wasn't ready to attempt to explain to Lupin why we couldn't be together anymore. I wasn't ready for Harry to put his life on the line simply to help Dumbledore, but I knew that it was all going to be worth it in the long run… if Dumbledore even knew what he was doing. But I convinced myself that he did know what he was doing – he was Dumbledore. Dumbledore knew everything.

At around eight thirty, there was a knock on the door and I opened it, putting a finger to my lips as Hermione, Harry, and Ron snuck in the door. "He's asleep," I nodded towards the closed bedroom door and Harry nodded.

"I'm going up to Dumbledore's office at nine," Harry began to explain, getting right down to business. "You have the Marauders' Map, right?"

"Yes," I answered.

"Okay, give that to Ron and Hermione when we leave."

"We?" I asked again.

"You and I are going up to meet Dumbledore in the Astronomy Tower. You can come with us or stay, but Dumbledore guesses that the place we're going is made for two people. He suggests that you stay and wait."

"Why do I have to wait up there?"

Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione and then me again. "Dumbledore wants to make sure that you're there when we come back."

"Do you even know how long it'll be?" I asked him.

Harry shook his head.

"Where will Hermione and Ron be?"

"We'll be in the Gryffindor common room waiting for Harry to return there," Hermione explained. "Harry gave us the small bit of Liquid Luck he still had. In case something happens, we'll still have it. We'll be okay."

"Are you sure about this?" I whispered hesitantly.

"No," Harry admitted softly. "I'm not really sure about any of this, but Dumbledore is. We've just got to trust Dumbledore and we'll be fine. We can't be in anymore danger than we always are, yes?"

"I guess."

Harry nodded and licked his lips. "Go get the map."

I did as he said, being very careful not to wake Lupin. He was snoring slightly and I grabbed the map from the top drawer in my dresser and walked back out. I tapped it with my wand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The writing appeared on the map and we all looked it over carefully. All of the students were in their common rooms except for a select few in the library and hospital wing, some were in detention, and prefects and the Head Boy and Girl were roaming the hallways. Only three teachers were on hall duty. Ron took it from me and folded it up, tapping it with his wand and muttering, "Mischief managed."

"We'll wait up for you. We'll have the map open," Hermione said to us quietly. "Harry, good luck."

The four of us left my room and we went our separate ways. I noticed, as I walked behind Harry, that he had his Invisibility Cloak tucked away in his pocket. "What's the plan? What are you and Dumbledore going to do? You can't Apparate or Disapparate in Hogwarts. You know that."

"I'm going to wear the Invisibility Cloak and Dumbledore will escort me out of Hogwarts, down past Hogsmeade. We'll Disapparate there. I don't know for sure where we're going, though… He wouldn't say exactly."

"And we're going to go -?"

"You'll be up in the Astronomy Tower," Harry kept going on and on, leading me to the Astronomy Tower, where we were to be meeting Dumbledore. "Waiting."

"Just waiting?"

"Just waiting." We walked in silence, avoiding the laughter of Peeves in the corridor and taking a different way up. "Have you thought about what you're going to tell Remus?"

"No. Should I have already left him?" I asked angrily.

"No," Harry answered rather quickly. "I was just wondering. I have been thinking about it and I see – I understand what you must be going through. I mean, I know it's got to be hard for you, especially after he left you for Tonks that one year. I can see where you'd be hesitant, but I assure you, it's for the best… yeah?"

"If you think it's the right thing to do and if Hermione and Ron and Dumbledore agree," I paused. "Then I guess it's the right thing to do. Snape thinks it's a good idea, too…" The last part of my sentence got quieter as I spoke and I knew that Harry heard. He snorted.

"Because we all know that what Snape thinks is right must be right."