A/N: Not much happens in this chapter. Hope you like it regardless. Don't forget to review. :]
"How do you know this is Sirius' old flat?" Ron asked.
"I've been here before. Sirius brought me here when I was seven. It was a full moon, so he brought me here for the night. I found a pen when we got in here and wrote the address on my arm. I wrote it on a piece of parchment and put it behind a picture in a frame. I memorized it by the time I was almost nine," Harry reminisced.
"Wow. Is it safe here?" Hermione said.
"For a while. A few days. We can't stay in one place for long. It's safe to keep moving, but we can stay here for three to four days. No one knows about this place," Harry told them.
"Are we going to destroy the locket here?" Ron asked.
"No. We need to hang onto it. Maybe it can help us figure out what and where the next Horcrux is," Harry shook his head.
"What's the next Horcrux? The clue." Hermione stated.
"One from Hufflepuff," Harry replied, sitting on a sofa. Hermione and Ron sat in the sofa opposite him. "What time is it?"
"Five after nine at night," Hermione sighed. "We really need to sleep. It's been hours since we've had any real sleep. The short time at Godric's Hollow didn't do much for us," she said.
"There's two bedrooms," Harry told them.
"We'll take one and you take the other," Ron stated.
"Okay. Keep all windows and blinds shut. We can't risk being seen. The door will stay locked and we'll put a towel at the bottom so no one sees the light in the hall," Harry instructed. His friends nodded.
"Come on, Ron. See you in a bit, Harry. Get some sleep," Hermione stood up with Ron, their hands intertwined.
"See you in a bit," Harry nodded. They each went into the bedrooms, shutting the doors. Harry sat on the bed, leaning against the pillows, and stared at the wall in front of him. He sighed and picked up his bag. He opened it and pulled out his pictures. He stared at them. He didn't realize how much he wanted to go home, but he couldn't. He wanted to call but it was dangerous. Until everything was over, Harry didn't think he'd be able to contact his uncles. How long it would be until he finished everything, he didn't know. Harry put his pictures away, lay down, and fell asleep.
"Sirius!" Remus yelled, marching over to where Sirius was standing with Max Helton, the caretaker of Godric's Hollow.
"Uh oh," Sirius muttered. "Excuse me, Mr. Helton," Helton nodded and Sirius walked towards Remus.
"What are you doing here?" Remus hissed.
"Investigating. Talking to the caretaker," Sirius replied.
"You're suspended. You can't be here."
"I only get caught if someone tells Crouch. No one here is going to tell him. I'm safe," Sirius told him.
Remus stared at him, thinking. He sighed. "What've you found out?"
Sirius smiled. "Nothing yet. I was just about to start asking him questions when I started getting yelled at."
Remus laughed. "Do you want me to be there or can I go talk to Tonks inside?"
"You can go inside. I'll fill you in when I'm done," Sirius answered.
"Okay. Talk to you in a bit," Remus walked in to the house while Sirius went back to Helton. "All right. Let's start."
"Glad to," Helton smiled.
"When did you see the three teenagers arrive here?" Sirius asked.
"Around seven."
"When did they leave?"
"About nine."
"When did the Death Eater come?" Sirius wondered.
"Maybe eight-forty. About then," Helton said.
"What happened when the Death Eater went inside?"
"For a bit, nothing. I think they were talking. Then I heard a girl scream and saw a red light. A bit after, almost right after actually, one of the kids flew through one of the windows. A girl screamed again along with a boy. I heard a crash and, once again, the girl screamed. She screamed the name Harry. A couple minutes later, a red light like filled the house and there was a really loud crash. The Death Eater never came out. Two of the kids got the one who went through the window, they went inside, came out, and disappeared," Helton finished explaining.
"Can you describe the kids, Mr. Helton?" Sirius said.
"There were two boys and a girl. They all looked about sixteen or seventeen. The girl had brown, curly hair. She was about five foot five. One of the boys had red hair, and I mean red. It looked like fire. He was the tallest of the three. Had to be at least around five foot eight. His hair made him stand out. The last boy had black hair. Very messy. Needed to be brushed. He was around five foot five, like the girl, maybe a few inches taller. Not much," Helton told him.
"What about clothing? What were they wearing?"
"The girl was wearing jeans. A blue-ish colour. She wore a pink-ish, purple-ish sweater and a pink shirt. She had a rainbow coloured belt as well. The red-haired boy had jeans too. A maroon, knitted sweater with a gold 'R' on it. He had a red shirt underneath. The black haired boy had beige corduroy pants, a dark blue sweater, and a blue shirt. They all wore runners and had backpacks. The black haired boy had two bags. Now, according to me, they either had like nothing in those bags or they were charmed to be bottomless, and the kids had a ton of stuff. It looked like they were hiking or camping or something. They were travelling, that's for sure. What they were doing here, I have no idea. Maybe they knew the Potters and came to visit," Helton answered.
"Thank you, Mr. Helton. Please stay here. Some of my Aurors may want to speak with you," Sirius told the man and walked into the house. He went to Remus who was talking to Tonks beside the body of Barty Crouch Jr.
"Hey, Sirius. Are you done with Helton?" Tonks asked. Sirius nodded. "Strange, isn't he?"
"Quite. I don't think he stopped smiling the whole time we spoke," Sirius replied.
"So he's happy. What's so weird?" Remus said.
"He just saw a Death Eater attack Godric's Hollow while three teenagers were here. Most people would be freaked, especially from seeing a Death Eater," Tonks stated.
"Good point," Remus agreed.
"I have to ask. Is this guy dead?" Sirius pointed to the Death Eater.
"He's not dead, Sirius. He's unconscious. Stunning Spell," Tonks replied.
"No one stays unconscious this long because of a Stunning Spell. Maybe five to ten minutes. He's been out for twenty to twenty-five minutes already. This isn't a normal stunning," Sirius answered.
"I understand that, Sirius. This was Stupefy, but extremely powerful. Only a really powerful wizard could have cast such a powerful spell," Tonks told them.
"A powerful wizard like?" Remus asked.
Tonks sighed. "A powerful wizard like Dumbledore. Besides Voldemort or Grindlewald or Nicolas Flamel, Dumbledore's the only one who would be powerful enough to cast this spell," she said. "I'll be right back. I need to talk with Kingsley and Leiland," she walked away, leaving Sirius and Remus alone.
"So, what did you find out?" Remus wondered.
"Harry, Ron, and Hermione were definitely here and one of the boys went through that window," Sirius pointed to the shattered window above Barty Crouch Jr.
"I was wondering why the window was broken," Remus nodded. "Who do you think stunned him?"
"Harry," Sirius answered immediately. Remus looked at him. "He is actually really powerful. I mean, look at the effects of his anger. He loses control of his magic and things tend to explode. Remember at the cottage? He was nine and set a tree on fire just by looking at it."
"I remember that. It scared the hell out of him," Remus smiled. "But can he really be as powerful as Dumbledore? He's seventeen. Besides his anger, he never really showed signs of being a powerful sorcerer like Dumbledore."
"Think about it. Hermione may know every spell in the world, but she couldn't cast a Stunning Spell this strong. Ron's always fumbled with spells. He's really good now since the DA, but he couldn't do this. Harry could even if we've never seen it. Voldemort transferred some of his power to Harry on Halloween night by accident. Who's to say it didn't make Harry as powerful as him or more so? It's possible," Sirius explained.
"It is very likely. I just can't believe Harry could do this."
"We still see him as the small five year old we rescued who knew nothing about his life," Sirius smiled. Remus nodded, smiling.
"All right. Everyone's heading back to the Ministry now. It's nine-thirty. We all have stuff to do. We have to revive him, put him in Azkaban, etcetera," Tonks told her cousins as Walker and Smith got the Death Eater.
"We'll be there later. We're gonna stay here for a bit," Sirius said.
Tonks looked at them, worried. "Is that a good idea? It's Godric's Hollow."
"We'll be fine, Tonks. We should have come here long ago. It's been sixteen years," Remus nodded.
"Okay. Talk to you later," she glanced at them again then went to Disapparate. After a few minutes, everyone was gone. Max Helton had gone home.
"We never brought Harry here for his eleventh birthday like we planned," Sirius said.
Remus nodded. "Yeah, we never told him they were here either."
"He must know now and probably wasn't happy."
"I can imagine. We kept it from him for twelve years. They're his parents. He deserved to know where they were, but we never told him," Remus sighed. They walked outside and to the graves.
"You have to admit. As weird as Helton was, he takes good care of the place," Sirius looked around.
"Yes, he does. Do you think Harry will ever live here? It is his," Remus wondered.
"Dunno. He might. Depends on how much he wants to live in his old house, I guess," Sirius shrugged. "It's going to suck when he moves out."
"Yeah, it will," Remus nodded, sighing. There was a long silence as they stared at the graves. "Greyback has a son," he suddenly said, breaking the silence.
"What?" Sirius looked at him.
"Greyback. He's got a son. Nineteen years old. Name's Tyler," Remus said.
"Who's the mother?"
"Lexi Lovegood. She had an affair with Greyback. That's when she disappeared for two years and everyone thought she and Xenophilius were splitting. When she went into labour with Tyler they checked in under the name Grey. Which is why there's no hospital records of a boy being born under the names Lovegood or Greyback," Remus explained.
"Wow. So where's the kid now?" Sirius asked.
"With Greyback. Tyler disappeared a year after he was born. Lexi sent him to be with his father and she stayed with Xenophilius and had Luna. Tyler's a werewolf. Greyback turned him when he was two. A year after he disappeared."
"So how are you going to catch them?" Sirius wondered.
"No idea. Like Seth told me, if Tyler's anything like his father, he's going to be hard to get," Remus sighed.
"You'll get him."
"I haven't been able to get his father. Now I have to get the two of them," Remus said.
"Sometime they'll make a mistake and you'll get them," Sirius replied.
"He's been wanted for over a decade. He's never made a single mistake. That won't change just because I want it to."
"Maybe not, but maybe you can make it change," Sirius stated.
"What do you mean?"
"Find a way to make Greyback and Tyler make a mistake," Sirius clarified.
"How do I do that? Find him, tell him to make a mistake, watch him make it, then arrest or kill him? Sounds like a great plan," Remus answered sarcastically.
"I'm trying to help," Sirius responded.
"I know and I appreciate it. I really do, you know that, but-"
"I know. He's your villain. You want to be the one who causes his death. I get it. It's the same with my Malfoy case. Or Bellatrix. I want to be the one who kills them," Sirius smiled.
Remus smiled back. "Exactly. We should get back to the Ministry."
"Yeah, let's go," Sirius nodded and they went to the Apparation point, disappearing.
Harry walked out of the bedroom and went to the kitchen. It was five-thirty in the morning and his friends were still asleep. He sat at the table and took out an apple. While he ate, he took out his Communicator, staring at it. He wanted to call Sirius or Remus but knew it was too dangerous. He sighed and pulled out one of the books he had brought. It was named The Four Founders. He opened to a page he had bookmarked. The section was on Helga Hufflepuff.
Helga Hufflepuff, the most loyal and just of the four, was one of the founders who went against Salazar Slytherin. When Slytherin wanted only pure-blood wizards to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Hufflepuff stood against him with the others. She believed all wizards should be accepted, whether they were pure-blood or muggle-born.
Helga Hufflepuff loved the colours canary yellow and black, which, today, are her house colours. Her favourite animal, the badger, became the house mascot. While being a large animal lover, Hufflepuff also adored jewelled utilities, such as plates or goblets. She had a particular favourite. She…
"Harry?" Hermione's voice broke into Harry's head and he stopped reading. Without thinking, he closed the book and turned around.
"Hey, Hermione."
"How did you sleep?" she asked, sitting across from him.
"Good, actually. How about you and Ron?"
"Good too. He's still asleep as you can see," Hermione smiled. "'The Four Founders'. Why are you reading this?" she looked at the book.
"Research. One of the Horcruxes is something of Hufflepuff's. I thought I'd read up on her and see if they mention anything useful," Harry said.
"And did they?"
"No, nothing. I have no clue what to do next. Not a clue," Harry told her.
"We'll figure it out. We're together. As long as we're all together, we'll keep moving forward," she replied softly. Harry smiled and nodded. "Now, hand me a pear," Harry obeyed. "So when are we destroying the locket?"
"Not yet. I want to see if it might help us with the next horcrux somehow," Harry shook his head.
"How will it do that?" Ron asked. He had woken up and sat beside Harry.
"I dunno. I'm just hoping. If it doesn't, then we destroy it. We can't keep it too long. It'll be dangerous," Harry answered.
Ron nodded and ate an orange. "Hey, what's the date?"
"Umm, I think it's August fifth. Why?" Harry told him.
"The fifth? On the fifteenth, Bill and Fleur are getting married," Ron said.
"That's right. With everything going on, I completely forgot about the wedding," Hermione nodded.
"Thanks for reminding me. We have to remember to go to the wedding," Harry smiled.
"Should we really go? Won't it be dangerous?" Ron furrowed his eyebrows.
"Of course we're going. It's your brother and we're all in the wedding. Whether we go or not, everyone at that wedding will be in danger. We're going," Harry nodded.
"Thanks. I didn't want to miss the wedding," Ron smiled.
"Neither did I," Harry shook his head.
"So, why are we here?" Hermione asked.
"We needed a place to stay for a day or two. No Death Eater knows where this place is. It's safe," Harry replied.
"Why didn't Sirius keep living here?" Ron frowned.
"Remus was supposed to move in with Sirius, but then he went to Azkaban. Remus kept the place, not letting it go up for sale. When Sirius got out, he came here. Remus had been living here the entire time Sirius was in Azkaban. When they decided to get me, they knew they needed a bigger place. They moved into Remus' cottage. Somehow, I'm not sure how, but it hasn't been up for sale since Sirius first bought it," Harry told them.
"They were supposed to live together?" Hermione stated.
"Yeah, my dad convinced Remus to. He and my mum didn't like Remus living way out in the middle of no where alone. They wanted Sirius and Remus to live together here in Sirius' flat. It took two weeks to convince Remus apparently. Remus was over halfway moved in when Sirius was arrested."
"So he just finished moving and stayed here," Hermione replied.
"Exactly," Harry nodded.
"How long do we stay?" Ron wondered.
"Tomorrow night at the latest. I want an idea of where we go next. Of where the next Horcrux is hidden," Harry responded.
"Sounds good," Ron and Hermione nodded. "We need to know about what happened at Godric's Hollow."
Harry sighed, knowing what they meant. "So I did wandless magic, so what? I've technically been doing it all my life. I just didn't know what I was doing before Remus and Sirius adopted me," Harry shrugged.
"That's not wandless magic, Harry, that's anger issues. You know that. It was losing all control over your magic. You did actual wandless magic," Hermione said. "It's amazing. I can't do wandless magic. It takes years for a wizard to even begin to do wandless magic. Someone would have had to have been doing it for a long time to be able to do what you did."
"Okay, so I have anger problems. I've gotten better. So what if I did wandless magic? It's no big deal. I've been able to for about a year. I just never told. Sirius and Remus don't even know," Harry shrugged again.
"You clearly don't understand," Hermione sighed. "Being able to do wandless magic so early and so well means you're an extremely powerful wizard."
"How powerful is extremely powerful?" Ron asked.
"Dumbledore powerful. Maybe not now but someday," Hermione answered. Ron's mouth fell open.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! You've obviously finally gotten some research wrong. There's no way I am or ever will be as powerful as Dumbledore. Hell! That's almost more powerful than Voldemort. That's as powerful as Nicolas Flamel. Check your notes again, Hermione," Harry crossed his arms.
"It's strange, I know, but-"
"Strange! Are you crazy? You learn I can do wandless magic even though I'm only seventeen and suddenly I'm going to be as powerful as Albus Dumbledore, the greatest sorcerer in the world? Do you get what you're telling me, Hermione?" Harry shouted. Hermione just stared into his green eyes. He shook his head, grabbed his Communicator, and went into the bedroom he had slept in. he slammed the door, making his friends jump.
"He's just stressed. It's not everyday you get told you're gonna be as powerful as Albus Dumbledore. Just give him time," Ron told Hermione. She looked at him and nodded. "What was he reading?"
"About Helga Hufflepuff, trying to figure out the Horcrux," Hermione replied, flipping to the right page.
"Maybe we could help. Try find out what it is or where it is," Ron suggested.
"Yeah, definitely," Hermione smiled. They began reading, not knowing Hermione had accidentally turned a page ahead of where the section began.
Harry sat on the side of the bed, his face in his hands. He didn't know what to think or feel. It's not like he had asked to be able to perform wandless magic, it just happened the summer before his sixth year. Before his sixteenth birthday. For some reason, he didn't get a Ministry warning when it happened. Figures. The first time he actually performs magic, nothing happens, but when a house elf does it instead, he gets all the blame. Harry rolled his eyes at himself. He desperately wanted to call one of his uncles, but knew it to be too risky.
As if proving him wrong, the Communicator spoke. "Incoming call from Sirius Orion Black. Accept or decline call?"
"Ironic," he muttered. "Accept."
"Harry? Hey there, kiddo," Sirius greeted.
"Hi, Sirius. What's up?"
"Not much. Attempting to keep my job," Sirius replied.
"What do you mean?" Harry frowned.
"Crouch got me suspended."
"Crouch. Barty Crouch? From the Quidditch World Cup?"
"That's the one," Sirius nodded.
"I just saw his son. Of course, it wasn't a friendly social visit," Harry said.
"When?"
"Last night sometime. Why?"
"Because I'm investigating an attack on Godric's Hollow, involving Crouch Jr. and three teenagers. The descriptions sound a lot like you, Ron, and Hermione," Sirius told them.
"Oh. Is that right? I-I didn't know about it until now," Harry avoided Sirius' eyes.
"I know you were there, Harry. I know it was you and your friends," Sirius smiled.
Harry didn't speak for a bit. A thought had entered his mind. "It's been twelve years."
"Twelve years? Yeah, you've been with Remus and me for twelve years," Sirius nodded, confused.
"Yeah, twelve years and not once did you or Remus tell me my parents were buried at Godric's Hollow. Imagine the surprise I got when we got there and I saw the graves of my parents," Harry said.
"We meant to tell you. We had meant to bring you there for your eleventh birthday, but we couldn't handle it. We knew you would be fine going, but Remus and I couldn't go," Sirius answered.
"You couldn't have just told me?" Harry stated.
"You know it's hard for us to think about that night. We always wanted to tell you, but it's hard to think about," Sirius told him.
"I know," Harry sighed, nodding. "Sorry. It's just seeing them and not knowing they were there. Then knowing you both knew and didn't tell me."
"I know and I'm sorry we didn't tell you."
"Yeah, sorry I freaked."
"You had a right to. We should have told you. Did anyone get hurt in the attack?"
"No, we're all fine. Even Ron, though he went through a window," Harry said.
"Ron? He went through the window?" Sirius gaped.
"Yeah, he did," Harry nodded.
A/N: Hope you liked it. Review please. Thank you so much. :]