Exoteric: suitable for or communicated to the general public

February 13, 1999

"What do you think?" Harry asked the minute he, Ron, and Hermione were once again shut up in Ron's attic bedroom.

They exchanged a look, then shifted their gaze back to him at the same time.

"Well," Ron said slowly. "We kind of figured it was your call. It's your story."

"It's your families," Harry countered. "And it's not really my story. You two were there the whole time, too."

"Not the whole time," Hermione said quietly.

There was a moment of heavy silence in which the dark shadows of the forest seemed to loom up around them, and Ron absentmindedly drew the deluminator from his pocket.

"Well, you know the whole story, anyway," Harry hurried on quickly. "It's as much to do with you as me. They'd want to hear your sides of it, too."

Ron flopped backward onto his bed with a groan of bed springs. "Would we have to tell them the whole thing?" he asked.

Hermione sat down beside him, rubbing his knee comfortingly, but her expression was pensive.

They had known the people they'd left behind with no explanation for nearly nine months would eventually come after that explanation. At first, no one had bothered or dared to ask what they'd been doing. Not even Kingsley. There was too much morning, they were barely holding it together. And then they were all trying to figure out how to move forward, busy with the future to dwell on the past. Then it was the Holidays, then the whole fiasco back in January.

But now the curiosity – the need to know – that they had watched growing in everyone else's eyes for ages now had finally caught up to them. Kingsley had asked formally for an explanation at dinner that evening. It was less an inquiry and more a request from the Ministry, but still, it was a question. And they could answer no. But the rest of Ron's family did not seem to want to take no as an answer as readily as Kingsley might.

"Dumbledore didn't want anybody else to know," Harry murmured, dropping down onto his own bed. "Not about the Horcruxes. And how can we tell them anything if we don't tell them about that?"

"But that was so he wouldn't figure out what we were up to and change the board around," said Ron. "He's gone. They both are. It doesn't really matter anymore, does it?"

"Maybe…." Harry said slowly. "But I don't much like the idea of giving away Voldemort's secret to immortality to the world. Dumbledore removed those books from the restricted section for a reason. He didn't want people getting ideas, and I think he was right."

"But shouldn't the Ministry at least know in case it happens again?" Hermione said, biting her lip.

"And whatever you tell Kingsley, Mum and Dad and Bill and George and the rest will all want to know," Ron pointed out.

"So it comes down to how much we want the world to know," Harry sighed.

They looked at each other. How many secrets had the three of them guarded over the years? It was surely not a new practice for them. But in a way, it alienated them from the rest. Was that something they wanted to take to their graves?

Harry drew his knees up to his chin, his eyes drifting far away. Ron and Hermione exchanged glances now and then, holding an entire conversation.

"It's not a story for the world to know," Harry decided at last. "Your parents don't need to have nightmares of you destroying Voldemort's soul. People… look at you different when they know you've done things like that. It's like they don't think they know you anymore.

"We should tell Kingsley about the Horcruxes, but just enough that he gets the idea. I'm not letting those things back into common knowledge or the history books. That's one secret I'll keep to the grave. Do you agree?"

He looked at them, and they nodded. They had known what he would say before he'd even opened his mouth.

"It's better that way,' Hermione agreed. "They don't need any extra nightmares in their heads."

A part of her wanted to break down and spill the whole thing out. She had spent so long keeping things from her parents for their peace of mind that the little girl inside of her just wanted to lay all her demons out on someone else, let them figure out how to chase them away, not feel like a wall separated her from the people she loved. A part of Ron wanted to tell, too. A part of him wanted to see his brothers' faces when they heard the whole story, wanted to be little Ronnie, the last to know everything again instead of the one holding all the secrets.

But Harry was right. No one needed Voldemort's secrets spread to the world. So they'd keep this one, most important mystery to themselves, carry it together to the grave, where it belonged.

A/N: It always struck me as out-of-character for Harry to go blabbing about Horcruxes after the battle, even to the rest of the Weasleys. I just don't think he would want people to know those things. Maybe he told Ginny eventually. It just always drives me nuts when, like, George brings it up in casual conversation or something, or when all the next gen kids seem to know all about it. They just don't need to know.

Anyway, please review! It's much appreciated! :)