Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

Chapter Six

The Hunt for the Horcruxes

The hunt for the Horcruxes was a very long and grueling process.

Though Harry was at least pleased to see that Ron had come up with a brilliant excuse for his absence from being at Hogwarts, having the Ghoul dress like him with Spattergroit. Harry really appreciated that he got to spend some quality time with Ginny before he left, they both having been affected after the fake breakup, and they needed the time to heel from that, but it did make separating harder now. Especially since Harry and Ron had to flee Bill and Fleur's wedding, leaving Ginny behind and Harry didn't even get to say goodbye.

Harry spent the next few months at Grimmauld Place trying to figure out how to break into the Ministry, having heard the sad tale about his tormented house elf, Kreacher, he had hopes of getting to the locket Horcrux from Umbridge. After about a month they had finally decided that they would need some Polyjuice Potion to pull this off (luckily Kreacher was up to making this because neither boy was that great at potions) and had to wait another month and a half for it to be ready.

Hating having to sit around and do nothing, Harry and Ron took this time trying to find out as much as they could about Horcruxes and more importantly how to destroy them. They were lucky that they were at Grimmauld Place because they were able to find books there of the darkest magic that happened to have Horcrux in it (of course it was in one of the last books they look at and it had taken a few weeks to find it, but still). Unfortunately, upon finding out how to destroy the Horcruxes they also discovered that they would have no means of destroying it. They didn't know how to do any of the curses that would destroy them, nor did they have any of the potions and/or poison that could destroy them either.

After that rather disappointing news, Ron decided to do something more productive with his time, so he tried to learn as many spells as possible. Starting with protective charms that would conceal their whereabouts (he knew they couldn't stay here forever) and then moving on to more advanced curses. Harry on the other hand started to make a list of all the places that Voldemort might have hidden his Horcruxes, it was mostly busy work that didn't pay off, so he couldn't blame Ron for concentrating on something else (he wished he could too).

The plan to infiltrate the Ministry was a success in the way that they got the locket (they even got to curse Umbridge which was an added bonus) but still it came at a high price. Somehow one of the Death Eaters had grabbed a hold of them while they were Apparating back to Grimmauld Place and now they no longer had their safe refuge. The next few months was very hard on the boys, they had no home to speak of, they had to get by, by trying to transform the trees and other things into a tent, blankets and other things to keep warm and covered. It was horrible, which was only made worse by the fact that they had to wear the Locket and it made them think all kinds of terrible things.

Truly those first four months had put a serious strain on the boys' relationship, they were always snapping at each other, and Harry was even starting to fear that Ron would leave him (at least that's what he felt every time the locket was on). He also worried about Ginny more, and almost wished he hadn't given her the Marauder's Map because he would love to see the dot so he would know she was okay. Though he would see images of their "breakup" and worried that she might have taken it seriously (again while he was wearing the locket).

Then he had the brilliant idea of going to see his parents' grave, he was desperate to do anything since they had been doing nothing for weeks. So they fool heartily went to Godric's Hallow only to be threatened by Nagini, who was inside of Bathilda Bagshot (someone that Harry wanted to talk to about Dumbledore and his parents). Well, there was only one thing that came out of nearly getting killed by a giant snake and then by her even more deadly master, he knew how to open the locket so he could destroy it. He had to speak Parseltongue. Not to mention they were just reminded of how deadly things were now and they couldn't afford to snap at each other anymore.

The next thing they did was go to Luna's house; Dumbledore had given Harry a book of child's stories in his will (saying that he thought Harry might enjoy reading them since he missed it when he was growing up). Dumbledore had also bequeathed him the golden snitch he caught on the first game and the sword of Gryffindor. Dumbledore had given Ron a nice pocket watch (which had a healing potion in it that they had found quite useful), and Ginny his Deluminator (saying that he hoped this would help her to lighten her way back to her friends). Now Dumbledore was known to be odd at times but Harry had to believe that there was something more to it, so he read all of the stories, not finding any meaning to it until one day Ron pointed out the strange marking. A marking that they had both seen being worn by Mr. Lovegood at Bill's wedding. So that's where they were going, once again at a dead end and hoping to discover what the symbol meant.

It was terrible to learn that Luna had been taken (though it didn't make either of the boys like Mr. Lovegood anymore for trying to turn them in) a few weeks ago on the Hogwarts Express on her returned trip for the summer holidays and they worried about her a lot, knowing there was nothing they could do for her now. However, Harry did have a lot to think about after that meeting because now, he truly believed in the Deathly Hallows. The thought seemed to almost drive him mad as he thought of the Elder Wand and knew that Voldemort was thinking the same thing. Harry was also excited by the fact that his Invisibility Cloak was one of the Hallows and he was convinced (no matter what Ron said) that the Stone was in his snitch. So, Harry obsessed over this until the week before Ginny's birthday and then he obsessed over seeing her again.

Finally, her birthday came, and he was about to Apparate to the little town near the Burrow and go and get her (under his cloak of course) but suddenly a blueish light appeared and Ginny was standing in front of them with the sword of Gryffindor in one hand and the Deluminator in the other. She also had a backpack that was filled with many supplies she knew they wouldn't have.

"Ginny!" Harry exclaimed and wrapped his arms around her as he leaned in to kiss her.

"Where did you get this?" Ron asked as he picked up the sword and tried to ignore their greeting.

"Oh, it's nice to see you too," Ginny said and hugged her brother; she had been extremely worried about the two of them. "Merlin you two look horrible … have either of you bathed in the last year?"

"Er …" Harry said as he turned to Ron almost smirking. "We haven't really had many opportunities to."

"Then it's a good thing Mum made me pack all this stuff," Ginny said taking off her bag and rumbled through it (it was magically expanded to fit everything she needed). She pulled out some clothes for them (which they appreciated seeing as they had been practically wearing the same thing for ten months) and then some food, which the boys grabbed at greedily not having a good meal it months, and a tent.

"Gin … you're a life saver," Ron said still stuffing his mouth full of food though it was an hour later.

"You really are, if I had to hear Ron complain about food one more time …" Harry chuckled, feeling complete again with Ginny in his arms.

"Oi," Ron grumbled but still looked happier than Harry had seen him in months. "But Gin, tell us why you have the sword?"

"Oh that, I stole it from Snape's office," Ginny smirked (though she had said Snape's name with great bitterness) and both boys groaned at that. "What? Dumbledore obviously wanted you to have it … I thought it would help you destroy the Horcruxes … er … somehow."

"How would that …" Ron started but his eyes went wide. "Harry, you used it to kill the Basilisk … maybe …."

"What, it would somehow retain the venom in it?" Harry said suspiciously.

"It's worth a try," Ron grumbled. "Besides, why else would Dumbledore have left it to you?"

Recognizing it was a good point, they decided it was worth a try. Harry told Ginny that she should be the one to do it because she had gotten the sword, bravely risking herself to get it for him. This turned out to be a good thing because the locket desperately tried to survive but she hadn't gotten close enough to it for it to make a difference and just stabbed the thing.

The next few days they spent catching up with each other, the boys telling her all they'd done, which didn't take too long since they didn't do anything. It took a lot longer for Ginny to tell them everything that happened while they were gone. Though they had know bad things would happen at Hogwarts that year, seeing as Snape was the Headmaster and two Death Eaters were there. However, it was surprising to hear what actually happened at Hogwarts, and all the things that she had to go through. Not to mention when Ginny told Harry in private about how hard it was for her being away from him, and that she had cried (er … leaned) on Neville's shoulder more than once, Harry just felt worse.

Harry was sure that just having Ginny with them would have made everything better, but he had to admit being in a comfortable tent and being rid of the Horcrux so it couldn't bother them anymore was very helpful too. Ginny quickly got Harry out of his obsession with the Deathly Hallows by spending all their spear time together, a fact that Ron really hated, but tried to turn a blind eye to as much as he could.

Soon they were trying to put in more effort in finding the Horcruxes again, and it seemed that the longer they went places to tried to find them the more danger they were in. Death Eaters and snatchers were all over the place and still Harry had no idea where to go. Other than Hogwarts, Harry was sure one was likely in the castle, but after hearing Ginny's explanation about how it was now, he knew they couldn't go there on a whim.

Then one day they were caught by a bunch of Snatchers that were led by Fenrir Greyback the most vicious werewolf out there. Harry was sure that everything was lost when they were taken to Malfoy Manor, especially when he saw that Bellatrix Lestrange was there, but somehow it turned out to be the key to their finding another Horcrux. Bellatrix had been furious when she found they had the sword of Gryffindor. Apparently, Snape had a fake made of the sword and asked it to be placed in her vault … obviously trying to protect his arse from being blamed for losing it when Ginny stole it. Seeing the glint in her eyes directed at his sister, Ron made an arse of himself, pissing Bellatrix off and causing her to pick him to torture.

Harry still wasn't sure how Dobby knew to be there, one second, he was looking into a mirror shard asking for help and the next the elf was there. However, he was grateful, because the little elf was there just when they needed him the most and was a way to get the others to safety. Harry was surprised and pleased to find that Luna was here, along with Ollivander and Dean and a goblin (though the goblin was brought upstairs to where Ron was, to confirm the story that Ron came up with that the sword was a fake). He really wanted to tell Ginny to go with the others, he needed her to be safe, but he couldn't do it knowing that she wouldn't let that happen no matter what … she was staying by his side.

So, the two of them went back upstairs to save Ron, which would have been impossible if it wasn't for Dobby's distraction, which had cost the elf his life. Harry took the death of this elf, his friend Dobby, just as hard as he took any of the other deaths that happened in his life. However, he didn't have time to dwell on it because he had figured out both of the questions that has been haunting him the last year and a half. He knew exactly where the Elder Wand was (and that Voldemort had figured it out as well) and he knew where one of the Horcruxes was and what he would have to do to try and get it. He was going to have to rob Gringotts!

Harry had brought up this plan with Griphook, the goblin they had saved from the Malfoys, and the goblin agreed to help, but it took a long time for them to plan the break in, not to mention Ron was in pretty bad shape and needed time to heal. Now it was obvious to everyone else at Shell Cottage (Bill and Fleur's home) that Harry and his two friends were up to something, and that something had to do with the goblin so a few days before Harry planned to go, Luna talked to them.

"You have to be careful with whatever you're planning," Luna said, her voice not as distant as it normally was, and she was looking at Harry seriously. "He has been searching for you for a long time … and I fear this is going to mark the end of the battle."

"She has a point Harry," Ginny said. "He's going to know what we are doing after you know what."

"It might even lead to the final battle," Ron said frowning. "It might be best if we … I don't know, let our side know."

"Right," Harry said sitting back looking thoughtful. He knew they were right, so he put off the Gringotts heist for another few weeks and he made contact with as many people on his side as he could. Bill had decided the fastest way for them to get word to each other was if they had a set off rocks (he had tons of them in his back yard) and used the Protean Charm on them, that would allow Harry to send a message on his and all of the other ones would receive the note.

The Gringotts heist was a success, if you counted barely escaping being either capture by Death Eater or torture and killed by goblins (they honesty didn't know which was worse) with the Horcrux they were looking for and escaping on a dragon a success. They did, however, lose the sword and their only means of destroying a Horcrux because Griphook had betrayed them and stole it for himself. Still there weren't many people (or no people really) that can say they stole something from Gringotts and live to tell the tale, so they were feeling pretty giddy by the time they ditched the dragon. However, it was only a few hours later right after they got settle for the night that Harry had another vision into Voldemort's mind and found out where the last missing Horcrux was. It was at Hogwarts, where Harry always knew it must be.