So here we are, pushing into 1997 and a big year for this story and these characters… I hope you all enjoy this chapter! It's a shorter chapter I know, but I hope the early upload makes up for that for those reading as I'm updating the story.

Some dialogue is borrowed from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince: Chapter 17 – A Sluggish Memory.

After a really enjoyable break from school, Harry, Ron, Ginny and Leo all returned to Hogwarts a few days after New Years, stumbling through the fireplace into Professor McGonagall's office, though the Head of Gryffindor barely looked up from her work as she welcomed them back to the castle before sending them on their way to the Common Room, or at least to the portrait of the Fat Lady who refused to let them in with the only Password they knew.

Thankfully, they were saved by a cheery. "Hey guys!" Hermione called out, interrupting the quartet from a brief argument with the Fat Lady. "I got back a couple of hours ago. I've just been down to visit Hagrid and Buck… I mean, Witherwings." She told them all breathlessly, looking over at Leo and smiling brightly, her red cheeks brightening the room. "Did you all have a good Christmas?"

It was Ron that answered, shrugging. "Weird, given… you know, but it was alright, sort of fun really. Though the most interesting thing that happened was Scrimgeour."

Hermione's eyes widened. "The Minister for…" She trailed off, looking at Leo and Harry for clarification.

Ginny snorted. "He and Percy went to the Burrow… or at least attempted too, Bill's protections were too strong even for him. Tonks said a few days later that they were both extremely put out."

"He just wants to recruit me." Harry sighed, having gotten sick of the Minister's actions quickly as the holidays wore on. "Get me to tell people that his regime is the one best equipped to defeat Voldemort and that I support him wholeheartedly." He ignored the winces at the name.

"If you're going to speak like that, either tell me the password or go away." The Fat Lady grumbled.

All four of the recently arrived Gryffindor's turned towards Hermione, who despite her already rosy cheeks, blushed and rolled her eyes. "Abstinence."

"Precisely." The Fat Lady mumbled, swinging to reveal the portrait hole.

Ginny went first, followed by an eager Ron, Harry and Hermione before Leo was the final one through, catching another Hermione explanation. "…her friend Violet drank their way through all the wine in that picture of drunk monks down by the Charms Corridor. Anyway…"

She rummaged in her pocket briefly before holding out some parchment for Harry to take, though they were interrupted by a rather loud squeal of "Won Won!"

"Oh boy." Ron whispered horrified as the others laughed at their friend as Lavender Brown came barrelling into her red-headed boyfriend.

Leaving Ron to his fate, the others moved over to a spare table, where Ginny sat on top of Harry's lap causing him to grow red at the number of staring onlookers. Ginny was having none of it though, pre-empting his complaint by saying, slightly too loudly. "Let them look, we have nothing to hide."

Scoffing at the sheepish heads turning back to their own conversations, it was then that Leo spotted both Fay and Anna playing Gobstones at a table. His first thought was to go and greet them, but he had also missed Hermione…

The brunette seemed to read his thoughts. "Go, I'll see you in the morning." She said with a smile.

"You're sure?" Leo asked. "I wanted to…"

"We'll have time to catch up." Hermione nodded, her still gloved hand moving to cover his. "I want to thank you anyway for my present."

He had enlisted the help of Fay for his present for Hermione having agonised for far too long for a gift that would fit their new… Leo wasn't quite sure what to call it, but he had known a book just wasn't good enough this year, and as he looked at her neck he could see the silver chain hanging from it, one that he knew had a pendant of a quill hanging from it, he smiled, turning his hand to briefly hold hers and squeeze, Leo moved to the other side of the Common Room just as one of Anna's stones let out a loud squelch and pus filtered into the air. "Maybe I should go back." He muttered dryly, catching the girls' attention.

"Leo!" Fay exclaimed, rising from her seat to wrap him in a hug. "How was Christmas? It's so weird not being able to simply owl you during the holidays, but I hope you got my present? I got yours, the Magpies kit fits me perfectly thanks!"

Pulling up a chair, Leo took one final glance over at where Hermione, Harry and Ginny were sat, crowding over the parchment, before being thrust into a conversation about the last couple of weeks with his friends. "Eventful… boy do I have a lot to tell you." He first spoke about his parents getting back together, something which made both girls swoon, much to Leo's surprise.

"That's so romantic!" Anna exclaimed.

"After so long apart…" Fay continued with a wide grin.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Because he was in Azkaban!" He exclaimed. "Because he decided to take petty revenge instead of check on his family…" He sighed, shaking his head. "Which I'm totally over, that's not the point. Them acting like Won Won and Lav Lav isn't the most interesting thing that happened… the Minister for Magic tried to get past the Fidelius after Christmas."

That stopped their cooing over Leo's parents renewed relationship as they both sat straighter, leaning towards him. "The… Minister for Magic?" Fay whispered, as if the name was tabooed. "What happened?"

Leo grinned as he reminisced over the latter half of the Christmas Holidays. "He tried to use Ron's brother to get to Harry." He said quietly. "But they were with us for Christmas instead… so when everyone went to work a few days later, they got a visit from the Minister asking about their holidays. Tonks told me… my… second cousin I guess, that she was asked to reveal his location and when she couldn't, he apparently subtly hinted at it affecting her job."

Anna gasped. "Can he do that?"

"He's the Minister, of course he can." Fay rolled her eyes.

"He couldn't." Leo explained. "Robards put a stop to it quickly, reminding the Minister that they were fighting a war, but still… he's getting desperate. Sirius warned us about which Aurors to trust and which not too before we came back today… some of them were posted outside the house, despite not being able to get in."

"How can they do that?" Fay asked. "You're under Fidelius."

Shrugging, Leo hated that he didn't know. "Something to do with Harry and the Trace I guess, but it really annoyed my parents to no end, Mum almost went out there and duelled Dawlish…"

Anna gasped, interrupting him. "He was on the platform!" She looked over at Fay. "That has to be it… there were so many wizards and witches just standing there… we thought it was to protect us but what if…"

"What if they were there to spot Harry." Fay completed the sentence, her face going pale. "But… they should be fighting You-Know-Who… not trying to grab Harry or whatever."

And that was the crux of it for Leo, as he leant back in his chair and let the girls fret over the state of the Ministry, something that had been on Leo's mind for months. He looked over towards Hermione, and by the look of the outrage on her face Harry and Ginny had been having the exact same conversation with her. What had become abundantly clear to Leo was that the new regime would be no more help than Fudge's had, and a grim determination set into the Gryffindor. If they couldn't focus on what was needed to defeat You-Know-Who, then Leo would make sure that he was a part of the group that would be able to do exactly that.

"And when it came to showing Professor Slughorn our antidotes, he whips out a Bezoar of all things!" Hermione was complaining animatedly to Leo as they sat in a corner of the Restricted Section of the Library. "It's like this so called Half Blood Prince is mocking me!"

On their second morning back Harry had explained that the parchment given to him by Hermione had been to invite him to another meeting with Professor Dumbledore, and this time Harry had needed help afterwards, explaining that he needed to convince Professor Slughorn to give him a memory, and to find out what something called a Horcrux was. With him having dropped potions, Leo had offered to spend time in the Restricted Section to see if there was any mention within the library.

Their table had a pile of books atop it and the pair were combing through them all to try and find any mention of Horcruxes to decipher what they were. It being a Wednesday Leo had been free all afternoon to start the search and was actively frowning at some of the ideas that were listed even in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts as Hermione was going through the list of books he had already worked through during her Potions and Herbology lessons. He heard a huff and looked up, noticing Hermione scowling over at him. "Yes?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Urgh, are you even listening?" Hermione whispered harshly.

Leo nodded, making sure to mark his place in the book. "I am, I just don't think a book that was probably scribbled on before you were born is actively trying to mock you." He told her, returning to the book before quickly closing it. "This is getting us nowhere, there's no mention of Horcruxes whatsoever." He stated grumpily.

Hermione meanwhile clearly wasn't finished as she sighed and folded her arms. "That book is dangerous, Leo. I mean it. Not only is he not actually learning anything so he'll completely fail his exams, but the made up spells within… they worry me."

"Harry is sensible…" He began, before noticing her raised eyebrow, questioning his statement. "Somewhat." He added. "If this Prince is teaching him things then surely, given what he's facing, that's a good thing?"

Hermione scowled, but sighed. "I didn't think of it like that." She admitted. "But it's how he reacts… he's almost glad to be Slughorn's favourite."

"Something he needs to be." Leo noted. "Especially if he needs to get this memory…"

The mention of the memory reminded the pair of why they were both there in the first place, and so together they sifted through the large pile of books, with Hermione occasionally roaming off to bring another handful back.

The search eventually took days, with both Leo and Hermione spending all of their free time within the Library. Even then, when the moment of triumph came, it was over in a flash. Hermione had been reading and grimacing at every few lines of the start of the book when she came to it. "Here we go!" She began excitedly. "Of the Horcrux, wickedest of magical inventions, we shall not speak nor give direction…" She frowned again, turning the page back and forth multiple times before growling in frustration. "Is that it?"

Leo pulled the book from her place and read the lines in the introduction of the book, before moving to the contents page. Some of the titles were making him feel queasy, but he pushed on and skimmed through the most likely chapters to speak further, with nothing doing. An hour after the initial discovery both had been through the book twice each and were exhausted. "We're close." Leo muttered, keeping the book to one side.

"There's nothing else, Leo." Hermione sighed. "I've been through all of these books… not one single mention of a Horcrux other than they're so foul that even this disgusting book won't talk about them." She sighed, closing Magick Most Evile and ignoring the wail it gave. "Whatever they are… it's beyond anything we can imagine."

Leo went to grab a different book when he could hear the harsh tones of Madame Pince in the regular section of the library telling people to leave. "We best go. But at least we can tell Harry something."

"Barely." Hermione grumbled, but she agreed and collected half of the books so that they could share the clean-up, before gathering their bags and walking back to the Common Room together.

It was only after cornering Harry and Ron in the Common Room and explaining their lack of progress that Leo felt like a lightbulb had just been turned on in his brain. "Of course!" He whispered excitedly.

"What?" Hermione asked.

Leo looked around to make sure nobody was listening in. "If these Horcruxes are so bad that even Magick Most Evile won't speak of them, then why would books even be kept in the library about them?"

The comment deflated them all. "Brilliant." Ron muttered miserably. "So we have no idea what they are, and now you've gone and blown it with Slughorn." He nudged Harry. "So what do we do now?"

Nobody had a quick answer, and so Leo began to grin. "We go outside Hogwarts."

Spluttering, Hermione protested. "Outside Hogwarts? Even if the security was lax, which it isn't of course, where are you supposed to go? Hogsmeade? Tomes and Scrolls aren't likely to sell you anything, and then you can't Apparate anywhere…"

"Hermione." Leo said, interrupting her rant. "Breathe. I have a plan." He looked around again, happy that nobody was listening but even so he lowered his voice. "Snuffles has a big library, one that is full of all kinds of obscene, dark magic."

"Dumbledore said not to go spreading this around." Harry whispered unhappily, not relishing the thought of another voice in the conversation.

Ron snorted at that comment. "He told you to only tell me and Hermione mate. You told Ginny and Leo, and we know Snuffles is on your side."

"It's not like I can just send him an owl." Harry complained, before Hermione slapped him on the leg with parchment and gestured to Leo, who was now frowning and remembering the year earlier. "What?" Harry asked, oblivious.

"Figures, you forgetting again." Leo said coldly. "I have the mirror, don't I?" If he wasn't so pissed off, Leo might have enjoyed the sheepish and guilty look that appeared on Harry's face. As it was, he was simply regretting opening his mouth. "We can use it and talk to him."

He sunk deeper into his armchair, his arms folded, trying to pay little attention to the awkward silence that had followed and instead just staring into the fireplace. After a short while, he felt a hand on his leg and quickly looked back up to see Hermione sat on the arm of his chair, looking at him. "Leo, it's a great idea." She insisted. "Isn't it Harry?" She turned to face the Boy-Who-Lived, her tone more forceful.

"Urm, yeah." Harry nodded, running a hand through his hair nervously. Hermione cleared her throat and Harry simply glared at her, but he spoke more clearly after that. "Asking Snuffles is a good idea, especially with his library. Can I borrow the mirror, talk to him myself?"

Taking a deep breath to keep his cool, Leo nodded curtly. "Sure, come on." He said, rising out of the armchair, placing his hand on Hermione's shoulder and squeezing a thank you, before leading Harry up the stairs to the boy's dormitory. Thankfully none of the others were heading to bed yet, so Leo rifled through his trunk to find the mirror and spoke Sirius' name, waiting for the reflection to change.

"Leo! This is a surprise!" A chirpy voice came from the object. "How are you?"

"Fine." He said, a little too snappily. "I'm alright, just… Harry had something he wanted to ask you."

The mirror reflection shifted as it was being picked up, and Leo saw his dad's face was sporting a mischievous grin. "Something girl related, or something you shouldn't be doing related?" He asked.

Leo handed the mirror over to Harry, who only nodded back at him. "Something Dumbledore asked." Harry began, and Leo skulked out of the dormitory to return to the Common Room, not wanting his frustrations to be too distracting to Sirius given the serious nature of the conversation despite Leo wanting to throttle Harry there and then.

Reviews:

SkepticPrinceArthur: He's a very recently added character to the actual story (though I've thought of him for a while now) so I'm not surprised you had to reread! I ended up just having Leo talk about it because ultimately it worked out better than just extending Christmas to have those at Grimmauld Place simply see a couple of people outside.

PuCeeMagnet: It makes me want more Christmas parties at Hogwarts to be honest! That and the Yule Ball are a pair of really interesting Christmas chapters.