Harry and Ginny sat in the living room with the two Pensieve’s taking up the entire coffee table they shared. Two long pieces of parchment for each of them to scribble notes on lay between them. Harry looked over to see Ginny lean over Dumbledore’s Pensieve, she fell into it and disappeared from his view.
Ginny landed hard on the floor of Dumbledore’s office, not wanting to fall over, she grabbed the high back chair that Dumbledore himself was sitting in; of course, he didn’t notice Ginny’s chirp of surprise or the tug of his chair. She took the few short moments she knew she had to look around the office, she was scanning his desk when a quiet knock on the door caused him to shuffle some papers before bellowing, “Come in!”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him move a book entitled “Pushing the Limits of Magical Ability and Power”. Ginny’s mouth parted and she breathed in a short gasp of air, when she looked away from the book, she saw herself walking through the door. She was supposed to be reviewing a meeting between herself and Dumbledore regarding her prophecy, from Dumbledore’s point of view, to see if there were any differences, but after seeing the book, she wanted to get out of the Pensieve as soon as she could.
Harry took a deep breath after watching Ginny disappear into Dumbledore’s Pensieve before turning back to Ginny’s. He wanted nothing more than to look at Ginny’s most recent dreams, but she had somehow hidden them from being discovered. First he cursed her for keeping a secret from him, and then cursed himself for trying to pry it out of her. He resolved himself to just find dreams that Ginny had pushed aside as not important, ones that they hadn’t reviewed together because of that fact. They had thus far only pricked the surface of the information contained in the Pensieve’s, but he thought it was time for a fresh point of view. Perhaps the less reviewed, less “important” dreams, were ones that shouldn’t be cast aside?
As he prodded the surface of the water, he watched clips from dreams, as if he was flipping through a photo album and each frame had only 5 seconds to convince him to view its contents. Ginny’s memories of her own dreams: the graveyard, Harry being tortured, Ginny talking to Tom in the Chamber, Hermione being kidnapped, Hufflepuff Manor, Ginny running down a narrow path, Ron outnumbered by Death Eaters. Harry pulled his wand out of the water quickly, and then spun the water counterclockwise until the snippet of Ginny running took up the entire basin, then, with his heart beating wildly, he dove forward.
When Ginny found herself sitting back in the living room, she looked over to see Harry falling back out of her own Pensieve. She scooted towards him before he regained his balance. At the same time, they made eye contact and, in hushed voices, said together, “I’ve realized something.”
“What were you looking at?” Ginny asked, nervous that perhaps Harry had found the dreams she didn’t want him to see.
“A dream we’ve never looked at before, here,” he pushed the basin towards Ginny, who looked into it intrigued. She saw the snippet of her running down the path.
“I had that dream near the beginning of the school year. I was running down the path looking for something…I assumed a Horcrux, but I couldn’t be sure.”
Harry nodded, his eyes growing wide in excitement, “Do you know where this is?”
“No…do you?” Ginny returned, looking away from the Pensieve. Harry nodded more vigorously.
“It’s in Hogwarts, the Room of Requirement. When a student needs a place to stash something, I put Snape’s Potion’s book in it last year. The tall towers on either side of the path…those are piles of junk.”
Ginny’s mouth parted in awe, “You don’t think a Horcrux…Voldemort wouldn’t…”
Harry shrugged, “He was careless enough to leave Malfoy with the Diary. The Statue was found in a room full of junk, in essence.”
“Yeah…but…”
“Why else would you dream about this room? You’ve never even heard of it before, right? And you said yourself you felt like you were looking for something.” Harry was clearly very excited. Ginny was a bit more apprehensive.
“You know how dangerous it is to go into Hogwarts?” She began.
Harry shrugged, “I got in and out…”
Ginny grew silent. How was she supposed to tell him she couldn’t risk going into a castle crawling with Death Eaters whose first orders were to find her and bring her to Voldemort? Those were the words, from Voldemort’s own mouth, that she heard when she held the statue in Hufflepuff Manor.
Harry narrowed his eyes and tilted his head in suspicion, “Why don’t you…”
Ginny quickly decided to change the topic, “I’ve realized something about our prophecies that we have overlooked. It makes such complete sense you’re going to feel like an idiot that we didn’t figure it out sooner.”
“You’re trying to change the subject.” He said simply, his eyes narrowed, but never lost their sparkle.
“Is it working?” She asked with a coy smile. Harry shrugged. “You’ll have a power Voldemort won’t know about…wandless magic, perhaps?” He nodded, so she continued. “I am the only one that can hold the power you control.” He nodded again, but more slowly. “You can only do wandless magic properly when I’m around…”
“Sure, that all makes sense…but doesn’t that all seem a little…”
“Too easy?”
“Yeah,” Harry admitted, for lack of better words.
Ginny nodded eagerly, “Yeah, it does. Which makes me think there’s more to it; I mean, I don’t see the final battle being as easy as you and Voldemort in a duel, I walk into the room, you get the power to do wandless, and you catch him off his guard.”
“If only,” Harry huffed.
“I don’t have the answers now…but I think I might know a book where we can start, ‘Pushing the Limits of Magical Ability and Power’. It was on Dumbledore’s desk in the last memory I went into. I think it’s worth a shot.”
Harry nodded in agreement, before adding, “As is looking into the junk room in Hogwarts.” Ginny rolled her eyes and pulled some parchment closer to her to scribble down the new leads her and Harry had created.
“I’ve never heard of it,” Hermione said, “Knight to E5.” Her pawn moved across the table towards Ron’s furrowed brow.
He grunted, “What, you think you’ve heard every book title?”
“Oh hush,” Hermione turned fully to Ginny. “What’s up with the book?”
“Castle to B6. Maybe she wants Harry to push the limits of his magical ability and power.”
Hermione snapped her head around and glared at Ron, “Bishop to E 12. Checkmate!”
“What!” Ron lunged at the board and watched as Hermione’s bishop clobbered his knight. Hermione flipped her hair and stood from the table. “Better luck next time Ronald. I’m going to go memorize some more book titles, let me know if you want a rematch anytime soon!”
Ginny laughed as she followed Hermione out of the study, where they left Ron staring disbelievingly at the chess board. “You’ve scarred him completely…now it’ll take him twice as long to make a mooo…” Ginny trailed the word into a whisper.
“What?” Hermione snapped.
“Erm…” Ginny avoided making eye contact.
“Make a what, Ginny? Make a mooo…?” Hermione mocked.
Ginny fidgeted uncomfortable, “Twice as long to make a mooo…ooove, make a move when he’s playing chess!” Ginny recovered triumphantly, but not convincingly.
Hermione snorted, “Let’s hope not. Now, let’s see about this book. It’s such a generic sounding title…I’m surprised we haven’t come across it yet.” Hermione said as they climbed the stairs towards the Grimmauld Place Library. Ginny took a seat on an oversized couch as Hermione marched to a bookshelf and pulled the book directory from a higher shelf.
Magical book directories could only be found in the biggest and most notorious magical libraries. Hogwarts had one and old manors with large book collections often had one. They listed the libraries entire collection and were connected to all other libraries in possession of a directory. So, in essence, having a directory in Grimmauld allowed Hermione, or whoever would use it, to see if Hogwarts, or any other library, held a copy of a book they wanted.
Hermione bent over the large book and said in a clear voice, “Search, book title, Pushing the Limits of Magical Ability and Power.” Ginny pushed herself off the couch and approached Hermione’s side. “Well that’s odd...there’s only two known copies.”
“Really?” Ginny looked over Hermione’s shoulder. “Hogwarts and the Magical National Library in London,” Ginny whispered.
“Hogwarts would probably be easier,” Hermione reasoned.
Ginny immediately shook her head and blurted, “No!” When Hermione raised her eyebrows Ginny stepped back off her tiptoes, “I mean, well, Death Eaters roam there now. You haven’t been there since Dumbledore died…it’s just not the same. Plus, look, Dumbledore checked it out years ago, and hasn’t returned it. Meaning, it’s probably lost somewhere in his office. So, unless you want to ask Snape if you could have a quick look around…I think we need to make a trip to London.”
“Master,” Wormtail whispered before cowering under the evil glare Voldemort cast his direction. “I have a contact…works in the Directories Department at the Magical National Library in London…”
“This better be worth disturbing me Wormtail,” Voldemort hissed.
Wormtail shook, he nodded, “He tells me an inquiry was recorded yesterday, from Grimmauld Place. They’re looking for the book ‘Pushing the Limits of Magical Ability and Power.”
“What!” He didn’t yell, but Wormtail cowered for his life, as Voldemort’s eyes flared. “This information displeases me greatly, and after your horrific planning to retrieve my possession from Hufflepuff, and your dismal performance at capturing the red-headed blood traitor…you will be sorry if Potter get’s his hands on that book. Do not disappoint me again. Now get out of my site.”
Wormtail ran out of the room, Voldemort watched him with disgust until he felt his Nagini slither around his feet. “It’s true Nagini,” he hissed in what felt like his natural language, “Dumbledore no doubt told Potter about how far I pushed magical limits…and now he think’s he’ll be able to find answers in a silly book, as if it was that easy.”
“Will you stop laughing?” Harry asked patiently.
“You’re blonde!” Ginny answered, as if his request was absolutely ridiculous. He shook his head and placed a baseball cap on his head, pulling it low, making sure his scar was covered.
“I can’t wait till Hermione has a go on you.” He said bitterly, Ginny chuckled as she leaned in a doorway.
There was an up-roar from behind the door Harry and Ginny stood near. Ron fell out of the room and Hermione’s voice was released, “Get over it Ronald! These are supposed to be disguises!”
Ginny couldn’t help it, the laughter she had been trying to suppress based on Harry’s appearance was impossible to contain now that she saw her brother. Harry even choked on air. “Shut up both of you!” Ron yelled. His hair was pitch black, and with his pale skin…it just wasn’t the best combination. He was still ranting, “Hardly a disguise,” he spat back towards the room, “if people will be staring and laughing at you!”
Hermione appeared in the doorway. “You threatened to hex me if I made you look like Harry,” she began, Harry gaped in offense, “and you complained like a baby when I made you a brunette. So, now you’re stuck with that. Get over it!” she repeated.
Ginny stepped forward, “I promise I won’t complain, Hermione.” She said sweetly. Hermione only scowled. Walking back into the room Ginny shut the door, “You did that on purpose…made him look like a fool.”
“Absolutely not,” Hermione lied, not even trying to sound convincing. “I think you’ll make a nice brunette. It actually looked quite nice on Ron despite his complaining.
Ginny shrugged, “I really don’t care what I look like. It’s just a quick trip right?”
“Yes, the charm will only last two hours.” Hermione held up her wand and pointed it at Ginny. She felt her hair retract into her head, Hermione had shortened it. “Alright, my turn,” Hermione pointed the wand at herself and suddenly she was dirty blonde.
“Didn’t want to go white blonde like Harry?” Ginny snickered. Hermione shrugged, but had a twinkle in her eye. They walked out of the room, and Ginny glanced over to see Harry glare at her. “What?” she asked.
“You still look beautiful,” he said grudgingly.
An hour later the four were standing across the street from the large National Library. “Alright, Hermione and Ron, you’ll go check out the book. Ginny, you’ll go in and linger by the front door, keep an eye out. I’ll stand out here and make sure everything is clear.”
“We’re going to laugh in 20 minutes when we’re back at Grimmauld. Is all this planning really necessary?” Ron said, scratching at his hair angrily.
Hermione rolled her eyes, “Don’t be so grumpy just because you’re hair’s a different color.”
Harry shrugged, “You never know what might go wrong,” he said as he went to cross the street. Harry stepped off the curb and made it two steps into the car lane when a loud horn sounded to his right. He turned just in time to see the triple-decker Knight Bus appear and tower over him. He felt two small hands on his back, and he was suddenly tumbling forward, becoming entangled around himself and Ginny, who had ran in front of the bus as well.
“Harry!” they heard Hermione yell, “Ginny!”
They were sprawled in the middle of the street, Harry saw the back of the purple bus, then turned to see Ginny, laying next to him on her back. He rolled over towards her to make sure she was alright. She stared up in his face, “What just happened?” he gasped.
“I know you didn’t get out much as a kid,” Ginny said, sitting up. Harry held out a hand to help her stand, they crossed the street together, dodging a couple more cars that had slowed when they suddenly fell into the street, “But here’s a tip…look both ways before you step onto a street.”
“I did! The bus came out of nowhere, it’s the frickin’ Knight Bus!” Harry said, waving his hand back to where he was almost hit.
Ginny rolled her eyes, “I guess now we’re even. Death by Snake in a creepy chamber for death by Knight Bus on busy street. Yours was a bit more heroic…but I’m the girl so…”
Harry laughed as they watched Hermione and Ron run up to them, Hermione panted, “Oh my gosh, Ginny are you alright? I’ve never seen you move so fast!”
“Don’t use our real names, Hermione!” Harry scolded. Hermione looked at him annoyed as he realized his slip, he shook his head. “Just get the book will ya?” and he waved them all away.
Ginny moved towards him and pecked him on the cheek, “Don’t cross the street again until I come back and hold your hand,” she teased before trotting away with Ron and Hermione and entering the library.
Hermione scanned the shelf, “It’s not here.”
“What do you mean it’s not here?” Ron said, looking at the shelf for the first time.
“What do you think I bloody mean, Ronald?” Ron made to retort, but a high pitched scream over powered his voice. Hermione’s eyes grew wide, connecting with Ron’s, before a large crash tore at their ears, the floor shook, and books began falling all around them.
Ginny watched the front door from behind a book shelf, holding a book pretending she was reading it. It took her a moment to remember that Harry was blonde, and it was him who had burst into the front doors looking around frantically. She went to wave, grab his attention, find out what was wrong, but before she could, a wizard crept up and pointed his wand at the enormous chandelier. It came crashing down, just above where Harry had decided to stop.
No one had heard the wizard, Ginny hadn’t either she had only seen where he had been pointing his wand. The chandelier was so high up; no one had noticed it was falling. People heard the chinking and jangling of crystal, but were looking around the floor for the source of the noise. Ginny was going to watch 20 people, including Harry, be crushed by the massive decoration. She stumbled forward, “Harry!” she screamed, pointing to the ceiling.
Harry stood, staring at the library from the street, checking his watch periodically. Hermione and Ron should be checking the book out any moment now. Then the three would exit the library, they’d Apparate back to Grimmauld, and everything would have gone to plan. He looked back up, a short, familiarly hunched backed, wizard was scuttling up the steps. The thinning hair gave him away, but Harry’s fear was confirmed when he saw the shining silver hand. Wormtail. Harry, moved quickly, running up the steps, he watched as Peter Pettigrew disappeared into the library.
He stumbled into the library and looked around frantically. Where had he gone to? Did he transform? Where was Ginny? She should be somewhere near the door…maybe she saw him and went to alert Ron and Hermione. What was that weird noise? He looked around and saw others looking around as well. Then he heard his name. Ginny had yelled his name, he looked around. There she was, pointing up…
He looked up and saw the chandelier, floating down. “EVERYONE MOVE!” Harry yelled at the top of his lungs. People scrambled, pushing and shoving one another, not wanting to be the one crushed. Harry dove behind a counter just as the chandelier hit with an enormous crash.
“What the hell?” Ron yelled, before they sprinted down the aisle, turning towards the front. They scooted to a halt when they saw the dust settling from the wreck in the middle of the lobby.
“The chandelier,” Hermione whispered. She caught it out of her eye, a rat running down the aisle to their left. “Scabbers…” she breathed.
Ron looked at her like she was insane, but when she nodded over to where the rat was now transforming, Ron grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind a row of books. “By the front,” Pettigrew wheezed to another wizard who had joined him. “The short-haired brunette. They’re in disguise, but she yelled for Potter to move…it’s Weasley.”
“You’re sure? The Dark Lord will not be merciful if you screw up another attempt at..”
“You know the signal. Attack at my signal,” Wormtail spat. They both whipped out of the aisle. Hermione and Ron stared at each other, and then sprinted from their hiding spot, praying they could find Ginny first.
Ginny saw him jump behind the counter just in time. People were pouring out of the library, but a few were creeping towards the wreckage. Ginny was moving forward, but slowed when she saw these people. They weren’t looking for loved ones, they were looking around, and they were waiting for something…for someone…something was very wrong here. She saw Harry pop up from the counter. She stood, looking from him, to the few wizards, standing eerily around. He looked over and she knew he understood something wasn’t right as well. A bright light caused Ginny to shield her eyes, she heard an eruption of curses, and then she was being tackled.
Ron was running as hard as he could, from the corner of his eyes he saw Pettigrew raise his wand, Hermione was falling behind, but he kept moving. Ginny had come into view, she stood, not moving. Ron closed his eyes when the light blasted from Pettigrew’s wand, the signal. He heard Hermione shout, “Expelliarmus!” but not before a wizard shot a curse towards Ginny, with her back turned. He dug his feet in, beat the curse, and ran full force into his sister, pushing her to the ground.
“We need to get out of here!” he yelled above the raucous of curses flying around the library.
They scrambled to their feet, Ron saw Hermione stunning the Death Eater she had just disarmed before turning on two more, and Harry was in a fierce battle with the two Death Eaters that had been standing near the chandelier. Ron ran to the aide of Hermione, and Ginny to Harry.
Just as she approached the duel, Harry’s wand spun through the air and into the hands of Peter Pettigrew. “Stop!” he yelled. Ginny scooted to a halt and the other Death Eater lowered his wand. The four stood in silence as small battles continued around them.
Pettigrew had his wand on Harry, but was staring at Ginny who slowly rose her wand back at him. She saw the other Death Eater point his wand at her. So they stood, staring at each other, no one moving their wands. “Move,” Pettigrew growled, “and I kill him.”
“Kill him, and I kill you.” Ginny hissed. She knew Harry could protect himself, put up a shield, with out a wand…but could he be strong enough to deflect the killing curse?
“That’s cute,” Pettigrew sneered.
Ginny stepped forward and everyone tensed, “That’s the truth…don’t push me you disgusting rat.”
“Crucio!” Pettigrew yelled, the spell sped towards Harry.
“Protego!” Harry yelled, holding up his hands. Nothing happened.
Ginny watched as Harry fell to the ground. “Stop!” she screamed at Pettigrew, running forward and stopping three feet from Harry. “Rectusempra!”
Pettigrew broke the connection when Ginny’s spell hit him, Harry rolled over in relief. Ginny felt her wand slip from her fingers, the other Death Eater had disarmed her. “Ah,” Pettigrew chuckled, “Quite the predicament.”
“Let’s kill him,” the Death Eater holding Ginny’s wand said eagerly.
Ginny turned to Harry, only feet from her, struggling to stand. He was obviously weak, and they were both disarmed. She heard Hermione and Ron fighting fiercely across the lobby. The situation wasn’t looking good. “We can’t kill him McNair…he isn’t our target…”
“The Dark Lord will reward me if I am the one to destroy him…” he repeated hungrily. Ginny saw his eyes flash, she saw his arm begin to raise, and without thinking, she was moving through the air.
“Petrificus Totalus!” Hermione shouted, and her curse missed, sending books flying off their shelves. The small duel was now down from four Death Eaters against her and Ron to only two Death Eaters.
Hermione ducked as a blue light raced her way. As she fell forward on a turned over chair, she reached out, tackling the Death Eater that had been fighting Ron. As they fell, something tumbled out of the Death Eater’s cloak. It was the book. Hermione reached for it, but then felt a wand tip pressing into her back.
“Move, and you’ll feel the worst pain in your life,” she heard a rough voice above her. “Get up Nott, and pick up the book you fool.”
Hermione looked over and saw Ron, bound by ropes and laying struggling on the floor. She felt hands pick her up and set her roughly on her feet. “See them over there?” The Death Eater grabbed her face and forced her to look over to where Harry and Ginny stood, unarmed. “We finally got her…and soon the Dark Lord will let us…”
But what he would let them do, Hermione didn’t find out, because the Death Eater standing nearest to Ginny suddenly lunged forward, pushing Pettigrew aside. He raised his wand and pointed it at Harry. Everything seemed to be happening so fast, just as the Death Eater lunged, so did Ginny…Hermione tossed Nott off her and took several steps forward, not knowing why. She watched in horror as both a bright green light and Ginny raced towards Harry.
His bones were on fire, but it stopped as quickly as it had started. When he struggled to raise his head, he saw Ginny standing, pain in her eyes, wandless. Wandless…his blocking spell hadn’t worked. He gritted his teeth, and although he felt numb, he forced himself to stand. How were they going to get out of this mess? He couldn’t do his wandless magic when he actually needed it. He hardly heard the conversation between Pettigrew and McNair…but he caught, “destroy him.” He looked up and saw Ginny staring intensely at McNair.
Then, maybe because he didn’t have any energy, or maybe because he thought his world was about to end, everything began to move in slow motion. It seemed like they both moved at the same time, but McNair had the edge. His wand was directed at Harry, lowered to his chest…and she was running to him. He saw the light before he heard the words, “Aveda Kedavra.” There was the green…and then there was red. It was Ginny, Hermione’s disguise spell had lifted, and he saw her red hair whipping around him. He felt her before he heard her. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, her back ready to take the full force of the killing curse and she whispered, “I love you.”
Though she clung to him, he did not wrap his arms around her; instead, he held them up high and summoned any energy he had, which seemed to be more with Ginny hanging from his neck. He surprised himself when he didn’t bellow the words…no, he only needed to whisper them, the power wasn’t coming from his voice, but from within, “Protego.”
A thick shield appeared around them, woven like a web until it was solid. The green beam hit the shield and it warped slightly, but held as the curse bounced off it. He didn’t know if the silence was caused by the shield, or if the shield was just his imagination and the silence was the first sign of being dead.
Hermione stood, completely unaware that she stood beside two Death Eaters holding her and Ron’s wands. She was staring at the large webbed dome that had appeared around Harry and Ginny. Had it formed in time? She shook her head, of course it had…the light had bounced off. She was snapped back to reality when she heard a scuffle to her right. Ron had undone himself from the ropes that had contained him, and he was wrestling with a surprised Death Eater. In the scuffle, he had dropped Ron’s wand. Hermione lunged forward and grabbed it. “Petrificus Totalus!” The Death Eater turned rigid, and Ron pushed him over and stood. Nott turned and faced Hermione, who was already facing him. They stood in silence, Ron staring between the two panting.
The quiet was ended when they heard the terrified voice of McNair, “He didn’t have a wand!” He shouted. Hermione watched as Nott turned to look. The dome had diminished, and Hermione saw Ginny unwrapping herself from Harry.
Harry stepped forward, “Stupefy!” The air around his hands rippled, and a wave rushed towards McNair, who was pushed off his feet and knocked out. Pettigrew took two large steps back. Before Harry could even turn to him, he began transforming into a rat, and disappeared into the wreckage of the chandelier.
Hermione yelped in surprise when Ron suddenly tackled Nott, wrestling both wands he held out of his hands. When he had managed to grab them, instead of using one, he balled up his fist and punched the Death Eater full force. Then, standing up, he pointed his wand, stunned the Death Eater, and then walked to Hermione. He forced Hermione’s wand into her hand before taking his from hers.
“Are you two okay?” Hermione asked, running around the chandelier, Ron right next to her.
Ginny nodded, finding Harry’s hand. Ron bent over and picked up Harry’s wand from where Pettigrew had transformed. He handed it over, “You did that web thing without a wand?” He didn’t answer, but instead turned to Ginny.
She smiled, “The Knight Bus…the Chandelier…the Killing Curse…how many times am I going to have to save you today?”
“Well, in case you didn’t notice I actually had to save you. You jumped in front of a Killing Curse! What the hell were you thinking?!” Harry answered angrily.
“You couldn’t block Crucio! I can’t do wandless magic so it’s not like I could block the spell!” answered with fire in her tone.
“So you jumped in front of it?!”
“I wasn’t in any danger,” Ginny shrugged, Harry stared at her with exasperation.
“Oh no?”
“We’re still alive, are we not?” Harry shook his head and pulled her into a fierce hug, which was very convenient for her, because at that very moment, her head began to spin, and she felt like she would be sick.
She heard Voldemort in her head, the library bent out of focus. She heard Hermione in the background of her awareness, she felt Harry keep a tight grip on her, but he didn’t notice her swaying.
Voldemort walked to the window and looked out; he was in the highest tower of Hogwarts castle. No one knew he was there besides Wormtail and Snape, “It’s here, isn’t it Nagini. You can feel it too, can’t you?”
“Yesss,” the snake hissed.
“It is just one part of my soul, as you are. It draws us near, it attracts us, because we are all one. Don’t worry, I will soon have the pieces that are still left…and Potter won’t have a chance to defeat us.”
Ginny’s head was light, her stomach was turning. Hermione’s voice became clear again, “Okay…how about we tie these Death Eater’s up and get the hell out of here before…”
“Done,” Ron interrupted. “I took the liberty of collecting the scum.” Everyone turned and saw Ron standing next to the group of Death Eaters. They were all tied up to each other, all still thoroughly knocked out. “I’ve sent a message to the Order, hopefully they’ll get here before the Minisitry…or more Death Eaters.”
Hermione nodded, “Yes, we need to go. We overheard Pettigrew before the chandelier fell…they are after you Ginny.”
She felt Harry tighten his grip on her hand. She knew, of course, now more than ever why they were after her. It draws us near. She repeated in her head, and her heart fell. Voldemort was in Hogwarts…and so was one of the Horcruxes. They had to get it before him…but he was already there. Harry couldn’t go…he clearly wasn’t ready to fight Voldemort, and they hadn’t found all the Horcruxes.
The answer was clear. She had to go. She was the one that was drawn to the Horcruxes…and she had a step up on Voldemort. She knew it was in the Room of Requirement. All she had to do was sneak into Hogwarts and get to the room…she could be in and out without Voldemort ever knowing. Yes, it was clear, she had to go…and she had to go alone…and she had to go now.
“We have to get out of here then,” Harry said, pulling Ginny’s hand. She nodded silently. “Ron, did you erase their memories?” Ron nodded.
“We can Apparate in here. No one is around…” Hermione said. “Back to Grimmauld.”
“Yes,” Harry said, letting go of Ginny’s hand. She didn’t look at him, because she didn’t know if she’d be able to picture Hogsmeade instead of Grimmauld if she saw those green eyes. “See you all in a minute. Let’s go,” he said. Ginny watched as he turned on the spot. As she began to spin, she saw both Hermione and Ron snap and disappear from sight, and she prayed they wouldn’t figure out where she had gone instead of Grimmauld.
Harry hurried into the long entryway, not wanting to linger on Grimmauld's front step. He didn't get far when he heard Hermione's hard breathing behind him. He turned to face her, “How did they know we’d be there?”
“I don’t know!” Hermione said anxiously. “They might have connections with the Library…perhaps they saw me look for the book through the Directory system.” Hermione and Harry stood still in the hall, watching the front door. Ron stumbled through only a minute later, but it felt much longer.
"What took you so long?" Hermione snapped.
Ron glared at her, "Don't vent your frustrations on me, alright? It’s not my fault we didn’t get the book. I landed down the block...lost the tip of my finger." He held up his pinky.
“You didn’t get the book?” Harry looked over Ron's shoulder, Ginny hadn't returned yet.
"No, one of the Death Eaters had it…and then I couldn’t find it once everything was over. They knew we were looking for it." Hermione followed Harry's eye site over Ron's shoulder. "Ginny not back yet?" He shook his head.
“She was the last to Apparate…she’ll get here. We need to go to Hogwarts to get that book…” Hermione said.
Ron frowned, turning towards the door as well. “We overheard Pettigrew…he pointed Ginny out. They attacked us to get to her. We’d be crazy to go to Hogwarts, all those Death Eaters. No, we don’t even know if the book is still there.”
The intensity in the air was thick, they were all sweaty and dusty from the battle and they stood staring at the door, barely breathing.
“Something is wrong,” Harry said. “What if she didn’t get out in time? I shouldn’t have left right away,” Hermione and Ron exchanged a glance. “What?”
Hermione blinked hard, “She has been keeping something from all of us. I…I think she got out of the Library just fine…but went someplace else. Why, I have no idea.”
“Damn it, Ginny.” Harry spun on the spot and slammed his hands into the kitchen door, it swung open wildly and he charged into the room. Hermione and Ron followed him quickly.
“Where would she go?” Ron asked. Harry opened the filing cabinet door open wildly and began throwing large pieces of parchment around.
He found the Mauraders map and tossed it on the kitchen table, “I solemnly swear I’m up to no good.”
“Hogwarts?” Hermione asked, bending over Harry. “You think she went to Hogwarts to get the book?”
“And the Horcrux probably,” Harry said, scanning the map. “But we need to be sure before we go after her.”
Ron shook his head, “Why would she go without us?”
“Do you think this has to do with her freak out 8 weeks back?” Hermione whispered.
“Her freak out?” Harry repeated.
“The…the thing that she’s been keeping from us. She had a dream and I walked in on her in the kitchen and she started crying…but, she wouldn’t do anything stupid…” Hermione looked up to Ron, then to Harry.
Harry didn’t move his eyes off the map, “She already is, Hermione. There!” he shouted, causing Hermione to jump. “3rd Floor by the Room of Requirement,” he pointed.
“Well, let’s go!” Ron said, moving towards the door.
“Oh my god,” Harry breathed, it was enough for Ron to spin around in fear, enough for Hermione to stand up and back away from the table. They looked at Harry expecting the worst, and they got it. He looked up to his two friends, not even trying to hide the tears of fear that had formed in his eyes, “Tom…Tom Riddle…is in Dumbledore’s Office.”
A Second Prophecy by wilbur
Chapter Notes: This chapter, in one scene, changes perspectives multiple times. It might be sort of confusing for some, but I thought it was cool...