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Final Year, Chapter 10 – Moves And Countermoves

Ron Weasley was terribly conflicted. He could not get a certain blonde girl out of his mind. More specifically, the image of a certain naked blonde girl. Never in his wildest imagination could he have imagined himself spending an afternoon sitting across from a naked girl while also naked himself, and being unable to do anything except look at her. Much less that the naked girl in question would be Luna Lovegood! An incredibly sexy Luna Lovegood! A Luna Lovegood who had certainly grown up from the little girl who used to play with his sister.

No, this Luna Lovegood had somehow turned into a living goddess with a body that still made his throat go dry. Last night these new images of her had fueled his nocturnal exertions, which had been so vigorous they had put the silencing charms on his room to the test. When he’d tried to divert his attention to the topless pinups in his bedroom that normally provided the stimulus for this activity, the faces on all of them had somehow morphed into the blonde haired, blue-eyed Ravenclaw. In the end, he’d given up trying to redirect his thoughts and let himself go.

During that same encounter the previous day, he had also received quite an eyeful of his female best friend. Although he had only had the one real good look at her, he could certainly now say that she had very fine looking breasts, something he had wondered about ever since Bill’s wedding. But that mental picture, as nice as it was, was definitely not wank material. There was a code about these things after all, and one of the rules was that you did not fantasize about your best mate’s girlfriend. Even if you had desired her at one time. It might have been more difficult to resist if she had been the only girl in the sauna with him, but that was not the case.

He had viewed Luna in every conceivable posture that he could have wished. It had even seemed as if she was trying to get him hard. Leaning forward displaying her breasts so prominently that he could almost reach out and touch them. Leaning back with her legs apart. Winking at him and then turning and walking away, wiggling her bare bum at him. He realized now that there was a good chance that she was, in fact, deliberately teasing him. If so, it had certainly worked, several times in fact. He’d had to resort to the most repellent mental images he could think of to get his wayward libido back under control. Visions of a naked Umbridge, then of Umbridge and Filch together, ultimately did the trick. But he sincerely hoped he’d never need to call upon those particular thoughts again, he decided with a shudder.

But Luna Lovegood? Loony Luna? Actually, he’d found himself thinking about her on and off, after occasions where they’d found themselves in each other’s company, like Bill’s wedding for example. But never so intensely as he was now. And he suddenly realized that he hadn’t thought about Hannah all summer, even though they had been more or less together at the end of the school year.

As he wandered through Grimmauld Place pondering these thoughts, Ron found Harry sitting in the drawing room looking into the pensieve, immersed in a memory of Dumbledore wearing the ring. Thankfully Hermione was not present – probably up in the library, he decided. Ron sat down across from his friend and waited nervously for him to emerge from his research.

“Hey, Ron, what’s up?” Harry asked as soon as he returned to the present.

“Could I ask you a question? It’s something that’s been on my mind this morning,” Ron responded. Harry cocked his head, curious at Ron’s demeanor, and nodded.

“What do you think of Luna?”

Harry smiled to himself. He’d suspected that yesterday’s revealing situation might have enabled Luna to finally get Ron to look at her the way she wanted him to – as a potential romantic interest.

“I think she’s a really great girl,” he answered, knowing his evaluation wasn’t in the area his best mate was currently focussed on. “She’s loyal, smart, funny …” He paused to see Ron’s expression of impatience. “Pretty attractive too, don’t you think?” he added with a grin.

Ron shook his head. “Attractive! That’s an understatement. She took my breath away. She was amazing … I couldn’t believe it … I can’t get the way she looked out of my head.” He looked up at Harry again. “Her body was incredible … not that I’ve seen all that many naked girls to compare her to, mind you. Just her and … well, what I saw of Hermione yesterday … sorry about that,” he finished with a guilty look.

“Don’t worry about it,” Harry reassured him. “Nothing you could have done about it, really.”

He personally thought Hermione’s figure better than Luna’s, though he knew he was biased. But if you liked slender girls rather than fuller figured ones, Luna did have an advantage. Although the other girls Ron had found particularly attractive had been more generously endowed, like Fleur or Lavender, so he suspected that the shock of the full nudity had been a big factor in his friend’s analysis.

“As for Luna, I paid more attention to Hermione yesterday, but I have to agree that she looked pretty good,” Harry observed. “Not that I have all that much more experience viewing girls’ naked bits than you do. Besides Luna yesterday, and Hermione, there was only Cho,” Harry assured him, conveniently omitting his experience at the topless beach in France. As he noticed Ron nod his head somewhat relieved at this information, however, he had an evil thought and continued, “and Alicia, Angelina, and Katie, of course.”

“What!” Ron’s eyes went wide.

“Well, yeah, in the quidditch locker room showers,” Harry went on with a shrug.

“No way!” Ron objected.

“Sure, after every practice we all showered together. It was Wood’s idea to build up team unity.” To his own amazement, Harry was still managing a straight face. “I thought sure Fred or George would have told you about it.”

“Wait a minute …” Ron’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Angelina put a stop to it when she took over as captain though,” Harry added, improvising hastily. “I suppose it was because with you and Ginny on the team it would have been kind of awkward … you know, being siblings and all …”

“You git! You’re having me on,” Ron shouted. “I was on the team for two months before she replaced you.” Harry could no longer hold it in and burst out laughing.

“Yeah, but I sure had you going for a minute there,” he chortled. Ron scowled and responded by punching him in the arm. But Harry considered the diversion a success if it got them away from discussing Luna and Hermione’s bodies.

“So, Luna turns you on, she’s super nice, she makes you laugh, and for reasons I don’t understand she seems to like you,” Harry summarized with a grin. “So what’s the problem?”

“She’s Luna!” Ron complained.

Harry’s grin quickly turned into a frown. “What exactly is that supposed to mean?” he demanded.

“It’s hard to change the way I think of her,” Ron tried to explain. “She’s different, you know? She’s not like other girls.”

“From the way I see it, that’s an advantage,” Harry retorted, his frown deepening. “What are you really saying?”

“What will it look like if I get together with her?” Ron answered quietly as he looked away from Harry’s penetrating gaze. “What will other people think?”

Harry waited several long moments before answering. “You’re asking the wrong person that question, Ron. I’ve long since stopped worrying about what other people think about me. But if it’s that important to you, that you’d give up the possibility of getting something going with a wonderful girl like Luna because of it … well, I guess you’ll have to make that decision for yourself.”

He then got to his feet and waited until Ron looked back up at him. “But if it’s going to be a problem for you, don’t you dare start something with her and then drop her. I will not stand for her getting hurt because you can’t get your head out of your arse. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’d rather be in the library right now.”

As Harry strode from the room Ron slumped back into his chair and blew out a long breath. For a second there he’d feared that Harry might hex him. And to be honest about it, he would have deserved it. He was well aware that his attitude wasn’t exactly admirable, but there it was. Like his best mate had said, he needed to decide whether he could handle the teasing with anywhere near the grace that Luna herself always did.

Terribly conflicted indeed.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – August 18

We’ve been on pins and needles all day, waiting to hear how successful we were with our warnings to the muggleborns. Dean and Colin have been alerting us whenever another family arrives in France using one of our portkeys. There were quite a few over the weekend, including Terry’s and Alicia’s. So that’s everyone we know personally, except Justin, of course, since his family wouldn’t take one.

We had an anxious moment when Tonks called in on the mirror. She and Remus have been staying at her house every month for the full moon and so were there again tonight. Thank goodness Remus had taken the wolfsbane potion I made because he was coherent this time when he transformed. I think it’s entirely possible that someone in the Aurors knew what had been going on because they arrived shortly after moonrise to take both Mr. Tonks and Remus into custody.

Tonks was able to hold them off while her dad got away, then she grabbed Remus and side-along apparated him away. Unfortunately two of the Aurors were seriously injured and so now Tonks is at the top of the wanted criminal list.

What evidently happened is that there were mixed feelings among the group of Aurors that showed up at her house. Some of them were friends of hers, and didn’t try too hard to keep her dad from escaping, but others considered her to have crossed the line by having a relationship with a werewolf, and were fully intent on arresting her as well. Those were the two who were injured.

Umbridge and Thicknesse, of course, were furious, and have now issued an attack on sight order for all three of them (Tonks, Remus, and Mr. Tonks). Ironically, since her mum is a pureblood (from the ancient and noble house of Black, no less) she was left alone through the whole incident.

They’re back here now. It was quite unnerving to see Remus as a werewolf. We’d been there that time during third year when he transformed, but we’d not actually had a good look at him that night. The first time Padfoot dragged him away as soon as he changed and the second time we were busy with Buckbeak trying to rescue Sirius. He and Tonks went down to the basement, and will spend the night there.

Wait! Justin’s DA galleon just activated!

Given the nature of the attack (rounding up muggleborns) Hermione reluctantly agreed to stay behind while Harry and Ron apparated to Justin’s home. Upon arrival well away from the manor style house, they disillusioned themselves and approached cautiously.

What they found was a standoff. DMLE personnel had the place surrounded and cut off, with Justin and his family apparently holed up inside. The main gate at the entrance from the road had been blown away, and there was considerable damage at the front door and entry way. There an expensive luxury car had been wrecked and overturned, and a few unconscious bodies, most of them in servant uniforms but one wearing Auror robes, could be seen lying nearby.

As the situation seemed to be stable for the moment, the two Gryffindors stopped and watched, waiting to see what would happen next. At Hermione’s insistence they had their communication mirrors activated so that she could follow what was happening and offer advice, much as she had on the fateful mission to the cave.

It didn’t take long for the muggle police to respond, as a security alarm had likely been activated. But a few words and memory modification spells dealt with them in short order. But then, help of a different sort arrived, as Ernie Macmillan and Susan Bones, Justin’s fellow Hufflepuffs, appeared on the scene. Given that Susan was the niece of their former boss, and Ernie was also from a prominent pureblood family, the Ministry wizards took this intervention more seriously.

At this point Harry and Ron agreed to split up, with Ron joining Susan and Ernie while Harry snuck into the house to find out what was happening inside. As Hermione kept him apprised of the progress of the group outside by means of whispered comments through his mirror, Harry found the situation inside to be grim indeed.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Finch-Fletchley were down and clearly injured in the entrance hall, with Justin taking cover in the rubble of the doorway in a near panic. To say that he was happy to see Harry was an understatement.

“Harry! Merlin, I’m glad you’re here!” he gasped. “What’s going on outside?”

“It looks like the DMLE has the place surrounded,” Harry responded quickly while moving to check more closely on the condition of the unconscious adults. “Susan and Ernie just arrived and are talking to them, and Ron joined them. I don’t know how long they can hold them off, though. We’ve got to get you guys out of here.”

“Not yet,” Justin insisted desperately. “We can’t leave my sister. She was out riding after dinner but I haven’t seen her since. You have to get her first. Please Harry, find her!”

Harry would have preferred to hold the fort while Justin searched for his sibling, but couldn’t convince his Hufflepuff classmate to leave his position. Making his way through the house and out to the grounds in the rear, he disillusioned himself again and began searching the property. At Hermione’s suggestion he cast the Homenum Revelio spell, and after several long minutes struck paydirt.

In the loft of the stables, he found a young girl hiding under a pile of hay, shaking with fear. “It’s all right,” he called out softly. “I’m a friend of Justin’s. We’re going to go find him and your parents and get away, OK?”

A head of long sandy hair tentatively emerged and Harry lit up his wand tip so she could see him. As she took in his messy black hair and the telltale scar her eyes widened. “You’re Harry Potter!” she gasped.

Thankful that in this case at least his fame was useful, Harry quickly persuaded the girl, who he discovered was named Jennifer, to come with him back up to the house. Unfortunately, before he could rejoin Justin they ran out of time. As the two of them slipped back into the rear of the house Harry felt a tingle in his magic as an anti-apparation ward went up, and realized it meant that a renewed assault was imminent. An explosion that blew a gaping hole in the front wall of the manor confirmed his fear.

“Justin!” Jennifer screamed. Harry grabbed hold of the distraught young girl before she could run into a firefight, but she ignored him, struggling to break free. “Mum! Dad!”

“Harry!” came a shout through the dust and debris. “We’re cut off. Take Jennifer and get out of here. I can’t hold them off much longer!” A loud crash punctuated his declaration, and then he fell silent. Harry looked down into the tear-streaked face of the girl in his arms and nodded. As she buried her head in his shoulder he touched the unsharpened Number 2 pencil in his pocket and spoke the activation phrase – ‘Of The Court’

Without the guiding arches that were used at Bill and Fleur’s wedding, the portkey trip reverted to the normal gut-wrenching, dizzy experience that was typical of that mode of travel. But before Harry had even picked himself up he heard Hermione’s voice over his communication mirror. “Harry! Where are you?!”

Harry pulled the mirror up to his face and responded quickly. “Hermione, I’m all right. I just activated the portkey.”

Before he’d even finished the second sentence he saw Hermione look away and shout, “Ron wait! He’s OK!” and he realized that she was working both mirrors at the same time. As he waited for her to turn her attention to him, he tightened his hold on the near hysterical girl with him. After a short exchange with his other half to assure her that everything was fine on his end, he broke their connection so she could concentrate on Ron.

“Mr. Potter?” came a heartbreaking sob from below him. “What happened? Where are Mum, Dad, and Justin?” Harry felt his heart sink at what he knew he had to do next. He’d almost rather be facing a Death Eater attack than to have to explain to this young girl that she might never see the rest of her family again.

He kneeled down and hugged her to himself, and she buried her head in his shoulder again. “First,” he responded gently. “Call me Harry, OK?” Jennifer nodded after a brief hesitation and he continued. “I’m not exactly sure what happened to Justin and your mum and dad. Those wizards came to take you all away and your mum and dad didn’t want that to happen. That’s why Justin shouted at me to get you out of there, because he didn’t want them to get you too. Remember?” The young girl trembled in his arms, but nodded again. “So they’re probably going to take them somewhere and hold them for a while,” he concluded.

“But why?” Jennifer asked uncomprehendingly. “Why would they want to do that to us?” Harry was silent for a moment. How did one explain to a daughter of privilege that there was another world where a large part of the population considered her to be beneath their notice?

Harry was saved from having to answer just then by the arrival of the welcoming committee.

“Harry, what are you doing here?” Dean asked as he strode out quickly from the main house to the portkey landing area. Before Harry could answer a head of silvery blonde hair streaked by his Gryffindor roommate. He just had time to shift Jennifer to his left arm before Gabrielle launched herself into his right side.

“’Arry! Eet’s so good to see you again!” she squealed happily. On his other side, the frightened young girl shrank into him and whimpered, not yet comprehending what was happening here. Seeing this reaction, the clever Gabrielle grasped the situation almost instantly. Pulling away from Harry and straightening herself up, she reached out her hand and said politely. “’Ello. My name ees Gabrielle Delacour. Welcome to my family estate.”

The young English girl had been drilled repeatedly on formal etiquette, as befitting her station in life, and suddenly had something familiar to grasp on to. Without releasing Harry completely, she reached out her right and responded, “Jennifer Finch-Fletchley. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”

The French part-Veela smiled broadly and tugged on Jennifer’s hand, urging her forward. “As am I. May I show you around?” Jennifer hesitated to move away from the only person she knew in this strange place, and turned a nervous look back toward Harry.

“It’s fine Jennifer,” he reassured her. “Gabrielle is a good friend of mine and the Delacours are wonderful people. Lots of other English kids have come here in the past week and they’re taking good care of them. This is the place I suggested that your family come to when I visited you two weeks ago.”

The Finch-Fletchley heiress finally assented and released Harry’s hand. As the two girls moved off, their conversation gradually became more familiar.

“Tu parles français?”

“Oui, un peu.”

Ron waited with Susan and Ernie to see what became of Justin and his parents, then returned back here before the DMLE wizards could get any ideas about questioning exactly how he’d happened to show up there at that particular time. Justin and both of his parents were taken away unconscious, and the servants were obliviated. No one could get close enough to see what else the DMLE obliviators did to them, as far as establishing a cover story, but I imagine we’ll read about it in the London Times.

Harry stayed the night in France, making sure Jennifer was settled in all right and discussing the refugee situation with M. Delacour and Dean, who had assumed leadership of the older Hogwarts students present. When Gabrielle brought Justin’s sister down to breakfast the next morning she announced that her new friend was a witch herself who had just recently received her Hogwarts letter. Jennifer added somewhat shyly that she’d been very disappointed when Umbridge made her announcement that muggleborns would no longer be allowed at Hogwarts, but now she would be joining her new friend Gabrielle at Beauxbatons for the upcoming school year, just as she had been told I had done the previous year. (This last bit had evidently been the clincher in her decision – Harry claims that she wanted to emulate the so-called brightest witch of our generation but I think she was more swayed with the ‘Harry Potter’s girlfriend’ part of the story.)

When Harry wondered during our conversation later that morning how he should go about coming back to England, I grinned smugly and informed him that I’d already sent off Hedwig with his Firebolt, and I expected him home for lunch.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – August 23

Finally! We’re making some progress. Two different things happened today. One was expected; one came as a surprise.

Tonks and Remus finally tracked down Mundungus Fletcher. That man can apparently be quite slippery if he doesn’t want to be found. No one had heard anything about him since the night he ran out on us at Privet Drive. For all we knew, he might have been captured and/or killed. At any rate, Remus overheard something in Knockturn Alley about where he was hanging out, and Tonks disguised herself as a layabout and made the grab.

As for the locket, he no longer has it, and hasn’t had it for some time. He was going to try to sell it to Borgin and Burkes, but happened to be in their shop when some Aurors came in to question them in regard to the Vanishing Cabinet Malfoy used to sneak the Death Eaters into Hogwarts. Things were pretty crazy back at that time, and he was swept up with the rest of the suspicious characters in the store and taken into custody.

So true to character, he tried to bribe his way out by offering some of his loot to an unscrupulous low-level Auror. Well, the thing that most caught the man’s fancy was the locket with the serpentine S on it. Ironically, Fletcher tried to boost the value by claiming it was once owned by Slytherin himself, even though he didn’t actually believe that. It figures that the only time he tells the truth is by accident when he’s trying to lie! It turns out the crooked Auror was a Slytherin, so that aspect of the locket really appealed to him.

Tonks obviously knew the Auror in question, so now she’ll try to track him down. We’re concerned because the Ministry is a much more dangerous place to be for her since Monday, but she just shrugged it off. That woman is really stepping up and putting it all on the line!

The other item of note was that we received a message from Snape! Kreacher brought it to us this evening after dinner. It was rather cryptic, to say the least.

First Hermione, then Remus, then Tonks had cast different detection spells on the parchment until all were satisfied that it wasn’t jinxed or charmed in any way. Finally Harry untied the string and opened it, read it, and frowned. Then he spread it out on the table for everyone to look at.

HG
ranged
part

“That’s it? Ron asked in confusion. “What in Merlin’s name is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s in code,” Harry answered while Hermione furrowed her brow in concentration.

“Are you sure it’s from Snape?” Tonks queried.

“Yes, that looks like his handwriting, and it’s in exactly the form we were expecting,” Hermione replied distractedly.

“Well, the first part must refer to Hermione – HG – those are your initials,” Ron declared.

Hermione quickly dismissed this possibility. “No, if that were the case it wouldn’t be in code. But that’s a good ruse, in case someone else somehow intercepted the message.”

“What’s the code?” Remus inquired. “Are you going to be able to decipher it?”

Hermione sat up and smiled. “I already have. It’s an anagram, you see. You have to rearrange the letters of each line to get the actual words.”

“Well, the only way to rearrange the first word is to change it to GH,” Harry pointed out.

“Right,” Hermione agreed, turning to him. “And what do you suppose that stands for?”

Harry’s eyes lit up as the answer came to him. “Godric’s Hollow! He’s telling us that we need to go investigate Godric’s Hollow. There must be a Horcrux there!”

“Wait, though,” Remus cautioned. “What about the rest of the message?”

“Exactly,” Hermione nodded. “That’s a two word warning.”

“Danger!” Tonks blurted out. “The first one is danger, right?”

“Correct, and the second?” Hermione continued.

“Could be several things,” Ron pondered. “Prat, Tarp …”

“Trap!” all four of the onlookers concluded simultaneously.

“Danger, trap,” Harry mused. “So we need to go to Godric’s Hollow, but he’s warning us that it’s a trap. So what are we supposed to do?”

“You won’t do anything,” Remus declared. “This is the sort of thing that Tonks and I can help with. We’ll go and check the place out, and try to discover what the trap is. We can’t risk you going there until we figure that out.” Left unsaid, but understood by everyone, was that he still needed to be convinced that Snape was trustworthy.

Harry wanted to object, but realized, albeit reluctantly, that the sole remaining Marauder was right. He felt Hermione’s hand give his a squeeze, and knew that she was aware of his inner struggle.

“That should work out well, then,” she declared. “You two can do that while we’re in Albania.”

“But Hermione,” Harry objected, “do you really think that with everything that’s going on here we should just pack up and leave the country for who knows how long?”

Before Hermione could respond, Remus broke in. “That’s exactly what you should do. Remember, we can’t take on Voldemort until the Horcruxes are gone. Finding and destroying them is your job. But we won’t just be sitting on our thumbs here while you’re working on that. We can use that time to reduce his forces a bit.”

“Yes,” Tonks added darkly. “We have some definite plans in that area.”

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – August 27

This is just too much! It turns out that Umbridge has the locket!

It was more of a challenge for Tonks to find out what happened to it than we had expected because all the Auror passwords had been changed at the Ministry, probably after the incident last week that resulted in Tonks being declared a wanted criminal. But as near as she has been able to piece the story together, the Auror that took the locket as a bribe was a bit too free about showing it around. So Umbridge blackmailed him, and demanded that he turn it over to her. She’s been using it to pass herself off as a distant descendant of Slytherin, claiming that she’d recently discovered it among some family heirlooms.

So now all that remains is to take it back from Umbridge. Harry and Ron were really eager to carry out this scheme but Tonks just laughed at them. “What do you think you’d do,” she teased, “polyjuice yourself into some Ministry employee you’ve never met and know nothing about, then try to sneak into a part of the Ministry you’ve never been before and just grab it off of her desk?” The sheepish looks she got from the pair of them indicated that that was not too far from what they had in mind. Harry scowled at me when I couldn’t completely stifle a laugh, but then he finally gave in and chuckled about the idea.

Once again, Remus and Tonks counseled us to be patient and wait.

We aren’t going to be able to wait much longer. I think it’s only a matter of time until someone finds us here. We’ve noticed strangers hanging around the square out front, who are obviously wizards from the looks of them. Even though none of them can actually see the house, the Blacks were a well-known wizarding family and apparently at least a few people were aware that they lived somewhere in this vicinity. Also, it’s become more and more evident that Mundungus is willing to sell pretty much anything, which may include the location of this house. He can’t tell anyone where it is, but he could certainly bring someone here. So, as soon as we’ve dealt with the locket, we’ll abandon this place. Kreacher can still keep an eye on things here, and can certainly deal with anyone who manages to get in after we’ve gone.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – August 31

Yes! The locket Horcrux has been dealt with! Three more to go now!

On Friday Tonks discovered that Umbridge wore the locket all the time. That meant that they didn’t need to break into the Ministry to get it – they could ambush her at home. They decided to do that over the weekend. Tonks morphed herself into a muggle that lived near Umbridge’s house. When they knew that she was home alone, Remus hid under the invisibility cloak while Tonks rang her doorbell, pretending to be soliciting for something. When Umbridge saw who it was, she immediately snarled at her and started to slam the door in her face, but Remus stunned her before she was able to. Then they took the locket, and a few other valuables to make it look like a robbery.

We had considered waiting until school started and then get it back from her by waylaying her at Hogwarts, but rejected that idea. We didn’t want her to blame some students and take it out on them. McGonagall helped out by letting us know that Umbridge would be making one final visit to her house yesterday to pick up some things.

The only downside to the plan was that Umbridge decided that it was a group of muggleborns who’d discovered where she lived, and attacked her for her role in creating and enforcing the anti-muggleborn restrictions. Today’s Daily Prophet carried the story, and she was quoted as stating that this incident goes to show that the restrictions on this sort of people are justified, and should perhaps be tightened even further.

Today we destroyed the locket.

Harry had tried, without success, to persuade the others to let him destroy the locket by himself, just in case something went wrong. Ron countered that Harry was the one person who was NOT expendable, and if anyone should be protected it was him. Harry wouldn’t even consider that, so the others all stood in a semicircle around him with their wands out, ready to cast shielding spells, while he laid the locket out on a hard slab in the basement.

“What do you think, should I just smash it or try to stab it?” Harry asked.

“You stabbed the diary,” Ron pointed out.

“But Dumbledore just swung the sword at the ring and cracked the stone,” Hermione added. “So it doesn’t seem to me that it makes much difference, as long as the object is destroyed.”

“Should he try to open it first?” Tonks wondered.

“We all tried to open it when we first found it two summers ago,” Ron responded. “None of us could.”

“It’s possible that it would open if you spoke Parseltongue,” Remus suggested, having given the matter some thought. “That’s how you opened the Chamber of Secrets, right? Perhaps that was a standard technique used by Salazar Slytherin on items he enchanted. But I’m afraid opening it might activate it somehow and release the soul fragment.”

“How about if I try to smash it first, and if that doesn’t work I’ll try to stab it, and if that doesn’t work either I’ll try to open it?” Harry suggested. The other four agreed with that plan and braced themselves while Harry raised the Sword of Gryffindor.

The end result was somewhat anticlimactic. The locket proved to be no match for the sword, and shattered from the force of the blow. An eerie scream, similar to the one that had come from the ring and the diary, burst out and quickly faded. Then all was silent, but only for a few seconds until Harry found his arms full of Hermione, who was shortly joined by Ron, Tonks, and Remus as hugs and shouts of triumph filled the room.

Five very relieved wizards and witches celebrated well into the evening.

-0x0x0-

From the Journal of Hermione Granger – September 1

We decided to see our friends off to Hogwarts today, before we leave the country for a while. But we suspected that Platform 9 ¾ might have been staked out by the DMLE watching for us to do exactly that. So instead, we apparated to Hogsmeade and disillusioned ourselves and waited at the station for the Hogwarts Express to arrive. Tonks later told us that we’d made a good choice, as she was at Kings Cross keeping an eye on things and there were indeed Aurors there looking over the crowd.

“Ron, stop fidgeting,” Hermione chided as the trio waited (some more patiently than others) at Hogsmeade Station. “It will get here soon enough. You know what its schedule is.”

“Easy for you to say,” Ron grumbled. “You brought a book to read. I haven’t had anything to eat since lunch.” Hermione rolled her eyes and managed to refrain from noting that Ron could have brought a book of his own, or even a quidditch magazine, if he’d wanted. (She had made the intriguing discovery that if you were holding a book when you disillusioned yourself, you could still see the book just as well as you could the rest of yourself.)

“Well, it better not be late,” Harry grinned. “When Ron’s stomach starts growling it will give us away.” Fortunately, he couldn’t see his mate’s disillusioned glare at this jibe. And also fortunately, in order to maintain the clandestine nature of their visit, the whistle sounded just then announcing the arrival of the big red engine and its cars.

As they watched the students disembark and move on to the waiting thestral-drawn carriages, they noted grimly how much smaller the group was this year. In particular, the Gryffindor and Slytherin seventh year classes contained only a small fraction of their original number. With the trio off on their Horcrux quest, Dean now in France, and the Patils having returned to India to escape the Death Eater threat, only Neville, Seamus, and Lavender remained.

Likewise just three Slytherin seventh years exited the Express – Tracey Davis, Daphne Greengrass, and Blaise Zabini. Regardless of whether the new Ministry policies cleared them of their complicity in the attack on Hogwarts, McGonagall had made it clear that Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, Parkinson, and Bulstrode were not welcome back. Even when Umbridge was named the new Headmistress, the word got back to the newest Death Eater recruits that returning would be hazardous to their health.

The Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw houses were not unaffected either, as all of the muggleborns were absent, as well as other pureblood and halfblood witches and wizards who had followed the example of the Patils.

Umbridge had already begun to make her mark as Headmistress. Auror Dawlish had been brought on to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. Firenze had been immediately banished back into the forest by the toad-like witch, who had refused to even set foot in the castle until what she considered to be a part-human creature was gone. Fortunately, he was accepted back into the centaur herd, which was more sympathetic after the events surrounding Dumbledore’s death.

Her next victim had been Sybil Trelawny, who had been fired and sent away in humiliation. She would never be seen or heard from again, as a certain dark lord had been waiting to get his hands on her for some time. Yet another Ministry hack had been hired to teach Divination ‘according to Ministry approved guidelines’. The Muggle Studies Professor had simply not been replaced, and the course terminated, since Umbridge considered muggles beneath the notice of wizards and not worth learning about.

Harry heard some sniffles next to him as they watched Hagrid lead the first years to the boats, and his hand found Hermione’s in the dark. He gave her a comforting squeeze as the two of them wistfully recalled their first sight of Hogwarts while crossing the lake in those same boats, six years ago to the day. It had been the day they first met, neither of them having the slightest inclination at the time what adventures, tribulations, and downright terrors awaited them together with their best friend now sitting on Harry’s other side. But both knew that neither would have given up any of it, since it had brought them to each other.

Finally only one carriage remained, as Neville, Susan, Luna, and Ginny lingered, having been alerted that their friends were planning this visit. With one last careful look around, and a few revealing spells to make sure no one else was nearby, the trio canceled their disillusionment and emerged from the darkness to hurry over and say their farewells.

Harry immediately went up to Neville, and parted with one of his greatest treasures as he handed over the Marauder’s Map. “I reckon you can make better use of this than I can,” he explained to his reluctant friend as Ginny joined them on his other side. Neville nodded and tucked it carefully away inside his robes while Harry accepted a goodbye hug and kiss on the cheek from Ginny. Then the two boys embraced briefly.

“Good luck,” Harry muttered. “With Umbridge around you’ll need it.”

“Don’t worry,” Ginny responded quietly. “We have some plans for her. She’s going to regret ever coming back to Hogwarts. You three just worry about taking care of yourselves.”

Meanwhile Hermione had sought out Susan and gave her one of the DA master Galleons. “Thanks Hermione,” theHufflepuff girl responded. “I’m glad you remembered. This will come in quite handy.”

“Just don’t do anything too dangerous,” Hermione cautioned. Susan raised an eyebrow.

“That’s rather ironic coming from you, considering all the deadly situations you and those other two Gryffindors you hang around with have managed to get yourselves into, don’t you think?” she pointed out. Hermione shrugged and managed a grin, before the two friends exchanged heartfelt hugs. As they broke apart Ginny joined them and repeated the gesture, then pulled away with a broad smile.

“Looks like everyone is saying goodbye in their own way,” she snickered as she motioned over Hermione’s shoulder. Hermione turned and broke into a smile of her own.

Standing off by themselves, Ron and Luna were locked into a passionate kiss of epic proportions.

“Guess he finally decided,” Harry commented with a grin as he came up behind Hermione and wrapped his arms around her.

The five of them waited another minute before Susan and Neville boarded the waiting carriage hand in hand, and Ginny went over to fetch Luna. She finally pulled herself away from her new boyfriend and made him promise to write while he was away. While Ginny hugged her brother, Luna calmly warned him to stay away from the Blibbering Humdingers. As he turned back to rejoin his friends, a red-faced Ron avoided looking either Harry or Hermione in the eye, but on the other hand he was unable to erase an ear-to-ear grin from his face.

The three best friends watched the thestrals pull the carriage through the gates of Hogwarts until it was out of sight, then sighed. It was indeed a strange and disquieting feeling to not be with their classmates and friends, but they had a different path to follow.

As one, the trio turned and apparated away, leaving the station at Hogsmeadeempty once more.

-oooOOOooo-

Hermione looked up from her notebook to see her daughter shaking her head. “So none of that happened?” she asked. “You didn’t really sneak into the Ministry by flushing yourself down a toilet?”

Hermione’s expression showed her disgust. “Goodness, no!” she grimaced. “That may have been the single most revolting thing she wrote, I think. I have no idea why she had such a fixation on toilets! Between the troll incident and the time we spent in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom I certainly had my fill of them.”

“And you destroyed the locket the day after you got it?” Rose went on. “You didn’t wear it around your necks for months?”

“We’d have had to be pretty stupid to do something so ridiculous, don’t you think?” Hermione pointed out. “Especially after what happened to Ginny with the diary?” She scowled. “Honestly, I don’t know why she had to make us look like complete idiots for so much of that book.”

“So no there was no doe patronus, Daddy didn’t dive into a frozen pond to get the sword, and Ron didn’t see that vision of you and Daddy kissing. None of that was real?” Rose concluded while her mother shook her head.

“Well, that last part was based on an actual conversation Harry and Ron had while we were in a forest in Albania,” Hermione allowed. “Let me find it for you.” She started flipping pages in the notebook to locate the reference, when she happened to glance at her watch.

“My goodness, look at the time!” she exclaimed. “You need to get to bed!”

“But Muuuum!” Rose whined. However, her mother would not be swayed, and the not-quite-old-enough-to-stay-up-late girl trudged unhappily off to bed, but only after receiving assurances that they would return to the story as soon as possible.

-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-