The Other Potter (George Weasley)

Twenty-Nine.

Kreacher was able to find Mundungus after almost four whole days. He told us that he didn't have the locket, but that he didn't sell it, either. He was trying to sell the stolen House of Black artifacts on Diagon Alley one day when he was approached by a ministry woman, and she confiscated everything he had. He didn't know her name, but when he said that she looked like a toad we all knew who he was talking about: Delores Umbridge.

We spent the next month trying to figure out a plan to get into the Ministry to get the locket, the first real Horcrux of our journey. In that month it got harder and harder for us to leave Grimmauld Place, since there were always two or more Death Eaters in the square outside watching the house. Harry could leave underneath his invisibility cloak, but that was it.

Kreacher's mood had surely brightened since he knew that Regulus's orders were going to be fulfilled after all. He was grateful for this. He started cleaning the house, starting in the kitchen, and he cooked us nice, hot meals. He even stopped calling Ron and I Blood-Traitors and he stopped calling Hermione a Mudblood.

On September the 1st, Harry didn't look so happy when he came back with a stolen copy of The Daily Prophet clutched in his hands. We could all tell something was bothering him. "What's happened?" Asked Ron apprehensively. We had been peering over a sheaf of scribbled notes and hand-drawn maps that littered the end of the long kitchen table, but now we watched Harry as he strode over to us and threw the paper down. A large picture of a familiar, hook-nosed, black-haired man stared up at them all, beneath a headline that read:

Severus Snape Confirmed as Hogwarts Headmaster

"No!" Hermione and Ron both shouted loudly.

Hermione was the quickest, snatching up the paper and began to read the article to us out loud. "Severus Snape, long-standing potions master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was today appointed headmaster in the most important of several staffing changes at the ancient school. Following the resignation of the Muggle Studies teacher, Alecto Carrow will take over the post while her brother, Amycus, fills the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. "'I welcome the opportunity to uphold our finest wizarding traditions and values'"

"Yeah, like committing murder and cutting off people's ears!" I scoff, rolling my eyes.

"Oh! Merlin's Pants!" Shrieked Hermione and then she runs up the stairs, and doesn't return for a good moment, when she comes back she has the portrait of Phineas Nigellus and she shoves it into her enchanted purse. This way he can't spy on us if Snape tells him to come here. Then Kreacher came into the room with dinner, which was fresh, steaming hot, homemade French onion soup. We tell him thank you as we begin to eat.

"Who are these Carrow siblings, anyways?" Asks Ron as we start to eat.

"They're Death Eaters," says Harry, "They were there the night Dumbledore died. They were on top of the tower with me when Snape killed him. And I can't see that the teachers have got any choice but to stay. If the Ministry and Voldemort are behind Snape it'll be a choice between staying and teaching, or a few years in Azkaban - and that's if they're lucky. I reckon they'll stay and try to protect the students."

We all tried not to think about the fact that we were all supposed to be on the crimson red, steam engine that was the Hogwarts Express for one of our last times as we approach our seventh and final year. Ron and Hermione were supposed to give the Prefect's speech this year around. We were all sure that Luna, Neville, and Ginny were all sitting together, talking about where they think that we all are, or debating the best way to undermine Snape's new regime. It was sad to think about. I also couldn't help but wonder about Draco. If he went back to Hogwarts for his last year or if he decided to drop out and join the Death Eaters permanently. I wondered if Narcissa would even let him drop out, but then again, he is of age now so if he wanted to drop out she couldn't stop him.

Hermione asked Harry if he saw anything else happen today, and he said no, that it was as quiet as ever. He was anxious, and he said what was on his mind. We needed to get going on our plan. That sitting around isn't doing anything good for us. He was right. So, we spent the rest of the night putting finishing touches on the plan and by the time we went to sleep we could recite it word for word from memory.

When I went to bed, I was certainly not trying to stay awake as long as I did, but I couldn't sleep, but I kept tossing and turning. I didn't know if it was nerves about tomorrow or if it was just me being the anxious person that I am, I stayed awake in my bed much longer than I should have.

With Hermione in the room where us girls stayed, Ron in the room he and Harry shared, and Harry in Sirius's room I decided to take the room where the twins slept. I slept in the bed I knew George slept in, and even though it was faint the sheets smelt a bit like a teenage boy I didn't mind, because they smelt like the teenage boy that I was in love with, and I would do anything to take in his scent as much as I could. Every time I caught a whiff of the sheets or the smell of his hair on the pillowcase I was brought back to the first time that I ever met George when I was just a scared little eleven-year-old first year.

He and Fred helped Harry and I load our trunks into the train. They had no idea who Harry and I were, and then they saw Harry's scar and got very excited. They ran off to tell their mum who they just met. Then they brought Ron to our compartment, and Ron asked to join us. Then George shook Harry hand, introducing himself. He was very polite. He even shook my hand too. Which was odd to me because everyone always wanted to talk to Famous Harry Potter and they didn't care about me. But not George Weasley. It was never like that for George.

The memory made me miss George to the point of tears, but I wipe them away and not let them control me right now. I knew that once I let them win that I would be consumed by them. I just wish that I could talk to him, to let him know that I was okay. I haven't managed a talking Patronus like Mr. Weasley and Kingsley Shacklebolt can do, otherwise I'd send him that with a little message letting him know I was okay, that we all were.

I eventually passed out for the night, and when I woke it was to Hermione waking me up saying we had to get going soon. We ate the fresh, hot rolls that Kreacher had prepared for us and thanked him as we left for the Ministry. We were there before any of the workers in hope of getting some of them alone so we could use them for our Polyjuice potion.

We were able to get someone for all of us. Hermione turned into a worker named Mafalda Hopkirk, Ron a Magical Maintenance worker named Reg Cattermole who everyone called by his last name of Cattermole, Harry was now a big, burly, tower of a man named Albert Runcorn. And I was a small, mousey, young woman who had to have been in-between the ages of Percy Weasley and his twin brothers named Loretto Everglade.

We ended up all getting separated when Ron had to go fix the rain in the office of a known Death Eater called Yaxley. Hermione and I told him some spells that might help him before he took off. Then we went into the lift to head to Umbridge's office when Umbridge herself walked into the lift. She asked Hermione and I if we were on our way down for the interrogations, which we had to lie and say yes. I guess they wanted double records of what was going on in these meetings and we were the people that did so. Great.

So, we had to separate again from Harry this time. This was so against what we had planned to do it was making my heart race. We had no choice but to act our part and not complain about it. We had to sit in on the nasty woman as she accused Muggle-born witches and wizards of stealing their magic, telling them that they were lying to her when they said that they didn't do such things. It was downright awful. It made my blood boil. I wanted nothing more than to stun her and Yaxley and toss them both off their high tower seats, causing death to both of them. They both made me sick to my stomach.

Then, about a half hour in, the woman who was the wife of the man Ron was disguised as went in, and she was the most scared out of everyone that we had seen today. Umbridge, as usual, told her she was lying when she said she didn't steal her magic from anyone.

We hear the magic words of "Stupefy" and then Umbridge is laying with her face on her clipboard. Yaxley turns to see what is going on and it happens to him, too. Then Harry is revealed. "She's got the locket on!" He says. He was right, she was wearing the Slytherin locket, but why would she want to wear that? To look more important than she was? To fake her heritage? Was Umbridge Muggle-born?

Hermione snatches the locket off her neck and we grab Mrs. Cattermole and we run out of the room before the Dementors could get to us. We end up saving the accused Muggle-born victims awaiting trial as well lighting our Patronus through the dark hall to get rid of the dementors.

We just made it out with Ron by the hair of our skins, we tried to Apparate back to Number 12 Grimmauld Place but something happened. Yaxley had awoken and he was coming after us, he grabbed Hermione and he ended up getting to the house with us. Since he was in the house, it meant the Protection Charms wouldn't work on him, meaning he could bring anyone he wanted in here with him. Grimmauld Place was no longer safe for us. The boys had both passed out from the journey as Hermione brought us to the woods where the Quidditch World Cup was held the summer before our fourth year.

Ron got Splinched pretty bad during the trip, which is what can happen if you don't Apparate properly, and I helped Hermione patch him up after we had set the tent up. Harry woke after we had finished with Ron, and Ron woke shortly after. Hermione went outside the tent and started to mumble incantations, Protection Charms for both our kind and Muggles too so we wouldn't be found. We told Ron that we got the locket, and we even showed it to him. He smiled at us proudly.

We all agree that we need to keep it safe so we decided that we will wear it at one point or another until we can destroy it. We also decided we needed to have someone outside keeping watch at all times as well. Hermione sat out there for most of the day, and then Harry took over. But, he dozed off and had one of his visions where he could see what Voldemort was up to. He had found the foreign wand maker that he has been looking for, according to Harry, and whatever Voldemort was looking for had been stolen from him a long time ago and he wasn't happy about it. So, I told Harry that I would take over for the night, that he needed to sleep.

When Harry went to get us some food the next morning he came running back panting going on about how he couldn't produce a Patronus when he usually has no trouble producing one. Hermione figured out it was the Horcrux around his neck that was bringing him down. We decided then that we would all switch the Horcrux around every 12 hours or so. That's when we all started to become unbearable.

Ron was by far the worst, even when he wasn't wearing the locket. He complained about everything from the food to walking to moving around every night. His constant refrain of, "So, where to next?" was asked every time we had finally settled down. We did our best to ignore his attitude, but sometimes it was hard not to.

We tried our best to think of all the places that Voldemort could have hidden other Horcruxes. We came up with The Orphanage where he grew up, Hogwarts which was the school he considered his first real home, Borgin and Burkes where he worked after he finished at Hogwarts, and then Albania, where he had spent years in hiding. These formed the basis of our speculations.

"Yeah," scoffed Ron, "Let's go to Albania. Shouldn't take more than an afternoon to search an entire country."

That's when Harry pointed out that nothing is probably there, because Dumbledore was certain he had already made 5 out of his 6 Horcruxes before he went into exile, and the snake was the last one he's made. He then added that there wasn't to be anything at Borgin and Burkes, either, because they were experts at Dark objects and they would have recognized a Horcrux right away. Harry was certain about Hogwarts, though. He kept saying it over and over again that he was sure he had hidden something there. Hermione and I shut it down though, saying that Dumbledore would have found it, but I don't think that Harry was too convinced at that.

We started at the Orphanage where he grew up, but the place had been torn down years ago now. Hermione said we could check the foundations, but we knew the truth. There was no Horcrux here. Then, without any new ideas, we continued to move and continue our search. Harry's scar kept prickling, and he said that it happened most often when he was wearing the Horcrux and he kept seeing the face of the thief of whatever it was that the foreign wand maker had taken from him. Just his face and nothing else.

Ron would turn away, making no effort to hide his disappointment. We all knew that he was hoping to hear news about his family, but Harry couldn't just look into Voldemort's mind and pick what he wanted to see. It wasn't like that at all. As days stretched into weeks, Ron, Hermione, and I would have conversations behind Harry's back. I didn't really say anything, but they sure had a lot to say. Hermione was disappointed in Harry, saying she thought he had a better plan than this, and Ron agreed with her. I just shrugged and agreed with them, not saying anything at all on the subject.

One night, after Ron had just finished complaining about the food Hermione prepared for us to eat for dinner, we heard voices. Hermione passed us all some extendable ears and we listened in on the conversation. We heard the voices of Ted Tonks, Dean Thomas, and some goblins. They were all on the run and had all run into each other. One of the Goblins said he pulled a prank on Severus Snape before he left Gringotts. The Goblin explained that Ginny and some friends snuck into Snape's office and tried to steal the sword of Gryffindor, but then he told them that the sword in Snape's office was a fake, Dumbledore hid the real one and put up a replica, and that's the one Snape had moved. He said that the kids were all punished, but that they were okay. He added that he was grateful for that, too, because the Weasley's don't need another kid hurt right now.

Once they all took off again after they finished their salmon dinner, Hermione had an idea. She pulled out the painting of Phineas Nigellus and asked to talk to him. As soon as he appeared she put a blindfold on him. Her and Harry then interrogated him, asking what Dumbledore did with the real sword.

"He had it moved after he destroyed a ring with it," he said, nonchalantly. And then he added that Snape doesn't know about this, because he didn't feel it was important to tell him. Then he told us that Ginny, Neville, and Luna all got detention in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid, which wasn't really a punishment for those kids. When he had gone, Harry, Hermione, and I all exchanged looks of excitement.

"Harry!" Exclaimed Hermione.

"I know!" he shouted, unable to contain himself.

As Hermione started squashing the painting back into the bag, we both started steamrolling. She started it, saying, "The sword can destroy Horcruxes! Goblin-made blade, embedded with only what strengthens them - Harry, that sword has been impregnated with Basilisk venom!"

"And Dumbledore didn't give it to you because he still needed it, he wanted to use it on the locket-"

" - and he must have realized they wouldn't let you have it if he put it in his will - "

" - so he must have made a copy - "

" - and put a fake in the glass case - "

" - and he left the real one - where?"

We gazed at each other, as if the answer was gazing in the air above us all. "Think!" whispered Hermione. "Think! Where could he have left it?" The best we could come up with was the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade, but that was a long shot. Snape knew exactly how to get in there. We looked around the tent, trying to think, and we all landed on Ron, who was sitting in the corner of the tent so quiet I had forgotten he was even here.

"You three carry on," he scoffs, "Don't let me spoil your fun."

"What's the problem, mate?" asked Harry.

"Problem? There's no problem," replied Ron, still refusing to look at us. "Not according to you anyways."

"Well, you've obviously got a problem, so spit it out," demands Harry.

He goes into a whole speech then about how he was pissed that now there was another thing we had to find, which meant more weeks out on our own in the cold with hardly any food. "Just add it to the list of things you don't know," he spat at the end of it.

Harry protested, saying he thought Ron knew what he signed up for, then Ron threw Hermione and I under the bus, saying we have been talking about Harry and how disappointed we are in him that he didn't have an actual plan before we left. Hermione tried to get him to stop, but he wouldn't listen to her. Tears were now pouring down Hermione's face as Ron kept going at Harry.

Ron went on about how his family were waiting for him, and he was tired of being worried about them, that's when I spoke up. "You're not the only one here who has people waiting for them to get back, Ron!" I shout, not even trying to control my temper if he wasn't going to control his. "Your brother is waiting for me to return, too, you know that! You're not the only one here who is missing your family."

He scoffs again, rolling his eyes. He shouted that we don't care, that Ginny got in trouble and we don't care. We reminded him that the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid wasn't the worst punishment they could have gotten, but Ron didn't care.

"Then why are you still here?" Harry shouted, finally. "If you're so worried about your family, go home to them. No one is forcing you to stay here, just like I didn't force you to come so just go!"

"Yeah," says Ron, nodding, "Maybe I will." He takes the Horcrux off from around his neck and tosses it onto the bed. Harry walks over to the bed and puts the locket around his neck and Ron walks over to me and Hermione and asks, "So, what are you two doing?"

"What?" Asks Hermione.

"Are you coming with me or what?"

"No we're not coming with you, Ron," I say, harshly. "We promised Harry we would help him and that's what we're going to do."

"So you don't care about seeing George then?"

"That's not what I said," I hiss at him through my teeth. "I want to see him more than anything. I think about him every night."

"Then come with me and you can see him," he pleads.

"I'm not coming," I say, shaking my head no to him. "I'm staying to help my brother."

"Fine," he says through his teeth. "I'll make sure he knows that the next time I see him."

I'm not worried about his threat. Once George hears what Ron has done, it's Ron he's going to be angry at, not me. He exits the tent then, and Hermione runs after him. When she came back she was in tears.

"He Disapparated!" she cried, obviously upset about this.

It was a quiet night that night for us, now that four has become three. We all sat out by the fire, eating salmon from the river accompanied by the berries I helped Hermione gather. Harry was still wearing the locket, he had been since Ron left us. We were silent as we ate, until Harry spoke up.

"So, George is waiting for you, Savannah?" I nod, I guess I could tell them the truth about the situation.

"He is," I tell them, "He promised me he would, at least. I told him not to, I told him that if he meets someone that he ends up liking to go for it. We don't know how long we're going to be gone for and all."

"I want nothing more than for us to come out of this safely." says Harry, "You've both given up so much for me. Savannah I will get you back to George. Mark my words."

"We know you do, Harry," says Hermione shifting her eyes to him now.

We all start to eat again, but then I break the silence after a few bites of salmon. "How on Earth did we all fall for a fucking Weasley?" I ask as the realization comes over me. Harry and Hermione both look at each other. I continue, "Me with George," I look at Hermione, "You with Ron," I look at Harry, "And you with Ginny. We all fell for a member of the same family."

"Well," says Harry, taking another bite of his fish, chews it for a moment, and swallows. "We obviously have a thing for gingers."

Hermione and I both laugh. "Yes," Hermione agrees jokingly, "That has to be it."

"What's wrong with Gingers?" I ask, pretending to be offended.

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Here's part 29!

This story only goes to 34 chapters. So there's not much left.

-Emily Winchester.