I awoke the next morning from a terrible sleep, staring up at the shadowy ceiling and the cobwebbed chandelier. I was wrapped up in blankets on a sofa in the drawing room. A chink of sky was visible between the heavy curtains. It was the cool, somewhere between night and dawn, and everything was quiet except for Ron and Hermione's slow, deep breathing.
I sat up and looked at the floor. Ron had had a fit of gallantry and insisted that Hermione sleep on the cushions from the sofa so that her silhouette was raised above his. Her arm curved to the floor, her fingers inches from Ron's. I wonder if they held hands to sleep.
I glanced around for Harry. He was nowhere in the room. I bolted upright and untangled myself from the blankets. Jumping over Ron's body, I shook Hermione awake. Her eyes fluttered opened, and she looked at me.
"Hermione I don't know where Harry's is," I whispered frantically. Hermione sat up and got up from the other sofa.
"Come on," she said. "Let's look around."
She got up from her spot on the couch, and we looked around the house: in the bathrooms and closets and anywhere else we could search. Minutes passed, and we still couldn't find Harry. From a distance, we heard, "Harry? Hermione? Hazel, where are you? I think I've found something."
Hermione and I looked at each other, stopping our searching. Together, we raced out of the room where we heard Ron's voice. He brought us to ransacked room. I moved over the threshold, gazing around. The bedroom was small though it had a sense of former grandeur. The Slytherin colors of emerald and silver were everywhere, draping the bed, the walls, and the windows. The Black family crest was painstakingly painted over the bed, along with its motto, Toujours Pur . Beneath this was a collection of yellow newspaper cuttings, all stuck together to make a ragged collage.
"Lovely," I stated sarcastically.
Ron closed the door so that we could see the sign on it. It read:
Regulus Arcturus Black
"Regulus Arcturus Black," Hermione read.
"R.A.B," Ron concluded. We all stood there in amazement, looking at the sign. Together we all made our way to the dining room to reread the letter in the fake locket. We all sat down as Harry began to read.
"I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret.
I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more.
R.A.B."
"R.A.B is Sirius's brother?" Ron asked.
"Yes," Hermione replied. "Question is, did he actually destroy the real Horcrux?"
There was an echoing sound behind us, and we all turned to look at it. The sound continued as we cautiously got out of our seats to look at the noise. Harry crept towards the door placing his hand on the knob of a cupboard. With a mighty pull, he yanked the door open and grabbed the house elf inside. The elf thrashed and made noises as Harry brought him over to the side of the table.
"You've been spying on us, have you?" Harry asked.
"Kreacher has been watching," Kreacher replied cowering.
"Maybe he knows where the real locket is," said Hermione.
Harry glanced at her, then realized what she meant. He went over to the table and grabbed the locket, dangling it before Kreacher's large eyes like a hypnotist.
"Have you ever seen this before?" he asked. Kreacher let out a sigh and refused to look at Harry. "Kreacher?"
"I-It is Master Regulus's locket."
"But there were two, weren't there? Where is the other one?"
"Kreacher doesn't know where the other locket is."
"Yes, but did you ever see it? Was it in this house?" Hermione asked.
"Filthy mudblood! Death Eaters are coming—"
Ron took a shovel and advanced on the elf, but Hermione held him back with a "Ron!" I stood in front of Ron and pushed him out of the way.
"Blood traitor Weasley and Rosewood." Kreacher backed up as Harry moved closer to him.
"Answer her," Harry demanded, holding the locket forward. Kreacher watched it sway back and forth.
"Yes. It was here, in this house. Most evil object."
"How do you mean?"
Kreacher kept backing up. "Before Master Regulus died, he ordered Kreacher to destroy it but no matter how hard Kreacher tried, he could not do it."
"Well, where is it now? Did someone take it?"
"He came in the night. He took many things including the locket."
"Who? Who was it, Kreacher?"
Kreacher tried to remember the name. He whispered, "Mundungus. Mundungus Fletcher."
Hermione and I looked at each other.
"Find him," Harry ordered.
With a snap, Kreacher apparated out of sight.
. . .
Later that night, as I read on the couch, Harry was watching his snitch fly in front of him on the other sofa and Hermione was teaching Ron how to play Für Elise on the piano.
"Be a bit gentler," Hermione instructed as Ron banged on the keys. Hermione moved his hands and played the part again, demonstrating to Ron. As she played, Ron looked at her with adoring eyes.
It gave me a warm feeling inside to see my friends fall in love. I wished to have the sense of someone loving me again. When she finished, Hermione retracted her arm and Ron played again, but he had not listened and began to bang on the keys. Maybe he's just doing it to make her hands keep touching his. Or he wasn't listening to her because he likes her. Or he's just stupid.
Hermione got up and came to sit next to me, and across from Harry. Harry had taken the snitch in his fingers, causing it to close its wings.
"They have flesh memories. When Scrimgeour first gave it to you, I thought, that it might open at to your touch. That Dumbledore had hidden something inside it."
"Oh right," I put my book down. "I remember reading once that Snitches are never touched by bare skin until the Seeker captures it. Even the wizard who fabricates it wears gloves. That way, if there's a dispute, the Snitch can identify who first touched it."
Hermione nodded. I looked over at Ron who was listening to the radio. We would listen out for our families. "Many of you are wondering, why Voldemort has yet to show himself now that he has vanquished the most powerful symbol of opposition to him and his followers."
There was a loud bang somewhere in the house. Harry, Hermione, and I scrambled to our feet. We barged through the door to the kitchen and were met with Mundungus at the front door, struggling against two house elves.
"Harry Potter! So long it's been," said the house elf attached to the man leg.
"Get off me!" Mundungus exclaimed reaching forwards. Together, the man and the two elves fell onto the floor. When he stood up again a pot fell on his head
"As requested, Kreacher has returned with the thief... " Kreacher said as he closed the door. Still holding his head, Mundungus began to take out his wand.
I pulled out my wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!" sending his wand flying into my hands.
"... Mundungus Fletcher."
"Wha' you playing at? Setting a pair of bleedin' 'ouse-elf after me."
The other house elf stood on a chair and explained, "Dobby was only trying to help." The house elf, Dobby, climbed onto the table and began to walk across it. "Dobby saw Kreacher in Diagon Alley which Dobby thought was curious."
"I just—" Kreacher tried to say, but Dobby kept talking. "And then Dobby heard Kreacher mention Harry Potter's name. And then Dobby saw Kreacher talking with the thief."
"I'm no thief," Mundungus denied. He stank of stale sweat and tobacco smoke. His hair was matted and his robes stained. "You foul little—" He tried to advance on Dobby but looked at Harry and said, "—git. I'm a purveyor of rare and wondrous objects."
"You're a thief, Dung. Everyone knows it," Ron said from the doorway of the kitchen walking to the table.
"Master Weasley, so good to see you again," Dobby said to Ron shaking his hand.
"Wicked trainers," Ron replied looking at Dobby's bright red shoes.
Mundungus tipped over a stack of newspapers diverting the attention to him.
"But I never volunteered to die for you, an' that was bleedin' You-Know-Who come flying at me, anyone woulda got outta there, I said all along I didn't wanna do it—
"Listen, I panicked that night, all right?" the six of us cornered the short man in a corner. "Could I help it if Mad-Eye fell off his broom?"
"You ..." Kreacher prodded him with something.
"Tell the truth," I demanded.
"When you turned this place over— don't deny it — You found a locket am I right?" Harry asked.
"Why?" asked Mundungus, "Was it valuable?" Kreacher prodded Mundungus again.
"You still got it?" I asked.
"No, he's worried he didn't get enough money for it," Ron concluded.
"Bleeding give it away, didn't I? There I was, flogging me wares in Diagon Alley when some Ministry hag comes up and asks to see me license. Says she's of a mind to lock me up, And would've done it too, if she hadn't taken a fancy to that locket."
"Who was she? The witch. Do you know?" Harry asked.
"No. I—" He looked down at the floor where the pile of newspapers lay. He got up and crouched down to look more closely at them. He picked up a yellowed Prophet on top of the stack. "Well, she's there. Look." He placed the newspaper on the table. "Bleeding bow an' all." On the front page was a squat woman with the face of a toad under the title.
MINISTRY SEEKS
EDUCATIONAL REFORM
I looked up and saw my own shock reflected in the other's faces. The scars on the back of my hand seemed to be tingling again.
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Hey so I was in France and Spain for a school trip so I didn't get to update :(. It was soo much fun. Anyway TYSM for 103k reads, I CANT. You don't know how happy it made me. I'm on spring break now so I can write more and be more on top of things to cope. BYEEEE!