Hermione's jaw dropped, Harry's eyes bugged out of his head, and Ron promptly fainted.

"Master?"

Harry's mouth parted slightly, before he snapped it shut, audibly gulped, and then rushed to ask, "Dobby, do you, er… Do you know who I am?"

Dobby's ears flapped once, and then he shook his head.

"Dobby knows that a master called him, but Dobby does not recognize this master. You is nots being a Malfoy, and Dobby serves the Malfoy family. I's be's thinkings that I's should not have comes, but Dobby was called by a master, my's magics knows it, and Dobby always comes when a master calls."

Harry looked to the headmaster for guidance, who was leaning back in his chair, the picture of relaxation and contentment, with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. All he got from Dumbledore though, was a waving of his hand towards Dobby, who it seemed was still waiting for a verbal reply. It was as if he'd said, go on then, answer him.

"Well, thank you very much for coming Dobby, I know you don't recognize me, or maybe trust me, but you did well."

Dobby grinned widely, and his ears flapped again, this time, Harry knew, it was in joy not worry or stress.

"Dobbys be doings good? Dobby is a good elf?"

"Yes, Dobby, you're a good elf, and Kreacher too. I don't suppose that you recognize me, do you Kreacher?"

"No, Kreacher's not be's recognizing you. But Kreacher knows a master must have called him, or he would not have allowed him's self to beens pulled away from his mistress - Kreacher serves the noble and most ancient house of black, and yous is nots being a Black. Kreacher does not know how hes be servings you, it doesn't make sense, but he must, Kreacher's magics obeys."

"Well, thank you very much for coming as well Kreacher, though I know that it was probably very frustrating knowing that you had to when you wanted to stay where you were and continue serving the black family, I really appreciate it."

Kreacher nodded his head, and both elves stood silently, waiting to hear why they had been summoned.

While they were awaiting orders, Harry looked to Hermione for help, as Ron still had not woken up and he was beginning to panic. Any decisions he made about what he did or didn't tell Dobby and Kreacher, and what he did or didn't ask them to do, he wanted to make with his friends. Friends, one of which was still unconscious, and the other frozen in shock.

"Hermione, are you okay? Are you… Hello?"

Her gaze continued on staring vacantly past his shoulder at the house elves, and if it wasn't for her occasional blinking, and the rise and fall of her chest, he might be worried that he'd gone and given her a heart attack. Could wizards and witches have heart attacks? He wasn't sure, but he didn't want to test the theory with his friends.

"Umm… Dumbledore sir, could we maybe call for another round of tea? I think she'll be needing it, and it certainly wouldn't hurt the rest of us," Harry asked, motioning towards the empty cups that had been only half full when Hermione arrived.

"Of course Har-"

"Dobby gets it for master, Dobbys will bes rights back!"

With a loud crack, the house elf was gone, and Harry breathed a breath of relief, knowing he had one less thing to worry about right now. Between his house elves belonging to him, in this time, on top of fighting Voldemort, hunting Horcruxes, and not only keeping it all a secret from everyone else in this time but somehow preventing them from doing the same, he knew that he had a few very long months ahead of him.

He'd thought he was going to have a normal day. He should have known better, any time he's ever thought he might have a normal day, week, month, or even year, the universe goes to extreme lengths to give him something as not normal as possible. Still, somehow, even now, the universe is setting the benchmark higher, and higher, for how ridiculous and not normal of life Harry can live.

He wondered, not for the first time, if Bill or Charlie had slipped something in his dinner or drink one night, and this all wasn't a fantastical dream.

After Fred had died at the battle of Hogwarts, they'd all taken to trying to relight the spark in George's eyes. Although no one's attempts had worked so far, the two eldest Weasley sons had taken up the task by playing pranks and practical jokes. They'd done a wonderful job of cheering everybody else up because George wasn't the only person who had lost something, and they were all hurting inside.

But still, this seemed a little bit too fantastical for his brain to come up with though, so after thinking about it, Harry had come to the conclusion that the situation they were all currently in was, most definitely and unfortunately for them, real, and he would be taking a very long vacation when all this was over.

Ron, he decided, was welcome to come along, just as soon as he woke up.

He knelt down next to Ron, and seeing a steady rising and falling of his chest, started gently tapping his cheek trying to wake him up.

"Ron? Ron, can you hear me? Wake up, Ron."

Bleary eyes blinking, Ron slowly sat up, and taking notice of the remaining house elf in the room, he turned to look at Harry.

"Got any other tricks up your sleeve?"

"None that I know of, it'd be great if the whole 'can't be killed by the killing curse' thing from before still works, but I doubt it, and I'm not eager to test it either, so that should be it for now."

"Now? Before? Kreachers not be's seeing you's until now. You's is not's from here's, are you?"

"Sorry, Kreacher, but could you just give me a minute? Just as soon as everyone's well, we'll answer your questions as best we can,"

Kreacher nodded, and slowly shuffled over to the pair of young men. Snapping his fingers, he conjured a pink, foul-smelling potion for the red-headed boy still on the floor. He handed it to his mystery master, who was still kneeling next to the redhead, and then shuffled over to the curly haired one in the chair, and gave her a vial of the same potion.

"It be's for the shock. Helps to clear the mind, focus the thoughts, and slow the racing heart," Kreacher said with another nod.

Harry helped Ron drink his, as he was still a little disoriented, and then went over to Hermione and started to bring her's up to her mouth, when she finally snapped out of her daze, blinked a few times, and then drank it herself.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, he had no idea what he'd do without them. That's not to say he didn't understand their shock and their reactions, he was sure that the only reason he hadn't passed out himself, or worse, was because his joy at seeing two familiar faces he considered to be family was slightly greater than his shock, but only slightly.

Harry sat down, slouching back into his overstuffed hair and cradling his forehead in his right hand, while his friends started acting like themselves again. Hermione started acting like herself again, forehead scrunched up in puzzlement and thought no doubt as a million thoughts raced through her head, and Ron made his way back into his chair again, muttering a quiet "bloody hell!"

A minute later, Dobby popped back into the room, with a tea tray carrying a teapot and a china teacup full for each of them.

He placed it on Dumbledore's desk and then turned to give them their cups, stepping back beside Kreacher again once all was settled.

"Kreacher made a correct assumption while you were away Dobby, we're not from around here. I'm afraid that where we are from though is very complicated. We didn't expect to be here, and I'll be honest I didn't expect either one of you to come when I called, we're still not sure how we got here, or why I was able to summon you…" Harry trailed off for a moment, glancing up at Dumbledore before continuing on,

"While we try to figure out those answers, I'm afraid that there isn't very much I can ask you to do… Well one thing, if you could please not tell anyone, not even your other masters, that you were called here today by me, that I exist, or anything else you might have seen, heard or learned since I've summoned you. It is very, very important that nobody knows I'm here yet, or at least as few people as possible, and certainly none that we can't trust. Understand?"

"Master means the bad wizards, whose fights with the most evil, dark one whose nots be liking the muggles and the muggle-borns and the half breeds, yes?"

"Your right Dobby, I certainly can't trust any of them, and I don't, none of us do. I'm fighting with the other side, or I will be as soon as it's made official"

Kreacher raised his head slightly, which had been bowed downwards before, and said,

"You's be's fighting with my master Regulus?

Harry's attention immediately snapped towards the older of the two elves.

"Kreacher, has Regulus already defected?"

"Yes, he's be's saying that they're not's being's right anymore, and he was wrong to follow's them's before."

"You're sure, he's not working with Voldemort anymore?"

Kreacher nodded his head and answered, "He's be's telling my mistress otherwise, but he tells Kreacher the truth's, he's just not wanting to disappoint his parents, like his rotten blood traitor brother be's doing. He has switched sides, but only's Kreacher's be's knowing."

"And he's still alive? Regulus is still alive?"

Kreacher nodded, slower this time, and said "He's alive… Will he's not be alive's anymore soon?"

"We're going to make sure that doesn't happen, okay Kreacher, but no, he's not supposed to be. Now, this is very important, Voldemort is going to be asking Regulus for a favor soon, he's going to ask Regulus for the use of his house elf…

Now I'm not going to tell you that you have to go, I couldn't, not knowing what you'll have to go through, as far as I'm concerned that's your own decision to make. Hopefully, Regulus will be of the same mindset as me, but either way, I think you ought to know that Voldemort's task for you will be very uncomfortable, and very, very painful."

Harry hesitated before continuing, and watched Kreacher very carefully, wanting to see how the house elf reacted to what he had said so far, before deciding how to continue on. There was something a little off about Kreacher's expression, Harry thought, he looked stricken, but also determined, they all realized why a moment later.

"If I go, will I bes helpings my master Regulus to fight the bad ones?"

"If you decided to go, then yes you would be fighting against them, and it would help our side, not just Regulus but everyone fighting, a great deal, but Kreacher I think you might be underestimating-"

"Master Regulus would do it."

"I'm sorry?"

"Whatever it is, this bad thing the bad one wants from me, if it were ups to master Regulus he woulds do its, I knows it for sure."

Harry swallowed thickly, Kreacher didn't know how right he was.

"Yes Kreacher he would, but-"

"Then so will I. Is will dos its for my master Regulus."

"Well alright then, the only other thing I can ask of you, is that after you've done all Voldemort asks of you, once you've gotten back to your house-"

"Not my house, never my house, it's mistress' house."

"Er, right, well once you've gotten back you've got to make sure that you don't tell anyone what he made you do, why he made you do it, or even where he took you. I mean it Kreacher, not one word about it, to anyone, not even if Regulus asks, okay?"

"But-"

"I mean it Kreacher, you can't take tell him anything about it. You can't take him there, or show him. Definitely, do not let him do what you had to do. I'll make it an order if I have to."

Harry paused and raised his eyebrows in question, waiting to see whether or not Kreacher would agree to listen to him. When Kreacher lowered his eyes to the floor and nodded his head, Harry continued on.

"Good, now then, you'll likely need some time to recover afterward, I want you to take that time, and then as soon as you can, as soon as you're feeling well enough, I want you to slip away without being noticed, come straight to me and tell me. If I am, for whatever reason, around anyone else other than the people in this room then just says 'he called for my help' okay?"

Looking slightly less moody at being told to keep things from his other master, and incredibly eager and determined to help protect his second favourite master, second only to Walburga Black herself, he asked, "Is there being's anything else that Kreacher can be's doing's to help protect master Regulus? Regulus is being's brave and strong, and Kreacher be's wanting's to be brave and stong's like him to help him. Kreacher wants to help's."

Harry sighed deeply, feeling bad for what he had to say next, but still opened his mouth to ask, "It's not that I don't trust you but I've got to ask and order that you answer honestly, if Regulus orders you to tell him about your excursion with Voldemort, will his order veto my asking you to keep the secret from him?"

Kreacher thought for a moment and then shook his head.

"Kreacher can't pick a favourite order, an order is being's the same importance as any other order, Master Regulus never be's trying's to give an order again's one of mistress' order's, so Kreacher's con nots bes sure, but because you's master be's asking first, I think it should be's winnings. Anything's else that you's be needing's? Keacher wants to help."

Harry looked left to Ron, and then right to Hermione, and with a shake of their head from both, Harry turned back to Kreacher and said, "There's nothing else that I can think of right now, but if something comes up I'll be sure to summon you, alright Kreacher? In the meantime, just make sure to keep our secrets and act the same as you would if you'd never met us, okay?"

Kreacher nodded his head and then with a loud pop he was gone, leaving Dobby as the only house elf in the room, who took his turn and said, "And Dobby sir? Does master be needing Dobby to do anything?"

"Aside from keeping our secrets and acting the same as you would have before like I asked Kreacher to do as well, just one thing.

I need you to look for a black, leather journal. I'm not sure if Lucius Malfoy has been given this yet or not, but I've got reason to believe that Voldemort trusts him a great deal, and will be giving this book to Lucius soon for safe keeping, if he hasn't already.

It should have T.M.R stamped into the front cover, almost like an engraving, and it will be completely blank inside. Just keep an eye out for it, and if you get the chance to do so without putting yourself in danger you can look for it in some of your master's hiding places. When you find it, I'd like you to duplicate it, leave the fake, duplicate copy where you found the original, and bring me the original, okay?"

Dobby nodded his head energetically.

"Dooby can do's this, Dobby will be doing's just as master asks, and he will make sure not to get caught, just like master be's wanting's!"

"Great, that's great Dobby, thank you. Again, make sure you keep us a secret and act just as you would have aside from this task I've given you, okay?"

Dobby nodded his head and popped away like Kreacher had done moments before, leaving the trio and Dumbledore sitting in the headmaster's office in silence. Harry heaved a deep, exasperated sigh, "I guess we're just gonna dive right in then, so much for easing into things and making as few waves as possible"

Dumbledore smiled softly, "Well surely you must be used to that by now my boy."

Harry only grunted in response, but Dumbledore was not deterred, "Of course, with all of this specialized experience you have, I assume you have some ideas, yes?"

Harry looked to Ron and Hermione before he began to answer, "Perhaps we ought to-" and was cut off by the sound of Albus Dumbledore's office door slamming open.

Sirius and James stormed in, looking very angry, and a regretful and panicked Remus Lupin rushed in behind them.

"I'm sorry, they said that they wanted to know what your favourite sweet was, for a gift! I wasn't thinking, I'm sorry-"

"Remus, it's okay. I suspect that James and Sirius would not have been stopped from finding a way up the stairs and into my office, even without your help," Dumbledore rushed to reassure the frantic marauder.

"You might trust these people, but that doesn't mean the rest of the you-know-what fighting you-know-who does. Any secret meeting you're going to hold with them, official members ought to be a part of it," Sirius said with a final nod of his head after he finished speaking.

"And I suppose that the two of you have decided that you are the best candidates, hmm?"

"Well of course," scoffed James in reply to Dumbledore's question, "We're young, fit, and incredibly smart. We're some of your most trusted allies, in your own words, and if you trust us-"

"This is not about trust, Mr. Potter if it was, and if you trusted me, we would not still be having this conversation, yes?"

"Headmaster Dumbledore sir… It's not that we don't trust you, we absolutely do, it's just that-"

"Well, I am not sure whether I should feel disappointed, frustrated, hurt, or proud that I have helped to guide such smart, strong young men to question everything, even me, in these terrible times. Maybe I 'ought to just feel all of it, hmm?"

The atmosphere was decidedly tense in the office. The room, which Harry had always considered to be large, airy and open, felt as it had shrunk in the last five minutes. Dumbledore had not once raised his voice or lost the twinkle in his eye, but having been on the end of quite a few of those scoldings growing up, Harry knew what a mistake it had been for them to enter the room, and decided that he was ready to leave it before things got any worse.

"Erm, this seems like it's going to get messy, so I think it would be best if the three of us left you to your… Well you know," Harry said, trailing off at the end as all eyes in the room turned to him. He stood up and made for the door, with Ron and Hermione following his lead, when he was stopped by Dumbledore.

"I understand your discomfort with the current situation Harry, but I admit to hoping that we could talk a little bit more. I feel that we still have much to discuss," The headmaster said with a frown on his face.

"All I was going to say in response to your question, headmaster sir, was that yes, I think all three of us have some ideas about our next steps. But I think I am well informed when I say that if you knew them, then you'd want to get involved and help out as much as you can.

And I have no doubt that you'd be incredibly helpful and offer a great deal of valuable assistance, I don't think it wouldn't be a good idea for you to be involved in the planning or carrying out of the steps and planning. It is because you'd likely be inclined to help, putting yourself in a dangerous position, that I want you to stay far, far away. I'm sure you could easily take care of yourself, but you already know that we want to keep as many people safe as possible, and that includes you, so we just can't afford to be so easy going or negligent when it comes to who's involved with what we have to do. I am really sorry Headmaster sir, and I hope you don't mind-" Dumbledore cut Harry off with a small, understanding smile, and soft voice.

"Yes, yes, I understand. I admit that, in certain situations in the past, I might have been overly eager, and that some might have considered me to be a bit of a meddlesome old fool, so, perhaps, this is for the best, I do hope that if you need any help-"

"We'll come to you, of course. I suspect that we'll be seeing you soon Professor, my self especially, as I anticipate a great deal of research and theorizing needing to be done to complete a certain side project," Hermione jumped in, with a slightly unsteady voice.

She was nervous about asking for so much of the headmasters time, but she knew that she could not answer her questions about their current situation without some help. Who better to help her, she thought, other than Harry and Ron of course, than her old headmaster.

He reassured her, sending a nod and a kind smile her way, before turning back to the three marauders with a stern look on his face.

"Professor Dumbledore sir, could-could-could I maybe go with-"

"Yes Mr. Lupin, you're free to leave as well if you'd like, it's not you who I need to talk to," the headmaster said, never taking his eyes away from James and Sirius. The duo looked decidedly less confident now, but still somehow believed themselves to be in the right. They were in for a very rough afternoon, the trio knew.

The walk back to Gryffindor tower was terribly awkward, for two very different reasons depending on who you asked.

For Remus, it was because two of his best friends had just embarrassed him in front of Dumbledore, and these three teenagers who seemed to be very important to Dumbledore, and who Dumbledore seemed to trust a great deal.

For the trio, it was because firstly, they, of course, already knew where Gryffindor tower was and felt silly, and a little bit guilty, pretending to be clueless so that they could be lead around. Secondly, they were all trying to figure out a way to politely shoo Remus away so that they could get to work.

Eventually, the silence was broken by, "I'm really sorry about them, they mean well, there's just a lot that we all feel like we have to protect right now. I know that it's no excuse, but they'll get better, I promise," and then Remus whispered under his breath, "I hope," believing that the trio hadn't heard him.

They had

You don't hide out in the woods for nearly eight months and not train your sense of hearing to be very acute, and very, very alert.

"It's okay, really. I mean we get it, we're in the same position aren't we?"

"Yea, I guess we are…" His admission seemed to shock him, because Remus stayed quiet for a moment thinking, and a moment later he continued "I think it's just hard for them to realize that, I mean they know so little about you, I imagine they're finding it hard to understand."

"That's no excuse" Ron snarled, with a frown on his face. He wasn't finished yet, continuing on a beat later, "They've not even tried to understand us, not because they can't, they just don't want to. They're happier to take the easy path of least resistance and be openly hostile towards us, without any good reason to be. Lucky for them, we're very tolerant people."

Hermione could not help but to let out a laugh and explained, "Even when complaining about and openly insulting other people, you can't help but compliment yourself, Ronald."

He rushed to protest this fact, "I didn't just compliment me, you'll notice 'mione, that I complimented both of you as well, thank you very much."

She rolled her eyes, only bothering to barely respond to him with an "I'll be upstairs, I'm going to try to get some reading done," and just like that she was gone.

"I know that it's no excuse it's just the way they are, they tend to act first and think later, but Lily and I are trying to get through to them, and-"

"Remus, really, we understand that there's nothing to be done about it until James and Sirius decide so. As much as I hate that they're holding all the power in deciding what our stay here will be like right now, if we pushed them it would only make things worse," Harry said.

Ron jumped in, deciding to add, "And quite frankly, we have much more important things to deal with right now."

Harry shot him a look, and he jumped to say "What? It's true Harry and you know it, as great as it is that they're here, they're not the priority."

"I think it's certainly safe to say that they are one of our priorities, especially considering who they're related to here, and the other thing we're trying to do," Harry said, referring to their secondary goal of keeping everyone alive, and safe.

"I'm not saying that! I'm just saying that the-you-know-what for you-know-who kind of trumps the job of trying to keep everyone-"

"I'm sorry, but what're you two talking about right now? You've lost me."

Both boys turned to face Remus, who was still standing a few feet away. There was a brief moment where Harry and Ron were frozen before they started looking at one another with panic in their eyes.

They'd gotten so caught up in their conversation and their arguments, that they forgot that he was there, and had almost let slip something very important in front of Remus that Remus could not know, at least until all of this is over. As it was, he now knew more than they hoped that anyone would before they'd won.

"It's nothing important, Ron, Hermione, and I all just have a few things we need to do, and we were discussing priorities. Listen thanks for walking us back Remus, we really appreciate it, but Hermione ought to be here for this conversation, and…"

"And I shouldn't be. I understand."

"It's nothing personal, it's just that we're kind of keeping it under wraps right now, until we're finished and it's safe, even from Dumbledore-"

"Really, I do understand, you work on your thing, and I'll work with Lily and try to get Sirius and James to smarten up a little, yea?"

"Yea, that sounds like a plan. Thank you, Remus, for not pushing. It was nice talking to you."

He gave a smile in reply, and Ron jumped in, having stayed silent since they realized that Remus was still with them, and wanting to contribute to the happy moment. "Listen, feel free to stop by anytime mate, yea?"

Remus turned back, and responded from the other end of the hall, "I'll make sure to do that Ron, thank you for extending the offer." Then he turned a corner, and he was gone, leaving only Ron and Harry standing in front of the Gryffindor common room.

They entered through the fat lady's portrait, just as Hermione had done a few moments ago, and found her sitting in front of the fire waiting for them, already with a pile of books surrounding her.

"Finally, what took the two of you so long? We've got work to do! He couldn't have been that hard to get rid of and-"

" 'Mione, how'd you manage to get these books already, how may even are there? Seven? Eight?"

"Thirteen and you didn't answer my question."

"Ron and I got distracted in a bit of a disagreement, that's all. He almost let something slip to Remus, but he didn't catch on to anything important, we cleared it up, and then came in here."

"Disagreement, what kind of disagreement?"

"Harry thinks that we ought to prioritize saving people over killing Voldemort."

"No, I don't. I think that we ought not to prioritize either objective over the other."

"Harry, I understand your reluctance, but-"

"Hermione, we've already lost them all once. The last time we did this, the last time we fought in a war against Voldemort we prioritized him. Everything was second to keeping me alive and killing Voldemort, and look where that got them. We know what we have to do, we know how to do it and where to find the Horcruxes, and we know how each and every person died, and why. I can't do nothing and let them all die again, not when there's no need for it, not when I can stop it from happening for the second time-"

"But, Harry, what you have to understand is that it's not the second time for them, it hasn't happened yet."

That gave him pause, at face value what she was saying was true, but they had died. All of them, at least, for Harry, Hermione, and Ron they had. They couldn't very well discount their experiences and knowledge because things were different now. The trio had lived a life where they died and so, for Harry, it seemed, James and Lily and Remus and all the rest had been given a second chance, whether they knew it or not. And Harry wasn't going to let them waste it.

Hermione seemed to sense his train of thought and his growing determination, but she wasn't finished yet. She was all for saving people, but they were in a very unique situation with very limited options here, and they had to be smart about what choices they made.

"Whether this is our reality, a different one, or some ridiculous dream, they are alive, and you know as well as I do that no one's ever come back from the dead except for you, which means that they haven't died yet, not here. They've no idea that they're supposed to die soon, that they will die if they don't change their plans, plans that might not even be made yet.

What do you suppose we do? We can't very well go up to everyone we have a confirmed death of and tell them what we know. What we know might not even be valid anymore, who's to say that our presence hasn't already rippled out and caused a butterfly effect, changing who is going to die and how, making our experiences useless."

It was a sobering thought, one that lead to an even scarier one, which Ron had no problem voicing.

"If that could happen, who's to say it won't happen with the Horcruxes? He could decide to make them out of different objects than he did before, hide them different places than where we found them last time. I mean I don't think it could make that much of a difference, but if you say that we can kill new people who didn't die before, and save people who did die the first time around, all just by being here, well what's protecting the Horcruxes from change?"

The three teenagers paused and let that sink in, each with a growing sense of dread, because the answer was nothing. They needed a lot more information about their situation to determine what kind of unintentional impact they were having. But still, Hary knew… "It doesn't matter."

"What? Harry, how can you say that?"

"Have you gone bloody mental mate?!"

"We'll need to figure it out eventually, and hopefully work around it so as to cause as little unwanted changes as possible. But regardless of what kind of effect we're having, we're still going to decide to do the same four things that we were planning to do five minutes ago. We're going to hunt and destroy the Horcruxes, kill Voldemort, and save as many of the people that we love as we can.

You both know that as well as I do, so it's pointless to pretend otherwise. It does suck, and it'll be a major inconvenience, but in the long run, no, it doesn't matter, because it's not going to change anything. At least, not for me."

"I suppose you're right Harry, we can't afford to get distracted. We have our priorities, and a plan, as loose as it may be, we've got to stick to it."

"Maybe we ought to make it a little less loose before we act on it though, yea 'mione?"

"I think we both agree with you on that," Hermione conceded, before adding, "but for once, I've no idea where to start. Harry? Any ideas?"

"Well, which Horcruxes are in existence, and where he's got them hidden is a good start.

The diary was revealed our second year, before Voldemort came back to life, which means that Lucius must've had it before Voldemort died.

Plus, the soul piece inside of diary referred to itself as being sixteen, and if that Horcrux was made using a piece of Voldemort's soul when he was sixteen years old, then he made it when he was in school.

That could mean that it was made either at the end of his fifth or the beginning of his sixth. Regardless, he's out of school now and wagging a war, so that one definitely exists, it'll just be a matter of finding it."

"Well, we've already got a jump on that one, thanks to Dobby helping us out it's covered for the time being, what's next."

"Well the same goes for the ring, I saw him wearing it at one of Professor Slughorn's slug club meetings in one of the memories Dumbledore showed me way back when. There's actually a little bit of required reading for this one," Harry said sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, it was a long explanation, and he just hoped that he didn't mess it up.

"Voldemort went to Little Hangleton in the summer of 1943, after his fifth year at Hogwarts, to look into his birth family.

He was disappointed and disgusted, both by his pure blood uncle, who he found living in squalor and filth, and even more so when he realized that his mother had loved a muggle and that he was half blood.

He became enraged, and attacked the muggle family, and then implanted false memories of the crime and pride at having committed it in his uncle's mind, and then he stole the ring. Because of the false memories and emotions that Voldemort planted, it was a very quick trial. Voldemort's uncle went to Azkaban, and when Dumbledore found out years later what happened through Occlumency he applied immediately for the man's release, but it was too late.

He died in Azkaban a few days later, and the ring stayed Tom's little secret.

We suspected that the deaths of his father and paternal grandparents were probably the same ones that he used to make the Horcrux too, once the ring was safely in his possession, but we could never be sure. Either way, he had it once he was in school, and all his family was either dead or in Azkaban before he left school, so that one is as good as confirmed."

"Where'd he hide it?"

"Dumbledore found it in Voldemort's mother's father's old house, the summer before my sixth year.

I don't know when exactly, but when we came back for school in the fall his hand was black so we know it was there at some point during the summer months, and when I was in Voldemort's head after the Gringotts break in there seemed to be a lot of dust in the house. The entire things was practically coated in dust, and there were only a few minor disturbances in the dust where it had been hidden and, subsequently, found.

So I assume that it had been vacant for a while before Dumbledore found the ring, but I've no idea when he hid it there."

"Well, you said that all of his family was either dead or locked away in Azkaban by the time he graduated, so at the very least the house should be vacant right now. Perhaps we ought' to just check in periodically and see if the ring is there?"

"We could, but we'll have to make sure that we don't disturb any of the dust or grime. When Tom goes to check out the house and see if it would be a suitable hiding place, if he's not already hidden it there, it's got to look abandoned."

"I can try to find a spell for that, it's shouldn't be too hard to manage," Hermione said, already with a look on her face that said she was going through lists in her head, trying to find something that fit.

"Great, that's taken care of then. What's next on the list Harry?"

"Well, the locket and the cup he stole from Hepzibah Smith, after she died, when they found the body the locket and cup were missing, so he probably killed her too and then just framed her house elf for it.

We know that he turned them both into Horcruxes, he probably used her death to make one of them, but he could have killed anybody to make the second and made it at any point in time. She died in 1946 though, so at least one of those two Horcruxes should already be made.

Depending on whether he used her death to make the cup of the locket, and when exactly he hid the cup in Bellatrix's vault, it may or may not already be in place. But that's a lot of if's, and we can't raid the vault until we know for sure that it's there, even if we're not being hunted this time around, that will draw a lot of attention to us, and if it's not there we've blown our shot - he won't let her hide a Horcrux in her vault if it's been broken into. Never mind that fact that breaking into the vault of one of his known supporters could put us on his radar, if he thinks we're breaking in to sabotage him or one of his plans…"

Ron's face showed how displeased he was with their very limited and very vague information. They'd already done this one, he thought, so it should be easier, but it seemed as if there would be even more guesswork this time around. Still, they couldn't let anything slow them down, the sooner they got this taken care of the better off everybody would be.

He sighed deeply, and said, "So basically, we've got exactly as much information as we had the first time around, maybe even less based on the sounds of things?"

"Not entirely," Harry cut Ron off. "Dumbledore and I suspected that he already had six made the night he went to kill my Parents and I and that he was planning on using my death to make the seventh."

"Oh, Harry!"

"It s'alright 'mione, besides, it makes our job a little bit easier. In our original timeline, he's due to die in just a few months, so that simplifies a few things.

We know that Regulus died in the first war retrieving the locket, so that piece of his soul is in play.

The ring too, because he had it in school, but we've already covered that, and the diary as well, so moving on from those.

I suspected that he hid the Diadem in the room of requirement when he came back to Hogwarts to ask for a job the second time. He asked for a job first as he was leaving Hogwarts, and then again ten years later he came back and asked again in 1955, and that was years before he died so that's definitely in play.

The cup went missing with Hepzibah Smith's death in 1946, and we might not know who he killed to turn it into a Horcrux, and when he hid it in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault, but we can probably assume that it was definitely a Horcrux before he died, the first time, which is, again, due to happen in a few months. So, I think it's safe to assume that one is in play, even if it's current whereabouts are unknown.

The piece inside Tom Riddle himself makes six, and so that only leaves the one he was planning to create after he killed my parents and I, which is a non-issue.

The cup, the diadem, the locket, the ring, the book, and the piece of Voldemort's soul inside himself should be all that we have to worry about."

"Okay, so the book's been made, and we're actively having it looked for. The ring has been made, and we ourselves will be periodically checking for that. He'll likely be hiding the locket and calling on Kreacher to test it's defenses any day now. We know at least that the cup exists, but other than that it's a big question mark, so it's at the bottom of our list. The diadem is probably just across the school, so we can go and get that one whenever. That's five, plus Voldy makes six. Is that… Is that it? We know where most of them are, and how to get them, and how to destroy them… Can it really be that eas-"

Hermione slapped a hand over Ron's mouth before he could finish. "Don't say it! You'll jinx us!"

Ron rolled his eyes and batted Hermione's hand away. "Don't be ridiculous 'Mione, if superstitions like that exist, then Harry was jinxed at birth, his whole life has been one big, unlucky, and dangerous thing after another, and another, and another, and he's still alive, yea?"

Now it was Hermione's turn to roll her eyes. "Harry has been incredibly, incredibly lucky Ron, we all have, and I don't know about you, but I don't think now is a good time to go pushing that luck."

"Yea, well I think-"

"I think," Harry started cutting them off, "that it's about lunch time now, and that we're about due for a break.

They both looked to him, and then to each other, and sighing, they nodded their heads in agreement, though Ron had a scowl on his face, showing his displeasure at having lost the argument, and together the three of them headed down to the dining hall.

A.N. There was a few more things that I wanted to include in this chapter, and I really really wanted to keep going, but this chapter got away from me, and got a lot longer than I expected it to be… I'm starting to see a trend here, anyone else? Anyways, by the time I wrapped up that last scene it was nearly 7.5 k long, so I had to stop and move those other mystery things to the next chapter.

I struggled with writing the house elf dialogue and was honestly debating over all of it, forever, worrying over whether it was not enough, or too much. Google docs struggled along with me, and Grammarly too, they do not like house elf speak, so I suppose it's for the best that we won't be seeing them again in the next few chapters; I have other plans for the immediate future...

I would also just like to say that the people who manage the Harry Potter Wiki pages are actual gods(or goddesses). I don't know who's job it is to go digging through the books and movies and interviews with Jk to find all of the smallest, most random details, but you are my new favourite person. I never expected that I would need to half of the Harry Potter related trivia I do now, and I don't know what I'll do with it when I'm done with the fic, but boy am I glad that I had access to it all.

For this chapter, and kind of the last one as well, I hope two things for you all:

a)I hope that the house elf reveal bit wasn't too cringe; I wanted it to be a good surprise, but I also wanted it to be a believable plot line with reasonable explanations and mystery/intrigue that people would buy into and care about. I'll definitely be revisiting it and working on it once the story's completed and I do a re-write, but for now, it's stuck the way it is, so I really hope it's decent...

b)I hope that this chapter wasn't too information dump-y; I tried to make it interesting, and space out both the dialogue between characters and also all of the Horcrux info and such, but I don't know, you guy's will have to let me know how it turned out…

That's it for now, shout out this week goes to MinkaEsparza05, for her comment on the very first chapter: It made me laugh out loud, and that was exactly the kind of reaction I wanted to see to Dobby's survival! Lol, glad that you love and support the change.

I always love hearing your thoughts and feelings about the chapters, and predictions for what will happen next are always interesting, so don't hold back! A big thanks to everyone who has taken the time to review so far, and constructive criticism is always welcome. Be kind to each other in the comments section and, as always, I hope you enjoy!

-H.