Chapter Seven

Harry, Ginny and Hermione soon began to straighten out the last of the wrinkles in the Ministry Watch plan, and both girls soon began to take it in turns to hide under the invisibility cloak at the entrance of the Ministry watching and learning (and collecting a few interesting things if they happened to be left behind). Harry had suggested, at one stage that they call Dobby and ask him to watch for them, but the suggestion had been shot down by both girls. Hermione objected on the basis that he would be asking a house elf to do his work for them. Ginny had the more practical reason. She had said that the Ministry had wards around it, blocking all creatures that didn't have human blood and alerting the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures if they were only part-human. She also said that a house-elf that was free, as Dobby was, would struggle to keep themselves from helping others if they were in trouble- especially if they had visited the Malfoy property frequently, as it was in the make-up of a House elf to serve those that they saw frequently as well as the family that they were bound to. They couldn't use Kreacher, either, as he was dead. They had confirmed the first night that the rotting smell was indeed Kreacher, who had disobeyed orders one too many times. So, the girls watched instead.

Meanwhile, Harry began searching through the magical and muggle world for a new hiding spot for them should Grimmauld Place be discovered and they needed a safe spot to live and hide in. It was tough going, especially in the muggle world as not many people wanted to sell to a seventeen year old boy- Harry was just glad that he was a metamorph- it meant that he could make himself look a few years older with only a small amount of trouble. Ageing potions seemed to help as well. But, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't seem to find the right place for them to stay. All of the properties were either too close to muggles, in a dangerous place, too obvious, too small or had some other problem that prevented them from using it. Harry was getting frustrated- they needed to find a place, and fast- but there was nothing on the market at the moment. He had come close with a place in Scotland, but had discovered afterwards that it was directly beneath a muggle flight path and that would make it impossible to ward as the muggles would probably notice if a huge property just disappeared off the face of the earth. Too many non-magicals had seen it for obliviation to be feasible, too.

Harry apparated to a property in Russia that a real estate agent had recommended to him. It was large, and mostly out of the way, down hidden in one of the many valleys that made up the Ural Mountains. It was looking promising. It was large enough for them to stay at, and wasn't anywhere near a major muggle city. The price was reasonable- from what he could tell, his Russian was terrible. Harry was smiling, pleased that he had finally found the right place- when he spotted the problem. A magical signature. The seller was magical.

That was going to be a problem. If the seller was Light, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, but the signature didn't feel that way. Now there was the question of why a potentially Dark Wizard was trying to sell his home the muggle way… Harry supposed it was the exchange rate. That didn't make any sense, though, unless he was planning on making a lot of muggle purchases. It was possible, he supposed, but not very likely. He would have to take this problem to Hermione.

"Thank you for your time," he said politely, "but I don't think this is what I'm looking for." He bowed slightly, and turned to walk away. The man snarled, and a light breeze blew around him as he lost control of his magic.

His left sleeve blew upwards a little, and Harry saw it. The Dark Mark. Harry froze for a second; before he remembered that he was morphed into a different figure- he wouldn't be recognised.

"Not so fast," came the ominous voice. "CRUCIO!" Harry barely managed to jump out of the way of the unforgivable, and landed on his feet thanks only to his dancing lessons. Maybe Ginny was cleverer than he thought. No- there wasn't time for those sorts of thoughts- and he pulled his wand out. The Death Eater's eyes widened at the sight of it.

"Stupefy," Harry ground out, and a bright beam of red light shot towards the man. The Death Eater put up a shield that shook and bucked on impact- but the curse had been diluted enough that the man remained standing.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry cried, and the Death Eater's wand flew towards him. He caught it, and stalked forwards, his wand pointed straight at the Death Eater's neck.

"I-I'm sorry," the man snivelled, "I-I th-thought y-y-you were a-a-a M-m-m-mugg-muggle!" Harry snarled at the man, who cringed.

"When did you become a Death Eater?" Harry wasn't in the mood for games.

"L-l-la-last w-w-week," he stuttered, looking terrified.

"Why?" Harry barked out.

"M-my p-par-parents-s c-c-called m-me a-a-a squ-squib," the man bowed his head in shame. Harry nodded. He wasn't exactly very powerful, the Cruciatus cruse had left the man shaking from exhaustion. He lowered his wand, and let the man sit up, but he kept an eye on him. The man was still a Death Eater, after all.

"How old are you?" that was the question that Harry was really interested in.

"S-seventeen," said the man, his stutter reducing a little as he was no longer under Harry's wand. Harry sighed. His age.

"And why were you trying to sell this house?"

"T-the Dark Lord o-ordered me to k-kill a Muggle," he admitted, "a-and I didn't want t-t-to just g-g-go and k-kill a man so I thought that i-if they c-c-came here, then th-that would b-be easier b-b-because th-then they would h-have f-found out ab-about m-m-magic and need their memories m-m-modified anyway." Harry thought that was disgusting, but at least he wasn't as cruel as some of the others.

"I thought that Death Eaters enjoyed torturing and killing muggles," Harry mused aloud, but the man began to vigorously shake his head, attempting to communicate with him.

"M-m-my b-best f-friends are muggleborn," the man admitted, "a-and I have Muggle friends as well." Now Harry was intrigued. He squatted down in front of the man, eyes level and stared his straight in the face.

"So if you don't want to kill them, why did you become a death Eater?"

"To get revenge on my parents," the man admitted, and Harry nodded. It was a terrible reason, but apparently some Death Eaters were redeemable. If he helped this man…

"Why did you use the Cruciatus?" The answer appalled even Harry. Voldemort had put some kind of curse on the man. If he didn't use the Cruciatus on a person within twenty four hours, he would die… painfully. Apparently, missing the person didn't count. Harry made up his mind. He was going to help this man… boy.

"Curse me," he said finally. The Death Eater stared as his wand was handed back.

"Really?" the man asked him, shock and awe written clearly over his face. Harry nodded. He wasn't sure why, but he felt as though he could trust this man.

"Crucio," the man said softly, and the curse slammed into Harry. He grunted and fell on his side, but otherwise remained silent. The man lifted the curse almost immediately. Harry smiled softly to himself. The man was sincere. For the Cruciatus to work, you had to want to see the sufferer in pain. For it to not work like that for a Death Eater was incredible. He sat up quickly, and held out a hand for the man to shake.

"I don't know how to remove the Dark Mark," Harry admitted, "but I will help you get out of there." The man didn't look like he could believe that.

"R-Really?" Harry stared the man in the eyes, letting him look, to see the sincerity in his own eyes when he said;

"Yes, I will." The Death Eater smiled, and a tear trickled down his cheek- he pretended to not notice. Harry really had no idea why he was trusting the man, but he left it. He trusted his intuition- it hadn't yet led him wrong. He moved over to beside the man, and rolled his sleeve up to look at the Dark Mark. He had never had the chance to feel the magic of it before, and he actually was quite intrigued by it.

Most of the magic in it was too complicated for Harry to understand, but he was able to spot the Protean Charm as well as the mind link. Harry's blood ran cold. There was no spies in Voldemort's ranks that the snake-man himself wasn't aware of as the mind-link allowed him to automatically bypass and all Occlumency shields that were put in place- especially the conventional shields. That meant that there was no way of getting the right information through spies, and you couldn't confide anything to marked Death Eaters without Voldemort being able to access the information. Of course, it was entirely possible that he would overlook one fresh Death Eater that wouldn't have been able to get too much information since the time he was marked.

He was going to have to take a risk with this one. He just wouldn't tell the man anything that was really important to keep secret from Voldemort.

The Death Eater was shocked when he realised what the Dark Mark was doing, and even more eager to get it off him. He agreed to be 'abducted' by Harry (though he didn't know that name) and kept in a 'holding cell' until they figured out how to release him. It wasn't safe to go back to Voldemort anymore.

"Just one last thing," Harry asked, "what is your name?" The man froze.

"S-Septimus W-W-Weasley." Harry stared.

"Explain. You are the same age as Ronald Weasley." The man- Septimus- nodded.

"H-He i-i-is m-my twin b-b-brother, but we are in n-no way alike. I l-l-like reading, a-and studying a-a-and l-learning things- n-n-no m-matter what m-most p-p-people say about the t-topics. Th-That was the f-first thing that t-t-turned my p-parents away f-f-from m-me- I didn't b-believe them when they t-t-told me that D-Dark was evil. I-I d-d-didn't behave l-like a W-Weasley. I d-d-didn't w-want to play Q-Quidditch, o-or play p-p-pranks o-or anything e-else l-like that. I o-only t-t-talked to P-Percival, b-b-but h-he didn't like m-me. H-He b-b-believed m-my parents a-a-about L-Light and D-Dark. N-No one in the f-f-family l-liked m-me except f-for G-Ginny. W-when I didn't g-g-get a-a Hogwarts l-l-letter, th-they d-d-disowned m-me. Th-They d-d-didn't w-wait f-for me to g-g-get accepted into R-Ravenclaw's M-Magical S-Sanctuary o-o-of L-Learning, th-they j-j-just c-c-cast m-me out a-after f-forcing me t-to watch th-them o-o-obliviate G-Ginny!" That was too much for Septimus, and he broke down into tears. Harry was suddenly feeling as though his reasons for joining Voldemort weren't so terrible. To be treated like that, just for liking to learn everything and for not getting a Hogwarts letter… everyone with a basic magical education knew that the schools coordinated themselves so that prospective students didn't get flooded with thousands of acceptance letters at once. He was about to ask Septimus about Ravenclaw's Sanctuary of Learning, but then glanced at his 'new' watch and decided that he didn't have time.

"Come," he said, "I'll abduct you now. Grab my hand and I'll apparate you to your cell." Septimus grasped his wrist hard, and Harry turned and apparated away. The 'cell' he had decided on was the whole basement. It had basically everything- a bedroom, study, bathroom and a kitchenette as well as more than a few interesting books. It was locked from the outside, so that there was no way he could 'escape,' and his wand had suppressions on it so that he couldn't cast Unforgivables… or locking and unlocking charms.

"If you want to send me a message, write it on a scrap of parchment," Harry instructed, "and put it in this box. When you shut the lid, it will be transported up to my own box and I'll contact you the same way, got it?" Septimus stared.

"Transportation Boxes, based on the very first portkey. They're rare," he said, impressed. Harry nodded.

"You can address messages to me by writing 'White Lord,' but I am also working with two women named Hermione and… Ginny Weasley." Septimus fainted, and Harry smiled before reviving him.

"I'll explain to her tonight, and you can contact her tomorrow, if you like." Septimus nodded eagerly, and Harry smiled before turning and walking up the rickety stairs. He paused before the door that led to the rest of the house.

"I'll contact you the day before I come down here to talk to you as well, just in case you are doing something. I really do want to study your mark, but I need to learn a bit more before I can do that properly." Septimus nodded and waved at him before going into the 'bedroom'- Harry didn't blame him, the man was probably emotionally exhausted after everything that had happened today.

Harry sighed heavily as he locked the basement door with the strongest locking charms he knew. Septimus had no chance of unlocking them, but he knew that the man wasn't even going to try. Now, he just had the difficult task of talking to Ginny. That was going to be a difficult conversation. Thankfully, she wasn't on Ministry Guard. Both girls tended to come back a little frustrated and short-tempered after those watches and Harry didn't feel like dropping such heavy news on the girl when she was already in a bad mood. It might just send her over the edge, rampaging after her parents and attempting to murder them. Or at least her mother. Harry had a strange feeling that Arthur Weasley had nothing to do with this, or he was forced into it by something his wife had done. There was also the possibility that Dumbledore was in on this- after all, he was the Headmaster of Hogwarts and would have been able to explain something like that to Molly and Arthur.

"Harry?" a voice broke through his thoughts, "Harry? What's wrong? You look upset. Wasn't the house right again?" Harry shook his head and led the girl into the kitchen for motioning her to sit down, and taking his own seat opposite her. This was going to be a long conversation.

He was right. It was a long conversation, and Ginny was furious. Harry managed to calm her down a little- she was no longer jumping out of her seat to attack her mother. She agreed with Harry on his thoughts about both Arthur and Dumbledore, and was now demanding that the two of them try to find a way to get rid of obliviations. Harry decided that even without the knowledge that they now had, it was a good idea. They had been at Hogwarts for a long time, after all, and there were too many opportunities for them to see something that the Professors– especially Dumbledore- didn't want them to. Maybe that was why there was so little concrete evidence against the Professors at the school. It was always a possibility.

That was when the two of them heard the door slam, and they rushed to the entrance, greeting Hermione immediately. Harry was thankful that they had blasted Mrs Black off the wall on their first day, otherwise they would have already been driven half-mad by her ranting every time they left or came back from doing something- which was several times each day. Harry shuddered at the thought, and followed the two girls back into the kitchen.

"Nothing," said Hermione furiously, smashing her fist into the notepad that she had just dumped on the table, "absolutely nothing! Six hours, and not once did anyone drop any information, or anything else of value!" Ginny looked vaguely impressed with the Ministry workers.

"Not even those little entry tokens?" Hermione shook her head and Ginny was even more impressed despite not wanting to be. Ministry Workers were, generally, quite careless with their belongings, and both girls had quite a collection of valuable things that they had collected off the ground, including a map of how the Department of Mysteries worked. That was quite a find. Harry and Ginny let Hermione fume for a little long, Harry moving himself a little closer so that the older girl could draw some comfort from his body. Finally, she calmed down enough to think rationally.

"How did your hunt go, Harry? Found the right place yet?" Harry shook his head ruefully.

"I managed to look at three different properties today," he said, "and none of them were quite right. They were all in Russia. I made an interesting discovery in the third place, though…" he said, and Hermione got to hear the story of Septimus Weasley. She was adequately appalled… and intrigued by the research project that he presented for them. She was literally bouncing in her seat to take a closer look at the Dark Mark, even after Harry had described everything he had found down to the minute details. Both he and Ginny shook their heads at her enthusiasm, though Ginny looked a little sad. To not remember your own brother, and then to find him only to discover that your own parents had driven him to the Death Eaters must be devastating. He leaned over and hugged the younger girl, projecting love and comfort into it. He finally saw her smile, and smiled back before loosening his grip and letting go with one hand to draw Hermione into the hug on the other side. Hermione beamed her brilliant smile at him when he did so, and they remained that way for several minutes before Ginny brought them back to task with a remarkably depressing;

"So, where are the rest of the Horcruxes?"

They debated the point for hours, none of them able to agree on one particular location. Ginny believed that one would be at the orphanage, but Harry shot that down. He hated that place, and Harry was sure that the creature wasn't going to hide a piece of his soul in the place that he despised.

Harry himself believed that there would be one at Hogwarts, but Hermione debated that, saying that if there was one there, Dumbledore would have found it. Harry grudgingly conceded that point, though he knew that Dumbledore had yet to discover all of the secrets of Hogwarts- the room of Requirement was proof enough of that! Hermione still believed that Dumbledore had done his best in regards to the Horcruxes- he was a bad man, but he didn't want Voldemort to win.

Hermione had offered the idea that a Horcrux could be hidden at Borgin and Burkes, but both Ginny and Harry had shot that one down. It just wasn't safe to hide a piece of your soul in a shop that sold creepy items with a proprietor that was a greedy as Borgin and Burke were. Besides, a shop that specialised in Dark items was sure to recognise a Horcrux for what it truly was, and then… there was no telling what those men would do, but having a piece of your soul was an excellent bargaining chip. Tom Riddle would not leave his soul there.

They were at loss for other places the Horcruxes could be, although both Ginny and Harry agreed that Gringotts was a potential storage spot, considering how grand the bank was and the symbolism behind owning a vault there- you would truly belong in the magical world. Hermione was sceptical, but she agreed that Harry could talk to the goblins next time he went there- which was most likely when he wanted the Locket destroyed after they managed to get it back. Goblins were remarkably good at destroying things, and a goblin-made treasure turned into such a despicable object might even sway the creatures from their neutrality.

The topic exhausted, the three of them began to move to bed, but not before Harry could question Ginny on her ulterior motives to the dancing lessons. She smirked, and told him that there were none but if he could find such benefit in them then that was good for him and he should have more lessons. Harry just raised an eyebrow at the girl, not believing her for a second. The fitness-nut in the portrait beside him at the time, seemed to agree with him and suggested that he begin learning gymnastics as well. Harry just shivered. The man was nice, teaching him different physical exercises, but he was also more than a little obsessive when it came to physical activity. Dancing included.

The worst part was that they were related- he was the father of Dorea Black, who had married into the Potter family as his grandmother.

That was a fact that made his great-grandfather all the more willing to torture him.

[End of Chapter Seven. Please Review!]