AN: Quite a few readers asked me if there'll be a sequel to The Legacy of Regulus Black. After nine months of plotting and writing, the time has finally come.

Enjoy reading!

Wednesday, August 9th, 1995

"Wait," Ginny shouted, looking into Harry's eyes. She walked up to him and hugged him tightly.

Harry, surprised by the sudden gesture, froze for a moment, but instantly relaxed and returned the hug.

"Who knows when I'll get the next chance to thank you privately, Harry," Ginny whispered.

"Thank for what?" Harry asked in surprise.

"For everything, for nurturing, for listening, for talking about things you don't like to talk about."

"Oh," said Harry softly, looking into her eyes. "You're welcome; you would have done the same for me, wouldn't you?"

Lost in Harry's emerald green eyes, Ginny whispered, "Anytime."

Reaching for the Portkey, she murmured, "Back to Padfoot!"

*** Ginny & Harry ***

Ginny felt the strange sharp yank behind her navel and the room around them disappeared. The already familiar feeling of flying on a broom without the wind blowing into her face returned. A few seconds later, the strange sensation suddenly subsided, and the two of them fell on the wooden floor in the kitchen of No 12 Grimmauld Place.

They slowly untangled their limbs, stood up and looked into the grinning face of Sirius Black, sitting at the kitchen table nursing a cup of tea. "Hi kiddos, it's about time. What took you so long?"

"Emm," Ginny tried to answer, slightly blushing. She was interrupted by two arms slamming around her middle and literally forcing the air out of her lungs. "Ginny, I'm so glad you're back," her mum cried, sobbing.

"Help...air, Mum, you're killing me," she wheezed out as her mother released her then turned to Harry in an attempt to crush him to death, too.

"Molly, don't crush them," Sirius chuckled. "Harry, Ginny, sit down. Your mother just told me she wanted to fix some breakfast, I didn't know she changed her plans into killing you."

"Oh, yeah, you must be hungry, four days without a proper meal." Molly let Harry go and marched back to the stove. "What do you want? Eggs, bangers, bacon, baked beans?" she enquired excitedly, placing two cups of tea in front of the teenagers.

"Everything but lamb stew or biscuits is fine for me." Ginny's answer made Harry chuckle. She grasped the leather bag they had brought from the island, laid it under a chair, and sat down.

While her mother was busy preparing breakfast and the bacon and eggs were sizzling in the pan, Harry whispered to Sirius, "We need to talk to you." When Sirius raised his eyebrows, he added, "in private." Ginny nodded affirmatively.

"Okay," Sirius said softly, "I'll try to set something up."

Suddenly, Harry felt someone crashing into him. Turning his head, he saw a big bush of brown hair belonging to none other than his friend Hermione Granger.

"HARRY!" she gave a cry of joy when she saw the home-comers sitting at the kitchen table. "Where have you been? You've been gone for days! We were so worried," she cried, turning to Ginny to give her the same treatment.

"Hermione, sit down. Do you mind if we wait to tell you everything after breakfast?" Harry grinned at his friend. "I'm pretty sure, Ron also wants to hear our story. So, please wait a bit."

It was obvious that Hermione wasn't pleased with the answer, but she managed to put a smile on her face. "Okay, but how did you just disappear?"

Ginny could barely suppress a giggle about Hermione's inquisitiveness. "We found a letter to Sirius in Regulus's room, and unfortunately, this letter turned out to be a Portkey."

"What's the letter about?" Hermione couldn't resist asking, "and who's Regulus?"

Harry rolled his eyes, "Regulus is Sirius' brother, Hermione, and since the letter is addressed to Sirius, I think he should read it first, and decide whether he'll tell us about the content or not, don't you think so? " When Sirius nodded in agreement, Harry continued, "maybe, we'd better tell Sirius everything we've found before we'll meet with you and Ron. We've brought a few things with us we need to give Sirius. We'll tell you after lunch what happened to us."

"Yes. Of course," Hermione replied, defeated.

"Ginny, how's your fever doing?" Her mother suddenly seemed to remember.

"I'm fine," she replied.

"I'll take a look at you later. How did you get the fever anyway?" her mother asked, concerned.

"Harry thinks the cold water caused the fever. We didn't have a shower and had to wash ourselves outside. When I got the fever, Harry took good care of me. He even made calf-packings to reduce the temperature," Ginny giggled giving Harry a wide grin.

"Calf-packings?" Hermione shot her an intrigued look.

"Yes, calf-packings against the fever. We didn't have a fever potion." Ginny blushed slightly.

"I know what calf-packings are good for," Hermione replied with a mischievous grin, "but I didn't know Harry knows how to do them."

"Well, he knows," Ginny confirmed. "It helped a lot. I felt already better before I took the fever potion last night."

"Last night? You got the letter last night? Why didn't you come home last night, young Lady?" Molly shot her daughter an inquiring look.

"I wanted to wait until the morning." Harry chipped in, looking at Mrs Weasley.

"Why," she asked in surprise.

"I didn't want to arrive here with the house full of nosy Order members," Harry said. At Mrs Weasley's astonished look, he continued, "Yes, Ginny told me about the Order. It's nice to have someone who doesn't withhold important information from me. I also wanted Ginny to rest a bit before being questioned here."

"Questioned? You're not being questioned." Mrs Weasley looked at him in surprise.

"Oh." Harry sat back down. "I just had a different impression." With a stern face, he glanced at Ginny and ... winked at her.

Turning to Sirius, he asked, "Sirius, is it okay if we meet in half an hour in your room? We'll give you the things Regulus left for you and tell you what we know about it. But first, I'd like to take a shower and look for a change of fresh clothes. "

"Oh yeah. Me too. A nice hot shower is a perfect idea," Ginny agreed.

"Ginny, when you've done showering, I need your help preparing dinner for tonight." Her mother turned to Ginny. "The Order will be meeting here tonight and they'll all be hungry."

"But first we need to talk to Sirius," Harry objected. "We'll both help you with the dinner afterwards, Mrs Weasley," Harry assured her, "and we'll tell you what happened to us. Promise."

Ginny's mother gave the two teenagers a thoughtful look and nodded. "Well, alright."

Ginny noticed Hermione following the dispute all the time with growing interest, giving Harry an inquisitive look.

Turning to Harry, Ginny asked, "Are you finished?" When he nodded, she got up, stacked their plates and cups, reached for the cutlery and brought everything to the sink. Turning to the door, Ginny grabbed the leather bag from under her chair and announced, "I'll take a long hot shower. I'll meet you in Sirius's room when I'm ready." Giving Harry a last quick smile, she headed towards her room.

*** Ginny & Harry ***

Ginny picked a fresh change of clothes from her wardrobe and headed for the shower when Hermione entered the room, giving her a bright smile, "Well. Calf-packings."

"Yep," Ginny answered straight-faced, "I was really badly off the night before last."

"And Harry?" Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"He took good care of me," Ginny responded, "and before you ask, we talked quite a lot for a lack of other company, and it was very enlightening."

"You have to tell me all about it," Hermione demanded eagerly. "It seems almost as if your crush is back."

"No, Hermione. Definitely not," Ginny denied. " I think we're on a good way toward becoming good friends, that's all." With a thoughtful smile, she added in her mind, 'for the moment.'

*** Ginny & Harry ***

Fifteen minutes later, Ginny walked up the stairwell to Sirius' room. As she approached the door, she noticed it was ajar. She knocked briefly and pushed the door open.

The room was chaotic, the bed was not made, a pile of laundry lay spread on the floor behind the bed, probably dirty.

Sirius was sitting on the edge of his bed, Harry in the chair at the desk. The armchair in the corner next to a bookshelf was cleared, probably for her.

Ginny headed to the desk, shoved the things lying on it to the far corner, opened the leather case, and spread the contents on the now vacant surface of the desk. She took the wand they had brought from the island and put it in the back pocket of her jeans, "It's mine."

"It's ours," Harry corrected her.

"If you're nice to me." She grinned back.

Sirius got up and walked over to the desk. "What do we have here?"

"This is the letter we told you about," Ginny explained, handing him the envelope. "Sorry, we already read the letter, we were hoping to find a clue how to get back home after the damned thing abducted us."

Sirius took the envelope, pulled out the letter and read it silently.

Sirius,

I need to apologize for the involuntary kidnapping, but when you find this letter, I'm probably not alive any more.

You are now in the cottage where I did my secret research. The cottage, in fact, the whole island, is an heirloom that uncle Alphard left to me.

You were right, it wasn't a good idea to get involved with the Dark Lord. Lately, I have experienced very disturbing things. I always thought the Dark Lord was fighting for our ideas. However, when he recently required Kreacher to help him on one of his missions, it became clear to me that he is pursuing his own goals. In search of ways to become immortal, he made Horcruxes. If you don't know what a Horcrux is, feel free to check out the bookshelf in the cottage for books on the subject. It's the most disgusting kind of black magic I've ever heard of. I'm sure the Dark Lord made at least two Horcruxes. The one, a medallion once belonged to Salazar Slytherin, Kreacher had to hide for the Dark Lord in a grave by the sea. I'm going to attempt retrieving and destroying it this evening with the help of Kreacher. I'm not sure if I'll survive this venture if the Dark Lord ever finds out about it. I suspect the Dark Lord gave another Horcrux to Bellatrix Lestrange. A few weeks ago, after drinking too much at a victory party, she bragged how much the Dark Lord trusts her, that he has even entrusted her with one of his treasures for safekeeping. I don't think she really knows what she's hiding for him.

Anyway, I think these things are too important to be forgotten if I don't survive my mission tonight. I hope my knowledge is in good hands with you.

Take care of yourself!

Regulus

Slowly the hand holding the letter began to shake; tears rose in his eyes. Deeply moved, he shook his head and mumbled with tear-filled eyes, "Reg, you stupid, idiotic, lovable bastard. Why did you never tell me about it?"

Heavily breathing, still shaking his head in disbelief, he went back to the bed and sat down again. Resting his elbows on his knees, he covered his face with his hands.

Visibly affected, the two teenagers watched as Sirius silently shook his head, occasionally sobbing.

Ginny glanced at Harry. When he returned her gaze, she nodded her head in the direction of Sirius. Sirius was Harry's godfather and she would support him in everything but didn't want to give the impression that she'd intrude. It took a moment for Harry to understand her gesture and walk over to his godfather. He sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulder.

Ginny slowly followed to the bed and sat down on Sirius's other side, leaning her shoulder against his, silently showing her support.

"Are you okay?" she heard Harry ask in a soft voice.

"Yeah, everything will be alright," Sirius replied, squaring his shoulders. "It's just that we quarrelled for so long, ever since his third or fourth year at Hogwarts when he'd started to worship his Dark Lord, like most of his friends in Slytherin. Earlier...when we still were children we always got on well. He was only one and a half years younger than me, and we often played together as children. Later ... later he just despised me, laughed at me with his friends, and warned me where I would end up because of my wrong friends and views."

Sirius put his arms around the shoulders of the two teens sitting next to him and managed a faint smile, "In the end, it's good to know that he eventually turned his back to his Dark Lord. I never knew what exactly happened to him. One day he just disappeared without a trace."

Sirius got up, took a deep breath and headed back to the desk. "What else do we have here?"

Ginny and Harry followed him. "Sirius, do you know what a Horcrux is?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Honestly ... I don't know," Sirius admitted, "I've never heard the term."

"Okay," Harry continued, "these two books contain useful information about Horcruxes. In a nutshell, a Horcrux contains a part of a soul of a witch or a wizard. By creating a Horcrux you can ensure that you don't really die when you die. As long as a part of your soul, a Horcrux, exists in this world, you can come back to life. Regulus found out that Voldemort created Horcruxes, and this probably was the reason he didn't die when ... you know. "

"Bastard," Sirius swore.

Harry took a worn book from the desk and handed it over to his godfather. "This is the Family Journal of the Black family, so it's yours. Regulus deposited it in the cottage on this island. Apparently, he didn't want anyone to find it here. That's probably also the reason all the books were there in the cottage, and not at Grimmauld Place. By the way, there are even more books in the cottage which seemed to be quite useful. In the journal, we found some very interesting information about Horcruxes; information obviously not included in the books on Horcruxes. So, and here we have the map of the islands. We'll probably need it to find the way back."

For the next couple of hours, they told Sirius what they'd already found in the books and the Family Journal and discussed the related text passages. Sirius was visibly impressed but made a calm and concentrated impression.

"Seems, my dear brother left a tremendous task for me," Sirius smiled at the two teens, "but it's good to finally have a something to do, instead of just hanging around this damned house."

"We should tell Dumbledore about it, shouldn't we?" Harry asked reluctantly

"Yes, we should," Sirius nodded affirmatively. "I'll talk to him tonight after the Order meeting."

Harry gave Sirius a thoughtful gaze and asked abruptly, "Sirius, do you know why Voldemort is after me? Why always me? I didn't do anything to him."

"Sorry, I don't know anything specific, Harry. Just, about fifteen years ago, Dumbledore advised your parents to go into hiding. He said he'd received information suggesting that Voldemort wanted to kill them."

"What information? How did he know? And, if Dumbledore said Voldemort was after 'my parents', why is he now after 'me'? Do you think Dumbledore is hiding something from me?"

"I don't know, sorry." Sirius gave him an apologetic look.

"You could ask Dumbledore tonight," Ginny interjected.

Looking into Harry's eyes, Sirius put his arm on his shoulder. "Good idea, I'll try and get you some answers, Harry. Promise."

"Thanks, Sirius. Before we go to lunch, what do you think we can tell Ron and Hermione?" Harry looked at Sirius expectantly. "I don't want to keep secrets from them, so I'd prefer to tell them everything I know. You need to decide for yourself what you're going to tell the adults. But I don't think it would be a good idea to spread the knowledge about the Horcruxes all over the place."

"Everything about the Black Family Journal, especially the merge of soul parts, is between ourselves only, that's clear," Sirius replied, his eyes wandering from Harry to Ginny. "Everything else you can tell your friends, under the condition that they don't talk about it with others."

Harry gave him an astonished look, "Sounds like you don't want to tell Dumbledore about the Family Journal?"

"I'm not sure yet," Sirius said thoughtfully, "I'll definitely talk to him about the Horcruxes, and I'd also lend him the books if he wants them. But I guess he'll probably know what Horcruxes are anyway, so it wouldn't really matter, would it? However, he won't get hold of the Family Journal. I won't even tell him about it. If we later think there's something he needs to know, I'll tell him about it, or offer him a copy of the respective passages."

"Do you really think Dumbledore knows about Horcruxes?" Ginny bit her lower lip.

"To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised," Sirius chuckled.

"If he knows about Horcruxes, he'll surely know if the diary was a Horcrux, too. Don't you think?" Ginny's gaze wandered from one to the other.

"Interesting question," Sirius grinned thoughtfully, "Dumbledore seems to be a man of many secrets. I'd say, let's wait. If I get the impression that he is ready to be honest with me, I'll be honest with him. I'm really looking forward to the conversation with Dumbledore tonight."

*** Ginny & Harry ***

When Sirius, Harry, and Ginny entered the kitchen, they were received with a great fuss. The twins gave them a wide grin.

"Potter, how did you get the idea that part of your partner's duties is to kidnap our ickle little sister?" Fred threw him a challenging look, "Apparently, we need to have a serious word with you."

"Ah, right George," Ginny interjected, "First, we already had a word with Sirius, second, you still wanted to tell me what you and Angelina were doing in that broom cupboard, and why it involved Angelina's knickers in your pocket ... "

"That was Fred, Ginny. You are confusing us again," George deadpanned.

"I don't confuse you, Angelina is your girlfriend, George," Ginny replied unperturbed.

"I had detention with Flitwick, so Fred went on the date for me." George pulled up his right eyebrow confidently.

"Anyway," Ginny rolled her eyes, straight-faced, "you'd better take care of your own business."

Shaking her head, she took the empty seat next to Harry, who was talking to Ron.

"Hi Ron, you slept in?" She chipped in. "Looks like the big cleaning campaign is over if Mum let you stay in bed until noon."

"The room you'd been cleaning has been locked up by Sirius. He said he'd better examine it by himself before any further mischief happens," Ron explained, "and after two weeks of slave labour I'm allowed to have a sleep in, aren't I? It's time you finally show up. Mum didn't want to start lunch without you. "

At that moment, three large, heavily loaded plates of sandwiches floated onto the kitchen table. After everyone had snagged their first sandwich, Hermione grinned expectantly at Harry, "I think now that everyone's here, it's a good time to tell us what you've been doing all the time."

"I'm all ears," Ginny's mother sat down at the table and took a sandwich, too.

Ginny gave Harry a questioning look, and when he nodded in agreement, she started telling about the events of the past four days. She mentioned how she'd accidentally found the letter addressed to Sirius, and that Harry wanted to bring the letter to Sirius when the both of them suddenly were Portkeyed somewhere else. After a while, Harry took over the story and they took turns narrating. There was no noise in the kitchen except for the occasional sounds of chewing smacking. When they reached the point where Ginny got a fever, her mother insisted on checking her out immediately, which ended with her swallowing down another phial of fever potion. As a precaution, her mother said. The Horcruxes and the Black Family Journal, of course, were never mentioned in their tale. When Ginny finished the story, telling how they'd returned to the kitchen of Grimmauld Place using the figurine of a little black dog as a Portkey, everybody sitting at the table couldn't resist snickering.

"What was the letter about?" Hermione asked expectantly.

"It's a very personal letter, Hermione," Sirius explained in a determined voice, "and after reading the letter I think I need to sort some things out first. When I'm ready, I promise I'll tell you about the content of the letter, but it won't be today, and before you ask, not even tomorrow."

"Harry and Ginny know what's in the letter?" Hermione couldn't resist asking.

"Yes, of course. After all, they found the letter," Sirius admitted. "But please don't pester them with questions. What they can tell you, they will tell you. However, the letter is not their story to tell. So, please, don't ask them. At the moment I can tell you only so much, that my brother disappeared without a trace many years ago. If I had checked earlier into what happened to him, I'd probably have found the letter many years ago. To make up for that mistake, I need to be very careful now, and that'll take time; time we may not have now that Voldemort is back."

There was a moment of silence interrupted by Fred trying to relieve the tension, "Nurse Potter, I feel so hot." He theatrically touched his forehead, "I'm sure I have a fever. Only calf-packings will help. Nurse Potter, I'm in the urgent need of calf-packings."

Ginny watched with astonishment as her mother rose from her seat, completely unnoticed by the twins. With a mischievous grin on her face, she drew her wand.

"Aguamenti!"

A torrent of water broke over the twins and made them squeal aloud, "Mother!"

"Yikes," yelped Hermione, "that's cold!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry Hermione," Ginny's mother called apologetically. Leaning over the table, she threw a drying spell. "So that should be enough," she stated, eyeing her work critically.

"And what about us, Mum?" The twins asked in unison.

"Are you wizards or what?" Her mother replied impassively and turned to the stove, "Harry, Ginny, I remember a promise ..."

"Yeah, of course, we'll be right there to help you with dinner," Harry replied to Ginny's relief as she was just having a bite of her third helping.

"What promise?" Ron asked in surprise.

"Oh, we promised to help preparing dinner with your mother. Do you want to help, too?" Harry grinned at his friend.

"Oh, sorry, but I can't," Ron replied, giving Hermione a help-seeking gaze, he went on, "I promised to help Hermione with her homework."

"Liar," Ginny chuckled and turned to her mother. "What can we do for you, Mum?"

"What about peeling and cutting carrots and potatoes for forty people," her Mum offered.

"What? You can do it much quicker with magic!" Ginny exclaimed horrified.

"Ginny ... you promised ... "

"I know, I know," Ginny rolled her eyes, "mixed with the fresh blood from your daughter's fingers, the vegetable tastes as twice as good."

"I just knew there was a secret behind your mother's good cooking, Gin." Harry couldn't hold a giggle.

*** Ginny & Harry ***

After a few hours of kitchen work, Ginny felt exhausted. She was glad that Harry had insisted on not returning to Grimmauld Place without having a good night sleep.

After all the commotion all day, she could hardly imagine that only twenty-four hours before, she'd shared a bed with Harry in that strange cottage far in the north.

Surprisingly, the dinner preparations were a much more entertaining affair than she'd feared. To her astonishment, Harry had been a far greater help in the kitchen than she'd ever imagined. It was yet another thing she was hoping Harry would someday shed some light on.

The planned Order meeting was scheduled to begin at 7 o'clock this night. That's why her mother had prepared plates with dinner for the teenagers living on Grimmauld Place so that they could eat in their rooms.

Ginny had agreed with Harry to tell Hermione everything she knew about Horcruxes. Harry would do the same with Ron. He had insisted that it should happen unobserved by the adults, and the Order meeting was a perfect opportunity to do so. Sirius would inform them later about the meeting, so there was no need to eavesdrop. Harry also wanted to spend some time with Ron, and Ginny was fine with it. After all, Ron was his best friend and she was just...what? Well, she was pretty sure that Harry regarded her as a friend, and for the moment she was happy with that.

So, Ginny was now standing in front of her room, holding her dinner plate in her left hand, her goblet of pumpkin juice in her right hand, and opened the door to her room with her right elbow. She'd just set her plate on the small table by the window and sat down when Hermione entered the room.

Hermione grinned at her with a knowing smile. "Spill the beans, Weasley. What is it with you and Harry?" She placed her dinner on the table and took a seat in the chair across from Ginny.

Ginny looked at her friend in amazement. "What about us? We had some exciting days, we already told you about it."

"Exciting days you call it? Alone with Harry in a one-bed cottage? I was surprised your mother didn't say anything about that. And Harry made calf-wrappings for you. Come on, tell me. When did he kiss you the first time?"

Ginny almost choked her pumpkin juice, "Kissed? Hermione, what are you talking about? "

"The way you two look at each other, there's something there, Ginny. I just know it. "Hermione grinned.

"There's nothing there," Ginny shook her head vehemently, "To be honest, we had a few nice days. We talked a lot. That's it."

"What did you talk about?" Hermione was almost bursting with curiosity.

"About all sorts of things. When I woke up from a nightmare one night, Harry told me about his nightmares to calm me down," Ginny admitted guardedly.

"Harry never talks about his nightmares, Ginny. You should know that." Hermione looked at her, slightly confused.

"Have you ever told Harry what you're dreaming about, Hermione?" Ginny gave her a challenging look.

"No never. Why should I do such a thing?" Hermione asked, astonished.

"Sometimes you only get something if you give something," Ginny carried on.

Hermione looked at her in amazement. "You think Harry talked to you about his nightmares because you talked to him about your own nightmares?"

"Yes, but I think it's not about the nightmares, it's about trust. I trusted him with my nightmares, and I think this helped him to talk about his own." Ginny smiled at Hermione when she went on, "and sometimes it helps if you'd just listen instead of asking too many questions. You should give it a try, Hermione." Ginny chuckled. "Don't get me wrong, I like you the way you are," she added, "but you asked me why Harry told me about his nightmares, and that's the reason. At least I think so."

"And you're really sure nothing happened between the two of you?"

"We promised to trust each other and that there'll be no secrets when it comes to certain things," Ginny admitted.

"Ah, there it is. You two are keeping secrets. I take it, I don't need to ask about it because you won't tell me," Hermione grinned knowingly.

"That's right," Ginny replied, giggling when she saw Hermione's disappointed face. "You don't have to ask because I'll tell you anyway, just like Harry is going to tell Ron about it tonight, that is, if Ron actually listens."

Hermione looked at Ginny, baffled. "You split us up. Now I'm really curious what you're going to tell me."

"No, Hermione," Ginny sniggered. "Admit it. You're not curious, you're nosy."

Hermione snorted, "Okay, Ginny. I'm nosy. And now just tell me…what's your secret? Did you find a treasure on the island?"

"No, there's no treasure involved, not even a small one," Ginny shook her head, "I'll tell you if you promise never to talk about it to anyone. Anyone, but Sirius and Dumbledore. Moreover, please promise me that you'll watch out for Ron, so he won't ever blabber about it. Sometimes, he has a weird way when he's upset."

"Please tell me, Ginny. I promise to keep it a secret." Hermione said in a serious voice.

Ginny took a deep breath and looked thoughtfully at Hermione. "Okay, Hermione," she began, "where do we start?" She looked Hermione in the eye. "Do you know what a Horcrux is?"

In the next half hour, Ginny told Hermione everything she'd learned about Horcruxes in the past few days. As agreed with Sirius, she didn't mention the Black Family Journal and what information they've found in it.

"There's quite a bunch of books on Soul Magic in that cottage. I think Sirius will soon take a closer look at them, maybe he'll even ask you for help. Please do me a favour, Hermione. Please, do not search the library at Hogwarts for books on the subject. We don't want anyone to suspect that we ever heard the word Horcrux. Apart from the fact that you probably won't find any books on the subject in the public section of the library anyway."

Silently, Hermione gazed at Ginny for a long time. Ginny was relieved that she'd finally talked to Hermione about the topic. It still felt a bit strange to know something before Hermione heard about it.

"Thanks, Ginny, and I wish you both good luck," Hermione grabbed Ginny's hand and squeezed it, a pensive smile on her face.

"What do you mean?" Ginny gave her friend an uncomprehending gaze.

"You're probably right that I'm not always a good listener, but one thing I know for sure. Horcruxes aren't the only things Harry is currently thinking about."