“So, how did you get away from your mum, Ron?” Hermione asked, not taking her attention off the box of random junk that filled it.
“She told me to go upstairs and get my cloak to measure, and I just never came back. But don't worry, Hermione,” Hermione opened her mouth to interrupt. “I left a note for her, so she doesn't worry.”
“Ron, all the notes in the world wouldn't keep your mother from worrying about you.”sighed Hermione
They went through more boxes and when Harry got to the bottom of a crate, he moved it out of the way, but stopped when he heard something move, and there was a sound of metal hitting wood. Ron and Hermione both stopped and looked at it.
“The bottom of the inside of the crate doesn't fit with the outside. It's shallower than it looks,” Harry said, after examining it. He felt around in the box to see if there was a way to get to what was underneath.
“Turn it upside down,” Ron suggested. “Maybe it'll fall out.” Harry did so, but it didn't work. He smacked it, but the bottom wouldn't budge.
“Know any spells for getting the bottom off of a crate, Hermione?” Harry said, half joking, half expecting her to come up with something. She pointed her wand at two pieces of silver and transfigured them into an ordinary muggle hammer and crow bar. She handed both to Harry.
“Sometimes the muggle way is simpler.” Harry nodded in agreement and slid the crow bar under on of the lath pieces and hit the end of the bar with the hammer to get better leverage underneath. He then bent the crow bar back, and the nail popped out of the hole, and the lath snapped off. Harry put the hammer and crow bar down, and Ron picked them up, looking at them with awe.
“Amazing. Amazing that a simple muggle thing-a-ma-bob could do that.” Both Harry and Hermione smiled at each other as Harry felt around for whatever was rattling around. He first pulled out an envelope and handed it to Hermione, and reached around for the metal object.
“This envelope is addressed to Sirius,” Hermione said when she read the name.
“What does it say?” Hermione slit it open, and pulled out the note. She read, “Dear Sirius, I need you to hold on to something for me. NEVER let anyone find it. It involves a way to defeat Voldemort. Keep it safe, again, NEVER let anyone find it. I don't know what's going to happen to me now that I've tried to back out, but I can guarantee it's not something I'll live through. I know things have never been great between us, but please, do this for me. As one last wish from your baby brother. Regulus.” Hermione and Ron looked up as Harry lifted a locket on a gold chain with a small serpent in the shape of an `S' engraved on it. They all looked at it in shock. Shock that it had been so easy to find, and that they had actually found the Horcrux.
“So now what do we do?” Ron asked.
“I think we should leave it in the house for right now. It's a safe place; no one will come here except us, since it belongs to Harry. We'll decide when to destroy it, and…who's blood we need.” So, leaving the locket and the letter in a safe spot in Ron and Harry's old bedroom, the trio went back to the Burrow. After sitting through one of Mrs. Weasley's lectures on leaving without telling anyone during dangerous times, Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat outside on the back porch, just like they did the day of Bill and Fleur's wedding. Harry and Hermione sat rocking back and forth on the swing, and Ron sat on the porch railing. They sat in silence until Hermione spoke up.
“Ok, we need to discuss this coming year.”
“What about it?”asked Harry
“Well, since Mrs. Weasley didn't take us and Ginny to Diagon Ally today, she's talking about going tomorrow. We need to go on like we're going back to school this year. We need to go through with buying the books, robes, whatever we need, so we don't raise suspicion. So then on September 1st, we'll be on the train to Hogwarts, go through all the ceremony, and then we'll talk later. How's that sound?” Harry and Ron nodded, glad that Hermione was the brains of the operation, because she had it all figured out, while they didn't really have a clue of what to do next. It worried Harry what they were all getting themselves into. He knew he had to do it; he had to destroy the Horcruxes and kill Voldemort. But it didn't settle the feeling of dread that constantly sat in the pit of his stomach, he had no idea what the future held for all of them, and that was what mostly worried him.
“You know what I wish?” Ron and Hermione turned they're heads to Harry to show they were listening.
“I wish that I knew how this would all turn out. I wish I could see the future, and know whether we all live or die through this.”
“You'll live, Harry,” Hermione said, her eyes drooping with exhaustion. “I'm sure of it. You'll go on, and live the life that most people only ever dreamt about, a life without the threat of Voldemort.”
“But you don't know that I will, Hermione. What about you? And Ron?” Ron waved the thought away with his hand.
“We'll live, Harry. We're tough, we'll make it,” Ron said, trying to sound reassuring, but in the back of his mind, and in his two friends beside him, they didn't know if he was right, there was no way to find out until that day.