Chapter 11

Disclaimer: All characters and settings of Potterverse are the property of J.K. Rowling and other sundry entities. Only the plot belongs to me. I am making no money. I play in this universe for the sheer joy of it. My only payment is the kind reviews and comments of those who read and enjoy my tale. This story is canon-compliant through HBP. DH has, for the most part, been happily disregarded, especially that sappy epilogue!

Special thanks go to my beta reader, JuJuJenn. She makes sure I stay focused.

Eleven

It was decided that Harry and Ron would ride their brooms to a small wooded area about half a kilometre from Godric's Hollow. They would walk into the small village from there. Since Ron had never been there, and Harry had no memory of the place, Apparating blindly could be dangerous.

Ron had offered to bring Hermione on his broom, but just the thought of it was enough to send her into a minor panic. She hated flying.

She'd turned to Snape and asked him if he would bring her with him, via Side-Along-Apparition. He had been to Godric's Hollow, and it wouldn't be necessary for him to ride a broom to get there.

Snape's first instinct had been to refuse. The further away from Granger he stayed, the better off they'd both be; but he couldn't help but be swayed by the look of abject terror that crossed her face at the mere thought of a broom.

"Oh, very well, if your Gryffindor courage won't stand up to a mere broom flight," he'd sneered.

Hermione had been too grateful to even be offended by the implied insult.

"Thank you, sir," she'd said.

He'd simply nodded and they'd continued making their plans.

Because travelling by broom took longer than Apparating, Ron and Harry left Grimmauld Place immediately. Snape and Hermione would rendezvous with them, and then Snape, wearing Harry's invisibility cloak, would go ahead of them into the village itself to reconnoitre.

The three of them talked quietly while they waited for Snape to return. After a few minutes, however, Harry was no longer actively participating in the conversation. He wandered away from Ron and Hermione a bit and sat on a fallen log.

Harry's thoughts turned to how he would feel when he entered the house in which he'd been born – the house in which his parents had died. He'd been just fifteen months old when Voldemort killed his parents. He had no memory of that night, or of them. He wondered if he would feel any sort of connection to the place. He hoped he would. It would make him feel closer to the parents he'd never known. He'd certainly never felt any connection to the house on Privet Drive, or even to his aunt and cousin.

While Harry sat deep in thought, Ron and Hermione continued to talk in near-whispers. They had moved out of the small clearing to stand behind a large tree that sheltered them from the cold wind.

"How much time do you reckon we'll have to find that scabbard?" Ron asked.

"I guess it depends on how big the house is," Hermione replied.

"Maybe Harry knows," Ron said.

Hermione shook her head. "He was just a baby; he wouldn't remember."

"Well, I hope we finish up early. My mum's got some Christmas shopping to do in Diagon Alley; she's not going to be at Grimmauld Place tonight. And Snape's already said he's got a meeting with You-Know-Who."

"Remus is at the house."

"Yeah, but he's still recuperating. He'll be asleep early."

Ron leaned down and placed a sloppy kiss on the side of Hermione's neck.

"Stop that, Ron!" Hermione said. She reached up and wiped a bit of drool off her neck.

"You should be glad we'll have the chance to be together," he said. "I'll sneak down to your room after Harry goes to sleep."

"There's so much going on now, what with learning everything and finding the Horcruxes, I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Come on, Hermione, It's been nearly two months since ..."

"What do you do, mark it on the calendar?"

"Well ... not exactly, but I sort of keep track in my mind."

"That's vulgar."

Ron grinned. "What can I say? I'm a man; I've got needs, you know."

"What about my needs?" Hermione shot back.

"It's not my fault you can't ... you don't ..."

"I've news for you, Ron – I can; and maybe if you weren't always in such a hurry, I would!"

Ron face darkened in anger.

"I never got any complaints from Lavender," he said in a sharp tone.

"Then maybe when this is all over, you should go back to her."

"Is that what you really want, Hermione?" he asked, his mood changing abruptly. "I thought you loved me!"

"I do love you. I'm just not sure that we're suited to be a couple rather than just friends."

"I'll try harder to satisfy you, I promise," he coaxed.

Hermione bit her bottom lip nervously.

She knew she should refuse. She knew that if she were completely honest with herself, her feelings for Ron had changed. She knew that if she encouraged him now, it would be that much harder to end their romantic relationship later. But she also knew that if she refused, Ron would sulk and be angry. She was afraid that his anger would distract him from the work they had to do to defeat Voldemort, and that wouldn't be fair to Harry.

"I don't know ..."

Her thoughts flitted back to the incident with Severus outside of Remus's door. He'd later denied that anything would have come of it. He'd made it clear that he didn't reciprocate any 'foolish, romantic notions' she might have. She thought that he might be trying to convince himself more than her, but still, his words had stung.

"Please?" Ron grinned at her in the charming way that had first attracted her back in their third year.

Still not sure she was making the right decision, Hermione succumbed to Ron's entreaty.

"Oh, all right," she finally murmured.

"Brilliant! I'll slip Harry some Dreamless Sleep Potion."

"Ron!"

"Don't get your knickers in a knot; I was just joking. Besides, I think Harry knows what's going on. He won't say anything to my mum."

Hermione just shook her head. For someone who'd just proclaimed himself a man, with a man's needs, he was awfully concerned about what his mother might say.

"We'd better get back to Harry," Hermione said. "Professor Snape should be back any minute."

Ron made a face, but he followed as Hermione stepped out from the behind the tree and started walking towards Harry.

Snape hadn't meant to eavesdrop – at least not at first.

After his reconnoitre of the old Potter house, he'd Apparated back to the same spot he'd left twenty minutes earlier only to find the small clearing empty.

He had immediately suspected that the three of them had fallen into a trap. He was grateful for the invisibility cloak as he began his search for the missing trio.

He spotted Potter sitting on a log just a few feet outside the clearing. His elbows rested on his knees, and he was turning his wand over and over in his hands.

A moment later he saw Weasley and Granger standing a little deeper in the woods, partially hidden behind a large oak tree.

Although Potter hadn't been very vigilant, he'd at least had his wand out. The other two were deep in conversation, completely oblivious to their surroundings, and completely vulnerable as neither one of them had a wand in hand.

He approached them silently, hoping to catch them unawares, thus proving how ill-prepared they were to face down their enemies. He intended to hit them both with a Babbling Curse. They would learn a valuable lesson about never letting down their guard.

As he neared them, what had been indistinct murmurs became clearer.

"... was just a baby; he wouldn't remember."

"Well, I hope we finish up early. My mum's got some Christmas shopping to do in Diagon Alley; she's not going to be at Grimmauld Place tonight. And Snape's already said he's got a meeting with You-Know-Who."

"Remus is at the house."

"Yeah, but he's still recuperating. He'll be asleep early."

Snape had been just a second away from throwing the hex at them when he saw Weasley lean down and kiss the side of Granger's neck. His breath caught, and all thoughts of lessons and Babbling Curses fled.

He stood, not moving, barely breathing, and listened as Weasley tried to cajole Granger into a tryst for later that evening.

If asked, he wouldn't have been able to explain why he had found it impossible to walk away from them.

He smiled wryly at Granger's naïveté and her outrage when she discovered that Weasley kept track of their sexual encounters. He was a teenaged boy – of course he kept track!

And he'd had to hold back a snicker of amusement as she brought Weasley to task for his lack of sexual prowess – the oaf.

Based on the way the conversation was going, Snape was sure she would refuse.

Although he would have denied it, he felt a sharp stab of disappointment when she finally agreed to the meeting.

And then he shook his head, disgusted with himself. Since when did he concern himself with the sexual antics of two Gryffindors with raging hormones?

He watched them walk back toward where Potter was still sitting on the fallen log, and then he Apparated once again.

A minute later, still under the invisibility cloak, he approached the trio from the opposite side of the clearing.

Snape shuffled his feet a little as he walked toward them, making the dead leaves rustle.

"Snape?" Harry called out, his wand raised.

Hermione had her wand out in a second and moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with Harry.

Ron was still trying to fumble his wand out of his back pocket when Snape threw off the invisibility cloak, his own wand ready.

"Expelliarmus," Snape said, and Ron's wand flew into his waiting hand.

"So much for your vaunted skills," Snape said with a sneer.

"I wasn't expecting you to attack me!" Ron said angrily.

"Do you think the Death Eaters will send you a memorandum outlining their plans?" Snape countered.

"Although I am loath to agree with Moody about anything, he has the right of it when he warns about constant vigilance."

"You're right," Harry said. "We should have been more alert."

"Had my intentions been malevolent, I could have killed the three of you before you even knew I was here."

"Yeah, well you were hiding under the invisibility cloak, weren't you? Do all the Death Eaters have one of those?" Ron asked scornfully.

"Invisibility cloaks aren't the only way to get around without being seen," Hermione said.

"Which you would know if you'd ever read any of the books I told you to read," Snape added.

"Why do you always take his side?" Ron asked as he turned an angry look on Hermione.

"Perhaps because I'm always right?" Snape said.

Ron turned back to Snape, his hand automatically reaching back for his wand.

He flushed when he remembered that his wand was gone.

"Lose something, Weasley?" Snape taunted.

"Bastard."

A moment later, Ron's wand flew from Snape's hand to Harry's.

"We all get distracted once in a while, don't we, sir?" Harry asked calmly as he handed Ron his wand.

It was Snape's turn to flush. He drew a breath as though to speak and then realised that Potter was right. He had been distracted – and careless.

"Touché, Potter," he said with a sardonic little quirk of his lips. "You've just proven that one is never too old to learn an important lesson."

"Can we get on with why we're here, then?"

Ron shrugged, and Snape nodded curtly. For his part, he was quite happy to move on.

"What did you find out?" Harry asked Snape.

"There are no guards posted on the one road that leads into the village. There are also none posted on the perimeter of the property or at the either of the doors to the house itself – at least not outside the doors.

"The house is warded, of course, and I didn't want to take the time to break through the wards to go inside. I thought it best to come back here and have you enter the house to determine if there are guards posted inside."

Snape picked up the invisibility cloak and held it out to Harry.

"What makes you think I'll be able to get through the wards in anything less than a week?" Harry asked as he took the cloak from Snape.

"You don't need to break through the wards, Harry," Hermione said.

"I don't?" Harry seemed genuinely puzzled.

"It's your house," Ron put in.

"You were not aware of this?" Snape asked.

Harry shook his head. "No."

"When you were born, your parents would've adjusted the wards to recognise you," Ron explained. "Since you were inside the house when Volde ... when they died, they couldn't have changed the wards. The house will still recognise you and let you in."

"Couldn't Voldemort have changed the wards? He got inside."

"He gained entry only because Pettigrew gave him the password," Snape said. "He still wouldn't have been able to change the wards. Only your parents could do that."

"And now you can," Ron said. "You could change the password and keep You-Know-Who out!"

Hermione shook her head, and Snape sighed.

"What? If he can't get in, he can't retrieve the Horcrux."

"You will insist on seeing me dead, won't you?" Snape said.

"This situation is the same as with the Hufflepuff cup, Ron," Harry said. "If I change the password, Voldemort will know that Snape is the only one who could have warned me."

"Oh. Well, it was just an idea."

"A very bad idea," Snape grumbled.

"What are we going to do, then?" Ron asked, ignoring Snape's comment.

"Another duplicate?" Hermione suggested.

"Indeed. It seems to be a solution that works.

"Go to the house, Potter. There's an outbuilding behind the main house. If I'm not mistaken, you'll find there's an underground tunnel connecting the two structures. Based on similarly built houses I've seen, the tunnel should lead to the cellar of the main house. There will likely be a staircase that opens into the kitchen. Once inside you can ascertain if there are any guards posted within. If the house is clear, return here and we'll all go and search for the scabbard."

"How far is it?" Harry asked as he wrapped the cloak around himself, leaving only his head visible.

"Less than half a kilometre that way," Snape said as he pointed to the east. "You can't miss it; there are no near neighbours, and the yard is badly overgrown."

Harry nodded and then pulled the cloak up to cover his head.