Harry was in the library looking through a book on potions he had found when he heard the front door to 12 Grimmauld Place open. A few seconds later he then heard the sound of something crashing to the ground which awoke the portrait of Walburga Black. The angry magical picture began yelling obscenities as loudly as it could at whoever it was who had entered.
"Shut up, you old hag!" Harry heard a familiar voice shout back. Mrs Black, of course, did not comply with the order but continued to scream. Harry got up and left the library just in time to see Tonks walking down the corridor still looking angry at the portrait. "Wotcher, Harry. Look who I found." Tonks took a step to the side to reveal that Hermione had walked in behind her.
"Hermione!" Harry said as he rushed forward to greet his friend. "When did you get back?"
"Just yesterday." Hermione answered. "Thanks for bringing me, Tonks."
"No problem." Tonks replied. "Sirius thought Harry would appreciate having someone around to bother him today since he isn't here."
"Where did Sirius go?" Harry asked. "I didn't get the chance to ask him before he left this morning. It sounded like he was in a hurry."
"A couple of giants tore apart a little village in Yorkshire last night. The Aurors didn't get there in time to stop it, just to try and cover it up from the muggles." Tonks explained. "Sirius, Dumbledore, and a few others went to try and figure out why the giants attacked. They usually stay away from populated areas. Dumbledore seems to think that You-Know-Who has already started encouraging the giants go on rampages. You can't really control the giants, but you can get them pissed off and point them towards something you want them to destroy."
"Did this happen last time, too?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Sure it did." Tonks replied with a nod. "Luckily there aren't that many giants around, and even fewer that are willing to come to England and fight. But there will be some. And unless there is absolutely no choice you should run when faced with an angry giant. Those guys are almost as hard to take down as dragons."
"No giants here, Tonks." Harry said. "We'll be ok."
"Yeah you say that now, but what are you going to do when one jumps out of the closet at you?" Tonks asked, grinning. "Come running to me, that's what. Alright, well I've got to get to work. You two try to stay out of trouble, or at least don't blame me if you do get into trouble."
"Thanks again, Tonks!" Hermione said. The now purple haired Auror smiled and waved good-bye as she left the house and Harry and Hermione behind. Once she was gone Harry looked towards Hermione and saw that her smile had been replaced with a look of worry and sadness.
"Hermione? Are you ok" Harry asked uncertainly. Hermione responded by hugging him and beginning to cry.
"I'm so sorry, Harry!" she began. "I heard what happened to Professor Lupin. I can only imagine how you must feel."
"It's ok, Hermione." Harry assured her as he pulled away from the hug so he could look her in the eye. "We're all still sad, but we know Moony wouldn't want us to mourn him forever. It's still hitting Sirius pretty hard, but he's doing better every day."
"And then I saw those awful things that Rita Skeeter wrote about you…" Hermione began but Harry cut her off when he began laughing. "What?"
"I wouldn't worry about Rita Skeeter anymore. Daphne's dad took care of her." Harry answered. "Come on, I'll explain while I show you around." Hermione agreed and so Harry launched into a vivid retelling of what had gone on a few days earlier Hermione was somewhat shocked at how cruelly Daniel Greengrass had dealt with Skeeter, but even she could not deny that the annoying reporter deserved it. Meanwhile Harry had shown her almost the entire house when Hermione's observant mind caught something she had missed.
"Harry, what's in that room?" she asked, pointing towards a closed door.
"Oh that's just where everyone's been putting the junk we don't know what to do with. Some of the things in there are dark and dangerous, but most of it is just garbage we need to throw away." Harry answered. He was about to show her something else when he noticed the look on her face. "You want to see it too, don't you? Ok, prepare to be underwhelmed…"
Harry opened the door and walked into the room with her. In truth he had not bothered to come in the room before either, except for briefly to throw something into it. Now that he was inside though his curiosity had started to get the better of him and he began to wonder what hidden treasures might be hidden in amongst the trash.
"Hey look at this, Hermione. It's a remembrall, just like the one Neville had in our first year." Harry said as he held the small sphere. Instead of being clear or red though as remembralls normally were, this one seemed to be alternating wildly between the two colors. "Oh, I think this one's broken…"
"A lot of this stuff is." Hermione commented as she looked through a box that had been shoved into the corner of the room. Inside it was a large stack of parchment which caused Hermione to laugh when she looked at it closer. "Harry, I've found Sirius' old school work! Here's a essay he wrote on the Goblin Rebellion of 1612. Looks like Binns gave him a Dreadful on it…"
"Really? I think I managed to get a poor on that one." Harry said. "It's hard to remember anything we do in that class though. So bloody boring."
"You really should try harder, Harry." Hermione scolded him. "Especially with our OWLs this year."
"Come on, Hermione. You know I'm near the top in our year in almost every other class I'm in." Harry whined. "It's just that there is not practical part of Histor of Magic, it's all theory. Besides, I pulled my grade up to an Exceeds Expectations last year didn't I?"
"I suppose." Hermione finally agreed. Her attention was then caught by another item. "I wonder what that is. Not really my color, but it is sort of pretty."
"Whatever it is, don't touch it." Harry warned, not bothering to turn and look at what Hermione was looking at. "Even normal looking things could have curses on them."
"I know." Hermione replied, clearly offended that Harry thought she needed the warning. "Besides, a necklace with a big snake on it is a little tacky for my tastes."
"What did you say?" Harry said as he quickly turned his head around. He rushed towards where Hermione was standing and stared in disbelief at the item laying in front of him. "It can't be! This isn't possible…"
"Harry? What's wrong?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"This shouldn't be here, Hermione." Harry answered. "Don't you see? This is Slytherin's Pendant, the same one that Voldemort stole and turned into a Horcrux. But this should be in cave guarded by Inferi, not sitting in a cabinet at the Order of the Phoenix headquarters."
"Is it safe to touch?" Hermione asked.
"Sort of." Harry replied. "If it were open it could possess a person like the diary tried to possess Ginny, but since it is closed it will mostly just put you in a bad mood. I have to destroy it." Harry reached into the cabinet and pulled the pendant out, but as soon as he did Sirius' insane house elf Kreacher appeared before them.
"You must leave master's necklace!" the house elf yelled as it threw itself at Harry, attempting to rip the pendant from his hand. Kreacher had caught him off guard and knocked him on his back, but Harry maintained a tight grip on the Horcrux and the old elf was unable to take it from him.
"Incarcerous!" Hermione yelled. Immediately ropes began shooting out of her wand and surrounded the house elf. By the time she finished the spell Kreacher was completely surrounded by ropes and unable to move anything except for his head.
"Thanks, Hermione. I owe you one." Harry said as he pulled himself up. "Now Kreacher, I order you to tell me everything you know about this necklace."
"Filthy little half blood! Not worthy to live in master's house!" Kreacher continued to shout.
"Now, Kreacher!" Harry commanded. The house elf looked at him angrily, but began to explain.
"Master Regulus told me that I must destroy it!" Kreacher said. "But I can't. I failed my master!" Kreacher began to bang his head on the ground violently and Harry suspected he would be doing much worse if he could move his entire body.
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