An Uneasy Alliance - Part 7

"Yeah, I said that to Lupin," Harry replied, grinning. "How did you hear that, Ginny?"

Ginny smiled. "I'm the youngest of seven, Harry. If I hadn't learned to eavesdrop, I'd never know anything."

Harry grinned. "That was how I managed with the Dursleys, too. I reckon we can go through these memories in the Pensieve until it's time to leave.."

"Where do we go first?" Ron asked.

"I think the best place to start is the same place he did, at the orphanage," Harry replied.

"It was a Muggle orphanage, right?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah," Harry said, nodding.

"Can I borrow Hedwig?" Hermione asked. "I'll send a note to my mum asking her to get us the names of any orphanages that were running in London fifty years ago."

"How would she know that?" Ron asked, dumbfounded.

"She can just use the internet," Hermione replied, shrugging.

Ron's bewildered expression never changed. "The what?"

"Oh, that's a computer, right?" Ginny asked, grinning widely. Her enthusiasm reminded Harry of Mr. Weasley.

Hermione's cheek twitched as she tried to contain her laughter. "Yes, it involves a computer. Don't worry about it; she can do this. She'll be happy I asked her for some help."

Harry looked up and met her eyes questioningly.

Hermione shrugged. "She just feels a bit disconnected from my life now. How could she not? There's nothing to be done for it, Harry, but she'll like being asked for her assistance."

Harry sighed, feeling badly that Hermione's family was drifting apart. "Okay, then. It's a start. You three need to practice your shield spells while we're here, as well."

"Harry, we covered shields in fifth year in the DA," Ron said scathingly.

"If we run into any resistance, or if Voldemort figures out what we're doing, it's you three they'll go after. Voldemort wants me alive," Harry said firmly.

"Yeah, so he can do you in himself," Ron said darkly.

"Wormtail said that after he figured out I…when he…he ordered the Death Eaters not to kill me," Harry said, stumbling on the words. "That's why he never came after me all last year. He wants to capture me and keep me somewhere under his control."

The others gasped in horror.

"We won't let that happen, Harry," Ginny said, shuddering. She moved closer to Harry and wrapped her arm around his waist, as if anchoring him.

"Voldemort still doesn't know the whole prophecy. As long as Snape didn't know, that is.

Dumbledore told me the only two people who knew the exact wording were him and me. So, if Snape didn't know, that means Voldemort still doesn't know that he has to be the one to kill me in order to come to full power," Harry replied.

"But Snape does know that Dumbledore was looking for the Horcruxes, right?" Hermione asked suddenly.

"Yeah. Dumbledore said that Snape was the one who saved him the night he hurt his hand," Harry said, wondering where Hermione was heading.

"Then if Snape really has turned–"

"He has."

"If Snape really has turned," Hermione said, ignoring Harry's interruptions, "he's told Voldemort what Dumbledore was doing. Voldemort isn't stupid. He's going to believe that Professor Dumbledore passed that information to someone else, and that person will try to do the same. He'll be guarding the other Horcruxes."

"Maybe," Harry said, nodding. "Not necessarily, though. Voldemort never would have told anyone else if he were secretly doing something to bring down an enemy. The Death Eaters are his minions, not his friends; Dumbledore stressed that over and over last year. He would never share that kind of information, so he'd never consider the idea that anyone else would."