Azkaban - 2

Harry shifted his feet, hating lying to them. "I think he's guarding something I need to find."

"Need to find in order to find You-Know-Who?" she asked.

"Something like that," Harry said, nodding. "Can you help me?"

"Of course. I'll keep checking each time I go to the Ministry. I think Mad-Eye is trying to come up with some kind of tracking system, as well. It's keeping him busy anyway," Tonks said, smiling. "Of course, the Ministry has tried to track You-Know-Who for years and never had any luck with it."

"I have one more request," Harry said.

"What's that?" Remus asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Harry–" Hermione said, and he knew she would try and warn him off.

"Malfoy wants to make a trip to Azkaban to speak with his father," Harry said quickly. "It was something Dumbledore promised him that night on the Astronomy tower, and I'm going with him."

"And me," Ron said.

"And me," both Hermione and Ginny said, glaring at both Ron and Harry.

Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation. "We can't all go."

"None of you are going," Remus said, raising his voice over the complaints of the other three. "Have you all gone mad? I don't think any of you has any idea what Azkaban is really like. Whatever you're imagining, the reality is ten times worse."

"Why does Draco want to see his father?" Tonks asked.

"Dumbledore promised Draco that he would protect Lucius when he got out of Azkaban if Draco switched sides. He wants to make certain his father knows he has a choice, and that Draco and his mother are okay. He says his father has orders to turn over anything in writing to Voldemort," Harry said. "I need to see the belongings that Dung had with him when he was arrested. I think he has something of mine. If you arrange a visit for me, we can bring Malfoy under the Invisibility Cloak."

"Invisibility Cloaks won't work against Dementors," Ginny said, scowling. "There are still some there, and you're not going alone, anyway."

"He can remove the Cloak once we're inside," Harry said, ignoring the second half of her statement. "Since this was the last promise Dumbledore made, we have to honor it."

"I know we agreed to help you, Harry, but I don't like this," Remus said. "I don't think you're prepared for how difficult Azkaban will be, for you especially."

Harry nodded. "Maybe you can help with that, then, but I need to do this, Remus. I wouldn't ask if it weren't important."

"Let me talk to Mad-Eye," Tonks said, watching Remus closely. "He has a knack for getting the others to agree to things they normally wouldn't."

"Good enough," Harry said.

"For now, let's go back," Remus said, nodding to each as they Disapparated.

*~*~*

A fortnight later, Harry sat on a couch inside Regulus Black's former bedroom flipping through an ancient book on the Dark Arts. Hermione had discovered the room while seeking a quiet place to read and had stumbled across a book partially sealed into the wall.

Leave it to Hermione to sniff out a hidden book.

It described many hexes and curses so vile that they made Harry's stomach churn just reading about them. But, hidden within the text of an entirely different matter was a small paragraph about Horcruxes and how they were made. The book was Romanian in origin – Ginny had recognized some of the writing as similar to things Charlie had sent her.

Hermione thought they should plan to leave for Romania posthaste to investigate any ties that Voldemort might have made there.