Got One Hundred Steps to Go (Tonight I'll Make it Ninety Nine)

4

Two days into August, Harry, Ginny, Neville, Sirius, Remus, and Bill gathered shortly before ten o'clock at night in the sitting room at McGonagall Castle. Minerva wished she could come as well, but as she had been acting as Headmistress ever since Dumbledore's fall from the Astronomy Tower, she simply could not spend an entire night searching for the horcrux.

When they were all gathered, Sirius turned to the teenagers, his expression as determined and serious as they had ever seen. "All right, you three. I know we agreed that you could come, but I want to make sure you understand the gravity of this situation. We're giving you one night, and we've got a lot of ground to cover. But most importantly, if you find something, do not approach. Get all of us, and we'll figure out what to do from there. I cannot stress this enough," he looked at each of them. "Do not attempt to take on any defenses by yourself, because you know that if there is a horcrux here, it will have defenses."

Harry nodded, his expression somber. "Don't worry, Sirius, we won't try to play hero."

Sirius sighed but accepted the promise as Ginny and Neville nodded their agreement.

"All right. Let's get going. Harry, take my arm, Ginny with Bill, and Neville with Remus. We're apparating to a location about five miles away from Little Hangleton, and we'll approach on foot."

The teenagers heeded Sirius' instructions, grasping onto the adults, and a moment later, they had all disappeared from the sitting room at McGonagall Castle.

XXX

It was an exhausted and disappointed group that apparated back to the Castle around six o'clock the next morning.

They all flopped down onto various pieces of furniture, still displeased at how the night had gone.

"Well that could have gone better," Neville commented idly, closing his eyes as the tiredness swept over him.

Harry glanced over and raised an eyebrow. "That's one way to put it," he replied. "I mean, I knew it was a long shot, but I thought that after eight hours, we would have at least found something."

Sirius sighed. "Logically speaking, there really wasn't a large chance of success," he admitted. "I know you three want to go back out and keep searching, but not until we can narrow down the amount of ground we have to cover." He held up a hand at the teenagers' protests. "This is dangerous enough as it is, I won't have us out there wandering around every night just hoping we stumble across something. Bring us a solid lead, and we'll go back. That's final."

The three teenagers knew he meant it, so with final goodbyes and good nights, Neville and Ginny returned home.

Sirius gave Harry a consoling hug before he returned to the Bones Estate, and Remus to Tonks' apartment. Harry let out a sigh before he headed upstairs to get a few hours of sleep.

XXX

Minerva was equally disappointed at their lack of success when they told her, but agreed wholeheartedly with Sirius that they not return until they had a better idea of where to search.

With the horcrux hunt put on hold for the moment, Harry and his friends turned their attention to Bill and Fleur's wedding, set for just three days away. Bill's anxiety was being eclipsed only by his mother's, as she fretted over the state of the Burrow. Fleur's parents and younger sister would be arriving the next day and would be staying with them, so Molly was anxious about making certain everything was perfect.

Harry had gotten quite an earful from both Ron and Ginny, who were on their last nerve over their mother insisting they help clean the house from top to bottom.