Ethereal ✭Fred Weasley✭

91.

Harry had been instructed to pull the tent out of Hermione's bottomless bag. It came out in a small package but expanded in less than ten seconds into a tent big enough for a family of four. Sophia was amazed to watch Hermione cast the protective spells around the clearing of the tent, seeing the invincible barrier form a dome around them. The forest got dark quicker than they had thought so they retired to the inside of the tent where they lit a small flame inside a jar. Ron was put to bed with a sling around his shoulder and thankfully was out like a light.

"So you guys broke into the Ministry for this plastic piece of Slytherin junk?" Sophia questioned as she held up the silver locket that Harry had placed on the table. Hermione had even been able to pull a picnic table out of her beaded bag and set it down in the 'living room' of the tent. Harry, Sophia and Hermione sat around it to explain to each other how they had come to the Ministry of Magic in the first place.

"That piece of junk contains a piece of You Know Who," Hermione said in a matter of fact tone. "It also belonged to Salazaar Slytherin before Umbridge took it off of Mundungus Fletcher."

"And Dumbledore told you guys to find how many more of these?" Sophia raised an eyebrow, gazing at the emerald 'S' on the locket.

"Three," Harry answered. "Two have already been destroyed. It's the only chance we have at defeating him."

Sophia huffed slightly and let the necklace drop to the surface of the table. It sounded utterly insane for three seventeen-year-olds' to go Horcrux hunting. It also was even more insane to hear that they hadn't been told where or how to find them. They also had to find a way to destroy them, which they also didn't know. Harry stated that he had personally destroyed one of You Know Who's Horcruxes in his second year at Hogwarts. He had stabbed it with a Basilisk fang and had seen the memory of You Know Who be destroyed with his very own eyes. So it could be done, but they were still at a dead end here.

"So why were you at the Ministry?" Hermione leaned her elbows on the table and stared at Sophia with a inquisitive look. "I don't suppose you were searching for the same thing?"

"No. Since you told me that Dumbledore had my Sky map and the Ministry kept it out of his will, it wasn't hard to figure out that it would now be in the hands of Death Eaters," Sophia looked to her clasped hands below her. "I decided that I needed to destroy it once and for all. It'll stop them from having the upper hand if it doesn't exist. I tried the Auror department but there was no way I was going to be able to search through the whole place. I couldn't find it..."

"Where did you get the Polyjuice Potion from?" Harry asked.

"Fred and George had some leftover from the last time they made it for me," she said briefly and the other two knew not to go into the past story.

"And Fred let you go willingly?" Hermione retorted.

"Not exactly," Sophia resisted the urge to cringe at the memory of the last time she saw Fred. She noticed Harry glance towards the wand that sat next to Sophia's backpack in the corner and glanced back at her with an understanding glaze in his eyes. He didn't mention it and Sophia was grateful, knowing Hermione would want the details if she saw that she was carrying a wand that wasn't hers'.

"So what now? Are you going back to the Ministry to search again?" Harry diverted the conversation back to its original topic.

"I don't know... I'm not even sure if it was there in the first place..." Sophia deflated.

"If it's that powerful, I doubt he would keep it in the Ministry. There's all sorts of people there who could be looking for it as well," Hermione mentioned. "He's probably keeping it with his most trusted followers."