the hallows - f. weasley

- c h a p t e r - t w o -

The days following the death of Moody were quite grim.

    Gemma had done her best to keep her own emotions wrangled in while making sure Harry didn't do anything stupid. It was quite challenging as he seemed to think the only thing that would make him feel better was going out and finding Voldemort and the Death Eaters on his own.

    This–of course–was stupid.

    That's why Ron finally admitted that Gemma and Hermione had been researching where the Horcruxes were for a while.

    Gemma had already been awake when Mrs. Weasley went to wake up Ginny and Hermione. At the same time, Lupin girl finished making breakfast.

    "The Trace'll break on the thirty-first," Harry repeated when the two red-haired teens already knew. "That means I only need to stay here four days. Then I can—"

    "Five days," Ron redirected the conversation quickly–his voice firm. "We've got to stay for the wedding. They'll kill us if we miss it."

    "It's only an extra day..." Gemma added at Harry's incredulous expression. "You can survive one extra day."

    "Don't they realise how important—?" Harry started to argue with her when Ron swept in again, "'Course they don't. They haven't got a clue. And now you mention it, I wanted to talk to you about that."

    Gemma and him shared a look before glancing around the corner to double-check that Mrs. Weasley wasn't coming back.

    "Mum's been trying to get it out of Hermione, Gemma, and me. What we're off to do. She'll try you next, so brace yourself. Dad and Lupin've both asked as well. You should have heard Gemma's dad trying to weasel his way to get information out of her." Ron gave Gemma a vaguely proud big-brother look and added, "No wonder you get out of detention at school so well." Gemma just shrugged with a grin, but then it dropped when Ron continued, "But when we all said Dumbledore told you not to tell anyone except us, they dropped it. Not Mum, though. She's determined."

    Gemma nodded a little, "She's stubborn. So we have to be even more so than her." Then her gut clenched as she thought about the future and their plan to go Horcrux hunting–saying in a tight voice, "Actually, while we're on the topic of that, we have a little problem with the plan."

    The boys frowned slightly–Harry's eyes narrowing on her, "What do you mean?"

    "It's about the Trace."

    He rolled his eyes at her, "It breaks on my birthday. We'll be fine to go when—"

    "This isn't about you, Harry," Gemma snipped a little–giving him a stern look. "It's about me."

    He stared at her blankly, "Why?"

    "Merlin, you are so dense sometimes," She muttered to herself–rubbing her hands on a towel after cutting a loaf of bread and setting it on the table. "Because—"

    "GEMMA DEAR, DID YOU GET THE BREAD CUT UP?!" Mrs. Weasley called from around the corner.

    Gemma sighed, not finishing her explanation as Mrs. Weasley dragged a sleepy Hermione and a grumpy Ginny into the kitchen.

    She looked over at the boys and saw that Ron connected the dots–his face drastically pale as Harry stared at her expectantly.

    She sighed and mouthed, Later.

    However–Gemma didn't get to explain because they were all soon swept away into summer-cleaning chores while Mrs. Weasley whisked Harry just after lunch to identify a sock.