We walked through the door of number twelve, Grimmauld Place, and immediately, a loud screech began echoing throughout the house. I threw my hands over my ears as Harry and Hermione used a quick spell to silence it.

Carefully, we walked through the hallways, looking around at the mess this place had become. Everything was coated in a thick layer of dust and it hung in the air, making us cough.

Kreacher the House-elf walked through the hall to us.

"Master?" he said quietly.

"No," Harry answered, "Sirius is dead."

Kreacher shook his head. "You're my new master. My old master gave you and Miss Potter all of his stuff, including the house."

Harry looked around, surprised. "Oh, okay, then."

Kreacher then disappeared.

"Alright!" I said, forcing myself to be enthusiastic despite the gloom the house held. "We need to clean this place up if we're going to use it as a hideout. Ron and Hermione, can you work with Kreacher to clean up the basement while Harry and I work up here?"

"Sure thing," Ron said. He and Hermione took off, ready to clean.

Harry went to the front of the room and I went to the back. The wall had tall windows, which were covered in dust and curtains. "Scourgify!" I said, pointing my wand at one of the windows. It cleaned itself instantly, and I turned to Harry, shouting, "I love being able to do magic on my own!"

Harry laughed from his side of the room. "It is pretty nice. Finally, we're seventeen, which makes us adults in the Wizarding World."

We continued tidying up and soon, the layer of dust had been lifted from the walls and furniture. Ron and Hermione joined us again and the four of us moved to the second floor, continuing to do the same as we had.

Ron moved to one of the rooms and stopped, staring at the door. "Y/n," he said, "what are the initials on the locket?"

"R.A.B. Why?"

"This door says Regulus Arcturus Black. They have the same initials."

"Ron," Harry shouted, running up behind us. "You're a genius!"

"How do we make sure?" I asked.

"Kreacher!" Harry said.

"Yes, Master?"

"Do you know who Regulus Black is?" I asked.

"My old master!" Kreacher cried. "Great man, he was."

"What do you know about the locket of Slytherin?" I added.

"Master had tried to destroy it," said Kreacher, looking down. "He took me with him to the cave and we stole the locket. I had to put in a fake locket and Master told me to destroy the real one, but I failed. No matter what I did, I failed. Master was killed because the Inferi drowned him."

"Do you know what happened to the real locket?" Hermione added.

"I hid it in my cupboard, but the thief stole it--"

"Who?" I asked, panicking.

"Mundungus Fletcher. All I know is that he sold it to a woman for good money."

"Who did he sell it to?"

"A pink, toad-like lady," said Kreacher, scowling at the thought.

"Umbridge!" Harry shouted.

"That filthy witch," Ron said disdainfully.

I put Regulus's locket in Kreacher's hand. He stared at it for a moment and then began crying, hugging it close to his chest.

"T-thank you, Miss Potter," he sobbed.

~~~

As the next week passed, we spent the days planning how to steal the locket from Umbridge. She was working at the Ministry once again, and we were going to sneak in.

Finally, Thursday came and we left Grimmauld Place to go to the Ministry.

We arrived early in the morning and knocked out two wizards and two witches immediately. We grabbed strands of their hair and put them in the polyjuice potion Hermione had made for each of us.

Quickly, we downed the disgusting potion and began changing. Without much patience, we entered the Ministry unnoticed.

"Cattermole!" someone yelled.

The four of us jumped, unsure of who was who. A man who I recognised to be a Death Eater named Yaxley ran up to us and pointed at Ron.

"Cattermole! You're needed down in the Office of Rain," Yaxley said sternly. "If my wife were accused of being a Mudblood--not that any woman I married would ever be mistaken for such filth--and the Head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement needed a job doing, I would make it my priority to do this job, Cattermole. Do you understand?"

Ron nodded, eyes wide with fear. He, Hermione, Harry, and I stepped into the elevator and Yaxley walked in with us.

"Mafalda Hopkirk," the Death Eater said to Hermione, "aren't you and Griselda"--he turned to me--"supposed to be in the courtroom?"

"Oh, yes. We're headed there now," Hermione answered calmly.

We left the elevator as soon as we reached the bottom floor, leaving Ron. Harry and I followed Hermione and Yaxley through the halls, which were crowded with dementors and people waiting to be questioned. We entered the courtroom and took our places in the jury.

I looked around and saw Umbridge, her tiny black bow sitting in her short hair. She was standing at the judge's position, her wand in her hand like a gavel. A small cat Patronus lay on her desk.

"Where did you get this wand?" Umbridge asked the woman sitting in a chair on the floor. Umbridge was holding up a wand in her free hand, and the woman being questioned stared at it wistfully.

"O-Ollivander's, ma'am," said the woman, shaking, "when I was eleven."

"Are you sure that you did not steal this from someone?"

"Of course, ma'am!"

"Hm." Umbridge pulled on a chain around her neck, exposing the Slytherin locket.

"That's it!" I whispered to Hermione.

"Ma'am," Hermione said, leaning forward toward Umbridge, "where did you get that locket? It's lovely!"

"It is a Selwyn family heirloom," she said, touching it softly, "that is why there is an S on it."

"Stupefy!" I said, pointing my wand at her.

Umbridge fell forward, unconscious. Her Patronus dispersed and the Dementors above us began to descend.

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry yelled, standing up. The silver stag burst from his wand, chasing off the dementors.

"It's him!" Yaxley shouted, advancing on us.

"Expecto Patronum!" Hermione and I both said, and our Patronuses took shape and joined Harry's. Using the Patronuses as a diversion, I reached forward and grabbed the locket from Umbridge while Hermione ran down to help the woman out of her bindings.

We ran out of the courtroom, Yaxley chasing us closely. The dementors in the halls steered clear of our Patronuses.

"Go! Get out of the country while Voldemort still reigns!" Harry yelled, pulling the people on the benches up. "Run!"

"Get them!" Yaxley charged at us.

We ran, followed by the wizards and witches supposed to be in question. Hermione and I split towards the stairs, rather than the elevator, and Harry followed. We burst onto the main floor and continued running.

Ron dashed up to us, drenched in water. His red hair was starting to show through his disguise and his freckles were back. Our Polyjuice potion was wearing off.

"Let's go!" I yelled, leading us toward the fireplaces. I ran into one of them, disappearing

We ran into the fireplaces at the end of the halls, disappearing through them. Hermione shrieked as we were transported through the floo, and I turned to see Yaxley holding onto her leg tightly.

I stumbled out of the fireplace outside of the Ministry and kicked Yaxley off of Hermione. Another Death Eater ran out of the door and towards us, so I grabbed Harry, who was holding Ron's shoulder already, and Hermione's hands and Disapparated.

We appeared in a tree-filled forest. Ron fell to the ground, groaning and clutching his arm. Hermione rushed to his side.

"What happened?" I asked, following her.

"He's been splinched," she answered, reaching for her bag. "Y/n and Harry, start the protection spells."

I walked around Hermione as she treated Ron's wound, forming a large circle. Quickly, a number of protections and enchantments had been placed.

Hermione reached into her bag and tossed out a small tent. Harry helped me put it up and I vaguely recognised it from the Quidditch World Cup. We brought Ron inside, his broken arm now in a splint and makeshift cast.

"Well, that's one way to escape," Ron joked.

I let out a small laugh that was soon silenced by the glum mood we had taken on. We couldn't go back to Grimmauld place; that was the first place the Death Eaters would look for us. We couldn't go to Hogwarts, since it was overridden with Death Eaters and students.

The only place we could go is deeper into the forest. The four of us agreed that it was time to start looking for the Horcruxes.