The past few days had been weird, Harry thought. Ron, Hermione, and himself had pretty much stayed away from all the magical adults in the house. Petunia had been great. She had seen the teens huddling together trying to console Harry, and joined in. She had even taken him to his room and made him tell her the entire story from start to finish. He had left out the part about Albus being alive, Petunia just thought the old man had participated from his portrait. She had been so incensed with the lecture the old man had giving Harry while he was trying to vent, Petunia had called him a few names that Harry was shocked to find out she knew. Harry had to promise to arrange a meeting with the portrait in near future to calm her down.

Harry didn't quite understand why her defense of him suddenly made him feel closer to the woman, more than anything else she had ever done for him.

On the other hand, Harry wasn't quite sure what to think about Snape anymore. While, yes, Harry had been doing his best to avoid the Slytherins, he still saw the Malfoys at meal times. Snape, on the other hand, hadn't even been in the house since he dropped the bombshell on Harry. Harry wasn't sure if he should be upset that the man didn't seem to care, or be thankful that Snape understood it was a lot to take in and that Harry needed his space to get used to everything.

One thing was for sure; Harry now knew exactly how Draco felt. Having your world turned on end, and learning that everything you thought you knew as fact growing up, well, he no longer thought Draco was being unsociable when he took all that time in his rooms to think. And Merlin, wasn't his life officially pear shaped; now that he, Harry Potter, the Golden Gryffindor, could relate to Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin Prince.

Harry shook himself from his thoughts and looked up to make sure his friends were still in the room. "Hey guys, Are you going to be around for a bit, or do you need to go visit Mrs. Weasley?"

"I need to go sit with her tonight, but Hermione is going to stay here. Why, Harry?" Ron asked.

"I wanted to talk to the both of you and Snape, if we can track him down that is," Harry explained.

"Harry, are you sure you want us there for this. I mean isn't this conversation going to be a bit on the private side?" Hermione questioned.

"No, I'm not ready for that discussion yet. This is about something different, and no, I'm not going to talk about it until everyone is here," Harry said, as he put up a hand to forestall Hermione's questions.

"Well, mate, why don't you use the mirror? This is why you have them," Ron said.

Harry nodded and picked up his mirror from the desk. "Half-Blood Prince," he spoke, activating the mirror.

Snape's image appeared, and Harry was shocked to see that the man actually looked apprehensive. "I am secure, you may speak freely," came the usual reply.

"I wanted to speak with you to run an idea or two by you and see if you could add to my plans. You haven't been around, so I haven't been able to catch you here. Ron has to leave for St. Mungo's this evening, do you have time to come over now?" Harry asked.

"I can, I shall be there within fifteen minutes," Snape replied and deactivated his mirror.

"Let's go see if we can clear out the library and wait for him there," Harry suggested as he walked towards the door.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Exactly fifteen minutes later, the dark man stalked into the room straight to his normal chair. He then took a minute to get comfortable, before looking to Harry with an eyebrow raised, asking the silent question.

Harry took a deep breath and did what he did best, he dove right in, "I want to help the Order find Ginny," he exclaimed to the room.

Neither Ron, nor Hermione looked surprised. Severus, on the other hand looked upset.

"Do you sincerely believe that a seventeen year old, one that has not had a single day of his seventh year schooling, can fair better than fully trained adults? Do you not believe that Aurors and people that work for the Ministry are so incapable that they would require your assistance?" a very exasperated Severus asked.

"No, nothing like that at all, actually. I believe that Arthur, as well as Kinsley, or anyone else searching for Ginny, cannot let on that we know that was not really her. It would tip their hand. I also believe that many people, you included, underestimate the three of us on a regular basis. We have proven time and time again that we are more than capable of digging up information that was very well hidden. Why not let us put those talents to use?" Harry asked calmly.

"Yes, the three of you did prove to be bothersome snoops during your time in school. That does not change the fact that I still do not believe this is a job for you to participate in," Severus said.

"OH! And you're always right, are you? I do believe that you told Dumbledore last year that you believed Draco to be a lost cause, even when you knew his parents were really on our side, and would do anything possible to pull him back from the edge," Harry replied.

"You now know that those memories had been edited. While everything you saw did happen, they did not include everything that happened," Severus started to explain before Hermione interrupted him.

"But Harry told us about Slughorn's memory. I didn't think it was possible to tamper with a memory?" she questioned.

"Had you not interrupted, I would have gotten to that. No, memories cannot be invented, like Slughorn did. But, yes, they can be edited. How do you think I've survived being a spy in the Dark Lord's inner circle for so long? If he believed that I was truly a better Occulmens than he is a Legilimens then I would have been dead years ago. While I do keep the truth completely locked away, I have to give him tidbits when he enters my mind. I let him see what I want him to, nothing more, nothing less. The same goes for the memories that Albus and I let you see," Severus explained calmly.

Harry almost sighed in defeat, but then got hit with inspiration. "So which of you plans on talking to the students to find out who took Ginny from school, and how do you plan on doing it with out raising suspicion?"

Severus rubbed the bridge of his nose trying to find some plausible reason to refuse this request. He could not come up with a single reason. He sighed and then asked, "What do you have planned?"

Harry smirked and started to explain what he had come up with...

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

"I refuse to wear that, Hermione," Harry said with his arms crossed, not willing to budge an inch.

"But why not, Harry, its black and you need to blend in," She explained.

"That's exactly right, Hermione, its black. I refuse to wear black on principle. Its bad enough I look like HIM with a perm, but now you want me wearing his robes too? Are you trying to turn us into some kind of demented twins?" Harry asked.

"Oh Harry, you look fine. Actually more than fine, you're rather more handsome now than you were a year ago. You're a tall, dark young man, with a golden complexion, and a strong but not bulky build." She was amazed at the changes, even in his hands. "And you have long elegant fingers that give your hands the look of quiet strength," she exclaimed, very happy that Ron was nowhere near the two of them to overhear. She could only handle one ego boost at a time.

"But Hermione," Harry whined. "There are other dark colors that I can wear. Why do you insist on putting me in all black?"

"Because, Harry, it looks so nice with your new look. You let Molly put you in those green dress robes, why won't you let me help you as well," she finished in a huff. She looked him over once again, puzzled that something didn't look quite right even with all the changes. "Harry, where are your glasses?"

"My glasses? I...I don't know. I don't remember having them since I woke up in Sal's office. I wonder what happened to them, with all the excitement I forgot all about them," he explained and then shrugged.

Picking up a deep sapphire blue robe, Harry cautiously looked at Hermione. Biting his lip, Harry decided to take his chance. "Hey, Hermione?"

She was so busy looking through the wardrobe she didn't bother looking up, she answered distractedly, "Yes, Harry?"

"Um...you know that thing I wanted to attempt before, you know the thing with Voldemort?" Harry asked, being purposefully vague.

"Harry, there are many "things" you've wanted to try over the years, most of which had to do with Voldemort in some shape of form. Please be more specific," she mumbled as she moved to dig through the pile on the bed.

Harry sighed, hoping she wouldn't flip out on him. "You know the one where I try and invade his mind, the idea that you were salivating over during that Order meeting."

She looked up and dropped everything in her hands. "Are you serious, Harry? You want to try that now?"

"Well, why not? Ron will be busy the rest of the night with Mrs. Weasley, and the rest of the household has already been giving us time alone. Why not try it when we know we won't get disturbed?" he finished with a shrug and half a smile.

Hermione chewed on her lip in thought as well, her knowledge seeking side warring with her cautious side. "Harry Potter, you're going to be the death of me, you know this, right?"

His head jerked up in surprise. "Oh, Hermione, please don't say that. You don't...no, not after..." He stopped he couldn't say it. He'd been through so much, and her so innocent comment had thrust him back years. Cedric, Sirius, and now Ginny. His eyes tearing up as he sank onto the bed.

"Oh, Harry! I'm so sorry. I didn't think," she said as she wrapped him into a breath-stealing hug. His pain fueling her on. "You're right, this is the perfect time, we should try this now. We have no idea when we will get a better chance. Ron might kill us later when he finds out, but he'd be too distracting, so it's best he's not here."

Harry sat up, rubbed his eyes, scrubbed his face, and pushed his demons back into the closet they escaped from. He then looked up to Hermione and gave her a nod, "You're right, let's do this now. Besides, it might help Ginny as well." He took a deep breath, and then continued, "You ward the door, and I'll clean up your mess."

With two wand flicks the door was taken care of and the messy clothes monster was shoved back into the wardrobe. Harry shook his head; he'd never be able to get his clothes to hang themselves up like Hermione did, the bloody show off.

"Ok, let's do this," Harry said as he sat on the bed and got into his normal meditation position. Harry then closed his eyes.

"Um, Harry? What do you want me to do? How can I help?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not sure, I guess just watch and if something seems like its wrong do what you can to bring me back," Harry said with a shrug.

"Should I give you a time limit?" Hermione asked, letting a bit of her nervousness show.

Harry looked at Hermione lost in thought for a few minutes, before he answered her. "I...um, I'm not sure. I kind of really don't know what I'm doing here. I just thought I'd meditate the same way we did while we were trying to become our forms. If anything the meditation will help me come up with something," he said with a shrug.

"Ok, Harry, just don't fall asleep on me," Hermione agreed, giving a nervous laugh after.

Harry rubbed her arm and then sat back on the bed, getting into his regular meditation position. With one last reassuring smile for Hermione, Harry closed his eyes and started the inner search for his magic.

He floated along in the same manner that lead him to find his Animagus Core all those months ago, only to find himself being pulled further up, to what he realized was his head. He started to get a more complete view of what the inner manifestation of his magic looked like. To him it looked like a badly drawn road map of his body.

He slowly started from the top, working his way down, following the natural flow his magic took through his body. He found what he had though of as cores when he first saw the power for his Animagus transformation, but now that he had the bigger picture he realized it was more like a pool of power set aside for a specific task. He wondered to himself how many of these pools he had, and if he could figure where they were and what they did. Mentally shrugging, Harry pushed himself back into the flow to further explore.

Along his journey, he found numerous pools of magic. Some he knew immediately what they were for, he found a huge pool that felt the same as his defensive magic as well as his Patronus. Other pools only gave him a vague sense that he couldn't completely grasp or hold onto long enough to understand their purpose.

Harry realized that he was quickly reaching the area he started from, when he landed in a very deep pool, one that strangely reminded him of the Chamber of Secrets. He stopped all movement to study this pool in great detail. He found that the surface of the pool was a vibrant green, brighter than greenest pastures from late spring. But the deeper he sunk into the pool the darker and thicker it became until it was a foul tar like substance. He decided that he had seen enough, and that it was time to let Hermione know what he had found. So Harry started to move back to the surface of the pool, or at least he tried to. He found that he was getting pulled deeper and deeper into the pool, until he realized he was no longer in his own body.

Harry cautiously opened his eyes, only to see Percy Weasley in full Death Eater robes minus the mask.