Annie could hear her brother trying to sneak out of the house. She followed him suspiciously, wondering what he was up to. She found him wandering towards the front door, rucksack in hand. 

"Going somewhere, dear brother?" Annie asked. 

His sister's voice caused him to stop in his tracks. He turned to meet his sister's gaze. Her brother sighed. 

"I'm not going to let anyone else die," he declared bluntly. "Not for me, anyways." 

Annie scoffed. "For you? You think that Mad-Eye Moody died for you? You think that George took that curse for you? You may be the bigger Chosen One, mate. But this is a whole lot bigger than that." 

Harry stared at his sister. There seemed to be a tension in the air. 

"Come with me. Now," he finally demanded.

Annie was rather taken aback. "And leave Dante, Ron, and Hermione? Absolutely no way is that happening! We wouldn't even last a couple of days without them! Besides! We've both still got the Trace on us! We'd have to wait until after Bill and Fleur's wedding in order to be able to leave without the Trace on us." 

Harry looked at his sister quizzically. 

"Wedding?" 

Annie rolled her eyes. "Bill and Fleur's wedding, you dumb idiot. Mum and Dad have been planning with them for months, now. It's the only thing that's keeping her sane nowadays, I suppose. She'd kill us if we missed it. I'd rather face You-Know-Who than to face an angry Mrs. Weasley." 

She tried to smile, but her brother only scowled deeply in return. 

"I don't care about anybody's wedding, if I'm being frank — no matter whose it is. I have to start searching for the Horcruxes. You, too, Annie. You agreed on doing this thing, too. It's the only chance to defeat Voldemort. And the longer we wait, the stronger he'll get." 

Annie sighed, trying to coax her brother to come back inside the house and to not risk himself. "Tonight's not the night, Harry. Trust me. You'd only be doing him a favor." 

Harry sighed in frustration. He hated to admit it, but his sister was right. He tossed his rucksack on the floor, letting Annie know that she had won. He glanced up at the stars and his sister followed his gaze. 

"Do you think he knows?" Annie asked, hoping to break the tensions between the two of them. Her brother turned to stare at her in confusion. "I mean, they're bits of his own soul in those Horcruxes. Bits of him, if you get what I mean. When Dumbledore had destroyed Riddle's ring, and I destroyed Tom Riddle's diary in order to save Dante in our second year of Hogwarts . . . . he's bound to feel something, right?"

Her brother continued to stay silent. He knew what his sister was talking about. But he was too angry at her for stopping him to even answer her question. When Annie saw that her brother didn't answer, she continued talking. 

"What I'm saying is, dear brother, if we do this right, if we find the Horcruxes and begin to destroy them, one by one . . . . Won't he know that he's being hunted down? By us in particular?" 

Harry didn't respond. He was tired of his sister's constant questions. He was tired of her taking over his independency. But at the same time, he knew that he couldn't stay mad at his sister forever. Instead, he sighed, turned to the door of the Burrow, and walked back in. 

Annie grabbed her brother's rucksack and made sure to keep it in her room so that her brother wouldn't be tempted to take it, and laid awake on her bed for the rest of the night with questions racing through her head. 

***** 

Next morning, Annie found herself getting dressed while the boys were helping Mr. Weasley to set up the tent for the wedding later that evening. She could hear Mr. Weasley shouting out instructions to her brothers. 

Annie needed help zipping her dress up. She managed to zip it halfway up, but struggled getting it tied up the rest of the way. Annie huffed when she realized that she could not get the zipper up the rest of the way, and made her way downstairs to see if anyone else was still in the house. 

She stopped when she saw Dante glancing at the Daily Prophet, which he held gently in his hands. She cleared her throat to catch his attention. He jumped before looking up at her, startled. 

"Zip me up, will you?" she asked, half-teasingly. 

She turned her back on him so that he could get the rest of her zipper. Dante blushed and carefully approached Annie, putting a gentle hand on her waist. Shivers ran up her spine at the gentle touch. 

She could feel the unusual tension between the two of them. Annie decided to break that feeling and spoke up.

"Seems a bit silly, doesn't it? To have a wedding, I mean. Because of everything that's been going on." 

Dante sighed and finally finished zipping her zipper up. He let his hands fall at his side. Sera turned to face him. 

"Well, maybe that's the reason to have it. Because of everything that's been going on." 

Annie's eyes drifted to Dante's lips. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears. But before she could stop herself, she found herself leaning towards Dante. Their noses brushed against each other's gently before their lips connected. 

Dante gently grabbed her waist, pulling her close to him. Annie wrapped her arms around his neck, wanting to get as close to him as possible. They did not realize that someone else had come into the kitchen where they snogging, until they both heard the sound of a coffee mug clinking together. 

They broke apart, turning to face George Weasley, sitting atop the counter, smirking teasingly at them. George winked at Dante, whose face had now gone bright pink. 

"Mooooorning," George dragged out teasingly. 

Annie began to back away, clearly horrified that they had been caught snogging each other. She found herself slowly edging backwards towards the staircase. 

"Well," she said, her voice unusually high-pitched. "Thanks for the help, Dante." 

***** 

Annie refused to come back downstairs. Not until she heard a knock on her bedroom door. She sighed upon hearing the knocking. 

"Go away." 

"Not unless you want to keep the Minister of Magic waiting," the voice of Ron answered. 

Annie frowned, furrowing her eyebrows. She got up from her bed and finally opened her bedroom door. 

"Why the hell would the Minister of Magic be here? Tell me that this is a joke." 

Ron shook his head. "It's not a joke, Annie. This is real. C'mon, he's waiting for us downstairs!" 

Annie reluctantly eased her way out of the door and followed Ron down the stairs. To her surprise, the Minister stood there in the living room. Harry, Hermione, and Dante were already gathered together. 

"To what do we owe the pleasure, Minister?" said Harry as politely as he could. 

"I think that we both know the answer to that, Mr. Potter." 

They all sat down, waiting expectantly for what Rufus Scrimgeour had to tell them. To their surprise, he pulled out a scroll of parchment paper. It unfurled itself in mid-air. 

"'Here-in is set forth the last and final Will and Testament of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. First, to Mr. Ronald Weasley, I leave my Deluminator, a device of my own making, in the hopes that, when things seem most dark, it will show him the light and the way back'." 

Rufus Scrimgeour gently held out the Deluminator to Ron, who gingerly took it in his hands. He clicked the cigarette-like object, before a ball of light from the nearest lamp was sucked out. With another 'click', he released the orb of light, which then returned to its place. 

Ron grinned. 

"Brilliant!" 

Rufus Scrimgeour continued with the Will. "'To Miss Hermione Jean Granger. I leave my copy of the Tales of Beedle the Bard, in hopes that she would find it entertaining and instructive'." 

Ron's eyes lit up when he saw the book in her hands. It looked old and worn. 

"My Mum used to read me and Sera those stories when we were younger! The Wizard and the Hopping Pot, Babbity Rabbity and the Cackling Stump!" He saw the dumbfounded looks on his friends faces, except for Annie. She was biting on her lower lip to prevent herself from laughing at their reactions. "No? Okay. . . ." 

"'To Miss Seraphina Lily-Jane Potter, I give you a diary that once belonged to my mother, which she never used, in hopes that she would be able to record the timely events during her greatest adventures so that she may never forget them'." 

The Minister handed Sera the diary. She felt odd holding another diary, as the last one had led her the wrong way. But this time, the diary did not seem to feel negative or evil. So to her, that was a good sign. 

Sera ran her hands over the leather that bound the book together. She smiled slightly before looking up at the Minister once more. 

"Thank you, Minister." 

The Minister nodded. He then proceeded to Dante. 

"'To Mr. Durante Orion Knightley, I give to him my vial of phoenix tears from Fawkes, in hopes that he he would be able to use it in case of serious emergencies, or on the brink of death. Use it wisely'." 

He carefully handed Dante a cloth that seemed to have a small vial inside. Dante carefully took the vial and turned it delicately in his hands, frowning. He highly doubted that he would use it, but it wouldn't hurt to bring it with him wherever he went. 

"Thank you, Minister." 

The Minister nodded before turning to Harry. "'To Mr. Harry James Potter, the younger brother of Seraphina Lily-Jane Potter, I give him the Golden Snitch which he caught in his first-ever game after replacing his sister, in hopes that he would remember his perseverance and skill'." 

He carefully handed Harry the Snitch that was wrapped delicately in a cloth. Harry gently took the golden ball and set it on the palm of his hand. The Snitch glimmered dully in the dim light of the Burrow before he snatched it, just the way he used to in his Quidditch matches. 

A tense silence followed. Sera finally spoke. 

"Is that it, then?" 

"Not quite," Scrimgeour answered at once. Sera furrowed an eyebrow in confusion. "Dumbledore left Seraphina Potter a second bequest — the Sword of Godric Gryffindor. Unfortunately, the Sword of Gryffindor was not Dumbledore's to give away. As it is an important, historical artefact that can only be picked up by a very few selection of Gryffindor students, it rightfully belongs to —" 

Hermione cut him off, looking slightly stunned. "— To Sera! It belongs to Sera! It came to her, and to her only, when she was in the Chamber of Secrets and needed it the most to save Dante!" 

Scrimgeour nodded. "The Sword may present itself to any Gryffindor that is worthy of Gryffindor House, Miss Granger. That does not make it any witches or wizard's property. And in any event, the current whereabouts of the sword is currently unknown." 

Sera felt anger boiling inside of her. Why did Rufus Scrimgeour bring this up when he knew that the Sword was nowhere to be found? 

"Excuse me?" 

"The Sword is obviously missing." 

"Yes, you made that very clear, Minister," said Sera bitterly. 

The Minister sighed. "I won't pretend to be your friends, Seraphina and Harry Potter. But I can reassure you that I am not your enemy. I do not wish to inflict harm on either of you — that would be most unnecessary." 

"I hope you won't be offended, Minister," said Sera politely, "but it seems difficult to trust anybody these days." 

Scrimgeour nodded in understanding. "Dumbledore said something very similar about that shortly before his passing." He stood up. "I must leave, now. I highly doubt that I am of any more use here. Good luck in your future, Seraphina and Harry Potter." 

He nodded respectfully before exiting the house, leaving the rest of the group in a stunned silence.