The next morning, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny worked on increasing their magical potential. Harry didn't wear his useless glasses to Grimmauld Place. They spent about an hour reading the second chapter (alternating someone reading it out loud) The previous week Harry and Hermione had read chapter one while Ginny was decorating, which was just an introduction to the concepts. (The day after that lesson, Harry had studied wordless-wandless while Hermione was charming two-way mirrors and Ginny was decorating, so they'd decided to start with chapter one the next day). They'd let Ginny read the first chapter of the subject they'd started before she joined them. They spent the next hour doing recommended exercises. The first exercise was to go into a completely dark room, cast a lumos charm normally, and then to spend ten minutes doing a type of meditation that required full concentration on bringing one's magic to the surface, and then cast it again. All three of them were surprised at how much brighter their second lumos spell was than the first.

"Wow!" said Ginny, "My first lumos barely let me see a few feet in front of me. That second one lit up the whole room!" She then looked at the others. "I mean, I know the same thing happened for you, too. It just surprised me. I kind of thought this subject might be a waste of time."

Harry smiled. "I was a bit skeptical myself, but I've learned to trust Hermione. If she thinks it's worth studying, it is."

Hermione blushed. "The book said that that particular exercise usually silences skeptics. I just felt that if we learned to do this, we would seem like more powerful wizards than we are, just because we're actually using all our magic."

"The trick is to learn how to cast spells that powerful one after another while in combat, when we don't have time to meditate," said Harry.

The book said to meditate like that for at least ten minutes every day (in addition to the meditating they were already doing as part of animagus training) and concentrate as much as possible when casting spells, and eventually you'll be able to always cast spells with more magic behind them immediately, rather than only after meditating. The rest of the book was different methods for improving concentration. They tried the same experiment with other spells until it was time to duel and achieved similar results.

For the first few minutes of the duel, the spells did seem more powerful, but then went down to normal power. After they'd dueled for an hour, it was over. Ginny said, "I've got to get back to the Burrow now. Mum has chores for me to do."

"Before you go," said Harry, "There's something we want to ask you. Want to go on a picnic with us and Neville?"

Ginny looked at Harry, her ears turning pink. "Do you mean, double-date? Are you trying to set me up with him?"

Hermione's cheeks turned slightly pink. "Er, he, er, really likes you. He kind of asked us if we thought you'd go out with him."

Ginny's cheeks started to gain color. "What did you say?"

"That there's only one way to find out," said Harry.

"But he's really shy," said Hermione, "so we thought that this might be easier to give you a chance to spend time together without pressure of a regular date so that you could, er, decide if you fancy him or not." Hermione said this as quickly as she could.

Ginny was now fully blushing. "Er, I suppose so. A picnic sounds like fun, but it can't be until Saturday. Mum agreed to let me hang out with you guys in the mornings instead of doing chores with Ron, but I have to spend the afternoons doing the chores he leaves for me."

"Then we'll have a picnic lunch together Saturday," said Hermione smiling.

"I'll bet my mum will want to pack it for us, so I'll take care of the food," said Ginny.

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The rest of the week went by uneventfully. Neville was thrilled and terrified about the news of the picnic. On Harry's insistence, Hermione gave him a necklace portkey that went to Grimmauld Place only (she couldn't make a portkey that led to a place she'd never been, such as Neville's house) and gave him instructions how to use it.

On Friday it was time for the trio to continue working on charming brooms to fly. After about an hour, Hermione had gotten hers to move pretty fast. Fifteen minutes later, Harry was flying his rapidly around the house, much to Hermione's frustration. She yelled, "It's great you got the broom to work, but honestly you can't fly around inside!" while Ginny was laughing.

Harry said, "But it's fun! You should be riding yours! I'll bet it's faster than mine!" Harry did not stop, and was joined about five minutes later by an excited Ginny.

Finally, letting out a sigh of frustration, Hermione said, "If you stop flying around the house like five-year-olds, I'll agree to play a game of quidditch at the Burrow tomorrow after our picnic if Mrs. Weasley allows us."

Harry stopped immediately saying, "It's a deal! We'll use these brooms. Ginny, do you think your mum will let us?"

"She doesn't give me hardly any chores to do on weekends. I'm sure Ron and the twins will play, too. Percy will be locked in his room writing a report on cauldron bottom thickness."

"What?" asked Harry. "Why?"

"He started working for the ministry last week, and for some reason he thinks he has to work twenty-four hours a day. I honestly think he stopped sleeping. Even when he comes to dinner, he's always talking about his job or his boss, Mr. Crouch, who by the way everybody else hates according to dad. He's a complete stickler for the rules, just like Percy. You remember how pompous he was walking around with his Head Boy badge? Now he's even worse! You'd think he was the Minister of Magic by how important he acts! Honestly, I think he'd sell out our family if he thought it would advance his career!"

"I'm sure you don't mean that," said Hermione, "He just believes in following rules, and so do I for that matter."

Harry grinned at his girlfriend. "Then why are you practicing underage magic in this house?" Hermione's ears went pink. "And how many times have we broken rules, sometimes even laws, together?"

Hermione's face was pink. "Er, well, I guess you have a point."

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The next morning, Lupin showed up at 8 o'clock in Grimmauld Place for first their dueling and then occlumency training. He looked at Harry and then did a double-take. "Did you get contact lenses?"

"Yeah, but don't tell anybody. Last Saturday I was recognized by someone I guess was a leftover Death Eater, and he attacked Hermione and I. I've been working on ways to disguise myself when I go out in public. This is part of it. I have clear glasses that I'll wear anyplace I want to be recognized like Hogwarts, but don't see the point in wearing them here."

"I, er, heard from Sirius about the attack. It's a good thing you had those portkeys to escape. The ministry detected the killing curse in the area but didn't find anything when they showed up."

"I should've fought him. I've thought about it. That murderer is still loose thanks to me."

"No! You did the right thing! You're starting to train, and eventually you'll get good enough to fight Death Eaters, but right now you are not ready to fight them! You did the right thing!" said Lupin emphatically.

"Of course you did, Harry," said Hermione. "If you hadn't left you'd have been killed! You said so yourself!"

Harry sighed. "I know. I just...I just don't like the idea of running away from a fight!"

"I understand," said Lupin, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder, "But sometimes escaping is the right thing to do." Then Remus decided to change the subject. "What else are you doing to change your appearance?"

Harry pointed his wand at his hair, eyes, and scar, muttering the incantations to change himself into a blond-haired, brown-eyed (he decided that he liked brown eyes better than blue), scarless (very light scar anyway) teenager. He jokingly shook Moony's hand and said, "Hi. My name is Larry Evans. It's good to meet you."

Lupin chuckled. "It's good to meet you, too. That is a pretty effective disguise. It might be prudent for Hermione to disguise herself as well on the odd chance that she'd be recognized. Anyway, are you going to change back for our duel?"

Harry smiled, "No. The charm lasts twelve hours, and I'm going to need it when we're done here. We're going on a picnic."

"Sounds like fun," said the werewolf. "In that case, I suggest we go into the dueling room. I've taken the liberty this week of putting together something of a lesson plan for your dueling, with advice on different things to work on. If you don't mind."

"Of course we don't mind, Professor Lupin," said Hermione.

"I'm no longer your teacher, so..."

"You are if you're teaching us better dueling and occlumency," said Harry with a smirk. "I should be paying you..."

"Nonsense," said Lupin. "I'm just helping out some friends. The first thing I'd like to work on is blocking the killing curse."

The three kids gaped at him. "B,But Professor Lupin," said Hermione, "There is no defense against the killing curse."

"Last Saturday night Harry defended himself from the killing curse by disappearing. The best block is not to be there. One way to do that, which is the best way for you kids, is portkeying away. That's what you should do. But if for some reason you can't, there are a few options. One is to dodge the spell, and the other is to summon something in between yourself and the caster's wand. Do any of you know how to summon?"

"I know Hermione and I do," said Harry.

"I don't," said Ginny timidly.

Remus smiled understandingly at her. "That's fine. Harry and Hermione can practice with one person summoning things in front of them to absorb curses the other is hexing them while I teach you how to summon in the living room."

After about a half hour of masterful instruction by Lupin, Ginny had learned the summoning charm. They returned to the dueling room to find Hermione throwing hex after hex at Harry while he kept summoning item after item to shield himself. Hermione and Harry had conjured a bunch of junk in the room, and Harry was putting it to good use.

Ginny and Remus watched as Harry kept moving around and summoning different things in front of him. Ginny chuckled as she noticed Hermione getting frustrated. Lupin noticed that a few times she hadn't even spoken the incantation, but Harry was still successfully evading her. Lupin called out, "That's great! I think you should take a break." Hermione shot Remus a glare before he said, "Hermione, you've been doing an incredible job. I'm not sure if you're aware of it or not, but you sent a few of those hexes nonverbally."

"Really?" asked Hermione excitedly, her frustration forgotten.

"Yes," said Lupin with a smile.

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The rest of the dueling, as well as the occlumency lesson went well. Before Lupin left, he looked uneasy. He said, "I don't know if I should tell you or not, but Dumbledore told me that one of the dark objects in that box was really bad. That locket that one of you mentioned in the list that you left."

"Did he tell you what it is?" asked Ginny.

"Well, yes. It's called a Horcrux. It contained a piece of Voldemort's soul before Dumbledore destroyed it. As long as he's got a Horcrux in existence, he can't die. That's why he didn't die when he tried to kill Harry. To make one, you murder someone to create a tear in your soul, and then perform a certain spell to separate that tear and literally split your soul. No dark wizard has ever been known to make more than one of those, until now."

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione. "We only found one."

"The diary," said Ginny softly. Lupin nodded quietly. "That's why the locket seemed familiar to me."

"If he's made more than one of these Horcruxes, how do we know how many he's made?" asked Harry.

"We don't," said Lupin sadly. "Professor Dumbledore has some leads he's going to investigate to find more information. He mentioned visiting Tom Riddle's favorite teacher from when he was a student. I've got to go now. Just make sure you don't tell anybody about that."

"We won't," assured Harry while the others nodded.

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After Remus had left, Ginny said, "I've got to go to the Burrow to get the picnic basket mum put together. I'll be right back."

After she disappeared, Harry smiled at his girlfriend and said evilly, "Now it's time to turn you into my mother," and he changed her hair red and her eyes green. He stared at his handiwork shaking his head for a few seconds while she smiled back at him. "That's too weird. I don't think I could kiss you looking like that."

"Why not? Haven't you always fanaticized that?" she laughed as he turned her into a blond with blue eyes.

"No," said Harry with a smirk, "Let's see, I could call you Marissa Adams."

Hermione nodded. "That would be acceptable, Larry Evans."

At that moment, Neville appeared in the house and looked at the two of them, obviously not recognizing them. "Er, hi. I'm Neville...Neville Longbottom."

Harry held back his smile, shook Neville's hand, and slightly disguised his voice. "Good to meet you Neville. This is Marissa Adams, and I'm Larry Evans."

Neville gazed at Harry. "L,Larry Evans? That's the name Harry said...wait a minute. He looked at both of them more closely and they burst out laughing. "It is you and Hermione! Great disguises. Is G-Ginny here?"

"Don't worry," said Harry, "She's getting the food. She'll be right back."

At that moment, as though summoned by the mention of her name, Ginny appeared holding a picnic basket. "Hi guys! Great disguise Hermione! If I didn't know who you were, I'd never recognize you." Neville blushed when Ginny arrived, which caused her to blush.

Hermione said snobbishly, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm Marissa Adams, and I'm here with my boyfriend, Larry Evans."

"Should we all change our appearance?" asked Neville.

"No," said Harry, "I'm the one people will recognize, the one who's a target. Hermione's only disguised so that people don't know I'm with her."

"Are you sure?" asked Ginny, "My Weasley red hair is a dead giveaway. People know you're friendly with my family."

Harry chuckled. "A few minutes ago Hermione had Weasley red hair."

Ginny looked surprised. "Why'd you change it to blond then?"

"Harry had made me look like his mother. He even gave me her green eyes."

"I thought it was too weird and changed her to what she is now."

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They walked outside the house which Lupin had apparently cleaned, Harry noticed. He mused that Sirius must have mentioned it to Moony. They walked to a nearby park that had picnic tables and Ginny set their basket down on one of them. Hermione, who'd been carrying a book bag, set that down as well, and opened it. Everyone expected to find it full of books, but instead, they saw things that neither Neville nor Ginny could identify.

Hermione pulled out a circular object and asked, "Haven't you ever thrown a Frisbee around before?" when she noticed the confused expression on their faces.

Although Harry hadn't been allowed to play with a Frisbee, Dudley had owned one, so Harry was familiar with it, but Hermione had to explain what to do with that toy to the others before they threw it around for a while. After about a half hour of that, they ate. Mrs. Weasley had somehow, and Harry believed magically, fit enough sandwiches to feed all the Weasleys, not to mention the snacks and bottles of pumpkin juice and butterbeer. When they'd all eaten their fill, Ginny commented, "There's still enough here to feed Ron!" causing everyone to laugh.

Hermione then pulled out four similar devices, and another Frisbee. She handed out the devices unknown to Ginny and Neville. "These are squirt guns. They're used to shoot water at people. We're gonna split up into teams; me and Harry against Ginny and Neville. Each team is gonna hide a Frisbee. The goal is to get the other team's Frisbee onto your side of the park. If you get shot with a squirt gun, you have to walk back to your side before you can try again. If you're holding a Frisbee, you have to drop it.

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Although it was a pain explaining how to work a squirt gun, they eventually enjoyed this version of 'Capture the Flag.' Not that long into the game however, they were purposely getting shot by the other team because of how hot it was. While Ginny and Neville were discussing strategy, Harry snuck to their side of the park and found their poorly hidden Frisbee. Ginny called out, "Harry," as she raised her squirt gun to shoot him. When he heard his name called, he immediately threw the Frisbee into the waiting hands of Hermione, ending the game just before Ginny and Neville emptied out their squirt guns on him. He was soaked when they started walking toward the house. Harry wanted to portkey back but Hermione insisted that they do things the muggle way. Harry opened the door and they all walked in. As soon as the door was closed, Hermione performed a drying charm on them all, starting with Harry.

"So Neville," said Harry, "Are you coming to the Burrow with us to play some Quidditch? Hermione promised to play."

"We've got some new brooms we want to try out," said Hermione.

"New brooms? Harry, you've got a Firebolt! Why would you buy a new broom?"

"I didn't buy it. I charmed a muggle broom. All three of us did."

Neville looked at them stunned. "H-How did you do that? They don't teach that at Hogwarts?"

Harry said, "The same way we made the portkeys. Hermione got me to buy a book on magical transportation, and we've been studying it together."

"Cool!" said Neville, "But I have to go. My Gran will kill me if I'm late. This was fun. B-B-Bye G-Ginny."

"Bye Neville," said Ginny.

"Bye Harry and Hermione," said Neville.

"Bye," said Harry and Hermione together before they removed their disguises.

"So Ginny, did you and Neville get to talk much?" asked Hermione.

Ginny frowned. "Not very much. A little. He seemed to have trouble talking to me. He really is shy, but he's also very nice. If he asked me out, I'd say yes, but you can't just tell him that. You can encourage him to, but not guarantee my answer."

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They went with Ginny to the Burrow, bringing their newly charmed brooms. When Ron saw the broom Harry was carrying, he called out, "Hey Harry, why don't you have your Firebolt?"

"Because I wanted to test out this broom," he answered.

"But the Firebolt has got to be a lot better than those generic brooms! Where'd you dig those up, anyway?"

"That's none of your business, Ronald," said Ginny. "Are you going to play or talk about brooms?"

"Fine, don't tell me," said Ron, "Let's play!"

They separated into two teams. One had Harry as chaser, George as beater, and Hermione as keeper. The other had Ginny as chaser, Fred as beater, and Ron as keeper. As the game progressed, it became very clear that the three new brooms were superior to the ones the Weasley boys were using. Harry could tell that the broom he was flying wasn't as good as his Firebolt, but it was very much like his Nimbus 2000 had been. He actually wasn't sure which of those two was better. Because of Hermione's pathetic attempt at goal-keeping against Ginny, her team lost.