DISCLAIMER: All characters and settings are the property of JK Rowling. I'm just the girl who likes to play in her world.

Hermione was in the library at Grimauld place with Ginny researching. Harry had decided to tell Ginny about the Horcruxs after Hermione had accidentally slipped up one evening from exhaustion, and lack of sleep. He had told Ginny that they was looking for 'any information' that might lead to Voldemort's Horcruxs, or tell them exactly what the other Horcruxs were. Ginny had been utterly confused for the two days that followed about the whole thing, but she had eventually got her mind around it and agreed to help Hermione by taking some of her work load so she wouldn't 'die from books', as the boys had so delicately put it.

So here they were looking for anything on dark magic, or more specifically the soul in connection to dark magic. They were surrounded with dark books, after all they were in the house of black, but very few had been of help and the others were just too scary to even dream of opening.

"Hey Ginny have you found anything new? Or that might be of any interest, at all?" Hermione shouted behind her where she knew Ginny stood a few rows back consumed with her own fruitless search.

"No." she heard her sigh. "If truth be told I'm beginning to think that there's nothing here. Maybe we're just looking in the wrong place. Perhaps we should go to Hogwarts? If Dumbledore left some clue behind then he'd obviously keep it someplace safe and there's no place safer than Hogwarts." Ginny shouted back to her. Hermione raised her eyebrow at that last statement.

"The last person who said that died in Hogwarts by hand of a death eater" She whispered sadly to herself. "I don't think he would have left anything there Gin, that's the problem. Dumbledore must have known that no matter what happened we wouldn't have returned to Hogwarts this year, unless we absolutely had to." She returned defeated eyes back to the shelves that stood in front of her; even Hermione could get sick from the sight of books, after doing nothing but look at them for three weeks non-stop.

"There just has to be something we've missed or over looked." She mumbled to herself just as she noticed something strange in the corner of her eye. She grabbed a hold of the book; it looked old but new at the same time. It didn't have a title or any marking on it, she felt compelled to open it but the rational part of her mind told her not to.

"Ginny come and look at this," She handed the book to Ginny as soon as the girl came round the corner. "What do you reckon it is?" when she saw Ginny smile she felt a little disappointed.

"It's called 'Il libro di memorie'"

"Book of Memories? I've never heard of that before" Ginny nodded to her.

"I'm not surprised, not many people use these anymore. They're more of a pureblood thing. When they are used they normally hold a person's deepest secret or darkest memory. They can only be opened by the person who has placed the memories in it or the person who's intended to see them. If I remember correctly the memory is stored in a little bottle that is kept in the pages, it's a good hiding place." Ginny and Hermione's eyes meet and they could both see worry with an underlying curiosity in each others.

"Mum and dad have one." She continued as she turned the book over in her hands. "Fred and George think that it contains their 'dirty secrets'." She finished with a shudder and an embarrassed blush creeping up to her cheeks.

"Oh." Hermione said after a moment of silence, feeling rather put off of wanting it opened.

"Yes well they aren't very commonly found in people libraries, maybe it's empty. If it's not then I don't rely want to find out what secrets the house of black has to offer." When Ginny handed it back to her something clicked in her brain.

"Ginny maybe this is what we're looking for, it might not be the blacks at all but Dumbledore's. He knew we would wind up in here sooner or later. Come on let's see if we can open it." Ginny was looking at her like she was crazy and firmly shook her head.

"I don't think so Hermione, it's a bit farfetched. The man wasn't exactly one for subtle things like this." Ginny said and pointed to the book. "You can try to open it if you like, but I'm going to get some lunch, I'll be back up with some for you as well if you'd like?" Slightly angry Hermione said she would like that and walked over to a table with the book in hand. She watched as Ginny walked out the library's door before she looked at the book again, she was going to try and open it regardless of what Ginny said. Sitting herself down in one of the over-stuffed armchairs she placed the book in her lap. She stared at it for about a minute lost in her own amazement of the book, and what it could hold inside, before finally running a finger along the open edge and trying to lift the cover. It didn't move an inch.

"Come on open. I swear to Merlin if this book isn't what I'm looking for then I give up, I've had enough." She whispered to herself bitterly on the brink of tears from exhaustion. "Open." She let out a long heavy breath that she hadn't even realised she'd been holding as she watched the cover lift with her hand. Finally something was going right. A smile spread across her face and her tired eyes lit up with happiness. Just like Ginny said the bottle was inside the pages where a square had been cut out to wedge it in. Hermione's dainty hands pulled the bottle from the pages and wrapped around the bottle. Removing the book from her lap she placed it on the table and noticed that there was a note on the inside of the cover. She frowned as she read it out to the silence around her.

"In war you'll find a time of peace,
With the loss of others comes new release,
A beginning of new life,
A beginning without strife,
You'll wash away the old,
To reveal that which is untold."

Her fingers moved to trace the picture that had been drawn just below the words. It showed a big black cat and a thunderbird intertwined. To Hermione this seemed like an odd couple but they seemed to weirdly fit together somehow, like they were going to be together no matter what tragedy befell them. When she took her finger off the two creatures words started to appear next to them. She'd know that penmanship anywhere, She'd had it scrawled all over her work for 6 years, and that's what made her worried.

"Trust in the promise I made you"

She snorted at that but then realised her writing was beginning to show below his. But that was impossible, she'd never even seen this book before, let alone written in it. It made her feel uneasy and scared, she unconsciously clutched tighter to the bottle that was still in her left hand.

"The secrets you hold are still meant to be untold; you'll know when to look when you pass through the fold."

She mumbled to herself, afraid of what that was to mean. Looking down to the vile in her hand she saw it glowing blue, before the panic could set in she slipped from consciousness.

Author's Notes- Just so everybody knows I absolutely despise doing the first chapter of any story, so that's probably why it seems to drag on with nothing rely exciting happening. Plus I'm about 2 seconds away from passing out because I can't sleep. Anyways action chapters are where my skills lie, so I promise I'll write some good things soon :)
If nothing is making sense yet then it's because it's not meant to.

Next chapter up Sometime tomorrow. And thank you for reading.
Hugs and love Destiniex

P.S. Review if you want to.