‘The Trace, the Trace!’ said Mad-Eye impatiently. ‘The charm that detects magical activity around under-seventeens, the way the Ministry finds out about under-age magic! If you, or anyone around you, casts a spell to get you out of here, Thicknesse is going to know about it, and so will the Death Eaters.

‘We can’t wait for the Trace to break, because the moment you turn seventeen you’ll lose all the protection your mother gave you. In short: Pius Thicknesse thinks he’s got you cornered good and proper.’

‘Well, you can’t do anything about the -’ Ron mouthed the word Horcruxes, ‘’til you’re seventeen. You’ve still got the Trace on you. And we can plan here as well as anywhere, can’t we? Or,’ he dropped his voice to a whisper, ‘d’you reckon you already know where the you-know-whats are?’