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Accounting For DUMmIES 4th
Accounting For DUMmIES 4th
Harry Potter
and the
End of the Mark
Harry Potter
and the
End of the Mark
by
Adam Towne is an avid Harry Potter fan A. P. Towne
and a senior at the Collegiate School
in New York City. He wrote Harry Potter
and the End of the Mark for his senior proj-
ect. Next fall, he plans to study engineering
at Cornell University. This is his first novel.
FAN FICTION
Not For Sale
HARRY POTTER
AND THE END OF THE MARK
HARRY POTTER
AND THE END OF THE MARK
by
A. P. Towne
ILLUSTRATIONS BY MADELINE LIEBERBERG
Fan FIction
★
★
★ ★
★ ★
★
★ ★
Text copyright © 2006 by A. P. Towne
Cover Art and Illustrations copyright © 2006
by Madeline Lieberberg
TWO
A Rare Occasion · 18
THREE
Flight in the Night · 42
FOUR
Godric's Hollow · 59
FIVE
Apparent Lack of Progress · 77
SIX
Bargaining With Borgin · 88
SEVEN
The Old Smith House · 102
EIGHT
All in One Piece ·117
NINE
The Phoenix Falls · 132
TEN
Dung’s Demise · 150
ELEVEN
In Darkest Night · 165
TWELVE
An Old Friend · 181
THIRTEEN
The Greater of Two Evils · 196
FOURTEEN
The Halls of Durmstrang · 214
FIFTEEN
The Cup of the Badger · 230
SIXTEEN
Necare Horcrux · 244
SEVENTEEN
Return of an Enemy · 258
EIGHTEEN
Special Services · 275
NINETEEN
In the Locket’s Grip · 292
TWENTY
Gargle a Poison · 308
TWENTY-ONE
Mortal Again · 325
TWENTY-TWO
Daybreak · 345
HARRY POTTER
AND THE END OF THE MARK
Chapter One
An Unexpected Visitor
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C HA P T E R ON E
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AN UN E X PE C T E D
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VISITOR
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C HA P T E R ON E
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AN UN E X PE C T E D
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VISITOR
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C HA P T E R ON E
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Uncle Vernon would back down after hearing the tone of his
voice. “I am spending tonight in this house.”
Seeing that the situation was threatening to become out
of hand, Petunia calmly entered the conversation. She hoped
that a few kind words would deter any violence against her hus-
band. “Vernon, we did make a promise to Professor Dumble-
dore. Harry is allowed to return here so that he can be protected.
Besides, Professor Dumbledore said that he would punish us
should we not comply with his wishes.”
“Dumbledore is dead,” Harry spluttered out. Realizing
what he had just said, he now wished he had kept his mouth
shut. The Dursleys would send him out for sure, and there was
nothing that he could do to stop them.
“Do you hear that, Petunia? Dumblybore is dead. He
can’t carry out his threat against us now. I say that we force
Harry out of the house right now, right now.” He emphasized
the last few words, already moving to push Harry towards the
door.
Harry stopped him with a slight flick of the wand. He
did not actually cast a spell, but he knew the motion would be
enough to prevent Mr. Dursley from making any more sudden
movements. “Don’t come any nearer. I am going to stay here the
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these Death Eaters were far less interesting than what was sitting
in the refrigerator, waiting to be devoured.
“Voldemort,” Harry continued, “is the man who killed
my parents. The Death Eaters are his loyal followers. They have
grown in number recently, thinking that they will soon be vic-
torious now that Dumbledore is dead. I am now burdened with
defeating Voldemort in a duel. After tomorrow, you will never
see me again. I will either be victorious and start a new life else-
where, or I will die at Voldemort’s hands.” At these words, Mr.
Dursley let out a faint smile, but Harry did not mind. He knew
that his uncle wanted nothing more than for Harry to die or to
be out of his life forever.
Hearing that Harry might die, Dudley looked over at
Harry eagerly, and for the first time realized that Harry’s legs
were missing. “Mum, Dad, his legs. Where are Harry’s legs?”
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley glanced over at Harry as well, and noticed
the same thing. Where Harry’s legs should be, all they saw was
the front of the chair.
Harry calmly looked down at his own feet, and sheep-
ishly pulled the invisibility cloak off. “Sorry. I forgot to tell
you about my invisibility cloak. You see, my legs did not really
just disappear. They became invisible.” The Dursleys all gaped
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the stairs once he had heard Harry’s door creak shut. Physically
and mentally drained, Harry crept into bed and promptly fell
asleep.
* * *
Harry awoke the next morning with a searing pain in
his forehead. He had experienced aches like these before, and
knew that Voldemort had just done something awful to some-
one in the world. This incident must have been particularly bad,
because Harry usually only felt these pains when Voldemort was
unable to control his Occlumency. Harry leapt out of bed and
threw his wizard’s robes on, eager to learn of Voldemort’s latest
evildoing, but worried about what it was.
As he came downstairs, he heard Petunia shriek, “Out!
Out! Ruddy Owl! Shoo! Fly Away!” She waved her hands
frantically towards the door, but when the owl saw Harry, it
swooped down onto the table and looked up at him expectantly.
Once Harry reached the kitchen table, he pulled out a bronze
Knut from his robes and handed it to the owl. The owl dropped
the paper, and flew out the window.
“Sorry about that, Aunt Petunia,” Harry said softly,
trying to hold back a chuckle that was inching its way up his
throat. “I forgot that the owl was coming to drop off the Daily
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VISITOR
Prophet.”
“Are you ready to leave yet?” Petunia asked coldly. She
did not seem to be ready to forgive Harry for the owl incident.
Harry couldn’t blame her; he was not exactly sorry about it
himself.
“I just need some breakfast, and then I will be on my
way.” Aunt Petunia handed Harry a quarter of a grapefruit. “So
we are back on that diet, are we?” Harry thought to himself that
it was a good thing that they were back on that diet. Harry was
surprised that Dudley could still fit through the doorways, he
was so big.
“Yes. And be thankful that I gave you any breakfast at
all.”
“I’m not even sure I need to eat here for the spell to
work, but it is better to be safe than sorry,” Harry said aloud,
more to himself than to Aunt Petunia. Harry heard a loud
thumping noise as Dudley, the whale, came downstairs.
“Good morning, Mum,” Dudley said grumpily. “What
was all that shouting earlier? And why are you here?” Dudley
jabbed a fat finger in Harry’s direction. “I thought that I was
dreaming last night.”
“Well, you weren’t and I’ll be leaving in a few minutes
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anyway.”
As promised, Harry rose from the dinner table and
strode over to the fireplace, near where Uncle Vernon sat read-
ing his paper. For a moment, Harry considered sitting down on
the other armchair and reading the Daily Prophet, but decided
that the moving images might be too much for the anti-magic
Dursleys.
As he pulled the bag of Floo-Powder from his pocket,
he coolly informed Uncle Vernon that Mr. Weasley would
promptly disconnect his house from the Floo Network as soon
as Harry reached the Burrow.
“Mister who? And what network are we on? Do I have
to pay for this?” Mr. Dursley replied in a huff.
“Mr. Weasley,” Harry replied. “He’s the bloke who
shrunk Dudley’s tongue back to normal size a few years ago. It’s
called the Floo Network, and it’s free, so don’t worry about it.”
With that, Harry sprinkled the Floo Powder over his head, dis-
tinctly said “The Burrow,” and popped into the Weasley house,
leaving a plume of green smoke and ash behind.
* * *
“Harry,” Mrs. Weasley shouted, anxious for his return.
“I was worried that we were going to have to go in there after
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VISITOR
you. They did not cause you any trouble, did they?”
“No,” Harry replied with a smirk on his face. “I was just
having a spot of breakfast.”
“Good, good. Ron and Hermione are upstairs. I’ve
already unpacked all your things, and Hedwig has gone out for
a bite to eat. I’ll leave you to it then.” As Mrs. Weasley walked
away, all Harry could think of is that he wished that she had not
gone through such trouble to unpack his things. Harry planned
to only be at the Weasley house until after Bill’s wedding.
Once that was over, he intended to head to Godric’s Hollow to
uncover a little more of the mystery that was his past. He had no
intention of telling this to Mrs. Weasley of course. If she knew,
she would have thrown a fit and locked Harry up to prevent him
from escaping. She would probably sit there all night to make
sure that he did not try to escape, too. Harry smiled, happy to
have friends like the Weasleys.
“Ron, Hermione, I’m back,” Harry called softly as
he walked up the stairs. As he turned the corner towards the
room, he could have sworn that he saw Ron move away from
Hermione’s side, but perhaps his eyes were just playing tricks
on him.
“So it’s done then? The enchantment will last until your
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AN UN E X PE C T E D
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17
Chapter Two
A Rare Occasion
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A RARE O CC A S ION
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C HA P T E R T WO
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fully.
“Just be nice, Hermione. Fleur is part of the family
now.”
“Don’t worry, Ron. I’ll be polite,” Hermione replied
with an edge to her voice. “After all, she is family.”
* * *
It looked as though it were going to rain again. Well,
ever since Voldemort’s rise to power it always looked as though
it were going to rain. As death and destruction swept across
England, pillars of smoke rising from the ruined towns shroud-
ed the English country sky in darkness. At the Weasley’s house,
however, it actually was about to rain. From the garden where
the wedding was about to begin, all of the guests could see the
lightning crackling down and hear the thunder roaring nearby.
“No,” Fleur cried in her heavy accent. “Eet eez going to
rain on moi wedding day.”
Behind her,Hermione and Ginny were giggling to them-
selves. They were both excited to see what further wailing would
come from Fleur’s mouth. Hermione always found it difficult to
speak to Ron when Fleur was nearby, usually because his gaze
kept wandering towards Fleur every few seconds. “Serves Fleur
right,” she thought to herself quietly. Then, seeing that Fleur
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three years since Harry had last saved her, and she looked even
more like her sister. Following close behind was Ginny, who
looked up at Bill every so often as if to say, “Are you sure you
want to go through with this?” She trudged along the rest of the
time with her head down, looking into her bouquet of Golden
Snorgleblooms, which constantly secreted a pleasant aroma.
Behind her walked Hermione, who kept staring up at the sky in
awe of the enchantment she had put around the wedding area.
It was the largest enchantment she had done yet, and she wished
that Professor Flitwick could have seen her. Unfortunately, she
did not look where she was going and walked into Ginny.
“Ouch,” Ginny whispered, turning to look back at
Hermione. “You stepped on my heel.”
“Sorry,” Hermione replied. “I’ll try to watch where I
am going.”
“Don’t try,” Ginny replied with a smirk. “Succeed.”
At that, Hermione tried to stifle her giggle in her bou-
quet, but when she looked up, many eyes were on her. “Sorry,”
she whispered to the guests, as she tried to compose herself. She
finally reached her spot on the platform, and turned to face the
crowd. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ron wink at her,
and she gave him a quick smile back.
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Rufus Scrimgeour, the Minister of Magic. His last talk with the
Minister had ended just as unpleasantly as always, with an angry
Rufus looking at Harry’s back as he walked away.
Seeing that Harry was no longer paying attention to
what he was supposed to do, Ron quickly jabbed him in the
chest with his elbow. “C’mon already. They’ve already started
walking away from the altar.” Obediently, Harry followed Ron
away from the ceremony, eyes darting from one guest to the
next. His eyes fell upon a woman in the seats who was dazzlingly
beautiful, so beautiful, in fact, that he had trouble turning his
eyes away from her. When he was in control of himself again,
he quickly closed his jaw, trying to regain some measure of com-
posure that he had lost just moments before. He finally reached
his table and found his place card. Ginny, who sat next to him,
beckoned him to sit as she slid her chair to the left in order to
make it easier for him to take a seat.
“Well, that wasn’t so bad, was it, Harry?” Ginny inquired
anxiously.
“No, I guess not. I’m sure I made loads of mistakes
though,” Harry replied.
“You sound just like Hermione after an exam,” Ron
replied as he took a seat. “Don’t worry, you were great.” Ron
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turned to Hermione, who had just sat down next to him. “And
you, you were brilliant. There isn’t a cloud in the sky.”
Hermione beamed back at him. “I guess it was a pretty
good piece of magic.”
“No one could have done it better,” Ron replied, squeez-
ing her hand gently. “Where did you learn that bit of magic
anyway?”
“Hogwarts, A History,” Hermione replied promptly.
“You really should read it some time, Ron. The weather con-
trolling spells used to be used on Quidditch pitches after the
Snarling Fiasco.”
“The what fiasco?” Harry replied, now interested because
of the mention of Quidditch.
“Honestly, don’t you two read? The Snarling Fiasco was
a series of lawsuits against Adrian Snarling, a Ravenclaw Seeker
who enchanted his broom to be resistant to lightning strikes.
Snarling would do the opposite of the Wronski Feint, tricking
fellow Seekers to fly up towards the clouds in a rainstorm, think-
ing he had spotted the Golden Snitch. They would be promptly
struck by lightning and collapse to the ground. Snarling would
then catch the Snitch without interference for the rest of the
match.”
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in that battle. He might even have been able to stop the vicious
attack of Fenrir Greyback that had mutilated Bill’s once hand-
some face. As he looked into Charlie’s face, Harry knew that so
many things could have turned out differently had Charlie been
in the battle.
“Good to meet you too. I haven’t sat with all of my fam-
ily in a long time.” He glanced back at Percy, who was sitting at
a table with Scrimgeour. “Well, almost all of my family.”
“Don’t mind Percy. He’ll come around soon enough.
Professor Dumbledore always said that it was easier to forgive
when you were right than when you were wrong.”
“How true that is. Do you see this scar?” Charlie
pointed to a burn mark on his left jawbone. Harry nodded. “I
got this from a fierce one out in Romania.” He paused as the
waiters collected their bowls of fruit and brought out steam-
ing cup of soup. “Well this looks quite good. Anyway, study-
ing dragons is a dangerous job, believe me. Actually, this was
more of fighting a dragon, rather than studying it. You see, a
Ukrainian Ironbelly...”
“A Ukrainian Ironbelly? What’s that?”
“I forget that people frequently don’t know these things.
The Ukrainian Ironbelly is the largest dragon in world—”
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41
Chapter Three
Flight in the Night
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F L IG H T I N T HE
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NIGHT
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NIGHT
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Just as she was about to hit the floor, her body slowed to
a halt. She hit the floorboards lightly, making nearly no noise as
she landed. Ron rushed over to his mother. “Hermione, some-
thing has happened to my mum.”
“Ron, keep it down. I’m hearing a commotion from
upstairs, and, Harry, would you take your cloak off now?”
“Sure thing, Hermione,” Harry replied cheerfully.
“You, you, did this to my mother?”
“Yes, we didn’t want her to stop us from leaving, did
we?”
“No, but you attacked her How could you attack my
mother?” Ron’s voice was becoming steadily louder.
“Ron, keep it down,” Hermione whispered. They heard
a creak coming from upstairs. “Your mother is going to be all
right. We’ll leave a note so that they can perform the proper
countercurses. It will be easy.”
“Okay. But, you still shouldn’t have attacked my
mum.”
“Sorry about that. It was the only way.” Harry looked at
Ron gravely, sincerely sorry for what he had had to do.
Ron replied brightly, “It was a brilliant piece of magic,
though. Absolutely brilliant. What was that, a nonverbal
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NIGHT
spell?”
“Two, actually,” Hermione replied.
“Yes. How did you know?” Harry looked mystified.
“Simple.” The creaking upstairs was getting louder. “I’ll
tell you when we get outside. We need to leave now.” Hermione
moved towards her trunk, levitated it, and maneuvered it out-
side the front door. “C’mon. Someone’s coming.” Ron kissed
his mother on the forehead, and he and Harry left the house.
When they were almost to the line of trees, they sat down to
rest.
“Bloody hell,” Ron exclaimed suddenly. “We forgot to
leave a note. They’ll be worried sick about us.”
“I’m on it,” Harry answered, throwing on his invisibility
cloak. He sprinted back to the house, and looked through the
window. Ginny and Mr. Weasley were already downstairs, and
Charlie was not far behind. Seeing that the situation was hope-
less, Harry carefully walked back to Hermione, trying not to
alert the Weasleys to any noise.
“Well, did you leave the note?” Ron asked anxiously.
“I couldn’t. Your family was already downstairs. “C’mon,
they’ll revive her in a few seconds and your brothers will start
searching for us. If I remember correctly, it is a long way to that
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hilltop where the old boot was, and I bet it will even take longer
in the dark.”
“Why are we going there?” Ron asked.
“Because,” Hermione replied. “Just before he goes to
bed, your father puts a ban on apparition around the house.
There is no way we could apparate into or out of the area until
we are well past the woods. The woods are safe, right? There are
no dangerous animals in it.”
“Well, there are some Mokes in the area, but I am sure
you can handle them just fine. They usually sleep at night,
unless they are awakened by a bright light or touch. What might
be more of a problem are the Doxies. Charlie got a nasty bite
from one once when he was little, and he was in the hospital for
a week. We’ll have to be careful about those.”
“Anything else we should know about, Ron?”
“I don’t think so. Let’s go. Lumos.” The tip of his wand
gave off a small light. He started to drag his trunk into the
woods.
“Wait. What’s that sound?” Harry grabbed Ron’s shoul-
der. “Do you hear it?”
“It’s just an owl,” Ron replied impatiently. “Let’s go.”
Hermione looked up. “It’s holding a rather large letter,
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NIGHT
but it is too big to be Pig, and I don’t think that it looks any-
thing like Hedwig.”
“The Ministry. They must have tightened security at
this house, knowing that I was going to be here. A spell this late
at night and with Arthur in a good job now, it’s no wonder that
the Ministry is worried. Let’s go, we don’t want to get spotted.”
Harry was about to levitate his trunk, but Hermione stopped
him.
“We’ve got to drag the trunks now. If we use magic,
the Ministry will be able to pinpoint our position and will find
us.” With that, all three of them entered the woods slowly, their
trunks much more of a burden on the ground than in the air. “I
remember when it was easier to actually pull on the trunk than
to use magic.”
“When was that?” Ron replied jokingly. “Your first day
at Hogwarts? I seem to remember that you had pretty much
mastered Wingardium Leviosa by your second day of school.”
“Third, actually,” Hermione replied with a broad grin.
“We didn’t have Charms until the second day of lessons
They heard a crunch of twigs behind them. “Shh. Ron,
Hermione, stay low. I’ll check if someone is coming after us.”
As he turned around to see what it could be, a large, scaly lizard
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NIGHT
killed my parents. I’m sorry, Ginny, but I’m really going to have
to say good-bye.”
Ginny walked forward and gave Harry a hard kiss on the
mouth, leaving her tears on his cheek. “I love you, Harry Potter.
I always have.”
“Me too.” Harry suddenly felt a great relief in his
chest.
Ginny turned her back and began to walk back into the
woods. Her breath was ragged, and every so often, they heard
a loud sob. When they could no longer hear her, Harry turned
to Ron and Hermione. “Let’s go.” He pulled at his trunk once
more, and started walking towards the clearing.
“I’m well rested. I’ll take my own trunk now, Ron.”
“Oh, right.” He put it down and took his owl cage from
her. “Let’s go then. We don’t want to be caught by anyone
else.”
After a few more minutes of walking, they were finally
out of the woods and into the clearing. “Let’s take a breather.”
Hermione sat down on her trunk, clearly exhausted by the
night’s events. “What time is it anyway?”
Ron looked at his watch. “Two o’clock in the morning.
We’ve been walking for nearly two hours. It seemed a lot shorter
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to me.”
“Well maybe it was the Moke attack, or the trio of
Doxies that was trying to kill us. That made the trip exciting,
didn’t it?” Harry answered grimly. “I’d say we’re lucky to be in
one piece.”
“Harry, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them does say
that competent wizards should be able to handle those creatures,
and I’d say that we are more than competent,” Hermione replied
confidently. “I mean, a troll is a class four creature, and you
handled that perfectly our first year.”
“By a stroke of dumb luck and a bit of quick action on
Ron’s part,” Harry chuckled.
Ron blushed at the recognition of his heroism. “Well,
let’s get going then. We haven’t got all day.”
“Right, we’ll apparate on the count of three. One…
two…th—” Harry began.
“Wait. You can’t apparate. You haven’t passed your test
yet. What if one of you splinches? I have no idea how to piece
you back together, and the Ministry will be all over us in sec-
onds.”
“Hermione, I’ve apparated fine before. How do you
think I got to Hogwarts the night that Dumbledore…died? I’ll
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be fine.”
“I know you will, but I am still worried that something
might happen. I think that we are going to have to apparate a
different way.”
“Just because you passed your apparition test and I lost
half an eyebrow doesn’t mean that we all can’t apparate sepa-
rately, Hermione,” Ron said hotly. “We should apparate—”
“Hermione’s right, Ron. We can’t apparate separately,
but we can use Side-Along apparition.”
Ron took Hermione’s hand in one hand, and held his
trunk in the other. Since Hermione’s other hand was occupied
with her trunk, Harry grabbed onto her arm, and held his trunk
with his other hand. Ron had placed one finger through the top
of his owl cage, hoping that it would be enough to get the owl
to apparate with them. All together, they looked like a big heap
of junk, odd corners sticking out all over the place. “Since you
both can apparate, I will just be a guide. I’m not sure I would
be able to apparate with this much stuff anyway. It would take
too much determination.”
“On the count of three we are going to go. One…two...”
Hermione felt Ron squeeze her hand tightly. She squeezed back,
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Chapter Four
Godric’s Hollow
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frame of that wing was left, and all the contents seemed to have
been destroyed. At the bottom of the hill, on three sides of the
house, was a marsh that looked to be a haven for Hinkypunks.
Every so often, bright lights would flicker around the base of the
hill, sending chills up Ron’s spine.
“Well, let’s have a look then.” Harry started towards the
house slowly, mindful of what could lay there in wait: death,
sorrow, and the truth of that night that had changed his life
forever.
Hermione began to walk after him, reaching into her
robes and gripping her wand slowly. She looked back at Ron and
told him to hurry up.
“I’m fine here, thanks. Someone needs to look after
our belongings.” Ron gestured to the numerous trunks next to
where he was standing. With a flick of Hermione’s wand, the
belongings were no longer visible. “You destroyed our things?
How could you?”
“I merely camouflaged them, Ron. If you look closely
enough, you can still see them.”
“But that means that someone else can see them too.”
“But they won’t be looking. C’mon. Harry is already so
far ahead.” Ron and Hermione ran up the hill after him. “Wait
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for us,” she called after him. “Don’t enter the house alone.”
“Hermione, I’m not sure I can go through with this.
This is where Voldemort killed my parents and tried to kill me.
Do I really want to relive that part of my past?”
“You must,” she replied. “It could help you stop He-
Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and for that, it is worthwhile. Let’s
have a look.”
Harry moved to the front door, and slowly turned the
doorknob. The door creaked open, and for the first time, Harry
was able to see what was inside. The room was caked with dust.
It covered the chairs, the table, the bookshelves, the rug, the
fireplace. Every nook and cranny was covered in dust. Seventeen
years of dust. The three stepped into room, and began to explore
the contents. Harry looked at the table in the center of the room
and strode towards it. He took a deep breath, and blew the dust
of the table.
Once the dust had cleared away, Harry saw a newspaper,
dated on the day of his parents’ deaths. He swept the dust of the
chair nearby, and sat down to scan the contents of the articles.
On the third page, one article jumped out at him.
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he died, to use fire to battle the Inferi that were going to kill us.
I forgot to use fire out of fear, but I now remember his warning
that Inferi flee from both light and heat.”
“Was that in Snape’s lessons? All I seem to remember is
that Inferi are solid, and ghosts are not.” Ron looked completely
puzzled.
“No,” Hermione replied. Ron’s face lit up. “I read it in
Magik Most Evile when I was doing research about Horcruxes.”
“Let’s keep looking around the house. Maybe there
will be something of interest in the upstairs.” Harry proceeded
up the long staircase to the second floor, beckoning Ron and
Hermione to follow.
“Ron, could you give me a hand with this?” Harry
pointed to the door of a bedroom which had fallen sideways,
blocking entry to the room. Ron moved towards the door. “On
the count of three, we’ll lift it.”
“One…two…”
“Reducto!” Hermione shouted. There was a loud crack as
the door blew apart. “Just use magic. No one is going to suspect
us of being here anyway, Harry.” She walked past both of them
into the small room.
“My arm,” Ron cried. “My arm. Hermione, you’ve
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room, so I’d say that the trip was a success. I just want to have
a look at the kitchen. Maybe there is more stuff to take that I
could remember them by. Do you think that you could get Ron
up? I would like to leave the house as soon as I get out of the
kitchen.”
“I’ll try. Would you like us to come with you?”
“No, that won’t be necessary. Just wait in the living
room, will you?’
“All right. Holler if you need anything.”
Harry walked downstairs, taking another careful look at
his surroundings. Perhaps he could discover more about his past
if he kept his eyes open. But it was so late, and he was so tired.
Well, if he inspected the kitchen he could go back to Number
12 Grimmauld Place and get some much needed rest. He strode
through the doorway of the kitchen with newfound determina-
tion. As he made his first step towards the table, the floor fell
out from under him with an earth shattering crack, and he fell
underground.
“Hermione,” he called. There was no answer. “Hermione!”
Harry assumed that Ron was still asleep upstairs. In the mean-
time, he should inspect his surroundings. Harry looked down at
the stone floor, thankful that his hard fall did not break any of
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upstairs and the creak of the trapdoor opening. “Ron and I are
coming down now.”
“Okay. I found a bookcase down here. Hermione, that’s
your area of expertise. Have a look at the books. Maybe you can
find something useful.”
The three of them walked towards the bookshelf, but
Ron stopped them midway, a sudden gasp emanating from his
throat. “Ron. Are you all right?” Hermione grabbed him, anx-
iously checking on his wound.
“I’m fine, Hermione. Just look on top of the bookshelf.
Right there.” He pointed. “Do you see that?”
“It is a—,” Hermione began.
“Bust of a lion,” Harry finished for her. “Ron, I think
you may have found a Horcrux.”
Hermione looked at the bust for a second. “But, Harry,
it can’t be a Horcrux.”
“Why not? It fits Dumbledore’s ideas perfectly. He said
that it needed to be something of Gryffindor’s or Ravenclaw’s.
It is also sitting in the basement, which is only accessible by a
hidden trap door—”
“Or Bundimun infestation,” Ron added.
“Or Bundimun infestation,” Harry repeated. “That
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Chapter Five
Apparent Lack of Progress
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had almost been a game at the time, a game that he had won
simply by perseverance, luck, and the help of his fellow Death
Eaters. Now that his first task was over, his other tasks were not
nearly as exciting. Acquiring dark artifacts each day had become
as mundane as brushing his teeth, but far more dangerous. He
wanted out, but once you were a Death Eater, there was no way
to quit.
“I repeat, Draco. Are you going to kill Borgin yourself,
or am I going to have to do it for you? The Dark Lord wants
it done, and if you are not going to do it, I will. He is not a
patient man. Don’t test him.”
“Don’t worry, Severus—”
“Professor Snape, Draco. Professor Snape.”
“Why? We are equals now, and besides, you are not a
professor anymore.”
“But I am still your teacher. Professor Snape, Draco. Say
it.”
“Okay, Professor Snape, it will be done. I will kill
Borgin, but I need more time. Give me more time and the deed
is done.”
“No more time, Draco. The Dark Lord does not have
patience for it.”
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* * *
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from his father that recently that refuted this idea. He said that
he was running an errand for the Dark Lord, and that he would
not be home for some time. Draco did not believe a word of it,
still believing that his father remained imprisoned in Azkaban.
But he did not want to worry his mother, so he assured her that
everything was all right.
“Good morning, Draco,” she replied tiredly. Ever since
Lucius’s capture, she had seemed to have given up on life.
She moved much more slowly, her head always looking to the
ground. When she did raise her head, the bags under eyes were
large and visible. It looked as though she had not slept in weeks.
“I’ve made some toast for you. There is some jam in the fridge,
so help yourself.”
“Thanks. I’ve got to go to a meeting later, at around
noon.”
“With a Death Eater? I’m worried about you, Draco.
You’ve been running errands for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named
for weeks. Your father’s whereabouts are still unknown, and
the Ministry is hot in pursuit of the Death Eaters. Every time
they come by the house, I have to hide you in that secret room
attached to the basement. Draco, you aren’t safe here.”
“Mother, I’m going to be fine. Don’t worry about me.
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“I will kill Borgin one week from today, but not before
then.”
“He is going to put other Death Eaters in place around
the perimeter, but they need to complete their own tasks first.
Cooper, he started just after you did, is dealing with gaining
the support of the vampires in Albania. Cooper was an Auror,
but he defected. He was the expert on vampires at the Ministry
for a long time, but he’s working for us now. He thinks he will
finish in a few days. There’s plenty of blood to go round once
the Dark Lord controls the world.” Professor Snape smiled mis-
chievously.
“And what about Crabbe and Goyle?” Draco asked, try-
ing not to sound too interested.
“They’re working together in Romania. The Dark
Lord wants to free some Dragons from the preserve. The West
Country has recovered nicely from the Giant attack, so he is
planning on sending Dragons to burn the place down. It really
is brilliantly planned out. Hopefully, we can coordinate your
attack so that it coincides with the Dragon attack. That way, it
will minimize Ministry participation in the murder of Borgin.
You will be free to easily attack Borgin and get away without
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Chapter Six
Bartering with Borgin
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ing under shelves, counters, and getting down on his hands and
knees to search the floor. After a few minutes, Harry finally real-
ized what Borgin was after.
“Oh, sorry. I’ve still got your wand.” Harry handed the
wand to Borgin, careful to point the tip away from himself. “I
picked it up when Ron knocked you out.”
Borgin snatched it out of Harry hand, pointed his wand
towards the wall and uttered, “Alohomora.” A hole in the wall
opened up with a small, battered scroll inside. Borgin pulled it
delicately from its hiding place. “This is what I need you to hold
on to. It is some sort of riddle having to do with Slytherin’s lock-
et. At least, that’s what I’ve been told. You’ll need some knowl-
edge of ancient runes to read it though. Tom left the scroll in
my care, telling me to only give it to someone who displayed the
Dark Mark. Somehow, Regulus Black figured out that I had the
scroll and took it from me. When the Blacks found him dead
up north, Sirius returned the scroll to me, saying that he wanted
nothing to do with it. Now that You-Know-Who disappeared,
I felt no need to follow his orders. Be careful with that scroll. I
don’t know what it is for, but take good care of it. Something
that old is worth a lot of money to the right buyer.”
“Fine. I’ll hold on to it.” Harry removed the scroll
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Chapter Seven
The Old Smith House
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former home.”
“You can’t be serious.” Ron sat up again. “Last time you
and Harry went alone you almost got yourselves killed. Lucky I
showed up to save the day.”
“Lucky you didn’t collapse right after you apparated you
should say. Honestly, Ron, you don’t even have your license yet,”
Hermione retorted.
Harry walked into the room, failing to stifle the yawn as
he talked, “Whaat arrrre yoooou taaalking abouuuut nooow?”
“Eh, Harry? Could you repeat thaaat?” Ron began to
yawn as well. Hermione could barely suppress a giggle.
“What are you talking about now?” Harry asked in a
much more understandable voice.
“Ron wants to join us when we go to Hepzibah Smith’s
former residence,” Hermione replied matter-of-factly.
“How is he feeling?”
“I feel fine,” Ron replied looking peeved. “I’m in the
room, you know. You can direct your questions at me.”
“Would you like to join us, Ron?” Harry asked care-
fully.
“Harry, I just said that—“
“Yes,” Ron interrupted. “I feel fine.”
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You, too, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger. I’m going to send an
owl to your parents right away.”
“Wait, Mrs. Smith,” Hermione pleaded. “Please don’t
do that. We need your help.”
“Why?”
“Do you know where we could find the artifacts of
Hepzibah Smith? We are looking for a specific one; a cup, of
sorts.” Hermione answered guardedly.
“You can try the attic. It is cluttered up there, but
Hepzibah knows where everything is. Just ask her and she’ll find
them for you.”
“Just ask her?” Ron asked incredulously. “She’s dead.”
“She’s a ghost,” Mrs. Smith replied. “She could not bear
to part with her artifacts, her “collection” as she called it, so she
chose to look at them forever. It is quite the annoyance, actu-
ally. We can’t sell the things for money, and lord knows I could
not be less interested in artifacts anyway. It is just perfectly good
space in the attic gone. I can’t complain though. It gives me
someone to talk to when Zacharias is at school and Alden is at
work.”
“Alden?” Harry asked.
“My husband. He works as a judge for the Wizengamot.
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about, is it?”
“No, Hepzibah. I would like to know where I could find
the cup that Tom stole from you. It contained powerful magic,
yes?”
“Very powerful, Mr. Potter, very powerful indeed.
Those who drank from the cup were given great strength from
the cup. It could not heal injuries, but it would remove any feel-
ing of pain in the body.”
“Do you know where it is?” Hermione asked.
“I haven’t the foggiest, Miss Granger. He just laughed to
himself as he left. He just laughed. I remember looking down
from the top of the stairwell, hearing his voice cackle as he left,
seeing my limp body lying there in my chair.” She burst into
tears. Hermione reached out to pat her shoulder, momentarily
forgetting that Hepzibah was a ghost, her hand passing straight
through Hepzibah’s body.
Harry could see that they were getting nowhere. “We
have to be going now, Hepzibah,” he aid, using his politest
voice. “Thank you for all your help.” Harry backed up towards
the ladder down from the attic. Hermione and Ron followed
suit.
“Oh. And, Harry, when you find the cup, would you
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bring it back here to me? I should very much like to see it one
last time.”
“We’ll do our best, Hepzibah.” The three of them
promptly left the attic.
“Harry,” Hermione whispered. “You aren’t actually
thinking of bringing it to her one last time, are you? Do you
realize how dangerous that could be?”
“You’re right, Hermione. She shouldn’t see it, but we’ll
just keep this to ourselves. There is no need to upset Hepzibah
further.”
Zacharias Smith met them at the bottom of the stairs.
“Did you find what you were looking for, Harry?” He almost
spat out the name. Apparently Zacharias hadn’t forgiven Harry
for their differences of the last two years.
“Mostly. Tell your mother we send our best. We’ve really
got to be going,” Harry opened the door and the three of them
stepped outside.
“I’ll see you in September, Potter?” Smith asked.
“Y—Yes. Of course. I’ll see you in September.”
Once they were safely out of earshot, Ron said what
was truly bothering him:“We just wasted an entire day at the
Hepzibah woman’s house and we still know absolutely nothing
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Chapter Eight
All in One Piece
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keep their children close to them than send them off to a school
where they may be unsafe anyway.”
Harry decided he’d better end the conversation before
he gave away his identity and those of his pals. “Goodbye, Tom.
We’ll see you later.” Harry tapped the brick in the back of the
pub and Diagon Alley came into view.
“Well, I guess we won’t be the only ones not going back
to Hogwarts this year,” Ron whispered to Hermione. “I mean,
Tom said loads of parents are keeping their kids home.”
“Except, Ron, that our parents aren’t keeping us home,”
she whispered back. “I’m not even sure if we should tell them.”
“Here we are, Borgin and Burkes. Ron and Hermione,
I’m going to need you to distract some of the Aurors while I go
into the shop. I’ve still got my cloak, so that shouldn’t be too
much of a problem. I’ll come get you when I’m done looking
around and we can go to the Ministry.”
“Fine, Harry,” Hermione replied. “I’ll go talk to Kingsley.
Ron, you distract the other Auror by the door.”
“Kingsley, Kingsley Shacklebolt. I haven’t seen you in
a long time.” Hermione walked in his direction. “How have
you been?”
“Miss Granger? The Ministry has been looking for you
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for weeks. Are Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley with you?”
“Ron is, but Harry is, er, running some errands at the
moment.”
“Your parents are worried sick, especially yours,
Hermione. I mean, they’re Muggles and they don’t know any-
thing about the Wizarding World. At least Ron’s parents under-
stand what’s going on, although Mrs. Weasley isn’t too happy
with the current situation either. Arthur is still working at the
Ministry. Maybe you should visit him, you know, show him that
you are all right.” Harry snuck past Kingsley and through the
open door.
“We’re heading over to the Ministry as soon as Harry
has finished his errands. He has a few things that he needs to
pick up for school.” Hermione was surprised at how much easier
it was to lie than it had been in her first year at Hogwarts. So
much had changed since then, and not all of it for the better.
“Oh, so you three are going back to Hogwarts? Most
people aren’t sending their children to school this year. It’s good
that you’re going.”
“Tom said the same thing. You’d think that parents
would still think of Hogwarts as a safe place. I’m sure that it
has better protection than their homes.” Hermione knew what
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Kingsley was going to say next, but it was far more important
to keep the conversation going than to show how much she
knew.
“It is just that ever since Dumbledore died, people no
longer think of Hogwarts as a safe place. Dumbledore was the
only one You-Know-Who ever feared, feared him while he was
in school, I imagine. Even so, with Dumbledore’s death and the
Death Eater attack, Hogwarts just does not seem as safe as it
used to be.”
“Not nearly as safe, I’d agree. Are there going to be
Aurors protecting the school this year?”
“Yes.”
“Yet parents still won’t send their children to Hogwarts,
even with the protection of Aurors.”
“After the disaster at the Ministry a year and a half ago,
it seems as though the Aurors are not strong enough to stand up
to the Death Eaters. And even though I hate to admit it, we may
not be ruthless enough to be able to. They are willing to kill us
at every turn and the best we can do is to stun them. Not a fair
fight if you ask me.”
“Ow.” Hermione stumbled backwards a bit as Harry
knocked into her in warning. Unsure whether she got the mes-
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sage, Harry repeated the action with Ron. “Whoops. I’ll see you
later, Kingsley; Ron and I have got to meet Harry. We’re going
to head over to the Ministry now.”
“If you don’t, young lady, we’re going to take you in our-
selves. In fact, I think that I am going to accompany you.”
“No, that’s not necessary.” Hermione looked nervously
over at Ron.
“No, I’ll accompany you. I’m not letting you slip out of
the Ministry’s sight again.”
Harry ran out of sight of Borgin and Burkes and pulled
off his Invisibility Cloak. Stowing it away carefully, he walked
briskly back towards Ron and Hermione. “Are you ready to
leave?”
“Yes, but Kingsley would like to come with us. Now
that the Ministry has found us they are not so keen on letting
us go again.”
“Not a problem, not a problem.” Harry moved closer to
Ron. “Listen,” he whispered. “As soon as we pass our Apparition
test we’ll just have to sneak out again.”
“Are you ready? You don’t need to buy any more books
for school, do you?” Shacklebolt asked Harry.
“No, I’ve found everything that I need.” Harry grinned
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they were okay also. The clock also said that you were sick for
a few days, but I guess Hermione took good care of you.”
“It was nothing, really, Mr. Weasley.” Hermione brushed
her hair back slightly. “Ron was bitten by Bundimuns, but we
cured him rather quickly.”
“Where were you that there were Bundimuns?” Mrs.
Weasley asked angrily as she stormed out of the elevator, taking
her place beside her husband. Hermione looked towards Harry,
unsure whether to go on or whether to let Harry speak.
“Godric’s Hollow.” Harry replied quickly. Mr. and Mrs.
Weasley gasped audibly . “I had to see where everything began,
where my parents were murdered. We walked into the house,
and it seemed stable. It was only later that we learned that the
house was collapsing. Ron fell through the floor to the cellar and
was later bitten by Bundimuns, just as we were leaving; in fact,
Hermione saved him. She gave him large amounts of water,
turning the otherwise toxic Bundimun fluid into just some
soapy cleaning solution. It was brilliant, just brilliant.”
“It bloody was. I’d be dead right now if it wasn’t for
Hermione.” Ron smiled briefly at her. “The house collapsed
around us as we were leaving, so there is really nothing left to
see.”
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Chapter Nine
The Phoenix Falls
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place was filled, for at last, Severus Snape had taken his old place
once again. Now the Death Eaters were complete.
“We have not met together in this circle since I first
came back to full strength, and the circle was much smaller
then, much emptier. Now we are strong once more.” A hurrah
came up from the mouths of the Death Eaters, revealing their
eagerness to do their master’s bidding. “For a long time, I have
met with each of you individually, assigning you tasks and mis-
sions that were unique. We have not met as a group for a long
time, but we are together once more and even more powerful
than before.” A cheer came up once again. “Now,” Voldemort
spoke softly. “That Snape has rejoined our ranks.”
All the Death Eaters fell silent, glancing first at each
other, and then staring through their masks at Severus Snape,
the final man to join the circle. A Death Eater to the Dark
Lord’s left side bowed. “My lord. I do not think that we can
trust Snape. He has returned only recently, and he has aided the
Order for years.” The Death Eaters began to murmur to each
other, each trying demonstrate his own opinion to his compan-
ions.
“Silence!” Lord Voldemort shouted “Silence. Severus
Snape has spied on the Order and Albus Dumbledore for years
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you have such hatred for filthy Muggles and Mudbloods, but
you have no ability to use it for your advantage.”
“But My Lord, we have not had the practice necessary,”
a new Death Eater named Livy argued.
“Well practice makes perfect then, doesn’t it? Yes, young
Livy. You shall most certainly have the practice you so desper-
ately need.” Voldemort held up the list for all to see. “Right here
I have your tasks which you must complete. Most of them have
to do with terrorizing other wizards and muggles, but some bear
great importance in our upcoming battle with the remnants of
the Order. The Phoenix has fallen, my servants. Soon, there will
be no one to stand in our way.” Voldemort breathed in deeply,
clenching his hands into two tight fists, smelling the glory that
would soon be his.
* * *
Harry awoke, his scar burning sharply in his forehead.
He sat up quickly in bed, his body in a cold sweat. His elbow
knocked the teacup on his nightstand onto the ground, shatter-
ing it into tiny pieces. Ron was the first to reach him. “Harry,
are you all right?”
Harry hurriedly replied, “I’m fine, Ron. Don’t worry
about it. It was just a bad dream.”
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had one task left to assign to the last three Death Eaters, a task
of utmost importance. It was simply really, just a one step task.
There were no catches or gimmicks and these three Death Eaters
should be able to accomplish it on their own. “Malfoy, Pinter,
step forward please.” Draco Malfoy strode forwards, trying to
hide the fear in his eyes and his accelerated heartbeat. Pinter, the
last Death Eater to earn his place in the clan tried to hide his
fear too. His legs shook as he walked and Voldemort could see
that he was none to happy with being called at the end of the
list. “Come faster!” Voldemort shouted, knocking Pinter to the
ground and pulling him forward with his wand.
“Are you ready for your task?” Voldemort hissed, petting
the top of Nagini’s head as he slithered up his shoulder. “I think
that you will like this one, young Draco. You will enjoy this task
indeed. After hearing of you belated success with Borgin, I’ve
decided to give you a more challenging task, one that you will
not do so slowly. Free your father, Draco. Yes, free your father.”
Pinter groveled at the Dark Lord’s feet. “Pinter, get up.” Lord
Voldemort pulled Pinter to his feet with one deft motion as
though he were a ragdoll.
“Pinter, you shall assist Draco. You have yet to prove
your worth as well. My most trusted aide, Severus will assist you
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both, but mainly just to keep an eye on you. If you do not suc-
ceed in this task, I’m certain that he will. Perhaps, Draco, you
may even find yourself jailed in your father’s old cell. Maybe
you can make a family tradition of it.” Voldemort chuckled to
himself lightly.
When they were gone, Voldemort smiled to Nagini.
“Let’s go to the cave, my dear. I think that I should want to see
the locket one more time. Dumbledore has taken my ring from
me, but with luck he may not yet have reached the locket.”
Voldemort wrapped Nagini around his neck, and in a loud crack
was gone.
* * *
Harry woke up much more calmly this time, a small
smile crossing his face. Voldemort had left for the cave and soon
would be thwarted by his missing locket. “Ron, Hermione,”
Harry called softly to his companions. “I know where Voldemort
is going.”
There was no answer. Ron was not in his bed, and as
Harry soon found out, Hermione’s room next door was unoc-
cupied. Harry ran down the stairs to the kitchen where he found
Ron and Hermione eating their breakfast. “One of you could
have woken me,” he declared.
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asked, afraid that she already knew what the answer was.
“Find Mundungus Fletcher. I’ll ask around the shops,
but now that Borgin’s dead, it is going to be a little harder than
it looks.”
“No you’re not, Harry. If Voldemort is looking for the
locket as well, which I’m certain that he will now that it is miss-
ing, we’re going after Mundungus together.” Hermione looked
stubbornly at Harry. Harry looked over at Ron for support, but
to his dismay, he found none to be had.
“Hermione’s right, Harry. You’ve got to come to the
Ministry first If we leave now, we’ll still have a head start on
Voldemort. Remember, Voldemort doesn’t even know that
Mundungus had possession of the locket, but he will soon.”
“Fine, I’ll come with you, but I am not happy about
it.”
* * *
“Please state your name, age, and purpose for this visit,”
the clerk at the ground floor of the Ministry of Magic began.
“Harry Potter, 17, visiting Arthur Weasley and Kingsley
Shacklebolt.”
“Harry Potter? Oh yes, I can see the scar. Splendid.
Would you sign this for me? My son has always wanted to meet
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you.” Harry grudgingly took the quill and parchment from the
clerk. “Thank you. Here you go.” He took the quill and parch-
ment back and gave Harry a nametag with his information.
“One more thing. Would you please roll up both your sleeves
and show me the inside of your arms?” Harry did as asked.
“Thank you, next.”
“Ronald Weasley, 17, visiting Arthur Weasley and
Kingsley Shacklebolt.”
“Here you are and would you please roll up your sleeves
for me.” Ron took the nametag and did as asked. “Splendid.
Your father would be most displeased if it turned out that you
were a Death Eater. And who is this lovely lady.” He pointed to
Hermione with one of his long crooked fingers.
“Hermione Granger, 17, visiting Arthur Weasley and
Kingsley Shacklebolt.”
“My, they sure have a lot of visitors today. I hope that
these are going to be short meetings because three of you have
arrived at the same time.”
Hermione giggled. “Mister—”
“Hornish,” the clerk filled in for her.
“Mr. Hornish, we are visiting them together. That is
why all three of us are here at the same time.”
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Ministry?”
“I’m actually working as a bodyguard for Ron’s father,”
Tonks replied with a grin. “It’s good work. I was just about to
follow him into the lunchroom.”
“Is my father in some kind of danger?” Ron asked wor-
riedly.
“No, thank goodness. Rufus Scrimgeour has just changed
protocol so that all heads of Ministry departments must have a
bodyguard. Most of the department heads just find that we
interfere with their work, so we try to stay out of the way.” Ron
looked visibly relieved. “Shall we go in, then?” Tonks asked,
pulling the door open and gesturing inside.
“There’s your dad, Ron.” Harry pointed to a table near
the back where Mr. Weasley was eating with Kingsley, and two
other Ministry employees.
As they reached the trouble, one of the Ministry
employees looked up and said, “Arthur, I think one of your boys
is here.”
“Hello, Ron. What are you doing here? That’s twice in
two days that you’ve been to the Ministry.”
“Erm, Dad,” he began quietly. “I was wondering if we
could speak to you and Kingsley in private.”
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Harry.”
“Last night I had two dreams, or rather, visions, I should
say. In the first, Voldemort gathered all of his Death Eaters to
him and informed them the Order has collapsed and that he is
planning to take power soon.” Mr. Weasley nodded gravely .
He knew very well that Harry’s dreams were often visions. One
such vision had saved his life two years earlier, when Voldemort’s
snake Nagini bit him in the Ministry itself. “In the second,
Voldemort ordered Draco Malfoy, Severus Snape and a Death
Eater named Pinter to free Lucius Malfoy from Azkaban. I’m
certain that they are attempting to break him out soon, probably
even tonight. You’ve got to post some sort of guard, some means
of preventing the Death Eaters from freeing Lucius Malfoy.”
“I see,” Arthur replied grimly. “Are you certain that this
was a vision?”
“Completely, sir,” Harry replied earnestly.
“Kingsley, please go tell the Minister that there is evi-
dence that suggests that three Death Eaters are going to attempt
to break Lucius Malfoy from prison tonight. Harry, Ron, and
Hermione, I think it best that you leave now before Rufus hears
that you have come. Tonks, would you please show them out of
the building?”
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of the Slug Club knows about the Horcruxes as well,” Ron spat
out bitterly. His memories of Slughorn were none to fond, and
even though Hermione thought that he was very friendly, slugs
were just not Ron’s cup of tea.
“Well, Professor Slughorn isn’t going to say anything
either. It took a whole lot of luck just to get that one memory
out of him, and he was roaring drunk then. I doubt that he’d
be willing to say anything about Voldemort now.” Just as Harry
finished, a small, spindly man carrying a large sack rammed into
him, knocking him to the ground.
The man stopped and uttered, “Excuse me,” but after
seeing Harry’s face ran away just as quickly as he had arrived.
“It’s Mundungus,” Harry rasped, the wind knocked out
of him. “Pull me up. After him.”
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Chapter Ten
Dung’s Demise
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“If you don’t mind,” Harry whispered, “I’d really like for you to
get your knee off of my stomach now.” Hermione got up slowly,
trying to maintain a hold on part of the bed, but she quickly
lost her balance once again as the bus turned to avoid smashing
into two taxi cabs.
“Bloody taxi drivers,” Ernie muttered to himself. “Always
cutting me off when I’m trying to get somewheres.” With a
sudden stop, the Knight Bus parked in front of The Leaky
Cauldron.
“Nice to see ya, Harry. Next time, of course, you’ll be
a paying customer. I’ve got to make a living, you know.” Stan
Shunpike tipped his hat, boarded the bus, and sped off.
A bright light showed through the tiny window on the
door of The Leaky Cauldron. Harry and Hermione opened the
door slowly, hoping to catch Mundungus off guard if he was
already inside. “Harry Potter, would you care for some but-
terbeer? You red-haired friend has already downed five, and he
looks to be a tad full.”
“My red-haired friend?” A puzzled look crossed Harry’s
face for a moment.
“Harry,” Hermione whispered, tugging on the right
sleeve of his robe. “It’s Ron.” She pointed in Ron’s direction and
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gest that they go home when a scraggly many with a large bag
walked into the pub.
“Hello, Tom,” he began cheerfully.
“Would you like something to drink, Mr. Fletcher?”
Tom asked, hoping to sell just a few more drinks before clos-
ing.
“No, thank you. I’m just passing through.” He gave Tom
a short bow, and walked into the back of the pub. Harry, Ron
and Hermione jumped to their feet and walked slowly to the
back wall after Mundungus, but by the time they reached him,
he had already opened the door to Diagon Alley. It was already
dark in the alley, but a few shops were still open. Mundungus
must have noticed that they were after him, because all of a
sudden, he broke into a run, speeding down the main street of
Diagon Alley. Moments later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione ran
after him.
It was getting harder and harder to see, and the three
friends could barely make out the shape of Mundungus in his
black cloak. Without even thinking, Harry pulled out his wand
and silently sent as series of Stupefy spells in Mundungus’s
general direction. They all missed, but one stray bolt smacked
straight into a shop sign, sending it smashing to the ground.
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Shield cloaks and hats, but we’ve got a new product line on the
way. Can’t tell you though. Top secret.” He winked.
The shop looked rather eerie now that it was empty of
its customers. The main part of the shop was solely illuminated
by the light of the moon, and the store seemed entirely devoid
of color. Without the young children and bright colors, the shop
was as frightening and foreboding as Borgin and Burke’s.
“I think I like your store better in the daytime,” Ron
commented, and Harry was glad that someone shared his senti-
ments.
“Here, try on these glasses.” George reached out with his
free hand, and snatched two pairs of glasses from a shelf. “Ron,
Hermione, put these on.”
“Amazing. How did you get these to work?” Hermione
asked, looking all around the room.
“It was simple, really. We call them our Lumos glasses,
great for children and squibs. They allow you to see in the dark,
even if you can’t cast the lumos spell yourself. We found that
they were even better than a wand because they give light only
to the wearer.”
“Like Malfoy’s Hand of Glory,” Hermione exclaimed.
“Do they also work with your darkness powder?”
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“Yep, just the same way. You can see right through the
Peruvian Darkness Powder. The glasses only last for two weeks
before they need to be replaced, and I believe that they’ll fit right
over your glasses as well, Harry.” He handed a pair to Harry who
put them on. “See, perfect fit.”
“That’s quite the sales pitch you two have,” Ron
responded in surprise.
“I have, you mean. I taught George everything he
knows,” Fred replied.
“Hogwash. You wouldn’t have gotten this far without
me,” George retorted.
“With all of you just stop talking, please,” Mundungus
complained. “You don’t even need to ask where the locket is. I’ll
tell you if you just stop bothering me, and give me one of those
pairs of glasses.”
“Sorry, Mundungus. We just can’t do that. The glasses
are prototypes. We can, however, offer you a free box of can-
dies.” Fred handed Mundungus a box of Nosebleed Nougat and
Fainting Fancies.
Mundungus grumbled to himself, “Fine, at least this
hasn’t been a total loss.”
Just as Mundungus was about to have a piece of
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times. The wall came away, revealing a large inner hallway, illu-
minated brightly by chandeliers filled with candles. “Wow, this
place doesn’t look so bad,” Ron marveled. “This hall looks as
fancy as the one at Hogwarts.”
“Every penny of it stolen,” Mundungus boasted proudly.
“We have to go through the pub in order to get to my room, so
get your powder ready. If they catch me bringing you here they
are going to have all of our hides.” Fred and George loosened
the bags of Peruvian Darkness Powder.
Mundungus stepped into the room first, but it was empty,
except for the bartender. “Anything to drink, Mundungus?”
“Not tonight, thanks.” Fred and George threw the dark-
ness powder all around the room as they entered.
“Mundungus, where did you go?” the bartender asked.
“I’m just going into my room. The candles must have
blown out when I opened my door. I left the window open
again.”
“Bloody hell, Mundungus. That’s the third time you’ve
done that.” Mundungus did not answer. He recovered the
locket and showed it to Harry. Harry examined the locket care-
fully, making sure that it was real. Mundungus held up his bag
of candies, and quickly shooed them from the bedroom. Once
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164
Chapter Eleven
In Blackest Night
“Go on, Harry. Open it,” Ron urged before they went to
bed. Harry had given Fred and George the guest’s bedroom on
the floor below, and from their snores, they sounded as though
they were sleeping peacefully.
“I’m not sure that I should, Ron. Not with your broth-
ers here at any rate. Remember what Dumbledore said, that we
three were the only ones who were supposed to know about the
secret. I’d like to keep it that way. I’ll open it after they leave in
the morning.”
“We didn’t have an easy time of it two years ago, so I just
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NIGHT
this house?”
“Hermione’s got a point, you know, Ron. Perhaps we
should wait just a little longer, you know, do a bit of research
before we get in over our heads. Dumbledore never said any-
thing about getting rid of Horcruxes. He just taught me what
they were and how to find them.”
“Our owls arrived this morning with the books we’ll
need for this year, so I think that we should pay a visit to
Flourish & Blotts,” Hermione said, always the eager student.
“Term starts tomorrow, and I see no reason not to get the read-
ing material. We don’t all need copies, but I think that it would
be good to try and learn the spells on our own, especially the
Defense Against the Dark Arts spells.”
“Agreed,” Ron mumbled through his last mouthful of
eggs.
“Fine by me. Maybe we can look for a book in Flourish
& Blotts that will have information on Horcruxes. As for cloth-
ing, we’re going to have to blend in with the Muggles a little
better if we are going to live in London. We’ll have to get some
Muggle clothes from the place next door to Madame Malkin’s.”
Harry looked down at his grimy nightclothes. “Maybe some
new pajamas as well.”
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NIGHT
Finally, Harry paid for the books, his coin purse becom-
ing considerably lighter as he did so, and Ron and Hermione
followed him out of the store. “We’re going to have to get some
Muggle clothing now,” Hermione began. “And then I think we
should go home for a bit of practice.” Upon hearing a groan
from Ron, she nodded fervently. “Just because we are no lon-
ger in school doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t keep learning. If
You-Know-Who comes our way, we have to be ready for him.
Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Harry and Ron replied, nodding their heads
quickly.
The Muggle Emporium was a large store with a very
small selection. The owner, Callan Amaranta, seemed unable
to understand that the styles of Muggle clothing changed about
as often as the seasons. Most of her selection was Victorian
clothing, puffy dresses and uncomfortable corsets, but in the
back was a small selection of baseball caps. Harry whispered to
Ron and Hermione, “Let’s each get a cap, and then get out of
here. They don’t have anything that wouldn’t attract attention.
Hermione, I think we are going to have to ask your parents to
send us clothing. You should send them an owl tonight.”
“Fine with me,” Ron replied. “I don’t even want one
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the wand affects the properties of the vine that emanates from
the wand. Unicorn hair causes the vines to be made of silver,
and the book says that it is good against Werewolves. It prob-
ably won’t kill one, but the werewolf would be unable to break
out of its binds.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ron replied. “It looks like my
wand might do us some good after all.”
“What does it say about phoenix feather or dragon
heartstring?” Hermione asked.
“It doesn’t have any information about phoenix feather,
but it says that dragon heartstring works like a stupefy spell,
stunning the person that it binds. Depending on the power of
the wizard that wields the wand, it may cause mild burns as well.
Let’s try these out on something inanimate, perhaps a chair.”
“How does it go?” Ron asked Harry.
“Viteus adligo,” Harry replied, careful to point his wand
at the table. Some spells were temperamental, and it would not
be good to hit Ron or Hermione without knowing what his
wand would do. “It says to retract the vines, just respond viteus
retexo. This shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“Do you mind if I go first?” Hermione asked, pulling
out a chair from the table. “Viteus adligo,” she shouted, and
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fiery vines flew out from her wand, quickly wrapping themselves
around the chair. “It worked!” she exclaimed.
“Hermione, we’re very happy for you, but would you
please retract the vines from the chair and put out the fire you’ve
just created,” Harry replied grimly. “We can only live in this
house if it hasn’t burned down.”
“Right, sorry. Viteus retexo,” she shouted, and the vines
retracted back into her wand. “Aqua erupto.” The flaming chair
was doused in water, putting out the flame instantly. “You’re up
next, Ron.”
“Right, okay. Um…Viteus adligo,” he said, silvery
vines emerging from his wand and constricting the already
burnt chair. He smiled and looked to Harry and Hermione for
approval. “Viteus retexo,” he said again, returning the vines back
into his wand.
“Stand back guys. I’m not sure what my vines are
going to do, but whatever it is, it could be dangerous.” Ron
and Hermione moved back towards the stairs, each one stand-
ing to one side of the stairwell. “Viteus adligo,” Harry declared.
“Bright red, glowing vines sprouted rapidly from his wand,
binding themselves quickly to the chair. At first, nothing
strange happened, but soon, part of the vines began to darken,
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other side, if you please.” Harry turned the locket around. “Aha,
the mark of Salaazar Slytherin. I have seen this locket before.”
Hermione and Ron moved closer to the portrait. “Yes, I have
seen it around the neck of Regulus Black!”
“Wait, Regulus Black was in possession of the locket?”
Harry asked, mildly confused.
“Yes, exactly. Regulus was found dead in a small cabin
in the north. At the time, he was wearing the locket around
his neck. There were no signs of trauma in his passing, so the
Ministry immediately assumed that he was killed by Death
Eaters for betraying their cause. I, however, believe differently.
If the Death Eaters truly killed him, wouldn’t they have taken
Slytherin’s locket from him? The mark of Salaazar Slytherin is
not easily missed, and I’m sure that You-Know-Who would have
been happy to have had a relic from his past.”
“So, then why did he die?” Harry, asked, clearly intrigued
by what this meant.
“I believe,” Phineas Nigellus leaned closer for emphasis
and whispered, “the locket killed him.”
“But I still don’t see how Regulus came to be in posses-
sion of the locket in the first place, unless…”
“R.A.B., the person from then note in the fake locket,
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An Old Friend
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left arm.
Before Harry even had time to react, Ron yelled,
“Episkey!” and the thin line of blood closed up. “You see, Harry.
Just as I said. We’re here to stand by your side.” He turned
towards Hermione. “Do you think that the locket is encased in
magic, maybe even sealed by magic?”
Hermione nodded slowly. “It is possible. I guess that
makes perfect sense. I mean, clearly You-Know-Who would
have used magic to seal the locket, otherwise anyone would be
able to remove the Horcrux from it.”
“My Dad once told me about a trunk of phony amulets,
turns out they were just pendants with quartz in them, that
the Ministry confiscated from a vendor in Knockturn Alley.
The vendor opened the trunk with a certain spell, and when
he closed the trunk, it locked itself with the same spell. The
Ministry opened it rather quickly, but it was still a well-done
charm, at least, that’s what my Dad said. Perhaps that is how
the locket remains closed. There aren’t that many locking spells.
We’ll just have to find out which one will open the locket.”
“And that will get rid of the Horcrux as well, correct?”
Harry asked, looking to Ron hopefully.
“It might, Harry. But I doubt it,” Hermione interrupt-
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him, have you? Ron likes you, and you can’t just betray him like
this. You can’t.”
“It was nothing like that at all, Harry.” She tried to calm
him down.
“Then what is it like?” Harry replied angrily.
“Viktor went to Durmstrang for seven years. I just
wanted to know if hew knew anything about Advanced Dark
Magic.”
“You mean Horcruxes. You told Viktor about the
Horcruxes. Dumbledore said not to tell anyone.”
“But we had no choice, Harry. We were at our wits’ end.
I was hoping that Viktor would know something, and that he
would come here and be of some use to us. We can’t complete
this alone. When Dumbledore was alive the secret had to have
been kept a secret, but I trust Viktor, and I think that I have
made the right choice.”
“You should have consulted me first. You were blinded
by your beliefs that Voldemort would not initiate a sixteen year-
old Death Eater, but he did. Who’s to say that you understand
Krum well enough now? You haven’t seen him in two years.”
“Let’s go downstairs, Harry. What’s done is done. You
will see that I have made the right choice. I was wrong once, but
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might as well just try the Death Eaters and set them free once
more,” Hermione added bitterly. “It is interesting that no one
was killed. That is usually not the Death Eater’s style.”
“But it is Draco’s. Dumbledore said that Malfoy was
no killer, and he was right. Malfoy was just about to lay down
his wand before the other Death Eaters arrived at the rooftop.
Draco had all that time to kill Dumbledore, but he couldn’t.
Even then, it took Snape to finish the job.” Harry spat out
Snape’s name angrily. “I bet the guard was right. No other Death
Eater has felt so queasy about killing before.”
“What’s that you’re holding?” Ron asked Harry, eager to
change the topic to one less upsetting.
Harry cleared his throat and began to read in an overly
dramatic voice. “Desire for the Dark Arts: A Guide to the Power
and Majesty of Pain. It apparently has some new information
on Horcruxes.”
“Apparently?” Ron asked, mystified.
“Well, the majority of the information is in the form of
Ancient Runes, which are, unfortunately, not exactly my strong
point.” He smiled helplessly. “Hermione said she could figure it
out though.”
Ron nodded. “Excellent. I’m afraid to say that Chal-
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The Greater of Two Evils
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like to agree, but there are too many Death Eaters for us now
to overcome—not to mention that a Werewolf could sniff us
out up north, a Giant would tear apart nearby houses just to
find us, and a Dementor would be happy to perform the kiss.
Now we stand no chance of escape. Karkaroff had a year when
the Death Eaters were at their weakest. The Dark Lord has too
many allies.”
“So you just propose that we face him. You want us to
put our life in his hands. He could kill us any moment that
we are with him or put us under so much pain that we can no
longer think clearly. Do you really want to take that chance, or
rather, accept what we believe to be our fate?”
“Your lives are already at his mercy, Malfoys,” Snape
interrupted as he entered the room. “The Dark Lord expects
you to meet him in ten minutes. It would be wise not to dis-
appoint him at this juncture, for he does not seem to be any
angrier than he has been for the past month.”
“Are you to accompany us to the Dark Lord, then?”
Narcissa asked, clearly resigned to her fate.
“No. I’m just here to make sure that you do the right
thing.” Snape smiled cruelly.
“So the Dark Lord already suspects that we may flee,”
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and you are telling me that you couldn’t handle a few pesky
Ministry officials and that nuisance Harry Potter.” His voice
took on a much lighter tone. “Ah, you wisely keep your mouth
shut about my failed attempt at killing Potter myself, even
when I had him so firmly in my grasp. But I know that you
think it.” Voldemort tapped his head with the tip of his wand.
“Legilimancy. Thought is almost as bad.”
“My Lord, I think no such thing.”
“You lie, Lucius. Don’t lie to me.” Voldemort raised his
wand in anger, and Lucius feared what might come next.
“I’m sorry, My Lord. I couldn’t help myself. The
thought slipped into my mind. It was a moment of weakness. It
won’t happen again.”
“I should hope not, Lucius. Not just for your sake, but
for the sake of your family as well. I’d hate to see your wife sud-
denly burst out in pain.” Voldemort licked his lower lip, and
turned sideways, facing Narcissa with his entire wrath.
“My Lord, what would you have me do?” Lucius asked,
determined to keep Voldemort’s wrath away from his wife.
“Nothing, not any more. Avada Kedavra!” Voldemort
shouted. Lucius collapsed to the floor.
Narcissa screamed amidst a downpour of her tears, “My
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* * *
“Viktor said he would be here in just a few minutes,”
Hermione said, eyeing the letter in her hand carefully. It was
nearing two o’clock in the morning, the time at which Krum
promised that he would arrive.
“We should go outside. I haven’t told Krum where
we live, just in case. We can bring him inside as soon as he’s
arrived,” Harry responded.
“Fine, but I still don’t like this,” Ron added. “You might
say that you’re over him, but I don’t want to see those feelings
creeping back into your life again.”
“Don’t worry, Ron,”Hermione replied, rubbing his
shoulders. “Viktor and I just friends now. Let’s go outside. For
all we know he’s been pacing up and down the block looking
for us.”
Ron smiled at the thought. “Maybe we should just leave
him out there. I’m not too keen on having him here in the first
place.”
“Ron, you can’t just leave Viktor Krum, prized seeker
of the Bulgarian quidditch team outside in the middle of the
night,” Harry replied. “Let’s go bring him in.” Hermione
opened the door and walked outside. “And, Ron, don’t worry so
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much about Krum. Hermione likes you just the way you are,”
Harry added quietly.
“But what if ‘she likes him the way he is’ more?” Ron
asked half-mockingly, half in fear.
“She won’t,” Harry replied, and followed Hermione
outside. Ron, not wanting to leave Hermione alone with Viktor
Krum any more than he already had, stepped outside as well.
“Vell, if it isn’t Harry Potter,” he greeted warmly. “And
Ronald Weasley. Is that correct?” He looked over at Hermione
expectantly, but she offered him no help.
“Vell, I was just telling Her-my-oh-nee,” he began,
pronouncing her name very slowly and carefully. Ron could
not help but smirk at how ridiculous Krum sounded when he
pronounced Hermione’s name. “I am very happy to see you all.
I have missed you all so terribly, especially you, Her-my-oh-
nee.”
Hermione blushed briefly, but upon seeing the horror in
Ron’s face, she quickly changed the subject. “Viktor, we need
your help.”
“Yes, that is vat you were explaining to me in the letter,”
he responded in a thick accent. “But vat is this help that you
need?”
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destroying his soul when the ring in the Gaunt House was gone
as well. Only one Wizard could have gotten through so many
layers of protection, and now he was dead. There was nothing
for Voldemort to fear, but at the same time, there was more to
fear than ever before.
For the first time, he realized that he could not feel the
loss of part of his soul. He felt the same as he had before upon
the discovery that Lucius Malfoy’s foolishness was responsible
for the destruction of the diary. He did not feel the change when
Dumbledore, for it could only have been Dumbledore, he rea-
soned, destroyed the Gaunt ring. And because of this, he could
not foresee whether the Horcrux contained within his Salazaar
Slytherin’s locket had been destroyed as well.
So now he stood before the orphanage where he was
raised, where Hufflepuff ’s Cup, another one of his Horcruxes
was kept. If they destroyed too many pieces of his soul, he would
become mortal again, and Voldemort was determined not to let
that happen. If the Horcrux has been removed, it just means that
I will have to kill Harry Potter that much sooner, he thought to
himself bitterly.
Recently, he had tried to delve into Harry’s mind, but
he was met with little success. Some part of Harry was keeping
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door. The door to the wardrobe creaked upon quickly, and the
door was consumed in flames. Voldemort looked inside, saw that
the cup was still there, and turned around, satisfied. He left the
way he came, confident that he would live forever. Dumbledore
was gone, and no other Wizard could take this Horcrux from
its resting place. Voldemort was certain of that much, and it
would be far better to leave it where it was safe than to carry it
with him. One never knew when a foolish Death Eater would
carelessly throw a piece of his soul away.
* * *
“Good morning, Harry.” Hermione roused him from
his bed. “Krum says that we have to get going if we want to
reach Durmstrang by nightfall. You can’t apparate within the
ground of Durmstrang either, and their grounds are four times
as large as Hogwarts’. Krum says we should bring brooms. We
can’t use them if it is too windy, but if not, it will shorten our
trip by a lot.”
“I’m not going with you,” Harry answered groggily.
“Of course you are. Viktor told us the plan last night.
We’ve got to recover some books on Horcruxes.”
“Hermione, I had a vision last night. I know where
Voldemort is keeping Hufflepuff ’s Cup. He went there last
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Chapter Fourteen
The Halls of Durmstrang
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can, but they have very long tusks. Ve need to stay near the
ground as it gets darker so that ve do not get lost on the way to
the school.”
“Get lost, Krum? You mean you’re not even sure where
the bloody place is?” Ron asked angrily. “What are we out here
for if you can’t even find Durmstrang? How many castles are
there in this place anyways?” He looked away for a second and
took a deep breath. “Sorry, Viktor. I was just getting a little
worried.”
“About going to Durmstrang or about me?” Ron stood
their silently. “Don’t vorry, Ron. I have a fiancée; I am not going
to try to take Hermione from you.”
Ron was visibly relieved, but he did his best not to show
it. “I see that you can pronounce her name.”
“I’ve gotten a lot of practice. There is not time to talk
of this now. Ve’ve got to get going; ve’ve vasted too much time
already.” He kicked off from the ground without waiting for Ron
and Hermione to follow. He circled them in the air until they
took off as well, and then they shot off towards Durmstrang.
After an uneventful trip, they arrived at Durmstrang just
as the sun was setting across the western sky. “Ve are not allowed
outside after the dusk has fallen, so ve should try to get inside
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while, had given him a piercing stare. “Not that I do not enjoy
the accommodations,” he added worriedly, hoping to prevent
house-elves from enduring further insults that could lead to a
desire for retaliation. Hermione’s angry eyes quickly returned to
their normal state as she too began to enjoy the delicious meal
that the house-elves had prepared.
“This is excellent,” Hermione commented once she had
finished eating. “I think that you should send these recipes to
Hogwarts.”
“I’m sorry, Hermione, but the recipe is one of the many
secrets of Durmstrang. Now that you know of the location of
the school, I cannot tell you anything more. I believe that I
should not have told you this much in the first place,” Viktor
answered evenly.
Hermione glanced at her watch. “Viktor, it is nearly
eight o’clock.”
“Vell, ve’ve got to get going then. The Owlery and the
library are near to each other, so the travel between the two loca-
tions should be very…easy.” He stood up from the table, and
pulled Hermione up after him. “This vay.” He led them out the
door, and they walked up the stairs briskly. “No one should be
sending letters at this time of night, so ve vill have no problem
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hiding out.”
Krum opened the door to the Owlery slowly, doing his
best not to attract attention to himself and his companions. The
door creaked loudly anyway, further emphasizing the age and
run-down conditions of Durmstrang. The three travelers slipped
inside, the smell of owl pellets overpowering their senses. Ron
grabbed his nose tightly. “Did your Owlery always smell this
bad?” Ron inquired nasally.
“It used to be better, but the school has become run-
down since the disappearance of Karkaroff. As soon as he left,
the building began crumbling, and I believe that they have
yet to bring in a new headmaster. That has only made matters
vorse.”
“I can see that. I cannot really understand why a school
would be better off with a former Death Eater as its headmas-
ter, but, apparently that is the case,” Ron replied sarcastically.
He was taking less and less of an interest in Durmstrang by the
minute. What had once seemed to have been an exciting pros-
pect, had soon become a chore in the dank, dark hallways that
were falling apart.
“If you do not like my school,” Krum replied, an anger
born out of loyalty coursing through his veins, “Then feel free
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“He said that you will only have six hours to do your
research. I think that should be enough time. I was thinking
about how to do this best just before I fell asleep. We have to be
sure to return to the Owlery a little early so that we can come
down in the morning. That way we can pretend that we arrived
early to mail a letter to our parents.”
“Perfect, Ron,” Krum complimented. “I’m impressed.
Ve have not time to vaste.” He held the door open and they
walked downstairs quietly. Unlike Hogwarts, there were no por-
traits lining the walls of the hallway making noises and giving
away wanderers in the middle of the night.
“Krum, do you think that it would be safe make a little
bit of light?” Hermione whispered.
“It vould not be a problem,” he replied. “Everyone else is
sleeping, and teachers usually do not vander the halls at night.”
“Lumos,” Ron and Hermione whispered together. A
faint light glowed from the tip of their wands, illuminating the
pitch-black hallway just enough to be navigable. Ron glanced
up at the ceiling, surprised at the intricate designs that seemed
to have weathered so well when the rest of Durmstrang had not.
He was no entranced by the design that he did not notice that
he had walked straight past the library.
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more books if it vere harder for them to find vhat they vere
looking for. He thought that perhaps they vould stumble across
some new topic that vould interest them, but in fact he only
deterred students from reading. As a result, the library has not
been organized for some time. Most students try not to go in
here, and those that do, leave their books on these desks so that
they vill be easier to find them later. That is vhat I was doing
vhen I vas a student here.”
“Great. We could spend our entire lives here and not
find a thing in this mess,” Ron said bitterly. “I mean, what are
the chances of finding anything useful if we don’t even know
what we are looking for, or where to find it?”
“Just look for books with the words ‘Dark Arts’, ‘Evil’,
or ‘Dark Magic’ in its title. Those books will give us our best
chances. Who knows, we may even be able to sneak some books
home with us. If you find a book named Desire for the Dark Arts:
A Guide to the Power and Majesty of Pain, give it to me imme-
diately. I believe that there are some words missing from Sirius’s
copy, words that might bear great importance later.”
“Um, Hermione,” Ron interrupted, looking extremely
distraught.
“What, Ron?” she asked.
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you translate the titles of these books that I just picked up?”
“Certainly.” He glanced at the first title and laughed
loudly. “A Vitch’s Guide to Cooking. How did that get here? Ve
have no vitches at Dumstrang.”
Hermione shrugged uncaringly. There were more
important things to consider than the number of witches at
Durmstrang. The other two are entitled, “Magical Me and I Vant
the Dart Arts: A Guide to the Strength and Kingship of Suffer.”
“Viktor, are the words strength and power the same in
Bulgarian?”
“Yes.”
“And kingship and majesty, are they the same as well?
“No, not really. Vhy, vhat are you getting at?”
“What about pain and suffer?”
“The same,” Krum replied, still unsure of what Hermione
was thinking. Hermione gave Ron a meaningful glance, but
unfortunately, he had already fallen asleep.
“So, could you also call the book,” she used a theatrical
voice, ‘Desire for the Dark Arts: A Guide to the Power and Majesty
of Pain?’”
“It sounds fine to me. Vere you looking for this book?”
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Chapter Fifteen
The Cup of the Badger
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let me in through the back door, and here I am,” she finished
somewhat bluntly.
“And here you are,” he replied, smiling to hide his con-
fusion. “You look tired. Why don’t you take a nice long shower?
I’ll fix us some breakfast. We leave at nightfall, so you’ve got the
whole day to rest up and get ready. Hermione’s got some extra
Muggle clothing that probably fits you, and I don’t think she’d
mind your wearing it.” He walked downstairs to the kitchen and
began to cook breakfast, leaving Ginny alone upstairs.
Harry opened the refrigerator and pulled out the fruit
bin. He did not know how to make oatmeal or eggs with magic,
and he thought it best that he not set the house on fire when
Hermione was away. He placed the fruit out on one of the cut-
ting boards and a knife beside them. Pointing his wand at the
fruit, he watched as they immediately peeled themselves. He
then pointed his wand at the knife, tapping his fingers idly as
itcut up two bananas. Once it finished cutting the bananas, it
moved on to the next fruit. Harry sat down at the kitchen table
and admired his handiwork. He just hoped that Hermione was
not saving the fruit for dinner. Once the fruit was chopped up
into little pieces, Harry poured it into a large bowl.
By the time Ginny arrived downstairs, Harry had already
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cleared the table and put the used dishes in the sink. “What’s for
breakfast, Harry?” Ginny asked as she came into view.
“Fruit salad. I know it isn’t a hot meal, but it was the best
I could do on such short notice. Actually, it is the best I can do,
period. Hermione usually does the cooking.”
Ginny smiled. “It looks great.” She grabbed a bowl and
sat down at the table.
“The clothes seem to fit,” Harry commented, eyeing
Ginny cautiously.
“They fit great. Hermione and I are the same size, ever
since last year.” She scooped a large amount of fruit into her
bowl and began eating. “It’s good, Harry,” she said, popping a
healthy chunk of banana into her mouth. “So what’s the plan for
today? Why’d Hermione call me in so suddenly?”
“She thinks that I am going to need help, but I explic-
itly told her that I was fine and that I didn’t want you to get
involved.”
“You didn’t want me involved? You said that at the
end of last year we couldn’t be together, but, Harry, I want to
help.”
“I don’t want your help. It’s too dangerous. If something
happened to you, I could never forgive myself.”
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“The same goes for you, Harry. If you got hurt, and
I could prevent it, I couldn’t forgive myself either. I’m sorry,
Harry, but I am coming with you.”
Harry stared at her sternly, but she met his gaze with an
equally powerful one. “Fine, you’re coming, but you do what
I tell you.” He remembered what Dumbledore had told him
when together they went to get the first Horcrux. “If I tell you
to flee, you have to go. No matter what, even if it means that
I might not make it out after you.” She nodded dumbly, sur-
prised by the fierceness of Harry’s determination.
“I promise. When do we leave?”
“Tonight. We have to go to an abandoned orphanage.
Voldemort was keeping something there, so I have to bring it
back to the house.”
“What is it?”
“I can’t say, at least not yet. Dumbledore promised that
I wouldn’t tell anyone what I was after.” He looked away from
her, hoping to prevent her from asking the inevitable question.
“Do Ron and Hermione know?” she asked, aware of
Harry’s uneasiness.
“Yes. Dumbledore suggested that I tell them, but I
didn’t want you to get involved. Are you sure that you want
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to know? It’s a big responsibility, and once you have this infor-
mation, there’s no turning back. You’ve got to keep it a secret.
No one can know except you. Professor McGonagall doesn’t
know, Remus Lupin doesn’t know. Once I tell you this, you are
one of five living people who know this secret, and of them is
Voldemort, and he sure isn’t going to tell anyone.”
“Don’t baby me, Harry. If I say I am going to keep it a
secret, I’m going to keep it a secret, no matter what it takes.”
“Okay then.” Harry took a deep breath. “Here goes.
Voldemort divided his soul into seven pieces, seven being the
most powerful magical number. He stored five of these pieces
in inanimate objects, one of them in his snake, Nagini, and the
last piece remains within his body. In a dream, Voldemort inad-
vertently showed me the location of one of these pieces, and the
object in which it is stored. I am sure that it is not the snake.
We, if you still wish to join me, that is, are going to recover this
object. When Hermione and Ron return from Durmstrang, we
are going to figure out how to destroy that part of Voldemort’s
soul.”
Ginny looked shocked for a moment, but she quickly
regained her composure. “Okay, fine. So what makes this so
dangerous, other than the fact that it is part of Voldemort’s
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soul?”
“Voldemort did not just leave his objects unguarded and
in places where they could be so easily found. When I went to
find a Horcrux with Professor Dumbledore—”
“A what?” Ginny asked.
“A Horcrux. That’s the name of the object which in
which the portion of the soul is stored.” She nodded, showing
that she understood. “When Dumbledore and I went to find
one of them, a locket, we had to enter a cave that was on the
side of a cliff.” Harry shuddered at the memory. “Dumbledore
had to give some of his blood in order to go through a door, find
a hidden boat, and go across Inferi infested waters to reach a
small island.” Ginny began to look uneasy. “Dumbledore drank
a potion from a bowl that weakened him considerably and gave
him much pain. Luckily, I could ease the pain with water, but
that awoke the Inferi, who then attacked us. We had quite a
battle on our hands before we left the cave. We managed to
overcome them though and make our way back to Hogwarts. I
believe you know the rest of the story.”
Giiny paused and then spoke. Her words were deliber-
ate. “It sounds dangerous, Harry, but if Dumbledore needed
two people, I guarantee that you will need help as well. I’m
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Voldemort went inside there was nothing but the empty ward-
robe, but I’m not so sure that he doesn’t have more defenses in
place.”
He felt around the room, doing his best to relax his mind
and to recall the motions that Dumbledore went through at the
cave. Ginny offered her help, but Harry told her to remain in
the center of the room. He wasn’t sure if there were creatures
that were lurking in the walls should he fail to find the lever. He
shuddered at the thought.
As time wore on, Harry remained just as unsure of
where the lever was as he had been when he first came into the
room. As far as he could tell, there was no aura of magic that
he could use to find out where the lever was located. “Lumos
Maxima,” he whispered, and soon the darkness of the room
became bright as day.
“Harry,” Ginny asked quietly, her hand trying to shield
her eyes from the brightness of the room. “Does that wall look a
bit transparent to you?” Harry looked where she pointed.
“You found it. Oh, you found it,” he repeated gleefully,
pulling on the lever and watching the door to Voldemort’s old
room opened wide. He kissed her hard on the mouth. “And
now for the last bit.”
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Chapter Sixteen
Necare Horcrux
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them. I was by your side all night, and the moment I leave, you
wake up. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you were pull-
ing a Lavender Brown.” Harry smiled weakly, his jaw muscles
moving in deep pain. “I’ll bring you some soup in a little while.
Hermione found some old book; I think she is going to try to
translate it now.”
“Did she say what it was called?”
“No, and I couldn’t read it. The title was in another
language; probably Bulgarian is my guess, considering that they
had Krum with them.”
“They were at Durmstrang last night, doing research.
You’re probably right, but I don’t see how Hermione is going to
be able to translate it.”
“She said something about Ancient Runes. Just get some
sleep, and I will bring you some food in an hour or so. You are
still too weak to move much.”
“The cup, do you have the cup?” He looked about the
room frantically for it.
“I put it by your bedside last night, just before I went
to bed.”
He glanced at the nightstand near his table. “Good. I’ll
go back to sleep, but wake me up at the first sign of trouble.”
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down all the missing runes that are in the Durmstrang copy but
not in our copy, the books will give us some information.”
Hermione scribbled down the runes quickly. The pros-
pect that the gibberish might actually have some meaning
renewed both her confidence and her hope. “I’ve got it!” she
exclaimed, her face flushed with the excitement. Much to
Ginny’s dismay, she hugged Harry tightly. “In order to destroy
a Horcrux, one only need utter the words ‘Necare Horcrux.’ In
order to use the spell, one must use the object for its original
intention.”
“So what does that mean?” Harry asked.
“I think that you are supposed to wear the locket, or
something of that nature. The locket seems like it must have
some extra enchantments on itself, for starters. I mean, it’s been
around for who knows how long and it has no scratches or other
damages. I don’t think that just any old locket could survive in
a viscous liquid for at least seventeen years and not show signs
of wear.”
“So what does it say happens when I cast the spell?”
“I’m not sure what will happen. Everything I told you
before is all the text says. I wouldn’t try anything until you are
feeling better. We don’t know what could happen when you try
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can apparate for every two that cannot, otherwise you might
find your army immobile when it’s time to come to our aid.”
She kissed him lightly on the cheek “Go now.” Krum walked
out the front door, turned on the spot and was gone.
“Ron, Hermione,” Harry whispered faintly as he tried to
sit more upright on the sofa. He was getting tired and his voice
was growing weaker. “I think that it’s time to go to Hogwarts.
Madame Pomfrey may be able to heal me much faster, and
besides, I don’t know where to look next for a Horcrux. I want
to take another look at the Pensieve to see what I…can…find.”
He fell into a deep sleep, leaving Hermione and Ron to ponder
the matter on their own.
* * *
“Good afternoon, Harry,” Hermione whispered as she
shook him awake. “I’ve got some soup for you, if you’re up to
it.”
“Unhh, Hermione,” he began, struggling to sit up.
“Lie still. I’ll prop you up with some pillows.” She put
the soup on his nightstand and eased his back against the pillows
behind his head.
“Thanks. I’ll have some of the soup now, if you please.”
He slurped hungrily at the soup, and then realizing the noise he
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Chapter Seventeen
Return of an Enemy
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looking, scampered down the trap door and into the passageway.
“Phase one, complete,” Harry said cheerily. “Everything is okay
so far. Let me just pull out the Map.” He reached into his robe
and revealed the Marauder’s Map. “Lucky you reminded me to
bring this, Ron. It’s been sitting at the bottom of my trunk for
the past six months. Not good, not good at all. The school has
got Moody posted at this exit. We’re going to need one of Fred
and George’s diversionary machines.”
“I hate to use it so early, Harry. We’ve only got the one,”
Ron held it up carefully.
“It doesn’t matter. We can blend in with the rest of the
students once we reach the school. It’s winter, so most of the
students should be wearing winter coats, like us,” Hermione
replied.
“When I open the door, throw the machine to the
right. That should send Mad-Eye looking that way. Then, we’ll
run to the left and pull off my cloak. Sounds good?” Ron and
Hermione looked at each other tentatively. They did not have
nearly as much faith in Harry’s plan as he did.
“Ready?” Ron nodded. “Go!” Mad-Eye Moody turned
his head to the right, his magical eyeballing swiveling every
which way as he did so. Harry, Ron, and Hermione made a mad
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dash to the left. When they finally felt they were out of sight,
Harry pulled of the cloak and stowed it inside the pocket of his
coat.
“See. Now we’ll just blend in and walk to Professor
McGonagall’s office,” Harry said nonchalantly. Everything
seemed to be according to plan.
“Potter, Granger, Weasley. I’d like to see you in my
office immediately,” Professor McGonagall ordered from behind
them.
At first, the three were in shock, but when they had
finally recovered, Ron meekly laughed and said, “It looks like
we’re going to Professor McGonagall’s office after all.”
* * *
“Can I have your attention please?” Professor Hrothgar
demanded, silencing the students in the dining hall. “Thank
you. Viktor Krum has just come to me and offered to be the
new Professor for the Defense Against the Dark Arts, as well
as your new Quidditch coach. Everyone offer him a welcome
round of applause.”
The room was quickly filled with deafening shouts and
applause as the world famous Quidditch seeker stood atop the
podium. “Thank you. I am not going to be your Quidditch
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to wait outside just in case you three were under the Imperius
Curse, but you all seem to be doing just fine. I arrived halfway
through the explanation of the mock battles, but I think I
approve. Getting a few bumps and bruises at Hogwarts might
save your life later when you fight he real thing. Constant
Vigilance!” he exclaimed on his way out the door. It closed with
a loud bang behind him.
McGonagall surveyed the three figures left in the room.
“Potter, I want to see you first thing in my office tomorrow
morning. There are still beds for all three of you in your dormi-
tories. The password is Plumpton. Remember, first thing tomor-
row morning.” She opened the door to allow them exit when a
lone, bloody figure stumbled his way into the room.
“Professor…snake…Dark Lord,” Malfoy whispered,
coughing out blood before collapsing on the ground. Harry
made no motion to pick him up, the hatred that he had for
Malfoy coursing through his veins. The Dark Mark on Malfoy’s
arm was not visible except for the long tongue of the Mark’s
mouth.
“Harry,” McGonagall shouted. “Carry him to the
Hospital Wing straight away.”
At first he made no motion to move, but then he real-
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ment.”
“Professor!” Harry shouted, trying to snap Slughorn out
of his long speech.
“Oh, right. Give him this. I’ve got another vial to copy
in order to make the potion. The antidote is only temporary.
It lasts for an hour before you need to give him another dose.
It’s only going to stabilize his condition, not cure him, but that
is the best I can do for the moment. Let me just take a sample
of the venom before it is diluted.” Slughorn touched his wand
tip to the wound and sucked a large amount of venom out. It
slowly coagulated into a large ball, floating just above the tip of
the wand. He pushed the ball of venom into a small vial and
tucked it into the interior of his robes. “I’ll get started on this
in the morning. For now, I need to brew more of the temporary
antidote.”
Harry poured the vial of antidote that Slughorn had
given him into Malfoy’s open mouth. Within moments, Malfoy
began breathing more easily, and the pain in his body seemed
to lessen. Unlike with the bezoar, however, Malfoy’s heart rate
stayed down.
When Ron and Hermione finally returned from their
separate errands, Harry informed the plan he had devised. “We
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Chapter Eighteen
Special Services
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arrives, but I still don’t know what they are going to be able to
do to cure him. Ron told me the same thing happened to his
father, so perhaps they’ve got some extra potion on hand for this
sort of thing.”
“Doubtful. St. Mungo’s brewed a potion specially for
Mr. Weasley, and how often is one bitten by You-Know-Who’s
snake? All we have to hope for is that they have the list of ingre-
dients for the potion.”
“Quite right. We can always brew the potion ourselves.”
Slughorn looked weary, his eyelids began to droop and in
moments, he had fallen asleep. Hermione sat there watching as
the second turned to minutes, and after one hour, she poured
four vials of potion into the waiting mouth of Draco Malfoy.
His eyes opened suddenly, and his pupils began to dart
around the room. “Gran…ger,” he croaked, his voice weak from
the poison that had infected him. “I am…sorry. Dark Lord…
parents…dead. No—where to go.” He collapsed back on the
bed, and his pulse rate began to drop rapidly, the opposite effect
of what had happened before.
“Harry,” she screamed as she shook him awake. “Give
me your arm. Malfoy’s not breathing. I need some of your
blood, I think.” She was not completely sure that it would work,
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his snake after Draco, and she bit him. It seems like the only
reasonable possibility.”
Harry nodded his approval, and having felt the strength
return to his body, stood up. “It sounds good to me, but I sus-
pect that Draco can tell us more when he is fully awake. If his
parents really died the way the article described, maybe he will
be willing to help us fight against You-Know-Who.”
“I wouldn’t count on it, Harry,” Ron replied bitterly.
“Prejudice is a hard thing to overcome.
“Not when your parents are dead. Believe me, I’d know
all about it.” Harry smiled grimly and quickly changed the
subject. “Now that Malfoy has somewhat stabilized and there is
someone from St. Mungo’s working to heal him, do you think
that I could have a look at the Pensieve?”
“No, Potter. I don’t think that you are ready to use the
Pensieve on your own. Albus Dumbledore always guided you,
yes.”
“Usually. He pulled me out when I accessed the memo-
ries without permission, but that was purely accidental. I’m
responsible and I know what I am looking for. Please, let me
use it.”
“No. I’m not going to let you just sift through memories
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me see. I put you over my head, and then I say Necare Horcrux!”
he shouted, but nothing happened.“Necare Horcrux! Necare
Horcrux! Necare Horcrux!”
Harry looked shocked. If the Sorting Hat were not a
Horcrux, then what was? And how was he going to find it? The
Sorting Hat chimed in,“Professor Dumbledore did the same
thing to me last year. I really don’t know what you are doing.”
“Really? He did?”
“Yes he did. I still can’t understand all the magic that
he said. He didn’t look half as frustrated as you are though. So
calm down. It couldn’t have been that important if Professor
Dumbledore didn’t get all worked up about it.”
“Did he say anything?”
“Yes. He said, ‘Oh, I guess you are not a Horcrux after
all.’ Funny, isn’t it? It was really quite the surreal experience.
Dumbledore, putting me on his head was strange enough to
start with. He was sorted ages ago, but that apparently didn’t
make much of a difference. I’ve actually had a lot of surreal
experiences.”
Harry pulled the Sorting Hat off his head, and sat it
down on the table in front of him. Harry was too shocked to
reply, so Hermione did for him. “Like what?” she asked, only
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Horcrux with his left hand, pulling it off of the two hooks that
held it to the wall. Immediately the wound through which
Hermione had removed blood earlier opened up. At first, blood
streamed out of his body in a slow trickle, but soon the trickle
turned into a stream. Harry’s face was contorted with agony,
every breath that he took a struggle just to survive the pains of
Tom Riddle’s award.
Hermione and Ron could only watch in fear as Harry
began to lose more and more blood. His face became paler, and
his shouts of pain softened in his exhaustion. “Harry, remove the
Horcrux before it kills you!” Ron screamed, desperate to save his
friend. He was about to grab him and pull the Horcrux away
when Hermione stopped him.
“Harry’s got to do this on his own, Ron. He’ll never be
able to face You-Know-Who if he doesn’t.”
Harry could barely see out of his eyes. His friends’ faces
became hazier and hazier and he could no longer make out
distinct sounds. There was a throbbing pain in his right arm,
and he felt feverish. He twisted his wand towards the Horcrux
in the midst of his convulsions and silently muttered, “Necare
Horcrux!” A gray shadow flew from the Award for Special
Services to the School, wailing in agony as it burst into billions
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let you off the hook for everything you’ve done.” Malfoy shud-
dered at the name. “I’m not sure that I can trust you just yet.”
“I know there is some bad blood between us, Potter, but
maybe I can prove to you that I am a better person now, and
that I truly am sorry. I thought that Professor Snape would help
me, but he just used his power to help the Dark Lord destroy
my family.”
“The Dark Lord? You still call him that?” Harry asked,
pleased to see that Malfoy might not be reformed after all.
“Old habits die hard.” Malfoy grinned nervously.
“Exactly, and that is why we can’t trust you, at least until
you’ve proven your worth. Dumbledore trusted Snape, and look
where that got him.”
“I will help you, and you will see that I am truly a
changed man.”
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Chapter Nineteen
In the Locket’s Grip
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of us, and personally, I don’t want to die just yet. I saw a castle
up ahead, but to get to it we have to follow along the outer edge
of a marsh. Any questions?”
“Just one. Do you know where we are?” Malfoy asked,
his voice becoming sturdier as the initial shock of finding him-
self no longer in Hogwarts left him.
“I think we are in the locket, or at least our minds are.
In order to leave, I think we are going to have to destroy that
Horcrux anyways.”
“A Horcrux? What’s that?” Malfoy asked, grinning now
that he might finally be in on what was going on with Harry.
“I might as well tell you now because if we make it out
of here alive, I’ll trust you, and if we don’t, we’re both going to
be taking the secret to our graves anyway. A Horcrux is a piece
of Voldemort’s soul. As of yet, I have destroyed three of the six
Horcruxes. The locket, which we are in right now, is the next
piece of his soul that I need to destroy. The other two pieces
are the cup that we have in the hospital wing, and the snake,
Nagini, that bit you. Only after I destroy all of these Horcruxes
will I be able to kill Voldemort.”
“And we are here to destroy the one inside the locket.”
“Yes. I’m guessing that it is located in the castle up
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pit of fire opened up beneath him. Malfoy grabbed his hand and
pulled him back up. “Thanks. I could have been toast.”
“You mean like that man down there?” Malfoy replied,
pointing at the charred corpse of Regulus Black. The face was
too blackened to be identifiable, but the Black Family Crest was
unmistakable.
“That’s Regulus Black. He must have died in here while
trying to destroy the Horcrux. But how are we going to get
across?”
“I’m not sure we are supposed to, Harry. Maybe we are
supposed to destroy the Horcrux from here.”
“But there is no way I can aim my spell that well, and if
I miss, who knows what is going to happen.”
“There’s only one way to find out. I think that together
we should be able to stop it. Don’t be afraid, Harry. At least you
won’t die alone.”
“A pleasant thought.” He smiled grimly. “Necare
Horcrux!” he yelled, pointing his wand at the gray shadow
before him. He missed, and the shadow materialized into a
silvery shade. It moved towards Harry and Malfoy to attack
them. “Draco, slow it down. I’ll keep trying to hit it with Necare
Horcrux!” He shot another spell at the quickly moving mass, but
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“But you feel that this is your duty and that you, and
only you, should be the one to destroy the Horcruxes?”
“Yes.” Harry nodded.
“I agree. The destruction of these Horcruxes is a method
of preparation for Harry. If he cannot do this, can he really be
the one to defeat Voldemort? This task was assigned to you, and
you alone. The cup is the final Horcrux that you possess, and
it will take all your effort to destroy it, but then you can rest.
Nagini, all you need to do is kill her It will be simple, perhaps
the easiest Horcrux that you will face. If you can destroy these
Horcruxes, Harry Potter, then you will truly be the Chosen
One.”
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Chapter Twenty
Gargle a Poison
It had been days since the meeting, and Harry still had
not figured out how to remove the Horcrux from Hufflepuff ’s
cup. He had drunk from it numerous times, but all that occurred
was that he felt a cold chill pass down his spine. “Hermione, did
you find out anything about Helga Hufflepuff ’s Cup?” Harry
asked for the third time that evening. After realizing the ques-
tions that could arise when Harry and Draco returned to their
dormitories, Professor McGonagall instead emptied one of the
large storage rooms of the castle and built a makeshift bedroom
with a long curtain down the middle. Draco, Harry and Ron
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shared one side of the room, and Hermione had the other side
all to herself.
“Nothing, as of yet. I just finished rereading Hogwarts, A
History, and although in alludes to the cup frequently, it makes
no mention of its powers. There are footnotes that point to
some possible reference material, but the library closes in just a
few minutes. I’ll have to go first thing in the morning.”
“Fine, then you can help me piece together these Daily
Prophet articles too. If we can just follow where Nagini has been
going, we’ll be able to find You-Know-Who,” Ron suggested,
as he shuffled through more newspapers. “It seems that Nagini
has been busy recently. There are numerous accounts of snake-
bites, all of which are on a trail leading somewhere east. Her
movements have been somewhat erratic, but that is the general
direction.”
“It says here that there was a horrible incident in Ash-
ford, with a Muggle dying within seconds of being bitten. In-
vestigators found two marks on the man’s neck, both of which
were extremely deep. It sounds like Nagini all right. And where
was she before that?” Harry put down the newspaper he had just
been reading from and looked over at Ron.
“Hastings was the last big town before Ashford. There
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Draco, but you? There is no way that Sir Cadigan isn’t going
to be able to see who you are. And he is just about the biggest
blabbermouth there is, after Peeves, of course.”
“Harry, it is a pleasure to see you again,” said Krum, qui-
etly greeting Harry as he entered the Headmaster’s office. Every
time Harry entered this office, he felt a chill pass down his spine
as he remembered where his mentor, Albus Dumbledore, once
taught Harry his lessons. Harry and Krum shook hands politely
before sitting down opposite one another at the large table filled
with food. “I vanted to speak to you about the training schedule
and the program I have instituted at my school.”
“Professor McGonagall, is Professor Moody coming to
the meeting?” Harry asked as he searched the room.
“Yes,” she replied. “He’s meeting Bill and Fleur at their
carriage. Just wait a few moments until they arrive.”
“Fine. I just hope they hurry,” Harry replied impatiently.
“Professor McGonagall, do you know of any unique properties
of Helga Hufflepuff ’s Cup?”
“No. That is not really my area of expertise. You are free
to browse the shelves of my office in the meantime,” she offered.
Hermione immediately got up from her chair and began to look
around the office. There were not nearly as many books as in the
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are unworthy of…I can’t make that word out. The parchment
is too faded.”
“It is probably something having to do with being a
pureblood,” Draco suggested.
“That would seem appropriate. It also states that Helga
Hufflepuff ’s Cup strengthens any spells cast by the holder of
it. In order for it to work, the person must hold liquid drunk
from the cup in his mouth while casting the spell.” She looked
up from the parchment. “I guess it has to be nonverbal.” She
looked carefully at the next lines, and in surprise, looked at
them closely again. “That’s odd. It says that Rowena Ravenclaw’s
artifact was never found and that it remains a mystery until
this day. There is some speculation, however, that she created
a blue phoenix after her favorite color. As of yet, there are no
blue phoenix sightings.” Hermione paused and then added
thoughtfully, “I wonder why Borgin would have had this in the
first place.”
“He said that Voldemort gave it to him. It must have
been some sort of emergency plan, some way of ensuring that he
could revive himself. If he were killed, well not really killed, but
you know what I mean, then a loyal Death Eater could figure
out some way of reviving him, using this information. Does it
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Moody added.
“Is that all?” Harry asked. “It seems like a lot of work to
get everyone together for such a short meeting.”
“Actually, there is one thing that I vould like to ask you,
Harry.”
“And what would that be, Krum?”
“How soon do my students need to be ready?” Krum
asked, a look of fierce determination on his face.
“I think that it would be helpful if they were ready by
the end of this week. As soon as I finish what I need to do here,
I am going to find Nagini. Voldemort will undoubtedly be with
her.”
“This veek? That doesn’t leave us much time,” Krum
complained.
“Well, you’d better hurry then. Remember to look at
your galleon, Krum. Fleur,” Harry added, throwing her a gal-
leon, “When you see this galleon activated, it’ll display where
to find us. Bill, get the Order, or at least what’s left of it, ready.
Remember, we’ve only got one chance at this.”
Once the Professors, Bill, Fleur, and Krum left Professor
McGonagall’s office, Harry pulled out the cup. “Get ready to
catch me if I fall. Something tells me the water isn’t going to
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Chapter Twenty-One
Mortal Again
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as they died together. Upon seeing their leader fall, the remain-
ing Werewolves fled back into the mountains, howling the sad
song of their defeat.
The Durmstrang students had clumped together in one
portion of the battlefield, Krum leading the attack against a
seemingly never ending group of Death Eaters. For every Death
Eater that fell, numerous young students fell with them. Cries
of Sectumsempra and Immobulus filled the air as Krum led his
friends and followers against Voldemort’s most loyal servants.
Already, it was clear that the Durmstrang students were tiring,
and even with all the healing that the Beauxbatons students
could offer them, their numbers began to dwindle.
Harry, Ginny, and Malfoy fought side by side, using
a combination of curses and shield charms to defeat Giants,
and the occasional Death Eater, offering the other Hogwarts
students aid whenever they needed it. Harry watched in pride
as Luna Lovegood tackled a particularly nasty Giant, tricking it
into attacking the Giant next to is with a well placed Confundus
Charm. Ginny split off from Malfoy and Harry in order to
aid Ron and Hermione against the Dementors that had now
swarmed them atop the Giant carcasses. “Malfoy, we’re sur-
rounded,” Harry announced grimly as a circle of Inferi came
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Chapter Twenty-Two
Daybreak
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and it seemed that it was only by chance that Draco was able
to escape.
“It was not entirely by chance, however,” Snape contin-
ued. When he was running away from Voldemort, I silently cast
a spell that would let me know where Draco Malfoy was at all
times. Every so often I would check up on him, to make sure
that he was all right. I fortunately arrived just after Nagini bit
him, and I carried the wounded boy in my arms all the way to
Hogsmeade. I continued to carry him through the secret pas-
sageway, the one your father used to unscrupulously ‘borrow’
candy from Honeydukes when he was in school. I left him lying
in the passageway, and just before I climbed out of the trap door
and into the shop, I used the Imperius Curse on Draco.”
Harry gasped. “But, Snape, that’s illegal. You’ve just
spent the past twenty minutes arguing that you were a changed
many and that you never were a member of the Death Eaters
again.”
“Don’t interrupt me, Potter! Can’t you see? I had to do
it. I used it to save Draco’s life. As I controlled Draco’s very
actions, I forced him to stand up and come out into the halls
of Hogwarts, where he would be seen. I made sure that he
would find Professor McGonagall, the one person in Hogwarts
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who was sure to help him. Don’t criticize me, Potter. I used the
Imperius Curse to save his life.”
“Just like you ordered the Death Eaters to spare me
when they tried to use the Cruciatus Cruse against me last
year? Was that just saving my life as well?” Harry asked bitterly,
unsure whether Snape’s story truly excused him for his actions.
“Yes. They are similar cases. I needed to protect both of
you. You, because you would kill my former master, and Draco,
because I cared deeply for the boy.”
“Then why do you not cry for his death?” Harry asked,
still trying to make sure that Snape was not lying to him in some
way.
“Because as far as I was concerned, he was dead already.
Voldemort’s Leglimency far exceeded the power of my Occlu-
mency, and to believe that Draco was anything but dead would
have been fatal for both of us. For me, because Voldemort would
have known that I saved Draco, and for Draco, because then
Voldemort would send a slew of Death Eaters after him, just as
he did to Igor Karkaroff.”
“Is that everything?” Harry asked, awestruck by Snape’s
story.
“That is all,” Snape replied with relief. “Now, if you
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About the Author
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