AN - Thanks for all your reviews, although I have to say you were all slack on the last chapter. But I suppose that is punishment for not posting for so long? Ah well, I got this one out fast enough for you, and the next one isn't far behind either. Thank goodness that writers don't suffer from writers block forever! Thank you all for your support, it means everything!
THANK YOU TERI! You rock soooo much. I can't even explain how much you are helping me stagger through this story. Thanks bunches and bunches. :D
On with the story.
Chapter Twelve: Of Emeralds and Diamonds
"Malfoy!" Harry growled when he realized what he had just walked into. In an instant, he had his gun drawn and leveled at Malfoy. "Give me one good reason not to blast you to hell," Harry said and the gun powered up.
"Go on, Scarhead, try me."
Harry didn't wait for anything more. He pulled the trigger, and a stunner bolt flew out. But Malfoy flicked his wand and a shield appeared and bounced it back at Harry. The gun in Harry's hand prevented him from making a shield in return, so he ducked.
Okay, note to self, do not duel with the guns… Harry thought to himself.
"You are all pathetic, thinking your inventions make you special," Malfoy sneered. "Besides, like I said, I am on your side." He insisted this statement again.
"Like hell you are," Ron snapped at him.
"If you don't believe me, check this out," Malfoy said, and tossed a black leather wallet at them. Harry snatched it out of the air, his seeker mentality coming into play.
He flipped it open and gasped. "You're part of Phoenix Cry?!" Harry said. "Why didn't Gabriel tell us that you were in on this, too?" Harry's facial expression clearly showed he was slightly miffed that he had missed out on that piece of information.
"Would you have trusted Gabriel at all if he had?" Malfoy said, twirling the locket around his finger.
"Good point, but why does he trust you?" Hermione spoke up from behind Harry.
"Excellent question, Granger, you do always ask the obvious ones." Malfoy rolled his eyes, and Harry felt his hackles rise. "I brought him information. The information was dead right, so I got in. You'll have to trust me on this one, Potter. I hate my father, and I hate Voldemort," Malfoy said, and looked like he wanted to spit.
Harry stared straight into his grey eyes; he looked deep into what Malfoy was saying. Inside the swirling grey eyes Harry saw more things than he needed. One was definite hatred, but others were fear, and compassion somewhere deep down. Harry had seen the way he had looked at Dumbledore that night at Hogwarts. He wasn't a killer. Harry knew it, because he had seen it then, and he was seeing it now.
"Alright, Malfoy, give me the locket then," Harry said, and extended his hand.
Malfoy shrugged, and handed it to Harry. "It's all yours, Potter. I'm not going to be working with you all the time, but there will be times where we will bump into one another. But just remember not to blast me next time you see me, alright?" he asked, smirking again.
"Sure thing, ferret boy," Ron said, and laughed. Malfoy glared, and apparated away.
As the three of them walked down the street, Harry spoke up. "I want to see the twins about something. I had an idea, but I need their opinion," Harry said.
"What is it, mate?" Ron asked.
"I don't want to spoil the surprise if I am right," Harry said.
So they walked to the store and Harry slipped inside for a moment. Several minutes later, he came back out, tucking some items into his pocket.
"Got what you need, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Sure do!" Harry replied and smiled. "Now let's get back to the Hollow and destroy this one." Harry said, and patted his pocket. The three apparated away immediately.
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The trio walked into the living room and sat down around the coffee table again, the same way they had for the previous Horcrux. The locket sat in the middle of the table and all three stared at it.
"Harry, I want to see if you can destroy it the same way that you did with Dolohov. Okay?" Hermione said, crossing her legs.
"Alright, but do you want me to do it wandlessly?" Harry asked back, starting to put himself in the mind set.
"Yes, I think that would be best," she replied, and sat back, ready for the show.
Harry calmed himself and thought of the love he felt. He thought of the love, and the hate he felt at the same time. He felt his surge of emotions flow through his veins. He felt the magic cackle around his body as it built to a crescendo. He was aware of everything. The beating of his heart. The beating of Hermione's and Ron's hearts. The sounds of the room creaking. Everything around him was apparent to him as if he was seeing it with crystal vision. Magic flowed off of him in waves, as he concentrated further and further on his emotions.
Harry extended his hand, and the blue bolt snapped out with the non-verbal incantation. It struck the locket, and immediately the locket ceased to exist. It disintegrated and motes of dust flew away from where it was a moment before. Then slowly those motes of dust folded in on themselves and also ceased to exist. As the dust was disappearing, and evaporating in a way, a red shadow of Voldemort's soul rose up from it. In another split second, Harry had cast the spell again, and the soul fragment was eaten by the blue bolt that ripped through it. Another portion of Voldemort's soul was destroyed.
They all sat back and breathed a sigh of relief. "Why didn't it work the same way this time?" Ron asked looking down at the coffee table, not able to meet Harry's glowing blue eyes.
Slowly the magic died away from Harry as Hermione answered. "Because, last time Harry used the Avada Kadavera curse. The purpose of that curse is to destroy the soul of a human, and kill them instantly. So when Harry used it on the cup, it sought a soul to destroy, and it found one. However, this time when Harry cast the other spell on it, it didn't go for the soul. That's why Harry's soul remained intact when he killed Dolohov. He didn't destroy another's soul; he just rendered the body lifeless. So this time when he cursed it, it just destroyed the artifact and released the soul fragment. While the second time, the love that is poured into the spell from Harry, is what kills the fragment of Tom's soul. It wouldn't do that to many other people's souls because they do not fear and despise love as much as Tom does." Hermione finished taking a deep breath. She really needed to breathe before she did something like that.
"You've been reading again, haven't you?" Ron asked his jaw still slack.
"Ummm…yes," Hermione answered blushing slightly.
"Well," Harry said, slightly distracted by his earlier idea. Now that the Horcrux was gone, he felt so much better. They were one step closer. "I am going to go upstairs and work on this idea I had. I can't wait to show you guys if I am right." Harry grinned and ran upstairs.
"What's gotten into him?" Ron said, shoving a thumb in Harry's direction.
"I have no idea, but when he is that determined, it must be good," Hermione said, and pulled up a pillow and a book.
Ron mumbled something about her reading that bloody book again.
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Harry walked down the stairs two hours later with a huge grin on his face. Hermione was still reading, and Ron was in the kitchen eating. Ron's eyes came up to meet Harry as he walked down the stairs, and Harry grinned even bigger. The livingroom and the kitchen joined and there was a large six foot entrance way, so that way Harry could see Ron eating, and talk to Hermione in the living room at the same time.
"So, what did you figure out, darling?" Hermione asked.
Harry didn't say anything. He just raised his hand, and silently and wandlessly transfigured the piece of chicken that Ron was eating into a live one. It squawked and Ron screamed. After a second, Harry waved his hand again, and it was as lifeless as it had been a moment before.
"Harry…you just did wandless magic! I thought the only spell that you could do like that was that blue one!?" Hermione said, shooting up from the couch.
"Well, it's not really wandless. I am using a wand, just not the same that you would think." Harry flipped his hand over and showed them a brilliant ring on his right ring finger. It was a sold piece of metal all around with a single band of solid emerald through the middle. The emerald seemed to glow in the light, and Harry smiled. "I had the idea when I attacked Malfoy with the gun. When he deflected my stunner, I couldn't block it back because I had the gun in my hand. It may be a good charging weapon, but total usage wouldn't be good. So I was thinking about what else we could do to give us the upper hand. Well none of us can do wandless magic because it takes years and years of study. So I wanted a way we could, now," Harry said grinning as Hermione took in what he was saying. Ron was still staring at the piece of chicken on the floor, debating whether or not to pick it up.
"So I remembered what we learned in Charms. The wand is just a focus point for a wizard or witch to cast magic through. The magic is inside of us, it just needs a place to come out. So I wondered if a stick was the only way that it would work." Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but Harry cut her off.
"Yes I thought of all this on the way from Borgin and Burkes to the shop." He smiled and she nodded.
"So I integrated a piece of a wand core into the metal of the ring. Then to focus the power even more, I closed the wand core in with a band of emerald." Harry said, and took the ring off and handed it to Hermione.
"It's the wand core from my spare wand," he said.
"What made you choose emerald to amplify the power? Or rather, how did you know it would do that?" Hermione said, and looked at the ring from all angles.
"Well I looked through your Arithmancy book just now actually, and it said that emeralds are known for increasing the overall power of a spell, if the caster could harness the boost properly," Harry said and shrugged. "I wanted a way to make it better, and I found one."
She nodded. "Yes, but you do know that emeralds won't work for everyone. Emeralds only work for some, because the kind of power they amplify is too sheer and unstable. It is just a pure amplifier without any stoppers," Hermione said trying to explain it to him. "The amount of magical power inside of you must be enormous; otherwise the spell would rip back on you because of the amplification."
"I don't get it!" Ron yelled from the other room.
"You don't have to!" Hermione called over her shoulder.
"Know-it-all!"
"Disgusting pig!"
Hermione finished her argument with Ron, and turned back to Harry.
"The only thing that could increase the power more would be a diamond. Merlin used one…" Hermione trailed off.
"So would I be able to make them for you and Ron?" Harry asked trying to keep up with his girlfriend.
"Yes, but I think the stones would have to be different. Let me do some more reading, and I will help you with them. I think this one was a great idea though." She handed it back to Harry, who slipped it on.
Just to prove it, he turned Ron's chicken back to the living form. He screamed again, and Harry doubled over in laughter.
"YOU JUST WAIT TILL I GET ONE!" Ron yelled as he chased Harry out the back door and into the yard. Hermione all the while watched her boys laugh as they tumbled in the grass. They would finish this some day, maybe then they would be able to be normal.
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