AN - Oh my gosh! I am so sorry for the long wait! I didn't mean it I swear! I was just so busy…don't hate me! Please? Awww, I even made it a nice longer chappie for you! *puppy dog eyes* REVIEW!
Oh yes, BIG thanks to PhoenixFirebolt! MY NEW BETA! *claps* You rock! Thanks so much!!!!
Chapter Six: Creatures from the Dark
Harry stepped into the room, his footsteps echoing in the dank chamber. It was wet, cold, and all of the things that you would imagine about an evil hiding place. Harry wasn't at all surprised that Tom would hide a part of his soul here. It was just like him, to pick a nasty place like this. The question in Harry's mind was how Tom would have protected this one; the last set of protections nearly killed Dumbledore. How would the three of them manage to get out with it, and all of them, intact?
"Portus." Harry picked up a rock and handed it to Hermione. "If things get bad, grab the rock and say `Godric's Hollow', and it will take you back there." He did the same for Ron. "If I tell you two to get out…." Harry never finished the sentence.
"We aren't leaving, Harry," Ron said very somberly. He was rarely so serious but the look that he gave Harry was something that he wasn't used to. "We aren't going to abandon you when it gets tough."
"You'll have to get used to us, Harry," Hermione said with a grin and a kiss on the cheek. Then she tossed the rock over her shoulder and it clattered away. She was so cute sometimes.
Harry looked around the room. It was so dark that Harry couldn't even see the corners of the ceiling and it seemed to swallow itself before you could get to the top. Harry wasn't sure if it was an enchantment or not, but it was still unnerving. He boldly stepped forward all the same, wanting to put on a good face for his friends. Of course, that was silly, since they both knew him well enough to know that he was scared out of his mind.
The pedestal in the center of the room wasn't like the other; it was easy to get to. Harry literally walked up to it without any resistance. That was a sign in his mind right off the bat.
"This was too easy. What could Tom have placed after this?" Harry asked the other two.
"I don't know, Harry, it seems that whatever came after this would have to be powerful too…it would only make sense," Hermione said. "But, of course, I don't know if Tom would have assumed that the Basilisk was still alive. If he did assume that, then it would be redundant to have more protections, because that would be one in and of it self," she rambled off, while she bit her lower lip.
"True, but I don't think he would have been that complacent," Harry said. "If he had found out that someone had stolen the locket, then he would have come back and placed more protections on the others, wouldn't he?" Harry asked.
"But he didn't know that someone had taken the locket. We are the only people who know about all this, and you said that he can't tell what happens to the Horcruxes. You found the note inside the fake locket, not Voldemort," Hermione said astutely.
Harry stepped up to the basin and looked down. Instead of a green potion there, he found a blood red liquid. He knew that the cup was down there, he could see it glinting under the red potion. What was it? He tried to touch it with his hand and, surprisingly, his hand came within an inch of it without any resistance. He could touch it if he wanted to.
"Evanesco!" Harry said, trying to clean it away. But nothing happened. He tried all the different things that Dumbledore had tried and a few others that Hermione had thought up. Nothing worked. The only thing he could come up with was to try to reach in and touch the cup.
"I think I am going to have to just reach in and take it. I don't like it, but I think it's the only solution," Harry said glumly. "When I touch the stuff, I want you two to be checking my back, and keep a close eye. I don't know what this will trigger." As he finished, he pulled back his sleeve.
His hand dipped into the thick liquid, and with a cold shock he realized what it was. Blood. With a swift snatch, he grabbed the cup and yanked it out. His arm was covered in blood up to his elbow, but he had the cup in his hand now. He shrunk it and stuffed it into his pocket. That was about the time that Hermione screamed.
Bats started to fly around their heads, darting down from the ceiling and landing on the floor around them. The darkness was filled with them. But before they fully touched the ground, they transformed.
Vampires.
Harry looked at the blood on his hand and knew that it was a trap.
"Harry, we have to leave!" Ron said aptly.
"Thanks, Ron, for the situation assessment," Harry said darkly. He pulled out his wand, but he wasn't sure what was going to help him against the undead.
"Where did that Portkey go?" Harry asked.
"I threw it away! We aren't leaving you!" Hermione said back.
"It would have been nice for all three of us though!" Harry said sharply, as he thought of how that was dumb of her to do. "We don't have time now!"
He started firing curses at the growing number of Vampires, but they just kept coming. The curses and stunners seemed to slow them down, but not enough. When the curses hit them, they seemed to stumble a bit, almost as if they tripped and got clumsy. It was comic to watch them stagger around and falter, but that also triggered something in Harry's mind.
"Riddikulus!" Harry shouted as loud as he could. The vampire that he had pointed his wand at, shuddered a moment and popped. It was gone. They weren't really vampires, they were boggarts. But a boggart could be just as dangerous. Harry remembered the dementors from third year.
Tom must have had a stroke of genius. It would have been difficult to keep this many real vampires trapped up in a cave for so long. So what was the next best thing? Something that would turn into vampires. They must have been enchanted to always transform into the same thing. Harry wasn't sure how that had all worked, but some how Tom had rigged this trap….
"They are only boggarts!"
But the biggest problem was that three people could not dispel a thousand boggarts by themselves, it just wasn't going to happen. Harry glanced around looking for an escape and a sudden idea struck him. He wasn't sure if it would work, but he could try.
"Cover me for a moment!" Harry yelled, and Ron and Hermione got closer, covering him for a short minute.
Swiftly, Harry bent down and sliced off a piece of the pedestal. The rock fell away and he quickly transfigured it into a many sided crystal. It was gorgeous, but that wasn't what he wanted it for. Harry quickly tossed it fifty feet into the air and charmed it to stay there. The boggarts still had to retain the properties of the vampire, even though it was not their true nature.
"LUMOS HALEM!!" Harry screamed, pointing straight at the fake crystal that he had made. The flare that fired out of his wand was so bright that he had to look away. The beam of light went from his wand right into the crystal and refracted the light all around the dark room. The highest corners were lit up as much as if it was full day light.
In blasts of smoke, the vampires/boggarts disappeared.
"Brilliant, mate!" Ron said, looking up at the sparkling crystal.
With a wave of his wand, the crystal fell and Harry caught it. It went into his pocket too, as a reminder that nothing is what it seems to be.
Back at Godric's Hollow, the trio stretched out, trying to relax. They were all in the living room, and on the table in front of them was the cup. What they were going to do with it still remained a mystery. None of them were really sure of how to `destroy' a part of someone's soul.
"I suppose we could try destroying the cup?" Ron asked. They kept tossing ideas around and this one kept coming back.
"I don't know, Ron, that seems like it would just release whatever was trapped in there," Hermione said, sounding doubtful.
"I really don't know. Both ways seem to have benefits," Harry said, trying to take the good from both sides. "I don't know how to get the soul out. The only logical thing to do would be to AK it. But wouldn't that tear my soul apart too?" Harry asked hypothetically.
"I don't know. Does everyone who has used the killing curse have a torn soul? Or does that only happen when you use it to purposely place your soul in a horcrux?" Hermione asked, sounding unsure.
"I think the best bet is to just treat it as if it was Voldemort. I mean, if I saw him, I would AK him without thinking, torn soul or not." Harry said staring at the ceiling. His feet were resting over the top of the couch and he was lying upside down. It was actually very comfortable.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right. I just think that this could have side effects that we haven't researched enough yet…." Hermione said in her lecture tone.
"We can't look at it that way though. So far we know more about Horcruxes than any book at all. The only person that knows more than us right now is Tom. And that doesn't help much. So researching more isn't going to do anything," Ron said plainly.
"All right, I give up," Harry said sitting up with a jerk. He pulled his wand out of the waist band of his jeans and pointed it at the cup. "Avada Kedavra!" Harry yelled.
Nothing happened.
"You have to mean it, Harry. It's the same way that you couldn't keep the curse on Lestrange. You have to mean it when you curse it," Hermione said quietly. It was hard to coach someone into using an Unforgivable curse properly.
With a sigh, Harry closed his eyes. He thought of the way his parents had died. He thought of the way Sirius had died. He thought of the way Tom had killed them all. With a growl of anger he opened his eyes and whipped his wand up.
He didn't even need to say the words. So strong was his hatred and anger at Tom that he did it wordlessly. A rushing noise filled his ears and the green blast flew at the cup. The gold workings of it disintegrated under the blast and a shimmering red cloud formed out from it. The green curse overtook that too, and it was gone in a second.
"I think it worked. How do you feel, Harry?" Hermione asked, looking worriedly at him.
"I don't know how I feel. I feel bad using that much hatred and anger to do that. But I know it was the right thing…I don't think that my soul is torn though," he said, trying to analyze himself.
"I don't like it, mate. I really hated that look on your face. You looked like…well, like you could kill. Not pretty," Ron said, trying to find the right words.
"I know, Ron, but it was the only way that I could use the curse. And I think it worked," Harry said, trying to convince not only Ron, but himself too. It was hard to think that he had just performed the most evil curse that someone could use.
"I still think that we should find another way to do it," Ron said, staring out the window. "Ever since I was a kid, I was taught that using hate and magic at the same time was not allowed, it would just make the spell dangerous. It just seems so wrong to me to use that curse, and the hatred behind it." He finished looking right at Harry.
"I understand, Ron, but…I don't know if there is any other way to destroy Tom. And personally, I want him gone forever, not just for a while," Harry said darkly.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right. But I still think we need to do some more research…." As the words dropped from his mouth, a grin split Harry's and Hermione's faces at the same time.
"So you want to study?" Hermione asked with a bite. She was going to enjoy this.
"Uhhh. Yeah. I suppose," Ron said shuffling his feet.
"Good, I am glad I taught you something." Hermione let him off the hook awfully easy. Harry was looking forward to seeing her tear down on Ron, but she was playing kind tonight.
Ron yawned. "Right then, I am off to bed. I'm whipped. Have a good night you two," Ron said with a wink to Harry.
Harry looked out the window and realized that it was now night time. The time had flown by today and now he was feeling the weakness too.
"Harry," Hermione purred. A suggestive smile caused him to walk over to her in less than a second.
"Did I do the right thing?" Harry asked, looking right into her eyes, inches from her face.
"Yes, Harry, I think you did. Now kiss me," she said, the firelight reflecting in her eyes.
"As you command." The rest of the night was lost to the both of them.
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