Back to work....Thanks to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter...
Chapter 24: Field Trip.
*****************************Hogwarts******************************
November 13, 1997.
12:25 pm
Hermione kissed the top of Harry's head in passing as she settled next to him and opened a book. He glanced over, sighed, and pushed a plate towards her, at the faint trace of her shaking. "Mione," he whispered with a faint trace of worry as she ignored it in favor of reading yet another book, Familiars, Their Use and Bonding, in hopes that the subject was similar enough to the Horcrux process to learn something, "you need to eat love...you're crashing."
She glared at him out of the corner of her eye and took a single roll off the plate and ate. Harry muttered something under his breath, Hermione Jane, you can't do this shyte...I won't let you.
I'll be fine Harry, Hermione snapped back, her mood aggravated. She turned slightly and looked back at her book. She started reading again, her lips moving with the words, her knee trembling under the table, until Harry reached down and held it down as his other hand reached around and grabbed her chin.
No you aren't, Hermione...his fingers flicked and the book skittered across the table to land in a rather surprised Luna Lovegood's lap as she ate at the next table over, she looked up, but only nodded at Harry's gesture and started reading the book herself. She had commented to Harry the other day that she was looking for a Familiar of her own. Hermione gave him a glare for a half a heartbeat before her eyes dropped and she nodded. There will be a time, Mione, but not today, you can't take on odds like you did this morning and not recuperate, Harry growled, thinking of this morning when Tonks had summarily declared Harry incapacitated and Hermione on her own against twenty to one odds. Hermione had won, but not without tapping into her magic further than she had since the night her parents were attacked.
That's what we are up against, Harry...you know that. We have to be ready, Hermione replied reasonably, the fire fading from her thoughts as he reached around her shoulders to pull her against his side. She started eating; leaning against his side he nodded.
Yeah...it is, Hermione, or worse. But we don't have to be stupid about it.
Aren't I usually the one who says that? she muttered, and closed her eyes, leaning into his side, It would have been nice if Tonks hadn't decided to do that little wrinkle on our 'hell day', Hermione commented as she thought on their Thursdays. She grinned at him, he didn't see it, but that didn't matter, Want to hang out in the back of Tonks' class and snog? I want to see if my new Illusion Charm is strong enough to last all class period.
It works then? Harry muttered curiously and grinned as she started as he played with the hem of her skirt under the table. What about when she wonders why Hermione Granger isn't answering questions?
Yeah...and you can try that later, she added, subtly scooting closer on the bench until her hip was pressed against his. You'll see about the questions...
*****************************Transfiguration*************************
Did I ever tell you how brilliant you are...really? Harry whispered as he nuzzled Hermione's neck as they
sat curled up on a corner windowsill, under Harry's cloak. Hermione smirked as she leaned back into him, almost
purring under her breath.
You're not scared of me? She teased back, What did ye old font of thoughtfulness say? Hermione grunted, gesturing towards Ron with her gaze, Scary, brilliant, but scary?
You heard that huh? Harry asked as he contented himself with leaning back against the castle wall and wrapping his arms around his wife. They winced in unison as Tonks took a pratfall, her feet flying out from under her as if there were a floor full of banana peels under her feet. Which was even a bit much for Tonks, as there weren't actually banana peels on the floor. Hermione muttered a string of Latin and a glowing red line hung in their vision, leading back to a sniggering Pansy Parkinson.
A flicker of green fire lit Hermione's eyes and a fine dusting of a green powder appeared in the air and fell down over the Slytherin's hair and head. Harry crooked an eyebrow; Wait for it, Harry, Hermione whispered, a curious glee in her thoughts. They watched as Tonks picked up herself, and Harry felt a whistle in their thoughts.
Seconds later a ginger streak shot in the room followed by at least five other cats and a single, surly-looking Kneazle named Mrs. Norris, whom no one actually seemed to remember just whom she had been married to or when. All seven of the felines jumped up on Pansy's desk, merowing loudly. They purred and rubbed against her, a couple of them reached out and started pawing at her hair. She screeched at them to leave her alone, and patted away paws as laughter rang out in the classroom. She screeched again and ran from the room, all seven cats following closely.
Tonks looked around the classroom, her hand over her mouth as she ostensibly looked for the culprit. She didn't look too hard however. She glanced down at the front row and watched as Hermione's doppelganger looked up at her and shrugged. Harry's duplicate next to the image shook its head and looked back down at its parchment.
This is pretty cool, Harry mentioned and watched as his duplicate made notes, How does this work...
Hermione smiled, Oh, a little bit of this, a little bit of that, she paused as Tonks asked a question and the duplicate answered, receiving ten points for Gryffindor, Honestly I got the idea from the Dark Tosser, it's a combination of an image projection charm, a note-taking charm and a few other little things I threw in...I can either control them directly like now, or I can make it so it has a limited self-awareness, kind of like how he controls the Inferi when they're not under his direct control.
I love you, Harry replied softly, feelingly. I am sooo glad you're on my side.
I am? Hermione teased, I guess I am, she sighed. Her demeanor hardened with a breath, So are you still wanting to go after that Saturday? Harry nodded.
Yeah, it's easiest since we are taking a full team...they watched as Tonks ignored Hermione's duplicate's raised hand, in favor of asking Ron a question directly; Ron was gazing off into space aimlessly. Hermione groaned as Ron flubbed the question confusing "Transfurgetate," with, "Trangfrageteate". The class moaned as Tonks rewarded them all another three feet on the variances inherent in the interactions of noble metals with mass variance spells.
Hermione bit her lip, frowning, If you want Harry...we'll go tonight, just you and me. We don't have to take anyone else. We can do it...I think.
Harry tightened his arms, thinking, You think it will be easier during the day? Hermione nodded, Then we go during the day, and we take the team. A heavy feeling filled the pit of his stomach, but he remained silent. The bell finally rang, ending this long, long day. Hermione controlled their duplicates, having Harry's tell Ron that they would catch up. The cloaked pair slipped up behind their duplicates, and as soon as Tonks turned her back and the rest of the class had left in a hurry as that was the last class of the day, Harry swept off the cloak and Hermione dismissed the spell. Hermione gave Tonks a small smile and handed Harry her bag as the magenta-haired witch looked back into the room. Harry gave Tonks a shared eyeroll, and the pair headed out into the hall.
They headed off, towards the seventh floor. They passed a large, three-story portrait of a giraffe, and stepped around a pair of Hufflepuff girls sitting on the steps, gossiping. They giggled in time as Harry passed them and Hermione barely hid a grin. They stopped as a gaggle of Ravenclaw second year girls passed. Hermione turned to share a glance with Harry, when she staggered, falling into him, "HEY!" Harry yelled, as a green and silver trimmed robe vanished around the corner.
"No, Harry," Hermione whispered urgently, she tilted her hand slightly, showing him a scrap of parchment.
******************Astronomy Tower, Hogwarts****************
November 14, 1997
Midnight
This late in the year, it was extremely unusual for couples to populate the ramparts of the tower in search of a site for a liaison, or tryst, not that many had since the events of last June. So it was both a blessing in that no one was present to witness the meeting and a curse, in that anyone who might happen along would find it suspicious, that the anonymous note passed to Hermione, in a very amateurish brush pass, had asked for a rendezvous here. Of course, most seventeen and eighteen year olds didn't have the most accomplished Auror in the last hundred years teaching them espionage either, so it could be forgiven after a fashion. Tonight, a cold wind blew across the top of the battlements, rusting the robes of a single, lonely figure. It stood looking out over the grounds, silent and waiting, looking down as a rampant stream of thoughts flowed unchecked.
Harry had not been to this spot, this dark spot where Dumbledore had fallen to the grass far, far below, since that day. A subtle shiver slipped across his nerves as he closed his eyes. He watched, again, like he had that night and many nights since, as Dumbledore looked across the roof, his serene features twisted in agony as he begged for Snape to end his life, to kill him as he had wasted his energy to keep Harry hidden.
An act that should not have been necessary, an act predicated on an attempt to secure a false Horcrux, and one that should not have been necessary had not Harry's own powers been drained away by an even more insidious brew. Harry gripped shoulder-high battlements hard enough for his knuckles to whiten, under the black gloves that covered them. He did not turn as a solid, iron-shod, oaken door opened behind him with a soft squeak of improperly oiled hinges.
He waited until the small, slight figure in unmarked robes eased the door closed, and stepped away into the light of scattered stars, before acknowledging her presence, "Hello Daphne," Harry said lightly, "I got your message."
"Thank you Potter...thank you for saving my parents...my sister," she replied softly, approaching and lowering her hood. The small, blond, brown-eyed girl looked at him and frowned. She took a breath and walked to within a single stride and stopped. "Therefore...I owe you and yours a debt...Slytherins do not like to owe, but rather be owed."
"That is the difference then isn't it," Harry remarked as if he were discussing the weather, "between the Lion and the Serpent? The lion goes into his actions not caring what the consequences may be to himself, is willing to take the consequences whatever they might be as long as the action is right and just, while the serpent looks for the main chance, the ability to find the easiest path, and hopes that that path leads to the end that he seeks." Harry turned from the dark grounds to find her looking at him expectantly. The enchantments on his glasses allowed him to see her as if it were day, to see the worried look on her face and her eyes darting about as if she expected a foe to escape the shadows at any moment. "Relax, Daphne," Harry said reassuringly, "there are none here that wish you harm." He slipped his hands into the pockets of his cloak, "What did you really want to meet about?"
She sighed, "I won't come in on your side...not yet, not openly, my parents are working with...your faction, but they have a luxury that I don't. They are hidden away from their enemies, mine sleep one bed over."
"McGonagall will remove you from the House, if you are in danger," Harry mentioned, though that was actually the last thing they needed, they needed a source inside Slytherin. "But if you wanted out, you would have already done so."
"Blaise is planning something, I don't know what. I will try to find out, but I am not promising anything. I'm already disliked by many in the house as it is. I don't know if I can find out, but I should be able to give you a spot of warning. More so than you got when Draco was still here."
Harry nodded; he had expected this after all. The Slytherins had been relatively quiet since the duels the first couple of months of the year, the three with Slytherins and the one, the most convincing one in many ways, the one with Ginny. "Thank you," Harry said sincerely, knowing that she had come knowing what it might cost her, "please do one other thing, if you can," she gave him a slow nod, "when it happens, do your best to keep the younger members of your House out of it."
"I'll try," Greengrass agreed and gave him one last long look before nodding once more and leaving via the door she arrived by, sweeping her hood over her face to hide it even as she opened the door.
It boomed shut and Harry paced back to the battlements and leaned against them. He looked down at the dim light seeping from Hagrid's windows as he listened to the sounds of the night creatures of Hogwarts, owls, Thestrals, wolves, whatever sing their songs of nighttime, "Well Mione?" Harry said softly, not looking over as her head appeared next to him. She finished throwing off her cloak and folding it to fit in a pocket. "What do you think?"
"She's scared, Harry. She and her folks don't want any part in this, they would rather sit this war out," Hermione paused, looking out at Hagrid's as the half giant staggered back to his hut from yet another night at Rosmerta's, "but she doesn't want her sister to have to take the Mark...to either become an Eater, or worse a companion."
Harry nodded, as Hermione had just repeated his thoughts out loud. He reached over and took her hand, "Let's go to bed, Love, this is a worry for another night. And we need to spend tomorrow tidying up the plan."
Hermione led them to the door, and opened it with a casual wave. I still don't think it's the Horcrux, Harry...it is a Founders artifact though...I'm almost sure of it.
Harry nodded, and stopped, wrapping his arms around her, I trust your judgment, Hermione...but even if it's not, we need to get it, so we can make sure. Harry tightened his arms as they stepped around an invisible corner and vanished.
***************************Grimmauld Place******************************
November 15, 1997
8:20 am
Ron yawned and threw Harry an annoyed glance across the expanse of the sunlight Library. Harry just shrugged and walked over to a carafe set on the large, central table and poured himself a new cup. "Harry, why are we doing this?" Ron asked, watching his own mug as if it held the answers in its depths. Neville looked up, shook his head and leaned back on the couch. He continued to play with a silver and black curved dagger, the fourth in a set of six, watching a small, engraved lion as it bounded from end to end of an arched guard. His wrist flicked slowly as he watched the light glint off it as he waited.
"Umm, because the bastard needs to die Ron?" Harry snapped back snarkishly and looked out the window onto early morning Saturday traffic. He stretched and looked back at Ron, slightly annoyed as the redhead shrugged at him and waved.
"But why now, Harry, why not tonight," Ron replied, "and where the bloody hell are the girls?" He added in a slightly peevish tone. Harry frowned at him, not trusting himself to comment. It wasn't Ron's fault he was annoyed really, not really. He, along with Harry and Hermione had gone to visit Charlie last night, and his brother had not improved, not at all.
Bill had quietly taken Harry and Hermione aside, as much to get them away from Molly's glare as to actually impart information, and told them it did not look good. The curse, whatever it was, that Percy had used at the Burrow almost four months prior had steadily degraded the second oldest Weasley boy's nerves, and even now only life-support spells were keeping his heart beating. All of the Weasleys, knew, somewhere, that it was only a matter of time until the end. Ron's mood had been, to put it lightly, surly ever since he had returned from that trip.
Not that any of those who had gone to St. Mungo's was chipper, in the slightest. Neville had gone with them, to look in on his parents, who were about the same. Over the years his mother had had flashes of almost lucidity, but his father, not so much. They were still, in the main, trapped in their own minds, not much improved since he was a boy.
"We're here, Ron," Hermione announced with a touch of asperity to her voice as she entered the room, and crossed to stand next to Harry. She gave Harry a small smile at the silent whistle she heard in her thoughts, and looked around the room. She knelt down slightly reaching under her skirt to check the fit of her wand sheath before she straightened and looked over the tops of a pair of small, round wire-framed lenses that perched on her nose. Both she and Luna looked like a pair of young, professional Muggles, in that indeterminate age between seventeen and thirty that some women could carry off. Hermione had dressed in a black suit, her hair piled up on top of her hair in a somewhat messy bun, while Luna was clothed in a dark blue pants suit, her hair falling down her back in a tight braid.
"Nice suit," Harry commented quietly in her ear, as he kissed her cheek and waved at the air over the table. A projection appeared floating of a ring, a silver ring, with a moderately sized, square sapphire surrounded by a pair of triangular diamonds. "This is possibly Rowena Ravenclaw's ring. As you know we, or rather Dumbledore had figured out that Tom was trying to use artifacts from the founders to establish his Horcruxes, at least after his first two. We think that the first had to been his diary, as the soul fragment was sixteen, he had to have made it in school. It and the ring were both tests I think...no one else that we can find records of has managed to split his soul more than once and stay corporal, so he must have been taking a risk when he split it a second time."
Harry looked to Hermione, she smiled and her voice dropped into her lecture tone, more or less, distracted only slightly by Harry playing with a loose tendril of hair that framed her face. She batted his hand away, hiding a grin as she did so, then the urge to grin faded, "Tom tried to use artifacts of the Founders for his Horcruxes, thinking that they would give him power. He may have been right, so far we know for certain that he has used the Cup and the Locket as Horcruxes, the Locket has been destroyed," Hermione didn't bother to mention that that adventure had almost been her last, "and we don't know where the Cup is."
"Dumbledore believed that Tom ran out of time frankly, was forced to use Nagini as a stand in for one of the artifacts, as it turns out, he was never able to secure one of Godric's, so chances are, one of Rowena's artifacts is the unknown Horcrux," Harry mentioned. "And since one of the three known artifacts of hers has already been shown to not be the Horcrux, it must be either this one or her staff."
"That's well and good, Harry," Ron put in as Luna perched on the arm of the chair next to him, "but why are we going into to get this now, during the middle of the day when the place will be full of Muggles and such, why not at night like we did in Nottingham?"
"Because, Inferi are ineffective during the day, Ron," Harry replied, and Ron looked shocked, before he nodded, wide-eyed, "and with the size of the British Museum he could have hidden enough to overwhelm us. Let's go over the plan now..."
**************************British Museum*****************************
Hermione and Luna stepped from the cab on Russell Street and ascended the stairs to the main floor, the heels of their dress shoes clicking oddly on this bright sunny day. Hermione's hand shot out, to pull Luna back on course as she started to wander off to investigate the Pigeons filling the steps. Luna shrugged and continued on, following Hermione.
Hermione looked back over the crowds of tourists and locals walking around the outskirts of the Museum, briefly spotting a familiar head of black hair, of course the fact that there might as well been a large glowing neon sign on him didn't hurt either. Scattered throughout the street crowd she could see at lease half a dozen wizards and witches, detectable mostly from their auras, for lack of a better term, but Harry's was closer to the sun, than the light bulbs of most of the rest. She panned back towards the front after sharing a glance and her breath caught; Harry...Bellatrix is here...
What the bloody hell...Harry growled, his gaze immediately following Hermione's invisible pointer, is she doing here? Harry looked around, searching, as he pulled a worn ballcap from the pocket of his jacket and tucked his most distinguishing feature, his hair under it, making sure to leave enough fringe to hide his scar. He muttered a spell and his eyes faded to a light blue and he looked over at Ron. "Ron, Neville, go find a place out of sight and get reinforcements here, keep them out of sight," Harry muttered and started up the stairs. Ron nodded, touched Neville on the shoulder and headed off down the stairs at a slow, trained pace.
Harry knew that they were going to try to get Parvati, Lavender, maybe Tonks and Remus here as backup, maybe a few more, the ones that could easily meld into the primarily Muggle crowd. Mione...Love are you still willing to do this? Harry felt her assurance and prayed a quick prayer that this was one of those odd things. He watched Hermione and Luna as they entered the Museum. He tailed Bellatrix, an iron band over his emotions as he followed the killer of his godfather as she walked right past the turned backs of Hermione and Luna as they inquired at the visitors' desk and headed up the south stairs to the second floor.
Harry stepped into an exhibit on Celtic Pottery as Bellatrix stopped and looked through an exhibit. You have fucking got to be kidding me? Harry said wide-eyed as he took a camera out from his coat pocket and pretended to take a picture of an old pot.
Down on the main floor, Hermione smiled at an information desk attendant and extended a folder of credentials, "Hello, I'm Dr. Harriet Evans from the Elliot institute, I have an appointment with your curator of medieval exhibits." She smiled and motioned to Luna, "This is my associate Melanie Goodnight; she's here to take the photos." What Harry?
One floor up, Harry ran his hand over his chin as Bellatrix looked over an old, Iron Maiden on loan from France as if it were a piece of furniture she was looking to add to her bedroom...which on frank consideration, considering who it was, she very well might be. She's looking at the exhibit of "Interrogation Devices" from the French Revolution. The problem is she's only one exhibit away from where you need to be. That one is right outside of the Medieval English artifacts hall.
Hermione felt out with her thoughts, feeling Luna next to her, and Harry's welcoming sun and Bella's dark, cold pit of an aura above her. She looked up as a tall, tweed-suited man approached and extended his hand, "Hello Dr. Evans, I'm Dr. Phelps" He said, with a broad smile, "I am pleased to accommodate you today." He motioned with his arm towards the south stairs that Harry and Bellatrix had already gone up. Hermione followed, Luna in tow. Luna preceded them up the stairs with a wide, swinging gait. "I was very interested in the photos of that locket you found in Scotland, it is like the ring you wanted to take photos of, both of which show a remarkable degree of craftsmanship for English artifacts of that era."
"Not really," Luna commented airily as she and Hermione climbed the stairs with no apparent effort, while the curator with them, was puffing slightly, "not considering that such artifacts as Excalibur and the Yorkie Candelabra were also from that era."
The curator laughed, "Don't tell me you believe in that fairy tale, of knights, Wizards and such." He laughed again as Luna stopped and looked back at him.
"If you say so, but they also say the Dodo is extinct as well." She added with a beautiful smile. She shrugged and continued up the stairs.
"It is..." he said quickly.
He took another breath, and Hermione took the chance to get back on subject, even though for once, Hermione knew quite well that Luna was for once, totally normal, for a witch. Both of them knew quite well that Excalibur and Merlin had existed. Merlin's handiwork was everywhere in Wizarding culture, from certain laws to everyday spells that were still in use to today, and Excalibur, the great sword...well, she had this odd suspicion that the blade that hung in her bedroom next to Harry's side of the bed, might be Excalibur, or at least more likely from the same, lost to time, smith.
Hermione held her breath as she, Luna and Dr. Phelps walked right behind Bella, hoping that whatever Luna was going on about now, was more or less normal as almost her entire train of thought was involved in masking her and Luna's magical signatures from Bella. Bella never moved as the trio entered the large hall dedicated to Medieval English artifacts. She knew Harry's hand was clenched in his pocket ready to destroy Bella if she moved. The problem wasn't Bella herself, actually for once.
Between her and Harry, not to mention, Ron, Luna and Neville, along with by now, probably Remus, Tonks and two or three seventh years, Hermione was reasonably confident they could take or kill her, it was just that they couldn't afford to, they needed to do this clean, and be gone as if it were never there. Even if Bella had been sent by Voldemort to check to see if the ring was there, if it were indeed even a Horcrux, Hermione was confident that only Harry or Voldemort himself could easily tell if it were real.
"Here we go," Phelps said happily as they arrived at a large glass case, with several necklaces and rings scattered about, he gestured to an armed, Muggle guard standing in one corner of the room. Phelps took a key from his pocket while the guard called in to let security know they were opening the case. After receiving a tiny acknowledgement, he nodded and the curator put on a pair of white gloves and set a green velvet cloth out on top of the cabinet. He opened the case and placed a silver ring with a square sapphire surrounded by a pair of triangular diamonds out onto the counter. The ring was still in a small ring box. "I am sorry, for some odd reason we can't seem to remove the ring from the box."
No, duh? Hermione thought, trying not to roll her eyes, one of Rowena's own defenses on the ring was that only a Ravenclaw could remove it, and Voldemort would have been sure to not disturb that if he had taken the ring, so as to not let some "crusading Gryffindor" take it. Of course over the years, not every Potter had been a Gryffindor, there were a smattering in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff over the last five hundred years that Hermione had been able to find records on, and there were also those, who had chosen Gryffindor. Ready Harry...this could be tricky, I'm going to have to switch them with Fred and George's fake, and if the box won't let go, Luna will just have to grab it, and then all hell will break loose.
I got her Hermione, she's just moved onto the rack, I think she's taking notes. She moves towards you...she's dead. I won't let her near you, Love.
"That's fine," Hermione said brightly, with a megawatt smile, "we just need pictures of the stones and the top of the band anyway. Odd about the box though." Phelps nodded and Hermione caught Luna's eye and nodded. The camera Luna was holding flashed, the flash filling the room for an instant, and totally concealing the millisecond dual flashes as the Ravenclaw ring vanished from the box, the box agreeing with the hat and allowing Hermione to take the Ring, and the fake from her pocket Apparating into its place microseconds later.
In the exhibit over, Bellatrix tensed for a moment and looked around, then shrugged and continued looking at the exhibits, shrugging off the odd magical pulse, which wasn't terribly odd as they weren't really all that far from Diagon Alley.
Hermione kept her smile on her face as she forced her breathing to remain normal while Luna took another five or six pictures, moving the ring box from side to side to get pictures of it from all angles. She gave Hermione a nod as she was done, "I should have it, Her...Harriet, providing we don't have any problems with Fair..."
"Yes, Melanie those Fire Ants that climbed into the developing solution the other day were annoying," Hermione cut her off quickly. "I think we are done here, Dr. Phelps. I thank you."
"It was our pleasure," He responded gaily and replaced the ring in the glass case and relocked it. They headed off, out of the exhibit, past Bellatrix for another harrowing pass and down the stairs. "Would you have time to join me for a spot of tea?" he asked hopefully, eyeing Luna as if he were hoping she would get lost on the way.
Hermione shook her head and pushed up her decorative glasses up her nose with one finger, "No I am afraid that we have another appointment," With my husband, you doof, "I am afraid that I will have to take a raincheck."
"Until then," Phelps replied with a touch of regret and shook both of their hands again and left.
We're clear, Harry, Hermione sent as her and Luna exited the building. Her small glasses automatically darkened and Luna pulled a pair of sunglasses from her pocket and put them on. I don't know if I'm the Pink Panther right now...or bloody Laura Croft.
Harry grinned as he walked past Bellatrix and down the stairs, ready to strike. He pulled his coat tight around him as he exited onto Russell Street and started down the stairs. He noticed Remus out of the corner of his eye, with a Fedora pulled low over his eyes, helping an old woman down the stairs; he assumed that the woman was Tonks. Harry nodded to Hermione as he caught her eye and she pulled a small mirror from her pocket. She flipped it open and pretended to check her makeup, "We're clear," she whispered to it, closed it and repocketed the mirror. A car backfired on the street an instant later and a couple of soft pops rang out a second later. No one noticed a thing as Hermione and Luna entered a cab and took off down the street, lost in a moment in London traffic.
**************************Room of Requirement****************************
8:00 pm
"What do you mean it's not a Horcrux?" Ron yelled as he leapt up from the couch the room had summoned and paced over to Hermione. His entire demeanor was tight, angry. "You and Luna could have gotten killed, that was bloody, fucking Bellatrix just standing there enjoying the day."
"I bloody well told all of you that I didn't think it really was the damn Horcrux, Ronald," Hermione growled, tossing the ring, in its new, conjured box, down on a table, that contained a large magnifying mirror on a stand, several beakers and a large boiling cauldron that Harry thought was more for effect than anything. She spun on her heel, her hands falling to her hips as her eyes flared and small tendrils of hair started to float of their own accord. "I know you bloody, fucking well don't ever bother to listen to me, I don't know why I thought you might start now, when the whole world is at stake..."
"Then why the fuck did we do after it then, oh genius?" Ron snapped, as he started to walk around the room, ignoring the...annoyance, in Hermione's eyes. He also seemingly ignored the fact that she was bristling, Hermione's eyes shot to Harry's, pleading. He shrugged and she bit back her retort and turned back to the ring, not responding. "Don't have a..."
"Because it could have been, Ron," Harry replied reasonably, looking over with his arms crossed, "and even if it weren't it's better to be in our hands than his." Harry crossed the room in a pair of strides and grabbed Ron's arm. He pulled him to one corner of the room, and leaned in, "What the hell is up with you Ron?" Harry's eyes hardened, "Hermione told you, told us all that she didn't think it was the ring, we are doing what we have to do, if you don't like it, mate," he hissed, "there's the door."
Ron looked at him for a minute, then sighed, "I'm sorry Harry," he muttered contritely, "I guess that seeing Charlie last night, scared me a bit...and when we saw Bella there, and Luna was in there with Hermione-" Harry sighed as he looked at his friend of seven years, and nodded, he knew that fear well, too well.
"I was there too, Ron, and I wouldn't have let anything happen to her," Harry whispered back, urgently. He glanced over Ron's shoulder to meet Hermione's eyes; she was biting her lip as she looked back at him, while Luna was spouting something about Kneazles in her ear. Ron looked down at his feet and shrugged, nodding absently. "Are you going to be alright?"
"Yeah," Ron stepped away from Harry and walked back over to Hermione, "Sorry, Herms." She gave him a smile and looked over to Harry to find him nodding at her; she gave Ron a small smile and a quick hug, before she stepped back to the table. She picked the ring back up from where it had gone and set it in the center of a white chalk circle on the table. Hermione walked back over to the couch and dropped on it, waiting as Harry leaned on the back, next to her head, and Ron took his seat next to Luna. The rest of the group that had gone was about somewhere in the Castle, of them only Remus and Tonks had known what they were really after, and the hasty reinforcements, only that Harry and his group might need help.
"As I was saying before I was interrupted," Hermione said softly, looking at Ron. His ears pinked slightly, but he gave her a sheepish smile, "Even though this ring isn't a Horcrux...we can use it. It was never bespelled so its original magical properties weren't compromised, and I think, I can use it to find the other Ravenclaw artifact, since we have the Ring and the Book."
"Can you do it now?" Harry asked, and she bent her head back until she meet his gaze, he gulped at something he saw there.
"Maybe," she replied slowly. She stood and flicked her wand at the table. The Ravenclaw spellbook, appeared with a soft pop and she walked over and placed it on the floor. She stepped over a pace and placed the ring in its box on the floor. "Harry, conjure me a map of Great Britain to start with, none of the others have been outside of the Country yet..." she gave him a nervous smile as his wand flicked and a large map of the British Isles appeared on the floor next to her. She positioned it at the point of a triangle made up with the two Ravenclaw items and whistled in her thoughts.
Luna's eyes grew wide as she approached, "Would you rather I do this, Hermione?" she asked, her voice utterly serious as Ron looked between Harry, Hermione and Luna, each with staid looks on their faces. "Do you need a circle?"
"No, Luna, not if I can get," A small cat door appeared in the door to the Room of Requirement and Crookshanks sauntered in. He stopped and sat on his haunches several feet away, outside of the triangle of the items. "Crooks here," she finished. Harry...
I got your back, baby, me and Crooks... Harry said softly, and Hermione's familiar meowed in agreement. She nodded jerkily, and dropped into a lotus in the center of the triangle. Harry gave her a final nod and...
ENCLOSIUM, a shimmering, yellowish white half sphere snapped into existence around Hermione, the map and the pair of artifacts. Every other light in the room, every torch, candle and fire extinguished with a pop. Glowing eyes looked out of the sphere to find Harry's returning her gaze, she glanced down at Crookshanks, whose yellow eyes were fainting pulsing in time with the cycles of the sphere. She slowly reached behind her back and pulled out one of her daggers. She balanced it by the point for an instant before flipping it up in the air, it flipped once, twice, started back down, flipped again and stopped, hovering in air over the map, it's tip pointing directly at an unmarked spot in the Scottish Highlands, Hogwarts in other words.
FOUNDROUS FAMILIARUS LOCATUS... white beams shot from the two Ravenclaw artifacts past Hermione to impact together on the tip of her floating dagger...PROJECTORM. Hermione convulsed, her back arching forward, her eyes slipping almost closed, save for emerald glowing slits, as a second larger bubble snapped into existence enclosing the first with her in it, along with Harry and Crookshanks. The first vanished with a loud BANG. She shook slightly as images started racing past her mind's eye, images of green fields, of mountains, of lakes.
The floating dagger started moving, scanning over the map as the images speed up in her mind, moving quicker and quicker. Crookshanks eyes glowed brighter as he lay down on his stomach, watching her. Harry staggered slightly but kept his feet as he felt an odd, swooshing sensation in his stomach, and saw what Hermione saw, filtered through her link.
"What the bloody fuck is going on?" Ron snarled, turning to Luna desperately. She gulped slightly, her eyes sharp, as she moved to his side and interlaced her fingers with his, and squeezed hard.
"She's...she's using the other two to locate the third, from their magical signatures, Ronald," Luna replied breathlessly, "She's scrying for them."
"Then why..." Ron waved at Harry and Crookshanks.
"You really need to read, dear," Luna said with a shake of her head, "Crookshanks is her Familiar, he's anchoring her, keeping her here. And Harry...Harry's there in case she runs into Riddle, or his soul fragment in the Horcrux." Ron's jaw dropped and jumped forward reaching for them, "NO..." Luna snapped tackling him to the ground, "Only Crooks or one of them should break the circle now."
The images slowed as the Dagger slowed over Southern England, and dropped to stick point in.
Hermione's head turned slightly, as she suddenly looked down at a graveyard under the light of a half moon. Several tombstones lay broken or tumbled on their side as she watched through her mind's eyes she slowly moved among them. The images slowed as they wound their way though the yard. She shivered as they passed a sullen white stone, inscribed with Tom Riddle. They exited the Graveyard and slowly moved up a grassy hill, passing several masked, cloaked figures walking the grounds. A large, run down house topped the hill; its windows overgrown with ivy and bushes.
A door slowly opened in the house, and they entered. A dark, suffocating presence turned to Hermione's projection. MUDBLOOD... Hermione screamed, and turned away, as the shadow charged she collapsed both in the projection and the real world. The cold shadow reached out, only to be knocked backwards as a wall of fire surrounded her.
In the Room of Requirement, the protective sphere was now pulsing a bright blue, as Harry's eyes were fully open,
shining as bright or brighter than the sphere, BREAK THE CIRCLE... He roared in his thoughts, and a ginger
streak flowed to his feet, his claws glowing as they extended and swiped at the sphere.
It vanished with a roar and a wave of energy that shattered the Room's furniture and drove Ron and Luna behind a hasty Protego. They dropped it as Harry turned to them, "Get Poppy," and collapsed next to Hermione as if his strings had been cut.
Ron ran from the room as Luna walked over and knelt next to Harry and Hermione, she glanced over at the map to find the tip of the dagger was sticking through the map and into the wood floor at a small town labeled Little Hangleton.
A rush of flaming hair led a long, lanky body down several flights of stairs, dodging pets, fallen suits of armor and an annoyed Mrs. Norris. Ron turned and sprinted down the hall leading to the Hospital Wing, turned a corner and crashed into Remus, knocking the older man sprawling and sliding down the floor a bit. Remus did not censure Ron, but looked up at him, with a somber, heart-rent expression. Ron glanced up, and his eyes widened as he saw the companion that Remus had been traveling with this night.
Bill's face was pale in the moonlight leaking in from the windows. A handpaw's worth of scars lined his face, each scar catching the light as if painted in luminous paint. Ron didn't question why Bill was here, he reached down and pulled Remus to his feet, "Remus," he said hurriedly with more than a trace of panic in his voice, "Harry, Hermione...Room of Requirements."
Remus' face went from pale to ghostly. He pulled his wand from his jacket and pointed it in the direction of the Hospital, and a silvery wolf bounded out, sprinting down the halls, towards the Hospital as Remus gave Bill a glance, got a nod in return and vanished in a blur of movement down the path that Ron had just traveled.
Ron stared towards the Hospital wing, as if wondering why he had not thought of that, he turned and started to head back to the Room of Requirement when a strong, slightly shaking hand grabbed his arm. He looked up at Bill, and noticed, finally, the wide eyes, the lank hair, the hard set of his mouth, and he knew before Bill could say a word, "Charlie's dead, Ron."
Dun Dun DUHHHHHHH!!!!!!. Sorry about that....