Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, sadly, as if I did, HBP would have been different…
A/N: This is my response to a Challenge. It is named "HBP: The Redemption", by Talon Karrde, thus the story title. If some of you have read my other story "HP and the quest of the Horcruxes", you may find some similarities in some points. That's because being this one on seventh year too, I rearranged parts of my other story to fit the requirements of the challenge. As usual, if you read, please leave a comment, good, bad, the way you want, but leave it. It means a lot to me.
Slithering Target
"I am the Horcrux"
At Harry's affirmation, horror crept on Hermione's face.
"No! No, it can't be!" she cried suddenly, tears falling from her eyes.
Ron was speechless.
"This means you'll have to die, for destroying Voldemort completely…" she said, shaken.
It couldn't be true. Not after all what they have been through together, not now that they were finding a way to destroy the madman once and for all…
"Yeah, that's right" Harry said. If there was something that had always pained him beyond belief was seeing Hermione crying or hurt. Now, he thought he knew why she had this powerful effect on him.
He wanted to go and hold her and tell her all would be right, but he couldn't. Not only because Ron was there, but because he didn't believe it himself, and he couldn't lie to her.
Never been able to, never will.
Silence was between the three of them for some minutes.
"But…how?" Ron croaked out, finally.
"I don't know for certain, but I guess it was on the night he failed to kill me. He had just killed my parents, so his soul had been ripped once more. Then, trying to kill me but not succeeding, he must have, unwillingly mind you, transferred that new shred of his soul into me. That would explain the connection between us, and why I can speak Parseltongue…" Harry said.
The more he thought of it, the more it seemed to make sense.
"Yeah, I guess this is what has happened" he concluded as an afterthought.
No one spoke for a long time, then Hermione stood up and simply left the common room, not uttering one word.
"Guess it is an hard blow on her, having to lose one of her very best friends to a madman, for a mere casualty" Ron said. "Not that it isn't on me, after all"
"Yeah, I know. I admit I can't imagine how you two guys must feel right now. But you know, I don't think it can be worse than how I feel, after all it's me who needs to die to kill Voldemort" Harry said.
"Yeah, of course" Ron replied sheepishly.
They were by now at the end of April, few more days and the Felix Felicis would be ready.
Hermione had, later that day, regained some of her usual behaviour and joined them again.
"Sorry for this morning, Harry. It was just that the news upset me so much…" she said, looking down.
"No need to apologize. I would be even more a mess if I knew that fate had pulled such a nasty trick on you" he said, looking at her with the same intensity of that other time.
His hidden meaning was lost on Ron, but not on her, and his gaze too, but she said nothing, turning slightly pink and quietly seating with them.
"So, what are we doing now? Of course you can't kill yourself now, or no one will be able to kill Voldemort. I guess we should pass to the next Horcrux for the time being" she suggested after some time.
"Yeah, I guess it's right" Harry agreed, pensively.
"So we wasted six months with the potion" Ron said.
"No, Ron. We did not. Next Horcrux will still need as much luck as we can muster to find and destroy it"
"Do you already know what that is, then, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, it's just a supposition, however I think Voldemort's pet snake, Nagini, may be the sixth Horcrux" Harry explained them.
"What? That giant snake Voldemort set on my father in fifth year?" Ron said, sputtering his Butterbeer that he had nicked from the kitchens all over the floor.
Hermione rolled her eyes and vanished it with a flick of her wand.
"Yeah, that one, Ron" Harry said.
"Well, I guess you're right. How are we going to find it? And even if we do, Voldemort uses to be near it, so…"
"That's why we are using the Felix Felicis" Harry explained. "Just like when I needed to convince Slughorn to tell me the memory, I'll drink it, and it will guide me on the right path"
"And then we'll kill it, right?"
"That snake can be pretty dangerous, Ron. It's better if I battle it, since I'm the one drinking the potion" Harry suggested.
"Or maybe we could drink it too, and be of some help to you" Hermione chimed in.
"No way. I will not put you in the line of direct danger, even under that potion's effects. It's enough I'm letting you on this quest with me" Harry said. "And once we face it, you two will follow my orders. If I tell you to fly, you'll do it, right?"
"But…" Hermione started.
"You'll do it, right?" Harry asked again, commandingly.
"Right" the two conceded, sighing.
The few days till the potion was ready were spent studying for their NEWTs, as Easter break was gone now, and they needed the maximum concentration, since the school year was nearing its end.
Harry would at night practice with them in duelling, for hours and hours. Or, he would close himself in the library reading and taking notes from the book he had found in Rome.
They would, of course, attend their classes.
Professor McGonagall was now teaching the ones who had proved to have the ability how to become Animagus. Hermione was in the group, and it came out she was a white fox Animagus. Harry was one too, but it was harder for him, as he seemed to have two different animal images in his aura. The Professor had advised him to wait some time before trying the transformation, as she needed to research cases similar to his own. He could either transform in a phoenix, or in a snake. Probably the connection with Voldemort gave him this second possibility.
Ron and Harry, when they had time, would practice Quidditch, as they were still on the team. They had missed two matches, the one with Ravenclaw, and the one with Hufflepuff. In both of them Gryffindor had won, but while in the first it had been easy, the second had been close, as Ginny had banned McLaggen from the team, but the replacement was even worse than Ron on his first matches.
It was bad luck, really, because in their raids searching for Gryffindor and Ravenclaw's possessions the two boys had missed the second match for mere hours. However, Ginny had been able to lead the team to a victory.
Now, the time for the match with Slytherin was nearing, and they would not miss that one for nothing in the world. The rivalry with the other house was at top level even without Malfoy fomenting it every day.
Every day Ron and Harry would practice at night, trying to catch up on all the practices they had missed. They both wanted to be in their best shape for the match.
Ginny would help them, especially Ron, as she was a Chaser, who played Seeker just when Harry could not play.
When she had free time, Hermione kept reading the book Harry had given her at Christmas, and she wore the silver locket every moment, even if charmed as that only she and Harry could see it around her neck.
In it she had placed one picture of the two of them at Hogwarts.
When she had showed it to him, once that Ron was away, he had been extremely happy, and if Ginny and some other girls hadn't entered the room just that moment, he would have probably kissed her.
Harry had by now accepted that he had definitely fallen in love with his best friend. He had been in denial at first, but after some time he couldn't ignore the feelings anymore, and how his inner monster behaved around her, or when he saw her with Ron.
Having already broken up with Ginny, he had just one worry: Ron. He wanted to be loyal to his other best friend, and not be a trouble for his and Hermione's relationship.
In the meantime, however, he planned to take care of Ginny. True, he was not with her now, but the girl still hoped they would be able to be together again after the battle with Voldemort. That was if he was to survive.
So few days before the departure for hunting Nagini down, Harry took Ginny apart.
The girl had been excited when he had passed her a note asking her to meet him in the Room of Requirement that night.
She took up Hermione's offer to use her room to get dressed for special events, in case she did not want her dorm mates to see her, and carefully dressed with her best robes, wearing a simple but elegant white shirt, tight jeans and a blue light sweater under them. Then she passed quite a lot of time in the bathroom, applying her make up.
"Going out for some fun, Ginny?" Hermione teased her seeing what she was doing.
"You can bet on that" the younger girl answered, putting a red lipstick on. Then she applied some blush.
"Do I know him?" Hermione inquired.
"Oh, you do really well" Ginny said, grinning to herself.
Hermione came into her bathroom and looked at her, suddenly serious.
"Harry is not going to like it, Ginny. If he finds out…"
"Hermione, relax. It IS Harry the one I'm going out with tonight" the redhead admitted.
"Oh, very well then" Hermione said smiling. "Go and enjoy your night. Merlin knows if both you and Harry deserve it"
So Ginny went, and since she was a bit early, Harry was not there yet. She thought about what she needed, and when the door appeared, she entered.
Minutes later, Harry reached the place, and seeing the door, imagined Ginny had already arrived, so he entered.
He was greeted with a cozy atmosphere, with candle lights all around the room, soft music playing, and fluffy armchairs and couches.
Ginny was sitting on one of them, sipping a Butterbeer.
He cringed inwardly.
"I knew she would take this as a date" he thought, walking toward her.
"Hey, Harry" she greeted him smiling.
"Ginny, there has been a misunderstanding…"
"No misunderstanding, Harry" she said, standing and placing her arms around his neck and kissing him.
Harry did not respond to the kiss, and gently took her arms away.
"Ginny, listen to me" he said, and with a flash the candles, the couches and the soft music vanished. Just a couch like the ones in the common room remained.
She looked dumbfounded.
"But Harry…"
"Listen" he said again.
Then he spoke. "Ginny, in these months I've been here studying, then gone hunting for Horcruxes, and I'm quite satisfied of how things are going. I mean, we got two Horcruxes already, so we're doing good. We know what the third and the fourth are, we just need to find them" he said, not having the heart to tell her he was probably one of the two remaining ones.
"But something is troubling me, Ginny. I can't let you think we're gonna get back together after the war, because it's not what is going to happen"
She looked at him as it was the first time she saw him.
He sighed.
"Ginny, what I'm trying to tell you is that I'm not in love with you anymore. I never was, probably. I guess it was just a crush, and it has passed. Don't ask me why, or how, but it has indeed passed"
There. He had said it. Better going straight for the matter, he ahs never been good in taking circles around a subject.
Ginny looked at him stricken for some moments, then tears started flowing on her cheeks.
"It's Hermione, isn't it?" she said then.
"What?" Harry stammered, wondering how could she know.
"I've seen you two at Christmas. It seemed like the two of you were flirting with each other, but I shrugged it off. I was wrong, it seems"
"No, she's not the problem, Ginny" he lied, hoping to convince her. He could not risk her going to tell Ron that, or it would create tension between the three of them in a moment where unity was crucial.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to tell Ron" she said, before she ran away.
Harry remained there all night, sighing, and hoping all would be resolved for the better.
In the Gryffindor Heads common room, Hermione was once again reading the book Harry had given her, and twirling her locket in her hand, when the door slammed open, and a very upset Ginny Weasley entered, her make up ruined by her tears.
"Ginny, what has happened?" Hermione asked, but the other ignored her, locking herself in the bathroom and sobbing.
"I'm gonna kill Harry Potter tomorrow" Hermione said, slamming the book shut and throwing it in her bag.
Next day, Hermione entered the Gryffindor common room with a murderous look. She knew he would be there waiting for Ron.
"Harry James Potter" she said menacingly as soon as she saw him.
"Crap" Harry thought. "Ginny's told her"
"What the hell did you do to upset Ginny that much?" the brown haired witch said, her wand pointed at him.
"Hermione, really, it was just a big misunderstanding. I asked her to meet me not for a date, as she thought, but for explaining her that I'm not going to go back with her after the war, that is if I stay alive, and she guessed there is another girl" he said, gulping. He couldn't tell she was the other girl.
Hermione's face softened. "Oh, dear" she muttered, lowering her wand.
"Really, Harry, you could have told her it was not a date beforehand, tough" she said then, sitting near him while they waited for their friend.
"Yeah, maybe it would have been better" he agreed. "I'm really sorry, I did not think she would expect a date"
"Boys" Hermione said, rolling her eyes at him with a slight smile.
That was a quiet day, but the trio knew the moment of departure was approaching, but tried to think about it the less they could.
Hermione kept wondering who could be the girl Harry was in love with. Could he have been hinting about her? After all, he had had different behaviours around her lately, and the locket he gave her at Christmas…well, while she liked it a lot, and cherished it as one of her most treasured possessions, it was quite a strange gesture for a friend to do, especially since it had an heart shape…
Thinking about the locket, she caressed it with her hand. The thought that maybe Harry could feel something for her made her feel strangely giddy. After all she was Ron's girlfriend, she should not think like that about Harry. But she could not help it.
She dismissed that train of thought for the moment, as it would lead her nowhere.
Days later, finally the moment of using the potion and hunting Nagini had come.
Harry, Ron and Hermione were all reunited in Myrtle's bathroom, having taken the cauldron from the cubicle.
Harry took a deep breath, he filled one vial with the golden liquid, then took a long gulp from it.
Immediately he started feeling that sense of being able to do anything, of having infinite opportunity that he had experienced when going to make Slughorn tell him the real memory.
"Guys, I know where we're off next" he announced. "Take three vials of it, just in case we need a really lucky escape, and let's go"
Once they were all ready, they said goodbye to Myrtle, who as usual whined about no one remaining with her long, and how she was hated and forgotten by everyone.
"Harry, be careful!" the ghost shouted once more while they were walking away, knowing they were going to board some strange adventure as their usual. The ghost had grown quite an affection for the raven haired boy, almost a crush you could say.
"So, where are we going, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"We're going back to Riddle's house"
"What? We already searched it, and there was no snake there!" Ron blurted out.
"I know Ron, but I trust the potion. It's making me feel it's right to go back there, and since one time it was right, I'm going to follow its suggestion again" Harry explained, grinning, while they reached Hogsmeade.
Three soft pops later, Harry and his friends were in front of Riddle's house once more.
"See? No snake here!" Ron said, proud of his intuition.
"Sorry to contradict you, Ron. It's not here, yes, but surely it has been till short time ago. Look at these marks on the ground" Harry said.
True to his word, near the wall clear marks of a big snake slithering were in the terrain.
"We just need to follow them, and we'll catch it" Hermione said, marvelling in the potion power. It had brought them directly on their target's tail.
So they did.
Half an hour later, they found the snake creating havoc in Little Hangleton. On the main street three small bodies of kids lay, half devoured, and then, at the other end of it, Nagini was, threatening more children and some adults, which were trying to keep it at bay the Muggle way, with sticks and similar objects.
The snake moved dangerously toward them.
"I wouldn't do it, if I were you" Harry suddenly hissed menacingly in Parseltongue.
Nagini stopped and turned hastily. The citizens escaped as fast as they could, dragging the kids with them.
"You made me lose my dinner. You'll do fine, though" the snake hissed back, slithering at full speed toward Harry, whose Seeker reflexes kicked in and helped him avoid the assault.
The duel had started.
For being so huge a snake, Nagini was really fast and agile, and kept dodging the hexes Harry threw at her, and counterattacking.
Hermione and Ron looked at the scene in front of their eyes, scared but hopeful in Harry's skills.
"Petrificus Totalis!" Harry cried once again, but Nagini moved to the right, avoiding the spell.
"You're not going to get me if you use those childish hexes, my dear. And as fast as you are, you're going to grow tired soon or later" the snake hissed derisively.
There was no doubt to Harry that part of Voldemort's soul was in her body. She had the same manners of her master.
Just then four loud cracks were heard.
Dolohov, Bellatrix, and other two Death Eaters had Apparated there. It was clear Voldemort knew of them trying to kill Nagini, and had sent help to his pet.
He must really care a lot for her, maybe the only living creature for which he did so at all.
Since Harry was engaged in duelling the snake, Ron and Hermione had to battle them.
Few minutes later, the two teenagers were at a loss for what to do, when Hermione remembered the potion bottles. Ron understood her quick signal, so they took the vials and untapped them quickly, but before they could drink from them, Bellatrix and Dolohov intervened.
"Accio vials!" they cried, and both of them flew in their hands.
"Ah, the Felix Felicis potion. Dear old Slughorn seems to have a passion for it" the female Death Eater sneered, moving the vial to her lips, mimicked by Dolohov.
Hermione was quicker, though.
"Reducto!" she cried twice, shattering them in their enemies hands.
It was a waste of the precious liquid, but better that than having the Death Eaters to drink some. Those deranged criminals were already powerful and dangerous enough on their own, if they got lucky too, they would grow almost unstoppable.
So the fight resumed without external helps.
The Death Eaters managed to get Ron, as he got cursed on one arm, which grew limp. Luckily, it was not his wand arm, so he continued to fight.
Harry was still duelling with Nagini, but noticing the happenings decided the fight needed a strong acceleration.
"You can't avoid me forever, and you know it" he hissed to the snake, which, as a reply dodged his stunner once more.
"Seems I can" the snake hissed back, just to grow still suddenly.
Harry had spoken just to distract her a bit, and it worked, as he managed to throw her a silent Freezing Charm.
"For once, Snape's lesson has been useful" Harry thought angrily.
And even more useful it was when he crept behind the Death Eaters, silently Accioed his friends to him knocking their enemies down in the process, and then silently cast a Deflagro charm on the ground under Bellatrix and her cronies, who were blasted away and torn in pieces before they could even understand what had happened.
"This avenges Sirius" he said then, looking with hatred at the pieces of the woman who had killed his godfather, and releasing the breath he didn't even know he was holding.
Then they all walked toward the immobilised snake.
"Seems your last hour has in the end arrived, Nagini" Harry hissed to her. "Ron, care to avenge your father?" he said then, giving the redhead a grin.
"Couldn't want it more" his friend replied, darkly. Then he cast a Cutting charm on the animal, giving it some nasty gashes.
"Now, before I kill you once and for all, will you please tell us Voldemort's plans?" Harry asked in Parseltongue.
The snake couldn't reply as it was frozen still.
"You better move away" he advised his friends, then he released Nagini from the spell.
The snake didn't move or hiss a word. After repeating his request with the same result, Harry grew impatient.
"Very well, then. I'll find out all the same, you know that. But since you don't want to betray him, as it seems, then go and warm him a place in Hell" he said, then raised his wand.
"All together, guys. The spell good old traitor Snape has written in his book" he said to his companions, who nodded.
"Sectumsempra!" they all cried together then, and the animal in front of them got torn in pieces by the three curses, blood spurting everywhere, even on them.
They quickly got rid of it with cleaning charms, fearing it could be venomous, and they were right. Their clothes grew some holes where the snake blood had touched them.
Same end was for the ground under the corpse.
It grew black and smoking, like it had been burnt.
"Well, with Voldemort's soul in it, what else would have you expected?" Ron said, attempting a joke.
"Surely nothing better than this" Harry said sourly.
Then they Apparated back to the village, and from there they walked back to the school.
Once there, they went to report to the Headmistress.
"So you not only used a very powerful potion, that could have had some kind of effects on you if you did not brew it perfectly, but you also left the grounds without permission and put yourself in danger battling a giant snake and four Death Eaters" she commented sternly. "Mr. Potter, I thought you had better judgement, as well as Ms. Granger. I know it may be hard for you, but I need to remember that it is exactly this kind of rushed actions that led your godfather to his death, Harry"
The boy looked down ashamed. His friends looked at him, sorry that he had been reminded that.
"However" McGonagall started again, "I am very aware that your actions led this time to an important result. Not only you've destroyed an Horcrux, you also took away from Voldemort one of his weapons, and some of his most faithful and skilled servants. So I guess for this time I can close an eye and ignore the rules you've broken to accomplish that. Not that you've thought about rules that much since you entered the school, Harry" she ended with a smile.
Harry looked up, an smiled in return. "I'll try to be more prudent from now, Professor" he said.
"Well, off with you now. Mr. Weasley, go see Poppy for your arm"
And so they went to the Hospital Wing, where Ron was put into a bed and given some potions.
"I want you to stay here for a couple days, Mr. Weasley" the healer instructed briskly.
Next day, Ron's conditions were going worse, he was extremely pale and shaking, his arm as limp as it could be.
Madam Pomfrey decided it was better to bring him to St. Mungo's.
So there they went, and he was assigned a room in the Ministry relatives ward. The Healer assigned to him checked his pulse, flicked her wand at him some times doing some checks, then left reassuring them.
"He's gonna be as good as new in a few days" she said. All of them released their breath.
Once he had started improving, Hermione and Harry were sent back to school so they could have some sleep. Arthur would check on Ron and alert them if there were news.
Harry and Hermione entered their small common room and remained there, in front of the fire, chatting, for some time before going to bed.
When they did, Harry escorted Hermione to her bedroom and kissed her good night on the cheek.
Then he walked to his own room.
"I love you, Hermione Granger" he thought before sleep took him.
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