Nobody's laughing now,
Gods grace lost and the devil is proud,
But I've been walking for a thousand miles,
One last time I could see you smile
American Baby-Dave Matthews Band
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
"So you two are telling me that there's a piece of that bloody nutter inside Harry's head?" Ron asked, looking skeptically at his two best mates. They nodded, grim looks on their faces. Ron raised one eyebrow and looked at Harry.
"Boy mate, when you do something, you don't do it half-arsed do you?" Ron quipped. Harry rolled his eyes and grumbled.
"Honestly Ronald, this isn't the time to joke," Hermione said. Ron rolled his eyes at her.
"Hermione, now's as good as any time to joke," he said. "Something has to keep us up in spirits or we might as well give up now." It was quiet for a few minutes.
"You know mate, you don't always have your foot in your mouth after all," Harry said, cracking a grin. Ron smiled broadly and shook his head.
"Nope, my food is firmly attached to my ankle," he said. Harry snorted and Hermione rolled her eyes. Sobering up some, Ron took a good look at his best mate.
"So what do you reckon we do then?" he asked. Harry shook his head.
"We've come up with the idea that maybe we can draw the…Horcrux out with some sort of spell or ritual," Harry said. He shrugged. "We aren't really sure, but when have we been since this all started?" Ron snorted.
"We haven't been," he said. "So, I guess it's to the Library for the next while then, eh?" He sighed and shook his head. "Hermione, you'll get me in there if it's the last thing you do." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"It might do you some good, knock some sense into that big fat head of yours," she said. Ron frowned.
"My head isn't fat!" he said. "It's quite proportional to the rest of my body." Hermione snorted.
"The only thing proportional to your body, Ron, is complete lack of tact," Hermione retorted. Harry sighed as his two best friends bickered.
Some things never changed.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
It had long past midnight and the fire in the Heads' Common Room was slowly dying. But as the red hot coals slowly cooled, Harry stayed firmly in front of them. He had tried sleeping. It just wasn't happening tonight. There were too many thoughts running through his head.
Would he survive this? Would Ron and Hermione survive this? What if he went mad, like Voldemort? If he's lived his seventeen years of life with a piece of Voldemort's soul inside of him, what would it feel like without it? Would it feel like losing a pinkie toe, it was always there just not really useful? Or would it be akin to losing something like a hand, or a lung? Something crucial?
He sighed.
The coals were almost completely cool when he heard the soft voice behind him and felt the warm hand on his shoulder.
"Harry? What are you doing up?" Hermione asked, her voice raspy and soft with sleep. Her hand rose and fell with Harry's sigh. She let go and sat next to him, crossing her legs underneath of herself.
"I can't sleep," Harry said. Hermione frowned. He was exhausted. There was no reason he shouldn't be able to sleep.
"What's wrong?" she asked. Harry sighed. There was no use trying to keep anything from her. She could read him like he was Hogwarts: A History.
"I can't help but think…what if I fail?" Harry asked. He looked at his girlfriend. "What if I fail? All the people that died, died for nothing. There would be no peace, no justice. Thousands more people will die for nothing but the reason of blood. It isn't right, Hermione."
"No, it isn't," Hermione agreed. "Nothing about this is right. A seventeen year old boy shouldn't have to do this. He should be worried about quidditch and school and trying to get the girl he has his eye on to like him, not trying to save the world." For a brief second, Harry smiled and looked at her.
"I have the girl I have my eye on," he said. Hermione gave him a small, but meaningful smile.
"And you'll always have her," she said. "But Harry, you won't fail. Don't even think it." Harry sighed.
"How do you know, Hermione? How is it that you have all this faith in me? I'm nothing special. Who's to say I can do this?" Harry asked. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Harry, I love you. That's why I have faith in you. You're special because even with all you've had to do in your life, you're still you. You can still care about the little things. You care about people, Harry," Hermione said. "And, forgive me for a second when I say this, but you're Harry bloody Potter." Harry had to laugh at that.
"Trying to be like a fan girl?" he said. Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled him to her. He let his head rest in the crook of her neck as his arms wrapped around her torso.
"I'm the biggest fan you've got, Potter," she muttered. She felt more than she saw him smile.
"I know," he replied. "I…thank you." Hermione frowned.
"Whatever for?" she asked. Harry shrugged and it jostled her for a second.
"For believing in me," Harry said. "For being there, and putting up with all this. Most people would've given up ages ago." Hermione sighed, but a soft smile came across her face as she looked down at Harry.
"How many times am I going to have to tell you that I love you?" she asked, running a hand through his hair. Harry snuggled closer to her.
"Once more, maybe," he said. And she knew he was kidding because she could feel him smiling. As his breath evened out and his hold on her grew a little bit more lax, Hermione sighed and watched the last coal in the fire die. The entire room was enveloped in complete night.
"What am I going to do with you Harry James," Hermione whispered into the darkness. She looked down at his, for once, peaceful face and for a second, she could see light.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
"Blimey! How many bloody books can one Library have?" Ron said. Hermione let the stack she had in her arms fall to the table with a loud `thump' and looked at Ron.
"There's more books in here than you'd know what to do with," she said. She took her seat at the table and pulled one of the books to her and began to read. Ron rolled his eyes and did the same.
"Mate, I'm not getting any of this. Unless we're going to fix you by dancing on one leg and chanting like Arabian monkeys, this isn't doing a damn bit of good," Ron said, sitting back in his chair. He ran a hand through his hair unenthusiastically. It had been several hours since they started their endeavor and Ron was tired. They all were tired.
Harry snorted. "Isn't that the truth," he muttered. Who thought of these things? Who thought of taking a muggle toothbrush and charming it so that it smelled and tasted like garlic to keep away vampires? Do vampires even brush their teeth…fangs? As much as he wanted Voldemort's soul out of him, he was tired and irritated.
"Boys," Hermione said. She pointed to the stack of books next to them. Both boys sigh and rolled their eyes. Giving a small groan, Ron pulled another book to him and began reading. Harry stood from his chair and his two best friends looked up at him.
"I'm just going to put away the books we've read," Harry said. He grabbed the rather large stack and stumbled away from their secluded table.
As he went down the several different isles to put books back, Harry looked around. The Hogwarts Library was huge, with an extensive lot of subjects ranging from what to do when it's raining cats and dogs to dealing with how to fix your demon addled kneazle. Harry shuddered as he thought about Crookshanks being possessed by a demon. That cat would be evil.
All light stuff Harry said. He stopped in his place. All light stuff. He turned his focus to the dark section that was roped off from the rest of the library. The Restricted Section.
"Hermione!" Harry said, coming back to the table. "Hermione, we aren't going to find anything about you know what in here!" Hermione sighed.
"Harry, I understand this is a off-putting task, but you can't give up," she said. Harry shook his head.
"No, what I mean is that this is the section open to the public. We aren't going to find anything on absurdly dark magic where an eleven year old can have access to. We need to look in the Restricted Section. We're Head Boy and Girl, we have admission to it."
Hermione looked up and Harry and beamed. She stood from the table, leaned up and gave Harry a kiss, and then rushed off toward the darker, less lit section of the library. Harry and Ron were left at the table looking at each other.
"I suppose we ought to put these away then," Harry sad, nodding toward the table full of books that were no help whatsoever. Ron sighed and nodded.
He hated libraries.
Sometime later, after the boys were done and sitting at the table, Hermione returned with a book in hand.
"It's about bloody time. We were about to send out a search party," Ron said as she sat down. She paid him no attention as she flipped to the index of the book and then to somewhere in the center.
"It says here removing a thing from a living body that has its own soul can be done," Hermione said. Harry took a deep breath and let it out slowly, relief flooding through him. He wouldn't permanently have Voldemort's soul in his head.
"But," she began. Harry rolled his eyes. There always had to be a but. Nothing could just be simple, it couldn't just be.
"It would be severely painful for the living host and could possibly kill both the victim and the person casting the spell to remove it. If all goes well, the parasite will be removed with little damage caused," Hermione said. Harry's stomach dropped.
"So, I could die, and you could die if we do this," Harry said. Hermione frowned. "What, the only two people I would even begin to trust to do this are you and Ron and I don't think Ron would do it, no offense mate." Ron shook his head.
"No taken. It's not that I wouldn't, though, it's that I couldn't," Ron said. Harry nodded.
"I have the potential to kill my boyfriend and myself if we attempt this," Hermione muttered. "That's reassuring." Harry shrugged.
"Well, look at it this way," he said. "If I don't make it, we can always depend on Neville to finish him off." Ron snorted.
"Mate, as much as I like the guy, Nev couldn't finish off a fly," Ron said. Harry shook his head.
"I think he could, Ron. He just doesn't have enough self-confidence to think he could do it. Nor does he know about the prophecy," Harry stated. He sighed.
"But we're doing this. It's our only hope of destroying Voldemort and even if I have to die doing it, he will not be the last one standing," Harry said. Ron clapped him on the back.
"Well said mate," he said.
"Right, well then, we need to plan accordingly," Hermione said. "I need to do a little bit more research and make a plan." She sighed. "I'll see you two later." She leaned up and gave Harry a peck on the lips before sweeping out of the library, leaving Ron and Harry standing there.
"It's do or die mate," Harry said. Ron nodded.
"I'll do before I die," he replied.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
It was a week later before everything was set up to remove the Horcrux from Harry's scar. Hermione set up the Room of Requirement to suit their needs and both Madame Pomfrey and Headmistress McGonagall agreed to stand by in case they were needed.
"Are you ready mate?" Ron asked, a hand on Harry's shoulder. He took a deep breath and nodded.
"As I'll ever be," he replied. He felt as if his stomach had jumped into his throat and he was scared out of his wits, but it needed to be done. Hermione stood in front of him, wand at the ready while Pomfrey and McGonagall stood off to the side of the bed he was in, with their wands at the ready.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked Hermione gently. She took a deep breath and nodded.
"Yes, I'll be fine," she said. She hesitated before walking to him. Leaning down, she first kissed his scar and then his lips gently. "I love you," she whispered.
"I love you too," Harry replied. She gave him a small nod and stepped back, raising her wand to his forehead.
"Extraho malum e quod fatum is ex is universitas, utriusque victus quod mortuus quod permissum sino ago a pacis vita," she intoned. A bright white light shot out of the end of her wand and straight into Harry's scar. The four other's waited with baited breath, and suddenly they wished they would wake up from this nightmare.
A horrifying, bloodcurdling scream erupted from Harry's mouth. Blood poured from his scar and down his face. His eyes closed and he fell back against the bed as his body began to convulse.
Hermione stood before him, her skin ashen and her eyes wide. Tears streamed down her face and Ron was instantly at her side, holding her up.
For several long minutes, Harry's body seized violently before it stopped completely, as if it hadn't ever happened. He lay still on the table, as if he were sleeping. His chest rose and fell shallowly with each breath he took.
An eerie, black smoke began to leave his body from every open orifice in his face; his ears, his nostrils, his mouth, his scar. His body lurched up and propelled forward, his back as stiff as a board, and finally the smoke stopped leaving his body. Instead, it formed a large, dark ball that floated in the air, in between Harry's now limp body and Hermione's quivering one. It stayed there for a second before a loud bang sounded through the room. Ron, Hermione, Pomfrey and McGonagall fell to their knees, holding their ears as the noise continued. Slowly, rays of white light broke through the black ball, blinding the room's occupants. With one final, thunderous bang, the black cloud disappeared, taking the white rays with it.
"Oh God, what was that?" McGonagall cried, standing up on wobbly legs. The normally well put together woman looked absolutely frazzled. Beside her, Pomfrey looked the same.
"That," said Ron and Hermione," was the last piece of Voldemort's soul." The two friends had stood up by then, and Hermione took a step toward Harry's still body, but she the stopped.
"Hermione?" Ron asked. She didn't reply, and instead swayed on her feet before falling backward. Ron rushed forward to catch her before she hit the ground. "Hermione!"
She looked up at him through bleary eyes. Her vision was fuzzy and her tongue felt heavy. She tried to speak but incoherent mumbles were all that came out. The last image she saw was Ron's face, pale and frightened before her vision went completely black.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
"It is almost time, Master," said a small, short, pudgy man with one hand that was flesh, and the other metal. He was on his hands and knees before his Master, periodically kissing the hem of his robes.
"Yes, Wormtail, you are correct," Voldemort hissed. His ranks had grown to include not only his fellow humans, but Giants and other magical creatures as well. Soon his army would be invincible, not to be stopped by the brat Potter.
He hardly had time to finish his thoughts before a terrible pain shot through his entire body. He doubled over and fell out of the chair that served as his throne.
"Master?" Wormtail asked. "Master what is it?"
"My wand Wormtail," he hissed. "Get me my wand." Wormtail scrambled across the floor to where the wand lay, dropped by Voldemort as he fell to the ground. He put it in the outstretched hand and watched as a bright light shot from it and turned red. A fearsome growl erupted from Voldemort.
"This cannot be right," he hissed to himself. With the strength that he had left, Voldemort pushed himself from the ground and back into his throne. He tried the spell again, with the same results. And then again, and again, and again.
"No," he whispered. "No, no, no, no." The grip he held on his wand tightened and another inhuman growl rumbled from deep in his chest.
"Master?" a fearful Wormtail ventured. Voldemort's furious glare focused on the quivering man in front of him. Wormtail whimpered when he was held and wand-point.
"Crucio!"
(TBC)
You guys! This is the quickest update in the almost two and a half year history of this story! Aren't you proud of me?
This chapter here is probably my favorite. I know, morbid. But it wasn't the content that I enjoyed. The words flowed so easily from my mind to the computer keyboard; it was like I didn't even have to think about what was happening.
Tell me all what you think.
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