After flicking through the Harry Potter Lexicon (I refuse to taint my eyes with the foulness within Deathly Hallows pages) and finding nothing conclusive as to why Rowena Ravenclaw posessed a diadem, I will retcon my own reason.
For those who have been wondering when I'm going to show Ron and Ginny's reactions to Harry being a vampire, you'll get part of your answer here. And be warned, I'm back to my usual Ginny-hating self.
I don't own Harry Potter. Never have and never will.
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"What?" Harry asked dumbly as he looked at the silver tiara glittering innocently from within its box. Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation.
"Honestly, Harry, one of these days, can you at least try to read Hogwarts, A History?" she asked testily.
"Why can I when I have you around?" Harry replied, shrugging innocently. Hermione rolled her eyes again before Apparating away. Harry looked up to see Tonks standing awkwardly.
"I'll…just go check on Remus," she said, walking past him and climbing up the stairs. Seconds later, Hermione popped back to her place beside Harry, a heavy book in her arms. She set the book onto the table with a bang, making the still mostly stunned messenger bat twitch reflexively. Hermione opened the book to show an entry with a moving portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw. Hermione pointed to Ravenclaw's forehead, and Harry peered down at the drawing, squinting until he saw a tiara perched on her head.
"Rowena Ravenclaw was descended from a royal family, and the diadem was given to her as a wedding gift from her mother," Hermione explained. Whether she was reciting it from memory, or reading it from the text, Harry did not know, for he was too busy staring at the miniscule image of Ravenclaw. "When Rowena was older, she enchanted the diadem with all her knowledge, so that anyone who wore it would be granted all her wisdom until it was removed from their heads. It says here that it was stolen, but it doesn't say why or by whom," she continued, frowning. Harry reached into the box and pulled out the diadem, and immediately felt a chill run down his spine.
"Yup, it's a horcrux, alright," Harry said, looking at the large sapphire in the center. "Maybe I should put this away," he added.
"Put what away?" a voice behind them asked. Harry and Hermione both jumped and spun around to see Tonks holding a small jar and Remus, who was nursing a bruised knuckle looking at them in confusion.
"Nothing," Harry said quickly, hiding the diadem behind his back. Remus glared at the two vampires, smiling innocently.
"You know, your father used to say `nothing' in that tone whenever he was planning something," Remus said dryly as Tonks rubbed held his wounded knuckle with one hand and gently rubbed some sort of ointment with the other, the jar floating in mid-air. "So, if it's `nothing,' as you call it, then what are you hiding behind your back?" he continued, wincing in discomfort.
"Who said we were hiding anything?" Hermione asked, smiling nervously.
"How did your conversation with Snape go?" Harry asked quickly and loudly, hoping to change the subject before they dug themselves any deeper. Remus glared at Harry suspiciously for changing the subject, but decided to let it drop for now.
"As well as one could expect," Remus said with a shrug. "Snape demanded where he was, I swung a few punches. He made some anti-werewolf comments, I swung some more punches. Then he started screaming that he killed Dumbledore on his own orders. Of course, I didn't believe him, so I kept swinging. Eventually, my hand got sore, so I stopped."
"And we don't know if he was telling the truth because somebody refused to use veritaserum," Tonks scolded as she capped the jar of ointment and conjured some bandages to wrap around Remus' well-lubricated hand.
"I have over twenty years of anger for that man, veritaserum wasn't going to cut it," Remus said, shrugging innocently. Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"I didn't take you for a violent person, Remus," he said, slowly dropping the diadem back into its box and covering it.
"A lot of people from my school days think I was the most docile of the Marauders, that nothing could affect me," Remus said casually. "The truth was, the insults that the Slytherins and especially Snape threw out cut me just as deeply as James or Sirius, I just kept my temper in check better than they did." As Remus and Tonks stood up and walked back upstairs, the werewolf looked back. "You know, if what you're hiding has to do with whatever Dumbledore had you do last year, you could have just said so," he said, leaving two embarrassed vampires in his wake.
"I am going to take this to the Chamber," Harry said, holding up the diadem and disappearing with a crack. He reappeared seconds later, his hands empty. "I feel like having a talk with Snape myself, actually," Harry continued, mostly to himself as he walked upstairs, Hermione following him. Before they entered the room that Snape was being held in, they went into the potions room and grabbed a bottle of veritaserum.
"I thought I'd at least give him a choice," Harry said as he grabbed the vial of water-like elixir. Together, they walked into Snape's prison and turned on the lights, revealing that the potion master's face was now bruised and bloody. Harry also noticed that Hermione seemed to have a slightly dazed look on her face. He nudged her softly, and she shook her head to bring herself back into reality.
"How's your stay been so far, Snape?" Harry asked as he transfigured two pillows into chairs and sat down on one. Hermione, curiosity getting the best of her, wiped a finger across Snape's bloody brow and licked her finger, shuddering at the memory of him being hung upside-down during fifth year merging itself with her own memories.
"How do you think I've been, Potter?" Snape spat at Harry before coughing violently.
"You look like you've seen better days," Harry said, shrugging. "But a murderer like you deserves no less." Snape scoffed at Harry's comment.
"That's rather hypocritical for you to say, vampire," he sneered, although his split lip couldn't curl nearly as much as it could when he was well. Harry began to respond, but was interrupted by Hermione.
"That's where you're wrong," she said, displaying an amazing level of hatred for her former potions teacher. "We vampires kill to survive, you and your Death Eater buddies kill for pleasure." Both Snape and Harry were shocked at Hermione's display; she had never stood up to a figure of authority before.
"I don't know how things work under Voldemort's employment," Harry said, regaining control of the conversation, "but we good guys like to at least give our prisoners a chance before we off them, so you have two options: the slow way or the quick way. The slow way, we feed you with veritaserum every few days until we get all the information we need, after which we either ship you to the proper authorities or we kill you. And the quick way, we both bite you now and drain you of your blood, and you die a slow and painful death. It's your choice, but choose quick; we're both a bit peckish." Snape gulped nervously, for once feeling genuine fear for his life, for he didn't have to be a Legilimens to know that Harry would no doubt carry out his threat.
"Actually, Harry, there's a third option," Hermione suggested before turning to Snape. "You take a Wizard's Oath, swear on your life and magic that you will tell us the truth and only the truth. Is that satisfactory?" Truth be told, what would truly satisfy Snape would be to be released, but seeing that that was unlikely to happen, he bowed his head.
"I swear on my life and my magic, that when you ask of me, I will respond with only the truth," he chanted, and a soft white light enveloped him for a moment, confirming the Oath.
"Where is Voldemort?" Harry asked immediately.
"He is at Riddle Manor, I believe," Snape replied tonelessly. "He has placed various wards around the property so that it is all but inaccessible, except that he does not trust another enough to cast a Fidelius on the property." Harry and Hermione shared a glance. Without a Fidelius in place, it was likely that they could walk straight through the wards with nothing to stop them.
"What sort of defenses are there?" Hermione asked.
"There are Death Eaters wandering the mansion and its grounds, but the Dark Lord is confident that his wards will weed out any trespassers, and did not feel the need to lay down any traps or obstacles," Snape answered dully.
"Anything else interesting going on lately?" Harry asked vaguely.
"Yes," Snape responded. "For some time, the Dark Lord has been negotiating an alliance between himself and the vampires." Harry and Hermione looked at each other in surprise. "I do not know the extent of these meetings, for they always take place in private, but I do know that they do not seem to be going well for the Dark Lord, for he seems increasingly agitated with each meeting." Harry thought about this new information. He probably tried to bargain with the vampires as another attempt to gain immortality, but they seemed to be stonewalling him for some reason. He decided to think about it later and continued with the interrogation.
"Why did you kill Albus Dumbledore?" Harry asked.
"My reasons are twofold," Snape replied darkly. "Narcissa Malfoy made me take an Unbreakable Vow to assassinate Dumbledore should Draco fail. When I told him of this, he said to follow through with it, for he felt that my life was far more valuable than his."
"I have my doubts about that," Harry muttered so Snape wouldn't hear him. "Fine, you'll get to live for now. We'll continue this discussion later." Harry and Hermione stood up and walked out of the room, leaving Snape alone with his thoughts.
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Bill Weasley was getting worried about his two youngest siblings. Ever since they had discovered that Harry was a vampire, they had taken to locking themselves in their rooms, leaving only to eat and go to the bathroom, and rarely spoke during those times. The fact that Hermione was nowhere to be found only made things worse. He walked past Ginny's room and heard soft sobbing behind the door.
"Ginny?" Bill asked as he knocked on the door. "It's Bill. Can I come in?" Bill heard a soft sliding click to signify that the door was unlocked, and he opened the door to see Ginny sitting on her bed, her arms around her knees. "Are you alright?" Bill asked as he sat down next to her, rubbing her back. She shook her head, tears falling down her face.
"It's not fair," she sobbed. "It wasn't supposed to be like this. Harry was supposed to come back and ask me to be his girlfriend again." Bill frowned as Ginny continued. "He was supposed to defeat Voldemort, then he and I would get married, and Ron and Hermione. We were supposed to have a family together, and it supposed to be happily ever after. But now he's a monster, my dream is gone forever." Bill stood up and glared at his sister in anger.
"Harry is not a monster," Bill snapped. "He is still the young man that we've always known, and I for one can't believe that you would be so petty. Harry has the weight of the entire world on his shoulders, in addition to his affliction, and all you can think about is how you can't be his girlfriend anymore?!" Bill shook his head in disgust and disappointment. "I don't know what he was thinking when he decided to ask you out, but he deserves better than you, and I am ashamed to have a sister so petty and selfish." Bill spun around and walked out, closing the door behind him.
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Harry and Hermione stared at golden locket sitting innocently on the table. They had decided that it would be best to destroy another Horcrux, and so they took Slytherin's locket into the same room that Harry had destroyed Hufflepuff's cup in and charmed the door to be unbreakable. They had also ordered Dobby that if they were rendered unconscious by the ordeal, to bring them a pig each when they stirred.
"You sure you want to do this?" Harry asked as he held up a large metal hammer. "I mean, we don't know what'll happen with two people in the room." Hermione rolled her eyes as she set down a hammer of her own.
"Yes, I'm sure, Harry," she said exasperatedly. "The last time you did this alone, this happened," she said, pointing to her neck where her bite scar was. "I'm not going to allow you to run that risk with Remus or Tonks, so I'm going to watch your pasty arse while you smash the Horcrux."
"Hey!" Harry yelled, feigning offense. "My arse is not pasty!" Hermione laughed as she picked her hammer back up.
"You keep telling yourself that, Potter," she said sarcastically. Rolling his eyes, Harry bent down so he was close to the locket and could the see the ornate serpent on the face clearly.
"Open," Harry hissed in Parseltongue. Harry backed away as the locket clicked open and Voldemort's soul fragment drifted out in a black cloud. Harry and Hermione drew their wands, holding their hammers in their other hands. The cloud hovered over the locket, drifting left and right, like it was looking at them, before it rushed forward and into Hermione, quicker than either of them could react. Hermione's grip on her hammer loosened, and it fell to the floor with a clunk. She shook her head and looked around in confusion.
"What happened?" she asked. Harry stepped forward, his grip tightening around his wand.
"Hermione, are you okay?" he asked carefully, holding out his hand. Hermione looked at him and smiled sweetly.
"I'm just fine, Harry..." she trailed off ominously before raising her wand and blasting Harry across the room. "YOU BASTARD!" she screamed as Harry dodged another curse. "You ruined me!" Hermione continued to scream as she shot curse after curse at Harry, who was barely managing to dodge them. "You took everything from me! My career, my family, my future! I hate you!" Harry dove to avoid an explosive curse, instead blowing a sizable crater into the wall behind him. Harry got back onto his feet and dashed towards Hermione, tackling her to the ground. Harry wrenched Hermione's wand out of her hand as she struggled underneath him. She managed to wriggle one of her legs between his and brought it into his groin as hard as she could. Harry bit back a scream as he discovered that Undeath did not eliminate that particular weakness, and rolled off of Hermione, instinctively curling into a fetal position.
As Harry clutched himself in pain, Hermione grabbed her wand and conjured a silver dagger, which she wielded menacingly. She got onto her knees and, wrapping one hand around Harry's throat, raised the dagger above her. Harry struggled against her grip and caught her hand as she brought the dagger down, the point hovering above his heart. He threw the dagger across the room and shoved her off, crawling up to the table. Harry grabbed a hammer and was poised to bring it down on the locket when he was pulled back down onto the floor. Hermione conjured another dagger and raised it up when Harry kicked her in the face, forcing her away from him.
Pulling himself back up, he grabbed the hammer and swiftly brought it down on the locket. Hermione screamed in pain and writhed on the floor as the soul fragment possessing her became damaged. Trying to tune out her anguished screams, Harry brought the hammer down against the locket again, and black smoke began to trickle out of Hermione's mouth and nostrils. Harry brought the hammer down again and again, until the two halves of the locket snapped at the hinge. The cloud that had gathered above Hermione's now still body gave one final unearthly shriek before exploding, sending Harry tumbling over the table.
Harry felt his strength slipping quickly. Groaning in pain, he dragged himself across the room to Hermione's side. He reached his hand out and slipped it into hers before his world went dark once more.
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Four Horcruxes down, two more to go!
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