Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and don't make money from my writing about him.
Chapter 27: The Phoenix Strikes!
Feb 25
Harry met with the Black Isle Crew in the Room of Requirement. Once they all arrived he cleared his throat. Hermione, revising for OWLs, put her pen and notebook aside.
"Well, where do you think we are?" Harry said, "We're well into the second term and things are going to start getting busy with the wedding and exams. I want to see what you each think and what we should concentrate on for the rest of our time together this year. I'm learning a lot from Professor Flitwick and Professor Dumbledore, more than I can even pass on to you lot, let alone the whole of the DA."
Hermione held her tongue, letting the others have a say.
"I think it's going really well, Harry!" Luna said, "Almost everyone can summon a Patronus now."
"I agree with Luna." Neville said, unsurprisingly, "Not only that, but with the dueling side, everyone's getting pretty good at some basic dueling. It's not just casting a spell against a dummy."
Ron nodded to that. He'd gotten pretty competitive in the dueling side, constantly trying to prove himself.
"I think we're doing a good job of staying balanced." Ginny said, "I just don't know if we shouldn't start specializing a little bit. The members know the stunning spell, but they also know the reductor curse. They've used both under the dueling wards, but I'm afraid if they ever had to use them in the field, they might use either and if they use the reductor, we're going to have a murder on our hands."
Harry nodded. He'd thought of this problem after his recent talk with Dumbledore after the Diagon Alley melee. He hadn't decided for sure on a solution, but he was glad he'd at least thought about it.
Hermione pulled open a notebook and went point by point, "The members all know dodging, basic shields, and a small assortment of offensive spells. Many have managed at least a non-corporeal patronus and many have a corporeal patronus. I asked Professor McGonagall for the standard lesson plan for fifth year DADA and seventh year DADA. We are doing well preparing our members for their OWLs. There are a few knowledge issues we haven't prepared for the NEWTs, mostly in the realm of dark creatures, but I think maybe a handout might be better than wasting practical time on that."
Harry grinned, "Let me guess, you've prepared the handout?"
Hermione slugged his arm, "Of course, do you think I want our senior members to be unprepared?" She pulled out a small stack of stapled booklets that read, "DADA NEWT study guide".
"Ok, I want this to stay mostly about the practical, since that's how it started. We're replacing the experience we're not getting in Umbridge's class, but I think we're doing more than that. I think we've prepared ourselves to survive if we have to face Death Eaters." Harry said, "I couldn't have done it without you. I couldn't teach all these people, but I could teach you and you could teach them. We're fourth and fifth years, but I think we've made the whole DA respect us. Thank you for your hard work."
Harry clapped for his assistants and all of them blushed.
"I want to take the rest of our time here with some quick duels. I will face each of you. I'll be trying different stuff to test you. You just do your best to beat me. Hermione will take notes."
Harry stepped out on the dueling floor. He made the strip markings go away. They usually dueled 'in the round' to avoid developing habits of in-line dueling that would transfer negatively to a real-world conflict. He gestured to Ron.
"We're going to have to go kinda fast to get everyone a chance before the others arrive, so be ready when I call you." Harry said.
He saluted Ron, who saluted him back. Hermione called out "Begin".
Ron sent a stream of stunning spells at Harry, which he blocked, watching Ron's form carefully. Ron had improved significantly and his wand movements were crisp, allowing him to cast faster than he had before. Seeing he wasn't going to hit Harry with a stunner, Ron shifted to blasting curses, which hit the shield harder. Harry dropped the shield and rolled out of the way, flicking three quick stunners at Ron. Ron blocked the first two and dodged the third, launching his own blasting curse at Harry as he moved. Harry noted the ability to move and cast at the same time as a good thing. Ron's shield was strong enough, too. Harry conjured three suits of armor, like Dumbledore had before, and animated them to attack Ron. Ron blasted them with reductor curses as he'd seen Harry do. Harry animated the wreckage, using the same spider-form, knowing it would bother Ron. While Ron blasted it, Harry non-verbally animated the smaller wreckage, which snuck up on Ron and transformed into wire restraints, wrapping him tightly.
"Not bad, Ron." Harry said, "Charm heavy, which I think we all are a bit. Auror-standard is a bit charm heavy. Dumbledore is more of a combat transfigurer. With time, maybe I'll be able to teach some of that."
Neville fought a similar fight to Ron, except his spells hit harder and his shield took more damage before falling.
Ginny was faster than both of them, moving like greased lightning. Harry eventually stunned her, knowing if he played with her too much she might land a lucky spell. She flopped on her back, her school skirt up around her waist. Neville blushed crimson. Hermione flipped her skirt down before waking her.
"I hope mine doesn't do that." Luna said, "I prefer to duel without knickers. Makes me faster, I think."
Ron blushed at that comment. Harry wondered once again how much of Luna's lunacy was real and how much was just a really quirky personality.
"Harry's going to stun you for sure, now!" Ginny said, grinning.
Luna was fast like Ginny, although maybe not quite as fast. She was very unpredictable, though, transitioning from attack to defense almost randomly. She always seemed a beat off the timing Harry expected and it would be easy to miss defending one of her attacks due to that. He eventually caught her with petrificus totalus and tried to avoid the view she provided, although it was tempting.
"You're all good." Harry said, "I won't say you're all up to auror-standard, as I'm not qualified to make that call, but you're as good as all the aurors I've fought except Moody and maybe Sirius once he knocked the rust off. Hermione made notes. I'll review them with her and we'll have some recommendations later."
He finished talking as the first members of Dumbledore's Army let themselves into the Room of Requirement. He waited until they were all there, passing around cushions and seating himself next to Hermione. They all took the hint and gathered around him in a circle.
"Welcome back, Dumbledore's Army!" Harry said smiling, "I was just telling my assistants how much progress I feel we've made. What about you?"
There was wild cheering. Apparently the twins had brought fireworks as a few started streaking overhead.
"We formed this association because we knew Umbridge wouldn't be teaching proper Defense." Harry said, "I'm not the academic expert, that's Hermione's job…" there were chuckles at that, "…but she says she thinks we're definitely ready for the OWL practical and probably for the NEWTs, although it might not be our place to say that, since we're not there, yet."
"We're revising now." Cedric said, looking at Angelina and Alicia, "I think you're doing a brilliant job of preparing us for the NEWTs. Don't worry about that."
"Thanks, Ced." Harry smiled, "More importantly, though, I think we're preparing you to survive Death Eater attacks. I'm afraid they're coming. Voldemort…stop that!...is building up his forces and getting ready for something. So we'll keep working to be ready, both for our studies and to survive the time that's coming. It won't be easy. I thought I was ready, but I want to tell you a story about how I learned no matter how ready you think you are, your first real fight will be a surprise."
Harry proceeded to tell the story of running into Bellatrix by surprise. He left out some of the details about Hedwig's death and rebirth, but otherwise told everything, especially how terrified he'd been.
"I talked to the Headmaster afterwards. I had tried to kill Bellatrix and I'm not sorry..." Harry said.
"Hell no, she deserves to die!" Neville said, "If you kill her, I'll only be mad it wasn't me."
"Thanks, Nev." Harry continued, "But we need to consider our stance. If we come into conflict with Death Eaters, do we lead out with the deadly stuff? Do we throw reductors and fireballs at them? Can we deal with the consequences, both emotional and legal? Or do we start with stunners and switch to the deadly stuff once they've made it clear they're playing for keeps? That would be my proposal; because I don't want to see any of you go to Azkaban."
There was silence all around. A few of the heads nodded. Everyone looked deep in thought.
"I leave it up to you each individually to decide how you're going to react. I won't tell you what to do, because I won't be able to deal with the guilt if I'm wrong and one of you dies for it." Harry said seriously, "However, I do have a drill. Hermione and I have set the target dummies. I want you to cast as many stunning spells as you can. At some point, the target dummy will shoot either a stunning spell or a simulated Killing Curse. Dodge it and then cast either another stunning spell or a deadly spell such as the reductor in response. Are there any questions? We'll stop everyone about 15 minutes before the dueling portion to give everyone a chance to practice their patronus. Ok, get to it."
They did the drills for the next hour. Harry circulated, watching as people launched stunners, dodged, then launched a stunner or reductor depending on what the dummy had done. He was able to help people with their wand movements, the most common error. Some had failed to dodge quickly enough and he spent part of his time innervating DA members. The fake 'Killing Curse' was really a nasty stinging hex.
Afterwards, they practiced casting the patronus. The twins had come up with the good idea of watching for people who didn't seem to have a happy enough memory. Then they'd anonymously paired them off for '5 minutes of heaven' in a convenient closet the Room of Requirement had produced. It was amazing how many were able to cast the charm after that. Harry had to laugh at their inventiveness. He wondered who'd helped Marietta Edgecombe learn to cast her duck patronus.
The dueling started and Harry refereed. He was almost never challenged, one of the unwritten rules of Dumbledore's Army. Zacharias Smith had done so early on, trying to prove he was better than Harry Potter after all. That had taken less than a second to sort out. He had a similar look on his face today, though, and Harry wondered if he was going to try to challenge him again.
"Hermione Granger!" Smith called out.
"Oooooh." The twins said together, "We thought you had a death wish when you challenged Harry. Obviously we underrated it."
Smith looked a little uncomfortable for a moment, but then gathered his sneer, "It's not against the rules. I think she pretends to know more than she does. She might be good on paper, but dueling is a different sort of thing altogether."
"Did you see her the first time?" Alicia called out mockingly.
Everyone gathered around one of the dueling strips. Hermione took her place in her regular school uniform, feet spread shoulder width apart. Her face was flat. She'd developed a similar mental strategy to Harry's and she was immersing herself. Zacharias was fidgeting. Harry handed off the baton of the referee to Cedric, not wanting to seem partial. None of the Black Isle Crew could be impartial with Hermione.
"All right, salute." Cedric called. Hermione saluted robotically, a very precise upward flick and downward slash, every bit as crisp as all her wandwork. Zacharias managed to look pompous even when saluting.
"I'll drop this scarf. When it hits the ground, you may start." Cedric called.
The crowd grew silent as Cedric dropped the silk scarf. It floated to the ground, turning end over end. The two opponents stared at each other like gunslingers in the Old West.
The scarf hit the ground.
Hermione fired off the fastest stinging hex Harry had ever seen. He could barely follow her motion and he was about as fast as anyone he knew. Zacharias had assumed a fencing type stance with his wand hand leading and the stinging hex hit him in the right side of his bum, interrupting his stunning spell.
"Ouch!" Zacharias called.
"Ouch, ouch, owww!" he continued as the next several hit him as he danced around like a child in a sprinkler.
The DA laughed.
Hermione hit Zacharias with a modified wingardium, suspending him upside down, and then continued to pepper him with stinging hexes.
"Ok, ok, I yield!" he cried.
Hermione performed a non-verbal disarming hex, grabbing his wand as it swooped to her. She cancelled her levitation spell, lowering Smith slowly to the ground.
"Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster." Hermione quoted, glancing at Ron, "Zacharias, quit trying to prove something. We're all here to learn, but you need to lose the chip."
She walked over to him and helped him up, handing him back his wand.
"No hard feelings." She said, as she walked back to Harry's side.
H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr
Feb 26
They walked into the potion classroom in the dungeon. Professor Snape was sitting there quietly.
"Ah, my two…favorite…students." He said sarcastically.
"Ah, my favorite professor." Harry answered with a grin, "You're in a good mood."
"Hardly, Potter." Snape said, sealing the classroom with layers of privacy charms, "The Dark Lord is interested in the date of your wedding. He is moving plans forward. Neither Dumbledore nor I is sure what plans he's talking about. You should be prepared."
Both of them nodded.
"He once again attempted to root through my mind." Snape said, "I train regularly with the Headmaster… but I am afraid I may become too accustomed to his style. I hate to say it, but despite the fact that neither of you has mastered legilimency, your unique bond may provide…interesting…challenges. What I'd like to do today is have the two of you attack my mind while I defend."
"Really?" Harry asked, dumbfounded.
"Yes, really, Potter." Snape said disgustedly, "Despite my utter disdain for you, we are on the same side and the penalty for my failure in this art is death. My hesitancy to have either of you see my memories will motivate me. Do you have any more insipid questions? Perhaps you, Miss Granger? You often like to ask questions."
"No professor." She said even-tempered, "I actually understand how hard this must be to ask and am happy to help. I might wish you didn't cloak your unease in your usual sarcasm, but I've come to expect it."
Snape gave her a sneer so much less intense that for him it was almost a smile.
"Then let us begin."
Hermione had communicated to Harry that they had to be truly ruthless. The two of them together attacked Snape's mind over and over. Meanwhile, Snape tried to turn their attack back on them. He won the first round, having turned around the attack.
"That was you?" he asked, having seen when Hermione set his robes on fire at the Quidditch game first year, "I would have never thought the little bookworm capable…"
"Oh, shut up." Hermione grumbled, "Are you ready?"
The second time, they beat his defenses and saw the Muggle attack he'd been part of to earn his Dark Mark. He'd broken into a house with two other Death Eaters. They'd told him these were prejudiced Muggles who'd killed a Pureblood child, but as soon as he got into the house he saw family portraits that looked like a normal loving family, the kind he'd wanted but hadn't had as a child. He slowed, absorbing all the evidence in the house that contradicted what he'd been told to expect. He realized too late that he'd fallen behind his Death Eater 'comrades'. He ran up the stairs as fast as he could, but was too slow, finding parents and a single child dead in their beds from the Avada Kedavra. He used the Killing Curse for the first time himself that day, killing the other Death Eaters and then setting the house on fire. His occlumency had been tested, but he'd kept his secret. He'd had to take the Dark Mark or die, but it started him on the path away from being truly loyal to Voldemort.
Snape managed to push them from his mind, glaring at them, his lank hair clinging damply to his forehead.
"Damn you, again." He gritted out. As secretive as he was, he'd clearly decided that honing his already unmatched occlumency skills against the unprecedented challenge of a soul-bonded pair of capable (although not master) legilimens attacking in tandem was worth the loss of some of his secrets.
Severus managed to block them the next two attempts, but their third try put them into a set of memories he guarded very carefully. Harry saw the friendship with his mother in snippets, brief, but enough to realize that she was to Snape what Hermione was to him up to the end of their third year and the start of their bond, only Snape had no other friends, no Ron. He had acquaintances he had to be very cautious around as they were fully Slytherin and likely Death Eaters who wouldn't approve of a half-blood Slytherin who was friends with a Mudblood. Harry watched in disgust as his father showed off and taunted Severus. He watched Severus' horrible mistake, lashing out at Lily and could only imagine how he would feel if he'd done that to Hermione… actually a very close parallel, since he too was a half-blood and Hermione was muggle-born. They were pushed out of the memory right after seeing the look of disgust in Lily's eyes, which the memory seemed to focus on, a look which probably lasted only seconds, but in Severus' memory was endless.
"Get out!" Severus screamed. He stalked around the room like a wounded animal, sweeping some empty vials from a shelf onto the floor where they shattered. Harry and Hermione stood silently, afraid to say anything, afraid to even move. They weren't sure whether he was going to kick them out or attack them.
"So now you know what your father was like." Severus said in a voice which managed to be both vicious and wounded at the same time.
Harry ventured a nod, then his Gryffindor side manifested. "I may look just like him, but I'm not him. I know what you thought, but I didn't grow up with the Potter riches. I have not been the most popular student at Hogwarts and I like to think I'm not that arrogant. I'm not my dad."
Severus snorted, but Harry could tell he wasn't totally disagreeing, which was more than he would have gotten before. Snape walked to a cabinet and opened it, pulling out a dusty bottle of firewhiskey.
"If you'll excuse me, I think that may be enough for tonight." He said dismissively, waving his long-fingered hand at them to go.
They walked up the stairs from the dungeon.
"Mind if we go to the Room of Requirement?" Harry asked, opening the Marauder's Map and making sure Filch wasn't in the way.
"Sure, Harry." Hermione said sympathetically, her arm around his waist.
They climbed the stairs in a companionable silence. Harry was deep in thought trying to sort out what he'd learned. Once in the Room, they settled on a comfortable couch, almost identical to the one in the Gryffindor Common Room.
"How could my dad be like that? How could my mum fall for it?" Harry asked, "Snape really loved her. Her seeing him humiliated was too much; he was out of his mind."
"Remember, Harry, we were in Snape's mind." Hermione said, "There are two sides to every story. I think we understand Professor Snape better now, but I wouldn't let it shape your idea of your father too much. Fifteen years from now, if your son were to see Draco's memories of you, would all of them portray you in the best light?"
"No, they wouldn't." Harry said quietly.
"No, they wouldn't and that's before the situation is complicated by a love triangle." Hermione said. Feeling Harry's disgust through the bond, she continued, "Yes, a love triangle. Your mum and Snape had a friendship before Hogwarts and he fell in love with her. It doesn't seem like she felt the same way about him, but she still thought of him as a friend. She defended him and seemed to be disgusted at your dad's behavior. I can see myself feeling the same way about a friend who I knew liked me. I've felt hints of that from Ron at times. If you and Ron didn't get along and you and I didn't share a bond, I could see us being in that situation."
Harry sat there silently, trying to understand deeply emotional issues. They had never been his forte.
"Talk to Sirius." Hermione urged, "He can tell you more about your dad. Remember, he didn't look like the nicest young man, either, but we know how he is today."
"You're right." Harry said, then grinned, "You're always right. I'll try not to think about it until I can talk to Sirius."
"Speaking of Sirius, there's something else I wanted to talk to you about." Hermione said, "I was talking to Sirius once when we were on the island asking about the animagus transformation. He mentioned he had increased sense of smell and increased wound healing that carried over into his regular form from his Grim form. I wondered at the time why they didn't start us on the transformation then, but now I get it. Dumbledore thought you might end up with a phoenix familiar like he had, given the parallels between you. If some of the abilities of the animagus form carry over, the abilities of a magical form, like a grim or a phoenix would be more useful than the abilities of a normal animal.
It's really very interesting. For everyone we've seen, animagi always have the same patronus as their animagus form. I don't know which came first, I suppose I'd have to ask, but Sirius has the Grim, McGonagall has a cat, your dad had a stag.
Now for those who aren't animagi, but have a familiar, their patronus is the same as their familiar. Dumbledore's the only one I can think of, but he has a phoenix patronus.
Now that brings us to us. We had patroni before you had Hedwig as phoenix familiar and before either of us were animagi. However, you deviated from the single example we had in that your patronus was based on your father's, not on your familiar. Maybe that's because Hedwig was not sufficiently magical at the time.
Now we also know from Remus that your mum's patronus became a doe to match your dad's. Why is mine still an otter? Besides, why should the woman's change to match the man's?!"
Harry chuckled, "Because the magical world hasn't experienced the feminist revolution yet, Hermione?"
She huffed. "Well, the whole thing is confusing. I'm not sure what to expect from our patroni. I refuse to say patronuses, by the way, since that is really poor pluralization of a latin word."
"I think you may have gotten off track." Harry nudged, "Was this really what you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Oh," Hermione said thinking for a moment, "no, I wanted to talk to someone intelligent about this, but what I wanted to talk to you specifically about was what abilities might carry over to us in our normal forms from our phoenix forms. Sirius mentioned enhanced senses and healing for him. What could we do? I noticed you were able to control Fiendfyre much better than I expected during the duel. I think that could be one example. We should try for others. Can we do phoenix-style apparition? Can we heal with our tears? Oh, the tears thing brings up another question I had!"
Harry was still amazed at how fast Hermione's mind could work when she got going.
"Go ahead."
"You destroyed the horcrux in the diary with the basilisk fang. You were bitten, too. Why wasn't the horcrux in your forehead destroyed?" Hermione asked.
"Hmmm…" Harry thought, "Because you bring it up connected to the subject of phoenix tears, I'm going to guess you thought the same thing I am, which is that I was saved before the venom could totally kill me. If the basilisk venom has somehow been reversed in the diary before the horcrux was destroyed, like it was in me, the horcrux might have remained."
"That's exactly what I think." Hermione agreed, "Too bad you're not like a goblin sword. If your magic incorporated the basilisk venom to make you stronger, you'd be poisonous like the basilisk!"
"Might be bad for you." Harry chuckled.
"True," Hermione said, "but maybe that's another power we've gained from the phoenix transformation. Maybe we are immune to basilisk venom and gaze like they are."
"Sometimes I think you think too much." Harry said.
"Where would you be without me?" Hermione asked.
"Dead." Harry said definitively.
They fell asleep together as the sofa transformed into a very comfortable bed.
H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr
26 Feb
Harry walked down to the Great Hall holding Hermione's hands. He was glad Ron had found Luna, because with the bond he realized they'd grown more insular, more wrapped up in each other and probably paid less attention to their other friends than they'd used to. Maybe that was part of growing older and dating, though. He was happy to catch Ron's eye as they walked in to breakfast.
"Hey, Mate." Ron said, "Saved you two seats."
"Thanks." Harry said, sliding onto the bench, "Had an interesting 'remedial potions' lesson last night."
"You'll have to tell me about it." Ron said, "I think the Headmaster's trying to catch your eye. That or he's got hemorrhoids."
Harry glanced over and saw Dumbledore gesturing him over. He walked up to the Head Table.
"Harry, I have to say I was disappointed to hear about your outburst in your remedial potions class." Dumbledore said for Umbridge's benefit, winking at Harry where she couldn't see, sitting next to him.
"Oh, right." Harry said, "I won't let it happen again."
"To see that it doesn't, I'm going to need to talk to you in my office after breakfast." Dumbledore said, "We'll discuss your punishment that will be served today. Tell Miss Granger, it applies to her, too."
"Right, Headmaster." Harry said, "May I return to my breakfast?"
"Yes, Mr. Potter." Dumbledore said.
Harry walked back to his seat and settled back in for breakfast.
"What was that about?" Ron asked.
"He wants to see us in his office after breakfast." Harry said.
"Can I come?" Ron asked.
"Ummm…he didn't say you could." Harry said, "I'd be fine with it, though."
"Thanks." Ron said, digging into the huge mound of food on his plate.
After they'd eaten, the trio walked up to the Headmaster's office. The gargoyle opened for Harry without password and they walked up the spiral staircase.
"Good to see you!" Dumbledore said, eyes sparkling, "Sorry about the deception, I didn't want Madame Umbridge to suspect anything. Mr. Weasley, I'm glad you came with. Your oldest brother is expected by floo any moment."
"Bill?" Ron asked.
"Yes, I am expecting Bill, Sirius, and Remus any moment now." Dumbledore said.
The three talked about Quidditch prospects and upcoming OWL exams for a few moments. They all agreed that Gryffindor was a lock for the Quidditch cup this year as long as things continued as they had been. Hermione was worried about OWLs, but Harry assured the Headmaster they were likely over prepared already. Even Ron was ready this year, studying frequently with Luna, who was a year behind, but like Hermione normally studied ahead.
A few minutes later Sirius and Remus arrived together, followed almost immediately by Bill. The adults were all wearing sturdy clothing and boots, as if expecting to be outside. Bill had a number of pouches and a backpack with a coil of rope carefully stowed on the side.
"What's all this about?" Ron asked.
"We're going to go on a little expedition, Ronnie." Bill said with a grin, "The Headmaster thought you were ready to come along."
"All right!" Ron said with a grin.
"This is about as big a group as I think we can afford." Professor Dumbledore said, "I think we could go in with a very small group, perhaps as few as one alone…"
"One alone is a never a good idea in the Curse Breaking field." Bill interrupted.
"Yes, you convinced me of this." Dumbledore said ruefully, "However, taking more people increases the risk of discovery, which then requires even more people to give a chance of defending ourselves. Some inclusions are essential. Harry may have a special ability when it comes to the horcruxes, so I think he needs to be there. If he's there, then Hermione is another obvious choice. Bill for his Gringotts training, Sirius for his auror training, Remus has special resistances as a werewolf. I have certain skills and knowledge. Ronald, your brother thought you would like to come along and I thought I would give you the choice. I have already heard your enthusiasm, so I suppose the answer is 'yes'"?
"Of course, Professor Dumbledore!" Ron said, "I've still got Harry's back!"
"We're going to portkey in to the cemetery Harry and Hermione saw last year. It is the ancestral Riddle cemetery. Very nearby is the former Gaunt residence. Hermione's spell seems to indicate that's where we will find one of the horcruxes. We could portkey directly, but I am unsure what wards have been cast and a mistake could be painful."
Harry whispered Dobby's name and sent him for dueling robes for he and Hermione. The specially toughened and enchanted clothing would be about as good as they could get for this expedition, lacking specific expedition attire. Ron shrugged off an offer to pick anything up for him, as he didn't have any specialized clothing at all and his weekend clothes were as good as anything else. The two took turns changing in the Headmaster's bedroom off the office.
"We're ready Headmaster." Harry said as the two rejoined the group.
"Ok, everyone grab the portkey." Dumbledore said, "Wands out, we do not know what we will see when we arrive."
With everyone holding a rope Dumbledore had enchanted as a portkey, the Headmaster touched it with his wand and they all experienced the usual feeling of a hook behind the gut.
Harry landed carefully, dropping into a crouch to minimize his profile. A quick scan of the surroundings and he darted off behind a headstone. The others quickly dispersed to avoid forming a knot that could be targeted all at once.
"All clear here." Sirius said professionally.
"Clear on this side." Remus called.
"I don't see anything hostile over here." Bill said.
Once Hermione had cleared the arc in front of her, making sure nothing hostile was in sight, she cast the point me spell, calibrated to the horcrux signature but excluding Harry's scar.
"This way, Headmaster." She said pointing down a narrow country lane.
Dumbledore nodded and gestured everyone that way. Sirius and Remus took point, with Bill just behind. Bill was casting revealing and locating charms all along, looking for traps or wards.
"Clear ahead." Bill said.
They slowly trooped forward, keeping decent spacing to avoid getting bunched up in case they ran into a trap or ambush. They eventually turned down an even narrower lane, little more than a pair of dirt ruts that had once been paved with stones.
"Stop here." Bill called, "First ward."
Bill carefully marked the margin of the ward and then cast spells until he'd neutralized it.
"Just an alarm ward." Bill said, "It's down now."
They continued to move forward. The house on the property was just a shack and in disrepair even for that title. It was half hidden among a tangle of sickly looking dark trees. The walls were covered in moss. The roof was tiled, but so many tiles were broken or had fallen that the rafters were visible like bones in a half-rotten skeleton. A snake skin was nailed to the front door, obviously charmed not to completely rot, although it was still obviously ancient.
"Stop." Bill called out, "Second ward. Looks more serious."
Bill marked the boundaries of this ward. It seemed to be an outer ward for the shack itself, starting at the first small step up that would eventually lead to the front door. It was always about ten feet from the wall.
"I may need a hand here, Professor Dumbledore. I can cast the spell, but this is a powerful ward. I suspect Riddle himself cast it."
Dumbledore nodded and added his strength to Bill's efforts. The ward quickly fell. Bill continued to cast detection spells, only reluctantly deciding there were no other clear wards before the door.
"Remember, no matter what we find inside, do not touch it." Dumbledore urged, "It could be cursed and very few wizards know more or nastier curses than Tom Riddle."
They walked inside. Sirius and Remus stayed outside, not wanting to leave the group exposed if Death Eaters came up by surprise. They drafted Ron to help them guard the outside.
Harry crept inside, trying not to touch anything. The impression he got of the shack was of a wizarding residence. There was no sign of muggle technology at all, not so much as a light bulb. The shack was small and the furniture was rotting, but clearly had never been very expensive to begin with. Rusting pots were scattered haphazardly around, as if someone had taken them from the kitchen and eaten directly from them wherever they'd cared to. The grime in the bottom couldn't be called rotting food, it was too long gone for that, but that's probably what it had been.
Hermione walked forward with her wand held out level to the floor, using the point me. She walked around the center point of the main room until she had confirmed the wand continually pointed there.
"I think it's under the floor." She said, "Or invisible, but I don't see any enchantments above the floor itself."
"Ok, stay back." Bill said, "In most ward schemes, the center is the most heavily guarded. This may take a while."
He and Dumbledore chanted for several minutes. Very complex wand movements left trails of multi-colored fire. Hermione watched very closely, but Harry continued to look around the house, striving to understand Tom Riddle. The shack could have been out of a movie like "Deliverance", it was so primitive. Obviously the people who'd lived here hadn't aspired to anything greater. After the memories Dumbledore had showed him, he suspected they were already so convinced of their own inherent superiority that they didn't even realize they lived in squalor.
Despite the fact that he wasn't watching closely, Harry could feel the powerful wards around the item item's hiding place fall. It felt like the fabric of reality itself warped around magic that powerful, especially concentrated into such a small area.
After they'd cleared all the wards, Dumbledore gestured Harry over.
"I suspect you are the most suited to actually seize the object." Dumbledore said, "It should feel the other fragment and conclude you are not hostile, which may protect you in case we missed any defenses."
"Here you go, Harry." Bill said, offering him a pair of iron tongs and a pair of dragonhide gloves. Harry donned the gloves and grasped the tongs, looking down into the square hole they'd opened in the floor. It had clearly been conjured, since it was lined with carefully aligned stones, the joins so invisible it seemed seamless. A small door similar to the doors into the chamber of secrets lay about a foot below the level of the floor.
Harry imagined himself talking directly to the serpents carved in relief on the door and said, "Open." In Parseltongue. The locks unfastened and the door slid open. Inside there was a golden box.
"Watch out, Harry." Bill said, "I want to be sure there weren't any wards hidden by that door or triggered by its opening."
He carefully performed his detection routine, supplementing his already advanced auramancy, one of the invaluable skills of the truly talented Curse Breaker. After a few moments, he leaned back.
"It's clear, Harry. He obviously thought he would be the only parselmouth able to access this hiding place. Blasting it open would have been truly difficult."
Harry leaned over the box and grasped it with the tongs. He brought it up, lowering it carefully into a heavily warded box, similar to those they'd locked the other horcruxes into.
"I didn't detect any anti-portkey wards." Bill said, "Let's get out of here."
Harry felt a ripple, tiny flashes of magic outside, followed by a larger spike.
"Oh, shit." Bill called, "I felt that! A heavy anti-portkey and anti-apparition ward just went up."
Boom! The sound of a blasting curse came from outside. Ron ran into his brother Bill at the door.
"Death Eaters!" Ron called out, his face white, the freckles standing out in sharp contrast, "Sirius and Remus are covering, they told me to get inside."
"Double shit." Bill said, "Trapped in here isn't the best place to be. It's not like the walls are going to protect us much." He backed away from the door, letting Ron rush inside. Remus ran inside a moment later, followed closely by Sirius, casting while walking through the door backwards. Hexes shattered fragments of the doorframe, sending splinters flying into the room.
Harry hurried to a window, avoiding silhouetting himself while trying to get a peek outside. In the arc he could see, he could see at least ten Death Eaters. If they'd spread themselves out to cover the entire perimeter of the house, there would be more, probably at least thirty. He attempted to integrate what Hermione was seeing with his own view and quickly came to the conclusion that since they seemed equally spread out from her window, there probably were thirty or so.
"I can see about ten from here." Harry called, "Hermione sees the same. I'd guess there's thirty out there, spaced around the whole house."
"Maybe they're not all the way around, yet!" Ron shouted, running to a back door in what would have been a kitchen at one point. He forced open the back door, having to push it against an accumulation of dirt and leaves that kept it from opening easily. The hinges squealed like a banshee.
Boom! Ron tumbled to the side, away from the doorframe, as the door itself was blasted off its hinges by a powerful curse. Harry saw blood spurt and thought Ron's left arm might have been blasted off as he'd been trying to open the door, but he didn't take time to think about it beyond sending a quick call for help to Hermione as he sent a chain of SPEARs out of the now open hole where the door had been. He glimpsed a Death Eater getting vaporized as the dark robed figure was hit by several of the powerful combination spells, but barely had time to react, instead quickly conjuring a thick oak replacement for the back door. Hermione had dragged Ron back from the wreckage of the door and out of the directly line of fire. She was quickly casting healing charms.
"He's unconscious. We need to get him to Madame Pomphrey. The damage is more than I can heal." She said desperately.
Sirius, Remus, Bill, and Dumbledore were all running from window to window, firing powerful spells out. Dumbledore looked back at Hermione's statement.
"We must escape." Dumbledore said, "Fawkes!"
Harry was covering the back, running from window to window, trying to be unpredictable. He varied his spells as well, transfiguring trees to attack the Death Eaters at one window, firing more explosive curses from another. He had to actively use occlumency to protect his mind from the repetitive image of the anonymous Death Eater he'd hit at the door, but he continued to unleash his magic to its fullest extent, as he knew if he let up, they'd die.
"Hedwig!" he called out loud and in his mind, not knowing if it would work. He'd never tried to summon his familiar since her transformation.
Time was moving erratically. Hermione had somehow had time to stabilize Ron, call out her warning, and start moving from window to window herself. Harry caught a quick flash of one of her black hole curses sucking a number of Death Eaters who were hiding behind the same deadfall in before disappearing, leaving only body parts behind with one end compressed beyond recognition.
Harry felt the familiar magic signature as a phoenix flashed into existence in a blast of red-gold flame.
"Everyone, grab Fawkes' tail!" Dumbledore called out.
Harry started to run to the center of the room, where Fawkes had appeared when Hedwig showed up in a burst of white fire. Hermione instantly adjusted her trajectory, running to his side. Harry pointed his wand and called, "Accio, Ron!" He caught his friend in his left arm, grasping Hedwig's tail feathers with his right after pushing his wand into his wrist holster. The tall gangly teenager felt featherlight, whether it was because of adrenaline or something else, Harry had no idea. No sooner than he grabbed Hedwig than the walls of the house disappeared. Someone hit it with Fiendfyre! There was a flash and he closed his eyes, expecting to die.
"Harry!" Hermione yelled.
Harry cracked an eye open, expecting to see the demonic flames about to roast them or alternatively whatever afterlife wizards experienced, but instead he saw the infirmary.
"Harry, get Ron to a bed!" Hermione insisted.
"We lived?" Harry asked stunned, while he picked Ron up easily in his arms, caring him to the bed next to his own usual spot.
"Of course, why wouldn't we have?" Hermione asked.
"You didn't see the Fiendfyre?" Harry asked in return.
"Fiendfyre?" Hermione said shocked, "No, those idiots used Fiendfyre? Only a few really strong willed wizards can control it. I was surprised when you were able to turn it around on Dumbledore. Unless they've got some of the inner circle with them, whoever cast it may have killed them all."
Pomphrey came running out from her office after hearing them.
"Mr. Potter! Miss Granger? What…?"
"It's Ron Weasley!" Hermione said, "He was hit by a blasting curse or by part of a door that was hit by a blasting curse. It hit his left arm. I was able to stop the bleeding and do an initial cleaning charm, but I didn't know how to regrow the arm. I didn't close it fully, because I think it probably needs to be cleaned some more."
"I daresay you saved Mr. Weasley's life." Poppy said, "Mr. Potter, go grab some blood replenishing potion for me while I look at the wound."
Harry nodded and stumbled away. Ron's arm! If it didn't heal well, he wouldn't be able to play Quidditch and he'd just started. He said he wanted to be an auror like Harry sometimes talked about, but Harry thought he might prefer to be a professional Keeper. Both of those dreams might be in danger if he lost his arm.
"Miss Granger, help me remove his shirt. Use the cutting charm, just don't cut the boy!" Harry heard distantly as he reached the potion stores. He quickly found the right potion and grabbed several bottles before hurrying back.
"Good job, Mr. Potter, pour the first one in his mouth." Pomphrey said.
Dumbledore walked into the infirmary with Sirius, Remus, and Bill Weasley behind him.
"I hoped you would be here, Harry." Dumbledore said, "We saw you grabbing Hedwig, so Fawkes took us to my office just before the Fiendfyre hit. How is Mr. Weasley?"
Bill ran over to look down at his brother, looking pale and scared, but clearly having been around injuries before in his career.
"Out!" Pomphrey yelled, "Miss Granger stays as my assistant, Mr. Potter stay nearby as our gopher. The rest of you need to be distant and quiet, understood? Bill Weasley? You may want to inform Ronald's parents that he has been injured. We'll have more word for them as soon as possible. It is too early for them to see him."
Bill gave one sharp nod before walking away.
"Harry, you have the box?" Dumbledore asked quietely.
"Yes, sir." Harry said, feeling it in his pocket.
"Good. Do not open it. Bring it to my office once Mr. Weasley is stable. I will take the others there. We have to alert Arthur and Molly. I also want to let Madame Bones, the head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement. If she is able to get aurors there quickly enough, we may be able to capture some of the Death Eaters." Dumbledore said, already walking towards the doors.
Harry watched quietly as Madame Pomphrey and Hermione cared for Ron's wound. Poppy cleaned it with a variety of spells, initially pulling large splinters out, but with later castings getting smaller fragments and eventually nothing.
"Will he regain use of his arm?" Harry asked quietly. He heard Hermione make a small noise, perhaps a sniffle, but she quickly controlled herself.
"I'm uncertain, Mr. Potter." Poppy said heavily, "I'll likely consult with one of my colleagues from St. Mungos before I'll know for sure. It would have helped if you'd been able to bring the rest of his arm with you, but it sounds like it was destroyed by the curse and if not, burnt up in Fiendfyre, so I can understand why you didn't."
"It was chaos." Harry said hollowly.
"I don't know how these things always happen around you, Mr. Potter." Pomphrey said, "I've done what I can do for now. I'm going to keep him under until we decide what we're going to do. It would be cruel to wake him before we know."
Harry reached down and squeezed his friend's right hand, before walking towards the door. Hermione knelt and kissed Ron's forehead before catching up to him. Harry could feel her unease and sadness. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. She leaned her head on his shoulder as they walked.
They walked back to Gryffindor tower. At the portrait Hermione gave the password and walked in.
"Harry, Hermione!" Neville said, then noticed their condition, "What's wrong with you, two?"
"I need to change, Neville." Harry said, "Come upstairs and I'll tell you a bit."
"Where's Ron?" Ginny asked, "I haven't seen him since breakfast. I assumed he was with you."
"Come upstairs with me, Ginny." Hermione said tiredly, "I want to get changed and then we can go to Dumbledore's office."
Ginny nodded. Hermione was relieved she hadn't insisted on being told right away. They walked up the girl's staircase and to Hermione's bed. She stripped off her dusty, grimy dueling robes. You couldn't see blood against the deep black, but she knew it was there. Winky popped in and whisked the robes away almost before the hit the bed and was gone, sensing Hermione didn't want to talk.
"Ginny," Hermione said, grabbing her toiletries basket and walking nude to their bathroom, "Ron was with us and he's been hurt. He's going to be ok, but his left arm was injured. Not his wand arm, but his left arm was injured when a Death Eater tried to blow open a door he was guarding. I did first aid and we got him back here. Madame Pomphrey has him stabilized, but she's trying to figure out how much can be done for his arm."
Ginny was silent for a few moments. Hermione could see her gathering her thoughts. She clearly wanted to ask a million questions, but she thought through what Hermione had said first. Hermione turned on the shower arching over a Victorian clawfoot tub. There were ten tubs oriented in a half circle, perfect for girls bathing or showering together to talk. While the water warmed up, Hermione warded the room for privacy, then stepped into the spray. Ginny lowered herself onto a bench while Hermione showered.
"Death Eaters? What happened?" Ginny asked.
"We went to Voldemort's family house. More of a shack really…" Hermione said, "We had to find something there. We did, but we must have set off an alarm somehow. Thirty Death Eaters showed up. We were trapped in the shack. Your brother was hurt when he tried to find us a way out in the back as someone was coming in. We had the phoenixes return us here so we could get help for him and because the Death Eaters set the house on fire with Fiendfyre."
"Whoa." Ginny said, "You say he's all right?"
"Except for the arm and Madame Pomphrey's not sure about that, yet. She may be able to fix it or she may not. Most of it is missing right now."
"I hope she can fix it." Ginny said, "Ron's been doing so much better this year. He's really doing well as Keeper, he's got Luna and she's head-over-heels for him…oh, no. Luna! Hermione, I'm going to go find Luna. She'll want to know."
"She should." Hermione agreed, "Find Luna and take her to see him. We have business at Dumbledore's office which may take awhile, but we'll join you afterwards if we're able."
Hermione dried herself and dressed, and then she and Ginny walked down to the common room. Harry and Neville were waiting.
Ginny threw herself into Neville's arms and he comforted her. Harry gave him a nod over Ginny's shoulder. Harry and Hermione left the common room for Dumbledore's office, while Neville walked Ginny to the infirmary.
In Dumbledore's office, Sirius, Remus, Bill, and Dumbledore sat around the Headmaster's desk. They'd obviously charmed their clothes and skin clean, but were still wearing the same clothes.
"Ah, Harry, Hermione, welcome." Dumbledore said, "We have completed the difficult duty of informing Arthur and Molly Weasley that their youngest son has been injured. They of course wanted to come directly here, but Bill convinced them there would be no benefit until it's determined what can be done. Now that you're here, we need to discuss what to do with the horcruxes."
Harry looked at him. "Can't it wait until Ron's better?"
"No, Harry." Dumbledore said, "Now Tom knows that we have discovered his horcruxes. He knows that we have found the one in the Gaunt house and I doubt he will fail to check the others. He may become desperate enough to attack us, hoping to stop us before we destroy them. We must destroy them now."
Harry nodded, then looked at Hermione. She was the researcher between the two of them.
"I think we talked about it before." Hermione said, "There are multiple ways of destroying a horcrux. Basilisk venom is one, which Harry proved during our second year. I believe Fiendfyre is another. However, both of those will utterly destroy the item with the horcrux. These are priceless magical heirlooms, some of the last remnants of the founders. There may be another way using your technique for novel magic, Headmaster. If someone were to be able to sense magic well enough, he might be able to use pure magic to carefully 'pry' or 'cut' the horcrux free of the host. I came up with this theory while trying to decide what to do about the one horcrux I am most concerned about." Hermione carefully referenced the horcrux in Harry's scar not wanting everyone to know about it. "I think using it on the locket, the diadem, and the ring will allow us to test my theory. One benefit would be to possibly preserve the founders' artifacts. The other would be to gain experience in a technique that might be useful to separate the most important horcrux."
"Who do you plan to do the prying?" Dumbledore asked, looking at her closely.
"Well, at first I thought of you, Headmaster." Hermione said, "You have the most experience with the technique and the most experience, so likely the best sense for magic. However, I decided that Harry's affinity for these fragments would allow him to sense their connections best. Harry and I together will be able to do it. Harry will focus on breaking the connections, while I focus on defending and anchoring Harry."
Dumbledore nodded. "Where did you plan on doing this working?"
"I considered here in your office, but it is within the Hogwarts wards. If something goes wrong and a fragment gets free, I don't want it to be able to possess a student, someone with no defenses who we would be reluctant to kill. Let's not hand Voldemort any freebies." Hermione said, "I would rather do it in the Chamber of Secrets. We'll have Hedwig and Fawkes ferry us down there. You and I can build a protective circle with Harry and I, perhaps with Hedwig, on the inside. The rest of you on the outside to observe, monitor, and intervene if necessary."
Dumbledore smiled, "Well thought through Miss Granger. I think it's a decent plan. If it doesn't work, we will bring the sword and decide at that time whether to use the sword or Fiendfyre."
Fawkes and Hedwig were able to carry the six of them with the horcruxes in a single trip due to the magical strength of the phoenix which was out of proportion to its size. They quickly lit the space. Hermione, Dumbledore, and Bill began warding. Hermione created a small heavily warded ritual circle, big enough for herself, Harry, and Hedwig. Harry had the sword on him in case it became necessary. She carefully marked the circle with cardinal points and inscribed runes all along the circumference. Meanwhile, Dumbledore warded the outside of the chamber with Bill Weasley's assistance, to further protect the school should something get free.
Once the wards were all in place, Harry and Hermione settled cross legged on the stone floor within their ritual circle. Hedwig perched on Harry's shoulder, singing a low tune of protection and encouragement. The two bond-mates opened their bond as widely as possible, joining their minds and magics as closely as they could. Then Harry opened the first box, the locket, and examined it closely with auramancy. He could easily see the underlying magic of the locket, contaminated with the dark magic of the horcrux. Harry carefully trickled his magic into the locket, trying to push the dark magic into a ball. It shrank up under his offense, beginning to look like a malignant spider with a central body of utter blackness and multiple legs tied into the magic of the locket itself and refusing to let go. Harry lost himself in the effort to slowly pry each leg or connection from the locket. At first, he would no sooner get one connection free and move on to the next when the first would snap back, reattaching itself. He learned that he had to pull it free and then guard it while simultaneously attempting to loosen the next. It was painstaking work, but slowly progressed. He was working on the final connection while having to guard against all the others. Hermione was feeding him strength and guarding him in case the fragment broke free and tried to attach to him. The final connection was resisting, so he funneled more power from his core and felt a sudden snap and the blackness was completely separate from the locket. He and Hermione both attacked it and with a shriek it dissipated.
They proceeded to do the same with the cup and the diadem.
When they reached the final horcrux they had possession of, Harry pulled out the golden box. He carefully opened it and looked inside.
"It's a ring." Harry said.
"Let me see." Dumbledore said, coming to the edge of the circle and carefully visually examing the ring.
"Oh, my." Dumbledore said, "It's not just a ring. The stone is the resurrection stone, one of the legendary Hallows."
"Those are just legend, aren't they?" Sirius asked.
"No, not just legend, although there's so much legend that the truth is obscured." Dumbledore said, "Stop there. We need to examine this more closely."
"No." Hermione said flatly, "It doesn't matter what it's attached to. The horcrux must be destroyed. This method gives us the best chance of preserving the stone, whatever it is, but the horcrux must be destroyed."
"You foolish child!" Dumbledore raged, his magical aura swirling about him, unleashed to a degree none of them had ever seen, "You do not know what you speak of! I have been searching for that for most of my lifetime! Give me the stone!"
"Even with the circle between you and the stone it is influencing you!" Hermione cried, "Harry, you must destroy it!"
Dumbledore raised his unique wand and started to point it, but at that moment, Fawkes grabbed him and disappeared in his usual flash of flame.
Harry focused on the ring and with the experience gained from the earlier horcruxes, was able to painstakingly pry the evil soul fragment free of the ring, where he and Hermione could destroy it. With a final shriek the black mist blew away.
Hermione gathered all the horcrux hosts together, carefully examining them.
Fawkes reappeared with Dumbledore. The Headmaster looked every bit of his age, haggard and remorseful. He looked at each of the others.
"I am sorry." He said raggedly, "Please forgive an old man. I told the truth. I have searched for the three Hallows of legend for most of my life to try to right a wrong I was part of as a youth. My desire to own and to use the Stone was enough to give the horcrux a foothold to influence me. Luckily, Fawkes my friend saved me from myself. It is done, yes? Your technique worked, Hermione! You should be very proud. With minimal adaptation, you should be able to use it to separate the final horcrux in our possession."
Hermione looked up at all of them with tears in her eyes.
"No, we won't." she wept, holding up the locket. It was clearly shattered. "It doesn't always leave the host intact. I can't risk it."
H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr
A/N: Well, what did you think about the latest chapters?
Specifically, what do people think about Ron's injury? Should it be healed relatively easily? Or should he have to go around with only one arm for a while? Can arms be regrown in the wizarding world? I actually have a small, small subplot planned for this, but I could still change it, so will accept opinions.
What do people think about Harry's Horcrux? How are they going to beat it? I've had the answer planned for most of the time I've been writing this, but am still questioning my method. Do my readers think that JKR's way of destroying it was the only way or even the best way?
I doubt I'll write much more Quidditch. I find it a bit boring and not a big interest of mine. It does lighten it up, though, and get Harry out with the other students.
DA duels are another one I'd like to write more of, but become monotonous. Duels between novice or intermediate duelists are boring. It's punch, counter punch, punch, counterpunch. Read the fights in the book…there's not much to them. So I won't write many. I want to save my best duels for Dumbledore vs. Harry and eventually Voldemort vs. Harry (or vs. Dumbledore).