Harry Potter and the last Quest
Chapter 1
Happy Times and Sad Memories
The first week and a half of summer vacation had been miserable for Harry Potter, to say the least. He was being torn apart inside and felt dead. During the little sleep that he could get Harry was plagued by nightmares of the deaths of everyone he cared for. The pain was even affecting him physically; he was getting skinnier and woke up with a bloody nose more than once. Harry's magic was going haywire sometimes things around his room would just burst into flames and before he could even get his wand out they had already extinguished and left no residue, which left Harry to question whether or not he was just hallucinating.
Harry had been trying to occupy his time with reading books on very advanced spells, hexes, and jinxes, but some days he couldn't concentrate and instead just laid on his bed and drifted in and out of consciousness. He wore the fake horcrux around his neck as a reminder of his failure. He had been eating little, about once a day. He still carried his invisibility cloak with him whenever he went outside his room, though that was rarely, it was the closest thing he could get to a reminder of Dumbledore. Only when Harry was sleeping did he not have his wand with him, he had become nearly as paranoid as Mad-eye moody.
There was no word on whether Hogwarts was to remain open or not, but Harry hoped it would. Harry had stuck with his decision and was not going back to school this year. According to Ron and Hermione they were not going either, but Harry doubted Ron had asked his mum and dad yet.
"Boy, time for breakfast" bellowed a voice from downstairs. Harry decided that he ought to go down and grab a meal, the last time he had eaten was lunch yesterday.
"I'll be right there" Harry yelled bitterly.
Harry walked down the stairs and into the kitchen to hear his uncle say with white hot anger: "don't you ever use that tone with me!"
He paid no attention to Vernon, grabbed a paper plate and piled some eggs and bacon on his plate and walked off. "You get back here this instant!" Vernon yelled.
Harry was suddenly alight with anger and said with a calm, but icy voice: "Why? What are you going to do? Just scream and yell? Because I am through with that. You do not tell me what to do." Vernon's eyes grew wide and Harry noticed the mental battle going on within Vernon on whether or not to retaliate. He settled with a glare and the anger was replaced on Harry's face with the same blank expression that he had been wearing for the past two weeks.
Sitting down on his bed Harry ate his breakfast hungrily. Today was one of the days Harry was able to concentrate on reading so, once he was finished he dropped his paper plate and fork in the garbage and continued reading about a peculiar spell that would create two images of you if performed right, but it was a very advanced level of magic and could only be performed by very powerful wizards or witches. The spell was called projectres and Harry made a mental note to try and learn that once he turned seventeen, which would be in a about a month and a half. There was also another addition onto that spell that required an even higher level of magic and it made it so the real person and his doubles could all cast spells, this spell was called magickes conjur.
After finishing the chapter in his book he was reading Harry set down the book and got in a meditative position to practice occlumency. He had become determined to learn occlumency after his duel with Snape. Snape was able to read his mind and parry every curse he tried. Just after a week and a half Harry was making more progress than when Snape was teaching him. Harry emptied his mind of emotions and worked on forcing up a wall until he was suddenly interrupted by an owl he recognized as pig, Ron's owl.
Pig landed on his desk and stuck out his leg. Harry detached the letter from the owl's leg and then it flew into Hedwig's cage and got a drink of water. Opening the letter Harry recognized Ron's writing immediately. He read:
Dear Harry,
Bill and Fleur's wedding is in two weeks. Mum is ecstatic and is going nuts to make everything perfect. Ginny isn't too happy about it, but she's dealing with it pretty well. See you soon.
Ron
"They're coming to get me!" Harry thought frantically, but calmed down and didn't let himself get too excited.
Later that day Harry made sure that most everything was packed in his trunk besides his invisibility cloak, some clothes, and a few books.
Sure enough three days later Harry saw a black car pulling up in front of his aunt and uncle's house and saw a tall red-haired man step out with two other men he didn't recognize. Harry threw the rest of his things in his trunk besides his invisibility cloak and wand, grabbed his trunk, and hurried down stairs. This time Harry told his aunt and uncle beforehand, so they made sure not too answer the door.. Harry walked to the door and opened it a crack and saw Mr. Weasley standing there.
"Are you ready Harry?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"Not yet. What is your dearest ambition?" Harry asked.
"Ah…yes, I almost forgot to do this. To find out how airplanes stay up. Now, what form does your patronus take?"
"Good, a stag."
"Good, shall we go?"
"Yes." Harry stepped out of his aunt and uncle's house and was not saddened at all at the knowledge that he would never be setting foot in that house again. He turned on his heel and muttered a quick goodbye to his 'family' if you could call them that; then walked out hoping to never see them again. Harry handed his trunk to one of the men and climbed into the surprisingly large car followed by Mr. Weasley and the two aurors. Harry looked back one last time at what he once called home.
Harry arrived at the Weasley's and was greeted by hugs and hand shakes. On the way they had picked up Hermione, so the trio was reunited once again. Bill's werewolf wounds had improved considerably, but still were not close to healed. It was obvious Harry and Ginny were not dating because Ginny seemed to be growing more and more distant from him. They still talked like normal for the most part, Harry pushed a little bit to get the message clear that they were through.
A week and a half passed and suddenly the wedding was upon them. The wedding went very smoothly and then came the after party. Everyone was enjoying themselves and drinking mead, Fred and George had gotten the weird sisters to play at the wedding. The party continued into the wee hours of the morning and everyone had a great time, including Harry.
The next day Harry awoke to a bright light in his eyes, after a few moments he realized it was the sun. Harry began to get out of bed when he sensed another presence in the room. He quickly drew his wand while putting on his glasses. After he realized it was just Ron he put his wand away and asked: "What are you doing up so early?"
"Harry, it's not early," Ron began, "it's three in the afternoon. Mum told me to bring you up lunch."
"Oh, thanks." Ron began to walk out of the room when Harry said: "Wait."
"What?"
"Did you really ask your mom about staying out of school and helping me?"
"Well…not exactly."
"I didn't think so. You don't have to, you know."
"Harry, there's no way you are going to keep me and Hermione from helping you, besides we don't even know that school's going to open again."
"Alright, but you've got to talk to her."
"Ok, oh, here's your lunch." Ron said handing him a plate. Harry picked at his lunch and became uninterested after about ten minutes. He was bulking back up a little bit, because Mrs. Weasley was making him eat at every meal and have snacks in between.
Once Harry was finished he headed downstairs. He said good afternoon to everyone and found out that Bill and Fleur already left and went to a wizarding resort in the Bahamas. Harry played a short Quidditch game with Hermione and Fred on his team, and played against Ron, Ginny and George; in which Harry's team won. He went back inside and started to read a book on recognizing magics as Dumbledore did with the cave. After a little while he did his occlumency exercises for about two hours, and then went back to reading.
It was around 8:00 P.M. everyone had already had dinner and Harry was reading again when he heard a shout of excitement come from downstairs. He leapt up to see what it was about and ran downstairs to see Hermione staring at an edition of the evening prophet.
When everyone was in the room Hermione said with excitement: "The Board of Governors has decided that Hogwarts should stay open!"
"Oh good," Mrs. Weasley said, "Now you three can finish your education." Looks of guilt crossed Harry, Hermione, and Ron's faces. "What's wrong with you three?" Mrs. Weasley didn't miss a thing.
Harry gathered up the courage and decided he would be the first to reply. "Mrs. Weasley I'm not going back to school I have very important things that I have to attend to. They are things that Dumbledore and I were working on before he…he passed. Ron and Hermione have something to say as well." She looked shocked at Harry's revelation, but regained her composure and looked to Ron and Hermione expectantly.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Weasley, but Harry must and we must go with him," Hermione said looking guilty.
"Hermione, Harry I'm sorry to hear that. I can't say whether you go or not, but I must strongly discourage you from not going to school. But Ron, You Are Not Going!"
"Mum, yes I am, I have too." Ron said with determination.
"NO YOU ARE NOT!"
"Yes I Am Mum!"
"RONALD WEASLEY YOU ARE GOING TO FINISH YOU'RE EDUCATION!"
"Mum I have to help Harry" Ron cooled off and decided to take a different approach. Looked at Harry and received a nod, "Mum, Harry is the one who is chosen to defeat Voldemort. There was a prophecy made 17 years ago and he is the one who was chosen to kill Voldemort."
"What?" Mrs. Weasley scoffed, but they noticed as everything started to connect, she fell back into an armchair and sagged, Harry had never seen her look so broken before.
"It's true Mrs. Weasley, I don't want to put Ron or Hermione in more danger than they have to be, but they will follow me even if I tell them not to, so please just let them come along."
"Al-alright, he can go, but you must promise me that you three will come back safe."
"We will Mrs. Weasley, we will" Harry replied. Mrs. Weasley stayed in the chair until after the trio went upstairs.
Once upstairs in Ron's room they began talking. "Well glad to get that over with" Ron said.
"Yeah" Harry and Hermione both agreed.
"So when are we going to start looking for the horcruxes?" Hermione asked.
"Well we need to train and study before we go, so I was thinking that after my birthday about two and a half to three months," Harry replied.
"Ok" Ron and Hermione replied.
"Where will we go after your birthday?" Hermione asked
"I was thinking Grimmauld place. It will be good to use as a headquarters and a good place to train. After our training we need to go to Godric's Hollow, as I have said before."
"And after that?" Ron asked.
"I don't know yet, it depends on what we find at Godric's Hollow."
"Alright" said Ron yawning, "Well I'm gonna go to sleep."
"Yeah, that would be best," Hermione said.
"Ok, so will I."
Everyone said goodnight, Hermione went down into Ginny's room, and they entered the world of dreams.
The month before Harry's Birthday went by in a rush. Harry spent a lot of his time reading and got through ten books by his birthday. He had been making more progress in his occlumency and had begun teaching Ron and Hermione. They had been playing Quidditch a little while everyday, to keep their reaction time quick, and surprisingly Hermione was getting better and beginning to actually enjoy Quidditch. Ron and Hermione had been spending some of their time dueling, while being coached by Harry. Ginny had been speaking less and less with Harry and they were clearly in an only friendly relationship.
Harry awoke to a noise and someone yanking open the curtains in the room. He groggily opened his eyes and saw Hermione and Ginny standing there and saying Happy Birthday. Harry looked over at Ron's bed and he was still sleeping like a log. Once Hermione and Ginny had left, Harry got up and got dressed. It wasn't until after Harry had picked up one of his trainers and tossed it at Ron to wake him up did Harry realize there was another owl in the room besides Hedwig and pig. He observed the official looking owl then walked over and took the letter that was attached to its leg. Harry noticed the Ministry seal on the letter and opened it. It read:
Dear Mr. Potter,
On the 31st of July, at 8:17 A.M. you turned the age of seventeen and by decree number 23 of the reasonable restriction of underage sorcery, you have now come of age and can perform magic out of school. You also can sign up for your apparition test at any time.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Majalda Hophirk
Legal use of magic office
Ministry of Magic
"Yes!" Harry thought. "Can I really do magic out of school now?" he asked himself in disbelief. "Well, might as well test it out". 'Aguamenti' he said pointing his wand at Ron's face because he didn't wake up when he threw his trainer at him.
"Agh!" Ron said sitting up. Harry stopped the charm and put his wand away quickly. "Agh! Harry, what the hell!"
"You wouldn't wake up" Harry said suppressing a laugh.
"That's no reason to douse somebody with water."
"Oh, it isn't?" Harry said looking innocent. He then pulled his wand back out and quickly muttered a drying charm.
"Thanks" Ron said suppressing a laugh himself.
"No Problem" Harry replied not being able to hold in his laughter any longer.
After Harry and Ron were finished getting ready they went downstairs and Harry was wished a Happy Birthday by everyone there. Once they sat down for breakfast Mrs. Weasley said: "Oh, Ron, Harry when do you two want to take your apparition test. Arthur says there is a test tomorrow. Do you want to take the test then?"
"Sure," they both replied.
"Where is it?" Harry asked.
"It is in the ministry building; you two can just go in with Arthur and take it then. Then if you pass you can just apparate back." She replied. "And I know both of you will pass," she added hastily.
Harry spent most of day reading. It wasn't until the evening that he stopped for the day. He walked down the stairs for dinner to find people bustling around. The Weasleys excluding Charley, Percy, and Bill were there. Also, Remus, Tonks, Mad Eye, and Kingsley Shacklebolt were there. He was surprised that he hadn't even heard them arrive. He was first noticed by Lupin and Tonks who were sitting together in a chair next to him.
"Happy Birthday Harry!" They said getting up and greeting him.
Everyone there turned at Tonks and Lupin excited statement. The people who hadn't yet wished Harry a Happy Birthday did and they sat down for dinner. After dinner they all had some of Mrs. Weasleys excellent cake. Then it was time to open presents. Harry got a book on Quidditch from Ron, a very old looking book on complicated ancient spells from Hermione. From Lupin and Tonks Harry got a book entitled Apparition and How to do it Quietly and a various assortment of sweets. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley got Harry a snitch that was enchanted so the farthest away from the holder it would go was twenty feet. Fred and George gave Harry a good-sized box of their products. Moody gave Harry a new improved sneakascope and from Kingsley, Harry got the new auror training guide, which included how to become an auror, the tests that they have to go through and spells they have to know.
Harry thanked everyone gratefully and the party didn't continue for much longer. When everyone else was busy cleaning up Harry saw Lupin standing by himself and he went over to talk to him. "Remus," Harry began getting his attention.
"Yes Harry?"
"Is anyone staying at Grimmauld Place?"
"No, but it is still used as headquarters, so every once in a while someone will stay there and there is almost always someone there."
"Ok, thanks."
"Why?"
"Just curious Ron, Hermione, and I are going to stay there for a while."
"Is there any particular reason why?"
"No we just wanted to stay there for a little while to practice new spells and such."
"Well, alright, there's something I have to show you when you get there. When will you three be arriving at Grimmauld place?"
"We were thinking either tomorrow or the day after."
"Alright, I suppose I will see you there, and don't worry since you are the true owner you will be allowed in and you are now the Secret Keeper for the house."
"Ok," Harry said, feeling nauseous as to why he was now the secret keeper of the house. "See you Remus."
"Good luck on your apparition test Harry."
After saying good-bye to everyone Harry said good night to the Weasleys and Hermione and went to bed.
Harry awoke bright and early the next morning, anxious for his test. He showered and got dressed, and then seeing Ron was still asleep he wanted to be quiet so he thought 'Accio sheets'. The covers flew off of Ron, but he stayed asleep. 'Arctigo' He thought. Cold air burst From Harry's wand and surrounded Ron, he quickly sat up looking around while shivering.
Ron saw Harry and said: "Stop that!" Harry stopped and Ron glared at him. "Why have you been playing pranks on me?"
"Because it's fun,"
"Yeah, fun for you."
"Plus, it's time to get up and ready for our apparition tests." Ron's face went white at these words.
"Oh, yeah" he gulped.
"Don't worry about it Ron, you've apparated already."
"Yeah, but this is a lot of pressure."
"Just don't worry, and get ready. We have to leave in thirty minutes."
"Alright" he said looking a little better.
"Yes! I can't believe we both passed" Ron said. He and Harry had just taken their apparition tests. They had just apparated back and were walking up to the front door of the Burrow. "Mum is going to be so happy and now the twins won't pick on me because I can't apparate."
"Yeah, now we can go almost anywhere in an instant." Harry said smiling.
They opened the door to Mrs. Weasley sitting at the table. She beamed at them and asked: "So, you both passed?"
"Of course" Ron said beaming right back at her. Mrs. Weasley got up and engulfed them both in a backbreaking hug.
Harry and Ron apparated upstairs into the hallway outside Hermione's room and knocked on her door. She opened it up and looked at them. "So?" She asked.
"So, what?" Harry asked.
"Did you two pass?"
"Well...Yes" Ron replied.
"Great!"
"So, when are we going to Grimmauld Place?" Ron asked.
"Well, I think we should go tonight. We can apparate right outside and...Now that I'm the secret keeper we'll be able to get in without trouble." Harry said glumly.
"Wait...You're the secret keeper?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, because of...what happened."
"Oh, right..." Hermione said.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione appeared outside Number 11 Grimmauld place under the cover of Harry's invisibility cloak. Harry looked at the space between Number 11 and Number 13 and thought 'Number 12 Grimmauld Place'. As the house appeared in between 11 and 13, Harry felt very nauseous; it made him think of Sirius.
"Let's go in," Harry said weakly. "Lupin knows we're arriving." They walked up and rang the door bell. After about thirty seconds the door opened a crack and saw Lupin looking through.
Lupin through the door open and hurried them in. "It's good to see you three." He said smiling.
"It's good to see you too." Harry replied. He looked around and realized he was lucky that Mrs. Black's portrait didn't hear them arrive.
"Well, do you want something to eat?" He asked them.
"Sure," they replied.
When they went into the kitchen Tonks was there and they all greeted her. After getting something to eat they talked for a little while then went to bed. Harry was staying in the master bedroom, while Ron got the room the twins were using last time they stayed there, which was on the same landing as the master bedroom. Lastly, Hermione was staying in the room she and Ginny had stayed in last time they were there, which was on the landing below Ron and Harry's rooms.
Harry walked into the master bedroom and felt a stab of sadness. The room was once Sirius's and it was hard to bear. He tried to clear his when he lay down, but he still didn't fall asleep for a couple of hours. That night of sleep was very far from peaceful and when he awoke the next morning he was quite tired.
A/N- There's the first chapter. hoped you liked it. Please read and review,