The Unbearable Sacrifice

This is my second posted fanfic! Enjoy!

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"You did well, Wormtail." The voice from the armchair spoke with a tone of disappointment, "Unfortunately, well is not enough. You knew that you were supposed to bring Nagini back to me."

"M-Master," the Wormtail pleaded, "I-I apologize… please forgive me…there is something I must tell you Master…"

"Wormtail, such a simple chore as that might seem foolish to you… and do you think I care?" the man's temper seemed to rise with every word, then suddenly fell back to neutral. "You failed me Wormtail."

Wormtail drew back and waited. A silence fell over the two men. "You have proven yourself useful in the past, so I might need you later on. But one more mistake Wormtail, and I won't be so merciful."

"T-thank you master! I promise… I-I won't disappoint you."

"I know you won't. But that's also what you said before." the man stood and glided over to the window of the room. He stared intently out of the window, as though he were waiting for some one or something to arrive.

"Wormtail, go fetch me something to drink."

"Yes Master… what is your request?"

"I don't care… wine will do. Just not the muggle-made wine."

And with that, Wormtail left. In front of the armchair was a fireplace with a roaring fire in front of it. The man kept staring out the window. His red slits of eyes squinted and he leaned closer to the window pane. Then he backed away from the window as though he had seen what he wanted to see. When Wormtail returned with the wine, an eagle owl flew right over him to the man. The eagle owl startled Wormtail so that he dropped the platter which the wine was resting on. Hurriedly, he cleaned the wine and repaired the glass while the eagle rested on one of the arms of the armchair. The man walked to the chair, ignoring the bird's screeches for food, and untied the letter from his leg. Finally taking the hint that it wasn't going to be fed, the eagle owl flew out of the room (Wormtail didn't fumble that time). As the man with the red eyes read the letter, his grip got tighter and tighter. When he finished the letter, he dropped it into the fire and turned to Wormtail.

He grabbed Wormtail's right arm and drew his wand. Wormtail knew what was coming and braced himself for the searing pain that came when the man's wand touched Wormtail's Dark Mark. Around Europe, about thirty men and women felt the pain as well and apparated right outside of the door.

"The time has come Wormtail. They have found out where the last Horcrux. There'll be no stopping them now. Go and welcome our guests, Wormtail."

Wormtail left, and the man sat down in the armchair again. Even through the closed door, the man could hear Wormtail telling the Death Eaters to assemble in the room down the hallway. His eyes remained on the fire, the flames dancing before him and licking the pages of the letter that he had just recently tossed in there.

"I'm waiting Potter…"

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"HARRY!"

Harry Potter jolted quickly and fumbled around for his glasses.

"Wussup?" he asked groggily, putting his glasses on. Hermione, one of his best friends, was standing next to his bed, arms crossed as though she had had enough of Harry sleeping.

Seven years had passed since Dumbledore's death, and seven years had passed since the trio decided that they would leave Hogwarts. Harry was now staying at the Burrow and shared a room with his other best friend, Ron. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gone out and hunted down the remaining four Horcruxes. They had found and destroyed three of the four, but Hufflepuff's cup still remained missing.

"Harry, get up we have to go!" Hermione grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him out of bed. When Hermione got him out of the bed, Harry just stood there confused. Hermione ran to Harry's closet and thrust it open. She threw out a pair of jeans and a T-Shirt. Harry looked at his clock; it was four in the morning.

"'Mione!" Harry finally cried out. "What's going on here? It's four in the morning."

"Oh! Didn't I tell you? I swore I did…" she started talking to herself. "Well Harry, guess what! After you and Ron went to sleep last night, I kept thinking and suddenly, it hit me! I know where Hufflepuff's cup is!"

Harry grabbed the clothes that Hermione had gotten for him and shooed Hermione out of the room. In less than five minutes, Harry was running down the stairs. Mrs. Weasley was up and cooking breakfast when he raced down the staircase to the kitchen. Arthur Weasley had just left, so she was just in the middle of making breakfast for the kids.

"Hey, Mrs. Weasley." Harry called out while pulling on a sweater over his head.

"Hello Harry, dear. Sausage or eggs?" she held up two plates.

"Sausage please." He plopped into a chair as the plate landed on the table and kept looking at the stairs every minute or so. As he started gobbling down his sausages, Ron came down the stairs, being pushed by Hermione.

Harry dropped his fork onto his plate and started to head for the door, but Mrs. Weasley said none of them were going anywhere without breakfast.

So Harry retreated to his chair and started to chow down more of his breakfast. Ron was eating as fast as he could without choking and Hermione was taking her sweet time, cutting each piece of her eggs into inch by inch squares and then eating them very slowly.

"Hermione… could you hurry it up a little please?" Ron pleaded.

"No! I need to tell you guys more about the place. It's not heavily guarded; I mean there won't be any Death Eaters around…"

"But there's never any Death Eaters guarding the Horcruxes, 'Mione. They don't even know about them… do they Harry?"

Harry shrugged.

"…but there will be some things we haven't faced before." Hermione continued.

"Great." Harry mumbled as he reached over to Hermione's plate and stole two of her inch squares of egg. "Just great."

Hermione put her plate on her lap and shifted her chair a bit farther away from Harry.

"I need to eat too Harry!" she scolded him.

"Yeah? You're not eating fast enough." Ron retorted.

"Wait, where are we going?" Harry suddenly realized they didn't know that crucial bit of information.

"I was just about to say that." Hermione said, "I'm sorry Harry, but Hufflepuff's cup is in the Riddle House."

Harry choked on one of the egg squares and Hermione instantly drew her wand. Suddenly, Harry was fine and the egg square disappeared.

"The Riddle House? You sure?" Ron repeated.

"Yes. I'm not stupid you know." Hermione's attention turned to Harry who was staring intently at his plate, "I'm really sorry Harry… Ron and I can go just in case…"

"No." Harry shook his head and looked up from his plate. "I'm the one who decided to not go back to Hogwarts to defeat Voldemort," surprisingly, nobody shuddered… except Mrs. Weasley. "…so I should be there fighting, not staying behind because of something that happened almost ten years ago."

"Alright then…" Ron stood. "I'm ready. What about you two?"

Harry and Hermione both stood and the trio walked out the door after saying their goodbyes to Mrs. Weasley. Then they reached the apparition point and apparated to collect the last Horcrux.

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Hope you like it!