A Horcrux Destroyed
AN: Normally, I'd say something about my story in the authors note, but here I thought I'd surprise you all. I'll tell you this, though: It is a combination of The Chamber of Secrets and The Deathly Hallows. I own nothing, but my imagination.
Harry grabbed the diary and dashed out of the office. He could hear Dobby's squeals of pain receding around the corner. Quickly, wondering if this plan could possibly work, Harry took off one of his shoes, pulled off his slimy, filthy sock, and stuffed the diary into it. Then he ran down the dark corridor.
He caught up with them at the top of the stairs.
"Mr. Malfoy," he gasped, skidding to a halt, "I've got something for you."
And he forced the smelly sock into Lucius Malfoy's hand.
"What the-?"
Mr. Malfoy ripped the sock off the diary, threw it aside, then looked furiously from the ruined book to Harry.
"You'll meet the same sticky end as your parents of these days, Harry Potter," he said softly. "They were meddlesome fools, too."
He turned to go.
"Come, Dobby. I said, Come!"
But Dobby didn't move. he was holding up Harry's disgusting, slimy sock, and looking at at it as though it were a priceless treasure.
"Master has given Dobby a sock," said the elf in wonderment. "Master gave it to Dobby."
"What's that?" Mr. Malfoy spat. "What did you say?"
"Dobby has got a sock," said Dobby in disbelief. "Master threw it, and Dobby caught it, and Dobby- Dobby is free."
Lucius Malfoy stood frozen, staring at the elf. Then he pulled out his wand, and with one spell, he knocked Dobby out cold.
Harry gaped at him, astounded.
"Well, well, Harry Potter, seems that day is today," he sneered, and pointed his wand at Harry.
Harry looked into Lucius' cold grey eyes, his heart banging in his chest, hoping he was wrong. Hoping that Mr. Malfoy wouldn't be so stupid as to-
"Avada Kedavra," Lucius said softly, but with power behind his words. A flash of green light exploded from the end of his wand, and Harry heard a rushing sound before the flash entered his chest. He didn't have time to cry out before his eyes closed, and he fell lifelessly on his back.
Malfoy stared down at the lifeless boy, and said, "That's what you get for freeing my elf, and being a meddlesome fool, boy."
Then, he headed outdoors, and when he was a fair distance away, he apperated on the spot.
Meanwhile, Dumbledore had smiled to himself at the ingenuity of Harry's plan and went down to congratulate him. However, what he saw made him freeze with shock. Dobby the House Elf was slowly staggering to his feet, and not too far away from him, Harry lay on the ground.
"Harry?" he said, shaking him, and his blue eyes widened in horrified realisation when he saw that Harry was unnaturally still.
He felt the young boy's neck, hoping for a pulse, but there wasn't one. It was then that Dumbledore knew the hideous truth: Lucius Malfoy had murdered Harry Potter.
He sent his Patronus to most of the teachers in the school, telling them to meet him in the corridor beside his office.
They came running: Professors McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, Flitwick, and when they saw the dead boy, McGonagall fell against Snape, and he had to hold her up.
"Albus, whatever has happened!?" She cried, tears filling her eyes as she thought about James and Lily, and now Harry. All of them were gone.
"Lucius killed him," he said somberly, and carried Harry, like he had done when Harry was a baby, to the Hospital Wing, hiding him from view.
"The students will be told about this, of course," he said, covering Harry's body with a sheet.
HPHPHPHPHPHPHP
Harry lay face down, listening to the silence. He was perfectly alone. He was not perfectly sure that he was there himself. He got up, however, wondering where he was, or wasn't, as the case may be. It was white, and clear, and two things occured to him. One, he wasn't wearing glasses, and two, he was stark naked.
He felt a flush of red colour his face in embarrassment, and wished that he had something to cover up with.
No sooner had he had this thought then a set of black robes, a stark contrast to the white all around him, appeared.
Relieved, the twelve year old slipped them on, and as he did so, he heard a strange noise. Startled, Harry glanced around, and just about threw up when he saw what had made the noise.
Whatever it was, it had the form of a small, naked child, curled on the ground. It's skin was raw and rough, and it lay shuddering under a seat, unwanted, stuffed out of sight, struggling for breath.
Cautiously, though he was afraid to, he approached it, and reached out a hesitant hand to touch it, but ready to pull it away should something happen.
"You cannot help, my son."
Harry spun around. Behind him, he wearing black robes, she wearing emerald green, was his mother and father.
Harry ran into his parents embrace, and it felt as whole and solid as it should have been. His father's hair was as messy as it was in the photos, and his mother's emerald eyes shone. And yet...
"But you're dead," said Harry.
"Yes," his parents answered in unison.
"I am, too," said Harry.
"Not exactly," said his mother, and Harry raised an eyebrow at her.
"What do you mean, mum? Lucius Malfoy cast the Killing Curse at me. I saw the green flash and everything," Harry said, a little scared and curious, as well.
"Had he known the truth about you, he wouldn't have dared," she said. "Sit down, Harry, and we will explain things to you."
"Now, years ago, as you found out recently, Lord Voldermort was known as Tom Marvollo Riddle," she began, and Harry nodded in agreement.
"The name he uses these days is actually French for "Flight From Death." In fact, he's scared to die." James said.
"Hagrid said something like how "He didn't have enough human in him to die," or something to that effect," said Harry.
"Quite right, darling, so he split his soul into seven pieces, by murdering seven people, and he placed his soul into seven objects, each one called a Horcrux," said Lily, and James shivered.
"Now, when you were born, there was a prophecy made about how one who would have the power to defeat him, would be born at the end of July, to those who defied him three times. There were two couples who had children born in July, and you were one. So that's why he came to Godric's Hollow that night eleven years ago to kill us all. However, when he turned his wand on you, he inadvertently made a seventh horcrux, which was you." Lily said, and harry gaped at her.
She smiled. "Lucius Malfoy may think he killed you, when in all honesty, he destroyed the part of Voldermort's soul in you. You probably won't be able to speak to snakes anymore, but at least you won't have Voldermort in you anymore."
Harry smiled too, and looked at his parents, both of them smiling with love in their faces.
"So now, Harry, you have a choice. Come to Heaven with us, or go back to the land of the living," James told his son warmly.
Harry thought about it, and decided to return to the land of the living.
"Two questions before I go, though," he said.
"Ask away, Harry," Lily said.
"What is that awful thing over there?" He asked, pointing.
"A piece of Voldermort's soul, left here to die," James answered.
"What's the other question?" His mother asked.
"Is this real, or is it just happening inside my head?" He asked, and they smiled.
"Of course it's happing inside your head, Harry," his mother began.
"But why on earth," his father added.
"Should that mean that it isn't real?" They finished in unison, and Harry was reminded of Fred and George. He laughed, and felt a soft beat in his chest. He was going back.
HPHPHP
Around him, all the Gryffindors were crying softly, Hermione (now unpetrified) held his cold left hand. Classes had been cancelled to farewell the young boy, and pay their respects.
As she held his hand, Hermione startled. She had felt something similar to a pulsating pulse in it.
"No way," she said, and the other Gryffindors looked at her.
They didn't have time to ask her what was up, when they all gave shouts of surprise: Harry sat up in bed, alive.
After verifying that he was alive, as was proved by Madame Pomfrey, they all gave a cheer.
"Wow. Maybe we should call you " The Boy Who Died, And Then Came Back To Life," said Ron, delighted to see his best mate alive again.
"Please don't," Harry said. "What happened to Draco's father?"
"He's in Azkaban, of course. After all, he did use an Unforgivable Curse on you. Dobby, on the other hand, was given another job. He works in the kitchens here," said Ron. "He's happy for the new job, but understandably upset about you."
"Well, let's put him out of his misery. Dobby?" Hermione called, and there came a loud POP! as the House Elf appeared into view. When he saw that Harry was fine, he burst into tears of gratitude.
"How is Harry Potter still living?" He asked, just as Dumbledore came in with the teachers, and a casket.
When they saw that Harry was alive, they gasped. Dumbledore smiled.
"Shall I explain?" He said, and told them all the story that James and Lily had.
"Can you still speak to snakes, Harry?" Fred asked.
"I'm not sure," he said. Fred grinned, and started hissing at him.
"Surely that won't work," said George, lifting an eyebrow.
But it did, and astoundingly, Harry could still speak to snakes.
"It's not my birthday, Fred," he said with a smile.
AN: Hope you guys enjoy this one. Also, the idea for Fred hissing at Harry comes from another story where the school is reading the books and Fred or George hisses at him, and he says that Parseltongue sounds odd when you don't know what you're doing. Fred was just mucking about at the end, not actually expecting anything to happen.