Chapter 2: Breaking the News

Ron and Hermione re-Apparated a block from Order headquarters and walked hand in hand up the street to stand between number 11 and number 13 Grimmauld Place.

Ron glanced up and down the street to ensure no one was watching and whispered, "The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix still remains at number twelve Grimmauld Place."

The house appeared, pushing its neighbors aside, and they walked up the steps and entered quietly. Ron cringed at the sound of voices and the banging of pots and dishes emitting from the kitchen; that probably meant his mother was here. He wasn't sure how he was going to hold up when confronted by her reaction after they broke their news. He had hoped they would be able to speak with Remus Lupin or Tonks or anyone else for that matter before his mother had to find out.

Hermione took a deep breath, glanced up at Ron and whispered, "Let's go."

They opened the kitchen door and were surprised to see that half of the Order was there including many from the Weasley family. Their eyes took in Remis Lupin and Tonks, sitting very close together. Remus was whispering something in her ear, causing a deep blush. The twins were listening intently to a heated debate between Mad-eye Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt. Bill and Fleur, her pregnancy very noticeable by now, were snuggled close together and talking to Charlie Weasley and Arthur Weasley. Molly Weasley was just bringing a roast over to the already full table, which she nearly dropped upon spying Ron and Hermione standing in the doorway.

All eyes turned to the new arrivals at her squeal of, "Ron! Hermione! Oh, Ron, you're back, thank the stars!"

She ran to them and pulled them both into a stifling hug.

Everyone got up from the table with broad smiles on their faces and took turns pulling them into additional bone crushing hugs. Ron was glad Hagrid wasn't present to perform a like greeting.

It had taken some doing on Harry, Ron, and Hermione's part to convince the Order of their plan to set off together. But they let everyone know they were determined to go, with or without the Order's blessing once Harry also came of age.

However, after being the recipient of some of the valuable information the trio accumulated, including ancient protective spells and destructive hexes thought long lost, the Order had to admit to the extraordinary accomplishments of the three. They had never fully explained their successful research, Voldemort's plan to maintain immortality, nor how they had come to possess such information. But Harry had said just a few days ago that it might be a good time to let everyone in on it when they got back. Especially since he presumed the last Horcrux and Voldemort himself were going to be the most difficult to destroy.

When the commotion died down, Mrs. Weasley looked around and asked, "Where's Harry? Don't tell me that boy decided to go back to his flat after being away for so long! I bet none of you have eaten a decent meal in weeks and he's too skinny as it is!"

At the mention of Harry's name tears began to well in Hermione's eyes. Mrs. Weasley saw the look on her face and froze.

"Hermione, what's wrong? …Ron?"

Everyone turned to them and their smiles began to fade.

"Mom… Dad…er, everyone." Ron began. "We have something to, um… to tell you…"

Remus stepped forward starting to look very concerned. "Ron, where's Harry? Did he go back to his flat first? Is that where he is?"

It was not unusual for Harry to stay away from Grimmauld Place given the memories it conjured up. That was one of the main reasons he had rented a small flat above the Leaky Caldron when he came of age. However, in the past he had always arrived with Ron and Hermione after their excursions before going back to his own place.

Hermione took a deep breath and looked straight at Mrs. Weasley as she fought back tears, "Oh, Mrs. Weasley!"

She then glanced at Remus, "Professor Lupin, I'm so sorry. Harry… he isn't coming. He's… he's been…" she dissolved into a fit of tears as she grabbed Ron around the shoulders and buried her face in is chest.

"He's been killed," Ron finished thinking of no other way to say it.

He was holding Hermione closely and he had openly begun to cry for the first time since it had happened.

There was a sharp intake of breath from everyone in the room mixed with exclamations of "No!" and "It can't be true!"

Tonks grabbed hold of Remus's arm as they stood unbelieving, staring at the two teens. "He's dead? How… I won't believe it!"

"We thought we had made it… we thought it was safe. He went back to get the bag we had forgotten, even joking and telling us not to get too bored before he came back." Ron almost smiled at the memory. "But he was taking longer than he should have so we went to see what was keeping him. We were still quite a ways away but then we saw… it was him… You-Know-Who was there, along with a bunch of Death Eaters."

There was another round of audible gasps.

"You-Know-Who was there?" Mr. Weasley asked in astonishment while trying to comfort his extremely distraught wife.

Remus, going from shock and sadness to anger said, "Just what have you three been up to that would warrant attention from that monster? I knew you might be getting into things that were possibly beyond you, but to do something that would involve You-Know-Who! How did you let it happen? How could you have let Harry go?"

Mr. Weasley intervened, tears reflecting in his eyes as well, "Remus, please. We need to remain calm. You can see Ron and Hermione are as upset about this as we are. Let them tell us in their own time."

Remus took a deep breath and nodded, "You are right, of course, Arthur. I'm sorry."

Hermione said, "We thought it was safe. Harry had just destroyed it. And we couldn't Apparate in or out of that part of the forest so we never thought anyone else would be able to either. He must have removed the wards. He must have let himself and his Death Eaters in, and then put them up again."

She wondered why she hadn't considered such a trap before now.

"Destroyed what, exactly?" growled Moody.

"Let's go into the living room and let the kids sit down," came Mr. Weasley's voice of reason. "We can all see they are near exhaustion. Let them rest a few moments then they can tell us what happened from the beginning. Molly, would you please bring them some glasses of pumpkin juice?"

Grateful for something to do and dinner now forgotten, Mrs. Weasley went to get the juice while everyone filed into the living room.

Ron and Hermione started at the beginning, taking turns in the telling of the tale. They explained about Voldemort's creation of the Horcrux's to ensure his immortality. How Harry, with Dumbledore's help, had discovered the truth and how each of the five discovered Horcruxes had already been destroyed. Mrs. Weasley paled considerably at the part of Ron's near fatal injury. ("So that's why you ended up in Saint Mungo's! And you said it was—" Mrs. Weasley interrupted. "Not now Molly," Mr. Weasley cut her off, attempting to keep her calm.) They finally told of how Harry had insisted that they make the socius salvus pact.

"YOU DID WHAT?" exclaimed Remus jumping up, angry again. "How could you agree to that knowing Harry and how he is? He'd be sure to put himself in the most danger!"

"We knew that, Professor Lupin! Don't you think we pointed that out to him?" Hermione asked miserably. "But you also know how stubborn Harry could be. It was either agree or risk him going off on his own. Surly you can understand how we thought it was the right thing to do at the time."

Hermione's words deflated some of Remus's anger and he became quiet once more.

Hermione continued, "Harry went back for our bag; the one containing our books and research materials. If only I hadn't forgotten it!" A fresh flow of tears threatened to overtake her again.

Ron took over the story. "We were just about to move through the trees to the clearing in front of the cave where we knew we had left the bag when we heard laughing. It was odd, really, how the only sounds we heard were from the Death Eaters. But then we saw Harry, like he was frozen in place, like he couldn't move. You-Know-Who was pointing his wand at him and it looked as if…" Ron trailed off as the memory washed over him.

Hermione in a voice now barely above a whisper, "as if he was screaming. It must have been the Cruciatus Curse but we couldn't hear him; we could only hear the laughing. Harry was being tortured and the Death Eaters were laughing!"

Hermione's voice became shaky as she explained further, "We wanted to run to him and help him so badly! But the pact kept us where we were. According to what the Death Eaters that were looking for us said, I think V-Voldemort had been trying to get Harry to tell him where we were. But he wouldn't." A fresh rush of guilt washed over her.

"There, there, dear," Mrs. Weasley said taking Hermione into her arms, "With You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters there none of you would have come back to us if you had tried something."

Ron went on, "And then… we saw You-Know-Who hit Harry with the killing curse. The green light slammed him back into a tree and after he fell, he didn't move. Then the Death Eaters laughed even more!"

Looks of horror could be seen on every face in the room.

"There was nothing we could do. We had to get out of there. I had to get Hermione out of there before they started looking for us. We took—" Ron stopped and glanced at his twin brothers.

He did not want to reveal the continued use of the fake Berti Botts Every Flavor Beans in front of his mother.

"We, um, got out of there and thankfully were not seen. They tried to find us but luckily we had Harry's invisibility cloak, plus Hermione is an ace at vanishing our footprints." Ron looked at her with a sad, but loving and appreciative look. "We got to the point where we could Apparate and came right here."

The story was finished but no one said a word. Each was attempting to make sense of what they had just heard as best they could.

Kingsley Shacklebolt finally broke the silence. "I don't think we should let the Wizarding world know just yet about Harry's… about what has happened. It could cause even greater panic."

He was having trouble discussing Harry's death even after all the horrors he had seen in his years as an Auror.

"Nor," Kingsley continued looking around at each person in the room, "should there be any discussion of You-Know-Who's use of Horcruxes beyond this room."

"Agreed," said Arthur. "But we'll have to discuss how this affects our strategy at the Order's meeting tonight."

That explained why everyone was there, thought Hermione. At the moment what she really wanted was to be alone and to try not to think about the fact that she would never look upon Harry's face again.

Hermione said, "Would you all mind if I went up to my room for a while?"

"No, of course not, dear," Molly said. "Go get some rest. I'll bring a plate up for you in a bit."

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley, but I don't think I'll be able to eat anything tonight," came Hermione's reply and she turned to head up to her bedroom on the second floor, followed closely by Ron.

Molly's sad eyes followed her youngest son and his girlfriend up the stairs. She had to trust that in their shared grief they would be able to help each other through the loss of their best friend.

"Arthur," Molly said when a new distressing thought came to mind. "Keeping the news from the Wizarding world is one thing. But what are we going to do about Ginny?"

The last term at Hogwarts was nearly over and Ginny would be coming home in two days.

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Harry Potter was slowly becoming aware that many parts of his body were in pain. His first thought was that he had fallen off his broom during a Quidditch match yet again. He was certainly going to gain a reputation in the game but not one he wanted. He tried moving but his body didn't want to obey and his head, left arm and side were aching horribly. Cracking his eyes slightly he was surprised to see nothing but stone walls around him. Then he thought it strange that he could see anything clearly at all, since Madame Pomfrey usually removed his glasses whenever he turned up unconscious in the hospital wing.

Suddenly the events came rushing back to him and he jolted awake, much to his body's extreme discomfort. They had destroyed the fifth Horcrux but Voldemort and his Death Eaters had shown up! And judging by the pain throbbing in his head, arm and side, he was still alive. But how could that be? He remembered seeing the green light shoot out from Voldemorts's wand and he had felt it strike him.

He looked around trying to get an idea of where he might be. He was lying on a cold stone floor in a prison cell or dungeon with his wrists bound behind him. In the glow of several torches he could see stone walls on three sides of him and bars on the fourth. In an effort to better survey his surroundings he attempted to sit up. He immediately regretting it as an excruciating pain tore through his chest. He realized that he had probably somehow broken a few ribs and that something was very wrong with his left arm.

He carefully inched his way around to look outside his cage. On the other side of the bars he noticed a large stone table. The bag he had gone back to the cave to retrieve sat on the floor beside it and his wand had been placed on top of that. To his relief he saw no sign of Ron or Hermione. They either did not realize what had happened to him or their pact had assured they had gotten away safely.

Gritting his teeth from the pain Harry managed to get himself into a sitting position. Looking down he saw that he had been lying in a pool of blood; his shirt was torn and bloody and he could see more blood seeping from a gash in his side. What exactly had happened? How had Voldemort appeared out of nowhere since there had been wards in place that should have prevented anyone from Apperating? He severely doubted Voldemort would know about fake Berti Botts beans. How had he known they were there? More to the issue, why hadn't he been more on guard?

Harry thought back to when he had last left Ron and Hermione. He had figured it would be a good idea for him to volunteer to go back for their bag thereby providing his two best friends some time alone. He wasn't sure they realized he noticed but one would have to be blind to miss the suggestive looks they often gave each other, especially after the excitement of their most recent success.

They had 'officially been a couple' since just after Bill and Fleur's wedding and during their journey so far they were usually discrete. Harry was happy that they had gotten together- finally! It certainly had cut down on their arguing; but that did not stop him from being thankful they went out of their way to limit their displays of affection in front of him.

Since the beginning of their quest they had often been required to spend their nights camping outside and on more than one occasion he had been awakened by one of their snogging sessions. They never took anything too far whenever he was around but it was enough for him to realize with a pang of jealousy what they were doing; it was a stark reminder of what he could not allow himself to have and what he had purposely pushed out of his life.

So with the understanding that only a best friend could have, Harry had walked as slowly as he could back to the mouth of the cave. He had just reached down to pick the bag up from the ground wondering if he had been away long enough when he thought he heard multiple pops in the distance. It sounded like people Apparating. He had spun around, wand at the ready, but he saw nothing. Then he remembered the wards that had been placed around the clearing and the cave; that was the reason they would have to walk nearly a day and a half before they could Apparate back to Order headquarters. He was becoming as twitchy as Mad-Eye Moody.

He had slung the bag over his shoulder and had started to walk back toward the dense trees when simultaneously the scar on his forehead seared with pain and he heard a familiar voice shout "Immobilous!"

He had no time to react before the curse hit him in the back paralyzing him. His attacker roughly yanked him around and Harry had found himself looking directly into the craze-filled eyes of Bellatrix Lestrange. Wormtail was standing directly behind her, his wand raised.

"Look what we've caught, Master! It's young Potter!" Bellatrix had cackled with glee.

Harry saw over her shoulder that Voldemort, flanked on each side by several hooded Death Eaters, was walking toward him from the other side of the clearing. Try as he might he could not raise his wand in defense as they moved closer. Voldemort made a motion indicating to the other Death Eaters to stop and stay where they were.

Bellatrix still had her wand trained on Harry and she begged, "Please, Master. May I have the pleasure of hitting him with one little curse?"

"Now, Bella. Is that any way to treat our guest? You both will go back and join the others," Voldemort had said coming forward to stand in front of Harry.

Disappointed, Bellatrix bowed and did as she was told, followed by Wormtail.

"Hello, Harry," Voldemort had hissed. While Voldemort started the conversation with this pleasantry there was a note of anger in his voice. "You have been a busy boy and we just can't have any more of that. Tell me, where are the ones who have been helping you? They can't be far."

Glaring back at Voldemort defiantly Harry replied, "I have no idea what you're talking about. No one is with me."

"Come now, Harry. I asked you a simple question and I always expect a truthful answer, don't I, Wormtail?"

"Y-yes, Master," came the quivering voice of the squat Death Eater.

Harry looked directly into Voldemort's red eyes. "I hate to disappoint you but I am alone. And even if I wasn't," Harry paused and turned an icy glare directly on Wormtail, "I'd die before I gave up my friends."

Harry knew his point hit home when he saw slight tremor go through the one to whom he spoke.

Sounding amused, Voldemort replied, "Ah, Harry, you'll play Dumbledore's brave champion to the end, eh? How impressed he would be at your bravado. Oh, but wait! Lest we forget - he will never be able to appreciate it, will he? He's gone, killed by my most faithful servant."

Harry's anger flared at the mention of Dumbledore's murderer and he tried to fight off the paralyzing curse that still held him.

Harry spat, "He was murdered! In cold blood! Murdered by a loathsome, cowardly, evil git who is going to wish he was the one dead!"

"Severus, you have an admirer, I see," Voldemort hissed, almost with delight. Harry's eyes whipped around to the semicircle of Death Eaters trying to identify the man whom he now hated as much as Voldemort himself.

"Ah, but we digress," Voldemort continued. "I was waiting for your answer. Where are the ones who have been helping you? Where are they hiding?"

Harry looked directly back into those hated red eyes. "I already told you. No one is with me. I'm alone."

"Is that so? We shall see," Voldemort said raising his wand. "Crucio!"

Harry screamed as the pain of the hex slammed through him, feeling like thousands of white-hot knives burning him from the inside out.

As Voldemort lifted the curse, Harry could hear laughter coming from the Death Eaters. If he hadn't been paralyzed and held in place by the first curse he would have crumbled to the ground.

"Shall we try again? Where are they?"

Harry was trying to catch his breath as the effects of the Cruciatus Curse eased away but his anger flared and before he could stop himself he yelled, "I told you! I'm alone and alone I will destroy every part of your rotten soul before I kill you!"

Voldemort froze and looked at Harry as if he was truly seeing him for the first time. Then he raised his wand. Harry braced himself for another round of pain but Voldemort only flicked his wand to place a silencing charm around himself and Harry.

Voldemort glared at him. "Now, now, mustn't give away too many secrets."

Cold anger seeped into his voice when he continued, "I recently discovered great plans for you, boy… however, maybe it is too dangerous to allow you to live… even if it would only be temporarily. You do have an annoying habit of slipping away from me at the most inopportune times. Perhaps it would be best to kill you now…"

He raised his wand so that it pointed directly at Harry's heart.

Harry braced himself for what he knew was to come, but Voldemort hesitated. "Ah, but I must remember you can still be of great use to me; and of course there are now things I must know before I send you to meet your dead mentor. Tell me! What information did that feeble excuse for a wizard pass on to you before he died and who else knows? Who is with you? Crucio!"

Harry screamed again thinking that the pain was worse than before, if that was even possible.

This time Voldemort held Harry under the curse longer before finally releasing him.

Anticipating his answer, Voldemort said, "Well?"

"I came here alone," Harry said in a hoarse whisper.

Again the he was hit by the curse, as Voldemort became angrier at Harry's refusal to provide the answers he sought.

"Tell me what I want to know, boy!"

Again Harry replied with difficulty, "I'm alone."

The curse came yet again. It had begun to rain but in his pain Harry had not noticed. The feeling of white-hot blades continuing to sear through his body made it impossible for him to feel anything else. The curse was lifted leaving Harry barley able to breathe. Voldemort stood momentarily watching him as if contemplating his next move in a chess game. And suddenly he turned his wand back on him.

Harry had seen the green light coming at him but he was helpless to do anything about it. He felt it enter his body causing an odd, tugging sensation from deep within him and then he had been lifted into the air. That was the last thing he remembered until he awoke in the dungeon.

Now, trying to recall the last curse that had been thrown at him, Harry realized it obviously had not been the killing curse that Voldemort had used; so then what had it been and for what purpose?

His musings were interrupted when his scar suddenly erupted in a blinding white pain for the second time that day.

"Ah, Harry, I see you are back with us," he heard Voldemort say as he entered the cell. "I had feared my haste may have caused you to join your mudblood mother before I deemed it the appropriate time. There is much I still need from you so shall we begin again? Crucio!"