Ch 6 The Fifth Horcrux

Harry stood out on the curb, handed Snape bread with a sausage rolled in it and whispered, "Can you do Legilimency on a muggle?" Snape listened as Harry told him about Mrs. Cole and Savannah. Snape nodded while chewing silently.

He finished the sandwich and then the two looked both ways and crossed the street.

"My goodness, back so soon!" Savannah said smiling. Her eyes betrayed her misgivings at seeing the tall, dark-haired man at Harry's side.

An hour later they stepped from the house and around the corner out of view and disappeared. One of them clutched a package in his arms. The woman in the house blinked twice and then looked down at her cold tea. She shook her head as if trying to clear it.

"Savannah you're going mental," she said to herself, "daydreaming in the middle of the afternoon while there is laundry to do!" She rose to her feet, rinsed the cup and placed it in a drainer with two other cups. Her hand lingered momentarily over the additional cups and then dropped to the counter.

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Lupin lay on the floor of Dumbledore's office and struggled to breath. The portraits that lined the walls were empty except for one. The portrait of his friend and the previous headmaster of the school continued to doze in it's frame.

"Shall we go on?" Voldemort asked. He was seated in a chair facing Lupin's prone body.

Lupin opened his eyes and stared vaguely at Draco Malfoy who remained standing in the same place he had been hours before. His face was vacant and he was motionless.

"What have you done to Draco?" Lupin asked. There was a mild respite from pain as Voldemort stopped using the Cruciatus Curse. he had been grilling him for information. for hours. Sweat dripped down into Remus' eyes and stung, saliva mixed with a tinge of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. He waited for the next round of pain and tried to think of something pleasant. Pictures of the Longbottoms swam before his mind. he knew he was either going to die or go insane.

"It is not your concern," Voldemort sighed. "I have drained him of information; he and the girl, the red-headed child of that Ministry wizard, Weasley. They are of no consequence. However, Lucius is more amenable to my orders when I have his son at my side. Surprising," the dark wizard laughed. "I didn't think Malfoy had any feelings for his family. It is an amusing bit of information. Besides that, I am aware that Severus values the boy. We shall see if he is willing to risk his life to come and save the child."

Lupin watched the feet of Peter Pettigrew. The man was beside the dark wizard. Next to his feet Lupin caught sight of his wand. The first attack had caused him to release it from his spasmodic, trembling hand. He thought about Voldemort's words as he studied the mahogany-handle of his wand. Why would Snape rescue Draco? he wondered almost thoughtlessly. His mind was on making the wand roll gently back and forth on the floor. He remembered having been very good at moving things with his mind when he was a child.

Voldemort got to his feet and Lupin watched him walk past his face and towards the door.

"Pettigrew watch him. I will return momentarily."

Lupin closed his eyes and smiled slightly.

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Harry was still in shock for various reasons. They had apparated into a small village where Snape had once again changed their clothes and had gone into an establishment to find them lodging. Harry stood on the street, cradling the object in his arms and watching the wizards and witches passing by. His eye fell on the newspaper sitting on a bench. it was the Daily Prophet.

With part of his mind recalling the last hours events and the other reading the paper he didn't notice Snape emerge. The hand on the back of his robe was not gentle when it yanked him into the building. His hand still clutched the paper.

They were secluded in a room and Harry was staring at the Daily prophet. "They have been kidnapped!" he managed to spit out as Snape pulled the drapery closed. Snape walked over casually and pulled the paper from his clenched fist. The picture was an old one. Someone had managed to capture a picture of himself, Hermione and Ron. The headlines read: Has the War Begun? The article beneath the headline told of the disappearances from the Hogwarts Express of not only himself but Hermione, Ron and Ginny!

Harry turned away from Snape and sat on the edge of the bed. He had just watched him use Legilimency on Amy Benson, also known as Savannah. Harry knew enough about the muggle world that he recognized a person with multiple personalities. Savannah had

obviously been hurt very deeply by Riddle as a child. What survived was a woman who could only live as a totally different person in order to get away from the horror of her experience with the boy.

She led them to the room where Dumbledore had interviewed Riddle when he was only eleven years old. She told them about the years that she lived in the house when Tom Riddle would be gone during the school year and then return for the summer holidays. She talked about what she and the other children endured. Harry was angry. He had used magic on them, he thought. He had experimented. Where was the Ministry people who monitored underage magicians then? he questioned.

And then, she had also told them of Riddle's most recent visit and had stood in the doorway of the room and had vomited her breakfast all over the spotless floor.

They had left her with her memories slightly obliterated.

Snape crossed the room and laid the paper on the table. "Potter, let me see it."

Harry looked at the long pale fingers that waited for his parcel. He looked up into his ex-potion master's face and slowly handed the parcel to him. He longed with all of his soul for someone to wrap him up in their arms and to hold him. He wanted to be a child again and not understand, not know what the world was about. He wanted to cry and couldn't bring himself to express the anguish in front of this man.

Dumbledore had admonished Riddle that he could not steal from anyone at Hogwarts, that he would be expelled and worse, could be prosecuted by the Ministry. And yet, Riddle had stolen. Harry watched as Snape carefully unwrapped the object, being careful to not touch it. Harry's eyes blurred with unwept tears as he thought of Hermione and Ron and he felt helpless.

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The hamlet was some distance from Hogwarts and nestled in among tall shade trees. Meadows skirted the area and sheep were belly-deep in summer grass. The sun was up and beating down on the little houses that poked their heads here and there from rounded knolls. The insects were playing a cacophony of noises in the bushes.

The hypogriff followed the much smaller owl and circled in on the small patch it had chosen as a landing place. It folded its wings and dropped its head with fatigue as Hagrid slid from its back and stood stretching. Hedwig fluttered to a nearby tree.

"Ah ya blimey bird," Hagrid grumbled. "Where 'ave ya gotten us?" He stretched and turned in a tight circle and then grunted. "Oh well! I know this place!"

He stood near a lane that wound through the grasses and followed a stone fence. At the end a curl of smoke was visible against the cobalt blue sky. Hagrid left the hippogriff to roll in the dust and grasses of the meadow and he sauntered down the lane, thinking to himself, Now how would Harry have found Godric's Hollow?

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Lupin lay staring up at the ceiling of the room for as long as it took to take a deep breath. Pettigrew was laying next to him staring at him with lifeless eyes. Lupin rolled his head away and then eased himself to his elbows. He glanced at Draco who had remained standing without moving during the whole thing.

Remus pulled himself to a standing position and then swaggered slowly over to the boy. He didn't have any strength left and knew they couldn't disapparate inside Hogwarts. He took the boy's arm and walked him to the doorway passing the now dead Pettigrew.

Lupin looked down and then away, his mind was on the various hidden staircases and tunnels that led from Hogwarts. He wasn't sure they would survive or even escape. He thanked what luck he had in having been one of the Marauder's. The map they had made was still very fresh in his mind as he guided Draco towards a blank wall. His last thought before walking through it was, "Kill you Peter? I killed you a million times in my mind. That one was for Harry, and Sirius and James," He glanced back once and breathed, "and Lily."

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Nightfall came. They had rested and the object remained on the table in plain view. They had not returned to #12 Grimmauld Place. Snape was on his back, hands folded over his chest and asleep, although Harry thought that he looked rather like a corpse. It wasn't until Harry rolled over and placed his feet on the floor that he changed his mind. His ex-professor had uncanny abilities. As soon as his stocking feet touched the wood the man's eyes popped open. They followed him soundlessly as he went to the lavatory.

The window to the room was open to the night air. Harry took his glasses off and turned the hot water on to let it steam the mirror. He did not want to look at himself. The emotions he felt earlier resurfaced and he gripped the edge of the basin until his knuckles turned white. Sobs shook his body and he bit his lip to keep from voicing them.

It was only when he turned the water to cold and washed his face was he aware that there was a presence in the window. He looked up into the mirror and gasped. Sitting quietly preening her feathers was his owl, Hedwig and tied to her leg was a folded parchment.

He dried his hands and reached over to stroke her head and croon softly to her. He felt guilty about not having something to give her and gave her an extra pat before untying the strings that held the paper. He unrolled the small slip and put his glasses on to read it.

We are safe. We are staying in your parent's home. Send Hedwig back with a note to let us know that you are alright. Hermione and Ron

Harry returned to the room. Snape was staring at the box. They had not opened it. Harry also recognized the box. While traveling through Dumbledore's thoughts in the Pensieve, he remembered the trip to see Riddle that Dumbledore had taken; the trip where he had told Riddle he was a wizard and would be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was then that Dumbledore had confronted Riddle about his thievery.

Tom Riddle had this very same box hidden in his wardrobe and in it Dumbledore had exposed the bits and pieces of things that Riddle needled, swindled or stolen from the poor orphans that lived in the home with him.

Harry stopped and waited. "Are you going to open it?" he asked.

Snape looked up at him and sat back in the chair. "It will be protected by a powerful spell."

Harry frowned, stepped to the table and lifted the lid on the box before Snape could move.

Snape was on his feet in an instant. "That was foolish!"

They looked into the box. It didn't hold the things that Harry remembered had been dumped from the box before. This time it held only one object.

Two heads bent over the small box.

"Very appropriate," Snape said.

Harry glanced at him and returned to staring at the object.

The chess piece lay on a bed of green velvet. It was the white king.

"It belonged to Albus," Snape said. "It went missing many years ago. I played chess with him and it had gone missing. He could never understand where it could have gone. He used another piece from another set."

Harry stared at the white chess piece. He had told Snape everything Dumbledore had related to him.

"Riddle would have had pleasure in knowing that he had taken the piece from Albus," Snape continued. "One king against another, would have been his thinking. He had beaten him- if nothing else, then symbolically- by having taken his king."

"Dumbledore dominated him, made him call him 'sir' when they first met," Harry said. "I could see it in his face, he hated it. Dumbledore told him he had to give back everything he had stolen that was in this box."

Snape nodded.

They stood in silence for a moment and Harry finished, "Dumbledore said he would use something connected to Gryffindor as an object for a Horcrux. Dumbledore was a Gryffindor."