Chapter Seven – Confrontations and Bargaining

The first night that the trio got back from Hogwarts didn't go exactly as planned. Instead of heading upstairs and crawling into bed, Harry ended up having to untangle Ron from one of Aunt Petunia's rose bushes. Although he didn't hear it from his friends mouth, Harry could guess what had happened.

Apparently, still a little upset with Hermione, Ron had chosen to Apparate himself. The fact that he had been mad at the time combined with him not knowing the destination very well, was all it took. Instead of appearing in the alley, Ron had Apparated a foot above the bush. Luckily he didn't splinch himself.

Harry had almost been to the back door, when he heard Ron scream. He turned around. All he could see in the darkness from the porch, was a shaking bush near the back fence. Hermione, pushed the back gate open, softly calling Ron's name. She stopped at the sight of a pair of arms waving madly from the bush. By the time Harry made it back out to them, Hermione was scolding Ron for his language.

"Hermione," Ron cried madly. "Will you please get me the bloody hell out of here?"

"Relax Ron," said Harry trying not to let his amusement at the situation show in his voice. "We'll have you out in a minute. Just stay put, will you?" He was dangerously close to laughing.

"Harry? You'd better hurry and get me out. There's still the fact that I have to kill you for what you did earlier," said Ron.

"Okay Ron," said Harry. "If you still insist on hurting me, then I guess I'd better leave you in there. Come on Hermione, let's go inside. We can come check on him in the morning."

"Well then goodnight Ron. I guess I'll―"

The bush started shaking worse. "Fine! I was just joking, Harry. Now, will someone please get me out?"

Both grinning, Harry and Hermione somehow managed to untangle Ron. When he crawled out, the red head was covered with scratches. There was a deep one right above his eye that was seeping blood. "Remind me not to do that again."

"I don't think that you'll ever―"

"BOY! What do you think you're doing?"

Harry turned around.

Aunt Petunia stood on the back porch, clutching the front end of her dressing gown. She glared at them, opened her mouth to say something, but then her eyes fell on her rose bush. Rather, the torn remains of a bush. She marched out onto the lawn, her slippers soaking up the dew.

"My roses," Aunt Petunia muttered caressing a rose that had been snapped halfway off. "What did you freaks do to them?"

Harry was about to tell her it was an accident but Hermione beat him to it. "We're so sorry Mrs. Dursley. It was an accident. When Ron tried to Apparate he―"

Aunt Petunia snarled. "Quiet! Get inside the house before the neighbors wake up and hear you."

Hermione, however, still tried to help which was the wrong thing to do. She stepped forward, pulling out her wand. "Honestly Mrs. Dursley. It won't take long to fix it. All I have―"

Hissing Aunt Petunia's head whipped around looking to see if any of the neighbors saw Hermione's wand, even though it was the middle of the night, before turning to her. "Put that away you silly little girl. Just...just go!"

Harry grabbed Hermione by the elbow and started pulling her to the door. Ron followed and soon they were back in his room. For once, both Ron and Hermione seemed to realize that Harry didn't want to talk about his Aunt's behavior so they all got ready for bed without saying a word.

After everything that happened, Harry was exhausted but he couldn't sleep. After laying in bed for an hour, listening to Ron's guttural snores and Hermione's infrequent whimpers, he threw the sheets off his bed and got out. Carefully walking to the door, he slipped out of the room and went downstairs. Leaving the lights off, he sat down on the living room couch.

Hundreds of questions squirmed in his mind, wanting answers. Out of all the things he needed to know, it was something else that caught his attention. In fact, no one had mentioned it all day. Ever since he woke up, not one person had asked how he got the others out of Grimmauld Place. No one asked who's Phoenix had appeared.

Thinking back, however, Harry realized that the whole event had been confusing. Since when did a Phoenix talk? Singing, and the occasional chirp, was the only thing Fawkes had ever done.

Harry pushed aside the unsettling fact that he had had a conversation with a Phoenix for another, more important question. Just who's bird had it been? He remembered Dumbledore telling him that true loyalty would call a Phoenix, but Harry hadn't been thinking of anything other than wishing the pain would hurry up and end. The last person he thought of had been Ginny and he knew she didn't own one.

If there were any other logical explanation of how the four of them survived, Harry could just have imagined the black phoenix called Argos. Clearly the others thought that he had Apparated them to safety, as they had been unconscious at the time.

Harry eventually decided to mention it to Ron and Hermione. Maybe one of them would have a better answer. He was just about to stand and head back up when a shadow stepped into the doorway leading into the hallway.

"The old man finally get enough sense to throw you out of that freaky school?" Dudley said. He crossed his arms, leaning against the door jamb. "Or did you boyfriend break up with you? That's just what I need, listening to you moan his name all night, like last summer."

Harry walked around the couch, and leaned against it. "Shut it, Dud."

"Oh, hit a nerve did I?"

"Unlike you, Duddykins, I wasn't kicked out. I heard all about how you were finally caught beating up on the little kids."

Dudley straightened up. With the light from the hall behind him, Harry couldn't see his cousin's face but he would have guessed the big goon was trying his best to look menacing.

"If those other freaks weren't staying here, I'd teach you to keep your mouth shut," Dudley whispered harshly.

Harry almost laughed. He couldn't believe that the pile of blubber standing in the doorway had ever scared him. Of course, Dudley never really like to act unless he had a couple of his friends backing him up. With that thought, another clicked into place. Dudley and Malfoy were almost exactly alike. Except for the fact that he couldn't use magic, and that he wasn't rich, Dudley did almost all the same things Malfoy did. To put it bluntly, his cousin was a muggle version of Malfoy.

Surprised that he had never seen the similarities before, Harry started walking towards the door. He stopped a foot from his cousin. "Tell you what Big D," Harry said, taking his wand out and tossing it unto the little coffee table that sat next to Uncle Vernon's recliner. "We're alone, and I don't have my wand. I promise you that I won't let Ron and Hermione do anything to you afterwards. There's just one thing I want from you."

"What's that?" Dudley sneered. "To tie my hands together so a little wimp like you would have a fighting chance?"

"No actually. I just want your promise that when I'm done with you, you won't go to you mum and dad with some outrageous story about how my friends and I jumped you. Deal?" Harry asked holding out his hand.

When Dudley shook, Harry grinned. "By the way, we just made a wizard's oath. If you break it...well, let's just say it isn't pretty," Harry lied.

"Don't worry about me freak. When I'm done with you I'll―" Dudley abruptly broke off. There was a blur, then his fist was buried in Harry's stomach. "What's the matter? Did that hurt the little wimp?"

Gasping, Harry blocked out the pain. Compared to being under Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse, getting punched by Dudley was nothing. But it still hurt. If his cousin wanted to play unfairly, then Harry was more than willing. Before Dudley could even pull his fist away, Harry kicked out hard, wincing when he heard a crack. For a moment he thought that he must have broken his foot, but then Dudley cried out stumbling backwards.

Causing the floor to tremble, Dudley fell on his butt, grasping his knee.

Shaking his head, Harry walked over and picked up his wand. "I won't go easy on you next time Dudley."

He stood in front of his whimpering cousin. From the look of the boy's knee, Harry figured he must have cracked it. Praying it would work, Harry waved his wand performing the same spell Madam Pomfrey had used when she had straightened his leg. Other than a sharp cry when the light surrounded his knee, Dudley didn't say a word.

Relieved to see that it fixed his cousin's knee, Harry left him and went upstairs. As soon as he shut the door behind him, he slid down the wall clutching his stomach. It felt like someone had poured a pitcher of undiluted bubotuber pus straight down his throat. His wand shaking slightly, Harry tried the only spell he could think of.

"Episky!" he whispered.

It helped, but not much. The pain was still there, twisting his intestines in what felt like a giant's hand. Moving slowly Harry made it back to his bed, thankful he hadn't woke up either of his friends. It took more than an hour but when he finally did fall asleep his dreams were full of evil rosebushes running after him forcing him to drink Neville's potions, while Dudley jumped on a broomstick and flew off with Ginny, both laughing.

Harry never mentioned what had happened that night, and as far as he knew neither had Dudley. When Ron and Hermione had asked why Harry was moving slowly the next morning, he told them he was still a little sore from Grimmauld Place. Ron accepted this answer, but Hermione still seemed doubtful.

Over the next few weks Harry, Ron, and Hermione stayed in his room and looked through the books that Professor McGonagall had given them. Hermione seperated them into three stacks, one for each of them. While his two friends searched for what the unknown Horcrux could be, Harry was busy trying to find out how to destroy one.

He didn't think that a basilisk fang would work again. The locket and cup were metal, unaffected by the poison, and Nagini was probably immune to it, being a snake herself. In an odd twist of fate, Dumbledore had never gotten around to telling him how he had destroyed the ring but Harry wasn't looking forward to try the same thing as the old wizard. Even if he did somehow figure out how it was done. If the ring had enough power to do that to Dumbledore's hand, the strongest wizard he had known, Harry didn't like to think what it could have done to him.

The main problem he was faced with was that he could barely find mention of a Horcrux, much less on how to destroy one. Surprisingly enough, it had been in the last book he would have expected that he finally found a short passage. It was in Magical Curses, Objects, and Creatures in History, and was barely a paragraph long. He grabbed a new roll of parchment and copied it down anyway.

One of the vilest acts a witch or wizard can do, the creation of a Horcrux not only requires the splitting of one's own soul but the murder of another. Thus, for good reason, the knowledge of how to make such a dark object has been believed to be lost since the time of the four founders.

"Find something interesting Harry?" Hermione asked looking up when he finished writing out the last word.

"No not really," Harry said. He passed over the parchment to let her read it and shut the book. He stood up to stretch and winced as his back popped. He had sat in the same position for the past three hours. "That's the only thing I found and it was in the last book you gave me Hermione. Let's take a break for awhile."

Looking grateful, Ron threw down the thick tome he had been reading. "Good idea, mate. I'm starving. How about some lunch?"

"Honestly Ron, when are you not? It's all you ever think about," said Hermione, her head bent over the parchment Harry had handed her. A minute later she put it aside and looked up. "But now that you mentioned it, I am a little hungry."

Harry snorted on his way to the cabinet that they had charmed with a cold holding spell. He pulled out some butterbeers and what little sandwich makings that they had.

After finishing, Ron looked over. "What time is the meeting tonight?"

"Nine. But Professor McGonagall wants us to meet with her an hour earlier," Harry said. He waved his wand, vanishing their trash. "She thinks she might have found out something important about one of the Horcruxes."

"I'm glad someone has," said Hermione. For the first time in his life Harry saw his friend looking weary as she pulled one of the books toward her. "What I want to know, is how Voldemort ever found out about an Horcrux in the first place. I've been through the entire Hogwarts library and never found a mention of them. Even in these dark books, there's only a passage or two. If only I...what Ron?"

Ron was grinning, looking at her appreciatively. He reddened a little. "Nothing. It's just that I never thought I'd see Hermione Granger admit that she doesn't know everything."

"Just what do you mean by that Ronald Weasley? I don't think―"

Harry barely heard Ron whisper something, but Hermione must have not had troubled hearing. She broke off. "W-what did you say?"

Blushing even worse, Ron glanced down. "Well I, urhm...I kinda like you this way."

"R-Really Ron," Hermione stammered, even redder than Ron. "I mean...do you really think so?"

Grinning, Harry excused himself, although Ron or Hermione either one didn't notice him leave the room. All he wanted to do was shout that it was about time. Maybe now they would finally realize that they deserved each other. Feeling that nothing could break his good mood, Harry walked into the kitchen. He was on the way to the back garden, for some fresh air.

He was about to open the door, when he heard something in Aunt Petunias cupboard. Curious, Harry walked over and yanked the door open.

"YOU!" Harry screamed fumbling to get his wand out of his pocket. Sitting on one of the shelves, with it's face buried in a box of cereal, was a scruffy looking rat. But what Harry focused on, wasn't the mangled tail, or the patching fur, but the small silver paw.

At the sound of his scream, the rat jerked its head up. A second before Harry got his wand free and aimed at it, the rat dove for the floor. Squeaking as it hit, the rat scurried out of the pantry and towards the small utility room, Aunt Petunia laundered in.

"Come back here coward!" Harry cried chasing it, all the time throwing spells at it. He was making a mess of the linoleum floor, but he didn't care. The only thing on his mind was catching the shifty little man who had betrayed his parents.

"Harry? What's going on?" Hermione and Ron asked from the top of the stairs.

"It's Wormtail," Harry shouted back, aiming a tripping jinx but missing by an inch. "He's trying to get out."

"Scabbers? Here?" asked Ron. He flew down the stairs, his own wand out in seconds. Right before Wormtail was about to climb out the clothes dryer chute, Ron hit him with a full body bind hex.

Panting Hermione joined them in the small room, looking disgustedly at the still rat. She waved her wand, causing the rat to twist and writhe, slowly reforming into a short, balding man with a face not all that different from his animal self. Then she added another spell, which Harry recognized as an anti-changing spell Lupin had used during their third year. After she wrapped Peter Pettigrew up with some anti-apparition ropes, Hermione glanced around the room.

"You know Harry, your aim's a little off," she said. The statement was so simple and obvious that she reminded him of Luna for a second. "We need to start working on our magic skills."

All of a sudden, the feeling from before returned. Everything was going alright again. He had Wormtail. Now he could finally clear Sirius' name once and for all. Of course, there was also the information Wormtail could provide about Voldemort's operations. It would mean the Order―

Harry broke off the thought, the reality of the situation sinking in. There really wasn't an Order anymore to hand the traitor to. Only the new DA and he was in charge of that, which meant now he had to figure out what to do with the rat. Yet another reason he despised being elected the leader.

"What are we going to do with him?" Ron said kicking Wormtail in his side.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" said Hermione. "We have to turn him over to the Ministry. They'll be able to―"

"We can't do that Hermione," Ron said sounding shocked that she would even suggest such a ridiculous thought. "Then we wouldn't be able to get any information from him. All the stupid Minister will do is throw him in Azkaban. He'd be out before sunset, just like the others."

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Harry, slightly confused.

"Oh right, Harry. Sorry, we forgot to tell you," Hermione said. She was flicking her wand at the burn marks on the floor scrubbing the mess away with a bubbly pink goo. She paused and looked up. "While you were in St. Mungo's, Voldemort broke into Azkaban again."

Harry nodded, not all that surprised. Ron was right. There had been enough Azkaban breakouts that it was probably becoming a running joke with the Death Eaters. He quickly came to a decision. "Can you two watch him for a second? I have an idea."

"Sure mate. Just hurry, will you?" Ron asked, accidentally stepping on Wormtail's normal hand. "I don't know how long I can look at this bag of hippogriff droppings."

Harry nodded and ran out the back door. Once he was out past the wards, he apparated to Hogwarts. There was someone there he needed a favor from. Harry just hoped he was still there, with school only letting out a week and a half ago. He entered the front hall and raced down to the dungeons.

A light shone underneath one of the doors, the very one that used to be Snape's office. Harry knocked on the door and waited. There were a few clink of bottles and the scraping of a chair before the door finally creaked open.

"Harry, my boy! What a wonderful surprise," Professor Slughorn cried, beaming. "I was just in the middle of a spot of lunch. Would you care to join me? I do believe I have a fine box of crystallized pineapple we can partake for dessert."

"No thanks Professor, I've already had lunch," said Harry. He paused thinking. If he didn't do this right, then Professor Slughorn would turn in on himself and refuse anything Harry wanted. He couldn't just come right out and ask for it. No, Harry thought, if he were to actually get the potion, then he would have to trade for it.

"Are you feeling alright? You like a might weakish."

"Sorry Professor, just thinking. I was wondering, if it's not too much trouble, if I can ask you for something."

Just like he knew it would, Slughorn's face clouded over. The massive man started to retreat back into his room inching the door shut. "Well Harry, you know, I'm really quite busy. Perhaps another time, then?"

Putting his foot into the door jamb to keep it open, Harry pushed the Potions Professor's hand off the doorknob. "It's not about that," Harry said, referring to what he had spent a good chunk of last year trying to get out of the man. "All I need is a potion."

Before the last word was out of his mouth, the door swung open again. Professor Slughorn, looking relieved, ushered him inside. "Why didn't you say so, my boy? If it's a potion you're after I believe you came to the right man. Although with your mother's skills in the subject, I can't see why you would need my help. That girl had to be one of my best students. If she―"

Knowing that his professor could go on for another hour talking about his past students, Harry interrupted him. "I'm sorry Professor, but if you don't mind, I'm kind of in a hurry."

Slughorn nodded. "Very well then. Can't say I'm not surprised. I always knew you would be one to accomplish great things. Have a knack for knowing who will be successful. Okay, what will it be then?"

Slughorn led him into his personal potions lab, where no fewer than seven cauldrons were bubbling away, filling the room with the aroma of an odd mixture between rotten leaves and pumpkin juice. He went over to his cabinet, and after waving his wand to unlock it, he turned around holding a small bottle with dark liquid inside. "Pepperup Potion perhaps? It looks like a dose of this would do you some good. Or maybe a nice Invigoration Draught?"

"Actually what I need is a little more complicated than those two," Harry said biding his time until he actually had to say the name of the potion.

"I was wondering what it would take for you to let go of one of those," Harry asked pointing to a smaller top shelf in Slughorn's cupboard. From the looks of it, it contained the more valuable potions. Just from standing where he was, Harry could see small vials of Wolfsbane Potion, Amortentia, Polyjuice Potion, and the tiniest of the lot, Felix Felicis.

"Well my boy, those are quite valuable. I don't know if I would part with them," Professor Slughorn said rubbing his mustache. But Harry could see the greedy look in his eyes at the thought of turning a fine profit. "What did you have in mind?"

Harry thought of what to offer. If it was a matter of money, then that was no problem but going from experience the new Potions Professor would rather trade for hard to find and expensive ingredients. Maybe Hagrid had something...but he already gave Slughorn the Unicorn tail hairs. Other than going into the forest, there weren't any rare beast at Hogwarts. Even the―

That's it! Grinning Harry raised his eyebrow. "Well Professor, I don't have much to offer. Although I do happen to have a Basilisk fang."

Professor Slughorn jerked around, dropping the Pepperup Potion. It fell to the floor shattering and spraying his feet but he didn't notice. His eyes were so wide and his face so flushed that for a second Harry thought the man was suffering from a heart attack. Slughorn stepped forward, seizing Harry's shoulders and squeezing them hard.

"My boy, don't you joke of such things," he cried shaking Harry a little. "Basilisk venom is one of the rarest potion ingredients in the world. Even the most powerful wizards could never get close enough to get some without being petrified or worse, bitten. What little the wizarding world has in stock now is rumored to have come from Salazar Slytherin himself, who could control the Kings of Serpents."

Exhilarated that he had offered just the perfect thing, Harry struggled free of Slughorn's grasp. Now he had bargaining power. If what the Potions Professor said was true, not only did that mean that he would be able to get the potion he wanted, but any other he needed in the coming fight with Voldemort.

"I'm not joking Professor," Harry said smiling. "Tell you what. If you give me what I need right now, I promise to bring you a whole fang tomorrow."

Slughorn looked like he didn't dare want to believe what Harry was saying, but the prospect of such an amazing ingredient must have won out. He straightened up. "It's a deal. Anything you need, just name it."

Harry walked over to the cupboard. It took him a second to find it, but a moment later he saw the small bottle near the back of the shelf. Pulling out the vial of clear potion, Harry held it out so Professor Slughorn could see what he was taking. "This is all I want for now."

Slughorn's eyes widened. "Veritaserum? You do understand the dangers behind it? It should only be used when absolutely necessary. Got that my boy?"

Surprised that the Potions Professor wasn't going to offer any resistance Harry nodded. Any other teacher would have questioned him endlessly on why he would need it, but then again any other teacher wouldn't have been bribed either. "Trust me Professor. The person I'm going to use this on would deserve anything he gets."

Harry thanked Professor Slughorn, and after promising to deliver his part of the deal the next day, he left the dungeons. As he was about to exit the front hall, an idea hit him.

Instead, he rushed up to the Headmistress office. He figured that it would be a good idea to have an experienced person there to help when he used the Veritaserum. On the way, he thought that the Transfiguration Professor would be against the idea. But once she saw that he was determined to do it, she would follow. After all, he was the new leader of the DA.

It was then that Harry realized something. He may not have wanted the responsibility but now that the had it, it was time to use it. One thing he did know, was that he wasn't going to lead everyone the same way Dumbledore had. Harry knew he wasn't going to sit back and wait for Voldemort to act. For now on, he was going to take the fight to Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

Starting with the questioning a certain rat.