Author's Note: I really like this chapter, because it's something that I just really looked forward to writing -- I'm talking of course about the second scene in this chapter. I just knew that I wanted it to come out this way and I had it somewhat planned for a while, so finally writing it was great. So I hope everyone likes it because I just really enjoyed writing. This chapter in general is one of my favorites. Anyway, thanks to those that always review, I really loving hearing your thoughts on this fic and enjoy the chapter.

Summary:

Three months have passed since that fateful night when Dumbledore was killed and Harry vowed to kill his murderer, and it's been a year since Harry found out Severus Snape was his father, but this time it is not the worries of making a relationship work that cloud Harry's mind but how he will deal with the war that has now become all too clear, how he will find the Horcruxes in solitude, and how to distract himself enough to not think about his father. But how can he accomplish all of this when he's worried sick about his best friend and he has no idea where to begin searching for the pieces of Voldemort's soul.

Disclaimer:

I don't own anything but maybe the plot, Faye, Imogen, Echo, and Artemis

Chapter Ten

Two Quests

September 2, 1998

"Wake up, sleepyhead," crooned a voice in his ear, and Harry without any thought to where he was jumped out of bed, with wand in hand, and then he heard Artemis laugh.

"God, what are you going to do to me? Beat me up with that thin little stick!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Sorry," he said and dropped his wand on the table that sat next to the bed he had sprung from. "You startled me."

"Yes, well," Artemis said, "I was supposed to wake you up for breakfast. Echo and I will probably go with you to your house. She said you saw it yesterday."

"From afar, yes," Harry said. He shifted his feet awkwardly before speaking again, "Um, do you think I could get changed?"

"Oh! Sorry."

"That's alright," Harry muttered as she turned and walked out the guest room.

The room was spacious and made up of green and light brown colors that gave the room warmth and welcome. The four poster bed that Harry had slept in had been very comfortable and allowed him to get some needed rest. Harry reached for his wand and waved it at the bed so that not only were the sheets cleaned but spread over the mattress perfectly, and then he did the same to the thin bedspread. The bag that had been shrunken in his pocket for the most part of his journey was back to its original size and sitting at the foot of his bed.

Upon entrance to the obviously muggle town, Harry had taken the shrinking spell off and instead made sure that it was feather light. Now, he searched for the few clothes that he had brought. He quickly dressed and made sure that his hair wasn't sticking out in all directions as it tended to do when he first woke up – giving him the impression sometimes that his hair was still quite unmanageable.

When Harry entered the kitchen he found only Echo and Artemis. Echo was seated at the kitchen table, holding a piece of toast while Artemis stood in front of the stove with a spatula in her hand.

"Tea, Harry?" Artemis asked when she saw him.

"Yes, thank you," Harry said.

"Come on, sit down," Echo said, motioning to the chair across from her.

Harry walked across the room and sat down next to her.

"Toast?"

Harry took the offered piece of bread.

"Almost done with those, Art?" Echo asked her sister.

Artemis didn't answer and instead moved the sausage on her skillet. "Nearly," she said a second later, while propping up her spatula on the pan and grabbing the kettle with an oven mitt. She grabbed a brown cup and poured the steaming liquid, before walking towards the table and placing it in front of him.

"Thanks," Harry said.

Artemis nodded, and returned to her sausages.

Once they had finished their breakfast, they were on their way, headed back to the rather large house that his mother and stepfather had once lived in.

In the light of day, the house and even the village as a whole looked different. It was such an impressive difference, that when Harry saw the house, he did not immediately notice the two figures in dark Death Eater robes that stood right in front of the house. It took the nudging of Echo to her sister, asking if she had ever seen the two of them around town before that drew them to Harry's attention, and then his eyes widened as the two Death Eaters realized that Harry had finally noticed them.

"Stay behind me," Harry said to the two girls. "In fact, at the first chance you get, try and run."

"But, Harry, what –" Echo begun.

"Not right now. I'll explain everything later," Harry said with a pointed look.

Echo nodded silently.

Harry pulled his wand out of his sleeve. He knew it would take a lot of explaining later, but if he could keep them alive then everything would be okay.

"Protecting muggles, now, are you, Potter?" One of the Death Eaters asked.

Harry thought he recognized the voice as one of the Death Eaters that had been up in the Astronomy tower when his father killed Dumbledore.

"Ah, sister, but don't you know. This one's a muggle lover, just like Dumbledore. He met his sticky end – it appears Mr. Potter here has not learned his lesson. I'm disappointed in Snape – wasn't a very good teacher was he?" The Death Eater laughed, walked forward, staggering a bit as if he were drunk, and pointed his wand at Harry.

His sister cackled. "What shall we do to him, brother?" she asked.

He waved his wand in a series of flicks. Harry waved his own wand in front of him creating a shield he had learnt from Lucius Malfoy. It would take most spells and rather than reflect them back to the one who had thrown it, eat it up, adding the magic needed for the spell onto itself, making it stronger. It had been a tricky spell to learn but Harry had finally gotten the hang of it. And now that he had a shield in front of him, he could attempt to somehow get rid of these two Death Eaters.

The spell that the male Death Eater had shot at Harry disappeared into the shield, and the moment it did, Harry was prepared, an onslaught of spells ready to leave his wand towards their targets. It seemed the female Death Eater was set for protecting them with her own shields and counter curses, though it was clear that she couldn't hold up anything for too long.

Behind him Harry heard Artemis and Echo trying to leave while at the same time trying hard to not be seen. When the two muggles had first seen the different colored streaks of lights that left the three wizards they had been scared witless, and then they had realized that it would be best for them to leave as quickly as they could.

Harry tried to throw a shield around them as well to help with their efforts, but doing so without them being noticed was not going to happen and Harry would never forgive himself if they were hurt because of him.

In the mere second it took for Harry to try and make sure that Echo and Artemis got out alright, the female Death Eater had shot a spell at him and it connected with his arm which erupted in painful boils. Harry knew what the counter spell was, but first he wanted to make sure to fall one of them and that he did not give them any time during which they could throw something else at him that was much worse than a few boils on his arm.

"Oppugno," Harry said silently under his breath, and sent, just like he had seen Hermione do once in a DA meeting, sent conjured bats towards the two Death Eaters.

"Reducio!" shouted the female Death Eater, pointing her wand at the bats.

Harry in the meanwhile, had already sent a few more spells their ways. One of them was from the Half-Blood-Prince book, Langlock, which would glue the target's tongue to the roof of their mouths. Harry ignored the fact, to himself, that Snape had invented that spell.

The male Death Eater was hit by the spell from the Half-Blood-Prince book. He tried fruitlessly to remove his tongue from the roof of his mouth, but nothing happened just as the leg-locker curse hit him and he fell to the ground.

The bats had almost all vanished when Harry turned to face the other Death Eater, however, seeing that her brother was on the ground, she frowned, threw herself to the ground on top of him, glared at Harry and then dissaparated. Harry knew he'd have to move quickly if there was anything to be found here. Voldemort knew where he was, and he was bound to send more of his Death Eaters after him.

Harry sighed. Lucius would have yelled at him for this. He had watched them get away and done nothing and now he was in more trouble.

He waved his wand, over his left arm and watched the boils disappear before he turned to look at Echo and Artemis. There would be a lot of explaining for him to do.

"Come on," he said, "I think it's safe to assume they won't come back tonight."

He made sure that everything that gave away the fact that a fight had occurred there mere moments before, and hoped that no one else had seen it happen. It didn't seem like anyone had, and Harry thought that at least in that he was successful.

The house was covered in wards, but they recognized him and dropped as he approached with Echo and Artemis behind him.

-

-

-

August 16, 1998

Draco groaned. He hated nature. Snape walked on ahead of him calmly as could be. Draco didn't come even close to comprehending how Snape could possibly walk along in his full black teaching robes while the sun seemed to want them to perspire to death, it was so hot. Draco almost tripped over a misplaced branch a second later and fell right into Snape. He quickly pulled himself back and steadied himself on his feet on the ground. Snape turned to look at him.

"Draco, is it imperative that every time we come to this little spot in the woods you run into me?"

"No," Draco said, drawing out the word before continuing. "If I had a cooling charm on myself, however, I could probably make a better effort to not trip over misplaced branches."

Snape all but growled. He turned away from Draco and continued walking. "Be sure to close your mind," he said moments later as they approached the clearing where Draco had passed out the last time.

Draco merely grunted and pushed his hair back from his forehead. He hated being sweaty.

"Why can't I use a cooling charm or something that could help in this blistering heat?" Draco asked. "And why, oh, why, are we here on the hottest day of the summer!"

Snape didn't bother to answer, except to give Draco a silent weary look.

Draco saw them, then, floating about. They were beautiful little lights, almost seeming to blink at him. They sung for him to come closer and to allow them into his mind. They were seductive, these souls, and he wanted badly to allow them to go into his mind. He wanted to succumb to their wishes and let them feast on the darkness that remained in him.

"Draco," Snape called.

Draco blinked, and immediately shook himself out of the trance like state that the souls had attempted to get him into.

"Not this time, guys," he muttered and followed Snape's voice.

Snape was standing directly in front of a tree, looking at it as if it was the most important thing in the world, and running his hands over its rough bark.

"What is it?" Draco asked.

"Quiet," Snape said. "I need to concentrate."

Draco closed his mouth at once and waited, watching as patiently as he could, which meant he was shifting his feet on the ground and trying hard not to continue moaning about the sun that was hitting the back of his neck.

"Aha!"

Draco moved closer to the tree. "What?" he asked.

"I think I've got it," Snape said.

"Got what?"

Snape didn't answer. Draco rolled his eyes – he was always like this.

The black clad wizard walked around the tree, all the while tapping it with his wand, until finally he traced something with his hand on its bark and he sighed.

"Well, what could you possibly want?" Snape asked.

"You're talking to a tree, Professor."

Snape didn't respond but a few seconds later muttered something to himself again.

"What?" Draco asked.

"I think it wants blood," Snape said finally, "but I could be wrong."

"Blood?" Draco asked. "Like a sacrifice?"

"Hmm, yes," Snape said, nodding.

"Aunt Bella taught me all about them. She said, well, I don't know why she had to teach me about them, but she said that if the spell required a sacrifice and it did not specify what kind, it was most likely one asking for the sacrifice of a living thing."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "I did know that," he said. "I'm surprised you do, but, do you really think that is what we need?"

Draco stepped closer. He knew all about sacrificial spells and knew just how to read them. Now that he knew that was what Snape had been doing, he closed his eyes tightly and touched the tree.

"Dirty blood and the sacrifice of a living thing; preferably the sacrifice of the half-blood or muggle-born used for the blood."

Snape nodded and rummaged through one of his robe pockets. Draco had for a long time now, suspected that Snape's pockets were enchanted to hold anything and everything without damage.

Snape brought out a knife.

"What are you going to do with that?" Draco asked.

Snape didn't answer, instead he handed it to Draco. "I guess we'll be needing an animal of some sort."

Draco groaned. As much as he knew about sacrificial spells, he had never wanted to be part of breaking one, and just hearing Snape talking about it made him want to turn around and go back the way he had come, as much as he hated the heat. However, Draco followed Snape as he walked away from the tree. The knife in his hand was one used for potions ingredients, and it was beautifully made. The handle was made of a black glassy rock like material that Draco thought was called obsidian, and carved in a beautiful scripture was the name Severus Snape on one side of it. As, Draco followed, he wondered why this was so important, and why Snape hadn't simply conjured up an animal.

-

-

-

The walls were slimy. They were wet, and this was the first thing Draco noticed, after falling into this underground tunnel of Snape's after they had finally given up – in a gruesome act that Draco didn't want to think about – the sacrificial rabbit and some of Snape's blood. He had been moving away from the tree and the repugnant site when he felt the ground underneath him give away, and he was falling with a scream into this dark tunnel. Draco shuddered. This was worse than being above ground with the sun burning his skin to a crisp. It was cool down here, and dirty. He could barely make out anything in front of him and he didn't know if he really wanted to know what could be ahead or for that matter behind him.

Draco reached for his wand. He needed light and everything that Snape had said earlier concerning magic didn't matter anymore – he would not stand in some dirty old tunnel in the dark. He ignored the fact that there was faint light from the hole he had fallen through and that it could offer him some light until Snape decided to rescue him.

"Draco?" Snape's voice was faint and come from somewhere above him.

"Lumos," Draco whispered.

Thick roots of trees embraced and stuck out of the dirt walls. Water ran down some of them, making the ground moist and at times leaving puddles. Draco couldn't help but shudder yet again at this.

"Draco?" Snape asked again. His voice was closer this time.

Draco turned and lit the walls around him in a glow. He needed to see everything just in case something was hiding along the walls, just waiting to sneak up to him and possibly kill him – magical creatures were never to be trusted. As he turned, full circle, Draco heard a noise somewhere to his left and quickly turned in that direction, his wand up and ready.

"Shut that light off!" Snape snapped. "Do you never listen? We cannot use magic."

When Draco did not readily put out his wand, Snape did it for him by snatching the wand out of his hand and muttering a disgruntled, "Nox."

Draco glared at him as they were left in complete darkness, wishing that Snape could see the death glare sent his way or at the very least feel it burning a hole into the side of his face quite like the sun had been doing to Draco when they had been walking through what Snape called the wonders of nature – there had been nothing wonderful about it.

Snape in the meanwhile seemed to be shuffling through his pockets.

"Aha," he said when he found what he had been looking for which, from what Draco could make out, happened to be a branch.

Snape reached once more into one of his pockets and this time pulled out a number of potion phials before finally finding the right one. All while holding the branch, Snape uncorked the potion phial. He dropped the cork in his pocket and dipped the branch in the potion.

"Here, hold this," he said, passing Draco the branch.

Draco didn't dare to touch the potion at the tip of the branch but he wondered exactly what Snape was hoping to get from it.

Snape put the potion phial, closed again, back in his pocket, and brought out an object that Draco had only ever seen once – a match box.

"Bring it closer, I need to light the potion covered tip."

Draco shuffled forwards and watched – seeing merely shadows of Snape's movements – as his mentor lit the match and pressed its head to the tip of the branch. Fire flared on the branch for only a moment and then it began to glow brighter and become a small well rounded tip. It was too bright and Draco felt as if he was blinded the moment he looked away. Around him floated the shadows of lights in all different colors before they went away a few minutes later. This was better than his Lumos but still, even with light Draco wanted to leave the tunnel at the first chance he got.

"Interesting place," Snape said. "I expected something a little more."

"Was this where you wanted to go?" Draco asked. He had thought it had been just a mistake, that they were getting out, now that they had a light, but no, this was where Snape had wanted to go. "And what, pray tell, are we doing down here?"

"We're here to retrieve something important," Snape said. "The use of magic from now on will be rather perilous. I did not want to risk it before either, but it was necessary at times, I suppose."

Lighting up the walls and the floor around them with his bright branch, Snape looked both ways – it gave Draco the impression of someone wanting to cross a busy intersection – before muttering once and turning into the right cave that came off of the wall in front of them.

A stalactite hung from the ceiling not far off, and Draco noticed then that there were many of them hanging around as well as their counterparts – stalagmites. He had never wanted to experience this side of nature and now that he was, Draco wished that he hadn't.

They weaved past them and continued on. It was lucky, Draco thought, as they did so and he tried to not even let his robes brush against them or any of the more rock solid walls that they were coming upon, that the cave was not too narrow or short for them to pass by. However, as soon as Draco had thought that, they came upon a passage so narrow, that suggested mockingly at them that they would have to walk sideways and at times even – to Draco's chagrin – have to brush up against the slimy, moist, dirty walls.

It was torture and Draco couldn't wait for it to end, and then he saw the stairs. He was almost sure they were made up of some sort of ceramic tile or maybe even marble, but when they were finally upon him he realized that it was some sort of glassy multicolored rock.

They climbed up the stairs and Draco wondered what could possibly be found above them. He followed Snape, hoping they could get this over with quickly and he could go back to Malfoy Manor where he would get one of the house elves to draw him one of those baths he loved and he could soak in it for hours without anyone to bother him. He would have to get Snape to brew him something for the probable sunburn that he no doubt had as well as for any possible germs that he might carry home with him from this stupid cave.

They were in a small room. It had actual walls and a floor made up of the same rock the stairs had been made from. There were even lit candles floating around the room, illuminating everything nicely. It was obvious to Draco, now, that they were no longer underground, but that this room had no way out this way, just through the same way they had come.

There were wooden chests against each wall, each of them mocking Draco and Snape with their secret contents.

"Tricky," Snape said.

"What is?" Draco asked.

"Well, from what the walls are screaming, only one of these chests contains what I want. I have to guess which one on my first try and then of course there are the other obstacles within each chest to worry about. Dumbledore did not tell me this would be this hard."

Draco frowned. "So, how are you going to chose?"

"Be quiet, Draco," Snape said. "I need to concentrate on this."

Draco sighed and decided to sit down against one of the walls and just watch Snape figure this out.