Chapter eleven

Harry, Albus and Trodhook went down to Bellatrix's vault. Harry found the cup, put it inside his pouch and they left without a hitch. As soon as Harry and Albus left Gringotts, they quickly apparated back to the Potter home.

'I wish it would have gone that smoothly for me, but at least we got it,' Harry pulled the cup out of his pouch and sat it on the table with the other horcruxes.

'So three down, four to go. Hopefully Mad-Eye will have another one,' James said.

'Two we definitely know will be at Hogwarts, the diadem and Nagini. Do you think we should check on Nagini before heading there Albus?'

'Let's wait to hear from Alastor, then I will contact our friend.'

'You have a spy inside Hogwarts?' Harry asked looking intensely at Albus Dumbledore.

'Yes, we do, my old friend Horace is still there and lets me know if anything significant happens or is about to happen. I put a proteas charm on some coins so we can communicate with each other.'

'We did that in the DA, Hermione put the charm on coins so I could let everyone know when the next meeting was. We kept them random so Umbridge never found a pattern.'

'Very clever and that was in your fifth year and you're friend Hermione was able to do that charm?'

'Yeah, she was really smart. Once she read something, she remembers it and could quote it word for word. But when she studied a spell, she had no problem doing it. The only thing someone else was better at than her was defence against the dark arts.'

'I take it that was you?' Albus asked.

'Yeah, mainly because of all the times I'd been up against him and his death eaters. She was fastest in learning what I taught, but I was always able to stun her before she got me. Otherwise she would stun everyone else before they got her.'

'After seeing what you could do, I believe it Harry, you are very fast and you don't hesitate, just do what is needed and do it quickly.'

'Well if you hesitate, you're dead, same with getting fast, if their faster, you're dead.'

'Got it Albus,' Mad-Eye said as he walked inside and placed a dagger on the table.

'You were right Harry, so I'll quickly contact Horace and see if Nagini is at Hogwarts. We have to leave her to last though. The moment she dies, it will be all out war, so everyone will need to be notified until I can kill him quickly. Not something I'm looking forward too,' Albus sighed and pulled out the coin.

'Then let me kill him, I've done it before and he wasn't my first kill.'

'You have already done you're part Harry and are helping us defeat him in our world. You're time soon is to rest and put him and everything else behind you. If I have to kill, then Tom Riddle's death will be one I want to do.'

'If you're sure, then it's your choice Dumbledore. If for any reason you can't or don't think you can, tell me straight away. You can't afford him to get away and make more.'

'No we can't, but I'll be fine Harry. We all know what's at stake and I have always known this day would come,' Albus saw Harry nod, then looked down at his coin, 'Voldemort and the snake is still there and as far as Horace knows, they won't be leaving. Now we need to get into Hogwarts, find the diadem and get some basilisk fangs from the chamber of secrets. Harry where is the entrance to the chamber?'

'If it's the same here, Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Once I tell the tap to open, the sinks move apart and one drops away revealing a long hole that leads a long way under the castle. It's a pretty fun ride going down. Then we'll come to a large door with snakes on it, I have to tell it to open again, that will lead us into the main chamber. There is a huge face of Salazar Slytherin, the basilisk lives inside its mouth, I'll have to call it out. Now I shoved a sword through its head because I didn't have my wand last time, he took it while I was checking on Ginny. So hopefully the killing curse will kill it, but be careful, it's bloody huge and you can't look in its eyes or you're dead. If you look into the eyes through something like water, then you'll be petrified until a potion of mandrake can be made.'

'So we both need to be cautious, James, Kingsley, you two will stay back out of the way. If anything happens, you might look at it.'

'Dad,' the other Harry said as he stepped over to his father, 'Do you really need to go?'

'We spoke about this Harry, you knew the day would come when I would be fighting. So do what you promised me.'

Harry nodded, then hugged his father before putting his arm around his mother and nodded again.

'I'll keep mum safe.'

'I know you will, Sirius and Mad-Eye will be here unless we need them. If that happens, you two go straight to the safe room until you hear from us.'

'We will James, but please do anything to come back to us,' Lily let her son go, then kissed James before facing the other Harry, 'You make sure you come back as well, so you can go back to your friends.'

'I will mum,' Harry hugged her, 'Stay safe, all of you,' Harry gave his other self a smile, 'I wish I could hug myself right now.'

The other Harry laughed, 'Yeah, me too. Bring my father back safe Harry?'

'I will do everything I can to make that happen, but I'm sorry I can't promise I will. We're about to go up against Voldemort, but I can promise to do everything in my power to make sure you dad returns to you.'

'Thank you Harry,' Harry nodded then put his arm back around his mother.

Albus picked up the ring, locket, dagger and cup, then put them inside his robes before he turned to the others.

'You know what to do and we know what to do, so let's do it,' Albus nodded to Sirius, Remus, Mad-Eye, Lily and Harry, before walking outside with Harry, James and Kingsley. They looked back at the ones they were leaving behind before apparating away.

Albus, Harry, James and Kingsley arrived in a small dark alleyway, then quietly made their way to the back of the Hogshead. Harry pushed open the window, then helped Albus through, then his father, Kingsley before himself.

'I should let Aberforth know what is going on,' Albus pulled another coin out of his pocket, then waited.

'What are you lot doing here, there's a dozen death eaters in the other room?'

'We're about to make sure Voldemort dies very soon brother. This is Harry Potter, you've met him once, but he is not the Harry Potter you met. He is from another world where they have just won their war over Voldemort. He has given us vital information that will let us defeat him. But we need to do a few things first and they have to be done inside Hogwarts. Now Harry told me he came through the portrait behind Ariana, so we're heading there now. Everyone's on standby in case it's needed, but I might need you to either keep the ones here distracted unless you can imperius the lot of them to make them stay here.'

'I will just offer them free drinks for now, how long will you need?'

'We don't know, we have to do a few things before going into his office and we have to make sure we don't get spotted until we've finished doing what we need.' Harry said straight away, 'So for the next few hours at least, then Dumbledore can let you know what's going on.'

'So are you in charge Albus or this young lad?'

'This young lad killed Voldemort Aberforth and he has had years of experience fighting him and his death eaters, so Harry is in charge of everything. So go back out and I'll notify you if I need to.'

'Alright Albus, I have to trust you,' Aberforth gave Harry another look then went back into his pub.

'Alright Harry, lead the way,' Albus said.

Harry nodded then climbed up on the mantle, gave Ariana a smile before opening her portrait, then he waited until James helped Albus up and into the tunnel then the others before stepping into the tunnel and closing the portrait behind him. Harry squeezed past the others and led the way through the long tunnel until he slowly opened a small door and peered out.

'It's clear,' Harry pushed the door opened and climbed down, then watched the other three climb down as well, 'Let me check the map, because we have to go outside this room to make it change to the room I need,' Harry pulled his map out and they quickly scanned it, 'No one is in the corridor, but someone is walking in the next one, so cloaks on.'

Harry put his map back, pulled his cloak out and threw it over himself and Dumbledore. James pulled his cloak and threw it over himself, Kingsley pulled mad-eye's cloak out and threw that over himself.

Kingsley kept touching James's shoulder, while James kept touching Albus's shoulder so they could follow each other. Harry quickly opened the door and the four men stepped out.

'Dad, put you're cloak over Dumbledore, I can't have his thoughts mix with mine.'

'Good thinking,' James looked around then quickly put his cloak over Albus before the three men stepped back against the other way.

Harry walked past the wall three times and they all saw the door. Harry opened it and the four entered the room of requirement then they pulled off the cloak.

'Now let's hope it's in the same spot.'

'Blimey, what is all this stuff Harry?' James asked.

'Students and staff have been hiding things here since the castle was built. Come on,' Harry led the way down a dozen different isles until he found the old tiara. But it wasn't sitting on the bust just beside it and Harry remembered he had place the tiara on the bust so he could find the potions book again. Harry quickly picked up the tiara then showed Dumbledore.

'Yes, this was Rowena Ravenclaw's, so two more. But we need the basilisk fangs first. Now that bathroom in on the second floor, so we'll have to be very quiet making our way down there.'

'We also have to make sure our feet don't show, so let's disillusion ourselves before we put the cloaks on,' Harry instantly moved his wand over himself, then quickly put his hand on Albus Dumbledore so they could feel each other as all of them disappeared from sight but they heard the cloaks being thrown over everyone, 'Just keep touching each other and I'll lead us out.'

Harry, Albus, James and Kingsley got through the room of requirement and quietly made their way down through the castle. They passed a dozen death eaters but they never saw or heard them. Harry looked around then the four of them entered the bathroom before pulling off the cloaks and taking the disillusionment charm off themselves.

'So far it's been easy,' Kingsley said softly.

'Yeah, stand back,' Harry moved to the sink then started to speak parseltongue before he stepped back while the entrance to the chamber revealed itself. 'Now you just drop and it's a long fast ride down, I'll go first, you lot follow.'

'Alright Harry, go,' Albus said then watched as Harry sat on the end and dropped out of sight, 'James, you go next, then I will with Kingsley last,' Albus watched as James Potter disappeared from sight then sat on the edge himself before letting himself drop and he could hear Kingsley coming behind him. The four of them were standing together deep under the castle and saw a lot of tunnels leading in different directions before Harry gestured for the other three men to follow him.