Chapter 11: Two Horcruxes Down
Monday morning dawned warm and sunny but Remus awoke with a ball of dread sitting in his stomach. He knew that this mission was important but until now it seemed like a far off event that loomed like a monster on the horizon. But now it was the day he had to go and it all seemed far more real. Grudgingly he got up and chose his baggiest and most worn out clothes. If he was going to make any friends with the werewolves it wouldn't do to turn up in best dress and rub it in that he had been living much better conditions. Sirius would already be at work for which Remus was grateful. They had all done goodbyes to death the previous night and he had no desire to go through that again. Leaving his friends was one of the hardest things he had done in his life.
He got himself dressed and ate a large breakfast. At 9am precisely Dumbledore came through the fireplace.
"Good morning Remus."
"Morning Professor." He replied, not quite willing to say 'good morning'. Remus didn't see any reason that the morning was particularly good.
"I have the exact location you need to apparate to. It is a mile south from the werewolves camp. The group has around ten members so please be careful."
"Yes sir."
"And good luck." Dumbledore handed over the piece of parchment and then with one last handshake he disappeared back into the fireplace. Remus looked down at the parchment with a sigh. There was very little he needed to pack and no valid reason to delay so Remus grabbed his small bag that he placed inside his robes and left the apartment. He walked down the street to an empty park and disapparated.
He appeared in the middle of a forest. Sunlight filtered down through the trees making patches of shadows on the forest floor and filling the air with a greenish light as it came through the leaves. A cool breeze blew, rustling the leaves all around him. Remus began to head north reluctantly. About 20 minutes later he was able to see a clearing coming up. He knew that is where he would find the other werewolves. He stopped and took a second to take a deep breath to steady himself before pushing onwards. As he stepped into the clearing three tall men who had been sitting around an empty fire pit looked up snarling.
"You have no business here stranger." One of them spoke in a gruff voice.
"I have been cast out." Remus replied trying to add a note of bitterness to his voice. "I am shunned by wizarding society." He said the word 'wizarding' with a sneer.
"Haven't we all." Another spoke up. He was watching Remus with more curiosity and less hostility than his other two companions. "You might as well take a seat, boy." He motioned to another tree stump across from himself.
"You really wanna let some stranger join us?" The first man asked incredulously.
"What harm can he do. But a single man cannot do anything to us." The second shrugged.
"He won't last two minutes. Look at him. Barely any scratches. He has clearly had an easy life so far as a wolf." He looked back to Remus and pulled up his sleeve to reveal thick scratches all the way down his arm. He had much more scar than skin. His neck was the same and even his face was much more marred than Remus'. Remus was careful not to show any fear and simply raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well at least he doesn't run screaming like a little girl." The man sniggered. "Just keep to yourself and we will get on fine." With that he stood up and stomped off. The third man, who had so far been silent, followed him. The remaining man stood and shook Remus' hand.
"I'm Zayrin. I would say welcome to our humble abode but you aren't really welcome." He offered a small grin.
"John, and I figured as much." Remus replied with a returning grin.
"I guess you just pick a spot on the floor and rough it. I wouldn't expect to make many friends round here." Zayrin then got up and headed towards the main group with Remus.
James Potter rolled out of bed grudgingly. His wife was shaking him away roughly and yelling his name loudly in his ear. His eyes flickered open and Lily was glaring at him.
"About time too." She snapped.
"What?" James mumbled sleepily.
"Hermione has been waiting to go to Hogwarts for the past two hours sleepy head." Lily informed him.
"What?" James leapt out of bed like he had been electrocuted. "Why didn't you wake me up sooner?"
"Because I was out and she is too nice." Lily rolled her eyes. James grinned.
"I knew I liked her." He said smugly. Lily whacked him with a pillow. James got himself dressed and went downstairs to find Hermione playing with Harry. He grabbed the toy broomstick Sirius had given Harry and picked up his son.
"Morning James." Hermione smiled.
"Good Morning 'Mione." James grinned and he placed Harry on the broomstick and then grabbed the toy snitch.
"James Potter don't you dare!" Lily cried as she came in just as James let the broom go. Harry zoomed around the living room giggling like crazy.
"I've put spells on the broom so he can't fall off Lil." James reassured her. She didn't seem to appeased and it got worse when Harry careened into a vase on the table. None of them reacted quickly enough to prevent it falling to the floor. Completely oblivious, Harry, kept guiding the broom around the edges of the room narrowly missing Hermione's leg and crashing into the sofa.
"James Charlus Potter you get him off that broomstick right now. He can use it outside." Lily scowled. James grinned sheepishly at his wife before picking up his son and realising it was raining. While Lily went into the kitchen, James quickly put away anything breakable in the front room and Hermione cleared up the vase. James then let Harry loose again releasing the snitch at the same time. Harry's eyes followed the toy but he didn't have the hang of steering quite yet and couldn't turn very well. This meant he kept bouncing off the walls but the spells on the toy kept him from hurting himself and the spells James had cast stopped him damaging the wall. Finally Harry was able to get near enough to try and grab the snitch but he missed and fell to one side. Protective spells stopped him actually falling so the broom just span round and round until James grabbed him and corrected him. By the smell in the kitchen he knew Lily was done cooking so he grabbed his son and put the broomstick and snitch away.
"Are we going to have breakfast and then head straight to Hogwarts?" James asked. Hermione nodded just as Lily called them in. Hermione picked up Harry and they marched into the kitchen.
"When are you two heading off?" Lily asked.
"Straight after breakfast. We have to find the Diadem and then destroy it along with the locket." Hermione answered quickly.
"Well, good luck." Lily smiled but it didn't quite cover the worry in her eyes.
"James can you go and get the locket please?" Hermione asked. He did as he was asked and returned just as Hermione finished her toast and jam. She picked up the material Sirius had left them before heading off to work and together they said goodbye to Lily and made their way out the door. They had decided to apparate to Hogsmeade and walk to the castle from there. It was a hot day with the sun shining brightly so they didn't bother taking cloaks. She and James chatted the whole way. Hermione recounted how, after the Gilderoy Lockhart pixie incident got spread around the school, the Weasley twins had let some more loose in his office. In return James told her some of the pranks the Marauders had played such as bewitching all the potion ingredients to dance away every time Slughorn tried to get one for a demonstration.
Soon enough they arrived at the gates which opened for them as they approached. They saw McGonagall waiting for them. She explained that Lily had floo called ahead to inform Dumbledore to expect them.
"Will you require any help?" She asked the duo.
"No. I think the less people around for the horcrux to try and attack when we destroy it, the better." Hermione said. The stern professor nodded and they walked in silence up to the castle. Once up the marble staircase they parted, McGonagall heading for her office and the other two taking a shortcut up to the room of requirement. It didn't take long before they approached a very familiar blank stretch of wall. Hermione froze. A little way down the corridor was where Fred had died. She could even see the ghost of his last laugh on his face swimming in front of her eyes.
"'Mione, you alright?" James asked her, getting worried about her freeze up. She shook herself.
"Yes, I'm fine James. Just some memories, that's all." She replied. Hermione remembered what Harry had told her the phrase was and soon enough they were inside. It was exactly as she remembered before it had been destroyed by fiendfyre.
"Shall we split up?" James asked. Hermione shook her head and went in the direction she remembered. It took them the best part of twenty minutes to find it, but eventually Hermione recognised the stone bust and sure enough, sat on top, was the diadem. "So, what now?" James asked quietly.
"I'm not sure. We put them together and throw the erumpent horn material on them?" Hermione suggested.
"Better plan than none." James shrugged. Hermione quickly wished for two broomsticks and less than a second later, spotter a bunch in a pile to her left. She moved over and grabbed a couple, handing one to James. He eyes her cautiously.
"This stuff is very explosive. I'm sure some stuff in here is flammable and I would rather have a quick escape route." She explained. He nodded, impressed by her forethought. Hermione was just vividly remembering the last time she was in this room. She carefully put the locket next to the diadem in the middle of the floor.
"What if this doesn't work?"
"Bit late for that." Hermione replied grimly. She mounted the broom despite her hatred for them.
"You want to ride with me?" James asked, spotting her hesitation. She paused and then nodded, biting her lip nervously. He pulled her up beside him and then flew up and over the horcruxes. Taking a deep breath, Hermione handed James one of the small bottles of mixture. Wordlessly he took it and poured it all on top of the horcruxes.
Not even James' quidditch reflexes could prepare him for the explosion that took place. The second the liquid touched the horcruxes the world turned upside down. A sound like a gunshot rang through the room and flames jumped up as shards of metal were thrown around. The broomstick was thrown back in the wave of energy coming from the two pieces of Voldemort's soul. As it was so unexpected the broom was careening out of control and only Hermione's vice like grip on James' waist kept her from falling off. James was desperately trying to get back control but the waves of energy kept coming and even through all the noise he thought he could hear a screaming coming from the centre of the storm.
He couldn't bring the broom back fully under his control, but James managed to make a safe landing not far from the door. They glanced back and saw the objects being hurled around as if in a hurricane, but it was all starting to die down. As they watched everything flew lower and lower until it all landed back on the ground as if nothing had ever happened. They cautiously made their way back to where it had all happened. Lying on the floor were the remains on the locket, which lay open and blackened, and the diadem, which was broken clean in two and oozing a black substance that looked horribly like blood. It took a second to sink in but then they jumped for joy and hugged each other tightly.
"It's done." Hermione smiled in relief.
"Yes, it is." James beamed. "Two horcruxes down. May the battle now begin."
