Chapter eleven
Harry stared at the picture of the serpent, "open" he hissed then had everyone move back.
'So this has been here for a thousand years yet it was never discovered until Potter found it,' Mad-eye said.
'Hermione, Ron and I worked it out, then ron suggested I speak parseltongue. I just thought of something, Fawkes flew me, Ginny, Ron and Lockhart out last time. I doubt Salazar Slytherin would have slid down a pipe, but there wasn't plumbing back then either,' Harry knelt down and stared around the top of the pipe, 'Ah, "Salazar's stairs", he grinned as he moved back.
'You mean we slid down onto those bones where there were stairs all this time.'
'Hey, it was a fun ride, well, except landing on all the rat bones,' Harry pointed his wand, 'Scourgify.'
'Very good Mr. Potter.'
'Thanks Professor, it's a long way down though, so I'll go first with my agent friends, you lot follow. Just remember, part of the roof is down thanks to that idiot Lockhart.'
Everyone slowly descended down the spiral staircase. They noticed the damage roof, Minerva and Mad-eye repaired it before they continued.
'Is that snake skin?' Charlie asked as he bent down.
'Yeah, the thing shed it sometime before I killed it. You can have it if you want Charlie.'
'Thanks Harry, I'll get some boots made out of this,' Charlie rolled up the skin and stuck it inside his pockets.
Harry led them to the large door, "open", he stepped in with the others following. He stopped near Arthur Weasley then whispered, 'That dark stain, it's where I stabbed the diary, Ginny was right next to it.'
'Thank you,' Arthur nodded the put his arm around his daughter who was staring down at the spot where she had almost died.
'Damn, that thing is huge,' Kingsley said.
'How did you kill it Potter?'
'With the sword of Gryffindor, Fawkes had blinded it so it gave me a chance. I would have died if it wasn't for that phoenix,' Harry moved slowly forward, 'Voldemort was there, or Tom Riddle, he looked to be about sixteen or seventeen, he was becoming more solid by the second as he drained the life out of Ginny.'
'You should have received more than a plaque Mr. Potter. You were twelve and survived that along with saving Miss Weasley's life, not to mention all the people who had been petrified.' Minerva said.
'I'm just glad I got to Ginny in time,' Harry moved towards the dead snake, 'Well, there's a dozen teeth here, maybe you can do something with the poison,' Harry very slowly and carefully pulled one of the teeth out of the snake's head, then another and another until every tooth was sitting on the ground, 'So how about we destroy some of his soul.'
Harry placed the goblet on the ground then quickly stabbed it, the scream echoed around the chamber. He slipped that tooth into his pocket, he wasn't sure but he figured that some muggle scientist might be able to do something with it.
'The same thing happened when I stabbed the diary. Who wants to do the next one?'
'I believe Ginny deserves to do one,' Mad-eye said.
'Ginny, would you like to do it?' Arthur asked.
'Yes, he made me do things,' Ginny stood next to Harry who handed her a fang, Arthur set the diadem on the ground then moved back.
'Make him pay Ginny,' Harry said.
Everyone watched as Ginny brought the fang down onto the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, the second scream echoed around the chamber.
'The locket next, I can open it, but who wants to destroy it?'
'How about the Headmistress of Hogwarts,' Kingsley suggested.
Minerva placed the locket on the ground, she took a fang from Harry, "open" he hissed.
'You are dead Potter and all your friends will die because of you, no one will support you, they would prefer you to die so they can be safe.'
'Stab it Minerva,' Mad-eye yelled.
Minerva brought the fang down, another screamed echoed around the chamber for the third time.
'That…that was you-know-who,' Minerva said in a shaky voice.
'Yeah, Dumbledore said he might fight, it's the first one that did though.'
'We're five down, we just don't know if there is more than just the snake,' Ron said.
'I'll check the house tomorrow, but now, all I want to do is crawl into bed.'
'We have a meeting with the Prime Minister in the morning.'
'Right, I forgot, we should go, we have a long drive.'
Minerva and Mad-eye collected the now destroyed horcruxes then followed the others back through the chamber and up the stairs.
'Sorry Myrtle, we're all alive.'
'Oh well, I can keep hoping, can't I Harry?'
Harry rolled his eyes as he opened the door, everyone headed back outside, 'I'll ring again if I find out anything you need to know.'
'But I might be inside the house.'
'Then I'll send a message that I'm ringing after seven, just check it away from the house.'
'Hang on, Hermione mentioned something about her worst fears,' Remus said.
'Oh right, what did you figure out Hermione?'
Hermione sighed as she held Harry's hand, 'He did make another horcrux, the night your parent's died.'
'So there's one in the house?'
'No, it was destroyed when you cried for Sirius.'
Gasps were heard but almost everyone, Harry's hand flew to his scar, 'That's why I could feel him, why I saw Mr. Weasley get attacked, I had a bit of his soul behind my scar.'
'Yes, I wasn't sure Harry and Dumbledore was dead so I didn't know who to ask. I've been reading the books since I got them. It must have been a small piece, or it could have tried to control you.'
'Are you sure you don't feel anything anymore Potter?' Mad-eye asked.
'Nothing, I haven't had any pain since the night Sirius died, but look,' Harry brushed his hair up, 'It's faded, I wasn't sure why and I didn't want everyone asking me about it so I kept my hair over it.'
'You-know-who is insane, he is always angry. Harry would feel that if he still had a piece of soul behind his scar, it's gone,' Hermione squeezed Harry's hand.
'It was the next morning that I knew something was different, but I wasn't really up to analysing my feelings. I was pissed off with the old man for not telling me about the damn prophecy before Voldemort sent me that vision. Dumbledore knew there was a chance Voldemort would go after it, that's why he had all of you guarding it.'
'Did you get angry in his office Mr. Potter?'
Harry turned to his old teacher and nodded, 'I yelled at him, swore at him then broke anything I could pick up. He made it worse by just sitting there calmly watching me. I never wanted to curse anyone before until that very moment.'
'Albus would never tell us who destroyed his instruments, but I had a feeling it was you.'
'He locked me in there then tells me it's up to me to kill Voldemort right after I lost Sirius. But I need the truth about something, I have formed my own opinions, but I would like to know from some of the Order who turned up that night,' Harry saw Hermione give a small nod, he realised she knew what he wanted to ask.
'Most of us were there, so ask.' Kingsley said.
'As you know I couldn't come straight out and tell Snape about what I saw in my vision, we were with Umbitch and her goons. I told Snape that he had Padfoot in the place where it was hidden. Hermione tricked Umbitch to take us into the forbidden forests. We were in there for about half an hour, right Hermione?'
'Yes, when the centaurs took…Umbridge away we made our way back out and met up with Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna.'
'Right, we spoke for a minute, then we tried to work out how to get to London. Luna suggested flying and after some sarcastic comments from Ron, she mentioned the thestrals.'
'It was about fifteen minutes later we found the thestrals, well, Harry, Neville and Luna did since Ron, Ginny and I couldn't see them.'
'We helped them on then got on our own thestral and flew to London, which took about forty minutes or so. We crammed into the phone booth, made our way through the atrium to the department of mysteries,' Harry looked at Hermione.
'That took another twenty minutes, we weren't sure how the revolving room worked, we kept going into other rooms.'
'Right, so we get into the hall of prophecy, we search for Sirius, when we realise he wasn't there we knew it was a trap. The death eaters turned up, we spoke for a few minutes before we began throwing curses.'
'We were able to get away, but we ended up going in different directions, all of us were still fighting death eaters. Now we met up again which was about half an hour later, maybe a little more,' Hermione said.
'We were fighting for a good five or so minutes before they had hold of Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna. They had them at wand point, they wanted me to hand over the prophecy. I was trying to think of a way out of it without handing it over, but I was also trying to figure out a way to stop my friends being killed. Then I hoped I could just delay them doing anything until the Order turned up. Finally Bellatrix looked like she was going to kill Neville, so I went to hand Malfoy the prophecy, that's when you lot turned up.'
'What Harry is asking is why it took you all so long when we flew and all of you could apparate?' Hermione asked.
'We left the moment Albus told us, we all got notified to head straight to the ministry that you lot had gone there and it was a trap. Remus tried to tell Sirius to stay behind, he wouldn't,' Kingsley said.
'So Snape is the reason for you lot being delayed, he didn't bother to tell Dumbledore until more than hour later. Apart from Voldemort I want that bastard dead. First he tried to have Sirius's soul sucked out and he smirked at me when he thought it would happen. He taunted me about his death, he did that at every opportunity. He would say I would go the same way as my dogfather. That is why I hate him but why I also hate Albus Dumbledore, he trusted that death eater, it might have cost him his life, but I blame both of them for losing Sirius,' Harry looked at Hermione, 'I'll ring, but I have to go, I might get drunk, I might even pick up a prostitute, I have to forget all this,' he hugged her, 'Be careful.'
'I will, we all will, you stay safe Harry.'
Harry nodded then walked away with the two agents, but he had everyone watching him. They all realised why he was angry and why he finally said enough and left the magical world. He hadn't given up, Harry would help, he would fight, but he would never return to the world that hurt him so much, which caused him to lose everyone he did love.
