Chapter 12 - The last one

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.

After talking with her mother about her first few days at School and feeling like a normal child that only her mother could make her feel, Hermione finally left the room, leaving her father with her mother. But instead of going to the portal that'll take her back to school, she went back to the corridor where the meeting took place earlier. There she entered a hidden room by touching the door, which opens to her touch. Once inside, she goes to a table filled with an assortment of curious tools, all of them looking muggle except fully infused with magic. She took a tool and placed it inside robes, scared of confirming what she already knew.

Once back to school, she stepped out on the fourth floor corridor and immediately felt the mild vibration of the tool inside her pockets which had been dormant in the palace. With each step she took towards the Gryffindor Dorms, the vibration steadily kept increasing in pace. She entered the common room and the vibrator is practically jumping in her pockets. However too emotional to do this today she changed her path halfway to the boy's dorm and instead went back to her own room to sleep the day off.

That day the sun rose with as much hesitation as Hermione. Usually an early riser, Hermione lied in her bed long after everyone else left hoping that he's not in the common room waiting for her. She was relieved to find him not there when she finally made it to the common room. She thought of skipping breakgast to avoid meeting him but knew that she had to do it now or then. So gripping the mildly vibrating tool in her hand, she walked towards the great hall, again the vibrations getting stronger with each of her step. She paused outside the Great Hall to gather her thoughts and stepped through the doors.

Her eyes immediately went to the Gryffindor tables and met with the green haired boy looking directly at her with an empty seat beside him. As soon as their eyes met, his face lit up in a smile and he waved her over. Hermione tightly gripped the tool in her hand and made her way over to him. She offered him a hesitant smile and looked down at her already made breakfast plate. Steeling herself she turned to the boy sitting next to her.

"Harry, thank you for breakfast, did you sleep well?" she asked her voice surprisingly nervous.

"Not as well as you, but yeah, sure" laughed Harry.

"If you are done with your breakfast Harry, do you mind walking me to Charms?"

"Not at all, come on, let's go"

As they stood up Hermione dropped some books and the tool on the floor, Harry immediately bent down to pick them up. As soon as he touched it, the vibrating Horcrux detector lit up like a Christmas tree. Hermione sucked in a breath and her eyes went wide. She felt a tightness on her chest that she couldn't understand herself. How could a boy she has only known for a few days, already mean so much to her. But she had no other choice. She had to protect her people.

Meanwhile in the castle, Percy Weasley was fuming in Transfiguration class. He has always been the best student in his year, except maybe one or two Ravenclaws and Slytherins. But things are not going his way this year. Completely confusing him and the teachers for that matter, the muggleborns have somehow managed to learn everything beforehand. They could do every spell on their first tries and their essays were very well thought out with extra material and they are making him look stupid, which won't help him land jobs and move out of the extremely poor family he had the misfortune of belonging to. He glared at the back of Olivia Wayne in the bench in front of him. She had been barely passing in all the four years they have spent in Hogwarts together. He had even offered to help her a few times to keep up with his family's muggle friendly image. But this year she has suddenly turned into a totally different person rather than the shy hufflepuff she usually was. On their first transfiguration class of the year, Professor McGonagall had asked them to transfigure a pig into a pink dressing table after reading through her notes on the board. But even before Percy had even started to read, Olivia had waved her wand and uttered the incantation, a full dressing table complete with mirrors and drawers stood in front of her. What followed was several similar pops and every muggleborn had a dressing table in front of them. Even the professor was at a loss for words. She assigned them an essay to turn over the next day and asked those who'd finished the transfiguration to start on the essay.

At the end of the lesson Percy still hadn't managed the transfiguration when Olivia came to him after submitting the essay! and asked him if he'd like some help. He had fumed out of the class and every class since then had been like this. He hated change and he hated not being the best anymore. He'd definitely get some answers soon.

That night at the palace, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were discussing the plan to go to Hogwarts to get the last Horcrux.

"We'll go through the Rose portal James. It leads right to the fourth floor corridor. We can start from there"

"For an supposedly intelligent wizard, you're really thick sometimes Padfoot. Purebloods cannot access the portal you fool. You ought to know that seeing as how your daughter controls the wards"

Sirius looked properly embarrassed and was struggling to form an retort when the door opened and Lily entered followed by Hermione. They all stood up and bowed. Hermione acknowledged it and held out her hand palm open to Sirius.

Sirius saw the detector in her hand and glared at her. "You know that you're not supposed to get involved in the horcrux hunt. You're too important to lose Hermione. Just because you're queen! You're still my daughter. What got into..."

"It's Harry"

"What? What about Harry?"

"The horcrux is Harry"

They all collapsed back into their chairs and silence prevailed for a while. Once they could think James and Lily went to Hermione.

"Hermione, please. He's only a child. We cannot. He's never had anything. Oh God! Hermione! Sirius! Please " and with that Lily broke down sobbing.

Hermione looked at her dad. "Mione, please. He's my godson" was all he could say.

There were unshed tears in Hermione's eyes. All she could say was "Dad, I can't. I took an oath to protect my people. You know, I can't"

Remus who had been silent all through finally spoke "Maybe there's another way without harming way"

"A horcrux can only be destroyed if it's receptacle is damaged beyond repair"

"Or when the creator feels remorse" said Peter meekly.

Hermione looked at them all for a long time without a word. After a long silence, she finally said, "I'm not guaranteeing anything. In the meantime, look for other ways to destroy the horcrux without havjng to kill Harry. You have one year, I'll not give you longer than that" with that she left the room and descended down the steps into the dungeon.

She walked through a series of confusing corridors and finally arrived at a time. Standing before the door, she pricked her finger with a needle she kept in her robes and touched the keyhole. The door opened with a click and she went inside. She looked around the room till her eyes met a blue eyed man.

"Hello Tom"