! *cough* I have finally updated my story! I'm so happy and its not even after midnight. Wow, this is a first. Anyway, I'm done with this chapter and I'm proud of it, if I do say so myself. I've been focusing more on Hikaru and the CCS group because really, its up to them right now. And plus, overprotective Syaoran is really fun to write. As always, thanks so much for the reviews, they make me really happy. If you guys have any really big things you want clarified or something, feel free to PM me and I'll be able to get back to you.
Disclaimer: Oh, what, I'm not a multi-billionaire whose richer than Bill Gates. Gee, there goes my plan to run for President. *cough* As you can see, I don't own Harry Potter or Card Captor Sakura.
Harry Potter and the Legend of the Sorcerers
Chapter 13
"The melody of logic always plays the notes of truth" – Ayumu Narumi, Spiral
"It often takes more courage to change one's opinion than to stick to it" - Geoffrey F. Abert
"Happiness is not a destination, it is a method of life" – Burton Hills
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." - Douglas Adams
Even though the horcrux had been successfully removed by the Erase, Kero would not let Hikaru relax. They still had five other soul fragments to find, and not all of them would be that easy to get at. Unfortunately, school was still going on so Hikaru, Syaoran, Sakura, Eriol and Tomoyo all had to say goodbye to Yelan and the rest of the Clan and leave for Japan. Though, to be certain, the most pressing threat had been vanquished, since Hikaru was now no longer connected in any way, shape, or form to Voldemort, except for a certain prophecy.
Five horcruxes remained: the cup, the locket, the diadem, the snake, and the ring. The only problem now was finding their locations. So that left Hikaru, Sakura, and Kero in the middle of Sakura's kitchen with a map, a crystal on the string, and Tom Riddle's diary.
"How exactly is this scrying thing suppose to work again?" Hikaru questioned, looking dubiously at the map of the world laid out on the table.
"It's an old trick used by the Warren family in America to find people or demons," Kero explained. "Using the remaining essence of Tom Riddle on the diary, we should be able to locate the rest of the horcruxes. The crystal should be able to pinpoint the areas on the map, and from there we can zoom in from there."
Under Kero's directions Sakura held the end of the string in her right hand and swung it gently in clockwise circles. Then she felt a sudden jerk on it and let the crystal fall to distinctly land on the area of the United Kingdom. Hikaru quickly grabbed the world map, then inserted a map of the United Kingdom. Sakura swung the crystal again, this time it landed on a small dot labeled Little Hangleton. A smaller map of Little Hangleton and Big Hangleton was put down, this time the crystal focused in on the 'Gaunt Residence'.
Without even motioning, Kero wrote down Gaunt Residence on a pad and the sequence started all over again. Onto the pad was put Hogwarts Castle, 12 Grimmauld Place, Lestrange Vault, Gringotts, and the last one was on Riddle Mansion again located in Little Hangleton. Sakura let out a breath and released the crystal, which fell to the table top with a thud. Hikaru smiled slightly, glad that they were one step closer to their goal.
"Well, Draco will be happy that he finally gets to be a part of the action."
"It's good that Sirius and Remus are in England, since most, if not all of the horcruxes are in and around London," Kero agreed. "We can probably get Sirius to get the one from Grimmauld Place. I have a feeling that the one located in Gringotts will take a bit more finesse, but four out of five aren't bad."
"Do you want me to contact Draco right now?"
"No, you can wait for right now. We'll contact them tomorrow though."
Sakura returned from putting the crystal in her room and the maps in her father's den and sat down on the sofa with Kero and Hikaru.
She was in year 10 in her school this year and Hikaru was thankful for her help. Much to Touya's chagrin and Nuo, Hui, Xiu, and Chuan's happiness, Syaoran and Sakura were planning on getting engaged later. Yelan and Fujita had insisted that they wait until they were both 16 though. But even though Tomoyo squealed at any mention of the pending engagement, Sakura and Syaoran always would blush up to the roots of their hair. Hikaru and Eriol loved to tease them about it, and Sakura's female friends, Rika, Chiharu, Naoka, and Tomoyo, loved to gossip about it. Ever since Rika's announcement of engagement with Terada-sensei, the hint of marriage had been in the air. Tomoyo was known to shout "Kawaii!" randomly and have stars blinking on and off in her eyes.
"So," Hikaru said, drawing out the single syllable word. "Onee-san, how are things with you and Syaoran?"
"Hoe, Hikaru-kun, you don't have to call me that."
"I know, but it's so much fun!"
Sigh. "Hikaru-kun, are you alright with this? I mean, Syaoran and I are still only 15, and I would be your sister."
"Sakura-san," Hikaru said firmly, using -san instead of -chan to accentuate the situation. "My brother is happy with you. I've only seen him this happy when he's with me and our family. He loves you, and as mushy as this sounds, I'm happy that you make him happy. He's my brother, my older, over-protective, adopted-but-you-can't-tell-it, caring, wonderful brother, and all I want for him is to be happy."
Sakura was looking a little teary eyed with this confession, as usually Hikaru would hide his emotions with all of his hyperactivity and happiness.
"Li-san, I would be honored to be a part of your family."
"Kinomoto-san, I would be honored if you were a part of my family."
The quest for the horcruxes was officially taken up again a couple weeks after Hikaru was out of danger. They had all needed time to recuperate and now that they knew how to destroy the blasted things, everyone's energy was rejuvenated.
So right now, a large brainstorming session was taking place in the Li Mansion in Tomoeda.
"It seems to me that the only thing we have left to do is locate and collect the rest of the horcruxes," Nicholas concluded. "I'm very glad that Sakura-san's magic worked on the horcruxes for they have been known to be extremely difficult to get rid of. They're like a pest infestation that, no matter how much you try, no matter how many bottles of potentially harmful chemical substances you have at your disposal, will never go away."
"Sakura-chan's magic is so much more powerful than this pathetic so called 'Dark Lord Moldy Shorts' of England. Really, all those wizards must be really really really stupid for them to be afraid of one man. They're like sheeple, just calmly awaiting being slaughtered. It's sad really," Kero said.
"Kerberos, be nice," Yue admonished.
"I would be nice, if it weren't for the fact that they're willing to sacrifice Hikaru in order to save their own hides!"
"It's alright, Kero," Hikaru cut in. "I have long ago concluded that the Wizarding world is completely backwards and barbaric. I'm not a part of that world, my home is in this one. Nobody really knows I exist anymore and I plan to keep it that way."
"But Hikaru," Yelan said. "What are you going to do when this is all over?"
"Are you going to take the Wizarding World be surprise and show them the cuteness of you and your sister-in-law?" Tomoyo asked.
Everyone smiled or chuckled at Tomoyo's exclamation but Hikaru paused for a second, mentally debating the issue at hand.
"I think that it would be pointless for me to tell the Wizarding world of my existence. All they want is a figurehead, someone to fix all their little problems. If I go back there, all I'll ever be is Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived. I want to be Li Hikaru, like I've always been and always will be. I'll find and destroy the horcruxes because Riddle is a crime against nature, but I don't want to deal with the politics and chaos that I know will come with me trying to make any sort of peace the Wizards."
"Good," Syaoran growled. Frankly, he didn't want his little brother anywhere near any wizards that weren't Nicholas, Pernelle, Remus, Sirius, or the Liberators.
"Kawaii! Syaoran makes such a cute overprotective brother!" Tomoyo gushed.
This time Syaoran didn't blush, instead he acknowledged that he was being overprotective, but with good reason. There was no way the Riddle or anyone else was getting their hands on Hikaru.
Hikaru smiled reassuringly at his brother while Sakura grasped his hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Right now what we have to do is find the horcruxes," Yue pronounced.
"Clow found a spell that can be used to track auras around the world, by getting the longitudes and latitudes. Since Riddle has multiple soul parts, multiple quadrants will pop up. We know that Riddle is hiding out somewhere in Albania, so we should be able to find the rest of horcruxes by process of elimination," Eriol commented.
"This wouldn't happen to housed in a blue-trimmed, super old book with a blank cover, would it?" Hikaru questioned.
"I think it just might be. Why?" Eriol asked with his Cheshire grin.
"Because it just so happens to be sitting on my desk," Hikaru revealed. Then he snapped his finger and a book popped into existence right in front of him. It was a dark, navy blue that looked incredibly old and fragile.
"And here it is now," Hikaru announced.
"Cheeky brat," Kero muttered.
"Now, now, Kero, don't be a sore loser. Just because you didn't think to keep any of the books that didn't pertain to destroying horcruxes doesn't mean you have to be cranky."
"I didn't find any books pertaining to horcruxes period, gaki!"
"Kero-kun, Hikaru-kun," Sakura called. "Please don't fight right now."
"Hai."
Eriol thumbed the book carefully before coming to rest on a page covered in a Latin scrawl. "I'll have to do some translating, but I should be able to get the spell to Hikaru-kun by tonight. Then I can help Hikaru perform the spell and we can go horcrux hunting."
"So then, until tonight?" Hikaru asked.
"I think a large feast is in order to gather strength for the quest that's ahead," Kero said with a seriousness that was somehow overridden by the gleam in his eye.
"Kero-chan," Sakura said with exasperation.
The 'quest' as Kero put it came the very next day. At dawn Eriol and Hikaru went outside and used the morning light to read the translated scroll. They stood poised, facing each other, reading by heart the words that would allow them to rid the world of a great evil.
"Ancient magic created by Tom Marvolo Riddle, show yourself to us, reveal your location to us, in the name of the Sun, the Moon and the Elements."
And from the scroll the ink slivered and moved from the paper to the air and then flew into a world map that Eriol had set out on the ground before them. The ink went onto the map and formed six stars, most centered around England.
"Well, we have our five horcruxes and Voldemort," Hikaru concluded with a trickle of sweat running down his brow.
"And from this map we should be able to locate all the horcruxes Voldemort has hidden," Eriol finished.
"I'm going to give this list to Tomoyo-chan so she can triangulate the street addresses from these coordinates," Hikaru said. "Then we can make a start on getting rid of this pest once and for all."
"You realize that your brother won't let you go on any of these searches that have a possibility of danger in them, right?" Eriol teased.
Hikaru groaned softly. "I forgot about Syaoran's recent surge of overprotectiveness. Maybe I can use Sakura to help me distract him."
They carefully picked up the map after the ink had dried and carried it in to the house. Yelan, Nicholas, Yue, and Syaoran were the only ones up and waiting for them. They smiled as they saw Hikaru and Eriol's contented postures, gathering that the horcruxes were now successfully located.
"Mission completed?" Nicholas asked.
"Yep, we got that guy pegged now. I can't wait to get done with this and get back to my life," Hikaru said. "We were also going to have Tomoyo try and figure out the street address or locations of the horcruxes."
Yelan nodded then paused slightly. "I think it would be best if we then gave the addresses to Sirius and Remus to look up since some of the horcruxes might be located in places that are hard to get to. After all, Lucius Malfoy was in the possession of the diary for who knows how long, so Riddle might have entrusted other horcruxes to his followers."
After Tomoyo got her hands on the map, the list of addresses weren't far behind. Hikaru sent off the list to Sirius that very day and was pleasantly surprised when Sirius and Remus popped up later with a silver locket and feathered diadem in hand.
"These two were the easiest to get to," Remus explained.
"Yeah, it turns out that my little brother wasn't as bad as I thought he was," Sirius added.
"What do you mean?" Hikaru asked.
"Regulus Black. In my parents' eyes he was the perfect son while I was the misfit. After I left home the summer after sixth year, Regulus had to deal with my parents alone. Later it was apparent that he had joined Voldemort. Then he was dead and the story was that he got too far in and was killed because he wanted to leave. I never really gave him much thought," Sirius said quietly. "He was my brother, but the older we got, the farther apart we became until both of us stopped caring. I'm sorry for that now. Maybe if I had been there I could have stopped him from going to Voldemort."
Sirius stopped for a second, the guilt flooding him as he pondered what could have happened if he had been there for his little brother.
"It's alright Sirius," Remus put a comforting arm on his friends shoulder. "Regulus made his choices and there was nothing you could have done. You tried remember, right after you graduated. Regulus turned you away."
"Right. So anyway, apparently Voldemort used Kreacher, our old house elf to lay his protections, which by the way explains why the elf is so batty. He's gotten much better since I told him I've found someone who will avenge Regulus. Kreacher survived and Regulus got wind of what happened. He went back to the cave, which is where the horcrux was originally hidden, and stole the locket horcrux. Either he was killed before he could destroy it or he didn't knowhow to, but either way the horcrux has been sitting in our old house at Grimmauld place ever since Regulus' death. I didn't know it existed until I found it, then Kreacher went crazy and I managed to pull the full story out of him.
"After than I saw that another horcrux was at Hogwarts. The horcrux was hidden in a room called the Room of Requirement. Apparently another person had figured out what Voldemort was up to and had hidden it in the room. The diadem belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw and the locket belonged to the Slytherin family. Both are priceless treasures and related to the founders so it doesn't surprise me that these are what Voldemort used."
"I'm surprised that you managed to find them this quickly," Yelan mused.
"Given the facts that England has the largest Wizarding community in the world and that Riddle did grow up there, it doesn't really surprise me that they're located in one area," Remus pointed out. "Plus I'm pretty sure that the English Wizards were the only ones dumb enough to let Riddle get as far as he did in his plans. Every other magical community would have destroyed all his horcruxes a few days after he made them."
"I'm glad that I've disassociated myself from the British Wizards, they were always too stuffy for my tastes," Nicholas announced.
"Dear, everyone was too stuffy for you tastes, except that Doctor fellow," Perenelle argued.
"Yes, the Doctor, wonderful fellow. Why I remember the time…"
All of the people in the room traded exasperated glances. They were used to Nicholas' random flashbacks and decided to ignore him for more pressing topics of conversation.
"Sakura, can you get rid of the horcruxes?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, but let's go outside, just in case," Sakura said.
They all trooped out to the courtyard, Perenelle dragging Nicholas by the ear, as he was still going on about the quest the Doctor and he went on to find Charlemagne.
Sakura placed the two objects in the center of the yard and reached for her key pendant that was fastened securely around her neck.
"Key which hides the power of the stars, show your true form before me. I, Sakura, command you under our contract. RELEASE!"
The key expanded into a familiar pink staff with which she did her customary twirl. She clasped the Erase card tightly before throwing it out and shouting, "Erase, removed the particles of Tom Riddle's soul from these two objects. ERASE!"
The young jester solidified from the card and then made a motion with her hand. She expelled two clouds of black, one from the locket, the other from the diadem, before vanishing them entirely.
"Thank you so much Erase," Sakura said to the silent courtyard.
The Erase card bowed to all those assembled and then went back to her card form, which neatly returned to Sakura's outstretched hand.
Hikaru let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"Well, four down, three more to go."
"Plus Riddle himself."
"Yeah, well, that'll be easy. Just lock him in the same room as Syaoran."
So, there's the next installment. Good news, I'm almost done with this story. All I need to do is locate the last three and defeat Voldemort. I think I'll post my story ideas and if you lot want, you can vote on what you'd like to see next. There will not be a sequal, I'm sorry if you lot really want one, but I don't think I can write it.
I hope you liked this chapter.
Your ever loyal author,
Kasumi Hoshi