Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Chapter 14:

Tonks watched as Harry dozed off again at the breakfast table, feeling half amused and half concerned. She knew that he'd stayed up training well into the night even though Alastor still wasn't back from his damned mission and Dumbledore was still researching as Harry said. However, she suspected that it was more of him taking out his frustrations rather than actual training, recalling how the day before there had been another confrontation will Draco in which Harry accused the blonde git of being a death eater. In front of a crowd. And McGonagall. She proceeded to tell him what a serious accusation it was based on little to no facts. That was just part of a very bad day. Hopefully though today would be a good day. It was the Hogsmead trip.

Harry brought his fork up to his mouth before dipping it into his pumpkin juice instead. His eyes were closed and his mouth hung open. He had no clue how ridiculous he looked, though Hermione, Ginny, Dean and Katie did. Harry dipped his fork into his pumpkin juice again, this time as though he were taking out a spoonful of sugar. He proceeded to drop the 'sugar' into his oatmeal and begin to stir it. Still ridiculous, Mr. Potter, still ridiculous.

"Um… maybe we should wake him up," Hermione said, concern replacing the amusement in her eyes. How very Hermione-ish.

"Not yet!" Katie protested. She ripped off a small piece of toast and tossed it at his open mouth. It hit the very tip of his nose and bounced into his bowl of oatmeal. Tonks could barely suppress her laughter and it came out as a snort. Very unlady-like. But Kate, Ginny and Dean had the same predicament. Dean had his forehead down on the table, eyes streaming from trying to hold back his laughter. Ginny was snickering bwhind her hand, keeping it as quiet as she could. Katie just looked ready to burst.

This carried on for several minutes before Hermione turned to Tonks with a pleading look. Tonks sighed and was about to give in. Then Harry just jerked awake beside her, gasping for air as though he'd been underwater. He looked wildly around the great hall, eyes flashing red once or twice. All of the humor in the moment was gone. Disappeared as though it was never there. Tonks gripped his shoulder and his head snapped around to face her. Emerald eyes. She sighed with relief.

"You just fell asleep." She told him quietly and comprehension flooded into his eyes. "It's alright."

He shuddered beneath her grasp. "The fuck it is," he muttered mostly to himself. Tonks still heard it though she didn't think anyone else did. Harry pushed back his chair and rushed out of the Great Hall. Tonks and Hermione immediately stood too and went to follow. Tonks grabbed Ron's cloak and hauled him out of his seat, dragging him away from Lavender. Hermione smirked.

..-.-.-.-..-.-.-..-.

Harry hauled his ass from the entrance hall, trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and his friends who were sure to follow. Why didn't they get that he didn't want to be bothered? That there were times that he just needed to be alone to think. Then again, for him thinking was normally a bad idea. His thoughts usually led to bad things that he didn't want to think about.

Such as what you just saw?

Harry sucked in a breath. Red-eyes had been abnormally quiet the past week since Harry had asked if he was a horcrux. Hardly a word from him at all, not that it bothered Harry much. But he happened to like knowing when a comment would come up. Yes, such as what I just saw, Harry responded, a shiver running down his spine. He'd forgotten to raise his occlumency shields when he awoke that morning, a stupid mistake on his part. Extremely stupid. Once again he'd seen through Voldemort's eyes as he tortured a familiar looking muggle. Very familiar though Harry could not place a name.

If he's familiar looking then that must mean he's from your old home, Red-eyes said. That means Voldemort was in Privet Drive.

Another shudder ran through Harry's entire body. Where the fuck was Dumbledore? Was anyone watching over Privet Drive? It wasn't that Harry cared for his relatives, but nobody, not even Ima Walrus Dursley, deserved to be tortured at the hands of Voldemort. He slammed the side of his fist into the wall where he'd suddenly stopped running.

He was outside of the room of requirement he realized. Perfect. A place to hide. Coward. It wasn't red-eyes that time, just harry reprimanding himself. Pacing three times and asking for a place to hide from his friends, Harry looked up to see no door. "Asshole!" he growled to both the room and whoever was currently occupying it.

Ask Tonksie to drop in at your old home and see what's up, Red-eyes suggested as Harry tore down the corridor that led to the Owlery.

No, it's too much trouble for her.

To go and see if there are Dark Wizards terrorizing Privet Drive? That's her fuckin job! Well, before this mission anyway.

Just shut up! I'm not asking her to do that!

Why not? She'd do it for you!

Harry tried to block out the voice. He wasn't asking Tonks to go to Privet Drive. Hopefully the old man had Order members guarding the place. He sat down on a cold stone bench, sweeping off the snow that collected there and performing a crude drying charm so his pants didn't get wet. Household charms were never his specialty and he only made it less damp than it was. Good enough.

Hedwig flew down and landed on his shoulder. "Hey girl," he mumbled, stroking her feathers. "Sorry I haven't paid much attention to you this year, but there's really nobody for me to write." She hooted and pushed her head against his. Harry laughed. She was such a good owl.

"Finally!" Harry's head shot up to see Tonks, Hermione and Ron coming toward him. Hedwig flew off and Harry watched her sadly. She was better company than these people. She didn't ask questions. "You sure know how to disappear, Potter!"

Harry glared at Tonks who glared right on back. She was actually Tonks right now, not Erin. "Only when I want to be alone except for the company of my owl. But I guess it's illegal to spend some quality time with one's owl here at Hogwarts."

"Fuck off," Tonks muttered. She sat down on his right and Hermione on his left. Ron leaned back against the wall in front of him to shelter himself from the wind. "What just happened to you back there?"

"I fell asleep."

"Harry," Hermione sighed. "Why don't you tell us anything?"

He didn't know how to answer that without being mean. So he didn't say a word. Hermione was already getting enough shit from Ron, she didn't need him snapping at her too.

"Did you see into Voldemort's mind again?"

Brightest witch of her age, they always said, though this time it was really just a lucky guess. "That's what all the occlumency was for, remember? It's nothing."

"Nothing my ass!" Tonks burst out. "You just ran all the way up here from the great hall for nothing but to hang out with Hedwig? I don't fucking think so."

Harry sat up and glared at her with burning eyes. "You're right! My first choice was the room of requirement. But at least Hedwig doesn't ask questions that I don't want to answer!"

"Then Hedwig obviously doesn't care about you like we do!"

Well that's just stupid. The way I see it, Hedwig obviously doesn't ask questions because owls don't talk.

Harry couldn't help it, he laughed. Tonks glared at him with an even angrier expression. "What's so funny?"

"He just called you…" oohhhhh shit.

Nice one, dumbass.

Tonks frowned as did Hermione and Ron. "Who is 'he', and what did he just call me?"

Harry pursed his lips. And then he ran. Coward. That time it was Red-eyes. He could hear footstep pounding after him and he ran down the icy stairs, wobbling and slipping all the way. There was a shriek and Tonks crashed into Harry sending them both down the rest of the stairs in a tangles mess. Harry hit the floor first, landing on his back and Tonks landed on top of him. All of the air was pushed from his lungs.

"This was your fault," Tonks groaned as she morphed back into Erin in case someone came down the corridor. "I hope you realize that." She sat up on his stomach while he gasped for breath. "Oh, sorry. You having a bit of trouble breathing?" Harry nodded. "Then I'll get off if you promise not to run." Harry nodded again and Tonks slid off of him and onto the floor.

"Are you two alright?" Ron asked as he and Hermione reached them. "That was quite the tumble."

"One: yes we're fine," Tonks said. "Two: I can't believe you just said 'Quite the tumble'." Harry groaned reminding Tonks of his presence. "So are you going to tell us now?"

You might as well just tell them.

"Well he called you stupid because owls can't talk." Harry said. He sat up and rubbed his head. It really had been quite the tumble.

Tonks rolled her eyes. "Ok so how about the first question?"

Harry paused and frowned. He glanced around at the seemingly empty hallway. "Can we have this discussion later in a more private place?"

The other three glanced at each other and nodded. Harry sighed with relief. That would give him some time to figure out what exactly to tell them. He pushed himself to his feet and held out his hand to Tonks. After pulling her to her feet he headed to the common room without another word to get ready for Hogsmead. He didn't really want to go, but something was telling him that he should. It wasn't that he needed to get Christmas presents, he already knew what he was getting everyone and it wasn't really things he could get in Hogsmead. He would have to contact Remus. But there was the feeling that he was supposed to go to the village today.

Harry followed Tonks and Hermione down to the entrance hall. Ron had gone ahead with Lavender so that meant he was stuck with the two witches until they would all meet up in the three broomsticks. It wasn't a horrible thing, he would live, but just barely. He sighed and they walked over to Filch so that he could check their names off the list. But there standing next to the bitter caretaker, was the headmaster. Harry was so surprised he tripped over his own feet and knocked into Tonks. She went toppling to the ground for the second time that day. Behind them they heard Pansy Parkinson's nasally laugh. Harry turned to glare at her, seeing the annoying pug-faced girl with a bunch of other Slytherins that included Daphne Greengrass, Tracy Davis (both witches looked highly annoyed as though they would rather be anywhere else), Millicent Bullstrode, Theodore Nott, Crabbe and Goyle. No Malfoy. Pretty much all of the 6th year Slytherins save a few.

"I didn't know snakes travelled in packs," Harry said as he helped Tonks to her feet again. She glared at him for knocking her down.

"I didn't know Lions were so inept." Greengrass shot back, smirking as she referred to his trip. She and Davis walked by him away from the rest of the Slytherins. Harry watched her out of the corner of his eye untrusting of the Slytherin Ice Queen.

"Where's Draco?" Harry drawled imitating the Slytherin in question.

"Harry let's go!" Hermione mumbled. She was ignored.

"Well?" he prompted. Where was the blonde death eater? "Did Death Muncher Malfoy realize he is way out of your league and head out to the village without you?"

"That's none of your business, Potty!" Nott growled. Harry turned his head to him with disgust written all over his face and clear in his red eyes. Nott actually faltered back a step.

Harry shrugged and turned around again, continuing over to Filch and Dumbledore. Tonks and Hermione were already there, preferring to avoid confrontation. Harry didn't care that they left him though. The Slytherins wouldn't curse him with the old man around. "Professor I really need to talk to you," he said to Dumbledore. The headmaster looked down at him. He looked incredibly tired, more so than Harry had ever seen him. "It's really important." He added, already realizing that he would not get his wanted conversation. Cazzo.

"I'm sorry Harry but it will have to wait. I have very pressing matters to attend to."

Harry couldn't help but feel disappointed as Tonks and Hermione ushered him away.

"Hey Harry, why don't you sit with us?" Romilda Vane suggested as Harry passed her carriage. He didn't even spare her a glance as he replied, "I'd rather not." Tonks and Hermione stifled their laughter long enough to ensure that the girls wouldn't hear them.

"That girl just doesn't give up!" Tonks laughed. Harry glared at her and she ruffled his hair, still laughing.

Harry turned helplessly to Hermione. "I don't know what to do about that girl! She's been trying to slip me love potions for about two months now!"

"See what you get for being the chosen one?"

Damn, even she's having fun at your expense.

Harry frowned and climbed into an empty carriage. "You know, this is a serious matter, and yet here you two are, making fun of me!"

"You're just so easy to make fun of though," Tonks said and Harry scowled, sinking lower into his seat. The carriage began to move. "But I'll take pity on you and help figure out a way to get Romilda off your back. Got any ideas Hermione?"

Hermione shook her head. "Personally I don't think she'll ever stop until the entire Chosen One business dies down."

"You really know how to make me feel better Hermione." Harry grumbled. He turned to Tonks as Hermione took out a book and began to read. Tonks had a thoughtful expression on her face and Harry shivered. He really didn't want to know what her bright idea would be.

Tonks snapped her fingers in front of his face. "I got it!"

I think you ought to feel a little scared.

For once I agree with you.

"You should get a girlfriend!"

That was her bright idea? Harry shook his head. "That would just make her a target for fangirls! They're crazy Tonks!"

Tonks rolled her eyes. "You're so dramatic. It's a good idea. It doesn't have to be a real relationship or anything, just something to get other girls off your back."

"And who would agree to that?"

Tonks frowned thoughtfully. "Hermi—"

"No." Hermione cut her off without looking up from her book.

"Tonks! Hermione's like my sister!" Harry groaned.

"I said it didn't have to be real! But fine, I'll think of someone else." Harry sighed and closed his eyes. Best to just let Tonks have her way. He listened to her name off girls anywhere between fourth and seventh years. "Katie Bell? No? How about… Millicent—"

"NO!" Harry shouted, horrified to even think about the mere possibility. Tonks burst out laughing and even Hermione was biting her lip. She raised her book in front of her face, her shoulder shaking. Harry pointed his finger accusingly at her. "Stop laughing!"

"I'm not laughing!"

Harry scowled and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I hate you both."

Harry had never been happier to reach the village of Hogsmead. He jumped out of the carriage before it even stopped. "See you both at the Broomsticks!" he said hastily before running away. The entire ride he had to listen to the two witches spout off names upon names, many of which were just as horrifying as Millicent Bullstrode. Tonks even went so far as to give names of a few guys. There was no way in hell he was sticking with them until they met Ron at the three broomsticks.

Avoiding Honeydukes for the time being as that was obviously going to be Tonks' first destination, Harry went into Zonko's. The joke shop was going out of business these days thanks to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes who continuously came out with new products. Zonko's however, stuck with the same old things. No wonder it wasn't very busy unlike all the other times Harry was there. There were a few familiar faces though, like Seamus and Ernie Macmillan. Harry walked over and greeted them.

"You look like you've seen an inferius, Harry," Ernie commented.

Well that's a little different than you normally hear.

"Just had to ride alone with Erin and Hermione. It wasn't the greatest carriage ride ever." Harry muttered, idly picking up a pack of dungbombs. "I'm never doing that again. I think I'd even rather ride with Ron and Lavender."

"I think you mean Won Won and Lav Lav!" Seamus snickered.

"Oh Merlin, he hasn't started calling her that has he?" Harry asked. Seamus shook his head, still laughing. Thank Merlin! "Well I pray that he never starts. If he does then I'll have to put my foot down."

"I'm with you on that mate," Seamus nodded. "I can hardly bear to hang around with Dean anymore when he's with Ginny. If I ever start using petnames I give you both permission to smack me."

"You've got to get a girlfriend before that happens," Ernie reminded him. Seamus punched the Hufflepuff in the arm.

Ron, Hermione and Tonks were all at a table when Harry walked in the overcrowded pub, thankful to be away from the bitter cold winds of December. Tonks was sitting in between his two friends and looked ready to hex both of them as they argued around her. She looked up at Harry and pleaded with her eyes for him to do something.

"You're such a hypocrite!" Hermione shouted.

"Oh, I'm a hypocrite?"

Harry realized that the argument had just started. He sat down, but both seemed unaware of his arrival. He listened for the moment.

"Yes, you criticize your sister and Dean even for holding hands in public, yet you and Lavender are constantly all over one another every day!"

"We are not!"

Harry couldn't help but feel a little surprised at Ron's denial. Well, time to intervene. "Yes, you are. To be honest, it pretty sickening to have to watch you and Lavender snog each other in the common room every day." His two best friends looked at him in surprise. They really hadn't seen him sit down. He grinned and waved. "Lovely weather we're having."

"I didn't even see you come in!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Obviously," Harry said carelessly as he took a swig of her butterbeer. Mine now. He only wished for a moment that it was firewhiskey. "If you had you both would have shut up."

Tonks raised her eyebrows while Hermione flushed. "Maybe you should take that stick out of your ass and tell us what's up."

Harry's lips twitched a little. He found Tonks slightly amusing when she was trying to sound pissy.

Ron blew out a gusty sigh. "We should just get on with it."

Harry frowned. Get on with what? Tonks nodded and waved her wand. Harry could feel the magic building around him and he groaned silently in his head. Privacy wards. So that was what they were doing. They had successfully trapped him and now he would have to tell them about the Horcruxes. Cazzo. He glanced at Tonks, feeling nervous about telling her anything. He had to remember that she was working for the order, that she told them about his behavior and how he acted. His little talk with Remus the week before reminded him of that. "You three are devious. When did you even plan this?"

"When you went up to get your jacket," Hermione answered, suddenly looking a little nervous. She bit her lip and Harry suspected that she was waiting for him to blow his top. And truthfully, he would love to do just that at the moment. But that wouldn't solve anything. Better to just tell them everything now. Then they would leave him alone.

Harry turned to Tonks, his face suddenly hard. "Nothing I say next can be told to the order."

Tonks looked offended, her mouth hanging open slightly and she leaned back in her chair. "What makes you think I would tell the Order?"

"You apparently told them about my sleeping patterns!"

"No, I told Remus who I believe has a right to know! That's different than telling the entire Order that you're afraid to sleep in your own room! Besides, it's not like entire Order doesn't already know. It's not like you made much of a secret of it over the summer. Anyone could hear your pacing every damn night and that you so obviously had nightmares."

Thank Merlin for privacy charms. Harry opened his mouth to make a retort to that but Hermione cut across him flashing a warning look at Tonks. She had the decency to look at least a little ashamed. "That's enough you two!" she snapped. Harry glowered at her. Guess it wasn't so great when it was her in the middle of the argument. Harry struggled to calm himself down.

"Sorry," he mumbled to both Hermione and Tonks. They both nodded and Harry decided that he might as well get on with his story. Tonks had given her word that she wouldn't tell the order without really even giving her word. Harry trusted her. Now, where to start? "I'm going to take a wild guess and say that none of you have ever heard of a horcrux. They're extremely dark magic and a forbidden subject."

"Figures you would know what they are then," Ron joked.

Harry barely acknowledged him. He just wanted to get this explanation over with. "Basically, they're a way to cheat death. I won't go very much into details, but you rip your soul into pieces and place that shard into an object. Sick shit. Sorry Hermione. It's how Voldemort is still alive. In one of our lessons, Dumbledore showed me a modified memory given to him by Slughorn, Sluggie did a really piss poor job of doing it too. The memory was of Tom Riddle, Voldemort, when he was still in school asking Slughorn about Horcruxes. Though in the memory I saw, Slughorn didn't give him the information, he did."

"But why?" Hermione asked. "If it was a forbidden subject…"

"Slughorn believed that Riddle wanted the information for educational purposes. If you saw the memories you'd understand. He was…" how to put this? "Extremely persuasive. Riddle had ways of getting what he wanted. Every teacher loved him, including Dumbledore. They never knew what he would turn out to be." At Ron's shocked look he said, "I know that this may be shocking to you, but Dumbledore doesn't know everything. He had suspicions of course but Riddle hid things well. So eventually Riddle did make his Horcruxes."

"He made more than one?" Tonks gasped.

Harry nodded, feeling a little sick himself. To split one's soul once was bad enough, but the amount of times Voldemort did it was unknown. And then to think how many of them could be out there…"One of them was the diary from 2nd year. You all know the one. Another was an old ring, Riddle's grandfather's. Marvalo gaunt, a pureblood who hated all muggles. Riddle took it from Morfin, his uncle and Marvalo's son. Riddle killed his grandparents, on his father's side along with his father to make this horcrux and then modified Morfin's memory so that he believed he'd done it." He shivered. Morfin had been so proud over killing them. "But we believe that there are more Horcruxes out there. What they are or how many is unknown though. That's why we search the memories." He sighed and rest his chin down on the table. He stared through his mug of butter beer at Hermione's distorted image.

Time to tell 'em mate.

Harry scowled. Don't call me mate. I can't just come out and tell them I'm a horcrux.

Why's that? It'd be a hell of a lot easier than trying to sugarcoat it.

"Harry?"

He glanced at Ron. Whoops. "Oh sorry. So that's the basics of Voldemort and his Horcruxes."

"I think I know where you're going with this and I don't like it," Hermione murmured.

Harry smiled ruefully at her. You'd better prepare yourself for disappointment, 'Mione. "Remember on the train ride when I looked like I spaced out? Well, all I remember is my vision going dark. I could hear everything you were all saying but it was like you were at the other end of a tunnel. Then this figure appeared in front of me, almost like the darkness was just melting away. It was like looking in a mirror. When he talked it was my voice. The only difference was he had red eyes. Like Voldemort."

Silence greeted these words. Ron looked like he'd been punched in the face, Tonks had the blankest look Harry had ever seen on a human being and Hermione looked, of course, thoughtful and also scared. Harry smiled sadly at her. He was scared too, though he would admit that only to himself. No need to tell anyone that bit of information.

After several minutes of absolute silence other than the noise of the pub which sounded distant from the charms around them. It was more of a buzz, like what you would hear if you had the muffliato charm from the Prince. Harry frowned. "Anyone going to say something?"

"I… What do you want us to say?" Tonks asked. "You just told us that you have a piece of You-know-who's soul in you!"

"If you can't say Voldemort then call him Riddle!" Harry snapped.

"Fine! You have a piece of Riddle's soul in you! I'm going to take a wild guess and say that he's the reason your eyes turn red when you're pissed."

Harry nodded slowly. "I still want to talk to the old man about it, but I think that when my anger grows, he becomes stronger and that's his attempt to gain control. That's his goal. When I start to get angry he starts trying to persuade me to let him loose. He's very good at it too."

"But you wouldn't right?" Hermione questioned. "You have more control, right?"

Harry shrugged, thinking about his attempt at torture of Bellatrix, or with Malfoy that day on the pitch. "If I ever happen to see Bellatrix again who knows what might happen?"

I'll bet that made her feel better.

"That did nothing to make me feel better."

"You asked." Harry pushed back his chair and stood. He wouldn't tell her what happened with Bellatrix in the Department of Mysteries. It was bad enough that Tonks knew. He didn't need his two best friends to know about his past attempt at the Cruciatus. "I'm going back to the castle."

"Me too," Hermione agreed.

She's got that look…

Harry had to agree with that. "Hermione, you aren't going to find anything on this in the Hogwarts library."

"I'm assuming Voldemort did!" she snapped.

"Privacy charms are down," Tonks reminded them warningly.

"Right. Go ahead and look then, but don't expect to find anything." Harry looked at Ron who had yet to say a word. "You alright, mate?"

Ron gave him a weak smile. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

Harry clapped him on the shoulder. "Are you coming back with us or meeting Lavender?"

Ron shook his head. "She said she would meet me here in a bit."

"Alright, see you later mate."

Harry, Hermione and Tonks trudged through the snow out of Hogsmead, missing the warmth of the pub. Tonks crouched behind Harry and used him as a shield against the wind while Harry did is best to stay to the side of her, smiling while he did it. Finally she grabbed the back of his coat and held him in place in front of her. "No, you just stay right there."

Harry turned around and walked backwards so he was facing the two witched. This also kept the wind from biting at his face. "I feel used."

"Well I feel cold so we both lose."

"Well said."

Tonks grinned and shoved him lightly. "So are we going to demand that Dumbledore tell us what's going on with your horcrux problem?"

"Nope," Harry answered. "I'm going to go and talk to him alone and then decide whether or not to tell you anything." Hermione's mouth dropped open and he chuckled. She was gullible at times when there was too much on her mind. Did they really believe that he would explain all about the Horcruxes and then not tell them what the old man said? Though Harry tried to get it through their minds that Dumbledore was not always correct, they would always want to hear what he had to say before coming to a decision. "Don't worry, I'll tell you."

A high-pitched scream pierced the air and Harry whipped around, drawing his wand. Death Eaters? Harry ran in the direction of the scream, his two companions close on his heels. Why would the Death Eaters attack here, outside of the village though? Why not go right into Hogsmead, where the students would be, where more damage could be done?

Maybe it's not an attack, Red-eyes suggested.

Then what?

Harry came to the top of a hill and looked down. He suddenly wished it had been death eaters.

A/N: Notha Chapta up. I'm trying to think of a message here to tell everyone, maybe something inspirational but my mind is drawing a blank.

11-17-11