Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.
A/N – Here you go, I hope you like.
Please read the A/N's at the bottom.
A Rat, a Shack & a Cave
Harry was sitting in the Headmasters office on Saturday morning waiting for his godfather and honorary uncle to arrive, Ginny was also present via her mirror, which Harry had removed the privacy charms from and set up to float alongside his head. The headmaster sat up straighter in his chair as the gargoyle informed him of his visitors.
Sirius came in and went straight to Harry and hugged him, Remus quickly followed suit, when they took a step back Harry looked them over, Sirius had lost the paleness and haunted look he picked up from Azkaban, and Remus was looking better and healthier then Harry had ever seen him, "Remus, your new wardrobe is looking good."
Remus gave him a sheepish smile, it had taken some convincing on Harry and Sirius part but Remus had finally accepted the gold they gave him without too many protests. "Thanks Harry. Oh by the way Arthur wanted me to ask you a few questions about some Muggle devices he doesn't understand, he says the prime minister is making him feel like an idiot."
Harry snorted at that. "That's fine Remus, I have already sent Hedwig to him with a list of books he should get and how to get them, with that he should be alright."
A hoot came from the mirror as Hedwig appeared on Ginny's shoulder, "Hedwig arrived at breakfast." said Ginny, as she gave the owl a stroke as it snuggled into Ginny's long red hair, everyone smiled at the owls antics.
"Right then Albus." Sirius started "What's this about?"
Albus smiled at Sirius, he was as blunt and to the point as ever, "Well Sirius there have been some changes to Harry's plan for Voldemort, and we are need of your assistance. Also I have a small favor to ask of you." Harry snorted at the small comment.
This reply was met with two sets of raised eyebrows, that turned quickly to look at Harry, seeing that he had their focus Harry gestured to the two of them to sit down in the armchairs that Albus had conjured before they came in.
Harry got straight to the point, "Do either of-"
Sirius interrupted Harry with a tense voice "Wait, if the plan is changing does that mean we can go after the rat?"
Harry paused and frowned in concentration before glancing at the headmaster then to Ginny over his shoulder "What do you think Gin?"
"I'm not sure, with the way you plan on ki...killing him, do you need Pettigrew?" Ginny replied.
Harry was silent for a minute as he thought through the possibilities, "Young one." Harry looked to the phoenix and raised his eyebrow. "Fawkes?"
"You should go after him, give your godfather his closure, and as your mate said, you have no use for him now." Harry acknowledged Fawkes suggestion with a nod, "Very well then. Would you mind taking a note to Amelia?"Fawkes replied with an agreeing trill and lifted off to land on Harry's other shoulder.
Harry conjured some parchment and a self-inking quill and wrote a quick note to the Minister.
Amelia,
I have discovered a wanted death-eater hiding at Hogwarts.
Please send Rufus and a squad immediately.
Fawkes will bring them straight to the headmasters office.
Harry
"Here you go Fawkes, please wait and bring them here." Fawkes nodded for everyone else's benefit, before grabbing the note in his beak and disappearing in a ball of crimson fire.
"THE RAT IS HERE!"
"PETER'S IN THE CASTLE!"
"YOU ALLOWED A DEATH-EATER INTO MY SCHOOL!"
"Yes. Yes. He's been here for several years, and he's not the only death-eater here." Harry replied with a meaningful look at the headmaster, who stared back at Harry. "No one knows where he is, and I assure you Albus the second he posed any danger to the school or her students I would have dealt with him before he could finish transforming."
"Transfor... he's hiding as a rat!" questioned Sirius.
"Yes he is." Harry stated as he pulled at the Marauders map.
"I'm coming young one." Harry sent a brief mental confirmation to Fawkes before speaking to the others, "Play along."
He quickly made his mirror invisible along with reactivating its privacy charms before six people appeared in an enormous ball of crimson fire, Harry blinked at the lead member of the group "Amelia, I wasn't expecting you to come yourself."
"I know Harry, but a wanted death-eater found hiding at Hogwarts is too high a profile an incident for me to not be present."
Harry bowed his head in acknowledgement of that, before greeting the rest of the minister's party, "Rufus, Kingsley, John, Hestia and you must be the cousin Sirius speaks so fondly of."
A blushing Tonks half stepped, half hopped around Kingsley and sent a small glare at Sirius, "Yes Mr Potter, Auror trainee Tonks."
Harry smiled at her "Now then Tonks none of this Mr Potter business, to my friends my name is Harry."
The pink haired auror gave a small giggle, but before she could say any more Rufus spoke up, "Right then Harry where is this death-eater?"
Harry eyed up the head of the DMLE, his relationship with the man was rather different this time around, although Harry still harbored some ill feeling toward the man for his actions as minister, but this was a different time, and Harry was trying to put the past behind him. He answered the man, "He's in Gryffindor tower."
"How do you know this?" Harry snorted at the same question coming from all six of the ministry party.
"My father, along with Sirius and Remus made a map during their time here, they were just showing me some of its features when we spotted a name on it." Harry opened the map to the first year Gryffindor boys dorm and showed them the dot labelled 'Peter Pettigrew', he groaned internally when he spotted the only other name in the dorm.
After Sirius and Remus explained that Peter was an illegal animagus, the group of humans and a phoenix, who hitched a ride on Dumbledore's shoulder, left the headmasters office at a brisk walk. The walk to Gryffindor tower was taken in silence with Harry and Rufus leading the way; being late on a Saturday morning the corridors and common room were fairly empty, those in the common room sat staring open mouthed at the people walking into the room.
The group quickly made their way up to the first year boys dorm, when they got there Ron's greeting of "Hey Harry." died in his throat when he caught sight of the others.
"Ron, where's Scabbers?" The tone in Harry's voice and the faint glow in his eyes, along with the fact that all ten of them had their wands out, had Ron simply pointing to the cage at the foot of his bed where a sleeping rat lay.
Harry stunned the rat through the cage before levitating it and smashing it on the floor whilst Rufus simultaneously cast the animagus reversal spell.
The unconscious form of Peter Pettigrew appeared on the floor in a heap, Ron let out a yelp of shock and surprise whilst two low growls could be heard from the marauders, who both had an auror lay a restraining hand on their shoulders.
When Rufus shot a disarmer at the traitor, two wands came flying at him, Harry recognised the second one, and pulled it straight into his now empty wand hand. Harry felt the surge of warmth from it when he grasped it; as he stared down at the wand, he had to focus his mind on keeping the rage he felt suppressed. The others in the room were all looking at him in a state of mild shock as his clothes were billowing around him and their breath was visible as the temperature in the room became much colder then when they arrived.
"Harry?" Dumbledore tentatively asked after the young wizard.
Harry's voice was like ice and it trembled with rage along with an undercurrent of raw power, "Yew. Thirteen and a half inches. Phoenix feather core."
Dumbledore gasped, whilst the others were looking even more confused, until Harry spoke again, "The wand of Lord Voldemort."
After Ron's small squeak at the dark lord's name, dead silence descended around the room as Harry's sentence hung in the air.
Harry walked slowly towards Pettigrew's unconscious form, and used the wand to enervate him.
With a startled yelp the traitor tried to scramble to his feet, but froze in mid-action and started to tremble in fear when he saw the people glaring at him with their wands out. He wet himself when he saw the boy in front of him with eyes glowing and holding his master's wand, he started screaming incoherently for mercy.
He only managed to scream for a fraction of a second before Harry slashed Voldemort's wand across in front of him and Peter's lips became sealed as he was forced into a kneeling position.
Harry held the wand loosely in his hand as he pointed it at Pettigrew's heart, the tip starting to glow a very familiar green, Harry's arm started to shake slightly before he felt a hand rest just below his elbow, he didn't even have to look round to know whose it was, he took several deep breaths, allowing the rage within him to bleed out, before lowering the wand, and turning into his wife's open arms, and allowing her presence and the soothing phoenix song to calm him further.
The others in the room were still blinking slightly from the quick double flash of phoenix fire that brought Ginny to the dorm, Dumbledore regained his senses the quickest and promptly stunned the now frozen in shock Pettigrew.
Given that they were still in an embrace, no-one questioned Ginny's presence; the aurors quickly searched Pettigrew but found nothing more on him, they then bound him for transport back to the ministry, where Amelia would call an emergency trial.
Dumbledore decided to accompany the group back to the ministry, he felt it fitting that his last act as Chief Warlock would be to send the Potter's betrayer down.
The trial if one could really call it that was over in less than an hour, the Wizengamot, with a little help from Fawkes had assembled in less then 30 minutes. The rat was dragged in before the court guarded by four auror's, he had already been hit with a silencing charm before entering the courtroom, but everyone could see that he was screaming his head off.
Dumbledore got straight down to business the moment he was seated and fed the truth serum, "Your name?" Dumbledore asked after the silencing charm had been lifted.
"Peter Andrew Pettigrew." he spoke in the emotionless haze of the truth serum.
"Are you a death-eater?" Asked Dumbledore, his anger at the man starting to leak a little into his voice.
"Yes."
"Were you the Potters secret keeper?"
"Yes." The court started muttering loudly at that proclamation.
Dumbledore called for silence before asking his next question, "Did you give their location to Lord Voldemort?" Dumbledore ignored the shudders that went through some in the court.
"Yes."
That alone was enough to get him life in Azkaban, but Dumbledore's next question sealed his fate, "Did you murder twelve muggles and frame Sirius Black not only for that crime but the betrayal of the Potters as well?"
"Yes."
Dumbledore's call of a vote was pointless as the entire Wizengamot was on its feet and demanding he be introduced to a Dementor immediately, the auror's who brought him in were quick to comply.
After the Wizengamot had broken up the group of five met back up again, after Dumbledore had lead them to a private room , and Harry had thrown up some privacy wards, he spoke, "Given what has transpired today, I feel it is probably best if we postpone our talk until tomorrow." He got four nods of approval and the group disbanded.
Sirius and Remus went back to Godric's Hollow, Harry suspected they were going to find the nearest pub and not leave it till the early hours of the morning.
Dumbledore decided to accompany Harry and Ginny back to the Burrow, they figured that what had transpired with the rat, and Ginny's disappearance would be better explained coming from him, then from Harry.
After Dumbledore had convinced Molly and Arthur that Harry had Sirius's and his own permission to be out of Hogwarts, the young couple disappeared up to Ginny's room which very quickly became one of the most heavily warded rooms in the country, as they spent several hours having some much needed alone time.
The fallout from Pettigrew's capture in the evening edition of the prophet wasn't as big as Harry feared, the fact that he had had Voldemorts wand on his person was kept out of the paper, but the fact that it was Harry that had found him wasn't. Harry had gotten used to the stares and whispers by now, so just took it all in his stride, thankfully for their sake his fan girls kept their distance, though he did notice Hermione giving him an odd look.
Once again Harry sat in the headmasters office with a floating Ginny via mirror beside his head, as he and Dumbledore waited for Sirius and Remus to make their way from the gates to the office. The door opened up, and Harry could tell at once that his prediction came true, they both showed signs of a heavy night's drinking.
Harry said loudly "Morning."
They both gave him a glare, Harry just smiled at them and fished two small vials out of his pocket and handed them over, they both recognised the vials contents instantly and quickly gulped them down, before thanking the smirking young wizard profusely.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he watched the marauders down the hangover potions that Harry had ready for them. "Right then, shall we resume from yesterday?"
At that everyone turned to Harry who rolled his eyes before becoming deadly serious, "Do either of you know what a Horcrux is?"
"Ah, I'll take that as a yes then." Harry commented on seeing both of their complexions become that of ghosts.
"He...he made one of those vile things?" Asked Sirius in a shaky voice.
"No Sirius." Harry shook his head, "He made six of them."
After that statement had sunk in, Harry had to quickly conjure two buckets in front of the marauders.
After the two marauders had cleaned themselves up, Harry continued with his story, "We have already destroyed two of them. One the headmaster and myself will be going to get this afternoon. One I am dealing with on my own. One you can get for us Sirius." At this said wizard blinked in shock and opened his mouth, but a quick jab in the ribs from Remus's elbow, and it was promptly shut. "The last one is going to be the hardest to get a hold of. Once all of them are destroyed I will go after Tom."
Seeing that Harry had finished, Sirius spoke "How on earth can I get one for you!"
Harry smiled at him, "Call Kreacher."
Sirius stared at Harry for a full minute before he spoke again, "Harry, erm... Kreacher's dead. He died before I went to Azkaban."
Harry didn't hear Ginny's shocked gasp, or see the puzzled looks of the three adults in the room, he was in a state of shock, his mind was replaying Kreacher's tale to him in Grimmauld Place.
Eventually Dumbledore had to fire a small stinging hex at the young mage to snap him out of his shock, the old wizard quickly found himself disarmed, bound, unconscious and dangling upside down by his ankle, whilst a shimmering red shield surrounded Harry.
Harry suppressed a snicker at the sight and let the old wizard down gently. After being enervated Dumbledore attempted to regain some of his lost dignity, but eventually just gave up and spoke over the snickers of the two marauders, "I take it from your reaction Harry, that Kreacher was alive in your timeline?"
Harry nodded at the headmaster, "Yeah." Harry turned to look at Sirius, "What happened to Regulus?"
Whatever question Sirius was expecting that wasn't it, "He... he was killed in an auror raid, about eleven or twelve years ago."
Harry frowned in thought and remained silent for several minutes, he looked across to the headmaster, "I need to get the report from that raid from the ministry, we are missing something here."
Dumbledore nodded, and before Harry could even ask, Fawkes took off from his perch and landed on Harry's shoulder before whisking him away in a ball of fire, directly to Amelia's office.
"Amelia." Harry greeted the rather startled minister.
"Harry, what can I do for you?" Amelia asked with a small hint of hidden nervousness, for Harry to come via phoenix straight to her office, this had to be important.
Harry detected the note of nervousness in her voice, "I need to see the report on the raid in which Regulus Black was killed."
The minister blinked at that request, but figured Harry had to have a good reason for asking, and pressed the runic button on her desk to call an auror.
Kingsley entered the office barely a minute later, he nodded to Harry as he walked up to the minister's desk, "You called Minister."
"Yes Kingsley, could you please retrieve the report from the raid in which Regulus Black was killed." The head auror hid his surprise well as he nodded and turned to leave.
Whilst they waited for Kingsley to return, Harry and Amelia, discussed the new training program that Harry had suggested at their last face to face meeting. Harry had introduced a full obstacle course as well as running and weights training along with hand-to-hand combat training.
Harry had also introduced magical training, to make sure that everyone's spell casting was up to scratch. It was Ron who had came up with the idea originally, it was based off the principle of a muggle shooting gallery with an element of quidditch. It consisted of a large circle with several small walls and door frames scattered around it. The target drones themselves had taken the combined effort of Hermione, George and Harry, along with a fair bit of guidance from Flitwick to create in the first time-line, this time around Harry was able to make them himself, though he did fib and say the headmaster helped him make them.
The auror's raved about the drones, as far as they were concerned there was nothing better. They were small spheres just bigger than a bludger, like bludgers they flew around on their own, but these had a target on one side, that registered when it was hit with a spell, and how close to the center that hit was, as well as what spell, to survive the constant spell impacts Harry had made the things nigh indestructible, they could even withstand a couple of killing curses before exploding, Hermione wasn't happy with him when he tested that feature out.
They enabled the trainer's to see whose accuracy needed improving and whose spell repertoire needed expanding. This tool was invaluable to the trainers, and resulted in a lot of the auror's going back to school.
What made the training even better was that the drones could return fire, the spell they used had been invented by Fred and George, it was a combination of a paint spell, a colour spell and a stinging hex. The result was a spell that stung the victim in a localised spot and left a coloured mark, the colour of which was determined by the caster.
The drones had a range of eight colours to choose from, the selection of which was determined by the difficulty level set by the instructor. The higher the difficulty the more dangerous the spells that were fired, and the faster they were fired, as well as the faster the drone moved. The highest difficulty made the drones move like a golden snitch and fire twenty killing curses a minute. Harry was the only person who could last more than 20 seconds on that level.
Amelia was just finishing telling Harry about how the new auror trainees were fairing on the target range, when Kingsley returned with the report about Regulus's death.
Harry nodded to the head auror, "Thank you Kingsley." He turned towards the Minister, "Amelia, until next time." With that Fawkes took him back to the headmasters office.
As soon as he arrived he was greeted by a rather irate Sirius Black, "YOU BROKE INTO GRINGOTTS!"
Harry's gaze never faltered as he stared at his godfather, "Yes we did. It was the only way to defeat him. And if there is no other option I will do the same again."
Dumbledore broke the silence that reigned after Harry's declaration, "Harry, may I see what the report says?"
Harry handed it over to the headmaster, whilst he finished explaining Ginny's tale to the marauders about his break into Gringotts, and the subsequent escape, "After Griphook turned on us, we jumped on the back of the guard dragon, and flew it up through the vault levels and out of the lobby."
The two of them sat there open mouthed staring at Harry, for several minutes before they regained the power of speech, it was Remus who spoke first, "Well erm, let's hope we can find a way to get it out of there without breaking in."
Harry nodded at Remus's suggestion before turning back to the headmaster, "Well Albus, anything in there that might explain the differences?"
The old wizard looked over the top of the report, "I'm not sure, it says he was killed in a auror raid on a death-eater mansion in Wiltshire, it se-"
"WAIT, Wiltshire?" Dumbledore blinked at Harry's interruption before nodding, "Where exactly in Wiltshire?" Harry asked in a forced calm voice.
Dumbledore flicked back a couple of pages, "Ah, location approximately twenty miles southwest of the city of-"
"Of Swindon." Harry finished in a quiet voice.
"Harry?" Dumbledore queried.
"That mansion wasn't discovered until about ten years from now, when the original ward caster died, it was raided a few days before we were sent back." Harry sighed, "It's where the Gift of Time was found."
The room was silent as everyone sat there thinking, a small clearing of the throat drew Harry out of his musings, "Yes Sirius?"
"What happened to Reggie?" The old dog asked in a strained voice.
Harry sighed again before looking up at him, "Tom wanted a house-elf to accompany him when he went to hide a horcrux, he was going to use it to get past the defenses. Regulus, gave Kreacher to Tom. Tom used him to get past the defenses, and then Kreacher did what his master had told him to and returned back to Regulus. Regulus nursed him back to health, and asked him what happened. A few days later, Regulus came to Kreacher and told him to take him to the cave. He gave Kreacher the order to take the Horcrux and leave him there." Harry looked into Sirius's eyes and saw the moisture in them, "Regulus gave his life to get a piece of that monster's soul, it wasn't known for seventeen years, but he died a hero."
Sirius let the tears flow as Remus gathered him up into to a brotherly embrace. Harry gave the pair a sad smile before returning his attention back to the headmaster who was looking into the distance with a frown on his face, "Albus?"
The headmaster took a few moments to think further before looking up at Harry, "How far back did you come?"
Harry frowned at the question, "Erm, around eleven years."
"No Harry, I need the exact amount."
Harry blinked, "Erm ok." Harry thought for a second, "Ten years, fifty one weeks, minus about eight hours."
Albus leaned back in his chair as he closed his eyes and steepled his fingers, "I think I know what has happened."
"Well don't keep us in suspense!" Remus clipped Sirius round the head, whilst Harry sent the man a small glare.
Dumbledore gave a small chuckle before speaking, "You told me you came back from June 14th 2002 correct?" At Harry's slightly confused nod he continued, "Ten years and 51 weeks from there takes you back to June 21st this year." Harry nodded again, "If you backtrack Ten years and 51 weeks from then... You get the 28th of June 1980. If you allow for the hour differential as well, you get late evening on the 27th." Dumbledore handed over the file to Harry, "Look at the date and time of the raid."
Harry glanced at the file and read it outloud, "22:25 27th June 1980."
Dumbledore nodded at him, "Precisely the amount of time into the past that you traveled again, something happened to the Gift of Time, most likely a magical surge of some kind, that tripped the wards and alerted the aurors to the mansions location."
Harry continued on seamlessly, "With no Regulus to come back to, Kreacher would have died in that cave." Harry closed his eyes and dropped his head in his hands, his voice was muffled but everyone still heard it, "Which means the horcrux is still in there."
Dumbledore stood up and straightened his robes out, "Well then Harry, it seems you and I have two horcruxes to retrieve today."
Harry lifted his head out of his hands and looked at the headmaster, "The one we were originally going to get together, you got yourself last time, but got yourself badly injured. As for the cave horcrux..."
Dumbledore sat back down, "What protections are around the cave?"
Harry took a deep breath and cleared his throat, "A small blood lock," Dumbledore frowned, Harry sent him a half smile, "You were disappointed with him for that as well last time. After that we have an invisible boat to find and cross the underground lake in. Then on the island in the center, there is a basin with what I can only describe as a cruciatus potion that needs to be drunk."
Harry let all of that sink in for a few moments before adding, "Oh yeah there is also the army of inferi in the lake."
Both Sirius and Remus gave an involuntary shudder at that, and the twinkle was completely gone from Albus's eyes.
A trill from Fawkes turned everyone's attention to the bird as he flapped down and landed on Harry's shoulder before bending his head down, "Catch them young one." Harry's eyes widened as he quickly conjured a glass vial as the phoenix began to cry.
Dumbledore smiled at his companion, "Thank you Fawkes." The phoenix finished crying and looked at him, and gave a deep nod.
Harry corked the vile and put it in his robes, he took a deep breath before standing, "Well then Albus shall we?" "Fawkes would you like to accompany us?" Fawkes gave a squawk of indignation before settling on Albus's shoulder, Harry smiled at the bird "I'll take that as a yes then."
Harry had no idea what protections were around the ring in the Gaunt shack, so he asked Fawkes to take them both to the graveyard where Tom was reborn, after telling the marauders to stay put and that they would be in touch.
When they appeared Harry closed his eyes and reinforced his occlumency as the memory of Cedric's death came to the front of his mind, he pushed it down and re-buried it as deep as possible before taking a long calming breath.
Harry straightened up and opened his eyes, "Let's go." Harry's voice had such a commanding quality to it that the headmaster's body had responded before his mind could process what Harry had said.
They found the shack easily enough, and Harry promptly obliterated the wards around it. With the wards down the two wizards cautiously approached the front door. Harry reached out with his magic when they were a few steps from the door, and frowned when he sensed no other magic in the shack apart from the horcrux and the curse it carried.
"Harry?" Dumbledore asked him at his frown.
"I'm not sensing any other protections, other than the curse on the ring." Harry told him whilst closing his eyes and probing the shack further with his magic.
"Well Tom was always a little arrogant and overconfident." Albus said in light tone.
Harry snorted as he opened his eyes, "That is the understatement of the century."
The two of them made it through the the shack to the floorboards where the ring was buried, before they lifted them up Harry locked eyes with the headmaster, "Albus; I need you to swear to me now that you will not attempt to take the ring from me."
Dumbledore frowned a little, but nodded, "You have my word Harry."
Harry nodded at him, "Very well then." Harry quickly vanished the floorboards and levitated the small box that was underneath, Harry had to stifle a snicker at Tom using a purple velvet ring box to hide it in.
Harry used his magic to hold the box in the air and open it, before levitating the ring out of it, Harry made sure to keep the stone facing away from the headmaster, Harry studied the ring for several minutes before taking a deep breath and waving his wand over the ring in a complex circular pattern.
Whilst Harry was nowhere near as skilled as most curse-breakers, who could unravel a curse down to its base components before dispelling it, Harry had only learnt the simplest of curse-breaking and ward-breaking spells, relying instead on his instinctive feel for magic, and his raw power.
Under Harry's magic the deadly curse didn't last long, with the curse destroyed Harry let the ring float away from him a little before summoning his sword and slashing it down onto the ring which gave a shriek as the soul fragment died.
Harry caught the ring with his mind before it could clatter to the ground, he brought it back to his hand, and felt the powerful magic of the hallow within. He conjured a simple metal chain through the ring, and placed it around his neck, he quickly tucked the ring under his shirt when he saw the headmaster looking at it.
"Well then Albus, shall we deal with the fourth one?" Harry asked the puzzled headmaster.
"Of course Harry, but first, may I ask you why you are not putting that ring in your box?"
Harry could hear the unspoken question in Dumbledore's voice, and stared into his eyes, trying to decide whether or not to tell him the truth. After almost a minute Harry told him "Its the resurrection stone, and it won't bring back Ariana."
Dumbledore's knees gave out as he choked back a sob, Harry walked over and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, as Fawkes began singing a soothing melody, he spoke softly to the crying man, "I'm sorry for telling you like that Albus, but the last time your obsession with her and the hallows were a contributing factor in your death."
Dumbledore gave a shaky nod before wiping his eyes and blowing his nose with Harry's conjured handkerchief. "I understand Harry, and I thank you for keeping the temptation away from me." He took a deep calming breath before his grandfatherly jovial face was back on, "Shall we take care of number four then?"
Harry stared him in the eye for a moment to judge where is mind was, what Harry saw satisfied him that Dumbledore was in control of his emotions with that thought he nodded at the headmaster and grabbed his arm, before apparating them away.
They arrived on the same dark outcrop of rock that Dumbledore had taken Harry to several years before. "A pleasant spot." Harry chuckled at Dumbledore's comment, "Indeed it is. You won't object to getting a little wet?"
Before Dumbledore could answer Harry dove of the rock and into the water and started swimming towards the cave entrance, he felt Dumbledore jump in behind him. Harry made it to the steps leading to the entrance cave several minutes ahead, he subconsciously used his magic to dry himself out as he felt around with his magic for the hidden door.
Dumbledore emerged from the water with Fawkes perched on the top of his head clearly ruffled at having to swim; just as Harry had illuminated the doorway with his magic, Harry was toying with the idea of opening the door, or just removing it.
"Problem Harry?" Dumbledore asked the young mage, as he dried himself off with his wand.
"Hmm, no not a problem as such, I just can't decide whether or not to open the door, or just destroy it."
Dumbledore blinked at that, "I see, perhaps merely opening it would suffice, we don't know what removing it might do to the rest of the cave."
Harry consented that point and drew out his small combat knife that he had had Sirius buy for him, Harry spun it round in his hand and was about to prick his finger when Fawkes let out a squawk.
"Stop young one. You blood is too powerful." Harry nodded at the phoenix, "Of course, my mother's protection. Headmaster if you wouldn't mind?" Harry offered Dumbledore the knife handle first, the old wizard took it without hesitation and sliced his palm open before splattering the wall with specks of blood.
The doorway opened up to the pitch black cave that Harry remembered, Harry made his way in first, his body glowing with the pale white of a lumos charm. As Harry flung several light balls into the cave, Dumbledore remained silent, accepting Harry's casual use of insane amounts of magic as if it was nothing. " No matter what happens, do not touch the water." Harry told him in a no-nonsense tone.
"Is it in the middle?" Dumbledore asked as the pair made their way round the edge of the lake.
"Yes." Harry kept his answer brief as he was concentrating half his mind on feeling with his magic for the invisible boat. After several minutes of comfortable silence, Harry's neck twitched as his eyes locked on to something only he could see he smiled and picked up the pace. By the time Dumbledore had caught up with him, the boat was almost to the shore.
"I'm not sure if it will let both of us cross." Harry told the headmaster as the boat gently bumped into the edge of the cave.
"Hmm, you are probably correct. Fawkes, any chance of a lift?" The phoenix gave an agreeing trill, before speaking to Harry, "I will carry him across young one. Then i'm afraid I must take my leave, the darkness here is too much for me to bear for much longer."
Harry nodded at the phoenix he was having a hard time dealing with the oppressive feeling of darkness in the cave himself, "Very well Fawkes. Can you wait for us outside to take us back to Hogwarts?" The phoenix bowed his head in acknowledgment of the request before dragging Dumbledore up into the air by his collar, and flying him to the centre, Harry chuckled at Dumbledore's somewhat feminine sounding scream, as he was carried across the lake. Harry hopped into the boat and smiled as it started moving across the water, he kept his eyes glued to the center the entire trip.
Once there he found a somewhat disgruntled Dumbledore who was glaring at a spot that was evidently where Fawkes had just flamed out from. Harry chuckled at the man, "Come on Albus, let us get this over with."
Dumbledore nodded before going over to the basin, and conjuring a crystal goblet, whilst Harry fished out the vial of phoenix tears from his pocket, "I think half now, and half when you've drunk it, would be best." Dumbledore nodded and accepted the vial before downing half of it in one mouthful.
"Hmm, tastes sweet." Harry rolled his eyes at that, he looked away as Dumbledore filled the goblet with the potion, and echoing his words from the last time, "Your good health Harry." He downed the potion, and kept going back for more, only after the seventh goblet did he finally gave in and drop to his knees, Harry closed his eyes, but knew what he had to do, he picked up the goblet from where Dumbledore had dropped it, before feeding the remaining potion to him.
As soon as the basin was empty Harry grabbed the locket in one hand whilst pouring the rest of the tears down Dumbledore's throat, he waited anxiously for several moments, until Dumbledore's eyes blinked open and he gave a hacking cough, "Ugh, that potion is no health tonic."
Harry released the breath he didn't realise he had been holding and got out the bottle of water from his pocket for Dumbledore to drink. The old wizard took the bottle and gulped half of it down in one go, before taking a few sips, "Is there anything you don't carry in that pocket of yours?"
Harry laughed at his comment, "I'm sure there's a few things that could be added to it, but for now let us get out of here and destroy this thing."
"Agreed." Dumbledore said as he started to climb back to his feet, however his foot slipped on a loose stone and he stumbled, Harry was there in a flash to catch and steady him, but Dumbledore watched horror struck as the stone tumbled over the edge of the stone island. Harry felt Dumbledore's gaze on the stone but he was too late to stop it as the stone hit the water with a small splash.
Harry and Dumbledore glanced at each other before they both raised their wands, Harry recalled his light balls to float around the two of them, as the inferi started to rise from the lake.
"Fire!"
They both said it at the same time, normally they would have laughed but not now, Dumbledore conjured his fire whip and sliced through an incoming hoard whilst Harry just sent out a constant stream of fireballs in all directions. The inferi screamed as they were burned and sliced in half, yet they still came, in fact Harry was fairly certain they were being more aggressive than before.
An idea so crazy Harry knew that Ginny would kill him for even thinking it came to him as he dispatched another half dozen inferi, "COVER ME!" Harry screamed out, as he stopped his fireball stream.
Dumbledore responded to Harry's shout by creating a roaring ring of fire around the pair of them, his eyes widened in shock as the inferi still tried to force their way through it, "HARRY SOME EXPEDIENCE WOULD BE APPRECIATED!"
Dumbledore felt the ripple of magic from Harry and had to focus on keeping his ring of fire up, he almost dropped his wand in shock when he heard Harry cast a spell.
"MALEDICTIO INCENDIUM!"
The roaring flames of Fiendfyre sprang up around the pair as Dumbledore let his ring drop, he readied his wand in case Harry lost control, but from the looks of it that wasn't going to happen. Harry's body was literally crackling with magic as he waved his wand around his head in a large circle, using his will to control the flames.
Dumbledore moved closer to Harry and picked off the the handful of inferi strong enough to make it through the wall of fire creatures. When no more had come through for several seconds, Dumbledore shouted out to Harry over the roar of the flames, "I think that is all of them."
Harry slowly let the flames lower but kept the ring up, he slowed down his circles and let his control on the flames slip just a little, so he could reach out and feel around with his magic, when he felt no signs of any being dead or alive, he regained full control of his flames, and extinguished them.
When the flames died, Harry dropped to one knee and was breathing heavily as Dumbledore crouched down next to him, he was also breathing heavier then normal, Harry spoke to him in a quiet voice, "You tell Ginny about that and I'll dangle you off the astronomy tower by your beard."
Dumbledore chuckled but nodded at Harry, knowing full well that he would carry out the threat, "Very well then Harry, shall we take our leave."
Harry nodded and stood up, "Not quite yet." Harry picked up the locket from where he had dropped it when he cast the fiendfyre, drew the sword and rammed his occlumency shields to maximum, "Stand back." Harry told the headmaster over his shoulder, before hissing "Open." The locket sprung, Harry felt the soul fragment try and breach his mind, but blocked it easily he smiled a grim smile as he swung the sword down and the shrieks of agony echoed around the cave as the horcrux died.
Harry had just put the locket away in his box and was making his way over to the boat, he was just about to get his broom out, when Fawkes flamed in, "Fawkes, are you alright?"
"Yes young one, I sensed that the darkness had been vanquished so came back to aid you." Harry smiled at him, as he held out his hand to the headmaster, "Shall we Albus."
A/N - There you go, what do you think? My new job eats up a lot of my time, but I am managing to sneak in a bit of writing at work. I have no idea how long it will be to next chapter, as I won't be posting it until I have finished the chapter after, you'll understand why when I post the next one. (its a bit of a cliffy :P)
P.S - This chapter takes this story over the length of Chamber of Secrets :)