A/N: Thank you for all your reviews! Drama/Adventure it is, but I'll mention humour in the summary.

There's one contentious claim I make in this chapter, namely that Dumbledore was in the cave at least once before. In the book he says that he hasn't been. If one looks at the way he prepared Harry for their adventure, however, I find that hard to believe. He makes him promise to follow every command, as if knowing what he will have to ask of him, and he knows exactly where to go and what to do. Given Dumbledore's generally manipulative tendencies (he makes Snape kill him that very same evening, after all), and the fact that there are a lot of things he didn't tell Harry beforehand, I don't find it hard to believe that he'd lie. Even Harry seems to wonder himself ("Was this why he had been invited along – so that he could force-feed Dumbledore a potion that might cause him unendurable pain?", Hal-Blood Prince, Britisch Edition, p. 532). But that's just me. You can consider it an interpretation of canon or a slight tweaking of the facts – whatever you want.

Also: Warning for this chapter – it's depressing. Nothing graphic, but man, this one's depressing. The next one will feature Lily's point of view and will be funny again. Or funni-er, at least.

Chapter 21

"I want an explanation," Lily demanded. "Now."

This was the voice she had used to tell Lucius Malfoy that he had better get over himself or he'd be the laughingstock of Hogwarts – and he'd listened. It was the voice she'd used to threaten Barty Crouch – and he hadn't listened. She'd broken every single bone in his body.

It was the voice that had Hogwarts students running in panic and made her friends – and husband – agree to anything, anything! she might demand.

It apparently also worked with dimension travellers. They should have tried it days ago.

Neville took one good look at her face and started talking.

"Slytherin's locket is hidden in a cave by the sea. Apart from blood wards and a nasty army of Inferi, it is protected by a potion that must be drunk to the last drop – willingly. It causes… mental pain is perhaps the best description. The drinker remembers everything that went wrong in his life, every painful, traumatic moment as if he was there again, and he's completely helpless."

"A lot went wrong in Harry's life," Luna commented, entirely unhelpful. "The potion won't know what to choose. Perhaps it will become confused and show him Wrackspurts instead?"

Neville reached out and took her hand.

"I doubt that, love," he said quietly.

"So it's like a liquid boggart without any chance of protection," Sirius summarized. "And there's no chance of simply vanishing it? No way of neutralizing it without someone drinking it?"

Neville shook his head.

"Dumbledore didn't find one," he said. "Although he looked for it extensively. Dumbledore's portrait told us later that he went to the cave several times to analyse the defences and find another solution. He didn't tell Harry that, but he knew exactly what he would find and he walked into it."

He took a deep breath.

"Dumbledore took Harry there and made him force the potion down the Headmaster's throat. It must have been horrifying. And it was all for nothing, because the locket was a fake."

Neville hesitated.

"Our Albus Dumbledore died that very night," he then added, and for some reason, he was watching Severus very closely.

It was almost funny, the way all their eyes swivelled to Albus.

Who refilled his teacup and met their gazes without hesitation.

"It seems I was a different, harder man in their dimension," he explained calmly. "I had lost much more than here, of course, and was fearing for the future, but still – I can't deny a feeling of shame for my counterpart's misdeeds."

Severus put the clues together first.

"So Harry is planning to take potion himself," he said slowly. "And for the rest of you to destroy the horcrux?"

Neville shifted uneasily on his chair.

"Yes," he admitted. "It's a bloody dangerous plan, but it's the best one we have, admittedly."

"It might not be so bad," Luna said, but didn't sound entirely convinced herself. "Harry's used to his worst memories. They won't surprise him."

"That's a stupid argument," Lily said scathingly.

Luna shrugged.

"Harry is often stupid," she offered. "So the argument fits."

"No," Lily disagreed. "There must be other ways. We could share the potion, or create a magical container, or use a time turner and have one person consume it in steps…"

Neville just shook his head.

"Unfortunately, none of that will work. Harry doesn't simply trust in Professor Dumbledore's opinion, you know – the potion's been well researched. Traces of it were extracted from the Headmaster's body and analysed by Slughorn and later by Professor Snape – Snape even went out there and examined the cave and the spells around the potion carefully, since we thought Voldemort might use these sorts of protections again. Neither of them found any other way to solve the problem, and it appears to be impossible to create an antidote."

Lily opened her mouth to argue on, but Neville interrupted her.

"Harry's right. If Professor Snape, Slughorn and Albus Dumbledore himself didn't find another solution to the problem, there isn't one."

"So you're just going to let Harry drink poison?" Sirius asked, horrified.

Again, Neville shifted nervously.

"Hermione and Harry are arguing about that right now," he said. "They are our leaders. I'm going to accept their decision."

Though he didn't look happy about it.

"I'm going out there," Lily suddenly announced and stood, her chair scraping over the paved floor with a screech.

Neville shook his head.

"They wouldn't want you there," he disagreed.

"You know what?" Lily asked. "I don't care. I understand that you're used to doing things on your own, and I respect your abilities, Neville. But we're adults, too, not children that are being led around by the hand, never questioning anything. And what the two are discussing out there is a decision they have no right to make on their own. I will decide who sacrifices themselves for me. So I'm going out there."

And she fairly stormed from the office, leaving a flabbergasted Neville, a smiling Luna and a very proud Remus behind.

Not too far behind, of course, since Lily's exit had worked as a signal for all of them. It was usually that way – Lily would lose her patience, or make a decision, and they would all trudge after her ('like ducklings', Severus had said disdainfully one evening, but he too followed her gamely when she was in this mood).

Despite what her mood might dictate, Lily didn't get a chance to storm very far, though, because once again, Hermione and Harry had retreated only around a corner and were just standing in the open corridor. But this time, Hermione was not sobbing into Harry's arms. She looked, in fact, very close to committing violence against him.

Both were staring at each other intently, and both were completely ignoring the newcomers. It was in situations like this that Remus realized how close the two of them really were – it was as if they formed their own little world, into which not even Neville or Luna were allowed.

"You're the most valuable person on our team, Harry," Hermione was arguing angrily. "Even from a strategic point of view, you taking the potion would be stupid!"

"It's gotta be me," Harry did not budge an inch. There wasn't even an 'or…' involved in the discussion. It seemed that he had decided would stubbornly wait until everyone had accepted that decision.

Hermione however didn't look willing to do that.

"You and your stupid saving-people thing, Harry! You've learned nothing in all these years, have you? You're still saving girls from trolls left, right and centre! There are other ways!"

"There aren't, and you know it."

"We could kidnap Umbridge, or maybe Lockhart – they're both wastes of space, anyway. We could make them drink it, or maybe a Death Eater."

Remus and others in the group shifted uneasily at this rather immoral idea, though one glance at his wife's face showed Remus that she had considered the same option at least for a moment. He wondered if one of them should step in and interrupt the discussion, but Hermione and Harry were ignoring them completely.

"The potion has to be drunk willingly," Harry answered patiently. "Don't be stupid, Hermione."

"Well, that's what Imperius is for, isn't it?"

Harry chuckled, and looked at her with admiration.

"I always forget how bloody ruthless you are," he commented.

"I'm as ruthless as necessary," she shot back. "Please, Harry!"

But he shook his head.

"I have seen someone else drink that vile stuff, Hermione, and I can't do it. Not again. I'm much better at being the sacrifice than sacrificing others."

"And you expect me to keep feeding you poison?" She shouted. "You will force me to make you do that, when you know exactly how awful it will be for me?"

He just shrugged, and grinned tiredly.

"I'm just selfish that way," He said. "Please, Hermione. Accept this. For me."

Even Remus could hear the finality in his words – to Hermione, it had to be entirely clear that he wouldn't change his mind.

The knowledge seemed to calm her down and return awareness of their surroundings. She straightened, her eyes flicked around the room, then she concentrated on Harry again.

"If you make me do this," she said quietly. "I will never forgive you for it. You would hurt me deliberately, Harry. Is that what you want?"

Harry smiled at her sadly.

"What I want hasn't been relevant since Halloween 1981, Hermione," he said softly. "I'm sorry. But this is necessary."

Hermione's shoulders slumped. She looked about ready to give in, but Lily wouldn't have that.

"We won't accept it," she cut in. "This is our world, Harry. Our horcruxes. We have the right to decide. And if you go to that cave, we will come with you. All of you."

Harry sighed with irritation, and when he spoke, the difference in his voice told them that where Hermione's objections had been worth discussing to him, theirs could only ever be a nuisance.

"That's not an option," he said.

"Yes it is," Lily disagree. "I know that you have this strange need to protect us, Harry, but I assure you, we're all competent adults and can do our own protecting…"

"No," Harry said, no room for argument in his voice. "That's not the reason why you can't come. It's that I don't want you there, Lily. None of you."

Lily took a deep, shuddering breath. She looked as if he had slapped her. Remus wondered if he should step in, and saw the same question on Severus' and Sirius' face. But what could he possibly offer as an argument? What in his life could enable him to tell Harry Potter what to do and what not to do?

"A compromise, then," Albus said, and the sudden reality of his voice, filled with power and experience and immeasurable kindness, seemed to change the atmosphere of the room. "The others stay here. But I will accompany you."

"No," Harry said again, but even his finality was no match to Albus Dumbledore.

"Yes," He said. "I am afraid I can be quite as stubborn as you, Harry. Until now I have adhered to my promise of non-interference, and I'm quite aware that this promise was extracted as a test just as much as of necessity. But this is a situation my other self caused and was intimately involved in, and as you claim the right to drink the potion because of my actions, I claim the right to be present when you do for the same reason."

"No," Harry repeated, but his decisiveness rang thin.

Albus smiled. "Let an old man at least try to right his wrongs, Harry," he said.

"No."

"Yes, Harry," this time it was Neville who spoke, calm and steady and with a conviction born of complete loyalty. "I can understand why you don't want to take the others. But Professor Dumbledore could be of great help to us. Not taking him would be stupid."

"There is a difference between a sacrificial lamb and a Judas Goat," Luna said, making no sense whatsoever.

Still Harry was hesitating. But then Hermione lifted her eyes from the area of floor she'd been staring at intently, and met his gaze.

"Please," she whispered. "Please, Harry."

And Harry gave in.

Albus, Neville, Harry and Hermione left after lunch, with Neville looking grim, Harry acting entirely unconcerned, Albus giving them all an encouraging nod as farewell, and Hermione not meeting anybody's eyes.

Luna was left behind without explanation, and she didn't gather with the others to say goodbye.

Remus spent the first three hours of their absence with his friends, in vain trying to calm them down. Severus was fretting about how Hermione would deal with feeding Harry the potion, Sirius was angry that Neville hadn't insisted they should come with them, too, and Lily was suspiciously quiet (only the fact that even Lily couldn't trace an apparition trail hours after the fact stopped Remus from worrying that she would slip away and follow Harry and the others).

When twilight descended on the hills around Hogwarts, Remus gave his friends' peace of mind up as a lost cause and went in search for Luna.

He found her on top of the astronomy tower. It was very cold up here, even warming charms only taking the edge off the icy gusts of wind, but the slight girl didn't even seem to notice. Her hair was whipping around her head, her cloak billowing behind her, making her look like one of Tennyson's romantic heroines, but all her attention was focused on the gates of Hogwarts, just visible from up here, where her friends would apparate when they returned.

"Why didn't you go with them, Luna?" He asked, knowing her well enough by now not to start with small talk and work his way up to the real questions.

She started, as if for once she hadn't bee aware of his presence, but she didn't take her eyes off the gates.

"They don't want me hurt," she said quietly, her words nearly drowned by the wind. "Watching what Harry will have to do will hurt terribly, and I would never forget it. They don't want that."

"But it will hurt the others, too," Remus objected, thinking of Hermione's hopeless face. "Is it because you're the youngest?"

"It's because I'm better at looking innocent then the rest of us," she said lightly. "They couldn't protect all the others, so they try to protect me. Saving someone is far more important to them than another wand, so I let them."

Remus thought he understood this, understood it and Luna in his head and his heart now, but as always, her words opened up more questions than it gave answers.

"Why," he therefore asked, painfully aware of his own helplessness but knowing that the question was important, was the key to understanding the four and to helping them. "I get why you've been telling me these stories, Luna, and I'm thankful for it. You want me to understand you, all of you, but I don't. I feel like I'm missing something here, something at the very heart of you four, and I'm afraid I will fail you and not get it in time."

For the first time, Luna turned her eyes away from the gates and towards him.

"You will," she said calmly and with utter conviction. "Perhaps not you yourself, Remus – I think Lily will make the final step, but you will understand. Trust the Lachesis to steer you right."

"But why?" Remus repeated helplessly. "Hermione and Harry – they're so broken. They seem to constantly worry for each other, and it's different than with you and Neville. Why? What happened to them?"

Luna stared quietly into the night, and for once her eyes were as old and knowing as those of the other three.

"Once upon a time," she began in her usual sing-song voice. "There was a prince who owned a great, great treasure. One day, that treasure, the two parts that made him a Golden Trio, was stolen from him by a Great snake, and he…"

She paused, took a deep, shuddering breath, then suddenly shook her head with enough force that white-blonde hair whipped around her face, obscuring it.

"That won't work," she whispered to herself. A long silence followed, and Remus could feel a change in the air.

"Harry, Hermione and Ron had been on the run for three months," she then said, and her voice was so different, bare of expression, flat, broken, that Remus could only stare at her in surprise. "They were badly shaken by Ginny's death, and by what happened at the wedding. They'd found the locket, but they had no idea how to go on. And then, they were caught. Hermione and Ron managed to lead them away from Harry, but the two of them couldn't escape and were taken to Malfoy Manor. They were kept in a cell next to mine, for three weeks. I never saw them, but I heard the screams, and I…"

Again she broke off and shuddered, and tightened her arms around herself in search for comfort.

"Harry tried everything to find them, but he couldn't. And so he snuck into Hogwarts, where Professor Snape was now Headmaster, still pretending to spy for Voldemort while trying to keep the students as safe as possible. He did his best, but that wasn't much.

"Anyway, Harry confronted him and demanded Felix felicis, thinking that with the luck potion he'd have a chance to find them. He found out that Professor Snape was still loyal to Dumbledore's side and got the potion, along with a warning not to take too much."

A deep breath, another shake of her head.

"But of course he didn't listen," she whispered. "He took the potion day and night, for three weeks, and he went mad over it. He searched and searched, not sleeping, not eating, not caring for his own life at all. In the end he killed Lucius Malfoy, and found them, and me, but Ron was dead and Hermione was… broken. That was Harry's last great loss, and he never really recovered from that. He doesn't consider his life valuable, apart from its use for others. He has nothing to look forward to. He's like the Fisher King, just counting the days till he can die."

She fell silent, and abruptly, Remus was aware of the wind again, howling around him. He welcomed its force, numb as he was inside and outside.

So many parts of this story were unbelievable – three teenagers on the run, on their own, Severus as Headmaster of Hogwarts, deceiving Voldemort himself, Lucius being killed by Harry, and Hermione… broken…

But as Remus' mind cleared slowly from the images that had bombarded him, he found himself strangely accepting, as if he had suspected this or something like it all along. Deep down, he wasn't really surprised and only slightly overwhelmed, and as he watched Luna return her attention to the gates of Hogwarts, he realized that her earlier stories had laid the groundwork for this, had planted into him an unconscious understanding before understanding so to speak.

In his mind, the kaleidoscope of puzzle pieces shifted, re-assembled and offered him a new view of the four travellers that were now no longer strangers.

And for the first time he didn't feel irritation at the sight of her, or pity, or confusion, but awe.

"Why did you tell the story this way?" He asked, because any other question needed time, needed thoughts.

She looked up at him with those large, blue eyes that were full of the things she'd seen and understood, full of things she remembered and could never tell.

"Fairy tales, stories, prophecies, they make sense of things. They put them in a right order, first this, then that, the Queen dies and then the King dies of grief. They give a reason. But some things don't make sense, and pretending they do is lying. I don't lie."

Again her gaze shifted away from him, travelled across the grounds of Hogwarts and found the place where they would return, as if her eyes could make it happen, as if her silent vigil could make a difference.

And who knew? Remus thought. Perhaps the girl with the heart of vision could change reality just as she had changed him.

Remus flicked his wand to place warming charms on them both, then stepped behind her to shield her back from the cold.

"I'll wait with you," he said quietly into the darkness. "As long as it takes, Luna."

"I know, Professor," she answered calmly. "You've always tried to protect me. It's not your fault that it never works."

It was in deep darkness, close to midnight, that the travellers returned.

Albus looked old and drawn, a horror in his eyes Remus couldn't name.

Neville's face was like that of a stone, and no one found the courage to talk to him.

Hermione was crying, her face blotchy, her eyes streaming with tears. She was not even trying to hide them.

And Harry was unconscious, lying on a floating stretcher, so still and so pale, as if he would never move again.

A/N: Luna is alluding all over the place in this chapter:

Judas Goat = a practice in slaughterhouses that is, by now, mostly extinct: A goat would be trained to lead sheep and other animals into the slaughterhouse. Since the goat would be spared, it wasn't afraid and the other animals would follow it without fuss, not suspecting that they would be killed. The sacrificial lamb refers, of course, to Christ.

one of Tennyson's romantic heroines = e.g. the "Lady of Shalott" (an allusion in the explanation of allusions, I'm at top form today ;-))

Lachesis = Second of the Moirai or fates. She's the apportioner of the thread of life and in some accounts determines a person's destiny.

The Fisher King = The Grail King who is badly wounded and only awaiting a Chosen Hero that will take over the guardianship of the grail. The Fisher King expects to die once this is done, but is, in fact, healed by the hero's question.

"The Queen dies and then the King dies of grief" = this is an inversion of E.M. Forster's definition of 'plot' from his brilliant lectures on "Aspects of the Novel"

The next chapter should take a few days and will be told from Lily's point of view.

Review, please!