Chapter Twenty Seven Horcrux's and Prophesy's

Harry, Swiftdeath, and Joshua Platt made it back to the Chamber of Secrets with no problems. Harry bid them goodbye and they left via Portkey, taking the Horcrux and Portkey beacon with them. Just to be sure, Harry checked the chamber for any trace that might have been left behind. He found nothing and mirror called Sirius. "Hey Padfoot, you can come back anytime now. We got it pretty easily." He said.

"That's great news. When did they say they will find the next one?" asked Sirius.

"The next new moon is on the thirtieth of this month, so a few days after that. It was Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem if you can believe it." Said Harry.

"Really? That's amazing! They're going to give it back to you after they remove the Horcrux, right? What are you going to do with it?" asked Sirius.

"Don't know. I might donate it to Hogwarts or just give it to Luna. We'll have to see how the year goes. I don't want to do anything until after Tommy boy is dealt with. I wonder how he found it? Wasn't it lost since the time of the founders?" asked Harry.

"I think so, Remus would know for sure. Tommy was a powerful wizard and disappeared from society for a few years, or so we have found out so far. Who knows what he did during that time, we'll probably never know. I think I'm going to try your gift and go to Hogsmeade before I return to the chamber. Want to come?" asked Sirius.

"I better not. Well, OK, I'll join you. See you at the Three Broomsticks in an hour?" replied Harry, changing his mind several times.

"Good pup. I'll be the handsome one in the corner. Are you going as Sam Underhill?" asked Sirius.

"No, I'm going to try another persona. I'll answer to Gary and you'll be Bob." Said Harry.

"Bob? I want to be Reginald Worthigton the third."

Sirius answered petulantly.

"Nope, you're Bob. As in Bob's your uncle." Said Harry.

"Ha! Ok , I'll be Bob. I'll have to create the proper disguise. Should I be blond? Yup, I'll ne blond. I hear they have more fun." Said Sirius.

"Maybe be a brunette then. You have too much fun as it is, you need to save some for the rest of us." Retorted Harry.

"Nope, I'm going to be blond. See you soon." Sirius said, and the mirror cut off.

When Harry got to the Three Broomsticks, Sirius wasn't in the corner like he said. He was at the bar chatting up Rosmerta, the barmaid. Sirius was in fact blond and was dressed like a Pureblood in Slytherin green. This would work because Harry was in the same persona he used in Borgin & Burkes, and the two of them looked like they could be related. Harry walked up to the bar and joined the conversation. "…the ghoul stole the cauldron!" finished Sirius.

Rosmerta laughed and Harry wondered what the joke was that ended in that odd punchline. "Hello cousin Bob." Harry drawled in his most snooty voice.

"Cousin Gary! Good of you to come. This lovely lady is Rosmerta. Rosmerta my dear, this is my cousin Gary," Sirius said, slapping Harry on the shoulder.

"Hello cousin Gary." Rosmerta said with a smile on her face. "Can I get you anything?"

"He'll have a Butter Beer, and I'll have another Firewhisky. He's paying so make it the good stuff." Sirius said, cutting off Harry's reply. Rosmerta poured the drinks and Harry and Sirius found a table in a quiet corner. "So pup, how do I look?"

"Like an uglier version of me. The disguise seems to be going well." Answered Harry.

"Hey! You're just jealous of my perfection. It shines through, even under a glamour. It's working good so far, I might even get lucky tonight." Sirius said, taking a sip of his Firewhisky. Steam escaped his ears and he said "Nice." They talked for a few hours and left back to the chamber. Sirius was alone.

Over the next few weeks Harry got back into his routine. Luna stayed in his bed every weekend and Harry was enjoying her company. Harry still attended most of his Charms, Transfiguration and Runes classes. He actually attended some of the more advanced Rune classes too. He attended just a few of his Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures classes and was still skipping Potions. Defense against the Dark Arts classes had resumed with retired Auror who was almost as ancient as Dumbledore. All he did was have the students read from the book. Harry skipped this class and trained with Sirius or Remus in the chamber during the time he would normally be in his regular classes, learning more than what he would be able to in a regular class. He didn't want to use the Time Turner too much because he aged with its use.

He had successfully completed his rune stone mapping project of the Black Lake. Harry had evenly spread stones all over the lake that would detect life, being able to distinguish between human, Mermish and fish. The Squid also showed up differently, so did the Grindylow's. Harry was surprised with how many Grindylow's there were in the lake. The stones worked in two ways. The first was by using another stone to find the highest concentration of a particular form of life and the second was by showing up on a map Harry created that showed what was by each stone. Harry spent many hours exploring the lake with the twins who enjoyed helping Harry train. They also used this time to try out their inventions. Neville sometime joined them but spent most of his time exploring the underwater vegetation. They usually did this on the weekend and entered the lake on the far side to keep their training hidden. All of them loved the underwater broom and called it the Nautilus. Neville even liked it because if he fell off he just floated away.

Time went on and the new moon had just passed and Harry received a note from Barkaxe a few days later to meet in his office right away. Harry arrived the same day and found himself being led, not to Barkaxe's office, but to Ragnok's. Barkaxe, Ragnok, Swiftdeath and a goblin Harry didn't recognize were already in the office. Harry waited until he invited to sit and didn't say anything until asked to. After a moment Ragnok noticed him and told him to sit. "We have discovered a problem with the last Horcrux. It was in one of our vaults."

Harry had to think about this. He said, "Does this mean that we can't get to it?"

"Not at all Mr. Potter." Said Barkaxe. "All our vault contracts have a clause that states that certain objects, including anything involving soul magic is forbidden from being stored in a vault, unless given prior permission. By storing a Horcrux in the vault, the… client has forfeited the object and must clear the vault in question in thirty days. If the… client doesn't empty said vault in the given time, it will be confiscated by Gringotts. Unfortunately the owner of the vault is serving a life sentence in Azkaban and won't be able to clear out the vault in time." All the Goblins had a tooth filled grin at this. "It is a shame that we have to do this." Harry didn't think it would too much of an imposition on the Goblins. "We already have the Horcrux in our possession."

"What is it?" asked Harry.

"Helga Hufflepuff's cup. As per the contract it will be returned to you after it has been cleansed. Since we discovered it in one of our vaults, a clear violation of our contracts, we will gift it you and give you one percent of the total value of what is in the vault. It will have to be after the thirty days have passed." Said Barkaxe.

Ragnok spoke up at this time. "It is our way of saying thank you, for bringing this abomination in our realm to light. We are conducting a search of all our vaults to search for other forbidden items as we speak. We have not done this in centuries so it is long overdue."

"Will this cause any problems for Gringotts?" asked Harry nervously.

"We will abide by all contracts and treaties. If there are any problems, they won't be on our part. We have already searched your vaults and found nothing to invalidate your vault contract with us, just so you know." Said Ragnok.

"That's good." Harry gulped out. "Will you still be able to search for the next Horcrux if you are searching all the vaults?"

Barkaxe answered, "It will be tight but we will get it done. Do not worry Mr. Potter. You will have to sign a new contract though. We will do that later in my office."

"Sure, no problem. Was there another reason we are having this meeting in the director's office instead of yours" asked Harry.

Ragnok answered him, "Yes there is. With the discovery of the latest Horcrux, there are only two more left before Tom Riddle is mortal once more. We want to ask you to keep us informed to your progress in his defeat. The fate of Tom Riddle is of great concern to the Nation."

Harry knew that this was an order and not a request. He had no problem keeping the goblins informed and said, "I would be happy to. So far I believe that when the Horcrux's are destroyed that he will simply die finally. Is there a way to tell if he is really gone?"

Swiftdeath answered, "He has never had a vault with Gringotts, so we won't be able to verify his passing. I believe that with the destruction of his original body, the verification process we use would have already shown him as dead. There is no way to tell though."

"OK. Is there any other way?" asked Harry.

Barkaxe answered this time. "The Nation has no way, but the Wizarding world might. The Department of Mysteries would be your best chance."

This had reminded Harry about the Unspeakable that approached him after his trial. He had ignored the request for a meeting so far, but maybe it was time to go. He would ask Sirius and Remus when he got back. "I'll look into it. Thank you for the advice, and not chagrining me for it." Ragnok laughed and Barkaxe looked a little nervous. Harry hoped he didn't get him in trouble.

Ragnok spoke after his laughing ended. "You may go now Mr. Potter. Follow Barkaxe to his office to finish your business." There was no ambiguity in this statement

Harry left the office, following Barkaxe, but before he walked through the door he said. "You might want to start your search with the Malfoy vaults."

When Harry got back to the chamber, he was glad that Sirius and Remus were both there. "Sirius, guess what?"

"What?" Sirius answered back.

"The next Horcrux was in one of the Gringotts vaults. They already have it and are going to close the vault. It was Hufflepuff's cup, and I get one percent of the value of the vault in a month." Harry said excitedly.

"'Really? Wow! That's great?" asked Sirius.

Remus asked, "Whose vault was it in?"

"I don't know. The goblins wouldn't say and I didn't want to ask. The meeting was in Ragnok's office and I didn't want to pry." Answered Harry.

"Ragnok, really. It must have been a big deal." Said Remus.

"Yeah it was. They are now searching all the vaults looking for things that violate the vault contracts. They told me that the Potter vaults are clear."

"That will cause a stir in the Ministry. I better go check the Black Vaults before they get to them. I bet my loving family has something that would violate the contract." Said Sirius.

"Barkaxe mentioned that if you get permission from Gringotts, you can keep restricted items in your vault. If you go to your account manager, he might be able to get you that permission. Ragnok seems to like me, so if you say that you are my Godfather, it might help. If you need to, say that I will give up my one percent for it." Said Harry.

"You don't have to do that pup. I'm sure that if nothing else, I can move all the dark objects to a new vault, so if they confiscate that vault, it won't matter." Said Sirius.

"The one percent doesn't matter to me. I don't even know how much it could be. Offer it if you need to. Now the real reason that I wanted to talk to both of you is that we need to find a way to make sure that Tommy boy is really dead after we destroy the Horcrux's. I already asked the goblins and they don't have a way to tell. They did mention the Dept. of Mysteries. That reminded me of the Unspeakable. I was going to ignore it but maybe it would be a good idea to go now. What do you think?" asked Harry.

Remus was the first to respond, "If you are safe, it would probably be a good idea to go. The Unspeakable's were able to keep out of most of the fighting in the last war so hopefully there aren't any Voldemort supporters with them. You should probably take Ted or Andromeda Tonks with you when you go though."

"That's probably a good idea." Said Sirius. "I agree that you should go. I wish I could go with you, but…"

"Yeah. Hopefully we can find the rat and get you free soon. I'll write to Ted and ask him to go with me. Any progress with the mirrors?" asked Harry.

"As a matter of fact there is." Said Sirius. "Dear old Lucy has bribed… I mean donated to the re-election fund of Fudge to pass a piece of legislation that forbids anyone under twenty one from sitting on the Wizengamot. He hopes that if t passes that it will retroactively remove you from claiming your seat. I put Ted on it and he believes that it won't pass as long as we start on getting the vote early. The mirrors are definitely coming handy. Lucy also has a meeting in a few days with one of his underworld contacts. Hopefully we can get something on him. What do you want to do with the information when we get it?"

"I don't know. Is there anyone at the Ministry we can trust to do something about him? Or do you think he will just bribe his way out again?" asked Harry.

"Dora says that Amelia Bones is trustworthy, but you are right about Lucius bribing his way out of trouble. Maybe if we can make it public when he gets caught he won't be able to bribe his way out too easily. Now that you have controlling interest in the Prophet, it will print the truth." Remus answered.

"Dora?" Sirius said teasingly. "When have you talked to my little cousin, you cradle robber."

Remus's face reddened and he said. "Shut up you mangy mutt. I just talked to her when she came to Harry's house."

"And was anyone else at the house when she visited?" Sirius teased, piling it on Remus. Remus didn't say anything and Sirius started singing. "Mooney and Tonksie sitting in a tree, N…" He never finished the song because Remus had pulled his wand and was chasing Sirius, firing spells.

Harry let this go on for a few minutes before he stopped the chase. It took him so long because he was laughing too hard at Sirius's new look. His clothes had become blue with red stripes. His hair was green, he had elephant ears, and he had a donkey's tail sprouting out the back of his pants. "Anyt…anything else?" Harry said still chuckling.

Remus answered, "Dumbledore has had a meeting wth Umbridge and Bagman about the hostages for the second task."

"Really? What did they say." Asked Harry, interested in who would be picked.

"Dumbledore is intending to use Ron Weasley as your hostage," answered Remus.

"Is he crazy!? Never mind, we know he is. I can't believe that he thinks that I would miss Ron. I'm now torn, do I want to rescue my hostage?" said Harry.

"You could always accidently let him drown on the way back." Offered Sirius.

Remus looked disappointed. "You know that you will rescue your hostage, no matter who it is. Isn't it a good thing that it won't be Luna?"

"Yeah, wait what? Why would you say Luna is the one I would miss most?" said Harry.

"Oh come on pup. It's obvious that you are smitten. I still believe that you share a bed on the weekends?" Sirius said giving Harry a hard time.

Harry's face was red now and Remus saved him. "The other champions are going to have their date to the Yul Ball as their hostage. At least Cedric and Krum will. Umbridge insisted that a pureblood not be a hostage to a 'half breed. Dumbledore said he would look for another hostage. Umbridge tried to use the same argument with your hostage but Dumbledore insisted on Ron. I don't think that Umbridge likes the Weasley's too much because she gave in easily."

Harry thought that Cedric would be upset because he had ended it with Cho. It also meant that Hermione was going to be Krum's hostage. He would have to tell her and let her decide what she wanted to do with the information. So far he had been able to keep the Rune mapping of the lake a secret from her. He knew that she would consider it cheating, even if it wasn't forbidden in the rules. It has been hard on Neville keeping it from her. He would think about what to do. "You're right. I'll have to save the git. So what are we going to do to liven up the event?"

Remus excused himself at this point, claiming plausible deniability and Harry and Sirius got to planning. Harry would also consult the Weasley twins too. They had been in contact with Sirius and Remus but didn't know that Sirius was hiding right under their feet.

Harry and Ted Tonks had agreed to visit the Department of Mysteries late on a Saturday night to avoid too many people at the Ministry. Andromeda was going to stay in the Potter's Wizengamot office as a cover for their visit. As they approached the entrance of the Department of Mysteries, Harry was getting nervous. Ted reassured him by saying, "It will be fine. No one saw us come down here and Andromeda will cover for us upstairs."

"I know, it's just nerves." The arrived at the entrance and Harry knocked and said aloud, "Unspeakable Lassiter."

Nothing happened for a few minutes and before Harry could ask Ted a question, the door opened and a man/woman opened the door. Harry couldn't tell what the person was and when… it spoke, the voice gave nothing away either. "Lord Potter, It has been a long time since we gave you the note to visit us. We said it was urgent. Why have you delayed?"

"I…I wasn't sure if I would even come. I don't make it a habit to follow instructions given to me by a stranger, especially one so vague." Harry said, regaining some of his confidence at the end.

"Not a totally unreasonable response, but it is in your best interest to take this meeting. You are here now so we shall proceed. I am sorry but Mr. Tonks will have to stay behind." Said the Unspeakable.

Before Harry could argue, Ted said, "It's not a problem Harry. I will wait right here for you. How long do you think it will take?" This last he said to the Unspeakable.

"Our business should take no more than twenty to thirty minutes." Replied the Unspeakable.

Harry said to the Unspeakable, "I had another question for you so it might take a little longer." Turning to Ted he said. "Why don't you go up to Andromeda's office and wait for me there. I'll be fine."

The Unspeakable said, "I don't know if we will be able to answer your question Lord Potter. We are the Department of Mysteries." Harry couldn't tell if he just made a joke or was serious.

Ted said, "Right… I'll see you soon. Good luck." Ted made his way back to the elevators and Harry followed the Unspeakable into the department.

The Unspeakable spoke. "Follow me Lord Potter and don't touch anything. I have something to show you and we will discuss it in my office afterward."

Harry followed through rooms filled with strange and wondrous things. The first room he entered was filled with doors and torches with blue flames. As soon as the door he entered from closed, the whole room started spinning. Harry was dizzy and felt like he might throw up, but followed the Unspeakable when he opened another door. The next room was filled with a huge fish tank that had…were those brains? Harry avoided looking too closely and wondered what they were for. The next room he entered was full of clocks. There were every sort of clock imaginable, from pocket watches to Grandfather clocks. There was even a clock face that seemed to come off a clock tower. The most amazing thig Harry saw was a bell jar that had an egg in it. The egg hatched and a beautiful blue bird flew to the top. After it got to the top, it dropped back and became the egg again. Harry was fascinated by it and had stopped to watch the progress. The unspeakable coughed to get his attention and Harry started to follow… it again. He noticed a cabinet full of Time Turners before he left the room.

When they both stepped into the next room, the Unspeakable said. "Welcome to the Hall of Prophecies, the reason for your visit. Follow me."

The room was full of wooden shelves with glowing glass orbs, it was bigger than the eye could see. Harry followed the Unspeakable as he went down the aisles. The Unspeakable finally stopped at a shelf with many glowing orbs. Harry noticed that not all the orbs were still glowing and told himself to ask about it later. The Unspeakable pointed to a particular orb that had a tag under it that said 'S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D. Dark Lord and (?) Harry Potter' "Take it Lord Potter" the Unspekable said and Harry did. As soon as he lifted it away from the shelf, Harry heard…