Harry made it to his Transfiguration class just in the nick of time. What he forgot to bring was his essay due that day.
Harry's face felt like it was on fire as Clark berated him for his forgetfulness, making many unfair accusations against Gryffindors in general, then taking away twenty house points.
It could've been worse, but Harry had to endure the glares of his classmates all through the lesson. By now the Gryffindors all knew that if they forgot to do an assignment, it was better just not to show up for class. Clark never said anything if Slytherins made mistakes, but if a Gryffindor did, well, all hell broke loose.
He was feeling quite depressed as he slipped into the seat next to Leila in the Great Hall for lunch. She looked up. "Hi, Harry," Leila said, though her mouth was full of mashed potatoes.
"Hey," he said dejectedly.
"What's the matter?"
"I got to class on time, but Clark took twenty points away because I forgot my essay, and she assigned me extra homework!"
"I'm sorry," she said sympathetically. "It was your fault, though."
"Sirius's fault," he corrected. "I didn't know he was going to take me all the ways to Hogsmeade."
"You went to Hogsmeade?" Jeremy suddenly said from across the table. "How?"
"Sirius took me," Harry explained. "Keep it down!"
Jeremy lowered his voice. "Cool. Did you go to the Hog's Head?"
Harry started to reply, but Leila cut in. "Yeah, and Harry got drunk on Firewhisky!"
"Are you serious? Ohhhh… that's why you slept in this morning, Harry."
Harry glared at his sister. "You just had to tell him, didn't you?"
"And he had a whopper hangover this morning," Leila continued, ignoring him.
"Cool!" Jeremy said, grinning and looking as if he'd have done anything for a chance to sneak off to Hogsmeade and drink Firewhisky in the middle of the night. "So," the darker boy said, leaning closer and lowering his voice. "Have you thought about a way to get back at Ron yet?"
Harry smacked his head. "I completely forgot! Too much else going on, I suppose."
Jeremy looked disappointed. "We've got to think of something, mate."
"I know, I know. Listen, give me a couple days and I may have something."
Jeremy didn't look pleased, but he agreed.
As soon as Defence Against the Dark Arts class let out, Harry hurried to the Owlery to send a note to Fred and George. His short letter explained his need to get back at Ron for the Love Potions, and beseeched the twins to send him any good ideas they had for pranks. The reply was almost immediate.
We'd love to help you get revenge on Ickle-Ronnikins. That has been our fondest dream and most precious hope…
Cut the crap, George, Fred wrote. Just tell him what to do.
We'll be sending you a package by owl full of, uh, goodies, George scrawled. Some of our own inventions are in there. We'll include instructions for the…er, items.
It will be quite a large package, Fred continued. We won't send it with the morning post; we'll borrow Percy's owl instead. The owl should arrive tomorrow night around eight, so make sure you're in a place where no one important sees the package and gets suspicious, A.K.A., don't go hanging around Filch or McGonagall tomorrow night…
And it's all free of charge, George cut in. As long as you promise to send us a full written report of what you did and how Ron reacted. Anytime you need our help, just holler!
Harry grinned and tucked the letter away into a safe place. Tomorrow night, the fun would begin.
Eight o'clock found Harry ascending the stairs to the Owlery again. He had decided that the tower would be the best place to pick up the package; if he waited in the dorm or the Common Room, Ron might be there and recognize the owl that was sending Harry the box.
Only a few minutes later, the brown screech owl soared into the Owlery. "Hey, Hermes," Harry said softly. The owl dropped her package, then hooted and gave Harry a disdainful look before soaring back into the evening.
The box she had left was large, and Harry couldn't help feeling excited. What kind of evil prank devices had the twins thought up in this world? He wanted to rip into the box right now, but knew that someone could walk in any minute. So he restrained himself, and carrying the box carefully, headed down the stairs.
The Owlery was located at the top of the West Tower; the entrance to the stairway below was at the end of a long corridor that looped around the seventh floor and connected with the Gryffindor Portrait Hole. Harry hurried down the steps, lugging the box along. He was halfway to the Common Room when he heard someone running in his direction. Harry would've hidden—if he hadn't suddenly ran smack into Leila.
"What are you doing here?" he exclaimed as he picked himself off the floor. Harry had taken the blunt of the fall, partly because Leila had landed on top of him, and partly because he'd been trying desperately not to hurt the package. Only Merlin knew what Fred and George could have put in there.
"Nothing!" she said unconvincingly. "What are you doing at the Owlry?"
"Nothing," Harry replied back.
She looked him over suspiciously, her eyes falling upon the box Harry was holding defensively.
"Whatever's in that box, I hope it's not illegal," Leila said, her lips pursed.
"Why?"
"'Cause Filch is headed this way, idiot! Why do you think I was running?"
"Why were you running from Filch?" Harry asked, frowning. Then what she'd said registered. "He is? Now?"
"Yeah. He's right around that corner. What's in the box, anyway…"
But Harry had seized her arm and was dragging her down the corridor.
"Harry!" Leila gasped, trying to keep up. "You're headed right toward him!"
Harry stopped in front of a long expanse of blank wall and began to pace.
Leila looked completely nonplussed. "Holy Mother of Merlin… Have you gone mad? Filch will be here any moment!"
Harry ignored her and concentrated on the task at hand. A second later, door had appeared in the wall.
"Wicked!" Leila said, awestruck, but Harry grabbed her and pulled her in.
Harry was pleased to find that he'd ended up in the same place as he had when he'd been trying to hide his Potions book. The room was as high as a cathedral, with large windows on either side. A city of junk, boxes, furniture, and other items rose above them.
"Where are we?" Leila asked in a whisper.
"The Room of Requirement," Harry explained. "Come on, let's go this way."
He led the way down the centre aisle. "It's a room that becomes whatever you need," he continued as they walked. "All you have to do is walk back and forth in front of it three times and think really hard about what you need. I discovered it in my fifth year when my friends and I formed the DA."
"Anything you need?" Leila asked, looking around at the piles of broken furniture, books covered in graffiti, banned joke items, and sinister weapons.
Harry nodded. "In my sixth year, it became a room to hide my Potions book. That's where I got the idea. We can hide the joke stuff here until it's safe to smuggle it back into the dorm. Ah, here we are."
He stopped in front of the large cupboard with the blistered surface, and pulled the door open.
"Eww," Leila said, wrinkling her nose as she caught a glimpse of the five-legged skeleton, but Harry was only half listening. He shoved the box inside and closed the doors again.
"Now no one will be able to find it," he said with a satisfied smile. "Let's get out of here."
"I want to look around," Leila protested.
"The stuff in here could be dangerous," Harry said. "OK, most of it's dangerous," he clarified, looking warily at some bottles filled with blood-red liquid, a stuffed bear's head that was snapping viciously at him, and a couple Fanged Frisbees.
"But Harry…"
"No! We're leaving!"
"Filch is still out there," Leila pointed out, and Harry's hand immediately went to the inside pocket of his robe. With a sinking feeling, he realized that he'd left the Marauders' Map in the dormitory.
"We've got to wait for Filch to leave anyway," Leila said slyly. "A little peek wouldn't hurt anything, would it?"
"It's dangerous! I'm going back to wait by the door."
"Fine, then! Be a prat!" Leila shouted. "You're stupid, that's what. You'll take risks with Sirius, but not when I'm around!"
Harry turned on his heel and marched away, trying to ignore her raging. Suddenly something caught his eye…something silvery and white…
"Loathsome, fowl, evil, stuck-up git!" Leila continued. "Mean, despicable, arrogant… Bloody hell, Harry, I'm yelling at you! At least listen to me while I'm yelling at you!"
But Harry hardly heard her. He was staring, open-mouthed, at an old, tarnished tiara.
"Leila, do you see what I see?" he asked quietly.
She turned, and looked. And her mouth almost hit the floor. "Harry… is that… Is that what I think it is?"
Harry nodded. "I think we've just found another Horcrux."
A half hour later, Moody, McGonagall, Sirius, Harry, and Leila were all crowded around the tiara. Moody's wand was out, and he was performing the necessary diagnostic spells.
"Is it a Horcrux?" Leila asked eagerly. She had stayed in the Room of Requirement to make sure that when Harry arrived back with the Order members, the door would still be there.
Moody nodded. "I believe so. The diagnostics are show it's covered with dark magic."
But Sirius's eyes had narrowed. He was eying Leila suspiciously. "How'd you know about the Horcruxes?"
Leila and Harry immediately went red. "I…er…Well, you see…" Leila stumbled. Harry looked frantically at McGonagall and Moody, begging them with his eyes to intervene. She was the first to know! I'm sorry! Help me!
McGonagall coughed. "I'm sure it's only natural for Harry to confide in his sister, Sirius," she said quickly.
"Leila's trustworthy, so frankly, I'm not concerned that she knows of Order business," Moody growled.
Sirius still looked unconvinced, but fortunately, he let it go. "So, how're we going to get it to Regulus?" he asked.
"I'll levitate it into a metal box," Moody explained. "I don't think it's dangerous to touch, but we can't be too sure."
Moody fumbled around in his coat for a moment before extracting a box. He set about the task with McGonagall watching carefully. "What I don't understand," she finally said, "is why the Horcrux is here, of all places! I doubt even Voldemort knew of this room. I certainly didn't know, and to my knowledge, none of the other staff know either. It's not exactly the ideal place to hide a bit of one's soul, is it? Not up to his usual standards."
"Someone must have moved the Horcrux here," Harry said quietly.
She frowned. "Yes, that is the only solution that makes sense, but who?"
He shrugged. At that moment, Moody grunted. "I've found something else," he informed them, stowing the boxed Horcrux safely away in his pocket and holding up a scrap of paper. "This was beneath the Horcrux."
Harry groaned. "Not another note…"
"Please, read it, Alastor," McGonagall invited.
To Whom It May Concern:
Please immediately destroy the tiara to which this letter refers. The tiara is a dark object that can cause great harm if left intact. (Sirius snorted. "Dark object, indeed…") I know what it is, and I know what it can do, but I do not know how to destroy it, or I would have done the task myself.
I have brought the Horcrux to Hogwarts, because it was the only place I ever called home, and here resides the only man the Dark Lord ever feared. I pray that it will be discovered by the right person, and the task completed.
I know that I will die soon, but I do not fear death, even at the cruel hands of my husband and his so-called friends. They will be coming for me soon, and I shall await my fate with my head held high. I die satisfied, because I know that my life has not been in vain. To long I have lived in the shadows, listening to the Pureblood lies, and bowing to the Dark Lord's every whim. But I serve him no longer. Someday, someone will arise to defeat the Dark Lord, and hopefully my actions have smoothed their path a little. My only wish that one day my only son will make the same decision I have made, and at the crossroads of his life, he will take the path to the Light.
A.Y.
They stood in silence, contemplating the letter. "We have a few clues as to who she is," said Moody, scrutinizing the parchment. "A wife of someone who served Voldemort, probably Pureblooded, has one son, initials, A.Y."
"A.Y. may not be her real initials, though," McGonagall sighed. "'Y' may have stood for her maiden name."
"Do you think her husband was a Death Eater?" Harry asked.
"Most likely," Moody said.
"But if not," Sirius cut in, "there are hundreds of possibilities. There are so many Purebloods in England, most of which are loyal to Voldemort, that it'd be impossible to track one with the initials A.Y. down. Especially one who lived over sixteen years ago."
"How d'you know she wrote this note years ago?" Leila asked. "It could've been recently."
"She mentioned Dumbledore," Sirius said simply. "I can only guess that this took place before Voldemort fell."
"At least we've found the Horcrux for this one," McGonagall said fairly.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Like the fact that we are in possession of the Horcrux will stop you, or my mum, or Felicia from searching for A.Y."
McGonagall's eyebrows shot up. "It never hurts to know," she said defensively.
"Curiosity killed the cat, Professor," Harry muttered, than realised what he'd said. McGonagall fixed him with one of her coldest glares that made a Dementor look positively cheerful, Sirius and Leila doubled over in laughter, and Moody cleared his throat several times.
"Sorry…didn't mean it that way…" Harry sputtered, trying to suppress his own laughs. He suddenly wondered, albeit strangely, if Sirius had ever chased McGonagall while they were in their Animagus forms. This made him want to laugh even more, so he shoved it into the back of his mind and made a mental note to tell Leila later—she'd think it was funny.
Author's Note: You won't believe me, but I swear to God, I wrote this chapter a week before Deathly Hallows came out. Promise. I thought about rewriting the chapter so the Horcrux was hidden somewhere else, but I already had the backstory of how the Horcrux got there planned. So why fix what isn't broken?