I, London Man, did NOT write this story. This was written by Frosty. I am just hosting it because EF was going to cancel their account. EF allowed me to have them on my site so people can read or reread them if they wanted.
I did NOT steal this story. Also, I want to thank Frosty for letting my host their stories.
Chapter 54: The Value of Chocolate Frogs
Harry Potter and the Setting Sun
Disclaimer: HarryPotter by J.K. Rowling, the Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer and all related materials belong to their respective owners. This is non-profit fanfiction.
Warning: This story contains slash.
Chapter Fifty-Three – The Value of Chocolate Frogs
Charlie's suggestion was met with almost a full minute of silence. Harry looked to his husband to see if he could read the other vampire's reaction, but Edward was stone-faced. The other vampires were equally stoic. The wizards, however, showed a myriad of emotions across their faces. Some, like Molly Weasley, were aghast. Others, like Alastor Moody, looked like they were giving the idea some serious consideration.
"No," the headmaster said in his usual quiet manner. "We will not hunt down and murder Bellatrix Lestrange."
"Why not?" Moody demanded. "She'd do the same to any of us."
"Of that I am very much aware, Alastor. But we cannot sink to that level. It is one thing to kill an opponent in open combat when there is no other choice and another matter entirely to seek that opponent out with the express intent of killing her. We cannot sacrifice our convictions in this war. If we do, then we are no better than out enemy."
But it is evidently okay to hunt down and destroy the things that tie Lord Voldemort to this world with the intent of ensuring the creature's demise, Harry thought bitterly.
"But how is this situation any different than if you were dueling with her?" Jasper asked. "Your life has been put in mortal peril. If she will not renounce her hold on the Vow, then it seems you must pick between her life and your own."
"He makes a good point," Kingsley said. The edge he had had in his voice earlier had faded away entirely.
"I will not consent to killing her in this manner to save myself," the head of Hogwarts said with a weary shake of his head.
"Even if the headmaster was willing to consent to killing Lestrange, that would still leave Narcissa Malfoy to contend with," Arthur Weasley interjected. "She'll never renounce the Vow. She's doing this for her son. And despite the circumstances, I don't think I could have any hand in killing a woman who's just trying to save her boy. She'll hold on to the Vow until the very end because it gives her son the best chance of survival; Narcissa will never trust us to keep the boy safe."
Reluctantly, Harry had to agree with Mr. Weasley. Narcissa was acting in defense of her only child and would never release Professor Snape from his promise unless she could be absolutely certain of Draco's safety. Unless the Order could provide that . . .
Edward squeezed Harry's hand tightly under the table. The older vampire must have heard the worried thoughts within Harry's mind.
"I don't think there is any way out of this mess without someone dying. To break the Vow, Bellatrix and perhaps Narcissa will have to die and Draco will become a target for their master. If the Vow is not broken but goes unfulfilled, then Severus dies and Draco still becomes a target. If the Vow is fulfilled, then the headmaster dies," Remus Lupin recounted tiredly. "Unless anyone has any bright ideas."
"Is there a way we can fulfill the Vow without the headmaster staying dead? Muggles resuscitate people after they die all the time, don't they?" Tonks asked the assembled group.
"It is possible," Carlisle Cullen replied as he thought the suggestion over. "But it doesn't save Draco Malfoy from Voldemort." The way the vampire casually used the Dark Lord's assumed name surprised the wizards and witches in attendance as the majority of them flinched.
"I don't get how that would work," Ron said as he squinted his eyes in confusion.
"They're suggesting that Professor Snape use something so that the headmaster's heart stops beating temporarily and then give him something to bring him back," his girlfriend, Hermione Granger, explained.
"Theoretically, it could fulfill Snape's Vow without actually killing the headmaster," Remus said. "The headmaster would die, but he wouldn't remain dead. Because Severus's Vow ensures that he must help Draco Malfoy to kill the headmaster and says nothing about the headmaster remaining dead, it should work."
Harry and Albus Dumbledore were looking at each other with worried expressions. They were both thinking the same thing: it takes more than stopping the heart for someone to actually die. If the prophecy was anything to go by, then Harry was still alive even though his heart was no longer beating beating because, but its terms, he could only die by Voldemort's hands. Either the prophecy didn't refer to him—and they were both reasonably certain that it did—or death requires something more than stopping the heart. But there was no way to reveal this knowledge to the other wizards and witches present without revealing at least part of the prophecy.
"Is there a time limit being imposed on us?" Harry asked in order to change the subject. "Nothing in the Vow indicates a time limit, but Professor Snape did promise to make sure Malfoy succeeded. So I guess my question is: did Voldemort give Draco a deadline before which he must kill Professor Dumbledore?"
All eyes turned to Professor Snape. The wizard arched an eyebrow in obvious surprise at the question. "Graduation," he said emotionlessly. "Draco has been given until the end of his Hogwarts career to kill the headmaster."
But the newborn vampire knew that he was under a much faster deadline. He only had until the new year to kill Voldemort.
Edward asked the next question as soon as Harry formed it in his mind. "What if Voldemort dies before then? If Voldemort dies, then doesn't Malfoy's mission end by extension? If there's no more mission, then there isn't really anything for Professor Snape to help Malfoy succeed in, right?"
Several of the wizards exchanged thoughtful glances before Professor McGonagall responded. "Honestly, I don't know that anyone knows the answer to that. Unbreakable Vows are rarely used. This is all really just speculation and conjecture. The only way to know if any of this will work is to try it."
"Which means that we don't know what will happen," Rosalie said in a frustrated tone. "If Voldemort dies, then the brat won't have any reason to kill the headmaster. But the Vow may still bind Snape because he promised to help Malfoy succeed without stipulation. Hells bells, Dumbledore could keel over because of natural causes and then Snape could still die because neither he nor Malfoy would have been the one to kill him and Malfoy would, therefore, fail in his mission."
Several of the mortals in the room looked incredibly frustrated. Sirius ran a hand over his face, Kingsley leaned heavily against the wall to his back, and Tonks put her face in her hands let out a frustrated growl.
"This is giving me a headache," Ron said as be flopped his head back against the door frame.
"I honestly hadn't expected us to come to a solution this evening," Albus Dumbledore stated. "I have brought the matter before you all so that you might ruminate on it. Think throughout the next several days and nights and see if you can find a solution. Either we find a way around the Vow or Severus will be forced to kill me. Draco Malfoy is still young and innocent; I will not have my murder on his soul." The headmaster rose from his seat and then looked at Professor Snape. "Severus, I will speak to you in the drawing room. The rest of you, I shall bid you good evening."
The meeting broke up at that point. The headmaster and the potions professor left the room and went upstairs. Kingsley and Tonks said their goodbyes to everyone, telling Molly Weasley that they couldn't stay for dinner because of work at the Ministry. The Weasley matriarch excused herself to go downstairs to put the finishing touches on dinner.
Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all shot Harry hopeful looks before backing out of the room. It was clear that they wanted him to follow.
"Hey Sirius," the vampire said softly, "do you mind if I catch up with you in a bit?"
Sirius looked momentarily disappointed, but nodded his head up and down after he followed Harry's gaze to his former housemates. "Sure thing. It will give me an opportunity to have a chat with your husband."
Harry snickered and Emmett burst out laughing at the idea of the animagus giving Edward a stern talking to about how the vampire should treat his godson. The young vampire leaned over, gave his husband a kiss and a quick 'good luck,' and then left the room in pursuit of his old friends. Charlie Weasley started to say something as Harry passed by, but stopped before he could get anything out.
Finding Ron, Hermione, and Ginny wasn't very difficult; Harry just had to follow their scents. It was weird that they didn't wait, but perhaps they knew the vampire could track them through the house easily enough. They only had two places they could go: upstairs or downstairs. And because Molly Weasley had gone downstairs to finish dinner, that only left up.
Slowly making his way up the stairs, Harry couldn't help but let his eyes wander up to the shrunken heads of house elves that were mounted on the wall. There were three doors off of the first landing and Harry could smell the headmaster's trail and a powerful chemical scent leading to one of the doors. The scent of Harry's three old friends continued upwards.
The two redheads and the bushy-haired brunette were all waiting on the second landing for the vampire.
"Hello," Harry greeted them.
"Uh, hiya, mate," Ron said a bit awkwardly. "Let's go in my room so that we can talk."
The redhead led Harry through one of the three doors on the second floor. Beyond was a bedroom with a pair of twin beds and several posters for the Chudley Cannons. Ron immediately walked over to one of the beds and flopped himself down. Hermione and Ginny sat quietly on the other bed in the room.
"When you said that this is your room, what exactly did you mean?" the vampire questioned. "School is in session and you live at the Burrow during the summers, right?"
"Yeah," Ron said. "But we stayed here after fourth year and some weekends since then. This is the room that Sirius fixed up for us."
"Us?"
"You and me," Ron said sullenly.
"Oh."
There was an awkward silence between the four before Ginny asked her first question. "Is that vampire really your husband?" she asked in an almost demanding way.
"Yes. Edward and I were married during the summer," Harry answered.
The vampire could see Ginny's lips tighten as she tried very hard to not frown. Instead, she just looked like she was sucking on a particularly sour piece of candy.
"It figures that I'd run away and end up in a town populated by vampires and shapeshifters," Harry tried to joke.
Ron laughed at Harry's statement. What Hermione said in response, however, was the real shocker.
"I'm glad," she said in a trembling voice. "I'm glad that you found someone who makes you happy. That you found love."
The emotion in her voice was so powerful that Harry briefly thought that it would cause is own eyes to water. But, of course, vampires couldn't cry.
"Thanks, Hermione. That means a lot. And he does make me happy. Happier than I ever thought possible."
"I didn't even know you were, you know," Ron said awkwardly.
Both Harry and Hermione just stared at the Weasley boy for a few seconds before they began to laugh at his statement. Ron joined in after a moment. Ginny watched the three laughing teenagers in horror before storming out of the room.
"Don't mind her, she's just having hard time letting go of her crush," Ron explained as he watched his sister flee.
"She's not the only one," Hermione muttered.
Harry wanted to ask the girl what she meant, but he decided to just let it drop. There were far more important things to talk about at the moment. "I would say that I'm sorry for running, but I'm not. I met Edward and my new family because I ran, so even if I did say it, it would be a lie. I'm sorry I hurt you both, but I can't do anything more than that."
"We know," Hermione said. "I have to apologize to you Harry. For being so awful and throwing your letter away. I was so angry at you back then that I . . . I just . . ." she trailed off.
"I know. And I'm not mad; I deserved it," Harry assured his old friend.
"But the others didn't. It was simply terrible of me to make them worry like that." The witch turned her head away from Harry so that the immortal wouldn't see the tears start to fall, but the vampire could hear them splatter on her hands anyway. "We've been talking about everything that's happened a great deal lately." She tried to continue, but could only hiccup, so her boyfriend took over.
"We were both angry at you. First because you left and then because you wouldn't stay when you did come back. But we eventually started to ask ourselves what we would have done if it was us. If V-Voldemort was hunting us and we were expelled from school and told that the Aurors were going to destroy our wands, we would have ran too. And if it was because we left that we found each other, we wouldn't want to come back either," Ron said miserably. "We understand it better now that we've had time to think. We don't like that we've been replaced-"
"You haven't," Harry protested. "I've found new friends and family, but they don't replace you. People never replace other people. It's just . . . different."
"You saying that you don't have a new best mate?" Ron challenged softly.
Harry thought about all of the people in his life before answering. He thought about lazy afternoons spent with Emmett playing video games, dancing about the house with Alice, and the way he would stay up late eating junk food with Leah and Jake. "Edward's my soul mate and best friend. And I have other close friends as well. But you two. You are the first friends I ever made. You stood by me when we were protecting the Stone and when everyone thought I was the heir of Slytherin. And you believed me when I said that Voldemort was back. Nothing is ever going to change how important the two of you are to me. You're a part me and my life that will never fade away."
"Can I ask you another question?" Ron asked after a few seconds of pondering Harry's words.
"You just did," Hermione pointed out to her boyfriend's irritation.
"Ask anything you want," the vampire offered.
"Do you really eat blood?"
Hermione looked incredulous at the question, but Harry just laughed. It felt really good to laugh with them again. "Yes, I do. But not human blood. I still have some of my own blood in my system, which is why my eyes are still a little red, but my family and I all feed exclusively on animals. That's why our eyes are predominantly amber."
"But your husband's eyes have some red in them," Ron pointed with narrowed eyes.
"Just a little of my blood from when he turned me," Harry said smoothly. It was true, at least in part. Edward had ingested a bit of his husband's blood when he turned him, but not much. Most of the red color came from their encounter in the cave.
"So I can't interest you in a chocolate frog?" the redhead said as he walked over to the dresser and pulled one of the candies out of the top drawer.
"You'll ruin you dinner," Hermione pointed out disapprovingly.
Harry wrinkled his nose at the idea of eating chocolate. "I'm more partial to bear. Edward thinks it's because of all the time I spend with Emmett."
"Bear?" Ron asked in surprise. "I figured you ate smaller animals."
"Nope. I like bears. Edward is more partial to mountain lions. Now that's appetizing. Chocolate sounds about as good to me as a bear does to you."
"Except I bet the thought of eating a chocolate frog doesn't give you mental images of being mauled to death," Hermione joked.
The vampire watched a Ron popped the piece of chocolate into his mouth. As the human was eating the candy, he checked out the card that came in the package. "Damn," he said with his mouth still full of chocolate. "Dumbledore again."
That nagging feeling that Harry had had earlier was back in force. There was some clue staring him in the face and he was missing it. Then, as he watched Ron flick the little paper card away, a thought occurred to him. "Hey Ron, do you have any other chocolate frog cards here?" he asked.
"Sure," the Weasley boy said absently as he riffled through the drawer he pulled the candy out of. "I've got most of them at school, but some of my extras are here." He tossed several dozen cards down on his bed before searching for more.
Hermione watch in fascination as Harry began to sort through the cards at an inhuman speed. There were several cards of Albus Dumbledore and few of Morgan La Fay—a beautiful, dark-haired witch with grey streaks lining her face and fur-lined robes—but eventually, Harry found the four cards he was looking for: the cards of the four founders of Hogwarts.
The first card was of Salazar Slytherin. A tall, pale wizard, he looked very austere; not at all the sort of person that one would peg as the founder of a school. He was bald, but had a long white beard. His bony fingers were steepled. The most important feature of the card was what was around the wizards neck: a golden locket set with emeralds in the shape of stylized 'S'.
The second card was of Helga Hufflepuff. She was a plump witch with red hair, dark robes, and a gold-colored cape. She was holding the golden cup that the headmaster had described to Harry and indicated was likely the next Horcrux.
The third card was of Godric Gryffindor. This wizard looked like a warrior. With flaming red hair and beard and a strong face, he looked like he was ready to jump from the card and engage any who would threaten his school in combat. Harry's eyes roamed over the card looking for any potential Horcruxes. Sure, the wizard wore red gauntlets and other pieces of armor, but there wasn't anything that seemed like a likely candidate except for the jeweled sword in his hands.
The fourth and final card was of Rowena Ravenclaw. Dressed in varying shades of blue and purple, she was just as pale as Slytherin, but her features were far softer. Her dark hair was pulled away from her face and she was brandishing her wand. She, sadly, was adorned in several items that could have been used as horcruxes: a blue ring on her left hand, silver bracelets on both wrists, a blue beaded necklace, and a crown-like headdress.
Despite the uncertainty as to which items in the images could have been Horcruxes, Harry smiled as he looked at the cards in his hands. He was certain he'd just found an important clue in finding another horcrux or two.
A/N: For those that are curious, the descriptions of Gryffidor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin are based on their 'Wizard of the Month' pictures put out by Rowling. Ravenclaw's description is an amalgamation of her images used for her chocolate frog card and her 'Wizard of the Month' profile. Morgan La Fay's description is also from her card.
