After a quick stop at Hogwarts to dress appropriately, Draco apparated to the gates of Malfoy Manor and entered with ease, strolling down the path with his shoulders back, chin up and pureblood scowl on his face.
He eyeballed the lower-class death eaters who roamed the grounds of the manor and scoffed at their attempts at a greeting. He played the part well.
He entered the Manor through the main doors and found it to be quite busy. As he walked through the entry room, he was greeted by his house elf, Tooley.
"Tooley is surprised to see master Draco away from school" the elf said.
"I'm here to collect some books" Draco said.
"Tooley can help" the elf offered.
"No thanks Tooley, I'd rather do this on my own" Draco said.
At this, Tooley disappeared with a pop and Draco was left to make his way through the manor to the library. He came across several death eaters on his way and made small talk with the ones who were high enough in the ranks to be deserving of it.
He hoped not to see his parents, however, as he rounded a corner near the library, he almost ran head on into his mother.
"Draco. What on earth are you doing here?" Narcissa asked him.
"I have some assignments I need to read up on. The Hogwarts library is abysmal mother" he said, kissing his mother on the cheek and making to continue towards the library.
"Well of course it is. It is certainly no match for ours, that's for sure. I will accompany you" she offered.
"Its quite aright mother, I will come and find you when I'm done so I can say goodbye" he said, hoping that she would leave him be.
"If you insist son. I do have some things to be getting on with anyway. Its quite busy around here this week" she said.
"Why is that?" he asked her.
"The Dark Lord is not well" she whispered. "There's talk of a takeover. You're probably here at a very bad time Draco" she added.
"Mother, that is the absolute last thing I want" Draco said.
"I know son. But still. You're the next best person to lead. If the Dark Lord needs you, you will have to oblige" she said.
"I understand mother" he said, walking away.
He hadn't actually thought about the idea of taking over until now. Of course Voldemort would want to appoint someone to lead in his absence, or in his demise. Of course, he is under the impression that he is immortal. Which, Draco supposed, currently he was. There were only two pieces of his soul tethering him to the mortal world, and after tonight, Draco hoped that they would find a way to destroy the one inside Josie, get into the room of requirement and then it would mean Voldemort would be mortal and vulnerable.
The library was bustling with death eaters, lounging around and talking about things that had no reason to be spoken about in a library.
"Do you know this is a library? Find some place else to lounge around. And put that cigarette out inside" Draco demanded.
Most of the death eaters extinguished their cigarettes and left the room, however one remained.
"I know why you're here boy" the foul-smelling man said.
"You think so?" Draco asked.
"The Dark Lord is unwell. You're here to take over, ain't ya?" he asked.
"What is your name?" Draco asked, ensuring his posture was adequate for intimidation.
"Rowle" he answered.
"Thorfinn Rowle, am I right?" Draco asked.
"You're right" he said, looking confused.
"Now Thorfinn, if I were here to … how did you put it? Take over? Right, if I were here to take over, I'd have stunned the lot of you for daring to congregate in the library in such a disrespectful manor. If I were in a position of power, I would eliminate you from the faction altogether. You disgust me. Leave before I inform the Dark Lord that you are conspiring against him" Draco said.
"I'm not… that's not what I was doing" he trembled.
"Well, it certainly looked like it to me. In fact, I could have sworn that I heard you all talking about overthrowing the Dark Lord, given his current state of health. We wouldn't want that getting back to hm, now would we?" Draco asked.
At this, Rowle butted his cigarette in the ashtray and took it with him when he scurried out of the room.
Draco was quite surprised by his ability to persuade adult death eaters to do what he wanted. Apparently, being married to Voldemort's favourite had its advantages. Perhaps Josie was right to have threatened Carrow like she did.
He hurried down the isles of the library, searching for the place he recalled once seeing books on soul splitting, tethering and horcruxes. There was more information to be read on the subject and he knew the books were there, he just had to find them.
He neared the very back of the library and rounded the corner to the shelf he thought he had seen them on and looked over the shelves.
He searched and searched but could not find the books he knew were there only a few weeks ago.
"They've been removed" came the voice of Narcissa.
"What do you mean mother?" Draco asked, heart pounding in his chest.
"The books from that shelf. They were taken from the library last week" she said.
"Why?" he asked.
"The Dark Lords wishes" she answered.
"Where were they taken to?" he asked.
"Why do you seek them Draco? What are you up to?" she asked.
"I can't tell you mother" he said.
"Draco, my boy, you can tell me anything" she said.
"Not this" he said, turning to leave the library. He hoped that the books were moved to his family's vault at Gringotts.
"I had Deely move the books to your father's attic" Narcissa answered as Draco went to leave.
"I wasn't aware that father had a separate attic" Draco said.
"No one knows of it except myself and your father. Oh, and the elves of course" she said.
"How do I get in there?" he asked.
"You don't" she said.
"Stop this nonsense mother. How do I get those books?" he demanded, making her jump.
"DEELY!" Narcissa called, resulting in an almost immediate pop.
"Mistress? Oh Master Draco, so lovely to be seeing you" Deely bowed to them both.
"Get me the books that I asked you to store in Lucius's attic" she instructed. Deely simply bowed and left with a pop.
"I don't know what you're doing Draco, but you must be safe" Narcissa said.
"I know what I'm doing mother. I have everything figured out. I just… I need some information" he said.
"You're going to end him, aren't you?" she asked.
Draco looked around, making sure the library was clear and they were unheard.
"I have a plan. There are some complications but within a few days, this should all be over" he said.
Narcissa's eyes filled with tears. Draco knew she hated having so much darkness in her home, but he sensed something more in her tears.
"What is it mother?" he asked.
"What will happen? Once it is over? All these people Draco. Will they flee?" she asked.
"Once the Dark Lord is weakened, he needs to be killed. Once that happens, they will leave, just like last time" he said, knowing that in a few minutes, she wouldn't remember this conversation.
Deely returned with a pop and arms full of heavy looking books. Draco took the books from the elf and duplicated them with a wave of his wand.
"What are you doing?" Narcissa asked.
"Deely, take these back to the attic where you got them from and never tell a single person about this" Draco instructed, handing the second stack to the elf and shrinking the other. The elf left with another pop while Draco turned to his mother, wand in hand.
"I have to obliviate you" he said.
"Please Draco, no" she begged.
"I don't want anybody finding out" he said.
"I am skilled in occulmency Draco. No one will find out" she said
"I prefer to be safe" he said, pointing his wand at his mother's face and muttering "obliviate".
He watched as her face went blank and she appeared to stare off into space.
"Mother?" he asked, pocketing the books and retrieving a book on potions from the nearest shelf.
"Hmm?" she asked in a daze.
"You seemed a bit lost there for a moment. Are you ok?" he asked.
"Oh, I'm fine" she said.
"Well I found the book for school, so I'll be going now" he said.
"Book?" she asked.
"Yes, the book I came for. I have an assignment to complete so I must be going" he said.
"Oh" she answered. He feared he had performed the memory charm a little too well.
"Good night mother" he said, kissing her on the cheek.
"Oh, right, I am off to bed then Draco. Good night" she said, turning and leaving the library in the direction of her bedroom.
Draco held the book in his hand purposely, as he walked through the halls of the manor to the front door. He felt lucky that he didn't come across anybody else the whole way to the gates and sighed in relief when he was able to disapparate to the front steps of Grimmauld place.
Hours later, in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld place, Lily, Sirius, Josie, Harry and Draco sat pouring through books about souls, soul bonding, tethering a person to the mortal world, soul splitting, soul regeneration and the process by which to create a horcrux.
"This is insane, there is nothing in here about Horcruxes being inside a person" Harry said.
"That's because its not normal. Listen to this: A Horcrux is placed inside an inanimate object as to give the soul more protection. While it is thought that a living creature can more safely protect itself, thereby protecting the soul within, living beings are more likely to come to harm, thereby rendering the horcrux destroyed" Harry said.
"So.. people don't usually use living beings to create horcruxes. We know that. He was desperate when he made Nagini because he wanted seven pieces of his soul. He didn't realise I was already made so now technically, he has eight" Josie said.
"Eight?" Harry asked.
"Seven horcruxes and himself. Although, now he only has three" he said.
"Given that everything we've assumed is correct" Sirius said.
"Its correct. I just know it is. There's the diadem and me. That's it" Josie said.
"You just know? How can you just know?" Harry asked.
"I don't know. I just… I can feel it. Ever since I came to understand that there is a part of me that is him, I can feel it. I can feel the other parts. I can see the diadem. I can see him. When I close my eyes, I can see him" she said.
"That's creepy, don't do that" Harry said.
Draco moved closer to Josie and rubbed her back. She closed her eyes for a moment and imagined she was studying for her exams, not trolling through every book that existed in the Malfoy and Black libraries to find out how to survive being killed.
It was 3 in the morning when Josie looked up from her book, red eyed.
Harry was asleep in a chair in the corner with a book in his lap and Lily and Sirius were yawning at the table where they had all been since Draco left for the Manor hours earlier.
"We need to get back to school" Josie said to Draco.
"No way, you're not going to school, you're staying right here" Lily said.
"Lil, they're the head boy and girl. If they're not at school in the morning, there will be talk" Sirius said.
"I just… I need to spend time with Josie" Lily said.
"Mum, we will find something. There will be a way" Josie said, getting up from the table and stretching.
"Besides, I'm going to have Snape call a mandatory meeting so I can get into the room of requirement" Draco said.
"You'll just have Snape do that, will you?" Harry asked, suspicious.
"Harry" Josie scolded.
"What?" he asked.
"No, its ok. Snape knows what's going on. He wants to help" Draco said.
"Well, we all know why, don't we?" Sirius asked, looking to Lily.
"Snape was once my very good friend. That's all, Sirius" Lily said.
"Alright, but I want you to come back here every night until we find a way to fix this" Lily said.
Josie hugged her mother and Sirius and patter Harry on the shoulder as she and Draco left the kitchen. Lily followed them to the front door, where they stood hand in hand and disapparated to Hogsmead.
As soon as they arrived, alarms began sounding, alerting to intruders in the village. Josie held her breath, but Draco stepped forward into the street.
"Cut the alarms" he said out loud as a death eater approached.
"Why are you here at this hour?" the death eater asked.
"My wife and I were on a date. We returned to this spot so we can take a tunnel back to the castle" Draco said.
"Your wife?" he was asked, clearly by a death eater who had no idea who Draco and Josie Malfoy were.
"My name is Draco Malfoy, and this is my wife, Josie Malfoy. Perhaps you know of us? We sit at the Dark Lords side at meetings which is perhaps why you've never met us. Have you not attended any?" Draco asked.
"Of course I have" the man answered, hesitating.
"Well, shut the bloody sirens off and let us be" Draco answered.
The Death eater hesitated for a moment before waving his arm and shutting off the alarm. Draco and Josie made their way to the back door of an abandoned house that most people knew contained one of the last secret passage ways into the castle. They hurried back to their dorm room without saying a word to each other and when they found their bed, they collapsed in a heap, fully clothed.
Ober the next few days, Snape had held mandatory meetings in the great hall while Draco and Josie attempted to get into the room of requirement. It seemed, however, that the room still refused to open, indicating that someone was in there still.
The couple returned to Grimmauld place and read book after book, going over the same ones as others in case someone had forgotten something or glossed over something. They took notes and shared ideas, however, nothing of great value came of it.
On the third day, Josie made a conceited effort to remain outside the room of requirement, all day, hoping to catch someone on their way in or out. It had been hours before she came face to face with Desmond.
"Des, I need to get into the room" she said.
"Why? You're safe" he said, nursing a black eye.
"Are they still hurting you?" she asked.
"The carrows? Why would they stop?" he asked.
"Because I told them to" she said quietly.
"They're not going to listen to you" he said.
"Can you get me int the room?" she asked.
"I'm not supposed to" he said.
"I just need to see who's in there. Then I'll leave" she said.
"You won't hurt anyone?" he asked.
"Des, why would I hurt anyone?" she asked.
"You're one of them now. You're in with the death eaters" he said.
"I'm not Des, not really" she said.
"But they look up to you?" he asked.
"Sort of. Its complicated. Just know that I can't give you the answers now, but I will have them soon" she said, looking into his eyes. "Come on Des, you were one of my first friends here" she said.
"Your first boyfriend" he said.
"And we were best friends too Des. I'm still me" she said.
AT this, he closed his eyes and looked up at the wall. Josie followed his line of sight to the door that now stood across form her. She smiled and hugged Desmond before making her way into the room.
The room of requirement was unlike anything she had seen before. It was enormous. Strung from beams and poles all around the room were hammocks and banners, symbolising three of the four houses. Josie looked around and saw several people reading, some sleeping and some talking.
She made her way around and looked for a person who she felt could be in charge. Ginny and Ron sat at one end of the room at a desk that stood higher up on some stairs. Behind the desk was photos of family members, Harry, Lyra, Carina, Hermione and several other students who hadn't returned for the school year. Josie saw someone tap Ginny on the shoulder and say something to her, making her stop what she was doing and look up.
"Josie? How did you… what are you doing here?" she asked.
"I need something" josie said.
"Oh, so now you need something, you finally think we're worth your valuable time?" Ginny said.
"Please Gin, you need to listen to me. We need to talk in private" Josie said, hoping that honesty was the best way to go with the girl who was once her best friend.
"Why should I give you any of my time?" Ginny asked.
"Because…. I can put a stop to all of this" Josie said.
Ginny's eyes widened and she looked to Ron who was wearing some kind of head set and speaking to a microphone. He nodded to her and Ginny indicated for Josie to follow her to a room that had suddenly appeared to the back of the greater room.
"You better make this quick" Ginny said, not sitting down.
"Do you know what a horcrux is?" Josie asked.
"No"
"It's when a person tears apart their soul and implants part of it into an object. The object is called a horcrux. The horcrux has methods of self defence and as long as it exists, the creator can not be killed" Josie said.
"So like, a spare soul?" Ginny asked, intrigued.
"No, not really. Its like a magical tether. The physical body of the creator can be destroyed, but the soul, the pieces of the soul, remain" Josie said.
"You know who?" Ginny asked, outing the pieces together.
"He made several. We think seven all up" Josie said.
"What are they?" Ginny asked.
"A few different things. Most of them have been destroyed" Josie said.
"What do you need me for?" Ginny asked.
"I need the room. There is one in the room of requirement. In the room where things are hidden" Josie said. "I need everyone to leave this room so I can open the other one" she added.
"Do you realise how hard it will be to get those people to leave?" Ginny asked.
"I do. I know what they've been going through and believe me, I have tried to help" Josie said.
"How? How have you tried to help, Josie?" she asked, suddenly angry.
"I have stopped most of the torture, I have prevented detentions. Draco has spoken with Snape about the Carrows and he's reigning them in" Josie said.
"Not good enough Ginny said, arms folded.
"I'll cast a shield on the whole corridor. People don't have to leave the floor just the room. It will take me 5 minutes to find what I need, then they can go back. I'll cast a shield, put a delay on it and it will stay till I'm out" she said.
"You can't do that, it takes someone very powerful to cast something that strong" Ginny said.
"I can Gin. There's more to the horcruxes that I haven't told you" she said, knowing that she would need to tell her about herself.
"Tell me then" Ginny said, now looking concerned.
"I am… I have been a horcrux, since before I was born" she said, resulting in a laugh from Ginny.
"Now you're just being ridiculous. That's impossible" Ginny said.
"Its true. Please believe me. The night Voldemort killed my dad, he tried to make a horcrux and thought that he failed. Only, he didn't, and the piece of soul that was destined to be placed into an object, found the closest, safest place to go. An unborn baby. I've spent the last two nights with my mum, dad and Harry trying to figure out how to get rid of it without dying" she said, causing Ginny's face to drop.
"Harry? Is he ok? Where is he?" Ginny asked, suddenly quite worried.
"Harry is fine. He is with our parents and sisters. They've been hunting and destroying the horcruxes all year and there are two left. The one in the room and the one in me" she said.
"So, to destroy these horcruxes…" Ginny said.
"The vessel must be destroyed with a certain type of magic" Josie said. "Fiendfyre, basilisk venom and a few others that we aren't too sure of" Josie said.
"That's… I don't… There is one inside you? How are you going to get it out?" Ginny asked.
"We don't know yet. It looks like… If we are to destroy you-know-who, the vessels of all of the horcruxes must be destroyed before he can be killed" Josie said.
"You're a vessel Josie" Ginny said.
"I am" Josie said sadly.
"You have to die?" Ginny asked, now completely aware of the obvious.
"It appears so" Josie said.
Ginny sat down on the chair beside which she had been standing and looked up at the ceiling.
"I don't… I can't… You can't just give up Josie. There has to be another way" Ginny said.
"That's what we're hoping for" Josie said.
"What about getting the bit of him out of you and putting it back in him?" Ginny asked.
"Remorse. He doesn't have it. Isn't capable of it" Josie said. "We're reading as much information as we can to try and find a way. It might not come to that. But then, it might" Josie said.
"I…" Ginny began, but no words continued from her mouth.
Josie moved to the girl who used to be one of her best friends and put her arms around her. Together, the girls cried. Not necessarily for Josie's potential impending death, but for the last 11 months. For the time that they hadn't spoken, hadn't been near each other. Josie felt her heart grow a little in this moment, but it was short lived.
"Can we get people out? I'll go first and make sure its safe. I'll cast a shield" Josie said.
"I'll try" Ginny said.
"They look up to you Gin. You're a great leader" Josie said, leaving the small room and making her way through the crowd towards the exit.
She heard Ginny begin to speak out loud as she left through the door and found herself in the corridor in front of Barnarbus the Barmy. She looked up ad down the hall to ensure no one was here before taking out her wand, something she rarely had to do, and cast a protego shield all around the corridor. She opened the door of an abandoned classroom, the one she and Draco had been in just days ago where he revealed to her that she was a horcrux. Back then it all seemed to simple: Get the diadem, destroy the diadem, destroy Voldemort. Now she had to die, and it was beginning to feel like there definitely was no other way.
Josie's shield extended up and down the corridor and included a repellent charm also. As students began filing out of the room of requirement, Josie cast a stasis charm on her shield and made her way to the door. Once Ginny and Ron left the room, the door vanished, a sign that the room was now empty.
Josie walked past it three times, desperately pleading for the room where things are hidden and upon the third pass, the door appeared. She pulled the door open and ran into the familiar room, making her way down the isles towards where she knew the diadem would be. She reached the vanishing cabinet that had now been completely destroyed, something she assumed Harry had done in his grief at losing Dumbledore, and turned to find the diadem in the place where she had seen it last.
She reached into the bottomless pit that was her bag and removed the sword of Gryffindor, hoping to make this quick.
She reached for he diadem, but before she could set her hands on it, it emitted a loud screeching sound that made Josie's head want to explode.
The sword fell to the floor and Josie fell to her knees. The room spun and she squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened the, she was no longer in the room of requirement, but in a room surrounded by people she recognised as death eaters and Voldemort's followers.
"There is an urgent matter I must take care of at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry" she found herself saying in a voice that wasn't her own. "I fear that this is going t be a matter of life and death and I request all my followers to be in attendance" the voice said. She recognised the voice as that of Voldemort, but she could feel herself saying the words.
As she looked around, she saw that she was seated in Voldemort's chair at the table at the Manor and all eyes were on her. She could see the dear in the people's eyes but had no feelings of concern. Instead, all she could feel was hatred and cold indifference to those around her.
"I need the girl Josie Malfoy, formerly Potter and I need you all to retrieve her, alive" she said.
As the room erupted in chatter, she took the opportunity to look down at the cutlery in front of her. That's when she noticed her reflection in the silver wear. It wasn't her straight black hair, green eyes and light spattering of freckles looking back at her. Instead, she saw the slits for nostrils, the pale skin and the red glaring eyes peering back into her eyes.
Josie's eyes flew open and was back in the room of requirement, on her knees beside the sword of Gryffindor. She grabbed it by the hilt and stood to her feet, bringing the sword up over her head. She thrust it down has hard as she could into the diadem. The horcrux attempted to resist, however the sword, imbued with the venom of the basilisk, destroyed it immediately.
Josie breathed heavily out of fear, adrenalin, relief, shock… She wasn't sure. She knew that the vision she had was real and that the castle was under threat. She carefully placed the diadem and the sword into her bag and fled the room, slamming the door as she left.
"Is it done? Did you do it?" Ginny asked.
"It's done" Josie said, noticing that the door to the room appeared almost s soon as it disappeared.
"They are desperate to go back in" Ginny said.
"Get them to stay. I think Voldemort is coming here. He knows about the last horcrux" Josie said.
"How do you know?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know. I think… I might have… I don't know. I had a vision of him, I suppose" she said, not wanting to sound bizarre I she said she was him.
"Vision? So now you're a seer?" Ginny asked.
"No, nothing like that. I think… I think we're linked. The last two pieces of his soul. I somehow was able to see his mind… He's coming here. He knows what I am and he's after me" she said.
"I'll go find Professor McGonagall" Ginny said. "Stay safe Jose" Ginny said, hugging her friend for what could be the last time.
"I'll do my best" she said. "Oh, Ginny?" she asked, as the girls began to go their separate ways, "Take care of my brother, will you? If I'm not around?" Josie asked.
"I promise" Ginny said, with tears streaming down her face.
AN - Oh no, did anyone cry? Sorry. We're building up speed now. If you're keeping up, its now May 1998. The next chapter will be a version of the battle of hogwarts and we'll see whether or not Josie has to die. Havent really figured it out myself yet so stay tuned.
As always, apologies for typos and grammatical errors. I actually know what i'm doing, but with this chapter, i did get on a roll and may have missed bucket loads of editing.