July 1st
'Moony, please wake up now! Please, I need you, my wolf!' Hermione's thoughts were soft but insistent as they drew me from my slumber.
'I'm am here, mine.' I assured her as I struggled to open my eyes.
'Remus, thank Merlin, you're awake!' She gasped, suddenly the events of the evening hit me like a steam train. I sat up in bed with a jerk, looking around the artificially lit room.
"Are you hurt?" I asked Hermione as I scanned the room before checking her for any physical damage. Her hair was a mess and there was dirt on her face. The robes she was wearing were bloody and torn.
"Just a few minor injuries." She said as she wrapped her arms around me. "Nothing to worry about."
'We will decide that!' Moony said, growling at her softly. 'Show us!'
'Please stay calm, Moony!' She pulled back slowly, her face pale and drawn, conjuring privacy screens around the bed, then began to remove her clothing. Her legs I could see now where covered in grazes and scratches and there was a large dark purple bruise on her upper thigh from a Death Eater. She removed her shirt and there was another bruise of the same making spreading over her ribs.
"Turn around." I nodded, standing in front of her. She turned slowly and I lifted her hair. There on her right shoulder was one set of claw marks, still slowly weeping even as parts of the injury had begun to crust over. They went from the top of her right shoulder and spaned across her back to finish under the ribs on her left side. The claw marks were accompanied by a smattering of bruises, but they were hard to see with the slow blood flow. I took a slow deep breath in. "Why haven't you been seen to yet?"
"Others were more seriously injured." She said before turning back around. I clenched my hands into fists and relaxed them repeatedly. Reminding myself and Moony that her attackers were long gone and that running off to hunt them down would not protect her.
"On the bed!" I said, my voice low. Once she was sat on the bed I let my fingers ghost over her body. "This was done by Greyback?" I asked, breathing slowly to remain calm.
"Yes!" She breathed as I circled around to her back and began to trace my wand over her wounds, the skin beginning to knit closed.
"Tell me what happened once we were separated." I said softly as I continued to heal her cuts.
"Greyback had just dove at Bill and it was horrible, it looked like he was about to eat him, so I hit him in the back with a curse, I'm not even sure what. I just had to get him off Bill." She shuddered and I pressed my lips together, the cuts were all closed but she needed dittany and balm to help the burns, bruises and scaring. Though scars would not be completely avoided for the wounds on her back.
"This will sting." I warned her softly before beginning to drip the dittany on her wounds. She stiffened and hissed slightly but then continued to fill me in.
"Once I hit him he roared and jumped for me so fast, I barely had time to move." I let out a breath through my nose and then moved to in front of her and began smearing the burn paste on her hex wounds. "I managed to turn and began to run but he caught my shoulder and brought me down. I kicked him in the gut and scrambled away, managing to hex him backwards. Kingsley was next to me and then we were stabilizing Bill and the Death Eaters were leaving. I was going to bring Bill here when I felt you..." She trailed off and I finished wrapping her burns, looking up at her. He face was smudged with dirt and blood and there were fresh tears trailing down her cheeks. "I was so scared!" She whispered.
I spelled my hands clean and gently cradled her face in my hands, wiping her tears away with my thumbs. "I know, mine. I'm so sorry. I'm safe now. I'm okay. We're okay." I said while holding her close to me and whispering into her hair repeatedly as she cried against my chest. I was going to be hard pressed to get rid of the instincts to let her out of our sight any time soon.
Madam Pomfrey found us still holding each other when she came to heal us some time later.
"Ahhh Remus, you're awake..." She trailed off as she came around the privacy screen. Moony let off a growl low in his throat as the medi-witch entered the space. She stopped on the edge and Hermione sniffled once more, wiping her face.
Poppy paused for a moment, visually assessing us both before placing her hands up in a placating manner.
"Remus, I see you have already taken care of your mate, would I be permitted to run diagnostics on you both to check for our records?" She asked calmly, as Moony continued to emit a low growl from within my chest.
"Moony, we are safe, let Poppy check on us." Hermione's voice was soft and cracked from her crying, she was still wrapped in my arms as we sat side by side on the bed, but her free hand reached up to softly stroke my cheek.
I gave a sharp nod, "Hermione first!" I told the healer, who nodded in affirmation and approached us slowly, waving her wand to cast diagnostics.
"You have done well to heal your mate, I just need to fix a couple ribs and then it's just rest."
Broken ribs, I should of checked from the bruises, but I had been overwhelmed at the sight of the claw marks.
"This will hurt just for a moment, Hermione." Poppy told her and she went stiff beside me. I held her a little tighter and closed my eyes. A small gasp escaped her but then she felt relief as her ribs where healed and her breathing became easier. "All done, dear."
"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey." Hermione said with a soft smile.
"Remus, I'm going to run your diagnostics now." She informed me before I felt the familiar magic scan my body. It was almost a comfort.
"You are fine Remus, your mate has done well to heal your wounds and your healing abilities, along with the burn paste should have you fully healed by morning." She told me with a nod, I smiled softly at Hermione, again reassuring both of us that we were okay.
"How is Bill?" Hermione asked softly once the Medi-witch was finished with her assessment.
"He is okay, resting now. Kingsley said you saved their lives, Hermione." She told us, Hermione beamed at me.
'You did so well, Mate!' Moony whispered to her softly.
'I am so proud of you!' I affirmed.
'Thank you, my wolf!' She replied to us.
"That's good, I'm glad he is okay." She replied.
"He may need some council from you though Remus, he will not turn, but I believe he will gain some wolf like traits. Hermione, you may as well, however I'm unsure of how it will affect you with your bond."
"Of course, I will speak to him once he is recovered." I told her stiffly. "And well, yes." I nodded to Hermione, still in my arms.
"Can we leave?" Hermione asked eagerly.
"Yes, you can, just take the pain potions and balm with you dear and come back if you have any issues."
"Thank you." I answered.
Poppy moved to leave, but hesitated.
"Is it true, did Severus really kill him?" She asked softly, it was only then that I noticed the tear tracks dried on the witched face. I felt Hermione tense beside me and for a moment I cursed myself for forgetting the main events in the aftermath of the battle.
I nodded stiffly, "yes, he did. He fooled us all!" I answered lowly, Hermione shuddered softly, a small sob escaping her.
Poppy eyed us solemnly, her face set in a frown before turning to leave us and with that we were left alone once more. Hermione fingered our bloody ruined clothes with distaste before taking her wand and transfiguring the bed sheet into two plain black robes for us to wear.
"Are you sure you're okay?" I questioned, helping her shrug into the clothing as the movement pulled at her injuries.
"Yes I am fine, tired, but fine. I know that Moony wants us to go and hide so he can lick my wounds and make sure I'm okay, but I need to see the boys first. Harry... Oh Merlin, Harry!" She sobbed, hands over her mouth.
"I know what they are to you, I understand your need and Harry is pack. Just remain in physical contact and I'll handle Moony." I told her softly. Vanishing the screen secluding us from the rest of the room. We took a moment to take in the sights around us. At the far end of the room there was a bed that obviously held Bill as Molly and Fleur were sitting on opposite sides, staring at each other intently. On the other beds there were scattered students and Order members who had fought the Death Eaters, most of them sleeping.
Holding my hand tight in hers, Hermione moved towards Bill's bed, surrounded by redheads who were sitting or snoring in the chairs.
Ginny noticed our approached first and threw herself into Hermione's arms awkwardly.
"Hermione, can you believe it!? I don't know what to do. Harry wouldn't talk to any of us, Sirius showed up and carted him off somewhere. Are you okay?" The redhead asked frantically, pulling herself back, finally noticing Hermione's stiff posture and pained expression.
"I'll be okay, is anyone else injured?" She asked while looking around.
"Just a few minor injuries, apart from Bill, everyone else will be okay by dinner." Ginny told us.
"Good, good, I'm glad that... well yes" Hermione said nervously, looking around. Ron was asleep in the bed next to Bill's and she took a moment to look him over. "We are going to find Harry." She said after a moments silence and the others nodded. It was like everyone was lost, unsure what to do now that their leader was gone.
We walked through the halls in silence, taking the time to process our thoughts while we made the trek to our rooms. If Sirius wasn't there, the map should be as it was spelled to return there if lost or under threat of destruction.
We paused outside our portrait.
'We can't tell them!' I whispered to her through the bond.
'I know... I just..'
'I know mine, I understand.' And I really did, the situation was painful at best, crushing at worst.
"Harry? Sirius?" Hermione called softly as she pushed open the portrait, there on the couch was Harry asleep, with Sirius, softly stroking his hair.
"Hey." Sirius whispered hoarsely. "I slipped him a dreamless sleep potion." He said, motioning to the boy asleep, with his head in his lap.
"Probably for the best." I nodded, then let Hermione's hand slip from mine as she went to kneel before her friend.
"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry!" She whispered, stroking his cheek and pressing a soft kiss to his forehead.
"How are you, Kingsley told me you were injured, but I needed to get Harry out of there. He was imploding. Kept muttering about it being a fake." Sirius shrugged and frowned. "So Dumbledore is really gone, I mean... I saw his body... Harry insists Snape killed him, that Draco was lowering his wand... I think- it was hard to follow." He ran his hand through his hair and shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Are you both okay, how were you injured?" He said, looking us both up and down.
"Well I ran into a burning building." I sighed, taking a seat on the loveseat across from the couch.
"And I was mauled by a werewolf." Hermione shrugged, I winced while Moony growled. "Sorry, love." She added, almost sitting on top of me on the seat.
"It's okay." I sighed while running my hands over her, reassuring myself.
"Tell me the full story, by the time I got word and got here, the Death Eaters had fled, you were nowhere in sight and Ginny was trying to calm down Harry, who was at the bottom of the Astronomy Tower with Dumbledore." Sirius all but growled, taking a swig from the glass of firewhiskey that was occupying his left hand.
I poured myself and Hermione a drink before I explained the events of the night, Hermione taking over to tell him what had happened to her once we were separated. Neither of us mentioned Severus, or that we knew what was going to happen. This secret was one that had to be kept at all costs. It would change the outcome of the war.
When we were done and our drinks were empty, Hermione did another lot of fancy transfiguration work, making beds out of the couch and loveseat for Harry and Sirius. Once in bed, I pulled Hermione close and we both fell into an alcohol aided sleep.
When I woke it was to the sound of grumbling and stumbling in the lounge outside our room. The angle of the light coming through the window told me it had been several hours since we had stumbled into bed earlier this morning and it was rapidly approaching lunch. I checked over Hermione before slipping out of bed, pulling on clean clothes and making my way out into the lounge area.
"Harry." I greeted the boy, who was sitting with his elbows on his knees staring at the wall. He jerked at the sound of my voice and a quick look around told me it was Sirius making his way to the bathroom that had woken me.
"Remus." He replied, not moving. "It was all for nothing. It wasn't even real!" He said, as I circled around the couch, I saw a golden locket held in his hands in front of him. On the table a note.
"May I?" I asked, Harry simply gestured for me to go ahead.
To the Dark Lord,
I know I will be dead long before you read this but I wanted you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more.
R.A.B
I stood there for a moment, this was familiar... this writing, these initials... could it be?
"Harry, does Sirius know about the Horcruxes?" I asked while sitting across from the teen.
"No, only the four of us. Dumbledore was insistent that it was a secret. Why?" He frowned at me, he looked tired beyond his years and I hated that he was going through this.
"Because I think I know who R.A.B is, but Sirius would know for sure. Do you think maybe we can tell fill him in?" I asked.
"Fill me in on what?" Sirius asked curiously from the bathroom doorway.
"On what Dumbledore's been teaching me." Harry answered, standing up and pacing the room. "On what we were doing last night." Sirius seemed to sense what was needed of him as he approached the situation more calmly and maturely than I ever thought he possibly could.
"If you need to tell me Harry, then I am here. If you decide not to then that's fine too." He said, taking a seat and pouring himself a cup of tea from the tray on the table. I copied his actions, making my own cup.
"You think he can help?" Harry asked, looking at me.
"In this case, yes." I told him honestly as I stirred my drink.
"Alright, we will fill him in, but not until Ron and Hermione are here, if he does have information that can help it is better that we all hear it." Harry decided, I nodded.
"I can go get Ron?" Sirius offered, both Harry and I nodded our thanks. Once he was gone, Harry turned back to me once more.
"Is 'Mione okay? She never stays in bed this late. Was she hurt?" Harry asked, I was touched by the display of concern the young man displayed for my mate.
"She was injured in the battle yesterday, well, we both were but I am fully healed now. She got hit by a few nasty curses and some other things... she'll have some new scars Harry. I don't know how much they are going to upset her." I said quietly. "It's hard not being in the room with her, but there are things that need sorting out. She would want me to make sure you're okay, if she can't."
"I... I don't even know... I'm relieved that she is okay, as for the scars, she has never been a girl that was too worried about those things... but I'll talk to Ron and we will try to be sensitive about them for her." He grimaced, I nodded my thanks.
We sat there together, neither of us speaking as we waited for the others to return. R.A.B, those initials brought just one person to the forefront of my mind... I mean, I had spent my summer sleeping in a room with them printed on the door, they were bound to stick.
I got food sent up by the house elves and prepared a plate for Hermione, setting it aside before the rest was attacked by Ron. Ron and Sirius returned a moment after the food arrived and Ron updated us on Bill's condition.
"Should of seen Mum and Fleur spitting fire at each other, was bloody brilliant! Mum basically said that Fleur wouldn't want Bill anymore now that his face is all scared up and she spat right back about how she loved him for him and she was good looking enough for the both of them. Then she took the cream right out of mums hands and pretended she wasn't there. I was glad Sirius came to fetch me, I didn't want to be in that room any longer!" The teen explained heatedly, looking like he was both frightened of and in awe of the French witch.
"Ron, the locket was a fake!" Harry said, handing his friend the note. Ron read it and his brows knitted together, he looked from the paper to Harry to Sirius and back to Harry. "Remus thinks he might know who the person is. We are going to fill Sirius in. I was going to wait for Hermione but Remus says she needs rest and he can fill her in later." Ron nodded but didn't speak as Harry continued, this time addressing Sirius. "I have been learning some secret magic, well not the kind you might think. Have you ever heard of a Horcrux?" The three of us watched as Sirius' complexion paled and his eyes widened. "So that's a yes, then?" Harry sighed, "well that makes this easier. So Voldemort made six of them... or at least we are pretty sure he did."
"Seven. You-Know-Who made six of them." Sirius looked sick.
"How do you know what they are?" Ron asked curiously.
"You've seen the house I grew up in, dark magic was practically bed time stories!" He scoffed, Ron looked horrified but didn't question him further.
"So last night, Dumbledore took me to retrieve what he thought was going to be the third one... but when we got back we were ambushed..." Harry trailed off, looking at nothing in particular for a moment, before shaking his head as if to clear it. "But after everything, I open it to find it was a fake. Someone stole the first one and we don't know if they succeeded in destroying it-"
"Read the note, Sirius." I said, cutting Harry off before he could spiral any further.
Sirius, it seemed, grew even paler and a touch green as he took in the words on the paper in his now shaking hands.
"No, no, he... he was one of them... he wouldn't have!" Sirius trailed off.
"Sirius, is it him?" I asked, standing and placing my hands on the man's shoulders in an attempt to calm him.
"I- I think so... It's his writing and initials!" Sirius mumbled.
"WHO!" Harry shouted, frustrated at being left out of the loop.
"R.A.B, Regulus Arcturus Black. My little brother." Sirius explained solemnly. "He died when he was 18, never found a body."
"You think he took the locket? Do you think he destroyed it?" Ron asked, eyes bright at the information.
"It's his writing, so yes I think he did." Sirius was slowly coming back to life, but I could basically taste the guilt rolling off him. He had held onto the hate for his brother for years and if Regulus had really turned, it was going to be something that would be hard for him to process.
"Do you think he destroyed it?" Harry asked again.
"I-I don't know." Sirius frowned. "I mean, maybe? Possibly? I can ask Kreacher, if anyone would know, it would be that elf."
"Ask him!" Harry demanded, Sirius nodded and summoned the elf.
The elf appeared with a 'pop' and Sirius began to question him without hesitation.
"Kreacher, have you seen this locket before?" He asked, holding up the gold chain. The elf's eyes widened to a degree that was almost comical.
"Yes, that's be Master Regulus's locket. Kreacher is a bad elf! Kreacher is not destroying the bad locket! Kreacher is keeping it safe, but he cans not destroys it!" The elf wailed in an uncharacteristic show of emotion. "Kreacher is a bads elf!" He said, pulling at his ears and bashing his head on the table.
"Kreacher, stop hurting yourself!" Sirius ordered, the elf froze mid movement. "You said you kept it safe, can you bring it to us?"
He began to shake his head.
"We can destroy it!" Harry said quickly. Kreacher looked at Harry with wet eyes.
"You can destroys the dark necklace?" He asked quietly.
"Yes, if you bring it here we can destroy it." Harry promised and with that, Kreacher was gone, only to return within a breath, locket in hand. "Ahhh!" Harry clutched his head. "Yep, that's it, that is the real one."
"You is being destroying it now, Sirs?" The elf asked.
"We will soon, I just need to get something from the Headmasters office, we need the sword of Gryffindor, Dumbledore told me that is how we destroyed the other one last summer." Harry said, still rubbing his agitated forehead.
"You and I will go and get the sword and then we will meet on the 7th floor in one hour." Sirius said while looking at Harry then nodding to the rest of us. We all agreed and the three men left the room just as Hermione began to stir on the other side of the wall.
'Remus? Moony?' She called through our bond.
'We are here, Mine.' I replied softly, returning to the bedroom with the plate of food I had saved for her.
"How are you feeling?" I asked, watching her move slowly to sit up in bed.
"Sore, tired and drained." she answered with a grimace. "What did I miss? Are the others still out there?"
"Pain potion and food, I will fill you in while you eat." I said, sitting down on the bed and helping her get comfortable enough to eat.
She sighed as the potion entered her system, then picked up a sandwich and took a bite, looking at me pointedly.
"Well..." She began slowly, once up to speed. "That is... umm.. unexpected? But it could be worse." She frowned.
"Well yes, I suppose it could.
"So, how are we going to destroy a Horcrux?" She asked with a smile, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.
"Would you at all be willing to stay in bed while we handle it?" I questioned her. The look on her face gave me an answer without any sort of telepathic or emotional link. "How about agreeing to stand behind me the whole time?" I asked her, resulting in a scowl.
'Mate, we need you to be safe, you are already injured!' Moony begged, her face softened.
"Okay, I promise to stay behind you." She said quietly.
"Thank you Mine!" I whispered back, leaning forward to kiss her softly on the forehead. "Alright, let's go then!" I was beyond eager to witness the destruction of a piece of Voldemort's soul.
** Beta'd By Darkness93**