Chapter 9
Hermione Gets THE Ring

Still Sunday, 13th August
An hour later, at the Granger house

Hermione's six magical houseguests all were clearly enjoying Jurassic Park.

They just had watched in amazement as a tyrannosaurus tore apart a loo and ate the lawyer who was "doing his business" on a toilet. This was when Luna asked, "May I borrow parchment, quill, and ink bottle?"

Hermione paused the film and asked, "Do you need those things specifically, or just things to write with?" Hermione walked out of the sitting room, then returned seconds later with a spiral notebook and a Biro pen. Luna looked at the Muggle pen with curiosity for a few seconds, then bent to writing.

Soon Luna tore the top sheet away from the notebook and handed the sheet of paper to Harry.

.

YOU-KNOW-WHO'S FIVE PIECES OF SOUL, ATTACHED TO—

1) A big snake that never goes far from You-Know-Who. Find the Dark Lord and you'll find the big snake.

2) A ring that has a nasty curse attached to the ring. In a future, Professor Dumbledore is killed by the curse. I can't See where this ring is.

3) A locket, in Sirius Black's house. Lord Black's house-elf knows where the locket is.

4) A ceremonial cup in the vault of Bellatrix Lestrange, in Gringotts.

5) A tiara, in a room at Hogwarts that is filled with junk.

.

Harry looked at the note that Luna had handed him. He said, "Sirius, it looks like one of these evil things is in your house." Harry passed the note to Sirius.

Remus, reading over Sirius's shoulder, exclaimed, "You-Know-Who created horcruxes? He created several horcruxes? Each horcrux requires the committing of a cold-blooded murder!"

Harry asked his godfather, "Is it okay if we hunt down the locket at your house after the video is over? This is only the second movie I've been allowed to see."

Later, at Number 12, Grimmauld Place

Five teenagers and two ex-Marauders were now in Sirius's house.

"Kreacher!" yelled Sirius. "Come here!"

Pop. "Disgrace of a master calls Kreacher?" said the surly ancient elf.

Harry spoke up before Sirius could make Kreacher any angrier than he already was: "Kreacher, we're looking for a locket that has evil magic attached to it. Do you know anything about this locket?"

Kreacher looked at Harry suspiciously. "Why does the dirty halfblood want to know about a locket?"

"To destroy the evil that taints it."

"Then you wish to wear the locket yourself, mudblood? Or disgraceful master wishes to wear it?"

Sirius snapped, "Kreacher, if there is really a locket like how Luna described it, bring it here now."

But rather than obey Sirius, Kreacher looked at Harry. Harry replied to Kreacher's question, "Neither Sirius nor I want to wear the locket, we just want to get rid of its evil."

Kreacher was gone for a second, then he elf-popped back whilst holding a piece of gold jewellery. The fact that the piece's only other colours were green and silver, and that the outside of the locket showed a snake, made it clear who had created the locket.

All the wizards and witches in the room gasped. The locket glowed blackly with evil.

One of the twins asked, "How did Slytherin's locket wind up here?"

Kreacher answered, "Good Master Regulus stole it from the Dark Lord, then made me promise to destroy it. But unworthy Kreacher cannot, and Good Master Regulus is dead! Kreacher has failed his master!" The house-elf was crying now.

The other Weasley twin said, "Hold on, Regulus Black stole something from Voldyshorts? This is the ultimate prank!" The twins high-fived each other, then high-fived a stunned Sirius.

Remus asked, "So how will we destroy this horcrux when Kreacher could not?"

"Fiendfyre," Sirius said, his eyes glinting.

Remus shook his head. "I'm not sure any of us could control the Fiendfyre if we cast it."

Harry answered, "Kreacher, elf-pop me into the Chamber of Secrets in Hogwarts, where there still is a basilisk fang laying on the floor. That poisonous fang killed Tom Riddle's diary, so it'll kill this locket. Should be easy."

It was not an easy task at all. Kreacher, Harry and the locket elf-popped away; an instant later—

Bam! Ouch.

—Harry felt like he had smashed into a brick wall. Harry found himself and Kreacher outside the gates of Hogwarts—the Hogwarts wards had blocked Kreacher and Harry from entering any part of the castle.

They went back to Grimmauld Place, where the others healed Harry of his bruises and cracked bones.

Harry tried the same trick again, but this time using Dobby as the transportation-elf.

Bam! Ouch. "Bugger!"

Again, the house-elf, the boy and the locket never made it into the castle grounds, but were stopped just outside the grounds. Again, Harry needed healing when he was elf-popped back to Grimmauld Place, and again Harry returned there having achieved nothing.

Hermione sighed. "Fiendfyre is dangerous, and elf-popping won't work. The only other idea I come up with is Harry putting this locket in his school trunk, and destroying it after he returns to Hogwarts. But—"

Luna said, "It has an evil aura, and it causes evil thoughts for people who come near. It would be dangerous to take the locket to Hogwarts."

Harry said, "But at least at Hogwarts, I've two options. I can destroy the locket with the basilisk fang, or I can cut the locket in two if I can call the Sword—"

Clank. Something heavy hit the Grimmauld Place sitting-room floor, at the same moment that Harry felt something hit the palm of his right hand.

"—of Gryffindor."

The Sword of Gryffindor had appeared out of nowhere. The point of the blade was between Harry's feet, and the hilt of the sword was resting against his hand.

"What the hell?" Sirius exclaimed.

Hermione shrugged. "The Sword of Gryffindor comes to true Gryffindors in time of great need, and Harry is the truest Gryffindor since Godric. I'm not surprised."

Harry opened Slytherin's Locket by hissing "§Open§," as he stood over the locket on the floor. Harry gripped the Sword in both hands and was pointing it down.

But even as the Locket was opening and the sword blade was moving, the Locket was speaking: "Poor, pathetic orphan, loved for your fame, or for who your father was, but never loved for yourself—"

Harry stabbed the Locket. He heard a dying man's scream, then a black wraith rose up from the Locket and dissipated.

In Harry's hand, the Sword of Gryffindor soundlessly vanished.

Harry said to the slain wraith, "You're a liar. So long as Hermione is alive, I'm loved for myself."

Hermione rushed over. She gave Harry an extra-strength Hermy-hug and a long kiss on the lips.

After the couple broke the kiss, Harry grinned and looked at the other people present. "Destroying the locket-horcrux turned out much easier than I thought it would. Tomorrow let's go to Gringotts, to track down one or two more horcruxes, and also—"

Harry gave Hermione an adoring smile.

"—so Hermione can pick out a Lady Potter ring."

Hermione gave Harry another Hermy-hug and kiss, as Luna smiled dreamily.

The next morning: Monday, 14th August

The Daily Prophet printed a quote from Albus Dumbledore, who was responding to Harry's words in his press conference. This was Dumbledore's reply—

"Harry has earned the right to his own opinions, but I am disappointed that he misunderstands both me and my purposes. But this is to be expected—the boy is only fifteen. When I was fifteen, I was immature too."

Below this quote of Dumbledore's, the Daily Prophet pointed out that Harry Potter had predicted such a reply in his press conference: "The headmaster of Hogwarts is a man who is unable to think 'I might be mistaken.' "

Potter, according to the Prophet, also had pointed out that when someone said something that Dumbledore did not want to hear, Dumbledore would attack the speaker's words by making a grandfatherly attack on the speaker: "...But what about all those reports, from me and others, that the Dursleys were harming me? Dumbledore's answer always was 'Oh, the people saying these things are lying, or mistaken, or exaggerating, so I can disregard every one of those reports.' "

Meanwhile, at the offices of the Daily Prophet

Two Aurors asked to speak to Rita Skeeter, and were led to her desk. Once there, one of the Aurors cast Animagus Revelio on Rita. If Rita were not an animagus, nothing would happen; but instead, she turned into a water beetle. The water beetle immediately was Stupefyed before it could escape.

The reporters in the newsroom begged the Aurors to let them all view water-beetle Rita before the Aurors turned her back into her human form. The Aurors allowed this. One of the reporters had the foresight to take a photograph of the water beetle that was sitting on the seat of Rita's office chair.

When the reporters, and editor-in-chief Barnabas Cuffe, all had taken a good look at the water beetle, Rita was returned to her human form, handcuffed in magic-suppression handcuffs, then Rennervated.

Rita was formally arrested. Then the not-so-mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Prophet was taken away, as the newsroom watched in silence.

(However, whilst the Daily Prophet was where Rita's arrest happened, this newspaper was not the first news outlet to report on her arrest. An hour after Rita's arrest, Wizarding Wireless Network News broke the story.)

Meanwhile in Gringotts

Sirius, Harry, Hermione and Luna were seated in front of the Black account manager, Bladebloody. Luna was looking around curiously.

Sirius said to Bladebloody, "Luna here is a true Seer, and she tells me that in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault is a cup of some kind that has a horcrux attached to it—"

"A horcrux?" snarled Bladebloody.

"—and since I am Head of Head Black, is this enough to tell you to go into her vault and remove the evil cup?"

Bladebloody answered, "Yes and no. Right now, only she or her husband has the authority to direct us into her vault without violating a treaty. But you as Head of House Black can annul her marriage; and once this is done, you as Head of House Black may send Gringotts into her vault."

"Please fetch me her marriage contract," Sirius told Bladebloody.

The contract was brought. Sirius read it for less than a minute before he lay the document down and grinned at everyone else in the room. "The contract forbids Bella from making a higher allegiance to anyone who is an enemy of House Black. Since Bella is a marked follower of Regulus's killer, she has broken her marriage contract. She also is required to give birth to two sons, and she is childless."

Hermione asked, "Does Narcissa Black Malfoy's marriage contract require her to bear two sons? As far as I know, Draco never has had a brother."

Bladebloody said, "Lord Black, if you're going to annul Narcissa Black Malfoy's marriage, you had better act fast. Gringotts is certain that Lucius Malfoy shall be convicted at his upcoming trial, and is almost certain that he shall be sentenced to death. Should the Head of House Malfoy be executed for a capital crime, a centuries-old law of Muggle Britain shall dissolve the House of Malfoy. All of the House of Malfoy's assets, including Narcissa's dowry if you have not annulled the marriage, shall be claimed by the Ministry. Narcissa and Draco shall be surnamed No-Name unless you claim them, Lord Black; they shall own only their personal effects plus a thousand galleons apiece."

Luna shrugged, whilst Sirius and Hermione looked as stunned as Harry felt. Harry said, "I never thought I'd say this, but—poor Draco."

Then Sirius asked Bladebloody's permission to draw his wand within Gringotts.

When this permission was granted, Sirius pointed his wand at the ceiling and said gravely, "I, Sirius Orion Black, the Head of House Black, do annul the marriage of Bellatrix Black Lestrange because she has violated her marriage contract. Her dowry of one hundred thousand galleons is to be returned to the Black family vault. So mote it be."

In a Dementor-infested part of Azkaban Prison

Both Rodolphus Lestrange and Bellatrix Black, each of them alone in his or her prison cell, suddenly screamed.

When Rodolphus and Bellatrix had married, Magic had given each of them a small amount of additional magical power. Now this additional magical power was ripped away—painfully.

Prisoners were not allowed to wear magical jewellery; so Bellatrix never discovered that the wedding ring she had not worn since her imprisonment, no longer would have been on her hand anymore, had she been wearing the ring.

Back in Bladebloody's office in Gringotts

Light flashed in the room, right after Sirius had spoken. A parchment appeared on Bladebloody's desk. The goblin announced, "The marriage of the former Bellatrix Lestrange has been annulled. The vault of Rodolphus Lestrange has incurred a shortfall of 98 639 galleons at returning Bellatrix Black's dowry to the Black vault."

Sirius shrugged. Then he formally permitted Gringotts to search Bellatrix Black's vault for a horcrux-tainted cup.

Minutes later, a young goblin entered Bladebloody's office; he was carrying a hinged lead box. The young goblin opened the lid and showed the contents to Bladebloody and to Sirius. By then, three teenagers were crowded around Sirius, so they also saw what was inside the box.

Harry saw a golden goblet, with three badgers spaced at equal distances on the outside of the cup. Harry knew at a glance that this was not merely a cup, but it was the Healing Cup of Helga Hufflepuff. Which now was a horcrux. Harry felt the cup's evilness.

Bladebloody showed a sharp-teeth grin. "Because customer Bellatrix Black has put a forbidden object in her vault, she now has forfeited her vault. Gringotts claims all coinage in her vault; everything else in her vault shall be transferred to the Black vault by noon today."

"What about the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff?" Hermione asked. "Am I right that you can remove the Voldemort-soul from the Cup, just like you removed it from Harry's scar?"

Hermione, with no pause, said to Sirius, "If the goblins can clean the Cup and not damage it, you should give the Cup back to Hogwarts."

"How does she say so much in only one breath?" Sirius asked in wonder.

Harry shrugged. "I'm convinced Hermione has a third lung."

Hermione huffed, as she slapped Harry's arm.

Bladebloody said to Sirius, "We shall remove the horcrux without damage to the Cup and without cost to you, then we shall put the Cup in the Black vault."

Luna, who had been silent throughout, spoke up: "Harry, ask Gringotts if they can use this horcrux to find other horcruxes made by You-Know-Who."

Bladebloody looked confused at Luna, Sirius and Harry. "We can make a map showing the location of every brother-horcrux. It will cost you a thousand galleons per horcrux marked."

"Pfft," said Sirius. "Try again. Four hundred galleons."

"You insult the goblin nation," Bladebloody replied, sounding angry.

"You insult my intelligence," Sirius countered.

Eventually Sirius and Bladebloody agreed on a price of G650 apiece for the three remaining horcruxes. Then Harry spoke up—

"Take the money out of the Potter family vault, and write the contract to be between Gringotts and Lord Potter."

Sirius said, "No, pup, you can spend your own money after I'm gone. I'm your godfather, and—"

Harry shook his head. "I'll explain later, but it must be my hand that signs the contract with Gringotts."

Hermione said, "He'll telling the truth, Sirius. It must be Harry, not you, who makes this deal."

A minute later, a neatly printed parchment contract was drawn up between Gringotts and Harry. Now Harry only had to sign the contract.

This was when Harry learnt about a nasty magical item called a blood quill.

After all this, the group of four went down to the Potter family vault, so that Lady Hermione Potter could pick out a ring that told Wizarding Britain that she was indeed Lady Hermione Potter.

This was Harry's first time inside the Potter family vault, and he found the place to be fascinating. He found a singed playpen just inside the doors of the vault.

Luna touched the playpen, then said sombrely, "You were standing in this playpen, Harry, when You-Know-Who tried to kill you."

Harry also found old books, talking paintings and old-looking brooms in the Potter family vault.

On a table, he found four trays that had men's and women's rings in them. Some rings were plain whilst some rings were more and more fancy, but all the rings had a black 'P' on a square wet-clay-grey background.

One tray was tiny. It had only a woman's Potter ring and a slot for a (missing) man's ring.

Harry asked, "Sirius, what am I seeing?"

Sirius said, "The little tray holds Potter Head of House rings. Family magic won't let Hermione put that woman's ring on, but your daughter or granddaughter might one day wear it."

Harry grinned at Hermione. "Your daughter as Potter Head of House would send Draco's kids running for the hills."

Harry, Hermione and Luna shared grins.

Sirius continued, "The third tray is for the Potter Betrotheds. This doesn't apply to you, Hermione, since you're already married.

"Harry, the fourth tray is for the Potter Heir or Potter Heiress. If James had been alive, he would have brought you here to pick out your Potter Heir ring when you were eleven years old. With James dead, the Potter account manager should have given you one of the Potter Heir rings on or after your eleventh birthday."

"Pfft," said Harry. "Dumbledore and Molly made sure that I never heard about any of this. I never knew I had an account manager until the beginning of this month!"

Hermione said, "Sirius, you skipped the second tray. I'm guessing it's for the Potter Consort?"

The second tray had five men's rings, each with four inset stones of the same colour—red, blue, yellow, green and white. Whilst the second tray had only five men's rings, this tray had many women's rings, with a wide variety of inset stones, gold and silver metalwork and stylings.

Sirius answered Hermione, "Indeed. Go mad, choosing a ring. But Magic will bite you unless Harry takes a ring from the tray and puts it on your finger."

Hermione wound up choosing a Lady Potter ring in which the grey square was framed by gold, and in the corners and the middles of the gold frame, eight brown stones were imbedded. By a remarkable coincidence, those eight brown stones closely matched Hermione's eyes.

Hermione pointed to, but did not touch, the ring she wanted; then Harry removed this ring from the tray and placed the ring on Hermione's hand.

As Harry did this, he looked into Hermione's eyes and said, "Hermione Jean, you're my friend, my beloved, my wife and my perfect match, today and forevermore."

Inside the Potter vault, light flashed.

Harry putting the ring on Hermione's finger was an easy task because the ring was oversized—but as soon as Harry let go of the ring, it shrank to fit Hermione's finger.

Hermione then proceeded to wave her left hand about, hug everyone else in the vault, kiss Harry in front of everyone else, and sniffle. Luna hugged Hermione, and Luna cried too. Harry certainly was glad that Hermione was wearing his Potter marriage ring, but he could not understand what all the excitement was about.

Harry said to Hermione, "My ring protects me from mind-magics, and it detects potions. I'll bet your ring does the same things." Saying this resulted in Harry getting another fierce Hermy-hug and another kiss on the lips.