chapter five

Hermione, Ron and Hector watched the band work through two more songs, then rehearsed them.

'Harry we need to go,' Hermione stood up and hugged him, 'Please be careful.'

'I will Hermione, just find them and bring them home,' Harry kissed her cheek, then hugged Ron, 'Look after our girl Ron.'

'I will mate, you just listen to Hector, I know you and sometimes you just don't think Harry.'

'Hopefully I won't need to worry about anything. Come straight over after you get back, I'm going to miss you two. We're not used to being apart.'

'No we're not, so you'll see us the moment we're back in Britain. See ya Harry.'

'Bye,' Harry said and Hermione hugged him again, 'I'll be fine, go.'

'Bye,' Hermione said sadly, then left with Ron.

Harry sighed as he watched his friends leave before he turned back to the band, 'You want to call it a day and start again tomorrow?'

'Sounds good,' Liam said as he switched off his keyboard.

'Just before we go, can I talk to you about something Harry?' Martin asked.

'Sure, why don't you three go into the other room, we'll be right there.' Harry waited until John, Liam and Mark stepped into the living room, 'What's up Martin?'

'Um, I have a cousin,' Martin lowered his voice and whispered, 'he's a wizard, so I've been seeing and hearing a lot about your world, just thought I'd let you know. You're the one they talk about though, aren't you? The one that said killed that dark wizard?'

'Yeah, that's me and his followers are out for my blood, so Hector is an auror, a dark wizard catcher, best there is. Kingsley, well he's our minister, like the prime minister. Do the other three know anything?'

'They have heard rumours but aren't sure if it's true or not, so if anything gets mentioned or seen, I think they would be fine and keep it to themselves. My cousin, Shaun, he told us how it's all kept secret.'

'Yeah, it is for a few reasons, you lot could be in danger, that's the main one.'

'Is that what was happening a while ago, hurricane's, everyone feeling cold and unhappy all the time, a lot of strange deaths?'

'Yeah, the death eaters were doing all that, well most of it.'

'Okay, you know I won't mention it, I better go so we can get back into all this tomorrow, by Harry.'

'Yeah, see ya,' Harry walked in and waved to the others, then went to his kitchen, 'Well, I need to do some shopping, I might head out to eat, so I suppose you'll be coming with me Hector?'

'Of course. Just keep alert Mr. Potter, from what the minister has told me, you can take care of yourself, but if you were to get ambushed by a lot, you could be in trouble.'

'Yeah, probably, okay, let's go. But can't you call me Harry?'

'One, I'm not allowed to and two, I am supposed to be working for you, that's what the muggles think.'

'Alright, but I hate anyone calling me Mr. Potter, so let's go eat Mr. Clancy,' Harry smirked at him.

'Oh smart, at least I'm going to enjoy my time here.'

Harry and the auror both left to go eat in a small restaurant in the middle of the town. Harry kept trying to get Hector to call him Harry, but Hector just kept saying Mr. Potter. When they finished, they both walked slowly back to Harry's, talking the whole time. Harry wasn't tired so he worked on a few more songs in the back room.

'I'll get some more shopping tomorrow, but help yourself whenever you're here.'

'Thanks, but what are you doing now?'

'Just working on some arrangements for some of the songs, trying to hear how the different backup sounds when it comes in.'

'So, you're really going to record and play concerts. I heard, from the minister that you don't really like attention.'

'I didn't, but as I was telling Hermione and Ron, it was different before. In our world, I was called the-boy-who-lived after I survived and my parents died. Then I was called the chosen one. The moment the rumours started about a prophecy and when I heard it, that just scared me. So every time I heard the name, it reminded me that Voldemort or me would have to kill the other one. The saviour,' Harry grimaced, 'I wasn't the only one that helped bring an end to this war, so many people helped. They did their thing while I did mine. I wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for Hermione and Ron. All those names and all that attention I got was all to do with Voldemort, death eaters. It usually meant pain and knowing I was going to lose friends.'

'Alright, it makes more sense now. This time you're going to be getting attention for something you chose to do and like to do, right?'

'Exactly, nothing was ever my choice before, it was always out of my hands. This time, I get to sing and also sing stuff I like, so if I get attention for that, it'll be because people like what I do.'

'If I were a muggle, I would buy you're things, what are they called?'

Harry laughed, 'Cd's, like the albums we have, but smaller and they sound better. It's all digital in the muggle world today. I know you don't really understand, but I might grab a few things for in here as this room is the only one that can use power. I suppose you've never seen a television show or watched a movie?'

'Heard about them, that's it though.'

'First time I talked to people like Ron and Neville, who are both pure-bloods, I was telling them about some of the movies I've seen. They listened, but I don't think they really understood. I might have to show them one day. The other two boys that shared our dorm room, Seamus and Dean, they both have one muggle parent, so they know about all this stuff and tried to help explain to Ron and Neville.'

'I don't think it worked no matter how much explaining you do, we'd probably have to see it to understand. I hope you don't mind, but I was wondering if I could ask you something?'

'You can ask, don't know if I can answer though.'

'When you and Voldemort were facing each other in the great hall, I was listening to what you were saying. I noticed a lot of people were watching, but I don't think they were really taking in a lot of what you were saying. Being an auror, we're taught to listen to what's going on around us even with things that could distract us. You said all his Horcruxes were destroyed, I figured their dark magic, probably why he was able to come back after he killed you're parents, but I don't know what they are.'

'Before I decide if I'm going to tell you, how long have you known Kingsley?'

'We joined the aurors together. I wanted to believe him and Tonks when Voldemort first came back, but Scrimgeour kept saying we had to trust Fudge. We were taught to follow our boss because of safety. What we do is dangerous and if we start questioning him, it could get any of us killed. The minister is different, he knew, I mean actually knew Albus Dumbledore, the rest of us didn't. Mad-eye, he was the same, friends with Dumbledore for years and he was also Tonk's mentor and teacher, so she trusted him. I think if Mad-eye wasn't Tonk's teacher, she wouldn't have believed you and Dumbledore either.'

'Okay, I get what you're saying and you're right. what you blokes do is dangerous and need to truly trust the people you work with. Then you take someone like Dawlish who kept getting imperius, so okay. But please keep it to yourself, because horcruxes are the worst type of dark magic there is.'

'You have my word Mr. Potter.'

Harry rolled his eyes, 'Normally a dark witch or wizard would just make one, he made seven to really make sure he couldn't die, ever. You hold this object, doesn't matter what it is, then you murder someone with the intent on making a horcrux. Now what that is, well, you split a piece of you're soul away and it goes into the object. Even if you're body is destroyed in anyway, you can't die as a part of you're soul is still out there and before you ask, yes the snake was one. Neville never knew, I just told him it needed to die if me Hermione or Ron never got a chance. I never told him I thought we might end up dead, I didn't want to think about my friends being killed, but I had to be hard in a way, sensible. The three of us were the only ones that knew how he survived and how to kill him.'

'Why didn't you let the order of the phoenix know, they were on you're side?'

'Dumbledore thought it was too risky to tell anyone. If say Kingsley and Tonks were talking privately and they mentioned them, someone could over hear, someone that wasn't trustworthy. We knew there were some of his people inside the ministry and because a lot of people were also being imperiused, we couldn't take the chance. Dumbledore didn't even tell McGonagall and they had been friends forever. He only allowed me to tell Hermione and Ron because those two have proven they kept things to themselves and he knew they would want to help me, like they've always done.'

'So he knew what they were and told you?'

'Sort of, we used to sit in his office and talk about it all, go over memories that Dumbledore had been collecting for years. Voldemort never had friends, he wouldn't get close to anyone, liked to work alone and never trusted anyone with anything important. So we knew none of his death eaters were ever told about them. Then Dumbledore worked out what he thought they were. We'd talk, realise that things went missing around him, not just any item, things that meant something to him. Everything he used or where he hid them meant something to him.'

'I'm a Ravenclaw, I heard rumours that night you were looking for her lost diadem. So that was one?'

'Yes, we weren't sure about that item. We knew what the others were, well all but another one that I can't talk about. After we broke into Gringotts, I got a vision from Voldemort. He was killing everyone left at Malfoy Manor because he found out I knew about his horcruxes. He started thinking about them and decided to go check on all of them. As he was thinking about each one, I saw it you could say. I saw him thinking about Hogwarts and Ravenclaw. He used two other founders items, a locket of Slytherin's and a cup of Hufflepuff's. That's why we turned up at Hogwarts that night. All my friends were hiding in the room of requirement, Luna, who's a Ravenclaw told us about the lost diadem but we still had no idea where it might be if it was that. The castle is so big and a small tiara could have been hidden anywhere.'

'So what did you do, how did you work out where it was?'

'Well, I thought I should see what this diadem looked like. Luna took me up to Ravenclaw tower, to see the statue. We were both under my cloak when we went in. I stepped out from under it and Aleco Carrow was waiting in there for me. Voldemort knew I would turn up in there sooner or later, which told me it was the diadem. She touched her dark mark, then was just about to curse me when Luna stunned her as she was still under the cloak. Then Amycus Carrow was trying to get inside, had McGonagall open the door. Luna threw the cloak over me and we watched them come inside. He was going to blame the kids for Aleco touching her dark mark. McGonagall was having a go at him and said she wouldn't allow it, so Amycus spat at her and I just lost it. I used the cruciatus curse on him as I pulled my cloak off. McGonagall got a shock when she saw me. Anyway, she bound them both, called me gallant,' Harry chuckled, 'Then I told her Voldemort was on his way before Luna pulled the cloak off, almost giving McGonagall a heart attack. I asked to speak with Flitwick, I thought if anyone might have any idea where the diadem was, he would. He said no one in living history had ever seen it. I was stumped, sat down to think, when his words came back to me, no one in living history.'

'The Grey Lady, you went to speak with her.'

'Yeah, but do you know the Grey Lady is Helena Ravenclaw, Rowena's daughter. She was the one that took the diadem. Voldemort as a student worked it out, talked to her, he could be very charming when he wanted to, so she told him where she hid it. He got it, killed someone, made it a horcrux and brought it back to the castle. Like me, his first real home and what made him special, different from the muggles. I don't think of myself as special just because I'm a wizard, but I did call Hogwarts my first real home and I still feel like that. But it's late, I might head to bed.'

'Thanks for telling me and yes that is too dangerous for anyone to know, so you still have my word I'll never talk to anyone about them, well unless it's you.'

'Thanks, I'll see you in the morning Mr. Clancy,' Harry smirked at the auror again.

'Yes you will Mr. Potter,' Hector laughed, but followed Harry upstairs and went into his room as Harry went into his.