Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I don't make money from this fic.
April 25, 1981 Rye, England - Black Cottage
"Come on, Harry. Padfoot. Say 'Padfoot.'" Sirius said, holding the little boy in his lap. Hermione smiled at the two from the kitchen, where she was getting dinner ready.
"Paa!" Harry squealed happily, smacking both hands on Sirius's chest.
"Did you hear that, Hermione? He's almost got it!" Sirius said, his eyes lighting up.
"I think he's still a little young to actually know what he's saying, love." Hermione said with a smile. "He's only nine months old."
"What do you think, Harry? Are you too young?" Padfoot asked, tickling his belly. The little boy squealed again. "That's what I thought." Sirius said with a chuckle
"I never knew you were so good with kids, Sirius." Hermione said.
"I've got my moments, you know." He said. "Besides, this isn't just any kid. This is my godson."
"That's why you never want to change his poopy diapers, right?" Hermione said.
"I told you, 'Mione, you're just always in the vicinity." He said, grinning.
"And your stomach can't handle the smell." she laughed.
"That, too." he said, returning his attention to Harry. "You're a stinky kid, you know that?"
Hermione watched the two of them play for a few more minutes before returning her attention to cooking. She was making enough for James and Lily, as they'd be over later. Hermione and Sirius had offered to watch Harry so that the new parents could have a break and just relax for the day. Hermione knew they'd had little alone time together, and it was starting to wear on them. She'd had to literally take Harry out of Lily's arms and tell them that they needed a break. Sirius was more than happy to spend the day with his godson, and watching the two play was so heartwarming.
Hermione sighed, thinking about her other friends. She hadn't heard from Regulus in a month, as he'd gone off the grid for a mission. Remus was following a lead on Death Eater activity in Lancashire. Peter had been spying in Death Eater circles for some time, but these days, he was trying to avoid his Death Eater and Order connections alike, trying to lay low. He'd gotten so paranoid, and Hermione pitied him for it. Sirius was still working, the only one of his friends who was. Hermione doubted he'd ever stop going into the Ministry. He'd slowed down, not working over as often as he had before their move. But Hermione knew that seeing all the death on the job was getting to him
And Hermione herself had been trying to scry nightly. She mostly just caught glimpses of Death Eaters and Voldemort. A lot of her visions were so graphic, her subconscious shied away from them as a defense mechanism. But she knew that if she was going to See the horcruxes, she'd have to dig deep and not let her mind shy away.
She looked back into the sitting room at the smiling faces of Harry and Sirius. This was how it was supposed to be. She needed to finish this, so they could all have their happy ending. She took a deep breath and nodded to herself. It was time to end it.
May 1, 1981 Rye, England - Black Cottage
Hermione waited for Sirius to leave that morning before going through the setup for her meditation. She'd talked to Sirius about her visions, but she didn't tell him that she'd be actively scrying today. She was worried he'd want to stay home with her, and she wasn't sure that she would be able to scry on demand with an audience. She did, however, inform Lily about her meditations, asking her to check in around noon. Hermione wasn't sure what to expect, but she had a bad feeling in her gut as she sunk down onto the cushion in the dimly-lit spare bedroom.
She lit the candle before her and settled down, clearing her mind. She began her breathing exercises, willing her nerves to unwind themselves, even as the feeling in her gut began to subside. She'd performed this type of scrying several times since she'd seen the Prewett's battle, but none of her visions had been particularly pressing. Added to that, she couldn't seem to get her mind to slow down and focus enough to get a clear image. There was probably nothing to worry about.
She focused on her breath, eyes following the flame. She focused on tracking its movement instead of her nerves. She was prepared to face down whatever horrors she must to bring down this man.
"Voldemort." She said, hoping saying the name aloud would help her focus. "Horcruxes. The locket. The diary."
She felt a strange sensation, like a tug at the edges of her consciousness. Her vision darkened, and she caught a glimmer of something moving at the edges of her vision.
"Tom Riddle." She said, and that must have been the trigger her subconscious needed, because she was suddenly engulfed in images, sounds, smells, a whirlwind of sensations. She let herself get lost in the information for a moment, before bringing her attention back to what she needed.
"Horcruxes." She murmured, and the images filed themselves away, only to be replaced by the image of a young man. Tom Riddle. Hermione looked him over; in his hand, he carried a small black notebook. The diary. As she thought about the diary, another image flashed in front of her eyes, superimposed on the image of Riddle. A desk drawer with a false bottom. The diary was hidden beneath. The image was whisked away and Hermione's eyes refocused on Tom, looking for anything out of place or notable.
He really was handsome, his features sharp, his smile disarming. But his eyes- she couldn't look at them for longer than a minute or so without feeling utterly violated. She searched his body, looking for something, anything- and suddenly, she found it. On his free hand, he wore a signet ring, gold, with a black stone. Regulus had said he didn't wear jewelry, so then what significance did this ring have?
A new image flooded her vision. Tom approached a house, entering without knocking. Hermione watched as the boy, for he was still just a boy, shouted the Killing Curse three times. Three beams of green light lit the room, and the scene changed. She watched the young man modify the memory of a dirty-looking man, watched him hand back the wand he'd killed those people with, but not before taking a ring from the man. The ring that he wore in the image Hermione had seen before. But then, what happened to the ring?
Another image filled her head, a run-down house, a loose floorboard… there was a box there. That had to be it. But where was the house? The image darkened and was swept away. That's all she'd get about the ring, apparently.
Her vision stayed dark for a moment while she processed the information. The diary. The ring. What about the locket? Her vision swam again, images zooming about until one finally came into focus. Riddle was sitting stiffly in an overly-crowded room, next to an old, very large woman in bright pink robes. In his hand, he held a small golden cup.
"A badger," He said, looking over the cup. "Then this was…?"
"Helga Hufflepuff's, as you very well know, you clever boy!" the large woman said.
Hermione frowned, watching the woman tell Riddle all about the cup, before handing it off to a tiny, ancient house elf. She watched as another box was brought before Riddle, a box containing the locket.
"Slytherin's mark." He said quietly. And the image faded to black.
"Of course," Hermione mumbled, ordering her thoughts. "If he was proud of his link to Slytherin, of course he'd go after other possessions of the Founders. He was looking for trophies, after all. Perhaps he wanted the set? Slytherin's locket, Hufflepuff's cup. Maybe there was something left from Gryffindor, or Ravenclaw?"
And just like that, another whirlwind hit her, settling this time on a stone corridor that Hermione was very familiar with. This was Hogwarts. Riddle looked youngin this time, but not of school age; he might have just graduated. He sat on a stone bench, talking with the Grey Lady, but Hermione couldn't hear the words. He smiled at her, nodding and standing, and the scene dissolved, only to be replaced by a dark forest. She watched as Riddle collected something from a tree trunk, dusting it off. It was a silver circlet with an oval sapphire placed in the center, and words she couldn't make out etched into the silver. She had read about Ravenclaw's lost diadem in Hogwarts, A History, but she never thought she'd see it, let alone in the hands of the man who called himself Lord Voldemort. She realized that the Grey Lady must have known all along where the diadem was, and Riddle had charmed it out of her.
Hermione watched Riddle smile down at the horcrux, his eyes flashing red, and the scene faded yet again. Riddle was back in Hogwarts, though it seemed that several years had passed. She watched him pace back and forth in the corridor, seemingly upset. His face was flushed, as though enraged, but he stopped on a dime, turning to face the wall opposite him. He smiled, an expression that gave Hermione chill bumps, as he reached into his robes and pulled out the diadem, before padding to the door set into the wall and slipping inside. Hermione wondered briefly where in the castle he was, until she recognized the tapestry behind him. The room he was entering was the Room of Requirement.
Her vision went black, and for a moment she felt as though she was going to be sick. The room spun around her, her vision doubling and tripling. She wasn't sure what was happening, this had never happened before. Had she been scrying too long? Did she uncover too much? She suddenly found it much harder to breath, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach combining with a tightening in her chest. Was she having a panic attack? While scrying? Was that even possible? Images flooded her head again, but she didn't have the focus to control it. She was lost in a sea of images superimposed on a flame that she couldn't for the life of her look away from.
Suddenly the candle before her was snuffed out, leaving her blinking in the dim room. Silence. She took a deep breath, trying not to hyperventilate when she felt like she couldn't get enough oxygen fast enough. She swayed back and forth for a moment, gathering her thoughts before she realized she was not alone in the room.
"Hermione?" Lily's voice called. Hermione looked up and saw Lily sitting across from her. "Are you alright? I've been sitting here for the past ten minutes and you haven't even noticed me." Hermione frowned.
"Did you blow out the candle?" Hermione asked, piecing things together.
"Yes, ten minutes ago. You were getting paler and having trouble breathing. I figured blowing out the candle would pull you out of the trance." Lily said.
"Thanks," Hermione said. "Something happened, I lost control. I don't know why, but I went into a panic attack," She said, looking down.
"You really shouldn't do this alone anymore, Hermione. What if I hadn't come to check on you in time?" Lily said.
"Yeah, you're right, Lils. If I need to scry again, I'll have someone in the next room." She said. Lily nodded, but Hermione could see in her eyes that she was worried.
"What did you see?" Lily asked, Hermione could hear the concern in her voice.
"Horcruxes." Hermione said, frowning. "Riddle's diary, the signet ring, Hufflepuff's cup, Slytherin's locket, and Ravenclaw's diadem." Hermione said, mostly to herself.
"He's got five?" Lily asked, her eyes wide.
"I think so. Lily, I need to talk to Dumbledore."