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Chapter 23

"The horcrux was feeding off her but it was also using her to control the basilisk, the basilisk recognised her as the Heir of Slytherin, she could even speak Parseltongue…"Harry froze after he had said that last line.

"Harry?" Hermione turned to look at him, concerned why he had stopped speaking in the middle of a sentence, only to find Harry had a stunned look on his face. He dropped his sandwich, not out of any conscious decision but because he simply forgot to keep hold of it. He then raised his hand to the scar that was on his forehead over his right eye, a look of mixed realisation, fear, and rage on his face.

"God fucking damn it!"

"Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione sounded afraid, not of Harry but at whatever was coming that had gotten this reaction out of her Harry.

"Tell me Professor, how long have you known?" Harry's voice was cold.

"Known what, Harry?" Hermione asked, clearly worried.

"I'm a horcrux. That's why I can speak to snakes and that's why I have visions of what Voldemort is seeing. And he has known about it for years." Harry pointed at Dumbledore when he said that last sentence.

"And just when should I have told you? When do you tell someone that they harbour a fraction of one of the darkest souls currently walking the earth?" Dumbledore stared at his food, refusing to look up.

"How about when you found out we threw out the laws of time to fight this war?" Hermione snapped. "Or when we gave you the location of the ring horcrux with a way to destroy it. You can't hide behind the idea that we weren't ready, not after what we have done. Now tell the truth, why didn't you tell us?" Harry felt his heart warm a little that Hermione was still using words like us. If he feared one thing from this, it was that Hermione, his foundation, his port in a storm, would distance herself from the disgusting thing he was now they knew the truth.

Dumbledore looked up at them and Harry saw just how old the man had become. He was tired, of the wars, of the loss, of life. "And give the opportunity for the shard to affect you even more? You're dark enough already."

"What?!" Both Harry and Hermione shouted at the same time. But Hermione continued, "How can you possibly think Harry is going dark?"

"How can I not? First year the soul shard was protecting you from my Legilimency probes, then on Halloween you killed poor Quirinus without a shred of remorse. Second year you befriend a basilisk, one of the darkest creatures ever created, which was first made by the same individual who invented horcruxes. You manipulated the Minister of Magic like a master to get your godfather out of prison. At the Quidditch World Cup, you killed Lucius Malfoy and permanently injured a number of people, including Miss Payne's father. Then, when you got back to school you stripped Mr. Malfoy of his magic and once again manipulated Cornelius into doing what you wanted, getting him to order the destruction of three souls. Given all that, how could you possibly think you still stand in the light?"

Harry just stared at the headmaster unbelieving. Hermione, on the other hand, replied with a rather loud, "What a load of cherry picked bullshit! Talk about the worst possible interpretation of events."

"Okay Dumbledore, I'll answer every single one of your charges, and when I'm done you can answer mine." How dare Dumbledore call him dark after everything he had been through? "Let's see, your first charge was that the Horcrux was protecting me from your Legilimency probe. That's nothing but a misdirection. I was acting. Why? Because my Occlumency is not very good; I can tell when someone tries to probe me,, but I'm not good at stopping them. So I had a plan to keep illegal-mind-reading headmasters from learning that Hermione and I had travelled back in time. Absolutely nothing to do with dark magic.

"Your second charge: Killing Quirrell. Let's not forget that the man was involved with trying to restore Voldemort to a full body, and all the while he was killing unicorns to keep his body from falling apart. The man was already dead and didn't know it. All keeping him alive would have done was torture him, sacrifice a few unicorns, and risk the Philosopher's Stone, as luck is a factor. Let's not forget that the only reason Voldemort was in a school full of kids was because you decided to move the stone here rather than putting it in a random location protected by a Fidelius charm. In fact the only reason I can see for you to bring the stone here is that you wanted to see how Voldemort and I would react to one another." Dumbledore once again refused to look at Harry, and Harry knew he had hit the nail on the head with that accusation. Hermione gave the headmaster a hard look at the idea he had personally endangered the school.

"Now, my manipulation of the Minister of Magic to get my godfather out of prison. Let's not forget who exactly the Chief Warlock was who never got my innocent godfather a trial? I was serving both the law and the good and no one got hurt. Next, you claim I killed Lucius Malfoy. What made you come to that conclusion?" Harry got up and started pacing back-and-forth behind his and Hermione's chairs.

Dumbledore picked up his spoon and absent-mindedly stirred his soup as he spoke "I investigated once you took it upon yourself to pay for her education. It was obvious you felt guilty about something. You were at the campground, no one saw who cast the curse, and I know about the invisibility cloak. A few memories from people who were there, timing from when the two of you vanished. It wouldn't hold up in the Wizengamot, but it was enough for me to know."

"Well, fine. I killed him and injured the other Death Eaters," Harry admitted "I was aiming to injure, not kill, but these things happen in combat. I would have preferred him to go to prison like the others."

"Don't you see, Harry, that when you killed him you removed any chance to save his soul?" Dumbledore looked disappointed.

Harry started to wonder if the man was senile. "Save his soul? He didn't want to be saved. He had his second chance at the end of the war and what did he do with it? He taught his son to be a blood bigot and encouraged him to bring the war to a new generation. Then he was the one who gave Voldemort's Horcrux to an innocent eleven year old girl so that she would order the basilisk to kill students. If allowed to live or go free the man would kill people, a lot of them. Did I mean to kill him? No. Am I sorry I killed him? Again no. You can't save a person who refuses to see what they are doing is wrong. Am I sorry Mr Payne was hurt? Yes, and I will do what I can for him and his family. A full ride scholarship for any magical children they have seems like a good start.

"And your last accusation is basically feeding three men to the Dementors. Let's start with Pettigrew and Crouch Jr. Tell me sir, what is the penalty, by treaty with the Dementors, for someone who unlawfully escapes Azkaban? Is it not already the Dementors' Kiss? For them I only hastened a sentence that they were already guaranteed and prevented anyone from trying to break them out of holding while they waited for a trial. As for Voldemort, do you think anything short of the Kiss could have done anything to him? What else should I have done? Let him get a body back and throw wizarding Britain back into another civil war? Well I've already seen that, and I refuse to see it again." Harry took his seat.

"I noticed you left out your friendship with the basilisk." Dumbledore didn't sound smug, but the words grated nevertheless.

"It's just a magical animal, no different than a dragon: powerful and dangerous though it may be, it's no more evil than a dragon is. Just because some people who can control them have them do evil things doesn't make that evil part of their nature. Can you imagine what would happen if those same types of people could control dragons? The basilisk is more than happy to stay where she is and leave the students alone. If my visits keep her that way, I don't understand the problem."

"You admonish me for bringing the stone to the school but see no problem with the basilisk?" Dumbledore sounded disbelieving.

"Then give me somewhere else to take her. I'm sure we could move her in the summer holidays when there are no students."

"You seek to save a monster that has killed people but condemn people who kill. Do you not hear yourself?" Dumbledore sounded a little desperate.

"The difference is choice! The basilisk was never given one, just following orders she was given in Parseltongue. Those people all had a choice after the war ended, and they chose to keep on killing people. They made their choices, and if I have to be I will be the consequences." Harry got up out of his chair and left the headmaster's office.

Hermione got up to follow Hardy but just before she left she turned to the old man. "I noticed you didn't answer for your deeds. From where I stand, you are far darker than Harry. Harry doesn't manipulate it so that innocent people are the ones who suffer and die. Here's a question for you to think on: just how much has Auror and Healer recruitment fallen since you had to start constantly telling people that 'Professor Snape has your complete trust,' all so you can have a ready made spy for a war that Harry has already prevented from happening? Have a good day, professor." And with that she left the room to go help Harry, who had just realised that he has a portion of his parents' murderer stuck in his forehead.

-ϟϟϟ-

Hermione eventually found Harry brooding in the astronomy tower staring at the Quidditch pitch.

"We should break up." Harry said sadly when Hermione moved to stand next to him.

"Fuck that." Hermione's response was immediate and adamant.

"But-" Harry tried to speak but Hermione cut him off.

"No buts, Harry. I love you. I don't care what you're facing. From now on you'll face it with me standing by your side. We have dealt with most of Voldemort already, and if we have to deal with the part in your head as well, then that's what we'll do." Hermione stated firmly.

"We both know the only way to destroy a Horcrux is to destroy whatever is holding it. I need to die." Harry said sadly but resolutely.

Hermione suddenly realised that was why Harry had come to the astronomy tower. He was thinking of throwing himself off it, not because he was depressed, but because he thought that this was the only way to keep everyone else safe. She forced herself not to panic and answered him calmly. "Seems a little drastic Harry. For one, we don't actually know if a Horcrux can't be removed, and secondly you're not really a Horcrux."

Harry looked at her disbelievingly. "Hermione, there has to be a piece of him in me, it's the only thing that makes sense."

"Oh don't misunderstand, there is probably a soul fragment there, though we should probably test that before doing anything drastic. No, what I mean is creating a full stable Horcrux needs an entire set of rituals that are complicated and takes a full day to perform. One of the first rituals is preparing the container to accommodate the soul fragment. I doubt that his soul fragment is as tightly bound to you as the other fragments are to their containers. Plus, the one in you is safely contained. The only problems it has ever given you are from its connection to the others. If we can destroy the one in the cup – or is it in LeStrange now? Not that that matters right now, but if that last shard is destroyed then there is nothing your little hitchhiker can do but just sit there and watch you lead a happy life."

"What if it takes me over like the diary did Ginny?" Harry asked, but Hermione could see his resolve melting.

"If, and it's a big if. If it comes to that. I will stop you myself." Said Hermione with conviction.

They both knew what wasn't being said: stopping Harry at that point would mean killing him. Doing that would destroy Hermione, but neither doubted that she would do it. Not for the witches and wizards out there, but she would do it for him. She wouldn't let him suffer watching out of his own eyes as Voldemort used his body to restart his reign of terror. Harry was reminded of what Hermione had done to her parents in the previous timeline to keep them safe. That had almost broken her, and killing him would definitely break her, but that wouldn't stop her if he needed her to do it.

"Hermione, I…" Harry didn't know what to say so he just pulled her into him, wrapped her up in his arms, and kissed her. The two stayed like that for over an hour before they returned to the rest of the castle, only now realising that they had now missed three quarters of their Potions lesson.

-ϟϟϟ-

Bellatrix LeStrange continued to attack randomly over the next two months, but Harry nor anyone else he talked to could make any sense of it. Despite the first attack targeting a muggleborn and his wife, she wasn't attacking homes with muggle born witches or wizards. There seemed to be no pattern to the attacks: muggleborn, purebloods, half bloods, progressives, and traditionalists. There wasn't even a geographical pattern. Twice Harry had seen a student being taken aside by their head of house only to learn later that day they had been orphaned by an attack.

Of course, reading the news and trying to predict where the next attack was going to be wasn't all Harry and Hermione were doing. After everyone had calmed down from meeting with the headmaster, Hermione had gone to speak with the man about the Horcrux books. She wanted access to them so she could try and work out how to remove the soul shard from Harry. Dumbledore had not been in favour of the idea, he thought that it was a waste of time. Hermione couldn't tell if Dumbledore thought that it was impossible so hadn't even tried himself, or if he just believed that Hermione couldn't work out a solution when the great Dumbledore had failed to find a solution. In the end, Hermione convinced him, but Dumbledore insisted that the books and Hermione's notes never leave his office and Hermione had to take an Unbreakable Vow to only use the knowledge she gained to destroy Horcruxes, and that she would extract a similar oath from any one she shared the information with in the future. It rubbed her the wrong way that Dumbledore didn't trust her, but as the magic she was researching was so repugnant, she agreed to the vow.

Harry spent his time cashing in on his fame a little to get a meeting with the Minister of Magic. As much as Harry hated Floo travel, he had to admit (as he picked himself up off the floor of the Minister for Magic's office) that it was quick. Even if you included the time Harry spent putting himself back together after the trip, Scotland to London's inner-city in less than three minutes was fast.

"Mr Potter, good to see you," said Minister Fudge from behind his desk. "Please have a seat." He indicated one of the chairs in front of his desk. "Can I offer you a drink, uh, perhaps a cup of tea?" It was clear that the minister only remembered that Harry was still under age at the last moment.

The pink toad Umbridge was seated in a chair to the side of the minister's rather overly large desk. Harry had hoped that this meeting would be just him and the minister, but there was nothing he could reasonably say to get rid of the disgusting sack of hatred that had disguised itself as a human. Instead he did his best to ignore her and nodded to the minister as he sat down. "Afternoon, Minister, and thank you for the offer but I'm fine, thank you."

"Well, Mr Potter, what can I do for you? I must admit to finding your letter requesting this meeting rather mysterious." The older man smiled, trying to pull off the appearance of an approachable adult, but it was clear that the man had little to no experience with teenagers and was treating Harry as younger than he appeared to be.

"Well, Minister, I was hoping to discuss the case of Bellatrix LeStrange," Harry said confidently.

The minister's demeanour changed immediately. He sat up a little straighter and looked a little more confident in himself, apparently more comfortable with topics like this than anything he thought a teenager would have been looking to speak with him about. "Harry, you must understand I can't divulge information about an active investigation. Not even to someone as respected as yourself."

Harry gave the man a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Minister, I'm not looking for you to tell me anything, but rather I have an idea what the escaped convict may be planning."

"Oh, then please tell me what you know."

"'Know' is too strong a word. But I think the logic is sound. To cut to the chase, I think you need to beef up security at Azkaban –"

The pink toad interrupted Harry. "Are you saying that the Ministry is not living up to its responsibilities?" Her voice had the forced sweetness that he remembered and loathed.

"Well, that has to be the worst possible interpretation of what I actually said." Harry didn't even look at her as he spoke. He turned back to the minister. "Cornelius, let's see if you agree with my thoughts on this, and then you can decide if there needs to be more done to protect Azkaban or not." Harry tried to come across as a confident adult, and as he was actually twenty two he was doing a fairly good job of it. Cornelius nodded for Harry to continue.

"Okay, so the first thing I was trying to work out was what LeStrange's motivation is. If I could figure out her motivation, then maybe we can predict where she will be and we can lay a trap and hopefully put this unpleasantness behind us. Now, Minister, would you agree with me that LeStrange is a fanatic? A true believer in not only Voldemort –" the two jumped at the name "– but also the message he spread. So her long term goal will probably involve restarting the war. At least that's what I think, do you agree?"

Fudge looked contemplative for a while, then looked a little worried. Harry understood why, he was most definitely a peacetime minister and no-one would trust him to fight a war. "I'm afraid I can see her trying that. Not that I think she will be successful, not many in the country would be willing to follow her. After the riot at the Quidditch World Cup, a lot of people who are more agreeable to the traditionalist message are in Azkaban."

Harry smiled as the minister had made half of his point for him "Exactly, Minister, so you can see then where the problem is. The people who LeStrange needs are all gathered in a prison that she knows how to break out of. If anyone knows how to plan a prison break it's LeStrange, and with her in charge of that group, I think any hope of avoiding another war will be little more than a dream," Harry explained.

"So you want me to beef up security at Azkaban. I wish I could say to you that you are worrying over nothing and to go back to school and let us worry about LeStrange, but your worries make too much sence." Fudge went and poured himself a glass of brandy. After warring with himself for a moment, he offered to pour Harry one and looked a little relieved when Harry turned it down. They spent another hour talking about what could be done and came up with a few plans to improve security on the island prison. Umbridge was a naysayer the whole time, Harry had had to promise to declare who he was voting for as the Head of House Potter in the next election for the minister (as he would be of age at the time) because Umbridge kept saying that Fudge would lose the vote of the traditionalists if he enacted one plan or the other. However when Harry left he was confident that Fudge would do something.

-ϟϟϟ-

Halloween, despite how nervous Harry had been, passed without incident. He had expected something, but the worst that happened was that Snape gave them a rather disgusting potion to brew in class. It was particularly nasty because you needed to add the slime of a flobberworm when it was fresh, meaning they had to extract the slime by hand while brewing the potion. So, Harry went down to breakfast the next morning in a rather good mood. It was the start of the Quidditch season, and he would be playing against Hufflepuff in a few days. Harry had missed Quidditch last year and the match against the Hufflepuffs was always a fun one. The Puffs played hard, but fair.

Feeling hungry today, Harry loaded his plate with beans, sausage, hash browns and some fried eggs. He was about halfway through his breakfast when his morning copy of the Daily Prophet was delivered, ruining the rest of his appetite. Underneath the headline of 'LeStrange Strikes Again!' was a picture of a burning house, the Dark Mark clearly visible flying over the roof. It was Number 4 Privet Drive.