Phoenix Tears
By Phoenix Ash
Rating: T
Spoilers: SS, COS, POA, GOF, OOTP, HBP
Category: action/adventure/romance
A.N. I do not own the characters.
Chapter Six
The Showdown
Breakfast was a quiet affair the next day. Hermione was not present. Ginny came down the stairs.
"She's been shouting at me all night and morning." She said to Ron and Harry.
"Well what do we do?"
"We need to go to Dublin."
"Did you just say that we should go to Dublin?" Harry asked incredulously.
"Nothing else will calm her down." She replied crisply.
"I don't understand. Why is she so unstable?" Ron questioned.
"I have no clue." Ginny sighed. "All I know is that she's getting worse. This morning she was cussing at me in some sort of language. At least, I think she was."
"So that's it then? Just go prancing into Dublin without a clue where to look!"
"Hermione's positive she knows where it is exactly."
"We'll do it tonight then." Harry said simply.
"We need to do a lot of stuff then." Ginny replied. "We need to pack and several other things." She looked at the boys. "Well, get started."
Soon, night came and the Weasley household became silent, except for four teenagers.
"Ready?" Harry whispered to Hermione, Ron, and Ginny as he set a letter on the table. They nodded and Hermione grabbed them and they disappeared.
They appeared in a dark cave.
"Now what?" Ron asked.
"This is familiar." Harry said and circled the cavern. "This looks like the cave that we found the fake Horcrux."
"Now what? There's no door." Ginny watched Harry study the walls.
"Ah ha." Harry shouted. He withdrew Dumbledore's bloodstained dagger and cut his palm. He waved his palm and blood spattered the floor and wall. The familiar archway that Harry ha seen once before unveiled itself.
"Follow me."
He led them to the black lake.
"Don't fall in the lake."
"Harry, what is this place?"
"I do not know its name but professor Dumbledore and I have been in a place identical to this one."
"Oh this is pointless," Hermione scoffed, "Accio horcrux!"
"NO!" Harry shouted. Echoes of no's seemed to reverberate against every wall. Something came out of the water and plunge back into its murky depths.
"Don't do that again!" he snapped. Ginny screamed.
"There are people in the water!"
"Inferi."
They followed him to a certain point. Harry groped the air until he clamped down on the chain. He surfaced the boat.
"Hop on."
They climbed aboard and the boat took them away.
"If the Inferi attack, they hate fire."
As they got nearer to the familiar green haze, they realized something.
They were no alone.
Mr. Weasley was awoken in the morning by a scream. He stumbled out of bed and ran downstairs, joining Fred and George and they all burst into the kitchen.
Mrs. Weasley was staring at a letter, pale.
"What?"
Mrs. Weasley handed them the letter.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley,
Ron, Hermione, and Ginny have gone with me to get something. We'll be back later.
"Oh, my god." George shouted, "They've eloped!"
"No they haven't." Mr. Weasley said.
"How would you know?"
"Because I sent an order member to follow them."
The boat touched the stone and they got off and drew their wands.
"You." Harry snarled.
"Me." Peter Pettigrew spat. He was now thin and tall in a black cloak. He drew his wand. "If you even touch that Horcrux, this cavern will blow into a million pieces."
Hermione's eyes glowed blue and with a wave of her hand, Wormtail's wand flew away from him and landed in the basin. Wormtail withdrew a sword out of his cloak and Hermione did the same.
They circled each other until Hermione lunged at him. The swords met with a metallic clang that echoed around the cavern like a scream.
Then the action started. The enemies flew into a complicated fight with plenty of twists and swirls and clangs, like a dance of death.
Harry noticed Tonks on the edge of the bank.
"Tonks! Go to the burrow and tell them we will have wounded!"
She nodded and ran back down the archway.
Hermione ducked as he swung his sword around. She spun to avoid a blow but Wormtail plunge his sword into Hermione's stomach. She screamed and stuck a dagger in his arm.
He hissed in pain. "I will kill you potter!" and he was gone. They rushed to Hermione but found her wound healed.
"Now what?" Ginny asked.
"Now I drink that." Harry said, pointing to the greenish liquid in the basin. "Whatever you do, make sure I drink this, even if you have to force it down my throat. Understood?" they nodded.
He took the cup lying next to the basin, filled it, and drunk it. Images started to form in his head. He saw Ginny being tortured, screaming his name.
"No, no. make it stop."
"Here, Harry, this will make everything all right."
He drunk another cup and saw Ron being whipped.
The third was Hermione dead
The fourth was Fred all bloodied and barely alive.
By the fifth, he was crying uncontrollably.
It went on until the basin was dry and he returned to normal.
"When we take the horcrux, we need to apparate to town."
He took the book and they apparated into town and ran home.
"We're home!" Harry called. They ran up to Ron's room before the rest of the weasleys could confront them.
"Ok, we need to do this fast." Harry said. He drew the dagger and stabbed the book. A shockwave went up his arm and it threw him against the wall. Pain ebbed from his hand and he fell unconscious.
I hoped you enjoyed it. Just to tell you, we have not seen the last of Wormtail. Thank you. Please read and review!