A/n: The world of Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling only. I'm not making any money by writing this, and hopefully no one is paying any money to read it.
Post HBP - Harry returns to Privet Drive one last time before setting out on his quest to find and destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes. He finds himself facing his most dangerous adventure yet, and it all comes down to the final confrontation between the 'Boy-Who-Lived' and The Dark Lord. Well, If Harry survives that long.
Chapters 1 and 2 are going to be redone and expanded into more chapters. After reading it over a few times, I see some things that I would like to describe in more detail, as well as some things that were just god-awful.
Harry Potter and The Journey to the End
By GavinChaos
Harry Potter shifted slightly in his sleep, visions of his former Headmaster and mentor, Albus Dumbledore, flitting in and out of his dreams. As in every other dream, Dumbledore was holding a locket, just out of reach of Harry's outstretched fingers. The locket was large, with a black S encrusted on it. And just like every other dream, just as Harry felt his fingers brush against the cold metal of the locket, he woke up.
Sunlight streamed into the smallest bedroom in number 4 Privet Drive. This sunlight, it seemed, was directly aimed at Harry's eyes, taunting him with it's brilliance and accuracy in singling out his eyes from the two other pairs of eyes in the room.
Groaning, Harry sat up and felt around for his glasses. Putting them on, his meticulously clean room came in to focus and he was able to see clearly, the red headed form of Ron Weasley and the bushy hair of Hermione Granger still sleeping. Hermione was sleeping on the bed, as Ron and Harry slept in cots that Hermione had conjured. Both seemed quite undisturbed, which heightened Harry's suspicions that the Sunlight was playing a cruel joke on him.
Looking over at the clock on his bedside table, Harry saw that it was seven in the morning. As it was a Saturday, he doubted that the Dursleys would be awake for another hour. Yawning just loudly enough that Hermione woke up (Ron merely grunted and pushed his head under his pillow), Harry stood up and scratched the back of his head.
"Morning Harry." Hermione said sleepily, rubbing her eyes and blinking a few times to clear her vision.
"Morning Hermione. Sleep well?" He asked, grinning.
"In a room with two boys? Ha." She said, but she grinned as well.
"What was it you told your parents again?" Harry asked, feeding Pig and Hedwig some owl treats.
"Oh, you know, that I would be staying with you guys before Bill and Fleur's wedding."
"Didn't bother telling them that you wouldn't be at the Burrow?"
"They never asked." She said simply
They both laughed quietly, and looked over at Ron who was currently thrashing in his sheets. They were quite alarmed, thinking perhaps something was wrong with him until they heard his muted voice as he rolled off his cot and hit the floor with a dull thud.
"Anyone gonna help me get out of here?" He bellowed, though it was still hard to hear him as he was wrapped head to foot in his sheets.
Laughing openly, Hermione rushed over to him and helped untangle him. When he was finally free, he sucked in a great breath of air and looked around, his eyes wild and his hair going in every which direction.
Harry, grinning, said "Well maybe if you slept in your sheets instead of wrestling with them, you might not nearly die."
"Stuff it, Potter." Ron yawned, digging at his eyes with the back of his hands. "What time is it anyway?"
"A little after seven." Hermione said, bewitching the cots to clean themselves. She had been doing this for the two days since they had arrived. The room, which was usually very messy, was now the cleanest one in the house, much to the chagrin of Aunt Petunia.
"So how long are we going to stay here, Harry?" Hermione asked, looking up from her handiwork.
"A couple more days ought to do it, then we can head over to the Burrow to get ready for the wedding." Harry said, rummaging in his closest for towels and clean clothes.
"You taking the bathroom first, Hermione?" Ron asked, digging in his trunk for the same items.
"Well, if you don't mind." Hermione said, grinning. Ron always wanted the bathroom first since Hermione usually took ages.
"Of course not." Ron said, a slight frown on his face. "Harry and me can go and get some breakfast."
"You're not cooking again, are you?" Harry and Hermione asked in unison, looks of alarm on their face.
"What's wrong with that?" Ron asked indignantly.
"Well nothing...except that I thought I might need a bezoar after yesterday." Harry said jokingly, while not joking at all.
Ron grumbled something about not getting any respect before slouching out of the room, taking particular care to tread down the stair as loud as he could. He was rewarded with a shout from Uncle Vernon, who had been awakened like that once already and was in no mood to repeat the occasion.
Harry laughed and followed Ron down the stairs while Hermione went off toward the bathroom, also chuckling. Arriving in the kitchen, Harry spotted Ron rooting through the refrigerator for stuff to cook.
"Aunt Petunia should be down in a little bit. Perhaps we should just let her cook something. you know how she is with magic, and everything." Harry said innocently, hoping dearly that Ron wouldn't just blow him off and start cooking.
Ron looked up, his eyes narrowed, but then relented and sat down at the square table. Harry joined him, hoping he didn't look to relieved, after starting some coffee.
"So after the wedding, when do you want to set out for Godric's Hollow?" Ron asked, looking out the window.
"I don't want to stay too long. It'll be best to get a move on as soon as possible." Harry said, trying hard not to think about Ginny, as he would be reunited with her at the Burrow, but then leaving her again.
"Any idea what we're looking for once we get there?"
"Not really. I just feel that the Hollow would be the best place to start."
"Good point." Ron said, then looked at him seriously. "We'll have to go by the Ministry, though. We need to pass our Apparition test."
Harry groaned. "Bugger, I forgot about that. Yeah, I suppose your right. Shouldn't be too hard, I've pretty much have it down. I just don't want to be anywhere that Scrimgeour might corner me. He's still desperate to have me say I'm doing his bidding."
"Git." Was Ron's simple reply.
"Alright right then, you've woken us all up, again, so I'll suppose I'll start breakfast." Aunt Petunia said loudly, bursting into the room.
The Dursleys has been very civil with Harry while he was here, even consenting to having his friends join him. Of course, they all had to stay in the same room, but it wasn't as bad as it could be.
Hermione came down just as Aunt Petunia served breakfast. They always ate first, and then left the house so that Harry's relatives could enjoy their own breakfast without worrying about being cursed. Aunt Petunia left the kitchen with just a small look of loathing, and the three of the dug in, discussing the upcoming wedding, and then their plans for their journey.
"Well, it's obvious we should track down whoever this R.A.B. is, isn't it?" Hermione said after taking a sip of Coffee.
"Yeah, we have to find out if he really destroyed the Horcrux or not, right?" Ron agreed, looking at Harry.
Harry nodded and took a bite of his eggs, thinking hard about the letter in the fake Horcrux.
"I think we should also pay a visit to Professor Slughorn." He said after a while.
He was rewarded with looks of shock, Ron actually started choking on his toast.
Patting Ron on the back, Hermione continued to stare at Harry. "What do we need to see him for?" She asked.
"I need him to brew some more Felix Felicis. We'll be on the move too much to brew it ourselves and I trust he'll get it right, anyway." Harry said.
"You think we'll need it?" Ron asked, his face slightly red from choking.
"Hopefully not, but I'd like to have it just in case."
"Well, it's your call mate. You think he'll do it?"
"Slughorn is still going to be teaching at Hogwarts since they decided to keep it open, right?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"Well he told me last term that he isn't getting paid as much as he likes. So I'll pay him for the job. I'll pay him as much as he likes."
"Watch out if you say that in front of him, mate, he'll clean you out. How much do you want him to brew?"
"Three pints. One for each of us."
"Well, there goes a good lot of your gold, Harry." Hermione said, looking uncomfortable.
"It'll be worth it."
Three days passed without much activity, and the night before they were to set off toward the Burrow, Hermione owl ordered some Oak Matured Mead from Tom at the Leaky Cauldron who imported from Madam Rosemerta. They all drank a good amount of mead, and for a while, they forgot about Dumbledore's death, and their quest.
"Is everything ready?" Harry asked, after Hermione banished all their belongings to the Burrow, just as Dumbledore had done last year.
"Everything's fine, Harry." Hermione said, closing her eyes and adopting a look of concentration on her face.
Harry had said goodbye to the Dursleys (who looked happier that Harry had seen them in sixteen years) and Ron, Hermione and himself we standing together in the garden in the back yard.
"Alright, I think I'm ready." Hermione said, holding out her hands. Since Ron and Harry hadn't passed their Apparition tests, Hermione would be doing a double side-long apparition.
Taking Hermione's left hand. while Ron took her right, Harry hoped his confidence in Hermione's ability would prove correct.
"Nervous?" Ron asked. "We could wait, I suppose, maybe call the Knight Bus."
"I'm fine, just shut up." Hermione snapped.
Ron looked slightly cowed, but Harry grinned.
"Here we go." Hermione whispered, and suddenly the now all too familiar feeling of compression from every side came to Harry.
It was over quickly, and Harry, Ron and Hermione found themselves outside the front door of the Burrow. Ron, breaking away from the other, bounded up the steps and threw open the door.
"Pertrifius Totalis!" Two people shouted in unison, and Ron fell to the ground, as rigid as a board.
"Damn, Ron. You need to at least announce yourself before barging in like that." Fred said, muttering the counter jinx while Harry, Hermione and George roared with laughter.
"Yeah, teach me to ever come home again." Ron said, pulling himself to his feet.
"Good reflexes, guys." Harry said, grinning as everyone went inside.
"Learned from the best, Harry." George said.
"Oh are they here already?" Mrs. Weasley said, coming in from the kitchen wearing an apron with a touch of cooking powder on her nose.
"Hello Mrs. Weasley." Harry and Hermione said, giving he a hug.
"The three of you look starved. Into the kitchen now, I just finished cooking dinner and since you've had quite a distance to come you'll be eating first." Mrs. Weasley said sternly.
"Yes Ma'am." All the of them said, knowing it would be better to shove their wands into a dragon's nose than argue with the Weasley Family Matriarch.
When everyone had settled down for dinner (Bill and Fleur were off in town having dinner at a quaint little restaurant and Charlie was off at work and would be arriving in the morning) Mr. Weasley started asking Ron what it was like to actually be in a muggle house for days at a time. He seemed quite proud of his son for achieving something that he himself hadn't done.
"It was great Dad, just like being here except Harry's Aunt isn't that much better at cooking than me."
Harry looked over at Ginny, who was sitting next to him, and both of them broke in to silent laughs. Under the table, she took his hand in hers. He smiled at her and held her hand throughout the rest of dinner.
"Well, we should all head up to bed a bit early tonight. Such a big day tomorrow. Oh I hope those two get back here at a decent hour, I don't want them looking half dead in their wedding outfits." Mrs. Weasley said, putting the dirty dishes in the sink and waving her wand, which caused them to clean themselves.
"Up to bed, now everyone."
Harry and Ron arrived up at the attic, followed by Fred and George since both Charlie and Fred would be sharing a room. Hermione, Ginny and Fleur would be in Ginny's room.
"G'night everyone." Harry said, settling into his sleeping bag that had been set out.
They all murmured their good nights, and soon Harry drifted off to sleep.
Studying for O.W.L.s, Practicing for upcoming Quidditch matches, scurrying around making sure he had everything before leaving for school, nothing compared to the hectic-ness that bordered on hysteria of the morning of the wedding. It seemed everyone was running around trying to get something done. There were more than seven collisions on the stairs and many shouts about this and that.
Harry, who didn't really have anything to do was trying to help out where ever he could, but was finding the madness of it all quite confusing. The garden had been de-gnomed, the cake had been prepared(Mrs. Weasley nearly killed Ron when he tried to taste it) and the garden had been expanded to fit the hundred or so people arriving. The wedding wasn't for four hours, but already it seemed that these things were far too much trouble than what they were worth.
His thoughts of this were ended very suddenly when Bill, who was hopping on one foot, desperately searching for his other dress shoe collided with him and they both fell to the ground.
"Sorry about that, Harry." Bill grunted, pulling him up.
"Nothing to worry about." Harry said grinning and straightening his glasses. "You look good. Like the earring."
"Oh yeah, Fred and George gave 'em to me." He said grinning and flicking the ball and chain earring. "You haven't seen my shoe, have you?"
"I think Crookshanks might have gotten hold of it, actually." Said Harry.
"That blasted cat!" Bill yelled before running off.
After all the fuss, the wedding passed very quickly. A slightly bored looking man led the couple as they exchanged vows, and everyone clapped as they shared their first kiss as husband and wife (The twins whistled and make gestures), and many people flooed of apparated to the Leaky Cauldron for the reception.
It was around his third mug of mead when Harry spotted Horace Slughorn talking to someone Harry didn't know. Walking over to him and plastering a great smile on his face, Harry said loudly.
"Hello Professor Slughorn!"
Slughorn spun around, his eyes lit up with delight.
"Harry m'boy! It's been too long, too long indeed!" He said, shaking Harry's hand vigorously.
"I know, Professor." Harry lied, still smiling as if he wanted nothing more than to spend all of his days with the Potions teacher.
"What have you been up to, Harry? Staying out of trouble I hope." Slughorn said, winking.
"Oh, you know me, Professor. How have you been, staying at Hogwarts over the summer?"
"Oh well...no..I've been staying at...well..." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Headquarters."
"Ah, I understand." Harry said, thinking fast. "Well that's good, because I needed to drop by there in a few days anyway."
"You do?" Slughorn asked, looking puzzled
"Oh yes, the house is mine, after all. Maybe we can have lunch while I'm there. There is something I need to ask you for."
"Anything at all m'boy! What can I do for you?"
Harry dropped the look he had been wearing and adopted a look of complete seriousness. "I need three pints of Felix Felicis."
Slughorn looked highly uncomfortable for a few moments, but then Harry held out his money bag and shoves a good amount of Galleons into the Professor's hand. "There will be a lot more when the job is done, sir."
"Of course, Harry." Slughorn said, looking around slightly and depositing the Galleons in his pocket. "It shouldn't take me but a few weeks.
Harry looked confused for a moment. "But you said that it takes six months."
"Oh yes, but I still have a bit of finished Felix at headquarters, you just use that as a base for mixing the potion and it cuts the time right down."
"I see, well thank you, sir. I'll see you in a few days to discuss the...details."
Professor Slughorn went off to join his friend and Harry looked around for the others. Ron and Hermione were enjoying a quiet drink by themselves and Ginny was chatting to Gabrielle. Walking over to her, she smiled and said goodbye to Harry, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him out of the door. Once outside, she threw herself into his arms and started kissing him fiercely.
Harry's first dim thought was to struggle, but he gave in to her kisses and wrapped his arms around her.
All too soon, though, the day arrived when Harry needed to go to Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Packing up his things, with Ron and Hermione. They bade goodbye to the rest of the Weasley family.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had openly protested Ron not going to school and going off with Harry on a mission they knew nothing about, but after Ron stated, quite clearly, that he was going no matter what, they relented, though very unwillingly. Harry had no idea what Hermione had told her parents, but whatever it was, it worked.
After another apparition, they arrive right in front of the doorstep to headquarters. Since Dumbledore was the previous secret keeper of the house, McGonagall became the secret keeper once he had died. Ron and Hermione had received letters telling them how to find it a couple of days previously. Harry, who now owned Number 12 Grimmauld Place, didn't need one.
Knocking on the door quietly, they only waited a few moments before Professor McGonagall opened the door and let them in.
"It's good to see you, Harry." She said, looking at him with a concerned expression on her face.
"It's good to see you too, Professor." Harry said, smiling slightly.
"I would like to have a word with you in private, please." She said looking at Ron and Hermione.
"Of course, Ma'am." Harry said, and looked at his two friends as well. "Talk to you later, guys."
McGonagall and Harry made their way into the living room of the Black Manor. Sitting down on a couple of uncomfortable armchairs, McGonagall pointed her wand at the fireplace where roaring flames came to life.
"Well, I know I've heard your answer before, but I must ask again, Harry. You do not plan to return to Hogwarts, along with Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger?" She asked, the fire reflected in her eyes.
"That's correct, Professor. And you know I can't tell you what it is that we'll be doing.' Harry said firmly
"Very well. I will not bother you for further information. There is something else, though." She said, sounding grave.
Harry stared at her for a moment when she started fiddling with something in the pocket of her robes. "What is it Professor?"
McGonagall smiled slightly and held up a golden chain attached to a red, round pendant. "This is called 'Athena's Eye', Harry. I've carried it with me for a long time. I'm still not sure of it's enchantments, but I know that it will reflect minor curses. I want you to wear this while on your journey."
Harry stared wide-eyed at the Professor for a moment, speechless. "I couldn't Professor...I.."
"I insist, Mr. Potter." McGonagall said, sounding stern.
Harry smiled weakly before accepting the gift, clasping it around his neck. "Thank you, Professor."
"I will miss seeing you around Hogwarts, Harry. And I expect you to give me that back when you are finished with your quest."
Sleep came easy that night for Harry, and for once in a long time, he didn't have any dreams.
Stepping in to the kitchen the next morning, Harry was glad to see that the only occupant was Professor Slughorn.
"Good morning, Sir." Harry said, sitting down opposite him.
"Morning, Harry. How are you today?"
"Quite well, sir. Have you started what I needed done?"
"Of course, m'boy. It'll be ready in no time." Slughorn said, smiling.
"Good, my birthday is in two day and I'll be spending a bit of time at the Ministry for Apparition testing with Ron."
"Well I wish you the best of luck with that, Harry."
They both chuckled lightly at the comment before some Order members came in to the room. Before long, the Kitchen was full of chatter with people having breakfast, so Harry and Professor Slughorn couldn't talk much more.
"Harry Birthday!" Was the first thing Harry head, before he was, not for the first time, hit in the head in order to wake up.
"Ron, how many times do I have to tell you not to hit a person when they're waking up?" Hermione said, sounding both severe and amused at the same time.
"S'alright, Hermione. I'll get him back in due time." Harry said groggily. He put on his glasses and looked at the large pile of presents by the bed. "Guess I better get started on that, huh?"
Fred and George had given Harry a lot of items that weren't even on their shelves yet with a note that all of them had been tested and even sent some pictures of the testing to assure him. One of which was a great ball shaped invention that caused the illusion that there were more than one of the user. Mrs. Weasley had also sent a large amount of sweets and Professor Slughorn had given him a book on potion making.
After eating a heart breakfast and thanking everyone for their Happy Birthday wishes, Harry and Ron, along with Hermione, flooed to the Ministry. When they arrived, Hermione went off to see about the tests, while Harry walked over to the Fountain of Magical Brethren which had been reconstructed.
Hermione came back after a moment and they set off to the Apparition testing. They expected a line of some sort, but the place had very few people and they didn't have to wait long at all.
"Hello there, I'm Mrs. Hearting, I'll be your examiner today. If you will follow me, we'll go to the testing area." A small, willowy looking woman said after walking up to them.
They followed her through a set of double doors and Harry nearly gaped as he emerged at a perfect replica of Diagon Alley. The only difference was that this place was completly empty.
"Now if you could apparate from this spot over to where Flourish and Blotts is, please." The examiner said politely.
Harry looked over to Flourish and Blotts and closed his eyes. Focusing on getting there without moving his feet, he felt the familiar compression and opened his eyes right outside the front doors of the book store. With a faint pop, Ron joined him with, thankfully, both eyebrows still on his face.
"Looks like we passed, eh mate?" Ron said, grinning.
Harry grinned too. "Looks like."
When they received their Apparition licenses, they all Apparated back to Grimmauld Place and ate a large lunch. Harry was strangely pleased with himself for passing on the first try. He hadn't realized that he it meant much to him. He wondered vaguely if his dad had passed on the first try. But then, he probably did. He was very intelligent, him and Remus and Sirius.
"I'll be right back, guys." Harry said, trying to sound as cheerful as he felt a few moments before.
Leaving the two of them, he made his was into the drawing room and walked over to the tapestry on the wall showing the Black Family Tree. Running his fingers over the spot where Sirius' name ought to have been but was now a small burnt hole, he looked over at the name beside it.
Regulus Black. Harry stared at the name for a few moments before rushing toward one of the cabinets in the room. Throwing it open, he started pulling everything he could get his hands on out, searching for a heavy locket that they had found two years ago. Harry spotted it and lifted it up.
'This is it." Harry said faintly, running his finger along the black S that was encrusted into the locket. "It was Regulus that took the Horcrux. That was why Voldemort killed him."
Harry dashed out of the room and burst into the Kitchen, startling Ron and Hermione.
"Harry what is it?" Hermione asked, looking alarmed.
"The Horcrux. The one Dumbledore ended up dying trying to get." Harry said, holding the locket up.
"Oh my god. Is that it?" Hermione said rushing over to him. She took the locket in her hands and examined it in fascination.
"How'd you find it?" Ron asked, joining Hermione.
"I didn't find it. Regulus Black did." Harry said.
"Sirius' brother?"
"The very same."
"This is amazing, Harry!" Hermione said, looking astounded. "But how can we tell if it is no longer a Horcrux."
"I don't know, but there's someone in the house who does." Harry said. "Slughorn knew a lot about Horcruxes, let's see if he knows how to get rid of them."
Well that's it for now. In the next chapter we find out how to banish a Horcrux and then the trio sets out of Godric's Hollow.
Important
Also on another note, the Harry/Ginny interaction comes from an experience, breaking up because something had to be done, or fear for the person you're going out with. It happens all the time that when you're around the person you sort of forget that you're broken up.
Trust me, Hermione will chew Harry out for it next chapter, I've had that planned. Also, you will hardly ever see Ginny in this fiction again, so rest assured Anti - H/G shippers, there won't be any more of that.
Be kind, and make sure to REVIEW!
GC