CHAPTER 12 – BLOOD IN, BLOOD OUT

Harry woke up with an odd feeling. He was, all things considered, extremely annoyed at waking up after an unknown period of time without a clue of what has been happening. He situated his glasses on his face and noticed a half drunk potion on the table beside his bed. For regaining strength he thought to himself. No wonder I feel loads better.

He got out of bed, dressed and started down the hallway towards the stairs. His godfather's house seemed empty. He felt a tug in his chest at the thought of being back in this place. It was uncomfortable but not as bad as he thought it would be.

As he reached the bottom step he was bombarded by the smells of breakfast. Mrs. Weasley had apparently settled into her new surroundings and was hard at work preparing a morning meal.

"Harry, you have almost as good of timing as Ron when it comes to food," she said as she beckoned him into the kitchen. "Come, breakfast is ready."

Harry sat down, flinching as Mrs. Weasley yelled to the rest of the tenants to come and eat. People came from all over the place to settle down at the table. Ginny nestled herself next to Harry and smiled at him while she grabbed some of the food.

"Thanks for the potion Mrs. Weasley," Harry said as he, too, piled food onto his plate.

"Thank Hermione, she's the one who made it." Harry looked over to Hermione, who was sitting as close to Ron as Ginny was to him, and she gave a modest grin.

"I found it in one of the books in the library," she said.

"Well thanks, I feel loads better."

"Are you ever going to just have a regular day?" Ron asked between bites.

"Not with you around," Harry said through a sly grin. "Hermione, did you find anything about Gryffindor?"

"Yeah, I did," Hermione said, trying to politely cover her mouth with her hand before she swallowed her food. "We can go over it after breakfast if you want."

"I think it can wait a while longer while Harry recuperates," Mrs. Weasley said in a gentle voice. Harry could tell she was still worried about him.

"I'm alright Mrs. Weasley," he replied. "Besides, all we're going to do is talk."

"Okay dear, just don't overexert yourself," she said. "You've been through quite a lot recently and I just want to make sure you heal up well."

"We still got that thing we wanted to show you," George spoke up from the end of the table.

"Yeah, plus we've been really bored sitting around this house all day," Fred put in.

"How about later this afternoon?" Harry asked.

"Sure, it's a date," George replied with a smile.

Much food was eaten by all during a relatively quiet breakfast. Afterwards Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny retired to the living room where they talked about current events. Harry and Ginny shared a couch, with his arm around her, and Ron took a seat in the chair next to them. Hermione chose to remain standing between them and the fireplace.

"So what have you found Hermione?" Harry asked her.

"Well," Hermione started, "his life is normal of any hero. Godric Gryffindor was the greatest crusader for good in his time. Although he did many great deeds, none of them really stood out when it pertains to us and what we're doing."

"I didn't really expect anything like that," Harry said.

"Me neither," Hermione replied. "It's all pretty much predictable until around the time Hogwart's was formed." As everyone had heard the story of the formation of Hogwart's, Hermione skipped the common knowledge. "Here's the part where Salazar Slytherin comes in."

Everybody in the room sat up a little straighter waiting to hear what Hermione was going to say next. Harry pulled his arm away from Ginny as they both leaned forward eager for Hermione to continue.

"Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin were mortal enemies. Gryffindor actually fought as hard as he could to not let Slytherin be part of the founders. It seems he was the only one who could see through the mask of charm and lies that everyone else fell for. They actually went as far as to declare a blood feud against each other. When Slytherin left the school he began to test the boundaries of magic, much like Voldemort did." Ron did not whimper or jump at the name this time, but did shift uncomfortably in his chair.

"He was actually the one who invented or discovered or developed…" Hermione struggled to decide which word was correct but decided to give up. "Anyway, he's the first known person to create a horcrux."

This was the first time Harry had heard this but he was somehow not surprised. Ron gave out a low whistle and there were several moments of silence before Hermione spoke again.

"When Gryffindor found out about all of it he immediately set off to confront Slytherin. They met in the Forbidden Forest where a great battle took place. Nobody knows what exactly happened but there were flashes of lights and explosions for three days. The animals stampeded away from their homes and life in that area seemed to stand still. When it was over both of them walked out of the forest and returned to their homes; Slytherin to his mansion and Gryffindor to Hogwart's. They never spoke of what happened and to this day it remains a mystery."

No one spoke as they all tried to digest the story. Somehow their teachers had failed to explain all of this.

"Harry, there's more," Hermione said apprehensively. "With Sirius's parents being pure-blood-proud or whatever, there are things in their library that focus on pure blood families. The last Gryffindor was killed over a hundred years ago. But two generations before him there was a wedding. The only daughter in the family, Petroshus Gryffindor, married the son of a pure blood family. She became Petroshus Potter."

Hermione bit her lower lip waiting for a reaction and Ron slowly turned his head to gaze at his best mate. Harry looked down at the ground.

"So I'm Gryffindor's heir?"

"Not really," Hermione replied, "but you have Gryffindor's blood in you. You are the last person with his blood but you're not really his heir as you are not of his line."

Harry stood up from the couch and started to pace around the room. His head was down and he was mumbling to himself. He glanced up to see Ron and Hermione glance at each with a look that only they could understand.

"Hermione," he said as his head snapped up, "what's this blood feud you said something about?"

"It's a declaration of war between two people. It basically means that the entire line of people will hate each other and fight each other until the feud is settled."

"Hmmm…" Harry said as he continued to pace around the room. It was several minutes before he noticed Hermione had sat in a chair facing Ron and they were giving each other that look again.

"What?" he asked them.

"Nothing Harry," Ron replied, "it's just that…well… you look a lot like Dumbledore when you do that. Actually, you've been acting and sounding a lot like Dumbledore recently."

"Yeah, most of the people around here have been noticing it," Ginny added.

"I'll take that as a compliment actually," Harry said with a smile. "I'm just thinking is all. There are some things that are falling into place now."

"Harry, why did you want me to look all this up?" Hermione asked. "It's like you almost knew it was going to be important."

"Well," Harry said, "when I was unconscious after my tea session with Voldemort I sort of slipped into another world." He proceeded to tell them about seeing all his deceased loved ones and what they said. His voice broke a little as he talked about leaving his parents.

"Anyway," he said when he finished the story, "my dad and even Voldemort himself had called me a Gryffindor. Then I thought about what Dumbledore had told me about the sword, "only a true Gryffindor could have pulled the sword out of that hat" and it sort of clicked. It seemed like they were trying to tell me something other than what house I had been sorted into. Plus, when I was telling Dumbledore about Wormtail taking my blood to give to Voldemort, I thought I saw Dumbledore rejoice. As if Voldemort just made a mistake he didn't know about. You see, it all fits. Everything.

"This battle – between me and Voldemort – it was set in stone long before Trelawney gave her prophecy. A hundred generations have waited for this confrontation, from the moment Gryffindor and Slytherin made that blood feud. A thousand years will culminate when I kill Voldemort."

Harry had finally retaken his seat on the couch and Ginny curled up to him as he put his arm around her. Everyone stared out into space as they grasped the whole situation. Ginny finally broke the silence.

"So the first thing we need to do is find the last horcrux right?"

"Yeah," Hermione replied, "I just don't know where it is."

"I do," Ron said, never breaking his gaze from some random spot on the wall. Quizzical looks aimed at him but he didn't notice. "Actually, Ginny gave me the idea, before we left the burrow. She said that V-V-Voldemort would think it's a great idea to have his soul right under Dumbledore's nose." He continued to stare at the wall and everyone else was on the edge of their seat.

"What is it Ronald?" Hermione snapped impatiently.

"At Hogwart's, inside the trophy room, there is a plaque that I cleaned about fifty times in our second year." As he said this Harry's face lit up and he absolutely beamed at Ron. "It says to Tom Riddle, for--"

"—Special Services to the School," He and Harry both finished. "Ron you're a genius!"

"I thought you said you touched it fifty times?" Hermione said in a disbelieving tone. "Wouldn't you have been hurt or something if it was a horcrux?"

"No," Ron said. "When I was cleaning it Filch told me about this girl about twenty years ago who threw a tantrum during her detention. She started breaking all the trophy cases until she got cursed or something. She flew across the room and spent two weeks in the hospital wing."

"Of course," Harry said, his facing lighting up. "It would be perfect. I bet he put a charm on it so that it only protected itself when someone wanted to damaged it. That way it could remain dormant for years or until someone came to destroy it."

"It would be something he would do," Hermione said, sounding like she was slowly being convinced. "It's right in front of everyone, including Dumbledore, and no one would really look twice at one trophy in a case of many."

There was an excited buzz in the room as Harry stood up and started pacing again. Ginny spoke up for the first time in a while.

"So how do we destroy this thing?"

"Well, that's a tough question," Harry said. "I dunno. I think Regulus Black took the protection off of the locket; someone else must have done the cup; and there was no protection on the diary. It could be very dangerous. Dumbledore destroyed the ring and it burnt his hand up doing it."

Ginny gasped at this and the other two suddenly had worried faces. Harry forgot that they didn't know about Dumbledore's hand.

"We can figure something out," Harry said reassuringly. "And if not, we'll just sacrifice Ron." A big smile came across Harry's face as he said it.

"Yeah, fat chance on that," Ron said, but he was also laughing.

"Hermione," Harry said seriously, "can you look up anything on a protective charm like that. Also anything to do with mixing blood from feuding families too. If you can't find anything we may have to take time at Hogwart's to look through the library there. When I get back we can go back there and start trying to figure out how to do this."

"What do you mean, when you get back?" Ginny asked him from the couch.

"I have to go do something before we can get to this."

"What? So you're going off again on your own?"

"Well yes, but it's not what you think."

"I'm pretty sure you don't know what I think," Ginny said as she stood up to face Harry. He could tell that he needed to stop her or she'd lose her temper.

"I have to go to Privet Drive," Harry said. There was silence in the room. Ron opened his mouth to say something but then shut it. "There's something I have to do there. It should be only a day, maybe one more depending on what happens." He kissed Ginny on the forehead. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"I know," she said, "I just don't want you to leave me anymore. Now I know what Mum feels like and why she worries all the time." She hugged Harry tightly as if she would never let go. There was a loud cough from the side of the couch as Ron looked up at the couple.

"If you're going to do that stuff go into another room," he said with a disgusted look on his face.

"If you don't like it Ronald then shut your damn eyes," Ginny snapped back. Ron had lived with Ginny his entire life and knew better than to put her in a bad mood. He gave up and sunk back into his seat.

"Well," Harry started, "I'm going to eat lunch here and then I'm going to leave. We'll have a better idea of what to do by the time I get back."

They all sat down to spend the rest of the morning enjoying each other's company. Harry was distracted slightly but still enjoyed himself. He was wondering what would await him at number four Privet Drive.