Chapter 18

The End…or The Beginning?

The next day, I went to Gringotts and marched up to the head-goblin type person. "I quit!" I announced, as I turned my back and Apparated to Fred and George's joke shop. "I quit my job," I told Fred and George breezily.

"You what?" asked Fred, mouth agape.

"I quit."

"Whaa…why?"

"Well, if we're going to find out what a Horcrux is, I can't be traveling the world 'round, now can I?"

"But…but…"

"Don't worry. It'll be fine. We've just got to be discreet."

Once Fred and George had gotten over the shock that goody-good Paige had quit her job, we talked about options for who would know what Horcruxes were.

"Well, there's Dumbledore, Lord Voldemort, and Harry," I said, ticking off on my fingers.

"I doubt Harry would take too kindly to us asking him, after his last parent figure just died."
"Dumbledore's dead, we can't ask him," Fred remarked sarcastically.

"We can't exactly waltz up to Voldemort to ask him, either."

"Well, do you have any better ideas?"

"What about the Professor Slughorn guy that Ron was always complaining about? He supposedly knows a lot about the Dark Arts."

"Yeah. He only liked people with really powerful families," George started.

"Or were…really good at Potions," Fred cut in, an evil grin creeping across his face.

"You expect me to just go up to Slughorn and ask 'Hey…what's a Horcrux?'"

"No…bring him a drink with Veritaserum in it. He's a sucker for mead. Then use a not-so-powerful memory charm on him."

"Okay…but, I swear, this better work. When do we get started?"

Fred and George looked at each other, and answered, "Now."

So, in the next week, I prepared the Veritaserum, made up a believable story, and arranged for Slughorn to meet Fred, George, and me at the Hog's Head.

"Our sister talked so highly of you!" Fred exclaimed, taking a seat next to Slughorn.

"We simply must know how you do it."

"Do what, my dear?"

"Pick only certain students for the 'Slug Club'," I answered, giving him the drink.

"Well," he began after he'd taken a sip. "I pick only the most important and most gifted students."

"How do you make a Horcrux?" asked George, under his breath.

"You…you split you soul in two by doing something awful, like murdering somebody. Then you put part of you soul into an object."
"What exactly does a Horcrux do?"

"The Horcrux must be destroyed before the person can be killed."

"Well, that's great. Voldemort's practically immortal."

Just then, the Veritaserum wore off, and Fred quickly modified Slughorn's memory. "Harry will know something about this," muttered George, as I said, "Goodbye Professor Slughorn! It was a pleasure meeting you!"

"Yes, yes dear," answered Slughorn absentmindedly.

Fred, George and I started immediately trying to find a day when we could meet Harry, and he wouldn't be able to blow us off.

"How 'bout Bill and Fleur's wedding? We can corner him there," I mentioned.

"Sure, but it'll be flipping hard trying to get him to stay long enough to listen," muttered Fred.

Sure enough, Harry was basically avoiding all human contact at the wedding reception. (Both the wedding and reception were beautiful, what else do you expect from Phlegm…I mean Fleur?) Fred had to put his arm around Harry, and had to guide/drag him into another room.

"Listen we need to talk to you," I whispered into Harry's ear. "It's about the Horcrux."

"Wha? How do you know about-?"

"Shh. We'll explain later."

We took Harry into an empty room and explained how we found out about Horcruxes, and what we knew about them. "Just one thing wrong," Harry explained. "There's six Horcruxes, or there were."

"What do you mean?"

"I destroyed one, Dumbledore destroyed one, and a guy named R.A.B destroyed one."

"So there's three left until he's mortal? Have any idea what they are?"

"Hufflepuff's cup, something from Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, probably Ravenclaw, and his snake Nagini."

"Do you think the snake would just die if we could get to it, and kill it?"

"There's probably some type of spell protecting it, but why?"

"I think Fred, George, and I could destroy it. You worry about the cup and the item from Ravenclaw, and we'll worry about the snake."

Harry looked skeptical, but finally gave in. "I do need some weight off my shoulders," he laughed bitterly.

I had just volunteered Fred, George, and I to destroy the fourth Horcrux.

"The only way for Voldemort not to notice Nagini being gone, is for a very convincing echo of her to be created. George, you'll have to do that because you're best at Charms. Fred and I should try to figure out what kind of protection charm will be put on Nagini. So it doesn't seem so awkward that I'm around you guys all the time, I'm gonna work for you."

"Sure sergeant! Whatever you say!" exclaimed Fred, saluting me.

"Shut up!" I growled, hitting him.

Fred, George and I pored over books for nearly two months. The morning after an excruciatingly fruitless search, Fred came up to me with the Daily Prophet. "Do you want to stop searching for a few days?" he asked.

I read the headline, and then asked Fred, "Why would we stop searching? I know somebody died, but that's become common. We don't even know these people." I threw the paper into the fire. The headline read: Tom and Maria Malfoy found dead.

"But Paige! They were your parents!"

"Tom and Maria Malfoy? What they did can hardly be called parenting. I told them they would die, but they didn't listen."

"But Paige!"

"They made no difference in my life. Mourning over them is like mourning over a lost boot."

"Paige…"

"You know what they used to say all the time, after I'd get in trouble? 'Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil, and you won't do evil.' I'd yell back at them 'If you hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil, then how do you know what evil is?'"

Fred and George just stood there, mouths agape. "Paige..." Fred murmured, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I just shook off his (big, strong) hand and said, "Can we get back to work? I'd like to have this figured out by the time that Harry's destroyed another Horcrux." That day, George figured out how to make an echo of Nagini.

While George practiced and perfected the spell, Fred and I figured out the most logical protective spells that would be put on Nagini.

Harry visited us through Floo powder, and told us that he had destroyed Hufflepuff's cup.

"What about the item of Ravenclaw's?"

"I've located a hairbrush of hers that I believe is the last Horcrux."

"Well, hopefully you can go after it soon! Voldemort will have to notice after a while that his snake is just an echo!"
"We're going after Nagini tomorrow."

"Ready?" I asked George, as we were standing in an empty field, about a mile away from the nearest Muggle city. "The echo should be where Nagini is by now." I summoned Nagini and immediately yelled "Avada Kedavra!" I didn't expect it to work, so I wasn't surprised when the snake didn't even move.

George, Fred, and I tried all sorts of hexes jinxes, and charms, but nothing seemed to work. "I'll ward her off while you guys figure out what to do!" exclaimed George breathlessly. Fred and I were tossing around and throwing out ideas for five minutes when we heard George's scream of anguish.
Fred's eyes grew wide, and he became paralyzed as George fell. I was able to gather up enough sense to banish George to St. Mungo's, as realization dawned on me. "Fred! Magic won't work against her! And I doubt anything obtained magically will work either. Go to the Muggle village and find swords or something. Bring them back here." Fred, still seemed paralyzed, and Nagini was advancing towards him. "I'll ward her off! Fred, I promise you that George will be okay if you can just get the swords! Run fast!" I yelled hysterically.

Fred bolted, and I did a dance with Nagini for about 30 minutes, when Fred came back. Fred was just about to slice up Nagini when I yelled, "Her eyes, Fred, her eyes! I just saw them go red! I bet we've got to spear 'em at the same time! Ready…one, two… THREE!" And we speared. Blood went everywhere, completely cloaking Fred and me.

"We just destroyed the fifth Horcrux," I announced, wiping blood from my eyes. "Now let's go see how George is doing."

We Apparated to St. Mungo's and found out that George was in Intensive Care. "Severe blood loss and poison. He may not be up and about for a while. But judging by his personality, he should be up and about sooner than that," the Healer said chipperly.

Fred and I each took one of George's hands, and just sat there, near him, until he became conscious. "Wha…where am I?"

"Nagini bit you. But she's gone. We destroyed her. But I expect Mum'll be here soon, so expect screams." George cracked a smile and Mrs. Weasley was soon there, along with the rest of the clan.

"What were you doing?" demanded Mrs. Weasley.

"Something for the Order," answered George quickly.

"They should know better, than sending such young kids on such dangerous missions!" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley.

"Mum, I'll be fine. In two days, I guarantee you that I'll be walking around."

And sure enough, he was up and about by the second day, and was able to be released four days after he'd been hospitalized. Harry visited us at the joke shop the day after George came back, to tell us that he'd be going after Ravenclaw's hairbrush that night.

Fred and George closed the shop (just for the week, of course) immediately, and we began practicing all the spells we'd need in the final battle. The next day, Ginny's head came into our fireplace and told us, "Get to Number 12 quickly. The Death Eaters are beginning to arrive!" And with a pop! her head disappeared.

George immediately Apparated, but Fred and I stood there, looking into each other's eyes. He grabbed my hands and whispered, "I want you to know…that whatever happens out there…know that I've always loved you."

"Don't cry," he added, wiping the tears that had begun to leak from my eyes. Before I could say anything, he kissed me. The kiss was mixed with our tears, and held so many emotions. Fear, Apprehension, and, most importantly, undying LOVE.

We finally broke apart, took each other's hands, and Apparated to Number 12.

We were ready to face whatever the final battle would bring.

Together.

A/N: And that's it! Hope you liked it!  I also want to add, that the flames I've gotten, I don't mind them. Because I have the best friends in the whole world, who have helped me through the whole process of writing the story, and assured me that a character loosely based on me wouldn't be too creepy! 