Harry Potter and The Guardian of Light
Chapter 3: Beginning a Quest: The First Horcrux
Disclaimer: I still own nothing, and i never will, except for the few ideas in this story that are mine, and talon of course.
This chapter written and checked by Ewoks.
Loneicedragon: Once again thank you for reviewing, now let me answer your question. Hogwarts has not closed down, but if you remember at the end of the 6th book Ron, and Hermione said they wouldn't go back to hogwarts since harry wasn't, they decided to follow him on his quest. So that explains them, as for Ginny, i just figured she would do the same even with the objection of her mother, so i hope that helps.
A/N: Ok..I am very happy with the new reviews but i have decided permenatly on pairings. This will be a Harry/ginny/Hermione/Tonks Fanfic, but probally not all in the same bed. Now unless i get a very, very large amount of reviews against this plan it will not change, sorry. Now...On with the story!
It was fairly early in the morning when Harry woke up, yawning he rubbed his eyes tiredly looking at the small clock resting on the oak night stand. "Gah, i'm still used to waking up early for training..." He stretched before slowly pulling himself out of bed. Grabbing a towel he left his room heading quickly for the shower in an attempt to beat any of the girls. He stood in front of the door and pressed his ear to it "Good no one's inside" Pulling on the knob he groaned "Oh come on! How can it be locked?" Shaking his head he pulled out his wand "Alohomora" He heard a faint click before he pushed the door open his cheeks instantly turning a deep red, his feet glued to the floor as he stared at Hermione in the shower.
Hermione sighed as she silently washed up, she had woken up early and in an effort not to wake anyone had done a silencing charm on the bathroom. It was then she noticed Harry in the doorway...staring at her no less. She instantly let out a scream grabbing for her towel "Harry! Get out!" Her blush was a bright red as she watched Harry close the door quickly "What was he thinking!" She couldn't help but smile slightly before letting out a giggle.
Harry sat against the wall a deep blush still stained on his cheeks as he heard the door open followed by a calm, yet embarrassed Hermione leaving the room with a towel rapped tightly around her. "You know harry, Doors are locked for a reason!" He jumped up blushing deeper "I'm sorry! I-i didn't think anyone else was awake.." She headed down the hall for her room but he could have sworn he spotted a slight smile go across her lips. Shaking it off he promptly took a shower before retreating to his room.
In the kitchen
Ron yawned silently eating breakfast as he waited for someone other then his mom to enter the kitchen, his wish was granted as everyone flooded into the kitchen knocking him out of his chair as they fought for food "Hey i was sitting there!" He jumped up glaring at Ginny who stole is seat after knocking him out of it. Che grinned before chuckling "You already ate, let us have a turn" He sighed grumbling as he sat on the floor. It was a good 5 minutes before Harry finally joined them "Hey what took you so long Mate?" He grinned standing up "Over sleep again?" Before Harry could speak up Lupin had already begun talking "Actually he was probably finding the courage to face Hermione, he walked in on her taking a shower"
Needless to say the entire room stopped talking at that comment, all eyes going to either Harry or Hermione who both had a deep blush again. "Harry! I thought i was your girlfriend!" Ginny glared but it was more playful then anything "I-it was an accident! I swear!" It was Harry's turn to glare as everyone erupted in laughter at his expense. Lupin was the first to regain himself "Don't worry Ginny i'm sure he just would prefer two girls to just one" With a grin and a wink Harry was blushing again. "Will you stop trying to embarrass me! Hey wait...wheres talon?" Ron was next to regain his earlier composure before grinning "Said something about tracking down an artifact" Harry stared strangely at Ron before he understood "Oh! He wastes no time does he?" With a shrug Harry sat down for breakfast thankful they were no longer talking about the incident with Hermione.
After Breakfast many people went there separate ways, most of the order left to complete missions,and Mrs. Weasley said something about visiting Arthur at the ministry. Harry and his friends sat in the study talking about horcruxes for most of the day since they were alone for once. "Hey Ginny, i just thought of something...why aren't you back at school?" This brought a blush to Ginny's cheeks before smiling "Well i just figured you could use some help on your quest" This earned her a shocked and pained look from harry "No Ginny! I can't let you come with us..you might get hurt!" Ginny instantly jumped up with one of her usual fired up expressions "Harry potter you are not leaving here into danger without me to make sure you come back alive! You hear me!" Harry tried to bring up a protest...but his girlfriend was rather frightening when she was worked up about something "But what about your Mom!" Ron broke out laughing before grinning "My mom, dad, me and Bill all tried to talk her out of it, me and bill backed off after a week...kind of got scared of getting Bat-Bogey hexed. Dad gave up next saying to take care of herself...and Mom..well shes still trying. Ginny actually ran away the day before the hogwarts express came, and came back the day after"
Harry looked quickly at Ginny who was smirking "Like i said Harry your not getting rid of me!" He sighed slumping back in his arm chair looking defeated "Alright Ginny...alright" She smiled triumphantly before sitting down in harrys lap Getting a slightly saddened expression from Hermione and a Blush from Her boyfriend. "Ginny?" He chuckled when she simply grinned and promptly kissed her, With Ginny's encouragement the kiss grew in intensity before he heard Ron "Alright already! Stop snogging my sister so we can concentrate!" He sighed as they broke apart both grinning "Sorry Ron...she started it" He chuckled as she gently hit him in the arm.
Hermione sighed trying to change the subject "Well...so what kind of places do you think Voldemort would put his stuff..." Everyone sighed before thinking, harry was first with an idea "One would probably be in hogwarts..." Everyone seemed to nod there agreement since that was a source of power for voldemort. "And another would be at Godric's Hollow" Everyone quickly turned towards the fire place where Talon had arrived with a Grin. "When did-Never mind, what do you mean Godric's Hollow! Why would he put one where he killed my...parents. That was a place of Pain" Talon nodded before sinking into the couch looking rather tired "True...very true, but think about it..from what you told me he didn't have all his horcruxes until awhile after he marked you as his equal, so it's a logical place to put one, its a place thats scared in his memory Harry, i Can't be positive...but from what I've gathered today i think one may be there.
Everyone thought about it for awhile before nodding "Alright, i meant to visit my parents grave anyway...so we can check on that while were there." Talon smiled with nod "Sounds good, so...whoever's going can go get ready" Hermione blinked a few times before speaking "Were going today?" Talon nodded slowly "Of course! It's still fairly early so why not." No one argued as they simply went upstairs to change. Talon stretched as he lays his staff down waiting for the return of Lord Potter and his friends.
Ron was the first down, dressing in his school robes, his wand already in his hand. Ron was followed by Ginny and Hermione who also chose to wear there school robes. Hermione looked a bit excited, but of course knowledge always did that to her. Ron groaned tapping his foot "Gah! What's taking so bloody long!" Talon chuckled shaking his head "Don't be so impatient" He heard both girls gasp and quickly looked to the stairs eyes looking as if to pop out of his head. "Harry! Bloody Hell! Where did you get those!" Harry grinned slightly with a chuckle "Talon gave them to me" He was dressed in the white robes and had his new sword hooked on a sturdy white band going around his wife, and of course a staff in his hand in exchange for a wand "What do you think? Do i look alright?"
Ron groaned again crossing his arms "You get everything! Why don't i ever get anything cool?" Ginny and Hermione couldn't even get words out, they simply stared. Finally Hermione was able to breath "You look...good..." She blushed slightly from the fact she was practically drooling a few moments ago. Ginny giggled before grinning "You look great Harry! A real knock-out" Talon could simply chuckle at Rons grumbling. "Well if your going to be Lord Potters friends we cant have you in those robes" Before anyone could ask talon pointed the orb side of his staff at them letting a red light shoot out before they were all dressed in white robes, trimmed with gold there was a gold lion on the front Rons, A bear on Ginny's,and a raven on Hermione's "There, now your true retainers of Lord Potter." Ron instantly grinned "Much better!" Ginny and Hermione looked at each other for a moment before smiling.
Talon shook his head before chuckling "Ok ok, now let's go" Since Harry hadn't taken his test to aparate talon grabbed his arm "Ok one of you take Ginny" He handed a picture of a field to them before smiling "Picture this place" Hermione gently took Ginny's arm before staring at the picture, she studied it for a moment before spinning around both gone with a pop. Ron instantly made sure neither his sister or friend left any body parts there before disappearing with another pop. Talon and Harry quickly disappeared after that.
Outside Godric's Hollow
When Harry and Talon arrived they all looked to talon who simply pointed to the rubble of a burnt down house way at the other end of the field, close to a small town. Harry blinked slightly "This is where they lived when they went into hiding?" he smiled slightly looking around him "It's great..." His mind was flooded with the dreaded what ifs, what if i grew up here, what if my parents were still alive, what if that rubble was where i was living now. With a sigh he wiped tears from his eyes "Let's go..." He received several sympathetic nods as Ginny gently gripping his arm for support. They approached the rubble slowly, and as they got closer he could clearly see two tablets of stone sticking out from the ground. He quickly ran to them dropping to his knees as he read them...they were definitely his parents. Without thinking about it he began talking "Hey mom, hey dad...i finally got time to visit your graves...i hope your ok up there...my life has been...hectic, but i made lots of friends...i even have a girlfriend now..." he heard a chuckle as Ginny sat down next to him "Hey James...Lily, you raised a nice boy...very sweet.." she chuckled again before resting her head on his shoulder listening to him talk.
Talon smiled slightly turning to Ron and Hermione "Ok let's search the rubble for some sort of trap door" They both nodded and began to sift through the piles of ash and burnt wood. They searched for almost an hour, Harry and Ginny helping when they were done at the graves but to no avail. "Well let's go..." They all nodded with a sigh following Talon. "Wait!" Harry smiled slightly running to a small metal object that showed through through the ash. Grabbing it he pulled which caused a door to fly up almost hitting harry in the nose. He was instantly joined by His friends and teacher. "Is this it?" Talon grinned before nodding "Very good my boy!" They took turns climbing down the ladder, Talon went first to make sure it was safe and once everyone was down he used his staff to clean everyones robes of ash. "Well then...Lumos!" The light from his staff was strong, and everyone else quickly used the spell exploring the room. It looked to be some sort of underground dungeon, the cement walls covered with water as it leaked in through the ground, chains were around the room bolted into the walls. It was dreary, and dark, except for the spots the Lumos spell affected anyway. It was a large circular room with no exit except the ladder. Spotting a torch on the wall he lit it with a wave of his hand which quickly ended with several more torches lighting around the room, emitting a dim but successful lighting of the room. "Well then...that works" They all quickly put out there Lumos spells before sighing. Ron groaned looking around "Well what now? Theres no where to go from here" Talon let out a chuckle while Hermione shook her head "Ron! Not all paths are right in front of you! They can be hidden by magic!" Ron blinked before crossing his arms "Yeah well! I forgot ok..."
The next 10 minutes were uneventful as they all searched the walls and floors for something. Ron finally reaching another part of the wall wad thrown across the room hitting the other wall "OW! What the bloody hell was that!" He got up on wobbly legs glad nothing had broken. Talon chuckled slightly getting closer to the wall Ron was ejected from. "Hm...repellent charm it seems" He smiled slightly looking at Harry "do you remember what spell i taught you reverses this?" Harry blinked slightly before smiling "Yeah! Hold on" He waved his staff "Remo Repellent" The repellent charm became visible as it seemed to get sucked into itself disappearing rather quick. Everyone stared with wide eyes Hermione being first to respond "What spell was that!" Harry chuckled slightly before smiling "I told you i was training!" Talon chuckled slightly "come on, i'm sure theres more to it then that...now...Disendium!" With a wave of his staff a door appeared where the charm had just recently been "Now lets go" They all gave a slow nod before they walked single file through the tight corridor Ron at the front. The next room they reached was a much wider corridor the cold cement walls were replaced with what looked like a nicely decorated throne room, paintings lining the walls, suites of armor lined the sides of the corridor each about 8 feet from each other, at least 10 along each wall. Near the end of the corridor it looked like there was a large staircase with a steal door at the top.
Harry blinked looking around "Wow.." Ginny nodded slightly tightly grasping her wand "Well...i guess we just go to that..door?" Everyone nodded slowly and cautiously getting closer. About halfway through the room both the door they came from and the one at the end of the corridor disappeared leaving Ron a bit scared "What the? Where are the doors!" Talon was gripping his staff rather tightly as he looked around them "This doesn't look good..." They heard a loud scrapping of metal and looked behind them as one of the suites of armor walked off of its pedestal a rather large sword in it's empty hands. It was followed by the other 19 who all seemed to start marching towards the center of the room where they stood in a giant circular room between the two half's of the corridor. They all blinked before realizing what was happening, Ron quickly shot a Reducto curse at one of the armors but it simply disappeared. "Bloody Hell! There immune to magic!" Everyone shot a variety of curses and spells to test that theory but unfortunately he was right. Harry groaned throwing his staff to Ron "Here fight with this!" Harry pulled the sword Talon gave him "Looks like we have to fight without magic" Ron caught the staff and sighed "Why don't they teach this in school! I mean come on!" Ginny and Hermione pulled swords from the coat of arms on the wall, also taking the shields.
Talon gritted his teeth as the old armor continued to advance "Ron! Get over here we'll take the 10 coming from this corridor!" He stood at the one they originally came from jabbing one of the suite sin the head with the end of his staff causing it to stumble and fall "Harry! You and the girls take the other 10!" They reluctantly nodded already caught up in fighting the persistent armor. Ron knocked one over the head with harry s staff smirking as it fell "What the! They get back up!" He barely avoided the giant sword as he backed up a few steps returning the favor by pushing the armor into two others. Harry knocked the helmet of one off and gasped "T-there skeletons!" He shivered at the thought blocking a sword swing but wasn't fast enough to stop a second, receiving a large gash on his side as he stumbled backwards. He was saved by Ginny who blocked the killing blow with a shield "H-harry are you alright!" He gave a slow nod before forcing himself to his feet "I...i think i'm ok...nothing vital" He slashed his sword taking off the head of the skeleton who cut him. He grinned as the armor fell limp "Take off the heads!" Talon nodded groaning from a cut on his arm as he knocked the helmet off one before smashing it's skull with a blunt force spell "Only the armors immune to magic!" Ron smiled with that knowledge and knocked off a helmet using a quick Reducto curse before they all retreated to the very center of the room. Most of them already had some sort of cut, bruise or gash and yet there were still 8 left. "Hey we might actually win this"
With some well planted spells and hits there were only 2 left, but they were larger then the other ones they fought. There armor was more bulk and there helmets were bolted down, one holding a rather large metal speed and the other a huge sword. Ron groaned at the sight "Ok what do we do now!" Talon moved forward fast enough to block a lethal blow to Ron but he himself was hit in the head by a punch skidding across the room unconscious, but was able to remove its helmet before hand. Ron quickly took the head out watching it fall with a clunk "What do we do now! Talons out cold!" Hermione was next, who avoided a sword strike but was hit by a backhand falling with a wounded arm passing out from the shock. Ginny screamed "This is useless, this things like insane!" She slashed at the large armor which only succeeded in popping a bolt out of the helmet Before she joined Hermione on the floor. Ron looked in horror "Ginny! What do we do Harry!" Harry panted his vision a bit blurry from his wound. "Maybe if we get him from two sides.." Ron instantly ran around the armor until they were at opposite sides, he always trusted harry s judgment. They both kept jabbing at the armor which seemed to get confused on who exactly it should attack, finally Ron succeeded in knocking the helmet off. "Get him harry!" Ron fell down with a thud while watching as harry cut off the armors head receiving another gash but on his leg.
Ron quickly healed Harry's wounds but the loss of blood had left Harry a bit drowsy. It took them a good 10 minutes to get everyone up and healed the best they could. They all still had minor bleeding from deeper cuts but more or less ok. Talon groaned sitting against the wall "Well...looks like the doors or back...should we continue?" Everyone gave a tired nod before they all helped each other up heading for the large steel door. It took the combined strength of all of them to push open the thick steel, but soon found themselves in a small circular room The goblet oh Helga Hufflepuff sat in all its glory, the badger symbol on the outside of the cup. They sighed as they approached it gathering around it. Ron afraid to touch it with bare hands used his robes as protection as he tried to pick it. "It wont budge..." They all let out a deep sigh attempting to remove it from it's place. Shaking his head talon sighed "he wouldn't..." they all looked at him strangely and then in shock as he sliced his arm, letting the blood spill into the cup, when it was about half way full he closed the wound leaning against the wall "i feel dizzy..." He panted softly his vision blurred. Harry shook his head "I cant believe he would do this again! Last time we had to use blood to get into the cave..." he saw the cup glowing green and sighed raising his arm but Ron stopped him "No Mate, you lost to much already...let me..." He held harrys sword shakily at his arm even at harry s protests he slit his arm letting blood fill until he felt dizzy also, Hermione healing the wound for him. Ginny squealed at the sight "Its malicious...all for a stupid cup!" It was almost filled and with some blood from Hermione the cup glowed a dark green the blood draining from the cup. As soon as the blood was gone it went back to normal and shot into the air being caught by Harry.
Ron sighed in relief "and this is only one of 4?" He groaned. Harry nodded slightly with a sigh wrapping the cup in a cloth before pocketing it. "Thanks...everyone...i'm sorry about..." He was cut off by Hermione who glared "It's nothing harry! You gave up a lot more then a little blood...you gave up your whole family...whether it was your choice or not" Harry sighed wiping a tear from his eye "thanks Hermione...everyone thank you" Talon smiled before passing out again considering he filled most of the cup. Harry couldn't help but chuckle as they slowly, and tiredly carried Talon back down the long corridors. When they reached the ladder they forced Talon to awake "Uh...what is it?" Harry sighed slightly "Can you at least go up the ladder before passing out" With a weak chuckle talon climbed, followed by all the teenagers. Reaching the top they all sighed and closed the trap door weakly disapparating back to grimmauld place.
They were greeted by a worried Tonks and Lupin who quickly got them to rest on the various chairs and couch's "What the hell happened to you guys?" Harry weakly smiled "Oh just went for a walk..." Tonks hit him upside the head before they all seemed to pass off into sleep right where they were.