Chapter Eight – Hufflepuff
The days passed quickly in a haze of training and research. Harry had pinpointed the precise location of Helga Hufflepuff's cup: it was buried in Merope Riddle (Gaunt)'s grave.
Hermione, meanwhile, had been researching the best way to destroy the horcruxes as they found them.
"I just don't understand why Dumbledore would use the 'destructus' curse. It's so primitive, and surely he knew the repercussion would be an almost-useless hand. It was unlike him, to perform such a temperamental curse on a ring while he was wearing it!" She said at top-speed to Ron one evening as they sat in the library.
"Maybe Voldemort put curses on them to prevent the more advanced and commonly known spells. I bet he would overlook anything as primitive as destructus. That's probably why Dumbledore used it," Ron mused, flipping the page and missing the look of stunned awe on Hermione's face.
"I can't believe I didn't think of that!" She shrieked. "Of course," she continued more calmly, the logical side of her returning once more, "of course, you're right. And we'll need to put up all sorts of shields to protect us from the curse, it's terribly dangerous."
At this point, Harry and Draco entered the room, looking serious.
"What is it?" Ron asked excitedly. "Are we going?"
"Yes. I think we should go now," Harry replied, then, with a nudge from Draco, he added: "As soon as we've had dinner, that is."
"Yes, yes, of course," Hermione muttered, feverishly turning pages of the book she was currently reading.
"You down with that, Hermione?" Harry asked, amused.
"Of course," she whispered, not paying the slightest attention.
"RIGHT THEN!" Draco yelled, grinning. "WE'LL JUST GO DESTROY THE HORCRUX AND LEAVE YOU TO YOUR READING, HERMIONE!"
"What?" Hermione asked, suddenly looking at Harry and Draco for the first time.
"We're going to have dinner, then we're going to find the horcrux," Harry said.
"Oh. Oh! Right! Good," she said, leaping out of her seat and staring around impressively. "I've worked out, sorry," she said, on hearing Ron clear his throat pointedly, "we've worked out how to destroy it."
"Excellent," Harry said, "and do you have any ideas what we might be facing?"
"Well, there is the possibility of zombies. Buried underground with it," Hermione said.
"So we need to stun them, I presume?" Draco inquired, totally unconcerned.
"Actually, stunning doesn't work on zombies," Hermione continued, looking excited at the prospect of lecturing Draco. "They are, like Inferi, afraid of fire and light, so casting lumos soleil on them should work fine."
"Right. Let's eat," Ron commanded, hording them all out of the room.
Dinner was a quiet affair; everyone was mentally preparing themselves, although they knew that, with four of them, they were unlikely to get seriously hurt.
They arrived at Merope Gaunt's grave which was situated in a cemetery close to the orphanage soon after eight. Harry put the used portkey in his right pocket, carefully patting down his left pocket and feeling reassured that the return portkey was safely resting there.
"Right," Harry said, "this is it."
"How do we get it?" Ron asked.
"Last time, I tried a summoning charm. It didn't get it, but at least I saw what we were up against." Harry responded, frowning down at the tombstone.
"Accio Horcrux," Ron said, pointing his wand at the ground.
As expected, no horcrux came flying out of the ground. Instead, a disfigured, slightly green fist shot through the ground, spread its fingers, and then retracted, slowly and menacingly.
"Zombies," Hermione whispered. "I was right."
"Right then," Draco said, speaking for the first time. "Anyone know any digging charms?" He looked at Hermione as he spoke, but as she opened her mouth to answer, Harry shook his head.
"We'll have to dig manually. Voldemort would have intended it that way," Harry said, conjuring four shovels out of thin air. He tossed one to each of the other three, and started to dig at the ground before his feet. "Come on, then, we don't have all night."
Grinning, Draco set to work. Ron and Hermione followed suit a moment later.
They worked in relative silence, for a while, pausing now and then to pass a dirty hand over a sweaty brow, until-
"Aaaaargh!" Ron shouted as a zombie hand grabbed his ankle. Apparently the zombie had not taken kindly to its face being dug into. Before Harry, Draco or Hermione had had a chance to act, Ron had taken his shovel and plunged it into the zombie's neck with surprising force.
They all watched, disgusted, as the zombie's head fell away from its body. However, the zombie's hand did not loosen its grip. In fact, the other hand clutched at Ron also. Apparently they didn't need their heads to keep going.
Draco, recovering first, whipped out his wand and shouted "lumos soleil!" A bright light shot towards the zombie, and it retreated further into the ground.
"Stop digging there," Harry said as Ron massaged his ankle gently. Ron nodded.
Several long minutes passed in an anxious silence before Hermione broke it.
"I think I've got it, Harry," she whispered.
Everyone stopped digging and peered into the hold Hermione was standing above. At the bottom was a royal looking golden chest, encrusted with black onyx.
"I think you're right, Hermione," Harry commented, "It's so like him to keep his soul in something that precious looking."
Hermione reached down to lift the chest, but Harry stopped her with his arm.
"Wingardium leviosa," he said, levitating the chest ans lowering it to sit on the ground before him. "I don't know that we should touch it," he explained, "at least not until the horcrux is destroyed. That is a part of Voldemort's soul in there."
"Alohamora," Draco whispered, watching expectantly as the lid of the chest fell open. Helga Hufflepuff's cup, looking exactly as it had in Hokey the house elf's memory, but perhaps a little duller, lay inside.
"OK, stand back," Hermione instructed, pulling out her wand and performing a complex series of charms to shield them from whatever might happen. Harry frowned, wondering if she was going to destroy it herself.
"Right, Harry, go ahead," she said, then, mistaking his hesitation, added, "it's secure."
"Destructus," Harry whispered, pointing his wand at the cup and giving it a sharp jab in the right direction.
There was a small explosion that rocked the ground and rattled the shields, before everything went still. Harry stepped closer to the chest and peered inside, lowering his wand and holding it loosely by his side. The cup had broken cleanly in two and was mysteriously oozing a sickly yellow looking fluid.
Suddenly the ground erupted as zombies dug themselves out and started closing in on the group. Harry, who was nearest to the cup, was the first focal point. He hardly had time to raise his wand before the first zombie was upon him, but three voices from behind him shouted various spells.
"Incarcerous!" Draco cried, hitting the zombie that was after Harry and causing it to stumble to the ground, tied up in thick ropes.
"Lumos soleil!" Hermione shouted, hitting two at once and causing them to collapse, clutching at their eyes.
"Expecto Patronum!" Ron shouted and watched his horse patronus gallop towards the zombies, only to have them walk right through it. Ron faltered. "Uh, right. Um, Incarcerous! Incarcerous! Incarcerous!" He shouted, tying up the last three zombies.
"Thanks guys," Harry panted, "shouldn't have let my guard down." He gave them a sheepish smile, before reaching down and picking up the chest. Draco held his breath, and Harry gave him a reassuring smile. "It's ok, I knew I'd be able to touch it now. The magic's gone, look."
The others looked curiously at the yellow fluid. "I'm guessing it's Voldemort's dying soul. The diary oozed black, which I thought at the time was ink, but maybe…" Harry mused, correctly interpreting their confusion.
"Let's go," he said, putting a halt to all further talk until they were back at the house. "Oh, wait," he muttered, pointing his wand at the loosened soil. "Wingardium leviosa," he said, returning the soil to the grave. "Sorry Merope," he whispered, holding out the return portkey for the others to take a hold of.