A/N: We are quickly approaching the end. The last chapters will be coming much faster than in the past. We should be closing the final chapter in this story before Christmas. Just in time for me to start a very cliche, but extremely entertaining... story.

Chapter 13

Harry carried his wife carefully into their home and laid her gently onto the bed. The fight they had been through had been intense. He'd never seen Emily in such bad condition before, even when they had found themselves on the shore of France a year ago. Her clothes were gone, the fire had burned them away. Her body was badly burned and her wand was a sooty stump. They'd have to get another one, something she'd not be happy to hear. She loved the fact that their wands shared a connection with their cores. Perhaps he could find Fawkes and persuade the bird for another feather. He felt he had a good relationship with the phoenix.

The worst of her wounds were clearly on her head. Not only were parts of her faced blackened with burns, but she had diagonal jagged teeth marks that bisected her face. When she had screamed, Harry had abandoned the task she'd given him and race towards her. He'd been happy to see that, a moment later, the beast slacken and go limp before falling lifelessly to the earth.

Emily's pulse was strong and even though she looked terrible, Harry knew she could be left alone for a moment. Rushing to the fireplace, Harry flooed Sirius and explained their recent activity, before quickly asking the man to clean up their mess. After giving the man a vague idea of where the fight took place, he ended the conversation and raced back to the bedroom to tend to his wife.

He'd already gotten rid of all of her hair. When he'd caught her in the air, her hair lanced through the skin on his face down to the bone, but he'd held back the yelp of pain through sheer force of will. His pain was nothing, he believed, compared to what she had to be feeling now. Whispering softly to her, he had sped towards their home.

Emily was cautious and always prepared and thusly their house was well stocked with medical supplies. He went to grab her stash of potions out of the cupboard. Essence of dittany to seal the bleeding wounds, followed by a blood replenishing potion. The was a burn potion, but Harry was dismayed to see that its effects were not as good as he had hoped. It took care of the lesser burns on her body well enough, but the worst burns on her face and hands barely mended. Of course, he knew how to care for burns, but he hadn't had too much practice.

His healing magics teacher had been Bellatrix Lestrange. She was more than adept at the skill, more so than most healers, Emily had said. Harry himself was far more proficient than most as well, and though the process was slow, he successfully mended his wife's face. The dittany, unfortunately, left some scarring, but he knew Emily probably wouldn't care. In either case, it would only be noticeable in certain lighting.

Now that the crisis was over, Harry finally to a moment to mentally go over what they had just been through. What on earth had Emily been thinking? What on earth had Voldemort been thinking? That creature could have killed them both. What was that thing anyway?

Harry rested his head in one of his hands as he sat by his wife as she slept. "Why do you always have to make all these crazy plans, Emily?" Using his other hand, he took hold of her own and caressed it slowly. Lowering his voice, he whispered softly, "I'm glad I was the first person you turned to, though."

"I want to be a husband you can rely on. I want to support you in anyway you let me, but you never seem to ever need me. Sometimes I wonder if I'm ever more than your arm candy, a decoration you enjoy showing off. Its... hard... you know. I don't like feeling inadequate and useless. If our relationship weren't crystal clear to me, it would be emasculating." Bringing her hand to his face, he lightly kissed the its back before resting his head on it.

Sighing slightly he continued. "I know you're incredible. You're the most amazing person I have ever met and though we had the rockiest start of any relationship that has ever existed, we have really made something beautiful together." He finished this with a short laugh. "Keep relying on me, Emily. I want to play a bigger part in our future than you want to let me. I know you hate the idea of putting me in danger, but I'd rather face that danger together than find out one day that you're not coming back to me. I couldn't handle that."

Gently placing her hand back onto the bed. Harry settled into his chair to rest. Emily had painfully woken him up a couple hours ago with that vision in his head. He was still tired, and he doubted she'd awaken before him, considering her condition.

Hours later he felt someone gently shaking him awake and heard a voice whispering his name.

"Harry, wake up."

Cracking open an eye slowly, "Sirius?"

"Hey bud. That must've been some fight you had back there. Took Moody and I six hours to put things back into order. That Gubraithian fire was a bit of a problem. We ended up having to vanish it, but it took a lot of power to do it and we had to go slow.

"Yeah, the fire. That was pretty crazy." Harry spoke groggily. He felt drained. Sparing Emily a glance and making certain she seemed fine, Harry motioned for his godfather to follow him out of the room. Moving down to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water, he downed the drink before turning to Sirius. "I have no idea what she was doing. Did you two uncover anything interesting while you were sorting out the aftermath?"

The older man nodded and reached into his robes to pull out a clothed object. As he unwrapped it, Harry recognized it as the small knife that Voldemort wielded before that creature had appeared.

"This little artifact has some crazy magic attached to it." Now that it was in front of his face, Harry got a much better look at the weapon. It was less ornate than he had expected. In fact, it was extremely crude in its design, though he knew it was still effective as a weapon if one wished to use it as such. "Its an iron dagger and Moody reckons its from ancient Egypt. Given the magic that its imbued with, we think the metal originated outside earth. Probably from a meteorite."

Harry nodded, following the conversation so far. "So, is this what she used to bring out that monster?"

Sirius scoffed. "That Quintaped? Harry, I can't believe you two fought one of those things. They hate humans. Or maybe they love us, I suppose it depends on your point of view. They eat people." Sirius shook off his amazement and continued. "But yes, it seems like Voldemort made a trip to the Isle of Drear. Somehow, she managed to place a talisman on one of those creatures and later used magic to forge a connection between this dagger and the monster. There are a ton of subservience spells on this thing. She must have doubted that she could control it."

Harry snorted while nodding. "Well considering that the first thing the Quintaped did was eat her arm and leg, I'd wager that she found out pretty quickly how well those spells went."

"Nice." Laughing, Sirius pulled out and sat down on one of the chairs around the kitchen table. "We did find a bit of blood at the scene, must have been hers. Before you ask, no, we didn't bother collecting it. It was contaminated."

Harry nodded. There were many things a person could do with another witch or wizard's blood, and none of them were pleasant. But Voldemort had been a step ahead and put in place steps to prevent that. Knowing that there was nothing they could do about it, he shrugged. "So Voldemort's countermeasure to Emily and I was this surprise monster? Seems too risky for something as simple as a distraction."

"Who knows? I'd wager it was definitely a last resort plan though. This knife had to have been hard to come by, and like I said, the fact that she was able to contact and perform magic on one of those beasts on their island is remarkable enough of a feat. I doubt she has more of these."

Harry inwardly agreed. The entire thing certainly seemed like a desperate bid to escape. Not to mention it had been a huge risk. Harry had heard of Qunitapeds before, he had taken three years of Care of Magical Creatures classes with Hagrid after all. And the more dangerous a beast, the more time Hagrid spent on their subject. But even Hagrid hadn't found the Qunitaped's very interesting, only briefly going over them. But what Harry did recall was that the creatures were horribly dangerous. Well that, and the fact that they were nicknamed 'Hairy Macboons'. Draco had make a couple of comparisons between the Qunitaped and Harry that day, but with there being so little material on the monsters, Draco didn't try very hard.

"Ok then. I still want to know what Emily was doing out there. She didn't tell me she was planning on striking at Voldemort again. I was woken up in the middle of the night by her calling to me for help. When I arrived we cornered Voldemort and then she summoned that thing."

"Do you think your wife is communicating with her horcrux behind your back, Harry? Don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you to start doubting your wife, but we can't just ignore the possibility."

Harry shrugged again. "Who really knows. Maybe. The important bit, however, is they are certainly opposed to one another, so it doesn't really matter. I doubt Emily will be successful in contacting her again after tonight's events, so we can put that theory to rest."

Sirius nodded. He doubted it as well, but he had to voice every possible scenario. "So, Voldemort lost an arm and a leg, you said. Right, left or a mix between?"

"Er, right side, both of them I believe. Think that will help you track her down?"

"Maybe. Any information helps when your trying to locate someone. She'll need some pretty hefty magic to replace limbs, and seeing as they were eaten by a beast and not removed with dark magic, they should be restorable. We'll spread out and see if we can find anyone looking around for things like that."

Sirius stood, looking towards Harry's face closely. "Hold still." Sirius pulled out his wand and waved it towards Harry. He flinched as he felt his face heat up as his godfather finished mending the cuts on his face. "I guess you didn't bother to look at your face in the mirror. You did pretty good taking care of them, but they needed a little more treatment. So, we took a look at the corpse. Looks like it was stabbed by about a thousand tiny knives. What happened there?"

"I'm pretty sure Emily transfigured her hair into blades when the quintaped bit her head. It was pretty effective."

Sirius gave a laugh. "Yeah, I'll say. Must've been sturdy too, because the injuries weren't holes, they sliced through its skin and muscle. I noticed she didn't have any hair in your room, did the spell remove them?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I think she was in the fire for a bit and most of them burned off. I removed the rest after what was left stabbed into my face when I caught her in the air."

The conversation continued onwards with Sirius asking about every detail that Harry could remember about the altercation. When they got to Harry's lake project, Sirius was astounded when Harry had told him that he used a spell to located an underground cavern and then collapsed the ground above it to make a pit and started filling it as quickly as he could.

"I assume Emily wanted to drown it."

"Probably. They live on an island and they never try to leave it. Its a safe bet to say they can't swim. All that fur and their weird shape, I'd be surprised if they could even float for more than a moment." Sirius agreed with his assessment.

"Yeah, well, I didn't think it would be as fast as it was. If you were to blink next to one, you'd be done before your eyes opened back up. I swear, Sirius, that thing jumped over fifty meters in the air. It had a lot of power in its limbs." Their conversation continued a few more minutes before Sirius stood.

"Well, Harry. Next time, I hope you let us know before the fight begins. Maybe with a few extra wands, things could have been handled a bit easier."

"If I had the time, you know I would have. Emily's the one who'd rather operate alone. Speaking of you all, where was Professor Snape?"

"Hell if I know. Greasy git has his own network, so he only communicates when he has something to share. Otherwise he goes one way and Moody and I go another."

Sirius left after a brief goodbye and an offering to take Harry to a Quidditch match that weekend. Harry delayed answering, wanting to be certain that Emily was going to be fine before he made any plans. Sirius respected that and wished him well before departing.

"Potter." The curt, snide voice, cut through the room as Harry was about to re-enter his bedroom. With a groan, Harry made for the fireplace. It was uncanny that the two of them contacted him one after the other.

Walking into the living room, Harry saw the green face of Severus Snape floating in his fireplace. "Hello, Snape. What have you got for us?"

"Good news. It would seem that Voldemort will be unsuccessful in brewing the potion she needs to implant the unicorn heart into Bellatrix."

Harry was surprised to hear this. "What ingredient is she not able to get her hands on?"

"Apparently, nundu breath."

"Wait, why on earth would you need nundu breath for a potion to save someone's life?"

Snape gave Harry s shrewd look. "I am aware, Potter, that your knowledge in potions is woefully lacking and you are equally as incompetent, but surely you must have grasped the fundamental basics. Through the brewing process, a potions ingredients are altered as they form the potion substance. Belladonna is highly toxic, but its a main ingredient in the blood replenishing potion."

Harry wanted to shove the man's face out of his fireplace at this tone, but he reeled back the urge. "I see. Thanks for the remedial lesson. Are you certain she can't get ahold of it? She seems to be flying a little loose lately in regards to magical creatures."

Snape's features did not change with Harry's new comment, as he spoke. "The nundu takes a force of at least one hundred wizards to subdue, Potter. So unless Voldemort has gain the famed taming ability of Newt Scamander, I believe we can safely assume that if the ingredient hasn't been available on the market for four years, then she does not have access to it."

"Alright, thanks Snape. We appreciate the help."

Snape said nothing, preferring to simply close the connection. Honestly, the gratitude Harry expressed to the man was like pulling teeth, but he could be courteous when necessary. Harry went back to his room and once again sat down beside his bed and looked to his wife. Things were looking good. If Voldemort couldn't fix Bellatrix's body, then sooner or later, Voldemort would lose the only person she could depend on. Emily would be happy when she heard the news.

Once again, Harry shut his eyes and allowed sleep to claim him. The next time he felt fingers shaking him awake, he knew they belonged to his wife. When Harry opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was that she'd grown her hair back. The sight made him laugh. Surely she'd want him to never mention it to her.

"I see you got the hair back."

And sure enough, he watched as she closed her eyes and breathed deeply through her nose. They both knew that the only damn she gave about her appearance was the fact that she prided looking pristine whenever he was looking. She didn't want him seeing her at anything under perfection. What he noticed next was that she was up and moving.

"Yes, and I'll thank you to keep those comments to yourself. We shall pretend you never saw it. Just like I pretend that I didn't see you in the exact same circumstance a year ago."

Harry smiled, but nodded in acquiescence. He didn't want to needle her too much over it. "You know, I'm not just with you because of your looks. There's the coercion and a whole host of other reasons."

She turned to him, "Oh, well why don't you enlighten me as to each and every reason then."

"I don't think we have enough hours in the day to do that."

She pouted at him. "Why not? I'm still convalescing," At this, she languidly laid onto the bed. "We should have all the time in the world. Woo me with my machinations, darling."

Harry studied her. "You don't generally ask for compliments, you wait for me to give them. What's the deal?"

Emily frowned. "Just Voldemort getting under my skin. Its nothing to worry about."

Harry took her hand, "And yet, here you are, worried. Tell me about it."

"She made the comment that you're suffering from Stockholm Syndrome and if you recover, you will leave me. I know its not true, but it unnerves me that she has that kind of insight into our relationship."

Harry gave a short laugh. "I mean, I wouldn't go that far. I certainly do have that. I fell in love with my captor. I'm a textbook definition case. But sometimes, things tend to work out in odd ways. Sure, what you and I have isn't conventional, but it works for us. And in the end, as long as neither of us would have it any other way, that's what counts."

When Harry saw Emily smile, he knew that he'd dispelled her worries. Not that she would have entertained them for long. One of the reasons she'd been so hell bent on marrying him was for the unbreakable wedding vows. Deep down they both knew he wasn't going anywhere, even if he wanted to.

"So, Snape says that Voldemort can't brew the potion for Bellatrix. She's missing an ingredient that hasn't been available for years. What do think she'll do from here?"

Harry sat as he watched his wife ponder his question. Even though Emily has recently stated that she could no longer easily predict her horcrux, she still had a far better understanding of its motives than anyone else would.

"She has no other choice than to reunite with me then. Most likely that was why she even agreed to meet me last night. A last ditch attempt to turn me from you. She'll probably throw everything she has into one last plot to kill you. Feasibly, we can wait for her body to fail her. She won't last much longer, its deteriorating heavily. In the end, her soul can't play host to a body long term. My experiment was a failure."

"Yeah, but lets be honest, this is one of those failures that is a good thing. Lets not get upset about the little miracles that move us forward."

"True, but we won't have that option. She'll up the ante and eventually force us to go to her. Worst case scenario, she starts killing your friends."

Harry understood. "So we keep hunting her."

Emily shook her head. "No. We leave her be. She'll send us an invitation. At the end of the day, she doesn't want to expose either herself or me to the public any more than necessary. She'll be obvious about luring us to her and it will be up to us to see who outwits the other. No matter what plan she concocts, however, she'll be alone and I'll have you and potentially those three morons as back up. I won't be too worried."

When Harry saw his wife's face relax, he allowed himself to relax as well. In truth, they now had a sense of security. Voldemort only had a small window of opportunity to act against them. As long as they were prepared for when the time came, they would be fine.

"How long do think it will take her to recover from her injuries?"

Emily shook her head. "We don't have a respite. She'll have already replaced those limbs with magic. Normally it would only be a temporary fix, but seeing as her time is waning, its not like she needs to prepare for the long term." Emily began to prattle on about things that needed to be taken care of, chief among them being a new wand.

Harry allowed his mind to wander as his wife began scheming. If Emily was right, then Voldemort could very well be at their door this very moment. But Emily was probably also right with her belief that Voldemort would plan shrewdly first. Both his wife and their nemesis were Slytherins through and through, and surely Voldemort wouldn't face them without having set in place various traps to kill him.

"So we're just waiting then?"

"Yes, just waiting."

With a sigh, Harry pulled himself out of the chair he had been resting in. "I'm going to Hogwarts for a bit, I'll be back later."

Harry could feel her eyes on him as he put on his cloak. "You're restless. You don't like the idea of waiting for her to come to you. I get it, Harry, I do, but what do you have at Hogwarts that you think will help you?"

Shooting her a quick smile. "My best friends. You should go ahead and head to Olivander's."

He watched as she grimaced. "Ugh, that wandmaker is not someone I wish to have an extended conversation with. He's... perceptive."

Harry couldn't help but agree. He remember the old man's gaze and had to suppress a shudder. The man could almost be called creepy with the way he almost seemed to look through people. "Perception I can understand, but you are far different now than the child that entered his establishment sixty years ago. You'll be fine."

A few minutes later saw Harry seated in the Room of Requirement with Ron and Hermione. He had just finished explaining to them the basics of what had been going on lately between his wife and Voldemort. Of course, the two still had no idea that Voldemort was actually Emily's horcrux, but they understood the gist of things.

"Are you and your wife positive that Voldemort's time is limited, though? I mean, I understand that she's afflicted by a very nasty curse, but this is Voldemort we are talking ab-"

"Would you stop saying the name, Hermione. You're sending shivers down my spine every time." Ron cut her off.

"I'm muggle-born, Ron. I wasn't raised with the knee jerk fear reaction that the rest of you were. But fine, I'll try to refrain." Turning her focus back to Harry, "You're certain she doesn't have some work around?"

"Positive, she'll be dead as a door nail within, Emily thinks, a couple months. The curse that is affecting her is decaying her body. It will eventually fall apart."

"Right then. So Vol- sorry, You-Know-Who, will making one last ditch effort at your life? Not the typical reaction one gets when they know their time is ending, but not everyone is a mass murdering terrorist, so I suppose its not too far fetched. So, why tell us all this?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Well, I mean, you two are my best friends, so... why wouldn't I?"

Hermione fixed him with a pointed look. "We are, and will always be the best of friends, Harry. But lets be honest, you've distanced yourself from us a lot in the past few years. We understand, of course. You're married. You're wife is the most important person to you. She should be, but I fail to see why you come talk to us, two people still in our final year of Hogwarts, as opposed to someone more able to help you."

He recognized the uncomfortable feeling now. It was guilt. Hermione was right in the sense that there was now a lot of distance between him and them. Every minute of his time was taken over by Emily, just as it had always been since she had come into his life after her rebirth. He tried to see them once a week, of course, but that wasn't often enough. With an earnest hope to do better by the two people who'd stuck with him through thick and thin, he sighed.

"I wanted to pick your brains about what I might do to prepare for the fight."

Hermione didn't fail to see what he wasn't saying. "More specifically, you mean what can you do to ensure Emily isn't hurt. You said she isn't the target, so why not run off for a couple months. Tell Emily that you will return to her, but let the curse take its toll on You-Know-Who and then come home. Don't tell me that you feel the need to face her head on, Harry. That's just foolish."

"Emily and I think that if I run, she's just going to target those I am close to and lure me back."

Hermione fell silent at that. Of course, her initial response was the urge to tell the Headmaster. But since Dumbledore had passed away, going to Headmistress McGonagall would certainly be less helpful.

"Harry, you're better at magic than we are. What help Ron and I can offer you is, nominal, at best. But you know where we are. When the fight begins, let us know and we'll stand with you. Just as we always have." Giving a slight cough to clear her throat, she took on a more formal tone. "However, I have covered several texts that you have not, and there are a few spells that I believe would be helpful to you. Ron, you too, lets practice them."

For the next few hours, Harry spent time with his friends. It was something he realized that he missed greatly. The interaction, the understanding. Of course, Emily understood him possibly even better than they did, but Ron and Hermione just accepted things on a rare, fundamental level that he appreciated.

When he finally returned home that night, he collapsed into bed beside his wife, who had yet to speak with him. They laid in the darkness for several minutes before she rolled over to face him.

"I see you had fun with your friends today."

Harry nodded, "Yeah, we learned some spells. I guess it took me back and reminded me of when we were together more often, when we use to be... inseparable. Things have changed a lot since then."

"For you perhaps. My life has been a repeated set of still images, well, until you arrived in it that is."

Harry rolled so that they were face to face and stared at her. "I fail to see how your plans to take over the country ever could be described like that."

"Not my life per se. I mean, more or less, my relationships with others. They are all the same and nothing ever phased them. I bully those weaker, I detest those lesser, and there is no one stronger or greater, so... I have changed little."

"Uh-huh." Hary rolled onto his back. "I know you want to take charge, Emily and keep me safe. But I promise, I will figure everything out."

"I feel as though there is something you aren't telling me, but I suppose we can speak of it later. Rest now." Emily eyed him cryptically. In truth, they both knew that she was the one more likely to hide secrets.

Harry did so. Closing his eyes, he was met with the ever present image of his broken wife, gazing into the sky. It was time Harry turned to the power he detested. It was time Harry started looking through Dark Magic. And there was no one better to turn to than Lucius Malfoy.