Chapter 9
Harry walked amidst the broken and badly burned ruins of a country house. He looked around, eyes misting from the memories --- memories of his parents' deaths bitterly reminded to him by this horrible sight.
Hermione walked towards him, placed her hand on his shoulder. Ron followed what she did.
Harry clung to both of their hands, seemingly using them for support.
"It seems more real now… More real than the voices I hear being near dementors…"
Hermione looked at him consolingly.
They walked together, all three of them, through what seemed to be the second floor of the house.
"It happened here… I think…"
Hermione's eyes suddenly lit up as Harry walked towards the space where a room used to be, the house seemed to have been ripped at that side.
"Harry? I remembered what you told us about Horcruxes… They are made after you kill someone, right?"
Harry looked at her. "Yeah, the soul is ripped apart by hatred, by killing another person."
"Well, I know this would sound weird but V-vol-voldemort is fueled by hatred when he tried to kill you… perhaps also planning to make a Horcrux after he does the job…"
"Where are you leading with this?" Ron asked.
"A Horcrux is made after killing someone especially when fueled by hatred. The soul rips apart. He makes a Horcrux while killing someone so that he can easily transfer his soul to an object…"
"Come on, Hermione… You don't mean what I think you mean.. Right?" Ron gulped, while Harry stood there trying to sink in Hermione's hypothesis.
"What if he unwittingly made you into a Horcrux? Remember your connection with him. Maybe that's what made that connection, and your ability to speak Parseltongue. V-voldemort is the heir of Slytherin…"
"That is why the sorting hat tried to sort me into Slytherin…" Harry finished her sentence.
"Harry has to kill himself?"
Hermione slapped Ron's arm, "Don't be stupid, Ronald. Of course not…. It's probably just my silly brain and mouth blabbering…" Her voice quivered.
"Then, we have solved another missing Horcrux… It might be me… It's pretty obvious actually… but why me though?" Harry said to them.
"Umm… Harry, where are we going to spend the nights when we search for the others?"
Ron scratched his head, while Hermione looked at Harry expectantly.
"I already sorted it out. We're going to stay at my place…
"Not the Dursleys again!" Ron groaned and Hermione elbowed him at the ribs.
"Harry wouldn't do that… He meant Grimmauld Place…"
Harry nodded at Hermione.
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The three of them Apparated to a gloomy street in London. Harry walked towards a door that seemed to pop out of nowhere. It had a metal snake décor near the top. Harry suddenly stopped upon seeing the door.
"Wait a minute…"
Ron, who seemed nervous, suddenly drew out his wand. Hermione followed suit.
"No… The door seemed familiar… from a memory…"
"Of course, you have been here!" Ron said exasperatingly.
"From another person's memory… Dumbledore's pensieve…"
"Let's just go inside before we discuss this."
The whole house seemed to have been changed. It was once dark and gloomy, but now it looked inhabitable.
"Whoa, what happened here? It looked a lot…"
"Cleaner?" Harry smiled at Ron, "Dobby fixed all of this."
"How many times did I often mentioned S.P.E.W. to you? Have any of the supposed-to-be elf rights sinked in? No, you let another elf be mistreated…"
"Dobby was hired by Dumbledore, and he actively volunteered to clean this house. I didn't mistreat him."
Hermione was fuming and stomped upstairs to find a room.
That night, Harry couldn't sleep. He got up and walked to his trunk. He rummaged through his things, and found a small mirror.
"Ginny? Are you still awake?" Harry spoke into the mirror.
"Yeah, I'm still up, Harry. Where are you?"
"Grimmauld Place."
Ginny nodded.
"Well, Hermione had a theory about a possible Horcrux…"
"Go on…"
"It might be me…"
"What? How can that be possible?"
"As Dumbledore had said before, a Horcrux is made after killing a person because the soul is ripped apart. When Voldemort tried to kill me, he might have accidentally made me a Horcrux… Maybe that's why we have a connection. Maybe he figured it out when he returned, that's why he wanted to kill me."
"No, it's not possible… It can't be… You're not evil! Not like the diary…"
"I do hope so… But if I really am a Horcrux, please be prepared of what might happen when I destroy the other Horcruxes…"
"No… You can't do it! You can't leave me!" Ginny's tears were falling copiously while she was shaking her head.
"I have to, Gin… I have to…"
Harry heard sobs from the other end as Ginny's face disappeared from the mirror.
Harry felt a lump at his throat. It escaped as tears flowing freely from his eyes. He pushed a pillow on his face so as not to let anyone hear him crying.
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Ginny did not get sleep that night. Logically, what Hermione said might be right, but Ginny's heart told her there must be another way out of this.
Anne feigned sleep while she heard all of Ginny and Harry's conversation.
'It might be possible but there were also a lot of theories involved in this, not only Hermione's. I just thank God for those rabid Harry Potter theorists in the internet…'
She couldn't take Ginny's sobbing anymore, despite Ginny's attempts to hide it.
"Ginny?"
"Yeah?"
"I heard all of it… just to be honest with you…"
"Do you have any more of those brilliant ideas under your sleeve?" Ginny asked sarcastically.
"As a matter of fact, I do. However, I don't want to burst your bubble but Hermione is partly right…"
Ginny sobbed at what Anne said.
"Hey, I'm not finished! There is another theory I need to tweak a bit more… Let's just say, it's a glimmer of hope… I know what you fear and I promise you it won't happen."
Ginny looked up at her. "Really?"
"And besides, do you honestly think he's a Horcrux? I mean, Nagini is a live Horcrux and Voldemort can control that monster. Harry indeed has a connection with Voldemort but he can't control Harry."
Ginny looked at her, flabbergasted.
Anne smiled at her, "Now, can we get some decent sleep?"
Ginny smiled sadly at her. She pulled up her blankets and sighed. 'There must be another way. I can't lose him again.'
