Chapter 8
Harry had his wand out as he emerged from the grate in the familiar kitchen of Sirius's house. His breathing was quick, as he scanned the dark room, tensed for any sign of danger. There was none. He began to relax, until he heard a crash from the corner of the room. Harry squinted in the dark, as a figure stood up. Taking a chance and praying it was Lupin, Harry muttered, 'lumos' only to sigh with relief as he saw Remus stand up and dust himself off. He glanced round at Harry, stooped and picked up his wand, then muttered,
"I was trying to find the light switch. I'm getting as bad as Tonks." He stood up properly, located the light switch and suddenly the room was basked in the dim light of magical wall sconces. Harry 'knoxed' his wand. "Well, if there are any death eaters you can bet they'll know we're here." Lupin murmured grimly. Harry moved away from the grate just in time as there was a gasp of green fire and Hermione staggered forwards, her wand pointed out in front of her. Harry grabbed her arm before she fell forwards and she flashed him a quick appreciative smile. She moved out of the way, as Ron flew out of the fire, landing flat on his face with a muttered oath and as much grace as an upturned duck. Harry would have laughed if he wasn't so worried about who else was in the house. He helped Ron up, and the three of them moved over to Lupin who was standing by the door frame, stock still. Harry knew it was close enough to the full moon for his hearing to be heightened, so he waited in silence for a few minutes until Remus relaxed.
"If there is anyone here, he's extremely stealthy." He said quietly to Harry, who glanced at Ron, his friend meeting his eye uncomfortably. He wondered if his freckled friend was remembering the amount of times Snape had snuck up on them.
"We need to get to the drawing room-" Harry suddenly paused
"What?" Remus asked, tensely,
"No, its just…we…I think we threw it out. Or at least Sirius threw it in an old sack when we were decontaminating the drawing room a few summers back." Ron shook his head,
"Mum said we couldn't actually throw anything out, coz we didn't know what some of it was. It could have been dangerous, or could have led someone to this place. She stored it all somewhere. I think it's in a cellar under the floorboards, round here somewhere," he frowned, moving towards the middle of the floor. Suddenly his huge feet clomped on a piece of the floor that echoed strangely. He grinned at Harry as he knelt down. "I think maybe I've just found our first horcrux!" He said triumphantly,
"Don't count your chickens before they've hatched," warned Hermione. Ron looked at her with a frown, "It's a muggle saying," she supplied sheepishly. Harry, Hermione and Lupin moved over to the area on the floor where Ron was kneeling. Unfortunately one of the kitchen table legs was resting on the trap door that they could just make out through the dust. Harry picked up the only thing that was on the table, a large plate with a stripped chicken leg on it and handed it to Ron, who held it absently. Remus and Harry both grabbed an edge of the table and on three they lifted the heavy oak table a half inch of the ground and swung it, letting it drop where the legs would not rest on the trap door. As they had moved the table, the leg revealed a small metal handle, set flush in the wood. Harry knelt down and pulled at the metal handle. The trapdoor, though very heavy swung upwards, revealing a dark hole. Harry could just make out the shapes of boxes and bags down there. He sat on the edge and swung his legs down.
"Be-"
"If you tell me to be careful, God help you!" Harry interrupted, quieting Hermione instantly. He shifted to the edge of the trap door, noticing the short ladder that would help him back up, and let himself fall in. It was not particularly deep, and as soon as he landed, he looked up and saw Remus' head peer down anxiously, Ron leaning over behind him, still holding the plate absently in one hand. As Harry's eyes became accustomed to the light, a small room came into focus. It was crammed with boxes and black sacks. Thankfully, all were labelled. He silently blessed Mrs Weasley's excessive organisational skills. It would have taken him hours otherwise.
"Found anything?" Remus called down,
"Not yet," Harry called back, "Although it shouldn't take long, the bags and boxes are all labelled!" he yelled.
"Ron, will you watch what you're doing with that plate!" Hermione scolded as Harry looked up, he could just see Hermione's hand preventing the trap door from falling shut, and her bushy brown head, dodging to avoid a chicken bone that had just slid off of the plate Ron was still holding. As Harry was staring up, he unconsciously took a step backward, only to catch his heel on the corner of a box labelled, 'bedroom three'. He stumbled and fell backwards, catching the side of his face on a different box,
"EOW!" he yelled, as he crashed to the floor,
"WHAT?" Ron and Remus shouted,
"It's ok-" Harry began at the same time as he heard a shattering crash as Ron dropped his plate.
"I TOLD you to-" Hermione began but something else made all four jump. A blood curdling scream rent the air, the very sound reverberating through Harry's heavily beating heart,
"What the-" he gasped. Suddenly he registered the curses that were drifting down to him,
"BLOOD TRAITERS! FILTY HALF-" Harry let out a sigh. Hermione however was not so quick to control herself. In her panic she let go of the heavy oak trap door, which would have been bad enough (as it would have plunged Harry into darkness) but the fact that Remus' head was in the way when she dropped the hatch was something that Harry really wished they could avoid. The trap door connected with the back of Lupin's head with a sickening crunch and what Harry could see of the old wizard went limp.
"Remus!" Harry cried, over the continuing screeches of Mrs Black. Suddenly the trap door was flung open again, and he could hear Hermione who sounded very close to tears.
"Oh no! Ron help him! Is he alright! Oh no, oh no! It's all my fault!"
"Hermione!" Ron shouted over her ramblings and Mrs Blacks screeches, "Will you calm down! Go and shut that old hag up, will you? She's giving me a head ache!" The detached part of Harry's brain thought that was quite funny, seeing as it was Remus who had just been smacked unconscious by a slab of heavy oak being crashed down on the back of his skull. Remus' head was dragged from view as he heard Hermione's footsteps move away, presumably to quiet Sirius's mother.
"Ron! Is he alright?" Harry yelled, forgetting all about the horcrux for a moment.
"Yeah, Harry he's fine, he'll come round in a while. He's breathing and everything, he just has a nasty bump. Hurry up and find that horcrux so we can destroy it and get out of here." Ron yelled, as Mrs Black became blissfully silent. Harry sighed, and muttered 'lumos' bathing everything in the wonderfully clean light of his wand. He could now clearly read all the labels on all the bags. Luckily only three of the bags read 'drawing room' in Mrs Weasley's tidy writing. He grabbed the one nearest him and opened it up. Quickly, he searched through the contents until he was sure the locket was not in there. He chucked it aside, ignoring the clatters as the now untied bag, spilled it's contents across the floor. He reached for the second. 'please…' prayed Harry, 'please let it be in here' He rummaged past photo frames and medals, jewellery boxes and rolls of parchment until he pushed aside a small mirror that he didn't want to look into and right at the bottom of the bag he saw it. A large silver locket, the chain all tangled. It looked almost exactly the same as the fake one he knew was still in his pocket. He reached down and pulled the strangely heavy locket out of the bag. On a whim he decided to return the fake one back to where it came from. Pulling it from his trouser pocket he placed it in the bottom of the bag, consciously leaving the note inside it.
"There you go, Regulus. Back where it belongs." He muttered, before placing the real horcrux tenderly in his pocket. It felt strangely cold against his leg, and heavy. Too heavy for a normal locket of that size. Harry knew why. It held a piece of Voldemort's soul. Strangely this did not unnerve him. It looked completely normal, almost telling him that Voldemort was not as special as he seemed to think. Harry smiled grimly to himself, Voldemort's wrath would be beyond compare when he discovered some (hopefully all) of his horcruxes had been destroyed.
"I've got it!" He yelled up to Ron, who whooped and Hermione could be heard letting out an explosive breath beyond. "I'm coming up. Try not to let the door shut on me Hermione!" He joked, feeling more positive than he had in a long while. He heard her 'tut' and could just picture the look on her face. It would be one of the 'this ISN'T funny' ones that would often be followed by a lecture. Harry clambered up the ladder, his still lit wand between his teeth, and blinking pulled himself onto the kitchen floor. As soon as he stood up, he took his wand from his teeth, 'knoxed' it and looked around for Lupin. Ron had leant him against the kitchen wall, where he was slumped awkwardly, like a rag-doll. Harry could make out a nasty, bloodied lump on the back of his head.
"I'm sorry, Harry," Hermione said, wringing her hands as she followed Harry's gaze to his guardian.
"It's ok; we'll 'ennervate' him in a minute."
"Did you get it then?" asked Ron, unnecessarily, as Harry had just shouted that very thing up to him. Harry nodded and patted the object in his pocket, his wand hanging limply by his side in his other hand. Little did he know how much of a mistake that was.