It only took a few minutes for Dumbledore to arrive, his wand in hand. "Harry?" He called out from the entrance to the classroom.
"In here, sir!" Harry shouted back and the headmaster made his way into the adjoining office and appraised the situation. There was debris scattered around the room and scorch marks from where several of the spells had rebounded. Harry was seated on the visitor end of the desk facing the door and at his feet was Madam Umbridge, bound in ropes.
"Would you care to tell me what happened?" He asked curiously, no hint of accusation or judgement in his voice. Harry recounted the evening from the point he entered the room and watched as Dumbledore's eyes narrowed in thought.
When Harry finished his tale, Dumbledore thanked him and asked him to sit tight as he sent two patronuses. The first was to Professor McGonagall asking her to floo Amelia Bones and summon her to the school with aurors in tow, and the second was to Snape to come to the defense classroom immediately.
Harry watched Umbridge as she lay still on the ground, unable to move except for her eyes which spoke more than any words could. She had a look of pure loathing on her face as she glanced back and forth at Harry and Dumbledore, and it was only broken to show brief flashes of terror as she heard who Dumbledore had called for.
Snape arrived first, walking into the office and like Dumbledore had before him, he appraised the situation. He sighed and fixed his eyes towards the headmaster. "Why do I find myself unsurprised that this involves Potter?" He drawled, shooting Harry a slight look of disgust.
"I'm afraid if his story is true, then young Harry is not at fault. He merely acted in self defense and rather admirably if it is to be believed." Snape looked disbelievingly at the headmaster but said nothing. "I had actually called you here in hopes you may corroborate his story. Would you be so kind as to check if that teacup has any potions inside of it?"
Curiosity flashed over Snape's face for a brief instant, and he began a series of spells on the teacup. After a moment he stopped and looked towards the headmaster. "I had suspected a student of rummaging through my private effects and stealing potions, but it turns out the culprit was our esteemed High Inquisitor. There are traces of veritaserum and a slight confounding potion in that tea."
Harry nodded when he heard veritaserum but had been shocked to hear about the confounding potion. Now the fog that had been so hard to shake out of his mind made sense. "Thank you, Severus." The headmaster replied. "Would you be willing to stay here while we await Madam Bones and the aurors?"
Snape nodded and conjured a chair taking a seat. Dumbledore looked to Harry then. "Did you see her tamper with your cup Harry?" He asked kindly and Harry shook his head.
"She had an elf bring it in and then poured two cups."
"Blinky." Dumbledore called and an old elf appeared. "Yes Mr. Dumbledore sir?" He asked pleasantly before looking around and realizing something was amiss.
"Would you happen to know who served tea to Dolores this evening?"
"That is being Kismer. Shall Blinky be calling for him?"
"If you would be so kind." Dumbledore answered gently.
A moment later the same elf that served them appeared and immediately began wringing his hands.
"Good evening Kismer. Were you the one who served Madam Umbridge this evening?" The headmaster asked the elf.
Kismer nodded but looked as nervous as Dobby had in Harry's second year. "Yes sir."
"Did Madam Umbridge ask you to tamper with either of the teacups or the pot?" He asked and immediately the elf began pulling on his ears.
"Bridgey be commanding Kismer not to speak of such matters." He said nervously looking at the woman bound on the floor. Harry followed his gaze and looked at her. He saw she was glaring at the scared elf, likely trying to intimidate him.
"There is no need to worry, as Headmaster any order she may have given you is superseded by my own, and I promise you there will be no retribution." He said. Harry watched as the fear on the elf's face dissipated immediately and he stopped pulling at his ears and nodded.
"She be giving Kismer two potions to place in a teacup, the teacup with the chip in the top. Kismer be doing as she commanded. The potions be in her top drawer."
Dumbledore attempted to open the locked drawer, but it would not budge. After struggling with it for a few moments he cast a strong unlocking charm and the drawer flew open. He reached inside and pulled two clear vials out, each about three quarters full.
"Would you please be so kind to check if these match Severus?" He asked and the Potions Master stood and once again ran his diagnostics. As he was testing them Professor McGonagall entered followed by Amelia Bones and Tonks.
"Wotcher Harry." She said with a smile. "You been getting into trouble?"
"It wasn't my fault this time." He replied simply and she laughed at him.
"I find that hard to believe."
"I will agree that whether it's your fault or not, trouble does seem to have a funny way of finding you Mr. Potter." Said Amelia, and Harry thought he saw the slightest trace of a smile before it was replaced once more by her stern visage.
"They match, sir, and they were brewed by me." Snape's voice broke in.
"Would you care to share why you pulled Ms. Tonks and myself out of our evening debriefing Chief Warlock?" Amelia asked and Dumbledore began to recount the story, deferring to Harry where more details were needed. As he spoke Tonks allowed a dictation spell to write down what was being said and only spoke to ask for clarification when needed.
They got to the end of the tale and Snape confirmed that the potions were indeed in the cup, at which point Madame Bones took Umbridge's wand and cast a Priori Incantatem. The first spell to appear was the Imperio and it showed Madam Umbridge as the caster and Harry as the victim. The remainder of the room looked with disgust at Umbridge and with slight awe at Harry.
"Those curses are called unforgivable for a reason." Said Madam Bones. "Headmaster, could we use your floo to make a call?" At dumbledore's affirmative response she nodded. "Tonks, please levitate her to the headmaster's office. Given how much trouble you like to cause, I think you should know the way. We will be back to collect more information in the morning. You realize Albus that Fudge will do everything in his power to sweep this under the rug?"
Dumbledore looked at her with a funny expression. "He will not have to. I plan to propose a deal of sorts with him. Please let him know when he inevitably finds out that I wish to speak to him and inform him it is in his best interests to hear me out."
Amelia sent him a smile and nodded. "Will do. Thanks everyone." With that she turned on her heel and left the room following Tonks. Harry was curious what the headmasters plan was, but Dumbledore shook his head and Harry nodded.
With the room emptying Professor McGonagall took Harry to the side. She looked him over with an approving expression on her face and awarded him points for bravery and quick thinking. She then sent him to the infirmary. As he walked, he thought with amusement that usually the inevitable confrontation with the defense instructor that caused him to visit the hospital wing was at the end of the year. He wondered what Madame Pomfrey would say now that he was early.
"I told you Trace; I don't know either." Daphne whispered exasperatedly to her best friend for what felt like the hundredth time. Tracey had been constantly asking if Daphne knew why Umbridge was ousted over the weekend and had brought it up again now as they sat in defense awaiting their new instructor. Daphne felt bad lying to her, but Harry hadn't been allowed to share what happened and so had made Daphne promise not to tell anyone.
"I know you know." Tracey grumbled. "The paper said she assaulted an anonymous student and cast an unforgivable on the same evening your boyfriend was scheduled to have detention with her. Not that I blame her. He can be bloody annoying sometimes." Daphne glared at her but was impressed by Tracey's ability to put it together.
According to Harry, Dumbledore had used his leverage in the situation to have Fudge persecute Umbridge fairly, have him completely back off from Hogwarts, and to stop the smear campaign against himself and Harry. The icing on the cake was that Dumbledore got to choose her replacement as well.
Fudge had been planning on denying it at first but agreed after Amelia Bones had shared the result of the Priori Incantatem and the proof of the spiked tea. Then to make matters worse she also brought out a blood quill that Umbridge had been keeping illegally in her office for punishments.
Seeing the proof they had against her and realizing he held no leverage, Fudge had then agreed to all of his terms so long as the headmaster and DMLE explicitly stated she acted on her own without the Ministry's knowledge and that Harry's name not be mentioned in the reports.
The next day the papers reported that she had attacked a student that would be kept private for their safety, and that she would be going to Azkaban for the use of an unforgivable, among other charges. The school had been in a speculative frenzy trying to figure out what happened, but the only people who knew weren't speaking.
Daphne had been impressed by the politicking done by the headmaster in light of a bad situation. He had taken care of three major problems and managed to keep Harry out of the spotlight in the process. Harry hadn't been sure who Dumbledore had chosen as the new professor, but the Slytherin's and Ravenclaw's had defense first thing Monday morning and Daphne along with her housemates would find out soon.
Daphne was broken out of her thoughts by her ranting best friend. "Honestly, first you tell me that you stayed on a date with Harry well past midnight for Valentine's Day and that all you did was eat, read, and a bit of snogging, and now you blatantly hide the truth about this. When did my best friend become such a liar?" She pouted and Daphne rolled her eyes at her theatrics.
Tracey had been insisting that she and Harry must have been doing a number of scandalous things during their late date and took great joy in listing them while Daphne fought to keep the blush off of her face. Where Tracey had learned some of the things that she implied, Daphne couldn't be sure, and she thought that at least some of them must be made up by her own twisted mind.
Before she could respond the door opened, and the class immediately went quiet as a tall, beautiful woman walked purposefully into the classroom. She looked young but held herself confidently reminding Daphne of Harry somewhat. Her dangerous and serious demeanor was softened however by an easy smile and her bubblegum pink hair.
"Hello class!" She greeted cheerfully. "My name is Tonks. No need for a Miss or Misses in front, just Tonks. For those of you who don't know me, I'm an auror and very good at my job. I'll do my best to make up for the poor education you've received so far this year." She had made it to the front of the room and turned back to face them.
"From my understanding, the worthless instructor you had before has refused to allow you to practice practical magic." She said with a slight questioning tone. The class nodded its agreement and she sighed. "Lovely. On an OWL year no less. Just lovely." She said with a frown.
"That means we have a lot of ground to make up, and I'm going to push you hard, but first we need to figure out where you guys are at." She spent the rest of the class going over spells that the class should know, and Daphne was proud that she, and every other member of the DA, preformed extraordinarily.
The rest of the class however did rather poorly, and Daphne hear her new professor mutter under her breath "Nice little break at Hogwarts they said. Would be easy they said." When the class ended a few hours later, they had homework that consisted of practical application as well as theory for the first time this year.
The next two weeks passed by rather normally for Harry and the entire castle. They had a few DA meetings during which Tracey wore Gryffindor colors to the amusement of all the members. As promised, she was photographed for the Gryffindor Weekly Newsletter and Harry had gifted her a framed copy at the last meeting which she took with a scowl.
Tracey and Neville had also gotten together, and Harry couldn't help the amusement that rose up in him when he saw them with one another. The shy Gryffindor seemed to be constantly blushing and fumbling around her, but Tracey was sweet and patient with him.
The weather had warmed somewhat as February had faded into March, making the walks he took regularly with Daphne around the lake and the time they spent beside their boulder more bearable. He had still not told her he loved her, but Daphne told him at every chance.
He was working hard to push past whatever was holding him back and he was close. He knew he did love her, but it was hard to say those feelings out loud. Even though Daphne had said them already and continued to tell him, he still struggled with the fear of rejection and the anxiety she might leave.
Funnily enough between the emotional unrest and everything else that was going on there were moments he could forget about prophecies and destinies and just live like a teenager. It felt liberating.
Harry was now making last minute preparations for the latest DA meeting that they would be having this evening. Everyone was caught up with all their material and the class was now working on Patronuses, as well as continuing their dueling practice.
While Harry hoped that they would never need to use those skills in a real-life situation, they would at least be able to put up a decent effort defending themselves if they did. He smiled somewhat sadly as he thought of the class.
With Tonks teaching defense instead of Umbridge, there seemed to be a new life breathed into the castle. Tonks was a great instructor, and she kept the lessons interesting with both the content she was teaching and her appearance alike, as she often changed her hair color and other features from day to day. Her favorite and most used look consisted of a heart shaped face with soft features and bubblegum pink shoulder length hair.
She had also kept her classroom open for study groups during most evenings where students from all years could come in and get help or just practice their spell work. A majority of fifth and seventh years were attending at least a couple days out of the week to get caught up.
Harry had considered what to do in regards to the DA now that Umbridge was gone, and they had someone competent teaching, and had ultimately come to the decision that he was going to step down as the leader of the DA. He hadn't told anyone besides Daphne yet and she had been surprised but agreed that now would be a good time to step back, especially with everything else on his plate.
He hadn't shared his plan with Hermione or Ron because he had a feeling they might be a little less understanding and would try to convince him to stay on. So, like the rest of the group, they would be finding out tonight.
He finished his preparations and made his way to the seventh floor where Hermione was already standing admitting students. "You know we don't have to be so secretive about this anymore." Harry told her and Hermione blinked at him.
"I guess you're right." She said after a moment, "I hadn't really considered that." Harry laughed.
"We could also get rid of the sheet, or at least take the jinx off of it now. With Umbridge gone there isn't a secret to keep any longer and someone may accidentally say something." Hermione nodded and took the parchment off of the wall where they had stuck it. She waved her wand in an intricate pattern and the parchment flashed briefly.
"You'll let them know?" She asked him and Harry nodded.
"I have a couple of other announcements as well, so I'll just group them together." Hermione gave him a curious look, and Harry thought she might ask what the announcements were, but he was mercifully saved by the arrival of Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones.
Harry walked inside with them, and they quickly pulled him into a debate they were having regarding theoretical battles between magical creatures. Harry spoke with them as the room filled nodding at everyone as they entered and giving Daphne a smile when she sat next to him and also joined the conversation.
The last member to enter had been Ginny and she walked in quietly, avoiding Harry's eyes. Daphne had gotten her payback in a duel against Ginny the first DA meeting after the kiss when Luna hadn't been present and Harry asked for a volunteer to practice with her.
Daphne hadn't been overly aggressive during the fight, but she held nothing back and soundly wiped the floor with the youngest Weasley. Afterwards, Daphne had admitted that she felt slightly better, but still did not care for her. Ginny meanwhile had not spoken to Harry since the incident in the common room. Harry felt bad, but Hermione had explained the younger girl was still embarrassed and that she would likely need time before she came back around.
With everyone present Harry stood and began the announcements. "Hey everyone. Just a couple things before we start for the evening. Firstly, we've removed the protection off of the sheet we signed. I think it would still be best if we didn't go around publicly advertising what we're doing here, but with Umbridge gone there isn't as strict a need for secrecy."
"Does that mean we can invite new members?" Broke in Ernie Macmillan.
Harry shrugged. "I suppose so. Although with the official DA study lessons that Tonks is hosting, I doubt more people will care to join." There was a general noise of disbelief around the classroom, but Harry moved on.
"The second announcement is that I plan on stepping down as the... uh... teacher for our group." The word still made him uncomfortable, especially as there were older students in the class. There was a sudden uproar as everyone began to speak simultaneously. Harry had to yell to be heard over the tumult.
"One at a time!" He shouted, and the other students finally calmed down.
"What do you mean you're stepping down?" It was Hermione's voice and Harry looked at her when he responded.
"I've been stretched thin this year, and now that we have someone competent teaching defense that's willing to provide extra help, I figured I would take the opportunity to step back. Of course we can all still meet, and I'm sure I'll be at most of the meetings, but I won't be planning lessons and the like anymore."
The class looked torn as everyone knew that Harry was a prefect and on the quidditch team and most others were aware of his tutoring, even if they didn't know specifics. Hermione's voice spoke up again. "I can help with the planning Harry."
"We could too." Said Fred gesturing between him and George.
"Yeah, we may have only gotten three OWLs, but we both got one in Defense and are rather handy in it, and we would love to help if you kept teaching." Agreed the second twin.
Harry smiled at them but shook his head. "You guys could probably manage on your own, there's no need for me to-"
"Listen," Another voice cut him off, and Harry was surprised to see it was Zacharias Smith speaking. "When I first heard about this idea and your supposed exploits, I didn't think that you were telling the truth, I just wanted to pass my exams. But I realized that this is important. That what you were saying is true and I'm… I'm sorry for the way I acted. I would love to keep learning from you."
It was Ron's voice who spoke up next. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with the git. About the learning from you part, I always believed what you said and that it was important."
"Me too!" Exclaimed another voice.
"Same here!" Declared someone else.
Soon everyone was shouting their agreements and Harry looked towards Daphne for help, but she just smiled and shrugged her shoulders. The commotion died down a few moments later and Hermione's voice rang out again.
"Like I said Harry, I'll take over a majority of the planning and we could even alternate weeks if that'll help." The rest of the class looked up at him hopefully and Harry sighed.
"Doesn't sound like I have much choice." He said, still in disbelief at the reaction his announcement had garnered. "Alright we'll do it that way for now, but if things get too busy, it will be mostly Hermione teaching."
The class cheered and Harry chuckled. He waited for them to quiet before he spoke again. "Alright we're going to start with patronuses today. Last week we had a few people get close and I have a feeling today will be the day someone gets it." The class took out their wands and Harry began to go over the reminders and tips that had helped him as the class listened attentively to what he was saying.
By the end of lesson Harry had been proven right. The twins had both managed to cast a corporeal patronus for the first time, and they shared the form of a Magpie. Others were getting extremely close, among them Daphne and Hermione. Harry wasn't quite sure what Hermione's form would take, but Daphne's appeared to be something with four legs.
Harry watched as the students filed out, wishing them a goodnight when they waved to him and speaking with a few. He was still in disbelief at the reaction he had garnered for them with his announcement but had to admit that it had felt nice.
Two days later Harry had just finished another lesson with Dumbledore and was making his way up to the Gryffindor common room. It wasn't very late yet, and he wanted to check in with Sirius who he hadn't spoken to in a couple weeks.
Besides just a general catch up he also wanted to talk to him about what he had just learned in this most recent lesson. After they had covered their usual lessons on advanced magic and had their practice duel – in which Harry had lasted nearly 7 minutes going up against the headmaster– Dumbledore had told him that he had two possible destinations in mind for horcruxes and was planning excursions soon.
The first and easier of the two places to check would be the Gaunt shack. Dumbledore thought he might have left one there because as far as Voldemort knew, no one had made the connection between him and the Gaunt's.
The second was only a generalized area as of now. A cave somewhere in the cliffs overlooking a lake. It was a place where Voldemort had taken some of the orphans from the orphanage that he had shared a room with and tortured them before he had known he was a wizard. Harry shuddered at the thought of a young Voldemort using wandless magic to torture other children and pushed it out of his mind.
He had told Harry he planned to have him accompany him on the excursions when they went searching and Harry was pleased to be included. He finished the rest of the short walk and saw that the common room was still fairly full.
Hermione was out on patrols and Ron was beating Neville in a game of wizard's chess, so Harry made his way straight up to the dormitory and sat on his bed. The room was empty but still he drew the curtains casting the one-way privacy charm he used for mirror conversations. Sirius answered a minute later.
"Hey bud. Everything alright? He asked and set the mirror against something, so he didn't have to hold it. Harry realized he was sat at the table eating dinner and apologized, offering to call him later, but Sirius waved him off. "As long as you're willing to put up with my chewing, I don't mind."
"I don't." Harry promised. "We haven't talked since just after the whole Umbridge thing and I wanted to just update you." Sirius nodded and Harry began sharing what was going on with the DA, how lessons with Tonks had been and everything else that had been happening.
Sirius listened as he ate, nodding and speaking when appropriate as he worked his way through his dinner. Finally, Harry began to go over the latest lesson with Dumbledore. Sirius had seemed impressed at the information the headmaster had been able to accrue.
"Kreacher!" He called and Harry heard the muttering from the old elf in the background as he walked into the room. "Please take the dishes and bring dessert." Sirius commanded. "So does Albus have any idea which horcrux is where?" He asked.
Harry shrugged. "The only ones he's really certain are horcruxes are the ring and the locket. Dumbledore mentioned that he thought the ring was probably at the Gaunt house, so maybe the locket is in the cave with the lake."
Sirius began to reply but was cut off by Kreacher's deep voice. "How does the filthy half-blood know of Master Regulus's locket and the lake?"
"What do you mean Master Regulus's locket?" Harry heard Sirius ask.
Harry couldn't see what was going on as the mirror had fallen over in the commotion, but Sirius' voice snapped out. "I command you to tell me what you meant by Master Regulus's locket."
He assumed Kreacher had tried to make a break for it, or at the least was just refusing to answer, but at the direct order his voice started speaking again, much more strained now. "Master Regulus had allowed the dark one to use Kreacher. The dark one took Kreacher to the cave near the lake. Kreacher was forced to drink the potion. It was horrible." The elf's voice cracked as he spoke.
"The dark one left Kreacher to die, but good master called for Kreacher and saved him. When Kreacher explained to master what had happened he made Kreacher return to the lake with him. Kreacher begged him not to, but master would not listen.
"When Kreacher arrived, he took master to the foul potion. Kreacher begged Master Regulus not to drink it, but he did. He said Kreacher did not deserve to suffer again. When he was done master took the locket and replaced it with his own. He gave it to Kreacher and asked that I destroy it. Then Master tried to drink from the lake and was pulled under by the… the creatures." Harry heard the elf pull in a shuddering breath and thought he must have been holding back tears.
"Kreacher could not save master and try as he might Kreacher could not destroy the locket. Kreacher has failed Master." With that the elf began to cry. Harry sat stunned for a moment as did Sirius. After another few moments, Harry broke the silence.
"Do you still have the locket Kreacher? Would you like us to destroy it for you?" The elf stopped crying, attempting to draw in breaths and compose himself.
"Kreacher has tried everything, do you really know how to destroy it?" He asked and Harry thought he sounded hopeful.
"I know someone who does, and we can destroy it tonight Kreacher. Do you still have it?"
"Yes." He croaked.
Harry heard Sirius speak then. "Kreacher go get it quickly and bring it here. Harry you'll let Dumbledore know?"
"Yes, we'll be there as soon as we can."
"Okay, in the meantime I have some questions for Kreacher about my baby brother." With that the connection fizzled out. Harry placed the mirror in his trunk and sprinted down the steps, nearly running into Neville who was making his way up.
He muttered an apology and sprinted out of the portrait hole down to the headmaster's office. When he arrived, he placed his hands on his knees and panted out the password. The gargoyle leapt aside, and Harry ran up the moving staircase and knocked on the door loudly.
"Come in." He heard the voice of the headmaster call out and Harry entered still gasping for breath. Dumbledore was seated behind the desk like he had been when Harry left. He had a stack of papers spread across the desk and his half moon glasses hung low on his crooked nose. His eyes looked over them to Harry curiously.
"Think we found a horcrux." He said between breaths and Dumbledore stood quickly.
"Where?" He asked pulling out his wand.
"Grimmauld Place. I'll fill you in when we get there. Can we floo?" He asked gesturing to the fireplace. Dumbledore shook his head.
"We'll have to take brooms to the edge of the wards, and we can apparate once we are there. You are certain it was a horcrux?"
"Almost positive, a locket in a lake stolen by Sirius' brother." At that Dumbledore's eyes widened and he summoned two brooms that had been shrunken down and enlarged them. He then reached behind his desk and took a hold of the sword of Gryffindor.
He had explained in a previous lesson how the goblin forged steel now held the properties of the basilisk venom it had absorbed and that it could therefore work to destroy the other horcruxes. He placed it in a scabbard and then in a pocket that shouldn't have been able to hold it.
"You don't mind flying from my office?" He asked and Harry shook his head. "Excellent, after you." Harry took the broom and flew out of the open window, followed by a deceivingly spry Dumbledore a moment later. When they cleared the wards, Dumbledore shrunk down the brooms and pocketed them.
Harry grasped his arm and with a pop and the now familiar sensation of being forced through a tube, they disappeared and reappeared in the drawing room of Grimmauld Place. Sirius looked over at them from where he was pacing, a glass of amber liquid in his hand.
He gestured towards Kreacher who was holding the same locket Harry had seen in the memories. He felt a sensation as he looked at the locket, something he had felt before. He didn't know how to explain it, but it felt like a connection almost.
"Sir, I feel something almost familiar." He asked in a questioning voice and Dumbledore looked at him curiously.
"The locket was made by Salazar Slytherin and grants the ability to anyone who wears it to speak and understand parseltongue. He had created it for his wife who didn't share the ability and was unable understand what her husband and their progeny spoke. So, Salazar took it upon himself to make sure his wife would have a means to understand them. I am unsure of the connection, but it is likely it senses you are a parseltongue and so it calls to you."
Harry felt a little grossed out by that thought but nodded as it made sense. Dumbledore spoke again. "Kreacher, may I see the locket?" He asked and the elf eyed him warily.
"You will destroy it?" He asked hopefully.
"We will." Dumbledore reassured him. The elf handed the locket over and Dumbledore took it and placed it on the ground, before placing protections and enchantments to keep any future damage at bay. "It is a shame that he corrupted such a wonderful and priceless artefact." He said after everything was ready.
"Harry if you would be so kind could you open the locket?" He said pulling the sword from its scabbard and holding it ready. Harry looked confusedly at the headmaster for a moment before it clicked. Parseltongue.
He leaned down and closed his eyes, imagining a snake. "Open" he whispered, and the locket immediately burst open. A thick black smoke rose out of it and began to shift. It took the shape of a young girl maybe six or seven. She walked towards the headmaster; pain written all over her face.
"You wouldn't kill me again, would you?" She asked softly, so quiet Harry had to strain to hear. "You promised to always take care of me, to protect me." He saw a pained expression pass over Dumbledore's face, and a single tear roll down his cheek. Harry feared for a moment that he might not stab the horcrux but then he hefted the sword back.
The face of the little girl contorted into one of anger and disgust. "You murderer!" She shouted in a voice much deeper and uglier than the one she had been using previously. "Loving those who would destroy me more than your own family! Mistake after mistake! How much blood is on your hands?! How many deaths are-"
The screaming was cut off by an unholy scream as Dumbledore brought down the sword and struck it. The mist dissipated and the locket let out a black sludge much like the diary had. The room had gone painfully quiet as no one spoke.
It was Kreacher that broke the silence. He hugged Harry's feet and began to chant "Thank you, thank you, thank you." Harry felt slightly uncomfortable but patted the elf on the head.
"Thank you, Kreacher. You helped a lot." Harry told the elf as Dumbledore took a moment to compose himself.
"Yes Kreacher, you've helped more than you know. Do you mind if I ask you some questions about Regulus and the cave?" He asked. The old elf looked nervous but nodded. Dumbledore led him to the other room and began to speak with him.
Sirius looked in no mood to talk so Harry took a seat and waited. This was the last thing he had been expecting to happen tonight, but he couldn't help the slight feeling of victory that washed over him. They had managed to destroy another one. Two down four to go, and suddenly it seemed like they might actually have a chance.
A/N: This chapter was another difficult one to write, and one that I've been editing and rewriting for a while. In the end I needed to simply post it and move on, even though I wasn't entirely pleased with it. As always, I remain stunned by the support you all continue to pour out over this fic and I'm so appreciative for everyone who decides to read. I also would like to say thank you as I had so many people check in with me and offering well wishes. I am mostly recovered now, just dealing with some fatigue, but again thank you. I would love to hear your thoughts if you care to share them, and I'll see you all next time!