Hey Guys! The response to last chapter was much better than I had hoped, so here's an early update. (Though I wouldn't mind if more of you left a review, y'know.)

[Taijitu is the name of the symbol of Yin and Yang.]

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

oOo

When the Lilies Bloom

Chapter 2: The Hour is the Crux

oOo

"So, what do you say?" Harry asked, leaning against the desk with his arms crossed. "Will you help me with this?"

"Say we believe you, but Harry, even if we agree, there's a lot of variables and unknowns involved. For one, half the ingredients on your list are carefully controlled by the Ministry, not to mention that some of them are outright illegal!" Hermione argued.

"It's not like we haven't worked with restricted stuff before, though," Ron pointed out.

"And after what Snape pulled off with the Prophecy all those years ago," Harry said, "I think stealing a few potion supplies from him isn't that big of a deal."

"Okay, fine, but what about the others? Tears of a Phoenix? Umbilical Cord of a female Unicorn foal? Dust of a Philosopher's Stone?"

"I guess we'll have to ask Hagrid for a little bit of help," Harry shrugged as if it was no big deal. "There are plenty of Unicorns in the Forbidden Forest."

"But what about the Dust of a Philosopher's Stone?" Hermione exclaimed. "I don't need to remind you of all people what happened to the only known Philosopher's Stone in existence! It's not like you'd just find a flask full of-"

Both their jaws dropped as Harry reached into his robes and placed a tiny vial on the desk with the smallest amount of red dust sparkling inside it.

"Turns out a Philosopher's Stone is pretty volatile to aggressive handling. The pocket of my jeans was pretty much lined with it. I figured storing it was better than letting it go down the drain, so…"

"Merlin's pants, mate."

"You've been carrying this around for years and you never told me?" Hermione's eyes were fixed at the tiny, unassuming vial.

"Well, I wasn't sure it was worth anything until a couple of days ago," Harry said, taking a seat at the remaining chair.

"Oh," Hermione said simply. After a moment, she asked, "What about Phoenix Tears?"

"And now that I think about it, have you told Dumbledore about any of this?" Ron asked. "I bet he'd be a huge help."

"Maybe he would, but…" Harry sighed, running a hand through his raven locks. "I know whatever he does is with the best of intentions, but I feel like sometimes he can be far too manipulative. He said it himself, Hermione, he'd had my whole life planned out since before he dropped me off with the Dursleys. This… this is my chance at something I never had, something that was taken from me through no fault of my own. All because of a stupid Prophecy that didn't even necessarily have to be about me.

"Dumbledore, for all his determination to fight for the good of the people, sometimes forgets that the people he's fighting for have feelings and opinions as well, which should matter no less than his own. No, Ron, this is far too important to take any chances. I'm bringing her back, no matter what. I have to try."

Ron and Hermione just sat there silently for a long moment, contemplating his words. Finally, Hermione nodded slowly.

"Okay," she conceded. "Okay, I'll help you."

"Isn't it Dark magic, though?" Ron asked uncertainly. "This reminds me too much of Necromancy. mate"

"No, Ron, this is not Dark magic," Harry said firmly. "The very essence of Dark magic is the pain and suffering of a victim. No, this is what blood magic was supposed to be before it was tainted. It's the same ancient magic that saved me from Voldemort all those years ago."

"As for Necromancy," Hermione began, her lecture-voice coming to the forefront. "Necromancy entails rituals intended to pull the souls of the dead back from the afterlife for the selfish whims of a Dark witch or wizard. Depriving the dead of their peace by means of such a ritual causes unspeakable suffering to the victim, and forever taints the perpetuator of such a barbaric crime."

"As for my mother," Harry picked up, "She never left this plane of existence, Ron. As I said before, the same magic that protected me and destroyed Voldemort also ended up binding her soul to mine. Bringing her back won't hurt her; if anything, it will be a relief after being trapped for so long."

"Okay, yeah, I get it," Ron finally said. "I'm in. But… Dark magic or not, such a powerful ritual has to have some side-effects, mate."

"There's no mention of any side-effects in your notes, Harry," Hermione said, shuffling through them.

"Oh, uh, it's nothing major, just, y'know, the same kind of thing I had with Voldemort. Shared visions and moods and whatever…" Harry trailed off, shifting uncomfortably in his seat and averting his eyes.

Hermione and Ron didn't seem to be convinced.

"What aren't you telling us, mate?" Ron asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"It's-"

"-again, not nothing!" Hermione crossed her arms. "What is it?"

Harry sighed. "It's… apparently, the ritual would help us bring her soul out of my body, but… it will still remain bound to my soul on some level." When Hermione continued to stare at him and Ron tilted his head in confusion, Harry explained further. "It basically means that, uh…" Deciding to take the plunge, he finally blurted out, "If one of us is killed, both of us die."

A deafening silence followed his words. Neither of his friends moved a muscle, just continued staring at him with blank expressions.

"Bloody hell, mate!" Ron finally exclaimed. "Are you mental?"

"Bloody hell indeed, Harry," Hermione muttered.

"Look, I know what I'm getting myself into," Harry tried to explain, his hands held up placatingly. "I know it's… not ideal."

Hermione snorted dryly. "That's one way to put it."

"I know, okay? But I have to do this guys, I have to try! Knowing what I do, I can't just sit here and do nothing! With or without your help, I'm doing this."

"No," Ron said firmly.

"'No'? What do you mean, 'no'?"

"What I mean is, you aren't doing this alone, mate," Ron told him decisively.

"He's right, Harry," Hermione said. "If you're going to jump headfirst into the thick of it, again, then we're coming with you."

"Thanks, guys," Harry said, leaning back in his chair to look at the ceiling.

Shaking her head, Hermione said, "This won't be easy, Harry. Even if we manage to put together all the ingredients, there are a lot of things that could potentially go wrong."

"That's what you said in second year right before you whipped up a flawless batch of Polyjuice Potion, Hermione."

"Besides, when has anything to do with me ever been easy?"

"Can't argue with you there."

oOo

"Powdered Griffin claw?"

"Check."

"Ashwinder Eggs?"

"Check."

"Dittany roots?"

"Check."

"Infusion of Wormwood?"

"Check."

"Lethe River Water?"

"Check."

"Moonstone powder?"

"Check."

"Bark of Holly?"

"Check."

"A strip of Acromantula silk?"

"Check."

"Murtlap tentacle?"

"Ugh, check."

"Mandarake stem?"

"I think I'm half deaf now. Check."

"Pixie Dust?"

"Check. The twins are brilliant, but far too nosey."

"Fairy wings?"

"Snape is going to kill us. Check."

"Boomslang skin?"

"He's going to torture us first. Check."

"Fireseeds?"

"Extensive torture till we beg for death. Check."

"Oh, this is a good one; Petals of a lily plucked on the night of a full moon?"

"Ha, very funny," Harry muttered dryly. "Check."

"Umbilical Cord of a female Unicorn foal?"

"Check. No, no, don't open the box! It's not pretty," Ron shuddered.

"Saliva of a mated Mermaid?"

"Check."

"How in the name of Merlin did you manage to get your hands on that?"

"Never comment on the, uh, lack of beauty of merpeople, Hermione, they tend to spit in your face. Ron learned it the hard way."

"Oh, right. A strand of hair from the eyebrow of a female Metamorphmagus?"

"Check."

"I swear she looked at us as if we were asking for her knickers."

"Ronald!"

"She did!"

"Powdered nails of the seventh child of a seventh child, both being the first female in their generation?"

"You could just say 'Ginny's nails', you know. Check."

"Dust of a Philosopher's Stone?"

"Check."

"So," Hermione said, finally looking up from the ingredient list. "Now all we need are the Tears of a Phoenix, Blood of the Bearer, and… and the Bone of the Bonded."

An awkward silence followed as the three looked at each other.

"I, uh," Harry averted his eyes. "I sent Dobby to… you know… retrieve it without disturbing the, uh… the grave…" Trailing off, he opened one of the drawers and pulled out a small, plain wooden box, setting it on the enlarged desk with the other ingredients.

"So, moving on," Hermione continued quickly, not wanting to get all morbid once again. "We have the Blood; yours, obliviously. But what about the Phoenix Tears?"

"Well, let's hope that Fawkes still remembers me after, you know, being reborn," Harry said, standing up. Clearing his throat, he called, "Fawkes, it's me, Harry. I, uh, really, really need your help."

Hermione raised her eyebrow incredulously.

"That's your brilliant plan?" Ron asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

Before Harry could think of a reply, however, there was a burst of flames over their heads and Fawkes the Phoenix appeared in the Room of Requirement.

Harry grinned at his awestruck best friend. "Yup, that's my plan, Ron."

After a quarter of an hour filled with pleading, imploring and downright begging, they were left with a Phoenix-free room and a Tear-filled vial.

"Well, that was exhausting," Hermione slumped in her chair. "Who knew reasoning with Phoenixes could be so difficult?"

As the absurdity of that statement registered, both of them started chuckling, and soon the room was filled with hysterical peals of laughter.

"So," Hermione said after a while, wiping away her own tears of mirth. "We should probably get some sleep. The half-moon is tomorrow, we'll need all the rest we can get if we want to perform the ritual."

"Good thing it's a Saturday," Harry agreed.

oOo

"So," Harry said as the door to the Room of Requirement closed and locked itself firmly behind the three of them. "Where do we begin?"

The Room was much larger now, with the desk at one corner and a raised platform with a huge cauldron vaguely resembling a bathtub at another. Three long tables with various equipment and their gathered ingredients were positioned around the elliptical platform.

"Right, so, we have about an hour till midnight to draw the Runic circles and prepare the ingredients for the ritual. Let's get to work!" Hermione clapped her hands together and moved towards one of the tables, Ron and Harry following. She handed Harry a shiny silver knife and gave a wooden bowl to Ron. "Ring finger of your left hand, Harry."

"Yeah, right," Harry took a deep breath, trying not to think about Pettigrew slashing at his arm for his blood to revive Voldemort. As Ron held the bowl below his left hand, Harry ran the razor-sharp edge of the knife along the inside of the ring finger of his left hand, wincing at the pain. Blood immediately gushed out of the fresh wound and pooled into the wooden bowl. When Hermione was satisfied, she quickly brought up a strip of Acromantula silk and wrapped it tightly around his finger.

"Good," she nodded, taking the bowl from Ron. The next several minutes saw Hermione drawing a series of intricate runes with Harry's blood around the massive cauldron. The Runic circle was shaped like a Taijitu - the symbol of Yin and Yang, as Hermione had explained - such that the cauldron ended up in one of the divisions while the other was empty.

"All done?" Ron asked after Hermione cast a charm at the runes, making the pattern glow for a brief moment before turning golden.

"Yup," she replied, wiping at her brow.

"Time for the secret weapon, then."

Shaking his head at Ron's antics, Harry pulled out the vial containing the remaining Felix Felicitis. It had been Ron's idea, and he'd been insisting they call it their 'secret weapon' ever since.

Ron held up three tiny cups and Harry poured a tiny amount into each, just enough for a couple of hours, before passing them around.

"Right," Ron raised his cup and cleared his throat. "To getting Harry's mum out of him! Wait, that came out wrong…"

Chuckling, Harry and Hermione drained their cups and Ron quickly did the same.

Hermione lit a gentle blue flame under the cauldron and the three of them then proceeded to follow the instructions from the ancient tome Harry had found in the Room to prepare the potion for the ritual. They went through each step carefully, triple-checking the instructions to make sure everything was done right. The liquid luck in their systems probably helped, too.

At ten minutes to midnight, they finally stood back and observed the gently simmering potion.

"Pale white with golden ripples, just like the book says it should be," Hermione said happily. "Now, Harry, you'll stand there-"

"I know, Hermione," Harry interrupted. "You've run us through it plenty of times."

"As I was saying," Hermione continued anyway, "You'll stand in the other half of the Taijitu, kneel on your right knee, put your left hand up to your wrist - Acromantula silk included - inside the cauldron, place your wand tip at precisely the middle of the Runic circle, and say the incantation once. Only once. Make sure it's loud and clear, and whatever happens, do not repeat the incantation."

"Right, got it," Harry nodded.

"You should remove your shirt and shoes," Ron said suddenly. When the other two looked at him sceptically, he continued, "Mum always says that powerful rituals are performed topless and with bare feet."

"That's… I've never heard of such a thing," Hermione frowned.

Harry, who had gotten disturbingly adept at sensing arguments between his two friends before they began, quickly said, "I'll do it, y'know, just in case."

"Well I suppose there's no harm in it," Hermione conceded.

At five minutes to midnight, Harry closed his eyes and willed the Room of Requirement to adapt to what he wanted. When he opened his eyes, the lights in the Room had been extinguished and the ceiling had faded to reveal the night sky, much like the Great Hall. The night was, fortunately, cloudless and the half-moon bathed them in its white light.

"Three minutes left," said Hermione, pointing to the large, luminous clock on the wall. Putting out the fire under the cauldron, Hermione quickly grabbed the box containing the bone and pulled it open before pouring the rest of the blood from the bowl over it. Passing it to Harry, she said, "Left hand."

Nodding, and trying not to think too much about it, Harry took the box and picked up the single, tiny bone doused with his blood in his left hand, quickly dropping it into the cauldron. Long, thin tendrils of dark red spread throughout the pale white liquid at once.

Feeling the anticipation mount, the three quickly took their positions; Harry standing in one half of the Runic circle, barefoot and topless with wand in hand, while Ron and Hermione stood opposite each other on either side of the circle, perpendicular to Harry's line of sight. Both of them took a steady stance and raised their wands at an angle.

As the clock chimed to indicate sixty seconds to midnight, Harry dipped his left hand into the lukewarm potion and bent down to kneel on his right knee.

"Expecto Patronum!" Ron and Hermione cried together. Instead of their corporeal patronuses, however, only silver mist emerged from the tip of their wands, which had been their intention. As the silver mist surrounded the Runic circle, Harry took a deep breath to compose himself.

This is it, he thought, his heart beating wildly.

At ten seconds to midnight, the clock gave another chime.

Focusing his magic to the best of his ability, Harry placed the tip of his wand right at the centre of the Taijitu and, just as the clock struck midnight, he all but yelled, "ENVOLVUNT ANIMA!".

oOo

For those who didn't know, the literal meaning of the word 'Horcrux' is 'Midnight'. [The Hour is the Crux = Horcrux.]

If you have any questions about the Ritual or anything else, do feel free to cram up the review section.

- DragonsAndBroomsticks