"This is one I actually don't know too much about," Harry began, "because you destroyed it Professor while I was still trying to get Slughorn's memory. You discovered this in the ruins of the Gaunt House, Voldemort's mother's old home," he explained to everyone else. "A ring that belonged to Marvolo Gaunt and used to belong to Salazar Slytherin. You told me you…successfully destroyed it."
"Well, great then!" Tonks clapped her hands together. "Then all you have to do is exactly what you did last time and…" she trailed off as she saw Harry's expression. "What?"
"Well, it's just last time, Professor, you made the mistake of putting the ring on and it…sort of…poisoned you," he explained, wincing a little.
McGonagall let out a soft sound while Lupin's eyes went wide. The others all had varying expressions. "How bad was it?" Kingsley asked.
"Well, thanks to Professor Snape's quick timing," Harry nodded at the potions master who looked up again at the sound of his name, "it wasn't completely fatal. He managed to contain it to just one hand, which still looked pretty bad, but…" he stopped, unsure how to continue from there.
"Well, that's not too bad then," Mrs. Weasley said, putting on a somewhat fake smile. "Just don't do that next time."
"Completely?" Dumbledore asked softly, almost interrupting Mrs. Weasley.
Harry sighed. Of course the man would focus on that word. He knew he wouldn't be able to keep much away from him, but he wanted to avoid this at least. But it was too late now. "Yeah," he nodded. "Professor Snape managed to prevent it for…nine or ten months I think. Then…"
The others all gave another collective gasp, the loudest being McGonagall who had tears in her eyes. Dumbledore took the news silently, simply bowing his head a little as he accepted it.
"At least we know how to prevent it," Kingsley offered.
"Yes!" Tonks cried out. "We'll keep that thing away from him and destroy it quickly, make sure it never hurts anyone ever!"
Dumbledore smiled sadly. "Thank you. I believe then it would be for the best if I do not accompany you into the house. I will take you there and see if I can disable any traps Voldemort may have left, but I will not enter."
"But why would you put on the ring in the first place, if you suspected it was a Horcrux?" Lupin asked.
Dumbledore frowned and turned to Harry for an answer. "Uh, I think there might be some sort of compulsion spell on it," he said. "So anyone who goes for it should have someone else there to stop them from putting it on. Probably better to just destroy it right there before anything can happen."
They all nodded, accepting that answer. Except for Dumbledore. He looked at Harry curiously, a questioning look on his face and Harry mouthed 'later.' Now wasn't the time to go into the details about the Resurrection Stone.
"But…if Dumbledore died, then how did you finally defeat Voldemort?" Kingsley asked.
"You put too much faith in me, Kingsley," Dumbledore said. "I've known since the beginning that I would not be the one to deal the final blow. That was Harry's move."
"Technically, Voldemort did it to himself," Harry said. "His curse rebounded off my spell and hit him instead. Killed him instantly."
The group took a moment to absorb that, eyes wide.
"Yeah, but before you died," Harry continued, turning to Dumbledore again, "you told me everything you could, taught me as much as you could. And even after, you helped me, leaving memories behind to give me the information I needed to finish it. And your portrait helped too."
Dumbledore smiled softly. "I am glad I was able to help you as much as I could. I just wish I could have done more."
"You did enough," Harry smiled back.
"Alright, enough of all that," Moody interrupted, shifting forward in his seat. He jerked his head towards the destroyed Horcruxes. "That's three down and we know where a fourth one is. What about the fifth, Potter?"
"Ah, this one is going to be tricky," he admitted. "To be fair, I think the locket was the hardest one for us since first Mundungus stole it-"
"What?" Moody spluttered, rising up suddenly. "Mundungus did what?"
"Why would he steal it?" Lupin asked.
"Probably thought he could sell it," Tonks offered, wrinkling her nose.
"It was exactly that," Harry nodded at her. "After…you all left Grimmauld Place," he said, stumbling a little as he almost mentioned Sirius's death. He had to try to avoid talking about that as much as possible. "He came back, rifled through it and took whatever he could to sell. Then Umbridge, a Ministry executive, took it from him and we had to break into the Ministry of Magic to get it back." He grimaced as he remembered all the hell they went through that day. "Had to disguise ourselves as different workers to get in."
"Wait, you broke into the Ministry?" Mr. Weasley asked, eyebrows raised. "Why? Why not just walk in? Or ask one of us?"
"Uh…yeah, we couldn't do that," Harry said. "It was…a very dark time at that point. Voldemort had practically taken over. It was a couple months after Professor Dumbledore's death and you all know he was the only one Voldemort truly feared so with him gone, Voldemort killed the minister, placed some puppet in power…Thicknesse, I think…and started changing all laws on blood purity and school regulation and all this stuff. It was a nightmare."
They all fell into a quiet stupor after that, stunned as Harry explained Voldemort's brief but terrifying reign of terror. Moody kept muttering under his breath, tapping his foot rapidly beneath the table. Tonks took in some shaky breaths. Sirius kept biting his lip, his wand rotating in his hand. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley conferred quietly together while Bill just stared at the table.
"I came here to prevent all that," Harry told them. "He was only in power for around 9 months, but he did a lot of damage then and a lot of innocent people were either imprisoned or killed. We can stop that, here and now. Don't get lost in what is now only a possibility. Just because it happened for me doesn't mean it will happen to you."
"He's right. Thank you Harry," Dumbledore told him. "Voldemort has not yet risen to full power. We have a unique and special opportunity now to end him once and for all. And we cannot waste it."
"Aye," Moody nodded assent. "No one else dies from that bastard." The rest of the group all nodded as well, coming back together.
"So, Voldemort killed Fudge?" Tonks asked. "Well, the man couldn't say we didn't warn him."
"Actually, no," Harry told her. "About a year from now, Voldemort makes his presence known and the public knows I wasn't making the whole thing up. Once they realize that the Ministry was basically ostracizing me and Dumbledore and feeding them a bunch of lies, they demanded he retire. Scrimgeour took office after that." Harry shrugged a little. "Wasn't much better than Fudge, to be honest."
"Who became minister when the war ended?" Lupin asked.
"Uh…that I won't say," Harry replied. "That's a bit too much of a spoiler for things to come and it probably won't happen in this timeline. But honestly I hope it does since this g…person made some good changes. Anyway, let's get back on track. The Horcrux I was talking about…well, let's just say Voldemort really didn't want this one to be found. I only learned about it from a very…unfortunate accident." Unfortunate. That was one way to put getting captured and sent to Malfoy Manor where Hermione was tortured and Dobby killed. The only good thing that came out of it was they learned where the Horcrux was and they rescued Dean, Luna, Ollivander, and Griphook who was able to lead them to the Horcrux.
"So where is it?" Sirius asked.
"Gringotts," Harry told him. He could see all their eyes widen as they took in what that meant. "In the deepest vaults. The Lestrange vault, to be precise."
Lupin cursed softly while Sirius did it not so softly. "Of course," he spat. "Of course he would entrust her with something like that. And of course she would hide it there, where it's practically unreachable." He gazed at Harry with astonishment. "How in the world did you get it?"
"Yeah?" Bill asked. "To rob Gringotts, that's…mad! No one's ever been able to do it. The goblins there take their responsibilities serious and have all sorts of nasty surprises waiting for you down there. How did you do it?"
"We had a goblin to help us," Harry said. "Griphook. I saved him and promised I wasn't looking to steal for gain or anything. It took a while, but we worked out a deal." He decided not to mention how badly that deal went. For Griphook, anyway. "He led us down. We had to use Polyjuice potion, disguised ourselves as Death Eaters. We got some of Bellatrix's hair and-"
Sirius breathed sharply through his teeth when he heard that. "How?" he asked. "My cousin is a psychopath. A murderer. To get that close to her is almost certain death. How did you get her hair?"
Harry paused for a second. "Doesn't matter," he said softly. "The point is we got it and used it." As he talked, he noticed Sirius eying him carefully. He knew there was something Harry wasn't saying. But it didn't matter. Harry wouldn't talk. He'd much rather leave that day in the past where it belonged. Hermione still carried the scars of that day and Harry could still see that knife flying towards them, the one that would end the life of a true friend.
"We…we got through, though we had to use the Imperius Curse on a few people." There was another small collective gasp but nothing else said. "But it went to hell when they activated the Thief's Downfall, a waterfall that washes all enchantments away. Somehow, they knew we were coming. And then there was the dragon."
Bill's eyes widened. "Huh, I always thought they had one down there."
"Yeah, they mistreated the poor thing, abused it," Harry shook his head. "Sucks for them, we rode it out of there. It was how we escaped."
"You rode a dragon?" Lupin gasped in amazement. "What was it like?"
Harry thought about it for a second. "Uncomfortable. And scary. Always thought it would turn around and eat us at any moment but it didn't seem to notice us. We eventually got off while it was drinking and got away from it."
"Alright, enough about the dragon," Moody said loudly. "What we need to figure out is how we plan on breaking into Gringotts to get that Horcrux. Cause I don't think disguising ourselves as a Lestrange is going to work this time seeing as all of them are locked up in Azkaban."
"Good riddance," Sirius muttered.
"Hmmm," Dumbledore said, stroking his chin as he pondered the problem. "At times I have wondered how it could be done. But I never once thought that I would have to act on it. The goblin bank is perhaps the most well-guarded building in the country and one of the most well-guarded in the world. No one has ever succeeded in breaking in. In our time, that is. And I believe you only succeeded due to having inside help," he said to Harry. "I do not think we will have that luxury this time."
"No," Harry agreed. Griphook only aided them because he wanted the sword and he might have felt he owed Harry for saving him. "But, I did think about this for a little while, with Hermione's help of course."
"Naturally," Lupin nodded. "She is the brightest witch of her age."
"At this point, she's pretty much the brightest witch of all," Harry said, thinking of his friend and the high rank she held at the Ministry now. "I didn't want to come here without at least some idea of what to do. So, we thought that it might be possible to descend to where the Lestrange vault is by pretending to visit another vault on that level."
Tonks snorted. "Yeah, who do we know who has a vault that deep in Gringotts? The Lestrange family is one of the oldest wizarding families in Britain. To have a vault like theirs you'd have to be a Malfoy or a…" she trailed off as she realized where Harry was going. "Oh," she nodded, thinking it over.
"What?" Bill asked, a little behind. "What is it?"
"That could work," Kingsley nodded.
"You can't be serious," Sirius said. "And don't make a joke about that," he added quickly, pointing at Tonks who had just opened her mouth and promptly shut it again.
"So you're saying the Black family vault isn't down there?" Lupin asked him.
"No it is, but we can't get to it," Sirius told him heavily.
"Why not?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Because I would have to provide physical proof of ownership which entails me going there myself. And I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm sort of a wanted fugitive at the moment," Sirius explained.
Everyone seemed to deflate at that except Lupin who stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I thought you accessed your vault to pay for Harry's firebolt? If you could do that physically then why not this?"
"Because that wasn't the Black family vault," Sirius told him. "That was the one I made for myself after I officially left my family. I only gained custody of the Black family vault after my mother died with no other heirs. My personal vault has much less security so they only needed some proof. Doing it via owl was no problem. The family vault is much more secure. The only way to do it is to go there myself and we know that won't work." He looked up at Harry. "Don't suppose you have another plan? Cause we won't be able to access mine."
"That might not be necessarily true," Harry told him.
"Weren't you listening? I can't access my vault without going there myself and I'm the only one with access."
"So you're saying when the vault came into your possession, you didn't reinstate your cousin Andromeda to it as well?" Harry asked carefully. He honestly didn't know the answer to this, but he suspected it had to be true given his godfather's nature.
Sirius blinked for a moment, taken aback. "Uh…" he paused, trying to think. "Yeah, I did," he nodded after a moment. "Or at least I tried to. I offered it to Andromeda but she said no. She didn't want any part of her family anymore, even its money. I understood it and that's part of the reason why I never took anything out of there either."
They all let out sighs of disappointment.
"Damn it, mum," Tonks muttered. "Well, back to square one then, are we? Unless anyone else has a family vault down that deep?" She looked around quickly but no one said anything. "Yeah, didn't think so."
Harry closed his eyes and slumped down into a chair. He didn't know what to do now. He wanted to give them some sort of plan to get the cup but it didn't seem like it. Dumbledore seemed to sense his mood and reached out, patting his hand.
"It is alright, Harry," he reassured him. "We will come up with something. We are not helpless, you know. Among us are some of the brightest wizards and witches in Britain. If anyone can find a way into Gringotts, it will be us."
Harry smiled softly back. "I know. I just wanted to offer more help," he said.
"You've already given us so much," Dumbledore told him. "Do not worry. We will find a way into that vault."
"Actually," Bill said, straightening in his chair, "I think I might have an idea."
They all turned to him in interest. "What is it?" Mrs. Weasley asked her son.
"Goblins aren't like wizards," he began. "They don't really follow the same rules as wizards do. I've worked among them long enough to pick up some things. And one of those is that it doesn't matter what the Ministry says, the vault still belongs to the owner, even if that owner is in a wizarding jail."
"Right," Harry snapped his fingers. "The Ministry has always been frustrated that it can't access the vaults of imprisoned wizards and witches. We had to get the Malfoy's permission to empty theirs."
"Exactly," Bill nodded then stopped, comprehending Harry's words. "Wait, what? The Malfoys did what?"
"Oh, right, after the war ended the Malfoys were forced to surrender their holdings in reparation for all the damages caused," Harry explained.
Sirius let off a bark of laughter at that. "Serves the gits right," he nodded approvingly. "All they ever cared about was money and status. Wish I could see the looks on their faces as they lose it all. I hope Lucius got shipped off to Azkaban as well."
Harry pursed his lips a little at that. "Uh, not really no. He was placed under house arrest for several years and then did some community work."
"What?" Sirius sat up again. "That's all he got?" He snorted then. "Always gets away with something."
"Actually, the Malfoys got a lighter sentence because at the end, they kind of turned from Voldemort," Harry explained. He saw everyone's eyes widen as he said it. "There came a moment when Draco could have turned me in and didn't and then in the final battle, Narcissa helped me by…well, I probably shouldn't say what but she helped us win in the end. So we gave them a small pardon. Still took their money and manor though. Gave it to those affected most during the war."
"Hmmm," Moody sniffed, turning away darkly. "Still too light if you ask me."
"The Malfoys really did that?" Sirius asked. "Seriously, them?"
"Yeah," Harry nodded.
"But, why?" he questioned.
"Yeah, all Lucius has ever cared about was serving his master," Mr. Weasley put in. "I can't imagine the snake ever turning on him."
"Well, technically Lucius didn't," Harry admitted. "He just stopped helping Voldemort in the end. It was really Draco and Narcissa who turned. Narcissa because all she cared about was keeping Draco safe and she seemed to realize being with Voldemort wouldn't do that. And Draco…I think he lost faith after Dumbledore's death. Uh…Voldemort sort of tasked him to kill Dumbledore."
Lupin gave him a sharp look. "Voldemort asked Draco to do it? But Draco's only a boy!"
Professor McGonagall simply shook her head in disgust.
"I think Voldemort thought that Professor Dumbledore would never suspect one of his students betraying him like that," Harry said. "But Professor Snape told Dumbledore so he knew from the beginning." He nodded at Snape who barely acknowledged it. Harry smirked as he thought back. "I was really the only one who thought Draco was behind it and I kept trying to warn you," he told Dumbledore. "But you just brushed it off. I thought it was because you didn't believe me but it was just because you already knew and were working it into your plan."
Dumbledore looked amused by the whole thing. "My plan?" he asked, though.
"Ah, right," Harry nodded. "It was at this point that you were…poisoned by the ring," he explained. He saw several people, including McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley slump as he said it. "Knowing you were going to die, you implemented a plan. You and Snape decided to have him mercy kill you to prevent Draco from doing it and to make him seem even more loyal to Voldemort."
This time, Snape lifted his head. "I killed Dumbledore?" he asked hoarsely, eyes dazed slightly.
"Yeah," Harry said, looking at him sadly. "But it was mercy. Dumbledore asked you to do it. And it worked. Voldemort completely trusted you after that. Though we all hated you…until the truth came out. Now you're remembered as one of the heroes of the war."
Sirius had a sudden coughing fit, forcing Lupin to pat him sharply on the back. "Snape…a hero?" he asked incredulously. "Oh the horror."
Snape gave him a look of exasperation before turning back to the wall, apparently done with the conversation. The others all gave him mixed looks, unsure how to take the news. Dumbledore still seemed amused by the whole thing though. "And what of young Mr. Malfoy?" he asked.
"Draco…he went through some stuff," Harry said, thinking back. "The pressure of serving Voldemort got to him. He tried twice to kill you but neither worked and both were pretty sloppy. Then, in the final moment, he only really disarmed you. You could kind of tell he didn't want to kill anyone. So Professor Snape stepped in. After that, Draco sort of lost faith in it all and eventually turned his life around."
Dumbledore smiled at that. "It is always a good thing when a student finds their way again."
"Enough of that," Professor McGonagall interrupted. "As fascinating as learning of future events is, I believe young Mr. Weasley had some knowledge to share."
"Oh, right," Bill said, shaking his head. "Yeah, so as I was saying, goblin vaults don't fall under Ministry jurisdiction. So, really, we-"
"Will be able to access the Black vault," Kingsley finished. "Since they don't care Sirius is a wizard criminal. To them, he is still just a client."
"Exactly," Bill nodded. "So Sirius can still access the vault."
"Hmmm," Dumbledore stroked his chin as he pondered this. "This is not exactly true. Yes, the goblins do not particularly care whether their clientele are criminals or not. But this does not mean they will simply let a fugitive waltz into their bank and withdraw money. They may not obey the Ministry's wishes, but they do respect them to a point and will not blatantly antagonize them."
"So, Sirius can't just walk in and access the vault," Harry summarized.
Dumbledore shook his head. "There is Ministry security at the bank as well, in the entrance at least. Or, the entrance they know of."
That perked people's interest.
"They know of?" Bill asked. "What other entrance is there?"
"As you say, the goblins make deals with all sorts, Ministry approved or not," Dumbledore explained. "To them it does not matter. Wizard affairs are not their own. However, they understand that many of their clientele might not be able to walk right in, so they provide ulterior entrances to those who wish to operate outside the Ministry's purview."
"So…how do we get to one of these entrances?" Tonks asked.
"And how do you know about them?" Bill asked curiously.
Dumbledore chuckled. "I have been around a while and met many people over time and learned a great deal from each of them. I am one of only a small number who can truly call a goblin a friend. She informed me of these secret entrances to Gringotts."
"So, how do we get to one of these entrances?" Moody asked. "Your goblin friend still around?"
"Sadly, no," Dumbledore shook his head. "She passed several years ago. However, I believe young Mr. Weasley here may have some friends of his own who may be willing to pass along the information."
Bill nodded slowly. "I know a few I'd consider friends. They've never told me about these entrances before, probably because I never needed to know before. I'll reach out, see what can be done."
"Why didn't you mention this sooner?" Harry asked Dumbledore.
He sighed helplessly. "At the end of the day, I am still an old man Harry. I am prone to make some mistakes or forget a detail or two. I have never needed access to Gringotts by secret means so over the years I forgot that there were such options until we began discussing it. My friend only informed me as she trusted me and wanted to offer it to me as an option just in case. And today, I am glad she did."
"Alright, so we get Sirius in through one of these secret entrances and down to the Black family vault," Moody said, leaning forward. "Then what? We seem to be missing the most important piece of the puzzle which is that we need to get into the Lestrange vault, not the Black one."
"Right," Harry nodded. "Well, now that we have a plan to get to the lower level of Gringotts, I can explain this part. You'll need an invisibility cloak. Last time, they were expecting us so they used the Thief's Downfall on us. Since they shouldn't suspect anything this time, you should be fine. One to two people, hide beneath the cloak. Then, once the goblins lead Sirius to his vault, whoever's under the cloak heads to the Lestrange one."
"Ok, but how do we know which one that is?" Tonks asked.
"Ah, well, that is a little unfortunate," Harry admitted.
Moody frowned. "You don't know what the number of the vault was when you broke into it."
"I was a little distracted by the dragon threatening to burn me to a crisp," Harry snapped back. "Speaking of which, you'll need the clankers nearby to get past the dragon. They've trained it to expect pain when it hears it."
"That's barbaric," Bill growled. "Charlie would skin them alive if he knew."
"Yeah," Harry agreed. "He practically did when he found out. Of course, we'd already freed it by then." He frowned for a second. "I actually hope you all can do that too, that thing really doesn't deserve to be down there."
"We don't have time fo-" Moody growled.
"I'll see what can be done," Dumbledore interrupted. "Please continue. How will we know which vault to enter."
"Here," Harry pulled out an item from his moleskin pouch, a memory vial. "This is my exact memory of that day. Look through it for the vault number. It should be there somewhere. And if not, it should show you where the vault is located at least."
"Ok, well that's something at least," Lupin said. "But it doesn't explain how we're going to enter the vault. We'd need the key and I don't see how the goblins will hand it to us. Not even Polyjuice Potion will work since the goblins will know if there's been a breakout from Azakaban or not."
Harry grimaced. This entire plan hinged on the unknown more than he liked so far, but this next part depended a little too much on it. It was going to be a hard sell to get them on board. But it was the only thing he could think of. "Yeah, here's the thing. We won't need the key. We just need to enter the vault. And anyone can do that. You just put your hand on the door."
Kingsley gave him a strange look. "Yes. And then you get sucked inside, trapped until the next goblin decides to look inside which I believe is once every ten years."
"Not to mention that will probably set off all sorts of alarms," Tonks added.
"No, I don't think so," Bill disagreed. "Goblins don't need an alarm telling them if someone's inside. They don't care about that. If you're stupid enough to put your hand on the vault door, then you deserve to die in there."
"Oh," Tonks nodded at that. "So, are we that stupid?"
"No," Moody said. "There has to be a better way."
"Let me explain," Harry told them. "You're right, it would be stupid to just lock yourself in the vault with no way out. And the goblins made it completely wizard-proof. But that's where I believe they made the mistake. They only made it wizard-proof."
Mr. Weasley frowned. "What does that mean?"
"Yeah?" Bill questioned. "What else could possibly get in?"
Harry could tell from the look on Dumbledore's face that he had already figured it out. "A creature that has more magical power than wizards know but can't use it for itself, only for its master."
"A House-elf," Sirius muttered, whistling softly. "That could work?"
"House-Elves?" Mrs. Weasley asked, confused. "How could a House-elf break into a Gringotts vault? Their magic can't be that powerful."
"It's not," Bill argued. "Look, it's an interesting idea but the goblins aren't as close-minded as wizards to House-elf powers. Not even they could break in. Otherwise, wizards would use them all the time."
"True, they can't be sent in to a vault, but…" Harry trailed off there and Professor McGonagall picked it up instantly.
"They can be summoned inside," she finished. "And then transport the occupant out again along with anything they have."
Bill's eyes widened as he took that in. "That…might actually work," he admitted. "Huh, I guess the goblins did overlook House-elf magic a little. But, we don't know for sure it will work unless one of us tests it…" he saw Harry's expression and smirked. "You already tested it, didn't you?"
Harry nodded. "One of the first things I did before coming here. I entered my own vault and summoned a House-elf right to me. He took me out and then right back in since he had already been in there. Now, I honestly don't know if it will work for the Lestrange vault. It's deeper down and undoubtedly has more security. So it may not work. But it was really the best idea me and Hermione could come up with on short notice."
"It will suffice," Dumbledore said. "It is something we can work off. Hopefully we can come up with a more airtight plan to acquire the Horcrux, but this a great starting point. Thank you."
Harry opened his mouth to thank him when Mrs. Weasley interrupted him. "I'm sorry to interrupt," she said, "but I noticed you keep mentioning Hermione in the future, but not Ron. Is- is he one of the ones who don-"
"Oh, no, no, no," Harry said quickly. "No, he makes it, he's alive. Yeah, it's just he didn't help out much with this project except for what I think he thought were words of encouragement." Harry still wasn't sure what Ron was going for when he said what he said. "But yeah, he's still very much alive."
Mrs. Weasley let off a sigh of relief and sank back in her chair. The others all relaxed as well, having grown tense at her questions. Harry grimaced inwardly, more determined now than ever not to tell them what happened to Fred. If this worked, the final battle would never occur and Fred would never die. Telling them would only cause them pain. At least, that's what he told himself to feel better.
"So that's three Horcruxes destroyed," Moody said, jerking his head at the pile of broken objects, "and two we know the locations of with plans to be rid of them. That leaves one more. Out with it, Potter. Where's the last Horcrux at?"
"Alright," Harry nodded. "But this one…well, I don't know if it will be harder to get to than the cup, but it will be up there. Voldemort didn't use an object for this last Horcrux. He used Nagini." He saw the looks of confusion and quickly added, "his snake."
"His snake?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows. "He put part of his soul into an animal?"
"It makes sense," Dumbledore nodded. "Nagini is perhaps the only living creature he truly trusts. Because of his abilities as a Parseltongue, the two share a close bond. And she knows how to defend herself. And, she rarely leaves his side. Getting to her will be near impossible without drawing Voldemort's attention." He turned to look at Harry once more. "So what is your suggestion?"
Harry pursed his lips, thinking of the best way to phrase this. "In about six months, Nagini infiltrates the Ministry and the Department of Mysteries, looking for the prophecy. She tries to sneak past the Order member on duty but he wakes up and she attacks him. Fortunately, we were able to get to him in time and he made a full recovery," Harry assured them. "So, this time you'll be ready for her and…"
"Take that slimy little monster out," Sirius nodded approvingly. "I like it."
"Who was attacked?" Kingsley added.
Harry pursed his lips again. "Ok, before I tell you I just want to reiterate that this person did make a full recovery. There is no sign of any lasting damage. So, don't worry."
"The way you keep saying that is making me worry," Tonks told him.
"Yeah, just tell us," Bill said.
Harry grimaced again and then nodded. "Ok, fine." He then looked at Mr. Weasley. "It was you Mr. Weasley." Instantly, Mrs. Weasley gasped and gripped her husband's hand tightly while his face went pale. Bill's eyes widened in shock. "But, like I said, we found you quickly and brought you straight to St Mungo's where you made a full recovery."
Harry didn't think what he said helped as Mr. Weasley still looked a little pale but he eventually nodded his thanks.
"Well, we know how to avoid it now," Bill muttered. He looked up at Harry. "When does it happen?"
"Right before the Christmas holidays," Harry replied. "It was literally the night before the students were set to go home. I don't remember what the date is but…"
"I'll check the calendar for this year as soon as I can," Professor McGonagall said.
"Right then," Moody nodded brusquely. "We have a plan. We know when that filthy snake will be slithering about so we lay a trap for it and kill the beast the second it comes. And then all that's left is Voldemort himself."
Harry did his very best to make his face neutral as Moody said that but he also saw Dumbledore's expression grow a tad more grim. They both knew that that wouldn't be the end. There was one other Horcrux. And it would be the hardest to destroy.