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Chapter 3: The first Horcrux

Lupin stared at Harry, trying to digest all that he had said. He realized that he was the last of his four friends alive. James, Sirius and Peter were all gone. He was alone. But more important was the fact that Voldemort was completely defeated.

"Now what happens" asked Tonks. "Our job is done here. He's dead."

"No," countered Bill, "the Death Eaters are still out there. No doubt they are angry. If you ask me, Harry is still in grave danger. He killed their leader."

"Well, he must leave here," Lupin spoke up. "The Burrow isn't safe. We should go to headquarters. It's unplottable."

"No!" Harry protested. "I'm not going in to hiding!"

"But Harry-"

"I remember how Sirius hated being cooped up. That won't happen to me. No thanks! I'd rather die. My life isn't as valuable now that Voldemort is dead. I can fight them anyway. You know I can duel, professor." Seeing their unconvinced faces, he continued on in desperation. "I've fought and killed Voldemort seven bloody times! You think I can't handle his followers? I'm staying right here. This is my place."

"Harry, if you stay here you put all the Weasleys in danger."

Harry gave some thought to that matter. It wouldn't be fair for him to do that, not after all they had done for him.

"All right," he decided. "I'll go to the Black house. But only as a place to sleep and have my meals. I'm not going to be hiding out."

"Deal," said Lupin.

"Oh really, Remus. That isn't necessary. Harry can stay here if he'd like," Molly said. "We can make it just as safe here as at the black house. We can make it unplottable, and you can be our secret keeper."

"That is an idea, I suppose," Lupin mused. "Yes, why not? I'm sure everybody would be happier. What does the Order think?" He turned to them, and they nodded. Harry smiled. He was going to stay.

Later, as he lay in bed, he found it difficult to fall asleep. Memories of that night in Borgin and Burkes kept coming back to him. He didn't want to think about it, not now. Finally he felt himself drifting off to sleep, but this unconscious state did not provide the safety Harry had hoped for.

They entered the shop under the cover of night, the hoods of their cloaks pulled up to shield their faces. Harry, Ron, and Hermione crept silently to the back of the store. There they found a small room. Voldemort's room, where he had lived when he worked there. It was a small room, with a bed and a simple wooden dresser. Harry felt around the room until he heard what he wanted to hear. Squeak. Harry pushed on the squeaky wall panel. It swung forward, revealing a small metal lever. He pulled. In the middle of the room, four floorboards opened up, leaving a small hole. Harry looked at His friends with an expression that said, let's do it. They both nodded and Harry lowered himself into the hole, until he found a notch for his foot and discovered a ladder leading down. He started climbing, Ron and Hermione following right above him. They climbed down, down; the darkness so thick Harry couldn't see his own hands in front of him. Down, down. Will we ever reach the bottom? Harry thought. Down, down. Rung after rung after rung, through utter blackness. Finally, Harry's feet met hard ground. He proceeded forward, his hands held in front of him, feeling in the darkness like a blind man. His hands met a wall. He turned, and met another wall, and another.

"This can't be," he said to his friends. "There is nowhere to go from here."

"That's not possible," cried Ron in frustration. "Why would there be that hole and the ladder if all it led to was some dark pit?"

"I don't know," Harry said. "Maybe it's a false. Maybe it's a sort of decoy."

Hermione, who hand been muttering spells at the wall in an attempt to open it, pronounced it futile. "It can't be a decoy Ronald," she sighed at her friend's arrogance. "If it were, Voldemort would have made it so that the moment the person entered, he wouldn't be able to be let out. He wouldn't let a person who was trying to kill him and worse, knew about the Horcruxes, come out alive!"

Ron contemplated this and could find nothing to argue with. "So what's going on?' he challenged.

Hermione answered the one thing that hardly came out of her mouth. "I don't know."

"I do."

Harry, remembering something about the last Horcrux, spoke up. "You have to give blood."

"Blood?" questioned Hermione, horrified.

"I remember now, Harry!" Ron's eyes lit up in realization. "Last year you told us how Dumbledore had to cut himself and rub the blood on the walls."

"There must be some other way," Hermione protested, feeling a bit queasy.

"There is none." Harry pulled out a dagger from his robes and, with Hermione covering her eyes, cut himself on the arm. He sucked in air to keep from screaming. He held his arm against the wall and let the oozing blood drip down onto it. Slowly the walls began to move. They swung back revealing… nothing. Utter blackness.

The threesome proceeded, there hands held in front of them. They came to a dead end. They turned and kept walking. They hit another dead end and turned. It didn't take long for them to realize…

"We're in a maze!" Hermione voiced what they all had noticed. The three of them kept walking, feeling their way through the maze in the utter blackness. Finally…the darkness softened as they exited the maze. There in front of them stood a dead body. Not exactly dead though.

"Inferi!" gasped Hermione. Harry looked around and saw that she was right. Many of the dead bodies that Voldemort was using as puppets stood blocking their way. Behind the large army of the living-dead, a bright red light shone through. That was, without a doubt, the Horcrux. Remembering the wise words of his old head master, Harry muttered "Lumus!" and a dim light burned on the tip of his wand. The Inferius nearest to him shielded himself from the light. But the rest stood still.

"Oh Harry!" sighed an aggravated Hermione. "You can't stop them with that. It's not long enough! Lumus Holem!" Light as bright as sunlight burst from her wand. The Inferi cringed. Ron repeated the spell and the same sunlight spilled from his wand.

"Harry! We'll hold them off! Get to the Horcrux!"

Harry nodded and made his way through the mass of bodies. As he walked, he realized how far the Horcrux was, and wandered if the light would be able to reach all the way. Suddenly a hand grabbed his wrist. He struggled, only to feel more hands grabbing him and restraining him. He looked up. The Inferi were closing in on him. There were so many of them! They were upon him now… his arms were released suddenly and he fell to the floor. Light blinded him and obviously the Inferi too. Unable to see, Harry ran forward. He was able to glimpse it now. Hufflepuff's cup lay straight ahead… he was almost there… his hands were around it now…

Harry awoke, covered in sweat, panting. Even with his eyes open he was still able to see the dead bodies, their eyes blank. Daylight peaked through the shades in Ron's room. He could here voices downstairs, laughter. Everyone else must be awake by now, he thought . Harry waited until his breathing went back to normal, then went downstairs to join the Weasleys.

Well, that's all for this chapter. Please, input wanted. Review! Review!

RM