Harry Potter and the Silver Dragons
Chapter 6: The Search Begins
In the weeks that followed Bill and Fleur's wedding, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were hard at work getting ready to hunt down the remaining Horcruxes. With the locket safely hidden under the mattress of Harry's bed, and the fact they would not have a chance to kill Nagini, Voldemort's pet snake, until they actually faced him, which meant they would only have to find two more Horcruxes.
Hermione spent most of her time looking though the books she had picked up in Diagon Alley as well as the book set Sirius and Lupin had given Harry the Christmas before last on things like Magical Concealment, and Protective Spells, and Creatures of the Dark Arts, and how to defeat them. Ginny now spent most of her time helping Hermione in this task. Meanwhile, all three of them were still getting lessons from Lupin and Mad Eye in order to get them ready for anything they might come up against. Harry and Ron were now all but experts at casting silent charms and hexes.
Finally on the morning of July 31st, Harry woke up to find several presents lying in front of his bed. Ron was sitting up in his bed looking at the pile. "Pretty good haul for you this year Harry." He said. Harry just grinned back at him. Though this was the day Harry came of age, at least for a wizard, this was also another big day for both him and Ron. Later in the morning, the two of them, along with Hermione, would be going to the Ministry of Magic so they could take their apparition exam. This in itself would mark the beginning of their quest to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes, and then Voldemort himself.
Harry ripped into his gifts. There was the usual stuff, a box full of sweets and a sweater from Mrs. Weasley and a diary from Hermione. Hermione had mentioned he might want to keep a record of this last great adventure for wizard historians. Other gifts included a watch from Mad Eye, Tonks, and Lupin, and a picture himself and Ginny. The figures in the picture were waving at him. "I take it that is from Ginny." Ron said over Harry's shoulder.
From the start of his relationship with Ginny, Ron had acted like he was ok with it. He had also made it clear that he preferred her to go out with Harry rather than the boyfriends she had had in the past, namely Dean Thomas a fellow Gryffindor in their year, and Michael Corner a Ravenclaw also in their year at school. Ever since that night right after the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw Quidditch match, Harry had felt he was pushing his luck. He had in fact struggled most of the year with the question of rather to ask Ginny out or not because he was afraid about what it would do to his friendship with Ron. But now was not the time to talk to Ron about this, after all in a few hours they would be headed off to the Ministry of Magic to take their apparition exam and he didn't want him to be distracted by anything.
"Yeah it is." Harry said and instead of placing it on his nightstand he put it facedown on his bed. He then started getting dressed.
"Harry," Ron said as he too began to get dressed, "you don't have to do this."
"Do what?" Harry asked pulling on his shirt.
Ron gave him as stern look, "You don't have to do these things when it comes to my sister."
Harry looked over at Ron as he continued, "I might not have been the most receptive to your feelings towards Ginny right away, but that was only because I didn't want her to get hurt." He gave Harry a smile, "I noticed something though, when Ginny is with you, she is happier than I have ever known her to be, and that is all that I want for her…for you both."
Harry stood there for a moment, then picked the picture up off the bed, both figures were glaring at him, and placed it on his night stand. "Thanks Ron." Harry said. He then got a dubious look on his face, "Now when are you going to make yourself happy and ask a certain someone out?" he asked.
Ron gave Harry a strange look, "Lavender and I are not seeing each other anymore, you know that."
"That's not who I am talking about." Harry said as he sat own on the bed to put on his shoes.
Ron gave Harry another strange look, "Who are you talking about then?" He asked. But Harry didn't answer that question, instead he headed for the door, leaving a perplexed Ron in the room.
By the time that Ron had made it down to the kitchen, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny were all sitting at the table eating breakfast, while Mrs. Weasley hurried about making sure that everyone had enough to eat. "So when are you leaving for the Ministry?" Ginny asked as Ron sat down at the table.
"Harry and Ron's appointment is at 10 o'clock," said Hermione as she looked at her watch, "which does not leave us with much time."
Harry looked up at the old clock that hung on the wall and saw that it was almost 9:15. Ron must have noticed this as well because he began to shovel food into his mouth. Harry also began to eat a little faster. By the time 9:35 had come around, the three of them were standing in front of the kitchen fireplace. Hermione held out the container with the Floo Powder in it and both Harry and Ron took a pinch of it. Hermione then threw the powder onto the fire and shouted "Ministry of Magic!" as she stepped into it.
As Ron entered the fire Ginny gave Harry a kiss on the cheek and told him "Good luck."
With his spirits soaring, he threw the Floo Powder onto the fire and stepped into it shouting "Ministry of Magic!" as he looked back over his shoulder for one last glimpse of Ginny before the flames consumed him. He closed his eyes and felt himself being spun around really fast for a few moments, then with out any warning he felt firm ground under him, the sound of a lot of people talking and moving around, and the sound of water running. When he opened his eyes, Harry saw he was in the main hallway of the Ministry of Magic.
Before he could even move one inch though several people, more than likely Aurors, ran up to him and began moving secrecy detectors all over him. When Harry looked to his left, he saw Ron and Hermione were also going though the same procedure. After what seemed like an eternity the Aurors, apparently satisfied they weren't carrying any concealed dark objects moved away from them, "Follow me please." Said a female Auror, and she led them to the guard station were the same badly shaven wizard that Harry had met two years earlier when he was here for a disciplinary hearing sat looking at them approach. Eric was his name.
In a bored voice Eric held out his hand, "Wands." Harry immediately pulled out his wand and handed it to the wizard. Giving each other a look, Ron and Hermione followed suite. One at a time, he dropped the wands onto the device that looked like a set of scales, but with only one dish. When each wand was placed into the dish, it began to rattle and emitted a small slip of parchment. Eric then confirmed the information on the parchment, stuck it on a long spike, and handed the wand back to its owner. "What are you here for?" he asked them producing three blank badges and placing them on the scales as well.
"Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley to take their Apparition Exam," Hermione told Eric, "and Hermione Granger - Visitor."
Eric handed them their ID Badges and before he could say anything to them, Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned around and headed straight for the lift. When they got there they were surprised to find Mr. Weasley waiting for them. "Thought I would escort you to your exam." He told them.
"Thanks Mr. Weasley." Hermione told him as they entered the lift car with several other witches and wizards, as well as several paper airplanes, the golden grille closing behind them with a crash.
As the lift began to move, a cool female voice began to speak, "Level seven, Department of Magical Games and Sports, incorporating the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters, Official Gobstones Club, and Ludicrous Patens Office." The lift stopped at this level and a few of the witches and wizards got out, as well as several of the paper airplanes, but they were replaced by several more.
With a crash the gates closed again and the lift began to move. "Level six," the voice started up again, "Department of Magical Transportation, incorporating the Floo Network Authority, Broom Regulatory Control, Portkey Office, and Apparation Test Center."
"This is our stop." Mr. Weasley said as he led the four of them out of the lift, and down a long hallway to a door that read 'Apparation Testing Center'. Inside they found a witch sitting behind the counter. "Hello Joanna." Mr. Weasley told the witch.
"Hello Arthur," she then looked at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, "I see that you have some children testing today."
Mr. Weasley shook his head then indicated Ron, "Only this one, my youngest son Ron." He then indicated Harry and Hermione, "And this is Harry Potter and Hermione Granger." Joanna nodded politely to Hermione, and did the familiar shift to look for the scar on Harry's forehead. "Harry will also be testing today." Mr. Weasley added.
"Well if you lot will have a seat over there," Joanna told them gesturing to a set of seats off to the side, "I will get a couple of examiners up here to take care of you."
They didn't have to wait long for an examiner. Within moments, a witch and a wizard came out. They both greeted Mr. Weasley, and then took Harry and Ron though the door that they had just come out of.
Less than an hour later, both Harry and Ron, followed by the examiners, came out of the room with huge smiles on their faces. The wizard stepped up to Joanna at the counter and told her, "Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley passed."
"Thanks Jacob." She told him, and after looking at a chart headed over to get his next tester.
"Well done, both of you." Mr. Weasley told them when they were back in the hallway.
"Thanks dad." Ron said, "It was a lot easier the second time around." He told his father.
"I am going to contact your mother." Mr. Weasley told them, "See you later." And he disapparated with a soft popping sound.
"Shall we head back then?" Ron asked.
"We can't." Hermione told him. Before Ron could say anything though, Hermione explained, "Though people can apperate anywhere inside of the Ministry, the only place they can disapparate out of it is in the main lobby."
Ron mumbled something that sounded like 'that stinks' under his breath and they headed back to the lift, which took them right down to the lobby. Hermione gave a distasteful look at the Fountain of Magical Brethren, then disapparated. Harry gave Ron a nod and he then disapparated. Harry took one final look around the place when he saw Rufus Scrimgeour, the Minister of Magic walking his way. "A moment please Harry." The Minister called.
Harry wanted to just disapparate away from the Minister, but decided that he would at least hear what the man had to say before doing just that. "What do you want this time," Harry told him, "and please don't draw it out like you usually do, I have to be somewhere." This was of course true since he knew that Mrs. Weasley and Ginny had undoubtedly fixed up a good meal to celebrate both Harry and Ron passing their apparition test and his birthday. "And if you are going to approach me about being the Ministries poster boy, you can still forget about it."
Scrimgeour stopped only a few feet away from Harry, "I take it you have heard about my Zero Tolerance policy towards Death Eaters or other supporters of You-Know-Who, and I have released Stan Shunpike just like you wanted." Harry nodded, "Then what is keeping you from supporting the Ministry and letting us help you stop You-Know-Who?"
Harry took a deep breath, more to keep his voice calm than anything else, "The point is Stan Shunpike should never have been arrested in the first place. Second your Zero Tolerance Policy sounds too much like something that Barty Crouch would have done. Look at where that got him. Finally, Dumbledore knew me enough to know I can do what I have to do by myself. Now if you will excuse me Minister, I have someplace I would rather be right now." And before Scrimgeour could say another work Harry pictured the kitchen in Number Four Grimmauld Place in his mind and turned around. There was that horrible sensation of being forced through a small rubber tube, then it was over and Harry could smell Mrs. Weasley good cooking.
He walked over to the kitchen table were Ron was telling Hermione, Ginny, and Lupin about the exam, "So we were led into this huge room were there was an obstacle course that we had to apperate through."
"Really?" Ginny asked, she was obviously interested since she would have to take her apparition exam in a few months.
"Oh yeah," Ron told them, "it wasn't like the test Hermione and I took in Hogsmeade."
"It was definitely an experience." Harry told them as he sat down at the table.
"What took you so long Harry?" Hermione asked.
"I ran into Rufus Scrimgeour." Harry told them, "Tried to get me to be the Ministries Poster Boy again."
"I think we can safely assume you told him no." Lupin said. Harry nodded. "Good, then while Ron is telling Hermione and Ginny about the test you had to take I would like to examine you before lunch starts."
"What do you want to examine me on?" Harry asked.
"Just to see how well you hold up in a duel." Lupin reassured him. "It is a full moon tonight and I am going to join the other Werewolves for the transformation, but before I go I wanted to see if you are ready in case something happens while I am gone." Lupin then looked right at Ron and Hermione, "Ron will be next, then Hermione."
Harry nodded and followed Lupin into the sitting room, which he immediately noticed had been emptied of all furniture, he also noticed that two lines were drawn on the floor. Lupin walked over behind one of them, while Harry stood behind the second. They both raised their wands in respect to each other and with blinding speed Lupin struck, pointing his wand at Harry and shooting out a blast wave.
Harry immediately countered with a shield charm, and struck back with the Jelly Legs hex, which Lupin dodged without much difficulty. Harry raised his wand again to perform the Full Body Bind curse when he got hit by a blast from Lupin's wand that threw him back a few feet, he landed hard on the floor knocking the breath out of him. As Harry struggled to get back on his feet, he came face to face with the tip of Lupin's wand.
Without thinking Harry pointed his wand upwards and performed the Banishing charm. This caught Lupin off guard and he was throne off of Harry. He then pointed his wand at Lupin and performed the Disarming charm, followed by a Summoning Charm. This not only blasted Lupin's wand out of his hand, but it also brought the wand right to Harry's outstretched hand. Harry then pointed his wand at Lupin, "Enough?" he asked.
Lupin nodded, "Enough!" and held out his hand for Harry to help him up. Harry reached down to grab Lupin's hand, but Lupin suddenly reached for his wand, pulling it out of Harry's hand, and with a swishing motion he was once again throne backwards several feet, hitting the ground hard. "Remember Harry in a duel never let your guard down, especially when you are dueling with a Death Eater, or even with Voldemort himself."
Harry nodded his understanding of this, then quickly brought up his wand and performed the Full Body Bind curse. Lupin's body went ridged and he fell over backwards hitting the ground. Harry pulled Lupin's wand out of his hand before he did the counter curse. "Very good Harry, very good." Lupin told him when he was unfrozen.
"Thanks Professor." Harry told him.
"Not much longer and you will be more than a match for Voldemort and his supporters." Lupin told him as Harry handed him back his wand. They then walked back to the kitchen where Ron had apparently finished his story about the apparition test and was now waiting for his turn to come.
After Lupin had tested Ron and Hermione, the three of them had gone up to Harry and Ron's room, Hermione had told them she had made a discovery. Once the door had been made Imperturbable so they could not be overheard. It was at this time Harry was glad the picture of Phineas Nigellus was no longer hanging in the room. "So what do you have for us Hermione?" Harry asked.
"Well," Hermione began, "for the last month, I have been trying to figure out where Voldemort would have hidden the Horcruxes. Ever since you told us Dumbledore had found Slytherin's ring in the house Voldemort's family used to live in, and I found out the locket was hidden in a cave he had visited as a child, I have been searching for places that might have had some significance to Voldemort as he was growing up."
"But the diary Lucius Malfoy planted on Ginny wasn't hidden in any special place." Ron pointed out.
"That is because Dumbledore believed it was Voldemort's wish it be eventually smuggled into Hogwarts." Harry told Ron.
"Precisely my point," Hermione put in, "Voldemort was going to hide the diary at Hogwarts, which he viewed as a major part of his life after he found out what he was."
"Then where would You-Know-Who have put one of the Horcruxes?" Ron asked
"Isn't it obvious?" Hermione asked, and when she didn't get and answer from either of them she said, "The orphanage he grew up in."
Harry struck himself in the head, it had been so obvious that would have been one of the hiding places for the Horcruxes. Then he thought of something, "How do we know one of them is hidden there?" Harry asked.
As if she had been expecting this question Hermione pulled out of a bag she had brought along a set of papers that had obviously been printed off the internet. "I have been doing some research at the local library," she began as she handed the papers to Harry and Ron, "when I looked into the possibility Voldemort had indeed hidden one of the Horcruxes in a place that he had known when he grew up, I remembered you telling us Harry that he grew up an orphanage. So I did a search on the muggle internet for old orphanages that were first over fifty years old and were abandoned."
"Abandoned?" Harry asked.
"Internet?" Ron followed
Oblivious to Ron's question Hermione answered, "The Horcrux would put off a lot of negative energy, not to mention the fact Voldemort would have put into effect anti muggle charms as part of the protection."
Harry nodded in understanding, "So what did you find out?" he asked.
"Well," Hermione began, "there were only a handful of orphanages that fit what we are looking for, but of all those this one," Hermione pointed out one orphanage on the list in particular, "seemed the most likely place to start."
Harry looked at the story, St. Bastian's Orphanage. "In a nut shell," Hermione told them, "apparently about thirty-five to forty years ago the owner of the orphanage was found dead in his bed. Ever since then it has been empty."
"What makes that so unusual?" Ron asked.
"Well, wouldn't you find it unusual if a healthy man of suddenly died for no physical or medical reason?" Hermione asked.
Harry picked up on what she said immediately, "The Avada Kedavera curse." Harry said. Hermione just nodded. "Then I think St. Bastian's will be our first stop in our search for the Horcruxes."
Before anyone could say anything to this, there was a loud knock at the door. Hastily Harry and Ron stuffed the papers Hermione had given to them back into her bag. While they did this Hermione pulled out her wand and pointed it at the door. "Come in." Harry said when everything was out of sight.
The door opened to reveal Fred and George. "We hear you can apperate now Ron." Fred said.
"Where did you hear about that?" Ron asked.
"Ginny told us." George told them.
"Actually she was telling us Harry had passed his test with flying colors," Fred told them, "and we figured that since you failed…"
"Miserably I might add." George said.
"Thank you George," Fred told his twin brother, "that you might take the test with Harry this time."
"And by the look on your reaction when we mentioned it I'd say our suspicions were correct." George put in.
The twins walked around the room inspecting everything as they did so. "What are you looking for?" Ron asked then with a touch of annoyance in his voice.
The twins looked at each other again before answering, "Well it is no secret to anyone that works with the Order of the Phoenix that you lot are trying to save the our World from You-Know-Who." George said.
"And since you made the door Imperturbable, that could only mean that you were talking about something secret when we arrived." Fred added.
"Look," Harry told them, "it's not like we want to keep any of you in the dark about what we are doing, but if Voldemort," Fred and George gave a little shudder at the sound of the name, "found out about it before we finished from any of you it could seriously jeopardize any chance we have of stopping him once and for all."
Fred and George looked at each other, "Well if you insist on keeping us in the dark," Fred said, "then there is nothing we can do about it."
"Or is there." George said, with a sudden maniacal gleam in his eye. Before Harry, Ron, or Hermione could react both of the twins pulled out their wands and shouted in unison "Crusio!" both Ron and Hermione crumpled to the floor writhing in pain, but Harry had quickly jumped into the hallway. "You can't hide Harry." George called out form inside of the room.
Thinking quickly Harry pulled his invisibility cloak out from one of his pockets and threw it over himself. When the twins came out into the hallway they looked around for him. "Where is he?" George asked.
"He must be under his invisibility cloak." Fred told him.
Silently Harry slipped back into the room and saw that Ron and Hermione were both unconscious on the floor, but he also saw that they were still breathing so that meant they had only passed out. Harry headed over to the wardrobe where they had hidden their supplies from the joke shop and pointed his wand at the lock on the door. Silently he cast the Alohomora charm and heard a soft click as the door came open.
Trying not to make any noise Harry rummaged through their supplies and found what he was looking for. Taking what he needed, he closed the door and headed back out into the hallway. He heard the twins up on the next floor blasting doors open in their attempt to find him. For his plan to work, Harry needed some open space so he headed down the steps to the sitting room. As he walked down the steps a quietly as he could he saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley lying on the floor unconscious. He stopped by them quickly as found that they were still alive as well. Then he saw her, Ginny was lying a few feet away just as unconscious as her parents were, but thankfully still alive.
Harry figured they would be ok where they were and walked into the sitting room. Once in the room he pulled off his cloak and stuffed it back into his pocket. He then placed one furniture that thankfully Lupin had replaced before he had left. Harry then pointed his wand at the device and it came to life, making lots of noise.
Harry heard Fred and George rush down the steps and ducked down behind the chair that he was hiding behind as they ran into the room. When they saw the Decoy Detonator on the floor Fred called out, "Did you really think that this would work Harry, after all we invented it."
Harry pulled out a set of goggles from his pocket, then a small pile of powder. "Perhaps you did Fred," Harry called out, "but that wasn't the only thing I got from you." At that moment he threw the powder up into the air and everything instantly were dark.
As Harry slipped the goggles over his eyes George shouted, "He's using Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder."
"That's right." Harry told them as he got out from behind the chair and aimed his wand at them, "This is for your own good, Stupefy!" The jinx hit its mark as Fred was thrown backwards. Harry then pointed his wand at George, and shouted "Stupefy!" But George jumped out of the way before Harry's spell could hit him.
Harry almost hit himself again for shouting the spell instead of doing it non verbally. Taking aim at George again Harry fired off another stunning charm. This time it hit George square in the chest and sent him flying back into the wall.
Harry rushed out of the sitting room and fell to the side of Mr. Weasley. He pointed his wand at Mr. Weasley's chest and there was a flash of red light. Seconds later Mr. Weasley's eyes opened and he looked up at Harry. "What happened Harry?" Mr. Weasley asked
"What is the last thing that you remember?" Harry asked.
Mr. Weasley thought about it, "I remember Fred and George showing up for your party and after that I don't remember much."
Harry wasn't sure how to best put this, "Sir, Fred and George attacked Ron and Hermione with the Crusiatus curse, and must have stunned you, Mrs. Weasley, and Ginny before they came up to find us."
Shock emanated from Mr. Weasley's eyes, "But why would they do that?" he asked but instantly had his answer, "The Imperious Curse."
Harry nodded at this, after all it was the only conclusion that made any sense. "I need your help," Harry indicated the still dark sitting room, "I knocked them out, but we still have to do something with them, not to mention everyone else needs to be woken up."
"I'll take care of that, and I will also alert Alastor, Tonks, and Kingsley about what has happened. They will know what to do." Mr. Weasley said as Harry helped him to his feet. "But first we will need to tie the twins up so they can't do anything else before the others get here."
"I can take care of that one." Harry said as he slipped the goggles back over his eyes. With a nod from Mr. Weasley Harry walked back into the sitting room.
By the time that Mad Eye, Tonks, and Kingsley Shacklebolt, a large dark skinned wizard with a shaven head, had arrived Fred and George were being held tightly by ropes and everyone had been revived, though Ron and Hermione were still very sore. Tonks immediately went over to comfort Mrs. Weasley who had not stopped crying since she had found out what had happened to the twins while Kingsley and Mad Eye went to talk to Mr. Weasley.
Within an hour, the twins were on their way to St. Mungo's Hospital for magical Maladies and Injuries, escorted by Kingsley and Tonks, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley along for the ride. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny sat in the sitting room with Mad Eye who had decided to stay behind. "I just can't believe it." Ron said.
"Well believe it." Mad Eye said, "I have seen much worse than this from family members that have turned on each other due to that blasted curse."
They continued talking for another hour before Mad Eye, sensing that Harry wanted to talk to Ron and Hermione alone asked Ginny for some help getting something to drink. When they were alone, Harry turned to the others. "Hermione I want you to get anything that you need tomorrow. Because the day after that we are going to that orphanage and getting that Horcrux." The looks that both Hermione and Ron gave to Harry told him that they were behind him all the way. "I will not let this happen to another friend." Harry told them as he pounded his fist into his open hand, "I swear it!"
