A/N: So it's been what? Months since I last updated? My deepest apologies to anyone who might have wanted something sooner. Lot's of stuff with the trio in this chapter and a little Death Eater action as well…enjoy and review!

Disclaimer: I do not own or thereby claim the rights to Harry Potter and subsequent characters, plots, etc. These all belong to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic Books, and Warner Bros.

Chapter 6:

Harry sat quietly at the kitchen table, re-reading the letter Ginny had sent him earlier that morning. Next to the letter lay a copy of that days' Daily Prophet, with a blurry photograph of Number 4 Privet Drive and the Dark Mark hanging menacingly above the house. Ginny had sent the Prophet to him; the letter accompanying it was her way of warning him against its contents.

The Boy-Who-Lived Loses Remaining Family to Death Eaters

By, Rita Skeeter

Harry Potter, more affectionately known as the Boy-Who-Lived, lost his Muggle relatives to You-Know-Who's followers last Friday evening. Petunia Dursley, sister to the late Lily Potter, her husband, Vernon, and son, Dudley fell victim to the killing curse after the Death Eaters apparated outside of their home in Surrey in Little Whinging; they were found dead shortly thereafter by a neighboring Squib who noticed the Dark Mark above the Dursley's home. Sources confirm that our Mr. Potter had left only moments before with Mr. Arthur Weasley of the Ministry of Magic and had no idea of the incident. Our thoughts are with you, Harry Potter.

Harry buried his head in his hands, releasing a pent up breath. How much more was Voldemort going to throw at him? Sure, he never really liked the Dursley's (and when hadn't he been trying to think of ways to scare them with his 'abnormality'?), but he'd never wished them dead. He sat there in the kitchen with his head on the table for nearly an hour before Ron walked in quietly, as though not to interrupt him. The sound of dishes clanging on the counter pulled Harry from his reverie.

"Hey, Ron," he greeted his friend despondently.

"It's good you're so excited to see me," Ron half-joked as he poured himself a bowl of cereal.

Harry shrugged despondently and glanced down at the table. "Sorry, I'm just--," he pointed at the paper which Ron picked up as he sat down with Harry.

After he had finished reading the article, Ron looked over at Harry, his eyes as wide as saucers. "Man. You okay?"

"I honestly don't know," Harry replied. "It's certainly no secret to you that I couldn't stand the lot of them…but, I don't know. I never had a death wish for them either." He looked at Ron, his gaze steely and his jaw set in firm resolve. "Voldemort thinks he's making me weaker by killing my family; the people I care about. But he's dead wrong."

"What do you mean?"

When Harry next spoke, it was in a soft, yet determined, voice. "He's only making me stronger. He's only adding fuel to the fire. I will find those horcruxes and I will destroy them and then I will hunt him down and finish him once and for all."

Ron met his best friend's eyes, the intensity in his gaze matching that of Harry's. "Can I watch?"

In that moment, Harry knew that no matter how hard he tried to send Ron and Hermione away, it would never happen. They would be there until the very end, no matter what the end result. He feared that they would end up like so many others before them who had cared for him, but they knew the risk. And they were willing to take it. For that, Harry was eternally grateful. "I would be offended if you weren't there with me every step of the way," he told Ron, as serious as he had ever been about this topic. "I couldn't have gotten this far without you and 'Mione."

At this, Ron wiped an imaginary tear from his eye and sniffed. "Stop, I have to maintain my manly image, you know."

"Your what?" A voice came in through the door behind them and the boys both jumped out of their seats. "I wasn't aware that you had a manly image to maintain."

"Hermione!' Harry rushed over to her, eager to hear what she had found out. "What can you tell us?"

The busy haired witch huffed indignantly and crossed her arms over her chest. "What? No, 'Hello, Hermione? How are you, Hermione? We missed you, Hermione?' I tell you, some people are so rude."

Harry and Ron turned to look at each other then back at their friend. As one, they chimed, "Hello, Hermione. How are you, Hermione? We missed you, Hermione."

Grinning, Hermione reached for them and pulled them both into a hug. "Now, that's more like it! Come, let's sit down and I'll tell you what I know. It really isn't much, but I know a lot more about the horcrux than I ever wanted to."

They made their way to the kitchen table (Headquarters, as Harry was beginning to call it in his mind) and sat down, Harry at the head and Hermione and Ron on either side of the table.

Suddenly, Ron's head jerked towards Hermione as though he had just realized something. "Hey!"

The other two looked at him in confusion. "Hey?" Harry asked, looking at his friend as if he had just grown a third eye in the middle of his forehead.

Ron nodded emphatically. "Yeah, hey. She insulted me!"

Hermione rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Oh, now he notices," she mouthed to it quietly. "You're a quick one, Ronald."

Harry hid a quick grin under his hand and shook his head. "All right, you two, break it up. You can pick on each other another time. I want to hear what Hermione has found out."

At this, the aforementioned witch dug into her knapsack and pulled out several large volumes all dealing with the Dark Arts. "Believe me when I say I do not like carrying these around with me," she told them both seriously. "I feel like I'm going to be arrested or something. However, they have been most enlightening."

Ron and Harry stared intently at her, then at the books on the table. The house seemed to grow darker the moment Hermione had set them out, but perhaps Harry was just imagining things.

The first book she opened bore the title, "History of Darkest Magic's". It had been written by Salazar Slytherin himself. "This one gives suggestions as to what can be used as a horcrux. Slytherin generally advised against using living beings; however, he said it can be done in extreme circumstances."

Harry nodded at this. It seemed to be in agreement with what Dumbledore had said about Nagini being a possible horcrux; living beings were generally unpredictable and hard to control. "What else?"

"There's no documentation here on how to destroy one; only that it depends on the object that is used. Simply smashing it won't do it, according to this book here which is all about separating ones soul."

Indeed, the next book that she placed in front of them was entitled, "Horcuxes and You." Harry and Ron both scoffed at this to which Hermione grinned. "I know. That's what I thought as well. However, you'd be amazed at what I learned from this book. Most Dark Wizards don't advertise the different ways to destroy one of these things, which isn't all that surprising when you think about it. Whoever wrote this must have recognized the risk in creating a horcrux, and felt it would be to the advantage of the wizard creating it to know that it can be destroyed."

"What good does that do?" Ron asked, confusion passing over his freckled features. "So, You-Know-Who creates this horcrux; why would he want to know how to destroy it?"

"So he can protect it," Harry jumped in. "If he knows how it can be destroyed, he knows what wards and protection charms to place on it." He looked at Hermione for affirmation, which he received in a firm nod. Continuing, he sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, remembering his expedition with Dumbledore. "When the Headmaster and I went to search for the locket in the caves, Voldemort had placed the locket at the bottom of this basin that was filled with some sort of liquid. You couldn't touch it with your hands to simply lift the locket out, but he had left a cup so you could drink the liquid."

"I have a feeling this wasn't just water," Hermione whispered softly.

Harry shook his head. "No. It was poison. Dumbledore knew that it had to be, but he also knew that he would have to drink it all and he made me promise…." Here he stopped, trying desperately to fight back the tide of emotions rising in his throat, causing it to constrict. "I had to make him drink it all, no matter what it did to him."

His two best friends looked at him, horrified. "What did it do to him?" Ron also whispered, rather hoarsely.

"He wasn't himself. He was scared. I have never, in six years, seen Professor Dumbledore frightened of anything and now he was weeping like a child. I felt so guilty for pouring that poison down his throat, and I lied to him about it. I told him that he would feel better after he drank it." Harry's head dropped to the table, unable to tell anymore.

Hermione stood up to kneel beside him and placed her hands on his, taking them into her own. "Harry, listen to me. I know you feel terrible about what happened, but you're not responsible for his death. He knew the risks and he knew that you couldn't drink it."

Harry's voiced was so quiet when he next answered that even Hermione had to strain to hear him. Ron simply looked on, feeling helpless once more in matters of emotions and grief. "But if he hadn't taken it, he would have been strong enough to fight Malfoy and Snape. And that's why it's my fault he's dead. I should have been more insistent that I drink it and not him."

"Your life can't be forfeit, though Harry. On some level, I think Dumbledore knew what was going to happen that night and he needed to sacrifice himself for you. It doesn't hurt any less, I know. But he opened the door for you to finish what he started. And that's what we're doing."

Harry squeezed her hands and sat up, smiling shakily at Ron. "You good, mate?" The red-head asked quietly.

"Not really. But I think I will be."

Ron nodded, understanding this, and looked back at Hermione who had opened "Horcruxes and You". "What else do you know?"

"There is good news," she began. "Because the locket that you and Dumbledore found was a fake, Harry, that means that RAB, whoever he is, already removed the charms placed on the actual horcrux and that makes it easier to destroy. There is a spell to remove any hidden protection, but ultimately, you just have to smash it, or something."

Harry and Ron gaped at her in disbelief. "It's that simple? Are you serious, Hermione?"

She bent over the book and traced her finger along the margin. After a moment of scanning through it, she looked up at the two of them. "Essentially, yes. That's all there it to it. Articles such as jewelry are fairly simple to destroy once you get passed all the other stuff."

"Do you have the spell?"

Hermione nodded, her bushy hair bouncing around her shoulders. "It's a simple reveal spell."

"Ron, go get the locket," Harry told him gravely. "We're doing this now."

"Are you sure, Harry?" Asked Hermione with concern as Ron stood up to do as Harry had asked. "Don't you want to find out why it was in this house?"

"No, Hermione, I really don't. I just want to get rid of it. We can research that at another time. Ron, go get it."

After Ron had hurried out of the kitchen, Hermione looked at Harry soberly. "You are absolutely positive you want to do this now? We don't know if it's really going to work."

"I have to try, Hermione. Voldemort is getting stronger by the day and sooner I can begin actually destroying these things, the sooner we can be rid of him. It's kill or be killed here and he's got a bit of an advantage on me. We don't have time to wait and see if it's going to work. We have to trust that it will."

Hermione sighed in defeat, knowing she couldn't change his mind. "I just keep thinking about Dumbledore's hand and how dead it looked after he had destroyed the ring. I don't want that to happen to you."

"I can't make any guarantees, Hermione. There's always a risk when you're dealing with the Dark Arts. You know that, Ron knows that and I know that. But it's a risk I have to take. We're not all going to make it in this war. There are going to be wins and losses and we will just have to take them as they come. Today, no matter what happens, is going to be a tiny win for our side."

That moment, Ron came back through the door, the locket held tightly in his right hand. He had paled considerably, once he realized what it was exactly that they were doing. They were going to destroy a piece of somebody's soul. Granted, it was You-Know-Who's soul, but all the same, he felt a bit like a Dementor. Feeling rather sick, Ron dropped the locket into Harry's outstretched hand and sat down hard on the chair he had vacated a few moments before.

Harry toyed with the locket for a minute before looking at the clever witch sitting next to him. "Hermione, what's that spell?"

"Give a second," she choked out nervously, turning the pages and mumbling to herself. "I know it was here. I just can't seem to find things when I really need them…Ah! Here we are." She looked up at Harry. "Rivelare Protectus. Then, once any remaining hexes or anything are shown, the vanishing spell should do it. Usually the final curses are pretty simplistic; it's the initial ones that are the challenge because the wizard who created the horcrux probably figured you'd be dead by now."

Harry nodded and placed the locket on the table, holding his wand out steadily over it. "Here goes nothing," he croaked, grinning lopsidedly at Ron and Hermione. "Maybe you two should stand back, just in case something weird happens." The chairs squeaked noisily on the kitchen floor as they scrambled to get to the other side of the kitchen. "Alright. Rivelare Protectus!"

The locket began to glow red and Harry, Ron and Hermione watched in fascination as it rose into the air, the light shining in piercing red beams through the kitchen. Harry morbidly wondered if anyone else could see it, and if they could, what they must have been thinking. Pointing his wand at the locket again, he yelled, "Evanesco!"

It dropped suddenly to the table with a clunk, all traces of the red light gone. The trio stood there, motionless, unable to move, breathe or think. When it seemed certain that the locket was dormant, as it were, they all released a pent up sigh of relief.

"That seemed easy enough," Harry grinned in relief. "Now we have to find something to actually destroy it."

"Already thought of it when I went to get the locket," Ron told him moving forward. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rather large bit of brick that he had found on the bedroom floor. "Try this. You might need to put some force behind it, but it should work."

Harry took the brick into his hand, lightly tossing it into the air, testing its weight. "I think this should do it," he told his friend gratefully. "Stand back," he warned once more, raising his arm into the air. After a moment of hesitation, Harry swung his arm down as forcefully as he could and with a loud crash of brick hitting wood and metal, a blinding green light emitted from underneath the brick, knocking Harry off his feet into the wall.

Ron and Hermione stood on, watching in horror as the light enveloped Harry and he began to produce a wail that pierced their ears and even to the depths of their very souls. The light grew even brighter as Harry's screams grew louder still and Hermione buried her face in Ron's shoulder, sobbing and clutching at his robes.

"Do something!" She screamed at him hysterically. "Help him, oh, help him, please!"

Ron stood there, completely frozen to the spot. He had gone completely blank as he watched this thing destroy his best friend and now Hermione was beating him as if he had been the cause of it. "I don't know what to do!" He yelled over the din of Harry's screams. "I can't do it, Hermione! I don't know how to help him!"

Then, all was quiet. The light faded as did Harry's bellows of pain, but now he had sunk to the floor and slumped forward. Hermione gasped and ran to him, falling to her knees beside him, trying to see if he was still even breathing. To her great relief and joy, his chest rose end fell with the rhythm of his breathing.

"Harry?" She whispered gently. His eyes slowly opened and Hermione was shocked to see that they were an even brighter green than what they had been before.

"Hermione?"

"Yes?" She whispered fearfully.

"Move."

"Move?"

"Yes. Move."

Hermione moved away from him and the next moment, Harry turned and wretched, his stomach heaving as he emptied its contents onto the kitchen floor.

Ron moved towards him and turned slightly green himself as he looked on at his friend getting sicker by the moment. "Is there anything we can do to help him?" He said in a low voice to Hermione.

She shook her head. "I'm no mediwitch. Let's just try to get him to bed. Harry? Do you think you can stand up?"

Harry's head slowly rose and he groaned, pressing his hand to his scar which had somehow split open and was now bleeding profusely. "I don't know," he murmured painfully.

Ron and Hermione went to either side of him, careful to avoid the sick on the floor and placed gradually helped him up. "We'll take it slow," Hermione said quietly. "Just let us know if you need to stop and rest."

Ever so slowly and gently, Ron, Harry, and Hermione walked out of the kitchen. Harry slumped forward, his feet dragging and he would have fallen had it not been for the other two holding him up. Ron looked around Harry's shoulders at Hermione and saw that she was desperately trying to hold back tears.

"Hey," he said, attempting to be comforting. "He'll be okay. He's Harry. He has to be."

Hermione sniffed and stared at the floor. "I don't know. I don't know if I can watch this happen every time he destroys a horcrux."

Ron didn't know how to respond to that. The destruction of the horcruxes was necessary, but he understood. Watching Harry go through that kind of pain was by far the hardest thing he had ever had to do and if he had to watch it multiple times, Ron wondered if he really could handle it. They walked along in silence; the only sound was that of Harry's moans and groans of pain.

They finally reached Harry's parent's bedroom and Ron shifted his weight so he could take the brunt of Harry's battered form and lay him gently on the bed. Hermione picked up Harry's feet and swung his legs around slowly so he was now laying straight out, his head propped up by a few pillows.

"Ron, see what you can find to bandage his scar," she told him in an undertone, trying not to disturb her friend who seemed to have finally calmed down enough. Or he had completely passed out. Either way, they were both extremely grateful that he was getting some rest."

Once Ron had returned with some cloth and tape he had found, he handed it to Hermione and watched silently as she worked to mop up the blood and bandage the scar that had inexplicably split open.

"Why do you think that happened?" Ron gestured to the scar.

Hermione shrugged unknowingly. "I really don't know. I was afraid something was going to happen because it couldn't have been that easy, you know?"

Ron nodded. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

Tears filled Hermione's brown eyes as she looked on at Harry's prone form lying there on the bed. "I don't know, Ron. I just don't know."

Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire

Lucius Malfoy laughed maliciously as his companions strode forward with such purpose, blasting everything and everyone out of their way. Merely days before, the Dementors of Azkaban had defected over to the side of the Dark Lord and now the wizarding prison lay almost completely empty. Once they had returned to the side of their Lord, they had been given orders to destroy this quaint little town.

Lucius and Bellatrix had discussed this move, away from the eyes and ears of the other Death Eaters. They had both wondered why exactly the Dark Lord was so insistent about the birthplace of William Shakespeare being demolished. However, they knew that to question the orders of their Lord would be to forfeit their lives and so they kept quiet.

The Death Eaters continued to walk intently down the main street, laughing as the mudbloods ran screaming in terror from them. Lucius watched with glee as Bella drew her wand and pointed it at one of the innocents and yelled with such conviction, "Crucio!"

The Muggle fell to the ground and his screams filled the air as the pain hit him like a thousand knives. Bellatrix and Lucius simply laughed louder, the begging cries of this man like a drug to them. Their Lord would be so pleased once they reported back to him.

Just then, Severus Snape came alongside the duo and watched impassively as the mudblood writhed on the dirt road. After a moment, he regarded Bella disdainfully. "I suggest lifting the curse."

She turned and looked at him, her eyes wild with accusation. "What? Have you become a blood traitor like that beloved Dumbledore?" She snarled at him.

"Of course not," Snape bit back sharply. "I just think it would be difficult to explain a man's sudden insanity to the authorities. There are other ways, you know."

Considering this for a moment, Bella finally removed the curse and smiled wickedly as the man twitched at her feet. "Enlighten me."

"We will take him with us," Snape informed her. "I'm sure the Dark Lord would enjoy watching you torture such a fine specimen of a mudblood."

Bellatrix stared him suspiciously, but Snape gave no sign that he had betrayed them. In fact, he met her eyes, daring her to perform Legilimency on him. Finally, she turned her eyes back to the man on the ground. "Fine," she agreed as the town was slowly decimated around them. "We'll apparate back to the Dark Lord and then you can show us how you would torture him."

At once, they pulled the man violently to his feet and held him roughly under his arms, giving little care to his physical condition. Leaving the rest of the Death Eaters behind, Lucius, Snape, and Bellatrix Lestrange apparated back to the side of their Lord.