Disclaimer: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…
Placing: 29 years after the war– and 6 after the first…
Beta'ed by DebaterMax who also gave Luna the idea with the erumpent-horn. :-)
xXxXxXxXxXxSlytherinxXxXxXxWayxXxXxXxXxWayxXxXxXxXxSlytherinxXxXxXxXxXxXx
sSsSsSsSs
IN THE MIDDLE OF IT
sSs
It took some time to get their planning done.
"You were going to give me the sequence for the ward," Draco finally said in a lull of conversation.
It was a random statement in the middle of discussing the potential nargle or wrackspurt Avery.
Harry looked up from Ledger.
"Huh?"
"The ward," Draco said and pointed at around them before his finger went to the empty looking paper in the middle of the desk to show what he meant – the paper that had been the conduct for the ward in question.
"Oh," Harry said. "Do you want this version or the modification for the memory-manipulation?"
Draco blinked surprised.
"You're done with that already?" he asked.
Harry hummed.
"More or less," he agreed and then shrugged. "It's not as if it's hard."
At that, Neville frowned.
"I thought you didn't take Ancient Runes at Hogwarts," he said.
"No," Harry agreed. "Why?"
"Because I also thought wards are based in Ancient Runes," Neville pointed out.
"Sure," Harry said. "So?"
"So, you actually went through the trouble and learned them after Hogwarts?" Neville asked.
Harry frowned.
"They're practical," he pointed out. "And sometimes even necessary. I mean, I would be the worst ward-breaker in the history of mankind if I didn't know Ancient Runes."
"Huh," Neville said surprised. "I didn't think about it like that."
At that, Harry reached out and patted his hand.
"That's ok," he ensured him.
Neville's face, on the other hand, turned contemplative, "How good are you with wards?"
"Huh?"
"Like Hogwarts… or the Ministry," Neville offered up.
Harry scratched his head.
"I might have to take a look or two, and then I'd need to know what you'd want me to do with them," he said thoughtfully.
"Er… enter?" Neville asked. "Like, without permission?"
Harry blinked.
"Oh," he said. "Just that? Nothing more?"
Neville gawked.
"What did you think I'd wanted you to do?" he asked incredulously.
"Most likely kill with them," Draco pointed out. "What else? I mean, if you had wanted to steal with them, you would have asked me, wouldn't you?"
Harry hummed in agreement and Neville sighed.
"I think I will have to keep a close eye on you. Both of you."
Luna patted his hand.
"Don't worry," she told him dreamily. "Those are just the usual struggles someone has at the beginning of a cooperation. It will get better. We're going to be a great team."
"Not what I was afraid of, Luna," Neville said dryly. "But thank you, nevertheless."
"So," Harry said, interrupting their moment. "What did you want to do then if not killing somebody? I mean, just entering is a bit boring, isn't it?"
Neville threw the other boy a dry look.
"Spying," Luna offered up. "Ministry officials, documents, and all that."
"Oh!" Harry said in comprehension. "Intelligence gathering, then! Should have known that. You don't start with going after nargles immediately after you find them after all…"
Well, at least Harry had understood the principle, Neville determined.
"That doesn't explain the Hogwarts comment," Draco pointed out with a frown.
"Easy access to ingredients," Neville mumbled embarrassed.
Draco looked at him as if Christmas had come early.
"Potions?" he asked.
"Poisons?" Harry immediately added, his eyes shining like stars.
Neville scratched his head.
"More of the first, but we can go and look for the later as well," he offered hesitantly.
Harry beamed.
Then he blinked and his face turned thoughtful and for a moment Neville feared that he wanted to go and discuss Snape.
Instead, Harry chose a different topic.
"What about the basilisk?" he asked. "It would have quite a bit of poison."
"Basilisk?!" Neville and Draco exclaimed in surprise at the same time.
Luna hummed.
"The one he encountered in second year," she said.
Neville and Draco stared at each other and then at Luna.
"There was a basilisk at Hogwarts?" Draco asked with huge eyes. "And nobody went and closed down the school?!"
Luna blinked dreamily.
"Harry took care of it," she assured them.
Neville groaned.
"Not helping, Luna."
Then another dreadful thought entered his mind.
"Was the basilisk the only thing?" he asked, not sure if he wanted the answer.
Luna looked at him dreamily and Harry frowned.
"The only thing of what?" he wanted to know.
"The only dangerous thing hidden at Hogwarts while we were attending," Neville pointed out.
Harry scratched his head.
"Does a Horcrux count?" he asked contemplatively.
"Horcrux, what's that?" Neville asked while Draco paled next to him.
"Hogwarts had a Horcrux?" he nearly screeched.
Harry looked at Draco as if he had lost his marbles.
"Your father has a Horcrux as well, so I don't know why you're freaking out right now?" Harry asked, a bit confused.
Draco paled even further.
"Tell me he doesn't keep it in his study!"
Harry stared at Draco with a deadpan look.
"How should I know where he keeps it?" he pointed out.
Draco took a deep breath.
"Point," he said. "Still–"
"Can somebody explain to me what a Horcrux is?" Neville interrupted, resigned.
Harry waved it off.
"One of the darkest artifacts known to wizard-kind," he said dismissively. "Made with murder. It can look like anything and contains a part of the caster's soul."
Neville gawked.
"It's not that important," Harry assured him.
"Do I want to know who the caster is?" Neville asked, even more resigned now.
"Voldemort," Harry said as if he was talking about the weather. "Who else?"
Neville pinched his nose.
"Who else," he agreed. "And you didn't think it important to mention, why?"
Harry blinked.
"Because we already decided to kill Voldemort, so I thought it a given that we'd destroy them, too?" he asked. "I mean, if we had decided to keep him alive, then I would have brought them up to find out what we'd do with them, but like it is, I thought it was a moot point."
Neville guessed that he should file that under Harry's logic and leave it be.
"Can we now return to the part where my father has a Horcrux hidden in our house?" Draco asked impatiently.
Harry frowned.
"Why?" he asked. "I mean, you now know it's there and we were all in agreement that Voldemort has to die – so what is there to discuss?"
"Maybe the fact that I don't want to live in a house with a Horcrux in it?" Draco pointed out dryly.
Harry blinked.
"You could kill it," he said matter-of-factly before his face turned thoughtful. "Or do you want me to do it since you normally don't go after nargles?"
"You consider the Horcruxes nargles?" Luna asked, sounding a bit surprised.
Harry blinked and thought it over.
"Well, they have souls, so shouldn't they count?" he asked thoughtfully.
"They're also things," Luna countered.
Harry looked at Ledger thoughtfully.
"Yes," he finally said and then he looked up at Draco. "What do you consider them? Things or beings?"
"Abominations," Draco answered immediately.
Harry nodded.
"Then you don't have any qualms to take one out, do you?" he checked.
Draco stared at him as if he had lost his mind.
"Of course not!" he exclaimed.
Harry frowned.
"Then I don't see why you freaked out," he said. "Just kill it and be done with it."
"It's not as if I know what it looks like!" Draco countered immediately.
Harry looked as if the world suddenly made sense again.
"Oh! Of course!" he exclaimed before he turned serious. "It's a diary. Black leather cover, with an inscription… TM Riddle? Tom Riddle? Whatever, something along those lines."
He looked at Draco thoughtfully.
"Will you find it with that description?"
Draco on the other hand frowned.
"Tom Riddle?" he asked.
"Voldemort's real name," Harry said with a shrug. "I wonder why he mangled it. If I ever choose a new name, I'll choose one that has nothing to do with my old one. I mean, I'm far too busy to set myself down for hours until I'm able to build me a new name that makes some sense out of the letters of my old one."
Draco stared at Harry.
"Tom Riddle," he repeated, sounding incredulous.
"It's not as if he was the son of two magicals," Harry pointed out reasonably. "And I think his mother was a bit insane with all the incest and all that, so she definitely didn't go with the wizarding tradition of finding the weirdest names possible for her child."
Luna nodded sagely.
"Maybe if she had, Mr. Riddle would have felt more at home in the magical world," she said.
Draco grabbed his head with a groan.
"The Dark Lord kept a diary," he moaned. "A diary!"
"In his defence, he was sixteen," Harry said and patted Draco reassuringly on the head. "Everybody is stupid at sixteen."
Draco just moaned again.
"It's blank," Harry offered up. "Does that help?"
Draco thought that over.
"A bit," he finally agreed with a sigh.
"So, we're good?" Harry assured himself.
Draco rolled his eyes.
"Only if you tell me how to destroy them without taking my home down around me with it," he finally bargained.
Harry frowned.
"Why would you need to take down your home while destroying a Horcrux?" he asked, a bit confused.
"Fiendfyre," Draco said. "Without a wand."
Harry blinked and then thought a bit more about it.
"Well, you could go out for a day of shopping with your mother and leave your father with the Horcrux?" he offered. "You want him gone anyway."
Draco stared at Harry.
"I doubt I can start a Fiendfyre without my mother noticing," he pointed out dryly. "Also, I would prefer it to keep the manor, not burn it in an attempt to get rid of something that you might be able to destroy by different means. Or at least that you can offer me an alternative to destroy it that won't involve fire, normal or otherwise."
Neville snorted.
Draco turned and frowned at him.
"What?" he asked defensively.
"You are aware that Harry just came here from burning his uncle together with the house down, are you?" he pointed out.
Harry shrugged.
"It was effective," he countered. "Even if it meant that I had to destroy my renovations as well."
Neville grimaced.
"You mean like the one you did when I asked you to come with us?"
Harry's face turned innocent.
"So yes," Neville concluded.
"It was nicer," Harry countered. "I had more time."
Neville just shook his head.
"I… don't actually want to know," he decided.
Harry shrugged and Neville decided that he needed to push him into answering Draco's question.
"So, any other way to destroy Horcruxes that aren't based on your pyromaniac tendencies?"
Harry hummed.
"Basilisk-venom," he said.
"Which we don't have," Draco pointed out immediately. "And won't get for at least a while."
Harry frowned.
"Maybe try with something else really, really destructive?" he offered up. "If you can destroy the container, the Horcrux will be destroyed as well."
Draco frowned and then turned to Neville.
"Any chance for some ideas of really destructive potions being up there in your brain?" he asked.
Neville blinked.
"Hmm," he said thoughtfully. "Let me think about it and I will get back to you."
Draco grimaced but nodded.
"If you must," he agreed. "I guess I will search for a shovel to bury that thing in the earth of the garden shed until we can destroy it. Like that, if it goes off, it won't be in the house."
"It's a Horcrux," Harry said and rolled his eyes before pointing at his forehead. "I've been living with one in me for seventeen years, counting. They're not bombs."
Draco recoiled from Harry and then turned to Neville.
"New plan," he said. "Let's find something destructive that doesn't kill Potter."
Harry blinked.
"That's easy," he said. "I wanted to use electricity a day ago, but since I knew I would have to come here today, I refrained. I find another interesting way to die later."
Draco choked on his ice-cream.
"Die?!" he exclaimed. "I was talking about a way to keep you from dying!"
Harry looked at him in confusion.
"Why?" he asked.
Draco spluttered.
"Because what use do you have to us dead? If we wanted you dead, we could have left you in the future!" he countered.
Harry blinked and then looked at Luna.
"I don't understand," he told her seriously.
Luna returned his gaze dreamily.
"It's not his fault," she said. "He doesn't know."
Harry frowned at her and then pointedly looked at the book in front of him.
Luna raised an eyebrow.
"Unusual assassin," she said.
Harry pouted.
Neville on the other hand looked from one to the other before asking hesitatingly.
"So, are we killing Harry?"
"We will the moment he finds a way he wants to die," Luna said dreamily.
And when Neville and Draco exchanged an uncomfortable look, she added: "Don't worry. He won't stay dead. He never does, after all."
Harry sighed.
"At least this time around, I won't get the book thrown at me," he agreed.
Neville blinked.
"The book thrown at you?" he asked.
Harry nodded and then patted the book in front of him.
"Not that I don't love Ledger. But it wasn't a fun attempted suicide," Harry said.
For a moment, Neville and Draco exchanged another glance. Then both of them decided mutually that they didn't want to know and let it be.
"Harry could come with me," Luna offered at that moment. "As such, I'll be there if he decides to crush the erumpent horn, or dies by any other plans he will have."
That offer made Neville frown.
He wasn't sure that Luna as a chaperon was the best idea… on the other hand, like that, at least Harry wouldn't be alone, and he would have a place to stay for the night.
"That reminds me: where do you plan to stay now, Potter?" Draco asked.
Harry shrugged, looking unconcerned.
"Nowhere and everywhere," he said.
Neville frowned.
"You should have a home base," he said. "Somewhere you can relax and lay low."
Draco snorted.
"Well, my family has an unused west-wing," he said sarcastically. "We could hide him there if you think he needs somewhere to lay low. I bet no Death Eater or Dumbledore supporter would search for him on Malfoy lands."
Neville looked surprised at Draco.
"Huh," he said. "Good idea. We have some unused rooms as well. Between our mansions, it should be possible for Harry to have somewhere to stay."
"We have an attic!" Luna added dreamily. "Mummy and Daddy never go there."
Harry spluttered, but Neville nodded, his face serious.
"Good, so that makes three places for Harry to live in," he concluded. "As such, he won't be constantly at one place and therefore can't be found that easily… not that somebody would expect him to hide with any of us."
Luna nodded while Draco stared at Neville.
"I didn't mean to actually offer my home," he pointed out, but Neville just shrugged.
"It is the most logical solution," he pointed out. "You and I can prepare a room for him – one that is out of the way and easy to access from the outside and Luna… hmm…"
"I can ask for a new bed for my room," Luna said dreamily. "Mine is really old. I'll simply put the old one in the attic. Don't worry, Mummy and Daddy won't notice."
Harry stared at his companions.
"Do I get a say?" he finally asked.
"No," Neville said. "Not after forgetting to tell us about the Horcruxes."
"I told you, I thought it wasn't important!" Harry defended himself.
Before he could say something else, the ward tipped and with a flick, Harry removed the magic from the paper on the table and therefore removed the ward.
A second later, Fortescue came to their table.
"All done?" he asked with a smile.
Luna smiled back.
"Can I have another one?" she asked.
The others nodded and begged for more as well.
Only when Fortescue was far enough away from them, every eye turned to Harry.
"I timed the ward," Harry said, a bit apologetic. "Otherwise, he would have started to wonder about a missing table somewhen in the next few hours."
Understanding filled the others' gazes.
"I need to know that ward," Draco exclaimed.
Harry sighed but searched his pockets for a notebook to write it down while the other two watched.
"Let's wait until we get our new round of ice cream," Neville said, looking pointedly at a drooling Draco and a resigned Harry. "And after, we go back to planning."
And they would spend the next three to four hours like that.
xXxXxXxXxXxSlytherinxXxXxXxWayxXxXxXxXxWayxXxXxXxXxSlytherinxXxXxXxXxXxXx
And the rest of the meeting – or the rest of the important parts.
I hope you liked the chapter.
'Till next time
Ebenbild