Only a few more chapters, I think. But I will be making a sequel, and then another story, which has no relation to this. Thanks for the reviews. Well appreciated!
I've gotten 6 hours of sleep over the past three days, but wanted to update. So here I go! Oh, and YAY! More Harry! I'm sick of Hermione and Ron.
Oh and also. In my next fic, please review on this, do you want slash? Do you want certain character couples? I want HGHP… But your opinion matters. Why not throw some romance into the 'Horror' as this is classified? Give me your thoughts on the matter.
Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter Chapter 12Harry had finally lost it. He had lost all sense of thought, feeling, emotion, and memory. He was now a puppet on Voldemort's strings, and he was totally unaware of it. He didn't do anything on his own. He only did things when he was told. Otherwise, he sat in a chair, like Voldemort ordered. He always sat in a chair, like Voldemort said, when he wasn't doing anything else. What a life.
Voldemort had sent him on one other mission, besides the one where Harry had encountered Remus Lupin. Harry had to kill an unfortunate deatheater.
Harry attended deatheater meetings too. He stood at the front of the circle with Voldemort, still as a doll. Thinking nothing, doing nothing. Except for standing- and breathing of course.
Harry was sitting on a chair, in Voldemort's personal study, where Voldemort had ordered him to sit. The doors opened, and Voldemort walked in, looking angered.
"Potter," Harry looked up at Voldemort with lifeless eyes. "It seems some brats have discovered my little secret to immortality. I have given them a false lead. We're going to visit them on their next crusade. Which is now…. Follow me." Harry abruptly stood up, and followed Voldemort.
"I want you to apparate to Hogsmede, and follow me from there. Oh and"- Voldemort flicked his wand, and Harry instantly became dressed in Deatheater robes. "There. We'll skip the mask. See what the wizarding world thinks when they see their savior working for the dark lord." Voldemort chuckled, and instantly apparated to Hogsmede, followed by Harry.
---
With working fairly long shifts at the joke shop, and trying to fit in some sleep, it was quite hard to do any Horcrux research, but they had gotten the twins involved. Although Ron and Hermione were busy, they didn't miss the front-page news in the paper.
"It's a lie," Ron said firmly. "After Harry's disappearance, the ministry is trying to give all the wizards and witches hope. Dumbledore is dead Hermione. We know for a fact. We were at his funeral." Hermione's hopes were instantly crushed.
"You know the prophet is always telling lies Hermione." Fred chimed in, looking up from his book.
"Yeah, you were in one of them," Ron supplied.
"Yes," Hermione said, crushed. "I suppose the prophet was drawing me in. I know better…"
"Do you think the sorting hat could have been a Horcrux?" Fred asked, after awhile. "I mean, it sort of has a soul I guess. Maybe Voldemort's?" Even Fred seemed doubtful of this guess.
"No…. I doubt it." Hermione said. "I we would be able to tell if it was Voldemort's soul in there."
"Yeah…" Ron trailed off.
Minutes later, the door opened, and a hassled and exhausted George came in. Though, he was wearing a look of excitement.
"Found…. Horcrux…. Come…Hurry…." He panted.
The three went to George and began to question of the whereabouts. They were also questioning what the Horcrux was, and where he had gotten the information.
"Apparate to Hogwarts-or Hogsmede really. McGonagoll should be there, and we can go inside. If were lucky, Godric Gryffindor's sword should be there. That's the Horcrux. Let's go!"
---
The four found the most of the wards that were put around Hogwarts were gone. Because of the absence of students, and the absence of their greatest headmaster. Albus Dumbledore.
Inside, they found an absence of pictures, and statues.
"Is this what it looks like in the summer?" Fred asked, obviously interested.
"Remember, Hogwarts may be closing. They may want to get some preliminary packing done. Honestly…." Hermione trailed off.
"Ok. Find a teacher, preferably McGonagoll. Ask for sword. Then we check it out." Stated Ron
"We can't blast a Hogwarts founders' heirloom!" shouted Hermione shrilly. "How will we even know if it's a Horcrux? Oh dear. Oh dear. I mean, we knew the locket and cup were, but the sword, we're not even sure!"
"Hermione calm down. I don't remember Ron saying we were going to blast it to find out. There must be other ways to do it."
"Yeah Hermione- wait- McGonagoll!" Ron shouted pointing to an old woman down the hall, who seemed to be admiring a picture.
"Oy, professor, I mean, headmistress!" Fred corrected himself. The woman turned, looking surprised, but soon let a facial expression of scorn overcome her.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, reminding the four of when McGonagoll would reprimand them with that tone. Well, except Hermione of course.
"Headmistress? We know that professor Dumbledore had Godric Gryffindor's sword. We were wondering if we could examine it. Check it out?" Hermione said politely.
They stood in silence for a moment before the former teacher nodded her head and said shortly, "Follow me."
The four teenagers followed her to a large statue of a gargoyle, which they knew to be where Dumbledore's- or really McGonagoll office was located. They heard her mutter "Cockroach clusters" and they were in.
"I hadn't changed it a bit. Since Albus left. Silly of me to believe he might come back…" She said softly, to no one in general.
Hermione gave her a soft pat on the back before walking over to a large glass case. "We were wondering if we might take it home…" Fred said slowly. "I mean- not forever. Just a day maybe. That's it."
"Well I'm not sure about you two…but I'm sure I can trust Granger." McGonagoll said reluctantly.
"Yes, oh thank you professor!" Hermione said while running to the sword, and pushing Fred and George who were giving a mock sign of hurt.
Ron helped Hermione, who greedily pulled it out of its case.
"Heavy," Hermione said under the weight of the sword.
"Oh right," said Ron shrinking the sword and relieving Hermione.
There was a chorus of 'Thank you' and 'Good bye' as the four left the room, and a regretful McGonagoll.
"I wanted to try on the sorting hat again." Said Fred trying to get the others to turn around.
"We have to get this home, we don't have much time." Hermione said.
Walking out the doors of Hogwarts reminded Hermione and Ron of their last time there, only months ago. Except, they weren't as cheerful and hopeful as now.
They went through and around neatly cut grass and flower bushes and shrubs.
"Looks like Hagrid is still doing his job." Ron said eyeing the circular bush.
As they reached the gate, they found it wouldn't open. It was secure by a large silver lock.
"It wont open, wait- alohamora," Fred tried, but the lock stayed shut. "We can't apparate, because, we had to walk here didn't we. But that lock wasn't there before…"
"We could try climbing the…fence?" Ron said, looking up at the fence, which seemed four stories higher at the idea of climbing it.
"Let's just get McGonagoll." George said, turning around. The others followed his example, and Hermione shrieked.
"Looking for this, I presume." Said Voldemort, dangling a silver key. He then slipped it into his pocket. "I know what you're doing, and I don't like the trouble you're causing. So I've asked my Deatheaters here to get rid of the trouble. Which is you."
From there, it was a gigantic duel. Curse and hexes shot everywhere. Some Deatheaters were hit with a stunning spell, along with Fred.
Voldemort was just standing there, stroking his snake, and whispering to another Deatheater beside him. That Deatheater began to walk over up and Hermione saw first that he didn't have a mask.
"Harry!" Hermione shouted. "Harry!" Hermione looked at Ron out of the corner of her eye and whispered urgently, "Ron, it's Harry."
Another stunner shot at Ron, and he shot out of the way. "Really? You think so? But, he's in deatheater robes."
Harry was now at the front of the line, and the George noticed him too. "Fred's got to see this!" and George whispered enervate, and his twin was awake.
The teenagers were so happy to see Harry; they were surprised when a large green light erupted from his wand, and made it's way toward George. He ducked, and looked up at Harry.
"Harry, what the hell is wrong with you- HEY!" Fred yelled as another green light had grazed Hermione's ear.
"Just, just stop, Fred. We'll discuss this later." Hermione said quietly. "What we need is a way out of here."
"Speak of the Devil." Ron said, as several Hogwarts members including Remus Lupin and Mad-eye Moody burst out of the door.
"Avada Kedavra!" Moody shouted, and the light sped at Voldemort, who instantly jumped out of the way. The light, instead, sped over and hit Nagini.
Voldemort glared, and hissed to his Deatheaters, "enough of this play, kill everyone." The Deatheaters happily took the order, and filled the air with green.
Harry was still shooting curses at the four; in fact he was the only one. This time, Ron went down with a purple curse to the heart, but in all the worry and fright, Hermione did not miss the unmistakable signs of a Horcrux emit from the snake.
"Fred another Horcrux down!" Hermione whispered. "We got to get out of here."
"Yeah"- Fred began, but immediately fell into laughter as Harry was hit with a stray stunner curse from behind.
"Hey," Hermione said crossly.
"He got what he deserved!" Fred argued back.
"I think we should take him back with us." Said George, who was also stifling a laugh.
"Yeah, let's get him out of here before V-Voldemort notices." Hermione said, and she looked back at Voldemort who was still dodging green and red lights, and shooting some of his own. "You get Harry; I'll take care of Ron."
Together, the teenagers walked up to Dumbledore's office, where they knew they would floo, dodging curses all along their way.
---
Back at the burrow, which was thankfully empty, they lay Harry down, and awoke Ron from his unconscious state. They tied Harry to a chair, and took his wand, in case he tried to escape. If he wasn't a deatheater, he could explain it to them, and he would be let out of the chair.
"What do you mean 'if he's not a Deatheater?' He tried to kill us!" Fred shouted.
"Enough!" Ron and Hermione shouted in unison. They were clearly hurt by Harry's actions.
"Now," Hermione said, pulling out the small, Ruby encrusted sword. "How do we figure out if this is a Horcrux with out blowing it up?"
"Isn't there a spell for that, like how to detect life?" Fred asked Hermione.
"If there was, I would be all over it." Hermione said.
"Well I guess we could look it up in one of these books…" Ron said grudgingly. He stood up and walked over to a stack of books that almost reached the ceiling.
"I don't think you'll find anything in there Ron." Fred said, eying the book Ron picked out which was The standard book of spells, advanced year one By Miranda Goshawk.
"Well, it's worth a try, right?" Ron said slamming the book on the table.
"I suppose," said Hermione, who had also pulled out a book similar to Ron's.
"Well where should we look?" George asked.
"Just pull out a book- oh and Ron, I forgot to tell you. The snake was a Horcrux. It got hit with a stray killing curse."
"So let's see. Diary, Harry told us, cup, locket, snake, ring, and- what else then." Ron questioned looking confused.
"Hey, that's just one more to go. You think Voldemort will make more?"
"I don't think his withered soul can take anymore splitting." Hermione said. "Guys are you sure, the prophet isn't right just once. At all?"
"Nah, I don't think so. Was the article done by Rita Skeeter?" George said.
"No, she doesn't write anymore…." Hermione trailed off.
"If it makes you feel better, we'll look into it after this whole Horcrux bit. But hey we got to go. Shop has to open any minute." George said, standing up.
"Oh, Seeya." Hermione muttered sweetly.
---
"Find anything Ron?" Hermione asked. She was getting nowhere as well. It had been at least an hour later, and they had acquired no information. Well, no useful information at least.
"No, I got nothing. But- Oh man, Mum and Ginny are home. Hide the sword." Hermione picked up the sword, and heaved it up the stairs and into Ron's room. She saw Harry in his chair, still looking unconscious. She pushed a blanket over top of it and hurried down the stairs, just as Mrs. Weasley was asking the whereabouts of her.
"Right here, I was just in the bathroom. How was your day in Diagon ally?"
"Oh wonderful really. Ginny and I had a wonderful time, thank you for asking." Mrs. Weasley replied. "I see Arthur is working late. No matter. Oh I see your indulged in your books, but would you mind carrying that upstairs, this kitchen is getting rather dusty."
"Of course," Hermione said, gathering up her books.
"Yeah, we'll be off Mum." Ron said.
They walked into Ron's room, eyeing Harry a bit guiltily. They spread their books out, and were wrapped in them again. But like previously, there was no information worth viewing.
"I think you would remember Hermione. I mean, you've read all of these books were viewing. Except for a few of them, and you and I have already looked through. Maybe we should go to a different Library."
"We could try," Hermione said thoughtfully.
"Well, after our shift at the joke shop, we'll head on down there then. There has to be something we overlooked. At the library, I'm sure there are a ton of books to look through. Our selection here isn't that great."
The door opened, and Ginny walked in and said, "Ron, Mum wants"- she stopped at the sight of Harry. Many reasons she was surprised. Harry was here not with Voldemort. Harry was tied to a chair. And Harry was wearing Deatheater robes.
Ginny shrieked, "What's he doing here? You didn't tell me?"
"Ginny Shh. Calm down. We'll fill you in." Ron said taking Ginny's hand and sitting her down. Now, we think Harry may be working for You-know-…Voldemort. So we brought him back here and were waiting for him to wake up from unconsciousness."
Ginny looked angry and tearful through the explanation. She walked over and slapped Harry in the face who immediately fluttered his eyes. So he wasn't unconscious then?
"You jerk," she muttered, and walked from the room. "I hate you!" she shouted. Down the hall, Hermione and Ron heard her door slam. They looked at each other and then walked over to Harry, whose eyes were open and staring blankly at a wall.
"Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Mate?" Ron tried, after no reply. "Hey, I'm talking to you." Ron said snapping his fingers.
"Harry please just talk to us. We're your best friends- Please!" Hermione pleaded.
Harry just continued to stare at the wall, and sit motionless.
"We can release you from the ropes. We can!"
"Wait," Ron put a hand on Hermione's arm, before she could reach the ropes.
"Why did you try to kill us?" Ron tried, with no reply.
"Um Ron," Hermione said, waving a hand in front of Harry's face.
They both shared a look of horrified expression.
A/N: Just finished typing this up in the morning, after a nice dose of sleep. If you didn't catch it, read the author's note at the top please.
