Chapter 3- Harry
Harry tumbled out of the floo with all the grace of a drunken puppy. He coughed as a plume of soot rose up off his clothes. Ron extended a hand and hauled him off the sitting room floor, then thumped him on the back, which set him off again.
"Oh, sorry, mate," Ron said. Harry just waved his hand in a don't-worry-about-it sort of way.
"Wotcher, you lot!" a cheerful voice greeted from the doorway. "Wasn't expecting to see you today!"
"Tonks!" Ginny called gleefully as she hurried across the room to embrace the older witch. Tonks wrapped Ginny in a hug and winked at Harry across the room. Harry smiled.
"So, what brings you 'round?" Tonks asked as Ginny stepped back. Nobody got a chance to answer though, as Harry's dad chose that moment to make his appearance. With a whoosh, Severus stepped easily from the floo, ridding himself of dust with a wave of his wand. Harry made yet another mental note to ask him how he managed to stay upright. He hardly got a chance to think it though, before two pops rang out from the hallway. A few seconds later, Lupin and Bill stepped through the doorway.
"Remus!" Tonks greeted with a wide smile. "My day just keeps getting better and better!" she gushed, wrapping her arms around him.
"Afternoon, Dora," Lupin greeted as he returned her hug and planted a kiss on her cheek. Harry's eyebrows shot up into his hairline as he looked to his dad. He seemed to be doing a better job of masking his surprise than Harry was, but he could see a telltale shimmer in the dark eyes that hinted of later mischief. Harry did his best to get his face under control before anyone else noticed, but Ginny's knowing smirk told him that he hadn't quite succeeded.
Lupin and Tonks ended their hug, but she slid her arm around his as she turned back towards the group. Lupin wouldn't quite meet anyone's eyes.
"So…not that I'm complaining about any of you being here, because, so far, this is definitely the highlight of my day, but it's sort of my job as HQ monitor for the day to, you know, monitor what's going on at HQ. So, I gotta ask…what brings you to Grimmauld Place? I haven't forgotten a meeting again, have I?" she looked curiously at Lupin.
"No, no meeting," Lupin answered. "We're actually here for something else. We're looking for an old necklace that probably belonged to Salazar Slytherin."
Tonks wrinkled her nose. "Why?"
"It might be important. We aren't sure yet. We have to find it first. Have you seen it?"
"I dunno. What does it look like?"
"It's that one we found that day we were cleaning," Hermione interjected. Tonks turned to face her. "That one with the really big emerald. Kreacher freaked out about it."
"Oh, yeah, actually I do remember that. I'd never seen him act like that before. That's what you're here for?" Tonks looked around the room as they all nodded.
"Well, unfortunately, I haven't seen it since that day," she told them. "Kreacher ran off with it and stashed it somewhere. He stashed a lot of things, actually, and he won't tell me where. I've asked. He won't do much of anything since Sirius left, actually." She noted their disappointed faces and continued. "But, hey, you're welcome to look all you want. Maybe you can find his hoard. It's got to be around here, somewhere. I'm sure if we split up, we can find it."
So, they did. As before, it wasn't safe to go digging too deep in this cursed house by yourself, so each chose a partner and they broke apart to cover the different areas of the house. Harry quite happily found himself partnered with Ginny and the two of them set off down the stairs towards the kitchen.
"I can't imagine we'll find it down here," Harry said as they walked.
"No, probably not. Mum's already been over every inch of this place taking inventory in case we have to hunker down here for a while like we did when dad got hurt. I think she'd have noticed a big, honking, emerald necklace just lying around."
"Probably."
"But…" Ginny hesitated, then sighed. "Oh, nevermind. Kreacher's probably taken it somewhere we can't get to, like in the walls or under the floorboards or something. This is hopeless. Have you tried summoning it?"
"Well, no, but I can't, can I? Hang on, did they really let the only two people in the house who can't do magic go off together? That bit with Lupin and Tonks must have really thrown off my dad. Normally he'd catch something like that. Did you know about that, by the way? That they were together?"
"Well, nobody told me about it, but I think I knew, yeah. I mean, Tonks was coming around all the time last year and Mum was always like, 'There, there. He'll come around,' or doing the whole 'plenty of other fish in the sea' bit. And Lupin was avoiding her like the plague. So, it didn't take much to put together that she was sad about him. But then, this summer, every time I saw her, she seemed a lot happier. So, I worked it out. …Well, and also I overheard her and mum talking about it a few days ago, so that sort of validated it."
"You could have led with that, you know."
"But then how would you appreciate my genius-level deductive reasoning skills? I could rival Hermione if I wanted to," Ginny replied with mock haughtiness, flipping her hair over one shoulder.
Harry rolled his eyes at her and smiled. She bumped her shoulder against his and then hooked her arm around his, much in the way Lupin and Tonks had stood together upstairs. She dropped her head onto his shoulder and surveyed the room.
Harry felt her draw breath to speak, but she never got the chance.
"What is the filthy half-blood doing back in my house? And the blood-traitor girl?" a gravelly voice muttered from behind them. Harry and Ginny both whirled to face the sudden noise, hands going towards wands, even if they weren't technically supposed to use them. Defending himself was always more important than stupid beaurocratic nonsense like the Trace.
They found themselves staring into the bulbous eyes and stooped figure of Kreacher. He shuffled around them, muttering about dishonor and filth and getting out of his house.
"Kreacher, we're looking for something," Ginny said, "Could you help us?"
"The blood traitor asks for help from Kreacher," he muttered. "She defiles this place just by being in it. Kreacher will have to clean the kitchen again to remove her stench, the filthy–"
"Hey, don't talk to her like that!" Harry barked.
Kreacher snapped his mouth shut. He glared at Harry.
"Kreacher will do as he pleases in his own house."
"Yeah? Well, last I checked, it wasn't your house. It's mine, actually."
Kreacher just grumbled under his breath. Harry didn't quite have the patience to deal with him today.
"Oh, go on back to your little hidey-hole," he huffed. He half expected Kreacher to keep on pestering them, but he must have been tired of it already, for the stooped little elf turned and walked away slowly, still muttering annoyingly.
"Wait–" Ginny said quietly, pulling a bit on Harry's arm. "Do you think we should ask him about it?"
"What's the point? He'll just lie about it, anyway."
"Worth a shot, though, right?"
Harry sighed. She was right, of course, he just really didn't want to.
"Kreacher, wait," he called again. Kreacher, who was almost out of the room, halted. "We're looking for a locket? Have you seen it?"
"Kreacher has seen many lockets. Fancy jewelry worn around the neck, keepsakes inside."
"Don't be difficult. We're looking for a locket that once belonged to Salazar Slytherin. Have you seen it?"
Kreacher didn't answer, merely stared at Harry with wide, bulbous eyes. Harry was swiftly running out of patience.
"Answer my questions!" he demanded.
Kreacher appeared to be warring with himself, glaring at Harry with undisguised malice even as he opened his mouth to speak.
"Kreacher has seen it," he said angrily.
"Where?"
"In many places."
"Where did you see it last?"
"In Kreacher's special place."
"And where is that?"
"Hidden."
Harry would have stomped his foot if he didn't think it would make him look like a toddler. He almost did it anyway. He wasn't getting anywhere. He threw up his hands in frustration before carding his fingers through his hair. He threw Ginny a look that was meant to say "I told you so," but the look on her face puzzled him.
Ginny had that look that Harry had come to associate with mischief. He'd made a special note of it because it usually meant a snog would soon follow, often in some new and exotic location, but this was sort of a weird time. Maybe he'd misinterpreted, but her dancing eyes and satisfied half-smile were already making his stomach do backflips, especially when she turned that look towards him.
Merlin, what had he gotten himself into with this girl?
"Harry," she said sweetly, and he knew she was up to something for sure. "I want you to look at Kreacher and say exactly what I say."
"Why?"
"Why not?"
Well, okay then. Fair enough. He shrugged his shoulders and nodded. Ginny nodded back, and her smile got even broader. Harry pulled his eyes away and looked back at Kreacher.
"Kreacher," Ginny began.
"Kreacher," Harry repeated.
"As master of this house…" Ginny said.
"As master of this house…hang on–" Harry turned towards her. "Are you…really? You think?"
Ginny was nodding and laughing a little. Harry spared a glance at Kreacher. He looked murderous. Ginny's laugh got louder. Suddenly, Kreacher darted towards the door.
"No! Kreacher, stop!" Harry called. Kreacher stopped so quickly, he almost fell to the floor. "Stay right there," Harry continued.
"See?" Ginny cackled. "Took you long enough!"
"But…the house…" Harry stuttered weakly, still regarding the stationary elf with disbelief. A sick feeling began to rise in his stomach.
"Your house, your house elf," Ginny said. "If I'd realized it sooner, we'd have been done ages ago. But, you know, we Weasleys don't have one, so I sort of forgot how it works. If you notice, though, he's done everything you told him to do, and none of the things you asked him to do."
"But I don't want to be master of a house elf!"
"Why not?"
"Well, partly because Hermione would definitely kill me. But also because, I don't know, it just feels…wrong."
Ginny shrugged and looped her arm through his again, even as she smiled at him.
"Listen, I get it. I don't like the idea of it either," she continued gently. "But right now, we have to work with what we've got. And this is it." She gestured to the sullen house elf.
Harry sighed. Why did his life have to be so complicated? The last thing he wanted was to be the master of some weird, slave-like creature. The idea of not having any choices made his insides curl in terrible ways. Flashes of life with the Dursleys flew through his head. Being screamed at to scrub the floors. Having the doors locked behind him in the summer so he would be forced to pull the weeds in the garden. Being cornered on the playground by Dudley so Harry would give him the ball he'd been playing with.
But even through all of that, Harry had always had a choice. Sure, the consequences were usually pretty bad. If he didn't scrub the floors, he would probably have to go back to his cupboard without dinner. If he didn't pull the weeds, he wouldn't be allowed to shower when he went back in the house and he'd have to wear his sweaty clothes until Aunt Petunia decided to give him clean ones. If he didn't give up the ball to Dudley and his gang, he'd get punched in the stomach. So, the choices were pretty terrible, but at least they were there. If he became Kreacher's master, Kreacher wouldn't have a choice. He would be magically bound to obey. Harry wasn't sure he could knowingly inflict that upon another living being, no matter how unpleasant he was.
He also wasn't at all sure how to explain any of this to his girlfriend. Ginny knew a lot about Harry. He'd told her a lot. She'd guessed even more. But whatever she may have guessed about his life with the Dursleys, she thankfully kept it to herself and Harry pretended not to notice. It was easier that way. Less painful, for both of them. Less embarrassing.
But it didn't look like this could be avoided. Kreacher was here, now, in front of Harry, very clearly obeying his orders. And he had something they needed. Something they needed really, really badly. There was nothing else for it.
Harry took a deep breath and scrubbed his hand over his face. Then, he shook himself and turned towards Kreacher. He could do this.
"Kreacher, without any trickery, get Slytherin's locket and bring it back here to this spot immediately," he said grimly.
The elf disappeared with a pop. Before Harry could even contemplate his wording to check for any loopholes, there was another pop and he reappeared. In his hands, he clutched a locket the size of Harry's fist with a faintly glowing emerald and a stylized gold S.
Bloody hell. It had worked.
Harry reached for the locket, but Kreacher snatched it away from him, cradling it to his body protectively.
"No!" he screeched, louder than Harry had ever heard him. "You can't have it!"
"I need it," Harry said, reaching forward again.
Kreacher screeched again in an animalistic sort of way and Harry pulled back his hand. He could order Kreacher to hand it over, but he hesitated. He'd never seen Kreacher acting this way. What was going on?
Kreacher was losing it, now. He was screaming so loud and so fast Harry could barely understand him. He gathered the gist of it, though.
"Kreacher!" he shouted. "Kreacher, stop!"
Immediately, a hush descended. Harry's ears were ringing and his stomach was turning.
"I understand. It's important to you. You were supposed to destroy it, right?"
Kreacher, subdued and broken looking nodded mutely.
"But you couldn't, could you?" Harry continued.
Kreacher shook his head.
Harry was dimly aware of footsteps behind him and knew they'd drawn an audience, but he kept his attention focused on Kreacher.
"I understand. He died getting it, didn't he? Your old Master?"
Kreacher began wailing again, but this time in despair and sadness rather than panic and anger. Harry inched closer to him.
"I understand. Dumbledore…he died, too. Getting the fake. That's how we knew to look here. He wanted it found. So it could be destroyed."
"It cannot be destroyed!" Kreacher wailed. "Kreacher has tried everything. Everything! He tried so hard to follow Master Regulus's wishes, but Kreacher failed!"
"Let us help you," Harry said, holding out his hand, now well within reach of the despondent creature. "It has to be destroyed. It's evil. We can help."
"How?" Kreacher crooned piteously.
"With basilisk venom," a deep voice called from behind Harry. He felt his father approaching from behind him. "The same substance has already destroyed two other objects of its kind."
"Truly?" Kreacher breathed, awed.
Harry nodded, bringing Kreacher's attention back towards him.
"And if there's anything left of it when we're done, I promise we'll bring it back to you," Harry said.
Kreacher regarded Harry with his overlarge eyes, and Harry got the distinct impression he was being scrutinized and judged most thoroughly. At last, Kreacher pulled the locket away from his body, and placed it slowly into Harry's waiting palm.
The second it touched his hand, Harry's skin began to crawl. His upper lip curled and his eyes narrowed. His heart burned with sudden anger. Such a pitiful creature, he thought. So easy to manipulate.
As quick as the thought crossed his mind, it was gone again, and with it, the locket. Harry turned to see it dangling in midair, encased in a shimmering web of magic. Even as he watched, Bill continued to weave a glittering spell around it, chanting softly in a language Harry had never heard before. As the lines around the locket grew brighter, the sudden anger he'd felt grew dimmer. After a few moments, Bill pulled a small black box from his pocket. He threw it out towards the locket. As it flew, it grew until it was just larger than the containment web. One side of the box opened and the box enveloped the glowing orb. It immediately shut with an audible snap and dropped heavily to the floor. Bill picked it up and held the inky box tightly in his hand.
Harry tried to rise from his crouched position, but found himself wobbling unsteadily. Two sets of hands reached out to support him. Ginny's small, but strong hands gripped him firmly by his left elbow. His dad's solid support bolstered him from the other side.
"Are you hurt?" his dad asked.
"I'm fine," Harry replied.
His dad raised an eyebrow and looked at him carefully.
"No, really!" Harry insisted. "I'm fine. I was sort of really…angry, I guess, for a minute, but I'm fine now. See?" he raised both palms for his dad to inspect. "Not even a mark!"
Severus studied both hands more than Harry felt was really necessary, but he didn't complain. He could see that his dad had been worried, and Harry was still sort of marveling at that sort of thing.
That someone cared. That someone worried.
After that, the excursion wrapped up rather quickly. Kreacher, subdued and likely exhausted from his earlier hysterics, stood over in the corner, watching the proceedings silently. His dad bustled them all towards the floo, shepherding them through in pairs back to The Burrow. Tonks seemed put out that she couldn't join them, but Lupin promised to come update her as soon as they were finished, and Harry and his dad flood away to give him a bit more privacy to say goodbye.
Because apparently that was something they needed now. Harry still didn't really understand how this had happened. Wasn't she a lot younger than him? Hadn't Lupin previously implied that he'd be single forever? Harry had sort of wondered if maybe the man was gay, but apparently not.
Was he really devoting this much thought to a grown man's love life? What was wrong with him?
He tripped out of the floo at the Burrow only long enough to trip back in and floo to The Hideaway with promises to see everyone again soon with an update.
When he finally arrived back home, he stumbled over to the couch and threw himself facedown upon it.
"In two days I will be seventeen and I swear I am never flooing anywhere again!" Harry groaned.
His dad didn't even respond, just swept out the door and down the stairs, opening the garage-turned-potions-lab with a tap of his wand. A moment later, Harry heard a pop. He turned his head and saw Lupin striding towards the lab, as well. He spared hardly a glance towards Harry.
"Severus!" Lupin called. Harry was surprised to hear the two were on a first-name basis. How much had he missed this summer? "Give me a–"
His dad must have been prepared for whatever Lupin was going to ask for, because he was already striding out of the room before Lupin had finished speaking. He thrust a scrap of parchment into Lupin's hand before turning back towards his lab.
"Thanks," Lupin called dryly before apparating away again. When he returned, Bill and the black box were in tow. They both set off towards the lab.
Harry was feeling quite recovered by now, and apparently the lab was the place to be. He rose and followed them.
Since they had no need of a car, the garage had been magically sealed and warded to make a safe space for his dad to brew all different sorts of potions. Though the space was large, much of it was filled with tables, workbenches, and storage cupboards. The remaining space wasn't designed to accommodate 4 grown men, and it was getting a bit cramped.
His dad stood in front of a shining, clear cauldron. It looked like glass, but Harry suspected it was probably crystal, or maybe even diamond. Into this cauldron, he was pouring a small measure of thick, clear potion. The potion shimmered faintly greenish, but was otherwise almost as clear as the cauldron it was being poured into.
On second thought, Harry suspected this was probably not a potion at all, but basilisk venom. The extra long dragonhide gloves his dad wore strengthened this idea. Harry knew that his dad almost never wore gloves, even when handling materials that could be very dangerous. But clearly even he didn't play games when it came to basilisk venom.
Once the venom was added to the cauldron, his dad turned expectantly towards Bill. Bill sat the box down on the counter before turning and waving his wand towards the door. It sealed shut with a squelch and Harry's ears suddenly popped. Bill cast another charm that covered the room in a grid of red lines. They seemed to sink into the walls, floor, and ceiling, but the room still had a faint red glow. When that was done, he pulled a small needle from his pocket and pricked his thumb. He drew his bleeding thumb in a strange looking shape across the door, then said a phrase in yet another language Harry had never heard before. The rune on the door pulsed and a sound like a single drumbeat filled the room, shaking Harry's bones. As it faded, the room felt even more still and silent than it had before.
Finally, Bill lowered his wand.
"The stillroom is ready," he said, as if that meant something. Apparently it did, to the other men, for they both seemed to relax a bit. Harry would never cease to be amazed by all the magic he still could not fathom.
"Let's get it over with, then," Lupin said.
Bill carried the box over to the table with the cauldron. Careful not to get too close to the caustic substance, he set the box down and tapped it three times with his wand. The black box seemed to unfold at the seams before folding itself back up into a little black cube, leaving the spell-encased locket lying on the table. Bill picked up the tiny cube and placed it back in his pocket. He pointed his wand again at the locket and began systematically unraveling the threads he had created back at Grimmauld Place.
As they came apart, Harry began to feel agitated. What was taking so long? Shouldn't Bill be done already? And what was Lupin here for, anyway? He wasn't even doing anything, just taking up space.
He must have said that last part out loud because the tawny-haired man looked at him in concern.
"Harry? Are you all right?" he asked, reaching out.
Why did everyone keep asking him that? What was he, a child!? He was two days away from being an adult! People needed to stop coddling him, already!
"Fine," he growled. He could feel his eyes narrowing and his lip curling as he glared at Lupin.
"You don't seem fine," Lupin replied calmly, inching closer to Harry.
"Shut up!" Harry responded. A reddish glow was creeping in at the edges of his vision. Bill must have lost control of his wards. What an idiot. Harry sneered.
"I don't have to answer to you! To any of you!" he continued. "As a matter of fact, I'm leaving!" he declared, turning towards the door.
Distantly, he heard Bill shouting something, but he wasn't quite sure what. He just knew he needed to leave. To open the door. To get out of this room full of these grown-up idiots. He reached towards the door knob.
A pair of strong arms encircled him, pinning his arms to his side.
"No!" Harry bellowed. "Let me out! I have to get out! I hate you!" he screamed. "I hate all of you! You're all idiotic, self-righteous, do-gooders and it's pathetic! Can't you see yourselves! Huddled in a stillroom hiding from a necklace?! You're pitiful. Weak! SCARED! A traitorous half blood, a blood-traitor, and a werewolf? You don't stand a chance! Let me go!"
He was screaming and growling, thrashing in Lupin's grip, but the werewolf was stronger than he looked. Harry couldn't break free. He was feeling more and more agitated by the second. He had to get out! He had to break free! He tried a different tactic.
"You want to know what's even more pathetic than thinking you can win?" he hissed. "Thinking you deserve to win. You don't deserve anything. None of you do! Not you, Weasley, with your blood-traitor family. Getting ready to marry a veela. A creature. As if your bloodline needed to be tainted any more than it already is. And you, werewolf, thinking you can find happiness with a girl who is closer to my age than yours. What does she see in you, anyway? What can you offer her besides a lifetime of pain and poverty?"
Harry turned to the last person in the room.
"And you. A traitor. A murderer. Thinking you deserve any sort of happiness. You crushed that happiness. With your own hands! And now you want to get it back, to live a happy little life with your precious little son? You truly are pathetic. Useless. A disgrace and an abomination. How could you ever think I'd be happy living with you? How could you think I'd love you? I hate you."
Severus looked across the room at Harry, meeting his eyes. Harry grinned and began to laugh. It was a laugh he'd never heard from himself before. Dark and menacing, it rumbled from the depths of his chest, bursting out of him uncontrollably. He felt the arms around him slacken infinitesimally and he seized his chance. He thrust his arms out, breaking free of the grip and leapt towards the door. He reached his hand out towards the knob. Just as he grazed it with his fingertips he heard a soft splash and his world went white.
He heard screaming. Loud, awful, painful screaming, the kind that leaves you with a raw throat for hours, sometimes days. Somehow, he became aware that it was coming from him. He was screaming. And falling. But he never hit the floor. Those same arms he'd broken free of just moments before came around him again, but this time the grip was gentler, kinder. It eased him down and he landed gently on his knees. His stomach felt like it was turning inside out and he leaned forward and vomited violently. Utterly spent, he leaned back into the embrace as his screams quieted and his vision settled.
The whiteness and the redness receded. The angry furrow in his brow smoothed out. He felt his face relax. His muscles unclenched. He breathed.
The room had gone utterly still and silent, but the stillness and silence no longer made his skin crawl. Someone's wand waved and the puddle of sick vanished. Soft, slow footsteps brought a pair of black boots into his vision. Slowly, carefully, his father crouched down into his field of vision. Deep blue eyes met green and Harry broke.
He sobbed as his father sank to the floor, wrapping his arms around Harry. The other set of arms retreated, giving Harry room to rock forward and press his forehead into his dad's shoulder. Not for the first time, he gripped the man's shirt and poured out his heart.
Later, he would wonder if something was wrong with him. Later, he would think about why he cries so much now. Later, he would silently promise to stop doing this (a promise he would break).
But now, he couldn't think of any of that. He could only think of how he felt in that moment.
Vile. Dirty. Tainted. Shameful. Dark. Embarrassed.
Evil.
Harry remembered everything that had happened that day. It would have been almost better if he could not. He heard each word that had passed his lips. Felt the lingering anger and…god, was that hatred he felt? But he didn't hate any of these people. This was his dad, his mentor, and his girlfriend's favorite older brother, a surrogate brother of his own, in a way. He didn't hate them. And yet, that's what he remembered. Hating them. Despising them.
What had happened to him?
He pulled away from his dad and swiped at his eyes, getting himself back under control. After that display, his dad probably didn't want anything to do with him right now, anyway. Might not want anything to do with him ever again, actually. What he'd said…
He looked at the floor.
Long-fingered hands, hands he realized he was now able to instantly recognize as his dad's, rested on his shoulders.
"Harry," he called. Harry continued looking at the floor resolutely.
"Harry," he said again, and gave his shoulders a gentle shake. Harry continued to ignore.
"Harry," he said, firmly, taking one hand off his shoulder to lift Harry's chin. Harry tried to resist, but the grip was strong. His dad craned his face until he caught Harry's eyes. Once their eyes met, Harry found he couldn't quite look away.
"Harry, I love you," his dad said. "Are you listening? I love you. That was not you. You are not responsible for what just occurred. Do you understand me?"
Harry heard him, but he didn't quite understand. How could he still love him when Harry had told him he hated him? Had said he didn't deserve to be loved? He shook his head and tried to look away, but the hand on his chin jerked his head back around.
"Listen to me," his father demanded sternly. "Those words were not yours. They belonged to the horcrux. They seized upon your earlier connection in an attempt to distract us and use you to open the stillroom. It was a survival attempt. Nothing more. None here blame you for your words or actions. Most especially myself."
Harry hazarded a glance at Bill and Lupin. Both looked shocked and rattled, but they also met his gaze with kindness and without a hint of judgment. Lupin reached out and ruffled Harry's hair.
"Don't worry about it, Harry," he said, gently. "You didn't tell us anything we hadn't already worked through on our own and overcome. We're adults. We can handle it." he smiled. "Besides. It'll take more than the desperate insults of the trapped soul fragment of a madman to make me walk away from Dora, now."
"Dora?" Harry questioned, a smile blooming on his face.
"Well, I'm hardly likely to call her by her last name if I intend for her to change it, am I?" Lupin answered with a smile of his own. He winked at Harry, who was gaping like a fish, and suddenly he felt lighter again.
Bill stepped forward and shrugged.
"Fleur's a quarter veela. It's not as if it's a secret. And the Weasleys are members of the Sacred 28. I'm the oldest son and heir. By marrying her, and hopefully eventually having children with her, I turn my back on over a thousand years of pureblood history and end a pureblooded line that can be traced back to the time of Merlin." Bill smiled a feral smile. "Bring it on."
His father's hand on his shoulder brought him back to the once-austere potion's master crouched on the floor with him.
"I lost your mother sixteen years ago. And with her, I lost you, though I didn't even know then what I had lost. Over the last several months we have rebuilt what we always should have had from the start. I will never be the world's best father. I will never be able to undo what has already been done. I will never be able to give you the childhood you should have had. But I will also never turn my back on you, now. Nothing you say or do could change that. If you choose to walk away from me, I will respect that choice, but I will never choose to walk away from you. I love you. You are my son. Nothing will change that. Least of all the feeble attempt at emotional manipulation formulated by a man with no understanding whatsoever of what it means to love someone."
Harry felt his a tear run down his cheek and he swiped at his eyes again. He was getting bloody sick of crying so much! But it couldn't be helped. His dad smiled at him and he gave a watery smile in return. Then the smile opposite his morphed into its trademark smirk, though the eyes still danced with joy.
"Besides," his dad continued in a haughty drawl, "I have now nearly died for you on at least two occasions. It would be wasteful to throw aside such efforts now."
Harry felt much better, now, and allowed himself to be pulled upright by Lupin, who also pulled him into a swift, but tight, hug. Harry allowed his eyes to wander to the corner of the room where the crystal cauldron sat innocently. He could see the locket, now tarnished and with a cracked emerald, at the bottom of the bowl. It's influence had faded. It was destroyed.
A feeling of triumph washed over him as he realized what they'd done. They'd found a horcrux and destroyed it on purpose. It hadn't been some accidental victory, or something they stumbled into. They'd set out with a goal, and they'd accomplished it. Maybe this wasn't going to be so hard after all.
Bill dismantled the wards and sound returned to Harry with another pop of his ears. He hadn't realized before how much ambient noise there was in the world. They trooped out of the room, buzzing with the thrill of their success, even if it had been more than they'd bargained for.
"Well, I guess I'll head back to the Burrow," Bill said. "I've missed nearly a whole day of wedding preparations. Mum will be having kittens by now. Severus," he said, turning towards Harry's dad. "Thank for trusting me enough to let me in the Fidelius." His dad nodded. "Remus," he said, turning towards the werewolf, "...actually what was it Harry said, 'why are you even here? You're not even doing anything,'" Bill said with a twinkle in his eye.
"Moral support," Lupin replied with a wink. "That's been my job since 1971. Don't take it away from me now!"
"Eh, all right. You can stay."
Both men laughed. Bill turned last to Harry.
"Listen, your dad told me you and my brother and his girlfriend were planning on doing this on your own. And it isn't that I don't think you could have done it, because you seem like capable young wizards…eh, mostly, anyway. It's just that I'm glad you decided to let us help you. Curse breaking is my job. Setting and dismantling wards and preparing for traps is what I do, and that thing still damn near got the better of me. So, don't feel bad for anything that happened in there. It wasn't your fault. I'm just glad it happened with us, and not with Ron or Hermione. I don't think it would have ended the same way if it had."
Harry nodded, agreeing. How had he ever thought he could handle this on his own? Even with Ron and Hermione's help, destroying that locket would have been a challenge. He knew they could have done it, eventually, but, like Bill, he was glad that they hadn't needed to. It would have been brutal and would not have ended well.
Maybe having adult help wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.
Finally, Bill popped away, followed shortly thereafter by Lupin, who had promised to update Tonks, though he would leave out any mention of the horcrux or the specifics of Harry's fit. Some things needed to be held as close to the vest as possible.
And then, he was gone, and it was just Harry and his dad. There was silence again for a moment and Harry started to worry. Would this be it? Would his dad decide enough was enough and cut Harry out of the rest of the horcruxes? Would things be awkward between them after what Harry had said? Would–
"Chess?" his dad asked, gesturing towards the board on the end table. Harry looked at him and saw his open face and relaxed.
"Sure," he said with a smile, and his dad levitated the table around in front of the couch and conjured up another chair. Harry began setting up the pieces and they settled in for an afternoon of friendly father-son competition, everything else fading from their minds as laughter filled the house once again.
A/N: Sorry for the delay in updates! I have been wrestling with chapter 6 for a WHILE and I finally got it pinned (penned?) down. Which means that I can now post this chapter and still maintain a few buffer chapters just in case. Also, this is the first chapter which contains plot elements that are going to be relevant later, so it's sort of a big leap. Hope you enjoyed the read and I'll see you again soon!
