Chapter 46: Fascinating

"While I have no idea where it is at the moment, I know how one of Riddle's Horcruxes looks like," the blond simply stated.

"Okay, not to interrupt you or something," Hermione began confusedly. "But what is a Horcrux?"

Loki chuckled lowly. "It is no wonder that you have never heard of them, they are nothing a sane person would even contemplate making, not to mention actually going through with it," he explained. "In short, when you make a Horcrux you split your soul into half and place one of the two pieces in an object. That way you're supposed to become immortal because a Reaper can only send a whole soul on their way to either heaven or hell. However, said immortality is rather short-lived because it severely pisses off heaven and hell, not to mention Death. It is seen as a deed that is so despised by everyone that in most of the cases the person who committed it is directly sent to purgatory and let's just say that it isn't a nice place, even worse than hell. Riddle is a bit of an exception for it because Hell first wants to show him what they think of him trying to get out of his contract."

"So, Riddle…You-Know-Who is still alive because he made one of those Horcruxes?" Hermione asked shocked.

Loki looked at Harry not sure how much to tell her, but Harry only nodded, not wanting to keep any secrets from his friends.

"Not only one," Loki finally said. "As far as I can tell he made at least five. Had he only made one he would already have been dealt with, but with more, it is getting complicated especially since he managed to hide them from everyone. That is also the reason for why Zachariah so adamantly tries to get to Harry. As far as I know, Raphael ordered him to get Riddle's soul pieces because he needed help from a few demons who demanded the complete soul as payment. Zachariah, however, didn't want to do the deed himself because he can't find them and currently is occupied with getting Lucifer out of his cage. Therefore, he forged a prophecy to bind a human to get him what he wants, namely Harry."

"This is also where my contract with Crowley, the demon I made it with, comes into play. You see he also wants Riddle's soul very badly to climb up the ladder in hell and since I needed a cover-up for how my parents were resurrected, we came to the agreement that he would pretend that he'd been the one and I'll deliver Riddle's soul to him. We both get what we want, and I don't have to fear being thrown into hell after ten years," Harry added.

"Let me see if I got the entire thing right," Neville muttered. "You now have to search for Riddle's soul pieces, that are untraceable and could be literally anywhere because you needed a cover-up? How were your parents brought back if not through the contract?"

"Uhm, we actually have no idea how exactly they are alive again," Harry sheepishly admitted only to receive a deadpanned look from Neville. "Okay, okay, I teleported out of heaven with them, and they were alive again…body and all inclusive."

"Okay, I'm not going to question how you even managed to get into heaven," Draco began upon which Harry simply pointed at Loki. "But what the heck? I don't know how many people over the ages tried to find a way to revive the dead and you just like that teleported out of heaven with your parents, giving them bodies in the process which is bloody impossible!"

Harry amusedly watched Draco rant about the impossibility of him teleporting someone out of heaven until he couldn't stop himself and began to laugh.

"You know it is also thought to be impossible to enter Lucifer's cage, and despite that, I took a week-long vacation there," he said once he cooled down again.

"You're joking, right?" Draco asked in shocked disbelieve.

"Nope," Harry said popping the 'p'. "You remember? Zachariah that dick with wings ambushed me? The reason for why Dobby couldn't reach me? Well, I was sitting in Lucifer's cage at that time."

Draco blinked a few times. "Okay, it is official. You're the craziest person on this planet."

"No objection there," Harry retorted with a grin.

"That doesn't solve the problem that you have to find untraceable soul pieces that could be disguised as literally anything," Neville spoke up.

Draco, on the other hand, looked thoughtful. "No, he has not to," he finally stated. "Listen to the wording, he has to deliver the soul not to find it."

"To be able to deliver it he would have to find it first," Neville retorted.

"Not necessarily, anyone could find it for him as long as he delivers the soul himself," Draco said with a shake of his head. "That would actually explain why uncle Sev is asking around for things that once belonged to the Dark Lord."

"And you're alright with all that, Harry?" Hermione asked concerned.

Harry sighed. "Hermione, it is either that or having to fear that he suddenly springs out of the woodworks and tries to kill me. I mean he already tried once last year."

"WHAT?" came the simultaneous question from Neville, Hermione and Sam.

"You haven't been with us yet at that time, Sam, but last year during the first Quidditch match Quirrell cursed my broom in an attempt to kill me. It later turned out that he had been possessed by Riddle's main soul piece."

Suddenly Harry had his arms full of a crying Hermione.

"Oh Harry, why didn't you tell us earlier? I could have tried to find a way to locate them…or at least what they could be…or…," she mumbled in his shoulder.

"Hey Hermione, it is okay. I didn't tell you because I didn't want to burden you with this, I have enough people who help me with this already and it isn't something you should worry about. The only reason for why I told you now is because Draco informed me that it is highly likely that another of Riddle's soul pieces has found its way to Hogwarts this year and I wanted to warn you. I don't want you to get hurt only because you didn't know what you're dealing with," Harry replied softly.

"Harry James Potter, in the future you will tell us about such things! I don't care if you think that you shouldn't burden us with it, I don't want you to hide anything from us. We are your friends and friends are supposed to help each other even if it is just morally and with listening to your problems," Hermione scolded him while ignoring Harry hugging her. "And who knows, sometimes asking someone completely unrelated to your problems helps you see things from a different angle. So Draco, how does that thing look like?"

Draco first was surprised that Hermione addressed him but quickly regained his composure.

"It is a black book about that size," he told her while showing with his hand how large the book is. "The cover is black leather, and the pages are empty. It looks a few centuries old and on the back is an inscription in golden letters reading Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Loki hummed lowly. "Luna you don't happen to know anything?" he asked the blond girl.

Luna, on the other hand, shook her head. "Sorry, that isn't how my ability works. Most of the time I only see the decision that should be made like for example me coming to this exact compartment and what I should say. If I'm lucky I also see a reason like with whether I should go to Ravenclaw or join you in Gryffindor, but I never see the result. Actually, I'm kind of glad…how stupid would it be to skip to the end of the book to read the end without everything in between."

"My seer abilities are extremely wobbly at best, especially since Loki cut the influence of the demon blood," Sam admitted with a thoughtful face. "So, I'm also no help there."

Everyone except for Harry, Loki and Luna looked at him strangely upon that admittance though in case of Luna it wasn't because she already knew but because she didn't care. She was strange in her own way so why should she judge someone else because he wasn't normal.

"Strange friends indeed," Draco muttered which made Harry laugh.

"Oh, my dear Draco, you have no idea," he said with a broad grin when someone knocked at the door.

Luna turned around without standing up and opened the door to reveal the lady with the trolley. Though before Loki, who already jumped up in overexcited eagerness, could get out anything, the woman grabbed under her trolley and brought up a medium sized box.

"My dear, I already expected you to ask for a bit…more, so I took the liberty to prepare you a package," she told him with a smile. "Here you go, everything you could ask for. That makes ten galleons."

"Great, thank you," Loki piped while counting off the money. "Here, ten galleons and one extra for the great foresight. Have a nice day."

"What the heck? What do you do with so many sweets?" Draco exclaimed when Harry opened the box Loki had given to him.

"That won't survive 'till the end of the ride," Harry laughed, but Draco only looked at him incredulously.

"Believe me, you'll get used to it," Neville said sympathetically while picking a package of Bertie Bott's Beans.

They all fell into an easy conversation, not even questioning why Draco was suddenly a member of their group. If Harry decided that he trusted him enough to invite him it was good enough for the others. They knew that Harry didn't trust easily even if it sometimes might seem that way, but his life with the Dursleys had taught him to be wary. Should Harry decide to explain his decision at some point, it was good with them. If not, they trusted Harry to know what he was doing…to some extent. That wasn't even putting into consideration, that Draco obviously wanted to help Harry.

So, they included Draco as if he had been a member of their group since the beginning.

Draco at first rarely joined the conversation and opted to observe them. When Harry had asked him to join them Draco had actually been wary, not only would he be a Slytherin in the middle of Gryffindors but until now he had thought that Gryffindors were brash people who said what they thought. However, after observing them for some time, he had to revise his opinion, and he was surprisingly okay with it.

True, Gryffindors – at least those he was currently sitting with – most of the time didn't do all that subtle talk Slytherins were known for, but that didn't mean that they said everything openly. While the Slytherins hid the true meaning of what they said with well-chosen words, Harry's friends did it in an entirely different way, with their body language.

Sure, one could argue that a Slytherin also used body language, but the purpose was a different one. In Slytherin, body language was used to convey one's status, straight back and a slight arrogant posture of the head while the face was a blank mask. Beyond that, one would rarely find any outward signs with a Slytherin.

Those Gryffindors Draco was currently sitting with though used their body language as a way of communication. Sure, their choice of words was open and with hardly any hidden meaning to it, but it was how they moved and held themselves that gave the words an entirely different sense.

Draco was fascinated by all that. What he thought had been just the usual Gryffindorish wearing the heart on a sleeve mentality suddenly became something more…something he wanted to understand only if to understand Harry better. Thinking back to all their encounters he had to admit that he had thoroughly misunderstood them a few times, when Draco had thought that Harry and Loki were making fun of him it had only been their way of friendly banter, he now saw that.

As the time flew by, they talked about what came to their mind, when Harry suddenly interrupted them.

"Say Loki, what drugs have been in the sweets?" he suddenly asked.

"None, why do you ask?" Loki was a bit confused.

"Oh nothing, I'm just hallucinating that a blue car is currently flying next to the train," he replied with a shrug.

Loki, who sat opposite of Harry, looked strangely at him before he also looked out of the window in the direction Harry could see and yes, there was a blue car flying next to the train, a blue Ford Anglia to be precise.

"Okay it seems that we have the same hallucination," Loki admitted.

"Not only you," Hermione added.

"I didn't know that cars could fly," Sam said.

"The better question would be what idiot is stupid enough to fly a muggle car where everybody can see him," Draco muttered. "If it is a Hogwarts student uncle Sev will have a field day."

"Oh, I have an idea!" Harry suddenly piped up and not soon later the car began to warp until it wasn't a Ford anymore but the DeLorean from a particular movie.

"For the sake of my sanity tell me that this one can NOT travel in time," Hermione groaned only to receive disbelieving stares from Draco and Neville.

Luna who still sat on the floor in front of the door snickered lowly. "She is speaking of a muggle movie called Back to the Future in which a muggle scientist develops a method to travel through time in a car such as the one you can currently see flying next to the train," she explained.

"Muggles can do that?" Draco asked in shock.

Sure, he knew a bit about muggles and their technology – luckily his father never learned about that – but he was far from well versed. It was only because of the necessity to be able to blend in especially when his mother dragged him to one of her shopping trips to Paris. Narcissa – even if she had to hide it from Lucius – was smitten with Versace, Gucci and co. That was another reason for her to want to get away from Lucius, he would never accept her fable for muggle clothing even if she looked a thousand times better in them than in robes. It was just another thing on the seemingly endless list of things they had to hide from him but hopefully and with Harry's help that would belong to the past soon.

"Nah, it's just a story for entertainment purpose," Harry added. "I really have to take you to a cinema during the winter holidays."

"Cinema?"

"Do you at least know what a movie is?" Harry asked but only received a shake of his head. "That is a serious gap in education! Who's up for a movie?"

"Which one?" Hermione asked.

"I'm voting for Iron Man!" Loki piped up.

"I would have suggested Back to the Future, but I'm also not against that one," Harry shrugged, while he got his tablet out.

"Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk," Luna said which made Harry laugh.

With a big grin, Loki spelled their compartment into something more fitting for watching a movie, transfiguring one side into a white wall while enlarging the entire thing and vanishing the benches. Instead, pillows suddenly appeared out of nowhere and all over the place, transforming the whole room into one comfortable to lie on area.

"We have sweets, we have one huge comfortable area to sit on…the only thing that's missing is popcorn," Sam exclaimed while flopping down onto a huge pillow.

Draco and Neville looked around them stunned but nonetheless sat down, getting comfortable. Right at that moment Loki, who had shortly vanished, reappeared with a projector and popcorn…lots of popcorn!

After starting the movie – and don't ask where he got it from since it wasn't even out on DVD – Harry got comfortable himself. They watched the film, and even Neville and Draco were thoroughly entertained though Draco asked every other minute whether muggles were really able to do something like that and had it been a shock, that yes muggles had bombs that were able to level entire cities like London to the ground.

It was near the end of the train ride that Draco said goodbye to his newfound friends because he still had to maintain an image and that certainly did not include being seen with a horde of Gryffindors. Harry, however, promised him to talk with the twins and ask them whether they could make something that would help Draco getting away from Slytherin should the need ever arise. In the worst-case Harry would have to ask Loki but he didn't want to burden the pagan with every little problem, he was a friend not a tool to be used every time he didn't know the answer himself. Draco thanked him and wandered off to find his dorm mates.

The others in the meantime went to get changed, the girls shortly vanishing into the empty compartment next to theirs to have their privacy, while the boys changed in their compartment.

About five minutes before they were due to arrive at Hogsmeade Station, the twins suddenly showed up.

"Hey, we only came by because we wanted to warn you, Harry," Fred said.

George nodded in emphasis. "Yes, we completely forgot to warn you but our sister Ginny…."

"She has a major crush on you," Fred finished. "You see, from a very young age on…."

"Mother told her stories of how great you are…."

"And that you are like a knight in shining armour."

"Her golden hero and somewhere down the line…."

"She developed the notion that one day she'll be Lady Potter."

A/N: 'til next chapter!