AN- Don't know how many out there reading this are nitpickers, but apparently Easter 1997 was in March. Well, I'm changing the calendar. Easter will be the second weekend in April. Like it was for 2020.
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Chapter 29- Transferring
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The three of them tilted their heads at the thing in its cage. Harry would have called it a Zombie given how he was raised with Muggles, someone else might have just referred to it as a monster of some kind. Remus and Sirius were calling it an Inferi though.
He'd heard them mentioned before. Never thought he'd see one. He hoped he'd never see one anyhow.
It was one week after he'd been told about the Horcrux inside of him and in that time they'd managed to transfer the two Horcruxes out of the cup and the ring and into the Inferi.
Now the Inferi was pacing back and forth in the space it was provided and glaring at them.
Harry was pretty sure that Inferi weren't supposed to be able to glare like that. They were supposed to be what the Muggles portrayed in their zombie movies; mindless and wanting to eat your flesh, or some such nonsense. This was because of the two pieces of soul that had been transferred to the thing that it had more human like tendencies.
Sirius and Remus had tried to warn him about what it was going to look and behave like, and smell like, but no description could really do it justice. It was in ratty clothes that seemed permanently waterlogged or stained with grease or something. Its face was so droopy, it was like someone had peeled the skin off of a large man and stuck it on this smaller man's frame. Its pacing back and forth was hindered by what appeared to be a broken ankle. Completely broken. There even seemed to be a piece of bone showing through the paper-thin skin.
And the stench!
They must have put up some kind of ward or charm to freshen the air, but it either wasn't strong enough, or it didn't last very long. The air in the room was putrid and assaulted his nose the moment he stepped in.
His task today was to open the locket that the third piece of soul was in for Dumbledore to transfer it to the Inferi. Why they wanted them all in the one creature was beyond his comprehension. They'd killed off the other two pieces, but they must have some reason for transferring these one's.
He hadn't gotten around to asking yet. He would, but right now he was focused on doing his part, and hopefully he would have the Horcrux inside him gone by this time tomorrow.
It had been explained to him just how much power Dumbledore had been requiring for this task, the restorative potions only did so much. His Headmaster had transferred the first Horcrux the Sunday before, the day after they'd informed Harry of the other presence in his body. Sirius had managed to get the Inferi from someone in Knockturn Alley after a night of searching and consulting with some rather unsavory characters, but his deep pockets had kept the criminal elements interested and himself safe. It helped that he rather detested the history behind the money in his vault and it really was no object to him.
After the first Horcrux was transferred Dumbledore had requested two days to recover and attempt the second one. They'd started with Hufflepuff's cup and Sirius had gifted that back to the Smith family it had been stolen from. Next they'd done the ring. That one Dumbledore had requested Sirius place back in his family vault until such a time as he could figure out who the rightful owner was, not wanting the 'temptation' of it around.
After each piece of soul was placed into the Inferi they'd had House Elf's checking in on the creature to feed and monitor it. It hadn't said anything. So far as they knew it didn't have the ability to say anything, its voice box being too far damaged through the decomposition of the body. The eyes though, through the eyes they could see that it seemed to be able to follow and comprehend what was happening to it.
Harry shuddered every time he looked at the thing.
"Ready Harry?" asked Dumbledore, showing him where to stand. The Locket was on a coffee table between them and the Inferi in its cage.
"Ready." Harry sucked in a breath and looked at the locket intently before closing his eyes and drawing up the image of a snake, just like he had to get into the Chamber of Secrets. "Open," he hissed.
The sound of the metal latch springing open made Harry open his eyes. He saw billowing smoke coming out of the locket and stared at it in awe and fear as it took on the appearance of Ginny looking at him disdainfully. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could her eyes turned to Dumbledore beside him. Her form morphed into a different girl, one around the same age as Harry was, with long dark hair and soulful eyes. "It was your fault," she cried. "How could you not have known?"
Harry didn't understand, but it seemed that Dumbledore had. He wasn't paying attention to what the girl was saying though, he was concentrating on his wrist movements and repeating an incantation under his breath. The smoky shape of the girl began to glow as it drifted backwards towards the Inferi. She gave a loud scream that began to echo as though it was falling as the smoke was sucked into the body of the creature. The sound stopped once the last of the smoke was engulfed by the thing.
Dumbledore heaved a sigh and swayed slightly. Harry lunged to catch him under one of his arms, Sirius came up to grab his other.
"I would like to say that I wish we could help you with those spells," Sirius commented. "But I really wouldn't trust anyone but yourself to be strong enough to pull it off."
Well, that strength of Dumbledore's was dwindling as Harry felt him relax more into their grip, allowing them to carry him over to a chair behind him. Remus came to stand in front of him with a goblet full of the restorative potion.
"Thank you," Dumbledore managed before greedily drinking it down.
"That wasn't too bad," Harry offered weakly.
Sirius scoffed. "No, he needs to get better material too," he looked back at the creature.
Harry followed his eye line and frowned at the sight of the thing. It looked as though there were bee's buzzing around inside its head. It kept banging the side of its head with the palm of one hand, then rapping it on the bar of its cage.
"What's it doing?" Harry asked in confusion.
"Best we can guess is that now that there is three pieces of his soul in there, and nothing else, it kind of has competing personalities." Remus offered; he too was now watching the thing with a sort of morbid fascination.
"I have to wonder if, because the three pieces of soul were made at different stages in Riddle's life, if it is like having an eighteen-year-old, a thirty-year-old, and a forty-year-old all living in one head and competing for dominance." Sirius wondered aloud.
"Weirdest case of split personality disorder," Remus joked darkly.
"Multiple personalities that are all the same personality?" Harry queried. He couldn't help thinking that he should be the one to know what it was like, but until the thing was removed from his body he wouldn't really know. "You said he 'needs to get new material'," Harry asked Sirius. "Did that girl show up the last two times too?"
"Yes," he answered.
They looked to Dumbledore, who's eyes were drooping.
"He's told us she was his sister, and something bad happened that he blames himself for, but didn't have any real control over. Her appearing was probably some kind of Boggart type security system," he offered by way of explanation. He looked curiously at Harry then. "Why did Ginny appear first?"
Harry's jaw clenched shut then. He hadn't had a chance to talk to Sirius or Remus about that yet. He hadn't even talked to Neville or Ron about it, and certainly not Hermione, she'd probably have smacked him with a book before crying and promising him that nothing would change and they'd all still love him.
He didn't need that.
Ginny had been mercifully distant, but not too much. They still spent nearly every waking hour together, but the closest they'd got to touching again after leaving the Room of Requirement seven days ago was when they'd accidentally reached for the same piece of toast at breakfast. She understood his concerns and had been right to tell him off like she had.
The thought of following through with breaking up with her until this was all over was like a knife to his heart. He hadn't thought that one through. He didn't want that at all. Just a few more days and they'd see if there was any change. In the meantime they'd just keep passing each other longing looks and ignoring their impulses.
The looks she'd been giving him were helping him in a way also. He could see that she wanted to be with him, even though he was being overly cautious. And those looks had him feeling assured that whatever was about to come out of smoke-Ginny's mouth would be a lie. From the expression of the Boggart-Type-Security Ginny she was about to tell him that they were done, that he wasn't anything with-out the little piece of Riddle inside him. Probably going to tell him that that was the only interesting thing about him. Maybe that Riddle was the one that had actually been able to satisfy her during sex, or something equally as petty that had been plaguing his subconscious.
"I don't really want to talk about it right now," Harry mumbled.
Sirius didn't press. They all turned back to observe the Inferi who was still pacing and banging his head.
"How long are we meant to watch this for?" Harry asked, rather keen to get out of the stench.
"I'll reinforce the wards around the cage," Remus told them.
Sirius indicated that Harry help him get Dumbledore back to his feet and they assisted him back through to the Headmaster's office.
The room they'd been containing the Inferi in was behind one of the old portraits of a Headmaster from the 1600's, Jessiah Ehnes.
The restorative potion seemed to give the Headmaster the strength enough to get his footing, but he would certainly need a proper night's sleep, probably a proper day's sleep to follow that as well. Harry wished he would bounce back quicker than that, but he was over one hundred year's old, he would need more time to recover before he could attempt to properly remove Harry's Horcrux and not have a mishap.
"I believe I will be able to make it to my quarters from here," he told them. "Harry, thank you for your assistance today. We wouldn't have been able to do that with-out you, and I promise, only a little longer before it is your turn."
Harry did little more than nod in thanks before Dumbledore turned and made his way through a doorway behind his desk that Harry didn't recall having seen there before. Yet another perk of living in a magical castle; disappearing private doorways.
"I think we need to take Harry down to the pub," Sirius told Remus.
"He's sixteen," Remus pointed out with a frown.
"And we were how old when we started drinking at the pub?" Sirius challenged him.
"I wasn't a professor then."
"Alright, then let's go to your quarters," he shrugged.
Harry looked between the two of them. He wasn't sure what exactly this was about, but if Sirius was going to want to feed him some alcohol, he could only imagine the kinds of questions or discussion he had in mind. Over Christmas it was about his sex life with Ginny. After how he'd just seen a version of her glaring at him, he hoped this was just going to be them discussing their Albania trip and the ins and outs of all they hoped to accomplish there.
Remus relented and they headed to his suite. Harry and Sirius got comfortable on opposite ends of the couch and Remus took up in the chair. He had poured Harry a finger of scotch. No more was necessary, he still didn't quite understand any reasoning for drinking the stuff besides enjoying the consequences; it tasted like battery acid.
"Remus and Tonks will be joining us on our trip," Sirius started.
Harry turned to Remus with raised eyebrows. "Really?" he asked with a smile. "That's getting pretty serious, isn't it?"
"It is," he answered proudly. "I told her about my being a Werewolf too and she took it remarkably well."
Harry squinted slightly in thought as he looked at him.
"A few more days," he answered the unasked question of when the next full moon would be. "I'll be fully bounced back by the time we leave."
Harry nodded and looked down at his glass, taking another tentative sip, really just wetting his lips with the stuff.
"She knows about the Horcruxes too. She's quite eager to help out in any way she can," he told them.
"That's good," Sirius stated, though it appeared he already knew that much. "And we'll probably need her to run interference for us with him."
"With who?" Harry asked. Surely not them and himself, he would be on his best behavior. It was going to be his first trip ever, he wasn't planning on stepping out of line at all.
"Erm, well. You see," Sirius started hesitantly.
"Severus Snape," Remus stated.
"What?" It was a good thing that his glass was already resting on his lap, otherwise it would have been spilled all over the couch. This was the first he'd heard of his Potions Professor coming with them. Wasn't he a Death Eater? Wouldn't he want to warn the wraith to stay away?
"I've been talking with him," Remus started. "Myself and Dumbledore. He's been filled in on what we've discovered, and he is willing to help us. Begrudgingly. But only because of the bad history between," he looked up at Sirius who simply pursed his lips and kept quiet. "We believe that because of his former allegiance he will be able to convince the wraith that he is still on his side, and that he wants to return him to his former glory." Remus continued.
"I don't understand," Harry started. "I thought you were going to just trap the wraith and then… uh, kill it?" he wasn't sure if that was the right terminology.
Remus' lips worried. "Thing is, you can't really 'kill' a wraith, just banish it. We don't believe that 'killing' the Inferi once your piece is transferred would make any difference to the wraith either. He needs his own body."
"So, you want to transfer the wraith soul into the Inferi too?" Harry asked.
"No," Sirius stated. "The wraith will be given a body of its own to inhabit, it would never assent to being put into an Inferi's body. There is a whole ritual that will have to be performed for it to receive its own body. Then once that's done we are going to 'kill' the Inferi."
"And then what? Kill the returned Riddle?" he was so confused. What was the purpose of keeping the Inferni alive after Harry's fragment was transferred? They were planning on bringing it with them to Albania as a lure of some sort as well, weren't they?
"That's my plan," Sirius stated, his tone indicated that the others had a different plan in mind.
Harry turned to Remus, "What other plan could there possibly be?"
"Having him pay for his crimes," Remus offered. "Sending him to Azkaban to rot for the rest of his life."
"Keep him alive?" Harry asked astounded. "You think he should stay alive? Until what, one of his actual loyal followers comes along and frees him?"
"Think about it this way Harry," Remus started. "If we do kill the body the wraith goes into, what if there is another Horcrux out there and he simply becomes a wraith again? We could be starting this process all over again, except this time we wouldn't be able to use the same method of getting him again. He'd change his M.O. and we might never be able to find him."
That had Harry sitting back in thought. It was true, they didn't know if the piece in Harry was the sixth Horcrux, or if it was an accidental seventh. Riddle had certainly killed enough people before Halloween 1982 and there was no way that they'd be able to definitively figure out every little thing he'd done as a man before that night. There might be some all-important Yo-yo from his youth he'd hidden somewhere.
"I get it," he stated reluctantly.
"You're on board with the plan?" Remus was looking for assurances.
"Yeah," he nodded and took another small sip of his drink, wincing at the taste.
"So then," Sirius continued, "plan is to trap him in his body form and bring him back to 'answer for his crimes' and stick him in Azkaban. Then I guess we'll wait and see if he passes away from old age or something. Although," he pointed his finger at Remus, "I want to have some say in which cell he gets. I'm all the proof anyone needs that there are ways out of that prison."
Remus looked like he didn't know whether he should smile about that. Instead he turned to Harry. "Now tell us, why did the Horcrux take on Ginny's likeness?"
This time Harry managed to get a decent amount of the amber liquid from his glass in his mouth and drink it down, wanting some of that liquid courage everyone always said spirits were supposed to provide. "Uh, so last Saturday, when I learned about the Horcrux… I nearly broke up with her."
"What?!" the two of them asked loudly.
"Was this before or after I talked to you?" Remus asked.
"After. An hour or so after you left, I was getting ready to head back to Gryffindor and saw her sitting in the hallway waiting for me. We went back into the room and I told her about it," he told them. "I don't know how much of my personality this thing has control over," he explained, "I wanted to, want to, protect her. I don't know if being aware of it will affect my life somehow. I don't know how much of my life and decisions have been affected by it," he reasoned.
"Harry," Sirius started.
"No," he put up his hand. "She already laid into me over it. I don't need to hear again about how I'm too good a person or whatever, Riddle is incapable of love, yada-yada," he told them. "It's just that I do have that concern, and she's trying to be understanding. We know it's only for a little longer, but for the time being we're just… cooling it on the couple stuff," he finished quietly with a blush warming his cheeks.
The stared intently at the liquid that was swirling around in his glass, fully aware that the two of them were exchanging glances, carrying on a conversation with their eyes. He didn't need to be comforted right then. He just needed some understanding and any words of advice kept to themselves. It wasn't like they could say 'I had a friend with the same problem,' then offer some sage wisdom.
He was dealing with this as best he could, and it was killing him that he didn't feel comfortable reaching out to grab her hand when they sat side by side in class. Soon enough it would all be over, and she was impatiently waiting for that day by simply being there and reminding him that she was confident that he was who she wanted, his Horcrux being removed wouldn't change that.
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Creating a Following by George H.M Rannier
Graduating at the top of one's class provided one with an endless amount of opportunities; offers of placements in the Ministry or apprenticeships with different companies came flooding in to Head students every year. This year was no different, and he'd had plenty of offers seeing as he'd been the Head Boy.
His handsome face had the girls swooning, and his manners and contacts had every potential employer interested in getting him on their pay role. So, it was astounding to everyone when he opted to get a simple job in a simple shop. Head Boy's did not aspire to be working as shop boys. They had so much more potential than that.
This Head Boy knew exactly what he was doing though.
This specific shop, you see, provided him with access to people's homes. He was privy to the inner workings of the most important families, and he knew their secrets, he knew where they hid them and just how much they were worth. He learned how far people were willing to go to protect certain things.
When he wasn't at work he was rallying.
Behind the scenes you see he had a following. Boys and girls that had looked up at him during school were all leaving the hallowed halls and joining the world, becoming their own people, one's that still looked to him for his sage advice.
He had a plan for the world and needed his followers to see just how right his plan was. He also needed them to act on that plan for him.
He had figured out what had become of his family now. Had when he was sixteen. He knew that his mother had been cast aside by her husband, father and brother. He knew that she'd named him after his father in a misguided hope that his father would change his mind and come looking for him. He also knew that his father and uncle had let him stay in that orphanage, never having come searching for him.
No one had come searching for him.
One of the first lessons he'd learned was to look out for himself, not to rely on anyone else. That did not mean, however, that he didn't resent those that had denied him answers about his heritage.
His father for example; he had cast aside his wife when she let the love spell run out, but did that mean that the child was to be abandoned as well? His father had been a Lord, a Muggle one, yes, but he was well capable of caring for the child, he would even have servants to do that for him. And then his grandfather and uncle through his mother, they had still been living in the same hovel, they had rejected his mother because of her fraternization with a Muggle, but was that the baby's fault?
Discovering the reasons why he'd grown up bitter and alone gave him drive. His loneliness gave him time to plan out and orchestrate how he was going to get his revenge though, his bitterness gave him determination.
This young man's work had given him access to the darkest recesses of magic and he was learning how to use it all to his advantage. Dark Spells and appealing to the deep seeded interest of the old Pureblood families had given him advantage. Those he'd gone to school with wanted him for their leader and the one's who hadn't known him then were falling under his spell now.
This little orphan boy was determined to make everyone see his way. Much like a petulant child would through stomping his foot and pouting, but with articulation and facts that had been twisted into his favor. He was perpetually angry, and he wanted everything for himself. He didn't care how far he had to go into the Dark Arts to get it. Already he'd committed several horrible acts of evil; such as tracking down his Muggle father and killing he, his fiancée and his grandparents at the dining table where they'd sat, then pinning it all on his maternal uncle.
You didn't think this orphan boy was a good boy, did you?
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Ginny was anxious for Harry to get back. He'd gone to do his part this evening with unlocking the Locket they'd found on Christmas to get that bit of soul transferred. She just needed to see his face and know that everything went along smoothly. Just one look at his face and then she could go up to bed and have another fitful night's sleep.
She missed him. She'd gotten so used to feeling his touch, now he didn't want her to touch him.
It was only temporary. That was the mantra that she thought over and over again. It was temporary and she was going to be able to say 'I told you so' for the rest of their lives.
At least all this not touching was giving her plenty of time to work ahead on her schoolwork. She'd told Hermione that the both of them had decided it was time to focus on their studies with exam time coming up when she'd mentioned the two of them spending less time disappearing together.
Hermione herself seemed to be in a fairly good mood lately. She'd been visibly rattled when she came back from viewing the memories last Saturday, but Ron seemed to manage calming her down. Ginny still didn't know if they were officially together, but by all appearances Ron had forgiven her for her decision to break up before Christmas. Lavender was not talking to Hermione anyhow, and Ron was spending more time studying with Hermione and she in the library than he had before. Two times in the last week Ginny had left them alone in favor of getting some extra tutoring from Neville in the greenhouses and they'd seemed a little too happy for her to go.
Ginny's study schedule had been doing really well in distracting her from the pit of worry she'd been mentally suppressing every time she thought about what might happen after Harry came back the next time he would be called to the Headmaster's office. She already knew she wouldn't be able to wait any longer than necessary and would probably camp out outside of the Headmasters office and pounce on him the second he left it.
This wasn't that time though, and she had no idea how long the process was supposed to take, but he'd been gone for two hours already. He had to be coming back some time soon, right?
Her heart had nearly stopped last weekend when Sirius had come looking for him and she and the others hadn't been able to find him. Then it happened a second when he suggested they take a break.
She showed him though. What an idiot he was! Thinking he could break up with her, but just temporarily. As if she'd ever just sit up on some shelf until he decided all was good. She wasn't blind, she knew there were other boys interested in her, and she would only hesitate for five seconds before showing Harry what a mistake he'd made.
At least, that was what her feminist mind told her would happen.
That would probably be the advice any other girl would give her. I mean, it worked for Ron, right? He went out with Lavender for a bit and then, BAM, Hermione was regretting every mentioning they consider ending their relationship.
Truthfully she'd probably just curl up in a ball at the bottom of her shower for and hour and then stare longingly at Harry through every class and mealtime, silently begging him to reconsider.
That or she could have just sicked her brothers on him.
Either way her psyche went, she had options for revenge and coping mechanisms.
Harry hadn't really wanted that though, and continue feeling too angry at him for the suggestion, his reasoning for it was legitimate. Probably the most legitimate reason there ever was for a break-up. 'Sorry darling, we'll have to hit pause until this potential possession is all cleared up.'
She didn't believe that it was affecting him and his decisions as much as he worried though. They'd read all about Tom Riddle in the information that Hermione had, coupled with all the news articles. There was no way that any part of Harry that she was in love with came from that monster. If anything, once the Horcrux was gone, he'd be even more caring and brilliant.
As it was, sitting in the common room with one eye on the portrait hole, it was just making this pit in her stomach grow more prominent with every longing glance over at it.
He had to come back soon, right?
Looking down at the revision she was doing wasn't helping too much though. It was DADA that she was re-writing her notes to try and permanently etch the information in her brain. This was Harry's best class and they sat beside each other for it. He was usually right there to help her get the wand movements correct and she could basically smell his soap as she read through her notes.
Hermione wished she and Ron a goodnight and went up to their dorm room. Ron left not much longer after that.
The portrait hole opened at 9:30, but it was just Neville. He had a few smears of dirt on his cheeks and gave her a pleasant wave before heading straight up to his dorm room for a shower. The next time it opened it was Dean Thomas coming back from doing his Prefect rounds.
There were some of the younger years kicking around the room playing Exploding Snap and the Fifth and Seventh years that were studying for their OWL's and NEWT's, they were already stressing about the exams and focusing hard on their own studies. She wasn't even paying her revision any attention anymore, she'd read the same sentence over and over again, but the words didn't make any sense to her.
She gave up and shoved her work back in her bag. She didn't want to run it up to her dorm though, what if Harry came in and went straight to his dorm?
She moved over to sit in one of the vacated armchairs next to two boys playing Exploding Snap and watched their game absent mindedly for something to do.
"Do you want to play?" one of the boys asked her, holding up his deck.
"Uh, no. Thanks. I haven't got the mental space for that," she smiled politely.
"The mental space for Exploding Snap?" the other boy asked skeptically.
Ginny didn't have a response for that other than a shoulder shrug.
"You're Ginny Weasley, right?" the first boy asked. "You're an amazing Chaser," he said admiringly.
"Thanks," she blushed. "Demelza and Katie make it easy for me though. Is Demelza in your year?"
"Yeah," the boy nodded. "I've overheard her saying that she's learned a lot for you though. I'm Dustin by the way," he gestured at his friend. "This is Mitchel, he's a bit prickly."
"Maybe he just needs a shave," she joked taking a look at Mitchel's smooth cheeks. Mitchel's face went red and focused on collecting his scattered cards while Dustin laughed louder than necessary for the joke.
The portrait hole opened again and finally, Harry was back. "'Scuse me boys," she got up and went towards him. "Hey," she searched his face.
He looked pleased to see that she'd waited up for him. "Hey," he greeted her softly, looking relieved to have only her as a greeting party.
"Went alright?" though she could tell the answer from his face. He was much too relaxed for anything to have gone wrong.
"Yeah, we finished up a while ago, just... Sirius and Remus wanted to talk to me after."
She nodded in understanding. "Anything you feel you want to share?" she asked hopefully, biting her lip and wishing he would let her wrap her arms around him at least while she asked about his evening. He was fidgety, but something about his demeanor was off. It was almost like… Ginny couldn't help a grin coming to her face and she leaned forward.
"Ginny!" Harry whispered stiffly at her proximity.
She ignored him though and took a whiff of him. "You've been drinking," she grinned as she pulled back.
He blushed. "They might have given me a bit of a tipple," he admitted.
"You mean Sirius did," she corrected with a knowing smile. "There's no way our Professor would see that as a good idea." She looked around the room. The window seats were empty, it was always colder there, especially at this time of evening. "Come on, you have to tell me something," she gestured for him to follow her.
She took up on one of the cushioned seats, crossing her legs and facing him as he rested his back against the window ledge and looked out over the room, probably making sure no one was listening in.
"We took care of it," he said quietly.
"What was it like?" she couldn't help but wonder. Hermione probably would have been pulling out her own eye teeth to have seen something like that, and Ginny too was brimming with curiosity.
He gave a small shrug. "It opened up easy enough. There was some kind of smoke that came out of it. It acted kind of like a Boggart. Then Dumbledore cast it back to go into the… um," he swallowed and leaned over to her, bringing his head closer to hers than he had in a week. "He's putting them all in an Inferi."
Ginny's jaw dropped. "What… why?" she couldn't fathom the reason. Why not just put it in an animal or something. Just contain it all in one inanimate object. Why did it have to be a previously living being?
Harry pulled back, determined to keep up his social distancing from her. "I think it's more to do with curiosity than anything else. Having three pieces of soul residing in the same being. He'll be able to tell if they merge together over time, considering that they are all just parts of a whole."
She didn't understand that. Would it not be the same no matter what vessel they stored them in. With a shake of her head she disregarded the reasoning behind it. "And what about yours? When will he be able to get it out of you?"
Harry shifted slightly. "He was pretty wiped after he'd dealt with the locket. I don't know if he'll be able to do it again tomorrow. He needed two days rest at least between the cup and the ring. I know there's only me left that they know about, but if he doesn't have enough magical energy to do the job right, then none of us want him trying."
She so wanted to reach out and grab his hand then.
In her opinion he was being overly cautious. Not wanting them to even be touching? They'd done plenty of that before he'd found out, and he'd never once tried to hurt her, nor had there been any kind of ill effect. Usually they made each other feel pretty freaking fabulous.
Oh.
Oh, now she felt rather stupid.
That was the reason; he didn't want any part of Riddle experiencing any more of what they had between them. She had reacted rather poorly when she found out that Seamus knew about them shagging in the orchard, this was that amplified a million times. Harry had a presence somewhere in his body that could be observing them while they were together, feeling some of what they were feeling.
"Just so you know," she said softly. "I'll be waiting there for you when it's all over."
He looked over at her with a sense of reluctant hope and longing shining in his eyes. His fingers twitched in his lap. She hoped that was a sign of him wanting to take her hand then. "I hope…" he started.
"I know," she finished. "I'll still love you when this is all over. You're too good for any of what everyone loves about you to be stemming from Him." Ginny was confident in that.
"Sirius and Remus said so as well," he muttered with a small smile and looked back out at the common room.
"Hermione, Neville and Ron will as well. Once we tell them."
He stiffened noticeably. She knew he was tense about having to have that conversation with his friends. He didn't like having to keep this from them. Ginny wasn't keen about it either.
"A few more days," he said.
"A few more days," she nodded.
()()()
Harry was agitated.
It was Wednesday. He had Quidditch Practice today and double potions. He was supposed to be the only person occupying his body for this. But he wasn't.
Still.
How had it been four days already and Headmaster Dumbledore still hadn't felt strong enough to transfer the Horcrux out of him and into that thing? He should have bounced back completely by now. It had only taken two days between the first two, then another three days between the second and third ones. Now it was breakfast time on day four and he still hadn't received an owl or anything saying when he would be expected back in the Headmaster's office.
If he went any longer with-out being able to touch Ginny, then someone might notice that as well. And he didn't need anyone prying into this particular part of his personal life. She was being incredibly patient with him as it was.
And he also just wanted this thing gone so that they were closer to getting rid of this maniac for good.
He'd been walking around for long enough with a piece of his parents' killer inside him, whether he'd known about it or not was moot at this point. Now every night before he went to bed, he kept wondering what parts of his life had been affected by this. His school work had been bearing the brunt of his frustration though, in that since he couldn't sleep well nor spend his hours outside of class with his favorite pastime, so all of his assignments and any extra credit work had been completed and passed the bar that his Professors had set.
He'd also checked out some books in the library about Albania so he would have a little insight into what to expect for his Easter Holiday.
By then at least it should just be himself occupying his body.
Severus Snape coming with them though, that part he wasn't too keen on. He hoped that they would spend most of the holiday apart. It was a good thing over all that he had agreed to do this, but Harry still wasn't happy that his first holiday ever would include the likes of him.
As he sat in potions class he couldn't help glancing up at the man in between adding each new ingredient to his assigned potion for the day. Every third time he would meet the man's eyes and they would awkwardly look away. Awkward on Harry's part anyhow. Snape would simply narrow his eyes.
"That was a very complex potion," Hermione sighed contently after they left the dungeon and made their way to the Great Hall.
"It was," Ginny agreed, sounding equally as worn out yet pleased. "The more complex they are the more satisfied I feel after having got it right."
"I know!" Hermione exclaimed. "I was just reading in –"
Harry tuned her out then. She managed to carry on the conversation all by herself the entire way back to the Great Hall and sat on the other side of the table from he and Ginny. Harry gave her an appreciative glance. She'd maintained their seating arrangements and he was grateful. He could see their lack of contact was wearing on her too and he so longed to just reach over and play with the hair that fell over her shoulder.
Riddle didn't deserve to touch her hair though. Really, Harry should subject himself to the most mundane activities he could think of in order to torture that piece of Riddle inside him. Maybe watching paint dry, or he could volunteer to help Filch clean. Or he could prank some of the Purebloods in Slytherin. Maybe deface something that Riddle had been prideful about? Spray paint the Chamber of Secrets with something along the lines of Muggleborn Pride slogans?
That had him fighting to suppress a chuckle.
"Harry," Ginny nudged him. He had an owl flying towards him. It was a school owl.
"Oh, thank God," he sagged in relief at the sight.
"Were you expecting an owl from someone?" Hermione asked as the bird settled down in front of him and he removed the envelope.
"I was," he told her eagerly and ripped open the paper, pulling the note out. His eyes skimmed over it and he felt even more relieved. "I'm expected at the Headmaster's office after practice," he told Ginny more than Hermione.
"Can I-" Hermione started and then leaned back with a small shake of her head. "You'll tell me? Soon?"
"Soon," he grinned and tucked the note away in his bag before casting his eyes up at the Head Table. Dumbledore wasn't there, but Remus was. Harry grinned at him and he tilted his head in acknowledgment.
()()()
Quidditch practice had gone well, and he'd called it a day well earlier than he usually did. He told his team it was because with the Easter Holiday coming up the lot of them deserved a little break and warned that practice wouldn't be so easy once they got back.
After a quick shower and change he handed his kit off to Ron to carry back to their dorm and he went straight to the Headmaster's office. He was vibrating with excitement as he approached the gargoyle and said the password to enter. By the time he was standing in front of the actual door to the office he felt like the journey there from the change rooms had passed in the blink of an eye.
He blew out his cheeks and shook his hands out before reaching for the doorknob and twisting it slowly.
"Hello?" He called out, the office was empty. He went towards the picture of Jessiah Ehnes and listened hard to see if he could hear anyone inside there.
He heard nothing though, so he knocked at the frame, not knowing the password or wand movement that made the passage into the room behind it appear.
The portrait swung open slowly and Remus came out. "Oh good. You're here early."
"Finished practice ahead of schedule," he shrugged awkwardly.
"I get it," Remus assured him. "I'd be rather eager as well." He stepped into the office. "We're still waiting on Sirius though. He should be here any minute. Any concerns you want to get off your chest?"
"No," he shook his head. "Don't know what to expect really. I've thought over the worst scenarios and the best. Over and over again," his eyes went wide as he stared off at nothing and replayed his nightmares from the past week and a half.
"From observing the last three intentionally made Horcruxes being transferred, I can't help but wonder if this one will be easier," Remus mused. "There were some security precautions on the other ones, the only thing protecting the one in you is, well, you," he gestured at Harry. "And you certainly aren't keen on protecting it."
"No, certainly not." Harry agreed. "But," he shook his head. There really wasn't much sense in wondering if part of his overall sense of being would change. He was going to go through with this regardless.
They sat in companionable silence while they waited for the other two to appear.
"How is the… thing?" Harry finally asked, gesturing at the portrait of Jessiah.
"It is as it has been," he said flippantly. "Paces back and forth and glares. The elves have been taking rather good care of it. It doesn't stink as much any more anyhow. I think they put some sort of preserving charm on it."
"But it isn't pickling?" Harry couldn't help joking.
Remus chuckled, "No, not yet."
"The eyes are really what got me when I saw it," Harry admitted.
"Yes," he nodded. "They are disarmingly aware, aren't they."
The door behind them opened and Sirius let himself in. "Hey," he breathed out. "The two of you will never guess this." He was grinning as he came over and pulled a chair up by them. "I'm pretty sure that Kreacher has a crush on Mira."
Harry's jaw dropped. "What?!" he couldn't fathom it. Kreacher was a miserable sod, how could one with his mentality develop a crush on another? "What's he doing that makes you think so?"
Sirius attempted to stifle his mirth, but his eyes were glistening with humor. "He's basically following her around every time she's over at the house, and boy, is he ever eager to hop up and do anything that she's even slightly suggested to improve the look of the house."
"Is she over that often?" Remus asked looking both confused and amused.
Sirius nodded. "She has been. She was by herself at Potter Manor for ages. I've encouraged her to feel like my place is her place. The outfit's she's made for the other two have turned out looking great by the way," he told Harry.
That wasn't saying too much in Harry's mind. The two elves had looked bloody awful in their pillowcase toga's. Mira had proper looking clothes that she'd made for herself. She could have stuck the other two in a t-shirt that said 'I'm with stupid' and it would have been a wild improvement.
"How old is Kreacher?" Harry had to wonder aloud.
Sirius gave a shrug. "He and she are probably around the same age. He's been with my family for nearly forty years, I'd say Mira has been with the Potters for just as long."
"How is Dobby taking that?" Harry wondered. The over eager elf seemed to be more suited to her from his standpoint.
"Dobby is just fine with it," Sirius waved off concern. "He's only a young thing by comparison, probably looks to Mira like a mother figure if anything. She does dote on him."
"How old is Dobby?" Harry really couldn't tell with them. He knew that Mira and Kreacher were older only because they'd been with generations of their families, but Dobby looked exactly the same as them.
"About fifteen?" Sirius guessed.
Dumbledore came in at that moment from his hidden room behind the desk. "Thank you for waiting. And Harry, thank you for cutting your practice short."
He looked much better than he had, even compared to that morning at breakfast. There was a chance that he'd taken a restorative potion preemptively. It would have been a good idea to have done so.
Harry felt his nervousness return and could do nothing more than nod in acknowledgment and wait for further instruction.
"Shall we?" Dumbledore indicated to the portrait of Jessiah. He must have sympathized and been eager to get this done as well.
Harry rose and followed behind Remus and Sirius. Remus opened the room and Harry was happy to notice that it did not stink as bad in there as it had last time. The Inferi had been sitting on the floor of its cage and locked eyes with Harry as it tried awkwardly to get to its feet. The bone at its ankle was still jutting out, but it looked like its clothes had been cleaned up a bit. The eyes though, its pupils had gone red. The same red that he'd seen in Riddles eyes in the memories.
"It won't get any of Riddle's power by having the souls transferred, will it?" Harry couldn't help but wonder aloud.
"It may," Dumbledore told him. "But with out a wand and in the body of a being incapable of creating its own magic, on top of being in a warded cell, it would be unable to so much as levitate a feather as it is. It takes eleven years for witches and wizards to be able to control the magic coursing through them, this being," he indicated to the creature, "would need time it does not have before it can do any harm."
"I suppose we could always outrun him if he does get out as well," Sirius joked.
Remus let out an unamused scoff and Harry saw him smack Sirius' arm with the back of his hand. Harry found that funny though, and it calmed him down slightly.
"Uh, do you want me where the Locket had been?" Harry asked his Headmaster.
"Yes," he nodded.
Harry clenched and unclenched his fists as he reluctantly turned his back to the Inferi and faced the three of them. He wanted to be able to watch as it happened, see the wand movements that Dumbledore was making again, but the overwhelming urge to just close his eyes and let it happen won out.
It might have been the coward's way out, but also, if he tried to focus on expelling the soul that didn't belong inside him, maybe it would help. Sort of like willingly sacrificing himself.
Maybe he should have asked for a chair? He wondered. Before he could make that suggestion he felt something happen. It was an odd sensation, like being in a bubble, one that was encroaching into his personal space. This wasn't how it had felt last time. Last time when Dumbledore had checked it was like he'd just been reading his aura or something. There was just a shimmering, he hadn't really felt anything happening then.
Harry felt useless at that moment to move or say anything.
Then his eyes snapped open and he saw the whole room in a shade of dark red. He looked at Dumbledore and felt a fury bubbling up his chest.
Dumbledore, he glowered. He was the reason that his life had been shit. If he hadn't have heard that prophesy or done more to protect his parents, then they might still be there. He was the reason that Sirius had to rot in prison for so long. Dumbledore was the reason that Harry had suffered so much as a child, taken the abuse of his relatives and never known what it was like to be loved by a mother or father. Everything bad that had happened to Harry was his fault. Dumbledore was weak. He couldn't make up for the mistakes of his past by removing Riddle now.
But.
But, he was removing Riddle now.
He was working himself to death in order to stop Riddle from ever releasing his reign of terror on the world again. He was a decent man. Any mistakes that he made, he'd been trying to rectify them, Harry reasoned. People couldn't just assume that because he'd accomplished things that they hadn't, that he would have all the answers.
As he reasoned with his anger Harry's vision altered again. The red began to creep away.
Dumbledore had worked to exonerate Sirius' name. He'd believed Remus when he acted on his hunch after hearing Ginny talk about their family pets. It was because of Dumbledore using his influence that Sirius was a free man now. As much as Harry wanted to have parents around that loved him, it wasn't Dumbledore's fault that they weren't. He'd tried to stop it all from happening, he'd simply been too late, and did what he thought was right for Harry.
Harry blinked at his Headmaster a few times and the red in his vision cleared entirely. He felt a smile tug at the corner of his lips. He felt relief and peace. As though there had been an elastic band around his forehead, one that had been there for so long he'd simply gotten used to it, now it was gone. He felt light.
"Whoa," Harry heard himself say aloud as he swayed slightly.
Sirius rushed forwards to him as Remus rushed to catch Dumbledore before he too fell.
"Harry?" Sirius said his name in a panic. "Harry, are you okay? Can you hear me?"
"Hmm," Harry hummed in reply. "I feel great," he mumbled before his eyes rolled back in his head.
()()()
AN- Did you catch the mention of 'social distancing'? (Those of you reading this months/years after it was posted, it was done so during the COVID-19 Quarantine of 2020). Had to go back through and correct my spelling on 'Inferi'. I had been calling them Inferni, whoops. Thanks Stephanie O for catching that one.