Chapter 5 – Horcruxes

Harry woke up a week later with a pounding ache in his head. "Ow! Shit!" He mumbled and stumbled out of bed. He put a hand through his hair and then stopped abruptly, dead in his tracks. He could feel something hard, like two bums on the top of his head. He ran towards the full-length mirror and started to move his long hair away to see. There, on each side of his forehead, an inch up or so in his hair was something that looked like two dark bonelike things protruding through the skin.

"AZOTH!" he bellowed. Azoth appeared in the doorway.

"You called?" He said smirking

"What the hell is this on my head?" Harry asked panicking. Azoth craned his head forward a bit, as to see better, to the spots Harry was pointing to on his head

"Oh, looks like your horns coming are coming in", he said matter of factly

"HORNS?" Harry yelled. "WE HAVE FUCKING HORNS?"

Azoth just shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, we are demons, ya know. Why are you so surprised?"

"Why the hell didn't you tell me? And you don't!" Harry said angrily

"You never asked. And yes, I do!" Azoth snapped his fingers and a pair of black, long backward curves horns appeared on his head "I put a glamour of sorts on myself. When people see them, they tend to freak out!"

"No shit!" Harry said

"Oh, relax kid! I will teach you the full-body glamour. It is a piece of cake and doesn't take so much energy to keep up", Azoth said. Harry just huffed.

"Training starts in 10 minutes, so you better hurry up"; Azoth then said and walked out of the room.

Harry sighed. Another long day was ahead and this was not a great start. It had been another two weeks since he had been at Gringotts at Sirius will read and in three days it was September 1th and he would go back to Hogwarts. It didn't matter to Azoth, of course, insisted on keeping up his training to the very last the moment he left.

He didn't really know how he felt about going back. He was of course happy to see his friends again but was unsure how they would take the new him. He was sure that Dumbledore had told the rest of the Order of the Phoenix about his changes, probably stating that he had gone dark, but was not sure if he would tell Ron and Hermione. He didn't really care about what the rest of the school thought, but he did still care about his best friends.

The last week before the new term consisted of last-minute training and preparations. After Harry had banned Dumbledore and the order from Grimmauld place, the house had been sealed off from anyone but him after the one week's mark and him and Azoth had gone to the house.

Harry had never really like Grimmauld place. It was a dark and miserable place and he didn't really have any use for it. When they arrived in the dark and dim hallway, it looked like it had done when he was there last year. The wallpaper was coming off the walls and the house elf's severed and stuffed heads were still on display. Sirius's mother's portrait was also there, behind moth-eaten velvet curtains, and had started to shriek as soon as they walked in. She reminded him awfully of aunt Petunia.

"MUDBLOODS, DISGRACE OF MY FOREFATHERS, FILTH, BLOOD TRAITORS", she screamed.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Harry yelled back at her

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME THAT WAY, YOU FILTHY HALF-BLOOD", the ugly woman shrieked.

"I AM THE HEAD OF THE NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK AND YOU WILL RESPECT ME AS SUCH, YOU UGLY OLD HAG", Harry roared, voice full of authority. "SO YOU WILL SHUT YOUR FILTHY MOUTH OR I SWEAR TO GOD, I WILL SHUT IT FOR YOU".

He waved his hand and the curtains were forcefully closed. He could still hear the woman mutter angry insults behind them. He turned to start walking up the stairs when there was a loud crack and the old and mean house-elf, Kreacher, appeared. The elf was still wearing the same filthy rags with his pale skin hanging off him in folds and white hair sprouting copiously from his batlike ears. He had a look of great contempt on his old wrinkly face.

"So the filthy half-blood had returned to my mistress's house. Kreacher thought that he was finally rid of the mudbloods and blood-traitors, but oh no! Poor Kreacher had to put up with this one too. What will my poor mistress say?" He croaked in his bullfrog voice.

"Hello, Kreacher. Still lurking about, I see", Harry said calmly.

"What is you doing here in my poor mistresses house?" The elf asked, glaring at Harry.

"I happened to own this house, as Sirius left it in his will for me" Harry said "He also left me the title of lord and the head of the family, making me Lord Black and your master".

Kreacher looked at him with a look of utter disgust, but said nothing.

"You have neglected your duties for too long, Kreacher" Harry continued. "This place has been in this family for centuries but it is falling apart. It is your responsibility to make this place acceptable again. You will clean and repair it to a standard that is befitting the house of Black and you will keep doing so until the day you die", Harry said sternly

"Yes, Master", Kreacher croaked.

"But first, I want you to make me a cup of tea and maybe a sandwich. You may be dismissed", Harry said.

The old house-elf gave a stiff bow and then disappeared with a crack. Harry sighed. He disliked the elf very much, especially after having a role in getting Sirius killed at the ministry last year, but he could not dismiss him. He knew too much sensitive information and would certainly go directly to the Lestranges or the Malfoys without a second thought.

Changing his mind, Harry headed to the kitchen instead of the upper floors. The kitchen was easiest the most welcoming room in the gloomy house. A fire was raring in the big fireplace and the light was much better than in any of the other rooms.

Kreacher reappeared with a silver tray, with a kettle of tea, a cup of very nice china, and a couple of sandwiches on a plate. Harry thanked him and he disappeared again. Harry sat down at the table and started to pour the tea. Azoth, who had remained quiet since they had arrived, sat down on the opposite side of the table.

"Nice place", Azoth said and lit one of his many cigarettes.

"Yeah", Harry only said and took a sandwich from the plate and started to eat.

"So, I think it is time for us to discuss the Horcruxes", Azoth said

Harry looked up from his sandwich. "What about them?" he said mouth full of sandwich.

"Well, we need to collect and destroy the Horcruxes and as a matter of fact, one of them is located in this very house."

Harry stopped eating. "Here? At Grimmauld Place?" He said

"Yup", Azoth said, popping the p. "Do you remember a heavy gold locket with a engraves S when you were cleaning this place out last year?"

Harry thought for a bit but then nodded. "Yeah! In that cabinet in the drawing-room. No one could get it open, we all tried", he said

"That is because it is a Horcrux", Azoth said.

"But we toss all those things, how is it still here?"

"Kreacher. He stole many of his mistress's valuable possessions back, including the locket. But he won't give it to you freely, unless you can persuade him." Azoth said

"Good luck" Harry said sarcastically.

"There is a way. You just need to know the story of how Kreacher got in the possession of the locket and why".

Harry nodded and took a sip of his tea.

"Sirius Black had a younger brother, Regulus, was the apple of his family's eye. On the contrary of Sirius, he did everything that was expected of him as a pureblood and a Black. He got sorted into Slytherin, got good grades, and when he finished school, joined Voldemort and his death eaters."

"Sirius told me something about him being a death eater but not realizing how deep he was in." Harry said thinking back to the conversation he had with Sirius when they examined the black family tree

"Sirius and Regulus was as different as two people can be and that included their political views. But, Regulus was also much younger than Sirius and easier to influence. He joined the death eaters when he was only seventeen, probably because he felt that it was his duty to do so, as a pureblood. But being a death eater at seventeen cannot have been a picnic. Some along the way, he must have realized how insane Voldemort truly was and how he would stop at nothing to get what he wanted, including torture, rape, and cold-blooded murder. And he expected his death eaters to do the same, follow his bidding without question."

Azoth paused to light another cigarette as the other had burned down to the filter.

"So, in secret, he started to despise Voldemort and his followers and do anything in his power to bring them down. He somehow found out that Voldemort had created Horcruxes and manages to track one of them down, after some rigorous background research"

"The locket." Harry said

"Exactly. It was located in a cave on the coast that Tom Riddle used to visit as a child with the orphanage. It was heavily guarded but Regulus managed to get ahold of the locket with the help of his faithful family house-elf, Kreacher. Kreacher had always loved Regulus, as he was the only one in the Black family who treated him with some kind of respect and would do anything for him. Regulus put a fake locket in the place of the real one with a note to Voldemort or whoever would find it. The note read that he had found out his secret about the Horcruxes and that he had stolen the real one and would destroy it as soon as he could. He also wrote; I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more and signed it with his initials, RAB. But both Regulus and the house-elf could not leave the cave with the locket. So Regulus ordered Kreacher to leave him there and to do whatever it took to destroy the locket. Kreacher reluctantly left his beloved master in the cave and he died there. Kreacher went back to black home and tried everything he could think of to destroy the Horcrux, but was unsuccessful. So he had to keep the locket safe and hid it in plain sight, here at Grimmauld Place. He mourned Regulus and that he could not keep his promise to him".

Azoth finished telling the story and Harry stayed quiet for some time. He had thought that Regulus had been just another willing follower of Voldemort; bad that had obviously not been the case. He had actually tried to find a way to end his terror. Harry felt sad that Sirius had not known how brave his younger brother had been. Harry suddenly realized that the cup of tea he was still holding had gone cold. He put it down o the table and asked;

"So you think that Kreacher still has the locket? To make sure it is safe?"

"I know he has. I can feel it. All demons can sense dark magic and objects", Azoth said

"Ok, close your eyes and concentrate really hard". Harry did so. "No, reach out and feel the house. You will feel the wards buzzing and all the dark magic that lingerers here. But do you feel it?"

Harry concentrated, his senses reaching out towards the house. He could feel that it was full of dark magic and there was a boggart in a cupboard on the second floor. But then there was something else, something ticking or beating. Like a heartbeat.

"Yeah, I can feel it", Harry said and opened his eyes again. Azoth just waved his hand as in to say, "Told you so".

Well then. Only one thing to do, though Harry. He raised his voice and called; "Kreacher!"

There was a loud crack and the old house-elf stood before them yet again. "What does the filthy half-blood want now from poor Kreacher."

Harry ignored his rudeness and said in a calm voice;

"Kreacher, I need your help", he began "Your help in finding your master Regulus locket, so we can destroy It and grant him his last dying wish".

The elfs whole body seems to shiver and crumple. He swayed dangerously and great big tears were forming in the large eyes.

"You know about my poor master Regulus?" he said voice shaking and croaker and hoarser than ever.

"Yes, I know", said Harry in a low voice "And I know of your promise"

Kreacher was now gulping for air: His hollow chest was rising and falling rapidly and he uttered a bloodcurdling scream, tears falling, and wetting his filthy rag.

"Kreacher failed! Master Regulus's locket, Kreacher did wrong, Kreacher failed in his orders!".

Harry knew what was coming, having experience with house-elves before and reacted out for Kreacher instinctively, as he lunged for the poker stand in the grate at the fireplace. He held the elf's hands in a firm grip so that he could not hurt himself. "Kreacher, I order you to stay still!"

He felt the elf freeze and released him. Kreacher fell down to the stone floor and lay there, tears still gushing from his sagging eyes. Harry crouched down so he was right beside the elf.

"Listen, Kreacher. You were very brave and tried your best. I am sure that master Regulus would be very proud of you for keeping the locket safe for so long. However, I know of a way to destroy it for good. I know a way to make sure of Regulus' promise. But for that, I need the locket."

"Master knows a way?" Kreacher said quietly "Master promises to fulfill master Regulus wish?"

"Yes, I promise. Om my honor as a Potter and a Black."

Kreacher slowly stood up, his thin legs shaking. He looked into Harry's face, as to determine of he really was telling the truth or not, but then after a moment he snapped his fingers and in his hand was a big, golden locket with a snake and an engraved ornate S. He held it out and Harry took it. He could feel the heartbeat he sensed earlier pulsing from the locket and into his hand, darkness pouring out of it.

"Thank you, Kreacher", Harry said and then with an afterthought he added. "I would like to give you something".

He held his hand over the locket and whispered "Gemino", and when he opened his hand he had two identical lockets. He took the duplicate and put it around Kreacher's neck.

"I would like you to have something of Regulus, to remember him by."

It took them nearly half an hour to calm down Kreacher, who was so overcome to be presented with a Black family heirloom for his very own and had starting to cry and fell down to the floor again, too weak at the knees to stand properly. After thanking Harry profusely at least twenty times he promised that he would make sure that Grimmauld place was a home fit for the head of the noble family of Black, gave a respectful low bow and disappeared with a loud crack.

"Well", said Azoth smiling and rubbing his hands together. "One down and four to go".

Harry and Azoth returned to Potter Manor, walking straight down to the cellar floor and the training room.

Azoth had explained that there were three ways of destroying a Horcrux but only two only known by wizards. The first was basilisk venom or any object imbued with the venom, like the fang Harry had stabbed Tom Riddles diary with, in the Chamber of secrets in the second year. Harry had figured out that the diary must have been a Horcrux after Azoth described

The second was fiendfyre or cursed fire, and the third, only really known by demons, was demons – flame or black fire. The Demons flame worked in a similar way than fiendfyre, as it was as unpredictable and dangerous if you couldn't learn to control it. Harry had yet managed to control his own flame and had only been able to produce a small, flickering one in the palm of his hand. So destroying the Horcrux would fall on Azoth for the time being.

Azoth simply put the locket in his hand and produced of large hot burning, black flame. There was a drawn-out, long and hollow shriek and black ooze was trickling out of it when it burned. Azoth held it up in the chain and looked at it curiously. It had sprung opened and both of the glass inside was now broken and the outside had blackened, making it possible just to make out the engraved S and identify it as Slytherins.

"Well, that was anticlimactic", said Harry as Azoth tossed the now useless locket onto a side table. They both went to sit in two leather armchairs that were placed in a corner.

"You said there were four Horcruxes left, but wasn't there seven in total, so that would make it six left, after me destroying the diary in the second year?"

"Well, actually no"; Azoth said and lit a cigarette. "You and I have now taken care of two of the seven, in between us, the diary and the locket. However, your dear old headmaster recently found the one located in the old house of the Gaunts, Marvolo Gaunts ring to be exact. Didn't you notice Dumbledore's hand at the reading?"

Harry shook his head. He had been too angry to notice because he had only focused on capturing the expression on Dumbledore's stupid face.

"The ring had a very powerful curse put on it as protection and Dumbledore must have foolish not realize and put it on." Azoth continued. "The curse will eventually spread to the rest of his body and likely kill him."

"Is there any way to stop the curse from spreading?" Harry asked.

"Maybe… with the help of some little demon magic", the demon said smirking "Not that I think that the old geezer deserves it…".

Harry only nodded. "So what are the other Horcruxes that are there left?"

"Voldemort had an obsession with his heritage and him being the last of the line of Slytherin. He must have been very pleased to find the locket, that actually had been in his mother's family, The Gaunt's, for generations before his mother sold it."

"Why did she sell it if it had been a family heirloom?"

"To survive. She was barely surviving and heavily pregnant at the time. A human got to eat. She couldn't go back to her family, because she had fallen in love with a mudbloods, Tom Riddle Sr, and produced a child with him. Neither do I think she wanted to. The Gaunt's was not what I would call very nice people. Bigoted and small-minded and only cared for the importance of the pureness of their blood, although they themselves lived like the lowest scum on earth." Azoth said. "So, he sold it for almost nothing, out of sheer desperation. Then on the last day of her life, Voldemort s mother walked into the orphanage he grew up in, terribly week but still had her baby. She lived just long enough to name him after his father and grandfather, Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Azoth took a long drag at the cigarette.

"After finding out that he was a wizard, Tom riddle obsessed about finding out about his real parents. He eventually found his father and that he was a mere muggle and killed him, but made it look like his uncle had committed the crime because the Gaunt's was well known to hate muggles. This is also when he stole Marvolo's ring and made it into a Horcrux. He had done the research and found out that his mother's family was descendant from Salazar Slytherin, making him the last in its line and therefor the locket of Slytherin rightfully belonged to him. He tracked it down and killed its owner, now making it to another Horcrux. But owning these to powerful, old, and important magical objects was not enough for him. Also remember, he wanted to split his soul into seven pieces, seven being a powerful magical number." he continued. "Hogwarts had become a home for Tom riddle and he found a great connection to it and its founders, especially Slytherin. So he decided that he would be the owner of the objects that had famously belonged to the founders. Salazar Slytherin had the locket, Helga Hufflepuff had a golden cup, Rowena Ravenclaw had a diadem and Godric Gryffindor had a sword."

"So he found these objects, that had belonged to the founders?"

"Yes. All except the sword of Gryffindor, who was already protected in the Hogwarts castle, although nobody had seen it or knew for certain of its location for many years, until you pulled it out of the sorting hat in your second year".

"So...the diary, the ring, the locket, the cup, and the diadem", Harry said counting them on his fingers. "That is five. What are the other two?"

"Voldemort has a pet snake called Nagini that he made into a Horcrux two years ago when he murdered an old a muggle, who worked as a groundskeeper in the Riddles old house. The seventh one…well, it was one he didn't really intend to make because he had intended that the seventh was part of his soul to remain in his own body. However, he made a mistake. A mistake that would rip his damaged soul from his body."

Azoth now paused again. "The last Horcrux he created…is you"

Harry stayed quiet for several moments. He wasn't sure how to really process the information.

"Me…" he finally said

"Yes". Azoth wasn't wearing his normal smirk anymore. "When he cast the Avada Kadavra at you, and because of your mother dying to save you, his soul ripped apart and attached itself to the only thing it could find that was near, namely you."

"But…how will I…?"

"Well, either you can let Voldemort hit you with the Avada Kadravra again, hopefully killing off that part of the soul-leach, or there is a ritual of blood we can do, but not until we have destroyed all the other Horcruxes first. And I must warn you, it will not be…pleasant.

"I don't have much choice in the matter, do I"

Azoth just shrugged. Harry felt a knot tighten in his chest, but then another thought hit him like a bludger to the gut.

"Does Dumbledore know about me being a Horcrux?

"I think he suspects it". Azoth lit a cigarette. "but he put more store into the prophecy"

"The prophesy…"

"Yeah. The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches. Born to those who"

Harry interrupted him "Yeah, yeah, I know! You don't have to recite the whole damn thing. What about the bloody prophecy?", he said annoyed

"For starters, a prophecy is often difficult to interpret and many don't even dare to try as the message is usually very vague and the consequences can be dire. There also have been hundreds and thousands of prophecies over the decades and not even a small present of them had turned out to be accurate or actually come to pass, so not many put much store in them. Of course, you are a little different and of course, both Voldemort interprets the prophecy very literal and therefore make you his biggest adversary."

Harry huffed. "Yeah, I already know that. Dumbledore said the same".

Azoth nodded. "Yes, so far the old man has got it right. But prophecies are fickle things and as I said usually not so straightforward and easy to interpret. Where he got it wrong however is in the fourth line of the prophecy; and he will have power the dark lord knows not."

Azoth made a dramatically pause again and Harry could again see that familiar gleeful sneer that he so used to whenever they were talking about Dumbledore's stupidity.

"Dumbledore thinks that the power the dark lord knows not is love. The love your mother's sacrifice and the love of everyone who loves you. The coot was a hopeless romantic and love is a very powerful bit of magic, yes, but that it not it. Are we supposed to rely on only love to conquer the supposedly most powerful wizard of all time? That seems to me as a very risky thing to rely on, especially as you have felt very little love over the years. And Dumbledore did very little to make sure that it was certain that you felt this love. Did he check on you at the Dursleys and that you loved there? Nope. Did he do anything to protect you from Quirrell, who was possessed by Voldemort, and when you went after the philosopher's stone? Nope. Did help you when everyone in school thought that you were the air of Slytherin and that you opened the Chamber of secrets? Nope. Did he tell you the truth about your godfather? Nope. Did he try to get you out of the Triwizard tournament, even though he probably knew that there was a way? Nope. Did he ever try to stop the bullying, the taunts, and the bad treatment you got from both students and staff at school? Nope. But yet he is the headmaster and he sees everything that goes on at his own school. Maybe he considered this training, but that is odd training if you ask me. Has he really prepared you to face the Horcruxes and Voldemort? There is much better training you could do for that, but yet he doesn't train you. And that is because he puts too much enfaces in a prophecy and love."

Harry slowly nodded as Azoth had finished talking. He had already kind of figured this out on his own, that he was someone who was to be sacrificed for the greater good, a pig put up for slaughter. He wasn't supposed to survive.

He cleared his throat. It felt dry. "But if it is not love that will help me defeat Voldemort, then what?"

Azoth smiled again "Why do you think I am here, little demon. To teach you ballet?"

Harry laughed. He couldn't help it. The picture of Azoth trying to do ballet in a pink tutu was hilarious and oddly terrifying at the same time.

"You still have a lot to learn, kid", Azoth said, putting a heavy hand on Harry's shoulder. "But you will learn and you will go far, trust me".

Harry did.