Chapter 19:
Alicia's feet hit the floor and Harry and Ron both tumbled away from her. Her eyes stung unpleasantly as there was a dazzle of green and gold and twigs and leaves sat below her feet. Alicia turned to find she was the only one standing, even Hermione was lying on the floor.
Alicia's knees sunk and she took a breath as she looked around. Sunlight was streaming through a canopy of leaves above her and trees rose up out of the ground in every direction.
She breathed in the musky and clean air of the forest, but it was interrupted by something else and Alicia turned to look around. It was blood and Alicia instantly knew where it came from. Hermione was up and at Ron's head while Alicia dove for her bag which had landed beside her.
Harry was pushing himself up and he too saw Hermione and Ron, noticing that the latter was drenched in blood on his left side and his face stood out, greyish-white, against the leaf-strewn earth. The Polyjuice Potion was wearing off now: Ron was halfway between Cattermole and himself in appearance, his hair turning redder and redder as his face drained of the little colour it had left.
Alicia was rummaging through her bag as Harry took Ron in.
"What's happened to him?"
"Splinched," said Hermione, her fingers already busy at Ron's sleeve, where the blood was wettest and darkest.
Harry watched, horrified, as she tore open Ron's shirt a great chunk of flesh was missing, scooped cleanly away as though by a knife.
"Harry, quickly, in my bag, there's a small bottle labeled 'Essence of Dittany' —"
"Got it!" Alicia declared and she instantly tossed it to Hermione who grabbed it. Ron's eyes were now half-closed, strips of white eyeball all that were visible between his lids.
"He's fainted," said Hermione, who was also rather pale; she no longer looked like Mafalda, though her hair was still grey in places. "Unstopper it for me, my hands are shaking."
Alicia had her wand at the tip and it sprang out like Dumbledore had done so many times last year and Hermione took it. She poured three drops of the potion onto the bleeding wound and greenish smoke billowed upward and when it had cleared, the bleeding had stopped. The wound now looked several days old; new skin stretched over what had just been open flesh.
"Wow," said Harry.
"It's all I feel safe doing," said Hermione shakily. "There are spells that would put him completely right, but I daren't try in case I do them wrong and cause more damage… He's lost so much blood already…" she looked at Alicia but she shook her head too.
"Not until he's better." she said "He needs to be stronger before we can even think of anything else."
"How did he get hurt? I mean" — Harry shook his head, "why are we here? I thought we were going back to Grimmauld Place?" Alicia looked at her as well.
Hermione took a deep breath. She looked close to tears.
"Harry, I don't think we're going to be able to go back there."
"What d'you — ?"
"As we Disapparated, Yaxley caught hold of me and I couldn't get rid of him, he was too strong, and he was still holding on when we arrived at Grimmauld Place, and then — well, I think he must have seen the door, and thought we were stopping there, so he slackened his grip and I managed to shake him off and I brought us here instead!"
Alicia stared at Hermione. So the only real home in which she'd finally gotten used to, was also out of commission.
"But then, where's he? Hang on… You don't mean he's at Grimmauld Place? He can't get in there?"
Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears as she nodded.
"Harry, I think he can. I — I forced him to let go with a Revulsion Jinx, but I'd already taken him inside the Fidelius Charm's protection. Since Dumbledore died, we're Secret-Keepers, so I've given him the secret, haven't I?"
"But… Kreacher—" Harry began.
"Kreacher's fine." Alicia cut in and Harry looked at her.
"How do you know?"
"Because I gave Kreacher a specific set of instructions incase we didn't get home or someone else came to the house who shouldn't be there." she confessed "Kreacher wont be there anymore and he'll be safe." she assured
"When did you do that?" Harry demanded
"This morning, before you all woke up. I worried in case something happened and we didn't return, or couldn't return and so I told Kreacher what to do in the case it ever happened." Alicia looked at him "He's fine. I also asked him to go to Lupin if that was the case, after all if we couldn't return to Grimmauld Place, no one else could either. The Order will surely all be aware in a couple of days."
"Alicia… oh Harry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"
"Don't be stupid, it wasn't your fault! If anything, it was mine…"
Harry put his hand in his pocket and drew out Mad-Eye's eye. Hermione recoiled, looking horrified while Alicia eyed it.
"Umbridge had stuck it to her office door, to spy on people. I couldn't leave it there… but that's how they knew there were intruders."
"Oh Harry!" Alicia said but she didn't blame him for it either.
Before Hermione could add to Alicia's scolding, Ron groaned and opened his eyes. He was still grey and his face glistened with sweat.
"How d'you feel?" Hermione whispered.
"Lousy," croaked Ron, wincing as he felt his injured arm. "Where are we?"
"In the woods where they held the Quidditch World Cup," said Hermione. "I wanted somewhere enclosed, undercover, and this was —"
"— the first place you thought of," Harry finished for her, glancing around at the apparently deserted glade.
"Let's hope then that history doesn't repeat." Alicia said as the last time they'd gone somewhere by a thought that'd just popped into their head last minute, they'd been found from Dead Eaters. It seemed Ron and Harry were thinking the same.
"D'you reckon we should move on?" Ron asked Harry
"I dunno."
Ron still looked pale and clammy. He had made no attempt to sit up.
"We can't." Alicia said "We can't apparate until you gain some colour and some strength back." she looked at Harry.
"Let's stay here for now," Harry said.
Alicia stood up and, looking relieved, Hermione sprang to her feet as well.
"Shall we?" Alicia asked and Hermione nodded.
"Where are you going?" asked Ron.
"If we're staying, we should put some protective enchantments around the place," she replied and the two girls moved opposite one another as they walked in a wide circle around Harry and Ron. Both of them were waving their wands and Hermione muttered under her breath as they seemed to move in sync.
"Salvio Hexia… Protego Totalum… Repello Muggletum… Muffliato…" Hermione muttered. "You could get out the tent, Harry…"
"Tent?"
"In Alicia's bag!"
"Is it in mine?" Alicia asked, not being able to recall as she moved her wand again and heat hazes washed over their clearing, the spells creating disturbances in the air.
"In the… of course," said Harry.
Alicia heard Harry use a summoning charm before the tent emerged in a lumpy mass of canvas, rope, and poles.
"I thought this belonged to that bloke Perkins at the Ministry?" he asked, starting to disentangle the tent pegs.
"Apparently he didn't want it back, his lumbago's so bad," said Hermione, now performing complicated figure-of-eight movements with her wand, "so Ron's dad said I could borrow it. Erecto!" she added, pointing her wand at the misshapen canvas, which in one fluid motion rose into the air and settled, fully constructed, onto the ground before Harry, out of whose startled hands a tent peg soared, to land with a final thud at the end of a guy rope.
"Cave Inimicum," Hermione finished with a skyward flourish. "That's as much as I can do. Alicia?"
"I'm out." she shrugged as she turned from her place.
"At the very least, we should know they're coming, I can't guarantee it will keep out Vol —"
"Don't say the name!" Ron cut across her, his voice harsh. Harry and Hermione looked at each other as Alicia blinked at him.
"I'm sorry," Ron said, moaning a little as he raised himself to look at them, "but it feels like a — a jinx or something. Can't we call him You-Know-Who — please?"
"Dumbledore said fear of a name —" began Harry.
"In case you hadn't noticed, mate, calling You-Know-Who by his name didn't do Dumbledore much good in the end," Ron snapped back. "Just — just show You-Know-Who some respect, will you?"
"Respect?" Harry repeated, but Hermione shot him a warning look; apparently he was not to argue with Ron while the latter was in such a weakened condition.
"Actually… that might be it." Alicia whispered, ignoring Ron wanting to give Voldemort of all people respect.
"What is?" Harry snapped at her.
"Remember what I said about a taboo? Well how many people say his name?" she asked him "Only those who were under Dumbledore and appose him. If you're gonna curse a word, what better one to use?" Harry stared at her.
"I'm with Ron, no more saying the name. But not due to respect." she spat the word at Ron. She flicked her wand and Ron, who gasped rose into the air and went through the tent opening to be dropped onto one of the beds inside.
The three were very used to the interior of the tent as it had been used by them three years ago for the Quidditch World Cup in this very spot. It still held the same look: a small flat, complete with bathroom and tiny kitchen. Despite having been moved so little Ron had gone whiter than before and settled into the mattress with his eyes closed, not speaking for a while.
"I'll make some tea," said Hermione breathlessly, pulling kettle and mugs from the depths of her bag and heading toward the kitchen.
Silence enveloped them for a while as they drank the tea, seeming not much different to after Moody had passed.
After a minute or two, Ron broke the silence.
"What d'you reckon happened to the Cattermoles?"
"With any luck, they'll have got away," said Hermione, clutching her hot mug for comfort. "As long as Mr. Cattermole had his wits about him, he'll have transported Mrs. Cattermole by Side-Along- Apparition and they'll be fleeing the country right now with their children. That's what Harry and Alicia told them to do."
"I feel bad we chose Mr Cattermole to impersonate, she was down in those dungeons with the Dementors without him cause of us." Alicia mumbled.
"Blimey, I hope they escaped," said Ron, leaning back on his pillows. The tea seemed to be doing him good; a little of his colour had returned. "I didn't get the feeling Reg Cattermole was all that quick-witted, though, the way everyone was talking to me when I was him. God, I hope they made it…If they both end up in Azkaban because of us…"
"If they do then the sooner we do our job, the sooner they'll be released." Alicia admitted.
Ron having such care for the Cattermoles had Hermione watching him with such tenderness that Alicia smiled into her cup of tea. Harry however who also noticed her expression looked surprised.
"So, have you got it?" Harry asked her, causing Alicia to look at him before she remembered. Ron being splinted and them running from Yaxley had driven it from her mind momentarily.
"Got — got what?" Hermione said with a little start.
"What did we just go through all that for? The locket! Where's the locket?"
"You got it?" shouted Ron, raising himself a little higher on his pillows. "No one tells me anything! Blimey, you could have mentioned it!"
"Well, we were running for our lives from the Death Eaters, weren't we?" said Hermione. "Here."
And she pulled the locket out of the pocket of her robes and handed it to Ron.
It was as large as a chicken's egg. An ornate letter S, inlaid with many small green stones, glinted dully in the diffused light shining through the tent's canvas roof.
"There isn't any chance someone's destroyed it since Kreacher had it?" asked Ron hopefully. "I mean, are we sure it's still a Horcrux?"
"I'll tell you, here." Alicia said and she held her hand out. Hermione took it from Ron and handed it to her. Instantly Alicia felt herself feel colder and the thing in her hand she wanted to throw away as if an infection as seeping into her from it.
"How can you tell?" Ron asked as Alicia shoved it back into Hermione's hands, who looked surprised.
"When we faced Riddle something about him screamed wrong, distorted, evil and I just… I was so on guard by it." Alicia said "This gives me the same feeling."
"You can sense his soul pieces?" Hermione said
"I can sense something and when your souls been ripped like that it's no surprise it feels so tainted, it also belongs to him so…" she mumbled
"Is that enough to be sure?" Ron asked tentatively and Alicia shot him a look for his doubt in her.
"I think so," said Hermione, looking at it closely. "There'd be some sign of damage if it had been magically destroyed."
Hermione passed it to Harry who turned it over in his fingers.
"I reckon Kreacher's right," said Harry. "We're going to have to work out how to open this thing before we can destroy it."
"The Diary and the ring weren't really incased in much but the Diary had a hole stabbed through it and the stone on the ring was cracked in two…" Alicia mumbled "This one will be harder because the thing is actually enclosed." she believed as she thought.
Harry seemed ready to try and open it with his fingers, regardless of the uselessness of that. He tried Alohamora but that also didn't work. He handed it back to Hermione and Ron before it hit Alicia. She however simply held it up and looked at it.
"It'd have to be done with only something he could do…" Alicia whispered "Otherwise it wouldn't keep it protected."
"Dumbledore would be able to do it." Harry mumbled
"Probably." Alicia said as she passed it back to Ron, who looked it over with annoyance and held it in his fist.
"I can see who you can tell Alicia." he said and she looked at him surprised.
"What?" Hermione asked
"Can't you feel it?" Ron asked in a hushed voice
"What d'you mean?" Ron passed the Horcrux to Harry who held it tightly for a moment.
"You can feel something's living inside it." Alicia whispered
"What are we going to do with it?" Hermione asked.
"We can't exactly leave it lying around, especially if we have to pack up quickly." Alicia said
"We'll keep it safe till we work out how to destroy it," Harry replied, and he hung the chain around his own neck, dropping the locket out of sight beneath his robes.
"I think we should take it in turns to keep watch outside the tent," he added to Hermione and Alicia, standing up and stretching. "And we'll need to think about some food as well. You stay there," he added sharply, as Ron attempted to sit up and turned a nasty shade of green.
"I'll deal with the food, Alicia," Hermione said to her and she looked confused for a moment. "You're best at piecing information together, I'm sure there'll be something Dumbledore said that you can find to help us work out how to destroy it." Alicia pursed her lips and felt like a heavy weight had fallen upon her.
"Please don't expect it to be instantaneous." she said.
Alicia moved to her bag and pulled out her pensieve, which she put on the table between the armchairs in the centre of the room. Beside it she also placed the mirror, in which Fred had not appeared within since after the wedding, something Alicia worried about as she stared at it while it reflected the roof of the tent.
Harry however pulled out the Sneakoscope Hermione had given him for his birthday and set carefully upon another the table in the tent. For the rest of the day the three of them, Ron excluded because of his injuries, spent the rest of the day sharing the role of lookout. However, the Sneakoscope remained silent and still upon its point all day, and whether because of the protective enchantments and Muggle-repelling charms the two girls had spread around them, or because people rarely ventured this way, their patch of wood remained deserted, apart from occasional birds and squirrels.
Alicia took watched as Hermione went looking for something to eat, finding some mushrooms under nearby trees and stewing them in a billycan. Even Alicia had not thought to grab some food as they expected Kreacher to be cooking for them, even with all her preparations. The mushrooms weren't really enough to satisfy them, Ron had, after a few mouthfuls, pushed his portion away, looking queasy; Harry, Alicia knew, had only persevered so as not to hurt Hermione's feelings.
Harry took the watch over from Alicia who went and sat before her pensieve and stared down at the gaseous contents within it.
They had a horcrux, but had no way of knowing how to get rid of it. They also had no idea where to go with the next one. But Dumbledore surely had not left them completely defenceless like this? They knew basilisk venom was one thing, but they could not go back to Hogwarts to collect them and smash the one they had… or at least it would be pointless to do so until they had more. Hogwarts wasn't safe for them, if they went then no matter what side Alicia believed Snape to be on, he'd have to act in order to keep his place, and with the Carrows he couldn't pretend otherwise. And Alicia wouldn't blame him. He'd have to in order to survive.
The question was then, if they decided to leave the destroying of horcruxes till they had them all and went to Hogwarts to end them, where were the next ones. Clearly it would be much too hard to stab the Snake with a fang of a Basilisk without getting mauled by the serpent so that theory was out for that, but what about the others. Where might the cup be? It and the snake were the only ones they were completely sure about and it seemed the best one to next focus upon.
Where was somewhere the cup could be related to Voldemort… he'd gone to the cave to do some torturing and therefore hid one there. He hid one in the Gaunts house, something that was not sentimental to Voldemort but the original home of the ring he hid there, the place his mother came from.
If they were going on sentimentality then Alicia believed Hogwarts was somewhere Voldemort was likely to hide something. He'd been there for seven years, he learnt of the horcruxes and created his first, the ring, while in his sixth year. Not only that but he'd applied twice for a teaching role, he either wanted something that was there or wanted to plant something.
If there was one that he'd managed to do before he left, they wouldn't want to go there till last, use one of the fangs to destroy it with.
Voldemort hadn't gotten the cup until after he'd finished Hogwarts though so that couldn't be there.
Unless he put it there when he came for a job but… it doesn't seem likely.
Ron, who couldn't move and had nothing to do, was watching Alicia as she stared at her pensieve, not touching it or moving, just staring. He only found it amusing to do because her expression changed with every change of thought in her mind.
Alicia slumped her head into her hand as she stared at the bright gaseous substance that lit her face up above that of the dim light in the tent.
The cup… if you wanted to hide something and not let anyone else get it… it was too important to put it just anywhere. You couldn't just find a tree hollow.
Dumbledore seemed to believe Voldemort would put it places sentimental… well he couldn't feel sentimentality but places of that nature. The dairy was the exception as it was made, not as a safeguard, but for a purpose of attack.
Alicia didn't know of anywhere significant to Voldemort besides Hogwarts. Not only that but he'd vanished for many years where he split his soul more times and caused physical changes to himself. In that time he could have visited plenty of places to hide something. The cup for example.
Cup… place to hide. The only significant place Alicia knew of to Voldemort would be Godric's Hollow but she highly doubted that Voldemort would hide a piece of his soul in the place he'd lost one. And it was such an obvious place.
Alicia felt a pain through her neck as she stared at the pensieve and she felt a push on her mind which was familiar to her. Alicia looked up at the tent entrance were Harry was but he was still sitting there.
Alicia, with nothing better to do and hoping for some kind of help, closed her eyes and took a breath, until she was no longer sitting in the tent.
"Give it to me, Gregorovitch."
The voice was high, clear, and cold, a wand held in front by a long-fingered white hand. The man at whom it was pointing was suspended upside down in midair, though there were no ropes holding him; he swung there, invisibly and eerily bound, his limbs wrapped about him, his terrified face, on a level with the other's, red due to the blood that had rushed to his head. He had pure-white hair and a thick, bushy beard: a trussed-up Father Christmas.
"I have it not, I have it no more! It was, many years ago, stolen from me!"
"Do not lie to Lord Voldemort, Gregorovitch. He knows… He always knows."
The hanging man's pupils were wide, dilated with fear, and they seemed to swell, bigger and bigger until their blackness swallowed everything whole —
And now they were hurrying along a dark corridor in stout little Gregorovitch's wake as he held a lantern aloft: Gregorovitch burst into the room at the end of the passage and his lantern illuminated what looked like a workshop; wood shavings and gold gleamed in the swinging pool of light, and there on the window ledge sat perched, like a giant bird, a young man with golden hair. In the split second that the lantern's light illuminated him, the delight upon his handsome face was lit up, then the intruder shot a Stunning Spell from his wand and jumped neatly backward out of the window with a crow of laughter.
And they were hurtling back out of those wide, tunnellike pupils and Gregorovitch's face was stricken with terror.
"Who was the thief, Gregorovitch?" said the high cold voice.
"I do not know, I never knew, a young man — no — please — PLEASE!"
A scream that went on and on and then a burst of green light —
"Harry!"
Alicia opened her eyes, still sitting where she had been and saw Hermione at the entrance of the tent. Harry's legs were all that was visible to Alicia as he had slumped against the side of the tent.
Alicia blinked and looked around to find Ron watching her and then glancing at the entrance.
"Dream," came Harry's voice as he reappeared while having sat up. "Must've dozed off, sorry."
"I know it was your scar! I can tell by the look on your face! You were looking into Vol —"
"Don't say his name!" Ron shouted angrily, Alicia jumping slightly.
"Fine," retorted Hermione. "You-Know-Who's mind, then!"
"I didn't mean it to happen!" Harry said. "It was a dream! Can you control what you dream about, Hermione?"
"If you just learned to apply Occlumency —"
"Hermione," Alicia said "Can you give it a rest." she called.
"He's found Gregorovitch, Hermione, and I think he's killed him, but before he killed him he read Gregorovitch's mind and I saw —" Hermione cut him off.
"I think I'd better take over the watch if you're so tired you're falling asleep," said Hermione coldly.
"I can finish the watch!"
"No, you're obviously exhausted. Go and lie down."
She dropped down in the mouth of the tent, looking stubborn. Alicia felt Harry's anger but he came back into the tent regardless.
Harry moved straight past Alicia and climbed into the bed above Ron saying nothing. Ron looked at Alicia and she nodded her head to Harry, she knew he wanted to talk about it.
"What's You-Know-Who doing?" Ron whispered lowly so Hermione wouldn't hear.
"He found Gregorovitch. He had him tied up, he was torturing him."
"How's Gregorovitch supposed to make him a new wand if he's tied up?"
"I dunno… It's weird, isn't it?"
"You're focusing too much on what you're watching Harry." Alicia said and he turned to look down at her as she glanced at Hermione "You need to listen as well."
"What do you—" Ron began but Harry cut him off.
"You saw it?" she nodded
"Got nothing better to do." she mumbled "Gregorovitch was saying he didn't have it. He said it was stolen by him, stolen by the gold haired boy." Alicia said to them both. "Vol— ("OI!") You-Kmow-Who is not looking for a new wand to be made for him, he's looking for something specific that Gregorovitch clearly used to have." she said
"What?" Ron asked but Alicia shook her head.
"He read Gregorovitch's mind, and I saw this young bloke perched on a windowsill, and he fired a curse at Gregorovitch and jumped out of sight. He stole it, he stole whatever You-Know-Who's after. And I…I think I've seen him somewhere…" Harry said
"What?" Alicia asked and Harry nodded. "Where?" she asked but he shook his head.
"I wish I could get another glimpse of him."
"You can." Alicia said and Harry and Ron looked at her before she looked down at the pensieve. "But Hermione would notice." she mumbled glancing at the girl's bushy hair.
The noises of the surrounding woods were muffled inside the tent before Ron whispered again.
"Couldn't you see what the thief was holding?"
"No… it must've been something small."
"Harry?"
The wooden slats of Ron's bunk creaked as he repositioned himself in bed.
"Harry, you don't reckon You-Know-Who's after something else to turn into a Horcrux?"
"God I hope not, I can't even seem to figure out where the cup might be." Alicia complained as she stared at the pensieve.
"I don't know," said Harry slowly. "Maybe. But wouldn't it be dangerous for him to make another one? Didn't Hermione say he had pushed his soul to the limit already?"
"Yeah, but maybe he doesn't know that."
"Yeah… maybe," said Harry.
Alicia watched them as she remembered sitting back in Dumbledore's office, the day she discovered something so terrible she wished she'd never worked it out.
"…Voldemort's soul was so unstable, from being ripped apart so many times, that the curse blasted it apart again."
"He can't make another horcrux." Alicia said and the two boys looked at him. "His mind is so unstable it's in danger of being blown apart…" she whispered
"And you're sure of that?" Ron said and Alicia looked at her and then to Harry who noticed her gaze as she nodded.
"Positive."
"On what grounds?" Ron said and Alicia rose an eyebrow at him.
"You doubt me?" she smirked.
"You haven't worked out anything that can help us so I'm beginning to doubt your brains." he said.
Instead of getting annoyed or insulted by this, as Harry seemed to think she would by the look on his face, Alicia sighed and slumped her head into her hand again.
"Makes two of us. We watched those memories of V— ("Don't say it!") You-know-who, and we were at Hogwarts, the Guants, the orphanage, Borgin and Burkes and Hepzibah's. Well you're not going to hide anything at Borgin and Burkes unless you want it sold. Hepzibah's was searched to thoroughly for her treasures, you wouldn't want to leave them there. You-know-who felt nothing for the orphanage so I can guarantee there's not one there. The Ring was at the Gaunts and… I'm still mulling over Hogwarts…" she mumbled. "Those are the only memories Dumbledore showed us, and the Cave was really the only place in which we know he visited outside of Hogwarts, apart from Gaunts." Alicia said "Obviously he visited Diagon Alley to get things but, where would you hide something there?"
"Hagrid always said Gringotts was the safest beside Hogwarts." Harry said
"Yes but I doubt Tom Riddle had a bank account. He was an orphan and Hogwarts had funding set up for such students remember, it was in the memory of Dumbledore's when he first met Tom."
"What about a follower?" Ron said
"He doesn't like to rely on them like that, and after Lucius and the diary…" Alicia mumbled frowning "I dunno. And there are so many followers, which vault would we choose? It could be in Snape's vault, or Yaxley's, or Bellatrix's… until we have some sort of hard evidence and a destination we can't really run into Diagon Alley and into Gringotts on a guess. And especially when it's just a guess because Gringotts is a safe place." the two boys sighed as Alicia looked back at her pensieve.
"Figured out how to destroy them?" Ron asked
"Honestly I've been banking on us finding them all, breaking into Hogwarts and using the basilisk fangs sitting in the Chamber of Secrets mines below the castle." she mumbled as she slumped in her chair. "And that's the only thing I can think of so far."
And it's driving me mad.