Harry, Luna, Ron, and Sirius held a War Council meeting bunkered down in one of the classrooms, with their privacy assured by all the nastiest espionage spells the Black library could supply, and a few new spells Harry had made up. Luna had helped by hanging up a bunch of radishes on the doorknob, which she promised would repel potential eavesdroppers.
"Where did you get the radishes, Luna?" Harry asked.
She smiled proudly as she answered, "I made them out of nothing, just now!"
He murmured praise and endearments at her, before getting down to business and explaining the outline of his plan to his friends and Sirius.
"So the dog gets turned into a… Growlithe, which is a stripy dog Pokémon like a cross between a puppy and a tiger," Sirius said, checking he had it right, "and you teach it how to track Horcruxes."
Harry nodded. "It seemed like the simplest solution."
Ron snorted. "Simple for you, maybe! Crazily difficult for anyone else. I never even managed to make a tortoise that didn't breathe steam or have a handle for a tail."
"I think it's a great plan," said Luna loyally, snuggling into Harry's side. He put an arm around her shoulders, and she sighed happily.
"Pikachu!" his Pokémon nodded in agreement. She wanted more friends to play with. She liked all of Harry's Pokémon, Snorky, and Colin and Dennis' pet Eevee "Pyro" (that Harry had helped along a bit with some permanent transfigurations), but she was a gregarious little creature and loved having new Pokémon to train with.
"It's not funny enough," complained Sirius.
The others stared at him. "Well Dumbledore was a bit vague about it all when he asked me to bring you a puppy, and I thought you were going to prank Voldemort! Like with multiplying puppies in a box, that when you opened it, whoosh! Cute puppies running everywhere widdling on stuff in his throne room! Like they explode out of the box in a wave of fluffy chaos!" Sirius waved his hands wildly to demonstrate the puppies flying everywhere. Luna grinned, but Ron and Harry looked less impressed with the idea.
"If you have to defeat Voldemort to fulfill a prophecy, maybe you could beat him with a funny Pokémon," suggested Luna to her boyfriend, liking the gist of Sirius' idea.
"Yes! Something pink and fluffy! Like a deadly Pygmy Puff!" said Sirius excitedly. "Most embarrassing death of a Dark Lord ever! Something people won't stop talking about for centuries! A legendary prank of the ages!"
"Hmmm!" said Harry thoughtfully, as he pondered his options. That had given him a good idea, actually. "I'll need a fluffy Puffskein, and an adorable little baby kitten."
"Yes!" said Sirius, who leapt up and started doing a crazy victory dance that Luna joined in happily. Harry got dragged into it too, but Ron refused to join the insanity and just watched with a smile. Ron wished, not for the first time, that his friends were a bit saner.
*pokemonpokemonpokemon*
Harry neglected his more boring subjects (like Astronomy) and doubled up his personal timestream a little (when he thought Luna wouldn't notice) to work on his three new Pokémon, starting with his loyal Horcrux-hunting puppy. Growlithe was ready only a little before Dumbledore tracked down a Horcrux, which he did with reasonable promptness (which mostly made Harry wonder why he hadn't managed to do so earlier). He called Harry up to his office when he'd gotten it, and Harry insisted that Snape leave the room before he discussed the next part of his anti-Voldemort plan, which Snape did with a snarl and some muttered insults about Harry's arrogance.
"Don't touch it again," he warned Dumbledore before he left, "or let that idiot savant touch it. If any of that curse still lingers, it could be… problematic."
Dumbledore waved him off with a hand that looked blackened and withered. "I'll behave, Severus. Don't be such an old mother hen."
Harry invited Dumbledore to cast some privacy spells, and he used his own magic to put the portraits of the curious old Headmasters to sleep. Dumbledore brought out and placed on his desk a rather dull looking ring nestled in a small golden box, which apparently was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, obtained at some personal risk. He warned Harry not to touch it, which was fine by Harry. Then Harry called "Growlie" out of his Pokéball.
"Another interesting creature you've created," said Dumbledore, peering at it curiously. "That I presume is what you needed the dog for. What can it do?"
Harry's back straightened as he pronounced proudly. "I made it to track. Get the scent of the Horcrux, Growlie!"
"But… don't…" stammered Dumbledore, looking uncharacteristically nervous.
"Don't worry, he won't touch it, just sniff it," reassured Harry. "Have you got the scent?"
"Growlithe!" "Yes."
"Good boy! Find another! Find a Horcrux!"
Under Dumbledore's nervous gaze Growlie barked happily, sniffed around, and then leapt up and put his paws on Harry's shoulder's to bark in his face.
"Growlithe, grrr-growl!" "Here's one! I'm a good boy!"
Harry laughed. "Sorry, he's still new. No Growlithe, I'm not a Horcrux. Try again. Get a better scent this time."
Dumbledore's face looked old and drawn, as he slumped back in his chair. "I'm afraid to say… that your dog might be right." He explained solemnly about his theory about Tom's splintered soul, and how a fragment of him might reside within Harry's scar.
"Well, that's weird," said Harry. "But on the positive side, at least that's one Horcrux we don't have to go hunting for! Why… why are you looking so upset?" He thought Dumbledore looked like he might cry at any moment.
He explained gravely, if in a roundabout fashion, why he thought Harry would have to die to be rid of the fragment of Voldemort's soul. Harry was having none of it.
"That's ridiculous," he scoffed. "I'll just get it surgically removed, burn it, and get the cut healed up with magic."
"I don't think that will work, my dear boy," said Dumbledore sadly.
Harry snorted. "That kind of defeatist thinking is why you're not named in the prophecy about how to beat Voldemort."
Dumbledore frowned at his cheek, but let it go. The boy was obviously traumatized by the news about being a Horcrux. Let him cling to his hope for now. Poor child.
Harry's plan worked like a dream. Madam Pomfrey wasn't keen on trying, but she promised to do her best after he told her he'd go to a Muggle hospital if necessary – Dumbledore encouraged her to indulge Harry. She numbed his forehead and cut the scar and surrounding skin out, watched anxiously by Luna who clung fiercely to his hand, and even more anxiously by Dumbledore. Harry, who insisted on remaining conscious for the operation, concentrated hard on how he wanted all lingering bits of Voldemort's soul to concentrate in the scar while it was removed, and Luna also concentrated on that same goal.
Dumbledore whisked away the dish with the scar as soon as it was removed, and obediently cast Fiendfyre on its contents to destroy it utterly (even though he usually abhorred the use of such dark spells). Madam Pomfrey muttered about the errant foolishness of vain boys and their overindulgent Headmasters, as she spelled his wound shut.
"You'll still have a scar from this," she warned, "but more of a curved line, rather than a zig-zag."
Harry liked the look of the faint pink crescent line, and liked it even more when he got to escape the Hospital Wing that same evening, and a discreet check back in the dorm revealed that Growlie couldn't catch a scent of him being a Horcrux anymore. Instead, the stripy Pokémon started sniffing his way out of the Gryffindor tower, on the trail of another scent. It led towards the Headmaster's office – it seemed he hadn't destroyed the ring yet. Harry got past the gargoyle easily with the password (Dumbledore really should change that soon), disabled the portraits with a sleeping spell and took care of the ring quickly with his own burst of extra strong magical fire. No point wasting time discussing it – like they said it was easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission. Struck with a burst of inspiration, he made a duplicate intact ring that looked like the old one, and pocketed the burnt Horcrux. No point leaving evidence behind. Not being caught in the first place was even better than having to ask for forgiveness.
Then Growlie led him elsewhere in the school. How many of these things were there in Hogwarts? One melted diadem later (in a very awesome room full of junk he made a note to bring Luna and Ron to explore with him later), and Growlie wanted to leave Hogwarts for a distant Horcrux, but Harry kind of wanted to take a break. And get backup, just in case of trouble.
With a magical mirror Sirius had given him he asked his godfather if he'd like to join him on a Horcrux hunt the next morning. It would be a Saturday, and luckily it was also a Hogsmeade weekend, so it should be easy enough to slip away.
Sirius and Harry had each brought some friends for the Horcrux hunting day. Harry had brought along Luna, Ron, and Ginny (who found out about it from Ron and insisted on coming along). Sirius had invited Lupin, McGonagall, Dumbledore, and his cousin Tonks.
Well, so much for secrecy, Harry mused. It was going to be impossible to keep the Horcrux hunt quiet with this many people involved, so they'd better work fast.
McGonagall and Dumbledore put up a bit of a fuss at first about "children" being invited along, but Harry dug his heels in. They were invited, and the teachers weren't. If they didn't get to come, Growlithe wasn't going anywhere.
"And besides," added Harry. "We could just sneak away some time without you. At least this way you know we're not on our own."
Since Growlithe felt the nearest Horcruxes were a long way south, they Apparated and Side-Along-Apparated to London first, starting out from Sirius' old decrepit home in Grimmauld Place. Which Sirius was extremely embarrassed to discover was hosting one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
"I swear, I had no idea," he muttered.
"Nasty thieves mustn't take it!" sobbed a crazy old house-elf.
"It won't leave the house," said Harry. "We're going to destroy it."
"I hardly think that will help," chided Lupin. "Because-"
"-Yes, destroy it! For Master Regulus!" sobbed the house-elf, an optimistic light in his eyes.
"Nuttier than a fruit cake," grumbled Sirius. "No wonder, with only my mother's portrait to talk to all these years."
"She's a piece of work, isn't she?" said Tonks, as she listened to the portrait screech insults. "No wonder you left home, living with her must've been almost as bad as being in Azkaban for driving you mad. No offence, cuz."
"None taken," he said amicably.
Dumbledore seemed to want to study the evil-looking snakey locket, so Harry seized the initiative and burned it, which caused it to wail shrilly as it 'died'.
"I was examining it, Harry," Dumbledore rebuked. "It was a priceless historical artifact!"
"It was a Horcrux. And I think you should keep at least one hand intact."
Sirius turned to Harry sternly, "Say sorry, Harry."
Harry assumed a repentant look and turned to Dumbledore with big eyes that pled for forgiveness. "Sorry, Harry!" he said.
Sirius snickered, and Harry laughed too. He knew he'd gotten away with it. Sirius never could resist a joke.
The next nearest Horcrux was in London too.
"How many of these are there?" grumbled Harry.
"Grrrr-owlithe!"
"Just one more after this next one? That's great! So there's only two left!"
Dumbledore looked satisfied. "We'll want to hold off on destroying the ring Horcrux, then, while we deal with this last one. I suspect the destruction of his final Horcrux may alert Voldemort to his renewed mortality."
"Uh sure," said Harry. It sounded like Dumbledore hadn't spotted the switch of the ring for a fake one, and was assuming it was one of the two remaining Horcruxes. Harry would be sure to be careful with the real last Horcrux.
They Apparated to Diagon Alley, where Growlithe was sure a Horcrux was cached below Gringotts. The goblins, however, were most disinclined to let them search through their private network of vaults.
"I bet I can sort something out," said the bubblegum-haired young Auror decisively. "Back in a tick. Meet you at the Leaky Cauldron in a half hour or so?"
So their epic adventure took a lunch break. Harry and Pikachu shared some steak and kidney pies (Pikachu's had extra tomato sauce), while Growlithe got a juicy bone to gnaw on thanks to the obliging barkeep Tom.
Luna snuggled in next to Harry. "I think this is quite exciting, don't you? Like a treasure hunt. But for evil. An evil treasure hunt. Do we get a prize at the end? There should be prizes."
Harry thought about it. "Apart from world peace? How about some of those Order of Merlin medals?"
"Oh yes! You should ask for some. I'm sure they'll appreciate your help. If the Rotfang Conspiracy hasn't spread too deep at the Ministry yet, that is."
Tonks reappeared an hour later, with an official search warrant from the Ministry, and her boss, Amelia Bones. Who immediately went over to Dumbledore, and encased them in some kind of Cone of Silence spell. Judging by the body language she appeared to be giving him a good telling off.
"What's that all about?" Harry asked Tonks curiously.
"Oh, uh… well Director Bones wasn't too happy to be hearing about the you-know-whats for the first time. She seems to think Dumbledore's been keeping too many things secret that could really help the war effort. But you know, I had to tell her to get the search warrant. This is too important!"
In the end, between cranky goblins and an even crankier Director Bones, only she, Tonks (as an actual trainee Auror), and Growlithe got to go down in the vault carts in search of the Horcrux.
"Will he listen to us?" Director Bones had asked sceptically. "I don't want to have to take you into danger unless it's entirely necessary. But I don't want an out-of-control magical creature causing havoc."
"Welll…" said Harry, "I suppose I don't really need to come along. Growlie should very friendly with police officers. Or Aurors. And he'll growl and bark if he finds a… you-know-what. It should be pretty obvious. And he can use Bite and Flamethrower attacks, if there's trouble. But he'll only breathe fire if you tell him to."
"This… stripy puppy can breathe fire?"
"It's a masterful Transfiguration!" Professor McGonagall boasted, proud of her student. "He's very skilled at partial Transfigurations and enchantments of living creatures, and they're all exceptionally long-lasting, too."
"Okay Growlie, go with Officers Tonks and Bones, please! Help them track the you-know-what!"
Growlie nodded. "Ggggrrrr-owl!" "I will!"
Director Bones took charge of destroying the cursed cup herself, and then there was only one Horcrux left. Dumbledore privately assured Director Bones it was safely locked up in his office, so she felt sure there was plenty of time for her to organise her Aurors to find and attack Voldemort before he regained his full strength or found out what was going on.
Of course, they were both wrong in their assumptions. Somehow, Voldemort got word of what they were up to. And the next week, with a more intimidating if oddly nose-less adult form (could wizards evolve?), Lord Voldemort marched on the Ministry with an army of Death Eaters, giants, vampires, werewolves, and Dementors. It fell like a deck of cards, with many people surrendering rather than daring to fight. Then with most of the Aurors and Hitwizards defeated or on the run and the populace cowed and without leadership, it was feared he would soon turn his attention towards Hogwarts, and the boy whom some whispered was destined to defeat him.
A/N: One more chapter to go, and then an epilogue will be posted the week after. Who can guess what Pokémon Harry will be working on next? :)
