Chapter Four

The Locket

"They said it was at the end of this lane," Hermione said. There was a gate and no fence. The field had grown wild and there was no trace of a path or lane.

Harry had met her as he got off the Knight bus and was elated to see her. They conferred over the contents of the Daily Prophet and they were still talking about it as they searched for Harry's parents old home. Someone in the tiny village had told Hermione in what direction it lay and they had started off on their afternoon walk to find it.

Harry looked over the field and the trees shading it. There was a small wood towards the end of the field and he stepped through the gate and held it for her. "Let's try over there."

"So don't you think we should try and find Lupin and tell him about the Horcruxes. If Voldemort is taking over so fast then it'll be a matter of days before he'll have so much support no one will be able to get near him. We need help, Harry," she was talking as they walked. "We need help to find the other Horcrux and to learn how to destroy them."

Harry was listening and slowing his pace. He saw her having to hurry to keep up with him. He nodded and studied the landscape again. "I don't know, Hermione. There's so much going on."

She nodded in agreement. They topped a hill and stared down into the small basin. On the edge of an overgrown woods, made up of ancient gnarled trees and bushes sat a little cottage. The sun happened to be shining on it and here and there were small patches of white shining brilliantly through the green overgrowth. Neither spoke as they stared down at it.

Harry knew it was luck that had shown it to them. They started down the slope and worried their way through the tangle and the roots threatening to ensnare their feet. Old decayed vegetation filled the air with a heavy scent and the leaves and branches of trees whipped at their faces and stuck in their clothing.

Hermione went first and used her wand to touch branches in their way. She reminded him that he was still under age and couldn't use magic out of fear of being tracked.

"How does that work, do you know, Hermione?" Harry asked in disgust. He knew she was right and still bristled at allowing her to do the work for both of them. He forgot his feelings of hostility as they drew near. The house looked innocent and bore no evidence that it had been touched by evil.

She ignored or forgot his question as she studied the house before them. It was a bungalow, dilapidated and covered in vine. The stark vacant blankness of the windows spoke of its state. No one had lived here for some time.

They approached it together. Harry had not yet told Hermione of the book, his mother's diary he carried with him and had left behind in the little pub and inn. He had hurriedly wrapped it in his robes and stashed it before joining her for their walk.

Hermione tapped the wooden slat door with her wand and it swung open on squeaking hinges. They stared into the dim interior. The smell alone told Harry no one had been there. The house smelled of mildew and rot and dust rose in a cloud as the door banged against the wall. He was the first to step in and was shocked that the rooms still held furniture. As a matter of fact, the room was a sitting room and it looked like it had been left undisturbed since the night his parents were murdered.

Hermione came in behind him. "Oh my, Harry," she whispered. "Nothing's been touched."

He nodded and wandered through the room. There was a small kitchen and another small room or pantry and a door leading to a back garden. The table was set with two plates and dinnerware and there were pots on the stove. He looked at each thing keenly and tried to imagine what the scene would look like without the dust and the leaves that had blown in through a broken window and collected on the floor. He touched a spider web and its' owner sought refuge in a cupboard.

In the far end of the house he found a narrow staircase leading up to the second story. Hermione nodded to him as if to say she would watch his back while he explored the upper floor. She also seemed mesmerized by the untouched house.

Together, they climbed a few short steps which opened out into a main room that had been made up into a library and sitting room and then there were two doors leading off this room. One door was open and it was obvious it was a bedroom. The other door was closed. Harry knew what the room was before his hand touched the knob of the door. He knew it was the nursery and it was the place where his mother had died.

He turned to Hermione who looked at him sympathetically and said, "Go on, Harry. This is what you've come for. It's best to see it all."

He nodded and turned back to the closed door.

He opened it and stood frozen in disbelief. The room was vacant except for a single chair sitting in the center. A single beam of sunlight shone on it from a dusty window and laying on the chair was a small square jewelry case and a piece of parchment tilted against it. Hermione crowded in behind him and gasped in his ear.

"Someone's been here ahead of us," Harry said and walked through the dust to the chair. There were a set of footprints already on the floor.

"Yes, I see that."

Hermione turned and checked their backs and Harry picked up the note. He opened it and read it aloud.

This is one of six you are searching for. Do not touch it. It no longer has any power, but it is better to be safe. Leave Godric's Hollow quickly for HE will find you.

It was unsigned. Harry looked up at Hermione, picked up the case and raised the lid. It was a golden locket. "Someone knows about the Horcruxes, Hermione. This is the missing locket; the one Dumbledore and I should have found in the cave."

They studied the fine gold filigree and emerald stone set in the heart-shaped locket and Harry suddenly felt his forehead blaze into pain.

"Hermione, he's coming. Apparate to Grimmauld Place. I'll meet you there!" Harry was bending over and almost retching with pain.

"Harry!" she was trying to hold him upright.

"Go! Now!" he gasped in agony and disapparated seconds behind her.

…...

Ron Weasley started down the stairs at 12 Grimmauld Place and listened to the muted sound of voices in the lounge below. He had hesitated at the top of the stairs and finally started down. He could hear Lupin, McGonagall and his parents were in the sitting room. They were discussing how to find a way to release their friends or rescue the members of the old Order of the Phoenix.

He walked softly towards the door fighting with himself. Harry had told him about the Horcruxes. He promised to not share the secret with anyone and yet Ron felt with everything going on someone needed to know what they were really facing.

He stood in the doorway until his mother saw him.

"Ronald, this is a private meeting, go on upstairs," Molly said with exasperation. Lupin looked up. He was sitting on the edge of his chair, head bent and hands folded. He looked up when Ron entered and tried to smile. McGonagall had been telling them about a visit she'd had from the Minister. She merely raised her eyebrows when he entered.

"No, Molly, I think he has something to tell us," Arthur said, studying his son's face.

Ron gulped and nodded. "Yeah, I do."

Lupin stood and walked over and put a comforting arm around his shoulders. "Come in then and tell us. I hope it's good news. Have you heard from Harry?"

Ron tried out his own smile which faded and he shook his head. "No, no I haven't. But this is about Harry." He looked at his mother and then his father and began to talk.

An hour later, Remus was standing at the fireplace, one hand on his hip the other on his forehead. Molly was holding her husbands hand and McGonagall was pacing the room.

She was the first to speak. "This is horrible!" Her head was shaking almost as if she had palsy and she approached Lupin and stood before him. "What do you know about Horcruxes, Remus?"

His face had turned to a dusty shade of gray, even paler than his normal complexion, and he cleared his throat and continued to stare at Ron. It took a moment before he could speak. "Well it's probably the worst thing in the world that could happen," he said.

"What?" Molly choked. "Tell us Remus!"

McGonagall looked at her for a moment and then turned back to Lupin. "It means a person uses dark magic to split their soul into pieces. The soul-piece is placed in an object. It practically makes a person immortal. The physical body can die but the soul lives on. That's how Voldemort survived his first attempt to kill Harry Potter."

Lupin looked at her and rubbed his mouth. He nodded. "Yes, that's it basically. A blood charm was placed on Harry, probably Lily did it. It was what saved him and sent Voldemort into a sort of exile, without his body, but left with his mind. He was resurrected by using Harry's blood in the cemetery. It was the only way he could have survived, his soul was intact but not his body," he laughed suddenly. "WELL hardly intact. If I'm right there are seven Horcruxes!"

Ron nodded and said, "Harry says Dumbledore destroyed the ring and that's what burned his hand. The locket had been exchanged and so he thinks it's been destroyed. Harry destroyed the diary and that leaves the cup, the snake and something else."

Lupin was still grinning madly. "Yes, six pieces excluding the one abiding inside of him! Not one, Minerva-SIX!"

McGonagall frowned at him. "Get a hold of yourself, Remus. We mustn't lose our heads."

He sobered immediately and looked at Arthur and Molly's frightened faces. "Well, folks. It is one thing to destroy one. Look at what happened to Dumbledore. It is quite another to destroy...three others." He turned, looked around the room and spied a decanter and six sparkling goblets. He walked over, lifted the decanter of an amber colored liquid and tilted it and poured some into a glass. He looked up and saw McGonagall nod. He poured another and handed it to her. "It meansVoldemort cannot be destroyed by conventional means. He is a very adept wizard anyway. There are few who are his match and Dumbledore was one of them." He sipped the liquid and shook his head in frustration. "Bloody man had to go and get murdered, he did!"

"Remus!" Molly admonished and looked at her son.

"Molly," Arthur interrupted her. "Ron is hardly innocent. He's known about this for some time so has Hermione, and worst of all Harry was encouraged by Dumbledore. He went with him and he's out there now thinking he has to destroy these...these things."

"You're right Arthur," McGonagall murmured and stared at them. "Dumbledore knew Harry had destroyed the diary. There's something about the boy. He must have known something...thought Harry could do the job where another wizard couldn't. He does have a connection to Voldemort. We all know it. Why he even saved your life Arthur when that snake bit you. He's got a mental connection. But what Albus knew about the boy is beyond us now unless her told Harry."

Remus had been drinking the liquid in his glass and suddenly raised it and stared at it stupidly. "Confound it!"

Ron watched in fascination as Lupin staggered to a chair and dropped into it.

"What? What is it?" Arthur asked.

"Harry and Dumbledore went into the cave and retrieved the locket and Harry found it near Dumbledore's body. The note inside had the initials RAB. That could only have been Regulus." He stared at the walls around them and then looked directly at McGonagall and said, "I've been selling off Black possessions so that I could get Mad-Eye and Shacklebolt and the others released from Azkaban."

"We know that, Remus," McGonagall said, quietly.

"I just sold a necklace," Remus said. "It was a locket...a heart-shaped locket."

"Blimey!" Arthur gurgled and held his wife's hand to his chest. She clutched at his arm and they all stared at Lupin. He was now ashen.

….

Harry and Hermione apparated on Grimmauld street almost instantly and almost at the same moment. It looked different in the light of day and there were a number of pedestrians and people enjoying the summer air in the park.

Hermione was tending to Harry almost immediately. He was bent over clutching his forehead and swooning.

"Should we get you some help, deary?" a woman asked.

"No...no. He just gets migraines," Hermione said and guided him to a bench. "I have some medicine for him." She began to search her pockets and noticed the woman smile, nod and wander off. A few others stared at them and went on about their business.

Harry was biting his tongue so that he couldn't scream. The pain was ebbing a little and he was holding onto the park bench to keep from falling off.

"Harry," Hermione whispered in his ear. "We can't get into the house with all of these people around. I need to do something...I need to... create a diversion and then you can make the house appear. Are you well enough to do that?"

He nodded, still grasping his head and bending over so his head was almost between his knees. He was certain he would vomit on the grass and not be able to concentrate.

"I'll be behind you in five minutes. No more." She left his side and he tried to look up to see where she had gone when he heard a scream, a car horn honking and a small thud.

A woman in the park screamed and ran past him with a little poodle running frantically beside her on a leash; a man followed.

Harry looked up and over his shoulder and noticed the park was empty. He glanced over and repeated to himself, number twelve Grimmauld Place and abruptly the house appeared between number eleven and number thirteen. He stumbled towards it, pulling himself up the stairs and knocked frantically on the door, shouting, "Let me in!"

Ron heard the sound first and then Lupin. They all recognized the voice and Lupin was out of the room and down the hall before anyone could move. Ron followed and saw him pull out his wand and remove the charms on the door. Harry fell into his arms when the door opened.

"Hermione...," Harry mumbled, "behind me..."

Ron looked past him and saw the street, a group of people gathered and a car smashed up against another car. "Where? Harry where is Hermione?"

Lupin had lowered him to the floor and was looking at him with concern on his face. Harry groaned, "She went to create a diversion...so I could get in."

Ron glanced down once and stepped over him and shot out the door.

"Ron!" Lupin reached for him and missed. He shook his head and slammed the door and touched it with his wand.

"Wait..." Harry tried to rise up.

"It's not safe, Harry," Lupin said quietly. "He'll go fetch her and come back when he knows he can get in. We risk everything if we leave the door open for their return." He helped him to a sitting position as McGonagall, and the Weasley's crowded in and the wailing began as Mrs. Black woke up. The sound nearly deafened them all and caused Harry to do the very thing that he thought might happen on the park bench, he heaved all over the carpet.