Author: SportsNightLover

Title: Harry Potter and his Trusted Followers

Summary: Post HBP. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and others search for the horcruxes. They skip their last year at Hogwarts, so that they can find and destroy all of Voldemort's horcruxes.

Disclaimer: The characters are not, and were never, mine.

Harry had one of the horcruxes, and could even hold it, but didn't know what to do with it. He could only ask one person, the person who taught him the important things, Dumbledore.

"But Harry, Dumbledore is..." Hermione reasoned.

"Dead? There are other ways," Harry replied.

"Like what?" Ron joined in.

"You'll see."

Harry, desperately needing help and advice, went back to his favorite school. Hogwarts seemed bigger than when he had last been there. He immediately recognized the towers that were Gryffindor and Ravenclaw's homes. He recognized the huge gate with the chain lock.

Locked gate? He was on the outside with no way in. Luckily, Hagrid was near, and even in earshot. When Hagrid finally heard his many urgent calls, he opened the lock right away. Right after he was in, Harry scolded Hagrid.

"You shouldn't have let me in. I don't go to Hogwarts anymore, so I don't belong here. And, I could have been under the Imperius Curse, couldn't I?" Harry asked.

"No. Yeh can stop the Imperius Curse. Why yeh here anyway?" Hagrid answered, looking completely happy to see Harry.

"I need to see the headmistress. Now."

"OK. Why?" Hagrid said, staring at Harry with a questioning look on his face.

"Just get me there," Harry realized he was rude, and added, "Please."

"Sorry, but I'm busy," he said, even though he looked as though Harry arriving was the most interesting thing that happened all year. "I can tell you the password, if yeh'd like."

"What is it?"

Harry said the password to the familiar gargoyle, and stepped on the moving, spiral staircase that he had been on many times before. When he reached the door, he knocked only once. Professor McGonagall's stern voice floated through the cracks in the door, letting him enter.

The room was only slightly different, with few objects gone. Fawke's perch was gone, along with the phoenix. Harry wasn't surprised, because he saw Fawkes leave a few months ago. He was surprised to see a different object gone. The only known relic of Godric Gryffindor was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's the sword? It was always here," Harry asked, pointing at the empty glass case.

"Don't worry about that, Potter. Since you left, I thought you were gone for good. Why are you here?" she asked, surprised to see Harry was the one to enter her office, not a teacher. "And why have you taken most of my students?"

"It isn't most, and they are helping me. I didn't come to talk to you," Harry snapped, feeling like he was wasting his time.

"Then why are you here? There is no one else to talk to here."

"I have come to talk to him," Harry was now pointing at a blank portrait.

"As you can plainly see, Albus is out right now…"

"I can wait….So who replaced the missing teachers?" Harry asked making conversation while he waited.

"If you are going to stay here, don't talk," she said, looking down at her pieces of parchment.

Harry didn't have to wait long, because Dumbledore appeared in his frame a few minutes later. He looked exactly like when he was living, but Harry could only see his head. He still had silver hair and a silver beard. He didn't seem to notice Harry, and just started to talk to other portraits. Dumbledore soon spotted Harry, because all the other portraits were staring at him, making conversation difficult, and drawing Dumbledore's gaze.

"Harry, how are you?" he asked as if he were alive in the room.

"Fine," Harry answered briskly and business-like. He got up and walked to Dumbledore and said, not afraid of McGonagall hearing, "I need you to tell me something. What do I do with the horcruxes once I find them?"

"Have you found one?"

"Yes. What do I do with them?"

"I don't know. It changes for each one. Which one have you found?"

"This one," Harry said, while he took a golden goblet from a bag that he brought with him, ignoring McGonagall's look of surprise.

"Where did you find it? I've been looking for that for some time now."

"I don't know where. I found it in ruins near the cemetery in Godric's Hollow."

"Ah, yes. I should've known. Good work, Harry. I am very impressed. What have you done to it so far?"

"Nothing but pick it up, sir. I just got it, I came straight over."

"I want you to try something."

When he finished telling Harry the really complicated charm, Harry tried it. It didn't work the first time because Harry was better at spells, but ended up getting it all the same. The charm showed a few of the spells placed on the cup. The spells were Muggle repellents and some to make it so that you can't drink from it. Dumbledore told Harry exactly how to counter these obstacles, and what to do next. Harry was supposed to shatter it into as many pieces as possible. He did so, and was pleased to see that it worked.

"Well done, good job," Dumbledore said, grinning broadly. "That makes the total of destroyed horcruxes four."

"Three," Harry corrected. He then remembered that Dumbledore didn't know that the locket was a fake, and answered the question before it was asked, "The locket wasn't the one that we were looking for. When I later looked at it, it was smaller and didn't have Slytherin's mark. When I opened it, there was slip of parchment inside that said it was already stolen by R.A.B. Do you know who that is?"

Dumbledore's eyes were wide, realizing that he died for a fake horcrux, and that he didn't know where else to find it. He shook his head to answer Harry's question. He would do all that he could to find out, but right now, he didn't have a clue. Harry remembered that he carried that locket around with him, and he took it out of his pocket. He walked up to the portrait, as close as he could, and showed the locket to Dumbledore. Harry showed him the size and bareness of the front and back. He then opened it, and read out the note. When Dumbledore finished praising him again for his good work, he left his frame. Harry put away the locket, and looked down at the broken horcrux.

"I will take care of it, Potter," McGonagall said from behind Harry.

"Thank you, Professor." And with that he left.

He left the school grounds and disapparated back to Hogsmeade. He then told the rest of his army that they had achieved part of their goals. They all cheered, and their confidence was boosted. Harry allowed them to have a few butterbeers before turning in. He fell asleep, feeling that the path in front of him just got a little shorter.