Their success at finding and destroying one of the Horcruxes without any major problem put the trio into a very optimistic mood. Ron's elation at succeeding was easily matched by Hermione's joy at not having to destroy the Founder Hallow.
Harry's own elation was tinged with the knowledge that he was not yet ready to go after the last two remaining parts of Voldemort; Nagini and the Dark Lord himself.
He kept the result of casting the soul spell on the Veil of Death from his friends, not wanting to think about it himself let alone hear them speculate on the positive result's possible meanings. That added an element of gloom he felt threatening to bring down the mood he and the other two were in.
They needed a plan to be able to get back into the veil room to 'cleanse', as Hermione put it, the cup and locket. Harry was certain he would not be able to use the same excuse as before, and even with two invisibility cloaks it was unlikely they would be able to sneak into the Ministry, not with all of the new security, and being seen twice in the Department risked attracting attention.
Hermione desperately wanted to see the Hall of Magical Objects, especially when Harry mentioned seeing some books amongst the many shelves.
"Imagine the priceless treasures they have locked up where nobody can see them," she said, outraged.
"Not exactly nobody," said Ron. "That Gregory fellow seems to get to have a bit of a play with them."
This of course was completely the wrong thing to have pointed out and just got Hermione even more riled up and determined to get into the department to look around, but Harry was worried somebody might report both of their visits to Voldemort and he could possibly guess they had been after the staff.
Ron made several wildly outrageous suggestions, including having Voldemort stage an attack on the Ministry as a distraction, but what he really wanted to do was celebrate their success. Eventually Hermione agreed to go out somewhere with Ron and 'party'. Harry wasn't sure where, but he suspected she only did so to stop Ron from pestering them all night.
Relaxing gratefully on the lounge in the library after they left, Harry picked up one of the many books that he had purchased and began browsing through it, looking for something to distract his thoughts from the depressing dead end they had been threatening to go down.
It was still completely unrealistic to think he could defeat Voldemort in a fight.
Besides the fact the man had vastly more experience and knowledge, nobody knew what other kinds of protective or life saving measures he had taken. What if the Horcruxes were only one in a multitude of steps? What if no spell or physical violence could kill the magically created body he now wore?
For what must have been the millionth time, Harry wished he had done something different to have stopped and affected the ritual Wormtail had performed to make that body. If he had willingly given the blood, choosing to invalidate the 'forcibly taken' aspect of the ritual, could it have made Voldemort more vulnerable, perhaps making the body weaker or defective?
The many dark arts books they and the D.A. had access to had being searched and re-searched, but nobody found that exact ritual. Harry had been hoping to discover some weakness in it that he could exploit, but nothing presented itself.
Many other longevity and magic enhancing rites were unearthed, but none that didn't make his stomach turn at the mere thought of what was involved. It was likely Riddle had done some of them, and probably Malfoy senior too, judging by the number of related books that had been recovered from his house, but nobody on the light side was willing to make the sacrifices required for them.
The painful ritual that Voldemort performed on Harry's birthday was still a mystery too, a mystery that both disturbed and perplexed Harry at the same time.
"Your mum's protection may not have left you completely," Lupin had suggested, as a reason why whatever Voldemort tried had failed. "You were born in the afternoon, so You-Know-Who may have been a bit too impatient and made a trolls breakfast of it by casting before the anniversary of the hour of your birth."
Harry kept his suspicions about what the ritual was and if it had anything to do with the destruction of the vampire to himself, since any speculation was ultimately useless and putting ideas with possible dark implications about himself into people's heads was not something he thought wise to do.
Flicking through the book without actually reading any of it, Harry discovered a fold-out technical drawing of a vintage motor car. He did a double-take at some of the notations and labels before checking the name of the book - 'Magical Mechanicals'. It was all about enchanting vehicles and was dated 1943.
Going back through it carefully, Harry found many hand written notes and comments in the margins, penned by a familiar hand; Sirius. This must have been the book Sirius used as a guide to making his Motorcycle fly.
Harry had often thought about where the bike was, and had decided to one day he write to Hagrid and ask him, but for now the book was interesting enough to keep him occupied.
It was quite fascinating and, for the first time ever, Harry understood Mr Weasley's obsession with enchanting Muggle things. The small magical enchantments put on various parts could make a massive difference to the overall vehicle, without any hugely complicated spells required.
When a tipsy Ron and similarly affected Hermione returned, Harry was still wide awake and absorbing the fascinating book. He barely noticed them as they come in and said their goodnights before stumbling upstairs.
The book caught his imagination like nothing else, magical or Muggle, had ever done. The interplay of spells reminded him of the enchantments used on brooms that he had read about in the broom repair manual, but the enhancement of the mechanical parts was an art form onto itself.
Somehow, whether because of his new way of remembering things or because of the interest sparked by the tenuous link to Sirius, Harry found the concepts and spells understandable. Some aspects of Magical theory he had previously struggled with suddenly became clear as he read of practical application for the once obscure and irrelevant 'text book' concepts. He could visualise the way the magic worked, and understood its effects on the objects it was bound to.
When the light of the coming dawn started to brighten the window, Harry was sitting at a desk with a stack of parchments and a pile of books open around him. Lying in front of him was a very detailed drawing of a broom, but a broom unlike anything the magical world had ever seen before.
For starters, it had wings.
It was an amalgamation of several different ideas Harry had come up with while reading the mechanics manual and the broom repair guide. He knew it was far from complete and would probably not work, but for the first time in a long while, he had found something that interested him enough to distract him from his problems, and it had felt good to lose himself in it.
Harry climbed into bed and got a couple of hours sleep before he was woken by Ron.
"What is that thing you have drawn?" the redhead asked before Harry was totally awake. "It looks likes something Dad would have brought home from work. Where did you get the crazy idea to put wings on a broom?"
"I'm pretty sure it won't fly," Harry answered, while getting dressed. "I was just playing around, having a bit of fun."
"Well look out for Hermione when you get downstairs," said Ron. "She wants to ask you a load of questions about the spells and things you used - and the fact you stayed up all night."
Harry groaned and went down to face his friend, and hopefully get a late breakfast from Winky.
-
Hermione's interrogation was fairly mild. She was just surprised that Harry had understood and applied some quite obscure concepts after only a few hours of study.
"Pity you can't try to build it," said Ron, looking at the drawing again. "It looks like it could be a wicked ride – just before it tore itself apart and exploded, probably killing you in the process."
"Why couldn't I build it?" asked Harry.
They had never gotten around to buying any Auror brooms, having found all their needs met by Apparition, Portkey, and Floo, although Ron had used some of his vampire horde to get the latest Nimbus and Firebolt brooms, along with the best keeper pads and Quidditch balls money could buy, and a life time subscription to every Quidditch magazine in existence. Making a new broom seemed like a reasonable idea.
"You have to have a special license to build brooms," explained Hermione. "The Ministry requires all broom builders to undergo vigorous testing and examination to ensure they don't make dangerous brooms, and to keep the quality and standard of broom manufacture high. Each model has to be individually certified too, that's why new models are so rare."
"Yeah," added Ron. "Gits just want to make sure they get a piece of the pie, that's all that is."
"That's not exactly fair, Ron," said Hermione. "They are trying to ensure unqualified people don't go around making brooms that fail and hurt somebody."
"Like people a few hundred years before all of these regulations came in were all dying because their homemade brooms just kept failing out of the sky," said Ron rather sarcastically. "Rotten bureaucrats. They just love to wrap up everything in so much red tape that nothing ever gets done."
"What about modifying an existing broom"?" asked Harry. "If I started with an old broom and rebuilt it, would that be allowed?"
Neither Ron nor Hermione had any idea, although Hermione thought there might be some restriction on how much you could change a broom before it was considered a new type of broom, and Ron knew brooms modified for racing were not allowed to be sold to or used by the general public.
Harry decided to let the subject drop and filed it away for investigation another time but he had to admit that he had really enjoyed the challenge and excitement of designing the ungainly looking beast, and, for the first time, considered there could be another job out there he might want to do besides professional Quidditch or becoming an Auror.
Once Voldemort, Snape, and Wormtail were dead and buried, of course.
With a sigh, Harry folded the parchment and put it in a pocket, knowing it had just been a distraction.
"So where are we at anyway?" he asked, interrupting Ron and Hermione who were still discussing the in and outs of the broom industry and its regulating laws. "Has the D.A. come up with any likely leads as to where Voldemort or his snake might be hiding, or are we still stuck?"
"Nothing since our last visit," answered Hermione. "So we might as well go back to Slughorn and continue the Occlumency training while we try and find a way back into the D.O.M or find another way to destroy the Locket and Cup."
Nobody said anything about the fact the last things Harry had left to do were also the most impossible; killing Nagini and then Voldemort, or the fact none of them had any idea how to go about it.
-
"Are you ready, Harry?" asked Slughorn.
It had taken them another day to return to lessons with their former professor. Harry was very apprehensive, not wanting Hermione or Ron to know he had undergone the ritual, but expecting his new and vastly improved memory organisation to provide a massive improvement in his Occlumency.
He nodded to the professor and braced himself, wondering what would happen.
"Legilimens!"
Instantly Harry felt the professor enter his mind, just as easily as he had in the past, but this time the first images that rose unbidden were of his memory Hogwarts. The professor broke the spell in shock, and Harry didn't pass out!
"Well that was rather, unexpected," said Slughorn. "How do you feel, Harry?"
Harry felt the usual throbbing in his temples, but it was distinctly better than any time before.
"What happened?" ask Hermione.
Both of his friends had been ready to catch Harry if he fell off his chair and were surprised that he was still sitting upright.
"I was able to enter his mind, but instead of seeing his memories, I was only able to see the memory mansion – his Hogwarts – and very impressive it was!" answered Slughorn, giving Harry an appreciative look. "It would appear Mr Potter has taken that part of his training to heart and applied it with a will, eh lad? Been spending each night practicing have you? Excellent progress, although I am still shocked at how easy it is to gain entry to your thoughts, and I fear a bit more force on my part and I would have been able to access your memories, although finding the ones I wanted would have been much, much more difficult."
Harry didn't say anything. While he was happy that he had made some sort of progress, the fact he had been unable to eject Slughorn the moment he had felt him was a severe disappointment.
Seeing the look on his face, Slughorn offered more words of encouragement. "Not to worry, my boy. You have overcome much of the damage caused by the earlier lessons you were subjected to, and are on your way to becoming a first rate Occlumens. All of you in fact, are doing extremely well."
"Is it enough to stop somebody reading what spell I am going to cast in a battle?" asked Harry.
Slughorn looked surprised at the question. "It should be, if you are able to hold your emotions in check. If you are extremely angry or afraid, your emotions may provide an easy path to your thoughts. The trick is try to not remember the spell you are about to cast before you do so. It sounds difficult, but the better control you have over your memories the easier it is to achieve."
Harry nodded. "What about Ron and Hermione?"
"They are both able to keep their thoughts private from anything except the most intensive and forceful attack," answered Slughorn, before turning to the others. "Should either of you choose to continue your studies in a more academic environment, and you were able to find an institution that still runs the course, you would both be considered at a second year level for the practical Occlumency parts, especially you Mr Weasley."
Ron looked inordinately happy, but Hermione was watching Harry with a slight frown on her face.
"That's enough then," said Harry taking a pouch from a pocket. "Here is the remainder of your payment, and a bonus, Professor. I want you to know we appreciate you giving up your summer to tutor us-"
"Professor," interrupted Hermione. "Could you teach us Legilimency?"
Ron groaned and Slughorn smiled. "Of course, dear child," he said, eyeing the purse in Harry's hand. "Although it is a different discipline entirely and you may not have any aptitude for it, despite your Occlumency abilities."
Hermione convinced both Ron and Harry to take at least basic lessons in casting the Legilimency spell, citing the advantage it might give them in battle, if they ever got proficient enough, as the main reason. Harry and Ron both knew she would have tried to learn it even if it wasn't a valid point.
Slughorn accepted Harry's offer of additional payment with the minimum of fuss, adding to Harry's suspicion that he was grossly overpaying the man, but it was only money, and Hermione did have a point.
Surprisingly the magic used to invade another person's privacy was quite easy to learn, but controlling and interpreting the flow of memories was almost impossible, and they did not have a subject to fully test it on. Casting it on Ron or Hermione just gave them practice in using Occlumency, since the impulse they had implanted in themselves to automatically resist was too strong to override, Slughorn would not allow them access to his mind, although he gave them plenty of practice trying to get through his shields. Harry's mind was easy to access, but finding his memories inside his imaginary Hogwarts was considerably different to searching the cascade of images they knew would be the result of a normal invasion.
Learning how to use Legilimency in a battle was a whole other discipline that needed even more practice, and that meant spending even more hours in either the duelling part of either Grimmauld place or the D.A. Headquarters.
"Let's try it on Neville," suggested Ron. "He'll make a great test subject."
Hermione just frowned and Harry laughed, knowing Ron wanted revenge on Neville, for beating him in a duel previously.
"Not without warning him first, Ronald," said Hermione.
-
The D.A. took the idea to heart and used the memory chest and the trio's training to learn the basics of Legilimency. It proved to be extraordinarily difficult to use in a fight, unless the person you were facing was broadcasting their thoughts through high levels of emotion.
Remus and Tonks were still occasionally participating in training sessions at Grimmauld place, but Mad-eye Moody provided the gold nugget of information.
"I could have taught you how to protect your mind," the paranoid ex-Auror said. "Why did you need to be sneaking off to see that great, fat cowardly slug? I wouldn't have trusted that one with the time of day myself."
"Er, we really didn't want to bother you too much, and we needed a lot of tutoring. You are far too busy to spend days with us," said Hermione, covering their real reason, that they didn't want anybody to accidentally seen anything to do with the Horcruxes or the prophecy.
Moody grunted, not indicating if he believed them or not, and then began teaching them in the tricks Hit Wizards were taught when faced a superior opponent who could likely use Legilimency in battle.
"Think of an attack spell, any spell will do, so long as it could possibly be used in a fight," he explained. "Then change your mind at the last second - that way you can still be concentrating on the battle but not give away your hand. Do that a few times and your opponent will be rattled enough to forget about trying to guess what you are doing."
It sounded simple enough, but was very hard to do, especially when they didn't really have anybody skilled enough in Legilimency to really train with. Still, the extra duelling practice they undertook was worthwhile, since none of them believed for a moment that they were good enough yet.
It wasn't long before the lack of progress started to wear on Harry again though, even with the distraction of Ginny and the D.A. Raids on Death Eater holdings had virtually stopped as the easy targets were cleaned up, and retaliatory strikes from Voldemort's forces were again on the rise, forcing the group into a more defensive position. Muggle deaths were reaching epidemic proportions with the Dementors able to attack almost freely, and rampaging Giants moving like a natural disaster through the countryside.
The pressure of stopping the war was weighing heavily on Harry, especially when he started to pay more attention to what was happening in the world around him, instead of turning a blind eye to the daily murders and disappearances.
Hermione was back trying to burying herself in books as she searched for answers to the hundreds of questions they had, and Ron found himself spending more and more time training with the D.A., teaching and duelling for hours every day.
Harry still chose to stay hidden, restricting his training and practice to his two friends, the D.A. founders, Tonks, Remus and Moody, but his heart wasn't really in it. He needed to be doing something productive, and training wasn't it.
The trio took a few trips to investigate other possible Voldemort bases, but found nothing significant. The orphanage were Riddle had lived his childhood had long ago been demolished and a tall apartment block now sat on the site. The few Death Eater bases the D.A. or the Order did uncover showed no signs of ever having the giant snake or Voldemort in them.
All in all, Harry felt like he was slowly going mad from frustration.
As October started winding down, Hermione once again proved why she was considered the cleverest witch of her generation.
"The runes on the Staff are a message," she said, holding the object out for Harry and Ron to see, as if she was expecting them to immediately understand and interpret the writing.
"I'll take your word for it," said Ron, rubbing his eyes after looking for a only moment.
Hermione failed to notice his lack of enthusiasm and continued on excitedly.
"It took me a while, but I figured out there was a subtext in the spells and incantations that have been carved on it. In amongst it all, there is the tale of the Hogwarts Hallows, and it is significantly different to the one we have!"
Harry and Ron both tried and failed to look impressed. Undeterred, she explained further.
"This version, which has to be the original by virtue of being on one of the Hallows after all, says that the four objects were originally made to allow the founders to leave some of their spirit in the school. Slytherin like the idea so much that he created the Chamber of Secrets and then left, taking the locket so that the others couldn't complete the magic..."
Harry and Ron stared blankly.
"Don't you see? For the first time since the school was built, all four of the Hallows are together. We could return them and complete the enchantment!"
"Ah, Hermione?" said Ron. "There is just the little problem of a certain Dark Lord also putting a bit of himself into them. Do you think it is a good idea to get a piece of his soul mixed up in the school?"
"Not to mention we don't actually have the sword," added Harry.
Hermione look even more excited. "But don't you understand? The magic of the founders will be released from the Hallows. That means they probably won't be protected anymore and we will be able to destroy them. It's not Riddle who made the artefacts so unbreakable – it was the founders! Riddle just used them."
Harry wasn't convinced. "Are you sure? What if it leaves the bits of his soul get into the school instead? What if it makes Hogwarts a Horcrux or something?"
"It doesn't work that way," she said. "These are already part of the school, they just haven't been released. The Founders made them so that the school would become even more magical after they had all died. It was a way for them to preserve their ideals and beliefs in a more permanent way than word of mouth. You-Know-Who can't suddenly become part of the school anymore than he could become part of you."
"Er, are you forgetting he can possess people?" said Ron, clearly not sold on the idea.
"Oh Ronald, you have to believe me. It just doesn't work that way. The pieces of his soul will either be left inside the physical objects, or banished when the Founder's magic returns to the school," Hermione said, starting to get frustrated.
"Look, you might be certain, but I would be a lot happier doing it in the opposite order. Lets just break into the Department of Mysteries again, toss them through the Veil, then you can do what you like with them," said Ron.
"So when does it have to be done then?" asked Harry momentarily ignoring Ron's suggestion.
"We can only get into the tomb next week," answered Hermione. "On the night of the full moon. By the old calendar, it was during a period lasting about four weeks that signified a time where the barriers between the worlds were at their thinnest. Nobody recognises that whole time anymore, but we still remember one day of it."
Ron groaned and Harry felt his throat go dry.
"We call it Halloween."
-
They made and discarded dozens of plans over the following days. Ron and Harry tried several times to get back into the D.O.M, but they were either almost caught or not able to get into the Veil Room alone. Harry even ended up having to participate in a press conference when the Minister managed to get a hold of him during one visit.
Luckily he only had to publicly declare that while he applauded the actions of several 'vigilante' groups in defending themselves, he trusted the Ministry to carry the war to the enemy. There was even an added bonus of being able to ask for Rita Skeeter to be ejected from the conference, making the whole ordeal nowhere near as bad as he had been scared it would be.
While they were doing that, Hermione was writing letters at a furious rate. A veritable flock of owls were visiting her daily, and several members of the D.A. became almost permanent companions as she checked and double checked her translations with their help. Nobody was allowed to see more than a small section of the whole text though, as a way of keeping what she was studying secret.
Aside from a few minor mistakes, her interpretations were basically correct, and she also discovered exactly where it was the missing graveyard was meant to be, and an incantation that might open it.
"It's not actually on the grounds of Hogwarts," she explained. "It's halfway along the path to Hogsmeade and was made specifically for the Founders."
The only major sticking point she had was trying to get the Sword of Gryffindor without anybody knowing.
In the end, it had mostly been the work of Remus Lupin to get that. The trio had to convince the werewolf by showing him all of the evidence they had collected, including the Hallows, and then swear him to secrecy without telling him why Voldemort would be very interested in discovering what they knew.
"Moony," said Harry, "you are just going to have to trust us on this one. This is one of the most important things that is going to happen in this war, and if even a hint of it gets out, we could lose everything."
Remus frowned.
"Does this have something to do with what Dumbledore was working on before he passed away?" he asked.
Harry nodded and decided he needed to give the man something more to work on that just his word. "We went to get the locket that night, and he was badly hurt doing it. That's how Draco was able to get the jump on him."
With that, Lupin accepted their word and managed to convince Professor McGonagall to relinquish the sword to the person who had actually returned it to the school, Harry. In order to keep that fact as secret as possible, they would only pick it up on their way to the graveyard, leaving it to the last second.
Harry wondered how much the headmistress actually knew, considering her access to the portraits that had witnessed everything that transpired in office, and the fact she agreed to what must have been the most unusual and potentially controversial request ever made by a student since Tom Riddle asked to become the D.A.D.A. professor.
They decided Harry needed a cover story, in case he was seen near the school, and so sent a letter, via Remus, to Hagrid asking about Sirius's flying motorbike. The half-giant's reply showed he was extremely excited at Harry's impending visit and promised to give him the bike and teach him how to ride it, a feat he claimed would only take a few minutes. Both Ron and Harry thought this worth the trip its own, but Hermione was clearly less interested in that than in possibly retrieving the Half Blood Prince's potions book.
When the day finally came, Harry discovered he had been getting more and more nervous as well as excited. A few long months ago he had been uncertain if he would set foot inside the magnificent castle ever again, and yet here he was preparing to return as if it was just another secret trip to Diagon Alley.
If he had known what was going to happen during that visit, he would not have been looking forward to it, not at all.