A/N: PLEASE READ BEFORE READING THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER!!
SPOILERS: This chapter, along with the rest of the story will deal with material from HBP.
ON CONNECTIONS TO HBP: Although the summary of this story says that it is "preHBP," that is not meant to say that HArry's 6th year never happened. This story will deal with the events of the 6th book, although any involvement on the part of Draco Malfoy has been removed. That is, an Unbreakable Vow was never made Draco was never meant to kill Dumbledore, Dumbledore never died, etc. However, Harry and Dumbledore's work did occur, and will be discussed in this chapter in some great detail.
Enjoy!
Ch.6: Horcruxes
It was the week before Halloween, and Draco and Hermione had been hurriedly organizing the Halloween Feast.
They had decided to follow the traditional menu, and only the decorations had yet to be decided.
"What do you think of the Forbidden Forest?" Hermione asked, twirling a curl of hair around her finger.
Draco shuddered, "I never want to be there alone at night!"
"No silly, I mean as the decoration theme for the feast!" Hermione laughed
"Oh. Oh, Right. I think that sounds good. Yeah, we can ask Dumbledore to make the walls and ceiling look like the forest…and maybe we could have some large spiders. Just for Ron." Draco smirked.
Hermione giggled and shook her head, glad that everything had been settled.
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"We've done it!" Harry announced excitedly.
"Done it?" Hermione asked, confused.
Harry had just entered the portrait hole with a loud whoop. Ron, Draco, and Hermione had been sitting on the carpet, quizzing each other on the properties of Polyjuice Potion.
"We found Helga Hufflepuff's cup!" Harry exclaimed triumphantly.
Ron and Hermione grinned widely, while Draco simply looked confused. Realizing this, Hermione looked at Harry with a concerned expression.
"Harry, ought we to discuss this here?" She asked quietly.
"Don't worry, Dumbledore said it was fine to allow Draco in on this. He thinks he may be able to help us."
Harry sat down next to Draco and began to tell him just what exactly he did on Monday evenings with Dumbledore.
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"So you mean to say that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named split his soul into seven pieces?" Draco asked incredulously.
"Yeah, and between Dumbledore and myself, we've managed to track down and destroy three of the Horcruxes. The first was Tom Riddle's diary. I destroyed it, not knowing what it was, down in the chamber of secrets. Then, Dumbledore destroyed the Horcrux that was contained in Marvolo's ring. Finally, tonight, we found and destroyed the one contained in Hufflepuff's cup." Harry said.
"How did you do it, Harry?" Hermione asked softly.
"Well, we've been trying to piece together where he might have placed the cup. The diary, he wanted planted in the school, an important place to him. The ring was located in the ruins of Marvolo's home. The locket, had it been there when we arrived, had been located in the cliffs where he had terrorized the orphans."
"There is a pattern to Voldemort's work. All the Horcruxes are objects of symbolic importance to him. All the places where he has hidden them are places of importance in his development as a wizard. Now, Voldemort had obtained both the locket and the cup from the home of the old witch while he was working for Borgin and Burkes. We figured he wouldn't have placed the cup in her old home, as he had put the locket in the cliffs."
"After closer examination of the memories we had complied of Voldemort, we realized that Voldemort had done a very stupid thing. The teacher who had taught him about Horcruxes would have indeed been very special to him. Voldemort had once visited the castle, asking Dumbledore for a job. He knew that he would not get it, and yet he still came. Previously, we had thought that he wished to procure one of Gryffindor's relics to turn into a Horcrux, but then we realized that the teacher who had taught him so much still resided in the castle. A teacher who was fond of nice things."
"Horace Slughorn," Hermione breathed softly.
"Exactly. Voldemort had made the Horcrux, and then disguised it. On discussion with Professor Slughorn, our suspicions were confirmed. That night, Voldemort had visited him, and presented him with a golden bowl filled with crystallized pineapple."
"Slughorn left the school shortly after than, and Voldemort was sure that his Horcrux would be safe. Unfortunately for him, Slughorn has returned to Hogwarts, bringing the Horcrux directly to Dumbledore and I. He was only too happy to turn it over once he learned what it was. The charm disguising the bowl was a quite difficult to break, but there were no other guards on it at all. Its seems rather odd, compared to the magic surrounding the locket, but then, the diary itself was rather easy to destroy as well."
Ron shook his head in disbelief.
"Blimey, mate! That is quite some bit of brainwork there."
Draco looked at Harry with some amount of worry.
"But you've only described three Horcruxes. What about the rest?"
"Well," Harry began, looking troubled, but Hermione cut him off.
"I can explain this part Harry," She said kindly. Harry nodded to her, and she face Draco.
"You see, Harry and Dumbledore have only a bit of guesswork left. Three of the Horcruxes have been located and destroyed. What remains are four objects. We assume that Voldemort was unable to procure one of Gryffindor's relics, as the only surviving ones are the sword and Sorting Hat."
"However, we have yet to investigate and relics of Rowena Ravenclaw. It is possible that Voldemort procured such an item. We believe his snake, Nagini, to be a Horcrux, and of course, one seventh of his soul remains in his own body. The final Horcrux, the locket, is perhaps our biggest mystery and worry."
"Why is that?" Draco asked.
"Well, you see, Harry and Dumbledore found the locket at great risk to themselves, only to discover on returning to the castle that it was not Slytherin's locket. Someone, with the initials of R.A.B. had taken the locket. We don't know who it is, but he expected to be killed. The problem is, we have no idea if he succeeded in destroying the Horcrux or not."
"R.A.B.?" Draco mused. The initials struck him as familiar. And then, he remembered.
"R.A.B!" He said excitedly. "I know who that is!"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at him, wide eyed.
"Regulus Black. My cousin. I remember it. One night, when I was about four or five, my father left the dinner table abruptly. He had been called by The Da-Voldemort." Draco began.
"Go on, Draco," Hermione encouraged softly.
"Well, when he returned, I could hear him raging to my mother down the hall. I was supposed to be in bed, but the yelling was so loud, that I couldn't help but hear. Years before, my father had been ordered to kill my mother's cousin for his betrayal of Voldemort."
"He was ordered to torture Regulus first, before finishing him. However, Regulus was not a strong man, and my father believed him dead by the time he had finished torturing him. He was wrong. Regulus was not a large man, but he was smart. He had taken a potion that would allow him to appear dead, only to wake several hours later."
"For the next several years, Regulus operated on his own, determined to help bring Voldemort down. Bellatrix Lestrange finally caught him. Voldemort summoned my father that night in rage, and had ordered him to Avada Regulus. He then punished my father for the trouble he had caused. Each year, on the anniversary of that night, my father was to return to the Lestrange mansion and perform charms that would allow my aunt and uncle's home to remain unplottable to any Auror. While my father believed that Voldemort had disappeared, he knew that several Death Eaters still remained loyal. Death Eaters who were never sent to Azkaban. These men and women held him to his punishment each year, confident that Voldemort would return."
" As my father raged to my mother about all he risked each time he made this journey: imprisonment, the dementor's kiss, death; he also spoke of the man who had gotten him into this situation. My father, as well as being a coward, refuses to accept that he is ever in the wrong. He had then said something that I didn't understand, that Regulus had managed to steal a part of Voldemort's soul. Now it makes sense. My father said that the incident was insignificant, but that they could not find what Regulus had stolen."
Harry nodded. "Thank you Draco, for sharing that with us. It is of great help to us to know who it was that took the locket."
"Unfortunately, I can't help you to know where that locket has gone to, if it even exists anymore." Draco said wryly.
"Well, any help at all is a great step in the right direction. Thanks mate." Harry said gruffly.
Hermione and Ron smiled at each other. They themselves had come to terms with the fact that they were not of any particular help in finding and destroying the Horcruxes, and were glad that Draco could help.
Harry looked at Hermione and Ron for a moment, and then back to Draco.
"Draco…would you be willing to help us? With this whole mess, I mean. We really could use someone with your brains and skill." He asked.
"Harry, I thought you'd have known by now. I'm your friend. I'll do everything I can to help. I want to see Voldemort- and the Death Eaters- dead." He said with quiet determination.
The four looked around at each other, unknowingly mirroring the formation of the founders of Hogwarts, years ago. The four had sat on the grounds that would become Hogwarts, and made a vow always protect one another, and to brighten the minds of anyone with a thirst to learn.
Now, the four sitting on the floor made a silent promise to protect each other, and to bring down Lord Voldemort, no matter the cost.
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