here's chapter twenty deux!
Picking Up the Pieces Chapter Twenty-Two All Roads Lead to Hogwarts --
Tonks woke up, her forehead pressed against a window.
The dull thud of a headache combined with the heat
emanating from the glass made her feel sick to her
stomach.
She dizzily got to her feet, cursing herself for falling asleep when she should have been watching him.
Lupin lay in bed, so heavily bandaged he was almost unrecognizable. The slight, labored rising and falling of his chest was his only sign of life.
It had been three days since that night in the woods.
She had apparated them to her apartment, and used the
slight Healing skills she had acquired in Auror
training to stabilize him and stop the bleeding.
His wounds were healing better than she could have expected, but she still wished she could take him to a proper Healer. But she couldn't let anyone know where or what they were doing. Snape would hear. He would kill them both.
And she was also wanted for the murder of Kingsley Shacklebolt. If she was arrested, Lupin would have no one to protect him.
So she could tell no one. She was forced to just stay there and wait and pray that he'd say something, that he'd open his eyes just once.
Tonks made a pot of strong coffee, and sat at her kitchen table. It was so quiet. Horribly quiet.
Tonks loved being around people, being around laughter and noise. When she wasn't, it made her feel drained and listless.
All she felt like doing was closing her eyes again.
She hadn't slept properly in days.But she knew she
couldn't.
She just had to wait.
--
Harry hurried into the hotel room, his hair wet from the sprinkling of rain coming down outside. His apparition back had been a little helter-skelter due to his excitement, and he'd ended up outside in the encroaching showers.
Ron and Hermione weren't there.
"Guys?" Harry called out, looking in the two bedrooms.
Nothing.
His heart started thudding unpleasantly. No no no no no...not them too.
He heard footsteps coming down the hallway, and familiar laughter.
It was them. He felt his breath catch in his throat with relief. Harry heard Ron's voice telling some unintelligible story, and Hermione laughing.
The hotel door banged open, and they stumbled in,
holding hands, both soaked with rain and smiling.
"Harry! You're okay! How'd it go?" Hermione gasped,
racing over to hug him.
"I-I'm fine. You two scared me to death."
"Sorry, mate. Just felt like a walk in the rain, you know." Ron said, grinning as he patted Harry on the shoulder.
"Er...okay. Well, that crazy old woman told me some very interesting news. First of all, the next Horcrux is-"
"A ring."
"Which I happen to have." Ron held up his hand,
revealing a gold ring on his pinkie.
Harry looked at him, stunned.
"When I got taken from Malfoy Manor, right after Hermione had done the Locating spell, I had found this ring. Something told me to pick it up and take it. It was her spell leading me to the Horcrux, the bloody little genius." Ron said, taking off the ring and putting in Harry's hand.
Hermione smiled at him, her cheeks slightly flushed.
"Right. That's terrific. Well-done, you two," Harry said, looking at his friends with a surging of pride.
"So should we..." Ron motioned to the fire.
"Destroy it? Yes, let's." Harry said, lighting a fire with his wand.
"Wait! We need to use it locate the next Horcrux"
Hermione stepped between Harry and the fire, looking
exasperated.
"Oh. Right." Ron said, going to extinguish the fire with his wand.
"I know where the next one is."
"You do?"
"Or I know someone who will. Miss Weston said the next Horcrux is the cup of Hufflepuff. And that it's buried deep within Hogwarts."
"That's pretty vague, Harry."
"No, think about guys. Who knows Hogwarts better than anyone?"
"Filch?" Ron suggested, still looking confused.
"McGonagall?" Hermione said.
"Dumbledore." Harry said, as if it was obvious.
"Harry...Dumbledore's..."
"Dead. Thank you, I know. But his portrait is still in that office. I could talk to the portrait of Regulus Black like he was still alive. Those portraits can still watch, listen, and talk. We have to go to Hogwarts and ask him where it is."
"So we'll go. But maybe we should keep the ring just in case."
"No. We still should destroy it." Harry shook his head.
"Why?"
"I've got the feeling that wherever this cup is--well,
then there's just one more Horcrux and then Voldemort
himself to take care of. He might be staying close to
it. Every Horcrux we destroy makes him weaker. So I
say we make him as weak as possible...just in case
he's there waiting for us."
The gravity of this statement seemed to take all the wind out of Ron and Hermione's unusually cheery sails.
"You're right. Destroy it." Hermione said, stepping away from the fire.
"Score one for the sidekicks." Ron grinned weakly as Harry threw it into the fire.
They all three watched it melt in silence.
--
"Where the hell are we?" Draco looked around at the dripping stone walls illuminated only by the candelabras hanging every fourty feet or so.
"I thought you were never, ever, ever going to talk to me again." Snape said, knocking away a cobweb.
"Well...I...just answer the question."
Snape smiled, only slightly.
"We need to access the deepest regions of Hogwarts.
This would be easier if we could enter from inside the
school, but our current status with the student and
faculty is not too stellar, as you know. Luckily for
us, Hogwarts comprises a wide tunnel system, leading
all over the grounds. So we entered from the outer
regions of the forest and are now making our way
towards the proverbial "heart" of the school- The
Inceptum Chamber- the place where the Founders had
their first meal, etc. etc... fill in whatever other
school lore you'd like. I've never seen this
particular chamber myself, but I've always wanted to
see if it lived up to its...hype, as it were."
Draco nodded, moodily walking along.
"Does that answer your question, Mr. Malfoy?'
He grunted a reply.
"Good. Then let us continue."
--
Harry, Hermione, and Ron were escorted by Professor McGonagall up to her office.
"I must say, I was surprised to hear from you three.
Thought you'd outgrown formal education." She said,
with a slight smirk.
"Oh, Professor, you know I'd never leave unless it was absolutely necessary." Hermione said dutifully.
They stepped onto the revolving staircase, thankful that the students were still in their classes.
"So I assume that things are going well?" McGonagall asked, smoothing down the front of her black robes as she sat down at her desk.
"Yes...well, I mean, to an extent. Lupin and Sirius were helping us, but we haven't heard from them in days. Ginny Weasley was kidnapped, along with Ron, but he barely escaped. We still have no idea where she might be."
"Did you say Sirius? As in, Sirius Black?"
"Yes. He isn't dead...it's a long story."
McGonagall blinked, surprised.
"Oh. Well, do fill me in on the details when this is all over."
"Of course, Professor."
"As to the matter of Miss Weasley...I have just received some information on her whereabouts."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked up sharply.
"What did you hear?" Harry said, feeling his heart thudding unnaturally hard against his chest.
"Ron, your mother wrote me only yesterday to tell me of something most unusual. She had stopped paying attention to your ingenious litttle "Weasley" clock that tells the location of all the family members when all the hands switched to Mortal Peril. But the other day, she happened to glance upon it. Ginny's hand was no longer with everyone else's- it pointed to "Hogwarts."
"She's back at school?" Ron sputtered, confused.
"No. Not in an official capacity. No one's seen or heard from her. But I trust your parents' magical aptitude- if the clock says she's here, she must be here."
"Where then?" Harry demanded, frustrated.
"Mr. Potter, asI told you, no one knows. But it does narrow the search down considerably."
"I bet you anything she's with that cup. And that Voldemort's got people there on guard, waiting for us." Hermione said, her voice betraying nerves.
"We need to talk to Dumbledore."
"Did I hear my name?" A sleepy-eyed Albus Dumbledore stirred from his ornate chair in his portrait.
Harry looked over at the picture, feeling his throat grow tight.
"Professor." He said, smiling as he walked over to the picture.
Dumbledore was wearing outrageous green and purple robes with silver stars sewn expertly, and his half-moon glasses rested in their usual position at the end of his crooked nose.
"Harry...it's good to see you again. And do I see Miss Granger and Mister Weasley back there as well?" He asked, adjusting his glasses.
"Yes, we're all here." Harry said, feeling relief wash
over him like water. Dumbledore would know what to do.
He always would, just as he always had.
"On the quest for the Horcruxes, are we?" Dumbledore asked eagerly.
"Yes. And we've found and destroyed all but the last two. Harry talked to Emma Weston, a descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw, and she said the penultimate Horcrux is the cup of Hufflepuff, and that it's found deep within Hogwarts. But that's all the information she would give us- she said she didn't know what the last Horcrux would be either." Hermione said, her words going together in an excited rush.
Dumbledore considered this for a moment.
"First of all, I'm very proud of your progress.Secondly, I do believe I know the room of which you speak. As for the last Horcrux...that is unknown to all but Tom Riddle himself. I spoke of my suspicion that it was his snake, Nagini, but even I can be wrong at times."
"I discovered a variation on a Locating Spell that can lead us to the next Horcrux- so if we find the cup, I think we can find the last of them." Hermione pointed out.
Dumbledore looked at her, his eyebrows raised.
"That's ingenious, Miss Granger. Really. Your cleverness seems to grow exponentially."
Hermione blushed.
"Thank you, sir."
"This locating spell- I'm assuming it's a twist on the Revelio spell?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes."
"And it tells you the location of the next Horcrux?"
"Yeah- like "Malfoy Manor." Ron supplied.
"This is just a thought, but perhaps you could make it
reveal the next Horcrux, instead of merely it's
location. It's my belief that he may be stockpiling
and safeguarding- and where better to do it then the
only place he felt at home? If the location of the
final Horcrux is in Hogwarts, just the location will
not help you much. Simply say Res Revelio- instead of
merely Revelio. Now, I've never tried this- but to the
best of my knowledge, it might possibly work"
Dumbledore said, with a slight smile.
"Thank you- we'll try that, sir."
"Of course. Now as to that location- Miss Granger?
Could you borrow a quill and paper from Headmistress
McGonagall?"
Hermione scurried to do so.
"Ready when you are, sir." She said, quill poised.
"Good, now listen closely...this is going to get rather complicated..."
--
Tonks pulled a terrycloth robe around her as she got out of the shower. She had left the bathroom door open so she could hear if he said anything.
She washed her face and brushed her teeth, feeling as if the silence was so deafening she'd soon just give up and start talking to herself.
She left the bathroom, and padded on bare feet to the front door to padlock it. As she slid the lock into place, she heard it- so soft and weak it barely reached her ears...
"Don't...don't leave me."
--
A/N- Thanks for reading- next chapter, Lupin's awake
and none too happy, The Hufflepuff cup is found, Ron
and Hermione find out that making out in dark
corridors IS pretty hot, Draco learns the awful truth,
and Harry has a run-in with the last two people he
ever thought he'd see as Voldemort forces him to make
a terrible choice. The final showdown begins...