Chapter 18

Destroying Horcruxes

Ministry of Magic
The same night

The fireplace glowed green for a moment as it ejected, one at a time, Harry, Dudley, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. Harry had made it through fairly gracefully, however Dudley was inexperienced with this form of travel. He landed on his posterior and the others following him landed on him in a pile of arms and legs.

As they untangled themselves, they found that they were in the middle of a circle of Aurors, all with wands pointed directly at them. "Whoa! Were the good guys!" Dudley yelled.

"Just making sure." Shacklebolt stepped forward. "Do you have the other objects?"

Harry held out the bag he was carrying. Inside were the remains of Riddle's diary and Gaunt's ring, along with the Slytherin Locket and Hufflepuff's Cup. Shacklebolt took it and they all headed into the museum room that held the artifacts. "Are you sure this will work?" he asked.

"Everything that I have read on the subject indicates that it will," Harry said. "I have the spell to extract the pieces of the soul, that should leave the artifacts intact. The reason that Gaunt's Ring had to be destroyed was that the soul fraction inside would have attached itself to Dumbledore upon being freed. He had to destroy the soul while it was inside the ring, and the spell backfired on him. That is what happened to his arm."

Shacklebolt set the different objects up on a platform. First came the ruined diary, then the ring, then Hufflepuff's cup, Slytherin's Locket and finally, the fake Ravenclaw Wand. "I'm not sure why you needed to have the destroyed Horcruxes here though."

"All part of the plan", Harry explained. "Are the Anti-Apparition wards up? And the Floo fireplaces unhooked from the network?"

"Yes, we unhooked them as soon as you came through, and there are 25 of the Ministry's finest Aurors here to make sure that you are not disturbed."

"Alright then. Its time that we get started." With that, Harry and the others stood in a semicircle around the objects. He reached out with his mind toward Voldemort.

"Oh, Tom…. I have something to show you." He felt the connection stabilize.

"YOU!!" Voldemort hissed. "What do you think you are doing?"

"Tom, look and see what I'm seeing" Harry looked at the Diary. "Remember this? It was your first Horcrux. I destroyed it in the Chamber of Secrets when I beat you there. And I was only 12 years old… You were pathetic." He turned his gaze to Marvolo Gaunt's ring. He 'heard' Voldemort give an inward hiss. "Yeah, Tom.. Dumbledore killed off this Horcrux. He hurt himself badly doing it, but he didn't have the tools that I have."

Voldemort was strangely quite, but then said, "That is only two. It is a loss, that I will admit Harry. But that doesn't change the fact that I still have 4 more. I can even sacrifice one or two and still be ahead."

"But can you sacrifice them all?" Harry turned his gaze to Hufflepuff's Cup. He felt Voldemort stiffen. Taking up his wand, he nodded to the others.

"DILIGO PROSAPIA!" Dudley pointed his wand and a bright blue light shot from it and hit the cup.

"DILIGO AMICTIA!" This from Ron and Hermione. A silver light came from each of their wands and hit the cup.

"DILIGO MATERIA!" Ginny shot out her beam. The four beams of light held as Harry cried out,

"SECEDO ANIMUS!" A purple light shot from Harry's wand, hitting the Horcrux. A light began escaping from the cup, but then it connected with the beams from the wands of Harry's friends.

Voldemort screamed in pain. Harry's scar started to throb, but he ignored it. When the Horcrux soul had dissipated, Harry 'heard' Voldemort scream at his Death Eaters to find Harry and stop him. Harry immediately turned his attention to the Locket.

"Remember this one, Tom? Regulus Black stole it from the cave. He knew what it was, but he never got the chance to destroy it. We are going to do that now." The five held their wands on the Locket and repeated their spells, to the same effect.

"And now for the big one. You really had us fooled on this one, Tom. I found that it was a Horcrux, but it wasn't what it was advertised. You were duped into thinking that it was Ravenclaw's wand, but it was not. The real wand look like this." Harry shot an image of the real, splintered wand at Voldemort. "It did serve its purpose, and it was safely guarded by the Ministry for all these years…. You must have gotten a kick out of that. But all bad things must come to an end." They raised their wands and repeated their spells. Voldemort again screamed in pain and rage.

"So that takes care of five. Are you ready for the last one?" At this, Harry felt Voldemort stiffen with resolve.

"You can't know what the last Horcrux is if you think that you can take it. I happen to know exactly where the last one is located. This means that you can never be rid of me. I will kill you slowly, boy! You will beg me for death!"

Harry reached into Voldemort's mind, battering down his shields. For someone who was so strong at Legilimency, Voldemort had very poor Occlumency shields. He 'felt' Nagini wrapped around Voldemort, then connected with that part of Voldemort that was in Nagini.

"Nagini," he hissed in Parseltongue , "Come to me." He felt Voldemort reel in shock as Nagini began to unwrap herself.

"NO!!! Nagini, he only wants to kill you!" Voldemort cried out to the snake.

"Isss thisss true?" hissed Nagini to Harry.

"Nagini, I believe that I can remove that part of your master from you without hurting you." Harry projected at the snake. "I cannot promise you that I can, but it will give you a chance at freedom. It is a risk, but it is up to you whether you take it. Otherwise I will be forced to kill you when I see you to prevent Voldemort from returning." He and Voldemort waited with bated breath for the snake's answer.

"To beee freeeee…"

"NO!" yelled Voldemort. "You will not desert me!" Voldemort struck out with his wand and placed Nagini in a full body bind. "You will stay with me whether you like it or not!"

"Freee meeee!!" The snake hissed in its mind. Harry felt pity for the creature. Nagini was not evil in and of herself. The part of Voldemort controlling her had made her do things that she would have never done in the wild. As Voldemort's Horcruxes were destroyed, he lost some of that connection and control. This allowed her to begin thinking for herself once again.

Voldemort laughed, but it was hollow. "It seems that we have a stalemate, Harry. You cannot break my spell over Nagini, and I cannot take the chance of ever sending her out do tasks for me."

"This isn't the end, Tom." Harry was frustrated that he was not able to bring Nagini to him, but he had always considered it a long shot. He broke the connection with Voldemort. He turned and looked at the others. They all looked tired, the magic that they had spent was telling. Shacklebolt brought out a huge bar of chocolate for them to break pieces from, while Harry checked the artifacts. They were all inert, no longer containing the parts of Voldemort's soul.

"What were those spells that you were casting?" Shacklebolt asked Harry as he handed him a chunk of chocolate.

"The one that Dudley cast translates to 'Love of Family', Ron and Hermione cast 'Love of Friends'," Harry said.

"And Ginny?" Harry and Ginny both blushed.

"Love of a Mate".

Shacklebolt grinned. "Does this mean that you two are officially an item?"

Ginny stepped forward. "I guess that you could say that. Before we came here, McGonagall brought the Minister to Hogwarts and performed the binding on us. We are, in the eyes of Wizarding law, married, thus mates."

Ron and Hermione's jaws dropped. "Mum's gonna go spare! Do you have any idea how long she has been planning your wedding? And now you get married even before Bill and Fleur have their wedding? I wouldn't want to be in your shoes when she finds out!"

"I think that she knows by now. Minerva said that she would tell her while we were gone." The group arrived at the main lobby just in time to see the Aurors hustling off two bound Death Eaters. There were scorch marks from a battle evident on the walls and furnishings.

"What happened?" asked Ron.

"They came in a few minutes ago. We were ready for them, so no one on our side was hurt. The others got away, but we did get these two." The Auror who spoke was young, probably recently out of his advanced training. They look to be pretty young, probably seventh year Hogwarts students. They will get their day in court, if they weren't in the group already convicted in abstentia. They may have already earned their one way ticket through the Veil though."

Harry shook his head sadly. He knew the reasons for the death sentences, but wished that the young Death Eaters could be rehabilitated. The Ministry however, was determined to make an example of the Death Eaters to avoid a repeat of the last time. Just having the Dark Mark was considered prima fasciae evidence, and could earn the bearer a death sentence.

Harry took Ginny's arm. "Well, Mrs. Potter, do you think that it is about time to head back home and face the music from your mum?"

"Certainly, Mr. Potter. Although we will probably wish that Voldemort had dealt with us instead. We would be heroes then. Right now we are just in trouble."

"Harry James Potter! How dare you show your face after eloping with my daughter! And you, Ginevra Weasley! If you think that this will stand, you have another thought coming! I did not agree to this, neither did your father!"

"Uh, Molly dear…. " Until this, Arthur had been willing to let Molly rant. "Actually, I did give permission…"

"HOW DARE YOU! And you didn't think to even ask my opinion! I certainly hope that you like the couch in the Gryffindor common room, because that is where you are going to be sleeping tonight!" Molly was in fine form and just getting started. She turned to Ginny. "And you, young lady, will be spending your nights in my room! I don't care what the Ministry says, you are not married until I say you're married! You don't even have a ring!"

"Mum… " Ginny held out her hand. On her ring finger was an antique ring. "It was Harry's mum's. And her mum before her.. It has been passed down for over 300 years. I love him, he loves me, and he is my husband. Period!"

Molly stood in shock. Ginny had her dander up now and was just as formidable as her mother. Harry had the idea that he was watching the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. Molly reached out and grabbed Ginny into a hug. She was crying.

"Don't worry mum. We'll have the big wedding that you want. And until then, we will wait to share the things that married couples share." She took the ring from her finger and handed it to Molly. "Please hold onto this for me until that day. Harry, I think that it is time to do this properly."

Harry gulped and turned toward Arthur. "Mr. Weasley,…"

Arthur smiled. "Harry, you already asked me, and I agreed."

"Oh, yeah… Harry reached in his pocket and took out another ring box. When he opened it, there was a matching engagement ring. He turned it toward Ginny, got down on one knee. "Ginny Weasley, you have captured my heart. I love you as much as life itself and I cannot see myself living without you. Ginny, will you marry me?"

"Well, I don't know…this is kind of sudden…" Ginny looked at Harry's face, then broke out in a grin. "Of course I will! I have loved you as long as I can remember. When I dated Dean, I saw you. No one could ever measure up to you, Harry. I love you with my entire being, and want to spend the rest of my life with you." She held out her finger and Harry slipped the ring on it.

Molly squealed. "I have a wedding to plan!" She started for the stairs and Arthur got up to follow. "Just where do you think that you are going? You are still in the doghouse, mister. Or on the couch, as the case may be." Arthur gave Molly a hang-dog look. "Oh, well…come on. I never could stay mad at you." Arthur followed Molly as the rest of the room broke out in laughter.

A/N: It was about time to have some serious fluff here... but then again, I'm never serious... that is why you got this instead:)