Nobody seems to like this story, and yet I press on. I mean, seriously. Zero reviews? Is it really that bad?
Quest for the Missing HorcruxesChapter 3: Finding the First
Harry pelted out of the room so fast he didn't look where he was going, and subsequently ran into Ron, who bounced off the statue of Egbert in considerable pain.
"Ow! Watch it, mate!"
Harry couldn't help but laugh for a second, as Ron rubbed the bruise on his arm. Hermione came running up the stairs, puffing slightly.
"You could…have waited…" she gasped.
"I'm sorry, Hermione. But I think I know what to do now." Quickly, he outlined what had happened to his two friends. Ron looked mildly confused.
"Harry, how would there be a spell that could allow you to see where the Horcruxes are? Seems a bit odd that Voldemort's trying to kill you would make that happen."
"I don't think that's it, Ron" Hermione said. "Imagine if Voldemort was hit with a powerful Memory Charm, and forgot about his Horcruxes. He'd probably keep that spell written down on a piece of parchment-"
"Like the one I saw!" Harry said. "And then, he could be looking through his pockets, and find it, and perform it out of curiosity, and remember!"
"But I thought that Voldemort thought that he alone knew about his Horcruxes?" Ron wondered.
"Simple" Harry said. "Voldemort gets hit with a Memory Charm intended to erase his memory of something else. Knowledge of his Horcruxes could just be incidental damage."
"Or," Hermione added, "this could be a more recent spell. It's possible that Voldemort knows about R.A.B. and had him or her killed."
Hermione's last words seemed to echo in Harry's brain. Images and voices started coming together in his head. The note inside the fake Horcrux, reading "I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can." A conversation he had had with Sirius. "No, he was murdered by Voldemort. Or rather, on Voldemort's orders." A glimpse of the family tree hanging at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, with a date of death nearly seventeen years ago…
"…so since then, he could have made a spell to keep track of them…"
"Regulus!" Harry exclaimed. Hermione stopped in the middle of her explanation.
"Regulus, Harry?"
"Yes! It all fits! Sirius had a younger brother who joined the Death Eaters. Voldemort killed him right around the time I was born. And I'll bet you anything his middle name began with an A! R.A.B.! Regulus A. Black!" Hermione and Ron went wide-eyed.
"Do you really think so, Harry?" Ron asked. "I mean, how would even a Death Eater know about the Horcruxes?"
"And if he did," Hermione added, "why would he have tried to destroy them?"
"Who cares?" Harry said. "Maybe he had a change of heart, I don't know. The point is, we know who R.A.B. is!"
"But we don't know if he succeeded" Hermione said. "Voldemort may have gotten to him before he could destroy the necklace."
"Not to mention the fact that it was Slytherin's necklace" Ron added. "Probably really powerful and well-protected."
"Look, I know I can't just take it on faith that the real Horcrux is destroyed" Harry said. "But if it's not, I'll be able to find it with this spell, right?" Ron and Hermione considered.
"Fair enough, mate," Ron said at last. "So. Where to?"
Harry smiled. "The vision I had was of a cauldron, a brick wall, and a wand. Sound familiar?"
Judging by the look on Ron's face, no. Hermione, however, seemed to get it immediately.
"Oh, Harry…are you sure?"
"About what?" Ron said, bewildered.
"I'm sure" Harry said, ignoring Ron. "Think about it. It would have been Voldemort's first glimpse of the magical world, right? And all the ambient magic surrounding the place makes it ideal to hide a Horcrux."
"Where?" Ron asked.
"I don't know" Hermione said. "A cauldron's not much to go on, is it?"
"A cauldron and a brick wall, and a wand? Where else would it be, Hermione?"
"WHERE IS IT?" Ron nearly bellowed. Harry winced.
"Diagon Alley, Ron. Somewhere around the entrance." Ron thought.
"Oh yeah…the Leaky Cauldron, and the brick wall in back…Yeah, it makes sense!"
"I still don't know…" Hermione said.
"Can you think of anywhere else that would make sense?" Harry asked.
"Harry, it could be any wizard's house that's made of brick and has a cauldron in it!" she replied.
"No, listen! The Horcruxes are in places that are significant to Voldemort…usually. The diary that Lucius Malfoy slipped to Ginny in our second year was one. The one Dumbledore destroyed was in the remains of a house that belonged to Voldemort's mother's family. And the one we thought was real was concealed in a cliff side where he went on holiday as a child at the orphanage! The entrance to Diagon Alley is really our best shot, Hermione." Hermione didn't look convinced.
"Well, ok…but maybe we should do some research in the library first? On how to break powerful spells and enchantments? I don't want a hand like Dumbledore's."
A slight pang of emotion went through Harry at the mention of Dumbledore's name, but he fought it for the time being.
"First of all," Ron spoke up, "we are NOT going to the Hogwarts library during our summer holidays. And secondly, we don't have time for this, Hermione. For all we know, Voldemort's latest effort to make himself immortal is getting to his Horcruxes and hiding them again so that only he knows where they are."
Harry nearly cried at the thought of Ron, his best friend, saying exactly what he knew he would. He really did know the two of them like the back of his hand…his left, unscarred hand, anyway.
"Even if he did-" Hermione began, but Harry cut her off.
"I'd know how to find them. Let's just go, before Ron turns out to be right." Ron and Hermione nodded agreement.
The trio made their way out of Hogwarts quickly, after a hurried explanation and goodbye to Professor McGonagall. Once off the school grounds, they all concentrated hard, and Disapparated.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione reappeared on top of a building in London, just across the street from the Leaky Cauldron.
"How are we supposed to get down?" Ron asked.
"Fire escape" Harry replied. "Good idea on aiming for up here, Hermione. I didn't much fancy popping into view in front of Muggles on the street." Hermione smiled as the three of them made their way down the side of the building, into the alleyway, and across the street to the Leaky Cauldron. Tom, the toothless old bartender, smiled as they entered the door.
"Mr. Potter, sir!" The atmosphere in the pub brightened almost immediately at the mention of Harry's name. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry spotted Doris Crockford coming his way.
"Can't talk, Tom. Business to attend to." And he quickly grabbed his friends and nearly sprinted out the back door.
The three of them stood in the back yard of the Cauldron. The familiar brick wall stood there in front of them.
"Do you reckon the Horcrux is inside the wall?" Ron said.
"It seems unlikely" Hermione replied. "After all, there's a lot of magic used to hide Diagon Alley. Could Voldemort really have penetrated it?"
Harry was barely listening. His eyes were focused on the trash bins next to the door of the Leaky Cauldron. While one was filled to overflowing, the other was quite empty.
Tom chose that moment to come out of the back door, wiping his hands on a rag. Ron and Hermione quickly stopped their conversation.
"Are you quite sure you wouldn't like a drink, Mr. Potter?" Tom asked.
"Er, not right now." Harry answered. "Tom, shouldn't you empty this trash bin?" And he pointed to the overflowing one.
Tom smiled. "Oh, I don't need to, Mr. Potter. You see, that empty one's charmed so that whatever goes into it disappears! Quite a clever spell…I just wish I knew who had done it." Harry's eyes widened, as did Ron's and Hermione's.
"Why don't you just use that one?" Ron asked. "Inside, even?"
"Well, that's the funny thing" Tom said. "I didn't put that trash bin there. It just sort of showed up on its own, maybe eighteen or so years so. Right after You-Know-Who killed the Bones family, as I recall…that was a shame. Edgar Bones was a great customer of mine…if a little generous with the firewhisky…" He completely missed the expression that passed between the other three.
"Tom" Harry said, digging in his pockets, "what would it take to buy a round for the entire pub right now?"
"The entire pub, Mr. Potter?" Tom considered. "Let's see…it's not that full…mostly light drinkers…I'd say, about twenty Galleons, sixteen Sickles, twenty-three Knuts." Ron and Hermione were shocked at the price, but Harry barely heard. He pulled thirty Galleons from his pockets.
"Consider it done. Tell them it's compliments of Harry Potter, but I'm very busy in Diagon Alley, so they can thank me another time. And keep the change." A large smile spread on Tom's face.
"Thank you, Mr. Potter! Thank you very much indeed!" He ran happily back into the pub. Harry quickly drew his wand and locked the door.
"It's a Horcrux!" Ron and Hermione exclaimed behind him.
"I know!" Harry replied. "But what do we do? Is it Transfigured or something? Can we destroy it like this, or does it have an Indestructible Charm? And what's going to happen when we try?"
"More importantly, Harry," Ron asked, "where did you get those thirty Galleons?" Harry and Hermione looked at him.
"Just wondering" he said.
"Let me try something" Hermione said. She drew her wand and waved it over the trash bin, muttering a few words. The trash bin turned transparent. They could see through it to the wall of the Leaky Cauldron behind it; and there, inside, was a cup.
"Is that…?" Ron said.
"It's Hufflepuff's cup!" Harry said. He recognized it from his trip through the Pensieve the previous year. "How do we get to it?"
"I don't know, Harry" Hermione said. "All this spell does is make the bin transparent, and show the magic being used to hide it." She gestured with her free hand to the top of the bin, which looked like it now had a swirling black mass of energy inside it.
"So we can't get through the sides, I imagine," Harry said, "and whatever's protecting the top makes things disappear."
"Not disappear, Harry. It destroys them." Hermione proved the point, conjuring up a twig from midair and dipping half of it into the trash bin. It disappeared as Harry watched, and when she pulled it back, it was half its former size.
"We have to get past THAT?" Ron said. "Blimey, this is going to be fun."
"Well, I'd imagine it isn't that deep" Hermione said, "because then the cup would be destroyed. This is very powerful magic."
"I wonder…"Harry trailed off. He waved his wand in the air, catching a golden goblet he had conjured.
"You're not thinking of drinking it!" Hermione said, shocked.
"It worked for the last one…sort of" Harry said. He dipped part of the goblet into the swirling black mass, and pulled up…a goblet with a part missing.
"Right, that's out" he said, casting the rest aside.
"Maybe we can siphon it out" Hermione said. Before Harry could react, she pointed her wand at the swirling black mass.
Harry and Ron looked on in shock as the mass of black magic rose up, out of the bin, and rolled over Hermione. She gasped as it swallowed her.
"HERMIONE!" Ron and Harry yelled together. They pulled their wands, and were about to advance on her, when suddenly the mass pulled back into the bin. Hermione stood there, looking quite scared.
"Hermione?" Harry asked, reaching for her.
"No," she whispered, backing away. Harry was confused.
"Hermione, it's us. Whatever you're seeing, it isn't real."
"No" she repeated, backing away. "You're wrong…it's not true…I didn't…"
"What?" Ron said from next to Harry. "What did she say?"
"I don't think she can hear us" Harry said. "She might be seeing something we're not."
Hermione sat on the ground, her knees pulled up to her chin, shaking back and forth. "Nooooo…please go away, please…I'm not a failure…"
"What?" Ron said again. "Who'd be telling her she's a failure?"
"Professor McGonagall" Harry said with a sudden burst of inspiration. "Remember how the boggart became her in Hermione's third year Defense exam?"
"So that black stuff is like…a liquid boggart?"
"Maybe. I think it's more powerful
than that, though. She can't even see or hear us."
"Stop…please…"
Hermione moaned. "Mum…Dad…I'm sorry…"
"Harry," Ron said, "I don't think it's just McGonagall she's seeing."
"I think you're right" Harry said, as Hermione started to rock back and forth, crying. "We have to help her!" And before Ron could object, he took Hermione's hand.
The world went dark. Harry saw, as if from a distance, Hermione, in the same position as before, but with a small group of people in front of her.
"You failed your N.E.W.T.s, you stupid little fool!" McGonagall was saying as Harry approached.
"I can't believe we raised such an idiot of a daughter" said a woman Harry recognized as Hermione's mother.
"I'm not an idiot" Hermione moaned quietly.
"Can't even do simple spells, can you?" Hermione's father said.
"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed. She looked up, tears in her eyes.
"Harry? Is that you?"
"It's me, Hermione. This isn't real. It's the spell Voldemort used to protect his Horcrux! It's your biggest fear! The fear of failure!"
"Never get a good job now, will you?" Hermione's mother said. "Not now that you've failed everything!"
"Nooooo!" Hermione said. "Harry…I know it's not real…but I can't fight it…"
"Then I will!" Harry said. He turned to the other three. "Do you know who you're talking to? This is Hermione Granger! She's top of our year at Hogwarts!"
It had no effect on them. Harry kept trying.
"She brewed the Polyjuice Potion PERECTLY at the age of twelve!"
The figures shimmered slightly. Hermione looked up, hopeful.
"That's right…I did…"
"She could produce a Patronus at fifteen!" Harry continued, getting worked up. "And she got twelve O.W.L.s., and produced a jinx so powerful that Marietta Edgecombe still has to keep her face covered nearly two years later! A jinx that Madam Pomfrey, St. Mungo's, AND the Ministry of Magic couldn't undo!"
"Yes!" Hermione said, standing up. The figures actually shrunk.
"And she's been there," Harry said, feeling the end coming, "for me, every time I've needed her. She's the best friend I could ever have, she's helped me escape Voldemort on countless occasions, and all while achieving PERFECT GRADES EVERY YEAR!"
"YES!" Hermione screamed as she stalked toward the quivering figures of McGonagall and her parents, which were shrinking. "AND I GOT THREE HUNDRED AND TWELVE PERCENT ON AN EXAM FOR A CLASS I DON'T EVEN TAKE ANYMORE! I'M NO FAILURE…YOUR SPELL IS, TOM!"
The figures and the blackness exploded around the two of them. Hermione sunk to her knees again.
"It was so real" she whispered.
"It's gone, Hermione, whatever it was" Ron said, having missed out on the entire thing. "And is it me, or does the level of this magic stuff seem lower?"
Harry and Hermione looked. Ron was right. It did seem lower.
"What now?" Ron asked. Harry and Hermione looked at each other.
"You next, Ron. Try to siphon it out. You'll end up facing your worst fears…but we'll be with you."
Ron gulped, but nodded. He pulled out his wand and waved it. The black mass rose up again to engulf him, but this time Harry and Hermione grabbed his hands. The world went dark again.
Harry looked around. Sure enough, his suspicions were proven true: an army of acromantulas were coming towards them. Ron whimpered.
"It had to be spiders, didn't it?" he said. Harry and Hermione whipped out their wands.
"Diffindo!" Hermione shouted. A blast of light from her wand neatly severed the legs of three spiders.
"Impedimenta!" Harry yelled. Six more spiders froze in their tracks.
"Ron, help us!" Hermione said.
But Ron couldn't. He seemed frozen to the spot. The acromantulas got closer and closer, despite Harry and Hermione's best efforts to fight them off.
"Ron, do something!" Harry shouted at his immobilized friend. Ron still wouldn't move.
"Honestly!" Hermione said. "Ron, look!"
Ron turned his head as Hermione yelled, "Reducio!" One of the acromantulas shrunk down to the size of a pea. Hermione stepped on it and crushed it.
"Get the idea?" She said to Ron.
Ron paused for a second. His face seemed to brighten slightly as he raised his wand.
"REDUCIO!" he yelled.
A large blast of light shot from his wand in a wide semicircle. Every spider within it shrunk down, getting smaller and smaller, shrinking away to the size of tiny pebbles. Ron whipped his wand around in a circle (Harry and Hermione ducked) and every acromantula wound up being the size of a postage stamp or smaller.
Ron jumped for joy on the spiders as they scuttled around. "Take THAT, Voldemort! And that! And that, and that, and THAT!"
With a rush of wind, the spell lifted again. Ron sagged against the wall as Harry and Hermione checked the bin. A glint of gold peeked above the swirling mass of magic, but not enough to grasp.
"I guess it's your turn, Harry" Hermione said.
"Think it'll be an army of dementors?" he replied. "I'm pretty sure I can handle that."
"If you're that sure about it, Harry," Ron said from the wall as he got up, "I don't think so. But we'll be there."
Harry smiled as he waved his wand. The blackness rose up and swallowed him as Ron and Hermione grabbed his hands.
In the darkness, Harry couldn't see anything for a few seconds. Then he appeared. Lord Voldemort, right in front of him, his wand raised.
Harry felt powerless. His wand seemed to lay limply in his hand. An evil smile spread across Voldemort's face as he raised his wand.
"NO!" Hermione screamed as if from far off.
"HARRY!" Ron yelled at the same time, seemingly from the opposite direction.
Other voices added to the chorus. Harry saw what seemed to be everyone he knew. The Weasley family. The Order of the Phoenix. The Hogwarts professors. Nearly all of Gryffindor House. And they were all standing in front of him. Suddenly he knew what was going to happen. Time seemed to stand still.
"They're going to die" He said to himself. "They're all going to die to protect me. They're all going to die because of me. I'm responsible for everyone's death." The shock of what he said was so great that he almost couldn't breathe. His wand dropped to the ground, followed by him on his knees. He put his face in his hands and cried softly.
"We're not going to die, Harry." A soft voice spoke beside him.
Harry turned in shock to see Hermione right beside him. Ron was on his other side. He looked to the crowd and saw them standing there as well.
"How…?"
"This is your biggest fear, Harry" Ron said. "It's that Voldemort's going to kill everyone you know and love, and it'll be your fault. But you're wrong, mate."
"No" Harry said. "It's all me…I put you all in danger…"
"We're all in danger of him already" Hermione said. "Because we fight against him, just like you do."
"We're on your side, Harry" Ron said. "We'll fight him to the death if we need to, because it's right. And because we believe you're right. It's not your fault."
"But if you die…" Harry croaked.
"Then we die." Hermione said. "Because we failed to fight him. Not because you failed us. We choose to fight with you, Harry…you don't have to protect us."
"After all," Ron added, "it's not like we still need our nappies changed. We're not babies." He smiled, as did Hermione. Harry nodded slowly and got up. He thrust his way through the crowd of his friends and allies, pushing and shoving his way to the front, and raised his wand as time seemed to speed up again.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" he shouted.
Harry had never performed the Killing Curse before, and he was unprepared for the effect. He felt anger. Overpowering, hot anger, blazing from his shoulder to his elbow, elbow to hand, hand to wand. The blazing fire shot out of the end of his wand in a green jet of light, blasting its way through Voldemort's body and sending him flying.
Harry collapsed as the magic lifted, shaking slightly. He barely registered Ron lifting the Horcrux out of the now empty trash bin, saying "Well, I guess Tom'll be emptying this thing after all now", and Hermione asking, "Harry?" before he lost unconsciousness.
A/N: I'm pretty sure that's the longest chapter of anything I've ever written. I hope it satisfies someone to the point of actually reviewing it. Read and Review!