Chapter 18: DA and the first Horcrux Quest

On the day of the first DA meeting, Friday evening, Harry saw many people in the school there. That included many Slytherins. He had to smile, though he saw some of them scowling toward each other. He hated that, as he knew the school had to unite.

Professors McGonagall, Tonks, Weasley, Flitwick, and Slughorn were there, as were Remus and Moody. They were there to see how things went, and to make sure the school knew that this group was officially sanctioned by the Headmistress.

When the time came to get started, Harry shot sparks out of his wand. But it didn't stop.

"SILENCIO!" he yelled, and the noise stopped immediately. "That's better," Harry said, looking at the students.

He waved the spell off, and Professor McGonagall spoke first.

"Welcome," the woman said. "I want you to understand that this is an officially sanctions school organization. We professors are here to offer our support, and, as the events of the train ride show, we can be attacked. We are going to work on a way to make sure we're all prepared."

There were nods.

"I want you to treat Mr. Potter, Mrs. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Granger with all the respect you would a professor, and as they are helping with DADA classes, they are professors in my eye when conducting this class. Mr. Potter?"

"Thank you, Professor," Harry said. "First of all, I want to welcome you all here today. I know this is short notice, but I am pleased with the turn out. This organization is open to all students who are willing to participate.

"Today, instead of starting on training immediately, I want to show you why we're doing this. Hermione?"

Hermione nodded and she waved her wand. She'd had help in setting up a projection screen so they could show some of Harry's memories onto the screen. Ginny held Harry's hand as the memories went through his parents' death, and when he'd faced Voldemort each time. There were some sobs and screams during the quick show.

"Now," Harry said. "Do you see what we're up against? I hope you do. Before we get started, I must say that everyone should come forward at this time to receive an item from Miss Hermione Granger, and sign a piece of parchment with your name, year, and house. This is vital, as we will be grouping everyone by year in the training."

During the time that was going on, Harry saw the DA members from the last time.

"Neville?"

"Yes?"

"You and Luna are supposed to help with this. You are in charge when we're away."

The two nodded.

"Right, Harry."

"And the first time is this weekend," Harry said, softly. "We're leaving tonight and hope to be back by Saturday evening. You need to help Professor McGonagall with patrols, and I expect you to remain alert for anything."

Neville nodded.

"We won't fail, Harry," Neville said.

"I know you won't, Neville," Harry said.

Soon, they were passing out badges to the people who were in the DA the previous year.

"What's with the badges?"

Ginny smiled.

"Dean," she said. "These are the new way we're going to contact you. And it helps us identify you and use a built in port key feature to get you somewhere in a hurry."

"Is that why all students wear their house badges now?"

Harry nodded.

"Yup. But the DA badges are only for a select few. And, if we have to activate all port keys, you and the prefects first duties will be to make sure all students are accounted for. Then you will be able to defend the students and the school."

Neville nodded.

"Right. What about those of age?"

"They'll be sorted out," Harry said. "And given the right to choose whether they want to be part of the first response forces we're gathering, or protect the students. We'll settle all of that next week in our next meeting."

Neville nodded.

"Neville, Luna," Professor McGonagall said. "I presume Harry just told you what you're to do?"

"Yes professor."

"Good. We're going to split everyone up into teams of four to patrol and do battle, if necessary. This makes things easier, and we want to make sure each person is accounted for and doesn't have to do anything alone."

Neville nodded.

When the parchments were signed, Harry said a spell and random names were paired. The names were from each year, but the pairs were from different houses, as he'd wanted.

"Ok, when you see your name on the screen, find your partners."

"We don't choose partners?"

"No," Harry said. "You do not choose partners. And you will have a partner from another house, no matter what you say!"

He had to shout the last part over the murmurs.

"If you don't like it," Ginny said, using Sonorus. "Then you can leave right now. We can't have bickering when we must unite to defeat Voldemort."

That got people's attention. They were too shocked to scream or react to her using the name they all feared.

"And," Harry said, waving his wand. "If you saw the words You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, you will see the same puffs of blue smoke that you see right now. Call him either Tom Riddle, or Voldemort. Hell, you can even call him Moldy Voldy for all I care. But do not be afraid to call his by his name or make fun of him. He wants us to be afraid to mention his name."

That shocked even more people.

Ginny smiled.

Ron looked at Harry wide eyed. They all knew that Ron would have trouble doing that.

Tonks looked at Harry and smiled.

Soon, they were paired up and then people were going around instructing their assigned years. Harry had the sixth and seventh years. Ginny and Hermione had the first through third years. Ron had the fourth and fifth years. That made things easier. The professors were helping where they could.

Of course, Tonks chose to work with Hermione and Ginny.

Each group had a set of tasks they had to complete each day, and Neville and Luna were assisting, along with the rest of the DA members who were there with Harry in his fifth year. They would be the ones to help out, and Harry had a special meeting time for them, so they could learn the advanced techniques first, and be there to use them.

At the end of the session, they took the parchment and the four left for the common room. McGonagall knew they were leaving, but they had to wait until the students made their way through to their own common rooms.

On their way to the secret passage to Hogsmeade, Harry and the gang ran into Tonks and Remus, who had thought of how they were getting out of the castle.

"You know," Remus said. "We really should block these passages."

"We should," Harry said, nodding thoughtfully. "Want me to destroy the end of this one and bring down Honeydukes?"

"Of course not," Remus said, smiling. "I can seal it. In fact, while you're gone, I'd like the map."

Harry reached into his pocket and handed it to him.

"Show me you can use it," Harry suggested.

Remus nodded, knowing this was Harry's way of testing him.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The map appeared and sure enough, Harry saw the two marks that were Remus and Tonks standing next to them.

"Great," Harry said. "Just wanted to make sure."

Remus nodded and smiled.

"But I think you were using it to get here, weren't you?"

"We were told to dodge everyone," Harry said.

Remus nodded.

"Good luck," Remus said. "And do activate my portkey if you need me."

"I will," Harry said. "We should be back tomorrow evening. Coming in by portkey to the Head's dorm."

Remus nodded.

"Good choice."

With that, they were heading out of the castle.

Honeydukes, which was boarded up now because of the threat of Voldemort, was empty. They went through the building quietly, and then Disapparated to the first waypoint on their journey: Potter Manor.

They quickly gathered up the provisions they'd stored there for this purpose and left.

Upon reaching the place where they thought Hufflepuff's cup was hidden, Harry looked around the old house. It looked like it had been abandoned for some time. The locals had reported it to be haunted, something he'd found out through doing research in the local area on Thursday evening when he and Ginny had performed a quick reconnaissance of the village to check it out.

As they walked into the house, they were quiet, and they had their wands out, just in case. Harry muttered a spell, and saw a light coming from one of the doorways.

"Wait," he whispered. "Intruder jinx."

Ginny nodded as Harry quickly disarmed it, using a technique Bill had taught them to disable intruder jinxes in their last curse-breaking class. He looked around silently, muttering two or three more incantations that were supposed to reveal any jinxes or curses in the area.

Satisfied, he stepped into the room, careful not to make a sound. They all wore soft soled shoes, as that would help them keep from alerting certain jinxes. Bill had also put a spell on the shoes that would help make sure they were noiseless.

Soon, they were on their way, looking around the room in pairs. Harry and Ginny were working together. Ron and Hermione were working together.

Soon, Harry heard Ginny speak softly.

"I feel something there."

Harry looked, and he felt the same magical sensation. It was a powerful magic, so they stood back as he pointed his wand and thought a spell that would reveal the entrance.

Several stones around the fireplace moved, and he saw an object in the hole.

Harry touched his ring and thought 'we've found it'.

Soon, Ron and Hermione were in the room as Harry stood staring at the cursed cup.

"What are you going to do to retrieve it?"

"I want two of you to go outside. If you see the house start to fall, activate the emergency portkey system."

"Which two of us?"

Harry looked at the three.

"You decide."

A moment later, Ron and his sister were outside, looking around. It was decided to be easier since Ginny and Harry had a connection and could contact each other quickly.

"Well," Hermione asked, looking at the object. "We shouldn't touch it."

"I know. It has a burning curse. And a powerful one at that. What do you think?"

"If we touch it, something will happen, right?"

"Right," Harry said. "I don't know what. Look around for anything that you think could happen, other than the obvious house falling down and we get trapped inside."

Hermione nodded and looked around the room. They didn't dare move.

"Harry, don't walk. There are jinxes all around us now."

Harry looked, and then a moment later, he found them.

"You're right," he said. "I bet the moment one of us sticks our hand in the hole, then it will activate the trap."

Hermione nodded.

"Get to the others," Harry said. "I've got an idea."

"Ok," Hermione said, knowing they had rings to activate to get him to them and back to Hogwarts.

She used the portkey after Harry told Ginny to active Hermione's portkey. He reached for the object, using two pairs of dragon hide gloves. That would protect him from any burning curse. Or so Bill said.

He hoped it was so, and quickly grabbed the cup. He tossed it in the double skinned dragon hide bag, and then felt the house around him start to open up.

As he saw the objects start to fall, he couldn't react before he had one hit him in the leg. As he went unconscious, he felt the pull of the portkey.

"Harry!" Ginny yelled, looking at his unconscious form on the floor of the common room.

"What is it," Ron asked. "Harry?"

Hermione went over muttered something while waving her wand. It was the jinx that would tell if he was alive.

"He's alive," Hermione said. "Set the bag in his room, Ron. Stay here until we get you."

"Where are you going?"

"To the hospital wing."

A moment later, Ginny and Hermione disappeared down the hall. Ron touched his ring, and soon Bill was at his side.

"You called?"

"Yeah. We found it. But Harry was hurt."

"How bad?"

"We don't know. They're taking him to the hospital wing."

"Where did you put it?"

"It's in the dragon hide bag we got from Charlie."

"Good choice. Let's secure it and then get to see how Harry is doing."

When Harry awoke the next morning, his head hurt. He looked around and saw Ginny sitting beside his bed.

"Are you ok," he asked her.

"Harry? I'm fine," she said. "You gave us quite a scare."

"But you got me here, didn't you?"

Ginny nodded.

"You were right," Hermione said. "It wasn't until you touched the cup that the house would collapse. Riddle was so predictable there."

Harry nodded.

"Yeah. But we can't expect the same thing next time. And I want to wait a little longer before we go out. But two more things to go."

Hermione nodded.

"One will be with him."

Harry nodded.

"Yes," Harry said, as Madam Pomfrey pushed Hermione out of the way to check on Harry.

By lunch time, he was in the Great Hall, enjoying lunch, and recovering from his injuries. They weren't serious, and he was taking it easy for the rest of the weekend.

Bill walked by Harry at the table and spoke in a whisper.

"Let's examine it today."

Harry nodded.

Harry noted that Bill was always around.

"Why is he here?"

"He's a professor, Harry," Hermione said, as if she needed to remind Harry. "Besides, you know the other reason he's here."

Harry nodded.

"But Fleur…"

"Fleur spends her time here too," Ginny said. "You've seen her around. She especially spends time in Hogsmeade where she works now."

"Right," Harry said. "I forgot about that."

"You should remember, Mr. Potter," Ginny said to her husband, giggling. "I expect you to remember where your sister in law works."

Harry smiled at Ginny.

After finishing lunch, they all met in the Head's Common room. Bill was there, as was Professor Slughorn.

"What's going on," Slughorn asked.

"Professor, do you remember what I asked you about last year?"

Slughorn nodded and gulped.

"Well, we found one."

"And you want to destroy it?"

"Correct," Harry said. "Let me get it."

Harry returned with a pair of dragon skin gloves on, holding the dragon skin bag. Bill looked approvingly at Harry as he gently, and carefully, opened the bag and lowered it to reveal the cup.

"Don't touch it," Harry warned, immediately. "It has a burning curse for sure."

Bill nodded and looked at the cup closer, careful not to touch it, or get his face too close. He waved his wand to reveal the curses on the object and stepped back.

"You're right. It does have a burning curse. But if we try to disarm it, this curse will shoot out at us."

"Ginny and I can produce shields," Harry said.

"Right. But not in here. We need someone where we can worry about no one interrupting us."

"The Potions room," Slughorn said. "We're used to explosions there, and if anyone asks, we had a potion go wrong that we were trying to fix."

Bill nodded thoughtfully.

"Quite right. And it may be useful to be there, as we can also make a potion that may be able to help if we run across something like this again."

"Professor," Harry asked. "Isn't there a potion that tells us the severity of a curse on an object?"

Slughorn thought a moment and nodded.

"Yes. But it takes a month to make correctly. Bill?"

"I think that could be useful later," Bill said. "I want to talk Harry and the others through this, just in case I can't help when it comes time to destroy another."

"Bill," Harry asked. "Do you think Gryffindor's sword or a basilisk fang will work?"

Bill thought about it.

"Can you get Basilisk venom?"

"I think so," Harry said. "The fangs may still be in the Chamber of Secrets."

"I'll go with you," Ron said.

"No," Ginny said, suddenly. "I want to go."

"Are you sure, Gin," Harry asked.

She nodded.

"I'm sure. I need to face my demons."

"Ok," Bill said, putting on his own gloves. "I'll carry this down there. And we'll make sure it's protected. Ron, you go to Professor McGonagall's office and ask if you can't borrow the sword. She knows what you're doing. Harry, you and Ginny go down to the Chamber and get the basilisk fangs."

Harry nodded, and soon, he and Ginny were in the 2nd Floor bathroom.

"Ready for this," Harry asked.

Ginny nodded, and Harry hissed.

Ginny jumped at the hiss, but she knew it was just Parseltongue. Now, after the entrance opened, they headed down and then saw the chamber again. It had been cleaned up a bit since the cave in. Now, they headed to the entrance to the area where the basilisk remains were.

When it opened, the most horrible stench covered their nostrils. They applied the bubblehead charm to themselves and walked into the room, with their wands ready.

After seeing it was clear, Harry saw the spot where Tom Riddle had died. He saw ink there where he'd killed the horcrux. He bent down and picked up the fang that had nearly killed him.

"This one got me," Harry said.

"Why didn't you die?"

"Fawkes. He saved my life. And he brought the sword."

Ginny nodded as Harry dropped the fang in a dragon skin bag he'd brought for this purpose. Then they collected the other one off of the carcass of the snake.

Ginny looked around and shuddered.

"If it wasn't for you…"

"I know," Harry said, softly. "I've thought about that lately."

"Why?"

"Just a trip down memory lane. I went to a pensieve to review the memories again and again so I could make sure I've looked at things to see what I could learn about Voldemort."

"You're being studious again."

"I have to be," Harry said, as they exited the chamber.

When they were back in the bathroom, it closed, and then they headed to the dungeons where the potions lab was located.

Upon arriving, the sword was there, and Professor McGonagall had come to see what the fuss was about.

"Harry, what's going on?"

"Bill and Professor Slughorn are going to help us examine the horcrux and figure out a way to destroy it," Harry said.

The woman nodded.

"Right. You need to ask those who know. And Bill and Professor Slughorn are good people to ask. What's in the bag?"

"Basilisk fangs," Harry said. "The venom destroyed the diary."

The woman nodded thoughtfully.

"You got back into the Chamber?"

Harry nodded.

"Nothing's in there. We checked. I think there is an item here at Hogwarts we can search for. I have some possible leads, but we want to be sure."

"Where?"

"The Room of Requirement is a starting point," Harry said. "There are thousands of items hidden there over the centuries. And Riddle may have put one there when he came to apply for the DADA job."

"Right," McGonagall said.

When they examined the object again, McGonagall gasped.

"Is that…"

"Helga Hufflepuff's," Harry said. "We found it in her residence last night."

"How did you find that?"

"A bit of good detective work by Hermione and Ginny," Harry said.

"What about the next ones?"

"We have to figure them out," Harry said. "I expect one of them to be here, but then again, there is one more place."

"What's that?"

"Rowena Ravenclaw's mansion. I want to search there first."

"How do you know when you find it?"

"I can sense it," Harry said, as he saw the cup again. "Wait," Harry said, looking at Bill suddenly.

"What?"

"Don't touch it with that."

"Why?"

"At least let's get shields up."

There were nods, and everyone backed up, placing their shields. Harry and Ginny combined their shields so they overlapped, and allowed Bill enough room to put his arm through to touch it.

When he did, the object exploded, and the two held their shields for all they were worth, expanding them as the curse expanding.

Soon, they were in a bubble with everyone focusing their shields on the outside of the bubble. They were straining to keep the shields up, but soon, the curse had expended its energy.

"Is everyone ok," Harry asked, looking around as he finally lowered his shield.

There were nods.

He went to the object and looked over it, with his wand at the ready should it start to react.

"No curses," Harry said, picking it up with his gloved hand, examining it. "There's a new crack," Harry said. "It's gone."

Bill looked and nodded.

"Just to be sure, stab it," Bill said.

When they hit it with the Basilisk fang, it didn't react.

"It's definitely gone. Funny," Bill said. "This is shaped like your scar."

"So are the shapes on the other two," Ron said.

McGonagall looked at the jagged fracture and then at Harry's scar.

"Harry, is there something you need to tell us?"

Harry sighed and nodded.

"Raise your right hand."

Everyone raised their right hands, and he and Ginny applied the vow.

"Ok, you cannot talk about this until either I'm dead or it's time to talk about it."

There were nods.

"Now," Harry said. "I've suspected for some time that I was another horcrux. It's why I can speak Parseltongue. Dumbledore believed so, and I saw it in his memories he left me as he was talking to…"

"Who was he talking to?"

"Professor Snape."

McGonagall and Slughorn looked shocked.

"Well?"

"I don't know," Harry said. "But the best thing I know of to destroy it in a living being is to kill the living being."

McGonagall and Bill gasped.

"You three aren't reacting."

"He's told us," Ginny said, quietly. "Harry and I found out Dumbledore's suspicions the night before our wedding."

"So that's why you were gone so long."

Ginny nodded to her brother.

"Harry, what are we going to do?"

"We can research methods to destroy them without destroying me. The only thing I've thought of is the Dementor's kiss. But we have to time that right."

"So many things could go wrong," Bill said.

"I know," Harry said. "The only other thing I can think of is for Voldemort to kill me himself and Ginny to finish him off."

"But the prophecy…" McGonagall said.

"Professor," Harry said. "If I destroy the horcruxes, then his death will come at my hand. And, because of the love Ginny and I share, she will complete the mission. That's the power he knows not."

"And we're already preparing ourselves for that," Ginny said. "This can only be revealed at the time of the final battle."

There were nods.

"Raise your left hand."

After muttering the incantation, Harry collected the horcrux and then left, with Ginny following.

Bill looked at McGonagall.

The look of horror on their faces was enough to make Hermione run out of the room, almost in tears.

"Yeah, Bill," Ron said. "We know how you feel."

"How are they handling it?"

"Quite well considering what we know he has to do," Ron said. "But don't worry. That'll be a last resort if I know Harry. He doesn't want to hurt Ginny."

The professors nodded, and soon, they were heading out of the dungeon to get back to what they were doing.

In the common room, Harry looked at Ron and Hermione as they walked in.

"Well, four down, three to go," Harry said. "We should search the Room of Requirement today."

"How long could that take?"

"A while," Harry said. "We do have a list of possible items from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. But the Ravenclaw list is considerably larger."

There were nods.

After a short break to recuperate from the energy required to produce the shield, they headed to the Room of Requirement, and found the room full of items. There were so many magical items that Harry's senses were going crazy.

As he walked to get his book, he looked around, sensing nothing. After they searched and searched, they weren't able to find anything. But they did find some interesting things they could use later.

Most of the items in the room were either broken, or had long lost their magical abilities. But that didn't stop them from checking out the books.

When they left, they returned after thinking of a place that held a lot of books on Dark Arts and Defense Against the Dark Arts. There were dozens of books in place, and they sat down to start going through them.

This was another step in the learning process for them, and was a very important step. They all wanted to learn new curses and new counter-curses for their travels. There were some interesting curses, including curses that turned a body inside out, and curses that ended up giving people different kinds of ailments, such as bleeding on the inside, or devious curses that took years to fully kill someone.

Those were dangerous, and they only studied the counter-curses and spells for those, not the spells that caused them. But they did have to know the incantations so they could possibly recognize them.

During the next few weeks, they focused on studying for their classes, and working on their research for the next area to examine. This would take them a while, as they were already maxed out in their schedules with classes, DA, and teaching.

This included weekends they had to remain at school for certain functions, including Hogsmeade weekends, and, as requested, during the Christmas Holidays.

Harry didn't mind staying over the holidays, as he felt it was a well deserved break. Ginny didn't know what to do, as she was used to going home. But her parents had warned her that it was safer for them to remain at Hogwarts, and much better for their tasks as assigned by the Order.

With most of the students gone, they were basically free to roam around the school, using different charms to seek out any horcrux that may have been left at the school. They consulted everyone for objects related to the founders, especially the ghosts and heads of houses. They had a properly prepared back story, and most people were glad to help. But they weren't able to provide much help beyond what they already knew.

That was getting frustrating. Harry knew they had three more horcruxes before going to defeat Voldemort. And on the weekend before school resumed, as the students were arriving, he and Hermione made sure they had the weekend free of patrols, as did Ginny and Ron. This was their first sojourn outside of the castle for a horcrux since they'd started looking in earnest.