Chapter Five:

Lost and Found

A/N: I'm sorry for the long wait! I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Savoren.

Hermione watched as Harry grasped a gnome in a death grip and pitched the poor thing into the forest, "You don't have to be so rough with them, Harry."

Harry kept himself from rolling his eyes, "If you're nice to them then they will return. The point is to de-gnome the garden, not make the gnomes feel comfortable."

Hermione huffed and gently picked a gnome up. She walked to the edge of the wards and then put the gnome down. "You run along now. Don't come back though, this is not your home," She told the gnome in a quiet voice. She watched as the gnome disappeared before standing and returning to the job at hand.

Harry pitched another gnome into the forest, "I need to tell you something."

Hermione looked up, concern evident on her face. "What is it? Are you okay?"

He continued to throw gnomes as he contemplated how to go about explaining what his father and grandfather said. "Have you ever heard of a horcrux?"

Hermione's eyes flashed with grave fear at the word. "Yes. Why? That is dark magic, Harry. . . Don't play with that."

Harry grunted as he pitched another gnome. He watched as she carefully carried an armful of gnomes to the edge of the wards, "I know, Herm. Voldemort is the one that played with them. Seven times, actually."

Hermione spun on her heel, a deep frown etched on her face. "What are you getting at?"

Harry sighed and stopped working. "I had a meeting with my father and our grandfather the other day. They explained what a horcrux is and that when Voldemort was younger he split his soul into seven pieces. To be able to kill him we have to destroy all the horcruxes."

"Do they know where they are located? The horcruxes, that is," Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head, "You already know that my dad isn't teaching this year - Professor Slughorn is. He isn't teaching so they can go search for the horcruxes and destroy them. They won't let me help them though."

She heard the irritation in his voice at the last part, "I think it's wise that they won't let you."

Harry frowned, "Why? It's my job."

Hermione sighed, "The whole war is not your job, Harry. You need to come to an acceptance of that. You are but a warrior in the war - not the whole thing. Besides, you need to finish your training and studies. You can't skip out and go gallivanting around the world, looking for pieces of V-Voldemort's soul. You need to let them take over."

Harry stayed silent and refused to comment.

Hermione sighed and returned to picking up gnomes, "I-" Harry cut her off, "Let's just finish de-gnoming."

Hermione frowned but nodded her head, knowing Harry just needed a little space.

Severus paced in front of Albus' mahogany desk, fury pulsed through his blood as he thought about the stupidity of the man before him, "Why the bloody hell would you go alone?!" Severus snapped dangerously.

Albus felt like a naughty child being lectured. He sat up straighter, trying to silently remind the younger man that he was his elder and should be respectful to him. "I didn't think I needed your help with destroying Marvolo Gaunt's ring, Severus."

Severus ignored the tone the man used. He couldn't care less if this man was older than he, Albus Dumbledore messed up and he would be damned if he didn't let him know about it. "That's right, you didn't think! What would have happened if it was worse? What would have happened if it killed you, Albus?!"

Albus felt a little flustered. He tried, once again, to keep himself sitting straight. "Do not speak to me like you speak to Harry when he puts his life in danger, Severus Tobius. I am your elder and you will remember to watch your tone and mind your manners when speaking to me!"

Severus snarled. Thrusting his hand to point at Albus' withered, black hand. "You did more than just put your life in danger, Albus! You realize that will spread? That curse will kill you!"

Albus returned his voice to being calm and even as he said, "Yes, that is why I asked you to come here."

Severus crossed his arms over his chest but stayed silent.

Albus sighed softly, "I understand that I disappointed you, Severus, I really do. But I am a grown man - I can make my own decisions." When he realized the younger man wasn't going to reply, Albus continued, "I need you to brew me a potion to slow the curse."

Severus narrowed his eyes, "You mean, to slow your inevitable death?"

Albus nodded, "Yes, Severus." When he noticed the angry look on Severus' face, he sighed deeply, "You look as if you want to cane me. The doing is done, Severus. There is no going back. Please, will you just brew the potion for me?"

Severus let out a tired sigh and rubbed his temple, "I will do what I can, Albus." He turned to leave the office, "Please, do not try to destroy dark magic without someone with you."

Albus sighed softly and watched the door close behind Severus.

Poppy came out around lunch time to check on their progress - they were de-gnoming the last garden (much to their relief). "Hermione, I want you to go get cleaned up. Lunch will be served in ten minutes. Make sure to get all the dirt from under the nails." She glanced at Harry and offered him a gentle smile, "I'm sure your parents would want the same, dear."

Harry only nodded in response and then followed his aunt as she escorted him home.

Just before Harry went to open the front door, Poppy said, "I would advise you to be on your best behavior in there, Harry. Your father is in a quite foul mood."

Harry paled a little, "Why? Did I do something?"

Poppy shook her head, "No, his mood is not your doing." She motioned for him to go inside, "Go on, dear. Don't keep them waiting."

Nervously, Harry entered the house and immediately went to get cleaned up. It was a lot harder to get all the dirt out from under his fingernails than he anticipated. He finally gave up and went to the kitchen and sat down. He glanced at his mother and silently wondered where his father was.

Seconds later, Severus strolled into the kitchen and slapped a magazine down on the table, "Why do we have this rubbish in our house?" Severus snapped in disgust.

Harry frowned and quickly read the title: The Quibbler. For the way his father was acting it seemed like found a porn stash, not a simple, innocent magazine. "What's wrong with it?" By the look his father threw at him, Harry wished he would have kept his mouth closed.

Minerva quickly intervened before Severus' foul mood could escalate. She banished the magazine and gestured for Severus to sit down, "It's time for lunch, Severus. Please take a seat."

Severus did so silently.

Awkwardly, Harry shifted on his seat and kept his eyes down as his mother filled his plate with food. I really don't want to be on the receiving end of his glare again!

Minerva sighed as she looked at Severus, "What, exactly, is going on with you today?"

Severus grumbled something about old fools before saying in a much louder voice, "I will tell you later, alone." His onyx eyes flashed over to Harry before he returned them to his plate.

Harry frowned, "What?"

Still shaking off the anger from earlier, Severus firmly placed his fork back on the table and snapped his eyes to look at Harry. "If it was any of your business I would tell you."

Harry clenched his jaw and dropped his eyes to his plate. It took every ounce of his willpower to not back-talk his father.

Minerva sighed as she looked at her boys, "Enough! Eat your food, both of you."

Instead of doing what she said, Harry pushed his plate away and stood, leaving the kitchen. "I'm not hungry."

Minerva huffed irritably and gave Severus a nasty look, "Your foul mood is contagious. What on earth is your problem?"

Severus sighed and looked to where his son had disappeared to, "It's Albus. . ."

Harry waited on his Aunt Poppy's porch until Hermione finished lunch. He only had to wait a half an hour before she and Hermione came outside.

"Do we have to go help Filch, mum?" Hermione whined as they exited the house.

Surprised to see Harry, she gave him a gentle smile before answering her daughter, "Would you like to stay grounded?"

Hermione sighed, "Fine. . ."

Poppy patted Hermione's back comfortingly, "It won't be that bad, dear. He knows better than to torture the two of you," she smirked softly at Hermione's horrified look. Then, seeing Filch walking down the pathway, she patted Hermione back and gave her a gentle push forward, "Speaking of which-" she gestured to where he was coming closer, "I want the two of you to behave for him. Be respectful. Am I clear?" She leveled them both with a daring look.

Harry and Hermione quickly nodded, not wanting to push Poppy's buttons.

Argus stopped a good ten feet away from the trio. He looked as disgusted and irritated as ever - as if having their help was going to be pure Hell for him. "Well? What are you waiting for? It's not going to clean itself." He grumbled something else under his breath and turned to start back down the path.

Hermione glanced at her mother, giving her a pitiful look.

Poppy pushed her forward, "Go, Hermione."

Groaning softly, Hermione grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him along behind her as she followed Filch.

The grumpy old man led them to a room they had never gone in before. As soon as they entered the room, Argus slammed the door shut behind them and locked the door. He leveled them with annoyed looks, "I already said it's not going to clean itself!" He flailed his arms around the room and gave the two teens a glare.

Hermione and Harry looked around the cluttered room and immediately felt overwhelmed.

"Do we have to clean all of this?" Harry asked. Seeing Filch's annoyed look, Harry quickly added, "Sir?"

Argus grumbled and got a broom out of a closet so he could start sweeping, "Organize, ya blasted children."

Harry and Hermione exchanged frowns.

Harry sighed, realizing that he would have to ask for further elaboration, "Okay, sir, but where does everything go?"

Filch let out an angry huff as he stopped sweeping to level Harry with a look full of hatred.

The look made Harry take a step back, pulling Hermione with him. He never trusted this man and he isn't giving him reasons to do so.

"Books on the shelves. Clothes and shoes in the bins. Jewelry and knick-knacks on the tables. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out! Now, get to work ya lazy pieces of. . ." His grumbling got too quiet for them to hear the rest of his rant but they had a pretty good idea of what he was calling them.

Harry sighed and started with the clothes and shoes. Some of these clothes and shoes looked as old as Albus Dumbledore himself! After a good fifteen minutes of sorting the clothes and shoes, Harry came across a pair of bright pink Chuck Taylor's. He furrowed his brow as he thought about where he had seen them before. Then it hit him, he looked to where Hermione was organizing the jewelry and knick-knacks, and asked her, "Do these look like Luna's? She's always losing her shoes. . ."

Hermione stopped what she was doing and looked at the shoes. She smiled and gave an amused shake of her head, "Check the inside of the shoes. She writes her initials in every pair."

Harry checked and smiled when he saw Luna's initials written in a lime-green marker, "They are her's alright."

"Shut up and get back to work! Did I tell ya that ya could lollygag? Don't play with anything either or I'll string ya up by your toes and let the owls pick at ya!" Argus yelled at them from across the room.

Harry and Hermione quickly returned to what they were doing. Harry placed Luna's shoes by the door, vowing to remember to give those back to her when he sees her next.

After they finished their first tasks, Hermione moved on to sorting the books while Harry moved around the room and organized random things.

While Harry was organizing he found a set of two-way mirrors in perfect condition. He quickly checked to make sure Filch wasn't paying attention to him before he hid the mirrors in his robe pocket. These are better than the glass shard that I got from Sirius.

The thought of Sirius put a damper on his mood and he immediately went back to organizing, hoping they would get done soon.

Hermione had noticed Harry steal the mirrors but she didn't comment. Instead, he picked up the book that she had been looking at for the past ten minutes: Three Steps to Becoming an Animagus. She opened the worn front cover and saw a scribbled sentence in sloppy handwriting: Property of the Mauraders.

Excited, she quickly brought the book over to Harry, "Look! Look what I found!" In her excitement, she didn't realize how loud she was being.

Harry took the old book from her and flipped it open. Seeing the inscription, Harry's heart fluttered. My dad and Sirius used this book. Before he could think more on it, his thoughts were rudely interrupted by Filch.

"We are going to be here all day if ya keep playing around! Books on the shelves, Granger!" Filch yelled at her as he stomped over to them.

Harry quickly hid the book behind his back and tried to look as innocent as possible.

Hermione gave him a deadly glare, "My last name is Pomfrey!"

Argus rolled his eyes, "Oh, shut up." He turned and started muttering under his breath, "Stupid children."

Harry quickly put the book in a safe spot and then returned to cleaning. Suddenly a thought occurred to him and he decided to annoy Filch a little with questions, "Sir?" When Argus turned to glare at him, he asked, "How does all this stuff find its way here?"

Filch gave him a nasty look, "Magic, ya prat."

Harry smirked and before he could stop himself, he mocked the man.

Filch threw the broom at Harry (which Harry caught), "Don't test me, boy! I'll string ya up! I will!"

Harry smirked and quietly returned to work.

Seeing that, Argus grumbled under his breath, "Bloody brats. Think because their parents are professors they can get away with disrespecting me! Oh, I'll show them!"

Hearing him, Harry and Hermione exchanged amused looks and stayed quiet the rest of their time with Filch.

Harry and Hermione couldn't have been more than happy by the time he told them to get out of his sight. They ran from the cluttered room (their goodies hidden away in their robes) and hurried outside, glad to be free.

On their way back to the forest path, Harry handed Hermione one of the one-way mirrors, "Now we don't have to keep writing back and forth. We can just talk to each other."

Hermione took the mirror as if it were one of the most precious things in the world. "Thank you, Harry!" She wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a hug.

Harry smiled and rested his head against her's. He closed his eyes, enjoying the moment. "You're welcome, Herm."

She moved out of the hug and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before she started dragging him back toward the path again. "Our parents will be expecting us home soon."

Harry nodded. He agreed that they shouldn't test the adults yet but he still wished this moment could last a while longer. The feeling of her lips on his cheek lingered even when he wished her a good evening and watched her enter her house.

Lost in thought, he didn't hear Draco calling his name until he was already standing on his porch, about to enter his house.

"Harry!" Draco screamed from his own porch.

Harry halted, hand on the door-knob. He dropped his hand and walked to the edge of the porch to look over at Draco, "What?" He frowned when he saw Pansy with Draco. He knows they are dating now but that doesn't mean he has to suddenly like the girl.

"Come over and hang out with us," Draco said, his one arm loosely hanging around Pansy's shoulders.

Not in the mood to deal with the annoying girl, Harry shook his head and quickly made up an excuse. "I can't. You know I'm grounded."

Draco waved him off and Harry quickly entered the house. He silently hoped his father was in a better mood now than he was when he left lunch earlier. He found his parents in the living room, both reading in silence.

He tried to sneak passed them so he wouldn't be lectured about skipping out on lunch but, as his luck would have it, he was stopped just as he got his one foot on the bottom step.

"Where do you think you are going?" His father's silky voice made shivers travel up Harry's spine.

He slowly turned to look at his parents, unsure if he was going to get yelled at or not for his earlier actions. "My room?" He cringed as he realized he didn't hide his annoyance very well in his tone.

Minerva sighed, "Will you please join us?"

Harry bit his lip and eyed them nervously. "I'm sorry for leaving lunch earlier."

Severus waved his apology off. He also chose to ignore his tone earlier, "Join us, please."

Harry's stomach immediately started to clench. He made his way to them on rubber legs, "What's wrong? The two of you are acting like someone. . . Oh god, did someone die?!"

Minerva quickly put an end to his hysteria, "No, no. Calm down, Harry." Once Harry was calmer and was seated, Minerva glanced at Severus.

Severus took that as a cue to say what he needed to say, "I'm sorry for how I acted earlier, Harry. You did nothing to deserve my wrath."

Harry eyed them both. He felt nervous, as if waiting for a bomb to drop. "It's okay. Everyone does things they don't mean." He could tell there was going to be more to this conversation.

Minerva sighed softly, "Harry, your. . ." She took another breath, not sure how to explain this. "Your grandfather ran into some black magic." She put her hand up to stop him from interrupting, "It's on his hand. When you see him next, do not be frightened, alright?" She eyed Harry closely, "His hand is withered and black."

"His hand is dead?" Harry asked, his voice cracking. What's this mean? Is he going to be okay?!

Severus nodded, "The black magic is going to spread throughout his entire body. Eventually, he is going to die."

Harry jumped up from his seat, "What do you mean?! Isn't there anything anyone can do?"

Severus sighed and stood. He placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, stopping the boy from pacing, "I am brewing a potion that he will drink every day for the rest of his life. This potion will slow the process."

Minerva stood, "We are only telling you because we did not want you to be afraid or confused when you see him next."

Harry felt like a huge lump was growing in his throat. "How long does he have?"

"No one knows, Harry. In my past experiences of seeing injuries sustained from black magic, he should have a year. If the black magic was very strong, he would be dead already. I am thinking this black magic is in between strong and weak. With the potion, he should have at least a year but we cannot be certain." Severus eyed Harry closely. He knew Harry still felt a little broken from his godfather's death and now he will be losing his grandfather as well. Severus wished he didn't have to tell Harry this - he wished this hadn't happened.

Severus felt his anger start to boil inside again, If Albus would have just waited for me I wouldn't have to be breaking my son's heart. Severus shook his head, trying not to let himself fall back into that pattern of thinking. It happened. We can't go back.

"A year?" Harry's voice broke off and hot tears filled his eyes. He shook his head, "How could this happen? W-we can't do this war without him!" Tears started to escape his eyes as he whispered, "I can't do this war without him. . ." In a flash, anger replaced his sadness and he pushed away from his father, "What the bloody hell happened? Tell me! Was it a horcrux? I TOLD the two of you not to go without me! I could have helped! Maybe this wouldn't have happened if I had been there!"

Severus tried to calm him down, "Harry, stop."

Harry shook his head, "Tell me!"

"Yes, it was a horcrux. He went alone," Severus explained softly.

Finally, Harry allowed his father to wrap his arms around him. He leaned against his father and allowed his tears to return, "I don't want to lose him too."

Severus blinked fiercely as he felt his own eyes heat up with tears. He gently rubbed Harry's back and whispered, "I know, son."

Harry closed his eyes and let out a shuddering sob, "I hate this war." Everything is being taken from me.

Harry had finally calmed down but he had worn himself into such a fit that Severus had to carry him to his bedroom and put him under the covers.

Minerva stood in the doorway and watched as Severus sucked the almost sixteen year old into bed, "Remus and Nymphadora are moving the wedding up. They don't want to chance Albus not being here."

Severus gave a small, silent nod of his head and sat down on the edge of Harry's bed. He gently moved Harry's bangs away from his forehead and stared at the lightning bolt scar. Your innocence was taken way too soon. I wish I could give you your innocence back. I wish you didn't have to go through all of this. I wish so many things that aren't possible and I am so sorry that this has to happen to you.

When Severus hadn't moved, Minerva decided to return downstairs. She knew Severus needed some alone time with his thoughts.

I could take you away from all of this. The world be damned - so long as you are safe, who cares about anyone else?

A/N: Thanks for reading! How did you like it?

Savoren.