Well, folks, here it is! Another chapter I hope you like. This one surprised me a bit as it wanted to get written before Chapter 23.

I hope to have the next chapter up soon. And thank you for being so patient with me.

And now, sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Finding the Pieces

"Hey, Harry." Ron greeted as he flopped down on the sofa beside his friend. "What're you working on?"

"Oh, hey. Ummm.... just some extra credit work." Harry responded, putting the parchment into his bag.

"But that looked like it had runes on it, and you don't take Ancient Runes."

"I never said it was for Ancient Runes, Ron." he said sarcastically. "It's just.. it's not something I can talk about here."

"Oh, I get it. You want me to go get Hermione, and we can go to the Room." Ron said, getting up form his spot.

"Not just yet. I want to make sure this is actually feasible. That it'll actually work." Harry added quickly at the confused expression on Ron's face.

"What'll actually work?" Hermione asked, sitting down beside the two boys.

"Well, I guess I can't keep it a secret anymore." Harry sighed as he got up and made his way to the door. "Come on." The two friends looked at each other before following their friend into the corridors.

They walked in silence for awhile, each in their own thoughts. They knew that Voldemort would be coming after Harry soon, it was only a matter of time. Hermione looked up at her boyfriend, taking in all of his changes over the summer. He had finally had a much needed growth spurt, making him only a head shorter than Ron. He had also taken to wearing his hair long like the elves in Mirkwood. He had a confidence and grace that he seemed to carry with him like a cloak. It did nothing to change who he was, but in fact, enhanced what made him Harry.

"Where are we going, Harry?" Harry smiled down at the young woman by his side.

"We're going to see my mum. But that's all I can say for now." he said somewhat cryptically.

"Harry, mate, where are we?" Ron asked, looking about them in confusion. Harry had led them to a very seldom used area of the castle.

"Do you remember when we were trying to get Sirius out of the Veil? Well, this is where we got everything perfected." he said simply as he tapped his wand against a series of bricks around an old, dusty tapestry. Just as his friends were contemplating his sanity, the tapestry moved aside to reveal a vast room. "Stay to the edges of the room and don't step on anything written on the floor." Harry looked at both teens directly before walking straight to the middle of the room, nimbly stepping over the runes written there.

"Harry," Hermione breathed out softly. The young witch was absolutely speechless. In all her years at Hogwarts, she had never seen a room like this, nor had she heard of it. "Is this?"

"Yes, Mione." Harry replied easily. "This is a ritual room. Although it hasn't been used since Dumbledore was in diapers. Most of the rituals done in here were blood rituals so, we need to be careful."

"Blood rituals!" Ron choked out, paling at the thought of the viscous liquid being split in this very room.

"Haven't been done in about a century, Ron. You guys can have a seat on the sofa through that door. And if you need anything, just call for Dobby." Harry said simply, gesturing towards a room off to his right. "There's a one way window so, you'll be able to see everything."

"But I thought we were going to see Merry?" Hermione said as she and Ron made their way carefully to the aforementioned room.

"I'm right here. I got your message, what's going on, pup?" Inuai made her way over to her son in the middle of the room.

"We got all the Horcruxes, right?" At Inuai's curt nod, Harry continued, "And we can't get at Nagini because Voldemort keeps a close watch on her."

"We've covered all of this before. What are you getting at, pup?" Inuai asked impatiently.

"Ok, so, I've been looking over the ritual we used to get Sirius out of the Veil, and I think we can use it against Voldemort." he said quickly.

"In what way? Show me."

Harry quickly got the parchment out that he had been working on. "Well, I think if we change these runes around and change the emphasis on these words, it should rip the last of his soul out of his body."

The hanyou sat down on a clear space and looked over the parchment carefully, listening to everything Harry was saying. All of his findings seemed sound, but there was still the question of the soul. "Everything looks good, at least on parchment. But we don't have any Death Arches just lying around so, what are you going to do with his soul once it gets ripped out of his body? And for that matter, what are you going to do about his body?"

"I hadn't thought of that yet." he said sheepishly. "That's why I brought Ron and Hermione."

"Okay, but how do you plan to get Moldyshorts over the runes?"

"I don't." Harry said simply, a smile on his face from her use of the name. "I plan to get him under the runes."

"Under?"

"Yeah. I've been looking over the Marauder's Map, and this room is directly over the Great Hall. So, if I can get him into the school, it's set."

"Alright, we've definitely got a good start. Let's keep working on it, to fine tune everything."

Inuai and Harry worked non-stop on the ritual with every free moment they could find. It had been almost two months, and they almost had everything perfected. The only thing left to decide was who would be doing the incantations. Which was why they were back in the ritual room, Harry standing in the middle of the room once more.

"Alright, Harry. Just like we talked about!" Inuai called out from the doorway. "Stay focused and concentrate on what you need."

Harry nodded shakily, holding the ritual knife at arm's length. He took a deep breath before slowly sliding the knife across his palm. Quickly closing his hand into a fist, he watched as the blood dripped from his hand. There was something morbidly beautiful about the red liquid, and Harry could not help but watch a couple of the liquid rubies as they splashed against the stone floor before regaining his focus on the task at hand.

"Ostendo ut mihi illud EGO peto. Illud necessarius cerno animus ex somes." As son as the last word left his mouth, Harry collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

"What happened?"

"Don't worry, Hermione. This is all apart of the ritual." Inuai said calmly, looking at her son through the only window into the room.

"How long will he be out?" the young witch asked worriedly. She had never felt so helpless, even when they had gone to the Ministry.

"It could be anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of months." Inuai sighed. "But," she added at Hermione's gasp, "Harry's strong so, I think the first option is more likely."

Hermione breathed out a sigh of relief at that, settling herself comfortably to wait for Harry to come back to her. "How long did it take you?" she asked softly, not needing to clarify.

"Two days."

"But you never missed a class!"

"Exactly what the weekends are for." Inuai smirked at the young woman. The two women sat in silence, each in their own thoughts about what was to come.

"So, how will he know who's needed for this to work?"

Inuai chuckled softly at the young witch. I should've known that simple answers wouldn't suffice. "Always the scholar, eh, Miss Granger? Very well. During his trance like state, he will not be able to see any faces or anything that will tell him exactly who he will need."

"But how?"

"It's a bit like a puzzle that he must figure out himself. He'll be shown signs or auras that represent certain people. Some of the things he sees may not make sense, but he will know exactly who they signify subconsciously." Inuai explained, fully in teacher mode.

"What if he can't figure out what he's shown?"

"Then we try again and again until he does. It's all we can do." Inuai said softly, worry coloring her voice. She did not want it to come to that. They didn't have time to redo the ritual again. Snape had reported at the last Order meeting that Voldemort was on the move, wanting to end this war. And that meant only one thing, he was coming after Harry.

Harry gasped as he sat up, quickly looking about him, trying to remember where he was. The ritual room. His mind supplied for him. I wonder where everyone is. Mione and Merry said they'd be here when it was over. A loud grumble from his stomach brought Harry out of his musings.

"It's about time you woke up."

Harry turned to find Inuai right where he had 'left' her. "Merry! Where's Hermione?"

"She's at breakfast. Which is where you should be." Inuai chuckled as she gracefully made her way across the floor the Harry, his stomach giving another loud grumble. "Come on. Climb onto my back, you're too weak to make it out on you own."

The raven haired man looked to argue, but decided better of it as a wave of dizziness washed over him. "What day is it?" he asked wearily.

"Monday morning, and I've taken the liberty of excusing you from your classes. Now take this and go see your bonny lass."

"Why won't you tell me what you saw?" Hermione asked exasperatedly. It had been two days, and Harry had remained very tight lipped about the whole thing.

"Mione," he said gently, holding her hands in his. "This is something I have to do on my own. If this was anything else, you'd be the first one I'd ask."

"Ok, fine." she huffed. "But I want to know you figure it out."

"I wouldn't dream of going to anyone else before you." He pulled the young woman into his embrace, taking a deep breath, savoring the scent that was purely Hermione. Just as the scent of her strawberry shampoo hit his nose, a picture flashed across his field of vision. Parchment and quills. Harry's eyes shot open. "Mione, you're one of the three." he rasped out as though he hadn't spoken in days.

"What?"

"You're one of the three."

"Are you sure?" she asked somewhat fearfully.

"Definitely. I've never been more sure of anything in my life." Harry looked deeply into her chocolate brown eyes, hoping to allay her fears. "The only thing I'm more sure of, is what we have together."

"Oh, Harry. I'm just so scared of losing you." she cried into his shoulder.

"You won't lose me. There's nowhere else I want to be. And Voldemort has another thing coming if he thinks he's got other plans for me."

"We should probably go tell Merry now."

"Yes, you need to learn your part quickly."

"Inutaishio." Harry said clearly. He silently thanked whatever deity was up there that Merry had chosen a password that was not in the demon language. "Hey, Uncle Yasha. Is Merry around?"

"Sorry, pup. She's in a meeting with that birdie group. Should be back soon." the hanyou said from his spot on the sofa where he was currently tending to his mate's swollen feet.

"You could always talk to me or Kagura, if you don't want to wait too long." Kagome commented, a smile on her face.

"I think I'll see if Aunt Kagura is free." Harry said, quickly making his way towards the stairs.

"Harry, love! How are you, my dear?" Kagura said happily.

"Hey, Aunt Kagura. Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, Harry! Anything for my favorite nephew." she replied, motioning the young man to sit down beside her.

"I'm you only nephew." Harry blushed a bit at his aunt's affection. Even though he had been considered family for more than a year, he still had trouble accepting the affection that was so freely given.

"And that makes you my favorite. Now what did you want to ask?"

"Umm, well, it's kinda embarrassing."

"Harry, look at me." Kagura said sternly. She gently lifted Harry's chin until he was looking directly into her magenta eyes. "If you want, this will never go farther than you and I, and I won't say anything demeaning about what we talk about. Okay?" At Harry's hesitant nod, she dropped her hand from his chin and sat back, picking up her tea.

"Well, I was kind of wondering how you knew Uncle Sesshomaru was the one for you?" Harry muttered softly, knowing that the wind sorceress would hear him nonetheless.

"I suppose it was quite different as we're both demons, and you're human. My youki told me that he was it for me. That I would never want for another. But I suspect it would be different for you." Kagura said gently. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I think Hermione's the one, but I want to make sure before I do something extremely foolish."

"I'm sure that whatever you do will not be foolish to Hermione." Kagura reassured. "She really seems to care for you, and I imagine, she feels the same way you do."

"Really?" Harry looked up with a hopeful expression on his face.

"Really. Now, why don't you go and see your favorite girl." Harry gratefully hugged his aunt and instantly, a vision of a whirlwind flashed across his eyes.

"Aunt Kagura, do you know what a whirlwind could mean?" Harry asked carefully.

"Well, it could mean a lot of different things. There's a whirlwind as part of my mate mark, why?"

"I think you're supposed to help me with the ritual." he said unsure.

"Harry, if you need me to help, I will do whatever you need."

"Thanks, Aunt Kagura."

"Move your ass, Harry! The Death Eaters aren't going to let you take a break to catch your breath." Inuai called out as the young man darted amongst the gravestones of the make shift graveyard. It was just one of the scenarios that Voldemort could use to end the war, and while this one seemed unlikely due to the many hiding places, they used it anyways.

The young wizard was currently taking refuge behind Riddle Sr.'s gravestone, trying desperately to catch his breath and regroup. They had been running these scenarios for the last four hours nonstop, knowing that the Dork Lord would not attack when Harry was at his best. If anything, he would attack during the night or when his spies told him that the Light's Golden Boy was not at his best. So, they had to make sure Harry was always ready, which meant the constant training.

Harry hovered a mirror just to the right and left of the gravestone, hoping to find the whereabouts of his opponents. There. He quickly vanished the mirrors as two curses sailed by the gravestone. Harry summoned his blade to him before taking a deep breath and stepping out from his refuge, right into the path of a violently green curse. He quickly sidestepped the curse, allowing his sword to take the full brunt of it. He called forth another sword, seemingly from thin air, and began twirling them around his body seamlessly, deflecting the curses being thrown at him from all sides. All of them were ignored as Harry continued to move toward his target. The curses started raining down upon him the closer he got to Moldyshorts. The swords were now a blur and sweat began to pour from his body, but Harry did not waver. Just as he got within ten feet of Riddle, he released both swords, each flying deftly toward a single target, as Harry dropped to the ground, avoiding the curses been shot at him.

He knew that the swords had struck true as the curses stopped. Harry looked up as the illusion fell, showing a decapitated dummy with a sword hilt sticking from it's chest. He took a deep breath as he checked himself over for any injuries.

"Not too bad, pup." Harry looked up as Inuyasha came over and helped him to his feet.

"Yeah, no broken bones this time." Harry smirked as he limped toward the safe area, where his family and friends could watch carefully. "How'd I do?"

"Better, but we can't hope to keep him dead for long if we can't get Nagini." Inuai said gravely, although there was pride evident in her eyes. "Go ahead and take the rest of the day off. You've earned it."

"Thanks, mum." he smiled gratefully, accepting the offered hug, knowing that Inuai would use some Carpathian healing.

"So, have you found your triad?" she asked, releasing him from the hug.

"Not all of them yet." he said sheepishly. "I still have one left."

"You know that you can ask the others for help, right?"

"Thanks. I think I will." Harry waved to the rest of his family before going to find his friends. As he walked towards Gryffindor Tower, he went over everything he had just been through, analyzing it from every angle. He knew there was technically nothing wrong with the scenario, and he could not have done anything differently without getting more than a few scratches. He looked up as he neared the portrait, noticing that the Fat Lady seemed to be out and about, again. Harry looked up and down the hallway, making sure he was alone as he located the right brick and popped open the portrait hole.

"Hey, Harry! How was training?" Neville asked from the sofa. He was reading through an Herbology book, turning the pages with on hand and his other arm around Ginny. Harry hadn't been too sure about the pair at first, but knew that Neville would never purposefully hurt the youngest Weasley.

"Tiring." he smiled. It was no secret in Gryffindor that Harry was training fiercely for the final battle against Voldemort. "You two seen Hermione around?"

"I think she said something about going to the library." Ginny supplied, giving her one time crush a heartwarming smile. "You know, typical Hermione."

Harry went up to his dorm to change out of his training clothes before making his way to the library, waving to Neville and Ginny as he left. She was probably researching the ritual. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything in the library about it, and, if his mum had anything to do with it, there never would be. Of course, there was also the problem of what to do about Voldemort's soul once they got it out of his body.

Harry smiled and nodded at Madam Pince as he made his way to the back of the library, where he knew Hermione liked to study. As he got closer, he caught a glimpse of the Weasley red hair. Ron must be helping Mione. Harry thought, smiling to himself. But as he came around the last corner, the smile dropped from his face.

"No!" he called out before turning and running back the way he had come. He didn't hear the resounding smack or Hermione calling out his name. He just ran. Where, he did not know. All he knew was he had to get away. Away from the hurt and the pain. Away from the image that haunted him every time he closed his eyes. Ron and Hermione kissing. He tried to tell himself that his Mione would never do that to him, but the proof had been right there in the library.

He didn't know how long he had been running, but, when he finally stopped to catch his breath, he recognized where he was. Harry looked around, and, finding no one, went into the only place he could possibly be alone with his thoughts and nightmares.

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I don't own anything you recognize. If I did, I would certainly be living the sweet life, but, alas, I'm not.

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