Chapter 7 need to know
3,684 words
AN: Rant # two: just saw movie eight again, down in the chamber, HJG destroyed the cup, but it doesn't defend itself as the locket did with Ron. Compare the two destructions – which one is the more dramatic scene – which is the braver act. Is it not pure sexism to imply that only boys are negatively affected by Horcruxes? Again I understand the need for strong role model for girls today, but wouldn't it have been nice to show the Heroine's demon's to someone - - especially Ron?
It's relatively easy for a person without mortal imperfections and self-doubts to destroy something evil; it is far harder when faced with your own self-doubts hidden-deep in your soul, to do the same thing. In all eight movies they only hinted at Hermione's vague human weakness and I feel that's a mistake. Ron facing spiders was a braver act because we knew of his fear, movie wise - - what if anything did Hermione fear, beside bad grades?
Hermione said she didn't want to destroy the cup in the movie - but what did she risk by not doing so? Is Supergirl really brave in doing a heroic deed - - like facing a machine gun - when everyone knows the bullets couldn't hurt her? How can Hermione show bravery in killing a Horcrux if she fears nothing? Does this mean that I hate the Hermione character; I don't think so - my goal is to show her bravery in overcoming very human doubts and fears that a real girl would face?
Was the above a spoiler?
Read on and see
Enuff said
Roll film
OoOoOoOo
"Please Ron tell me, what happened to you? Hermione pleaded. "Who taught you Occulmency? How do you know half of what you do?
Ron sighed and fought the annoyance rising inside of him before replying. "A Horcrux is an unusual form of magic with a unique signature they aren't hard to spot if you know what to look for.
"How are you going to destroy it? Harry asked.
"Destroy them …plural not singular.
"You found another one?" Hermione asked in gob-smacked amazement.
"Not really, Let's just say that I acquired one as part of a ransom demand; one special cup, a personal favorite of Tom Marvolo Riddle that he stole in his youth from lady Hephzibah Smith who Tom murdered to transform it into a Horcrux. Allegedly originally owned by - - Madam Helga Hufflepuff herself a Hogwarts founder. You saw a pensive about it in Dumbledore's office and told us about it. In fact you were the one that told us of old Tom fascination with the founders, don't you remember Harry
"You remember that?
"Always the tone of surprise,?" Ron bemoaned. "Idiots with zero recall of past moves can't play a decent game of chess. I may not have shown it, but I always paid attention when there was something really important enough to remember - - - and to think, Ginny called me thick!
"I'm surprised Granger – that you never did figure-out that I only acted homework lazy just to get your attention away from 'the dolt that lived'. But as Potter got in your knickers anyway - it was a waste of effort on my part.
Hermione turned and stared at Ron totally gob-smacked having never guessed the truth.
"Okay-okay so you actually listened - - for once - - but how did you trace - -" Harry said mockingly
"- - Privileged information gained by unpleasant means," Ron replied calmly not rising to the bait. "This Hufflepuff cup somehow found its way into the Lestrange family vault at Gringotts some twenty odd years back. Rabastan not knowing its true value - later traded it for his brother Rodolphus, Bellatrix's husband …who had fallen into my unsavory hands.
"He did?
"Oh Yeah, we in the resistance do take prisoner's now and then …for Intel questioning. The Lestrange brothers tried to double-cross me during the exchange but it didn't play-out as they planned. Ron said with a pure evil grin that seriously frightened Hermione.
"Saying the resistance you really mean the 'Order' - don't you," Hermione interjected suddenly wanting to know.
"No, my master told me early-on that the Order of the Phoenix was finished as an effective fighting force, they run Potterwatch but that's about all," Ron retorted automatically
"And the Lestrange cup - - it's real?" Harry asked.
"Oh yeah, dripping with evil and it gave me several self-doubting nightmares by just keeping it on my person. Matches everything I know about a Horcrux. Check it for yourself if you doubt me." Ron said pulling it out of another pocket in his robes.
The moment it became visible Harry knew it was the real deal, for he heard it whisper to him in Parceltongue. So he quickly shook his head 'NO' to decline the offer.
Hermione, who was lost in thought over all she had heard - stood gob-smacked for a-bit and looked startled when she heard her name spoken.
"Lady Potter - - Granger …Hermione - - HERMIONE, the locket - - can I have it please," Ron repeated ever louder in his now customary monotone.
"Oh yes - - sorry," Hermione replied blushing as she reached up and removed the locket
"You really shouldn't wear a Horcrux like a necklace, by the way," Ron said casually. "It can muck-up your head, - - no scratch that! Such restrictions only affect mere mortals and dimwitted sidekicks, not heroic lovers like you-lot.
Hermione winced at the comment
"To sum up," The game plan for the here and now is to destroy the two here, then leave the sword behind with you-lot, for safe keeping. That done - - I'll destroy the Ravenclaw Diadem where it is hidden and use its destruction to have a go at the last Horcrux. But honestly - - my survival chances going after the last two are rather dismal. That's why I'm leaving the sword with you - - in case I kick-it (AN; die).
Sword - - what sword. Harry asked confused - - and before Hermione could tell him - Ron said
"Don't be so thick," he spat. "The Gryffindor one that at the late Minister Rufus Scrimgeour refused to turn over to you - - or so I've been told by a reliable source. The same sword that Albus Dumbledore mentioned in his will - - that I heard about - when Scrimgeour read the entire last testament to me - before I got what Albus bequeathed to me. Now - correct me if I'm wrong - but my guess is that snitch and the sword were two things that Albus desperately wanted you to have - so you could use them to somehow destroy the fucking Horcruxes
"Ron will you please give a thought to your filthy language!" Hermione complained with a resigned sigh.
"No." Ron replied perfectly calm.
"How did you get the sword?
"That's the odd thing; I was lead to it by a patronus after the cup exchange turned nasty. My guide took the form of a silver-deer and at first I thought it was yours, Potter - until I remembered yours is a stag. You know …with horns?
"Then this was a doe? Hermione interjected eagerly.
"Yeah, - - no horns. Anyhow; at first I thought it was another trap, but it didn't pan-out that way. I had to swim for it though - - because the sword was in a sort-of pond, deep in what's left of Sherwood Forest.
And you're sure it's real.
"Yes - I'm sure, I used my deluminator on it - - handy little devise that is, has all kinds of uses. And now if you two will excuse me - - I have some Horcruxes to get rid of," Ron said as he reached into his robes and withdrew the sword of Gryffindor.
"No wait, why do you get to do them-in? Hermione interrupted
"Excuse me?
"The locket and the cup? Harry has already destroyed the diary and I think that after all I've been through - - after six years of misadventure with you two, Popinjays - - I believe that I've earned the right to my own turn.
"I haven't destroyed one either, Granger!
"I should have next-go, Hermione pouted.
"Let her do it Ron," Harry pleaded in a long suffering tone, "you can have the other one, - please. I'm so sick of her winning until she gets her way - - or arguing with me until I give up - - just to shut her up."
"Oh the joys of having the little-misses underfoot twenty-four seven," Ron said understanding Harry's problem with Hermione all too well. 'The things we bloke's puts up-with all in the name of getting in a girls knickers', Ron said to him-self with bittersweet satisfaction, "but not anymore, she is Harry cross to carry now'.
"You know what, Potter - - your right; let her destroy them both - - it'll server her right", Ron said knowingly, "Though I should warn you that a Horcrux will defend itself. My master told me that the Gaunt ring, put up a terrible fight before its destruction, even managed to fatally poison its last wearer.
"The - - what Ring?
"Merlin Potter, didn't Albus Dumbledore tell you anything of value?
"Apparently not," Harry replied bitterly.
"Tom made seven Horcruxes - - possibly eight," Ron replied exasperated. "My master believes that to create a Horcrux the caster has to spilt his soul while committing a murder. The spell is cast ahead of the killing curse and the soul fragment sent into an inanimate object of importance to the caster. Well - normally it's an object, living things can also be a Horcrux too, but doing so is risky for a living thing can die and that instantly destroys the Horcrux from the caster.
"My master also believes as do I, that Tom's first Horcrux was his diary; his second was the leg-bone of his murdered Muggle father.
"Leg bone? The headmaster didn't mention a leg bone," Hermione said scornfully in disbelief.
"And your precious headmaster was so forthcoming in providing you with all the details concerning the Horcruxes your hunting", Ron replied with biting contempt. "I bet Albus didn't tell either of you that old Tommie needed a soul-fragment to reanimate his current body - the one he made during fourth year.
"As Hermione without doubt, already knows, a Dementor's kiss literally sucks the entire soul out of a human body and although the empty shell can continue to live for a period of time - - after the soul is removed the body is no longer controlled by the departed soul. Old Tommie needed to reinstall one of the fragments of his soul into the body he made, to fully control it. That's why the leg-bone was part of the ritual in the graveyard.
Ron that's Brilliant!
"I didn't think of it, my master did." Ron spat irritated. "Anyway, that's two; the next four reflects Tom's fascination with the founders. In no particular order there was: Gaunt's ring a Peverell family heirloom that once belonged to Tom's Wizarding grandfather with the Peverell name possibly related by marriage ever so remotely to Godric Gryffindor himself. Then there is; Salazar Slytherin's locket, Helga Hufflepuff's cup and finally Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem.
"What's a diadem,?" Harry asked sounding confused
"It's a great lady's bejeweled tiara, worn by the richest of the nobility. I wore a far less expensive one to the Yule-ball," Hermione answered automatically
"With Krum …" Ron mumbled softly, his jealousy still vivid - all these years later - Harry heard it and cringed.
"And the last Horcrux?," Hermione asked now becoming excited.
"Well there is a problem with that one," Ron replied none too happy. "My master has two suspects for that one, the same ones Dumbledore had and naturally - - never mentioned to Harry. One is supposed to be Tom's pet snake Nagini, a Horcrux my master believes was made by mistake when Tom was still working out the bugs of the Horcrux creating process. The other alternative - - well there's a similar problem with that one too.
"Headmaster Dumbledore once theorized while discussing the possibilities with my master - that Nagini, could have been with Tom the night he killed your parents, A Horcrux created at the time of your father's murder. However, I lean toward my masters theory, for I recently learned that Tom went to Godric's Hallow that night - - alone. Nagini wasn't with him.
"Why my dad's murder, why not my Mums, she was murdered too.
"No, if made at all - - it was definitely your dads, you made that clear to me, or don't you remember?.
"Remember what, no I don't - - tell me again.
"I better not, painful memories are meant to be forgotten.
"You didn't forget.
"No, I didn't. I thought it was an important move, like on a chess board. The key in understanding an opponent's strategy in any game are their 'tells', and what Tom did that night said a-lot about Tom's way of thinking.
"Tell me anyway
"You're not going to like this Potter.
"Tell me god-dammit!" Harry literally shrieked in anger.
"It was a night or two before we went to the Department of Mysteries, you had a dream where you connected to Tom's memories of Godric Hallow and after you woke-up screaming - you told me that Tom had tried to spare your Mum. Now I'm paraphrasing you understand, - basically Tom told your mum to get out of the way… that all he wanted was to kill your dad and her son and if she didn't interfere, her life would be spared.
"Yeah, I remember now, so what.
"My master told me that Tom had made a deal with one of his followers to spare Lily; to make her into an Imperio-cursed sex-slave or an involuntary breeder of dark wizards – and it is a possibly - I suppose. The thing is Tom doesn't do bargains. You obeyed him or died. So Tom had his own reasons for trying to spare your Mum that didn't involve any Death Eaters randy desires.
"You're saying he wanted her for himself?" Harry asked horrified at the thought.
"It's just a long-shot option; you understand," Ron said semi-apologetically. "Tom was still very human at that point, with Bellatrix his married and not so discrete 'under wraps' mistress. My master believes that before the killing curse he hit you with - backfired, Tom had hoped to have heirs - - loads of them. Sons and daughters of his flesh and blood; trained to rule a Death Eater Empire, which would stretch across Europe to the Ural Mountains in Russia. Bellatrix had proved barren, so he might have been in the market for another breeder.
"Ron that a horrible thought," Hermione protested in an utterly disgusted tone.
"Among wizards it all boils down to the breeder's bloodline, brood mares and stallions," Ron said in a flat monotone. "A woman who gave birth to the Chosen One would have great value for she had produced a child of destiny.
"I had no idea," Harry said horrified.
"Me either", Hermione interjected.
"Of course not, neither of you were raised in the Wizarding society, you weren't breast-fed this blood-purity rubbish as toddlers. We backward …poor as dirt Weasley blood-traitors don't follow those stupid traditions because we think they're rubbish… but we know about them - and besides; other pure blood families do swear by them.
'This is yet another reason why Dumbledore must have wanted Ron in on the Horcrux hunt all along, the third leg of the trio stool.' Hermione said to her-self with cutting self-contemp. 'Harry and I knowledge of the Wizarding world is tragically limited, whereas Ron's is surprisingly massive. Perhaps Dumbledore suspected that there was a Horcrux secret in "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" that only a pure-blood wizard such-as Ron could decipher.
'Sweet merlin, Ron's right, I continually underestimated him. Worst yet this proves conclusively that I shouldn't have given in sexually to Harry. And to think, if I had waited – been patient - this new more confident Ron could have been mine - - for sweet Merlin this new Ron is physically so way beyond hot it's scary - - oh-sweet lord.
"Alright-alright so Tom wanted to make my mom into a baby factory, so what?"Harry asked clearly miffed.
"My guess is that old Tom tried the Imperio curse on your Mum and it didn't take - and then out of pure frustration - - he killed her. The main point is that he never intended to kill her in the first place so if the Horcrux spell was used at all that night - - it would have been cast before he killed your dad. As no dark-magic object belonging to the founders was found near or on his body - - or so the autopsy report stated. I'd say he didn't go there intending to make a Horcrux," Ron said very carefully putting emphasis on intending so as not to be caught in an outright lie.
'After-all' Ron said to him-self 'I still had a fragment of personal-honor in the deepest corner of my tainted-soul. So he didn't lie casually, besides honestly he was a terrible liar. Telling only part of the truth was so much easier and omitting some information wasn't technically a lie either, it just wasn't the whole truth. By bending the truth a little, Ron could do without bothering what little conscious he still had. Also telling mostly truth - made him feel a little superior to the two ex-friends now in front of him - - who'd lied to him non-stop about their two-timing affair for six solid months - back at Hogwarts.
"Yeah-yeah, go on - - tell us more we don't know. For example; who in bloody-hell is this master of yours and why did the headmaster tell him so much more than he did me?" Harry asked feeling even more outraged and betrayed.
"I not the one to ask about that - - that's between you and a dead man. Personally, I've come to believe that Albus kept you in the dark because of your indirect connection into Tom's mind. Not wanting the information to be lost he trusted at least one other person with all the details of his Horcrux scheme besides my master - - because again – he clearly didn't think you could be trusted with everything," Ron suggested sadly.
"I hate that he kept things from me" - Harry snarled.
"But don't get your knickers in a twist over it, the need to know restriction applies to me as well. I don't know all the; whereas and why-fore's of every single combat-mission my group goes on. The resistance leadership cadre only releases enough practical info to the rank and file to get the job done. Even the commander doesn't know all the logistics of everything – he, like the rest of us - are pawns in the great game that fate is putting on, with all of us grunts equally expendable.
"Well you still know loads more than we do." Harry spat bitterly disappointed.
"Yeah - - life sucks that way, but in reality I don't have all that much more info, than you - - if you think on-it. Most of what I know came from you in the first place. I've just have a different perspective - - call it if you like - a dumbed down point-of-view at analyzing the Intel; that you hero types are too 'smart' to utilize," Ron said sarcastically. "Any way; as I was saying - -So when the killing curse rebounded off of you - - the baby; it killed the last remaining original soul fragment in Tom Riddle's original, purely-human body - - thus ruining forever any chance for Voldemort to make any more Horcruxes - or sire a dynasty of dark wizard kings.
"Well that's comforting,"
"More than you'll ever realize.