The rest of the day passed quickly for Harry and Ginny. After returning to Grimmauld Place, Harry and Ginny sequestered themselves in their suite where they did many things that would make the Weasley boys very angry.
It was evening time when Harry and Ginny exited their suite and headed for the conference room. Hermione had stated that they had made some serious progress on the trunk and wanted to show him. Because of the nature of the trunk, Harry figured that the entire OOTPEC should hear this report. Besides, Harry had new orders for everyone.
Once everyone was seated, Harry opened the meeting. "I hereby call this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix Executive Committee to order. Thank you all for coming on short notice, but Hermione has informed me that there has been progress made on the trunk. Hermione, if you would please."
Hermione stood up from her chair and addressed the assembled group. "We spent the last day going thru the trunk you acquired from Merlin. We now have a complete list of safe-houses Voldemort used as well as all the research he did on the Dark Mark.
"But the biggest surprise we uncovered was about the Horcruxes. We now know what they are, their locations, and what security measures Tom Riddle used to hide his treasures."
The entire room fell silent. This is what Harry hoped to find in the trunk; a way to beat Tom at his own game.
"We are preparing to send teams out to the safe-houses, but we were wondering about how we should the horcruxes."
Harry spoke up, "Hermione, great work so far. I want you to send out teams to the safe-houses and have them do recon only. I then want a complete list of the properties and what is stored within. As for the horcruxes, I want teams sent out to do nothing more then make sure Tom does not try to get to them. For no reason is anyone to attempt to retrieve the horcruxes until I find out where in the hell the locket went to since it was not in the cave."
Kreacher fell out of his seat when he heard about the locket. Charlie, Winky, and Dobby were by his side in a heartbeat. When he came to, he was muttering about Master Regulus and his final task.
"What is Kreacher talking about? Does Kreacher know about the Dark Lord's locket?" Dobby asked.
"Kreacher went with Master Regulus to the cave that the Dark Lord used to hide the locket. Master Regulus was killed when he took the locket. Master Regulus ordered Kreacher to destroy Slytherin's locket, but Kreacher failed!" Kreacher whined.
Harry stood up "Kreacher do you know where this locket is?"
Without a word, Kreacher snapped his fingers and the Slytherin locket appeared in his hand. Bill took it from Kreacher and inspected it. After a few minutes, Bill handed it over to Albus to inspect. "Harry, I am sure it is a horcrux. I have seen their remains in Egypt in the tombs. According to the research I have seen, the only way to destroy them is by using Fiendfyre or Basilisk Venom."
Albus' head snapped up when Bill said Basilisk Venom. "Of course!! Harry, you have your sword with, correct?"
"Of course Albus" Harry answered, summoning his sword from no where.
"Harry, your sword pierced the basilisk thru the top of his head, if I remember correctly. The sword was coated in venom and blood of the basilisk. Goblin made weapons absorb only things that can make it stronger. If I am right, then your sword should be able to destroy the horcrux because it was coated in basilisk venom.
"Due to the prophecy, you are the only one to vanquish the Dark Lord. The horcruxes are considered to be a part of him. If you channel some of your magic thru the sword, the combination of your magic, the snake venom and blood should destroy the horcrux."
Harry thought for a moment, and then in one fluid movement, summoned the locket and charged his sword. Harry thrust the tip of his sword towards the flying locket. When the tip of the sword touched the locket, an unholy scream could be heard. Harry didn't care; he continued to push his magic thru the sword and into the locket.
As the locket began to disintegrate, a greenish mist escaped the locket and tried to escape the room. However, Harry's magic flared and trapped it in midair. Ginny, knowing what she needed to, withdrew her sword and channeled her magic into her sword the same Harry had done with his sword. She touched his arm with one hand while she pierced the greenish mist with her sword. Their auras flared again and the green mist exploded into nothingness. Moments later, Harry fell back into his chair, exhausted.
Horace and Albus were out of their seats in a heartbeat. Horace pulled out a small matchbox which he expanded into a traveling potions lab. Kreacher, who thanks to the Black Family was as close to a Potion's Master as an elf could be, went over to help the Slughorn with the potions. Albus made it to Harry and began to caste a number of diagnostic spells.
After a few minutes, Albus found Harry to be in excellent health, just a little tired. Albus moved over to Ginny who was being checked out by Charlie and Remus. After verifying that Ginny was just tired, Remus, Bill, Horace and Albus began to confer between themselves. As this was going on, Kreacher handed his Master and Mistress both a Restorative Draught. After drinking them Harry and Ginny both felt somewhat human again.
Suddenly, Neville spoke up. "Harry, whatever came out of that locket also came out of you when you rescued us."
This brought all conversation in the room to a dead stop. Everyone immediately returned to their seats and waited for Neville's story. Nervously Neville began his story. "After we were abducted by the Death Eaters, we were taken to some sort of warehouse. Harry told me that it was in Edinburgh somewhere. We had been locked up there for a few hours when suddenly all hell broke loose. There was yelling and screaming, then suddenly the door exploded and Harry was standing there.
"He was holding his sword in one hand and wand in his other hand, but what drew my attention was his eyes. They looked like fire flames dancing. After freeing us, we continued looking for Ginny, we found her with Bellatrix Lestrange and Peter Pettigrew hovering over her. Harry and I both launched spells at them. Mine hit Bella, spilling her entrails before she was able to disaparate, while Harry used…Sectem—something and the next thing I know, Pettigrew's head is missing from his shoulders.
"Harry moved over to Ginny and kissed her with an amount of passion that I have never seen in my entire life. As they kissed, I saw them surrounded with some sort of a red and blue mist, it wasn't an aura, it was mist, like fog almost. The air in the room grew really heavy because of the amount of magic that was within the room.
"Suddenly Harry's scar burst open and a green mist escaped; just like what came out of the locket, anyway, this green mist tried to enter Ginny, but it failed. Instead it was incased in a sphere of red mist instead, then it was squeezed out of existence.
"After that, the magic began to bleed off, and I started looking for a way to escape. Harry looked like he was injured and Ginny was still a mess. However Harry was able to turn his robes into a portkey. We all grabbed it and disappeared. We arrived in the entry way here.
"For the life of me, I cannot understand why in the hell Bellatrix did not die when I hit her with that curse."
Hermione spoke up, shocked that Harry was a Horcrux. "That is because Bellatrix Lestrange went thru almost every single ritual Tom did. She heals faster and has a larger magical core than most witches and wizards. Plus she has learned every single spell that Voldemort has ever known. She is a very dangerous witch."
These revelations caused the entire to go quiet for a number of minutes while everyone processed the information they were just given. Harry was a horcrux and Bellatrix Lestrange was almost as strong as Tom himself.
Harry, like the born leader he is, retook command of the meeting. "Ok, well the diary, the ring, Nagini, and the locket are gone, as well as the Horcrux within me. So what else remains?"
This time Albus stood up. "According to the information from the trunk, we know where the Horcruxes were placed. Helga Hufflepuff's Cup was transfigured into statue of a serpent. It is at the center of the property he owned in Albania.
Rowena Ravenclaw's wand is located in his old quarters in Grindelwald's Castle in Germany. It is under a number of charms and enchantments.
"There is also Gryffindor's dagger. This dagger is almost exact copy of your sword Harry, except that it is smaller. That is located inside Hogwarts itself. To be exact, it is located in the Founder's Common Room. The only way to access this room is to be an heir of one of the Founders. To access the room, Harry, you must go to the room of requirement and ask the room for the entry way to the Founder's Common Room.
"Once the door appears, you must provide a drop of blood. This is so that you are confirmed as the true heir of one of the Founders. Unfortunately, Tom also placed a password spell on the room. The password is Victory or Death in parseltongue.
"According to our research, Tom tried to take command of the school, but was unable to do it because he was only an heir of Slytherin and not any of the other founders. Harry, as heir to Gryffindor and Slytherin, the castle is yours to command because you possess within your blood, the magic of two of the founders.
As Albus sat down, Remus stood up, "Also, we have learned that Voldemort wanted to create a Horcrux out of your death Harry. He planned on using his teddy bear as the Horcrux. The teddy bear was a reminder of what he grew up as and why he hated it. As far as anyone knows, the bear was destroyed with your parent's house.
"When Wormtail found Voldemort, he took him to where the Hufflepuff Cup laid and removed it from its enchantments. Wormtail then used a ritual that forced the two pieces of Voldemort's soul to become one again. Unfortunately for Voldemort, he quickly learned that he did not possess enough soul to regenerate a body by himself.
"It was then that Voldemort discovered that he made too many Horcruxes, believing that when he made Nagini into a Horcrux, he went too far, even though his research said otherwise. Voldemort quickly began to formulate a plan that allowed him to regain a body. It was Necromancy in a way never before thought of.
"The reason why it worked was because your blood contained a portion of Voldemort via your scar. Since then, they piece of his soul trapped within you has tried to escape and return to its fellow parts."
Now Ron stood up. "So to sum up, Voldemort knowingly split his soul seven times. Each time the soul was split, it was split equally from what was within his body. The strongest Horcrux was his first, the Diary. That is why Tom was able to control Ginny, that Horcrux had half of his complete soul within it.
"Our best guess is that Tom is going to try and retrieve either the locket or Ravenclaw's wand since they are the strongest remaining horcruxes. Tom had standing orders for Bellatrix to flee to Albania in the event that he should appear to be killed. From there, Bellatrix will help him restore his body. However the process takes approximately 4 months to complete. Once that is done, Tom will have another body, probably more snake like than ever because of his use of snakes and their venoms in his potions that prolonged his life."
Harry processed the information again, then spoke up, "Kingsley, Alastor. I want you to assemble teams and have them watching all the horcrux locations, including the cave where the locket was. In fact, I want you place a fake locket in the cave. When Bellatrix takes which one, follow her and alert the other teams. I then want all the Horcruxes brought to Hogwarts where I plan on destroying them all before I finish off Tom for good. Who has anything to report?"
Molly stood up next. "The goblins have completed their renovations here at Headquarters. Kreacher and I have completely restocked the entire house with everything we need. With Griphook's help, we have also established accounts at all the usual stores in Diagon Alley as well as the local muggle stores that sell food and supplies. We are well stocked and ready for anything. I have also prepared a cookbook of simple, but nutritious meals that anyone can cook."
"Master, I have made contact with a number of House Elves and plan to have your new elves working by the end of the week." Kreacher said.
"Kingsley, how are the investigations going at the Ministry?"
"With what Percy has supplied, we have compiled an accurate list of people we need to watch for. The only area we are not sure is the Department of Mysteries, though from what I know of them, they never speak to anyone outside of their own department."
"Excellent work everyone. I am glad you are all doing so well. Tomorrow morning at 9 am, I plan on confronting the Wizengamot and Scrimgeour. I would like as many Order and DA members there as possible, ready to fight. I will also have the Queen's Magical Guard there as well."
Moody began to laugh, "You met Jennings then I assume?"
"Yes we did; kind of an arrogant bloke, even after Gin and I had them beat in about 45 seconds. How do you know them?"
Moody stopped laughing instantly. "Ladd, the Queen's Magical Guard is organized much the same way that the Scottish Highlanders were organized. Their junior members are trained by the senior members in all forms of combat, muggle and magical alike. They also receive training from the Goblins, centaurs, and High Elves. All of the wards around Buckingham Palace are created by them. Except for the American's Secret Service, they are the best protective detail in the history of the world. You're telling me that you beat them?"
"Yes Alastor I am. They were soundly defeated in the throne room at Buckingham Palace. And for your information, I already knew all of this. Hestia, please inform the order about tomorrow and inform them that battle robes are her for them. Everyone else, we'll see tomorrow."
The meeting quickly broke up afterwards, with everyone heading off to bed. Harry and Ginny headed up to their bed where they were asleep within moments.