DO I really need to write a disclaimer at this point, I mean it's not like I could dream up Harry's world anyway is it?

The day started normally enough, Harry and Ginny met Ron and Hermione in the common room before breakfast and prepared for another tedious day. They all had Charms, potions, and transfiguration today and Harry and Ginny had three hours of classes to teach. Most teachers were just reviewing the seventh years now as there was really no limit to what the N.E.W.T. examiners could ask and the students would have to rely on their ability to reason out the answer more than a memorized answer. Potions was a little more interesting as the four were brewing first year potions along with their newest housemates. Slughorn believed that the examiners would be testing an applicants understanding of the mechanics of potion making not the correctness of the potion. Besides as he told them potion making was rather like baking a cake, if you had the right recipe and followed the instructions correctly you could brew anything. Of course if you understood how potions worked you could add and ingredient or two and make a better potion. Harry was now beginning to teach a lot of the spells he learned in the Tri Wizard tournament to the younger years, the older years knew everything he knew so they were just dueling in numbers now to refine technique. Harry did however, borrow Dumbledore's idea of making opponents analyze each other and write reports about it. Harry didn't bother to read these reports but gave them freely to those they were written about as a study aid. It had been a month since the trial, Harry and Ginny both prayed every night for the safety of Sirius and Bellatrix but heard very little from them. So it was a complete surprise when a dark brown owl landed in front of Harry at breakfast. Harry looked up in surprise then took the letter from the owl which flew off immediately. The letter was from Sirius.

Harry,

Bellatrix and I are fine but we have bad news to report with the good. We recovered the cup you lost and put an end to that infernal snake that kept eating the chickens but we have learned that my brother took your locket back to my parent's house.

Harry stared at this letter for a long time. This meant that he now had four of the seven Horcruxes destroyed, he knew where another was and was seriously considering the fact that Voldemort might have only made six. "A seven part soul" Harry thought. That could mean that six horcruxes and the part in his body, or it could mean seven horcruxes. Harry was still thinking when Ginny leaned in and whispered in his ear.

"Use Kreacher."

"What?" Harry asked bewildered.

"Send Kreacher to get the locket," Ginny said. "he loves the Malfoys and they won't suspect you if you send him instead of Dobby." Harry looked like he was going to kiss her but suddenly left the Great Hall leaving a thoroughly disappointed Ginny in his wake.

Harry raced to his dorm room where he called Kreacher while sitting at his desk to reply to his godfather.

"Master called?" Kreacher croaked hatefully.

"I did Kreacher," Harry replied kneeling in front of a shocked Kreacher to look him in the eyes. "What do you know about Regulus Black and the locket of Slytherin?"

"Regulas was a fine boy who followed his parents well," Kreacher said with a far away look in his eyes. "Regulas brought Kreacher a locket once, it was heavy and gold and had a snake on the front. Kreacher knows nothing of a locket of Salazar Slytherin though, why does master ask?" Kreacher finished.

"Did the snake on the locket look like this?" Harry asked quickly drawing Slytherins mark on a piece of parchment.

"It did, have you seen my master's locket master?" Kreacher asked bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet.

"No Kreacher, I haven't but I know that it once belonged to Salazar Slytherin and is very valuable. Where did you hide it?" Harry asked. Kreacher did not seem to want to answer so Harry continued quickly. "I am your master Kreacher and I wish to examine that locket. Now where is it?"

"Kreacher does not know master. Master Regulas told Kreacher to hide it and Kreacher did, But it has been moved from where Kreacher hid it" Kreacher seemed close to tears as the shame of his failure was revealed to Harry.

"Damn" thought Harry, "so close." He looked at the pitiful sight in front of him and then around the room to see Ginny standing in the doorway in front of Ron and Hermione. "Kreacher I want you to find that locket and bring it to me in this room" Harry told the elf, "I am removing you from the service of Hogwarts until this task is complete. You are to contact no one in any way while on this mission save me. Do you understand?" Kreacher nodded and started to walk from the room. "And Kreacher, be careful won't you?" Harry said as Ginny patted the elf on the head and Hermione hugged it. There was a loud crack and Kreacher was gone.

Dear snuffles,

It is time for you and your companion to think to yourselves. Both of you should return to the beginning, thank you both for your help in these matters. I have retained another party to procure the locket so do not be troubled about it. I hope to see you both soon.

Harry.

Harry reread the letter a few time to see if it was safe, deciding it was he folded it a sent Hedwig away with it. The four worked their way through another two months of school without incident. Harry received another letter from Sirius with Hedwig saying that he and Bella were home at Potter Manor within days of sending his reply to Sirius' original letter. Sirius had also said that Bella refused to take a bedroom in the house but insisted on returning to her dungeon. That forced Harry and Ginny to go to the manor so Harry could tell Bella in person that she was forbidden to ever set foot in the dungeon again. When Bella protested Ginny literally grabbed her by the ear and marched her up to one of the nicest guest rooms, which happened to be right next to Sirius' room and spent the next four hours redecorating the room for her. Harry had spent another hour explaining that by collecting the Horcruxes and giving up the Death Eaters names and addresses she had absolved herself of all crimes except the torture of the Longbottoms in his eyes. He told her that he did not hold the Longbottoms condition against her but that it was not his place to forgive her for that. She said that she understood and finally relented and accepted her room.

Now as he sat in his classroom at Hogwarts Harry was troubled, He knew that Voldemort kept a close eye on his pet snake Nagini. The knowledge that she would soon be or already was dead worried him that Voldemort might seek revenge. He began to plan escape routes out of the castle grounds for his students while having Ron prepare defense plans for the castle if needed. Hermione and Ginny were desperately searching for a way to destroy the horcruxes. One month after Kreacher left on his mission he returned at two o'clock in the morning appearing with a loud crack at the foot of Harry and Ginny's bed. Harry sprang from the bed his wand trained instantly on the intruder while Ginny rolled to the side of the bed crouching low beside it.

"Kreacher has found the locket of Slytherin master" the elf croaked calmly as he stared down the business end of two wands. Harry and Ginny relaxed, lowering their wands and chuckling to themselves.

"I should have known" Harry laughed, only a house elf could or would apparate into his bedroom at this time of the morning. Harry walked to the elf and took the locket in his hands. It was as he remembered from the pensive, this was the last of the horcruxes. "You have done well Kreacher," Harry said laying a hand on the elf's shoulder, "I want to examine this for a few days if you don't mind.

"Kreacher has no choice master" the elf said with his eyes on the floor. "Kreacher is the property of his master, it is not possible to disobey."

"Would you rather be free and have to look for work?" Harry asked staring at him. "Bearing in mind that to all death eaters you are tainted by serving Harry Potter. Are you willing to risk not finding another place to work and losing the ability to perform magic?" Kreacher said nothing but continued to stare at the floor. Harry knelt in front of him and raised his face to look him in the eye. "A war is coming Kreacher and you must choose a side. On my side is the chance to free all house elves from their enslavement or, at least to make their enslavement more bearable. On Voldemort's side is only death and oppression." Kreacher stared at Harry with disbelief in his eyes. "I'll tell you what Kreacher," Harry said seeing the look in the elf's eyes. "I want you to take the next week off and speak in depth with Dobby on this matter. Ask him what it was like to serve a Death Eater, then ask him what it is like to serve me and my friends. At the end of the week if you still wish to be free I will guarantee your freedom as soon as the war ends."

Kreacher nodded and was still for a long moment before he spoke. "Shall Kreacher go to the kitchens now or shall I seek Dobby sir?" he asked.

"You shall apparate to Potter Manor. You will find Dobby there with the rest of my staff, feel free to ask them anything you wish. In fact wait one moment and I'll write you a letter ordering the elves to answer any question you have" Harry answered him rising from his knees to go write the letter. Moments later Kreacher left, orders in hand, and Harry and Ginny turned to the locket. "Okay," Harry said pulling a list from below a false bottom of his trunk. "The diary is destroyed as is the ring, we have Ravenclaw's belt, Hufflepuff's cup, and Slytherin's locket." He marked these items off the list as he said them. Ginny watched her husband in amasement as the wheels in his head turned. "With Nagini dead or dying there's a good chance that the horcrux died with her, but how to know?"

Ginny shook herself out of her amazement and laid a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder, "I think we need to visit the manor again soon Harry" she said in a calming voice. Harry looked up at her confused. "Bellatrix will know whether or not the horcrux was destroyed, besides I want to talk with Sirius and her about how to destroy the ones we have."

Harry thought about this for a while, it made sense, no one Harry could think of knew more about the dark arts than Bellatrix. "Good idea Gin, we'll go this weekend" Harry said returning the list and the locket to the trunk where the belt of Ravenclaw lay. He covered them all with the false bottom and stood to put his arms around his wife, "Let's go back to bed" he said smiling as she kissed his neck, "we have a long day tomorrow."

The week dragged by painfully as the Ron and Hermione spent every waking hour they weren't in class on their respective projects. Harry and Ginny spent what few free moments they had quietly warning the teachers to be ready for an attack. Saturday dawned cold and rainy. The four met in the common room early as they had planned earlier in the week, Harry had already sent McGonagall a note explaining where they would be to avoid getting yelled at again like they had when they left to deal with Bellatrix. Harry and Ginny entered the room with Harry's trunk to find Ron and Hermione sharing an intimate breakfast at a small table by the fire. They stared at the touching scene before Harry coughed quietly. Hermione's head snapped around while Ron just smiled and beckoned them over.

"Don't tell me that Ron actually made you set this up Hermione" Ginny said shooting her brother a murderous glare.

Hermione was quick to defend her boyfriend, "No, actually he surprised me, I came out all ready to slip down to the great hall to get us all something to find this complete with the candles and Ron already dressed and waiting for me" Hermione said enjoying the shocked look on Ginny's face. "You didn't really think you had the only romantic boyfriend in our little group did you?" she teased.

"Yeah, I did" Ginny answered truthfully, "I mean, Ron was always kind and loving to me but never even hinted that he would be able to dream this up."

"Well Sis, I don't usually try to steal my best friend's wife, especially not when she's my sister" Ron said smoothly gently feeding Hermione another strawberry. Everyone laughed while Ginny just grinned.

"Oh well, at least I've got the only one who cooks too" Ginny said earning a playful slap from her best friend.

Harry laughed before saying, "As much as I hate to waste Ron's stroke of brilliance, we need to get going."

"Don't worry Harry, there's always next week" Ron said drawing an excited and adoring look from Hermione. "Didn't think this was a one time thing did you?" he whispered in her ear as they walked out to the gates. Hermione just smiled and squeezed his hand.

The quartet arrived at Potter Manor to find Sirius and Bellatrix quietly talking with Remus Lupin and Tonks in the front sitting room. "Hey, what are you two doing here?" Harry asked as they all hugged both Remus and Tonks.

"Well Padfoot here told us he'd been out doing some work for you and we wanted to catch up, course we didn't expect to see Bella here but she's turned out to be a wonderful surprise" Tonks said before Remus could say a word.

"That's an understatement Tonk's" Harry said as Bella flashed him a smile.

"Really?" Tonks asked sarcastically. "She was just telling us about how her life changed at the Ministry the night that Dumbledore dueled Voldemort." Everyone chuckled as Bella flinched at the name

"Really Bella, I told you he can't hurt you now." Sirius said lightly rubbing her arm. "And Harry would never allow that filthy Rodolphus to enter his home." Everyone eyed Bella warily, no one knew how she would react to the insult of her husband. To their relief Bella nodded, then looked at Harry pleadingly.

"Harry I want to divorce Rodolphus" Bella told him. Harry looked at her questioningly. "You are my head of house and magical marriages are binding unless the divorce is filed by the head of house citing an acceptable reason.

Harry studied the woman in front of him, he knew that she had truly changed and he knew that her husband cared little for her. The question for Harry was did he have the right as a non relative to interfere in her life. Ginny put her arms around her husband. "Harry only you can grant her this freedom. You know that Rodolphus will protest, Her decision will only stand in court if you file it for her." Harry slowly nodded.

"I will file for the divorce Bella, from this moment on you are to call yourself Bellatrix Black until you find another whom you truly love enough to take his name. Just choose wisely this time" Harry said as Bella fell to her knees in relief. He walked to her and lifted her to her feet, nodded to her briefly and turned to continue his conversation. Harry chatted happily with Remus and Tonks for about an hour or so before they excused themselves saying that they had a few errands to run. Harry turned back to Bellatrix, "I need to know that the Horcrux that was Nagini is destroyed" he said quietly.

"Do not worry Harry," Bellatrix said with a small laugh. All of the teens bristled at her. "Please, I am not laughing at you. Merely in relief that the ugly thing is dead. A horcrux must have a host or vessel to exist, if the vessel is altered then the horcrux is destroyed. It is fragile magic, used by only the most desperate wizards. The spell traps a part of the casters soul in the vessel and the trap is tailored to the exact vessel" Bellatrix explained.

"So if you alter the vessel enough the traps can no longer hold the piece of soul?" Hermione asked.

"Right," said Bellatrix, "And remember that the soul has no fear of death and wishes to move on. Ghosts are the imprint of a departed soul. The soul has moved on, only a faint echo remains, just enough of the person remains to be sentient."

"Then why didn't I destroy the Diary by writing in it?" Ginny asked.

"Because you used the vessel in its intended capacity, you didn't alter the vessel. To alter it you have to change it in a way that it was not designed to be changed. When Harry stabbed it the fang broke through the barrier of the cover and the magic contained by the cover. You simply wrote on top of the magic contained in the pages" Bellatrix answered.

Finally everyone seemed to understand, "Well I think that we can just punch a hole in the others then without magic and that should do the trick" Harry said grimly. He seemed to withdraw into himself for a while before shaking himself and suggesting a game of exploding snap. They group played for several hours and thoroughly enjoyed the day because they all seemed to know that when the Horcruxes were destroyed happy days would be few and far between.