Animal I've Become
Chapter 9
Hogwarts Return & A Horcrux Destroyed
The end of the summer had arrived and it was finally time for Harry and his friends to return to Hogwarts and begin their sixth year. Whilst Harry had come to call Grimmauld Place a home with Sirius, he was still looking forward to returning to the castle. He of course had a number of reasons wanting to get back to school. Chief amongst these were getting to spend more time with Daphne and get to know her better, lessons from Dumbledore, and the all important, kick some sense into Ron's over arrogant arse.
Now usually in the past five years that he's been going to Hogwarts, on the early morning of September first, especially when he had been with the Wesley at the Burrow. Everything would be a hectic mess with late minute packing, eating breakfast, and trying as all hell to make it to King's Cross station on time. However this time, Harry was ready. The night before he had tracked down every thing that he needed for school. His spell books, school robes, potion ingredients, the marauders map, his invisibility cloak, and his firebolt broomstick.
When it came to Gryffindor's sword however, for a moment Harry was unsure what to do with it. However then the answer came to him. Grabbing his wand, Harry gave it a flick and muttered a shrinking charm on the sword. With the sword shrunk, he conjured a necklace chain and wrapped it around the hilt of the sword. Now with his "official sword of Gryffindor necklace" made Harry slipped it around his neck before double checking he had everything before shutting and locking his trunk.
When the morning of September first came, Harry woke up early and took a hot shower before getting dressed and heading downstairs for breakfast. Upon entering the kitchen, Harry saw Sirius was at the stove making scrambled eggs, and pancakes.
"Morning Pup, you're up a little early aren't you? I was going to wake you up at 9:30" Sirius said removing four of the pancakes he had made before adding some more batter.
"I just wanted to be up and have everything ready. Before when I'd stay with the Weasleys, everything would be so hectic today, so I wanted to be ready and not have to worry about tearing half the house apart just to find a spell book or something" Harry explained.
"I understand Pup, now how about you help me with breakfast?" Sirius asked flipping the pancakes that he had poured onto the griddle.
"I'll make the bacon" Harry replied, walking around Sirius to the refrigerator where the bacon was stored.
While Sirius finished up with the pancakes, Harry fried up six pieces of bacon perfectly. Once finished getting everything ready, Harry and Sirius dug in at the old scrubbed wooden table. When they were finished with breakfast, Harry headed upstairs to get both his trunk and Hedwig's cage and brought them downstairs to the living room.
With his belongings now ready, he glanced over at Sirius and asked "Sirius how are we getting to King's Cross? Floo Powder? The Knight Bus?"
It took all of Sirius's willpower to not grin like an idiot at his grandson. For last night he and Logan Greengrass had a discussion and both had agreed that Logan and his wife would bring over Daphne and her sister Astoria before heading to King's Cross together. However instead of spoiling the surprise, Sirius simply shrugged his shoulder and said "A friend will be coming over to take us, he should be here in fifteen minutes".
Harry arched an eyebrow slightly as he asked "What friend? Is it Remus or another member of the Order?"
Sirius smirked as he said "Relax Harry, you'll find out soon enough" Sirius said.
Within fifteen minutes, the doorbell rang, and Sirius went to answer it. Harry heard Sirius talking to someone, but couldn't quite place the voice of the person. Harry's unvoiced question was soon answered when Sirius walked back into the living room followed by another male. The male that was behind Sirius, was about 5'11" with shaggy chestnut brown hair and bold blue eyes. He had the look of importance and carried it proudly.
"Harry allow me to introduce to you, Logan Greengrass, high member of the Wizengamot and the one who actually tried to get my ass a trial" Sirius said.
Harry's emerald green eyes widened slightly as he looked at what appeared to be Daphne's father. His chest tightened slightly as Logan walked around him observing him. To Harry it felt like he was placed under a microscope, and the scientist just happened to be his maybe girlfriend's father. Once finished with his observement of Harry, Logan stuck out his hand and said "It's nice to finally meet you in person Mr. Potter, my daughter Daphne has of course told me all about you".
"Pleased to meet you Mr. Greengrass" Harry replied shaking Logan's hand.
While Sirius and Logan chatted for a few minutes, Harry busied himself with taking both his trunk and Hedwig's cage outside to where Logan had parked his car across the street from Grimmauld Place. As he reached the trunk, Emma, Logan's wife and mother to Daphne and Astoria, reached over to hit the button that would unlock the trunk for Harry. As Harry loaded his trunk and Hedwig's cage into the magically expanded compartment, he was reminded of the Weasleys Ford Anglia from second year. Upon securing his trunk and Hedwig's cage, Harry reached up and shut the trunk, as he did so, his eyes met with Daphne's who had a small grin on her lips. Harry tore his eyes away when he noticed Sirius and Logan exiting Grimmauld Place and making their way over to the car.
The ride to King's Cross station was uneventful to say the least. While he did enjoy Daphne's company and finally meeting her younger sister Astoria. He did however start to become annoyed with all of Astoria's questions that she kept asking. On the third round of asking questions, Daphne told Astoria off and to stop bugging Harry. Ten minutes later the group reached King's Cross station with twenty to spare. After parking the car, Sirius went into the station and got trolleys for Harry, Daphne, and Astoria. Once their trunks, and Hedwig's cage were securely placed in each their trolleys, Harry and the group headed inside the station. When they got to the magical barrier separating Platform 9 ¾ from the muggle portion, they decided to go in pairs. Logan went with Astoria, quickly followed by Emma and Sirius, this of course left Daphne and Harry bringing up the rear.
Like always at the beginning of term, the platform was packed with families saying good-bye to their children for another school year, not to see them until the holidays. After stowing away their belongings, Harry, Daphne, and Astoria got back onto the platform to say good-bye. After getting hugged by Emma, and his hand shook once again by Logan, Harry stepped away from them for a few private moments with Sirius.
"Have a good term Pup and don't worry with both Johnny's and Dumbledore's help you'll be that much closer to defeating Voldemort." Sirius said giving Harry a tight one armed hug.
"Thanks Sirius, you don't have any advice for this budding relationship with Daphne and my problem with Ron?" Harry asked.
"Well as for the Ron situation, I believe he'll get over this eventually, after all he doesn't really know Daphne. Now on your budding relationship with Daphne, all I can really say is to listen to your heart and to take your time. Sirius says.
"Thanks Sirius, I'll try and hopefully Ron will come to his senses" Harry said before together with Astoria and Daphne, boarded the train. All three of them waving good-bye as the train began pulling out of the station. Once the train had picked up some speed, Astoria bid good-bye to her sister and Harry before she left to find some of her friends. This of course left Harry and Daphne to find a compartment by themselves which eventually they found one near the end of the train. Inside they found Neville talking to Luna Lovegood, a fifth year Ravenclaw.
Before they could even enter the compartment, Daphne froze as she heard someone calling her name. Turning around, she saw her best friend and fellow Slytherin, Tracey Davis making her way toward her.
"Hey I missed you girl" Tracey said, giving a hug to Daphne.
"I missed you and how was your summer?" Daphne asked.
"It was alright, I see you finally got the nerve to talk to Mr. Potter eh?" Tracey said making both Harry and Daphne flush slightly.
"For your information Tracey, Harry and I wrote to each other over the summer and we're just taking it slow, getting to know each other" Daphne said a slight scowl on her lips.
Together Harry, Daphne, and Tracey walked into the compartment. Upon looking up, Neville said hello to Harry before glancing at both Daphne and Tracey, unsure what to say or ask. To put both Neville's and Luna's mind at ease, Harry quickly explained about what happened during the summer, and that he was glad that Daphne contacted him and that perhaps through their friendship, the house rivalries could possibly finally end. Hermione had shown up halfway through the trip and Harry couldn't help but see that Ron was not with her. As she sat down next to Luna, Hermione explained that after doing their prefects duties, Ron had slipped into a compartment with Dean and Seamus. Hearing this explanation sent Harry's stomach dropping a few degrees. He wished that Ron would get over this petty jealousy about him befriending a Slytherin. Harry just hoped that with time, Ron could see that not all Slytherin are like Draco and his goons.
Around mid-day when the lunch trolley appeared, Harry stood up and withdrew some coins from his money bag and purchased treats for everyone. Unsure of what Daphne and Tracey's tastes were when it came for the items on the cart, he got a bit of everything. Hauling in the goods, Harry placed the small pile of treats on the seat between him and Neville. When the group was halfway though the cauldron cakes, chocolate frogs, pumpkin pasties, liquorice wands, and Bertie Bott's every flavor beans, did the compartment door slide open and there on the threshold stood the group's least favorite people. Draco Malfoy, flanked by his cronies Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle.
When Draco saw that there was in fact two members of Slytherin house sitting in the same compartment as Saint Potter, No-Brains Longbottom, the Mudblood Granger, and Loony Lovegood, caused him to arch an eyebrow in confusion.
"Tracey, Daphne, why are you in a compartment with Potter, Longbottom, Granger, and Lovegood? Their filth might rub off on you, and that would be such a shame you know" Draco says sneering his trademark Malfoy sneer at Harry, Neville, Luna, and Hermione.
"Piss off Malfoy" Harry replied who not even bothered to look over at his rival.
"Manners Potter, Why must I continuously preach that to you? It's as if no matter how many times I tell you to mind them, the message refuses to implant itself inside that thick skull of yours."
"Don't you have somewhere to be Malfoy? Like in a compartment with your slag Parkinson?" Tracey asked glancing at Draco.
A shadow of disgust passed over Draco's face, before quickly being replaced by another of his trademark smirks.
"Why do you care Davis? Are you jealous or something?"
Both Tracey and Daphne made a face and pretended to gag, before Tracey replied. "Jealous of Parkinson? I think not, now if you don't have anything else to say, we'd appreciate it if you made your smug ass disappear".
Draco scowled at his fellow Slytherin housemate. However he knew it would not be in his best interest if he were to pick a fight with anyone before term had officially started. Especially with Saint Potter. Turning to Goyle and Crabbe, Draco gave a curt nod, before the three of them left and headed back to their own compartment.
As the Hogwarts express continued its journey north, Harry's mind began to wander as to what surprises and adventures he'd have this year. Little did he know, this year would be his most adventurous.
…
Meanwhile Albus Dumbledore sat in his office staring down at what would appear to any member of his staff, save for Snape to be an average gold ring band with a diamond cut black stone was set at the top. Sighing to himself, Dumbledore placed his fingers together as he began to contemplate on which path he should take in order to destroy the ring. A knock on his office door withdrew him from his thoughts.
"Please come in Severus."
The door opened, and Snape walked in, his black cloak billowing behind him as he closed the door behind him upon entering. He may of not agreed whole-heartedly with Dumbledore's policies, however he did believe that the old man did know of a way that they could finally rid the dark lord from this earth forever. Walking up to Dumbledore's desk, Snape arched an eyebrow as he looked down at the simple gold ring that lay across the desk. "Is that what I think it is?" Severus asked.
"It is indeed Severus, one of Lord Voldemort's many horcruxes".
"Are you certain Albus?, how can you be so sure?"
"I found it hidden in the Gaunt family's rundown shack. It was being hidden by extremely powerful dark magic. Only when I had offered up some blood as payment, did the dark magic shell surrounding the ring break, allowing me to grab it and return here tonight" Dumbledore explained.
"And you haven't destroyed it yet why exactly?"
Before replying to Severus, Dumbledore reached into one of the drawers and after rummaging around, pulled out a worn black leather book embedded with a large hole. After placing it on the desk next to the ring, he pulled out a twelve foot long Basilisk fang and laid next to the book.
"Is that a basilisk fang?" Severus asked.
"Yes Severus it is, and this I believe was also one of Voldemort's horcruxes as well."
"How did you destroy it and where did you find it?" Severus asked sitting down in one of the chairs that was in front of Dumbledore's desk.
"That is the amazing thing Severus, I didn't destroy it, nor did I find it until the end of second year. You see after rescuing Ginny Weasley from the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter gave this to me, it was Voldemort's diary back in his school days. Well once he brought it to me, I began to suspect that it wasn't just no ordinary diary. When I finally figured out that it had been a Horcrux and remembering how Harry told me how he destroyed it, I put one and one together and figured that the only way to destroy Voldemort's horcruxes was using basilisk venom" Dumbledore explained.
"So basically in theory, by stabbing the ring with the basilisk fang, will destroy the part of the ring that is holding part of the Dark Lord's soul, which in turn will return the ring back to normal?" Snape asked, wanting to make sure he understood it all.
"Exactly Severus, in theory".
With Severus's help, Dumbledore placed the ring in the middle of his desk, and instructed Snape to hold it in place. While Snape held the ring in place, Dumbledore picked up the basilisk fang and held it above the ring, preparing to strike it through the black stone perched on top. As if sensing what was about to come, the ring began to jerk violently in Snape's hands causing him to tighten his grip on it. Acting quickly, Dumbledore plunged the fang into the top of the black stone. As the fang pierced the stone, a scream of pain washed through office, quickly followed by thick, billowing black smoke. Once the smoke had cleared out of the office, both Dumbledore and Snape saw that the ring was smoking slightly, and that it was now a regular ring.
With the deed now done, Dumbledore bid Snape goodnight, before he himself went to finalize the plans for that night's welcoming feast. Meanwhile at Malfoy Manor, Lord Voldemort woke up in agonizing pain. It was if he was just placed under the Cruciatus Curse for a few moments. At first he was unsure what had caused him the pain, until realization crossed on his face.
' Fuck it appears that Dumbledore has found out my secret and even found and destroyed one of my horcruxes. If Dumbledore decides to go Horcrux hunting with Potter, then I have no choice. I must gather what Horcruxes remain and take back in the pieces of my soul hidden within them' Voldemort thought to himself.
A/N: End of Chapter 9 Please Read and Review!