The next day, Christmas Eve, dawned bright and cold. Viktor sent a message to say that he had checked the village out and nothing seemed out of place, but he was going to stay there until Hermione and Harry were safely away. I replied that I had given her the 'eye' charms just in case of problems; then told him the spell to get him to her side instantly, if necessary. He said he appreciated the two bottles of Stolichnaya I had sent him for Christmas and that the extra potions and medicines were being distributed to the victims of the latest Death Eater attacks. He told me not to worry, that he would keep the 'campers' safe. The day passed very quickly. Mother and Ptitsa had been working on baby clothes in addition to shirts for my husband. The evening was fairly quiet. The front door was opened only once, the single visitor was Remus Lupin. He shook off the snow and kissed my cheek before handing me the package he carried.
"It is from both of us, Thera. Dora wanted me to make sure you got it immediately. It was created just for the two of you as thanks for the amazing gifts you both have given us. We, I, hope you like it. Severus, I cannot stay. Dora is very uncomfortable these days. The baby is due in only a few weeks and I don't like to leave her, if possible. Thank you again for the job and the chance to be a man again."
As he was speaking to Sev, I looked under the tree to find the boxes marked for the Lupins.
"Here, Remus, take these home with you. The oddly shaped one is for Dora. This middle size one is for you. And the big one is for the coming attraction. Merry Christmas to you and Dora, my very dear friend." I reached up to kiss his cheek as he blushed. He tried to say we should not have done anything for them, but Sev shushed him and handed him a leather carrier bag with a bottle of mead and a bottle of Elf-made wine.
"Do try for a little Christmas spirit, Lupin. Thera has made up her mind; you and Dora are now part of the family. Your best bet is to simply accept it, because she will not take no for an answer. Believe me, I know from experience." Sev warned as he patted Remus on the back.
Just after Lupin left several things happened at once. I felt the "eye" charm on my bracelet vibrate and Viktor's Patronus appeared in the hallway.
"Trouble, Thera, come quickly. I have gotten them away but Harry is hurt and Hermione is hysterical." Viktor's voice issuing from the Siberian Tiger was very agitated.
Sev nodded to me as he handed me a hamper of food and a bag of potions.
"Take her some of the Valerian Tea. Better yet, take Ptitsa with you. She can give Harry a calming draught while you and Viktor take care of Hermione. Find out what happened, but take care."
I touched the "eye" charm to let it take me to Hermione as soon as Ptitsa and I had assembled the things we would need. I found myself in a tent with Viktor and Hermione working on Harry. Harry seemed disoriented so I had Ptitsa give him the calming draught immediately even before we attended to his hurts. He wasn't truly asleep, just below the conscious level, thankfully. Viktor was holding Hermione as she cried out her fright. The fierce look in his eyes boded no good for whomever or whatever had terrified her.
"We found his parents' graves. Then we went to look at the house. There was a woman there, Bathilda Bagshot, or we thought it was her. It was really the snake. It bit Harry trying to hold him until Riddle could get there. We barely made it out. If Viktor had not been close, I don't think I could have gotten Harry out of there. Harry's wand was broken in the fight. Oh, Viktor. I was so scared. It was so weird." She was clinging to Viktor as if her life depended on it. Ptitsa had done wonders while I had been listening to Hermione. The tent was clean, Harry's wound was treated and his clothes were clean. The food had been stored away and Valerian tea was brewing. Harry was tossing and muttering as if he were still fighting something. Hermione was finally letting go of Viktor to drink her tea. I knew that this thwarting of the Dark Lord's plan would mean Sev would be summoned. I instructed Ptitsa to come to Hermione if she called for her. I sat on the bed and took her hands in mine.
"Hermione, you must not let Harry know you are in touch with us. But keep Viktor in the loop as to where you are at any given moment. He, I know, will be at your side instantly if you need him. He loves you, Hermione. And I love you, as the sister I never had. You have to be strong. Everything is building to a conclusion in the not too distant future. You have backup, Hermione. We are all working to the same end. Drink the Valerian. Get some sleep. I'll leave Ptitsa here to tend to Harry for a couple of hours. She has been instructed to come to you if you call for her. Her magic is elemental, not like ours. "
Viktor had taken the opportunity to reiterate his feelings for Hermione and pledge again his unswerving devotion. She smiled tremulously at his impassioned words and gently kissed him before we left. Ptitsa would tend to Harry long enough for Hermione to get some much needed sleep. My darling little house-elf would keep them safe until such time as she felt Harry to be close to waking.
"This is the boy who will defeat the Dark Lord, and the girl is his friend; who is also Viktor's beloved. Come back to Chelsea just before the boy wakes." I kissed the little house-elf on her cheek as I hugged her.
"This Harry Potter? I take very good care of him, Mistress. He is hero, Mistress. Go home, I return soon."
Viktor and I Disapparated back to the Chelsea flat, where Sev was waiting for us. Mother was concerned about the stress Harry and Hermione were under. She made Viktor tell her all about Hermione. Sev and I discussed the extremely close call Harry and Hermione had just survived.
"Please tell me he was not wearing the damned Horcrux around his neck, Thera. Has the boy no sense? It is very fortunate that Viktor was right there to help Miss Granger. I assume he will be hovering in the background in case she needs his assistance again. How is Harry?"
"He had the locket on, Sev. Viktor and Hermione had to use a severing charm to remove it. Viktor is going to stay close without letting Harry know. Harry was unconscious when we left. He was having nightmares, moaning and thrashing around. If he is the last Horcrux, wouldn't that explain the connection he has to the Dark Lord's mind?"
"It would certainly explain his failure at Occlumency as well as a host of other things, Thera. It is imperative they destroy that locket! In the morning I must go talk to Albus; I have to get the sword to Harry sooner than I had thought. You need to get to bed, love. I am going to talk to Viktor for awhile."
He kissed me and murmured that he would be in very soon. Mother had already gone to bed and Viktor was pacing like a caged animal, stopping only to wish me good night. Surprisingly enough, I fell asleep almost immediately. I woke when Sev slipped into bed sometime later. I snuggled close to his warmth and promptly fell asleep again.
Ptitsa was back when I rose the next morning. She informed me that she had mended and cleaned all their clothes before returning. She also told me that my husband would return shortly. Mother and I opened our presents from each other and Viktor. We were having tea when Sev returned. He had been summoned to the Dark Lord just before he had gone to the school to talk to Dumbledore's portrait.
"The Dark Lord is furious. He does not attach any blame to me, but he has been randomly punishing the rest of his followers. The near miss at Godric's Hollow has driven him frantic. He desperately wants to be rid of Harry, once and for all. This means everything will escalate from now on. We may have only weeks, Thera, certainly no longer than a handful of months. "
"It is as I feared, Sev. We must be even more prepared than before. I will try to work with the students on Defence under the pretence of the Duelling Club. You need to assign some students to work with Poppy and the other teachers. Perhaps Neville should work with Remus for a while. Sit down, love. Open the present from the Lupins. I'll bring fresh tea."
He picked up the box and un-wrapped it. When he opened the box, he lifted out a very large snow globe. It was beautifully made. The scene inside it was Hogwarts at Christmas, with the lights shining and the twinkling of firelight from the dormitory windows. There were a couple on the roof of the Great Hall dancing in the snow. As we looked, they turned and waved at us. The tiny figures were likenesses of Sev and me.
"How extraordinarily wondrous this is, Thera. He could not have given us anything better. It will take pride of place on the mantle. What was in the boxes you gave them?"
"Art supplies for Remus, books on cookery and child-raising for Dora, and lots of baby clothes and blankets for the little one. You did know Remus painted, didn't you?"
"No, I did not know that, but it does not surprise me. He was the one who created that exceedingly rude map the Marauders used to track everyone in the school. Aren't you going to open the one from me?"
Mother had gone into the kitchen with Ptitsa to start the preparations for the midday meal.
Sev placed the large package in my lap, and then sat on the floor next to my chair. He was looking at me expectantly as I un-wrapped the box. When I raised the lid on the box, he was watching my expression closely. There were several things in the box, all wrapped in cotton wool. The first thing was a small book, a diary or journal of some sort. I set it aside as I picked up the next item, a small locked casket with the emblem of Durmstrang on the lid. I knew these things belonged to my father; he had taken them with him when he and Mother had gone away. Hurriedly I un-wrapped the larger flat item at the side of the box. It was the small portrait of our family done just before Sergei died. I raised questioning eyes to my husband who merely smiled at me and gestured for me to continue. The last thing was his watch, with the small fobs containing hair from my brothers and from me. Father had never been without it. I thought it had been lost when he died.
"How, Sev, where did you get these things? I thought they were lost forever. Thank you so much."
"The Death Eaters took them, Thera, as trophies of their triumph over an enemy. But they soon found that everything was charmed. They could not touch the things at all. The portrait would not speak, the watch would not run, the casket would not open, nor would the book. I appropriated them to give back to you. I have checked the spells to make sure there is no Dark magic. There was also a small bundle of letters written in Cyrillic. His wedding ring was tied to them by a ribbon. I wrapped those for Persephone."
"The Death Eaters could not know the spell, Sev, nor could the Dark Lord. The spell is love, simply that. Watch as I arrange them." I placed the watch and the fobs on the far left of the table. Next to it, I placed the casket, then the book, and finally the portrait. I tapped each with my wand as I drew a heart in the air. I spoke words as I touched each object. Loyalty, opulence, veracity and endurance which spelled out the word love. The watch began to tick, the lock on the casket sprang open, the book opened to the first page and the faces in the portrait smiled at me. I threw my arms around Sev to thank him for these mementos of my beloved father. He held me very tightly as if to memorise the feeling of me in his arms.
"Thera, when we return to the school, I want to have our portraits done, the inevitable one for the Headmaster's office and some smaller ones for us and your mother. I want a miniature to carry with me. Will you sit for the portrait?"
"Certainly, but I want a miniature of you to carry with me, also. Look at what he carried in the casket, Sev. It is a Faberge' egg, a gift from the Tsar to my great grandfather. The book must be the journal from the time he came to Hogwarts for the Tri-Wizard Tournament until the time he died. Sev, I would give you the watch, but I think perhaps that it should go to Viktor. I do not want to upset you, but I just feel that is what he would have wanted."
"Thera, give the watch to Viktor. I have Igor's greatest treasure, you. Bring the journal, we will read it together." He stood up and together we curled up on the window seat looking out towards the Thames.
We skimmed over the entries concerning the Tri-Wizard Tournament and the realisation of the re-animation of the Dark Lord. The fact that my father had stayed just long enough to make sure that Viktor suffered no lasting harm from Crouch's perfidy in the Maze reassured me. I knew he would never have left without tending to my cousin. He wrote of the contingency plans he had made with my mother, of his hopes and dreams for me, and his hatred of the Dark Lord. He made lists of the weaknesses or blind spots the Dark Lord had. One line had been underlined repeatedly-- He does not listen to what is said. He only hears what he wants to hear. This can be used against him—
There were other notations about things my father felt were important. The Dark Lord does not understand house-elf magic. He has no concept of integrity, loyalty or love. He does not see that his followers are weak and self-serving. His megalomania blinds him to the weaknesses of the pure-bloods.
"He is giving us the background we need, Thera. This explains so much. Did he not send you a journal for your birthday, before we married? Do you still have it? Is it here? Perhaps we should read through it also."
"You keep reading. I am going to take the letters in to Mother and tell her I wish to give Viktor the watch. I'll bring in the other journal." I remembered the other journal he had burned all those months ago; the one my father had written during his time in Azkaban. He had saved some of the pages from that one. When I brought him the one he had asked for, I reminded him of those pages.
"I had forgotten, Thera. Yes, those pages could be of use here. They are in my office at the school. I will fetch them first thing in the morning."
"No, love, we need to go through them now. I will get them. I will only be a few minutes. Are they in your desk or the Pensieve cabinet?"
"The cabinet and they are disguised as a scurrilous collection of Garden Gnome jokes so no one would ever look at them. It is quite in the same vein as my predecessor's humour, don't you think? I will tell Persephone you will be back in time for luncheon."
I went through the floo to his office and retrieved the pages, then decided to do my own recce around the school. I Disillusioned myself before leaving the office. The corridors were quiet as I made my way to the Great Hall. It was empty except for Sir Nicholas. The Infirmary was my next destination, I found it also empty. I suddenly heard footsteps coming down the stairs from Sybil's tower rooms. It was Lupin, doing his rounds. I knew there was no reason to worry; he would take care of the school while we were away. I made my way to the office again to use the floo back to Chelsea.
"The school is quiet, Sev. Lupin was making his rounds. There seemed to be no one there. I brought the pages from the Azkaban journal. Have you found anything?"
"He made a list of the weaknesses of each of the Death Eaters, their likes, dislikes and perversions. According to him, Rodolphus never bedded Bellatrix. He said that she was passed around like a party favour to win influence for both the Lestrange brothers. How horrible, yet how wise Igor was to record all of this. Apparently Dolohov and Rowle are lovers and the elder Mulciber likes little girls."
"Is there nothing about Malfoy?"
"Just that he is weak and venal, but we knew that already. Come here and sit, love."
Just then, Mother and Ptitsa announced that luncheon was ready. We decided to continue reading after we ate. Mother said she thought that giving the watch to Viktor was exactly what Father would have wanted. After the dishes had been cleaned and everything put away, Ptitsa left for the Petersburg house. Mother decided to take a nap, so we were left to continue our search for any other titbits of information. We read through each of the journals several times to glean even the smallest thing that could be used against the Dark Lord. Father had been meticulous about recording foibles and weaknesses; which Death Eater was inept at different spells or hexes. The information was duly recorded; to be passed along to the Order as soon as we returned to the school.
Just before we went to bed that night I asked Sev if he knew where the Weasley boy was. "I have absolutely no idea, Thera. It is quite likely that he has been taken by the Snatchers. Or he is in hiding somewhere. He might figure out that the Deluminator will get him back to his friends; in which case they will be in even more danger. He is the least promising of the Weasley children. Of course, anyone who had been terrorised by the twins from birth might turn out the same way."
The next day we heard from Viktor again. He reported that there had been disturbances in the area where Harry and Hermione had camped so they had moved again. Sev went back to the school to gather some things he wanted to take to Viktor. While he was there he heard from Phineas Nigellus Black that Hermione had said they were in the Forest of Dean that morning. He returned to Chelsea and readied the Gryffindor sword to be taken to Harry. A nagging suspicion was forming in mind. So far, Harry had destroyed the first of the Horcruxes–the diary—and Albus had destroyed the second—the ring. What if the Dark Lord had crafted his spells and curses so that no single person could destroy more than one of the things? That was another thing he must discuss with the portrait of his predecessor.
"Damn and blast! It's like peeling a bloody leek, layer after bloody layer. It is wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; is there a key? Igor must have seen a pattern to the way he did things, a pattern formed over time. These items were made into Horcruxes long before I became part of the group. Perhaps the fact that the Horcruxes were hidden in separate places... That's it! He gave some of them to his most trusted followers to keep for him, but hid the rest himself. He must have worked that particular caveat into the spells to create the Horcruxes."
"What caveat did he work into the spells? Did the Dark Lord create some sort of booby trap when he created his Horcruxes?"
"Exactly that, Thera. No one can destroy more than one without the curse on the next one backfiring. It will make Harry's quest more difficult, but not insurmountable. I must take the sword to him tonight. Hermione will have to destroy the locket if the Weasley boy does not return. I am planning to stay and see what happens. Is Viktor still staying close by?"
"I lent him my invisibility cloak so that he could stay hidden. He has his own tent Disillusioned just next to theirs. Send Viktor the message about how one person can only destroy one Horcrux. He will get the message to Hermione. Do wish me to go with you?"
"Has Lupin said anything about the whereabouts of young Weasley? He should be in touch with Arthur and Molly."
"Not to me, Sev. Let me send to him."
I hurriedly sent my Patronus to ask if either of them knew where Ron Weasley was. The answer came back from Dora by Patronus also. They had no idea where the boy was at present. Sev then suggested that I go and talk to Viktor while he secreted the sword somewhere for Harry to retrieve. We decided that we would start out just at twilight. The rest of the day seemed to last forever. Finally it was beginning to get dark. I sent my Patronus to Viktor to warn him we were coming. He sent back directions to their exact location. We Disapparated in to an area a quarter of a mile away from where they had set up camp. Sev Disillusioned both of us before he set off to find a suitable place to secrete the sword. I made my way to where Viktor was waiting for me. I saw the chill beauty of the forest as I walked. I heard small animals skittering through the underbrush. Viktor stood at the edge of a clump of young trees. Looking at him I was reminded of my father. He wore a cap very much like my father had worn in winter weather. Viktor was now fully grown, an inch or two shorter than Sev but much brawnier. The muscles he had developed playing Quidditch gave him a heavy upper body. He opened his arms to envelop me.
"Little Thera, your husband should not have brought you out into this cold. But, I am very glad to see you. There seems to be something bothering you. Tell me, cousin. Perhaps I may be of assistance."
"Sev is hiding the sword. We have guessed that the Dark Lord created a fail-safe on his Horcruxes. No one person can destroy more than one. Hermione will have to destroy the locket."
"Hush! I hear something." He pulled me back to the edge of the grove as a tall young man wearing a backpack walked past where we hid. The long ends of red hair stuck out of the cap he wore. I silently sent a message through the link to Sev.
"Ron Weasley is here, looking for Harry and Hermione."
The answer came immediately. "I just sent my Patronus to bring Harry to the pool."
I saw the doe leading Harry away from the tent and Ron following a bit behind. I squeezed Viktor's hand and hurried after the two boys. Sev was hiding off to the west of the pool in a stand of trees. I eradicated my footprints in the snow and silently made my way to Sev's side. We watched as Harry stripped off and went into the pool. Sev was swearing under his breath, "That fool boy! He still has the damned Horcrux around his neck! No, wait! Weasley has seen what happened. He's going in after Harry."
We saw Weasley drag Harry out of the pond then go back down for the sword. The two boys were arguing and the Horcrux was dangling from Weasley's hand. Then Harry started putting clothes back on and the boys looked over at where we were standing. Sev cast Muffliato and an aversion charm to dissuade them from searching the area. They went off a short distance and prepared to destroy the Horcrux. We saw the awful things that it did to keep Weasley from destroying it. He finally plunged the sword into the locket and the deed was done. I felt Sev give a huge sigh of relief while we were waiting for the two boys to return to the tent. We walked back to the edge of Viktor's tent and listened to the ruckus coming from the trio's tent. Apparently Ron Weasley still harboured hopes of winning Hermione for himself. She was having none of his excuses or his ingratiating ways. Viktor had been worried what would happen but seemed pleased with Hermione's reactions.
"She is my little Gryffindor tigress. I will marry her. She is the strong one. She has had to be the brains and the backbone of this quest. Harry relies on her for everything; he sees her as a sister. Now young Weasley wants her for himself but it will not happen. She is years beyond him. I knew the first time I saw her that she was to be my bride."
"Then we must all work to keep them safe and on track for Harry's destiny with the Dark Lord. Take care, Viktor. Come see us when you can. And don't kill the Weasley boy even though he is an idiot. Dasvedanya, cousin." Sev shook Viktor's hand before we took our leave.
"No, you are more than a cousin, Severus. Dasvedanya, brother."