Chapter XXIII - The Search

Dumbledore smiled at Harry. "I knew you would figure it out. Bring Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger with you, but bring the horcrux back here for it to be destroyed. Professional Aurors should take a look at it, Harry."

Harry nodded. "Yes, sir." Harry headed towards the door before he turned around to look back at Dumbledore's portrait and McGonagall, who was still standing behind her desk. "Thanks."

He rushed back to Gryffindor Tower and pleased to see that it was still early enough for the common room to be filled. He ushered for Ginny, Ron, and Hermione to go into the Head Boy's room again. Once the door was closed and locked and the room silenced he spoke.

"I know where the next one is. I think I dreamed it a long time ago because I'm pretty sure it wasn't part of the memories, but, I think I know where the next one is."

Ginny grinned. "Harry, that's great!"

Harry turned to Ginny and sighed; before he even spoke her eyes darkened. "Ginny, you can't come with us."

"Why the hell not, Harry?" Ginny demanded. "I stayed at home while you went on that search in the summer, but I'm not staying home for this."

Harry nodded and pulled her over into a far corner of the room, blocking them off from Ron and Hermione with another silencing charm. "Ginny, listen to me. I love you, and I know that you want to be by my side for this task, but you can't be. Before you speak, just listen. I need you in my life, Gin, and I know that I'm not going to be able to do anything to stop you from fighting with me if Voldemort is not destroyed by the time you turn seventeen, but I need you to be here. Especially for tonight."

"Why?"

Harry pulled a tiny charmed mirror from his pocket, followed by the matching one. "Sirius gave me something like this before he died. During one of my lessons with Remus I mentioned it and he gave me these. They're magical two-way mirrors, kind of like a muggle walkie-talkie I guess. If you hold the mirror up to you're mouth and say my name, then my mirror will activate and I will feel it in my pocket … kind of like those coins that Hermione had done up for the D.A. You take this one. I want you here, Gin, mostly to keep you safe, but also because no one else but McGonagall knows that the three of us need to go look for them."

"I don't understand, Harry, why do you need me here?" Ginny asked, as she eyed the little mirror he handed her curiously.

"I need you here, so that if any trouble arises, I can pass the message onto you and therefore the Order. Dumbledore doesn't think that Voldemort knows about us knowing about the horcruxes … but Death Eaters are on the loose, killing all the time. All I have to do is say you're name into the mirror and pass along the message; even if you don't pick the mirror up fast enough, the message will appear on the mirror in like a frosted lettering until you respond." Harry explained as he took her hand in his. "Will you do this for me, Gin? Please. I can't keep Ron or Hermione back; they've been with me throughout everything … besides I know that Ron will protect Hermione with his life, so I only have to worry about Ron. Please, Gin, will you stay behind?"

Ginny was silent for a long moment. She understood where Harry was coming from, and it was natural for him to be concerned about her, but damn it, she wanted to go. He knew she was more than capable, a small voice said in her ear; he just wants to keep you safe. She looked down at the little mirror and sighed; he wasn't cutting her out from anything, she knew what was going on, and she was here to make sure that the three of them survived it. She looked up into Harry's eyes before she reached up and yanked his mouth down to hers. The kiss was soft, yet fierce, and it was sad, yet angry. Harry melted into her lips, holding her close to him as he nibbled with teeth and tongue, then she was pulling away.

"I'll do it. I love you. Just promise me one thing, Harry?"

Harry nodded. "Anything, Gin?"

Ginny smiled and kissed his lips softly. "Promise me that you'll be careful."

Harry dropped his forehead down to hers and looked deep into her eyes. "I promise."

Within the hour, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were back in the village of Little Hangleton. Harry hadn't told them much, except that he was almost positive that he knew the location of the next one. They walked silently with him until they were standing in front of the old Riddle House. Hermione turned to Harry now.

"So, something is here?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty positive and Dumbledore seemed to know exactly what I was thinking and he agrees, though we never really said it out loud."

They stared up at the gates as they swung open, and the three of them headed into the dark and deserted house once more. Harry led them through the dusty rooms from the kitchen to the dining room to the servants' quarters to the cellar. As they headed down the rickety old wooden stairs and into the cellar, Harry could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

"It's down here. I know I'm on the right track."

Ron snorted. "Come on, Harry, do you really think that Voldemort would hide a piece of his soul in a dusty old wine cellar? I thought the guy had more taste."

"No," Harry said impatiently as he lit his wand and began to search the walls. "Not actually in the cellar, the place we need to go is in here."

If either Ron or Hermione looked confused or uncertain, neither one of them spoke of it; they just began looking at the walls and floors as well. After about five minutes, Hermione called out to them from one end of the cellar.

"I think I've found something."

Harry and Ron rushed over as Hermione pointed to a small crack on the floor. It reminded Harry strongly of the crack in the cave, but it couldn't be that simple could it? Voldemort wouldn't really have two things the same. He stared down at it for a while, only briefly aware of Ron and Hermione bickering above him. If that was in fact it, then that would mean Voldemort was smart enough to hide it deep under the Riddle House, so that it could never be found. He smiled as he ran his hand gently over the crack and felt the vibe of some untapped magic. The power radiated from his arm and he knew as he turned to Ron and Hermione that this trip was going to start the same as the first … with a blood sacrifice. He pulled out his pocket knife and looked down at his arm before remembering that Dumbledore had said his blood was important, too important to be leaving around. He turned to his friends.

"Hey, shut up for a minute will you? I need one of you guys to do me a favour."

Ron nodded. "What's up, mate?"

"I need some of your blood. It's the same seal as last time, and Dumbledore told me not to use my own."

Ron nodded and held out his arm for Harry without even a moment's thought, and Harry grinned. "Thanks Ron." He took his knife and made a long cut in his arm, wiping the blood on the knife before he repaired the cut for his friend. Harry put the knife over the crack, shaking it a bit as three drops of blood, fell and vanished into the crack. He pushed his friends back as the floor began to glow and shake. Wine bottles and shelves began to collapse all around them as the floor pulled apart in front of that crack, leaving a staircase leading downwards. "This is it." Harry mumbled as he headed down the stairs first, afraid of what he might find down there, and praying that it wasn't going to be another sea of inferoi.

He knew that Ron and Hermione were walking behind him as they walked down the stone steps. They were walking down those stairs for almost ten minutes until they came upon a tunnel with a light. All of their wands were lit as they stepped into the bright room. It wasn't much different than the cave had been. The room was large with stone walls and a lake; Harry was reminded strongly of the cave. He realized that there was something glowing on a pedestal in the centre of the room, and he knew instantly that it was the horcrux. Instead of a thick lake filled with dead people there was a sea of lava surrounding the platform. It was bubbling as they walked towards it and Harry looked inside, wondering what could be found beneath the hot lethal stuff.

"Lava?" Hermione asked in shock. "Harry, how are we supposed to get across lava?"

"There will be a way … in the cave there was a boat to cross the water, but the problem was what happened once you got into the boat."

Ron nodded. "We should be on our guard; he has to have something around here to kill us or at least to stop us from getting any farther."

Harry grinned. "I'm sure he does. But we don't have anything to worry about until we head towards that horcrux. The thing with these obstacles, everything here has to be able to be controlled by him. If he should ever have to come back and take it out, he needs to get through." Harry turned and began to walk around the lake of lava, searching around for something to get across. He grinned when he spotted the bridge at the other end. He pointed up at it. "There."

Hermione gulped. "A high, rickety, old bridge, to cross lava … this is too much like in the movies. Are you sure it's safe?"

"Nope, but it's the only way we've got. Come on." He led them around to the other side and up the stairs to the bridge. Nothing happened as they stood on the top of the stairs, but as Harry placed a foot on the bridge, all hell broke lose. Strange little creatures with red scaly skin and black horns, their bodies trapped in flames jumped out at them; hovering in midair as they surrounded them. "See," Harry said. "Nothing to it."

Ron glared at Harry. "Yeah, nothing to it. Now what the hell do we do?"

The demons began to toss rocks of fire at them. They dived out of the way, but they didn't have much room to go on the bridge. The creatures had weird and ugly little faces as they tossed balls of fire as hard as rocks in their direction.

Hermione suddenly pointed her wand at them and yelled "Aguamenti!" This seemed to have some effect as the flames surrounding the demons vanished, but the demons were still very much there and now they just seemed to be angry. Balls of flame appeared in their tiny claws as they tossed them in their direction. Harry shot a stunning spell at them, this had absolutely no effect on the balls of flame but it seemed to work on the demons as they were knocked out. But as soon as they fell back into the lava, they came shooting back out with their flames surrounding their tiny bodies once more.

Ron yelled out "Impedimenta!"

This seemed to work the best as they were momentarily trapped in the air for about thirty seconds. The three of them began to shoot spells at the demons as they made a dash across the bridge. Flaming balls of fire and rock sailed in their direction as each demon managed to knock the spells off. Harry felt one rock hit him in the side and he doubled over, causing the fire to go out but he ignored the pain in his ribs as he continued to run across the bridge. As soon as Ron, who was the last one, left on the bridge, as soon as his feet hit the stone platform in the centre, everything stopped. The demons hovered above the bridge in silence, just staring at them but not moving.

"Wow." Ron muttered. "That was some show, what the hell are those things?"

Hermione grabbed Ron's hand before she spoke. "I think they're fire demons. But, they're not supposed to exist."

Ron managed a small laugh. "I'd say they exist. Now, what do we do?"

Harry looked over at the glowing platform. Instead of a goblet filled with water, it was the cup of Hufflepuff that sat there. Harry tapped his wand around the stone basin, muttering incoherent things but nothing happened. He turned to his friends. "Look, I don't know what's going to happen when I reach for this cup. Dumbledore was forced to drink this potion that made him extremely weak, for us to reach the locket. Whatever happens don't let me stop, I trust you two to get me home with the horcrux." Harry explained as he remembered how weak and terrified Dumbledore had become and how he had begged Harry to stop.

When his friends nodded, Harry turned back to the cup. Other than the eerie blue glow around it, nothing seemed to be binding it there. He reached his hand up to take the cup, his hand passing motionlessly through the eerie blue light and he felt a gash rip open in his arm. He bit his lip to keep from screaming as he managed to wrap his hand around the cup. Instead of spurting blood, the gash in his arm was making his skin burn. He watched the skin blister and cackle as fire floated over his skin. He could hear Ron and Hermione gasping from behind him.

"Don't stop me." He hissed through the pain as he gripped the cup tighter and began to pull it towards him.

With every inch he moved the cup, the gash in his arm widened, the fire burning a deeper hole and crackling as his skin turned black. He ignored the pain as he continued to pull it closer, the cup was glowing in his hands and it burned his fingers. His whole arm was burning and blistering from his shoulder down to his hand. The pain was intense and he drew blood from his lip as he tried to keep himself from screaming. Half of the cup came out of the glowing eerie blue light as he continued to pull it forward. He was grateful for the strength that he had built up in his arms, as the cup was heavy and was stuck well within the light. As soon as the cup was halfway out of the light, his arm caught fire and he muffled a scream this time, but he didn't let go of the cup, he knew that if he did, everything would have to start again and he didn't know if he could survive the pain a second time. He held Ron and Hermione back with a glare as he yanked once more and the cup came off the platform. He switched it into his other hand as his arm continued to burn, flames eating at him.

"Now, you can help," he muttered through the pain.

Hermione nodded and within seconds she had made the flames disappear, but his arm was still blistered, and black, and painful. He looked down at the cup and sighed. It was solid gold and had all the engravings of the Hufflepuff house on its sides. "I think this is a real one."

Ron nodded. "Man, I hope so. Shit, Harry! That had to be intense. How the hell did you bloody well stand it?"

Harry shook his head. "Not now, Ron, now we've got to go back. As soon as we hit that bridge, those fire demons are going to pop back up."

Ron nodded. "Can you hold onto the cup and fight with your wand?"

"I think so. But if not, I need to keep the cup safe. Are you guys ready?"

They nodded and with Harry in the middle this time, Hermione in the lead, they stepped back out on that bridge. This time, the fire demons were furious. The rocks of flame flew full force at them. Harry heard Ron gasp as he was hit in the arm, and Harry felt another one hit him in the same spot as the first one had. Hermione and Ron were throwing spells at them as they raced across the bridge. Harry moved as fast as he could, but with his arm and his side in pain, it was a little harder then he expected. As they reached the halfway point, the fire demons increased ten fold and Harry gulped as they began to send the lava towards them. Harry was reminded strongly of the American children's movie Aladdin as the lava rose in giant waves and began to attack them. The demons had raised their hands up and the lava from below had rose up in huge waves coming up over the bridge and making the room glow red. Harry, Ron, and Hermione dashed away from the waves and the demons as fast they could.

The lava chased them as the demons continued to toss fire towards them and when Ron shoved Harry forward onto the stairs, Harry watched as a rock of flame hit him in the back. He fell on the bridge and Harry yelled out his name. With his injured arm he managed to grab Ron as Hermione pulled him and together they pulled Ron onto the stairs. Everything around them stopped.

"Ron! Ron, come on wake up!" Harry exclaimed, when he heard Ron groan he sighed in relief. "Come on, Hermione, we need to get back."

Hermione nodded as she managed to get Ron to his feet; he leaned on her as he walked and together the three of them headed back around the lake of lava towards the exit. "Is it over now, Harry? Do you think anything is going to attack us again?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know, let's just go. Come on." The lava and the fire demons seemed to leave them alone again, and Harry sighed in relief. It took them twice as long to get up the stairs at the end of the tunnel. Hermione gasped when she felt the rock above her head.

"Harry, the entrance has sealed itself." She called down to him.

Harry nodded. "Put some blood on it. It needs a sacrifice again."

Hermione nodded and she put her hand on the crack, which was covered in the blood from Ron's back. The ceiling trembled and stones collapsed around them as the ceiling opened up to reveal the cellar in the Riddle House once more. The three of them made it inside and the crack closed itself again.

"We've really got it?" Hermione asked with excitement.

Harry nodded. "I think so. Come on; let's move that cabinet over top the crack before we leave."

Hermione swished her wand and floated the cabinet on top of the crack. "There it's covered. Harry, can you apparate?"

"No," Harry whispered as he clenched his teeth in the pain. "I can't, I'm too weak, I don't think I can guarantee to get there in one piece."

Hermione nodded. "Okay, look I can only Apparate with one of you at a time, will you wait while I get Ron back to the castle?"

"Yeah. Go, I'll be here."

Hermione nodded and she held Ron tightly as they vanished on the spot with a crack. Harry sat down, trying to catch his breath. His arm was killing him. The pain was intense. He looked down at his right arm; it looked terrible. The skin had turned completely black, and was full of deep red and purple blisters from the fire. His left side was throbbing; he figured that that last rock of flame had probably broken a couple of his ribs. He held tight to the cup as he reached into his pocket for the mirror.

"Ginny." He whispered. Her face appeared on his mirror.

"Oh, Harry, are you alright?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm okay. Look, I'm too weak to Apparate so Hermione went back with Ron. Meet her at the gates and bring Ron to the hospital wing so she can get me to the hospital wing quicker."

Ginny nodded. "Of course. I'm going right now." Her face disappeared from his view and he tucked the mirror back safely in his pocket. He clutched the cup tighter in his hands as he waited for Hermione. He didn't know how long he sat like that, but when Hermione appeared, he was slowly losing consciousness.

"Come on, Harry," she whispered. "Hold onto me now." He did as they disappeared, reappearing in a dark alley in Hogsmeade. He held tightly to her as they slowly walked towards the castle. "Hermione, I'm so … tired."

"Shh, don't speak, Harry, come on." She carefully led him into the castle. He had almost his entire weight on her and she was having trouble walking. Her heart soared when she saw Ginny come rushing out of the castle to grab Harry's other side.

"Oh God, baby, what happened to you?" Ginny whispered as she placed a kiss on his brow before grabbing Harry's other side to help Hermione get him into the castle.

When he got into the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey hurried towards him. "Potter, this is going to hurt for only a moment. I can't afford to put you to sleep for this."

Harry nodded meekly as Madam Pomfrey rubbed a slimy red paste on his burned arm and side as Ginny ripped his shirt off so that they could reach the wound on his side. Once the paste was on, he felt the pain lessen, even as the paste burned. Madam Pomfrey bandaged up his side as she healed his broken ribs before giving him a look of pure disapproval.

"Alright Potter, McGonagall wants you in her office. This paste will take the pain away and fix the burn. Miss Weasley here can help you upstairs. As soon as you are done I want you back in this hospital wing. You are going to spend the night here so that I can keep an eye you."

Harry nodded as he stood up, Ginny holding tightly to him. "Yes ma'am." He replied. He felt better now, he realized. The pain was still there but he felt stronger. He was still clutching the cup tightly in his hand. He went with Ginny, followed by Hermione, as Ron was still being treated on his back for severe burns and some broken bones. Hermione quickly assured him that Ron was going to be fine but he had to spend the night there as well.

When they stepped into the office, Lupin and Tonks turned around. "Harry! God, we were so worried about you." Both Lupin and Tonks hugged him tight before they let him stand there to tell them what happened.

Ginny helped Harry into a chair and placed the cup on McGonagall's desk. "Well, Harry," Dumbledore said. "Tell us what happened."

Harry nodded and with help from Hermione explained about how they found the crack in the floor and about the fire demons and the lava. When he was done, Dumbledore was smiling at him. "Well, done, Harry. Is that the cup?"

"Yes sir, its Hufflepuff's cup." Lupin stood up to take a closer look at it, but he didn't touch it. "How do you destroy a horcrux? If it is in this cup, how do we get it out and destroy a piece of someone's soul?"

Dumbledore sighed. "This would be the hard part. I destroyed the one in the ring, but I was hurt, and my hand, remember was all burned up and black, it was dead. However, Harry managed to destroy one horcrux with Ginny Weasley, but he ruined the object itself. This however, is not a diary and needs to be well thought through."

"Sir?" Ginny asked carefully as if she was still mulling over what she was going to say. "If this object has a piece of Voldemort's soul in it, couldn't you just use a soul sucking creature to get it out?"

"A Dementor?" Lupin asked. "Interesting choice, Ginny. Dementors don't destroy souls though, they simply suck them out. We however, need to destroy it."

Dumbledore nodded. "Harry, it is you that needs to do it, you know that, right?"

"Yes, but how? What about Aurors looking at it?"

"Harry, take the cup into you're hands. Now tell me what you feel. Lupin and Tonks are here to help out, it is better to do it here with everyone around you. But I know that you can destroy that horcrux. Tell me, Harry, what do you feel." Dumbledore asked as he watched Harry carefully through his half-moon spectacles.

"I feel … power; it's like a pulse beating out from the cup, almost like a heart beat. But instead of just that gentle throb it's like … power." Harry replied, hoping that he was making sense.

The room was silent as he stared down at the cup in his hands. He could feel the power in his hands he realized, it was rising and it was ready to bubble over and then suddenly as if he had meant to do it the whole time; he levitated the cup up and with all of his energy he hit the cup with a flow of strong wandless magic. No particular spell was used, he simply threw energy at it and as his power blended with the cup, an eerie greenish smoke flew up from the cup and Harry grabbed it in his hands, holding it there with his power. Then he willed it to self-destruct and the soul exploded, vanishing in his hands as it sparked into a million pieces and disappeared into the air.

"Is it, gone?" Dumbledore nodded, a smile on his face.

"It's gone. Harry, why did you do that?"

Harry shrugged. "I … I don't know, it just felt like the right thing to do at the time. So this piece of his soul … I destroyed it."

"Yes, you just destroyed it."

Harry sighed as he looked at the cup. He picked up Hufflepuff's cup, and felt nothing but the cold feel of the gold in his hand. "It's really gone." He grinned up at everyone. "One down."

Lupin laughed. "Yeah, one down, but unfortunately there's still more to go."

Tonks grinned. "That was freakin' amazing, Harry! You've got some power in you!"

Professor McGonagall nodded. "Yes, he does. Potter, why don't you, Miss Weasley, and Miss Granger go back to the hospital wing? I know Madam Pomfrey wants to give you a good check up."

Ginny nodded and helped Harry to his feet as she grinned over at Hermione. "Don't worry, Professor; I'll make sure that he's well taken care of."

Professor McGonagall smiled. "I know you will, dear. Good night, you three, and you've all done an excellent job. Fifty points to Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger and Mr. Potter, thirty points to you Miss Weasley. I hope Gryffindor gets a good start towards the cup with those."

Harry grinned. "Thanks Professor."

He said goodbye to everyone as he let Ginny lead him back into the hospital wing. He had really done it, one more horcrux was gone. He grinned and pulled Ginny towards him for a long, deep kiss. As his tongue twined with hers, he heard her sigh as he nibbled at her bottom lip. "I love you."

Ginny smiled and kissed him softly. "I love you too. Now, come on, let's go get you properly taken care of."

Harry nodded as he felt her help him down on the bed in the hospital room and he sighed. At least he now had one less thing to worry about. He grinned up at Ginny, yeah one less thing.