Chapter 42

Instead of disagreeing with them the way they'd hoped he would, Dumbledore confirmed the theory that the diary had indeed been a horcrux and that Voldemort had probably made more than one.

"I thought the same two years ago when Harry told us what happened in the Chamber. No mere memory could have possessed Miss Weasley that way or worked the other horrors it did. It had to be a piece of soul. And it was meant to be used as a weapon, which meant Voldemort was willing to risk it being destroyed. He wouldn't have taken that chance unless he'd made more than one."

"And we have no idea what the other horcruxes are, where they are, or how many of them were made," Remus said tiredly.

"I have a few theories," Dumbledore said. "And a plan for finding out how accurate they are, or at least getting a better idea. I've been collecting memories that will help us guess what the horcruxes most likely are. I will need Harry's help to find out how many there are, although my guess is Voldemort planned to split his soul into seven since it's the most powerful magical number."

"Isn't Harry going through enough?" Sirius asked impatiently. He didn't know exactly what Dumbledore wanted, but if it involved the horcruxes he didn't like it.

"I merely would like to take Harry with me to visit an old friend. I need the un-tampered with version of one of their memories. There would be no danger involved."

Remus considered a moment. "As long as Harry won't have to actually do anything dangerous and you'll be with him the whole time, you can take him. The sooner Voldemort is able to be killed, the sooner Harry will be safe, and that means the sooner we destroy the horcruxes, the better. I don't think any of us doubt that Voldemort is behind Harry being in the Tournament somehow. So we know he's planning something."

"Do you expect any problems during the third task?" Sirius asked the headmaster.

"Harry will be in full view of everyone during the task, so if anything suspicious happens we'll be able to see it immediately," Dumbledore said. "The only problem is, will it look suspicious?"

"Quirrel didn't until it was almost too late," Remus said.

"And Wormtail was perfectly hidden as a rat. Nobody would ever have suspected him," Sirius said with the usual hate in his voice when he said Wormtail's name.

But so far Karkaroff, their main suspect, hadn't actually done anything suspicious that they knew of. The last time they'd talked, Harry had even told them that Karkaroff had been talking very nervously to Snape, as if the Durmstrang headmaster were as much a target as Harry was. It didn't seem as if he was the one helping Voldemort. But then, when had things at Hogwarts ever been what they seemed to be? Was it an act? And if it wasn't, who should they suspect?

"Do you realize what could have happened? You know Krum's headmaster was a death eater. What if you'd have been attacked?"

Sirius was sounding a lot like Mad- Eye, Harry thought.

"I know, I know I have to be careful. But it's a good thing I went though. Well, it would have been if Crouch could have told us what he knew."

After being shown the maze for the third task, Harry had followed Krum, who'd only wanted to ask if there were any romantic feelings between Harry and Hermione, when Crouch had turned up. He'd been babbling nonsense about the times when his wife and son were still alive half the time, but the rest of the time he'd sounded like he knew something about Voldemort that they didn't. He'd had a message from Dumbledore. Harry had taken him strait to the headmaster but Crouch was only able to keep repeating the scrambled fragments of what he'd told Harry, and didn't seem to know who he was talking to. He'd been sent to St Mungos, where the healers had diagnosed him with significant brain damage, although nobody seemed to know just what type of spell had caused it, or how long it would take for him to recover, if he ever would. Moody had seemed especially watchful and nervous after that.

Both Marauders made Harry swear not to go anywhere without his friends or a teacher with him and to not go anywhere after dark.

"There's nothing we can do about Crouch. For now, just focus on the next task," Remus said "Getting through a maze with magical obstacles will be straightforward enough, but be sure you practice stunning and disarming."

"You're name didn't get in that Goblet by accident," Sirius added. "I know with the things I've done I'm probably not the best one to tell you this, but don't take any chances."

Once Harry promised to be careful for what seemed like the hundredth time that day alone, they asked him how visiting Slughorn had went.

"He was reluctant to give up the memory, but he did in the end. Turns out my mum was one of his favorite students, and that's why Dumbledore thought I'd be the best one to persuade him. Oh, which reminds me, Dumbledore said for you to see him soon about something important."

The two friends had asked Dumbledore not to tell Harry about the horcruxes unless it was absolutely necessary. Voldemort being immortal was enough to worry anyone, let alone a fourteen year old child who already had to grow up knowing there was a psychopath out there who wanted to kill him.

"We will, son. And remember-"

"Stay with my friends and teachers, don't go anyplace after dark, be careful. I know, I know."

Harry was still struggling with Occlumancy, but he was doing well enough to block Snape most of the time. Snape still hadn't told Harry exactly how to block him, but after being told it was similar to blocking the Imperious curse, he found he was able to rely more on closing his mind and less on spells and using force to resist. He kept his shield up at all times now, although Snape loved to rub in that he could still break through sometimes, which annoyed Harry to no end. Honestly, how was he supposed to keep his mind closed when he had to focus on the third task and couldn't stop thinking about Crouch's warning?

At least it was easy to close his mind in Divination. The class was such rubbish an the room so warm and heavily perfumed that it was hard not to fall asleep and not think of anything at all. Harry decided trying to focus on something would be the best way to keep from falling out of his chair, and since he couldn't practice any of the spells he'd been working on here he may as well focus on Occlumany. Just when it seemed his shield was at it's strongest though, the vision came.

"You're lucky I haven't fed you to Nagini yet Wormtail! You're blundering stupidity nearly let Crouch alert the old fool to our plan."

Wormtail was cringing and cowering.

"I will not fail you again Master. I did not think he-"\

"Be sure you think more carefully from now on. If I didn't need you for the final part of my plan I would kill you now. In the mean time let this serve as a reminder to be more careful in the future. Crucio!"

Harry wasn't sure if it was him or Wormtail screaming. The next thing he knew Ron and Neville were shaking him.

"Harry! Harry, snap out of it."

Opening his eyes, Harry saw the whole class standing around staring at him. It didn't help his embarassment that Trelawny kept insisting he tell her his vision. He wouldn't waste time telling her though. He needed to tell Dumbledore right away.

"I thought Snape was supposed to be teaching Harry how to block the visions!"

Sirius was pacing back and forth angrily.

"He did," Remus said. "Harry said he was able to block Severus, and he had a good strong shield up when this happened."

"So why is Harry still having visions?" Sirius demanded. He knew it wasn't Remus' fault, but he couldn't help venting his frustration.

"The best answer I can come up with is Harry just hasn't had a chance to get good enough at Occlumancy yet, and Voldemort is simply too gifted at Legilimancy for him to block at this point. And Severus is still able to break though the shields. All we can really do is hope with more practice Harry will be able to have a strong enough shield." Both men hoped that was all the problem was.

"Kreacher won't give up Master Regulus' locket! Kreacher won't! Won't! Won't!"

Sirius had started giving Phoenix House another search for dark objects after a near accident earlier that day. Milla had been found in an almost comatose state next to an open music box. The sinister song the thing was playing nearly put Remus into a trance too before he managed to close the thing. Luckily Milla had woken up after a couple hours, but she had given everyone a scare. Remus, Tonks, and Sirius hadn't left her bed and Harry had used the two way mirror at every chance to check how she was doing until she was out of danger. Afterwards, they wanted to be sure nothing like that would happen again. They didn't find anything else dangerous, but they did find a stash of things they'd thrown out that Kreacher had stolen back. The elf had been sobbing, screaming, and generally throwing a fit over everything else they'd thrown away, but it was nothing compared to the way he fought for the locket.

"What's so special about this locket anyway?" Sirius asked in frustration. "Kreacher, I hate giving orders, but I order you to give me that locket. We're not keeping anything around here that could hurt someone."

Kreacher had no choice but to hand it over, but he continued to sob.

"Master Sirius is a wicked, cruel wizard, throwing away what Master Regulus is giving his life to get. And Kreacher is a bad, bad elf failing Master Regulus." He started beating his head against the wall.

"Stop that," Sirius said as he grabbed him. "I don't allow house elves to punish themselves, even you. Then the full meaning of what Kreacher had said sank in. "What do you mean Regulus gave his life for this? I heard he was killed for trying to back out of being a Death Eater."

"Master will not be saying such things about brave Master Regulus!"

Sirius had never heard an elf, even Kreacher, be so defiant before. To say the least, he was taken by surprise.

"Kreacher," he said in the calmest voice he could manage, since he was getting a bad feeling about this. "Tell me the truth about what happened to my brother."

There was no way Kreacher could disobey, so, sobbing worse than ever, he began to tell the story of how Regulus had died. Sirius became paler and paler as he listened, and when the story was over he had to wipe his eyes. Here he'd been thinking Regulus had only tried to run, that he'd become a deth eater without realizing what it meant and later been afraid of what he would have to do. He'd considered him a coward, like Wormtail. But in the end, Regulus had known right from wrong. He'd done what he could to help stop Voldemort, sacrificing himself in the process and showing courage equal to any Gryffindor. And Kreacher had suffered, almost died too. Sirius had never imagine he would ever say to Kreacher what he was going to say next.

"Kreacher I'm- I'm - sorry. I had no idea what really happened the night Regulus died. We'll find a way to destroy the locket, to finish what Regulus started."

"Master Regulus was very brave!"

"Yes," Sirius said sadly. "Yes, he was."