Seventh Year Part 2
Sirius and Hermione reclaimed their positions, Remus had already sat down and now they were waiting for the professors to reappear. Looking at her friends, Hermione felt the need to apologize to them for everything they heard and what they were about to hear. She just wanted to go home and see her family and friends and put this nightmare behind her, not relive all over again. But she couldn't, she was here and she had to tough it out until the end. Then her future self would never have to deal with these horrifying memories. The thought of never knowing Bellatrix's cruelty or the pain of loved ones dying was like an oasis in the middle of a desert. And it was so close. Finally the professors arrived and Hermione reopened her folder, "Picking up where we left off, Harry and I were standing by the Potter house when we noticed that there was someone approaching us. It was Bathilda Bagshot. She wouldn't speak to us on the street but she indicated that we were to come with her so we went to her house. She still wouldn't speak but managed to get across that she wanted just Harry to come upstairs with her. That is, of course, when things turned bad."
"No not old Bathilda," Lily moaned. "She'd never joined the dark side."
"She never did," Hermione responded. "But they used her in the worse way possible. You see, she tried to make it look like she had the sword of Gryffindor but when Harry went to take it, he noticed that something was severely wrong with Bathilda." Hermione licked her drying lips, "Bathilda had been dead for a while but Voldemort's snake Nagini was inside Bathilda body, wearing her like a costume."
"Oh gods," Lily wretched, visibly swallowing back the bile.
"That is awful, horrible, disgusting…" James rattled off but weren't there not enough to describe how completely wrong that was.
Dumbledore, having known Bathilda since his younger days, was deeply upset, "Tom's cruelty truly knows no bounds." McGonagall shuddered while Sirius and Remus turned pale.
"We're not finished yet," Hermione said bitterly. "The snake was able to contact Voldemort and left Bathilda's body to attack Harry. I heard the commotion and went up and helped him fight. We got out through a window and apparated in midair just as the Dark Lord arrived. According to Harry, their minds connected again and he saw in perfect detail the night you two were murdered. Starting from outside, he – as in Voldemort – could see James and Harry playing through the window." She indicated to it. "Lily came in and took Harry upstairs and James tossed his wand aside and laid down. He used magic on the locks obviously and he was very quiet so none of you noticed until he was in the house. James came to see who it was but had left his wand behind so Voldemort finished him quickly."
"James don't you dare beat yourself up," Lily threatened but James already was. Of all the idiotic things to do, James growled mentally, I neglect my wand while my family is supposed to be in hiding from one of the most powerful wizards of all time. "None of it was your fault," Lily plowed on anyway, well aware of what her husband was thinking. "The Fidelius Charm is normally foolproof."
"Except for when you choose the wrong secret keeper," Sirius grumbled. "Or someone suggests one."
"Not you too," Hermione said sharply. "You are not to blame yourself, besides none of this has happened and knowing you, it won't happen so don't even go there."
"Fine," James and Sirius muttered lowly in unison.
"As for the memory, Lily didn't have a wand on her either," Hermione continued.
"Moody would be appalled if he heard this," Remus laughed wildly and the others joined in a bit thinking about Mad-Eye's reaction.
"At least we aren't in danger of losing a buttock," James said grudgingly, still not really in the mood for jokes. Lily cracked a smile and kissed her husband's cheek.
"She attempted to barricade herself in the nursery but obviously that didn't keep him oout. And that's when Lily made her sacrifice for Harry and kick started this whole chain of events," Hermione ended her mini-story and picked up the larger narrative. "So while Harry was having this vision, he became terribly ill. When we got back to the tent, I had to use a Severing Charm to get the Horcrux off Harry and he was thrashing and sick for hours. Finally he woke up only we had lost something rather important – his wand. During the getaway I used the Blasting Curse and it hit his wand too. It was snapped and we couldn't repair it."
"Did you get nothing from that trip?" Remus pled.
"Well…" Hermione glanced at Dumbledore, the headmaster seemed to understand what was coming and waved a hand for her to get it over with. "Remember Rita's book? Turns out that Bathilda had been the secret source close to the Dumbledores. Rita sent her a copy of the book and while Harry was upstairs with…the imposter, I took it. Back in Umbridge's office Harry had seen another copy with a picture of Dumbledore standing next to the man who stole from Gregorovitch. His name was Gellert Grindelwald."
Lily gasped, "So it's true! Bathilda told us you two knew each other when you were young."
"Indeed Ms. Evans, I daresay I was friends with him for the summer he came to visit his aunt Bathilda but not after it," Dumbledore admitted.
"Long story short, Grindelwald and Dumbledore used to…collaborate on certain ideas. Ideas that Grindelwald would later forge ahead with in his own campaign for power."
Of course the others could tell what Hermione was really saying and felt rather disappointed with their hero. James frowned, "How did you get mixed up in that professor?"
Dumbledore appreciated Hermione's delicacy but replied in a measured, calm tone, "I was a selfish young man Mr. Potter. Ms. Granger has been kind enough to gloss over certain things but the truth is that my mother had passed away in the beginning of that summer, right before I was set to take a world tour with Elphias. That is why I went home, to look after my brother and sister but I wanted more. I craved something bigger than just being the head of a small family in a little village and that's when Gellert found me. He offered a world I never thought of, he and I, the remarkable young leaders of revolution. It was madness but it certainly wasn't the ordinary mundane life I felt I was condemned to."
"Harry obviously didn't know that then," Hermione jumped in. The rest knew this wasn't the whole story but the simple look on Mya's face was enough to tell them that that all was they needed to know right then. "He was very upset, his faith in everything was shattering. Lost his best friend, his family, and now his mentor wasn't who he thought he was. He trusted me but was still a bit cross over the wand incident. Still Harry's trust managed to live on as he encountered a silver doe patronus while we were camping in the Forest of Dean and decided to follow it. It led him to a frozen pool that had the sword of Gryffindor lying on the bottom. There was no other way, he dove in to get it but the Horcrux was still around his neck and started strangling him. He was quickly saved by none other than Ronald Weasley."
"He came back?" Lily smiled.
"Yes he did and Harry asked him to destroy the Horcrux. Harry used Parseltongue to open it and the piece of Voldemort soul tried to scare Ron, using his fears and doubts but he fought back and stabbed it. I wasn't too pleased with him though, Harry might've needed to put up a shield charm just hold me back when he first entered the tent."
"They had to use magic to restrain you?" Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Remind me never to get you angry."
"And you thought the canaries were bad," Mya giggled. "Ron then explained that after he left, he ran into a gang of Snatchers that bring in wanted people for the ministry and get money for it. He managed to escape them and went to Bill and Fleur's new place until one day he heard my voice coming from the Deluminator. Then it produced a light like from a portkey and it went into him so that he could apparate to where we were but he couldn't find us. He had been actually tracking us for quite some time but couldn't see us as we had the charms up and were using the cloak to apparate. He gave Harry a wand that he'd stolen from the Snatchers but it didn't work for him as well as his did. He also told us about the taboo. Saying Voldemort's name caused a magical disturbance that made us traceable wherever we were and that's how they found us at the coffee shop."
"Gotta give them credit, it's a smart idea," Remus said grudgingly.
"Okay now for this next piece I need to go back a bit to when I got the original copy of the Tales of Beedle the Bard. It was written in ancient runes but there was one rune that I couldn't decipher because it wasn't a rune at all. It was symbol that had been drawn on that page. It was the same sign Krum said was Grindelwald's mark that Xenophilius wore around his neck. We'd also seen it in a copy of a letter Dumbledore wrote to Grindelwald in Rita's book. We decided we needed to talk to him and find out what it was about. He lived not too far away from the Weasleys though we couldn't risk going there. According to Lovegood, he understood the sign to be a symbol for the deathly hallows. Three objects that supposedly made the owner conqueror of death so to speak. These hallows were supposed to have been described in The Tale of the Three Brothers by Beedle; the wand, the stone, and the cloak. The wand was said to have been made of Elder wood and was extremely powerful and was typically passed on by murdering the previous owner. The stone had the ability to recall people from the dead but not fully. Finallly, the cloak was forever endurable Invisibility cloak that would never wear or fade with time. The Peverell brothers were said to be the three brothers in question, evidenced by the sign being on an old grave here in Godric's Hollow belonging to Ignotus Peverell. The only other piece of fact he had to support his claims were those supposed powerful wands throughout history which he claimed were all the same one."
James licked his lips, "Run the description of the cloak by me again." Hermione knew this was coming and calmly repeated herself. "It can't be," James looked at the girl. "Can it?" Hermione said nothing but it was as good as an answer. "My god, I own one of the deathly hallows? I wonder where the others are."
Buried in a shack in Little Hangleton, Hermione mentally answered, and as for the wand… She snuck a peek at Dumbledore who stared back at her. He deliberately placed a hand over the inner pocket that held his wand confirming that he knew what he had. "You'll find out in good time but there was another problem first. Old Xeno had been a very outspoken supporter of Harry's during the war so we thought it was safe to trust him but things had changed. The Death Eaters took Luna and were holding over Lovegood's head to make him stop. Then when we arrived, he acted as if she was there but really he sent an owl to the Ministry so they could come and take us and give him back Luna. Harry figured it out when he went into Luna's room and saw that she hadn't been there for weeks. The Death Eaters did arrive and Xeno tried to hold us there but we fought our way out. He had an Erumpet horn mounted on the wall which got hit in the struggle, blowing up a good bit of the house. I had Ron put on the cloak because he was supposed to be ill with Spattergroit and then blasted the floor out from under us so that they could see Xeno really did have Harry before apparating back to the tent."
"You guys can't seem to catch a break," Remus noted.
"Life with the Chosen One," Hermione sighed long-sufferingly. "Back in the tent, Harry remembered Marvolo Gaunt talking being descended from the Peverells in the memory and that the ring had their coat of arms on it.
"The ring was actually the Stone?" Lily was flabbergasted.
"Well that's what Harry thought and he became obsessed with the Hallows. The only thing that made him snap out of it was Ron finally tuning in to the Potterwatch broadcast. The Order set up their own radio show to inform the public about what was really going on in the world. Lee was the host and we heard commentary from Kingsley, Remus, and Fred. Xeno Lovegood had been taken to Azkaban. Ted Tonks, Dirk Cresswell, and muggle family had been killed that week."
"Andy would be crushed," Sirius said mournfully.
"From what we could tell, Voldemort was out of the country. Harry thought that that meant the Dark Lord was searching for the Elder Wand but then Harry said his name aloud and caused the magical disturbance that made us traceable and we were immediately surround by Snatchers. I put a Stinging Hex on Harry and we tried to lie our way out but they found a copy in the Prophet with my picture and took us to Malfoy Manor to be sure. They called Draco in to identify us but he either didn't recognize us or didn't want to give us away. It was Narcissa who made the positive ID and they were going to call the Dark Lord when Bellatrix noticed the sword, the real sword of Gryffindor, that was supposed to be in her vault. She Stunned the snatchers, pulled me aside for questioning and sent the others to the cellar. In there, they found Luna, Dean, the goblin Griphook, and Ollivander but there was no escape possible. Meanwhile Bellatrix was torturing me, trying to find out how we found the sword. I lied and said it was a fake so they sent for Griphook to identify it. Harry begged Griphook to not give us away and he didn't. In desperation, Harry pulled out the fragment of Sirius's mirror that he'd been keeping and asked it for help then suddenly Dobby is there. He took Luna, Dean, and Ollivander to Shell Cottage – Bill and Fleur's and the sound of the apparition alerted the Death Eaters." Hermione looked at each of the Marauders, no matter what happened this would be hard. "They made the rat check on the hostages. Harry and Ron had no choice, they had to ambush Pettigrew who attempted to strangle Harry but when he reminded the rat of his life debt, Pettigrew let go. Unfortunately that resulted in the silver hand turning on Pettigrew and strangled him instead. The boys tried to save him but the hand wouldn't let go and it killed him."
"His loyalty was never to waver again," James mumbled. Remus and Sirius remained silent.
"I'm sorry boys," McGonagall said as gently as she could. After all, she had seen them together for years. They'd been as thick as thieves and to watch them fall apart like this hurt her.
"Thanks Minnie," Sirius semi-smirked but with less than half the usual spirit. McGonagall didn't even have it in her to tell them off.
"Keep going Mya," Lily patted James's shoulder.
"The boys, with help from Dobby managed to rescue me, taking three wands with us but as we apparated away Bellatrix threw her knife at us. When we reappeared we saw it hit Dobby and the elf died."
"Right after he saved you," Lily whimpered. "That poor, sweet elf."
"Harry requested to bury him," Hermione remembered the funeral. "We said our goodbyes then Harry needed to speak to Griphook and Ollivander. He went to goblin first, wanting to know if he'd help us break in to Gringott's. He explained after that Bellatrix had been terrified at the idea of us being in her vault especially when Lucius went to summon Voldemort so there must've been something extremely important in there. Then we talked to Ollivander and he asked the wandmaker about the Elder Wand. There were certain hallmarks that people who study wandlore can recognize and that all those extremely powerful wands we talked about earlier were actually the same wand. The Elder Wand. Voldemort found out about it from Ollivander then went to Gregorovitch because he spread rumours that he'd gotten it and was using it to create his wands. But it was stolen from Gregorovitch by Grindelwald who lost to…" she trailed off and turned to Dumbledore. The Headmaster withdrew his wand from within his robes, rolling it between his fingers, nodding.
"Impossible…" McGonagall looked her colleague astonished.
"You've had it this entire time," Lily gasped. "The most powerful wand in existence."
"Gellert came to Godric's Hollow to search for the Hallows for himself," Dumbledore never took his eyes away from the wand. "We were both enraptured by them and then I heard that he'd managed to discover the wand. I fought him and won the wand, while he was sent to prison in Nurmengard. I kept it so no one else could use so long as I lived, it was for the greater good." It was hard to ignore the bitterness in Dumbledore's voice.
Hermione instantly remembered her mother saying 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions'. And honest mistakes, she added in her mind. "That was just it Professor, as long as you were alive the wand was safe but you were dead. The wand had been entombed with you but that didn't stop Voldemort from breaking in and prying it out of your hands."
"Monster!" Remus spat.
"Griphook also had an answer for us. He'd help us get into Gringotts in exchange for the sword of Gryffindor. Harry agreed only he was sketchy on just when the goblin would get it, hoping to keep it until the end of the Horcrux hunt. We spent a few weeks at the cottage making plans with Griphook when we got some exciting new. Remus dropped by, don't worry he went back to Tonks and he'd just become a father."
That effectively took the Marauders out of their slump. James and Sirius jumped up in excitement, "WELL DONE MOONY!"
Remus looked shocked and more than just a bit emotional, "I'm a father?"
Hermione grinned, her eyes a little glossy, "To a beautiful baby boy, Teddy Remus Lupin."
"He's not…" Hermione shook her head and Remus couldn't believe it. A father, he would be a father to a healthy boy. He had a family, a wife, a son. Remus was suddenly more curious than he'd been the entire time Mya was with them. "What's he like? Who does he look like?"
Hermione coughed a laugh, "He's a metamorphagus like his mum but he's got an outrageous sweet tooth like his dad. His natural hair colour is yours but he has her eyes. He adores hearing stories about Mooey, Pafo, Womtal, and Pogs."
James winced, "I think mine was the most butchered."
"Please," Sirius snorted. "I sounded like something you'd find on a Chinese takeout menu."
"He's one in my time, cut the kid some slack," Hermione giggled. "We tell him all the stories we possibly can." She left out that with all the marauders gone, it was hard to tell him everything though McGonagall was a good source for some of the more infamous pranks. "He gets a bit restless during the full moon but nothing else. When I left, he'd just mastered doing little dives on his toy broomstick. He can handle changing his appearance and seems to have a preference for blue hair. He does like picture books but would much rather a Marauder-tale."
"He's just like Har-bear," Sirius mussed the baby's head. "Maybe we should write down our exploits and keep it for him and the future Marauder babies."
"I think we should," Remus agreed instantly.
Hermione's heart broke looking at Remus's dreamy expression, knowing the dream would have to end too soon. "Harry was asked to be godfather to little Teddy, of course Harry said yes."
"Harry's godfather to Teddy and I'm Harry's godfather so I'm like a grand-godfather," Sirius beamed. "The world's first grand-godfather. I should put that on a t-shirt."
"You're probably not the first but you're the only one stupid enough to give yourself the title," Hermione scoffed. "Anyway, it was time to put our Gringotts plan into action. I had a little Polyjuice potion left and managed to get a hair from Bellatrix so I could disguise myself as her. I Transfigured Ron and Harry hid with Griphook under the Cloak. Things only got more complicated as we encountered another Death Eater Travers who insisted on accompanying us to the banks. We Confounded the guards and Harry had to use the Imperius curse on the goblins inside because they had been informed that there might be an imposter as we had Bellatrix's wand, it was one of the three along with Pettigrew's and Draco's. We made it as far as the deeper caverns but then we were stopped by the Theives Downfall, a waterfall that washes away all magical enchantment and alerts the staff. We still had a head start so we went to the Lestrange vault but couldn't touch anything because the treasure had been cursed with Flagrate and Germino. We eventually found the cup and were able to get it using the sword while the treasure was accumulating around us. As if things couldn't get worse, Griphook double-crossed and joined the other side, taking the sword with him. We barely managed to escape, it was thanks to the dragon they tethered to guard the vaults we got away. We set him free and rode him right out of the bank."
"You lot RODE a dragon after pulling a heist at Gringotts?" James's jaw dropped, "Harry seems to deal with miracles more than mischief."
"I'm sure he'd agree with you," Hermione remembered her friend's insistence that most of what he did was just luck. "The dragon took us into the mountains and we jumped off into a lake. Not a minute too soon either, Harry had a vision of Voldemort being told about the break in and what we took. He knew what that meant and freaked out in the only way he can, he started killing anyone he could get."
"But those are his followers," Lily shook her head uncomprehendingly.
"There are little more than servants to him Ms. Evans. He may call them friends and allies but deep down he has no affection for them. There are pawns in his game for power." Dumbledore clarified.
"Anyway, that was how we learned the location of the final Horcrux. Voldemort ran through all the places in his head and the last place was Hogwarts. He decided to alert Snape that Harry might come then go to check on the others."
"Oh now he checks," Remus slapped his forehead.
"You know I used to fear Voldemort, but right now he sounds like a fool," Sirius grimaced.
"He's made foolish mistakes but he is by no means a fool," Dumbledore cautioned. "He is still a highly powerful wizard, arrogant in the extreme yet powerful."
"Precisely, so we knew we didn't have much time before he realised how far we'd gotten. We agreed to go to Hogsmeade and assess the situation with the castle. But the minute we showed up, we set off a Caterwauling charm and had to hide from Death Eaters. Thankfully Aberforth rescued us and took care of the Death Eaters. Turned out that Aberforth had sent Dobby; he got the other mirror from Mundungus and heard Harry's plea for help. There was now a curfew in Hogsmeade which is why there was charm; to alert them if anyone went outside after dark. Aberforth wanted us to wait until morning then leave. We were firm about finished our quest but Aberforth didn't put much into Albus's judgement."
"Nor should he," Albus added. "I've certainly given him no reason to. It all begins with an attack that was made on my sister when she was very young by some muggle boys. They saw her doing magic and went too far. My father sought revenge and went to Azkaban for it but Arianna was never the same again. She refused to use magic so it would burst out of her randomly. That was how my mother died, Arianna was having one of her rages and my mother couldn't handle it. At the end of that fateful summer, Aberforth confronted myself and Gellert, reminding us that we couldn't go anywhere with Arianna in the state she was. Gellert lost his temper and cursed my brother and a duel broke out. Arianna was caught in the crossfire and died."
Lily's eyes watered, "Oh no, Professor I'm so sor-"
"It is I who should be sorry Ms. Evans. I brought Gellert into our lives, I trusted him and he destroyed us. He fled after Arianna died, fearing he'd be blamed for her death, and I never saw him again until the duel."
"That's why you understood the Sirius/Pettigrew situation," Remus said understanding.
"A knowledge I would've rather not ever known," Dumbledore suddenly looked as old as he was.
Hermione said quietly, "Professor you should know, Voldemort went to Grindelwald's cell at Nurmengard and demanded to know where the wand was but he didn't tell him. And Voldemort murdered him."
"I've heard the rumours that he's begun to show remorse," Albus nodded. "At least he was able to do one decent thing before dying."
"Wish the same thing could be said for the rat," Sirius gritted his teeth. "He didn't want to let Harry go, he did it because he owed him. If Harry hadn't saved his life in third year, he would've strangled Harry."
"Willing or not, I'm just glad he let go," Hermione reminded him of the bigger picture. "Back to our conversation with Aberforth. We argued a bit but we wouldn't change our minds. Then Aberforth used his portrait of Arianna to contact someone in the castle to come get us. There was tunnel behind painting and Neville came through and filled us in on what was happening in the castle."
"Nothing good I'm sure," McGonagall bristled.
"In essence, they were being taught dark magic including how to perform the Unforgivables and, of course, to hate all muggles. Those that put up a fight were punished brutally. Neville had gashes and scars, they even tried going after his gran but she took care of Dawlish and went on the run. Neville decided to hide out in the Room of Requirement and others eventually followed. They used to go out at night to put up graffiti and stuff but it became too dangerous for that. Inside the Room, most of Dumbledore's army was settled in there. They assumed that because we were there, it was time to fight but we just wanted to search for the Horcrux. We decided ask them if they had ever heard of anything belonging to Gryffindor or Ravenclaw without giving away the reason behind it. Luna told us about her famous lost diadem and was elected to take Harry to the Ravenclaw common room to look at the statue of Ravenclaw in which she was wearing it."
"Um," James raised a hand and gestured between him and Sirius. "Are we the only ones who don't know what the diadem is?"
"I read about it in Hogwarts: A History," Lily shrugged.
"So did I," Remus concurred.
"Me too." Hermione grinned. "The diadem is like a crown that was owned by Ravenclaw and had magical properties that could endow the wearer with great wisdom."
"And he tainted it," James made a face. "It has to be destroyed so no one can use it either way."
"I bet he likes it like that," Remus said sourly. "He's the owner and the only one who can ever use it."
"Selfish bastard," Sirius muttered.
"It was such a waste," Mya agreed. "Harry and Luna managed to get to common room alright and were looking at the statue when Alecto Carrow appeared. She pressed her mark and they duelled. Harry Stunned her but then Alecto's brother Amycus started banging on the door trying to get in. He couldn't answer the question to open the door and his sister is indisposed at the moment. Professor McGonagall arrives and lets him in, he finds Alecto and wants to blame the students for her pressing the mark to summon Voldemort. He was quite rude to McGonagall and spat in her face so Harry lost his temper and attacked him." They do NOT need to about the Cruciatus curse, Hermione thought firmly.
"Good boy Har-bear," Sirius said satisfied.
"So to sum up the situation at this point, we've got Harry, Luna, and McGonagall in the Ravenclaw common room with two Death Eaters. Outside of the castle, Voldemort is discovering just how many Horcruxes we've got and now knows that Harry is the castle with possibly his last one. Of course, he is on his way." The group tensed, things were coming to a head and the pace was clearly picking up. "Harry briefly explained that they were looking for something and the Death Eaters were coming. McGonagall sent patronuses to the other Heads and that was when our new Headmaster arrived. Harry and Luna hid under the cloak again as Snape and McGonagall exchanged words but it quickly dissolved into a duel. Snape almost had the upper hand until Flitwick arrived with Sprout and Slughorn. Outnumbered, Snape jumped out the window and Transfigured himself into a bat to fly away. The Heads went to gather their students and they set up loads of protective spells. Harry and Luna came back to the Room of Requirement and found that the whole DA was there along with the Order except Tonk who was staying with her mother." Remus nodded his appreciation. "I should say that Percy also came back, to the joy of his family but Ron and I weren't there. We were fine but we had to go somewhere. Anyway, it was time to fight so everyone assembled in the Great Hall, anyone of age was allowed to stay while the younger students left through the Hog's Head tunnel. Voldemort issued an ultimatum that if they handed over Harry he'd leave them alone but no one, except the Slytherins, would let that happen."
"Thank god," Lily breathed a sigh of relief.
"Harry still couldn't find us but he also had a brainwave on how to find the diadem. No one in living memory had ever seen it but what about someone who was dead. Harry went to speak to the Ravenclaw ghost, the Grey Lady."
"Genius," Remus smacked his head.
"He is not the first Mr. Lupin," McGonagall informed him. "But she refuses to disclose any information on the diadem."
"She was resistant at first but then Harry convinced her to open up. She admitted that she was Helena Ravenclaw, daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw. She stole the diadem from her mother and ran away to Albania, hiding it in a tree. When Rowena fell deathly ill she sent the Baron, as in the Bloody Baron, to find her daughter but Helena refused to return so he stabbed her in a rage, and then killed himself out of the grief."
"That's quite tragic," James frowned. "I don't think I can look the ghosts the same way again."
"Wow I had no idea the ghosts had such a history," Sirius's jaw dropped. "I wonder what other stories are there…"
Lily however saw through it to the heart of the matter, "Harry was not the first person she told was he?"
"No afraid not. Tom Riddle managed to wheedle it out of her," Hermione admitted.
"So then why did he say – think that Hogwarts was the last hiding place?" Remus asked.
"Well would you leave something that contained your soul in a tree in the woods? No so god knows when or how but Voldemort went to Albania, got the diadem, made it into a horcrux, and brought it back to Hogwarts the night he came to ask Dumbledore for a job."
James put his marauder skills to work, "That doesn't leave a lot time to really hide something. With the professors patrolling the halls and students, he'd have to stash it somewhere unless he already a place picked out."
Sirius joined in, "But still he'd have no more than a few minutes and couldn't go anywhere too far out of the way without attracting attention."
"He could've used a Disillusionment charm?" Lily suggested.
Remus shook his head, "The key to any good plan is being seen at the right times. If he hid something and wanted to make sure that no one suspected, he'd have to been seen arriving to castle in time for his appointment with Dumbledore and leaving an appropriate amount of time later. He can't take the chance of Dumbledore of leaving his office and someone realising that he should have left by then when he hadn't."
"All valid points," Hermione nodded. "But again Voldemort's arrogance worked in our favour. He assumes that he was the only one that ever discovered Hogwarts' secrets which means that he chose none other than the Room of Requirement, in the room where all things were hidden. It just so happened that Harry saw the diadem in there when he hid the Prince's potions book so he came back and met up with me and Ron. We had just destroyed the cup!"
"How'd you do that?" James grinned.
"We got a broomstick from the room and went down to the Chamber of Secrets. Ron was able to imitate Harry's Parseltongue and we flew down to the basilisk's old skeleton. I got to stab the cup with one of the fangs."
"You lot are brilliant," Remus cried. "Now I see why we had to start from the very beginning."
"Just two more and Voldemort is mortal," Lily bounced a little in her seat.
"We left Ginny in the Room for her own protection so we went to get her and found Tonks and Mrs. Longbottom, Neville's gran, there too."
Remus froze and Sirius clarified, "Wasn't she supposed to be Andy and Teddy?"
"She couldn't bear to stay behind so she came to help," Hermione bit her lip when she noticed Remus start to breathe a bit heavier. "Mrs. Longbottom said she closed the tunnel so they left the room and we re-entered it as the hidden room. Except we weren't alone. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle were there but it seemed as though Crabbe and Goyle weren't so willing to follow Draco anymore and they attacked us. Crabbe used Fiendfyre and the entire place went up though Harry was able to find the diadem. We got some brooms and flew out of there, saving Draco and Goyle in the process but Crabbe was lost to the fire."
"He was just a kid," James shifted in spot. "I mean I know he started the fire and all but he was so young. That is just wrong, no matter what."
"We had mixed feelings too. But the good news was that the Fiendfyre destroyed the diadem as well so the only left to do was get Nagini and fight Voldemort. But we had to fight other people first, namely the Death Eaters but they had brought giants and Acromantula and dementors so it was complete chaos. We were duelling with Percy and Fred when a wall got blasted. Fred…he..." the first of many tears slipped down Hermione's face and sniffles went around the room but she couldn't afford to break down in the middle of the story. "Fred was killed. We moved his.." she swallowed and forced the words out, "his body out of the way and I told Harry to look inside Voldemort to find him. He was in the Shrieking Shack with Lucius who was badly beaten, believing that Harry would come to him. He had his snake in some kind of glittering ball. Then he sent Malfoy to bring Snape to him so he was there all by himself. We had some help from Luna, Ernie, and Seamus repelling all the dementors and got to the Whomping Willow. The passage was blocked but we could still see and hear Snape and Voldemort talking about the wand. Voldemort said it did not truly belong to him because he did not conquer its master, Snape did. So while Snape lived, he could never truly wield its magic."
Lily went ramrod straight, her eyes watering in an instant, "Please no…" Her best friend was guilty of a lot of things, but he was going to die for stupid WAND!
Hermione really wished she could Lily another answer, "I'm sorry Lily, he set Nagini on him. The snake bit his neck and Voldemort left him to die." Lily bowed her head slowly as if in defeat. That was it, the end, there'd be no redemption for the man who brought her into the wizarding world. James held his wife comfortingly, knowing that this was going to eat her on the inside. "Harry went to him and he gave him some memories." Lily sniffed, memories? Why would Snape give Harry his memories?
"Then Voldemort made another ultimatum. He taunted Harry for letting others die for him. So he ordered his followers to stand down and gave him one hour to face him in the forest or this time the Dark Lord himself would enter the fight and kill everyone. Ron and I tried to keep Harry from taking it to heart but it was inevitable especially went we went to Great Hall where all the dead were laid out and the injured were being tended. Not only was there but also," she looked at Remus and his face broke.
"She was gone?" Remus choked. His wife, the mother of his child, they weren't together yet but he didn't want to imagine what it would be like to lose her.
"You both were," Hermione scrubbed away the tears forcefully. "We're not sure but we think it was Dolohov." James and Lily hugged each other then got up and joined the other two. Little Harry crawled onto Remus's lap and the wolf hugged him bitter sweetly.
"I am sorry Remus," Sirius said quietly. "I liked the idea of you being my cousin. Still do." Remus half-smiled for a second then motioned for Mya to go on.
"Harry couldn't take it so he ran out of the hall and went to the headmaster's office. He got out the pensieve and dived into Snape's memories. They were about your friendship Lily, how you two met when you were kids, going to Hogwarts together, how you eventually fell apart. What you didn't know was that after Snape realised Voldemort was going to target to you Lily he went to Dumbledore and offered to do anything in exchange for keeping you and your family safe. That is how he became a double agent. He – he really cared about you Lily." Hermione felt kind of awkward saying it with Lily's husband right there but Lily seemed to understand what she was really saying.
"I suspected as much," said Lily shortly ignoring the Marauders' looks at the unsentimental response. She had seen slivers of Snape's feelings for her but with everything he used to do, she couldn't return them. He had a choice between the Death Eaters and her, and he made his choice. "Then what happened with Dumbledore?"
"That was actually Dumbledore's wish. The injury he sustained getting the ring was a powerful curse that was slowly making its way through his body, killing him. He had a little over a year to live as it was. He knew that Malfoy had been sent on a mission to him so he arranged so that Snape would kill him and spare him the humiliation he might've faced otherwise. But there was another reason that Harry had to see those memories. Harry needed to know what else happened here on Halloween. When the curse rebounded, a piece of Voldemort's soul broke off and attached itself to the only living person in the room. Harry."
"But that means…" Lily looked ready to hyperventilate.
"Lily focus! Remember Harry made it out alive, he wrote those letters remember?" Lily nodded but it was clear that her composure was slipping. "Yes technically he needed to die by Voldemort's hand so Harry decided to go to the forest. He met up with Neville and told him if anything should happen to kill the snake but doesn't' tell him where he's going. He goes to the forest and pulls out the Snitch. He finally gets it to open and find the Resurrection Stone and uses it to call you all."
"I can't even imagine that," James tried to envision being with his son during his last moments.
"Did he not say goodbye to any of you?" Lily pulled her baby onto her lap.
"No, he knew we'd try to stop him. So he went with you instead and found Voldemort deep inside the woods. He didn't raise a wand to defend himself, Voldemort hit him square in the chest with the curse. But he didn't die."
"How?" everyone, Professors included, asked.
"According to Harry, he had a kind of experience where he spoke to Albus. It was like he was in King's Cross station but it wasn't. It's hard to explain, his words not mine. The point is that Dumbledore, in this vision or whatever, said that when Voldemort took Harry's blood to regenerate he took a piece of Lily's sacrifice and so kept it alive."
"Meaning the blood wards would continue to work and he couldn't hurt Harry," Remus filled in.
Lily's forehead creased, "So he was technically alive but what about the Horcrux?"
"It was destroyed, Harry's soul was whole and completely his. Dumbledore also offered an explanation as to why Harry's wand snapped the other in the beginning. He thought that Harry's wand imbibed some of Voldemort's power when they duelled in the graveyard and regurgitated it back while they fought again. "
"So wait he spoke to Dumbledore who was dead but Harry was still living?" Sirius clarified.
"Yes, like I said, it was complicated. I personally thought of the ghosts and how they say they chose to stay back, so I'm wondering if there's like a crossing point in the afterlife and if Harry went there. More importantly, Harry chose to come back and woke up on the forest floor."
"Hang on, he chose to come back?" James paled.
"He told me that Dumbledore told him that he could go on to whatever's waiting for us on the other side but he came back instead, to finish the fight against Voldemort."
"He is a good man," Albus quietly praised.
"The best," Lily kissed her child.
"So what happened when the Death Eaters realised he wasn't dead?" McGonagall queried.
"They didn't. Voldemort had also fallen and they were grouped around him when Harry came to. He still had his cloak and his wand but there was no way he could've fought out of that place. He pretended to be dead but Voldemort wasn't so sure. He told Narcissa to check him but she was only concerned about Draco so she lied and said he was so that they could go back to the castle. Voldemort then forced Hagrid to carry him back to the school and presented his body to all of us. He tried to say that Harry was running away when he got killed but no one believed it. Neville confronted him and refused to surrender so Voldemort summoned the Sorting Hat and made Neville wear it while it was on fire." Everyone flinched. "But before he could finished Neville off, he was interrupted by the centaurs and other fighters that had come to our aid. The battle restarted and Neville managed to pull the sword of Gryffindor from the hat and sliced Nagini's head off." This was met with cheers and whoops for everyone present.
"Your parents would be proud Neville," Lily beamed.
"Hey Sirius," Hermione chuckled. "Want to guess who got Bellatrix?"
"Who?" the animagus raised an eyebrow.
"Molly Weasley."
Sirius guffawed, "No way. Molly Prewett Weasley?"
"The one and the same," Mya nodded. "Bellatrix tried taunting her about Fred but Molly was not going to stand for it and they fought to kill. Molly is really an accomplished dueller, she managed to hit Bellatrix with a well-aimed curse just under the arm."
Remus jumped in, "Where was Voldemort during all this?"
"Fighting McGonagall, Kingsley, and Slughorn all at once. When Bellatrix fell he blasted them away, not killing them though, and went to turn on Molly. That's when Harry stepped in. During the chaos, he'd gotten under the Invisibility Cloak until he got close to Voldemort. All it took was one spell, Voldemort shot a Killing Curse and Harry used the Disarming Charm but it rebounded and Voldemort was killed."
"How?" Lily gasped.
"Because Voldemort was right, the wand didn't obey him because he didn't conquer it's owner. But it wasn't Snape. Dumbledore had been disarmed by Malfoy before that but then at the Manor, Harry took Draco's, it was one of the three, so technically the wand was his."
"The wand wouldn't kill its owner," Dumbledore supplied. "That's defeats the whole purpose of beating the owner to claim it."
"Exactly," Hermione confirmed.
"So that makes Harry the owner of all three Deathly Hallows!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Not quite," Mya curbed his excitement. "He dropped the Stone in the forest and didn't want to go back for it. As for the Elder Wand, he used it only once – to repair his old one. Then he replaced it Dumbledore's grave. All he kept was the Cloak until he was ready to pass it on. And – well – that's it."
A/N: Hey guys, the final year is complete! The scene at King's Cross was very difficult to actually explain so I had Dumbledore talk about Grindelwald and his family beforehand and cut it to the essentials when it got to that part. I'm not sure how many but I know there are going to be a few more chapters so stay tuned and remember ENJOY! R&R PLZ!