22. Friend or Foe?

Though Dumbledore's face was kindly, Harry still found his anger was brewing uncontrollably inside him. This man had chosen to ignore him when Harry needed him most, and now that there was something he wanted from Harry, he was demanding an answer.

Harry did not get up from his chair; instead he turned his gaze to the edge of the desk in front of him. 'I don't know where it is.' He said sullenly. His answer was met with silence. After an uncomfortable amount of time, Professor McGonagall spoke.

'You did obtain the cup, did you not?'
'Yes.'
'Then it seems to me, you would know of its whereabouts.'
'You would think so, wouldn't you?' Harry said darkly 'But maybe you hadn't heard, I was unconscious when they took me to Julies, so I have no idea what Ron and Hermione did with it.'

The room erupted.

'Insolence!' One of the paintings remarked huffily. 'No respect!' Said another. 'Typically teenage.' Came the sarcastic drawl of Phinneus Nigellus from the far wall.

'Harry, I understand how you feel,' Dumbledore said, quieting the comments. 'But there-'
'How I feel?' Harry cut in. He lifted himself from the chair and walked slowly towards the painting, glaring at the old man. 'You understand? That's what you've got to say to me after months of waiting? You understand how I feel?' Harry's fury was surging through him, he could feel it gathering momentum, threatening to burst.

'You know what its like to face the darkest wizard of all time, having almost no power of your own, with the fate of everyone you love riding on your shoulders? You know what its like to see the people you get close to, one by one die, just because they are close to you? No… Don't tell me you understand. Don't tell me you know what I'm feeling.' His eyes were beginning to swell with angry tears.

'Do you know what I had to do to get that cup? Do you? I died … Can you believe it?' Harry ignored Professor McGonagall's intake of breath as she brought her hand to her mouth. He shook his head in bafflement, staring at the floor searchingly as if somehow he might find the explanation he was looking for if he looked at it long enough. 'I had to die to get it. I mean… Who would think to set a trap like that? …' For the first time, the events of the past week started to sink in. Harry's legs began to feel like jelly. 'What sort of person…'

'The worst kind of person, Harry.' Dumbledores eyes watered as he looked down on him. 'And you are right, I do not know what its like to be you. But I do know you. Well enough to believe you will find a way to deal with your pain and get on with the task at hand.' He said 'You are not alone, Harry.'

'YOU LEFT ME!' Harry roared at the two dimensional image. 'I AM ALONE!'

'I had to, Harry.' A tear crept down Dumbledore's cheek as he spoke grimly. 'One day you will come to understand. For now, you must trust in what you know is right.' Dumbledore straightened in his chair and his voice strengthened as he continued. 'The time for hiding is over. Voldemort knows now what you are doing, and he has already set in motion plans to ensure you do not succeed.'

Harry felt like a pallet of bricks had been dropped on him. 'What?'

'He has been aware for sometime that three of the Horcruxes are gone, and of course, he will have discovered you managed to retrieve the cup by now. It must be destroyed as soon as possible, and your search for the unknown Horcrux should begin.'

'How do I destroy it?' Harry asked, forgetting his anger in his need to find an answer.
'Knowing how to destroy it is not so much a problem as living through it. You have already been on the receiving end of the lockets curse.'
'So what do I do?'
'The same thing you have always done. Your best.' Dumbledore leaned back in his chair wearily.

McGonagall walked to her desk and leaned on her two hands, peering at Harry. 'I would suggest you start looking closer to home for help, Potter.'
'Home?' Harry said.
She nodded and raised her eyebrows 'Hogwarts is the best home some of us have ever known.'

Harry walked to the door, and then turned uncertainly. 'Professor, how did the Order find us? How did they know where we were?' She answered without looking at him; busily sorting paper piles on her desk. 'Let's just say, persistence paid off.'

Harry went down to the Great Hall to catch the last of lunch after he left the Heads office, picking up a pumpkin juice and taking it with him after he had hurried down chips and lasagne. When he finally caught up with Ron, he was sitting in the common room, sulking. It seemed Zach had been chasing Hermione down ever since she returned, and she could no longer hold him off with excuses and so agreed to meet him.

'What are you so upset about?' Harry said confused. 'She'll call it all off now we have the cup.'
Ron sneered. 'You haven't heard then?'
'Heard what?' He asked, taking a seat opposite him, sipping his juice.
'His Lordship was hounding McGonagall the whole time we were gone, spent every waking hour hanging around, demanding she "produce" Hermione. He was told there were people out looking for us, but he had it in his head she'd eloped with you.'

Harry sprayed pumpkin juice out of his nose. 'What?'
'You heard. So now she's outside trying to convince him that the three of us spent the past week in a dungeon under the church being held by Voldemort.' Ron shook his head. 'I'm telling you Harry, he's going to be trouble when she finally does pluck up the nerve to tell him.'

'Well, maybe we should go down there.' Harry said 'Check and see if she's alright.'
'What, and get our heads chewed off? No thanks. She thinks she can handle him, let her try.'
Harry narrowed his eyes. 'Your dieing to go down there and see what's happening.'
'No I'm not.' Ron said unconvincingly. 'And anyway, I was down there and she told me to push off.'
Harry looked at him knowingly 'You were teasing her mercilessly, weren't you?'
'That's not the point, is it?'

Just as Ron was speaking, Hermione clambered through the portrait hole looking rather dishevelled, and spotting them, she headed straight for the stairwell to the girls dormitories. Ron stood up suddenly, calling after her as he walked speedily towards her, but she ignored him and disappeared behind the pillar. In a fit of fury, Ron shot up the stairs, but even as Harry tried to yell out a warning, there was a loud clunking sound and Ron came sliding down feet first on his stomach. Red faced and fuming, he picked himself up as several Slytherin sixth years laughed, and stared up the stairwell as it clunked back into place.

'Next time she goes, we'll follow her, just to make sure.' Harry said, appearing at Ron's shoulder. He grunted and let Harry guide him back to the chairs.
'Where's the cup?' Harry asked as he leaned forward so they weren't overheard.

'We buried it in the secret passageway that's blocked with rubble.'
Harry nodded. It seemed like as good a place as any since it was not only secret, but also completely useless. 'We have to figure out how to destroy it before we bother retrieving it.' He said.

Ron and Harry spent the rest of the day in the restricted section of the library looking up curse-breaking spells. They compiled a list of the most likely types that were used against the darkest magic, jumping frequently at the sudden and impatient shooshing noises of Madam Pince who hovered and pounced every time Ron's hunger pangs gurgled loudly. Finally Harry folded the piece of parchment and stuffed it in his pocket before motioning to a relieved looking Ron to head down to the Great Hall.

Saturday nights in the Great Hall were usually a light affair as Students and teachers alike revelled in being in the midst of a weekend off. When Harry and Ron entered, they were beckoned eagerly by Seamus and Colin, who were already tucking into their food, but Harry saw Ginny sitting opposite them one seat from the end of the table and was about to suggest Ron take the seat next to her when Ron sped away from him, the smell of the food being too much for him to resist, and planted himself next to Seamus, the last spot on that side of the bench. He then started piling his plate high with food, oblivious to the position he had just landed Harry in.

So Harry took up the last spot on the end of the bench, Ginny sitting on his right, and grabbed the first thing that was in front of him, spooning the mushy peas onto his plate. He was so engrossed in trying to ignore Ginny's presence that it wasn't until the fifth spoonful that he remembered he hated mushy peas. After collecting a few foodstuffs he did like, he ate in silence, listening to the others as they talked about things that seemed altogether too normal to Harry.

He could feel Ginny's eyes boring into him challengingly as he finished his last potato, his plate still laden with five serving spoons full of thick gooey peas. He looked at the green swamp, knowing full well that Ginny knew he hated it, but defiantly stuck his fork in, watching it ooze off the sides as he brought it to his mouth. It took all his effort to swallow, but he continued to shovel in forkful after forkful, slowing down dramatically the more he ate, until he was halfway through, and that blissful moment finally arrived. The plate vanished and dessert appeared next. Unfortunately, by this time he felt quite as green as the peas he had been eating, so he left the table and headed back to the Common Room, cursing Ron under his breath.

Hermione was sat with a blanket wrapped around her staring into the fire of the otherwise empty Common Room when he emerged through the portrait hole. 'Why didn't you come down to dinner?' He asked, suspecting he already knew the answer. She looked at him briefly before turning back to the fire. 'I wasn't hungry.'

Harry frowned as he approached her, not sure if he had seen what he thought he had. She wiped the edges of the blanket to her cheeks, confirming his suspicions. He rounded her chair and crouched down before her, his stomach sickening even more than it was already.

'Hermione, did he hurt you?' At Harry's words she looked back at the fireplace.

'That depends on who you are talking about. If you mean Zach,' she met Harry's determined gaze 'No, of course not. He's always been such a gentleman, even if he is a little … over demonstrative. Ron on the other hand' Tears welled in her eyes again. 'Why does he have to be the way he is?'

Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he took Hermione's hands in his. 'You know he only says those things because he's mad with jealousy.' Hermione appeared unconvinced as she looked down at her lap. 'And because he's a stupendous git.' He added, still annoyed about the mushy peas. Hermione smiled in spite of herself. 'When you were passed out in the cage, he was frantic, wouldn't shut up for hours trying to get a word out of you.' Harry let her hands go.

'He even told me he might never forgive me for not caring when you were in a bad way.' Unable to meet her in the eye, he said 'and then you go and bring me back from the dead. I owe you debt Hermione… one that I hope I'm never called on to repay.' Hermione opened her mouth, but whatever she had been about to say, she was cut off by the sound of a bunch of rowdy Hufflepuffs as they entered the room.

Harry took out the list he and Ron had made in the library and handed it to her before slumping into the other armchair by the fire. She scanned the list quickly and Harry knew by the look on her face that there wasn't one spell on there that would work. She leaned forward when she saw the frustration on Harry's face. 'Harry, we are going to need help on this one, and I have a fair idea who to ask.'

The next morning as Harry knocked on the office door in the dungeons, it struck him how he had known what Hermione was going to say the night before. His own thoughts had strayed to Professor Slughorn after he had left McGonagall's office. He was one of the few people who seemed to have a good working knowledge of Horcruxes, though he had always seemed loathed to admit it. Maybe that was the real reason Voldemort wanted to recruit him.

The door opened, rousing Harry from his thoughts.

The Professor was still in his night attire, the same expensive looking green velvet dressing-gown and matching nightcap as when Harry had disturbed him last time this early on a weekend morning.

'Oh' he said, sounding like he would rather have had an enormous angry troll standing at his door than Harry.
'I need to speak to you, Professor.' Harry said 'Can I come in?'

Slughorn peered over his shoulder as if he was being interrupted. 'Well actually, I am rather busy. Perhaps you should come back tomorrow, hmm?' He replied as he closed the door, frowning when it wouldn't shut completely and banging it against Harry's carefully placed foot a couple of times before looking down and realizing what the problem was.

'This cant wait, Professor.' Harry said, leaving his foot where it was. Slughorn sighed and pulled the door open, stepping aside and waving his arm, motioning Harry to enter. 'Very well, if you will not be put off.'

As Harry suspected, the room was empty of people, but just as crowded with Slughorns comfort-collectables, and still overly warm as he remembered it. He waited for Slughorn to close the door before perching himself awkwardly on a tasselled footstool. 'Professor, what do you know about destroying a Horcrux?' Harry saw Slughorn shudder visibly as he stopped abruptly on his way to what was obviously, going by the worn out dent in the cushy upholstery, his favourite chair.

'Not exactly the type of conversation one is used to first thing in the morning.' He replied. Harry could tell by his reaction he was not completely surprised by his question. 'I imagine you have a very good reason for almost putting me in an early grave.'
'Yes sir, I do.'
Slughorn changed direction and sidled over to the table crammed with assorted drinks instead. Harry watched as he poured himself a drink of what looked like firewhiskey with a rather shaky hand.

'I'm hunting down the pieces of Voldemorts soul. But I need to find out what to do with one when I find it.' At the mention of pieces of Voldemorts soul, Slughorn had downed his whiskey in one gulp, only to turn back to the table and pour himself another.
'And why would I have any knowledge about such things?' he said, his back to Harry with his glass full.

'I was with Dumbledore when he went through your memory in the pensieve, sir.' Harry said. Throwing his head back, Slughorn tipped the whiskey down his throat. 'I know it was you who told Voldemort how to create a Horcrux.' The Professor banged the glass down heavily on the table

'I didn't know…' he said quietly. 'I had no idea Riddle was capable of such … heinous acts.' He was talking to himself, but then seemed to remember Harry was there and turned to look at him. 'I would never have told him how to do it if I thought for one minute that he would use that information to start creating his own.' His double chin was wobbling as his mouth quivered. 'I wasn't to know. He was so well liked by everyone. Top of his grade, charming … he had so many friends.'

'Friends who are now all Death Eaters.' Harry said. Slughorn pulled back slightly at Harry's words.
'Yes.' He said slowly, seemingly lost in thought. 'I have been avoiding them for more years than I care to remember.' Harry was getting impatient at Slughorns guilty tangents.

'Professor, how do I destroy a Horcrux?'

Slughorn eyed Harry cautiously. Seeing Harry's determination, he closed them briefly, sighing heavily, and then waddled a short distance before sinking into the chair. 'There is no "one way" to destroy a Horcrux. He could have sealed each of them differently into their vessels, and most probably would have.' He had been staring at the red and green carpet, but now he met Harry's gaze. 'I would have to see it, then maybe I could work out how its been sealed. Maybe.' He stressed. 'Where is it?'

Slughorn had guessed far more than Harry was comfortable sharing, but faced with the prospect of trying to figure it out alone, Harry knew he had no choice. 'I'll show you.' He stood up, not entirely sure he was doing the right thing.

'I'd better get dressed.' Said the Professor, heaving himself out of the chair. Twenty minutes later they were standing by the secret entrance.

Harry waited until he was sure the passageway was clear before opening the disused doorway. With his wand lit, Slughorn followed Harry in a short distance until they reached the rubble. Harry knew better than to try summoning the Horcrux. Hermione had told Harry she had found a way of protecting it against such charms, just in case. So he started pulling some of the stones aside. It wasn't long before he was wishing he'd brought Ron or Hermione along. They had hidden it well and Harry was beginning to think he would have to call it off when he noticed a slight distortion of the rocks.

It was almost a shimmer, but not quite. Harry frowned in concentration as he turned his attention on it, running his hand over the rocks slowly. A slight tingling sensation crept into the tips of his fingers. With renewed effort, he pulled away two huge rocks, exposing a glint of gold. Yanking the cup free he turned to Professor Slughorn.

'Let me have a look at it.' He said, holding out his hand expectantly. Harry hesitated as he handed it over. He watched as Slughorn turned it, eyeing it from every direction. 'Yes,' he said slowly, nervously. His eyes were wide in the small light, giving him a slightly sinister look. Then looking up at Harry he handed it back to him. 'Put it back.'

'But aren't you going to tell me how-'
'Its not as easy as that m'boy.' He said, raising his eyebrows. 'I'll need to think about it … do some research.'
'Oh,' said Harry. He placed the cup back in the small hole and flicked his wand to cover it again.

Slughorn told Harry he would have some answers for him by the next morning as they parted. Harry nodded, noticing the slight glistening of sweat on Slughorns brow. Harry walked away from the secret passage, making straight for his room, where he pulled out the Marauders map and checked Slughorns whereabouts. Something about the way he eyed the Horcrux made Harry nervous. But he felt slightly relieved to see the small dot with Slughorns name over it moving about in his quarters. Harry's relief was short lived however as he began folding the map and briefly, out of the corner of his eye, he thought he caught sight of another dot moving along a corridor on the seventh floor. And then just as suddenly, it was gone. Malfoy!

Ron waltzed into the room. 'How'd it go?' he asked, and then seeing Harry was frowning at the map he peered over his shoulder. 'Whacha lookin' at?'

'Here!' Harry said, shoving the map at Ron. 'Follow me to the seventh floor! And keep an eye out for Malfoy, I'm going to try to head him off.' And with that, Harry bolted out of the room at breakneck speed, Ron in tail, battling to keep up and watch the map at the same time.

Malfoy couldn't have gone into the room of requirement because the dot was heading in the wrong direction. So how had he just disappeared? Harry thought as he emerged from several short cuts on the fourth floor, figuring he had a better chance of catching Malfoy in the corridors. He forced himself to slow down, drawing his wand from his robes and concentrating hard on the space around him, not sure what he was looking for. He had lost Ron in his haste so he was going to have to rely on his wits if he was going to find Draco.

Harry reached the main stairs that climbed to the fifth level, already feeling that his chance had gone, sure that Malfoy had slipped passed him, when he a familiar feeling overcame him. Protego! Harry's training with Sir took over as a white beam of light shot towards him from out of nowhere. It rebounded off Harry, heading back in the direction it had come.

'Protego!' Draco's alarm was evident in his voice. He had not expected a reaction. Harry had caught him off guard. Zooming in on the direction it had come from, Harry aimed his wand. Expelliarmus! His spell hit the staircase, causing the stone to erupt in a dusty cloud. Two students, who had been watching the exchange from the top of the stairs, ran off up the fifth floor corridor out of sight.

'Where are you?' Harry demanded angrily, his wand darting around looking for a target.