Chapter 6:

Hello my lovely readers!

You've made me quite happy with your reviewing. Since I've finished my school work I decided to celebrate by giving you an update. I hope you enjoy it.

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Hugs,

SW

Next morning I woke up to the sound of birds outside my window. Their happy chirping coupled with the beauty of the sunlight was enough to get me into a good mood. Tom was absolutely insane. He dared to call all that suffering love.

After a shower I walked downstairs to find French toast with a milk shake waiting for me. On the other side of the kitchen island Draco was reading the Daily Prophet with a cup of black coffee. I took my place just stared in wonder at the food.

"Thanks, Draco."

"Don't mention it, you still need to put some weight on. I need you to be at your best.

"Is there anything that could be of use on the paper?"

He looked at me like I was out of my mind.

"Granger, since he has control over the paper there is nothing useful in here."

"Don't be so sure. You have to read carefully and discover what is not being said. Here let me show you."

He handed me the paper. There was a picture of Bella on the first page, she was incharge of The Improvement of the Wizarding Community Program. It was the fancy way of saying she was hunting muggleborns and muggles at free will. There was an article about the international cooperation for the safety of Wizarding Towns. I also found a couple of articles regarding the capture of traitors to the state. As I read the last page I felt myself smile.

"So tell me Granger, what have you found?"

"The first good news I've seen in the longest time Draco. They don't mention France in all of this."

"Granger, they don't mention half the world. How is that relevant?"

"Antoine Gagnon. That is how it's relevant," I said, giving him a huge smile.

"Who is he?"

"He is a very powerful sorcerer, of whom I have heard many things. He is the reason Tom hasn't invaded France. Antoine befriended Tom sometime after Tom graduated."

"If he was buddies with our current mass murderer I don't see how that can be good for us or for human kind. Now we have two mass murderers to eradicate."

"Antoine is quite the opposite to everything Tom is. The only reason Tom respects another human being is when the other person is as gifted as he is. Tom went after Antoine because he had the greatest amount of knowledge of the Dark Arts in the whole world. Once Tom had learnt everything he could from Antoine, he tried to kill him. He failed miserably. A less known fact about Antoine is that he is also the most knowledgeable sorcerer in the field of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Tom's respect for Antoine only grew after that. I believe they still see each other."

"But if Antoine is so good in defense, why hasn't he stopped Voldemort?"

"I frankly don't know. I believe that Antoine had never before found a mind as brilliant as his own. I'd say friendship got the best of Antoine."

"But why didn't Dumbledore go to Antoine for help, if the order had had him everything would've been different."

"Years before Harry was born, Dumbledore tried to get Antoine's help. Antoine refused. People like Antoine are defined by their loyalty. Dumbledore tried to make him see reason, it was all useless. Antoine decided to remain neutral.

In those years I spent inside that book, Tom told me all of this. Some things I deducted all by myself. He knew true friendship in that man."

"How is it good to us, if Antoine won't help us against Voldemort?"

"He might not help us fight him, but I hope he would grant us sanctuary in his home. The amount of knowledge we could gather from him, might be just enough to help us defeat Voldemort."

"That is too risky. He might turn us in to Voldemort. They are friends. Do you know this man, personally? Is there any reason why he would help you instead of his long time friend?"

"I don't have the pleasure of knowing him. But still, the one thing Tom would ramble on and on was Antoine's morals and ethics. I'm convinced he is a good man. That is reason enough."

"I don't like it."

"You don't have to. We are still a long way of being able to get to Antoine without getting caught. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now I need a wand, and there are a couple of things I can teach you and some I can learn from you. Let's go choose the wood for my wand."

I cleaned my dishes and levitated them to their proper place. Draco took the lead and I followed him. We walked in silence among the threes in the property. I decided to get my wand carved out of a Rowan tree.

Draco cut the wood and we headed back inside. Once there I instructed him. He had to sand the wood, adding a precise spell in each layer. The poor rowan three lost most of it's branches in the attempts that followed.

After two weeks of continuous effort he managed to pass to the last layer. Once there I prepared the potion with the dragon heart string, a phoenix tear and some unicorn hair. Draco put the wand inside this postion once every fifteen minutes for two days. I had him running on Cheering Charms the whole time. When it was done, the wand was left to rest in a dark room for another fortnight.

In the mean time, Draco taught me everything he could about every single Death Eater and every single counter course and antidote he knew.

Once we were dueling. Draco was bleeding from his left shoulder. My right kneecap was shattered. We just kept going. He fired Sectumsempra and I managed to dodge it by putting all of my weight in my right leg. I gasped and fired Petrificus Totalus at him. He stood frozen ready to cast.

I allowed myself to fall to the ground exhausted.

I mended my knee and got back inside, a storm was coming. After a couple of hours I cast the counter curse. Minutes later Malfoy entered the house cursing loudly.

"You left me outside under the rain!"

"You broke my knee!"

"Trust me it's much less than what my father would've done."

"Trust me it's much less than what any Deatheater would've done."

Silence permeated the living room. Draco cast a drying spell and lit the fireplace. He then sat on the couch. His features were so aristocratic. He could've been an angel. There were days when we both forgot the huge responsibility that hung over us. If you looked close enough you'd see the stress in our postures. The fatigue in our eyes.

I took a sip of my hot cocoa and levitated one to Malfoy.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

As we both sat looking into the fire I decided to tell him my plan to destroy Tom.

"Draco, remember I told you about the horcruxes? Well, I lied. I know what they are, and I know where I last saw them. If my memory serves me right, Dumbledore and Harry managed to destroy one each. Which leaves us with five more; Salazar's Locket, Rowena's Diadem, Helga's Cup, Nagini and I don't know what the last Horcrux is.

Tom gave me Salazar's Locket to keep as a symbol of his love. He took it from me after one of our fights. I never saw it again. Nagini is obviously wherever he is and the other two I believe they are inside Hogwarts."

Draco seethed in his place.

"We could have started doing something months ago! I for one want to get this over as soon as possible. I understand you don't trust me, fine. But at the very least I expect you to be honest to the dot with me regarding this mission. Is there anything else I should know?"

"No, Draco. This is all. I swear."

He took a long look at me and turned to look into the fire once more.

"Tell me more about the locket."

"It has a huge S in the cover…"

"Aunt Bella has it. I've seen her wear it. She was delighted at the gift."

It was as if a searing blade had cut my heart. I had forgotten Tom and Bellatrix were lovers. Of course he would give the locket to that demented woman. She would defend such a treasure to her death.

"Granger I can get inside the Lestrange home. Aunt Bella goes there once a month to help her husband torture muggles. The eve of the 15th she goes there."

"That is the day after tomorrow. Hardly enough time to plan it out."

"They would never expect it. It's the perfect timing."

"But we would need to cast a charm to make us seem like we are here, otherwise Voldemort would know and follow us. I can't manage to spells like that, not in such a small time frame."

"It won't be necessary only one of us should go. I should be the one to go. I'll just grab it and bring it here, where we can destroy it."

"I don't have any basilisk venom around, do you?"

"I happen to have just that in my own personal ingredients cupboard."

"Why would you need basilisk venom in a potion, there are only two potions which require it and they…"I blanched.

"Granger, I know what they do. I've prepared and used them on people. I'm not proud of it."

I swallowed.

"I should be the one to go. I'm the more proficient fighter."

"I can murder aunt Bella in her sleep, can you? I guessed not. So I'm going."

The next day went by in a rush, so many things to plan, so many things that could go wrong.

By the eve of the 15th we both knew all 145 ways to enter and leave the Lestrange Mansion. We had developed more than 105 encrypted messaged to deliver in case an emergency occurred. We had planned for everything.

"Well Granger, wish me luck. I'm going to need it. If dear aunt Bella catches me, I really hope Voldemort turns up soon and kills me."

"Don't joke about that."

"It's a possibility, one you should never rule out. Start casting while I grab a few things."

I casted and left the room.

Draco entered and started talking to me.

"You know Granger, if I don't make it. You can do this. I've always known you could."

He made a grab for my wrist, and his hand went right through it.

In the second it took him to realize what was happening I cast Stupefy.

"Sorry, Draco."

I apparated.

Once outside the Lestrange Mansion I entered through the maze. No one in their right mind would enter this place. It was full of dragons, chimeras and traps. Luckily for me, Draco had me memorize just the right sequence of turns. Once inside I could hear the screams of the prisoners. Bella's laughter could be heard even as I stood in the entrance. The reasonable thing to do would be to wait till Bellatrix and her husband got tired and retired for bed. But simply couldn't let others suffer what I had.

I descended to the torture chamber. I cast three stunners and oblivated everyone in the room. I used legimens to figure out where to send the 30 muggles in the room. After I got them all to their houses and cast protective charms on their blocks I returned and delivered Mr. Lestrange in a muggle town. He would be a florist from now on. My memory charms never failed.

As for Bella I sent her to a small town in Ireland where she would look after little kids for the rest of her life. Her mind was strong, and twisted, but I patiently fixed everything I could and hid away everything I couldn't. No one would ever relate Bellatrix Lestrange to Anne Thompson.

Before leaving her to her new life I grabbed the locket and returned home.

The sun was just rising. Malfoy was still where I left him. As I was about to revive him I put the locket close to my chest.

Its necklace unclasped and went around my neck. I heard the clasp close. I tried to get it off, but I couldn't the clasp had disappeared.

I started hearing a dark chanting and then I saw no more.

I woke up to find myself in a sofa. This sofa was definitely not inside Malfoy's home.

I incorporated and panicked. I was wearing a satin dress. There was a fireplace and a huge library. I had to get out of here now.

I tried standing and fell. My head pounded. I got to my feet and walked to the door.

"Leaving so soon?"

I didn't need to turn.

"Tom, trapping me in inanimate objects is getting old. "