A/N: Hey guys, i'm so sorry this has taken so long to come out, but thanks for waiting :) I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it :)
Happy reading!
Disclaimer: Everything that resembles anything to do with Harry Potter or that world belongs to J.K. Rowling. I make no profit off the writing of this story.
Chapter 10 – Horace Slughorn
Same day
James, Sirius and Remus instantly protest along with Ginny. Ron, Hermione, Draco and Sierra held their silence as they waited for all the protesting to die down.
"We'll come with you Harry. Until the end, remember?" Hermione reiterated. Ron nodded along beside her, with Draco and Sierra.
"No, absolutely not. I won't allow you to get pulled into this!" Harry protested. Hermione gave him a look and he stopped instantly.
"Don't be stupid Harry; of course we're coming with you! It's been the three of us from the start and that isn't about to change now. We've always been in dangerous situations. Or have you forgotten about the trapdoor guarded by Fluffy in first year? The Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk in Second Year? Walking around Hogsmeade when we thought Sirius was a mass murderer in Third Year? Think of everything we've done together Harry. We won't be in any more danger hunting these Horcruxes than we've already been in at some point in our lives." Ron argued. Harry put his head in his hands and rubbed them through his hair.
"Alright, alright, I get it. But I can't let Sierra and Draco go. I won't lose you, and Draco you have a son to look after." Harry pressed. Sierra rolled her eyes and Draco stared at him determinedly.
"For the next few weeks I don't think I'll be able to pry him out of Mrs Weasley's arms. He'll be well taken care of here. We'll have to start weaning him now, so he'll be ready before we go, but if Hermione's going I have to make sure she's safe. You have to allow me that." Draco explained. Hermione grabbed his wrist and squeezed reassuringly. They looked at each other and offered one another a small smile.
"And if you think I'm going to stay here while you run off and have all the fun, then you are seriously mistaken." Sierra argued. Harry groaned, knowing he wasn't going to win.
"Fine, okay, you can come." He relinquished. Draco and Sierra smiled.
"Thank you, Harry." Draco replied. Harry nodded wearily.
"But it's much too dangerous, Harry! You could be killed just looking for these things! You don't know anything about the other Horcruxes, or where to find them! What if you can't destroy them all before the battle begins? What then?" Ginny cried. Harry looked at her.
"We have Dumbledore, Gin, we'll be fine. He can help us." Harry explained.
James got up and went to crouch down beside Harry. They looked into each other's eyes with sadness.
"I just got you back Harry. I don't want to lose you now." He said softly. Harry felt tears come to his eyes. Harry broke eye contact with him and looked over to Sirius and Remus one at a time.
"Remus can't go because of Tonks. Sirius can't go because he's the only one who can control Kreacher and stop him from leaking information." Harry muttered to himself before looking back up into his fathers' eyes.
"Come with us. You can help us." He pleaded.
"What in the name of Merlin's saggy ball sack are you talking about Harry?" Ron asked. The others all looked just as confused, but Hermione understood.
"Harry wants one of the adults to come with us, to help us find these Horcruxes and protect us. He's older, and better at magic than we are. He has more experience." Hermione explained. "I think it's a good idea. James should help us immensely."
Draco and Ron started to agree with her and Harry.
"That is an absolutely brilliant idea. As amazing as your mind is Hermione, another brilliant mind would also help to think." Draco reasoned. Hermione rolled her eyes at him.
"What about me, can I come?" Ginny asked. Hermione, Harry, Draco, Ron and Sierra all looked at each other, before looking back at Ginny with apologetic looks.
"Your mother would never agree, Gin; even with Dad coming with us." Harry tried to explain. Ginny glared at all of them.
"She wouldn't agree with any of you going either!" She argued.
"Think about Blaise, Ginny! Would he really want you going gallivanting around the countryside, looking for these things?" Draco retorted. Ginny turned her glare on him.
"Would Pansy want Ron going? Why aren't you talking about that?" She yelled.
"Because Ron's of age, Ginny! And Pansy isn't going to stop him. She knows about how close Harry, Ron and Hermione are! You're being stupid." Hermione put her hand on Draco's arm, trying to calm him down.
"Draco, calm down." She tried to placate him.
"Gin, you're too young to be going. Mum can't stop me, but she can stop you. I won't have you going." Ron spoke up.
"I'm only a year younger than you, Ron. It shouldn't matter!" She argued back. "And I know about the Horcruxes now, I have to come with you." Ginny's face was very confident and sure of herself.
"That's not necessary true Ginny." Hermione stated. Ginny opened her mouth to argue back, but Hermione held up her hand.
"Before you start yelling at me too, just listen. You can help from here. You won't be completely useless just because you can't come with us. Stay here, research for us. Find out where these Horcruxes are. You'll be able to talk to Dumbledore, and find out what he knows. We most likely won't be able to. We need you to be here." Hermione explained. Ginny looked sour.
"Fine; I'll stay here and do research." She agreed. Sirius looked over at Harry thoughtfully.
"Did you say the next Horcrux was Slytherin's locket? Do you know what it looks like?" He asked. Harry frowned.
"Dumbledore told me it was gold, had a green snake shaped 'S' with jewels around it. It would fit into my palm." Harry described. "Hang on, wait a moment." Everybody stared at him as he raced out of the room and up the stairs. James moved back into his seat as his son raced back into the room.
"Dumbledore gave me a replica of the locket. Here, have a look." Harry handed the fake locket over to him. Sirius took the locket from him and gave it a good look over.
"Dumbledore found this note inside it as well." Harry passed that over too. They all saw Sirius pale after reading the note and looking at the locket.
"I think I know what you're looking for." Sirius got up and walked into the living room. Everybody's eyes followed him as he walked out and then back in. Then, he walked over to Kreacher's cupboard at the end kitchen. He upended the cupboard, sending everything across the floor, before pulling out a gold, oval object.
He walked back over to the table, avoiding the junk on the floor.
"I heard about what happened. I didn't know anything about what they were talking about at the time. Regulus, my younger brother, his initials are R.A.B. It was the night when I'd come home to pack my bag before going to live with James. I overheard Regulus talking about it with Kreacher. They said how they were going to go out that night, and how if he didn't come back, then Kreacher had to finish it. I left before they'd finished the conversation, but I found out through the grapevine that Regulus never came back. Kreacher must have taken it out of the rubbish pile from when we cleaned the place out." Sirius explained, putting the locket on the table for all to look at.
"Do you think this is it, Harry?" He asked. Harry nodded slowly.
"We'll have to ask Dumbledore, but I think so." He replied.
"I can feel the evil in it, and I'm only looking at it." Hermione murmured. Draco grasped her hand. Everyone in the room nodded their agreement as Harry examined it.
"You know, we still don't know how to destroy these Horcruxes." Harry pointed out. Hermione looked at him questioningly.
"Well, there could be something in the restricted section of the Hogwarts Library?" She suggested. "That's how Voldemort found out about them in the first place, correct?"
"Yeah, and a guy named Horace Slughorn." Harry murmured, turning the locket over in his hand contemplatively.
"I think I've heard of him before." Draco registered.
"We definitely have." James replied. "He was our old potions' master."
"He used to like Lily a lot. He even went as far as to invite her to become a part of his 'Slug Club'." Sirius added.
"What's the 'Slug Club'?" Ron asked, pulling a disgusted face.
"Only the brightest and best of Hogwarts were allowed in. It was how he made all of his connections, because they were the ones he believed would make it big, and be able to help him out as they got older." Remus answered. James nodded solemnly as Sirius and Remus reminisced. Harry noticed the look on his father's face and decided to change the subject.
"Do you think this Slughorn guy would know how to destroy one?" He asked. Remus, Sirius and James looked at each other and nodded with a shrug.
"Most likely." Remus answered. Harry nodded thoughtfully.
"Do you know where he lives?" Draco asked. Hermione shook her head with a smile.
"There are locator spells for that. We don't need to worry too much about it." She answered.
"Do you know any?" Harry asked, suddenly perked up. Hermione shrugged.
"Some." She replied. Harry nodded.
"Looks like we'll be going on a trip to see Horace Slughorn." He announced, flinging the locket up and catching it in his hands.
Tuesday July 3rd
The group waited until after dinner the next night to go see the Marauder's old Potion's Master. James, Harry, Sierra, Hermione, Draco and Ron all travelled to the park across from Number 12 Grimmauld Place where Hermione produced a map with a flashing red dot, signalling the current location of one Horace Slughorn. He was hiding in a house 40kms away.
"Alright, I'll apparate Ron, Draco will apparate Sierra and James can apparate Harry. Are we ready?" Hermione asked. The three of them grabbed hold of their partners and on three, apparated to the small cottage of Horace Slughorn.
The appeared in an alley close to the house and advanced on it with wands raised and ears alert for any noises. James threw his arm out to stop them when he realised the house was ransacked. He put a finger to his lips and all of them advanced together. James kicked the door in, despite it hanging off its hinges.
"Lumos." He murmured, and the others followed suit. They all entered the house carefully, looking all around them for signs of potential enemies.
"Slughorn?" James called out. He didn't receive an answer. Just out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw the couch shuffle its feet. He tapped his father on the shoulder and pointed it out. James nodded at him and moved towards it. He mouthed 'Stinging Jinx' at all of them and held up three fingers. He counted down, and on zero, several stinging jinx attacked the couch all at once, causing it to yelp.
James pocketed his wand with a roll of his eyes while the teenagers around him watched on quizzically.
"You've been caught out now, Slughorn." He said. The couch suddenly sighed and got up. Slowly but surely, the couch turned into a bald, fat old man with kindly eyes and smile on his face.
"James Potter! Here I was thinking I'd never see you again! How are you?" Slughorn asked, pulling James into an awkward embrace that he reluctantly returned, with everyone else looking one awkwardly.
"I'm fine Horace, how are you?" James replied.
"Oh, good, good. Just trying to stay away from those blasted death eaters. They've been trying to recruit me for months now. Anyway, what brings you here, my boy?" He asked.
"Ah, perhaps it would be better if we set the house to rights first, before we started getting into that particular conversation." James answered.
"Quite right, my boy!" He announced, and, with a wave of his wand, the house put itself back together again, just as if no one was ever there.
"So, what's all this, mystery, about?" Slughorn asked. James turned to look at Harry, and Slughorn followed his line of vision, finally noticing that five other people occupied the room.
"Harry? Well, I can tell that this isn't going to be a short visit. How about we all, sit down?" He suggested. Everyone took seats, either on the couches or the two armchairs in front of the television.
"Well, sir, I think I should just start off by saying that we all know that you told Voldemort about Horcruxes." Harry started.
"What? I would never-" Slughorn started, but Harry cut him off with a wave of his hand.
"I don't care about whether or not you told him, sir, that's your decision to live with. We need to know something else. We need to know how to destroy them."
Slughorn sighed and looked down at his hands clasped together in his lap. He looked back up at Harry with sad eyes.
"Just because I know this information, it doesn't make me a bad person." The congregation nodded and waited on baited breath for Slughorn to answer Harry's question. "Yes, I know how to destroy a Horcrux. There are few things that can. Can you think of none yourself, Harry?"
"Second year, I stabbed Riddle's diary with a basilisk fang, but we aren't going back into Hogwarts next year, so I won't be able to get any." Harry answered.
"But Harry," Hermione gasped. "You stabbed the Basilisk with the sword of Gryffindor, didn't you? And the sword of Gryffindor only takes in that which makes it stronger. It has imbibed the venom! All we need is the sword of Gryffindor!" Everyone in the room stopped to stare at Hermione after her outburst.
"That's brilliant, Hermione, but there's only one problem. We don't have the sword either." Ron argued.
"Well, I'm sure if you ask nicely, Dumbledore will gladly give you the Sword. After all, it had to have been he that sent you on this mission in the first place." Slughorn suggested.
"Slughorn's probably right. I'll send an owl to the Headmaster tomorrow." Harry announced.
"There's one more way, but it's not one that can be done easily." Slughorn added. Everyone in the room turned to face the old man once more.
"How?" Sierra asked.
"By performing the Killing Curse on it, but only if you have the inner will, and utter hatred to do it." He answered. There was silence for a few minuted before James stood up.
"Does anyone have any more questions?" He asked. The young adults all shook their heads and stood up from their seats.
"Thank, sir, for answering our questions." Harry said. Slughorn nodded, looking downcast.
"It's not a problem, really. I hope all goes well for you." He replied. The six of them nodded and made their way out of the door, James shaking his old professor's hand before grabbing hold of Harry's arm and apparating away.
Once they arrived inside Grimmauld Place, Ginny, Sirius and Remus pulled them aside to explain what they'd found out. So, they reiterated what Slughorn had told them and they sat around contemplating their predicament.
"So, we know how to destroy them, but we don't have the means." Remus surmised.
"Precisely, but I'm going to send an owl to Dumbledore about getting the sword from him. But until then, there's really not much we can do other than researching what the Horcruxes could be." Harry provided. "Where is the locket by the way?"
"I hid it in my bedroom under lock and key, so Kreacher won't try to steal it again to hide in his bloody cupboard." Sirius answered.
"We can't let mum know what's going on. She'd skin us alive if she knew we weren't going to go back to school just so we could run around the countryside." Ron mentioned.
"Agreed," Harry replied. "I would hate to be on the receiving end of Mrs. Weasley if she found out." Hermione and Draco nodded alongside him.
"She can't tell you what to do anymore, Harry. You're my son, and as I'm coming with you, I say you can go." James said. Harry smiled at his dad and nodded his thanks.
"Excuse me for a moment." Hermione said, getting up off the couch in the lounge room and exiting the room, only to come back down several minutes later, holding her son, ink, parchment and a quill.
"Draco, can you hold him?" She asked, passing little Scorpius off to his father, who held him and smiled down at his sleeping face.
"Alright, if we're going to do this, let's do it properly. We need to delegate jobs, so we'll be ready for when we have to leave. Ron and Ginny: You two can gather clothes and a tent. Discreetly, if you can, as you pointed out, Ron, Mrs. Weasley can't know what we're doing. Sirius, Professor Lupin: You two can work out a cover story for why James will be gone, as Draco, Ron, Harry and I will just make it look as though we're just going back to school and you two will be staying here and helping with the research along with Ginny. It has to be smooth and flawless; otherwise she'll figure something out. Ginny, when you get back to school, involve Luna and Neville, we'll need as much help as we can get, and you'll have access to the school library. Get Dumbledore to write you a note for the Restricted Section if you have to. So, Harry, you'll have to tell him about those three doing research at the school, so he knows what's going on. Draco and I will go about collecting, food, water, weapons and the like. Harry, Mr. Potter, Sierra; you three can figure out our destinations, based on the research we do, and guessing. We need a battle strategy. Is everyone in agreement with that?" Hermione asked.
Everyone agreed.
"So, now that that's been figured out, let's get a good night's sleep so we can begin our respective tasks in the morning." Sirius announced, while Hermione and Draco gave each other at look at the "Good Night's sleep" part of his sentence. One never got a very good sleep with a baby in the room.
"Good night everyone." They all cried, before making their way up to their rooms and falling sound asleep.
Wednesday July 4th
Breakfast the next day, as always, was a rowdy affair, with all the Weasley's in one place, along with the Malfoy children, the Potters, Hermione, Sirius and Remus at the table, but it didn't take Harry and James very long to finish.
"Where are you two off to?" Mrs. Weasley interrogated as soon as they got up from the table. James and Harry turned to look at her, trying to look innocent.
"Just some father/son bonding, Molly. We haven't been able to do that, lately." James answered, hurrying Harry out of the room. Hermione, Draco and Ron rolled their eyes at each other, while Sierra tried to cover her smile with her hand.
Molly's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "I don't believe you two."
"You don't have to if you don't want to, Molly, but we're completely innocent of whatever you think we're going to do." James answered, before turning and hurrying with Harry out the door.
"I wonder if Mrs. Weasley will figure out what they're doing." Draco murmured to Hermione, who gave him a look in return.
"Not likely. The last thing she'll think is that they're going to see Dumbledore about the Sword."
Harry had sent a floo letter to Dumbledore much earlier that morning, and had received a reply just before breakfast. They were going to see Dumbledore to collect the sword.
"Probably." Draco replied.
Two hours later, Harry and James returned home with the Sword of Gryffindor and the destroyed locket, looking overjoyed with themselves. All the members of their secret little group congregated in the living room to celebrate their small victory.
"What did he say, Harry?" Hermione asked, holding her butterbeer with both hands. Harry smiled at her.
"He said that he wouldn't need it anymore, because we would be looking, but if he found something, he'd let us know. And to keep it very hidden." He relayed. Hermione smiled back before moving back over to Draco.
"Everything's going according to plan so far." She told him. Draco grinned at her.
"Don't jinx it, love, we still have a while to go yet." He replied. She nodded, and her look turned a little grave.
"Well, we best be getting back to our research, we'll see you all later." Sirius announced, and him, Remus and Ginny all left, marching back up to the library, intent on finding something else that could help them.
"We better be going too, Scorpius is getting hungry and tired, and that isn't a good combination." Hermione joked. Everyone laughed, hugged the couple, and then they retreated back up to their room upstairs.
Silence reined for several minutes while Hermione fed Scorpius and then tucked him into his cot.
"Draco, I think we should send our families away the day before we leave." She suggests. Draco came up behind her as she stared down at their sleeping son.
"I think we should too."
"I mean, we won't be able to take him along on the journey with us. It would be much too dangerous."
"I agree. It's only logical."
A hot tear of pain slid down Hermione's face as she gently stroked Scorp's soft cheek.
"I'm going to miss him so much." She choked out. Draco turned her around so that she face him and brought her closer into his arms, letting her cry herself out as he looked down at his little boy.
"I will too, Hermione, I will too."