A/N: Almost everyone said that the ending of the last chapter was very rushed, so I'll give a little preview in this chapter, and if you still have any confusion, feel free to ask in the reviews.
31. The Other Side
Cornelius Fudge was a sad man. Two weeks before, he was the Minister for Magic, and almost everything was going his way. And now he was practically a jobless and disgraced man, and from the reaction he was receiving from the people, he didn't feel safe to get out in the public. And Rufus Scrimegour wasn't listening to his request of providing him protection. The interim Minister said that there was a shortage of Aurors to fight the Death Eaters, let alone for bodyguard duties.
Sometimes Fudge wanted to strangle Dolores for all her ideas that caused his downfall. He knew he should've listened to Amelia Bones instead of that woman. It was a good thing that Dolores was practically under house arrest, because some of the old Aurors were really looking forward to a little chat with her.
Of course there was Dumbledore, who pointed out that this wouldn't have happened if he saw the truth in his and Potter's words earlier, and took necessary actions. He would've been considered a hero, instead of a sorry excuse for a wizard. In his last attempt to keep his chair, he even went to Potter to see if he could gain back some popularity. Unfortunately, the Potter boy insisted that he leave at once. Not letting the insult get to him, he pleaded Harry to see how he was the best man to fix it all if Harry showed some support from him. Instead of answering, Harry threw a newspaper cutting at him which said how Fudge waved off any threats of Voldemort returning and naming Harry as an 'attention-seeking and deluded child'. Then he simply pointed at the door, and seeing defeat, Fudge left.
So he went down, and watched as Scrimegour became the interim Minister. Deep down, he knew that his current position was his own fault, but he didn't want to admit that to himself. Sometimes he imagined bringing down You-Know-Who by himself and becoming the hero again, but he knew it was just a ridiculous fantasy. He was a coward and his skill with a wand was nowhere near a regular Auror, let alone You-Know-Who.
Oh Merlin, he was really pathetic.
...
"Pass the ketchup, handsome."
"Only if you ask nicely."
She leaned and kissed him on the lips.
"That's what I'm talking about." He said with a wink before passing the ketchup bottle.
"Cheeky bugger." She replied amusedly.
They were at McDonald's, enjoying a private dinner after a long day. After Harry received the permit to perform magic outside school, they decided to go Horcrux hunting. A couple of days were spent in planning, and then they had set out. Andromeda had quite a healthy knowledge in the Dark Arts and Harry knew about all the traps and wards put around each horcrux. With occasional helps from Sirius and Tonks, they had a plan for each horcrux noted down. As they suspected that Voldemort might have put Death Eaters on watch, they had to go under the Invisibility Cloak, which meant only two of them could go and they decided to split the work. Andromeda and Sirius went to the Gaunt's house and recovered the ring, and today Harry and Tonks went to the cave. Unfortunately, a person named R.A.B. appeared to have beaten them to it.
"I still can't believe we went through all that trouble for a fake locket." Tonks said sadly and Harry nodded in sympathy. The journey to the cave alone had been quite gloomy, what with dark magic practically oozing from the area.
And then undoing all those traps hadn't been a walk through the park.
The entrance was easy. They captured a rat and used its blood to enter the cave. Then they encountered a black cat.
"A cat? How the hell did it get in?" Tonks said as she tried to move past it but Harry yanked her back.
"NO! Don't cross it." He warned her.
"What? Why?" she asked, bewildered.
"Remember how I told you about the trap my parents put near the horcruxes? This cat is that trap for Voldemort or his pets." He explained.
"A cat? How on earth does a cat serve as a trap?" she asked dubiously, wondering if Harry had gone barmy. She wouldn't be very surprised, though.
"This is not a simple cat, my dear Nymmie. If you cross the cat, you will lose your limbs, and probably dragged into the lake by the inferi. If you try to use magic on it, you don't want to know what will happen. If Riddle came here to check he wouldn't die, as the inferi would follow his orders, but he will have to wait for someone to find him here and help him. And guess how many people even know about this place." He finished with a wicked grin and Tonks nodded with a chuckle.
"So how do we get past it?" she asked.
"Ask it to move, I guess." He said airily.
She looked at him with suspiciously and then faced the cat. "Move aside."
It didn't budge.
"Well?" she looked at Harry, sounding a bit nervous and impatient.
"Say please." He said with suppressed mirth and she threw a dirty look at him.
"Oh mighty cat, king of meowland, would you please care to move aside and let me pass with this cheeky bummer?" she asked exasperatedly.
The cat gave a soft 'meow' and stalked off to a dark part of the cave, where it could no longer be seen.
"There you go, piece of cake!" Harry said cheerfully, despite the chills he could feel. Tonks stuck out her tongue at him and moved forward.
"Urgh what's the smell?" she said after a few moments with wrinkled nose.
"Dunno." He replied, covering his own nose. "But I would guess that someone tried to hex the cat."
With a shudder, she reached for the invisible chain and pulled a boat out of the lake. A hand came out of the water and Tonks gasped.
"Just an inferi." Harry assured her, putting an arm around her, watching the hand return to the green water.
"Thanks." She mumbled, not liking this place at all. Wand at ready, she stepped into the boat.
"Do it quickly." She said, trying to stay focused. Nodding, Harry put the counter-curse on the boat, making it able to carry two people at once. He knew that his magic was high enough to sink the boat even if he was under-aged.
As the boat started to move on, Tonks asked something that has been bugging her for quite a time.
"How did your parents put the cat here, Harry? I mean they are..." she trailed off, not sure how to say it without seeming insensitive.
"Dead. Yeah, they are dead and they can't do magic in the mortal world. And when did I say they put it here themselves? They just gave me the idea and the exact procedure."
"You... you came here before?" she asked, surprised.
"No no. I didn't have to come here. The spell would work from wherever I cast it. I did it at Hogwarts. If I had thought about this earlier, I would've brought the diadem with me, but let's do what we need to do now."
The boat bumped gently on the island and both of them climbed down and went in front of the stone basin. Being an arrogant wizard, Voldemort made sure magic couldn't be used to take the horcrux, but he forgot that the only manual way is not simply drinking it. Getting an affirmative nod from Harry, Tonks reached inside her backpack and took out a drill machine. Trying to block out the noise, she drilled in the stone walls at the bottom of the basin, and soon the slow poison started to pour out of the leak.
Harry, on the other hand, was preparing for the inferi that were coming out of the lake.
"Thanks for the heads up, dad." He whispered before casting a powerful Incendio. The huge flame startled Dora, but she kept on drilling until the hole was big enough. She could see the inferi army being burnt to a crisp from Harry's massive flame and just as the last inferi fell or retreated, the basin emptied. Quickly she grabbed the locket and put it in her pocket.
"I'm done. Let's go."
Without a word, Harry climbed back to the boat and once she was in, he tapped his wand on the boat and it moved back to the entrance.
"Where is it?"
She held out the locket in front of him and he frowned.
"This isn't it." He said curtly and she felt a bit hurt.
"How do you know?" she asked irritably and his looks softened.
"I'm sorry, Dora. I know you have done your part right, but this isn't it. There should be a large 'S' on it, and it doesn't feel like a horcrux. Open it."
She did as told and there was a small piece of parchment.
"Oh fuck." She cursed.
After getting out of the cave, Harry contacted with Sirius by his mirror and asked him to meet them. When Sirius saw the initials R.A.B. he looked like he had seen a ghost. He took the locket and went away very quickly, promising that he would contact them very soon.
And now they were having a nice early dinner and hoping that Sirius would bring a lead to the real locket.
"How long do you think it will be before he strikes?" she asked him quietly, idly twiddling a fry between her fingers.
"I don't know. I hope he is stuck in one of those traps and never come out, but he is too smart to step in it. We should finish this horcrux hunt as fast as we can, cause it might get ugly if we take too long." He said grimly.
"And after that?"
He knew what she was talking about and he didn't have an answer. What if Voldemort was mortal? It didn't mean Harry could just drop in after lunch to kill him and come back home by dinner. He knew Voldemort would chase him as long as either of them was alive. And Merlin knew he didn't have a hope of winning a one-on-one battle with Voldemort. He might be close to him in power, but Voldemort's skill and experience would gain him a massive victory. Also, Voldemort wasn't afraid to play dirty. He could torture Harry's friends just to make him mad and lose his cool, but Harry couldn't do that. Mainly because Voldemort doesn't have friends and wouldn't really care about his Death Eaters. In short, Harry had to find a way to face him with some huge advantage if he wanted to defeat him.
In other words, he was screwed.
"I don't know, but I will find a way to get rid of him. I have to, if I want a shot at a normal, happy life. I promise I'll defeat him, Dora." He said quietly, but firmly. Tonks smiled.
...
The two girls hugged and said goodbye and the redhead paused before throwing the floo powder into the fireplace. For some reason, she was having an urge to throw up. She tried to shake it off and stepped in the green flames.
"Mum? Dad?" she called as she whirled out of the fireplace. A little elf appeared in front her.
"Hello Miss Susan, Master and Mistress Bones have gone to talk to Mistress Amelia in her office."
"Oh." She relaxed. "Where is Sam?"
"Little Master is in the garden, playing. Does Miss Susan need anything?"
"To Bob, thanks."
The elf disappeared with a little bow and Susan went to find her little brother. She didn't know why, Sam liked to chase little butterflies in the garden. Harry once said that he might become a Seeker when he would start playing quidditch.
"Sammy!" she called the young boy, who looked unpleased at being interrupted at the middle of catching a butterfly.
"What?"
"Come here."
"But I'm playing, Suzy!" he whined and pouted and she chuckled. She went to him and ruffled his hair.
"Catch that yellow butterfly for me if you want a Honeydukes chocolate." She pointed at a small butterfly not far away. The boy squealed and ran to chase it. As she sat down on the grass to enjoy the show, her thoughts turned to Voldemort and the war that was at their doorstep. And Harry was in the middle of it. She wondered how Harry would take such a responsibility in such a young age-
"Miss Susan!"
Bob the elf interrupted her thoughts, looking much panicked.
"What's wrong Bob?"
"Miss should go to St. Mungo's right now. Take little Master with you Miss."
Normally, she would ask the elf about why she had to go St. Mungo's, but she didn't. Snatching Sam's little hand, she ran towards the house (ignoring his indignant 'HEY!'s) and took the floo to St. Mungo's.
A Ministry witch she met before hurried over to her.
"Susan, are you okay?" she asked with a strained voice.
"I'm fine, my house elf just told me to come here. What happened?" she asked impatiently, hoping Bob made a mistake or-
"The Ministry was attacked. I think that the Death Eaters were sent for Amelia, but they left quite a wreckage. Seven were killed." She said in a quiet voice.
"Is Auntie-"
"Amelia is alive. Badly injured, but she will make it. However, she had two guests in her office..."
"My parents!" she said in horror and the witch looked away and blinked.
"I'm really sorry Susan. I wish I could tell you otherwise, but they were killed by the Avada Kedavra." She said in a choked voice and Susan stood there, shocked to the core.
Mum... Dad... they were... killed.
Dead.
She and Sam were orphans now.
She looked at the little boy, whose face was trembling.
"Mummy and daddy are... dead?" he asked miserably and she pulled him to her, letting the tears fall.
"Yes, Sammy. They are... dead. It's now you... and me." She said between sobs.
The witch beside them didn't know what to say. She could tell them that everything would be alright or that they needed to move on, but how can everything be alright when you just became an orphan? How can you move on when you know that the people who loved you more than anything else would no longer be here? And the worst of all was that it was only going to be worse.
"Come on, Susan. Let's go and see your Aunt. She should be awake by now." She gently placed a hand on the girl's shoulders. The siblings were crying in each other's arms and reluctantly, Susan stood up, carrying Sam in her arms like she did when they were younger, and followed the witch.
"-looks like the dementors were in league with You-Know-Who. Nine out of the ten Aurors on duty were kissed, and the remaining was killed by the Death Eaters. They left behind a couple of prisoners who were totally unbalanced, but all Death Eaters, including the Lestranges are out. This might get very bad, Director."
"That will be all, Williams. Tell the Minister that I will be in contact very soon."
As the man named Williams left, Amelia saw three figures in the doorway, about to get in. As she saw the faces of her niece and nephew, the scene from her office came back with full force and she had to try very hard not to cry. She had to be strong for them now.
"Auntie." Susan's tearstained face nearly broke her heart and she embraced both the siblings tightly, letting them cry in her shoulders. She silently thanked her colleague who brought them here. She nodded and left the family to heal by themselves.
"Why did they kill mummy and daddy?" Sam asked, his eyes red and still flowing.
"Because they were bad people." She replied, gently squeezing her arm around the little boy. Susan broke off and asked, "Did you see who they were?"
Amelia's jaws hardened and she nodded.
"Dolohov. He was leading the group. He killed them and was about to kill me. I shouldn't be alive. I was fighting two others and when I saw that green light... when he turned his wand at me, I was too shocked to respond. Thankfully, Mad-Eye came with reinforcement at that moment. When the Death Eaters realized that they were outnumbered they disapparated away." She said bitterly, hating the fact that her brother and his wife had to die just because they were with him. Susan squeezed her hands comfortingly.
"I heard you were badly injured."
"Nothing much, just a couple of broken bones." She waved off.
"Couple of broken Bones, indeed." Susan whispered sadly.
...
"It's from Sirius." He said excitedly.
Pulling out the letter, he read it quickly and smiled widely. Tonks looked at her questioningly and he handed the letter to her. When she finished reading, she was beaming too.
"Fantastic! Now we just need Sirius and mum to try to confiscate the Lestrange vault and then kill that snake."
"And then Voldemort is mortal again." Harry said with a nod.
"Yeah. I never considered Regulus to be such a... Gryffindor." She commented and Harry had to agree. From what they heard from Sirius, Regulus was supposed to be a coward who didn't like the family traditions, but never had the courage to stand up to his parents like Sirius. Harry never thought he would hear of a 'good Death Eater'.
"I guess he changed... or maybe he had too much." He mused loudly.
"What's that noise?" Tonks suddenly asked.
"Not sure, Andromeda is home, right?"
"She is supposed to be home. Wanna go down and check?"
"Why not?"
Wand in hand, they went downstairs and listened for the noise. It sounded like someone was sniffing.
Odd.
Nodding at Harry, Tonks headed towards the noise and got a shock.
Her mum was crying. In her nineteen years, she never saw her mum cry. It never even occurred to her that her mum could cry like any other human being. She even saw her dad cry when his mum passed away, but her mum...
"Mum? What happened?" she slowly reached her mother and sat beside her. Harry sat down on his other side. Andromeda didn't answer right away. She looked like she was trying very hard to compose herself, but for once in her life, she couldn't.
"There was... an attack on the ministry and... Ted was... killed."
Then she fainted.