Harry adjusted to her new routine surprisingly well.
Life in the safe house Augusta Longbottom provided, however, wasn't a bed of roses. A few people were still giving Potter angry looks, they clearly blamed her for what happened in their last camp, but either way, Harriet didn't have time to deal with her newly acquired outcast status.
Every second she was awake was spent training, doing patrols, night missions, or planning a way to get the cup out of the Lestrange vault.
Tom and Regulus were effective but brutal teachers. They forced her to build steel stamina through exercises that made torture look like child's play.
"Power means nothing if you don't have enough energy to keep dueling for hours. Exhaustion can kill you faster than any Unforgivable Curse." Tom had told her, staring at the girl as she panted, covered in sweat.
There was nothing Riddle loved more than Magic, that was evident in his fixation with improving himself, in the way he abandoned his usual and so typical arrogant posture when he was teaching her.
His fighting style was dirty, cruel, and chaotic, stunning to watch.
He dueled Regulus once to show her what to expect, and Harry thought that that little world would crumble. The sky darkened, the buildings shuddered in their structures, the boys were nothing but flashes of light and magnetic power crackling in the air.
Shards of glass covered the entire street when Regulus finally disarmed him forty minutes later. Potter had only escaped unharmed because they had both put a shield around her.
"He's right, but persistence doesn't guarantee victory, especially if you continue with this ridiculous spell repertoire," Black adds to the conversation, signaling for the girl to get back to exercising. "Now, Harry, what spell would you use if you wanted to dismember me?".
Harriet glared at him through the sweat covering her face. "Believe me. I wouldn't need a spell right now."
Tom clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth in disapproval. Regulus smiles and casts a weakening spell that brings her to her knees. "Wrong answer, start over."
"Fuck, what's your damn problem?!".
"I could list our dear Regulus' problems, but if you don't show progress by late afternoon, I'll intrude," Riddle announced, ignoring the eye roll of the boy beside him.
Tom had a lot less patience, and his punishments for failing tended to be harsher as well. Grumbling, Harry got up off the floor and started again.
The girl's over-involvement with the Horcrux and its two residents also made the task of reconnecting with her old friends nearly impossible. Potter felt terrible for thinking that way, but every second spent with Ginny or the other's survivors of Dumbledore's Army felt like a waste of time. She always caught herself thinking that she could be doing something useful, something that would help end Voldemort.
Despite the trio's efforts, everything seemed useless. All the plans Harriet formed with Tom and Regulus had holes or turned out too ineffective. Through Hermione, Harry got from Draco copies of obscure and ancient books for the boys to study, but not even the treasures of Malfoy Library had any promising results.
As the weeks turned into months, exhaustion found a permanent home in Harriet. Tom made her practice spell movements with a stick until her gestures became robotic and her wrists ached for days afterward. Regulus took care of her pronunciation, and the girl murmured incantations even when she was sleeping.
But even with all that relentless dedication to improving herself, Potter was desperate. It only got worse when another attack happened.
The fall of the second camp wasn't exactly a surprise. Voldemort was a temperamental creature, and he was angry. He wouldn't stop until the last of those who opposed him died -Harry included, now that the Dark Lord believed the girl had betrayed him.
The Order's new strategic tactics stopped people from dying this time, and the evacuation system was a success. In the end, the entire Death Eater attack was a failure, just smoke and the Dark Mark that the survivors saw from afar as they fled along the many escape routes. Potter stayed behind, making sure the rebels escaped safely.
"I can't believe the incompetents of the Order of the Phoenix outsmarted him, what a disgrace''. Tom complains in her ears, making the girl groan in frustration.
" Which side are you on?! ".
"We're both on your side, Harry, but you can't deny that your compatriots are fools," Regulus adds, and she can almost imagine him sprawled out on one of the expensive sofas in the apartment's living room, his head in Tom's lap and a book in hand.
She missed that place dearly. The last time Harry was there, she got Tom to make a vow about not betraying her. Regulus, being just a guest inside the Locket, couldn't make the same promise, but even so, she felt lighter.
"We can't all be geniuses trapped in a locket by their own intelligence." Potter scoffs, maintaining a sarcastic smile.
Ron and Hermione look at her funny when she joins them, but shaking her head, Harry makes up a lie about remembering something funny.
Looking at her friends' confused faces, Harriet perceived how distant they became.
As soon as they arrive at the next safe house, she gets informed that the New Council wants to see her.
The camp was now in another clearing, around an old, small stone house. The Order preferred secluded places like this, even if it was a little predictable.
Everywhere, people raised wards and pitched their tents. The tense atmosphere encompassing the place was unbearable. Potter was tired of running and hiding.
She had barely entered the tent that served as the Council's office before they began their interrogation.
"And now, what are we going to do?". A man asks as if Harriet is suddenly responsible for all this. With embarrassment, she realizes that she doesn't know his name.
When Moody and Kingsley died, the Order's leadership changed, but the girl spent so much time inside the Horcrux that she didn't know most of the people gathered there.
Potter crosses her arms over her chest defensively and tries to block out the insults Tom rambles in her ears at her host's rude behavior. ''Now you want my opinion? I should have baked a celebratory cake because this is unheard of.''
"Harry." Hermione pleads softly, and for the first time in her life, the girl wants nothing more than to tell her to shut up. As much as she loves Granger, she doesn't understand what Harry sacrificed by going to Voldemort to ask for that truce, how small and helpless she felt in the Dark Lord's presence.
The man in charge of the camp seems unaffected. "You really couldn't expect us to bow our heads to that monster."
"That monster has been trying to kill me since I was a year old. And if I could go to my mother's killer to beg for a truce so the rest of you could live, I hoped you'd accept the damn truce."
Anger had begun to ball up in her chest, growing and expanding through her rib cage with every word that came out of that man's mouth. And the silence of the others, who dared not say anything on her behalf.
Not even Regulus asking her to focus could calm her.
A hint of shame crossed the man's face, but he made a dismissive gesture with his hand half a second later. "It doesn't matter anymore. We can't go back in time. I admit we made a mistake, but we had to try."
It doesn't matter anymore. Harry felt like someone lifted a veil from her eyes, and she could suddenly see everything clearly. She was incredulous but at peace, too.
The girl placed one hand on the rickety table in the center of the tent, her fingers touching the exploration routes on the map. Those people stared at her with bulging eyes as if she would pull a magic solution out of her pocket once more.
Because of them, innocents had to continue in that undignified life, treated like second-class citizens.
"I needed that time to kill him, but you guys ruined it. You all should have fled when you had the chance."
"You can't just turn your back on us. You have to do something about this. You are The Chosen One. Dumbledore assured us that you were the answer." A woman immediately retorts. Her face is full of deep expression lines like a crumpled sheet of paper. She has the same haunted look as those who survived the first wizarding war.
Perhaps Tom's lack of empathy was starting to infect Harriet because she couldn't feel guilty. A smile that mirrored Regulus's arrogant smirks molded her mouth. '' I'm only your Chosen One when it's convenient. I've negotiated peace, and my own people betrayed me. Maybe this war is no longer my problem. If you're dissatisfied, you can file a complaint to Dumbledore's bones ''.
She loved Dumbledore, but what the fuck. What sane person put an eighteen-year-old in charge of a war?.
"We're all hot-headed. " Ron makes a pathetic attempt at intervention, but the girl shakes her head, already moving towards the exit.
" COME BACK HERE. YOU-KNOW-WHO IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY, YOUR OBLIGATION!". The camp leader couldn't finish yelling at her. Harry had already turned around and suspended him in the air by his throat with a silent spell.
Gasps of shock rippled through the limited space of the tent. Potter couldn't hear them. She'd promised herself the moment she'd stepped out of the Dursley's house for the last time that she would never allow someone to treat her like that again.
"I could rip your tongue out." The voice was hers, but the words came from Tom.
A distant part of Potter's consciousness registered the pain of the Horcrux burning the skin of her chest, their hatred making the jewel shudder. Harriet pushed Tom out of her mind and let the man drop to his knees, gasping for oxygen. "I'm not your slave. I'm not a chess piece you can sacrifice when the game goes wrong. Never order me around again."
Before leaving, Harry catches a glimpse of Ron and Hermione's faces. Her friend stares at her with an expression of fear, but her eyes are not on Harriet. They're on the visible part of the silver chain she has around her neck.
The girl is furious as she walks away from the tent, slipping into the forest that surrounds the clearing. Did the idiots not realize how useless it was to hide like that? Voldemort would always find a way to discover them. He was like a dog with a fucking bone.
Despite her anger, she had experienced a kind of realization from that last conversation. If she stayed there, if she once again yielded to other people's will - for the greater good - this would be her life. Always a pawn, always used to fulfill other people's goals.
The Order had humiliated Harry by treating her like a stupid child. She didn't need them to remind her of her responsibilities.
And as much as she loved Ron and Hermione, they didn't understand. Nobody understood, nobody, except the two boys trapped in the Horcrux. Voldemort had taken their lives too. Albeit in different ways.
"Where are we going?". Regulus questioned as Harry swung her own bag onto her back, folding the invisibility cloak over one arm. Someone had pitched the tent she shared with her friends, and the girl stopped just long enough to write a note, asking them not to look for her.
"We're getting you two out of the locket." She responds, basking in the shock coming from them.
Deciding this so suddenly surprises Harriet too, but she doesn't want to risk dying and leaving them abandoned there for eternity.
"Harry, you're not thinking straight. Go back to the camp, and we'll talk about this in the morning." Riddle intervenes in a controlled clinical tone of voice.
"I'll never be able to kill him if I keep this up. I need real help, not people running around like severed chickens trying to give me orders."
"The spell to get us out of here is almost as bad as creating a Horcrux. It requires murder and a great deal of Dark Magic. Are you sure about that?". Regulus is just as careful as Tom, and Harriet doesn't even have the energy to tease them about it.
" I'm sure. "
There was a pause.
Harriet knew they were talking to each other.
In the silence, she began to reflect on when she decided to get them out of the locket. She didn't have a concrete answer, only that, over the course of those months, she'd come to care for them both deeply, even if it was a terrible idea.
She didn't have to mold into something different or hide parts of herself when she was with them. There was no judgment between the three of them, no unrealistic expectations. Both Harry and Regulus knew what Tom was and had resigned themselves to the prospect of a lifetime of trying to keep him in line.
There was nothing that looked more attractive than that. Potter just hoped there would be a place for her in their lives when they were both free.
"Let's go to my apartment. I'll help you in. The wards are stronger there. Then we'll set a trap for some Death Eaters." Regulus says, and the girl nods.
" Alright. We just need to attract some Death Eater and use them as a sacrifice, then...".
"Harry?".
Potter cursed as she turned slowly to face a horrified-looking Hermione.
Ron, right behind the girl, looked scared too. Only more confident.
"Harry, it will be okay. We're going to take this thing from you." His blue eyes fixed in the locket Potter held between her fingers and the scorched skin underneath.
She opened her mouth, taking a step towards them. Hermione recoiled simultaneously and raised her wand.
Harry felt as if someone ripped the ground from under her feet.
"She already knows. We need to go," Tom spoke and was ignored. It was hard to pay attention to both conversations. There was one going through her head and the one that was happening right in front of her eyes.
"Mione, what are you doing? Harry is possessed, but she's not dangerous to us."
"She's not possessed, Ron." It would have hurt less if Granger were in a cold posture, but the words slip out of her mouth, full of emotion, of suffering.
" What are you talking about? ".
" Ask her. "
"It's not what it looks. They're the only chance I have of defeating the Dark Lord." Potter tries again, but her attempt fails.
"They? Harry, they who?" Ron whispered.
Hermione was crying silently. "Since when did he become the Dark Lord to you? We trusted you!".
"Are you listening to yourself? He killed my parents! He killed Fred and George, and Sirius. Do you really think I'd join him? Let me explain."
"We don't have time for that." Riddle scolded, and Harriet told him to shut up aloud.
Hermione, who seemed to be softening, regained her steely resilience. "This has been going on for months, and you haven't said anything." She responds, holding her wand level with Potter's face.
Ron, behind her, was still trying to defuse the situation without success.
''For God's sake, Ronald. She's not a victim. She's working with the Horcrux, with a piece of him . Think about it, the isolation, the way she suddenly learned how to fight like a Death Eater. Harry refuses to take the locket out, and she could have used Gryffindor's sword to destroy it months ago. It's in her backpack ''.
" No. " Ron shakes his head in disbelief. "This is Harry. She wouldn't do that."
''She already did! ''.
The Order's betrayal hurt nothing compared to this. Hermione was suspicious of her to the point of going through her things. Potter tensed her jaw, keeping her hands still. " You'll kill me?".
"Of course not. I'll take you back to the camp, and the Order will plunge that thing out of you. I would never hurt you, Harry."
''Take her back to the camp? If the Order finds out about this, they'll kill her.'' Ron questioned, starting yet another argument.
"We'll make them see reason. I don't want to do that either, but if Harry surrenders to him , it's over. We've all sacrificed too much. If she's still the same person, she'll understand."
Harriet understood with all of her heart.
The war took everything from her too. It would cost her life in the end.
"Tell her to back off, or I'll kill her," Tom growled.
Harriet stood her ground, heedless of her audience of two. "Hermione won't hurt me."
"She will, and then we'll kill her. If you want to spare her, you better act now." Regulus speaks, as solemn as Tom.
The screams coming from the camp spared Potter of a difficult choice. As the first pillars of fire rose into the air, overlapping the dark sky above the treetops, Potter knew Death Eaters were attacking the camp.
"Kreacher!". Harry called immediately. Kreacher appeared two seconds later. She had sworn not to force him to fight that war, first because it wasn't right, and second because Regulus cared about the little monster enough to go back alone to that cave and die.
Even now, she could feel his shock at the presence of the old creature.
"What can Kreacher do for the insolent half-breed?"
"Please take Ron and Hermione to Grimmauld Place and whoever else you can get out of here. Raise the wards of the house and obey Hermione, but only Hermione."
Hermione was the only person Harriet trusted to treat Kreacher with dignity, and her intelligence would keep the elf from deceiving her.
Her friends didn't protest. Harry had disappeared under the Invisibility Cloak before that.
" What do we do now?. " Potter asked, watching from the tree line the chaos ensuing in the camp. Harry had to act fast before the Death Eaters cast the Dark Mark to lure Voldemort.
With the last attack failing, Harriet was sure this would only get done when they captured her. None of them wanted to risk the Dark Lord's wrath in the event of yet another defeat.
"We need your blood in the locket to conduct the spell. Then you put it on the sacrificial object." Tom instructs, choosing his words carefully, to not remind her that the object of sacrifice is a person.
Harry can't go back now, and more importantly, she doesn't want to. After a quick nod, the girl cuts her palm with a charm, pressing the locket against the wound until it gets covered in blood. She is so nervous and apprehensive that she can't even feel pain.
The spell is complicated, a mixture of Greek and Latin that makes the girl dizzy, the perfect creation of two of the most brilliant minds their world has ever seen. She breaks out in a sweat as she chants, meticulously following every single instruction the boys whisper in her ears. As the spell progresses, Harriet feels like she is diving into a lake of ice in the middle of winter. She could taste the slimy, musty flavor of Black Magic, the waves of corrupted power creeping over her skin like a damp cloth.
The locket was burning, impossible to hold, but the girl remained resolute.
" Is ready. " Regulus announces, and Harry lets go of the pendant with a sigh of relief.
There's still this strange weight on her shoulders. But she removes her Invisibility Cloak and steps into now-enemy territory, ready to draw one of the Death Eaters, who are still looking for unfortunate survivors of the attack.
It's clear when one of them sees her. The Death Eater looks at her and hesitates, glancing around to make sure the others haven't seen her. It Makes sense. The bastard probably wants the rewards that will come from being the one to deliver Harry Potter to Voldemort.
The girl does her part, widening her eyes before running deeper into the forest.
There is no exchange of words between Harriet and Voldemort's soldier, only spells. But he is mediocre, and the girl has been training for months. When blocking an Unforgivable Curse, the girl allows herself to fall to the ground on purpose, pretending to have passed out until he came closer to check her pulse.
With the man's face inches from her own, Potter paralyzed him with a non-verbal spell, ripping off his mask and shoving the cursed jewelry into his mouth after making sure he wasn't an Order spy.
Free from the paralyzing spell, he stumbled backward, but it was too late. His eyes widened, dark veins poking through his skin like cracks before his body shuddered and got slowly enveloped in a sticky kind of black cocoon. It was disgusting to watch his body deforming, but Harriet couldn't look away.
When the cocoon became rock-hard, a crack spread on the surface until slender fingers tore through the center to find the exit.
Harry helped, ripping the pieces off that dark shell until Tom Riddle emerged from inside the twisted body, as naked as the day he was born except for the locket covered in blood around his pale neck.
All the interactions she'd had with Tom in that prison world hadn't done him justice, neither did the memories Dumbledore showed her. Riddle's face was like a work of art, beautiful beyond words. His dark eyes stared at Harry in a way that made her feel like her heart was pounding in her throat.
"Put on some damn clothes!" Potter exclaims, turning her face away to gaze at the cloudless sky.
"Always the good girl." Tom sighs in amusement but takes the deceased Death Eater's wand to conjure some clothing. ''We need another one, for Regulus. The locket will become unstable now that I'm not there anymore''.
''I'll lure another one over here, and then we'll get out of this place''. It wasn't a request. Harry was tired of that cat and mouse game with Voldemort's amoral soldiers. Riddle nodded, taking her by the elbow as the girl turned away from him.
''Don't let them hurt you, got it? I didn't spend my time teaching you to make you an easy target''.
''Take care you too''. Potter retorts, eyes narrowing. Something like a blush spreads over his perfect cheeks, and the boy lets go, feigning indifference.
Harriet leaves looking for another Death Eater but ends up getting far more than she needs. Tom had stayed somewhere among the trees to keep them from thinking about the possibility of a trap.
Running while trying to avoid the spells whizzing over her head proved a difficult task, but on the way, Potter was able to knock one of the Death Eaters out, using accio to draw him towards her and then throw the body to Riddle.
''I'll hold the others, but hurry up''. Harriet yelled, turning to head into the duel.
Keeping them at bay was difficult, especially since they were too many. One of the soldiers casts the Dark Mark in the sky, activating the anti-Apparition Wards. The girl steps forward and starts using the most dangerous spells she has learned.
Harry only stopped for breath when she heard Regulus' voice, complaining about how disgusting that spell was, and involuntarily made the mistake of distracting herself. She never sees the spell coming her way, shattering the shield to hit her head-on, only the disbelieving expressions of the two boys as she falls.