A/N: This was going to be the last chapter, and it was going to have another scene at the end. But I got this written and it felt complete as is. So there is one more chapter coming after this one. It's already half written so hopefully won't take too long. Also, if you're confused about what's going on, it's possible you didn't get the chapter update for Chapter 17 because the site was being wonky. Go read that first. And have a good day - writing this has been a really good escape from some rather stressful things going on in my reality. So thank you for giving me the outlet. :)
Harry flexed his feet and shuffled in his spot on the rug. "Can I stand up? Use the loo? My legs are asleep." He'd refrained from showing any discomfort until now but they'd been sitting for more than five hours now. If Belby really meant it when he said the ritual would take twenty-four hours, then Harry was going to insist on regular breaks. Not that it seemed much was happening anyway. At the start of the ritual, Belby had conjured a fire under a cauldron in the center of the rug and filled it with the contents of a vial and pouch away from Harry's sight. It was now bubbling away and occasionally spitting out odorless white smoke.
"Goyle, take Potter to the loo. Potter, leave your wand here."
"He's not coming in with me." Harry's tone boded no disagreement. He took his wand out of his robes and suspended it inside a crystal web before letting it float up to the ceiling where it would be visible but safe. Belby grunted his approval and nodded them out of the room. He did not ask Harry to leave his parents' wands.
In the hallway, Harry realized he'd never seen any of the bathrooms in the house. The thought of using one now gave him pause, but there was nothing to be done. Walking with more confidence than he felt, he pushed open the door next to his parents' room, thanking Merlin he didn't have to look for the ensuite.
"Give me a minute," he muttered, ignoring Goyle's snort in response; it sounded something like enjoy your wank.
At least it would buy him a few minutes. His father's wand was more responsive than the one Ron had taken from the Snatchers during the Horcrux hunt, and Harry was easily able to set a silencing charm. He finished his business quickly and then looked at the wands again, considering. He'd never attempted something as complex as a Patronus using any wand other than his own and the Elder Wand. Still, this was the best chance he had to get a message to the Aurors. On a whim, he raised them both.
The stag that appeared was not his own, and the doe was not Ginny's.
"Don't leave us," his father said. He didn't sound angry anymore.
"Soon, but not yet," added his mother. "We have something for you first."
Harry swallowed hard. "What is it?" he managed. "The bed box?"
The doe smiled. "That too, but no."
"You need to be patient and trust us." James' voice was serious. "He made us more powerful, you know."
"You've said before," said Harry. He didn't want to let his doubts show but he needed to know more. "Who made you powerful?"
"You know who it was," answered James promptly. Whether he'd responded that way on purpose or not, Harry couldn't imagine that he meant anyone other than Voldemort. He thought for a moment.
"So I didn't . . . ruin you - your wands - by using them?" The doe laughed, a tinkling, joyful sound that made Harry feel warm.
"We've been waiting for you," she said. "Just a little while longer and you'll see."
"You can't contact the Aurors for me?" Harry wished he could sit and talk to his parents' Patronuses forever, but he knew he was running out of time. The stag shook its head.
"We can't leave the house, even for you."
"But you can help make us a bit more free," the doe added. "You've already started, you know. Why do you think we can talk to you?"
There was a pounding on the door. "Potter? Get your hand out of your pants and come on - Belby says it's ready."
Harry looked at the Patronuses again. "I guess . . ."
"Go," said his father. "If all goes well, this is not goodbye, not yet." The images faded away.
Harry schooled his thoughts and slowly opened the door.
"Weasley's picked up a signature; they're analyzing it now." Gawain Robards walked over the small knot of Aurors who'd been standing vigil in the garden of the Potter house for the last twelve hours.
"I still think we should just blast through the wards." Ron spoke with the tone of someone who knew his opinion would be rejected - again. His boss rubbed his hand tiredly across his face.
"If Bill can't tell us anything useful I'll consider it," he said finally. "But until then we've got to assume Harry's okay. No one's left the house, there's been no Dark Mark, and we know Dodge is fascinated with the place. They've got no reason to kill Harry right now."
"Right now?" Ginny's face was pale but her expression was steady. "You mean as long as only he can touch the wands, right?"
Robards didn't pull any punches. "That's what your brother is trying to figure out. Your information was extremely helpful, Miss Weasley."
"Only if it saves Harry," she said pointedly. Ron slung his arm around her shoulder.
"He's fine," he said bracingly.
Ginny leaned into her brother. "Thank you," she said simply.
"I'm not just saying that to make you feel better. I know Harry, and we've been watching these men for a while now. They're greedy, but mostly for money and importance."
"And Dodge wants to make sure they get it, so he can be important too." Angelina walked up to the group. "Fred and George saw Dodge in Borgin's shop," she explained. "On one of their trips to Knockturn Alley to look for new product ideas."
"Don't tell them you told me; that's a good bit of knowledge for me to hold over them," said Ginny. "What did they find out?"
Angelina glanced at Robards, who gave a quick nod of permission.
"They used a newer version of Extendable Ears, that don't need to be connected to a string," she said. "Got it inside before the door closed. Dodge was selling Borgin some rare coins he'd gotten from a client's vault." She paused. "They didn't get the impression they were given entirely willingly."
Ginny whistled. "Dodge is stealing from the people he represents?" She glanced at the house and her brow wrinkled. Angelina put her hand on Ginny's arm.
"Not stealing outright. More like . . . compelling. Harry would never fall for Dodge's antics."
Ginny relaxed and nodded. "Especially because he knows to look out for it. But how does selling Dark objects to Borgin make him important?"
"George said they negotiated for a while, but not over money. Dodge wanted to know which Quidditch club the Mafoys are investing in." At Ginny's confused look, Angelina continued. "He's trading in gossip, in much the same way he's been collecting information about Harry and his parents all these years."
"And that's why Harry's safe right now." Ron picked up the thread of the story. "He's the ultimate prize, isn't he? And you said only he can touch his parents' wands. Dodge and the Death Eaters need him if they're going to figure out what the wands do."
Ginny had already told the Aurors about the visions she and Harry had seen, but no one was sure what they meant or if they were important to the present situation. Gawain had hypothesized that even though the Death Eaters wanted to pull Voldemort's 'latent power" - whatever that meant - out of the house, they may have no idea how to do it or what they were even looking for. Bill and a couple other cursebreakers had been circling the perimeter of the house trying to detect if any unusual spells had been cast. Now he strode toward the Aurors, a look of intense concentration on his face.
"What do you know?" Gawain's expression matched Bill's. "Can you tell if anyone else has been able to use the wands?"
Bill shook his head. "Ginny," he began, turning his attention to his sister. "Did Harry ever say anything about the wands being used to make Horcruxes?"
"What does that smoke mean? Have you done it?" Parkinson's impatience, which had been bubbling near the surface for the last hours, threatened to overflow as completely as the greenish liquid rising to the top of the cauldron.
"Shhhh." Belby's mood was not much better. "Which one of you is supposed to be capturing the steam? If it drifts out of the hole in the wall the Aurors are going to see it."
"They won't know what it means," said Dodge soothingly. He had remained the calmest of everyone as the day had turned into night and the ritual wound on with moments of frenetic activity separated by long stretches of quiet incantations and watching the potion in the cauldron change colors and send up occasional sparks and puffs of smoke. Some of the moments certainly looked impressive; at one point the smoke formed itself into the shape of a serpent and twisted itself around the wands Harry held before seemingly being sucked into the wood. He'd yelped and accused Belby of damaging his property but in truth, he'd felt nothing at all.
The wands did move, rolling and shuddering in his hand, but so far Harry had been unable to detect any pattern or reason. He stood up. "I need the loo again."
Belby grunted, intent on counting the number of times he was stirring. But when Harry was nearly out of the room he stopped. "Wait. Leave them here." He pointed at wands. "And your own, of course."
Sighing, Harry conjured another cage. He was on his way back to the nursery when a shout made him speed up and burst through the door.
Black smoke was seeping out of the walls, filling the room with a haze that Harry could see through, although it stung his eyes a bit. He went to grab the wands out of their protection but before he could, Avery and Parkinson grabbed his arms.
"Wait, it's working," one of them muttered. Faces began forming in the mist. Actually, only one face, repeated around the room. Voldemort, as Harry had seen him in visions of the night his parents had died. It was a static image, and strangely devoid of emotion . . . the word soulless came to mind, and Harry sucked in a breath.
"It's here, he's here!" Goyle crowed. "Come on, Belby, finish it up and get the Horcrux. Dodge promised us all a share."
"That's what you're doing, you want to make a Horcrux?" Harry shook his head. "Didn't you hear me earlier, do you even know what you're asking for?" Out of the corner of his eye, Harry watched his parents' wands, floating overhead. They'd arranged themselves on either side of his own holly and phoenix feather wand, like sentinels protecting a general. Or parents watching over their child. "It's not going to work."
"It will with your help," growled Avery. He shot a stinging hex that hit Harry in the stomach. He recoiled, but stayed upright. Above him, the wands began to shudder. His father's words came back to him. He made us stronger.
"He wanted the wands to be his next Horcrux." Harry hadn't meant to speak the words out loud, but the realization staggered him. He glanced at Voldemort's face, reflected around him in the mist, and then looked up. A sense of peace came over him.
"And he put power in them, power that the men here deserve to have." Dodge was walking around, touching each Death Eater on the shoulder as if to remind him of what he'd been promised. "You can have your parents' home back, Harry. As soon as you help us release the wands." Dodge looked at Belby. "Isn't that right?"
"I . . . think so." For the first time, Belby sounded uncertain. "It was supposed to have given us more direction by now. The Horcrux."
Harry resisted the urge to ask - again - if the Death Eaters even knew exactly what a Horcrux was. This ritual clearly wasn't making one, whatever else it might be doing. Harry watched dispassionately as the haze grew thicker and began to gather in the center of the room, sucking all of Voldemort's faces into a single, swirling mass. Belby gave a shout of triumph.
"There it is now; Potter, grab the wands and hand them to the Dark Lord."
"That's not . . . oh, nevermind." Harry stretched his hand towards the cage and it floated down to him and swung open."
"Only the other wands, of course, right Belby?" The look of avarice was stronger on Parkinson's face, and Avery looked much the same." Dodge put a reassuring hand on Harry's arm.
"We're so close, Harry. Everyone is going to get what they want." Dodge's face was nearly shining with excitement and for a moment, Harry almost had to bite back a grin, thinking about what the next issue of Hollow Happenings might say, if Dodge was ever allowed to write another one. He couldn't wait to tell Ginny, and it was with her in mind that Harry reached up and grabbed his parents' wands.
"That's right, and now hand them over . . ."
Harry ignored Belby. In one fluid move he grabbed his own wand as well and touched its tip to the ends of his parents' wands. The Priori spell rolled off his tongue before the Death Eaters even realized what was happening, and when Lily and James appeared - not mere smoke but looking nearly solid and free, the men were nearly struck dumb.
Predictably, Dodge found his voice first. "Why, this is wonderful, isn't it? Lily, James, I'm so glad to meet you, finally. How can we help you?" He took a step towards the figures, and then another, before something in James' expression made him stop.
"They don't need your help." Harry kept his voice steady. "They're here for me." He knew it was true even before James held out his hand and easily took the wand Harry handed him. He gave his mother hers and his parents smiled grimly at each other before directing their spells at the Death Eaters. Harry's Stupify took out Dodge at the same time and a moment later he had all the men bound in magical bonds, piled haphazardly against the wall.
It had happened so fast, Harry wasn't sure what to do next; he half expected his parents to disappear. When they didn't, he found himself unable to find the right words at first.
"I . . . I need to . . ." he gestured helplessly at the men on the floor behind him.
"They can wait a minute." His father's lips quirked and for a moment Harry could imagine him at Hogwarts, planning some bit of mischief with Sirius. Harry nodded, willing to follow whatever direction his father gave him.
"You asked about the bed box." Lily's voice was gentle. "Can we show you?"
Wordlessly, Harry followed his parents out of the nursery and into their bedroom. His mother knelt by the side of the bed and flipped up the skirt before reaching underneath.
"It's something my parents had," she explained. "A bit old-fashioned, but it's how some Muggles used to keep their valuables hidden. I asked your father to make one when we moved here."
"I promised her no one could break into Gringotts but she insisted on this anyway." James grinned at Harry. "I guess you proved me wrong, huh?"
"Are you Horcruxes?" The words burst out of him before he could think. "I mean, of course you're not; I know that. You can't be . . . right?" He couldn't help the waiver in his voice.
His parents looked at each other and Harry's heart dropped. He gripped his wand; he knew how to control Fiendfyre now, if it came to that.
"We were meant to be," his father admitted. "Our wands were, that is. Voldemort began the process after he killed us and planned to use your death to complete it."
"I'd think wands are poor objects to use for a Horcrux," he said. Lily nodded and stood up with a small wooden box in her hand.
"They are; a wand is too connected to its owner to ever be a good vessel for someone else's soul, but Voldemort didn't see it that way. He thought it would be the ultimate expression of his power over us."
Harry lowered his wand. His father's eyes flicked to the movement but he didn't say anything. "But it made you more powerful instead."
"It . . . freed us, somehow," his father agreed. "But not completely," he added quickly. "Or permanently. We're a bit more than we were out of the Resurrection Stone, but only in this place. Finn Dodge got that right, at least."
"I'm so glad we got to see Ginny." His mother's eyes were very bright. "We knew immediately she was the one."
"She is," Harry said. "Even though it took me far too long to realize it."
"Love is worth the wait," James said. He wrapped his arms around Lily from behind and she leaned back into him. Harry glanced toward the window and his father chuckled.
"We promise to stop here this time. You saw a bit more than you needed to down in the kitchen, didn't you?"
Harry grinned. "Maybe a little; Ginny got me out of there pretty quickly though." He turned back to his parents. "I get to see her soon." He blushed suddenly and his father gave him a knowing look.
"We won't keep you much longer, I promise."
That made Harry stop. "You said this isn't permanent?" For a moment he imagined the possibility of keeping the house and its things in their current destroyed state forever, if it meant he'd be able to visit his parents whenever he wanted. And bring Ginny, and his friends, and eventually their children. But his mother was shaking her head.
"We can't last like this much longer; we've given you almost everything we have." She held out the box. "This was my mother's." Her expression grew a little sly. "She didn't want Petunia to have it."
Thanks to his secretive visits to jewelry store windows, Harry knew the ring inside was an emerald cut emerald. "Platinum or white gold?" he managed around the lump in his throat. It was more perfect than anything he'd seen in Diagon Alley.
"Platinum," his father said. "Took me ages to understand that there's a difference."
Harry slipped the box into his robes. "It's perfect," he said. "I wish you could see it on Ginny."
"We will," his mother promised. "Don't worry about that." She looked at James and he nodded and stepped forward.
"You didn't seem surprised that we could hold our wands," he said. He held his out and Harry took it from him.
"Some Auror I am," he said. "It didn't even occur to me that you shouldn't be corporeal enough to hold something." His father shrugged.
"Actually, I think that makes you a spectacular Auror. You didn't stop to question anything but instinctively knew what to do." He gazed at Harry with pride. "Thank you for finally coming to find us, even if it took that tosser Dodge to get you to do it."
"I wasn't ready before," Harry admitted. He looked at the wand in his hand. "Will these disappear too?"
His mother gave him her wand. "No, they stay with you, and their magic does too. It's just us that will be gone. But not quite yet." She opened her arms. "There's one more thing we're corporeal enough to do."
Harry had been lucky enough to be hugged by any number of people since he'd turned eleven, but they all paled in comparison to the moment he stepped into his parents' embrace. His father's arms were muscular and strong, his mother's touch lighter but no less fierce, and Harry emptied his mind of everything but the feel that in that moment, he had his family with him.
It was better that Lily and James didn't say goodbye; Harry kept his eyes closed and couldn't even say for certain when the weight of his parents' arms around him faded away, but when he opened them, the room felt dark and cold, even with the lamps lit. The weight of the wooden box in his pocket and his parents' wands in his hands assured him that it was real, not that he'd doubted it for a second.
Steeling himself, he walked back to the nursery.