A/N: So… anyone still reading this? Sorry about the almost-three-year wait! I wasn't lying before when I said most of the story was already written – it was, but real life and the hope that I'd be able to find a perfect workaround for my plot-holes kept me from posting. Unfortunately, the perfect solution hasn't materialised, but rather than wait any longer I decided to post the remaining chapters with my best efforts to improve them as I'm unlikely to ever have the time or motivation for a full rewrite. I hope the merits of the final half of this story will outweigh its shortcomings and that it will make for an enjoyable read. I certainly enjoyed writing it!

Chapter 14: Seven of a kind

"What?" Harry asked dumbly.

Lily looked up from taking a pan out of the cupboard and sat back on her heels, staring Harry down with a level gaze.

"I'm just wondering, because here," she explained quietly, "despite it being our daughter who ended up down in the Chamber, we were barely told anything. And Vi – she's told us some of what happened, but she's too little to really understand what it was, and what the full implications are. Thankfully, I don't think she appreciated how close Voldemort really came to completely possessing her."

Harry cringed. "I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have said anything…"

"Well…" Lily said, but Harry wasn't sure whether it was in response to his statement or whether she was waiting for him to elaborate on what had happened in the Chamber.

Casting his mind back, he wasn't quite sure which bit to start with – the basilisk? Surely they knew about that by now. The Malfoys? The diary –

"The diary!" he exclaimed. "What happened to it?"

"It's currently with Dumbledore."

"You mean it hasn't been destroyed?" Harry asked, horrified by the implication.

"Not as far as I'm aware."

"Oh, bloody hell…" Harry mumbled, running a hand across his face.

That was definitely not good news – knowing Dumbledore, he'd stick his nose where it didn't belong and get himself possessed by Voldemort in his turn just on the off-chance that it'll give him some information he needed…

That's when the realisation hit him. He had all the information. Everything Dumbledore – everything this world needed to be rid of Voldemort before his return. He knew it – so long as everything had happened like it had in this world, and by Sam's description it had, until that day in October 1981 at least – and so long as nothing had changed this after that date, which was much more of an 'if'…

"Oh, bloody hell," Harry said again.

"Are you ok?" Lily asked, and he suddenly realised he was swaying and that her hand was on his elbow, propping him up on his chair.

Harry nodded his head weakly as his thoughts ran wild.

So if everything had stayed the same, there would be the diary, of course. The diadem. That one should be easy to find. The locket – as long as they had access to Grimmauld Place, that wouldn't be too much of a problem. And as long as Sirius hadn't cleared the whole place out. The cup – but they would need the Lestranges for that if they wanted to avoid a repeat performance of the Great Gringotts Robbery of 1998. The Gaunts' Hallowed ring – that he needed to warn Dumbledore about before he put his hands on it if he wanted to save the man a protracted and painful death.

And then there was him, the Boy-Who-Lived. The Horcrux Voldemort hadn't quite meant to create. But then, there might not be one of those in this world…

Suddenly coming back to the present, he turned to Lily, surprised to find her worried green eyes much closer than he'd expected.

"Does anyone have a scar like this?" Harry asked abruptly, lifting his fringe and, for once, displaying his hated scar willingly.

"A scar…?" Lily asked, surprised.

"Yeah, a lightning shaped one like mine."

Lily narrowed her eyes. "Not that I know – it looks like the rune from the blood protection spell I was looking at when…" Her eyes grew wide, suddenly understanding the implications. "Oh…"