Chapter 16: The Girl from His Dreams

—

'You're sure it's the only way to destroy this thing?" Daphne shivered. She clutched the diadem in one hand, wrapped up underneath cloth so she didn't have to touch it. Her wand was holstered opting to hold Harry's free hand with hers as they walked.

"Yes, Darling. Dumbledore said this is how he destroyed the diary that possessed Ginny Weasley. It was Voldemort that was possessing her… and it was Voldemort who was possessing you."

"How do you know your way around this place?" Tracey asked, holding her lit wand aloft.

"I've been having dreams about the Department of Mysteries all year," Harry replied simply.

"I still don't think we should have come," Blaze grumbled. "Why didn't you take the crown to Dumbledore?"

"This is personal, Blaze," Daphne grimaced. "You don't understand how terrible it was to have this thing whispering all my insecurities to me all the time. Telling me how much I needed it to be perfect. And what really hurts is knowing that, to some degree, it was right. I'll never be perfect. This diadem gave me perfect recall. I did so well in school with it. I was better at fighting too. I… I wish we could get Voldemort's curse out of it so I could keep it… I wish I could still be perfect with it."

"You are perfect, love," Harry reassured.

"You're delusional," Daphne chuckled.

"No, he's just in love," Tracey grinned softly before looking expectantly at Blaze.

"What?" Blaze said. "You want me to call you 'perfect' as well? You're not perfect. No one is."

Tracey wacked him in the shoulder. "Some boyfriend you are," she complained. Blaze rolled his eyes.

"What are all of these anyway?" Daphne asked curiously as they roamed through rows and rows of white orbs.

"Prophecies," Harry said simply. "I want to take mine while I'm here. Don't touch anything by the way. I'm pretty sure you'll go mad if you touch a prophecy that isn't yours."

Harry followed the path he'd dreamt a hundred times and found his prophecy.

"This thing better be worth the detour," Blaze frowned, holding his wand up to get a better look around. "Can we get to the death room so we can chuck that thing in the veil and get out of here already?

"Not so fast, Potter," came the familiar droll of Lucius Malfoy.

Wordlessly, Harry moved Daphne behind him and aimed his wand at Lucius as more and more Death Eaters poured out of the shadows.

—

"You okay, Harry?" Ginny said when he sat down across from her at breakfast. Harry pursed his lips together.

"Bad dream," he frowned.

"Same dream?" Ginny asked vaguely so that anyone listening in wouldn't get any information from her word choice.

"Same, er… characters, different location," Harry said.

"Maybe you should talk to Trelawny about dream interpretation," Colin Creevey suggested. He'd been sitting near enough to Ginny that he overheard their conversation.

"I'm not a fan of Divination, but thanks Colin," Harry said dismissively.

Harry pushed his eggs around his plate absentmindedly for a while.
"Good morning, Harry Potter," Luna smiled as she sat down beside him and kissed him on the cheek. Harry looked up to see that Colin had gone and Susan had taken Colin's place. Hermione was sitting on Ginny's other side..

"What's wrong, Harry?" Luna asked. "You're positively swimming in wrackspurts."

"I"m not sure I should tell you," Harry said. "It's Order business technically. Dumbeldore and I agreed to keep The DA out of this type of thing."

"We're your family, Harry," Hermione smiled. "You can tell us if you need to. What's bothering you?"

Harry smiled at this. Ever since Luna had shared with the others that he viewed his soulmates as family, Hermione and Susan had joined Luna in referring to themselves as such. Ginny, of course, was already Harry's family literally.

"It's more than just a bad dream isn't it?" Ginny asked knowingly.

Harry grimaced and then nodded.

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "Okay, I'll tell you, but later, okay? Let's meet in The Room after dinner… just the five of us. I'm not ready to tell anyone else just yet."

—

Harry paced in front of the fireplace in The Room. Two of his girlfriends and his sister sat on two couches nearby.

Luna entered only a few minutes late. "Sorry I'm late, Harry Potter. I was down by the lake feeding the Plimpies and lost track of time."

"It's fine, Luv," Harry said dismissively. Luna skipped over and sat next to Ginny on the armrest closest to Harry.

"Go on then, Harry, we're all here," Hermione smiled.

"What I'm about to share with you all is secret information. Dumbledore doesn't want me to share this with any of you; however, all of you knew this secret in several of my visions and none of you divulged the secret in any of those instances. In any case, I'm trusting you all to keep this secret again."

"Thank you for trusting us, Harry," Ginny said somberly. Harry nodded.

"Voldemort has made something called a horcrux," Harry said.

"And what is a horcrux, Harry?" Hermione prompted when he did not immediately continue.

"It's a dark artifact. A dark wizard can store part of their soul in an object making themselves immune to death so long as the object remains intact," Harry explained. "If you destroy the horcrux the wizard becomes mortal again. Oh, and his horcruxes are very dangerous. The bit of soul inside them can possess other people."

"Horcruxes?" Susan interjected. "Plural? He made more than one?"

"He made seven," Harry replied. The girls all gasped at this knowledge. "He meant to make six, splitting his soul in seven total pieces, but he made an extra by mistake… In my visions he tried to make more when he learned I'd destroyed some, but he wasn't able to. You can only split your soul so many times I guess. So, it's just seven of them. There aren't any more."

"You're telling me we have to hunt down seven artifacts and destroy them before we can kill him?" Ginny asked incredulously.

"Well, I've actually already taken care of six of them," Harry said. "You watched me destroy one actually."

"The diary!" Ginny gasped.

"Yes, Ginny, Tom Riddle's diary was a Horcrux," Harry said. "As was the diadem in the dreams I've told you about."

"That locket you had Sirius get!" Hermione interjected suddenly.

"Yep," Harry replied. "That was one too. Oh, and Bellatrix had one in her vault… that's why I was so adamant about getting Andromeda to reclaim it."

"What are the other two you've destroyed?" Susan asked.

"Remember last year when Dumbledore, Moody, Bill, and I had a secret mission I wouldn't tell you about?" Harry asked. "We went to Tom Riddle's grandfather's house and collected a family heirloom… a ring.

"And the last one you've destroyed?" Hermione prodded.

"The snake that Snape brought to me," Harry said. "The one that couldn't be affected by spells."

"Horcruxes can be alive?" Susan asked.

"Yep," Harry nodded.

"How does a person split their soul?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Murder," Harry replied coldly. A chill spread around the room. "Dumbledore doesn't want people knowing that horcruxes exist. Doesn't want anyone getting ideas. But also, if Voldemort read your mind and found out you knew he had horcruxes then we would lose the element of surprise."

"What's the last horcrux, Harry?" Hermione said nervously, a look of fear on her face.

"I think you know what the last horcrux is, Hermione," Harry sighed.

"No… NO!" Tears welled up in her eyes. She stood and ran to Harry, enveloping him in a tight hug.

"What? What is it?" Ginny asked.

Hermione whirled around to look at Ginny. "Why do you think Harry can read Voldemort's thoughts? They are connected! Don't you see?" she sniffled before wrapping Harry up again in her arms once more. She collapsed into his arms and he lifted her bridal style. She set her head on his shoulder and sobbed.

"No!" Ginny shouted

"Oh, Harry," Susan lamented.

"Calm down, everyone, calm down," Harry said as he walked to Hermione's vacated spot on the couch beside Susan. "I have a way to get it out of me."

"I thought you said you had to destroy the artifact," Hermione sniffled.

"I did say that," Harry said, taking a seat. Hermione adjusted her position in his lap and laid her head on his shoulder.

"How, Harry?" Luna asked, her face plastered with worry. "I'd really prefer if we don't have to destroy you."

"Stay with me here and let me finish," Harry said. "The only way to destroy the horcrux is for me to die. Voldemort himself has to kill me. If he does, I should be able to come back."

"Come back?" Ginny asked.

"When I die I go to the afterlife… the inbetween," Harry said. "It's the place I got all my visions from. The times that Voldemort uses my own blood to resurrect himself, he tether's me to life as long as he lives and I can choose to come back, sacrificing his soul shard instead of my soul… But after I come back if he kills me a second time… well I guess I'll see Destiny again and I can give her a piece of my mind."

"Destiny?" Susan asked curiously.

"That's the name of the celestial he met in the inbetween," Ginny answered for him.

"The point is, Voldemort's going to attack The Ministry soon… tomorrow in fact," Harry said. "There's something there he wants. The Order and I are going to confront him… and I have to make sure he kills me. Dumbeldore and The Order will have to finish him off after that as I'll likely be unconscious for a few minutes at least. If they don't I'll try to get him when I come back."

"I'm coming with you," Hermione said. "Don't even try to tell me no, Harry. I'm coming."

"Me too, Harry," Susan said. "We've been training in the DA all year. We can help."

"Didn't you say that Malfoy said You-Know-Who only has about ten followers left?" Luna asked. "Your futuresight has helped our side capture and kill nearly all of them already. Surely even if we aren't as skilled at dueling as his Death Eaters, our numbers will make up for that. Even two of the weakest duelists can defeat a strong duelist if they attack from different angles…. That was one of Moody's first lessons…"

"You don't understand, I can't risk any of you," Harry said.

"You have a choice, Harry," Ginny said suddenly. "You won't go dark just by losing one of us. You can choose the light. Me personally I can't just sit around knowing you're going out to get yourself killed… literally… I want to help."

"You know we can fight, Harry Potter," Luna smiled. "We will fight by your side."

"You're all not listening!" Harry said, raising his voice for the first time. "I didn't tell you all of this to recruit you for the battle! I told you all of this so you could comfort me! I already know what I have to do and I'm going to do it. I'm just scared. Offering to help me is only making me more scared so please stop it."

"Harry," Ginny said tentatively. "I know you're behaving this way because you've lost loved ones before… The girl in your dreams…How did she die?"

"I…" Harry said hesitantly.

"Come on, Harry, you're having dreams about her all the time," Ginny said. "I know you barely know her in this life but she was your mate in that life. Tell us how she died so we can understand you better… comfort you better… Tell us how you lost Daphne."

Harry sighed. "I… yeah, okay," he said, feeling defeated.

—

"Run!" Tracey yelled as she struggled to maintain a shield. Spell after spell bounced off of it, crashing into the shelves of prophecies on either side of Harry's group. Jets of green light pierced the shield easily and missed them by inches.

Blaze began to levitate shelves and stones and create a floating, makeshift physical shield just behind Tracey's magical one. As Tracey and Blaze covered their backside, Harry and Daphne charged ahead, casting spell after spell at the Death Eaters. They'd hit three or four Death Eaters, killing at least two of them. As they ran, Daphne clutched the diadem under her arm. Harry clutched his prophecy under his.

"Give me the prophecy, boy, and I'll spare you and your friends," Bellatrix Lestrange's voice rang out. She was hot on their tail.

"Fuck you, Lestrange!" Daphne screamed, felling another Death Eater with a well placed bombarda spell.

"This way!" said Harry. "We have to get to the archway to toss that stupid crown in it! It's the only way we know how to destroy it!"

"We should leave, Harry!" Tracey begged with him. "Let's try to escape. Then we can tell Dumbledore about all this. We shouldn't have tried to do it alone!"

"No, we've almost lost them," Harry said. Tracey and Blaze dropped their shields as they rounded a corner. The Death Eaters were out of range. "We're younger which makes us faster than these old fucks. The archway is basically on the way out anyway."

The teens burst through to the next room and then another and another until they reached the death room.

"Climb up here," Harry said, climbing onto the dais and then turning to offer a hand to Daphne. The dais was about four feet up. From the angle they'd approached it was faster to scale the side than go around to the stairs.

The door behind them burst open a moment after Daphne had been lifted up by Harry. Blaze and Tracey retreated together off to the side towards the staircase. Daphne and Harry were forced to retreat further up the platform… closer to the archway.

Spells flew and Harry lost sight of Tracey and Blaze. Harry was mostly accurate. Daphne was panicking and missing all her spells. They went around to the back side of the archway for cover.

"Harry, I can't do this. I'm not good enough at dueling. I'm trash. I… I… I'm sorry," and before Harry could stop her, she'd put the diadem back on for the first time in weeks.

"No!" Harry bellowed, reaching to pull it off of her. But, she blocked him and backed away. "Why, My Love? You don't need it! We talked about this!"

"Harry, I'm still in control," Daphne said. "I can hear Voldemort but he's not in charge. I can hear Ravenclaw too. The diadem always makes me perfect. I can't afford to miss, Harry. Rowena will help us win this battle."

"Love, we came here to destroy it!" Harry sobbed.

"I wore it for months, Harry," Daphne said. "I'll be okay for one more battle."

Their conversation was cut short as the Death Eaters surrounded the Dais and all began to cast spells up at Harry and Daphne. Daphne was elegant and graceful and deadly. The diadem granted her perfect mental clarity which translated to perfect precision. Her spells all hit their targets. She was cutting down Death Eater after Death Eater. She dodged spells perfectly as well.

Harry was less lucky, catching a cutter on his leg and getting tripped up when he clumsily dodged another spell. The prophecy fell from his hands and shattered. A ghostly visage of Sybill Trelawney appeared but no one heard what it said amongst the commotion.

Daphne had taken her eyes off the battle to look at Harry where he'd fallen. This small distraction was just enough time for Bellatrix to hit her in the torso with a jet of blue light. She was knocked off balance… straight into the veil.

"No!" Harry bellowed. "You fucker!" He knew he could not follow Daphne through lest he lose himself as well. Harry stood up and launched onto a spell chain. He caught the sight of Blaze and Tracey dueling Malfoy and Macnair near the exit. Besides Bellatrix, Daphne had incapacitated or killed all the rest.

"What's wrong, Potter, did I kill your little girlfriend?"

Harry shouted and charged straight at her, launching more spells as he went. Melee combat was, of course, the weakness of any wizard. Bellatrix landed a burning curse on his wand hand, just before Harry grabbed her wrist. He kept her wand aimed away from him, but with his injury he lost his footing and fell on his back. He was pinned underneath Bellatrix.

She wrapped a hand around his throat and Harry quickly did the same to her.

"Kinky, Potter, but you're not my type," Bellatrix said crassly.

"Go to Hell," he grunted, before willing his magic to flow through him. He harnessed his pain, his hatred, and his determination before shouting out the spell.

"Sectumsempra!"

He was splattered with blood. Bellatrix's head rolled away and he threw her body to the side and recovered his wand.

"Avada Kedavra! Avada Kedavra! Avada Kedavra!" He bellowed, launching spells at Malfoy and Macnair from behind. One spell narrowly missed Tracey but the other hit their targets. Tracey and Blaze looked up at him, terror written on their faces.

"Some of them are still breathing," Harry said numbly. He walked around the room, pointing his wand at each of them. "Avada Kedavra." He didn't bother to see if they were actually alive or not. "Avada Kedavra." Each Death Eater body received the curse. "Avada Kedavra!"