Warning: This chapter also includes adapted sentences from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and may also include adaptations from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

A Hell of a Shock

With a wave of his wand, Moody made Harry visible again; a low hiss filled the air, and the old gas lamps in the entryway flickered to life. The hallway of Number Twelve was just as Harry remembered it, at least before his unexpected friendship with Kreacher. The Black family's obsession with serpents was glaringly evident, especially in the chandeliers.

The door at the end of the corridor swung open, and Mrs. Weasley hurried towards him. "Oh, Harry, it's so good to see you!" she whispered, enveloping him in a hug that made him rather uncomfortable.

It felt like a lifetime since he'd been hugged like that, and he didn't like it one bit. His battle instincts urged him to break free and strike, but fortunately, he managed to suppress them.

Ignoring her murmurs about dinner and her chatter to the other Order members—undoubtedly announcing Dumbledore's arrival—Harry whispered, "What should I do, Mrs. Weasley?" "Follow me, dear," she replied. "Ron and Hermione are upstairs. You can wait with them until we're done with our meeting, then we'll have dinner. And keep your voice down in the hallway," she added, still whispering.

Harry didn't bother asking why and followed her past the pair of curtains shielding the portrait of Walburga Black from the house's occupants and up the stairs. They stopped on the second landing.

"Your room is the one on the right," she said. "Ron and Hermione will fill you in, dear. I really have to go now; I'll call you when we're finished," she concluded, rushing back downstairs.

Harry had something to do. Instead of joining his friends, he waited until Mrs. Weasley had disappeared behind the kitchen door, after casting an Imperturbable Charm on it, and quietly made his way back to the first floor.

He entered the living room. The room was long and high. With a snap of his fingers, it was fully illuminated, and Harry could see everything: the dirty tapestries on the olive-green walls, the long moss-green velvet curtains, the armchairs, a sofa, the desk where he knew a Boggart lurked, the fireplace, and the two bookshelves filled with dark objects.

There it was. The magic of Riddle was revolting. Squinting, he saw the golden glint of Slytherin's locket.

He hesitated a moment before destroying it; there was something he needed to do first.

Closing the living room door, Harry called out, "Kreacher, Kreacher!"

No response, not even the characteristic crack that heralded a house-elf's arrival.

Harry wasn't about to give up. Focusing on the part of his magic that was tied to the Black family, he began projecting it slightly outside his body. "Kreacher!" he called again.

With a loud crack, the elf materialized. He was old and almost naked, save for the rag around his loins, just as Harry remembered him.

Kreacher began to mutter in a deep, croaky tone, like a bullfrog's croak: "Kreacher hears a call, but it is not Master Sirius; that filthy ungrateful swine. Kreacher does not recognize the young master, but his magic is familiar and strong..."

"Kreacher, I am Harry Potter," Harry began. "Harry Potter?" the elf muttered louder than ever. "Kreacher sees the scar; it must be true; this is the boy who stopped the Dark Lord..."

Harry seized on the elf's words to continue, "The same Dark Lord that Master Regulus wanted to stop, isn't it?"

At these words, the elf threw himself to the ground, weeping and banging his head on the floor. "Master Regulus, Master Regulus! Kreacher failed to fulfil Master Regulus's last command!"

"Stop!" Harry said quickly. Seeing the elf's momentary obedience, Harry continued rapidly, "Don't ask me how I know, but I know about the locket. I know Regulus asked you to destroy it and you couldn't." The elf's lamentations doubled at these words. "I can help you... if you let me, I can destroy the locket!" For a moment, Harry's eyes seemed to burn with a fierce determination.

"Will Master Harry really do that?" the elf asked, tears streaming down his face. "Kreacher will be forever grateful for this."

"Then bring me the locket; I will destroy it immediately!"

Kreacher scampered to one of the glass-fronted bookcases, flung it open, and hurried back with the locket clutched in his small hands.

"Here it is. This is the object Master Regulus asked Kreacher to destroy, but Kreacher couldn't..." Before Kreacher could punish himself further, Harry gently took the locket.

"I'll destroy it for you right now," Harry said. "But first, let me set up some wards; I don't want to attract the others in the house."

Kreacher nodded, hope gleaming in his eyes as he bobbed his tear-streaked head.

For a moment, Harry unleashed some of the magic he'd been concealing, before gently moving his arm and extending his palm around the room.

Immediately, a sphere of different colours, from red to blue to yellow, formed around the living room, taking shape in a series of impressive wards.

The casual display of advanced magic astonished the elf, who began to look at the wizard with starry-eyed admiration.

"There," Harry said as with a final snap of his fingers, the magic surrounding the room became invisible, signalling the wards' completion. "Now we can proceed."

With another snap, Harry conjured a metal pedestal and placed the locket upon it.

"Stand back!" he said quickly to the elf. He waited for the creature to take refuge behind him before a long, pale wand materialized in his fingers. It was the Elder Wand.

Pointing the wand at the locket, Harry roared, "Pestis Incendium!" The cursed flames were heralded by a mighty roar full of hatred, ready to shake the hearts of those who sought to control them.

A tall, bright, lance-like flame shot into the air. Before it could cause irreparable damage, Harry, with a guttural roar, subdued it instantly, taking control.

The flames grew and twisted, forming a long serpent. It leapt into the air and fell, clutching the locket in its fiery jaws.

The metal seemed to scream as the cursed fire consumed it. But the metal's scream was nothing compared to the scream of the soul fragment inside.

A dark, smoky mass exploded from the locket, ready to flee. No use. The flames wrapped around it like a vice, devouring it. The only thing left behind was the ear-splitting scream Riddle let out before succumbing.

Immediately, Harry cancelled the spell, quickly extinguishing the flames.

The surface of the pedestal had turned into a pool of molten metal. Disposing of the wand, Harry did the same with the pedestal, summoning the remnants of the locket.

"May I take these if you don't mind?" the wizard asked the elf. "The Horcrux is destroyed, and these are of no use anymore."

The elf was in complete awe of what he had witnessed. He had never seen something so powerful and fell to his knees before Harry.

"Master Harry is wonderful! Kreacher will be his eternal servant!" he exclaimed, bursting with pride for his new, powerful master.

"Of course, Master can take that nasty trash," he added, referring to the remains of the destroyed locket. "Kreacher hopes it does not harm Master; otherwise, Kreacher will destroy it."

"Don't worry, Kreacher, I can handle it. It can't harm me anymore."

Quickly summoning the bag where he had collected the other fragments, Harry dropped the remains of this Horcrux inside and stowed it away safely.

Then, ensuring to erase any magical trace left by the dark spell he had just used, he removed the wards he had set up around the living room.

"I have something else for you, Kreacher. Wait here for a moment."

With that, Harry slipped into his pocket dimension, re-emerging in the cave that had witnessed the end of Regulus Black.

From the small island at its centre, he gazed at the large black lake. Hundreds of Inferi made their home within. In front of him, a faint glow emanated from the basin containing the potion.

Lowering his gaze, he looked at the emerald-green liquid. Beneath it lay Regulus's locket. Harry could leave it there, imagining Voldemort's furious reaction upon finding it, but he wanted to give it to Kreacher. The elf would be overjoyed. Besides, when Voldemort discovered its absence, he would be livid.

Having made up his mind, the man in the guise of a teenager considered his options: he could drink the potion himself, but that would weaken him considerably, which wasn't ideal for what he had to do next; he could summon any creature and force it to drink for him; or he could take a route Voldemort would never have imagined.

He simply opened a small, finger-sized access to his pocket dimension and moved it to the bottom of the basin. Immediately, the potion gurgled into it, falling into a cauldron Harry kept specifically for such things. It would be perfect for studying the potion later.

Or maybe he'd ask Severus to do it for him. As vast as his own experience and skills were, in the field of potions he was not a master. He had managed to reach an outstanding NEWT level but had not pushed further.

With the potion finished, at the bottom of the basin there was nothing left but the locket. Harry grabbed it, pried it open, retrieving the scrap of paper left there by its owner, ready to send the Dark Lord into a fury, and pocketed it after closing it.

Unfolding the scrap of paper to read it, a touch of sadness washed over his face. Regulus had given his life to retrieve that horcrux, and the poor boy didn't even know Voldemort had made more than one. Harry strengthened his determination. He would defeat this Voldemort for Regulus too!

Sirius's brother's body was probably now in the water below, along with all the other inferi. This wasn't the time to investigate, but he promised himself he would come back one day to retrieve it. The scrap of paper vanished quickly, and he returned to his half-plane.

Returning to the sitting room at Grimmauld Place, Harry pulled out the locket and handed it to the elf. "Here," he said, "This is Regulus's locket; I've retrieved it for you."

The elf was ecstatic. He bowed countless times to the wizard before going to store the locket in his cupboard. Harry asked him to do so quietly, so as not to be heard by the members of the order in their meeting.

Before leaving, the elf renewed his eternal gratitude to the wizard, and the wizard made a request: "Until I tell you otherwise, please don't tell anyone what happened here. Also, in the presence of others, I ask you to treat me just as you do with them; I really wouldn't want to arouse suspicion." After a few grumbles, the elf agreed and disappeared.

Break

Harry was ready, the moment he had been waiting for since he had planned what to do in Privet Drive's bedroom. He prepared to go down to the kitchen, before something caught his attention.

"We've found her, boss!" A whisper reached him mentally, followed by an image of a giant snake slithering on the grassy carpet of a dark forest, clearly searching for prey.

Nagini! It was her! Those damned fantastic clones, even Harry didn't expect them to act so soon!

Looking around, making sure nothing and no one was watching him, especially any portraits hanging on the walls, he slipped into his half-plane and reappeared directly in the forest.

"Let the hunt begin," he thought as he jumped onto a tree.

He quickly cast spells to muffle any sound and scent he emitted, while at the same time concealing himself with the powers of the invisibility cloak and set off.

He leaped swiftly from tree to tree, agile as a monkey. A touch of magic in his legs allowed him to leap several meters at a time. Meanwhile, his senses were heightened to the maximum, perceiving everything around him down to the last insect.

"There she is!" He thought as he leapt onto a tall oak. The snake was silently sliding over the leaves below him, ready to pounce on an unsuspecting prey.

He quickly conjured a blade that seemed made of pure crystal, almost transparent in hue, and, pumping a good deal of magic into his arm muscles, he threw it with a speed and power no normal human could achieve.

The blade was so swift that the whistle it made as it sliced through the air was heard when it was already too late.

With a dull thud, the weapon pierced skin and bone, cleanly severing Nagini's head. There followed a spray of blood and a mighty scream, as Tom's last piece of soul was destroyed.

"Fantastic," Harry thought as he summoned the blade and the snake's head. With a quick flash of fire, he reduced the remains of the snake to ashes and dropped the head into the bag containing what remained of the other horcruxes.

"Now Tom is completely mortal," he thought as a satisfied expression crossed his face. "And now..."

Break

He reappeared at Grimmauld Place directly in the entrance. He was ready, there was no hesitation in him as he walked towards the door at the end of the corridor, the one Mrs. Weasley had emerged from. Opening it carefully, he quickly descended the narrow stone steps, reaching the kitchen door.

Examining it with his senses, he quickly found the Imperturbable Charm the woman had placed to prevent the twins from eavesdropping with their extendable ears.

"I wonder what the kids are doing now," he thought, referring to Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny. "They're probably waiting for me. There will be a lot of discussions," he said to himself, imagining his friends' reaction when they found out everything he was doing. "I'm not ready to be in their company again, especially after what they did to me at the end of the war."

Reaching out, he tried to touch the wood before his hand was stopped as if by an invisible barrier, surely the result of the spell. Expelling a bit of magic, he didn't just break the spell. Instead, he took control of it, manipulating it so that only he could access it, without alarming the caster.

Opening it silently, he cautiously made his way into the kitchen.

Break

He found himself in a large room carved into living stone. A great fire at the other end illuminated the room, and on the ceiling could be seen the shapes of iron pots and pans.

In the centre of the room stood a large wooden table, surrounded by what must have been the entire Order of the Phoenix.

At the head of the table was Dumbledore, with Snape and Sirius respectively on his left and right. Along his sides were scattered the Weasleys, members of the advance guard, and other wizards and witches Harry knew were part of the Order.

The other end of the table was casually empty, fitting perfectly with Harry's plans.

The table was laden with scrolls of parchment, goblets, wine bottles, and a pile of what looked like rags, but Harry knew to be Mundungus Fletcher.

"As for the giants, we don't know anything else. We hope Hagrid will give us news soon. Remus, what else have you managed to find out about werewolves?" The gentle words of the headmaster were floating with an almost hypnotic tone through the room.

Harry didn't hesitate. Before Lupin could respond, he cleared his throat loudly, causing a ripple effect.

Dozens of faces turned in his direction, staring at him as if they hadn't expected him to be there. Genuine expectation since he really shouldn't have been in that place in that particular situation under normal circumstances. But these were by no means normal circumstances, and this group had done almost nothing to stop Tom. He had done more in the last three days than the entire Order had done since its inception.

Before Mrs. Weasley could start rambling, before Snape could start annoying him, or before the others did something else inappropriate, he swiftly strode to the empty end of the table.

Quickly summoning the bag in which he kept the remnants of the horcruxes from his pocket, he locked eyes with Dumbledore's bright blue gaze and, raising his voice so that he could be clearly heard by the man even from the certain distance that existed between them, he began:

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches..."

Retrieving the stoneless ring from the bag, despite it being nothing more than remnants of melted gold, with a flick of his hand he rolled it along the table, with just the right speed to stop right in front of the headmaster, falling and continuing to spin for a while with an unsettling buzz before stopping.

Harry did not interrupt his speech, which continued: "...born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies..."

As he spoke the last words, he took out from his pocket the remains of Slytherin's ancient locket, and with a gesture similar to the previous one, sent it whizzing past the ring.

"...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not..."

Followed by the remains of the cup, whose engraving of the small badger could barely be seen on the twisted metal.

"...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives..."

This time it was what remained of the diadem that swirled along the table before coming to rest among the other discarded items.

Harry concluded the prophecy: "...the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."

Nagini's skull, still dripping a few drops of blood and poison, rolled along the wooden platform and stopped right in front of the headmaster, as if staring accusingly at him with those dead eyes.

For just a moment, only the sizzle of wood crackling at the contact of some substances that the objects lost, especially Nagini's poison, interrupted the eerie silence that had fallen.

"I understand that I have caught your attention, Professor. I would like to have a word with you... in private."

Author's notes

And that's the end of this chapter too! I hope you enjoyed the cliffhanger at the end!

I really enjoyed writing it, I couldn't wait to put into words the final scene since I started planning the fic!

Thank you so much for following and preferring my story!

Your reviews are really fantastic, thank you all!

Regards from Landar!