Harry sat down in the chair that stood in the middle of the dome, he lay his arms on the arm rests as Hermoine began to strap his limbs to the chair. This was to avoid Harry hurting himself, they were expecting him to trash around while he was trying to invade Voldemort's mind. A big lump had formed in Harry's throat, which was not in any way diminished by the nervous behaviour of his best friend. She still had a deeply worried look on her face as she was tightening him to this chair.
Before they had entered the former bedroom together, she had pulled him aside one more time. She had hugged him tightly while saying to him, "Harry, I am just telling you one more time that you are attempting something very dangerous. I am not going to argue with you anymore over this, we did enough of that over the last weeks and even last night. This might be the last time that I can truly… truly talk to you, I don't want to spend our last words fighting… I know you are not much of a hugger, but please, please give me this minute now and hold me."
Harry had not minded the hug at all, he had held Hermoine and whispered to her, "Thank you for everything. Over the years you truly have been my best friend. I love you Hermoine."
"Then please, please, if you have to try this, come back to me and do not let that monster get to you."
In the end in the one minute hug had turned into five minutes, but finally Harry had let go and had released himself from Hermoine's arms. He was determined to move forward and attempt this, too much was depending on this. The hopes of many in the wizarding world were depending on him. He had become so obsessed with this idea that he saw it as the only way forward.
Right now Hermoine was making the last minute preparations. She would activate as much of the runes as possible so that Harry could preserve his energy, but in the end she would have to leave and stand outside the protective circle. From that moment Harry would be on his own and had to continue the activation from his chair, the armrest contained the final runes that he would use to set everything in motion.
Before she left, Hermoine pressed one more kiss on his cheek and then left without looking back. Once she had left the dome and gotten outside the circle she said: "Okay Harry, everything is prepared. You can go ahead now, good luck. Be safe."
Harry nodded to her and then send a pulse of energy to the activation runes. He slowly felt the machine around him start to work and could feel the buzzing of magical power. He now focused his mind on the Horcrux in the other dome. The first step would be to overpower the evil artefact before using its connection to Voldemort to invade his mind.
He could soon feel the presence of the piece of soul in the object. It was trying to hide for him, but he knew the feeling of it and focussed all his attention on it. As soon as he was able to pin it down, it changed strategies. Suddenly he felt a dark force trying to invade his own mind. He could hear the voice, that had become familiar to him during the months they carried the locket around, whispering to him: "This is hopeless Harry Potter, you will never overcome me, the greatest wizard of all time. Abandoned by all your friends except the last one who will soon turn away. I know, I have seen it in her heart. All is lost, give up and give yourself over to me. Together we could change so much. Would you like to punish those that opposed you? I can give you Draco Malfoy? Would you like a pretty girl to warm your lonely bed? I could teach you how to make her obey every command."
But Harry was not tempted by the evil locket and did not falter, it was not for nothing that they had placed the horcrux in the dome. He was able to overcome the attack with some small effort, and then took control over it. He could now clearly feel the connection which he somehow shared with the object and which both of them shared with Voldemort. Now the true test would follow, he would channel his energy in invading Voldemort's mind. He was by now unaware of anything that was happening around him, he just followed the mental threads that were leading him to his enemy.
Soon he could clearly sense the mind he was looking for, he focussed his attention and suddenly realised he was in a large dining room, sitting at the head of a long table. On either side of the table sat death eaters that were looking at a man speaking. He hoped that this man, McNair, would stop his tedious explanation soon, he had to abandon his search in Germany for a few days in order to show himself to his followers and give them orders, but he did not want spend too much time here.
Honestly, the hunt for muggleborn witches and wizards did not interest him that much, but it kept the troops in line, still he let his mind wander a bit. He watched amused as Bellatrix got a gleeful look in her eyes as McNair explained the new torture methods that had been approved by the ministry in case of suspected magic theft by mudbloods. From the side of his eyes he saw Nagini feasting on the corpse of the latest victim that he had to punish for not performing his duties adequately. Having his trusted snake familiar devouring a former colleague on the side was another certified way of controlling his followers.
Of course they would never know how he was able to control the animal so well, they all thought that it was merely the behaviour a normal familiar combined with his ability to communicate to snakes. But they could never know that it went much further beyond that and that he had hidden part of himself inside the majestic creature. One of his many assurances that he would never leave this world.
Suddenly he became aware of a strange presence. Was that a legimency probe? Who was making eye contact with him? Surely none of his followers would be so stupid to attempt a… Something overcame him completely, before he could react, he rose up from his chair, waved his wand, shouted "Avada Kedavra" and shot the deadly spell towards Nagini. The green flash hit the snake, that shuddered for a moment and fell down death. No! He felt the presence of the invader in his mind clearly now. It was that pesky little Potter boy.
The complete room had turned to him now, they were afraid of looking at him directly and of asking questions. But they were obviously wondering why he had killed Nagini, he had to take control now. He had to defend and counterattack. "Everybody out! Now! Rookwood, you let your cursebreaker team know that I expect results immediately, they have played long enough with their little numbers and drawings. Either break the defences within the hour or expect punishment."
"Yes, my Lord." Rookwood answered while everybody hurried to get out of the room. "Everybody out, get out… Get out…" Harry had to get out now! He could feel Voldemort latching onto him as he extracted himself from his head. He had been easily controlling the Horcrux and had used it to slide inside Voldemort's head, but right now it felt like riding a bucking, wild horse. He had to make it back to his own consciousness, but he could feel Voldemort trying to follow him, trying to retaliate by entering Harry's mind now that he had opened the connection so much.
Harry began to feel just how much energy this mental expedition had cost him and feared what would happen if Voldemort would succeed in possessing him in return, all his secrets exposed, Hermoine in danger,… Hermoine! He could not let this monster get to her. He gathered his last strength and shook off Voldemort, he could feel the presence of this hostile mind sliding away. He got the horcrux back under control and slowly became aware of his surroundings, his own surroundings this time. He could feel the pain in his arms and legs as the leather straps felt very tight around his limbs, he could taste blood in his mouth and became aware that his clothes were soaked in his sweat.
Slowly he started hearing Hermoine's voice "Harry, are you there? You have to deenergise the runes now. Can you hear me? Harry…". He was able to slowly open his eyes and understand the message that his friend was repeating. Finally he managed to follow her command and stop the machine. After a few minutes Hermoine was able to reach him and started to remove the straps.
"Oh, you stupid, noble git. How are you feeling?" she asked him.
"Like a stupid noble git who just finished of a horcrux. I got the snake." Harry said, wondering why his voice sounded so raspy.
"Really?" Hermoine said surprised. "Well, than at least it was not for nothing that you overexerted yourself. But you still are a git." But she still gave him a small hug and a kiss on his cheek as she said this.
Harry could just smile, as Hermoine slowly supported him while he got out of the chair and out of the dome. But then he suddenly remembered something. "Hermoine, you should check our defences, it sounded as if Voldemort was ordering an attack on some wards."
That's when they both started noticing the rattling from the stove, someone was coming through the floo connection.