Hermione's Plan
Revelations
By Chem Prof
Chapter 14, Revelations
When they had been shown the slip of paper with the location of the mansion, and settled into the room that had been set aside for them, Bill and Fleur joined the others down in the drawing room. Hermione first handed them a copy of the previous day’s paper.
The Daily Prophet
Saturday, 26 July, 1997
Chosen One Chooses a Mate
Harry Potter to Wed Longtime Friend
by Rita Skeeter
Young witches’ hearts will be breaking all over Britain this week as Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, has announced his engagement to fellow Gryffindor Hermione Granger. The green-eyed, raven-haired wizard, who was certain to be added to the Most Eligible Wizard list next month after he comes of age, is thus off the market even before he was officially available.
As all readers of this paper know, Mr. Potter and Miss Granger have been best friends for many years, and have been rumored to be a couple since his participation in the Triwizard Tournament nearly three years ago. According to those who know them at Hogwarts, the pair has been nearly inseparable, even when they were dating others.
Both teens were involved in the capture of a large group of Death Eaters at the Ministry of Magic a year ago, and were again involved in the capture of an even larger group of Death Eaters during last week’s attack on the Weasley residence. Clearly this is quite a powerful and magically gifted couple, and not a pair that one would want to cross. Miss Granger is widely regarded as the brightest and most capable witch at Hogwarts, and Mr. Potter’s exploits need no further elaboration.
Although technically Mr. Potter will not be of age for another week, and thus cannot officially tender an offer of marriage until then, Miss Granger came of age last fall, and is already displaying a stunning engagement ring, said to have belonged to Mr. Potter’s mother, Lily.
The Daily Prophet and this reporter would like to extend their congratulations to the couple, and offer our best wishes for their future happiness.
For more information on Potter and Granger’s relationship during the Tri-Wizard Tournament, see reprinted articles on page 7.
For a related story on their romantic relationships with others, see article on page 8.
For an updated version of the account of James and Lily Potter’s untimely deaths and the survival of the Boy Who Lived, see page 9.
For the current Most Eligible Wizard list, and speculation on where Mr. Potter would have placed, see page 10.
Bill and Fleur read this without comment, since they were already aware of the information contained. Next Harry handed them the current day’s paper.
The Daily Prophet
Sunday, 27 July, 1997
Boy Who Lived Makes a Statement
Harry Potter Puts Fortune on the Line,
Offers to Provide Protective Armor for Auror Corps
by Rita Skeeter
In a display of generosity rarely witnessed in recent memory, Harry Potter has made an offer to purchase dragonhide armor for every member of the Auror Corps. This financial generosity rivals what had previously been considered to be the largest single donation ever made to the public welfare, by Lucius Malfoy to St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries ten years ago. Indeed, one of the reasons given by Mr. Potter for his donation is his desire to “counter the influence of Death Eaters like Malfoy on our government.” This statement refers to the fact that convicted Death Eater Lucius Malfoy was a well-known supporter of the prior Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, which this reporter agrees raises suspicions about some of Fudge’s actions while in office.
When asked why he chose this method of showing his support, Mr. Potter said, “The Aurors I’ve known are some of the bravest people I’ve ever met, and are out there putting their lives on the line every day. If we can provide them better equipment that might save their lives, or prevent serious injury, it would be a crime not to.” Returning to the previous topic, Mr. Potter added, “For years Voldemort and the Death Eaters have benefited from the support of wealthy pureblooded families like the Malfoys. I think it’s time to turn the tables and show that there are wealthy families willing to support the men and women who are fighting against this evil.”
In a follow up question Mr. Potter was asked his views on the current Minister of Magic. “Well, anyone would be better than Fudge. At least he’s willing to acknowledge that Voldemort actually exists and that there is a war going on. He seems like he knows what he’s doing.” When it was pointed out that this was not exactly a ringing endorsement of the current administration, Mr. Potter elaborated. "Just what has he done, exactly? Perhaps there are things going on behind the scenes that the public is unaware of. But how many Death Eaters have been killed or captured during the last year by Aurors?”
As the readers of this paper well know, Mr. Potter was involved in every large-scale confrontation with Death Eaters that has occurred during the present struggle with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. What has not previously been revealed is that he personally has defeated more Death Eaters than the entire Auror Corps during that time. When this was pointed out to Mr. Potter his response was a grim smile. “In that case, I hope that this donation of dragonhide armor might lead to more aggressive tactics by the DMLE.”
Thus we see that there may be more to Mr. Potter’s donation than mere generosity. Perhaps he is also trying to send a message to the Ministry of Magic. To put things in perspective, a set of dragonhide armor would ordinarily represent a year’s salary for an Auror. Mr. Potter’s offer, therefore, has a monetary value in excess of half a million Galleons. Quite an expensive message. When asked to comment further, Mr. Potter had this to say.
“I’m troubled by the attitude of the Ministry. It seems to be a lot of talk with little action. And the actions they do take seem to be merely for show. For example, those security guidelines they put out last year were pretty worthless. Hide and hope the Aurors show up eventually. Well, if we had done that at the Weasleys’ last week we would all have been dead, and the Death Eaters would all have gotten away unharmed. People need to learn how to fight back, and if that’s not possible, they should have a means of escaping. Just last week I inquired about purchasing emergency escape portkeys from the Ministry for families of Hogwarts students, and they told me I was wasting their time. I’ll make them myself and pay the fine if I have to. It would be nice if the people in charge at the Ministry would take a little more interest in the safety of the public, instead of just worrying about looking good.”
This reporter feels that Mr. Potter has raised some interesting points, and that the current administration of the Ministry of Magic has some questions to answer, both about its activities and those of the former administration.
For a related article on Lucius Malfoy’s ties to Cornelius Fudge, and some of Fudge’s questionable actions, see page 4.
For an analysis of the activities of the current Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, since he has been in office, see page 5.
Bill let out a low whistle as he finished the article, and Fleur grinned at Harry. “Well, young Mr. Potter, you seem to be trying to stir things up at the Ministry of Magic. I assume you realize that at least one employee at the portkey office will likely lose their job over this?” Harry nodded with a grim expression on his face, and Hermione quickly related the story of their correspondence with the Department of Magical Transportation. Bill was about to comment on the expense of Harry’s actions, but refrained at a quick shake of the head from Hermione. As a Gringotts employee he was roughly aware of the extent of Harry’s holdings, and he realized that Harry didn’t want to make a big issue of his wealth, especially in front of Bill’s younger brother and sister.
Once that discussion had played out, Remus and Tonks gestured to Moody, who had just arrived with some parchment.
“While we’re laying all our cards on the table,” growled the grizzled old Auror. “I thought you lot ought to hear the transcript of our interrogation of Snape.” The room fell quiet as everyone eagerly leaned forward. Hermione quickly moved next to Harry and took hold of his hand. This had the potential to be upsetting, and also could raise some questions that they might be reluctant to answer. Moody conjured up a display screen and laid the parchment on a small table in front of it. At a tap from his wand the transcript was projected onto the screen.
Transcript of the Interrogation of Severus Snape
24 July, 1997
Moody: “State your name.”
Snape: “Severus Snape”
Moody: “State your occupation.”
Snape: “Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Most recently in Defense Against the Dark Arts.”
Moody: “Are you a Death Eater?”
Snape: “Yes”
Moody: “Did you kill Albus Dumbledore?”
Snape: “Yes”
Hermione tightened her grip on Harry’s hand, but he gave her a small squeeze back to let her know he was okay.
Moody: “Why did you kill Albus Dumbledore?”
Snape: “I made an Unbreakable Vow to Narcissa Malfoy.”
Moody: “What did this vow entail?”
Snape: “I vowed to watch over Draco Malfoy, protect him to the best of my ability, and to carry out his mission should he fail.”
Moody: “What was Draco Malfoy’s mission?
Snape: “To kill Albus Dumbledore.”
Moody: “Did you know that this was his mission when you took the vow?”
Snape: “Yes”
Moody: “Would you have killed Albus Dumbledore had you not taken this vow?”
Snape: “No”
Moody: “Why did you take the vow, then?”
Snape: Bellatrix Lestrange maneuvered me into it. Had I refused, it would have exposed me as a traitor to the Dark Lord. At the time, I believed it would be better that I took the vow and remained in my capacity as a spy. I had hoped to find some way around it during the time it would take Draco to make whatever attempts he was going to make.”
Moody: “How many other attempts did Draco make?”
Snape: “At least two that I was aware of. He refused to reveal his plans to me.”
Moody: “Did Albus Dumbledore know of your Unbreakable Vow?”
Snape: “Yes. We discussed it on more than one occasion.”
Moody: “What did he intend to do about it?”
Snape: “He believed that he could survive any of Draco’s attempts, and that he could persuade Draco to abandon them. He agreed that I still had value as a spy. We argued on more than one occasion about the consequences of the vow. He believed that he would be able to restrain me when it came time for me to fulfill the vow.”
Moody: “Did he think that your value as a spy was more important than his life?”
Snape: “I do not know.”
Moody: “Do you think that your value as a spy was more important than his life?”
Snape: “No”
Moody paused the display while everyone had a chance to catch up and reflect on what they had heard. Several people looked over at Harry. “That pretty much agrees with what we already knew or guessed,” he offered, while looking at Hermione who nodded her head in confirmation.
“Okay, let’s continue,” stated Moody.
Moody: “Did Albus Dumbledore believe that you were completely loyal to him?”
Snape: “I cannot answer that with certainty. I am aware that it was necessary for him to give such assurance to others on many occasions.”
Moody: “What caused him to believe that you were loyal to him.”
Snape: “Many years ago when I first became a Death Eater, I overhead a prophecy concerning the Dark Lord. I relayed this information to my lord and he acted upon it. This action led to him killing James and Lily Potter, and to the bizarre incident with Harry Potter that drove him out of his body and caused the public to believe that he had been destroyed. When I learned that James and Lily had been killed, I went to Albus and confessed what I had done and pleaded for a chance to make amends.”
Moody: “So he believed that you had had a change of heart because you showed remorse?”
Snape: “Yes”
Moody: “And were you in fact remorseful over their deaths?”
Snape: “I felt remorse for Lily’s death.”
Moody: “But not James?”
Snape: “No”
Moody: “What was different about Lily?”
Snape: “I wanted her. She was the only one who was my intellectual equal. And she was the only person who ever befriended me. The Dark Lord promised me that he would spare her life and give her to me. Instead she died and her accursed child survived.”
There were many sharp intakes of breath across the room, and Moody paused the transcript once more. Hermione felt Harry’s hand clench hers painfully. She covered his hand with her other hand and he relaxed somewhat. This answered so many of the questions Harry had always had regarding his mother’s death and Snape’s treatment of him. It had not been because of Harry’s resemblance to his father, at least not entirely. Snape hated him because Lily had died to save his life.
Harry turned toward her and their eyes met. She knew that he was thinking the same thing and it tore her heart to see the anguish in his eyes. Instinctively she reached up and pulled his head down to her shoulder as tears filled her eyes. Through her blurry vision she noted the reactions of the others in the room, which were a mixture of shock, horror, and disgust. Ginny, for whom so much of this was new, also appeared somewhat bewildered.
Finally everyone managed to compose themselves once more and Moody cleared his throat. “There’s more upsetting information yet to come. Does everyone still want to go on?” No one was ready to stop now, and he continued.
Moody: “Were you aware that the Potters’ location was protected by a Fidelius charm?”
Snape: “Yes”
Moody: “Were you aware that the secret keeper was Peter Pettigrew?”
Snape: “Yes”
Once again there was a series of gasps in the room, along with a growl from Remus.
Moody: “Why did you allow Sirius Black to be sent to Azkaban?”
Snape: “He deserved it. He tried to kill me when we were students.”
Moody: “Were you aware that Pettigrew was still alive?”
Snape: “No, I thought that Black really had killed him. It was the sort of thing that he would have done.”
“Damn him!” Remus had jumped out of his seat and Hermione felt Harry tense up under her hand on his arm. Tonks, her hair as red as her angry face, finally pulled Remus back into his seat. Moody, his own face as cold as stone, continued the transcript.
Moody: “Were you completely loyal to Albus Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix?”
Snape: “No”
Moody: “Are you loyal to Lord Voldemort?”
Snape: “No. I am loyal only to myself. However, I wish for the Dark Lord to be defeated.”
Moody: “In what way were you not loyal to Albus Dumbledore?”
Snape: “I did not agree with his plan for defeating the Dark Lord.”
Hermione could see puzzled looks being exchanged around the drawing room. But she was pretty sure she knew what Snape meant, and she suspected Harry and Ron did also. She wondered how Moody had decided where to take the questioning next.
Moody: “Have you killed anyone since rejoining Voldemort two years ago?”
Snape: “No”
Moody: “Have you passed any information to Dumbledore that Voldemort would not have wanted revealed?”
Snape: “Yes”
Moody: “Have you passed any information to Voldemort in addition to that which Albus instructed you to give him?”
Snape: “Yes”
Moody: “Did you give information to Voldemort that led to the deaths of any Order members?”
Snape: “Yes”
Moody: “How did you disagree with Dumbledore’s plan for defeating Voldemort?”
Snape: “He had the ridiculous idea that Potter would be the one to defeat him. Potter is a poor excuse for a wizard, no better than his arrogant, attention-seeking father.”
Moody: “Are you aware of the secret project Dumbledore was working on during the last year?”
Snape: “Yes. I helped heal his hand when he injured it while destroying Salazar’s ring.”
Moody: “Did you reveal any information regarding this project to Voldemort?”
Snape: “No. That part of his plan was sound. It was necessary for it to succeed in order for there to be any hope of destroying the Dark Lord.”
At this point Moody stopped the transcript. “The rest of it involves details of raids he took part in and specific people whom he betrayed to Voldemort.” He paused and stared at Harry with his magical eye. “I think we have quite a bit to talk about with regard to the information we’ve just seen.”
Harry met his gaze for a moment, then stood. “I’d like to discuss this with Ron and Hermione first. If you would excuse us.” Harry strode quickly into another room, with his two friends right behind him. Harry turned to face them as Ron closed the door and Hermione put up privacy wards. “What do you guys think?” he asked.
Ron and Hermione shared a look, and Ron let Hermione go first. “You already know my opinion, Harry,” she replied calmly. I think we need all the help we can get. This task is too big for just the three of us. And we’ve already told bits of it to different people.”
Ron agreed. “You’re going to have to tell Bill, at least, about the Horcruxes, if he’s going to help us with them.”
“And Remus deserves to know about the prophecy,” Harry mused.
“It certainly wouldn’t hurt for all of them to know at least the part of the prophecy that Voldemort already knows,” Hermione pointed out. “And Dumbledore didn’t keep the Horcruxes secret from everyone since Snape knew about them.”
“You know, I think McGonagall knows more than she let on, too, from the way she was acting the other day,” Harry concluded. Hermione nodded in agreement.
“What about Ginny?” Ron asked. “I think she’s the one I’d most worry about giving something away. But on the other hand, she deserves to know about the diary.”
“I think you should tell Ginny, too,” Hermione responded. “What Ron said about the diary is right, and I think she’s proved herself. She is handling the whole situation with us much more maturely than I would have expected,” she added.
Harry straightened up and came to a decision, nodding slowly. “Okay, let’s do it.” Ron came up and put his arm around Harry’s shoulder, and Hermione moved to his other side and slipped her arm around his waist for a quick hug as the trio returned to the drawing room.
“Before we start,” Harry began, “is there some sort of secrecy pledge we can use that’s less drastic than an Unbreakable Vow?”
“We could take a Confidentiality Oath,” Tonks suggested, glancing over at Moody. “We use those routinely in the Auror Department. It keeps you from inadvertently revealing confidential information. You can override it if necessary, but it takes an effort.” Moody nodded his approval. Tonks quickly showed everyone how to take the oath, and a half dozen wands glowed briefly.
“All right,” Harry continued. “Some of you know parts of this already. Let’s start with the prophecy from the Department of Mysteries.”
“But it was destroyed, right?” Ginny blurted out. Fleur, standing next to her, put her arm on the nervous young redhead’s shoulder to settle her down. “Sorry,” the young girl mumbled.
“That’s okay,” Harry responded. “But let’s everyone try to hold back the questions until we’re finished. The others all nodded. “The prophecy was given to Professor Dumbledore, so he remembered it. The first part Voldemort already knows. That’s what Snape was talking about. He was spying on Dumbledore when it was made but he didn’t hear the whole thing.” Hermione noted that Harry specifically didn’t mention who had made the prophecy, and decided that was a good thing. “Here’s the part he heard. ‘The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies.’”
Several people gasped, and Ginny whispered ‘Oh Sweet Merlin!’ Harry nodded grimly and continued. “There were two children who it could have been, me or Neville Longbottom. But Voldemort chose to attack me first, and according to Dumbledore that sealed the prophecy. This mark,” here he pulled back his hair to clearly display his scar, “is also mentioned, in the part of the prophecy he doesn’t know.”
There was silence in the room until Remus spoke up. “And that’s why James and Lily went into hiding.” Harry confirmed this with a nod.
“So did the Longbottoms,” added Moody. “I was their secret keeper. But when it looked like Voldemort was defeated they came out and returned to Longbottom Manor. Alice was torn – she was thankful it wasn’t Neville, but heartbroken about your mum. She tried to talk Dumbledore into giving you to her to raise, since that was the agreement she and Lily had, but he resisted. Just as well, I guess, seeing as what happened a month later.”
Remus noticed a few puzzled faces in the group, and added. “The Lestranges caught the Longbottoms by surprise and tortured them into insanity. Moody and a few other Aurors hunted them down and captured them a week later, and they were sentenced to Azkaban for life. Hermione had been watching Ginny during this exchange, and saw the shock and horror on her face, followed by a thoughtful expression as she processed this new information about the link between Harry and Neville.
“Neville deserves to know this, too,” Hermione commented softly to Harry. He nodded and turned back to the others.
“So that’s why Voldemort keeps trying to kill me. And it’s why I have to prepare as best as I can to beat him. What it comes down to is him or me. One of us has to die.” Tears were streaming down Ginny’s face, and several of the others weren’t much better off. Fleur wrapped an arm around her new sister-in-law, while wiping her own face with her other hand.
Hermione saw the awe growing in the eyes of their audience, and was well aware of how uncomfortable Harry would be if this went on. She moved to stand beside him and threaded her hand through his arm, while Ron appeared at his other side. “Dumbledore told this to Harry for the first time at the end of the last school year, and Harry told Ron and me last summer. The two of us are going stand beside him all the way to the end.”
Once again, Hermione kept an eye on Ginny to monitor the young witch’s reaction. She saw how her face changed as she realized just how much had been kept from her for the past year, and just how superficial her relationship with Harry had actually been. Fleur was doing the same thing, and put her arm around the younger girl once again.
Bill’s thoughts had gone along different lines. “You know Mum will throw a fit when she hears about that,” he pointed out. The room, though, suddenly went quiet as everyone else recalled the condition Molly was in as a result of the attack on the Burrow. In her current state, she would likely not even acknowledge that such a thing was a possibility.
Moody broke the silence. “Do you have any idea what this power is that you’re supposed to have?”
Harry shared a glance with Hermione. “Dumbledore had some vague idea that it was my ability to love, which Voldemort is incapable of, or my persistence. Hermione and I have some other ideas, but we want to keep them to ourselves.”
Moody frowned and regarded them thoughtfully. “Anything to do with some of that strange stuff you pulled off last week?” Harry shrugged noncommittally. “This is the reason for all the training this summer, then?” Harry nodded. “Need any help?”
“We’d appreciate it, yes,” Harry responded gratefully, then added, “Maybe you can get together with Hermione later. She’s the one who keeps track of our schedule.”
“There’s more to this story, though,” Hermione broke in, before everyone got started talking about training schedules. “Go on, Harry,” she encouraged.
“Before we can think about facing him there’s something else we have to do first,” Harry announced to a suddenly quiet room. “Voldemort’s found a way to effectively make himself immortal. That’s why he didn’t completely die the first time. He’s split his soul and …”
“He’s made a Horcrux?!” exclaimed Bill.
Everyone turned to stare at Bill. Harry managed to recover first. “You know about Horcruxes?”
“Of course,” Bill replied, still shaken by the revelation. “The ancient Egyptians were obsessed with immortality and used them – or tried to. Not many were successful. Still, it’s something every curse breaker working in that part of the world needs to be aware of and able to deal with. Every once in a while you run across one in a tomb.” He shuddered, causing the others to realize that it probably wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience.
Hermione found herself thinking that this was one time that Dumbledore’s penchant for keeping everyone in the dark about what was going on had backfired. If Bill’s knowledge had been available during the past year, how might things have turned out differently? But this new information raised some important questions. “Do you know how to detect them?” she blurted out. “And more importantly, do you know how to destroy them?”
“What I want to know,” Ron broke in, “is if some of these old Egyptian guys made Horcruxes, how come they aren’t still around?”
“Whoa, whoa, one at a time,” Bill interrupted. “First, yes, I know how to detect them. Second, yes, they can be destroyed, but it depends on what state they’re in and whether they’ve been activated or not. Third, some of the ancient Egyptians did in fact live a long time, and even came back to life by taking over the life force of someone else. But once that body is used up, they eventually die. And most of them didn’t have enough power to create a body of their own, so their Horcruxes are still lying around, waiting for someone to activate them.”
Harry and Hermione shared an uncomfortable glance. That sounded eerily like what had happened to Ginny. Bill continued without noticing. “So the most important thing is to be able to destroy one without letting it possess you. But back to the issue here. Voldemort made a Horcrux?”
“Not exactly,” Harry said in a low voice. “He made six of them. He split his soul seven ways.”
Now it was Bill’s turn to be shocked into silence. Remus broke in at this point. “So what you have to do first is locate and destroy all of these Horcruxes, and only then can you even hope to defeat Voldemort?”
Harry nodded. “Otherwise his spirit still hangs around like it did the first time. He managed to possess Quirrell our first year. I killed him at the end of the year, and Voldemort’s spirit escaped again until he managed to create a new body and join with it the night of the third task of the Tri-Wizard tournament.”
Remus considered this for a moment. “But that’s not something that only you can do, is it? We could help you with that part?”
“Yes, that’s what I was hoping Bill could help us out with. Now I see that he could be even more valuable than I had hoped.”
Fleur took Bill’s hand and promptly spoke up. “Of course, we will help you with this.” Hermione noticed the emphasis on the word ‘we’ and knew that Fleur’s feelings about sharing this task with her loved one matched her own.
Bill finally recovered from his surprise. “Do you have any idea of what and where they are?”
Harry nodded. “We’ve already destroyed two of them, and we have a lead on a third, and we’re pretty sure what object he used for the fourth one. Dumbledore thinks his snake is one as well.” Harry paused and shared a long look with Hermione, then Ron. Ron shrugged. Harry drew a deep breath. “One was Slytherin’s ring that Snape mentioned. Dumbledore destroyed that last summer, but his hand was burned to a crisp doing it.” He turned to where Bill was standing by Fleur and Ginny, seated together on a sofa. “The other was the diary that I destroyed in the Chamber of Secrets.”
Ginny’s hand went to her mouth as a horrified expression engulfed her face while Bill shouted, “Of course! That’s how he possessed Ginny her first year! Why didn’t I realize that before?”
Fleur’s arms went around Ginny and she pulled her onto her lap as the smaller girl broke down into sobs. Ron crossed the room to kneel down in front of his sister and put his arms around her too. Remus, Tonks, and Moody just looked on, shocked once again. Hermione’s hand found Harry’s and she gave it a squeeze, receiving an acknowledging one in return. This was turning into quite an emotional afternoon.
Meanwhile Bill was still muttering, berating himself. The family had wanted to put the horrible episode behind them and move on, so he had put it out of his mind. They had even come to visit him in Egypt the following summer. If he had made the connection, they would have had a three-year head start on finding and destroying the Horcruxes. Finally Harry and Hermione came over and spoke briefly with him, persuading him to let it go and move forward. When everyone had calmed down they got down to specifics.
“If you want me to take on this project,” Bill pointed out, “I can put a team together but it will cost a lot of money. Yes, you will be part of it,” he hastily added to Fleur, who was giving him a hard look.”
Harry smiled. “Would a million galleons be enough?” Bill swallowed hard and allowed that yes, that would probably cover it.
“Now,” he went on, “you said two have already been destroyed. Can you give me the details?”
“We just watched Dumbledore’s memory of the ring the other night,” Hermione replied. “He put the ring on and something happened. He appeared to be fighting something off, then he cast a spell on it while it was still on his finger.” She shuddered. The sight had sickened them. “The ring glowed brightly and finally the stone cracked, then whatever was fighting him weakened and he was finally able to throw it off. His hand was burnt beyond recognition.”
She was unable to continue so Harry took over. “By this point he was incredibly weak, but he managed to call Snape who brought him a potion, which eventually revived him. That’s the part we just saw in Snape’s interrogation.”
Bill nodded thoughtfully. “Well I guess that just goes to show that even Dumbledore made mistakes on occasion. That’s probably the worst way he could have done it. I don’t think anyone who wasn’t as powerful as Dumbledore would have survived that.” He looked around at the others in the room. “By putting on the ring, he inadvertently activated it. They’re designed so that they’re activated by some normal activity, like putting on the ring.”
“Or writing in a diary,” Ginny whispered, her face white as a sheet. Bill gave a grim nod of agreement.
“In this case, the spirit tried to possess him directly. He was able to fight it off. While that was happening he managed to destroy the Horcrux, which broke the soul fragment’s anchor and eventually weakened it enough that he could defeat it. The better method is to destroy the Horcrux first, then cast a spell to eliminate the soul fragment as it emerges. In his defense, though, there is usually a strong compulsion spell on the Horcrux to make you perform the act that will activate it.”
“I know what you mean,” Harry added. “When I found the diary I couldn’t resist writing in it. Was it the same for you, Ginny?” Ginny nodded, and Hermione could see that she was relieved to hear that she wasn’t the only one who succumbed. She was pretty sure that was one of the reasons that Harry had mentioned it, and reached out to give him a squeeze to show that she realized what he had done and admired him for it.
“Now, in Ginny’s case I think it was different,” Bill continued. “The soul fragment possessed her but wasn’t satisfied with that. Evidently he wanted his own body, not hers. I was never clear on exactly what happened there.”
Harry thought for a moment. “Would you like to see a pensieve memory of it?”
It only took a few minutes to retrieve Dumbledore’s pensieve and explain how it worked to those who weren’t familiar with the process. Moody informed them that it was possible to project the memory into the room so that they didn’t all have to put their heads in at once. Harry consulted with Ron for a while about the incident to decide how much to show, and to help bring the memory firmly to his mind. Hermione was eagerly awaiting this, since she had missed the whole thing while lying petrified in the hospital wing. Finally everything was ready. Hermione noticed that Ron had gone over to stand by Ginny and had his arm around her shoulders. This was going to be difficult for the young witch to relive, but she was determined to go through with it.
The memory began with the two boys shoving Lockhart into Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. Everyone smiled as Moaning Myrtle flirted with an embarrassed Harry, then grew silent as the sink opened up and the entrance to the Chamber appeared. There was a disorienting feeling as they slid down, pipes rushing past them on both sides, and suddenly they were stopped again in the slimy tunnel beneath the school.
“Didn’t either of you ever learn the Scourgify charm?” Hermione muttered and everyone chuckled as the tension was broken momentarily.
“Hermione, we were only second years,” Ron grumbled. “How many second years know that spell?”
“At least one that I know of,” Harry teased the witch beside him, and everyone laughed again as Hermione’s cheeks turned pink. Then the onlookers gasped as the shape of a large snake came into view.
“That’s just a skin,” Ron pronounced calmly as they moved past. Hermione wondered at the smirk on Harry’s face, then realized that this twenty foot snake skin was small compared to the real thing that was still ahead. There were angry mutterings from the rest of the party as they watched Lockhart attempt to obliviate the boys with Ron’s wand, only to have the spell backfire on him. “Bloody git!” Ron snarled at the phantom Lockhart and there was general consensus on that sentiment around the room.
“This is as far as I went,” Ron declared after the dust cleared from the cave in and they saw the wall of rock separating the two boys. Everyone quieted again as they made their way down the tunnel and paused before the wall with the two entwined serpents. They all jumped when the Harry of the vision hissed and the wall slid apart. They were now in the inner Chamber.
Ginny began weeping and Ron’s arm tightened around her as the giant statue of Salazar Slytherin came into view. No one else noticed at first the small red-haired girl lying on the floor beneath the statue’s feet.
“Ginny!” came the whisper from vision Harry. The older Ginny’s eyes went wide as they watched younger Harry race toward her smaller self and plead with her to still be alive. And everyone jumped again along with the younger boy when the soft voice spoke from behind them.
“She won’t wake.” Except for Harry and Ginny, it was the first time any of them had ever seen young Tom Riddle. Even Moody hadn’t made his acquaintance until later when he had turned himself into the ugly snake-faced monster rechristened as Lord Voldemort.
The onlookers stood entranced during the exchange between Harry and Tom in the vision, as Harry struggled to pick up Ginny’s unconscious form. The real life Ginny flushed bright red as the ethereal Tom mockingly told of the secrets she had confided to the diary, how ‘she didn’t think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her…’.
Bill suddenly gasped as he heard a revealing statement from Tom, ‘…start pouring a little of my soul back into her…’
Finally the verbal sparring was over and the spellbound viewers watched as Fawkes came gliding into the chamber and dropped the sorting hat at Harry’s feet. There were shrieks from Fleur, Ginny, and Ron, and shouts from Remus and Tonks as the basilisk slithered out of the mouth of the statue, and a moan escaped from Hermione, even though she knew it was coming, as she clutched onto Harry’s arm. Ron began cheering as the spectral Harry picked up the sword and started swinging at the serpent.
The cheers quickly ceased when they saw Harry slide down the wall with the basilisk fang protruding from his arm. Even though they knew he had come through all right, it was still painful to watch him dying. Everyone watched in awe as Fawkes laid his head on the wound and soaked it with his tears. There was a communal wince as they heard Riddle’s taunting words, ‘So ends the famous Harry Potter.’
“This is the part you’ll want to watch closely,” Harry informed them as they watched Fawkes drop the diary in front of his younger self. A hush fell over the watchers as the twelve-year-old boy seized the basilisk fang from the floor and plunged it into the book. There was a long, dreadful, piercing scream … ink spurted out of the diary … Riddle was writhing and screaming … and then he was gone.
Bedlam erupted. Ron and Tonks were cheering, Ginny was screaming insults at the spot where Riddle had stood, and Fleur’s mouth hung open in awe as she turned to regard Harry with tears in her eyes. Hermione had her arms around him in a fierce hug and Remus looked on with pride in his eyes. Bill stood still staring at the scene before him, nodding in satisfaction, and Moody did likewise.
Harry ended the memory at the point where his younger self was helping Ginny to her feet and when everyone had finally settled down they all turned to Bill to hear his analysis. “That was what I had suspected,” he announced. “He wasn’t satisfied to merely possess her, he wanted to use her life force to come back in his own body. Like I said before, that’s considerably more difficult, and it takes some time. Fortunately, you got him at a vulnerable point in the transformation. You destroyed the Horcrux just in time. Much later and he would have been completely free of it.” Everyone in the room shuddered at that thought, and Ron put an arm around Ginny once more as she buried her head in his shoulder.
Bill turned to Harry again. “Now, you said you knew about two more?” Harry revealed Dumbledore’s reasoning about Hufflepuff’s cup and told the tale of the locket. Ginny and Tonks both had looks of disbelief that they had had one in their grasp without knowing it.
“It’s lucky we didn’t break it open back then when we didn’t know what it was,” Ron declared. “Remember, Ginny even banged it on the table.”
Bill’s eyes shot toward Ginny in alarm. “Were you tempted to put it on?”
Ginny shrugged and admitted. “A little bit. But with everyone thinking it was a dark object I didn’t dare, especially after the diary.”
Bill’s expression was solemn as he regarded them all. “Since it’s a locket, wearing it is probably the activation trigger. For the cup it’s probably drinking something from it.” He looked back at Ginny once more. “If we get it back here, I don’t want Ginny anywhere near that locket. She’s going to be the most susceptible to possession. I didn’t tell you yet what the backup plan for curse breakers is if we come across a Horcrux and don’t destroy the spirit before it possesses someone.”
His voice took on a grim tone. “Let’s just say I don’t want to have to kill my sister.”
-xox-XOX-XOX-xox-
I know that many fanfic authors have written a scene with the pensieve memory of the Chamber (including me, in Soul Searching), but it just seemed to fit well in this chapter. I tried to alter the circumstances a bit so it’s not exactly like the way it’s been done before. This chapter does include a lot of what I believe, at the time it was written, were original ideas on how Horcruxes work. There will be another chapter dealing with them, but that will be about it, as I do not intend for this story to be a Horcrux hunting story.