Harry apologized and left Ginny in the Room of Requirement, rushing back towards Dumbledore's office. He ran as fast as he could. Time was of the essence. He had no idea if Voldemort knew what he had seen in that monstrous head of his.
All the Horcruxes. If we're quick, we can get them all in one night. Harry had made up his mind already. It wasn't Voldemort who'd get a chance to attack the school this time. No, this time, it'd be Harry attacking him.
He blurted the password, went up the spiral staircase, and knocked on the door. He didn't wait for Dumbledore to acknowledge his knock and barged in, his breath still heavy after the relentless, frantic fucking he had gifted Ginny.
"Professor!" Harry still made sure only Dumbledore was in the room. The old man was seen standing beside Fawkes, patting the phoenix. "I know where all the Horcruxes are!"
It was rare to see Dumbledore react strongly to anything, but to this information, he couldn't help himself. He left Fawkes and rushed to Harry's side, grabbing both his shoulders before 'asking calmly'. "What did you say, Harry? How?"
"I glimpsed into his mind, Professor, and saw all his memories about the Horcrux. We have to act quickly and find them before he moves them!" Harry insisted, a thrill of urgency coursing through his heart. "One's in a cave, another is in the Lestrange family vault, and another one is in the school itself! He's made another Horcrux—it's his own snake!"
Seeing Harry being so breathless, Dumbledore completely believed him. Even more so after hearing the mention of the cave.
"Bellatrix has the key to the vault, Professor!" Harry revealed. "I can go there myself with her key and enter her vault."
"You're right, Harry. We must haste and do our part. I had already tracked down the location of the cave, and you've now affirmed my doubts," Dumbledore replied, rubbing his beard and thinking of who to bring along. "I shall go alone to the cave, and you should go to Gringotts… but not alone."
Harry immediately thought of a reliable name. "Hermione can come with me. She's smart and capable."
But Dumbledore still thought about it before making up his mind. "She may, but Auror Tonks will join you for safety. As for the Horcrux in the scho—"
"I'll fetch it before heading to Gringotts. The bank won't open until morning," Harry argued, still catching his breath. "And we should consider attacking him directly, Professor! This is our chance!"
Dumbledore didn't refute Harry's words. If they could get their hands on all the Horcruxes, then going after Voldemort was the best course of action. They couldn't wait for Voldemort to divide his souls into more pieces. It sounded impossible, but until now, nobody thought one could split their soul into seven pieces either.
Eight pieces. Dumbledore corrected himself after looking at Harry again.
"Let's focus on finding all the Horcruxes first, Harry." Dumbledore held back from planning too far. "Recalling how you destroyed the diary before, I believe the Basilisk's venom is enough to destroy the Horcruxes."
Dumbledore walked over to one of the massive bookshelves and opened a secret drawer on it. He took out a tiny bottle from inside and extended it to Harry. "Bring this with you and destroy the Horcruxes as soon as you find them. Don't give Voldemort any chance to reclaim them."
Harry nodded and took the vial. "I'll go quickly, Professor."
"Find me here when you return," Dumbledore advised, letting Harry leave as he had his own preparations to make. Not just for the Horcrux but for the battle with Voldemort itself.
####
Harry tried to hide the anxious desperations on his face and entered the Gryffindor common room. It was late, so most of the students had returned to their dorm rooms. But Harry approached one of the girls still in the common room and asked her to call Hermione out.
Soon, the bushy, brown-haired girl came out, her eyes groggy, probably busy reading books. Harry watched her walk over to him, clad in her usual fit checkered shirt and tight blue jeans on her slender legs.
"What happened, Harry? Do you know how late i—"
Harry grabbed her hand abruptly and dragged her out of the common room, into the hallways, and then towards the staircase leading to the seventh floor. "I need your help, Hermione."
"What? But you said you won't do it unti—"
Ah! Harry realized she had misunderstood him. Usually, when he asked for help, it meant he needed to get physical with her.
"It's about You-Know-Who... I found out why he won't die and how we can defeat him. Professor Dumbledore is already working on it, but there are things I have to do as well." Harry quickly clarified everything and led her to the top, and stood in front of the Room of Requirement. "You're the brightest witch I know. I can trust with my life, Hermione. Will you help me?"
Overwhelmed by his words and his confidence in her, she nodded her head vigorously, her gaze turning serious. But she was still confused. "I'd have helped even if you hadn't asked, Harry. But what is this about?"
"Horcruxes," Harry replied and walked back and forth a few times, imagining the Room of Hidden Things. "Voldemort split his soul and hid the pieces in various objects—Horcruxes, they're called. As long as even one Horcrux remains, he can't be truly defeated, no matter how many times we destroy his body. Remember the diary in the Chamber of Secrets? That was one of them."
"What? That's evil!" Hermione exclaimed, unable to digest doing something that vile to oneself.
Harry opened the door and entered. Right away, he noticed massive piles of items stored in the gigantic room, filled to the brim with small pathways between them.
He caught Hermione's hand and drew her close, his voice a hushed whisper in the dim light of the enormous room. "To create a Horcrux, one must commit the darkest of deeds—murder," he murmured, a shiver running through him as he spoke. "Myrtle was his first victim. For every Horcrux, he has taken a life."
Hermione gulped, her brows furrowed. She looked at the surroundings and quickly realized why they were there. "A-Are we here for one of the Horcruxes?"
"I learned to keep You-Know-Who out of my mind, and in doing so, I was able to access his mind instead. I saw the locations in his memories, Hermione—all seven of them!" Harry said, a mixture of urgency and triumph in his voice as he pulled her along. "But we have to be quick. Professor Dumbledore went to find one of them in a cave. We need to visit the Lestrange family's vault early in the morning to get another one after this."
"I'm with you, Harry," she reassured him and walked along, looking for the Horcrux.
The place was massive, and it felt impossible to find the Horcrux there. But Harry could feel it, something evil in there, something calling him.
"Whispers…" Harry muttered and walked through the pathways. "I can hear something… it's close."
Hermione silently gazed at Harry with a sudden expression of worry and a particular realization. But she kept her lips tight, not wanting her fears to be real. She followed him with her wand out, ready to protect him if anything happened.
"There!" Harry exclaimed soon enough, pointing at the top of a nearby pile of items. "It's shining!"
Woosh!
Harry flicked his wand out and pushed the pile a little, making the diadem tumble down with continuously increasing, audible screeching noises. As it got within their arm's reach, they truly felt how vile it was, and how evil its effects were.
It made them both feel sick, their minds clouded.
"Ugh…" Harry abruptly felt the curse mark on his forehead burn, and for no damn reason, his loins heated up. Don't tell me this carnal madness is permanent…?
Before the pain could turn into something worse, Harry hurried to take out the vial from his pocket. He removed the cork and carefully inched closer to the diadem. Without touching the thing, he prepared to pour the venom.
"Get ready to rush back," Harry warned Hermione. "I don't know how it'll react."
Drop!
Just one single drop was enough.
"Run!" Harry roared and jumped to his feet. He grabbed Hermione's hand and dragged her towards the exit. Behind them, a massive black ghostly cloud flew towards them, its demonic wails turning the air in the room cold.
"Bombarda!" Hermione flicked her wand as she let Harry drag her away. She blasted at the ghostly cloud and the piles of items, turning them all into a mess.
"Jump!" Harry pulled Hermione harder and leaped forward, turning midair and grabbing the girl against his chest to save her from a rough landing. "Expecto… Patronum!"
Thud!
Harry landed with Hermione's back tightly slammed against his chest. He kept her pressed against him securely by an arm on her belly while his other arm swung the wand and spewed the magical shield against the dark creatures.
He didn't know if it would work. All he knew was that the ghostly cloud resembled a Dementor, and Voldemort, in this form, was nothing but an evil dark creature too.
He watched as the blinding blue light turned into a shield around them. His corporeal patronus—a stag, flew around in the air as if valorously fighting the dark creature.
The whispering wails slowly started to disappear with that, as the soul without its container lost the last bits of life left in it, unable to find another carrier or the Horcrux that carried it. Eventually, it vanished into nothingness, fading from the world of the living.
Panting, Harry's heart kept beating like a racehorse. He lowered his arm and finally stopped casting the spell. Silence embraced the enormous hall with a wave of freshness taking over. The evil was gone, and it could be felt in the air.
But Hermione felt something much more. Hard, throbbing, lengthy, and squishy, she could feel something roughly pressing behind her back, near her bottom, as her back was pressed against Harry.
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