Chapter Twenty Four: A Shattered Sword
Harry led them out of the house, making sure everything behind them was as it had been when they entered. As soon as they were out, Harry grabbed onto his friends, and Fawkes transported them back.
Their first stop was the hospital wing, where Madame Pomfrey yelled at them all, checked the salves and forced them all to eat a very large amount of chocolate. Their next stop was to speak with McGonagall, to report back and get the latest news. McGonagall was happy to see them back, but there wasn’t any good news. There had been a couple more attacks, and several magical homes had been destroyed and their occupants killed. This had caused another wave of panic, and more families were trying to find safety at Hogwarts, while still more were leaving the country.
Finally, after a wonderful meal in the Great Hall, they returned to their rooms and Hermione pulled out the cup. It was beautifully made, and they all took a moment to admire it.
“Is there any way we can destroy the Horcrux without destroying the cup?” Hermione asked wistfully.
“I don’t know,” Harry said, equally sorrowful at the thought of destroying something so old and beautiful. “Either way, we need to go somewhere else to destroy it; we don’t want to call attention to ourselves like last time.”
“You mean you don’t want to call attention to yourself like last time, Harry. We didn’t do anything,” Ginny said, smiling.
“Where can we go?” Ron asked, “There are people in every room of the castle, and I can’t get into the Room of Requirement anymore either. Hermione and I tried to get in there a few days ago and the door wouldn’t appear…”
Ron trailed off as his face turned a brilliant red, and Hermione was suddenly much more interested in her shoes than in the conversation, while Ginny laughed gleefully.
Surprisingly, Harry said nothing until Ginny stopped laughing, and didn’t even try to poke fun at Ron.
“Dumbledore enchanted his office so that magic done inside wouldn’t be detectable outside,” Harry said, “and McGonagall will be out inspecting the camps for the rest of the afternoon.”
“And you can get in without asking,” Ginny finished knowingly.
“Well, most of the stuff in there is mine,” Harry said with a quick grin, and the others laughed.
It took a brief flash of fire and they were in McGonagall’s office. It was surprising how little the office had changed from when Dumbledore had been there; the whirring and clicking instruments were all in their places and Gryffindor’s sword was still on its stand on the wall, while the Sorting Hat sat on a shelf next to it.
“Well, Harry, I see you are taking your quest very seriously. Is that Hufflepuff’s cup I spy there in Miss Granger’s hands?”
They all jumped in surprise at the unexpected voice, and Ron fell over trying to turn around to see who was there. Harry was surprised as he turned around to find that the familiar voice actually was who he thought it was.
Dumbledore blinked down at them from behind his half-moon spectacles, a friendly smile on his wrinkled face. His portrait had woken up.
“Professor Dumbledore!” Hermione exclaimed happily, rushing over to the wall. Fawkes also sang out happily, and flew to a wall nearby and began singing quietly.
“Don’t be mistaken, Miss Granger,” the old headmaster said gravely, “I am only an imprint of the real Professor Dumbledore; I can tell you some of what he would have told you, and I can give advice and service to the new Headmistress as he would have given, but I am not the same thing.”
“I understand,” Hermione said sadly, though she was still excited to see him again.
“So, you have all been helping Harry find the Horcruxes,” Dumbledore continued, “Very good. I assume you are here to destroy it?”
“Yes, Professor,” Harry said, unable to conceal the bitterness in his voice.
“What’s wrong, Harry?” the portrait asked with concern.
“Why did he do it?” Harry shouted, surprising his friends. “Why did he weaken himself just to pass on his knowledge to me? I didn’t ask for it and I didn’t want it! I wanted him to stay and help me!”
Harry was on the verge of ransacking the office once more for old time’s sake when Ginny grabbed his hand, soothing him to the point of rationality once more. Still, he looked at the portrait for a response.
“He knew his time was coming, Harry,” Dumbledore said quietly. “Severus Snape had reported the task given to Malfoy, and he knew that it was a matter of time before someone succeeded eventually in killing him. He was even aware that it might be Snape that would do it. He needed you to be ready with the knowledge that would help you to complete your tasks. He knew, Harry, unfair as it might seem, that fate had made you the only hope of the Wizarding world, and he gave everything he could to see that you would succeed.”
Harry lowered his head, ashamed at his outburst.
“I miss him,” he said quietly.
“And he loved you, Harry. Never forget that. He saw you as something akin to his own son, or more appropriately given the age difference, as a grandson.”
There was a moment of silence, as everyone grieved for the events that had taken their headmaster from them. Finally, the portrait of Dumbledore interrupted them.
“So, Harry, why don’t we get on with the destruction of another piece of Tom’s soul? I really appreciate you choosing this particular room to accomplish that; I’m quite eager to see you get rid of him entirely.”
“Is there any way to save the cup?” Hermione asked hopefully.
“I’m afraid not, Miss Granger,” Dumbledore said sorrowfully. “The dark magic of the Horcrux has bound itself into the object itself. You could break the cup without destroying the Horcrux, but you could not destroy the Horcrux without breaking the cup. Perhaps afterwards, however, it could be repaired. I know some Goblins who are quite skilled at such things, and I would be happy to refer you to them.”
Harry nodded and once more motioned his friends to get behind him. As it had happened the previous time, the cup shot into the center of the room to hover in the midst of a shimmering shield. The wind stirred and began blowing through out the office, strange in its lack of direction, eerie in its silence. As the white fire encompassed the cup, however, something began to go wrong. Harry and Fawkes were completely focused on the cup, but they became aware of a strange resonance. Harry had never experienced anything like it, and he knew Dumbledore hadn’t either. At this stage, Harry knew that he had to continue with the cup, and did so. When Ginny began tugging his arm, and gesturing behind them, he suddenly realized that he could feel an intense heat on his back.
Realization hit him at exactly the same moment as the resounding thud signaling the destruction of the Horcrux occurred. Harry tried to turn and cover Ginny with his body, but it was too late. He felt hot knives of pain lance through his body, and was thrown through the air. His body hit the wall hard, and he lost consciousness instantly.
***
The smoke cleared slowly, but the portrait of Dumbledore waited patiently. You had to be patient to be a living portrait. When it finally did clear and he saw the destruction around him, his eyes widened in horror.
“Oh dear,” he said quietly, before rushing from his frame.
***
Professor McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey rushed into the headmistress’ office, out of breath from rushing to get there so quickly. They both stopped short at the sight that greeted them. Tiny bits of metal were embedded in the walls, and blood seemed to be everywhere. Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione all lay on the floor, obviously where they had fallen after hitting the wall. Many of the objects in the room were broken and scattered, and pages torn from books in the explosion were scattered all over, blown about by wind entering from a shattered window.
McGonagall’s eyes filled up with tears of fear and sorrow as she rushed to Harry’s side while Madame Pomfrey started with Hermione, who appeared to be the worst injured.
“You had better be alright, Mr. Potter,” she said quietly. “You need to answer for wrecking my office! And I am not going to cover your classes for any more than another few days.”
***
“Why does this keep happening?” Mrs. Weasley asked in a near shriek, “It’s getting ridiculous! Every other week we’re called into the hospital and one or another of them is in some kind of life threatening condition! And now it’s all four of them!”
“Now Molly, calm down…” Mr. Weasley started to say in a calming reasonable tone.
“Don’t tell me to calm down, Arthur! This has gone on long enough; if they can’t keep themselves out of the hospital wing then they can’t be allowed to continue to be so involved in the fight against Voldemort. We need to put a stop to it! Anything else would be irresponsible parenting!”
“Molly! You’ll wake them up…” Arthur tried to interject but he was over-ridden again.
“I hope I do wake them up! They’ve been asleep for long enough; I want to speak with them about what they’ve been doing. They can’t hold out on us anymore!”
“We won’t hold out… any more…” Harry said quietly and with difficulty from his bed in the hospital wing. He seemed to be having trouble catching his breath. “Assemble the Order… I’m… ready to fight… Voldemort.”
He barely managed to finish before passing out again, and Molly sat open-mouthed and angry at what she had just heard. Finally she just left, muttering about forcing McGonagall to put things right. Arthur sat back with a heavy sigh, and rubbed his eyes wearily before turning to the rest of his family.
“And why couldn’t you lot say anything?” he asked grumpily.
“Come on, Dad,” Fred answered wryly.
“We know better than that by now,” George went on.
“You have to pick your battles.”
“And you were never going to win this one.”
“They’re right,” Bill said with a grin, and Charlie echoed him.
“Well, hopefully Harry wasn’t just delirious and we can get this all done with,” Percy said pompously, and Fred smacked him hard on the back of the head. When he started to ask what that was for, George followed up with another. They had been doing that whenever he tried to speak, and not even Molly had been able to stop them; Arthur hadn’t even tried. He loved his son, but there was some atoning to be done, and Fred and George were the best suited to making it happen.
“We’d better put the Order on alert,” Arthur said with a sigh, getting up from his seat at Ginny’s side, “we want to be able to have a meeting with them as soon as they are all awake.”
They all went their own way, eager to find out what was going on, hoping they wouldn’t have to wait long.
***
Harry came awake again slowly, feeling as though he had been hit by the Knight Bus. His mouth felt like it was full of cotton, and he was desperately thirsty. He had been conscious briefly a few more times, thankfully enough that he had been able to talk to the twins, but not enough to really know what was going on with his injuries or his friends. He reached out with his mind and found that Fawkes was nearby and awake, not nearly as hurt as Harry felt. Fawkes connected to his mind, and he saw that there was a glass of water next to him, and a crowd of Order members scattered around the room. He reached for the glass first, and watched their reactions as they saw that he was awake. Several stood up in anticipation, but there didn’t seem to be too much surprise, so he assumed he wasn’t too badly hurt.
Madame Pomfrey bustled up with a beaker filled with a foul looking potion, and Harry groaned inwardly, but put a bright smile on his face.
“Madame Pomfrey! Pumpkin juice, right?” he asked with forced cheerfulness.
“That’s enough, Mr. Potter,” she said with a tight smile, “I think this potion will wipe that smile off your face in a hurry.”
Harry’s grin slipped as she tipped the cup toward him. As he gulped the potion, mostly to keep it spilling down his front, since he was certain it would leave chemical burns, he found himself experiencing a new and awful kind of pain. It spread throughout his entire body and then centered in his chest like a raging fire.
When the effects had lessened enough for him to speak, he coughed and spluttered “What was that supposed to do?”
“That was to teach you never to puncture your lungs more than once in a year,” she said while checking on the others. “I’m sure you will be pleased to know that everyone will fully recover, though you were hurt the least since the others were standing behind you.”
“And I would like to know why and how you blew up Godric Gryffindor’s sword and didn’t think to raise a simple shield to protect yourselves,” McGonagall put in sternly.
Harry took a quick accounting of the people in the room to make sure that there weren’t any present that couldn’t be trusted. Besides the entire Weasley family, there was Madame Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall, Remus and Tonks, Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Hagrid, and Harry had every confidence in all of them.
“When will the others wake up?” he asked, not wanting to exclude them from the meeting.
“I will wake them up now, if you need them,” Pomfrey said, walking around to each of their beds in turn. “Just be mindful that they will need to be asleep again soon.”
As she was doing that, Harry got up, feeling greatly strengthened since taking the potion. He cast a series of spells at the door and the room at large, sealing it and making sure that no one could eavesdrop.
The others were awake as he sat back down in his bed.
“What happened, Harry?” Ron groaned, as he tried to find a comfortable position.
“Godric Gryffindor’s sword was a Horcrux,” Harry answered, and the commotion that this information caused was intense.
McGonagall turned white as a sheet and looked as though she wanted to ask a dozen questions at once and didn’t know which one to pick first. Madame Pomfrey dropped the beaker she was holding and began cleaning it up hurriedly, while Moody was nodding thoughtfully with Remus and Tonks. The Weasley family was mostly confused, and Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were all dumbfounded.
“How is that possible, Harry?” Ginny asked in a daze.
“Dumbledore never understood why Voldemort came seeking that job, when both of them knew that Dumbledore would say no,” Harry informed them. “I didn’t even think about it until I sensed the resonance as I was destroying the Horcrux in Hufflepuff’s cup.” Upon learning that there was a second Horcrux, Pomfrey dropped the pieces of the beaker, and McGonagall sat down quickly, putting a hand over her heart. Even Moody’s eye was popping. “By then it was too late; the incantation that destroys a Horcrux works without the shield, and it works by proximity, which is why the shield is so necessary. Without it…”
“You end up cut to pieces with sword shrapnel,” Hermione finished. “So Voldemort somehow severed a piece of his soul before coming to Dumbledore’s office just so that he could put it in Gryffindor’s sword?”
“It’s brilliant, really,” Ron said thoughtfully, “No one would think that he could have had enough access to the sword since Dumbledore always had it and took good care of it, and it’s still one of the belongings of one of the Founders.”
“So there’s only one left,” Ginny said quietly.
“How many were there?” McGonagall demanded finally, deciding it was time to take charge and find out what was going on.
“And what in Merlin’s name are you talking about?” Fred asked with a wave of his arm to remind the rest of them that he was there, while George and the rest of the Weasleys nodded.
At Harry’s direction, Hermione took up the explanation and told the story of the Horcruxes and their quest to destroy them.
“And now there is only Nagini left, and she is going to be with Voldemort,” Harry said as she finished, “so it’s finally time to take the fight to Voldemort.”
“How are we going to find him?” Moody asked quickly, “We’ve been searching for his hideout for months and we’re no closer to finding it than we’ve ever been.”
Harry turned his face to towards Fawkes and had the brief disconcerting view of looking into his own eyes before he told Fawkes what to do and the phoenix vanished.
“I have insider information,” Harry said with a slow smile. “Kreacher?”
The old wrinkled house elf appeared at Harry’s side, mumbling to himself.
“Did my filthy half-blood master call?” he murmured, casting angry looks at everyone else present.
“How is your charge?” Harry asked slyly.
“The young master is very well, though he is very unhappy that he is held hostage by half-bloods and blood traitors,” Kreacher said unhappily.
“Good,” Harry said, pleased, “you can go back to work in the kitchens. You are to speak to absolutely nothing and no one until I tell you otherwise, and you are not to leave this castle or communicate in any way with anyone else.”
Kreacher favored Harry with his meanest grimace before vanishing with a crack. At practically the same moment, Fawkes reappeared in a flash of flames with none other than Draco Malfoy. Everyone seemed stunned except for Fred and George, who were looking at each other in a knowing fashion.
“Finally, I’m free of that awful cell and that confounded house elf,” the boy muttered. “What do you want, Potter? I’ve been here for a month, and you haven’t been to see me or asked me any questions or anything. Of course, you wouldn’t be able to see me at all, would you? I’ll tell you nothing!”
Malfoy looked at everyone in the room with undisguised interest mingled with hatred and contempt. He openly leered at Hermione and Ginny, and Harry felt himself grow furious while Ron began cracking his knuckles meaningfully.
Instead of saying anything to Malfoy, however, Harry turned to another part of the room.
“Fred, George, I believe that you two are the most qualified people here to make a ferret talk, and Moody can supervise if it gets too inhumane.”
Everyone in the room save Malfoy was grinning now, and Moody symbolically turned his head away; he would stop nothing. Malfoy swallowed nervously but continued to look defiant.
“Why don’t we just give the git some Veritaserum and be done with it,” Ginny said with open animosity.
Fred walked over to her and put an arm around her shoulder leading her away.
“Now, sister dear,” he said kindly.
“Where would the fun be in that?” George finished from where he was standing at a table, unloading several instruments and packages from his pockets.
“We’ll do things properly, have no fear!” Fred added as he went to join his brother.
“Although we didn’t know why, Harry commissioned a new line of products from our store during the Christmas holidays,” George said with a wink.
“And he asked us to bring them to this little meeting. We would never disappoint our largest investor and benefactor,” Fred finished.
“First,” George said, pulling out a plain looking rope, “we need to restrain the subject.”
As he spoke, he casually tossed the rope toward Malfoy; the pale boy had only a moment’s shock as the rope came alive in mid-air, wrapping around him tightly and binding his arms and legs together.
“This is a little item we like to call Verata-String. It will tighten slightly every time we ask a question and Malfoy lies or tries to conceal something. If he tells the truth partially and still holds something back, it will still tighten,” Fred explained, while Malfoy’s eyes widened in fear.
“We haven’t marketed this yet, because we haven’t figured out any safety features,” George added with a merry grin, “so if he keeps lying long enough, it will probably kill him.”
Molly Weasley shifted uncomfortably, but Arthur put a restraining hand on her arm, and for once she let the matter lie.
“Very well,” Fred said, steepling his fingers together while standing in front of Malfoy. “Where is Voldemort hiding?”
“How dare you say his name, you filthy blood traitor!” Malfoy snarled, ignoring the question.
The ropes tightened visibly and Malfoy grunted at the increased pressure.
“Are you sure you don’t want to add anything to that?” George asked sweetly.
“Rot in hell!” Malfoy snapped, before the ropes tightened again.
“I think he’s being very rude, Fred,” George exclaimed with mock indignity.
“I think you’re right, George,” Fred said sadly. “Itching?”
“Itching indeed,” George said, while Fred pulled out a small vial filled with glistening powder. He poured some into his hand and then blew it towards Malfoy. As it blew towards Malfoy it appeared to catch fire, and the unfortunate junior Death Eater screamed in terror.
“The fire is just an illusion,” George told them, while everyone laughed. “The real fun comes from fairly horrific itching… everywhere.”
They all continued to laugh as they watched Draco pale further, and begin to squirm against the ropes.
“So… Any ideas as to where old snake-eyes’ lair is?” Fred asked, his cheerful demeanor almost as comical as Malfoy’s obvious discomfort.
“I don’t know,” the boy said, a hint of panic entering into his voice.
The ropes tightened further, and the itching continued.
It took the ropes, the itching, several hallucinatory potions, and some plain non-magical fire ants, before Malfoy was convinced he should talk. By this time, Madame Pomfrey had put Ron, Ginny, and Hermione back to bed out of fear that the laughter would cause further damage. Only a sharp pain in his side kept Harry from laughing hysterically; he’d waited for years to see something like this, and he couldn’t help that it was intensely satisfying.
“Alright,” he croaked around the ropes, barely able to breathe, “I’ll talk! Just make the tiny Hippogriffs go away!” He was staring at the ants crawling all over him in terror. “He’s staying at Malfoy Manor, and it’s protected by every charm known to wizardkind, so you’ll never get in.”
The ropes tightened one last time, and Malfoy’s last connection to air was cut off. George appeared to be inspecting his fingernails, while Fred was coaxing more of the ants out of the jar and onto Malfoy.
“I… can… tell you… where… it is…” Malfoy choked out finally.
George waved his wand and the ropes loosened slightly.
“How do we get in?” Fred demanded, and this time the deadly earnestness in his voice was chilling.
A/N: Okay, so here it is; the beginning of the end. Don't worry everyony, because it will still take several chapters to finish. BUT, I am getting married one week from posting this chapter. That means that if the current trends continue, I won't be able to post another chapter before I leave on my honeymoon, which will mean I won't post again until mid-June. I hope you will all understand that my honeymoon is a lot more important to me. :) Anyway, after I get back, it should be business as usual, and updates that are as frequent as Mugglenet will allow. Thanks!