Harry Potter and the Serpent's Eye by Marauder9744
Chapter Notes: Thanks so much to everyone who has read and reviewed, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. Also, I’d like to thank my beta, LucyLupin. Without her, this story would be going no where. Thanks so much, LucyLupin! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and, if you can, please leave a review, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!
Chapter 9 “ Harry, Ron and Hermione discover how to destroy Slytherin’s Locket; the trio visits two familiar locations.
Harry awoke the following morning with a nagging headache; he lifted his hand and rubbed his scar, which was becoming a habit of his. Harry turned to his right and looked at Ron, who was snoring as loudly as Harry had ever heard him. Harry looked over at Hermione, who, thankfully, wasn’t snoring but sleeping peacefully.
Harry got out of bed, rubbed his eyes, and walked over to the window, where he lifted the blinds slightly: still dark out. He took one glance at Ron and Hermione and decided against waking them. Instead, he slipped out of the door and made his way silently down the stairs.
“Good morning, Mr. Potter,” said Tom, as Harry walked over to the bar and took a seat. “I trust you slept well?”
Harry merely shrugged at this and rubbed his eyes sleepily again. Tom looked at Harry with pity and poured him a glass of pumpkin juice.
“Oh no, Mr. Potter,” he said as Harry reached into his pocket for some money, “you will never pay here… the same goes for the room as well.”
“Thank you,” said Harry sincerely, and then he went back to his musings.
How to destroy the Horcrux? he thought. Harry figured that the best place to start would be back in the seaside cave where he and Dumbledore had travelled the previous year. Truthfully, though, Harry was not looking forward to returning to that horrid place. Getting into the cave wasn’t even the hard part, the hard part was figuring out how exactly to open the locket, which Harry thought would destroy the Horcrux.
Who would know something about the locket? Harry thought.
Just as Harry was lifting his glass to take another drink, the answer hit him square in the forehead. Why hadn’t he thought of this before?
Harry thanked Tom again for the drink and hurried back up to his room. He poked his head into the room, saw that Ron and Hermione were still asleep, and rushed over to his trunk where he pulled out the two-way mirror. Harry snuck back out of the room and back down into the still empty (except for Tom) bar.
He went back and took a seat at the secluded table where he and Ron had sat the previous night.
“Remus Lupin,” he said clearly into the mirror after sitting down at the table.
He hoped Lupin was awake because Lupin might be one of the only people who would know the answer to Harry’s question.
Within a moment or so Harry saw Lupin’s worried face in the mirror.
“Harry? Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine, I just… well I had a question to ask you,” said Harry rather lamely.
“Sure,” answered Lupin.
“Well… did you know Regulus Black “ Sirius’ brother?” Harry asked.
“Yes, we met once or twice. Why?”
“Well I think that there was something he knew that could be helpful,” replied Harry, trying his best to be sufficiently vague. “Do you know if he left anything at Grimmauld Place before he died “ a notebook or… a diary or anything?”
“Hmm, well, not that I know of, but he may have left some of those things at his house,” replied Lupin thoughtfully.
“You don’t happen to know where his house was, do you?” Harry asked, hoping desperately for a ‘yes’.
“I may have it written down here “ hold on,” replied Lupin.
After a moment or so Lupin’s face came back into view, “Number Sixteen, Spinner’s End, just outside Manchester… to the north,” he replied.
“Great!” Harry exclaimed, copying down the address onto a spare piece of parchment.
Maybe Regulus found out a way to destroy the Horcrux, he thought.
He thanked Lupin and was about to put the mirror away when he heard Lupin’s voice again.
“Oh, umm, Harry, there seems to be someone here who wants to speak with you,” he said smiling.
Harry stared back at the mirror with a mixture of confusion and excitement on his face. Within a moment, though, all of his questions were answered.
“Harry!” squealed Ginny’s familiar voice as she came into view. “Oh, Harry, I’ve missed you so much. How are you?”
Harry was now grinning from ear to ear. He had forgotten how much she brightened his life.
“Everything’s fine. Ron’s asleep, as usual, and so is Hermione. I think we may have caught a break as well.”
“That’s wonderful! What is it?”
Harry told her about his conversation with Lupin Ginny responded with what he had been expecting.
“Just be careful, Harry,” she said, sounding slightly like Mrs. Weasley
“I will “ don’t worry about me.”
“I’ll always worry about you, Harry. I’ll just be so relieved once you’re… in a minute, Mum!”
“You should go, Ginny,” said Harry, smiling to himself. “I’ll talk to you later tonight and let you know how everything goes, OK? I love you.”
“I love you too, Harry,” she said, kissing the mirror on her end before her face fell out of view.
Harry sat there for a moment, revelling in the small amount of time he had just spent talking to the girl of his dreams. Once this is all over, Harry thought as he walked back up to the room, I’m going to marry her.
Harry reached the door to the room, hoping that Ron and Hermione were finally awake, and heard angry voices coming from the other side. Harry cracked the door open and looked inside to find Hermione standing on one side of the room, wearing a towel and a scandalized look, and Ron on the other side of the room, looking extremely embarrassed. Neither of them seemed to have noticed Harry open the door.
“Well where else would I have been, Ronald?” said Hermione angrily, her face reddening.
“I’m sorry, alright Hermione? Blimey, I already said I didn’t know you were in the shower.”
“Did you not hear the water running?” she added, throwing him an angry look.
“Well yes, but… oh, hi, Harry.”
Hermione jumped up and shrieked when she noticed Harry standing in the doorway.
“Shut the door, Harry!” she yelled as she ran towards the bathroom and slammed the door shut with a snap.
Harry and Ron stood in place for a moment before Ron grinned sheepishly and turned towards his trunk.
“You didn’t see anything, did you?” asked Harry, trying his best to keep a straight face while at the same time hoping that Ron hadn’t seen anything. Harry could not imagine how embarrassed he would have been.
Almost on cue, Ron dropped the toothbrush he was holding and squeezed so hard on the toothpaste that the top shot off and toothpaste spewed all over his hand.
“No way! I mean, it’s not like she’s bad looking and I probably wouldn’t have minded seeing anything anyway.”
Harry laughed at his friend but then noticed Hermione standing in the doorway of the bathroom with a very annoyed look on her face. Harry tried to warn Ron but Ron’s back was turned on both Harry and Hermione as he spoke.
“I mean… well… I mean she’s actually not that bad looking really, you know, for Hermione. She does have rather nice “” but he was cut off by Hermione, who cleared her throat rather loudly.
“Yes, Ron, you were saying?”
“Er… umm… er… hair,” he said, his face as red as a radish. “You have very nice looking hair, right Harry?” he added with a slight squeak in his voice.
Harry nodded fervently.
“Oh, yes, beautiful hair, Hermione.”
She looked between both Harry and Ron with a scowl on her face and then, to Harry’s surprise, she smiled.
“No matter “ whatever you were going to say, Ron, it couldn’t have been anymore embarrassing than what I’ve heard Parvati say about you,” she said, a satisfied smirk on her face.
“Well now, wait just a minute. What did Parvati say “?”
“No time now, Ron, use your imagination,” she answered, now thoroughly enjoying herself from what Harry could tell. “Now, Harry, what are we going to do about the locket?”
* * *
Harry, Ron and Hermione left the Leaky Cauldron and Disapparated to what they hoped was slightly north of Manchester. They ended up in a small field next to a dirty river.
“Ew, it stinks here,” exclaimed Ron, covering his face with his hand.
Harry looked around at his surroundings and couldn’t help but agree with Ron. The sky was dark, and a light drizzle fell, giving the place an aura of decay. Harry could easily smell the river, which was to his right, the banks of which were heavily overgrown. Harry motioned to Ron and Hermione and the three of them set off down the cobbled street.
There were no people in the streets and the only landmark that Harry could see, besides rows of brick houses, was a large smoke stack from a mill that rose in the background, towering over all of the homes. They walked on and still saw no one, which gave the impression that the town was deserted.
“Here we go,” said Hermione, pointing up to a nearby street sign, “Spinner’s End.”
The three of them set off up the cobbled street that seemingly led towards the mill. They walked to the very end and checked the number of the last house on the street.
“Eighteen,” said Hermione, reading the number, “we must have passed it.”
They moved back one house but could not find a number on the side of the building or on the door.
“Here we go,” said Ron, scrapping away some overgrown plant on the side of the house, “this is it, number sixteen. Bloody hell, it doesn’t seem like anyone’s lived here for years.”
Harry found this to be very true. Thick vines and moss had engulfed most of the outer walls and windows of the brick house. The only spot not covered in thick weed was the front door. Harry reached out and tried the door… locked.
Ron glanced at him and pulled out his wand.
“Alohomora!” he said clearly, tapping the handle with his wand. Harry reached out and tried the door again… still locked.
“Hmm, I wonder,” thought Hermione out-loud.
She reached down and lifted the dirty doormat and underneath she unearthed a single key.
“How’d you know that there’d be a key there?” asked Ron staring at Hermione with a look of mingled fear and awe.
“My parents do the same thing,” she answered impatiently, striding forward and unlocking the door.
“Who in their right mind would leave the keys to their house under the front door?” Ron asked, but neither Harry nor Hermione answered.
The room was covered in a thick coat of dust. A small sofa sat in one corner of the room and a desk in the other.
“This is awful,” Ron said, clearing some of the dust by waving his hand in front of his face.
They walked slowly over to the desk where they found nothing but a small notebook with dark letters stamped across the front that read, HORCRUXES.
Harry found this to be very strange but picked it up and opened it to the first page almost immediately. He found nothing but a small list, scribbled so that it was very hard to read:
1. Diary??
2. Marvolo’s Ring
3. Slytherin’s Locket
4. Hufflepuff’s Chalice
5. Gryffindor’s Sword??
6. ??
7. Voldemort
The only other writing on the page was written sloppily and set near the bottom. It read, use the water.
Harry stood staring at the notebook for a moment… utterly speechless. This was by far the strangest thing that Harry had ever seen. Why would Regulus, who had gone to great lengths to steal one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes, leave his notebook lying on top of his desk? And furthermore, why would he make it so easy for someone to get inside of his house?
“It’s almost as if Regulus wanted someone to find this,” Hermione said sceptically, breaking the long silence.
“It is odd, isn’t it?” Harry answered, now rereading what Regulus had written. “But it’s helpful. He obviously knew about the Ring, the Locket, the Cup and the Horcrux in Voldemort. He assumed correctly that the Diary was one as well. He didn’t know about Nagini, but she wouldn’t have been a Horcrux when he died. It looks like he thinks that the other Horcrux is Gryffindor’s Sword, but that’s probably just a guess. According to Dumbledore, Gryffindor’s Sword is not a Horcrux.”
A hint of hope had entered Harry’s mind. This was just the kind of break that they needed. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his shrunken trunk and enlarged it. Harry opened the trunk and pulled out the leather bound notebook that Lupin had given him and he quickly scrawled down:
1. Diary
2. Marvolo’s Ring
3. Slytherin’s Locket
4. Hufflepuff’s Chalice
5. Ravenclaw/Gryffindor??
6. Nagini
7. Voldemort
After gazing at this for a moment, Harry drew a thick, bold line through the words Diary and Marvolo’s Ring.
“Now what does, use water, mean?” asked Hermione, staring over Harry’s shoulder and reading Regulus’ notebook.
“Dunno,” Harry replied, taking a seat in the dusty chair behind Regulus’ desk. The moment he sat down, however, a thought popped into his head and he stood back up.
“What if use water means that we have to go back to the cave and use the water in the lake… or… or the water in the basin,” Harry said, standing up and feeling truly confident for the first time.
“But didn’t “ didn’t Dumbledore drink all of the water in the basin?” Hermione asked timidly.
“Oh “ yeah,” Harry replied, sitting back down in the chair.
Harry buried his face in his hands for a second, rubbing his eyes furiously. What next? he thought.
“Come on, we had better get out of here,” he said abruptly, much to the surprise of Ron and Hermione.
Harry got to his feet, shrank his trunk and pocketed both his notebook and Regulus’. Ron blew out the candle he had lit and the three of them made their way to the front door. They opened the door and stepped out into the now heavy rain and distant rumble of thunder only to hear a gasp of surprise and a cackling laugh.
“Would you look at who it is, Alecto,” said the familiar voice of Bellatrix Lestrange, “it’s little Potter and his friends.”
Harry, Ron and Hermione were surrounded by five Death Eaters: Bellatrix, Alecto, Amycus, Crabbe and Goyle, all of whom had their wands drawn and pointed directly at the three of them.
“What’s this?” said Harry, trying to buy himself some time to figure out how to escape. “You shopping for a new home?”
It was the best that Harry could come up with at the time. His comment, however, was met with more laughter from the group.
“Look at him, Bella. Look at him, trying to make jokes,” sneered Alecto, brandishing her wand. “I can tell you this, Potter “ that may have been the last joke you’ll ever tell.”
The Death Eaters erupted into more laughter as they inched closer to Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Harry had to think quickly, but what was he to do? There was no way that he would be able to Stun all five Death Eaters, even with Ron and Hermione’s help.
The sky grew steadily darker and raindrops began to fall.
Bellatrix took another step towards Harry, her eyes wide with excitement.
“The Dark Lord will be so pleased with me,” she said, taking another step forward. “He will reward me, above anyone else, when he sees that I have brought him the “ Boy Who Lived.”
This earned more laughter from the other Death Eaters as Bellatrix advanced on Harry, a look of anticipation in her eyes.
“Do you want to know what it feels like to be tortured to madness, Harry? Or shall I torture one of your friends first?”
The thunder in the sky grew louder and Harry saw a bolt of lightning flash in the distance. Bellatrix took a step back from Harry and held her wand high in the air.
“This is the last time that I’m going to do this, Potter… Cruci “” but at that moment a bolt of lightning struck a nearby rooftop, sending sparks and shingles flying in all directions and thus distracting the Death Eaters.
Harry took his chance and grabbed Ron and Hermione by the arm and concentrated very hard on the cliff high above the cave where he and Dumbledore had been the previous summer.
“No! Stupefy!” cried Bellatrix, turning back to where they were standing, but her jet of red light missed by mere inches, hitting the front door. Harry, Ron and Hermione had safely Disapparated.
* * *
They landed with a thud in the moist grass, the strong smell of seawater stinging their nostrils. The dark rain clouds covered the sky here as well and hard rain fell on Harry, Ron and Hermione as they sat in the grass, collecting their thoughts.
“Oh, that foul woman!” cried Hermione, standing up and moving closer to the edge of the cliff. “You don’t suppose they knew we were there, do you?”
She had now turned back around and was staring at Harry, her head cocked slightly to the side.
“I don’t see how they could have,” replied Harry, shaking his head. “I mean, the place looked deserted.”
“But we found everything so easily,” said Hermione, letting out a small sigh, “it must have been a trap.”
“It did look like the kind of place where Death Eaters would live, bet they love the smell,” said Ron, which earned a small chuckle from Harry and Hermione.
The three of them moved over to the edge of the cliff, and made their way down to the small outcropping of rock where Harry had been with Dumbledore.
“Ready for a swim?” asked Harry, trying to sound calm, but feeling anxious.
He wasn’t sure if Voldemort had discovered that the locket had been taken from the cave, nor did he know whether or not any new enchantments or traps had been set.
Ron and Hermione nodded meekly, both of them looking into the churning sea with great apprehension. The swim would not be as easy. The wind was blowing hard now, and the rain was pelting the three of them with great ferocity.
Harry took a step towards the edge, and without a thought, jumped into the water. He immediately started swimming hard for the opening in the cliff where he knew the entrance to the cave was located. He heard two splashes behind him, indicating that Ron and Hermione had jumped into the water as well. The sea was icy and difficult to swim through, with the high waves that were now crashing hard into the nearby cliff.
They reached the slit in the rock face and swam into it, making their way through the tunnel. When Harry finally rose out of the water and into the long cave his hair stood up on end and his body was overcome with shivers, though he didn’t know whether this was due to the freezing water that he had just climbed out of or the fact that this was where he and Dumbledore had stood mere months before.
Ron and Hermione emerged behind him and Hermione, seeing Harry shivering, quickly preformed a Warming Charm on him.
“Better?” she asked, now performing the Warming Charm on Ron.
Harry nodded his head, but when he tried to open his mouth to thank her nothing came out. It seemed as if he was unable to speak.
Harry saw Ron and Hermione share a worried glance, but he put it to the back of his mind and moved over to where he knew the door to be. He pulled out a knife that he now kept in his robes at all times.
“Harry, what are you doing?” cried Hermione, looking horror-struck at Harry.
“The door needs payment, Hermione,” he answered as he raised the knife to cut his arm.
“Oh no, you don’t, mate,” said Ron rushing forward and ripping the knife from Harry’s hand before Harry had time to react. “We can’t have you hurt,” Ron added, his face now stark white.
Hermione shrieked as Ron, in one swift motion, sliced a deep gash in his arm. Scarlet blood spurted out of the wound and peppered the rock in front of the door. Ron winced in pain as he held his injured arm but his payment had been accepted and a blazing silver outline of a door appeared and then vanished entirely, leaving an entrance that led into total darkness.
“Are you alright?” asked Harry as he dropped down next to Ron.
“Fine,” he replied, “let’s go.”
Harry waited a moment, taking a second to appreciate the loyalty that his best friend had showed. He smiled to himself and then, with a confident step, he led the way into the darkness, muttering “Lumos” so that his wand tip ignited.
The three of them entered the cave to find themselves standing on the edge of the great black lake that Harry knew all too well.
“Bloody hell,” whispered Ron, still clutching his arm but gazing around the cave in awe.
They moved a little further along the edge of the water until finally Hermione spoke up.
“Regulus’ notebook said to use water, didn’t it?”
Harry nodded in agreement but he was reluctant to do just that. He assumed that use water meant that he had to hold the locket under the water until it opened, he also assumed, however, that doing this would cause the hundreds of Inferi that sat below the surface to awaken and come clambering out of the water.
“Harry,” tried Hermione again, “do you think you should try holding it under the water?”
“There are Inferi under the water, Hermione,” Ron replied irritably.
Hermione looked slightly shocked at first but then a look of understanding passed over her face.
“Oh, right,” she replied, gripping her wand tighter, “I remember.”
Harry took a bit more time to weigh his options while Ron and Hermione stayed quiet. If he held the locket under the water he was sure that the Inferi would attack them, which he did not want to happen. On the other hand, if he didn’t take that chance, what next? After a few moments of silently debating this he came to the conclusion that this was the best chance of destroying the Horcrux.
“Ron… Hermione, when I hold the locket under the water I need you be ready for the Inferi. Dumbledore said that they fear fire.”
Ron and Hermione nodded and moved cautiously towards the water with their wands drawn. Harry knelt on the ground with the locket in his hand and, after waiting only a moment, plunged it under the surface of the lake. The locket immediately began to vibrate in his hand but he held on to it.
Suddenly, the smooth surface of the lake began to churn furiously and hundreds of white corpses rose slowly out of the water.
“Impedimenta!” Harry heard Hermione cry from over his shoulder as a jet of light struck two of the nearest Inferi, causing them to stumble and fall back into the water.
The locket was burning in his hand, but he did not let go. He had to hold on.
The moment he said those words in his head the harder it became to hold the locket. Just when Harry felt that he would have to let go of the locket or risk burning his fingers, a slimy hand reach out of the water and wrap around his own arm.
“Incendio!” bellowed Ron and a jet of flames shot out of his wand and struck the Inferius that was holding on to Harry.
The Inferius immediately released Harry, but to Harry’s horror, more Inferi began to emerge from the water, some of them now reaching solid ground. The locket was burning even hotter now but still, Harry held on, knowing full well that it was working.
The locket, now glowing underneath the surface of the churning lake, became hotter still and then opened underwater, sending shockwaves throughout the lake, and causing the Inferi that were in the water to topple over.
Harry finally lifted the locket out of the water and saw that it now hung loosely open. Harry could feel, though he couldn’t explain how, that the Horcrux had been destroyed. He quickly pocketed it and whipped around to face the Inferi that were approaching Ron and Hermione.
“Incendio! Incendio!”
Jets of fire erupted from Harry’s wand and struck two Inferi that had a hold of Hermione.
“Ron!” she yelled, pushing the flaming corpses off of her body, “Harry “ save Ron!”
Harry whipped his head around only to see Ron being dragged into the water by a gang of Inferi.
“Petrificus Totalus!” Harry cried, causing all of the remaining Inferi that were carrying Ron to become motionless and drop him. Ron landed with a thud on the edge of the lake and had just raised his head to smile at Harry when a single white hand erupted from the water, wrapped its fingers around Ron’s neck and pulled him into the lake.
Hermione let a shriek of terror ring out and reverberate throughout the cave. Harry rushed over to the spot where Ron had disappeared and furiously began splashing the water around in an effort to see his friend.
“Ron!” he yelled, still splashing at the water’s edge. “Here, Hermione, light your wand and hold it above the water, I’m going in after him.”
She let out a soft whimper and lit her wand as she was told. Harry was ready to dive in the water when he saw the water begin to churn below him. After a moment of panic, Ron came flying out of the lake and landed on the bank with a soft thud.
“Oh, Ron!” cried Hermione, rushing forward and hugging him to her chest.
Although Ron was busy coughing up water, he looked like he was in heaven. Hermione released him and preformed a quick drying charm.
“Thanks, Hermione,” said Ron, sitting up and rubbing the spot on his neck where the Inferius had grabbed on.
“How’d you manage to get back up, mate?” asked Harry, smiling and sitting down next to Ron.
“Some quick wand work “ I’ll teach it to you sometime,” he replied as Hermione raised her eyebrows at him. “OK, well, the slimy git let go of me first, but mind you if he hadn’t…”
The three of them sat there laughing for a moment and then Ron spoke again.
“You destroyed it, didn’t you?”
Harry reached back into his robes and pulled out the locket, staring at the serpentine S on the front and answered Ron with a small nod.
Three down, three more to go.