Harry Potter and the Seventh Soul by PadfootBaby
Chapter Notes: My story is really getting away from the nice, safe outline I had written out for it! I didn't even know what I was going to write in this chapter before I typed it... And it turned out to be one heck of a chapter, with one heck of a cliffhanger... It's morphing into a good story, and I didn't even plan on something like this! Spooky...
They reached a wide, open field about five miles from Privet Drive late the next day. It was deserted except for two boys playing with a dog on the other side of the field. The five friends were completely ignored as they wearily trudged across the field to a small, secluded part sheltered by a cluster of trees. Harry called everyone to a halt and sat down on a forgotten bench in the corner. Everybody else sat down and gathered around him.
Harry pulled Rowena Ravenclaw’s jewelry box from his pocket. “Alright, let’s try and crack this thing open.” He passed it to Hermione first, who took it gingerly and stared at it in awe. “So this is it?” she whispered. She inspected it from all sides, then unsuccessfully tried to pry the lid from the bottom part. “Do you have any idea how we’re going to do this, Harry?” She passed the box to Ron, who began banging it against his knee.
“Not really,” Harry said. “Dumbledore never told me how he destroyed the ring, and I guess I never thought to ask him. D’you have any ideas?”
Ron suddenly swore at the box, glaring viciously at it. “How are we supposed to get this stupid thing open, Harry? Whatever it’s got inside, it sure doesn’t want to let it go!” He tossed the box to Neville, who stared at it wide-eyed. They all watched in silence as he tentatively prodded the lid with his wand.
There was a loud explosion, and Neville’s head was engulfed in a cloud of dark green smoke. Harry jumped up and drew his wand, but wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.
When the smoke cleared a few minutes later, Neville’s confused face appeared. He waved the leftover fog away and ran his fingers through his hair, which was now sticking straight up, as if it had been electrocuted. The tip of his nose was singed. A fine layer of soot had accumulated on his wand. “Well,” he coughed, “at least now we know what not to do. I guess it doesn’t like wands.”
Still coughing, he handed the box over to Luna, who took it cautiously. The box hadn’t suffered from the explosion at all and, apart from a faint odor of acid, was exactly the same as it had been before.
Luna quickly gave it back to Harry, who was staring at Neville. “And all you did was poke it with your wand?” he asked skeptically. He watched Neville as he tried to flatten his hair, which gave off sparks. Neville nodded miserably.
Harry shook the box by his ear. He heard nothing, yet something, some force inside, was keeping the lid glued shut. He grabbed the edges and, bracing the box against his knee, pulled with all his might. He strained against the pressure, but the lid seemed to be nailed in place, and wouldn’t budge. Harry finally gave up and tossed the small box onto the grass in front of them. “I swear, it’ll be a miracle if we can ever get this thing open! Voldemort sure knew what he was doing.”
“Want to have a go, Hermione?” Ron asked. “As the resident genius, surely you’ve got some sure-fire plan to get rid of it.”
Hermione picked it up, a pained look on her face. She turned it over and examined it from all four sides. She waved her wand over it several times in a complicated pattern, tried peering through the crack in the lid, then tried to crack it open with a large rock, but it wasn’t even scratched. Everyone else watched in silence. At last she gave up and burst, “I ” I just don’t know, Harry! I’ve never encountered anything like this before... I have no idea what to do! Surely Professor Dumbledore gave you some advice, hints to destroy or open Horcruxes...”
Harry’s despair mounted. What chance did they have if even Hermione couldn’t think of a way to solve this impossible, unbreakable puzzle? If only Dumbledore were still here... “No, he didn’t tell me anything. I’m not even sure what he was planning to about the ” the locket.” His hand automatically grasped the locket around his neck, teeth clenched. “I don’t know what to do...”
“Would ” erm ” Would ‘Avada Kedavra’ be able to do anything about this?” Ron said awkwardly.
Harry laughed dryly. “Even if I had the nerve to use that spell, which I don’t, it probably wouldn’t work. As far as I know, ‘Avada Kedavra’ is only for living things: people, or animals. I doubt it’ll work on a box, Horcrux or no Horcrux.”
Hermione threw down the jewelry box in frustration. “Then what are we supposed to do? How did Professor Dumbledore expect you to be able to do this on your own? Even all together, we can’t do it! And there isn’t anyone around, any older wizards or witches, who could help us.”
“I bet McGonagall knew something about Horcruxes,” Ron mused. “Wonder if Dumbledore told her something about these. Or Slughorn, possibly...”
Harry snorted. “Slughorn wouldn’t help us even if he did know something. He’s too scared of Voldemort. And who knows where McGonagall spends her summers, we’d have a better chance of finding Snape’s hideout than ””
He stopped. “Snape,” he breathed. “Snape... Wouldn’t he have known ” I mean, he was in on Voldemort’s inner circle... Yes, he could...”
Ron looked startled. “Snape?” he said. “Dumbledore would have trusted Snape with something that big? That’s even worse... I mean, if he did go directly back to You-Know-Who on ” on that night, wouldn’t he have told him about all you and Dumbledore knew? Wouldn’t he have wanted to let him know, being the spy and all?”
“But then why would he have gotten away from the other Death Eaters?” Hermione asked. “The quickest way back to V-Voldemort would’ve been with them...”
Harry kept silent as his friends discussed Snape. He didn’t tell them what Dumbledore’s portrait had told him, that Snape was still trusted and supposedly on their side. He didn’t completely believe it himself. How could Snape be on our side after doing such a terrible thing?... And how could Dumbledore still trust him... even when he’s dead because of him?
Harry tore himself back to the present and saw Hermione smirking at Ron, who was looking crestfallen and appeared to have lost their argument. “So that’s that,” she said smugly. “Snape wouldn’t dare to go back there, both the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix will be watching that house, he wouldn’t dare hide out there. Too many enemies to see him.”
“Where?” Harry asked quickly. “What ” Do you have any ideas as to where he might have hidden?”
Hermione gave him an exasperated look. “Yes, Harry. Haven’t you been listening? Ron said what if Snape had gone back to Grimmauld Place, and I told him of course not, Snape wouldn’t dare show his face in the Order’s headquarters, not after killing their leader, so ””
“Grimmauld Place!” Harry burst. “Ron, you’re a genius!”
Ron grinned hesitantly, looking pleased but slightly confused by the compliment. Hermione instantly looked hurt. “What?” she said sharply. “He’s a genius? Did I miss something? Why on earth would Snape run to Grimmauld Place?”
“No, it’s perfect, don’t you see?” Harry began pacing, mind working furiously. “Snape could’ve run to the Order headquarters to keep away from Voldemort, and maybe to hide with the Order as well...”
“What ” What are you talking about, Harry?” Ron asked slowly. Harry saw him and Hermione exchange a glance that clearly said, Harry’s finally lost it. Ginny’s death’s got to his head at last... “Why would Snape want to hide from You-Know-Who with the Order, when it’s the Order he betrayed, and the Death Eaters are his side? Are you sure you...?”
“I’m fine.” Harry swung on his heel and walked back, thinking. If Dumbledore was right, and Snape really is on our side, going back to the Order of the Phoenix would have been his only chance for redemption, to prove he was innocent... But they wouldn’t have been there, because they disbanded after Dumbledore’s death, leaving the house ” my house, he realized with some surprise. Number Twelve Grimmauld Place was now his. So I can get in, even if nobody else can... or can they? With their Secret-Keeper gone, would the Order, or Snape, even be able to get into the house? Or would only the ones who had been told by Dumbledore before he died still be able to get inside, but no one new?
He spun around again to continue his pacing, but then noticed his four friends staring at him expectantly. Oh yes, I didn’t say any of that aloud, did I?
He reluctantly filled them in on what Dumbledore had told him regarding Snape’s loyalties. For once, Luna listened hard enough that when he got to his reasonings about Grimmauld Place she actually raised an eyebrow in interest.
When he’d finished, Hermione murmured, “So apparently Professor Dumbledore did have a good reason for trusting Snape. But ””
Ron cut of Hermione, shouting violently, “What the crap is Dumbledore’s problem?! Snape killed him, for God’s sake! How can he possibly say he still trusts him, after that? Snape murdered him in cold blood! If I’d been killed by somebody I trusted, I sure wouldn’t trust him anymore! Is he completely mental or what? That’s just... That’s just...” He struggled for the right word for a moment, then seemed to deflate in front of their eyes. That’s exactly it, Harry thought.
“Be quiet, Ron,” Hermione hissed. She jerked her head behind them, at the boys playing on the other side of the field. They had come slightly closer, and were now staring strangely at Ron, who waved cheerfully at them before sitting back down. The two boys stared at him a moment longer, then seemed to shake themselves and continue their game.
“Do you want the whole world to hear about what we’re doing?” Hermione whispered reproachfully. “If you do, please, keep shouting like that.”
“Sorry,” Ron muttered. He looked over at Harry. “Okay, well let’s just say you’re right, shall we? So d’you want to go running off to Grimmauld Place to see if Snape has some fantastic potion or spell that can somehow destroy this stupid thing?” he asked, nudging the little box on the ground with his foot.
"I don’t know,” Harry sighed.
They all sat in silence, staring down at the small box that had been the cause of so much trouble. At one point, Ron joked feebly, “Could use a basilisk fang about now, eh?” When no one laughed, he clamped his mouth shut and went back to looking at the Horcrux.
Hermione was the first to break the silence. “It’s made out of wood... Could fire do something to it?” she suggested.
Harry picked it up and glared down at it. “I suppose it’s worth a try.”
They built a small, enclosed fireplace in their midst and lit some dry leaves on fire. Harry, coughing from the billows of smoke, tossed the box into the very center of the fire and prodded it deeper into the flames with a damp stick. They left it there for just over ten minutes, until Neville muttered, “If that was a normal jewelry box, it’d only be a pile of ashes by now.”
Hermione put out the fire with a stream of water from her wand, then kicked at the rectangular mound of black ash so it fell out of the fireplace. They all peered down at it for a minute. Finally Harry picked it up and blew on it. They all groaned in dismay as a thick layer of soot flew off the box, which seemed perfectly unharmed by the flames.
“Oh, man...” Ron muttered, putting his face in his hands. “This is bad.”
Harry closed his eyes. All that... and there’s not even a dent, not even a corner burnt off. But there had to be something! Harry opened his eyes again and inspected the box anew. Nothing... Nothing... It didn’t look as if they’d done anything to it. His gaze flicked over a small gouge visible in the soot, and immediately thought, Just a bit less ash there. But there was something about it... Harry brushed all the ash off the box and studied the corner that had caught his eye. He started, looking more closely at it.
There was a big chunk of wood missing!
“You guys...” he breathed. “Ron.. Hermione, Luna, Neville! Come here and take a look at this!” Attracted to the excitement in his voice, they all gathered closer. “Look at this!” Harry said. He pointed at the corner that was missing a part of itself. “Does that seem a bit... dented... to you?”
Hermione grabbed the box out of his hands and sat back in her place, staring at it. “Oh. My.” She automatically scratched at the spot. Her mouth dropped open.
Ron tapped her impatiently on the shoulder. “Hey, give us a look, will you?”
He almost fell backwards off the log he’d been sitting on as Hermione suddenly jumped up, pointing at the corner and squealing excitedly, “Oh, Harry! Do you ” Do you know what this means?! You’ve found the weak spot! If you ” If we’re going to open this box, this is where we’re going to have to do it! Oh, Harry!” She swooped down on Harry and kissed the top of his head. Harry noticed that Ron looked faintly annoyed. “Harry! This is the one and only place we could open it from! The weak spot will give us access to the inside!” She danced gleefully around in a little circle, laughing loudly.
Ron shot Harry a look that he could easily interpret. “Er, Hermione... Are you alright?”
Hermione slowed down and sat back heavily. “Sorry,” she said meekly. “It’s just ” After so long, so many failed ideas... we’ve found success! And now we know how we’re going to destroy this thing!”
“Uh... We do?”
She stared at Harry. “What? You mean ” You mean you still don’t know?”
“NO, we don’t,” Ron said impatiently. “Would you please enlighten us? And ”” he snatched the box from Hermione’s weakened grip, “” some of us still haven’t even seen whatever it is you two are goggling over.” He studied the corner, beginning to goggle himself. “Oh, wow.”
Hermione, ignoring him, began to explain. “You see, now that the outer magical layer of wood has been burnt off, we’ve made a section of the box vulnerable. Everything we try on that corner, now, it’ll work! You found the weak spot. Remember what happened when Neville prodded it with his wand?”
“Yes,” Neville cut in ruefully, still trying to fix his crackling hair.
“Well, now that we’ve uncovered a bit of unenchanted wood, if we prod that part with our wands, or try to do anything to it there, that won’t happen to us anymore! We can do things to it, and it won’t be able to fight back! And, since we found some normal wood...”
“Could we use the ‘Reducto” spell?” Harry asked, catching some of Hermione’s excitement.
Hermione beamed. “We should be able to!” she said. She drew her wand from her robes pocket, then hesitated. “Would you like to do the honors, Harry?”
“Yes,” Harry said grimly. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at Rowena Ravenclaw’s jewelry box. He opened his mouth, but stopped just before uttering the spell. “Will it also work on the piece of soul inside? Once the box is history, I don’t want to have a full-blown Voldemort jumping out at me, like the diary did.”
“It should work,” Hermione encouraged.
“Go on, Harry!” Ron said eagerly. Luna and Neville nodded in agreement, eyes fixed upon the little box in Harry’s hand. “Give it a good big blast, and I hope You-Know-Who feels it!”
Despite himself, Harry grinned. He turned back to the box and directed the wand at the weakened corner. He paused for a moment, hit by the significance of what he was about to do. If this works, one-fifth of Voldemort will finally be gone. If this works, there won’t be any turning back... I’ll really have to finish this thing, these events that Dumbledore started... He closed his eyes and bellowed, “REDUCTO!”
It came out louder and stronger than he’d intended, and he felt a wave of power explode from the end of his wand, smashing into the box in his right hand. He opened his eyes in time to see the box shake, vibrating with the force of his spell. It seemed to glow for a moment, then gave out a loud, painful shriek before bursting into a thousand splinters. A few flew into his hand, and Harry quickly closed his eyes and tilted his head back, gritting his teeth against the pain. He hadn’t been expecting such a violent explosion, and all he could think was that Hermione, Ron, Luna, and Neville had better have closed their eyes, too.
The onslaught of splinters ceased after a minute, and Harry cracked his eyelids open. He fully opened his eyes and looked down, at his right hand. At least ten huge splinters were sticking out of his palm. He felt a wave of nausea, and forced himself to look up, at his friends. They all seemed shaken, but unharmed. “Are you alright, Harry?” Hermione asked.
Harry tried to nod, but at that moment he felt a horrible burrowing sensation in his right palm. A strange, tingling pain slowly began to creep up his arm. There must have been a curse on the very inside of the wood, Harry thought vaguely. He heard Ron shouting as if from a great distance away, then fell to the ground as everything went black.
A Note to My Readers:
Muahahaha!!!! Such a bad cliffie... >:D And I won't be updating for another month, so enjoy the speculation while you can!!! See my profile for details, and I'll be seeing you soon!!!