To Love and Live by LilaBear
Chapter Notes: This is my first fan fic, so please be nice! ;P I hope the flashback isn't confusing- it's long, but necessary. It gives lots of background info on where Harry and his friends are now. Hope you enjoy it! :)
Harry buried his face in his hands and suppressed a growl of frustration. Voldemort was supposed to be here. He’d been so sure. Even Hermione thought so! But Harry, Ron, Luna, and Colin had searched the whole of Malfoy Manor, inside and out, and still it sat there, an empty shell.
Colin flopped down on the floor of the manor’s foyer beside Harry, and flicked a glance at him.
“This isn’t your fault, Harry,” he said. Harry dropped his hands from his face and fell onto his back, staring at the ceiling above him. Luna knelt beside him, her head cocked to the side slightly, hey eyes curious.
“Harry,” she started, “Harry, didn’t Hermione say something about stones?”
Harry frowned slightly, and cast his mind back to the day he’d had the discussion with Hermione.
Harry, Ron, George, Remus, Arthur, Tonks, Charlie and Luna stumbled through the front door of Grimmauld Place, exhausted. George looked around the room and saw nobody.
“Fred?” he called. “FRED?”
The noise woke Mrs Black’s portrait.
”BLOOD TRAITORS!” She screamed. “Shame on you! Shame on my son! My house, my beautiful house, INFESTED! You disgusting, vile…”
The group’s attention shifted from her to the crowd that had gathered at the sound of George’s yell.
Remus opened his mouth to speak but paused while trying to consider what to do about Mrs Black. George rolled his eyes.
“Shut up, you old hag!” he yelled. “You have nothing more to rant for, because soon, Voldemort will be dead! WE GOT THE SEVENTH HORCRUX! DESTROYED, GONE!”
“YEAH baby!” Fred cheered with a leap into the air, landing on top of George in a massive bear hug.
Molly’s face had paled. Ginny and Hermione glanced at the bedraggled group, almost afraid to hope. Hermione stared at Harry, a questioning look in her eyes. Harry nodded.
“It was Luna,” he said. “She destroyed it, not me. It was Luna.”
Molly burst into tears and rushed at Luna in a frenzy. Hermione looked confused.
“But, Harry… I thought only you could destroy them?”
“Said who?” he asked.
“Well, Dumbledore… Dumbledore only told you about them.”
“Dumbledore didn’t know about Luna what we know about her today. Her skills are amazing, Hermione. She’s three times the witch she was in our sixth year. Dumbledore knew I would go to you and Ron. He obviously trusted my judgment. You discovered the general area the Horcrux might be- Luna lead us straight to it.”
The entire group had silenced its cheers and laughter and was listening intently to Harry. Charlie nodded in agreement.
“Don’t worry Hermione, Harry was amazing. He was the only reason we were able to open the door to the room that held the Horcrux.”
“What was it, Harry? What was the Horcrux? Was it Hufflepuff’s cup or Ravenclaw’s harp?” Hermione asked.
Harry nodded.
“It was the cup, like you thought. Much easier to hide than a harp.”
“What guarded it?”
All faces turned to look at Ginny, who had asked the question. Her face was stony, expressionless. It was like she was almost afraid to find out but didn’t want them to know. Arthur spoke up.
“Amazingly simple, but incredibly effective,” he said. “Dementors. Dozens of them. I suspect they haven’t always been there… perhaps the old charms wore off, or were removed previously… Dementors won’t willingly hang round in a place where they can’t readily feed off people’s happy memories.”
Hermione blanched.
“Which means… they were starved when you found them.”
Remus nodded. “They were definitely ready to attack.”
“How on earth… how? How, Harry? How do eight people defeat dozens of Dementors?”
A smile curled onto Harry’s face as George fought to keep his straight and innocent.
“I have to admit, it was almost the most fun I’ve had all year,” Harry smirked.
Molly frowned at the look on George’s face.
“George, what did you do?”
A grin spread over George’s face as the light dawned on Fred’s face too.
“Oh George, you didn’t,” he said as he burst into laughter.
“Would someone just tell us?” Ginny demanded. George grinned.
“Last year Fred and I got a whole bunch of joke memories to put into a new lolly,” he started.
“You WHAT?” Molly exclaimed. “You weren’t intending on giving people fake memories, were you?”
“Oh, mother, they only last fifteen minutes,” Fred said, rolling his eyes. “George my man, do continue.”
“When we opened the tunnel door, we were met with that cold smell. You know it. That Dementor smell. I don’t know why, but I had a stroke of genius, as I am inclined to do.” (Ginny snorted). “I told the others to hold the fort, and Apparated back to the shop. I grabbed our entire stock of Memories- a thousand vials, if I remember correctly-“ (“The ENTIRE STOCK?” Fred groaned), “- and Apparated back to the library. These were pure happy, or silly, memories. The Dementors were more attracted to them than our mixed up, depressed memories. Throwing them outside, where they smashed and lured the Dementors out of the tunnel, combined with an excessive amount of chocolate and our sexy Patronuses, we didn’t have much trouble at all.”
George grinned at the memory.
“Of course, it was terrifying at the time,” Remus spoke up. “The Dementors might be focused on the fake memories- they’re not too bright, you know- but it’s just natural that they still suck energy and happiness from anybody around them.”
Ginny stared, unblinkingly.
“Fake memories?” she asked. “Fake memories, that was it?”
Suddenly Hermione burst into laughter and leapt at George, enveloping him in a hug.
“Oh, George, that’s brilliant!”
Later that night, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Fred, George and Ginny were gathered around Hermione, Fred and Ginny’s research. Ron was awestruck.
“Blimey, Hermione, we were only gone three days. How much research can you do in three days?”
Hermione looked up, surprised.
“Oh, that’s not half the research I used to do for my Potions essays,” she said. Ron went white.
“You studied for Potions?”
“Ok, guys, that’s enough,” Harry muttered. “We have a Dark Lord to catch.”
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The Order had agreed that the Aurors who were on their side- Tonks, Moody, Shacklebolt- should do the field work along with the older, more physically able men (Charlie, Bill, Arthur and Remus). It was also agreed that Harry and Ron had to go, and the young people were determined that the twins should have a presence in both the field team and the research team.
Luna had also proven herself to be an exceptionally fast thinker over the past eighteen months- moreso even than Hermione. Hermione may have had more knowledge than Luna, but Luna recalled what she knew faster. Which still didn’t make her any more socially fluent.
Hermione, on the other hand, had been willing to work wherever she was needed most. She had exceptional knowledge of books and Hogwarts history, and it was through her work that the identities of most of the Horcruxes had been discovered.
Ginny- who everyone had adamantly denied the opportunity to join the field team- had decided to join Hermione, as did Fred, who knew far more about history and geography than Hermione had ever guessed.
“You didn’t actually listen at Hogwarts, did you, Fred?” she had asked.
“What? Listen? No. You’ll find I know next to nothing about Potions and Herbology though, while George is amazing. I did his History and Charms essays, he did my Potions and Herbology ones,” Fred had shrugged in response.
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“So, Hermione,” Harry asked. “What have you found?”
Hermione frowned as she flicked through her notes.
“I found a record of a prophecy,” she said. “It’s amazing. I don’t know why Dumbledore never mentioned it. It talks about the downfall of a great wizard in a yard of stones.”
“Is that it?” Ron asked dubiously. Hermione glared at him.
“Of course not. It talked about The Boy Who Lived, too.”
Ron perked up.
“So it involves Harry. And the downfall of a great wizard. Harry, Harry, you’re going to beat him!”
Hermione glared at Ron again.
“Harry IS a great wizard, Ronald,” she said. “All we know, from this particular prophecy, is it involves Harry and the downfall of a great wizard in a yard of stones.”
George leant back in his chair, balancing on the back legs. Harry saw Ginny’s right hand pull something from under her robes, and watched as her eyes drifted down to look at something under George’s chair. He saw her lips move slightly, and suddenly there was an almighty CRACK as George went toppling backwards.
“But surely you fou-waaaaaah OUCH!” George rubbed his back. He looked at the back legs of the chair, now snapped. “Bloody chair,” he muttered. Harry met Ginny’s eyes and bit back a grin. George looked up from his place on the floor.
“But surely you found more than just one prophecy? A yard of stones, that’s pretty vague.”
Fred nodded as he gave George a hand, pulling him back up and fixing the chair with a wave of his wand.
“We did a lot of…uhh… negotiations, you might say, with Rita Skeeter.”
“You what?” Harry asked as he raised his eyebrow. Fred grinned.
“She knows a lot, you know. And a beetle as a spy is very handy.”
Ginny rolled her eyes. “We blackmailed her, Harry.” Ginny suddenly got serious. “But she went above and beyond what we asked her to do. She went to Malfoy Manor, Harry.”
Harry raised both his eyebrows.
“And?”
“She saw Narcissa yelling at Draco. Telling him to prepare the guestroom for the Dark Lord.”
Ron’s eyes widened.
“Rita saw Narcissa say that You- Know- Who will be staying at Malfoy Manor?”
Hermione nodded.
“We talked to Dobby, too. Harry… Dobby said Narcissa’s pride and joy is her rock garden in their back yard.”
The grin George had developed when he heard of their blackmailing Rita Skeeter disappeared.
“Great wizard… stones… yard…”
Hermione nodded.
“You have to go to Malfoy Manor, Harry.”