To be Normal

Harry stood on the balcony of his new house. The view was so amazing. He had been looking forward to it all day while he was packing up his belongings and shrinking the boxes in Godric's Hollow. Last week when he came to look at the house for the first time, the location had been the major selling point. When he turned north he could almost believe that he was standing in the middle of a forest. Not a house within sight. In this lovely weather the blue fjord was blinking, little waves washed up on the shore. The sea had made a narrow passage between the impressive mountains that shielded the little town from the rough winds of the North sea. Behind him there really was a town, cradled safely in the green valley.

He felt like he was inside a beautiful fortress. Full of life and blossoming in the summer heat. The mountains surrounding the town felt like huge guardians. Never in his life had he known such safety. The treat that had been hanging over his head for seven years was gone now. He survived, got rid of the burden, and made the world a much safer place for everyone. Well, everyone except Ron, Sirius, Dumbledore and the others who fell during the war.

Harry had begun his hunt around the time when he turned seventeen. The goal was clear. Destroy Voldemort. Destroy every single part of him. An enormous task that had to be done, step by step. He had to track down all the Horcruxes. At the end of the school-year Harry had gone to Privet Drive. In the end Ron, Hermione and Harry had decided to part for a few weeks, especially Hermione needed to spend time with her family. Harry was glad to get a moment to himself. He was still full of sorrow, and had to take a little time to sort through the memories. It was helpful to gather his thoughts, and make a some plans.

When he arrived at the Dursleys' a card-board box had been sitting on his bed, waiting for him. It was a gift from Dumbledore, and contained many interesting objects. A weird gun-like device with an aerial turned out to be an instrument for detecting magic, it went high-wire when pointed at his trunk or the box. Harry felt like Christmas had come early, and still he had half a dozen things to look at. A knife similar to the one he got from Sirius was the next thing he pulled out. It seemed a bit more advanced though, like the deluxe version. The blade on the old one melted when he tried to use it in the Department of Mysteries. A spare invisibility cloak lay on top of a small pile of books. Next to it he found a foe-glass, and the most exciting thing of all, a tiny Pensieve.

He had placed it carefully on a table and prodded the surface with his wand. It was all a routine now, after using Pensieves with Dumbledore on numerous occasions. He landed safely inside the Pensieve, and found himself standing in the familiar headmaster's office. There was no painting of Dumbledore on the wall, he was standing next to Harry. His hands were still whole, and he held a ring in his hand. The one which once were on Slytherin's finger.

Dumbledore carefully bent down and placed it on the floor. Then he straightened up and pointed his wand at it. A look of determination came over his face, then an orange jet of light shot out towards the ring. Harry nearly jumped when Dumbledore let out a small cry of pain and dropped his wand. He held his hand out, and his finger-tips looked slightly black. He picked up his wand again, this time the jet of light was bright white. Harry wasn't surprised when Dumbledore once again dropped his wand. Now most of his fingers were black. Harry wished he could have stopped him when he aimed a new spell at the ring, but couldn't help that Dumbledore's hand now was almost entirely black. He walked closer to him, and for a moment they both stood unmoving while starting at the hand. Suddenly the darkness seemed to increase. Blackening the fingers even more, and more of the hand turned a slight black. Dumbledore turned, and ran for the door.

At this point the room started to swirl, but came into focus again seconds later. Dumbledore was back, only now both of them had moved closer to the fire-place. The flames were green and so warm, Harry could barely stand to be so close. A strange metallic liquid was bubbling in the cauldron. Dumbledore lifted his black hand, and dropped the ring inside. He took a few steps back. Then came a small explosion. White fog rose from the cauldron and slowly faded away. The metallic liquid looked the same as before. The last thing Harry saw before he was back in his own bedroom was Dumbledore's face as he turned around. He looked very pleased.

Harry continued to go look through the big box while he digested what he just saw. At the very bottom he found a small box. He opened it, and read the note inside.

"Dear Harry,

In this box you will find the key to your parents house in Godric's Hollow, in their will they asked me to take care of their property until you turned seventeen. I've taken the liberty of restoring the house to its old condition. You should ask Remus to take you there when you are ready.

I'm so sorry that I won't get to witness any more of your adventures, but my time had come. I wanted you to have some of my more useful possessions to help you in your quest.

I wish you good luck in life.

AD."

Two weeks later Mr. Weasley and Ron came over to pick him up. They had arranged a special port-key for the occasion. Apparently the Minister was getting increasingly concerned with Harry's safety. At the Burrow Hermione, Mrs. Weasley, Tonks, Bill, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mad-Eye Moody and Professor McGonagall were waiting for them. Harry had sent an owl to Mr. Weasley requested that they would meet him there, and he had arranged it. These were the people he felt he could trust as they had proven themselves in many ways. They had fought together either in the Department of Mysteries, at Hogwarts or both. Most important of all, they had Dumbledore's trust as members of the Order.

He knew he needed all the help he could get. He would have wanted Hagrid to be there too, unfortunately he knew him all to well, and it didn't take the biggest effort to wrestle secrets out of him. It was a risk he couldn't afford to take. Mrs. Figg were also an Order-member, but since she was a Squib, she would have a difficulty protecting herself from the Death Eaters, and Harry didn't want the dear old lady to be in to much danger. The rest of the members of the Order he felt too insecure about, Dumbledore's opinion or not. At this point he didn't trust his judgement completely.

Remus greeted Harry with a hug, while Mrs. Weasley questioned him about whether he'd eaten dinner. He lied and told her that he had, as he was very eager to talk to the people present. A lot of thoughts had been growing in his mind, now he needed to get things done. They all settled down in the living room. The rest of the Weasley family was out playing Quidditch, but McGonagall cast a Silencing Charm on the room. This conversation was far to important to be over-heard.

Because Harry was the one who gathered them all there, he started talking. He needed to fill them in on what he was planning to do. Ron and Hermione already knew most of it. He told everyone why they were there, and asked them if they agreed to help him as much as they could. Everyone agreed without hesitation. Harry proceeded to tell them about the Horcruxes and the Prophecy. Tonks let out a gasp and looked horrified at the thought of it.

"Well, that explains a lot!" Kingsley said. They all seemed to feel somewhat more confident now that they knew more about what they were up against, killing Voldemort didn't look as impossible as before.

For the next hour they shared relevant information. Harry pulled out the note he found in the fake Horcrux. Everyone became very interested in the mysterious "R. A. B.". For a while they tried to think of names that fit the initials, and a few were mentioned. Harry didn't recognize any of them. Remus was the first think of a known Death Eater, Regulus Altair Black. Harry and Ron exchanged looks at this information. Ron had his mouth half-open, and was just about to say something when Hermione jumped out of her seat.

"The locket in the cabinet!" She looked around at Harry and Ron. "Remember? We found one while cleaning out Grimmauld Place. Maybe it's the one. I didn't think of it before, but if it was Regulus who found it..." She sat down again, suddenly a bit embarrassed about her out-burst.

After much discussion the conclusion they came to was that this was in fact the most likely. It was decided that after the wedding Harry, Ron, Hermione and Moody would go to Grimmauld Place to look for it. Moody had insisted to be the one to come, he didn't trust the old house without Dumbledore's protection on it, and his magical eye could be useful for spotting danger. They feared that Mundungus Fletcher might have stole the locket, but weren't entirely sure that he had gone through the sacks of stuff they had cleared out of the house and put in the shed in the back. Hopefully he'd stolen items still inside the house, they were more valuable after all. A locket no one could open didn't seem that likely to be of interest to him.

Finally Harry told them about the gifts from Dumbledore, everyone was very interested in the magic detector as they didn't have the old wizard's ability to sense magical traps and objects. Then he told them about the key and his wish to move there.

"I'm not surprised, I figured you didn't want to worry about home-work and curfew at this point," Bill said. His parents did not seem to agree.

"You're very soon of age, Harry, so if that's you want I'll take you there." Remus half-smiled to him.

"We're going too!" said Ron, his hand resting on Hermione's shoulder.

"Ronald!" Mrs. Weasley could no longer hold back her protests. "I really don't think that's a good idea, what about school, and friends, and Quidditch, you're too young to worry about anything else. You should not be involved in this risky business, I've tried to keep my kids out of it! It's so dangerous!"

"I'm of age! And you know I can't abandon Harry now. He has no choice! Hogwarts might not open anymore anyway, we all have to do everything we can now. I want to do what's right, and not what's easy and safe!" His parents seemed to find it hard to object to this, but Molly looked heart-broken, and Harry saw fear in her eyes. He knew Hermione had gone through the same thing with her parents, she sent him an owl a week earlier. They had accepted her choice in the end.

Soon they all went home or to bed. Everyone had a lot to think about. For the Weasleys the next days were busy with preparations.

Bill and Fleur's wedding was lovely, although Harry mostly sat at his table with Ron, Hermione and Ginny. They had a fun time, but often Harry would look at the other guests, wishing they weren't in such grave danger. The wish to make the world safe again burned even stronger inside him when he saw their happy faces.

After the celebrations were done with Harry, Hermione and Ron moved to Harry's house in Godric's Hollow. Actually the day they moved in was Harry's birthday. They set up security the same way they did with Number 12, Grimmaulds Place, with Harry as the secret-keeper. The Weasleys, Remus and Tonks helped them settle in. Harry felt really weird being back where he had spent his first year, and his parents had spent their last time together. He felt closer to them then he had been for sixteen years. The cottage was in good condition. It didn't look more than five years old. According to Remus the shape of the rooms were the same as the had been, the colours too. What it was lacking was the personal stuff, and it was clear no one had ever used the furniture, which was simple and made of solid wood.

They worked quickly to put up some pictures. The cottage was quite large, with three bedrooms, a bathroom, a separate toilet, living room, a small room used as a kind of office, and a comfortable kitchen. They voted that Harry got the larger bedroom, it was his house after all. Mrs. Weasley and Hermione had taken some of Harry's money and gotten some plants, pillows and other stuff for a more cozy feeling. Harry was really glad now that he had some money. It would be a bit risky for him to get a job and be seen in public a lot. He had more than enough to last for a few years. By then the war would hopefully be over, he didn't want to think about what might come after, it was hard to imagine that he could beat Voldemort and stay alive to see even his next birthday.

The next day Moody came over to their house. It had been arranged for Harry and Ron to take the Apparation test at the Ministry, due to the fact that they weren't going back to school with the others. Their fireplace had silently been connected to the Floo Network for a few hours. This way they were able to land safely in the Ministry of Magic and get to the Apparation Test Center without too much risk involved. Half an hour later both boys had their licenses. Harry passed with flying colours, Ron did too after an antagonizing five seconds were he seemed to be near panic.

Harry, Hermione and Ron waited in the Hall next to the restored fountain while Moody apparated to Grimmaulds Place. He came back three minutes later and declared that the house seemed to be safe, but as a precaution he wanted them to have their wands out. One by one they apparated in front of the backdoor and walked over to the shed. When Harry arrived he pulled the Magic Detector out from his backpack. Hermione opened the door to the shed. Several rubbish sacks stood there still. They pulled one out and started looking through the content carefully. None of it seemed to be from the cabinet, so they put it back and started on the next one. In the third one they found some stuff from the cabinet, the musical box and the Order of Merlin. They dug around for a long time, and Harry was getting worried, but then Ron pulled out his hand with the large gold locket dangling from its chain.

Harry pointed the Magic Detector's aerial on it, and it started buzzing and vibrating. Moody stuffed the sack back in the shed and closed the door. Then they apparated back to Godric's Hollow. When safe in their living room Harry examined the locket, it had a snake on the front. Still he was unable to get it open. Moody sent out his Patronus for Remus, and Tonks too if she was with him. They both arrived ten minutes later.

Harry had told them about what he saw in the Pensieve. Clearly magic did no good, they had to find a Muggle way to destroy it. Hermione suggested using nitrohydrochloric acid in a cauldron made from tungsten. She explained that the acid would dissolve gold, but not tungsten under normal temperatures. Ron looked amazed at her, but she shrugged her shoulders and muttered something about liking chemistry.

McGonagall was summoned to transfigure the cauldron, while Remus and Hermione worked on the acid. Once the acid was ready they had to work fast because it was unstable. As a precaution they all walked over to the other side of the room while Harry levitated the locket into the liquid. For a while nothing seemed to happen. Then came a small explosion, and like in Dumbledore's office a white fog rose out of the cauldron before fading away.

After cleaning up they had some tea and cookies. Everyone was feeling optimistic and joyful, they were a step closer. Harry mentally counted, three down, four to go. A smile spread on his face, and he joined in on the conversation.

Life in Godric's Hollow went on. Harry liked it there, it was comfortable and peaceful, even with the horrors taking place in other parts of the world. They feel in to a routine were Harry did the cooking, and Hermione the cleaning, Ron helped them both. They set up a Muggle television to be able to watch the news, Harry really wanted to see the effect Voldemort had on the Muggles. The result however was that Ron became addicted to football, and a major Manchester United fan. Harry and Hermione didn't really share his enthusiasm.

Usually Hermione was busy in the room they used as an office. They kept their books in there, most of them were Hermione's. She spent a lot of time researching the Horcruxes. Her stack of notes soon became at least a foot high. Professor McGonagall knew how important her work was, so she told her to write to her if she needed any book in the library so it could be sent to her. Hermione did not need to be asked twice, she used this opportunity regularly. One time she got Remus and Tonks to take her to Diagon Alley to get some special books, and of course more parchment and quills. Harry sat there with her sometimes and they had long discussions about the Prophecy, Rowena Ravenclaw, snakes and Voldemort. Hermione collected paintings of Ravenclaw from books, trying to spot objects that could have made it through the centuries and ended up becoming Horcruxes. She also discovered that Hepzibah Smith was in fact Zacharias Smith's father's aunt. Harry wanted to talk to him, and he had also been wanting to talk to Hagrid for some time.

A rainy afternoon Harry apparated to Hogsmeade, he would have liked to take a look around, but the weather made Hagrid's hut more tempting. He ran half the way and soon found himself outside the door. When he knocked he heard eager barks, and Hagrid opened the door.

"Harry! I was worried when yeh didn' come ter school this year, I mean, a lot o' kids were gone, but you I was sure nothin' could scare away from Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall told me yeh were safe, I've had tea with her a few times. She's doin' a great job, Dumbledore's shoes aren' easy to fill. They were very close yeh know, I see her by his tomb ev'ry day." By the time Hagrid stopped talking Harry had taken a seat, and Hagrid was offering him a cup of hot chocolate.

"Yeah, you know, Hogwarts is not the same for me without Dumbledore, " Harry said, not sure how to explain. "I felt that my place during the war was not at Hogwarts..."

"I knew yeh'd be importan', an' if I can help yeh with anythin', jus' say the word."

"Thanks, that means a lot to me." In fact simply being in Hagrid's hut made Harry relax, and feel safer. Sometimes Harry wondered if maybe this was what it was like to have a grandfather to visit. A very tall dragon-obsessed grandfather. For a long time they talked about Ron, Hermione, Witherwings and Grawp. In the end Harry had to go, he wanted to get to the library in good time before curfew. He was supposed to pick up a couple books for Hermione.

Walking into Hogwarts felt strange, he had his own house now, but this would always be the first place he could remember feeling at home. The library was a bit crowded when he got there, and he was very pleased to see Zacharias Smith sitting at a table with Hannah Abbot, Susan Bones and Justin Finch-Fletchly. After he collected Hermione's books, he walked over to their table. He sat down next to Zacharias, everyone looked up and greeted him while looking a bit surprised. Harry tried to act like he wasn't doing anything unusual.

"So, how's the new Defence teacher?" he said, trying not to rush into the subject he really wanted to talk about.

"I think the boys should answer that!" Hannah replied, sounding a little hurt, and shooting a glare at Justin. He happened to be looking in the opposite direction.

"Er... she's... very nice," Zacharias told him when he realized no one else were going to answer.

"Oh yeah? Just nice? Come on, you guys have been talking about how sexy she is for weeks," Hannah said. Harry now realized that apparently Gryffindors weren't the only ones who got jealous.

"She held an interesting lesson today, about South-American wizards. They used a lot of terrible dark magic over there in the old days according to the legends." Zacharias tried to smooth over the tension. "I think she's Mexican."

"Where's Ernie?" Harry asked to change the subject.

"His family didn't want him to come here any more now that Dumbledore's gone. He's being home-schooled. Lots of parents want to keep their kids nearer now. I think there's only half as many students here as there used to be. The ones who do come are mostly the ones like me and Hannah who has more family at this school than at home. And a lot of Muggle-borns don't want to lose contact with the magical world," Susan said. "So, what have you been up to?"

"Not much, I try to read a bit so I won't fall to much behind when I'm not in school. Guess that's Hermione's influence speaking. I read an interesting story somewhere about a woman named Hepzibah Smith, she doesn't happen to be a relative of yours does she?" Harry tried to make it sound casual, this was his only chance at getting information from Zacharias.

"She was my father's aunt, but she died years ago. Quite mysterious too. I assume what you read was about her collection?"

"Oh yeah, fascinating stuff, some of it from the founders themselves right?"

"That's right, unfortunately those items went missing after her death. She used to live in next to the river in Adderley, I think her old house burned down nearly twenty years ago though, so there's only ruins-" Zacharias was interrupted by Madam Pince who informed them that they had to start packing up and get to their common rooms before curfew. Harry had gotten as much information as he could hope for. He was a bit intrigued by the destruction of the building. He was pleased when he headed home. This time he took the time to stop at the Three Broomsticks and get a Butterbeer, for old times sake. If he went home he'd end up watching football with Ron.

Hermione thanked him for the books, then made him repeat everything he'd heard to her, she actually took notes while he was talking. Clearly they needed to pay Adderley a visit sometime in the near future.

Three days later Remus, Tonks and Kingsley came to their house to check up on how they were doing. Harry filled them in on what they had come up with, it really wasn't much, but they agreed that a trip to Adderley was in order. They decided to go the following afternoon.

By six o'clock the next day the six of them were standing in the middle of a ruin in the outskirts of Adderley. After twenty years most of the ashes were washed away, and there was little left of the large house, trees were growing all around it. In twenty more years no one would be able to tell something was there unless they stumbled over it. Harry pulled out his magic detector and pointed it in the general direction of the house. It started buzzing and vibrating, he moved it around to the different parts of the ruins, most of it set of a reaction, so it was hard to pinpoint were they should look. Apparently the ruin was full of magic. They spread out and started examining the ruin more closely. It was hard to see anything because the floor was covered in rubbish.

After maybe half an hour Tonks called out. Everyone walked over to her, she was in the back of the house. She showed them a trapdoor previously hidden under a couple of broken chairs. Only Kingsley were able to get it open, it was unsurprisingly very dark down there. Tonks muttered "lumos", then climbed down. Remus followed, then Harry.

Harry had only just set foot on the stone-floor, when he heard a gasp and saw Remus rush forward. At the same time he was starting to feel dizzy. In Remus' wand-light he saw Tonks lying on the floor.

"I think there's something in the air here, I'm starting to feel weird!" Hermione said, she'd climbed down after Harry. Quickly they cast the Bubble-Head Charm on themselves. After a few breaths Harry started to feel better. Hermione proceeded to casting the charm on Remus and Tonks. Both Hermione and Harry had used the charm frequently during their fifth year, so they were more familiar with it. Remus carried Tonks upstairs. He said he'd take her to St. Mungo's. She was smaller than Remus and spent the longest in the basement, that's why she'd been the one who collapsed. Harry now became eager to continue as this seemed a clear sign that they were on the right track.

Harry and Hermione walked across the room, closely followed by Ron and Kingsley. There was nothing there, at least nothing visible. They reached a door. Harry tried to open it, but it was locked. Hermione tried Alohomora and several other spells she knew. Still nothing happened. Harry then pulled out his knife. It was a lot more complicated then the one he got from Sirius, with more attachments and several blades. He had to try a lot of different things, after about fifteen minutes he miraculously got the door open.

Harry cautiously opened the door and peered inside. The room seemed empty except for a small table with what Harry excitedly assumed was Hufflepuff's cup on a small table. The problem was the metal bars between them and the table. It looked like a prison cell, except the golden cup was the prisoner. They all walked inside. Harry used the magic detector, but nothing remotely magical seemed to be present in the room, except for themselves and the cup. Carefully Harry tried to levitate the cup over to the bars, but he wasn't surprised to see that the cup didn't fit. It was about a tenth of an inch to big. He set the cup back down, and the four of them started examining the bars.

It didn't take long to realize that neither magic, physical force, the knife or even heat did anything at all to the metal. They all sat down against the wall.

"Maybe with some better tools we could dig a hole in the stone," Hermione suggested. Harry considered this for a moment.

"Well-"

"Look! The bars are farther apart down here," Ron exclaimed, pointing. Sure enough, the third and forth bar from the left had a slightly wider gap between them near the floor. Hermione quickly levitated the cup through the hole and into Harry's backpack.

When they were back in Godric's Hollow, they met Remus and Tonks. They were fine, although the doctors didn't quite know what they had breathed in. Tonks was resting on the sofa under a blanket. Harry had never seen her sleep before, it was amusing because she kept making little changes to her appearance in her sleep. At the moment her hair was growing at an alarming speed.

Destroying the Horcrux was no challenge this time. Remus sent his Patronus to Minerva, and within an hour they were drinking tea and cocoa.