Harry Potter and the Horcrux Quest

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's Notes: My thanks to my beta Animagus!

Chapter 12: Breakthrough

The discussion didn't resolve very much. Remus and Hermione planned to research the Fidelius. Moody wanted to talk to some people about Horcruxes, but Harry asked him not to. Remus offered to teach everyone at Neville's. Harry noted that Neville had offered the same thing.

They discussed the Horcruxes and their possible locations. They got no further than the trio had in the car, but Moody offered to check with McGonagall and Dumbledore's brother Aberforth and see if the late headmaster had left any papers giving clues or help.

It was getting late, but Hermione had one more thing to discuss. "Changing the subject greatly, I'd like to talk about the dishes. I think we should set up a schedule for who does them and when. We should also do that for who makes the meals."

"We also need to go shopping," Harry added. "We don't have enough for another meal of sandwiches. The tea seems to be running low, and don't expect more than one egg tomorrow morning - there's only a half dozen left. And no bacon."

"Plus, we usually provide snacks for the weekly meeting of the Order on Wednesday nights," Remus said. "I've been doing most of the shopping and cooking with some help from Molly and Tonks. Cleaning has been rather haphazard."

"Why don't we get Kreacher back?" Ron asked.

"No!" Harry and Hermione said at the same time.

"But," Harry continued, "maybe we can hire Dobby?"

"That's a brilliant idea!" Ron exclaimed.

"I suppose," said Hermione hesitantly.

"It's his decision. I'll ask him, and even offer him a raise."

"Maybe we'll get some good food around here for a change." Moody looked at Remus. "Hasn't been a decent meal since Molly got busy with the wedding."

As he said that, Ron seemed to deflate; he slouched in his chair and his smile fell.

"Sorry, lad," Moody said. "I know it's hard. We lost a lot of friends in the first war, and I expect we'll lose more before this one is over."

"Get some sleep. I expect you'll want to join Neville in the morning."

They said their good-nights and headed up to bed. Harry stopped by the loo and brushed his teeth. As he was passing Hermione's room he saw Hermione sitting on Ron's lap. He asked if they wanted the door closed, which elicited and emphatic no from Hermione. Ron didn't say anything, but seemed to want to disagree. Harry left the door open and went to bed.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione went with Remus early the next morning to train with Neville. Luna showed up, but Ginny didn't. They spent two hours working on their aiming and speed. When Hermione asked about the underage magic rules, Remus told her that they had been modified for the duration of the war. Children could perform magic under the supervision of an adult. The Secrecy laws were still in place, though.

"When did this change?" she asked.

"Scrimgeour announced it Monday afternoon. It was in the Tuesday edition of the Prophet," Remus answered.

Hermione kept her thoughts to herself. Internally, she was shocked that the White Coven could have gotten the laws changed so quickly. She had only asked for this Sunday night. She was both pleased and disturbed by the power of the Coven.

Remus taught them something that had eluded Harry and Ron all year. During their speed casting practice, he had them cast the same spell over and over. As they got into the rhythm of it, he had them speak the invocation in an increasingly quieter volume until they weren't saying anything at all. They couldn't believe that the teachers had just expected them to do it silently after years of using incantations. But Remus' way worked for them. Even Neville was casting silent stunners after a short time.

They practiced dodging in teams of two, one running at the other, dodging spells cast by the stationary person. Remus had them do this twice. Once right at the beginning of the lesson, and again after their target and speed practice. The results were radically different. Most of them were only hit once or twice the first time they tried it. After the other practice, the casters hit their targets with noticeable regularity. Ron and Harry were still the best at dodging, though, and claimed it was their Quidditch reflexes.

The final lesson of the day was Apparation. Remus gave Luna the basics, while helping Ron, Harry, and Neville practice for their upcoming test. Hermione spoke privately to Remus about the illegality of teaching Luna, but he felt she should have the skill in case she needed it. Hermione didn't like it, but kept quiet.

After four hours of fairly intense training, they ate lunch and said their goodbyes for the day. Luna left for Diagon Alley, Neville for more instruction from his great uncle, and the other students headed back to Grimmauld Place. Remus needed to talk to Mrs. Weasley about the Order meeting that night and went to the Burrow..

Back at Headquarters, they discussed their afternoon. They greeted Charlie, who was still watching headquarters. He was looking forward to the Order meeting that night, hoping to get assigned a different job. He was on leave from his job at the Dragon Reserve, but he really wanted to strike a blow against the Death Eaters in retaliation for their attack on his family.

"We should talk to Dobby about working for us," said Ron.

"And he stays free?" Hermione asked, menacingly.

"Of course. I don't want to own anyone. He's a friend."

"All right, then. But no more ordering him to do something day and night!"

"Uh, right. I forgot how literal he takes things."

"And before we call him, let's go shopping and get food so he has something to feed us with." Hermione wouldn't let Ron out of the trip. Harry had his own reason to go shopping.

One long trip to the grocery store and a quick stop at a hardware store later, they were busy unpacking a very full car. Hermione parked in the old stables/garage behind the house, but still in the Fidelius wards. They each grabbed a bag or two, and headed in the back door. Harry was almost knocked over when an excited Ginny Weasley grabbed him in a hug. With a cry of "Watch out for the eggs!" he got the teenager off him quickly. Mrs. Weasley was already puttering around the kitchen, getting things ready for dinner and for the night's meeting. She had brought a shepherd's pie with her and started heating it up once the shoppers were back.

Multiple trips to the car later got the pantry restocked. Harry took his package and headed to the entrance.

"Shall we get Dobby now?" Ron asked.

"Might as well. DOBBY!" Harry shouted the house elf's name. Nothing happened. "Oh, well. It was worth a try. KREACHER!"

The house elf appeared. "Filthy master called for Kreacher?" He looked around and sighed. "Kreacher back in mistress' home."

"Yes. I have some instructions for you."

"What does master want Kreacher to do?"

"First, you must never use the word 'Mudblood' again. You must not insult any wizard or witch because of their ancestry."

Kreacher made a wordless sound of frustration.

"Next, you will be returning to Hogwarts and working with the elves there. You will obey the other elves and work at Hogwarts. Also, as soon as you get there, tell Dobby that I would like to talk to him. And finally, you have a minute to go say goodbye to Mrs. Black, as you probably won't be returning here for a long time. After that, go back to Hogwarts and follow the rest of my instructions."

Kreacher looked at Harry with a strange expression on his face. He said simply, "Thank you, master." He headed off towards the painting.

"That was nice of you Harry," Hermione said.

"Yeah, mate. I would have just shipped him off."

"Well, I hope to never see him again, so maybe he'll have a happier life."

They waited in the hall, talking about nothing in particular, when suddenly, with a pop! Dobby appeared.

"Harry Potter, sir! Oh Dobby is so happy to see you again. Harry Potter is the bestest wizard in the world to remember poor Dobby!"

"Poor Dobby? I thought they were paying you at Hogwarts?" Harry asked, with a slight smile.

"Yes, they pays me, and make me take days off, too."

"That's good. But I was wondering if you would like to work for me?..."

Harry was going to say more, but was interrupted by the elf. "Oh! Joyousness goodness! Oh, yes! Dobby will work for the bestest, greatestest Harry Potter! Youse have made Dobby so happy!"

Hermione gave Harry that look that said she wasn't happy, and he knew he'd be hearing about it.

"Dobby, if you're going to work for me you have to accept two Galleons a week, and you still have your day off."

Dobby seemed to deflate. "Very wells, if Dobby must, he must. But Dobby be working for Harry Potter!"

"Good, then we don't have much time before Mrs. Weasley finishes heating up dinner. Can you get a ladder, I think there's one in the garage, and meet me at Mrs. Black's painting in the hall on the other side of the dining room there?"

"Dobby happy to help the great Harry Potter, sir!" And he disappeared with another pop.

Harry led the others to the painting.

"OH! The shame of it all!" she screeched at the top of her painted lungs. "Mudbloods! Foul blood traitors and a filthy Muggle raised brat the heir to the most noble house of Black! Get out. Get out, you vile. . . ." The rant went on and on as Harry ignored it. Dobby appeared with a ladder and covered his ears. Remus and Moody showed up at the top of the stairs and watched while Harry calmly set up the ladder and took a rag and bucket from Dobby. He poured something into it the bucket and a strong odor started filling the entrance. Dipping the rag in the clear liquid, he rubbed the painting with it, which changed Mrs. Black's stream of invectives into a scream of pain. Under the force of Harry's rubbing, the paint was blurring. The rag picked up the color of the paint, and Harry rinsed it off in the liquid again. He turned down Dobby's offer of help, and continued cleaning the paint off the canvass. More members of the Order were showing up, watching with amused looks as Mrs. Black retreated from the rag. Her language became increasing foul, but her volume decreased as the painting disappeared under the ministrations of the turpentine soaked rag. Remus and Mad-Eye came down the stairs, and a party atmosphere developed in the hall, as the Order members laughed and talked.

Just before he finished, Sirius' mother looked straight at him and said, "I told them it wasn't needed, but now I'm glad they didn't listen. Now it happens! You may have killed me, but I'll get my revenge!" Harry ignored her comments as he had ignored her insults. As the last bit of her face was wiped away, the hall burst into applause.

Everyone was standing in the entranceway watching Harry silence the painting. He noticed Professor McGonagall, Tonks, Charlie, Hestia Jones, Professor Flitwick, and Molly Weasley standing around the group of teenagers, clapping. A movement on the balcony caught his attention and he looked up.

Hestia was the first to follow Harry's gaze. There, on the balcony, coming into view from the hallway that led to the parlor and the stairs to the second level, were Inferi. Pale, lifeless faces, looking neither left nor right, or even at the assembly of people on the ground floor below the balcony, they ambled with a jerky motion. The first one in line had reached the stairs and started down when Harry brought up his wand and Hestia took a breath to scream for the first time.

"Incendio!" he yelled, causing the first zombie on the stairs to burst into flames. It kept walking, neither increasing nor decreasing its speed. It did appear to be trying to pat out the fire. The following Inferius paused a moment to let the burning one get a little farther ahead but then started walking again as more bumped up behind it. Professor Flitwick started pushing his way through the crowd towards the front door. Charlie cast a Reducto which caused a corpse's chest to explode, but the damage didn't slow it down, either. Molly started screaming, but took no other action.

"Stupefy!" shouted Hermione, which seemed to trigger a number of other people who might have been trying to decide on a spell to use that one. Unfortunately, it was the wrong one. The spell didn't affect Inferi.

"PetrificusTotalus!" Harry yelled, remembering the cave where he had first encountered the things. Several of them stiffened, and fell. The one at the top of the stairs fell down the steps, and knocked over the one in front of it, and the burning one. This started a barrage of petrification spells, and soon, all the Inferi in sight were down. More were still coming, though. They stepped on the bodies of the fallen and kept walking. Flitwick had pushed through most of the crowd and reached the bottom of the ladder.

"Mr. Potter, if you would allow me use of the ladder, please," he asked.

Harry nodded and got off. Someone had extinguished the burning body and petrified it. Flitwick climbed the ladder and started a long spell with complicated wand motion. He repeated it again, and again. Professor McGonagall had organized the members in the entranceway. They were letting a group of zombies reach the top of the stairs and petrifying all of them on the balcony at once. The pile of bodies was getting very deep up there.

Molly came to her senses and ordered the teenagers into the dining room. There was a good deal of physical pushing in the order to make them go. Hestia came with them. They set up a defensive stand -- half watching the door to the kitchen stairs, half watching the way to the hall.

Last to be forced in was Harry. He was watching Flitwick and noticing what was happening from the spell. As the charms professor finished the spell and aimed the wand at a petrified Inferius, it would lose its stiffness and gravity would take over. This caused a bit of an avalanche on the steps at one point. Harry tried to mimic the words and wand movement, and after a little coaching from his charms instructor, he felt the spell get cast. Harry had aimed at a walking zombie: it collapsed.

"Very good, Mr. Potter, you've disenchanted the Inferius. Ten points to Gryffindor!" Professor Flitwick said with a smile.

Harry didn't have a chance to help any more but was pushed and dragged into the dining room with his friends.

"Harry!" cried Hermione. "Do you know how they got in? How did they get past the Fidelius?"

"I don't know, Hermione. We'll have to figure that out later."

"Alright, everyone!" Molly yelled at them. "Down to the kitchen. We're taking the floo to the Burrow!"

Nothing they could say would deter her. As they started towards the steps, Harry suddenly stopped.

"Dobby! What happened to Dobby?"

No sooner had he spoken, than the elf appeared in a corner rolled up in a ball, shaking uncontrollably. Harry ran over to him and put an arm around him. Hermione was just a step behind him. She gave the elf a hug.

"Dobby, what's wrong!"

"Bad magic! Bad, bad magic! It hurts Dobby to be near the bad magic! Dobby is frightened. Dobby is so sorry that he ran away instead of helping Harry Potter!" The last came out as a wail, and he uncurled enough to try to hit himself. Both Harry and Hermione stopped him.

"It's alright Dobby. Come with us away from here."

"Harry Potter is great wizard, to protect scared Dobby."

"We were all scared, Dobby. Let's get out of here."

There were no more interruptions as they floo-ed to the Burrow. Harry actually held Dobby in his arms as they used the floo, and both fell as they exited at the Burrow. Harry twisted to avoid crushing the elf.

"Dobby does not like wizard travel," the elf said after he had stopped falling over, dizzy from the experience.

"You and me both, Dobby," Harry told him. Molly got them into the living room and told them to stay put. She disappeared into the kitchen. They heard the floo activate and a minute later it did again. The teens readied their wands, and Harry and Ron approached the door with Hermione and Ginny a little behind. They found Mrs. Weasley dishing up the dinner she had rescued from the kitchen at Grimmauld Place. They sat down and ate. At first only Harry, but like a disease that he spread to his friends, they would take a bite of the food and then look at the fireplace. Soon after finishing dinner the fireplace flared and Charlie showed up.

"We've abandoned the Black place. They're still cleaning up the bodies. I think it was over a hundred and forty at last count, by the way."

"Where did they come from?" several teens asked together.

"We're not sure. We tracked them to the second floor, but no further. Filius found the remains of some linking magic on the portrait. You probably triggered something when you broke the portrait magic. How long it's been there, we can't tell. For all we know, it may have been set up by the old girl herself. But where could they hide a hundred and forty Inferi?"

Harry spoke up quickly. "I know! Our old bedroom. The one Ron and I used last year. I remember we didn't see it when Uncle Vernon was getting his tour. And we couldn't find it earlier when we moved in."

"Why didn't you say anything about it?" Molly asked, her tone one that Harry had heard her use with the twins.

"Except when we were actually looking for it, we didn't think about it."

Ron looked thoughtful while he added, "I remember thinking that we must have mis-remembered where it was and we'd have to look for it tomorrow. But then I didn't remember it again, until Harry mentioned it."

"It must be under a Fidelius charm!" Hermione exclaimed. "But if it is. . . ." her voice trailed off.

Harry continued her thought. "Someone must have done it during the days between Professor Dumbledore's death and when Bill put the Fidelius back on!" Harry finished. "But with the whole house hidden, it doesn't do anyone any good, does it? No one else can get in there to hide, can they?"

"I don't know," Charlie answered. "We'll talk to Professor Flitwick tomorrow. He's our expert until Bill gets back."

"Where will Moody and Remus stay?" Hermione asked.

"Remus said he had someplace he could go, and Moody's being housed at Hogwarts for the moment."

"As long as they have somewhere to go. . . ."

"Meanwhile, we should turn in, we still have training with Remus tomorrow," Harry added. They were tired. The workout in the morning, the shopping, and the attack had left them emotionally and physically exhausted. They turned in.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dinner at the other side of Ottery-St. Catchpole was a bit strained. Luna was ready to try to work things out with her father, but it wasn't the sort of thing you did with company around. Her father had told her he would be bringing a co-worker home for dinner. Luna was disappointed she wouldn't get her father to herself that night.

As she had thought about it, she was quite surprised at her own reaction. She had over the years had people who seemed to be friendly with her, but then turned out to be doing it as some sort of "joke." It had hurt her a lot. But she had practiced what her mother had told her and reached the point where what others did to her hardly mattered. She was surprised to find that Harry Potter considered her a friend. She considered herself to be a friend to him, but it was a shock when he invited her to Professor Slughorn's Christmas Party. They had both had a good time, she was sure. She knew she did, and he had told her that he had enjoyed himself after they returned from Christmas break. He still greeted her in a friendly manner when they met, but being in different years and different houses meant that they had limited opportunities to visit. School time was always so busy.

Then came the call for the DA at the end of the year. She never considered not responding, even though her fellow Ravenclaws thought it was a joke. She didn't believe that Harry would joke about things like that, and she had been right. She had some nice conversations with Neville and Hermione while they were visiting in the Hospital Wing. She had helped Neville attend the funeral, and get to the train -- he was still healing up. He was nice, and she liked him. She wondered if it would be anything more?

But her world was really turned upside down on the train ride home, when Harry decided to include them. She understood from talking to his friends that he kept things to himself and had a habit of pushing his friends away in an effort to keep them safe. It was probably too late. No one was safe any more.

She was glad that she had friends to be with in these unsafe times. If she was going to be in danger, she was glad she had the opportunity to fight it and maybe lessen it for others. She couldn't believe they had invited her to train with them! She was going to do everything she could to repay them that kindness. She was feeling things that she hadn't felt since before her mother died. She remembered missing them afterwards, but had lost the feeling over the years, and if asked would have said she didn't miss it.

But now it was back, and she realized she had missed those simple feelings - acceptance and even friendship.

After the grieving period, when her father was so withdrawn and could hardly look at her -- that was a hard time for her -- he had awakened to her needs, and became the loving father she needed. But then she had left for Hogwarts, and she had to admit that he'd been pulling away from her more and more. He still talked to her, but mostly about The Quibbler and its articles. She was very happy when he used her rune puzzle in the paper as it made her feel like a part of his life.

Even the trip to look for Snorkacks two summers ago had been a disappointment to her. Not just the lack of the elusive beasts, but the lack of interaction with her father. He seemed to always be talking to other people, interviewing them, getting their opinions and stories, and ignoring her.

And it had built up slowly over the years. She knew she was missing something, but it seemed like something that wasn't necessary. But in the aftermath of the wedding she absolutely needed him. And he let her down. She hadn't let anyone get close enough to her to let them let her down in a long time, not since those students who pretended to be her friend. But when she needed her father, he wasn't there.

There was a saying, "You don't know what you've lost until it's gone." But it wasn't true. She didn't know what she had lost until she needed it, because she knew now that it had left a long time ago.

The realization came to her amid all the searches she had been doing for the mysterious R.A.B. She had almost lost interest in her research after she had her revelation. She came home and started a nice dinner. She wanted to talk to her father, and let him know how she felt, and try to work on rebuilding their relationship.

But he had fire-called, just to let her know, if she was there, that he was bringing someone home for dinner. She knew most of the people who worked at the Quibbler and liked most of them. But she wasn't expecting the person who showed up.

"Hello, dear. This is one of our reporters, Rita Skeeter," her father said as she appeared in the fireplace, close on his heels.

"Oh, hullo," Luna replied, hiding her disappointment.

"Why, hello there. Ruin anyone's life, lately?" Rita answered.

Luna refused to be baited, closed down her emotions, and set another plate. She sat through dinner in silence, ignoring what her father and Skeeter were talking about. Well, she would try again another day. She was tired from her workout that morning and the emotional roller-coaster she had been on during the day. She wasn't interested in talking after Skeeter left, and her father showed no inclination to, either. She went to bed soon after that.

The next morning she was gone before her father got up. She sat with Neville while he had breakfast and worked out with the other five students. Ginny had come, after Remus had talked with Molly. She had spent the previous day with her mother at St. Mungo's, and was glad to have something else to do. Luna noticed that she had hugged Harry, but that Harry hadn't hugged her back, and gently pushed her away. Luna wasn't sure why, but felt happy about that. Ginny had worked hard that day, but Luna thought her enthusiasm didn't substitute for careful aiming. Neither of them had any success with Apparation, and Remus offered to stay around after lunch to continue the lessons. They both agreed.

At lunch time they were joined by Neville's great uncle and aunt. Remus, with many "helpful" interruptions from the teens, described the attack of the previous day. Neville again offered his friends the opportunity to stay at his place. Remus said he might take the offer and would talk about it later. Uncle Alie talked about Inferi and the spells on them; how they weren't very dangerous in themselves but how a group could overwhelm someone, as Harry knew from his encounter in the cave. They asked the Unspeakable about the Fidelius charm on the room the Inferi were in, but he didn't know anything about the spell except general knowledge. He did mention that he had never heard of it used on anything less than a whole building, like Harry's parent's house. Luna asked about Dobby's reaction to the Inferi. Ginny responded sarcastically that they were fine.

Luna either missed the sarcasm, or ignored it. "I know. But it sounds like Harry's elf wasn't. Is he better? I didn't even know you owned a house elf."

"I don't really own Dobby. He's a friend that I hired yesterday to help out at our hideout."

"That's the place Charlie told us about?"

"Yes. It's a big old house that's well protected. We needed help with it, so I hired Dobby. He's a free house elf who's been working at Hogwarts."

"Oh. So you told him how to get there, since it's hidden by a Fidelius charm?"

It would have been funny as Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Remus swung their heads around, looking at the others in shock. No one had told him, or Kreacher, the secret. Yet they appeared at the Fidelius protected Twelve Grimmauld Place.