New Old Memories
DISCLAIMER: That part of this world and those characters you’ve seen before belong to their Creator: JKR. The rest is mine - although I cannot quit my day job as I make no $$$
A/N: I’ve said this before I think and will say it again. The Muggle Girls are not going to be a part of Harry or Neville’s (or Ron’s, or any of his brothers, or Remus or Sirius or…) families. They are victims and the Houses are going to help them. But they are and will remain peripheral characters.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR: NEW OLD MEMORIES
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6 th 1993
“Rather Spartan don’t you think?” Harry commented.
He was standing in a large room filled with furnishings. Clearly, the room was intended for gatherings and sitting while one socialized, not unlike the Great Hall of his own Manor. The room was the Great Room, as Sirius called it, of the new Black Manor. The Black Estate had been joined to the Estates (Houses Potter and Longbottom) the previous afternoon which had actually been that morning Outside Time. Along with Harry were two of his wives: Hermione and Luna. Hermione’s father was there as well, but her mother was off in London as one of the minders for the Four Girls From Malfoy Manor, as Luna called them. Harry’s parents were there as well along with his new sister, although she was currently asleep in her pram or whatever that plastic baby carrying thing was called. It did not have wheels. Her mother called it a “car seat,” although he didn’t think it looked anything like the seat in any car he had ever seen, although it did have something like seat belts. The rest of his girls and their families were off somewhere else on the Estates although he had been told that Mrs. Greengrass was part of the shopping expedition to London.
“Spartan?” Sirius protested. “I’d say there’s more furniture in here than in your own great hall!”
“Nothing on the walls, though,” Harry noted for although the walls had fancy paneling, there were no portraits or tapestries or anything on them.
“Nope, not yet,” Sirius agreed. “Not sure I want the whole family on the walls. Okay, I know I don’t want all that lot. My parents are right out! Great-grandfather Sirius and that bastard bearing Phineus are out as well! Pity I can’t disown the dead, you know? The rest I’m debating. Only one’s made it so far but I wanted a more intimate space for him and his wife’s portraits. Grandfather and Grandmother are in the North Salon. Didn’t know them all that well when they were alive, but they were there for Connie and Anna when I was away. Actually, Gran’s still alive I’m told. Almost certain she is considering her portrait isn’t animated at all. She must’ve returned to her family after Grandfather passed and… Well, I’m thinking of looking her up over the hols. Anyway, Connie’s got a few ideas of her own regarding wall hangings and is not too keen on cluttering it all up with dead relations. She’s in London with the shopping expedition and hopes to stop in a store that sells prints and such. She dragged me to some Muggle art museums in Paris and I made the mistake of saying I enjoyed some of the works, so she wants some of those and ones like it on the walls and not stuffy old dead relatives. Can’t say I disagree.”
“Which works?” Hermione asked.
“Something called ‘impressionists’, I think.”
“Really? Aren’t those wonderful? We saw them too this past summer in Paris and Harry liked them. I’m thinking of getting some prints too for some of the rooms…”
“Hermione,” her father said.
“Um… sorry. Got a little excited.”
“At least it didn’t call for library time,” Luna quipped. “We wouldn’t see you for hours if it did. And yes, I liked them too. Not all of them, but some were very nice. But we’re talking about this room as is, right?”
“Well, it certainly isn’t as stuffy as some of those Old Family manors you and I got ourselves dragged to by our parents when we were kids,” James noted.
“Yep. Wanted to make invisible toads less tempting,” Sirius quipped. “Not saying they won’t happen here. I’d rather not be needing them, unless they’re my idea of course. Besides, I don’t do stuffy.”
“It’s still a bit much,” Lily noted, “but I do like the colors.”
“Connie picked them. Makes the place look more inviting but this floor is the public floor and was laid out to… um… impress the natives as it were. First Floor’s the family floor. The Library’s up there as are our own sitting rooms and such and my study, our private dining room. The floor above that’s our bedrooms. Anna loves her suite of rooms and there’s room for more. Just in case I didn’t get the hint, Connie insisted that there be a nursery. Of course, I did get the hint. Should know whether the hint works in a month or so outside time.”
“Outside time?” Lily asked.
Sirius nodded. “While something like pregnancy and infant child development progress on inside time, as you should be aware a woman’s reproductive cycle is still tied to outside time. Thus we may have weeks and weeks before Connie’s at her most… vulnerable in that regard. It’s in the Owner’s Manual,” he added.
“We read that,” Hermione agreed. “Then again, that little fact is not of immediate concern for us.”
“I should think not!” Lily said.
“Mum, still bonding,” Harry groaned. “We can’t even start to worry about not being concerned about that until the bond stabilizes. And we have no idea when that will be.”
“It is entirely conceivable Sirius and Connie will have their next child before we need to talk about that,” Luna noted. “After all, if she were to get that way today, for example, it’s only four and a half months outside time until the next Black joins us.”
“Please!” Sirius moaned. “While we want more, I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Probably why she mentioned it,” Hermione sniggered.
“Among other reasons,” Luna agreed. “He does turn a lovely shade of pink.”
“Is she like this all the time?” Sirius asked. The truth was he knew Luna as well as any of the adults at the Estates with the exception of the Grangers. He still could not figure her out.
“Oh no,” Hermione said. “More often she’s not wearing anything.”
“Huh?”
“Okay,” Robert said, “let’s not pick on him too badly. We are his guests after all.”
“Pooh!” Luna huffed although she was not seriously disappointed.
“They may not be into pranks as you were,” Robert said, “but they can drive you barmy just the same when they choose to.”
“I know,” Sirius said. “Ham sandwich,” he added.
“I preferred the thinking you snuffed it,” Harry said. “But that was Mum and Dad’s idea.”
“It’s a lovely place, Siri,” Lily said trying to change the topic.
“Thanks. Oh! That reminds me! And don’t ask me how it reminds me ‘cause I don’t know. Got something rather interesting from Gringotts when I was there Wednesday…”
“Proof that Minister Fudge bakes Goblins into pies?” Luna asked.
“Uh… no.”
“Drat! Daddy’s so hoping he can publish that.”
“I think the Ministry’s having enough difficulty with the Goblins as it is,” Lily remarked.
“ICW’s sure dragging its heels,” Hermione noted.
“More likely Dumbledore,” James said. “Supreme Mugwump can do that, you know?”
“Don’t you want to see what I got from Gringotts?” Sirius asked.
“It better not be contagious,” Hermione said.
“There is a baby here,” Lily added.
“It’s not and I know,” Sirius moaned. “Stanley? The box, if you please.” An elf dressed not unlike the House staff at Potter Manor appeared, although what colors he wore on the tie were different. He held a polished, wooden box and handed it to Sirius. “Stanley’s one of the older House Black elves,” Sirius said. “Was Head Butler at the main manor when Grandfather was there. I brought him and a few other old hands to staff this Estate.”
“You’d need more than a few,” Harry noted. “Two hundred or more, I should say.”
Sirius nodded. “I acquired fifty when I got the trunk. There was a deal on them as they’re all experienced as opposed to mere apprentices. A hundred Galleons each, but it was ‘as is’ as it were. Most were bonded couples and they all have little ones. Still, it was a bargain. Got a few more old hands from the Black properties. There was an excess of labor in places. The difference… well, House Black used to breed elves for market.”
“That’s so wrong!” Hermione growled.
“I’m not about to disagree,” Sirius said. “The Elf at the House I grew up at was one nasty cuss who deserved the worst, in my opinion, but that was probably my mother’s doing. Still, my ancestors did breed them. They used to place ‘excess’ elves in stasis until they were needed or they could be transferred to… well acceptable sorts I suppose. Still have a load of them that way. I’d like to remove them all from stasis, but… well, there’s not nearly enough for them to do right now but we can use that source to help staff new trunks. Mind you, ‘excess’ also means young and inexperienced so we’d need at least a few old hands to teach them and such. For the time being, however, elves are not a problem if we need them. Anyway, here’s what I got from Gringotts…”
“A box?” James asked. Sirius had produced a wooden box. It was highly polished with brass hinges and some kind of inlay on the lid.
“What’s so special about a box?” Harry added.
“Nothing,” Sirius admitted. “It’s what’s in the box that’s interesting.”
“Oooh!” Luna squealed. “Is this anything like figuring out where we really are when we’re Inside? Does it have its own reality?”
“No.”
“Oh,” she said disappointed.
“It’s very rare and probably very valuable; certainly to a collector of such,” Sirius said. “I got it when the Goblins went through the Lestrange Vaults after I annulled dear cousin Bella’s marriage. One of them stole it from someone and as the last known owner’s dead and more than thirty years have passed since her Will was published, I guess it’s like spoils. From the Goblins point of view it’s of negligible value. They didn’t make it, for one. If they had, they’d’ve kept it. It’s gold plated pewter, worth maybe a couple Galleons aside from its other value which means nothing to Goblins.”
“You going to show this thing to us or brag about it?” Robert Granger asked.
“Right,” Sirius shrugged. He opened the box and inside on a bed of what looked like red velvet was a golden goblet with some kind of embossing or something on the side. It was not all that impressive. The style was very old and plain. But the reaction of Harry and Hermione surprised all the adults. Their eyes rolled back in their heads and they began shaking as if have a seizure except they did not fall over. It lasted only a couple of seconds.
“What just happened?” James asked.
“Are you two alright?” Lily added.
“Memory uncap,” Luna said.
“What?”
“You mean one of those future memory things you mentioned a while back?” Sirius asked. “Like the one that led me from Azkaban to here?”
“Similar,” Harry said, “but not the same. No one’s getting exonerated this time.”
“I can’t believe it,” Hermione began.
“I think it was out of sequence,” Harry said.
“It must be! It’s not supposed to be for years.”
“I wonder why now? I mean there was that déjà vu thing the last time when I saw that picture. Now? Nothing.”
“Out of sequence,” Hermione agreed. “It was there to uncap, but the key memory for doing so hasn’t happened yet, I should think. My guess is we did something just in case it could trigger earlier.”
Harry nodded. “Makes sense. Those things were a pain to find. The sooner the better, really.”
“What are you two on about?” Sirius asked.
“Luna? Does that cup mean anything to you?” Harry asked.
“No,” she replied. “Then again, I didn’t have either the French Word Thing or Life Flashy Thing happen just now. Whatever memories I sent back, they were ones that neither you nor Hermione had so if you knew about that cup, there’d be no reason for me to send that back too. Of course, it’s also possible I have no direct memory of it to begin with as I’m pretty sure we’re talking direct memories and not something someone told us. If we did not experience it or learn it on our own, we either didn’t send it back or couldn’t.”
“Um… I don’t remember what they’re called,” Hermione gasped. “You Harry?”
Harry shook his head. “It’s out of sequence. I know it’s something he did to keep from snuffing it. That cup’s one of them.”
“It belonged to Helga Hufflepuff,” Hermione noted.
“How’d you know that?” Sirius asked.
“Future memory,” Luna said.
“Voldemort stole it from someone,” Harry said. “Killed that person and did something to the cup. Whore something.”
“What? The person he killed?” Robert asked.
“No, the cup. What he did’s called ‘whore’ something or something like that.”
“That’s the crux of it,” Hermione nodded.
“HORXCRUX!” Harry exclaimed. “That thing’s a Horcrux!”
“That’s the word!” Hermione agreed. “But what do we do about it? I can’t remember.”
Sirius paled. “How do you know about those things?”
“Future memories,” Harry said. “Some of it’s coming back.”
“What’s a… whatever you called that?” Luna asked.
“It’s a name for a very dark enchantment,” Hermione answered. “It’s from a branch of necromancy which is the only branch of magic that’s truly ever been universally outlawed.”
Sirius nodded. “Even back in the day, back before the Protestant Reformation which was when things really got dicey between us and the Muggles, necromancy was condemned. The Catholic Church had no policy against magic per se. Heresy? They were all over that one and would be all over a heretical witch or wizard - especially wizards or suspected wizards or Templar Knights. They accused them of that, you know. Then again, they accused the Templar Knights of just about everything although the magic they accused them of was necromancy. Truth was it was all a scam by the French King to avoid paying his debts. He was in debt up to his eyeballs to the Knights and… well, if you kill off all the bankers, there’s no one left to pay back is there?”
“Necromancy?” Robert Granger asked. “Some kind of Death Magic?”
“Any kind of magic needing dead humans or killing to work,” Hermione said.
“The Muggle outlawed it ‘cause the practitioner either violated the dead or killed people to do the stuff. That was right out then and now. Even on our side it was illegal.”
“But what’s that thing?” Robert asked.
“The enchantment somehow makes it possible for a wizard to bind or anchor his soul to… um… this plane of existence,” Hermione said. “With the soul anchored as it were, it can’t pass on.”
“It’s not a perfect death dodge,” Harry added. “Your body can still die and getting a new one’s not easy at all. But so long as the soul remains, it can gain a new body somehow.”
“You mean like a ghost?” Robert asked. He had heard from Hermione that ghosts were real and that there were a fair few at Hogwarts.
“No, not a ghost,” Hermione said.
“A disembodied soul, not a spirit,” Harry added. “Ghosts can pass on if they want to. Someone who used a horcrux can’t. And that spirit can take possession of living things while ghosts can’t.”
“That’s horrible!” Lily said. “I never heard of those things.”
“I’ve read about them,” Sirius said. “Then again, my family does not exactly limit itself to Light reading, pardon the pun. They’re right nasty bits.”
“The wizard has to murder someone to make one,” Hermione said. “I didn’t read the specifics, but what I recall suggests simply killing someone’s not enough. It has to be murder.”
“And there’s a difference?” Lily asked.
“I’ve killed lots of people,” Sirius said. “I’ve murdered no one. You’ve killed too, Lily. But I have no reason to think you murdered anyone. The Death Eater you knocked off the Astronomy Tower was an accident and you can’t accidently murder someone. Not that it mattered since killing a murderer might not count as murder either. The trick, of course, is to know without a doubt that the person’s a murderer. Murder is killing for purely selfish reasons. Defending yourself or others is not murder neither is fighting in a war.”
“However you define it,” Hermione said, “we’re talking about killing someone under such conditions that the act damages or weakens or shatters the killer’s soul so it can be divided somehow. Most remains with the killer, but a bit of it can be cut off and if it is cut off, it can be placed into an object and so long as it remains in that object, it can’t pass on and if it can’t pass on, neither can the rest of the soul. I’m pretty sure I never learned the how about it nor do I care. We didn’t learn about these things to make them. We learned about them to find them and destroy them.”
“Dumbledore’s most important plans - his most secret ones - ultimately focus on these things,” Harry said. “I don’t know if they do now, although I think they do now. Until recently, his most important plans focused on the Prophecy. Whatever his Greater Good is, it’s nothing if Voldemort can succeed. The Prophecy tells him that Voldemort is not defeated and the events of my first two years merely reinforces that. Voldemort must be utterly destroyed. Dumbledore believes that destroying the being that is Voldemort means we can all live happily ever after and his Greater Good can come to pass. I could care less about his political stuff. But we know that the happily ever after bit can’t happen if we don’t destroy the ideas that allowed that wanker to exist in the first place. That’s long term stuff. But we can’t even begin to do that if he can still come back.”
“So he did what he did to you - to gain control of our House - to get rid of Voldemort?” James asked.
“No. That was an opportunity that suddenly presented itself,” Luna answered. “That was to make it easier for him politically to advance his long term agenda.”
“But that was a plan that came from another plan that didn’t exist before he thought my parents were dead,” Harry said. “He suspected Voldemort had done something evil to avoid death and believed I was now a key somehow. He wanted to control the key. But I wasn’t just anyone, was I? If I had been, he would have stopped at controlling where I lived and all that. But I was the last Potter and that meant one day I’d control that Estate and those votes so he did what he did to gain control of those too. But always, I think, he knew he had to get rid of Voldemort and I had become the key to that.”
“So what does that have to do with this?” Robert asked referring to the cup.
“That cup’s a horcrux, one of the ones that Voldemort made to become somewhat immortal,” Hermione said.
“One of the ones?” Sirius asked.
“Somewhat immortal?” Lily and Robert asked.
“Well,” Harry answered, “I’d think if anyone can snuff your body given the chance, you can’t be truly immortal even if it’s possible you can come back. Kind of inconvenient if your body can snuff it just the same as any other body. As for one of the ones, yes. Voldemort made more than one.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not a horcrux, Harry,” Sirius said. “The Goblins assured me it’s magically inert.”
“Well, you said it came from the Lestrange vault.”
“It did.”
“Then it was one. Either that or the Goblins couldn’t tell. That reminds me. Dobby?”
There was a “pop” and Dobby appeared in front of them. “The Great Harry Potter be needings Dobby?” the elf squeaked.
Harry rolled his eyes. He could not break the elf of that habit. “If Miss Ginny is available, we need her here.” Dobby popped away with barely a nod. “Should have added and presentable,” Harry chuckled. Fortunately, Ginny was when she arrived moments later. “I hope we didn’t interrupt anything,” Harry said.
“Not really,” Ginny said. “Mum’s having another row with Fred and George about… you know. Ron and Katie were out for a walk. I was just there ‘cause it was entertaining. Um… what’s happening.”
“Couple of things, I should think. First, we had a memory uncap and we definitely need to keep the information under a Fidelius or a special double one in this case. Second, we need you ‘cause you’re the only one here with a… um… present memory of any of this really. Could you pick up the cup?”
Harry forgot that she was still a concubine and that was an order. She picked it up and looked at him. “Is this some kind of trick?”
“No,” he said. “Um… do you feel anything?”
“What do you mean? I’m a little annoyed…”
“I mean - I don’t know - does that cup remind you of anything?”
“No. Never seen it before. It’s not very pretty, is it? Looks old, and rather… cheap.”
“The diary, perhaps?” Harry suggested.
Ginny dropped the cup as if it burned her. “That’s something like the diary?”
“Um… maybe. Did it feel like it?”
“No. Not at all. That diary… I would’ve noticed if there was something similar.”
Harry picked up the cup and looked at it for a moment. “Nothing,” he said handing it to Hermione who shrugged after a few seconds. “Guess they got rid of it somehow,” he said. “One less one to worry about.”
“What are you talking about?” Ginny asked.
“One less one? There are others?” Sirius asked.
Harry then explained to Ginny what he explained thus far to the others.
“The diary was one, wasn’t it?” Ginny commented when he finished bringing her up to date.
“It was,” Harry said.
“He made two?” Sirius asked in horror.
“No. Two have been destroyed. He made more.”
“Merlin’s Beard!” Sirius exclaimed. “How many?”
“The diary was the first one he made, most likely,” Harry said. “The cup is said to have once belonged to Helga Hufflepuff, one of the Founders of Hogwarts. Can’t tell you if it is or isn’t. But Voldemort believed it was, stole it from its owner and killed the owner for good measure. He then turned it into another Horcrux. There’s also a locket said to belong to Salazar Slytherin, a ring he stole from his uncle and a… some kind of women’s head thingy said to have belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw…”
“The lost diadem?” Luna asked. “But that's… well… lost.”
“That’s what it’s said to have been,” Harry nodded. “Lost things can be found.”
“True,” Luna said. “And always in the last place you look.”
“Of course it’s always in the last place,” Ginny groaned. “Even if it’s in the first place you look, it’s still in the last place. So that cup’s Hufflepuffs?”
“Can’t tell you if any of that’s true,” Harry shrugged. “It’s been a thousand years or so…”
“I would say the provenance is suspect,” Sirius agreed. “The Goblins said that cup ‘is believed to be’ attributed to Hufflepuff. Goblins don’t qualify a provenance if it’s certain meaning that might well be just an old cup, but that’s it. Still, it’s believed to be and has been believed to be such for some centuries. Whether it is or is not is anyone’s guess really. Maybe it had some magical properties before that made it more certain, but the Goblins tell me it’s inert. Had it been one of those Horcruxes, they would have destroyed that magic before giving it to me. I guess whatever process they used to get rid of that magic might’ve gotten rid of any magic. Although it’s also possible that even if that was a horcrux, it wasn’t magical in any other way at all. You’re still saying he made one; more than one?”
Harry nodded. “We think… or we thought… or we will think he wanted to split his soul into seven parts ‘cause it’s a magically powerful number.”
“That’s only five,” James said.
“Six,” Hermione corrected. “Five horcruxes with bits of his soul and the sixth is what’s left.”
“One short,” Robert said.
“The sixth is, was or will be a snake,” Harry said. “Can’t tell you if he’s made that one yet. Maybe he has, although I think he hasn’t but he will sometime in the next year or two. When Hermione and I learned of these things, he had already done so. We think he made it possibly after my First Year and most likely after my Third, after this year so it hasn’t happened yet. Then again, it is possible it already exists but using a living things as one of those is dicey. After all, if the thing dies the horcrux is destroyed.”
“It’s possible he was planning to do it after he killed Harry back in ‘81,” Hermione said. “Course he never got around to that.”
“So, where are the others?” Sirius asked. “Doesn’t do much good to know that they are or might be if you don’t know where they are. They could be anywhere.”
“That was our problem in the future memories,” Harry agreed. “Well, that and we didn’t know what all of them were. Dumbledore wasn’t around, but he did tell me about those things before he wasn’t around and Hermione, Ron and I went looking for them.”
“It was a fool’s errand,” Hermione said. “We had no clue about any of them other than what Dumbledore told Harry. To be honest, I don’t think Dumbledore knew much more than what he told Harry either. We spent months and months on the run and getting no closer to anything while Voldemort took over and our world…”
“Went down the crapper,” Harry finished. “That’s something that may have to happen anyway. We can’t stop Voldemort from coming back and when he does… well…”
“But, if we get to those things first… ,” Lily began.
“We have the same problem we did in the future memories,” Harry said. “Unless Hermione remembers something I don’t, or Luna does, I don’t know where all the ones are; only one of them. The diadem’s in a secret room in Hogwarts.”
“You remember where?” Hermione asked.
Harry nodded.
“Good. ‘Cause the locket’s on a bookshelf at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London.”
“How… that’s my parent’s house!” Sirius said. “How do you…? A future memory?”
Harry and Hermione nodded. “We saw it there,” Hermione said. “We didn’t know it was important at the time. Going there hasn’t happened yet. It was sometime after this year.”
“So it might not be there yet?” Lily asked.
“No, it’s there. It wasn’t after we figured out what it was. Someone stole it and we had to find it all over again. But it’s there as we speak.”
“Why would it be there?” Sirius wondered.
“‘Cause your brother stole it from Voldemort or at least from where he had hidden it,” Hermione replied. “He died in the attempt, but his House Elf brought it back to his home and has been trying to destroy it ever since.”
“Kreature…” Sirius said.
An elf appeared before them. It was older than any elf Harry or Hermione had ever seen. There were older elves on the Potter Estates, but none looked as old as the one that now stood before them. It may have been at least in part due to his attire. It was mostly naked with just a scrap of cloth at its waist not unlike a skirt. It stood there mumbling.
“Keature no be knowings this place. Mistress not be here,” it said before it looked at the people. “Blood Traitor boy and filth! Mistress not be likings, not at all.”
“Quite!” Sirius said.
“Who’s that?” Ginny asked.
“His name is Kreature,” Sirius said. “He’s the elf that took care of my family home when I was a boy. Odd. He was old then too and a nasty piece of work.”
“Mistress disowned vile, blood traitor,” the elf muttered.
“What’s wrong with him?” Hermione asked.
Sirius shrugged. “Far as I can tell, nothing. He was like that before too.”
“Why’s he dressed that way?” her father added.
“My mother insisted, I’m pretty sure. She felt to dress them properly would give them an attitude. Well, this one has a right nasty attitude and always had so I have no idea what she was on about.”
“Dobby dressed similar before he joined me,” Harry said. “I think it’s something families like that did.”
“My cousin Cissy’s elf doesn’t,” Sirius noted. “Elves dress the way their family wants them to.”
“Why is Kreature here?” the elf mumbled.
“Is that a question?” Sirius replied.
“N-no.”
“Although it’s pertinent,” Hermione noted.
“I am the Head of the House of Black,” Sirius began.
“Mistress worst nightmare come to life,” the elf muttered.
“Silence!” Sirius ordered.
“Do you have to be so mean?” Hermione asked.
“I suppose not,” Sirius sighed. “I just have a bad history with this one. My mother used him to… well, he was not nice to me and… It’s not important. I’d guess he’s here because he thinks I called him. As Head of his House, he has to come if I need him.”
“But you didn’t call him, did you?” Mr. Granger asked.
“He’s always been out of sorts,” Sirius shrugged. “He may have interpreted it as a summons.”
“He could get the locket!” Hermione said.
“Filthy Mudblood not be getting Master Regulus’s locket,” the elf muttered.
“You will not use that word for Muggle Born every again!” Sirius ordered. “I thought you said Voldemort turned a locket into a horcrux!” he added looking at Harry.
“He did,” Harry said. “It’s at that place and the elf knows why.”
“What do you mean by Master Regulus’s locket, Kreature?” Sirius asked.
“Master Regulus’s orders,” the elf replied. “He told Kreature to take it and destroy it. He wouldn’t let Kreature help him.”
“Explain!”
“The Dark Lord came to Master Regulus and told Master Regulus that Dark Lord needed an elf so Master Regulus be sending Kreature. Master Regulus tells Kreature to do what the Dark Lord be telling Kreature to do. Dark Lord be taking Kreature to a cave, Kreature knows not where. Dark Lord be taking Kreature to an island in a lake in the cave. There, Dark Lord be ordering Kreature to drink a potion from a bowl. Nasty potion. Painful potion. Gave Kreature bad thoughts, that potion. Makes Kreature drink it all and pain and nasty thoughts get worse. Keature wants to die to make it go away. Dark Lord than puts locket in the bowl and leaves Kreature in the cave to die. But Master Regulus is smarter than Dark Lord. Master Regulus told Kreature to come home when Dark Lord was finished and Kreature did.
“Pain and nasty thoughts not going away. Master Regulus took care of Kreature until they did. Then Master Regulus tells Kreature to take him to the cave. He tells Kreature Dark Lord must die, that Mistress is wrong about Dark Lord. Dark Lord wants to destroy everything and cannot be suffered to live to succeed. Locket is key. It be keeping Dark Lord alive. It must be destroyed. Kreature takes Master Regulus to the cave. Master Regulus explains that Kreature must give Master Regulus the potion. That Kreature must give it to Master Regulus even if Master Regulus not be wanting it any more. Killing Dark Lord is most important thing and locket is the key. If Master Regulus is to die, Kreature must get locket and hide it and destroy it. Kreature does as Master bids. Kreature not be liking it. Not at all. But Kreature does. Kreature gets the locket and… and before Kreature can get to Master Regulus to take Master away, things come from lake and drag Master in. Kreature cannot save Master. But Master is smarter than Dark Lord. Kreature takes locket away, back to Mistress’s house.
“But then Kreature fails Master. Kreature tries everything. Always tries. But Kreature cannot destroy the locket.” By the time the elf had finished, it lying on the floor weeping.
“Whoa,” James said. “You okay, Sirius?”
Tears were falling from Sirius’s eyes.
“Who was this Master Regulus he’s on about?” Mr. Granger asked.
“My younger brother,” Sirius said. “He became one of them, you know. My mother wanted us to. I didn’t. He did. I… We got along as kids. I was afraid one day he would be on the other side of a fight and I’d have to put him down. Then we got word he was dead, although we did not know how except that it wasn’t our side that killed him. All this time I thought he had ruined his life and died a senseless death. Grandfather did as well, apparently. He cut my mother off without a knut after he learned her son died a Death Eater.”
“Mistress forever shamed,” the elf mumbled.
“Okay, so we have one of those things. Now what?” Mr. Granger asked.
“I destroyed the diary with a basilisk fang,” Harry noted. “I’m sure we learned how to destroy them in that other time, but aside from what I did this time, I have no clue. Hermione?”
She shook her head. “No idea. Surely there’s something about it somewhere. We can only check. You said you have a library here, Sirius?”
He nodded. “Some books. Pretty sure nothing on those. Then again, it’s not like I brought all of the House books here. Some of them are… disturbing.”
“House Black may well have what we need. I don’t think Hogwarts does. My memory tells me it did, but Dumbledore’s hid those books and we can’t get them.”
“I doubt he’d let us see them if we asked,” Harry agreed.
“I can have what’s still out there moved here,” Sirius said. “But what if my family had nothing on those? I mean I know I read about them most likely from my family library, but I can’t recall reading about destroying them.”
“We know a basilisk fang worked,” Harry said. “We’ve held a few of them back from the Goblins. The Flamels suggested it. Guess we know why now. Still, the things are nasty and I’d rather find a less… messy way to deal with them.”
“It might be our only way,” Luna offered.
“True,” Harry agreed, “but we have time. The memory arrived out of sequence. I’m pretty sure we did not need it now so that means there’s time. So long as we keep that thing safe and somewhere where it won’t go missing…”
“If that cup was one, it’s a fair bet the Goblins got rid of it,” Lily remarked.
“Perfect!” Sirius said. “Kreature?”
The elf stood.
“Master Regulus… he brought great honour on the Ancient and Noble House of Black by what he did. You have brought great honour on the Ancient and Noble House of Black in helping him…”
“Kreature not be. Kreature be failing.”
“Not through any fault of your own,” Sirius replied. “The magic was beyond your ability, maybe beyond that of any elf. That you tried is all that matters. Now I want you to go to Gringotts and speak to the House Accounts Manager and ask whether they can destroy such things. You do know what it’s called now, right?”
“Hor-crux,” the elf replied.
“Exactly. If they can, take the locket to them and they’ll finish your task. If not, come back and tell me and we’ll figure out where to go from there.”
“Don’t bring it here,” Harry said. “The thing’s too nasty…”
“The horcrux will not be brought to me unless I ask. Understand?”
“Kreature understands. Kreature will do as… as L-Lord Black asks for Master Regulus.” With that he popped away.
“Should’ve told him to get some decent clothes,” Sirius mumbled. “Oh well. That may be two and the other’s at Hogwarts?”
“It’s safe for now,” Harry said. “We can get it once we know we can destroy it.”
“What’s that leave?” James asked.
“The ring,” Harry said. “I know I saw it in that future, but it was in Dumbledore’s office. He got it somewhere but as I was never there really, I have no idea. He gets it a couple years from now and unless we get a clue between now and then, I have no idea where it is as we speak. The snake’s a separate problem. For all we know, he hasn’t made it yet. Even if he has, it’s with him and that’s nowhere near here. He keeps or will keep that thing pretty close mostly although not always. Nothing we can do about it for now.”
“But we should be able to get rid of all the others, right?” Lily asked.
“All but one other one, yes,” Harry answered.
“Which one didn’t you tell us about?” Sirius asked.
“That’s seven!” Lily said. “You said there were six!”
“He planned to make six, yes.”
“And there’s another one? What is it? Where?”
Harry pointed at his head and smiled.
“We know you know,” Ginny said. “But what aren’t you telling us?”
“Voldemort made a seventh horcrux,” Harry said. “He didn’t plan to nor does he even know it exists.”
“How can he not know?” James asked.
“Because he keeps trying to destroy it,” Harry replied. “He’s tried at least four times since I started school, three that he should remember. Maybe he’s a bit off or something, but I’d think someone as obsessed with not dying as he is wouldn’t make it easier by getting rid of one of his safeguards.”
“What are you talking about?” Sirius asked.
Harry tapped the scar on his forehead. “Number seven,” he said.
“What? You?” his mother asked in horror.
“Not me. Not really. But the scar is the seventh one and as long as it is one he can’t die.”
“How could that’ve happened?” Lily asked.
Harry shrugged. “It happened the first time he tried to kill me and failed, that night when he also tried to kill you and Dad. I don’t know how it happened.”
“It could be he was planning on using Harry’s death to make another one and it went wrong when he was destroyed,” Hermione said. “It could also be that having made five already he was so unstable that his destruction caused it to happen. We’ll never know not that it matters. The fact is Harry is one and it has to be destroyed to get rid of Voldemort once and for all.”
“Okay. So how do we get rid of it?” James asked.
“In my memory it was easy, although unconventional.”
“You’re going to tell us,” Lily growled.
“You’re not going to like it…”
“TELL US!” she yelled and Harry was spared for the moment as the noise woke up his baby sister Elizabeth (whom they were calling “Beth”) and her cries ended the conversation for a time. “Now look what you’ve done,” Lily said as she gathered the child from its carrier. Harry decided it best not to point out that he was not the one who yelled and woke her up. After she quieted down, but clearly had no interest in going back to sleep, Harry decided to answer the question.
“In my future memory, I got rid of the one in my scar next to last. The snake was the last one to go. For the scar, all I had to do was take it between the eyes, as it were.”
“Take what?” Lily asked.
“The Killing Curse.”
“You died?”
“No. How could I have sent memories back years later if I died? The curse destroyed the horcrux but left me unharmed. Now before anyone here gets any bright ideas about that, what I can’t say is whether any killing curse will do. I think it’s possible that any would, but only one would get rid of the Horcrux and not kill me in the process. Only Voldemort can get rid of this one for certain and not kill me as well. I’m not too thrilled with the thought of dying anytime soon.”
“Who knows this?” Sirius asked.
“Which part?” Harry replied. “Aside from us, I’m pretty sure Dumbledore knows what this scar is. As for how to get rid of it, he knows that as well. But what I do know from those memories is he does not know that it won’t kill me. Everything he’s done since the night Voldemort tried to wipe out my family was with the assumption that I had to die to get rid of Voldemort. That’s why he set up with that brutal contract with the Weasleys for Ginny and why he went to such lengths to control House Potter. If I wasn’t destined to die in his opinion, he probably wouldn’t have done any of it. His plans come to nothing if I lived long enough to undo any part of them.”
“They’ve come to nothing anyway,” Ginny said.
“True, but that was by no means certain.”
“What does this mean?” Lily asked with a hitch in her voice.
“Well, it helps knowing Voldemort can’t snuff me,” Harry said. “What it means is regardless of whether we get the other horcruxes or not, I will have to take one for the team as it were. It won’t kill me. It won’t even hurt as far as I recall. But until this thing’s gone, Voldemort can’t be killed permanently. Now what I’m thinking is I need to figure a way to… Just a thought.”
“To what?” Luna asked.
“Won’t be hard to get the bastard to kill me that way,” Harry said. “He’s too proud of himself to use something more effective…”
“What’s more effective than the Killing Curse?” James asked.
“In this case, something that destroys my body’s ability to live. The Killing Curse doesn’t do that. So as long as he stays away from curses that cause physical harm, I should come out of it okay. And from what I recall, he really likes that curse and has no reason to think of something more damaging. He’ll probably try to get rid of me as soon as he can and he will want to do it himself.”
“Why?”
“The prophecy,” Hermione said.
“He doesn’t know the good bits,” Harry said. “He doesn’t know I’ve got some power he doesn’t or that he has to kill me to win. He only knows I’m his only real rival, which is enough to get him to be the one to try and end it. After all, if I was so easy that a Death Eater could do it, why the bit about me having the power to do him in? Throw in the fact that he’s tried five times and failed five times… well, four that he knows about anyway… and you know he’s not about to let anyone else do it. I can pretty much count on him coming after me which means it’s certain he’ll use that curse and destroy that horcrux. That’s the easy part as I know from the future memories that it won’t kill me.”
“That suggests a hard part,” Lily said.
“I get one free pass on that curse that I can count on,” Harry agreed. “On the one hand, it’d be amusing to get back up again and see the expression on his face when his best wasn’t good enough. But doing so would give him a second chance and in addition to the fact that I don’t think he deserves one there’s the real problem that the second time probably would not go well for me at all. The trick is to get away before he can try again. But all of this is pointless as he has to have a body and be able to cast that curse before I can even begin to worry about that.”
“How did you do it the last time?” James asked.
“I don’t know. It’s not one of the memories.”
“That’s just great!” Lily moaned.
“It may be there,” Luna suggested. “It may be part of a separate uncap.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Harry agreed. “Kind of silly not to send that back at all unless it’s truly unimportant and if it is, we’ll know that when we need to. If it’s not unimportant, we’ll know that too.”
“So what good is any of this?” Sirius asked.
“You’re kidding, right?” Harry retorted.
“Not really.”
“We have more information now than we did in our future memory lives,” Harry said. “What Hermione and I remember we didn’t learn until some years from now so we’re way ahead of the game. We got one less of those things to worry about as it is and we know where two others are right now. If the Goblins can’t or won’t destroy them, then we’ll figure out how. We did the last time, apparently. That leaves us with one other for certain aside from me. It may be we have to wait until Dumbledore digs that one up. But in my memory, he does and I don’t think we’ve given him any reason not to do that again. There’s nothing we can do about my scar until Voldemort returns as far as I know and I’m not about to experiment and find out whether any Killing Curse will do the job. So that one has to wait. Besides, we’re not ready for the pros yet anyway. We’ve got a lot of stuff to learn before we can play in that park. That and there’s stuff happening now we have to deal with such as our bonds and whatever other tricks Dumbledore’ll certainly try and pull. We do what we can now and leave the rest ‘til later.”
“I’d rather be done with it,” James said.
“So would we,” Hermione agreed. “But we’re not going to risk Harry just to be done with it.”
“I won’t either,” Ginny said. “Luna and Hermione are bonding. I’m bonded, but differently. If Harry dies, Luna and Hermione will too. I won’t. But that doesn’t mean I’m willing to let that happen if it can be avoided. We do what we can now. We think about the rest so we’ll be ready for it when that time comes.”
“What’s that smell?” Hermione asked instantly changing the topic.
“It’s your turn, James,” Lily said nicely, although to the others it seemed almost cruel.
“It can’t be,” James protested.
“It can and is and I’m not arguing about it!”
“Fine!” He then took the baby from his wife and a large bag they had brought with them and walked off to another room.
“What was that about?” Harry asked.
“Beth needs a nappie change,” his mother said with a mischievous smile.
“OH MERLIN!” James’s voice sounded from the other room.
“You better not get any of that on my stuff, Prongs,” Sirius called. “Only Blacks can foul the House of Black!”
“She happens to be a Black,” Lily said.
“Forth in the line of succession,” Harry added.
“Um… right,” Sirius nodded. “Make that only the issue from my loins can soil my house, Prongs!”
“Okay, that’s nothing I want to think about,” Ginny said.
“Neither is the mess in question,” Sirius added.
“Says the Godfather who wouldn’t change his Godson for all the gold in Gringotts,” Lily huffed.
“Hey,” Sirius protested. “My job was to spoil him rotten; not wipe his muck covered backside!”
“And what about your own kids?”
“I managed to miss that bit. About the only good thing about Azkaban.”
“I thought you and Connie were planning…”
“I’ll need another ‘out’ then, but I’ve got time to think of one.”
“And if there isn’t one?”
“It’s why there’s House Elves.”
“I’m sure Connie will agree with you.”
“We haven’t discussed such things yet…”
“Sounds like there’ll be little discussion if you can get away with it.”
“And there will be if I can’t. We are bonded, you know.”
“Mooney never complained when he was asked.”
“He’s weird.”
“It is supposed to be a bonding experience.”
“So’s giving her pony rides when she’s older and that’s not nearly as disgusting. I swear, if you figured out a way to get him to breast feed…”
“The thought did cross my mind, especially in the wee hours of the morning. But my guess is the old coots on the Wizengamot would outlaw such magic. After all, it would make wizards equal to witches in that regard and we can’t have that.”
“Interesting turn of a phrase,” Hermione whispered just as James returned with the baby and the bag. He handed his daughter to her mother.
“She’s a week old,” he grumbled. “How can anything that small make that kind of mess?”
“They all do,” Lily began.
“They all don’t fart when you’re wiping them and then laugh at you!”
“I’m sure she didn't…”
“Oh, your daughter certainly did!”
“She’s too young.”
“I know a fart when I hear one!”
“I meant to laugh about it.”
“She is the daughter of Prongs,” Sirius said. “Might well be in the blood.”
“Harry doesn't…”
“Not now, but he was not unlike that when he was little,” James said.
“Do I need to hear this?” Harry groaned.
“Actually, your specialty was tormenting the cat,” Sirius said.
“Poor Mrs. Whiskers,” Lily sighed.
“That thing never liked me,” Sirius countered.
“You did set her tail on fire.”
“That was an accident!”
“And you were the one who taught Harry to torment it.”
“Um…”
“And then you had to make things worse when against my specific instructions, you bought Harry a training broom for his first birthday. He couldn’t even walk!”
“Sure could fly, though,” James mused.
“Chased that fur ball all over the house,” Sirius laughed.
“You didn’t!” Hermione scolded Harry. Luna and Ginny did not look too thrilled either.
“I have no memory of ever doing that!” Harry protested.
“And you better not get any ideas,” Ginny growled. “Sammy’s a nice cat!”
“I have no idea what I did when I was that little. But I now live with five beautiful girls any one of whom would hex me like no one’s business if I was a cat tormentor. The only things scarier than having one witch angry at you is having five which is what I’d get if I even thought of doing that to any of the cats.”
“At least you understand that,” Hermione said primly.
The “conversation” was interrupted with a “pop.” Kreature had returned and he held a locket in his hands.
“Master Regulus orders be done,” he said.
“I… I thought I said not to bring that here,” Sirius said in surprise.
Kreature nodded. “Master Sirius tells Kreature not to bring the horcrux to new House Black. Kreature listens. Locket was nasty horcruxess of Dark Lord and very dangerous. Kreature takes locket to Goblins and they removes the magic. Locket not being Dark Lord’s horcruxes any more.”
“Really?” several voices asked.
The elf nodded.
“Have him give the locket to Ginny,” Hermione suggested.
“Why?” Sirius asked.
“To be sure.”
“Don’t you think Ginny should have a say in this?”
“I’ll do it,” Ginny said. “I’m the one who’ll know if what he said is true. I… I need to do this.”
Sirius ordered Kreature to hand the locket to Ginny. She held it for a while and looked at it. She then opened it and nothing happened.
“Um… ,” Harry began.
“It never opened in my other memory,” Hermione said. “We tried to but it wouldn’t.”
“I opened it,” Harry said. “Had to use Parseltongue to do so and it didn’t react well to that. I guess they did get rid of any magic. Ginny?”
“Nothing,” she said. “I don’t feel anything. I always felt something with that Diary. Part of it was a need for it, but otherwise I was never in a good mood when I had it and if I was in one, it would go away as soon as I touched the thing. I get none of that from this.”
“Goblins say locket was as Master Sirius said locket was,” Kreature said. “Goblins remove magic from locket and locket died. Locket screamed and magic was gone.”
“That sounds right,” Harry nodded. “That’s like what happened when I stabbed the diary.”
“This means we can get rid of that other one too!” Hermione exclaimed with excitement. “I mean you know where it is, Harry. We could be done with it today!”
“Um…”
“You said you knew where it was.”
“I do.”
“Then why are you acting unsure?” Lily asked.
“It’s in a room that changes into what the user wants,” Harry said. “The specific form of the room… well, there’s one that’s used a lot when people are desperate to hide things. It’s been used for centuries…”
“Blimey! I know that room!” James said. “Filch nearly caught me with something on his banned list and there it was! Never found it again, though.”
“When was that?” Sirius asked.
“Second Year,” James replied. “I… I don’t know where.”
“Seventh Floor corridor across from the tapestry of the dancing trolls,” Harry replied. “According to my memory, that is. Anyway, that room’s huge and stuffed with stuff. Must be the size of the Quidditch Pitch and stuff’s piled everywhere. Somewhere in there is that diadem but where? That I can’t tell you. Even if I call up the room, there’s no telling how long it would take to search. Then there’s the real possibility Voldemort put some kind of curse on the thing just in case. My memory said he did that with a few of them, but not what the curses were only that they weren’t the same each time with each one. The locket didn’t really have one other than the fact it was a horcrux to begin with, but Kreature did mention the cave and I was there in that future. There were traps there… Getting to it was… And that potion… It nearly killed… It was set up such that it was not likely anyone other than Voldemort would get the thing and live. I was with someone, Dumbledore I think. It nearly killed us and even then, we got there only to find someone beat us to it. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more to that diadem than just that room.”
“And as things are now, we’re not ready to deal with obscure curses,” Hermione added. “We can’t even detect them yet, not safely that is. Guess we should work on that first, after all there’s time.”
“I’ve had training,” Sirius began.
“And your walking around Hogwarts is bound to raise questions,” Harry replied. “Hermione’s right that we aren’t curse breakers and unless we know we can remove that thing without risking ourselves in the process we’re best at leaving it there for now. This is not something we can tell just anyone. Voldemort cannot learn that we know about those things and are doing anything about them. Arguably, Dumbledore can’t be told either.”
“It would upset the time stream,” Luna said. “We can only alter what we can alter and even then there are risks that the changes will so alter the future progress that our future memories become useless to us and then we’re blind. Destroying those things probably doesn’t change anything important. But people knowing about them being destroyed would. Those people would act differently and that won’t be good.”
“Dumbledore needs to find that ring,” Harry nodded. “If he thinks we have a handle on it, maybe he won’t try and we have no clue whatsoever where that thing might be. He never tells me anything and I have no reason to believe that will change so if he knows anything about where that thing is, we have to believe he won’t tell me or any of us leaving us where we are now which is nowhere if that ring lasts. We can deal with the diadem when it suits us to do so. But that we’ve dealt with any of them at all must remain secret. We’ll probably let some others in on it, but I would think that those people are most likely residents of the Estates or practically such and even then we’d have to consider whether their knowing is helpful. I don’t like secrets. I especially don’t like it when the secret is about something that affects me or my family and is kept from me. But I understand that there are times when they are necessary. All this will be placed under Fidelius. Everything we know about horcruxes, everything we learn about them and everything we’ve done about them must remain secret until it’s too late for Voldemort to do anything about it which won’t be until he’s going to be finished off once and for all.”