Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Dislocation	By : LinguaMagus Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 2823 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not own Harry Potter or the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
Chapter 7:

“Harry! Where were you? We were looking around, but you just vanished.” Sirius asked accusingly.
Tonks shifted from one foot to the other, but didn’t speak. Harry rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, Sirius. I was just, um, talking to Tonks about something. We didn’t mean to worry anyone.”
He looked from Tonks, to Sirius, and then to the stairs. There didn’t seem to be a quick way to escape from this conversation. Tonks was just going to have to not think about the fact that her crush was talking to the guy she just hooked up with. Actually, Harry noticed, she seemed to be handling it quite well. Apart from the initial guilt at pulling Harry out without telling anyone, now she just seemed to be eying the kitchen door and not looking at Sirius at all.
Sirius sighed heavily. “You have to let people know when you’re leaving, Harry. Too much depends on you right now for us to not know where you are. Tonks, thank you for bringing him back.”
“Wassat?” Asked Tonks, not paying attention. Harry was impressed, she really wasn’t bothered by this situation at all.
Then Lupin walked into the hallway. Tonks’s face went pink and sour, and something in Harry’s brain finally went click. It wasn’t Sirius at all that she was in love with. “It’s Lupin! You didn’t love Sirius at all!” Harry blurted out. Tonks turned and stared at him in miserable disbelief. He clenched his teeth wretchedly. Bollocks.
“Pardon?” Asked Sirius.
Lupin just sighed and held his graying head in his hands. “That was not very tactful Harry.”
Tonks was actually physically shrinking to try and avoid being seen. Harry couldn’t decide if he was more baffled or mortified. “Wait, you knew?”
“Knew what? What am I missing?” Sirius barked from the sidelines.
“Harry, Nymphadora Tonks is many things. Subtle is not among them,” said Lupin calmly. Harry had to acknowledge that he had a point.
“Can we please not have this conversation right now?” Tonks pleaded.
“Will someone please tell me what the devil is going on?” Sirius shouted grumpily.
“Sirius, Dora has feelings for me. They will undoubtedly pass. I am not a young man, nor a healthy one. She deserves better. However, we will say no more about it now.” Lupin stated simply.
Sirius paused for a moment, digesting. Then he turned to Harry. “Wait, you thought she liked me? Why would you think that?”
“It’s a long story. Let’s just say I feel pretty stupid right about now.” Harry said, fighting down the urge to flee.
“Harry, you should go to bed. We have a busy day tomorrow, and you need your rest. Dora, you can stay the night here if you’d like.” Tonks looked up in a panic. “There is a spare bed in the girls’ room that you can use.”
She let out a soft “Oh.”
Harry took the opportunity to grab her hand and lead her up the stairs and out of the terrible awkwardness. She didn’t resist, and even resumed her normal size after a flight of stairs. On reaching the landing outside the girls’ bedroom, Harry paused. “Staying here tonight?”
“Sure I can’t sleep with you, then?” Asked Tonks, attempting a chuckle. Harry smiled weakly and knocked on the door. Hermione answered, and seeing Tonks, turned away and smirked slightly. Then she pushed past Harry and grabbed Tonks.
“You smell like him. It was that quick, then?” Hermione asked playfully. Tonks went wide-eyed in astonishment, then turned to Harry.
“Okay, you were right, Harry. I underestimated this one.”
Harry winked at Hermione and gave a newly appearing Ariana a kiss on the cheek. “Will you two see that Tonks gets some rest? I’m afraid I’ve just put her through a terrible ordeal.”
Ariana nuzzled against Harry’s hand and nodded obediently. Hermione just looked Tonks up and down, and gave Harry an animated pout. “Do we have to sleep right away?”
Tonks went slack-jawed and then let out a guffaw. She slung an arm around Hermione, and dropped a hand on Ariana’s silver head. “I think I’ll do just fine with this lot. Never you worry, Harry dear.”
Harry shook his head in droll amusement, and kissed Hermione tenderly before heading upstairs another flight. He ducked into the room he shared with Ron, and pulled the door shut behind him.
“Blimey, Harry. What were you doing wandering the streets alone? Mum was worried sick.” Ron asked blearily from his pillow.
“I wasn’t alone. I just went to have a talk with Tonks. We didn’t go far.” Harry mumbled as he crawled into bed.
“Oh, okay then. That Tonks. She’s pretty fit when she’s not doing stupid stuff with her face. Don’t you think?” Ron mumbled as he drifted back to sleep.
“Yeah, she’s not bad,” said Harry, smiling to himself. Then he was out like a light.
In the morning, he stepped out onto the landing on his way to the shower when Hermione passed him going the other direction. She reached out and tapped him on the nose. “You must have really had fun with Tonks. She was almost too tired to tell us about it.”
Harry grinned ruefully. “Well, she’s definitely energetic. Not jealous, are you?”
Hermione looked thoughtful. “Jealous of you, maybe. I’ve got plenty of time for us, but I wouldn’t mind finding out what a metamorphmagus can really do. I’ve never met one in real life before.”
Harry laughed. “I think she might be open to that. I think we’re going to be pretty busy today, though. Maybe you can have your way with her after we get chores done.”
“You seem so sure I haven’t already.” Hermione winked wickedly and headed downstairs. Harry headed up to grab a quick shower, and then descended once he was clean to join everyone for breakfast. Along with toast and eggs, Mrs. Weasley was handing out tasks.
“Right, most of you lot will be going to the drawing room to help me. Tonks, if you please, I’d like you and Alastor to check on some of the unusual things in the lower levels that we think might be cursed. Remus, are you staying for the day, or…?” She fired off like a sergeant.
“I’m afraid I’m needed elsewhere today, Molly. However, if anything needs done, I’d be happy to address it when I return.” Lupin said while munching his toast and sipping a cup of tarlike coffee.
“Alright, well the rest of you grab a bag. There’s masks and sprayers inside. The curtains are infested with doxies, and we’re going to sort them out before someone gets bit, and Arthur has to fly you to St. Mungo’s.” Molly announced officiously.
Everyone filed up to grab a bag. Fred and George traded a conspiratorial look. Then they all marched off to the drawing room before Mrs. Weasley could get angry. After a brief safety sermon and some general instructions, they set to work clearing out the vicious little fairylike creatures. One or two may have vanished into one of the twins’ pockets, along with a handful of eggs. Harry, of course, knew all about Skiving Snackboxes. However, Ron had noticed what they were doing and was muttering an interrogation at them the whole time, while they less than subtly “accidentally” sprayed him in the face with Doxycide.
Mrs. Weasley spotted this instantly and dragged them into the hallway by their ears. Harry took the opportunity to relax a moment on a sagging armchair, taking care to shift a bag of rats for Buckbeak aside. Hermione came over and sat on the arm of the chair.
“So what do you think is next, now that we’ve got most of the doxies?” She asked.
Harry pointed at the dusty glass-fronted cabinets across the room. “We’re going to start pulling a bunch of dark objects out of there and throwing them away. There’s some pretty nasty things in those cabinets, so be careful.”
“Like what sort of things?” Asked George curiously.
“Well, like wartcap powder, for starters,” said Harry, and George grinned. “There’s also a cursed music box, an awful metal spider tweezer thing, a ring with the Black crest on it, a locket…. A locket!” Harry sprang immediately up from the chair. He grabbed at his chest, but it was just his usual mokeskin pouch. Of course the locket had not come back with him. With everything that had happened, he had almost forgotten about the horcruxes, and the curiously unimpressive locket they had found in the cave.
The memory that had been needling him since last night finally came into focus. A heavy, gold locket inlaid with glittering green stones in the shape of an S. It had to be the real Slytherin’s locket. That explained why they hadn’t been able to open it. What it was doing here instead of the cave, and what that cheap imitation had been doing in its place was anyone’s guess, but that didn’t matter right now. He was only feet away from an unprotected horcrux.
He went to the cabinets, but hesitated before opening them. What if he was wrong, and it wasn’t really Slytherin’s locket? Well then, nothing. They had simply thrown it away last time. He knew he wasn’t wrong, though. This locket was the real horcrux, and he was going to be able to destroy it without Voldemort even knowing it was missing. He opened the cabinet door, and there it was, lying innocently on a shelf. It was exactly as he had remembered.
“What’s up, mate?” Asked Ron.
He glanced around, seeing Ginny and Sirius still lounging around, waiting for Mrs. Weasley to come back. As much as he trusted them, Dumbledore had been quite clear. Hermione and Ron were to be the only ones who could know. He made a mental exemption for Ariana, who was in fact still a Dumbledore, so it didn’t feel like a betrayal of trust.
“Ron, Hermione. Would you mind coming with me for a minute?” Harry said diplomatically. Sirius looked at him curiously, but didn’t say anything. Ginny looked offended, but was determinedly trying not to show it.
Ron shrugged and look bemused, but Hermione had noticed his expression and nodded slowly. Harry slipped the locket into his pocket, grabbed Ariana’s hand, and then they hurried out into the hall. Harry went to his and Ron’s shared room quickly and silently. Ron and Hermione followed without a word. Once inside, Harry pulled the door shut behind them and waved his wand around the room, saying “Aremordeo.”
“What’s all this about, Harry?” Ron asked impatiently.
“I have to tell you something that no one knows right now. Even before he disappeared, Dumbledore didn’t know all the details yet. He doesn’t figure out all the pieces until over a year from now. Before I tell you, though, I need you to swear that you won’t say a word to absolutely anyone. If a single word gets out, it could mean we lose the war before it even starts. Do you understand?” Harry was tense, but they had been through this before.
“Of course, Harry. We won’t say anything to anyone. Now what is it?” Hermione laid a soothing hand on his arm. Harry grasped it gratefully.
“The way that Voldemort was able to stay alive despite everything was by using a type of dark magic vessel thing called a horcrux. When you kill someone, it damages your soul. There’s some sort of ritual you can do to capture the broken part of your soul in another object, and then protect that object with really powerful defensive spells. As long as it stays intact, it sort of anchors your soul to life, so you can’t really die. As soon as you get a body again, you can come back to life.” Harry wasn’t sure he had gotten all of that correct, but it was the best he could remember.
“The diary!” Hermione erupted.
Harry was absolutely stunned. Hermione really was very impressive sometimes. “Wow. Um, yes, exactly. The diary was one, but we destroyed it. There are others as well. Six others, actually.”
Ron sagged in defeat, but Hermione looked horrified. “You-Know-Who broke his soul into seven pieces? On purpose?”
“That’s right. That’s why he barely looks human anymore. He has broken his soul so many times that it isn’t stable. Dumbledore reckons that if we can destroy the horcruxes, not only will it allow him to be finished off for good, but also he should be a lot weaker.”
Ron actually cheered up a bit at this. “So all we have to do is find these things and smash them and then You-Know-Who can actually be beaten?”
“Well, sort of. Destroying them might be harder than that. They’re really well protected. Dumbledore almost died finding both of the ones two years from now.” Harry said, rubbing his scar.
“But if we get help. Surely the Order working together can destroy these things? I mean, Dumbledore is Dumbledore, but even he can’t be everywhere,” Ron said.
“No. Nobody can know. Think about it. If word gets out, if even one person lets it slip, Voldemort could figure out what we’re up to. He could start making more Horcruxes, or change the hiding place of the ones he’s already made, or just start murdering members of the Order until we give up.” Harry said tersely.
Ron went red, but he nodded and didn’t argue. Harry rubbed at his eyes. “There is another problem, though.”
“Of course there is,” said Ron.
“Dumbledore reckons that there’s six horcruxes total. The diary was one, there’s a ring that he destroys a year from now, but it curses him. We need to get to that one before it can hurt him. Other than that, he thinks one is Voldemort’s snake, and then there’s something of Hufflepuff’s, something of Ravenclaw’s, and something of…” Harry pulled out the locket and held it out. “Slytherin’s.”
Hermione gasped, and Ron yelped in alarm. “Merlin, Harry. Is that one of them? What was it doing in Sirius’s house?”
“I’m not completely sure, but I think it is. I don’t know what it’s doing here, but it definitely looks like Slytherin’s locket, and that’s supposed to be a horcrux. Dumbledore and I found a locket in a cave, but it didn’t look right. It was too plain. I didn’t have a chance to look at it more before getting thrown back, but if we have to go to the cave, I don’t think we can do it without him.” Harry dangled the locket in front of him.
Hermione reached out and took the locket, then laid it on the floor. She pointed her wand at it and said “Confringo!” There was a bellowing explosion, and it seemed to just vanish against the locket as if it were very far away.
“Well, we don’t know for sure if it’s a horcrux, but it certainly has some sort of magical protection.” Hermione said matter-of-factly.
“Bloody hell, a bit of warning next time would be nice,” complained Ron.
“Did Dumbledore tell you what horcruxes are weak to, Harry?” Hermione asked.
“Unfortunately, no. He didn’t get a chance before he… before I got pulled back. We were supposed to destroy one together. The ring had a huge crack in it, though.”
“Hmm. I’m afraid that doesn’t tell us much. Not being able to ask anyone about it does make this a bit more complicated, doesn’t it? We need to find a book on horcruxes, but I don’t even know who would have something so horrible.” Hermione said, mostly to herself.
“Gellert would.” Ariana said quietly. Ron jumped, having forgotten she was in the room.
“You’re probably right. Although I don’t know what would have been done with all his belongings when he was imprisoned. That we might be able to find at the library, though.” Hermione said.
Harry was unconvinced. “Even if we could find out what happened to Grindelwald’s belongings, that was decades ago and a thousand miles away. That’s a lot of work for a maybe.”
Hermione shrugged, but seemed unconcerned. “It’s all we have for now. If we think of a better solution, we’ll do that instead.”
“But where are we even going to find the other two? The thing from Hufflepuff and the thing from Ravenclaw? Not to mention actually getting close to You-Know-Who’s snake. Which will mean getting close to You-Know-Who himself,” Ron moaned.
“One step at a time, Ronald. We have one horcrux in hand, and at least one more is already destroyed. That’s a start.” Hermione said confidently. She seemed energized by the idea that there was a concrete way to deal with Voldemort laid out in front of them.
Harry took down his Imperturbable Charm, and opened the door. Kreacher was standing directly outside, on his way to ferret more belongings away before they could be destroyed. His eyes were welded to the locket that Harry had not yet tucked into his pocket. With a savage yawp, he tackled Harry and tried to wrestle the locket from his hand, clawing and biting anything he could reach.
“Gerroff, you mad bugger!” Ron shouted, trying to tug Kreacher into the air.
“Ron, stop! Don’t hurt him!” Hermione clamored, not sure where to commit her energy. Ariana cowered behind a chair and peeked just a nose over the top.
There was a crack like a gunshot and Kreacher hurtled through the air and smacked against the wall. Hermione cried out in fear and anger. Sirius stormed through the door and stabbed his wand at the air, pinning Kreacher spread-eagle against a tapestry.
“I’ve had it with you! I’ve tolerated your foul mouth, and your disobedience, but the one thing I absolutely will not tolerate is you putting your wretched little claws on Harry.” Sirius roared.
“Sirius, no! Don’t hurt him! He didn’t know what he was doing!” Hermione sobbed.
“Don’t kid yourself. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He’ll do whatever he wants if he thinks he can get away with it.” Sirius gave a mirthless laugh.
“Sirius, stop. I don’t know why he attacked me, but he knows something, and we need to know too.” Harry said, sitting up.
Sirius froze with his wand outstretched, staring at Harry. He lowered it slowly, but did not put it away. “Go ahead, then. Tell me why. What does he know that gives him an excuse to attack you?”
Harry rose gingerly to his feet, and held the locket out. Kreacher fought madly against the magical bonds to reach it. Sirius gave the locket a curious look.
“Kreacher failed! Kreacher must not allow the filthy Potter brat to touch Master Regulus’s locket.” Kreacher wailed in panic.
“Regulus? I don’t remember my brother ever having a locket. Doesn’t really seem the style for a teen wizard, does it?” Sirius said scornfully.
“Kreacher,” Harry said gently. “Did Lord Voldemort give Regulus this locket to protect for him?” Sirius looked at Harry sharply, then back to the locket with renewed interest.
“Master Regulus trusted Kreacher with this most important, most trusted task. Kreacher failed. The Potter brat doesn’t understand. Can’t understand.” He muttered ferociously.
“Kreacher! Tell Harry about the locket. Everything you know. Right now!” Sirius barked. A direct instruction could not be ignored.
Kreacher chewed angrily on the words before finally speaking. “Master Regulus took Kreacher to the dark lake under the earth. The Dark Lord had shown Kreacher to this place once before because Master Regulus had been most trusted, and had given his humble servant to the Dark Lord. The potion made Kreacher see horrible, awful things. Things Kreacher never… Then Master Regulus took Kreacher back. And he— Master Regulus trusted Kreacher! He commanded Kreacher to destroy it! Kreacher failed! Failedfailedfailed!” He degenerated into screaming and blubbering.
Sirius was lost. “Did anyone understand a single bit of what he just said?”
“Actually, yes,” Harry said quietly. “I’ve seen the dark lake. I’ve seen what happens when someone drinks the potion. Sirius, if Regulus commanded Kreacher to destroy the locket… Your brother died fighting Voldemort, Sirius. I— I’m sorry.”
Sirius reeled. “Regulus was a Death Eater. I know he got cold feet, but I’d swear he was a Death Eater right up to the last.”
“I don’t know what was in Regulus’s heart, Sirius. But I do know that anyone trying to destroy that locket was an enemy of Voldemort. Not just someone who disagreed with his methods. Someone trying to destroy that locket wanted Voldemort dead.” Harry tried to explain.
“What is it? Why is that locket so important? Why was it worth my brother dying over it?” Asked Sirius.
“I’m sorry, I wish I could explain. I can’t right now. All I can tell you is that we need to destroy this locket, and if that’s what Regulus wanted, then that’s why Voldemort killed him,” said Harry.
“The Dark Lord trusted Master Regulus! He did not hurt Master Regulus, it was the cold men. They came up out of the water and Master Regulus commanded Kreacher to leave!” Kreacher cried.
“Voldemort protected the locket with Inferi. There were hundreds in the underground lake,” Harry explained. “If they killed Regulus, it’s possible that Voldemort doesn’t know the locket is missing. That would explain why the substitute was still in the cave two years from now.”
“So how do we destroy it?” Sirius asked.
“We don’t know. If Kreacher couldn’t destroy it using elf magic, it must be powerfully warded. I attempted to blow it apart just before, but it didn’t work.” Hermione cut in.
“We need Remus for this sort of thing. He was always the puzzle-solver. Let’s try this… Labeconcinnio!” Sirius stabbed sharply at the locket with his wand, and a sort of dull grey sludge poured out of the tip, pulsing with crimson energy. It washed over the locket, and everywhere it touched, the material seemed to expand into a cloud of component molecules.
“Sirius!” Hermione shouted in alarm. “You can’t use something like that here!”
“It isn’t making a difference anyway.” Sirius said, snapping his wand back like a fishing pole and pulling the sludge back into his wand. Harry saw that he was right. The places that had been damaged on the locket were already reforming themselves, snapping back together like a self-assembling jigsaw. “I suppose there’s always Fiendfyre, although I’ve never used it before.”
“Absolutely not! Sirius, trying to unmake it was bad enough. Using Fiendfyre in a crowded house would be suicide. You’d never be able to control it.” Hermione scolded him.
He looked unperturbed, but didn’t push the issue. “I think it would probably work, but sure. You’re right. This isn’t the best place. What’s the plan, then?”
“We need to look into other methods of magical destruction. Safe ones. We’ll start at the library and work out from there. There’s no need to be reckless if we’re the only ones who—” Hermione stopped abruptly.
“Only ones who what?” Needled Sirius.
“We’re the only ones who know the locket needs to be destroyed. We need you to keep this a secret, Sirius. If it leaks out that we have it, things will get much worse.” Harry implored.
“I’ll be sure I don’t mention it to my knitting club,” said Sirius sourly.
“I’m not joking around, Sirius. This is really important. This locket is dangerous, and if Voldemort finds out we have it, he could come after everyone here. Personally.”
“I won’t say anything. I’m disappointed that you don’t trust me more, Harry. I would have thought you’d be glad of the help.”
Harry stared at the ground in shame and discomfort. “It’s not that I don’t want to, Sirius. I’ll explain things when it’s all over. I just swore to Dumbledore that I wouldn’t tell anyone other than Ron and Hermione. You were— well, at the time I made the promise, it wouldn’t have made sense to ask about including you.”
“Look, we can’t do anything about it right now, right?” Interjected a dejected looking Ron. “Let’s just go finish cleaning up that room, and Hermione can go check the library later.”
“Ron’s right. We need to finish up in the drawing room, and then we can figure things out from there. One step at a time,” Harry said.
This met with some grumbling from Sirius, but they returned to work anyway. With a few well-timed warnings from Harry, the rest of the cleaning was more or less uneventful. Sirius sealed and disposed of the music box without opening it, and Mrs. Weasley smashed the crawling tweezers under a heavy book before they could leave the shelf.
A short while later, they were gathered around the kitchen table for fruit and sandwiches. Tonks joined them before long, looking exhausted and disheveled. Harry didn’t know much about curse-breaking, but Tonks was singed at the edges of her sleeves, nursing a scarlet cut from her elbow halfway to her shoulder, and her cheek was speckled with some unknown viscous material.
“Wotcher. Some of those knickknacks were a little tasteless, y’know? Not my style at all.” Tonks said casually.
Mrs. Weasley tutted matronly and scurried over to mend Tonks’s clothes and clean off her face. She did her best with the cut, but none of them was a proper healer. It ended up just looking several weeks older, which Tonks assured her was more than fine. A few scars were not anything alien to an auror, even a young one.
“Mad-Eye took off once we finished. There was an owl from the Ministry, Dung was picked up trying to shift a bunch of dodgy cauldrons, and they want to throw the book at him. Mad-Eye is going to try and smooth things over to keep him out of Azkaban. Merlin knows it would probably do him some good, though.” Tonks explained through a mouthful of ham sandwich.
“Dung was caught?” Harry asked in surprise.
“Eh, sure. Shouldn’t he have been?” Tonks asked.
“Last time, he didn’t get in trouble yet. He got picked up a year later posing as an Inferius to break into houses. What changed, I wonder?”
“Haven’t a clue,” Tonks shrugged. “Can’t imagine it will amount to much, though. Even if he gets punished, it won’t be much for some stolen cauldrons.”
“Hmm. Still,” mused Hermione, “we should try to be careful not to change too much. Harry, your knowledge of what will happen is a powerful advantage. We shouldn’t waste it, if we can help it.”
“Hermione’s right. Let’s save it up for the really big stuff that helps us take out You-Know-Who,” said Ron.
“That makes sense, but I’m not sure how long we’ll be able to keep it up. Things are already so much different. Dumbledore isn’t here, for starters.” Harry said.
“Oh, speak of that, Minerva should be by this evening. I’m sure she’ll want to know everything that’s happening, so that she can plan the school year accordingly.” Mrs. Weasley added, while scooping ham scraps into a bowl.
In fact, Professor McGonagall arrived less than one hour later. Harry met her at the door, and she sat in quiet contemplation while Harry unraveled the tangled events to her with some assistance from Hermione. For a long time, Harry sat and spoke, already getting used to explaining the same thing over and over. Professor McGonagall didn’t say anything, she just waited and listened. Finally, he had said everything he could think to say.
“Well, Mr. Potter. You did bring us quite a situation this time, didn’t you?” Minerva McGonagall said, without bitterness or sarcasm.
- 6
- 7
- 8
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Dislocation

Chapter 7: