Harry Potter and The Shadowed Light

Four out of five

Previously

"I'm okay now," Harry said, his voice soft.

Sirius ran a hand through his hair. "Well, if I ever had any doubts about your story, they're certainly gone now," he joked.

Harry looked up and smiled, though it was a sad, little thing. "I want him dead, for everything he's done to me, to us, to everybody. The lives he's ruined and manipulated," he whispered.

Sirius let out a breath. "I know, pup, and I will stand by you. Hell, I will even cast the curse if you need me to," he vowed.

After a few more minutes, the pair regained their composure and Sirius felt safe to dispel the ward. Turning their attention back to the trial, neither noticed a pair of eyes staring at them in both shock and awe.

~

6th August 1992, Grimmauld Place, London

After Harry's outburst, Sirius had been distracted through the entire trial. He had only half heartedly listened as Peter - the snivelling rat - was sentenced to five years in Azkaban after which he would be given the Kiss.

Harry, however, had paid attention with a look of rapture; he wanted the rat to pay. He was the most pathetic excuse for a wizard Harry knew, a spineless coward who stood for nothing and would sell his own mother if he thought it would keep him alive. Five years and then the Kiss was lenient in Harry's mind—the rat deserved a much harsher treatment.

~

As it was the first day of his summer that he didn't have anything he needed to do, Harry wandered the house aimlessly. He had never had a chance to do nothing - in his past life, he was always either with the Dursleys being worked worse than a house-elf or with the Weasleys, recovering and constantly being harried. The rest of his time was spent at school trying not to fail his classes while putting up with Voldemort's yearly schemes. Then, to top it all off, he had been on the run for ten months, living like a vagabond, constantly worried he would either die from exposure to the elements, of being cursed to death, or from going insane. However, the point being was that he had always had something to do and now he honestly felt slightly awkward. He had freed Sirius, found his cure for Tom, and even gotten Peter punished, but he was honestly feeling slightly lost.

With a sigh of frustration he turned and went to the library, a thought finally crossing his mind and giving him a purpose. He still didn't have all of the horcruxes and, thinking about it, was Nagini even a horcrux yet?

Harry thought about it and realised Voldemort had used the death of Bertha Jorkins to create the horcrux with his familiar, therefore he actually only had six horcruxes: the locket, the diary, the ring, the diadem, the goblet, and Harry himself.

With this in mind, Harry thought about the ritual. He wanted to be there for the final ritual as that would force Tom to appear and he wanted to be there to calm his soulmate and explain what he had done - hopefully Tom would understand. According to the log in Corvus Black's book, the ritual worked quite suddenly, meaning Tom would not feel his soul rejoin until the last part was performed on the final holiday - the final ritual used a different incantation to bring all the soul pieces together and force them to reenter the person. This also meant that Harry would be able to perform the final ritual without returning all of Tom's soul, keeping himself as a horcrux as long as he performed the ritual five times and used the final wording on the 5th.

Thinking about Tom's horcruxes made Harry realise he had yet to tell Sirius and Remus about where they are. He was hoping, with Sirius being Lord Black, that he would be able to enter the LeStrange Vault; although not technically legal, Harry hoped his friendship with the goblins would ease the way. However, Harry did understand that it would be difficult for Ragnok - the reputation of Gringotts was infallible and if it ever got out they allowed somebody to just enter another's Vault, the ramifications would be immense.