Hope Mikaelson Goes to Hogwarts

Chapter 22: Horcrux

Hope's POV:

After Slughorn finishes up, Hagrid invites us all back to his hut. After about twenty minutes, Slughorn and Hagrid are both drunk singing while Harry and I watch on in amusement. Once they're done Hagrid launches into a story about how he got Aragog. 

"I had him from an egg, you know. Tiny little thing he was when he hatched. No bigger than a Pekinese. A Pekinese, I tell you." "How sweet. I once had a fish. Francis. He was very dear to me. One afternoon I came downstairs, and...he'd vanished. Poof." 

"That's very odd, isn't it?" Hagrid asks, turning towards me and Harry. "It is, isn't it? But that's life, I suppose. You...you go along and then suddenly, poof." "Poof." "Poof." Hagrid and Harry both echo Slughorn's words. Suddenly Hagrid just passes out. There's a bit of silence. 

"It was a student who gave me Francis. One spring afternoon I discovered a bowl on my desk with just a few inches of clear water in it. And floating on the surface was a flower petal. As I watched, it sank. Just before it reaches the bottom it transformed...into a wee fish." 

I smile at this. "It was beautiful magic. Wondrous to behold. The flower petal had come from a lily." I glance towards Harry at the mention of the flower that gave his mother her name. I take his hand and squeeze it. 

"Your mother. The day I came downstairs, the day the bowl was empty...was the day your mother..." He trails off as I scoot closer to Harry for comfort. "I know what you both are here. But I can't help you. It would ruin me." He mutters. There's a bit of silence. 

"Do you know why I survived, Professor? The night I got this? Because of her. Because she sacrificed herself. Because she refused to step aside. Because her love was more powerful than Voldemort." "Don't say his name." "I'm not afraid of the name, Professor. Neither of us are." 

He gestures to me before standing and walking over to him. "I'm going to tell you something. Something others have only guessed at. It's true. I am the Chosen One." Any other time that phrase would sound arrogant and self centered, but now...now it sounds solemn. 

"Only I can destroy him, but in order to do so I need to know what Tom Riddle asked you all those years ago in your office, and I need to know what you told him. Be brave Professor. Be brave like my mother. Otherwise, you disgrace her. Otherwise, she died for nothing." 

There's a pause. "Otherwise, the bowl will remain empty, forever. Slughorn slowly reaches into his robes and grabs his wand and a while. "Please, don't think badly of me when you see it. You have no idea what he was like, even then." 

He places his wand to his temple and slowly extracts a silvery wisp, dropping it into the vile. I stand and gently take it from him. Taking care to be careful with it. I've never seen a memory. It's beautiful. "Thank you sir." I tell him softly, turning to Harry. He nods. "We have to go." 

Slughorn nods to us and together we take off running towards the castle, straight into Dumbledore's office. When we walk in Dumbledore stands from behind his desk. I hold up the memory and he glides over to it, taking it and leadings us back a ways towards a silver bowl. 

I think Harry said this is called a pensive. He pours the vile into it and Harry sticks his head inside. While he's in there, Dumbledore and I stand in tense silence. Finally Harry comes up. "Sir-" Dumbledore raises his hand to silence him before walking over to sit on his steps. 

He must have been in Harry's head while he was in the pensive. "This is beyond anything I imagined." He mutters. "What happened?" "You mean to say he succeeded, sir, in making a Horcrux." I furrow my brows. "What's a Horcrux?" I ask. Harry briefly explains it to me. 

"Oh my God." I mutter. "He succeeded, all right. And not just once." "What are they exactly?" I ask, stepping forward. "Could be anything. Most commonplace of objects." He stands and walks over to his desk, opening a draw. "A ring for example. Or a book." 

He takes out a ring I've never seen before and then Tom Riddle's diary that I destroyed in second year with the Basilisk fang. "Tom Riddle's diary." Harry mutters. My eyes widened. No wonder I could feel the power radiating off of it. 

"It's a Horcrux, yes. Four years ago, when you saved Ginny Weasley's life in the Chamber of Secrets, you two brought me this. I knew then that this was a different kind of magic. Very dark, very powerful. But until tonight I had no idea just how powerful." "And the ring?" I ask. 

"Belonged to Voldemort's mother. Difficult to find. Even more difficult to destroy." He raises his hand which looks week and feeble. "But if you could find them all, if you did destroy each Horcrux-" "One destroys Voldemort." 

"But how would you find them? They could be hidden anywhere." "True. But magic, especially dark magic-" He's cut off by Harry touching the ring and flinching back. The ring spins for a second before stopping. "Leaves traces." He finishes after a long pause. 

"It's where you've been going, isn't it sir? When you leave the school?" "Yes. And I think perhaps I may have found another. But this time, I cannot hope to destroy it alone. Once again, I must ask too much of you Harry. You as well." Harry and I turn to each other before we turn back and nod.

"Come to the Astronomy Tower tomorrow afternoon and from there, we shall begin. Now, off to bed you two." With that he ushered us out of the room. I turn to Harry as we walk. "Are you ready for this? Everything we've done. Everything we've experienced. It all leads up to this." I tell him. 

He gives me a somber look before grabbing my hand in his. "I am if you are. Together, remember." I nod. "Together." "Always." "And forever."