The Stand

Plans Are Made

"Hocruxes" Sirius thought out loud "What do you want to know about them?"

Harry had been waiting for his first chance to ask Sirius about hocruxes. When a Wizengamot meeting came up, he took his chance. After the meeting was over, he asked Sirius if he could ask him something privately. They headed back to Grimmauld Place where Harry asked Sirius.

"What are they?" Harry asked.

Sirius appeared worried "Harry, I need you to promise me that you won't research this. Hocruxes are dangerous. You should never, and I mean NEVER, study hocruxes. They are dangerous."

Harry shook his head "I don't want them, since I don't even know what they are. Apparently Voldemort has them."

Sirius' eyes widened before entering a state of realization "If he had hocruxes... that explains how he came back then! He's a madman so of course he'd be willing to create them! It all makes sense!"

Harry sighed "Sirius, what are they?"

"Hocruxes are only for the most evil" Sirius began "They're nasty pieces of dark magic. Basically, you place a fragment of your soul inside of an object in order to become immortal. If your horcrux still exists after you die, you can come back. But to make a hocrux, you have to first commit a murder then use a spell which creates. You split your soul with every hocrux you make and slowly become less and less human."

"Damn" Harry said.

"I know" Sirius said sadly "If Voldemort has them, then we need to destroy them first."

"Then how do we do that?" Harry asked.

"That's harder then you think. The only items that can definitely destroy them are either insanely rare, like basilisk venom or hard to control like Fiendfyre. Something like goblin silver could also possibly work, but only if it previously absorbed one of the items" Sirius answered.

"We have basilisk venom" Harry grinned.

Sirius gaped "W-what?"

Harry chuckled "Dorea! The basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets wanted to move on so she asked me to care for her daughter. I named her Dorea. She didn't like Hogwarts as she viewed as where her mom died so she stays with the Gopals."

"That's great!" Sirius grinned "Plus, if her mom has old fangs, they may also do the trick!"

"The issue is though, we don't know what the Hocruxes are" Harry groaned "Dumbledore may know a few but I doubt he's going to tell us."

"How'd you even learn about the Hocruxes then" Sirius asked.

"He tried Legimmency on me since he thought my shields were non-existent. I managed to trick him into submission and then extract the knowledge from his mind while his guard was down. He wanted to show me memories until I learned about hocruxes" Harry explained.

"Okay" Sirius drummed his fingers until an idea struck him "The only thing that could possibly beat his Occlumency shields is Veritaserum. But, we'd need a legal reason to use it, meaning we'd need to prosecute him for some crime."

Harry realized what his godfather was thinking "Then, we can call for the use or vertiaserum. If he admits to withholding information which could assist in the war, Minister Bones can deny him the antidote until we know about the other Hocruxes."

"Now, we just need to nail him for something" Sirius said.

Harry nodded his head in agreement "Cedric mentioned that he was looking into why I had to compete in the Triwizard Tournament after we realized that we were obliviated. I could talk to him, see what he knows."

"Good" Sirius said "We can probably nail him for your abuse at the Dursleys but we need something to push our case over the edge. Child abuse is a big deal and we have money laundering to add that on. But we'll need something more. Something big."

"I'll go talk to Cedric and see what he knows" Harry told his godfather "Bye Sirius."

Sirius chuckled "Be happy that you have Sunday off."

Harry flooed to Cedric's apartment and then asked a house elf "Excuse me? Can you tell Cedric that Harry Potter wishes to speak with him?"

The elf nodded and disappeared.

After a bit, Cedric walked out of his small office and came to Harry "Potter! It's great to see you!"

"You too Diggory" Harry grinned.

"Come on" Cedric led Harry to his office which just contained a desk, and two chairs "Sorry, it's a bit cramped."

Harry chuckled "I wasn't expecting much anyway. After all, you are a Junior Auror. The pay isn't great."

"For right now, I am" Cedric laughed "I plan to move up in the world."

"How's Fleur?" Harry asked, thinking of the former Beauxbatons champion.

"She's great. We moved here a little over a year ago" Cedric then looked around before saying "I'm thinking of proposing to her soon."

"Dude! That's awesome!" Harry exclaimed "How far along are you in plans?"

"I have my grandmother's ring and I'm looking at places. I want it to be perfect. I really want to start a family with her" Cedric smiled happily "But, I'm assuming this isn't a social call. Otherwise, you probably would've called ahead."

Harry nodded "I see why they made you Head Boy."

Cedric smiled "What's up?"

"Remember how you were interested in figuring out what happened in the trophy room after my selection?" Harry asked "Did you actually?"

Cedric nodded "I did. Since our memories were altered, I spoke with some portraits in the room. Apparently, Dumbledore wiped our memories after you got out of it by pointing out that because your full name isn't Harry James Potter, you don't need to compete."

Harry grinned "Damn, I was smart."

"I guess" Cedric agreed "Anyway, I looked into some other stuff. I don't like my memories being altered so I looked into some other things. Didn't find much to make a big case. I left the work alone but, you can have it if you want."

"Thanks" Harry grinned.

"You planning on going after him?" Cedric asked.

Harry nodded "I am. And I don't care what happens. Even if I go down, I'll make sure he goes down with me."

Elsewhere, in a secluded part of Hogwarts, two people were heading to their meeting spot. Two people with different goals but a need for the other. Both needed each other to succeed.

The older one spoke first "I have the ingredients you need. Severus informed me that he is too busy to brew so you must do it yourself."

The younger one stifled her giggles "My mom's recipe calls for 9 days of brewing. Then, it will be ready!"

"Good. But remember, once he is firmly under your control, you will instruct him to do these things. Break up with Daphne Greengrass. Cancel his apprenticeship. Leave the Gopals' care. And listen to me." the elder man ordered.

The 5th year squealed "And I will be Lady Potter."

The older man nodded "And everything will be the way it was supposed to be."

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