Thank you JPx for beta’ing for me!
This chapter is dedicated to the memory of my Grandmother who passed away this past week. You will be missed greatly.
Thanks everyone for reviewing! You are lovely and I enjoy responding to them.
As always, if you want to discuss this story, or any other of mine, you can join my yahoo group, which can be located through my profile. WARNING!! I give spoilers to the next chapter, when I finish writing it, to those in my yahoo group, so beware!
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Harry Potter and the Final Flame | ||||||
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Category: Post-HBP Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, General Warnings: Death Story is Complete Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 235 Summary: COMPLETED!!! Following the events Harry Potter is focused and determined to fulfill a destiny that only he can fulfill. Simple isn't it? Track down and destroy piece by piece the Darkest Wizard to ever live. If only things were that simple for Harry. Watch as the his best friends come closer together, the Order crumbles with a traitor in their midst, and the people he cares about the most suffer through heartache and trial. Can Harry succeed and if he does will there be anything for him to come home to? Hitcount: Story Total: 175406; Chapter Total: 6028 Author's Notes: |
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Mr. Weasley’s silhouette came through the door not long after the Aurors were dispatched to Kings Cross. His face was lined with worry and his countenance showed the concern that they were all feeling. “No Muggles were spared,” he admitted softly as he fell into a seat at the table. His normally kind eyes were swimming with grief as he looked around the table at each of them. His gaze halted on Ron. “We saved her, dad, but her mum was-” Ron’s voice broke and Hermione laid a hand on his arm. “-was already… gone.” Harry knew how much it cost him to admit that. It hurt him as well that they hadn’t been able to save the young mother. Not much older than we are… Harry thought glumly. Mr. Weasley nodded his understanding. “I’ll need to take her to the Ministry, to see if she has any family looking for her.” He stood slowly, as though each movement cost him dearly. Coming forward he picked up the sleeping child. “Have some chocolate and I’ll update you as soon as I know something.” Mrs. Weasley was up and bustling about for hot cocoa instantly. Ron stopped him, just shy of the door. “Dad… if she’s got no one…” Mr. Weasley smiled sadly, but Harry could also see the pride in his eyes. “Never fear; she will always have someone.” With that, he left. They drank up their cocoa and Mrs. Weasley shooed them from the kitchen. “I think I’ll go lay down,” Hermione said sleepily as she placed a hand on the stair railing. “It has been a long day.” Harry and Ron followed mutely as they each went to their separate bedrooms, Ron to his, Hermione to Ginny’s and Harry to the twin’s old room. The room looked immaculate and untouched from the last time he had seen it. Harry kicked off first one shoe and then the other as he set his wand and glasses on the side table. He lay down, atop the covers and rolled onto his side. He had known that something was going to happen. Were his divination skills finally showing up? That was something that Harry highly doubted, as he’d never been anything but rubbish in the subject. Or was a bit of Voldemort slipping into his subconscious? The truly frightening realization was that that he just didn’t know but at the very least he could work harder on Occlumency and hope that Voldemort wouldn’t find out what they were up to. Taking a deep breath, he tried to relax and clear his mind, but as if on cue, worries seeped into the forefront of his mind. Signing dejectedly he got up, put on his glasses, and padded down to Hermione’s room. He knocked softly but she didn’t answer. Carefully he pushed the door open and saw that she was already asleep. Silently he opened her bag and dug out her notebook to make a list. He sat at Ginny’s desk to write. -Was the attack on the station coincidence? -Can we trust Charlie’s friend? -Were we spotted? -If we were spotted, how will we know? -We need to practice Occlumency. -We have to figure out why Ginny doesn’t want us to trust anyone. Then Harry paused because adding this last bit was going to cost him. He didn’t want to contemplate all of the ramifications of what Voldemort had said the night that he had killed Harry’s parents, but the Dementors had, through their draining power, revealed more of his mother’s death. Hesitantly, in his messy script, he added: -Did Voldemort make a Horcrux when he killed my mum? “Harry?” He glanced up to see Hermione yawning widely as she turned to face him, shifting under the large quilt that covered her. “Go back to sleep,” he told her. “We’ll talk in the morning.” She leaned back in bed as her eyes fluttered closed. Harry stood from the desk and put the notebook back in Hermione’s bag before exiting and closing the door. He ambled back up to his own room and lay back down, shifting to pull back his own quilt. When he tried to clear his mind, this time it actually worked. All three of them slept through the night, waking early the next morning ravenous and full of questions. Both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were waiting for them, a large breakfast spread out before them on the kitchen table. As they sat down and dug in, Mr. Weasley began his story. “I took the little girl into the Ministry and of course they wanted to know where I had found her. I explained that my anonymous tip had given her to me and that she was the sole survivor of the attack.” He winked at them as he took a sip of his tea and continued. “The Healers were able to revive her but she can’t be more than eighteen months old and she doesn’t speak yet, so she couldn’t tell them anything about you three.” “What about her Mum?” Ron asked through a mouth full of kippers. Mr. Weasley grimaced. “I am afraid that her mother is like the others, but a man came forward to the Muggle authorities and it turned out to be the baby’s father. He was very thankful to have her back safely.” Hermione reached across the table for another slice of toast. “So what are they telling the Muggles about the…” her voice faltered along with her hand. She sat back in her seat empty handed and looking dejected. Mr. Weasley, however, seemed to know what she wanted to ask as he passed the plate of toast to her. She shook her head sadly and shrugged. He set it down and answered. “They are saying that it was a gas leak and it left all of the Muggles with brain damage. Except for the one little girl who managed to escape unharmed.” He beamed proudly at all three of them. “That is being called a miracle.” Harry felt his face flush as he ducked his head to eat more. He was glad that the little girl had her dad still and he could imagine that her dad was very thankful that he hadn’t lost his entire family. “Oh, I meant to tell you,” Mrs. Weasley said, breaking the silence. “Bill and Fleur are back from their honeymoon.” After a few unenthusiastic comments from them, she sighed and began clearing away the dishes. None of them hated Fleur but it didn’t mean they wanted to be around her. Even Ron seemed bored by the news, for which Hermione seemed grateful. “We need to talk,” Harry whispered to his best friends as he watched Mrs. Weasley wave her wand and vanish the leftover food. Mr. Weasley looked away, pretending he hadn’t heard anything. Harry smirked along with Ron as Hermione nodded in agreement and followed him up to Ginny’s room. Pulling out the journal again, he turned the desk chair around while Ron and Hermione sat on the bed across from him. He opened it up and read the list he had made. “Wait,” Ron got up and closed the door before casting the Muffliato Charm. “All right, so now… first thing first. I think that the attack at Kings Cross was a coincidence.” “Really?” Hermione began, looking sideways at him as he sat on the bed again. “I thought that it was planned for us. I mean, that is a highly unlikely coincidence.” Ron shook his head. “Strategically, it wouldn’t make any sense. First of all,” he said, counting on his fingers, “it is commonly known that Harry can cast a very strong Patronus.” Harry stared blankly at him. “It is?” Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry before addressing Ron. “Yes, but what about the attack on Privet Drive? Dementors were there as well.” “Along with the Death Eaters and that is the key. If they had wanted to get us, then they would have needed Death Eaters and Anti-Disapparation wards.” Ron absently ran his hands down the tops of his thighs while he continued his theory. “If you only want to attack Muggles then you don’t need to worry about them Apparating away.” Hermione was silent for a minute before saying, “I agree. So your second concern is about Charlie’s friend and honestly, I don’t know what to think. I have had the same concern myself.” Ron shrugged, “I think he’s okay because while he did rat us out, it was only to Charlie.” “But what if he tells others?” Harry probed, letting his concern show in his voice. “We can’t stop him and if we try, it will only make him talk more.” Hermione worried at her lip before adding, “We just need to be more diligent from now on.” It didn’t quiet his fears but Harry realized that Hermione was right. There really wasn’t anything that he could do. “Do you think we were spotted?” Ron and Hermione looked at each other and their expression said it all. “Right…” Harry knew that he couldn’t dwell on it. “How are we going to ensure that we’re not recognized again?” “Glamour charms should help,” Hermione said as she leaned over the edge of the bed to snag her bag. Digging through it she came out with a book called Beauty Charms Made Easy. “I got this book a few years back and I brought it along with us in case we might need it.” Ron snatched it from her hand and raised an eyebrow. “Beauty charms?! Why did you buy a book on beauty charms?” Hermione blushed and looked down at her lap, her lip trembling. “I… well…” Harry and Ron gazed at her in alarm. This was apparently something that was out of their realm and would require a female perspective to understand. “Hermione?” Harry questioned tentatively. Sniffing once she stood and crossed her arms. “It was someone’s idea of a joke in fourth year, all right!” Glaring up at them defiantly, a single tear sliding down her face, she said, “I haven’t looked at it since but it’s a book so I kept it.” Ron stood abruptly and pulled her into his arms. He didn’t say anything, just held on while she composed herself. “Anyway,” she said, swiping at a stray tear, “I think that we can use this to help disguise ourselves.” “Okay,” Harry said agreeably, praying that the waterworks were over for now. Looking down at his list, he read off his item on the list. “We all need to practice Occlumency. If we ever encounter Voldemort then he will be able to figure out that we know about the Horcruxes.” Hermione dived for her bag again and after digging around for a minute, she pulled out another book called, Occlumency For Beginners. “I got this last year but forgot all about it until I was sorting through my books and deciding what I should bring with us. We can all study it.” That solved that problem although Harry wasn’t completely confident that Occlumency could be learned from a book. “So about Ginny…” “I’ve given this a lot of thought, actually,” Hermione told them. “I think she knew something and couldn’t tell us. I am not positive that I know exactly what she was referring to but we can infer that she meant that someone around us was untrustworthy. I think that probably indicates a spy.” Though her ramblings were somewhat convoluted and her mannerisms more than a little nervous, Hermione’s logic made perfect sense. “So who can we trust then?” No one spoke for a full minute until Ron finally broke the silence, his expression hard and unreadable. “No one. We trust no one.” Hermione’s eyes went wide, “But what about-” “No.” Ron’s voice was firm. “I know my sister and if she said not to trust anyone, then we need to go with that. She’s always heard things that were going on, long before anyone else.” “What about Remus?” Harry asked quietly, thinking back on the older man’s prematurely lined face. Ron faltered for a minute before replying. “That’s up to you.” He thought back on his dad’s old friend and knew, in his heart, that he could make an exception for him… to a point, anyway. “We’ll trust him.” Then, with the first real smile that she had shown all day, Hermione said, “But she stole my cat!” Harry laughed and Ron snorted. “Yeah, well…” Ron winked at her. “I didn’t say she always made sense to me, but for the most part I think we can trust her.” When they eventually stopped laughing and sat down again, Harry looked down at the last question he had written. -Did Voldemort make a Horcrux when he killed my mum? Harry looked up and had to clamp down on his turbulent emotions. “I remembered a bit more yesterday from when my mum was killed…” Slowly he recounted what he had heard Voldemort say after his mother was dead. “The symbolism of it is too great to pass up?” Hermione repeated him and stood quickly, pacing around the room. She picked up a quaffle from the floor and rolled it between her hands as Arnold eyed her suspiciously from his small perch high up in her room. Hermione stopped and watched the purple fuzz ball for several minutes but Harry and Ron didn’t interrupt her. When Hermione got an idea, it was best to leave her alone until she was ready to explain it to the masses. Eventually she turned to them, her mouth set in a grim line. “I really don’t have a clue what that could mean.” Ron held out his hands and she walked across the room to hand him the ball. Ron rolled his eyes but didn’t comment as he started a game of ‘toss’ with Harry and Hermione continued to talk. “I mean your mother was Muggle born so there can’t really be a connection. I don’t know of any significance to her name, her appearance or to anything she has done. Do you know anything else about her, Harry?” Harry shook his head and threw the ball back, probably harder than he should have. It didn’t matter, however. Ron caught it deftly. “We can ask Remus.” Hermione sighed dejectedly. “I need magical papers, a magical library and a librarian that won’t ask any questions.” That was going to be a problem… Harry knew instinctively that they would be in for a rough road if she needed all of those things. “I suppose that rules out Hogwarts then,” Ron muttered as he pitched the quaffle back at Harry. It wasn’t until dinner that evening that they were given the knowledge of where they could find the resources that they would need. Harry doubted that Mrs. Weasley had meant to point them towards The Quibbler but that is exactly what she did. “Luna stopped by while you were asleep.” “Really?” Ron looked at his mother in confusion. “She’s never done that before.” Mrs. Weasley frowned at her youngest son. “Well, of course she’s stopped by here before! She and Ginny have been friends for years.” That shouldn’t have been a surprise to Harry but for some reason it was. Before he could say anything, Hermione was on her feet and marching for the door. “We’re going to see Luna!” Following like two ducklings, Harry and Ron stood, leaving their plates half full, and walked out the door and down the road. It turned out that Mr. Lovegood not only had every article of The Quibbler at his home but also a copy of every Daily Prophet going back nearly ninety years. “My grandfather started our collection,” Luna told them in her dreamy, airy voice. “Way back when he was working to start The Quibbler. Even then the other paper was full of corruption and lies. He thought it was prudent to have a record of it that couldn’t be tampered with by the Ministry.” Hermione was so excited that she hugged Luna quickly and dug instantly into the stack of papers. Ron and Harry watched her with amusement and awe. Luna leaned over towards them and whispered, “Sometimes I worry about her. She’s quite odd, you know?” By the time they got back to The Burrow Hermione was spouting off information and had made copies of about forty different papers, mostly from Voldemort’s early rise to power. Harry and Ron dutifully carted the copies back home, grumbling slightly about their weight but because they had to pass through the Muggle village, it wasn’t worth the risk of being caught doing magic. “Besides,” Hermione hissed after Ron complained, yet again, about the weight of the papers. “The Ministry might know if you do magic in front of a Muggle! We can’t risk the exposure!” “Yeah, but you aren’t the one lugging them home!” Ron bit back. Hermione halted in her tracked and turned, glaring at him. “Fine! Give them to me and I’ll carry them home!” Ron blushed and shook his head, stepping around her to continue home. “I didn’t mean that.” “No, by all means Ron,” her words were singsong but her tone said it all. She was hurt. “I’ll carry them and you can read each of them to find the information that we need.” Ron stumbled and finally snorted as he shook his head. “No thanks. I’ll be your lackey any day if it gets me out of work.” Hermione eventually sighed and smiled at him. “Good.” The rest of their walk home was in companionable silence. That was until they saw the state of occupants of The Burrow. Mr. Weasley was running into the house from his shed and Mrs. Weasley was yelling. The three friends ran flat out to the house. “What happened?” Harry yelled and saw Remus’ head sticking out of the fire. “-no time, Arthur!” Remus said hurriedly. “She’s dead and it’s still going.” “I’m Apparating out now!” Mr. Weasley shouted to the fire as he grabbed his wand and ran from the house to Disapparate. In a second, Remus’ head was gone as well. Mrs. Weasley fell into a seat at the kitchen table and began to sob. “No… Rosmerta…” “What?” Harry sat down next to her and Hermione moved to place a hand on her shoulder. Ron went to the stove and began to fix tea from the old, dented kettle. “What happened Mrs. Weasley?” “Hogsmeade…” she cried. “Attacked! They had little warning and Rosmerta’s… she’s… oh and Arthur’s there! Fighting the D-d-death Eaters!” Harry stood up and was about to Apparate to Hogsmeade when Mrs. Weasley grabbed his hand. “I have to go!” He spun to face the woman who had become almost a mother to him. “I can help.” “We can help,” Ron reminded him vehemently. She shook her head. “I know you three are up to something… no listen to me!” She interrupted their automatic objections and turned to meet each of their gazes. “I know that you three are doing something and that you can’t tell us what it is. You have to be careful and I don’t think that walking into danger is going to help you achieve what it is you’ve set out to do.” While her normal fervor, the one that dictated that all of her children should remain safely at home, was still in place, Harry could also see the cool logic behind her argument. She was right. They had a job to do and accidentally getting killed meant that Voldemort would remain on this earth forever. That was as chilling a thought as any. So Harry sat down and looked at Ron. “I could use a cup of tea.” Before Ron could even respond, Mrs. Weasley was on her feet preparing it. |
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