582Chapter 51: Freeing Harry
Thanks for all the reviews.
I'm not going to apologize for the late update. My real life just isn't conducive to writing. That and my muse has gone walkabout. The two combined just doesn't make for a good writing environment. I do what I can and write when the muse takes me. Today I got the itch and here we are.
Enjoy.
HP-BTVS-HP-BTVS
Xander took Harry and his friends to the Room of Requirements to let them see what he had found. The four of them stood and stared at the mountains of junk in astonishment. They had never seen the like in their lives. They could get lost in there forever and not get bored. They would find so many interesting things and keep entertained. They could see things they wanted to get their fingers on right now but were being held back by the two adults by their sides.
"Cor, this is awesome," said Harry. "Look at all this junk in here. This will take forever to go through." His eyes were wide, and his mouth was open in awe.
"I wanted to let you know that this is a reward for good behavior," said Xander. He was grinning like a loon. He knew the kids would like it and he was happy that he was right about that. He knew when he was a kid that he would have loved to have found a place like this and the things he would have done with it. Now that he was an adult, not so much, but even still there were things in here that tickled his interest.
"You mean we get to keep whatever we find in here?" asked Neville, turning his shocked face to Xander. He was awestruck and wanted to dive right in and find the treasures he knew were hiding in the piles of rubble.
"For now, after a while all the treasures will be gone, and it will be nothing but junk. But I wanted to give you guys the first crack at it," the yellowed-eyed man said, putting his hands in his pockets and rocking back and forth with an air of a man who had done his job well.
"Thanks, Xander," Neville said, hugging the man he thought of as an uncle.
"Thanks, Daddy-Xander," said Luna, and she ran off into the piles. She was going to get the first treasure if it killed her.
"Luna, get back here. You don't know what kind of dark magic is in that junk," Xander said as he ran after his wayward daughter. He just knew she was going to get hurt. They had found the Horcrux here after all, who knew what else was hidden here.
"Well, it looks like we're going to start this treasure hunt right now," said Harry, grinning at his friends and winking at Joyce. She just fretted at him. She wasn't as gung-ho as they were.
"Looks like," said Neville, smiling back, knowing they were going to have a great time.
"I, for one, can't wait to start," said Hermione. She had never seen so many books outside a library in her life and she could not wait to start gathering them up and putting them in her personal collection.
"Well, you be careful," said Joyce, making a shooing motion, knowing she couldn't stop them from going in there.
"We will," the three said, each taking a turn at giving her a hug. They knew she worried about them. Sometimes a bit too much.
With that, the three of them ran after Xander as he ran after Luna and started the treasure hunt. They spent quite a few hours going through what was the equivalent to a junkyard. They found jewels and lockets and gold and money. Hermione found books. Harry found brooms. Neville found seeds. And Luna found all sorts of arrays of things that she thought was interesting. Everybody found something they liked.
Hpbtvshpbtvs
Later that night, they were all sitting down at the dinner table having afters, when Xander broke out with the news that Dumbledore was dying. He had waited long enough for Moody to tell them but decided that it was time for him to let them know. He wasn't going to let anybody outside the immediate family know, but he wanted those in the 'house' to know. And he considered all sitting at his table family.
"Are you sure he's dying?" asked Amelia. To her this was worrying news. It would make too many waves. Even though people should have been preparing for it for years. The man was over a hundred years old. However, some wizards could live to two hundred, though not many did.
"Yes, he decided to go after the Horcruxes himself. I told you he found the ring, and that's how he got cursed," the yellow-eyed man stated, scooping up the last of his ice cream. They had had some apple crumble with vanilla ice cream, and he was finishing off the last of his.
"Blast that man," his girlfriend stated, throwing her napkin on the table. If the man had just left well enough alone…
"That's pretty much what I said too," Xander stated, putting a hand on her arm.
"Well, it can't be helped. This is going to cause some political unrest. Uh, I don't know what's going to happen with him outside of the arena, but that's going to leave quite an… echo," she said, searching for the correct word. She didn't think it would make too big of a wave, but it would cause a stir.
"What do you mean an echo?" asked Harry, tilting his head to the side. He wasn't sure he got the gist.
"I'm sorry, I mean a blank spot, but not quite. More like a… slight wave," she reiterated.
"Oh, I guess I know what you're saying. You mean it's gonna leave a resounding empty spot?" the messy-haired teen said, making waving motions with his hand.
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean," she said, nodding her head, thinking those were the perfect words.
"I didn't realize he was that important still, I thought he had lost all of his spots in the political arena," Hermione said, pushing her empty bowl into the middle of the table. She was done with her dessert and didn't want any more. She ate really well here, and she loved it, but she didn't want it to start to show.
"He still has a lot of clout with a lot of people," said Amelia, looking at the teens with a knowing look.
"Well, I guess as old as he is, he would, wouldn't he?" said Neville. "I mean my gran knows many people too and she isn't even on the political scene." She still held clout with many politicians.
"Yes, somebody with that kind of pull doesn't lose it overnight," said Joyce, with an indignant sniff. She hated that Dumbledore could still get people like Snape off on charges that should have seen the man in jail. It still burned her craw.
"Well, he's going to be missed one way or another by those who hate him or love him," said Xander pragmatically. He could care less about the old man dying. He was old, and he was due to die in a few years anyway.
"Onto brighter topics. We finally figured out how to get the Horcrux out of Harry," said Neville, like they had solved how to stop the war.
"Oh, how?" Joyce asked, hoping for a painless solution. She didn't like any that had come up so far.
"We've decided to go with the basilisk venom and the phoenix tears," the sandy blond stated like it was final.
"I thought we were going to wait until we'd studied this more," said Xander, confusion laced his tone.
"We did study it more, Harry and I, and we came to the conclusion that it's best this way," he said, a frown marring his brow as if he couldn't figure out why they were arguing with him.
"And how did you study this?" the older man asked, leaning forward a bit. He wasn't exactly angry, but he wasn't exactly happy either.
"We hit the books with Hermione," was the answer.
"And there's books on this?" asked Xander, sharing a look with Joyce and Amelia. They both looked as surprised as he did.
"There're books on things like this," edged Hermione, looking sheepish.
"Elaborate," said Joyce, waving a hand in her direction.
"Well, there's books on possession and things like that and, um, poisons, toxins, and stuff like that. There are some possessions that happen in Egypt, that are a lot like Horcruxes," the bushy-haired girl hedged, looking around the room for inspiration.
"None of those are Horcruxes," Xander pointed out. He didn't want to dismiss this out of hand, but they weren't convincing him with their arguments as of yet.
"No, but they are foreign objects in human bodies. And they say the best way to get that out is to repel it with another foreign object or a magical spell. So, either we have the goblins do their thing, which we don't think it's a good thing because it gets the whole soul out, and we think that it would repel Harry's soul out and we don't want to take that chance," Hermione stated, firming her resolve. She had studied for hours and hours about this, but her argument was weak at best. There just wasn't enough material to make a valid argument. However, Harry and Neville insisted that they were correct, because Luna said so.
"I see," said Xander.
"Besides, Luna had a dream," said Harry, cutting off further argument. He knew that his dad would listen to that.
"Luna?" said Xander in a questioning manner, looking at his quirky daughter. She would know. She had never been wrong before. Confusing, yes, wrong, no.
"Yes, Daddy-Xander?" Luna said, looking up from where she was drawing in her melted ice cream.
"Did you have a dream?" he asked, knowing the answer before she even spoke, but having to ask anyway. She never remembered, but there was a first time for everything.
"You know I don't remember my dreams, Daddy-Xander," she answered, quirking her head in a confused manner, like he shouldn't have asked that question.
"Harry?"
"She came to me the other night in the middle of the night, woke me up from a dead sleep and said that the basilisk venom was the only way to get rid of the Horcrux. When I asked her while she was still asleep how I was not going to die from that, she told me to have Neville cry on me," the teenage boy stated matter-a-factly. He didn't raise his voice, he just stated it as fact.
"And you're sure this was a prediction?" Xander asked, he didn't doubt it per se, he just didn't want it to be true. He wanted to find a different way. Something that didn't involve injecting deadly venom into his son's head.
"She was asleep," Harry said, like that was all that needed to be said.
"I guess you can't fault that. What do you think, Joyce?" the yellow-eyed man asked the embodiment of Hogwarts.
"I don't like it, but I can't think of any other way. The doctors haven't come up with anything. The goblins don't like their way either," Joyce said, fretting her hands together. "They also think that it would tear Harry's soul out if they tried it their way." She hated that thought. She didn't even want to try that route.
"You're right, I talked to Ragnuk, and he said the same thing. He also thinks that the tears and the venom will be the best," Xander said with a sigh. He didn't want it to be so, but there was no other way around it.
"Then why are you giving us such a hard time?" asked Harry, raising his voice in frustration. He knew his dad argued sometimes just to be contrary, but this time didn't feel like that.
"Because I don't like the fact that you went behind my back and did all this research without asking me. I've told you kids before that we're here to help you," the older man stated, running a hand down his face, making the teens at the table glare at him, bar Susan, who was just staring at everyone with a look of curiosity on her face. She knew something about what was going on, but she had not been privy to everything.
"Dad, I'm fourteen years old," Harry stated, all but slamming his fist on the table. Instead, he just laid his hands on it and stood. "I have to start doing things on my own. Besides, didn't you tell me that I should start standing on my own two feet?" he inquired and then sat back down heavily.
"I suppose, but I just didn't think you'd start this forcefully," Xander said, heaving a great sigh. He was glad Harry took the initiative, but did it have to be about this?
"You're welcome."
"That's enough cheek out of you, young man," Joyce said, though she was smirking. She too was glad that Harry was standing up for himself. It was about time. Now if only he'd do that outside the family dynamic.
"Anyway, we should get this done as soon as possible. That'll be one less Horcrux for Voldemort to worry about. That and I won't have to worry about it being in my head anymore," Harry stated, looking around the table to see who agreed with him.
"All right, we can do it tomorrow if you want," Xander said, looking at the adults to see if they concurred. If they had other plans, they could work around them.
"Should we call the crew in?" asked Amelia. She had nothing else planned the next night.
"No, I think we should still keep this within the family," said Harris, looking fondly at her and Joyce.
"What about Spike? He's family," said Luna, cutting a glance at the basement door.
"Spike is not now, nor will he ever be, family," said Xander, a fierce tone in his voice. He really didn't like that vampire even after all he'd done since he'd been here. He didn't hate him as much as he had back in Sunnydale, but he didn't like him either.
"You know, you're the only one who feels that way," said Joyce, slapping him gently on the shoulder, making everyone around them nod in agreement.
"That's right," said Harry, giving Xander a thoughtful look. "I think of him as a strange uncle. Not like Uncle Vernon, but a strange one nonetheless." He liked Spike. Sure, the vampire took a bit getting used to, but once you got past the rough exterior, he was a softy. Not that you could ever tell him that.
"Me too," said Neville.
"I think of him as a big brother," said Luna, her eyes going in a faraway look, like she was seeing something only she could see.
"I'm not really part of the family," said Hermione. "But I kind of think of him as an interesting cousin." She had had cousins like Spike, though not quite as… forceful.
"Well, it seems that I'm outvoted, so I guess we'll let him join us," Xander said, with a put-upon sigh. He seemed to be doing that quite a lot this evening.
"I'd like to be there as well," said Amelia, catching everyone's attention. "Even though I'm not part of the family." She smiled fondly at the group. She wanted to be part of the family one day, but she knew she wasn't quite there yet.
"You're very much part of this family," said Harry, negating her thoughts. He thought of her as a stepmother. And not the evil kind.
"Thank you, Harry," said Xander, ruffling the teen's hair.
"You're welcome, Dad," Harry said, batting the hand away.
"What about me?" asked Susan, who had been quiet through the entire meal. She knew she learned more just by listening than by trying to insert herself into conversations.
"You're very much a part of this family too, Susan," said Harry. "Like a quiet cousin."
"Thank you, Harry," the young blonde said, perking up at that notion.
"Do you want to be there for this?" he asked. He didn't think she would. It wasn't something he could see she'd be interested in.
"No, I don't think my constitution is up to it," she said, confirming his thoughts.
"Then you're excused to spend the time with Hannah, as long as you don't let her know what's going on," said Amelia, reaching over and patting the girl's hand in a kindly gesture. They were seated only two seats apart, so it wasn't that far of a reach.
"I won't," said Susan. She knew better than to spread family business about.
"Great," said Harry, clapping his hands together and rubbing them in a victory motion. "And that's why you're very much a part of this family, because you know when to keep your mouth closed about family business."
"I know," said Susan, grinning impishly at him.
"Okay, we have a plan," said Xander, bringing them back on track. "Tomorrow, before dinner, we will get Harry's Horcrux out of his forehead. And then we'll only have the snake to worry about."
"That works for me," said Harry, nodding his head.
"Works for me too," said many of the others.
"Now it's time for y'all to do your homework and the rest of us adults to do some planning for what we're going to do after we get the Horcrux out," the leader of the family said, shooing the teens out of the dining room.
"Like what?" asked Harry, getting up from his chair and heading towards the door. The rest of the kids followed. Though they were going slowly.
"Nothing for you to worry about," said Xander sternly. "There's just some stuff we've got to do to end this war."
"Isn't there a prophecy with my name on it?" asked Harry, stopping his movement and standing near the doorway.
"Mine too," said Neville, standing by Harry's side.
"Of which I'm here to break if I may remind you," said Xander, giving them a mischievous grin.
"Bugger," said Harry, snapping his fingers.
"Language," said Joyce.
"Since when is bugger a dirty word?" Harry asked, confusion in his tone. He looked to his year mates, and all but Hermione and Susan agreed with him.
"Since forever," said Hermione, smacking his chest and shaking her head at him.
"Whatever," said Harry.
"Off you go," said Xander, once more flapping his hands in their general direction.
"Good night," said the kids as they ran out of the room. They were going to do their homework, but they were going to talk about Harry's Horcrux as well. They were excited to get it gone.
"What did you want to brainstorm about?" asked Joyce, now that the kids were gone. She didn't think they had anything to talk about.
"Nothing really, I just wanted them to think we were doing it," Xander said with a shit-eating grin.
"That's just mean," said Amelia, smiling just as evilly.
"What can I say? I'm a devious man," said Xander, liking her more and more.
Hpbtvshpbtvs
The next night, before dinner, Xander and Harry were in the kitchen. Instead of food being on the table, it was Harry.
"Why are we doing this on the table?" asked Harry. He was uncomfortable. The table was hard, and he was stripped of his shirt. He didn't know if he liked the thought of the girls seeing his bare chest.
"In case there's a mess," said Xander, like that was the obvious reason.
"What makes you think there's going to be a mess?" asked Harry, he didn't think there'd be one. After all, it was just a piece of soul. Those were incorporeal.
"You've obviously never done anything like this before," said Xander, thumping him on the nose, which made Harry's face scrunch.
"Obviously," said Harry with a roll of his eyes.
"Well, take it from somebody who comes from the sunny town of Sunnydale. I've done stuff like this before and there's usually a mess," the older man stated with an air of a knowledgeable person.
"Fine, let's just get on with this," the younger teen said, hoping to get it done before the girls saw his state of undress.
"We have to wait for Madam Pomfrey," his dad said, looking towards the door. He'd told everyone when and where they were doing this but had hinted that maybe Harry might not like onlookers. They seemed to have taken his hint to heart.
"Oh, I suppose it's a good idea to have a healer here," Harry said, nodding his head in agreement.
"Yes, yes, it is," Xander said, once again looking at the living area.
"I'm here," said Madame Pomfrey as she came bustling into the room. She had just let herself in, as per instructions.
"It's a good thing you're here," said Xander, breathing a sigh of relief. "Everybody else is on their way," he added, even though he knew they were holding back.
"Why are we waiting for everybody else?" inquired Harry, wanting to cover himself up in front of Madam Pomfrey, but knowing it was foolish. She was a healer. She'd seen him naked.
"You said you wanted them to be here, didn't you?" his dad asked, looking at him kindly.
"They don't have to be," the shy boy stated, looking at the wall to his left. "I mean, it doesn't matter. It's going to be over within minutes." He really wanted this done now.
"Well, we may not have to wait for everybody, but we must wait for Neville. He has to cry on you after I inject the venom in you," Xander stated, looking once more to the door of the dining room.
"Oh, right," said Harry, tilting his head back and looking that way too.
"I'm here," said Neville as he came running into the room. He forgot that he was needed until Hermione reminded him.
"Okay, now we can get started," said Xander, picking up the needle with his shaky hand. He really didn't want to do this. What if it didn't work? What if he was killing his son? What if Neville's tears didn't revive him? What if…?
"Why don't you let me handle this," said Madame Pomfrey as she took the needle from his shaking hand.
"Yeah, I think that would probably be best," said the nervous man, though he didn't step back. Instead, he took Harry's hand and gave it a firm squeeze.
She injected the basilisk's venom into the scar and waited. They all waited for about five seconds and Harry started to convulse on the table. Xander tried to hold him down, but he was thrown off by a magical force.
A scream was heard coming from the scar as fluid came pouring out of it. A mist arose from the scar, still screaming. A face formed and it contorted and then broke up and disappeared.
Once the scream dissipated, Neville started crying over the scar. When that didn't work, he started crying in Harry's mouth.
Harry stopped convulsing and started breathing correctly, but he didn't wake up right away. After about five minutes, his eyes blinked. During those five minutes, everybody just sat and watched him, but Madam Pomfrey assured them that he was just sleeping.
"Damn, but it's good to see you awake, Harry," said Xander, grabbing the teen's hand again and holding on for dear life. He had been so scared.
"How long was I out?" asked the tired boy. His voice croaked, even though it wasn't his scream that was heard. The convulsions had tightened his muscles and made his neck hurt.
"About five minutes," said Xander.
"Oh, that's not bad," said Harry, clearing his throat and shaking his head to clear some of the cobwebs from it. He groaned and put his hand to his forehead. It felt like he'd been hit by blungers.
"Seems like a lifetime to me," said Neville. He was very worried that his tears might not have worked, or that Harry might have suffered from brain damage.
"Well, I'm okay now," said Harry, giving them all a brilliant smile.
"That you are, my boy, that you are," said a very relieved Xander.
Everyone sighed in relief.