Chapter Text
Sirius and Remus both look up at the sound of a snap that occurred out of the cabin and take out their wands, something they quickly lower when Harry rushes inside with a face filled with worry and holding someone who seemed so familiar to Remus.
Remus quietly pleaded for the body to be someone he did not know since he had already lost so many friends yet the body looked so hauntingly familiar. Harry gently places the body on the sofa as Remus and Sirius gaze upon the face of the mysterious boy on their floral sofa. A quick thud informs Remus that his dear husband has indeed fainted to the floor at the sight of his dead brother’s sleeping face.
Hermione pays no attention as Sirius faints and Remus turns into an alarming shade of white while she pulls out the crystal and taps with her wand, “ Padma, need you in Wonderland. Emergency .” Fred and George decide to be useful while Harry and Ron take a breather to put Sirius on a chair and go to the kitchen only to return with glasses and alcohol.
The knock at the door makes Hermione stand and open the door to face a wand raised by Padma Patil, current student healer who asks her, “What is my sister doing right now?”
“Hopefully teaching something better than Divination to students. What is the name of the school?”
“Neverland. And unfortunately Parvati seems to enjoy teaching Divinations to those poor fools.”
Hermione grins, “Please come on in.”
Padma is led to the living room where she sees a man sleeping on the couch and another in the chair, “Hermione, what is the emergency?” Patil had gotten used to a panic filled frenzy whenever Hermione said it was an emergency, but this all seemed very normal.
She sighs as she motions to the body, “Well this is Regulus Black, dead for 12 years and not aged a day while that is his very alive brother who fainted at the sight of his presumed dead brother.”
Padma raises her eyebrows until it seems that they might just meet her hairline and glances at her friend, okay so maybe it wasn’t as normal as believed on the first glance. “Never a dull moment with you, Hermione.”
Padma then quickly goes to check on the pulse and temperature of the then-dead-then-alive again man since she presumes that it takes priority over a fainting. She looks around and decides to check everyone else since they seemed rather in shock although she just seems to place a wake-up spell on Sirius and bandage a cut on Harry’s ankle.
“He seems to be sleeping, his magical core seems severely depleted so he may be very weak when he wakes up,” Padma relays the news very slowly to Harry’s uncles’ pale faces. At Hermione’s nod, Padma leaves and goes back to Neverland.
Sirius croaks out, “Why is my dead brother breathing and taking over my couch?”
Remus raises his hand, “I am also interested in how this occurred.”
Seeing how everyone else was at a loss for words, Hermione spoke up, “It seemed when Regulus betrayed good old Tommy and switched the lockets and was slowly being dragged to drown to his death. Kreacher was bound to oath to your mother to protect her sons and so unconsciously made a protection sphere over your brother that protected over the years although it seemed that it also protected him from aging. And so when I dragged Harry and Kreacher back to the cave I felt another magical core that did not belong, so with Kreacher’s help we were able to drag him out and took him here to show you a 35 year old with an 18 year old body.”
Sirius looks at Remus incredulously, “You can hear all of this too, right? I am not just dreaming all of this because I ate that mysterious goop in the back of the fridge this morning?”
Remus laughs all the humor gone from his voice, “It seems we are having the same dream, darling.”
“That was what I was afraid of.”
A few hours passed with everyone in the living room just watching the boy’s chest move up and down as Kreacher refilled everyone’s cup of tea he made from a kettle in the kitchen. Fred and George both kiss Hermione in the forehead as they go to open the store and make her swear to keep them updated. As the new day’s sun appears, the boy’s flutter open and Sirius shoves Remus awake, “I think I might throw up.”
“Just don’t ruin the new carpet.”
Regulus Black lays up and blinks warily as he focuses on his surroundings while he nods to go back to sleep and then seems to process everything as he snaps back awake and stares at Sirius with a scream. Hermione huffs, it seems that the Black family is built on dramatics and grabs more vodka to place on her cup of tea.
…
“You mean to tell me that it is 1997 and I am 35 years old yet still look like I barely left Hogwarts yesterday and no one has figured out how to defeat the Dark Master yet?!”, Regulus looks incredulous.
Sirius drawls, “Yes, but don’t worry, we have amazing new motorcycles and magical television now.”
Regulus stares at Sirius then glances at Remus whose only solution seems to be offering more alcohol, “He is mostly right on that, Reg.”
“I can’t believe you are still with this idiot,” Regulus frowns at Remus while Sirius rolls his eyes.
“Hey! We are brothers so if I am an idiot then so are you. Besides, made it official last month,” Sirius scoffs while making a grand show of showing him the new addition on his hand of a shiny ring.
“I am going to need someone sane to explain everything now,” Regulus looks around everywhere while everyone makes a grand show to look over at Hermione which causes the youngest Black to look at her with a hopeful look.
--
Fred and George appeared at the Grimmauld the next day, “So how is it going with the newly reunited Black family?”
Hermione rolled her eyes, “They were still snarking at each other when we left and Remus’ solution seems to be slowly getting more drunk. Kreacher stayed behind as the only sober peacemaker but I did give them a crystal to contact Padma if any other problems came up.”
Fred raises an eyebrow, “Have they used it yet?”
“Well Regulus seems to have used it to ask Padma to place him back unconscious and to throw him off to the deepest parts of the ocean because, and I quote, ‘even the Inferi are a better sight than Sirius’.”
George chuckles, “That bad?”
Hermione groans, “And according to Padma, that is when Remus took another shot. On the other hand, Regulus is healing rapidly.” The twins look at Hermione while she bags her head onto the table, “And Harry is growing more and more ready to infiltrate the Ministry and steal the locket but there are so many variables with your dad still keeping his cover as a normal Ministry worker and Percy as a spy, while Dean apparently performing capture-rescue-escape plans with others.”
“I thought you talked to him.”
“I couldn’t, he showed me all the people he saved that were being sentenced to Azkaban. Krum then talked to his Durnstrang friends who apparently are willing to help since their history with Grindelwald means many wizarding homes are built with hidden tunnels and rooms.”
George squints his eyes at her, “And?”
She blushes, “And this might help bond the magical schools together if they are also attacked or when the war is over.” The twins smile, they know Hermione Granger better than most. There is always a deeper plan.
--
Something was wrong, the twins hadn’t visited last week. Even with their message of being watched and being too dangerous to Apparate hadn’t calmed her down which was what had caused this scenario.
WIth the twins not being there, it seemed that Hermione was more impulsive and easier to convince which is how Harry finally managed to convince her to infiltrate the MOM. They waited for a Ministry witch to walk her usual path to the MOM entrance while Hermione wanted to scream at how much this plan relied on luck. Their stupid, idiotic plan to infiltrate the Ministry for a locket.
Things had not gone well, it seemed that Lady Luck was not on their side as they were all split up with Ron focusing on a rainy office, Harry being accused of betraying others that falsified family trees and Hermione being forced to watch as people were punished to Azkaban with their wands to be broken. Hermione felt like crying and tearing down this room in a storm of anger as she watched Yaxley and Umbridge harshly question a mother of 3 on how she stole her wand from someone who deserved it. Hermione wanted to look away while Yaxley whispered to the woman that if she was caught lying then it would be straight to Azkaban.
Harry had thankfully joined her in the courtroom as he stood invisibly behind her and stupefied the old toad of a woman. Hermione quickly duplicated the locket to stop any suspicions while Harry summoned his Patronus to stop Dementors from feasting on those arrested on muggle-born charges.
They quickly ran to an empty office while Harry thundered to those that wished to escape to follow him. Although Harry seemed confident, Hermione had heard the fear underlying his voice and Hermione looked around the office as she grabbed a stapler and focused on a spell needed to make a Portkey. The triad magic had made making a Portkey easy but she had to flounder to make it untraceable to the Ministry, “Grab on, this will lead you to a safehouse. Trust no one unless they show you this crystal.”
A small woman looked at her, “Why should we trust you? You may be tricking us to lead you to our family?”
“Because I am Hermione Granger and this is Harry Potter, we won’t harm you.”
A man glances at her, “You go to school with my son, Michael Corner. If you are Hermione Granger then you need to show me your Patronus.” Hermione huffed, they did not have time for this. She pulled out her wand and waved with the incantation to show a silver phoenix.
He nods at her and holds onto the stapler and others follow his lead as they disappear. Harry and Hermione run as the alarms blair and topple with Ron, “They know that there are intruders, we need to leave before they close the entrances.”
They quickly run to the Apparition spot as many try to stop them but it is too late, Hermione is Apparating them away. Something is wrong, she looks around to see Yaxley holding on, no no no no! It is too late, they arrived at Grimmauld Place. Hermione turns to stun Yaxley and snaps her eyes shut as she sends him somewhere while she apparated them out of the flat in terror.
They land somewhere soft, Hermione groans in pain. She splinched Ron and herself as she felt a burning in her shoulder, she wanted to close her eyes from the pain but she couldn't. She needs to send a message to Dean about the muggle-borns they helped escape.
Her hands shake when she can’t even reach her journal and instead grabs her wand with her hands running with blood as she determinately taps the crystal, “ Padma, escaped muggle-borns from MOM in safehouse Erebor. Show crystal to gain trust .” She huffs out of breath when the bond pulses with worry and anger and blinks dazedly as the twins appear in front of her.
“Fred? George?”
“You are such an idiot Hermione -.”
“- Can never leave you alone.”
“How – how are you here?”
Distressed laughter reaches her ears, “We don’t know darling, we just know that we need to be where you are and suddenly we are here.”
Someone picks her up and distressingly apparates her, “Don’t worry Mione. We are almost there.”
“W- What about Ron?.”
Her eyes flutter but she refuses to shut her eyes until she hears Fred whisper, “He is right behind us, darling. Just hold on for a moment.”
She tries to nod and assure her twins when a hand wraps tightly on her shoulder with a towel and she hears someone make a noise of pain, she closes her eyes.
--
“You are never ever doing that again,” Hermione wakes up in a room to gaze at her twins.
She raises herself up when she groans in pain and one Alicia Spinet comes into the room to offer a Pain Reliever Potion. She feels their glares while she slowly gulps down the mentioned potion, “I’m sorry I harmed Ron.”
George takes a long deep breath, “I know, we know. You are not guilty for Ron getting injured, Harry told us everything and he knows it wasn’t your fault too. You are the only reason they were able to escape so quickly, you were just overwhelmed, darling.”
“You are ours as much as we are yours, we’re just worried because it seems that you are out there risking your life while all we’ve been doing is selling joke shop items,” Fred tightened his hold on her hand.
“You both do so much more than that, we are fighting a war with Death Eaters gaining the upper hand yet you remind everyone that there is still a moment to laugh. And better yet, you are the reason I keep fighting for a better world.”
Both twins grinned at her, “We see no problem with that.”
She nods and glances at Alicia who had grown uncomfortable at her presence in such a private conversation especially when Alicia remembers that it’s the same twins who years before had ridden their broomsticks like surfboards.
She looks up to Hermione who motions for her to explain the injuries, “Well your shoulder is healing nicely although you will be sore for a bit but that should fade away. Padma wanted me to mention that the survivors have already been hidden away with many being out of the country since their photograph is in the front-page of the Prophet. Harry is quite alright while Ron is being treated by Padma.” Hermione nods albeit a bit tired.
Hermione stands while she grunts in pain, but she keeps herself standing as George helps her walk to Harry’s room. Harry questions why they are not in Grimmauld while Hermione embarrassingly bursts into tears as she explains how Yaxley had grabbed hold and broken the Secret Keeper spell when he apparated with them.
It takes a few moments to calm everyone down with Ron even grasping Hermione’s hand to stop her mid-apologetic rant for all of them to remember the object that was drifting along Hermione’s bag. She quickly takes it out and they stare at the locket in silence, the locket the size of a chicken egg that had a large silver S at the center of it. They had a horcrux in their possession.
--
Hermione walks along the halls of Neverland, they had planned on staying here until Ronald had healed and that had given her some time to start acting on other plans she was working on ever since she had gotten Draco’s message,
HG,
Dark Lord considering attacking France to gain more power, has ordered a rise in giant’s attacks.
DM
She had already contacted Fleur, who was not working ever since the Fidelius Charm had been placed on the Shell Cottage to protect Evan, who agreed to set up a meeting with her old Beauxbaton teachers.
Hermione walked to the meeting room at Neverland where Fleur was waiting for her. Fleur who was constantly underestimated when people just saw her good looks when she also had the brain for quick thinking and was always prepared. She quickly opened the door and stepped in with Fleur and a woman with her brown hair in a stylish long pixie haircut waiting for her to take a seat across from them.
“Hermione, pleaze meet my old professor, Professor Chevalier.”
Hermione and professor Chevalier smiled at each other as their hands shook, “Nice to meet you.”
“So Fleur says that you have dangers to warn me that might befall my school?”
Hermione nods, “Yes, You-Know-Who is planning an attack on France and considering his actions to Hogwarts and his thirst for power, your school is in danger. I am sorry to say that you will need to start preparing for the war.”
The woman raises her eyebrow, “Do you know that if it wasn’t for one of my best pupils, Fleur contacting me, I wouldn't even be here?”
She can’t hold back a smile, “I know, that is why I asked her to send a message.”
“Miss Delacour says that you are one of the brightest minds she has ever seen, what do you gain by sharing this information with me when saving us at the last minute could have gained so much more?”
Scowling she answers, “I do not batter with human lives, especially with those too young to understand what is happening. The war has taken many things but I refuse to let it take that from me.”
“I admire your perseverance and the school you have made here.”
“It was not all me, I would not have been able to do this without my friends.”
A glint appears in professor Chevalier’s gaze, “You have shown me the location of your school and have done nothing to stop my gazing at the faces of your resistance. Tell me Miss Granger, what is to stop me from betraying you to plead for the mercy of my school.”
Fleur gasps but Hermione refuses to look away, “Your vow as a teacher to not harm a student, of course it can be broken but I also saw how you look at much of our students. I feel secure that you would not risk the possible deaths of such young children.”
A sigh left the woman, “You are right. Alright then, what would you have me do?”
She and Fleur smile as Hermione opens her journal and motions over, “Well you must start-”
…
She looks over to Neverland, whose large building was nothing but a speckle in the distance as she did not even see Padma and Charlie waving at her from the front porch. She then shakes herself and forces herself to look forward with her twins next to her while Ron grumbles that they could just apparate or take the wizard car with them instead of walking.
That comment, that is what drives her to a snap, “Well Ronald I refuse to let such a foolish mistake be the reason that Neverland is found so yes we may walk for a bit but if walking is what helps us be able to continue hiding students then you need to suck it up!”
An angry huff leaves her chest while a silence overtakes them while they continue walking up a small hill when she feels two hands slip into hers. She looks up at the pair of blue-green eyes and can’t hide the flutter in her chest or the small smiles that sneaks in. They walk like that for half an hour when Hermione spots the car that Dean had described to her and she clicks the keys. A normal muggle car with the most magical thing about it being it’s passengers.
She turns on the car and starts driving while she switches with Fred and George every 2 hours until they reach the un-named safehouse. Harry makes an excuse to look around at the surroundings and drags a foul-mood Ron with him to give them a small excuse of privacy.
Hermione smiles at Harry’s thoughtfulness as she looks up at them while they gaze down at her, “Hermione, we don’t know how often we are going to be able to visit - ”
“I know, the fact that you have been able to do so for so long is impressive.”
“You need to promise us that you will be safe.”
“Of course. Although you may have to worry about your brother more, I just don’t know why the horcrux is affecting him so much.”
George looks at her with his eyebrows raised, “Well Ron has always been insecure. His two best friends are the Chosen One and a girl that is called ‘the brightest witch of her age’. He is emotionally weak and the Horcrux probably senses that and is exploiting that.”
“Huh, I did not think about that.”
The twins goofily smile at her and she huffs in mock-anger, “Oh shut up and kiss me, you buffoons.”
…
A few weeks of just Hermione, Harry and Ron in the cabin was driving everyone mad, Ron was getting more and more obviously agitated by the Horcrux. He had taken to giving long rants of his mother’s cooking every time Hermione brought them food to eat.
It had built up to an argument that had Ron yelling at both her and Harry while he screamed for wasted time and disillusionment. Harry had managed to get Ron to hand them the locket when Ron ran out of the safehouse and into the woods. Hermione ran behind him because she considered his family to be hers and she could not go after the war ended to tell Molly that Ronald in all of his stupidity had died by stumbling into a cliff.
“Ron please, stop!”
“No Hermione I refuse. I am always like a patsy to you two. Well I am sorry I am not more like you or Harry!”
“Ronald stop, no one said anything!”
“Well that is the problem, isn’t it? You were off helping others set up safehouses with the DA and you never even considered asking for my help! I stood there like an idiot in your stupid ‘Nefferland’ that everyone seemed to know about except for me!”
“I am sorry about that Ron -.”
“NO! Just answer me this Hermione, did you even consider asking me for help? Even for a second - did the idea even enter your brain?”
“Ron ! -”
“No because all you ever see me for is the forgettable Weasley, you even asked Ginny to help before me!”
“Ron, I needed you to stay with Harry. I am sorry if I made you feel -.”
“Don’t apologize! It is too late for that! I am leaving!”, the snap announces to her that Ron had Apparated away. She sobs as she walks back to the safehouse and explains it all to Harry who just nods at the gut-wrenching news that his best friend had left him.
It takes the twins 2 days after that to appear in front of the safehouse with crestfallen eyes, “We are sorry Hermione, we had no idea he would do anything like that.”
Hermione lifts up their heads with a simple hand in the side of their face so they can meet her gaze, “It was not his fault and it was not your fault, it is this Horcux. It can sense it’s impending destruction and it’s doing everything it can to stop it.”
Both Fred and George nod while Harry walks back from getting food from a nearby village, “Hey Fred, hey George. What news do you have from the outside world?”
Fred talks while they all get back inside, “Well Dirk Cresswell and Ted Tonks got sentenced to Azkaban but they put up a nasty fight. Dad says that Dawlish was sporting a good black eye for a while.”
“‘ The Quibbler ’ is now a resistance newspaper, not a single mention of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks in the last issue but Mum is trying to stop Xeno Lovegood by saying he is placing Luna in serious danger,” George continues.
Harry looks up at the tall ginger twins with a serious gaze, “There is something you are not telling us.”
Hermione was about to deny this when she feels a spark of pain in the mark when George shuffles nervously, “We were hoping to warm you up to it. Mione did you get a message from Nev or Ginny?”
Hermione had in fact gotten a rather ominous note from Neville a few days ago and had ,
HG,
I tried to stop her. I am so sorry.
NL
She opened her journal and showed the message to them, “I tried to contact him and ask him what it meant but he ignored me.”
Fred hissed, “Yes, Neville might be feeling a bit guilty at the moment. Apparently he, Seamus and Ginny took a look at your messages together and when you told Neville about the need to destroy the Horcrux and not being able to find a way to get the sword or a basilisk fang out of the school. Well, Ginny had an idea that was so dangerous that both Neville and Seamus both denied it immediately.”
Hermione felt dread, “W- what was the plan?”
George pales, “Ginny still has some Parseltongue memorized from being possessed her second year and so in the middle of the night, she and Luna sneaked into the Chamber entrance, opened it and got a basilisk fang -.”
“Okay that doesn't sound bad,” Harry breathed easily but Hermione saw words not said by the twins.
“What else did she do?”
“Well Snape had started to threaten Neville, Seamus, Luna, Ginny and anyone known to support Harry with staying in Hogwarts for the break by force. Ginny grew desperate because she thought that her chance to hand it over was being destroyed so she sought other measures.”
“She got some ‘Felix Felicis’ that she still had from 2 years ago and jumped off the Ravenclaw tower -.”
Hermione stood suddenly feeling faint, “Is she alright?!”
“Yes Hermione she is fine, with the lucky potion she knew that she would live but she still had some pretty serious bones that gave McGonagall a chance to persuade Snape to allow Molly to see her in the infirmary. It was her plan all along, thankfully Charlie went with Mum and Ginny told him to hand this to us.”
Fred then handed Hermione the basilisk fang while Harry stood there in shock, “She- she could have gotten seriously hurt!”
George scrunched his face, “Now you know why Neville and Seamus denied this plan and why Nev feels so guilty.”
“She jumped off a tower with a luck potion that could have worn off its effect in the years just to hand us a basilisk fang?!”
“Mum said she was always this stubborn.”
“Must be a Weasley trait, but Harry we got a way to destroy a Horcrux!”
Harry peers at the twins, “There is something else.”
Fred snaps his fingers, “Harry, mate we just handed a basilisk fang. Couldn’t you just leave it alone and be grateful?”
“Spill it boys.”
“So Death Eaters may or may not have searched and trashed our store and flat and we may or may not be fugitives running from the law.”
Hermione desperately wishes to face palm but pushes against the instinct and instead says fondly, “Idiots.”
…
Life was better now that they had a way to destroy the Horcrux but they still had no way to open the locket. Fred and George were gone, being stuck in a cabin had its effect on them and had left to join Jordan who apparently had a grand idea at 2 in the morning that ‘he had to share’. A few days later the twins instructed her to turn on the radio at a certain time with her wand and she was overjoyed to hear ‘Falchion’ and ‘Rapier’ reporting live on the very first ‘Potter Watch’ with ‘River’. Harry had gagged when she had sighed happily at the sound of their overjoyed voices.
“And for our beloved phoenix, we dedicate this song to you. Best of luck with you and Lightning wherever you are.”
Harry’s eyes soften as he offers his hand to Hermione for a dance around their small cabin in a dark night that didn’t seem quite so fearful anymore.
…
Fred and George had done this various times except this last one, it seemed they were close to getting caught as they sent a message that they were going to have to lay low for a bit and to not worry. Hermione kept on reading the ‘Tales of Beedle the Barn’ curiously even as Harry told her that the symbol was Grindelwald’s mark. She felt Harry gazing in her face and she waited for him to talk.
“Hermione, I think we should go to Godric’s Hollow. I know what you are going to say and - .”
“I think it’s a good idea.”
“Wait- what? But you hated the idea!”
“Yes well that was then but now I think that maybe Dumbledore left you some more clues in the place where Godric Gryffindor, Dumbledore and you were born and raised.”
“What?”
“Well yeah, gods Harry did you ever pick up a copy of Hogwarts, A History?”
“Ummmmm -.”
“Don’t answer that, I don’t want to know. Okay let’s go.”
“Right now?”
“Yes Harry, unless you wish to wait for the summer?”
…
Harry opened his eyes, this ceiling- he did not recognize this ceiling. He got himself up from the bed, wait- he did not recognize the clothes he was wearing. He stands and fumbles until he finds his glasses on the nightstand then he pushes the door open and walks to the kitchen. Harry finally recognizes the house he is in when he gazes at his uncles and the triad, he was in Wonderland.
“What happened?”
“Oh Harry, I am so sorry. Everything- Bathilda was the snake! It was all an ambush and it was my fault,” he was assaulted by a hug from Hermione. He looks up at the twins who quickly motion him to return the hug.
“No Hermione, I am the one who kept insisting. She was speaking in Parsel-tongue, that is why she did not speak in front of you. She sent him a message as soon as we were alone. Hermione It. Was. Not. Your. Fault.”
It took a few minutes to calm her down and for Harry to sit and have a plate set forth by a bumbling Kreacher. Harry looked down at the table where the locket also laid. Regulus looked up at him and grinned, “Happy to see you found it again, although your uncles want a word with you. They blew a casket when Arthur told them he saw you all Poly-Juiced up at the MOM.”
Harry did not look at his uncles’, he could feel their stares. He did so out of self-perseverance and not of fear like the twins suspected, by evidence of their grins. Regulus continued, “The locket burned you but your brilliant friend severed it off you. The Horcrux knew it was a matter of time until his impending arrival and attempted to stop you from leaving, although I have to ask why you haven’t destroyed it?”
“Haven’t figured out how to open it,” Harry mumbled.
“Actually, I have an idea on that,” Hermione piped, “What else would a true descendant of Slytherin use?”
Harry felt confused until Regulus drawled in a toneful way that sounded identical to Sirius when he talked to Aunt Muriel, “Parsel-tongue. Oh and look who we know that can speak it!”
Sirius slaps the back of Reg’s head, “Shut up dweeb.”
“Remus, Kreacher. He hit me!”
Remus ignored them while Kreacker pointed his fingers, “Now boys, stop fighting or Mister Remus will be the only one who will get cookies.”
…
They moved outside where Regulus laid the locket on a high stone some distance away from the house where Sirius and Remus had stayed behind. They motioned for Harry to start talking and it took a few pathetic tries until they heard the hissing and a click as the Locket opened to reveal the young Tom Riddle.
“ I have seen your heart Harry James Potter! I have seen your fears and desires!”
Harry shakily holds the basilisk fang while Regulus screams at him to destroy it when Tom turns its gaze towards Hermione.
“ I have also seen your soul, Hermione Granger. I have seen your darkest want, your belief of a perfect world. I wonder how long it would take for others to rebel against you like you are doing with me? When does the world of equality that you wish to build turn into a tyranny?”
Hermione shivers and finds herself unable to move.
“Ah yes, and the young Regulus Black. The once loyal subject. Even when you were loyal and faithful, you were second loved when others gazed at the brother who left you without a word. One must wonder how long you will last until you betray him too, it may -.”
There was a hissing that turned into an angry shriek when they all gazed back at Harry who still had his hand wrapped around the fang that had stabbed the heart of the locket as he breathed heavily. Harry quickly got up.
Hermione gripped the twins hands tightly, they had just destroyed their first Horcrux. This moment wasn’t the most inspiring moment but it felt like they were finally doing something right, like they might just finish the war.