Harry Potter & The Black Sacrifice
Post 8 : Remember My Last
CHAPTER 6
Remember My Last
Harry and Hermione had stayed awake late in to the night, poring over the two Muggle books. After 5 hours and 3 trades so that they each had gone through both books twice, Hermione announced that she was too tired to continue and would be heading home.
Harry's elation that he had started with when reading the two books had faded considerably. They had only found 3 places in the books that had sounded like they were worth looking in to, and even those three were long shots. None of them seemed like the type of place that Voldemort would deem important enough to stash a piece of his soul in.
Hermione was undaunted though. "I'll take Ron with me to do a cursory look around each of them. If any of them seem worth looking in to further, I'll let you know. Otherwise, I'll look in to some more books like this."
…
Harry was so exhausted that when, two hours after he had fallen asleep, Hedwig suddenly started panicking loudly in her cage, it still took him several minutes to wake up.
"Whuzzz… whuzzat..? Hedwig..!? Be quiet… Uncle Vernon will be…. Zzz.."
Hedwig started rattling her cage even louder, and when she was almost at the point where the cage was about to fall from it's place on Harry's dresser, Harry was finally able to wake up.
"Hedwig! Come on, what's gotten in to you?"
He got up and opened her cage. Her behavior was not exactly unusual, but the time was. Hedwig normally did her hunting right before sunrise. She was over 4 hours early.
Harry got the cage open and Hedwig flew over to the window where, Harry finally noticed, sat another bird which had been tapping patiently. When Harry put his glasses on, the giant red blur at the window solidified into a friend he thought he had lost forever.
Fawkes had come to Godric's Hollow.
Harry found the catch on the window and let the phoenix in to his room. "Fawkes.." he said in an awed voice. "How.. how did you find me?"
Fawkes gave him a look which might have been amusement. He lifted his head up, and Harry saw that he had a small parcel tied to his neck. Harry untied and unwrapped it. It was a black diary, not unlike Tom Riddle's
Mission accomplished, Hedwig flew back to her cage and slipped her head under her wing. Fawkes watched her for a moment, and then he flew over to join her. He landed next to her cage and laid down for some sleep of his own. Hedwig, not always the friendliest of birds when it came to other birds, accepted him without protest.
Harry opened the diary to the first page and began to read:
Harry,
You hold in your hand all the information I was able to collect on Tom Riddle's Horcruxes. If you are reading this, one of two things must have happened. I am either dead, or have become so enamored with the sweets at Honeydukes that I am no longer of any use to you. Either way, the fact that you are reading this means that you will be continuing this journey alone. Which, if I must say, you were probably meant to do all along.
I can not offer any advice to you. As Professor Snape told you on his first day as your DADA teacher, the Dark Arts are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, and indestructible. As such, any advice I may feel like writing down here might be useless by the time you read it. Those who dwell in the Dark are constantly having to adapt to the world of Light around them. You must adapt with them to have any hope of success.
The notes are divided in to 3 sections, one for each remaining Horcrux. You've destroyed the diary, I've destroyed the ring, and together we've destroyed the locket; therefore I have burned the sections I had pertaining to the ring & the locket.
Harry felt dread sink into his stomach upon reading this. Professor Dumbledore must have written this shortly before their trip to the cave, and had obviously assumed the locket would be destroyed before or upon their return. Any information Dumbledore had collected on the locket was gone forever.
I wish I could give you more to go on, but of course these items are very well protected and coming by information on them was not easy. The rest is up to you.
If I've never told you before how very proud you have made me these last 6 years, allow me to do so now. Your courage, loyalty, and honor are boundless Harry, and it has been my extreme privilege and humble honor to be your headmaster. The wizarding world will one day have you to thank for the demise of Voldemort, and your praises will be sung for centuries. Of this, I have no doubt.
I have but one favor to ask of you. I know you already have an owl that you are quite fond of, but I wonder if you would mind looking after Fawkes as well. I don't think he'll mind. He doesn't eat much, and what he does eat, he will find on his own.
Harry looked up from the letter and looked over at Fawkes. Fawkes was still awake, and had both eyes on Harry. He knew it was the lack of sleep, but he could swear that the phoenix was smiling at him. Fawkes winked once, then turned around and went to sleep. Harry went back to the letter.
One last thing. No matter what has happened, no matter what the circumstances of my death were, no matter what you may have seen or heard by the time you read this, I swear to you this: Severus Snape is a good man. I hope, for his sake and for your own, that he will be able to demonstrate this to you himself when the time comes. You've trusted me without question on everything that has come before. Trust me on this Harry, I beg of you.
I've done all that is in my power to do to prepare you for the trials that lie ahead. Farewell Harry Potter, and good luck to you.
Your friend always,
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Harry finished reading and wiped the tears from his face. He wanted to get right in to reading the sections on the Horcruxes, but he was still so very tired. He promised he'd get right in to them upon waking.
He climbed in to bed, a million thoughts whirling around in his head. As he drifted off to sleep, his thoughts were of Snape, and of what Dumbledore had meant by "the circumstances of my death". It was almost as if Dumbledore had known he was going to die that night…
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