Harry Potter and the Fortress of Woe

a/n, @ Dorian: Thanks for the reviews mate, but you should read some parts more carefully. The Ministry has no intention to train the students in fighting, as Mcgonagall explained to Harry in her office. Keep it up!


As December turned into January the tension in the castle grew. Voldemort had celebrated the new year by launching an attack on Diagon Alley, apparently eager to display his strength. By the time the Aurors had arrived, most of the damage had already been done. Not much was left of Britain’s most famous shopping street except for an impressive amount of rubble. The Death Eaters had been hesitant to join a fight and had started to retreat as soon as they had met the first significant resistance. Clearly it had been an attack designed to remind the Wizarding World that Voldemort was still there and more than able to make their life a living hell. However, one thing was puzzling about it: the absence of any corpses. Even though a lot of witches and wizards were still missing, no evidence could be found confirming their demise. Ministry workers were still combing the ruins for any missed, but Harry was sure that their search would be in vain. Putting two and two together, it was not very hard to find out about Riddle’s real motivation for the raid: he needed more energy for the Fortress. Despite the possible doom his nemesis new powerful weapon could bring, Harry felt heartened by the aggressive way Voldemort was searching for new ‘fuel’. In his opinion this was evidence that he still was a long way from having sufficient power at his command to take over the country.

It was a cold Saturday morning in early January as Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny once again met in the Room of Requirements. Hermione had found out several things over the last few days and wanted to share it with the rest of them. Harry had not been pleased about Ginny’s inclusion in the discussion, still not at all comfortable with the thought of including her in his crusade against Voldemort. However he knew that trying to force her to stay out of harm’s way, would be as easy as commanding a bird not to fly. Admitting defeat, he had grudgingly accepted her presence.
“Alright Hermione.” said Harry after they had sat down. “What did you want to tell us?”
“Well, I have found out several interesting things.” answered Hermione, ungluing her gaze from Ron’s face with whom she had been trading affectionate looks, much to Ginny’s amusement. Things were much better between the two of them since after the Christmas Ball, but Harry never had had the guts to ask Ron how the night between him and Hermione had been. He certainly did have enough disturbing images in his head; he did not need any additional ones. Ginny and himself had been at the ball way longer then Ron and Hermione, not having the uncontrollable need to shag each other into oblivion. They had spent the night in Harry’s bed after the ball had ended, only to be discovered bright and early on the next day, by her noisy brother. Ron had not been overly amused, but had not made a scene, not keen on spreading the fact that his baby sister was sleeping with his best made in the whole dormitory.

“First of all, Harry, I have almost finished the potion you asked me to brew, it only has to simmer for another week.” started Hermione, her eyes bright with excitement. “I hope that I did everything correctly, but I am fairly sure, because it looks exactly like it does in the book. Are you absolutely sure that you want to take it Harry? It is horribly dangerous after all, I have never seen that many possibly harmful side effects on any other potion. You could die or worse, lose your mind!”
“Yeah, I know.” muttered Harry. He knew what could happen and to be honest he was scared out of his mind. Since he had seen Neville’s insane parents it had been one of his biggest fears to lose his own mind, yet he knew that the alternative was certain death for him and everyone he held dear. There really were more difficult choices. “But I need the power. Without it, everything is lost and I am more than willing to take the risk. And trying to talk me out of it will be just wasted time and energy.”
“But…” started Ginny, only to be cut off by Harry immediately.
“No buts.” he said sharply, his emerald eyes boring in her chocolate ones. “I know that you are only concerned about my safety and honestly I really appreciate it, but there is no other option. I need this power to finally defeat Voldemort and I am doing this for you as much as for me. I don’t know how powerful I will be after drinking the potion, but I know that I will be stronger than I am now and that’s enough for me. So please don’t make this decision any harder by trying to stop me.”

Ginny lowered her head under his intense gaze, nodding grudgingly. Harry knew that she liked his decision as much as he liked her presence at the meeting, but he guessed that both of them would have to accept that you could not always form life according to your wishes. Pushing the thought out of his head, Harry refocused on Hermione and asked her to go on.
“Alright, I have analyzed the bottle you brought me.” she continued, producing the small bottle out of her robe pocket and placing it on the table between them. “It is Thought Bottle, but I have no idea what kind of knowledge is stored in it.”
“Well, nothing easier to find out than that.” replied Harry, feeling strangely reckless for a moment. In a single, fluid movement he grabbed the tiny bottle, uncorked it and downed the content in a single gulp. He could hear Hermione protesting, Ron gasping and Ginny screaming, but he did not care. New knowledge invaded his brain, forming a single image. A bulky fortress carved out of blood red stone, spikes adorning its walls and twisted faces inscribed in the walls. The Fortress of Woe. Harry knew where it was!

“What on earth do you think you are doing?” hissed Ginny, after he had put down the bottle. “Are you stupid? We did not know what had been in the bottle and you simply drink it?”
“It was a Thought Bottle Ginny.” replied Harry. “What kind of information could have been in there that would have been able to hurt me?”
“That’s beside the point!” she answered heatedly. “You really have to stop being reckless before it gets you killed! Damn it Harry, you of all people should know who dangerous it is to tamper with things you know nothing about!”
“No, you are missing the point Ginny.” replied Harry with equal ferocity. “Have you read the papers today? Voldemort is getting stronger and stronger and our precious time is running out, especially if the rumours about the Fortress of Woe are true. We just can’t afford losing even more time by being overly cautious. If I can’t come up with enough power and knowledge to defeat Voldemort, then I am dead anyway, so I really can’t see why risking my health while trying to get stronger is supposed to be foolish.”

“You really don’t think that you will survive this.” said Ginny quietly after a few heartbeats of silence. It was a statement but sounded like a question.
“Yes, I doubt that I will be alive after everything is over.” answered Harry truthfully. “I will try, but I can’t promise anything. Believe me, I would like nothing more than to come out of this madness unscathed, but if I die, promise me that you don’t waste your life mourning for me.”
“That’s enough Harry.” interrupted Hermione sternly. “You are going to defeat Voldemort, survive it and life happily ever after. Did you get that?”
“Sure.” replied Harry tonelessly, thinking that it sounded way too much like a fairytale to be true. However, for this moment he considered it wise to change the topic. Hermione would never let him off the hook if he continued this discussion and he had bigger things to worry about currently. “What else did you find out?”
Hermione’s disapproving glare told him that she did not believe a syllable of his agreement, but she continued nevertheless.

“I finished translating the runes you found with the first Horcrux.” she said, producing a piece of parchment from her robe and placing it on the table between them. Harry picked it up and started reading it aloud.

Dear mother, dear father,

When you are reading these lines I could very well be dead, because I chose to abandon the Dark Lord. During my services, I once was ordered to guard a certain cave by You-Know-Who himself, but refused to tell me what I was supposed to guard and why. Of course I simply accepted being kept in the dark and soon I had forgotten about the incident. However, as soon as I realized that I did not want to be part of the Death Eaters anymore, I remembered my guard duty. I knew that the Dark Lord always executed deserters and therefore decided to steal whatever he was guarding that carefully, simple to really ruin his day. I managed to penetrate the protection he had placed on the item, my detailed knowledge of the Dark Arts finally paying off. I realized almost immediately that it was a Horcrux and how lucky I was to posses something that valuable. I am sorry that I did not explain to you what was going on as I came here tonight, but I really was in a hurry and only stopped here to get the Horcrux somewhere safe. I will visit a manor some of my “colleagues” had to guard; the rumours are that it is the Dark Lord’s father’s house. Maybe there is another Horcrux hidden in it, even though I am pretty sure that no one had more than one Hocrux before, but the normal rules don’t apply to the Dark Lord. Maybe I will be able to exchange the Horcruxes for my life.

Looks like Sirius was right in the end.

Wish me luck,

Regulus

“I should have known!” said Harry, slamming his right fist into his left palm. “There is another Horcrux hidden in Riddle Manor! Voldemort probably wanted to celebrate the fact that he killed his Muggle father and therefore selected this hiding place. Dumbledore said that three people died that night, but only one Horcrux had been found in the Gaunth’s house! It all fits together!”
“Alright then.” said Ron, his face both grim and eager at the same time. “When do we get going?”
“We are not going any…” started Harry, but was cut off by Ginny immediately.
“Yeah sure, after you nearly got yourself killed the last time we are just bound to let you do this on your own.” she said sarcastically, her eyes burning with anger. “We are in this together Harry, we are going to help you whether you like it or not!”
“You don’t even know what a Horcrux is.” snapped Harry. “How exactly are you going to be any help?”
“I know how to fight!” replied Ginny fiercely. “You of all people should know that!”
“Yeah and she is underage.” said Ron pensively. “Did not you say Harry that some of You-Know-Who’s spells had no effect on you because you still were underage?”
“Excuse me?” asked Harry, staring at Ron in bewilderment. “You of all people should be helping me to keep Ginny out of danger, not to find reasons for her to accompany us! What on earth has happened to you?”
“Well.” said Ron. “I have got enough experience to know that Ginny has made her mind up about going to war with us. If we leave her behind she will only develop some foolish plan to join us and I think that she is safer with us than out there on her own, trying to prove everyone what a grown up woman she is. Believe me mate, I would like nothing more than to have her completely save, but I don’t think that it is possible. She’s simply too stubborn to do what’s good for her.”
“Alright then.” said Harry grudgingly after thinking for a few minutes. He had realized that Ron was indeed right; Ginny was way too stubborn a woman to accept being left behind. Better to have her nearby, so he could have an eye on her. Sometimes he hated having fallen in love with a woman as headstrong as himself.
“Great!” she replied, obviously pleased with herself. “When do we depart?”

“Hold it.” continued Harry. “We are not going in there without a plan. We are going to need all information about the house and the murder of the family that we can get. It is likely that Voldemort has placed the Horcrux somewhere significant for his revenge on his father.”
“I will have a look in the Muggle newspaper archives and maybe get a magical map from the house.” replied Hermione, a pensive look on her face. “It will take some time though.”
“Doesn’t matter.” replied Harry. “We won’t get going before I took the Night’s Whisper and before we have at least something remotely similar to a plan. I have the feeling that we are going to need the extra power. Agreed?”

Ron, Hermione and Ginny nodded.

- - - - -

Ocean’s body was still burning with pain from the punishment his master had put him through by the time he passed the fuelling chamber of the Fortress. He hated walking past this hideous room, but unfortunately it lay directly next to the residence of the Dark Lord, no doubt to entertain the sick bastard with the victim’s screams. He briefly caught a glimpse of a woman getting sucked away by a yet of blackness until only her bones remained, through the slightly ajar door and accelerated his walking. As an additional punishment he had been commanded to stand guard in an old manor in Little Hangleton, but little did his master know that Ocean was more than glad to gain some distance from the daily slaughter of the Death Easter.

- - - - -

A week later, Harry entered the Room of Requirements, with a freshly brewed vial of Night’s Whisper in his robe pocket. A bizarre mixture of fear, hope and excitement surged through his body and he briefly considered not risking losing either his life or mind by taking the potion, but this notion was washed away as soon as he thought about Ginny, Ron and Hermione. It had nearly killed him to see the fearful looks on each of their faces as he had picked up the vial from Hermione, but he knew that there was no other way to come out of this mess alive.

Sensing his rather subdued mood, the room had adapted to his subconscious wishes, creating a rather spacious, circular room, filled only with a cot lying on the floor and a mass of candles around, shrouding the room in twilight. Harry chuckled mirthlessly for a moment at the cliché his subconscious had created, before sitting down on the rather comfortable cot. Sighing, he pulled the vial out of his pocket and started at the clear liquid swirling inside for a few moments. Then, he pulled the cork and gulped it down in one big swallow. Immediately his vision blurred.

Harry felt like he was floating in something both gaseous and fluid at the same time. The substance was lukewarm and comforting and despite the fact that he could not feel his body, Harry felt himself relaxing. He could not see, his vision was a mass of different shades of grey with an occasional burst of colour within. He lost all track of time, for all he knew he could have been in this state for a second, a minute, a day, a month, a year or a decade. Suddenly his vision cleared. Harry was standing on a battlefield, the scorched earth between his feet the colour of dried blood mixed with soot. Lying in front of him, his broken body curled up like those of a cat, was Lord Voldemort, his scarlet eyes dead and lifeless, his wand still clutched tightly in his hand.

Harry realized that he himself had a wand in his hand and he somehow knew that only a few seconds ago he had used it rip what was left of Voldmort’s black soul out of his twisted body. His thoughts were muffled somehow as though they had to pass a wall of cotton before getting digested by his brain and his body felt alien, even though it did not make any sense. Confused, Harry tried to move his head, wanting to take in more of his surroundings, but to no avail. Suddenly, he felt himself turning around, his body acting completely on its own. What he saw took his breath away. The plain behind him was plastered with corpses. Some of them he recognized, Snape and Wormtail lying mangled on the floor, their blood forming crimson seas around them. Others were anonymous, their features hidden beneath their Death Eater robes and masks. There were hundreds of dead bodies, most of them human, but Harry could see one or two slain giants as well. Without doubt, he knew that he had been the one causing the blood bath, slaughtering his way to Voldemort to finally punish him for everything he had done.

“Harry!”
Harry felt himself turn and came face to face with Ginny, who was stepping towards him through the corpses as quickly as possible. Harry watched in horror, as his wand arm raised his wand, its tip pointing directly at Ginny. Harry knew what was going to happen, but was powerless to prevent it.
“AVADA KEDAVRA!”

- - - - -

Harry woke with a scream, his whole body trembling as he tried to wrap his mind around what had just happened. For a few agonizing moments he really believed that he had killed Ginny for no apparent reason. He wanted to die, he wanted to rage, he wanted to surrender to his despair. It felt as though his mind was going to snap under the pressure the guilt put on him.

Then it was over.

Harry suddenly realized that everything had only been an illusion created by potion he had swallowed. Relief washed over him, but as his psychical pain was extinguished, he became aware of his physical one. His body felt as though it were on fire, every muscle in his body was burning and his head was pounding as though it was about to explode every moment. However all of this did not matter. What did matter was the fact that his body pulsing with magical energy. Harry felt more powerful than ever before and he knew that the potion had worked. It was intoxicating and exhilarating, he felt as though he could do everything he wanted, as though defeating Voldemort would be a piece of cake by now. Well, maybe it would be, but first the room would have to stop spinning.

- - - - -

“We are really going to do this, aren’t we?” asked Ron, his voice trembling with excitement. Or fear.
“Yeah we are.” replied Harry grimly, rubbing his gloved hands together to banish the chill surrounding them.
Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny were standing on a snow tipped field, not more than a five minute walk away from Riddle Manor in the middle of the night on a cold January morning. They had chosen a point of arrival that far away to have an element of surprise above whatever guards Voldemort had probably placed there. True to her word, Hermione had come up with an abundance of information about the old house and the murder of the Riddles and Harry was confident that he knew where the Horcrux was located, assuming that there was indeed one in the manor. The Riddles had been found murdered in the master bedroom and Harry was sure that Voldmort had placed the precious item on the place remembering him the most of his hideous deed. Hermione had also managed to organize some plans of the old house and the four of them had spent hours trying to decide which of the numerous entrances they were going to use. In the end they had decided for a small backdoor in the garden, which had apparently been used often by the now dead gardener, and to split up in the house so they would arrive from different directions at the bedroom, sandwiching the guards between them.

Harry could not suppress a shiver as his gaze fell on the once majestic house. The sight caused the nightmare he had during the summer of his fourth year to resurface, in which he had watched Voldemort killing a Muggle which he assumed had been the gardener of the estate. His mouth went dry as he remembered which entrance he had used to get into the house, the very same one they were going to use in a few minutes! For a moment Harry thought about changing the plan, but he dismissed the notion as foolish almost immediately. He was only being nervous; the Muggle had not even been caught at the entrance but deep inside the manor, so it was no bad omen, right?

“Alright, let’s go.” he said quietly, as though they were in any danger from getting overheard. “Remember, inside we will spilt up; Ginny will come with me and take the eastern flight of stairs leading the master bedroom and you two will take the western.”
“We know Harry!” said Ginny, sounding slightly annoyed. “We have talked about that for almost three days!”
Sparing his breath, Harry chose to ignore her comment and started walking. His newfound power pulsed in his body in anticipation as the four teens made their way towards the house stealthily. He was amazed at how easy it had become to access his power after taking the potion and at how much untapped energy was still resting in him. At the moment he was still lacking the skill necessary to control all of the churning sea of raw energy in him, but he could wield about half of it now without blowing himself up in the process. All his sense were searching the night keenly for any signs of life, but so far they had encountered nothing bigger than a stray cat and Harry suspected that it would stay like that until they had entered the house. Voldemort would not commit more than two or three of his servants to guard the house, unwilling to expose how important the house was for him. Of course it was impossible to monitor all of a manor with that little manpower, so they were most likely waiting for them in the local area of the master bedroom.

The four students entered the manor through the almost completely overgrown backdoor and Harry was a bit surprised not to find any wards shielding the building. Maybe that would have aroused too much attention or Voldemort was just to busy for creating any new ones. For more than once Harry wondered if his nemesis knew that one part of his immortality had been destroyed already. Well, he guessed that he would find out as soon as he met his old enemy for the next time.

Two flights to the north and then one to the west before splitting up. Harry’s heart was hammering in his ears as he and Ginny separated themselves from Ron and Hermione, executing the plan they had made. He glanced shortly at Ginny and realized that she was at least as nervous, if not as frightened, as he was. Harry concentrated on the last training he had had in the Room of Requirements to fight down his growing anguish and was pleased to see it was working. As he arrived at the final flight of stairs, his mind was clear and focused as though this merely were another training session. He could feel two persons waiting for him only a few steps down the corridor away. He had extinguished the light of his wand during his ascend on the stairs, unwilling to alert the guards of his presence. The velvety darkness which had shrouded him for the last few steps gave way to a greyish gloom, telling from torches the guards were using to provide some light in the dark house. They would never see him coming.

He stealthy made his way towards the light source. He knew that Ron and Hermione were bound to arrive at the entrance leading to the master bedroom every moment, so they would be able to sandwich the guards between them, causing their chances of victory to skyrocket. He could feel Ginny following him and was both glad about the reinforcement and angry at Ron for talking him into allowing her to accompany them. A small voice in his head told him that he was being irrational and that Ginny could be really useful in securing the Horcrux, but he tuned it out almost immediately. Some things never changed and Harry was sure that his protective instinct was one of them.

Harry could now see his target: an old, sturdy oaken door, leading to the master bedroom, illuminated by two torches hanging in the wall next to it. However, only one guard was standing next to the door, a tall, slim man with an aristocratic face, black, shortcut hair and ice blue eyes. He looked incredibly bored and Harry knew that he had not spotted him. But Harry was still feeling two other people and – oh damn!

Acting on instinct, Harry threw himself to the ground, narrowly dodging the jet of sickly green light aimed at his head. He hit the cold stone floor hard, rolling into the small illuminated area, directly in front of the second Death Eater. Their eyes locked and for a few seconds time stopped. Then, in less then one of Harry’s rapid heartbeats, the man whipped out his wand and launched a powerful stunner at him. He was fast, but Harry was faster. The spell sizzled harmlessly against Harry’s shield charm and he retaliated with a stunner himself. His opponent calmly blocked the spell and answered with a Cruciatus Curse, which Harry sidestepped. They continued trading spells for a time, neither of them gaining the upper edge over the other. Harry’ patience was wearing thin and he fired two supercharged stunners at the Death Eater, knowing that they would blast straight through any shield his opponent could erect. However, his enemy was not foolish enough trying to block the spells, having somehow realized what Harry was up to. Instead, he rolled sideward and attacked as soon as he regained his footing. Harry grudgingly accepted that this duel would take a lot of time if he did not receive any help. What was taking Ron and Hermione so long and what was Ginny – oh god, she was alone with the other Death Eater!

Cursing himself for forgetting about her, Harry pondered what to do. Judging by the Death Eater’s and Ginny’s absence, they were currently battling each other. Should he retreat to help her or hold his position so that he, Ron and Hermione could overpower this Death Eater? However, the piercing scream sounding in this very moment, made the decision for him, Ginny was in trouble.

Fury flooded his system as the image of Ginny’s prone, lifeless body lying on the cold floor rose in his mind. All thoughts of tactic, strategy and control were washed away, leaving only blinding, all consuming rage behind. Pointing his wand at his opponent, Harry uttered the incantation for the Starfire Charm and channelled all energy he could reach into the spell. He had not used the spell in the duel until now, because the corridor was way too narrow to use this powerful magic without risking hurting oneself in the process.

He was beyond caring.

Harry could not remember finishing the spell ever so quickly in his life; it took him barely a second to send the azure blue beam at his opponent’s chest. It was flying too fast to sidestep, so the Death Eater was forced to block the spell. He did indeed manage to erect a shield and for a split second it actually seemed to withstand the spell’s tremendous power, but then the beam broke through, hitting the Death Eater straight into the chest. He was flung backwards against the door, a charred and smoking hole where his heart used to be. His blue eyes were open in shock and clouded with pain, but for a moment Harry saw something like relief swimming in there, but he sprinted away to help Ginny before having time to ponder this. What he did not see was the scarlet skull appearing on the door as the Death Eater died next to it.

It took Harry barely half a minute to reach Ginny, his wand illuminating the veiling darkness. He did not care that he was giving his position away by lighting it; all he wanted was to see the last expression on the Death Eater’s face when he killed him for hurting Ginny. The bastard would pay, no he had to pay. The fact that he could still feel Ginny and that she therefore had to be alive, did little to dim his rage and so he charged into the corridor like an angry bull, just to halt in full stride as he saw the scene in front of him.

Ginny was cradling her left arm in which a deep cut was oozing blood and was standing over the bound and gagged form of the other Death Eater, looking exhausted and in pain, but also quite proud of herself.
“What… what happened?” asked Harry.
“I won.” said Ginny simply, her teeth gritted in pain. “He got me with a slashing hex in the arm; did you take care of the other one?”
“Yeah.” replied Harry, still slightly dazed by the face that Ginny had defeated a Death Eater single handed. He had always known that she was a capable fighter, but knowing something and seeing it were two entirely different things. He continued speaking after regaining his composure. “We should find Ron and Hermione and get your arm healed. I would try it myself, but Hermione is way better at healing, so I think it would be wise to wait for them.”

Ginny agreed and the two of them returned to the door leading to the house’s master bedroom, only to find Ron and Hermione already waiting there.
“What on earth happened?” hissed Ron as they approached; pointing at the Death Eater’s broken form. Harry started explaining, while Hermione healed Ginny’s wound, before focusing her attention on the door.
“As harsh as it sounds Harry, it was good that you killed the Death Eater.” she said darkly, after he had finished. “Do you see that symbol on the door?”
“The skull?” asked Harry, trying to look at the door without having to glance at the dead body below. In his rage, he had not wasted a single thought at the possibility of killing his opponent with the Starfire Charm, because he had been focused entirely on saving Ginny. Now, however, he felt disgusted with himself, felt dirty, contaminated and somehow less human than before. He wondered if he would ever be able to forget the fallen Death Eater’s face. He knew that he had acted in self defence, but this did not stop the nausea which threatened to overwhelm him. To push these disturbing thoughts away, he focused on the task at hand: securing the Horcrux. “It was not there when I first came here.”

“There was an ancient necromantic spell placed on the door, so it would only reveal its secret if someone died next to it.” explained Hermione, her face grim. “Voldemort probably suspected that only one or two people would search for his Horcrux and this enchantment would force them to kill each other to enter the room.”
“Sadistic bastard.” muttered Ron under his breath, but Hermione continued nevertheless.
“The Death Eater’s death has lifted the enchantment and it should now be safe to open the door.”
“Should be?” asked Ginny, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, I am not entirely sure.” admitted Hermione.
“Let’s see.” said Harry and pushed open the door, revealing the room behind.

As Hermione had predicted the door opened without blasting the intruder into a thousand pieces by some unnameable dark curse. Behind lay a small, rectangular room painted completely black, bare except for a small pedestal on which Hufflepuff’s cup was sitting and not the bedroom Harry had been expecting to see.
“Looks like Voldemort has created a magical room overlaying the normal one.” said Hermione quietly behind him. “Just like Mad-Eye Moody’s trunk.”
Just as Harry wanted to take a step further into the room, a prickling in his neck caused him to halt immediately. Somehow he knew that magical wards littered the bare appearing floor. Harry knew that he would never be able to dispel whatever hideous enchantment Voldemort had cast, so only one solution remained, even though he hated it.

“Stop!” he said. “There are wards here designed to kill any intruder. I can’t dispel them and we don’t have the time to do any research on the topic. It is only a matter of time until other Death Eaters show up here.”
“Well, what do we do then?” asked Ron.
“Ginny will get the Horcrux.” said Harry, despite feeling sick at the mere thought. “She is underage and therefore should not get recognized by the wards.”
“Are you mad?” screamed Ron. “She will probably die in there!”
“Shut it Ron, I will do it!” said Ginny, quietly, pushing aside her brother and striding into the room, a determined glint in her eyes.

Nothing happened. No death rays strode out to burn her, no horrible creatures emerged to rip her into shreds, no deadly poison filled the air. It seemed to work.
“What do I do now?” she asked Harry.
“Grab the cup and run!” he replied, his fist balled so hard in anticipation that his fingernails were drawing blood.
“Alright.” she answered, grabbed the cup and pulled. For a moment it appeared as though the cup was somehow attached to the pedestal, because it did not move, but suddenly it slipped free. Ginny managed two quick steps towards the door before hell broke loose. The whole room erupted in black flames, just before the door slammed shut, locking Ginny in.

“Ginny!” screamed Ron, tugging futility at the door. “We have to help her; she will burn to death in there!”
“We could Apparate inside.” suggested Hermione shrilly.
“This won’t work.” said Harry, whose blood had run cold the moment he had seen the flames bursting into existence. “There are Anti-Apparation Wards in place, but there may be a way.”

Taking a deep breath, Harry blinked into the Horcrux Room.

The heat hit him like a hammer strike, actually causing him to stumble a bit backwards and knocking the air out of his lungs. He took a deep breath of the boiling air and promptly coughed as it burned like acid in his lungs. Flames were licking at his robes, immediately causing it to go up in flames as though it were made of paper. Pain assaulted his mind as the flames reached his skin and his eyes were watering from the smoke, but it did not matter. The only thing that mattered was Ginny. After a few seconds of searching he found her. She was lying on the floor flames nearly completely covering her, the Horcrux still clutched in her hand. For a dreadful moment Harry considered her dead, but then he could here her whimpering in pain. With a single huge stride he was at her side, grabbing her hand and blinking both of them out of the hellish room. They hit the floor in a tangle of burning limbs and clothing and were immediately hit by a torrent of icy water, which extinguished the flames immediately.

The last thing Harry saw before passing out was Ron’s worried face.