Sometimes It's Good to be Bad

Chapter 31 Avada Kedavra

"Zabini, we're going up to my room now. Come, on Harry." Hermione and Harry climbed Zabini's stairs and crossed the bathroom into her room.

"What did McGonagall say?" he asked worriedly as soon as they were locked in the room with a silencing charm up. No one was going to walk in this time.

"Well, she wanted to find out if the gossip is true or not, but when I said we were working on the project you had started with Dumbledore she threatened to take away being Head Girl." Harry looked at her horrified before she continued. "But of course, I didn't tell her, and I'm still Head Girl. Oh, and Dumbledore's portrait complemented my necklace."

Harry drew his friend into a hug. "Thanks for not saying anything."

"I said I wouldn't, and I won't," she answered, pulling away from him. "But we really should get to work on this barette." She pulled the item out of one of her drawers and brought it back to the bed.

An hour and a half later as they were trying out idea after idea, a sudden thought came to Hermione. "No, it couldn't be," she thought out loud, her face twisted into a look of disgust, much like the one Dumbledore had worn when he realized that the doorway to the cave required blood.

"What is it?" Harry asked, a look of worry painting his features.

"I...I think that in order to destroy it, it has to be cursed with the Adavra Kedavra."

"But that's illegal."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Harry, he had to do illegal acts to make the horcrux, so that can't be so shocking. Plus, its only illegal to use on another person, not an object. It's really just rather... lame."

With a goofy grin on his face, "I suppose you're right. Hmmm. So I guess that I should do it."

She looked at him concerned. "Are you sure. You're going to have to summon a lot of hate to do the spell properly."

Thinking back to the deaths of all his loved ones, and the events that had occured over the summer his face turned grim. "I think I can manage." With that he brought every ounce of hate in his entire body up to the surface and pointed his wand at the barette. "AVADA KEDAVRA!" There was a poof as a green acrid smoke rose from the item, followed by a small popping sound as a couple of the stones shattered. Once he was sure that it had been destroyed, Harry fell back onto the bed, unconcious.

"Harry? Harry!" She cried, shaking him. When that didn't work she tried slapping him across the face and when that was unsuccessful she spelled a stream of water on him. This action finally did wake him. "Harry, are you okay?"

"Yeah, tired though," he answered trying to push the negative feelings he had forced up back down.

"Let me help you to your dorm, okay? Then you can sleep all you want. Here you go," she handed him the barette.

"Keep it."

"Not this again, Harry."

"What am I going to do with a barette? It wouldn't look good with my eyes," he joked.

She chuckled slightly. "Okay, but this, I'm not wearing. It's a bit more conspicuous than the locket." Harry nodded his understanding and watched her put it back into the drawer with her other hair items that were rarely worn. She then helped him walk to his dorm, eyes following their progress through the school until he was in his bed. Ron was laying in his bed sulking at the time, and looked concerned for Harry when Hermione left him there, but refused to say anything believing the gossip that claimed Harry had stolen 'his girl', as he thought of her, from him.

That evening after dinner she went back to Professor Davis' office. When he answered the door to find Hermione, she found that Snape was getting out of the visitor's chair, glaring at the girl as he walked past into the hallway. She spoke when the door was firmly locked and silenced. "I hope you're not telling him anything that we talk about," her voice like ice.

"Not at all, Miss Granger. Now what is it you have come here to see me about?" he responded smoothly. She then told him of how they had destroyed the barette, and of Harry's collapse at the strain. She was also able to give him the good news that the wards were now properly working throughout the entire bathroom. She didn't tell him that when she had tested it, Malfoy wasn't in his rooms. She wasn't incredibly surprised, but after his good bye the night before she was worried.

For the first night since coming to school she was able to spend a nice night relaxing. She had finished her homework, Zabini was doing rounds, another "horcrux" had been destroyed, and she had finished her first mission from the Dark Lord. While she still had work on the other mission she had been given, she wasn't all that worried about it at the moment.

The next morning before breakfast the school was still talking incessantly about the love lives of a few certain Gryffindors, but that soon changed when the Daily Prophet arrived and the many students who had taken to reading the paper finished the article on the front page. The Leaky Cauldron had been flattened in broad daylight, closing the entryway between Diagon Alley and muggle London. Also destroyed were three other buildings in Diagon Alley, the death toll totaling around seventy five at the last count as well as six Death Eaters captured. Which Death Eaters, it did not say.

There were four separate Dark Marks in the sky, indicating four separate attacks rather than one massive one. This must be what Malfoy had been talking about. Hermione handed her paper over to Harry so he could read the article, and he then passed it on to Ginny. There was a dark look on his face. He got up from the table, motioning for Hermione to follow. Ginny took it upon herself to come along as well.

He led them to the Room of Requirement. Once they were inside, he went off. "Seventy five people! Why didn't the Order let us know about this before the paper came out, and who were the Death Eaters that were captured!" He sat down and put his head in his hands in his frustration with the situation.

Hermione sat next to him and leaned against him, rubbing his back. Ginny glared daggers at her. "It's alright, Harry. Well, no it's not, but there is nothing we could have done to stop it. And are you surprised the Order didn't say anything? They never tell us anything unless we're there to make them." He looked at her, the raw pain in his eyes. "I know, Harry, I know," she cooed into his ear.

He then looked up at Ginny who was now staring into space, a sad look on her face. Harry assumed it was because of the attacks. "Gin?"

She quickly looked to him, her eyes hopeful. "Yeah, Harry?"

"Ummm, could you go? I kinda need to be alone with Hermione right now." His face was apologetic, but nevertheless he had chosen the traitor who was leaning back behind his vision making lude gestures with her tongue over the younger girl.

"Sure, Harry. But if you need me, just let me know." She looked even sadder than before. As soon as she was out the door she ran all the way to her bed where she skipped her morning classes to have a good cry.

Once she left, Harry turned to Hermione. "We need to find the cup. As soon as possible so we can destroy it and go after Voldemort."

"I agree, Harry. But we need to figure out where it could be. And we can't forget about Nagini."

"We had been thinking that the cup is probably in the Ministry. Do you still think that's where it could be?"

"I don't know, but it's really the only lead we've got. After all, You Know Who would want to keep it safe, so the two main places that would make sense are here at Hogwarts and the Ministry. Since we found the barette here, I'd say it's the most likely candidate right now. Just, how are we going to get there to look for it?"

"I don't know yet, but we'll think of something. Then we'll figure out what to do about Nagini."

"Alright. We have to get to class now, though." Harry nodded and they got up and left for class.