Meet Me Halfway

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and properties belongs to JK Rowling. This story contains spoiler for all Harry Potter books. Danyealle helped betaing this chapter. Thanks for her help.

Meet Me Halfway

Chapter IV

Platform nine and three quarters was bustling with witched and wizards. It was September first, the day Harry went back to Hogwarts for his sixth year. And this year, Remus had accepted the offer to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts again. Harry was truly glad about that because his honorary uncle was the only competent teacher he ever had, well aside of Barty Crouch Junior actually. However, Dumbledore had warned them about the curse on the teacher position. So, to prevent something bad to happen, Remus only signed one year contract.

Sirius and Remus took him to the platform. For the first time in his life he had his family with him. The feeling was amazing. He was so used watching Hermione with her parents and Ron with the entire Weasleys family that it was a wonderful change to not feel left out of that. His happiness didn’t lessen when he saw the Malfoys with Lucius in the center. The man also saw him but his expression didn’t waver at all.

“Harry! Over here!” Ron yelled at him, waving his hand madly. Beside him stood his other best friend, Hermione.

He quickly walked towards them with Sirius and Remus trailing behind him. As usual, people were staring at him. And this year they got another reason to do that aside from the usual business of being the Boy who Lived or whatever names the press could come up with. He came with Sirius Black now, the innocent ex-convict who now, after being in a good care for awhile, was already back to his charming self. Of course, if people were to look Sirius in the eyes, they would find the look that could only achieved by a person who had spent twelve years in Azkaban.

“Hiya Harry!” The twins exclaimed.

Fred and George were there to see them off too. The twins didn’t come back to Hogwarts this year. Instead, they chose to manage their joke shop in Diagon Alley. The shop was a great success anyway.

“Hey guys!” he said when he reached them.

“Harry, Sirius, Remus,” Hermione greeted them.

They spent the next few minutes talking and laughing until they had to board the train. Harry hugged Sirius and then Remus tightly before he had to leave. “Bye Padfood,” he whispered into the fabric of his godfather clothes. “I’m going to miss you.”

“I’m going to miss you too, kid. Be careful okay and play many pranks”
“I’ll try my best,” he replied seriously.

Harry waved to them until the platform disappeared from his view. He turned only to find the entire compartment which consisted of Hermione, Ron, Luna and Neville looking at him. “What?” he asked defensively.

Luna was the first to open his mouth. “Don’t you know that there are Humping Heffalumps flying above your head, Harry?” she asked innocently. “But that’s okay. They’re only around if you’re very happy you know.” she said without waiting for his response.

“Uhm…thanks Luna,” he said at last. He was used to Luna’s weird comments. But the girl was a good friend and Harry wouldn’t trade her for anyone else.

The train ride went peacefully. They arrived at Hogsmeade station at night and then took the carriage to Hogwarts together.

The sorting went as usual. Dumbledore re-introduced Remus as the new DADA teacher and Harry, with the entire Gryffindor table clapped their hands enthusiastically. Their action was soon mirrored by Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff’ students. Only Slytherin table that was still silent. Remus smiled softly at the welcoming applause.


XXXX


The next day, Harry, with Ron and Hermione, was having breakfast when unknown owl arrived with small parcel. Afraid that it might contain something nasty, he cast detection charm on it but discovered nothing. So, he opened the parcel and found a book inside. ‘Most Famous Qudditch Captain.’ The title read. There was a note inside the book.

For my Princess.

It was written in elegant handwriting courtesy of Lucius Malfoy. Fuming, Harry crumpled the note and put the book inside of this bag.

“What was that?” Hermione asked.

“Uhm…it was Quidditch book I ordered,” he mumbled out. He didn’t dare to look at her in the eyes because the girl might catch his lie, so he concentrated on his food instead. “Well, since I’m Gryffindor Quidditch captain now.”

Luckily for him, that had grabbed Hermione’s attention. For the rest of breakfast he had to go through the lecture about responsibility as Quidditch captain as well as his responsibility as a student attending his NEWT class. Ron blissfully ignored her in the favor of his food.


XXXXX


Days passed for Harry. NEWT classes were truly hard and to top it all the teachers always gave them homework’s too. The worst of it was Snape, of course. Yes, by some miracle, he got Outstanding for Potion and managed to enter potion NEWT class.

He was in Charms where Flitwick told them to practice Aquamenti spell when someone called his name. Harry looked up only to find Flitwick. “Yes, Professor?”

“Professor Dumbledore sent you a note.”

“Thank you Professor,” he said, accepting the note.

Later, he opened and read it.

‘Dear Harry,
Please come to my office tonight at 8 P.M. We need to discuss something.’
Albus Dumbledore
PS: I love Chocolate Frogs’

Wondering as to why Dumbledore wanted to see him, he arrived in the front of the gargoyle guarding the headmaster office at the promised time.

Harry was surprised to see Sirius and Remus there. “Sirius!” he exclaimed upon seing his godfather.

“Hiya Harry,” the man moved to ruffle his hair, making it messier than before.

“Not that I’m not happy seeing you but why are you here?” he asked.

“That I would like to know,” Sirius replied. “I only received a letter this morning, telling me to come. And when I got here I found that Moony was already here too.”

“Yes,” Remus nodded. “What is going on?”

Three of them looked at the other figure in the room expectantly. “I called you here because there’s something I have to tell. Something I should have told you long time ago.”

That didn’t bode well. Harry was certain whatever Dumbledore was going to tell them were a bad news.

“All of you know that there’s prophecy about Harry and Voldemort.” Dumbledore began.

Yes. Dumbledore had told them about that. It was the reason as to why Voldemort was so keen on killing him. Only one of them could live.

“Well, we only need to kill that Voldy snort, right?” Sirius asked.

Dumbledore smiled at that. “I’m afraid that won’t be as simple as we thought. And I’m going to show you why.” He stood from his chair and walked to the cabinets, where he took out a Pensieve. Dumbledore then pulled out four crystal bottles from his pocket and poured the liquid into the Pensieve. “Well, go ahead.” He inclined to them.

“I’ll go first,” Sirius said, taking a deep breath. With that he plunged into it.

“I’ll be the next after Padfood then,” Remus seconded.

The first memory Dumbledore showed them belonged to Bob Ogden, a ministry employee. There, Harry saw the Gaunts, the last descendants of Salazar Slytherin who, after years of inbreeding, became really deranged. No wonder Voldemort became that psycho. The second memory came from Dumbledore himself when he delivered Hogwarts letter to Voldy junior. The third memory came from someone named Slughorn, who turned out was a potion teacher before Snape. It was when Slughorn and Riddle talked about Horcrux situation went weird.

Sirius made a choking sound. Harry saw that his godfather had gone pale. “Sirius, are you alright?’ he asked, alarmed.

“No, I’m not,” the man shakily replied. “Horcrux! That is insane! Madness!” Coming from the member of Marauders, that meant something was seriously wrong.

“I take that as a sign that you know about what Horcrux is.” Dumbledore stated calmly.

Sirius laughed hollowly. “That is the perk of being a Black. You know all kinds of Dark Arts, the worst ever created in some cases.”

“I thought you ran away,” Harry mumbled.

“Not that fast. Do you really think that my father waited until I came of age to teach me Dark Magic?” Sirius asked.

Of course not. Harry suspected as soon as he was born, Sirius was already being fed with everything Orion and Walburga Black believed in it.

Remus frowned. “What is Horcrux anyway?”

“A Horcrux is a Dark Magic device created to attain immortality. It’s receptacle in which a Dark Wizard has hidden a part of his soul for the purposes of attaining immortality. With part of a wizard's soul thus stored, the wizard becomes immortal as long as the Horcrux remains intact.”

Harry too, went pale at the revelation. “So you’re saying that Voldemort can’t be killed before we destroy his Horcrux.”

“Yes,” Dumbledore said solemnly. “And in this case I believe it’s Horcruxes Tom had created.”

The memory shifted and they’re standing in a big living room. The last memory came from a house elf who served Hepzibah Smith, one of many Hufflepuff descendants. Apparently Voldy killed the woman to get Hufflepuff’s Cup and also the locket of Slytherin.

“But house elf can’t hurt their master,” Harry commented when he knew that the house elf was held responsible for her master’s death.

“No, they can’t. However the judges didn’t believe it.”

“Stupid judges.” He grumbled. No wonder Sirius spend twelve years in the jail without trial if everyone in power behaved like this.

The situation was somber when four of them emerged out from the Pensieve. Dumbledore pulled his drawer and took three items. A diary that Harry recognized instantly. A ring and a heavy locket.

“These are the Horcruxes I have found so far. The diary, which I’m sure you’re familiar with, and the Gaunt ring.”

“What about the locket?” Remus asked.

“It’s fake. Someone had replaced it,” Dumbledore answered, giving them a parchment.


To the Dark Lord
I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more.
R.A.B


“It’s impossible,” Sirius muttered, eyes never leaving the parchment. “Regulus…but he was killed by Voldemort. It can’t be…”

A realization dawned upon Dumbledore’s eyes. “Regulus Arcturus Black. It was your younger brother.”

Harry was confused. Didn’t Regulus become Death Eater as he was told? After discussing the matter at the hand, with Sirius almost having breakdown, they finally summoned Kreacher. The house elf burst into tears when he saw Regulus letter. He popped out and came back a second later with the real Slytherin locket.

“Master Sirius is so kind! Master is helping Master Regulus last wish! Kreacher will work hard for Master Sirius now!” with the last declaration the house elf was gone, leaving a bewildered assembly of people.

“That leave three Horcruxes then,” Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling merrily.

“How are we going to destroy it?” Remus asked. “Even though we have them, it’s useless if we can’t destroy them.”

“I believe that is the answer,” Dumbledore replied, gesturing to the Gryffindor sword.

The ring and the locket let out a loud shrill sound when the sword pierced them. Dumbledore told them he had a hunch about the three remaining items. But, since it was past midnight, he told them to rest and they would continue the conversation the next time. Sirius and Remus accompanied him back to Gryffindor tower. They comforted him, saying that they would help and they wouldn’t leave him alone.

XXXXXXXXX

Harry didn’t have time to worry about Horcruxes the next day because he had other bigger issue to worry about. His Occlumency lesson with Lucius bloody Malfoy. He walked to the edge of Forbidden Forest, waiting for the Portkey to activate. He arrived at the hall of an apparently a huge and luxurious house.

“Welcome Princess,” the evil incarnate was already there.

Scowling, he chose to ignore the nickname. “Where are we?” he asked, looking at his surrounding that was decorated by antique furniture. As he knew, the Malfoys had a mansion located on Wiltshire.

“Kensington Palace Gardens,” Lucius drawled.

Wow. Harry was truly impressed. He knew that Kensington Palace Gardens, a street in west central London, contained some of the grandest and most expensive houses in the world.

“The Malfoys use this house whenever we have business to attend at London.” Lucius continued. “Now, let move above those formalities shall we? You’re here for your Occlumency lesson. Not for some kind of social conversation. Tobby!”

A house elf appeared. “Yes Master!”

“Deliver Harry here to my study.” Lucius ordered.

“Yes Master!” the house elf nodded frantically. “Come Master Harry!”

Confused, Harry followed the house elf. They walked through a long corridor with white Italian marble floor. Chandeliers hung on the ceilings. Then they walked past some open space with a garden in the middle. With this kind of wealth, if someone told him that he was in Buckingham Palace right now, Harry would be inclined to believe it.

He focused his attention to the house elf and noticed that he was dressed in green pillowcase with Malfoy crest. Frowning, he asked. “Why Dobby didn’t wear uniform like yours?”

“Master know Dobby? Dobby is bad! Bad elf is not wearing uniform!” Tobby informed him. Well, if only Hermione was here now. She would be so pissed seeing Tobby like this. He mused.

Then Harry sighed. He couldn’t believe that he was inside of Lucius’ house for his supposed Occlumeny lesson coming from the man that had tried to kill him in the past. It was so bizarre. It was something that could only happened to Harry Potter.

“We is here Master Harry!” Tobby said then disappeared.

Lucius was already in there. Why the man ordered his house elf to bring him here while he was perfectly able to do it escaped Harry. “Sit,” Lucius indicated to the chair in front of him.

Grumbling under his breath, Harry followed the order.

“Do you know what Occlumency is?” Lucius wasted no time.

“Well, Occlumency is the way to protect our minds against Legilimency. It can prevent a Legilimens from accessing our thoughts and feelings, or influencing them.”

“Correct. Now we’ll test your Occlumency shield. Legilimens.”

The sudden intrusion to his mind surprise Harry. He could feel Lucius peering inside his mind, looking, searching. No! His meeting with Dumbledore. But it was too late.

Lucius had pulled back with odd expression on his face. “A Horcrux,” he drawled slowly. “Well, that really explains a lot of things.”

Author’s Note:


Hi. It’s me again. As usual please give me reviews, okay? ^_^. Anyway I have read a lot stories about time travel when suddenly I got idea for my new fic. Of course it’ll feature Lucius and Harry.

One of the things I like to do aside of reading review again and again and again is checking the statistics. I think it’s amazing that people from all over the world read fanfiction. Even from country that I never heard before, no offense here, or a country I never imagined people there know and read slash fanfiction.