Harry Potter and the Unicorn King

note: Kisses to those who reviewed! And for those who didn\'t? I\'ll be sending in a
potted plant (cough*devilsnare*cough) to your home as a sign of thanks ^_^...
anyway, cheers to everyone who bear to read this horrible fic! ^_^ BTW, for scully,
ohoho you seem to be very keen my dear *wink*wink* let\'s leave it at that!!! ^_^

Disclaimer: garraffen: I own Harry Potter! muwahahahahaha.... Rowling: that\'s great!
then may I take your life as exchange? (points a dagger at garraffen\'s throat)
garraffen: Just kidding...

GODRIC\'S HOLLOW

Harry was packing his backpack thinking of all the things Lupin told him at lunch.

Voldemort was moving in the open now, he didn\'t care if the muggles saw him
anymore... Murders on muggles have increased to an alarming rate, on top of that
a few wizards have gone missing, either dead or alive no one knows. The Death
Eaters have also increased in number, giants have attacked muggle suburbs twice
since last month and one of the wizarding schools, Durmstrang was attacked by
Voldemort\'s forces just five days ago... although the school was not taken, a
professor was killed in the attack and another one was taken.

So this was war. Harry thought.

But this was not all. Werewolves were already in Voldemort\'s command and the
Order was expecting an attack from the said enemies on the next full moon, which
was in two days time, Greyback seemed to be more than pleased to serve the Dark
Lord. Voldemort was not only moving in Britain, He was also starting to spread out,
the furthest they were informed was already in Russia. The ministry seemed to be
struggling in stopping the attacks but they were always one step too late.

But of all of these dreadful news, Harry was most interested in one thing.

Voldemort was, yet again, after something... a weapon, a person, a creature,
another prophecy, the Order was not sure. What they knew was, Voldemort was after
something Dumbledore was able to snag away from his murderous intentions right
at the last moment and now, it was very far from the Dark Lord\'s reach.

Could it be another Horcrux? Harry thought. Maybe... What is it?! He pondered
angrily.

He finished packing his bag and placed it near the door. Ron followed shortly his bag
was quite smaller than Harry\'s but it was fuller. Hermione then went in the room.

\"I just sent our replies to Hogwarts,\" Hermione said as she sat down the bed. \"I used
Hedwig, is that ok?\" Hermione asked.

\"Yeah, she hasn\'t been on a job lately.\" Harry replied.

\"Do your parents know that you\'re going to Godric\'s Hollow?\" Ron asked Hermione.

\"They do, I already told them when I returned home two weeks ago.\" She answered.

When Harry left for the Dursleys, Hermione also went home for a week and although
her parents were against it, she was able to convince them to allow her to go with
Harry in exchange for her presence during the holidays.

\"We\'ll be starting early tomorrow right?\" Hermione asked as she stuffed a shirt inside
her bag.

\"Yeah, before the sun rises.\" Harry said.

\"And were going on our own?\" Ron asked.

\"Yes.\" Harry said.

Lupin told Harry that the three fo them would be going on their own and that the
Order would not interfere with what Harry was going to do, but if they would know he
and his friends were to be in any danger (which they would, Lupin assured) the
Order would be there to aid them.

\"Er, what are we going to look for there anyway?\" Ron asked.

\"I don\'t know, anything that will tell me about Voldemort\'s Horcruxes.\" Harry
answered.

\"Have you told the Order about the Horcruxes?\" Hermione asked.

\"No. I don\'t want them to know, not yet.\" Harry said.

\"If we\'re going to start of early, we\'d better turn in early...\" Hermione said leaving
the room.

Both Harry and Ron then went to bed.

* * * * * * * *

Nothing much was said when the three of them were having their breakfast early
next morning, except of course from the ocassional snips of Mrs. Weasley.

\"Molly don\'t fuss, they\'re adults now, they can take care of themselves.\" Harry heard
Mr. Weasley say while they were at the kitchen.

\"I know,\" Mrs. Weasley said as she blew her nose. \"But I worry!\" She continued.

\"You don\'t need to.\" Mr. Weasley said with finality.

Most of the tents at the Burrow were already gone, Bill and Fleur went to France with
Fleur\'s parents and Gabrielle and would be staying ther for a month to catch up. As
for those who were still here, they were about to leave soon.

\"Good Morning...\" Lupin greeted as he entered the kitchen.

Mrs. Weasley went in, her eyes were puffy.

\"Good morning Remus, are you and Tonks leaving today?\" She asked.

\"Yes, but not until I see these three off.\" Lupin said.

\"Let\'s do it then.\" Harry said as he stood up.

They all stepped into the living room without talking.

\"Well,\" Harry started. \"We\'ll be seeing you...\" He said.

\"You three take care alright? You eat good, and if there\'s anything you need you
call us.\" Mrs. Weasley said. She started sniffing.

\"Mum don\'t start now,\" Ron said as he hugged his mother. \"We\'ll just be there for
a short while you won\'t even notice we\'ve left.\" He said.

\"Harry, the stag I gave you will start to glow when you approach your house...\" Lupin
said. \"I advise you to be ready, the site might not be pleasing...\" He continued.

Harry nodded. Lupin gave him a one armed hug.

\"You take care of yourself.\" Lupin said as he let go.

\"Come on Ron, Hermione...\" Harry said.

Ron let go of Mrs. Weasley and joined Harry and Hermione, the three of them faced
each other, bags slung on their backs. Harry took out the case of the stag and
opened it, they all placed a finger on it.

\"Ready?\" Harry asked. Both of them nodded. \"We apparate at three. One... two...
three...\"

Harry felt the same sensation, like being crammed into a very tight pipe, then the
pipe loosened and he found the three fo them standing under an old oak tree.

\"Are we here?\" Hermione asked.

\"Only one way to find out.\" Harry said.

They walked away from the tree and instantly came across a huge fountain, right at
the very center of the fountain was a podium, resting on top was a life size statue of
an old man wearing wizard robes, the statue was holding a sword on its right hand
and a pipe on its left hand, the statue\'s hair was very long as it swept just behind it\'s
heels, it\'s beard was even longer but arranged in a handsome manner. On the
podium of the statue it read: GODRIC GRYFFINDOR, these were written in shiny
golden letters which seemed to be brand new. In fact, everything in the fountain
seemed to be new, the statue was shiny, the edges of the fountain were polished
and even the water was very clear, Harry could see the marble underneath.

\"Blimey, even I could see magic preserving that statue...\" Ron said in awe.

\"So this is Godric Gryffindor...\" Hermione said as she examined the fountain. \"He
kinda looks like Dumbledore, only older and longer hair.\" she said.

\"He kinda looks like Salazar Slytherin,\" Harry said remembering the statue inside
the Chamber of Secrets. \"But I think all old wizards look alike.\" He kidded.

\"Where to?\" Ron asked.

\"We start looking,\" Harry said pocketing the crystal stag. \"We\'ve got to find our
house first.\"

They walked away from the fountain and walked about. They were inside a park,
Harry noticed, a few people were here most of them were jogging or cycling. It was
still very early. They stopped when they got out of the park, Harry looked around. the
houses were old and looked oddly like those in Privet Drive, but there were major
differences. The houses here were bigger and their gardens would put the manicured
lawns of Little Whinging to shame. The sizes of the houses also varied and there was
not one house which had less than two cars.

This is a rich village. Harry concluded.

\"Oh my,\" Hermione said. \"Well...\" She continued an impressed tone present in her
voice.

\"Where do we start?\" Ron asked looking around and marveling at the huge houses.

Harry took the map Lupin gave him after lunch yesterday. Based from the map,
Godric\'s Hollow looked like a circular village its various streets stretching from the
park like tentacles, there were ten main streets in all, the other streets and alleys
encircled the park and and crossed each of the main streets.

\"The village isn\'t that big,\" Harry informed. \"Lupin marked the place in the map.\" He
continued pointing on the encircled lot.

\"We\'re at the park,\" Hermione said looking at the map. \"So the shortest way to there
is going through Muggle street and then taking the intersection to Wizard alley...\"
She continued pointing on a street just behind the first block of houses

\"Muggle street?\" Ron asked disbelievengly. \"I can\'t believe what the names of the
streets are here!\" He continued taking a look at the map himself. \"Look! Spell street,
Charm street, Wand circle... Bloody hell, and this is supposed to be a muggle suburb?\"

\"Well, I guess this place isn\'t entirely for muggles.\" Hermione said. \"Lupin told me
that there are two wizarding families here.\"

\"Yeah, but only two...\" Ron said.

\"We\'re not here for them.\" Harry said, putting a stop to the looming argument
between the two.

\"Right,\" Hermione said sheepishly. \"Let\'s go then?\"

They walked along the sidewalk of Godric Circle and turned to Muggle street, the three
of them didn\'t talk much but just observed the surroundings. It seemed to be a quiet
place, very peaceful and pleasant looking. They approached the intersection of Muggle
street and Wizard alley, Harry quickened his pace and made a sharp turn to Wizard\'s
alley. Inside his pocket he felt something warm.

\"Harry,\" Hermione said, slightly jogging to keep up, \"Something\'s glowing in your
pocket.\"

Harry took it out and saw the stag was glowing.

\"We\'re near...\" Harry said slightly smiling.

Harry knew he was expecting too much, Lupin warned him that the place might look
unpleasant, but he didn\'t care. So what? He thought, maybe tall grass or broken
windows or peeling paint from the walls, or the house might look like a wreck but he
didn\'t care... all that mattered was he was going to see their house, where he and his
parents lived for a year before Voldemort and ruined everything.

They were reaching a fewer collection of houses now, the stag was glowing brighter
and brighter, Harry looked at the map eagerly this is it! this is the place! He said to
himself as he ran to the marked spot, he looked up to see the house.

Except there was no house.

They were standing in front of an empty lot, well, not that all empty... there was a
wide ruin at the very center of the lot, a pile of rubble scattered here and there, the
grass on the lawn was unkempt and wild weeds were growing everywhere, there were
tall trees around, looking like they have been ignored all this time.

\"Hey there!\" Someone said.

They turned and saw an old man approaching them. He was wearing a checkered
shirt and a pair of slacks, his black shoes shining with polish, his back was slightly
hunched and he was carrying a walking stick with him.

\"Good morning sir.\" Hermione greeted politely.

\"Good morning too missy, and to you lads.\" He said. \"I was walking by and saw that
you were looking at this lot, never seen anyone do that before... In fact I\'ve never
seen you before.\"

\"Er, we... We were just visiting some relatives and we came across this lot.\" Hermione
lied.

\"Did you know this house sir?\" Harry asked abruptly.

\"Well sure!\" The man answered enthusiastically, it was like he had never conversed
with anyone before. \"Used to be the biggest and most beautiful in this street.\"
He said.

\"What happened?\" Harry asked further.

\"Well, no one actually knows what happened exactly...\" The old man started. \"Was
a good sixteen years ago when it crumbled, I tell you no one would believe me but I
saw some strange light come out of them windows and suddenly the whole house
collapsed!\" He said.

\"Where do you live sir?\" Hermione asked.

\"Right there,\" The old man pointed to the house on the right. His house was quite
big. \"Pity though, the young couple who lived here were quite nice.\" he said.

\"Did you know them?\" Harry asked quickly.

\"Sure!\" He said. It seemed the old man was having the time of his life talking with
them. \"What\'s your name son?\" He asked.

\"Harry, and these are Ron and Hermione.\" He answered.

\"My name\'s Martin,\" He said. \"Anyway, the couple\'s name were James and Lily they
had a son too, I forgot his name though...\"

Harry wanted to tell him that their son was standing right in front of him, but
Hermione\'s restraining pull from his elbow stopped him.

\"They were really sweet the two of them, never declined when the misuss invited
them for dinner or anythin\'\" He said. \"The young lady Lily, was a nice cook too... She
invited us for Halloween once.

I wonder how my Mum\'s cooking tasted like? Harry thought jealously... I never
knew... Harry wanted to ask what she cooked but Hermione cut in.

\"Is it possible for us to go inside sir?\" She asked.

\"Well, no one cares actually...\" Martin answered. Harry felt a pang of anger surge
through his veins... no one cared. \"Why\'d you want to go inside anyway?\" He asked.

\"Nothing, we just thought of having a look.\" Hermione said cooly.

\"Up to you... Well I must be going, I\'ve got to buy something from the store.\" Martin
said.

He bowed to the three of them and walked, his stick echoing in the silence. Ron and
Hermione were looking at Harry, worry etched on their faces.

\"Harry?\" You alright mate?\" Ron asked.

Harry stared at the ruin in front of him... He imagined the house would be beautiful.
Martin said it was the biggest in the street, it was also the most beutiful one he said,
maybe sometimes his parents would play with him in the garden or in his room or...
or anywhere...

Harry opened the rusty gate silently and stepped inside looking left and right. He
approached the pile of rubble and saw a few broken shards of glass and some roof
tiles littered about. He didn\'t know what he was here for... all he knew was he should
start here, where it all began.

He walked around looking at the imaginary house... He pictured the walls, the
windows, everything... Hermione followed but Ron stopped her.

\"Give him some time alone.\" Ron said.

\"But, what if..\" Hermione started.

\"Harry\'s not going crazy ok?\" Ron said to her. \"He just needs this right now.\"

Harry suddenly bent down and picked up something. It was a blanket... a dirty,
faded, blue, hand-knitten piece of cloth with the letters J,L and H embroidered on
the lower right corner.

James, Lily, Harry... He thought.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other but made no move.

Harry slowly knelt down, his knees grew weak... He hugged the blanket as tears
came flooding down his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whew...... finally that\'s over. Anyway thanks again to you, My wonderful readers!
the next chappie is going to be very interesting indeed...... very very interesting...
hehehehehehehe...... too bad I won\'t be posting it....... you need to convince me
first *cough*review*cough*

Anyways just a teaser, there\'s gonna be trouble and (puts own hand on mouth)
mmmmmmppppfffffff....... mmmmmmmpppppppppppffffffffffffttt........................

Wanna know more? REVIEW OR DIE KNOWING!!! harharhar! (a bomb is dropped on
garraffen\'s lap.)