chapter 13

They were all sitting down now, Harry was sitting at the end of the long table. He had Fred and George on either side of him. The others were spread down the length of the table, on both sides.

"Maybe we should begin with introductions?" Harry said, glancing for a second at his aunt and cousin. "Names, family, roles, something like that?" he said, a little unsure.

"Yeah, Cub, that sounds like a good idea," Remus said, "Would you begin? Give a demonstration," he smiled at Harry encouragingly.

"Well… okay," Harry said to Remus. Harry turned to the rest of the room, "My full name is Harrison James Potter-Black, I'm soon 14," Harry began, "My parents were James Flemont and Lillian Potter, my blood-adopted parents are Remus, Sirius, and Severus," everyone looked at the three in question, but Harry continued before anything could be said, "and I'm Lord Potter," he finished. "Anything else I should add?" he asked looking around, at the shakes of heads he got he looked to his left, "Then, George is next."

The twins smiled, "We never get over -"

"- the fact that you -"

"- so effortlessly tell -"

"- us apart," they said.

George, on Harry's left, began his introduction, "George Fabian Weasley-Prewett, forth son of Arthur, Fabian, and Gideon Weasley-Prewett. I'm shared Heir Prewett with Fred," he said. And like that the introductions continued, until Fred introduced himself as the last in line.

"Now that we all know each other better, let us start this meeting for real," Harry said, "Now, where to begin?" he smiled embarrassingly.

"What about what we know about the Dark Lord?" Severus said helpfully, from where he sat between Remus and Sirius.

"Okay, we can start there. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, The Dark Lord, Voldemort. His real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, Voldemort is an acronym 'I am lord Voldemort', simple really," Harry began, catching everyone's attention fast, "He was born 31st of December 1926 to Merope Gaunt and Tom Riddle Sr. Tom is a half-blood, and grew up in a muggle orphanage," Harry continued to tell about Voldemort's life, "Dumbledore was the one to introduce him to the wizen world, in 1938, the year he started Hogwarts," everyone were hanging of Harry's every word, "He was sorted into Slytherin, but was not very welcomed there until his second year, where he became part of the Slytherin Court," at that the Malfoys, Severus, Sirius, Remus, and (surprisingly) Arthur gasped.

"What's the Slytherin Court?" Bill asked, looking at all of them.

Lucius answered, "Slytherin house have their own political system within the house, with a King and Court. Usually, the King is a seventh year, sometimes sixth, and Court members are never under fourth year," he explained, "The ranking is usually based on magical or political power. It has been a secret tradition dating back hundreds of years. A second year in the Court is unheard of."

"But Tom did it, concurred the spot – that means defeating the original in an official magical dual – and became the youngest in the Court, ever. He was very proud of that," Harry continued where he left off, "later, in his fifth year, he found the Chamber of Secrets," there were gasps from the people in the room, "He released the monster inside, but then a girl was killed, and Hogwarts was about to be closed. Tom didn't want to go back to the muggle orphanage, so he put the blame on someone else, getting them expelled, and sealed the monster back into the Chamber," Harry said.

This time it was Ron that interrupted, "Hagrid! Hagrid was expelled, because of Aragog," he gave a shiver even thinking about the giant spider from their second year.

Harry smiled at his best friend, "Yeah, Tom put the blame on Hagrid, who was in his third year at the time," Harry said.

By this point everyone had one question on their mind, "How do you know this, Harry?" Remus asked, everyone's eyes began to stare intensely at Harry.

Harry sighed, "When the Chamber was opened again in second year, it was Tom who opened it again," everyone looked so confused Harry just had to smile, "Lord Malfoy, do you remember the book you gave to Ginny?" he asked, looking at Lucius.

Lucius widened his eyes, "Yes, I remember. It was some dark artifact the Dark Lord left at my mansion," he gave a few shudders just thinking about it.

"You never opened it, did you, nor did you write in it. If you had, you would have known that it would respond," Harry said, "That book, no, that diary possessed Ginny, made her open the Chamber, write the messages on the wall, and release the monster sealed within, again," Harry was really getting the mood going now, "She tried to get rid of the book at one point, tried flushing it down a toilet. She left it there, and I found it. I wrote in it and got a response, so I wrote more. I talked to a 15-year-old Voldemort," everyone was horrified, but Harry wasn't finished telling them about second year's adventure, "She stole the diary back, when she found out I had it, and went right back to being possessed. Then, she was 'abducted' into the Chamber, and the teachers were sending Lockhart to save her."

Every person who had had Lockhart in DADA that year reeled back, "Him?! They were going to send him?" Percy, surprisingly, was the one to shout, "That fraud doesn't know how to pour water out of a boot with the instructions on the heel!" he shouted, making everyone laugh at the image.

"The teachers fully knew that too, they just did it to make fun of him," Ron piped up, "If Harry and I hadn't gone to inform Lockhart of what we knew he would have run away that night," he said looking around at everyone.

"We knew that was what he would do, but McGonagall said to 'trust' him," Severus said bitterly, shocking everyone with this information about McGonagall.

Harry began telling the story again, drawing everyone's attention back, "As Ron said, we went to tell him we knew where the entrance to the Chamber was, but we found him in the middle of packing his thing. So, we threatened him, -" this made some splutter and others' eyes to widen, "- and forced him to come with us into the Chamber. After some stalling as he tried to obliviate us with Ron's broken wand, hit himself instead, and made the ceiling cave in, I was off to the Chamber alone," Harry said the last part with a bright smile full of fake cheer, making some people concern. "There, I talked to a 'materialized' Tom, fought a giant Basilisk and saved Ginny," Harry summarized.

"Giant Basilisk," Severus began, "You fought a giant Basilisk, alone, at the age of 12," his voice was shaking, from anger or something else, Harry was not quite sure.

"Yeah, I got some help though, Dumbledore sent me Fawkes and the Sorting Hat," Harry said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders. "Now, I drew The Sword of Gryffindor out of the Hat, so I don't know," Harry shrugged again.

Now Remus' voice was shaking, "The Sword of Gryffindor has been lost for hundreds of years, Dumbledore couldn't have known it would come out of the Sorting Hat," he said.

"Anyway, when I talked to Tom, he told me some interesting things," Harry brushed over his unbelievable achievements and went back to the story, "He said that he learned of a forgotten dark magic, something that would make someone immortal," Harry said, and everyone forgot about the Basilisk and the Sword of Gryffindor, "Tom learned how to split his own soul, and hide the split part in an object, he called them Horcruxes," everyone was horrified, splitting one's own soul was the darkest of all magics. "The diary was his first, half his soul was in that book," Harry continued, "that piece of soul said it could feel when other was created, it said five others have been exists," Harry chocked out quietly, not looking at anyone.

Everyone sat there in shock, Voldemort split his soul six times. "So, he won't be fully dead until all the Horcruxes are destroyed?" Ron asked, looking a little green, like he was sick. "We have five more to destroy?"

Harry shook his head, "No, four. We destroyed one a few days ago," Harry said quietly.

Remus' eyes suddenly widened "Harry! On your inheritance test! It said -"

"Yes. Yes, Remus," Harry took a deep breath, and under the table Harry's hands clutched onto Fred and George's hands, "The night Voldemort died, he unintentionally made me a Horcrux," Harry almost whispered, but the whole room heard him. Fred and George clenched Harry's hands, not letting go at all, "I'm not one anymore, though. Lucky us for goblin rituals, am I right?" he smiled unsurely when he looked up again, waiting for people's reactions.

Harry was a little shocked when everyone began talking about how to find the Horcruxes, accepting that Harry had been one up until a few days ago, trusting that he wasn't one anymore. "You don't need -"

"- to worry, we all believe -"

"- you." Fred and George held Harry's hand, clenching them at the same time.

"Yeah, okay," Harry said, maybe a bit wetly, but with a small smile on his lips.

After a while everyone calmed down, falling quiet again. "Okay, so Voldemort blamed Hagrid for opening the Chamber of Secrets," Remus said, taking them back on track, "What happened after that?" he asked, looking instinctively over to Harry.

"At some point he found out he was the Heir of Slytherin, but the Lord ring wouldn't accept him when he tried it. that's what my account manager said, anyway," Harry said before shrugging, "I don't know any more than that though."

"No one knows where he was before the war," Lucius began, "My father was one of his first men, even he didn't know. And during the war, his 'home-base' shifted between the mansions of the Death Eaters."

Remus looked at Harry again, "What about after the war?" he asked.

Harry sighed, "Here's where first year's adventure comes into play," he said.

"Oh no, not Fluffy again?" Ron shouted, making everyone but Harry confused. Harry began to laugh though, so Ron counted it as a win.

"Hagrid really has a way with naming his pets," Harry said, making everyone that knew of Hagrid's love for dangerous animals sweat (which was everyone). Draco and Charlie distinctly remembered a baby dragon from that year. "Would you do the honors, Ron? Informing them of first year's adventure, lovingly nicknamed the Fluffy incident?"

"I'll let you get your voice back, mate," Ron smiled at Harry before turning to look at everyone. Taking a deep breath, he began, "In our first year the right-hand corridor on the third floor was off-limits, right. Well, while we were sneaking out – someone had challenged us to a wizarding dual -" Ron looked pointedly over at Draco, "- we may have gotten lost and ended up in that corridor. We met a giant three-headed dog, let's just say we ran for our lives very much that night," Ron told, making everyone laugh. "That dog's name, we found out later, was Fluffy."

"Soon though, we became curious about what the dog was hiding – Hermione had seen a trapdoor under Fluffy's paw, concluding it was hiding something – and we found out," everyone was at the edge of their seats now, "The Philosopher's Stone," he almost whispered for dramatics, "And someone was after it, we already know someone had tried," Ron met eyes with Severus, but didn't say any more about that. "We told McGonagall, but she didn't believe us. Of course, that same night we went down there after someone," Ron said nonchalantly.

"Ron, what the hell?" Charlie interrupted, looking outraged, "You can't just go after who knows who, what were you guys thinking?" he asked.

"I think the phrasing we used was 'if we don't do it, who will?' McGonagall had already said she didn't believe us, what else could we do?" Ron answered his brother. "So, we went down, through Devil's Snare and giant chess," Ron continued, "Harry, mate, can you take the rest? You were actually there," Ron looked at Harry as he asked, smiling at his best friend when he got a nod.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Draco asked, looking at Ron, "What do you mean by 'actually there'?"

Harry answered when it became obvious Ron didn't want to, "We had to take the places of chess pieces and actually play as them. Unlike normal wizarding chess, the pieces were smashed when they were taken. Ron sacrificed himself on the chessboard," Harry said quietly, not looking at any of the Weasley-Prewett family.

"Ron!" Arthur shouted, "How could you do that? What of you had died?" Arthur was beside himself, grabbing his youngest son, looking him over, like he expected the wounds to still be there.

"Don't worry, Dad!" Ron shot back, "I wasn't that hurt, Madam Pomfrey fixed me up in less than a day," he said, not elevating the worry on his father's face in the least. Arthur sat down after looking over Ron twice, seeing no injuries (of course).

"Hermione and I went through more challenges, but managed to make it through them all together, until Severus', a potion riddle. There was only enough potion for one person to go forward, that becoming, of course, me." Harry continued the story, "Guess who was in the final room, the intruder?" everyone looked at Harry, waiting for him to tell them, "Quirrell," the Hogwarts aged people looked at Harry, unimpressed.

"Quirrell, stuttering Quirrell?" Fred asked. "Why would he -"

"- be there?" George finished.

"Yes, Quirrell. He wasn't stuttering, but he had Voldemort on the back of his head," Harry answered, making everyone shocked and horrified. Harry suddenly smiled, "George, Fred? You remember what you did that winter?" he asked, making everyone confused by the sudden change in topic.

It took a few seconds before realization dawned on the twins' faces, and they burst into laughter. "NO! -"

"- oh Merlin! -"

"- Did we …" they laughed, almost falling over. Everyone looked confused at Harry, asking with their eyes for answered.

Harry just smirked, "They enchanted snowballs to bounce of Quirrell's turban that winter," Harry elaborated. It was quiet for a few seconds as the information was processed before the others also broke out laughing.

It was a long while before everyone calmed down after that, but they still had more to talk about. "So, Quirrell was the one down there, what happened?" Lucius asked.

"Quirrell loves to monolog," Harry instantly said, "Telling me all about how he had tried to kill me throughout the year, how good his innocent act was and about his adventure to Albania, where he found a barely-alive shell of Voldemort," the room was quiet, listening on in horrified silence, "So I think that's where he was after the war, I don't know now though, -" Harry finished. "- maybe the same place? It has been two years since then…"

"Maybe we should take a break?" Narcissa suddenly said, "Have something to eat and drink," Harry suddenly felt very hungry, and looking at the others in the room, he wasn't the only one. Narcissa just giggled a little "Food it is."