9 Last

The weather had finally turned bad. The wind howled like it was trying to drown out all the sounds in the metropolis. At the height of our flat, it felt especially good. I was awakened again by a knock on the window, perhaps I was sleeping too soundly. This time it was the blizzard, throwing snow by the handfuls right through the glass. I can't expect any mail today. A flat in an ordinary house has a number of advantages over a wizard's mansion. At the moment, the main advantage is heating, but getting out from under the blanket is still completely discouraged. Fleur seemed to have frozen in her sleep, too, and now she was lying almost entirely on top of me, nuzzling her nose into my neck and tickling my skin with her warm, measured breath.

She had a lot more to worry about last night than I did, so I try not to wake her up and let her rest.

- Dobby! - The houseboy has become much more reserved and understanding since serving me, and no longer rushes to hug every time we meet. He took up residence in the Shell, as it was rather silly to keep him in the flat. There he kept order, and came to us to tidy up and cook.

- Is the master awake yet? - The elf apparated down the corridor and peeked into the room so as not to wake anyone with a loud clap right under their ear.

- 'Yes, just keep it down. Fleur's still asleep. Could you bring in today's issue of the paper? I don't think the owls will be able to get to us in this weather.

The elf disappeared for a few seconds and returned with the latest edition of the Daily Prophet.

- Here you go, master. Call me when the landlady wakes up and I'll make breakfast.

Carefully pulling my hand out from under the Veela, I unfolded the paper and looked for the results of yesterday's events, but what awaited me on the front page was not quite what I needed, "Sirius Black acquitted!" An emergency edition of the Prophet, which had come out just hours after the events in the Department of Mysteries, was reporting that Peter Pettigrew, who had been presumed dead for over a decade, had been captured and interrogated at the Ministry overnight. If the article was to be believed, Black had captured him personally. What the two of them were doing there in the middle of the night was not told. It seems that the Lord couldn't make it himself and sent Pettigrew to check what was going on. The latter had used his rat form, but Sirius was all too familiar with that form.

At the end of the article was a small note about the bodies of Alastor Moody, Theodore Nott Senior, Arthur Weasley, and a few others whose names didn't tell me anything. The circumstances of their deaths were not reported, but any sane person would be able to piece together the disparate facts from that newspaper into a coherent picture.

When Fleur woke up, the first thing she did was to check me thoroughly for injuries, and only then did she exhale relaxedly.

- It looks like you spent your time there for nothing, not a scratch on you," she looked at me mockingly, implying that no matter what the circumstances, Harry Potter was always bruised.

- Hey!" I made an offended face. - I don't have to lie in bed after every unpleasant event.

- Really? This coming from the man who spent three days in the hospital wing after trying to fire fireworks with his wand?

That's not a good memory. I still don't understand how that could have happened.

- It was a misunderstanding. I just miscalculated the force and the fireworks were too powerful, so I went a little deaf," It wasn't like that at all. I could see from Fleur's face how much she believed me.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're forgetting that I was there and I saw it all," she smiled when she caught my stifled look. - I'm glad you're okay. Will you tell me how it went?

I briefly described everything that had happened at the Ministry while I was there and handed her the paper.

- It turns out that the Lord lost the prophecy, two members of the inner circle and a Horcrux, and the Order lost one of its best fighters. You could say that this fight was left to the light side. Except that the Weasleys are going to be in a bad way now," the Frenchwoman lowered her eyes frustratedly.

- It's karma, Fleur. At this rate, everyone who betrayed me will get their punishment without my involvement. All that's left to do is pop some popcorn and enjoy.

- You weren't going for revenge," she squinted.

- I'm not doing anything. I don't care about them. As you can see, they're setting themselves up pretty good, and I have other goals.

- Not you, us.

- Yeah, of course we do. Do you know how to conjure hellfire, by the way? - The French girl looked at me in horror. - No? That's a shame. Do you have any basilisk venom somewhere?

- You went to destroy a Horcrux yesterday and didn't think about how you were going to do it? - She's not even surprised anymore. - You're a moron, Harry.

- We're on the same page here. I just realised it a bit late. So, any ideas?

- The all-knowing Harry Potter is asking for help. Fleur's being sarcastic, but it's obvious she's happy to help. - What about that huge monster you showed me at Hogwarts? - I quickly try to figure out what she's talking about, and I remember that I took her to the Chamber of Secrets after I told her about my second year.

- That's a good idea. It's school holidays, so it shouldn't be too crowded. Would you like some company?

- I would, even if you hadn't suggested it," she said firmly, and it looked like we were going to have another serious conversation about her non-interference in the future.

Moving into Hogsmeade, we immediately put on our invisibility cloaks and walked into the Sweet Kingdom to use the passageway to the school.

It seemed as if Hogwarts was empty. The official announcement of the Dark Lord's return had only been printed yesterday, when the students had already gone home, so Fleur and I walked quietly to the abandoned girls' toilet and peered inside. With the looters' map, this sort of outing was much easier, but on the other hand, it was good to still have my robe. Crybaby Myrtle was nowhere to be seen, so I approached the sink that served as a passageway to the basilisk's former abode.

- Open.

- Um, Harry, do you think I could have passed on the snake language? Because I realised what you just said," Fleur looked thoughtfully at the sink, which didn't even think about moving.

- I don't know, let's try again. Open up!" I hissed louder, but the result was the same.

- No, the last time you hissed something inaudible, but now I can hear it clearly.

- I think there's another problem. I don't think I'm a snake eater anymore, Fleur. The dementor must have retained that ability.

- What are we supposed to do now? - She looked at me worriedly. Good question! No one but Riddle can get into the Chamber of Secrets now.

- There is one idea, but it's pretty crazy.

- Harry, have you noticed that you don't have any other ideas? Come on, there's a reason we're here.

- We need to steal the sword from Dumbledore's study. I think he destroyed the other Horcruxes himself that way - we could still just leave the snake on his doorstep, but I need to make sure it's destroyed.

- Really crazy. And how do we do that?

- I have no idea. Given what happened last night, I don't think he's at school, but we need to get the password to his office.

- Why don't you just get Dobby to fetch the sword from the study?

- Come on, Fleur! It's too easy, we could do it from the comfort of our own home. Where's your spirit of adventure?

- Potter! - Oh, her fiery nature. - This is no time for childishness! Quick, get the housekeeper! - Veela slapped my arm with a slap, so the urge to argue fell away. In fact, I'm ashamed I didn't think of it myself.

Calling Dobby, we explained to him what we needed and waited. The houseboy came back about five minutes later, when we were beginning to worry about his long absence. He was badly creased, and his sheet looked scorched in several places. But the satisfied smile on the elf's face said that the injuries were not serious, and the sword in his hand confirmed the success of the operation.

- The silly firebird did not want to let Dobby in and tried to stop him. But Dobby found the sword and stunned it.

- Have the portraits seen you? - Dumbledore's office is full of spies.

- No, Dobby froze all the paintings at once. Only the bird saw Dobby.

- Good girl, Dobby! - Fleur squatted down in front of the houseboy and stroked his head. In response, of course, the elf burst into tears and ducked his head into the Frenchwoman's lap.

- Mistress is so kind to Dobby! Dobby didn't deserve such marvellous masters!

- You deserve everything, mate," I decided to take some of the blame. - We couldn't have done it without you, you've done well.

After consoling the houseboy, we sent him and his sword to the Shell and went to the edge of the barrier. It turns out that houseboys can only apparate through Hogwarts shields when they're alone.

- So, what about you? I've already got one on my account, so it's your turn," we stood on the bank, not far from the cottage, and I held out the sword to Fleur.

The Frenchwoman hesitated for a few moments, but then determination appeared on her face and she nodded.

Taking the jar from my pocket, I was surprised to find no change. The shrunken corpse of the snake still rested at the bottom. Perhaps the Horcrux simply didn't care what state the host was in as long as Riddle himself was alive. Pulling the snake out, I returned it to its original size and stepped aside:

- It's easy enough to cut off its head, Fleur.

The Frenchwoman nodded again. Her tightly compressed lips betrayed her tension, but she wasn't the type to hesitate for long. With a sharp swing, Veela brought the sword down right where the neck should be and cut the snake in half. That should be enough.

A loud screech made us instinctively clamp our ears, but it stopped quickly, and what had once been Nagaina crumbled to ash, immediately picked up by the wind. For a few seconds, a small black cloud hovered over the spot where the snake's corpse lay, emerging from the wound, but it soon melted away, and there was nothing more to remind me of the Dark Lord's last Horcrux.

I walked over to Fleur, took the sword from her hands and tossed it aside, putting my arm around her waist.

- Well, that was it. Only the Lord was left.

Fleur focused her gaze on me and whispered:

- That black cloud said you didn't need me before disappearing.

Only now did I notice how tense she was. The Frenchwoman frantically clutched at my jacket and looked at me with a pleading look in her eyes.

- Tell me it isn't so!

I pulled her against me, and her luxurious golden hair, blown by the sea breeze, began to tickle my face.

- Silly girl. You destroyed him, of course he said mean things to you," I wasn't very good at comforting. - Fleur, I love you and I want you to be there for me.

She relaxed into my arms, a shy smile appearing on her face.

- I'm sorry, I'm a bit of a mess. I love you too, Harry," she kissed me and took my hand. - We should probably go home now.

- Wait, I'll do one more thing," I pulled the prophecy ball out of my pocket and squeezed it in my hand. Thankfully, the text of the prophecy was exactly as I remembered it. I sighed a little at my plight and threw the orb at the nearest boulder, breaking it," I said, "Now let's go.

We called Dobby again and asked him to put the sword back in its place, and then we went back to the flat.