The 7 horcruxes

At last she asked "So tell me Harry is, Voldemort still alive?"

A moment of silence entered between the two of them before he nodded his head.

"But… you removed the soul from the Diadem." She said with a puzzled look "Shouldn't he be dead now. Like dead, dead and not half dead."

He chuckled at her wordings and said "You're right. If Voldemort had created only one horcrux, then he should have been dead by now. But as it so happens, he created more than one horcrux."

"More than one. Is that even possible?" she asked.

"Apparently it is. Though you start losing a bit of your humanity after every horcrux you make. That was why Voldemort was so unstable during the end of the war. Otherwise, why else would he go after a little child on the words of some crazy old bint."

"Crazy old bint? You're not making any sense Harry."

"Oh I didn't tell you." He said "Did you ever wondered why Voldemort specifically came after me?"

"Isn't that because your parents were his enemies?" she asked though she didn't look so sure anymore.

"Yes. My parents were his enemies. But so were half of the wizards and witches in Britain. No Hermione, he didn't came after my parents because they were his enemy. He came after my parents because of a… prophesy."

"Prophesy?" Hermione asked while giving him a ridiculous look "Are those even real?"

He shrugged "I don't know. But what I do know is that during the end of the war, a Prophesy was made about a child who would be born at the end of the seventh month. It said that his parents would have defied Voldemort 3 times and that the child would grow up to be his equal. That he'll have the power that the dark lord knows not and that neither can live while the other survives or some bullshit like that."

Hermione gazed at him questioningly and he nodded.

"My parents fought him in three separate occasions during the last war and escaped with their lives all three times."

A light bulb went on in Hermione's mind and she said "And you were born at the end of the 7th month. Oh Harry… Is that why…"

"Yes. My parents came to know that Voldemort was coming after them. And they hid under a Fidelius charm in order to escape from the dark lord. Though why they didn't left the country altogether is something I'll never understand."

He continued "But then they were betrayed by Peter Pettegrew, whom they considered their closest friend and who was their secret keeper."

"I… see." Hermione said while looking sad as she gently touched his cheek for a second before pulling him into a hug.

"I'm sorry Harry. This must all be very difficult for you." She said and he hesitated for a moment before hugging her back and they stayed like that in silence for a long moment before they separated.

"But Harry… How do you know all this?" she asked

"Let me continue the story Hermione. There's more to it." He said and upon her nod, he continued.

"You see. After Voldemort killed my parents, he came toward me and fired a killing curse at me. The curse however, rebounded and killed him instead…"

"Giving you that scar on your head?" she asked and he nodded.

"Yes. He gave me that scar on my head. But that was not all that he gave me." He paused "After creating so many horcruxes, his soul was in a terrible state, so when the killing curse hit him, his soul broke into two pieces once again. And one of the piece lodged itself into the nearest living thing that it could find."

At his words, Hermione froze for a moment before she gave him a horrified look "Harry… are you saying that you're… possessed?"

"No Hermione. I'm not possessed. But… the scar in my head. It holds the broken soul of Voldemort." He explained "I'm a living Horcrux now Hermione. And as long as I live, Voldemort will never die."

Hermione gave him a fearful look at that moment but then she calmed down and looked at his scar with worry "Neither can live while the other survives…"

"Yes. Apparently so." He said.

"You see Hermione. Before Voldemort came to our house, there were two contenders for the propeshy. Me and Neville Longbottem."

"Neville? As in… the Neville in our class?"

"Yes. That Neville. He was also born toward the end of the war and his parents also fought against Voldemort in three separate occasions. That was also why Bellatrix Lestrange and the two Lestrange brothers targeted them after Voldemort went missing. That is also the reason why they're currently at the Permanent ward of the St. Mungos hospital."

Hermione looked sad at that bit of news and asked "Why're they in St. Mungos hospital Harry?"

And he told her about the effect of putting someone for a long time under the Cruciatus curse.

By the end of the story, Hermione was openly crying and he had to console her a bit more before he could continue.

"There was a wording in that blasted prophesy which stated that the chosen one will be marked by Voldemort as his equal."

"And you got that scar from him…" she murmured.

"Yes. Apparently that somehow marked me as his equal or something." He said and took a deep breath "Hermione. What I'm about to tell you next is something that must never… never tell anyone else. Understand?"

She looked at him with determination before nodding her head.

"Dumbledore thinks that I'm the chosen one. And I'll be the one to eventually kill Voldemort. He wholeheartedly believes in the Prophesy Hermione." He said and waited for her to connect the dots.

She looked a bit puzzled at his words before a look of understanding dawned on her face. Then she frowned and asked "Is that why Dumbledore doesn't allow you to leave the castle even though you never attend any class in there?"

He smiled at her and she continued "He thinks that if Voldemort gets a new body and starts the war all over again, then you'll fight and kill Voldemort because you're the chosen one?"

At her words, he shook her head and explained "Hermione… he knows that I'm a Horcrux." She frowned and he continued "He knows that I must die in order to kill Voldemort Mione. Neither can live while the other survives, remember?"

"He expects us to kill each other somehow. Or at least thinks that I'll die by Voldemort's hands in order to make him mortal once again."

She looked horrified at his words "Harry. That's… that's…"

"For the greater good. Or at least that's what he always tells everyone else whenever he does some morally wrong."

"But don't worry. I'm not one to follow prophesies. Even now I'm trying to find a way to get this soul out of the my head as well as remove his souls from the other horcruxes so that he'll die for real this time."

"But Harry. How are you going to do that? You know… Remove the soul from your scar and remove the souls from the other horcruxes."

"I'll find a way to remove the soul Mione. And as for the Horcruxes, because of having a soul in my own head, I'm able to roughly guess their locations. That was how I was able to find this diadem."

Hermione made an 'ohh' sound then asked "Then Harry, shouldn't we destroy the other horcruxes like this one?"

He shook his head at her words, remembering the ring which was reason behind the whithering of Dumbledore's left hand which ultimately led to his death "No Hermione. Just because I was able to get to this Horcrux doesn't mean that we'll be able to get to the other horcruxes. I'm sure that he must have put those other horcruxes behind multiple layers of protection."

"Protection that we wouldn't be able to cross." She finished and he nodded.

"That is another reason why I spend all my time trying to become more powerful." He explained "So that I'll be able to destroy the horcruxes. And in failing that, so that I would be able to the fight the resurrected dark lord."

A look of understanding dawned in Hermione's eyes and she nodded at him resolutely "If that's the case. Then I'll help you Harry. In every step of your journey."

He gazed at her resolute expression and nodded before he leaned forward and kissed her forehead lovingly "I know Mione. I know."

Hermione didn't protest against his loving gesture this time. Instead, she remained silent for a long moment before she asked "Harry, do you know how many horcruxes Voldemort has?"

"Yes. Including me, he has 7 horcruxs in total."

"7?" she asked with a frown and he nodded.

"If we remove this diadem and my scar. Then we'll have 5 of them left. Which is not a small number. But I'm confident in my ability to find and destroy them."

"I'll be with you when you destroy them." She said resolutely and he nodded.

"I believe you Hermione." He said and patted her head "Now that you know why I hid the diadem from every one else, I think it's time for you to get some sleep."

Hermione looked reluctant at his words but nodded her head.

"Okay Harry."

He nodded and got up in order to leave before he felt a tug on his sleeves and turned to look at her.

"Harry… how do you know all this?"

He smiled at her question and replied "That a secret that I want to forget about Mione. So I don't think I'll ever tell anyone about that."

Hermione looked a bit sad at his words but nodded nonetheless. He gave a nod in return and went back to his lab once again.

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