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Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 32: Plans For The Summer
"It is quite beautiful. Did Rowena Ravenclaw really make it herself?" Harry was standing in front of a silver diadem that had been hidden in the Room of Requirement.
"She did," V responded, having spent years studying the history of Hogwarts and its founders. "It is enchanted to enhance the wisdom of the wearer. Or at least it's what she said."
"To think that you would use a treasure like this as a container… now we have to destroy it. What a waste." Harry could not help but comment on the tragedy.
As someone who takes pride in his own creations, he felt bad at breaking something like this.
"It's been too long and in a different lifetime, but… I can still understand the logic behind choosing something precious like this," V said. "After all, our souls are our most prized possessions. If you were going to store yours somewhere else, would you choose a worthless artifact as a recipient?"
"Mmmm…" Harry didn't seem to agree with what V was saying. He approached the diadem.
"Remember not to touch it. The Horcrux may still affect you." V didn't want to say it directly, but even with his Occlumency defenses, Harry's mind was his weakest point because of how unstable it was.
So mental attacks were always a concern for him.
"I know that, V." Harry conjured a box and used his wand to place the diadem inside.
"Now we have two." During his visit to Gringotts, Harry had entered the Lestrange Vault and acquired the Hufflepuff Cup.
"Three," V corrected him. "By what you told me, you already destroyed the diary in your second year at Hogwarts."
"Right."
"The rest won't be that easy to collect," V said. "And there is a good chance he made at least one more after his resurrection. He always meant to create seven, as that is a powerful magical number."
"You think he knew I was one as well?" Harry asked.
"Maybe. Not at the beginning, but… he managed to lure you into the Ministry by using your connection, after all," V said. "He must have put the two and two together at some point."
Harry recalled that Voldemort had tried to make use of this connection again when he saw him at the Ministry of Magic, but of course, it failed, as Harry no longer held that piece of his soul.
"Even if he realizes that I am no longer one of his Horcruxes, he must never find out what you are, V." Harry spoke in a stern tone.
The hat did not respond. This was something they had already discussed many times before, so there was nothing new to say.
If Voldemort ever found out that his magical hat was housing a piece of himself, he could try to recreate the connection and use V as another Horcrux, or perhaps something much more dangerous than that.
During their conversation with Dumbledore, Harry had purposely chosen not to disclose the real capabilities of the magical hat he had created. If the old wizard truly knew what V could do...he would never rest at ease.
"You are right, no point in thinking about it. It won't happen, V." Harry closed the box. "I promise."
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He left the Room of Requirement with the intention of traveling directly to the Chamber of Secrets, but someone suddenly appeared in front of him.
It was a small house-elf. They rarely showed themselves in front of students, unless they were directly asked to do so.
"Mister Potter?"
"Yes?" Harry glanced down at the creature while storing the box inside his bag.
"The Headmaster is requesting your presence in his office."
"He wants to see me again? What could he want now?" They had just spoken the day prior. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing more he wanted to explain to the old wizard.
But he knew well enough that this was not something he could brush off.
"Thank you, I'll go there right now."
"The password for the gargoyle is 'Ring Pop'." The house-elf disappeared after saying this.
With a mixture of curiosity and caution, he walked up to the Headmaster's office and, after giving the password, Harry went upstairs.
Albus Dumbledore had already been waiting for him and welcomed Harry with a smile.
"You were hard to reach, Harry. I had to send the house-elves to locate you."
"I was a bit busy." Harry did not bother explaining.
At this moment, his relationship with the old wizard was not like it used to be.
While to the naïve Harry, Dumbledore must have seemed like a ray of hope and safety when feeling in danger from the constant ploys of the Dark Lord… to the current Harry, that was no longer the case.
The Dark Lord was still very much a threat, but not one that he was afraid of tackling by himself.
"What can I do for you, Headmaster?" Harry asked as he walked into the office.
"Please, take a seat. There is something we have to discuss." Dumbledore pointed at one of the chairs in front of his desk.
"If this is still about what happened in the Ministry, I really don't have any—"
"While there are still a few details that we could debate on that topic, that is not my reason for calling you today," Dumbledore said.
"This is about your living arrangements for the summer."
"My living arrangements?" Harry had yet to consider it, but it was true that the school was almost over.
"Why yes. Classes are officially over, and in just four more days, students will all be returning home for the summer. That includes you…"
Dumbledore paused for a moment. "Harry, are you going to stay with your family for the next three months?"
"Family?" Harry looked confused for a moment. "Oh… you meant those people." He tried to recall the names. "Ehm… what were they called?"
Dumbledore sighed. "This is what I was afraid of. You did not hold onto the memories of your aunt and uncle, did you?"
"V?" Harry glanced up at the hat. "Don't ask me. You never talked about any aunt or uncle."
Dumbledore was not surprised to hear this. Harry had lived inside the frozen world for too long, so he had to discard many old memories to make room for new ones, and apparently, his uncle Vernon, aunt Petunia, and cousin Dudley had not been considered important enough to maintain. So Harry had essentially scrapped them from his life.
"We have an issue then," the Headmaster said.
The protections set in place at the Dursleys' were based on Harry's connection to his last blood relatives. If he no longer remembers them, it was unclear to Dumbledore if the protection would even work at this point.
But even more questionable would be whether Harry would even want to spend three months locked in a house with those people.
After all, Dumbledore knew the kind of treatment Harry received in there and could not imagine a more mature and experienced version of the boy would endure such abuse.
'I will have to come up with an alternative.' Dumbledore decided.
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