Post-Hogwarts #13: The Last Horcrux Hunt, pt. 2
Author: aibhinn
Title: The Last Horcrux Hunt, pt. 2
Challenge: Post-Hogwarts # 13 - A church
Summary: The diary, the ring, the locket, the cup, and Ravenclaw's bracelet have all been found and those Horcruxes destroyed. All that remains to find is the Horcrux made from something of Godric Gryffindor's-and, of course, Voldemort himself.
Rating: PG
Genre: drama
Word Count (optional): 2768
Notes/Warnings: Ha! You thought 'a church' would be a wedding, didn't you? Actually, I chose this prompt because I thought it was the challenge most likely to have a Horcrux hidden there. Coming soon: Part 3 -- the smut!
Link to Part 1 here.
"It's him," Ginny whispered. "We've really found Gryffindor's tomb."
"We always knew it could be here," Harry said, fighting his own feelings of shock and awe. "The name Godric isn't all that common; it makes sense that the town might be named for him."
"Yeah, but the Lion himself-wow," Ron breathed. "It's almost like finding Merlin's tomb, isn't it? Amazing."
"Well," Hermione said in a thoroughly pragmatic tone of voice, "it would be if this actually were Godric Gryffindor's sarcophagus."
The three of them turned to stare at her. "What are you on about?" Ron asked. "It says right there, Godric Gryffindor."
"Yes, but the inscription's in modern English, Ron," Hermione told him. "A thousand years ago, when he was alive, nobody spoke any form of modern English. They spoke Old English, which more closely resembled the Scandinavian languages than what we speak today. The earliest extant forms of modern English are found in Chaucer's writings, and he lived in the late 1300s-more than three hundred years after Godric Gryffindor died!"
Ginny shrugged. "So someone updated his inscription. That's not a reason to doubt this is really his tomb. Perhaps the original inscription was fading, and some witch or wizard decided to make it more legible." She looked back to the inscription, cocking her head and frowning in concentration.
"Or perhaps someone wanted us to think this was Godric Gryffindor's resting place, when it's really not," Hermione said grimly. "Maybe not us specifically, but wanted people in general to think so."
"Oh, go on, Hermione. Who'd do that?" Harry asked, frustrated. If this was Godric Gryffindor's tomb… then the Horcrux was very likely here, or someplace close by. He was tired of searching; he wanted to find the damn thing and destroy it.
"Who else? Voldemort, of course," she said in her most annoying isn't-it-obvious tone of voice. "If he convinced people that this was the true tomb, then they'd look here for his Horcrux, when in reality it would be someplace quite different."
"Or," Ginny put in quietly, still studying the inscription, "perhaps he was fooled as well, and the Horcrux is here, whether it's really Gryffindor's tomb or not."
She had an odd look on her face, as though she were working her way through a problem that was just beginning to come clear. Harry, noticing this, said quickly, "What is it?"
"The epitaph," she said, still frowning slightly as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "It doesn't really sound like something he would say, does it? I'd always expected Godric Gryffindor's epitaph to be something along the lines of 'hold fast to the truth, and fear not' or some other brave thing. Advice like this sounds more like Hufflepuff than Gryffindor to me."
"So what are you thinking? That we're looking in the wrong spot?"
"No," she said slowly. "I think it's the right spot-but the wrong interpretation. What if it's not an epitaph, but a clue?"
Ron snorted. "Why would You-Know-Who leave a clue where to find his Horcrux?" he asked derisively.
"Why did he leave the boat in the cave where Harry and Dumbledore went?" she countered. "Why leave the ring in plain sight in the Gaunt house? Why hide Hufflepuff's cup in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, where any professor or student could have stumbled across it? Who knows why he does anything, Ron? We're only theorizing at best, outright guessing at worst. So far, our guessing-and Dumbledore's-has been pretty accurate. Why not this one as well?"
"If it's a clue, what do you think it means, Ginny?" Harry asked. He had to admit that, much as he'd dreaded having her in danger along with the three of them, she'd added more to this search than he'd ever dreamed. Her instincts were far better than his, sometimes.
"I-well-I'm not exactly sure," she admitted, back to frowning at the effigy-a man with curly hair, a beard, and a familiar sword lying lengthwise down his body, his hands folded over the hilt. "But it's odd phrasing, don't you think? 'That which hides behind the face.' I wonder…." She paused a moment, then reached out with her wand and tapped the statue's cheek, intoning, "Finite incantatem!"
There was an odd sort of scraping noise, and all of them jumped back, wands pointed at the sarcophagus. But it wasn't an attack-the entire face of the effigy was swinging upward, pivoting on the hairline and revealing a hidden compartment beneath.
Everyone seemed to be frozen in place, staring at the shadowed, empty space where the effigy's face had been. Gathering his courage, Harry moved forward to look down into the hollow. What he saw there caused his heart to leap wildly in his chest. This could be it. It could be the Horcrux. He didn't quite dare reach in with his hand, so he pointed his wand and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
A figurine, about eight inches tall, came floating up. Even in the bluish light, it was clearly made of gold and inset with rubies. The statue was in the shape of a seated lion, jaws open in what looked like a defiant roar, tail raised in an s-shape against the back. It stopped rising and hovered in place, its eyes seeming to glint in the flickering light.
Nobody breathed for a long moment; they just stood there, staring at this artefact of Godric Gryffindor's that no one, not even Dumbledore, had guessed was still in existence. No one except, perhaps, Tom Riddle.
"It's beautiful," Hermione whispered. "How could something so beautiful be a Horcrux?"
"Think of the locket, or Ravenclaw's sapphire bracelet," Ginny said, but her voice was just as hushed and reverent as Hermione's. "It's not evil in itself, Hermione. Even things that are used for evil can be beautiful." She reached out a hand toward it, almost longingly.
"Don't touch it!" Harry snapped, pushing her hand away. "We don't know if it's safe!"
"What could be unsafe about it?"
"What could be unsafe about a diary?" he asked rhetorically. The question was out of his mouth before he really thought about what the diary had been to her, and he almost winced when he saw the expression on her face. Hermione and Ron did wince. "I'm sorry, Ginny," he said, with real regret.
Her lips were compressed, but she shook her head. "It's okay," she said. "You're right; we don't know what will happen if one of us touches it. That was stupid of me."
"This is awfully easy," Ron agreed, shifting his weight and continuing to stare at the figurine. "Remember how hard it was just to force ourselves within ten feet of the cup? No wonder nobody ever sat in that corner in class."
"And Dumbledore all but killed himself drinking the liquid that protected the fake locket in the cave," Harry remembered with a pang. "What makes us think Voldemort would allow this one to be so easy to take?"
"But we've got to work out how we can," Hermione said. "Could we lower it into your knapsack with magic? That way we wouldn't physically touch it."
Harry shook his head. "He was expecting wizards to be the ones to find it, remember? No Muggle could have opened its hiding place. Since nothing has happened yet, I'm guessing the trap-if there is one-will go off as soon as the statuette is moved far enough away from the tomb." He looked up at the stone ceiling and the stairs, and added, "Either the stairs will come down, or the whole ceiling will. Probably the stairs, since anyone taking hold of the thing would be right here under them. It would be enough to kill the wizard, but wouldn't be able to damage the Horcrux, and whenever Voldemort came back looking for it, he'd be able to recover it and put it back in the effigy. If the whole ceiling came down, it would damage the church building above and cause Muggles to come snooping around, digging through the rubble."
"It's logical," Hermione agreed. Ron and Ginny were nodding in agreement. "How do we find out if you're right?"
Harry thought for a moment, frowning. "I have an idea," he said. "If we go outside the church doors and use a Summoning Charm, that should bring it to us safely."
"Assuming it could make it up and through the door before the falling rubble buried it," Ron pointed out.
"And assuming it wouldn't just slide back down into the effigy if you went too far," Ginny added. "Levitation Charms only work in line-of-sight, after all."
Harry sighed. "That's true. Damn. Ideas?"
There was silence for a moment, then Ron said slowly, "Harry, you didn't happen to secure the rope to something sturdy upstairs, did you?"
"Yeah, I did," Harry said. "I stuck it to the floor with a Semi-Permanent Sticking Charm."
"Well, then," he turned to the girls, "Ginny and Hermione, why don't you go on upstairs while Harry and I stay down here? We can go back to the farthest corner of the crypt, or as far as the rope will let us, hide behind one of the sarcophagi down there, and then Harry can Summon the lion. After the stairs have fallen, we can climb up the rope while you two watch to be sure the rope is secure and will hold our weight."
"And be safely-and conveniently-out of danger as well," Ginny said heatedly, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at her brother and boyfriend. "If you two think we're going to let you risk your lives while we go blithely off into safety-"
"You'd be risking your life as well," Harry protested, "since we don't know how much of that portion of the church floor is actually supported by the stairs. But more, you'd be watching our backs, because I'm not sure how long the Sticking Charm will last. I'd feel a whole lot better with the two of you up there to make certain it's secure."
Ginny and Hermione looked at each other, then rolled their eyes in expressions that were so alike, Harry might have believed they were sisters if he hadn't known better. "All right," Ginny said.
"But only because we know this isn't just a way for you to keep us safe," Hermione added.
"We're perfectly capable witches; we can take care of ourselves."
"If you couldn't, you wouldn't be here," Harry said, his tone flat. "You should know that by now."
"Harry," Ron said warningly under his breath. "Don't push it."
But to Harry's surprise, neither Hermione nor Ginny retorted; they just turned and climbed the stairs, one at a time. There was a pause, then Hermione's voice floated down: "We're going to move the rope to a slightly more secure position. Don't do anything until we say."
"Okay," Harry called back.
The rope lifted off the top few stairs, then began slithering upward as they took in some of the slack. It stopped moving after a few feet, though it jerked a couple of times as though they were tying it off and testing the knot. "All right," Hermione called again. "It's tied and charmed; it's not going anywhere."
"Find cover; we're going to do the same. I'll count three before I Summon the Horcrux."
There was no answer to that, just the sound of shifting feet on the stones above and the soft unmistakable sound of the two of them casting Shield Charms. Satisfied the girls were as safe as they could be in an empty, furniture-less church, Harry and Ron moved back as far as the slack in the rope would let them and crouched behind another sarcophagus. "Ready, you two?" Harry called.
"Ready!" It was Ginny's voice this time.
"After three. One, two, three… Accio Horcrux!" Harry yelled, leaning over the effigy to point his wand toward the hovering statuette. It zoomed toward him, and immediately he and Ron felt the floor begin to quake. Harry caught the figurine and shoved it into his knapsack as he ducked behind the tomb.
The quaking increased. White powder that might have been mortar began drifting down from between the blocks that made up the stairs, and then all at once the whole staircase simply collapsed, the whole pile of rocks falling squarely on top of Gryffindor's sarcophagus and throwing up a huge plume of dust. The shaking stopped abruptly, as though it had never happened, and Ron and Harry were left at the bottom of a very deep hole, looking like they'd been coated in chalk.
Ron rose unsteadily to his feet, brushing off his shirt and trousers. "Looks like this climbing gear was the best purchase you've made in this whole bloody search, mate," he said feelingly, then raised his voice. "Hermione? Ginny? You all right up there?"
"We're fine!" Hermione's voice, surprisingly steady, answered. "You two?"
"We're all right as well. I'll anchor the rope down here, and Harry will climb up first with the Horcrux. I'll follow."
There was really no reasonable way for Harry to argue with that statement, since Ron did still have the harness on and was much heavier than Harry, and thus a better anchorman. Sighing, Harry swung his knapsack over his head and shoulder so the strap lay diagonally across his chest, sliding it so the sack part of it rested behind him, and walked over to the rope, which now hung straight down the wall. Ron followed, taking hold of the rope just below Harry's grasp. "I'm coming up," Harry called. "Watch the rope."
"We've got it, Harry," Hermione replied.
Wiping his hands on his trousers (which had the added bonus of covering them in dust), Harry once more clasped the rope and began climbing. Climbing like this had never been his strong suit, but he was more than strong enough to pull himself upward, even with the gold-and-ruby figurine weighing him down. At the top, a small freckled hand appeared out of the darkness. "Here, Harry," Ginny said.
Gratefully, he grasped it and allowed her to help pull him up over the lip of the stone and into the church proper, where he staggered to his feet, flexing his arms. He was strong, but that was a hell of a climb. His hands felt as though he'd rubbed them raw; the nylon rope was made for supporting the weight of a person in harness, not for climbing up bare-handed. He rubbed them ruefully. "I'm clear," he called down. "Come on up, Ron."
"On my way." Harry could see the sudden strain on the rope as it took Ron's weight, swinging slightly back and forth because there was no one to anchor. Concerned, Harry knelt at the doorway and peered down. Ron was using his feet to steady himself against the rock wall, keeping himself from swinging too badly. He seemed to be climbing much faster than Harry had done, and in a remarkably short time he was taking Harry's proffered hand and letting himself be pulled up the rest of the way. "Whew!" Ron said as he got to his feet and swung his arms back and forth the way Harry had. "I don't fancy another climb like that anytime soon." He reached out and hugged first Hermione, then Ginny. "Thanks for securing the rope; it saved our bacon."
Hermione smiled. "We had it secured against anything but avalanche," she said, and tapped the rope that she'd tied off around one of the small ledges that had once held candles. The knot untied itself and slithered down to the floor, and she picked it up, wrapping the rope in a loop over her hand and under her elbow in a motion that looked remarkably expert as Ron swiftly slithered out of the harness. In no time at all, everything was packed away again, and the four of them looked exactly the way they had when they'd arrived.
Except, of course, that they were nearly finished now. They had only to destroy this Horcrux, and then it would be time to track down Voldemort. Harry would be able to face him and annihilate him, once and for all. Nobody said it out loud, but the ease with which they moved, the smiles, the release of tension, made it clear that they all felt it. They walked out of the church, re-locked the door, and headed down toward the small copse of trees where they'd Apparated in.
The war was nearly over.
Title: The Last Horcrux Hunt, pt. 2
Challenge: Post-Hogwarts # 13 - A church
Summary: The diary, the ring, the locket, the cup, and Ravenclaw's bracelet have all been found and those Horcruxes destroyed. All that remains to find is the Horcrux made from something of Godric Gryffindor's-and, of course, Voldemort himself.
Rating: PG
Genre: drama
Word Count (optional): 2768
Notes/Warnings: Ha! You thought 'a church' would be a wedding, didn't you? Actually, I chose this prompt because I thought it was the challenge most likely to have a Horcrux hidden there. Coming soon: Part 3 -- the smut!
Link to Part 1 here.
"It's him," Ginny whispered. "We've really found Gryffindor's tomb."
"We always knew it could be here," Harry said, fighting his own feelings of shock and awe. "The name Godric isn't all that common; it makes sense that the town might be named for him."
"Yeah, but the Lion himself-wow," Ron breathed. "It's almost like finding Merlin's tomb, isn't it? Amazing."
"Well," Hermione said in a thoroughly pragmatic tone of voice, "it would be if this actually were Godric Gryffindor's sarcophagus."
The three of them turned to stare at her. "What are you on about?" Ron asked. "It says right there, Godric Gryffindor."
"Yes, but the inscription's in modern English, Ron," Hermione told him. "A thousand years ago, when he was alive, nobody spoke any form of modern English. They spoke Old English, which more closely resembled the Scandinavian languages than what we speak today. The earliest extant forms of modern English are found in Chaucer's writings, and he lived in the late 1300s-more than three hundred years after Godric Gryffindor died!"
Ginny shrugged. "So someone updated his inscription. That's not a reason to doubt this is really his tomb. Perhaps the original inscription was fading, and some witch or wizard decided to make it more legible." She looked back to the inscription, cocking her head and frowning in concentration.
"Or perhaps someone wanted us to think this was Godric Gryffindor's resting place, when it's really not," Hermione said grimly. "Maybe not us specifically, but wanted people in general to think so."
"Oh, go on, Hermione. Who'd do that?" Harry asked, frustrated. If this was Godric Gryffindor's tomb… then the Horcrux was very likely here, or someplace close by. He was tired of searching; he wanted to find the damn thing and destroy it.
"Who else? Voldemort, of course," she said in her most annoying isn't-it-obvious tone of voice. "If he convinced people that this was the true tomb, then they'd look here for his Horcrux, when in reality it would be someplace quite different."
"Or," Ginny put in quietly, still studying the inscription, "perhaps he was fooled as well, and the Horcrux is here, whether it's really Gryffindor's tomb or not."
She had an odd look on her face, as though she were working her way through a problem that was just beginning to come clear. Harry, noticing this, said quickly, "What is it?"
"The epitaph," she said, still frowning slightly as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "It doesn't really sound like something he would say, does it? I'd always expected Godric Gryffindor's epitaph to be something along the lines of 'hold fast to the truth, and fear not' or some other brave thing. Advice like this sounds more like Hufflepuff than Gryffindor to me."
"So what are you thinking? That we're looking in the wrong spot?"
"No," she said slowly. "I think it's the right spot-but the wrong interpretation. What if it's not an epitaph, but a clue?"
Ron snorted. "Why would You-Know-Who leave a clue where to find his Horcrux?" he asked derisively.
"Why did he leave the boat in the cave where Harry and Dumbledore went?" she countered. "Why leave the ring in plain sight in the Gaunt house? Why hide Hufflepuff's cup in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, where any professor or student could have stumbled across it? Who knows why he does anything, Ron? We're only theorizing at best, outright guessing at worst. So far, our guessing-and Dumbledore's-has been pretty accurate. Why not this one as well?"
"If it's a clue, what do you think it means, Ginny?" Harry asked. He had to admit that, much as he'd dreaded having her in danger along with the three of them, she'd added more to this search than he'd ever dreamed. Her instincts were far better than his, sometimes.
"I-well-I'm not exactly sure," she admitted, back to frowning at the effigy-a man with curly hair, a beard, and a familiar sword lying lengthwise down his body, his hands folded over the hilt. "But it's odd phrasing, don't you think? 'That which hides behind the face.' I wonder…." She paused a moment, then reached out with her wand and tapped the statue's cheek, intoning, "Finite incantatem!"
There was an odd sort of scraping noise, and all of them jumped back, wands pointed at the sarcophagus. But it wasn't an attack-the entire face of the effigy was swinging upward, pivoting on the hairline and revealing a hidden compartment beneath.
Everyone seemed to be frozen in place, staring at the shadowed, empty space where the effigy's face had been. Gathering his courage, Harry moved forward to look down into the hollow. What he saw there caused his heart to leap wildly in his chest. This could be it. It could be the Horcrux. He didn't quite dare reach in with his hand, so he pointed his wand and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
A figurine, about eight inches tall, came floating up. Even in the bluish light, it was clearly made of gold and inset with rubies. The statue was in the shape of a seated lion, jaws open in what looked like a defiant roar, tail raised in an s-shape against the back. It stopped rising and hovered in place, its eyes seeming to glint in the flickering light.
Nobody breathed for a long moment; they just stood there, staring at this artefact of Godric Gryffindor's that no one, not even Dumbledore, had guessed was still in existence. No one except, perhaps, Tom Riddle.
"It's beautiful," Hermione whispered. "How could something so beautiful be a Horcrux?"
"Think of the locket, or Ravenclaw's sapphire bracelet," Ginny said, but her voice was just as hushed and reverent as Hermione's. "It's not evil in itself, Hermione. Even things that are used for evil can be beautiful." She reached out a hand toward it, almost longingly.
"Don't touch it!" Harry snapped, pushing her hand away. "We don't know if it's safe!"
"What could be unsafe about it?"
"What could be unsafe about a diary?" he asked rhetorically. The question was out of his mouth before he really thought about what the diary had been to her, and he almost winced when he saw the expression on her face. Hermione and Ron did wince. "I'm sorry, Ginny," he said, with real regret.
Her lips were compressed, but she shook her head. "It's okay," she said. "You're right; we don't know what will happen if one of us touches it. That was stupid of me."
"This is awfully easy," Ron agreed, shifting his weight and continuing to stare at the figurine. "Remember how hard it was just to force ourselves within ten feet of the cup? No wonder nobody ever sat in that corner in class."
"And Dumbledore all but killed himself drinking the liquid that protected the fake locket in the cave," Harry remembered with a pang. "What makes us think Voldemort would allow this one to be so easy to take?"
"But we've got to work out how we can," Hermione said. "Could we lower it into your knapsack with magic? That way we wouldn't physically touch it."
Harry shook his head. "He was expecting wizards to be the ones to find it, remember? No Muggle could have opened its hiding place. Since nothing has happened yet, I'm guessing the trap-if there is one-will go off as soon as the statuette is moved far enough away from the tomb." He looked up at the stone ceiling and the stairs, and added, "Either the stairs will come down, or the whole ceiling will. Probably the stairs, since anyone taking hold of the thing would be right here under them. It would be enough to kill the wizard, but wouldn't be able to damage the Horcrux, and whenever Voldemort came back looking for it, he'd be able to recover it and put it back in the effigy. If the whole ceiling came down, it would damage the church building above and cause Muggles to come snooping around, digging through the rubble."
"It's logical," Hermione agreed. Ron and Ginny were nodding in agreement. "How do we find out if you're right?"
Harry thought for a moment, frowning. "I have an idea," he said. "If we go outside the church doors and use a Summoning Charm, that should bring it to us safely."
"Assuming it could make it up and through the door before the falling rubble buried it," Ron pointed out.
"And assuming it wouldn't just slide back down into the effigy if you went too far," Ginny added. "Levitation Charms only work in line-of-sight, after all."
Harry sighed. "That's true. Damn. Ideas?"
There was silence for a moment, then Ron said slowly, "Harry, you didn't happen to secure the rope to something sturdy upstairs, did you?"
"Yeah, I did," Harry said. "I stuck it to the floor with a Semi-Permanent Sticking Charm."
"Well, then," he turned to the girls, "Ginny and Hermione, why don't you go on upstairs while Harry and I stay down here? We can go back to the farthest corner of the crypt, or as far as the rope will let us, hide behind one of the sarcophagi down there, and then Harry can Summon the lion. After the stairs have fallen, we can climb up the rope while you two watch to be sure the rope is secure and will hold our weight."
"And be safely-and conveniently-out of danger as well," Ginny said heatedly, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at her brother and boyfriend. "If you two think we're going to let you risk your lives while we go blithely off into safety-"
"You'd be risking your life as well," Harry protested, "since we don't know how much of that portion of the church floor is actually supported by the stairs. But more, you'd be watching our backs, because I'm not sure how long the Sticking Charm will last. I'd feel a whole lot better with the two of you up there to make certain it's secure."
Ginny and Hermione looked at each other, then rolled their eyes in expressions that were so alike, Harry might have believed they were sisters if he hadn't known better. "All right," Ginny said.
"But only because we know this isn't just a way for you to keep us safe," Hermione added.
"We're perfectly capable witches; we can take care of ourselves."
"If you couldn't, you wouldn't be here," Harry said, his tone flat. "You should know that by now."
"Harry," Ron said warningly under his breath. "Don't push it."
But to Harry's surprise, neither Hermione nor Ginny retorted; they just turned and climbed the stairs, one at a time. There was a pause, then Hermione's voice floated down: "We're going to move the rope to a slightly more secure position. Don't do anything until we say."
"Okay," Harry called back.
The rope lifted off the top few stairs, then began slithering upward as they took in some of the slack. It stopped moving after a few feet, though it jerked a couple of times as though they were tying it off and testing the knot. "All right," Hermione called again. "It's tied and charmed; it's not going anywhere."
"Find cover; we're going to do the same. I'll count three before I Summon the Horcrux."
There was no answer to that, just the sound of shifting feet on the stones above and the soft unmistakable sound of the two of them casting Shield Charms. Satisfied the girls were as safe as they could be in an empty, furniture-less church, Harry and Ron moved back as far as the slack in the rope would let them and crouched behind another sarcophagus. "Ready, you two?" Harry called.
"Ready!" It was Ginny's voice this time.
"After three. One, two, three… Accio Horcrux!" Harry yelled, leaning over the effigy to point his wand toward the hovering statuette. It zoomed toward him, and immediately he and Ron felt the floor begin to quake. Harry caught the figurine and shoved it into his knapsack as he ducked behind the tomb.
The quaking increased. White powder that might have been mortar began drifting down from between the blocks that made up the stairs, and then all at once the whole staircase simply collapsed, the whole pile of rocks falling squarely on top of Gryffindor's sarcophagus and throwing up a huge plume of dust. The shaking stopped abruptly, as though it had never happened, and Ron and Harry were left at the bottom of a very deep hole, looking like they'd been coated in chalk.
Ron rose unsteadily to his feet, brushing off his shirt and trousers. "Looks like this climbing gear was the best purchase you've made in this whole bloody search, mate," he said feelingly, then raised his voice. "Hermione? Ginny? You all right up there?"
"We're fine!" Hermione's voice, surprisingly steady, answered. "You two?"
"We're all right as well. I'll anchor the rope down here, and Harry will climb up first with the Horcrux. I'll follow."
There was really no reasonable way for Harry to argue with that statement, since Ron did still have the harness on and was much heavier than Harry, and thus a better anchorman. Sighing, Harry swung his knapsack over his head and shoulder so the strap lay diagonally across his chest, sliding it so the sack part of it rested behind him, and walked over to the rope, which now hung straight down the wall. Ron followed, taking hold of the rope just below Harry's grasp. "I'm coming up," Harry called. "Watch the rope."
"We've got it, Harry," Hermione replied.
Wiping his hands on his trousers (which had the added bonus of covering them in dust), Harry once more clasped the rope and began climbing. Climbing like this had never been his strong suit, but he was more than strong enough to pull himself upward, even with the gold-and-ruby figurine weighing him down. At the top, a small freckled hand appeared out of the darkness. "Here, Harry," Ginny said.
Gratefully, he grasped it and allowed her to help pull him up over the lip of the stone and into the church proper, where he staggered to his feet, flexing his arms. He was strong, but that was a hell of a climb. His hands felt as though he'd rubbed them raw; the nylon rope was made for supporting the weight of a person in harness, not for climbing up bare-handed. He rubbed them ruefully. "I'm clear," he called down. "Come on up, Ron."
"On my way." Harry could see the sudden strain on the rope as it took Ron's weight, swinging slightly back and forth because there was no one to anchor. Concerned, Harry knelt at the doorway and peered down. Ron was using his feet to steady himself against the rock wall, keeping himself from swinging too badly. He seemed to be climbing much faster than Harry had done, and in a remarkably short time he was taking Harry's proffered hand and letting himself be pulled up the rest of the way. "Whew!" Ron said as he got to his feet and swung his arms back and forth the way Harry had. "I don't fancy another climb like that anytime soon." He reached out and hugged first Hermione, then Ginny. "Thanks for securing the rope; it saved our bacon."
Hermione smiled. "We had it secured against anything but avalanche," she said, and tapped the rope that she'd tied off around one of the small ledges that had once held candles. The knot untied itself and slithered down to the floor, and she picked it up, wrapping the rope in a loop over her hand and under her elbow in a motion that looked remarkably expert as Ron swiftly slithered out of the harness. In no time at all, everything was packed away again, and the four of them looked exactly the way they had when they'd arrived.
Except, of course, that they were nearly finished now. They had only to destroy this Horcrux, and then it would be time to track down Voldemort. Harry would be able to face him and annihilate him, once and for all. Nobody said it out loud, but the ease with which they moved, the smiles, the release of tension, made it clear that they all felt it. They walked out of the church, re-locked the door, and headed down toward the small copse of trees where they'd Apparated in.
The war was nearly over.