OBiaH
Title: Of Butterflies in a Hurricane
Author: roxierose13
Rating: NC-17
Complete: No
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that I do not own Harry Potter and/or any other characters used in this fic. They are all property of J.K. Rowling.
Warnings: Sexual content, Minor char. death, angst, Horcrux hunt.
Summary: After Dumbledore's death and Draco's disappearance, Harry knows what he has to do. He must find and save his boyfriend while concealing the relationship, destroy the Horcruxes that will ultimately destroy Voldemort, and deal with his grief. With Ron and Hermione by his side, he may just have a chance. ~Sequel to Falling Away with You~
Reread: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
*
Harry stared around him in wonder as they entered the room. It was a rather large room with several fireplaces and couches set inside it. Side tables were draped with different colored silks; red, yellow, blue, and green.
A different throw was hung over the back of each couch (there were four, each facing their own fireplace). On the throws were each respective Founder's symbol; the lion, badger, eagle, and snake.
Harry moved forward into the room, setting the sword down on the couch with the lion draped over the back. Ron and Hermione followed him cautiously, each looking around the room in wonder. Harry had never imagined it might be like this. He thought that this room probably hadn't been entered in a very long time.
"What do you think this is?" Ron asked quietly behind Harry as they moved into the middle of the room. Harry was still looking around, noticing that there were no other doors leading off the main room.
"I think it's like a lounge," Hermione whispered, keeping her voice low like someone might be listening in.
Harry said nothing, walking slowly over to one of the couches and running his hand over the back of it. It was Hufflepuff's couch, complete with badger throw and yellow silk table covering. He turned back to Ron and Hermione, who were cautiously taking in their surroundings like they thought something might jump out at them at any moment.
"Do you think it's here?" Harry asked the other two.
Hermione stopped peering over one of the couches and looked at Harry. "I don't know," she said slowly. "This is definitely an amazing room. Probably designed by the Founder's themselves for their own personal use."
"You mean you've never read anything about this?" Harry asked, surprised.
"Of course not," she said dismissively. "They don't even mention the Room of Requirement in Hogwarts, A History."
Harry was slightly disappointed that Hermione couldn't tell him all he wanted to know for once. Usually, she had a plethora of information and you couldn't get her to stop. And now, the one time he needed information, she had none.
Harry turned back to the couch and walked around in front of it. He was wary of sitting down on the couch for fear of what might happen if the room discovered they weren't Founders. Then again, he didn't suppose the room could tell since it had already let them in.
He looked over to where he had laid Gryffindor's sword and watched as the rubies glittered in the firelight. His eyes were drawn to the fire. He supposed the fires must have sprung into life when they had entered the room. They couldn't always be running.
As he watched the flickering flames, he was mesmerized by the way they danced in the grate, twisting and curling upwards. He began to feel tired as the warmth of the fire washed over him. He stood motionless as he watched the flames licking the grate.
It wasn't until he felt a hand on his back that he snapped out of it. He looked sharply to his left and saw Hermione looking at him carefully. "Are you alright?" she asked.
"I think so..." he said slowly, glancing back at the fire that was still crackling merrily in the grate. "Do you think... maybe the Horcrux is here, in this room?"
"In this room," Hermione repeated slowly. "But where? There’s not much place to hide it."
"But Voldemort doesn't need a place. He can create a place; that's not a problem. But this is the perfect place to hide a Horcrux," Harry said, gaining momentum. "It's exactly what he would have wanted. It's got all the four Founders together in one place; it's perfect!"
"But where is it?" Hermione pressed.
"We have to find it," Harry said. "It's in here somewhere, I know it is."
Harry's gaze traveled around the room, knowing it was there. There wasn't much in the room besides the couches and side tables. He knew it didn't matter how much was in the room; Voldemort could protect his Horcruxes with anything.
He moved around the room, walking carefully and doing his best to try to sense magic as Dumbledore used to. He knew he wasn't very good at it, but he had an inkling as to how it was done. He thought that any place that felt like it was magically padded would feel a little less natural.
He walked around the entire room without finding a thing. Ron and Hermione were poking around carefully as though expecting to find a bomb somewhere. Finally, Harry came back to Hufflepuff's couch and stopped, puzzled.
He bit his lip as he thought, looking around the room. Everything in the room was exactly identical save the colors. Harry wiped his forehead, noticing that the room was unnaturally warm. He turned to the fireplace, wondering if there was anyway to put it out.
As he looked at the fireplace, a sudden thought crossed his mind. "Wait a minute," he said quietly, turning and looking at each fireplace. In each grate, the fire was burning brightly, filling the room with light and warmth. It didn't seem right that every fireplace would be lit when a Founder came in the room. If anything, only that Founder's fireplace should be lit.
"What?" Ron asked, hearing what Harry said.
"The fireplaces," Harry said suddenly.
"What about them?" Ron asked.
"They're all on."
"So?"
Hermione now looked over at them, her eyebrows furrowed as she listened. She walked across the room as they continued talking, taking out her wand as she did so. She came to a stop in back of Ravenclaw's couch.
"So why would all the fireplaces come on when one person entered a room?" Harry asked. "It has to be magical since house-elves don't tend this room. Doesn't it seem a bit suspicious?"
Ron looked puzzled as he absorbed Harry's words. All of a sudden, there was a surprised shriek and they turned to see Hermione diving down behind the couch as a puff of fire flew over the back of it and dissolved into nothingness.
"Hermione, what happened?!" Harry asked, worried, hurrying over to where she was crouched down behind the couch. She stood up slowly, peering over the couch carefully to where the fireplace still flickered innocently.
"I think I've found it, Harry," she said in a semi-amused voice.
They all turned to look at the fire that crackled lightly in its grate, not appearing as if it had thrown itself just moments before.
"What did you do?" Harry asked, wondering what could make a fire throw itself.
"Well, I got your idea, so I thought I'd test it. I tried to put out the fire, with water, you know, and... obviously, it didn't work."
They all stared at the fire for a moment in shock and awe. "It's there?" Harry asked slowly.
"I'm pretty sure," Hermione replied, standing up fully but staying away from the fire.
"It's in the fire," Harry stated dubiously. "Wouldn't it burn?"
"That's the ingenious, Harry," Hermione said. "It would burn, so no one would think to look in the fire, but it's easy enough to put a Fire-proof Charm on something."
"Okay, so it's there. How do we get it out?"
"That's going to be a little more difficult," Hermione said slowly.
If they couldn't put it out with water, and it was unlikely that they could simply reach in and get it, how were they supposed to get the Horcrux out from the flames? Obviously, this had been Voldemort's plan. Even if they tried to get through the fire, most likely it would shoot itself and they would catch fire.
All three of them contemplated the fire for quite a while after that. This was their first real test to see if they could actually make it. They had to get this Horcrux out of the fire and destroy it somehow.
"Are you sure there isn't some way of putting it out?" Harry asked finally. "Voldemort must have made a way to get in case he had to, didn't he?"
"Well, he probably has some control over his own spells," Hermione said carefully. "It just means he probably wouldn't have any problem getting the Horcrux back."
Harry frowned at that answer. He'd been hoping that maybe she had an idea of how Voldemort would have done it, but if he had control over his spells, it would be simple to get to his Horcruxes.
Harry took out his wand finally and set down his bag that he always carried with him nowadays to the side. He conjured an ice cube in his hand and tossed it at the fire experimentally. The fire merely spit angrily as the ice hit it and bounced off.
"I think you made it angry, mate," Ron commented.
Harry scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I just wanted to see."
Harry took up his wand and pointed it at the fire for a moment. He then waved it, performing a simple Flame Freezing Charm. The fire's only response was to shoot a jet of flame past his head, singeing his hair.
"I guess that doesn't work either..." he muttered and Ron shook his head.
Hermione had been watching in mild interest, but her thoughts were elsewhere. "Do you see a pattern?" she asked suddenly.
"What?" Harry asked, turning to her. She was gazing thoughtfully at the fire.
"A pattern. All his Horcruxes, or the ones we've seen, have been guarded by a fear."
"A fear?"
"Yes, first it was darkness. Many people are afraid of the dark. Now, it's fire. A lot of people fear fire. Voldemort is playing on people's fears with his Horcruxes. He doesn't believe they can be conquered. He believes humans are too weak to conquer mortal fears. I think that he's actually afraid of these things deep down, just as he fears love."
Harry just stared at Hermione as she talked.
"He doesn't understand love, that's what Dumbledore's said, right? He doesn't know what it is or how to accept it. That's what these fears are. He doesn't accept his fears; he rejects them and uses them against other people. He's using his own fear to try to scare us."
"Well, it's working," Harry muttered, staring at the flames that remained stubbornly twisting upwards.
Hermione gave him a withering look. "No, it's not. We just have to be smarter than someone who hasn't conquered his fear."
"And how do we do that?" Harry asked flatly. He wasn't exactly feeling inspired to come up with a way to magically reach into the fire and pull out a box.
"Well, if you're scared of fire, you avoid it at all costs. You don't touch it, go near it, anything. We're already near it. I wonder what would happen if we just tried to touch it."
Harry and Ron both gave her incredulous looks as she finished her thought.
"Be my guest," Harry said, indicating the fire.
It was then that Hermione looked a little uneasy about sticking her hand into a very hot fireplace. Around them, all the other fireplaces still crackled and spit out heat. Harry thought that if they stayed in there for much longer, he would die of a heat stroke.
"I don't think..." Hermione said slowly.
"See," Harry pointed out. "This is exactly what Voldemort is counting on; that people are too scared to even try."
"Well, why don't you do it, then?!" Hermione asked, clearly annoyed.
"Because I don't want to get burned!" Harry exclaimed and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Exactly! This is going to get us nowhere. There was a reason V-Voldemort put his Horcrux into fire. It's just about the only thing people won't touch without desperately wanting whatever it is."
"Well, I desperately want that Horcrux," Harry said, pushing up the sleeve of his tee shirt and putting aside his wand.
"Harry, no!" Hermione cried, reaching out and grabbing his hand back at the last second. He sighed and pulled his hand away and reached forward again, but instead of reaching into the blazing hot fire, Harry's hand hit an invisible barrier.
"What?" he asked, pressing his hand against the fire. It was just centimeters from touching the flames but it wouldn't let him go any further. "It's like a wall!"
"Well, that's stupid," Ron said all of a sudden. "If You Know Who wanted people to get burned trying to touch it, he would just let them! Why bother even stopping them? There's no way for anyone to get it now!"
They all felt incredibly discouraged as they watched the flames swirling innocently in the grate. Harry pulled his hand back, wishing he knew something better to do, or that Dumbledore was there to help him.
He had known it would be difficult to get a Horcrux but he hadn't thought that the most difficult part would be figuring out how to do it. It seemed so simple, put out the fire, pull out the box and that's it. But no, they couldn't put out the fire; they had no way of reaching into it, even if they didn't care whether their hands were burned to a crisp in the process.
Harry just wished there was some sort of magical solution, which, in most cases in the wizarding world, was entirely possible, he just hadn't thought of it yet.
He sighed and looked at his wand that he put on the ground when he had been preparing to reach into the fire. It had rolled a little ways away and was now resting by his bag. Harry looked at it for a second then reached out and grabbed his bag.
His intention was to see if there was anything in there that might help him in the least bit possible. Anything to help would be appreciated at that moment. He opened it and dug around inside for a moment, pushing his Invisibility Cloak aside along with the Pensieve.
It wasn't until he came to the bottom of the bag that he saw something that could change everything. He grew excited as he rummaged more forcefully to the bottom and came out with a pair of white gloves; the gloves Fred and George had given him for his birthday.
"What's that?" Hermione asked interestedly as Harry pulled them on his hands excitedly.
"Fred and George gave them to me. They really work!" he exclaimed.
"But what do they do?" Hermione asked, confused.
"Just watch," he breathed. Ron looked apprehensive for a moment as Harry reached out slowly with his hand.
It reached the point where the barrier had stopped him before. Harry could feel the magic pressing against his hand as he pressed through the barrier. Hermione gave an audible gasp beside him as he hand went further past the barrier and disappeared into the fire.
He expected the fire to singe his arms, to burn them viciously, but it merely felt like a gentle tickling around his hand and arm. He pushed in further, holding his breath as he did so.
He felt his hand meet the back of the fireplace then moved it down, feeling around the bottom of the fireplace. Then he felt it; a long, thin box placed in the very back of the fireplace. He grasped it tightly, his heart beating so fast he was afraid it might burst his chest.
He swallowed carefully and lifted the box from the ground, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did, though, and he pulled the box slowly out of the flames and through the barrier that snapped shut behind it.
He let out a breath as he stared at the box. He couldn't believe it had worked; he had gotten it.
He was brought from his marvels as he heard a shriek followed by a loud yell. He looked up, only to jerk his head back as a ball of fire shot past his head. The fire seemed to have sensed that its treasure was gone.
Balls and jets of fire were issuing from the fire like bombs, exploding out of the grate. Harry hastily scrambled to his feet, narrowly missing getting hit by a particularly large ball of fire. He scooped up his bag and wand, shoving the box into his bag.
Amidst all the screams and jets of flame, Harry managed to stumble over to Gryffindor's couch and seize the sword. As he bent over the couch, he felt a ball of fire slam into his leg.
"Ow!" he yelled. He reached down, frantically hitting his leg with his hand, completely forgetting his wand.
"Harry, come on!" He heard a panicked yell from somewhere near to door so he turned and made a rush for the door, trying to avoid all the jets of fire that shot past, singeing his hair and leaving smoke streaks on his face and clothes.
He finally made it to the door where Ron and Hermione were frantically gesturing him forward while narrowly avoiding balls of fire that aimed for their faces. Hermione's hair was smoking slightly and there was a singed hole on the sleeve of her shirt.
Together, they wrenched open the door, barely whipping through when a huge ball of fire pelted toward the door. They slammed it shut behind them, leaning against it and breathing hard. For a second, they could hear the angry fire hitting the door and then all was silent.
Harry turned to the other two, who both looked scared to death and pale as ghosts. Each of them was worse for the wear with streaks of smoke, burn marks, and smoking holes in their clothes.
"Well," he said finally. "We got it."
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A/N: Well, since the 7th book is now out, this is officially AU. You should all know that this was written long before the 7th book was released and any similarities are mere coincidence, so if you leave a review saying I stole it from the book, I'm going to throw something at you. ANyway, please review!