Running AIAOY 7

Chapter 6

The food from Annabelle lasted with the rationing they had begun enforcing more strictly.  Tensions were at an all-time high, each of them taking the stress of no progress in their own way: Rebecca was quiet, Ron still listened to the radio ever waking hour, Harry muttered to himself wherever he went--repeating the unanswered questions they were all asking themselves--Hermione poured over every book she had brought with a ferocity new even to her.  It didn't matter if they found more of the horcruxes if they couldn't destroy them.

Rebecca was cutting the tangled mats out of Harry's hair when Hermione, sat at the table in their tent, sat up straight with a gasp.  

"Oh my god!"

Harry's hands shot to the sides of his head, thinking Rebecca had done something irreparable to his hair.  Rebecca gave him a look and set the scissors down to see what Hermione had found.

"What is it?"  Harry asked as he followed Rebecca.

Hermione held her hand up, needing to sort her thoughts out before she could share them.  "I'll tell you in one minute.

Harry waited as long as he could, ten seconds.  "Now?"

Hermione looked up excitedly.  "The Sword of Gryffindor!  It's Goblin-made."

Harry glanced at Rebecca to see if she showed any signs of understanding, but she seemed as confused as he was.  "Brilliant?

"You don't understand," Hermione flipped the page of the book she was reading.  "Dirt and rust have no effect on the blade.  'It only takes in that which makes it stronger.'"

Rebecca furrowed her brow, still not seeing the point.

Hermione pointed to Harry and raised her voice, caught up in her discovery.  "You've already destroyed one horcrux, right?  Tom Riddle's diary in the Chamber of Secrets!"

Harry raised an eyebrow.  "With a basilisk fang!  If you tell me you have of those in your bag..."

Rebecca's laugh escaped her and Harry couldn't help but smile.  Laughter was rare.

"In the Chamber of Secrets, you stabbed the basilisk with the Sword of Gryffindor.  Its blade is laden with basilisk venom now."

It dawned on Rebecca and Harry instantly.  "It only takes in that which makes it stronger."

"Exactly!"  Hermione turned the book so that Rebecca could read it easier from over Hermione's shoulder.

"It can destroy horcruxes."  Harry said quietly, talking to himself.  "That's why Dumbledore left it to me in his will."

"It's one of a kind, unfortunately.  We won't find another."  Rebecca's eyes scanned the diagrams on the page.  "You are brilliant, Hermione."  

"I'm highly logical."  Hermione brushed away the praise.  "I look past extraneous detail to see that which others overlook."

Rebecca pushed the side of Hermione's head and went back to the book.  

Harry straightened his glasses and moved to sit opposite Hermione.  "There's only one problem, of course, we-"  

The light flew out of the lantern, plunging the room into darkness.  Ron stepped out of the shadows he produced with the Deluminator in hand.  "The sword was stolen."  He let the light go back into the room, and the rage that was barely suppressed from his voice was obvious on his face.  "Yeah, I'm still here.  You carry on though; don't let me spoil the fun."

"This isn't fun, Ron."  Rebecca looked back down to the book with the light now returned.  "We thought you were still asleep."

"Oh!"  Ron gasped and clapped his hands slowly.  "She speaks!  Call the bloody Prophet!"