Loving Lily: A Snily Story

Chapter 96 - What may come

Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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As the next morning dawned, the members of Harriet's encampment shared their most awkward meal yet around the flickering fire that kept the early chill at bay.

While they dined on cooked meat and gathered berries, Harriet, Tom, Ron, Hermione, and Draco all sat in silence as they searched for something to say to one another.

Anuman watched from his cage as his tongue flickered, his belly full from the sustenance provided by a passing forest mouse the previous night.

"Well," Harriet said after the silence became unbearable, "Here we are, I suppose."

Ron nodded as Tom agreed, "........Perhaps we should discuss the next step in our plan."

"Should we go after the ring or the diadem?" Hermione frowned.

"I'm sorry." Draco interjected, "You'll have to forgive me for asking, I suppose, but can someone catch me up a bit?"

"I thought my parents told you everything, Malfoy." Harriet scowled.

"They told me he has five horcruxes and that you lot have been out hunting them." Draco snapped, "Do you honestly think your parents know the details of your adventurers, Snape? You can't even write to them!"

Harriet shrugged aside his rudeness as she regrettably accepted the validity of his claim, "I dunno. They wouldn't be able to, no.......Alright, fine. Five horcruxes, yeah? Tom Riddle's diary, Hufflepuff's cup, Slytherin's Locket, Marvolo Gaunt's ring, and......."

"......And what?" Draco frowned, "That's only four so-."

"-We aren't certain." Hermione cut in with a frown, "But we believe the fifth may be the snake."

"Nagini." Harriet nodded as she named the deadly reptile.

Draco's pale face twisted into a troubled scowl.

"We already have the diary." Harriet nodded, "It's in my tent, locked inside my trunk.......And we've destroyed the ring and cup."

"Just the locket, the diadem, and the snake to go." Ron echoed.

"It's in your tent? Locked away? Why haven't you gotten rid of the diary?" Draco frowned.

Harriet looked over at Tom and smiled as she took his hand, "Because that's not part of the plan, Malfoy."

Tom raised Harriet's hand to his lips and gave it a gentle kiss before she looked back over at Draco and elaborated, "Every horcrux except the diary will be destroyed, then we'll go after him."

Draco's mouth fell open as melancholy realization slowly washed over him.

".......And then once we destroy him too," Harriet smiled, "........Only Tom will be left, the diary stays."

Draco didn't know what he could possibly say.

In an effort to maintain his place at Harriet's side, he quietly packed his anger and his pain somewhere deep inside his wounded heart as Tom and Harriet exchanged longing glances.

"...........Very well." Draco sniffed. Unable to bear the sight of his darling fixated on someone else, he turned to Ron and Hermione as he asked, "What should we do first?"

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As one grief turned into another, young Ellery looked more and more like his father with each passing day.