A Second Channe Through Time

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Page count: 11

Unknown Location – Wednesday 13th January 1982

"How is progress coming with the Horcruxes?" Dumbledore asked Hermione.

"Well," she replied.

"Care to elaborate," Moody snapped.

"You know, Alastor, that was a rather impressive word use. I never knew you were so smart," Remus smiled at the grumpy Auror and he reached out to rest his hand on Moody's shoulder. Moody growled and shoved his hand off, glaring at him. "Right back at ya," Remus winked and he mock-growled.

Hermione, James and Sirius were creased with silent laughter, the effort of restraining it had tears rolling down their faces and the rest of the members present looked to be struggling to keep a straight face, too. McGonagall had gone red in the face trying to keep in her amusement and Snape had failed with the release of a few snorts. Fabian and Gideon openly laughed and Kingsley hid his sniggers with a cough.

That was the consequence of losing the bet. Remus had to openly flirt with Moody at The Order meeting no matter the consequences. It was fair to say the last hour had been more than entertaining.

"The Horcruxes, Granger," Moody barked, his magic eye spinning in its socket.

"Oh, do that again, it's so arousing," Remus purred.

Hermione couldn't keep her laughter in any longer, she'd managed to do so for the past hour but now it was too much to handle, it physically hurt. The laughter bubbled out of her and refused to stop, that being the trigger that set James and Sirius off with Sirius even slipping off his.

"Out now, and don't come back until you've calmed yourselves," Dumbledore ordered.

The three left the room, stepping out into the hallway where Hermione leaned back, sliding down the wall until she hit the floor.

"It hurts," she cried through her laughter, clutching at her ribs and the two Marauders made noises of agreement.

A few minutes later, they were all red in the face, their eyes watering and struggling to catch their breath.

"Okay, let's go" Hermione said, reaching out to open the door and Hermione stopped when she saw Remus practically draped over Moody, who looked less than impressed and as though he were plotting Remus' murder.

Laughter bubbled out of her once more and she turned and left the room without having to be told. Thankfully, she'd managed to calm herself and her second attempt to enter the room was more successful. Remus had been ordered to move by Dumbledore and he was now sat beside to James, where he would casually send winks to Moody who growled and glared.

"The Horcruxes," Moody all but yelled.

"Alright, don't get your knickers in a twist," Hermione bit out.

"I'll untwist them," Remus said with a longing sigh and his hand raised.

Hermione snorted at him. "The Horcruxes, there's four are remaining; I have destroyed two so far, Hufflepuff's cup and Ravenclaw's diadem. In addition, I've also destroyed the vanishing cabinet and the dormant basilisk as a precaution. Sirius and I will be retrieving Slytherin's locket in the next couple of weeks."

"Why's it taking you so long? Why don't you do something use..."

"Okay, Moody, you're seriously starting to annoy me. Firstly, in order to destroy the Horcruxes I have to use fiendfyre. Fiendfyre magically drains a person and it's left me unconscious for days afterwards. It takes decades to overcome the effects of casting such magics. Secondly, Horcruxes are the darkest magic to exist and if you're around them for too long a time, they start to affect you; your mood, your behaviour, your decisions, your mental health. They're not something you should be exposed to. In the last month alone, I've been around two of them. In order to keep myself healthy, I have to pace myself so I'm not affected by the dark magic too often, it could kill me. And without me, the Horcruxes can't be destroyed."