The room was alive with chatter and laughter. The Marauders and the Slytherin Skittles were sitting together in the Gryffindor common room, the tension between them slowly dissolving with each passing day. Sirius was making a joke about their latest Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson while Pandora and Remus were deeply engaged in a conversation about the upcoming exams. Even James and Evan had reached some sort of truce, each respecting the other's boundaries despite the years of rivalry.
But Y/N wasn't there to join them.
For the past few months, she had been disappearing more frequently, slipping away from her friends under the guise of studying or handling "family matters." What they didn't know—what she hadn't told anyone—was that she was on a far more dangerous mission. Every night, while they bonded and relaxed, Y/N was out there, searching, planning, and destroying the Horcruxes.
Each piece of Voldemort's soul had taken her farther from Hogwarts, farther from the people she cared about. She had traveled to dark corners of the Wizarding World, battling cursed objects and dark magic, narrowly escaping death more times than she cared to admit. But she never faltered. This was her task, her burden. If she wanted to protect them all from Voldemort's wrath, she had to finish what she started.
As Y/N sat alone in a darkened corner of the library, her fingers tracing the edges of an old, dusty book, her mind wandered back to the moment she had first learned about the Horcruxes. It had been during one of her late-night meetings with Regulus, when he had confided in her that Voldemort had created them—fragments of his soul hidden in cursed objects, granting him immortality.
"I know where they are, Y/N," Regulus had told her, his voice low and haunted. "But if we want to stop him, we have to destroy them all."
And so, she had taken on the mission in secret, protecting her friends from the knowledge and danger that came with it. Regulus had tried to help at first, but Y/N insisted that he and the others needed to stay safe. The Slytherin Skittles had already risked everything by turning their backs on Voldemort, escaping his clutches just weeks before she found the first Horcrux.
Now, months later, she had done it. One by one, the Horcruxes had fallen—Tom Riddle's diary, the locket, the cup, the ring, even Nagini. They were all gone, destroyed by Y/N's own hand. All that was left was Voldemort himself.
But tonight, she couldn't keep it to herself any longer. It was time to tell them the truth.
Y/N found them still lounging in the common room when she returned to Hogwarts, her heart heavy with the weight of what she was about to reveal. She took a deep breath, her gaze sweeping over the familiar faces of her friends, before stepping forward.
"Y/N!" James grinned, spotting her first. "Where've you been? We were about to start a game of Exploding Snap."
Y/N forced a small smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I need to talk to all of you. Now."
Her tone was enough to make everyone go quiet. Sirius raised an eyebrow, leaning forward. "What's going on?"
"Let's go somewhere private," Y/N said, her voice low and serious. She didn't wait for a response, turning on her heel and leading them all to the Room of Requirement.
Once they were inside, the air felt heavy with expectation. The room had formed into a large, circular space, with plenty of chairs for them to sit. Y/N didn't sit, though. She stood at the center, facing them all.
"I haven't been completely honest with you," she began, her voice steady but laced with emotion. "For the past several months, I've been searching for something—something that could help us defeat Voldemort once and for all."
She looked at Regulus, whose eyes had widened slightly, as if he knew what she was about to say.
"I've been hunting down his Horcruxes."
The silence that followed her words was deafening. James was the first to react, standing up abruptly, his eyes wide with shock. "His what?"
"Horcruxes," Y/N repeated, her voice firm. "Pieces of his soul, hidden in objects. That's how he's been able to survive all these years. As long as those Horcruxes exist, he can't be killed."
Remus looked pale, his brow furrowed. "And you've... been destroying them?"
Y/N nodded. "All of them. One by one. It took months of searching, fighting curses, tracking down leads. But they're all gone now. Every single one."
The room was filled with stunned silence. Pandora clutched her hands together, her face a mixture of awe and fear. Evan stared at Y/N like he didn't quite believe what he was hearing. Even Barty, who rarely showed much emotion, looked visibly shaken.
"You did all of this... alone?" Sirius asked quietly, his voice filled with disbelief. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"Because I didn't want to put you in danger," Y/N said, her voice cracking slightly. "You've all been through enough. The Skittles already risked their lives to escape from Voldemort, and I couldn't drag you into this. I needed to protect you."
James ran a hand through his hair, his face pale. "Merlin, Y/N. This is—this is huge. How could you do this on your own?"
Y/N's eyes softened as she looked at her brother. "I had to. For all of us. If I didn't destroy them, we wouldn't stand a chance."
Regulus stood slowly, his expression unreadable. He stepped toward Y/N, his gaze intense. "They're all gone?"
"All of them," Y/N confirmed. "The only thing left to do now... is kill Voldemort."
A collective shiver ran through the room at the finality of her words. The Marauders exchanged uneasy glances, and even the Slytherin Skittles—who had faced danger more times than they could count—looked unsettled.
"So, what do we do now?" Pandora asked softly, her voice trembling slightly.
Y/N took a deep breath. "Now, we prepare. Voldemort doesn't know that his Horcruxes are gone yet, but it won't be long before he finds out. When that happens, he'll come for us. We need to be ready."
Evan clenched his fists, his jaw tight. "And we need to make sure that when he comes, we finish this."
James finally spoke, his voice quiet but determined. "We'll fight. All of us. Together."
Y/N nodded, her heart swelling with pride as she looked at the group in front of her. The Marauders and the Slytherin Skittles—once enemies, now allies—had become something stronger than they ever imagined.
"This is it," Y/N said, her voice steady and resolute. "The final battle. We end this, once and for all."
And as they stood together, united in purpose, Y/N knew that no matter what came next, they would face it together.
