Chapter 46:

Summer had all but come and gone. It was about half way through August and Emily looked out the window from the kitchen and saw the down poor of rain. There were clothes hung out to dry in the garden that had been soaked again. They would definitely need to be rewashed after the rain had stopped. The air was cold, not cold enough to see your breath in the house. It reminded her of early autumn where when you wake up the air was thick and foggy. The past week has been looking like this. Other than that it was a cool summer. She had been at the Burrow the entire summer. She'd been helping out around the house wherever Molly needed it. With Percy at the ministry, Fred and George setting up the shop and Bill and Charlie not at home, chores were done by Ron and Ginny. Emily looked back down at the Daily Prophet she was reading while eating her oatmeal. The room was silent but the rain was soothing from outside. The wind chimes could be heard from where she was sitting.

Ron came thundering down the stairs holding a load of wet laundry.

"Where you going with that, Ronald?" Emily asked.

He nodded his head towards the door. "Was gonna put it up to dry."

"In this weather?" She asked.

Ron looked out the window and groaned. He dropped the laundry by the door and took a seat at the table. "How the bloody hell was I supposed to know it was raining?"

Emily chuckled and looked back down at her newspaper.

"What lies do they have cooking up in there today?" Ron asked.

She sighed and handed Ron the paper. "Apparently Fudge has resigned as Minister. My bet is he's too scared to deal with Voldemort and his followers..." She said as she watched Ron's face as he read the paper.

"What a load of rubbish."

"I know." She snickered. "To be brutally honest he wasn't much of a minister anyway, was he?"

Ron laughed in agreement. A comfortable silence fell over the two of them.

"Have you wrote to Harry at all this summer?" She asked.

"Yeah. He's doing alright. He can't wait to get here though." Ron nodded. "Those terrible muggles aren't even family if you ask me."

"Agreed. They're awful." She stressed. "Aunt Petunia was never kind to Harry but... In her defence it would be hard to grieve the loss of a sister when you have her child as an everyday constant reminder that she was dead."

Ron swallowed. "Way to make me feel like a right git for calling her terrible then." They both laughed. Ron went to take a bit of her oatmeal. A bite was an understatement, it was more like he picked up half of her bowl with the spoon and shoved it in his mouth.

"Have you wrote to Hermione?" She asked with a smirk. Ron almost choked on the oatmeal. He coughed as he swallowed it.

"What?" he asked, with red ears. She smiled, even after all these years his ears still get red when he's shy.

"Hermione... I don't know... I thought you might be writing to your other best friend." She said casually.

"Oh well yeah. Yeah we're just friends. I've been writing friendly things to her. She's nice." Ron's voice cracked.

Emily rolled her eyes. "I already know you fancy her. I just wish you'd tell her."

"I don't fancy her." Ron glared.

"Who don't you fancy?" Fred asked as he and his brother came into the kitchen from outside.

"Madame Rosmerta still Ronald?" George joked around as he went to the fridge and pulled out a jug of orange juice and poured a glass for himself and his brother.

Ron rolled his eyes. "That was three years ago!"

"Yeah but it never really gets old, does it?" Fred laughed as he took the glass of orange juice from George. The two of them sat at the table.

"How's the shop?" Emily asked. Fred looked from her to George, then to Ron.

"We'll be open this weekend." He told her.

"This weekend?" She smiled. "That's amazing! Are we all going to get a chance to see it before the doors open then?" She asked.

"Yeah we came over to tell mum the good news." George told them.

"Funny how she gets mad at you two for skipping out on your last year at school but when she sees you as entrepreneurs she forgives you right away." Ron laughed as he went to take another bite of Emily's oatmeal but she grabbed her bowl back.

"Ronald get your own." She glared.

"We're all but done moving into the flat upstairs too." George announced. Emily looked over to him instantly. "So you won't be stuck here doing mums chores." He laughed.

"Yeah Ron'll have to take on more responsibility here." Fred shoved his brother. Ron just rolled his eyes as he got up and grabbed the load of laundry.

"Still can't believe you two were together for the entirety of last year and managed not to tell anyone." Ron shook his head as he walked back up the stairs.

Emily got up and flung her arms around both twins. "You've both been gone for a week and haven't even popped in, what's with you?"

"Ouch, can't breathe." George choked.

Emily pulled back from the hug and laughed. "Sorry Georgey."

"You know what... I think I'll let the two of you catch up. I'll go see how mum's doing." George winked at his brother before taking his glass of orange juice upstairs.

Emily turned to Fred with a smile. He leaned down and kissed her. "It's been a week. I know and I'm sorry." He laughed.

"You better be."

"I'm just trying to get the shop done so we can open for the new school year."

"I know, I get that. Especially having a store open in Diagon Alley with what's been going on there. Is Olivander's still open?" She asked.

Fred shook his head. "It's been shut since Olivander was abducted two night ago. I have no idea where first years are going to be getting their wands." Fred sighed.

"Things will-" Emily was cut off by an owl flying through the window and landing on the table with a letter. The two of them broke apart and Emily picked up the letter the owl had dropped on the table.

"Who's it for?" Fred asked.

"It's for me..." She said, looking up at him confused. She opened the letter. "It's from Albus." She smiled. She read the letter further and worry began to set onto her face. Once she was done the letter she ripped it up and burnt it with her wand.

"Emily what is it?" Fred asked. Emily grabbed her jacket from the coat rack and put her wand inside it after putting it on.

"I have to meet him. Something's wrong." She told him.

"Wait a second, you can't just leave." He said confused.

"I won't be long. I'll only be gone a couple of days." She assured him. Fred looked worried. Before she left the house she cupped his cheek. "He's just going to need some help with something. It'll be quick." She smiled, though she could tell he didn't believe her. She quickly kissed him and left the house, disapparating at the front door.

Emily apparated just in front of the castle grounds. She looked up to the castle and began to walk up to the gate and into the courtyard. It had only been about a month and a half since she had last left. She didn't think she'd come back so soon, but here she was. She walked into the castle and up the front steps. She turned to head towards Dumbledore's office when she bumped into the man himself.

"Oh good you got my letter." He smiled as they began to walk back towards where Emily had come from.

"Yeah just this morning. I couldn't wait. You're telling me you found it?" She asked.

"I know where it is hiding." He told her. "Marvolo Gaunt's ring is a horcrux, is it not?" He asked.

"It is." She assured him as they walked out of the castle.

"Then we will go to the Gaunt household and obtain it. The dark lord is back and gaining followers faster than ever. We need to gain the upper hand somehow." He told her as they finally made it off of school grounds. "After we find the ring and destroy it, we'll locate the other horcruxes and hopefully give Harry less to search for when I'm gone."

Emily took in what he had said. "How will we destroy it?" She asked.

"With this." He held a small bag and inside of it was the sword of Godric Gryffindor. He had enchanted the bag just like Hermione will have enchanted her bag to carry all their belongings when they go on the run later on. "Now we must hurry to Little Hangleton, I'm sure Voldemort already knows we're after his ring."

Together they disapparated away from the castle and emerged upon a dark, foggy entrance to a forest. In front of them on a hill was a huge manor. The Riddle Manor. A few ways away, down near the gates to the entrance of the manor was a small shack, the Gaunt shack.

"Wands at the ready and stay close." He said as they both pulled out their wands. They lit them up with Lumos and approached the Gaunt shack.

"I have a bad feeling about this place, Albus." She told him as they got up to the front door of the shack. Albus used a charm that revealed all manner of protection that would be cast around the house. There didn't seem to be any. The shack looked like it hadn't been touched in years. Albus slowly opened the door to the shack and they were both instantly hit with a wave of what smelt like decaying flesh.

"That would make two of us." He said as they both continued into the shack. They both searched for the ring on both sides of the house. "Any idea as to where it could be dear?" He asked.

Emily looked to the ground and thought hard. "I think I remember reading about it being hidden under some floorboards..." She said quietly. She pointed her wand towards the floor and looked around where they were standing.

"Nothing looks out of the ordinary." Albus said as he looked as well. Emily flashed her wand further ahead of them and continued to walk forwards. She stopped a few feet away from Albus and crouched down to some rickety old floorboards.

"Here." She told him. Albus came over and lit up the floorboards as she put her wand down and pried the loose pieces of wood away from the ground. Under them, like she had suspected, was a hollowed out space. Inside the space was a small golden box. She looked up to Albus and smiled. She reached into the hollowed space and picked up the golden box. She walked over to the old dusty table in the centre of what seemed to be a living room at one point, as Albus handed her her wand. She put the box on the table and slowly opened it up.

Instantly they were hit with a wave of air when the box opened, like something had just escaped the box. The silence in the room made it evidently clear that the ring inside the box was alive somehow. They could hear whispering in what sounded like parseltongue. Emily went to pick up the ring but Albus stopped her.

"We don't know what kind of dark magic is attached to this, dear." He had told her. She nodded. Albus grabbed a handkerchief from the small bag he was carrying and used that to pick up the ring. He held it up and examined it. The parseltongue began to get louder.

"It makes me feel angry. Like... Like he's here with us." She had told him. Albus nodded in agreement.

"Well there's only one thing left to do here." He looked over at her before he put the ring down onto the table and pulled out the sword from his bag. Emily stood back as Albus went to destroy the ring. When he hit the ring it sounded like it had screamed. Black smoke rose from the ring and trailed up the sword until it got to Dumbledore's hand. He shouted and dropped the sword. The smoke rose into the air and flew out the door of the shack.

"Albus!" She shouted, running over to him. His hand began to turn black. "We've got to get you to Severus." She said in a panic. She grabbed the ring with the handkerchief and held onto him as she apparated him away, thinking about Severus so wherever he was, they would go to him.

They appeared in a small alleyway. She held Albus' arm around her neck as she turned the corner and knocked on the large black wooden door. Within seconds Severus opened and saw them standing outside. He looked around to see if any spies were around and opened his door wider for Emily to bring Albus inside. She walked forward into the den and placed Albus onto the couch.

"What happened?" Snape asked urgently, closing and locking the door to his den and walking over to his potions cupboard.

"He tried to destroy You-know-who's horcrux." She said, catching her breath. "He got injured as he did."

Snape turned around and looked at her, shocked.

"We were able to locate the ring at the Gaunt Shack." She explained. "But he's been infected."

"With what?" He asked.

"Basilisk venom. It was laced inside the sword and when he went to destroy whatever was inside the ring, the venom infected him as well."

Snape grabbed a vile and walked over to Dumbledore and slipped it into his mouth. Albus sat unconscious on the couch as the black in his hand began to fade away. Not completely leave, but fade slightly.

"You shouldn't be here." Snape had told her as he went to close his cabinet door, and then his drapes.

"I didn't know where else to go." She told him as she took a seat across from Albus in an armchair.

"I'm expecting company." He told her blatantly.

"You're expecting Bellatrix LeStrange and Narcissa Malfoy. I know." She glared up at him. She looked back towards the headmaster. "It won't cure him will it." She said angrily.

"No, I'm afraid there's no cure for that."

Emily sat there in silence. "I should've destroyed it."

Snape scoffed as he poured himself a Brandy. "That's absurd. You would've gotten yourself killed. He's lucky he didn't get himself killed." He said as he poured another and handed it to her. She eyed the professor.

"I'm not your teacher anymore, Ryan." He rolled his eyes and she took the glass, almost drinking its entirety.

"Have you two spoken about it?" She asked him. He looked confused. "You are the one who's going to kill him Severus... Surely you've discussed it."

"We've mentioned it. There isn't much to discuss." He told her, walking over to the drapes and peaking behind them.

Emily looked around the room, then laid her eyes on Severus. "I guess that's... fair." She shrugged. Just then, the doorbell rang and both their eyes turned to the locked door of the den. "I guess that's our queue." She stood up, placing the glass back where the bottle of Brandy lay. She walked over to Albus and draped his arm over her shoulder again.

"You'll need this. Make sure he takes it until the term starts. I'll bring more with me when I return," He said, handing her another bottle of whatever medicine it was that seemed to keep down the venom from spreading.

"Take care of yourself, Severus." She nodded.

"Likewise."

Emily disapparated to the castle where she was able to get Albus back into his office.

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