Author's Note - so here's the deal. This is going to be a deposit for various stories I've written over the years. Most of them aren't more than one chapter, a beginning, and they have been left unfinished for a variety of reasons. Those reasons vary, and could be because they are poorly written, unedited, have bad plot, are overly self-indulgent, or are just outright terrible (or a combination). That being said, I may choose to continue some of these in the future, and if I do, the chapter will be removed from here and spun off into its own story. So, YMMV

The weird Harry/fem!Harry story, chapter 1. Written 3/02/16

For the first time in many years, Harry felt alone, truly alone. The last time he had felt this alone was probably after his first year at Hogwarts, when Dobby the house elf had been intercepting his mail, cutting him off from the wizarding world completely. That had been worse than just living at the Dursley's, friendless and ignorant of the existence of magic to begin with.

It might not have been as worse as the summer after Sirius died, but he had been in an extremely dark and angsty mental place at the time, and he didn't like to dwell on it. And, having his awful aunt and uncle was around was better than the whole world turning to shit, though just barely. His godfather's death still haunted him, and there was barely a night that passed where he didn't have a nightmare about it.

But this was different. He wasn't depressed, and he wasn't moody. What he was though, was angry. Angry at Ron, for abandoning him in his time of need, again. Ron had his own head so far up his ass that he could probably taste what he had for lunch. It had been weeks ago, but the anger had never left, if anything it was only worse. He was pissed off.

Harry just didn't get where Ron was coming from. Harry had held none of his knowledge back, had told him and Hermione everything he knew about what was going on. Nothing had changed since they had started their adventure, and finally, Ron had snapped and left, instead of trying to help. That was twice now, when Harry needed his best friend most, but he knew that if Ron were likely to show back up, he'd likely punch him out.

And, yet somehow the jerk had managed to convince Hermione to go with him when he left. They were putting their budding romance above figuring out how to defeat Voldemort. He had never seen such self-greed in his entire life… they very well could be condemning the entirety of the wizarding world because they did not stand by him when he needed them the most.

It's not as if Harry hadn't had to sacrifice a relationship. He had left Ginny high and dry at Dumbledore's funeral. He couldn't afford a distraction at this point, and that's all the younger girl would have been, but at least she was brave, whereas Ron was showing himself to be a coward. Brave and willing to help was what he needed most, right now. To stick through the toughest of times, and see an end to this ordeal.

It wasn't as if they had made no progress. They had found the real Horcrux locket, and knew a method to destroy it, the problem being that the Sword of Godric Gryffindor, being goblin made and infused with the power of basilisk venom which could destroy a Horcrux, had gone missing. They knew that Dumbledore had tried to gift it to him in his will, but the location of it was currently unknown, and the resulting argument with Ron had been the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. They left, leaving Harry to contemplate their momentary breakthrough alone.

As Harry laid on his cot, he contemplated the futility of their efforts and how there weren't that many places Gryffindor's sword could be. Harry had last seen it In Dumbledore's office, not long before Dumbledore himself had been killed. It had been in a glass case. The sword had disappeared sometime between then, and whenever the Ministry raided the place in the summer. There weren't that many people with access, so if none of the Order members had it, and the painting of Phineas Nigellus Black had no real clue, there was only one person who would know, and that was the current Headmaster.

Snape.

Words could not describe how much Harry hated that man, but if he ever saw him, he would sure do his best to try and articulate his feelings. The man hated his father and lusted after his mother twenty years ago, and he still hated Harry because of that, twenty years after the fact. Harry was a reminder of all that. Harry had never met a more petty and spiteful human. And, he killed Dumbledore.

Harry honestly wasn't sure who he hated more, Snape or Voldemort. Prophecy dictated that he would have to face Voldemort sooner or later, but if he saw Snape, he'd probably kill him just on principle.

But from what the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black had said, Snape was clueless about the sword as well. Snape would likely be a dead end in that regards, but it was still worth thinking about. Dumbledore had trusted Snape implicitly, but not so much as to trust him with the knowledge of Voldemort's Horcruxes.

Sighing to himself, Harry clutched at the locket hanging around his neck. As unsavory as it was - the feeling of dread that came with close contact with it - there really was no better spot for the Horcrux. It was of such a vital importance that he could not risk losing it, not until they -or rather, he - had the means to destroy them once and for all.

Harry, realizing he wasn't going to get any rest with so much shit on his mind, pulled one of Dumbledore's books about Horcruxes out of a bag and into his lap, and began to thumb through it, seeing if there was some clue that they had missed. Perhaps some alternative, yet risky, means to destroy them.

It wasn't so much a book as it was a journal. It was written in a time before the printing press, and the handwriting was difficult to read at best. He could distinguish the unknown author's words from Dumbledore's notes in the margins, but there was a lot of heavy theory being written about, and Harry would be lying if he said he understood everything, or even half of everything.

If there was one thing the journal was good for, it was putting him to sleep. He must have looked through that particular journal a dozen times in the last several months, but it never failed to make him drowsy, even with how preoccupied his mind was.

As his eyes were beginning to droop, there was a sudden flash of light from outside his tent. It wasn't lightning, of that Harry was certain. It had looked like spell flare, but it hadn't been close enough for any of the defensive enchantments around his tent to go off.

With the Horcrux still around his neck, Harry got his wand out and poked his head outside the tent, looking for any sign of trouble. He half expected to see Ron and Hermione crawling back to him, and he wasn't sure what he would do if that were the case, but he didn't see them anywhere.

What he did see was a silvery glow in the distance, and as it got closer, he realized that it was a corporeal Patronus., in the form of a doe. Harry did not know anyone with that particular form, but he could not claim to know all of the Order's forms. He didn't know of a single Death Eater who could cast the spell, however, so he didn't feel particularly threatened, but he had thought himself to be in a safe, secure place.

If the Patronus had a message, he would hear it out, and then promptly pack up and leave for a new hiding spot. He couldn't risk getting caught. Perhaps it was someone who was with Ron or Hermione.

Vigilantly, Harry left the tent and walked towards the Patronus. As he got near, the silvery doe bobbed in place and darted away, before stopping in another clearing fifty feet away. Hesitantly and very wary of a trap, he followed it, where it again repeated itself, running to another spot in the distance.

The sun's last light was just leaving the forest, and it was getting dark. The Patronus was quite visible, so it was easy to follow, but he was uneasy walking through the unfamiliar forest, and he was on edge. He was alone, and if he got attacked, he would be in trouble.

Eventually, the silvery Patronus stopped at the edge of a lake, gestured with its head towards the water, and promptly disappeared. Hesitantly, Harry crept forward, wand at the ready. When he got to the edge of the lake, he carefully peered into the depths, only for his eyes to widen when he saw something glinting down on the bottom.

It was the Sword of Godric Gryffindor, the very same one he had just been thinking about. If that wasn't an omen, he didn't know what was.

"Accio sword!" Harry tried, but he was not terribly surprised that it did not stir. It was goblin-made, handcrafted before Hogwarts even existed. It was a powerful magical artifact, and such a simple spell was unlikely to work on it. So, he did what any true Gryffindor would do.

It wasn't a very deep lake, and quickly, Harry was shucking off his clothes. First his shirt, then his shoes and pants were tossed aside, leaving him in his underwear and the locket. He carefully took off his glasses and laid them down on his shirt, along with his wand.

Staring down at the water, Harry gulped. But, he realized there was no use in putting off the inevitable. The sooner he went in, the sooner he could get out.

Jumping in feet first, Harry let out a surprised gasp as he plummeted to the bottom. The water was cold, really cold. Colder than the Black Lake had been during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament.

Within seconds, Harry could feel his body going hypothermic, and his limbs locking up. Regardless, he pushed himself downwards, using his meager swimming abilities to reach the bottom, which couldn't have been more than ten feet. It was more like a pond, rather than an actual lake.

He reached for the hilt of the sword, his fingers already turning blue from the cold. But when he came within a foot of the sword, he suddenly felt himself choking. The chain of the locket was tight against his neck, digging in deeply. He immediately brought his hands up to his neck, trying to get his fingers underneath the chain, all while kicked his feet trying to find the bottom of the lake to push up off of, but he found neither the bottom of the pond, nor purchase on the chain.

It kept strangling him, and he was wasting oxygen as he tried to pull the damn thing off but it was of no avail. A flurry of bubbles left his mouth as he panicked, and he could feel his body going numb and his vision dimming. He knew then that he was going to drown.

Just as he was about to pass out, something splashed into the water near him, and he felt a pair of arms grab hold of him, and a few seconds later, he was laying on his on the ground, coughing up water after the locket had been removed from his neck. He felt a pair of hands on his chest, checking to make sure he wasn't going to die in that moment.

"What were you thinking?" A surprisingly feminine voice asked from beside him. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place it.

Dazed and still spitting up water, Harry turned to get a better look at his savior. His vision without his glasses was quite bad, but he could vaguely see a female with long red hair. "Ginny?" he asked with confusion. "What - what are you doing here?"

"I'm not Ginny," the girl said, laughing slightly. She then deftly bent over and placed his glasses onto his face, resting them perfectly.

He blinked twice with his glasses and watched very carefully as the girl stood back up straight. She had shucked her robes off near where Harry's were, but she was still in her shirt and pants, which were wet and hung very, very tightly to her body.

"No, definitely not Ginny," he said dryly, staring at the girl's chest which had just moments ago been right in front of his face.

A light blush crossed the girl's face as she immediately set about to applying drying charms to both of them. As he was recovering from the ordeal, he couldn't help but stare at the girl. He quickly realized that beyond the red hair, she didn't have any resemblance to Ginny at all, and even then, their hair color wasn't that similar. The traditional Weasley hair color was a reddish-orange that was garrish at times, and clashed with everything. This girl's hair was a deep, luscious red, and when wet, hung down to her waist.

She was also tall, nearly as tall as himself he reckoned, and he had gone through a growth spurt recently. It was also clear that she was quite a bit more developed than Ginny. Ginny had a decent bust, of that Harry was relatively sure, but he wouldn't have ever considered them large. This girl was a different story, as with her wet shirt clinging tightly to her body, he'd rank them firmly above average. Firmly and perkily above average.

Then, there was her face. She was very pretty, but it was her eyes that drew him in. She was squinting slightly, a look he was very familiar with himself, as it was the look of someone without their glasses. But it was her eyes… they were a very familiar green color.

"Who are you?" Harry asked after a moment.

"No guesses for your savior?" she asked, with a questioning gesture. "I know who you are, of course. Harry Potter, Chosen One, The Boy-Who-Lived."

"I've never seen you before," Harry admitted. "You're very pretty, so I would think I'd have noticed you around Hogwarts."

"We've never met," she said, looking away from him. "Mostly, because I'm not from around here. I'm not from this dimension."

"Uh, what?"

"I'm not from this dimension," she repeated. "I'm not exactly sure what Professor Dumbledore did, but he did something with a strange device he had crafted. There was a ball of light, and it suddenly flew into me, knocking me out. The next thing I know, I'm here fishing you out of a pond. I would have thought my alternate self would be smarter than to dive into a pond in the middle of winter with no protection, and while wearing a Horcrux. What were you thinking!"

"I wasn't thinking," Harry admitted. "My thoughts were jumbled and clouded - hey, what do you mean, alternate self?"

"Exactly what it sounds like," she said a bit impatiently. "I am you, from a different dimension. I am Victoria Lily Potter, daughter of James and Lily Potter, Chosen One, The Girl-Who-Lived, and all around badass."

"Ok.." Harry said slowly. "And assuming I believe any of that, which I don't, why exactly are you here?"

"I'm here to help you defeat him. And, apparently, I'm also here to ensure you don't get yourself killed. Good job with that by the way. What exactly were you doing?"

"The Sword of Godric Gryffindor is in the water," Harry said. "I need it to destroy the locket."

"The Sword of - how did that get in - nevermind, I don't think I want to know," Victoria said, shaking her head and walking back over to the edge of the water. She had finished drying the both of them off, mostly, and had shrugged her robes back on, along with her own set of glasses, though hers were actually fashionable.

Harry wasn't sure what to think of her story, or what he thought about the girl herself. On one hand, she was astonishingly pretty… but if she was just him for an alternate dimension, what exactly did that mean? She had seemed familiar at first glance, but as he thought about it, she did sort of look like a mix of himself and the pictures he had of his parents. There was a distinct similarity, but the whole idea of an alternate dimension… that was absurd.

"This… this is crazy," Harry said. "I don't know if I believe you or not, but regardless, I need that sword to destroy this thing."

"That's fine, but this isn't really the place for a discussion of that sort," Victoria said. She then pulled out her wand and pointed it at the water. "Accio sword!"

Nothing happened, just like nothing had happened when he tried it. "That was the first thing I tried as well," Harry said.

"It was worth a try," the girl said, shrugging. Then, she waved her wand in another gesturing, and a long line of rope shot out of the end, sinking down into the lake on her command. The end of it wrapped around the hilt of the sword, and she started pulling the line up, and a few seconds later, the sword popped out of the water and landed at her feet.

Silently, Victoria dispelled the rope and grasped the sword with one hand, examining the make of it. "Huh, pretty cool," she said, peering at the Godric Gryffindor's name emblazoned on the blade.

"I… I never thought of doing that…" Harry said, staring at the red-haired girl in surprise.

"We'll, you just need to think with your head sometimes, not your heart," she said, holding the sword in one hand and helping Harry up off the ground with the other. She was surprisingly strong. "You're a Gryffindor, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Harry said, walking with Victoria's support. While Harry had estimated her to be near his height, standing next to her now, he wouldn't have been shocked to learn that they were exactly the same height. "What house are you?"

"Ravenclaw," she said. "Now, you're going to have to direct me to wherever it is you're staying."

"Not too far," Harry said, stumbling along. "There's a clearing next to an old birch. There's a lot of charms hiding it, but you can be pulled inside by someone who knows where it is."

"Clever piece of work," Victoria said.

"It's kept me alive so far," Harry said. They were getting close. "But Hermione discovered it… I can't take credit. She and Ron both ran away though…"

"Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley?" Victoria asked incredulously. "They're… together, here?"

"I guess," Harry said. "I don't really understand how it happened. They're not your friends from where you came from?"

"They're both Gryffindors, and I'm in Ravenclaw. No, my best friend is Padma Patil."

"Ah," Harry replied. "I took Padma's sister Parvati to the Yule Ball. Nice girl, but I didn't treat her the greatest. Didn't really know anything about girls back then. Still don't, really."

"Boys are clueless about most things," she replied, rolling her eyes. "How much farther?"

"Ten feet, we're right on the border. Hold on to my hand," Harry said. She did so, and the tent popped into view as they crossed over the boundary of the protective charms.

"Not a bad defense you got here," she replied upon seeing the tent pop into view. "I'm guessing there's an expansion charm on the tent?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "The Weasley's acquired it from some bloke at the Ministry for the World Cup, and the bloke didn't want it back, so Hermione asked to borrow it…"

"I see," she said, following Harry inside. The inside was quite a bit larger, but no one would call it luxurious. Most things were still packed away, or easily packable, if they had to quickly move.

"We had been staying at Grimmauld Place, but during one of our escapes, we accidentally apparated Yaxley with us, and he saw the house, so we couldn't stay there any longer. That was several months ago, and we've been on the run ever since, trying to stay one step ahead."

"How long have your friends been gone?" Victoria asked, looking around the inside of the tent.

"Nearly a month," Harry replied, sighing. "I've been trying to not think about it, and I've been trying to figure out where the rest of the Horcruxes are…"

"That's why I am here," Victory said. "I was sent to help you, but first, you should change into something warm. Charms can only do so much."

Harry nodded and began going through his clothes, taking out the cleanest set he had. He only paused to stare as Victoria began to do the same, pulling out her own bag of holding and taking a fresh set of clothes out. He did not expect her to shuck off her robe right there and then, and immediately take off her shirt, revealing many fine inches of pale, smooth skin.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Harry asked.

"I'm changing," she said. "What does it look like?"

"Right… here?"

"Are you prudish?" Victoria asked, turning around to face him. "I am you, and you are me, so what does it matter?" Harry's eyes nearly popped right out of his skull as he saw the incredible body before him, clad in a blue bra that barely seemed able to hold in their goods.

At first, Harry had compared her to Ginny, when Victoria had been in a soaking wet shirt and a pair of pants, but seeing her in just her bra, they couldn't have been more different. Just calling them "large" felt too plain, as if he was doing a disservice. "Amazing" or "daaaamn" would be more adequate adjectives.

And her delicately pale skin… her slender frame… her taut stomach…. Harry was struggling to take her eyes off her, and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be feeling in this situation. If she really was a female version of himself… what would that even be considered? Harry quickly stowed that thought away.

"Something wrong?" she asked, raising one trimmed red eyebrow.

"No, not really…" Harry said. "I just didn't think the female version of myself would be so…"

"So….?"

"So damn hot," Harry sighed, burying his facing in his hands with shame. To his surprise, she laughed, though there was a light blush on her face.

"Don't tell me you're a virgin," she said.

"Um, not as such…" Harry replied, trailing off.

"I see. Let me guess, since I take after my mother, Lily, preferring to spend my time reading, learning magic, and discovering the world I grew up without, you take after your father, James, focusing on quidditch and chasing girls."

"No, that's not it at all," Harry said quickly. He wasn't sure why he was feeling so truthful with this person he just met. He hadn't ever mentioned what he was about to say to Ron or Hermione "I enjoy Quidditch, but I'm rubbish with girls. There's only been one."

"Tell me it wasn't that Ginny girl, your best friend's sister," she implored.

"No, it wasn't her, though it wasn't for her lack of trying," Harry replied.

"Who then?" Victoria asked curiously.

"Luna Lovegood," Harry said.

"Really?" she asked, this time laughing for real.

"Yeah, why? You don't believe me?"

"No, it's not that. It's just that she was my first as well."

Harry stared at her, slightly disbelieving, and in shock, as Victoria nonchalantly finished changing, right in front of him. The shock of her statement didn't stop him from staring at her incredibly fine ass though. He could not believe this was happening to him.

Eventually, Harry regained his voice, but only after he had on a warm, heavy robe and she was sitting down in a chair across from him. "Why are you here?" Harry asked.

"I guess it's story time, then?" Victoria replied, shrugging as she did so. "There's not much to say. Professor Dumbledore and I had been researching ways to defeat Tom Riddle, You-who-who. We learned of his Horcruxes, but we could not discern how many there were, and all attempts at coercing Professor Slughorn, our only lead, into telling us, failed. That's not even to say that what Slughorn knew and what Riddle actually did would be the same, so it left us in a bit of a situation. Our solution was to work around them, so Dumbledore told me of the Deathly Hallows -"

"The what?" Harry asked, confused.

"Dumbledore didn't tell you about them?" She asked.

"No, he died at the end of last year. We had recovered one of the Horcruxes, but when we got back to Hogwarts, it was overrun with Death Eaters. Dumbledore was extremely weakened from bypassing the protections on the Horcrux - it was this Horcrux, actually," Harry said, pointing to the locket. "That, coupled with the curse he was afflicted with from destroying the Horcrux in the Gaunt ring - he was extremely weak. He called for Snape's aid, but when he got there, Snape ended up killing Dumbledore instead."

"Wait, Snape - Snape killed Dumbledore?"

"Yeah, it was awful."

"Fuck. I've always hated that man, and he's always hated me, for no real reason."

"Yeah. He's always held a grudge against me because of a prank my father did on him over twenty years ago… and he showed his true allegiance that night in the Astronomy Tower I will kill him, if I get the opportunity."

"I've always had the urge… but he's always seemed petty and pathetic, rather than malicious."

"So, I take it your Dumbledore is still alive?" Harry asked. "And he told you about these… Deathly Hallows?"

"Alive and kicking," Victoria confirmed. "He's got a bit of an interesting past, you know? Anyways, he told me the story of the Hallows, and how when he was younger, he dreamed of collecting them all, as did his friend at the time, Gellert Grindelwald. The Deathly Hallows were created, in Dumbledore's opinion, by the three Peverell brothers, and they are extremely powerful magical objects."

"Never heard of the Peverells either," Harry admitted

"Extremely old family - a lot of our kind can track our history to one of the Peverell brothers, so there's not much prestige in being related… Anyways, there's three Hallows; the Elder Wand, an extremely powerful wand, the Resurrection Stone, which is said to allow you to bring back the dead, and the Cloak of Invisibility, a cloak that can hide you from everything."

"There's no magic that can bring someone back from death," Harry replied.

"Riddle did it, did he not? It's not normal to exist without a body, yet he did, for fourteen years. Anyways, we only ever located two of the three. The Elder Wand has a recorded history that's been causing bloodshed for centuries - it's also known as the Deathstick or Wand of Destiny."

"I think I've heard of that," Harry commented.

Victoria nodded. "As it turns out, Grindelwald somehow got a hold of it, and when Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald…"

"Wait, are you saying Dumbledore has that wand?"

Victoria nodded again. "Catch on quick, don't you? It's an extremely powerful wand, but it's not infallible, not by itself. Now, as it turns out, Dumbledore had actually possessed two Hallows, at one point in time. There was a span of about ten years when he had both the Wand and the Cloak, but his search for the Resurrection Stone turned up nothing. The Cloak, as it turns out, had been passed down through a family, the direct descendants of Ignotus Peverell, and Dumbledore thought the Resurrection Stone could have a similar story, but the trail runs cold."

"Who has the Cloak then?" Harry asked curiously.

"Why, we do, of course," Victory replied, smirking. "Assuming that Dumbledore returned our father's cloak to you when you came to Hogwarts…"

"Yeah…" Harry said, surprised at the revelation "But…"

"It's awfully good, isn't it?" she said. "Looks brand new, and normal invisibility cloaks don't last more than five or ten years."

Harry frowned. "It's not perfect though. I've been caught at least twice with it -"

"Moody with his eye, and Dumbledore with a spell, right?"

Harry nodded.

"It's like I said. None of the pieces are infallible without the others. Good, but not unbeatable."

"Hm, I see," Harry replied. "So, you never managed to collect them all, then?"

"No," Victoria said. "We've got the Wand and Cloak, but no Stone."

"I wouldn't have the first inkling as to where to even begin looking." Harry said. "Dumbledore and I went over Riddle's history last year, and we ended up uncovering a few Horcruxes, but we only had vague ideas of what the others could be, so I've been out here trying to research how to destroy the one we do have. Basilisk venom is one way as it turns out, and supposedly Gryffindor's sword is imbued with the stuff after I slew the basilisk… you did that as well, right?"

"Yeah," Victoria replied. "We only ever discovered one Horcrux, and that was the diary. We had some ideas, such as Riddle using a bunch of artifacts of the Founders, but the list of known ones is very small. What's the deal with the locket?"

"It's one of Salazar Slytherin's heirlooms, so you're not wrong on that part. It was passed down through the family, but Tom's mother had to sell it off. He located it, and turned it into a Horcrux. The only other one I know if is Hufflepuff's goblet - Dumbledore showed me a memory of the previous owner in possession of it, with records of her dying not shortly after. We have no clue where it is though. As for the other two Founders, we came up short. There's very little left from either of them. The Sword and Sorting Hat are just about it, of Godric's."

"Yeah, we thought of those, but they came up clean, but Dumbledore never said anything about a goblet or locket."

"Could be he didn't know, or didn't know the significance."

"Probably," she said. "That's one of the reasons I'm here though, to learn more information on how to defeat Riddle. Things weren't going so hot, but at least I wasn't living in a tent in the middle of who-knows-where."

"So, you want to compare notes, and the skip off back to your own world?"

"I'm here until we've killed Riddle once and for all. If we can manage that, we'll know we can do it back in my world. But, we had no idea that things were going to be so… grim, here."

"It doesn't sound like things are too different for you. You lost Sirius, and know of the Prophecy, right?"

"Yeah. But now that you've said it, I am concerned about Snape. Dumbledore is still Headmaster though, so I'm not too worried… but still, he's a greasy one."

"That's an understatement if I've ever heard one. Anyways, you have any ideas on where to begin?"

"You should destroy that Horcrux before you do anything else. I'm creeped out just having that thing near me."

"I don't feel safe doing it in the tent. I mean, Dumbledore lost an arm recovering one, and lost his life, recovering the second. Not exactly a good omen.'

"It's okay," Victoria said, putting a hand on Harry's arm. "Dumbledore made sure that I had the means to help in any way I could. Doing it here should be fine, and we're still behind the protections. I recognized at least Protego Totalum."

Victoria reached into her bottomless bag and pulled out a slim, white wand, and held it next to a familiar holly wand, identical to his own.

"That's Dumbledore's wand," Harry said, clearly surprised. "I've seen him use it a hundred times."

"It's also one of the Deathly Hallows," she said, smiling. "The difference between the two wands is night and day… the holly wand is quite powerful in its own right, but it feels like I can do things that just should not be possible with the Elder Wand. We'd do well to make sure you recover this world's one, before Riddle catches wind of it."

"I think Dumbledore was buried with it," Harry replied.

"Then, I recommend we visit his grave after we destroy this. So, if you would do the honors, I will make sure nothing bad happens."

"Do you think something will happen? Like, the memory of Tom Riddle trying to defend itself as with the diary? Do you think he'll notice part of his soul being destroyed?"

"I think he's twisted his soul so much, he likely won't be able to tell. Did you learn how many of them there were?"

"The memory of Slughorn's suggests that there's seven, so that's the assumption we've been working on, If we're wrong, well…"

"Shit. Seven? I mean, I understand the significance… but that's crazy to think of."

"Yeah, he's a monster," Harry said. He stood up from his sitting position and placed the locket onto the table. As he picked up the Sword, he could feel an inky presence at the back of his mind. Staring at the locket, he saw what looking to be a shadowy form emerging, eyes glowing red with malice, reaching towards him. It whispered into the deepest recesses of his mind, urging him to…

"Strike!" Victoria shouted. "Strike it now!"

The voice slithered through his mind, nibbling at his self-conscious, but with a roar, Harry lifted the sword up, and swung it at the locket at the table. He swung true, and the blade dug in deep, nearly cleaving the table in half, along with the locket.

There was a sudden piercing howl as the two sundered pieces of the locket bounced away and lay on the ground near his cot, where they began to melt into a puddle of inky goop, the destructive magic of the Horcrux unraveling in on itself.

"That was… scary," Harry said, breathing heavily and dropping the sword onto the ground.

Victoria rushed over to Harry and brought him into a tight hug, much to his embarrassment. "You really are a Gryffindor, aren't you? Well done!"