Ron received two letters before the first lesson.
One was from his mother. The other was from Ginny, who had used enough ink to suggest that the quill had offended her.
He opened hers first.
Percy waited beside the common-room fire while Ron read. Harry stood by the window. Hermione had promised not to ask a question until Ron reached the end, and was keeping that promise with visible difficulty.
"She has not been given a diary," Ron said.
He looked at the page again.
"She has been given a book about garden fairies. She wants to know whether that is suspicious too."
"Depends on the fairies," Percy said.
Ron passed him the letter. Ginny had added a drawing of a creature biting a gardener. It looked unpleasantly proud of itself.
The picture made Percy laugh. Then he read the first part of the letter again. The diary had not reached her.
Something he remembered had not happened.
He gave the page back before relief could turn into a claim that the rest would be easy.
Molly's letter was shorter. She had spoken with Dumbledore and checked the books in the house. Arthur would follow the Ministry inquiry with Dorridge. Ron could stop worrying about his sister long enough to attend class.
"She knows me," Ron said.
"That must be inconvenient," Harry answered.
Ron folded both letters and put them away. He did not look toward Percy until they reached the door.
"Thank you for helping write it."
"I should have helped sooner."
"Yes."
Ron walked on. Percy followed, carrying the answer without trying to improve it.
The locket was to be destroyed that afternoon.
McGonagall told them after lunch, in the classroom where they had been doing their recovery work. Marsh had reviewed the readings. She had found no reason to bring Harry near the object and no evidence that damaging it would transfer damage to him.
"You may stay here or go to your next lesson," she told Harry. "Madam Pomfrey is available if you want company during the operation."
Harry looked at the report in her hand.
"I want to know when it begins and when it ends."
"I will tell you."
"Then I will go to the lesson."
Percy glanced at him. Harry had made the choice quickly, but his fingers were pressing into his bag strap.
"With us?" Ron asked.
"Unless you plan to skip Herbology."
"I had several plans."
Hermione took the report copy from McGonagall. "They can wait."
The four of them went outside.
Near the steps, Harry stopped to tie his shoe. Percy waited without looking at the watch he did not have. He could feel water beneath the lawn, moving toward the lake in small ordinary channels.
For days, every new movement had seemed to concern him. Today the water kept moving while someone else worked on the cursed object.
He wanted to help and had no useful task at the canal building. So he held Harry's bag while Harry finished with the knot.
They reached the greenhouse late.
Sprout had them transplant seedlings with roots that disliked being handled. Neville demonstrated how to support the stem while loosening the soil. Ron tried to hurry and received a face full of leaves.
"That is what I meant," Neville said.
"You could have been more specific about the violence."
Percy worked beside Harry. Neither of them spoke much for the first few minutes. Harry loosened the soil too carefully, and Percy kept checking his friend's face instead of his own plant.
A root wrapped around Percy's wrist.
He looked down.
"We have not been introduced."
Neville reached over and showed him where to lift. The root released Percy with a small snap.
"It does that if you leave it halfway out."
"Excellent. Even the plants object to indecision."
Harry laughed, then bent over his seedling. Percy returned to his own pot.
At the canal building, Dumbledore stood beyond the inner enclosure while Flitwick checked the glass cover one last time.
The locket lay on a stone tray. Its chain had been stretched out beside it, with the clasp secured so it could not close around a tool. No one had worn the object.
The team had worked through the morning with an empty tray and a plain gold sample. They had checked the lifting tools, the cover, and the means of removing the waste. Now the actual locket waited under the same clear barrier.
Dorridge watched from the door with two examiners. Snape stood beside the venom apparatus. A second specialist checked the seal on the small container before allowing him to use it.
Dumbledore kept the photograph in his pocket. He had already written to the school. The next message would report the result.
The first examiner said the locket had begun producing voices again.
Only the nearest observation instrument registered them. No human ear was beside it.
Snape made the final adjustment from behind the shield.
A fine steel point lowered toward the hinge. A measured amount of venom followed it through the closed apparatus.
The locket opened before the point reached it.
Green light struck the inside of the glass cover. The chain rose in a tight curve and pulled at the securing clips. One clip bent, but the second held.
Flitwick called the change in the readings. The operators kept the cover closed.
The point entered the open seam.
The green light turned white. Something inside the locket struck the cover hard enough to make the outer frame shake.
Dumbledore raised his wand toward the frame. He steadied the barrier while Snape kept the apparatus in position.
A dark shape formed above the open metal. It reached toward the nearest tool, then broke into thin strands. The point remained inside the seam until the strands stopped moving.
No one stepped forward.
The locket fell flat on the tray. Its chain dropped beside it. A small section had separated near the clasp.
Flitwick waited for the readings to settle. Then he repeated the observation through a second instrument.
The dark knot was gone.
An examiner tested the chain's remaining repair charm. It did not respond. The venom had damaged the vessel beyond the enchantment's ability to restore it.
Dorridge recorded the time.
Dumbledore asked for the longer observation before sending the result. He would not make Harry wait without news. He would also not call an object harmless because it had stopped shouting.
In the greenhouse, Harry finished his last pot and set it beside Percy's.
"I keep expecting to feel it," he said.
Percy looked at him.
"The locket?"
"Something. A change. The scar hurting because someone touched one of the pieces."
"Does it hurt now?"
"No."
Harry took off one glove. There was soil on his thumb, caught beneath the nail.
"I almost wish that answered something."
Percy understood. Harry could leave the operation to the people equipped to do it and still want to know whether it worked.
"We can ask Pomfrey to check after class," he said. "You do not have to wait for pain to count as news."
Harry pulled the glove back on.
"Come with me?"
"Yes."
Sprout checked their row of pots. She adjusted one crooked label, then told them they had done good work.
Ron looked at the leaf marks on his cheek.
"Some of us worked harder than others."
"Some of you argued with the plant," Sprout said.
"It started."
They washed their hands at the outside tap. Percy let the water run normally. Hermione made Ron scrub the dirt from his face before he could claim that the mark was permanent.
McGonagall met them on the path.
Harry stopped first.
"It is destroyed," she said. "The team has completed the first examination. There will be a final check overnight."
He looked at her face as if he might find a hidden qualification there.
"The soul piece?"
"The anchor pattern ended. The vessel has not repaired itself. Dumbledore sent the signed observations."
Harry let go of his bag strap.
Percy did not speak. Ron stood close enough that their shoulders touched.
"One," Harry said at last.
McGonagall nodded.
"One confirmed object destroyed. The other inquiries continue."
Harry took the folded report. His hand shook while he opened it, but it stayed his hand. He read the final page and looked up.
"I still feel the same."
"Madam Pomfrey can record that," McGonagall said.
They went to the hospital wing. The examination took less time than Ron spent arguing that sitting on an unused bed should not require permission.
Harry reported no new pain, no voice, and no change in the feeling at his scar. Pomfrey checked what Marsh had requested and let him return to dinner.
She also told Percy to stop leaning over Harry's shoulder while she wrote.
"I was reading the clock."
"It is above my head, Mr. Jackson."
"I have poor timing."
Ron made a choking sound into his sleeve.
At dinner, Harry unfolded the confirmed list. He put a line through the locket entry and wrote the date beside it.
Hermione offered to make a cleaner copy.
He shook his head.
"This one is fine."
Percy looked at the crossed-out word. The page was creased where Harry had folded it. A spot of greenhouse water had reached one corner.
It looked like something a student carried through a school day. Percy liked that more than the careful version on Dorridge's desk.
Later, Dumbledore returned with the remains sealed inside a plain evidence container. He did not bring them into the common room. McGonagall showed the four friends a photograph instead.
The chain stayed broken. The two halves of the locket lay apart on the tray.
Harry asked whether anything had tried to repair itself since the first report. She said no.
Ron studied the photograph.
"Expensive rubbish," he said.
"Dangerous waste," Hermione corrected.
"Still rubbish."
Harry smiled. He gave the photograph back and stood up.
"I am going to bed."
Ron checked the common-room clock.
"Voluntarily?"
"Try it sometime."
Percy followed Harry toward the dormitory. Halfway up, Harry stopped beside the narrow window.
"I wanted him to feel it," he said.
Percy waited.
"Voldemort. I wanted him to know we broke something he could not keep."
"He may know when the guards tell him."
"I know."
Harry looked down at the grounds. A light moved near Hagrid's hut. The lake was dark beyond it.
"But I do not want him in my head to prove it."
Percy leaned against the opposite wall.
"Then we let someone else deliver the bad news."
Harry nodded and continued upstairs.
Percy found the other sock beneath his own bed that night. He had apparently collected the common one as well.
He placed it on Harry's trunk without waking him. Harry's list lay beside his glasses, open at the crossed-out locket.
Percy shut the curtain around his own bed and slept before Ron finished explaining his newest theory about enchanted laundry.
A/N: I may be abit biased against Ronald Weasley :3
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How many of yall are in school? And what are your grades? I just wanna know. Also, I HATE EXAMS RAHHH. I have another exam tomorrow, so i'm gonna spend the next 5 hours revising. Byeee!!!
[SHAMELESS PLUG]
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