Countless ideas were proposed and shot down just as quickly, the most prominent being:
"We can round up as much of his old inner circle as we can and strip them of their wands. We can also use some spiky shackles for good measure; they'll be defenceless. Then, we simply have to deliver a message to Voldemort about the place and time, and voilà, the madman will come. His pride won't be able to take it. Harry Potter, threatening to kill his followers if he doesn't comply? Do you know how angry he'll be? It'd work like a charm."
However, after pondering the idea a bit, a few glaring issues emerged. First and foremost, gathering more than a few of Voldemort's former followers would be nearly impossible without alerting him, and there was no guarantee he would actually care about their fate. Secondly, it wouldn't be very easy to kidnap lots of prominent members of society. Then, there was the issue of Azkaban, as a lot of the important Death Eaters were currently there. Last but not least, threatening to harm hostages could backfire spectacularly.
"Well… There's just one option left then," Harry said quietly, breaking the silence. It had been more than half an hour since the last time someone proposed an idea.
Sirius and Fleur looked up, their confusion as clear as the night outside.
"What are you talking about?" the older man asked.
Harry got up from his seat and slowly stretched his body, which aggravated his two companions; they were waiting to hear what he was going to say.
"Harry?" Fleur said.
"Mhm."
Sparkling green eyes found blue and grey in turn, any hint of the previous drowsiness gone.
"We'll have to use his horcruxes."
For a moment, no one moved. However, a second passed and—
"What do you mean we are going to use his horcruxes?" Sirius said, outraged, and stood up. "Are you mental? What if he manages to grab a horcrux and leave, huh? What then? Now that we can finally make him mortal, you want to throw all of our work out the window?"
Harry didn't answer and waited for Fleur to say her piece as well. Surprisingly, though, she didn't.
Fleur nodded weakly. "I think Harry's idea has merit," she said at Sirius' betrayed look; he looked as if someone had kicked his puppy, and then proceeded to steal it.
"If we can't think of anything else, I say we come up with a way to use the horcruxes," she added.
With that, the matter was sealed.
They had a plan.
As one could guess, what followed after that was just more research and planning.
Harry went abroad with Fleur, searching for any mention of soul magic, and more specifically, about horcruxes.
They went to Egypt, raiding ancient pyramids of long-since deceased pharaohs and painstakingly translating any written entries they found.
In one of Fleur's solo outings, she stumbled on the oldest Weasley child, Bill, who thankfully didn't recognise her, but still kept talking to her until the sun went down.
Needless to say, Harry wasn't impressed and wanted to exchange a word with the old redhead, but refrained from doing so.
Alas, their month-long trip to Egypt, while nice, told them nothing new about horcruxes. If there were any mentions of the magick, they were either already found or hidden somewhere they didn't look.
Their next destination was Greece, and unlike Egypt, they found something…
They were a week in Thessaloniki, the second biggest city in the country, when Harry noticed something peculiar.
He was with Fleur along the port of the city when something entered his senses.
At that point, they had reached the White Tower, and it was pure luck that Harry sensed the wards underneath them; the magic was barely inside sensing range.
"Hold on. I think I found something!"
Like clockwork, Fleur grabbed his hand, and after making sure no one was looking at them, Harry flashed them away.
They had discovered an ancient catacomb which housed dead magicals.
"Whoa," Fleur muttered in awe.
The catacomb opened before them like the belly of the earth itself.
The chamber was vast, stretched far beyond what should have been possible. Towering marble columns—each carved with an intricate statue of a god—lined the hall in symmetrical perfection.
At the centre of the mausoleum lay a magnificent stone dais, raised above the rest of the chamber.
Upon it rested a sarcophagus of white marble, its lid inlaid with veins of gold that shimmered under the faint blue light cast by floating orbs of magic. The carvings upon it depicted the journey of a soul—from the living world, through the River Styx, to the judgment of Hades.
The walls were decorated with mosaics of breathtaking artistry—battles between gods and titans, the forging of Olympus, and mortals kneeling before figures of impossible beauty and dread.
Harry couldn't help but feel small in the grandness surrounding him.
Last but not least, at the far end of the chamber, stood a massive stone archway that looked so ancient, cracked and crumbling that it seemed amazing that it was still standing. The archway was hung with a tattered black curtain, gently fluttering and swaying very slightly as though it had just been touched.
At its centre was a depiction of Thanatos, the Greek personification of death, wings spread wide and gaze solemn.
Harry felt as if he was being watched, and for a moment, he thought he saw a terrible eye, deep as the void itself, sucking all there was and is.
He gasped.
"What's wrong?" Fleur asked, immediately alarmed, and looking around; her wand was drawn.
"C-Can't you see him?"
Fleur looked in the direction Harry was pointing.
"Harry? What are you talking about? There's no one there," she said, more than a little anxious.
She knew that Harry could see stuff—magic—that she couldn't, but…
He shook his head, "He's gone, now. Don't worry."
Unsurprisingly, that had the opposite effect, and Fleur stuck to Harry like glue.
However, there were no more incidents following the first as the couple looked around.
They didn't find much on the first day, and after going home, they communicated with Sirius, who arrived the following morning.
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Chapter 131: It's Finally Over