Blindness

Chapter 17: Like A Silver Kneazle

Harry took them from the memory; he stepped away from Hermione, raising a hand to his forehead, as if he could feel the poison that must be there.

"We just take it out." Her voice was calm. "Right? Just like with the Locket."

He ran his hand over his head to his neck and back, feeling the hair, the skin, the hard bone underneath both.

And underneath that there would rest broken red taint. Another soul, another pattern, attached to his own like a tick, waiting to come alive.

"I have to see it to manipulate it." Harry said dully, one downside to his pattern transfiguration made horribly clear. "To remove it. Kill it. I've always had to see objects to change their pattern."

"B-but..." Hermione's stutter came back and was overcome with a harsh swallow. "But Dumbledore destroyed several, you told me so..."

"With Fiendfyre." Harry knew his voice was harsh, but his thoughts were also harsh. "He thought they could only be destroyed with the destruction of the vessel they possessed."

"It hasn't hurt you yet." Her voice was desperate. "It hasn't affected you!"

"How would I know if I've had it for years?" He returned. "Since I was an infant?"

"You don't know how you got it." She was angry now. "We have time to figure this out. We'll remove it, Harry, and no nonsense about destroying vessels. There has to be a way to create a mirror you can actually see. Then we'll kill it. You can do anything if you only work out how."

Harry's head fell to his chest, eyes on the green floor under his feet. He twisted the ring on his finger, its metal warm from his skin.

There was some things even he couldn't do.

But that sure as hell didn't mean he wasn't going to try anyway.

He looked back up at her and lifted his chin.

"You're right. It hasn't caused me any harm at this point that I can tell. We can monitor any growth or abnormal activity through memories in the pensieve. This is just like any other impossibility magic has presented us with. Dumbledore called it a horcrux; we need to find all we can about them."

Hermione grasped his hand hard in hers, light jerking in a firm nod.

"Exactly. We have our problem, now we research, make hypotheses, and test them until we find what works. And we'll do it again and again until you're free."

"I know the scientific method by heart." Harry said softly, and let a small smile twist his mouth. "You don't have to remind me."

Hermione sniffed, but he could feel her relief at his subtle dig with the way she relaxed her rigid stance and leaned into him.

"Alright, then. Okay." Her voice was slightly lost. "I, um, really liked the dragon."

Harry pulled her warm light closer, breathing in her scent.

"Me too."

He couldn't let himself despair; he had Hermione, and they had broken the former rules of magic countless times. There would be more than one way to remove a horcrux; and he would find that way and do it. He was a scientist; he gathered information and used it to solve problems.

That's all this was, another problem.

Harry rested his head against Hermione's hair, looking out over the light of Grimmauld Place.

No matter how long it takes.

-O-O-

The rest of the day was spent going through Harry's memories, select scenes picked from his life, each one spent hand-in-hand as they observed Harry's light and the red stain upon it.