Chapter 2: The Plan, the Prophecy, and the Horcruxes
Kim barely had time to marvel at the fact that she’d just traveled miles in only a matter of seconds before Ron was leading them up a path to the tall house. Once they reached it, Ron knocked on the door several times. The door opened a crack.
“Who is it?” said a woman’s voice quietly. Ron rolled his eyes, and Harry said “Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and-“
“Harry, what form does your Patronus take?” the women asked, still quietly, as though she feared someone would hear her. As far as Kim knew, however, the area surrounding the house was completely deserted.
“A stag,” Harry said patiently. The door opened wider as the woman, who had the same color hair as Ron but looked much older let them in.
Kim turned to Ron and asked, “What was that about, anyway? Isn’t this your house? And what’s a Patronus?” Ron didn’t answer, but just gestured for her to come closer inside.
As Kim walked inside the house, she looked around. Her eyes found a clock which, upon closer examination, didn’t seem to have any numbers on it, but had several hands, all pointing at the words “Mortal Peril”. There were other words where the numbers of a regular clock should’ve been, including “Traveling”, “School”, “Home”, and “Work”. Kim took in the rest of the room, which had no TV but a fireplace, and an entrance to the kitchen.
“Who’s that?” a voice suddenly asked. Kim turned around to see a girl, also with very red hair, standing on the landing leading to a staircase. She was staring at Kim with her eyes narrowed slightly.
“Mum hasn’t noticed her yet…I’ll explain in the kitchen. Come on,” Ron told her, and everyone followed him into the kitchen.
Kim was surprised at how much like a normal person’s kitchen this one was. The woman who had let them in earlier, and whom Kim assumed was Ron’s mother, was cooking something on the stove. Sitting at the table were two people; one was a young looking woman with short pink hair and a pale, heart-shaped face. The other was a thin man with graying hair and shabby robes, who was reading a newspaper.
“Mum, Ron brought home a stranger,” the red haired girl said loudly, sitting down. Everyone except Ron’s mother looked around. “He’s about to explain why, and I want to hear this one.” Ron looked annoyed as he sat down.
“Mrs. Weasley, the stranger is a Muggle,” Harry said quietly, sitting down next to the red haired girl. Mrs.Weasley stopped what she was doing at looked around at Kim, who had taken a seat next to Ron. Her eyes flashed dangerously as she (Mrs.Weasley) sat down and said, “You know what, I’d like to hear for myself why you brought a Muggle home.”
Everyone’s eyes were now on Ron, who looked pale and nervous as he said, “Well, Harry had an idea-a good one-about this Muggle. Her name’s Kim Possible, and she apparently fights bad guys without magic. Well…Harry, you tell them.”
“Voldemort would never expect us to use a Muggle,” Harry explained, “which is why we told her about the wizarding world, and our situation.”
“Couldn’t you have brought her here without telling her, so we could consider this?” Mrs.Weasley asked tensely. “The Order would’ve liked to know of any plans.”
“Well,” said Ron weakly, “now you know.” The red haired girl laughed, and Ron added furiously “Shut up, Ginny! It’s not funny!” The girl stopped.
“We didn’t think,” Hermione said apologetically. “I’m really sorry, Mrs.Weasley, but it was…well, a quick decision….And she would’ve wondered why we were taking her somewhere…But it is a good idea, because Voldemort would never think to look for a Muggle helping us. He hates Muggles, so of course he’d overlook them. Right? Kim could be a real asset to our mission, kind of like a secret weapon.”
The whole table went quiet. Mrs.Weasley seemed to be considering what to do about the situation. Everyone one else went quiet. Then-
“I guess I have no choice but to let you lot go on ahead with your plan,” said Mrs.Weasley slowly. “After all, she already knows a lot, maybe even too much. Let’s make a round of introductions, then I’ll contact the rest of the Order. Harry, you’ll tell me the plan while I’m doing that. Then I should continue making dinner…”
The girl called Ginny leaned forward and shook Kim’s hand while saying, “I’m Ginny Weasley, Ron’s sister. You look about my age. I’m sixteen.”
“I’m seventeen,” Kim said, “but it’s only a year’s difference.
The young woman with pink hair also shook Kim’s hand and introduced herself. “I’m Nymphadora Tonks, but please don’t call me that. I prefer to be known as Tonks, because my first name is stupid.”
“It’s not stupid, just unique,” said the thin man with graying hair. He added, “My name is Remus Lupin. Glad to meet you,” while shaking Kim’s hand.
The last person to introduce themselves was Mrs.Weasley, though Kim already knew who she was from the previous conversation. Afterwards, Mrs. Weasley took parchment and a quill from a draw and beckoned Harry to sit down at her side. Ginny whispered “In the living room,” and Kim, Ron, and Hermione followed her out of the kitchen.
Everyone except for Ginny sat on the couch across from the fireplace. Ginny was sitting on the floor, and had started stroking a large ginger cat.
Kim, feeling awkward, decided to break the silence. “So…Hermione, you told me that Harry had to defeat Voldemort. But why him?”
“Oh, well, it might be better for Harry himself to tell you,” Hermione said hesitantly, looking Harry’s way.
“Why? Is it bad?”
“Not really bad,” said Ginny. “It’s complicated, and there’s a long, long story behind it that has to do with Harry’s parents. You might not understand…”
“Try me,” said Kim, who felt that she should know. She was, after all, now part of their plan.
“Okay,” said Harry. “I’ll try to explain this as well as I can. There was a dark wizard named Voldemort, whose real name is Tom Riddle, who hated his dad for leaving his mum and for leaving him an orphan. His dad was a Muggle. Voldemort had made it his…erm…life’s work to get rid of all of the Muggle born witches and wizards, and some Muggles. You see, he wants to purify the wizarding race.
“Well, when my dad had gotten out of school he and my mum got married and had me. Well, one of Voldemort’s Death Eaters-that’s what he calls his followers-overheard a prophecy stating that the person who had the power to defeat him would be born at the end of July to parents who had already defied him twice, and my parents had. Dumbledore, the wizard I told you about earlier, found out and told my parents to go into hiding. They were going to use their best friend (and my godfather), Sirius Black, to be their Secret Keeper. Voldemort wouldn’t be able to find their house unless the Secret Keeper told them, because of a spell. Well, Sirius knew that Voldemort knew he was my dad’s best friend, so he switched to my dad’s other friend Peter Pettigrew. But no one knew Pettigrew was a spy for Voldemort, so he told them, and, well….He killed my parents and used the Killing curse on me.”
“But you’re not dead,” Kim said, feeling horrified by Harry’s story.
“He was the only one to ever survive the curse,” said Ginny quietly. “That’s why he’s got that scar. The curse rebounded on You-Know-Who, who lost his powers. But a few years ago Pettigrew helped him get back to his own body. To get his powers back. And now…”
“There was another part of the prophecy that stated that neither of us could live while the other survives. Which means that I’ll have to kill Voldemort, or he’ll have to kill me,” Harry finished.
Kim stared. “So, what happened to Peter Pettigrew?”
“He was never caught for the crime of betraying Harry’s parents,” Hermione said bitterly. “Well, not by the authorities anyway. Sirius and Lupin tried, but he got away.”
“What happened to Sirius Black?”
“He died fighting the Death Eaters,” Harry said shortly, and Kim had the impression that Harry didn’t want to talk about that particular subject anymore.
“So we need to…kill him?” Kim asked. “But why is it so hard? Can’t you use the killing curse?”
“If only it was that easy,” Hermione said sadly.
“You-Know-Who’s very powerful, and the killing curse is hard to cast. None of us have done it; we wouldn’t like to. And You-Know-Who is good at it, so…” said Ron.
“But why-?” Kim started, but she was interrupted.
“It has to do,” Harry said quietly, “with something called a Horcrux. Voldemort has separated his soul into seven pieces so that if his body was killed, he would still be, technically, alive. The pieces of his soul are hidden, and guarded. So far we have 3 to find, and one that I’m pretty sure was destroyed. Well, that’s what R.A.B.’s letter said when I found it.” His voice sounded particularly bitter when he said the last sentence.
“So we have to destroy these Horcruxes?”
“Right, but it won’t be easy-Voldemort’s guarded them with heavy magic that could probably kill. So, I’m asking you again, because you might’ve reconsidered, are you going to help us?”
Kim though. Harry’s task that he and his friends needed to accomplish seemed near impossible, and it looked as though they needed all the help they could get. Kim knew she’d want help if she had been in the same situation. She faced Harry, her face set, and answered:
“I’m in. Let’s go mission mode.”
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