[ EU ] Harry Potter is the not the seventh horcrux . The Potter 's cat Bill is the horcrux .

The sun shone brilliantly across the ceiling of the Great Hall, in the moments after Harry's shocking defeat of Voldemort. The Hall was silent. Not one person moved. And then suddenly, a stir. 
 
 From the cooling body of Tom Riddle rose a dark specter. Less than vapor but more than shadow, it wailed angrily and rushed towards Harry. 
 
 
 `` You foolish boy, even with the power of Death you can not stop me!'' His voice carried through the hall, sibilant and terrible all at once. 
 
 
 Feeling as though his heart was in his stomach, Harry could do no more than stare in dismay at the evil shadow moving towards him. It changed course suddenly, heading towards a hole in the battlements of the castle, leading out to the grounds. 
 
 
 The Boy-Who-Lived pointed the Elder Wand at the fleeing Dark Lord's remnants and cast silently. *'' Vestigo! `` * A sudden tug on his magic directed him towards the insubstantial evil, the tracking charm ensuring his ability to find Voldemort later on. 
 
 
 It was with a broken heart that the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army clustered together in the antechamber off of the Great Hall. The group turned wordlessly to Harry, as silence reigned. 
 
 
 ``... well what the bloody fuck do we do now?'' 
 
 
 The profanity of the statement shocked Harry out of his morose state, even more so when he realized that Hermione had been the one to utter the sentence. A grim smile crossed his features. 
 
 
 `` I'm going to follow Voldemort to wherever he's going. If I'm right, he should be trying to merge with whichever horc- err, evil thingy we missed.'' Harry paced away from the group to stare up at the sunlit sky. `` If I can catch him before he joins with it then I can dispatch of both at the same time.'' Before anyone could protest the plan of action, Harry twisted on the spot, unknowingly apparating straight through Hogwarts's wards in the direction his magic was pulling him. 
 
.................. 
 
 Wales. Cardiff, to be specific. Harry stood once again in Godric's Hollow. His magic had followed Voldemort's surprisingly rapid flight and recognized the area they were travelling to, depositing him in a portion he was familiar with. 
 
 
 Ignoring the few muggles staring openly at him, Harry waved his new wand, not bothering with an incantation, only willing himself to not be seen. The attention of the local populace dwindled quickly after that. He strode quickly through the graveyard his parents rested in, beyond the church to where a woodsy area sprawled across the terrain, dense with trees and shrubbery. 
 
 
 His wand flat in his palm, Harry whispered, `` Point-Me Voldemort's soul''. A moment of hesitation where the knobbed wand wobbled, and Harry was about to curse his stupidity, when suddenly the wand tilted to his right, off to the East. Harry grinned darkly as his hunt began. 
 
 
 Upon reaching a cluster of trees somehow more sinister than the rest of the cheery wood, hissing and spitting noises became audible all-around in a cacophony of noise. Harry slowed, his own magic buzzing with the familiar feeling of the Dark Lord. 
 
 
 `` I know you're here Tom. Might as well come out.'' 
 
 
 The taunt served its purpose, as glowing red eyes made themselves visible in the shadows of the clearing. Then another pair of eyes, gleaming yellow, faded into sight. Then another pair, green. And another, in orange. 
 
 
 Bewildered and more than a little afraid, Harry held steady his wand before him, his voice deceptively calm. 
 
 
 `` You're weak now Tom. Just give it up. It'll be over quickly.'' He smiled wryly, `` Trust me, I've been there.'' 
 
 
 The eyes all moved forward at once, the shadows melting away to reveal... seven different cats. The largest, a tom with dark fur and an oddly flat nose, hissed malevolently at the last Potter. 
 
 
 Harry stared, his suspicions that the cat was not only a horcrux, but more, as the sense of familiarity changed, increasing to something oddly familial. *'' Anima revelio,'' * he intoned, checking to see whether there was indeed a soul in the cat. The tom glowed a bright blue, the standard marker for a wizard's soul, but there was a tinge of red, which was standard for an animal. It became clear that the cats were readying to attack when a loud crack split the air before him, literally. 
 
 
 Minerva McGonagall stood before the Man-Who-Almost-Conquered, nostrils flared and lips pressed so thin as to be nearly invisible. Both the large red-eyed tom and Harry instinctively stepped back in fright. 
 
 
 `` Dunnae ye ever jus' skip out on your loved ones like that again. Or ye will be answerin' ta me.'' She was clearly livid, as her Brogue was nearly incomprehensible. She turned to the cats, and started at Harry's sudden laughter. 
 
 
 Between breaths he gasped out, `` He really *can't* get away from the name Tom.'' The transfigurations mistress merely raised an eyebrow at him before turning to study the cat more closely. A startled gasp escaped her after a moment. 
 
 
 `` Harry, if I am remembering correctly, this cat looks unnervingly like the tom, Bill, that your mother bought when she graduated.'' She waved her wand over the cats, immobilizing them. `` This is a standard identifying charm, to see who the cat belongs to.'' 
 
 
 With another wave, a small crest floated into the air, the name Potter unfurling itself in flames and disappearing just as quickly. 
 
 
 Harry watched the cat with wary eyes. This was beyond even his standard of acceptable abnormality. It was clear that the horcrux cat had built up its own Inner Circle of Death Eaters, except for the fact that they were cats. With wide eyes he noticed a scar on the cat's back, a jagged lightning bolt like his own, but encompassed by a runic protective circle. 
 
 
 McGonagall chuckled to herself, `` I knew Lily loved her cat more than you. She only gave you a single protective rune. The cat has an entire circle of them.'' 
 
 
 Dismayed, Harry turned back to the cat with his wand raised. A wave of his hand pushed his old professor behind him, and without a second thought billowing black and purple flames erupted from the wand, power coursing through his body and out into the cats before him. He felt the shockwave of disruptive magic as the protective circle overloaded and the cat exploded into ashes, the soul of Voldemort shrieking before its ultimate demise. 
 
 
 The two magicians breathed a sigh of relief, turning to eye each other carefully. 
 
 
 `` Not. One. Word.'' Harry ground out upon viewing the Headmistress's mirth. She merely raised an eyebrow at him. 
 
 
........... 
 
 
 `` So I apparate to Godric's Hollow, yeah? And there in the forest he's taken on a corporeal form. I donno how. But I just knew what I needed to do. I did n't cast any specific spell, it just came to me as I needed it.'' Harry was officially drunk. 
 
 
 Hermione watched him skeptically over her tankard, her hair more frazzled than usual and her upright posture slouched. `` But, wait, no, that, no, ugh. Merlin, Harry, there're rules'bout this sorta epic showdown thing,'' she burped, her words slurring together. `` Ya hafta, hafta get super-awesome and magical, like, like, like Dumbledore or Gandalf and then when you take down the bad guy you whoosh him.'' 
 
 
 Harry grinned stupidly as he took a huge swig, draining his firewhiskey even as steam poured out his nose and ears. `` That's the thing, I whooshed him. I whooshed him good.'' 
 
 
 `` So what was the final whore's cross?'' Ron giggled to himself at the now-old joke. He took the opportunity to say it as often as possible. 
 
 
 Harry rolled his eyes in response and immediately regretted it, as the room continued spinning after his eyes stopped. `` Er, urgh, um, the last thing? Yeah, uh...'' he stalled, trying to figure out if he could lie about it. 
 
 
 `` Ah what the hell, the bloody soul was in the old Potter cat.'' 
 
 
 Hermione stared at him in horror. 
 
 
 `` YOU-!'' she cut herself off with a wince, holding her head in pain. `` Ugh, you killed a cat?'' Her voice held tones of betrayal, shock, and arousal. Harry turned green as he identified the last one. He turned greener upon remembering why he could identify the last one. 
 
 
 `` I had no choice,'' he replied solemnly. 
 
 
 Ron stared at Harry wide-eyed for a few minutes. `` Bloody buggering shite Harry.'' 
 
 
 `` What now Ron?'' 
 
 
 `` If you were n't the horcrux, then how in Merlin's pants did you get up from another killing curse.'' 
 
 
 The trio stared at each other in shock. Disquiet grew in Harry. 
 
 
 `` Blimey mate, you must be fuckin' immune to'em or somfin','' Ron grinned holding up his drink. 
 
 
 Hermione nursed her drink in a brooding, angry manner. 
 
 
 `` You still killed a cat.''
