Chapter Three

No one mentioned anything about Horcruxes or Voldemort for the next couple of weeks; at least, not to Remus. Sirius and James had a brief conversation after Remus's outburst and decided it was best not to pester him in case he did go to Dumbledore, as unlikely as that was. All the same, Sirius was about to burst with holding it all in when Remus came into the common room late one afternoon, a large book clutched to his chest, and said: "I have an idea."

It didn't take long for Sirius to find James and Peter, though it did help that he was still the one with the map. Before long they were all gathered together in the Dormitory, sitting on James's bed with the curtains drawn and the usual charms set up for privacy while Sirius annoyed them all by bouncing where he sat.

"So, what is it?" Sirius asked.

"I had an idea what He might have used for his Horcruxes," Remus said, his fingers moving across the faded cover of the book in his lap. "I was reading Hogwarts, A History-"

"Ah, that's why none of us found anything," Sirius interrupted with a grin. Even in his eagerness to find out what Remus had discovered he couldn't help but get a dig in. "You're the only one who'd bother to reread a book we were assigned in first year."

"Not that you even read it then," Remus retorted, frowning.

"Shut up, Padfoot. Let Moony finish." James elbowed Sirius into silence before he could reply.

"Well," now Remus had almost lost track of what he was saying, but he was far more relaxed than he had been a few minutes prior. "Well, I was thinking, because Slughorn did say that He was always fond of grand gestures, I wondered if He would have chosen objects of great importance, not just to him but to the Wizarding world in general."

"Sounds like a decent assumption," James agreed.

"Thanks. Anyway, it talks about each of the Founders of Hogwarts, in the book, I mean. You know, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff and whatever." Remus placed the book in front of him on the bed and the pages all flew as if in a gust of wind before lying still, displaying a portrait of each of the Founders of Hogwarts. "I was looking at these portraits and I realised each of the Founders has something with them. Gryffindor has his sword, which we know about. Hufflepuff has a golden cup, Slytherin a locket, and Ravenclaw has a little crown thing. I didn't know if they held significance or not, so I went to the library and I asked some students from other Houses, and each of those items is very important to the House, just like the sword. So," here he paused, surprised that no one had interrupted him yet. When he looked up they were all staring at him. "So, uh," he faltered. "Well, I bet Voldemort at least used Slytherin's locket, anyway. And the diadem – that's the crown thing – has been lost for years, and the cup was stolen from its last owner."

"You… are a genius," James said after a few moments of silence.

"It'd be just like Voldemort to have such delusions of importance to think he should store his soul in those items," Sirius added. Remus was a little concerned by how excited Sirius appeared to be, not to mention the flowery language he was using.

"What about the Sword?" Peter asked, and Remus shrugged.

"I don't know. I know that whenever a true Gryffindor is in need of it they can pull it from the sorting hat, but I have no idea whether a Slytherin would be able to get hold of it. Surely it has a corporeal presence somewhere where Voldemort may have been able to steal it from, but I imagine if it did there would have been an uproar at it having been stolen. I don't know."

For some reason, the idea of the Sword of Gryffindor being a Horcrux was more repulsive to all of the boys than any of the other artefacts. Perhaps it was a misguided sense of House pride which made them believe it was impossible, or perhaps there was something more to it; but they ruled it out anyway.

"Well, now we just need to find these things."

"Yeah, well. That's the problem. They're all lost," Remus sighed.

o o o o o

Now that they had direction and something to look for, the Marauders committed themselves to their mission with varying degrees of excitement. All four boys began actively searching the castle whenever they had a chance, though with exams fast approaching those chances were few and far between. They had all agreed that even though it may not be likely that the objects were in the castle (seeing as they wouldn't really be deemed lost if they were hanging around somewhere) they may as well start by looking through Hogwarts or they'd never get anywhere. It was as good a plan as any, so they stuck with it.

Unfortunately, as they were all in Gryffindor, there was no way they could search the other Houses' common rooms or dorms – the most logical places for any of the items they were searching for to be. The invisibility cloak was no help, nor was the map, and they were about to give up entirely when one of them stumbled upon the diadem itself.

James had been actively searching for any of the three items for the last two months, just like the others. He'd opened nearly every door in the damn castle, or at least it felt like it, and had searched more cupboards and desks and drawers than he had realised existed. Nothing. And then one day in early May he was walking down a corridor on the seventh floor, pacing back and forth, wondering whether there even was a Horcrux hidden in Hogwarts and wishing he could find it, when he saw a door he hadn't noticed before. It was a small, non-descript door, right opposite the tapestry depicting the attempt of Barnabas the Barmy to teach trolls ballet; but for some reason James was certain before he even opened it that he was going to find something in the room on the other side. He was right.

The room was full of broken and damaged furniture. Piles of books were stacked on top of chairs and tables and the floor; some open, some closed, dust coating all of them. James stared, open mouthed at the mess. There were cloaks hanging from open drawers, a chipped bust of an ugly warlock with several rusty swords leaning against it; an axe that was stained with what looked like blood, a stuffed troll, piles of jewels and bottles of potions, and more things that James couldn't even name just strewn about the room. In any other place James might have assumed there was an underlying method to the chaos, but even the cursory glance he'd given it on entering told him there wasn't here. The idea of searching all of this by hand was staggering, so he pulled out his wand even though he wasn't all that sure it'd be of any use.

"Accio Horcrux," he tried, but nothing happened. "Uh, Accio locket? Accio cup? Accio diadem?" Nothing. He lowered his wand and stood staring at the mess ahead of him for a few minutes. Either there was nothing here, or there was something but he couldn't summon it. Half of him wanted to go and get the others, ask their opinion, make them help him look; but he was scared that if he left he'd never be able to get back in here. Eventually he shrugged and started to search through the junk.

It was more than three hours later (and he'd pocketed quite a selection of strange objects during that time) that he found the diadem. It looked exactly as it had in the picture Remus had shown them, a small crown like thing. James cradled it in his hands and wondered whether it was really possible that something so small and beautiful could contain a piece of Voldemort's soul.

o o o o o

When James showed the diadem to Sirius, Peter and Remus none of them could decide whether to stare at it or him.

"How did you find it?" Remus asked, reaching for the beautiful object. James handed it to him and Remus lifted it up to examine it, amazed. "It's supposed to be lost," he added intelligently.

"It was," James replied with a grin. "But I found it." Sirius punched him in the arm.

"Shut up, git. Where did you find it?"

"In a room on the seventh floor, opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy." James held out his hands and Remus placed the diadem back into them.

"There's a room there?" Sirius asked in surprise. "We don't have one marked on the map."

"It's only there sometimes," James told him knowingly; but at the withering glares he received from both Sirius and Remus he added, "I've never seen it before."

"So how did you find it?"

"I was just pacing back and forth and thinking about where the bloody Horcruxes might be and then there was a door there so I went in and had a look. All sorts of stuff in there," he shook his head in wonder. "Books and potions and cloaks and everything; if you don't mind digging for it."

"Do you think you could get back in there?" Sirius was curious.

"No idea."

"We'll have to figure out how it works," Sirius mused and James nodded in agreement.

"Well, is it one?" Peter asked impatiently, pulling their attention back to the diadem in James's hands. All of the boys looked at Remus, who suddenly did a great impression of a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming muggle car.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"Like we have any idea how to tell what it is?" James asked dryly.

"Well, I don't know. I haven't read anything about telling if something is a Horcrux or not," Remus frowned. "Just that the fragment of soul within one can think for itself and can influence people in its vicinity. Seeing as they're parts of Voldemort's soul I imagine that would be unpleasant." Remus paused and watched as James lifted the diadem and placed it on his head. "Is that the best idea?" He asked, wondering if James had listened to anything he'd just said.

"Why wouldn't it be?" James replied. "Just testing if it works; wit beyond measure, right?"

"Probably only works if there is intelligence there to increase in the first place," Sirius said with a grin; but James, who normally took everything in his stride, snapped at him.

"I'm much smarter than you'll ever be, Black."

"Er, woah, Pads," Remus interrupted before Sirius could reply and escalate the situation further. "Maybe you should take that off, James."

"Why, you want it for yourself do you, Werewolf?" James spat at him. "Halfblood and a Werewolf, it's a wonder you have any friends."

"Yes, well, you are one of those friends," Remus said, relatively calmly considering he'd had to catch hold of Sirius's arm to prevent him from drawing his wand. "And the diadem increases intelligence, not spite; so I'd say it is a Horcrux and you should take it off." James looked momentarily confused, but when Remus said, "preferably soon," he reached up and pulled the thing off his own head. Remus let go of Sirius's arm, which was apparently a mistake because before James could say anything Sirius's wand was in his face.

"Apologise to Remus!"

"Sorry, Moony. I didn't mean it," James apologised quickly, as one generally does when being threatened.

"It's fine, Sirius. I've heard much worse." Remus took the diadem from James. "I think it's best if we put this somewhere safe where it's not too near us. I don't think we have to be wearing it for Voldemort to influence us, it's just a lot stronger when we are."

"You mean Voldemort made me say that?"

Remus shrugged, "I don't believe he can actually put words in your mouth, though I may be wrong. Just feelings and so on."

"But I was only wearing it for a second," James said.

"I think… I think it's because the diadem was designed to manipulate your mind to begin with. To increase your intelligence, sure; but there are rumours that it can send you mad if you wear it too long. I – this is a guess, mind you – but I think that might make it easier for the fragment of soul to manipulate the wearer." Remus shrugged again.

"I am sorry, Remus," James repeated, but Remus didn't look at him, turning away to take the diadem up to the dormitory and figure out how he was going to contain it.

o o o o o

It was a long day, each minute stretching further than the last, and it was wearing on everybody's nerves. They were all bored, they were all sick of sitting around doing nothing. The last full moon had been near the end of May, and they had just finished their exams the week before, so there wasn't even any schoolwork to distract them.

"This sucks." James complained.

"If only we could figure out where we should be looking. Did you find somewhere to put the diadem?" Sirius asked Remus, who glanced up from his book looking confused.

"Huh? What?"

"Did you figure out what to do with the diadem?" Sirius repeated, rolling his eyes.

"Oh. Yeah, I put it in a bag." Remus returned to reading his book.

"Er…" Sirius glanced at James just to check whether he thought that was as odd as Sirius did. James looked just as confused.

"What kind of bag, exactly?" James asked eventually. Remus sighed.

"I found a bag and I put some charms on it so that the effects of the diadem are restrained to inside the bag. As long as we don't open it all of the time it shouldn't influence us at all. Okay?" He stared at them, waiting this time for a response so he knew he'd be able to return to his book in peace.

"Yeah, sure. That sounds much better than just putting it in a bag," Sirius said, rolling his eyes again.

"Whatever," Remus sighed again. He was just as irritated as the rest of them at the inactivity, and he'd read the same paragraph in his book about seven times now.

"Why bother with that, anyway? Why don't we just destroy it now and get it over with?"

Remus gave up. That was a question he'd been hoping to avoid, but now all three of the other Marauders were looking at him and there was no way out of answering. "Well, uh. I don't think we can… destroy it."

"What do you mean?" Sirius looked suspicious. Remus made sure not to look at him for too long. Sirius would be the hardest to convince that he didn't know any ways to destroy the Horcrux, because he always seemed to be best at picking whenever Remus was lying.

"They can only be destroyed by something that can't be fixed by magic," he said eventually. "I don't know anything that will work." He knew two things that would possibly work, but neither of which he was going to say out loud because unlike some peoplehe didn't have a death wish.

James looked thoughtful and Sirius still looked suspicious. Peter looked thoughtful too, but Remus wasn't sure how much thinking he was doing, or if he was just looking thoughtful because James was.

"Well, you've got it contained now," James said after a few moments. "So it won't go tainting us or whatever it is it does, which gives us time to figure out how to destroy it. In the meantime, we may as well figure out where the others might be. I know you've been reading about them, Remus. Tell us."

"There isn't anything to tell. They were both last owned by Hepzibah Smith. She bought the locket from Borgin and Burkes and both the locket and the cup were missing when she died." Remus had actually found this out from a combination of talking to Hufflepuffs and reading old newspapers. With the war going on around them, nearly everything was about Voldemort when you opened the paper.

"Maybe we should go to her house," Sirius suggested. "There might be some clues there."

"What, you're some kind of detective now, are you?" James teased him.

"Sod off." Sirius elbowed James in the ribs.

"Well, sure Sirius. But I have no idea where she lived," Remus pointed out.

"Er, right... there is that," Sirius sighed. "We could go to Borgin and Burkes, talk to the owner, see if we can find out where Hepzibah lived?"

"As if they'll tell us anything."

"Well we can't just sit around here doing absolutely nothing with one of Voldemort's Horcruxes in a bloody charmed bag!" Sirius exclaimed, sick of the inaction and annoyed that all of his suggestions were being dismissed.

"Keep your voice down," Remus hissed. They were sitting outside under their tree and there was no one near enough to hear them, really, but Sirius looked abashed anyway.

"Sorry."

"We'll leave this weekend," James said suddenly, though it was obvious he'd been considering the words for a while.

"What?" Remus protested, even though he knew it was useless.

"We'll miss the end of term feast," Peter added, worry etched over his entire face.

"You're really worried about food in a time like this?" Sirius asked incredulously. "There is a war going on, Pete, in case you haven't noticed. I hardly think the end of term feast is that important."

"We're just going to leave? Just like that?" Remus felt sick. If they left Hogwarts, he'd be fending for himself at full moon. If they left Hogwarts, this was real.

"Meet at Honeydukes at two on Saturday," James said as if he hadn't even heard the other three talking. "In the cellar. We'll be able to Apparate from there." And it was all decided, just like that. Remus returned to his book, but he still couldn't get past that stupid paragraph and he was glaring at the words.