Chapter 4: R.A.B.
A/N: Alright now we touch the action of the story. I hope you enjoy. I dont own any of this by the way!
Harry and the others were sitting in one of the sitting rooms, they had just gotten the furniture moved into the house. They had returned for what food and other belongings they had left behind. The conversation switched into a game plan on hunting the Horcruxes.
"We really don't have any leads, unless we find out who this R.A.B. is," said Hermione.
"I remember hearing a name with those initials once," Harry said.
"Even if we did find out who it was, how will that help us? For all we know this guy is probably dead right now." Ginny said.
Harry was deep in thought, he knew he had heard a similar name somewhere before, "Wait! Sirius told me that name before! Regulus Black, Sirius' younger brother! He was killed by Voldemort himself. That has to be it!"
Harry ran to the upstairs drawing room were the family tree tapestry hung. He scanned the names until he found it, Regulus A. Black.
Another memory hit Harry, a golden locket that they couldn't open. Harry reached in his pocket and pulled out the fake locket that matched the one in his memory.
"GUYS!! I've got it!" Harry turned to the others and said, "The real locket is here in this house! You remember the one we couldn't open!"
"Yes I remember it!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Well what are we waiting for!" Ron said.
"Dobby!" Harry yelled.
The little elf appeared out of thin air, "Yes Ma-H-arry?"
"Help us look for this locket, its somewhere in the house," Harry said.
Dobby disappeared again, and the four of them split up to search. They moved up floor to floor, endlessly searching. They searched for about three hours before they gave up.
"Bloody Mundungus!" Harry shouted.
"He must have taken it when he took all that other stuff." Harry added.
"Well that should be our first priority, finding him and finding out what he did with the locket," said Hermione.
EBC
The next day the four found themselves in Diagon Alley. They were here to fill up their library, they needed advanced spell books, and books for research. Plus Harry planned on slipping into Knocturn Alley, he wanted to pick up some books on more greyer subjects. He needed to know what he was up against.
Harry and the others walked into Flourish & Blotts, they all split up and went there separate ways. They grabbed book after book. Harry went to the defense section, Hermione to the Charms section, Ron to the Potion's section, and Ginny went to get books on famous magical locations. They pretty much cleared all the sections out, leaving only the books that they had already bought, or just didn't fit their needs. Harry paid the astonished clerk, and shrunk his packages.
Harry turned to the others after exciting the shop, "Ok, you guys wont like this, but I think we should take a quick trip to Knocturn Alley."
Ginny and Hermione gasped, "Why do we need to go there," said Hermione.
"Well, I for one think that since we are going up against people who will kill you without thinking, that we should up our arsenal. Learn more offensive magic, we know all about defense, why not give them a dose of their own medicine." replied Harry.
Ron looked at Hermione and his sister and shrugged his shoulders, "He's got a point, Harry can't just stun Voldemort and chuck him in Azkaban."
Hermione and Ginny nodded in understanding, and after they all had pulled the hoods of their cloaks up over their faces they walked through the gate into the dark alley. It wasn't much different than Diagon Alley, just darker and more unpleasant. There were only about six shops, and a pub was at the very end of the alley. A book shop was the very first store, Harry rushed inside, he wanted to get out of here quickly. The four of them searched the shelves for titles that looked helpful. They bought about seven books, two were on the offensive and defensive spells associated with Dark Magic, one on ancient spells, three books with different curses, and finally a book about dark rituals. They got the book because in the index their was a chapter on Horcruxes.
It was a good thing that Harry and the others had their hoods up, they got very curious looks from the clerk as he rang up the last volume. As they walked out of the store they made their way back towards the entrance to Diagon Alley. Once back in the familiar part of the little town they pulled their hoods back down, glamour charms disguising their faces. They hardly took them down now, they had just stepped into character and lived life as their alias. It was the only way they could go out, because posters of Harry sporting the phrase 'Missing' were everywhere.
They grabbed dinner at the Leakey Cauldron and were about to leave the pub when a disgruntled man walked in, he looked as if he had been drinking for days. Harry jumped up and ran over to the man before the others even knew what was going on.
Mundungus Fletcher walked into the Leakey Cauldron, he was meeting a 'client' when Harry Potter grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him back out of the pub.
"Mundungus, I've been needing to speak with you about something very important!" Harry said trying to contain his anger. The fact that Mundungus had stolen from his Godfather peeved Harry a lot.
"Bout what! I have- very important-t things to be doing," Dung sputtered, the others joined him an Harry at that moment in the little alley way.
"Have you seen a locket that looks anything like this? You better tell me the truth I know you took it!" Harry said quickly, looking around to make sure they were still alone.
"Yeah, I think- I might have se-seen it once-" Dung started but Harry grabbed him by the shoulder and interrupted him, "DON'T LIE TO ME! People's lives are at stake!" Harry yelled.
"Ok- I nicked it--I'm sorry H-arry," Dung guiltily admitted.
"Do you still have it?" Harry asked straining to keep his voice down, he was trying not to get his hopes up.
"No, I sold it to th-the Potion's teacher," Dung replied looking away, Harry looked back at the others, then let go of Dung.
"Alright that's all I needed to know, I'm sorry about all this. But I have a job to do," Harry and the others turned and walked away.
They traveled back by the key to the house, it pretty much served as a portkey, once back at their home they set up the library. Then Harry called everyone into the living-room.
"Alright Guys, this is our first real discussion about what we plan on doing on this quest. At least we know that Horace Slughorn has the locket, so we now know were to start," Harry paused and let his friends speak, he was going to hear them out.
"Well how should we get the locket from him?" Ron said.
"It should be pretty easy, Harry got that memory out of him. So I'm sure he can persuade him into giving us the locket," Hermione replied.
"Yeah but this will be more difficult, this actually has a connection to Salazar Slytherin, He won't give that up so easily," Harry said.
"We might just have to take it," Ginny piped in.
"We might have a better chance that way," Harry said skeptically.
"I think you should ask for it first Harry, then if He doesn't consent, we will think of something else," Hermione said.
"Alright that sounds like a good idea, tomorrow we can go and talk to him. Now that that's settled, I think after we get the locket that we should go to Godric's Hollow," Harry gauged his friends responses.
"Well I think it's a good idea, I mean there is a big chance that something might be there," Hermione said.
"Alright, there's one more thing I want to say. I wonder if Sirius's brother Regulas got to any of the other Horcruxes."
"Well its hard to tell at this moment, we might just have to wait on that one," Hermione said.
Harry and his friends spent the rest of the day in the attic training, they had come up with a schedule for their practice times.
6-7a.m. Physical Workout
8-9a.m. Basic spells and Basic Defense
9-10a.m. Dark Magic
10-11a.m. Advanced spells
11-12p.m. Lunch
12-1p.m. Charms and Transfiguration
1-2p.m. Dueling and Battle Strategy
They would have the rest of the day off, and they would have their meetings once a night before bed, although they were going to start the schedule the next day. Ron didn't want to get up so early but he still looked very determined. The four knew they needed to hone their skills for what was to come.
EBC
A/N: I'm so sorry for the long wait, I have rewritten and rewritten this chapter, I didn't know which way to go with it, but the story should really pick up in the next chapter. I promise to have a little action in it! Please review and let me know what you think.
EBCfan16
