Disclaimer-I don't own Harry Potter
Chapter Eight
"Sirius Black, grab your coat!" Maria called, sticking her head out of Dear's doors.
"About damn time." Sirius grumbled. "It only took you three months."
"Quit whining." Maria said, rolling her eyes. "I told you we'd have to wait until Easter to do anything."
"I still don't get why. It's only an extra day, why couldn't we just do this on a weekend?"
"I told you, we need that extra day. If I leave the school, go straight to the Gaunt Shack, and bring back a Horcrux, then Dumbledore might get suspicious. By adding an extra day, I have a reasonable time frame with which to break the protections on the Ring."
"So, it'll take you a whole day to break the protections?" Sirius asked as he threw on a cloak and climbed into the Phone Booth.
"Of course not." Maria snorted, shutting the doors. "Give me some credit. But if I didn't know what was in the vault, why would I want to break them so badly? As a historian, I'm supposed to take a slow, methodical approach to this, since I'm supposed to not want to take the risk of damaging anything."
"How do you plan on killing it?" Sirius asked curiously. "I looked into the family library while you were off actually doing things and getting to have fun," Maria rolled her eyes. "And it's really hard to kill a Horcrux." Maria pulled out a strange dagger from her robes. Strange, because instead of a metal blade attached to the hilt, it had a basilisk fang.
"Basilisk poison." Maria said, sheathing the dagger again. She'd made the dagger after sneaking into the Chamber and stealing a fang from the corpse of the basilisk. Fiendfyre was too risky and noticeable, and she didn't have access to a Dementor that would follow her orders. She could have used the sword, but then she'd have to explain to Sirius where she'd gotten it. Well, she'd have to come up with a convincing lie at any rate. Easier for all involved to just bring a basilisk fang dagger. She'd magically aged it as well, so that when she told Dumbledore about the ring, she'd have a legitimate reason/excuse to have the dagger. Besides, when it came to the Ring, it was actually easier to use a dagger, since the Ring was so small, and the Stone was extremely difficult to damage and impossible to destroy. After years and years of trying to destroy the damn Stone, she'd grown a new appreciation for the sheer amount of strength Dumbledore had displayed just by cracking the Stone, especially considering the fact that he was dying at the time.
"So, we're going to break into Voldemort's ancestral home, steal his stuff, and kill part of his soul?" Sirius asked, looking for clarification. Maria nodded, and he laughed.
"What's so funny?" She asked, confused.
"I was just thinking of how awesome it would have been if you had gone to Hogwarts with James, Remus, and me." Maria mulled that over. It'd be interesting to try things from that early, but she didn't think that it'd work. There were just too many unknowns. Heck, she didn't even know how many Horcruxes had been made at that point in time.
"Yeah, that'd have been pretty fun." She told him, pressing the last button. "Now, let's go kill a ring." Sirius raised an eyebrow as she let go of the bike handles and grabbed a large tin can.
"What's in there?" He asked. Maria grinned and pointed the can at Sirius' face, then opened the can. Sirius jumped back in surprise as several spring 'snakes' jumped out of the can at him.
"The enchantments on the Ring will go off if something isn't there, so I figured we'd replace the ring with the can, just in case Voldemort ever decides to come and check on his Horcrux." She told him, waving her wand and gathering the 'snakes' back into the can. Sirius stared at her intently for another minute.
"Are you sure we're not related?" He asked finally. Maria shrugged.
"I don't think so, but with all the inbreeding, who knows anymore?" She admitted. For once, she was telling the complete truth. She'd never checked on her family tree past her grandparents, largely to avoid the potentially creepy revelations that could lead to. She'd rather just ignore the creepy possibilities that could be there and live in some degree of bliss.
"Pity." Sirius sighed. "It would have been nice to have a cool living relative."
"What about Andromeda?" Dear asked. Sirius frowned.
"Well, she was a little stuffy, but from what I heard she married a Muggleborn, so at least she doesn't have the Pureblood mania." He said thoughtfully. "I guess I can go check on her after my name is cleared. And by the way, why'd you forget Bellatrix?" Maria blinked in surprise.
"You consider Bellatrix to be a 'cool relative'?" She asked.
"No!" Sirius said, shuddering. "I meant, you burned off Narcissa and her idiot husband and son, and you burned off my parents, but you didn't burn off Bellatrix." Maria shrugged.
"From what I understand, that tapestry is more or less the representation of your family tree. If you burn them off, then they're actually being kicked out of the family. The way I see it, Bellatrix is locked up in Azkaban, without the knowledge of her being innocent or anything else to protect her. She'll be lucky to last three more years. So, burning off Bellatrix didn't seem important, and I was trying to alienate Kreacher as little as possible."
"And yet you burned off my parents." Sirius pointed out. Maria shrugged.
"I figured you'd find it cathartic." She told him, opening the doors. "Now, let's go kill a ring."
"Is that a snake's skeleton?" Sirius asked curiously as Maria opened the door to the remnants of the Gaunt Shack.
"Yep." Maria said, not paying it any heed. To her, it was just another example of how jaded the years had made her, seeing as it no longer shocked, disgusted, or even surprised her. She waved her wand, and a light golden dust fell over the floor of the shack.
"What's that supposed to do?" Sirius asked, frowning.
"Exactly what it's supposed to do. Highlight any hidden trapdoors, show me if there's any spells outside of the hole the Ring is in, and make the place look nicer." Maria said happily. "Fortunately for us, Voldemort is convinced that nobody knows about his connection to the Gaunts, and that nobody would think to look in an old shack, so he only really puts traps on the hole itself, and they're all fairly straightforward." The main trap was the Ring itself, since most people would just put the ring on and wear it until they could destroy it. She stepped carefully into the shack, walking towards where she knew the trapdoor was, and carefully pulled it open. Maria pointed her wand down into the hole and cast a quick diagnostic spell, scanning it to see if there were any surprises. Fortunately there weren't just the same stock of traps and a few alarm spells.
"This is going to take a while." She told Sirius, looking up from the hole. "Would you mind standing guard outside in case some Muggle comes along?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"Why'd you bring me along if I wasn't going to help you with the traps?" He asked, folding his arms.
"Well, the trap where the fake Locket was would have required two people to finish, so I figured it was better to be safe than sorry this time. Besides, I thought you wanted to get out of the house?" Maria said. "Plus, what's the point in me doing all these clever things if there's nobody there to stand around looking impressed?"
"But I'll be outside." Sirius pointed out. Maria shrugged.
"Yeah, but you'll no I'm being clever, and that's just as good. Now please leave. These traps are designed to not destroy the shack so that Voldemort can continue to use it, and I'd rather not try and bypass them with you standing there and putting yourself at risk." Sirius nodded, though he still didn't look happy about it. Maria cast muffliato, just in case the Ring decided to talk, and then set about disabling the traps, starting with the alarms. Fortunately, Voldemort hadn't used anything she hadn't seen literally hundreds of times before, so it was quick work. She then levitated the ring out of the hole and put it onto the floorboards, then pulled out the dagger. "Any last words?" She asked calmly.
"Hello, oh great Robber of Life." The Ring drawled lazily.
"That's a new one." Maria said, equally calmly.
"Not particularly. I believe even your home calls you Thief."
"You can sense the remnants of your fellow Horcruxes from this far away?" Maria asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's rather impressive. Tell me, why do you call me the Robber of Life?"
"How many people have you killed over the years? How many people are dead now that would not be dead if you had not interfered?"
"Far less than the number of people who are alive because I interfered." Maria growled.
"And yet, that too supports the name. After all, you steal just as many lives from Death as you do deliver." The Ring said, still calm.
"I know that. That's one of the reasons Dear calls me Thief. Now tell me, why are you so calm? Most of your lot either beg for life or, in one case, tell me to get it over with."
"Why wouldn't I be calm? I can sense your fear. It is so potent as to make any fear of death I have seem minor. There is a reason there are no Rings in your 'trophy room'." Maria gave a mirthless laugh.
"You poor fool, I'm not scared of you. There is something far more worrying than you in this shack. Pity Voldemort never bothered to do research into the Ring, he would have found something interesting imbedded in you." Maria told him. "Now, shut up." She stabbed down with the dagger, cutting off a portion of the golden band and relishing the screams, then gingerly picked up the ring, being careful not to activate the Stone.
"You owe me ice cream." Sirius announced once Maria exited the shack.
"…Excuse me?" She asked, confused.
"You owe me ice cream for making me stand out here and not letting me do anything."
"I thought the point of this was just letting you get out of the house?"
"Taking me out of the house so I can stand outside a shack doesn't count." Sirius told her.
"Fine." Maria said with a sigh, walking inside and pocketing the ring. "I think I have some Butter Pecan in the kitchen." Sirius made a face.
"No thanks. Don't you have any Strawberry?" Maria stiffened.
"No. No Strawberry." She said, her voice sounding tense. "I should have some Rocky Road or Mint Chocolate Chip."
"I'll take the Rocky Road." Sirius said, surprised by her extreme reaction to the request for Strawberry.
"Alright, right this way." Maria told him, snapping her fingers and making an orange door appear.
Twenty-Four hours later
"Reese's Peanut Butter Cups." Maria said with a smile, watching as the gargoyle moved to allow her access. She knocked on the door.
"Come in." Dumbledore said calmly. He looked up and smiled as Maria walked in and sat down in a chair across from him. "Good Evening Miss Evans. You told me that you found something that you wished to speak to me about?" Maria nodded.
"Yes. You see, I've been doing research into Voldemort's past, and I found something interesting. I managed to track his whereabouts, and this led me to his real name, Tom Marvolo Riddle." Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly, and he nodded, impressed. "From there, I was able to use the school records to find the orphanage he grew up in, where I discovered that he'd been named for his father, and that his middle name was from his grandfather. After another search, I tracked down the grave of Tom Riddle Senior. I then did yet another search in the area, where I discovered the home of his grandfather, and, presumably, his mother. It was an old, decrepit, abandoned shack.
"I cast a charm I learned to reveal magical traps, just to make sure that none of the protections were still in place. When I did that, however, I noticed something rather odd. I discovered a trapdoor, which, being the curious sort, I opened. It took me several hours, but I disabled all the spells and traps underneath the trapdoor, but once I did, I found this." She took the ring out of a pocket in her robes and placed it on the desk. Dumbledore stared at the ring, his eyes widening considerably. "When I levitated it out of the hole, it spoke to me. At first, it tried to get me to wear it, offering me power. I panicked slightly, and did what I always do when an obviously Dark artifact talks to me. I cast Incendio on it and tried to melt it. That, as you can see, didn't work."
"So, what did you do?" Dumbledore asked curiously, picking up the ring and inspecting it. "I assume you did do something, seeing as it's not talking." Maria nodded.
"It laughed at me, and told me that I was a fool to think that such a minor spell could 'destroy the Horcrux of the Dark Lord'." Dumbledore stopped looking at the ring and looked at her in open shock. "Well, research had told me a little about Horcruxes, though not much. I do know how to destroy one though, so I stabbed it with this." She pulled out the dagger and placed it on the desk. "It's made from a basilisk fang. I found it in an old ruin in Romania." Dumbledore considered her.
"That's very quick thinking. May I ask why you carry such an item on your person?" Maria shrugged.
"Sometimes my wand gets away from me. I keep the dagger in a sheath hidden in my robes so that I can always be sure to have something to defend myself with."
"A wise policy." Dumbledore said, handing back the dagger. "Thank you for bringing my attention to this," At that he waved the ring. "To my attention." Maria smiled and stood up.
"Of course Professor. I know when I'm in over my head." She told him. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to prepare the last of my lecture notes for my classes on Monday." Dumbledore nodded absently, and she quickly left before he could ask her if she knew about the Deathly Hollows, letting out a sigh of relief once she turned the corner. The Resurrection Stone was now safely out of her reach, and the odds of her getting a hold of this one again was extremely slim.
Author's Notes
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