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Harry From Another World
Chapter 7: The Horcrux Issue.
"A horcrux?" asked Madam Bones.
"Yes," replied Harry.
They were in the area of the castle that had been set aside for Harry and his army to conduct their business. Renovations were still ongoing, but a meeting room had been temporarily set up in order to them to discuss their next move.
Harr was sitting at the head of the table, with Susan, Neville, Hannah sitting to his left and Lavender, Anthony and Dean sitting on his right. Seats around the rest of the table were occupied by Madam Bones, Minister Scrimgeour, Auror Gawain Rhobards and Order members Moody, Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley, Bill and Fleur.
"In his scar?" asked Madam Bones, just for clarification.
"In his scar," replied Harry.
"And Dumbledore knew about this?" asked Moody.
"He did in our world," answered Susan.
"But you can get rid of it, right?" asked Tonks.
"There is a ritual that we can perform," said Hannah "it's the same one we used to get the soul fragment out of our Harry's scar."
"How does it work?" asked Scrimgeour.
"The ritual works almost in the same way as the Dementor's kiss," explained Hannah "It is designed to remove someone's soul from their body, but through simple reconfiguration we can alter the focus of the ritual so that it draws out the soul fragment in Harry's scar, as opposed to Harry's own soul."
"Sounds rather dark to me," observed Scrimgeour.
"That's because it is," said Harry "However, if one were to truly want to destroy evil they must first learn to understand it and then learn to turn it against itself."
"Two wrongs to not make a right," said Bill.
"I prefer to call it poetic justice," countered Harry "Anyway, well only be using this method on this one horcrux because it is made from a living person. The rest can just be destroyed."
"How many horcruxes are there?" asked Madam Bones.
"In our world there were seven," replied Harry "A diary, a ring, a locket, a golden cup, a diadem, myself and Voldemort's pet snake, Nagini. Including Voldemort himself, that's eight soul fragments all in all."
"Do you know the locations of each one and how to destroy them?" asked Scrimgeour.
"We know how to destroy them," said Harry "but as for their locations, we know where they were in our world and we will, of course, be checking out those locations for them, but again we cannot rule out the possibility that they are in different locations in this world."
"And that's what you want our help with?" asked Lupin.
"Not help per se," replied Harry "We just thought that it would be a good idea for you to get a look at what we're dealing with."
Scrimgeour gave a nod of his head in approval and said "Very well. How would you like to do this?"
"Our first stop will be the Chamber of Secrets," said Harry "we need to raid a basilisk corpse for its venom."
"Can that be used to destroy a horcrux?" asked Kingsley.
"One of four known things capable of doing so," said Susan "the others are the ritual that Hannah will prepare, the killing curse and fiendfyre."
"Once we have the venom," continued Harry "we'll split up and go after each of the horcruxes. Susan and Neville will lead a team to the Gaunt Shack in Little Hangleton, which is where we should find the ring horcrux. Dean and Anthony will head over to the Black family home to locate the locket. Lavender and I will head up to the Room of Requirements here at Hogwarts in order to track down the cup."
"What about the rest of them?" asked Madam Bones.
"The diary has already been destroyed," said Harry.
"I'll get a start on preparing the ritual," added Hannah.
"We'll have to wait until we see Nagini before we can take her out," said Neville.
"And the diadem may well take some serious planning to get to," said Lavender.
"Minister, Rhobards, Kingsley, you'll be coming with myself and Lavender up to the Room of Requirements," said Harry "Madam Bones, Tonks, Lupin, you'll be going with Susan and Neville to the Gaunt Shack and Moody, Bill and Fleur, you'll be going with Dean and Anthony to the Black House. Any questions?"
None were forthcoming.
"Very well," said Harry "let's get to the Chamber."
The trip down to the Chamber of Secrets went off without a hitch. However, the Order members and Ministry officials all froze in their tracks at the sight of the gigantic corpse of the basilisk.
Scrimgeour could only ask one thing "How the hell did Dumbledore cover this up?"
"Good question," replied Harry as he approached the rotting body "you should ask him the next time you feel like getting told a load of half-truths and outright lies."
"Bloody hell," muttered Tonks "This thing's body is thicker than an erumpent is tall!"
"Certainly is," said Neville "Hey, Harry, don't forget to send Daphne down here to render this thing down for potions ingredients."
"Yeah, I'll mention it to her later," said Harry as he pulled on an extra thick pair of dragon hide gloves "Lavender, you up for making some more armour out of the skin?"
"Shouldn't be a problem so long as I get enough down-time to do it," replied Lavender.
Harry knelt before the open maw of the basilisk and took stock of the situation. For a creature that had in this timeline been dead for just over three years, the corpse was still remarkably intact. Stupider wizards would have proclaimed that this was simply due to the fact that this was a magical creature, but that argument just didn't hold water. The truth was that before leaving Hogwarts for good, Salazar Slytherin had made one last, final alteration to the Chamber of Secrets.
This meant that the room, and anything inside of it, could exist in a time-frame that did not run concurrently with real time. In essence this meant that, although Slytherin had left Hogwarts over a thousand year ago, the basilisk that he left behind had only aged about a hundred years, which was not all that long for a basilisk. This meant that the corpse had, in effect, been lying here for three to four months rather than three years.
Harry reached out a dragon hide covered hand and grasped one of the large fangs that were protruding from the upper jaw. It took only one shard tug to pull it free.
Neville conjured up a tray and Harry sat the tooth in it before pulling out two more.
Then they all headed back to the Entrance Hall where three groups awaited them.
Dean and Neville each pulled on a dragon hide glove and then took a fang, with Harry taking the last.
The groups split up.
The Room of Requirement could produce any kind of room in any way that you wanted it, however there was one room that it provided which was exactly the same, no matter who asked for it.
The Room of Hidden Things.
"I've never seen so much contraband in all my life," exclaimed Rhobards as he nudged the handle of a bloody axe on the floor with his shoe.
Kingsley chucked and commented "You should've seen the mountain of confiscated items from the Quidditch World Cup."
"This way," said Harry.
"What exactly is it that we are looking for?" asked Scrimgeour.
"A small golden cup," replied Harry "about half the size of the goblets found in the Great Hall at dinner."
"Why would you-know-who choose to turn such a small trinket into a horcrux?" asked Kingsley.
"The cup originally belonged to Helga Hufflepuff," explained Lavender as she followed along in Harry's wake "It was in the Hufflepuff line and then later the Smith ling for generations before Voldemort killed Hepzibah Smith and stole it from her."
"In fact, he used her murder to create the horcrux," added Harry "and it should be right… here…"
"Where?" asked Scrimgeour.
"Right on top of that wardrobe," said Lavender, causing every eye to look up.
"There's nothing there apart from a few empty wine bottles," said Rhobards.
"I can see that," said Harry. He gave a heavy sigh before turning to the group "Alright, everyone, looks like this one isn't going to be easy. Split up into groups of no less than three and scour every square inch of this place for the bloody thing."
The portkey deposited the group just outside an area of woodland. Madam Bones looked around and saw that they were actually standing on what appeared to be a narrow road, but one that had not been used as a main route for many a year. A best it could now be described as a track, one that the local farmer used to get his tractors to his fields.
"Where are we?" asked Tonks.
"Just outside the village of Little Hangleton, near the border between Lancashire and Cumbria," replied Neville "Come on, this way."
He began leading them off, but not along the track. Instead he stepped up onto the narrow, grassy embankment and led them into the trees.
They had not gone more than fifteen feet when Susan suddenly raised her hand in signal for them to stop.
"What is it?" asked Lupin.
"Wards," replied Susan as she whipped out her wand. Beside her Neville and several others of their group did the same.
Madam Bones looked over her shoulder and saw to her surprise that the track was no longer visible behind them. They had not gone very far into the forest, but already the trees generated enough of a gloom to obscure the way back.
"A notice-me-not ward," said Susan after a few moments "this one should be easy enough to bring down."
Madam Bones watched in wonder as the group worked in unison to bring down the ward. Contrary to what Susan had said, notice-me-not wards were notoriously difficult to bring down, and not just because they were, as the name implied, not meant to be found.
As far as she knew, it usually took a team of five specially trained curse breakers three hours to successfully bring down a notice-me-not ward. This group of people in front of her managed it in ten minutes. Granted, this group was larger in number than just five, but all the same that alone could not account for all the time difference.
"Done," announced Neville as the ward flared a pale blue colour and then collapsed.
They walked on for a mere five feet this time before Susan called for them all to stop.
"What is it this time?" asked Tonks.
Susan cast a couple of diagnostic charms before replying "Disorientation ward. Walk through that and you'll likely stumble right into any other trap set around place."
"And what kind of traps would there be?" asked Lupin.
"That is a very good question," said Neville "We'll tell you once we know."
"You don't know?" asked Tonks, somewhat incredulously.
"Nope," said Neville "Dumbledore dealt with this one in our world, and he was pretty quiet about what he went through here."
"The only thing we know for certain," said Susan "is that, once we find it, touching the ring is a bad idea, and wearing it is an even worse one."
"I wonder why Dumbledore hasn't come after this horcrux already." said Lupin.
"In our universe, he got the thing during the summer holidays that have just passed here," said Susan "He may have still planned to have come here at some point, but got himself side-tracked into kidnapping people from alternate universes. Done."
Like the notice-me-not ward before it, the disorientation ward flared and collapsed.
They went forwards for three more steps before Susan called for them all to halt yet again.
Neville cast a diagnostic spell and then let out a wry chuckle and commenting "So this is where the nasty stuff begins."
"What have you found now?" asked Madam Bones.
"Just a ward designed to dissolve your skin," replied Susan, almost conversationally "nothing too difficult to deal with."
Tonks wrinkled her nose in disgust "Lovely."
"I'll wager that there is worse than this ahead," said Neville "What do you reckon, Susan?"
"Four more wards after this one," she replied "that'll make a grand total of seven wards around the property. Then there will be another six things to get by before we can destroy the horcrux. That'll make thirteen layers of protection in total."
"Sounds about right," agreed Neville.
Madam Bones exchanged a look with Tonks and Lupin, both of whom looked exactly as she felt.
Their arrival in the hallway triggered the familiar screaming of Walburga Black's portrait.
"Stains of dishonour! Children of scum! Filthy mudbloods!"
Moody was just about to reach out and pull the curtains that hung on either side of the portrait shut when a spell whizzed by his ear and slammed into the portrait.
Moody stepped back and watched in shock as the spell did its work. She spell had hit the screaming woman right in the face, leaving a large hole. Purple flames flickered around the edge of this hole, burning outwards, slowly consuming the entire portrait.
The flames burnt out once the entire portrait had been destroyed, leaving only the grimy old frame hanging on the wall.
"You're welcome," said Anthony, pocketing his wand.
Moody shook himself before turning his attention to the leader of the group.
"Well," he barked, looking at Dean expectantly "we're here lad. Where's this trinket we're meant to be finding."
"Best to call on the House Elf," replied Dean "if anyone in this house knows where it is, it'll be him."
"So you don't know for definite that it's here?" asked Bill.
"We do not," said Dean "we know that it was here at one point in our world, but we are currently looking for these things a year earlier than circumstances in our universe allowed. By the time Harry tracked it down, sticky fingers and greedy eyes had seen it leave the walls of this house."
Moody's magical eye swivelled around in his head for a few moments before he commented "The elf is down in the kitchen, hiding in his nest near the stove."
The retired Auror led the way down to the kitchen.
Dean made his way over to the cupboard door behind which Kreacher the House Elf usually hid himself away.
He knocked loudly on the door and said "Kreacher, come out."
There was now answer.
"Come out Kreacher, or I will blast your door apart," said Dean.
A croaky voice came from the other side of the door, saying in reply "Noise Maker is not the master of this house, so he cannot be ordering Kreacher to do anything."
Dean knew full well that you sometimes had to be patient with Kreacher. However, knowing that did not make it any easier to do.
"Kreacher, we wish to talk to you about Master Regulus."
Silence filled the air for a moment, then the cupboard door opened slightly and Kreacher poked his head out, his old, bloodshot eyes filled with curiosity rather than maliciousness for a change. Bill wasn't entirely sure that this was an improvement however.
"Noise Maker wishes to know about Master Regulus. Why?" the elf asked in his croaky voice.
"Yes," said Dean "we want to ask you about the night he died."
Suddenly the expression on Kreacher's face became one of pure hatred and he snarled "Nosey mudbloods should keep out of the affairs of the Noble House of Black!"
Kreacher disappeared back into his cupboard and the door slammed shut.
Dean looked to Moody and asked "Is he still there?"
Moody nodded his reply and Dean moved to sit down beside the door.
"Kreacher, we're from a different universe," he said through the door "many events have happened in our world, some of which we are trying to stop from happening here."
"Kreacher doesn't care," replied the elf through the door.
Dean carried on "Kreacher, I'm going to tell you how Regulus died in our world. All you have to do is tell me whether or not the same thing happened in this world, ok?"
The house elf did not utter anything in reply, so Dean kept on "In our world, Regulus figured out how the Dark Lord Voldemort was planning to achieve immortality. He found out about the horcruxes that Voldemort was making. He knew where one was because Voldemort had him send you to assist him in protecting it. Regulus took you with him in order to find that horcrux and he drank the poison that protected it. He died that night, but you got away. You followed his orders to take the horcrux away and hide it until you could find a way to destroy it."
Dean stopped talking, and silence filled the air again. He looked up at Moody and mouthed the same question as before.
Again Moody nodded in answer.
Dean began talking again "Kreacher, we know how to destroy that horcrux. If you bring it to us, we can destroy it and Regulus' final wish will be granted. Kreacher?"
There was no answer.
They gave it several long minutes, and then Dean got up. He spoke in a slightly louder than normal tone "Well, I guess that's not Regulus died here. We'd better look elsewhere."
He gestured for them to begin moving towards the door of the kitchen. They were just nearing it when behind them the door to Kreacher's cupboard opened up, and the elf stood there. Tears were stinging at his eyes as he croaked in a feeble voice "Kreacher failed his master Regulus."
After the ward designed to dissolve your skin, there had been a ward that would set fire to any that walked through it. Next had been a ward to make you vomit up insides and that had been followed by one that was designed to shatter every single bone in your body into a thousand little pieces. After going through all that, it was a bit of an anti-climax to discover that the seventh and final ward was another notice-me not ward.
Presumably Voldemort had hoped that by this point anyone who was working on bringing down the wards would either be too tired to spot the obvious, or so focused on what would be next that they would not be able to bring themselves to believe that the next ward was a notice-me not and ultimately give up.
Either way, Susan was happy. Her guess of there being seven wards had been correct…
And they were alive, of course.
The final ward fell, exposing the Gaunt Shack to them. It was a few seconds before Tonks's eyes were able to discern the building half-hidden amongst the tangle of trunks. It seemed to her to be a very strange location to choose for a house, or else an odd decision to leave the trees growing nearby, blocking all light from getting inside. Then again, the small windows were so thick with grime it was debatable if any sunlight would have been able to get inside the house even if it were standing in the middle of a grassy field.
Its walls were mossy and so many tiles had fallen off the roof that the now rotting rafters were visible in most places. The chimney looked as though it was about to collapse, and there was no discernable path between them and the… well, not to the front door, because there didn't appear to be one. It hadn't rotted out or anything, there just wasn't one visible. It was almost as if the builders had forgotten to put one in.
"That's it?" she found herself asking, in disgust.
"That's it," clarified Susan.
"Doesn't look like much," said Remus, stepping forwards.
Neville clamped a hand onto his shoulder and pulled him back "There's something in front of us."
Susan gave a wave of her wand and conjured a ratty old trainer out of thin air. She levitated it through the air until it was about six feet in front of them and then let it drop.
In response to what was obviously perceived as a foot step by some kind of enchantment, a large area of the ground in front of them simply disappeared. Hissing sounds filled the air and it did not take them long to discover the source of the noise.
"A snake pit," commented Neville, dryly "how original!"
"I expect that dear old Tom is arrogant enough to believe that no one ever thought of such a thing before" said Susan "Look at the horcrux he left at Hogwarts. He was actually arrogant enough to believe that no one else had ever entered that room when in fact all evidence pointed to the contrary."
"True," agreed Neville "Shall we?"
"We shall." agreed Susan.
"Alright, men," said Neville.
"And women," added Susan.
"Yes, those too." agreed Neville "On the count of three then. One… two… three!"
Twenty wands were raised and twenty voices called out as one "Vipera Evanesca!"
Most of the snakes were destroyed in that one go, with only a few more needing to be picked off individually.
A few more detection spells found nothing immediately in front of them, not that that meant that Neville was happy to jump down into the pit before them.
He turned toward the nearest tree and aimed his wand at it, muttering an incantation as he did so. A spell flew from the tip of his want and impacted the tree.
The tree seemed to shift itself about, almost as if stretching itself a bit before the ground gave a little rumble. Suddenly, from the edge of the pit several long and thick roots shot out and stretched out across the pit before burying themselves deep into the opposite side, all the while winding themselves around each other to form a strong and sturdy bridge.
Neville went across first, keeping his wand raised as he scanned for any sign of another trap as the rest followed.
The next layer of protection soon made itself known. The door was invisible.
"Can't we just knock a hole in the wall?" asked Tonks "It doesn't look like it will take much."
Susan waved her wand and cast a few diagnostic charms before shaking her head "Won't work."
"Why not?" asked Tonks.
"Trust me," replied Susan "you don't want to know."
Tonks turned to Madam Bones, who had also been casting a few diagnostic spells. The older woman grimaced before giving a nod of her head and stating "Yeah, you really don't want to know."
"Got it!" Neville called out, the door appearing before him.
"That was fast," commented Su Li, one of the more senior members of the group.
"Oh shush," said Neville, grabbing the handle of the door and pushing it open.
The door opened with a groan and Neville leapt back, raising his wand towards the door.
They waited for something to happen. There had to be something.
Harry upended another dusty old trunk and spilled its contents everywhere. This one contained only a load of old clothes. A quick glance inside the lid revealed that the trunk had been made in the year 1566.
He shoved the trunk away and set about opening the next one. Just above him Katie Bell and Colin Creevey were rummaging through others.
When everyone had split up to look for the cup, Harry, Katie and Colin had rounded a corner and took in the sight of a mountain of old and forgotten school trunks. The cup was just as likely to be buried inside one of those trunks as it was to be sitting anywhere else so they had begun digging.
"Harry," Colin called down "this trunk's full of potions ingredients from about a decade ago. Do you mind if I keep it? Some of it could still be of use."
"Knock yourself out," said Harry as he lifted the lid in the trunk in front of him.
Dust and a couple of feathers reacted to the rush of air and blew out of the trunk. Harry coughed and slammed the thing shut.
"What was that?" asked Katie.
"At a guess," said Harry "someone tried merging a chicken with an octopus and was mildly successful."
He shoved the trunk aside and reached for the handle of the next one.
"Hey," exclaimed Katie, pulling something out of the trunk that she was rummaging through "a dragon-hide vest!"
"You guys find all the good stuff," moaned Harry, opening his next trunk "Oh no, wait!"
He reached in and began to pull something out.
Katie goggled at it "Is that a…"
"A huge griffin cuddly toy," said Harry, standing up to fully display the thing. "Why would someone get rid of this?"
Colin leaned forwards and took a big sniff "Uh, Harry…?"
Harry crouched low and took a sniff. He nearly threw up.
"I know why someone got rid of it." he managed to comment before kicking the thing away and was about to send the trunk after it when he spotted something that stopped him.
He leaned down to get a better look and burst out laughing.
Katie and Colin looked at him curiously, but he was laughing too hard to say anything, so instead he just gestured towards the trunk.
The duo moved closer and saw that, writing just inside the lid of the trunk were the words "Property of Cormac McClaggen, aged 11."
Katie laughed so hard that she nearly fell off the stack of trunks.
Colin had to smile at learning this bit of information about one of Gryffindor House's biggest bullies during his years at the school, but he couldn't bring himself to laugh. It was just too disrespectful.
He let the other to laugh for a bit longer before clearing his throat rather loudly. Harry and Katie stopped laughing long enough to look at Colin, who was looking back at them with a rather pointed expression on his face.
The pair sobered up at once and Harry cleared his throat awkwardly "Yeah, you're right Colin. We shouldn't laugh."
"No, we shouldn't," agreed Katie.
Colin nodded and they went back to work.
As distasteful as Cormac McClaggen might have been in life, it wasn't a good show of character to laugh at his misfortunes anymore.
During what had been Harry's sixth year at the school, Cormac and one of their Professors, Horace Slughorn, had been discovered dead in the man's office. Each of them had been found near to a glass. Testing of each glass had shown that each had contained mead that had been laced with a poison. A bottle sitting on a nearby table had been shown to contain the same.
A specialist healer had later confirmed that both Cormac and the Professor had been killed by their drinks.
Later in the year it had been revealed that Draco Malfoy had been the one responsible for the two deaths.
Two deaths that had now, hopefully, been averted.
The figure staggered almost drunkenly out through the door and for the first time in many a year, Morfin Gaunt left the house of his ancestors and felt fresh air on his skin.
He was no longer able to see clearly, but the magic that coursed through his body allowed him to sense the people that were gathered outside the front door of his house. At a guess there were about twenty or so.
He opened his mouth and for the first time in a long time, he made an effort to speak.
Unfortunately all that came out was "Myrhgll glyrk uglp!"
"Cool," said Susan "an Inferius. Dibs!"
Everyone else stepped back as Susan pocketed her wand and pulled out her hammer.
This hammer, it should be explained, was relatively easy to carry around. Whenever Susan had no need of it, it shrank down to be no bigger than your average soup spoon and was easily tucked into Susan's belt. Once she needed it, she had but to grab a hold of it and pull it out from her belt. It would resize in moments and she was free to swing it about, knocking heads of left, right and centre to her heart's content.
Which was exactly what she did now.
She set down the full sized hammer and took a moment to spit once on each hand before rubbing them together and picking up her hammer again.
Morfin was just realising that all but one person had backed away from him. His Inferius instincts were telling him that he ought to attack this woman, but he was too late.
Susan swung her hammer with everything that she had, the result being that Morfin's rotting head was bashed in at the front and detached from his shoulders. The head rocketed backwards, straight through the open door, leaving the rest of the body staggering.
Everyone else, apart from Madam Bones, Lupin and Tonks began clapping.
"Nice shot," commented Lilith.
Susan shook her head "Nah. That was mediocre at best. I could have gotten a much better spin on him."
"You're rather morbid, aren't you?" asked Madam Bones.
"Well, if I didn't love what I do then I'd be depressed," remarked Susan "which does not sound fun in the slightest."
Left unsaid was the fact that Harry had suffered a bit with depression at one point before getting over it, and it was a path that Susan aimed to never walk. Luckily Harry hadn't gone too far down that road before she herself had dragged him back.
"So," said Neville "more Inferi on the inside, do you think?"
"Nah," said Susan "they'd be here by now if there were."
They still had their wands up whilst entering the house, however.
Harry shoved aside a trunk containing a large and ratty old coat made of mink fur and was just reaching for the next trunk when a Cornish pixie flew by, chattering away excitedly.
"Where the hell did you come from?" he asked, even as two more flew by.
"There are all sorts of things in here," commented Katie.
"Apart from this bloody horcrux, it seems," added Colin.
Just then they heard Lavender calling out across the room "Harry, where are you?"
Harry climbed to the top of the mountain of trunks and looked around. He quickly spotted Lavender, who was standing on a tower of furniture. He waved and shouted "I'm over here! Have you found the horcrux yet?"
"Not yet!" she called back "But we found the vanishing cabinet that Draco used to smuggle Death Eaters into Hogwarts. What do you want us to do with it?"
Harry thought for a moment before replying "Seal it so that only you can open it, and find a way to make it easy to relocate!"
Lavender turned and seemed to have a conversation with someone down on the ground. A few moments later he was handed a rather long metal pole and what appeared to be an old fashioned oil lamp.
She used a spell to attach the oil lamp to the top of the pole and the attached the other end the top of the wardrobe.
"How's that?" she shouted to Harry "A never-ending lamp on the end of a twenty foot long pole?"
"That should help us find it again!" Harry called back "Now let's get back to hunting for the horcrux."
Lavender nodded and climbed back down the tower of furniture.
"See?" asked Susan "No more Inferi."
"Fine," groaned Neville "Let's just find this bloody horcrux."
Only seven members of the group had come into the shack, and it was crowded enough like that.
They scanned every surface looking for a hiding place, and Madam Bones soon located it, under a dusty and mouldy old rug. They banished it from existence and tore up the floorboards beneath.
And there it was - a hint of gold, and a black stone.
Remus suddenly felt something come over him, a strange desire.
Neville saw this and addressed the woman standing next to the werewolf "Hold him back, Tonks."
She looked confused at the request, but grasped Lupin's arm all the same.
Susan moved closer to Madam Bones and placed a steadying hand on the woman's shoulder.
"What do you feel?" Neville asked the two of them.
"That that thing could show me my brother, if I so wished it," replied Madam Bones, her voice quiet.
"I could use it," said Remus "it can bring back James and Lily. It could bring back Sirius…"
"Don't let it fool you," said Neville, and his voice was harsh now "There are extremely strong compulsion spells on this object. That is its final defence, to drive you mad with desire. Do you remember what we said before?"
Neither Lupin nor Madam Bones seemed capable of answering, so Tonks spoke up "Touching that ring is a bad idea, wearing it is even worse."
"Exactly," said Neville "You feel the desire to take a hold of this thing because that is exactly what Voldemort wants."
Lupin and Madam Bones both nodded, but also took a step backwards as Neville used a spell to levitate the ring out of its hiding place.
The tension in the room was palpable. Everyone, both inside the building and out could feel the tug of desire that was being caused by the enchantments on the ring.
For a brief moment it seemed as though even Neville hesitated, but then he put on his dragon hide glove and opened a pouch on his belt that was made of basilisk skin. From within he pulled out the fang and with a yell of anger he drove it hard into the ring.
The metal hissed and buckled, and the stone fell out and rolled away. A faint black mist rose up out of the rapidly decaying ring and seemed almost to form a face before disappearing into nothing.
Neville blew out a brew and commented "Well, that's one down."
The students of the Great Hall were just having dinner when some of them heard the voices of people who were coming up the front steps. They silenced their friends and pretty soon the entire hall had stopped to watch the Older Dean Thomas and Anthony Goldstein lead a group of their fellows and three members of the Order of the Phoenix through the Great Hall and up the Marble Staircase.
Once they were gone, noise level in the hall rose again, this time due to the number of students who were eagerly discussing this latest movement of a group of their guests.
Harry had only gone through three more trunks when he heard Lavender shouting again "Harry! I've found the horcrux!"
He jumped down from the mountain of trunks and began sprinting towards Lavender's location. He could hear others running behind him.
It turned out that Lavender was not too far away from the cabinet that she had drawn Harry's attention to earlier.
"Here," she said, beckoning him down one of the aisles.
He followed her and she showed him to a small table, and on that small table there sat a chipped, old marble bust of an ugly warlock, and on top of that marble bust there was…
"That's not a golden cup." observed Scrimgeour as he peered over Harry's shoulder.
"No," replied Harry "no it isn't. It's the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw."
"He must have hidden the cup in Gringotts instead," said Lavender.
"Yes," agreed Harry, pulling on his dragon hide glove.
"Seems a shame to destroy such an historical artefact," said Kingsley.
"It is," said Harry "but it would be an even bigger shame to not!"
Then, before anyone could stop him, he pulled out the basilisk fang and drove it hard into oval shaped sapphire that sat in the middle.
The stone shattered and the metal steamed and buckled. As with the ring, a black mist emerged and seemed to take on the form of an evil, screaming face before vanishing.
"Well, that's that." said Harry, putting the fang back into its pouch.
Just then a shout came across the room "Harry? Are you still in here?"
"We're down here, Dean!" Harry shouted back.
The two groups made their way to each other and eventually met at a point where they were surrounded by numerous giant chess pieces.
"We've got a problem Harry," said Dean as soon as they were face to face.
"What's happened?" asked Harry.
"History, that's what's happened," replied Dean "Regulus Black and Kreacher did go after the locket in this world just like they did in ours. Unfortunately when Regulus was dragged into the underground lake by the swarm of Inferi, he still had the real locket clutched in his hand."
"So," said Harry "the real locket is now at the bottom of an underground lake that is teeming with…"
"Inferi," finished Dean "yes. Yes it is."
Harry drew in a breath and blew it out before saying about the only appropriate thing he could say.
"Bugger."
A/N: Thanks for reading! Hopefully this chapter had cleared up a few questions some people had about Susan's hammer. Please keep in mind that Harry's sword and Lavender's axe work in largely the same way.
I tried to tease something about Harry and Susan's relationship. I'll say here and now that they were never romantically involved, but it is important to say that Susan is definitely the most important person in Harry's live apart from Hermione and their daughter. I will be going into that a lot more.
I hope you enjoyed the scene with Harry, Colin and Katie. It was just a chance to see him interacting with a couple of other characters.
