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Chapter 10

*Malfoy Manor*

"AVADA KADAVRA!" Voldemort yelled, killing one of the death eaters who failed to capture Harry at the wedding. The others, including Lucius and the rest of the Malfoy Family, cowered as Voldemort looked them all over. They saw their comrade's lifeless body as he stood over him in deep anger. "I'd like to think that I'm a gracious master. But my patience is easily wearing thin. It's not that you've been defeated... but it's that you've been defeated by muggles." He waited a few seconds to speak again. "MUGGLES!"

"My Lord..." Lucius started to say.

"CRUCIO!" Voldemort shouted, torturing his long, blonde-haired subordinate. Lucius' body contorted every which way, every possible nerve writhing in pain. Then, he felt comfort, as Voldemort ended the curse. "Don't. Interrupt me. Again." Voldemort turned his back for a moment, pacing intentionally until he moved back towards his death eaters. "As I said, I'm gracious, so I'm giving you all another opportunity. I've learned of a way to cripple these muggles emotionally. Unfortunately, I have other business to attend to, so I need some of you to go to California, to a city named Angel Grove."

"My Lord, what's in Angel Grove?"

*Adam's Safe House*

Adam awoke to a delightful aroma in his room. The light was starting to shine through, so he decided that trying to sleep-in probably wasn't going to work, and got out of bed. He walked into the kitchen to see Kat cooking eggs and bacon on the stove. "Coffee's in the pot on the counter," Kat said to him.

"Where did you get the food?" Adam asked as he moved towards the counter, grabbed a mug, and poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Tanya got up early this morning and went to the market to get some," Kat said.

"That girl is amazing." Kat smiled at his compliment of her best friend.

"I'll make sure to let her know how much you appreciate her."

"Haha, thanks. Where is she now?"

"In the shower. Eggs and bacon are almost done, and the toast should be ready."

"Great, I'm starving. Thanks for making this Kat." He grabbed a piece of toast and went towards the refrigerator to grab butter and some jam.

"No problem. I wanted to make sure we got a good start to the day, we have a lot to do."

"Yeah... I don't really know where to start," Adam said as he stuffed a huge bite of toast into his mouth. "We should definitely hit a local library, but I have no clue if they'll have anything in regards to wizard type history."

"Well, if not, we'll have to find a wizarding library." Kat replied.

"And if we can't find that, then we'll need to contact the others, see if we can learn anything from Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Speaking of which, did they say what time we would connect today?"

"No, I would imagine they need to figure out what they're going to do first."

*12 Grimmald Place, Sirius' House*

Unlike Adam, Tanya, and Kat, the six staying at 12 Grimmald Place was not nearly as jovial. They had been on the run all night, so though it certainly seemed that even though they were apparently in a safe place, the general feeling of unease swept each person in the house. Harry was up quickly, and started to look through the house for Sirius' old bedroom. He came upon it at the top level of the stairs, and started to look through it. He saw pictures of the Order, old pictures of him with Harry's father, Remus, and Peter Pettigrew, as well as one with him standing with Harry's Mom and Dad on their wedding day. All of a sudden, a loud voice echoed through the house.

"Harry, come down here quick," Ron shouted from down the stairs. He rushed down the stairs, while the other four, who probably were still sleeping until Ron had woken them up, slowly walked to a door which Ron was standing in front of.

"What is it Ron?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Ronald, tell us what was so riveting that you had to yell throughout the entire house while we were all sleeping," Hermione scolded, which caused Ron to blush.

"Sorry, Hermione, it's just, well, look at what it says on the door." Ron pointed to an engraving that was nailed to the door. It read 'Regulus Arcturus Black.'

"I don't get it... why is this important?" Tommy asked genuinely.

"Well... it's Sirius' brother," Harry said. "Sirius was my Godfather. He died a little over a year ago, killed by Bellatrix."

"Yeah, Sirius' brother... Regulus Arcturus Black... R.A.B," Ron said.

"R.A.B?" Kim asked. "What does that mean?"

"Ron..." Hermione said, before Harry cut her off.

"Now all we need to do is see if the locket is here!"

"Hold on, can someone come back to Earth and pick me up because I'm totally confused," Kim said.

"Yeah, I'm afraid we're not following either," Jason said, with Tommy nodding his head in agreement.

"Let's go downstairs and talk," Harry said. "I'll tell you everything." The six went downstairs and took seats around the table, most of them still in the clothes that they slept in. (However, most of them slept in their clothes from the night before, minus Kim, who had changed into comfortable PJ's) Harry told them the story of the night he went to find the locket of Slytherin with Dumbledore, and how after all the trouble of getting, they found it was a fake due to the letter hidden inside it. The letter was addressed by R.A.B.

"So you think this Regulus guy is the same R.A.B that wrote the letter in the locket?" Jason asked.

"This is big," Kim said. "Good job, Ron."

"Thanks," He replied. "So, we should look in his room, then through the house right? It's gotta be here somewhere."

"Yeah, let's... wait a minute, did you guys hear something?" Harry asked.

"I didn't," Tommy said. At that moment, a tiny bit of noise starting coming from one of the cupboards on the opposite side of the kitchen. "I heard that," he said quietly. Harry got up and started approaching the cupboard, alongside Ron and Jason. On the count of three Harry opened it, and Ron and Jason quickly seized the thing that was in it, and through it into a chair.

"What is that thing?" Kim asked, somewhat in disgust. This thing clearly wasn't human.

"Kreacher!" Harry and Hermione said in unison.

"Uhhh," Kreacher couldn't find the words to say, so he merely left the chair and tried to hide, except Hermione reached out her wand and blocked the exit, while Harry and Ron pulled their wands out and cornered him.

"Sit down, Kreacher," Harry said firmly. "You've been spying on us, have you?"

"Kreacher has been watching," He said.

"Ask him about the locket," Hermione said to Harry.

"FILTHY MUDBLOOD!" Kreacher screamed at Hermione, but Harry quickly pulled out the locket, with Ron shoving his wand in Kreacher's face.

"Do you know anything about this locket?" Harry asked. "Where it might be in the house?"

"Most evil of objects, that locket," Kreacher said.

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked, approaching him.

"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU FILTHY MUG..." Kreacher started to rant again until Ron pointed his wand further into his cheek.

"How do you mean, 'most evil of objects'?" Harry asked again. "Kreacher?"

"Master Regulus gave me that locket before he died, with the instruction to destroy it. Kreacher tried many things, but could never destroy it."

"Where is it now?" Harry asked.

"He came in the night, and took the locket."

"Who did?" Ron chimed in.

"Mun... Mundungus. Mundungus Fletcher."

"Why that little bleeder..." Ron said.

"Find him and bring him back here, Kreacher," Harry said. With that, Kreacher disapparated.

"Ok, so what was that thing?" Kim asked.

"HE is a house-elf, who belonged to Regulus," Hermione said, somewhat in defense of the creature.

"Sorry... I didn't mean to get you in a bad mood... I've just never seen one before," Kim said, recognizing she said something to offend Hermione.

"It's ok, I just don't like that wizards take advantage of them because they are mandated to be servants of their owners," Hermione replied. "Sorry."

"Wait, so if Kreacher belonged to Regulus, and then belonged to Sirius, his must now serve..."

"Me," Harry interrupted Ron's verbal thought process. "I knew he'd listen to me, because by law he must."

"So what do we do now?" Hermione asked.

"Wait for Kreacher to come back," Tommy said. "Let's see if he's able to put us on the right path to find this horcrux. In the meantime, Jason, can you get in touch with Adam and the others, let them know what we've found."

"Sounds good," Jason responded, and then walked through the door and grabbed his communicator out of Hermione's bag to talk to the others. While Jason was doing that, the others decided it was a good time to get cleaned up, get a change of clothes, and grab some breakfast. About an hour and a half later, they all found themselves in the living room, with Jason reporting on what the other group had been doing. "They went to a local library to see if they had anything on the objects we might be looking for, but no luck. Now they've been searching for a wizard library, but don't know where to start."

"Diagon Alley has one, but that would be way too dangerous," Hermione said.

"Yeah, with the Ministry under Voldemort's control, death eaters would relish the idea of torturing muggles who try to use magical things," Harry replied. "Even if it is just a library."

"But how would they be able to tell?" Kim asked. "It's not like they'd go out and scream 'I'm not magical.'"

"They'd be able to tell from the way they dress, talk," Ron said. "Not too mention having no idea about fitting into the culture. My family and I are the same way trying to fit into the muggle world, and my Dad is the one pure-blood wizard you'd talk to about trying to fit in."

"Wait," Jason said. "You said death eaters would be around this Diagon Alley?"

"Yeah," Harry replied.

"What if they went in morphed, and tried to track down info from some of them. Overhear conversations, see where people are going, pick up the latest rumors."

"It's possible, but I severely doubt that they'd lead us to any horcruxes," Hermione said. "Voldemort doesn't seem like the type to publicly broadcast something that would seem to be the key to his immortality. And besides, that would put them in loads of danger."

"At this point, I think we should let them decide," Jason said. "Look, I know they'd be in danger, but I think we should at least share this with them, see if it's a lead they want to follow up on and a risk they're willing to take. I mean, if it were me, and I was running out of options this early in the game, I'd definitely jump at this."

"Yeah, I agree," Kim said. "Adam is more than capable to lead them, and Kat and Tanya can hold their own." Harry, Ron, and Hermione all seemed to disagree, but weren't saying anything.

"Guys, I think I'm leaning towards Hermione on this," Tommy said. "I agree that it's an opportunity, but it's not a solid one. For now, I think they should try to find some safer and surer prospects. If those run dry, then they should check them out.

"Tommy, we could potentially end this now," Kim said, the tone in her voice starting to get more heated.

"Or we run the risk of our friends getting discovered and killed or captured for no reason," Tommy answered back. "We have a strong lead with the locket and they still haven't checked out other options in terms of research. It seems like an unnecessary risk this early in the game." Harry, Ron, and Hermione all seemed relieved, while Kim looked frustrated. Jason, however, seemed content with Tommy's decision.

"So, do you want me to tell them just to keep searching, and that we'll follow up on our lead here?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, I think that sounds good," Tommy said. Jason left with his communicator to go into the kitchen, while Kim stormed off upstairs.

"Kim doesn't look happy, maybe I can go talk to her, girl to girl?" Hermione asked.

"I think she'd like that," Tommy said. With that, Hermione left the room, leaving Tommy with Harry and Ron.

"Why does she get upset like that?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, it seems like there's some tension between you two," Ron added.

"Right, kind of like the same tension between you and Hermione?" Tommy quipped back, making Ron blush a bit. "Hey, sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Kim and I have a bit of a history. We dated for nearly 3 years before she broke up with me in a letter. A lot of it was while she had moved away, I had missed a lot of opportunities to make sure she knew I loved her. She felt, no, feels abandoned by me."

"So, when you two disagree, it seems to her that you are abandoning her?" Harry asked.

"Something like that," Tommy said, running his hand through his long hair. Upstairs Hermione found Kim on the bed she slept in, sitting on the edge.

"Can I come in?" Hermione asked.

"Considering it's your room, too, I think so," Kim said, a little bit more cheerfully.

"Thanks. You seemed upset back there, is everything ok?"

"I don't know, Hermione. I've been trying to figure out what's wrong with me. Every time Tommy disagrees with me, I get so angry. I feel like he doesn't care what I have to say."

"You really care about what he thinks of you, don't you?" Kim stayed silent, and then Hermione realized what was going on. "Oh... you really care about him."

"Since I laid my eyes on him, but I made the mistake of throwing him away. I wrote him a break-up letter. All he wants now is friendship, but even then I don't think he really wants that. I think he just wants to make sure we get the mission done. Then I'll be back out of the picture."

"Kim, I think you're over thinking this a bit, Don't you?" She asked rhetorically. "I mean, I don't think Tommy was disagreeing because it was your opinion. He weighed the options and made a decision. And even more so, I think he really does care for you, because he's willing to disagree when it's for the good of the team. Think about it, if there are negative consequences, it affects everyone, including you." Hermione stopped there, and saw Kim processing what she was saying. "And by the way, I've seen how he looks at you... I don't think he just sees you as an obstacle to get through."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean..." Before Hermione could finish her thought, they heard a loud THUD. Without communicating, the two girls ran downstairs to see what had happened, and joined the others in the kitchen to see Kreacher and another house-elf dragging Mundungus Fletcher through the kitchen door.

"Dobby?" Harry said.

"Harry Potter, so good to see you sir," he replied, letting go of Mundungus and walking towards them on the table in the middle of the kitchen. "You too Master Weasley, Miss Granger." He turned to look at the three rangers, who, remembering Kreacher's anger towards Tommy when he spoke to him, were a bit confused as to how to talk to the little green house-elf. "I don't know who you three are, but if you're friends of Harry Potter, I am delighted to know you! I am Dobby."

"Hey!" They all turned to see Mundungus struggling with Kreacher hanging on him. "If this is about, what happened to 'Mad-Eye.'"

"Sit down, Mundungus," Harry said sternly. He sat in one of the chairs at the table with a newspaper in front of him with Kreacher jumping off him, but watching him carefully.

"There was a locket that used to be in this house, it looked like this," Harry said, as he showed him the fake one. "Do you have any idea where it is now?"

"I... uh..." Mundungus stammered.

"You took it, didn't you?" Tommy accused.

"Where is it?" Harry asked, this time inching closer to him with his wand drawn.

"Yes, I took it... I raided this place after ol' Sirius died, tried to make a few galleons selling items in Diagon Alley," Mundungus said. "I found the locket, among other things. And then, there I was, when this ministry hag came up and nearly busted me, until she saw the locket. Made me give to 'er."

"Who was she?" Hermione asked. "Who was the witch?"

"Well she..." Mundungus looked down, astonished at the picture he saw. "She's right here, in the paper." At that point, Tommy, who was on the other side of Mundungus grabbed the paper and looked at the picture and caption.

"Who is it Tommy?" Ron asked.

"I don't know, I think it's some old professor at your school," he replied. "It says right here, 'professor stands for school reform.'"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jason asked. Kim shrugged, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione all had a bad feeling of who this could be.

"Wait... here's her name," Tommy continued. "Professor Dolores Jane Umbridge." When Tommy said the name, it was like the air was sucked out of the room.

"Is there a problem?" Kim asked the three young wizards. Harry looked at Mundungus, then back to his friends.

"To find the locket, we need to go to the Ministry of Magic."

To be continued...

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- Googz333