A/N: Well, I think it's about time we deal with another Horcrux. Let's get rid of the ring.

Disclaimer: I don't Harry Potter, Spyro the Dragon, or any other works referenced in this story. I only own my original ideas.


Chapter 29: The Ring

It was now mid-November, events at Hogwarts had reached relative state of calm, with Umbrage staying quiet, Snape being strict, but better than he had been in the past, and Vaerath continuing his lessons, both in regular classes as well as the extra studies. It was on an otherwise quiet weekend that Vaerath pulled Harry aside to speak with him in his office. When they arrived, Dumbledore there waiting for them.

"Harry, I am pleased to tell you we've got another lead on one of Voldemort's Horcruxes," said Vaerath.

"Good," said Harry, "where is it?"

"We've come across evidence that he may have hidden one in the home of the Gaunts, his mother's family," said Dumbledore, "The Gaunt family was once rather prominent, tracing their line back to a daughter of the Slytherin family. They're gone now, but their home remains. Albus wishes us to investigate".

"When are we going?" asked Harry, "the sooner it's gone, the better".

Vaerath smiled slightly, and then replied.

"I couldn't agree more," said Vaerath, "Normally, students aren't allowed off campus during the school term… except while under escort of a professor".

Harry returned his smirk, and the trio prepared to set out. They headed to the floo, and passed through to their destination. The headed down the street of a typical village, and then they saw it: squatting at the end of the street was an ugly little shack, seemingly composed of whatever junk they could throw together. As well, the sheer dark magic rolling off this place made Grimmald Place seem cheerful and inviting.

"Ah… this must be the place," said Vaerath, "Albus, you said you wished to avoid excess destruction if possible?"

"Yes, however given how stained this place is by dark magic, if it becomes too dangerous, we'll pull back and you'll have my permission to destroy this place," said Dumbledore.

Their trio approached the door, disarming the numerous curses and wards upon the front door. They pushed the door open, and were pushed back a step as the sheer malicious energy within the building struck them.

"I've seen some dark places, but none this bad," said Dumbledore, "That's strike one".

They stepped inside, and looked around the first room. It was no more inviting than the outside, the walls stained with the residue of arcane energies, potions, and whatever else had occurred in here. As well, the room seemed larger than the entire exterior shack.

"Space expansion charms," said Dumbledore, "at least that's normal".

They continued, heading for the door to the next room. When they tried to open it the door suddenly morphed, the wood splitting into a toothy maw. Vaerath reacted quickly, launching a fire spell at the door, burning it to ash.

"That's not normal," said Vaerath.

"Quite, strike two," said Dumbledore.

They moved through the doorway, entering a hallway leading deeper inside. The hall led them to a room whose floor seemed to be sloping downwards. The floorboards seemed to curve and warp towards a hole in the far wall. They couldn't see into the hole, only darkness. Vaerath pulled out the locket, and it pointed right at the hole. Dumbledore cast some detection spells, and frowned.

"I believe what we're looking for is in there," said Dumbledore, "but there are a wide variety of wards and curses surrounding it… including some I've never seen before. It's almost like the Horcrux has created a nexus of dark magic around it. This is not something we should spend too much time in proximity to. We'll likely need a curse-breaker to deal with this. Strike three, we need to get out of here".

When they turned back to leave they were alarmed the see the hallway they had just used had vanished. a quick check revealed it to not be an illusion: they were trapped here.

"That's... not good. What do we do now?" asked Harry.

"We might need to remove the Horcrux to disable this magical barrier. While someone could reach in there and pull the Horcrux out, there's no way to know what might happen to whoever did that," said Dumbledore, "And dismantling it would also be rather tricky".

"I have an idea. This is, as you concretion of particularly dark magic," said Vaerath, "In my experience, the best way to counter darkness is with light. Stand back".

Harry and Dumbledore did so, and Vaerath assumed his draconic form. It was a good thing the expansion charm on this place worked properly. He inhaled deeply, and spat out a beam of pure radiance. The darkness of the Gaunt Shack seemed to be trying to interfere with the breath attack, but it was repelled. The beam struck the wall, which it seemed to shatter, revealing a black mass. The mass and the light breath clashed, and for a moment Vaerath seemed to be winning, but then the dark mass pushed back, emitting a beam of darkness to counter his light… and it was slowly pushing it back. Something needed to be done, something needed to change.

Harry closed his eyes, and thought of what light meant to him. Not just illumination, but also often a symbol of purity, of life, He knew this power... he embraced it, let it flow through him. Without thinking about it, he changed into his dragon form, and spat forth a beam of light, adding his power to Vaerath's. With their combined efforts, the darkness was pushed back, and the mass began disintegrating under their combined efforts.

With one final burst of power, the dark mass completely crumbled, revealing a ring with a red stone on it. As they stopped firing their breath attacks, the ring fell to the ground, looking innocuous. However, all present knew better. Harry could smell the fell energies seeping from the metal. The stone, on the other hand seemed untainted. Dumbledore moved over to examine the ring, and for a moment seemed transfixed by it. He then shook his head, and stepped back.

"Use caution," said Dumbledore, "There's still some form of compulsion on that ring. It tried to lure me to put it on".

"Fire it is then," said Vaerath, "Harry, do you want to do the honors?"

Harry stepped closer, and unleashed his fire breath on the ring. The ring was swiftly consumed, and a shrieking specter flew out of the melting metal. It swiftly flew towards Harry, meaning him scant moments to react. He cast the first spell he could think of that might help.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" shouted Harry.

Instead of summoning his patronus like he expected, the energy of his spell wrapped around him like a second skin. The specter struck the barrier and bounced off. Harry noticed that it seemed damaged by his shield. Realizing this, Harry brought his tailblade to bear, and slashed it through the specter. He half expected it to go right through without effect, but he could feel it striking something solid, and watched as the specter was destroyed.

Harry felt some place a hand on his shoulder, and Harry turned to see Dumbledore standing over him. As harry looked to see where the ring had once been, all that was left was the stone that had once been affixed to the ring. It seemed completely undamaged, despite have just been bathed in dragon fire. Dumbledore bent down, and picked up the stone, looking it over carefully.

"Good work Harry," said Dumbledore, "let's get out of here. I'll send someone to clear this place out later".

"Who are you planning on sending?" asked Vaerath.

"I think Alastor might be the best option," said Dumbledore, "Have you met Alastor yet?"

"You mean Moody?" said Vaerath, "Mr. 'Constant Vigilance'? If anyone of this world can clear this place out, it would be him".

"Well then, this has been quite the excursion gentlemen," said Dumbledore, "but we should be getting back soon".

With that, they left the Gaunt Shack, making their way back to Hogwarts.


A/N: And there we go! Now, there's only one Horcrux unaccounted for. Remember Nagini is with Tom, The Locket is in Dumbledore's possession, and can be destroyed whenever they're ready, and Harry, well we know where he is. The Locket and Nagini will likely be the last two Horcuxes to fall. Anyway, next time, the adventure continues! See you then! For now, I must go reacquaint myself with an a certain purple dragon.