Sorry about the delay folks. Life took full control these past couple of weeks so i updated two chapters to attempt to keep you all happy! Kit. xxx

Chapter 29:

"It's down here on the right." Harry said, leading the way down the wide street.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked, trusting Ron's footsteps as she followed close behind them, her face hidden behind a large copy of the map she had found in the local library. "It says here that the orphanage is on the left."

She looked up and pointed to a red-brick building which had a small wall running around a single, well preserved flower bed.

Harry glanced at the brass plaque nailed next to the door as he passed and hesitated, spying the name of their destination upon it. "What the…?"

"See," Hermione said, folding up her map. "Just where I said!"

Harry shook his head and looked up at the tall building. "But it looks nothing like Riddle's orphanage." he said.

Ron glanced around them as they stood on the pavement. "Looks like the whole area has been done up recently." he observed, and gestured to a recently paved play park across the road. "I'm sure they didn't have anything like that back in Riddle's day."

"Riddle's day…" Harry repeated, taking a look at the park before glancing back at the sign and a look of understanding replacing his previous look of confusion.

"Hermione, when would you say Tom went to this orphanage?" he asked.

She shrugged slightly, "I can't remember the exact dates." she said. "But I guess it must have been just after the time of the great wars. Why?"

"Exactly." Harry said triumphantly. "This isn't the right orphanage." He turned and started walking down the street again.

"How do you know that for sure?" Hermione asked, taking long strides to catch up. "Maybe they extended, or even rebuilt the whole building…"

"Rebuilt." Harry confirmed. "The door plaque said that the building had been erected to replace the old orphanage in 1982. Which means we're still looking for the original orphanage."

"Wouldn't they have just built the new one on top of the old one?" Ron asked.

"I doubt Old Mouldy would have let muggles get away with something as simple as knocking down a building that meant so much to him." Harry said.

He stopped again and pointed to a dirty little building that was stuck between a local shop and the entrance to a public toilet. "There it is."

"Don't you think muggles would've found it odd that they couldn't knock down that building when they built the new ones around it?" Ron mused.

"I imagine they couldn't" Hermione said in wonder. "Much like the Leaky Cauldron, muggles are probably no longer aware that it even exists."

"Which means there is a good possibility that Voldemort added the notice-me-not charms to protect something very valuable inside." Harry added excitedly as they walked up to the building.

"Great." Ron said unenthusiastically. "You must be the only person alive that gets excited with the prospect of meeting part of Voldemort's soul face-to-face."

"No. It just means that we are one step closer to finishing this." Harry said seriously.

Ron hung his head slightly. "Fair enough." he said. "So, how do we get in?"

Harry looked at his friend and with a small smirk raised his hand to the door handle, gave it a twist and pushed open the door.

Ron spluttered a little as Harry gave a mock bow and invited him to walk in first. "It shouldn't be that easy." Ron muttered, stepping through the door tentatively.

"I doubt the rest will be." Hermione said as followed him into the dark and dusty corridor.

Large cobwebs that hung in the corners moved in the light breeze that blew in from the outdoors, pushing its way through the staleness almost as if it were trying to bring the building back to life.

The three friends moved as one further into the building, and spun with wands drawn as the front door slammed behind them, effectively returning the orphanage back to its undisturbed state.

"They actually allowed children to stay in a place like this?" Hermione asked, squinting into the shadows to look at the filthy décor.

"I imagine it was a lot cleaner when it was open." Ron said with a small smile.

"I wouldn't be so sure…" she replied, returning his weak smile.

"I may not have a lot to thank the Dursley's for." Harry spoke out. "But if Dumbledore had left me on the steps of a place like this, I'd have been even more like Voldemort, and most likely be standing at his side this very moment."

Silence fell upon the threesome as they digested his words, each imagining their possible fate should Harry have been tempted towards the dark side.

Their silence was interrupted by Ron's hand falling firmly onto Harry's shoulder as he faced away from them. "That would've never happened, Harry." he said.

"Because of my innate goodness? Because I'm "the Chosen One"? Or the false hope that I'm the one chance the world has of returning to some semblance of peace?" Harry asked bitterly.

"Nah," Ron said. "Because every bad guy needs a good guy to beat him. And I can't be bothered to play hero today!"

Harry didn't say anything, just kept his back to his friends and ignored Ron's attempt at lightening the atmosphere as he stared up the dark stairs that led up to the next floor.

Hermione met Ron's eyes and gave him a small smile at his failed attempt. "So, where do we start?" she said quietly, her voice sounding heavy in the gloom.

"His room." Harry replied with no hesitation and without even a glance at his two friends started walking up the stairs, the old unmaintained floorboards groaning in protest at his added weight.

As Harry led them up several flights of stairs, they passed halls that had peeling wallpaper instead of paintings or portraits. Small, dark creatures scurried out of sight at every corner they turned. Ron started to say they should only be worried if they slithered instead of crawled, but Hermione gently shushed him, her attention drawn to Harry's uncharacteristic focus on the task ahead.

He levelled out after passing three floors and hesitated slightly before taking a left turn and walking cautiously down what must have been the gloomiest corridor of them all.

All the windows that lined one side of the walkway were covered with broken black blinds, and the light that did manage to break through from outside threw columns of dusty rays that cut through the darkness. Even though this was a sharp contrast to the darkness, the light itself was darkened by a thick film of dirt over each pane of glass, adding to the eerie and foreboding atmosphere.

Half way down the corridor, Harry halted, causing his friends to stop behind him, one standing at each shoulder.

He turned his head to the left and nodded at the closed door.

"It's in there." he said.

"You sure?" Ron asked nervously, glancing up and down the corridor. "It could be any of these freaky-looking doors on this corridor. Why does it have to be this one?"

"I've been here before." Harry reminded him. "In Dumbledore's memories. Besides, I think the snake gives it away."

He pointed at a painting of a green snake on one of the panels of the door that could only have been produced by a small child. It's unpractised colouring and large triangular patterns on its scales gave it almost a cartoon look, though most of the artist's attention had been evidently given to the sketching of the snake's eyes. Faint pencil marks that had been erased out several times before the final lines had been inked in gave the snake shadows around its eyes that almost made you believe it was real.

"You don't think he has used this picture as some sort of guard do you?" Hermione asked quietly.

Harry cocked his head slightly to one side as he swore the gaze of the child's picture moved to Hermione's face as she spoke.

"No" Harry said. "But I do believe it is here to grant or deny us access to the room."

He bowed his head at the picture, and concentrating on the mental image of a proper snake hissed. "Greetings." in parseltongue.

He raised his gaze once again to meet that of the drawing.

"What did you say?" Ron asked. "Did it work?"

Harry closed his eyes briefly, once more picturing the snake before hissing "Open".

Almost instantly there was a sharp click and the door opened itself, creaking open barely an inch before stopping.

"Thanks." Harry hissed, before placing a hand on the door, his other gripping his wand tightly and pushing the door open with a firm shove. "I don't think it was designed to talk back." he explained as he entered the room.

Inside the room was pretty much how Harry remembered it. A dusty window embedded the wall opposite the small cot, beside which stood a bedside table with a single drawer. The only other piece of furniture in the room was a wooden cupboard against the wall opposite the door, almost inviting any curious intruder to walk straight across the room to investigate.

"When Dumbledore showed me his memories of meeting Riddle here, he used magic on the cupboard to prove that he was a real wizard." Harry said. "It must've been the turning point of Tom's life, finally knowing that he was different, but not in a bad way."

"Hence you've been so certain there was a horcrux here." Hermione confirmed, repeating Harry's reasoning from their discussions during the summer.

"But if Dumbledore know this place was important for Voldemort, why didn't he come searching for the horcrux sooner?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged, casting his eyes around the doorframe in case there were any obvious traps before stepping into the bedroom. "I guess he wanted to locate the harder ones first." he said. "He probably wanted to make this job easier for us should he not be around to help. Or maybe he really thought that this place may have been a sign of weakness for Voldemort. When he visited here he caught Tom stealing and hiding other peoples' belongings in the cupboard. He had a box full of treasures on the top shelf that Dumbledore told him to return to their rightful owners before coming to Hogwarts."

"But with news like what he had just heard, I'm guessing simple muggle treasures lost their meaning, and suddenly Tom's treasure box was able to hold something much more meaningful." Hermione said.

"Like part of his soul." Ron agreed, and looked to Harry who was now standing, unmoving, several feet into the room. "What's the plan?" he asked.

Harry seemed to mentally shake himself and stepped forward until he was standing directly before the cupboard.

"We try and get in without killing ourselves." he said, casing his eyes over the doors before gently tugging on the handle to confirm it was locked tight.

"Do you think it could be parseltongue again?" Ron asked,

"Open!" Harry hissed.

The doors remained closed but the three of them jumped as the bedroom door behind them slammed shut.

"Why do they always do that?" Ron hissed, slightly breathless at the fright and gripping his wand firmly.

"Probably just the wind." Hermione said, fully aware that they hadn't felt a single breeze since the moment the front door had closed.

"Right," Harry falsely agreed, knowing that his agreement meant nothing to Hermione's lie.

He looked back at the cupboard and frowned. "No" he said, with slight humour to his voice. "Surely that would be too easy."

"Make what too easy?" Hermione asked.

Harry rummaged in the pockets of his cloak and pulled out a small knife.

"In the cave Dumbledore took me to, he had to sacrifice blood to get the cave to open up. Seeing that this cupboard doesn't respond to parsel-tongue…" He placed the knife against his palm but hesitated and looked up at his friends. "One of you can remember how to do a simple healing charm, right?"

Ron looked to his left at Hermione, who nodded and raised her wand a little to show she was ready.

Sucking in his breath, Harry quickly drew the knife across his palm and flicked the stream of blood at the doors. With a shimmer the door's fell open a crack as the blood drops landed on it, and Harry turned to Hermione who quickly healed the cut.

"Did Dumbledore really get you do that in the cave?" she asked, looking at the thick smear of blood left on Harry's palm.

Harry looked a little sheepish, gently flexing his hand. "No." he admitted. "He claimed my blood was much too valuable."

Ron gave a short laugh." And you didn't think of listening to him before cutting yourself?"

Harry shrugged. "It was my blood that opened the door on the way out anyhow." he said, trying to peer into the darkness through the semi-open cupboard door. "I had grazed my arm on the stone, and he was in no condition by that time to help much."

He gently pushed the end of his wand into the gap and pushed at the one of the doors until it opened with a load groan.

Harry nearly jumped out of his skin when something suddenly gripped his arm. He turned to find Hermione staring into one of the corners, her wand hand raised.

"I thought I heard something." she said quietly.

Ron moved up to stand beside her. "There's nothing there." he said after a moment. "But the walls are thin. Could it be something in the next room, maybe?"

A slight movement to Harry's right jerked his attention back to the cupboard where something was clearly moving inside. He moved closer, trying to get a clearer look when, with a sudden rush of air, a man in a dark cloak and a white mask pushed the door open and reached for him.