December 4th, 1979 - 13:00 - Little Hangleton

Hermione kept her foot fall light as she moved across the threshold of the decaying shack, her wand drawn and the soft glow of artificial light gleaming from the tip as she looked around what appeared to have been the livingroom at one point in time. Despite opting to visit this place in the light of day (partially in hopes of making it less spooky than their last Horcrux retrieval), the overgrown trees that hid the homestead from the view of prying Muggle eyes did well to block any sunlight out. Additionally, the windows had been long boarded up with thin sheets of wood likely reclaimed from the inside of the house, if she had to guess by the missing floorboards.

The house smelled of decay, but what had died inside she could not be certain. The stench made her stomach turn violently in revolt. Her free hand lifted to cover her mouth and nose as she retched, head turning to the side to try and get some of the fresh breeze from outside the crumbling home. Her fingers grasped the thick rust colored scarf that was loosely tied around her neck and she lifted it quickly to cover her nose and mouth in an attempt to filter out the vile smell.

It had taken her nearly four hours to break through the wards Voldemort had placed on the decrepit home, something she had thought she was prepared for, but it seemed she did not truly grasp the depth of Voldemort's ability to place wards until this very moment. He was powerful, that much was well known, but the power she had been witness to had been in offensive spellwork, not defensive. By the time she had managed to break down the numerous wards, her fingers ached from the tiny cuts that they gave her during her attempts at breaking through them; small and penetrating, their magic cut deep in an attempt to thwart her. And her arms felt heavy, as if laden with stones. But when that final sizzle popped, letting her know she had cleared the home of Voldemort's spells, she felt an indescribable burst of energy. Retrieving the Ring from this shack was something Dumbledore had done alone in her time. It had been the very first Horcrux collected and destroyed. It had set into motion the events of her seventh year. He had not asked for Harry's assistance when coming here, because for as wise and omniscient as Dumbledore was, he likely still held doubts about what he was looking for in this place.

"You alright, Little bird?" Sirius questioned from behind, still on the earthen floor outside the home, ironwood wand lifted up to provide light in the dark shadow that surrounded the outside. His shaggy black hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, but the front strands hung loose around his unshaven face. He had been hesitant to come here when Hermione told him the exact location of this Horcrux. Visiting Voldemort's family home sounded like a fucking terrible idea, especially after he heard the family name. Gaunt. That was a name Sirius was all too familiar with. They were part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, and at one time, considered a most noble and ancient house. Even in the Pureblood society their ideals were deemed rather unbecoming. Marrying siblings, or first cousins. Sirius' own family tree was riddled with narrowly set branches (take a look at his fucking parents for proof) but even the Blacks thought to intermarry too closely was rather foul. Of course, there was also the fact that the family had a history of a very peculiar gift, Parseltongue.

Which was why when she said the family name as casually as one might discuss the weather forecast, Sirius about fell out of his bed in shock. Nature's Nobility had made no mention of there being any Gaunt heirs in present day, but then again he had not been forced to lay eyes on those faded pages in years.

Leading up to their departure, a sense of unease began to creep more and more into the plan, and when Remus had to regretfully decline attending due his monthly little problem, Sirius almost put his foot down and demanded that they reschedule. Hermione had nothing regarding the unknowns about what lay around this particular Horcrux, and Sirius was right to assume that if he had placed hoards of inferi around the last one, then this one might not be so different. In the end Hermione had won the argument, but mainly because she was able to logically point out that the majority of the Horcruxes they were after were not similarly placed like the locket.

"I'm alright… it just smells like death," Hermione explained, her voice muffled by the scarf. She tried her best to breathe through her mouth, hoping it might lessen the impact of scent in the air. She lowered her wand to the floor, careful to light her step as she moved into the house cautiously. Each step she took caused the floorboards to creak in protest. Cockroaches scurried away from the light, darting under what appeared to be pieces of furniture in various states of disrepair. Sliding her boot out, she gave a weak looking board a nudge and watched it nearly cave in on itself. "Be careful in here."

Grabbing the neck of his cotton shirt, Sirius pulled it up over his nose before ascending the stairs into the house to follow Hermione. His eyes instantly watered at the sharp smell, and despite being warned of the stench, he had not properly prepared himself for the penetrating aroma. It seeped into his clothing, and the thin cotton shirt was no resistance to it. "Fucking hell," he managed before lifting his arm so he could tuck his face into the crook of his elbow. "What the hell is that smell?"

Hermione maneuvered around an overturned couch, brown eyes carefully assessing the room as she moved through it, careful to leave no part unsurveyed. Dumbledore had mentioned the ring had lay in a box beneath the floorboards, but where exactly was the million galleon question, wasn't it? "I'm not entirely sure, but I am hoping we don't find out."

Sirius gave a fleeting glance at the opened doorway he had just walked through, debating using a spell to direct fresh air into the shack, but judging by the state of disrepair it was in, with one good gailwind the whole thing might come toppling down on them. "Right… so remind me again, what are we looking for?"

"A gold box. There was mention of it being beneath the floorboards so I am trying to see-"

"Accio Box," Sirius cut her off, his wand still outstretched in front of him and when nothing came darting towards him or even rattled to give away the location he frowned. "Accio Ring…?"

Hermione looked over her shoulder, her amused expression hidden beneath the thick scarf wrapped around her head. "You do know that won't work…I'm fairly certain I've told you that before."

"Well...I figured at the very least it was worth a shot," Sirius shrugged, his arm still covering his face and he winked at his girlfriend before turning his head to look around the room.

Hermione snorted, shaking her head as she turned back around so she could watch the floorboards as she moved around the rotting frame of a couch. "Like I was saying. I am trying to see if there are floorboards that appear different from the rest. Something that might give away that it is untouched like the rest of the house."

"Untouched. Got it," Sirius repeated as his gray eyes scanned the opposite side of the room she was on. The far wall was crumbling, and through the massive holes in the drywall he could see the remains of what was once a kitchen on the other side. "I'll take the kitchen, you got it in here?"

"Sounds good. Just be careful. The flooring is weak," Hermione warned as she slid the toe of her boot across the ground in front of her testing the rigidity of the floorboard before she took her next step.

"Really? Couldn't tell." Sirius knew his sarcasm was not needed, but this place gave him a terrible feeling and he had to try and make it at least tolerable until they found the damn thing and hightailed it out of here. "Just shout if you find it… or the source of the smell."

Hermione lifted her hand to wave him off before crouching down to lift the small corner of a thin sheet off of a small rubbish pile with the tip of her wand. Just as the shroud was pulled back, the sight of decaying skeletal remains came into view. The leathered skin stretched tight across the skull, clumps of black hair hung like strings and the clothing that they wore when they were left here hung off their bones. Hermione watched as out of the eye socket a thick millipede scurried into the base of the skull to disappear from the soft light of her wand and her skin instantly began to crawl. Every instinct in her body that Auror training had tried to combat rose to the surface and a loud scream left her lips. She scrambled back, no longer paying any heed to the warning she had just given her boyfriend as flashbacks of the cavern came into her mind. The unbidden memories assaulted her consciousness like a tidal wave, all-consuming and stealing every last ounce of air in her lungs. The inferi, the feeling of the potion, it all hit her at once and she was suddenly feeling more trapped inside this house than she had been moments ago.

Her heartbeat thundered against her chest, pumping blood so quickly she was sure the ringing in her ears was from it as opposed to her own scream and as she scrambled backward, her right foot broke through a loose floorboard and she fell backwards. A sharp stab of pain shot down her leg as the splintered end of the board bit into the back of her knee and pierced through her jeans into her soft skin.

Sirius moved quickly, his arm dropping away from his face as he pushed past the piles of decaying furniture to make his way to her, heavy boots pounding against the broken floor. "Hermione!" He pushed himself over the back of the couch with one jump, using the visible springs in the cushions to lessen his fall before he hit the ground near were she was stuck in the floorboards. Gray eyes darted in the direction of what she had fled from, and as the image of the corpse was registered he inhaled sharply before averting his eyes back to his girlfriend who was still struggling to get away. "Hey… hey it's okay. It's okay, Little bird." He spoke softly in hopes of calming her down just enough so she could pull herself out of the sudden wave of terror that had taken hold of his normally composed girlfriend. Reaching out, his hand met her shoulder and he felt her body quake with fear. "It's dead…it's okay."

"S-Sirius," she whispered, wide eyes looking up to him, confused for a moment, but when he touched her cheek, his soft words washing over her like some sort of wandless magic, the hammering of her heart began to calm to a dull roar. It was dead… this wasn't like the last time. This wasn't one of those… fuck. "I-I'm sorry… I-I forgot," she apologized for her weakness. For thinking that the physical healing of her wounds from the last retrieval also meant her emotional ones were patched up enough. Reaching out she grabbed a fistful of the front of his jacket and try to pull herself from the floorboards, but only managed to dig the splinters further into her leg.

Sirius' hand dropped to her leg that was disappearing beneath the shattered floorboards, "Hey. I got you. Relax. You're caught, Little bird," he instructed the witch as he wound his other arm around her waist, his wand nudging her elbow, and he eased her forward until he felt the wood release the hold it had on her jeans before carefully lifting her out of the hole that she had created. "Can you stand?"

"I...I think so." She kept her eyes off the dead body, not trusting herself not to give into the fear once more. It had all been too much. The scent of death, the decaying corpse and the crumbling home. She had allowed herself to play into the scene that Voldemort had created. She hated herself in this moment for being so damn weak, for allowing him to get to her, but she hated him more. For being so fucking twisted and creating this wretched thing in the first place. Finding her footing, she locked her knees to prevent them from giving out on her.

"I'm going to look at your leg, and then you're waiting outside… I can find this stupid box on my own." Sirius' voice was firm, letting her know there was no point in trying to argue with him in this very moment.

As much as she wanted to tell him that she would manage, a part of her was slightly grateful for him taking the lead. Hermione knew she was strong, and capable of handling this situation if needed, but having someone there in her corner telling her it was okay to let down her guard, even for a nanosecond was a welcome relief. She watched him crouch down behind her, his wand nestled between his lips as he used his hands to smooth out the back of her jeans, and she felt him tug on her pants before a ripping sound could he heard and she twisted at the waist to see what the hell he thought he was doing "Hey!"

"I need to look at it!" he managed around his wand, glancing up to her, and his hand rose to her hips and he straightened her body as best as he could. "Now stay still," he instructed, his eyes dropping once more to assess the damage she had done. Pieces of floorboard nestled underneath the soft skin, and small trickles of blood ran down her legs, being pulled by gravity toward her ankle. All in all, he had seen worse from her, but it seemed she was bound and determined to injure herself ever damn mission they had gone on. He knew she was worried about him not making it to her timeline, but at the rate she was going she might not make it back either! He frowned at the thought after pulling his ironwood from between his teeth, and he cast a cleaning charm to the injury which earned him a hiss in disapproval as the magic ate away the dirt from the wound. "Alright. I got this from here… you go wait outside."

Hermione didn't move, and when she felt Sirius' hands on her hips, trying to guide her backward away from the hole in the floorboards her head shook and she looked over her shoulder to him before back down into the blackness. "It's down there."

"What?" Sirius questioned, frowning as he looked over her shoulder to the hole. There was no light in it, which made it impossible for her to see anything past the broken boards framing it. "How do you know?"

Hermione's tongue darted out, moistening her dry lips, and she took a slow step backwards, her body pressing further against his. "Because I...uh… I can hear it?... No I can feel it. I'm not sure how to… describe it but it's down there."

"Hear it," Sirius repeated quizzically as he moved out of her way to step closer to the hole, trying to see if he could make out anything inside the penetrating darkness. "It's a bloody ring, what do you mean you can hear or feel it? Did you become part Niffler without my knowledge?"

"It's a soul trapped in a ring, Sirius. It's not exactly a normal piece of bloody jewelry," Hermione corrected, her fingers tightening their hold on her vinewood to the point of her knuckles turning white. "And it is down there...it wants to be found," she assured her boyfriend before pointing her wand in the direction of the broken floorboards. "Lumos!" The white light that had been fixed on the tip of her wand floated toward the hole, the small orb bouncing in the air like a butterfly, and without any hesitation it moved into the crevasse, the soft light illuminating beneath the house to reveal a massive network of thick stringy tendrils and vines.

Sirius edged closer to the hole before crouching down, his lips pursing as he eyed the vines with apprehension. "If it wants to be found it should bloody fucking come up since it's so sentient," he grumbled, twisting his wand between his hands as if weighing his options as to how he would locate the box beneath the roots. Maybe if he thought about it like working on his motorbike it wouldn't be so bad? Grabbing his wand with his left hand, he pushed the sleeve of his shirt up to his elbow before leaning down and plunging his arm into the depths.

They felt slimy, and cool to the touch, which really was not shocking considering there was snow outside on the ground. What had begun to alarm him was the way it felt like the vines were almost pulsing, like they were alive. Pushing the thought away, he shoved his hand deeper into the massive network until he lay nearly flat against the dusty floor trying to blindly find the box she was certain was beneath. When his fingers brushed against something hard, he had thought he might have found the earth, but it felt too cold...and etched. Like whatever it was had engravings on it. "Found it."

Hermione had not moved a muscle, as if petrified watching him. The corpse was less than ten feet from the hole, and providing a looming backdrop. She knew she was supposed to go outside and wait for him, preferably somewhere far away from the dead body and the looming darkness inside this hovel, but something told her to wait. "Don't open the box!" she said quickly, taking a tentative step closer towards him. "If it opens drop it...the ring is cursed."

"Now you tell me," Sirius grumbled, a heavy puff of air swirling the dust on the floorboard in front of him, and he wrapped his hand around the etched box and began to try and tug it up from the vines. At first Sirius thought it might just be his mind playing tricks on him, given that he was shoulder deep in a hole in the middle of a rather eerie shack, but then it happened again. The vines were moving, sliding against his arm and wrist. "Uh...Little bird," Sirius called out hesitantly, pausing his movement for a moment to confirm what he was feeling, and his face began to slowly drain of colour as his own fear set in. "...what do you know about herbology?"

"Uh...I mean it was not my favorite subject but I know enough...why?" Hermione questioned, her brow knitting in confusion. What was he playing at? This was clearly not the time to question her academics standings in Herbology!

"Because I'm fairly bloody certain this isn't just ivy and roots." Suddenly a thick tendril wrapped around his wrist and he was yanked roughly into the hole, his torso slamming against the floorboards that cracked at the impact. "Bloody fuck!" Sirius yanked on his arm, pushing on the floor with his other hand to provide him some sort of leverage as his hand tightened its hold on the engraved box.

Hermione watched as thick roots rose from the small cracks in the floorboards, bursting through holes in the wood and began towards Sirius, wrapping themselves around his boots and waist. Devil's Snare! How could she had not fucking seen that coming? Raising her wand she pointed it towards the vines, and her mouth opened to perform a spell she knew all too well, but suddenly a thick root burst from beneath her feet, shattering the spot she stood on. "Lum-AHH!"

Sirius's head snapped back to her just in time to watch as thick roots swallowed her up and pulled her beneath the floorboards. "Motherfucker!" Sirius cursed, his teeth gritting, and he pulled as hard as he could, successfully dislodging his arm from the sentient vines with the small tarnished gleaming box in his hand. "WHAT IS THIS?" Sirius shouted, kicking at a new set of roots that broke through the floorboards to try and grab at his legs.

Hermione knew she was supposed to stay still and calm, and under different circumstances she would have, but as soon as four tendrils began to wind around her throat all logical thought vanished and she began to thrash and kick. She jabbed the tip of her wand into one of the roots and with a wordless charm the plant loosened its grip as a small round burn mark was left on the tendril. "DEVIL'S SNAAAAAAAAAARR-" she rasped out as loud as she could, digging her heels into what she assumed was more veins, trying to kick her way back to the surface.

Devil's' Snare? Sirius knew this plant! They had potted in during third year. What the hell had Sprout taught them?! His mind raced through what felt like archives of old useless information as he was slowly dragged backward towards the hole. Fire? Did it not like fire? No, that didn't sound right… Salt? Aversion to salt… fuck, no...what the bloody hell was it. SUN! They don't like the sun! Looking up at the ceiling, Sirius could make out hints of light through the holes in the rafters. Raising the ironwood toward the sky, Sirius shouted. "Bombarda Maxima!"

The white hot light of the spell burst from the end of the ironwood and hit the ceiling. It was as if in the moment the world had moved into slow motion. He watched as a mushroom cloud of magical energy spread out along the rafter, shaking the wooden beams of the ceiling before the sound caught up with the spell. The cacophony was deafening as the blast tore through the ceiling and created a massive hole in the treeline, letting the bright afternoon sun into the home as shingles, wood and nails rained around them.

The Devil's Snare instantly retreated as the warmth of the sunlight burst into the room. Neither of them could hear a thing over the ringing that the spell had left in their ears, but Hermione was almost certain the plant seemed to shriek in protest as it released her instantly to retreat under what was left of the crumbling floor of the Gaunt Shack. Grabbing the closest edge of the floorboard, Hermione hoisted herself up inside the house once more. Splinters of wood lodged in her curls and a heavy cloud of dust hung in the air, clouding her view of Sirius but she could make out his outline through the haze. She pushed herself up from the floor, hand waving in front of her as she coughed through the smoke, eyes narrowing to try and make out a clearer picture of Sirius as he moved towards her.

His hair had fallen loose from his ponytail, dirt and dust clung to his clothing, but he was unscathed. As he approached his wand was still held tightly in one hand while the other held the box. The whole reason they had come here in the first place. "Two more?"

Hermione nodded, her hand curling a fist in front of her mouth to capture her cough.

Sirius let out a heavy breath, glancing around them to the remaining walls of the house that still stood. The door they had walked through had collapsed, which meant they were either apparating directly from the home or climbing through a hole in the wall. Reaching out he placed the box in her hand before pulling her to him, his arms winding around her torso as his hands went up to the back of her head, picking out a couple of the large chunks of wood. "Next time we're bringing Lily."

Hermione looked up, her chin resting against his chest as she cocked her head to the side. "Lily? Why would we bring Lily? James would never be okay with sending her."

Sirius' right hand moved, tucking the strands of curls on the right side of her face behind her ears. "We already passed the Potions test, this was Herbology. That leaves Care of Magical Creatures and Transfiguration, both of which I got down. You're tops in Ancient Runes and Anthrimancy. The only leaves Charms. Lily's a fucking beast in Charms."

"You do know this isn't an exam, right?" Hermione questioned with a small laugh, her hard expression softening.

"You should really tell Volde-dick that, because from where I'm standing, we just passed two N.E.W.T's getting those things," Sirius replied matter-of-factly, reaching down to guide her arm around his waist, and once she grabbed a hold of the back of his jacket, he cast his eyes skyward, looking through the trees to the light blue and thought of home.


December 9th, 1979 - 06:00 - Tutshill

"Don't touch it!" Hermione snapped from across the snow-covered yard, brown eyes flashing at Regulus who had begun to open the small golden box on the patio table.

Regulus jumped; the cigarette that hung loosely in his lips tumbled into his lap and he stood up quickly, patting at his crotch to push the fallen embers off of himself. His brother who was sitting next to him on old patio furniture had obviously found the whole scene amusing because he had to pause puffing on his own cigarette to let out a loud series of belly laughs. Shooting him a hard look, Regulus reached out to pluck Sirius' cigarette from between his fingers and he tossed it into the snow at his feet where his own had fallen. "Asshole," he grumbled before looking back over to the witch who was magically repairing a cement birdbath across the lawn with the help of the werewolf.

Sirius wiped the corner of his eyes with his knuckles. If losing a perfectly good cigarette meant he got to watch Regulus frantically try to make sure his trousers weren't set ablaze, Sirius would have happily given up several packs. The mental image would last him a lifetime. "She had already warned you not to touch it when you arrived."

The cold morning air hung around the small cottage, blurring the fields around them with the thick fog. When Regulus had apparated to this place, as directed in the letter, he almost immediately left. It was bloody cold, and far too early in the morning for him to be dealing with this sort of shit, but when he heard Hermione's voice call out to him through the fog, he simply tucked his scarf tighter around his neck and prayed that whatever she promised to show him was worth the fucking effort. Of course, where he sat right now it seemed hardly worth it. "I can fucking touch the other one. Why is it such a big deal?"

Hermione tucked her wand into the pocket of her peacoat, eyeing the repair job on the birdbath skeptically. They didn't need it to last long, so she didn't think it would make a bit of a difference if it wasn't perfect, but the perfectionist in her was crying. "Because the locket isn't cursed. The ring is," Hermione explained sharply as she turned around to look at the set of brothers on the patio.

She could not help but notice how vastly different they appeared, even now. Regulus was put together, as any Pure-Blood boy should be. Pressed gray wool trousers, a dark navy thick double breasted caped overcoat, cream scarf. And although she could not see what he wore beneath his coat, she would not be surprised if there was an ascot and vest. His hair was swept back, carefully combed into an very regal pompadour. Despite his physical beauty being less than his brother's, Regulus seemed to ooze an appeal that was undeniable, even to Hermione.

And then there was Sirius. The wizard she was certain was the love of her life. The sharpness of his cheeks was visible under the week's worth of black stubble. Even in his less than put together state, there was no denying he was the more handsome of the pair. It could be that the gray in his eyes was warm, like smoke from a smoldering fire, as opposed to cold and hard like steel, or the fact that he always had the hint of a mischievous smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. Sirius was the prime example of the boy most parents warned their daughters (or sons in his case) about. His shoulder length black hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail at the base of his neck, loose strands of hair he had not collected framing his face. A dirty charcoal gray hooded sweatshirt was worn underneath his leather jacket and a pair of tight muggle jeans that had seen the inside of his workshop more often than not had been pulled from his designated 'not too dirty' pile of clothing from his bedroom floor before leaving the house. He was a dangerous collection of her favorite things.

"So unless you do not wish to maintain existing, I would suggest you heed my warning." Hermione's boots crunched through the snow as she moved over to the table where they sat to collect the dark artifacts.

"How do you know it's cursed?" Regulus lifted a brow to her, a look of disbelief prevalent on his features.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Remus finally piped up from across the lawn. In his hands a white paper cup was clutched, thick steam lifting from its open lid. Before leaving the house he had insisted-no, demanded they stop by the cafe for a cup of tea. It was snowing, and still dark outside; he would be damned if he was going to witness another Horcrux execution without a minimum of one cup of tea in his system. "Witch...from...the...future. While I do know this concept might be hard to grasp, it is not a bloody secret how she knows. You snakes are supposed to be smart or cunning, right? Are you certain you got sorted correctly?"

Regulus' bristled, his lips thinning in a sneer, and just as he opened his mouth to remind the werewolf of his place, he felt a hand touch his that were laying atop the small patio table. He looked over to see who had invaded his space and suddenly all thoughts of how he needed to dress down Remus vanished.

"Regulus, you trust me right?" Hermione questioned in a softer tone than she had taken moments ago. Brown eyes were soft, imploring him to let down his guard, even for a moment, and allow himself to trust them.

"I don't know you," he responded honestly, glancing over to Sirius who tried to hide his scoff under a well placed cough.

"That's fair," Hermione agreed. Her fingertips brushing over the back of his hand as she moved around the table to stand beside Sirius, who reached out to wrap his arm around her waist and tug her gently against him. "But I've given you no reason to doubt me. I've shown you the Time-Turner, the proof I brought back with me. So… the foundation of trust is there, right?"

Regulus watched, eyes flickering between the witch and his brother and for whatever reason, the strange hints of jealousy began to bubble as he watched Sirius's fingers slip under the hemline of her peacoat to brush against the skin on her hip as she spoke. He tore his gaze away, and stood up from the table, sending the aged patio chair skittering backwards across the stone porch. "This isn't fucking family therapy. I'll give you my trust once you've earned it. Until then you shall be fine with the arm's length I keep all of you at," he snapped as he shoved his hands into his coat pocket. "Now that it is clear, can we fucking do this already? I have plans today I would rather not reschedule."

Sirius watched as his brother retreated from the table toward the reconstructed bird bath, his boots angrily crunching against the snow. Biting back a sarcastic reply, he turned his head and pressed his lips against Hermione's side, knowing that beneath the bulky layers the large purple curse mark lay. "He's always been like this… don't take it personally," he informed his witch before standing from the chair, and he released his loose hold on her to grab the locket that lay next to the closed golden box.

"The more I learn about your family," Hermione sighed as she reached out to pick up the golden box, "the more I dislike them."

"You're not alone," Sirius agreed with a small laugh, glancing over to Regulus and Remus who were standing five feet apart, both keeping their eyes downcast and purposefully away from one another. His relationship with Regulus had taken years to disintegrate. He held no expectations that it would be repaired overnight, but silently hoped bringing him along to witness the destruction of the Horcruxes might allow some sort of bridge to be built. It would show that, at the very least, they both shared a common goal.

Hermione and Sirius made their way across the lawn to join the two stoic looking wizards. Sirius laid the locket in the center of the bird bath, careful to place it face up before he took a step back for Hermione.

The box was light, despite the precious metal it was made from, but in this moment it felt like it easily weighed three stone. Inside the box was more than just a family heirloom with a soul attached to it, there was also an artifact so valuable many men and women had lost their lives fighting for it. The resurrection stone. What she could only assume was the reason Harry had come back in her original timeline. One third of the deathly hallows! This stone had the potential to unlock secrets, cure ailments and provide so much value to the wizarding world. But this stone was also a bringer of death. Which was exactly why it had to be destroyed. Beyond the Horcrux, no person needed the power to return life to the departed.

Her hands trembled as she cracked open the box. Inside on a crimson pillow of crushed velvet sat the ring. The thick gold band glinted, even in the darkness, a telltale sign of the magic imbued in it. Nestled inside the band sat the thick black stone. It could easily be confused with onyx, which had often been used in men's jewelry in the past. She could make out a faint etching on the surface the cloak, the wand and the stone. The symbol of the Deathly Hallows. How anyone had ever not assumed the nature of this before was beyond her. But then again, they weren't looking at it through the same lense as she was.

Tipping the box over, the ring fell into the cement basin with a heavy thud and instead of bouncing around like any other piece of jewelry it stay pulled to the basin, as if held down by extreme weight or magnets.

Hermione took a step back, carefully setting the golden box down in the snow behind her, brown eyes watching as the two pieces of soul seemed to sense the presences of one another and a soft screeching sound began to emit from the locket. One she had heard before. "Remus, you got that vial?"

Remus nodded, jade green eyes stuck on the cement basin with apprehension as he watched the ring begin to wobble in protest, despite no one touching it or the birdbath, and he pressed his paper cup of tea into Regulus' chest. "Take this," he instructed before fishing out a small teardrop shaped vial from his pocket. Inside was a black liquid that shimmered with crimson flakes under the right light. The top had been sealed shut with thick globs of emerald wax, preventing it from accidentally opening.

Withdrawing her wand from her pocket, Hermione held out her other hand over the bird bath, palm outstretched to him to take the vial, and just as Remus reached out to put it in her palm the cover on the locket slid open wide with an audible click and a pair of dark living eyes swirled around the inside, as if assessing who surrounded it.

Regulus gasped and took a stumbling step back from the objects, color instantly dropping from his face. He would recognize that eye color anywhere… those eyes… they belonged to the Dark Lord. He had seen it too many times, affixed with hatred and malice cast in his direction to know to immediately fear that particular shade of brown.

"Shit!" Remus pulled his hand back quickly, eyes wide as he stumbled back from the basin, the small vial of black liquid falling into the snow.

"Remus Lupin…" the locket hissed, the brown unblinking eye focused on Remus who had suddenly become paralyzed in his retreat.

Hermione moved quickly, sinking to her knees in the snow, and her hands thrust into the cold searching for where the vial had fallen. "Don't listen Remus!"

"I know your fears…they are all true… You are right to doubt your friends' love for you…"

"Fuck, fuck! SIRIUS HELP ME!" Hermione shouted, frantically crawling across the ground, snow wetting her jeans as she scrambled to clear away the thick blanket and locate the venom.

Remus shook his head, his hand lifting to pull the mustard yellow knit cap off his head so he could ruffle his sandy blonde hair. "Y-You're wrong," he told the locket, his voice quivering.

Out of the locket a large iridescent cloud began to bloom, filling the air above the birdbath and although smokey, images of Sirius and James emerged, but instead of their usual grins, hard sneers were over their face.

"You're a monster, Remus," the James figure snapped, hazel eyes casting a hateful look down at Remus.

"I would never love someone like you… you're disgusting," the Sirius figured added with a hollow laugh.

The real Sirius had launched himself on the ground next to Hermione, frantically digging through the snow. "Don't listen, Moony. You know that's a fucking lie!"

"S-Shut up!" Remus stammered angrily as tears began to spring to his eyes, watching as the hazy images of his best friends continued to look at him like so many others did. Like he was dirty...filthy. Like the fucking monster he was.

Hermione looked up, watching as Remus began to crumble, visibly wilting as the images of Sirius and James continued to taunt him, telling him things the werewolf had likely feared for forever.

"You were never our friend. It was a lie… we would never allow you to actually be in our circle."

"You're disgusting. You should be locked away, you monster. No one would ever love you."

"REG!" Sirius snapped, head whipping up to his brother. "Fucking DO SOMETHING!"

Regulus jumped at his name being called, as if pulled from a trance, and he looked over to Remus. "Do something?... Right. Do something." Pulling out his wand, he pointed it at the patch of snow-covered lawn Sirius and Hermione were searching and with a complicated little wave hot air blasted from the tip of his wand.

The snow began to melt instantly, leaving puddles of water on the winter dead grass that were soaking into the knees and cuffs of Sirius and Hermione's clothing, but the spell did the trick, for there, less than a foot in front of Hermione's left hand lay the vial.

She moved quickly, snatching it from the grass before she grabbed the lip of the bird bath and pulled herself up just in time to watch the images of Sirius and Remus morph into an absolutely terrifying image of Walburga Black in a high collared Victorian dress. Hard gray eyes pierced straight into the soul of her youngest son.

"You're nothing but a disappointment, Regulus. You were always a weak little boy… nothing has changed," sneered the distorted image of Walburga across the lawn, looking disgustedly down the hook of her nose at him.

Sirius froze, the sound of his mother's crisp voice inciting a sense of dread he had not felt since he had left home at sixteen. His mouth instantly went dry, and he looked up from the ground to the ghostly image.

Hermione began to pick at the wax seal, cursing under her breath as her fingernails slipped due to the water droplets that clung to the surface. She cast a quick glance to the locket, watching at the pair of eyes swirled around, as if having trouble fixating on who to target next and suddenly they were on her.

The disapproving stare of Walburga shimmered into the mist and just as the outline of an all too familiar friend began to appear, she did the only thing she could think of to stop it. The vial in her palm, she lifted her hand back, almost up to her shoulder before thrusting it down to the cement basin with all her force, and then stopped her hand just before the surface but let the vial slam into the bird bath. It shattered instantly, the sound amplified due to the dark magic lingering in the air, and the black venom that had been held within the glass walls spread out over the two pieces of jewelry. They both began to sizzle, smoke emitting from the bird basin as the black liquid coated the jewelry, and the hissing voice that had taunted them moments ago was replaced by an ear piercing scream that rattled the cottage windows.

Suddenly, like a vortex, the air around them began to suck inward toward the basin and the foggy image that had been her best friend changed and twisted until a handsome dark haired man in a three piece suit stood, his hands clutching the side of his face as his face twisted in indescribable anguish. When his eyes opened, they were the same pair of dark brown that had laid in the locket. Hermione gasped, backing up quickly from the bird bath despite the physical pull that was drawing everything to it. That was… Voldemort-no Tom. He was so different than when she had seen him last. Lost was the boyish charm and cleverness of youth and before her was a man. So this is what he looked like before his rebirth. He was handsome, surprisingly so, but his eyes. They are the windows to the soul, or so Shakespeare had proclaimed so long ago. And if that was true, it would explain why his were so powerfully dark. Her heart thumped violently when his gaze found hers, all knowing and seeing; the violence they possessed cut straight through her and fear began to invade her bones.

And just as quickly as he appeared, the image was swallowed up in a growing cloud of fog that had pulled toward the bird bath, and with the last final push of magic, the ring and locket expelled everything it had drawn near with a gale wind that knocked all present off of their feet. A loud boom of an explosion echoed around them and the bird bath that had been hastily repaired cracked down the center once more, except this time nothing of the horcrux remained. Instead, the dripping pool of black venom began to trickle down the remains, sizzling the stone in its path.

"Everyone alright?" Sirius was the first to speak, sitting up from his prone position in the snow several yards closer to the house than the rest. He glanced around to the group, listening for the chorus of 'yes' to follow before his hands rose to his face, rubbing against his frost-bitten cheeks. Hermione had said this was supposed to get easier, but from his perspective he thought this one was worse than before! "Who the bloody hell was that?"

Regulus sat up next, his once carefully combed hair a mess and his caped coat covered in snow. "The Dark Lord," he explained, glancing over to Hermione who was sitting up too, her hands brushing the puffy snow from the shoulders of her coat and curls. "Hermione… What the bloody fuck was in that vial?"

"That is a very good fucking question," Remus added, pushing up out of the snow. His hand rose, brushing away the last remains of the stubborn tears that had fallen as he moved over towards Hermione and held out his hand for her as he sniffled.

Hermione took Remus' outstretched hand with a quiet thank you before she glanced over at the broken bird bath. "Manticore venom," she replied plainly, brushing some of the snow off of the back of her jeans.

"M-Manticore venom!?" Remus repeated; his voice cracked as his jade green eyes went wide as he watched her. He had just been walking around with manticore venom in his bloody pocket and she didn't feel the fucking need to inform him of this?!

"Yeah. I owl'd Hagrid about a week ago to see if he could get it. It's not nearly as difficult as the basilisk fang, which was quite surprising. In my time there is really a considerable amount of regulation over ingredients that could injure the purchaser," she began to explain, glancing over to Remus who seemed to to be growing more and more astonished at her words. "What? You're fine. I took precautio-AHH!"

Remus reached over with both hands, giving the witch he had just helped up a rough shove so she fell backwards once more into the snow. "You bloody imbecile! I could have knocked the seal loose!" Remus shouted, his lips thinning as he watched her fall back in the snow more shell-shocked than she had been only seconds ago. When he heard Sirius shout his name disapprovingly and begin to scrambled across the yard, Remus lifted his hand to silent the reprimands. "You know what? Fuck this. I'm going home," he announced before spinning on his heel and beginning to march through the snow towards the apparition point in front of the house. "Fuck these…these Horcruxes! It's cold and too god damn early to be dealing with this sort of bullshit," he grumbled.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh, taking the grumpiness of Remus as a good sign and that the lies that the locket had tried to weave into truths had fallen on deaf ears. She accepted Sirius's help up off the snow covered ground and let him brush the flakes that clung to her curls. She watched as Regulus followed after Remus, purposefully averting his gaze away from the couple as Sirius secured an arm around her waist.

"Sorry about that," Sirius apologized, his fingers smoothing some of the frizz on the back of her head flat. "He's always a bit moody after a full moon."

"You don't need to apologize for him… Remus is fine. Hell I'd probably be angry too," she admitted with a small smirk.

Sirius dropped his hand to meet his other behind her waist, gray eyes twinkling in the soft morning light as he looked down at her. The bruises that marred her face were gone, and now the only thing on her skin was the pink glow of frostbite from the snowfall they stood in. He was glad to see her like this, looking whole and strong again instead of so fragile. "So… what's next then, Little bird?"

That was the question of the hour, wasn't it? What was next. With two more Horcruxes gone, it would mean that there were only two left. One of which she knew lay safely inside the Hogwarts castle walls, and the other could be a number of places. The cup, that damn silver cup that had given her so much trouble the first time around. Next to its name in her notebook was a large ominous question mark, because it could be a number of places at this point in time. Did it lay in the Lestrange family vault like before, or perhaps in their home awaiting transfer? The exact details about its creation were unknown, for good reason, and therefore tracking it was particularly difficult this time around. For as carefully planned as she had been this time around, that was the one part of this mission that had still eluded her. Weighing her options inside her mind, she pressed her lips together in thought before releasing them with a small pop. "Well… I suppose it's probably time we go pay Dumbledore a visit."

Sirius' soft grin began to split into a wide mischievous smile at mention of returning to the castle that had held so many fond memories of his youth. It had been ages since he set foot in the drafty halls of the school and part of him was excited to show her the secret passages and rooms he was positive she knew nothing about. "So, we're going to Hogwarts?" he confirmed and when Hermione gave him a nod in confirmation, a crow like laugh let his lips. "Brilliant… Minnie will be thrilled to see us!"


Author's Note:

I am super excited to announce Right the First Time got runner up in the best time turner category in Beyond the Book Fanfiction Nook's Summer awards. thank you all for the votes! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!