Chapter Eight
Padfoot was exhausted after the trip to Diagon Alley with a boy in his terrible twos. Harry was overall a pretty good kid but the boy never stopped moving. Even in his sleep, he twitched and twisted. It was adorable to see all that unbounded energy but it was exhausting to be in charge of it in close quarters like the Alley. They must have visited every shop and bought half of the stuff in each of them by the time it was all said and done.
Between Padfoot and Harry's shopping and Nookie's restocking of the household coffers, Padfoot was significantly less heavy in the money pouch and significantly more comfortable. Something about a well-stocked house just made Sirius feel safe.
Sirius was glad to have one soul shard on its way to destruction. "Only four more to go," he said a little morosely to himself. It wasn't actually that bad, it just felt like so much to have to figure out. He still needed a way into his childhood home and Malfoy Manor. Hogwarts should be easy enough. He'd try there over the winter holiday. It would be easy to sneak in with the castle so empty. He had no idea where to look once he got inside. He'd have to try the Grey Lady first. Maybe she would know where to start. It might take more than one visit to find the damn crown thing.
Sirius sighed and thought. How would he find a random shack? There was a name over the door of the thing - Gaunt. The name meant nothing to Padfoot. He'd have to quietly ask around without arousing any suspicions. He wasn't even sure who to ask. If Abe didn't know them, they were either nobodies or they died out a long time ago. He would just have to keep trying until he found a way, hopefully without drawing the wrong kind of attention to himself.
-oooOOOoooOOOooo-
Time passed quickly. Before Padfoot knew what was happening, it was the beginning of December and time for him to sneak into Hogwarts. Nookie was a gem to watch Harry for a few hours while Sirius snuck into the school.
The Shrieking Shack was easy enough to break into. He would know the trap door and tunnel in the pitch-black dark, not that he had to. A quickly cast lumos lit his way and led him down a literal memory lane for Sirius. His heart swelled with the memory of the best times in his life - sneaking down this tunnel as an animal, leading a werewolf out for a run with his other animal friends.
He moved stealthily and quickly across the lawn. How he wished for James' invisibility cloak. He had no idea what had happened to it, after the house was blown apart in the blow back from Voldemort's failed spell.
His disillusioned form was quickly inside the castle. The grey lady usually hung out near the entrance to Ravenclaw tower. Sirius went there quickly and was pleased to find the depressed lady ghost.
"Good evening, Grey Lady," Padfoot said, releasing the disillusionment charm. She turned to look at him.
"Sirius Black. Your body has changed but I would know your soul anywhere. What are you doing here?" the ghost said in an emotionless voice. This was not good. If ghosts could tell who he really was, then he was screwed.
"Worry not, Black, only I have the wisdom to see the true soul. No other has that power in this school. What do you desire? You have not sought me out in many years." She looked at him closely. "Are you still a student here? I seem to think that you left these halls … but the years fade so quickly, I can't keep track. Are you?"
"Er, no. I came back for something and was hoping you could help me. There's this thing. I must find it and destroy it. It's been tainted by an evil wizard. It presents a risk to the students in this school. I can't allow that to linger." Padfoot said all this in a placating manner. He didn't want to alarm the ghost enough to go running off to Dumbledore. He just wanted her to tell him where the crown on her ghostly head was hidden.
The ghost looked uncomfortable at his words. Her ghostly hands reached up to touch the crown. "This diadem weighs heavily on my brow, even in death. What do you know of the evil that taints it?"
"I know that a wizard named Tom Riddle left a soul shard in it," Sirius said darkly. The ghost started at his words.
"That name brings many negative memories into my mind. Please do not torment a lost soul so." She started to float away.
"He can't be destroyed until the diadem is destroyed! That beast will return if you do not let me demolish that bloody trinket," Sirius said in a cold, ominous voice. The ghost paused. She wavered briefly before turning back.
"It is hidden in the room of lost things. Destroy it and free me from the burden of betraying my mother twice - once when I took the cursed diadem in the first place and twice when I let Tom Riddle beguile me into releasing it to him and his corruption." With that the woman sunk through the floor and was gone.
"Great, now I just have to find the room of lost things," Padfoot muttered to himself, looking around the now empty room.
Padfoot made his way down to the kitchens. The elves were helpful little things. If he said he had come back for his son's belongings that he had lost at the end of last term, they might just help him find the room of lost things.
A logical being would be less helpful to a stranger that turned up in the middle of the night while the place was deserted looking for "lost things" but house elves could never be accused of being logical. They were instead just very helpful. One of the elves took him straight to the seventh floor. Sirius watched avidly as the little elf walked back and forth three times before a door appeared. Padfoot was excited! This was going to be easy! He would have the crown in just a few minutes and then he could go home, two-fifths of the way done with his task. Easy peasy, he thought, right up until he saw the room the diadem was hidden in.
There were mountains of useless stuff piled everywhere. Furniture and clothes, books and trunks, socks and shoes galore! Most of it so old, it had started to decay into dust and detritus. Padfoot looked around at it all in dismay.
"How am I ever going to find it in this mess?" Sirius asked himself out loud.
"What is sir being looking for?" the little elf who had shown him the room asked.
"A crown, diadem thing. It looks like the one the grey lady wears." Sirius looked at the elf hopefully.
"When was it being lost?" the elf asked with an apologetic look on its face.
"Probably sometime between the 40's and 70's," the man said, despondently.
The elf hurried forward. After more than five minutes of walking, the elf stopped.
"This is being belongings lost in the 70's. About five more minutes or so is the 40's. You could be starting to look here and work your way back," the elf said, proud of itself for finding a way to help. Sirius looked at the rows and rows of items between where he stood and the place the elf had pointed. It was going to be a long night.
-oooOOOoooOOOooo-
It was just a little before dawn before Padfoot left for the night. He was exhausted and aching but victorious. He had found the blasted headgear. He had found it on an ugly bust across from an even uglier cabinet. It looked like a banishing cabinet. Sirius didn't like the idea of something like that in the school, so close to where Voldemort had obviously been. Sirius blasted the cabinet into splinters and then banished the pieces. That done, he took the ugly crown and left the school.
He had found some interesting books and a perfectly good seven compartment trunk with a hidden room that he was sure Harry would love when it was time for school. He'd help the boy set it up as an awesome hidden pad. He and his friends would love it.
The disgusting crown made Sirius' skin crawl. It felt dirty and tainted. It felt evil and wrong. He hurried to put it in the safe when he finally made it home. He was too tired to go to Gringotts this morning. He would swing by this afternoon and drop it off for destruction. The goblins would be sure to get their fee and Sirius would get the peace of mind of having another soul shard gone.
With that viciously proud thought, Sirius crawled into bed and slept like the dead.
-oooOOOoooOOOooo-
The goblins had gladly earned the disposal fee for the diadem. Sirius felt more peaceful knowing it was gone. Only three, impossible items left to locate.
Time flew quickly with a toddler in the house. Before Sirius could blink it was January and he was escorting Harry to his first day at nursery school. The two to six-year-old class was mostly arts and crafts, alphabet and counting, a little reading, with a little free play thrown in but the Mulberry House School was known for their scholastic achievement as well as their artistic and sports offerings.
Padfoot feared Harry would balk at being left behind at school the first time but he couldn't have been more wrong. The boy made a friend almost as soon as he entered the classroom. A bushy haired little girl was sitting on a giant green puff reading a book about different animals, both fantastic and real. Harry had run right over to the girl, who had been reading out loud. She paused and looked up at him.
"I'm Hermione. I'm three years old and I love to read. Do you like to read?" she asked Harry. He didn't say anything. He just nodded enthusiastically.
"Would you like to sit with me so I can read this book to you? I was just about to read about dragons. Then, elephants." She said this with all the authority of a miniature college professor. Harry started to jump up and down while nodding his head so hard his whole body was thrown out of alignment with the motion. Harry loved dragons, as any little tyke should.
The little girl, Hermione, had scooted over to let Harry climb up and sit beside her. Padfoot spoke with the teacher quickly and snuck out the door. He and Harry had already met the lady and toured the classroom during the winter parent night. Padfoot knew he was in good hands.
It was a relief for Sirius to have a few hours' time to himself while Harry had a few hours bonding time with other children. The little boy was lonely for interaction with other people his age. Padfoot was glad to spend his time thinking of how to find the other soul shards. The goblins had been useful in helping him understand who the Guant family was; they were an inbred bunch of Slytherin descendants who supposedly died out in the 60's. The last known descendant was known to be no longer living but also not dead. Tom Riddle, the nascent Lord Voldemort, was the final member of the family to be not yet beyond the veil. They couldn't tell him where the Guant shack was located but the goblins could tell him Little Hangleton was lovely this time of year. Sirius got the hint and started planning. He'd need back up for this one. Time to pay Abe a visit.
-oooOOOoooOOOooo-
"Come on, you dunce," the old man whispered as they approached the run-down shack. "Stop tripping over your own feet and get moving."
Padfoot snorted in response. He hadn't tripped, he had just caught his toe on a tree root. While Sirius was glad to have the help, he could do without the attitude.
"I'm coming. Detection charms on three?" Sirius asked. The old man shook his head.
"See that shimmer, the wards start closer in. Let's move about 10 more yards forward and then cast," Aberforth responded, looking around the scene carefully.
They moved forward the required amount and then started casting.
"There's hardly any wards here at all," Padfoot whispered to Aberforth. "Just muggle repelling and standard locking. Nothing else?"
"It's fishy," Aberforth replied. "I'd have expected a lot more if old Tommy boy had hidden a soul shard here." His voice could barely be heard above the wind. "Be extra careful inside. Easy access might be the bait and the house the trap."
They stepped cautiously into the house. All seemed normal until they reached what was obviously a female's room. There were painted flowers, buttercup colored walls, and delicate, decrepit, white furniture strewn around the room.
"Do you feel that, coming from the closet?" Aberforth said in a quiet voice, not resuming normal tones even though they were in the house alone. It was too creepy for normal voices.
"Yeah. I reckon the wards we've been looking for are over here. I can barely look at that side of the room without my skin crawling," Padfoot said with a shudder.
The pair walked towards the far-left corner of the room. There was a narrow red door with peeling paint set into the wall. A few more quickly cast detection charms and they had bingo. There was a soul shard in the closet behind heavy wards.
They worked slow and steady to dismantle the wards, hoping to keep from setting off the ghastly things. Sirius didn't want his guts splattered over the dull yellow walls, thank you very much. The door finally opened and the men could see inside the narrow closet. It was completely empty but for a ring box set on the shelf above the clothes rod.
"Whatever is in that box is the real shebang. We best handle the box carefully and destroy it as quickly as possible." Aberforth was still whispering. The ring box gave him the heebie geebies. He felt a chill over his whole body. The tiny hairs of his body stood on edge.
"Agreed," Padfoot returned. "The evil feels like it's crawling all over me. I've got the containment bag right here. Let's load this thing up and get it to Gringotts." He shuddered. Sirius was more than ready to go.
They wasted no time in bagging the thing. Sirius started to feel a distinct longing to open the box and put the thing on. That was likely no coincidence. He wanted to follow the lead of his animagus form and shake the icky feeling off. The two men hurried back outside the wards of the house, to the edge of the trees, and disapparated. A quick stop at Gringotts and another one bit the dust. Only two remained now.
Scary maybe, but all in a good day's work, in Padfoot's mind.
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