Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all its related characters belong to J.K. Rowling

AN: Probably not my best work and I admittedly should be studying or working on my never-ending list of assignments but here's a new chapter! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 12: Rollercoaster Ride

"That's it? That thing is a Horcrux? I was expecting something more…impressive?" Sirius mused, frowning at the heavy gold locket which glinted dully from its resting place on the dark oak table.

Following the minor outburst that broke out at the revelation regarding the whereabouts of a certain Horcrux, Harry and Draco hastily tried to explain the circumstances in which one Dark Lord's soul container happened to find its way into the very residence where they were gathered. After somewhat appeasing the two very scary women and one recently released Azkaban inmate, Kreacher was summoned.

The next ten minutes were a bewildering rollercoaster ride of events that started off with a rather reticent, scowling and highly suspicious house elf, and ended with said house elf bawling his eyes out, muffled sobs of gratitude emitting from where he clutched at Harry's leg like a demented koala.

"There, there," Harry comforted as he gently patted the house elf's head, "We're going to destroy the locket, just like Regulus wanted."

Kreacher's sobbing almost seemed to redouble in intensity as he wailed.

Sirius watched with a mix of horror and morbid fascination, like an impending car crash that he could not tear his eyes away from.

The two ladies sighed.

Draco just rolled his eyes.

"That thing, as you so eloquently put it, is an item of historical significance, created and enchanted by one of the four founders of Hogwarts."

"It's supposed to help make you immortal. Were you expecting a flashing neon sign asking you to destroy it?"

"Also, your brother kind of, you know, died for it."

Sirius grimaced.

When things had finally calmed down a little bit, the group decided it was prudent to relocate to the dining room for some much-needed refreshment and to discuss their next course of action.

"Should we be preparing for comparable security measures when we look for the other Horcruxes?" Narcissa, ever the planner, enquired over a sip of her tea.

"Security measures? A cave in the middle of nowhere with a hidden entrance that has to be opened with blood, where you have to find an invisible one man boat to ride across a lake full of Inferi to reach a basin of poison that has to be drunk in order to retrieve the object. Even with the most needlessly complicated and useless security I have ever seen, that fool never even knew his Horcrux had been stolen!" Cassiopeia scathingly derided.

Harry privately agreed that when put that way, it did seem like a lot of effort for a system that didn't even work very well. Even if the thief did die in the lake, trying to identify one rotting corpse among a thousand other rotting corpses sounded like the world's worst game of treasure hunt, where guessing correctly meant more work and people to hunt down and murder to contain a rather poorly kept secret.

Outwardly, he frantically attempted to redirect the conversation before Cassiopeia decided to lecture them on what she considered good security (Harry had a feeling that was something he really didn't want to learn about, some things were just better left unsaid).

"Er, I don't think we need to prepare for something similar to the cave, the rest of the Horcruxes aren't exactly hidden like the locket was. They're more likely to carry some nasty curses or try to possess you."

"Possession? The Horcruxes are sentient then?"

This time Draco chimed in, "To a certain degree, I guess. The diary was able to communicate directly through writing and shared memories, while the locket mainly influenced the mood and amplified the negative thoughts of the wearer."

"What varies the strengths and characteristics of the Horcruxes?"

"Perhaps it has to do with the size of the soul fragment it contained? Or the significance of the death used for the Horcrux's creation?"

"Speaking of size," Sirius interjected, "does it mean the soul gets halved each time a Horcrux is created? Is the Dark Lord running around with less soul than most of his soul containers?"

"I don't think you can quantify a soul like that. A soul is one whole, it's not meant to exist as anything more or less than a singular entity…"

The debate went on for a while until Cassiopeia put a stop to it by declaring that no answers could be given unless they obtained more Horcruxes to conduct tests and research on. Everyone wisely agreed to move the conversation topic over to the next actionable plan.

"Of the four remaining Horcruxes out there, two of them should be more, er, accessible to us."

Narcissa narrowed her eyes when she caught the slight hesitation in speech.

Sirius looked like he was praying to a higher entity when he asked, "Please don't tell me there's another one in this wretched house?"

"Oh no," Draco laughed nervously, "there's only one here don't worry! There may be one in Aunt Bella's Gringotts vault though!"

Silence filled the room for a moment.

"Well, it would take some teeth-pulling, but given that we're her closest living relatives not in prison, that shouldn't be too hard…"

"You mentioned there were two." Cassiopeia commented shrewdly.

"Oh wow, all this talk has made me so thirsty! Mother, could I borrow your wand to cast an Aguamenti please?"

Harry shot Draco a dirty look, then let his gaze fall pointedly on the full teacup right in front of him. Draco winced. So much for being a Slytherin, that was absolutely subtle. Oh well, best to get it over and done with as quickly as possible.

"ThediaryiswithFather?"

The words came out in a jumbled rush and sounded more like a question than a statement but Narcissa must have heard correctly anyway because in the next moment, the lights flickered and in a deceptively warm voice edged with steel,

"Draco dear, I didn't quite catch you. Could you say that again?"

Harry cringed. He may never have quite liked Lucius, but he was starting to pity the guy a little.

AN: Did anyone ever feel like the cave system hiding place for the locket was just so extra of Voldermort? It just struck me as an unnecessarily complicated fancy lock to show off, except no one was ever supposed to find that cave anyway.