Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any character, story element or plot item originally published in the Harry Potter books or movies that I may refer to in this story. I'm merely playing in the sandbox.

Sarah opened her eyes and breathed quietly, staring up at the canopy of her bed. It was the day. The end of November Hogsmeade visit. They were going to face the next of the list of horcrux targets. The last one, other than Riddle and his pet. Even knowing it was the last was not enough to settle her nerves.

She finally rose, getting dressed. They'd agreed to skip their workout and meet at the infirmary, Pomfrey able to give them a note about a family emergency just as easily as anyone else. When she arrived, Brahm was already there, stripping down the last bed and replacing the linens. "Working?"

"Sort of. The house elves keep popping in and glaring at me." As though on cue, one did just that, only for Brahm to point at Pomfrey's closed office door. "Blame her, not me!"

Sarah giggled, feeling a rush of relief at the normality of it. "That one didn't look like a Hogwarts elf."

"No, they know who I am, too, apparently. Enough to go fetch a Potter-Black elf to come and chastise me. I think they think it's funny."

Sarah sat on one of the recently made beds, laughing when Brahm grumbled at that. "So, when is Uncle Algie coming? Did he tell you?"

"Poppy did. Half an hour. You being here can be explained by you wanting to laugh at me, too."

She nodded. "Are you ready?"

"I took a light sleeping potion last night to make sure that I went to sleep. Nothing too severe. I should have asked if you needed anything."

"I had something. I spoke with Poppy myself on that regard, but I can't tell her why, of course."

Brahm nodded and fluffed the last pillow before coming to sit next to her. She leaned into his hold and breathed in his comforting smell. "Promise me this won't be like last time."

Brahm exhaled and she knew she wasn't being fair. She still wanted to hear him promise. "It already isn't. We're rested and we're going in with help. Your uncle's already promised to join us at the first sign of trouble and he's going to bring as many in as he safely can in the room without risking things. It won't be like last time."

She nodded. "We can do this."

"We can. Then we'll retreat somewhere quiet and do something else. Anything to get away and relax."

"Too bad we can't be seen in Diagon or we could try another date."

She smiled as Brahm squeezed her tightly. "We could do lunch, just you and I and our two elves."

"Your elves."

"Mimsy would leave me for you in a heartbeat and you know it."

Sarah didn't say anything, not having to as her uncle stepped out of the office. "You're early."

Algie shrugged. "We knew you were here, so why wait?"

Sarah knew she had a few reasons to wait but was silent. She looked at Brahm and could see some of the same thoughts going through his head. She stood. "Let's do this."

Algie frowned, then nodded. He held out a small brass ring, just big enough for them to each hold it, then triggered it with the vocal command of "snake". When they arrived, he spoke. "The Gaunt house, Riddle's mother's ancestral home, turns out to be a descendant of the Slytherin line. We found evidence that several of the family members were Parselmouths and they bragged often to anyone who would listen that they were descendants of the family."

"So, that's why the command."

"That, and the door," Algie said, gesturing to the door. There was a snake nailed to the door, Brahm seeing some kind of magic around it from where they stood. "Riddle's uncle apparently did this for some reason. I interviewed the last Ministry representative to see this place and he'd said something about it. A copy of his memory and a trip to the States and we got translation of what was said. Nothing useful, unfortunately. It essentially explained that they were descendants of Slytherin and Merope, the daughter, had fallen for a muggle, which was a problem."

Sarah shivered, then walked towards the old house. She paused in the windswept field of brown grasses as Brahm spoke. "Anything we need to know?"

"We haven't gotten passed the final ward, but we know why. We need to speak a Parseltongue phrase. We were able to determine the phrase, but as Parseltongue is a magical language."

Brahm nodded. "Good thing I speak it, then."

"Also, there is something about the item that is confusing our sensors, but I recognize it."

"What?" Sarah asked, dreading the answer. Nothing could be straight forward.

Algie lowered his voice, she assumed because they were nearing the others. "Whatever the item is, I think it or part of it is a Deathly Hallow. Remember Brahm's question about the shades that came from their wand's meeting? I think whatever this is has the Stone embedded in it."

Brahm slowed his walk now, turning to face him. "What trouble should we assume from your associates?"

"None, if you pocket it quickly. I'll conjure something to put in its place, but I don't want the Department to get involved with the Hallows."

Sarah frowned at this, not liking the intrigue. Brahm sighed. "Let's just get this done. One less piece of him in the world and I'm a happy person."

The walked on, Algie motioning them aside as he cast a special unlocking charm. There was a click and the door swung open. "We should move quickly."

They were led into the simple room, combination kitchen and living room, and he gestured to the fireplace. There was a carved serpent on the mantle that watched them, the stone piece moving to follow their movements.

"Say to it 'I seek the family artifact.' It will ask you what family and you will say only 'Gaunt.' From there, it should be the last protection."

Brahm nodded and Sarah watched as he stepped forward, standing before the stone serpent, and hissing softly. The sound was creepy, and she shivered again, but she relaxed when the serpent opened its mouth and coughed up a silver and black ring. There was a dark stone inset in it and she knew immediately what the stone was.

Brahm caught the ring in a gloved hand and they set to work, him setting up the sheet of rune marked canvas and her beginning the proper cleansing wards. She knew her Uncle was transfiguring a replica ring, only without the crest that she hadn't seen directly, but knew had to be there, the triangle with the inset line and circle.

The ceremony was swift. The spirit fought for a moment before there was a bright blue flare from the ring and the fight faded. "What was that?" she asked the moment the ceremony was finished, the stone erased by the hellish flames.

"I…later, okay?" Brahm glanced around and they began the cleansing spells, Algie motioning them out the door as he began erasing their tracks. As soon as they were outside, he handed a ring over to the Unspeakables, who scanned it and dismissed it, saying that there was little magic left in it. "The Gaunts were close to becoming squibs anyway. Perhaps the family magic on the ring couldn't stand the fall of the last Gaunt and the breaking of the horcrux."

The analyst's idea was satisfying to the group and they backed up, waiting for Sarah and Brahm to portkey away before clearing the scene. The pair landed in the Chamber, soon followed by Algie. They entered the tent to find lunch waiting for the three.

"So, now can we talk about it?"

Brahm exhaled. "I could hear it in my head. The artifacts recognized each other." He shook his head, reaching into his pocket to pull out the ring. "I am recognized as the master of the cloak. It said that. The master of the stone is considered dead, due to the obvious. Once it recognized me, it pushed out the remnant of its former master."

Algie mulled over the idea as he ate his soup. "It makes sense. It is, though powerful, a limited artifact. It might recognize the horcrux possession as a strange version of a bond to its former master. Good that it helped."

"I think it's dangerous." Sarah said, reaching to close Brahm's hand over the ring. "What are you tempted to do with it right now?" she asked, knowing in her heart what her temptation would be.

"Nothing."

The answer surprised her. "Don't you want to talk to your parents?"

"Sarah, I never knew them. When I was eleven, I was tempted by the Mirror of Erised, but I've had years to think about it and I grew up without them. I get that it might be a temptation for you, but they'd be strangers for me. I never knew them." He seemed to stare off into the distance for a moment.

"If I were to want to summon someone forth, it would be Cedric and Sirius. To apologize to them. Maybe give you a chance to say goodbye to your parents, for Algie to say goodbye to his sister." He set the ring down in front of the pair of them before conjuring a box and calling for Dobby. "The temptation for me is to see how others can say goodbye and settle things." He put the ring in the box and asked Dobby to carry it to the Black vaults.

Sarah found herself silent. "You don't want to meet your parents?"

"Meet them? I already did, in the graveyard. I don't know that I could just call them out like that. I just…" He shrugged, falling silent. "I don't have any attachment to them. They're just people to me."

Sarah looked to her soup and ate quietly, as they all did at this point. In the back of her mind, she couldn't imagine not wanting to use the ring, but then she heard a voice not unlike Harry's. To what end? She reached quietly for a piece of bread and was silent.

"I think you two should try to relax for the afternoon. I told the Headmaster I'd deliver you by portkey to Madame Pomfrey's office by five o'clock, so spend some time relaxing."

Sarah knew the man had been struck by the conversation because he hadn't jokingly threatened Brahm about getting her pregnant. It almost worried her.

She rose and hugged her uncle, him whispering softly into her ear that she needed to remember she could talk to the both of them. When she looked at Brahm's face, clearly distracted by the temptation to apologize for his perceived failures, she wondered what she could say then.

The man vanished in a whirl of color and Brahm stood, stretching. "I don't know about you, but I need a nap."

Sarah shook her head, taking him by the hand and leading him to the couch. The fire was lit and well stoked, easily chasing away the chill from that dark house. "I want to talk."

Brahm was silent, staring at her. "It's okay. I know I'm not a real catch. Look at what you've been dragged into because of me." His head bowed, his hand pulling from hers as he sat.

"What?" Sarah thought for a long moment, then plopped next to him quickly. "No, no…I'm sorry, I didn't word that right." She laughed nervously. "This isn't one of those 'we need to talk moments' like you've probably heard about."

Brahm's face went red, but he didn't look up at her. "Now I feel stupid."

"You're not. A little down on yourself, but not stupid." She edged a little closer. "This is more of an 'I need to talk' kind of moment." She took a breath. "I want to talk about what happened."

Brahm sat up straight when she said that. "You want…really?"

Sarah nodded. "I've told you pieces and told Algie pieces…I wanted to talk to Poppy, but I'm not sure…" She sighed. "Of course, part of my concerns applies to you, too."

"What concerns?"

"I'm going to name names of people who were involved in what happened. Names of people still living. You'll probably have to fight them eventually but promise not to hunt them down."

Brahm was silent, staring at her for a long moment. "That's a hard thing to ask me. I swore I'd deal with those that hurt you."

"I doubt they will live long after Riddle's death, if he doesn't kill them instead of you or me."

Brahm was silent for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "Okay. I promise…unless they start something lethal with me first."

Sarah nodded. "Fair enough, I guess." She leaned over and rested her head against him, wriggling closer into his arms as he wrapped them around her. She smiled, loving that feeling, though she'd have to remind him that she didn't need the protection. She wanted it right then, though.

"I was outside my house, just at the edge of the forest. We needed some roots for a potion we were making, a stabilizer for the inks. Daddy liked to make his own. The paper may have been a cover, but he liked keeping as much of it him as he could." She smiled at the thought, closing her eyes as she steeled herself to tell the story.

Author's note: Yes, we're going to hear some details about Luna's experience, but bear in mind, I'm not likely to make this as dark as some writers would. She just has some reactions that need explaining and I decided that now would be a good time to do it. Can't let them have a good date without bad memories, can I? Hey, at least I'm not murdering all his father figures…oh, someone might find that insulting to Rowling. Whoops. Hey, what can I say, she even killed his freakin' owl. Woman was a sadist to her main character.