"We need to make a move, this war has gone on long enough. Now that Voldemort has no people left, this should be a lot easier than expected." Moody instructed the Order with only ten days left until April first.
"Our latest intelligence has left us confused and bewildered. It appears that Voldemort has spent the last week wandering around like a lost child. We can confirm that he has made at least three Horcruxes, though two of them lack any sort of protection. We all know of Nagini, his pet snake being one of them, with the other two being wildly infuriating to locate."
"What makes them infuriating?" Tonks asked during a moment of quiet.
"One of them is a blade of grass in his garden, the other is a pebble in a cave somewhere in the world."
"A cave? I might know which cave that is." Regulus butted in, remembering the cave in which he almost lost his life. "I could take a small team with Marvolo to locate and obtain the pebble."
"Wait behind after the meeting concludes and we can go over a list of team members." Marvolo responded with a nod.
"As for the blade of grass, we do have Earth and Water Elementals with us, simply remove all of the water from the grass and they will wither and die, then an Earth Elemental can raise the patch of dirt on which the Horcrux sits. From there it will be a simple matter to return it to the base, you said it yourself, Voldemort has left his base abandoned."
"There are no wizards there, the basilisks still remain." Moody corrected him.
"Then I will go with the second team and try to talk to them, if all else fails I could probably launch them into orbit, or if that fails then the fall should finish them if they are psychotic."
"Now that I would pay to see." Fred joked making everyone but Moody and Grindelwald laugh.
"You have a sword, Potter, I'm sure you can kill a few basilisks with ease." Gellert remarked dryly. "Just don't look them in the eyes."
"Noted." Was all Harry said before the meeting was disbanded and the two teams were selected. Regulus and Marvolo wanted the twins, Nora, Luna, and Theo to accompany them, while Harry asked Tonks, Draco, Dudley, Neville, and Blaise. Any additional support would be handled by back-up squads made up of those remaining at the base.
The two groups departed to complete their goals, Marvolo and Regulus' team heading for the cave, while Harry's squad moved for Voldemort's lair, the protections for which had crumbled once Voldemort decided to flee.
/_^_^/
The cave had an odd energy around it, though that could be because Regulus had almost lost his life there not long ago. There was also the unmistakable sensation of very dark magic about the place.
"How do we get deeper into the cave? This surely isn't it." George commented, looking around the cave. Just as Regulus was about to inform him, Marvolo held up a hand to silence him.
"I have faith in his deductive abilities." Marvolo explained.
"There is blood on the wall over there, it would stand to reason that it is in some way related to my question." George said after a few seconds of thinking.
"Very good, one of us needs to sacrifice some blood to gain access, it can't be a small drop but rather enough to ensure that the one who gave the blood is injured to a near death state." Marvolo explained.
"It is a good thing I'm here to help with healing then isn't it." Nora spoke up, happy to be of service.
"It's an even better thing that Fred has a Nosebleed Nougat in his pocket, one of us can eat half, bleed on the wall, then eat the other half to stop the bleeding. The neutralisation half contains a blood-replenishing potion so we would be fine after a few minutes." George pointed out, with Fred presenting the aforementioned magical candy.
"This is exactly why I requested the pair of you to accompany us, you always seem to have exactly what is needed." Regulus exclaimed with glee, having grown fond of the twin tricksters over time.
"I'll take it." Fred offered, biting into the first part of the sweet, his nose erupted with blood a moment later, soaking the wall in front of him with a healthy, or unhealthy, coating of blood.
The cave wall slid away to reveal a large cave with a pool of light in the middle, with hands rising out of it.
"I guess I can make this a lot less frightening." Blaise said, stepping forward and gesturing at the ominous pool. After a moment with his eyes closed, Blaise began to cover the pool with any rocks that he could sense were not Horcruxes.
The cave expanded as pieces of it were torn away, completely covering over the pool of light and hands, and allowing them all to cross without incident. The cave was illuminated by the group to facilitate their search for a rock imbued with a small sliver of soul.
/_^_^_/
Harry Potter was very amused to learn that his mortal enemy's secret base had burned to the ground, with a group of basilisks living in the rubble.
As his friends were going around and systematically removing all of the water from the grass surrounding the property, Harry was making his way through the rubble towards the group of snakes.
"Who dares sneak up on us?" A hissed voice questioned, alerting Harry to the fact that he was surrounded by the snakes, and would be easily killed by them if they wanted to.
"I am Harry Potter, I have come to ask you not to hurt me or my friends, in return we will leave you in peace, or if you would rather move to another home then I can arrange that."
"You are the one our creator despises, the fated one."
"I suppose I am, does that mean that you will cooperate with me?"
"You will bring us to our new home, and ensure that we are able to live there indefinitely and independently."
"I have just the place, my Phoenix friend can help me to bring you all there, one by one."
"Then bring us with you, we very much look forward to seeing this place "
In the blink of an eye Fawkes appeared on Harry's shoulder, waiting there as Harry approached the first basilisk and vanished, returning to bring the second, then the third, until he had brought the eight serpents with him to the Chamber of Secrets, where Rigor was talking to the new arrivals.
"Is this sufficient company?" Harry asked the giant snake, who simply hissed out an affirmative before returning to talk to the basilisks.
"The war might be over soon Rigor, if I need you in the final fight will you be there?"
"Of course, now please Harry, allow me to talk to my new friends." Rigor responded impatiently, earning angered hissing from the basilisks.
"By what right do you dare insult the fated one?" A basilisk who had remained silent before now asked the now shocked Rigor.
"I am his familiar and equal, he insults me whenever he wants."
"I do no such thing." Harry protested, looking at the giant red snake with a look of disbelief.
"Last time we saw each other you called me a fool."
"That… is true." Harry responded, rubbing the back of his neck subconsciously.
"You are not furious with him for his insolence?" The same basilisk questioned the Raven-Haired boy.
"I'm not Voldemort, I don't demand obedience or loyalty, I want you to be you."
"You do?" The group of basilisks asked in unison.
"Why would I? You all have distinct personalities and as such I would be a fool to expect you to all act the same." Harry explained to the confused serpents. 'Rigor will teach you how to be free, please listen to him without attacking him."
"You have given us shelter and a much wiser snake than any of my siblings or I, we will do as
you wish."
"You do not have to join me just because I have provided you with shelter. Nothing I do is with the intention of securing a favour from you in the future. I expect no additional respect or loyalty."
"This is against the principals we have grown up with, we will accept this freedom you have given us."
/_^_^/
"I don't think finding this blade of grass will be all that difficult, I'm going to assume that it is the one green blade of grass surrounded by dead grass." Blaise called out to the group, looking for Harry to ask his opinion, only to see him disappear and reappear with Bright flashes of flame.
"Just loosen the ground around it and let's go, I don't want to spend any extra time here." Draco responded, though he was silenced by Dudley.
"We need to leave… Nagini is here." Dudley informed them, though the snake was already upon them by the time they were ready to react.
In a heartbeat Dudley felt his body melting around him as he turned into his Thunderbird form, scratching out Nagini's eyes with his talons.
The angered snake began to coil itself around Dudley, who began to fly the snake up into the air, wondering how he would shake her off.
As soon as he felt the air beginning to thin out around him, Dudley returned to his human form, falling through the snake's grip and plummeting towards the ground. Knowing he had to time this perfectly, Dudley began to boil all of the blood within Nagini, evaporating the water within and turning back into a thunderbird to avoid splattering against the floor.
Nagini landed a few feet away from them, still alive but unmoving. Dudley conjured a cage around her and left with the two Horcruxes together.