Author Note
An extra-long chapter this time as I'm feeling inspired to write this story.
I know that Ravenclaw's diadem, or least the part of it that matters, isn't mentioned in the CYOA, but really if you think about it the diadem is just the Wit-Sharpening Potion in the form a fancy bit of jewellery so I don't think the MC using it is really cheating since he could just brew the potion for the same effect.
Reviews
loki98065
Tonks isn't on the CYOA as a companion, but the MC can still meet her and maybe even romance her, she just won't be in the next story. Given her career plans, I doubt that she'd just leave her life behind.
You'll have to go find the Crossworlds CYOA it does drop some hints.
Kingdark
If you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language, aside from parseltongue but that's because its magical, so there's no delay for a translation and that could very important if someone is say trying to warn the MC of danger.
Also, the AI can only access information that the MC takes in so she would have to learn every language and the translation would always have a slight delay. Besides from that Cortana does not have infinite memory storage so by having a babel fish that means Cortana has room for other information.
There are two major styles of English those are American and British. They have slightly different rules when it comes to grammar and spelling. I'm just using the style that I was taught in school. When you are writing, inverted commas or speech marks go before and after the direct speech, surrounding what was said.
Gnormann
Backwards engineering or back engineering is just another way of saying reverse engineering so a back engineer should be self-explanatory. I can't understand how anyone would confuse that with a chiropractor since they are a type of medical professional and they have nothing to do with engineering.
Night-Stryder
Kol could work it's a simple name but no one else is using it in the Wizarding world. Also, it's another word for witch, wizard, warlock etc, in Dutch.
frankieu
He'll call up Herpo the Foul soon in order to talk about Horcruxes.
Crossworlds 1 - Harry Potter
Part 10
The Room of Requirement. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy.
Never would I have imagined that talking to the creator of Horcruxes and the first breeder of the basilisk could be so boring. Yet here I was listening to some long-dead wizard drone about his work in Ancient Greek.
I couldn't understand him because Babal Fish use a sort of telepathy to translate due to them feeding off brainwaves or something like that. However, spirits don't have brainwaves. This hadn't mattered with Salazar because we could both make use of Parselmouth, but with other spirits, the language barrier would be an issue.
Well for me it was. Cortana learned to understand Ancient Greek rather quickly and was enjoying having the shoe on the foot since she couldn't understand Parselmouth, due to the magic involved, and so she was leaving me to sit around while she took in all the important information as I had with the school's founder.
Thinking about the founder made me realise that Herpo actually looked like Salazar. I considered it to be quite possible that Salazar was actually descended from Herpo
"So he based his creation of a Horcrux on the work of Egyptian mages who created something that you'd call a Phylactery," Cortana let me know.
A phylactery (also sometimes called a soul jar) was in the world of D&D a container used to store the life force of a lich and a phylactery was necessary for the lich to maintain its undead state and to escape being truly slain. As long as the phylactery remained intact, and they were very hard to destroy, the lich's body could be destroyed but it would return as long as its soul jar wasn't broken.
Cortana went on to explain that Egyptian mages created phylacteries in order to escape death by placing their soul in an object, and since it was hard to destroy them the ancient mages were sealed away as mummies in tombs so as to stop them from taking over. If freed they'd go on a rampage because they were driven mad by centuries of isolation.
This would explain why goblins could have knowledge of Horcruxes despite them not existing until a long time after the tombs of the Pharaohs and the ancient mage-priests were built. They were heavily based on phylacteries that their Curse Breakers could come across and had the same weaknesses.
Basilisk venom was the main one although it was not the only method of destroying a Horcrux. Herpo undid his soul jar because he regretted his actions in later life and felt remorse for the lives he'd taken. This was how he'd been able to move on to the afterlife were as Voldemort would not be able to since Riddle would never undo his Horcruxes
"The main difference is that creating a Horcrux doesn't require all of your soul or life force, your spirit, whatever you want to call it, so you can remain alive after making it" the AI let me know "But a split soul would affect your mental state as Herpo here found out after he invented them and created one".
Voldemort was living proof of that and I had to wonder how alive the Dark Lord could be considered after making so many Horcruxes.
"I need to ask him how to cleanse a Horcrux," I told Cortana "Without destroying the object that contains the bit of soul".
After I repeated what Cortana instructed me to say, Herpo began to talk again only this time he used Parselmouth which I understood. Why he'd not used it before I didn't know, but he did seem crazy so I figured that he was just being mad.
"Feed it to a dementor," he said.
It might seem odd that someone who predated dementors knew about them, but actually, it wasn't because the dead can learn new things and even Herpo the Foul could make friends in the afterlife.
I sat for a moment and thought about how that was both a very simple solution and yet not very helpful. I had no idea how to control a dementor I couldn't stop it from trying to eat my soul as well. I ran the idea past my AI who soon offered her advice.
"You need to find a dementor so you can take its form," said Cortana "You'd have to risk going near Azkaban, but you wouldn't have to get too close".
That might not work.
"Dementors aren't considered to be alive and I can only take the form of a living creature," I said "And what would happen to me and the bit of soul I'd consumed once I retook human form?".
I might not make that bit of soul a part of myself as I'd done with the soul in the ring Horcrux and I didn't want some of Tom Riddle inside me. Just having some of his memories was unsettling.
"Try turning into a dementor and then convince a real dementor to eat the bit of soul for you" advised Cortana
Yeah, that could work. Still could be dangerous because even in the form of dementor I had a soul that they could chow down on and if the dementors held onto the souls they ate then they could act as a sort of Horcrux. If I had any clue how to destroy dementors this wouldn't be an issue.
I knew that they originated from the island fortress of Azkaban, and were made there back in the 16th century by an evil wizard named Ekrizdis who founded the fortress and used it to conduct experiments involving dark magic while some distance away from the rest of the world.
If anyone had a clue as to how to destroy a dementor it would be Ekrizdis and he would also know how to control them or drive them away I hoped. Otherwise, all I could do was learn the Patronus Charm which Voldemort never even tried to learn when at Hogwarts so his memories would be no help.
"You might consider using the goblet of fire" advised Herpo me in Parselmouth "It was created to cleanse cursed objects without destroying them or other magic placed upon the item".
I gave it some thought and again ran the idea past Cortana. She agreed that it should be possible as fire is thought to have mystical cleansing powers and fiendfyre is also one of the few known ways to destroy a Horcrux.
"Why am I not surprised that the wizards of this world use something that can possibly cleanse a Horcrux to select students for a school contest," she said.
I had other thoughts on my mind than the illogical nature of the wand wavers.
"The goblet might be somewhere in the school" I reasoned "But I think it's more likely to be in Department of Mysteries".
Potter and his pals had little trouble getting into that place in Order of the Phoenix. However in that case the Death Eaters would have disabled most of the security so that Potter could make it to the prophecy.
"Is there any other way?" I asked of the spirit.
Herpo switched back to his native tongue.
"He suggests speaking to the goblins" Cortana let me know.
I dismissed the spirit and considered going to the goblins who might be able to help me if they dealt with objects similar to Horcruxes. They'd charge me for it, but it would be worth it, assuming that they didn't claim the artefacts as they might be goblin made and goblins only ever rented out their treasures for the lifetime of those who paid for the privilege of owning one.
"Okay let me summon up Ravenclaw and ask her if she has any ideas" I decided.
I turned the stone three times and soon the spirit of Rowena Ravenclaw appeared. She was a regal-looking woman and she did not look pleased to be here. Her spirit was wearing the diadem, but I knew that the real thing was on this plane of existence.
"Salazar mentioned that someone had found that blasted stone," she said "I hope you aren't going to make a habit of calling upon me".
She spoke in modern English, unlike Herpo despite the fact that she should be harder to understand than a character in Shakespeare play. Perhaps some spirits tried to keep up with the times? Herpo certainly knew more expected.
"I won't call you again if you don't want me to" I promised.
Salazar hadn't seemed to mind, but like Herpo he was somewhat mad. I did trust him about why he'd put a huge killer snake under the school as it made about as much sense as most other things wizards did, but a good and sane person wouldn't have risked the monster getting out of control. Hogwarts other defences, such as the animated suits of armour were much safer.
"I wouldn't have called you on a whim, this is about your diadem" I was now saying.
The spirit somehow managed to look even more annoyed.
"Yes I know what my foolish daughter allowed to happen and what that abomination Tom Riddle did to it," said the school's founder "I love my diadem, but it's caused nothing other than trouble. You should just destroy it. The damn thing got my Helana killed".
Given that she was wearing the object it seemed odd that she loathed the real thing. Then again people often get attached to things that do them harm if they didn't then no one would ever put up with an abusive romantic partner or take up smoking.
"I was hoping to recover the diadem and use it to enhance my reputation or my intelligence. I might just sell it for a lot off gold" I mentioned "Seems a shame to lose it".
Rowena seemed unconcerned by my wants.
"Just keep the jewel" she advised "It's the only part that matters. The rest is just a fancy way of keeping it in contact with the head. Long ago I realised that a simple headband could have done the same thing. The rest is just goblin silver so once you've stabbed the blasted thing with one of those fangs Salazar let you have just perform a standard cleansing ritual on the jewel to be on the safe side, do the same for the goblin silver and then sell the silver back to the goblins. They'll pay a small fee for it and melt what's left down to make something else with".
I considered her words. Her plan made sense and the founders were well respected by wizards for good reasons so listening to Ravenclaw seemed wise. Yet I couldn't help thinking that it was a loss.
"Still seems a shame to destroy it" I stated.
Rowana gave me a look that reminded me that I currently looked like a 12-year-old boy.
"All that diadem ever did is cause problems for my family," the spirit said "My daughter was murdered because of it and she still haunts this school. All because I fancied myself so wise and powerful".
This made me realise something.
"So ghosts really are souls trapped on Earth?" I asked, "Then why don't dementors go after them and why do people think they are just imprints?".
Rowena was a teacher for sure as she couldn't resist going over to stand where Herpo had stood in the study the room had and then start lecturing me.
"Ghosts are not of this world, but nor have they moved on" she explained "Since they are not truly all here that means Dementors don't sense them properly. Much like how they pay little attention to animals. How life-like they seem can also depend on how lively they were when in this world".
I gave this some thought and realised that some ghosts do seem more aware than others. The Grey Lady, Helena Ravenclaw might as be one of my illusions given how she just floated around the castle, but others like Nearly-Headless Nick and the Bloody Baron actually do something with their existences. Nearly-Headless Nick has Death Day parties for example.
"That explains why I could banish Moaning Murtle," I said "She really was Murtle Warren and trapped in that bathroom".
Rowena nodded in agreement.
"Some ghosts are just pale reflections of who they were in life because they never really lived" I was told, "Your Professor Binns is a good example of this".
It sounded as if Mrs Ravenclaw had been keeping an eye on her school.
"The only thing in his life he had to keep himself going was his job teaching" Rowena was now saying "and he was so terrible at it in life that he can't improve now. Given that and his detachment from the world, it makes sense that so many people think of ghosts as nothing more than a footprint left on the beach long after the person wearing the shoes is gone".
I really should banish Binns so that he could get on with his afterlife.
"In any case let's get on with destroying the bloody diadem" the founder of my school house insisted "I'll teach the cleansing ritual as well. It's not complicated and should allow you to handle cursed items more safely".
I kept one of the bigger fangs I'd recovered on my person so all I had to do was recover the diadem from the room of lost things and stab it. The diadem bled something oily, and there was some smoke, but nothing really dramatic happened.
Once I learned the ritual, which involved some candles, chanting and walking around the item three times while waving an incense stick, which the room provided, the ritual was done and I sent Ravenclaw back to her next great adventure.
(Line Break)
The Leaky Cauldron. Diagon Alley.
Not long after visiting Gringotts to give them the silver, which they did indeed pay a finder's fee for I made my way to the one Xmas celebration that I'd decided to bother attending.
At first, I thought this an odd place for Horace Slughorn to hold his Yuletide Gala, he didn't use the word Christmas on his invites, but as it turned out the backroom of the pub was done up quite stylishly and the room was far too large to actually fit inside the pub, so some space expanding charms were clearly in effect.
As I entered the overly decorated room, having shown my invite to some poor sod who liked he should be serving drinks at the Queen's Xmas party rather than Slughorn's gathering, I began to look around. I spotted the new Minister of Magic right away as he was standing next to an abomination in far too much pink.
By the looks of things Madam Umbridge had already started toadying up the Minister so as to aid her own rise to power since she actually felt any loyalty to Fudge or to the Ministry, she just wanted to advance her career and use it to attack those she saw as inferior to herself.
Until now I'd not thought about the dark witch Umbridge much other than planning for the possibility of her turning up at Hogwarts and getting in my way, but now that she was here I was giving a lot of thought about putting on a dark wizard outfit before murdering her in her home. Not while in Death Eater getup, rather it would be something else.
Maybe Voldemort's memories had influenced me more than I'd been expecting them to? It seemed so since I liked the idea of going out and murdering Umbridge. Maybe I could leave some sort of mark behind?
Tempting, however, that wouldn't be very subtle, but it would be satisfying. Only it might be better to use my powers to discredit the woman. Now that I'd seen her in real life I could assume her form (even if I really didn't want to) and easily discredit or make it look as if she was a criminal in the eyes of the public. Some scandal wouldn't be enough I'd have to make it seem as if Umbridge was too unstable to be outside of Azkaban.
"No known Death Eaters," said Cortana whose image and voice could only be heard by me "Isn't Lucius Malfoy always at these big parties?".
With me having decided that Umbridge needed to be gotten rid of I was now concerned with looking for threats such as Malfoy whose form I wouldn't mind copying just so I could get him into trouble. Alas, he was not here.
Although Lockhart was in attendance. He'd already started publishing his popular fictional series that was based on real events that he stole from other people's lives. I should do something about him too if only to ensure I had a better DADA teacher in what would be my third year at Hogwarts.
Unlike Umbridge who deserved to be murdered, I had no desire to kill Lockhart as he didn't enjoy hurting people and it would be more fun to find a way to discredit him. It wouldn't even be much work since I could take his form and just admit to the public that Lockhart was a fraud.
I placed those plans on the back burner for a time as I needed to make sure that there was no one here who would cause me problems. No sign of Dumbledore, who was very hard to miss given his dress sense, although I did almost stare at someone who I thought for a moment was Bellatrix Lestrange.
Thankfully my first impression was wrong given the bored-looking teenager standing next to the woman. The teenage girl was changing her hair colour rather rapidly. Also, there was a man in a smart muggle suit next to them, so they must be the Tonks family. Nymphadora Tonks must be a seventh year Hufflepuff at Hogwarts, although I'd never noticed her before.
"Slughorn might be well known for favouritism as a teacher and a man who likes to make important connections, but he's no fan of dark wizards," I said to Cortana without speaking out loud "Nor does he delight in tormenting anyone".
I could remember Slughorn as a teacher back in the 1940s due to gaining some of Tom Riddle's experiences and I had my memories of the books/movies. He hadn't changed much over the last half-century. He was greyer in hair, more wrinkled around the eyes, and much wider in girth, but he was still pretty much the same man.
"Ah you must be Tom Hiddleston" the potion's master greeted when he noticed me, having moved away from several young look witches and wizards "I'm Horace Slughorn, just call me Horace, you don't mind me calling you Tom do you? Glad you made it my little gathering".
If nothing else he had a firm handshake. Normally a good sign.
"I have been a little busy," I said truthfully "But your parties have a good reputation so I made time to attend".
Even going so far as to get some fancy dress robes for the event. Since I now owned a house I had somewhere to keep a wardrobe of clothes and more than enough money to fill any amount of closet space.
"I have a little something for you," I said as I reached inside my cloak and produced a box "Don't touch what's inside without protection".
Slughorn opened up the book to find one of the smaller fangs I'd gotten from down in the Chamber that I had no use for and there was no market for basilisk parts because they were so rare that no one has ever gotten the chance to figure out if the fangs had any use as anything other a means of destroying Horcruxes and I doubted anyone else knew that. Also, trading in parts of certain magical animals, such as dragons and basilisks is highly regulated.
"This isn't a dragon fang," Horace said "Something from a magical snake I suspect".
I smiled before speaking doing my best to look charming as Tom Riddle would have when he dealt with Slughorn.
"That is a basilisk fang," I told him "Some friends of mine found the abandoned lair of a basilisk which contains a bit shed skin and some old fangs. They sent me a few fangs and asked me to find out of any collectors would pay for one, but it's illegal to sell them so I decided to gift them to some people who might have a use for them. Even if you can't use one as part of a potion it is an interesting item".
It wasn't hard to find out what laws governed the trade of parts of magical creatures. It was illegal to sell parts of a basilisk or to breed them, but giving away a part of one of the big snakes you happened to stumble across is fine.
"Your friends are very brave" commented Slughorn after he'd thanked me and put the little box in his pocket "I don't know of any use for basilisk fangs or shed skin because of how rare the beasts are. Their venom is considered to be rather potent, but any use of it would be purely speculative due to their being none on the market".
Assuming that Slughorn wasn't lying it might be profitable to seek out Mundungus Fletcher and to find out if there was a black-market demand by wealthy collectors for the fangs or the shed skin. Slughorn should know, but I didn't think he'd admit it with some many pairs of ears listening.
This was why I'd handed over to him one of my very limited number of fangs. I wanted to become part of Slughorn's collection so that through him I'd be able to make more money. I might need large amounts of money so as to make a noticeable donation to the magical hospital to myself look good or to bribe Fudge for something.
"They also discovered an Acromantula colony" I mentioned while trying to sound casual about the whole thing "The basilisk was likely drawn to the area to prey upon the spiders. I hear that there is a demand for their venom, but my friends want to make sure that such a dangerous substance ends up only in the hands of those who have a legitimate use for it. Would you be interested in acquiring any, at a discount?".
The price was 100 gallons for a pint of the venom, and that wasn't as high as it could be given the rarity and danger in acquiring the substance so it seemed safe to assume that the demand wasn't as high as it could be. I only knew of one potion that required the venom.
"I wouldn't mind some for academic purposes and I do know a few fellow brewers who might be interested," said Slughorn "But this isn't the place to talk about such matters. Send me an owl when you have some time and we can meet for a drink".
He had other guests to greet, and they were more important than me, so I head for the free bar. I caught the eye of the youngest Tonks as I sipped my firewhisky and when she made a face at me I poked my tongue out at hers in return while making it look forked. This got a reaction from her and she came over to talk to me. As she did I saw that she'd gone for a sort of punk look that made her stand out nearly as much as her shifting appearance.
"Was that just some trick or are you like me?" she asked.
Rather than answer right away I made my hair turn blue for a moment before making it black again that didn't require any effort.
"It's a family trait," I said.
Saying that might not mean she'd ever make the connection and realise that Jon Smith might also be able to shapeshift. Not that I minded if she did as I knew someone would sooner or later find out about the shapeshifting and there were too many possibilities for pranking with Tonks to pass up not telling her. Loki would approve.
Besides, she wouldn't know that I could turn into animals as well, nor would she know about my power of illusions unless I decided to tell her. There was still a risk, but I'd deemed it worth taking them since Tonks could be a useful ally and I wouldn't mind having something close to a friend to talk to as an adult.
"Don't let anyone know" I requested "I don't want to be bothered by the Ministry or asked to do party tricks".
Tonks nodded in agreement before asking something that was on her mind.
"Can you mimic someone completely?" she asked.
After making sure that no one was looking at us I quickly mimicked the appearance she wore now before turning back into my Tom Hiddleston form. Which delighted the young woman.
"I can't change the eyes and neither can anyone else in the family," I said, feeling compelled to tell at least some of the truth "We all have the same eyes too. Must be some powerful magic preventing the morphing. I have a young cousin at Hogwarts who just started this year and he can't change his eyes".
Of course, I knew why my eyes stayed the same when I was in human form, but I wouldn't mention it because even for the magical world it sounded downright crazy.
"So there's another metamorph at Hoggies?" she asked.
I told her about John Smith. Letting her know that he was in his first year and therefore too young for her to get into trouble with.
"Don't worry I like my men more mature" she assured me.
The only way she could be signalling interest more strongly was by shoving her tongue down my throat. Thankfully she restrained herself from doing that and I didn't blame her for her interest since we both shared such a powerful ability.
"Aren't you still in school?" I asked.
She seem offended that I cared about such things.
"I'm finished there by summer," she said.
If I'd gotten stuck in the body of a Hogwarts student I might feel differently about dating a schoolgirl since people adapt to their situations, but I hadn't and even if John Smith was my base form it was just another act. So was Tom Hiddleston, but perhaps one day I'd be able to tell Tonks the truth at least she an adult by local standards since magical reach that age 17 rather 18. Which was why she could order a proper drink. I couldn't imagine having to wait until 21 to do as they do in some countries.
"Well since I don't want to get either of us into trouble why don't we meet up during the summer once you're free from Hogwarts" I suggested.
Sure she married Lupin and he might also be much older than Tonks it was just that Tonks was not yet in her twenties and while she might now be an adult legally I don't think her parents or the public would care much. I didn't want someone like Skeeter, who might very well be here, to write a scandalous article in the paper about us.
"Yeah that makes sense," said the young witch who thankfully didn't get upset "I just never thought I'd met someone like me and I'd want to see you more than on Hogsmede weekends".
By this point in the evening, Mrs Tonks had noticed me talking to her daughter and I did not like the look she was giving me. I had no doubt she knew all about her daughter's fondness for more mature gentlemen.
"Find John he's a first-year Ravenclaw" I suggested "He'll tell you where to find me".
Tonks might lose interest by then and I had other matters to devote my attention to. Killing Umbridge seemed very tempting, but it was best to wait until the summer when I didn't have to worry about sneaking out of the castle, and there was something else I wanted to handle tonight.
I decided to sneak out and progress my plans further rather than get drunk or chat to whomever Slughorn had invited to this event.
(Line Break)
Cave. Coastline.
Before coming here I'd put on what I now thought of as my Kol outfit having picked up the name while reading. I'd seen the powerful wizard I could become in the Mirror of Erised and this was close enough to what I'd seen to make me feel a bit giddy. I wore dragon-hide boots, a belt with a silver skull buckle, along with black trousers and a plain black top under my thestral-hide coat.
I also had on a rather cool looking skull mask that I'd gotten from a muggle store so as to make it much harder for any magical person to trace. It might seem odd for a shape-shifter to wear a mask but since I'd exposed myself as someone who could change his form to a witch who would become an Auror. Then to me, it made a twisted sort of sense since no one who knew that I could change my appearance so easily would imagine that I'd go to the trouble to put on a mask.
On my person, I carried not just my wand, which was secure in a holster that only I could take my wand from, well worth paying extra for, I also carried a few daggers on my person since it's always a good idea to carry a backup weapon.
One of my blades was made from goblin silver that I'd taken and exposed to basilisk venom. I had a fang for Horcrux stabbing so the dagger was for human prey. I intended to acquire more knives from goblin silver that I could enhance with venom, but they were expensive and took time to make.
As I appeared on the rock that was outside of the cave, having learned to Apparate very well thanks to some of Riddle's memories, I again went over again what I needed to do and why I was here. I'd prepared as best I could for this important mission.
It might seem pointless to acquire the locket since I knew it to be fake, but I couldn't be certain it was fake in this world even if the timeline seemed right. Besides, it would be much easier to get the real one if I could use the fake to prove to Kreacher that I intended to finish what his master started. I would trade the fake for the real deal if the real deal wasn't still in the cave.
I had to move quickly because Sirus Black would soon have his day in court and after that, I worried he might start clearing out his family home and hide it with magic. I might not need to go there in person as the House Elf could come to me if I called it was just that I couldn't know for sure so best to act now.
If Kreacher didn't make the trade the fake might at least be worth some money since it was a real locket as far as I knew and most likely an heirloom of the Black Family since Regulus Black would have access to such things.
The locket was hidden by Riddle in the seaside cave that I was currently looking at when he had visited as a child. It was in this cave that he 'committed an act so horrifying' that he shocked fellow orphans Dennis Bishop and Amy Benson into muteness.
In addition to the natural barriers such as choppy waters, Voldemort hid the locket in this cave with several magical enchantments to guard it. Lucky for me I already knew how to get past them and I should be able to handle any defences not shown in the book assuming that I had time to summon up the spirit of Regulus Black.
I knew that the cave could not be Apparated into or Disapparated from, so I didn't even try doing that. Instead, I turned into a bat and let my animal senses guide me inside the dark cave. I was only a little wet once I retook human form, still, I dried myself rather than risk catching a cold before I summoned up the spirit of Regulus Black.
Only I couldn't summon him. He didn't appear before me in spirit and I wondered if he was somehow still alive or if a spirit could resist being called upon. Not that it really mattered right now as it just made going after the locket a bit more dangerous and if Mr Black was still alive it might mean he never found out about the Horcrux.
Voldemort's memories wouldn't aid me as much as someone might think while here since the ring Horcrux had been made years before the locket Horcrux. However, I knew a lot more spells than I'd use to, including one that let me find the unmarked door that could only be opened with the payment of blood wiped upon the cave walls.
Buying the blood of a human wasn't that hard in Knockturn Alley, vampires need it after all, and the spells cast on the bottle meant that the blood was still fresh. I really was a Ravenclaw as I so loved planning ahead. I would have bled a little to get into this cave, but I didn't see the point of risking my health in some way if I could just buy a solution to this problem.
Soon I came across the Inferi-infested lake and I used my power of illusion to create a small sun on the ceiling. This provided me with a lot of light when compared to a wand spell and the magical allowed me to see more of the cave than I'd seen when watching the movie. It was actually rather pleasant in here if you didn't mind the cold and the feeling of dread.
Thanks to my memory of reading the Half-Blood Prince (and I really should locate Snape's advanced potions textbook sometime soon) I found the invisible rowboat that would transport only one wizard at a time safely across the lake. As I crossed the lake I noticed the bodies in the water.
"That doesn't look proper water to me," Cortana was now saying "Seems polluted somehow".
Well, it was full of corpses and yet there was something about the water, that familiar the blackness of it. It was not dome from my new or older memories, it was more of a feeling.
"Regulus Black's body is somewhere in there," I said as I got out of the boat "Poor bastard".
I tried not to think about the lake of zombies and focused on the potion. I was now looking at a stone basin that was partly filled with a green potion that could not be parted, vanished, transfigured, or otherwise made to change its properties at least according to Dumbledore. I wondered if it was possible to get rid of it without magic using a muggle method that a wizard wouldn't think of employing.
Taking out a fancy goblet that I'd gotten from the Room of Requirement I filled the container and then tipped it onto the ground and watched as the basin didn't refill. I'd considered just putting my hand in and taking the locket, but seemed risky as the potion could boil or the basin might trap my arm.
"Wizards really does make things too hard on themselves" Cortana commented from within my mind "The magic must all be on the basin itself. It can only detect that you've removed the potion without using magic it doesn't know if you drank it or not".
In the movie, there's a fancy goblet along with the basin which must have been enchanted in some way so that only drinking from the goblet would remove the potion. But Voldemort seemed to have forgotten that in this universe.
That I could just pour the potion out really shouldn't really come as a surprise. As Hermione Granger mentions in the first book most Wizards haven't an ounce of logic because logic doesn't mean much when you're dealing with magic.
That doesn't make magic users stupid and plenty of No-Maj have the same problem it just means that they tend to overlook simple solutions to their problems. Like Starfleet officers in Star Trek who come up with silly technobabble answers when they'd be better off just shooting something.
Thinking on it the defences around the ring hadn't been great and that wasn't due to a lack of logic either, at least not totally. It was almost as if Riddle didn't want to be around his Horcruxes and simply didn't bother coming back to improve their defences as his skills with magic improved. Did he resent them for some reason while also prizing them? He seemed to care for Nagini and she was also a Horcrux so this made no sense to me.
The cup was well guarded so it made sense that he'd left that Horcrux alone and the Diary could have been very well defended if Malfoy kept it in his home.
It seemed safe to assume that any sort of alarm system in place here was long ago disabled since Voldemort didn't turn up at the cave when Dumbledore visited along with Harry Potter and he didn't seem to have known about Regulus being here.
Maybe Tom Riddle really was just insane and this meant trying to see the sense in his actions was pointless? Besides his needlessly complex plans have been foiled by a schoolboy a number of times so it seems silly to worry so much about his ability to think clearly.
Getting back to the potion I pondered about how Dumbledore had thought that the only way to remove the potion from the basin, thereby exposing the locket at the bottom, was to drink it. Then I pondered about how trying to do so would make the drinker act if they were under effect by a dementor thus greatly weakening them.
If the drinker had any strength left, then in their desperate thirst they would be forced to drink water from the lake, as any water magicked on the island would disappear, (I'd brought some water bottles with me just in case) and how this was done intentionally by Lord Voldemort.
The drinker would therefore be unable to imbibe anything other than the lake's water, which would awaken the army of Inferi. Awakening the Inferi would most likely lead to the death of the drinker.
Albus Dumbledore noted that the potion's effect might not be fatal, as Voldemort would not want to immediately kill anyone who discovered the cave and the Horcrux within it. Not until he had the time and opportunity to learn how they had discovered its existence in the first place.
If that was true then why have the Inferi kill anyone? Wouldn't it make more sense for them to disable the weakened intruder until Voldemort arrived? I was the only person who could question the dead. At least as far as I knew.
Knowing that I needed a little aid to figure this all out I took out Ravenclaws magical stone, there were quite a few magic stones in this franchise, and as I pressed it against my head it helped me to think.
"I am so stupid!" I shouted as I pocketed the bluestone and grabbed the fake locket which I would examine later "I should have sussed it all out long before setting foot in this damn place".
The cave wasn't meant to kill it was all one big trap. The entrance was hard to get into unless you risked drowning (why Harry and Dumbledore didn't go somewhere and pick up some brooms I had no idea as it wouldn't have taken long) in very cold water and if you didn't drown you ran the risk of getting hypothermia.
Then there was the door that demanded blood in payment. That would also weaken a person and the potion wasn't fatal either it only weakened you, so maybe the zombies weren't meant to disable you when they dragged you into the lake.
"It's one big draught of living death" I realised while looking at the lake "Well it's a lake water mixed with the poison".
You can dilute magical poisons with water it just makes them less effective. That was why Ron didn't die right away when he drank that poisoned mead in the Half-Blood Prince book, its effects had been lessened.
Also in that book, Harry creates the potion during class and the two other potions seen in that class are both important to the plot. Harry winning the luck potion allows him to get the memory he needs from Slughorn, and Ron falls victim to an attempt by Romilida Vane to slip Harry a love potion which is basically a magical date-rape drug.
All those potions in that class are foreshadowing of a kind so why not have draught play a role even it is never really understood.
"That might work," said Cortana "If it was diluted enough then you'd need to practically swim in it for it to work".
If I recalled my readings the draught puts you into a death-like state and there's no limit to how long you can stay in stasis as far as I knew. So Voldemort could deal with the intruder at his leisure.
"Or be drowned in it," I said "That's what the zombies are for".
I refused to keep calling them Inferni since they were just zombies animated by magic rather than some disease.
"Why didn't he use the Draught of Living Death in the basin?" wondered Cortana "It was strong enough then the drinker would be trapped in stasis".
The answer came easily to me.
"Voldemort is a sadist," I said "He'd enjoy the idea of someone being dragged to their doom after getting tortured".
If Tom Riddle had been born a squib he'd have spent his life in a padded cell as he really was insane or he'd have gone into politics with him being able to act sane due to not having made any Horcruxes. I couldn't imagine even him being worse than Boris Jonson.
"So Regulus Black is alive in that lake" stated my AI.
I couldn't summon him with the stone because he was still alive even if his body was close to death. His soul had not moved on.
"He could be useful in obtaining the real locket" I mused.
I thought about how to get him out.
"Okay, I'll summon him, transform into a House Elf and then take him to Godric's Hollow so that I can fix him up" I decided "If I do it fast enough the zombies won't have time to get out of the lake".
He should just need a beezor to counter the draft along with a few other potions that I could supply. I'd take him to the magical hospital, but since he was a known Death Eater that might cause problems. Better to take him home and then call for his House Elf to tend to him.