William Weasley was seriously wondering what he had done to impress Ragnok so as to be put with the premier team. He vowed to figure it out and undo it even as he ran like hell, and continued to tease the Fiendfyre his way, with random bursts of magic to keep its attention. What he was doing would be purely suicidal if he didn't have the premier team backing him up.

Unfortunately, they were currently occupied with capturing the current dark lord, which was a very difficult task in itself. Ahead of him, several members of the home guard were on brooms preparing to lift him to safety, if it became required. Bill hoped it did not. Fiendfyre allowed to run wild was a very bad thing, particularly with a forest so close.

The rest of the guard were making triply sure that no one escaped. His job was merely to occupy the evil sentient fire until they had enough people free to subdue it. Simply, really. He ran like hell itself was on his heals, which, given it was evil sentient fire, was not entirely untrue.

He considered asking for a broom, but Fiendfyre was incredibly tricky to control if you were the caster. If you were not it was triply so. The magic of the broom would draw it too quickly to him, and probably make it even harder to control. It was why the goblins guarding him on brooms were so far ahead. If they got too close the fire would race after him faster. He was not so naive as to try to control it. His goal was simply to cast low level spells to herd it where he wanted it, which was mostly away from the others and the forest. Big spells would feed it. Small ones like he was using and it would follow the leader all day. Of course, a lot of people had died trying this particular tactic, but he knew he wasn't strong enough to force it into submission, so cat and mouse it was, but he was tired of being the mouse.

Fifteen minutes later, when he was about to call for rescue or replacement he caught Samantha and the others pulling alongside on both sides on brooms, and saw them all cast simultaneously at the Fyre. It froze and shrank to nothing. Dang if that wasn't cool as hell.

He stopped, immediately going to ground and just lying down. Samantha landed near him and held out a canteen, that he eagerly drank down.

She said simply, "Good job."

"And your end?"

"We have the dark lords homunculus captured, and for now, will make sure it stays alive, to mitigate against his remaining Horcrux. A baby was killed to give him his current form. We also have one Peter Pettigrew. The rest of the team is tearing down the wards and then we are going to a shack on the edge of the property that has way too much dark magic around it. We are not sure what we will find there, but we are going to clean it up in any event."

"Wait, wasn't Pettigrew supposed to be dead?" Bill asked.

Samantha said, "Evidently not. We are going to get you authorization to let Dumbledore know that he is captured and in custody, and in due time will be turned over to the aurors. Dumbledore just has to wait."

"Why are you telling me?"

"We think he is involved in Sirius Black's continued freedom. If this is true, and if, as it appears Mr. Black is innocent..."

Bills eyes widened.

Bill finished most of the canteen before he handed it back sheepishly.

Samantha dumped the rest out and refilled it with a spell. She said, "Are you up to helping with this shack?"

"As long as I don't have to run, sure."

"Don't jinx it," muttered Samantha.

It turned out that dismantling the wards of one dark lord by an experienced Gringotts team, was really not that big a deal. Oh there were several traps and the thing protected was cursed, but they took it in stride, quickly removing the withering curse from the ring.

They then used both the Horcrux they found and the cup, which they had yet to destroy plus a form of magical triangulation to attempt to find more. They got a hit in the direction of Hogwarts and another one in the direction of London.

Samantha said, "We'll we will have to repeat this a few times to see if we can narrow it. Let's see, from Mr. Potter's memory we have a Diary. We have a ring here, and a cup at Gringotts. Something, presumably at Hogwarts, and something in London, plus the homunculus, and the failure in Mr. Potter's scar. We expected 7 and have 7, or will."

"Sounds good," Bill said, "Will you go after the Hogwarts one first or last?"

"Last I think. Too much risk of exposure. For now we will return and report, then head out later today to try to find the next."

Their search revealed an extremely heavily warded house. They certainly could dismantle them, but Gringotts best field team ripping the wards of an ancestral home in the middle of London to shreds was not something Ragnok was ready to authorize, at least not yet.

Instead he handed a scroll to Bill and told him to deliver it to the Headmaster.

Headmaster Dumbledore's eyes widened as he read the contents of the scroll. He then turned to Bill and asked, "I assume matters related to this are covered by your Gringotts oaths?"

Bill nodded. The oaths were simple enough. They didn't force you to do anything and you could quit at any time, provided no one was in active danger and needed your skills. They just insured their secrets stayed secret.

Bill was a bit surprised when the Headmaster opened a flu connection to Grimmauld Place. He was more surprised to see Sirius Black in the flames.

"Headmaster?" asked Sirius.

"I would like to send through a Hogwarts curse breaker team. They have promised to destroy all dark artifacts above a certain grade on site and then leave and not report where you are."

"What? What is going on?" asked the former inmate.

"I will explain after they are done. It is important that you permit this."

"Very well. When can I expect them?"

"Probably soon. I'll send Bill Weasley back with a copy of the secret, so they can get in."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, and what is more important, this may help Harry."

Sirius said, "Okay, I'll make coffee and be waiting."

Less than an hour later Bill joined the entire team as they entered number twelve Grimmauld place. They found the Horcrux quickly, and while they were annoyed they couldn't open it. They instead brought in a lead box with 1" thick walls that they put a large plastic pale of dark yellow liquid inside of. They then lowered the locket slowly into the pail of dark yellow liquid, only for it to rapidly bubble until smoke shot out of it and then burst into flames. Wards on the lead box caught and contained splashes of the yellow, now dark black substance.

Sirus asked, "Dare I ask what that was?"

Samantha said, "Fluoroantimonic acid. It is the strongest acid muggles know how to make. We figured it was worth a shot before we tried the really exotic stuff such as Basilisk Venom or Fiendfyre." She didn't mention that it was a Horcrux specifically.

She smiled, "It seems to work well enough. I'll have to write up our results and make sure to stock it. I think I've found a new friend. So many times you just have to destroy something inconvenient in ward breaking, and the best answers is quite often anything but magic."

A pair of goblins cast spells on the remains before it was declared magic free. They then vanished the whole mess.

Samantha sat with Sirius drinking coffee while the rest of the team went through the house, cleaning up centuries of Black experimentation in Dark magic.

When they were about done Samantha said, "I've been given permission to tell you that Peter Pettigrew has been captured."

"You caught him?" exclaimed black.

"Yes, earlier today in fact."

"When can you turn him over to Amelia?"

"Soon hopefully. We are going to Hogwarts next, probably tomorrow morning, and probably just myself and Bill so as not to draw attention. The last of those foul things is there, somewhere. Once we retrieve it, verify we have them all, destroy them all, and then the body Voldemort is inhabiting, it should be finished."

Sirius's relief was palpable. Then it vanished. He asked, "What about this Triwizard stuff? Someone put Harry's name in the goblet. Could it have been Pettigrew?"

"I will let the questioners know. They may be able to determine that."

Sirius shivered when she spoke of questioners. He may not know a lot about the inner workings of the Goblin nation, but being raised as a potential Black heir made him know enough. You did not want to visit them. You really didn't.

When they finished Samantha reported, "We have destroyed all dark artifacts that would be proscribed by either Gringotts or the Ministry. Anything left is certainly within your ability to deal with. We have also purged the House Elf of a significant amount of taint acquired from the Horcrux, and well we destroyed that annoying portrait. We hope you don't mind."

Sirius smiled. "You guys are great. What do I owe you?"

"This was a commission by Lord Ragnok. You need not pay."

"It also cleaned up my families mess, will probably lead to my freedom, and will likely help save my godson's life. Please, I insist."

"Very well. The normal fee for a similar job would have been 12 thousand Galleons. Anything remotely that bad is generally 10 thousand plus, and we did do a lot of extra work."

Sirus said, "I have no problem with the price. Its a trifle for the black estate. I'd pay every knut I had if it helped Harry."

"I'm glad you think so. Old family wards like these are difficult to replicate at this strength. You should treasure them."

Sirius nodded, even as he went off in search of a bank draft. Ten minutes later he brought one in, filled out with the required amount and added a drop of his blood. He handed it to Samantha before saying, "I know you seems to have this well in hand, but if you need my help to finish this, just let me know."

"It is unlikely we will, but we appreciate the thought nonetheless."

Samantha reported to her boss at Gringotts. King Ragnok and the Chamberlain was there as well.

"Everything went well at Sirius's home. It's a textbook case. He even paid, when he didn't have to. One more Horcrux is gone. The most notable thing is the muggle acid worked very well."

"How much did you make?" the Chamberlain asked.

"Twelve"

"A fair price."

King Ragnok said, "Good. Keep the twelve thousand available. Once your team finishes this work, it will be sitting there as your team's bonus along with your normal salary for a mission of this level."

"Thank you sir. It is appreciated."

"Is there anything else?" the King asked.

Samantha said, "Only two. First, Bill Weasley did well earlier today when he kept the Fiendfyre away from us so we could finish our work and collect the Dark Lord and his minion."

Ragnok nodded. "It has been noted in his file, along with a suggestion for him to undergo some of our advanced training, including managing Fyre type magics."

"Good. The other thing was a comment Sirius Black made. I'm not sure it's relevant, and I've already told the questioners, but he thinks someone put Harry Potter in the Triwizard tournament and wonders if it could be related to Voldemort somehow."

Ragnok said, "Delay your Hogwarts mission till at least tomorrow afternoon. I will see if the questioners can answer your question before this. If there is another party involved, it would be better to not leave loose ends."

Bill could hardly believe he was bringing Amelia Bones plus a half dozen Aurors with him to Hogwarts to arrest Mad Eye Moody, or at least the person playing Moody. They were met at the gates by the headmaster, who quickly showed them to Moody's room. They waited, disillusioned for him to exit. Thirty minutes later he did, and was dropped by nine stunning spells, and then quickly placed in magic restraining cuffs.

The actual Mad Eye moody was recovered from his own trunk. He was taken with Amelia for treatment. The personal contents of the room were also taken, including the trunk for her own investigation. Amelia thanked everyone involved and was gracious enough not to demand more answers, though she promised to be back.

Bill met Samantha at the Hogwarts gates. She was not a young woman, so it took her a little time to make it all the way inside the castle. Albus soon joined them, though thankfully classes were in session, so he was able to keep their presence hidden. He directed them to the antechamber used after the Triwizard selection.

The Headmaster cast a privacy spell on the room.

"Just what is this about?" asked the Headmaster. "Your not saying there is one here are you?"

Samantha asked, "I still would like to know why have you done almost nothing."

"I knew of one Harry destroyed, and the thing that was in Harry's scar, which judging from the reading I get from certain spells and his lack of scar is no longer there. I wasn't sure about any others. I was afraid to let the knowledge leak out."

Samantha said, "You sir are an idiot. You had critical knowledge, that had we had it sooner we could have ended this sooner. Thankfully we caught it, but someone's baby is very dead and who knows how many others."

Albus sighed wearily. "I was terrified if that secret got out they would be moved beyond our reach and then there was the prophecy."

"What prophecy?" asked Bill.

The headmaster went on to recite the prophecy and explain the details of its creation, only not mentioning Snape by name.

Samantha said, "Prophecies are a pain. From my understanding, many of these events were triggered I believe by Mr. Potter befriending that new girl. It is possible that is the entire extent of it. Thus friendship is the power the Dark Lord knew not."

"And it is possible, Harry must still be involved somehow. I know, he is in class with that remarkable group of people, including those that were at Miss Granger's house working on some new thing involving arithmancy that Filius won't tell me about right now."

Bill asked, "You want to bring a school kid near one of those? This seems unwise. We are just supposed to find it, and if possible safely contain it, and leave."

Samantha said, "Let's first see if we can narrow down the location of the horcrux." To the headmaster, "I assume your occlumency shields are in top shape?"

He nodded.

Samantha pulled two large lead lined boxes out of an expandable bag, then pulled a third intricately carved triangular runic plate out and set it down. On two of the three points she laid the evil artifacts before touching her wand to the middle of the plate. The plate spun slowly in circles.

"Damn," she said. "It is here, in the castle, somewhere, but this isn't localizing it." Looking to the Headmaster she asked, "Do you have any ideas of any places it could be?"

"My guess would be the Chamber of Secrets that was opened a couple years ago. Unfortunately, it requires someone with the parseltongue skill, which, fortunately, Mr. Potter has."

"Lovely," she muttered. She then replaced each artifact in its lead box, before returning all three to the expandable bag and then hiding it on her possession.

She said, "I still hesitate involving them. I can, however, at least stop and see what they are doing. If they are working on advanced arithmancy, there is a good chance that Gringotts may wish to hire them in the future, and perhaps there is something short of getting them involved that is possible. Where are they?"

Albus said, amused, "The arithmancy classroom of course. I believe you know the way."

"I do." She turned to Bill. "Bill, go report on this. We know that Harry, Hermione, Luna, and Lafiel already know of the Horcruxes. I plan to try to talk to them after this class, but Ragnok may have other orders. The main thing he needs to know is our hope of getting here and quickly grabbing the item appears to have failed and we have to try something else. Since a prophecy is in force, it is probably correct to not ignore it."

Bill nodded and left without further comment.

Albus asked, "Are you sure you are comfortable walking around with those? They are horrid things."

"The bag is my own work. The horcruxes may erode its protections eventually, but that should take months or years, and it has a cascade Norsefyre spell inside its expanded space, should that happen, or should a breech be attempted."

Albus muttered, "And they say I'm crazy."

Samantha laughed. "It's simple math. The danger of these objects falling into the wrong hands is higher than the danger of out of control Norsefyre.

"Possibly," Albus said. He, apparently, was anything but sure of that.

"I'm off to that classroom."

"I'll be in my office. Do not leave the castle without letting me know. I have to verify that bag does not remain here longer than required. I'll be having some of the house elves track you because of it."

"Understood."

When Samantha entered the Arithmancy classroom she was surprised to find it was full of people who were working on something that looked very clever. After she was noticed Bathsheba Babbling quickly cast privacy barriers around the chalkboards and design tables.

Luna stood up from her seat next to Harry, Lafiel, and Hermione. She said, "Samantha can be trusted. She is here for something very important."

Harry, Lafiel, and Hermione all looked at Samantha, their eyes curious and attentive. Victor, Fleur, Gabrielle, and Daphne also looked.

Luna asked, "It is another one, is it not?"

Samantha's focused snapped to her. "You are a very curious young woman. Tell me, what else do you sense?"

"I sense what you have at least one in your possession. It would be better if you locked that up I think, before we go off to look for the others."

Samantha's eyes widened again. She walked over to Beth and cast her own ward against listening. "Beth, can you store some extremely dangerous objects for a few hours?"

"I can. My safe is in my office. It is the best I could make."

"Let's go there. It probably wouldn't hurt to find a couple more guards as well. The bag I want to store has a Norse Fyre fail safe, which should be safe enough as long as there is no tampering."

Beth's eyes widened. "Just what are you messing with?"

"The Dark Lords rather insane insurance policy."

Beth said, "Come on, let's get that locked up. Norse Fyre you say? My safe may handle it. Sane people don't think about containing Norse Fyre you know."

Samantha grinned. "Sane people don't do the things my team does."

They got to her office and were not surprised to find Albus outside the door. He entered with them and Beth quickly opened the safe, removed all of the mildly dangerous stuff and shoved it in a nearby cabinet before stepping aside.

Samantha waved her wand at the safe then inspected its design carefully for several minutes. "Not bad. Not bad at all. Are you sure you wouldn't want a job at..."

"No poaching my employees," snapped Albus.

Samantha grinned before removing the bag from her robes and placing it in the safe. Beth quickly came over and locked it. She then said, "I'll stay here until this is over, whatever it is."

Albus said, "I will as well. Mr. Potter can show you to the Chamber of Secrets. Call for Fawkes if you need me."

Samantha asked, "Are you sure you can't think of any other places?"

Albus said, "The chamber seems more likely, so, with our luck, it is probably not there. My best other guess would be Rowena's room. Unfortunately, while I knew the location in my youth, it is no longer there. I have seen its door in my travels of the castle a few times since, but never in the same place. I believe it is playing with me, because I have no true need."

"Great, so ancient chamber we can find that is associated with Slytherin, magical room we can't find, or somewhere else entirely and magic so heavy and dense that ordinary attempts at tracking just fail, plus probably a ton of expanded spaces where it could be hiding, some of them likely linked to the room we can't find. Hogwarts is still a mess."

Albus laughed. "That she is. That she is."

"I'm going now," she stated, before walking out the door perhaps a little too quickly.

Beth said dryly, "I believe she was hoping for an easy day."

"If she succeeds, she will have had one, compared to the alternatives."

"Care to enlighten me more? Just how many of those abominations did he make, if we are guarding two of them?"

"I'm honestly not sure. They destroyed one at a home in London and destroyed a failed bit of one in Mr. Potter's scar. Another was destroyed in Harry's second year."

Beth said, "The man must have been insane doing that to his soul, and even if he wasn't when he started he had to have been by the end."

"Of that there is no doubt," said the Headmaster wearily. Then he continued with, "I know you, Filius, and Septima are teaching this group and it is very advanced. Please tell me it has nothing even remotely to do with soul magic manipulation?"

"Thankfully not. We'd have reported them to the unspeakables if they were dabbling in that extremely forbidden art. No, they are actually working on a way to fly without a broom."

"Tell me more."

When Samantha got back to the Arithmancy classroom she found that they had resumed their work, and only paused for a moment when she entered the classroom. She was surprised to see a couple of elves at another table working on stitching runes? That was new.

Her introspection was cut short when Luna once again got their attention by saying, "It is time, is it not?" to Samantha loud enough for everyone to hear.

"And what time would that be?" she asked warily.

"Time to find a beginning."

Samantha looked at her curiously. "Don't you mean an end?"

Luna smiled. "Many beginnings only come after ends. You are looking for another Horcrux, are you not?"

At the second table Victor cursed.

Samantha turned to him. "How do you know that term?"

He voice was a bit sad when he spoke. "I was taught about their existence by my father last summer. Not how to make them of course, but how to recognize them and destroy them, though my father made me promise never to try alone, unless I had no other choice. My family is a curse breakers family and do wander across them every generation or so. Usually they are already inert. The foul creations leach magic from their surroundings to survive."

Lafiel stood. "So, one of these things is in this castle somewhere, and you don't know where."

"Correct."

"Do you have any idea where to look?"

"The headmaster suggested the Chamber of Secret's and Rowena's room. I believe the legend said it was called the Room of Requirement."

Harry said, "I can certainly get you in the chamber. We'd probably want to get you a broom."

Fleur said, "She can borrow mine. I'll stay here to watch Gabriel." She looked over at Luna curiously.

Luna piped in, "I'll stay as well. You won't need my help."

Harry asked, "Who else is going?"

Lafiel said, "I will go. I wish to see an end to this threat."

Hermione asked, "I'm not sure. Would I be more help staying or going?"

Samantha said, "How is your occlumency?"

"I'm learning the new stuff in Lafiel's book, but I'm not that far yet."

Harry asked, "What about our link? It only works with myself, Lafiel, Hermione and Luna. Would that help?"

"It might. Care to let me test it?"

Harry's placed his left hand in Hermione's right, while Lafiel took his other hand. Harry then nodded.

She waved her wand and muttered legilimens and stared at Harry a few seconds before turning her spell on Hermione and then Lafiel. A few seconds later she stopped and said, "That is the weirdest occlumency shielding I've ever seen, but it works, you were not pained?"

Lafiel said, "I could clearly feel your attack, but it wasn't painful."

Hermione added, "We'll it was a little painful, but not too bad."

Harry said, "I honestly didn't feel it."

Samantha said, "You were in the center of the link. That may be important, but for now all three can come if you will follow orders. I'm still waiting for Bill to return before heading out." She turned to Krum and Daphne.

Victor said, "I will come, but remain as far back as possible. These are extremely dangerous, but I would be remiss if I passed on a safer opportunity to learn."

She turned to Daphne who answered with, "I may not know exactly what your talking about, but I get the idea. I will come if you believe me necessary, but I'd as soon as not even be near whatever this is. My father would be a better choice, if it came to that."

"It is not necessary. You can stay. If we run into anything significant, I'm getting my whole team in here, even if the Daily Prophet turns it into a media spectacle." She paused for a moment before asking, "We'll we know Mr. Potter can get us into the Chamber. What about the Room of Requirement?"

Surprisingly, one of the house elves rose to speak. She said, "I be showing you the room when you needs it."

"Good. Now do we have any other ideas?" It turned out, that other than searching they didn't.

"We'll while we are waiting, could I get some tea and could you perhaps walk me through what you have on the blackboards? This looks very interesting."

Daphne looked at the others and seeing no strong disagreement remained silent as Lafiel began to slowly explain the many arrays that were to be woven into their flight outfit and each of their purposes. She listened carefully, nodding as she fit the pieces together then glanced over at the elves. "They are already making one?"

Lafiel said, "No. They are just practicing sewing several harmless arrays."

Samantha moved over to the elves and examined some of their complete efforts. "This is coming along nicely. The material is all wrong to hold magic of course, so you will want to practice with the real stuff well before you even consider weaving anything like on the board."

The elves nodded, but continued their work without interruption.

She pulled back her robe to show a thin dark tan leather material that covered her arm, etched with intricate runes, that she held up in the air. "I'm afraid your idea to use runic clothing isn't too original. It's a common curse breaker secret. This is just my own mix to try not to die."

Lafiel walked over and examined her runic clothing carefully, before resuming her seat.

Samantha said, "Goblins do our runic clothing work, not that you need them with that pair. I can, however, get you supplies if your interested."

The elves eyes lit up and the others smiled.

Fleur said, amused, "I believe they are interested."

Luna asked, "What do your runes do?"

"I've been toying with runic clothing for a few decades now, and this current one just dissipates magical energy. It does that one thing very well. It won't take a killing curse of course, but a stunner does nothing, and I'm not likely to casually set off some magical booby trap, such as a more active design might cause. It does one thing and does it well. If there is one thing I'd be cautious about in your design, is you have the opposite principle. You are doing a lot with a lot. It looks like you need it, but you might also consider a layered approach, as in actual layers of clothing. Putting on two or more identical copies of the clothing with different ward arrays and letting them seal against each other may help. You will get thicker material, but that's manageable, but each layer may be easier to prove out."

Daphne said, "Professor Flitwick's original design was like that."

"Was it really?" Samantha asked. "This can still be one array, composed of multiple inter linked layers. It should be easier to validate."

Daphne answered, "No, your correct. He separated it into parts, but apparently they just all got applied to a single broom."

"Filius is brilliant at charms. He is a master of masters there, and easily eclipses anyone on my team. His rune work, I know is also good, and he may be able to help you, but Beth is better. Septima probably as well, though your own work may eclipse us all if your pace of improvement is what I think it is."

She stared at their work a bit more before saying, "When you think your close, contact me via Gringotts. I will gladly come and take a look. I would also suggest hiring my team to help with the testing. If your going to be experimenting with magic of this level, then having a top curse breaker team on standby is a very good idea. Also, our sign off will make it way easier to sell, and personally, I want one."

Just then Bill walked through the door, with a nondescript human.

Samantha said, "Garnok sir. Is there a problem?"

He stared at the blackboards with intense curiosity.

"No, or at least not that I'm aware of. You have a very interesting class here Samantha, but I hope Hogwarts hasn't poached my finest warder."

"No sir. We were just waiting on Bill to arrive before heading to our first location. Harry, Lafiel, and Hermione, along with Victor Krum have asked to come along."

"Is all this their work?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Very well. Is there anything else we might need?"

"Harry suggested brooms."

Luna said, "You can borrow mine as well, but that leaves us one short."

Bill said, "Actually not. After my little adventure the other day I purchased one and shrank it."

Samantha chuckled. "It does pay to be prepared Bill, and usually the currency is not paying with your life."

"Damn right."

When they got to the location of the Chamber of secrets, only passing a dozen or so students, Garnok was unimpressed.

"So Slytherin's secret hidey hole, is in the middle of a girls bathroom." He then turned to Samantha. "Set up some temporary wards. Keep people out."

Samantha did so, pulling from a separate bag three small intricately carved cubes. One sat on either side of the base of the door, the final sat at the top of the door frame. She then touched all three with her wand, before the door started to glow a faint amber.

Samantha asked, "Can you open whatever it is Harry?"

Harry walked over to the sink and hissed. Soon it fell away and the tunnel the snake previously came out of became visible.

Garnok looked at it distastefully. "I can't believe Slytherin used this entrance. I assume this is for the Basilisk I've heard about?"

"Yes sir."

He sighed. "There is probably another. I'm not sensing anything interesting though. It appears to be just an tunnel. Still, there is no point in taking chances. Bill, it is time you earned your keep. Transfigure or conjure an animal, take control and slide it down that mess."

"You don't mean?" Bill hesitated.

"The imperius curse? Well no not really. Imperio actually existed before they perverted it to control humans. The spell is the same, but I take it you haven't practiced sacrificing lemmings to random ward schemes much?"

"I've seen it done, but I haven't done it no. I hadn't known they were using Imperio. They never said the spell."

Garnok looked at him blankly. "The ministry likes to get its hands in everything, but using that spell to control a construct is not dark. I can prove it to you asthmatically if you want. It is only when you start controlling another sentient that it becomes unforgivable. Either way, I'll get it this time."

Bill nodded.

Garnok moved up to the tunnel himself and quickly conjured a full grown mountain lion which roared as it slid down the hole. Garnok just seemed to focus on nothing as he, or rather his construct explored the immediate area. Several minutes later he reported, "The initial descent appears clear. Let's head down. I'll go first, then Bill a minute later, then the others a minute each after that. Samantha, will come down last ten minutes later, just in case there is any delayed activation."

Bill asked, "But won't that put her in danger?"

Samantha snorted. "If it happens, I'm probably the most likely to survive it. I know what I'm doing."

Bill nodded.

They entered the chamber. Garnok gestured and globes of light immediately rose and positioned themselves in all corners of the chamber. They soon came across the area of the cave in.

Garnok said, "We'll that's a bother. Potter, Abriel, Granger how about you three do your link thing and repair that? One of you knows the spell I assume?"

Hermione said, "Reparo, but its too big."

"Nonsense. You have the power. You lead it. It would do you some good probably."

Hermione nodded uncertainly. Lafiel slipped around her, firmly wrapping her arms around Hermione's, even as Harry did the same to her. Hermione pulled out her Vine and Dragon heart-string wand as she felt the power from the others now at her fingertips.

She knew it was far too big, even with all of their effort, so she did the only thing she could. She focused, and then they all focused, as one. It would be done. They would put their all into it. She would not fail. She cast. Her wand heated and a bolt of orange fire shot from it spreading all throughout the room, as rocks and debris rose, changed, and returned to their original place.

Centuries of muck and filth was washed away. The entire cavern gleamed like it was new even as Hermione started to fall. She caught herself, and the others caught her.

Samantha saw it all as she walked in.

Garnok said, "Impressive. Pointlessly overkill, but impressive nonetheless. Samantha, check them over please?"

She waved her wand in front of them all for several minutes before declaring, "There is no harm. After we are done here it might be better if Hermione at least got some rest, but we can continue."

Garnok turned to Hermione. "Do not doubt yourself. Know your limits yes, but do not invent them. Just look at what the power you had at your fingertips could do and I'm pretty sure you could have done what was actually necessary yourself had you but believed. Do you understand?"

Hermione nodded dumbly as she stared at so much change initiated by her still warm wand.

They continued on and soon ran into both the really old snake skin and the actual basilisk corpse.

Garnok. cast another set of globes of light and sent them to all corners illuminating the area. He then opened his own pouch and withdrew a small bottle made of very thick glass with a glass cork, gloves, and assorted knives. He said, "While we have no time to dally, collecting some of this venom now seems a worthwhile endeavor. Bill, I assume you know enough to accomplish this task safely?"

Bill nodded, and went to work.

Samantha said, "Victor has at least a passing knowledge of what to look for. Breaking up in pairs should work, each with an experienced lead."

Garnok said, "Agreed. Victor, myself, and Samantha will lead. Hermione can go with Samantha. Victor and Harry should work for another. Lafiel and myself can take the final pair."

Lafiel and Garnok simply started forward, carefully observing every corner of the chamber. A couple minutes later Lafiel said absently, "I do not like this place."

"Yes, it has an oppressive feel, even with what you did, but then you were born to roam the stars were you not?" Lafiel's eyes widened minutely. "Do not be concerned. Ragnok does not spread secrets, but as master warder and given my place in the Nok clan, I rated the truth, in case it was needed."

"I understand."

"What are your goals?" he asked.

"They are not terribly complicated. I seek a way to return to my place and time. I also intend to help this place, if I can."

"And if one goal prevents the other?" Garnok asked casually.

"An Abriel's honor would not allow me to endanger your world to fulfill my own goals, nor would my personal honor. It would also be suicidal for me to do so. This is, I think the world man evolved from. If I harm this world, my entire race could cease to exist."

"Surely just changing things also has that risk?" he prompted.

"I do not think so. There is evidence that this is a closed loop, that my queen knew something about my likely trip back. It is not conclusive, but it is as likely that not doing what I can destroys all that I know."

"I hate temporal mechanics," muttered Gornak.

"I confess it was only a theoretical study for us. Just to know it is possible, is a very great thing. Still, I value your council. If you or another sees too much risk in any of our plans, you will let us know?"

"Of course."

"Do goblins exist in your time?" he asked quietly.

"There are many species in my time. Most are human, or nearly so, but there are many others. I could see some might be what became of the goblins. I would have to search my records to know for sure, and even then, my records are limited. I may not have enough information to find an answer."

"Please do, and for your help I will gladly help you with your current endeavor."

"I thank you."

"So the flying suits were your idea?"

"Actually no. They were Hermione's. She apparently isn't that fond of brooms. Still, they are interesting, and may be a technology I can eventually use, one way, or another."

Their conversation was interrupted, when they were called away. It seemed Samantha and Hermione had found Slytherin's study. It was priceless of course, but also did not contain a Horcrux. None of their other searches revealed one either.

They regrouped in the bathroom, where the house elves brought them food and drink. After they were done. Samantha removed the ward locks and the elves popped them into the seventh floor corridor.

Once the elves explained how the room worked Samantha simply asked for the room with the Horcrux in it, and suddenly they were in a room filled with a thousand years of junk.

Immediately, upon entering Garnok said, "It's here. Everyone stay together. Touch nothing and follow no closer than twenty feet behind Samantha and myself. Bill, make sure they stay back."

Bill nodded, even as Garnok lead them through what seemed like a football field worth of junk, only to come to a diamond encrusted diadem sitting on a bust of a woman in marble.

Garnok cursed fluently in goblin, then switched to English. "What a waste. Even if we managed to remove the foul magic, you could never trust it. What a colossal waste."

"Agreed," stated Samantha. "I'll be glad when we get back to Gringotts and end this fools life the rest the way."

"Today," Garnok snapped. "Right after we get back."

Garnok then pulled out a very long poll from his enchanted bag. It looked like a perfectly straight branch that had been shorn of bark and polished. It stretched over thirty foot long. Once it was on the ground he said, "Normally I'd risk a featherweight spell, but I think we can just work as a group. We are going to practice with a bottle of water, dumping it over some other object. Then we are going to use the Basilisk venom on the Horcrux."

They quickly worked out how to hold, lift and move the ridiculously long stick of wood, and even how to tilt a bottle at the far end of it, so water splashed down on a hat they had chosen as a target. Thirty minutes later Garnok declared them ready, and quickly exchanged the bottles for the venom filled one.

He then said, "Horcruxes tend to try to influence you to not destroying them, and if your not careful they will take over a sentient host. The key is, if you can, destroying them from a distance, and as we can do that here, there is no point in doing anything other than that. That all being said, you need to focus and be wary of external influences on your thoughts."

They all nodded. He then turned to Victor and asked, "Do you have anything to add?"

"I think my family prefers to use an enchanted ax, but I like your plan better."

They all held it. Bill was in front as the strongest, followed by Victor, Harry, Lafiel, and Hermione behind. Samantha was standing guard on one side to the front of them with Garnok on the other as they maneuvered the long pole above the diadem and simply poured.

Smoke and shrieking were seen as the diadem dissolved. The floor was still bubbling.

Garnok said, "Pity about the floor. Since the poison is in contact with material it reacts with, best just to let it finish its reaction, though we need to send a team back to decontaminate this place." Turning to Samantha he said, "For now could ward the area?"

Garnok absently vanished his pole, but did not approach the destroyed Horcrux.

Samantha got the same blocks as before, but instead of three, pulled out a total of seven and placed them at equal distances around the area, before activating them in a second pass. She said, "Those should hold for a week or so. My team can easily be back here tomorrow to do cleanup."

"Agreed. We are done here. Let's go back to that classroom."

Samantha said, "I'm going to retrieve my bag from Beth. I'll pick up Albus and Beth along the way.

When they had returned, Luna and the others had already begun work on dividing their current work into multiple layers. A layer for magic dissipation was on the outside. It was followed by an isolation and redirection layer. Then there was the shield layer, followed by the directional control and weight reduction layer. The finally layer was simply a failsafe layer, designed to slowly lower whoever was in the outfit to the ground. It was set to automatically activate if the wearer was in the air when any other layer failed. It was designed to be automatic, and to use stored magic, so even if the user was out cold or dead it would still work to get them down in one piece.

Garnok was the first to enter, followed by the others. He looked at the updated chalkboard and said dryly to the room, "If your trying to make a good impression on a perspective employer, I think you can count that box as checked."

Fleur asked, "How did it go?"

"Well, though I ask you to wait on the rest." He turned back to the chalkboards and asked, "Was the layered clothing Samantha's idea?"

Fleur replied, "Yes. How did you know?"

"I've seen some of those in her designs. So far she hasn't fielded any. She doesn't consider them safe enough. I believe you are on the right track though."

His train of thought was broken when first Albus and then Beth and Severus walked in the room.

Garnok slipped the concealment necklace off and the Headmaster's eyes widened.

"Honored Ward Master," he said formally.

"We have solved your problem for the most part, though a few details remain. I suggest you have, perhaps this group, and at least two representatives of the unspeakables you trust at Gringotts at 1pm tomorrow. Then at 3pm you have the Minister, Madam Bones, and several members of the press, including a couple from outside the country there. Finally, if you are aware of where Mr. Black is, it might be a good time to resolve his issue. I will lend you this necklace for the day, should you require it."

"You have them all?" Albus asked with breathless anticipation.

"We believe so, but the unspeakables should come prepared to check our work. I was going to destroy them right now, but then I remember politics."

"Thank you. I don't know what to say other than thank you."

Garnok said, "You could cancel this silly tournament, or at least make it somewhat safe. I will be extremely annoyed if you manage to kill off two people with such potential. Failing that, you could accept our help to minimize the dangers."

All of the Triwizard champions perked up at that.

Albus said, "I'll meet with the other headmasters. I have to have unanimous consent to change any of the tasks."

"Then get it. What they are doing here is well worth a task in itself. Let the task to be playing quidditch against a top team, perhaps the Hollyhead Harpies, without any brooms. That should draw quite a crowd. They can be rated on how well each did."

Albus glanced at the board, then looked at it more closely. "You think this will work?"

"That is my guess, yes, though there will no doubt be issues to resolve."

"I'll do my best. I'll get them there."

Garnok nodded, slipping his necklace back on." He then said, "Lafiel, did you still wish the necklace that would restore your old appearance?"

Lafiel was quick to retrieve the necklass out of a lower pants pocket. She then held it out to the goblin. "Thank you for letting me borrow that. I no longer need it."

"Good."

Albus said, "If you don't mind, I'll walk you down to the gates."

Albus still could hardly believe how lucky they had been. As soon as they exited the Hogwarts doors he cast a silencing bubble around them. Bill, Samantha, Garnok and himself were in the bubble.

He asked, "Are you completely certain?"

Garnok said, "As well as we can be. We have certain tests to repeat on the last two Horcruxes to determine if they truly are the last, but previous tests indicated there were only two additional, and we have dealt with two additional."

"Do you need anything further from me?"

"Beyond what I said about fixing the Triwizard mess? No. You knew the options for fixing what was in Harry's scar. We may have been your best bet, but we were hardly your only. You should not have left it."

"I thought the only possibility was his death."

"Fortunately, that was not the case, and even if you believed that, based on the best available information, well, things change, or have you not been paying attention to that group?"

"I have."

"I'm pretty sure their flight suit would work now, but don't tell them that. Many things will work in a quick trial. Long term stability is harder. Make sure they do the work. I will get them the needed materials to make it."

"Actually," Samantha said, "I had planned to take care of it."

"And I had planned to have you take care of it. It's funny how these things work." The goblin in human form grinned.

"Of course," replied Samantha dryly.

Albus mused. "I wonder if the girls would be accepted by the unicorn herd. They were involved in stopped the Dark Lord who killed one of them a few years ago."

Samantha asked, "Your thinking of making their final runes out of unicorn hair?"

"Probably not," mused Albus. "But if they could make a few key runes with Unicorn hair freely given."

Gornak said, "I suggest not. We are trying to talk about something that can, ideally, be sold. Acromantuala silk for cloth, might be feasible, particularly if you relocated your colony. It would make for a very expensive item, but people would still pay I think." He turned to fully face Albus. "You really should have them rounded up and put somewhere safe. They are entirely too close to children. We could arrange it if you like."

"How much?" asked Albus.

"Oh, just let us harvest that Basilisk and we will call it even."

Albus mused. "I'd think Harry should get the proceeds there, not that he needs or likely wants the money."

Garnok said, "I'll contact him, try to work out something mutually profitable, and make sure to take care of your acromantula problem."

"I suppose. Is there anything else?" They were nearing the gate.

"Just two small details. We found Slytherin's study down in the chamber. They can no doubt show you. The room of requirement also has a bit of a mess where we destroyed the Horcrux. Basilisk venom that needs cleaned up. The elves can show you, or my people can clean it. No charge."

"Severus would no doubt like to collect the poison."

Garnok snapped, "Don't be an idiot. What remains there must be collected and neutralized. Nothing that touched that much tainted magic can be trusted. If he wants some, you can take him down to the Chamber and collect it. In fact, you probably should, lest the ministry get unnecessarily worried when we harvest the rest."

"You didn't keep any?" Albus asked.

"What I had was in the bottle that they dumped on the floor. It was overkill, but we managed to stay completely outside the Horcrux's range of influence and still destroy it, so I'll call that a win."

"How did you do that? Levitation spells might fail in such a circumstance."

0

"Big long pole and a team of people to position the bottle. At the end we dumped."

"That's," exclaimed Albus. "Ridiculous is the word I want to use."

Garnok snorted. "Only an idiot tries to solve a magical problem with more magic, if there is a simple mundane solution available. No one had to brave getting near it, and risk finding out what traps were inlaid. Just long stick, venom, pour, wait. Oh and make sure to vanish the long stick after, because you can never be too careful."

Samantha smiled. She said, "I'm older that most curse breakers. I could retire at any time. I certainly have the money. It's because of training like Garnok gave that I lived to get this old. You really should teach this kind of practical thinking in Hogwarts. Don't use a wand, when an axe or a gun or a really big gun is better. Don't over complicate things."

Albus said dryly, "Yes, I think I remember somewhere where the recommended ward lighting process was to find part of one dark lords soul and shred it for power and automatic patterning of a ward scheme. That is a remarkably simple solution."

Garnok shrugged. "It worked didn't it?"

"And now the Grangers have the equivalent of war wards, that they probably don't even need."

Bill said, "I wouldn't bet on that. There might be a lot of people wanting revenge."

"A valid point," admitted the Headmaster, "But now I need to bid you adieu. I was wondering if the use of that particular necklace is possible."

"For black I assume?" quested Gornok.

"I cannot say," replied the headmaster.

Garnok pulled a necklace out of his pocket and handed it to Albus.

"Wasn't this the one Lafiel had? I thought these were patterned after a particular gender."

"They are," said an amused Samantha.

"That they are," added an equally amused old warder.

"He is going to love this," muttered Albus.