He knew exactly where to find the horcrux; a cave just around the point from the main beach near Ogmore-By-Sea. The cave had been extensive in the research done during 1941, reaching several hundred meters back into the cliff. Then, in the 1960's version the cave was a couple of meters at most, the exploring muggles commenting on the 'miserable feeling' inside with no associated record of a cave-in or change to the topography of the land above. The obvious conclusion was that the cave had been magically concealed from muggles, and a quick apparition test, whereupon he appeared on a rocky stack about a hundred meters offshore proved the theory correct.
Albus agreed but they decided, at least temporarily to leave the item where it sat. There was no sense in alerting Riddle to them being on to his secret, lest he decide to pursue more reliable methods of immortality. Particularly as in light of Gellert's achievement with the stone, it would be clear to the other dark wizard that there were alternative routes.
Meanwhile, as Gellert had been researching the cave, Albus had been delving into the backstory of Lord Voldemort, already aware that he was proud of his lineage as heir of Slytherin. It was laughably easy to discover the identity of his parents – the purebloods had tracked and traced every family member ever born. The Gaunts were the last true heirs, whose daughter had gone missing and whose son had been put in Azkaban for the murder of one Tom Marvolo Riddle. It wasn't too difficult to deduce exactly who was Voldemort's father once that name came to light.
So Albus had located the Gaunt home and the two wizards apparated to the edge of town. It was a sunny Tuesday, only a week before the end of the Summer holidays, at which point it would become considerably more difficult for Gellert to wreak havoc, considering his new job as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. It had been hilarious to watch Albus' face as the headmaster was forced to inform Gellert that the ICW were more than happy to have him employed under Albus. In fact, the international community was happy to finally know exactly where he was and what he was up to, and that he was temporarily under the supervision of his only potential equal. They had even admitted they had no hope of capturing him, which had made him feel rather smug. He'd raided a death eater gathering at Nott house in celebration.
Little Hangleton was a quaint town, idyllically unaware of just how central they were to the current conflict. Only one or two cars were parked on the street; there being little space for any more between the slate tiled houses. There was little to see, a seedy looking pub with a single patron outside and a woman walking a splotched brown dog around a pond. The church was stubby with no spire but the graveyard was unusually large, a gleaming white war memorial with a handful of names looking incredibly out of place in front of the squat, dark building.
Overshadowing the town was a large, derelict manor. The windows were boarded up and the garden had gone wild over summer, despite having been expertly cared for once. The topiarys had just begun to lose their shape, giving the fanciful horses that flanked the gates a greenish fuzz. A quick alohomora unlocked the gates, which made an ear splitting scream as they opened. Both wizards winced and breathed in to slip through the narrowest possible gap.
The house was booby trapped – minor jinxes and hexes, among which was hidden the occasional nasty one but nothing the two explorers couldn't handle. The interior had been nowhere near as well maintained as the exterior, with peeling wall paper and mouldy curtains. They padded through every room, casting revealing charms but finding nothing but a shed snake skin. That was unsurprising though, they hadn't expected to find anything here.
They left with as little fanfare as they had arrived, slipping back out through the gate and inching it shut behind them.
This time they went a different route through the village, pausing at a little village shop for Albus to purchase a hard muggle caramel called 'Werther's Originals.' The shop owner looked surprised and suspicious when they entered, although he could hardly be blamed when Albus had chosen to wear a pair of chequered dungarees in place of his usual bright robes.
Then, sucking on the sweets, the two wizards made their way up an overgrown path to the tree line opposite the manor. The shack was nestled in under a large oak, covered in a thick layer of moss and bramble that made it almost invisible unless you knew what you were looking for. The two wizards paused, surveying the seemingly innocent little ruin.
'Are there any muggles around?' Albus asked, looking left and right although any might have heard and suddenly appear.
'Who cares?' dismissed Gellert, already waving his hands in the air and feeling for wards. 'There's a lot of magic warding this place.'
'Do you want to do the honours?' The headmaster asked, feeling for the same. It briefly occurred to Gellert that if there were any muggles around, they'd look like right idiots; an old man in chequered dungarees and a teenager waving their arms around in front of their faces in the middle of the woods.
'Very well.' He nodded in agreement, then made a tearing motion with one hand, as though he were pulling a blanket from a piece of unused furniture. There was an ear splitting screech, and the door flew off its hinges. Splinters of rotten wood rained over the two wizards, impacting with small fizzing sounds on the shield Albus had erected over them both.
'Well that was rather novice.' Gellert commented dryly, then paused. A shape was moving within the shack, something that shuffled and clicked as it moved. The thing came into sight briefly, then seemed to shy away, preferring the heavy shadows of the shack to the dappled light of the woods.
'There's an inferius in there.' Albus commented and Gellert rolled his eyes.
'As I said; all rather novice.'
'What would you have done, old friend?' Albus asked as the two of them cautiously approached the shack.
'I would have hidden the whole building. Perhaps some blood magic, none of you light types would know what to do with it, and lots of inferi; hundreds of them.' He laughed, sending a beam of light through the doorway. A hiss from inside told them he'd hit the inferius but not killed it.
'I see.' Albus peered through the doorway, then leapt back as the inferius swatted at him. 'I can't see the blasted thing.' He grumbled.
'Let's just burn the whole shack down. It wouldn't be a bad thing if we got the horcrux in the process.' Gellert suggested, his wand poised for fiendfyre.
'I suppose. Do you want me to deal with the muggles then?' Albus raised his own wand, casting a muggle repelling charm over the area as fire began to stream in ribbons from Gellert's own. The cursed fire leapt at the derelict house, greedily lighting the dead bracken and roaring up into the rafters. Albus hastily summoned a breeze to disperse the smoke as the inferius began to screech before it's voice faded to a gargle.
For a moment the fire burned in silence, apart from the snapping jaws of a dragon as it ate a snake. Then came a different sound, this one a horrific, unearth screeching and black smoke poured up out of the building. The cannibalistic animals lost interest in one another, converging upwards on the smoke, singing the trees around them. Gellert let them go, trusting Albus to extinguish the branches that caught alight as his fiery chimera's jaws closed on the black mist. There was one last, agonised screech and then the mist was gone. Gellert extinguished the fire, forcing the animals to eat one another until only a single one remained, which sucked back into his wand with a sound like a balloon deflating.
Albus used his wand to hose down the building, extinguishing the natural fire that remained, crackling merrily among the rafters. Steam hissed into the air, dispersed by a quick breeze from Gellert's wand.
The two wizards stood in silence for a moment, observing the remains.
'Shall we see what we just destroyed?' Albus asked, walking through the gap where the door had stood.
The cursed fire had left only the stone shell of the building, stripped bare of anything that might once have been inside, only a couple of puddles of molten metal remaining where he assumed metal implements had once stood. Nothing remained of the inferius, but there was a rectangular cavity beneath where floorboards had presumably been, about the size of an inferius. Gellert peered into the dark hole, lighting his wand so that he could see the puddle of gold in the bottom – perhaps it had been a piece of jewelry, an heirloom. A glint caught his eye and he reached for the strange object, pausing at the last moment. He quickly cast a couple of diagnostic spells, and was suddenly grateful that he hadn't touched anything. It was a curse he had heard of, but only well enough to know that it was slow acting and had no cure, which was something he had never had time for.
He cast a couple of counter curses, unsurprised when none of them worked. He would have to research this one. Albus peered curiously over his shoulder.
'Have we destroyed it?'
'Yes, but there's something else down there, a powerful magical artefact with a dark curse; I am not familiar with the countercurse.' He answered, levitating the little stone out. His breath caught in his chest as soon as he laid eyes upon it. He heard Albus' sharp intake from behind him and knew that the other wizard had seen the same symbol.
'Do you think he knew what this is?' Albus murmured incredulously, reaching out to touch it, then pulling back at the last moment, remembering the curse.
'I can't imagine he would have just left it here if that was the case.'
'Perhaps it didn't work for him.' Gellert theorised, 'the legend suggests that it brings back those you love.'
'And Riddle loved no one.' Albus finished, summoning a stick from outside and transfiguring it into a wooden box. The light wizard layered it with protective charms, then handed it to Gellert, who carefully lowered the stone inside and shut the lid with a snap.
'I will remove the curse, then you may as well have it.' He said, slipping the box into his pocket. 'I have nobody to bring back, so there is little point in me keeping it.'
'I'll leave it to you in my will none the less.' Albus offered him a genuine smile, and Gellert stood, stretching.
'I think we should leave a surprise for Voldemort, should he ever feel the need to check his horcrux.' The dark wizard suggested with a dark smile.
'I suppose. What would you suggest?'