"So we just swing the sword at it and the soul dies?" Moody asked, staring ferociously at the diadem.

"I think so," Harry nodded. "Didn't destroy it with the sword last time, this is the one that was engulfed by the Fiendfyre. But if it's like the others, then yeah you just-"

But he didn't get to finish because as soon as he said 'yeah', Moody lurched forward, grabbing hold of the sword and swinging with all his might down on the small crown. The thing seemed to scream in pain from it and a blood-like tar substance poured out of it before it broke in half on the table. Harry breathed in deep, taken aback from the sudden violence. He wasn't the only one. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had stumbled back as Moody brought the sword down and Sirius had fallen over in his chair while Tonks had let out a startled squawk in surprise. Kingsley and McGonagall were both on their feet, hands reaching for their wands instinctively and Snape leapt up from his seat, his first true movement in a while.

Out of all of them, Dumbledore remained the most unmoved, simply staring at the pieces of the diadem now lying before him.

"Moody!" McGonagall practically yelled. "What was that?"

"What?" he growled, putting the sword down. "There, one down, five to go. Problem solved."

"A little warning would have been nice," Lupin said, picking himself up.

"You're all too soft. Just did what had to be done."

"Enough," Dumbledore interrupted. "The point is that it is done. Though, Moody, a little warning would have been better." Moody frowned but nodded. "Still, that is another one of the Horcruxes destroyed at least."

"Yes," Kingsley nodded, taking his seat. Then he looked up, focusing on one of Dumbledore's words. "Another?"

"Yes. As I am sure Harry was getting to, this is the second Horcrux destroyed, not the first. This was the first." Dumbledore reached into his pockets and pulled out the diary of Tom Riddle, the gaping hole where Harry had stabbed it with a Basilisk fang marking it as destroyed. Harry curled his lips at the sight, a lot of bad memories overtaking him. He wasn't the only one as Mrs. Weasley also recognized the book and so did Mr. Weasley a second later, both gasping softly.

"What?" Bill asked, looking at his parents worriedly.

"It's the diary that possessed Ginny," Harry explained. "The one I destroyed in the Chamber of Secrets."

Bill's eyes widened and he put an arm around his parents, staring at the diary now with a combination of fear and hatred.

"I suspected from the moment Harry gave this to me two years ago that it was more than it appeared," Dumbledore explained. "It was what first made me think of Horcruxes as Voldemort's chosen route of power. I wasn't able to confirm it until Harry arrived this evening."

"Hmph," Moody sniffed. "So that's two down then? Excellent. Only four more to go now."

"Yes, and we can actually take care of another right now if you want," Harry said. They all looked up suddenly at him. "Well, I'll explain it first but then we can destroy it. But it's here. In this house."

"It is?" Sirius asked, looking around suddenly. "How? Where is it?"

"Uh…actually, I don't know where exactly right now," Harry said, thinking. "I know it's here, I just don't know if Kreacher moved it yet…"

"Kreacher?" Sirius asked incredulously asked. "What does he have to do with it?"

"Everything," Harry told him seriously. "I know you hate him, Sirius, but you shouldn't. He may have taken on certain…negative attributes of your family."

"Like saying mudblood or half-breed to my friends?" Sirius checked darkly.

"Yeah, those are some," Harry nodded awkwardly. "But in my time, I helped Kreacher finish his mission and he…well, he became part of the family."

Sirius gaped at him while Lupin smiled smugly, as if proven right. Dumbledore hid his smile behind his hand, but he winked at Harry as he did so.

"What mission?" Sirius asked.

"The mission to destroy the Horcrux," Harry said.

"How did the house-elf get the Horcrux?" Moody asked.

"He…actually, maybe it's best if he explains it. Call him here, would you?"

"Kreacher!" Sirius yelled out. There was a loud crack and the house-elf that Harry had inherited so long ago appeared in the room. Harry was dismayed to see him in that same old filthy rag around his waist he had been wearing when Harry first met him. After the Second Wizarding War, Harry had invited Kreacher to live with him in his new home and the house-elf had reluctantly accepted on the condition that he could still serve Grimmauld Place. He had served Harry for almost a decade before passing away in his sleep. A great change from the creature Harry had been repulsed by.

"Master has summoned Kreacher," the elf said in his bullfrog voice, head bowed. "With his blood traitor and half-breed friends-"

"Don't call him half-breed," Sirius growled.

"Desecrating the Noble House of Black, oh what would mistress say to Kreacher if she saw the state of her house, oh the shame…"

"Enough, Kreacher," Sirius ordered him. He turned to Harry. "Ask him," he said, sighing a little. "But I don't know how he will help you."

"Oh I think he can," Harry assured him, walking up to the house-elf. He knelt down next to Kreacher who slunk away a little, refusing to meet his eye. "Hello Kreacher. Do you know who I am?"

"The blood-traitor is talking to Kreacher, but Kreacher will not answer, no he will n-"

"I want to talk to you about Regulus Black," Harry said and Kreacher stopped. He also heard Sirius gulp behind him in surprise. "Especially about the item he ordered you to destroy before he died. His final command to you."

"The…the…" Kreacher stumbled, not sure what to say.

"The locket," Harry said for him. "I know you haven't been able to destroy it. I know you have it still. I want to help you Kreacher. But first, can you tell them about it. Can you tell them your story."

"Master Regulus ordered Kreacher to never tell the story to his family," Kreacher said, looking at Sirius and Tonks.

"Oh, damn, I forgot about that," Harry muttered, rubbing his forehead. "Ok, I guess I can but I don't remember a lot of it, it has been a while. The gist is that Voldemort hid the locket in a cave beneath his old orphanage. No, wait, it was more a summer place where the orphanage went to or something. Doesn't matter. Anyway, there was a lake full of inferi there and a small island in the center with a goblet full of potion. You could only reach the locket if you drank all the potion which brought you pain and traumatic memories, I think."

"Did you drink it?" Mrs. Weasley asked, looking at him with sad eyes.

"No, uh, you did," he pointed at Dumbledore who took that with a simple nod back. "But the locket we had was fake because Regulus had already taken it."

"But…what?" Sirius questioned. "But Regulus was a Death Eater, why would he turn on Voldemort like that? I mean, I know he started questioning him but he went that far?"

"I think he lost faith or something, I don't really know," Harry said to him. "But he did. See, Voldemort needed a house-elf to drink the potion so he could put the locket in and he used Kreacher. But, before the inferi could kill him, Regulus called him back and then," Harry looked over at Kreacher but the house-elf still wasn't looking at him, "he told Regulus about it. And Regulus ordered him back there and Regulus drank the potion so Kreacher could remove the locket and replace it with a fake. And then…" Harry winced at this part, looking over at Sirius with sympathy, "then the inferi came and…dragged Regulus down. And Kreacher came back here and tried to destroy the locket but couldn't."

Sirius sat in his chair, staring vacantly as he processed this information. Lupin rubbed his friend's shoulder in comfort.

"Kreacher, can you bring the locket here?" Harry asked him. "I promise we will destroy it. I know how to do it."

Kreacher stared at him a long moment. "Young master knows many things he should not, knows mysteries Kreacher has never shared, how does he know these things?"

"It's…complicated, Kreacher," Harry told him. "But I will destroy the locket right now, if you bring it here. I promise."

Kreacher stared at him for another long moment before he suddenly dissaparated. Harry felt his heart sink for a single second before suddenly there was another crack and the house-elf returned, the locket in his hands.

Harry smiled, a little uneasy at seeing the thing again, but glad that Kreacher had listened. "Thank you, Kreacher. Master Regulus would be proud." He carried the locket gingerly to the table and placed it carefully next to the other two Horcruxes.

"Alright, so we just slice that thing and be done with it," Moody said, already reaching for the sword.

"Whoa, whoa!" Harry stopped him. "It's not that easy this time. We need to open the locket first and then stab the inner part in order to kill it."

Tonks shrugged. "Shouldn't be too difficult then, huh?"

"It is," Harry said. "First, it only opens on a command in Parseltongue. Sec-"

"But you can do that, Harry," Lupin interrupted. "You're a Parseltongue."

"Not anymore," Harry replied. "I, uh…had it removed. It's a long story. But yeah, I still remember the word so, hopefully we're good. But that's not the problem. The thing is that this Horcrux has an inner defense system that will attack you with your worst fears and thoughts when opened. It nearly tore our group apart when we had it…figuratively," he quickly added, seeing the worry appearing on the other's faces. "It took Ron everything he had to finally kill it."

"Ron did it?" Bill asked in wonder.

"Wow," Mr. Weasley muttered while his wife looked up at the ceiling as if she could see through it to her son in the floors above.

"Uh, yeah. He did," Harry nodded, smiling. But the smile faded as he remembered what happened. "But it was bad then. We didn't have the sword then so we had to wear it to make sure we didn't lose it. And…it affected us. Making us think dark stuff, our worst fears, made us angry. So when we finally killed it, it had already…fed, for lack of a better word, on those emotions and knew exactly what to say to us." Harry shuddered just thinking about it. "I was glad to see it gone."

He looked up and saw the worry on everyone's faces and forced a smile to his face. "But don't worry, no one's worn it so it shouldn't be as powerful as before. Remember, the diary took months and months to make that form of Voldemort at the end. This thing hasn't fed on anything all these years, so we should be fine. But still, we should expect something."

Harry took a deep breath as he faced the locket, bracing himself. Everyone else raised their wands, preparing themselves for anything that would emerge from the locket. He focused as much as he could and then whispered 'open.'

There was a brief moment of silence, and then, "umm, sorry that was English."

"Damn," Harry muttered, rubbing his hair. "Ok. Let's try this again." He got in a little closer, focusing on the serpentine s on the stone, thinking about snakes and all his encounters with them over the years. "Open."

"No, still English, sorry," Tonks informed him.

"Ugh!" Harry moaned. He then remembered Ron had done to open the Chamber of Secrets during the final battle and how he had repeated it to him. Harry thought about it for a second, trying his best to remember it, then let out his best impression of the sound. What came out was a horrible, strangled hissing noise that sounded like he was trying to cough up some bile.

"What was that?" Sirius questioned, looking at him like he had grown a second head. Mrs. Weasley looked at the floor, as if he had actually thrown something up.

"Ron was able to open the Chamber on his own so I was trying to make the sound he made," Harry explained and then tried again but still nothing happened except he had a slight coughing fit after making such noises.

"I don't think this is working," he admitted.

"But aren't you a Parseltongue?" Kingsley asked him. "Shouldn't you be able to do this?"

"Yeah, but I'm not anymore. Haven't been for more than twenty years now. I got it from…" he trailed off, seeing Dumbledore's warning expression. "Doesn't matter," he said quickly, decided not to inform them yet of his connection to Voldemort. "The point is that I can't do it anymore. And I don't really remember the sound Ron made."

"So, should we just hit it with the sword anyway?" Lupin asked, looking at the locket curiously.

"I don't know," Harry admitted. "Maybe. But it's got some pretty powerful spells on it to protect it."

"Indeed," Dumbledore nodded. "I noticed them when Kreacher brought it. I don't believe using the sword will work until the locket has been opened."

"That's great then," Moody grumbled, sitting back. "Then I guess we just sit around here until Potter finally remembers what to do."

"Hey, I'm doing my best here," Harry argued. "It's been two decades since I last did this and I'm pretty sure it was something like…" he made another strangled sound. "No, wait actually it was a little higher. More like…" and another sound came out. "Or maybe…" and a third sound.

The locket suddenly clicked open, its golden doors swinging wide.

"Ah!" Harry backpedaled in surprise, falling to the floor. The others, also caught by surprise, let out cries of their own as they scrambled to raise their wands. But there was no need. Unlike the last time there was no eye watching them, no sinister voice calling out. Harry got closer and then gently poked the locket. He instantly rubbed his hand. He could feel it. It was in there, the soul. But it was dormant after being locked away for so many years.

He breathed out slowly in relief. "Hermione thought this might be the case," he nodded. "It was only so powerful last time because we wore it for months on end. This time, it's had nothing to feed on. Should be easy to-"

But he didn't get to finish that as this time Kreacher, who had been hanging back from the rest of them for the last few minutes, rushed forward and leapt onto the table. Sirius and Lupin fell backwards from the house-elf's sudden movements while the others, who had lowered their wands, suddenly raised them again. Kreacher grasped the sword of Gryffindor and lifting it above his head, his strength belying his old and dirty figure, and brought it down into the locket. Harry thought for a second that he heard a soft scream from within it then it started bleeding out, the tarry substance soaking into the wood of the table next to the shattered and slightly smoking remains of the locket.

"It is done, Master Regulus," Kreacher said softly in the silence that followed. "Kreacher has completed your command."

"Nice work, Kreacher," Harry told him, his breath still a little shaky from two shocks in as many minutes. "Regulus would be proud."

Kreacher said nothing, merely dropping the sword and jumping back onto the floor, walking out as they all watched. Sirius stared with a strange look on his face, as if unsure. He opened and closed his mouth before turning back to the locket.

"So," he said. "That's three down then, yeah?"

"Yeah, that's three down," Harry nodded. "But these were the easy ones. The ones I could help you with. The other ones…" he shrugged helplessly. "I can tell you what I can, but you'll have to do it on your own."

"Telling us is enough," Dumbledore assured him as he moved the pieces of the locket to join the shattered diadem and broken diary. "What do you know?"