Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

The Search

After several days of searching through the mansion Harry felt as if he would never find any thing of use to the Order. He and Remus had started on the first floor and were working their way up. They had found a few cabinets and closets that would only open for the true owner of the home, which to Harry's disgust only held family heirlooms, instead of anything useful. Harry was beginning to think that Regulus hadn't left anything in the house belonging to himself. It seemed odd to him that nothing belonging to the former Death Eater would be present. It was as if his family had wanted to erase his memory also.

Harry and Remus were in one of the rooms on the top floor. The room was very simple. It held very little furniture. But one entire wall was covered with a map of the Black family Manor. Harry stood gazing intently at the map. He could see nothing that would help them in their search and they would soon be out of rooms to go through.

Remus chuckled softly and Harry noticed he was staring at him. "What is it?" He asked feeling self-conscious.

"You looked just like Sirius for a moment there. I've seen him standing in that very spot many times staring at that map. He never seemed to see what he was looking for either." Remus explained.

"Yeah, well it's too bad I can't just tap it with my wand and reveal all of its secrets, like the Marauders Map." Harry said pulling his wand and tapping the wall. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Harry busted into laughter at his own small joke. But the laughter died as the look on Remus' face turned to amazement.

But Remus wasn't looking at Harry, but at the map. Harry turned to see that the map was changing. He saw hidden cabinets and cupboards appear throughout the home. And to his amazement a hidden door appeared on the map in the very room they stood in. It did not look as if the door went anywhere, but it was on the map all the same. According to the map the door should be in the center of the map wall itself. "Oh my." Harry whispered in awe. "Did I do that?"

"Yes, my boy. You most certainly did." Remus said in excitement running his hands along the wall where the door should have been. "But how do we get in?"

Harry thought for a moment, and realized how simple it must be. "The Room of Requirement."

"What, Harry?" Remus asked.

"On the map, the door goes nowhere. It's as if the room does not exist. On the Marauders' Map the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts does not show up either, nor does anyone or anything in it." Harry explained.

"So to enter.." Remus knew very little about the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts. He himself had never been in it. He just knew what he was told by Dumbledore.

"You have to walk past the door three times thinking of what you want the most. Then when it opens you find what you need." Harry explained.

"But what do we ask it for?" Remus asked.

"Can it be that simple?" Harry puzzled. "We ask for a place to hide things. We want the hidden secrets of Black Manor don't we? That's what Malfoy used to hide what he was doing in the Room at Hogwarts last year."

"Well it's worth a try." Remus said. "Stand back. I'll give it a whirl."

Harry stood back and watched Remus pacing in front of the door muttering to himself, and after the third pass a door appeared in the wall. Remus stopped. He motioned to the door. "Shall we?" Then he drew his wand holding it at the ready as he pulled the door open. At first the room was dark, but as they moved forward candles appeared in wall sconces.

They both stared around the room in awe. It was not a huge room as the one at Hogwarts seemed, but it was decent size. One side of the room was haphazardly piled with objects from the house. Harry recognized some of them as items Sirius had meant to throw out. "Kreacher has been in here." He scowled motioning to the pile.

"Yes, hoarding his Mistress' possessions I see." Remus answered stepping to the other side of the room. There were shelves covering the entire wall, and they could see strange objects packed onto the shelves.

"What are those?" Harry asked staring at things he had never dreamed of seeing. There were small shards of crystals, glass jars with disgusting dead creatures floating in liquid, potion bottles of all colors and sizes filled with potions he had not ever seen before and there were also amulets of different shapes and sizes with symbols of snakes on each.

Remus reached out and held his hand above some of the amulets, making sure not to touch any of them. He shook his head in disgust. "These are all used in the practice of the dark arts, Harry. There are things here that I had thought didn't even exist anymore."

Harry saw a Mahogany cupboard, large enough that a full grown man could have stood upright in it, standing against the far wall. He went to it and carefully opened the door, praying that nothing would come rushing out at him. But nothing did. When he opened the doors fully he could see books and various other items piled on the shelves of the cupboard. He sighed in relief and picked up a rather old spell book. "Look at these, Remus."

Remus joined him and they started looking at the books. They were an odd mix. Some were very old spell books, where others were fairly new textbooks. There was even a copy of the Monster Book of Monsters in the pile, which Harry was glad to see was belted closed. He remembered his copy of that book from his third year, and he also remembered the times it had tried to bite him. He pulled out the next book in the pile and saw it was a copy of an Advanced Potions Making textbook, similar to his from sixth year. He pitched it into the pile of books they were making on the floor, but the book slid off the pile and landed open on the floor. Harry bent to pick it up and replace it, when he noticed writing in the margins of the pages. His hand froze. He knew that handwriting. He picked the book up and thumbed through the pages. "How can this be?"

Remus looked to him. "What is it, Harry?"

"This Potions textbook. It was mine last year." Harry said quietly. "At Hogwarts."

"How do you know that?" Remus asked in confusion.

"The writing in the margins. The book belonged to someone called the Half Blood Prince. He wrote notes all through it. Improved the potions, and made new spells. But I hid this book in the Room of Requirement after I nearly killed Draco with a spell in it." Harry said shaking his head.

"You did what?" Remus asked, shocked to hear Harry admit to nearly killing anyone.

"It was an accident. I didn't know what the spell would do. When Snape found us he asked me to bring him all my books. I hid this one in the Room of Requirement in a cupboard." Harry looked at the cupboard he had just pulled the book out of and it was as if his mind was on fire. He knew it sounded impossible, but he would swear that the cupboard he had hid the book in was Oak not Mahogany, and it bared an acid scare on the front. This cupboard's finish was flawless. He looked to the floor where Remus had been placing items from the cupboard that were not books. He saw a cage with the skeleton of a five-legged creature in it. Harry began pulling all the books out of the cupboard not caring how they landed on the floor.

"What are you doing, Harry?" Remus asked as he watched Harry.

"Testing a theory." Harry answered pulling the last book out of the cupboard, and then proceeded to remove the shelves also.

Remus watched as Harry pulled the last one out, and then climbed into the cupboard himself. "I'm going to shut this door, Remus. Give me to the count of ten and then open the door. If I'm gone close the door again, and don't open it." Harry said.

"Gone. What are you talking about, Harry?" Remus said beginning to worry.

"Don't worry, I'll be just as safe as if I was back at school." Harry said devilishly then pulled the door closed.

"Harry, stop this and come out of there." He heard Remus from outside of the cupboard, but instead he felt along the edges of the back of the cupboard and then down the middle until he found a latch. He turned the latch and the back popped open. He stumbled out of the cupboard, and found himself in a room the size of a large cathedral piled with hidden objects. He closed the cupboard door and looked at it. It was an Oak cupboard with acid stains across the front and had the bust of a wizard perched on top sporting a wig and tiara, just as he'd left it when he'd hidden the textbook there the year before.

"I knew it." He could only be one place, but to be certain he made his way through the broken and hidden objects until he came to the door leading out. He opened the door to the sight of the tapestry of dancing trolls that was hung directly across from the Room of Requirement on the seventh floor of Hogwarts School. He smiled brightly and returned to the cupboard stepping back in and closing the door, then turned to the other side and felt for the latch. It was exactly opposite of the one he had used to get out of the other side. He turned it and stepped out of the cupboard smiling at the scowling Remus Lupin.

"Where were you?" Remus asked.

"In the safest place in all of England." Harry answered.

"Explain." Remus demanded.

"I was at Hogwarts School in the Room of Requirement. This cupboard is like the vanishing cabinet that Draco used last year to let the Death Eaters into the school." Harry explained.

Remus stared awestruck at the cupboard behind Harry. "That was still very dangerous, Harry. What if you'd ended up somewhere else?" Remus asked with a slight bit of anger tinging his voice.

"Remus, I know that book. I put it in that cabinet. I was positive where it would take me." Harry said his smile getting larger. Remus could not remain angry seeing the happiness in Harry's eyes. "I guess you plan on using this cupboard to go back and forth from the school, don't you?"

"Well, I was thinking about it." Harry admitted.

"I figured as much. Well, while you were on your little jaunt, I took a look at some of these books. I found something, that Albus will want to see soon." Remus said handing a book to Harry.

Harry opened it and it immediately turned to a page that had been closed on a locket. "The Horcrux." Harry said his eyes going wide.

"It was at one time. Now it is just a locket. Read the entry." Remus instructed.

Harry looked down to the page and read what looked like a journal entry.

It is done. I have finally determined how to undo the Dark Lords spell, though it was at a great price to myself. The locket is now just that, a locket. I wonder if the Dark Lord realizes that it has been done. If so I will be hunted till the end of my days, but I am satisfied in the fact that he is one step closer to being mortal, to being vulnerable.

I must now continue my search for the five remaining Horcrux. I have discovered that he has entrusted the goblet of Helga Hufflepuff to one of his greatest supporters, but I am sure that if I attempt to retrieve it, I will be killed. But at any cost, I shall try.

If this journal should ever fall into another's hands but my own, and this is the last entry then be assured that I have failed in my attempt to gain the item, and if you are on the side of right and good in this fight against evil, I beseech thee to find the Secret House of Serpents. There you will find the second piece of the puzzle.

R.A.B.

Harry finished the entry and turned to the next page. It was blank. Regulus had failed.

Author's Note: Next chapter disaster strikes.