A/N: New readers welcome! Old readers thank you for staying with me!
Hermione did not realise how many trinkets people had lost in the past. It was physically impossible for so many diadem's to exist she thought. I mean who even wears them and then suddenly she gasped and yelled
"I FOUND IT!"
Draco and Blaise first jumped out of their skin and then came running.
"What?!" Blaise asked
"Don't touch it!" Draco said
Hermione was climbing up on a chair to reach a rather high shelf but it was still seemingly impossible. Draco accioed a stool and stood up next to her reaching the shelf easily and said cheekily "Tell me my lady, which crown takes your fancy today?"
"All 3 of them…" She said "… They are identical to…"
"The diadem of Ravenclaw!" Blaise exclaimed in surprise looking at the scroll she had left on the ground "Merlin Mione! If even one of them is real it's just.. wow!"
Draco pulled out a dragon hide glove from his pocket and carefully touched each crown with a finger in multiple spots before picking it up
"What are you afraid of? It won't bite back…" Hermione said confused and reaching for the first one that he had picked up
"NO!" Draco and Blaise yelled
""What?" Hermione said confused
"Get down 'Mione… let the man do his job…" Blaise said giving her a hand to get down
"Why can't I touch it?" She asked getting off the broken chair as Blaise put on his own set of gloves
"You've not had too much experience with cursed objects have you?" Draco said nonchalantly
"Huh…"
Draco smiled and explained "Growing up in a pureblood fanatic house like mine, you learn not to touch things without gloves on as there are many cursed objects simply lying around to harm the unsuspecting guest who may have in some way offended us… A lot of objects in my house are also cursed to react with muggle borns, squibs and so on, so that we can test a person's lineage without ever asking them and Merlin forbid it offends us in any way they will end up cursed…"
Blaise had set the 3 Diadem's on the stool as Draco got down
"So if I ever come over, I should wear a hazmat suit…" Hermione joked
"What's that?" The boys asked confused
"It's…. Never mind… so how do I get them to McGonagall?"
Summoning had not worked and neither had levitation spells so Draco found and old wooden box and put the 3 diadems in it. He then insisted that Hermione wear the gloves before holding the box…
—
Once Nagini left, Voldemort called for Lucius to meet with in his private chambers.
"My Lord…"
"Lucius, I had given you a book of mine…" Voldemort said
Lucius knew this day was coming but he had hoped there would be more time. His stomach dropped just as Voldemort said "I'd like it back… Please go fetch it for me…"
"It's at Gringotts my lord, I shall fetch it for you first thing tomorrow…"
"Very well… Please send in Bella…"
"Yes my lord…"
Lucius left and sent an elf to fetch his sister-in-law. He went straight to his private study and locked the door. He took the floo to Germany.
—
Draco and Blaise began their trek back to the Cabinet as she left
"Have you told her?" Blaise asked
"About?"
"The fact that you nearly killed one of her best friends…"
Draco stopped and asked "Will you?" Tell her was left unsaid
"Well he didn't die so I suppose no harm, no foul…" Blaise said
The boys walked in silence for a bit
"Lucky Potter has a head on his shoulders…" Draco sighed
"Lucky you brewed your own weak-ass poison half heartedly…" Blaise said and then yelled "OW!" As Draco hit him with a light stinging hex
—
Narcissa was shocked to see Lucius barge into the room.
"What happened?"
"He asked for the Diary…"
"No…" Narcissa said as exhaustion melted away with the fear "it's too soon…"
"He's meeting with Bella now… They might take a while to finish but you have to return home…"
Narcissa was pacing around the room like a caged animal… "We're so close… We can't… not yet…"
"I don't know how to hold him off…" Lucius said sinking into the bed but Narcissa had pulled a robe around her and was already running barefoot towards the east wing…
—
Nagini turned to smoke and left Malfoy manner, after floating through the sky over the suburbs of London's she finally descended over what looked like a quaint little village. She hovered over an abandoned house for a bit and then floated through an old children's park. She hovered around the streets in her smoke from until there was a faint pop of apparition and a wizard landed in front of one of the houses. She hid in the bushes until he had gone in and then made a beeline for her target. It was an old house not too far from the abandoned one she had been lurking in. She hovered around the windows and saw an old woman pottering about in the kitchen. Once the resident had gone to bed, she transformed into a Snake and slipped into the house and found a comfortable hiding spot and waited.
—
"We need a distraction!" Narcissa said as she burst into Grindelwald's chambers.
Grindelwald woke up groggily "Lady Malfoy?" He sat up slowly and grumbled "I trust you are aware of the hour of day and the disadvantages that come with my age…"
"I apologise for being so rude, however desperate times…" Narcissa panted and cast a quick nonverbal to light up a few lamps
"Has something happened?"
"The Dark Lord has asked for the Horcruxes…"
"I see… " Grindelwald said slowly. He drank a little water and blinked a few times before taking a deep breath and whispered to himself "I suppose now is a good time as any…" He looked at Narcissa and said "I assume you have connections in the order?"
"Yes"
"Have their best fighters and curse breakers go to Bathilda Bagshot's house in Godric's Hollow and ask them to make a hue and cry about it…"
"Why…"
"Because I believe she might have something that he could have turned into a Horcrux"
"Won't that make him more cautious…"
"That will buy you time till tomorrow so that I may teach you how use this…" He said touching the box with the stone "We'll think of the day after, if we survive this…"
"What does Bathilda have?"
"Allow me time the leniency to confirm my suspicions before I raise your hopes Lady Malfoy…"
—-
McGonagall was not happy about leaving the artefact with Narcissa and Grindelwald. She was stirring her cup of tea absentmindedly when there was a knock on her door. When she opened, she found Hermione Granger holding a wooden box wearing extremely oversized gloves
"Miss granger? I trust this is important…" She said grateful she had decided to wait before changing into her night things
"I found 3 Diadem's of Ravenclaw…" Hermione said
—-
Snape was stunned for a second. Then he said "What are you waiting for potter. Use that infernal mirror and call your Godfather… We need to see that memory…" He quickly wrote a note on a piece of paper that turned into a tiny paper plane like the ministry memo's and zoomed out of his office. Harry placed the vial on the table and dug into his cloak for the mirror. Just as he pulled it out a memo zoomed into Snape's office, it read
'Granger might have found the Diadem of Ravenclaw…'
Tonight was quiet the night thought Snape as he decided whether to go to McGonagall office with the boy but there was a faint pop and his decision was made for him as Hermione and McGonagall burst into his office
"Sirius! Lupin! It's really important! Helooooo!" Called Harry into the mirror. He looked up as the door opened and was about to hide away the mirror when he spotted Hermione "'Mione?"
"Harry! We might have found another Horcrux!" Hermione said triumphant
"And I got Slughorn's memory!" Harry said
Snape and McGonagall acknowledged each other with a nod and McGonagall said "Quite the eventful evening… I think you should all head over to Headquarters and I shall take this to Narcissa Malfoy…" She turned to Hermione "… I'm sorry Ms. Granger as much as I'd have liked for you to be the one to destroy the Horcrux you found, I don't think it's safe for you to come with me at the moment…"
"But professor!" Hermione began to protest and it was Snape who stepped in
"Why don't the both of you leave first and meet Narcissa at my house… I'll send word to her privately…"
"Severus…" McGonagall began
"We need to stop treating them like children Minerva, they will be of age in a year's time…." Snape pulled out a handful of powder as Hermione stepped into the floo. He threw in a handful and said "Spinner's End" as Hermione was sucked into the portal
—-
Narcisssa called out to Kreacher who appeared with a crack and bowed so low his ears lay flat on the floor "Kreacher is here to serve you young Mistress Black"
"Kreacher I need you to go to Severus Snape or Professor McGonagall right away and hand them this" she gave him a note.
It felt like an eternity as Kreacher took the note from her hand before disappearing again.
Lucius put an arm around his wife as she sat next to him on the bed "We've always survived Cissa… Our family will make it out alive this time too…"
"Merlin save us…" Narcissa whispered as there was a loud knock on the door and Bellatrix's voice floated in "I'm coming in, hope you're all decent or I might be tempted to join youuuuuu" She cackled
—
Kreacher appeared with a crack at #12 Grimmauld Place just as Snape and Harry stepped out of the fire making a very sleepy Sirius and Lupin jump out of their skin.
"Kreacher! What in the name…" he started but Kreacher just ignored him and went to Snape and handed him Narcissa's note
"Thank you Kreacher… Please tell your mistress that I will meet her at Spinner's end as soon as she can get there, however please ensure that she is alone. This message is for her and no one else…" Kreacher bowed and disappeared with a crack as Snape turned the parchment to dust
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