"Or you can just have a new ring made and have the stone put into a new setting." Sirius suggested.
"Yeah, let's do that, instead." Harry was already wearing dragonhide gloves and holding a fang, so all he had to do was smash the fang into the ring and watch as the cloud of greasy black and green smoke billowed from the destroyed horcrux. The stone was popped free and flew across the patio and over the railing into the garden, Harry's seeker trained eyes following its path easily. He jogged down the broad stone stairs and using a handkerchief, picked up the stone, returning to the patio and those that waited, before dropping the stone into the jewellery box that had held the ring and snapping it closed. "I might look at having the stone cleansed of magic and leave it as a plain ring."
"What did you find from your scans of the Horcrux, Bill?" Remus asked.
"Good and bad." Bill replied. "Good, we know what and where most of them are. Bad, there's one not accounted for."
"What?" Harry looked over at the Curse-breaker in alarm.
"We've destroyed the diary, or Harry did." Bill ticked over the known horcruxes on his fingers. "We've removed the one from Harry. The ring is dealt with. Sirius is going after the cup in the morning. The locket is in Grimmauld Place and he'll bring it here after he's done the cup." He tapped a finger on the sheet that held the list of possible locations for the diadem. "That leaves the diadem, that we knew about and one we don't know anything about."
"Is there any way of… magically finding out?" Falsworth asked.
"No, not as far as I'm aware." Bill answered.
"Remus?"
"Bill's got far more knowledge about this field than I do." Remus replied. "The only thing I know of that might help us, is the protean charm, if we could retro-direct it at a soul-shard, we might be able to identify the current containers. Might…"
"In that case…?" Harry looked at Falsworth and got a nod. "We'll remove you from the training schedule and you can work on adapting that charm. Who do you need, to work with you?"
"Bill, Sirius and Luna." Remus answered.
Harry blinked. "Okay. Bill's fine but Luna? You can only have Luna part time. Our training is going well but…"
"I won't need her for the first couple of hours." Remus said. "She's more of a… um… It's the way she sees things. She can see if we're heading in the right direction or not."
"An hour or so, at the end of each training session?" Harry offered.
"Yeah, that'll work fine." Remus nodded.
"Any news on Frank and Alice?" Sirius asked.
Andi nodded. "Yes, they're doing very well. Better than I'd expected. Frank in particular. He's aware enough to notice where he is. He's been asking for Sirius. How he knew about Sirius, I don't know."
Sirius laughed. "I'll drop in and see him. He's probably remembered that this is where he and us guys stayed in the lead up to his wedding. We did turn him bright blue, after all."
"Oh, so that's why he keeps looking around checking his hands and muttering about, 'not blue?', then?" Andi laughed.
"That would be it." Sirius nodded. "How about I bring dinner up, with me?"
"That would be fine." Andi said. "I think they should be right to start interacting with the group in another session or two."
"That's excellent news, Madam Tonks." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled brightly.
"That is great." Falsworth nodded and jotted a few lines down on his notepad. "I'll amend Luna's schedule to allow her a half-hour at the beginning of a session and a full hour at the end of the session. And drop Remus from his sessions for the time being."
"Thanks." Remus said.
"Next is… Sirius, Andi and Minerva." Falsworth said. "The animagi potion. How's that going?"
"Good." Andi said. "We're just waiting on the mandrake leaves that are soaking and for the full moon dew to settle. They both need seven days, then we can bring all the components together."
"Great." Falsworth made another note. "Sirius? The cup and the locket? How're we doing on them?"
"The locket's good." He answered. "Learnt something interesting, there."
"Oh?" Remus asked.
"Yeah, apparently, my brother, Regulus, figured out that Riddle wasn't all he said he was. He was the one to find the horcrux." There was a small uproar. "Hold on, hold on. He found it but getting it, got him killed and Kreacher, mother's foul elf, has been trying ever since, to do what Reg said and kill the damned thing. Needless to say, he's been failing. And the thing has been poisoning him the entire time. If it hadn't been Regulus that told him to destroy it, he'd have given up years ago."
"So, where is it?" Peggy asked.
"Kreacher's still got it." Sirius said. "I promised him that he could hold it until we were ready to kill it and that he could watch us do that. I hate the damned elf, but he loved Regulus and he's been trying for over fifteen years to do what his Master said."
"Then, we'll see to getting that done in the next hour or so." Falsworth said. "And the cup?"
"We've hit a snag." Sirius said. "Not a severe one, just a snag. I claimed the Black Lordship and the goblins accept that but unfortunately, the Ministry insisted on Sirius Black's Will being read. And that's fine, it's all done, but until I face the Wizengamot, the transfer isn't legal. Then and only then, will the goblins allow me into the vault."
"But you said, they accepted you as Lord Black?" Hermione phrased it as a question.
"Yes, they did," Sirius nodded, "but the treaty between goblins and wizards mean that while they accept it and will allow me to access the Family Vaults, they won't break the treaty, by allowing me into a personal vault, without the Ministry's acknowledgement of my new position."
"Oh…" Hermione nodded. "Okay, that makes sense."
"When does that happen?" Bucky asked.
"Friday." Neville answered.
"Friday?" Bill asked. "But it's only Monday, now, that's days away."
"I know." Sirius sighed. "But outside of Dumbledore calling for an emergency session, there's nothing to be done."
"Why Albus? Why not you?" McGonagall asked.
"I haven't be recognised by the Wizengamot yet, I can't do anything."
"So, what do we do in the meantime?" Harry asked.
"We kill the locket and keep working." Sirius replied. "It's all we can do."
Sirius entered the sitting room of the suite that he'd set aside for Alice and Frank Longbottom and carefully laid the tray he was carrying on the coffee table.
"Hello, Alice, you look as lovely as ever." He said, with a half-hearted leer.
"Eyes o-off, B-Black, that m-my wife." A cracked voice ordered.
"He-ey, Frankie, how're ya doin'?" Sirius made a show of acting like a schoolboy being caught looking at naughty pictures.
"Don't you 'h-hey' me, Black." Frank mock glared at the younger wizard. "Wh-what happened to you? You look...? Shouldn't you be older?" The more Frank talked, the less he stuttered.
"Ah, I took a trip through the Veil, courtesy of Bella." Sirius answered. "Remus says, it didn't like the way I tasted, so spat me back out. In 1945…" he spent ten minutes giving Frank and Alice a brief overview of what they were planning on doing and how far they'd gone. "… so, now we just have to wait."
"W-we're on the island, r-right?" Frank asked.
"We are." Sirius nodded. "We've been using the time dilation field, we're almost at the end of the first week. It'll drop out before the sun sets, today."
"Huh…" Frank nodded. "What level are we on?"
"Level?"
"Level." Frank repeated. "Four-in-one or ten-in-one?"
"Er…" Sirius tiled his head. "I only know about four-in-one."
"Oh…" Frank bit his lip in thought before huffing. "There's a ten-in-one setting as well. Alice and I put our little cottage on that level for our honeymoon. Middle of the w-war meant we could only get two d-days off for it."
"Two days becomes… twenty…?" Sirius asked.
"Y-yes." Frank grinned, lopsidedly and Alice, who had yet to speak, reached over and slapped her hand against Frank's arm.
"Hush." She whispered, her voice was still rough and sounded like she'd been gargling gravel.
"Nice…" Sirius grinned at them both, ignoring Alice's glare and Frank's gurgling laugh. "So, tell me more about this ten-in-one, we need all the time we can get. You've no idea what the pups have been through as far as schooling is concerned. They've had Quirrell, Lockhart and Barty Crouch jnr, as DADA Professors. Not to mention, Umbridge was one of Fudge's toadies, remember Fudge?"
"S-short, fat and useless?" Alice asked.
"Pretty much." Sirius nodded. "He's actually being the Minister, now, backed by Bones, Moody and Dumbledore. And he's seen Riddle with his own eyes, so-"
"R-riddle?"
"Oh, right." Sirius grimaced. "Riddle. Our favourite Dark Lord. You-Know-Who. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Or whatever hyphenated mess you want to address the leader of the DeathEaters by."
"His name is V-Volde-" Frank started, only to be cut off.
"Stop!" Sirius snapped. "He put a locating taboo on it. You say it, he knows where you are."
"B-Bastard…" Alice stammered.
"He is." Sirius nodded. "Literally, he is. His mother was a squib who used amortentia on his muggle father, who took off as soon as he was clear of the potion."
Both Frank and Alice blinked in surprise.
"The worst Dark Lord since G-Grindelwald is a squib-b-born?" Frank demanded.
"Yep." Sirius grinned. "And once I get the cup, we've only got the diadem and one unknown Horcrux to kill. And him, of course."
"His snake." Frank blinked. "I-It has to be. He never let it go anywhere without him."
Sirius's eyes widened and his jaw went slack. "It… oh, yes. Oh, you're right, it has to be. Oh, Frank, thank you, thank you. And thank you, again. That's brilliant." Sirius laughed and did a little dance around the sitting room, earning himself a laugh from both invalids and a glare from Andi as she entered the room.
"What are you doing?" She demanded. "Sit down, like a decent human being, Sirius Black."
"But Andi…" Sirius whined. "Frank just identified the last horcrux."
"He did?" Andi turned from Sirius to Frank. "You did?"
"The s-snake, his snake." Frank repeated.
"Oh…" Andi leapt to the same conclusion that Sirius had. "Oh, my... Alright, Sirius. Dance away."
"Thank you, I will." And he did just that for another minute. "Okay…" He huffed. "I'm danced out. Tell me more about the ten-in-one dilation."
"You r-remember the activation ch-chant?"
"Yes…?"
"Instead of saying four hours, you say ten hours." Frank explained. "And you'll n-need to give w-whoever's apparating in, an amulet, it l-lets them slide through the d-dilation field without being knocked out."
"How many amulets are there?"
"H-how should I know, this is a Black island, n-not a Longbottom one, idiot." Frank huffed.
"Go look in the wardroom, Siri." Andi suggested. "They should be somewhere around the main dilation crystal."
"Oh, good idea, Andi, I'll do that." He gave her a smile before turning back to Frank. "Does it change the charging time?"
"Not that I know of but you c-can check the crystal, you'll know if it's not f-fully charged." Frank answered. "The field won't take if the crystal's not charged."
"And it changes colour from clear to whatever colour your family designated when the field was first laid." Alice added. "The Longbottom crystal went dark blue."
"Yeah, Alphard had this one changed from black to Gryffindor red." Sirius nodded.
"Ew…" Andi screwed up her nose. "That's going to make it look like it's full of blood."
"I really don't care." Sirius said. "As long as it does the job, I don't care."
"Maybe look at changing it to gold?" Andi asked. "Have a little class…"
"Not ass." Sirius finished Andi's favourite complaint.
"Ooh…" She glared at him. "Get out and let my patients eat without you around to spoil their meal."
Sirius grinned and gave Andi a deep elegantly formal bow. "As you command, dear cousin." He gave Frank and Alice quick and gentle hugs. "Listen to her, she might be a harridan but she knows what she's doing. We need you pair back on your feet."
Harry looked at the twisted metal that had once been a beautiful locket.
"Done." He sighed. "Now we just need to find Ravenclaw's diadem. "Any ideas?"
There was a smattering and mutters but no-one seemed to want to speak up, until Luna spoke in her usual airy voice.
"You could ask the Grey Lady, she was Helena Ravenclaw when he was alive."
Everyone looked at the blonde girl in surprise.
"Helena Ravenclaw?" Harry asked.
"Rowena's daughter." Remus explained. "She's reputed to have stolen the diadem and run away, not long before Rowena died."
"She did." Dumbledore nodded. "Rowena sent Baron Aldrich Fothergill to fetch her back, but neither of them ever returned."
"But they did, Professor." Luna said. "Not alive, it's true, but they did return. Helena Ravenclaw became the Grey Lady and Baron Fothergill became the Bloody Baron."
"And you think she might know where Riddle hid the diadem?" Harry frowned.
"Perhaps." Luna said.
"It's worth looking into, anyway." Sirius said.
"We'll go to Hogwarts, tomorrow." Harry said, he had full confidence in Luna's suggestion.