I really wanted to update more than just one story, but life never happens the way we plan it. I'm happy to post this chapter, but I will be updating my other three stories soon, including My Little Runaway and Learning Friendship, both of which I know haven't had any recent updates. Just hang in there with me. Thank you all for the wonderful reviews.

Harry woke up the next morning with an aching headache. He groaned and rubbed at his head, feeling very hot. Was he getting sick? He better visit his father just to be safe. He would avoid Madam Pomfrey's indulgent care at all costs. Slipping out of bed and quietly changing to avoid waking his dormmates, Harry snuck out of the room and out of Gryffindor Tower.

By the time he reached his father's quarters, his headache had eased tremendously. How strange, Harry thought as he pushed open his father's door. Stepping inside, Harry blinked at his father and Sam.

Severus was on the floor looking under the couch, his wand tip lit so he could see. Sam, wolf-sized, was pacing the length of the living room, sniffing the floor. Harry noticed a large hole in the wall behind the couch containing shiny metals and objects. Harry frowned at his father and the fox.

"What's going on?" he asked, shutting the door behind him.

"Good morning, Harry," Severus said, pushing off the floor, noxing his wand. "I didn't hear you come in. Sam lost something. We're both looking for it."

"What did Sam lose?"

: My necklace, Sam growled, sniffing at the hidden compartment once more and then sniffing the floor, following a trail. My hiding spot had been raided at some point during the night and my necklace is the only thing missing. The dragon tooth must be found. It can be very dangerous in the wrong hands, as you know from personal experience. When I find the thief, he will learn just how dangerous it is to steal from a kitsune. Sam lit his tails for a split second to demonstrate his fury.

Sam spoke as he neared Harry, sniffing the ground. Sam paused at Harry's feet, slowly lifting his head to sniff Harry, who frowned, allowing Sam to sniff his hands. Sam sat down with a look of disbelief at Harry, tilting his head. His ears slowly flattened, and he narrowed his eyes.

: You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?

Severus tensed visibly, crossing his arms and looking sternly at Harry, though he seemed to have the same look of disbelief on his face.

"No, honest!" Harry said, shaking his head. "I didn't take it, I swear. I learned my lesson about that tooth and I would never steal from you, Sam. You believe me, right?"

Sam tilted his head the other way, leaned forward and sniffed Harry once more, then tilted his head the other way. Harry watched as Sam looked at Severus and a silent conversation seemed to occur. Harry gulped and decided to say a few things.

"I promise I didn't do anything," Harry said. "And I'd never steal from you. I slept all night. I never left the tower once. I'm not sure what you smell, Sam, but maybe it's residue from the last time I touched your tooth?"

Severus sighed, and Sam looked back at Harry and smiled.

: I can sense your honesty, Sam said, standing once more, and perhaps your right, your hands do have a hint of the tooth's magic, but it could be residue. My apologies for jumping to conclusions.

"That's okay," Harry said. "I hope you find your necklace."

: I do as well, Sam went back to sniffing around the room, looking for the trail he had found earlier.

"What brings you here, Harry?" Severus asked.

"I woke up with a headache this morning," Harry said, "but it kind of went away once I got here."

Severus felt Harry's forehead and cheeks.
"You don't feel warm," Severus remarked. "Did you feel sick at all this morning?"

"No, I just had a headache. Now that I think about it, my eyes kind of hurt, too."

"Hmm," Severus peered into Harry's eyes, lighting his wand once more and flashing it in Harry's eyes, pulling it away and bringing it back a couple times. He noxed his wand once more and held up two fingers. "Can you tell me how many fingers I'm holding up?"

"Two."

"I don't see anything wrong now. You seem perfectly fine. But if you feel strange at any time later, you come right back here or go to Madam Pomfrey, understand?"

"Yes, Dad."

After a quick conversation with his father, Harry made his way to breakfast to join Hermione and Ron at the Gryffindor table.

"There you are," Ron greeted, making room for Harry to sit next to him. "Where did you go so early this morning?"

"Sorry," Harry said, helping himself to a plate of eggs and bacon, "I woke up with a headache and went to my Dad, but I was fine once I got there. Guess it was nothing. I did find out that Sam's dragon tooth necklace is missing. Someone must have gotten in to my dad's quarters. Strange they would know where Sam hid it. I didn't even know he had a secret hideout."

"That is strange," Hermione muttered, "from what I understand, all the professors' doors to their quarters are spelled to recognize certain magical signatures, allowing quick access but letting no one else in. I didn't think those types of protection spells could be tampered with so easily."

"Unless someone has been plotting for a long time," Ron suggested.

"That necklace is dark magic, I'm sure of it. I think I'll do some research on it today and see what I can find. Why don't you boys meet me in the library when you're done with breakfast?" Ron and Harry nodded as Hermione stood and left to the library.

After breakfast, Harry and Ron went back to their dorm to gather assignments and books to take with them to the library. As Harry quickly made his bed, a habit his father instilled in him, something rolled out from under his pillow and produced a thud on the floor.

Harry gasped.

Sam's necklace.

"What is it, Harry?" Ron asked, coming to stand next to him. Ron sucked in a sharp breath. "Bloody hell, that's Sam's necklace! How did you end up with it?"

"I don't know."

Harry picked up the tooth with shaky hands.

"You should give it back to him," Ron said. "We don't want any more venomous snakes showing up."

"But he'll think I lied to him. I already told him I didn't take it, and here it is, under my pillow. What else will he think?"

"I can vouch for you. You never left last night. Tell him you have no idea how it ended up under your pillow. Maybe the thief planted it there to frame you."

Harry thought back to when Sam had sniffed his hands and gave him that bewildered look. It all made sense now. He must have handled the necklace at some point. Did he sleepwalk all the way to his father's quarters and steal it? But why would he do something like that? Even in his sleep, he wasn't that suicidal. Harry wanted nothing more than to get rid of the necklace, but he was too afraid of Sam's and his father's reaction to him having it. Maybe he could say he found it somewhere else in the castle, but he was sure Sam would immediately investigate any place he named. What was he going to do?

"Maybe Hermione found something about the tooth," Ron suggested. "She might be able to answer how it ended up with you."

"Maybe," Harry agreed, pocketing the tooth. He couldn't leave something so powerful lying around in his dorm.

At the library, the two found Hermione surrounded by books, her nose buried in one presently.

"Find anything?" Harry asked hopefully, sitting down across from her.

"I did," Hermione said, lowering the book. "And you won't believe in what book I found the answer."

Harry saw the restricted label on the binding of the book she held. The title of the book said Ancient Dark Artifacts Lost in History.

"How did you get that?"

"Professor Lockhart signed a slip for me to retrieve a book from the Restricted Section. Of course, he thought I was asking for his autograph. Madam Pince had to remove several curses off this book just to open it for me."

"She wasn't the least bit suspicious?" Ron frowned.

"Professor Lockhart teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts. To her, the book probably seemed fitting."

"What did you find?"

Hermione laid the book flat for everyone to see the pages. A drawing of Sam's necklace sat to the side of a page surrounded by writing. Harry pulled out the tooth to compare: it was a mirror copy, from the designs in the dragonhide leather to the severed edges of the tooth itself.

Hermione gasped. "You have Sam's tooth"

"I didn't take it," Harry insisted. "I know it looks bad, but I have no idea how it ended up under my pillow. I would never steal it."

Ron nodded in agreement, giving Hermione a serious look. Hermione gave the tooth a hesitant look, glanced at Harry, then nodded her head. She pointed to the heading on the page.

"The Dragon's Tooth of Requital it's called," she said. "The tooth was pulled by Saint George himself after he slaughtered the venom-spewing dragon that terrorized Silene, Libya. Saint George wore the tooth as a trophy of the dragon he slayed, cutting off some of the dragon's hide to create a necklace for it. He wore the tooth until the day he died, and it was alleged that the tooth was buried with him."

"So someone dug up Saint George's grave just for the tooth?" Ron asked with a disgusted face.

"Listen to this," Hermione continued, holding up a finger. "Grave robbers dug up Saint George's grave in the 1700s, stealing the treasures he was buried with. When they were captured, everything was recovered save the missing dragon tooth. The robbers said they never took a dragon tooth necklace."

"Then it wasn't buried with Saint George," Harry concluded.

"Exactly," Hermione nodded. "That's what I thought. But it can't be proved that it wasn't ever buried with him. No one knew what happened to the tooth. But it turned up three years later. It was uncovered in the ruins of Silene, buried under the ruble of the church built in Saint George's honor after slaying the dragon, right where the damaged fountain was. Funny thing, the fountain contained water that could cure all diseases, and when the church collapsed and destroyed the fountain, the water killed anyone who dared to drink it. For years, many said the church was haunted, strange noises and lights often came from the rubble."

"And that's where the tooth lived for several years," Ron added.

"Yes, probably stewing in all kinds of raw and toxic magic. When it was discovered, it hung in the current King's palace for seven years, but it emitted strange blue fog and it occasionally would light up. The King had the tooth incinerated and the ashes thrown into the ocean. But no one ever dug through the ashes to make sure the tooth was gone for good. It washed up on shore years later, where an elder witch found it. Locals say she went crazy, becoming all paranoid and obsessing over the tooth. She claimed she could have whatever she wanted, but that she couldn't have what she wanted."

"That makes sense," Ron snorted.

"Her words," Hermione said. "The witch told Aurors that she had asked for good fortune and prosperity, and her farm became plentiful and she had obtained money somehow, but her family was murdered. She said she was cursed for all eternity, but she wouldn't hand the tooth over, saying she had to protect others from its horrors. She said she had seen things, and they haunted her dreams. When she passed, the tooth was gone. Aurors believed she had hidden it somewhere. It didn't turn up again until fifty-three years later, in the hands of a dark wizard in Russia. He caused true terror in the wizarding community, killing hundreds and famishing the land as he grew richer and more powerful. He was finally defeated, and the tooth was put in a secure containment and sold to the Chinese Officials for further protection. And that's where it remained for eighty-two years exactly, it's legend and power slowly forgotten with time."

"And then?" Harry frowned.

"It vanished again," Hermione said, flipping the page. "Stolen on the same day the Head Auror was murdered. Aurors arrested someone by the name Ishimori for the murder and robbery of the same vault the tooth was in, but no one bothered to search him for the tooth. I guess at that point, it had been forgotten."

"Wait," Harry said, frowning, "Ishimori? That's Sam's last name!"

"Really? It said the man arrested spent early fifty years in prison before he escaped in the year nineteen thirty, and he was never seen or heard from again. It's written here that the man "didn't seem at all human.""

"Sam did spend years in prison before a wizard helped him escape. He told me he had been set up by dirty Aurors looking to rise in their own department while stealing the riches the Head Auror had. They made Sam kill his best friend at the time. Then framed Sam for everything and sent him away to prison."

"Wow," Hermione said, looking at the tooth in Harry's hand. "Well, now we know how Sam managed to find the Dragon's Tooth of Requital."

"Why is it called that?" Ron asked.

"Well, from what wizard magiologists could determine in the short time they had the tooth to study," Hermione continued, flipping the page, "The tooth will grant whatever the wearer demands, but each demand is met with a price, a type of Eye for an Eye magic, or the law of retaliation."

"That kind of magic is really old," Ron added. "Like before civilization old."

"in this case," Hermione continued, "when the wearer demands something, the tooth gets the opportunity to use magic itself, usually at equal strength to what was asked of it."

"Are you saying," Harry looked at the tooth in his hand, "that the tooth is . . . alive?"

"To an extent," Hermione answered. "It's hard to say how alive, the researchers never had a lot of time with the tooth to study that aspect. But in order to come alive, it needs a wearer who will use it. Its like a mutualistic relationship in animals, where both parties benefit. The wearer gets something he or she wants, and the tooth can expel some magic itself. The more it uses its own magic, the more powerful the tooth becomes in its magic. The tooth is capable of bonding with the wearer, and the researchers believed that the creation of bonds was the tooth's attempt at getting more wearers to use its magic, so the tooth could expel magic, growing more and more powerful."

"Creepy," Ron said, giving the tooth a sidelong glance.

"Yeah," Harry agreed, "creepy. But how did it end up with me?"

"The tooth has ancient magic beyond anything we can understand," Hermione said. It's one of the oldest dark artifacts listed in this book and its been through a lot. Who knows what it could have done to get to you. I think it's trying to bond to you."

"Why would it bond to Harry?" Ron asked.

"To finish Sam's task," Harry answered confidently. "It wants to finish Sam's task, so it can gain more power by finishing what Sam started."

"That makes sense," Hermione said, reading on curiously.

"What I don't get is why my dad wouldn't want me to know how Sam came across the tooth. I think I put the story together. Sam did what he was told to do, and he was tricked by those dark wizards to steal the tooth. That doesn't seem like something I couldn't handle. What could be so bad?"

"I don't know," Hermione said, "but it says here that the tooth, unless it willingly bonds with someone, will only work for someone who has committed all seven of the deadly sins within twenty-four hours. Maybe that has something to do with it."

Harry paled. All seven in one day? How was that even possible?

"What are the seven deadly sins?" Ron asked. Hermione answered.

"Greed, pride, envy, wrath, gluttony, lust, and sloth."

"But Sam is none of that," Harry said.

"Not every day, no," Hermione said, "and certainly not all in one day. But you've seen how he could be when he's being protective. And you've seen how he gets when he sees a shiny object. There's where wrath and greed could become a problem. We all know he falls for pretty woman and everyone knows he likes food. I think if those wizards set everything up correctly, it wouldn't be hard for Sam to meet all of those demands in one day."

The very idea of committing so many sins in one day made Harry feel sick. He looked at the tooth. The object didn't belong in the school – it was pure dark arts.

"Why keep something like this?" Harry wondered aloud.

"I'm sure Sam has his reasons," Hermione said, doubt evident in her voice.

"Why keep what?" another voice said, approaching the table.

The three kids jumped slightly, Hermione almost slamming the book shut. They looked at Draco's amused face.

"Careful," Draco smirked, "people might think you three were . . . up to something."

Harry rolled his eyes, willing his heart to slow. "Not funny, Draco."

"Really, what are you guys up to?" Draco sat next to Hermione, looking down at the book. "The Dragon's Tooth of Requital? I've heard of that before. My father talked about it with some friends once. I guess they were looking for it and since Dad's a collector of dark artifacts, they thought he might have it. Dad told them that he would never be able to obtain it. There's a heavy cost just to get the tooth to work for you."

"We know," Harry informed, "we were just reading on it. You have to commit all seven deadly sins."

"Why are you guys interested in this?" Draco asked.

"Because this," Harry held up the tooth, "is the Dragon's Tooth of Requital."

"Sam's necklace is the necklace?" Draco gave a low whistle. "How did I never connect the dots. I guess it was so log ago that I heard Dad talk about it, it slipped my mind. Wait, why do you have Sam's tooth?"

"It came to me," Harry said. "Somehow, it ended up under my pillow."

"That's a little disconcerting."

"What's disconcerting is that Sam still wears this. After all the trouble it's caused him, why keep wearing it."

"There's probably some symbolic reason he does it," Draco suggested. "Some kind of 'I'm better than this' kind of thing. Besides, Sam seems to have his sanity and it doesn't seem to affect him in any way."

"That's," Hermione blinked at Draco, "not a bad guess."

"It's what a Slytherin would do, and we all know Sam would definitely be a Slytherin."

"Would not!" Harry argued. "He's got a lot of bravery and heart, and he's a prankster. He is all Gryffindor."

"But Sam is also sly and very ambitious. He gets what he wants most of the time. If Slytherin symbol couldn't be a snake, it'd be a fox. Sam fits in perfectly with my house."

"Hey!" Hermione snapped. "We have more important things to talk about. Sam doesn't know Harry has that necklace, and we don't know how Harry ended up with it. What we know is that it probably wants Harry to finish a task Sam demanded from it, since Sam won't do it himself."

"So your solution is to look up the Dragon's Tooth of Requital?" Draco pulled the book closer to himself and skimmed through parts. "Interesting read. But really, I think the smart thing to do would be to give the tooth back to Sam. I want nothing to do with that thing. It's dangerous."

"Maybe, but if no one finishes the task, it could try to bond to anyone it can reach. It could end up in the wrong hands and then we'd have a huge problem. We have to be the ones to finish the task if Sam won't."

"I'm going to tell you guys this once: stop thinking like Gryffindors. Did you comprehend what you read? This thing is dangerous. D-A-N-G-E-R-O-U-S, dangerous. Give it back to Sam."

"I already told him I didn't have it," Harry confessed.

"You lied to him?"

"No, that was before I knew I did have it! And worse, Sam could smell it on me. He was so confused – I was confused."

"But you can tell Sam that. He'll understand if you tell him you had no idea you had it."

Before Harry could respond, the tooth in his hand glowed blue and he dropped it on the table, the four kids standing and backing away. They watched as the tooth remained blue for a minute, then faded.

"Dangerous," Draco muttered, crossing his arms and glaring at the tooth.

"I have an idea," Hermione said. "We do the task."

Everyone stared wide-eyed at Hermione.

"Are you crazy?" Harry asked. "There's a price for completing the task it wants to finish. A very deadly one. It could have killed me."

"I have an idea that will keep us all safe and I could easily snatch some anti-venom potions off the classroom shelf just in case there's any problems. But we should finish the task and at least see what Dobby thought was so dangerous here to keep Harry away. Don't you want to know, Harry?"

"Yeah, but . . . that's breaking a lot of rules. You'd be stealing from my dad and . . . I can't let you get in trouble for that. And it's not like I can hide Sam's tooth forever."

"We do it tonight."

"Hermione does have a point," Ron said. "We'll find out what had Dobby all crazy and we never have to see the necklace again. What if you give Sam the tooth back and you get in trouble, and then the tooth finds you again? Besides, I don't think we want anyone else getting their hands on this thing after what we just read. We see what the problem was, have the antivenoms, and then we're all okay. But your idea does involve none of us getting bit, right?"

Hermione nodded, a confident smile on her face.

"I'm in then," Ron said looking at Harry.

Harry stepped forward and picked up the necklace, images of the black mambas rushing to the front of his mind. He shuddered and looked at Hermione.

"None of us get bit?" he asked.

Hermione nodded.

"We complete the task, see what the problem was, then forget all about it?"

Hermione nodded again.

"And then the tooth will be satisfied and leave me alone."

"That is the goal, yes," Hermione said.

"Okay. I'm in."

"You guys are crazy," Draco frowned. "Obviously, you need someone with a sane head. I'm in."

"Great," Hermione stepped forward and looked at the book. My plan is simple. See here, where the researchers state the studied the tooth using mice subjects? Obviously, the tooth does not need a human to be the wearer, it just needs a living thing that can think for itself. It may demand things differently than we do, but it still works. We just need an animal subject."

"You're not getting Scabbers!" Ron was quick to say.

"You'd subject an innocent animal for our sake?" Draco's eyes widened.

"No-no," Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled out a hair pin. Flicker her wand, she transfigured the hairpin to a small mouse that cleaned its face in Hermione's hand. "This is no different than turning a mouse to a matchbox, it's really just a reversed process. I've turned an inanimate object into a small living thing, but it's still just a hairpin with a temporarily beating heart and working mind until it wears off. The magic will always work for any living thing, it can't tell that this was just transfigured temporarily."

"And why do we need a mouse?" Harry asked.

"The mouse will be the wearer. When the task is complete, someone has to pay the price, so my hairpin will take the bite for all of us."

"Thank you, hairpin," Ron said.

"This is crazy," Draco shook his head. "You all are crazy. What is wrong with giving this back to Sam?"

"Aren't you the least bit curious, Draco? At all?" Hermione asked.

"Well, maybe a little, but still. This is crazy. We don't know where this tooth will lead us."

"It'll be like an adventure."

"That's a Gryffindor thing. I just want to keep myself intact at this school until I graduate."

"You don't have to come, Draco," Harry said. "I admit that I'm nervous, too. But what if the tooth doesn't give up and keeps coming back to me. What if it gets to the point that it hurts me or something? Or someone else finds it before me? We just can't risk it."

Draco nodded, though still looked doubtful. Harry looked down at the tooth still in his hand. He hoped Hermione's plan worked and he could somehow sneak it back to Sam and never see the tooth again. That was all he really wanted.

Thanks for reading!