I apologise profusely, here is the missing chapter! This should make more sense now

Regulus smiled as Kreacher let him in through the door, telling him that Emma was already asleep. He wasn't surprised - it was past two o'clock in the morning. After rootling through the cold room for leftovers, he made his way upstairs, pleased with what he had learned. He couldn't wait to pen a list of questions for the snake in the Gaunt house, but he would need sleep first if he was to do this properly.

The stars and full moon shone brightly into his room. The curtains were open, and so was the door to his balcony, for some reason. Emma herself lay curled up on the covers, her robes strewn on the floor. She was deeply asleep, her features smooth and relaxed, for once without a myriad of emotions on display. A lock of hair had fallen over her face and was now swaying with each breath.

It's no wonder that she never managed the blank mask, he thought, smoothing her hair back from her face so it wouldn't tickle her. Emma had always worn her emotions on her sleeve. He supposed that they were lucky that she could control which emotion. Hopefully that won't matter anymore soon. He wished that he could wake her, tell her the good news, and immediately regretted it. Don't be so selfish. She'll be here in the morning.

He got to his feet and folded her robes over the chair before collecting an extra blanket from the wardrobe, laying it over her and smoothing it over her outstretched arm. A piece of paper was crinkled, held loosely in her left hand.

Odd, Regulus thought. The seal wasn't even broken. He gently pried it from her grip and she shifted, humming a little in her sleep. Turning the letter in his hands, he noticed that it was addressed to himself. Further inspection revealed that it was sealed with the Ministry's symbol and that of…

The Department of Mysteries, Regulus thought. His breath hitched. He had nearly forgotten about the debacle of the interview. He was surprised at their efficiency - he had expected it to be at least a few days before he received the rejection.

'Regulus?' Emma murmured, voice heavy with sleep. He looked over to see her rubbing bloodshot eyes, blinking hard a few times as she raised herself onto her elbows. 'When did you get back?'

'Just now,' he replied, already regretting taking the letter from her hand. If only he had waited 'til morning. 'You?'

She looked out to see the full moon still shining onto the bed. 'Early evening.'

Regulus felt a pang of guilt. That meant she hadn't slept for over thirty six hours before getting back.

'Sorry,' he apologised, feeling a lump in his throat. Some husband he was turning out to be.

'S'ok,' she replied, dragging herself to half-lay across his arm. He moved it subconsciously, allowing her to settle against his chest before putting his arm back around her. They stayed like that for a minute, his hand playing with the loose strands of her hair.

'What's that?' she asked, disrupting the silence as she nodded towards his letter. Evidently she couldn't remember picking it up.

'I don't know yet,' he admitted. Technically it was true. He passed his finger through the slit in the envelope. There was a small noise as the seal came free and he held the letter up to the light to read it properly.

Dear Mr. Regulus Black,

I am pleased to inform you that we are able to offer you a position at the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic for Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

You will be contacted by a member of the DoM concerning pre-employment checks and obtaining security clearance for your designated role depending on which division you will work for within the following week. If the results are satisfactory, you will receive your contract immediately following the meeting.

Please note that as the position applied for is classified as SENSITIVE, you may only discuss this matter with a close relation or spouse who is also a British national.

Congratulations on your success, and we look forward to working with you soon.

Kind regards,

Broderick Bode, Head of Human Resources, Department of Mysteries

Regulus sucked in his breath, trying to control the fluctuations in his chest. He had thought… Maybe he should read it over again, just to be sure.

Before he could though, his letter was obscured with the widely grinning face of his wife, all sleepiness vanished. His breath hitched again as she slid a leg over his stomach, taking his face in her hands and kissing him thoroughly.

'Congratulations, Regulus!' she said, her voice slightly hoarse as she drew back. 'I knew you would get in. No one knows the wizarding world's secrets like you do.'

He opened his mouth to reply and was met with her lips crashing on his. The back of his skull hit the headboard and they broke apart to laugh and wriggle further down the bed before getting back to the serious business of seeing how long they could last without breath.

The next morning… or afternoon… Regulus toyed with his last piece of bacon as he crossed out a line of text. Opposite him, a grass snake gulped down a heart meal of live frog. He watched as the unfortunate creature joined his fellows in a long line of bulbous lumps in the snake's body. It was crude, but effective. The snake was much more compliant with its belly full, and he couldn't go back to Hogwarts to ask the snakes there about how to phrase his questions.

'Let'sss go,' the snake hissed, eager to be away after finishing its meal. It had informed Regulus that if he wasn't quick with his interrogation, then it would bite him for wasting valuable sunshine. Regulus thought it rude to point out that grass snakes' bites were harmless to humans. No need to antagonise the creature.

'Good,' he replied, tearing a leaf from his book.

Off to ask my questions. Will be back by dinner, latest. Good luck on your side. I love you.

Emma had gone to find out whether her plan with Remus had worked - and to remove any traces of her passage should she have missed any in her tired haze. Regulus was to find out about the second Horcrux from the Gaunt snake. If all went well, they would go to the seaside Billy had mentioned and find out whether Lord Voldemort would have bothered hiding a part of his soul somewhere so Muggle.

Hopefully there are only two, he thought, trying to convince himself. It didn' work. The Dark Lord had said "further than anyone has pushed the boundaries of magic". Regulus knew of at least one Dark wizard who had three. That meant that it had to be more.

'Let'sss go!'

Regulus pushed his thoughts from his mind, lifted the snake from its cage, walked to the front door and Apparated.

'Aparecium,' Emma murmured, making her way through the forest Disillusioned. 'Specialis Revelio. Signatura Magus Ostendere.'

She paused as the air hummed with energy, wishing that she had the Invisibility Cloak with her. She felt naked without it in the sunlight, especially when retracing her steps. As she closed her eyes and felt for the magical residue, she felt her watch spring to life, telling her the numbers associated with the wizard that cast the spell. Opening one eye, she was relieved to see that it was Remus's. Not that she would ever tell him she knew his signature. It seemed like a breach of privacy of sorts.

The forest was quiet, which was a good sign, as was the lazy market day going on in the village beyond. Unless the Aurors had modified all of their memories already, which was likely, the Muggles thought nothing was amiss.

I wish I had thought to do this last night, she thought, but banished the guilty feeling immediately. She had been exhausted, both mentally and physically. Remus hadn't been much better, stumbling through the motions. Even if she had checked, she wouldn't have done it very well.

Just as she completed her rounds, making sure to stay far away from the werewolf den, a sharp burning pain spread through her arm.

Lord Voldemort calls, she thought with a grimace.

'Imperio,' she quickly intoned, pointing her wand at a nearby bird. It stopped flying, dropping to the floor before it shook free of the spell and went on its way.

'Confundus. Sectumsempre.' She winced as the spell slashed through the bark of an oak tree, sap oozing out of the fresh cut. 'Sorry,' she whispered. 'Diffindo. Alohamora. Reparo.'

Even the Dark Lord wouldn't think to go further than six spells onwards, she told herself as she Apparated to his location. Besides, the pain was making her vision blur a bit. It would have to do.

'Massster was cruel,' the adder hissed heatedly, warming up to his story. He had just spent the past few minutes telling them about the charming Parselmouth that claimed to be Morfin's long-lost nephew. 'But Massster was natural. Eat, sssleep, hunt, play. This one… Perfumed deceit. Trickery for no reason.'

The snake stopped, coiling and uncoiling itself several times, before starting up again, its head jabbing dangerously towards Regulus as if to make a point.

'Perfumed one returns broken. Parts missing from inside. He points wand at Massster and Massster forgets me. Massster leaves me to die. Massster was cruel, but never leaves. He stays. He never leaves!'

'Underssstood,' Regulus hissed back, knowing it was only an approximation of the language.

His knees clicked as he rose from his crouched position and he refrained from letting out a hiss of pain. Who knew what it might stand for. He tossed the last of his summoned mice to the floor. It barely had time to let out a single squeak before the snake's powerful jaws shot forwards, sinking deep into its flesh. The mouse immediately went limp, and Regulus was grateful. The adder hadn't bothered with the venom for the first mouse, instead simply swallowing it alive. It had been… unpleasant… to watch, to say the least.

This, if nothing else, was confirmation of his suspicions. The Dark Lord had arrived in Little Hangleton one day whole, and left with parts of his soul missing. And to deflect suspicion from falling on his shoulders in any way, he managed to pin evidence on his uncle. It wasn't a great leap of logic to assume Morfin had killed the Riddles. There was proof in his criminal record that he had attacked the Tom Riddle his age many times before, especially once Morfin's sister had started eyeing him up.

The pieces were starting to fall into place. Regulus knew now of two places where a Horcrux might be held: the childhood cave in which the Dark Lord had tortured fellow young children, and somewhere here. Possibly inside this very shack.

He shuddered despite the warmth of his cloak. Horcruxes were possibly the most dangerous thing in wizarding history. He would tell Emma of his findings and come back with her to conduct a more thorough search, one in which she would be able to use her watch to discover even the most complex of magics. He wasn't sorted into Slytherin for taking risks, and he wasn't going to break character now.

Even if it did mean saving the wizarding world.

'My Lord,' Emma said lowly, not trusting herself to speak louder without her voice trembling. Fortunately, soft reverence was something the Dark Lord was increasingly want to expect.

As she bowed her head, she glanced to her left and right. Gibbon, a worthless piece of junk she couldn't even begin to fathom why had been given the honour of the Dark Mark. He was visibly trembling, his wand a shade away from falling from his grasp. Standing more solidly in place was Avery, she realised with a jolt. She hadn't seen her former Quidditch captain for months. His pale and drained face brought fear bubbling to her stomach.

There are only three of us, she thought. She wasn't so naive as to think they would receive special commendations. Panic laced through her veins and it took all of her willpower to bring the relevant thoughts to the surface. What happened during the hunt?

The Dark Lord's slitted red eyes flitted to her for a second. 'Ah, Emma. How kind of you to join us.'

Then his long fingers raised his wand. Perspiration broke across her forehead and Emma was bizarrely reminded of an orchestral conductor. He flicked it with pinpoint precision.

'Crucio.'

Sparks burst before her eyes in colourful arrays. She wasn't aware she had hit the ground until she felt the cool flagstones beneath her cheek, the one point of comfort outside of her boiling blood and burning veins. It stopped and Voldemort raised his wand once more, a cobra playing with its prey as he readied to strike again.

'Good. Avery, take note. This one knows not to beg for mercy for her mistakes. Now that we are all brought up to speed, I wish to know. How did mere Muggles call down the full force of Alastor Moody? How did my most loyal friends fail me so?'

'My lord,' Gibbon took a step forward and promptly lost his grip. His wand clattered to the floor and he knelt down to the sound of Voldemort's cold, high laughter mocking him.

'Avada Kedavra.'

Emma's heart caught in her throat as she saw the lifeless body crumple to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Avery take an automatic step back, before forcing himself to bring himself forward, afraid that fear would single him out next. She had seen the Dark Lord angry, had seen him raging and torturing every living being in sight. She had never seen him outright murder one of his followers, one of his most loyal. She fingered her wand in her pocket, running through her options as quietly as she could, grasping hold of the snake puzzlebox that Regulus had transformed into a Portkey oh so long ago.

'Corporum resurgio.'

As the new spell left Voldemort's mouth, it seemed to hang suspended for a moment, thickening the air until it felt as though Emma were trying to inhale water. She focused on breathing slowly, ignoring the panic building up within her lungs. Then Voldemort wove a complex figure with his wand and it seemed to dissipate. She closed her eyes for a fraction of a second, just enough time to collect herself, and opened them only to see a sight far more horrifying than she had ever anticipated.

Gibbon had raised his head off of the ground. His neck was at an unnatural angle, one any normal person would not be able to hold for more than a few seconds, and when he got to his knees his feet dragged behind him as if he could no longer coordinate the muscles in his legs.

'If you cannot serve me in life, then you will serve me better in death,' Voldemort snarled viciously, and it took all of Emma's willpower not to gulp.

Don't show fear, don't show weakness. Don't show that all you want to do is collapse into a heap and beg for forgiveness.

With difficulty, she tore her eyes from the lifeless body moving through magic alone and met those cold red pupils. His thin lips curved into a smirk and Emma knew that he had heard her thoughts as clearly as if she had whispered in his ear. She saw the vicious pleasure it gave him, and couldn't help but shudder.

'Come now,' he all but crooned. 'I am not so unreasonable. Tell me of your actions and I will judge you accordingly.'

Emma didn't even dare look at Avery to see if he would speak first. Instead she let out a shaky breath, and started with her story, leaving her mind as open as she dared. She told him how she found the werewolves, how she had left it in Greyback's hands, so to speak, and how she had made sure Ministry officials would turn up, thinking that the werewolves could do the Death Eater's dirty work for them. She told him how she made sure to be far away, so that no one would be able to prove the Death Eaters were working with the werewolves and embitter the wizards in the surroundings.

And then she lied. She said she wanted to know about Regulus's results in the Ministry and went back to London for the evening to celebrate his arrival in the Department of Mysteries. She said that she went back in the morning, confident that Greyback had everything under control, and was surprised to see neither hide nor hair of any magical being. She had assumed everything had gone as planned, until now.

And all the while small Crucios permeated her words, not enough to create lasting damage, but enough for her muscles to cramp and tense from overuse. By the time she was finished, she was exhausted, her voice hitching every few minutes as another spasm wracked her body.

'Incompetence,' Lord Voldemort said into the silence that followed her words, 'will not be tolerated. But you are not the only one who has failed me this night, nor failed the most spectacularly. Avery,' he motioned for the nineteen year old (?) to step forwards. 'Report.'

And so Avery was subjected to the same torture as Emma, though she found that she had no rest there either. She had forgotten quite how powerful the Dark Lord was, as he invaded her mind time and time again to corroborate her story with Avery's, to catch either one of them in a lie. But as it turned out, Fenris had acted according to plan, and was now suffering from severe aconite poisoning. Unable to keep control of the pack at the best of times, they had dispersed during the full moon and Avery was only able to find those clever enough to evade the Aurors.

He bears the torture well, Emma thought, and then turned her head to the side to avoid spiralling into dissent. Within seconds, she regretted her decision. Gibbon's corpse had lifted itself to its feet and was now shuffling towards her.

Blinding panic overtook her and she stumbled back, her body trembling incessantly, all postures of power forgotten. Her breath came in shaking gasps. She barely registered Avery beside her falling back, shimmying away from the corpse on his hands and knees.

'Never let it be said that your Lord is without mercy. Avery - Pyrites works in Azkaban and is key to freeing our brethren. Emma - have the Giants succeed where the werewolves did not. Fail me again… Well, perhaps you will join Gibbon in his loyal service.'

And so it was that Lord Voldemort swept away, leaving his two remaining Death Eaters scrambling out of the way of the Dark Lord's most recent Inferius.