AN: here we are with another exciting chapter, and yet I still own nothing.
CHAPTER 28 - Soul conduit
"I have to say that I would have preferred a less violent method of acquiring Horace's cooperation," commented Dumbledore sitting behind his desk, his eternal joviality apparently gone leaving tiredness in its wake "And yet, no life was needlessly lost and my old colleague is now here, safe and sound in his old office. Unfortunately, that's where the good news end."
"So he talked? Just like that?" asked Liliana sounding skeptical "After all that trouble with the fake memory I expected he'd put up a fight..."
"Oh, Horace did try to resist, but I can be extremely persuasive when the need arises," he replied with a weak chuckle, a hint of his jolliness shining through in his eyes before it disappeared under the weight of the subject at hand "He's not certain, nobody can be, but apparently Voldemort aimed to create six horcrux, splitting his soul into seven parts."
"I cannot fathom rending your own soul once, let alone six times," commented Liliana shaking her head in disbelief "What possessed him to try such a thing?"
Her fellow planeswalker coughed something that suspiciously sounded like "contract". Liliana completely ignored her.
"Seven is a very strong magical number," explained Dumbledore in a tone that Chandra could only define academic, his past as a teacher coming to the forefront "It is associated with stability, power and good fortune. Most other options would present some kind of conceptual drawback, like three and five being associated with chaos or imbalance, all except for the number thirteen."
"Any way we can know for sure?" asked the redhead tilting her head to the side "We already got four horcrux, so we can rule out three."
"Thirteen too: souls can only withstand that much abuse before breaking apart and dissolving," continued the necromancer thoughtfully.
Chandra wasn't sure she wanted to ask how her friend knew. She gave herself the generic "demonic tutor" answer she used when Liliana's comments became too morbid.
"Since I'm quite certain I know what he used for his last two horcrux, I'd wager they are indeed seven," revealed the headmaster leaning back in his chair "This doesn't tell us where to look though."
"There might be a third hidden one," said Chandra after a moment of silence "I doubt he planned the one in my scar so he probably believes he's one short or had made his last before attacking me..."
"That is a definite possibility I fear," admitted Dumbledore with a weary sigh as he caressed his beard "And I have absolutely no idea what he could have used for this supposed third horcrux..."
"Let's focus on the known ones then," suggested Liliana with a swiping gesture of her left hand, as if wanting to banish the thought "What are those?"
"Since childhood Voldemort always had the habit of collecting trophies and matching sets. After discovering he was heir to one of the founders, this quirk of his grew into a real obsession," explained the elderly wizard back in his lecture tone "The diary and ring were his own, symbols of his roots and past, but the locket had been Salazar Slytherin's, so my best guess is that he looked for other relics of the founders: Ravenclaw's diadem and Hufflepuff's cup, both lost items and both somehow linked with young Tom Riddle, Voldemort's birth name."
"What about Gryffindor?" asked Chandra tilting her head "Wouldn't he miss that for a complete set?"
"The sword of Gryffindor has been lost since time immemorial I fear, far longer than Tom has been alive. Had he gotten his hands on that, I'm sure it would make a fine addition to his collection... It might just be our missing last item."
"Wait," said Liliana looking like someone who had just remembered something of capital importance "I was talking with Helena the other day and she mentioned a diadem. She seemed convinced that it still is in the castle!"
Locating Helena Ravenclaw, alias the Gray Lady, was pretty easy. Getting her not to talk in riddles was borderline impossible, but somehow between Liliana and Dumbledore they managed. Unfortunately, convincing the solitary ghost to actually reveal the location of the diadem turned out to be a lost cause: Voldemort had tricked her once and she was disillusioned about the lost treasure actually getting destroyed. All she revealed was to look for the Room of Hidden Things, which the headmaster had never heard of.
"I'll try speaking with the other ghosts, you ask around for this room," suggested Liliana watching the sad lingering soul float away "If we're lucky Hermione will know it."
Chandra and Dumbledore agreed, and went their own way.
Except, the pyromancer didn't head for the library to look for her friend, but went after the female ghost.
"Please wait!" she called after the Gray Lady, hoping she would be agreeable to listen a moment longer.
Chandra Nalaar was a girl who loved life and freedom, but she understood pain and loss too. She had seen far too much suffering across the Multiverse, she had lost her dad, she had been betrayed. She could understand the Gray Lady. All she needed was letting the sad ghost see it.
The translucent figure stopped and hovered in midair a moment before turning around, a delicate eyebrow marginally raised.
"I know I cannot order you around like Liliana, and I assure you she will do it if nothing else works," said Chandra stopping close to the ghost "But I also know what betrayal feels like. I know how you feel about that jewel."
"What can you know? Riddle came looking for me, he was interested in me! Not my mother! ME!" shouted Helena getting in the redhead's face before returning calm and bitter like a frozen lake "We spent so many wonderful hours talking, he was a great listener, until he backstabbed me. He promised he'd destroy the diadem, destroy my mother's legacy, and then turned it into that... blasphemy. Yours are just pretty words of an ignorant child, nothing more. I no longer fall for honeyed lies."
"Then go on, perpetuate his crime a bit longer," said Chandra opening her arms wide "He defied your diadem and you're covering for him. Where in the blazes did that rage go?"
Her original plan had ended up in flames, like ninety per cent of them. Big surprise. She was lucky she had long since learned the value of thinking on her feet.
"What did you say, child?" Helena hissed going very still, the kind of unnatural motionlessness that only undead can manage.
"You're the one running from your problems like a child, not me," bit back the pyromancer smirking "Just like you fled from your mother's shadow."
"I'm not going to stand here getting insulted by you," huffed the ghost turning around to leave.
"Then go face your problems already!"
"I'm a ghost, I cannot destroy the diadem!" shouted back Helena turning around.
"Then trust someone who's renowned for her destructiveness," smugly said Chandra crossing her arms and adding a superior smirk "If I can burn down an Eldrazi titan I can certainly toast one little trinket too."
"Here," said Chandra tossing a half-molten silver tiara on Dumbledore's desk "One more down, two left."
She then sat on one of the plush armchairs painting a self-satisfied smirk on her face.
"Magnificent my dear," said the headmaster checking the destroyed artifact "But how did you find it, if I may ask?"
"It wasn't much," declared Chandra shrugging "Convincing Helena to guide me to the Room of Requirements was by far the hardest part. Not even that thing's defenses and running into the Toad compare."
And then the pyromancer began a lengthy explanation of how she had followed the ghost to a room full to the brim of heaps of discarded stuff, found the diadem, and torched it while it tried to flee on small twisted legs it sprouted. She had to use ghostfire since nothing else seemed to work.
"It was a mess, I had to burn down half the room to get that thing," concluded the redhead huffing "Thankfully I foresaw this and sent Helena for Hermione so she could douse the fire."
"You told Miss Granger of the horcrux?" asked the wizard looking up sharply from his analysis of the destroyed item.
"Of course not. You said to keep it on a need-to-know basis, and that's what I did," replied Chandra shaking her head "I told her it was a dangerous artifact that had to be destroyed, nothing more. She tried to pry but I threw your name around and that did the trick."
"Good. I don't doubt Miss Granger's loyalty nor her capabilities, but I hoped we could deal with this without involving the students."
Chandra could hear a hint of reproach in the man's voice, but understanding where he came from she didn't let it get to her. It was an expected reaction from the kindhearted headmaster.
"Well, I didn't actually send for Hermione specifically, I asked for someone to extinguish the flames. She was the first person Helena found."
"And what about Madam Umbridge?" asked Dumbledore hiding the ruined diadem in a drawer, almost as if uttering the witch's name would summon her.
"We met the Toad on the way back. I told her I found a dangerous artefact in my office while cleaning up and was bringing it to you. She didn't believe me and insisted to have it. I was this close to setting her on fire when Hermione said that we believed it to be Ravenclaw's diadem and as such you had to be involved anyway. The Toad left looking like she sucked on a lemon. Thankfully –if a bit worryingly– she didn't ask to accompany us."