CHAPTER 34 – Evil presence
The Chamber of Secrets had obviously seen better days, it was evident from the patches of moss growing everywhere and the pools of stagnant water. Certainly the gaping hole disrupting the orderly snake-themed decor of the walls didn't help any. Yet it was clear that it had been grandiose once upon a time, with its massive size and carved statues resembling open snake maws. Chandra personally felt that the giant statue of Salazar Slytherin was a tad too much. Still, in disrepair or not, it was a decent hideout, albeit one requiring much work. Thankfully for them, Earthborn magic was much more versatile than what she was used to.
They received an unexpected visit from the headmaster, who appeared in a ball of golden flames in the middle of the room.
"Well, quite an unusual place to meet my dear," he commented letting his gaze wander the room "May I inquire why you brought this many students in the Chamber of Secrets?"
"Good afternoon headmaster. To answer your question in a word: Umbridge," Chandra replied dusting her hands "She became bolder and openly moved against our little rebellion, wands blazing and all that. You'll have to keep an eye on her."
The pyromancer had been helping moving around some debris that had accumulated over time, so she was a bit dusty. It wasn't the best job for her, but she had already summoned a litter of playful baby pyrolynxes to ward off the cold and simply sitting while her companions did all the work felt wrong to her.
"Alas, she has become bolder as you say because she unseated me as headmaster as well," Dumbledore explained while scratching a curious pyrolynx that had wandered over to play with the hem of his robes "It is therefore fortuitous that she couldn't get any of you before me. Let us be thankful for small mercies. I'll advise Minerva to be more careful."
"No kidding: after missing all of us she'll be on the warpath for sure. Thankfully we're far out of her reach."
"Unfortunately, I'm not here to merely ascertain your wellbeing: I found another... Of those items," he revealed after a brief pause to evaluate how private their discussion was "Is miss Vess here too?"
"No, she borrowed Featherbright –Hermione's phoenix– yesterday to visit Fleur and I haven't seen her since," the redhead said shaking her head before furrowing her brow "Thankfully nobody needed a healer..."
"We shall do without her then," the elderly man's brow furrowed too "I fear time to be of the essence: Dolores' ploy significantly weakened us, at least on the surface, and I doubt Tom won't abuse the opportunity for all its worth."
"Ok then, let me establish some form of chain of command and we'll be on our way," she replied nodding before motioning him to follow her.
The pyromancer guided the ex-headmaster towards the middle of the room where they had established a temporary command post. There, she nominated Hermione and Davis temporary leaders and explained that she had to leave with Dumbledore for an important mission. The elderly wizard, after commending them for their effort, summoned two of the castle house elves to help them, with the only stipulation not to mistreat them. Shortly after that, he and Chandra flamed away with Fawkes.
Since phoenix fire travel is hardly inconspicuous it is wholly inadequate for muggle areas, therefore Fawkes dropped Chandra and Dumbledore in a warded alley not too far from the Leaky Cauldron, the same one that every year the professors use to come meet the newcomer muggleborns. With a few waves of the wizard's wand the two of them were dressed as inconspicuously as possible and ventured out into the busy streets of the British capital.
"Where are we going exactly?" asked Chandra as she tried to drink in everything she saw around her.
If the Wizarding World had offered some peculiar sights, the muggle side was presenting her with marvels beyond her wildest dreams, and as the daughter of two of Kaladesh best tinkerers she felt bound to try and investigate every bit of technology she saw. And while cars and planes were hardly something new to her, she had never seen buildings so tall out of the Spire of Industry, nor could she fathom the function of the little boxes she saw some people talking into.
"As you certainly recall, Tom grew up in a muggle orphanage here in London," replied Dumbledore guiding her "I believe that he hid one of his... Trophies there."
"If he's so fixated with his past I guest that's a definite possibility... How are getting in though? We hardly look like a couple out to adopt a child: I'm too young myself and you're a bit too old for me. No offense."
"None taken my dear, it is the truth after all: I'm older than what your grandparents would have been hadn't they succumbed to dragon pox," he jovially replied patting her left hand "As for entering, Wool's Orphanage was closed many years ago and brought down some time after that. It became an office block for a decade before ending up as what muggles call a parking lot."
"I don't have the faintest idea of what that may be, but from how you said it I guess it's easier to enter, right?"
"From what I gathered, it's a place where muggles store their cars while out on business and it should be freely accessible to everyone," explained the old man "Unfortunately, I sincerely doubt that Tom has placed no protections of his own on the location."
It took the two of them almost an hour to walk all the way to the place that had seen Voldemort's infant years, and when they did they found a towering structure in concrete that looked like a hollowed out tower holding a number of the colourful muggle cars.
"Any idea where to start?" asked Chandra giving the building a calculating look "Or of what we're looking for?"
"I must admit it is quite different from what I imagined... Nevertheless, the item should be magically hidden underground or around the actual structure."
"You're probably right, I cannot see it staying undiscovered after that big of a change to the scenery..." agreed the redhead moving her gaze to the ground floor.
"As for the what, it could be Hufflepuff's cup or a yet unknown item," said Dumbledore making his way towards the nearest access "I fear we'll know for sure only once we've found it."
There was no guard at the entrance, so Chandra guessed that either muggles were incredibly naive, the cars had their own in-built security system, or there was an automated one of some kind in the building. She made her observations known to Dumbledore.
"I believe muggles have a mean of scrying remote locations through the use of their technology. Quite fascinating, but definitely bothersome in our situation," he explained discretely pointing towards a wall fixture equipped with a lens on one side "Let us try to avoid using magic in sight of those hanging apparatuses."
The pyromancer shrugged. It wasn't like she was actively using magic. If she did, those machines would be the last of their troubles as she was their problem-solver.
The building wasn't as high-rising as others around it, but it did go down into the ground. Unfortunately, without knowing where it stood in relation to the old orphanage it was impossible to say if actually going down was useful or not. The natural light filtering from the open sides of the structure got soon replaced by artificial illumination in a sterile white hue that did nothing to make the place more appealing. Evidently, whoever had built the parking lot had had function in mind rather than aesthetics.
After descending two levels underground they reached the lowest floor, which was even drearier than the upper ones. Apparently, nobody had wanted to park their cars on that floor since there were none to be seen; there was also some form of water infiltration problem judging from the pools of stagnant, fetid water that marred the floor.
"Is it just me, or does this floor look in dire need of repairs?" asked Chandra donning her goggles and tying an handkerchief over her nose and mouth.
"Unless I'm wrong, this is the effect of Dark magic pollution," said Dumbledore tracing a complex path with his wand "Oftentimes, locations where powerful Dark artefacts are hidden suffer effects similar to those you see here."
"Like Grimaud Place?"
"Indeed," he replied with a nod before pointing to the furthest wall "This way."
In the point more distant from the access ramp, under a set of malfunctioning lights, stood an unassuming stretch of wall that looked more battered than the surrounding ones. It was a pretty damning outward sign if Chandra had ever seen one.
"There's a pretty strong set of wards beyond this wall, of the lethal variety I suspect," explained the old man tracing more and more complex paths with his wand "I'm quite sure the structure is not tied to them."
"This isn't the first alternative entrance I create today," replied Chandra cracking her knuckles and placing both hands on the wall "Stay back please."
"Let me my dear," protested the headmaster "Save your strength for the actual defences."
With a simple flourish of his knobby wand, Dumbledore transfigured the ruined wall into a nice looking archway. Unfortunately, that did nothing from the wall of packed dirt behind it. Half an hour and some cubic metres of mud vanished later, the two finally found an old looking stone wall.
"The orphanage's cellar?" suggested Chandra knocking on the stones to check if there was a room beyond.
"Possibly," agreed Dumbledore before cautioning her "This is where Tom hid his horcrux. The wards start right beyond the wall, it seems. I'll create an opening now, be prepared."