Chapter 15
Cnorth
Credit: whitv
Beta: Winthrops Slayer
Disclaimer: All HP characters belong to JKR.
A/N: Please visit my website for a more updated and edited version of the first 10 chapters of this story. The address will be in my profile, since addresses don't seemed to be liked much in the story text.
Several hours later, the entire group was gathered around the ghost, except for Ashley, who was in detention with Snape for spending his class staring at her boyfriend from across the room. Rowena looked slightly less see through, which she explained was because more people knew of her existence.
"The diary is similar to a horcrux…I stored my soul in it. But rather than just a portion, right before I would have died naturally, I stored my whole soul here so I could continue my research. Because of that, I didn't have to kill anybody in order to create it," she elaborated, and Lori had a thought.
"Do you know where the horcrux Voldemort has that is a Ravenclaw artifact might be stored?" she asked, hoping to kill two birds with one stone.
"Well, being trapped in a book hasn't been very helpful in regards to current events knowledge, but if I had to guess, I would say somewhere in my personal quarters." A look of confusion came across everyones faces, seeing as nobody, including Hermione, who was also there, knew where that might be.
"Oh, honestly. What are they teaching at this school nowadays?" she asked, before turning and motioning for them to follow her before floating away in a huff.
The students soon found themselves in the same antechamber to the great hall where the triwizard champions had been sent right after their names came out of the Goblet of Fire.
"This is where the door to the staff wing is?" Stacy asked, doubtful. While she had had the Marauder's Map, she had memorized as much of the layout as she could, and this wasn't where she remembered seeing it.
"No. This is the gateway to another wing of the castle that has been hidden since the last time one of the heirs attended Hogwarts." The founder walked through the wall, and then opened it from the other side. She had gained control over how solid she was, and since so many people were around, she could move things, or walk through them, depending on which she wanted to do.
The students followed her up a flight of stairs and to the right, into a large room that had been her quarters. There were several doors leading into Rowena's other rooms, and they hurriedly split up, looking for anything Voldemort could have used as a horcrux.
Finally, several hours later, they found a small locket that had a picture of Rowena and a man who could only have been Salazar Slytherin. Rowena smiled, looking down at the muggle portrait of the two. "I remember when this was taken-right after my daughter was born. Salazar was so proud…it was the last time I saw him truly happy…" A haunted look came across her porcelain features, and in that moment, Stacy decided that she would not rest until she saw the woman reunited with her colleagues and friends.
With a soft sigh, Rowena said, "Okay, destroy it. Just close my book first, please. I can't watch that." Lori nodded, and flipped the book shut, before looking over to Stacy.
"Got something I can hit this with?" she asked, and Stacy nodded, handing Lori the flashlight she had brought just in case the lights in the wing hadn't been working. Wincing as she raised her arm, Lori brought the end of the flashlight down heavily, and the locket broke into pieces, shattering like the brittle antique that it was. With the horcrux destroyed, they cleaned up the mess and reopened the book.
Rowena looked around with sad eyes, and whispered, "Okay, let's go. I can't stay here anymore."
They returned to the foreign students' common room, and set the book on the table, before all of them crashed into various pieces of furniture, not even bothering to go back to their own dormitories to sleep.