Thanks again for reviewing interestedreader, and of course Wolfawaken. Anyone seen Perfume: The Stor Of A Murderer with Alan Rickman lately? Quite nice indeed... Anyhow enjoy this chapter.
I don't own any of the characters and/or exicting Harry Potter scenes that were used in the story that came forth from J.K. Rowlings mind, I do however own the characters Prof. Mehtlik and Prof. Venuta
In the following days and nights Harry wandered through his memories accompanied by his DADA teacher. Few stops were made because time was extremely valuable, the amount of time they had left ran lower with each passing minute. The two wizards only stopped for dinner and some sleep and on one other occasion, namely the memory in which Dumbledore was killed. It upset Harry that much that Mehtlik told Harry to take five and recompose himself.
At he end of the fifth night they had spent watching, analysing and again reliving Harry's memories from the past years Mehtlik summed his findings about the horcruxes.
"So if I'm right, and please Harry correct my if I'm wrong, you and Headmaster Dumbledore already destroyed two out of the 7 pieces of his soul."
"That's right sir." Harry said.
"Okay and these two were: Marvolo Gaunt's Ring and Tom Riddle's Diary that Voldemort used to terrorize Hogwarts a few years ago."
Harry made a sound that confirmed Mehtlik's train of thought.
"You were attempting to recover a third horcrux the evening of Headmaster Dumbledore's death. This was to be a Slytherin locket but it was replaced by a person that addressed himself as R.A.B. and you figured it to be your Godfather's brother, Regulus Arcturus Black."
"Indeed" Harry answered. In the time after Dumbledore's death he had wandered through Grimmauld place for hours if not days all together. One day he had walked pas the family tree and he thought about Sirius' brother and was like struck with lightning by the thought of his initials.
"If that is correct I will have to look into other matters that are not linked to this… yet. But if I race on with my thoughts I arrive at your Godfathers house, your house since you own it now. Have you never wandered through the house and found any unusual items, jewelry perhaps?"
"Not that I can think of no" Harry answered after a few seconds of thinking.
"Hmmm, what about the house elf Kreacher, where has he gone to? He liked to keep all the heirlooms of the Blacks with him didn't he?"
"He sure did, when we cleaned Grimauld place so that it could be used for the Order he kept stealing objects that he valued; for they had belonged to Black family."
"What kind of object were they Harry?"
"All sorts of: candle holders, cutlery, name it and we have disposed of it."
"Hmm must have been quite some dark objects along them, I'd like to take another look of that cleaning you did."
"Sure if you value it of any importance"
Harry once again placed his wand against his temple and placed the silver thread-like memory into the Pensieve.
"After you Professor"
Both wizards wandered through a dusty room when suddenly Rons mother swung open the door. Ron himself, Hermione and Harry entered the room with all sorts of cleaning devices. After being instructed by Molly the gang went to cleaning business. After a few moments the locket was taken from a jewelry box and examined by the gang.
"There it is!" Harry said. See I dump it into the bag after I'd found out that I couldn't open it or anything and went back to cleaning.
"And there is Kreacher, he is looting the bag indeed but doesn't take the locket… no he doesn't take it with him."
"We scare him off now…"
Harry and Mehtlik watched till the gang was called for dinner and were sent back to Mehtliks room and the Pensieve.
"It doesn't get us any further but from what I've seen it is indeed the Slytherin locket what we are looking for." Mehtlik said as he got up and walked to his closed. He stopped turned around and spoke to Harry: "What are you still here? I'd figured you'd be half way to your room by now. Come on, we have to visit Grimmaulds Place immediately!"
Harry sprang up and ran to his room. As he entered his room, he immediately went for his trunk to get his wand and invisibility cloak, just in case.
Mehtlik and Harry left the ruins of Mar'agh Nash through a large set of marble stairs that transported the wizard upwards like escalators. After they finally got to what seemed the top floor Harry saw a large curtain and was gestured by Mehtlik to walk through it. As he walked on he fell down for a good meter and landed on his bottom.
"You could have said that Professor." Harry said while rubbing his backside.
"Indeed I could have, but this was more fun for me."
Harry turned around to see what he fell through and saw a large grey curtain with a shabby wooden sign above it that said 'Staff only!'. He pulled away the curtain and saw a old office with not much else than a few books and a wooden desk and chair. He turned around and figured that he had arrived in an old windmill. Large gears were making considerable noise, but no products were made by the turning gears. Puzzled as he was he was snapped out of it by Mehtlik who said that they had to get going and that he would show Harry this nifty little bit of magic after they'd come back from Grimmaulds place. The sooner they left the better. Remembering their mission Harry followed Mehtlik until he stopped.
"I haven't been in London for ages Harry, I think I have to tag along with you while you apparate to Grimaulds Place."
"Sure no problem Professor." Mehtlik grabbed hold of Harry's arm "Ready Professor? Here we go"
Harry felt the familiar feeling of being pulled through a tube, this time it was relatively long for it was quite some distance they had to bridge and Mehtlik tagging along wasn't making it all the easier for him. He succeeded though and arrived at the square in front of Grimmauld's Place number 12.
"Ahh well it's quite the place indeed."
"Can you see it Professor?" Harry asked
"I sure can, it appeared between the muggle houses the moment I stood here."
"But I thought that only ones that were told by the secret keeper could see the secret."
"Haha, you've actually paid attention to Mrs. Granger I hear. You are right but as you know and have experienced Dumbledore was a very bright one indeed. He left one note on which he had written the address of this place to Headmistress McGonagall so that the Order could still let his new members enter their Headquarters."
Harry knew Dumbledore had some sort of buffer and wasn't surprised at all when he heard this, it was a mere conformation that he was right about him.
"Alright Professor I'll lead on"
"Please do Harry"
The two entered the house and appeared in a dark hall, no one seemed to be there which was the work of McGonagall Harry figured. She had given him all the space he needed.
Harry lead on to the room they had cleaned two years ago. "Here we are, we cleaned this room and came across a locked that we couldn't open."
"Where did the objects went to after ransomed and moved away."
"Sirius was glad to get rid of the stuff but didn't want to totally thrash it so they piled everything in the basement."
"Okay we'll go and look there."
The two ran through the hall again and raced down the stairs that led to the basement. They totally ransacked the place but neither of the two came up with the locked they searched so hard for. After a few hours and double checking every bag and crate they agreed the locked not to be in the basement and continued their search in other parts of the house.
When neither other rooms of the house or Kreachers lair gave any outcome it suddenly struck Harry that back than Mundungus Fletcher had stolen a couple of Black properties but they were never found when he was arrested and sent to Azkaban. Mehtlik concludes that the locket must be along those properties and the only way to get to them is to pay Mundungus Fletcher a little visit at Azkaban itself.
Once outside again Mehtlik told Harry to take hold of him this time and they appareted to the wizardry prison. When Harry opened his eyes he saw the ocean in every direction he looked and heard the waves break upon the cliffs they stood upon.
"Harry I will disappear now, you are going into Azkaban. Tell the Guard that you would like to visit Mundungus Fletcher because he stole your possessions. And what ever you do don't give into his proposals, play it cool" And with that Mehtlik disappeared leaving Harry no time to give any mutter.
He signed, braced himself and walked on towards the prison entrance. As he entered he found himself in a large hall with a desk and a handful of Prison guards. The entrance hall itself was already larger than the whole building looked like from the outside, Harry thought it to be the best disguise indeed and thought it to work like the tents they had used with the Quidditch World Championship two years back. Harry had to give his wand to one of the guards which would be returned upon leaving. Two large guards escorted him to a door which, upon opening, appeared to be an elevator. One guard stepped inside with Harry. When he looked to the buttons to operate the elevator he was astounded. The buttons varied from 0 to -101. The guard pushed button -19, the elevator doors closed and the elevator descended. The guard walked Harry to Mundungus cell, the halls whey walked through were obviously dark and only lit by occasional torches and the guards wand.. Along the way inmates shouted at him and called him names but most of them were staring blankly into oblivion, when they finally arrived at Mundungus cell he was already waiting for him. The guard told Harry that his time would be up when he had returned from his round. After he had left Fletcher turned to Harry.
"Well out of all people, it's the boy who lived. Are you here to get me out Harry?"
"Maybe Mundungus, If you are willing to do a small favor in return." Harry said with a voice which he thought to show that he was in charge here.
"And what will that be Harry?"
"Remember those objects you have stolen from me and Sirius, and properly stashed away somewhere, I need them back."
"Well if you let me out of here I'll give them back" Fletcher tried.
"I'm sorry Mundungus but I'll need those items back before I can release you."
"Harry please, get me out of here and I'll tell you straight away where they are, the moment I set foot out of this cell. I swear."
"I'm afraid that your word means nothing to me anymore, not since the joke you pulled me."
"Well I guess that we both end up with nothing than."
"There are more ways to persuade you Mundungus…"
"Threatening me now are you, Hahaha we both know you wouldn't hurt me!" Fletcher spoke with a scornful look on his face.
"Harry won't, but I will!" Mehtlik spoke, all shadow around him dissolved and he grabbed Mundungus by his collar.
"Mehtlik!" Escaped from Fletchers throat as he was lifted from the ground.
"Indeed my little smoking friend. My student here has been rather nice with you. Me on the other hand, I leave very little room for negotiation. And since you drew the shortest straw in this negotiation I believe you have only two options. One give us the whereabouts of the items and live another day here in Azkaban. Or two: Being forced to drink the contains of this Veritaserum vile, give us the whereabouts and live with more than one deficiency and tremendous pain for the next years to come. You've seen what I am capable of.." He whispered barely hearable in Fletchers ear.
"Yes Mehtlik you are have quite a rich imagination when it comes to that…" The man laughed nervously but the agony was visible in his eyes. "But there has to be a way to sort things out I mean.."
Mehtlik interrupted him "Yes we can and that is by giving the whereabouts of the items and than maybe and I mean maybe we'll get you out after all of this."
"Okay okay you win, I minimized the items and hid them in the Hog's Head under the second table on the right as you enter. Now please get me out of here I beg you Harry… I beg you…" Mundungus said with tears in his eyes. Harry wasn't sure if they were there because of memories to Mehtlik's earlier tortures or from genuine desperation.
Harry sighed. "You have impersonated an Inferius Mundungus…"
"That was pure desperation Harry, a cat makes strange leaps when in peril…"
"Come Harry we have more important things to do than speaking with this man…" Harry turned around but heard a tingling noise and turned back to see what it was. Harry couldn't see anything, Mundungus had walked to a corner of his cell though and seemed to hid something. Harry was turned around and gently pushed onwards, he walked through the hallways towards the elevator, accompanied by a now speaking Mehtlik, and waited there for the guard to come.
"Had enough of the man? I can imagine so.. Well I'll take you back up and see to it that you are given your wand back."
Within moments Harry stood outside on the cliffs again, only for a few seconds though for he had to apparate to Hogsmeade. Mehtlik told him that he'd see him inside and Harry heard a poof next to him. Seconds later he stood in front of the pub and entered the building. Inside the pub it didn't show any sign of Voldemort being back. It was as dim lit and filled with unusual characters as ever. Mehtlik nudged him and he sat with him at the table mentioned by Mundungus.
"I guess it isn't a good Idea to just feel under the table so openly…"
"You're right, who knows who is looking at us, best is to keep a low profile." Mehtlik rose from his seat and ordered a butterbeer and a firewhiskey and came back with them. They toasted and drank a sip.
"Okay Harry you are going to tip your butterbeer over onto the floor. I'd do it with my firewiskey but it is too good to spill it." Mehtlik grinned.
Harry laughed loud and tipped his butterbeer over. He got down on his knees and made some cleaning movements but got pulled up by Mehtlik.
"What are you doing…"
"Cleaning it up." Harry whispered back
"You clean with your wand Harry not this way. Getting the bottle with your hands was to be the strange act not showing this strange struggling movement"
"Oh right… Old habit." Harry said blushing a bit.
Mehtlik gave him an odd look for a few seconds but seemed to realize something and gave an understanding look. Harry got down on the ground again and inspected the table. He found a brown greenish goo in the opposite corner and notified Mehtlik as he got back up. Mehtlik felt in the corned and pulled the goo loose.
"Ah yes Mundungus' tobacco, poor man must have had noting else usable to hide the objects in." He split the goo and indeed several silver and gold miniature objects were visible.
"Now that we have it, are we going back to Mar'agh Nash?"
"Yes I think that would be the safest place to experiment."
Harry and Mehtlik sat on opposite ends of a small table and the locket lay between the two wizards. Harry had enlarged the objects back to their original form they had extracted from the goo and found the locket they had been searching for. Both Harry and Mehtlik fired several different hexes upon it, the ones coming from Mehtlik were nasty ones Harry figured after Mehtlik explained their effects on humanoids, but it wasn't damaged not even scratched. The two agreed the object had more beneath its surface and had to be opened. Mehtlik stood up to consult his library and left Harry with the Horcrux.
"Sectumsempra!" Harry tried from a distance. The locket flung across the room yes, but than again so it did on every try. "Nasty piece" Harry muttered as he walked towards the object to pick it up. He placed it upon the table again and stared at it. For a good fifteen minutes he only stared and taught of ways to open it. He was fixed on the serpentine that lay motionless upon the locket. Mehtlik entered the room.
"Still no progress?" He asked in a rhetorical way. Harry shook no and closed his eyes for a moment. In a flash he saw the locket's snake transforming to Nagini to the basilisk and opened his eyes.
"What is it Harry?"
"Parseltongue…."
"Parseltongue?… The speech of Zalazar Slythin and his family heirs…?"
"Yes! Yes!" Harry said full of adrenaline "Parseltongue. Voldemort is a Parselmouth as was Zalazar Slytherin. Since it was his locket I think that he wanted to keep the contents for himself and what better way than to lock it like the chamber of secrets, with Parseltongue."
"Yes of course, it's all so clear and makes sense. We can try all we want but we won't open with the normal speech of man."
Harry focused on the snake and ordered the locked to open. It began to shake intensely but failed to click open. The two wizards both looked disappointed at each other. For a moment there was a silence of two wizards thinking what have gone wrong.
"Harry" Mehtlik broke the silence after a while "I fear there is only one solution. We have to use it for its main purpose."
"Wearing it you mean?"
Mehtlik nodded "I do not know what happens when you speak to it as you wear it, but I think it's the only way we can open it and ultimately destroy it.
Harry grabbed the locket but also felt that Mehtlik's hand grasped his shoulder.
"Are you sure you want to do this Harry..?" He asked in a concerned voice.
Harry thought for a moment, nodded and placed the locket around his neck, it weighted quite heavy compared to its size. He looked into the black void of Mehtlik eyes for a moment and felt that he let go of his shoulder and saw him taking a few steps back. Harry closed his eyes and again ordered the locked to open.