Stolen Lives
Summary: During his search for the Dark Lord's Horcruxes, Harry finds something else, something with the potential to become either a great asset or a great threat. Ancient Spirits, Forgotten History, Shadow Magic and an all about crazy twist to his life is what this young wizard will have to deal with. Slash.
Chapter 2: Stolen Horcrux
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The hunt for the Horcruxes had finally bore some results after what seemed like weeks of failed attempts in research and a frustrating lack of findings. The discovery had been mostly by accident, curiously enough. It turned out that the mysterious R.A.B. was none other than Regulus Arcturus Black, Sirius' younger brother.
Having found out the identity of the man who had been brave – and possibly foolish – enough to steal a Horcrux all that was left was find the location of the real locket and then they would have one Horcrux down and several more to go. The thought might be a little depressing to some, but to the three teens it was the best news they had heard in ages.
And so it was that they were now trying to find any clue of the location of the stolen locket that might lead them to the bloody thing. Already they had searched the entire house with no results and now their options included searching through the dead man's old room or asking Kreacher and Harry very much did not want to ask that barking old elf.
And speaking of…
"You could just stop being stubborn and ask Kreacher. We are not going to find anything here and you know it Harry" Hermione's lightly reprimanding voice broke through the monotonous silence that had befallen the trio.
The black-haired teen just sighed and pointedly ignored her, focusing his attention on the contents of the desk drawer he was currently rummaging through. He heard her annoyed huff and knew that she would drop the subject…for now, so he went back to his very much pointless search, which turned out to not be quite so pointless at all.
He had emptied the whole drawer during his little childish lapse of ignoring of his bushy-haired friend and now that he was paying his full attention to it, he noticed a crack at the very bottom of it. Normally it would not have interested him at all, since the whole house and its furniture were in pretty bad condition and all, but through the rather wide crack he could only see blackness instead of the green-carpeted floor that was beneath the drawer. With his curiosity now awoken, he pocked the bottom and watched as the thin piece of wood fell down to reveal another compartment once hidden behind the now obviously fake bottom.
He lifted the broken pieces of wood and dug into the newly revealed space, bringing out a black leather bound book. As soon as he opened it he knew that if there was any clue at all about what happened to the Horcrux it would be in this book, Regulus' old journal.
"Oi! I found something!" He called to the other two.
Almost immediately Ron and Hermione approached to look at his findings, peeking over one of his shoulders each, faces eager and curious. He opened the book and flipped the pages, looking for the last few entries, written right before the young Death Eater turncoat died and making a mental note to read the rest at a later time.
His green eyes roamed the pages, taking in the neatly hand-written words at a surprisingly fast rate for someone who enjoyed reading as little as Harry did, trying to find something that might catch his attention. No more than a few moments paused before his eyes widened in surprise and, for some strange reason, his pulse quickened all of the sudden.
"What is that?" Hermione asked, still peeking over his shoulder and looking curiously at the drawing that took up at least half of the page Harry had stopped at.
It was…strange. The thing in the drawing was not particularly beautiful, or at least not quite as beautiful as many other things, but still held some sort of charm that – even in a black ink drawing – made it look extremely attractive to Harry.
It was some sort of fashion accessory, either a bracelet or anklet of some sort, filled with strange little pictures and symbols and a very beautiful snake going around the whole thing, its head meeting its tail at some point and coiling together; hanging from it was another piece, sharp, pointy and triangle-like, sort of like a pendant. All in all, interesting, but not quite enough to explain the sudden fascination Harry found in it.
"Look! It says that's Slytherin's bracelet!" Hermione's excited exclamation startled Harry, especially as it came from right by his ear.
Shaken out of his bracelet-caused stupor, the green-eyed teen turned his attention to the words in the page instead of the drawing. Indeed, in it Regulus spoke of a bracelet supposedly belonging to Salazar Slytherin.
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I though the one I got was the only one, never even considered anyone, not even Him, would be desperate enough to make more than one. I think I was wrong now. Someone like the Dark Lord would not be comfortable with only one of anything, and certainly not something as grand and deranged as this.
I have spent hours thinking and researching, trying to find out what else he might have tainted as he did that cursed locket, knowing that my time is limited.
The library my family so prides itself in was of extreme help. In one of our most ancient and valued tomes there was a mention of an ancient artifact belonging to Salazar Slytherin himself, just like the locket I am now planning to find and destroy. The book mentions that the bracelet is protected by a multitude of charms and curses so that no one but that whom it belongs to will ever be able to wear it, meaning that no one but the Dark Lord might even be able to touch it, as he is the rightful heir of Slytherin.
I believe that, if anything, that bracelet is sure to be another of those, but I know that unlike the locket, I will not be able to retrieve it. There are no mentions in any of the vast literature I have at hand as of the bracelet's location and I know that the Dark Lord will never reveal it to me or anyone else. As such, I leave behind this writings, hoping that someday my brother might find them and, being the foolish and brave Gryffindor he is, can somehow finish my work.
R.A.B.
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"Okay" Ron said, after a rather shocked silence that the three had shared. "Now we know what another might be, we just have to find it even though no one but You-Know-Who knows where it is. Bloody brilliant" The redhead spit sarcastically.
Harry completely agreed.
Finding this bracelet would be very hard, if possible at all, but he was going to try his hardest at it. Of course, he was trying to convince himself that his determination to find the blasted thing was because of the possibility of it being a Horcrux and not because he just had the strangest urge to hold it in his hands and put on his wrist. He was failing rather miserably too.
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Author's Notes: Okay and here's chapter two! It's a bit short, but I'm building the suspense XD
Don't worry though, the plot advances considerably next chapter so it's probably going to be quite a bit longer ^^U
Also, thank you very much for the reviews! ^_^
Yoruko Rhapsodos: Hope this chapter gives you a few more clues as to whether your guesses were close, somewhat right or absolutely right XD
Catzi: Yes, that would be a correct assumption ^_- I'm not sure how it might turn out in the end, as I'm not used to this pairing but I think it will work out XD
aliengirlguy: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you're liking the story so far ^_^