Chapter Six. Closing The Net.

Alastor Moody, the Senior Field Investigator of the Auror Department was sat behind a large desk in the Head Auror's office. It was a borrowed desk and a borrowed office, as he was a man of action and rarely worked inside the main building. Being a man of action meant he was contemptuous of bureaucratic trappings and had neither an office nor desk of his own. He was a big, imposing man with several scars on his face, which he'd gained in combat against dark wizards and witches. He had a gruff manner, one which gave Bellatrix good reason to be nervous, given her involvement with Lord Voldermort and her previous actions on his behalf. She was sure she would be severely punished.

Despite her fears Bellatrix bravely sat on a chair on the other side of the desk to Alastor Moody, telling the stony faced silent Senior Auror of her previous night's adventures and of her previous duplicity against the Department. She was completely honest and held nothing back.

She came to the end of her tale saying, "So, that's the story then Sir, it's not a pretty one and I am by no means innocent in these matters myself, but I hope by coming to you and telling you all this that you'll help me destroy the remaining horcruxes and defeat Lord Voldermort. I can't prove what I've been told about the future but I certainly can prove that Riddle's horcruxes exist, and by their very existence they are certain proof that he is a murderer."

Bella continued, "As to the remaining horcruxes I know that one of them, Tom Riddle's diary, is hidden in a secret storeroom under Malfoy Manor. I'm sure that you could easily raid the place and destroy it, either fiend fire or basilisk venom will do so easily. Lucius Malfoy, my dear Brother in Law, is not so brave as to sacrifice himself and not to tell you exactly where it is, if confronted. The man is a spineless lizard. As to the other two horcruxes, well the hardest to find will be Helga Hufflepuff's goblet, but I know that since Voldermort has not yet given it up to be stored by myself in our family vault at Gringotts he would surely have kept it somewhere he considered safe up 'till now. I feel sure he'd want it somewhere he'd feel it would be secure and where he could watch over it.

In the face of there still being 'no comment' by Alastor Moody, Bellatrix continued. "I was thinking deeply about this as I flew back here in the early hours of this morning, which is why I flew back rather than apparating, I wanted time to think.

Now I'm just guessing, but the cup might well be in a place he associates with an old triumph and with vengeance. Just such a place being in his father's grave, or maybe in his father's old house, near where I found and destroyed the ring and the other two objects last night. I now think I made a bit of a tactical mistake with that fire last night, as the news of the destruction of the old Gaunt place might just get back to him from the muggle media and arouse his suspicions, so we have to act fast and find Helga's cup before he can move it if it's there. As long as I'm not actually under arrest for my part in this affair then I'd like to volunteer to try to get the goblet, if I may Sir."

"By all means," Moody replied, finally speaking and sounding far more reasonable and kind than Bella had expected. "No, you are not under arrest Ms. Black, nor even suspended, as yet. I admire your honesty for coming to me and commend your brave actions last night. But trust me, you will still have to face an exhaustive investigation when this is all over. Meanwhile though, you are still an Auror and still on duty.

He smiled at her, the scars creasing his face and then said, "Take a squad and search the two suspect places you mentioned. Meanwhile I'll personally take another and go for the diary at Malfoy's place. It'll give me great pleasure, I never liked or trusted that reptilian bastard Malfoy anyway, no matter how much he's smarmed his way into the 'good books' of the Ministry. We'll just make it look like a 'normal' raid for dark objects though and try not to mention the diary directly, then with luck the real reason for the raid won't get back to Voldermort."

XXXX

Shortly after gathering a small force Bellatrix then returned to the area she had been in the night before. The nearby copse of woodland was still steaming and smelled of burning wood, vehicle tracks showed that the muggle fire brigade had indeed put the fire out earlier. Searching through the charred embers of the old Gaunt shack, (virtually nothing of which remained), Bella found only a small solidified puddle of melted precious metal, which had once been the locket, the diadem and the ring. However the strange stone from the ring, though cracked, had also survived and she picked it up in an evidence bag, as well as the molten remnants.

Her squad of six Aurors she split into two groups. One party of two, including herself and another group of four. The larger group to search the old Riddle House, with the help of the local old muggle caretaker, who might know where in the building things could be concealed. Meanwhile Bellatrix herself and her companion Terry Johnson would examine Tom Riddle Senior's grave in the nearby churchyard.

On reaching the churchyard Bella was struck by a chilling sensation as she reached the large and ornate grave. The place felt far more 'disturbing' even than she normally would have expected for such a gloomy setting. Upon examining the tomb of Riddle's father Bella noticed that the growth of lichen on the marble seemed uneven and that it looked like some patches had been scraped away by it's being moved. This, it seemed, was very possibly where Helga Hufflepuff's relic, the golden cup which had been turned into a horcrux had been hidden, her hunch might well be right!

Using their wands Bellatrix and her colleague Terry gently lifted the massive and bizarre statue that looked like a cross between an angel and a figure of Death off of the grave. They set it down very slowly on the another stone topped grave twenty yards away, so as not to leave an obvious mark on the grass right next to their point of interest. They then also removed the stone lid underneath it covering the grave holding the coffin itself, very gently placing it on a the ground near the statue. Then they began using their wands to lift out the soil covering the coffin, and soon had revealed a mouldering lid. "I hope you're not squeamish Terry," Bellatrix said to her companion and then pointing her wand at the coffin lid said Diffindo! The lid immediately split open and blasted to one side.

It revealed the skeleton of a man inside, very else little survived other than a few scraps of clothing. However, in a corner of the box, just poking out from a pile of mouldering coffin lining something gleamed. "Bingo, that's it," shouted Bellatrix in triumph, and levitated what indeed turned out to the the object they'd sought. Helga Hufflepuff's golden cup. It flew into Bella's gloved left hand, a garment she had donned to stop herself from touching it, in case the cup was cursed, like the ring had been known to be.

"Please send your patronus to the squad in the house and tell them to call off the search could you Terry," Bella asked him. Then walking over to where they'd placed it she sat down on the marble lid of the grave. Slowly and very carefully cleaning off the cup on the hem of her combat robes, scrupulously avoiding touching it, she said. "So pretty, it's a genuine historical artefact too, it's shame we've got to destroy it, I hated destroying Rowena's diadem and that was nowhere near as pretty as this."

Placing the cup on the ground she took out a tiny phial of incredibly rare and very expensive basilisk venom and with extreme care poured a couple of drops into the cup. Black smoke began to be emitted from it immediately, followed by a tortured screaming sound, then it just as abruptly it stopped. As the smoke cleared Bellatrix saw the small gold jewel encrusted cup was still standing on the ground, looking exactly as it had before.

"Oh good," she said to Terry, "It seems the venom just destroyed the portion of the evil sod's soul that was in the cup making it a horcrux, but the goblet itself was untouched. Of course, I forgot, nothing much can chemically affect gold, no matter how toxic or corrosive. Once it's checked out by forensic wizards at The Ministry and we know it's safe for sure this can go back to the Hogwarts museum, where it belongs. At least they'll get one relic back." Bellatrix smiled happily, then picking up the cup gingerly by it's stem to avoid any residual venom inside it she washed it out in a nearby rain puddle that had formed in a stone flower bowl on top of another grave. Thus making it safe, Bella then gently wrapped it in her handkerchief and put it in her robe pocket.

Terry and Bellatrix then painstakingly magically repaired and replaced the coffin lid, refilled the grave and put back it's stone covering and the grisly statue exactly as it had been before, taking minute care to position it exactly as it had previously been. Then, to hide the small crumbs of soil amongst the grass next to the grave that their wands had missed they both used an Aguamente spell to cause sprays of water from their wands to dissolve them into the grass.

By the time they had finished no trace of their work could be seen by the graveside itself and only a slightly flattened area of grass many yards away where they had temporarily placed the stone covering revealed anything had happened at all. Even this area of flattened grass was springing up again now the weight of the stonework had been removed and they were in no doubt that by the next day scarcely any trace of their visit would remain detectable without minute scrutiny.

Rejoining the larger party of four Aurors at the Riddle House, (who also had put back everything just as it was), they then all thanked the old muggle caretaker for his help but, as a security measure and for his own safety, used Obliviate spells to modify his memory, so he would never remember they'd been there. Before he came to his senses they all then dissapparated back to London and returned to their office.

They found on arriving that Alastor Moody and the other party of Aurors who had paid a 'surprise visit' to Malfoy Manor had also met with success, had captured and destroyed the diary with basilisk venom and taken Lucius Malfoy into custody. What's more they'd done so without even mentioning their 'primary target' but instead had arrested him for the possession of several other dark objects and incriminating evidence they'd found in his hidden storeroom. By the time he wormed his way out of the charges, (and he probably would), the diary would be replaced with a harmless duplicate substitute, so he'd never know it was gone.

The Auror Department was still buzzing about this when Bellatrix and her party entered and Moody beamed at them, congratulating her team for a job well done. He took Bella aside and he said, "well done to you too Ms. Black, I think we can say that if I possibly can I will try and ensure that you do not meet any severe punishment when this matter is scrutinised by the Department. Especially if we can catch that bastard Tom Riddle and kill him, or get him banged up where he belongs in Azkaban!"

"Thank you Sir," Bella replied happily, "But I'm fairly sure he still has one remaining horcrux out there, that bloody snake of his that he got a while back and that he dotes on. Nagini, he calls the damn thing and it's got to be nearly six feet long, thick as my arm and poisonous! I'm fairly sure he's made that snake a horcrux itself Sir, from the way he's able to control it it's like part of himself is inside it. We'd better be sure and bump that thing off first before we go after him."

"And exactly how do we do that Miss Black," Moody asked.

"I haven't a clue at the moment Sir," she replied, "but I'll think of something," and feeling happy with her last twenty four hours work Bella cheekily dared to wink at Alastor Moody, then with his permission went home for a well earned sleep.