Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft
Office of the Headmistress

"So, Harry, when do you plan to destroy the Horcrux in Slytherin's locket?" McGonagall asked. "Also, do you know how?"

"I believe that I know how," Harry replied. "The problem is that I have to destroy all of the remaining Horcruxes. And I don't know where they all are. We know that the diary of Tom Riddle was one, the ring belonging to Marvolo Gaunt was another, as is the locket of Salazar Slytherin that Riddle's mother wore. Dumbledore was sure that Helga Hufflepuff's cup was one, it was stolen from Hepzibah Smith after her murder. In fact, her murder was what created the Horcrux. We don't have any idea where it could be however. That leaves Nagini and one unknown."

"Would there not be one more? I understand that he wanted seven Horcruxes."

"Actually, he tore his soul into seven pieces. That is the most perfect magical number. If he made seven Horcruxes, then his soul would be in eight pieces." Harry was confident about this. Hermione had located a 1000 year old book on the dark arts which explained the theory of Horcrux development. The book had been right under their noses for a couple of years in the Black family library at 12 Grimmauld Place. There were a lot of scary books in that place. Harry had made the decision to bring out all of the books on dark magic that could help another Dark Lord to rise and donate them to Hogwarts. They would be kept in a special section only accessible to the Headmaster and the Librarian. In the event that they needed to be accessed, it would take both of them to open the door to the room and take the books out. The special room had been spelled in such a way that if any book was taken out of the room, it would self-destruct as it went through the door. Any notes taken out of the room would do likewise. Harry had been all for destroying the books that were that dangerous, however Hermione had thrown a fit. She had pointed out that had that policy been in effect, Harry would not have had the information he needed to fight Voldemort.

"Meanwhile, the locket is quite safe here. To change the subject a bit, Harry, you have an appointment, along with Dudley, to go to the Ministry for your Apparition License this morning. Arthur will be picking you up here at 10 A.M. so that you can Floo to the Ministry. Do you think that the two of you are ready?"

"I believe so. I have been practicing in the training area, as has been Dudley. In fact, Dudley practiced quite a bit at the ranch."

"Very well, you have almost 2 hours until time to go. Be back here at 9:50." With that, Harry left the office and headed down toward the Great Hall. During his walk there, he was thinking about possible locations of Hufflepuff's cup. He wished that he could consult with Dumbledore's portrait to find out more information about Riddle, however the portrait had still not awakened.

Once in the Great Hall, he saw Dudley holding court, regaling some of the others with tales about their time in Texas. He had a large plate of bacon, sausage, and eggs in front of him, and his ever present bottle of Tobasco sauce by the plate.

"Dudley, what are you going to do when you run out of that sauce?"

"Open up a new bottle, I suppose. I brought back two cases, and this is my fourth bottle. I should think about ordering some more though, I only have 20 left." Dudley grinned. "What are you doing running around so early? Been doing some training?"

"No, McGonagall wanted to see me to ask about the locket that is in her safe. That and tell me that we have our Apparition License tests this morning."

"That works for me. The only problem I have is that the Ministry seems to be a sieve of information. How long will it be before word gets out that Harry Potter's muggle cousin is now a wizard and has an Apparition license?"

"I really had not thought of that. In that case, I would say either postpone your licensing until after this is all over or change your appearance some. Put on regular robes, shave that fur off your face and start speaking like a Brit again." Dudley covered his goatee and moustache protectively, making the entire table crack up.

"It took me three months to grow this, I'll not shave it. I will try to do the other things though. I need that license. Anything else?"

"Well, I have been trying to figure out where Riddle might have hidden Hufflepuff's cup. Dumbledore was sure that it was a Horcrux."

"Why don't you just wish it to you? There should be no need for you to actually go looking for it." The others looked at him, mouths open. Ron started to snicker.

"Dudley, magic doesn't quite work that way. I thought you knew that by now."

"Magic might not, but the Room of Requirement does. Or at least it seems that it does. From what I have gathered, whatever you really need in the Room, it will obtain it for you." Dudley looked at the others, their jaws hitting the table in shock. "What, was it something I said?"

"By Merlin, it might just work! I wonder why nobody ever thought of that." Lupin gazed at Dudley with a look of awe.

"Probably because it won't work." Hermione sniffed. "If it was that easy, somebody would have figured it out."

"Maybe they have, and just didn't tell anyone about it. I mean, if you figured that out, would you go blabbing it around?" This seemed so obvious to Dudley that he didn't mind Hermione's sniping at the idea. "The best way to find out is to try it. It can't hurt."

With that, they all stood up and made a dash for the door. Arriving in the seventh floor corridor across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Balmy, Harry told the others to try to think along with him, imagining Hufflepuff's cup. He then walked in front of the wall, back and forth three times. The door appeared. Holding his breath, he opened the door. There, sitting on a small platform in the middle of the room, was the cup. There was also a glass of pumpkin juice and a sweet roll.

"What in the world?" Harry was almost afraid to touch the cup, afraid that it would vanish. He turned his attention to the glass of juice and the roll. He cocked his eyebrow.

Ron turned fiery red. "I… I'm sorry Harry, but I was still hungry. We weren't finished eating you see…"

They all laughed. "I wonder if we can do this to bring Nagini here." Harry pondered.

"I don't see why not," Lupin said. "The question that I would ask is this. Do you really want her here?"

"NO!" said 4 voices emphatically.

"I would say that that idea is a non-starter." Remus chuckled.

"I'm still going to keep it in mind as a last ditch measure" said Harry stubbornly. He picked up the cup and immediately felt the shadow of Voldemort's evil. "So, one-seventh of Riddle's soul is in here. Hmm."

"Oh, no, Harry. It is not nearly that much." Said Hermione. "Of course, it depends on which order he created the Horcruxes. Don't you remember me explaining that?"

Harry had a vague idea of the conversation, but had been exhausted at the time, so he did not have all the details. "Run it by me again."

"Riddle might have thought that he was making equal Horcruxes, but when he made the first one, that tore his soul in half. Then the next one tore what soul he had left in half, or one-quarter went into that one. Then the next, one-eighth, and so on. What he has left in him is only one-sixty fourth of a soul. That is not enough to even consider him human anymore. Think what he would be able to do if he recovered the one-half Horcrux."

"That won't happen. At least I don't think it can happen. I believe the first one I destroyed, Riddle's diary, had that piece." Harry looked at his watch. "We had better get going, we have to be in McGonagall's office in 10 minutes. I'll take the cup and have her put it with the locket." With that, they left.

Ministry of Magic

"How can I help you?" The welcome witch was perky and charming. She had obviously not been working for the government for very long, Harry thought. Give her another couple of years and she would be as surly as a blast-ended skrewt.

"Harry Potter and Dudley Dursley to take Apparition Tests" She smiled.

"Big day, huh? Oh, Harry Potter! Could I have your autograph?" She squealed and held out a parchment notebook and quill. Harry blushed.

"Uh, sure.. I guess so" He took the notebook and scrawled his name in it. He handed it back to her and she pointed at the Security Wizard inside.

"Just register your wands and I will call for Mr. Weasley." The boys went to the Security Wizard and handed him their wands. Harry did not have any problem with that, but when he went to read Dudley's, it came back with "unknown materials" warning. The officer got a confused look.

"That's never happened before. What is this wand's specs?"

"13" mesquite wood and on the tip is the fang of a chupacabra. The core is the jaw tendon of the same chupacabra."

"Oh, a non-standard wand. Just what the heck is a chupacabra?"

"It is more commonly referred to as a Mexican Goat Sucker. It was a custom make from the colonies." The wizard inputted the information and handed the wand back to Dudley.

"Here you go. Now we have a new update in our database. You should not have that problem again. And now that wand has been registered to you. Whoops.. it also says that you have another wand from Olivander's. Where is it and why do you have two?"

"The other wand is a dueling wand, a collector's item. I can't really use something like that for everyday, can I?"

The wizard smiled. "Certainly not. People would think that you were starting a new war. I wish I had the Galleons to afford a wand like that for a hobby. Well, here is your escort." Arthur Weasley came up to the checkpoint.

"Well, you fellows ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be", said Harry. Dudley nodded.

"Well, let's get you to your testing area."

One hour later

The boys came out of the testing area, shiny new licenses in their pockets. Dudley spotted a sign that said 'Public Tours'.

"Harry, could we take a few minutes to take the tour? I'm kind of new to all of this and I'd like to see a bit of this world."

"I suppose so. The last time I was here I didn't have much of a chance to sightsee. And we do really need a bit of a break."

The boys got in the small queue to take the tour. An hour later, after having been given a condensed version of the history of wizarding in Britain, they came to a room labeled 'Historical Artifacts'. Many of the items were weapons of war carried by different wizards and witches throughout history, personal items such as magical jewelry and other objects of power. One wall had a display labeled 'Hogwarts Founders'. In the area Gryffindor's Shield, separated from his sword hung on the wall. Harry went close to it to see if he could detect anything strange about it. One of the theories that had been bandied around was that the sword was one of the Horcruxes, but Harry didn't buy it. He had used the sword against Voldemort, something that he doubted would have been possible had it have been a Horcrux. He brushed his hand over the shield and felt nothing. It was just a shield, nothing more. He also performed the same test with Hufflepuff's dress robe and Slytherin's grimoire, or spell-book.

There was one more case, a lit display case. As Harry walked up to it, a sharp pain shot through his scar. He gasped when he saw what it contained. A small plaque read, 'Rowena Ravenclaw's Wand'

Harry was desperate to touch the wand, to make sure that was what had caused the reaction. The case, however, was sealed to insure that no one could steal it. Harry hid his reaction and quickly hustled Dudley out of the tour line and out the entrance.

"I found the last Horcrux, cousin!" It was Ravenclaw's wand!" Harry said excitedly. We just have to figure out how to get it out of here."

"Are you sure?"

"As sure as I can get. We need to get back to McGonagall." The boys agreed to meet at the Shrieking Shack gate in Hogsmead and then used their first legal non-training apparition to get them there.

A/N: I had a "senior moment" when I was doing the math on Voldy's soul and actually ran the figures as eight divisions. (7 hurcruxes + voldy) Many thanks
to Thelovinspoonful over at for catching that so quickly. It's all better now though. (And to think that I was an accounting major!)