Disclaimer: Harry Potter is J K Rowling's property, not mine.
Student of the Foul
Chapter 9
A house so foul – part 2
The Curse-breaker directed his gaze at the two men. His face constantly shifting between being fearful and one that promised vile cruelty. As he shifted, the green emeralds on the locket glinted in the light that poured through the windows behind Sirius.
"You must kill them too." Echoed a voice across the hallway. It had a serpentine note to it. The marauder's eyes widened at the familiar voice.
The curse-breaker's expression once again shifted to being fearful as he quickly put his wand arm down. "No! They haven't done anything!" replied to himself as his
"David, What's the matter with you? Have you gone mad?" asked Sirius causing the Curse-breaker's expression to shift once again.
"You see, they call you mad." The voice said, "They belittle you. They do not see the greatness you hold within you, and they never will. I did, David. In six days, you have shown me the greatness you can achieve. Let me be the one to guide to it. Follow me and I promise that you will bask in glory!"
The now distraught David looked down. His face clenched in agony.
"I…."
Suddenly David was blown back. He fell hard against the far wall and collapsed onto the floor, unconscious. Sirius looked to his side and found Remus with his wand raised.
"Do you think you can stop me?" The voice said, the locket on David's chest opened, and a large cloud of darkness bellowed out from within the locket. Remus and Sirius stood frozen at the sight of the menacing dark cloud as it began to circle over the unconscious curse-breaker.
Suddenly the Marauders heard chanting from behind them. They turned to see the Goblins with their hands raised in front of them, palms open, chanting what the men perceived to be a spell in Gobbledegook.
The Goblins gingerly stepped past the men towards the darkness. It looked like their spell worked, as the darkness began to be draw back into the locket with every step the goblins took towards the fallen curse-breaker. As the last remanent of the menacing dark cloud returned back into the locket, the goblins rushed forward and began to cast a few more enchantments over it.
As the ordeal finally ended, all the being released a collective sigh of relief.
Remus suddenly jerked at realising something and rushed into the room from where the Stricken curse-breaker had originally emerged. Sirius followed him in as the Goblins secured the locket.
Inside the room the men saw a gruesome sight of the other human curse-breaker lying on the floor with his head bleeding from an open wound on his head. The men rushed to the man's side where Remus quickly went down and checked for a pulse.
"He's still alive. Sirius, does the floo work? I need to get him to the healers."
At Sirius' nod, Remus placed a full body bind on the body and levitated out of the room and down the stairs towards the floo.
"I'll get him settled in at the hospital. You check in with the goblins and ensure that thing is taken care of." Remus called out as he went down the stairs.
Sirius sighed. He turned and walked back to the goblins. All he could think of at that moment was how ineffective he was. He had frozen and not done enough. If Remus hadn't been there, if the goblins hadn't been there, he might have been dead or worse.
'I'll need to get myself back in the groove, if I want to protect Harry.' He thought to himself angrily.
As he reached the Goblins, he blatantly struck the stricken curse-breaker David with his own full body bind curse and a stunner just to be safe. The Goblins sneered at him and nodded in approval. One of them held a box in his hand that had numerous Nordic runes engraved. Sirius presumed that they had placed the vile object in the box.
"So? Do you know what that thing is, Master Erkled, Master Sognar?" Sirius asked as he reached the Goblins.
"That thing, we know is Salazar Slytherin's locket. It used to be able to allow any who wore it to be able to speak Parseltongue. Unfortunately, it has been tainted by magic of the foul. One that has not been seen in this world for over a century. Only Master curse-breakers have been taught about this magic for the small chance that we might encounter it at our various excavation sites." Erkled replied snarling angrily.
"But how did it affect David like that? Isn't he a trained curse breaker?" Asked Sirius
"It is a good thing that you paid for two master curse-breakers, Master Black. Samuel Weedon and David Beel are our apprentices. Mr. Beel being the one with the least field experience; this was his first assignment. Since it was a house and not an excavation site, we did not believe we would encounter any magic that we would not be prepared for. We only assumed to only expect magic that we knew humans to have knowledge of." Master Sognar replied.
"Well, that's my family for you. Capable of the nastiest surprises." Sirius stated, rubbing his hands through his hair.
"Master Black, if you would be so kind as to revive Mr. Beel here, I believe we have some questions for him to answer. Do ensure the body bind remains." Said Erkled as he
Sirius did as he was told, Propping David up such that he was sitting against the wall, Sirius cast another Body bind on the unconscious curse-breaker and revived him. They saw David's eyes slowly open and groggily look around only to find Master Sognar's face in front of his own.
"Mr. Beel, do you know where you are?" Sognar asked. David slowly nodded in response.
"Do you know what you have done?" Sognar asked to which David's eyes widened.
"Yes…" He whispered. "I didn't want to, but Tom made me. I didn't want to kill Samuel!"
"We found Samuel barely alive. Mr. Black's friend has taken him to your healers. Now, why don't you start at the beginning and tell us why you hurt Samuel so much and who this Tom is?"
Behind the Goblins Sirius frowned. He had heard that name before, and quite recently too. As David continued, in the back of his mind, Sirius tried to recollect where he had heard the name previously.
"Samuel has always been horrid with me and the other curse-breaker trainees of my batch. He always belittled us. Always tried to put us down. He got away with it too because he never did it in front of the Masters. He was the best of his batch and that is all that we would hear from him, that he was the best. I hated working with him in our assignments. He would always make me do the menial tasks, telling me that I was inadequate. Telling me that I was useless and that I should just quit. I hated him so much." David said he saw Sognar gesturing for him to continue.
"Master Sognar, I was excited when you told me that this assignment would do wonders for my experience and merit. That is until I saw I would be working with Samuel. He was silent the first couple days because we all worked together to check the outer perimeter and the main wards."
"When we began work on the inside, we began to split up. You and Master Erkled told him to oversee my tasks while you began working on the library and the individual books within. He returned to his normal ways. He would assign a room for me to work on a forbid me from leaving the room, even going as far as to warding the room off." David cried.
"Why did you not report this to either of us?" Sognar asked.
"He pulled rank on me. He told me that it would go against the orders of my assigned supervisor and against my oath as a curse-breaker. He threatened me that it would trigger the oath if I disobeyed his orders."
"Six days ago, when I was stuck in that bedroom, the house's elf popped in. He had the locket in his hands. He told me that his master had given him the task to destroy the locket. He wanted me to do it because he said he couldn't."
"I cast the usual screen spells as per my training but only found a minor compulsion on the locket. Once I removed the compulsion charm, I put it away and continued checking and cleansing the room. Suddenly, the elf put the locket over my head and screamed at me to destroy it. I was about to pull it off when I heard his voice."
"He spoke to me, telling me that the locket was special. He asked me about my life, my goals, my ambitions, about Samuel. It was like talking to a friend, one that could ease my despair when Samuel had me locked in the room."
"After that, every day Samuel locked me in the room, the elf would bring the locket to me. I had my friend back. Tom spoke about his life. About how he used to be a great wizard. In my mind, he showed me wonders of magic that I had never seen before. He showed me the error of Samuel's ways. Saying that, if I believed in him, that if I learnt from him, I could be the greatest curse-breaker to ever exist."
"Today, Samuel was particularly nasty, and I was up to my limit in rage. Tom asked me if I wanted his help and, in my anger, I accepted it. He told me to repeat something foreign and when I did, I suddenly felt lightheaded. I felt myself moving, but I wasn't in complete control."
"Tom convinced me to break my oath. He guided me and I followed. I unlocked the door and took the vase that was in the hallway and looked around for Samuel. When I found him, I smashed his head in with the vase! I don't want to hurt anyone, but I thought he deserved it!" David's face clenched in misery.
"I heard Tom laughing happily… There was so much blood!" David wailed inconsolably.
Seeing the Goblins nod to him, Sirius once again stunned the man, knocking him out of his misery. His eyes were wide. He had just realised who Tom was.
It was too similar to Harry's description of what had happened in the chamber of secrets from his second year. It must have been the same Tom. Or as Harry has revealed to him, the Dark Lord.
"Master Goblins, do you know how to destroy that thing?" Sirius asked, his unease clearly marring his face.
"We will need to take this back to our coven. I cannot destroy this thing and I do not know anyone currently in Britain who knows how. All our curse-breakers only know how to contain such foul magic. I will have to find and check with a particular specialist." Erkled replied.
Sirius grimaced and replied, "I may know someone who might have destroyed one quite similar." The two master Goblin curse-breakers were shocked to hear this.
Sirius continued, "My Godson told me of his own encounter with a similar artifact. I don't remember all the details, be he told the artifact was responsible for the pertifications that occurred in Hogwarts in 92, also involving a Tom."
"Where is your godson, Master Black? I believe we will have to have a discussion with him. It would be prudent to get the full picture before we take any further action on the locket." Replied Sognar.
"He's at his muggle aunt's house currently. He will actually be living here once we make this house free of dark magic and habitable." Sirius said, gesturing to all three beings at the end.
"Hmm…., then perhaps I could request you bring your godson here in two to three days' time. By which time, our tasks of clearing this house of any harmful dark magic should be completed. Master Sognar and I have completed the upper levels today and have placed necessary protections on objects and areas that may cause harm to the inhabitants of this house." Erkled said.
"Yes. We can assume that this Samuel and David did not perform their tasks with full competence. So, this level would be the only one pending. We should be able to clear it in two days." Sognar added.
"Why don't I just write to him asking about how he destroyed his artifact?" Sirius asked.
Sognar shook his head, "It would be prudent for us to have this conversation with your godson face to face. This is highly regulated magic Master Black. We do not trust the owl postal network to keep information about it secure. We at Gringotts use a very secure means of internal communication. We do not want word to spread in the regular post owl network, of the existence of the foul magic."
"Okay, and what are you going to do about the locket?" Sirius asked.
"The box will contain the artifact for now. We will place it in a room in the upper level with maximum security wards. No creature or thing should be able enter that room until we find out and make all the necessary preparations to destroy the foul magic on the locket."
"Once that is done, we will move David to back to Gringotts for processing. Suffice to say, he will no longer be allowed to be a curse-breaker. His mind is too weak. We will also check of Samuel and if the evidence we have received today is corroborated, he will face the consequences of his actions." Sognar said with and vicious sneer, leading the other two towards the stairs.
Erkled "Once your godson arrives, we will focus on the task of destroying that object. In the meantime, we will conduct further research into the matter from our side as well."
-(HHoHH)-
Dear Harry,
How are you mate? I hope the muggles aren't giving you a hard time. Just remember that it's only until Sirius has his house ready for you. If that doesn't work out, write to us. I'm sure dad could spring you out of there and have you here in a jiffy.
Dad also got us tickets to the quidditch world cup finals. He got them in return for a favour to Ludo Bagman, the head of the Magical Games and Sports. They're in the top box too. I couldn't believe it when I saw them. My family is so excited about being able to go. We don't speak about anything else in the house.
I think we also have extra tickets for you and Hermione as well. Bill and Charlie aren't able to come. Bill is still in Egypt and won't be able to join us. Charlie is stuck in Romania. He says that he's preparing for something really important. I don't know what is so important that he would miss the world cup for, especially since he loves quidditch so much.
Let me know soon if you want to join us at the world cup. It is on the 18th of August. I've written to Hermione about this as well. I am really excited about this.
Ron.
Having sent off Pigwidgeon, Harry was laid back down on his bed reading the letter. He sighed as he finished it and threw it on to his table. At least Ron and Luna wrote to him. He knew from Luna's letter from earlier that month, that she would be travelling with her father to Sweden.
He had still not heard anything from Hermione. He wondered if she was travelling to another country like she had the year previous, because she hadn't made a mention of it on the train or at any point towards the end of the previous school year.
Harry sighed as he rolled to his side and pointed his hand at his trunk. The trunk gently lifted of the ground and slowly floated back and forth around the room as per the gestures of his hand. Hedwig was asleep on her perch, as she was used to his wandless practice.
It was nearly a month into his stay at the Dursley's at Sirius' and Dumbledore's behest, and while he being left alone, he wasn't happy. Sirius' freedom meant his own freedom from his current accommodation and he was itching to get out of the place he now termed Durskaban.
What irked him even more was the lack of communication from his godfather ever since the holidays had begun. Fear of abandonment renewed the anxiety in his heart. An anxiety that resulted in simmering anger waiting to boil over. Only Herpo was able quell the fear. His calming presence in his head acting as a counter against the anxiety.
Harry had distracted himself by thoroughly throwing himself at his wandless practice. Towards the end of the school year, he had managed to cast all first-year spells and many second-year spells wandlessly.
Herpo's opinion regarding the trace on underage magic proved to be true. He had tested it by casting a harsh sting hex at his Irate Uncle the moment they entered the house. In his defence, Vernon had grabbed Harry by his collar when Harry had cast the spell. There was no reaction to his wandless magic at No.4, Privet drive. No warning letter, no visit from the minister of magic, no drama whatsoever.
He had been left to own devices after he promised the family residing at the house that he would only be present for a short amount of time, after which he would be moving.
He lowered the trunk back to its original position and began flicking his finger to cast knock-back jinxes at Ron's letter, trying to keep it in the air with subsequent jinxes. So engrossed was Harry in his reflections that he didn't realise that he had been casting silently the entire time.
Suddenly a shadow appeared behind the floating paper, causing Harry to apply a bit too much force on his jinx. The paper flew back, hitting the shadow, resulting in a shocked bark from a short-eared owl as it crashed onto the floor of his room.
"Shit!" Harry exclaimed, realising what he had hit.
Clamouring out of his bed, Harry gingerly picked up the bird and checked it over, trying to make sure he hadn't hurt the bird too much. Not seeing any evidence of injury, he placed the bird gently on his bed. All the while, the now awake Hedwig screeched humorously at his actions.
"Are you alright little guy?" Harry asked. The Short-eared owl gave him an offended look and ruffled its feathers. With a bark it held out its foot, showing a letter. Harry sheepishly took the letter saying, "I'm sorry about the paper."
The owl jumped off the bed and flew up to sit beside Hedwig. It began to preen itself with its back turned to Harry. Hedwig gave Harry one final screech before closing her eyes.
Harry shrugged his shoulders and opened the letter in his hand, noting first that it was from Sirius.
Dear Harry,
How are you pup? I have some good news. The curse-breakers are almost done clearing the house of any malicious magic that could harm you while you live here. Although, I still have most of the house to clean up. Still, I thought it would be best to free you from the muggles and bring you here. I'll be coming with Mooney to pick you up on Thursday at around 10 am. Hope that is enough time for you to pack.
We will be apparating, so I suggest that you send Hedwig to my house the previous evening. By the way, The Owl is mine. She is new and her name is Pyxis. Like Hedwig, she loves bacon.
I would also urge you to remember the map at this point of the letter.
Padfoot.
'Remember the map? What does he mean…Oh!'
"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." Harry stated, before tapping the map.
The empty space below Padfoot's signature began to populate with words.
I can't say too much, but we had an encounter with an object, rather similar to what you have seen in your training room. It is proving hard to handle and we could use your advice.
-(HHoHH)-
Two days later, Harry sat at the dining table of 12, Grimmauld place. The other seats at the table were occupied by Remus and Sirius who flanked him, and two Goblins who sat across from him, and had introduced themselves as Master Erkled and Master Sognar.
Master Erkled looked like the more senior Goblin. He had a heavily wrinkled face with larger warts and a spattering of white hair on his head. His eyes shone with wisdom that he had only previously seen in Herpo and Dumbledore. At the same time, he gave off a highly no-nonsense aura, greater than the one usually projected by Goblins.
Master Sognar looked younger and seemed much more mellow in comparison to Master Erkled. His eye seemed softer than the usual Goblin, while still holding a lot of wisdom.
In front of master Erkled was a box. It had a large number of runes covering it and Harry could see it was meant to contain something powerful.
"So, this locket was speaking to the curse-breaker. Someone called Tom guided him with temptation and made him do something that he would not normally do, which is strike his bully of a colleague."
When he received affirmations from the remaining members at the table, Harry nodded and said, "Yup, this sounds exactly like how the diary worked. It slowly possessed Ginny to do it's bidding."
"So, you have encountered an artifact like this. Master Potter, please, we would like to know how you destroyed the artifact." Said Master Sognar.
"I stabbed it with the fang of a basilisk."
The Goblins and Remus blinked.
"What!" Remus screamed. Harry could see Sirius struggling to hold a straight face.
"And where did you get this Basilisk fang Master Potter?" Questioned Erkled.
"From the Basilisk that I defeated, of course. Sirius, did you not tell them about it?" replied Harry.
"What do you mean a Basilisk?" Asked the now shocked Remus Lupin
"Dumbledore didn't tell you what happened in my second year, did he?" Harry asked Remus.
"He did. He said that the school had been attacked by a creature that left a handful of students paralysed for some time. He told me that you and your friend Ron managed to defeat the creature, putting a stop to the problem. I read on the news that Hagrid had been accused of bringing the creature into the school but was let off once the creature had been taken care of."
Harry's eyes narrowed at Remus' statement, "You didn't care to ask him what the creature was, Mooney?"
"I did, but Dumbledore told me not to worry about it as it was taken care of." Replied Remus
Harry shook his head and turned back to the goblins, "I'm sorry Master Sognar, where were we?"
"You mentioned that you stabbed the diary with the fang of the Basilisk that you defeated." Said Erkled as he then scoffed and replied, "Although, I find it scarcely believable that a child, like yourself might have faced a Basilisk and survived, let alone defeat it."
Harry was rankled at the comment, but it was Sirius that replied for him, "Just show it to them, Harry."
Harry took his shirt off. The remaining present gasped at the sight of the large scar that marred the right shoulder of the boy. It was clearly the result of a large puncture wound, only it had a few more scar lines flowing out like streams from a lake.
Harry pointed to the scar lines and stated, "If you still have doubts, these lines are from when the venom flowed out on my skin and burned it. If it weren't for Fawkes being there that night, I would have, as you so kindly put it, not survived."
"I apologise for doubting you Master Potter, on behalf of both of us. Please understand how farfetched it must have been for us to hear that a human child faced and defeated a Basilisk." Said the shocked Sognar.
Harry's demeanour softened, "I wholly understand Master Sognar. My life's story can seem rather farfetched for a lay person. Can we get back onto topic?"
Both goblins nodded and looked to each other, before Erkled began, "Basilisk venom is among the methods suggested to me by one of our senior advisors. He is rather adept in the magics of the foul."
"He also suggested Fiendfyre and the killing curse as good alternatives. Our goal is to sever the connection of a soul shard that has been attached to the object. Unfortunately, the artifact will be destroyed."
"I don't think anyone other than Dumbledore is powerful enough to cast a controlled fiendfyre." Said Remus.
"Yeah. I also don't think any one here is willing to cast the killing curse. A few months ago, I would be a candidate, but now, things are different." said Sirius as he got up to pace around table.
The group fell into a few moments of silent contemplation. Harry looked around at all the group, he was contemplating the means by which he could introduce Herpo's suggestion into the conversation.
Harry turned to the Goblins, "Master Erkled, I read in a text that a goblin made blade can absorb that which can make it more powerful. Is this true."
Erkled nodded, "Yes, it is, but only if it is a true Goblin forged blade. I can see what you are alluding to Mast Potter. A goblin forged blade could absorb Basilisk venom. Unfortunately, we don't have any blades that have absorbed something as corrosive as Basilisk venom."
"I hope this works." Harry muttered, before closing his eyes. His face moulding into a look of determined concentration until suddenly, a sword appeared in his hands.
"Would this do? I stabbed the basilisk through the mouth with it. It would have definitely gone through the venom sacks." Said Harry as he brandished the sword.
While the men were awed by the appearance of the sword, the goblins were completely taken aback by the actual identity of the sword.
"That is the sword of Gryffindor! How did you come upon this Master Potter?" Screamed master Erkled.
"It came to me when I had no weapon while facing the basilisk. I wished for a weapon, and it appeared in my hands. Dumbledore said that it was fitting that I used the sword of Gryffindor to slay Slytherin's great beast." He pointedly looked at Mooney at the latter statement.
Master Sognar recovered from his shock and said, "We will have to test the sword first. If it doesn't work, that is, if it hasn't absorbed the venom, we will have to look for a contingency."
"If we are looking for something to destroy, I have just the thing. Come on." Said Sirius grinning wildly.
He led everyone to a certain portrait and gestured towards it.
"My dear chaps, May I present to you, behind this curtain, your test subject." Said Sirius with a flourish that could have garnered him a spot in at a high-end Shakespearean performance. He yanked the cord that puled the curtains apart.
Unlike the others, Harry was unprepared for what he faced.
"Filth! Mudbloods! Scum! Who do you think you are to set foot in this house? Begone with your corrupting ways mudblood. Begone!"
"Unfortunately, Mother, it is you that will be gone. Do it Harry." said Sirius.
Harry slashed diagonally at the vile portrait. The blade tore through all the protections on the portrait and ripped the parchment along the slash.
"No! How could you do this to your own mother, boy! You are a disgrace to this family, to this…" Walburga's voice died out as the ripped parchment began crumbling into dust all the way to the frame.
"Good riddance." Commented Sirius.
"That was your mother?" Asked Harry to which Sirius replied, "Charming woman, wasn't she?"
"Yeah, rather similar to Aunt Petunia."
Sirius turned to the Goblins, "Well masters, it seems like the sword works as per our requirement. Shall we get the task at hand done?"
The goblins nodded, "Allows us sometime to set up the room upstairs for the event, master Potter. We will have to make sure the magic is contained." Sirius nodded. The goblins quickly rushed up the stairs to perform their task.
"Oh, dear mistress! What has shameful master done! He brings mudblood to destroy my dear mistress." Screamed a voice. Harry was surprised to see an elf pop in and caress the frame of the painting.
"Kreacher! How nice of you to show up. I command you to stay where you are. I needed to talk to you." Sirius said. At Harry' perplexed look, Sirius subtly shook his head at him and gestured him to stay silent. Remus also took the hint and nodded.
The elf grimaced but did as he was told. "What does shameful master want from Kreacher?"
"Why did you give the locket to the curse breaker? Was it your hope to kill me?" Asked Sirius.
"No, Master gave me a task. He wanted me to destroy the locket, but Kreacher was unable. Kreacher failed. Kreacher thinks Gringotts man able to do the task, so Kreacher gives him locket. Gringotts man also failed." Said the old elf.
"Master? Who is this master you are referring to?"
"It be Master Regulus."
"And why did he want you destroy the locket?"
"Because he stole it from the dark lord. The dark lord wanted to hide locket, he used Kreacher to check the hiding in cave. Kreacher almost die. But Master Regulus called Kreacher back. Master Regulus saved Kreacher."
"Master then went to hiding cave and stole locket. He asked Kreacher leave cave and destroy locket before dying in cave." The elf began wailing.
Sirius was stunned at what he had heard. His brother had died defying Voldemort.
"Kreacher, do you know what we are doing here today?" Harry asked.
"No, you only be here to destroy mistress. Kreacher knows."
"No, we are here to fulfil your master's task. We are going to destroy the locket." Said Harry.
The elf froze, "You will destroy locket?" Harry nodded.
"Unfortunately, we needed to test this sword on something just as powerful, your mistress' portrait was the only one we could think off."
"We are ready. Please join us here." Called Master Sognar from the upper most floor.
"May Kreacher be present?" the elf tentatively asked, to which Sirius, who had just regained his bearings, replied, "No, you may not. You have defied every order given to you and have not even perform the task of keeping this house clean. I do not want your disturbance in the task. Stay in the dining room until we are back."
Kreacher's head dropped, but he stayed silent.
The three humans climbed the stairs and followed Master Sognar into a relatively empty looking room. The Goblins had placed the box on top of a table at the centre of the room.
Harry was fascinated when he could make out numerous runes that looked to be towards containment of all magic. The table itself, harry noticed, sat in the middle of a pentagram made up of runic murals. The two goblins stood just outside the pentagram. Master Erkled approached them as Master Sognar began chanting with his eyes closed and his hands raised. The containment wards slowly appeared as translucent pink dome that gradually covered the table and all the area over the pentagram.
"Master Potter, please open the box and take out the locket. Judging by the details obtained from our affected curse-breaker, we will need to open the locket. First, see if the sword can break the locket open and then destroy the locket from the inside."
Harry raised an eyebrow and asked the older goblin, "Since this is the Locket of Slytherin, do you think it would open to a Parselmouth?" Erkled's eyes narrowed, "Yes, but…"
"Then it is a good thing we have a Parselmouth here, isn't it." Replied Harry pointing at himself. Harry then gave Sirius and once again surprised Remus a pat and walked towards the dome with Erkled.
"You keep surprising me at every turn master Potter. I am glad to have met you so soon in your life. You may enter the dome; it will not harm you. Remember, do not fall for Tom's temptation. Be strong and destroy that thing." Hearing the words of the Goblin, Harry couldn't help feeling a little proud.
He walked into the dome with sword in hand and reached the table. Harry pulled out the locket and placed it on the table.
"open" Everyone other than Sirius and Harry shivered at the Parseltongue.
The locket opened, and a black smoke began to slowly waft out.
"A fellow speaker, how wonderful to…" the voice was interrupted by Harry piercing the centre of the locket with the sword.
There was an unholy screech as smoke shot out of the locket and quickly disappeared into nothing. It was over as soon as it began.
"Well, it looks like that was successful." Said Harry. "Master Erkled, could you verify that it is done."
The master goblin curse-breaker walked into the dome and assessed the locket. A few moments later, he nodded.
"There is no presence of the foul magic on this locket." He said, with a cheerful goblin sneer.
Harry picked up the locket and looked at it with reverence. It was something that had belonged to his teacher's mentor.
"May I keep this?" Harry asked. The goblins nodded. Harry turned to the adult humans in the room. Sirius nodded while Remus looked like he was still reeling from the information he had received in such a short space of time.
"Let us all head downstairs. I'll pull out something from the wine cellar. This calls for a celebration."
As the group headed down the stairs, master Sognar caught up to Harry and said, "Master Potter, forgive my curiosity, but could you perhaps tell me what you have done with the carcass of the slain basilisk?"
-(END)-
AN: Thanks to all who have taken the time to read, review, follow, and/or favourite this story. I really appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
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Until next time.