I still don't own any of the characters owned by anyone else.

Gabrielle's thoughts were spiraling out of control. She didn't know how to feel about her great uncle's death. She had heard horrible sometimes even funny stories about the guy her whole life but had only met him once a few weeks ago when she had tagged along with her dad, when he had went back to his old house to get the remainder of his personal effects. It was a little sad to her just how ecstatic her great uncle had been to see the last of her dad. His aunt hadn't been much better. She shivered as she remembered that Dudley had spent his time alternating between being happy to see her dad go and casting her creepy looks. The way Dudley's eyes had followed her around the house on that brief visit had unnerved her more than any demon she had fought in the past. Her mouth twitched almost forming a smile as she thought about what painful things Lexie would have done to him if she had caught him looking at her like that.

At the time she had been glad that her sisters hadn't come but she wasn't so sure now. Because of Moldywort another member of their family had been ripped away, one that her sisters would never get to meet. She knew that Vernon had been a horrible person to her dad but at least he had taken him in. She sighed, "I'm not doing this. I'm not going to cry myself to sleep over that waste of a human." She brushed her hands across her face, trying to ignore the moisture upon them.

Harry wasn't doing so great himself either. He had been having a great first day back what with no Snape and his plans to start up the D.A. coming along well. He should have known better than to relax. The last twelve years of mostly good times had caused him to forget what living in the wizarding world meant. Thus even though he probably shouldn't have been, he had been shaken by word of his Uncle's death. He felt bad that his uncle was gone, not as badly as when he had lost his broomstick in his third year but it was his uncle he was thinking about. No the part that was causing him issues was the creeping feeling of doubt that said his uncle might have still been alive if he had tried harder to talk him into placing wards around the property. It had been so easy to just walk away the day that he had gotten his stuff, instead of staying and trying to convince him how much the wards were needed.

He bitterly remembered the smug look on Vernon's face when he had laughed at the idea of wards, "You're gone, these so called dark," he stumbled over the word, "wizards." "They can't have any interest in me anymore. I'll just tell them you went back to that school of yours and that will be the end of it." Harry realized now that it had been the smug and the condescending look on his uncle's face that had snapped his self control and caused him to walk out the door with Gabrielle without a backwards glance.

Harry pushed his dark thoughts away with an effort. He knew that his being older had changed things, he just hadn't realized how much until the attack on Hermione's parents. It looked like a large part of the game plan was going to have to be scrapped. It just served to convince him that he needed to push ahead with training.

His thoughts were interrupted by Ginny poking her head through the curtain opening, "Let's go get some food before Ron starts eating people."

Harry smiled slightly, while he didn't really feel like eating he knew that not eating wasn't going to do him any good in the long run.

Gabrielle had meant to start her projects but by the time she had pulled herself together emotionally and told her siblings what had happened it had been time for supper. She had just finished her first helping of food which tasted faintly like wet cardboard as far as she was concerned when she overheard several of the Slytherin's laughing over a piece of paper. One of the Slytherin seventh years smirked at the Gryffindor table. She thought she faintly heard the words, "Early edition of the Prophet." She wasn't sure though as too many people were talking near her to tell for certain. She really wanted to reach out and hex the whole lot of them but wasn't sure that would go over well when her mother found out. "I think I might grab a book from the library before I turn in for the night. I'll see you back in the dorm."

Rose nodded as Gabrielle sulked out of the room. She tried to ignore the idle chatter of the other Hogwarts students, their happy voices working their way down her spine like some type of northern frost vine. She knew that Harry's uncle was just the last in a long line of deaths, it didn't make it easier to understand the reasoning but it gave her something to focus on.

Gabrielle frowned in disgust as she glanced down at the dirty hole in the middle of the floor in the girl's bathroom. For a brief second she wished her father hadn't entrusted her with this particular important mission. She clutched her bag to her chest tightly before jumping down the hole careful to not touch the edges with her cloak. She enjoyed the feeling of air rushing past her for a few brief seconds before she called on her magic and floated the last few feet to the ground. Her boots made creepy crunching noises as she walked along the passage. She came to a stop in front of a large snake covered door. She glanced up curiously at the door covered with metal snakes. She hissed at the door, the snakes on the door slithered away from the edges as it swung open. She stepped through the doorway and made her way into the room. She let out a gasp as she took in the sheer size of the dead basilisk. "That's larger than dad said it was, though smaller than Uncle Ron said."

She searched through her bag for a minute before pulling out her dragon hide gloves. She slipped them on before walking up to the creature's head. She reached up and broke off two of the smaller fangs. She carefully held them away from her body as she walked a few steps from the creature. "What Anya doesn't know wont hurt her." She looked around for a few seconds before deciding that the floor would work well enough once clean. She raised her right hand and waved at a section of the ground and used her magic to sweep it clean of grime and debris. She transferred the fangs carefully to her left hand. She searched through her bag before pulling out a collapsible altar that while small was still larger than would have fit comfortable in the bag. She carefully set it up on the ground before placing a black silk handkerchief, pulled from her pocket, on the top of it. She delicately set both of the fangs on the center of it. She reached into her bag again and pulled out a curious box made of purple crystal and silver. She opened it and gazed at it's contents. She carefully pulled a piece of chalk out of the box leaving the rest of the contents alone. Her hands shook slightly as she pulled out her notebook and looked over the spell she was planning on using. She knew the spell by heart, why shouldn't she, she had been working on it for years, but she wanted to make sure that the magical glyphs she was scribing were perfect.

Gabrielle sighed, she knew that she was taking longer than the simple grab and snatch mission her dad had sent her on was supposed to take but she didn't really want to rush the magical symbols on the floor either. She just hoped that it didn't take too long to finish her other jobs. She stepped back and spared a few seconds to admire the twisting artwork of magical glyphs she had drawn on the stone. She forced the nervousness down as she knew that her family wouldn't approve of what she was planning on doing. She forced her family's reactions from her mind as she carefully stepped further away from the symbols. She pulled the gloves off and set them on a clean spot on the ground next to her bag. She carefully set the notebook down by her discarded gloves. She unhooked the clasp on her cloak and carefully folded it before setting it on her bag. She removed the rest of her clothes before carefully folding them as well.

She spent a moment enjoying the feel of the cool air on her skin, "Okay girl, now your just putting it off." She carefully walked back and knelt before the altar. She conjured her silver dagger without a word and set it carefully on the ground in front of her. She sang out in a clear voice, "Dea of veneficus, audite meus dico. Tribuo mihi is creatura vires." She used her magic to reach into the left fang and pull at it's magic. In the back of her mind she knew the prayer was more a focusing add than a part of the spell, especially in the world she currently found herself in but old habits die hard. She pulled the magic into herself. She felt it settle into her body even as the first fang turned to dust on the altar. She reached out her magic again for the second fang. "Dea of bellum, tribuo meus vesica vires of Monasteriense." She watched as the essence of the creature spiraled out of the fang and into her blade. She smiled as her blade drank in the deadly power of the basilisk. She smiled when the spell finished and the second fang crumbled to dust.

She smiled as she stood and stretched. She reached out and picked up her dagger. She smiled as she noticed a small change in her blade. Near the hilt a small glittery emerald colored glyph was etched into the silver of the metal. Gabrielle wondered how much of her blade's silver would be visible as time went on. She could feel her blade's magic absorbing the new magic and growing slightly. She kissed the blade before she dismissed her dagger back to it's resting place in her spirit.

She frowned at the clothes distastefully, she muttered to herself. "If I stuff everything in the bag and turn invisible I can probably make it up to the room of requirement without them." She frowned she knew she was cutting it close enough. She picked up her journal. She sighed and waved her hand around the room before pointing at a blank page in the journal. A series of measurements and drawings of the whole area appeared in the book. She shrugged, she figured it was better than trying to measure it out by hand. She gathered up her clothes and stuffed them into her bag before slinging it around her shoulder.

Gabrielle still had a large grin plastered on her face from her naked though invisible run through Hogwarts as she glanced around the isles of discarded trash in the room of requirement. She took a minute to admire the cathedral sized room before her gaze swept over the hidden objects in the room. She closed her eyes and allowed her senses to sweep over the room. It didn't take her long at all to track down the creepy feeling of darkness coming from the diadem perched on an ugly bust. She had at least come more prepared than her father had while hunting these cursed things. She pulled a lead lined iron box out of her bag. It clanked to the floor as she set it down and opened it. She pulled a old broken broomstick from the pile of trash. She grinned when she used the end of it to lift the diadem off the bust before she unceremoniously dropped the thing into the box and closed the lid. She frowned at the broomstick, "Forgive me." Purple flames danced from her hands as she used her magic to destroy the broomstick and the bust. "But I'm not taking any chances that the cursed thing bleed it's evil onto you."

She shook her head, 'Now I think I might just spend some time in here before having Dobby deliver that box to Dad so he can drop it off with Professor Dumbledore. I should probably start ripping apart the real junk for use as building materials for the chamber of secrets like Dad wanted. Maybe after that I can eat some of the other objects for magic.'

Dumbledore's face broke into smile as he ushered Harry into his office. Harry walked in, his wand pointing at the large iron box levitating in front of him. "Where do you want it sir?"

Dumbledore looked at the box, "Does it contain what I think it does?"

"If you think it contains lemon drops or some other candy then no you are sadly mistaken, if on the other hand you think it contains the Diadem of Ravenclaw then you're right."

"You can set it on the desk."

Harry sighed in relief as he waved his wand and set the box down, "It's quite heavy even with magic." He noticed Dumbledore's curious frown as he looked at the box. "Standard Scooby operational protocol for cursed objects is a lead lined box. Sometimes I just wish it wasn't an extremely heavy lead lined box. I would have destroyed it but I was hoping that you could find a way to save the diadem while destroying Voldemort's soul shard." Harry shrugged, "I thought that maybe you could come up with something."

Dumbledore nodded, "Perhaps, are you doing alright?"

Harry shrugged, "If you mean am I alright with my Uncle's death? No I'm not but I'm dealing and working through it. Just because I didn't like the guy doesn't mean I wanted him dead, sent to Siberia maybe… but not dead the way he died. I'm just happy that aunt Petunia and Dudley weren't home. They got a curious urge to go shopping that night and were stuck in traffic on the way back. I often wonder if the blood protection didn't work both ways sometimes."

Dumbledore tilted his head slightly, "Who can say. I doubt the last remains would have done anything overt to stop Tom but perhaps…"

Harry nodded, "We moved her and Dudley though they aren't happy about it they decided that it was for the best after everything. Luckily for them Vernon had a rather hefty life insurance policy being the director of the company he worked for and all. On to other news how is the search for memories going?"

Dumbledore's smiled, "It goes though slowly, but it's good to confirm that things didn't change. I don't think I'll ever get over how much knowledge that book gave you. Have you destroyed the locket yet?"

"After a long and very strange talk with Kreacher, yes I have."

"I thought you sent him away?"

"I did but we called him back shortly before we came to Hogwarts. We had a nice long talk about Regulus Black. I never really expected much out of him but it seems Hermione was right about another thing. I'll probably never consider Kreacher a friend but I do understand him better. He's slowly improving now that he has people to talk to. He even has a job helping out the Watcher's Council, though we don't call it that."

Dumbledore smiled, "I'm glad to know he is doing better."

Harry glanced at the professor's dead looking hand, "You really should have Willow look at the hand one of these days. There might be something she can do about it." He pushed on before Dumbledore could interrupt. "So we are left with the snake and the cup."

"We are doing better than we would have otherwise been. You look rather tired though."

Harry nodded, "I've had a rather long day, with your permission sir I think I'll go crash."

Dumbledore nodded, "Of course. I'll let you know when I have more memories to share."

"Thank you sir."