Disclaimer: I'm just a high school student. I don't own anything.

Author's Note: I'm starting a college class tomorrow. I'm not sure how much work I will have, but I probably won't have a lot of free time. So if I don't update this next week, that's why. Also, sorry this is kind of short. It was the most logical way to cut the chapters.

Log 09

October 31, 1979

Operation Guardian

Today. I'm going to do it today. I'm going to stop Project Locket.

I'll be leaving as soon as I finish this log. I've already ordered Kreacher to take me to the locket, then leave me. I need him to get these files back to headquarters, in case I fail. I have several ideas for destroying the locket, but I don't know if they'll work. I have to try though. I wish I had more time to prepare, but Dr. Riddle is planning to attack Agent Prongs and Agent Lilium tonight, along with their infant son. I have to stop him before he can get them. I'll just have to work with what I have. If I don't survive, this will be my last log. I hope you're listening, Sirius. I just want to say goodbye. I hope you're proud of your little brother.

Regulus Arcturus Black

Harry looked up as the recording stopped.

"You were right, Hermione," he said. "He's dead."

Hermione shook her head.

"Something's not right," she muttered. "There's something I'm missing. Something obvious."

"What is there to miss?" Ron asked. "We just sat around for an hour listening to how he infiltrated Dr. Riddle's headquarters and gave up his life to destroy the locket."

"Actually, it was only forty-five minutes," Harry told him, looking at the numbers on small screen of the recorder.

"That's it!" Hermione shrieked. "Ron! You're a genius!"

She threw her arms around her friend and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"What did I do?" Ron asked.

"This is a type 40 audio recorder!" Hermione exclaimed, as if that answered everything.

"I'm sorry Hermione, but none of us are as technosavvy as you," Harry reminded her. "Can you explain why that's so important?"

"Type 40 recorders hold up to an hour's worth of audio," Hermione explained.

"Okay, but what does that mean?" Ron asked. "Obviously he died before he could record anything else."

Hermione shook her head.

"No," she said. "Do you see that red light near the screen? That means the memory's full. That means there's something else on here!"

"Well, how do we find it?" Harry asked.

"Some of these old audio recorders had ways of recording files and hiding them behind other files, so they didn't seem to exist," Hermione explained. "It takes up the same amount of memory, but some of the files won't play unless you press a certain code."

She fingered the keypad on the side of the audio recorder.

"I think type 40 recorders usually have a ten digit code," she recalled.

"Well, how do we find the code?" Harry asked.

"I'm thinking," Hermione muttered.

After a moment, she began pressing buttons.

"What are you doing?" Ron asked.

"Testing for electrical impulses," Hermione told him. "The key buttons should give off a slightly higher electrical charge when pressed in the right order."

Ten minutes later, Hermione grinned.

"I've got it!" she announced.

She keyed in the code and the trio watched with baited breath. A keyboard flipped out from the bottom of the recorder.

"Another code?" Ron guessed.

"I guess," Hermione agreed. "I don't know how to even start with this one."

"I've got an idea," Harry told her.

"How good is it?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know," Harry admitted. "It's just a guess."

"If you're wrong, the keyboard will flip back in, the number code will automatically change and we'll have to wait another ten minutes for me to crack it," Hermione told him. "But I don't even have a guess, so go ahead."

Harry took the device and fingered the keyboard. If he was wrong, he didn't know what he'd do. He had to be right. He just had to be.

He entered the letters carefully. He couldn't afford a mistake.

S-I-R-I-U-S

As he entered the last letter, the screen began to glow.

'TO READ HIDDEN FILES, PRESS PLAY,' it instructed.

"How did you know that?" Hermione asked.

"Just a feeling," Harry told her. "Now, let's hear what really happened to Regulus."

He pressed the play button.

Thanks for reading.

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