Hermione looked at the little boy sticking very close to Harry in fascination. 'He really looks like you!' She said, amazed.

'What did you expect?' Ron said next to her with a snort.

Rolling her eyes, she tried to get the toddler to come to her. However, Little Harry just didn't seem to want to consider coming near her, opting instead to give her looks of deep suspicion instead.

Ron sent a smirk her way. 'Hey, kid, c'mere.'

'Ron! He isn't a –'

Words failed Hermione when she saw the boy dash towards Ron, who chortled and took out a chocolate frog. 'Just a little bite,' he said, snapping off a foreleg and handing it to the child.

'He's used to "Uncle Ron",' Harry told her dryly. Noticing that Little Harry was looking at him questioningly, the piece of chocolate in his hand, he nodded encouragingly. 'Go on, give it a try. You'll like it.'

Personally, Hermione felt that Ron had bribed the child into liking him. Not that she was jealous. Nope, she was not jealous.

The toddler tentatively put it in his mouth. The look on his face was priceless.

Ron laughed. 'Looks like someone has found the wonders of chocolate frogs. Here,' he handed a fresh frog to the boy. 'Have the whole thing.'

Little Harry looked like he had been handed the greatest treasure in the world. Plonking himself on the ground near Harry, he started eating the chocolate, taking small delicate bites and chewing slowly. Harry wished he would show the same amount of care during regular mealtimes. He had lost count of the number of times he had to tell the boy to take smaller bites of his food. On two separate occasions, Harry had to save the kid from choking on fruit that he had swallowed whole.

'Are you sure that's a good idea?' Hermione asked, concerned.

'Hermione, relax!' Ron said, swallowing his chocolate frog. 'Let the bugger live a little!'

'Ron?!' Hermione hissed. 'Language! Remember there is an innocent little boy here who doesn't need to be taught inappropriate words!'

Ron rolled his eyes. 'Don't worry. He doesn't speak anyway.'

Hermione was not impressed by that statement, she turned to Harry, giving him looks that fully stated that he takes some sort of action.

Harry sighed. 'Fine.' He turned to the kid. 'Hey listen up.'

Blinking slowly, Little Harry looked up at him, chocolate covering most of his face.

Tapping the boy's chocolate stained nose, the brunette imparted some fatherly advice. 'Remember, you should never say these words…'

And then he started rattling off a long list of swear words, each more colourful than the last, carefully enunciating each one, enthusiastically helped by his grinning ginger friend. 'Never, ever, ever say those words.' Harry said once more. 'At least until you are as big as me... okay?'

The boy nodded very solemnly.

'Wow, that's some list!' Ron said, impressed. 'I didn't know you knew so many words, Harry. Did you, Hermione?' He asked the bushy-haired girl.

Turning, he saw that Hermione was frozen with an appalled look on her face. 'Oooh,' Ron said to Harry in an undertone. 'I think you broke her.'

'That's … not –' Hermione started sputtering. 'You two are incorrigible!'

'What, why?' Harry asked.

Hermione gave him an incredulous look. 'You are teaching a three-year-old profanities!' She sputtered.

'Well, he was going to learn it anyway,' Harry said, rolling his eyes. 'Besides, I explicitly told him that he should not say those words. When he gets older and can understand things better, I will tell him the meaning and explain it to him why he shouldn't be saying that ...' he trailed off, thinking about his words. '...at least, not in polite company.'

From long experience, Ron could tell from the silence and the apoplectic look on her face that Hermione was furiously mentally composing the words for the verbal thrashing she was going to be giving Harry.

'Did Harry tell you that he has learnt non-verbal casting?' he said before she could get started.

That effectively distracted her. 'What?' she said, looking between Harry and Ron. 'Really?'

'Yup,' Harry said with relish. Taking his wand out he cleaned the chocolate from the grubby three-year-old, and then conjured butterflies that he then charmed to fly over the toddler who started chasing them around the room, shrieking all the way.

'Impressive,' Hermione said. 'We will be learning non-verbal casting this year, and that conjuration is going to be in our Sixth-year transfiguration class!'

'Professor Dumbledore has been teaching me some.' Harry said. 'Right now, he wants to see how far I can go before moving onto more advanced stuff. Mrs Weasley's household charms also are helping, as is maintaining the house and cooking.'

Hermione had a starry look in her eyes. 'Private instructions from Professor Dumbledore ... I am so jealous!'

'Same here,' Ron said. 'Not about the work part, but about the magic you get to do outside school.'

'Well,' Harry said, looking between his friends. 'About that...'

He shifted to the edge of his seat and said in a low voice keeping his gaze focused on Hermione. 'Did you know the Trace cannot tell who is performing the magic when an underage witch or wizard is near an adult or someone who doesn't have the trace? It also cannot tell who is performing magic in a magical household … like this house. The number of protective charms that are around a magical property, coupled with the sheer volume of magic employed in various household tasks make that impossible.'

'Seriously?!' Ron exclaimed, his mouth hanging open as he heard this life-changing news.

Harry nodded at Hermione.

'Who told you this?' Ron said, the wonder still in his voice.

'I have my sources,' Harry said mysteriously, looking only at Hermione. 'Try it here if you have your wands.'

Slowly Ron drew his wand. Hesitantly he levitated the empty chocolate frog wrapper and set it down, waiting on tenterhooks.

'You mean to tell me that I could have used magic at my house and Grimmauld Place, especially when we were cleaning that horror of a house?!' Ron asked incredulously when it became evident that there were no Ministry owls coming. 'And mum made us clean it all without magic?'

'Imagine, Hermione, we could have used magic when we were cleaning Grimmauld Place all this time!' Harry said, pretending not to have heard Ron speaking at all.

Hermione would have told Ron to watch his language as the ginger started swearing up a storm, but she was too busy processing this information herself.

'Anyway, you can come over any time to practise magic if you want…' Harry said still looking at Hermione. 'As long as you keep it a secret. Mrs Weasley told me not to tell Ron and Ginny.'

'But you just told Ron,' Hermione replied, bemused.

'No,' Harry told her. 'I told you. Mrs Weasley didn't tell me not to tell you, Hermione. Ron just happened to be, uh, eavesdropping without my knowledge.' He turned to Ron. 'Shame on you, Ron.'

'Ah,' Ron said, cottoning on. 'Yeah,' he shook his head, adopting a look of mock sorrow. 'I have a problem listening in on people's conversations … and dropping eaves.'

'What?' Hermione said incredulously. 'It's eavesdropping, Ron! That means listening –'

She stopped mid-sentence when she saw the look on the ginger's face. 'Oh, you did that on purpose didn't you?' she said accusingly. 'You know what eavesdropping means!'

'The look on your face was funny!' Ron replied with a wide grin.

'Arsehole.'

Hermione glowered at the two boys who were now laughing. 'I ought to hex the two of you,' she muttered.

'Say,' she said slowly, looking like she just saw Harry for the first time. 'Did you do something to your hair, Harry?'

'Ah, took you long enough to notice, Hermione,' Harry said with a smile. Waving his wand, he floated a box towards Hermione.

'My granddad invented Sleekeazy's Hair Potion!' he commented. 'I get a lifetime supply, so here's an early birthday gift for you.'

'Thanks, Harry!' Hermione said with a genuine smile.

'You're welcome. I got one for all my friends.'

'Oh? But Ron can't use it,' Hermione said slowly. 'He's a redhead.'

'Yes, speaking of which,' a devilish smile came on Harry's face as he looked at a steadily reddening Ron. 'Did Ron tell you about his "unique result"?'

Hermione could only blink owlishly as Ron got to his feet and bellowed, 'DON'T YOU DARE, POTTER!' at a laughing Harry. 'DON'T YOU DARE!'

'Professor!' Harry waved at the old man, just noticing Dumbledore standing at the edge of the property. He wondered how long Dumbledore had been standing there watching the two of them play.

Landing, he and Little Harry dismounted. Giving the kid his toy broom, he said, 'Why don't you go and play?'

Giving him a deeply unhappy look, Little Harry mounted the toy broom and started to drift off. His feelings about the drastically slow speed on clear display.

'I see someone has developed a love of speed and heights,' Dumbledore commented, amused.

Harry snorted. 'Ever since Ron took him on his broom, the kid has been insatiable. If it wasn't for that age line, I shudder to think what he would have done on my broom. I see him near it more often than not.'

'Perhaps I should look at your work.' Dumbledore offered. 'One cannot be too careful here.'

'Oh, that would be great sir!' Harry said enthusiastically.

'I suppose it is a good thing, though, that your charge is showing a streak of independence.' Dumbledore said, as they headed towards the house. Little Harry, bored by the toy broom got off and dashed towards Harry enthusiastically. Shadowing the teenager, he looked up at Dumbledore hopefully.

'He's developed a taste for chocolate,' Harry said wryly when Dumbledore noticed the hopeful looks. 'Ron's doing, again.'

'Looks like young Ronald Weasley has been quite an active part in the boy's life,' Dumbledore chuckled. Reaching a long fingered hand inside his robes, he extracted a yellow sweet that Harry had never seen before. 'Sherbet lemon?' he asked the little boy, holding it out.

Getting a nod from the teenager, the boy popped the bright yellow sweet into his mouth immediately pulling a face when tasting the sourness.

Harry watched amusedly as the toddler spat the sweet into his hand, looked at it, licked it, made a face, and licked it again. Deciding that this was a better way to have it, Little Harry continued in this vein.

'I've never seen those before,' Harry commented. 'Are they new?'

Dumbledore hummed absently. 'Oh, no, these are an old favourite.' He chuckled. Reaching into the bag of sweets, he took out a pair and unstuck them. 'Would you like to try?' he said, offering one to Harry.

Harry blinked owlishly. He had never been offered a sweet by an adult before, much less by the headmaster. 'Sure,' he said slowly, taking it and popping it into his mouth.

The next few minutes were spent in companionable silence as they enjoyed the sour flavour and settled down inside the house. 'So, did you find it,' Harry asked eventually.

Dumbledore, who was busy staring at little Harry, started. 'Oh, yes,' he said. Reaching once more into his robes, he took out two halves of a diadem and handed it to Harry.

Curiously, Harry examined the item. The diadem was old and tarnished. He squinted at the writing at the base. Joining the halves, he could tell that they spelt a sentence.

'The inscription was a quote Rowena Ravenclaw was reportedly fond of,' Dumbledore commented. 'Translated, it means "Wit Beyond Measure, Man's Greatest Treasure". You hold in your hands the famous Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw. It was supposed to have charms that increase the wearer's intelligence. It also ensured that anyone could read that inscription. Of course, now it is rather useless. Students, most particularly those that have been sorted in her house have been searching for this artefact for centuries.'

'Centuries?' Harry asked, awed.

'Indeed. Legend has it that it disappeared with Ravenclaw's death. I have no idea how Tom managed to find it.' Dumbledore shook his head wonderingly. 'Then again, he did have talent in spades. I still wonder how much society would have prospered had he not turned towards evil.'

Harry felt that the topic of what life would have been like with a good Tom Riddle was best avoided. So he decided to focus on a more pertinent topic. 'How did you find it anyway?'

'Well, I used the help of Hogwarts' House-Elves,' Dumbledore said. 'I must thank you for lending Dobby and Kreacher. They helped speed up the process.'

'How did you know this was it?'

'I had the elves reorganise the … material in the Room of Requirement into separate piles of similar items. Once that was done it was relatively easy to narrow down possible Horcruxes.'

Dumbledore turned one of the fragments of the diadem over his hand. 'Most of the room contained broken furniture and clothes. Knowing Voldemort almost as much as you do, I could eliminate those as he would have been least likely to use those items to house a portion of his soul. I started with the smallest pile, which was the jewellery. It was Kreacher who identified the Horcrux.'

'You managed to destroy it,' Harry remarked. 'What about the Locket? I forgot to ask…'

'I cleaved the diadem in two using the sword of Gryffindor,' Dumbledore replied. 'I haven't been able to do much to the locket, however. It seems that Voldemort has put thought into the protections surrounding the locket while the diadem was hastily stashed away.'

Harry nodded. 'He probably thought that he was the only one who knew of the Room of Requirement. Which is a completely idiotic thing to think. After all, how else did all that junk pile up so high?'

'Hubris could be a main reason for that.' Dumbledore replied. 'And he is not wrong considering that at the time, none but the elves knew of the existence of the room. Now, I have a theory as to how we can take care of the locket. And for that, I would need your help.'

'You need Parseltongue to open the locket, don't you, sir?'

Dumbledore nodded. 'That is correct. I must say, Harry, I am impressed with the speed you have been reaching your deductions lately.'

'Shall we get on with it then?' Harry said, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

'Yes I suppose,' Dumbledore said, looking at Little Harry thoughtfully. 'We could take your charge with us to Hogwarts. I think Fawkes might like his company.'

In a short while, Harry and the headmaster were exiting Dumbledore's office, having left Little Harry behind with Fawkes and a plate of biscuits and some of his favourite toys.

Harry carefully carried the sword, marvelling at how empty the school was. According to the headmaster, everyone had gone home for the summer and would only be back by the twenty-fifth of August. Dumbledore himself was packing up to leave in a day's time.

Harry personally couldn't imagine any of the staff having their own homes. He idly wondered what Snape's place of residence was like. Try as he might, he couldn't think of anything other than a deep underground cave full of bats.

'I think this should do it,' Dumbledore said, breaking Harry's train of thought. Looking around, Harry saw that they were a few yards away from the edge of the forest in a clearing.

With a few swishes of Dumbledore's wand, the locket was chained to the ground.

'Sword please?'

The headmaster levitated the proffered weapon till it was suspended, point down, over the locket. Harry was unnerved by how the locket was shivering in its restraints, as if it was trying to escape.

'Yes,' Dumbledore remarked softly. 'It knows its destruction is nigh. On my signal, Harry, I want you to open the locket using Parseltongue.'

'Right.'

Flicking his eyes over the whole arrangement, Dumbledore nodded at Harry.

Concentrating, Harry took a deep breath.

'Open,'

Upon his hissed command, the locket sprang open to reveal a pair of dark living eyes behind the glass windows.

Dumbledore didn't waste any time. With a flick of his wand, one of the two known relics of Gryffindor dropped down on the only artefact known to belong to Salazar Slytherin, impaling it.

A long painful scream came out of locket as a black mist oozed out of it.

Harry gingerly looked at the locket after everything settled down. What he could see of the stained silk lined insides of the locket around the blade of the sword were smoking slightly.

Grasping the sword, Harry yanked it out with a mighty tug. The dirt on the point of the blade told Harry that the sword had gone through the locket and into the ground. Sure enough, when he picked up the remains of the locket, he saw a hole an inch deep.

'Goblin steel is truly a marvel of goblin engineering,' Dumbledore commented. 'It is no wonder that they are keen to get back any and all artefacts made of goblin steel from humans using any means at their disposal.'

Harry nodded. 'So it is true then, what they say, "never trust a goblin"?'

'I cannot tell you whom to trust or not, Harry,' Dumbledore replied. 'That is a decision you must make on your own. I will state, however, that Professor Binns has a reason for his myriad lessons about Goblin Rebellions. Also, as I am sure you have deduced by now, only wizards are involved in investing and managing large fortunes. One asks goblins for help at their own risk.'

'Do you think Voldemort would know if his Horcruxes are being destroyed?' Harry asked as they reached the main doors of the castle.

'I doubt it,' Dumbledore said at length. 'His soul may be too mangled and abused for him to feel any sense of loss of a small fragment. Chances are that Voldemort won't know he is mortal till the time he finally meets his end. Not that it is going to be an easy task. He still retains his talents and powers.'

'Well, we have only three Horcruxes left,' Harry said, feeling a little bit of hope. 'Hopefully it shouldn't be too long to find them.'

'I suspect that he would have used that Cup of Helga Hufflepuff's which we saw in Hokey the House-Elf's memory.' Dumbledore said. 'It certainly fits with Tom's penchant for collecting trophies and his feelings towards this school. The symbolism would have been irresistible.'

Harry snorted. 'I wonder if he attacked me and not Neville because I am the heir of Gryffindor.'

'That might be a possibility, yes.' Dumbledore replied casually.

'Wait,' Harry stopped in his tracks. 'I am the heir of Godric Gryffindor?'

'Of course,' Dumbledore said with a frown. 'It is an open secret. I thought you knew. The Potters haven't really made much of a fuss about that, to be honest.'

'Doesn't that entitle me to something? Part of the castle perhaps?'

Dumbledore let out a short chuckle until he saw the look on Harry's face.

'Oh, you are serious,' he cleared his throat. 'I am afraid not, Harry. You may sit in the Board of Governors later when you are twenty-five, but as the last living direct descendant of Godric Gryffindor, there isn't much else left to you. The Founders did not have much in the way of property that has survived all these centuries and generations of descendants. Although, you do get a nice plot of land in Gryffindor's birth place, Godric's Hollow where a certain monument lies currently. But this castle and the grounds,' He paused, his beard twitching and eyes twinkling. 'Was handed over by the Founders themselves to the headmaster of the school who holds it in trust till his retirement. Of course, I don't own it in the traditional sense. The whole thing is rather complicated. But the gist of it is that no descendants of the Founders have any claim to this castle.'

'Oh,' Harry said, feeling somewhat disappointed. 'That explains how I managed to keep that house. I suppose I can claim it back?'

'That is something between you and Mr Bennet,' Dumbledore said diplomatically.

Harry hummed. 'What about the sword?' he asked suddenly.

Dumbledore paused in thought. 'Well, I suppose it does belong to you now,' he said slowly. 'I never really thought about it, to be honest. If you wish, you may keep it.'

'Thanks,' Harry said, hefting the sword. 'It will look good over the mantelpiece.' Not for the first time he marvelled at how light the sword was.

'Be careful,' Dumbledore warned. 'That blade is impregnated with basilisk venom, as I mentioned earlier. One nick, no matter how small, could prove fatal.'

Harry nodded. 'I'll be sure to draw another age line around the sword.' Calling Kreacher, he handed the sword to the elf who disappeared with the object safely tucked away.

'Headmaster, thank Merlin you are back!'

Turning to his left, Harry saw one of the past headmasters in a painting of a shepherdess who clearly did not like being shoved aside.

'Is there a problem, Dilys?' Dumbledore asked in concern.

'Yes,' Dilys Derwent gasped. 'I barely managed to escape from my portrait in your office … It's the boy…'

Alarmed, Dumbledore sped towards his office, Harry hot on his heels.

As they neared the gargoyle, a number of scenarios flashed through Harry's mind, each less pleasant than the last.

Taking two steps at a time on the moving staircase that lead up to the office, Harry was half a second behind the headmaster when Dumbledore opened the door.

'Oh my,' Dumbledore exclaimed.

Slowly drawing his wand, Harry peeked over the headmaster's shoulder.

The office was a mess. Many of the instruments were lying on the floor, broken, while sweet wrappers and parchment was everywhere. A look at the walls showed that the portraits of past headmasters and headmistresses were frozen with looks of outrage and disapproval on their faces.

And in the middle of this maelstrom was the headmaster's desk. Perched on it was Fawkes, contently pecking at some fudge. Noticing Dumbledore, the phoenix disappeared with a squawk and a flash of fire.

He left behind his partner in crime. Lounging in Dumbledore's chair and covered in chocolate was Little Harry who was in the process of licking one of his fingers till the phoenix disappeared.

Harry didn't know what was funnier, the chocolate covered toddler who was trying to look innocent (and failing miserably) or the look of shock on Dumbledore's face.

'It seems,' Dumbledore said at length, slowly regaining his equilibrium. 'That Fawkes has found a playmate in Little Harry here.'

Harry, who was expecting a rather negative response (after all, having your office so thoroughly taken apart isn't cause for happiness) was quite mystified by the cheerful demeanour of the headmaster.

My, that was quite a number of worried reviewers out there! I'd have thought that Ron looking like a younger Dumbledore would have got some laughs at the least...

Anyway, a nice light-hearted ending for you this week!

Till next chapter!