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"Wit Beyond Measure..."

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"So this is where it is?" said Neville as he looked at the unending mountains of objects around them. He then glanced at a not-so-happy-looking Draco and smirked.

Harry sighed tiredly. "We can really use some help," he said. He knew Draco didn't like this but the Slytherin understood the seriousness of the issue.

"I can see why it's difficult," Neville said looking around the place. "So, what have you tried, you know, to look for the diadem?"

"If you are referring to us using spells, let me remind you that magic doesn't work on that thing," Harry said.

"So, you're looking for it on your own?" Neville asked.

By then Draco had had enough. "Look, this task clearly requires as many hands as possible," he said sounding annoyed. "So will you help us or not? Because if you don't want to, we can go look for someone who can."

"I will," Neville said sounding unprovoked by Draco's response. "I was just thinking though, just because magic doesn't work on the diadem, that doesn't mean we can't use it on other things here."

Both Draco and Harry looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?" asked the latter.

"It's going to be tedious...a lot tedious, but right now the only thing I can think of is to organise everything in this place," Neville said. "And before you tell me how ridiculous and impossible it sounds, listen to how I propose we do it. We make a large clearing where we put these things summoned one group at a time."

"I don't quite follow but let's give it a try," Harry said but Draco seemed to have understood it. He said nothing though as they all followed Neville's lead and began clearing a large space. It was somewhat difficult to move around mountains worth of items at a time but after two hours of hard work they managed to clear a good amount of space. It was as big as the Quidditch ground, maybe even bigger.

Neville then told them all to stand to one side as he pointed his wand at one of the piles. "Accio chairs!" he said and immediately felt the strain of magic on his body as the pile of things he was aiming at began to move before tens of chairs started flying towards him. He quickly pointed his wand towards the clearing that they had made where the chairs started to gather. It all took thirty seconds for Neville to create a new pile of just chairs. He then cancelled the spell and took in a few deep breaths. Moving all those objects at once was difficult but doable nonetheless. He then looked at Harry and Draco, waiting for their response.

"I guess it works," said Harry.

"Yeah, but it will exhaust us," Draco said. "Moving so many items at once is a hard enough job. To do it so many times is impossible."

"We were already tiring ourselves trying to find that diadem without magic," Harry said. "At least this way we can do it a bit faster." He could see Draco wasn't willing to agree to it but the Slytherin said nothing to oppose the idea. "Look, unless we have a better idea, we'll go with Neville's. Even Daphne couldn't think of a way to find the diadem when I told her where it was."

"What about your friend Granger?" asked Draco.

"I don't want her to know any of this for as long as possible," Harry said. "There're already too many people involved into this, people that I care about. I won't add to that list if it can be helped."

Draco looked at him for a moment before sighing in defeat. "Fine, let's do it," he said. "But remember that only four days are left until the winter holidays and I have to find it before we leave for our homes, otherwise you know what happens."

"Then let's get to work," Harry said.

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Echoes of Bella's painful screams filled the Malfoy Manor as she writhed on the ground under Voldemort's curse. The death eaters who were watching this happen shivered in fear because they knew Bella wasn't someone who their master would torture easily. She was his most trusted follower after all. This made them wonder what she could've possibly done to anger him.

A whole minute later Voldemort finally stopped Bella's torture and the death eater lay on the ground panting hard but not for long as she quickly got on her knees, kneeling down in front of her master, with her head touching the floor.

"I will find it, my lord," she said with a ragged voice as her throat was dry because of all the screaming. "Those goblins will pay for not looking after it."

It had been a difficult day for Voldemort, probably one of the worst in his life. After his snake and his mother's rings were stolen from right under his nose, the dark wizard had decided to bring all of the remaining horcruxes under his personal protection. There were three out there in total, of which one was at Hogwarts that he had tasked Draco and his friends to find for him. Of the other two, one was in Bella's vault at Gringotts and the other – a locket – was inside a cave, near the orphanage where he had grown up. However, when Voldemort went there to retrieve the locket he found that it had been replaced with a fake one. Before he could understand or process the loss he was informed by Fenrir that the horcrux in Bella's vault was missing as well.

Enraged he had returned to Malfoy Manor where Bella was waiting for him, already kneeling on the ground knowing her fate. Without wasting a second he had fired the cruciatus curse on her.

Someone was stealing his horcruxes and he needed to know who. It couldn't be Dumbledore because that man had no idea about any of this. Not a lot of people knew so he had to think of someone who did.

Suddenly a name popped up in his head and the next second Voldemort apparated away leaving others wondering where he had gone.

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It was the last day before the winter holidays were to begin and Harry had woken up early along with Neville. They had planned to ditch classes and the defence club that day, devoting all of their time into finding the diadem. For three days they, and Draco, had been working hard and at moments it felt like they were doing more of a clean-up job than actually looking for the diadem. The room of lost things had never looked more organized as they had arranged literally tens of thousands of objects trying to look for the horcrux.

Draco had also told them that if he didn't return home with the diadem then it could mean trouble for his family and him. That had put Harry in a kind of dilemma. He wanted to destroy the horcrux for obvious reasons but if he let Draco take it to Voldemort then he would probably have to forget about it for good as it would then become almost impossible to get it back. He had told Draco that and the Slytherin understood. However, Draco's worry for his family was also valid and Harry couldn't just ignore that. All of this had made him wonder whether he should give the diadem to Draco and at the end decided to do just that. What mattered was they knew what Voldemort's weakness was and how it could be destroyed. Well, the latter part was yet to be tested and for that they definitely needed a horcrux.

It was still early for students to wake up so the corridors were empty. Harry and Neville met Draco on the seventh floor by the tapestry before they entered the room of lost things, and began continuing their work.

To say that it was exhausting would've been an understatement as they were moving hundreds of things at a time. Nevertheless, the boys held on, taking turns doing the job and by lunchtime Neville had found something.

"Uh, guys, I think I found it," he said. Both Draco and Harry came over and saw the tiara that Neville was pointing at. It was very simple looking with an oval shaped blue sapphire in the front-middle part.

"You think this is it?" Harry asked as he looked at Draco.

"The description matches," Draco said. "There's even the quote etched on it."

Harry noticed that Draco was right as he leaned in a bit closer to see it. "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," he read when he felt a familiar pull that he had felt when he had first held Voldemort's diary in his second year. He backed away immediately.

"Are you okay?" Neville asked.

"Yeah...Yeah, I'm fine," Harry said. "I just felt something familiar."

"Is that because of your unique talent with these things?" Draco asked. Harry curtly nodded.

"Then let's take it," Neville said.

"Don't touch it," Harry immediately stopped him. Neville stopped moving before looking at Harry. "The last time I touched a horcrux, I got pulled inside it. There's no telling what will happen if we touch it. We should be careful."

"I'll look for a box to put it in," Draco said before leaving to look for something in the room.

"Is this really a horcrux?" Neville asked standing closer to Harry who nodded. "So, what are we going to do? Do we let Draco take it with him?"

"His parents' life will be in danger if he doesn't take this to Voldemort," Harry said. "Besides, what matters is we know what this is. Draco told me that Voldemort has been collecting all of his horcruxes and bringing them under his personal protection. That means that wherever he is, that's where the horcruxes will be as well. And we probably have a way to destroy them."

"We don't know that for sure though," Neville said when Draco returned with a crown case.

"We can put it in this," said the Slytherin. Harry and Neville exchanged glances. "What is it?" Draco asked.

"Nothing," Harry said. "How are we going to put it in the case? I don't want to touch it."

"Just lift it with something," Neville said as he grabbed a cane from the pile of things nearby and used it to lift the diadem before carefully putting it in the crown case. Draco then closed it and applied an unbreakable charm on the case just to be sure that it wouldn't break. "What now?" Neville asked.

"I take it to the dark lord," Draco said.

"Don't you think it will be dangerous to take something like this on a train full of children?" Harry said.

"It doesn't matter because I'm taking this to him now," said Draco.

"How?" Neville asked.

"You two don't have to worry about it," Draco said. He then pressed his lips together thinking something. "Thank you," he said hesitatingly, "for helping me find it."

Harry nodded in response while Neville remained quite. Draco then turned around and left. As soon as he was out of the room Harry took out the marauders' map and started tracking the Slytherin who went straight for the dungeons before heading for the potions' classroom.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he took it to Snape," Neville said. And as he had guessed they saw Draco arrive at Snape's office but the potions' master wasn't there. So he turned around and went to the Slytherin common room and into his dorm. He stayed there for a good ten or so minutes before finally leaving for the great hall.

"I think he put it in his dorm," Harry said. "Maybe he intended to use the floo in Snape's office to take the diadem to Voldemort."

"That means Draco knows where Voldemort is," Neville said.

"He's made Draco's home his headquarters," Harry said, already knowing about it. "I passed along that information to Sirius who in turn informed Amelia about it. Unfortunately the DMLE can't take any action against Voldemort."

"Why not?" Neville asked. "They know where he is."

"They don't know how many death eaters are there," Harry said. "Not to mention, it's Voldemort we are talking about. If he's there when the aurors raid Malfoy Manor, a lot of deaths will take place and there is a good chance that Voldemort will get away. That is why Amelia isn't taking any action right now. She doesn't want Voldemort to know that his location has been disclosed. She wants him to stay at the manor while the DMLE comes up with a plan to take him and his death eaters down."

"That's actually smart," Neville said. "So what do we do in the meantime?"

"Wait and see where this goes," Harry said. "But honestly, I have no idea what it is that we should do. I think I will host a Christmas party at Potter Manor. Would you and your grandmother like to come?""

"I would love to come but I can't promise anything about my grandma," Neville said. "I'll tell her about your invitation though. We can all use a little distraction."

"That I agree with," Harry said sighing. "Let's go have lunch. I'm hungry."

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