I have to apologise beforehand because I didn't have enough time to read through this chapter and check for mistakes as I was in a rush. But thank you to everyone who reviewed I think my last chapter proved to be one of the more popular ones which I didn't expect it to (grins)

Thanks to last chapters reviewers:

CelticHeiressFiona,

EelvenGirl,

Bookwormluver3- thanks for the luck and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

The French Dark Lord,

xRosePetalx,

mangagirl18,

Way Walker,

ShadowMoonDancer,

NorrthStar,

XcrimsonroseX,

mudbloodpotter,

maqiquill9,

Su-33,

Luthien Faye,

Kiaralight,

Annie Nomous- definitely not near the end (I hope) I'm really glad you like my story though and I would love a cheerleader :D good luck on your finals x

Haruka-Hime,

keekers15,

Mikee,

Militis,

Maximillian1,

marierr,

grey-shadow-horse,

An Unpoetic Recluse,

JVTazz,

jbfritz,

The Lady Reaper of the Shadpws,

jojobevco,

Tiffany's Hogwarts Secrets,

GuardianXAngel,

BookWyrm711,

and

arrjaydee

Chapter Twenty Seven

Pyra launched herself at Anton the second he stepped through the mirror into his quarters and started licking his face excitedly.

'Hello sweetie,' Anton greeted her stroking her head 'did you miss me?'

Pyra placed her front paws on Anton's chest and licked his face again.

'Ok ok,' Anton laughed pushing her away and wiping her face 'I guess you did miss me then.'

Anton dumped his bag in his bedroom and swapped his jeans and hoodie for black trousers, a red shirt and a black open cloak. Glancing out of his window Anton spotted the lights of the carriages returning the students who had left for Christmas, knowing he'd have to go down to the Great Hall soon Anton tickled the back of Pyra' neck before pulling his boots on.

--

Anton joined the pupils as they streamed into the hall, as he made his way to the teachers table he spotted Umbridge sitting primly as she surveyed the students carefully. Anton heard Pyra let out a growl from beside him, looking down at her he realised she was staring at Umbridge and her scales were standing on edge.

'Shush Pyra,' Anton said softly 'lets not get on the witches bad side.'

Pyra relaxed her posture slightly and slinked over to her usual place underneath Anton's seat.

Dumbledore kept a constant conversation flowing with a disgruntled Umbridge throughout dinner, McGonagall didn't even bother to try an attempt at civility towards the Ministry official and instead talked to Madam Pomfrey, and Professor Sprout.

At the end Dumbledore rose to his feet, clasping his hands he surveyed his school's population carefully.

'Welcome back to a new term,' he greeted 'I'm sure you will all be pleased to hear that Professor Lukyen is back and Defence lessons are resuming.'

Cheers rose from the house tables and Anton smiled embarrassedly at the attention, he was just grateful his teaching wasn't being put in the same category as Lockhart's.

'We also have the privilege of having Madam Umbridge staying with us, she will joining a few of you in your lessons this term, I hope you will all treat her with the same respect you do the rest of your teachers.'

Polite applause sounded this time,

'Now I'm sure all of you are quit worn out so…'

'hem hem,'

Anton couldn't help the groan that escaped from his mouth as Umbridge rose to her feet, Dumbledore looked taken aback for a moment before he sat down smartly before staring intently at Madam Umbridge as if it was his greatest desire to hear her talk, the teachers gave their own significant looks of disapproval.

'Thank you Headmaster for those kind words of welcome,'

She cleared her throat once again before continuing 'well, it is so lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say! And to see such happy little faces looking up at me.'

Anton smirked as he noticed the reactions the students were having, none of them appeared particularly impressed by her. As she began her familiar and boring speech Anton closed his eyes to avoid looking at her but not before seeing Snape's lip curl in disgust.

'…because some changes will be for the better, while others will come, in the fullness of time, to be recognised as errors of judgement. Meanwhile, some old habits will be retained, and rightly so, whereas as others , outmoded and outworn, must be abandoned. Let us move forward, the, into a new era of openness, effectiveness…'

As she droned on Ron muttered to Harry.

'Do you think she's even realised that Lukyen's fallen asleep?'

'Doubt it.' Harry replied twiddling his fork.

Hermione was listening intently to the speech but her expression showed it was far from her liking.

'…intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected and pruning what ever practices that ought to be prohibited.'

Anton didn't bother opening his eyes he just brought his hands together once, this surprised Ron and Harry who had been caught unaware by the end of the speech, some teachers hadn't even bothered to do that.

She sat back down and Anton leaned over to a sneering Snape and muttered,

'Well that certainly clarifies how much the Ministry is intent on interfering with Hogwarts,'

'Indeed it does,' he replied drumming his fingers impatiently on the table 'and we are all heading to trouble.'

--

The next morning Anton was making his way from his office when he spotted Umbridge coming down the corridor in the opposite direction, as it was too late to hide himself from her he continued forwards and didn't miss it when her beady eyes spied him.

'Well well,' she simpered 'Professor Lukyen what a coincidence that I should run into you.'

'I don't see how considering this is the third floor which has the Defence classrooms and my office on it.' Anton said with slight impatience.

Her lips thinned perceptibly 'hem hem, it is as you know my responsibility to check how this school is being run, I will be most interested to sit-in on one of your lessons.'

'Well I'm sure you aren't waiting for an invitation,' Anton answered thinking of the work he had hoped to complete before first period.

'There are some teachers in this establishment that are detrimental to the future state of this school.' She said smiling to reveal her extremely pointed teeth 'I am determined to weed those negative individuals out.'

'I wish you all of the best of luck with that then,' Anton replied caustically 'now I have some rather pressing work to get done.'

He stepped past her and began to walk towards the door leading to the Grand Staircase not bothering to look back at her.

'hem hem, Just so you know Professor,' her voice sounded coldly 'I already have a good idea on who and who will not last.'

'We must all trust your judgement is to be relied on then,' Anton called back.

--

When Anton reached the Entrance Hall he turned left at the bottom of the staircase and walked towards the door there, he hurried down the flight of stone steps and along the corridor filled with its brightly coloured paintings. Anton drew to a stop in front of the painting displaying a gigantic silver fruit bowl, reaching out a finger he tickled the huge green pair, Anton gabbed the handle it turned into and stepped into the familiar surroundings of the kitchens.

The house-elves all dressed in their Hogwarts togas all looked in absolute interest and fascination at Anton.

'Good morning,' Anton said politely but loud enough to be heard 'I'm sorry to disturb you but I was looking for Kreacher.'

The house-elves all looked delighted at how Anton was speaking to them and immediately hundreds of hands pointed to one very recognizable elf.

Anton walked slowly over to him before crouching down to eye level, Kreacher looked incredibly distrustful of him but he obviously realised Anton wasn't muggle-born because he didn't launch into insults.

'Kreacher my name is Anton Lukyen and I believe you have something that you swore to look after until it could be destroyed,' Anton said softly 'Your master was a good man who did a very brave act and I know that he trusted you enough to look after a silver locket,'

Kreacher's eyes widened in shock and he promptly burst into tears 'Kreacher is looking after it, he keeps it safe, Master Regulus tried to destroy it but he couldn't and Kreacher tried as well but nothing Kreacher did would make a mark…so many powerful spell upon the casing, Kreacher was sure the way to destroy it was to get inside it, but it would not open…Kreacher punished himself, he tried again, he punished himself, he tried again. Kreacher failed to obey orders, because Kreacher could not destroy the locket!'

'Kreacher, I can break it if you want me too, I understand brave elf like you would obviously want to still fulfil his Masters wishes to make sure that he didn't die in vain,'

'You would destroy it for Kreacher,' the elf said his sobs halting slightly 'you would do this for Kreacher, for Master Regulus?'

'I want to finish the work that Master Regulus started,' Anton said.

Kreacher vanished with a loud crack, Anton stared around wondering if the elf was actually going to return, a minute later Anton had been supplied with tea from the other elves and Kreacher had returned. He handed the Horcrux containing locket over to Anton and bowed deeply to him.

Anton fished in his cloak pocket and pulled out a locket he had managed to create that was identical to the one Regulus had left in the cave even down to the initials R.A.B,

'Kreacher this belonged to Regulus I'm sure he would have wanted you to have it.' Anton said pressing the locket into the elf's hand.

Rhoan's words echoed in his mind from the first time he'd talked to Kreacher and Kreachers subsequent reaction. He found himself remembering the words as Kreacher threw himself to the ground.

'Overkill mate.'

--

Anton dropped the locket off in his quarters prior to his lesson, he barely had enough time to consume Snape's retched potion before the bell rang signalling first lesson.

It was second year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs who were waiting outside the classroom, they entered the classroom with out much commotion and waited by their chairs and as Anton strode to the front he ushered them to sit down.

As they all pulled their wands and books from their bags Anton leant on his desk and quickly penned a note,

I have managed to recover a certain of item

Of great importance from within these very walls,

I am disposing of it as soon as possible.

AnL

Waving his wand Anton muttered a few spells to make the note unreadable by anyone other than its intended recipient.

'Jessica,' Anton said gesturing to a blonde haired Ravenclaw 'please take this note to the staffroom and give it to the Headmaster, no one else.'

The girl hastened from the classroom and Anton addressed his class.

'Now you've all had a holiday, not to mention the weeks before Christmas when this class was cancelled so I am hoping that you have kept up to date with your work an you've remembered enough of what we did last term,' a few faces looked slightly nervous,

'So let's do a quick fire quiz to see just how much you can recall.'

This time definite looks of dismay were being displayed.

'Evan, what's the shielding spell?'

'Protego.' The boy answered quickly.

'Good five points to Hufflepuff. Wynne, what provides some form of protection against hexes?'

'Er…Sal,…Salo…' the girl shook her head unable to remember the spell.

'Not quite,' Anton continued 'now who would like to give the correct name?'

Hands shot into the air,

'Leetha?'

'Salvio Hexia.' She said quickly.

'Excellent five points to Ravenclaw.'

--

The day crawled by for Anton and even when lessons had finished he had to attend a meeting in the staff room. As if the speech at dinner the previous evening hadn't been enough, Umbridge proceeded to bore the all with another long winded monotonous talk in which she detailed her plans for the coming month.

'I will be sitting in on lessons and inspecting teachers individually,' she said in her girlish voice 'the Ministry does not want you to feel like your rights as teachers are being violated but we are all responsible for the next generation of magical students.'

Her gaze fell on Hagrid and her nose flared in revulsion, Professor McGonagall noticed this and she bristled angrily at the Ministry Official. Anton opened his mouth to say something but the warnings he had been given only the day before came floating back to him, he reluctantly closed his mouth and hunkered down in his chair.

'Now I'm sure you're all anxious to find out when you are being observed but I will send messages with the intended date and time quite soon.'

'Halleluiah,' Anton muttered under his breath unable to hold back on rolling his eyes.

Luckily she wasn't looking in his direction but he still received a warning look from McGonagall whose mouth was set in a thin line of disapproval, it took Anton instantly back to his own fifth year, she just hadn't offered him a biscuit yet.

--

After the staff meeting was over Anton went and got the locket from his quarters before heading over to the headmaster's office. When he got there he gave the password to the gargoyle and stepped in, he was just about to knock on the door when voices leaked out from inside.

'Dumbledore you knew it was only a matter of time before the Ministry was forced to act in this way,' Fudge said angrily.

'Indeed Cornelius, however I don't believe that this will get you any closer to your goals.' Dumbledore said calmly.

'I came here hoping we could come to an agreement!' Fudge shouted angrily 'but your refusal to come to any compromise.'

'I am Headmaster, I will run this school in the way it has been run since it was created and that includes myself being responsible for the teachers, I am not about to hand that control to the Ministry so they remove most of the staff and replace them with more Ministry workers.' Dumbledore continued evenly.

'You are making a mistake!' Fudge seethed 'and I will see this school run correctly.'

'Then I believe this meeting is over, goodnight Cornelius.' Dumbledore said with an air of pleasantness as if he and the Minister were discussing the weather or a similarly mundane topic.

Footsteps stormed to the door Anton was standing behind, he quickly switched to invisibility to avoid his own meeting with Fudge. The door was flung open with a loud bang and Fudge stormed from the office. When he had descended the stairs Anton undid the magic and knocked quietly on the open door.

'Come in Anton,' Dumbledore said amiably 'it was probably for the best that Cornelius did not see you then, he was in quite a temper.'

'I heard,' Anton said wryly 'but he'll be the one looking like a fool when it's all over.'

'If things go according to plan,' the older man concurred 'but on to more important matters, you have retrieved another Horcrux?'

'I have,' Anton said pulling the locket from his pocket 'this was taken by Regulus Black after Voldemort had hidden and protected it, I believe it's the reason why he was killed, he did it to stop Voldemort.'

Dumbledore's eyes widened in surprise 'Regulus Black betrayed Voldemort!'

Anton nodded and sat down in the chair opposite Dumbledore at his desk,

'I think that would be quite a shock for Sirius. Regulus's house-elf was keeping it hidden.'

'But it must be destroyed,' Dumbledore stated taking the locket from Anton 'now how shall we do that?'

'I was thinking sir,' Anton said pointing to the sword of Godric Gryffindor 'that we could use that.'

Dumbledore stood up and lifted the sword from its place and handed it to Anton who grasped the hilt with easy familiarity.

'It was pretty annoying that Voldemort got rid of this,' Anton muttered 'it might have been useful.'

'Well let us hope that it is now,' Dumbledore replied holding the locket 'as this is Salazar Slytherins locket I'm assuming it can only be opened using a certain talent.'

Dumbledore walked around his desk and faced Anton who was swinging the sword from side to side.

'I'll hold it, somehow I doubt my swordsmanship is quite as good as yours.'

Anton held the sword carefully and said clearly in parceltongue 'Open.'

The golden doors swung open with a click and the human eye of a younger Tom Riddle stared out, Anton raised the sword the stab the image when a voice hissed out.

'I have seen your heart and it is mine.'

'Don't listen to it' Dumbledore ordered 'just stab it.'

'I have seen your dream Anton Lukyen, and I have seen all of your fears. All you desire is possible but all that you dread is also possible.'

'Stab!' Dumbledore commanded again 'don't listen to it.'

'Left alone, no parents, no family, unloved by your relatives, hated by many, feared by so many more. Everyone you love is doomed to die.'

Dumbledore dropped the locket in shock as two shapes blossomed out of the locket, first their heads and Anton new immediately who they were, the rest of their bodies followed and they towered from the locket. Rhoan and Gia.

'It would have been better if you had never come into our lives, we were happier and safer without you' Riddle-Rhoan snarled 'Our whole families dead now and it's your fault Ofelia went dark!'

'What good did you do anyway?' Riddle-Gia asked coldly 'You didn't stop Voldemort, what's makes you think you can do it this time, face it Anton the worlds better off without you, its not as if you did any good to it anyway, you failed, it's your fault everyone died, its your fault Sirius died.'

'Stab It!' Dumbledore's voice broke into Anton's thoughts.

Not waiting another second Anton swung the sword and stabbed it with all his might into the locket, the two shapes let out terrible long-drawn screams.

Then there was silence, Anton just stared wordlessly as the remains of the locket on Dumbledore's floor.

'Manifestations of fear should not be given the chance to hurt us,' Dumbledore said gently coming to stand next to Anton 'you did a good thing.'

'It doesn't feel like it,' Anton said bitterly 'the things it said, I think of them all the time, the people I put in danger, the people who died, and at the end we still lost.'

'Nothing is ever lost,' Dumbledore declared stooping to pick up the remains of the locket 'Fate has given us a chance to get things right, we will make sure that the people who died fighting Voldemort will not accept the same fate this time.'

--

Anton went for a run in the forest to clear his head, he ran for at least an hour not noticing what he was passing, the locket had highlighted his greatest fears, the fears that he had gotten his friends and comrades killed and then he'd failed them all anyway.

He had to try this time even harder than he had before.

When he eventually emerged from the thick foliage it was completely dark and most of the lights in the castle had been extinguished, as Anton neared the entrance to the castle he instinctively looked upwards. Framed in the light of a window above him Umbridge stared, he could make out most of her toady features from where he was standing and as he looked at her she gave one small shake of her head before turning away.

Anton glared at her retreating form before walking through the open doors and into the castle. He wouldn't allow what had happened last time, he couldn't even begin to bare the thought of how it had led. He refused to let that happen again.

Hope everyone has a good weekend and you liked my chap

Luv SpikyStar x x