"The dream of any cave explorer," Afrim said. "If only it doesn't turn into a nightmare."

The cavern in front of them was filled with golden objects of various kinds. There were goblets, plates, cups and chandeliers, all seemingly made of pure gold.

"The things are all full of dark magic," Afrim said.

"And charmed in a way that makes it unable to recognise the Horcrux by magic," Nada added. "Do you know what we're looking for?"

"I'm sorry but I don't know. Maybe something with a snake on it? It's the symbol of the school founder he thinks he's the Heir of." Frank hated that he wasn't able to offer more help. He had dragged two foreign colleagues onto this without really knowing what to do. The only good thing was that they had been lucky. So far.

"We probably can't do anything but pick the things up. Maybe we find a hint on one. Let's just hope that the curse-prove gloves will be good enough."

Frank took one of the golden plates into his gloved hand. He felt an odd tingling sensation in his fingers but whatever curse was on there couldn't work through the glove. At least not yet. Frank knew that the glove wouldn't hold out against this for too long.

The plate showed no sign of being linked to Voldemort in any way and neither did the two goblets and the chandelier Frank checked next. The next object Frank picked up, another plate sent a wave of pain through him.

"Give it to me," Afrim said. "Maybe that's the one."

When the Albanian Auror took the object into his hand, there was no such affect though. "I can't sense a difference. Maybe your gloves start failing. I don't think you should touch anymore. Try revealing charms."

Frank did so but it had no effect. Why had he been the one most affected by Voldemort's magic once again? Did the problems with his gloves have to do with the state of his magic as well? The others must think he was a complete failure.

Afrim was the second one who had to stop touching the objects. His revealing charms weren't any more successful than Frank's.

Nada winced slightly when she picked the next object up. "Wait, this has something on it. An engraving. It's not a snake though. And nothing else which has to do with dark magic either. It's a badger."

"A badger?" Frank asked. Had Voldemort defiled an object that used to belong to Helga Hufflepuff of all people? He wouldn't put it past him. Helga Hufflepuff had had a magical cup, at least that was what the legends about the founders said.

"That must be it. It's the symbol of another Hogwarts founder."

"Good," Nada said. "I wouldn't have been able to keep this up anymore either. Will you destroy it? It should be easy with the basilisk tooth."

She put the cup on the floor close to the passageway and the two Aurors stood back. Frank took the tooth out of his robes and walked towards it.

"Frank Longbottom," a high, cold voice that. "I am surprised to see that you're alive. Very surprised."

Frank suppressed a shudder. He knew this voice better than he would have liked. The two other Aurors raised their wands but there was no one there. The voice seemed to come from the Horcrux. At least they knew for sure that they had found the real thing now, Frank thought. This voice clearly belonged to Lord Voldemort.

"I thought you couldn't live with the shame," Voldemort's voice continued. "Don't you mind at all? Does it not bother you that you only recovered again because the man who made you ill in the first place gave you the cure?"

"Stab it," Afrim said.

Frank knew he wasn't supposed to listen but he couldn't help it. Surely Voldemort didn't mean, why would Lestrange do something so illogical? Why would he give him a cure?

"Oh, you think you recovered because of your own strength? No Frank, you did not. It was my loyal servant's potion. His magic brought you down; his magic helped you up again. You fled like a coward, so keen on saving your own skin. You left your wife behind."

"Alice is dead."

"Alice is not dead, Frank. You've left her behind in our care. You've fled and left her. She's ours now, to do with as we please."

"Do it now or we'll do it," Nada called.

Frank stared at the Horcrux. He knew that she was right but at the same time, he wanted to know what he had to say. Alice alive? Could it be true?

"You know how close I am to dear Bella," the Horcrux-Voldemort continued. "She belongs to me but Rodolphus deserves a price for his loyalty. I've promised him Alice as experimental game or whatever else he has in mind. It's the reward a Lestrange wants after all, ever since Thorolf and Rigantona."

These last words made Frank realise that this wasn't the truth and it wasn't truly Voldemort. He wouldn't talk about the family histories like that, Frank wasn't even sure if he knew about them. This was some cleverly developed spell upon the Horcrux. He had to destroy it if he didn't want the others to do it and Frank did not want that. He didn't want to fail again.

He took a deep breath and stabbed the cup with the tooth. It went through the solid gold as if it were raw meat. There was a piercing scream and something which looked almost like blood streamed out of the destroyed cup.

"That was a clever curse," Nada said. "Especially against someone with troubles in his past and You-Know-Who could safely assume that his enemy would have that. But it doesn't matter. It's done and that vile thing has been removed from my land. Let's-"

A deafening noise drowned her last words. It sounded as if the entire cave was tumbling down. Frank stepped away from the passageway and cast a shield charm to keep falling rocks from hitting him. The others did the same. It became clear pretty quickly that the cavern itself wasn't affected though.

Their way to the outside was blocked however.

Afrim said something rough in his own language. "Another curse," he added. "Seems as if he wants to trap us here."

Nada was already looking for another entrance but there was none.

"He might come and check what's happened," Frank said. He hoped this wasn't the case but he had to warn the others of the worst. Frank really didn't want his colleagues to be murdered by Voldemort because he had needed their help finding the Horcrux.

"Is that a real possibility?" Nada asked.

"I wouldn't say it if it were not," Frank told her.

"Alright," Afrim said. "Clearing the cave would take too long under these circumstances. We need to try and break the Anti-Apparition wards. Our combined magic might be enough."

"It's the best option," Nada said.

Frank didn't disagree.

"On the count of three," Afrim said. "Concentrate! One, two, three!"

Frank tried to pour as much magic into the spell as possible. They needed to get out of here; he needed to get the others out of here safely. They spoke the spell and Frank felt how the magic was being dragged out of him. His knees became weak and his vision grew blurry. Frank felt his legs give away underneath him.

The bright light was blinding him. Frank was in a room with wide walls. The smell of potions lay in the air. A young witch in beige robes let some sort of potion drop onto his skin. There was a bronze bracelet around her waist.

Frank believed he was back at Saint Mungo's. He had preferred not to remember what had happened there, but in this moment, he had no choice. So-called Healers pouring potions into him against his will, trying to weaken him rather than help, secretly plotting his death. He wasn't going to let it happen again.

With one quick movement, he knocked the potion vial out of the woman's hand. "Get off me!" he screamed.

The young witch took a step backwards and said something Frank couldn't understand.

"Get away, get away!" he yelled again but she didn't move. He tried to get out of his bed but his legs were too weak to carry him. Frank tried to ignore this and attempted to stumble out of his bad, somehow, anyhow. He needed to attack her so he could escape.

The woman raised her wand and muttered a spell. Frank felt his strength leave him. He fell back onto the blankets, the same thing that had happened to him so many times at Saint Mungo's. Helpless, in the hands of people who meant to harm him. He had thought he had escaped this nightmare but it had caught up with him again.

The young witch left the room, Frank was alone.

He attempted to fight the curse off, to move again but it wouldn't work. Not yet. He was bound to his bed.

Slowly, the things that had happened drifted through his mind again. The foreign Aurors, the cave, the curses, the Horcrux, Voldemort's words, the breaking of the wards. Had they failed? Had they captured him again, returned him to this "place of healing" which in truth was a prison?

Frank flinched as the door was opened. He had hoped he'd be alone long enough so he could try to escape. They weren't going to make this mistake again.

Three people walked into the room. A man with dark grey hair and glasses wearing the same beige robes the young witch had worn before. Beige, why beige? Weren't there robes supposed to be lime-green? Frank had never understood why Healers would wear the colour of Slytherin of all things.

"Frank, what's the matter," a familiar voice said, Afrim. The two people accompanying the man were Afrim and Nada. "Why did you attack the Healer?"

"Everything's alright. You fainted but we go you away by side-along-apparition," the woman by his side added, Nada. "You're at Mileva Tasic-Hospital back in Belgrade."

"I'd like to leave," Frank said. He believed them that he wasn't at Saint Mungo's but he still didn't feel comfortable here at all. "I don't like hospitals."

"I've figured that much out," the third man said, his voice was slightly hoarse. "Healer Maric is my name. It's probably been a mistake to assign you to someone who doesn't speak English. You will have to stay here for a few days though I'm afraid. You've strained your magic. Nothing serious but we need to monitor your condition for at least 48 hours. Everything else would be irresponsible so please don't do anything rash."

"You can trust our Healers," Nada said. "And we'll keep an eye on you as well. It's standard procedure when an Auror gets injured on a mission."

Frank sighed. He didn't want to make a fool of himself even more than he had already done. No matter how uncomfortable he was, he'd need to stay. This was the Serbian wizarding hospital, no Death Eaters were working here or at least he hoped so.

"I'd like to examine your magic now if you don't mind," Maric said.

Frank did mind but he knew that protesting would be futile. He hated those magic diagrams he couldn't really read and he hated Healers who wanted to tell him things about his own magic. Frank couldn't deny that he was worried about the things Maric might tell him. He hadn't had one taken since the attack.

"I'll have to, won't I?"

"We're not going to take any measures without your consent if they aren't necessary for your own or our safety," Healer Maric said. "It would be highly advisable though." He smiled slightly. "Depending on the result you might be allowed to leave earlier as well."

Frank shrugged. "Let's get it over with."

In the past, Frank hadn't been able to feel the magic test at all. This had changed. He sensed the foreign intrusion into his magic only too well and his entire being tried to resist it. It was useless though. Frank's resisting magic didn't seem to achieve anything against the spell Maric was using.

The Healer drew his diagram, signed it with his name and said: "I'd like to discuss the results with you now and I'd rather do it in private."

"Alright, we're leaving," Nada said before Frank could tell Maric that he didn't want to hear anything he had to say. If the Healer's tone was anything to go by, the results wouldn't be good.

"We'll be back later," Afrim said.

When the two Aurors had left, Maric said: "I understand why you're so reluctant to trust a Healer now. I still wish you not to judge all members of our profession by the actions of one forsworn person. You're an Auror and need to know the truth; therefore I'm not going to sugar-coat it. Your magical resistance is severely weakened by lingering dark magic. I have to advise you to avoid any further contact with dark magic until this has been remedied but I'm aware of the fact that this probably isn't very practical in your case."

"You're right," Frank said. He surely wouldn't hide away because of the damage Lestrange had done to his magic. If it would kill him, so be it but at least it hadn't kept him from doing his duty.

"Apart from that, your magic doesn't show any abnormalities but due to the Cruciatus curse-induced illness there are fewer connections than normal in a wizard of your position. This is the reason for the problem that led you here but you've already begun to remedy this successfully with magic training and I'm positive that this problem will vanish soon. Once again, please don't overdo it until then."

"I'll do my best," Frank said.

"There are some traces of the curse left as well but they shouldn't pose a severe problem," Maric said. "Am I correct to assume that you're suffering from headaches, cramps and nightmares from time to time?"

"Yes, but it's already improved," Frank said. This was the truth and he wasn't going to whine about something as minor as that. Muggle pain-killing pills had usually been enough to counter this; he had brought a few of them with him.

"Probably, you'll overcome this completely eventually," Maric said. "Until then you could drink Goldberry leaf-potion when the symptoms are giving you trouble."

"I'll get along," Frank said. Goldberry leaf-potion was an option of course but he preferred to keep this discrete and Muggle. The damage to his magical resistance was the most pressing matter.

"Is there something I can do to strengthen my magical resistance again?" Frank asked.

"The usual spells will help to a certain extent and so will Goldberry but I have to admit that I don't know of a way to undo the damage completely. You don't usually come across Cruciatus curse users who are also able to do healing magic. Some people even claim that they're mutually exclusive. I know that this is not true but I'm afraid I can't really help you there. You should see a Cruciatus curse expert. He could give you more in-depth information about the damage you've suffered as well."

A Cruciatus curse expert was the last person Frank wanted to see but he didn't say so aloud. The man only wanted to help even though he obviously couldn't do anything for Frank's chronic problems. They had successfully helped him after the Horcrux search though.

"Unfortunately, the number of Healers with expertise in this era is very small," Maric continued. "Many of my colleagues shy away from deeper studies into the subject matter because they fear the temptation of the dark arts. I'm no exception there."

"A fear that isn't unfounded," Frank said. "One of the people who did this to me used to be the Cruciatus curse expert of the British wizarding hospital. He has decided to broaden his expertise by actually using the curse."

"I suspected something along those lines," Maric said. "There's one person I can recommend though. Belenus Derwent of the California Hospital for Spelldamage, Berkeley. An excellent man who's integrity is out of doubt. I used to learn from him for a year but not much about this specific subject matter."

"Thank you for the suggestion," Frank said politely.

He didn't really intend to visit Derwent in the US. The man had been Lestrange's teacher and always defended him. He had actually left Britain in protest over Lestrange's dismissal. Frank surely wasn't going to entrust himself to him but Maric didn't need to know that.

"Very well, that was all. I really would recommend you to take your strengthening potion now rather than throw it to the floor. This will speed up your release from our care."

"I'm sorry. I misinterpreted the situation completely," Frank said. "Please tell your colleague that I'm apologising for my behaviour from earlier."

"Apologize accepted from my side," Maric said. "We're Healers and we know to expect this kind of behaviour from a patient in your condition."

Frank hated the implication that he wasn't in control of his behaviour but he knew it wasn't completely unfounded.

When Frank had taken his potion, Maric left him alone in an unlocked ward after Frank had promised not to run away. He waited for Nada and Afrim to return and spent the time thinking about his magic problems. Frank really needed to train himself more and maybe he should get himself Goldberry potion as well. He might be lucky and the potion would undo the damage Lestrange had caused while breaking his resistance to the Cruciatus curse. Lestrange probably knew a counter spell as well, Frank thought with a mirthless laugh. He was the leading "expert" in the field no doubt but Frank couldn't think of a reasonable way to get the knowledge from him. At least not as long as things were the way they were.

The words of the Horcrux came to his mind. Had Lestrange really been the one who had undone the rest of the curses effects after casting it himself? Was this even possible? And why would he do that? Frank could only think of one possible explanation. He had wanted to practice his skills on him and intended to kill him later.

A conversation between two Healers he had overheard came to his mind.

"Where's Alice Longbottom?"

"Didn't you hear? She's gone." Frank still heard the odd tone of this statement.

"But her husband's still there?"

"He is, but not for much longer anymore."

At this moment, there had been no doubt in Frank's mind. Alice had been killed and he was supposed to be next. He had always believed that she had been dead anyway. "I failed them," had been the only coherent thought he had been capable off during his illness. Frank had pretended to be too ill to understand. He used the first opportunity to slip out of the ward and leave the hospital.

Frank had never doubted that she was dead, was he supposed to? The Healers' statement could mean something else of course. Maybe she had indeed become a prisoner. Had she been put into prison or even worse, enslaved, tortured and raped as Horcrux-Voldemort had implied? It was very unlikely that she was still alive but maybe, maybe she was. In this case he would be able to save her, he had to save her. Frank didn't know if Alice would ever be able to forgive him in this case but he had to save her even if she'd never speak to him again afterwards.

There was a faint hope Frank hardly dared to allow. "Gone" could have meant something else of course, gone home wherever home might be now. Or she had fled the country as some British Aurors had done or so Frank had heard from Nada. Maybe she was living somewhere, alive, happy and well. No, he couldn't hope for something like that, his hopes would only be disappointed. Could Alice be happy and well at all, having her son murdered because of some prophecy and being left by her husband?

Frank knew one thing for sure though. Trying to find out the truth about Alice's fate was the next thing he had to do, no matter the cost. It was his duty to his wife, a duty he should have done much earlier.

There was only one hint he had, the former Hogwarts students Anthony Goldstein. Maybe Goldstein was in contact with other members of the British resistance. If Frank managed to contact him, he might find out more. It wasn't much but it was all he had for now. As soon as he was able to leave the hospital he'd travel to Goldstein's next book presentation.

AN: In case you were wondering, Voldemort decided to remove the Horcruxes from their original hiding place after Ron and Hermione escaped imprisonment. He knew that Bellatrix had said too much while interrogating Hermione and decided this was safer because no one would look for them abroad.