Here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord", enjoy!

* Review response:
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obsessivegirl73, try turning off 'useless' alerts - you'll be e-mailed only about new chapters / whatever else you want. And yes, that's the goblins for ya.
Reishin Amara, maybe. Or maybe not.
deadkid23, sorry?
Still Not Dead Yet, heh, too true, too true...
Awsomeness7, I'm not sure about the test, and I just skipped the details. And the apparation test was also adjusted a bit.
Emeraldfireblade, um... there might be some action in this chapter. But the *main* events of the summer will happen in chapters 32 and 33.
Penseln, I've answered you via pm.

* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form.

"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"spells / parseltongue"

This chapter is not beta-read yet.

chapter 29: Treasure hunt, part I

Draconica sighed: why did Harry have to send her such a gift for her birthday? Sure, the wristbands were looking so good on her and she liked them very much, but they also had her feelings for him resurface – there were some that went beyond just friendship, the blond witch herself was now ready to admit that. Only to herself, of course. And that was something that she didn't need. Especially not now, when her body was going through puberty, and even her considerable self-control wasn't enough to keep her raging hormones completely in check. Still, she liked the wristbands too much to just lay them aside in hopes of keeping her mind away from the sender. Damn you, Potter... Shaking her head, the young witch, cleared her mind from the thoughts about her green-eyed year-mate and got to opening the rest of the gifts she was sent this year.

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Meanwhile, completely unaware of Draconica's problems, Harry apparated at the edge of wards that surrounded Slytherin's cottage, which he couldn't see yet, as it was hidden behind the trees... Ten minutes of walking later, the young wizard found himself standing in front of a two-story wooden house with plastered walls and crust-laid roof.

Despite not being used for the last several centuries, the cottage looked pretty well, almost like it was just built, thanks to the many layers of protective magic that surrounded it. Same could be said about the small garden with a pond that was behind the house: the magic kept it like it should be, preventing the nature from turning the area back into the forest... Harry chuckled. With some work, this would be a really nice place to live at. And he didn't mind doing some dirty work to turn the garden into what it should be, instead of a lawn with overgrown grass it was right now...

Postponing his plans for the garden for the time when the cottage will be lived in, the young lord Potter-Slytherin entered the house. It was just as big on the inside as it was from the outside, not that Harry minded it. What he did mind, though, were centimeters of dust on every horizontal surface... And he didn't know any powerful magic to deal with the dust quickly: Hogwarts didn't teach many household charms, and Tom Riddle didn't learn any beyond those he was taught – why would a dark lord need to know them? Sighing, Harry started vanishing the dust with those weak spells he knew...

It took him a couple of hours of hard spellwork, but in the end both floors of the cottage, along with the basement, where the potions lab was located, were as clean as they could be. During his dusting spree, the green-eyed wizard also made his first 'inventory' of the cottage: three bedrooms (though not very big ones), a study room with a small library and a bathroom made the second floor, while a kitchen, a dining room, a living room and another bathroom were on the first. The basement contained the potions lab and the supply room for ingredients. And most of the rooms had only furniture and some old and empty glass bottles could be found in the dining room and in the kitchen. Only the study room and its library seemed to be untouched...

The rest of the day Harry spent making sure that everything in the house was working as it should and that the wards were at their maximal power – the wards' anchoring stones were cleverly disguised to look like yet another bricks that formed the fireplace in the living room.

The young Potter apparated back to London at about seven in the evening, tired from all the magic he did today, but also rather pleased with himself for what he did today. Tomorrow he was planning to buy for the things he'll need for his new house, which meant that there will be shopping, both in the muggle world and magical...

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It was late morning of Saturday, fifth June, when Augusta Longbottom and her grandson Neville flooed to the lobby of st. Mungo's hospital for Magical maladies and injuries. The reason for this visit was a letter that she had received a couple of days ago that said that her grandson might be memory-charmed – something that the old witch had to deal with as soon as possible: no heir of the Ancient and Noble house Longbottom should have those disgusting memory blocks on him.

"Good morning, Lady Longbottom, heir Longbottom." A blond witch in a gray business suit greeted them once they had straightened themselves up. The older witch looked at her with a critical eye, trying to think why would someone meet them there, especially someone who belonged to the house L. Bridget (they weren't a Noble house yet, but they still were well known and respected for their juridical work).

"Good morning, ms. Bridget." Augusta greeted back, while Neville just bowed, allowing his grandmother to do the talking. "I take it that you being here has something to do with our own visit to the hospital." Lady Longbottom stated in a matter of fact voice. Violet nodded.

"Indeed it does. My client is currently building a case against a certain wizard, and he suspects that this wizard was the one to place memory charms on Neville there. I'm here to collect the evidence, should my client's suspicions prove to be right." Augusta nodded.

"Very well." Was all that she said, before she headed to the stairs, Neville following her closely behind... Violet made a barely audible sigh, and followed the two Longbottoms. ...Soon they were on the fourth floor (where all healers that dealt with spell damage were located). There was no queue to the oblivation specialist, so lady Longbottom knocked on the door. Once she was told that they could come in, the old witch entered the healer's office, with Neville and Violet following her a second later.

"Good morning. I'm healer Arnold Blackwater." The man in the lime-green robes greeted them. "What can I do for you today?" He asked then.

"There's is a suspicion that my grandson has a memory charm placed on him about a year ago." Augusta answered, while making Neville come forward. "I want him to be checked. If he indeed was memory-charmed, I want the charm removed, and I want to know who had placed it." Arnold nodded.

"That shall be done, lady Longbottom." He got out of his armchair and headed to the room attached to his office, while gesturing for Neville to follow him. "Come here, young man." Once the younger wizard entered that room, the healer told the two witches to wait, while he was working and closed the door, activating the privacy barriers so that nothing will distract him.

About ten minutes later healer Blackwater returned to his office with a slightly dazed Neville going to sit next to his grandmother... Picking a blank parchment from the heap on his table, Arnold pressed the tip of his wand to it and muttered a long incantation for some charm under his breath. A moment later a text appeared on the parchment. After looking at it to see whether there were any mistakes and finding none, the healer passes the parchment to lady Longbottom, who, in turn, gave it to Violet.

"I do not know who told you that Mr. Longbottom here may be under a memory charm, but he was right. There indeed was one, placed sometime around one year ago." The healer said to Augusta, who nodded. "As you have asked, I've removed this memory charm – this why your grandson in dazed a bit right now: his mind is reabsorbing the memories. I'd suggest you spend some time in the cafe upstairs, before leaving." Lady Longbottom nodded.

"Thank you, healer Blackwater." She said, standing up. "Let's go, Neville." The boy nodded and followed her as they headed to the fifth floor. Violet went after them... Once they were sitting around the table in the cafe – Neville was still dazed a bit – Augusta asked Violet: "So, who was the bastard that dared to do this to my grandson?" The blond witch gave the report back.

"As my client suspected, it was Albus Dumbledore." Lady Longbottom nodded, accepting the fact, while internally she really wanted to hurt that old goat: how dare he?..

"Dumbledore?" Neville asked. "He oblivated me and Harry so that no one would know about the stone." This made both witches to raise their eyebrows, asking for some elaboration. "He had hidden the Philosopher's stone at Hogwarts, gran. Didn't I write you about it?" Augusta shook her head.

"You never wrote about the Philosopher's stone hidden at school." Seeing the shocked expression on her grandson's face, lady Longbottom came to a conclusion that made her even angrier with Dumbledore. "Violet, please add interfering with private correspondence to the list of charges against our esteemed headmaster." The blond witch nodded, and produced a piece of parchment from the pocket of her suit and scribed something on it with the self-inking quill she had with her. "Now, Neville, what were you saying about Philosopher's stone?"

"As I've said, he had it hidden in the castle." The boy replied. "I don't know why it was there, though... Near the end of the school year things turned into a mess as someone had abducted Hermione... ms. Granger and wanted Harry to come to where the stone was hidden if he wanted to save her. I, of course, went with him, but we got separated before we reached her... I don't know what happened down there, but both Harry and Hermione were in a bad shape, like they were tortured, and our DADA professor was missing, most likely dead." Neville said. "I think that Dumbledore oblivated us to sweep this whole mess under the rug." His grandmother nodded.

"While he could say that he blocked memories to protect Mr. Potter and ms. Granger from the aftereffects of whatever dark magic was used on them, he had no such reason for your oblivation." She said. "And since we already added memory-charming you to the list of his crimes, I will only add endangerment of the children to that list." Violet shook her head.

"My client already added that. According to him, keeping the stone at Hogwarts wasn't the only time when Dumbledore knowingly endangered students of Hogwarts."

"I see..." Augusta replied. "Now, since my grandson seems to be involved with this mess, I'd like to say that house Longbottom shall aid you in doing that old goat justice." The blond witch nodded.

"I thank you, lady Longbottom, for this offer."

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By the end of the week, Harry more or less finished turning Salazar's cottage back into a livable place. He even managed to convert the garden into something presentable, though he was far from finished with it... On Friday Goldsaw had informed him that the teams that he had hired had finished working on the penthouse he owned in London and had already started on the summer house in Birling gap.

Aside from his dealing with his properties, the young double lord was also preparing for his horcrux hunt: he was going to recover the ring first, and then the locket – the tiara will have to wait till the beginning of September as Dumbledore was back to Hogwarts and Harry didn't fancy explaining him why he was sneaking though the castle's halls during the summer... Since Tom was a stronger wizard than Harry himself, the green-eyed not-yet-teen knew that would need boosters for his magic if he wanted to overcome the protections the dark lord had placed to keep his soul anchors safe. And so he was brewing some questionable or outright dark (in the current age) potions that would allow him to match Tom in raw magical power, even if at a cost of nasty side-effects.

Finally, knowing that he'd have to seat through at least one Wizengamot session, before he was allowed to appoint a proxy, the young lord Potter-Slytherin was preparing for the event. He had already chosen which session he will attend – the one on 18th June: it was on the same day with the final meeting of professors at Hogwarts before their (significantly shorter) vacations started. Dumbledore will be there, so he won't be able to prevent Harry from being recognized as the lord of Noble house Potter. Hopefully, Violet will be able to find a wizard or witch he would find acceptable as his proxy by then...

On Monday Harry inspected the penthouse, and was very pleased with the job done there: the wards were so strong that he could literally feel them, everything looked new and pretty, and everything was working as it should. All he had to do now was to pay the annual fee for keeping the fireplace on the floo network... Speaking of which, Harry was thinking about adding the Slytherin's cottage to the network as well, but wasn't sure about it. Oh well, it was not like he hadn't time to ponder on it...

Tuesday morning the green-eyed wizard started his preparation for recovering the ring horcrux from the Gaunt shack, where it was left by Voldemort. He had altered his belt, so that it would hold all the potions he might need for this little 'adventure'. He also made sure that his dragon-hide gloves were in perfect condition – he 'remembered' Tom placing a rather nasty curse on the ring, and sure as hell didn't want to be hit by it – and added several charms to increase the protection his robes offered, for the curse on the ring was not the only thing to protect the horcrux... The final thing he made sure he had with him were two emergency portkeys: one to his penthouse and one to st. Mungo's, the later set to activate on its own, should he lose conscious. Hopefully he won't need them.

But there was one other thing Harry needed to do before he was ready to go after the Gaunt ring: he needed to set up the runic array for the ritual that allowed one to break the connection between the soul piece of the horcrux and the physical object to which it was tied... The green-eyed wizard was really thankful that Tom's memories had all the information he needed about this ritual, or he would have to resort to destroying the ring with something as nasty as fiendfire, since his fang sabers weren't completed yet...

Once all of the preparations were completed, the young lord Potter-Slytherin had a late lunch, before leaving the cottage. Since the wards around the property prevented only incoming apparation, he had no problems will disapparating.

He reappeared on thee dirty path with trees blocking almost all of the sunlight that was coming from a partially clouded sky. He could see a shack hidden among the tangle of tree trunks with nettles almost hiding the windows – all in all, this place looked to be even more abandoned than even in Tom's memories – but Harry also felt strong repelling ward that was set to discourage anyone from coming any closer to the shack. The ward wasn't going to stop him, though, as he was too set on recovering the horcrux, and he knew his (well, Voldemort's) way around it. A dozen steps down the road there was another ward, this one set to deal some real damage to the 'intruders', but Harry easily stopped it from going off: knowing all of your enemy's tricks was really helpful...

Using a transfigured rabbit to set off some traps with really nasty curses that were further down the road, Harry finally reached the shack's door, immediately noticing a snake skeleton with some remaining badly rotten flesh nailed to it. The door itself was greatly reinforced by magic, and the lock was a password based one – in parseltongue, of course – so no one unwanted would come in. Of course, someone like Dumbledore might be able to brute force his way in, but Harry couldn't do that even after drinking his magic boosters. Thankfully, he didn't need to: he knew the password.

"Open the way to my immortality." The green-eyed wizard hissed in the snake language. For a couple of seconds nothing happened, but then the locks opened with clang, while the charms, that wouldn't allow the door to be opened otherwise, stopped working... Inside, the shack was very dirty with the thick layer of dust on everything Harry could see. Paying no mind to that, though, the young wizard headed to the 'room' which Voldemort labeled as the bedroom in his memories of this place – the reason for that was a big truss of leaves that was used as a bed by the Tom's uncle Morfin. Next to the 'bed' there was half-decayed rug, with a powerful ward that would try to incinerate anyone foolish enough to try removing it. And, unlike the other wards here Harry had seen so far, this one had no way around it... Once again using transfigured animals, the young wizard removed the rug, revealing the trapdoor. Since there was no wards on it, he put his dragon-hide gloves on and opened it. Inside, there was a small wooden box, in which the ring was residing.

Using the counter-curses from Voldemort's memories, Harry 'defused' the traps on the box and opened it, revealing the ring: it consisted of a thick golden band with a big black square stone on it – this ring was screaming 'wealth', and, thus, clashed horribly with how poor the Gaunt family was in its last days. Also, the stone had a strange markings in it: a triangle with an inscribed circle, in which there was a vertical line... Harry had a feeling that this sign was important, but could not understand why, and Voldemort's memories provided no help. Deciding that he can deal with it later, he drank one of his magic booster potions and, once it was working, pointed his wand at the ring:

"Finite morrior viscus!" Once the curse from the ring was gone, Harry picked it up (with his gloves on, of course) and placed it into the special pouch he brought with him, before disapparating away to the Salazar's cottage.

That's all, folks!
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