A/N) Hello everyone! I bet you weren't expecting an update this early, were you? Well, I have GOOD NEWS, which I will talk further about at the end of this chapter… For now... Enjoy!

Twisting Time

Chapter 40

Friday 15th May 1992

They went to see Dumbledore first. Mainly because they wanted to seal the corridor the Room of Requirement was found on so they wouldn't be disturbed. The last thing either of them wanted was for the students to walk in on them throughout the day and wondering what they were up to. The Headmaster grudgingly accepted, only because he knew what the stakes were.

Sirius hadn't wanted to really tell Dumbledore about the location of a possible Horcrux but felt he was obliged to. It had likely been the reason why the Headmaster had consented to their request to close the corridor. No one knew how long they would be inside the Room of Requirement for. Closing the corridor was necessary to ensure they were not seen emerging out of it in the middle of the class day.

It was the early hours of Saturday morning when the corridor was sealed, leaving Remus, Sirius and James behind closed doors to work out exactly how they were going to find the Horcrux. James had bought the supply of Basilisk fangs with him, well aware that if they found the Horcrux they would need to destroy it. They'd all prefer to do it within the Room itself rather than take it out and into the Castle at large. Who knew how awake it would be if they took it into the presence of the students? None of them wanted to risk it.

"I find it amazing that a room like this even exists," mused Remus as they walked up the corridor towards the spot where Sirius assumed the entrance was. "We never really knew about it ourselves… Guess we would have put it on the map if we did."

James nodded. "The room is an enigma. Where did it come from? Who created it? I think it's important that we don't know too much about it. Clearly from what you've said, Padfoot, that the room comes when it is needed. I know we've always found a place to hide up here, even when it has been impossible to hide elsewhere in this Castle. This floor has always been lucky for us but none of us realised what we were dealing with." He brushed a hand against the wall.

"I only know about it because my Harry told me," said Sirius. "It's gratifying to know that we didn't conquer all of Hogwarts secrets. I quite like knowing my Harry learned something we didn't know about. It just makes me wonder what we will find in there. Harry told me a little about how to summon the room." He began to pace up and down a long stretch of wall. "We have to think about what we want three times whilst going back and forth. That should, in essence, summon the room."

"Do all three of us need to do it?" queried James, glancing at the wall uncertainly. "It would be difficult to co-ordinate our thoughts at the same time. We could be thinking about the same thing but in a different way."

Sirius frowned. "I don't know."

"Wouldn't three people trying to summon the room just confuse it?" asked Remus. They couldn't really co-ordinate their thoughts together unless they agreed to think the exact same words. Even then, they wouldn't be able to sync themselves to think at the exact same time.

Sirius shrugged. "I don't know. I think it would be better if we tried one at a time. If it fails we say what we thought, at least that way we can eliminate options on how to get the room to respond to what exactly we want."

James nodded. "Seems like a good plan."

"I'll go first," announced Sirius.

Remus watched, standing beside James as his friend began to pace up and down the stretch of wall, hand on his chin, deep in thought. He passed the wall three times before coming to a stop and expectantly looked up.

Nothing happened.

No door appeared.

Sirius frowned. "Interesting."

"What did you think?" James muttered quietly.

"The wrong thing," answered Sirius, still frowning. "But I guess thinking 'please show me the hiding place of Voldemort's Horcrux' wouldn't have worked. Not if it is hidden well. The room certainly wouldn't give me access if I was so open about what I was after. Harry told me they had to be very specific about how they phrased things for the room to open to them." He moved aside, directing James to try. "Your go, Prongs!"

James threw a slight glanced at his friend as he passed him.

Remus stood beside Sirius, off to the side, whilst James began to pace up and down. One more, after three lengths, he turned and stopped. No door appeared again.

"Oh, come on! Really?" James sounded frustrated and almost gripped at his hair. "It was a simple thought!" He turned his hazel eyes on both Sirius and Remus. "All I asked was to see the room where dark objects are."

"Maybe it is too vague," suggested Remus. "Maybe we need to be simple further but also more specific. I'm not sure we can get any more precise than what Sirius tried but that obviously didn't work. But I do wonder…" He trailed off as a thought struck him.

James noticed this and immediately asked: "What is it Moony?"

"Have you ever wanted to hide something? What would you think if you needed to do that?" Remus' mind was whirling. He could feel himself grasping for the answer that was stretched out in front of him. "Maybe that is the key to this room and for finding the Horcrux. Voldemort hid something in Hogwarts, within the Room of Requirement, but it only has a specific function. It becomes the room we want it to be. Put yourself in Voldemort's shoes when he hid the Horcrux, what would you think about?"

Sirius answered first, sounding a bit unsure. "That I would need a place to hide my Horcrux…"

Remus nodded. "That's it! We don't need to ask the room to show us where the Horcrux is hidden. What's the betting that many students before Tom Riddle needed a place to hide their stuff? What if I need the place where everything is hidden?" Remus clicked his fingers as a lightbulb went off in his head. He knew he had cracked it. He knew that was the answer he needed.

He began to pace, silencing the other two, keeping his eyes closed, thinking and muttering under his breath.

I need the place where everything is hidden.

He paced, turned and walked back past the wall.

I need the place where everything is hidden.

Remus repeated it again as he walked past the wall a third time.

Finally, he stopped and opened his eyes, turning to face the wall. A grin tugged at his mouth. Two large doors had appeared in front of them, beckoning all three forward. The wood looked old but it felt smooth as he ran his fingers down it. Remus gripped the handle, glanced back over his shoulder at Sirius and James, and pulled the door open.

Sirius stepped cautiously into the room. His eyes widened as he looked around, surprised the number of different objects that littered the room. He couldn't even see the end of the room. It seemed to drag on for miles. Many different objects were piled on top of one another. He had a feeling the Diadem would be in an obscure place within the room, especially if the room had been like this when Voldemort had entered it himself to hide it all those years ago.

"Would a summoning charm work?" asked James.

Sirius shook his head. "No. Normal magic doesn't work on the Horcruxes. We've already established that. We have no choice but to look."

"Ok," nodded James. "Shall we split up? There are three paths here. If either of us find it, we call for one another? Use a Patronus to send a message as I doubt we would hear one another in here."

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Remus. "I'll take the path on the right."

"I'll go left," said James.

Sirius shrugged. That left him with the middle path. "Just remember, do not tackle the Horcrux on your own. Who knows what it could do to manipulate any of us."

"We should all have a Basilisk fang each, just in case," suggested Remus wisely. "We might not get there in time to help if it puts up a fight. Each of us has to have something to destroy it with."

James reached into his robes and pulled out a small brown sack. "Good idea." He reached into it and pulled out six pointy fangs, being carefully not to touch the tips and scratch himself. "It's lucky these are still potent, even after all this time."

Sirius clutched two fangs in his hands and then placed both in one of his pockets. He didn't want to alarm the Horcrux if it did wake up. "Well…" he sighed, wistfully. "Good luck everyone…"

He started down the middle path.

A part of Remus wanted to stop and look at all the books he was walking past. Who knew what ones were hidden here. He resisted the urge to pick up a thick black book that rested on the side of a table which had been piled high with discarded clothes. He walked slowly, sweeping his intense gaze over every object that his eyes came across.

Winged catapults and Fanged Frisbees, some with still enough life in them that they hovered over other banned items, were just some of the objects that students had no longer been allowed to use, hidden within the room. Obviously students over the years had hidden them here as a means to avoid detention if they were caught with them.

Chipped bottles holding congealed potions, hats, jewels, cloaks and a very rusty and blood-stained axe were just some of the other items Remus passed.

He turned right, past an overstuffed troll, walked on a short way, took a left at a cabinet and then stopped as he passed a large cupboard which looked like acid had been thrown at its blistered surface. Beside it, on a table, was an ugly old bust of an old warlock, with a dusty old wig beside it, but just situated behind the wig was a tarnished tiara.

Remus felt his breath freeze in his throat as he took in the appearance of the tiara. He didn't reach for it. Instead he clasped his fingers around his wand in his pocket, moving forward carefully.

The tiara lay silent and still upon the table it sat upon. Etched upon the surface, below an oval shaped blue sapphire were the famous words of Rowena Ravenclaw herself, "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure".

He didn't want to reach forward and touch it. His sharp hearing could hear a faint wailing noise coming from it. He could feel darkness and light within the Diadem, as if the two forces were raging a war against one another. Three unintelligible words were repeated over and over, as if the Diadem was trying to say something, was trying to break free from the dark magic that had a grip upon it.

Remus swallowed. He couldn't decipher the words but did it really matter?

"I should probably tell the others I've found it." He raised his wand and cast a Patronus, giving it instructions to lead his friends to his location. He sent it off and continue to eye the Diadem.

It wasn't reacting to his presence nor was it acting like a Horcrux. Surely it could sense the Basilisk fangs near it. Why wasn't it mounting any defences?

Maybe Voldemort didn't have a chance to add proper defences to it? he mused inwardly.

"Moony?" a voiced echoed behind him and he cast a swift look over his shoulder to see both James and Sirius running up to him.

"I found it," he stated, pointing towards the Diadem. "It's definitely the Horcrux. I can sense it."

Sirius sniffed slightly. "I can sense it too… But it feels different."

"How?" James looked at him.

"I think what Sirius means is that it feels like there is a war going on inside it. I think the Diadem is sentient in a way. It was full of light and Voldemort put darkness into it. It's fighting against the darkness within it, keeping it at bay… but if either of us put it one, I expect there would still be curses upon it," explained Remus, moving closer to the table. "The trouble is, if we move to destroy it, will the darkness fight?"

"I don't believe it will," answered Sirius. "If it is trying to supress the light embodiment, it would lose its focus to deal with us allowing the light to gain an advantage. At the moment I think they are at a stalemate. Neither is winning or losing. But the edge is there."

"It would be nice if we can avoid confronting some version of Voldemort," retorted James. "Nothing is ever easy."

Remus didn't respond to James' words, instead glanced to Sirius. "Well, we've found it. Sirius?"

Sirius shook his head, strands of hair falling about his face. "No. You do it. You found it. You worked everything out. You deserve the honour of destroying it."

"But this is your…" Remus trailed off, knowing Sirius would fight him on this.

Sirius waved a hand. "I refuse. And so does James."

James looked indignant but didn't respond to Sirius' comment, only nodding his head in Remus' direction.

"That means I will have destroyed two," said Remus. He didn't like that idea very much. The Horcrux hunt was Sirius' mission. He was just a participator, aiding him to the end of the line when Sirius could finally destroy Voldemort.

Sirius shrugged, as if it didn't matter. "I'll get the snake. Take the shot. I'm not going to be the one to take your victory away from you."

Remus knew there was no arguing with him. He reached into his pocket and extracted a Basilisk fang. With his left hand, he picked up the Diadem. If there any curses upon it he figured they would activate now by the simple touch of his fingers. Nothing happened and he breathed out in relief, having held it in anticipation of something occurring.

He set the Diadem down on the floor and crouched down, holding the Basilisk fang up.

"I feel a bit unnerved it is not fighting back." It was strange but perhaps the internal struggle between the light and the darkness was the reason for its lack of defence of itself.

With werewolf enhanced strength, Remus brought the fang down, piercing the Diadem right through the blue sapphire embedded with thin the metal. A burst of air flung him back and a harsh scream screeched around them as a burst of flame appeared from the Diadem. Remus pulled himself forward and, gripping the fang again, he stabbed down once more. The fang pierced through the side, burning through metal, causing it to crumble and shatter as the poison from the Basilisk fang started to dissolve through the Diadem itself.

As the Diadem started to vibrate and a dark substance began to leak from it, Remus released his grip, just as the Diadem broke apart, shattering into several pieces. The sound of a scream, slowly fading, echoed around them until all was silent.

Remus let out the breath he had been holding. He couldn't feel the darkness or the light anymore. Both were gone, destroyed by the power of the Basilisk fang. "It's done."

"We should probably dispose of the pieces," suggested Sirius. "I know there is no chance to repair this thing since the sapphire has been destroyed but I don't want to leave any chances…"

Remus gathered the pieces of the Diadem and scooped them into his pocket. "We'll take it with us. We are going to talk to Dumbledore, aren't we?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I don't particularly want to but we are. All we've got is the snake left. We need to plan the final stages together as a team. I don't want to work with him at all but I have to if I'm going to win."

Remus nodded. Understandable. Sirius still has issues with Dumbledore and always would but he recognised when he needed to include the Headmaster in his plans. If Sirius was going to defeat Voldemort, he would need Albus Dumbledore to stand by his side.

And James, Lily and I will be there too.

Even if it meant the death of them all.

Saturday 16th May 1992

Remus dumped the shards of the Diadem on the desk in front of the Headmaster. "It's the remains of the Horcrux we found residing in the Room of Requirement. It was once the Diadem belonging to Rowena Ravenclaw."

A sad expression crossed the Headmaster's face. "Another historical artefact destroyed by Tom Riddle in his quest for immortality. All relics of Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw all gone now."

"But if we are correct, we only have one Horcrux left to destroy which should be the snake," mentioned Remus cautiously. "We know it will be where Voldemort currently is. But can we attack him before he makes open warfare?"

"We have an advantage," pressed Sirius. "We need to take it whilst we still can."

The Headmaster sighed. "The problem with that Sirius is we do not know where Voldemort is hiding. He has disappeared. I suspect he may have left Britain and moved to the continent however I cannot verify my suppositions. If we could take the advantage I would agree to it, but not without careful planning. Voldemort will reveal himself in time but first, we have to locate him. That is proving difficult."

"Well… we know I'm his next target," noted James quietly, standing to the side. "He said so himself. He wants to kill everyone Sirius is close to." He counted down on his fingers as he said several names. "Remus, Lily, Harry, Jack and I are all people he needs to kill. If he's waiting for the opportune moment we may be surprised. It just depends on whether he will make a big show of it or try to do it on the sly like he did with…" He broke off.

Sirius' shoulders slumped. "You can say her name, Prongs. Leanne."

"Right." James swallowed. "Leanne."

"I believe Voldemort will try to murder on the sly for the time-being," interrupted Dumbledore, "but he does lack supporters."

Sirius gasped. "Azkaban! He's going to try to break them out, isn't he? He did that before the Ministry acknowledged he had returned."

"It seems very likely he will," sighed Dumbledore. "I cannot do much to prevent this from occurring unless we try to convince the Ministry he has returned."

"We could try," said James. "I know it will be difficult to convince them without actual proof but if we are to stop him from gaining followers and power we need to prevent him from breaking Azkaban open."

Sirius sighed. "I think we may have to let him have a few victories. If he has only a few supporters will he risk coming out into the open? We need him out in the open so we can target him specifically. He makes more mistakes when he is winning, more overconfident."

"But we cannot allow him to break Azkaban open. Letting the Lestranges out? No way." James was adamant about this. "They're insane."

"But…" Remus grinned.

"You have an idea, Moony," noted Sirius, watching his friend carefully.

"We want to find where Voldemort is hiding. Why not let him break into Azkaban?" Remus raised a hand as he saw James was about to interrupt. "Wait. Let me finish. We could set a trap for him but there is no point in confronting him until we've killed the snake. He's still invincible until then. But…" He raised a finger. "Tracking charms. Undetectable ones. Why can't we place them under these so when Voldemort does come for them, we can follow them back to his lair? Tracking charms in that sense are not widely known about. I know Lily has been working on one in her spare time. If she's perfected it, perhaps we can use it on the prisoners?"

"Isn't that a bit unethical?" winced Sirius. "I do want to destroy Voldemort but if the Ministry found out…"

"They wouldn't," stated Dumbledore, placing his hands on his desk and clasping them together. "I am aware of Lily's research and the results are promising. The charm should be undetectable. The problem would be placing it on them without the prisoners being aware of it."

"It's not a problem," grinned James. "We have an invisibility cloak. We get Lily into Azkaban to cast the charm once we are sure it is ready. And then wait for Voldemort to make his move. When he does, we follow him to his location. Destroy the snake and him at the same time. We would have to plan any attack plan in advance – several actually – but I think we could make this work."

"That isn't a bad plan, Prongs," replied Remus.

Sirius glanced at the Headmaster. "Will it work?"

The Headmaster slowly inclined his head. "It is a start. If this is what you plan to do, Sirius, we need to start now, because I fear it will not be long before Voldemort makes his move on Azkaban."

Sirius lowered his gaze.

"Padfoot? Are you okay?" James sounded concerned.

Sirius raised his head, his eyes steely, staring straight forward at the Headmaster. "I am. I'm ready to end this. Let's do it."

To be continued…

Please let me know what you think!

So…. They are finally another Horcrux down with only one more to go! Which does mean this story is coming to an end.

I said I had good news and I am pleased to report that when I said I was going to take a week's break from writing this story I actually did not do that. The very next day after I posted the last chapter I sat down and over the course of two days wrote this chapter. I didn't post it as I just wanted to get some writing down without the pressures of needing to update. As a result of that, Chapters 41 and 42 are already written and I am currently in the process of writing chapter 43. Finally there are about another 8 chapters after this one so I have only got another 5 to write after I am done with chapter 43! Which means I should be able to update weekly from now on and the whole story will be posted and finished by middle of March!

Thank you for all the support for this story so far and I will be updating again next week on Tuesday!

Until then,

the-writer1988