"So that didn't work," Severus sighed, as he walked into the kitchen, his once crisp black robes were now torn and grey from the layer of dust that covered them.
"Told you," Sirius grinned leaning back in his chair and he took in Snape's attire.
"Did you show him the picture?" Remus asked.
"Well I didn't go back in and invite him to tea," Severus responded sarcastically
"What happened?"
"He accused me of stealing and tore the picture out of my head then proceeded to tear my robes," Severus answered sitting down defeated.
"Wait till he finds out we took his locket," Sirius grinned lifting up the gold chain.
"Sirius you didn't," Remus scolded.
"Of course he did, it's Regulus's, and so far the only logical solution as to how it ended up here is Ginevra," Severus spoke, siding with Sirius.
"So we just have to open it," Sirius stated excitedly.
"What exactly do you think is in there, a clue to where Ginevra is?" Severus asked the doubt clear in his voice.
"He's already deep within the ministry, half of the department is in his pocket and the other half have their heads bowed trying to stay under the radar," Kingsley's voice rang through the hall.
Before Sirius had time to shove the locket back in his pocket Kingsley walked into the kitchen followed by Alastor.
Suddenly all five men stopped talking at once, and Alastor's glass eye immediately fixed it's gaze on the gold locket in Sirius's hand.
"What's that," Alastor grunted, both eyes now fixated on the locket.
"Family heirloom," Sirius shrugged, dropping the locket into his pocket.
"Unless you're related to Salazar Slytherin I highly doubt it," Alastor responded.
"Salazar Slytherin?" Severus and Remus asked in unison.
"If that's the locket of Salazar Slytherin than why do you have it?" Kingsley asked, looking back and forth between Sirius and Alastor.
"It's a clue," Sirius answered.
"A clue for what?" Alastor asked, his glass eye spinning wildly.
"We don't know yet," Remus answered, realizing how foolish that sounded.
"It was on Regulus Black the day that he died," Severus added.
"How did you get it?" Kingsley asked.
"How do you know it's Slytherin's locket?" Sirius asked.
"It was my job to know things like that," Alastor responded.
Sirius, Remus and Severus all exchanged looks, and slowly Sirius pulled the locket out of his pocket and placed it in the middle of the table.
"Wait, what happened to you three?" Kingsley asked, taking in their torn clothes and dirt covered faces.
"Kreacher, which coincidentally is also how we found this locket," Sirius grumbled.
Alastor closed the space between him in the table in a few strides and waved his wand over the locket, mumbling low before the locket shook slightly and flopped itself over.
"Who else knows about this?" Alastor demanded.
"Just the five of us, and Kreacher," Sirius shrugged.
"Kingsley, contact Dumbledore, I think he might want to be here," Alastor spoke quickly, shooting Kingsley a worried glace.
Kingsley nodded, and waved his wand; a Lynx flowing out the tip before it disappeared.
"What does Dumbledore have to do with this?" Severus asked.
"Sirius, put on the kettle, it's going to be a long night," Alastor sighed as he eased himself into a chair.
Sirius pointed his wand to the kettle on the stove and it immediately began whistling.
The five men sipped their tea and fought over the remaining biscuits Molly had brought them a few days ago.
"Since Dumbledore is taking his time, care to share what's so important about the locket?" Sirius sighed growing impatient. If it really did have something to do with Ginny he didn't want to sit here and waste anymore time.
"Dumbledore is a busy man, he's being watched, he'll have to go to Hogsmeade and apparate from there," Kingsley answered.
"He can't use the floo, the network is being watched, and you can't apparate from within the grounds," Severus added.
'So we wait," Sirius grumbled.
"You'd think you'd be used to that by now," Severus responded.
"That must be why you're so calm, you're used to waiting for-"
"Enough, both of you, you're on the same side," Remus cut in.
The five men sat in silence for half an hour before Kingsley rose from the table.
"I'm afraid I need to get back to the Ministry, it's getting hard to find reasons to leave, a lengthy absence would be hard to explain," He said in way of apology.
"Of course Kingsley, good luck," Remus responded.
Kingsley departed down the hall, and disappeared into the dimly light corridor.
"Are you sure it's the same locket that Regulus had?" Alastor asked, once again.
"I'm sure, it was the last day I saw him, I remember every detail," Severus responded.
"But he returned alone, Ginny wasn't with him," Alastor mumbled.
"You were there Alastor, Lucius said both her and Regulus made mysterious visit's to you know who," Remus pointed out.
"Yes, but Malfoy also said that he didn't see her after Regulus died," He answered.
"So she's what trapped inside this locket?" Severus asked, disbelief clear in his voice.
"Of course not, but how did it end up here if Regulus had it on him when he died," Alastor voiced the question they were all thinking.
"Maybe he gave it to my parents after he died, they remained loyal to him, my mother donated lots of funds to his cause, maybe he gave them everything he had on him when he died," Sirius voiced.
"No, that's not something the Dark Lord does," Severus said, squashing Sirius's theory.
"Have you tried asking the elf?"Alastor asked.
"This isn't a fashion statement," Sirius responded, gesturing to his torn clothes.
"I'm afraid I won't be much help if you're trying to figure out where the locket came from," Dumbledore spoke from the doorway, causing the four men to quickly turn towards him.
"There's something dark in there Albus," Alastor said, rising him from his chair as Dumbledore walked into the room.
"I believe it's a piece of Tom Riddle," Dumbledore said, a hint of excitement in his voice.
"So my brother cut off a piece of Voldemort and stuck it in a locket?" Sirius responded crinkling his nose.
"No, you misunderstand me Mr. Black, there's a piece of Tom Riddle in there, but he put it there himself," Dumbledore responded gently lifting the locket into his weathered hands.