With Potter and Weasley dealt with - for now, at least - Aurora could return her attentions to the pieces of jewellery which she had inherited. She was sure she must come close to a breakthrough soon, but she found nothing in the library to suggest why she could hear voices whispering from a ring. "It's so frustrating," she said to Daphne and Pansy, slamming her book closed. "There's nothing in here! If we were only allowed in the Restricted Section - but even then, I'm sure Dumbledore's removed everything of interest, or even remotely to do with the Dark Arts!" She huffed, catching Potter look at her. "What do you want?"

"What are you up to?" he asked her slowly.

"Nothing to do with you." She looked him up and down, sneering. "Where are Weasley and Granger, Potter? Go and run along to them, rather than eavesdropping on innocent conversations. Though I know you do so enjoy intruding on people's privacy." At that, Potter looked furious, but he turned on his heel without another word, and Aurora sat back, quite satisfied.

"What does that mean?" Pansy asked, leaning closer. "Intruding on people's privacy?"

"That's between me and Potter," Aurora told her. "Let us just say I'm holding something over him."

Daphne smirked. "He looked like a deer in headlights."

"He's a Gryffindor," Pansy said, very observantly. "They don't know how to deal with proper threats."

Aurora smirked. "That's damn right." She shook her head and got up. "I had better return these books before Madam Pince gets too upset with me. I'll see if there's anything more helpful in the family library, though I doubt it. Kreacher is not very good at book recommendations, though don't tell him that."

Pansy shuddered. "Don't say his name, I'm always so worried you're going to summon him." When Daphne and Aurora laughed, she added indignantly, "He gives me the creeps!"

"He's just a house elf, Pansy," Daphne said. "What's he going to do, mop the floor at you? He doesn't even have a wand."

"He is creepy!" Pansy insisted. "He is!"

Aurora just laughed, setting her books back on their respective shelves before returning to the common room with the girls. She hurried into her empty dormitory, and called on Kreacher again. He appeared with a loud crack and sank into a low bow, his nose scraping against the floor. "You don't have to do that, you know," she said awkwardly. "Not every time." He was getting rather old, after all, and she worried about the state of his back. There didn't seem to be many elf chiropractors in the world and she imagined that any that did exist would be ridiculously expensive.

"Kreacher must bow to his mistress," Kreacher rasped. "Kreacher respects his family, yes he does, Kreacher is better than those other house elves, house elves that turn their backs, that spread rumours... Nasty house elves, unnatural little beasts."

"Yes," Aurora said loudly. "Even so. Kreacher, I would like you to retrieve books on binding enchantments. Specifically that which can be placed upon an object, like a ring. Can you do that for me, please?"

"Kreacher lives to serve the house of Black." With another loud crack, he disappeared again, and Aurora sighed.

When, a few weeks later, he appeared in her room again, he frightened Gwen enough that she fell off her bed. "What is that?" she squawked.

"Kreacher serves the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black," Kreacher said. He bowed a little, but not enough that his back was bent as it had been before. Then again, he was carrying a very large stack of books. "Who is that, Mistress?"

"This is Gwendolyn," Aurora said evenly, as Gwen got awkwardly to her feet, with red cheeks. "She's my friend."

Kreacher bowed. "Mistress's friend. Kreacher has books for his Mistress that she might find interesting reading. Kreacher thought they was most interesting, they was books that Master Regulus-" He cut himself off as suddenly as if someone had cut the supply of air to his lungs.

"Kreacher?" Aurora said, quite alarmed by this reaction. "Kreacher, are you alright? Breathe, Kreacher! Breathe!"

Kreacher let out a breath and then babbled frantically, dropping the books in a heap on the floor. "Kreacher swore he would not tell, Kreacher must not tell any of the family, Kreacher almost broke his secrecy to Master Regulus, Kreacher has been a bad house-elf!" Then, to Aurora's horror, he picked up the heaviest book and hit himself in the head with it.

"Kreacher, no!" she cried. "Kreacher, don't hurt yourself! Stop it!"

"Master Regulus swore Kreacher not to tells the family!"

"It's okay Kreacher, you didn't tell me, you stopped yourself! Didn't you?" She took the book off him and Kreacher threw himself onto the floor at her feet.

"Kreacher asks forgiveness, Mistress!"

"You're forgiven, Kreacher, you're forgiven! It's okay!"

"Kreacher must not tell Master Regulus's Secrets!"

"It's alright, you didn't! Kreacher, stand up."

Kreacher stood to attention so abruptly it was jarring. His eyes were wide and tearful. "It's alright, Kreacher. Don't punish yourself, please. Now, what about these books?"

"Kreacher has dropped Mistress's books!" He scrambled to collect them. "Kreacher is most clumsy, old Mistress would have been furious at Kreacher, the books might have been hurt!"

"There's no harm done, Kreacher," Aurora said, quite concerned by her house elf's behaviour. It was clear that whatever secrets her Uncle Regulus had sworn him to, they were deep ones. "I'll take the books now."

"Thank you, Mistress," Kreacher croaked. "Kreacher hopes he has chosen good books for Mistress."

"I'm sure you have," Aurora said encouragingly. "Thank you. You may go now."

She could have sworn Kreacher smiled as he Disapparated. There was a moment of long silence before Gwen said, "What the actual hell was that all about?"

"He was just giving me some books," Aurora told her cheerfully.

"But... Why?"

"He's my house elf."

"What is a house elf?"

"You know!" Aurora looked at her. "He does chores, works for my family. I inherited him last year. There's loads of them that work in the school kitchens, though I haven't met any."

"He works for you?"

"Yeah. He's looked after my family for generations. I don't have much use for him at the moment, but I couldn't think how he'd react if I gave him clothes."

"Clothes?"

"Yes. If you give a house elf clothes, then it basically means they don't work for you any more and you've laid them off. I don't quite understand why, but that's what it means."

"So that's why he looked like that?"

Aurora's lips twitched in amusement. "Yes, unfortunately."

Gwen frowned. "That's so weird."

Aurora laughed, setting the sizeable stack of books down on her bedside table. "I suppose house elves are rather funny things, but they can be sweet. Kreacher's just lonely, but he'd hate working for anyone outside the family." She glanced at Gwen, who still looked confused about the whole thing. "It's one of the things you'll get used to about our world."

"It's still freaking weird," Gwen said.

With the threat posed by the Heir of Slytherin fading, there was less negative attention focused on Aurora nowadays. Her classmates started warming up to her again, and though she still saw little point in Lockhart's classes, she was doing well in all her subjects, even Herbology. Professor Sprout said she just didn't have a knack for other living things, but she could deal with the Mandrakes; they were growing up into teenagers now, and as such they had to be wrestled into their pots. Aurora was, it turned out, much better at wrestling plants than being delicate with them, even if she was not a fan of how much dirt they kicked up onto her face.

They were midway through March when Aurora finally had a true breakthrough with the necklace. She was sitting in the common room with Draco, Pansy, Blaise and Daphne around her, reading one of the books which Kreacher had brought. Her eyes skimmed a sentence and then her mind got stuck, as she looked back and read it again.

Metal-Locker spells act as a magical binding agent for metal-based items with curses. When combined, these multiply the original power of the spell on each particular item, so long as it is the same spell, and the focus of these enchantments are often held within a separate magical item used to lock the items together. These enchantments can be undone with a mix of counter-spells, however these must be done with both the curse and the Metal-Locker spell in mind. The specific counter-spell for a Metal-Locker is a De-Binding spell, and is done with the aim of separated the physical elements from each other and from their magical elements. The incantation for the De-Binding spell is separatum metallum.

Her mind reeled. This was the answer she was looking for. She'd thought for some time the necklace might hold a curse, and if so it seemed that the curse was contained in the key, keeping the necklaces together. In that case she was very glad that she'd been so careful with her manual attempts to unlock the key. "What are you so pleased about?" Draco asked as she got to her feet, grinning giddily.

"Nothing," she said, smirking. "Or at least nothing you need to worry about, Draco. I'll be back in a minute."

She tried very hard not to look too excited as she went to her room. Part of her wanted to skip. Of course, she didn't know what curse was on the necklace yet, but once she managed to separate the necklaces themselves the curse ought to be weakened and then it would be safer to handle.

"What's up with you?" Gwen asked as Aurora entered.

"Quiet, I'm onto something."

She hurried to the drawer where the necklaces were being kept, hands shaking as she opened the little box. Gwen was staring over curiously from the other side of the room. Aurora lifted the necklaces out. They felt suddenly colder and heavier in her hands, and she grinned. She lay them down on the floor away from their beds and told Gwen to stand back.

"Why?" Gwen asked suspiciously.

"Because I'm not totally sure what's going to happen when I use this spell."

Gwen pursed her lips. "I think I'll wait outside."

Aurora pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh as Gwen hurried out into the corridor. She didn't think this would cause an explosion, because that was the sort of thing a book should mention. Logically, maybe she should have read more, but she had one goal and she was so close to achieving it.

She pointed her wand tip at the centre of the key, imagining the necklaces slipping from the holes and untangling themselves, and said carefully, "Separatum metallum."

There was a moment where she thought it hadn't worked. Nothing was happening. Then slowly, the key began to move. Small pieces of its metal puzzle slid away from one another, lifting into the air and fitting back together again as the necklaces slipped from their holes, silver chains glinting as they rose up and then twisted as they fell to the ground. They metal of the key itself twisted itself, and she could smell the heat coming off of it as the metal reformed itself, darkening as it twisted into a metal serpent. It fell to the ground among the necklaces and slid over the stones to come to rest by Aurora's foot. She stared at it. That had not been what she'd expected to happen.

The snake hissed at her, and Aurora was reminded of the snake she'd conjured at the Duelling Club, and the one from her initiation. This snake was different. It was fake and metal, and yet there was a cunning light in its eyes that suggested at least sentience, if not life.

But the other necklaces seemed to be whispering. Hissing. Each of them had a serpent on the end, and the chains themselves seemed oddly serpentine as they slithered across the floor to join what had been the key. It was like they were sentient. A rare enchantment - no, a rare curse. They weren't to be trusted.

"This child is new," the snake that had once been the key hissed. Aurora startled to find it talking. It even sounded snakelike. "We do not know this one."

They looked at her interestedly. The key snake flicked its tongue - it was made of rubies, and Aurora had no idea where they came from. She reached out her hand to try and pick the key up, but hesitated. If they were cursed, that probably wasn't such a good idea. "The child doesn't trust us. The child doesn't know what we are." The necklace snakes seemed to hiss with laughter.

"What are you then?" Aurora asked, and there was a metallic clinking sound as the metal snakes moved, like they were trying to stand to attention? Sit to attention, maybe.

"We are the Black family serpents," the snake hissed. "Ancient as Hydrus and Ophelie, the first." They hissed again, and it sounded like laughter.

Hydrus and Ophelie were names Aurora knew well. Arcturus had taught her all the Black family history, and Hydrus and Ophelie Black were the first of their to arrive in England during the Norman Conquest and settled quickly, bringing the elegance of French magical culture to the witches and wizards of Britain. Before the introduction of secrecy laws and persecution, the Black family had worked with - never served - the Muggle monarchy as crown sorcerers. But Hydrus and Ophelie lived almost a millennium ago. "Are you really?" she asked, voice in a gasp. The thought of a piece of her ancestors being here, held in this jewellery for so long, astounded her. "I'm Aurora Black, daughter of Sirius Orion Black, granddaughter of Orion and Walburga Black."

"The traitor son," the key snake hissed. "Siriussss."

"He doesn't matter," she told them quickly. The serpent looked at her curiously with emerald eyes. "How long have you been..."

"Bound," the snake said. "It has been many, many years. Since they brought that soul home, that horrid piece of magic." The snakes hissed in hatred, but Aurora thought she heard a twinge of fear in their voices. "We serpents have been bound by the liar son, the one who calls himself pure."

"Who?"

"The boy," one of the other snakes said. "We do not talk of him."

"Tell me."

They only hissed in response. "Who are you to tell us what to do?"

"I freed you!"

"That means nothing to us. We are sworn... But you, child, you are one of us."

"One of you?"

"A Black. Toujours pur."

She swallowed. "Toujours pur."

If metal snakes could smile, they were doing that. "We have been freed, you are correct," the snake hissed. "And we shall remain free." She blinked, but nodded slowly. "You may wear our chains around your neck, as any Black may. We protect our family."

She smiled at first, then it faded. She wasn't sure it would be a good idea to start wearing necklaces with sentient silver snakes on them at the moment. "Do you only protect Blacks?" she asked curiously.

"We protect at the word of the family," one snake hissed, and Aurora smiled. "But we are loyal to the Black family above all else."

"Thank you," she said quietly. "Well, if you're... If you want to stay like this, that's fine. I might let my friend Gwendolyn wear one of you at some point, if that's alright?"

"Yesss," the snake said. "We wish to stay like this. There is a beast in this castle... We can feel it... Like the other soul in the other necklace..."

"We said we wouldn't tell," one of the others said. Aurora was having a difficult time telling them apart, and she had to pick up the necklaces to examine them further. She realised - as the snakes protested - that they had different jewels in their eyes. The key snake had emeralds, but the others had sapphire, rubies and amethysts respectively. "We mustn't. It is a secret from one of the family."

"Then surely you can tell another member of the family?" Aurora asked, interested piqued again. "What beast is there? What does it have to do with the family?"

"It is a sordid matter," the sapphire snake said, shuddering. "Let us not speak any more of it."

"But the-"

"No more talk of the beast! He might hear us! We do not want to attract the wrath of that soul."

Aurora sank back, sighing. "Do you have names?"

The snakes hissed in a chilling unison. "Cyphus," said the sapphire-eyed snake on the necklace.

"Claudius," said the ruby-eyed one, winking.

"Julius," the amethyst snake hissed, tongue catching the light.

"And I am Lyra," said the emerald eyed serpent that had made the key.

"But..." Her mind reeled. She had been made to try and memorise most of forty two generations of the Black family. She couldn't honestly claim to know all of it, but the first few generations and the most recent had stuck and if she remembered correctly, which would admittedly be some feat... "You're Hydrus and Ophelie's children?"

"She is a true Black," Lyra hissed, tongue flickering with a fluidity that solid silver ought not to have. "She knows our history."

"We will protect you, Aurora Black," Cyphus hissed. "You are one of our own now."

She smiled faintly. This hadn't been what she was expecting, but it was a pleasant surprise. "You're not cursed, are you?"

The snakes hissing almost jeeringly. "Only as much as you are."

"What does that mean?"

But Lyra just hissed, flicked her tongue, and slithered to underneath Aurora's bed, the other necklaces following her lead and curling up in the darkness. Aurora sighed. She didn't much see the point in trying to argue with cursed, sentient metal snakes. "Gwen?" she called, going back over to the door, resigned.

Gwen was chatting to Leah and Sally-Anne when Aurora opened the door; the latter two girls both started, giving her nervous looks. Aurora glared at them, and after a whispered few words they hurried off to their own rooms. Gwen rolled her eyes. "Do you have to scare off all my friends?"

"They were already scared of me," Aurora said, shaking her head. "And need I remind you, Robin likes me."

"Robin likes being scared," Gwen said. "He's mad. He should have been a Gryffindor, really."

Aurora grinned. "Well, I have exciting news anyway. The spell worked and I still have all my limbs!" Gwen laughed. "And it turns out the necklaces and the key are actually the remnants of an ancient - well, I suppose technically medieval, but these sort of classifications are made largely redundant by-" She caught Gwen's eyes and blushed, breaking off her rambling. "An old spell by my ancestors, Hydrus and Ophelie Black. They've been in the family for, if we accept the lineage I was taught as the correct version, about nine hundred years."

Gwen's mouth fell open. "Nine hundred years? How?"

"Hydrus was actually a close personal friend of William the Conqueror, and Ophelie herself was a relative of him. We used to be far closer to the Muggles than we care to admit - of course, it was the nobility, and far before they started trying to murder us all."

"No wonder your family seems so stuffed up and old." Aurora glared in protest. "Look, I don't know my ancestry going any further back than my great-grandparents."

"Really?" Aurora was curious. "But that's only four generations! Don't you have records?"

"Not really," Gwen said, shrugging. "Don't look at me like I'm weird, most people can't trace their family back to William the bloody Conqueror!"

Aurora's cheeks heated. Sometimes she forgot that other families, and Muggle families, didn't place that same emphasis on lineage as hers did. It was easy to forget, because most of her friends - Draco and Pansy and Daphne - were from families with a similar concern for ancestry and blood, but for the likes of Gwen she supposed it didn't really matter at all. It was weird, even if she wouldn't admit that to Gwen. "Well, we do take pride in it," she said instead. "But that isn't even the most important bit - they can protect you, and they take the form of snakes-"

"Are you sure you're not related to-"

"I am not related to Slytherin, didn't I just tell you how much of my family's lineage I had to memorise? I'd remember if I was related to him. No, here's the thing, they act as protective amulets too! They can protect you!"

"From the Heir?" Gwen's eyes widened. "You think so?"

"I don't see why not. The snakes said they would protect whoever wore them, so long as I wanted them to."

"Are you sure?" Gwen looked rather dubious. "I mean... Your family's still... And I'm still..."

"They had better protect you," Aurora said confidently. "They should listen to me."

"You're talking about them like they're alive."

"Well, they sort of are. They seem sentient at least, I wouldn't be surprised if the spirits of my ancestors had managed to put some of themselves or their memories in there. There's an awful lot of old, dark type soul magic - not bad, Dark doesn't mean bad," she added, at the uncomfortably look on Gwen's face. "It's a very subjective definition anyway, if I remember correctly Elladora Black wrote a book-"

"Aurora," Gwen said. "Where is this going?"

She blushed again. "They seem to have part of the old Blacks - Cyphus, Claudius, Julius and Lyra - within them. Blacks are nothing if not loyal to the family. They should obey the ruling of their descendants. And, don't forget, their period in history blood purity really wasn't such an issue."

"Except for that time Salazar Slytherin put a monster in a school to kill muggleborns."

"Well, that-" Aurora broke off. A thought struck her suddenly. "Bloody Merlin!"

"What?" Gwen asked. Aurora had grabbed her arm very suddenly, and she looked quite alarmed. "What, Aurora?"

Of course, she ought to have considered it earlier. She'd been stupid and caught up, but this was important. "They said there's a beast!"

Gwen stared at her. "Well, yes."

"They know what the monster is in the chamber! Cyphus said something about it having a soul, which confirms its existence and that they know about it - but the soul specifically is really important, there's loads of ancient magic associated with the soul - Kreacher!"

Her house elf appeared diligently, bent by her bed with his nose trailing against the floor. "Yes, Mistress... Kreacher serves Mist-" He broke off when he caught sight of the three necklaces, which hissed and leapt across the floor, back into the light. His eyes bulged and before either Aurora or Gwen could stop him, he started beating his head against the post of Aurora's bed.

"Kreacher, no!" Aurora cried, wresting him away. "Stop that!"

"Oh look," said Claudius gleefully, "it's the mad old elf."

"Kreacher won't tell, Kreacher won't tell!"

"Tell what?"

"Bad snakes, lying snakes, telling tales about my master, good Master Regulus-" He broke off, howling again, and Gwen neatly slipped out the door with an expression of great alarm. Leaving Aurora to sort this out.

"You four, begone," Aurora snapped. The snakes just hissed.

"The elf issss mad..." Lyra whispered.

"Old thing driven round the twissst," Cyphus added, hissing cruelly.

"Never did have care for house elves," Julius said. "Nasty little beasssties!"

Kreacher let out a cry and Aurora had to restrain him. "Shut up" she yelled, and though it was aimed at the snakes, Kreacher did too. "Now, Kreacher," she said in a more measured voice, "don't hurt yourself. I only called you here to ask for some more books. I need some texts about the magic of souls."

She'd expected Kreacher to comply as he had with all orders. Indeed, he looked greatly strained while she watched expectantly. Then he let out a loud wail. "Kreacher won't!" he cried. "Kreacher won't!"

And then, without even being dismissed, he disappeared with a loud crack, leaving the four snakes to hiss at his departure.