Chapter 107

Memories of a Curse

Note from J.M. Jackson: Apologies for the lack of update last week, it's been a rough couple of weeks personally. I'm updating with two chapters today as an apology, with both chapters revealing secrets of sorts, and hopefully leaving you all wanting more. Enjoy.

The memory that Lily and Ginny found themselves in started in the living room of an older heavyset woman who was wearing a very posh, yet clearly identifiable, ginger wig, as well as a pink set of robes that flowed all around her. The room had a smell of perfume that seemed to permeate all of Lily's senses. Did the woman bathe in it?

As she was sitting in an ornate armchair, she held a small, jewelled mirror as she was applying rouge blush to her cheeks, whilst a house elf – Hokey, Lily assumed – was lacing up what seemed like very tight satin slippers.

"Hepzibah Smith was a woman who was quite obsessed with making perfect impressions," Dumbledore said. "Whenever anyone met her, she would make sure it was on her terms, and she would be wearing a lot of make up."

"For some people, I guess appearances are everything," Lily said softly.

"Indeed," Dumbledore agreed.

"Hurry up, Hokey," Hepzibah chided impatiently. "He said he'd arrive at four, it's two minutes to, and he's always perfectly on time."

Lily felt sorry for Hokey, she looked overworked, and a little tired, with her skin hanging loosely from her frame. Still, she seemed happy to be working for Hepzibah, but then, many House Elves didn't know better, though Lily hoped Hokey was treated decently, even if she was overworked.

After putting away her makeup quickly, Hepzibah looked at Hokey. "How do I look?" she asked, as she admired herself in the mirror.

"Lovely, Madam," Hokey replied. Lily had to admit, there was a certain elegance to how Hepzibah looked, though she did feel that she was wearing too much makeup. Still, if she was looking forward to seeing Voldemort, or Tom Riddle as he was known then, she was clearly wanting to make an effort, maybe in a flirtatious way.

As the doorbell rang, sending a gentle tinkling noise through the living room, both Hepzibah and Hokey jumped. It seemed they had quickly lost track of the time in those moments.

Hokey scurried out of the room, though Lily was impressed with how she had done so, given how packed the living room was. There were a lot of objects, cabinets full of small, yet posh, boxes, cases full of gold embossed books, shelves of orbs and globes, and a lot of potted plants that were clearly very well taken care of.

If anything, Lily would have thought the room was a magical antique shop, given everything there was. Clearly, Hepzibah was obsessed with her collections, and as the younger Riddle entered the room with Hokey, Lily noted his hair was a little longer than it had been whilst at school, but his cheeks were hollowed; however, the look seemed to suit him. Hepzibah certainly thought so, anyway.

Riddle pressed his lips to Hepzibah's hand, and bowed gently, producing a bunch of roses out of nowhere. As Hepzibah squealed in delight, saying he shouldn't have, Ginny pointed to a vase on the side that was prepared for flowers.

"So, this is pretty much going through the motions, right?" Lily asked. "He brought flowers, she was expecting them, despite her words.

"Indeed. It seemed to be how they interacted with every meeting. This was the last meeting, though they had met many times before, whilst Tom worked for Mr. Burke," Dumbledore explained.

"He enjoyed her collection, right? I recognise that from a history lesson Uncle Sirius gave me," Lily pointed to a glowing orb that was producing an image of several wizards. "It was created in the fifteenth century and was the first magical item to be able to project images."

"Absolutely correct," Dumbledore confirmed, smiling. "On both counts."

Lily watched as Hokey came back into the room, carrying a tray of cakes which Hokey set on the table in front of them.

"Please help yourself, Tom. I know how you love my cakes. How are you doing? You look a little pale. Is Burke overworking you as usual?" Hepzibah fawned over Riddle. Lily felt a pang of pity for the older woman; would she feel the same if she knew what he would become?

"Thank you, Miss Hepzibah is too kind," Tom replied, accepting a cake and biting into it. "Mr. Burke would like to make an improved offer for the goblin made armour," Tom said.

Hepzibah pouted and said she would end up thinking he was only there for her trinkets.

"I am only a poor assistant, Madam, and I am ordered here because of them. I would much rather spend time not talking business," Riddle replied. Hepzibah waved her hand, dismissive of Burke, and offered to show him something very special she wasn't selling and didn't want Burke to know of it.

Lily was immediately on guard; if Riddle felt something was special and unique, his greed would get the better of him. She also worried now for Hepzibah's safety, although she realised that even if not for Riddle, she would likely have passed away by now, given this was so long ago.

"Can you keep my secret, Tom?" Hepzibah asked. Riddle assured her that he could, and Hepzibah first revealed one of two leather boxes, both of which were floating over to them.

When Hepzibah opened the first box, Riddle picked up what was inside; a small golden cup with two finely wrought handles. It was quickly identified as belonging to Helga Hufflepuff, and when Lily saw Riddle looking at it, she could see a red gleam in his eyes briefly.

Hepzibah then said that she was distantly descended from Hufflepuff. "Is that why he was interested in her? For her collection, hoping to find a powerful source of magic or something he could take?" Lily asked.

"It would certainly be in keeping with his attitude," Dumbledore agreed, as Hepzibah spoke of how she had paid a fortune for it.

"Burke brought it, apparently from a ragged-looking woman who he thought had stolen it, but had no idea of it's true value," Hepzibah said, and in that moment, Lily saw Voldemort's eyes flash scarlet again, and his knuckles whitened. She figured this couldn't be too long before he found the tomb of Slytherin and was 'purified' as he had told Lily in the Graveyard where his father was buried.

"I daresay Burke conned the woman out of it and paid her a pittance, the poor dear. He is not a generous man, which is why I am always hesitant to do business with him," Hepzibah said.

Lily noted that for a brief moment, Hepzibah seemed a little unnerved, which she pointed out to the group.

"I saw a flash of red in Riddle's eyes; I think Hepzibah did as well, briefly," Lily commented.

"When she spoke of Riddle's mother," Ginny added. "He seemed to take it personally, the comment of her being a thief, in Burke's eyes."

"Probably because she was the source of his magic, and despite her dying and not being a great witch, he still felt like his name was being sullied in that moment," Lily concluded, as the memory ended, and the group was back in Dumbledore's office.

"I think these lessons have clearly been a success; so far, you now have a fine grasp on Voldemort, who he is, and that will help you. But two days after this scene, Hepzibah Smith died," Dumbledore explained. "Hokey was convicted by the Ministry of poisoning her mistress's evening cocoa by accident."

"No way!" Crouch, Lily and Ginny exclaimed angrily at the same time.

"We are all of one mind," Dumbledore said. "There are many similarities between her murder and the murder of the Riddle family. In both cases, someone else took the blame, someone who had a clear memory of having caused the death."

"Let me guess, Voldemort modified her memory, like he did with his Uncle, making her think she had killed her mistress," Lily said bitterly.

"And then took the two treasures, the locket and the cup," Ginny added. Dumbledore, for his part, looked at the two of them proudly, though he wasn't smiling, given the circumstances.

"Indeed, that was the same conclusion I drew as well, and as with Morfin, the Ministry was predisposed to suspect Hokey," Dumbledore began, but Ginny continued.

"Because she was a House Elf," Ginny guessed, and Lily felt the same way that Ginny clearly did, from the tone in her voice.

"Aye, the Ministry have never been too keen on looking past some prejudices. Lately, there has been some improvements, but still, there's a lot of work to do," Crouch said. "I suspect you've seen this firsthand, Lily."

"Unfortunately," Lily agreed.

"By the time Hokey was convicted, Hepzibah's family had realised that two of her greatest treasures were missing. It took them time to be certain, since she had many hiding spots, but by the time they were certain, Tom had resigned his post and vanished. They were surprised at his disappearance, as was many others. That was the last anyone saw or heard of Tom Riddle for a very long time," Dumbledore explained.

"Why did he murder Hepzibah for those two items? I mean, the locket, he might have felt rightfully belonged to him, even Hepzibah said that Burke conned his mother out of it, but the cup?" Lily asked.

"I'm thinking because it was Helga Hufflepuff's. Hogwarts was his home, and he saw it as a powerful symbol, but even then, that couldn't be the only reason," Ginny added.

"I do not believe so, but until you have retrieved that memory, Lily, I can't say with any certainty," Dumbledore replied. "We have one more memory to visit, and that is mine," he added.

The memory was an interesting one, with Voldemort meeting Dumbledore in his office, shortly after Dumbledore had become Headmaster. Voldemort had clearly already found Slytherin's tomb, but his face was slightly different. Lily guessed – correctly, according to Dumbledore – that Voldemort had used a spell to make his features slightly less snakelike, perhaps to disguise himself and his true reasons for wanting to meet with Dumbledore.

It was then that Lily learnt that since Voldemort had requested a teaching job – which Dumbledore had refused, to no one's surprise – the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher had never kept anyone longer than a year.

"Wait, You-Know-Who asked to teach here?" Ron asked incredulously.

"He asked, but Professor Dumbledore thinks there was another reason he wanted to be back in the castle," Ginny replied.

"Why? To see Myrtle? Or Slughorn?" Dean asked. They were sitting in the Gryffindor common room, with the Gryffindor members of the Order of the Dragon – as well as Draco and Pansy – listening to Ginny and Lily's story of what had happened.

"Maybe to find something he hid here? Or to get access to the Chamber of Secrets again?" Pansy suggested.

"Maybe, but I don't think so. There's something else we're missing, but until I can get the memory from Slughorn, we won't know. It's like we've almost finished the puzzle, but just one piece remains," Lily said.

"Tends to be the way with most puzzles," Draco said. "I don't understand it either. What could he have wanted with the cup and the locket? I don't think for a second it was sentimental reasons."

"Neither do we," Ginny agreed.

"Maybe some kind of weapon, or he found a way to use them to make himself more powerful, using remnants of magic from the Founders, if such a thing is possible," Hermione suggested. "It might be worth looking into."

"What about the book Crouch gave you?" Lily asked. "What he said about Horcruxes?"

"If it had been one object, sure, but we're talking multiple items," Hermione replied.

"Okay, so he could be trying to drain magic from them then," Lily mused. "I'll have to find a way to speak to Slughorn, and quickly."

"Agreed. Until we can find out what he wanted, this is gonna bother all of us," Seamus said. "What about our training?"

"We'll need to start training harder. There're only a few months left of the school year, and if we're gonna have even half a chance of winning, we'll need to be ready," Lily said.

"Well, I do need your help with something," Hermione said. "I was hoping all of you could help."

"What's wrong?" Lily asked.

"Fleur's family have moved over here now, and her two sisters, Gabrielle and Nicolette, are going to be starting here tomorrow," Hermione said, biting her lower lip. "They want to be close to Fleur, since she's staying over here now, with me."

"That's brilliant news," Lily grinned.

"Of course we'll help," Ron added.

"We're always here to help as best we can," Seamus added.

"Seamus, we don't need them learning how to blow stuff up," Hermione chided, prompting the group to burst out laughing.

Lily smiled as she took Hermione's hand. "Seems like everything's coming together," Lily said.

"Looks like," Hermione agreed. "I just… I hope nothing goes wrong."

"So do I," Lily nodded. "But hey, this is a good thing. You're in love, you'll be getting married before too long, and the woman you love is going to be here with you, all the time. Remember, this is the weapon Voldemort will never have, and will never understand. Love is the most powerful of the emotions, and it'll destroy darkness."

"She's right," Ron agreed. "I'm lucky to be with Lavender, and honestly, this feeling can keep me going when everything feels dark and empty."

"So, trust us, you got this," Lily promised. For once, it felt nice having a normal problem to deal with, instead of the usual issues that tended to crop up. She knew there was still a puzzle to solve, but for now, they would celebrate love, and they'd enjoy themselves, Voldemort be damned.