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"How so very interesting," Elaine said as she deftly moved, her feet staying atop the stone rather than the dirt and mud mixture that was before them, where the tracks led to the centre of the room. She looked closely at them, her eyes inquisitive and interested, and then her attention shifted to the circle of plant life itself. "If the tracks keep for so long a time, I would have expected more to be present."
"Maybe he did away with them, or maybe he was the first person to ever venture in this far. You'd know better than I would just how dangerous this place is, but I'm going to guess based on the warning you gave me that it's far from safe," Harry responded, with her warning still very fresh in his mind. He noticed many items of varying shapes and sizes, and the more he looked, the less certain he was of what they truly were.
Some items seemed to be made out of the same shiny, blackish stone that the table near the circle of plants was. Other items had inscriptions that he couldn't begin to read, and of those, they were made from other types of material that were stone-like… or bone-like. He did hope that they weren't created from human or humanoid creatures, the place was already suspicious enough as it was. As he'd initially thought, especially when it looked like this place was the prime suspect when one thought about sacrifices or 'dark' magic, the wizards and witches — druids as others would call them — couldn't have been very good. Maybe they gave way to many of the Muggle superstitions and causes for concern.
There were still books that spoke of Magicals and Muggles living together in harmony, but that obviously wasn't the case nowadays. "Elaine?" he asked, shaking his head and looking away from the practically beckoning items lest he got too strongly tempted by them.
"Remain where you are," she answered, her tone firm. "There could be much that we're not seeing, my love, and I wish not to see you harmed. I'm certain of my ability to survive whatsoever this place might throw at me, but my concern for you is what keeps me cautious and slow-moving. If I tell you to flee back whence we came, do so without hesitation."
As if I'd do that.
Harry shook his head. "We're here together, we leave together. We've already got a deal when we get that little bit of him and return home. I can't have you breaking your promise, you know," he grinned at her when he finished, his stubbornness giving way to a hope-filled playfulness.
"You're as disobedient as ever… you're lucky that I'm fond of you to the point of willingness to murder hundreds," Elaine blew a kiss at him, and then she waved her wand in his general direction. The stone around him grew and grew, until by the time it was finished, Harry was concealed in a structure that was oddly familiar to the Muggle fortifications that were made during times of their wars. He wasn't sure how or why she'd be so familiar with them, or if it was an odd similarity, but it made him more curious still about what her early life had truly been like.
He only knew she stayed elsewhere before Yaxley — Merlin was that a name he hadn't thought of in a bit — had given her a house. Actually, now that he thought about it since she'd been living with him, he wondered what had become of her father. The man had seemed incredibly strange to the point that it made Luna seem normal. Now that Elaine lived and kept herself at their home or the Ministry, was he free? He'd have to ask later when they were out from this accursed place.
"Check the left and right whilst you stay behind the stone wall. Grindelwald would not suffer Muggles walking here upon the dirt for the sake of his own safety," Elaine paused, her upper lip twitching in a fashion that was imperceivable, such was the quickness of the action. "Charms intertwined with powerful curses the likes of which could be related to Egypt linger, and if Muggles touched this sacred soil, it would activate. It would appear the reason we see no further steps are simple too, for there is but one path, and if you deviate, you're destroyed."
"Has anybody fallen for it?"
Elaine looked to her right, and then to her left, and then she giggled and shook her head at him. Her expression looked so light and girlish for the scant few seconds it had lasted. "No, darling," she said, her lips folding to withhold more laughter. It took a second at the most, and afterwards, she schooled her features and stood straight, a still-amused look on her face. "If one had dared deviate from the path, there would be evidence by way of a human-shaped bush or a creature that would resemble an inferi. Had we been lucky, we could have seen the latter so as to study it. I suppose, unfortunately, the fools that came to try their luck never made it this far."
Harry nearly snorted. He wanted to say he couldn't believe that she'd wished to find some weird druidic inferi-like creature, but her being her, he couldn't. Elaine had no morals when it came to magic itself. In her words, it was a tool meant to be utilised to the uttermost, and if you restricted yourself in what you learned, that was a weakness meant to be exploited by those who held no such reservations. Dark magic was dark based on the wishes the master over it possessed. She even claimed that Horcruxes, as created by Grindelwald, need not be necessarily evil if they were created under ideal circumstances.
He didn't know enough about the things to disagree, but when she raised the point that the world would be better off had the founders of Hogwarts still been around to further magic and the world, he had to admit she did have a point. If Slytherin was around as well as his three friends, Hogwarts would be safer, and larger, and the curriculum would be more advanced than it currently was.
When Harry broke out of his thinking and looked back over at Elaine, he noticed that her pants had transfigured to shorts, and her shoes had been left behind on the stone. There didn't seem to be an ounce of cloth or other material save for her skin that came into contact with the dirt. He wondered why that was, and so he resolved to finish his tasks on the left and right quickly so that he might watch her and gleam a better understanding of what exactly it was that she was doing. There was always something to learn when it came to her and magic.
Harry moved to the right, his eyes briefly scanning over the four knights that remained. It had taken a minor deal of effort and next to little power to make them. He was proud of his creations and the ease of creation thereof. Enough so that he lingered for a second or two more than he had needed to. With a small, self-satisfied smile, he continued a bit further to the left and came to a pause nearly five metres from where he had started. The stone was more jagged and raw in the back right and left near the entrance, and there were stalagmites that were present. They were sharp, with holes in them and pebbles surrounding their base; it was a perfect spot to rig Muggle-made explosives, especially if they couldn't move further into the ritualistic room itself.
He cast a Lumos, ensuring that it was weak and didn't give off too much light. Elaine needn't be distracted as she worked and Harry's eyes could see a bit even sans the light, so he need not an overly powerful source of magical light to drive off the mundane darkness. He examined the area closely and carefully despite his urge to watch Elaine work. The pebbles were exactly as he thought, pebbles. There was no sign of explosives or Muggle items, not at first glance, but he wanted to be thorough.
With his wand still out, he went through a series of varying charms that Elaine had taught him. He looked for illusionary magic, for hidden spaces, for transfigurations that remained or anything else that didn't belong where he was searching. There was nothing that had been transfigured, no additional sign of Muggle items, no hidden spaces… but upon doing a search for illusionary magic, he came across in the further corner of the room and behind a larger stalagmite, a smaller, very refined-looking one.
He cast a glance back at Elaine, seeing that she was still moving slowly and carefully, a complex series of motions from her wand-arm and her eyes closed in concentration. She was busy, so it would be up to him to resolve whatever the issue was. First, he did as he'd begun to do in every location he'd seen since the first time they had encountered Muggle items. He looked for wires or bombs the likes of which he'd seen on historic texts or the tele.
Nothing.
When he ascertained that there was nothing of the Muggle variety outwardly present, he carefully moved back and did as Elaine had for him. He brought forth a shield made from stone that would be large enough and thick enough to ensure that if there was some form of explosion, he probably wouldn't outright die from it. He was no expert by any means, he didn't understand much, if anything, about the muggle bombs or what have you, he could only hope it would work well enough to keep him alive.
Upon finishing that, he nodded to himself in the hopes of encouraging his very cautious brain and started to transfigure the odd-looking stalagmite from the top, thinnest part, down. He would stop if anything inorganic appeared, or if there was something that peaked out that he wasn't familiar with. Harry cast one last glance over at Elaine, and seeing that she was still moving slowly with that same look of concentration on her face, he turned back and began to do his work.
It didn't take very long at all.
He was nearly halfway down his cautious, slow-paced transfiguration before anything made itself remotely visible. When it did, he saw something that made him furrow his brows. That wasn't a totally uncommon occurrence thanks to everything that had happened, but it still made him pause all the same.
There was an object that looked very similar to something Dumbledore might have worn at one time in his life. It was neatly folded save for the fact that it was wrinkled from being forced into a spot that was too small, and upon closer inspection, it filled Harry with a deep sense of dread. He felt the urge to get closer to it, to inspect the item.
And then he was whisked away at the same time a dark and large cloud enveloped where he had only just been standing. He felt light-headed and strange, and then came a deep anger that he knew wasn't his own, but it seemed to magnify itself twice over in the depth of his mind until even his own hands were shaking in silent fury.
"Go to the hall, Harry," Elaine ordered. There was no playfulness or disregard, no teasing undertone or smile in any fashion. Her voice was deeper and business-like, and her eyes looked not at him, but at the seemingly innocent piece of cloth.
As his hands were, hers were shaking in anger.
When he failed to stand completely, much less move to the hall as Elaine had said, he found himself whisked through the air once more, until he was pressed directly against the knights and looking at Elaine and where she was standing, her wand held in the direction that he had been looking.
He didn't have a clue what was going on until it struck him much like the feelings had struck him when he'd revealed the item.
It had to be a creation of Grindelwald, one of his soul fragments… Elaine had said how dark and hate-filled they would be, and yet, more than anything, it had seemed intelligent. The thought was sobering and nerve-racking; not enough to send him away from Elaine.
"Don't enter the room, it's drawn to you, and I know not the reason," Elaine said quickly, an urgency in her voice as she spoke to Harry whilst whipping her wand about.
Harry wished to enter back in so very badly. He wasn't sure what the capabilities were of a Horcrux, but he knew that they were dangerous. Very dangerous. From what little Elaine had told him, it wished to use you, to suck your life or even possess you; he knew very little when it came to the truth of the matter or its true capabilities. He only knew that he'd felt a calling, a beckoning, and had it not been for Elaine, he had been sufficiently distracted to be taken by it in whatever way it wished.
He nearly jumped in after a moment, when that black cloud provided a vision of a person, one that seemed like a Grindelwald-shaped form behind Elaine. She didn't pay it any attention, in fact, despite Harry viewing its lips moving, it didn't distract her. Somehow, Elaine remained focused on her 'combat' with the Horcrux, and the more she moved her wand around, the more it seemed to present a problem. It was not a problem that seemed incredibly dangerous, the cloud of darkness grew, and the shape grew in solidity to the point that the figure of Grindelwald seemed genuinely real. It could nearly pass for a person.
"Grab my satchel!" Elaine called to him, that same urgency in her voice as when she'd told him to leave the general vicinity. "Quickly — and join your wand to mine, it must be kept at bay if we're to rid this!"
Harry didn't hesitate or think about what was happening. He did as Elaine wished, and sent the satchel to her quickly, the top opened as he stayed near the entrance, his wand raised and casting the same spell that she was. It had been the only spell she had taught him to keep a Horcrux, or rather, dark energy that manifested from it, at bay. There was, in truth and as she'd said, little that could truly counter a Horcrux. One could only hope to keep the energy and darkness therein away long enough for the destruction of the object that contained the portion of the soul.
The barrier they made, that being a Patronus in the shape of a general shield rather than in the form of an animal of some kind, kept the innate darkness away long enough for Elaine to withdraw an item that Harry was intimately familiar with. Enough so that he swore he could feel a phantom pain of the item as she shot forward with it in her off-hand in the direction of the outfit; it was a Basilisk Fang, large and imposing, and very deadly looking. Even now, seeing it as he was, it brought back memories and the sensation of pain that he'd felt all those years ago.
He blinked, Elaine had flashes forward at a pace that he knew had to be aided by magic, and then she ran it through the cloth, a metallic sound echoing throughout the cavern as she did so. There had been something else hidden, there had to be, and Elaine had run it through as easily as she'd run through the cloth. Her arms, lithe and pale as they were, had a level of strength residing in them that she seldom showed saved for instances like that… or another that need not be mentioned. Regardless, she ran it through and the dark cloud went away without so much as a flash of light, a puff of smoke or anything in-between. It was simply gone, completely and utterly, and Elaine was standing over the false stalagmite with the fang still in her hand.
The two waited with bated breath for something, anything to happen, but nothing did. Quite simply, all that had been happening had ceased. It felt too easy, too simple, and yet, it had taken hours to get where they were. Elaine and Harry, likely the two strongest of their time at Hogwarts, had taken a very long amount of time to reach where they currently were and did so only due to taking paths that they hadn't been meant to in the first place. Had they followed the main paths that Grindelwald had likely thought any who sought after his prize would, the number of 'surprises' that were likely waiting for them had to be in the dozens, perhaps more, and if they were of a Magical and Muggle variety… Merlin, Harry could only hope that whosoever came after them to this place would be cautious beyond belief. Maybe he should write a warning, but the locals likely didn't speak English any more than he spoke Russia… Belarussian?
"If Grindelwald created but one Horcrux, lover, we are finished," Elain said, her voice back to normal and sans stress. "You did well."
Harry brushed aside her comment since the majority of the work had been done by her, not him. "Do you think he only created one, or did he do multiple?"
"Mayhaps hints were left here for us, and if not, I will continue to do as I have and search. We'll need to be cautious and I'll return to question the prisoners in Azkaban once more," Elaine smiled as a chill went through her. "You're welcome to come along when I do. We might benefit from having two people interrogate them, especially with your kindness and soft-hearted approach. Sometimes, force does more harm than good regardless of how enjoyable it might be."
I'll have to join her if we want the prisoners to stay prisoners. Who knows what else they know that could be lost if Elaine gets a bit carried away?
"Wait," Harry said suddenly, blinking as a realisation struck him. "I'm going to check the right side — you should see what was inside of the clothing too. I'd only noticed the rag and thought he'd put his Horcrux inside of that."
"Clothing would be a very interesting choice," Elaine said with a shake of her head, clearly thinking otherwise. "Do as you wish, and I shall do as you said. I need not warn you to be cautious, one can only wonder what else is down here and how much we've missed."
For Harry, it felt gratifying to learn that Elaine thought along the same line that he had in that regard. There were definitely dozens upon dozens of traps that they'd skipped, but it had taken hours of work and tuckered them out a fair deal, not to mention turn their clothes soggy due to the unnatural-feeling heat the further into the earth they went. One shower wouldn't be enough.
Maybe we could take a shower and dip into a bath afterwards. After all, I did say we could take a break after we handled one. If we handled one.
"Elaine?"
Her response was a noise that assured him that he'd gained her attention despite the girl moving further from him, attentive and cautious as she sought out the rag with a Basilisk Fang mark running it through.
"I thought you wanted to take the Horcrux back?" he asked, vaguely remembering that she had debated keeping a portion of Grindelwald. Harry hadn't thought she was being serious, and yet, at the same time, he sort of did. She wasn't totally wrong in thinking that they could gleam much and more from the man.
"Were it not so far away and had we not a dozen stops to make along our way home, I would have been very tempted to do so. Unfortunately for us and fortunately for the bit of his soul, he attempted to hide away, it would have proven too difficult," Elaine sighed dramatically and shot him a fleeting look that was a combination of a pout and teasing. "Should we find another and closer to home, I would like to. Until such a time and opportunity presents itself, I'll amuse myself with my studies, my position, and my Harry."
He had no doubt about that.
The right side had been trapped with one small Muggle creation connected to a wire, and Harry hadn't done so much as touch it once he'd found it. Unlike the opposite side whereupon further investigation had revealed Grindelwald's Horcrux, there was nothing of that ilk to be found. It was simply a corner with a Muggle trap the likes of which he figured could blow him away had he triggered it. Luckily for him and Elaine both, he hadn't, and so they were safe… he thought and hoped. There really was no telling thanks to that circle and the scepticism and caution that Elaine showed it. It didn't help his sense of security knowing that Grindelwald had stood where he was currently standing and had travelled nearly the same path that they had. That fact was eerie and removed any real sense of safety that Harry maintained despite the work they'd done thus far.
"Be a dear and check the third room we bypassed. I'll return to the path travelled and examine the table in the hopes of learning what he must have learned — if you return and see me standing still with my eyes closed and a look of deep concentration on my face, I do ask that you remain silent. If I can't read the texts left behind, I'll need to do my best to remove whatever magic is on them so that we might bring a few back with us," Elaine gestured to the door and pocketed something after doing so. It had come from the rag and was likely the culprit for the metallic sound when Elaine had stabbed the Basilisk fang through the old outfit. He had no doubt that he'd get it from her as they left. "Oh, lest I forgot, please leave your bag here. If I need a potion from it, I'd like it to be readily available."
"Of course," he responded, shrugging. Harry hadn't so much as gone through the entirety of his bag in the first place, and as such, he didn't know what else she'd put inside of it for him. He was confident he could figure it all out if he was given the chance, but the third room was likely small or without the importance of this one.
"I need not urge caution, but I'll do so regardless for the sake of easing the pestering sensation of worry whensoever I think about you without me by your side. Should anything befall you, I'll feel it and come to you," Elaine moved toward him with grace and fluidity in her movement. When she was but a foot from him, she leaned forward, her body stretching temptingly until her face blocked his vision of it. "Did I interrupt your view, lover?"
Harry snorted and put a hand on either side of her waist. He pulled her close then, and the little noise she made was music to his ears. "You can make it up to me. I'm sure you know how."
"Me?" Elaine asked, her eyelashes batting innocently at him as one hand crawled up his chest as a spider might whilst the other wound itself in errant strands of her hair. "I'm but an innocent witch and you, a wizard that seems to be acting most naughtily. I can't help but wonder what it is you'd like from me, Deputy Minister, sir."
When her voice trailed off, it was girlish and innocent in a way that was nearly believable were it not for the song-like tone that her voice had morphed into. Perhaps others would fall for it, she was a great actress, but he knew enough about Elaine and how she acted to know it do so thrill her when she played parts such as she'd just done. He suspected her playfulness and wanton nature were stronger after the destruction of a portion of Grindelwald. Victories of any sort, especially when they involved something that led to any kind of destruction — be it political or literal — were a catalyst that heightened her lust towards him.
Harry didn't mind it all that much so long as it stayed private between them… and didn't lead to them being stuck in that spider-infested forest up above. Maybe they could keep it for when they were truly safe and in a familiar type of surrounding. Yes, that would probably be for the best. There was something so very discomforting when it came to weird, dead societies the likes of which he couldn't begin to comprehend the magic they practised or the rituals they completed.
Merlin, even that hidden Slytherin study with the man he still wasn't totally convinced was Slytherin in the first place would be preferential. Maybe he should finally go about telling Elaine of that place and its existence. There could be information that could prove helpful, and if anybody would know who was Slytherin, and who wasn't the man, it would be her. She was practically a master of all things Snake-like.
"Did I distract you so?" Elaine asked, her voice lighter and clearly more amused now.
Harry blinked a few times and nearly snorted when he felt where his hands had drifted. One was cupping her rear and the other had gone slightly lower, to the high point of her thigh. Each location was soft and likely led to her comment whilst he'd been lost in his thoughts and the softness of her body.
"When don't you?"
"How very charming," Elaine cooed as she pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose in a manner that made him feel as if that were his reward. Instead of stepping back or separating from him, Elaine withdrew only enough so that she could press her lips to his, and when she did, he matched her motions as naturally as ever.
She tasted of salt and exertion, and peculiarly, of the potion she'd recently ingested after the 'duel' with the fragment of Grindelwald's soul. It hadn't been a particularly tough fight for the pair, Harry supposed that made sense considering her expertise in the subject, but he could still feel how she seemed tired, not exhausted, but there was definitely an underlying sense of exertion that was kept at bay by the use of her carefully crafted and good-tasting creations.
After a few moments, Elaine's hands began to wander and the kiss they'd shared threatened to deepen. He was sorely tempted to allow it to do as much, but he knew that he could not. If he did, the chances of danger would escalate in his mind even if that wasn't necessarily true. They weren't truly safe where they currently were, they only had an illusion of safety on account of not perceiving all of the danger that could be lurking nearby.
Thus, Harry was the one to pull away and when he did, the two breathing deeply with saliva-covered lips, he grinned at her. "Remember what I said," Harry said to her. "We'll take a day to ourselves and enjoy it as much as we'd like once we make it back. I promised."
Elaine's eyes, impossibly dark as they'd always been, seemed heavier with a mixture of desire and eagerness as she stared back at him. "I have not forgotten, nor will I," she withdrew, her gaze still piercing him as a few steps carried her back and away from him. It seemed to take much and more of her willpower. "Go, Harry, and be safe and expedient. I dare say my patience wears thin."
I don't doubt that for a moment.
Harry nodded his head to her and after doing so, winked. He knew he was tempting fate a bit by doing so, but the look of desire and wanting on Elaine's face was simply put — too enjoyable. There was little that could compare to being so wanted, so lusted after, and the emotions that it gave way to were beyond enjoyable. In another life, he might find it strange or far from normal, but this was his normal, and this was his life.
He wouldn't trade it for the world.
Harry had gone through the hall, to the third entrance, and after sending in every night save for one, determined that the room was safe. He entered it, examined it, and saw the many carvings on the wall that seemed to signify very crudely made people. It looked as if it was done by way of the wand with a rudimentary charm that made the stone give way to the caster.
When he realised that there seemed to be bones encased in a material he wasn't familiar with that jutted out instead of stalagmites, after a brief shiver of disgust, he withdrew from the room. There was no need to disturb the burial ground of the long-dead and forgotten ancient Magicals that had once lived and deposited the fallen where he currently stood.
By the time he had returned to Elaine, the girl in question was only just making her way from the table with her bag over her shoulder and looking heavier than it previously had. He suspected her work in clearing whatever magic was on the possessions had been fruitful, otherwise, she wouldn't have suffered any object that might be cursed or enchanted to harm those that liberated them.
"All good?"
"Beyond perfect with your presence returned to me," Elaine responded as she finished her dance-like movement from the path until her feet reached the stone, at which point she returned to her shoes. "We'll return now. Portkeys were not so much as conceived at the time of this civilization's fall, and so no charms prevent us from using one to return to our first desired location — have you ever been to Latvia?"
"Nope," Harry said with a shrug. "That our first stop?"
Elaine smiled. "The first of many with our new possessions," she answered. "Tell me, where would you prefer to celebrate if you wish to do so at all before we return home? Latvia? Estonia? Finland? Perhaps Sweden or Norway?"
The choice of where they went next, was his.
"Home, at last," Elaine said, her arms stretched out wide as she took a few steps away from the Floo and inhaled deeply. "It smells far better than the caves, doesn't it? The stench of spiders, Muggles and stale, musky air was ever so bothersome after hours upon hours of breathing it in."
For the most part, Harry agreed with Elaine, none of where they'd gone from the time they'd entered the woods until their first trip away — Latvia — had smelled remotely pleasant. The trees had bodies that had been left behind, explosives, and in general, the scent of death about it. When they had ventured further, the air had been oppressive and filled with the scent of spiders and the sensation that you were always being watched even if that was very far from the truth. That wasn't to mention the musky, stale scent of the city, nor the overly rich scent of earth and flowers in full bloom as they'd entered the ruinous settlement.
"I think I'm going to go and take a shower once we've deposited everything in the basement's vault," Harry said aloud as he shrugged off his jacket and undershirt. He was sorely tempted to pull himself free of his pants too, but that could wait. At least removing half of the garments that still felt disgusting regardless of the number of cleaning charms he cast put his mind to ease.
"A fine idea if ever I've heard one," Elaine agreed as she started toward the entrance to the basement, a lingering look shot over her shoulder at Harry as she purposefully strutted away from him. "We can soak in a bath with oils and soaps afterwards to alleviate the tension in our muscles. I'll need my back washed. And my front."
There it is, Harry thought as he smiled, no longer abashed as he would once be, and shook his head. I was waiting for a comment like that from her.
"You're shameless."
Elaine scoffed. "Hardly. It's not as if I'm walking through Diagon Alley sans clothing. It's only you, so why should I care if you have the pleasure to see me in my natural form without cosmetics or clothing?"
"I didn't say I was complaining," Harry said as he moved closer, barefoot and bare-chested. "Did you want me to stash the remaining potions too?"
"Laddey, Momsey, or one of the others is more than capable of doing so if need be. I've felt your curiosity since first we left the dank caverns of that ruined society, so why wait? I'm sure you're very close to allowing that innate curiosity of yours to overpower you," Elaine then moved through the archway with purposeful steps as she descended the staircase out from Harry's line of sight.
He followed after her and began to jog, and then sprint when he heard her laughing whilst doing the same, the heavier satchel still slung over her back. They were like youths playing in such a way, strange as it was, for neither had really done all that much playing around in their childhood; he didn't need to hear that from Elaine to know it was the truth.
Eventually, she reached the entrance to the 'vault' of sorts, one that was beside a portion of the manor he'd as of yet been unable to enter — perhaps it was where the book of House Peverell's inventory was stashed — and stopped to wait for him. In seconds, he was by her side and grinning.
"Here we are," he said with a nod toward the door.
"Here we are," Elaine echoed as she pushed open the door with one long and thin finger complete with a sharp-looking, shiny nail. "I imagine come one day, the entirety of this vault will be filled to the brim with treasures unimaginable."
"Could be — now that we're here and talking about it too… what was that tucked away under the rag? It was the Horcrux itself, I know that much, I'm just curious as to what the object was. It sounded like it was made out of metal. It made me think it was something Muggle for a moment that I'd failed to see," Harry had a few more words to add, but he stopped short. Elaine had probably felt a brief stab of worry from him when he'd heard the sound, he didn't need to verbalise it.
Rather than answer his question verbally, Elaine reached into her shirt — her bra to be precise — and withdrew the item in question, or rather, a pouch that seemed to be made out of leather. She pushed into the room with Harry following close behind her, and upon reaching a table, flipped the pouch upside down after opening it.
What fell free from the confines of said pouch was a locket, old and ornate, destroyed and with few portions of the portrait within still viewable. It was clear despite the damage that one person of the two had been Grindelwald in his youth. The other person within the portrait could not be identified save for the fact that he was equally as young, pale of skin and dressed very questionably even by most Magicals standards of fashion.
"Think that other bloke would be of any use to us in finding other Horcruxes, presuming they exist in the first place?" Harry asked after a few moments went by in silence, the pair of them studying the locket and pictures with equal amounts of attention spent on both.
"If we could tell who the man was, I would say there would be a chance that we could gleam some level of information from his brain," Elaine took one last fleeting look before disregard flashed across her face and she moved across the room, toward a nearby table on which she dumped the contents of the bag she'd had over her shoulder.
All sorts of trinkets fell free from it. As Harry had suspected, the vast majority were of a quality and similar make to those that he had seen upon that table of blackish-purplish stone. Some of them were made from that same material, others were made from bone and as he looked more closely, there were others made from various other types of stone and even a few made from wood with a shine to them that seemed similar to the floors in Muggle-owned buildings. It seemed unnatural for each and every item to look as clean, put-together and free from damage as they all did after such a long time of being left to their own devices.
Mayhaps the magic that had been prevalent and stifling near the shrine had a hand in keeping their condition so pristine. He didn't rightly know, it wasn't something that he was familiar with or knowledgeable about. Not really.
"Those are bones, right?" Harry asked for the sake of morbid curiosity as he inched closer to the items in question. Many were sharp with inscriptions he couldn't begin to guess the meaning of. It was strange and chilling in a way that he seldom felt now that he had reconciled his feelings towards Elaine.
"They are," Elaine answered, her hand shooting out to grip one of the vaguely knife-shaped items. "For so long ago, this would have been far more challenging to create than it would prove to be nowadays. Undoubtedly, many hours of creation went into this — it should be kept here until we can assure what it does if anything."
Harry closed his eyes to concentrate and feel for the magic, as Elaine had taught him to do when it came to warding schemes and the like. Aside from the innate protection that the manor had and the additions they'd made together — he hadn't wanted her to do so without his supervision — there was nothing. Not one item on the table seemed to tell Harry that it was filled with magic in any capacity. That was strange in and of itself since Elaine wouldn't have chosen random trinkets as she had were it not for a purpose.
Some of them looked particularly punishing, especially those that were made from bone.
"Ritualistic daggers? They look similar to our knives for potions class, but harsher," Harry guessed, eyeing a larger, serrated and very harsh-looking bone-made knife that was stained and degraded worse than the others.
"Most of them would have been used for such a purpose, yes. I imagine the runic carvings might have indicated their purpose or empowered the weapons in the magic they were used for," Elaine brushed her hands across the writing of the one in her hand. She retracted it after a scant few seconds with a snort. "How barbaric, and yet, very intriguing — to think magic evolved from such spells and rituals to what it is today."
He could agree with her in that capacity. Magic had certainly come a very long way if this is what it used to be. Harry took one last glance at the items, the dozen or so that she'd 'liberated' from the shrine they had been placed on, committing them to memory lest they vanish, and then he started towards the door once more.
"If you're going to examine them another time, let me know. I'd like to be there when you do."
Before he could truly break Elaine's line of sight on him, he was halted not by her touch, but by a pull from her magic. It grabbed at his cloak and refused to let up as he made to move away.
"You wish to bathe and retire for the remainder of the day?" Elaine asked as she stretched as a house cat might, her long, lithe legs flexing before she started towards him with all the grace of a wild feline. "Won't you invite me?"
Harry snorted. "I didn't think you needed any form of an invitation to come to join me in the bath."
"It's the thought that counts," Elaine huffed as she slid past him, one hand grabbing one of his in the process. "It truly is most bothersome that we weren't able to take that Horcrux home with us — I imagine the information we might have gleamed from it would have been most enlightening. Wouldn't you say?"
"I'm sure we could have picked his brain however that might work with his soul in a locket and learned much, but I can't say I'm unhappy that we didn't do so. It'd be hard to rest knowing a piece of him was locked away in the vault of our home," Harry truly was thankful they hadn't done as she'd initially wanted.
"I suppose there would have been a degree of danger, however minute it would be with us together as we are," Elaine conceded, a rare action that lasted for the last second or so it took for them to leave the basement. "Ah, yes, rest. I do find the prospect of having the morrow to ourselves so very enjoyable. Though I can't say I'm fond of what's become of my Ministry in our absence."
Harry imagined much had happened; the Ministry belonged in the bin until they could make some massive reforms.
We could always read the Proph—
His thoughts were interrupted as Elaine pressed him into a wall, and for the remainder of the evening and well into the night, his mind couldn't have been farther from the rag of a newspaper.