Do Not Go Gentle

It was after several hours of searching that Hermione found the spot where the magic was coming from. A small box held an old ring, gold with a large black stone in the center. She handled it carefully, ignoring the urge to put it on. Like the diadem, it created a pull towards it that was hard to resist. There was an engraving on it that she thought looked familiar, but she did not have time to study it then and there.

It was late at night, the shack separate from habitation by many shrubs and trees. Lighting her wand, she carefully made her way through the growth, the box containing the ring safely stored in her pocket. She had not been able to apparate directly into the shack. There had been some kind of shield in place that she had carefully removed. She wondered nervously if Voldemort could sense the retrieval and loss of his horcruxes.

'If he had he would be here by now,' she thought to herself as she made her way to the edge of town. Carefully looking around for any sign of a person, muggle or wizard, she turned and apparated to Diagon Alley. Once there she made her way to her little room, tired yet still slightly on edge.

"Not going to cast that fire tonight," she said quietly to herself as she put the box down on her desk. Tomorrow there would be time, time to destroy the horcrux and time to find out where that symbol she saw on it had come from. For now she needed sleep. Not even bothering to undress, she flung herself down on the bed fully clothed and was soon fast asleep.

Again with a horcrux near there were nightmares, dreams of people bleeding to death in front of her. She woke up with her heart racing in the early hours of the morning. Had Ginny once had nightmares like this or was it just her? The pull to try on the ring was as strong as ever but she ignored it. She did not know what might happen if she succumbed to the influence of the horcrux, whether it would take her over the way it had Ginny but she thought it was a safe bet that it might.

Hermione splashed cold water on her face before going and sitting down at her desk. She opened the box and stared at the ring inside. It was not an attractive ring by any means but it yet had a pull towards it that must have been Tom Riddle's doing. How old had he been when he made this ring? He had killed his father as a teenager, that much she already knew. Did he make the ring right afterwards? He likely did, just like the diary had been made after the Chamber of Secrets had been opened.

So many questions left to ask. How many horcruxes did he make? She knew of the diary, diadem and ring, surely the cup and locket also were ones. How many could a person even manage to make? Was there a limit on how many times the soul could manage to be split? Having something of Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin, would he also have something of Gryffindor as well? Did Lucius Malfoy have the diary in his possession already and if he did, how was Hermione to get it from him?

She continued to mull over these questions as the sky outside her window got brighter and brighter. She had no work that day, she might as well use it to do more research.

Regulus met with her later, looking distracted by something. They sat in her room together, food open in front of them. He seemed uninterested in the brief attempts at conversation and Hermione could tell there was something on his mind. Finally he spoke up.

"I don't know how much longer we can keep doing this."

Hermione sighed. "That's up to you," she told him. "I have not made you do anything you did not want to."

"My parents," he began and then stopped. He then began again. "They know about you. Bellatrix has spoken to them more than once since Easter." For a second there was silence. "I tell them I am not meeting you but going to Barty's and he backs me up because he has no choice with his father, but they don't really believe it."

"So what is it you want to do?" Hermione asked him. "Are you breaking things off with me?"

"No!" It was low but determined. "No I do not wish to. My parents don't like it but I don't want to end things at all."

"I am not a secret Regulus, to lie about and keep hidden from your parents." She felt a twinge of guilt as she thought of all the lying she had done over the last two years.

"I didn't say you were," he told her defensively. "They are my parents though and they expect certain things from me, especially now that Sirius is gone."

"Do they have any right to?" Hermione asked. "Does anyone have any right to expect things of others that they might not be willing to give?"

"I don't know," he replied. "They expect me to spend time with purebloods from the right sort of families. I had plans and…" he trailed off then hopelessly.

"Plans for what?" she asked sharply. "To become a Death Eater?" As he tensed up she continued. "I know that Barty Crouch and Evan Rosier are planning on becoming one. I hope you have enough sense not to join them."

"Plans have changed," Regulus said softly. "I am not going to join the Dark Lord. I was originally supposed to but not now. You know why not now."

"I'm glad," Hermione's voice was just as soft. "You could do better than throwing your life away joining a madman."

For a moment there was silence. Then Regulus got to his feet. He went towards the window, his back to her as he stared out into the street. Too late Hermione saw him turn back and catch a glimpse of the box open on her desk. He frowned as he stared at the Gaunt ring. "What in the world?" he muttered as he reached for it.

Hermione, cursing her foolishness, was on her feet in an instant. "Don't touch it!" she cried out as his fingers hovered near the ring.

Regulus froze. "Why not?" he asked her. "Where did you get it?"

Hermione stumbled about for an explanation. "I found it," she said finally. "I don't know what it does so please don't touch it."

"You found it," he saif doubtfully. "You just found a very old ring with the Deathly Hallows symbol on it lying around?"

"So that was what that symbol meant?" she asked him. "I thought I had seen it somewhere before." She looked from the ring to Regulus's curious face. "I didn't know for sure."

"Yet you say you just found it somewhere?" Regulus repeated. "Where exactly was this?"

"At Hogwarts," she said before she could think. "There is a room full of hidden things. It was in there."

For a moment there was silence. Then Regulus said softly. "You are not telling me everything. There is something you are keeping from me and I want to know what it is." He looked expectantly at her.

"That's not true," she told him. "Look it's just an old ring I found. Nothing important."

"It's an old ring that you do not want me to touch," he said. "An old ring with the Deathly Hallows symbol carved into it." He shook his head. "I don't buy that Rose." Before she could say anything else he added: "I know you keep things from me. You did for months last year. Your hand for one," he nodded towards her still scarred hand. "Why you can't be honest with me I don't know. Do you still not trust me?"

Hermione sighed. "I wouldn't say it is like that," she told him. His next question caught her completely off guard.

"Are you a member of that Order of Dumbledore's?"

"What?" Hermione froze at the searching look in his eyes.

"It's a simple question," he said. "I know about the Order of the Phoenix," he told her. "It's not as much a secret as you would think, not among Slytherins planning on joining the Dark Lord. So are you a member of it? I know my brother and his friends must be by now."

Hermione gave him an uncomfortable look. "You said you weren't planning on joining him."

"I'm not," he told her. "The question wasn't if I was planning on joining the Dark Lord, the question is, are you in the Order?"

Hermione sighed. She felt she could not get around it now. "Yes, I am," she told him. "I joined fresh out of Hogwarts."

"It's foolish," he told her, shaking his head. "To put yourself at risk like that." He gestured to the ring. "How does that factor in? Is it Order business, looking up old rings with the Hallows symbol on it? What is Dumbledore having you do, research the Deathly Hallows?"

Hermione must have hesitated for too long because he grew curious looking again. "Or is this something you are doing all on your own?"

"I am curious about the ring," she told him. "I found it and I thought it had magical properties. I need to study it more. So in the meantime please don't touch it. I don't know if it is dangerous."

He was not satisfied with her answer, she could tell from his expression. He shook his head. "You think it has magical properties? Let's test that then." He pulled out his wand and before she could stop him had cast a revealing charm. His face got a strange look as he stared at the ring. Then he looked up at her in confusion.

"There is definitely some kind of curse on this ring. I don't know more but you are right, it is likely dangerous to touch. Where in Merlin's name did you get this ring? Don't tell me at school. Dumbledore would never allow something this dark to be in his school. You know how he feels about dark magic."

Hermione thought of the diadem haunting her dreams for the past few months. "What Professor Dumbledore knew about the school and what were always there are not necessarily one and the same," she told him.

He narrowed his grey eyes at her. "Barty had told me you were wandering around a lot last year. Was it this ring? If you did find it at the school, was it why you were wandering around? Why you were acting strange?" He gestured to her hand. "You said no one did that to you. Did you try on the ring and did it burn you? No…" he shook his head. "A curse like this would probably take the whole hand. That was something else, yet another thing you are not telling me. At the time I thought someone had cursed you but…"

Hermione let out a breath she did not know she had been holding. "I don't know how to explain it," she said. What more could she say. What could she tell him?

"For once," he told her. "Start with the truth."

The truth. She had not even gone to Dumbledore with the truth, afraid initially that it would be meddling in time. The Headmaster encouraging her not to distort time too much.

Could she tell Regulus? He had wanted once very much to be a Death Eater, had friends joining Voldemort. He was different now; she knew but how different? Could she take that leap of faith and expect it to remain between them?

"It's a difficult things to explain," she said. "I don't even know how to begin to explain it, it all has been so confusing."

Regulus took a seat at her desk near the ring. "I've got time," he told her. "Go ahead."

Hermione looked into his earnest face. If she had ever grown to trust him, now was the deciding moment. She sat on the edge of her bed and stared at her burned hand for a moment. Then she got up and went to her trunk and pulled out the melted remains of the diadem.

"This was once a diadem. It housed a horcrux belonging to Lord Voldemort."

She expected confusion then, with questions about what a horcrux was. What she did not expect was the look of wide-eyed shock and disgust that met her words.

"A horcrux," he repeated. "The Dark Lord made a horcrux?"

"You know what they are?" She could not hide her surprise at this.

"I have read books which mention them," he said. He looked at the ring then. "If that diadem was a horcrux then what is…" he trailed off in shock. "He made two of them? What the hell? Is that even possible?"

"Apparently so," Hermione told him. "I have reason to believe he made many more than two." At his disbelieving look she clarified: "I know that he left a job he used to work at years ago, having killed an old customer to get a hold of a cup belonging to Hufflepuff and a locket to Slytherin. I believe he made those into horcruxes too."

"How do you know all of this?" he asked her. "Does the whole Order know this?"

"I have been studying him on my own. The Order knows nothing." At least she didn't think that Dumbledore knew anything at this point in time. Whether he had his suspicions was another matter entirely.

"You got all of this from studying him?" Regulus asked. He looked dubious as he glanced back at the ring. "What happened to your hand?" he asked her. "How does it factor into all of this?" He listened in horror as she explained her casting the fire to destroy the horcrux, her first horribly failed attempt and her eventual success.

"You are mad," he told her. "You could have been hurt worse; you could have even died!" He had gotten up and was now pacing back and forth. "Doing this all on your own and going through all of those months of torment. Even going to Dumbledore would have been better than to go through what you have." He turned to her there and she knew him well enough now to see the worry beneath his ranting. "Why didn't you go to Dumbledore, Rose?"

"I can't explain it," she said. "Only that I had to destroy it on my own. It became a time consuming obsession. I found the diadem at Hogwarts and the ring at a home once belonging to Voldemort's family. I mean to destroy it too when I get a chance, I can control the fire now."

"Then what?" he asked her. "You are going to wander around and keep digging until you find the rest of them or get yourself killed trying." He ran a hand through his dark hair. "Dammit Rose, you could have died!"

"I know," she told him. "I need to do this myself though."

"Why?" he asked her. "What else are you not telling me?"

"Nothing!" She shook her head. "I have a lot to think on and finding and destroying those horcruxes is at the top of the list."

"By yourself?" he asked her. "You are impossible Rose. No sense of self-preservation at all. Joining the Order of the Phoenix and nearly getting yourself killed going after the Dark Lord's horcruxes." He looked with disgust at the ring. "I can't believe anyone would make more than one of those." He turned back to her then. "And you are sure that he has made multiple ones, Rose? Absolutely sure of it?"

"Yes," she told him. "I am sure." She sank down on the bed. "I know he would turn the Hogwarts artifacts into horcruxes. He did the diadem. I just don't know how many he has made or what they all are or where they are all located. It's been a bit of lucky guesswork mixed with what research I was able to do on his early life." She looked at him then. "I have a long task ahead of me but I'm going to go through with it on my own."

"No," Regulus said softly. "Not on your own." As she opened her mouth to protest, he continued: "No one who makes things like this should be allowed to live. It's beyond evil. If you are going to risk your life destroying these things, then I am right there beside you. I mean it, Rose."

She looked at him in disbelief for a moment. That he meant every word he said she could tell but could she do it? Could she really let him in on her plan to find and destroy Voldemort's horcruxes. She realized as she spoke to him that she trusted him enough with her secret mission, but did that mean she was willing to let him risk his life? He was not quite seventeen, with a year left of his schooling and yet here he was telling her he was in on her hunt now. Hermione was glad he no longer wished to be a death eater but did that mean including him in something this dangerous.

"It will likely be time consuming and dangerous," she told him. "I don't know how much we can get done this summer before you go back to school."

"So it's ok for you to do something dangerous but not me?" Regulus asked her. "You almost lost your hand, yet you have an almost Gryffindor-like stubbornness about these horcruxes. I am not going to let you get yourself killed being reckless. You don't have to do everything in life on your own."

She felt touched in a way she couldn't articulate in words. He meant what he said, she knew that in her heart, yet could she risk him? As he stared at her, his expression haughty and his grey eyes boring into her own she realized something that had been building for a while, waiting for her to acknowledge it. Something that she couldn't put into words but knew was obvious now she admitted it to herself.

She loved him.

"I don't want you in danger either," Hermione said softly. "You matter to me and I can't see you get hurt or possibly worse."

His haughty look remained. "We will get it done faster working together," he told her. "We have the whole summer, Rose, we might as well stop arguing and start working. Starting with getting rid of that ugly ring."

She had no choice now that she told him but to agree. "Alright, let get to work."

End of chapter.

Authors note: It's canon that Regulus found out abut the horcruxes on his own as a teenager. What he likely didn't know when he after then was that there were multiple ones. Well now he knows and the horcrux hunt can begin.