Gossip took time to spread, so Hermione let it be. People would either hear about The Shadows and be interested, or they'd roll their eyes and dismiss it. But it took time, so there was nothing else really relevant to do about it yet. The only thing to do in the interim would be to teach the others how to make a ley line, which Hermione was reluctant to do – it had been agonizing, and she'd only done it once herself so far. She wanted to practice more before trying to teach others, though she knew she'd be in for a world of pain each time she did.

In the meantime, Harry had suggested they figure out if there were any horcruxes they could get to easily. Destroying one over the summer would be a big win, he pointed out, and it'd prove to themselves that they could do this.

It was as good an idea as any, so Hermione dutifully Floo'd home to get Tom's diary, returning shortly. It was only when she returned that she paused, looking around the room. Her coven was there, sure, but so were another four Slytherins who would one day make up the Umbra.

"I really wish you were all Shadows now," she said wryly. "Can I at least get oaths from you all to not speak a word of what you are about to see or learn with anyone not already in this room?"

Pansy rolled her eyes but agreed, and Tracey and Draco were quick to agree as well. Millie sighed but nodded her head.

"I trust the secret we're vowing not to share is worth all this drama?" Millie commented.

Harry snorted. "You have no idea."

After all four of them swore an oath, Hermione held up the diary.

"This is a horcrux of Voldemort's," she said.

"We already know he's got horcruxes," Draco complained. "You told us that already."

Hermione ignored him, sending her magic into the diary.

"This horcrux was made when Voldemort was still just Tom Riddle, a 16-year-old in Slytherin," she went on. "He's half of Voldemort's soul, but he's stuck at 16 forever."

"He?" Draco said pointedly. "It's a silly book—"

"Shut up and watch, Malfoy," Harry snapped. "Can you wait two seconds without whinging?"

Draco fell silent and glared at Harry, who glared right back. Hermione set the diary down on the floor, took a deep breath, and began to pull Tom from the diary.

Jaws dropped on the faces of the Slytherins. Millie watched on in fascination as his body formed, wrought of magic and will, and Tracey and Pansy looked slightly dazed at the spectacle. Draco seemed legitimately terrified, his eyes were huge and round, and he seemed to be whispering to himself.

Once he was fully emerged, Tom gave Hermione a look, raising an eyebrow, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Everybody, please properly meet Tom Riddle," she introduced him. "The first half of Voldemort's soul."

"Pleased to meet you all," Tom said, bowing very formally.

There was a silence for a moment, everybody processing this.

"Merlin's balls, you're the Heir of Slytherin, aren't you?" Tracey exclaimed. "I knew I recognized you – you were in the Weasley girl's memories—but I didn't know—"

"The Weasley girl?" Pansy gave Tracey a strange look. "What does Ginevra have to do with—"

"This is how you knew so much about the Dark Lord as a schoolboy, like Theo was saying," Draco accused, eyes still wide. "You literally had him in your pocket."

Hermione grinned. "Guilty."

Everybody eventually settled down, though a few of them still seemed slightly amazed.

"I can't believe the young Dark Lord is on your side," Pansy said, shaking her head.

"Why not?" Hermione challenged. "I offer him the best chance at what he wants."

"It's also just nice to be needed," Tom said mildly. "Being trapped in a diary for fifty years – it's very boring, you know."

Millie muttered something from across the room, and Pansy and Tracey both had to stifle giggles.

"Anyway! Tom, we're trying to figure out what Voldemort's other horcruxes are and where he might have hidden them," Harry said, getting straight to the point. "Do you know about any of that?"

Tom looked thoughtful.

"I know of one other – at least, I strongly suspect I know one other, mind you," he clarified. "I can't guarantee anything after the date of my creation – that's when my memories split off from his."

"What was it?" Blaise asked.

"A ring," he said. "A family heirloom. I took it from my grandfather when I killed him."

There was a sudden silence at this, several people looking alarmed.

"Oh, come on," Susan groaned, rolling her eyes. "You can't imagine the baby Dark Lord was good, can you?"

Draco and Pansy looked uneasy, but Hermione was already moving on.

"You planned to turn that into a horcrux?" she asked. "You remember?"

"Yes," Tom said. "The diary was more of an experiment to see if I could do it, I believe. If it did work, I was going to use the ring." He paused, frowning. "I don't think I ever thought of a place where I would hide it."

"Well, if you had to hide it today, where would you hide it?" Harry asked practically.

Tom paused, losing himself in thought.

"Probably either at the Riddle mansion or the Gaunt shack," he said finally. "I would find it fitting to put a piece of myself at one these locations as a weird way of reclaiming my family. More likely the shack, I think – Muggles are more likely to care about the mansion and try to clear it out."

"The Gaunt shack," Susan repeated, writing it down on a whiteboard. "What did the ring look like?"

While Tom described the ring, Hermione was counting on her fingers. She got to the end and frowned.

"We found another one via scrying ritual," she told him. "It was Ravenclaw's diadem – hidden in Hogwarts. We think Voldemort hid it there in the 70s, when the curse on the DADA position started."

"I found Ravenclaw's lost diadem?" Tom's mouth dropped open. "That's incredible."

"Yeah, but then you turned it into a horcrux," Susan muttered. "Fat lot of good it'll do now."

"What other things do you think you might have chosen?" Hermione asked. "I thought maybe you would have chosen something from each house, but that doesn't add up quite right."

"Why not?" Millie asked, joining in. "How many did the Dark Lord make…?"

"Six," Tom said. "That was the goal, anyway – six horcruxes for a seven-part soul."

Millie whistled.

"That's mad," she said, shaking her head. "Mad."

"Yes, well, I didn't realize at the time that it'd be carving my soul and consciousness in half each time, did I?" Tom said testily. "I just knew seven was a very powerful magical number."

"So there's the diary, that's one, and the ring, that's two," Hermione said, quickly moving past the growing tension in the room. "If you got something from each founder, that'd be six."

"Why doesn't that work?" Draco wanted to know. "It adds up to me."

"Because I was a horcrux," Harry said, sighing. "With me, it adds up to seven, for eight parts in total."

There was a silence as Draco stared at Harry. Harry looked weary.

"I don't think you were on purpose, Harry," Luna said finally. "The Dark Lord was vanquished when he tried to kill you. Your death was probably supposed to fuel the creation of one of his horcruxes, but if he was trying to kill you, he wouldn't want you to be the horcrux."

"That's very valid," Tom said. "I don't know what artifact I would have used, mind you, but the logic is there."

"Do you think you would have done that?" Susan asked Tom. "Used something from each of the founders?"

"It has a certain appeal to it," Tom admitted. "I like the symmetry of it. And Hogwarts was always my home, more than any other place in the world. I think I might have thought of it as a way of honoring the founders."

"So… diary, ring, Gryffindor thing, Hufflepuff thing, Slytherin thing, and Ravenclaw's diadem," Susan said, writing.

"One of those isn't there," Luna reminded her. "Probably the Gryffindor – he probably intended to make that horcrux with the Potters' deaths."

Hermione gnawed on her lip.

"We can certainly go look for a ring at the old shack," she told Tom. "That's easy enough, I guess. But we'll have to research for other lost artifacts of the founders. I've never heard of any."

"Did you expect it to be easy?" Blaise teased her, grinning. "Thought you'd just round up all the horcruxes before term began?"

"No!" Hermione protested, but her face flushed, and the others laughed.

"Let's wait a fortnight or so," Tom suggested. "Make sure you charge the diary up enough that I can come with you and be of some use. I'm sure there are extraordinarily deadly curses guarding the horcrux if that's where I hid it."

"And when we retrieve it?" Draco asked. He raised an eyebrow. "What then?"

Hermione took a deep breath.

"We either decide to destroy it," she said, "which I can do with Fiendfyre, easy – or…"

"We give Tom a chance to assimilate with it," Luna said. "As a test."

"…you intend on giving the baby Dark Lord a test by giving him more of his soul?" Pansy said, incredulous.

"He'll only be able to rejoin the broken parts of his soul if he truly feels regret," Hermione explained, glancing back at Tom. "And if we're to trust him going forward, knowing if he's genuinely changed or not would be a big help."

Tom shrugged behind them, amiable. "Whatever Hermione decides."