Salazar Slytherin's Visit
Hermione
Harry was supposed to be teaching defence against the dark arts to the fourth years in an hour. Hermione wasn't sure that was going to be happening. He was still out cold on the circular seats in the middle of the room.
Draco had arithmancy in an hour. Rosalie had charms but had said she didn't feel like going today. So instead, she and Draco took the horcrux detector and set off to the place that Voldemort had visited as a child, in the hopes that they would find a horcrux. Rosalie reasoned that it would also be an opportunity for Draco to see the ocean, which he'd never bothered to see before.
Hermione sat down on one of the cushions beside Harry and carefully wrote out their incredible findings. How they'd managed to turn a Muggle radiation meter into a horcrux finder and – more impressive – the new spellwork that now existed for moving a horcrux out of an item so that it didn't need to be destroyed.
Well, actually… she hadn't examined the diadem yet.
She flipped the cloth on Harry's head and then got to her feet. The diadem had been left sitting on the side table, unassuming. Hermione walked over and examined it from above. From the stone, where Draco had pulled the horcrux right out of it… or, at least, Hermione had hoped that was what had happened. What a pity it would be if they'd actually managed to sever the horcrux and now there were two? But anyway, there wasn't even a scratch on the surface.
This diadem was said to have granted Rowena Ravenclaw enhanced mental capacities. It was said that she herself had enchanted it. Hermione's heart beat faster. If she wore this diadem, what would her intellect become? She could solve any problem… outwit any argument. Perhaps she could look over her notes and deduce where another horcrux was?
She picked up the diadem, remembering only in the second after she wrapped her fingers around the arch that it had had some sort of other cursing on it. She froze, knowing it was too late and expecting some horrible thing to happen to her, but nothing did.
Her hand was lit up green from all her scheming, but she seemed fine.
She picked up the diadem in her right hand and walked to the whiteboard. With her left hand, she pulled out her wand and cast a charm on the board to cause it to become reflective. In the reflection of the board, she could see Harry was still out cold.
Also, she looked like Shrek with all the green light on her. It wasn't a pretty sight, but it did seem powerful, in a sense.
She stowed her wand, took the diadem in two hands, and placed it upon her head. It forced her curly, poofy hair against her head. When the sapphire rested on her hairline, she felt a powerful rush through her, so intense that it made her dizzy. Then she examined arithmancy on the whiteboard and realised, to her amusement, that adding an extra line to the middle of one of the triangle's lines could magnify the power of the rune, and possibly allow them to search a greater area. And now that she had this rune, which she had invented, she could use another arithmancy formula to calculate how powerful it was. That would tell her the distance in which the detector would work.
Hermione began to laugh. In pure ecstasy and pride. This was amazing! And she and Draco had developed it! They could win an Order of Merlin for this work, and – Hermione clapped her hands over her mouth to breathe – perhaps one day this could be taught to students as part of a class! One day, when she was known as the Brightest Witch to Ever Live…
"Well, I must say, your ambition is astounding," a voice said.
Hermione jumped and snatched her wand from her pocket. She whirled in a circle. No one was there, and Harry was still out cold.
Her mind quickly narrowed the possibilities and she looked up. Whatever the voice was, it had heard her thoughts. Was the diadem…
There was a sound like someone knocking on glass and Hermione looked back to the white board and jumped. A man was inside. He was surprisingly short. He had very nice hair – the kind that made Hermione assume his shampoo budget probably resembled his food budget – and a well-trimmed beard. He had green eyes and tan skin, as if he were from the Middle East. He wore very old-fashioned robes with silk cords, as if he were royalty. And he had a medal pinned to his chest.
"Salazar Slytherin?" Hermione guessed. "You're younger than your portrait."
Salazar Slytherin nodded. "This is how I prefer myself," he said. "This was me in my thirties, before I founded Hogwarts. Now, I must say, that you aren't quite what I was expecting when Helga Hufflepuff put that safeguard on the school, but I'm willing to acknowledge that…" he sniffed. "I was not always correct in life."
Hermione smirked and put her hands on her hips. "I'm not quite sure what you mean," she said.
"Oh yes you are," Salazar snapped. "You're just ambitious for an apology. Yes, well, see things from my point of view." He rolled his wrist. "I'm a Pureblood wizard. We benefit the most from any policy that makes us automatically special."
"So you began supporting Pureblood ideology because you knew it'd put you ahead," Hermione said. "And in the process, set the magical world back thousands of years."
"Well, I didn't do that single-handedly," Salazar scoffed. "Though, what an accomplishment, if I had…"
"And the chamber of secrets?" Hermione asked.
"Moving right on," Salazar cracked his knuckles. "As I said, you're not what I expected. For one, you're a girl. For two, you come from the… other side of things. And for three," Here, he hesitated, as if it greatly pained him to continue. "…You may… havemebeatintermsofambition, but!"
"Sorry," Hermione said, her smile spreading wider. She put her hand to her ear. "It's hard to hear through the whiteboard. Did you say I may have you beat in terms of ambition?"
Salazar growled. "You're not very easy to get along with."
"Ditto," Hermione replied.
"And you're a bloody oaf for putting that thing on your head," Salazar replied. "The only thing protecting you is your ambition now, you fool."
Hermione's smile faded and she put her hands to the diadem. "Nothing happened when I picked it up."
"Yes, well, that's because it's only cursed to melt the wearer's brain out through their ears," Slytherin said. "Think ambitious thoughts now, so I can say a few more things! Minister for Magic! Merlin's Apprentice! Slytherin's new heir!"
"Gross." Hermione closed her eyes and imagined an Order of Merlin behind her name when she signed it. She imagined being top of her graduating class. When she opened her eyes again, the green glow was more intense than ever. Her ambition.
"And quit interrupting me!" Salazar took a deep breath. "Okay, Hermione, you're extremely clever. Much more than I was. And you're also brave, thanks to all your time in Godric's house. Have you figured out what Helga's prophecy is all about?"
"It's a defence of the castle," Hermione replied. "In case the education is ever threatened by an outside force."
"And what is the defence?" Salazar asked.
Hermione frowned. "Well… Rosalie was able to manipulate the castle into throwing Umbridge out."
"Yes, the castle has put a lot of effort into helping the Ravenclaw girl stay hidden."
Hermione looked sharply at Slytherin in alarm. "You mean-" she began, but Salazar panicked, pointing at her head. Hermione immediately realised the problem and yanked the diadem off her head. Not a nick of time too soon, either, for with her shock and surprise, the ambition had vanished, and some of her hair was singed as she pulled off the cursed headpiece and dropped it on the floor.
Salazar Slytherin disappeared.
"Oh, wait!" she snatched the edges of the whiteboard, and closed her eyes. "Order of Merlin… top of my class… Minister for Magic… Muggle Prime Minister!" She peeked out through her right eye. Nothing was there. Nothing but her reflection and the horrid smell of singed hair. Her ears were dimly lit green, but the shock of the situation completely outweighed the ambition.
She stepped back and accidentally kicked the diadem, which apparently still needed some work done. She picked it up carefully, holding it only by the outside. Salazar said it was cursed to melt the wearer's brain. She doubted she'd be able to put it on again – relying on ambition to outweigh fear of losing her brain would be to risky.
All of the connections it had helped her make still lingered in the forefront of her thoughts. Everything from the additional line she should add to the rune when Draco and Rosalie returned, to the fifty things she'd connected in her head the moment Salazar had mentioned Rosalie.
It seemed like a crazy conclusion… but she couldn't find any more missing pieces.
On the contrary, she thought of a way to prove her hypothesis.
She glanced towards Rosalie's laptop. Then a popping sound filled the room. She spun on her foot. "Did you find the horcrux?"
"No," Rosalie replied, releasing Dobby's hand. "The machine picked up absolutely nothing."
"Well, I figured out a way to enhance it, so I may send you back later today."
"Hermione," Draco said, with so much purpose that she wondered for a moment if he or Rosalie had returned hurt. But he only said, "Arithmancy, twenty minutes."
Right. They shared that class. Since it was so small, all the fifth years were grouped together, regardless of house. She nodded and put the diadem down on the side table.
"You can pick it up?" Rosalie asked. "Can you wear it? Is that how you figured out how to enhance the detector?"
"I could wear it when I had that glowing light thing we've been having happen," Hermione said. "But don't wear it right now. It's a bit of a story, but it'll melt your brain if you wear it without protection. But it does work." She walked past Rosalie on her way to Salazar's old room, to switch back into her robes before heading up. She stopped to squeeze her arm. "You'll love it, once we've gotten the curse off it."
"Brill," Rosalie said, so English that no one would ever guess she was American if they didn't already know. "You'll have to tell us everything after class."
"I will!" Hermione reached the Slytherin door. The room in between the common room and the shared room was empty except for a hook on the wall, where her school robes hung. "Keep an eye on Harry for me, please. Let me know if he wakes up!"
Hermione and Draco sat at a table together for Arithmancy. They both took notes, but underneath Hermione's, she was writing a letter to the Order of Merlin Board, explaining their discovery of how to move horcruxes from one container to another. Of course, she needed to confirm that that actually had happened with the diadem… and she couldn't publish her findings until Voldemort was dead… but it was fun to dream about.
She also passed a note to Draco.
Do you know why Rosalie has so many different names?
He did not look at it right away, but pinned it under his elbow until he'd finished copying a formula. Then he gave it a glance, furrowed his brow, and wrote a response.
Why?
She had the urge to be snarky and say, "yes, I was asking why", but knew she wouldn't get far with him if she did. So she wrote back, Just been thinking about it lately. As nonchalant as she could go.
Draco wrote back a response which she couldn't decide whether it was perfectly Hufflepuff or not.
It's not your business, Hermione.
So, she hadn't gotten very far anyway. She drummed her fingers on the table, and tried one more time.
Don't think I don't trust her! I'm just curious because it's been about five names now she's run under.
He thought about that.
It's only been two.
Hermione realised she'd worked herself into a tiny bit of a corner. She'd never told Draco that Rosalie went by the name Amelia when they were in Wigan, though he might recall it. If she mentioned that she'd made up the name Audrey when posing as a ministry person to Umbridge, he'd pass it off as a one-off to make Umbridge and Filch talk. And if she mentioned she'd seen the name Rebekah on Rosalie's court documents, then he might think she'd been going through Rosalie's stuff. Which she had been, sorta… but with permission.
Also, Rosalie had asked her to not tell him about Amelia not being a real person.
Nevermind, she wrote.
Harry had woken up and had gone immediately to Dumbledore's office. Which was annoying when Hermione showed up to the shared room and found Rosalie there alone, working on an additional idea for where the horcrux could be. But then Harry showed up with news almost as hopeful as Rowena's diadem working.
Everyone looked up when the Gryffindor room opened and Hermione had jumped to her feet. "You're awake!" she exclaimed. "Did Dumbledore have any ideas?"
"I…" Harry put a hand to the back of his head. "Yeah, I'm awake! Sorry, I don't know what took me out. But, uh, I didn't… tell Dumbledore."
"You didn't tell Dumbledore?" Hermione was suddenly not as excited to see him. "Why not?"
"Because… I was busy telling him about something else," Harry said. "I had a vision of Helga Hufflepuff's cup while I was out."
"You did?" Rosalie demanded in a shout, spinning around from her work on the whiteboard. Her brown hair flew around her head like a fan. "Do you know where it is?"
Harry was more startled by this passionate outburst than Hermione was, but retained his tongue. "I, uh, know who it's with. I saw a vision of Voldemort asking Bellatrix Lestrange if it was still safe. She said she would check for him."
"Oh…" Rosalie stamped her foot, which Hermione had never seen anyone do in real life before, and shouted, "Consarn it all!" She slipped into a southern American accent as she turned back to the board with a huff.
"You okay?" Harry asked in concern.
"Fine," Rosalie said, sounding New York now. She circled something on her whiteboard. "I think it's in Gringotts."
"Gringotts? The bank?" Draco asked. He had been ignoring them all in favour for doing something on his phone, but now he looked over to Rosalie's workstation in dread.
"Bellatrix Lestrange showed up at Gringotts an hour ago," Rosalie said. "No one's dead."
Too many things were happening at once, but two points stuck out to Hermione. First, Draco had been on his phone. Was the router Rosalie had been working on finally installed? And two, "How do you know Bellatrix was at Gringotts?"
"It was in the paper." Rosalie had still not slipped back into her English accent and the hard sounds were a little intimidating. "It's either there, or at her home, under Fidelius. Both would be obnoxiously hard to get to, though."
"No one's ever broken out of Gringotts," Draco said. "We'd need to have her bring it out."
"Or," Rosalie said, "We'd have to be the first to break out." She glanced at Hermione, but Hermione wasn't too sure why.
"Break out?" she asked. "Of the most secure place in the Wizarding World? Of a place full of dragons and super intense security measures. We're only four teenagers, Rosalie."
"Well, I just thought… you know, the Brightest Witch of her Age and the most ambitious person in all of Hogwarts and one of the cleverest people in the world might be up for the challenge." Rosalie said. She glanced over her shoulder a bit to see how Hermione was taking this praise. "And I bet I could memorise a map of Gringotts if I could get my hands on one."
Hermione's cheeks turned bright pink as she thought about this. Being the first person to get out of Gringotts wasn't what she'd envisioned doing with her life… but it was quite the accomplishment.
She should have said something sensible and clever, but what came out of her mouth was, "I met Salazar Slytherin today."
Everyone was quiet. Draco and Rosalie turned around to face her completely. "Can you pass that by me again?" Draco asked. Hermione felt heat begin to fill her face.
"Can I just say," Harry interrupted. "I love being part of this group. Every time I bring something crazy and out-of-pocket to the table, you lot can one up me easily. It's so refreshing!"
"Yeah, it's a scary thing when the Boy-Who-Lived is the boring one of the group," Draco said. He put his hands into his robes pockets. "You met Salazar Slytherin. The Salazar Slytherin."
"He said I've got him beat in terms of ambition." Hermione's cheeks were a fiery flame and didn't seem to have any chance of dying down now. She was well aware that what she was saying was only dimly linked to the idea of breaking out of Gringotts, but it was all she could think of at the moment.
"I'm not surprised," Rosalie said. "He could only have ambition in terms of the, what, eleventh century? Most of his goals have probably been met by this point. You're able to set your sights a lot higher because you know so much more."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Well, she can travel anywhere she wants to go. She's aware of hundreds of technologies Salazar never knew of. The entire world is connected by satellites – except for Hogwarts apparently."
"You still can't get your router to work?" Hermione asked.
Rosalie shook her head. "I'm not sure if it's the room, or the building, or the wards."
"What was Draco doing on his phone?"
"Playing a game without internet," Draco said. "Rosalie's been teaching me solitaire."
"My point is," Rosalie said. "Is that Hermione can dream of more because she knows of more. Things like, well, breaking into and out of Gringotts if we can't find a way to trick Bellatrix into getting the cup out for us?"
"Well, let's plan on that second option, for now," Harry said, "Because Dumbledore's invited us to an Order of the Pheonix meeting tonight. Maybe they can help us find Salazar's locket." He looked at Hermione. "Unless… you asked him about it?"
Hermione shook her head. "No. It was a very fast meeting. When I put on Ravenclaw's diadem, I suppose it magnified my ambition or something. Made me extra confident. And I saw him in the whiteboard here. He told me that my ambition – that green glow I get – was the only thing protecting me from the curse on the diadem. Said I wasn't what he was expecting, and asked me if I knew what the defence of Hogwarts from the prophecy was."
"There's more?" Draco asked weakly.
Hermione was avoiding looking at Rosalie. "We weren't able to say much more, because I became confused and needed to take the diadem off. It burned my hair, see?" She ran her hand down the back of her head and turned.
"You'll need a haircut," Rosalie said. "What time is the Order meeting?"
"You may not cut my hair," Hermione said sternly.
"Oh, no, not me," Rosalie said. "But it will need to be cut, Hermione. It's singed pretty badly. Can magic do anything for it?" She looked to Draco. As if Draco had all the answers to hair-related problems.
Draco deflated. "Yes, I know a person," he said. "Harry? Time?"
"Eight o'clock," Harry said. "And don't worry, Hermione. You'll look wonderful no matter what."
Harry's compliment had been nice, but by the time eight rolled around, Hermione felt it, and that was much nicer.
She was simultaneously grateful to Draco for having a connection that finally, after all these years, fixed her hair troubles, and kicking herself for foolishly not asking him ages ago. After all, they'd been friends for months now.
The stylist's name was Marge and Dobby was able to pop her over once Draco provided a note to give to her. She had a nice little salon in the middle of nowhere. That was the thing about being magical. You could work from almost anywhere. Commuting was nothing. She leaned Hermione back into a chair, fixed the burned bits easily, washed her hair with a special potion, and then set her in front of the mirror. "Watch," she said, and proceeded to dry Hermione's hair by first scrunching it with a silk cloth and then shape it with her finger. She did this slowly, letting Hermione observe the change, and when she was done, Hermione's hair was no longer bushy and tangled, but truly curly. Like Merida from the Muggle movie Brave, but with thicker curls. The bits that had been burned away were completely hidden into the rest of her hair.
"Quit drying your hair with a towel," Marge said, "switch your pillowcase to a silk-based one, and do this to dry your hair and you'll never have another problem with it. When you get good at it, it'll only take ten minutes to fix your curls."
Dobby popped her, not to Hogwarts, but straight to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, where Harry, Rosalie, and Draco were sat around the fire with Sirius. Dobby left her in the hall and she stepped inside with a smile. Harry and Sirius, who were facing the door, saw her first. Sirius whistled.
"Wow!" Harry said. "That's quite lovely. Did she curl it for you?"
"Harry, I've had an enlightening experience," Hermione said. He and Sirius were both sat in armchairs with no real arm that she could sit on, so she was relegated to stand for a moment. "This is my natural hair!"
"You have natural curls?" Harry asked. "Like that?"
"I've spent my whole life styling my hair as if I had straight hair," Hermione laughed. "Marge taught me how to style curly hair. She says I can have this all the time if I keep it up."
"I could get used to this," Harry replied. "I take it you're happy with it?"
"Extremely," Hermione said.
Rosalie stood up and then sat down on Draco's legs, moving his left arm up over her shoulders so she could lean her head on his shoulder. "You look amazing, Hermione. You can come sit by Draco and I, if you want?" Draco rolled his eyes and kissed Rosalie's forehead.
Hermione took the offered newly-free seat, enjoying the swish of her curls as she turned and the flounce when she sat down.
"We've just finished filling Draco and Rosalie in on who's going to be here tonight," Sirius said. "A bunch of Draco's relatives, really."
"Well, that's the thing about being a Malfoy," Hermione said. "They're the Habsburgs of the Wizarding World."
Rosalie gagged. "Wait," she said. "Draco, are your family inbreds?"
This question greatly amused Sirius, who began to laugh from his chair. Draco was confused. "Is that a horrible thing in the Muggle world? All three of you have reacted quite badly to it."
"It's very bad," Rosalie said. "The Habsburg family… I'll show you pictures. Well… your family can't be too bad. I mean, you're attractive."
Harry and Hermione were practically dying trying to contain their laughter. The entire concept was beyond Malfoy's comprehension. Hermione patted Malfoy's free arm. "The Malfoy's have Half Bloods in their family history, but have intermarried a cousin or two here and there. If I recall, the Blacks were far worse."
"We are," Sirius agreed. "Rosalie didn't have to meet my mother on the way in – thank Merlin. She married her second cousin."
"Well, you seem alright," said Rosalie, who didn't seem to know what to say.
A knock came from the door and Hermione turned to see Professor Lupin in the doorway. "Oh, Professor! She exclaimed. "You're okay!"
"Hermione! You're okay!" Professor Lupin said. He stepped into the room and peered over her shoulder. "You know you don't need to call my Professor anymore – it's been two years since I taught you. How's your arm?"
"It's coming, Professor." She lifted the arm in question, but the wound wasn't visible. She was wearing a cream sweater and still kept it bandaged. The month-old wound still smarted, but it was covered and on her non-dominant arm, so she didn't dwell on it. "Are you alright? I know you were knocked out."
"Okay, Hermione," Lupin leaned down and pinched the fingers of his left hand together. "Repeat after me – just like in class. Remus. Go on, try it."
Harry burst into laughter. "Fat chance, Professor," he said, then stood and offered his hand to Hermione. Draco and Rosalie also made to stand.
Hermione noticed Rosalie looked particularly exhausted, so linked arms with her and whispered, "Are you alright?"
Rosalie waved her hand and murmured something about "This world." Hermione assumed she hadn't yet made the connection between Draco's bigotry and the inbreeding it had perpetuated in his family.
Hermione released Rosalie's arm and instead linked arms with Harry. When she looked over her shoulder at Sirius, he was pointing at the two of them with a grin and making faces at Professor Lupin. "Oh, come off it," Hermione complained.
She made to take her arm out of Harry's, but he clamped down on it and made a face at her. "I'm not embarrassed because of you," he said.
Hermione paused, and then let her arm relax again. "Alright," she said, because she wasn't sure what else to say.
They all gathered into the dining room. Mr and Mrs. Weasley were already sat down, as was Tonks. When Mrs. Weasley saw them, she leapt to her feet to give her and Harry a giant hug. Then, when she saw Draco and Rosalie, she hesitated, and opened her arms up to them.
Draco instead held his hand out for a handshake.
Hermione was about to say, "Some Hufflepuff," to tease Draco, but found her tongue constricted in her mouth. She was unable to say anything at all.
Tonks shook Draco and Rosalie's hands and then paused a moment, staring at Rosalie's face. It only lasted a moment, but Hermione noticed.
"Dumbledore should be here in a moment," Mrs. Weasley said. "He only popped out with Mundungus. You'll see him in just a moment. My, your hair looks lovely, Hermione."
"Thank you Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said. She took a seat by Harry and they joined hands on the table.
Mr. Weasley leaned over. "What's all this?" he asked, gesturing to their hands.
"Hermione and I have been dating for a few months now," Harry said. "Also, she-" But he, too, couldn't speak suddenly.
"That Fidelius charm is something, isn't it, Harry?" Dumbledore said, appearing at the door. "I've found myself restricted a few times as well." He took a seat, not at the head of the table, but beside Hermione. "Now, before we begin, I just want to double-check that your Occlumency has been coming along?"
Harry put a hand to the back of his head and Hermione pressed her lips together. "Snape… sort of dropped me as a student this month," he admitted.
Dumbledore nodded. "I was aware. But I thought that Mr. Malfoy had been instructing you?" He turned to look at Draco and Rosalie, who were finishing edging their way to the other side of the table.
"He has!" Harry said. "I think he's quite good! I've made lots of progress with him."
"Good," Dumbledore said. "Very good."
He happened to meet Hermione's eyes and Hermione was suddenly suspicious. Though it had been a crazy day and she hadn't yet been able to break her new suspicion to Harry, it had been on her mind. And with Dumbledore's question… she suddenly wondered if he knew.
"Ms. Granger," Dumbledore said. "You look very nice tonight."
"Draco knows a person," Hermione said with a little smile. "Thank you, Headmaster."
"Draco?" Lupin asked. "Didn't you, ah, used to not get along?"
"Without disclosing too much of the student drama at Hogwarts," Dumbledore began, taking off his glasses to clean them on the front of his robes quickly. "And Molly, if you could please close that door, thank you. But there have been a few changes. Our student body now has four Heads-of-House-in-training, and Hogwarts herself has made it impossible to tell an outsider about a person's house without them disclosing it personally."
"Heads-of-House-in-training?" Lupin asked. "That's certainly new. What do they do?"
"It will not be a renewing position," Dumbledore said. "The intrusion of the ministry and the war with Voldemort began impacting the education quality, and even forcing the Sorting Hat to missort students for political or social reasons. So the Sorting Hat resorted a number of students, hand-picked the Heads-in-Training, and placed a Fidelius Charm of a curious manner over the student body. The secret is contained within each individual student and unless they choose to disclose which house they're in, no one can tell anyone who isn't aware of the secret."
Sirius leaned back, humming. "Fascinating," he said. "I didn't know the Sorting Hat could missort."
"Most of it seemed to be around Slytherin," Hermione said. "Children of Death Eaters whose parents religiously demanded that their children be in that house, and then students who wouldn't have been able to flourish with the culture that developed as a result of that."
"We've not really got a clear role yet," Harry said. "Rosalie did manage to bin Umbridge, though."
"We've?" Mr. Weasley said. He waved his finger at them. "Are you four…"
There was some awkward silence as Harry exchanged glances with Hermione, Draco, and Rosalie. Sirius watched this and cracked his knuckles. "Right, let me guess," he said. "Hermione got moved to Ravenclaw, and you… new girl…" He paused, trying to remember her name.
"My name is Rosalie."
"Rosalie! Thank you! Hufflepuff."
"Actually, I'm the Ravenclaw," Rosalie said.
"Really?" Sirius looked astounded. "Well… Harry, there's no way they'd move you out of Gryffindor, right? Hermione, did you get moved to Hufflepuff?"
"I'm a Slytherin," Hermione said. The word felt natural on her tongue but foreign in the room. Every single person stopped to stare, except for Rosalie, anxiously shifting her weight, and Dumbledore, unwrapping a candy.
"You're serious?" Sirius said. "Well, um… my mum would have been horrified. Good, good." He squinted at Malfoy. But no one else asked any other questions.
"And the reason we're here," Rosalie said, "Is because we were hoping you'd recognise these." She withdrew out of her pockets renderings of Helga Hufflepuff's cup and Salazar Slytherin's locket.
Something moved in the corner and Hermione saw, out of the corner of her eye, Kreacher the House Elf, who had been hiding out of sight behind a plant and was now sneaking towards a door.
Lupin put his finger down on the locket immediately. "We threw that out," he said.
Hermione's mouth dropped open. Rosalie stared, distraught. "You did not," she said. Her tone conveyed the seriousness of the situation – she sounded like a funeral had just been announced.
"Yeah, couldn't get it to open for anything. Put it in the bin ages ago."
"Kreacher," Sirius said, having noticed the decrepit elf trying to sneak away. "Do you remember this locket?" He picked the drawing up off the table and showed it to Kreacher.
It was mind-boggling how such a small creature could have so much hate in him, but Kreacher carried quite a bit and he channeled it all into his gaze as he looked at Sirius. "Yes, Master," He replied.
"We threw it away, didn't we?"
"Kreacher remembers the day Master threw away many of mistress's treasures."
"Oh my god!" Rosalie groaned, sinking her head into her hands. "We need to destroy it! How are we going to find it?"
"You want it just so you can destroy it?" Sirius asked, confused.
"The locket cannot be destroyed," Kreacher said, though he didn't sound horrified at the idea.
"Kreacher," Hermione said, "Tell me-"
"Mudblood is speaking to Kreacher. Oh, Kreacher doesn't want to listen…"
"I'm a Pureblood," Rosalie said, quite desperately. "Kreacher, listen to me, alright?"
"Kreacher lives to serve the Noble house of Black," Kreacher said, though he looked a great deal more open to talking with Rosalie than Hermione.
"Well, I'm just wondering Kreacher, if you can tell us where the locket came from? How did it end up here?"
Kreacher did not respond. He only turned in a small circle, shaking his head. "Kreacher," Sirius snapped. "Tell me about the locket. Did you find it? Is it an heirloom? How did it come to be in this house?"
Kreacher's eyes filled with tears suddenly. He fell on the floor and beat the ground with his tiny fists twice. Then he spoke into the floor, "Kreacher must obey. But Kreacher does not want to."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Go on," he commanded, tonelessly.
Kreacher sniffed. "Master Regulus took the locket from a cave."
"Did he?" Sirius said. "Which cave?"
"Kreacher does not know. Master Regulus took Kreacher there."
"Was it a cave on the beach?" Rosalie asked. "A beach cave, made of dark stone, perhaps?"
Kreacher sniffed. Sirius, who was growing quite impatient, said "Kreacher, was it a cave on the beach?"
"Kreacher remembers the sound of the ocean."
"And what happened when my brother took you to this cave?" Sirius asked. "Tell the whole story now."
Kreacher blew his nose on his raggedy outfit and stared at the wall. "Master said that the locket must be destroyed," he said. "He drank the bad potion – oh, Kreacher didn't want him to! And he order—Kreacher to leave—without him. And he told Kreacher— to go home— and never to tell my Mistress—what he had done—but to destroy— the first locket. And he drank— all the potion— and Kreacher swapped the lockets— and watched . . . as Master Regulus... was dragged beneath the water... and... Kreacher never saw Master Regulus again." The poor, old elf bent over and began to wail at great volumes.
Sirius had leaned forward in interest. "What?" he asked.
"Kreacher," Draco said. "Are you saying… Regulus died there? In that cave?"
Kreacher bent his head and wept more bitterly than before. "Nothing Kreacher did made any mark upon it," moaned the elf. "Kreacher tried everything, everything he knew, but nothing, nothing would work... So many powerful spells upon the casing, Kreacher was sure the way to destroy it was to get inside it, but it would not open... Kreacher punished himself, he tried again, he punished himself, he tried again. Kreacher failed to obey orders, Kreacher could not destroy the locket! And his mistress was mad with grief, because Master Regulus had disappeared and Kreacher could not tell her what had happened, no, because Master Regulus had f–f–forbidden him to tell any of the f–f–family what happened in the c-cave..."
"Kreacher," Rosalie said. "Kreacher, listen to me. Regulus wanted that locket destroyed. He knew what it was. He knew it was a-"
"It was cursed," Dumbledore said, with a pointed look Rosalie's way. "It is a dangerous, cursed object."
Rosalie ignored the hint and plowed on. "It was a horcrux!" she said. "It's a piece of the Dark Lord's soul and it has to be destroyed in a certain way! Regulus wanted it destroyed because he wanted the Dark Lord to die!"
"A piece of a soul?" Mrs. Weasley squeaked.
"A Horcrux!" Lupin's face had gone pale white. "A horcrux!"
But Sirius's face was closing off for a different reason. As Dumbledore removed his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose, he said, "My brother was a Death Eater, Rosalie. He died serving the Dark Lord. Death eaters killed him when he got cold feet."
Rosalie shook her head. "Kreacher's story proves that he died betraying the Dark Lord." She looked back to Kreacher. "Kreacher, we have a way to destroy that Horcrux! Do you know where it is?"
Kreacher disappeared with a crack.
"Kreacher!" Sirius bellowed, jumping up. "Kreacher, don't you dare leave that house with this information!"
There was another crack and Kreacher the elf appeared at Rosalie's side. In his hands and pressed to his chest, he held the ornate locket. "If yous can destroy it, Kreacher will give it up."
"Yes!" Rosalie exhaled with relief. "Yes! We can destroy the horcrux. That's what Master Regulus would have wanted. He wanted the horcrux destroyed."
"You can have it," Sirius said. "How do you know it's a… what's it?"
"A horcrux," Rosalie said. "Technically, we don't know for sure yet. But Draco and I visited the place on the beach we thought a horcrux would be. There was nothing. And we have a way to check…"
Out of her pocket came the orange plastic detector. She must have charmed her pockets for space, because Hermione hadn't seen any trace of the device. Hermione panicked to see it and got to her feet. "Ah, Rosalie," she said. "Perhaps we could-"
Rosalie turned the machine on. It lit up with a squeal. Most people in the room moved to cover their ears, but Arthur Weasley leaned forward. Rosalie held the device on either side of a shaking Kreacher. "Yes," she said, and turned the device off. "This is a horcrux."
Dumbledore stood up. He extended his hand. "May I see it?" he asked. His voice was soft.
"You may see it, but you may not hold it," Rosalie said. "I paid quite a bit for it, and I don't want it broken." She turned the device in her hands and turned it back on. The beacon was indicating that a horcrux was to the left, where Kreacher stood waiting beside Rosalie with the locket in his grubby, disgusting fingers.
Hermione put a hand to Harry's chest and pressed him back into his seat. She held her breath while Rosalie rotated the device around Kreacher to indicate how he continued to be the center of interest. Then she slowly sank back into her seat. Harry was looking at her, very confused.
"Kreacher," Rosalie said. "When we destroy the horcrux, we have a special way of doing it. It does destroy it, but the locket will look the same when it does."
Kreacher withdrew. "M-Master Regulus said to destroy the locket," he said. "The locket must be destroyed."
Rosalie opened her mouth but Draco leaned over fast and pinched her arm. "It creates a new one in its place," he said, raising his blonde eyebrows at her. "But this one you're holding will be destroyed – I promise." He held his hand out for the locket.
Kreacher sniffed and gave the locket to Rosalie, ignoring Draco's hand. Then he stood on the crossbar of her chair and held onto the armrest to better see onto the table. "Kreacher will watch the destruction," he said.
"Oh, right here?" Rosalie asked. "Are you sure?"
"Kreacher will watch the destruction."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Kreacher, will you-"
"Okay," Rosalie said. "Where's the picture of the locket, again?" She met Draco's eyes and Hermione got the point she was trying to convey to him. Transfer the horcrux to the paper, rip it up. Sirius picked the drawing up and passed it down the table.
"Do we want to do it in here?" Hermione asked. "I mean… it's loud. And… yeah."
Rosalie glanced around at the rest of the Order members. "Might want to plug your ears," she said. "Or leave." She nodded to Hermione. "You created the spell. Want to do the honours?"
Hermione took the picture from the table and then took the locket. It began to shake and quiver around her fingers and then knock from side to side by itself. "Do you reckon it'll work from the outside, or do we need to open it?" she asked.
"We all tried opening it last August," Mrs. Weasley said. And once she said that, Hermione recognised it. They had all passed it in a circle. No one had been able to pry it open.
"Oh, that's true," she said.
Hermione paused, watching the locket writhe, and then glanced at Harry. He was deep in thought with his fingers covering his mouth. When he noticed her looking, he said, "Oh, you reckon?"
"Yeah," Hermione agreed. He made to stand but she put her hand on his shoulder. "But… maybe stay sitting?"
"I won't pass out again."
"Just in case."
Hermione applied a sticking charm to the paper and stuck it to the table. Then she applied a sticking charm to the back of the locket and stuck that onto the paper. The chain of the locket continued to writhe and the entire table seemed to quiver.
Harry, still sitting, concentrated a moment and then spoke in a hissing sound. The locket, without warning, sprang open.
Hermione thought a bomb went off, but instead, the room filled with smoke and shouting all from the locket. The light was shrouded in the smoke the locket produced.
"Hermione," a hissing voice filled the room. Hermione felt her spine stiffen and her knees lock. It was the locket, speaking to her. "Hermione… don't kill me… you need me. Without me, you'll never become the Brightest Witch to live…"
And in the smoke, she saw the outline of Rosalie. Rosalie, Draco's girlfriend. Rosalie, the multi-faced person with the multiple names. Rosalie, her friend. "I'm the brightest witch to ever live," she said. "Hermione Granger? I don't know who she is. I've outsmarted everyone around me. I'm cleverer than anyone else on the planet."
In the smoke, Rosalie was surrounded by books and people giving her awards and she stood at a podium in professional attire. On her head was Ravenclaw's diadem.
"Kill it!" Someone shouted across the table. "Hurry, Hermione, kill it!"
Hermione flicked her wrist and focused. "Secrevementi," she whispered. The word was lost in the chaos, but her wand began to heat up. She pulled and felt that she was tugging uselessly at the tail of an elephant to move it. But still, she pulled and lifted. The shouting of the locket turned to screaming and all coherent words stopped working.
Gloopy, globby green goo stuck to her wand as she pulled the horcrux from its hiding spot. This horcrux seemed much, much bigger than the other one. Draco had had enough gloop to fill a quarter cup, but Hermione had maybe twice that.
She happened to glance to Dumbledore before she dropped the horcrux onto the paper. His eyes were wide and his mouth was open as he stared at the gruesome, fascinating process. The smoke cleared in the room, but the light still behaved in a fishy manner as the horcrux stole it all away. Hermione wiped the horcrux onto the paper and watched it sink away.
The light in the room went back to normal. She cancelled her sticking charm and passed the locket to Rosalie. "Check and make sure I didn't miss any," she said, and unstuck the paper from the table as well.
Rosalie found the volume on the detector and turned it way down. She passed it to the left and right of the locket and nodded. "All gone," she said.
Hermione tore the paper down the middle. She had not destroyed a horcrux before and was surprised when the paper gave off a shriek and black mist rose into the air above it. It made her – and everyone around her – jump. But when she tore the halves into fourths, nothing happened.
She looked at Kreacher on the other side of the table. "It's destroyed," she said. "The horcrux is dead."
The next chapter will be called Rowena Ravenclaw's Visit. I'll post it early if I get five reviews.