In a long-forgotten chamber that sat hundreds of feet beneath Hogwarts, a young girl stood alone, basking in the silence surrounding her, her eyes closed and a look of cruel contemplation resting on her face. Slowly opening her eyes, Luna took a lazy glance around the chamber; years of solitude had turned the once majestic space into a ruin. A row of hissing snakes lined the walkway from the chamber's only entrance to where Luna stood, each covered in a fine layer of dust with bits of mold hanging from their open maws, making them look more depressing than intimidating.
Turning away from the row of serpents, Luna gazed at the stone face that was sticking out of the wall, a sad look crossing her face and vanishing a moment later so quickly that it might have been imagined. The face was that of an old man with a long flowing beard, gazing out at the world with a hard stare that would have made any lesser being who caught his gaze shiver with fear.
"The time has come…" Luna hissed, her voice coming out cold and wrong, "For Hogwarts to be cleansed of all those unfit to walk her halls, just as you always believed, my noble ancestor…"
A moment later, the statue's mouth began to slide open with a grinding groan until, at last, a large hole appeared.
As something moved within the dark hole, Luna smiled, her eyes flashing blood-red with pleasure at the upcoming slaughter; as the thing inside the darkness began to move out of the hole, Luna hissed again,
"Kill…"
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Angus Mcpherson glowered angrily as he stalked down the long hallway of Hogwarts castle, his wand held at the ready at his side; as his footsteps echoed off of the cold stone of the hallway, Angus' hard grey eyes moved back and forth, showcasing his years of experience in fighting things that liked to hide in the dark.
Tall and imposing with a head of closely cropped white hair, Angus was one of the last of the old guards; beneath his Auror robes, a litany of scars hid, which told the tale of a life lived on the front lines for most of his career. A veteran Auror of over fifteen years, there wasn't much that Angus hadn't seen in his long tenure at the Ministry; from Dark Magic users to unruly creatures who caused more trouble than they were worth, Angus could safely say that not much surprised him anymore.
That being said, when a red alert had gone out this morning, and he had been summoned to the Ministry on his day off and chosen to be a part of the task force to deal with a Basilisk that had been attacking students at Hogwarts and was supposedly the familiar to one of the school's founders, Angus had found himself shocked to silence for the first time in many years.
As he rounded the next corner, Angus' eyes narrowed as he took in the darkened hallway, the flickering torches on the wall creating dozens of dancing shadows that looked like writhing serpents.
Mentally sneering in contempt at the man who had stupidly decided to bring such a small number of Aurors to face a literal monster, Angus raised his wand above his head and cast 'Lumos,' bringing some extra light to the hallway, and allowing him to see if anything might be waiting to spring out at him from the shadows.
Considering the fact that there was a thousand-year-old Basilisk on the loose, every single Auror should have been summoned to Hogwarts in order to put the beast down; instead, Fudge, showcasing his ineptitude and idiocy, had brought just two dozen with him. Driven no doubt by his overpowering greed and his desire to be seen by the public as someone worthy of respect, even though all evidence continued to be to the contrary, Fudge had brought only a paltry number to deal with the threat to Hogwarts, something that enraged Angus to no end.
Angus hated politics. Completely. On more than one occasion in his long career, Angus had been forced to watch as politics caused weak-willed men to do what was easy instead of what was right. It was something that Angus and his old friend Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody shared, a mutual loathing of politics and the politicians who played their self-serving games with other people's lives.
Determined to kill the beast before the Goblins could, and claim the carcass, as well as the glory and money that would come with it, Fudge was risking all of their lives, and due to his political connections, even if every Auror brought to Hogwarts died, he would most likely get away with it.
The more Angus thought about it, the angrier he seemed to become; Fudge was risking his life and the lives of every person in this castle, all because his ego couldn't handle the Goblins killing the Basilisk and claiming the carcass.
As Angus passed by a girl's bathroom, he heard a noise inside that caused him to pause and turn around, his wand instantly dropping into an offensive position, causing a beam of light to shine on the door.
Slowly, Angus reached out a hand toward the door's handle, his other hand holding his wand at the ready; just before his fingers reached the door, it exploded outward in a shower of wood that sent the aged Auror flying backward several feet with a pained cry.
For the span of a heartbeat, Angus lay on his back groaning as the pain in his body made its presence known, but as he heard what sounded like something being dragged across the floor by the entrance of the bathroom, Angus flipped onto his stomach and faced the opposite direction before quickly jumping to his feet.
Pointing his wand over his shoulder, Angus screamed out,
"Bombarda!"
A moment later, Angus heard his spell explode against something, but he was unwilling to turn around and face possible death to see if it had struck the wall or the Basilisk.
He got his answer a moment later when he heard the beast hiss angrily behind him and felt something heavy slam into his back, launching him several feet down the dark hallway before causing him to roll painfully to a stop, raising himself painfully to his knees, Angus twirled his wand and whispered,
"Expecto Patronum."
A moment later, a glowing eagle burst from his wand and landed before him, its head cocked sideways as it awaited orders.
"Go to Alastor," Angus groaned, "And deliver this message: Alastor, I've found the damn snake! It's on the second floor, near a girl's bathroom! I'll try to hold it off as long as possible, but I need some help here!"
Angus gave his wand another twirl as he finished his message, causing the eagle to jump into the air and speed away as Angus watched. Rising painfully to his feet, Angus pointed his wand over his shoulder again and began to send Bombarda spells over his shoulder as fast as he could, as he began to limp down the hallway.
As he willed his tired body to move, Angus could hear his spells exploding behind him in rapid succession, causing the Basilisk to hiss angrily, though whether that was because his spells were actually hitting or because they were showering the snake with shrapnel, Angus had no idea.
Suddenly, Angus' instincts screamed at him to drop, and he threw himself to the floor, opening his eyes and looking up just in time to see the snake's tail sail past where he had just been standing; had he still been there, he would have been slammed into the wall and no doubt been heavily wounded, possibly even killed.
Closing his eyes again, Angus rolled onto his back and pointed his wand at where he knew the snake to be,
"Take this, you bastard!" Angus snarled, "Diffindo!"
A roar of pain suddenly echoed throughout the hallway, making Angus smile in satisfaction as he felt something wet drip onto his face; his victory was short-lived, however, as a moment later, Angus felt something latch onto his left foot and hurl him in the opposite direction, down the hallway.
As he slammed into the far wall, Angus felt the air leave his lungs in a painful gasp as he slowly slid to the floor; he was sure that last attack had broken at least two of his ribs, as well as caused some internal bleeding, yet he refused to open his eyes.
Fumbling around in front of him as his breath came out in short, painful gasps, Angus felt himself sigh with relief as his fingers finally found his wand; raising it up to strike again, he suddenly felt an indescribable level of pain emanate from his wand hand and knew at that moment that the Basilisk had bitten his hand off, causing him to scream out in pain for a moment before his brought it close to his chest and hugged the bleeding stump.
As the pain continued to grow, Angus suddenly laughed out loud; he had faced death many times throughout his long life, and yet his luck had always held out, but today, it seemed, was the day he had finally found an opponent he just couldn't beat.
"I always thought you'd go before me, old friend…" Angus chuckled as he thought of his friend Alastor one last time, "I'll keep the bottle waiting for you…"
A moment later, the Basilisk struck again, lunging forward and swallowing the aged Auror whole, hissing angrily for a moment before it turned and began to make its way down the dark hallway in search of its next victim.
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Alastor Moody glared with impatience as he watched the leader of the Goblin forces argue with Fudge, each side refusing to budge on the issue of who would have rights to the Basilisk once it was killed.
"I don't give a damn what you were promised, creature!" Fudge snarled, showing more courage than Moody would have thought the corpulent politician capable of, "That beast belongs to the Ministry! It was once the personal familiar to one of the most powerful wizards to ever live, so its historical value is undeniable! But more than that, because it resides beneath a castle controlled by the Ministry, I have the final say on who gets its body!"
"A deal was struck, wizard!" The Goblin leader hissed back, its eyes narrowing into hard slits as it gazed at Fudge, "And Gringotts will do everything in its power to ensure that your kind upholds its end…"
"Are you threatening me, you little bastard!" Fudge nearly screamed, his eyes bugging out in rage, "How dare you! You forget your place!"
Releasing a tired sigh, Moody's magical eye spun around wildly, taking in the surrounding area; the Goblins had been brought to the Great Hall to be briefed by Dumbledore on the situation. Instead, Fudge had stormed into the Great Hall, with just Moody for protection, and immediately began to lambast the Goblins with threats and invectives, telling them in no short terms that they would never see a single piece of the Basilisk's carcass, and they should just head back to Gringotts immediately. This, of course, had caused the Goblins to remind the idiotic Minister that a deal had been struck between Dumbledore and the Goblin nation and that they would defend their rights as promised in that deal, to the death, or perhaps to Fudge's death, whichever came first.
As the two sides continued to argue back and forth, Moody's magical eye moved about the hall, taking in everything around him; due to the holiday break, the Great Hall had been nearly cleared, leaving just one long table running down the middle of the room, where Narcissa Malfoy and the rest of Hogwarts staff were seated, watching with various degrees of distaste, aimed at both Fudge and the Goblins.
Behind their leader, more than two dozen Goblins were watching with angry snarls on their faces, all wearing identical matching silver armor, with their helmets held under their left arm while their right held their individual weapons; many were holding large polearms, but a few were armed with double-bladed axes or spears.
Standing between the Fudge and the Goblins, Dumbledore was trying in vain to keep the peace, his hands held up placatingly,
"Gentlemen, this is not the time for us to fight amongst ourselves," Dumbledore said calmly, "We need to work together if we're to put this beast down."
"Shut your mouth!" Fudge snarled, whirling on Dumbledore and pointing his finger at the headmaster, "This is entirely your fault! You had no right to make such a deal with these lesser beings in the first place! You may think yourself all-powerful, but you forget that I am the Minister of Magic! You answer to me!"
Silence descended on the Great Hall at that as Fudge glared at Dumbledore with all the hatred he could bring to bear. At the same time, Dumbledore stared down at the Minister as though he were an unruly student desperately needing a good walloping.
Before either side could say anything further, a silver eagle flew through the doors of the Great Hall and landed in front of Moody, causing the others to turn to it in surprise; a moment later, the Patronus opened its beak, and a voice came out of it,
"Alastor, I've found the damn snake! It's on the second floor, near a girl's bathroom! I'll try to hold it off as long as possible, but I need some help here!"
A second later, the eagle let out a cry of agony before it slowly began to vanish with a mournful cry that left everyone watching with a feeling of sorrow, though they could not understand why.
As Moody watched the eagle fade away, he slowly closed his eyes and bowed his head as a wave of loss rolled through him,
"Goodbye, old friend…" Moody thought sadly, knowing what had just happened, even if no one else did; a moment later, Moody felt someone's hand rest on his shoulder and opened his eyes to see Dumbledore standing next to him with a look of sorrow on his weathered face.
"I am so sorry, my boy…" Dumbledore whispered, causing Moody to nod momentarily before his eyes took on a steely resolve.
"Alright now, listen up!" Moody growled, "There's a literal monster loose in this castle, and if we're to survive long enough to put it down, we need to work together! You two can argue about who gets the glory afterward!"
Fudge opened his mouth to argue, only for the Goblin to cut him off,
"The scared one is correct. Taking down a Basilisk is no easy task and will require both of our people's best efforts. But make no mistake, after this battle, you WILL honor the terms of the deal you struck with Gringotts… Or there will be war."
Fudge seemed to choke on his own words at that, torn between not wanting to give an inch and not wanting to be the one responsible for starting another war between Goblins and wizards. Finally, he seemed to settle on enraged silence, and glared at the Goblins as they began to march past him and out the doors of the Great Hall to the second floor. Once they were all gone, Fudge turned to Dumbledore with murder in his eyes, and his hand twitched toward his wand, causing everyone to start with surprise that the Minister would even dare such an action. A moment later, his mind seemed to calm itself to realize just what he had attempted to do, and he brought his arm back to his side and glared at the old man.
"Moody, with me!" Fudge called as he stormed out of the hall, "We need to meet our forces on the second floor and kill this beast before those filthy Goblins do!"
With a look of apology at Dumbledore and the others, Moody followed behind the Minister, his glare at Fudge's back fiercer than any curse.
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Unaware of the danger that had been released on the second floor, Sirius and Carnage hurried down the dimly lit hallway of the seventh floor as they followed the device that was clasped tightly in the Goblin's hand and was gently moving back and forth with each new hallway they turned down.
As they turned down another hallway, they were suddenly met with a dead-end, causing Sirius to look between the stone wall before him and the small device held in Carnage's hands.
"What the bloody hell?" Sirius huffed in annoyance, "I thought you said that thing of yours would lead us to the Horcrux!"
"It's supposed to!" Carnage growled back, momentarily shaking the compass-like object in her grip before looking around the hallway.
"Well, obviously, it's broken!" Sirius spat, "There's nothing here! Just a Merlin damned dead-end!"
"This makes no sense…" Carnage hissed angrily, "My device should have led us right to the Horcrux…"
As Sirius opened his mouth to sneer at the growling Goblin, he saw Carnage look past him, her eyes widening in shock; turning around to see what it was that had caused such a reaction, Sirius felt his own eyes widen as he beheld a large wooden door that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere behind him where the stone wall used to be.
"What in the bloody hell…?" Sirius said softly as he warily approached the new door and pressed his hand against it, "It's real! How is this possible?"
Reaching down to the handle, Sirius turned it slowly before giving the door a shove, causing it to swing open with a groan as the two watched with silent suspicion; looking back at the device held in Carnage's hand, Sirius saw that it was pointing inside the newly formed room, and pulled his wand from his holster with a huff.
"Well, wizard?" Carnage growled from behind him, "Don't stop now; there's a Horcrux in there that needs killing! Or are you not up to the task?"
"I hate you…" Sirius sighed angrily, "So very much…"
"Don't worry, the feeling's mutual," Carnage smiled, her sharp teeth glinting in the torchlight, "Now, let's get inside this mysterious room and find our quarry."
A sudden roar from behind the pair made them spin around and stare down the dark hallway for a moment, swallowing nervously as every flickering shadow appeared like a shifting snake about to strike.
"That was close…" Sirius whispered, his wand extended and ready to strike, "But with the way sound echoes around here, it could be anywhere…"
"Agreed," Carnage hissed back, "So, let's do our part and let our people do theirs!"
With a nod, Sirius spun around and stepped into the room, Carnage right on his tail and shutting the door behind them as they entered; once they were inside, both froze in shock at what their eyes beheld.
The room was far bigger than should have been possible and was filled from the floor to the ceiling with literal mountains of junk as far as the eye could see; old, worn-out textbooks, dust-filled bookshelves, broken wands, forgotten potions, and mysterious artifacts. From where Sirius stood, he could see a pile, bigger than him, of old Hogwarts robes that looked like they hadn't been worn in decades. Nearby, there stood dozens of suits of armor, all standing in perfect order with cobwebs hanging from them. The air was thick with the scent of decay and aged parchment, yet beneath it, Sirius could feel a faint hum of forgotten magic; as Sirius continued to stare around in wonder, he felt as though he had stumbled upon a crossroad between memory and oblivion.
"When I was a boy, my best friends and I explored every inch of this castle and created a map based on what we found…" Sirius whispered reverently as he slowly stepped forward, "How could we have missed such a place as this?"
"Hogwarts is old…" Carnage replied, her voice carrying a level of respect to it, "Very old. Even with everything you and your friends found, I'm sure dozens of secrets are still waiting to be discovered within this castle."
As the two passed, an open chest filled with precious gems, Carnage's eyes flashed with greed for a moment before she shook her head and moved past it, eyes flickering between the room before her and the compass held in her hands.
Sirius was walking ahead of her, his mouth hanging open with each new thing they passed, looking like a child in a candy store; as the two passed a large barrel that had half a dozen broomsticks sticking out of it, Sirius released a child-like laugh of glee and took a step toward them before hearing Carnage clear her throat behind him, which brought him back to his senses.
"Um… Sorry about that… Anyway, where is this thing?"
"According to this, it should be somewhere over there," Carnage replied, pointing a claw to the right and causing Sirius to begin walking quickly toward where she was pointing.
On and on they walked through a labyrinth of forgotten things that had been left long ago by persons unknown, following Carnage's device past towers of hats and piles of broken bottles; as they passed a large stuffed troll, Sirius was beginning to think they would never find the Horcrux when suddenly Carnage released a cry of victory,
"There! It's there!"
"Where?" Sirius demanded, his eyes scanning the room for anything that might possibly be the Horcrux; as his eyes swept past a large dusty wardrobe, he felt a sudden chill run up his spine and turned his attention to it, inching closer with slow, deliberate steps.
As far as Sirius could see, there was nothing out of the ordinary about it; tall and dusty, the wardrobe looked relatively innocuous, with faded brown paint chipping in several dozen places.
Taking a steadying breath, Sirius ripped open the wardrobe's door, pointing his wand at the inside, expecting a sudden attack, only to be disappointed as Sirius saw that the inside was bare of anything save cobwebs.
Slamming the door closed, Sirius rounded on the Goblin, an angry insult on the tip of his tongue when the same chill went up his spine again, making him slowly turn back to the wardrobe.
Taking a second look at the wardrobe yielded nothing that could discern the strange feeling that Sirius was getting. Taking a step back, Sirius looked up at the top of the wardrobe and saw a marble bust resting on it. However, what caught Sirius' attention was the jeweled crown that rested atop the statue.
"What is that…?" Sirius said softly to himself, causing Carnage to look up at what Sirius was referring to.
"That's it…" Carnage growled, "It must be. Go and get it, wizard!"
"Of course, your majesty…" Sirius sneered as he placed his wand back in his holster, "Right away…"
Grabbing a nearby wooden box, Sirius groaned from the weight of it as he dragged it over to the wardrobe before slowly climbing onto it; as he got closer to the marble bust, Sirius swallowed as a wave of dark magic washed over him, leaving him feeling ill.
With a shaky hand, Sirius reached out and pulled the crown off the bust, the wave of pure dark magic seeming to grow as he held it in his grip, making him want to throw up as he remembered some of the vile artifacts his family kept.
Jumping from the box, Sirius jutted his hand out toward Carnage, eager for her to take it from him and get the sense of evil as far from him as possible; as the Goblin took it from him, Sirius breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly took a few steps back as Carnage examined the crown.
"He didn't…" Carnage suddenly hissed, her eyes narrowing angrily as she ran a clawed thumb over a set of words that were engraved onto the front; as she read the words 'wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure,' Carnage's eyes blazed with fury, "He did! That vile monster dared to defile such a sacred treasure!"
"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Sirius demanded, confused by the Goblin's reaction.
"This is the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw!" Carnage replied, causing Sirius' eyes to widen in shock as he stared at an actual piece of history, "It's been lost for over a thousand years! And that honorless worm dared use it to house a piece of his disgusting soul! Is there any depravity that monster will not sink to!"
"Not likely…" Sirius sneered, remembering some of the unspeakable things that he'd seen during the last war against Voldemort and his followers, "If Voldemort had any humanity left in him, it vanished long ago… Can the soul be removed from the diadem?"
"No…" Carnage replied, a look of profound sadness crossing her face as she gently caressed the silver piece, "Not in the time we have. The only option available to us at the moment is to destroy the diadem and, thereby, the soul within."
"Such a waste…" Sirius said softly, "This is an incredible piece of history, and because of Voldemort, we have to destroy it…"
"Indeed," Carnage hissed angrily, "When the rest of my brethren hear of this violation of something so sacred, they'll be ready to rip Voldemort's throat out with their teeth!"
"Let's just get this over with…" Sirius replied with a shake of his head, "Before my guilt overwhelms my reason."
Placing the diadem on the ground between them, Carnage backed away and nodded at Sirius, causing him to pull his wand from his holster and aim at the Horcrux.
As the curse that would destroy the vile creation appeared on the tip of Sirius' tongue, the diadem suddenly exploded in a burst of black smoke that sent both Carnage and Sirius tumbling to the ground.
As smoke billowed out of the diadem, Sirius heard a voice echo from within,
"Sirius Black… You will never be free from Azkaban's shadows, for I have fed on the despair within those walls, and it will haunt you forever…"
Sirius' eyes widened in horror as he heard the words within the smoke, the same voice Sirius had heard mere days ago when the Horcrux had been cleansed from Harry's scar.
"You cannot escape the past, Sirius…" The voice spoke again from within the writhing smoke, "The what-ifs still haunt you, don't they? 'What if I had been there for James?' 'What if I hadn't trusted Peter?' 'What if I had chosen to protect Harry rather than try and exact revenge?' Tell me, Sirius, how does it feel to continually fail so many people?"
Sirius choked back a sob as the wave of guilt that was always just below the surface slammed into him.
"Dammit, Black, don't listen!" Carnage roared from where she lay on her stomach, trying to rise to her feet, only for the smoke to slam into her back and send her to the floor, "Kill it! Kill it, now!"
"You claim to love Harry, and yet you left him to be abused for years! His scars run deeper than just the one on his forehead, Sirius. You left him, just like you left James. When I'm done with you, I'll go after Harry next… I'll make him relive every painful moment, every doubt, every fear, and you'll be powerless to stop it… Just like last time."
"Noooo!" Sirius screamed as he jumped to his feet and pointed his wand through the smoke, where he knew the diadem was lying, "You'll never touch Harry ever AGAIN! AVADA KEDAVRA!"
A rush of green exploded out of Sirius' wand and flew like an arrow through the smoke; a moment later, an unholy scream of agony ripped from the blackness before dying out as the smoke finally began to melt away.
As Sirius fell to his knees, tears running down his face, the smoke finally faded away, and he saw the once pristine silver diadem had been transformed into a melted ruin with a black puddle of sludge oozing from it.
For several long moments, Sirius simply knelt there and stared at the destroyed Horcrux, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he tried to regain control of himself.
"Thank Merlin… It's over."
"I don't think that's the case, actually…" Carnage hissed as she looked down at the device in her hand.
"What? What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?" Sirius demanded, turning to her,
"My device is still reading a Horcrux at Hogwarts…" Carnage hissed, her eyes wide in shock, "What the hell is going on at this damn school!"
"There's another one!" Sirius exclaimed in horror, "How the hell is there another one here!"
"I don't know!" Carnage retorted, "But we have to find it!"
Falling onto his back, Sirius stared up at the dark ceiling for a moment before placing both hands over his face and moaning,
"When this is over, I swear I'm going to drink the entire Black family wine cellar dry…"
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