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You know, if I was JKR, it’d be really cool.
I would have so much fun being JKR.
I would buy a ton of DVDs and books and I'd be really rich and I would know how this story would end.
But instead, I’m just a humble fan, making my own story up because I don’t want to spend two years guestimating for nothing. So enjoy.
The next morning dawned cloudy and misty, and Harry felt the change inside him. He still felt the cheer from the day before, but there was also a restlessness, and a desire to end the war, so that he could get back to his life. He wasn’t sure what that would mean, but he knew that he had never had any part of his life untainted by Voldemort, and he desperately wanted it.
He had arranged with Remus the night before that they would go to Godric’s Hollow in a few days, but for now, Harry was going to go to Grimmauld Place with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. The house had been vacated, because no one was quite sure how Dumbledore’s death would effect the Fidelius Charm that had been placed on it, but the Order had kept it under surveillance and no Death Eaters had been there, so Harry was willing to take the risk for this important mission. He was, however, taking certain precautions, such as the fact that Ginny had to remain in physical contact with one of them at all times and that the three Order members would all have their Portkeys.
The plan was to go to Grimmauld Place and collect everything they could find that had belonged to Regulus Black, shrink it small enough to fit in a pocket, and then return to sort through it in the relative safety of Hogwarts.
The four of them lined up in front of the fire with their Floo Powder as Harry went over the plan, again.
“We’re looking for anything that might be connected to Regulus. Just get it out of there and we’ll sort it all out here. Ginny, remember, you can’t let go of us for an instant.”
He turned to the fire, threw in his powder, and called, “Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place!” then stepped in and was whisked off to the kitchen of the house he had been avoiding for a year.
The house was dark, but Harry was able to see that the kitchen was more or less unchanged. He had time to look around, noticing that the cupboards that had once held the heirlooms of Black family treasure seemed to be empty. He sighed. Just then, Ginny appeared in the fireplace, and Harry grabbed her as soon as she had stopped spinning. Holding hands, they examined the room as Ron and Hermione Flooed in, looking for anything that might have belonged to Regulus, but all the cupboards were bare. Finally, it was Hermione who spoke.
“Mundungus.”
This was the thing that Harry had feared: many of the treasures of the house were in the possession of Mundungus Fletcher, who was, incidentally, in Azkaban for various petty crimes at this moment. If Mundungus had gotten his hands on a clue about Regulus, who knew where it could be?
Harry sighed. “We need to decide what room to search next. Any ideas?”
Hermione rolled her eyes. “I made a list last night, and prioritized it. First, we are going to search Regulus’s room, which is untouched. Then we’re going to look in the attic, where a large number of the Dark things we found were stored, and then we’ll check for hidden compartments in the main rooms where he might have hidden something. Remember, try not to talk, and keep your minds clear for any hint of Dark magic – you should be able to feel it if you’re concentrating. If you get a hint of anything, don’t touch it, and alert all of us, we’ll take the whole container of whatever it is straight to Hogwarts. If anyone sees a locket, it’s possible we might have found what we’re looking for, so don’t touch that, either. We’ll levitate it into a box and take all the lockets back to the school with us. Clear?”
The other three nodded. Quietly, they headed up to Regulus’s room and began their search.
Harry had never before appreciated Grimmauld Place. The house was big and spacious, and now that it was almost entirely decontaminated and Kreacher wasn’t wandering around all the time, it was almost pleasant. Except, of course, for the only bedroom that had been left untouched.
Harry knew that Sirius had disapproved of his brother, but, apparently, there was just enough fraternal love left to keep his Regulus’s possessions intact. Except for the fact that the room had obviously been rid of dark creatures, there was no sign that anything had been moved. This made their work much easier.
Regulus’s stuff was certainly interesting. There were all the things that you would expect to see: clothes, books, and mementos. But most of it was in a rather disturbing category: books about eliminating Muggle-borns from the Wizarding world, a predominance of dark colors among the clothing, and even a few pictures from Hogwarts that showed Regulus and his Slytherin friends tormenting Muggle-borns.
Ginny was the one who found the notebook. It was hidden inside the mattress of the bed. The notes it contained were about the Dark Arts: rumors of various spells or potions or ideas that Regulus had heard of around the house. It seemed that he had been trying to learn as much as possible about the forbidden knowledge of his parents as he could. There was a page devoted to Horcruxes. Harry wordlessly handed the book to Hermione, who scanned the page and gasped.
“This is it!” she said, “Right here! He writes:
I have found the information I seek, in the halls of Hogwarts.
The Dark Lord has, indeed, found a way to split his soul
I know that he will have powerful protection on the Horcrux, and judging by the work he has had me doing on ways to defeat Capturing Potions, I believe I know what that is.
I no longer know where my loyalties lie; I only know that Sirius was right about one thing: Voldemort is evil. And I am not prepared to follow evil
I know there is nothing I can say to win back the respect of my brother. Now is the time for action. I will steal the Horcrux, but until I get my hands on it I cannot know how to destroy it, nor will I know if I will have the time. Therefore, if anyone should find this notebook, I can only hope that you, too will have the courage to do what is right.
“That’s it!” Hermione said. “This is proof that Ginny is right, and that we are on the right track. And, he said Capturing Potions…there’s pages and pages of notes on those in here. We can finally get to the bottom of that other question, later. For now, let’s concentrate on the locket. We know he got it from the cave.”
“He knew he might not have time to destroy it,” said Harry. “But Voldemort never knew what Regulus had done. The Death Eaters killed him.”
“Why, though?” asked Ginny. “He wouldn’t if Voldemort didn’t know what he’d done?”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Ron. “The important thing is that he died. But the Death Eaters didn’t know what he had done. So his body, and everything he had with him, would have been returned to his parents. That’s how it works.”
“And his parents would have put the things he had with him somewhere,” said Harry. “They collected everything else.”
“You’re sure it was a locket?” asked Ginny.
“Pretty sure,” Harry told her.
“Then, what about that locket we found two years ago in the cabinets in the drawing room, the one that wouldn’t open?”
The other three looked at her, amazed.
“Of course!” said Hermione, “that locket has been right here the whole time! R.A.B, Regulus, in his home, it all fits. That cabinet had a bunch of trophies of dead family members, including what Regulus had on him when he died. But where is it now?”
Harry had a sudden thought. It was not a pleasant one.
“Kreacher,” he said, and a house – elf wearing a tattered loincloth appeared in the room. “Master has summoned Kreacher?” it asked, muttering, “filthy master is not fit to be in Master Regulus’s room, oh no.”
“Kreacher,” said Harry, “did you take a locket from the pile in the drawing room two summers ago?”
“Kreacher did as he had to,” replied the elf evasively.
“Did you have to take the locket?” asked Harry.
“The locket was all my mistress had to keep from her beloved son after he died,” said Kreacher, muttering, “Master is not fit to touch such an item, no he is not.”
“Where is the locket now?” asked Harry.
“Kreacher put it away, in the attic, where it will not be disturbed,” the elf told him.
“Go and get it,” Harry told the elf, “and bring it to me. Don’t go anywhere else, contact anyone in any way, or make any noise in the process, clear?”
“Kreacher must do as Master asks,” the elf muttered angrily. He disappeared with a pop and then returned to the room carrying a locket.
“Thank you, Kreacher,” said Harry. “Now, put the locket on the bed, return to Hogwarts, and don’t tell anyone you were here or that we spoke. In fact, never mention this to anyone again.”
“Kreacher set the locket down, glared at Harry, and vanished.”
Harry smiled, then reached out with a piece of blanket over his hand and grabbed the locket, then nodded to the others. They all grabbed their Portkeys and were swept away, Ginny pulled along with them.
In the Room of Requirement, the four of them sat and stared at the locket.
“We did it,” said Hermione. “We found it. It’s over.”
“It’s not over,” said Ron. “We don’t even know how to destroy it.”
“Yes we do,” said Harry. “At least, I do. We have to open it.”
“How do you know that?” asked Hermione. “For all we know, that’ll make it worse.”
“I just know, like I did with Riddle’s diary.”
Harry immediately knew he had said the wrong thing. Ginny looked at him, her eyes narrowed. “What!”
Harry turned to her. “Well, I destroyed it, didn’t I? So, think of this like the same type of thing. I can do it again. Just…I’d rather not use Basilisk venom this time.”
Ginny glared at him. “Why didn’t you tell me Riddle’s diary had something to do with all this? How could you hide that from me?”
“Because,” Harry told her, “you’re taking some time off, remember? You are going to live what you can of your life while you still can, and the diary is gone. It no longer has anything to do with Voldemort. I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you, it just hasn’t come up. So now you know, okay? It was important. Without Riddle’s diary, Dumbledore might never have figured out what we needed to do to kill Voldemort. But the diary itself isn’t dangerous any more. And I don’t think this can hurt you.”
“Why wouldn’t it be able to hurt you?” asked Ron.
“Because the diary was a weapon and the ring was a trap. But the last four would be for protection, so they’ll be hidden and guarded against being stolen, but not meant to do any damage themselves. He wouldn’t want anyone to fight back.”
Ron seemed satisfied with this explanation.
Hermione examined the locket. “The obvious solution,” she said, “would be to open it with the catch. But that doesn’t seem to be working right now,” she continued, trying it. “So, maybe we could take the screws out of the hinge, and open it that way, or pry it open somehow…”
Meanwhile, Ginny had gotten up and moved over to a table at the side of the room. When she returned, she carried a heavy-looking metal lump in her hand. She raised it above her head and smashed it down on the locket before anyone could stop her.
A green glow surrounded the pieces of the locket, and then faded away. The shattered locket was now just that: a shattered locket.
Ginny looked very satisfied with herself.
A/N: I have received some backlash for the contents of this chapter that I would like to address in this revision. Most of it has been centered on the way in which the Horcrux was destroyed.
Basically, I wanted Ginny to get one. I felt that she deserved one, and I felt that she deserved for it to be Slytherin's, because of her role in the whole Heir of Slytherin thing.
As for the lump of metal – I think the most remarkable thing about the locket is that none of them could open it. So how do you go about opening it? I could have made it be some complex spellcasting thing, but that just smacks of Hermione. So instead I just got Ginny to bash it open while everyone else was arguing.
Simple, yet effective. And if you really have a problem with that, that's okay, but it's not gonna change now. I have bigger issues to deal with.
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