Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 48: Stolen
The blood clone began to make groaning noises after taking several sips of the potion.
"Just one more should do it," said V.
After the clone took one more sip, it started to tumble toward the pond.
Harry quickly dispelled the construct before it could attract the inferi and grabbed the object that had just appeared inside the basin.
"Got you." He lifted his hand and saw what it was. "So this is the locket you had told me about."
"Put it on the ground. You shouldn't be touching it becau—hold on. There is something wrong with it." V said. "Bring it a bit closer to me."
"Hmm?" Harry raised his hand and got the artifact closer to the hat's 'face'.
"That's not my locket!." V quickly said.
"What are you talking about? What else could it be?" Harry examined it next.
He had never seen the Slytherin Locket in question, but he was very familiar with the eerie magical signature that all the other Horcruxes emitted.
"You may be right." Harry couldn't pick anything up from this one. Not a single trace of magic on it.
"How can this be? It was supposed to be here!" V exclaimed. "I'm sure of it!."
"Could the Dark Lord have moved it somewhere else and left a fake one behind?" Harry asked.
"Why? This place was completely safe. And if it wasn't, he wouldn't have bothered leaving something fake behind." V explained.
"There is something inside the thing," said Harry after opening the locket.
"You opened it?! How can you be so careless? You could have triggered a lethal trap! Harry, you are no longer immort—"
"Give me some credit, V. I checked first." Harry huffed. "And I am aware of my own mortality, thank you very much. Mmm… what is this? A note?"
"A note? Someone went through so much trouble to leave a note?" V sounded confused. "What kind of mockery is this?."
"Let's see…" Harry began reading it out loud.
"To the Dark Lord
I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.
I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more.
R.A.B."
"That's just great, we got some hero here… stealing my old things and messing our plans." V scoffed.
"R.A.B. Does that ring a bell?" Harry asked.
"Not really," V responded.
"Come on, think about it for more than one second. How many of your old followers knew about this hideout?"
"None!. You would think I'd trust anyone with something this important?" V almost sounded offended at the mere idea. But then something occurred to him.
"Wait!…"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Here we go…"
"I borrowed a house-elf to bring here. I needed something to test the defenses." V said.
"What happened to the elf?"
"I suppose that it died. It drank the potion, went to the pond, and attracted all the inferi. Then I had to leave, or they would have attacked me as well." V explained.
"So you didn't see the elf die. Whose house-elf was it?" Harry asked.
"Mmm… an old follower from the House of Black. Regulus was his name, I believe. Some of those distant memories are a bit foggy."
"Regulus Black? That's Sirius's younger brother!" Harry had memorized many of the wizard families in Britain and their many members. He had spent quite a bit of time on the House of Black, trying to learn more about his godfather and… Bellatrix.
"Hold on, was the house-elf Kreacher? Because that cranky old bastard is not dead." Harry said.
"So that's what happened. Black must have called for the house-elf to return. Their magic could bypass the anti-apparition wards of the cave." V realized. "R.A.B. is Regulus Black, then."
"So much for the perfect hideout spot." Harry said, reading the note again. "It says here that he intended to destroy it. But if we want to make sure, we are going to need to find this thing."
"Is the house-elf still around?" V asked.
"He is. Still attending the House of Black. Which, right now, is only Sirius and that loud painting of his mother." It was good that he had maintained all memories related to his Godfather. He didnt had that many to begin with, so he considered them all important, even if some of them included that unpleasant house elf.
"Then we must go there and speak with this elf." V suggested. With Regulus dead, the creature was the only one who could know about the whereabouts of the real artifact.
Harry frowned. He knew it was not going to be that easy. "I'll need to find an excuse to go visit Sirius a bit sooner. Otherwise, I will need to wait until the end of the summer."
"That shouldn't be too difficult. Just tell Miss Weasley that you miss your godfather too much and that you want to see him on the weekend."
"I don't know if I'm that good at lying," said Harry.
"You have been lying to your friends about what happened to you at the Ministry." V pointed out.
"Not telling them everything and lying are two different things." Harry sounded annoyed. "And I don't want to talk about this now." He stored the locket in his pocket and flew over the pond. "Let's get out of here."
"Fine, keep avoiding the topic. It won't go away." V said.
Harry ignored the hat's comments and flew out of the cave, into the air, and opened a gate.
"Next stop?" V asked.
"You know where." Harry went into the portal and came out in a large garden.
It was mostly empty, except for a few trees… and the large manor in front of him.
The manor itself appeared to be very decrepit and abandoned, and the plants of the garden had overtaken the entire property.
"The Gaunt Manor. I never thought I would see this place again." V commented with a hint of nostalgia.
"This is going to be a short visit," said Harry. "We are just here for one ring. Let's hope it's still there."
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