114 — Hidden Trophy
It was just before dinner that the pegasi came back inside. They looked a bit upset, brows furrowed heavily as they looked around. The other Firstie animagi hurried over through the party as soon as they saw them. Harry was sure that if they had been in pony form, their ears would have been laid back in worry.
“What’s the matter,” asked Sweetie Belle, concerned.
The two looked around, then motioned the others to follow them. Down the corridor outside the Common Room they went to an unused room. They ducked inside and closed the door behind everyone.
Apple Bloom asked this time, “Okay, what’s goin’ on?”
The two exchanged looks, then Scootaloo said, “We were playing tag when I saw a hooded figure cutting across the lawn towards the Forbidden Forest.”
Harry exchanged looks with the others. That wasn’t ominous at all, was it?
“It was Snape . . . ,”
“Professor Snape,” said Hermione.
Scootaloo rolled her eyes and continued, “I saw him enough times coming into class to recognize the way his cloak swirled. But he had the hood up and he clearly didn’t want anyone to see or recognize him.
“I dove down as he ran into the forest. I got to tree-top height and tried to track ’em, but I couldn’t see ’em.” She paused dramatically. “But then I heard his voice!” She grinned, “Ponies have real good hearing. He had met someone!”
“Not just anyone, either, but Professor Quirrell!” Ginny put in excitedly.
She glanced around at her spell-bound audience.
“And it was him, too!” said Ginny. “We heard them, both. We were perched on a branch over their heads.” She snickered. “They never once looked up.”
“They were talking about the Philosopher’s Stone!” said Scootaloo, ignoring Ginny. “He specifically mentioned it!”
Hermione startled back, “Really? The Philosopher’s Stone?” She paused a moment, then said, “Yes!” excitedly, as she made a fist, bent her elbow so her fist pointed up, and pumped her arm in victory. “I knew it!”
“Or rather Snape threatened Professor Quirrell,” put in Ginny.
“Yeah,” said Scootaloo. “Snape wanted to know if Professor Quirrell could tell him how to get past Fluffy!” she said breathlessly. “And he asked about Professor Quirrell’s hocus-pocus, too.”
Hermione was too caught up in being right about the Philosopher’s Stone to notice Scootaloo hadn’t said Professor Snape.
“He threatened Quirrell several times, then left,” she continued. “The professor looked like he was scared, because he didn’t move for several minutes. Then he went back to the castle.”
“Once he was out of sight, we headed for here,” Ginny said.
“We thought we should tell you as soon as possible.”
It was a very thoughtful group of Firsties that walked into the Great Hall a bit later for dinner.
Maybe they should have a talk with Hagrid? Clearly, there were other protections on the Stone other than Fluffy — at least Professor Quirrell was involved. Hagrid might know if there were other professors involved, and who. And if they should be as worried as they were.
۸-~-۸
Albus had just settled back in his chair to think about what he had just reviewed in his pensieve when a voice came from his floo.
“Professor Dumbledore? Are you there?”
It was Sirius. And he sounded worried.
“Yes, Sirius?” he said in reply.
“May I come through? I found something . . . interesting”
The wizard had an . . . unusual tone in his voice.
“Certainly, my boy.”
Moments later, Sirius dropped a small bag on Dumbledore’s desk. He looked like he had had a rough day, so far, and didn’t expect it to end soon. “I’ve been cleaning up Twelve Grimmauld Place,” he said. “I hired someone to help me.” He stared at the bag as he slumped into the armchair across from Albus.
Albus leaned forward and picked up the acromantula-silk bag. He glanced at Sirius, who merely watched him tiredly. He carefully dropped the contents, a locket, into his hand. Albus could feel a faint taint of . . . corruption from the locket. He looked up at the other wizard, startled. He dropped the bag on the table and carefully placed the locket on it.
He leaned back. “How did you come by this?” he asked quietly.
Sirius sighed. “We were taking everything out of the curio cabinets in the drawing room . . . .”
۸-_-۸
Anne looked at the drawing room in Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, hands on her hips. They had spent yesterday afternoon cleaning out the various creatures that had taken up residence in the room. Not a simple task given that many of them were magic-resistant to some degree. As a result, the room was somewhat worse for wear.
The floor rug had been a disaster when they had started, with numerous holes chewed in it by doxies. The collateral damage of the various scorch marks from getting rid of those doxies hadn’t improved it — spraying doxicide didn’t always get the little beasts. She had next thought that a good scourgify-ing charm would simply vanish the rug. No such luck. It just revealed how faded the rug was. And the holes got bigger. It now looked more like a badly-sewn net covering the floor.
The wooden floor underneath it wasn’t much of an improvement, either. The colour contrast between the portions formerly covered by the rug and the room’s perimeter where the rug had never reached was more than a little jarring. At the very least it would need to be sanded and refinished.
The walls, curtains, and furniture weren’t in any better shape.
It wasn’t a matter of what to keep and what to remove when they were finished cleaning. Everything not permanently glued down with a spell would be tossed. And even some of the spelled items, too.
The walls, at least, looked decent with all the caked dirt and dust removed. But the woodworms had gotten to them, and the worms hadn’t been kind. Getting them out had been headache inducing, on several levels. In any case, the walls would need to be replaced, as well. Walls that went crunch when you leaned against them did not inspire confidence in the structure underneath.
The wall covered by the tapestry of the Black Family tree, however, was in good condition by comparison. Apparently the preservative magic in the tapestry had discouraged the worst of the worms’ depredations. The tapestry, itself, was also in good condition, considering the holes blasted in it and that the edges had been gnawed on by something. Probably the doxies, again. It would never take pride of place — at least, not anymore — except as a worn record of the family.
“If this place were mine,” she said, for the hundredth time, “I’d just set it on fire and walk away.” She walked along the floor-to-ceiling wall-to-wall tapestry, closely examining it. It was a treasure-trove of information, and she was committing as much of it to memory as she could. It was so much more illuminating than the “official” books that traced the many important families in the wizarding world. The tapestry revealed relationships that the books considered of too little importance, especially with lesser families.
Family relationships were always important in a small town, as she well knew. And the wizarding world gave just that impression — it was a small town, and small town politics and attitudes were rampant. Newcomers were always viewed with suspicion.
So, knowing that some of the apples in the basket had worms was always an advantage when haggling. Especially if you thought the worms a benefit and the seller thought them a detriment.
She wondered if the chart could be duplicated on a new tapestry, revealing those who had been removed. There might be a few connections she could exploit more fully if she knew who those “traitors” were, and where their families were now. If the families were still around, they might make decent allies. If she did nothing, they could be unsuspected and hidden enemies.
Maybe she could sell the idea to Sirius as “revenge” on his family by bringing to the front their hidden connections to muggles, squibs, half-bloods, and blood-traitors. Sirius could “shame” the Black family’s reputation by showing they were not as “pure” as they pretended. Perhaps even bringing the blasted names back into the family, officially. His parents would spin in their graves at his “disrespect.”
She would lead him to the suggestion at lunch. She had a much better chance of success if he thought it was his idea. Perhaps she would only suggest that having his mother watch as these “rejects” paraded through her house with impunity would be a wonderful prank, today. Then, later, bring up the subject of refurbishing the family tapestry.
She looked over at him. He had a crooked smile on his face as he surveyed the room.
“The cabinets?” she suggested.
Glass-fronted curio cabinets stood on either side of the mantelpiece. They were stuffed with things like rusty daggers, animal claws (she shuddered), a coiled snakeskin, inscribed silver boxes tarnished with age, and dozens of other things.
He firmly nodded. “As I recall, some of those things are quite nasty, so let me take a look, first.” He shook his head wryly. “If you aren’t a Black or pure-blood, they liable to attack you.” He moved the rubbish bin to beside the mantle. It was his favourite bin. Sirius thought it funny that the bin made a show of swallowing whatever they threw in it, and then belched loudly. He almost always smiled as it did so. Infantile humour seemed to appeal to him.
When he reached inside the first cabinet, Sirius was immediately attacked by a silver snuffbox. Within seconds, his hand looked like he was wearing a brown glove. “It’s okay,” he said, casually, as he tapped it with his wand, instantly restoring his hand to normal, “probably Wartcap powder.”
They decided to check each item for damaging spells before picking them up.
An unpleasant-looking silver instrument, something like a many-legged pair of tweezers, tried to dodge her investigative spell. Sirius hit it with a blasting hex that reduced it to scrap. A musical box played a faintly sinister, tinkling tune when wound. They were becoming curiously weak and sleepy until Sirius slammed the lid shut.
“I remember that,” Sirius said. “Mom always brought it out when I was being difficult, as she said, about sleeping.” Anne examined the box carefully, opening and closing it several times until she understood the simple spell. Then she hit it with a powerful finite, and crushed the box, destroying the runes that powered the spell. A most useful little spell for parents, she decided, especially with more appropriate music for children.
Some of the parents in her Town would have appreciated such a sure-fire way of getting their little ones to conk out.
She could use it to begin building a name for herself.
Sirius called it “cleaning,” but Anne thought it was more like waging war. Assisted and supported by Kreacher, the house was a formidable opponent. The crazy house-elf kept trying to sneak anything he could that they discarded. Sirius futilely threatened to give him clothes, but Kreacher had called his bluff. “Master will not, Kreacher knows things, he does, and Master is too cowardly to mount his head on the wall of distinction . . . .” he had muttered loudly.
The mere idea that the elf thought that having his head cut off and mounted on the staircase wall was something of an achievement horrified her. And he was looking forward to it! And what was worse, previous masters of the household had thought it a fitting reward!
That convinced her, as nothing else had so far, that the humans and house-elves were insane by pony standards. For their own safety, they desperately needed some pony to keep watch over them.
Sirius had ordered the elf to his room for the rest of that day.
The rubbish bin now had an alarm on it to prevent the elf’s misappropriating anything undetected. As a result, afterwards, he had merely glowered and muttered at them from the edge of the door to whichever room they were working on.
۸-~-۸
The large, oval locket of heavy gold with a serpentine ‘S’ in green jewels on its front almost disappeared in a black cloud in response to Sirius’ spell. “Oh,” he said, not surprised. “That’s a dark one for sure,” he said dismissively, picking it up by the chain.
Intrigued, Starlight, smirked and cast one of the spells she knew from Equestria. And immediately started back-pedalling to the other side of the room. “Uh, Sirius? Put that down. Like, right NOW!” she said, alarmed.
Sirius looked at her questioningly, but did as she asked. “What’s wrong?” he said.
“It has a very powerful and dangerous magic in it,” she said as she stared at it intently. “Where I come from, just owning that vile thing would see you tossed in the dungeons.” She had heard rumours about the Alicorn Amulet. It looked innocent, but was a deadly and corrupting artefact. This appeared the same. Or, at least, the response to her spell was the same as the one that the amulet was supposed give.
He gave her an incredulous look, then focused back on the locket,
She quickly levitated the locket into the air and started surrounding it with spells. Then she hit it with another spell. There was a loud bang, and the locket bounced off a wall. “Okay,” she said shakily, wincing in pain at the sudden headache she had. “That should have crushed it.”
She lifted the locket, again. Surrounded it with the best reflective shield she could manage, then cast a flame spell inside the shield. Her headache got a lot worse with the strain.
They could feel the heat even though they were across the room from it. Oddly, Kreacher was beside them with a hopeful expression. Anne was sure she could feel her eyebrows beginning to smoke when the flame went out. Some of the room’s furnishings definitely were smoking. One of the armrest covers on the couch suddenly burst into flames. Sirius quickly put it out with an aguamenti charm.
Her flames’ cessation revealed a locket still held in her shield, glowing red-hot but with no visible damage. So, it was almost impossible to destroy, like the amulet, then.
“What is that?” Sirius asked, astounded at the locket surviving a heat that should easily have liquefied the trinket.
Anne was about to answer when she heard Kreacher, beside her, mumbling.
“Failed again. Failed again, Kreacher has failed Master Regulus again!” he mumbled despairingly, wringing his hands, distraught at the locket’s resistance. He started beating his head against the doorframe.
She turned to him. “What do you mean, you failed?”
The elf continued to bash his head against the doorframe.
Sirius, his attention drawn from the locket, watched curiously, frowning.
She asked again, “What do you mean, you failed Master Regulus?”
He continued to ignore her.
Sirius, on the other hand, took an intense interest in the elf. He rolled his eyes. “Kreacher!” he yelled, “Stop that and answer her! Truthfully!”
It took a while, almost an hour, to get the full story of Master Regulus, Kreacher, and the locket. It had started just after Regulus had joined the Dark Lord’s army. First, the Dark Lord had requested the use of Kreacher — which the Blacks deemed a great honour and was immediately granted. Then came Kreacher’s trip to the cave by the sea with the Dark Lord, with the black lake in it hiding Inferi, and the basin filled with a terrible potion that caused unrelenting despair and unbearable thirst. The Dark Lord had forced Kreacher to drink it, nearly killing him, and then the wizard had placed the locket in the empty basin. The Dark Lord had then left the house-elf to die, to be killed by the Inferi in the lake when he attempted to slake his thirst.
That should have been the end of Kreacher. But Master Regulus had ordered the elf to return at the completion of his task. And Kreacher was a good and obedient house-elf, so he had returned, even as the Inferi were dragging him into the dark water to kill him.
His Master had nursed him back to health — an unbelievable kindness for a lowly elf!
His Good Master Regulus had been disturbed by Kreacher’s tale, and had sworn to find the truth behind it. Then, days later, while Kreacher was still recovering, Good Master Regulus had taken him and returned to the cursed island in the underground lake. His final orders to Kreacher were to force Good Master to drink the potion until the locket could be retrieved. Kreacher was to substitute a fake locket for the real one, and then take the locket away and destroy it! Kreacher wasn’t to try to save his master, for his master was doomed. Good Master Regulus had said the Dark Lord would kill him for what he had done, and the Inferi were a better death than what the Dark Lord would mete out.
Kreacher had tried. Oh, how he had tried. But he couldn’t fulfil those final orders from Good Master Regulus. His efforts at failing to fulfil his orders, and the conflict of being unable to tell anyone or ask for help, had tormented the elf ever since.
By the end, Sirius was in tears and sitting on the floor.
“Regulus,” he sobbed repeatedly, matched almost perfectly by Kreacher sobbing, as well.
Anne shook herself. A dramatic and tragic story, without a doubt. One that would make even stone-hearted Princess Celestia cry. No wonder the house was in such shambles. The poor elf had been trapped in his orders to destroy something he couldn’t. And until he had completed those orders he couldn’t concentrate on anything else. Plus, he had no one to confide in, no way to ask for help, and no way to explain himself. He could only punish himself for failing to do his duties.
The inability to obey his last orders, given to him by his loved Master, given at the point of death, had driven the elf mad.
She studied the locket. It was clearly nothing she could handle by herself. It held an essence of evil that corrupted those who wore it, she suspected. It was like the legendary Alicorn Amulet in that respect. Insidious and slow in action, but deadly in the term. Perhaps it was why this room had been so heavily occupied by dangerous and vicious creatures.
The only two Equestrians she knew who could definitely handle such a dangerous object were either Princess Sparkle or Princess Celestia. And she had her doubts about Sparkle. In any event, there was no way she was revealing herself to Princess Sparkle! Or Princess Celestia. Not for this trinket.
But they were on the other side of the portal. What was available on this side?
She waited for Sirius to calm down some, sitting on the floor beside him. It also gave the locket time to cool down, too.
Finally, she asked, “Do you have any ideas on how to destroy this?”
Sirius leaned his head back against the wall by the door. He sighed, emotionally exhausted, and wiped the tears from his face. He stared blankly for several moments, then said, “Dumbledore would know what to do.” He pushed himself to his feet, “And if he doesn’t, he knows who would.”
He took a deep breath. “Right. Let’s do this.” He walked over to where the locket still hung in her spell and studied it. “Is it safe to touch?”
She joined him a moment later. “It’s cool, now. And it should be okay to hold and touch, now that we know where it came from. Its damaging effects come from long-term close exposure.” She glanced at the house-elf. “He’s probably handled it many times, for hours on end, trying to destroy it.” She glanced up Sirius, “Which probably aggravated his despair at failing to carry-out his orders.”
She carried it in her magic as he headed for the front hall to get his traveling robes. She grabbed her own, and dropped the trinket into the silk bag he retrieved from a hall table. With a distasteful expression, he dropped it in his pocket. As he opened the door, she said to the house-elf, who had followed them, “We’re going to destroy the locket.” Kreacher swayed as he almost fainted. “Sirius will tell you what is going on when he returns,” she looked at the wizard. “Won’t you?”
He nodded absentmindedly. “We’ll go the Leaky Cauldron, first, and floo-call Professor Dumbledore. If he’s out of the office, we’ll just go to Hogwarts and find him. Schools in session, so he shouldn’t be that difficult to find.”
He stepped outside and she followed him. Behind them, she heard Kreacher close the door.
“I’ll meet you there,” he said.
“This is family business,” she said. “You don’t need me cluttering things up. And I don’t want to get involved in whatever that locket truly is.” She paused at his surprised expression. She smiled. “I’ll see you here tomorrow morning, right?”
“You sure?”
She nodded.
“Okay.” He apparated away, she teleported a moment later.
The charms on the house extended down the porch stairs to the sidewalk and prevented anyone from seeing or noticing their abrupt disappearances.
۸-_-۸
“. . . and, so, here I am,” he said tiredly.
“Voldemort, you say?” the Headmaster said softly, waving his wand over the locket. It lay, innocuous, on his desk.
Sirius nodded.
Albus studied the results of his spell. Definitely a horcrux, like the two they had already destroyed. And, like the other two, this horcrux bore the same magical signature. So, this, with the Gaunt ring, provided absolute proof that Riddle had destroyed his own soul in the pursuit of immortality. He now had two items he knew Riddle had possessed, and both were horcruxes. Or had been.
Plus, this one would either prove or disprove Princess Sparkle’s theory that five horcruxes had been made. But he would need her final assessment, just to be sure.
By his estimate of the two he had seen, this should be the third or fourth one created — probably the fourth — after the Peverell ring and Rowena Ravenclaw’s tirara, but before Harry. Which meant there should only be one left.
Hepzibah Smith, whose close friend had been one Tom Riddle, had been “poisoned” by her house-elf in 1953. Shortly thereafter, Riddle disappeared from his job at Borgin and Burkes. Later, her surviving relatives had reported being unable to find two of her treasures: Salazar Slytherin’s Locket and Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup.
And, now, here was Slytherin’s Locket. Confirmed as being in the possession of Voldemort. Confirmed as being made into a horcrux. Which meant the fate of the remaining item, Hufflepuff’s Cup, was that of a horcrux, as well.
He could not imagine Tom, having already defiled two priceless Hogwarts’ Founders’ artefacts, would hesitate to desecrate a third.
He shook his head, saddened at the loss of these irreplaceable antique treasures.
He wondered where Tom had hidden this last treasure. And if there were any that preceded the ring. How many had Tom planned to make? Had he been planning for the magic number seven? Or Nine? Albus thought seven was probably the goal. Nine wasn’t nearly as powerful as seven.
How many had he successfully created? There was only one person who might know.
He pulled a parchment out of his desk drawer and wrote a quick note. He looked up at his phoenix, “Fawkes? Could I impose upon you to deliver this to Princess Twilight Sparkle?” He held up the rolled parchment.
Fawkes looked at him, then the locket, and then launched himself off his perch. He snatched the scroll in his claws and a soft trill of joy filled the room as he flashed away in a burst of light.
Anyone else and Albus would have sent them on their way. Sirius would not so easily be dismissed. Especially when it was something from his home. It was his family’s, he would demand to know what was going to happen to it.
Sirius didn’t trust him as much as he used to. For good reason. If Albus wanted to rebuild the trust they used to have, he would have to be more open about what he was doing. After all, the young wizard wasn’t an impressionable young boy anymore.
And the old wizard needed his trust if they were going to work together to reform the laws in the Wizengamot. Failure there could be disastrous for wizardkind, not just him.
Albus smiled as the sound faded away. He looked up at Sirius. “I would like the Princess to see this before we destroy it,” he said, glancing at the locket. He opened his secret drawer and removed the wooden-case with the basilisk fang in its protective glass container.
“I don’t imagine we will have to wait long. She will come as soon as possible.”
They both sat quietly for a moment.
“So, my boy,” Albus turned his attention back to Sirius. “It sounds like your cleaning helper is quite an accomplished witch. Have you known her long?”
Sirius gave him a smirk. “Not that long, really. Do you remember that lunch we had in the Leaky Cauldron back at the beginning of February? The eighth?”
Albus nodded.
“Well, that’s when and where I met her . . . .”
۸-_-۸
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At this point, it's still an unopened bag.
When is it now in the story? How much time has passed?
Nice chapter!
Well now we will get the lockets position on the chart. I think that this is most likely either his third or fourth one. With the three that have already been accounted for, and two that we know have been fully destroyed Twilight will have a good understanding of just how many there are.
9581821
They are in March to early May.
Been thinking of posting this meme in regards to Starlight for the last few chapters...
Waiting to see the reaction of Twilight...
Enjoy your coffee.
I hope afterwards you're not in need of starlights future device of main-income. >:]
9581841
Okay, but "March to early May" is a three month span. Can we narrow it down? (Do we need to? Does it even matter?)
9581804
9581821
Thanks for the fix. End of February. Time moves quickly at this point.
9581854
9581895
Ok after some quick research Easter which has gone by in story was on April 19. So we can now narrow it down further if we know how long after Easter we are in the story.
You can have a Ko-Fi. You've earned it.
Another solid chapter.
I gotta ask though why is the book 1 plot playing out as it did in the books? There is no reason for Snape to be following Quirrell around like this. In the books, it was because Dumbledore told him to but in this story you've made it clear Dumbledore doesn't suspect any of the teachers so he wouldn't have any reason to give Snape that order.
Now it is possible Snape became suspicious on his own but then why hasn't he informed Dumbledore? He's not so noble that he would take matters into his own hands without being told by Dumbledore. Remember the whole reason Snape is a teacher at Hogwarts is so that he can act as Dumbledore's spy. Dumbledore is the only reason he isn't in Azkaban so he wouldn't go attacking another instructor without first clearing it with Dumbledore.
9581906
No, we’re still in February. Spring half-term break in the U.K. is mid-February. Not April.
Dumbledore should have all manner of red flags popping up.
9581946
Hogwarts only has three breaks, Summer, Christmas and Easter, in the Spring-Half break doesn't exist in the Wizarding World.
9581906
Well the author has made a break from Canon to include a week long break in February, which is his prerogative but should have been made a little more clear.
9581946
According to the wiki:
So in 1991 that would put the break in late March going into early April.
Umm... correct me if I am wrong but at this point they are still missing two horcruxes... the diary and the cup...
Count so far:
2. the Gaunt ring
3. Rowena Ravenclaw’s tirara
4. Slitherin's locket.
5. Harry
They expect
1. Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup
Unknown to them as yet is the diary (real first, #6), Nagini (7), and ...
What was the last horocrux again?
Dumbledore is expecting 7, and has confirmation of 5. It's reasonable for him to conclude that there might have been one more before this (Tom probably needed to practice somewhere), so he'd be expecting at least one more.
That Harry was unplanned ... and I cannot remember the last one. (I know, I could look it up, but I'm trying to remember it.)
Why does it seem like everyone doing a Harry Potter series re-write wants to make everything happen in 1 or 2 years, tops, but still have almost as much length as 3-4 years at least? :-)
9581960
9581965
Thank you for the extra input!
9581946
You could go with that they where given an extra break because they are ahead of schedule and the board wouldn't allow the students out of school early. Becuase of the book walking spell I do believe you have already established that they are a few weeks ahead of their usual plan.
9581926
Yeah, Dumbles is suspicious of Quirrell, but he can’t believe that a Professor who had taught for many years at Hogwarts would suddenly turn to Voldie. Never mind the possibility that maybe it was an unwilling possession and his various nervous tics were on purpose as a cry for help.
9581975
It was the ring, diary, diadem, locket, cup and finally Nagini. Keep in mind Voldemort doesn't meet Nagini and turn her into a Horcrux until the summer of 1994.
9581984
Okay, but why haven't we heard of this? The books had the excuse of Dumbledore not being a PoV character but you can't use that excuse here. Does that mean he still asked Snape to keep eye on Quirrell?
Again he had explicitly said he doesn't suspect any teachers in a previous chapter.
9581975
Yeah, cause no one wants to write a seven-book series when some of the problems are so flimsy. Like, nobody suggests an expanded tent in DH. Nobody suggests hitting up a MUGGLE store for food. (yeah, they’re broke, but why didn’t Hermione get money from her parents? Or they could simply take what they needed, noted it down with the intent to repay the stores when it was all over.) Putting an age-line in the corridor on the third floor. Expecting only an age-line to protect the Goblet of Fire, etc.
What a great way to kill your enemies! Confund the Goblet and insert their name! Odds are they’ll be killed! And no one in the centuries the contest ran thought of that? Pretty stupid wizards, then.
9581975
Nagini did not become a horcrux until Voldemort killed Bertha Jorkins in 1994 so there is only one Horcrux (diary) that Twilight and Dumbledore do not know about.
9581968
You are right. And both are inaccessible to Dumbledore & Co. One is in Malfoy's possession, other - in Lestrange Family vault. For later case, I have no idea why Ministry can't and don't confiscate property of heirless criminals sentenced to life in prison.
I'm really curious which way Starlight Glimmer's role will go. At this point she's something of a wild card. Her personal goals lie in opposition to Voldemort's/the Death Eaters, yet she hates Twilight so much she would make trouble just for the heck of it. It's also interesting she has the presence of mind to *not* mess around with dark magic.
9582007
From what I understand the Ministry has no control over Gringotts and the goblins don't really give a damn if you're a criminal in the eyes of the wizards as long as you don't violate their rules. For example, Sirius, while being a fugitive on the run, was able to withdraw money from his vault to buy Harry a new broom.
Basically, they tend to remain neutral, they won't side with Voldemort but they also won't object to doing business with him and his followers.
9581984
You probably need to establish why he is suspicious. As someone else pointed out you have already established that Dumbledore doesn’t think that any of his teachers would betray his trust. This was from when Harry was attacked during his first quidditch game.
9581965
Except the spring term half-break for schools in the U.K. has been that way for centuries. So . . . .
Also, J.K.R. frequently moved things around for her convenience. For example, in CoS, Feb 14, 1993, is a standard day of class -- except it’s SUNDAY!
9581975
The last part was in Voldermort’s on body. Basically all that remained from all he has done.
9582030
Yeah but Hogwarts doesn't do a half-term break they have an Easter Holiday instead. I assumed that's what we were doing and that the stuff with Sirius was just us jumping around a bit in the timeline.
Wizards never look up.
Maybe the extreme thought will be had and they will assume Anne/Starlight is the escaped Changeling.
9582020
Well, for some reason in PoA Sirius was also able to take back his wand somehow, so it is really just another plot-hole for JKR convenience. Besides, Sirius could have some valuables in his house for dark market sale.
9582145
It's never stated that it was his original wand (pre-arrest) it's far more likely he just grabbed a new wand from somewhere. Maybe he kept a spare in his vault.
9582007
Because the one area in which Wizarding law is superior is no shady civil asset forfeiture laws.
But yeah, you might as well just drop a house on Quirreldemort at this point since he's contributing as much to the plot as the Wicked Witch of the East.
With all these horcrux got destroyed behind the scene, has Tom gotten any feedback from them at all?
What is going on in this story? You've made me sympathize with Kreacher of all beings.
9582290
I'd assume no, in the books Voldemort could never tell when a Horcrux had been destroyed, he only knew of the Diary's destruction because Lucius told him.
9582323
Well he's pretty sympathetic in the books as well:
9581900
...Short version- "Das racis!"
9582323
In this world, there are inhuman creatures that deserve salvation, and perfectly human ones that deserve every one of the damnations piled on the former.
Poor Kreacher. It's amazing he's even functional given the obedience conflicts, and having that torture was enough to forgivee quite a lot of rotten behavior. But not excuse it.
9582017
I am hoping for her to develop feelings for Sirius and realize what a joke socialism/communism is.
You know with this chapter I think I've figured out roughly where TKepner is planning to go with this story and where it will end.
9582615
Firstly: Giving Sirius a love-life is not integral to the story, and I doubt that this parallel (if included) would produce a positive response from the community as Magic School Days already did it.
Secondly: Starlight was never communist. She promoted rigid equality on a physical “talent” sense, that is everyone can do the exact same things. There was still a market in her community. There was still heirarchy. The ponies didn’t collectively own the stuff needed to make stuff to survive, for example Sugar Belle still owned her oven in her bakery, and each owned private property (something that is antithesis to communist/highly socialist ideology.)
Thirdly: Communism is only a joke in practice, as in theory it sounds very appealing. And while you may argue that human nature would cause it to collapse as we are simultaneously too lazy to work and work so hard we end up scaling up into capitalism (which is contradictory) the fact is that that’s not how it works. The only reason society isn’t a communist state is the same reason we’re not nazis, most of us feel that democracy is a better alternative.
Finally: Socialism and Communism are two different sides of the same coin. Much like there are many kinds of communism (Marxism, Marxist-Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism, Trotskyism etc.) there are also different kinds of socialism. Depending on the definition of socialist you use, socialism may include communism, but I tend to think of it as a more moderate ideology. For example, I live in New Zealand and our nation currently functions on Social Democracy. This ideology is best described as capitalism with social influence, such as our universal (free) healthcare for all citizens, and heavily subsidized prescriptions. Despite this, our currency is the 10th most traded in the world and is second least corrupt in the world, directly after Denmark. The Danish economy is the Nordic Model, which is what we based ours on. In fact, in 2017 NZ was the least corrupt, and currently Sweden and Finland, also nordic nations, are 3rd and 4th respectively. For context, the USA ranks 22nd. (Source).
New Zealand also boasts the rank of easiest nation to start a business, despite us having a social modeled economy. (Source).
Just some interesting thoughts that I hope encourage more discussion.
9581975
Just to put everything down in the same post.
1. Diary (During School)
2. Ring (During School)
3. Diadem (After Graduation)
4. Locket (Gaunt Heirloom. Time-frame Variable)
5. Cup (Borgin & Burkes)
6. Harry (Accident)
7. Nagini (Post-Resurrection)
9582060
To be fair, nobody looks up.
9582283
Year, because victims of Lestranges' didn't need any compensation at all and gold just collecting dust in the vault till the end of times with no owner after their deaths instead of circulating in economy is totally fine. And no way the most f*cked up Death Eaters keep any dark artifacts in their vault, why check? (It was sarcasm if you don't get it)
9582721
If my memory is correct he stole the locket and cup at the same time. As they both where owned by the same person. He did steal it because it did belong to him and his mother pawned it off when she needed money for food.
9582693
I think you have some facts confused there. Like how can your government be both not corrupt and corrupt at the same time? If your entire country was like Chicago I would understand, but your country is prosperous while Chicago is almost 3rd World.
9581975
You forgot voldie himself.