Chapter 14

AN: Thank you to everyone who favourited, followed, or reviewed 😊. Sorry for the long wait; my muse ran off with my motivation and I had to wait for them to come back.

Black Dragoniss: Yes, Hermione is good in this fic

quaff: In the Varia, a physical lock on a door is the equivalent of a 'Keep Out: Enter Without Permission and Be Maimed' sign. Yes, Varia have tried to get in, but none of them have succeeded yet; the inability to sense magic is hindering their progress. There is also the fact that Ivy is a Cloud, and many in the Varia automatically count a Cloud's private rooms as 'Territory', since most Clouds are highly defensive of personal space

Nykyrian: The choice of a cat has two bonuses: the Varia are less likely to kill it on principle (because I can see them being justifiably wary of snakes, since they travel the world) and it's something fluffy to cuddle. Also, Housekeeping are less likely to object to a cat than a snake. Ivy doesn't really hide her ability to speak snake, but she doesn't advertise it either due to prejudice.

Dumbledore sat at his desk in the Headmaster's office of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, sorting through his daily correspondence, which had reduced significantly since he was removed from his positions as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Supreme Mugwump and British representative at the ICW. Despite the annoyance of being removed from his positions of political power, the reduction in paperwork and requests for advice was positively restful. He still had power in Hogwarts though, and that was what really mattered.

The Ministry's attempts to curb his power here was a constant source of irritation for Albus. He was having to focus more and more on ensuring Hogwarts remained his and followed his vision while subtly undermining the toad Umbridge without looking like he was actively acting against her, leaving less time to devote to other important issues; namely, Tom and Ivy.

Tom was perhaps the simpler of the two to deal with, despite being the more dangerous. Albus knew what he was after and where it was. All Albus needed to do was watch and wait; Tom would eventually make his move and come out into the open, at which point Magical Britain would flock to Albus' banner once more. The Order were guarding the Department of Mysteries at night, so Albus would be warned in good time when Tom made more overt moves to take the prophecy, though he didn't think that would happen any time soon. Tom was currently benefitting from the Ministry's denial and he would want to make full use of it. Severus was keeping a close eye on the activities of Tom and his Death Eaters in the mean time.

Ivy Potter, on the other hand, was a much trickier problem. The girl was definitely somewhere well Warded against detection – there was no other reason why all his tracking methods had failed. Without his political power or authority over her as her magical guardian, Albus had very few means to try and track the girl down. It was beginning to look like he would have to wait until she returned to Britain of her own accord, since the removal of his magical guardianship over her meant he wouldn't be alerted when she claimed her Heir ring. It was intensely frustrating, having his plans hinging on the whims of another; Albus hated not being in control.

A ripple in the Wards drew the Headmaster from his musing. As controller of the Hogwarts wards, he was able to sense the general location of the staff and was alerted whenever anyone entered or left the area protected by the Wards. It was a standard feature of all Ward schemes and a very useful one at that.

A small party had just entered the Wards and were likely heading towards the castle. Albus set his letters aside and opened a hidden passage that lead from the Headmaster's office to the ground floor. Term-time visitors were unusual, especially in the winter term, and Albus was curious as to who would be visiting so early in the morning.

Saul Croaker lead his team swiftly across the grounds of Hogwarts and towards the castle itself. The Unspeakables had timed their visit just after classes had started, so as to reduce the chances of being noticed by a random wanderer in the hallways. It was probably too much to hope that they would make it into the building without their arrival being noticed, but if they could avoid running into the Headmaster then that would be good. If he did notice them, then Saul would do everything in his power to dissuade the man from interfering in their hunt.

The Unspeakable team made it halfway across the Entrance Hall when an unwelcome voice called out behind them.

"Good morning, gentlemen."

Saul stopped and turned to face the aged Headmaster, who was smiling genially. "Good morning, Headmaster."

"Mr Croaker," Dumbledore greeted. "Might I ask what business the Unspeakables have at Hogwarts today?"

"We have received information that there is a dangerous dark artefact hidden somewhere in the castle. Our Department Head has issued instructions that this artefact must be found and destroyed without delay," Saul replied, keeping his reply as vague as he could while still providing the information that Dumbledore, in his capacity as Headmaster responsible for the welfare of his students, was entitled to.

"What kind of artefact, Mr Croaker? And might I enquire as to your source?" Dumbledore asked genially. Saul felt the gentle probing of Legilimency probes against his Occlumency shields. Did Dumbledore really think that would work? As if any Unspeakable worth their wand would be unable to Occlude, let alone lower their shields in the presence of a suspected – now confirmed – Legilimens.

"I'm afraid our sources are confidential, Professor," Saul replied smoothly, "As for the artefact, the only thing I'm allowed to tell you is that it belonged to the Dark Lord Voldemort." Let's see how you react to that, old man.

Dumbledore paled. "An artefact belonging to Voldemort? I must insist that I be permitted to analyse this artefact once you have recovered it."

"And I must refuse. Unless you have a Dark Arts Mastery you've been hiding?" Saul asked, raising a curious eyebrow. Dumbledore's eyes had stopped twinkling and his smile had shifted to a frustrated frown. Saul had been polite up until now, but if Dumbledore got pushy and tried to join the hunt then Saul could and would cry interference, which Fudge would have a field day with despite the DoM only nominally answering to the Minister. Dumbledore knew it too.

"Very well. Still, I would like to at least be informed once the artefact is disposed of," Dumbledore requested, his tone indicating his barely concealed displeasure.

"Of course, Professor. Now, if you will excuse us," Saul replied, turning on his heel and making his way to join his colleagues who had gathered round the base of the Main Staircase. The Unspeakables hurried off up the stairs, not speaking until they were well out of Dumbledore's sight.

One of the British Unspeakables pulled out their wand and put up a suite of privacy charms around the group. "Alright, does everyone remember the plan?" Saul asked when his colleague had stowed their wand away. Everyone nodded. One team would be heading to the library to start looking for any literature related to Horcruxes, while the other would head to the top floor and start sweeping the building for the Horcrux. It was highly unlikely the Dark Lord would have hidden a piece of his soul in a well-travelled area – someone would have found it and likely been possessed by now – so they would be focusing on the less inhabited areas. Saul would be joining the search team, along with the two Italian Unspeakables.

Saul nodded back to his team. "Good. Happy hunting."

The Horcrux team ran into a slight issue when the staircases suddenly changed, leaving them on the third floor with no way up.

"Now what do we do? Hogwarts is ridiculous…" one of the Italian Unspeakables complained.

"I know another way up. There's a passage not far from the Defence classroom that leads up to the fifth floor," one of the younger Unspeakables suggested. Saul nodded to them.

"Lead on then."

As they hurried past the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom a faint buzzing noise suddenly started up. One of the British Unspeakables rummaged in a pocket and brought out a small stone etched with Runes and glowing an angry red.

"What's that?" their guide asked.

"A dark artefact detector keyed to artefacts that use blood," the stone's owner replied. They waved their wand over it a few times and studied the results. "The reading is coming from the classroom," they said worriedly.

"More likely the office. The only way to access it is through the classroom," Saul said, eyeing the door.

"Should we deal with it? Since we're here?" the younger Unspeakable asked. Saul shook his head.

"No. We'd need a warrant to search Umbridge's office; she might be teaching, but she's still Fudge's favourite. Besides," Saul smiled a thin mean smile that said something nasty was going to happen to someone he didn't like, and he was looking forward to it, "our dear Head of the DMLE has something of a grudge against Madam Umbridge. It would be rude to deny her such an opportunity."

"I'll make a copy of the scan results," the owner of the detector stone said, conjuring a piece of parchment and copying down the results. Saul nodded and signalled for the group to continue on, his mood much improved by the thought of dragging Umbridge off her high horse.

Saul frowned at the Horcrux in the containment circle, his mood souring. The Horcrux detection crystal had gone off on the seventh floor, indicating towards a blank spot on the wall. Several diagnostic and revealing spells gave back very odd results, which confirmed a room was there but very heavily concealed. They had been debating how best to try and gain entry when a door had suddenly materialised, allowing the team to enter. Upon entering, the team had been greeted by centuries of broken, damaged, and variously illegal items. They could have quite happily spent several months sorting though the detritus and studying the books and items they had found. However, they were here with a serious purpose, so all other thoughts needed to be put aside. Though that Vanishing Cabinet would be coming with them once they were finished; those were rare.

Following the crystal had led them to an ugly bust on top of a potion-damaged cabinet, wearing a beautiful tiara. A beautiful and dangerous tiara; there were powerful compulsion charms on the thing, as well as a number of extremely nasty Curses. The tiara had been quickly identified as the fabled Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw. That made three Founders items Voldemort had seen fit to turn into Horcruxes.

"Chief Liaison? We're ready to begin our experiment," one of the Italian Unspeakables informed him. Saul nodded and moved back into the Warded safety zone. The premise of the experiment was simple. Horcruxes were made from a piece of a human soul. The Killing Curse worked by ripping the soul from the body. Therefore, a powerful Killing Curse should destroy a Horcrux without destroying the container. If it didn't, then the Italians had a purification ritual they wanted to try before they went the destructive route.

Saul was a little surprised that no one had thought of trying this before. It was kind of understandable though, given the fear that Curse inspired.

The Unspeakable chosen the cast the Curse took up their position. Everyone held their breath as the Unspeakable gathered themselves.

"Avada Kedavra!"

All the other Unspeakables flinched as the jet of pale green light flew towards the diadem. It struck the jewelled headpiece hard. A black cloud of screaming magic rose from the jewels, screaming shrilly for a moment before dissipating. The Unspeakables waited with baited breath as one of them analysed the diadem.

"All clear."

"That was surprisingly simple."

"Why didn't anyone think of that before?"

"Alright people. Let's get the diadem bagged up. We'll take a few minutes to check for any other dark and deadly artefacts before we leave," Saul said. They'd all just watched a Killing Curse at work – admittedly against an inanimate object – and they all needed five minutes to calm down. Once they were done they would head back out; the library team could follow later. He'd need to let Dumbledore know they were done, but he could just write a note and send it with a house elf on the way out. Right now, he really wanted a look at that Vanishing Cabinet.