"Just a stupid old-fashioned locket with a Slytherin-style S on it, you know the S in the shape of a snake that is posted around Hogwarts, like the Slytherin house banner. This one has emeralds around it," shaking his head in disapproval.
"The damn thing won't even open," the frustrated Sirius explained. However, the description set off alarm bells in his mind, an image of Slytherin's locket popping up with the file information compiled on Tom Riddle.
...
"Sirius, let me see it," he stated firmly, giving his godfather a demanding look, while wondering if they could be the same thing.
"Why?" his godfather asked plainly, his eyes locking on to Harry's.
Choosing his words carefully, he answered, "The description you've just given me matches the description of the famous Locket of Salazar Slytherin. If it is the same, it could be worth a small fortune if sold, probably more if sold to the right person," he offered in explanation. "It also went missing some fifty years ago, along with the famous Cup of Hufflepuff."
"How do you know this?" Sirius demanded, not knowing the full extent of his research.
"The Chamber of Secrets being opened led me to investigate its last opening," he started in explanation. "Hagrid may be an idiot at times, but he would never release a monster to intentionally harm someone. This led me to believe he was set up to take the fall for the crime. After that, I looked more into it and found a Tom Marvolo Riddle was involved and was a Slytherin and the Head Boy of the time. I talked with Hagrid further; he firmly believes that Riddle set him up to take the fall. Naturally, this led me to investigate Riddle. Riddle ended up working at Borgin and Burkes, buying magical artefacts after his graduation," he lectured, before Sirius rudely interrupted him.
"Is this going somewhere, Harry?" his impatient godfather asked.
"Yes," he shot back, more than a bit annoyed at being interrupted mid-speech, especially when he was unused to giving out valuable information like this so freely. "Riddle was expected to work at the Ministry; he had top grades and was seen as the Dumbledore of his generation. However, two years after starting at Borgin and Burkes, he met with one Hepzibah Smith for the purpose of buying some of her rare heirlooms for the business.
Tom didn't report to work the next day, and Mrs. Smith was found dead days later by her visiting family. When investigated, the Aurors put it down to accidental poisoning by an aged house elf." The two listening house elves shook their heads in disappointment whilst muttering things about the elf.
"When her extended family examined the property, they found that two of her most valuable heirlooms were missing. One was the famous Slytherin Locket, and the other, Hufflepuff's Cup. The Aurors put two and two together. Riddle is still wanted for questioning in relation to the incident," he ended in explanation.
"So you think it's the same locket?" Remus enquired.
Resisting the urge to say 'no shit,' why else would he explain everything to the pair if he didn't believe that was the case? "Yea, but how did it end up here of all places? And why is Kreacher obsessed with getting a hold of it?" whilst wondering if it was the same locket or just a clever fake.
"Let's check it out, I don't want to get taken in for possessing stolen goods," Sirius stated, letting his former Auror past shine through as he led them to his office and study. Climbing the stairs to the second-floor study, Sirius headed over to a portrait of his grandfather hanging on the wall and waved his ring hand over it, causing the portrait to fold away, revealing a glowing metal safe.
'Note to self, hide my own safe in a better, less cliché hiding spot.' "Harry, you should pay attention, I'll be adding you to the safe later," Sirius requested as he watched his godfather with new interest cut his hand before wiping the freshly drawn blood over the safe's surface while muttering, "The Black Grim runs free." The safe immediately glowed gold before fading, resulting in the magical safe chinking before the metal door opened of its own accord, revealing a series of papers. Sirius then reached in and pulled out the locket in question.
Stepping closer to examine the locket, he heard quiet serpent-like whispering leaving the locket, which sent a cold shiver up his spine. Sirius carefully laid it out on his desk, allowing him to finally examine it. "Yea, it looks just like the one in the picture, give me a sec," he said, before disappearing out of the room to get the picture from his trunk, before rushing back. "Look," throwing the picture down on the desk for the pair to examine for themselves.
"I'll be damned, it's the same one," Remus stated, after examining the locket for himself. "However, it feels so wrong, so unnatural," pulling away from the object. "I think we need to talk to Kreacher," looking at Sirius instead of Harry.
"Ok," Sirius said after a second, before pulling his wand out. "Kreacher!" he called out, thereby summoning the aged elf, who popped into the room before leaping for the locket resting on the table. Clearly Remus was prepared for such a reaction, as he hit the elf with a binding spell, causing ropes of orange energy to form around the elf and pulling him into one of the office chairs.
"Kreacher! Sit still," Sirius ordered firmly. "I need you to tell me about this locket," holding his wand against the locket, "and how it ended up in this house."
That seemed to set the bitter old elf off. "Master Regulus tasked me with destroying it, I failed him, I am such a terrible elf," it said, as Kreacher tried to bang his head on the back of the chair as Remus and Sirius just looked at each other in bewilderment.
'That's odd, why would Regulus want such a priceless object destroyed?' he mentally pondered before asking the next logical question and taking charge of the questioning. "Kreacher, how did you get this?" pointing to the necklace with his own wand. Over the next hour, they listened in near silence to Kreacher's story of Regulus' betrayal of the Dark Lord, of first treating Kreacher's injuries, and then stealing away the locket from an underground cavern, before he was dragged beneath the water by hordes of undead charged with guarding the Dark Lord's precious treasure.
"Fuck," Sirius said, collapsing into the chair as he processed the knowledge that his younger brother had died betraying the Dark Lord.
Thinking over the story, several questions came to mind as Remus comforted Sirius. 'What was so important about this one necklace?' Sure, he would expect such protective measures if Lord Voldemort was guarding his own personal fortune, but this seemed like a lot of effort and energy just for one necklace regardless of its history. What made it so special that the former Dark Lord had placed so many magical defences around it? He mentally noted the similarities between the third floor the previous year and Kreacher's description of the cave. "Whatever was so important about this locket still isn't clear, but Regulus was willing to die to ensure it was destroyed; we should see it through," Harry said bluntly, eyeing the locket warily, still hearing the unnerving whispering.
"Do you hear that?" he asked the pair, stepping away from the locket as the whispering lessened with increased distance from it.
"Hear what?" Remus enquired, looking up from Sirius, who looked equally confused.
"Nothing," he answered, his eyes never leaving the locket. "We should contact the goblins, see if they can work out what makes this so important," waving his hand at the locket.
"We should tell Dumbledore, he knows the most about You-Know-Who," Remus stated, causing Harry to roll his eyes and making damn sure Remus saw him do it.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sirius going rather red-faced at the mentioning of the headmaster. "No!" Sirius shouted, taking Remus by surprise at the sudden outburst.
"This is Black family business! Not fucking Dumbledore business! I spent ten fucking years rotting in a cell surrounded by dementors, thanks to him! He just tossed me in that hellhole as if I was a broken toy!" Sirius raged. "If Dumbledore finds out about any of this we're done, Remus! What we speak about in these walls," gesturing to the house, "is private business, because if you're living here, Harry and I have to be able to trust you," gesturing to him and Harry, as he noticed the whispering growing stronger and louder. "The first test of that trust in you comes along and the first fucking thing out of your mouth is 'we should tell Dumbledore.' For Merlin's sake, we're not kids anymore, Remus! We're adults!"
"Kreacher, do you know where this cave is? Could you show it to us if need be?" he asked, wanting to understand more about the cave set-up. Mainly because it reminded him of the third floor just a bit too much, as he recalled the mirror and the stone resting in his vault. 'I need to look into that,' adding investigating the stone to his already ridiculously long to-do list.
"Yes," Kreacher grumbled, forced to answer his question by Sirius' orders from when they first met.
He turned his attention back to his godfather and Remus, who were busy having their own silent staring contest. "I'm going to make an appointment with Bloodmoon for the 28th, as I doubt you want one for tomorrow or Boxing Day."
...
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