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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 238: It is Done
"This contraption that you made… what is it?" Dumbledore was now paying more attention to the object on which the horcrux was being held, as he realized that it wasn't a simple frame.
In fact, the more he looked at it, the more he started to understand its complexity. The old wizard could tell that very rare and expensive ingredients had been used in its creation, and the rune formation engraved on its surface was extremely intricate.
James ran his index finger across the wooden surface of the object, and the runes started to react. "You can say that this is my own invention, although I drew inspiration from a variety of sources."
Thanks to Nyxaris for compiling everything in an ordered manner, he was able to create a design in such a short amount of time.
"Have you tested it yet?" Dumbledore asked.
"On what? I was only able to get this horcrux. This is the test," James responded.
Dumbledore now looked more concerned. If this didn't work and they lost this horcrux, they might never be able to completely defeat Voldemort.
"Don't make that face." James glanced at the Headmaster. "If this fails, I'll come up with something else. There is always a way."
Dumbledore's concerns were promptly replaced by amusement. "Having someone so young trying to appease my worries in such a way… It's a very strange feeling." Of course, he understood that James was much older than he appeared. At least mentally...but he could not help but feel that way.
James's artifact seemed to come alive as the entire runic array became active. And then, it started to visibly draw energy from the large crystal at the center of the room.
"James, what are you doing?" Dumbledore became alarmed when he saw the magical energies being siphoned from the crystal.
All the lines emerging from the center started to lose their shine, as the output of energy lessened.
"Calm down. I just need to borrow a little bit more to empower this thing." James tried to reassure the old wizard. "Hogwarts will be fine."
The two of them stared intently at the artifact as it absorbed an enormous amount of magic into its small structure.
"It's ready!" James's eyes were filled with expectation as he placed his hands at the sides of the device, finally activating its primary function.
The Ravenclaw Diadem appeared to tremble for a moment, and this was soon followed by a puff of smoke coming from the top of it.
The runes across the device's surface lost their luster and disappeared, while the wooden structure suffered several cracks.
And then… There was a moment of silence before everything went back to normal, just as it was before James activated the device.
Hogwarts's crystal returned to its usual shiny state, and the lines did the same.
Dumbledore's eyes moved between the object before James and himself. He did not dare say it out loud, but he had a bad feeling about this.
James then let out a loud sigh and sat down, feeling as exhausted as if he had been running for hours.
The Headmaster opened his mouth to speak. "James, I'm so sorr—"
"It's done!" James exclaimed with relief.
This made Dumbledore very confused. "Pardon? What do you mean by 'it's done,' exactly? What's done?"
"The horcruxes, of course," James said as if it were obvious while pointing at the diadem. "I have successfully destroyed them all."
"Really?…" Dumbledore sounded very dubious at that statement. "But… I didn't see anything happening, other than that bit of smoke coming from the diadem."
James raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I'm sorry if my artifact wasn't flashy enough. I just created a device capable of tracking down and destroying soul shards all across the planet, but maybe I should have added some lights to make it more interesting to watch."
"When you put it like that…" Dumbledore muttered. "How can you be sure that it worked?"
James grabbed hold of the diadem and tossed it to the Headmaster. "Here. See if you can feel anything from it."
Dumbledore grabbed it with hesitation before examining it. "Mmm…" Just as James had said, that eerie feeling from before was no longer there. It appeared that the soul fragment had been cleansed from the diadem without damaging the artifact itself, which was already surprising enough.
"But what about the others?" he asked, as there was no way to confirm that the other horcruxes had been destroyed without finding them.
"They are gone as well. While I was using the device, I could feel their connection." James pointed at the diadem. "Counting that one, there were five in total."
"Five?!" Dumbledore looked horrified.
"He was probably planning on making seven in total, since it's a powerful magic number," James said from previous experience.
"He must have been insane… breaking your own soul so many times will have severe consequences," Dumbledore said before thinking of something. "Would he know that the fragments had been destroyed?"
James shrugged. "He probably felt something a moment ago, but… there's no way he would make the connection. Not even a sane person would think that destroying a soul container from a long distance would be possible."
"And yet, you did."
"Because I am that good," James said nonchalantly before standing up and cleaning the dust from his robes. "I should get going now."
"What do I do with this?" Dumbledore pointed at the diadem.
"Keep it. It belongs to the school anyway." James now had a good idea of where the other two relics were hidden, so he could retrieve them at a later date.
Dumbledore was about to say something when he noticed a sudden change in James's expression. His amber eyes became narrow, and his posture grew somewhat tense for an instant. "James? Is something wrong?"
"I just felt a reaction from the motion ward that I placed around my family home," said James in a calm tone. "I have intruders on my property… a large number of them."
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