"Don't the wards pick up Dark artefacts?" asked Amelia briskly.
"No," Albus confessed, "the Founders placed no such ward around Hogwarts and…undoubtedly even if I could find three other wizards or witches of equal power to place one myself, there are many historical artefacts within Hogwarts that could be deemed Dark by the Ministry's definition such as the statue that guards the Headmaster's office."
"So we have one of his objects just lying around Hogwarts waiting for some poor unsuspecting child to pick it up?" Cornelius asked, appalled.
"I doubt Tom would have been so foolish as to place it somewhere easily accessed by others." Albus pointed out.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Well, there is one obvious place."
"The Chamber of Secrets?" Albus's eyes twinkled again. "Indeed, but we would need a parselmouth to enter."
"Fawkes can't just take us in?" questioned Sirius.
"Unfortunately, no." Albus said disgruntled. "I tried it with Fawkes as soon as everyone went home for the Summer that year, if for no other reason than to recover the basilisk corpse. Alas, we bounced off some ward. Fawkes was not amused."
Amelia gave Albus a hard look and Sirius figured he knew why.
"Then, how did he get into the Chamber when young Harry was fighting the basilisk?" Cornelius blurted out the question that was bothering Sirius.
"Perhaps Harry's presence within the Chamber?" Albus stroked his beard. "It is quite the puzzle."
"So you need Harry to open the Chamber." Sirius concluded bluntly.
Albus nodded. "I haven't requested it of him myself because of the trauma he faced in fighting the basilisk."
"I'll talk with him." Sirius said. "He wants to help and this might be a good way of involving him in a relatively safe way since the treasure team, Remus and I – and I'm sure you will be accompanying him." He raised an eyebrow. "Unless you think there's another basilisk down there?"
"Perhaps a rooster would be a good thing to take with us." Bertie mused.
"OK, so we have a plan for the Ravenclaw item." Sirius concluded. "Anything on the Head of House ring?"
"From Albus's memories of his time in Hogwarts, Riddle had the ring from his sixth year." Bertie said, tapping the board again so information flowed into a third section. "We think he was released from the muggle orphanage at sixteen and expected to find his own way."
"And he went in search of his origins." Sirius surmised. "I know I would."
"What he found were the Riddles and the only remaining Gaunt in Little Hangleton." Albus explained. "The Riddles were supposedly murdered by Morfin Gaunt, Tom's uncle. He died in Azkaban some years later. I rather think Tom murdered his muggle grandparents and father, and framed his uncle."
Sirius couldn't help a twinge of sympathy for old Morfin but from the research he'd read, Morfin had been a complete bastard who had deserved Azkaban for a number of things even if he had been ultimately imprisoned for something he hadn't done.
"We have no way of knowing if the ring was anything other than a ring at this point but as he was wearing it, I think it's safe to say it was just a ring." Bertie said. "However, he was not wearing the ring when he returned to Hogwarts for his interview for the DADA position."
"Do we think he left it at Hogwarts too?" Amelia asked.
"No." Albus shook his head. "Too many eggs in one basket."
Bertie nodded and clearly considered his words before speaking. "Caro has found out that Riddle Manor and the land upon which the Gaunts' home resides are now owned by a Thomas Salazar according to muggle records."
Albus looked shocked. "Really?"
"He'd want to own what they denied him." Sirius said unceremoniously. "You think the ring could be there?"
"Maybe – it has personal associations for him." Bertie said.
"I am not certain," Albus said, "I rather think Tom would not choose to go back there. It gives too much away of his origins."
"We should investigate if nothing else." Amelia countered.
"And there are two issues here; one is the ring itself and the second is that this could be a likely bolthole for Riddle if he is back in the country." Bertie said.
"The second falls more under the Rat squad." Amelia nodded briskly. "We'll do passive surveillance. If he does use the Manor we'll know about it."
"Which is an excellent idea but do we search for the ring before or after?" Bertie asked directly. "If we search for the ring and remove it, he'll know we're onto his objects. If we leave it in place, we risk him escaping death again if captured."
There were pros and cons either way, Sirius mused.
"Thoughts?" asked Sirius, waving at Cornelius to go first.
"My vote is to leave it in place." Cornelius said. "We can't risk him knowing about the rest of the treasure hunt."
"Amelia?" Sirius prompted.
"I agree with Cornelius."
Cornelius looked as surprised as Amelia that she had agreed with him.
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