"I agree." He tossed the cone-shaped device toward the house; there was a flash of green as the ward was momentarily neutralized and both Bill and Caro took an immediate step forward.
They waited.
"Snakes are remaining where they are." Bill confirmed with a quick spell.
"I'll take point," Caro said briskly, "you watch my back."
"And a lovely rear it is too, Caro." Bill said with a grin as he picked up the neutralizer. It had another two charges left.
"Oy! Watch it, Weasley!" Caro said with a smirk. "I can do things with this wand that you wouldn't believe."
"Promises, promises." Bill responded absently, even as he ran a series of spells that would warn him if anything magical triggered, if any dark creatures came into the vicinity, and if the outer ward was triggered.
They made it up to the house.
An adder slithered from where it had been sleeping in the shade by the steps and into the nearby undergrowth.
They stared at the tarnished silver knocker in the shape of a snake on the front door.
"Delightful," remarked Caro dryly, casting a series of scanning spells, "we've got another proximity ward all around this house; it's…well-hidden but there. There's a specific one in full view on the front door, but as you can see the magic gives a wonky reading." She smiled though. "All these wards…someone might think he was hiding something."
Bill nodded with a satisfied smile of his own; they'd definitely found something Riddle wanted hidden. "You know anyone who has managed to get by the snakes would leap for the steps. People usually attempt the front door first to gain entry."
"I'm thinking that's a bad idea." Caro pointed at the snake knocker. "Want to bet it comes alive?"
"Nope." Bill said. "I was trained by Gringotts; I value my gold." He waved his wand at the house walls. "So, anyone sensible would go through a window."
"And get another nasty surprise probably inside the house by whatever's triggered by the wall ward." Caro murmured. "We could throw a neutralizer through a window, it'd shatter the glass but we can repair it afterwards; dive inside."
"This would be simpler if we didn't have to leave everything in place." Bill sighed. Without the restriction they could have overpowered the house ward and gone in.
"Where's your sense of fun, Weasley?" Caro teased.
Bill hefted the neutralizer and pointed at the window on the left. "Ready?" He threw it with good aim and it smashed through the dirty glass, a green ripple flowing over the walls. He banished the rest of the glass as he and Caro ran full tilt and threw themselves through the open hole.
The landing was hard.
The breath got knocked out of him as he landed on the hard wooden floor. He sat up and rotated his shoulder gingerly. He was pretty sure it was going to bruise.
"Bloody hell!" Caro swore roundly. She scrambled into a sitting position and cradled her right wrist.
Bill ignored her in favour of checking out their situation, casting a spell to alert him to any dark magic in the area. "You OK?"
"Wrist is broken. I should have used my animagus form and flown in." Caro said succinctly.
A low hiss came from the shadows.
Bill sent out a perimeter charm. "OK, so we have another snake, a big one, and it's enchanted against spells. We'd need a bloody powerful vanishing spell to get rid of it." He took hold of Caro's arm and pulled her to her feet. "It's on the move; we need to get out of here. Accio neutralizer!"
He tossed it back through the window but there was no ripple as he pushed Caro towards the open window. Caro hastily and awkwardly clambered back out and Bill followed her not a moment too soon as not one but three snakes appeared in the shaft of sunlight, their bodies moving with speed over the wooden floor, their upper bodies rising, mouths open and hissing.
Bill fell out onto the grass with another huff of breath. He could see movement coming out of the bushes and heard Caro repairing the window as he scrambled to his feet.
"Run, you idiot!" Caro snapped as she made for the outer ward.
"Accio neutralizer!" Bill yelled and grabbed it mid-air as he swerved to avoid the snapping jaws of one snake and jumped over another. Bill tossed the neutralizer to Darren who fumbled and dropped it and Bill had a second to realise there was no green ripple. As he cleared the ward, he heard Wood shout to keep running.
Five minutes of breathless stampeding through the forest later and Wood shouted again.
"OK! OK!" Wood brought them to a stumbling halt. "We lost them."
"Bloody snakes!" Darren gasped, bending over and trying to catch his breath.
"What did the pair of you do?" Wood demanded.
"Nothing!" snapped Caro furiously, her cheeks pink with temper along with the flush of exertion. "We followed the protocols! The snakes shouldn't have attacked."
Bill caught his breath. "Something is definitely hidden there." He motioned back towards the Gaunt place. "I got a reading on a box under the floorboards just before the snakes came out of the woodwork."
"The proximity trigger wasn't linked with the snakes inside the house." Caro said, wincing in pain. "Something else set them off."
"We need to review in a pensieve and come back for a second go." Bill said. "You need treatment."
Wood pointed at them. "You two portkey back to base. I'll update Brooks and let Lawrence know you're on way back."
Bill nodded briskly. There was no reason for the Treasure Team to stay. Wood and Cambridge would have to go back and set up the passive monitoring if they hadn't already done it. He looked over at Caro and on her signal tapped his ring and gave the activation code.
They reappeared in the DOM's reception area for its employees.
"I'm going to head to the infirmary." Caro said crisply. "You go ahead and debrief Croaker."
He made for the research room and found Croaker, Bones and Lawrence waiting for him with a pensieve. Bill immediately withdrew his memory and they all dived in.
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