It didn't take long to watch and when they emerged, Caro was in the room waiting for them.
"Nasty." Bones said shuddering.
Croaker nodded. "What are your thoughts, Bill, having rewatched it?"
"The neutralizer was useless when we exited which means it took another hit after going through the outer ward on the house walls." Bill replied, leaning against the central workbench and folding his arms.
"The inner wall and the floor must also have been warded." Caro agreed.
Bill rubbed his forehead thoughtfully. "The floor one probably triggered the snake - there was definitely only one but reviewing it, there was some kind of increased fear sensation and there must have been an illusion to multiple it."
"What do you think, Bertie?" Bones asked.
"Ingenious and deadly." Croaker agreed. "What I would expect from Riddle. Outside is obviously aimed to keep the muggles away primarily. We didn't have neutralizers in the days when Riddle set the wards up and I would guess the wall wards trigger anti-apparition and anti-portkey travel inside, making the window the only exit. The snake inside along with a fear compulsion and an illusion spell probably triggered by a ward on the floor…wizards go back through the window triggering the snakes outside…"
"They were definitely triggered by our exit." Caro agreed tersely.
"The door…I would bet anything that door has a parseltongue ward on it. He would want to go through it after all." Lawrence said.
"So there's probably a parseltongue password that lets you in and deactivates the house triggers." Bill mused out loud.
"You need to be as powerful as Albus Dumbledore to bring all wards down and deal with the snakes to get to the ring without that password." Croaker said.
"Albus is out of the country until Thursday." Bones said.
Bill gestured. "With our plan, we can deal with the outer ward and the house wall wards with neutralizers but we have no way of dealing with the snake. Even if we levitated someone over the floor, they have to touch the floorboard to get to the ring."
"And, isn't it kind of moot to leave everything in place?" Caro argued. "All Riddle has to do is walk on over and have a chat with the snakes about any recent activity."
"We can obliviate the snakes; they're not the problem." Bill concluded. "We just need someone who can talk to snakes and hopefully get us through the front door."
They all looked at each other.
"He's never going to allow it." Bones said crisply.
Croaker frowned and motioned at Bill. "We'll go talk with him."
Bill grimaced. He really wasn't looking forward to telling Sirius that they needed Harry to get the ring.
"Sirius, what's your gut reaction?" Remus sat forward, almost falling off the sofa in the living room of Griffin House where they'd congregated to listen to why Bertie and Bill had requested an urgent meeting with Sirius that lunch-time.
They had thought it might be to confirm that they'd been successful in tracking down another item like the diary but Sirius had arrived back with a very grim expression and shot that theory down. Well, shot it down in part because they had found an item; they just couldn't get to it without a parselmouth – without Harry. They wanted Harry to go along with the Treasure Team and help out.
Harry looked eagerly at Sirius hoping he'd say yes. He understood Sirius wanting him to stay safe but he wanted to help as much as he could. The prophecy worried him. When he'd listened to it, he'd realised he'd known the gist of it already since Voldemort was so fixated on him. But it was scary to think it might come down to him against a very powerful wizard even if his own power and skills had improved tenfold.
He knew Sirius was doing everything he could with the DMLE and the DOM to ensure Harry didn't have to face Voldemort but Harry hated being kept out of it, especially having to rely on others. He hadn't really had anyone to rely on before Ron and Hermione. Even then, with the basilisk and the stone, it had ultimately come down to him against Voldemort. Certainly Harry hadn't had adults to rely on in his life. He knew he had Sirius, Remus and others now but it was hard to simply sit back and let them take care of it; to trust that they would.
He hated feeling so…constrained, unable to help, frustrated at not being allowed to help. But this…this was something he could do – and it was pretty much the same as helping with the Chamber of Secrets which Sirius had already said he could do.
Sirius sent Harry a faint look of apology and defiance from his standing position by the mantelpiece. "To say no."
"But why? I'm helping with the Chamber!" Harry protested immediately.
"Because this isn't the Chamber, Harry." Sirius retorted. "This is a house set up with a series of traps that have already managed to get the better of two very good curse-breakers."
"Because they don't speak parseltongue." Harry shot back.
"Why the urgency?" asked Remus, stepping in before the exchange of words became too heated.
Sirius sighed and motioned vaguely. "Like I said last night, we think Voldemort is back in the country and this might be a bolthole for him. We have no idea when he could turn up; the quicker we deal with the ring, the better."
"Otherwise if we capture him, we lose time while we get the ring." Remus nodded. "And the only person with the power who could get the ring without running into problems is Albus?"
"Croaker believes Dumbledore could probably overpower the wards and deal with the snakes without too much trouble but even then it would probably still take him at least a couple of hours. But he's not sure Albus could do it without leaving a trace behind." Sirius said. "Bill estimates they could bring down the wards in a day between him and Caro but they're still left with the problem of the enchanted snake. One could keep it busy while the other went for the ring. But either way whether the Treasure Team or Albus as Bill says they have no idea if there are any other surprises under the floorboard."
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