"I need the Sword of Gryffindor," Auden muttered to the Hat in his mind.
"Oh, seems like you've decided to start the collection. Alright then, put your hand in and test your luck warrior" said the Sorting Hat.
Auden's brows furrowed at the way the Hat mentioned testing his luck, but he did not waste time and immediately put his hand into the Hat. Suddenly, he was able to feel the handle of a sword within it. He slowly and carefully pulled it inside the Invisibility Cloak and put it directly into his storage ring.
"What did you mean earlier about testing my luck?" Auden asked before leaving.
"The sword was never under my control, actually. What I am is just its sheath. To pull out the sword, you need courage and bravery, like a true Gryffindor. That's why I told you to test your luck. If you had not satisfied the conditions, even I would have been unable to give you the sword, even if I had wanted to.
It is nice knowing that the last descendant of the four founders of Hogwarts has the bravery to face every problem head-on with his courage."
Auden carefully put the Hat back where it was before and exited the room, making sure not to wake even a single portrait in the office. He also felt the conditions the sword was a bit funny as it looked like the same trial King Arthur had to go through.
He then carefully began to walk down the stairs until he reached the seventh floor.
He looked back to find Helena standing there with a contemplative expression. Auden turned back and began to move three times through the corridor where the painting of the trolls trying to do ballet was kept.
After the third time, a door appeared in the wall where, a moment ago, there had been absolutely nothing.
"Are you coming in?" Auden asked Helena.
"The room was made to guard against spirits entering. It was not intentional, but it happened unknowingly. Mother wanted to make the room a perfect place for a wizard to do research, a room that can change to any kind of situation they require at a moment's notice." She then sighed.
"Because I was unable to access the room for centuries, I decided to trust Tom that day to take the Diadem from it. I just wanted to make sure that the functions within it were not damaged and that it was working as it was intended to. But…" Helena did not finish the sentence, but Auden knew what she meant. Tom Riddle was drunk on the superiority he imagined himself to have, so much so that he didn't hesitate to break his promise to a spirit to put the Diadem back after using it.
After learning that he would not get the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts, he promptly decided to use the Diadem as a vessel for one of the pieces of his soul, eternally cursing the artifact from being used again. In the canon, it was destroyed by fiendfyre along with the spirit inside of it. But Auden was not going to let the artifact be destroyed this time.
As he entered the room, he found it filled to the brim with miscellaneous items collected by Hogwarts over the last two thousand years.
'I should come here later to check whether any useful items are present, but for now, I need to find the Diadem,' Auden thought as he brought out his wand.
He had read in many fanfictions about Accio not working in this room, but that was because they had no idea what the Diadem actually looked like. Thankfully, Auden did. So, he was able to use the spell easily to find it.
The moment the Diadem came into his hand, the Horcrux began its attack. Auden felt it urging him to put it on his head to gain knowledge no one else could ever achieve. But Auden knew it was not a blessing, but a curse. The moment he put it on, he would fall under the control of Voldemort's soul within it. Auden had not learned enough Occlumency to ensure that he could guard against the attack.
Since he had never tested the power of his shields before, he decided not to take any risks.
He immediately put the Diadem into the storage ring and exited the Room of Requirement. He had one more place he needed to go, and he knew he could not waste time reminiscing.
"Did you get the Diadem?" Helena asked in a sad tone.
"Yeah, I did," Auden replied. "Don't worry, I think I know a way to rid it of that parasite without harming the Diadem."
His words brought surprise to Helena's eyes. Herpo the Foul was a dark wizard who had existed centuries before the four founders, so Helena had information about Horcruxes as well. She was surprised that Auden knew of a method to destroy the soul without harming the artifact.
"You really have a way?" Helena asked with hope in her eyes.
"Yes, I have a theory. If it works, the Diadem won't be harmed," Auden replied as he began moving through the corridors while hiding under the cloak.
He walked through the stairs until he reached the girls' lavatory, which had been abandoned for decades by the students. Moaning Myrtle, the first victim of Tom Riddle, haunted the bathroom.
As Auden entered, he was relieved that her ghost was asleep during the night.
He then turned to the basins at the centre of the lavatory, where the entrance to the Chamber was located. There, he repeated the same thing he had done in the Headmaster's office. Asking nicely was more than enough for the castle to grant him passage to even the most secretive places.
As the basins opened up, Auden looked down to find a slide that seemed unused for decades.
"Well, Geronimo!!" Auden called out as he jumped into the slide without thinking about what lay at the end.
A/N- hope you like it.