"Are you sure they will let us through?" Whispers Ben, unconvinced, like every time Tom has a plan and doesn't tell them what it entails. "We may have our Auror licenses with us, but isn't there a rule about asking after costumers' privet vaults?"
It's the second Sunday of the new year.
The Auror Trio has just entered Gringotts, to acquire the Cup from Bellatrix Lestrange's vault. The plan is simple, yet convenient. (And it would be even better if they actually knew of how to proceed after getting inside the inescapable building, but they didn't.)
"Trust me. Everything will work out fine." Whispers the Slytherin with a hissed, exasperated tone. "Just... keep smiling."
"We must come up with what spell to use, in case this goes wrong." Reminds Ben.
"Imperio." Says Tom. "I can perform it wandlessly."
"Or, another idea is..." Suggests Mary, eager to put a stop to Tom's tendency of using a dark curse as a solution. "Either the Confundus or an illusion charm. Umbra, for example."
"Creating illusions is risky business, Mary." Points out the youngest of the team.
"That's why you've never been good at it and stuck to your Unforgivables instead." She replies smugly, making him pause his steps and blink, trying to take in the 'burn', as Ben calls it, while she walks ahead of the two men with all the confidence in the world.
Tom looks at Ben, who simply smiles.
"What?" Asks the Ravenclaw. "You know she's right. Don't tell me you're going to hold a grudge for that, are you?"
The brunet grins and it's one of his venomous ones. "Just because you're asking nicely."
Before Ben has even pushed his mind mechanisms to find an appropriate scathing enough response, Mary calls them over, to join her on the front. "Guys, what are you yammering about? Speed up!"
"Come on." Says Tom, placing a hand on the other's shoulder and pushing him a bit forward to keep him going. "Let's focus on our task."
Ben shakes his head, evidently annoyed, but otherwise walks all the way to the second corridor to the left out of... well, he hasn't exactly counted them. They appear to be millions of them.
Mary has stopped in front of a golden stand, precisely two meters high.
When the blond man arrives there, he sees her talking to an elf with white, almost silver hair and round golden glasses. Tom is right behind her. He remains silent and leaves her to do the talking.
"So, as I was saying..." Continues the woman, "We were sent here by Mr Kingsley, Mr Bush, and I would appreciate it if you let us in. This is Ministry business. We're talking about Dark artifacts in the possession of Mme Lestrange. It's a serious offense that must be investigated."
The elf, Kyon, doesn't seem convinced at all, as he stares at the blonde with eyes filled with judgement. He reminds Tom of himself, to be honest.
Mary lastly gives the creature a weak smile. "You know what I mean, I hope."
"I think you just insulted him." Whispers Tom in her ear.
"Shut up. Not now." She hisses at him and looks back at the elf with a smile. A feigned one. "So, err... what do you say?"
Kyon's expression turns pensive as he bores his eyes at the brown ones of the young lady. "Please describe the object you're looking for, madame."
"Right..." She turns to her partner. "Ben? The drawing?"
"Yes. Of course." He mutters and searches through a brown leather bag that is hanged to his right shoulder. After some seconds of tumbling papers over, he takes out a white sheet that Tom had drawn onto last night. He places it on the surface of the stand for the elf to observe better. "There you are."
Kyon takes a look at the Goblet depicted on the paper. There is no doubt. Helga Hufflepuf's cup.
"Why do you need that Cup, Miss Stewart? Despite what you've already told me, it is still not yours to take."
"We have to destroy it." Answers Ben, in her place. This whole chit chat is wearing him down. "You can bring it here, if you want, we don't care. Test it and see for yourself. It has a soul piece inside it."
"How exactly can you support that claim?"
"Because the soul piece is mine." Says Tom. His eyes are blazing red once more. "That's how we know. It's my property, so you'd do well to give it back, you hear? Lestrange has no rights over it."
"Tom? Don't you think that's a bit too intense, even for you?" Murmurs Ben, tugging the other man's black sleeve.
"I suggest that you listen to your partner, Mr Riddle." Replies the elf with the same cold manner. "Or we can very well throw you three out of our honorable establishment."
The Slytherin wants to snarl something back, but he holds his tongue for the time being.
They see as the elf whispers something to another one on its left, an elf with brown hair, a sharp black costume and also glasses, only that his are red instead of gold. Both elves walk into the corridor behind them, open a gold door and dissappear behind it. Then, minutes later, they appear again, with a pop, behind the stand where the three Aurors are waiting.
Mary sees that Kyon holds a black box.
"Is this the object that you claim to be tainted by Dark Magic?" Asks the elf with a frown and opens it.
Ben's breath hitches as he takes a peak inside. His hand hasn't left the other's arm.
Tom is the one who notices the feeling of another person's touch on his skin and gently points it out. "Ben?"
"Hm?"
"Your hand."
"Right, sorry." The blue eyed immediately frees his own grip from the younger and tucks both hands behind his back, feeling slightly awkward.
Tom looks as the golden Cup is being lifted off the closed box and placed on top of it.
"This is it." He says.
He had spent hours making theories of into which objects the rest of Voldemort's horcruxes would be. Helga Hufflepuf's Cup seemed to be a rather logical choice, along with the Ring and the Diadem. Each artifact from each Founder.
He is brought back to the present by Kyon's rugged voice. "We inspected it and have indeed found a solid mass of what appears to be a soul."
"Told you." Whispers Ben, satisfied.
"And? Can you destroy it?" Asks Mary.
"We have brought three of our best poisons." Says Kyon, his glasses reflecting the light entering through the oval glass windows, and places three identical bottles full of a black liquid. "The choice is yours."
"Good. We'll take them." Says Mary, her eyes cheerful as she picks all of them up.
Ben takes the box in his hands, opens it and levitates the Cup, only to place it inside and close it. He looks up at the two elves. "Thank you."
"And so we can finally leave. Thank Morgana. This took a long time, even though it didn't have to." Mutters Tom, not in the most ideal of moods, for he is still insulted by the arrogance displayed by the creature. He turns on his heel and walks away.
Mary and Ben share a glance with each other, before they apparate at the entrance to find the other boy.
___________
The Diadem is in Hogwarts, as far as Tom has concluded, so the solution is quite simple.
He sends a letter to Minerva. A letter that goes like this:
To Minerva McGonagall, deputy headmistress of Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry,
And now that we skipped the pleasantries, Minerva, I have a favor to ask of you.
Go to the Hidden Things room. You're looking for a crown with azure jewels, medium in size, probably inside a case. And, for goodness sake, do not touch it when you have found it. Put it inside a package and send it off to Ben's address. You know which one of the two I'm talking about.
In case you're wondering why this is important, remember that your student's happiness is dependent upon this.
PS: By the way, how's Harry doing? He hasn't written to me since the term started.
My deepest respects,
TMR
Five hours later, while Tom, Mary and Ben are sitting in some chairs in Ben's kitchen, talking about where the snake and locket could be, an owl appears.
It's a brown one with black spots. It carries a paper box, tied with ropes. A letter is glued to it.
Tom opens the box, passes it to the girl and takes the letter in his hand.
To Mr Riddle, Auror, MLED,
Next time you will want a favor from me, boy, do be a bit more polite about it. I cannot stand self richeous youth, especially deliquent youth that has put students of my house in danger more than once.
Tom smiles upon reaching that part of the letter. He has always appreciated that woman, since the first time of meeting her ( she had given him a rather critical piece of her mind, she didn't hold back at all). He understood why she was Harry's favorite teacher. (The old coot didn't count.)
He resumes to his reading of the text.
At any case, here's your diadem. I really cannot think what you had in mind when you violated such a treasure, young man, but I suppose it is not my place to pass judgment. Be careful.
PS: As for my student, he is perfectly fine. He is in good health, he's happy and his grades keep elevating. He would be even better if you and Albus did not consistently mess with his life. Just saying. Do not worry that much. You will see him on Easter break, after all. Good afternoon and send my regards to Mrs Stewart and Mr Bartok.
MM
His smile doesn't falter as he puts the paper aside and looks at his friends. "So... two out of four. Pick out the next one you'd prefer we start with. The snake or the locket?"
"You said he probably hasn't turned any snake into a horcrux yet." Says Ben and looks over at Mary, who is standing behind the small blue table of his kitchen.
"Yes, but I think the locket is the most tricky one to destroy."
Mary picks a dried ceramic cup from besides the sink and fills it with coffee from a coffee machine, even though it's five in the afternoon. "Do you know where either of them may be?"
"If we assume that a snake horcrux does exist, then he must keep it somewhere safe, near him, so it doesn't slither away. I would say Riddle manor. But when I went there, I found nothing. The place was deserted."
"We can still use 'Accio'." Suggests Ben.
"Yeah, I really don't feel like getting out of the house again." Murmurs the girl. "We can use that and save us the trip. My ankles are hurting me."
"And the locket?" Inquires the blond.
"I have a feeling." Mutters the heir, with a hand supporting his chin. He has sat down on another chair.
"What?"
"Yesterday night, Harry had a nightmare. He saw a cave." Now Tom glances at Ben for a bit. "Thanks to the artificial mind connection I had created the previous Monday, I saw these images too. The horcrux from the cave was missing. It was replaced by a copy, a mere piece of jewelry. Harry didn't realize it, but I did."
"So, you're saying that if we were to go to that cave..?" Starts off Ben.
Mary finishes the sentence for him."We would have gone for nothing."
"Mhmm." Nods Tom. "Exactly."
"Alright." Mary consumes the last sips off of her cup and puts it down the sink. "So what do we do, Mr 'I - have - a - plan - most - of - the - time?'
Tom gives her a brief look of irritation before providing his reply. "I suppose the only thing left to do is to cast 'Accio', much as I don't trust that it will work. And if it doesn't, I'm afraid we will have to leave the house."
"Alright..." Says Ben and draws out his wand. "Let's start with the snake." He looks at both of his friends for confirmation. Once he gets two nods, he simply says 'Accio Lord Voldemort's snake horcrux'."
So they wait. And wait. And wait, for approximately, two hours.
Tom even goes out to search for himself, but he returns back after twenty minutes, saying that all the three places he had checked out were not inhabited.
It's a little bit after seven when Mary hears a thud on the front door, like something has landed on it and then fallen down the white floor. "Um, guys... do you think that's-?"
They all walk to the door.
Ben is the one that opens it. And he almost yells his heart out from seeing a huge python with her length taking over almost the whole staircase that leads to his flat. He quickly backs away.
Tom is speechless, while Mary, although shook to the core, still manages to pull off a grin. "Ha. I was right." She turns to look at the Slytherin. Her eyes betray a thirst for recognition. "Say it."
Tom sighs. "Okay. You were right."
"That I was." She says and glances at the animal a bit concerned. "What about that? Will you try to talk to it or we'll just kill it?"
"I prefer the 'killing' option. I have no fondness for..." Tom's voice dies out, as he doesn't know how to describe the creature, that looks at him just as severely.
Said python is not happy of how things turned out for her. "You ssmell of my masster..." She hisses. "But you are not him. You have nno regard for my persson."
"Correct." Replies the brunet, not touched in the slightest, but on the other hand, curious about what she had said. "Is your master alive?"
"Why sshould I tell you?"
"Because you will die if you don't."
"I will die anyway, human."
"Answer me and I may reconsider keeping you alive."
"If I am to tell you anything, I demand that after you take that black magic out of me, you release me to a field. I do not want any relation to humanss and their problemss."
"What does she say?" Asks Ben, who is more composed and not in complete panic mode, like before.
"She says that she wants to live. She wants her freedom and shard removed."
"Fair enough." Says Ben, who is more animal friendly than Tom and Mary.
"So, what? We take her to Kingsley?" Is the option that is proposed by the only woman in the house.
Tom finds himself very much agreeing with that. "Yes. They'll decide what to do with her. Our instructions were specific: find them and send them off to the Head. Let him deal with the final phase. Frankly, we cannot be the only ones working in there - and we have yet to find the locket."
During the next minute, Nagini, as the python calls herself, the Cup and the Diadem have vanished and transported to Kingsley's quarters, who sends them a 'thank you' letter shortly afterwards.
From a brief conversation with the animal, Tom learns that Voldemort was freshly ressurected again, though the snake has no idea of the exact location of the house she had been kept in.
That will be a problem for the future.
At about 9.30, and after they have dined, Mary decides to try 'Accio' again.
Frankly, she is exhausted. She has slept for six hours and if it wasn't for Tom's persistence for all four objects to be dealt with, she would have gone to sleep already.
So she says the incantation and again, waits.
They see the locket coming through the fireplace inside the living room. It hits the wall. Which has a canvas on it, making its glass frame break, as both the locket and the photograph - of Ben's mother, Julia, and father, Paul - fall down.
"Well... that was useful." Mutters Ben. He doesn't waist a single second. He levitates the locket to the kitchen table. The photo, he can very well fix later.
"Can we please destroy this one?" Asks Mary. "I mean, chopping off a snake would be bloody, the Cup and the Crown-"
"Diadem." Corrects Tom, out of habit.
"They do not whisper things to you, so it would be boring, but this one..." She points a finger at the emerald object. "This one is something."
"Logically, he made the locket after the ring." Explains the dark wizard. "So it makes sense that the piece inside it is stronger, more powerful. It's why you hear voices."
"I hear them too." Mutters the Ravenclaw, looking at the supposedly harmless locket with interest.
Tom stares between the remaining duo in exasperation. "You two are weirder than I thought. Who wants to subject himself into this willingly?"
"Me." Replies the girl in a heartbeat, making him turn his gaze on her. "I mean, I'm already angry at you, for reasons that you very well know, so destroying whatever version of you nestles inside there shouldn't be difficult. Think of it as an anger release exercise. At least for me."
The Slytherin blinks. 'Ah. So that's why she's so eager for this.'
Well, he cannot blame her. Their relationship hasn't been the calmest one during these two years.
"Very well." He says, accepting her decision. He takes the locket, feels it on his palm and passes it over to her, after making sure it is not infected with a Curse of any kind.
His gaze rests on Ben momentarily, but the negative motion of the blond's head reassures him that he does not mind his girlfriend doing this instead of him. He wants her to take it all out, all these pressed emotions. Ben is supportive. Tom honestly respects that.
Mary drops the locket on the floor. She takes a bottle in her hand, out of the ones the elves had gifted them - Nicendium - opens it and with Tom's command, the locket opens.
They all see black smoke first. Then it's formed into a figure.
It's him. Tom. Exactly as he is at the moment. Only even more beautiful. More unsettling.
Mary swallows the bile of dread down her throat one, two times. The hand holding the glass bottle with the black substance is shaking.
Horcrux Tom notices it. And he smiles as if talking to an old friend. "Mary Stewart, right? How nice to finally meet you, dear."
The young woman doesn't speak. Her hold on the poison strengthens.
The strange entity follows her tired vision to the hand that holds the cure. It grins. "Oh. So you're here to kill me. How sad. And here I was, thinking we could be friends. I bet I would do way better than..." Fake Riddle rests his gaze at the real, the solid one and sneers, distasteful. "Him."
"No." She replies. "You wouldn't, for Tom - our Tom - has come a long way from how he had started out as."
"In regards to the Potter boy, sure." Is the immediate response this version of the Slytherin offers. "But in regards to you? I don't think so."
Even the copy is spot on about her feelings, dang it. This is way more difficult than she had initially thought. "He's trying."
"Is he, Mary? How many times have you expressed your frustration and got nothing but false thank you's back? How many times has your throat dried from yelling at him the most basic of manners, which he uses in front of everyone else, but you? Don't you feel like killing him, at times like this? He is no saint and you, of all people, should know that."
She gulps again. "I know that."
"And despite all that mistreatment, you still decide to side with him? Support his goals?"
"Yes, alright? Yes!"
"How pathetic of you... You could have had so much more if you weren't responsible for him every second of the day. He's holding you back. Don't you see?"
"Come on then, Mary!" Shouts out Ben at the transfixed woman, who was watching that little back and forth from his own corner. "Drop it!"
She seems to wake up from her slumber of self doubt. Her hand dips all of the pitch black liquid down the jewelry.
They hear hissing and screeching and crying. The locket seems to vibrate violently on the floor. The image of Tom withers and melts, until even the metal has been burned from the inside.
Mary drops the now empty bottle on the sink. She throws herself on a chair and sighs. "Well... that's over. Now, please, allow me to go to sleep. I can't even see straight from the dizziness."
She whispers goodnight to the boys and goes to Ben's guest room, her uniform still on.
Ben gives a sideways look at the Slytherin. "At least she didn't slap you this time. Though you'd deserve it. You should talk to her about it tomorrow. Goodnight."
And he too follows Mary to the same room.
Tom decides to occupy the sofa. He liked living rooms, sometimes even more than actual bedrooms.
He realizes he needs rest as well. He doesn't even remove his clothes, merely the shoes. He lays down, closes his eyelids and feels the excitement of the day taking him down, drowning him, as if he is inside a far too long well, with dark waters, muddy, freezing.
Now let's hope that they will come across Voldemort before Harry does.
Sleeps takes him away in a blast with that thought in mind.