Chapter 57: The Lore of the Locket

Tuesday, 8th August 1995.

Remus stared down at the ugly lump of gold that he had ignored on every previous visit to this room.

"That's definitely it," Hermione confirmed, standing beside him and staring at the same object as the rest of them. "Thick solid gold with swirling patterns in the surface and inlaid green stones forming an S-shape. Exactly as it appeared in the memory."

Harry nodded at the girl's words before adding his own addendum. "And it's even thicker with Riddle's soul."

Remus wondered if the impending full moon had clouded his own senses in regards to the awful thing, or if he was just too distracted watching Sirius in this terrible place to notice anything off. Even now he noted that Sirius was standing further back than the rest of them, and his friend's eyes flickered back and forth between the unassuming anchor that had been in this home for years and the elf that had seemed to know it was there all along.

Harry turned and locked his eyes on Kreacher as well, the elf glaring back defiantly at the pair. "So how did it get there?"

"Kreacher," Sirius said, a commanding tone in his voice, "you will sit in that chair and you will not move except to tell us everything you know about that locket and how it came to be in this house. I order you to tell us all that you know, even if someone has forbidden you to do so previously. I command it as Master of the House of Black."

Kreacher scowled even further as his body seemed to move against his will and he took the indicated seat. Harry, Sirius and Remus all stepped over and took the places on the wide couch nearby, but it was only as he shuffled back into his seat that Remus realized there was a larger-than-usual space between himself and Harry. Hermione had not joined them, nor was she standing over by the large cabinet anymore.

"Where did…" He began to ask but Harry just gestured for him not to worry.

"She will be back in a moment. Just, do not touch what she brings with her. It's extremely dangerous. Kreacher, begin."

The two elder men looked at him with confusion for a moment before their attention fell back on the belligerent elf.

"Good Master Regulus, who was his mother's pride," Kreacher sniped, still finding a way to insult Sirius indirectly as he spoke, "talked for years about joining the Dark Lord and bringing the wizards out of hiding to rule over the… Muggles and mu… Mu… Muggleborns…" Kreacher began to pant as his voice would not form around the preferred terms he wanted to use.

"Go on," Sirius demanded, not showing any sympathy towards the elf that Remus knew had delivered almost every punishment that he had received as a child in this house.

Kreacher glared at Sirius but was unable to resist the reinforced command.

"When he was sixteen, Master Regulus joined the Dark Lord. Mistress was ever so proud. Then, one year after he joined, Master Regulus came to Kreacher in the kitchen. Master Regulus always liked Kreacher, unlike…" Once more the words Kreacher wanted to say would not come out, bound by the restriction that Harry had forced upon him to not insult Harry's family.

"Master said that the Dark Lord required an elf, and he had volunteered Kreacher." The elf continued. "He told Kreacher that it was an honour for Kreacher and the House of Black. It meant the Dark Lord trusted Master and that Kreacher must do whatever the Dark Lord commanded and then, to come home…"

Kreacher trailed off and Remus noticed tears forming in the elf's eyes. It had also begun to rock softly in the chair, but his attention was drawn away as Hermione suddenly reappeared in the room, far in the corner.

That in itself wasn't all that unusual. Remus had seen both Harry and Hermione pop in and out of hundreds of rooms over the past several years. It was the pair's preferred method of travel. What was unusual was her attire. She was covered, head to toe, in thick rubbery material. A smock of some kind covered her torso and a face mask protected her from whatever was in her hands, protected by full arm-length gloves. A tiny glass container that was mostly empty, but for about two or three inches of a softly swaying almost clear but slightly yellowish-hued liquid.

She stared at the concoction carefully, and Remus was worried about what she had brought into the house that required such protection. The girl gingerly walked the container over to the table and set it down cautiously while everyone watched her. All of them were confused except for Harry.

"Kreacher, do not touch or attempt to move that beaker or its contents," he ordered as the elf leaned forward.

Hermione stood once more and summoned her wand to her hand. A quick wave at the nearby cabinet had the door swung open and the locket lifted off of the shelf it had laid upon for years. The heavy gold item soared rapidly across the room and came to a stop hovering above the beaker. Hermione took a steadying breath as she lowered it slowly through the air, getting even slower as the golden chain began to slide inside the container.

Remus was focused intently on the concoction as the chain touched its surface, but absolutely nothing happened. The gold links just seemed to stir the mixture somewhat as they continued down and clinked against the glass bottom. Before long, the entire locket was submerged in the liquid and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.

She gave several more rapid waves and stabs of her wand at the table and a thick visible shield appeared over the container.

"Right, that should sort that, unless he's done something really special to protect it," Hermione noted, vanishing her odd garb and taking her rightful place by Harry's side on the couch. She ignored the pointed looks from Sirius and Remus and just looked simply over the table at Kreacher. "Continue."

Remus turned back to the elf as it spoke once more, scowl still fixed in place, though there appeared to be a softness to his face now. Most likely related far more to the memories than the company he was presently keeping.

"Kreacher went to the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord did not tell Kreacher anything, simply ordering him to follow him to a cave by the sea. Inside was a cavern filled with a great still black lake. We crossed it in a small boat to a tiny jagged island in the centre where a pillar stood with a basin at its top. The Dark Lord commanded Kreacher to drink the potion from the basin, and Kreacher obeyed as Master Regulus had commanded."

Kreacher paused and a full-body shudder ran through the miserable creature.

"Kreacher drank and he saw terrible things. Kreacher's insides burned and he cried for Master Regulus to save him. He cried for his Mistress, but the Dark Lord laughed and ordered him to drink every drop. Even as Kreacher's body shuddered, he continued. When the basin was empty, and Kreacher was lying in pain on the ground, the Dark Lord dropped that locket," Kreacher nodded at the gold lump in the beaker, "inside and refilled the basin with more potion. Kreacher moved to drink again, but the Dark Lord commanded him to never drink from the basin again.

"And then, the Dark Lord left and Kreacher was alone. Twitching in agony on the ground in the darkness. Kreacher does not know how long it took, but the terrible thirst came over him and he crawled across the sharp and jagged stone. He crawled to the water and drank from the black lake. It did not soothe the thirst and dead hands reached out of the water and dragged Kreacher under the surface…"

Kreacher paused and Remus glanced at the others. Harry and Hermione both seemed upset, and he could tell that Hermione wanted to soothe the poor elf's pain at the memory. Sirius, however, seemed torn. He was not unmoved by the tale. But a lifetime of hatred was a difficult thing to shift. Remus knew that clearing this from his friend's mind would take a lot.

"As Kreacher descended, the dead hands pulling on him, he remembered Master Regulus's command. It hurt, more than anything Kreacher has ever done, but he followed his orders and he returned home."

Harry nodded with a wide smirk and Remus turned to see the boy. "Figures he would underestimate elven magic."

Kreacher nodded in agreement. "The house-elf's highest law is his Master's bidding," Kreacher said, intently looking anywhere but at Sirius as he said it. Refusing to acknowledge that he was now bound to someone he hated, and who hated him.

"What happened next?" Sirius asked, a shadow over his face as he watched the elf.

"Master Regulus was worried for Kreacher. He told me to stay hidden and not leave the house and he helped to clear the pain. Then he left, for days and days. Kreacher does not know how long, the pain was so persistent. But when he returned, Master Regulus was strange, not as he usually was, disturbed in his mind. Kreacher could tell… and he asked Kreacher… to take him to the cave. To take him where Kreacher had gone with the Dark Lord…"

"He ordered you to feed him the potion, didn't he?" Hermione said, and Kreacher's eyes shot up to the girl, shaking all over, but also shaking his head in the negative.

Remus could see pain and fear in them now, Kreacher no longer bore the awful scowl. He was mourning.

"M-Master Regulus took a locket like the one the Dark Lord had from his pocket. And he gave it to Kreacher. He said when the basin was empty, to switch the lockets. And he ordered Kreacher to leave without him. To go home and never tell Mistress what he had done. But also, to destroy the locket."

"You watched him die." Sirius said, his tone unreadable, even to Remus.

Kreacher nodded, clearly distraught. "But Kreacher failed his command. Nothing Kreacher did made any mark on the locket. Kreacher tried everything he knew, but nothing would work. Kreacher punished himself. He was sure if he could just get inside, he could destroy it. But nothing worked. Kreacher failed to obey orders. Kreacher could not destroy the locket. And Mistress was mad with grief, and Kreacher could not tell her what had happened. No… because Master Regulus had forbidden him to tell."

"Look at it now, Kreacher," Hermione said softly, pointing to the locket as it sat in the odd liquid. "Look carefully."

Remus followed her instruction as well and stared at the distorted shape of the golden locket in the hazy pale liquid. Even in the short time since he had last looked, the colour had changed, becoming somewhat of a pale amber colour now. It almost looked like something within was moving, further distorting the image beyond just looking through a liquid from outside. But as he stared, Remus noticed something. The locket was now pitted.

All over the surface, tiny holes were forming in the gold. What had been a smooth polished finish before now looked bumpy and degraded.

"What is that?" He asked, and Hermione turned and smiled at him.

"A mixture I just made of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid more commonly called aqua regia. I borrowed the components from a nearby secondary school chemistry lab. They hopefully won't miss a small amount like this. It is incredibly corrosive and highly toxic just on its own, but it dissolves gold. I cast an unbreakable charm on the beaker and placed a persistent vacuum under the shield that will vanish any gases that formed within. It will be giving off a lot of extremely toxic chlorine gas and nitrogen dioxide as the acids react with one another, which is very bad for humans to breathe."

Sirius shuddered for a moment before he began to chuckle heartily. They all just watched him, unsure of what to do to help the man and it was several moments before he was able to bring himself back under control.

"For years I pitied the idiot. I thought he'd gotten cold feet and gotten killed for it." Sirius said as Harry wrapped an arm around his godfather. "But he died being braver than I ever was. Some Slytherin."

"Does it help?" Harry asked, looking up at Sirius.

"A little. My brother is still dead. And he still joined Riddle. We know you have to do some pretty depraved stuff to prove yourself worthy to that lot. But he did the right thing in the end."

"What is that doing?" Kreacher finally asked Hermione, unable to even point at the beaker on the table.

"What Regulus ordered you to do," Hermione replied. "It will destroy that locket. The nitric acid strips off the gold atoms and the hydrochloric acid bonds with them preventing the gold from just returning to the locket. All but the stones will be dissolved. It will take hours, but soon… it will be entirely gone. At that point, we should be able to simply vanish whatever remains."

"I love your brain," Harry said, wrapping his free arm around Hermione and pulling her tight against him.

"Thank you." She replied with a blush and Remus was impressed at the girl as well.

It would also be a rather fitting way for a portion of Riddle's soul to go out. Dissolving in a muggle acid. While Hermione was correct, and the process was clearly slow, it had already taken a visible toll on the gold locket.

The five of them continued to watch the extremely slow process in silence for several moments before Harry appeared to become bored.

"Well." He said, standing and clapping his hands together. "Shall we go and sort these books out?"

Hermione quickly joined him. The gleam that had been present all morning returned to her eye at the promise of a whole new library to organize. Remus was frankly amazed the girl had managed to contain herself so long.

Sirius paused, however, looking at the elf over the decaying locket on the table.

"Kreacher." He said, his voice tighter than usual. "You will remain there, watching the locket. If anything changes, you will summon us, but you will not move. And you will do nothing to interfere. Understood."

The elf did not move his gaze from the soft currents of acid swirling around the locket as they interacted with one another. But he did nod.

"Yes… Master." Kreacher finally said, slowly as if the acknowledgement physically hurt him to speak aloud.

"Right." Sirius sighed heavily as he finally stood with the others. "Let's go do this."

ϟ

A/N: Trigger Warning - Intentional Self Harm/Suicide.

Harry watched closely, a second and third shield had been erected around the table over the many intervening hours as the group had worked. Occasionally one of them would peek their head into the drawing room and see the same image from when they first left.

It was almost comical, if not for the magic Harry knew maintaining the elf's unmoving position.

Kreacher was perched in the exact same spot on his chair intently watching as the concoction on the table gradually became a deeper reddish brown colour. Every glimpse showed less and less of the locket remained, but now, at almost eleven pm, the acid was nearly done.

The liquid within had become so violent as it ate away at the locket that it had begun to bubble and shift enough to lift the heavy metal up into the centre of the mixture. That had been the motivation for the first additional shield. The movement had allowed all of the stones that had made up the intricate S on the front to fall free hours ago, and two small glass slivers had become visible within the swirling acid sometime earlier. Likely having slid out through the dissolving metal from inside the locket. If there had been any pictures stored within, they had not survived long enough to fall out.

Harry had cast the final shield just now as he could feel the tainted magic within what remained struggling now. Riddle's mangled soul was trying to keep its grasp on the locket, but so little was left that there was nothing to hold onto now. And if it reacted anything like the Ring had, he was concerned there might be another explosion. This time spreading one of the most corrosive and toxic acids known to mankind across the drawing room if it did.

"Hey, get down here!" he shouted, startling Kreacher a few millimetres from his fixed position, but not distracting the elf from its vigil.

Thumping footsteps sounded as two figures rapidly descended the stairs, but Hermione was by his side in an instant. Harry glanced up at her before he nodded at the beaker as it began to shudder on the table behind the now four shields.

Hermione kept her wand trained on the juddering glass container as Sirius and Remus burst in the door as well.

"This is it. Riddle's got nowhere left to go now." Harry noted, watching cautiously as the powerful acid broke down the final ribbons of gold left dancing within the madly bubbling acid.

The smaller the tiny ribbons of gold became, the worse the motion got. The beaker was now loudly bumping across the surface of the old timber table top, scraping and tapping as it moved back and forth. Almost like the dancing slime-filled toaster from the Ghostbusters sequel that Sirius had taken them to see shortly after rejoining their family a few years earlier.

The acid, however, was reacting more like the slime itself as it was yelled at. Forming large bubbles inside the acid that swelled larger and larger until they reached the top of the fluid where they popped instantly upon reaching the vacuum above the beaker itself. It looked almost beautiful with the deep reddish colouring of the dissolved gold. If not for the extreme danger it posed.

Suddenly, the beaker shattered and acid sprayed all over the inside of the dome-shaped shield that Hermione had first placed down. Every single bit of the table under the shield was now covered in acid, the tiny gemstones splayed out across the now hissing wooden surface between the shards of glass.

Hermione flicked her wand at the dome and all of the glass within vanished. Both the shards of the beaker and the two tiny slivers from the locket itself.

Harry, however, was focusing intently on the feel of magic underneath the shield. It was far less sudden than the other attempts. Riddle's soul seemed to hover within the space for several long tense moments. Harry was worried that it was still bonded to the gold molecules left behind in the acid. But his worries soon vanished as the tainted soul thinned and whimpered away into the aether.

Another portion of Riddle's soul was gone for good.

Harry turned and wrapped Hermione tightly in his arms allowing all the tension that had built within his body over the last several minutes to wash away.

"You are a genius." He said, pulling back and kissing her cheek firmly. "My genius."

"It's just chemistry, Harry." She replied, blushing heavily at his praise.

However, Harry knew she very much enjoyed being praised for her academic brilliance.

"What about that?" Sirius asked, watching as his once family's drawing room table began to dissolve under the powerful corrosive puddle lying on its surface.

Harry pointed his wand at the table and flicked out the wiping spell across the table and the inside of the powerful bubble Hermione was still carefully maintaining. There was no sound as the vacuum had no molecules for it to travel through, but the acid rapidly sucked into a corner of the dome and disappeared into nothing, leaving behind only the twinkling green gems.

Another wave of his wand vanished the emeralds for good, breaking them down and dispersing them as vanishing always did. There was no residual resistance as there was when the Horcrux had been intact. All that remained now was the already pitted surface of the table as evidence of the destruction that had occurred underneath.

"Still not entirely safe," Hermione noted, "and it will only work on something made of a noble metal like gold or platinum. But I'd call that a success. Much easier than the ring and diadem."

"Absolutely." Harry agreed.

He had not been subjected to intense heat or burns this time around. Perhaps they should get some more of the required components in order to deal with the remaining cup. It had appeared to be made entirely of gold in the memory. Which matched what historical records he could find stated about Hufflepuff's legendary artefact. Meaning that aqua regia would dissolve the entire thing. The two components would need to be kept apart, as they did react with one another from the moment they were mixed.

But he also worried about pouring such a powerful acid inside of an artefact meant to hold liquids. One which was rumoured to increase the potency of whatever was poured inside. If the locket exploded like that just from being immersed in it, he hated to imagine how powerful an explosion the cup might be able to make if they poured aqua regia into it.

"It is done…" Kreacher murmured from his seat.

Harry considered the still stationary elf for a moment. Kreacher was old and crotchety, snapping and muttering abuse at them all any time they came by, even with the restrictions Harry had put in place. But Kreacher was so as a product of the environment in which he had been formed. The Blacks had generally been hateful bigots, so Kreacher had absorbed their beliefs. Add in the multiple masters giving often conflicting orders over the past twenty years, possibly even longer, and it was a small wonder that the elf wasn't truly insane.

Harry pitied the creature and wanted to free the elf from the burdens placed upon him by his now-deceased masters.

"Hermione," he said softly, directing her gaze, "hold him in place please."

His girlfriend did not question his statement, simply reaching out with her magic and securely holding the house-elf in place as Harry walked over and knelt in front of Kreacher. He could feel Sirius tensing as he approached, but the man had forbidden Kreacher to do them any harm.

Harry looked up at the elf, scowling down at him still as the only form of rebellion left to him in his twisted and restrained state. "Kreacher, I'm going to do something for you. As a reward for succeeding in the command given to you by Master Regulus."

Kreacher's scowl lessened for a moment before he looked up and over Harry's head, as if the offer were beneath him purely because it had come from a dirty half-blood muggle lover. Not that Kreacher could have voiced such disdain. Not yet.

Harry just sighed and reached out one hand, holding it in the air between himself and the house-elf.

"I release you from all pre-existing commands. From this moment forward, you are beholden to no one, and no former command ever given to you shall hold sway any more."

A flare of magic shot out of Harry's hand and Kreacher twitched sharply as all of the conflicting magic snapped open and flung off of its body. Harry could feel hundreds and hundreds of commands releasing their hold, coming away in layers like an onion peeling open. Some of the commands felt truly disgusting, and Harry was glad he did not know what the poor elf had been instructed to do.

After almost three solid minutes of twitching as over a century of magic relinquished its hold, Kreacher finally fell still and all Harry could feel now was the elf's own natural magic within its body, and Hermione's familiar comforting magic still holding him in place.

Kreacher's eyes were closed now as his tiny body panted at the exertion he had just endured.

"Now," Harry continued, still watching Kreacher closely, "I ask only that you do nothing to work against us or aid Tom Marvolo Riddle and we shall leave you free to live however you so choose from this day forward. Do you agree?"

Kreacher opened his eyes and looked down at Harry, but Harry was entirely unable to read its thoughts like he could with Hermione or Sirius.

"Agreed." Kreacher replied, a soft grin spreading over its face.

Harry nodded once to Kreacher and then turned and nodded to Hermione. He could feel her magic releasing Kreacher and within a heartbeat, the elf had vanished. Harry sighed as he could feel the elf's magic moving about downstairs, and he assumed that the poor creature was mourning the loss of the portrait once more. They hadn't really given it a chance, bringing him up here and immediately interrogating him about the anchor.

A moment later, they all started as they heard a loud thump and a tinkling noise from downstairs.

Sirius and Remus rushed for the door, but Harry and Hermione simply popped one level down and opened the dining room door to look out into the narrow hall that led back to the house's basement kitchen.

Directly opposite was quite the sight.

As the two adults thudded down the stairs, Harry watched as the blood drained from the now decapitated, yet smiling head of Kreacher perched on the wall next to the rest of the Black Family house-elves. His slender body had fallen to the floor, next to which lay a shining kitchen knife covered in the blood falling from above. Kreacher had used his freedom to end his life and join the other elves.

Harry gagged at the sight and turned away as Sirius stepped forward.

"Why would he do that?" Hermione asked, aghast at the sight as well.

"It was the idiot's greatest wish since I was a child, to join those elves," Sirius noted, staring at his former tormentor. "Over a century he has waited to do that. But Cygnus forbade him from doing it himself."

Harry was unable to get any closer to the dripping body, so it was Remus who moved over to stand by Sirius and wrapped an arm around his friend.

"You two should head home for the moment. Leave this to us." Remus said, glancing back at the pair of them still standing in the dining room doorway.

He gave them a forced but supportive smile and nodded for them to leave.

Harry just allowed Hermione to take his hand and suddenly they were back in the large bathroom at the Manor. She knew him far too well.

He tried not to think about the sight that was now burning in his mind's eye as she began filling the massive tub.

Or the guilt he felt.

ϟ

Friday, 11th August 1995.

Bellatrix Lestrange wandered silently through the house, glancing at the pictures on the walls and scowling at the smiling faces within.

The man in each picture was a large part of the reason she had avoided the woman in them for so long. Irrespective of her temporary incarceration that is. The filth with which her sister had sullied herself. Bringing shame to the family by not only marrying it, but breeding with it as well.

Their daughter was the star of many of the pictures, often looking very different from one to the next.

It irked Bella that filth had borne forth the family's ancient magics. None deserved such power less than the child of a mudblood and a blood traitor. And she would do her utmost to clean such filth from their blood for good.

That was why she had come, after all.

She, and the other five Death Eaters currently exploring the house, were here to kill her traitorous sister, the mudblood and their stain of a daughter. And yet, no one was inside.

The plan had been well prepared, unlike her nephew's haphazard approach to his one task. A task he had failed at miserably. A failure that had seen her other sister punished as a result. Not that Bella cared about Narcissa's death. Her sister had failed their master, more than once. Death was the best reward that such failure could have hoped for. Bella had wanted to keep her alive and torment her for some time to come before granting her such a simple release. Though Narcissa's screams had indicated that the Dark Lord had not made her passing too easy, Bella recalled with a smile.

But she quickly turned her mind back to her present task. A half-dozen Death Eaters had approached during the deepest hour of the night. They had already scouted the wards of the home in advance and they were no more than the standard simple goblin defences. Easily subverted by someone with her level of experience. Within minutes, they were inside the home.

And yet, no one else was.

The Tonks family had fled, someone detecting their entry. Somehow they had gotten out through the portable wards her group had brought with them to trap their prey inside. No apparition or portkey travel should have been possible with those wards in place. And their contact in the Floo Network Authority had ensured their grate would be inaccessible all night.

Anger boiled inside of her as she considered how they could have escaped her grasp. She had been so looking forward to ruining her foul niece in front of her sister. Torturing the mudblood both with magic and her cursed blade as he screamed and begged for death. To wash clean her family of this filth once and for all.

As she stepped into the teen girl's room, she seethed at a note that had been left sitting on the end of the bed. A single scrap of muggle paper with large black letters, sitting on the messed covers facing the door.

FUCK YOU, AUNTY!

Bella flicked her wand and the paper incinerated instantly, setting the covers below it alight as it did. With her already limited restraint broken, Bellatrix began casting indiscriminately. Blasting anything and everything she could see within the room.

Stuffed animals split open and spilled their pale fillings all over the floor. The cupboard exploded, showering the room with shredded clothing and splinters of wood. The pictures and posters on the walls curled up in flames as she peppered the walls with violent spells. Bellatrix unleashed her anger on the room, destroying all traces of the inhabitant as she went.

Whirling around as a hand grabbed her shoulder, Bellatrix blasted whatever damned fool had interrupted her rage down the stairs. The black-cloaked body slumped against the front door and the other Death Eaters looked at Simmons in shock, before their eyes turned up to her, seething in the girl's doorway.

"Destroy everything." She barked, her voice holding none of her usual honeyed mockery. Bellatrix Lestrange was furious that she had been denied a righteous vengeance kill. "Leave this filth nothing to come back to. If they want to run, we'll make sure they never STOP!"

She turned away from the silent figures and moved to the master bedroom. She intended to annihilate everything within there as she had in the child's room. If she couldn't spill her sister's blood tonight, she would still break the traitor's spirit.