Hogwarts: Era of Darkness

Now that we had Voldemort's soul in our possession, we advanced to the next part of our plan. Destroying it. Once again, I was calling for Herpo's attention, wanting him to help us, but since going to sleep and waking up, he was gone again. Haaah... My guess is he was tired of keeping my thoughts sealed before the vampires, but still! At least he could tell me he is going to take a nap or something.

"Can we even destroy it?" Quincy asked as we sat inside our little personal common room, watching the fireplace, lighting up our faces in the midnight darkness. "We need the stone. Didn't he accidentally make himself wholly undead by using it as a Horcrux?"

"No." Grindelwald answered, while Lockhart just sat there, silently listening, slurping on a hot chocolate like he was a student instead of a grown adult. "What his soul is stuck to is not the stone; it is the ring. If we want to destroy it, we must attack the ring and leave the stone unharmed."

"Is it safe to... talk about it?" Lockhart asked after we had fallen silent, looking towards a painting on the opposite wall that hid a safe which, in turn, had the ring inside, sealed behind a handful of spells.

"It is." Our Master nodded, closing his eyes, thinking. "Separating the ring and the stone will be difficult for multiple reasons."

"It is something made by Salazar Slytherin." I continued before he could, already having enough experience in artifacts and their creations to notice a masterwork if I came across one. "I am not entirely sure he was unaware of the stone's origin. They are masterfully conjoined and create a complete artifact that fits any finger it is being put on. Taking them apart can only be done by destroying the ring."

"Can't young Quincy whip up another genius potion that melts it away or something?"

"Thank you for the trust, Professor," she giggled, "But I am not at that level yet."

"We could blast it with the killing curse." I suggested, "It is a soul, no? It should kill it."

"Or rebound because of the stone. It is the Resurrection Stone; who knows what kind of reaction it would have towards that spell!" She nudged me while sitting on my lap.

"What do you think?" I asked, looking at Grindelwald, who opened his eyes and glanced towards us.

"What? I wasn't listening; I was meditating."

"..." At first, I wanted to say something rude, but I think I was getting used to it. I wasn't even angry. "Any... ideas?"

"Work it out. You have everything you need." he answered, yawning and standing up. "I will help once you reach a conclusion! For now, I am going to sleep."

"Already?" Quincy moaned, pursing her lips, trying to make him help us by going after his pride, "Aren't you excited a little? You have a Hallow in your possession again!"

"That is why I am not thinking about it." He answered, stopping at the door leading to his private wing. "I left it behind me, but that does not mean I don't feel the temptation of being this close to one. I am still a human..." He sighed, making me feel as if he was disappointed in himself, "For now, I am well and have no interest in it. But I know I was obsessed with the toy inside that safe." He finished, looking back at us with a soft smile. "It is best if temptations can be avoided. The devil is the finest seducer. I don't want my mind to be entrapped within the web of fake desires once again."

"Sometimes..." Lockhart mumbled after we were left alone, "I can't help but be in awe of him. Thanks to all those books and testimonies of him being the worst human possible, I thought differently before. Huh... Truly, the muggle saying is right! Winners write history."

"He does like to speak true words." I mumbled, lifting Quincy from my lap, going for the bookshelf, and retrieving my grimoire. "We do have what we need. Let me ask old Peverell what he knows and see if we can separate the two."

...

....

......

"I'm back." Echoed Herpo's voice in my head all of a sudden.

"Finally!" I replied, sitting above the grimoire, still having a discourse with Peverell and learning about the properties of the Resurrection Stone in the past three days. "What can kill a Horcrux most effectively?

"I knew you would have questions about it." he chuckled, returning with a prepared answer. "Just destroy the host; it is that easy. The soul needs an anchor that tethers it to the realm of the living. This is why, usually, when you choose an item to be your Horcrux, you pick something unique that already has excellent defense. Then you boost it and hide it well. The process of creating a Horcrux endows even the most mundane object with great power, but that does not mean it is indestructible."

"I see. Well, HE had chosen well because the ring itself is a masterwork in itself. Plus, with the stone embedded in it, any curse could easily rebound onto the caster, not to mention whatever else HE may hidden within. Haaah."

"The stone should withstand more than the ring. If these Hallows truly that strong, that is."

"They are. I have been interrogating Peverell, and from what I learned, the stone can only be destroyed by melting it. So, fiendfyre is out of the question. We thought about using it, but if it melts... we made all this ruckus for nothing."

"Forgo the killing curse too." He added, reading my mind. "At least not while the stone is attached to the ring. It is a variable I am unfamiliar with, so it is best to be careful."

"Roger... Haaah... I am running out of ideas."

"Use your venom."

"Huh? Excuse me?"

"Basilisk venom. Use that; it is one of the world's worst types of venom, easily killing any magical creatures. It not only erodes the living, but it melts through many protections like acid. Those snakes prey on anything, so no hide of any beast is able to defend against their bite."

"What...? Should I... Munch on it? Or what?" I asked, feeling flabbergasted.

"If you want to risk dying. Just don't swallow it. Still, I advise transforming, producing venom, and then using it to coat the ring with it and let it do its thing. When the soul dies within, the Horcrux is going to be destroyed, and the ring will break, but the stone should remain intact. If what Peverell said is true, that is."

"Huh... So far, this is the best option... Okay! We will try that!" I exclaimed, really happy, ready to find Quincy and tell her about it immediately.

"But remember. Do not put the ring on under any circumstances. I was a Dark Wizard once... I would have cursed it for sure."

"No worries. I have no interest in wearing a ring. Well... I would, but that must be put on by a certain someone."

...

....

......

"Are you sure you weren't followed?" Asked a soft whisper in a dark, dingy room somewhere in a muggle motel on the outskirts of London.

"We are sure." Replied two voices belonging to no other than Hermione and Krum.

They watched impatiently as the door opened, letting them in. They were soaked in the autumn, cold rain, feeling the midnight's chilly wind slashing against their faces even inside the room where Neville's paranoid face welcomed them, looking out into the dark, expecting others to show up at any moment.

"We have to stop meeting like this." Hermione grumbled, using a spell to dry her hair back to its bushy form, blowing it into the face of Krum, who stood behind her. "Ah... S-sorry!"

"It fine. Good smell." He replied simply, making her blush even harder.

"Sorry," Neville continued, "I just need to be sure. Although I have permission to leave independently and do things, it is hard to shake off Sirius or that idiot Weasley..."

"I am surprised they let you roam around."

"It wasn't easy," he chuckled, looking at Hermione. "But I told them that my training had reached a bottleneck. And... Dumbledore and the other leading figures placed enough charms on me that they could tell where I was at any given time. They could most likely appear next to me or make me forcefully vanish if something terrible happened.

"Then why secrecy?" Krum asked, making Neville shrug again.

"As I said, it is shaking off the others. As time passes, I notice more and more that they are not right in the head and are way too extreme. Worse, nobody is doing anything about it. Anyway, I did not send word for you to talk about them!"

"Yeah, you were very cryptic. You only said we should visit a certain place."

"Yeah." He nodded, looking at the two. "I acquired the location and password for the Black family's residence. Sirius got wasted, and I managed to extract his memories without him noticing them. If we want to learn more about Quincy and maybe Conrad, it is best to start there, don't you think?"

"Good thinking!" Hermione exclaimed, getting excited, already forgetting her bad mood for traveling in the horrible November weather. "When should we leave?"

"Whenever you want!" Neville answered, just as excited as them.

"Now. Waiting is enemy." Krum agreed, one hand already on the handle of the door as the trio headed out to Grimmauld Place, looking for number 12.