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Chapter Thirty Four: Chronicles of Lord Voldemort Part Three:

“He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has two distinct trips we have managed to gain semi-conclusive records of, involving the acquisition of three artifacts that would eventually become his Horcruxes” continued a female member of the Black Wand. “The first such trip was less than a year out of Hogwarts, when You-Know-Who was ordered by Burke to pay a visit to the eccentric French wizard and magical artifact collector, Marquis LaDrone. LaDrone had a wide collection of priceless magical items dating back to the days of the Founders, many of which he obtained by quite nefarious means.”

“So, we can assume that The Dark Lord found it a bit of a challenge to extract this artifact from the possession of Mr. LaDrone,” said Regulus.

In the mid 1940s, in Paris France, Voldemort paced through the open gates of an impressive looking manor. Burke told Voldemort to get Mr. LaDrone to part with some of his variable treasures, no matter what means he had to take. Voldemort was personally interested because someone who had a wide variety of magical artifacts would likely have at least one object that tied to the Founders of Hogwarts.

The door swung open on its own accord allowing Voldemort entry through the doorway. At the doorway, he saw LeDrone standing there with a paranoid look on his face, holding his wand, seeming ready to fire a hex at a second’s notice. It seemed that whoever first decided the image of the stereotypical Frenchman had to have Marquis LeDrone in mind. The French wizard relaxed his wand when he saw it was just an eighteen year old boy standing in the doorway.

“Ah, you must have been the representative that Mr. Burke had sent over to attempt to get me to part with some of my artifacts, yes,” declared Mr. LeDrone calmly.

“Yes, sir,” replied Voldemort coolly. “I am just here on orders, to have a look around at the artifacts, and perhaps you would be able to part with a couple for a modest price.”

“Ha, ha, from what I’ve heard, Mr. Burke has a different definition of the word modest than I,” replied LeDrone with a hearty laugh. “He is a cheap little greasy tightwad, yes.”

“It’s not my place to say, I am just here to look at your incredible collection, Mr. LeDrone,” said Voldemort in an even cooler tone yet, that hinted for LeDrone to drop the small talk.

“Oh yes but of course, where are my manners?” asked LeDrone as he pointed down the hallway. “Right this way, if you please, Mr. Riddle.”

Voldemort followed LeDrone down a long, cavernous corridor in his manor. LeDrone stopped at the end of the corridor before turning to an open doorway to the side. He raised his wand before waving it back and forth three times.

“Through the doorway, Mr. Riddle, we only have about thirty seconds before the security spells renew themselves,” said LeDrone and Voldemort walked through with LeDrone following him quickly, down another corridor that had security trolls at various intervals, grunting while holding large clubs, looking as if they would bludgeon any intruders.

The corridor ended at a large metal door that looked to be reinforced with magic in a way that even the most powerful spells wouldn’t even put a dent in it. LeDrone walked over before pulling out an ordinary Muggle key from the pocket of his robes and placing it in the lock of a large metal box on the left side of the door. The metal box swung open to reveal yet another key which LeDrone removed, placing the original key in his pocket. He walked over towards a panel on the right side of the door and placed the new key in the lock before twisting it counterclockwise. The panel opened up and LeDrone placed his right hand on the panel. A white luminous glow filled the corridor as the metal doorway swung inwards.

“If anyone but me had gotten this far, they would not be alive for very long,” said LeDrone in a slightly savage voice.

“What exactly happens if they do try?” asked Voldemort in morbid curiosity.

“Are you familiar with the beast called a Nundu, Mr. Riddle?” responded LeDrone calmly.

“It’s a creature that resembles a leopard and has toxic breath that has wiped out entire villages,” replied Voldemort, remembering learning about the beast in his seventh year Care of Magical Creatures class.

“Well this vent will emit a substance nearly as toxic as Nundu breath,” replied LeDrone in a crisp voice, pointing towards a vent on the top of the door. “Even if some sneaky wizard manages to bypass all of my security measures, along with getting past my killer security trolls, and try to gain access to the vault, it will be triggered. Oh yes, they will get inside, but that is the last thing they will ever do. The door will swing shut, trapping them inside this room which has only enough air for a couple of hours and the air that it does have will be poisoned with the substance from these vents. I of course find these measures necessary after all the difficult work I have gone through in obtaining my wonderful collection.”

Voldemort nodded mutely in agreement. It would have taken quite some time to obtain such a collection by the means that LeDrone had been rumored to use. Still, Voldemort kept his mouth shut and his eyes open as LeDrone lead him into the room. Looking around, Voldemort saw several artifacts belonging to famous witches and wizards. They would have been worth a fair fortune but Voldemort didn’t care too much for them due to the fact they did not belong to any of the four Hogwarts founders. Voldemort resigned himself to the fact that it might have been a wasted trip because he wouldn’t find anything worthwhile and LeDrone surely would not part with any of his collection at the prices that Burkes would be willing to pay.

Before Voldemort’s interest could totally wane, he spotted an impressive looking Pensieve sitting as the centerpiece of a shelf of various artifacts. The Pensieve was extremely familiar to Voldemort and as he leaned in for a closer glance, his suspicions appeared to have been confirmed. Still, Voldemort wished to confirm his suspicions further, so he turned to LeDrone to interrogate him about the Pensieve.

“A fine piece of work, Mr. LeDrone,” stated Voldemort, as he pointed to the Pensieve. “Very impressive but I can’t shake the fact that I’ve seen a picture of this particular artifact in a book somewhere.”

“Ah, Mr. Riddle, it is quite possible that you have, because she is a very famous artifact,” declared LeDrone. “This fine little item once belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw. It was her personal Pensieve and it was rumored that when she knew she was dying, she placed all of her memories inside it. Some valuable information from what I’ve heard and the memories are still in the Pensieve; even through I have yet to have a chance to personally view the wide selection. Without the memories, this artifact would still be quite variable, but with them, the value cannot be measured in Galleons, Mr. Riddle.”

“/That valuable, Mr. LeDrone?” asked Voldemort coolly. /

“More than you can ever imagine due to the sheer amount of knowledge inside that has been lost in the passage of time,” answered LeDrone. “The only way I would part with such an item would if I was sold the combined assets of every magical family in France, Great Britain, Germany, Russia, and Bulgaria and even only then, I would still be rather reluctant to part with such an item.”

LeDrone gave a wheezy laugh for about a minute before growing suddenly serious.

“Of course the only way someone would be able to get their hands on my priceless Ravenclaw Pensieve would be to resort to petty thievery and that will not most certainly work with my foolproof security measures,” replied LeDrone. “Of course, who would be fool enough to rise up to the challenge with all the tales that they have heard about me?”

LeDrone turned to point out another artifact but Voldemort swiftly pointed his wand towards the French wizard’s head and at that second, everything went black for Marquis LeDrone.

“Several days later, Marquis LeDrone was found in his sitting room by the French Ministry of Magic, dead,” concluded Regulus. “From all appearances, it looked as if he was bludgeoned to death by his own security trolls.”

“Yet, Voldemort killed him and ran off with the Pensieve,” replied Harry.

“Yes but the French government really didn’t want to press the issue too much, as they were just regaining some control from the dark wizard Gridelwald,” replied Regulus. “Not too much unlike the British Ministry, they decided it was best for them to latch onto the most convenient explanation possible.”

“In other words, a complete distortion of the truth,” said Sirius in disgust. “So, the Pensieve was all that Voldemort stole.”

“The Pensieve was the only thing of value to the Dark Lord,” replied Regulus curtly. “It was something that belonged to one of the founders of Hogwarts and the fact that it contained memories of her knowledge just was an added bonus.”

“Yes the knowledge would appeal to him,” replied Lily. “He would have learned the knowledge and then destroyed the memories so no one else could accumulate the knowledge within the memories.”

“I agree, Voldemort would not have wanted to share that knowledge with anyone else, especially if someone could use it to find a way to defeat him,” said Ginny.

“Yes, but that’s only speculation,” said Raph in an impatient voice. “Do we actually know what Voldemort did with the memories after he stole the Pensieve?”

“The Dark Lord evidentially learned all he could from the memories and removed them from the Pensieve, before he used it as his third Horcrux,” replied Regulus in a calm voice.

“Wait third Horcrux?” interjected Hailey. “We know about the diary but…”

“Voldemort did steal a ring from Morfin Gaunt and I would daresay he may have used that item as his second Horcrux,” said Remus.

“That does make sense,” muttered Harry.

“I was hoping you would pick up on that little fact, but yes I will confirm the ring is the second Horcrux and we do know the location of that particular item but that relvelation will come later,” said Regulus.

Harry nodded calmly, the prospect of knowing the location of another Voldemort’s Horcrux intriguing him greatly. It would put Harry closer to ending the reign of Lord Voldemort. Not that Harry expected that Voldemort’s final defeat would happen within the next few weeks, months, or even years, due the craftiness of the Dark Lord. Finding another Horcrux would give a sense of progress, hope of a reversal of fortunes.

“There was another meeting that you said you had records of,” prompted Mikey in an impatient voice.

“Ah yes, the acquisition of Horcruxes number four and five,” replied Regulus. “One of which you have already acquired if I am not mistaken.”

“Slytherin’s locket,” replied Harry calmly.

“Excellent, so about a sixth of your work is completed but back to the subject of the storied life of the Dark Lord,” continued Regulus. “While there was nothing conclusive to tie the Dark Lord into the death of Marquis LeDrone, the Dark Lord planned his next move cautiously. He knew he had to make the most of his next actions, as two suspicious deaths days after he had visited a person would be rather suspect, even in the Wizarding World. He went among his business, managing to charm a few individuals into parting with their artifacts for a fraction of the price they were worth so Burke could sell them back for many times more than he paid. In any event, The Dark Lord visited an old, rich witch by the name of Hepzibah Smith, nearly a year to eighteen months after his meeting with LeDrone. Smith was an heir of Helga Hufflepuff, so Riddle was very interested in any heirlooms that belonged to her that he could get his hands on.”

Hepzibah Smith sat her rotund figure in a chair, dressed in pink robes with entirely too much makeup wearing on. She looked like an overblown cartoon character as an elderly house elf stood right to her side, happily pouring her a cup of tea.

“Hokey, he’ll be here any second, oh my I hope I look presentable enough, as a respected pureblood I have to look my very best to make a good impression,” muttered Hepzibah frantically, as she turned to her elf. “Hokey, how do I look?”

“Dashing, Mistress Hepzibah,” squeaked the house elf quickly. “Madam looks excellent.”

“And not a moment too soon,” said Hepzibah quietly as she heard the door creak open.

Voldemort walked into the house, his face looking unnaturally pale from the creation of three Horcruxes. Each Horcrux seemed to be distorting Voldemort’s handsome features but the increased magical power greatly outweighed any disfiguring side effects from the Horcruxes. His powers and his intelligence were still intact and Voldemort could care less what he looked like.

Those thoughts echoed through his mind as Voldemort stepped into Hepzibah Smith’s kitchen, a dozen flowers clasped in his head as he walked up to the table where the old woman was sitting.

“I brought you flowers, m’am,” said Voldemort in a quiet, polite voice.

“Oh, Tom, you shouldn’t have, you really do spoil this old lady,” replied Hepzibah but Voldemort saw a flower vase awaiting on the table and suspected that Hepzibah almost expected this to happen. “Do sit down Tom and make yourself at home.”

Voldemort handed Hepzibah the flowers before pulling a chair out and sitting right in front of her, with a casual, business like expression.

“Tom, you look absolutely dead on your feet, that Mr. Burke is working you hard as always,” tutted Hepzibah Smith as she pushed a plate of cakes. “Ever so pale, do have a cake my dear, you look positively dead on your feet.”

Voldemort reached forward and took a cake with mild interest before absentmindedly taking a couple of bites. He decided to address the business that Burke had told him to when he was sent to the home of Hepzibah Smith.

“Mr. Burke would like to increase his offer on the rare goblin made armor,” said Voldemort in a business like tone. “He feels that five hundred galleons would be more than fair for that artifact.”

“Tom, one would think you were only here for my artifacts,” pouted Hepzibah.

“It is my job, the life of a lowly assistant forces me to take this task,” replied Voldemort in a dramatic voice. “I must do what I am set to do, as Mr. Burke is my employer.”

“Oh, phooey on that Mr. Burke, I have something really interesting to show you Tom,” said Hepzibah. “Something that I would never show him, as he would never give me a moment’s piece for the rest of my days.”

Voldemort looked up with a casually interested look. If Hepzibah Smith was going to show Voldemort what he thought she was, the rest of her days would not even be measured in days but he would wait and see.

“Can you keep a secret, Tom?” asked Hepzibah in an uncharacteristically serious voice.

“I’ll be happy to keep anything that Miss Hepzibah shows me secret,” replied Voldemort calmly and Hepzibah gave a shrill girlish giggle before she turned to Hokey.

“Hokey, fetch our most precious treasure…in fact fetch both of them to show Tom,” said Hepzibah.

“Yes, madam,” replied Hokey and the house elf disappeared with a pop for a few seconds before reappearing with a box in each hand. She walked towards the table and placed the two boxes in between Voldemort and Hepzibah.

Hepzibah reached forward theatrically towards the box as Voldemort contorted his pale face into a rather curious expression but if one was to look deep into his eyes, they would sense a rather poisonous hint of greed. The box was opened by Hepzibah and she reached inside, before pulling out an impressive looking golden cup. On the front of the cup, there was a large badger that seemed to be the most prominent feature.

“Impressive isn’t it,” said Hepzibah, mistaking Voldemort’s calculating expression for one of curiosity. “This cup has belonged in my family for many generations, more than you can ever imagine.”

“Badger, so that must mean it once belonged to…” muttered Voldemort but Hepzibah cut him off.

“Helga Hufflepuff, yes, didn’t I tell you that I was descended from her, Tom,” said Hepzibah as she pointed to the cup with a smile. “All sorts of powers in this cup, although I have not gotten around to testing many of them. I just keep the cup nice and safe but you can see it would be a bad idea for Mr. Burke to know about such an item. He would badger me for it day and night, until he managed to purchase it from him.”

Voldemort looked at the second box with a slightly hungry expression.

“/What is in the second box?” asked Voldemort in a casual voice./

“Ah, my second most valuable treasure, Mr. Burke knows I have this one through but I daresay if he could get it back, he would in a heartbeat,” said Hepzibah as she slowly opened the box and pulled out a locket with a large snake etched upon it.

Voldemort stared at the locket, it had the mark of Salazar Slytherin etched upon it. It was an heirloom that rightfully belonged to him.

“Burke acquired this item less then twenty years ago from a pregnant woman, quite far along, but quite the disgusting specimen,” continued Hepzibah as Voldemort picked up the locket, examining closely. “I daresay she may have stolen it for money to survive but Burke managed to exploit her ignorance and purchase this item. The filthy woman had no clue at all that this locket was worth a small fortune. It cost me about a thousand galleons to purchase but it was well worth it, as this artifact is worth so much more.”

Voldemort’s eyes narrowed into red slits when Hepzibah Smith mentioned his mother but they quickly returned as Voldemort further examined the locket.

“/That valuable,” replied Voldemort calmly./

“Oh yes, it is quite a priceless treasure,” said Hepzibah as she reached forward and pulled the locket from Voldemort’s hand, causing his eyes to narrow into red slits once again but he let go of the locket and allowed it to slide back into the old woman’s hand. Hepzibah Smith stared at Voldemort with a concerned expression for a few seconds before speaking. “Tom for a second..perhaps a trick of the light.”

“Yes, a trick of the light,” whispered Voldemort coolly as he covertly reached into his robe, pulling out his wand and a vile full of slow acting poison. He quickly but quietly opened the vial as Hepzibah Smith placed both the Hufflepuff Cup and the locket back into their boxes. One switching spell later, and some of the liquid in Hepzibah Smith’s tea glass was replaced by poison. Voldemort vanished the vial and the poison before stowing his wand away.

Hepzibah reached forward to grab her glass and raise it up to her lips, taking a gulp of her tea before turning to address Tom.

“Tell Mr. Burke that I may consider his offer on the goblin made armor, but only if he raises the price substantially,” said Hepzibah as she took another drink of tea.

“Of course,” said Voldemort, who knew that once the poison took full effect in forty eight hours, he would return and obtain Hufflepuff’s cup and the locket.

“Sure enough, two days later, Hepzibah Smith died,” concluded Regulus.

“And when the Ministry found her, the cup and the locket were not there,” said Leo.

“Well, they weren’t discovered to be missing until days later, when the family members arrived to squabble about who gets what family heirlooms,” continued the grizzled voice member of the Black Wand. “The official Ministry of Magic word was that Hepzibah Smith was accidentally poisoned by her own house elf, Hokey.”

“Voldemort modified her memory as well, then,” suggested Lily.

“Right,” said Regulus. “Hokey gave a full and clear confession, so the Ministry felt that the matter was closed.”

“They didn’t suspect Voldemort at all then,” prompted Harry. “Two murders where Voldemort was the last person to see the victim.”

“Harry, you forget that there were already explanations for the murder so it would stand that the Ministry would not think that Lord Voldemort had visited the victims prior to their demise,” said Master Splinter wisely. “Although the artifacts going missing would lead to one to suspect Voldemort of some sort of illegal act and I am astonished the Ministry of Magic did not put the fact that three magical artifacts went missing around the same time.”

“Voldemort already had followers, who would have had other family members in high level positions in the Ministry, so who says he couldn’t have called in a few favors and had the matter swept under the rug,” said Don logically.

“That does seem like something underhanded Voldemort would do,” said Raph as the others nodded in agreement.

“That theory is rather credible but we may never know exactly how the Dark Lord managed to not call a full blown Ministry of Magic investigation upon himself,” said Regulus. “What we do know is that the Dark Lord resigned from Borgin and Burkes less than a month after his meeting from Hepzibah Smith and vanished. He traveled the world, learning any and all forms of magic he could, from some of the most powerful witches and wizards in the entire world. The knowledge he acquired from the Ravenclaw pensieve, while useful, was a thousand years old. For over a decade, he broadened his base of knowledge and came back with his soul permanently split into six distinctive pieces, five incased into Horcruxes, along with a few other smaller scale rituals that stretched his tolerance of how much magic he could use even further. He was ready for the next step, a teaching position at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”

“Wait a minute, Lord Voldemort, wanted of all things, a teaching position at Hogwarts,” said Ginny, as if she could not believe she heard Regulus correctly.

“It sounds ludicrous at first but to the Dark Lord it made perfect sense for one simple reason,” said Regulus. “He was one Horcrux short of his goal but not only that. Through all of his travels around the world, a relic of Godric Gryffindor eluded the grasp of one Tom Marvolo Riddle.”

“Did he find anything of Gryffindor’s?” asked Harry.

“Well, no simply because he didn’t get much further then requesting the teaching position from Dumbledore,” said Regulus. “He wanted access to Hogwarts badly but Dumbledore would not have wanted the Dark Lord to influence any more of his students than he could help. Despite the fact that Dumbledore needed a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and due to his high grades in the subject, including a perfect Outstanding N.E.W.T., Dumbledore did not hire the Dark Lord, instead he decided to pass over the Dark Lord. In fact, Dumbledore outright told Riddle that he felt that he had some higher motive in mind and really didn’t aspire to be a teacher.”

“I bet that went over real well with Voldemort, with Dumbledore calling his bluff and all,” remarked Mikey.

“Well, from that point forward, there was no Defense against the Dark Arts teacher who attended Hogwarts for more than a year,” said Regulus. “In infamous curse on the position of Hogwarts, in other words.”

“This alleged curse seems to be like a prophecy,” said Lily coolly. “It only takes effect when people believe it to be true. Or someone is trying to manipulate the circumstances for their own benefit so that people are encouraged to believe that a curse exists.”

Harry closed his eyes, deep in though, shaking his head. The word “Dumbledore” seemed to come to mind after his mother made that statement.

“So, Dumbledore denied Voldemort the Defense Against the Dark Arts position and then he put the curse on the job,” said Sirius.

“The alleged curse,” muttered Harry calmly. “A curse that we are only speculating that exists because a set of coincidental circumstances shortly after Voldemort was denied the job.”

“The Dark Lord disappeared for a few more years after Dumbledore had denied him the job, regrouping and attempting to determine what his next mood would be,” continued Regulus. “Disappearances and deaths slowly began to increase across magical Britain. At first, the attacks seemed to be scattered but they slowly increased with frequency. Many in the Ministry didn’t figure out they had a brand new Dark Lord to replace the long departed Gridelwald until the Dark Lord’s reign of terror was in full swing.”

“In other words, too late, much too late,” said Harry.

“Indeed, but that isn’t to see those in the Ministry who worked for the Dark Lord didn’t tried to shield his campaign from the eyes who opposed him for as long as they could manage,” said Regulus. “However, Dumbledore suspected that Tom Marvolo Riddle and this new Dark Lord were one in the same, as many rumors had reached his ears and Dumbledore had useful spies in his own right that combed some of the more seedy places in the Wizarding world. This was the beginnings of the group called the Order of the Phoenix, which Dumbledore used to attempt to combat the Death Eaters, but was really more than a cover for something underhanded that Dumbledore was into at that time.”

“Exactly what was that?” asked Harry.

“We aren’t precisely sure, but it had something to do with rumors that were printed in the Daily Prophet that Dumbledore was dying in the late sixties and early seventies,” replied Regulus. “Indeed, in the 1969-1970 Hogwarts school year, Dumbledore was seldom around, most of his duties were delegated to the deputy Headmistress, Professor McGonagall. He only appeared at the opening feast and the closing feast, along with maybe only a handful of other times in the year. He looked inches away from death on those few appearances.”

“That was the year before we went to Hogwarts and he looked perfectly fine then,” said Sirius in a confused voice.

“Yes, there could have been dark arts rituals that he used to bring him back to life or since he was good friends with Nicholas Flamel, he could grabbed some Elixir of Life,” prompted another member of the Black Wand.

“Somehow Dumbledore managed to either miraculously recover from dying or use some type of method to cheat death but almost a year later Dumbledore and the Dark Lord went face to face and dueled for the very first time,” said Regulus.

Flourish and Blotts were overflowing with young witches and wizards shopping for their books for Hogwarts schools of Witchcraft and Wizardry along with their parents. Many other students were walking the pathways around Diagon Alley, as the school year would be beginning in a couple of days. The sun was shining brightly outside high above Diagon Alley.

The happiness was short lived as the windows out Flourish and Blotts exploded, with large fireballs souring into the store and firing the first several shelves of books to a crisp. The shoppers screamed in horror as the door was blasted open and several dark robed figures stepped into the store, wands pointing threateningly at the customers.

“No one move,” said one of the figures. “Anti-Apparition and Anti-Portkey wards are put around this place and the Floo network has been blocked.”

A few screams of fear and one seventeen year old wizard walked forward, shakily holding his wand.

“You can’t just barge in here and try and terrorize us…” started the wizard but he never finished.

“AVADA KEDAVRA!” yelled one of the cloaked figures and the wizard slid to the ground, dead.

“Never question us or you will be joining him on the ground,” threatened another cloaked figure as three other cloaked figures were waving their wands in a complicated motion. “Soon we will know which of you are no good filthy Mudbloods and you will be put down like the animals you are.”

A cloaked figure looked over his shoulder out the door as another more imposing figure walked towards the entrance.

“The Master has arrived,” hissed one of the figures. “The Dark Lord is here.”

“All hail the Dark Lord,” murmured the figures, as they stepped back, allowing the hooded figure of Lord Voldemort to step inside the shop, bowing to the ground.

“Stand straight my Death Eaters,” hissed Voldemort as a snake circled on the ground at his feet and then turning slowly to address the shoppers who stood petrified at the inhumane figure of Lord Voldemort. “I smell fear, which is an excellent trait to have when you face me. You will all be well to fear me as I am Lord Voldemort.”

The store went quiet as several of the shoppers began to glow blue which caused Voldemort a great deal of pleasure.

“The Mudbloods have been marked,” hissed Voldemort before turning to his Death Eaters. “Kill them all, slaughter any who are foolish to stand in your way.”

The Death Eaters raised their wands but another loud bang echoed outside of Flourish and Blotts. Voldemort looked out the window.

“Aurors,” hissed Voldemort before turning to his Death Eaters. “Leave the Mudbloods to me and hold off the Aurors. Today’s activities must not go unhindered.”

The Death Eaters nodded before they climbed through the open windows and seconds later, multi colored jets of life sailed in every direction.

Voldemort turned his attention to a young first year muggleborn but a jet of black light sailed through the window, catching the Dark Lord unawares and blasting him several feet through the air and right through the back wall of Flourish and Blotts. Voldemort managed to gracefully land on his feet and raise his wand.

“/Who dares curse Lord Voldemort?” thundered Voldemort./

“I do, Tom,” replied a quiet voice and Voldemort turned around, to see Albus Dumbledore

“Dumbledore,” hissed Voldemort as he raised his wand. “You look well for someone who was rumored to be near death not long ago.”

“The rumors of my upcoming demise have been greatly exaggerated, Tom,” said Dumbledore.

“Tom Marvolo Riddle is no more,” hissed Voldemort angrily. “Lord Voldemort remains before you and will be the name of your killer.”

Voldemort sent a large bright red jet of jagged light towards Dumbledore but Dumbledore casually erected a shield and caused Voldemort’s spell to ricochet backwards towards Voldemort who disappeared into thin air before landing in front of Dumbledore and sent another spell towards Dumbledore but Dumbledore calmly deflected the spell once again.

“Fight me, Dumbledore,” hissed Voldemort and he sent an organ exploding curse towards Dumbledore but Dumbledore transfigured a rock into a working replica of the human heart and the curse caused the heart to burst into flames.

“I have nothing to gain, from defeating you, Tom, even through I could put you down easily,” replied Dumbledore, as his twinkling blue eyes were fixed on Tom.

Voldemort shot the same sinister black ropes towards Dumbledore that he used to strangle his grandparents but Dumbledore sliced the ropes before they even reached his body.

“Put me down then, Dumbledore,” hissed Voldemort. “AVADA KEDAVRA!”

Dumbledore seemed to have seen that particular attack coming and disapparated, causing the curse to blow a hole through the tree where Dumbledore stood in front of. Dumbledore reappeared to Voldemort’s side.

“You are nothing but mere rhetoric Dumbledore,” said Voldemort softly. “Once upon a time you managed to get lucky by fluking your way to the defeat of Gridelwald but Gridelwald is merely an insect compared to Lord Voldemort. You prefer to manipulate others to do your bidding, because you love the influence too much and would do nothing to pollute it.”

Voldemort sent another dark curse towards Dumbledore who used a stone shield to block it once again.

“Tom, you could have been great and you still can,” said Dumbledore.

“You kept my heritage from me, my rightful place as the heir of Salazar Slytherin,” hissed Voldemort as conjured a razor sharp spike before he hurled it towards Dumbledore’s throat but Dumbledore blasted the spike into fragments.

“I did that for your own good, Tom,” replied Dumbledore. “I can see I was right with my reasons now, as once you found out who you were descended from, it took you down a path of darkness.”

“Dumbledore I played the charming little boy for years but eventually I did remove my mask,” replied Voldemort. “Now it’s time to remove yours so you can show the world what demons you have buried in your past.”

Voldemort seemed to have hit a nerve within Dumbledore with those last few words although the Dark Lord was at a loss as to why. Dumbledore sent a jet of acid from his wand at Voldemort but Voldemort managed to erect a wall of ice cold water around him to block the attack.

“Tom, you need help and I can give it to you if you come with me,” said Dumbledore but he pointed his wand towards Voldemort.

“Where are you going to get me this help?” challenged Voldemort. “In Azkaban? I doubt that very much.”

“The Aurors are rounding up your followers right now,” said Dumbledore calmly as he pointed his wand towards Voldemort. “It would be beneficial if you join them, for your own mental health.”

Dumbledore shot thick cords from his wand, wrapping around Voldemort’s arms and legs. For a second, Dumbledore looked to have contained Voldemort but the Dark Lord contorted his body, before sending a large electrical wave the cords, blasting Dumbledore backwards and freeing Voldemort.

Voldemort turned his attention to Flourish and Blotts where the Aurors were trying to evacuate the feared masses within. He pointed his wand towards the support structure in the book store and used a vanishing spell on it, causing the building to begin to crumble and the rubble to cave in on the shoppers and the Aurors. Voldemort quickly sent word to his Death Eaters to meet him back at headquarters. Dumbledore pulled himself up just as Voldemort disapparated.

“On that day nearly thirty people died in the destruction at Flourish and Blotts, with many others seriously injured,” said Regulus.

“That was the year that Hogwarts had to open a week late but no one seemed to be giving information why, not even the Daily Prophet,” said Remus.

“Voldemort collapsed the building on all those people just for a diversion to get away,” summarized Harry calmly.

“That’s what it looks like to me,” said Ginny darkly.

“That was also the precise moment where the Ministry acknowledged there was a threat, as Dumbledore went faced to face with the mysterious Dark Lord,” concluded Regulus. “Now while they had a name, the destruction of Flourish and Blotts caused many to be fearful of speaking his name. This was the perfect atmosphere of fear, one that the Dark Lord thrived on, one that built with each terrifying and mysterious demise or disappearance over the next decade. Leading to Halloween Night, Nineteen Eighty One.”

There was an uncomfortable atmosphere in the room at the mention of that particular night but no one said a word until Regulus

“The night that Voldemort was though to be defeated, a night I am not going to dwell too much on because morning will be coming in a couple of hours and you do know the story all too well,” said Regulus. “I will say this based on what I have found out in second hand accounts from when Voldemort returned to power. The fact that he failed to kill a simple toddler unhinged the Dark Lord to the point of near insanity, something that even the strain of multiple Horcruxes had failed to do.”

“He was obsessed in avenging that defeat from that day forward,” said Harry, remembering his encounters with Voldemort.

“Yes, there could be something to be said that your demise made the total control of Magical Britain secondary to an extent, and many Death Eaters may have realized this, but feared the Dark Lord too much to voice their opinion,” said Regulus. “The fact that he wanted to use your death to make his sixth and final Horcrux.”

“What precisely did Voldemort want to use to make this Horcrux?” asked Harry.

“I’m afraid we have yet to find that out,” said Regulus calmly. “We have reason to believe that shortly before he returned to his body that he created the final Horcrux.”

“Great, just great,” said Raph. “We know what five of the Horcruxes are but the sixth one is not known.”

“We are looking into it,” replied a female member of the Black Wand. “However, we do have the knowledge where you may be able to find two of the Horcruxes.”

“The first one is the ring but Potter, you did receive a cryptic message some time ago, didn’t you?” asked Regulus.

“Something about one seventh being found at where a Riddle was once enchanted or something along those…lines,” trailed off Harry before blinking. “The ring is hidden somewhere on the Gaunt property isn’t it?”

“That does make sense, Merope Gaunt doused Tom Riddle with a love potion so he might be considered to be enchanted,” said Hailey.

“I will confirm your theory about where the ring is located but we must get to the other Horcrux,” said Regulus. “The diary of course was given to one of the Dark Lord’s trusted Death Eaters but the Pensieve was as well about a year before his death. My charming cousin Bellatrix and her husband Rodolphus were told to keep the Pensieve safe and we may believe it may still be in the ruins of Lestrange Manor, which of course was destroyed in an altercation between the Aurors and the Lestranges.”

Harry nodded, two potential locations for two of the Horcruxes, but Harry knew that Voldemort would not give up items that contained pieces of his soul without a fight. Even the densest Gryffindor first year could figure out that he would have layers upon layers upon lethal defenses where the Horcruxes were located to keep intruders out and that was probably only the start what Voldemort was willing to do to protect his Horcruxes.

“You have all that you need from us Mr. Potter and rest assure that we will get in touch with you should we find any other information we feel you need to know,” said Regulus as he flicked his wand and a sickening cloud of green smoke filled the room, causing Leo, Raph, Mikey, Don, Master Splinter, Sirius, Remus, Lily, Ginny, Hailey, and Harry to not see the Black Wand members. When the smoke cleared, Regulus and his Black Wand cohorts were gone.

“Not even so much as a goodbye,” muttered Ginny, shaking her head. “Harry?”

“I know more about Voldemort than I did several hours ago,” said Harry calmly as he moved towards the door. “Useful and we do know exactly what five of his six Horcruxes are.”

The group left the building, thinking about what they had learned about Voldemort tonight as they left to head off to bed.

Some time later, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Fred and George Weasley sprinted down the corridor, with grins on their face. Umbridge thought she could push them around but they got the better of her. The entire corridor in front of Umbridge’s office was turned into a swamp.

“Umbridge seemed a bit steamed at us,” said Fred.

“She doesn’t know to take a joke does she,” said George.

“She deserved it after all she’s done,” continued Fred.

“WEASLEY! WEASLEY!” bellowed an angry voice which prompted Fred and George to raise their wands.

“It looks like she brought the entire Inquisitorial Squad with her,” muttered George.

“Excellent,” said Fred rubbing his hands together. “They will all be perfect test subjects for our new animal crackers.”

“Quite true my dear brother,” replied George as the Inquisitorial Squad, Umbridge, and Filch reared around the corner, with wands out or in Filch’s case, a whip.

“I’m ready Professor,” replied Filch in ecstasy. “Ready to whip some respect into these twin monsters. Let me at them, so I can have my way with them.”

Fred and George exchanged disgusted looks as Umbridge stepped forward.

“Right, Mr. Filch, you two could come quietly or we will not hesitate to use force,” said Umbridge in a sickeningly sweet voice that disgusted Fred and George just as much as that inadvertently disturbing comment Filch made.

“Come quietly,” said Fred.

“Hmm let us think,” replied George in a mock insightful voice, looking at his twin.

“No, I don’t think we will,” said Fred.

“Doesn’t seem to go with our style, does it?” continued George.

“Very well, you filthy little blood beasts will know what the penalty is for defiling my school,” replied Umbridge savagely. “Inquisitorial Squad, take them out.”

Fred and George tossed two animal crackers at the ground which exploded, covering the Inquisitorial Squad, Umbridge, and Filch in dust before their forms contorted. Umbridge morphed into a toad, where the Inquisitorial Squad turned into sheep, and Filch became a filthy looking mouse.

“An interesting side effect,” said Fred as the Inquisitorial Squad let out a loud “bah” in disgust. “Don’t worry through; your transformation will wear off.”

“Eventually,” continued George.

“In a day or so,” concluded Fred happily.

“In the most chaotic matter possible, most likely,” added George and at that moment, the form of the Master of Chaos himself, Peeves, appeared in midair. The poltergeist bounced in the air, happily.

“I knew my chaos sense was tingling,” said Peeves happily as he looked at Umbridge with a mischievous glint in his eyes, which made the toad croak in fear and attempt to hop away. Peeves cackled and went at Umbridge.

“I believe it is time for us to take our leave,” said George.

“Yes, I doubt that we would be welcome here any longer after turning the Headmistress and her minions into animals,” continued Fred as they removed their broomsticks from their bags before blasting a hole through the wall. The twins mounted their broomsticks and blasted off into the night.

Peeves cackled as he grabbed Umbridge before bouncing the toad off the walls of Hogwarts.

“Toad pinball, weeee!” cackled Peeves madly as Umbridge bounced madly off the walls.

“Bah!” declared the sheep angrily.

As Fred and George Weasley flew into the night, the following message was etched into the sky for all to see.

Shop at Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes, located at Number Ninety Three Diagon Alley. Ask about our Anti-Umbridge discounts!