The search for the locket had begun the night before, after Hermione’s surprising discovery at Godric’s Hollow. They didn’t waste any time, in getting to Grimmauld Place, to see if Hermione’s theory was correct. Upon arriving at the house, Hermione had made a beeline for the drawing room. Slightly confused, Harry and Ron had followed after.
She had gone to the desk in the room and fumbled around searching for something. After a few moments, she made a triumphant sound and pulled a key from one of the desk drawers. Hermione then headed for the cabinet, that they had helped Mrs. Weasley clean a few summers before. She unlocked the cabinet, and started to go thru it’s contents. After a few minutes, she became agitated, “I don’t understand. It has to be here. It just has to.”
A goblet fell out of the cabinet with a loud clang and rolled around on the floor. Harry stopped on it with his foot, “Ahh… Hermione, what exactly are you looking for.”
“The locket,” she said irritably.
Harry and Ron exchanged glances. They were starting to get concerned about her.
“You’re not making any sense. Will you please tell us what’s going on?” Ron asked, hoping she would enlighten him to what was so important.
Hermione took a deep breath and stopped rummaging through the cabinet. She turned around and faced them, “The locket that we saw here, when we where cleaning it out. I can’t be sure, but…”
Harry finally caught on to where she was going. A look of disbelief and excitement showed on his face, “Of course! The locket… you think it’s the same?”
“Yes.”
Ron’s look of confusion became more pronounced, “Will somebody please tell me what’s going on!”
Harry rushed forward to help Hermione resume her search, while he answered Ron, “Hermione thinks the locket we’re looking for, is the same locket we saw when cleaning out the cabinet. It was in a black box wasn’t it?”
“Yes, Regulus must have hidden it here in an effort to hide it from Voldemort. What better way to hide something than in plain sight?” she said excitedly.
“It makes sense now,” Harry said, as he tried shifting through the mess in the cabinet. He soon got tired of this, and started to throw things out unceremoniously onto the drawing room floor. Soon all the contents of the cabinet was scattered across the room, but there was no sign of a black box or a locket. “It has to be here. I don’t understand. Where could it be?” Harry said in frustration.
“I don’t know… wait! Kreacher! I bet you Kreacher has it! He always stealing things from the house in order to save them,” Hermione said as she rolled her eyes.
Harry immediately turned around and headed for the kitchen without saying a word. A determined set was in his jaw. But a search of the house-elf’s nest had not yielded the locket, or a confrontation with the elf. But Kreacher had been helpful in fingering Mundungus as the real thief. Dung had been reluctant to cooperate at first, but Harry’s threatening manner quickly turned him around. Dung’s confession had led the three of them to believe the locket was in Hogsmeade. He had finally confessed to selling it to an Amelia Beckly, who owned an antique shop there.
Harry had wanted to charge to Beckly’s house right then to find the locket. But Hermione had convinced him it would be better to wait until morning, since it was already quite late. Harry didn’t like it, but he reluctantly agreed. They were eager to continue the search for the locket. So, after a short rest and some food, they had set out to town early the next morning, though the trip to Hogsmeade was a quiet one.
Ron had caught Harry and Ginny sleeping in Harry’s bed that very morning. Ron had gone off the deep end when he saw the two of them. They had fallen asleep in each other’s arms the night before, after spending most of the night catching up for lost time. Nothing had happened. They tried to explain this to Ron, but he wasn’t listening. Ginny then reminded Ron of where he had spent the night. This shut him up, in fact he hadn’t said a word to anyone since then. He merely grunted when anyone asked him a question and snubbed Harry all together. Hermione had gotten fed up with Ron’s attitude and ignored Ron all the way into town.
Once in town, they weren’t sure exactly where the house was located. Since neither of them had recalled seeing the shop on one of their visits, Hermione decided to stop and get directions at a local shop to save time in their search. Harry and Ron had elected to wait outside. Both of them quietly watched people pass by on the street. Tension between the two men was almost unbearable. Ron soon could no longer keep silent and whirled to face Harry. Harry knew this was coming and braced himself.
Ron’s face was getting red with anger, and his fists clenched tightly by his side, “I told you to talk with my sister, not sleep with her.”
Harry blushed, “I didn’t sleep with her… well I did, but it wasn’t like that at all. We just talked.”
“Yeah, right,” Ron scoffed.
“Just because you and Hermione are getting physical doesn’t mean everyone else is.”
This time it was Ron’s turn to blush in embarrassment, “You’re changing the subject. I was talking about you and my sister.”
Harry had had enough of Ron’s attitude, “Tell me why anything I do with Ginny is any of your business.”
“BECAUSE SHE’S MY SISTER!” yelled Ron loudly, making the people nearby stop and stare.
“Hey you two, I can’t leave you here for five minutes and you’re screaming at each other,” Hermione said as she exited the nearby store.
“HARRY’S BEEN MESSING AROUND WITH MY SISTER!” Ron yelled.
“I HAVE NOT, AND EVEN IF I DID. WHO ARE YOU TO SAY I CAN’T?” Harry yelled back.
Ron looked like he was going to punch Harry. Hermione stepped in between them, and gently laid her hand on Ron’s arm.
“Ron, let’s not do this here. You’re drawing too much attention to yourself. Look at the bright side, at least they’re talking,” she grinned.
“Somehow, that doesn’t make me feel any better,” Ron said through clenched teeth.
“Let’s go you two. I found the place we’re looking for. It’s only a couple of blocks from here.”
Ron still stood glaring at Harry. Hermione pulled Ron after her, as she started walking down the street. Ron grudgingly followed.
Several blocks later Ron had cooled down somewhat and they were standing outside a large three-story house. It was the largest home they had ever remembered seeing in Hogsmeade. Outside the old house was a small sign that read Amelia’s Antiquities. Underneath that it read open for all, at any time, for any occasion.
“Let’s just hope the locket’s still here,” Harry mumbled under his breath, as he walked up the front sidewalk and knocked on the door.
Moments later, a small elderly woman with pure white hair and a somewhat bent frame answered the door.
“And who do we have here? Have you young folks come to buy my new stock?”
“Err…” Harry began. He was momentarily shocked at the ancient look of the woman. She looked to be about twice the age of Dumbledore.
“Yes, of course we have,” Hermione replied loudly, as she stepped in front of Harry.
Harry whispered, “What are you doing?”
Hermione whispered back, “Just follow my lead.”
“Well come in. Come in. I don’t have all day. Well I do, but that beside the point,” the elderly woman commented, as she opened the door wide for the trio to enter.
Harry stepped into the house and was amazed by all the stuff that was crammed into the hallway. He almost bumped into a stack of leaning chairs that reached to the ceiling. He carefully sidestepped the precarious stack, so not to send it crashing to the floor. There was so much stuff in the house, that small pathways where carved around, allowing for passage. He walked around a large stack of books and glanced into a side room. That room too was filled floor to ceiling with stuff. Everything looked to be as old as the woman and had a thick layer of dust covering every surface.
Harry could hear the old woman’s voice, as he attempted to pick his way to a large staircase. The woman was already halfway up the stairs talking excitedly, “I see you’ve answered the ad I placed in the Daily Prophet. I normally would never do such a thing. I rely heavily on referrals and such, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Business has been a little slow these days with the war and all.”
“Anyways, in case you didn’t know, my name is Amelia Beckly and I am the owner of this fine establishment. My dearly departed husband and I started this here enterprise nearly sixty years ago. Over the years we have collect some of the rarest pieces from the wizarding and muggle worlds. My dear Ronald was such a kindly man. He always allowed things to sell way under its marketable value. That’s where I came in. You could say I was the brains behind the heart. Where did I put that item? Oh yes, here it is.”
She had entered a room right off the stairs and had gone to a large box set on a massive wood table. She picked a lamp off the box and dusted off the lid.
“Well, go ahead open it up. Everything is in order.”
“But we…” Harry felt a sharp jab in his side.
Hermione was giving him an evil look. She then went to the box and opened it. She let out a gasp.
“What?” Harry asked.
Hermione didn’t answer. She just stood there mesmerized by the contents of the box. Harry moved forward to see what had captured her attention. Inside the box was an old book, a very old book from the looks of it. The binding on the side was cracked most of the way down. The cover was so worn you could barley make out the title.
“It’s just an old book,” Ron said from beside Harry.
Hermione sighed, “Don’t you get it? It’s not just any old book. It’s the original edition of Hogwarts, A History. I was under the impression it had been destroyed years ago in a fire? Where did you get this?”
The old woman chuckled, “A man sold it to me a few weeks ago. He was quite mysterious. He wouldn’t even tell me his name.”
“But I thought you only dealt with reputable people?” Hermione asked.
“Desperate times, my dear,” the old woman answered.
“Hermione, do I have to remind you why we are here?” Harry asked impatiently.
Hermione pulled her gaze away from the book and looked at Harry, “Yes of course. Ah, Mrs. Beckly?”
“Call me Amelia, dear,” the old woman said sweetly.
“Amelia, this is fascinating and all. I mean the founding fathers themselves had written the original edition… Ouch!”
This time it was Harry’s turn to elbow Hermione in the side. Hermione gave Harry another dirty look.
“But we really didn’t come here for the book. We actually came here for an object Mundungus Fletcher sold you.”
A scowl immediately came to the old woman’s face, “Do not speak that name to me! He is a thieving heartless soul. That man stole a priceless heirloom the last time he was here.”
“I’m sorry, but…”
“On second thought you three aren’t who I thought you were. I’m sorry for the confusion. My eye- sight isn’t what it used to be. You all can leave right now. I’m afraid the shop is closing,” Amelia said with a haughty attitude.
“But the sign outside says open for all, at any time, and for any occasion,” Hermione said.
“Well, it must have been a misprint. I’ll have to get that changed,” she slammed the box with the book in it and immediately tried to push them out of the room.
“NO, WAIT!” Harry yelled. “We didn’t come all this way just to be stone walled by you or anyone else. We came here for the locket and I’m not leaving until I get it,” Harry crossed his arms.
The old woman was startled by Harry’s behavior, but she quickly regained her composure, “How dare you speak to me in such a tone young man! I have every right to decide who I will and won’t do business with, and I absolutely refuse to do business with any friends of that horrible man Mundungus.”
“Is that what you think? That we are friends of Dung? Well, I can tell you, I might know him as an acquaintance, and that is enough for me not to want to be friends with him now or ever,” Harry replied angrily.
“But I thought…”
“You thought wrong. We just want to know if he sold you a locket?”
“And why would you want to know that?”
“Because we want to buy it,” Hermione said before Harry could say anything else.
The woman perked up at this, “Really? Well, in that case I suppose you can stay, but I warn you if you so much as think of stealing from me…”
“You don’t have to worry about that. Anything we take from here, we’ll buy,” Harry said.
“We will? Isn’t everything in here kind of pricey?” Ron asked quietly.
“If it means finding the locket, I’ll pay anything,” Harry whispered back.
“Oh, right.”
“Come this way,” the woman said as she hobbled from the room and down the stairs. Once at the foot of the stairs, she pulled a key from her pocket in her moth eaten robes and unlocked the door. She opened the door, walked around a large stack of tables, and then to a long counter at the back of the cluttered room.
“Ahhh, here we go,” she pulled a small black box from under the counter, “I believe this is what you’re looking for.”
Harry stepped forward and gingerly lifted the lid of the box. A flash of gold was the first thing he saw. A closer look revealed a large gold locket nestled inside the box. Harry held his breath as he picked up the necklace and turned it over. There, plain as day a large “S” was etched into the surface.
“Harry, we found it,” Hermione squealed from his side.
A torrent of emotions hit him all at one, but the one emotion that stood out among the others was relief. He had finally found it. After nearly a month after Dumbledore’s death, he had found what the two of them had set out to find that fateful night. Harry closed his hand tightly around the locket. He wasn’t letting it out of his sight.
“How much?” he asked the old woman.
“Well, it won’t go cheap. I can tell you that. If you don’t already know, which I think you do, that locket is priceless. That locket belonged to Salazar Slytherin himself. It was thought to have been lost several decades ago.”
“Price doesn’t matter, how much?” Harry said firmly.
She pulled a piece of parchment from a drawer and wrote a figure on it, then handed it to Harry.
Ron gasped behind him, “That’s a lot of money, Harry.”
“And we’ll pay it, but I don’t have that much with me. Will you take a bank draft?”
“From a stranger? I think not,” the woman said haughtily.
Hermione quickly spoke up, “But he’s not. He’s Harry Potter.”
The old woman scoffed, “Harry Potter, why would Harry Potter buy the locket of Slytherin. I heard he’s a Gryffindor.”
“It doesn’t matter. I still want to buy it. My money is good, I promise.”
“Promises don’t do me a lot of good, young man. How do I know you are who you say you are? How do I know you’re not trying to swindle me like that no good Mundungus?”
“Because he has the scar to prove it. Show her, Harry,” Hermione nudged him.
Normally Harry would bulk in this kind of situation, but if his fame could do something good, now was the time to use it. He pulled his bangs from his forehead and showed the white scar that was there. Amelia put on her glasses and leaned forward to get a better look.
Her disbelief quickly turned to excitement, “Oh my! You’re Harry Potter! Harry Potter is in my store. Can you believe that? Wait until I tell all my friends.”
“Actually, we were hoping you could keep my being here a secret.”
In her excitement, the elderly woman started walking around wiping off the thick dust covering some of the merchandise, “Why on earth would I want to do that? Can you imagine the publicity my tiny little shop would get once word got out that the great Harry Potter is a regular customer? My oh my, think of all the sales I’ll make. Business has been slow as of late. Not many people want to buy antiques with a war on, you know.”
Harry was starting to get angry. Hermione jumped in before he could say anything, “What if we bought something else of high dollar? Then would you consider keeping this a secret?”
The woman stopped what she was doing, “Well I suppose that depends on how much you’re willing to spend?”
“What about that original copy of Hogwarts, A History? Would that be high dollar enough?” Hermione asked.
“Hermione, what are you doing?” Ron asked in disbelief.
“Leave her alone, Ron. She knows what she’s doing,” Harry said sternly.
“But she’s spending your money.”
“Shhh…”
The woman was currently tapping her chin with a bone finger, “Hummm… I suppose that might do it. Mind you it’s very pricey. It may be one of the most valuable items I have in stock.”
“I’m sure it is,” Hermione said sarcastically, “But is it enough to keep you silence?”
“Well… I suppose if you’re willing to part with that much money, who am I to argue,” Amelia said in an overly sweet tone, as she walked back behind the counter.
“Fine, how much?” Harry asked.
The woman took another piece of parchment out of a drawer and wrote a figure. She handed it to Harry.
Ron became as white as a sheet as he saw the figure, “Ah Harry, are you sure you want to do this,” he squeaked.
“Yes. I’ll have to give you a bank draft for this as well.”
“No problem, Mr. Potter, anything for our young hero.”
Half an hour later, the three exited the house with the locket, a very old edition of Hogwarts, A History, and Harry’s bank account somewhat less full.
“I don’t know about you two, but I think this calls for a celebration,” Ron grinned.
“Our mission is far from over, Ron,” Harry replied, but he too couldn’t help but smile. He fumbled the locket he had put around his neck for safety.
“I know, but this is a major step in the right direction. If we can’t celebrate that, then what’s the point?”
“I guess it won’t hurt to stop by the Three Broomsticks for some butterbeers,” Hermione said.
They walked down the street for a few minutes each engulfed in their own thoughts.
“So, what now?” Ron asked.
“What do you mean?” Harry asked.
“Now that we found the locket, how do we destroy it?”
“I don’t know,” Harry replied quietly.
“Didn’t Dumbledore tell you?”
“No. I wish he did. I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Actually, we do know where to begin,” Hermione replied.
“And where might that be exactly?” Ron asked, as he rolled his eyes.
“Well we know for a fact that two Horcruxes were destroyed. We start with that.”
“Okay, that might work for the diary, but we don’t know how the ring was destroyed. Dumbledore never got a chance to tell me,” Harry said.
“True, but we do know that when Dumbledore destroyed the ring it cracked the gem inside it.”
“So?” Ron shrugged.
“So, that might be a clue as to how it was done.”
“Then how was it done?” Ron asked.
I don’t know silly. At least not now, but with some research I might be able to find out.”
Ron rolled his eyes again, “Oh boy, here we go. Everyone move aside. Hermione’s going to invade the library again,” he laughed.
Hermione turned up her nose and picked up her pace, “If you’re going to be like that, I’ll just see you at the shop.”
The smile from Ron’s face quickly faded, “Hermione, I was just joking. Wait up!” he yelled as he ran after her.
Harry laughed at his friends, as he watched them turn the corner. He slowed his pace and decided to do some sightseeing to give his two friends a little privacy. He turned the corner, and started walking in the opposite direction they had gone, not really paying attention to where he was going. Soon, he found himself down a corner street of Hogsmeade. Up ahead was the Hog’s Head. Harry saw the bar sign and something clicked. A mystery he had forgotten among the chaos of the last day had been solved.
Meet me where it all began.
The prophecy, Snape must have meant the prophecy. This was where the prophecy had been made all those years ago. Technically his involvement had begun the night the prophecy had been made.
Harry started to turn around to get Ron and Hermione and immediately stopped. The note did say to come alone. He didn’t trust Snape, but he didn’t want to scare him off either. Harry wanted Snape to pay for what he did, and he didn’t want to ruin this chance for that to happen. Harry just hoped it still wasn’t too late and that Snape was still there. He took a deep breath and headed for the Hog’s Head, ready for anything.