“Are you going to tell us why you’ve brought us here yet, Harry?” Hermione asked.
“It’s just a thought I had. The Room of Requirement hasn’t failed us yet, has it? And let’s face it, none of us have any idea where any of Voldemort’s remaining Horcruxes are. So I figured, why don’t we try here and see what we can find,” he answered. Neville and Luna only look baffled by this statement, however.
“What are Horcruxes?” asked Neville.
“I tell you what, I’ll give this an attempt, and Ron, Hermione, bring Neville and Luna up to speed on the situation.” Harry put on his Invisibility Cloak for good measure, and then walked past the blank stretch of wall on the seventh floor. I need a way to find Voldemort’s Horcruxes…I need a way to find Voldemort’s Horcruxes…I need a way to find Voldemort’s Horcruxes…Suddenly, a door materialized beside him. Smiling slightly to himself, Harry walked forward and entered the mystery room that would surely contain something useful…
Of all things that he was expecting, this was not one of them. Harry never imagined that he would look upon this particular item of interest again. Although, it was fitting in a way. After all, Voldemort’s first encounter with Harry in the castle revolved around this piece of magic, and his final meeting would no doubt now be influenced in a similar manner. “The Mirror of Erised?” Harry inquired aloud of the otherwise empty room. Harry smirked yet again as he gazed upon the enchanted mirror that once showed him his parents, the deepest desire of his heart. But now, things were a bit different. His deepest desire was to rid the world of Voldemort, and he knew that there was only one way to accomplish such a feat. Harry stepped forward and gazed into the reflective surface. Unlike any other time that Harry had looked into this mirror, he did not see a single image, but instead split images throughout the mirror. In the center, he could see his reflection, which as he knew he could expect regardless of what he was looking at. This reflection, however, was somewhat dim and shrouded into the back of the surface, as there was much more that this image had to tell.
At the top, for example, he saw a gold locket, with an ornate S set into the center. Slytherin’s own locket, the valuable piece of ancestry that Merope Gaunt had sold for only ten Galleons in order to survive until she gave birth to the terrible wizard that would one day threaten the entire world. At the bottom Harry could see a small golden cup with a badger engraving. Helga Hufflepuff’s contribution to the relics of the founders of Hogwarts and the other half of the reason that Hepzibah Smith had to die at the hands of Lord Voldemort. Finally, set into the center against his own reflection, Harry could see Nagini, the snake that the Dark Lord had entrusted with a piece of his own soul, twisting and slithering through corridors. The mirror showed so much more than just these items, however, as Harry could see them set against locations. Locations that ultimately revealed exactly what he needed to know…
Harry stepped out of the room that still had not failed him and found his five companions conversing with each other. “Did you find what you needed?” Ginny said.
“Oh yes,” Harry said while grinning. “For the most part. Here’s what I know for now. Slytherin’s locket is back at number twelve, Grimmauld Place.”
“What?! How could it be there of all places?” Ron said dubiously.
“Listen, when Dumbledore and I were gone that night to go find a Horcrux, we didn’t actually get one. There was a locket there all right, but it was a fake. Someone had been there before and had taken the real one. The one that we took had a note inside it saying that someone had come in, taken the real Horcrux, and was going to destroy it. The note was signed with R.A.B.” Everyone looked confused at this explanation, except for Hermione, who suddenly had recognition on her face.
“Regulus Black!” she exclaimed. “He used to be a Death Eater and then was killed for trying to back out.”
“Yes,” Harry replied. “I’ll bet you anything that the locket was one of the things that Kreacher smuggled off to his room when we were cleaning the house. You’re going to find the locket there. Ron, Hermione, I want you to go and take care of that one. Now, the next Horcrux is Hufflepuff’s cup. It’s amazing, I could barely believe it when I saw it, but the cup is right behind me. When I hid my potions book from Snape I put it in the Room of Requirement. Somehow, the cup has been in the room all along. Although I must admit that it’s a great idea, no one would ever be able to find it unless they knew exactly where it was kept. As for the snake, I’m not sure where it is right now. I have no doubt that wherever she is Voldemort is bound to be close. So for right now, let’s concentrate on the two that we know about.”
“But Harry, what about the fourth? Didn’t you say that Voldemort should have four remaining Horcruxes? You destroyed the diary, Dumbledore destroyed the ring, you told us about the locket, the cup, and the snake, but that’s only five,” Hermione wondered to the group.
“I know, that’s been bothering me a bit. My only guess is that the mirror didn’t have quite enough room to show me all of them. Let’s hope that once we get some out of the way that the mirror can show us the other one. At least for now we have two to definitely go after. Right, so you two take care of the locket,” Harry said pointing to Ron and Hermione, “and the rest of us will destroy the cup.” Ron and Hermione nodded and left the group so as to Apparate once having left the castle, while Harry once again marched past the blank wall. I need to find Hufflepuff’s cup…I need to find Hufflepuff’s cup…I need to find Hufflepuff’s cup…Again a door magically appeared for them. “Well, let’s go,” Harry said as he opened the door.
Neville, Luna, and Ginny gasped as they entered the cavernous room full of rows upon rows of broken, forbidden, and mystical objects. Fanged Frisbees hovered overhead and everyone ducked as one tore a path through their positions. “This is where you hid your potions book, Harry?” Ginny said in awe.
“No one would ever find it, would they? And this is where Voldemort has a piece of his soul…” he responded. Harry led them past the enormous stuffed troll, veered left at the now repaired Vanishing Cabinet, and stopped at the damaged cupboard that still held the Half-Blood Prince’s copy of Advanced Potion-Making... “Help me,” he said as he began to push on it from a side. Together he and Neville successfully moved the cupboard away and found a small ornate box sitting on the ground. “This is it…Reducto!” His spell blasted the box open to reveal the last known relic of Helga Hufflepuff. “Reducto!” he shouted again, but to no avail this time. The spell connected with the cup and harmlessly bounced off of the shiny surface.
“What happened? Do Horcruxes have extra protection?” Neville asked.
“Not that I know of. After all, I destroyed the diary without even using a wand,” Harry answered. He strained his memory to try to remember what he could about the cup. Slowly, something that Hepzibah Smith had said bubbled to the surface of his mind…And all sorts of powers it’s supposed to possess too…* ”The cup has some kind of magic added to it besides Voldemort’s soul. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, what with it belonging to Hufflepuff and all.”
“If it’s a matter of destroying a magical object…” came a drawling voice from behind them. The four members of the DA turned around to find the infamous Draco Malfoy standing with his wand at the ready. Before anyone could react, however, Malfoy gave a complicated wand movement and wordlessly shot white lightning at the cup, which subsequently melted. All astonishment at this action aside, Harry, Ginny, Luna, and Neville suddenly had all of their wands leveled at him.
“What are you doing here?!” Ginny demanded.
“I’ve come to help,” Malfoy answered.
“What do you take us for?” Neville said.
“Calm down, Longbottom. I don’t want to serve the Dark Lord anymore. I’d prefer a side that doesn’t have such an unforgiving figurehead.”
“And do you expect to find that here?” Neville shot back.
“Maybe not, but at least none of you would kill me without so much as giving it a second’s thought. Think about it, if I had really wanted to hurt any of you I could have done so when your backs were turned. You saw what I just did to that cup, do you think that’s all that the Dark Lord has shown me?” Malfoy attempted. Neville opened his mouth to object again, but Harry stopped him.
“Malfoy, how did you get here?” Harry inquired.
“Vanishing Cabinet. No one really knew where to look for it. The Death Eaters already got their mission accomplished so they have had no reason to come through again.”
“But why come here? What made you think we were at Hogwarts?” At this question, Malfoy gave one of his trademark sneering smiles and held up what appeared to be a Galleon. Luna gasped at the sight.
“I think someone dropped this,” he said. Harry stared at him. Was Malfoy telling the truth? He had seen him seem to be upset and regretting the decision to side with Voldemort in the Astronomy Tower. Plus, another piece of Voldemort’s soul was gone thanks to him. Of course, that begged the question…
“Malfoy, do you know what you just did to that cup?” Harry said.
“Destroyed it, like you seemed to want. Was there a good reason for that? I’ll bet that cup was worth at least a thousand Galleons,” Malfoy drawled again.
So, Malfoy doesn’t know about the Horcruxes. No sense telling him then, Harry thought. “All right. We’ll try this. But if any of us get the slightest inkling that somehow you’re here on Voldemort’s orders, it’s over.” Malfoy jumped badly at the sound of the wizard’s name, but quickly regained his composure and nodded. The group of five turned back towards the exit, cautiously giving Malfoy the front and watching his every move. Before they could reach the door, however, they turned a corner to find Ron and Hermione waiting with the locket of Salazar Slytherin.
“Harry, we found it, but we couldn’t---Stupefy!” Hermione caught sight of Malfoy and fired her spell before anyone else knew what had happened. “What’s he doing here?!” she yelled.
“Hermione, stop!” Ginny shouted back. “He just helped us out. We’re not entirely sure what’s going on, but he claims he’s left You-Know-Who’s side and wants to join us.”
“That’s rubbish! This is Malfoy we’re talking about!” she replied heatedly.
“Wait! I have an idea,” Harry yelled above everyone else. He walked over to Malfoy and murmured, “Ennervate.” Malfoy’s eyes shot back open and he slowly sat back up. “Sorry about that. She didn’t expect you to be with us at all. And no offense, but who could blame her? But I want you to do something, if you really are with us now.”
“What?” Malfoy said with a trace of a growl. Harry took the locket away from his best friend and set it on the ground by Malfoy.
“Do it again. Whatever you did to that cup, do the same thing to this locket.”
“Now I know that this one IS worth at least a thousand Galleons. Why do you want treasures blasted apart, Potter?” Malfoy said with a sneer. In response, Harry pointed his wand at him.
“If you would rather we believe that you’re still with Voldemort and not us, then by all means keep acting in this manner. But if you want to prove to us that you really want to fight him, then do what I say.” Malfoy glared at Harry, but then repeated his wand movement and dissolved the Horcrux.
“There, happy?” Malfoy sneered.
“Ecstatic,” Harry said in an equal tone of unhappiness. “Now let’s go. We still have two left.”
“Two of what, Potter?” Malfoy demanded.
“In time, Malfoy. We started trusting you five minutes ago. These things don’t come easy.” The seven teenagers walked out of the Room of Requirement and watched as the door disappeared behind them. The next sounds that greeted their ears were the screams of Hermione and Ginny as they noticed the body of their former headmistress lying on the floor.
*Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, pg. 436 U.S. version