Harry Potter twisted his wand slowly, his face scrunched up in concentration. In front of him was a ring on which a black stone was placed. He was trying to create a replica of the Gaunt ring which he was trying to recall from memory. He had been working on this for more than two months and it was finally ready. He didn't know what that symbol meant, but it was the only design on the ring so it had to be perfect.
"Done," he breathed. Picking up the ring, he turned around and asked, "How does it look?"
"Humph?" asked Daphne as she looked up from the book she was reading. "Oh, yeah, it looks perfect, but the ring itself is quite ugly looking."
Harry's eyes twinkled in amusement. "We're not going for aesthetics, Daphne. I wanted a replica of the ring."
"Still, it's ugly. You're leaving now?"
"Yes," answered Harry as he put on his leather cloak. "Sirius is back from Paris and he wants to get this done. There is still that locket which we are searching for, but one step at a time. Damn, why couldn't that bastard have died when that curse rebounded on him all those years ago? It would have saved us a lot of trouble."
Daphne smiled sadly. "My grandmother always says that life isn't fair."
"It never is," said Harry grimly. Kissing her goodbye, he made his way to the Shrieking Shack to get out of Hogwarts. With a crack, he Disapparated from Hogwarts.
...
Two cracks could be heard in the middle of a clearing in Little Hangleton. The two hooded figures were walking towards a forest which they could see in a distance. After walking for five minutes, they stopped.
"There is a barrier that deters people who come too close," said Harry. "It really is a wonderful piece of magic. You wouldn't even recognise it until you have walked for about ten kilometres. By then, you'll probably be fatigued and wondering why you are tired of walking just a few short meters when you have in fact walked for about two hours."
He then went to a specific tree in the forest and began feeling the magic around it. Concealment charms always left traces. Tapping the knot on the tree with his wand, he hissed in Parseltongue. The air seemed to shimmer for a few seconds until the wards dropped.
"Come on," said Harry as he and Sirius walked forward. "Those snakes would be just around the corner. Any second now…"
A dozen poisonous snakes suddenly crawled all around them. Harry removed the Sword of Gryffindor from inside a bag and began slicing them clean off. Sirius used a modified fire spell and burnt them. With a flick of his wand, Sirius vanished any traces of the snakes.
"That's it?" asked Sirius, eyebrows raised.
"Oh, no," said Harry, shaking his head. "The wards around this place are very advanced but since I am a Parselmouth and I know all the passwords, it is much easier to get through. Even someone like Dumbledore would be stumped here for a while."
With that, Harry began hissing in Parseltongue as he waved his wand in a delicate pattern. Ten minutes later, the wards finally came down, revealing a rundown shack in the distance.
"The door also has a curse placed on it," said Harry as he opened the door, careful not to touch it.
"Hmm, he does take the security of this place seriously," said Sirius. "But I wonder why he didn't put a piece of his soul in a small stone and dump it at the bottom of the ocean."
"Let's be very glad that he didn't," said Harry grimly. Looking at the badly concealed portion of the floor, he began scanning.
"That's another trap, isn't it?" asked Sirius. "If someone enters the shack, they can find the ring easily and once they do, it is a quick, painful death."
"Yup," said Harry as he blasted the floor open. "I can't help being impressed by his diabolical mind."
" Avada Kedavra !"
A pale jet of green light flew from the tip of Harry's wand and impacted the ring. There was a loud screeching sound as the ring stopped moving. Carefully levitating it into a dragon hide pouch, Harry placed the fake ring in its place.
"I still cannot believe you can perform the Killing Curse like it is second nature to you," said Sirius, looking alarmed and worried.
Harry maintained his silence. Unlike Sirius, Harry did study the Dark Arts after all and he knew the taboo on most of it was unwarranted. Sure, some of them should never have existed, the Horcruxes for one, but they did not fall under the purview of dark; that was black magic, which was highly illegal and dangerous.
Flicking his wand in a complicated gesture, muttering under his breath, the ancient Egyptian curse slipping easily from his lips, he finally pointed his wand to the ring as a ripple of magic impacted the ring, making it glow.
"There, it is done," said Harry as he put the ring back in place and repaired the damage done to the floor. "Now all we have to do is take care of any evidence that would lead us to believe we were here at all."
Sirius nodded as he began waving his wand and clearing the evidence. One hour later, the stone which was on the Gaunt ring was placed in the high-security vault at Potter Castle. The golden ring was melted with Fiendfyre to get rid of the curse placed on it.
Another Horcrux down… Now, if only they could find that blasted locket!
....
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