Harry Potter and the Headmaster's Pensieve

Chapter 14 - The Final Horcrux

Harry apparated to what he imagined would be the backside of the orphanage, past the high stone wall that surrounded the formidable brick building he recalled from the memory. It had been surrounded by a sparse patch of forest that he hoped to arrive in, as to not draw too much attention. He had covered himself in his father's invisibility cloak just in case, as the last thing he needed was to startle a bunch of muggle children by appearing out of thin air. The sight that greeted him was not what he expected.

The smoky gray stones of the wall were in crumbled heaps on the ground, thick sprouts of weeds shooting out through the cracks. The yard leading to the back of the orphanage was overcome with bits of trash and dead leaves; the swingset was rusted and broken. The orphanage itself was nothing more than a charred, broken image of what it had been, the bricks darkened to black and the windows clearly blown out from some sort of explosion within. Harry stepped over what remained of the wall and made his way to the back door. It was barely hanging onto its hinges, the broken panes of glass blackened with dust and smoke. He pulled on the doorknob, and the door swung open with a loud creak of complaint from the rusted hinges. Pulling off the invisibility cloak and crumpling it into a ball under his arm, he called out a tentative "hello?" to the darkened, dusty walls. The pale rays of sunlight lit up the copious amounts of dust that his movement had stirred, and Harry was sure that no one had been here in quite some time. Confused, he left the orphanage and walked out to the street, where some Muggles were doing their daily shopping. Tucking his wand and invisibility cloak into his jacket, he walked up to the first person he saw, and elderly woman with very thick glasses and an armful of groceries. She seemed to be struggling with the bags as she walked slowly past the burned-out orphanage.

"Ma'am, I can I help you with that?" He asked her, reaching for one of her bags. She paused and squinted at him for a moment before allowing him to take her bags. She grinned at him, and the numerous wrinkles on her face deepened.

"It's so nice to see that some of you young people still have your hearts in the right place. I'm just across the street there...the house with the iron gate...these old legs can't carry me nearly as far as they used to be able to," she said, and Harry smiled slightly at her as they stepped into the street here.

"How long have you lived here?" he asked as he carefully balanced the bags in one arm as he escorted her across the street.

"Oh, it's going on thirty years now, ever since I moved in with mum to take care of her. She's gone now, but I've always loved this house, and couldn't bear to sell it. It's not much, really, but it's home," she said wistfully, looking at the overgrown garden and rusted iron fence. They walked up the small stone path to the front door, and the woman fumbled with a set of silver keys as Harry glanced back over his shoulder at the charred remains of the orphanage.

"Do you know what happened to the orphanage across the street?" he asked, trying to keep his tone casual. She looked at him, an expression of the utmost despair on her face.

"Terrible thing...near twenty-five years ago now, I'd guess, but in the middle of the night, a gas leak charred the whole place to the ground. Looked like it'd been bombed the day after, but none of us heard a thing...now, I'd trained myself to wake up at the slightest cough from my mother's room, but I didn't hear a wink from that explosion. No one did...don't know if anyone survived the original blast, but by morning, they were all just...dead. Those poor children," she said softly, gazing at the broken down building. Harry placed the groceries down on a small wooden table next to the door, grimacing. He knew what had happened...Voldemort had come and killed everyone in that building, then made it look like some sort of explosion had wiped out the place. He'd probably put some sort of enchantment on it, too, so no one would want to rebuild it or level it. An old orphanage would of course have leaky gas pipes, and with no family for the children, no real investigation as to what happened would have been made.

"Would you like to stay for a bit of tea, dear? I don't think I've seen you around before, have you just moved in?" the woman said sweetly, pulling Harry out of his reverie.

"Oh, I'm just visiting a cousin, and went for a walk. I'd really better be going, though...have a wonderful day, Ms...." he trailed off, looking at her questioningly.

"Cole, dear. Ellsbeth Cole. And you are?" she asked, clasping his hand in a surprisingly firm grip.

"Cole? Didn't you used to work at the orphanage? Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Harry. Harry Potter," Harry said, gazing at her with amazement. She looked at him, puzzled.

"No, dear, but my mother did. Thankfully she never saw what became of it...she died a year before the explosion. She poured her heart and soul into that place, and I'm sure she'd have been devastated if she'd seen what happened," she said softly. "Though I daresay that was before your time...how did you know of her?" she asked.

Harry turned to her, a bit wide eyed. He had to come up with something, and fast.

"My mother spent part of her childhood there," he said quickly. "She mentioned that Mrs. Cole was very strict, but caring. She truly did love all the children she took in," Harry blurted, impressed at his own imagination.

"Yes, I had more than my fair share of siblings," Ellsbeth said, smiling. Harry held out his hand, and she shook it once more.

"If there's anything you need, feel free to stop by. It gets rather lonely around here at times," she said as she walked him to the door. He nodded and walked through the garden, past the gate and back to the worn road. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure that she wasn't watching him, then dashed into the orphanage and apparated to Godric's Hollow.

Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna were all milling about the backyard, waiting for Harry's return. They had agreed to wait behind while Harry went ahead, making sure that they were going to the right place and that they wouldn't be surprising too many Muggles. When Harry appeared, his expression troubled, they barraged him with questions.

"Is the Orphanage still there? Are there tons of kids there?"

"It wasn't torn down or something, was it?"

"Do you have any idea where the horcrux is?"

"Did anyone we know see you? Do they know what we're doing?"

Harry held up his hand, and they all fell silent. He swallowed and took a deep breath before speaking.

"The orphanage is still there, but Voldemort destroyed it a long time ago. I'm sure the horcrux is still there, and I'm sure we'll be able to get it. We need to...he killed dozens of children to make sure it'd be a proper hiding spot...we can't let him live much longer," Harry said through gritted teeth. Hermione looked pale, Ron and Neville a bit green. Luna's eyes seemed a bit wider than normal, but it was hard to tell with her.

"W-what do you mean, destroyed?" Hermione asked softly.

"You'll see. Just apparate to the entrance hall of the orphanage...no one will be there," Harry replied, then disappeared with a loud crack. The rest followed suit.

The entrance hall was still intact, but just barely. All the windows had been blown out, the walls were blackened and crumbling (though still upright), and the floors were covered with dirt and a thick layer of dust. The cracks of apparation echoed loudly against the deathly silence, and their sudden entrance stirred up vast quantities of dust from the faded wooden floors. Hermione looked around curiously at the scorched wooden welcome desk, its chair upturned. Some faded newspapers were stacked beside the desk, the pages yellowed with age.

"This destruction was definitely done with magic. Look at all the papers...they'd have been destroyed if a fire had done all this. Voldemort must have done his best to make it appear as if an explosion had ripped this place apart, but he was in a rush. So much more of this place would have been destroyed if that were the case...he probably killed everyone, set a few fires then put up some kind of wards so that no one would interfere with him concealing the horcrux," Hermione said after a moment. Her eyes were cold and angry as she ran her fingers across the dusty mantelpiece, the stone hearth below as cold as her gaze. She turned to Harry, her hands on her hips.

"Let's get this done with. We need to do this for all the children he murdered here," she said. No one dared to speak up against her, even if they had wanted to. She turned towards Harry. "Where is it hidden?" she demanded.

"I'm not sure. Let's try retracing Dumbledore's steps," Harry replied, hoping to feel that familiar tingle of magic that had struck him in the old Riddle house. Dumbledore had gone into Mrs. Cole's office, but Voldemort wouldn't even know about that...there'd be no reason for him to go there. Then he'd gone down that hallway, turned that corner, and gone into...

"His old room. I'd bet he'd have hidden it there," Harry said excitedly, dashing down the hallway and around the corner. He heard his friends following, but didn't look back. Something told him he was right, but he couldn't explain it. The door to Riddle's old room creaked open as Harry approached, and he pushed it open all the way. He stopped dead in his tracks. It seemed as if the room had taken the brunt of Voldemort's rage - all the furniture was upturned and broken, scorch marks covered the floor and walls. The wardrobe Dumbledore had enchanted was lying in a broken heap in the far corner of the room, its doors still latched together on broken hinges. Harry was inexplicably drawn to it, and he reached for one of the wooden knobs. An audible, bright blue spark jumped from the center of the knob to Harry's outstretched fingers, and he cried out in pain as he pulled away.

"It's got to be in there. That's where Voldemort always used to hide the things he stole," Harry said, staring at the wardrobe.

"Is there a key or something?" Ron asked, coming up beside Harry.

"When I went to the cave with Dumbledore, we had to pour some of our blood on the stone to get in...I think that might be what's going on here, too," Harry said. It was almost as if he could feel Dumbledore beside him, shaking his head in disappointment as he had in the caves. In moments Neville had pulled out a small herbology knife and drawn it across his palm, letting a drop of blood fall onto the sealed doors. Luna and Hermione gasped at the sight of the blood, and Hermione immediately waved her wand over Neville's hand, closing the cut with a silent healing spell.

"Neville, you didn't have to-" Harry started, but Neville waved him away.

"I want to be some use here. Did it work?" Neville replied, tucking his knife away. Harry reached for the knob, and pulled the door of the wardrobe back easily. Harry turned to Neville, grinning. Neville's triumphant expression faded to confusion as he took a step closer, peering into the now open door. Harry's head snapped back, and the door dropped to the floor with a thud as he stared at what should have been the interior of an old, broken down wardrobe.

A set of dark stone steps seemed to spiral down into nothingness; the pale sunlight only lit the first few steps as they moved down into the ground. It seemed unnaturally dark in the pit concealed by the broken wardrobe, but Harry simply pulled out his wand and lit the tip with a silent Lumos. The others followed suit, clumping up behind Harry as he stepped onto the first step. It seemed solid, not about to crumble or disappear. Relieved, he continued on, the group close behind.

Down they went, step after step, spiral after spiral, until the faint light from the orphanage had disappeared and the only sound was their shoes on the stones and their shallow breathing as they continued on. Harry could feel his friends close behind him, the flickering light from their wand tips reflecting off the seemingly endless black stones of the walls and steps. The darkness seemed to deepen as they continued onward, so much so that once Harry reached the base of the winding staircase, he tumbled to his knees as he anticipated the next step. The rest of the group had followed him so closely that they also stumbled to the smooth stone floor, collapsing in a heap of arms, legs and lit wands.

"About bloody time," Ron grumbled against the gasps of surprise, pulling himself up and helping Hermione to her feet. Neville followed suit, grasping Luna's wrist as she stood. Harry's glasses had slid off the end of his nose when he fell, and he irritably grabbed them before brushing the copious amounts of dust from his knees and elbows. He repaired the cracked lenses with an irritable wave of his wand, then raised his wand out in front of him. The group followed suit, their weak beams of light not doing much to penetrate the darkness. They walked aimlessly forward, and by the third time Ron had stepped on Hermione's heel, she'd had enough.

"Oh, this is ridiculous. Luminarium!" she shouted, and a ball of pure white light shot out of her wand and far off to their left. It flew high above them, and Harry was sure it would simply disappear as the light from the orphanage had. Instead, it lit up a large, intricate silver chandelier over the center of what appeared to be an enormous circular room. The walls and floors were made of the same black stone, but two lines of white marble spiraled from the edge of the room to the center, forming a path. Along the path there appeared to be a number of black iron gates and stone pedestals, leading up to a tall, black pillar in the center of the room.

"Do you think my grandmother's opera glasses are on that pillar?" Luna asked, peering over at it.

"I'd be willing to bet on it," Harry said grimly, looking around the room. He counted six gates leading up to the pedestal, and assumed that there would be some sort of trap on the pedestal itself. Seven...the most powerfully magic number. Of course Snape wouldn't make this easy. Neville was trying to walk directly to the center, but kept encountering some kind of magical barrier each time he tried to cross the white marble lines. Hermione had started towards the first gate, Ron following her closely.

"D'you think we can just apparate to the center?" Neville asked, eyeing the lines of white in the black stone.

"You can try it," Harry said, coming up to Neville's side and attempting to step over the line. He encountered what felt like a smooth, invisible wall, and knew that Neville wouldn't have any luck apparating. He watched as his friend scrunched up his face and waved his wand, then caught him as he staggered backwards after colliding with the magical wall.

"We'll have to jump through all the hoops," Harry said, walking towards Ron and Hermione. They were standing in front of the tall iron gate, staring at something on the floor. As Harry approached, he saw it was a circle drawn in luminescent silver surrounding an equally radiant 5-pointed star - a pentagram. Each of the legs contained a character of some sort; Harry peered down at them, confused, as each character was embellished with so many flourishes and loops that it was impossible to tell what they were. In the center of the star were five pairs of perfectly round stones, each stamped 1-5 in stately digits.

"I can't make out these characters in the legs," Hermione said as Harry approached. She was on her knees, bent over the point closest to the gate. He crouched down beside her, and Luna followed suit beside him.

"They're numbers," Luna said after a moment, her voice more grounded than Harry had ever heard it before. "You see, this one here's a three, and that's definitely a nine. And see that one? It has to be a six, it's even underlined," she continued matter-of-factly. The rest of the group peered over the star, tilting their heads in various directions to confirm Luna's analysis. Hermione let out a soft "oh" of recognition, jumping to her feet.

"The others are a four and an eight, can you see it? But...what do we need to..." Hermione's voice trailed off as she dashed to the small stone pedestal beside the gate, picking up a pure white scroll made of some satiny cloth. She unwound it and read aloud.

"Each point of the star shall hold the same number of stones. You have one chance to complete the puzzle before the pentagram vanishes," she read, glancing back at the group. Ron, Neville and Harry looked up at her expectantly, but Luna was the first one to speak.

"A one and a two have to go in the three...it's the only thing that'd work. Then a one and a three would have to into the four, but then we don't have any ones left. But that might be alright. Six...that would have to be a two and a four, leaving us with a three, four, and two fives left. Well, that's easy...a three and a five in the eight, and the four and the five in the nine," she said quickly, reaching for the stones. Harry and Ron started forward to try and stop her, but they were two late, and she had tossed the stones into their respective positions. Once the final stone was set, the group of stones began to glow, and a faint creak behind them announced that the first gate was unlocked.

"Luna, that was brilliant!" Ron said after a moment, his eyes shifting back and forth from the glowing pentagram to the open gate. She smiled serenely at him as she carefully stood, brushing the dust off her hands and knees.

"Well, Ronald, I am a Ravenclaw, after all. And Arithmancy's always been my best subject," she said, walking through the gate. The group followed her, all looking slightly amazed at Luna's quick thinking. Harry even noticed a bit of a scowl on Hermione's face as he ushered her through the gate, and knew that the competitive Gryffindor in her was annoyed that she hadn't figured out the puzzle first. He sent her a reassuring smile as they continued on the path to the next gate.

Hermione had lengthened her stride so that she was the first to the next gate, this one blocked with a similar circular pedestal. Perched on top of the pedestal was an elegant set of golden scales, along with a pile of flawless, multicolored marbles off to the side. Another white scroll sat beside the scale, and Hermione picked it up.

"Before you lie twelve marbles identical in dimensions. One is slightly heavier than the rest, and that one is the key to your escape. The scale will disappear after three weighings, so choose your decisions wisely," Hermione read. She placed the scroll down and eyed the marbles, picking up one and inspecting it closely. Ron made his way to her side, picking up two marbles and trying to weigh them himself.

"Well, it's neither of these, they weigh the same," he said, about to drop them to the floor. Hermione grabbed them from him just in time, glaring at him as she returned them to the pile.

"I'm sure it wouldn't be as easy as that, since we're given a scale," she scolded, turning back to the marbles. "Now, we'd have to have it narrowed down to two after the first two weighings....which would mean we'd need it narrowed down to four after the first weighing. And we have 12 marbles...that's three sets of four...but only two sides of the scale...wait! That's it! Because if they're even, then the third pile would have to be..." her excited voice trailed off as she grabbed a handful of marbles and turned towards the scales. Harry grabbed her arm just before she started placing them onto the scales.

"Hermione, can you at least tell us what you're doing before you do it this time? I don't want to find out what happens if we screw up in here," he said to her seriously. She glared at him peevishly, but took a deep breath and lowered the marbles back to the pedestal.

"There are twelve marbles, which is three groups of four marbles. What we'll do is leave four marbles off the scale, then weigh four marbles versus the last four. If one side is heavier, that's the side with the marble we need. If not, then the marble we need is in the group we left off. From there it's just simple process of elimination...two on each side, pick the heavier side, then split up those last two, and use the heavier one. Simple," Hermione said bossily. She looked around at the group, daring them to question her. Harry and Ron were beaming at her; Neville was looking at her with a bit of amazement. Luna was aimlessly picking at one of her fingernails.

"That's bloody amazing, 'Mione," Ron said, grinning. She flashed a quick grin at him, then turned back to the scales. Harry was beside her again, watching as she counted out four marbles and put them aside, then separated the remaining into two groups. She placed four on one dish of the golden scales, then four on the other. They stepped back, and after a moment the scale glowed a soft green, and the left dish dipped downward. Ron punched the air, whooping excitedly as Harry beamed once again at Hermione, who was busy scooping the unneeded marbles off the scale and back to the pile. She picked up two from the left side and placed them on the right, and once again, the scale glowed. This time, the right side dipped down, and she swept the two lighter marbles, a blue and a yellow, off the scale. Now all that were left were red and green, which Hermione placed on the scale excitedly. The scale glowed green for the third and final time, the emerald marble lowering to the left. Hermione grabbed it, and the scale disappeared into a golden mist.

They dashed to the tall iron gate, the marble clenched tightly in Hermione's hand. A small circular hole was where a lock would have gone, and Hermione hastily pushed the marble through it. It teetered on the edge for just a moment before falling through, vanishing mid air as the gate creaked open. Wasting no time on celebration, the group hurried to the next puzzle.

Further down the spiral of black and white stone, they came to a low, wide stone pedestal just beside the next gate. Four dark wooden boxes sat in a row, each intricately carved and sealed with identical golden locks. A key ring with four keys hung from a hook on the side of the pedestal, and another scroll sat beside the first box. Neville, being the closest, picked up the scroll and unraveled it. He squinted at it for a moment before reading aloud.

"To move ahead, you must find the seal for the gate, which is locked in one of four boxes. Beside the boxes is a key ring with four different keys - gold, silver, copper and onyx. Each key opens only one box.

The onyx key opens either the third or fourth box. The gold key will open the box directly to the left of the box that holds the seal. The silver key opens the box directly between the boxes unlocked by the gold and onyx keys. The box unlocked by the copper key is separated from the box unlocked by the onyx key by at least one box.

You have only one chance to unlock the correct box, after which all four will disappear. Choose wisely."

Hermione picked up the keys, inspecting the teeth. "They're all the same," she muttered under her breath, approaching Neville's right side. Luna was on his left, peering over his shoulder at the instructions on the scroll. Hermione reached for them, trying to get a better look, and Neville pulled them out of her reach.

"Hold on a second, I've got an idea," Neville said, a touch of annoyance in his tone as he read over the puzzle again. "I can figure this one out," he said, to no one in particular. He turned to the pedestal, staring at the boxes. He tapped the top of the fourth box gently with his fingertips, and Hermione let out an audible gasp, clearly concerned that he would somehow set off some trap hidden beneath the boxes. He turned to her, a cold glare in his usually friendly eyes.

"I know what I'm doing, alright? Give me a chance, I won't do anything without explaining it first. This is important to me, too...I need to be able to help Harry. I can't explain it, I just need to," he said to her, his face paling. Hermione's shoulders visibly drooped, and she nodded, stepping back so that Neville had space. Luna sent Neville an encouraging smile, which he returned weakly before focusing on the boxes once again. He paused for a moment, studying the puzzle again before speaking.

"The first line is the clearest...it outright tells us that the onyx key opens either the third or fourth boxes. The second line...it tells us that the gold can't open the fourth box, and that the seal can't be in the first, if the box opened by the gold key is to the left of it. The third line...the box opened by the silver key is directly between the boxes opened by the gold and onyx keys, so it can't be on either end. The fourth line tells us that the copper key opens the first or second boxes, as it needs to be far away from the onyx key...so, the only key that can open the fourth box is the onyx key," he said softly, pacing back and forth in front of the boxes. All eyes were on him, but he seemed completely oblivious to the rest of the group, entirely focused on the task at hand. A bead of sweat trickled down his round face, despite the chilly air. His wand was held loosely in his right hand, and he was twirling it idly between his fingers.

"Ok, so the onyx opens the fourth box. That means the silver has to open the third, and the gold has to open the second, because the box opened by the silver is directly between the boxes opened by the gold and the onyx. So the copper has to open the first, but I don't think that matters. Because the second line said that the gold key opens the box to the left of the box with the seal, so that means that the seal is directly to the right of the box opened by the gold key, which would be the third box," he said, his voice growing steadily louder as he solved the puzzle. He looked up, and found Hermione beaming at him as she threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. Ron's eyes flickered with a flash of jealousy, but Neville didn't notice. Luna was gazing at him with a bit more adoration than normal, and his cheeks were pinking as Luna smiled at him once again. Hermione finally released him, grinning broadly at him as she handed him the key ring.

"You solved it, you open it," she said brightly, and he took the keys from her with a shaking hand. He fumbled a bit with the keys, singling out the silver key and holding it firmly as he approached the third box. The key slid into the lock easily, and turned with very little resistance. The other boxes vanished as the key clicked into place, and the lid of the third box snapped open. Laying on a bed of black satin was a shining silver seal, a collection of four snakes intertwined in a complicated Celtic knot. Neville reached for it, holding it gently and inspecting the intricate details of the seal. Each scale on the snakes had been etched out beautifully on the pristine silver, and bright green emeralds were embedded in each head, serving as eyes to the four snakes. The scales seemed to shimmer in the dim light, the eyes sparkled just so...

"Come on, Neville," Luna said softly, placing a hand on his arm and breaking him out of his trance. He blinked rapidly, shaking his head and turning to her. She led him to the gate, and he pressed the seal into the circular depression where a lock would have been. The snakes began to move, unwinding from each other and slithering into the surrounding metal, and as they disappeared, the gate swung open. Neville breathed a sight of relief as Harry grinned at him, ushering him through.

"Why would Voldemort have wanted to make it so difficult to get to his horcruxes? Surely he'd want to check on them every now and then," Luna said, her dreamy voice shattering the silence.

"Well, probably because of people like us," Harry said, smirking. "He needed to protect them, but still be able to get to them if he wanted to check on them. I'd bet there's some way to reset all these puzzles or something, once we reach the center," he continued.

"He really must underestimate muggle-borns," Hermione said, a touch of annoyance in her voice. "These puzzles aren't very difficult...I mean, most purebloods might have troubles with them, but my parents gave me puzzles like these to work on when I was just a child," Hermione replied, walking towards the next puzzle.

"It seems like he's underestimating everyone, seeing as we've managed to get past so many of his protections," Ron piped up, gripping Hermione's hand.

"We can't let it get to our heads, though...he's still very powerful, and I don't look forward to having to face him. I still remember how Dumbledore reacted to whatever that potion was he had to drink to get the locket..." Harry said, his voice trailing off into the silence. He lengthened his stride, wanting to prove Voldemort wrong, wanting to beat him at his own game, wanting to destroy him. He approached the next gate, snatching up the scroll without even pausing to observe the next puzzle's setup.

His eyes widened as he read the directions, then he flipped the scroll over, half expecting there to be more than the single line of instructions. He looked up at the group, somewhat perplexed.

"All it says is that the gate requires the weight of exactly four liters of the available potion to open," he said, looking at once to the pedestal. It was fairly narrow, a spigot just below the top mounted over a dark iron grate. Two glass containers sat on top of the smooth black marble surface, one significantly smaller than the other. Harry picked up the smaller one and squinted at it, reading the lines of white text going down the side. His eyes widened in comprehension, and he looked up at his friends, grinning.

"It's a beaker! Dudley had a chemistry set once, and I remember him measuring out water with these...see, this smaller one holds three liters, and the bigger one - " he grabbed it and raked his eyes over it hastily "holds five. And we need four...that shouldn't be too difficult. Aunt Petunia taught me how to cook, it can't be much different than measuring things out for that," he said quickly, holding both beakers up to the light. He pursed his lips, thinking hard. He'd need a way to get one liter out of the five liter beaker to end up with four, so the three liter beaker would have to be holding only two liters. But how to get the two liters in the three liter beaker...

"Wait, that's it! Two plus three is five, so if we fill the five, then pour it into the three, then get rid of that, move the two over, fill up the five, we'll get four!" Harry exclaimed, grinning at his friends. They all looked at him blankly, Luna even tipping her head to one side. Harry sent them all looks of annoyance before muttering "oh, just watch," as he turned on the spigot. A bright purple liquid spilled out over the grate, and Harry carefully slid the five liter beaker under the tap, filling it precisely to the line. He picked up the three liter beaker, filled it to the line with the contents of the five liter beaker, then looked up at the group.

"Now the five liter beaker only has two liters in it, because the other three are now in the smaller beaker. So if I spill those three out," he poured the contents of the three liter beaker over the grate, "and transfer the two liters over, there's room for exactly one liter left in the three liter beaker." He poured the contents of the five liter beaker into the three liter, and the liquid came to about a third of the way below the line of the smaller beaker. He placed it carefully down on the level surface before filling the five liter beaker again, keeping a slow, steady flow of the potion into the container so it filled precisely to the line. He placed that one on the pedestal beside the three liter beaker, turning off the tap before straightening up and addressing his friends.

"Now, there's room for exactly one liter in the smaller beaker, because it holds three and has two in it. There are five liters in the bigger beaker, and we need four...so we need to get rid of exactly one. So if we fill up the three liter beaker with the five liter beaker," he carefully poured enough potion from the five liter beaker into the three liter beaker to just reach the line, "we'll have exactly four liters left in the five liter beaker, which is exactly what we need for the puzzle," Harry explained. When he looked up again, he was greeted with smiles all around. He carefully carried the beaker to the cauldron hanging from the gate and emptied the contents into it, watching as the purple liquid sloshed around. It finally leveled itself, transforming from a translucent purple to an opaque magenta. The cauldron lowered, its handle pulling down on an intricate lever in the center of the gate, and another puzzle was successfully completed.

"How many more do you think there are?" Ron asked as they started walking again, no traces of excitement in his voice anymore. The whole group seemed weary of the puzzles, but Harry knew there were more, though they were significantly closer to the center of the room now. He could see the tall central pedestal much more clearly now, though the magical barriers still blurred his vision if he didn't look directly at the spiraling path. He squinted, peering around the room, before answering.

"Two, I'd guess, before we get to the center. But I'm sure there's another puzzle at the center, so three," Harry said, counting off the four they had completed in his head. He was already mentally exhausted, and not looking forward to any more of these bloody puzzles. Ron groaned beside him, and Harry knew that he was sharing his sentiments.

The next puzzle was significantly closer, due to the shortening radius of the spiral. The pedestal sat directly in front of the gate this time, holding a long wooden slab with a grid of holes in six rows of four, and four smaller holes beside each row. A large pile of multicolored pegs sat beside the slab, the now familiar white scroll placed at the closest edge. Luna picked it up, and began reading.

"To move on, you must correctly guess the sequence of four colors in six tries. You have six different colors to choose from, and colors may be repeated. A resulting white marker means that you have the right color in the wrong place, and a black means that you have the right color in the right place."

"It's Mastermind!" Hermione exclaimed, making her way to the front of the group and edging Luna out of the way. Luna sent her a dirty look, but Hermione was too busy looking at the pegs to notice. "I played this all the time with my father when I was little...there's a lot of strategy to it, especially if we've only got six tries. We've got red, blue, yellow, green, orange and purple...this could be tricky, but I'm sure I could do it," Hermione said, beaming at Harry. He nodded at her, and she immediately began fishing out four blue pegs.

"Shouldn't you try more than one color? I mean, we've only got six tries...no need to waste one on all one color," Ron said nervously. Hermione shot him a stern look.

"We need to start somewhere. Finding out the colors in the sequence is more important that figuring out the order at first, and this will tell us how many blue pegs are in the sequence," she said, placing the four blue pegs in the first row. One black marker appeared to the right of the row.

"One blue, ok. So, now we keep one blue in the first hole, and try another color. Green," Hermione said, more to herself than the group. She fished out one blue and three green, arranging them so the blue peg was first, and waited for the result. Two white markers appeared.

"Excellent! See Ron, now we know that green is in the first spot! Because if it was anywhere else, we'd have a black marker, but we have two whites! So now we know two of the colors, and one exact placement of one of the pegs, and it's only the second try," Hermione explained excitedly, picking out a green and a blue from the pile. She paused for a moment, then grabbed two red pegs. She placed the green in the first hole, the blue in the second, and the two reds in the third and fourth. A black and a white marker appeared. Hermione frowned.

"Well, there's no red, and blue doesn't go in the second spot, either. But now there's only two more places it could go, and only three more colors that could be in it," she said. Ron attempted to offer some sound of advice or encouragement, but she waved him off as she pulled out a blue, a green, and two yellows. She placed green first, then yellow, then blue, and the final yellow, and three black markers appeared.

"Yes!" she cried out, nearly knocking the pile pegs to the floor. "We found the blue's position, and we know yellow's in it! We can do this!" She grabbed a green, yellow, blue and orange, and arranged them as such in the fifth row. Two black markers appeared, and a white.

"What does that mean? Can we still do it?" Neville asked, peering over her shoulder.

"Yes, of course," Hermione said, grinning. "It just means that there's no orange, so the last color has to be purple. And as we know that the blue and the green are right, the yellow must be last, so the purple goes in the second position," she explained, grabbing the necessary colors and arranging them in the last row. The far end of the pedestal shimmered, and an exact replica of Hermione's sequence appeared. The gate opened. Ron hugged Hermione tightly, and they walked the short distance to the last gate between them and the center of the room.

Harry led the way, with Ron and Hermione close behind. As Harry saw what the final puzzle was, he stepped aside, ushering Ron forward.

"This puzzle's certainly for you, mate," he said, smirking. Ron sent him a quizzical look, then turned to the pedestal. On it stood a handsome marble chess board with elegantly carved pieces. The pieces were arranged as though the two opponents had simply left the board midgame, with quite a few missing and the remaining far out of their usual positions. A silken scroll was perched on the far side of the board, and Ron reached for it.

"Checkmate the black king in two moves," Ron read, his ears pinking. He cleared his throat, placing the scroll beside the board, and stared at the pieces. There were only three white pieces left - a queen, a knight, and of course the king. Black had far more, with three pawns, two rooks, a bishop and the king. They were all clustered on the closest edge of the board, with the white queen the furthest away on a square near the center. Ron got on his knees beside the pedestal, leaning his elbows against the cool stone and resting his chin in his left palm. His right fingertips fidgeted against the edge of the board as he studied the pieces, a look of complete concentration on his face.

Hermione knelt beside him, her eyes flickering from the side of his face to the chessboard. She placed a hand on his shoulder as she examined the board, trying to spot a solution before speaking up.

"I...I don't know anything about chess...do you think you'll be able to do it?" she asked softly. Ron had grown used to the silence, and the sound of her voice so close to his ear made him jump.

"I think so...it's just like the end of any other game...but if it was me, I'd have resigned long ago...white can win this somehow? Just let me think about it for a bit," Ron replied, muttering more to himself than to Hermione. She nodded and sat back on her heels, watching as his long fingers continued to fidget at the edge of the board. He seemed to be going over moves in his head, then shaking his head slightly when he realized it wouldn't work. Hermione rubbed his back in small circles, silently encouraging him.

Five minutes passed, and no one had spoken a word. Harry stood on the other side of Ron, peering over his head at the board, while Neville and Luna sat by the gate, examining the stones of the pathway and the intricate metalwork of the gate blocking their way. Hermione's head kept shifting back and forth, as if she thought tilting her head in a particular direction would somehow make the solution easier to find. Finally, unable to stand the silence any longer, she spoke again.

"Maybe if you went through it out loud, you'd be able to bounce your ideas off of us," she said meekly, staring at Ron. He jumped, as he'd clearly been deep in thought. He turned to Hermione, eyes blazing.

"Merlin's beard, 'Mione, give me a chance! I think I've got it worked out, for your information. As long as the black played doesn't do anything completely daft, I've figured it out," he snapped at her. She backed off instantly, blushing. Ron turned back to the pedestal, standing now, his palms flat on either side of the board. Clearing his throat once again, he said "Queen to C3."

Nothing happened.

After a moment, Harry coughed, covering up a slight snicker. "You might need to move the pieces yourself, mate. Like a Muggle chess set," he offered. Ron sent him an annoyed look, but reached for the white queen.

"Wait! Maybe you should tell us what you're doing first," Hermione said hastily, reaching for his arm. She received the same look as Harry had.

"If I move the queen here," he said, indicating a square just two away from the black king but protected by the white knight, "Black will have to move one of their rooks, as the queen is attacking both. If black does that, I'll be able to checkmate," Ron explained. He picked up the queen and moved it to the square, and the black rook in the far left corner immediately moved left, to the square directly to the left of the black king. Ron let out a whoop of victory.

"Excellent! Black did exactly what he should have," Ron said excitedly. "And we've got this trap done," he added, reaching for the knight. He moved it towards the center of the board, to a square that threatened the square directly to the right of the black king. Now the king was under direct attack from the queen, and there was no safe spot. The king toppled fell to the board, transforming into a key as it fell onto the black and white squares. Ron grabbed it, then nearly fell over himself as Hermione attacked him with a large hug. Harry grinned at him, and they walked to the gate. Neville helped Luna up and Ron inserted the key into the lock, where it turned easily despite the obvious age of the gate. Pushing the gate open, there were only mere feet between the group and the central pedestal, and the final horcrux.

They ran towards it, eager to finally be out of the dark, gloomy cavern. The pedestal seemed to grow as they approached, lengthening and reaching towards the invisible ceiling with each step. As they reached the base of the pedestal they could make out what appeared to be a chalkboard. On it was a nine by nine grid in thin silver linework, with various numbers in some of the squares. It was laid out as follows: