Hogwarts: Era of Darkness

The door to the vault opened relatively quickly, forcing the goblin under my control to deactivate all of the magical seals on it. When it finally pulled open, behind it, we could see multiple chests filled with gold overflowing onto the ground. Besides them, ancient artifacts were piling up on each other, and the rocky walls were filled with hanging robes, masks, and cloaks, giving us a look at a chaotic, hoarder-like cave. It was more like a niffler's hidey-hole than a vault in Gringots.

"Don't touch anything!" I said, stopping Lockhart from coming close, mesmerized by the vast array of seemingly priceless artifacts. "They are for sure cursed or worse. First, we will need to do something about that first. Quincy?"

"On it." She nodded, pulling out two flasks and splashing their bright green contents onto the chests, making a sharp, pinging noise echo within the room.

"What is that?" Eleonora asked, curious about her invention, smelling the air, trying to discern it.

"It's her own concoction." I explained quickly, "It reacts to curses. The noise you heard was the signal that I was right; all of these were placed under a spell. Touch it, and who knows what happens."

"So, what now, then?" She asked again while Quincy picked out another vial, poured it into the chamber, and let a dark purple puddle gather on the stone floor.

"Thinking that potions are for only drinking is a narrow viewpoint." She explained while drawing out her wand, aiming at the thick liquid on the ground, 'stirring it' with her hand's movements. "The Philosopher's Stone is a potion, did you know that? It is a self-brewing potion, replicating itself via the elixir of life. The process is slow, so you would need hundreds upon hundreds of years to let its dew collect to have a second stone... Or you could drink it and extend your life. Anyway, what I learned is that a true alchemist makes potions that are more than simple drinks."

While talking, she was keeping her hand moving slowly in a clockwise direction, affecting her concoctions. The purple spot very quickly turned into a cloud that she only had to blow at once, letting it spread around the room as we watched everything begin to simmer within as if a handful of glitter had been thrown upon it.

"How pretty..." Eleonora mumbled, but her amazement was turned into wonder when Quincy snapped her fingers, and we could see and feel the same thing when we watched the muggles' big, blocky televisions. It was the same feeling of buzzing, static electricity wrapping around everything within the vault, followed by a very similar buzzing and crackling before it all disappeared in a snap. "What happened?"

"All the curses have been forced to expire." Quincy giggled, and I knew she was incredibly proud at that moment. She should be! I wonder how old Professor Slughorn would react if he saw what she managed to do. "No matter how good the defenses are, if an inanimate thing forces them to activate, no? But would they work on nothing but air? Well, as you can see, they won't. Whatever they put on them was against thieves, against flesh and bones touching them, not to deal with something that only mimics it."

"Then? Can we...?" Lockhart asked, but I shook my head, directing one of the goblins to walk in and touch the closest chest.

"First, let them try it out. We need to be sure!" I chuckled, watching as he began rummaging through the goods within Voldemort's chamber. 

It became apparent that Quincy's spell had worked its wonders, and there were no more obstacles before us. When we were doubly sure of that, it didn't take long to finally find the ring. I pocketed it hurriedly, exchanging a happy smile with my wife, feeling giddy that we had succeeded so easily.

"Okay!" I said, turning towards the vampires, "All yours!"

"At last." Volgonid shrugged, waving a hand, and I watched as everything in place got vacuumed up into his robe's sleeves, disappearing into it like he had a niffler's little pocket hidden there. Damn. "Pray, let us hie hence from this locale posthaste!"

"Geez, someone is excited." I joked, watching him indeed be happy, smiling, which I thought to be highly disturbing. "Oh well, let me leave our little mockery behind!" With that, I placed the fake ring in the middle of the room, closed the door, and headed toward the goblin's train as we slowly lifted the control over them. We were doing it seamlessly so their fake memories coincided with reality, making us travel down to Volgonid's own vault and empty it out under their watch.

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"Yes, My Lord, I kept my eyes on them. They were legit. I even asked the goblins, and after bribing one of them, they told me that they had indeed emptied their own vault. I have the list of the items they retrieved."

"Good work, Dolohov." Voldemort answered, taking the letter from him and simply placing it out of sight. "You can leave. Continue serving me like this, and your future will be bright indeed."

"Thank you, My Lord!" He bowed, slowly backing out of the Prime Minister's office within the depths of the Ministry.

"Vampires and their accursed blood." He grunted, sneering and opening a wine bottle, pouring it directly into his mouth instead of a cup.

For some reason, he has been feeling extremely vexed in the past few days, and not because of the constant battles, cat-and-mouse chases and hide and seek nonsense he has been having with the members of the accursed Order. Something else was bothering him, but he couldn't say what. 

Maybe it was because of the fact he died once. Coming back from a Horcrux state was worse than he expected. His body and soul felt weak, even after returning to his supposed original strength. He could use all the spells he previously did; when casting magic, he was still the same... yet not at the same time. Something changed, and he felt as if he was no longer whole. It began affecting his look as his face looked more sunken, his hair lost its luster, and his mood was always way more irritated than before.

"Those Pheoniex bastards... I will make sure their death will be as painful as possible...

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"So... this is goodbye again, huh?" I asked, right before apparating away, standing at an abandoned field somewhere in England.

"Probably forever this time." Eleonora answered, smiling, "We will disappear, likely travel to the new world as we never saw it before. Explore this America thing."

"Verily, thou speakest true! 'Tis a matter of intrigue, I cannot deny." Volgonid nodded, being in a great mood since we left Gringotts and emptied out the Dark Lord's vault.

"Plus," His wife continued, "We don't want to be here and steal your thunder."

"My thunder?" I giggled, shaking my head, "I am nowhere near loud enough for that."

"Yet." Grindelwald interjected, nodding his head towards the vampires. "Have safe travels."

"Same to you." Eleonora chuckled, nodding back towards us before we, one by one, disappeared, all of us heading back home without the ancient vampires. 

Back in our manor, our mood slowly became serious once again as we gathered in the conference room. We looked silently at the ring placed in the middle of the table, surrounded by a suppressing spell, the work of Grindelwald.

"So... this is a Horcrux?" Lockhart asked, gulping, feeling nervous by just looking at it. "Having the spirit of the Dark Lord right here, with us... is this a good idea?"

"A chunk of it, not the whole thing." Grindelwald explained, crossing his arms and looking at it with a seriousness I had not seen before. "It is my first time witnessing how it feels, and it is a spell I am glad I have never gone through with. This type of self-mutilation is horrendous, and even if it gives you a second chance at life, you will never be complete again."

"Let's add that it is also weakening you the more shards you make." Herpo added in my head, "And I mean it in the sense of mental faculties. It makes you less composed and more prone to mistakes. It doesn't take away your skill with a wand but affects your comprehension. I discovered it after using it the first time, and there was no going back by then. Simply put, it makes you know you are no longer whole after returning from death, and it stays with you. Forever."

"So... what should we do?" Lockhart asked again, looking at us. "If we destroy it, wouldn't he know?"

"No." Quincy and I answered at the same time, letting her continue, "The Order already destroyed multiple of these things. When Hogwarts was attacked, they came to annihilate another one."

"His connection to them is weak." I explained, repeating Herpo's words echoing within my mind, "He has severed his soul so many times that he is already numb to what happens with the others. Coming back from the dead consumes the Horcrux, as the soul within it essentially becomes the main one, gaining a physical form at the end. In theory, if all of their Horcruxes decided to come back, they could do it, but then again, it would create a split personality and negatively affect coordinating his thoughts. Long story short... he is fucked."

"It certainly doesn't feel like it..." Lockhart chuckled grimly, making Grindelwald smile.

"He is, or at least, was talented from all that I read and studied about him. But, this is also our advantage. For now, we will seal this ring while I look up methods to destroy it and free the rock from within safely."

"The rock?" The Professor asked, looking back and forth between us while Grindelwald left, leaving it to me to explain.

"Well..." I shrugged, looking at Quincy, who nodded back at me. "It is a long story. How good are you with legends, Professor?"