Among all of Voldemort's Horcruxes, Slytherin's locket was both the most heavily protected—and paradoxically, the first to be discovered.
After uncovering Voldemort's abominable act of creating Horcruxes, Regulus Black finally awakened to the truth and chose to repent.
He drank the potion himself, ordered the Black family's house-elf Kreacher to take the locket away and destroy it, and was then dragged beneath the water by Inferi, drowning to his death.
However, Voldemort's Horcrux was not something a mere house-elf could destroy.
After returning to the Black residence, Kreacher realized he was unable to damage the locket in any way, and so he hid it instead.
Compared to the Black family's vast library, what Arthur truly wanted was this very object.
He was, after all, a classic hoarder-type player—what people commonly called a collector.
Among the relics left behind by Hogwarts' four founders, Arthur already possessed Ravenclaw's diadem, and Gryffindor's sword was something he could access at any time.
That left only Slytherin's locket and Hufflepuff's cup.
Coincidentally—or perhaps inevitably—Arthur had found no true "inheritance" left behind by those two founders at Hogwarts.
And don't mention the Chamber of Secrets. A basilisk hardly qualified as a legacy.
Given how much the founders left behind in their lives, Arthur flatly refused to believe that only a single item from each had survived to the present day.
Ravenclaw's legacy was tied to her diadem.
Gryffindor's was bound to his sword.
To say that Slytherin's and Hufflepuff's legacies had nothing to do with their locket and cup was something Arthur would never accept.
Time passed quickly, and soon it was Christmas.
This year, Harry finally didn't have to stay at Hogwarts. Sirius took him back to the Black residence, and Remus Lupin came along as well. The three of them spent a warm and pleasant Christmas together.
The following day, Arthur arrived as promised, bringing Hermione with him.
As for Ranni, she chose to stay behind in the Zen Garden to read—she rarely went out unless necessary.
"Arthur, come in, come in!"
Harry was visibly delighted to see him. To Harry, Arthur's arrival meant only one thing—he was about to get stronger.
"Ahem."
Hermione cleared her throat pointedly.
Only then did Harry notice her standing behind Arthur.
"Hermione—you're here too? Sorry, I didn't see you just now," Harry said apologetically.
Hermione rolled her eyes. Arthur was tall, yes, but not tall enough to completely block her from view. Harry's tunnel vision made it painfully obvious how eager he was to power up.
After some casual greetings, Arthur quickly steered the conversation to business.
"So," he asked, looking at Harry, "have you decided which runes you want?"
Before the holidays, Arthur had given Harry a rune catalogue and told him to choose for himself.
Harry shook his head. "Nope. Why don't you pick for me? Just… not the same set Draco has."
Arthur chuckled. A textbook case of decision paralysis—mixed with a teenager's desire to be different.
"In that case," Arthur said thoughtfully, "how about a summoning-type ghost rune set? Draco has a dragon—then you can have a ghost. The overall strength is solid."
In truth, Arthur was also curious about what kind of ghost Harry would summon.
Just like the dragon-summoning runes, ghost-summoning was entirely random.
That said, Arthur wasn't setting Harry up. This rune set really was strong.
Base Rune – Ghost Companion: Summons a ghost that fires ethereal magic bolts with piercing effects.
Advanced Rune – Vigorous Partner: Increases the ghost's attack speed by 50%.
Advanced Rune – Perfect Synchrony: Establishes mental communication between summoner and ghost, ignoring distance.
Ultimate Rune – Spirit of Vengeance: Increases the ghost's attack power by 30% and allows it to temporarily possess the summoner.
The greatest advantage of this rune set was that it required no continuous mana upkeep.
The summoned ghost came with its own mana pool.
The summoner only needed mana for the initial summon—making it perfect for someone like Harry, whose magical reserves weren't particularly deep.
Not everyone had a father as absurdly wealthy as Lucius Malfoy, after all—someone who could casually prepare a mana-boosting potion for his son.
As for Sirius, he had the money now, but not the connections. Arthur wisely didn't bring it up.
Harry trusted Arthur completely. Without hesitation, he agreed.
"Alright then," Arthur said. "Let's begin. Oh—one thing first. You might hear Harry screaming in a bit. That's normal."
The last sentence was directed at Sirius and Lupin, just in case they charged in mid-procedure.
Harry's scalp tingled immediately.
The two of them went to the guest room Harry was staying in.
Arthur told Harry to lie down.
There was no preamble.
A scream tore through the room as Arthur began engraving the runes.
Harry's cry echoed through the ancient Black residence, making everyone waiting in the sitting room shudder involuntarily.
Hermione felt an intense wave of relief—she was suddenly very glad she'd never asked Arthur to engrave runes on her.
Just hearing it was enough.
Inside the room, however, Harry only screamed briefly before pain overwhelmed him and he passed out.
Not long after, Arthur finished.
Instead of waking Harry, he called out calmly, "Kreacher. Come here."
Pop.
The Black family's house-elf appeared in the room.
"A guest of the eldest Black son… what does you be needing? And how does you be knowing Kreacher's name?" the elf asked warily.
Arthur went straight to the point.
"I know about Regulus—and what happened between the two of you. If you trust me, give the locket to me, and I'll take care of it."
Kreacher froze, then panicked.
"Y-you… what is you talking about? Kreacher doesn't understand!"
"I'm not tricking you," Arthur said evenly. "I truly know what happened."
He briefly recounted the events of that year.
After a long silence, Kreacher finally spoke.
He didn't know how this wizard knew about young Master Regulus—but this was also the man who had cleared Sirius Black's name.
Kreacher didn't like the rebellious elder son… but Sirius was still a Black.
And as someone who had helped him return home with his name restored, Arthur couldn't be a bad person.
At last, Kreacher nodded.
"The locket… yes. Kreacher still has it. Kreacher can give it to you—but Kreacher wants to see it destroyed with his own eyes."
Arthur shook his head.
"I can't destroy it yet. I still need the locket. But I will strip Voldemort's soul from it—and you can watch."
Kreacher hesitated, then reasoned it through. If Arthur could remove the Dark Lord's soul, then destroying it later would be easy.
That would still fulfill young Master Regulus's final wish.
"Please wait," Kreacher said, and vanished with a pop.
Moments later, he returned holding an old, timeworn locket.
"This… this is it."
Arthur took the locket in one hand and drew complex sigils in the air with the other. With his immense magical power, he constructed a soul-severing magic array out of nothing.
Light flowed through the formation.
Black mist poured from the locket—the fragment of Voldemort's soul itself.
The soul tried to scatter and escape, but the array dragged it back, compressing it again and again.
A shrill, agonized scream rang out—
Fortunately, Arthur had already cast a soundproofing charm.
Moments later, the black mist condensed into a dark crystal, dropping neatly into Arthur's hand.
The screaming stopped.
Arthur tossed the crystal lightly in his palm. He couldn't help thinking—just how many atrocities had Voldemort committed in life?
Normal souls were pale and translucent.
This one was pitch-black.
By now, this was the second fragment of Voldemort's soul Arthur had obtained.
The first came from Ravenclaw's diadem and still sat quietly in his storage space.
If he wanted, Arthur could obtain a third right now.
After all, one fragment resided inside Harry's head.
But after some thought, he dismissed the idea.
That fragment had long since intertwined with Harry's soul—otherwise Harry wouldn't be able to speak Parseltongue.
Arthur wasn't about to risk tearing Harry's soul apart by mistake.
Kreacher watched the scene unfold, tears streaming down his face.
"Wahhh! Young Master… Kreacher has done it! Kreacher has finally completed what you asked! Thank you, noble guest!"
Arthur waved it off casually.
"No need to thank me. I simply needed the locket."
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