"Harry!" Daphne exclaimed. "Do you know what this is? It's the lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw. There's a model of it in front of the Ravenclaw common room." She rushed over to pick it up and was mesmerized by the old relic.
"Of course it is." Harry said, "But it is also a horcrux. It has to be destroyed, Daphne."
"Ravenclaw's Diadem is said to make it's wearer more intelligent." Hermione informed them. "I don't suppose there is a way to destroy the horcrux but leave the diadem intact is there?"
"I doubt it." Harry replied as he took the diadem away from Daphne. He set the priceless object on the ground and removed the basilisk fang from the box he had stored it in earlier. "I'm really sorry about this…" Harry lowered the fang to diadem and smeared the blood and venom against it. The diadem shook violently for a few seconds and then a loud shriek was heard. The shriek ended suddenly and the relic stopped shaking.
"At least it's still in one piece." Daphne commented. "Is the horcrux really gone?"
"Yes, it is." Harry answered with a nod. He then removed the remaining blood and venom from the crown and placed it on his head. Hermione and Daphne looked at him and wondered what would happen. "Well, I don't feel any smarter. Looks like I broke it."
"What a pity." Hermione said disappointedly. "It would have been nice to have for our OWLs next year…" Harry and Daphne immediately began laughing at Hermione's serious suggestion. Leave it to Hermione to first consider the academic benefits of the relic even before thinking of how else it could help them in the war.
"Three down, four left to go." Harry said with a smile. "Then Voldemort will be mortal again and we can finally end this."
"Sure, all we'll have to do then is kill one of the most powerful dark wizards ever." Daphne said. "Piece of cake, really."
"Maybe we won't even have to do it. We could get lucky and he could get run over by a bus." Harry said jokingly. "That's how I'd like to see him go."
"So what do we do with the diadem?" Hermione asked, taking it from Harry to inspect it.
"I say we keep it." Harry suggested. "Maybe we can fix it, and even if not at least we can give it a better home than in here." The others seemed to agree with him, which surprised him a little. He had thought that Hermione would insist on turning it over to Dumbledore since it did once belong to one of the founders, but she had not said a word. Harry assumed she was just trying not to fight with him after all they had just been through and was glad for it. He never really questioned why he didn't feel the need to give the Headmaster the diadem when he might have before, he just felt strongly it would be better off with him.
The three friends left the Room of Requirement as Harry and Daphne began to explain everything that had happened in the Wizengamot while Hermione was away. She was, of course, incredibly happy for Harry and Sirius and promised she would try to come see him during the summer if it was at all possible. They were all worried about how the summer would progress now that Voldemort had returned, but each seemed determined not to let that force them into hiding. Harry's excitement about being able to live with his godfather was somewhat contagious, and soon both Hermione and Daphne were trying their best to look at the future optimistically.
...
Elsewhere in the castle Draco Malfoy sat alone pondering his future. The Dark Lord had returned, and because of it his family were now mere servants instead of the masters they deserved to be. Others, like Crabbe and Goyle, were happy with the Dark Lord's return but that was only because their families were useless without him anyway. The Malfoys, on the other hand, had grown enormously in terms of both wealth and prestige since Voldemort's fall from power. The most his father could ever hope for was to be second in command of the Dark Lord's forces, and that was not a given either. Now everything his father had built was in jeopardy. His inheritance and future was in jeopardy!
Draco knew his father would always support the Dark Lord and that he would have to as well if he wanted to live. Unfortunately there would be no going back to the way things were, the Malfoys would just have to make the best of the situation they found themselves in like always. The only bright spot he could see is that hopefully with all of this going on his father would forget his promise to punish him for having to swear to support Potter.
Finally Draco sighed and tried to push all such unpleasant thoughts from his mind. After all there really wasn't anything he could do about his lot in life, was there?
....
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