Emerald Eyes - HP one-shots

More than 1 horcrux

Thought it would be funny to have a story in which everyone in the First War, thinking Voldemort has only one Horcrux, goes after a different one.

"Master Regulus? Master Regulus?"

Regulus's eyes fluttered open, and he gritted his teeth as he resisted the urge to clutch at his stump. The Dark Lord's Inferi had their meal - he'd seen to that with the last of his strength before ordering Kreacher to get them both out. Pity for them that it was only half an arm.

Grabbing the Restorative Draught his House-Elf offered him. With his remaining hand, he dangled the locket from his fingers and regarded it with utter loathing. "Now only to destroy this."

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Amelia Bones, would-be Auror, held out the thing she'd discovered in the Room of Hidden Things. Finding time to sweep the  room between cramming for her N.E.W.T.s had been difficult, but no one ever called Hufflepuffs slackers. After what they'd done to her brothers, she wasn't going to allow them a single foothold in this school - and, after she and her friends stormed the room last term and retook it from various Death Eater sympathizers by force, she knew there were still projects left over. This was merely the worst.

"Is that Ravenclaw's Diadem?" asked Kim Chang, adjusting his spectacles as he examined the thing up close. She pulled him up by the back of his robes.

"It's cursed in addition to whatever else is wrong with it," she told him, waving all her other friends away from their inspection of it. "Damnedest thing - I can't tell what it's cursing, but it's somehow linked to this very school."

"Oh!" cried Mary Abbott, her eyes filling with tears. That came easily to her. For the best - it made those inclined to hurt her let down their guard. The moment wands came out, the crybaby became the most savage of fighters. "Do you think those terrible, terrible people were attempting to weaken the protections on this school? To let those - those - those monsters in?"

"It's not a bomb, is it?" asked Henry Brown, a Muggleborn with a persistent tendency to compare every new thing he found to Muggle concepts. They'd all given him a hard time about it until he snapped around second year and pointed out that wizards all did the same thing in reverse.

"Only in the metaphorical sense," Amelia said, waving her wand near the thing. She happened to like her wand. "I've already felt it trying to probe into my head once or twice - I've never been so grateful to my parents for training me in Occlumency from the moment I was old enough to understand the concepts." Her parents - She suppressed tears and forced herself to go on. This was business. "It's hostile, Dark, and potentially extremely dangerous. Everyone, analyze it with all the spells you know. I admit I've got a few blind spots in theoretical Defense. While you're doing that, I'll be floo-calling the Smiths, and then the Prewetts -or what's left of them." She swallowed hard. "Those families have enough Defense experts between them that they might know what we're looking at."

"The Unspeakables-" Mary began.

"Have a leak," Kim cut in, his face strained. "It's an open secret among those in the know. They don't know who and they don't know how much, but they can't be trusted. Not any more."

Mary gasped, and began to cry. For once, Amelia couldn't blame her. That had been about her response when she'd learned - if the most secret recesses of the Ministry weren't safe, what was safe? Did He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named rule the Ministry in all but name already?