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The locket

DISCUNTINUED

GUYS I JUST REALIZED I ACCIDENTLY PUBLISHED "FUTURE CHILDREN" I WAS NOT SUPPOSE TO DO THAT

The locket they had managed to steal so many hours before had fallen out of Dumbledore’s pocket.

It had opened, perhaps due to the force with which it hit the ground.

And although he could not feel more shock or horror or sadness than he felt already, Harry knew, as he picked it up, that there was something wrong. . . .

He turned the locket over in his hands.

This was neither as large as the locket he remembered seeing in the Pensieve, nor were there any markings upon it, no sign of the ornate S that was supposed to be Slytherin’s mark.

Moreover, there was nothing inside but for a scrap of folded parchment wedged tightly into the place where a portrait should have been.

Automatically, without really thinking about what he was doing, Harry pulled out the fragment of parchment, opened it, and read by the light of the many wands that had now been lit behind him:

To the Dark Lord,

I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret.

I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.

I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more.

R.A.B.

There were deep scratch marks in the paintwork below a small sign that he had not noticedin the dark.

He passed at the top of the stairs to read it.

It was aporapous little sign, neatly lettered by hand, the sort of thing that, Percy Weasley might have stuck on his bedroom door.

Do Not Enter

Without the Express Permission of

Regulus Arcturus Black

Excitement trickled through Harry, but he was not immediately sure why.

He read the sign again. Hermione was already a flight of stairs below him

“Hermione,” he said, and he was surprised that his voice was so calm. “Come back up here.”

“What’s the matter?”

“R.A.B. I think I’ve found him.”

There was a gasp, and then Hermione ran back up the stairs.

“In your mum’s letter? But I didn’t see— “

Harry shook his head, pointing at Regulus’s sign. She read it, then clutched Harry’s arm so tightly that he winced.