When the Roses Bloom Again by TheBlack'sResurgence

Chapter 106

The burden I Carry

December 1971

The remains of the few inferi that Tom had housed within the lake in the cave gave off the stench of decayed and seared flesh, since Albus had immolated them.

Evidently, the man had either been desecrating graves, or had been much busier than any knew to create the group that were guarding the locket that had once belonged to Salazar Slytherin.

The protections in the cave, however, were incomplete.

The doorway that demanded a blood sacrifice was weak, and the boat that carried a single passenger to the island in the centre of the lake had not even been concealed.

The awful concoction Tom or one of his followers had brewed still needed to mature, and though ridding the basin of the liquid had been challenging, Albus had managed to do so without the need to drink it.

Others would not have fared so well, but the headmaster was an exceptionally skilled wizard, so the incomplete protections had hindered him little.

Albus released a deep breath as his gaze swept around the cave, and he shook his head at the thought of what had happened here when Tom Riddle had been but a boy.

A simple conversation with Mrs Cole, the now elderly, former matron at the orphanage had pointed him in the direction of Dennis Bishop and Amy Benson, the two victims of the unprovoked attack that had left both muggles severely traumatised by what Tom had done to them.

Dennis had sadly taken his own life, never recovering from the ordeal, and Amy was still haunted by it.

Still, she had told Albus enough for him to find the cave, and the moment he did, he could feel Tom's magic within.

The result was the locket he was levitating in front of him, the part of Tom's soul housed withing desperately trying to break into his mind.

It was indeed a dangerous object, and the quicker Albus could dispose of it, the better.

With a sigh, he created a replica and placed it in the basin before disappearing from the cave.

His journey to discover anything pertaining to Tom's Horcruxes had been difficult, and only made more so by a certain, uncooperative ghost that roamed the castle.

Helena had become distraught at the mention of Tom, and it had taken weeks to convince her to speak of her time with the boy.

As many others had before her, Helena had been a victim of Tom's manipulations, all in the name of discovering secrets of the castle.

Albus doubted the boy had relied on discovering another priceless artefact in the process, but Helena had revealed the location of the diadem to him, and Albus knew he had obtained it on his travels.

Where it was now, he knew not, but he would find it.

That only left the ring, and the diary that Harry had mentioned, but between the two of them, Albus was confident they would get them all.