Heirlooms Are Curious Things
March 30th, 1981
Wearing black gloves during the winter was easy enough to get away with, but with spring around the corner, it was getting desperately harder for him to hide his hands. His excuses were starting to wear thin and it was only a matter of time before he’d have to take them off, but for now, this was all he had.
Pandora hadn’t exactly thrown a fit when she finally saw what had happened to Regulus’ hand, but she certainly was less than happy. He didn’t want to show it to her at first, he knew she’d be upset, but he couldn’t blame her. He hadn’t even meant to show her his hand, he was hoping she’d never have to see it, but knew that would never happen. He had come to visit her in her new home with Xenophilius out in Ottery St. Catchpole and had told her he had found another horcrux, but it hadn’t been easy. Of course, she wanted to know more, she wanted to know why it wasn’t easy this time. So, he told her. He told her everything that had happened while he had tried to get that ring.
The two sat together in her kitchen with a large window that looked over the rolling hills. The new house was a little larger than her parent’s home, but it was already filled to the brim with her trinkets and experiments, now mixed with those from Xenophilius as well. But the whole house was lit up well with large windows all around it that let the sunlight flow in.
“So then Evan and Severus know?” She asked, a little surprised. “And they didn’t say anything?”
“They haven’t yet.” Regulus said, shrugging.
“Why did Evan help you anyways?” Pandora asked.
Regulus paused for a moment, then looked down at his gloved hands. He sighed then pulled his glove off and lifted his hand, putting it out in front of her to see. She immediately gasped at his blackened veins running up his hand and along his arm.
“Reg… what… what happened to you?” She asked, concern floating through her eyes.
“I didn’t stop to think. I was so caught up in grabbing the horcrux and leaving after everything that had happened that I just leapt at it. I just picked it up without checking first and as soon as it touched me, I was cursed…” Regulus explained, staring at his hand.
“Does it hurt?” She asked.
“It did originally, but now it’s just sort of… there.” He shrugged.
“Good, then I don’t feel bad saying this.” She said, looking back up at him. “You are the dumbest, most clueless person I have ever met. The fact that you haven’t been killed yet is astonishing.”
Regulus stared at her, dumbstruck by her sudden bluntness.
“I’m sorry?” Regulus asked, still caught off guard.
“You heard what I said. I love you, Reg, but you’re an idiot.”
“Thanks…” He said sarcastically.
Pandora leaned back in her seat, folding her arms. She let out a sigh.
“Next horcrux you find, I’m coming with you.” She demanded, just waiting for him to try and fight back.
“But I-”
“But nothing.” She stopped him. “Every time you try to do it on your own, something goes horribly wrong and someone gets hurt… usually you. Face it, Reg, you need help and I’m not taking no for an answer.”
Regulus sat in silence for a second, thinking of any reason he could stop her from coming with him. Yes, she was always a great deal of help, but she was right, someone always does get hurt and he couldn’t let that be her. He couldn’t let that be anyone he cared about. If anyone should be getting hurt, it was going to be him and him alone.
“Panda, I- I can’t let you keep putting yourself in danger. You have a whole life ahead of you.” Regulus said.
“Reg, I went into a room filled with Death Eaters pretending to be you, just so you could sneak around unnoticed and no one suspected a thing!” Pandora reasoned.
“Severus did.” Reg said back.
“No, he didn’t suspect me. He didn’t realize anything was wrong until you left that bathroom.” Pandora said, knowing she was right.
Regulus sighed again and dropped his shoulders. He didn’t have anything else to say and he knew she was right… again. He did need help, he always needed help. He just never wanted it. At least, until now.
“Alright, fine, you can help me find the next one.” He finally gave in.
She grinned at him.
“Good because I’m not about to let you die from your own stupidity.” She teased.
He rolled his eyes at her.
After that, it was back to eavesdropping and researching and digging around in any part of the Dark Lord’s old life, trying to find anything more about him. Dumbledore had been no help again. As per usual, he had given him just enough information to send him on his way, but when Regulus had more questions, he was nowhere to be found. He knew sooner or later he was going to have to come to terms with the fact that he was going to be little help.
He didn’t have much information to go off of other than the Dark Lord’s name had once been Tom Riddle and anyone who could have been his family was now dead. He was starting to feel like he was at a loss again, pacing around the library in his house, trying to think of any connections, anything that could lead him in the right direction, but he had nothing. The Dark Lord had done a thorough job making sure no one would ever be able to dig up his past history and it was starting to get incredibly frustrating.
One night, during his late night research, he had fallen asleep at the desk in the corner, surrounded by open books and loose parchment. He wasn’t sure what time it was when he had fallen asleep, but he knew Pandora had found him passed out when she came to see how things were going and had woken him up.
“Reggie?” She said gently, nudging him.
He was startled awake, making her step back as his head suddenly shot up.
“Morning,” she said with a grin. “Have a nice sleep then?”
“Is it that obvious?” He joked as he rubbed his eyes.
Pandora smiled at his joke and sat down on the edge of the desk, picking up the open book his head had been resting on just moments before.
“Secrets of the Dark Arts,” she said, reading the title of the book aloud. “Seems a little on the nose.”
“I’m just trying to start somewhere. The Dark Lord is impossible to find anything on.” Regulus explained, sounding exasperated.
“Well, everything can be found eventually as long as you look in the right places.” Pandora said, putting the book back down on the desk.
Regulus hummed in agreement, standing up from the chair he had been in for so long to stretch his body. His back was sore, but stretching it seemed to help a little.
“I suppose… I mean I guess I did find you rather easily.” He said, thinking back to the day he had gone to Borgin & Burkes to find a replica locket.
He paced back and forth, stretching his legs and thinking back to that day. Mr. Borgin had laughed at him when he asked for a replica locket, but there was something else he said. What had he said?
Regulus stopped pacing as his eyes moved around the room, searching through his brain, trying to remember what he had said.
Regulus had asked him if he knew of a replica locket, then he laughed, then he said he had had one years ago, but something had happened to it. It had been stolen. Then, it suddenly clicked for him. What if the locket Mr. Borgin had had wasn’t a replica? What if it had been the real locket? What if he knew more than he had let on that day? He needed to speak to him immediately.
Regulus pulled out his wand, waving it at all the books that he had made a mess with as they all began to lift and float through the air and back to their designated spots on the shelves.
“Fancy a trip to Knockturn Alley?” Regulus asked as Pandora stood up from the desk.
“I would love to.” She said with a smile, clearly seeing the lightbulb turn on over his head.
Regulus opened the door to the library, gesturing for her to go first. “After you then.”
As they walked downstairs and outside, he quickly explained his thought process to her. He knew it could lead to nothing, but there was no time to risk it. Any lead they could find was like gold.
The two apparated into Knockturn Alley together, just a few shops down from their destination. Pandora began to walk down the alley with no hesitation, fearless as ever. She knew Knockturn Alley rather well and often had customers looking for her inventions here. Though many of them were dark wizards and witches and she was most definitely not, she was well respected here and no one ever questioned that. It was incredible the things she could get away with sometimes.
“Here we are.” She said, waiting for Regulus to catch up to her. “Shall we then?”
Regulus nodded and she pulled the door open, walking in first ahead of Regulus. Mr. Borgin was not behind the counter as he usually would be, but a bell was out. Pandora walked up to it and gave it a tap. Regulus stood at the counter, waiting patiently as Pandora’s eyes started to gaze around the room and soon enough, she had walked over to a nearby shelf, examining the assortment of oddities crammed onto it.
After a while, the door to the back room behind the counter swung open and Mr. Borgin stepped out with a book in his hand that he was carefully marking. He finally looked up and met his eyes with Regulus’. He quickly closed the book, leaving it on the back counter and giving his attention to him.
“Mr. Black! How nice to see you again.” He greeted him formally.
Pandora walked up to them again, rejoining Regulus.
“And Ms. Martou.” He said, a little more friendly.
“Oh it’s actually Lovegood now.” She corrected him with a smile. “But I’ve already told you, call me Pandora.”
Her and Xenophilius had recently gotten married in a small ceremony. There was no big celebration or anything, just a quick little ceremony for the two of them and that was it. Pandora had told Regulus it was all they really needed. She thought of having some sort of party for them in the late spring, but it was all very rushed. A lot of people seem to be rushing into marriages these days, Regulus thought, but if she was happy then so was he.
“Oh my apologies, Pandora.” Mr Borgin said, bowing his head a little. “And congratulations. Now, how can I help you two?”
“A little over a year ago, I was here looking for something.” Regulus explained.
“Yes, I remember.” Mr Borgin nodded. “You wanted a replica of Salazar Slytherin’s locket and I referred you to Pandora who I see you’ve become friendly with.”
“Yes, yes, but you said something to me when I asked you about a replica.” Regulus said, trying to gather his thoughts. “You mentioned you had one years ago, but that it was… stolen?”
Mr. Borgin sighed, raising his eyebrows as if he hoped no one would ever question him about the item.
“Yes, I did have one years ago and yes, it was stolen from me.” He said.
“Do you know what happened to it?” Regulus questioned further.
“I have my theories, none of which I can prove.”
“Okay… well, do you remember who you got it from?”
Mr. Borgin nodded.
“I do. She was a young girl, nervous little thing. Wasn’t big on talking a lot but she was desperate for money. Said she wanted to sell her family heirloom for anything. Bought it from her for only ten galleons. Normally, those things go for a lot more, but she didn’t seem to care.” Mr. Borgin explained, trying to remember as best as he could.
“Did you ever get a name from her?”
“Nope, wouldn’t say.”
It could have been Merope Gaunt he had bought it from. It was possible, but they had no solid proof. At least it was a start.
Regulus thought a little harder about what else he could ask him, but his mind kept drawing blanks. Then, Pandora spoke up.
“Borgin? Does the name ‘Tom Riddle’ sound familiar at all?” She asked casually.
Mr. Borgin stopped and turned his full attention to her.
“Yes it does. I had a Tom Riddle work here ages ago. He was fresh out of Hogwarts and incredibly brilliant. I was surprised he didn’t want a job at the ministry, he could have been the next minister.” Mr Borgin said, sounding like a disappointed father.
“Tom Riddle worked here?” Regulus asked, a little surprised. The thought of the Dark Lord working any job surprised him.
“Oh yeah. Poor kid had a rough life, both parents dead, left to an orphanage. He worked for me for a while, going out to appraise items for me, but he disappeared around the same time as the locket. I always wondered if he had anything to do with it. Especially when the last customer I had him speak to turned up dead… though the ministry says it was her house elf that did it.” Mr Borgin crossed his arms and leaned back on the counter. “Why do you need to know all this anyways?”
“Just trying to connect some things.” Regulus replied. “Do you remember what it was that he went to appraise before the person turned up dead?”
Mr Borgin thought to himself for a moment.
“Her name was Hepzibah Smith, always claimed she was a descendant of Helga Hufflepuff and always had something to show. It was a necklace or something.” He said.
If the Dark Lord had stolen anything from her to make a horcrux, it would have more than likely been the cup, which he had already destroyed. He thought about it hard again. What was it that connected these items? It wasn’t random - it was never random with the Dark Lord. There was always a purpose, a meaning to it. Dumbledore had told him that he always had a knack for collecting trophies from his victories and Regulus surely knew that to be true.
“Is there anything else I can help you with? I do have a lot of inventory I still need to finish.” Mr. Borgin said.
“No, that’s fine. Thank you.” Regulus said as he tried his hardest to gather his thoughts.
What items had he gotten already? He had found the locket, the cup, the diary, and the ring. What did they have in common though? Well, the locket had been a family heirloom that his mother had most likely owned and sold. The diary had more than likely been his during his school years. The ring had belonged to his biological grandfather and would have also been an heirloom, but the cup. The cup had no personal value to him other than it was most likely one of his first times killing someone, but it had been a valuable item of one of the Hogwarts founders… so had the locket. That’s when something new clicked in his mind.
Regulus quickly looked up to talk to Pandora, but she had disappeared again. He looked around a little frantically until he found her crouched in front of another shelf, looking through little figurines of trolls.
“Panda!” He called to her as he quickly approached her.
She turned her head and stood back up.
“You were a Ravenclaw, right?” He asked.
“Yes, very good, Regulus.” She teased him. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Do you know if Rowena Ravenclaw had an heirloom or some sort of object? You know how Slytherin had the locket, Hufflepuff had the cup, Gryffindor had the sword. Did Ravenclaw have anything?”
Pandora thought to herself for a moment.
“I’m not sure… Well actually, there is the lost diadem.” She said, unsure. “But what does that have to- wait do you think he tried to make a horcrux from each of the Hogwarts founders’ heirlooms?”
Regulus nodded.
“I’ve already gotten two out of four and I know for a fact he didn’t get the sword because Dumbledore has it, but what are the chances he got at least three out of four?” Regulus asked.
It made sense to him now. If the Dark Lord had once lived in an orphanage, he may have seen Hogwarts as a home. That was where the personal connection was - the one place he may have felt at home. Now, the question was, how do you find a lost diadem?
“How much do you know about the diadem?” Regulus asked.
Pandora shrugged.
“Not much. No one really knows much about it.” She said. “If that’s somehow the next horcrux, who knows how we would find that.”
Regulus sighed as he watched his only lead crumble before him. Just when he thought he might be getting close, there it went. How do you possibly find a diadem that’s been missing for years? It could be anywhere…
No… it would have to be somewhere personal to him.
As he continued to think, trying to rack his brain, he saw someone pass the shop window with familiar long, curly, black hair and a stride only she could own. Bellatrix. He saw her pass the window and to his luck, she didn’t seem to notice him, not paying any attention to the shop as she passed by.
“I think we should get going.” Regulus suggested to Pandora quietly.
She nodded, following him back out of the shop. They apparated away, but this time they went back to Pandora’s home again, more because of Regulus’ fear of returning to Grimmauld Place to find one of his cousins there.
When they both landed, they walked up the little stone path and Pandora and Regulus noticed someone crouched in the flowerbed in the front garden.
“Phil, hun, what are you doing?” Pandora asked with curiosity.
Xenophilius turned his head around, throwing his hair as blond as Pandora’s out of his face. His face had some dirt on it, but he was as smiley as ever. He had a pail in one hand and the other seemed to be digging around in the dirt.
“I thought I saw gnomes, thought I’d give them some snacks so they’ll be happy and full for the summer. Keeps them from getting to the vegetables.” He explained as he stood up and wiped the dirt from his knees. “Oh, hello Regulus.”
“Hello again.” Regulus nodded politely. “How are you, Phil?”
“Lovely now. I’m about to have a beautiful vegetable patch!” He said with a big smile.
Xenophilius was a bit of an odd man and he had some strange theories about nargles and the ministry, but he was always very kind. He did have a similar personality to Pandora, though his was like if you cranked Pandora’s up by about a hundred.
Regulus and Pandora went inside and sat down in the kitchen as they often did, Xenophilius not far behind them. They fixed up some sandwiches for lunch and Regulus kept thinking about the diadem. It was the only thing on his mind and yet he didn’t even know what it looked like. He knew it was basically a tiara and assumed that maybe it was blue and silver like the Ravenclaw house colours, but that was just a guess.
“So, what are you two up to today?” Xenophilius asked, dropping the pail on the kitchen counter and pulling off his ragged, old gardening gloves.
“Reg and I were just talking about Ravenclaw’s lost diadem.” Pandora said casually. Neither of them had told him about anything to do with the horcruxes. Pandora was often out due to her work and rarely ever questioned her reasons for going out. They both figured it would be better to keep him out of the loop for now.
“An interesting thing, isn’t it?” Xenophilius said. “How sad it is that no one alive has ever seen it?”
“Very…” Regulus said.
They all went quiet again as Xenophilius turned away from them, turning the kitchen sink on to wash his hands and splash some water in his face.
“I wonder if any of the Hogwarts ghosts would know anything about it.” Xenophilius said casually as he tried to scrub some of the dirt from his finger nails.
No one alive has ever seen it… but the Hogwarts ghosts aren’t alive…
Suddenly, everything started to fall into place again. Regulus quickly looked up at Pandora with wide eyes as if he had been slapped in the face with the answer. Then, he quickly turned to Xenophilius’ direction.
“Phil, you’re a genius!” Regulus said enthusiastically to which Xenophilius just nodded as he kept scrubbing the dirt. “Panda, I think we need to go to Hogwarts.”