Voldemort was worried, and rightly so. He misplaced one of his Horcruxes. Never in the past he'd have thought something like this was possible. And yet, he had most assuredly lost Nagini. The worst thing was he was unsure whether Nagini was captured, dead, or absconding.
There was, however, a much more dangerous possibility.
The piece of his soul inside Nagini could've decided to take complete control over his familiar and make a run for it. All his other Horcruxes were inanimate objects, and therefore he could control the behaviour of those Horcruxes. Nagini, on the other hand, was a fiercely intelligent creature. There was no telling how much influence his soul could exert over a creature like Nagini. There was even a distinct possibility that his soul could've assimilated Nagini's soul and magic to strengthen itself.
The nature of a Horcrux was such that it stood in defiance against all natural laws. Since Nagini was the first sentient Horcrux to have existed, it was unknown how far it could change from its fundamental state.
'I should not have created a Horcrux in my reduced state.' Voldemort thought as he overlooked the graveyard.
Abandoning the search for now, he looked towards the Gaunt shack. His body suddenly became black smoke as he took on his spectral form and flew towards the Gaunt shack. He easily bypassed the obstacles of overgrown trees and other creepers surrounding his mother's old home. As his feet touched the ground, he could feel his enchantments activate. Small metallic snakes began to crawl out from the soil, their silver bodies gleaming under the moonlight.
"Stop."
Voldemort hissed in Parseltongue. The snakes paused and eyed him warily, waiting for the next order.
"Return to your posts and guard my treasure."
He moved forward unchallenged while the guardians of his Horcrux crawled back deep into the soil. The wards and enchantments he tethered to the shack welcomed him. It was comforting to know that his protections were left untouched, which means his source of immortality remains intact even after all these years.
'Perhaps, I misjudged Dumbledore as an adversary. The Headmaster remains ignorant of the Horcruxes even after thirteen years.' he mused.
Voldemort flicked his yew wand making the floorboards move aside, and a small wooden box floated up towards him. Slowly, the box opened, and he saw the Gaunt ring. It was his inheritance, the last piece of worthwhile heirloom the House of Gaunt possessed. There was nothing else to the name of House Gaunt other than this rundown shack which was worthless in his eyes.
Letting out a scoff, he set his Horcrux back in its place before apparating away to Malfoy manor.
His trusted Death Eaters were waiting for his arrival, gathered at the base of his throne. There was Lucius, Severus, and many lower-tier Death Eaters like David Mcnair, Amycus Carrow, and Alecto Carrow. He lamented at the fact that he only had three competent Death Eaters in his service. Out of which, Lucius was the only one that had so far been of any significant use. Severus was useful in keeping tabs on Dumbledore, but the old man was, as usual, barely making any moves that threatened him. Seriously, he wondered what was going through Dumbledore's head when the man sent emissaries to the Giants, werewolves, and vampire clans. It was not like these creatures were ever going to stay out of the opportunity that he offered to spread carnage.
Then there was Evan Rosier, who had kept his activities a secret. Evan worked better in the shadows anyway, and he didn't want word of Evan's survival reaching the Ministry's or Dumbledore's ears. The rest of the Death Eaters were useless in his eyes. Perhaps, they'd be useful once he gained a grip on the Ministry and a favourable position in the war that was about to come. Until then, their use remained in raising the gold he needed to keep the werewolves happy.
"Lucius, you start. What news do you have for us from the Ministry?" he asked, his red eyes boring into the grey eyes of the blonde-haired wizard.
"Everything is proceeding as planned. The DMLE is kept engaged by pursuing the werewolves across the countryside. I've made sure they go after the werewolves from the list Greyback gave us. It should cut down the naysayers among the werewolves and increase the strength of our werewolf allies."
"Good. I'm not ignorant of your concerns Lucius. Greyback is growing too strong using our generosity. I shall look into an alternative to Greyback should the beast become too bothersome to our goals. For now, we must use the beast on our enemies." said Voldemort, knowing well that Greyback could become a costly mistake if he were not careful.
"Thank you, my lord. I've discreetly inquired about the orb that has caught your interest." Lucius tentatively said.
"Oh!" Voldemort sat up in interest, steepling his fingers. "Do go on."
"Unfortunately, the Unspeakables won't allow anyone from outside their order to gain access to their department. Perhaps, if we had Rookwood amongst us, we could've been more successful, my lord." Lucius reported.
Voldemort was disappointed that it wouldn't be easy to gain access to the Prophecy. He needed to know the rest of the Prophecy if he were to move against Potter. He could not afford to face Potter without full knowledge of the Prophecy. For too many times, the Potter boy had escaped him, and he had to know what made the boy special. The clue must be in the Prophecy, and if he could find the clue, he could easily defeat his nemesis and end the threat to his power before the boy grows too powerful.
But Lucius was right. Having Rookwood would undoubtedly gain further insight into the inner workings of the Department of Mysteries and the Unspeakables that work in that obscure department of the Ministry of Magic.
"My lord. I've got an idea to secure the orb. I do not know whether it'll be successful, but if I have your blessing, then I'll make an attempt on the orb." said Lucius.
Voldemort eyed Lucius for a moment before slowly nodding.
"Make sure you are not directly involved, Lucius. I'd hate for you to incur the wrath of the Unspeakables or even get exposed before the Ministry at this juncture."
"I shall be conscientious, my lord." Lucius bowed.
Voldemort nodded before setting his eyes on his spy in Dumbledore's camp.
"What do you have to report, Severus?" he asked imperiously.
"Dumbledore is gathering more allies as we speak. He is approaching old pureblood families and beseeching them to be on guard against your influence." Snape reported.
"Hmm." Voldemort hummed, looking thoughtful.
The death of his chief Death Eaters had indeed depleted his following. It didn't help that most of the extended families of the Death Eaters blamed him for the death of their family members in the graveyard. Combined with Dumbledore's outreach to many of the old families in recent months, had left him with few supporters in the Wizengamot. Even the Notts have gone into hiding, and they were one of his oldest supporters.
'No matter. They'll all come crawling back once my most loyal Death Eaters are released from Azkaban.' he mused.
"What about Potter? Has Dumbledore started training the Potter boy to face me in battle?" Voldemort asked, a bit excited at the prospect of crossing wands with his main nemesis on the battlefield.
"No, my lord." Snape answered.
"What do you mean no? Why would Dumbledore not train Harry Potter?" Voldemort asked with a frown.
"Now that you've regained your full-fledged form, Dumbledore fears the Potter boy is vulnerable to your mind arts."
Snape's answer only confused Voldemort further. Why would Dumbledore believe so? It was not as if he could reach Harry Potter and use mind arts on the boy. The boy was far away from him, enjoying the safety of Hogwarts.
"Explain." he commanded.
"The Potter boy claimed his scar flared up in pain whenever you were close to the boy in his first year. Dumbledore believes a magical connection was formed after your curse rebounded, my lord. He thinks your mind is connected to Potter, and he fears his proximity to Potter might function as a trigger and lets you gain access to Potter's mind."
Voldemort was very much confused and giddy at the same time. He was not exactly sure whether there was any connection between his mind to Harry Potter's mind. If there was a connection, as Snape suggested, then he was bound to notice it earlier. If this connection was real, then he could go about using it to his advantage.
'I need to explore all possibilities.'
XXXXXX
Harry found himself attending the first project meeting of Ancient Runes. He ended up getting paired with Daphne, but that was Professor Babbling's choice, while Hermione ended up getting paired with Tracey. He got the feeling Professor Babbling purposefully paired him with Daphne specifically to curb his more ambitious projects from coming to fruition.
"No, we won't be doing anything that has to do with muggles and their strange trinkets." Daphne put her foot down on his idea to develop a runic array that could potentially shield muggle electronics from getting fried in a dense magical environment.
"Oh, come on. It'll be fun."
"No, it'll not be fun. Have you given it no thought, Harry? You'd be breaking one of the provisions of the Statute of Secrecy. Wizards and witches are not allowed to magically charm any objects of muggle origin. They are heavily regulated by the Ministry of Magic." Daphne pointed out, looking at him as if he had lost his mind.
"Well…" Harry rubbed the back of his neck a bit embarrassedly.
"You didn't even think about it, did you?" Daphne asked, rolling her eyes. "And to think I thought you were smart and not an unthinking Gryffindor."
"Hey!"
They bounced back ideas back and forth for the rest of the hour and came up with a list of ideas they thought were worthy enough to pursue. Simply coming up with the idea was not enough for their project to get approved by Professor Babbling. They had to do some research and present the concept before Professor Babbling in coherent and sensible language. If the Professor was not convinced they were not prepared to take on the task, she reserves the right to reject their idea, and then they would be back to square one. It took them three days of constant brainstorming to come up with an idea both of them could stand by. They even had a backup idea if the first one failed to meet the approval of Professor Babbling.
And that was how they ended up before the scrutinizing stare of their Ancient Runes Professor. Their professor eyed them both doubtfully.
"Are you sure you two can construct a runic chain that can absorb memories and display them mid-air?"
"We can." Harry said confidently.
"What about you Miss Greengrass? Keep in mind Potter already completed what constitutes for project work last year. I merely assigned him to you so that I won't have to create a three-person project team. If this project work fails, it'll affect your OWL grade alone." Professor Babbling warned, making Daphne squirm.
"I understand. I'd like to proceed with the project Professor." Daphne said.
"All right then." Professor Babbling nodded, taking the piece of parchment they gave her and putting her signature on it, giving her approval of the project. "You two will have to present your findings six months from now. It'll be a preliminary assessment. If I'm not convinced of your progress, I'll cancel your project, and you two will have to start from the beginning. Am I understood?"
"Yes, Professor." they chorused.
"A month before your OWL exam starts, I'll ask for you to submit the project in its entirety. Whether you finished your project or not is irrelevant at that time. I'll ask for your project, and you'll submit it without fail, as I'll allow no concession on the submission date." Professor Babbling said, looking far more serious than she usually appeared.
"We understand, Professor." Daphne said, a bead of a wet forming on her forehead as she squirmed under the stare of Professor Babbling.
"Good. Tomorrow evening, I'll give you a list of books that you'll find useful for your project. If there is nothing else, you may leave."
Harry and Daphne came out of Professor Babbling's office only to see Professor Umbridge coming their way.
"Mr Potter, Miss Greengrass. What are you doing here?" Umbridge asked in a sickly-sweet voice that came off as patronising more than anything else.
"We were attending a review meeting for our Ancient Runes project with Professor Babbling." said Harry, in an even tone.
"And you have a note to prove Professor Babbling granting you permission to walk freely during school hours?" Umbridge flashed them a simpering smile.
"This is our free hour Professor." said Daphne, but the Ministry stooge just smiled at Daphne indulgently.
"Of course, dear. It seems there is a lot of free time for students when they should be attending classes." Umbridge mused aloud.
Harry got the urge to laugh at the pink toad's face or even just smash the idiot woman's teeth in. He knew it was irrational to hate Umbridge since the woman had so far avoided him, which he was only too happy to reciprocate. He wondered whether Umbridge was just looking for a confrontation after studying the general ambience of Hogwarts. An absentee Headmaster and an increasingly divided student populace of Hogwarts was a thriving environment for a snollygoster like Umbridge.
"Professor Umbridge. Is there a problem?" Professor Babbling suddenly asked, appearing behind Harry and Daphne as if summoned.
Harry and Daphne quietly excused themselves as the two Hogwarts professors made chit-chat in the middle of the hallway.
"I don't like that insufferable woman. She is just too creepy." said Daphne once they were out of earshot of the two professors.
"What else is new?" Harry muttered.
Harry suddenly paused, forcing Daphne to stop walking.
"What? Did you forget something?" she asked with a frown.
"No." Harry eyed the corridor where he just saw Helena Ravenclaw floating away in her ghostly form.
Seeing the ghostly form of Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter gave him an idea to make it less complicated for the ritual he was planning to perform this week.
"Daphne, you just go ahead. I'll be right back."
"No, wait! Harry, where are you going?" Daphne called out after him as he ran after the ghost of Ravenclaw's daughter.
"I'll explain later. Trust me. You go ahead to the library. I'll be right back." he yelled back as he chased after Helena Ravenclaw.
No matter the speed his legs could manifest, he was no match for the ease at which the ghost of Ravenclaw's daughter glided through the many halls of Hogwarts. To make matters worse, the moving stairs of Hogwarts decided to dump him on the third floor when he was supposed to go to the fifth floor. He was out of breath and sweating a river, but he was unable to catch up with Helena Ravenclaw.
"Hey, Harry."
He nearly jumped at the sudden voice coming from nowhere. When he found the owner of the voice, it turned out to be none other than Luna Lovegood.
"Luna." Harry gasped. "You startled me. What're you doing here?"
"Oh me? I was just looking for some Nargles." Luna said airily before pulling down the purple-colored glasses on her face, which were somehow tucked inside her sandy blonde hair. "And I've found them. You seem to be carrying around a lot of Nargles on you, Harry."
Harry cracked out a laugh as some of the tension that was built up vented out, leaving him a bit more composed.
"These Nargles… What exactly do they do to ya?" Harry raised an eyebrow curiously.
"Oh, they prey on unsuspecting minds and create discord, Harry. The only way to ward them off is with this…" Luna touched her Butterbeer cork necklace and showed it off to Harry.
"I see." he said, nodding slowly.
"So, you were running after Helena. Why do you want to meet her, Harry?" Luna asked, tilting her head to the side and looking at him curiously with her pale blue eyes.
"You saw her?" he asked, startled.
"I may have." Luna said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Can you lead me to her?" he asked politely.
"I suppose. If I don't help you, the Nargles will make short work of you, Harry." said Luna before happily skipping away with a spring in her steps.
Harry shook his head and trailed after his Ravenclaw friend. Along the way, Luna explained to him in detail the dangers of getting exposed to Nargles for a long time. She even gifted him a spare Butterbeer cork necklace she kept as a backup. He didn't have the heart to deny the gift from Luna. So, he took it promising to himself that he'd add Luna to his list of important friends worthy of getting a gift from him on the Winter Solstice. They walked quite a lot in the castle, but Luna kept her promise and found Helena Ravenclaw for him. The long-dead daughter of the infamous Rowena Ravenclaw was looking down at the Hogwarts grounds from a tower close to the Ravenclaw dorms.
"Helena, Harry has something to ask of you." said Luna in a blunt manner which made Harry fear Helena would find it offensive.
Thankfully, the Ravenclaw ghost merely turned around and looked at him coldly.
"I'll leave you two to talk it out between yourselves." said Luna, trotting away whistling a jolly tune with her long sandy hair dancing on her back.
"First of all, I want to assure you that your mother's diadem is free of the dark curse desecrating it." Harry started, hoping the Horcruxe's destruction would be an excellent place to start.
"I already know. You destroyed my mother's diadem in the process." Helena said blandly.
"Uh… sorry for that. There was no other way to remove the curse." Harry was genuinely apologetic as he knew there was no other way. If there were a way, he'd have taken care to preserve the artefact of one of the great founders of Hogwarts.
Unfortunately, the destruction of the host object was the only way to destroy a Horcrux, especially when it comes to powerful magical containers acting as hosts to the soul shards.
"Don't be Harry Potter. Say what you have to say instead of wasting my time." Helena said sharply,
'She's one snippy witch.' he thought with a scowl.
"As you've probably learned by now, Riddle is back in a body. He is slowly regaining his power, and he seems hell-bent on trying his best to kill me. I've been trying to shorten the gap in magical power and knowledge with the Dark Lord. You can help me with…"
"I'm not interested, Harry Potter." Helena said coldly. "The wisdom and knowledge that I coveted from my mother only brought ruin to me. It'll no doubt bring ruin to you as well. The knowledge that requires no self-discipline to acquire is bound to be a curse rather than act as a source of wisdom or power."
"I do not covet your knowledge, Miss Ravenclaw. What I need is your willing consent to participate in a ritual of sorts." Harry hurriedly explained.
"A ritual? What kind of ritual?" Helena asked with a frown.
Here Harry knew he was taking a risk in trusting Helena Ravenclaw with the details of the ritual. But he had no other choice but to trust Helena. The other ghosts in Hogwarts were gossip queens, unlike Helena Ravenclaw, who was a treasure trove of secrets. Besides, he got the feeling that Helena would be inclined to help him out of her interest in seeing Voldemort's downfall. There was also the fact that she owed him a favour. After all, he did undo her mistake by destroying her mother's diadem.
Hoping against hope, he began narrating the ritual and what it entails to a curious Helena Ravenclaw.