What James had planned happened. The spell that turns wizards into Squibs was accepted by everyone in the magical community. A great deterrent weapon in these turbulent times.
The scavengers who were joining the Death Eaters or other wizards out of fear stopped joining their ranks. The fear of losing your magic forever was far greater.
On the other hand, the information they obtained from Rosier I was of great help. The middle-aged man revealed everything he knew. His worst nightmare is to become a Squib, lose his magic, and turn into a Muggle. He would rather betray the Dark Lord than face that.
Rosier I, told them about the true identity of Lord Voldemort. His real name is Tom Riddle, a student who attended Hogwarts in the 1940s. Tom was the most talented student and a member of the Slytherin House.
Rosier I was a companion of Tom's, joining his gang in which only Slytherin members of noble birth and great talent were accepted. According to Rosier, this gang was the precursor to the Death Eaters. As one of its members who had followed him since their school days, he continued to follow him as an adult when Tom returned after a journey that lasted for years.
The most important thing about this is that they got names. Rosier I is from Voldemort's school days. He knew more information than any Death Eater despite the secrecy Voldemort maintained in his operations.
To avoid losing his magic, Rosier I told them about the members of Tom Riddle's gang who were the original Death Eaters. They are: Avery I, Ivar Lestrange, Mulciber I, and the already imprisoned Andrew Nott, father of Anastasia.
As for the Death Eaters of the newer generations, he had no idea, as the Dark Lord kept everyone hidden, only he knew the identities of all. However, they had very important information. These people were the pillars of the Death Eaters, the first ones. It is also certain that their families are involved in the dark rebellion.
Days passed, and more Death Eaters fell at the hands of the Aurors and the Ministry's forces. The balance was starting to tip in their favor.
All of this made people begin to trust the Ministry again, seeing that they could fight the rebellion effectively without resorting to the brutality used by the Death Eaters.
James was happy to solve one of the problems that worried him the most. That problem was that Muggle-borns and half-bloods would join the Death Eaters, whether out of fear or a thirst for power. Many wizards showed supremacist tendencies, and they didn't even belong to pure-blood families.
This caused the Death Eaters to have these wizards in their ranks, which made the Aurors vastly outnumbered, but thanks to the spell that turns you into a Squib and the Ministry's successful skirmishes, wizards stopped joining them and sided with the good.
James' order began to gain popularity due to its continuous successes. The members gained more and more experience, eventually matching the professional Aurors. Wars create strong men and women.
In the following days, James focused on creating a powerful sword. He sensed that the end of the war was near. The Death Eaters were increasingly cornered. They had made a mistake by making their circle so closed and exclusive. The Muggle-borns and half-bloods, scavengers, etc., whom they had once despised, now tipped the scales against them since they were no longer afraid of them.
Even many pure-blood families that had been tempted to join the Death Eaters put those thoughts aside, as they didn't want to lose their magic. This new curse terrified many supremacists.
James paid a lot of money to an expert goblin blacksmith to create a sword of great hardness. The forging process lasted several days, and it was forged in pure silver. The hilt was decorated with red and yellow gemstones.
Once the magical sword was in his hands, James began perfecting it, creating a sword capable of resisting Unforgivable Curses and cutting through them.
During this time, he conducted many experiments by inscribing ancient runes on regular swords. He felt ready.
Along the silver blade, he engraved ancient runes, infusing the magical sword with even more powers than it already had. He reinforced the sword's durability, which was already one of the best. He didn't know exactly how durable it was now, but it had to be nearly indestructible. He then added the ability to cut through spells. He had seen these runes countless times on the weapons of Dai Ryusaki. He tried to make it more complex, to increase its power. Only time would tell if his invention was successful or not.
'It's ready,' James thought with a cold smile, looking at the sword that gleamed.
Objects struck by Unforgivable Curses typically explode, but that would not be the case for this sword. What expression would Voldemort have when his signature killing curse is cut through by a sword, and then that sword is plunged into him?
It was well known that Voldemort was a skilled caster of the killing curse. His record held many murders with this Unforgivable Curse.
"It will be my trump card," James thought, as he sheathed the sword in a simple, entirely black scabbard.
'James...'
James received a message in his mind—a thought projection, to be exact. The signal was weak, but he knew who it was from.
He approached a window and opened it. Then, his body began to tremble until he transformed into a peregrine falcon. He took off in less than a second, flying at great speed toward a forest located several kilometers from Potter Manor, where the signal was stronger.
The rings were still not perfect for messaging. The distance between James and Regulus exceeded a hundred kilometers.
Finally, he perched on a large branch of a tall tree and returned to his human form. Sitting on the tree, he sent a telepathic message to Regulus, "What's going on? I've got a signal now."
"This is serious, James..." Regulus said. His voice had changed a bit over the years. It was deeper than before.
Without wasting time, Regulus began to tell James his new report.
Voldemort had asked Regulus for the use of his house elf, Kreacher. He agreed as he didn't have much choice when the leader of the organization asked you for a favor. If he refused, he could put himself in danger, as Voldemort did not fear the Blacks. He only wanted to use them for his purposes, and his hand wouldn't tremble if he needed to kill them.
Voldemort took the elf to a cave and forced him to drink a potion of emerald green color. The potion caused Kreacher to experience delusions, nightmares, intense stomach pains, and dehydration. What Kreacher saw at the bottom of the basin containing the potion was a locket. He only managed a glance before collapsing on the ground, weak and in great pain.
Then, Voldemort left the cave, abandoning the house-elf to die. Thanks to his special type of magic, Kreacher was able to vanish from the cave and follow Regulus' orders to return home once his task was completed. Regulus gave him plenty of water to drink until he was satisfied.
Regulus was furious about the way Voldemort had treated his elf, but something didn't quite add up. Why had he taken him to a cave on foot, forcing him to drink a potion that nearly killed him? His elf had only escaped thanks to his magic, so it was likely that the cave was protected against apparition and disapparition. That was the conclusion Regulus reached, as Kreacher told him they had walked to the cave.
Regulus began to think about Voldemort's motives behind these actions. It wasn't hard to realize that Voldemort wanted to test the effects of that horrendous potion. And why did he use the anti-disapparition and anti-apparition protections? There was only one answer—he was trying to protect the locket.
During his meetings as a Death Eater, while sitting at the same table as Voldemort, Regulus recalled some of Voldemort's remarks about immortality and very dark magic.
All of this made him think that Voldemort had made a Horcrux. That's the object he wanted to protect. The locket is a Horcrux.
A Horcrux is an object in which a wizard has hidden a fragment of their soul to become immortal. As long as the object remained intact, so did the soul fragment within, keeping the creator tethered to the living world, even if their body suffered fatal damage. The Horcrux was considered by far the most dreadful of all Dark Magic. Regulus knew about this, as Dark Magic was one of his areas of interest, and he had books in his library with hundreds of years of history.
James also knew a bit about Horcruxes. He was very shocked at how mad Voldemort was for creating such a cursed object. They could only be made after committing a murder.
Since Horcruxes were extremely valuable to those who made them, protective measures were usually taken to prevent them from being stolen or destroyed.
Regulus was 99% sure that what the Dark Lord wanted to protect was a Horcrux. If that were true, it would be terrible news for them, as the fiend could return even after being killed and attempt another rebellion.