The Girl Who Saw Tomorrow II » Harry Potter

2.24 | A Perilous Temptation

The tinkering of little silver instruments was the first thing that greeted Margaret when she entered the Headmaster's office. Nothing had changed since the last time she had been in there, not even Fawkes's place by the door. However, the phoenix himself was nowhere in sight.

"Professor?" she calls. "Hello...?"

Receiving no answer, she deduced that Dumbledore wasn't there either. She looked around, noting that the portraits were all asleep in their frames. Outside, the sun was beginning to set behind the mountaintops of Scotland, the breeze at this height in the middle of a valley refreshing as ever.

Just as Margaret was about to approach the railing, something glinted in the corner of her eye, making her pause. Curious, she approached the desk, inhaling sharply when she saw what it was.

The Gaunt ring, with its gold band and rather large black diamond, sat in the middle of the desk. Next to it laid the damaged diary of Tom Marvolo Riddle, on top of which Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem.

However, the diadem was no longer intact when she had tried to destroy it almost a month ago. Instead, the sapphire on it was cracked badly, the claws of the tiara bent. The ring was no different – the gold band was cut in half, though the black diamond looked untouched. They both looked as if they had been struck by something sharp.

Margaret exhaled shakily. Two more horcruxes had been destroyed.

An unexpected wave of relief washed over her, forcing her to perch on one of the chairs. They were two steps closer to defeating Voldemort, two steps closer to winning the war, two steps closer to ending all of this and saving as many people as they can...

It didn't matter that Margaret couldn't destroy the diadem herself. It was one less thing for her to worry about, and for that, she was grateful.

Her eye caught the ring again. She knew very well what it had done to Dumbledore's hand. The curse on it was irreversible, placed on it by Tom Riddle when he hid it in the ruins of the Gaunt Shack, his maternal family's home.

However, that wasn't what made Margaret wonder.

Dumbledore had lived many years, dealt with the most heinous sort of dark arts, and knew Tom Riddle better than anyone did. Yet, he reached for this very ring without checking for curses, without any sort of precaution... He made a mistake that nearly cost him his life.

And that was what perplexed Margaret. Albus Dumbledore was the cleverest wizard alive, it was not in his nature to make such silly mistakes. What made him act so carelessly in that instance?

Tentatively, Margaret reached forward, letting her fingertip brush the ring. Nothing whatsoever happened, so she gingerly picked it up.

A triangle, a circle and a line forming a mark that looked a bit like an eye. It wasn't exactly engraved on the black stone, but shone from within, glinting like a streak of lightning in the night sky.

Margaret knew a thing or two about lightning – dangerous, powerful, something to admire from afar. She also knew exactly what this stone was, and she had no doubt that so did Dumbledore.

The temptation to use the stone's powers was unbearable, yet it was also the answer to her question...

How ironic was it that it had all come down to this, completing a full circle...

Years ago, this stone would have been the very reason Dumbledore would have wanted to find the Deathly Hallows with his then-friend Gellert Grindelwald. Dumbledore wanted nothing more than to see his family again, and only realised his mistakes when he lost even those who were still there.