𝒍𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒛𝒆 - pjo x hp [₂]

xl. erased, not gone

"𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄," 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐀 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄. The house elf had found a crumpled and hidden note in one of Regulus' old books. It'd mentioned different creatures, and there were multiple outlines and highlights on the Inferi section.

Raya read the random words on the note, frowning to herself. 'Inferi', 'locket', 'decoy'... Raya had no idea what the random words meant. Some were underlined, others were crossed out. It was a mess compared to Regulus' usual neat and tidy notes.

Loki, who'd been curled up on the bed, climbed up into Kayse's lap.

"What's that word?" Kayse asked, squinting as he pet Loki. "The one above locket. It's crossed out, I can't read it very well."

Rosie held the note close, trying to decipher the word. She spelled it out as best she could, and Kayse copied what the letters looked like to her. He muttered the word aloud, "Horcrux? What's that?"

Raya furrowed her brow. She'd never heard the word before, but she knew it had to be important. Every other word on the note had already been found somewhere else in Regulus' notes. Every thing except horcrux. It sounded big. Important.

"Thanks Rosie," Raya said to her house elf. "If you find anything on horcruxes in his notes, let us know. Or anything that might tell us more about his plans. You've been great help."

Rosie nodded, "It was a pleasure Miss Newbrooke. I'll let you know how much more I can find."

Raya waved away the Iris-Message, before going over the little notes she could find from Regulus' work. "Search up 'horcrux'," she told Kayse, trying to figure out what the notes were saying. "I feel like once we figure out what that means, we'll be able to make more sense of the rest of it."

Kayse nodded in agreement, pulling out his phone and beginning a search. It was generally considered unsafe for demigods to use phones, but Kayse was mortal. And Camp had protected boundaries, so Raya knew he'd be fine using it. 

Raya began writing down what she knew of the Inferi, from that essay Snape made her do earlier in the year. They were reanimated corpses, so almost like zombies. They were made using Dark Magic, and complex spells. They didn't feel pain, but they were vulnerable to fire. Besides that one weakness, they were nearly impossible to stop. Mainly because they were already dead.

After a few moments of searching, Kayse frowned. "There's nothing."

Raya raised a brow, lifting her head from her notes to look at him. "What do you mean, nothing?"

"Nothing," he repeated, turning the screen and showing her how there was absolutely nothing on horcruxes. As if the mere idea of them had been wiped clean from the internet. "It's like they've been erased from existence."

Raya's thoughts flashed back to some books she'd seen before—in the Hogwarts Library, and the Black Library—where huge chunks of pages were just ripped out. Or blank. She had a sudden feeling that those pages would've contained information about horcruxes.

"That's what we've been missing," she realized, straightening slowly. "Whatever a horcrux is, it's the key to actually understanding Regulus Black. Come on." She got up, slinging her coat on and grabbing her backpack. 

Kayse settled Loki on the bed and did the same, taking her hand. "Where are we going? Is there a library nearby?"

Raya nodded, "We're gonna see if they have any information on what a horcrux is."

The two of them apparated away, Raya leading him to the library closest Camp. They went inside, away from the cold and into the cozy warmth of the library. It was larger in the inside, which was a given considering it was a Wizard library. Raya and Kayse made their way through the halls, searching the shelves.