Harry Riddle || Harry potter

961 Chapter 26: The Pendant of Lord Grindelwald

The Great Hall buzzed with morning activity. Headmaster Dumbledore sat in his usual spot at the Head Table, ever so often glancing in Harry's direction with those twinkling blue eyes, almost as if to make sure he wasn't about to pull out his wand and do something horrible.

Severus entered the Great Hall as he usually did - his robes flaring behind him and a scowl on his face. Sabine, ever the social butterfly, sauntered around the tables, greedily scarfing down scraps of food which the students gave her.

Ronald Weasley sat at the Gryffindor Table, his short fire-red hair messy and bags under his eyes, talking in hushed, hurried whispers with Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas.

"So the centaur mentioned something about someone who had been waiting fifty years to return to life?" demanded Hermione. She and Neville had taken to always sitting at the Slytherin Table, except on special occasions.

Harry nodded, a piece of bacon halfway to his mouth. "He was rather cryptic."

"That's how centaurs are," Draco said. "But you should understand them, Harry - they do talk in riddles, after all."

Neville laughed awkwardly. Harry just stared at him blankly. "Bad pun, Draco."

Neville's weak laughter stopped.

"But who could he have meant?" Hermione continued, staring at him intently. She seemed to have forgotten her food in favor of the discussion.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I don't know, Hermione," he said around a bite of toast. "And, truthfully, I really don't care. I still have exams to study for. I'm wondering why you of all people aren't more worried about that!"

"Oh come on, Harry! You have the highest grades in the bloody school! You don't need to be worried about it. And besides – I have been studying. Ever since before Easter Break."

Harry gritted his teeth and absentmindedly pulled Grindelwald's Pendant out of his shirt to twirl around. It had become a bit of a habit of his.

"Nice necklace, Harry!" Hermione's eyes were gleaming. She dropped her fork (which she had just picked up) back onto her plate. "Where'd you get it?"

Harry glanced down at it. "I bought it in some antique shop in Germany. Paid almost a thousand galleons for the bloody thing. I don't know what was wrong with me. And it's not a necklace. Those are for girls."

Hermione's eyes bulged out of her head. "A thousand?! You have a thousand galleons?"

Draco snorted. "He can spend a thousand galleons on a whim. It wouldn't make a dent in his father's smallest bank account."

"Wouldn't in your father's smallest, either," Harry muttered.

"Is it an antique?"

Harry nodded. "The old woman who sold it mentioned something about it belonging to Grindelwald or some drivel along that line."

Hermione reached out to lightly touch it. "Maybe I can find something about it in the library . . ."

Hermione slammed a book down in between Draco and Harry, both of whom jumped in surprise. The coffee table jarred, sending an entire stack of books that had been situated precariously on the edge tumbling to the floor.

Harry glared up at her. "How did you get the Slytherin password?" he demanded, gathering up his essay and placing it carefully next to him on the couch. It was his extra credit Charms project which he had been working on ever since Easter Break. It was almost perfect, and he didn't need some overexcited mudblood to spill ink on it.

"I heard it when you screamed it at the entrance on the night of the duel," she replied matter-of-factly, smiling self-righteously.

"I couldn't remember it," Neville whimpered from behind Hermione. The pudgy boy's head popped up from behind the witch's shoulder.

"We don't change the bloody thing enough," Draco muttered.

"Any reason you've stormed into our room other than to flail that book about?" asked Harry impatiently. He had two other extra credit assignments other than Charms that he needed to finish, and he couldn't waste precious time discussing passwords that were long overdue for a change!

"Yes," the Ravenclaw snapped. "I've found out about your necklace." Hermione opened the enormous book to a marked page titled 'The Pendant of Lord Grindelwald.'

"The necklace was created for Grindelwald in 1926 by a Czechoslovakian Gypsy. The base was made out of gold, and the gems are Carnelian crystals. Legend says he wore it constantly.

"When Grindelwald was killed by Headmaster Dumbledore in 1945, the pendant was thought to be lost, but it resurfaced in 1952 in the possession of a Mr. Carter Carnarvon. He died a few months later from a . . ." Hermione paused, grimacing. "Well - This happened." She held up the book.

Neville diverted his eyes with a yipe.

Harry blinked. "Ah . . ."

Draco made a face. "I didn't know the human body could do that . . ."

Hermione put the book back down on the table and skimmed over the page. "It passed down to his godson, Herbert Earl, who, coincidentally, also died a short time later when he and his fiance were decapitated in a car accident by an uninstalled plate glass window."

Harry's eyebrows scrunched together. An uninstalled plate glass window?

Hermione continued with her summary. "It passes from owner to owner after that and all of them met with unfortunate ends. The last known owner before you was a Mr. Edward Stanhope, who died when his cruise ship sank in 1988 after colliding with a stray yacht while sailing off the southern coast of Bermuda. The pendant was thought to be lost after that."

"Sounds like it's bloody cursed," said Draco.

Hermione nodded vigorously. "They say it is! They think Grindelwald cursed it right before he died so that no one would ever have it other than him."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm not afraid of some curse cast by some long dead dark lord."

Hermione shrugged and shook her head. "So be it, Harry. But if you die-"

"I'm not gonna," he said, giving her a stern look. She shook her head again and turned away.

"My father could hex Grindelwald to kingdom come anyway," Harry muttered quietly.

"What was that, Harry?" Hermione asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Nothing," he said quickly, "nothing at all."