The Stand

Horace Slughorn

"My Lord" a masked Death Eater kneeled before Voldemort, worried hidden behind his mask.

"Nott" Voldemort sneered "Rise."

The elder Nott rose as Voldemort continued speaking "How is your son doing with his task?"

"He says it is going as planned" Alexander Nott told his master "He believes that by the end of the school year, it shall be finished."

Voldemort raised his eyebrow before remembering that no one could tell "By the end of the year? Why is that?"

"Theodore has been neglecting his schoolwork to focus on the progress of the mission" Lord Nott explained "The teachers are sending him to detention regularly and he is at risk of being confined to only the common room and library."

Voldemort snarled at the man "Crucio!"

The spell sent pain coursing throughout Nott's body and the man cried out. Voldemort kept him under the spell for 30 seconds before dispelling it.

"Theodore is drawing attention to himself" Voldemort shook his head "He must act as if everything is normal or else someone will investigate what he is doing. Do you understand?"

Nott nodded so the Dark Lord continued "Since Dumbledore is now in Azkaban, he can abandon the other mission. Tell him to focus on the cabinet but to NOT draw attention to himself."

"Of course my lord" Nott kneeled once again "We will not fail you."

Alexander Nott then left the room while Peter Pettigrew, who had watched the exchange, then asked "My lord, what do you wish to do once the cabinet is finished?"

Voldemort showed Pettigrew that sadistic grin which all feared "Dumbledore is gone from the castle. All that remains in our way is Potter and his gang. Potter may be strong but he is still no match for me. When the cabinet is finished, we take Hogwarts."

After the debacle with Kreacher trying to destroy the "soul jar," the gang of four took the time to hear out Kreacher. It was then revealed why Kreacher wanted the jar to die.

According to the Black house-elf, he and Regulus went to recover an object with a hue similar to the jar. Regulus had died getting it and told Kreacher to destroy it however he can.

Based on Kreacher's information, the object with they recovered was a horcrux and more importantly, one of Voldemort's. And if Regulus wanted it gone, he must've turned from the Death Eaters.

That news caused tears to leave Sirius' eyes as he realized what his brother did. Even more tears came when Kreacher gave Sirius a letter from Regulus to him, where Regulus apologize for joining the Death Eaters and his parents' attitude towards him. He told Sirius that he'd always love him, no matter what, which caused Sirius to sob more. Remus managed to calm him down but Sirius ended up having lots of firewhiskey that day.

Sirius decided that he would destroy the locket himself as did Kreacher. They eventually came upon an agreement. Harry got the sword for them and both stabbed the locket together. Kreacher was quite happy afterwards and even hugged Sirius, who seemed content.

Harry then returned to Hogwarts and with Rishi, and together, they taught the spell to their friends.

Afterwards, Padma pointed out that so far, Voldemort had made two objects of the founders into hocruxes, so it was logical to assume that his other hocruxes were also from the founders.

The idea was sound, but Harry was still uncertain. They didn't know how many hocruxes Voldemort made, and currently, 5 were destroyed. The snake was left along with an unknown amount of others.