Locketmort walked through Hogwarts in disguise. Given their lack of contacts, it had been surprisingly hard for Roachmort and him to find enough polyjuice potion for the mission. The hairs were taken from a completely random muggle boy in London. Locketmort had been tempted to kill him just to vent his frustrations at the situation, but Roachmort had ordered him to not draw any more attention than he needed to and so he could only obey. He was prevented from indulging in even the simplest enjoyments.

Now he was on the seventh floor of Hogwarts on his way to the room of requirement. Roachmort had determined that the Diary had somehow found its way back to the school where it had been destroyed somehow. Perhaps Nidhogg the Basilisk had injected its venom into it. Voldemort had been uncertain if the journal possessing someone would be enough for it to be recognized as the heir of Slytherin or not.

The cup of Hufflepuff was still out of reach, behind multiple layers of protections at Gringotts. Normally not a problem, but Dumbledore might show up and defeat Locketmort when he went in for an attack. By Roachmort’s orders all public or active activities by them would be accomplished by Locketmort since he was the only Voldemort clone that Dumbledore was aware of at the moment. Roachmort would remain in the shadows.

So here Locketmort was, under the polyjuice potion and sneaking to the room of requirement to retrieve the Diadem of Ravenclaw. The last Horcrux that was readily available for Roachmort to dominate. Locketmort walked in front of the blank wall in the seventh floor corridor three times thinking intently about the diadem.

A large door appeared in the wall after the third time he passed. Locketmort pushed it open and went inside. Inside was a massive space stacked high with piles and piles of various items that had been discarded around the castle throughout the centuries. Normally the room would transform into whatever you desired and in the room’s ability, but if your request was impossible or too unspecific then it would default to this room containing everything it had ever stored.

In the center of the room, Locketmort knew where the diadem sat. He took a step forward only to feel a sharp pain on the back of his boyish hands. He glanced down and saw a cornish pixie with its sharp teeth attacking him. With a wave of his wand the pixie fell dead to the ground. The twenty centimeters tall humanoid with almost translucent wings on its back lay still on the ground at his feet.

In an instant the whole place came alive with buzzing and chirps from the inside of the stacks. It seems the diadem has been busy… Locketmort strode forward and held out his wand. Finally, he would get to take out some of his frustration on something. These stupid beasts didn’t even know how much he’d make them suffer.

— — —

Lord Voldemort realized abruptly that an intruder had entered the room. One of his subjugated pixies had bitten their hand reflexively and with its death he was alerted to the intruder. It appeared to be a Hogwarts student, but there was something off.

Voldemort reached out his tendrils to influence his mind… only to find an impassable wall. Occlumency shields so good that it shouldn’t be possible for a Hogwarts student to have them. Voldemort began his preparations to the intruder that was already being swarmed by all the living creatures under Voldemort’s control. Since he had found himself in the Diadem of Ravenclaw, Voldemort had been prompting these magical creatures to breed as fast as possible. The living cornish pixies population was in the hundreds by now after they had so much time to grow themselves.

Occasionally Voldemort would cull the herd and kill several of them. Using the clumsy fingers of the creatures, he managed to find the components for the ritual to create inferni or undead as the muggles called them in the piles of objects in this room. Every dead cornish pixie that was killed was put through the ritual and resurrected as a loyal servant that didn’t need any food to survive.

The main limiter to their creation was not bodies but Voldemort's own magic to channel into the ritual circle. With his severely damaged soul, his current amount of magic was pitiful. But over these last few months he had managed to raise thousands of them to his bidding.

The intruder finished off the first wave, seeming to take a sadistic pleasure in drawing out the deaths of each of the beasts when he could. Voldemort would use that against him. He started limiting the numbers attacking the intruder at once to delay them. Easily complying, the intruder slowed and took his time torturing each of the creatures individually before the next one arrived.

Eventually the intruder appeared to grow bored as Voldemort continued preparing his defenses. He did not know who this person was, but the occlumency shields were not a good sign. They would make an excellent Inferni if Voldemort could kill them cleanly enough. If he could accomplish that then perhaps he could finally get out of this damned castle and start working on rebuilding himself a body… He couldn’t risk that Dumbledore or someone equally troublesome was in the position of headmaster and able to catch him if Voldemort made his escape. He had no idea how long it had been since his abrupt death in the graveyard.

The intruder walked forward and Voldemort held back for a moment to see which direction they would go. He turned directly towards the diadem that he was encased in. Not good, they obviously knew about his location somehow. Voldemort waited a few more seconds before unleashing its horde of inferni hidden inside the stacks of items. He only held back twenty of them to grab the rim of the diadem and lift him into the air. The time for caution was over, he had to escape now before the intruder caught him. He had no illusions that even this many inferni would hold back a wizard skilled enough to have such good occulemency shields. Killing them and making them an Inferni wouldn't be possible if they were aware of his true nature.

The stacks of items came alive as the thousands of tiny inferni descended on the surprised boy all at once. The boy sent giant gouts of flame at them seemingly reflexively and burned massive swaths out of the air. But there were still more, Even some of those that burned and fell to the ground were still crawling forward slowly on along the floor. Inferni’s greatest strength was that they were extremely annoying to completely kill if one was being hounded by many at once.

Voldemort commanded the inferni pixies to fly around one of the stacks to keep out of view of the intruder. A few of the inferni had managed to crawl onto him and started biting and the boy looked absolutely furious. Voldemort internally smirked as the boy struggled for a moment under their sheer numbers.

Voldemort’s flying diadem rounded the stack of items between him and the boy and started flying towards the open door. Voldemort managed to just get to the door when there was a massive wave of flame that engulfed the room behind him with the boy at the epicenter. The intruder stood behind him as waves of flames shot around him in all directions, burning the inferni to a crisp. Voldemort had been right to escape, that was a very powerful spell. Most wizards would be completely spent after casting a spell like that but the boy sustained it for nearly five seconds before cutting it off.

Voldemort nearly swore as he saw that the boy had spotted him and his carriers just before he slipped out of the door. Voldemort immediately ordered the inferni to fly him as close to the ceiling of the Hogwarts castle hallway as they could. It was risky if someone spotted him, but luckily most people didn’t ever think to look up normally. He had the inferni carry him down the hallway hoping to round the corner before the boy could emerge. But the boy made it out in time and after looking around wildly, spotted the floating Diadem just before it rounded the corner out of sight. Voldemort could hear the intruder rushing after him at full speed and urged the inferni to move faster despite knowing it could do no good. They were already moving their fastest. Lord Voldemort’s legend would not end here!

— — —

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Locketmort swore as he saw the diadem flying out of the room of requirement carried by the inferni pixies. He had indulged himself too much by torturing the pixies, and underestimated the other horcrux. He had no idea this room would have the sort of materials required to create inferni on this scale. But his orders from Roachmort were clear, he could not allow the diadem to escape at all costs. Locketmort rushed outside and spotted the diadem near the ceiling rounding the corner. He ran over to the end of the hallway tracking its path.

Locketmort glanced to the side and spotted none other than Harry Potter standing on the other end of the hallway staring at him blankly as he walked forward towards him. Was it still the imposter, or was it only a stupid boy? The boy made no aggressive moves and simply kept staring at him as he moved. Locketmort knew that the diadem was getting away, so turned and ran at full speed after it, holding his wand out in front of him. Hopefully if the thing was still the imposter then it wouldn’t recognize him through the polyjuice potion.

Locketmort was catching up now as he ran, the inferni were not meant for speed.

A tall Ravenclaw girl stepped from around the corner and eyed the running Locketmort.

“Hey! No running in the hallways!” she said as the Diadem flew past her overhead. Locketmort could see the diadem influencing her, stoking her mild annoyance to true anger in an attempt to slow him down.

“Stupify!” Locketmort cast quickly sending the girl tumbling to the floor before she could react. Killing someone here would draw too much attention. An unfamiliar boy stunning her would be odd but not something worth bringing to the ministry.

The diadem attempted to escape again, but Locketmort sent a targeted burst of flames at the inferni and burned away their wings. The diadem fell out of the air and hit the ground with a large clang of metal on stone.

Locketmort slowed down and quickly cast the countercurses for the various protections Voldemort had placed on the Diadem horcrux. Locketmort could feel it flailing about looking for nearby people, seeking to subtly draw them in and force them to confront Locketmort and maybe send him fleeing.

But the diadem wasn’t fast enough, and Locketmort quickly scooped it up with his free hand and placed it into his robes, barely fitting it inside due to its large size. Obviously none of Voldemort's horcruxes had been summonable or able to be moved by other spells. Important objects owned by any competent wizards were the same. All the wards in the world meant nothing if an intruder could just summon your valuables straight into their hands with a single spell or levitation charm.

Locketmort slowed its pace and affected a casual walk as he made his way out of the castle. Many people came in his direction and seemed unreasonably annoyed, but none physically stopped him as he ignored them and walked straight past. Locketmort made it to the Hogsmeade border and immediately apparated away after taking some time to lift the anti-apparition charm on the diadem as well.

— — —

Roachmort sat there waiting, seemingly leaned over a table and enchanting Ringvolde with new functions and spells to use. At least Locketmort was in a better situation than the two object horcruxes would be. Even if they escaped Roachmort’s influence they would have to regenerate their body as well somehow. All Locketmort had to do was find a loophole or destroy the original contract and he would be free. Then Roachmort would be under him.

“I have it,” Locketmort said and Roachmort straightened and turned around. Locketmort tried to prevent his visceral disgust from flashing over his face as he saw the grotesque creature. He failed apparently, as Roachmort sent a telepathic message as he handed over the diadem that still was wildly flailing for a creature to influence and dominate to assist it in escaping.

‘I see you find me as repulsive as ever,’ Roachmort sent Locketmort, ‘It is very lucky for you that I do not care what your opinion of me is as long as you are a good little boy and do my bidding properly. Like retrieving this,’ Roachmort sent, holding the diadem up to his large compound eyes to inspect it.

‘Good job. Now get on your knees, Locketmort,’ Roachmort sent casually as he looked away from the Diadem. Locketmort gritted his teeth but followed the orders as the magical contract began to pressure him to comply.

‘Now for your reward,’ Roachmort sent and took a step forward until he was standing over him. Locketmort felt something cool and smooth touch his head where the muggle boy he had transformed into had a tangled mass of black hair. Lockmort felt Roachmort pat his head several times as Lockmort sat there unmoving on his knees.

‘Now, that’s a good boy,’ Roachmort sent, ‘A very good boy. When you transform back I give you permission to keep working on a more permanent solution to restore your limbs. I want you to be useful to me after all. Aren't I a generous master?’

Roachmort looked back down at the diadem and its telepathic message gained a mocking lilt as it spoke to the diadem as well, ‘Your little brother has a contract to sign, so I’ll be very busy soon. Keep yourself entertained while I’m gone. Do you understand, Lockmort?’

“Yes, I understand.” Lockmort ground out, still on his knees. The damn roach enjoyed mocking and belittling him every chance it got.

‘Good. You can stand. I’ll be off now, don’t try to follow me. Oh, and leave Ringvolde untouched. I’m still working on his enchantments at the moment,’ Roachmort sent before apparating away, leaving Ringvolde sitting on the table.

Lockmort went back into the lab he had created and started experimenting and researching restoring the limb. After an hour he sat down and reverted to his natural form. Half of his body was completely charred, almost black and angry red wounds along the edges to the unburned portions of him. He was missing a whole arm and leg, as well as his eye on that side as well.

All of his wounds were deeply infused with Dumbledore’s magic preventing it from being properly healed. Lockmort spent a few moments conjuring two limbs made of silvery metal as he sat in the chair. Useful for movement but not ideal. They couldn’t conduct magic at all, and were weak enough that a single spell striking them directly would cause them to dissolve back into a fluid. Useless for battle.

Lockmort went back to his research and reference texts. Whatever he did next, he had to restore himself to his best form before planning any further. No matter how much Roachmort’s casual humiliation burned at him deep in his gut.

— — —

Roachmort watched in delight as the Diadem eventually signed the contract. It had been stubborn, after it had witnessed Roachmort's little display with Locketmort. An indulgence for Roachmort, but it was important to remind the schemer who held his leash every once in a while. So not totally a waste, even if Roachmort had mostly done it because he found it amusing.

‘So,’ Roachmort sent the Diadem with some amusement, ‘We’ve had a theme going for our naming so far. You wouldn’t want to break tradition now would you? I can’t decide between calling you VoldeHat or HatMort. What do you think?’

‘I am a Diadem! The diadem of Ravenclaw, an ancient artifact of legend! Not a hat!’ the enraged Diadem replied.

Roachmort shook his head, ‘I suppose. But Diadem is too long. VoldeDiadem… Sounds Terrible. DiademMort? Just as bad. I’m not going to waste my words having to say that every time.’

‘How dare you disrespect the legacy…!’

The Voldemort in the Diadem began raving about the history of the diadem and how it shouldn’t be reduced to such a simplistic name. Roachmort stood there considering which name to pick, not listening as it became clear the diadem was against both of the options Roachmort had provided. Had he really been this obsessed with the founders when he was Voldemort? It seems the Diadem had received an extra dose of Voldemort's appreciation for history for what it was worth.

After pondering for a while, Roachmort came to a decision.

‘You are now Voldehat,’ Roachmort declared, interrupting the Diadem’s long winded speech.

‘I…I…’ the diadem spluttered telepathically.

‘When I address you, you will respond to Voldehat as your name. This is an order, do you understand?’ Roachmort sent it.

There was a long pause as the Diadem sat there silently, ‘Yes, Roachmort. I understand,’ it eventually replied.

‘Good, Voldehat,’ Roachmort sent, ‘You will see soon. Together under my leadership we can accomplish far more than Voldemort ever did. Our vision for this world will become a reality. No one will be able to stop us, not even Dumbledore.’