Dumbledore and Nick went to work disarming the various curses and traps on the box. It took them quite some time to finally go through the defenses and open the box to reveal the single strange looking ring within it. It was a thin golden band with a stone set on top of it that definitely didn't fit it as it was smooth round shaped and nearly two and a half centimeters long. On the surface of the plain looking grey stone was the symbol of the deathly hallows , a triangle within a circle that had a line going down the middle of it.-

Nick noticed Dumbledore's breathing change drastically when he saw this symbol and a temptation to put the ring on came from the soul shard within the metal. Nick definitely noticed that the stone itself was entirely unconnected to the horcrux magically speaking. Before Dumbledore could reach out with his hand Nick waved his wand through the spiritual coercion of the soul shard snapping Dumbledore out of it. "You almost fell victim to the shards influence but lucky for you I can directly counter it." Nick said and the old man had a horrified look.-

He himself was more than a little aware of just how close to falling for the temptation he had gotten and as such knew that Nick wasn't exaggerating at all. "Let's quickly remove the curse from this ring so I can destroy the soul shard." Nick added and Dumbledore nodded. Unlike the other defenses around the ring the curse on the ring was well hidden and didn't have a counter curse to it. That was where Nick came in and removed it by hitting it with a few pulses of exactly opposite magical energy frequencies.-

Once the horcrux was totally curse free Nazgul was pulled out to do her job. She immediately locked her gaze on the ring the moment she left the ring realm as she had vague recollections of eating similar things. She immediately swiped out with her serpentine head and dragged the soul shard screaming out of the ring. Dumbledore felt goosebumps rise all over his body at this and watched stiffly as the no longer cute monster snapped up the soul shard with relish. "If you don't mind I'll add this ring to my collection since it's totally safe now." Nick said while grabbing the ex horcrux and tossing it into his realm without hesitation.-

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Dumbledore only then snapped out of his head and realized that Nick had just taken the last of the three hallows. He frowned as he realized that Nick definitely knew what the stone setting was with how eager he was to store it away. "How did you learn of the hallows?" he asked while backing away from Nick with his wand raised. "Hmm oh that? Quite some time now , My first run in with them however was when you sent Harry is cloak last christmas." Nick said casually.-

"Then you should know the fate that their owners all befell." Dumbledore said sternly. Nick laughed at that "If you are referring to the terrible deaths their wielders experienced then you have nothing to worry about on my regard. I don't intend to hold on to the stone for very long after all." he said with a smile. This left Dumbledore confused since he couldn't understand why someone like Nick would give up such a thing. Nick saw his confusion and chose to explain himself since the old man deserved at least that much in his opinion.-

"While the tales of Beedle the bard says that the hallows were made by death we both know that this was not true exactly. In truth the creators of the hallows were the three brothers who instead probably learned from the entity in question instead. It goes to reason then that those same brothers likely placed an impossible to detect bloodline curse in the magic of each hallow so that only a Peverell could use them safely. This explains why the descendants of the three brothers tended to live fairly long lives in the case of the descendants of Cadmus , the Gaunts and Ignotius , the Potters."-

"I have no use for the stone but my good friend who just so happens to be the last descendant of Ignotius and current owner of the Cloak hallow might." Nick said explained calmly. "Oh and I suggest you find a way to pass that wand to him as well since it's already plotting your death most likely." Nick added before walking past the stunned man with Nazgul following along contented after a good meal.