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Chapter 79- On the Path.

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Well, this has been an interesting couple of weeks. Especially since I have been in such close quarters with a goddamn Horcrux and I somehow haven't managed to lose my mind... but if I did lose my mind, then I wouldn't know about it, would I, because I need a mind to realise I've lost my mind and... I haven't lost my mind, I don't think. Anyway, enough existential crisis or whatever you call whatever that was. I still have all my faculties after prolonged exposure to a Horcrux, which is the most sickening magic out there, and I've benefited from it.

Now, where to start? I suppose it would be best to start with the actual purpose of this Horcrux, which is the curse it maintains on the Defence Against the Dark Arts position. After I removed the Diadem from the Room of Requirement, the curse disappeared and was no longer in effect. I was surprised to find the insidious effects of the Diadem on my mind no longer there when I went in to do the regular cleaning and stop it from taking hold again, and it wasn't there. Of course, I didn't just trust that, and I kept checking several times a day just in case something was different. I still check it now and again, but it isn't there every time I look.

Now, of course, I had to take measures when it came to actually using the thing and getting what I wanted out of it. Of course, I had months while in this school and searching for it to figure all of that out, and Salazar's Spellbook helped out immensely, the man has done a lot of research on the soul only for me to reap the rewards. I do occasionally wonder what the man was up to, though because you don't invest that much time and effort into something without a specific goal in mind. He was definitely up to something, but it was centuries ago, so it doesn't matter now... I hope.

Anyway, A Horcrux could essentially be termed as a soul container, but the book taught me how to make a soul catcher. Similar, but very different. You see, a soul catcher could be however big you want it to be, and for that matter, I don't see anything restraining you from making a Horcrux something big as well. If I were Voldemort, I would definitely go put a piece of my soul into a very well-guarded national landmark or precious something like the queen's jewels. Lots of free security. The muggles won't know what it is, and no Wizard is about to interact with them. Brilliant really.

Back to what I was saying, I made one of those tents that are bigger on the inside a soul catcher. What this essentially did was make any loose soul inside inert, basically stopping it from doing anything and keeping it sealed. My mind had only clicked after I had entered it that maybe my soul was loose and could be made inert as this wasn't my actual body, but thankfully, whatever put me in this body did a solid job because the soul catcher didn't affect me. And when I took the Diadem out of the bag of holding, it didn't have any effect.

Now, it was only a matter of tapping into the connections between the Horcruxes and following them back to their other pieces. Something easier said than done because I didn't actually have a guide for this. Don't get me wrong, I've learnt a lot from the spellbook, and the stuff in it is definitely going to help me out in my endeavour, but for the most part, I am on my own as I have to do all the legwork now. Well, it's not like I am not used to hard work; after all, I had managed to follow the curse back to the Diadem. Similar, except I am going to have to follow souls that are connected and not curses that are being powered.

Again, in cases such as this, there is a lot of trial and error. Of course, there are failures and successes, but thankfully, none of the failures actually resulted in the Diadem getting out of control and doing anything damaging. It was literally just failure in that they didn't show me a soul trail, and I couldn't go and find the bloody book. Of course, there was the matter of there being six bloody trails because there were six other Horcruxes out there, not to mention Harry. Priority number one was to make sure that whatever trail I conjured up could only be seen by me and that what I was actually tracking wouldn't actually catch on to that and know somebody was after them.

I didn't need the shadow Voldemort in Albania or wherever he went after leaving Quirrel's pathetic body finding out and coming after me. No, thank you. So, job number one was to make sure that I was only tracking one Horcrux, and for that, I took inspiration from the Dragon Ball radar, which shows things only within a circle. Well, on the display that I have, it still tracks where the other ones are, but never mind that. The only Horcrux within the bounds of Hogwarts is the Diary now that I am using the Diadem to track it. Of course, when I put this theory to work I was momentarily confused when two trails showed up, both looked very different.

I, of course, then remember that Harry was technically a Horcrux, but he was a facsimile that was a bit off. I had seen other trails, and his one was different, so I did not know what to follow. Still, it's an excellent way to track the boy down if I ever have to. Speaking of Harry, his life has just been resuming as usual, and he remembers nothing of our little trip into the dungeons where I made him cry. Still feel a bit bad about that actually, but I have more important things to worry about. Life, in general, has been resuming normally in Hogwarts, but there was an underlying tenseness that nobody wanted to acknowledge.

Nothing had actually happened recently, and there were no attacks, but that just put me more on edge. Something was up. Most of the students were normal, but the Slytherins were actually acting a bit out of the ordinary as they were no longer taunting the muggle-borns or other houses with their impending doom at the hands of the Heir of Slytherin. All except Draco Malfoy, who kept doing so with gusto, not yet clicking on to the fact he was also in danger or just too stupid to do so. Since the last one attacked was actually a pureblood, nearly all of the Slytherins had stopped taking their safety for granted and stopped their tauntings, actually being well-behaved. Still, nothing had happened in a while.

Anyway, let's go back to the issue at hand. Harry was also showing up in my scans, and no matter what I did when searching the entire expanse of Hogwarts with my spell, he would pop up. I could just try to do the search like this, but I didn't want to risk it. If I recall correctly, Dumbledore had a lot of anti-scrying spells on Harry and a bunch of other things to stop people from finding him, as well as other things to do with his location.

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Now, obviously, he didn't account for soul searching, but that doesn't mean he couldn't find out about it. He was the oldest wizard alive with a lot of esoteric knowledge, and there was a possibility of him managing to just sense the magic in the air as he checked in on Harry and tracked it back to me. I don't know, but I didn't want to ruffle the old man's feathers, so I had to tweak my method.

Whenever I had the spell search an area such as Hogwarts, it would click on to Harry no matter what, even when I tried to exclude him from my search. The Horcrux within him was too unstable, and so there were fluctuations in it and other such variables that changed it so my spell would pick it back up again. So, seeing the way the wind was blowing, I instead tried the other method and decided to search for a soul with a stable connection, which made it clearly ignore Harry as the boy was all over the place in the soulful sense. However, for some reason, this spell didn't work as a radar; instead, it located the closest Horcrux with a stable connection to the Diadem. Don't ask me why magic does what it does. It just does. And I didn't mind much as the purpose of the spell was done.

Of course, I needed to be mobile with the Diadem to do such a thing, so I got a bird cage and fashioned that into a soul catcher to place the Diadem into, which I did in the soul-catching tent so no mishaps happened. Of course, I wasn't about to walk around with the thing in plain sight in case old Riddle saw me before I saw him and figured out what the Diadem actually was. He shouldn't have knowledge of it, but this version iof him is the one that is actually clever, so I wouldn't put it past him to put the facts together. And so, with a black cloth magically stuck over the cage, I was ready for my first expedition to track down this damned Diary. It took a long time and a lot of work, but we are finally here. It's time to find the stupid thing.

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Starting from the tent, I lifted up the cage, which I had charmed to look like an ordinary lantern, with my left hand and with my wand in my right, I ignited the spell. Ignited because while this may not be a spell for explosions, it will definitely lead to explosions when I finally track down my opponent. I do not expect them to come along quietly, and I am prepared for that. Almost immediately, a trail appeared in front of me, and there was an ethereal wispy rope of blackish-grey smoke that only I could see. If I could smell magic, I have no doubt that this would be the most rancid smell possible, something like burning flesh and rancid-year-old meat and vomit. Just disgusting. If this whole experience has done anything for me, it has convinced me to never go down this path because, ew.

I leave my room and then the Defence Against The Dark Arts classroom, venturing out into the Hogwarts corridors where anything can happen, which is a fucked up statement given this is a bloody school, but it is true nonetheless. Walking through the school halls, I have to keep my nerves about me and my head level, as the school likes to play with people. I seriously feel like this whole place is alive and sentient with all the things that go on around here, the moving stairs, how you somehow end up on the seventh floor when you were just on the first, the things that move around but never seem to have any consciousness. The place fucks with you, and right now, it's like I can see the shadows moving around, nipping at my heels.

I ignore it all. Fuck you, Hogwarts, you stupid castle; how the fuck does a place called Hogwarts have a motto like Never tickle a sleeping dragon? Stupid ass school. I keep walking, following the trail, and not allowing myself to get sidetracked, not by anything. "What you up to then, eh?" A suit of knight armour asks, lifting its helm in askance, revealing the nothingness underneath; I don't even dignify it with a response. "Well, bugger you'n all then!" It shouts at my back as I move on.

There are some portraits around as I move throughout the castle, and while some are asleep, there are some that are still awake and alert, ready to note down whatever they see as some reprieve from the boredom that is their life bound within their wooden frames. "Hello, hello, Professor. What brings you around at this time of night, then?" A portrait of a lanky old gangly man with hair in sporadic places and only wearing a short cloth that just barely covers his pelvis asks. "Just a nightly patrol, don't mind me. Just keeping the school safe." I reply, actually talking and conversing with the portrait in contrast to the armour because these guys have a network and talk, and I just know Dumbledore takes advantage of that as his own private surveillance system.

"That's good. Well, I'll just get back to taking care of Percy. Goodnight, Professor." The old fucker says, stroking the goat he has by his side, his hands caressing the fluffy hair of the goat. I swear the goat is more looked after and groomed than the old man, who looks like he hasn't had a bath in a millennium. I wonder what he is famous for? Probably for being a goatfucker. I saw the way you were stroking Percy, you old goatfucker; you were definitely getting yourself some pasteurised goat ass. Still, I have to remember where this portrait is to at least tell the Weasley twins because they will definitely get a good bit of material out of this to annoy their brother Percy with. Honestly, children can make a mountain out of a little thing and give people a complex. I kind of miss being that effortlessly cruel and vindictive.

Moving on, I was at... I don't know what floor I am on now as I have just been focusing on following the trail, and right now, it is leading me down a particularly empty hallway with nothing in it at all, which is strange because I swear every corridor, at least has one thing in it, even if it is something as useless as a doorknob. I'm not kidding. A wall just utterly empty except for a doorknob. I spent ages pulling on that thing and trying to figure out a way to open whatever passage it had behind it before I came to the conclusion that it was just a doorknob in the wall and not a door. Fuck this stupid school.

*Bang* I hear something make a banging noise ahead of me, and I ready my wand as I approach. The trail is leading directly ahead, and so I prepare myself for the oncoming confrontation, ready to curse whatever is in front of me. The second I see a foot step out of the darkness, my wand whips out, not going for a kill but going for a capturing move. "Petrificus Totalus." The spell shoots out and hits the body of the hidden assailant, freezing them entirely and making them stop in their steps, falling to the ground. "Leviosa," I command, making them float and pulling them towards me so I can see who it is.

"Gemma Farley? What are you doing out and about at this time?" I ask, seeing the brown-haired girl floating in front of me, her panicked eyes looking at me in shock. I also note at this moment that the trail I am following actually continues ahead and past this girl, so I just attacked and paralysed an innocent pureblood girl, and this could turn out bad for me. I just have to make it out like she's the one at fault. "It is way past curfew, miss. Explain yourself." I say, gently putting her on her feet and then releasing the spell, giving her back her autonomy.

"Sorry, Professor. I was just doing my patrols as Slytherin Prefect. I didn't realise the time." She explains while checking herself over, giving me an apologetic look. "I know it has been a while since there have been any incidents, but that doesn't mean it is safe. Get back to your house dormitory. Now, Farley." I command, wanting to get her out of here so I can go and confront my actual target for the night. Sure, she was in charge of some weird pureblood ritual thing I witnessed a while ago, but those guys are all into that, so it isn't weird. They were just scared; she wasn't who I was after, and the trail didn't lead to her.

"Of course, I am so sorry, Professor Lockhart." She apologises, punctuating it by coming in close and placing a hand on my chest, caring for me softly as she looks up at me with those big brown doe eyes. "If there is any way I can make it up to you, just say it. I would be willing to do anything to get past this, Professor... anything." She says, smirking sultrily at me, her hand dragging down my chest and getting lower. I grab her hand, stopping it in its tracks.

"An interesting offer I might take you up on in the future, but go to sleep for now. Goodnight, Miss Farley." As much as I would like to see where this is going with her, I have something important to do tonight and so I send her on her way. I can follow up on that later; for now, it's time to get a Horcrux.

It's back to following the trail.