The Intelligent Potter

An: To read chapters of TIP a little bit early, you can read them over on webnovel. I hope you enjoy this chapter of The Intelligent Potter...if you are already on webnovel then congratulations, you have this chapter as early as is possible...well unless you're me in which case you have this chapter 3 weeks early because you're stockpiling...or well, *I* am stockpiling...whatever man, you get this chapter whenever you get it.

*** An Hour Later, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Immediately after the meeting of the Leaders of the Light ended, Harry led Sirius up to the Room of Requirement.

"You know," Sirius said, "I thought we had found each and every room in this entire castle when we made the Marauder's Map, but it seems like we missed one."

"Ah," Harry remarked.

"That is a bit of a blow to the old Marauder pride," Sirius said.

"I'm sure your ego can handle it," Harry replied dryly.

Sirius clutched his c.h.e.s.t dramatically, as if he had been greatly offended by his godson's words.

Harry rapped him around the back of his head, like Sirius was the child in the situation, "Behave, dogfather," he said with mock seriousness.

Then they both laughed.

"Are we there yet?" Sirius w.h.i.n.ed.

Possibly for the first time in all of history, the answer to that particular question was, "Yes."

Sirius pumped his fist into the air in celebration.

"Don't celebrate yet," Harry warned, as he walked in front of the wall three times, "We do not yet know whether there is actually a horcrux in the Room of Requirement."

Just as he said that, a door materialised in the wall.

Harry stopped.

"Can I celebrate now?"

"Yes."

Despite the dry reply, Sirius could tell that his godson was also extremely excited by this development.

Harry grasped the hilt of the Sword of Potter a little bit tighter. He hadn't practised as much with his sword as he should have, and the hilt felt a little bit unfamiliar in his wand, as he was used to wielding his wand in both hands, but not dual-wielding both a sword and a wand. However, the Sword of Potter was a necessity, as it was imbued with basilisk venom, and as such, it was one of the very few weapons which could destroy a horcrux.

The previous time when Harry had been horcrux-hunting with Albus, the older wizard had brought along the honest-to-god Sword of Gryffindor with him, which Harry had not noticed.

The Sword of Potter would serve just as well, which was why Harry had it at that moment.

Harry had first thought that it would be pretty straightforward to locate the horcrux, but that illusion was quickly cast out of mind as he entered the room which had been created by the Room of Requirement.

It was absolutely massive.

There were extremely tall shelves panning out in all directions and it was a veritable maze.

Harry doubted he could find the horcrux even if he had years to explore the entire space.

Then he felt his ring become distinctly warmer. It had been warm on his finger already, but now it was positively HOT.

His ring was working!

"The Stone," Harry said, excited, "It's heating up!"

Sirius perked up in excitement, "Let's see where it goes then, shall we?"

Harry and his Godfather walked around, as Harry figured out which direction made the Stone grow warmer.

The two males wandered around as the Stone grew warmer and warmer.

Finally, Harry and Sirius stopped in front of one shelf.

"It's this one, I am sure of it."

Sirius nodded, "I believe you, pup, just gotta check if there are any wards, now."

Harry nodded, and Sirius waved his wand a few times.

"You a ward-breaker?" Harry asked curiously.

"I was an auror, we all have rudimentary ward-breaking capabilities," Sirius said, "Of course, if it were something particularly complex or intricate, we'd have to call in backup from The Order."

Harry aahed.

"Though it seems like there will be no need for that," Sirius stowed his wand away and dusted off his hands, "There are no wards on this shelf, or anything on the shelf."

"So how do we know which one is the horcrux?" Harry asked.

His Dogfather shrugged, "Guess you've just gotta touch them?"

"Seriously?"

"Unless you can think of something better," Sirius shot back.

Harry sighed and got to waving his hand near each of the items on the shelf, one by one, to try and figure out which item on the shelf was the horcrux.

Finally, it was found.

"Ow!" Harry yelped and yanked his hand away.

"Found it, pup?" Sirius said.

"Yeah, and it's hot enough to make my finger burn!" Harry exclaimed, before looking closer at what the horcrux was.

Even before Harry himself could recognise it, Sirius breathed out, "The Diadem of Ravenclaw!"

"Seriously?" Harry asked incredulously, "Are ALL of Voldemort's horcruxes insanely valuable magical items?"

"Seems like it," Sirius said.

Harry hesitated, "It would be a real shame to destroy something of such value…" he said, his inner Ravenclaw shining through.

Sirius shrugged, "Well what else can we do. Voldemort was probably counting on the fact that nobody in their right mind would even willingly destroy the Diadem of Ravenclaw."

Harry raised the sword, and closed his eyes, wishing that he didn't have to do it.

Wishing that the soul of Voldemort could be ripped out of the diadem some other way.

Then he heard a loud shriek, and his eyes shot wide open. A spirit, not unlike the one he'd seen at the Gaunt Cottage was clawing its way back into the diadem. As soon as Harry saw it, his concentration broke, and the spirit shot back into its home.

"What did you do?" Sirius asked.

"I think this may be one of my powers as the Champion of Death," Harry said, excitedly.

He took a deep breath and concentrated as hard as he possibly could on pulling Voldemort's soul out of the diadem.

It was a long process and it took nearly fifteen minutes but the soul was eventually pulled out by Harry's pure will, and it evaporated into nothing as soon as it was out of the Diadem of Ravenclaw.

Harry let out a deep breath, and picked up the priceless artifact.

*** End of Chapter