A certain broken Hogwarts

When the two returned to the living room, a light drizzle had begun to fall outside the window, and the air was so damp that it seemed as if you could wring water out of it.

Nyx, who had been playing outside, flew back and stood on top of the clock, slowly preening its feathers. Although it had been rained on, its glossy black feathers were completely dry, reflecting a soft golden glow in the firelight, making the whole bird seem to be shrouded in a hazy and holy golden light.

Its appearance grew increasingly beautiful. The edges of its black feathers shimmered with dark gold, its bright red eyes resembled the purest rubies, and its pointed beak and claws reflected light. The crest on its head and its long tail feathers flowed gracefully, the slightly curled tail tip gradually changing from black to a pale golden-red, making it look magnificent and noble.

After persistent attempts, Nyx has been able to fly in the air for a short while now. These past few days, it has spent most of its time flying and stopping among the white rose bushes, as if tirelessly patrolling its territory... and, well, it has also nibbled off a whole bunch of the blooming roses.

Upon seeing Owen and Harry, it proudly raised its beautiful head, opened and closed its long beak, and emitted a light and melodious chirp.

"Is that Nyx?" Harry stared at the beautiful bird, his eyes wide with surprise. He couldn't believe that the ugly bird that always liked to burn his homework could become so elegant and charming.

Nyx glanced at him sideways, her bright red eyes flashing with undisguised contempt, like a high and mighty queen looking down on her lowly servant.

Okay, I believe this is Nyx... Harry's cheek twitched, and he suddenly opened his mouth wide, carefully examining Nyx's crane-like body, his gaze lingering on its recently grown long tail feathers for a long time.

"Owen, don't you think it looks a bit like Fawkes?" Harry said blankly, "Although its feathers aren't gold and red..."

"Hey, didn't I tell you?" Owen smiled and reached out to stroke Nyx's smooth, warm feathers, eyeing its long tail feathers with a predatory gaze. "Nyx is a phoenix."

Harry hissed and grinned. "You didn't tell me that!" Besides, how could a phoenix possibly have such a nasty personality!

"And it's different from Fox..." He then frowned.

It wasn't just the color of his feathers, eyes, and claws that was different. When he was with Dumbledore's phoenix, he always felt warm and peaceful, filled with enthusiasm and hope, but Nyx only made him irritable and frantic.

“Ah, Nyx is a special phoenix.” Owen smiled with a hint of pride. “It’s different from all the other phoenixes.” He pinched one of Nyx’s tail feathers and tugged it gently; it was an extremely rare alchemical material.

Nyx tilted her head warily at him, clicked her beak, and spat out a few black sparks. In the end, she didn't set him on fire; instead, she raised a claw and forcefully kicked Owen's hand away, silently turning her tail to a place he couldn't reach.

Owen slowly withdrew his hand and said leisurely, "Well, although I think raising a normal phoenix would be much more useful." Especially phoenix tears, which are a real life-saving medicine. As for Nyx... well, let's not talk about it.

"Chirp chirp!" Nyx flapped its wings in great displeasure and pounced on Owen.

Owen deftly dodged, then smiled and raised his left arm, gesturing for Nyx to stop on it. The phoenix gave him an arrogant cry, ignored his outstretched arm, and landed on his right shoulder.

Harry watched their interaction with a hint of envy. He glanced at Nagini, who was coldly surveying her surroundings, and thought that there was no harm without comparison.

He scratched his head and said, "Come to think of it, I haven't seen Fawkes in ages. That's a bit odd, isn't it? Wasn't it always with Dumbledore?"

"Perhaps Fox is still by Dumbledore's side, just not in front of us," Owen said meaningfully.

Harry thought for a moment and agreed, "Possibly." After all, the phoenix is ​​such a mysterious creature. He just felt a little regretful, since he got along quite well with Fawkes.

Seeing that it was getting late, he decided not to waste any more time. He borrowed a small bag from Owen that had been enchanted with a Stretch Mark Charm, put Nagini inside, and went to the fireplace to grab a handful of Floo Powder.

"Oh, by the way, I'll destroy that locket when I get back. Do you want to come with me?" Harry suddenly said before leaving. After all, Owen was the one who found the clue to the locket, and he felt he should let the other person have a greater sense of involvement.

Irving tilted his head and said, "Okay." He happened to have a question about the Marauder's Map that he wanted to ask Sirius.

"Okay, then I'll go back and have Sirius fix the fireplace so you can come over." Harry said, then jumped into the fire.

A few minutes later, Owen stood once again in the living room of 12 Grimmauld Place, which Dobby had cleaned until it was sparkling clean. The decorations from the birthday party had been removed, and the room was now decorated in a splendid and elegant green hue. Although it was less lively and vibrant than before, it looked undeniably much more harmonious.

A group of people sat around a round table. Harry held the ring containing the poisoned needle in his hand, Sirius Black stood to the side with his wand, and Kreacher clutched the locket. The atmosphere in the living room was tense.

"Then, I'll destroy it..." Harry took a deep breath, took the locket from Kreacher, and placed it on the table.

He pressed the button on the ring, and a gleaming poison needle rose from behind the unscrewed black gemstone, its sharp tip flashing with a sinister green light.

Harry exhaled, raised his arm high, and aimed the pin on the ring at the locket. After gathering his strength, just as he was about to plunge it in, a strange feeling of reluctance welled up inside him.

The emotion came so suddenly, yet so naturally, as if he were about to destroy his most precious possession. He quickly realized that the Horcrux was influencing him, so he gritted his teeth, strengthened his resolve, and swung his arm without hesitation.

With a "ding," the needle pierced the pretty little gold lid of the locket, but failed to penetrate. The locket's outer shell was unexpectedly hard; even though the needle, coated with basilisk venom, was highly corrosive and destructive, it only left a barely visible white dot on the gold lid.

Harry withdrew his hand, shaking it to remove the numbness from the impact. He examined the locket closely, looking at the two small glass windows hidden behind the small gold lid, and said uncertainly, "Perhaps we should open it first? Breaking it from the inside should be much easier."

"But it won't open." Sirius frowned. He had also felt a pang of reluctance, while Kreacher was much calmer. Perhaps Voldemort's Horcruxes, like Voldemort himself, simply didn't bother to tempt a house-elf.

"Try Parseltongue," Owen said softly, his expression calm and indifferent. The allure of the Horcrux was like a gentle breeze to him, instantly overwhelmed by a colder and more intense malice welling up within him.

Harry's face lit up with sudden realization. He stared at the emerald-encrusted "S" on the locket, imagining it as a small snake, and hissed softly, "Open."

The small gold lid of the locket clicked open, revealing two eyes behind the small glass windows. The bright black eyes blinked alertly, as if someone were hiding inside the locket, peering out through the windows.

Harry raised his arm high again, and then he heard a hissing sound coming from the Horcrux.

"I see your heart, your desires and your fears..."

Harry looked somewhat dazed, his arm began to tremble, and he could barely hold the ring. It wasn't because of the words coming from the Horcrux, but because something hidden within him was resonating with it.

That feeling from last semester returned. It was as if an evil consciousness had awakened within him, and bizarre and terrifying images flashed before his eyes: faces screaming in pain, cold, pale corpses, high-pitched voices, and blinding green lights…

He felt as if he were turning into a hideous monster. He even wanted to touch his body to see if he had grown ferocious fangs and claws, and if his skin was covered with hard, slippery scales.

"Hurry up and do it, Harry!" Sirius's voice rang in his ears, but it seemed to come from a great distance, faint and indistinct, not even enough to bring him back to his senses.

It's happening again, but the crown that affected me has already been destroyed. Harry thought.

Could this Horcrux possess the same magic as that crown? But why is Sirius unharmed?

Could Voldemort still be attached to him in the crown? Did he not disappear with the destruction of the crown, but instead remain hidden inside his body? Perhaps Voldemort is hiding inside him, watching what he's doing...

At the same time, another hidden fear suddenly surfaced from the depths of his heart. Perhaps it had always existed, but he had been intentionally or unintentionally ignoring it.

What if Voldemort in the diadem really disappeared? Dumbledore said that if a Horcrux is destroyed, the soul fragments inside cannot exist independently.

Both Dumbledore and Owen said his condition was due to the influence of Horcruxes, a terrible spell. But he knew he was different from others controlled by the crown or even possessed by Voldemort. No one else possessed so many terrible memories and evil knowledge…

"Perhaps I really am special," Harry thought. "I have some kind of connection with Voldemort, a connection stronger than I thought. Or perhaps I am a bad seed, a monster, like people say, a born dark wizard..."

"Harry! Stab it!" Sirius shook his shoulder, his expression anxious and worried. "What's wrong?"

He glared fiercely at the locket that was spouting words, then swung his wand violently, shooting out a bright red beam that struck it. The small locket spun through the air and landed with a thud on the ground.

Owen squinted at the dazed look on Harry's face, rapidly twirling his wand. He glanced at the locket on the ground, his dark pupils holding an inscrutable expression, but ultimately chose not to intervene.

He felt it was better for Harry to overcome this problem on his own; he wasn't some meddlesome mother figure who wanted to interfere in everything.

The locket trembled on the ground, and the pair of eyes in the two small glass windows turned red, exactly like Voldemort's eyes. A dark, soap bubble-like object emerged from one of the small windows, bizarrely changing shape in mid-air.

Harry stared intently at it, watching it eventually transform into a familiar yet terrifying humanoid: a pale face that seemed to have melted, bloodshot eyes, and no hair... It was the image of Voldemort in the diadem he had seen before.

Voldemort stood inside the locket, looking down at him, and hissed, "You know, Harry, we're the same, there's no difference. You will become me, you will carry on my will, spreading darkness and evil throughout the world..."

"Come, accept me. I will guide you, give you strength, and lead you to know your true self..." Voldemort opened his arms to him, his voice gentle and seductive.

Harry shook his head, a look of fear on his face, and his breathing became heavy.

"Don't listen to him, Harry!" Sirius roared, casting a spell at the figure. The spell sliced ​​the figure in two, and Voldemort's silhouette crumbled into two blobs of ink.

Then the two blobs of ink began to stretch and deform, eventually growing into two human figures. Harry recognized them; he had seen them in the Mirror of Erised—his parents.

Riddle-James Porter said coldly and disdainfully, "My God, I don't want to admit you're my son. If I had known you were a monster, I would have killed you myself."

Riddle-Lily Porter writhed like a snake, looking at him with disgust. "Why the hell did I stand in front of you? You're a born seductive freak. To die protecting you is the stupidest and most regrettable thing I've ever done..."

Sirius yelled angrily, raising his wand menacingly at them. But Harry paid him no heed.

Harry's mind went blank; an unprecedented rage consumed his reason. He lunged at the locket, frantically stabbing the red eyes in the two small windows with the ring in his hand.

The figure in mid-air let out a sharp, piercing scream and vanished like smoke.

Harry kept stabbing and poking until the pins on the ring were bent, then he came to his senses and gasped for breath.

The two small glass windows on the locket box were pierced, and the pair of evil red eyes had disappeared. Wisps of smoke rose from the colorful silk lining inside the box, and a black, viscous liquid seeped out from the cracks.

Harry knelt on the ground, dejected, his arms trembling. More than his previous fear, he now felt anger, for Voldemort was insulting his parents, negating their sacrifices…

"It's alright, Harry." Sirius knelt down beside him, gave him a hug, and patted his back hard.

Owen took a deep breath and quietly left the living room, not intending to eavesdrop on their family's intimate conversation.

"This locket... does it have some kind of suicidal property?" he couldn't help but wonder. The fact that it had transformed into Harry's parents and was mocking him was absolutely a ticking time bomb; it would be strange if Harry didn't go crazy.

He leaned against the wall in the hallway, casually playing with his wand, waiting for the two people in the living room to finish.

After a long while, the old house-elf emerged, wiping away tears and snot, and exclaimed gratefully, "...Thank you for fulfilling Master Regulus's wish and destroying that locket! Kreacher will always remember his kindness, Harry Potter!"

Irving peeked into the living room and said with a half-smile, "Are you alright now?"

Harry awkwardly touched his nose, nodded haphazardly, and quickly changed the subject: "Oh, right, Sirius, I brought the other locket with me..."

He pulled RAB's locket from his pocket; he had already taken the note inside. He handed the locket to Sirius: "I think it's best to give it to you."

"I don't think I need it. It's nothing worth keeping as a souvenir." Sirius frowned, a strange and complicated expression on his face.

"If you don't want it, you could try giving it to Kreacher," Harry suggested. "I think he'd be very happy."

"Are you kidding me?" Sirius looked at him with a complicated expression.

"I think you should try to improve your relationship with Kreacher," Harry said seriously. "You see, Kreacher isn't actually that hard to get along with. If you can get along with him, things will be much smoother, won't they?"

"Kreacher, like everyone else in this family, hates anyone but purebloods," Sirius said with a dark expression.

"But he's been pretty friendly to me lately, hasn't he?" Harry said. "I think if you treat him well and are nice to him, he'll be nice to you... Dobby is like that."

He looked at Irving, hoping to get some strong support from him.

Owen leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and casually said, "House-elves are simple-minded but emotionally rich creatures. Their concept is simple: whoever treats them well, they will repay tenfold or a hundredfold. For them, wizarding blood is not important; their beliefs depend only on the attitude of the master they truly submit to."

Harry nodded in satisfaction, then looked at Sirius with longing eyes: "Look?"

"I'll try." Sirius took the locket, his lips twitching downwards. "But to be honest, giving the locket to Kreacher... he might just die on the spot."

They ended the conversation, and Owen cleared his throat with a hand to his lips before getting straight to the point: "Sirius, I learned that you were involved in creating a special map while you were at Hogwarts..."

"The Marauder's Map?" Sirius smiled, clearly much happier. "Looks like someone found it?"

Meeting Harry's questioning gaze, he explained, "That's a map of Hogwarts that I made together with your father, Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew—" His expression stiffened for a moment before he continued, "It depicts all the secret passages we found and shows everyone's movements."

"When we graduated, we decided to leave it at the school, hoping it would benefit those who come after us." He smiled and glanced at Irving. "Who found it?"

Owen chuckled and said, "The Weasley twins found it in Filch's office. This map became a great tool for their pranks."

"Then let's make the most of it," Sirius said contentedly, his expression even a little mischievous.

"I'd like to ask about that special tracking spell mentioned above. I tried to modify the ordinary tracking spell to achieve a similar effect, but the results were unsatisfactory; it couldn't reveal the imposter's real name... I think I need more ideas." Owen's expression switched to the serious and rigorous look of someone conducting research.

"Of course, if this involves a family's secret inheritance, then pretend I didn't ask," he added.

"There's nothing to keep secret. I found that spell by chance in my study. If you need it, I'd be happy to teach you." Sirius shrugged indifferently. "Actually, you've already improved it quite a bit; you just need to combine it with the principles of the Revealing Spell."

Owen suddenly realized that his blocked train of thought had suddenly become clear. He had been researching in the wrong direction. He had always thought that the missing part was in terms of thought, and had even considered adding the principle of mind control, but that would have made it too complicated and difficult.

"Thank you, that's enough for me." He expressed his gratitude. For him, knowing the exact direction meant that improving the spell was a natural progression.

"No need to thank me, you've helped Harry and me a lot," Sirius said, no longer as wary and cautious of Owen as he had been initially. "You've reminded me that I can make another Marauder's Map to monitor whether any enemies have infiltrated Hogwarts..."

They chatted for a few more minutes, and seeing that it was getting late, Owen said goodbye and went home through the fireplace. (End of Chapter)