Caledonia Lilia Snape

3.8: Untitled Part 29

The trio set up camp, and continued to move about every few days as they tried to pick up trails on anything about the horcruxes. They weren't having any luck; only coming up empty handed and more clueless as the days goes by.

"We're not getting anywhere." Ron muttered as he slumped to poke at the fire with a stick.

"Tell me about it." Caledonia murmured as she stared balefully at the fire.

Hermione frowned and turned to Caledonia, "What exactly are the horcruxes are we looking for?" The two of them turned to her, "I mean, we know some... but what are the rest? If we knew, we'd have a better idea where to go."

"Yeah." Caledonia started. She pulled out her bag, dug out a smaller bag, a moleskin bag, and dug around in the bag until she pulled out a paper and the two watched on, curious. She flattened the worn and creased paper, stained with inkblots and tea stains. They could see few words and lines going through three of them. "This is what I have gathered..." The spidery handwriting of her showed:

- Diary -

- Ring -

- Slytherin Locket -

Nagini

Hufflepuff Cup

Ravenclaw Diadem

Gryffindor Sword ?

Hermione gasped and grasped the paper, "Are you sure?" She pointed to the last three words.

She nodded. "I came across the founder's portrait and talked to them. I noticed they had all those things and I realized that Tom Riddle liked to collect things that were not his. The memories, I went over them for few days, it all points to them, but I am not sure about the last one."

Ron peered over Hermione's shoulder and frowned, "Gryffindor's Sword. It can't be."

"I don't think it is." Hermione agreed, "We would've known when we touched it and it destroyed the locket and the ring, so that's not possible."

The raven-haired woman ran her fingers through her hair and grimaced at how grimy it had became since she left Hogwarts. She desperately wanted to bath and scourgify only could do so much. "I know. But what else could be a horcrux? There are seven, I am pretty sure."

"Let's focus on what we know of." Hermione said as she stared at the list, as if she was trying to will it to tell her its deepest secret. "Nagini, we all know the snake is always with him. So, that's not possible to kill unless one of us gets close." She looked up to Caledonia.

"I don't think he's going to call me anytime soon. He knows I am out alone with you guys." She told them.

"Alright, at least we know what to do with that one... where can we find the cup?"

Ron groaned, "This is not getting us anywhere. What about this... Ravenclaw's Diadem?"

Caledonia frowned, "I don't know but I am sure I've seen it before."

Ron's eyes went wide. "Hey, Luna mentioned that her dad was trying to recreate the diadem. Maybe they have it?"

Hermione cuffed Ron, "Ron! If the concept of recreating something so farfetched doesn't get to you, you just don't have any bloody clues! They don't have it!"

Caledonia stood up and paced in a small circle. "No, that's not it. When I saw the portrait, Rowena Ravenclaw was wearing a pretty crown on her head and I just remembered that I've seen it before..." The memory of her sitting in the room of requirement flashed to her mind, Draco sitting across from her, twirling the tiara around his finger, old and lacking luster, yet it glistened in the faint stream of sunlight and it hit her. "The Room of Requirement! It had been there the whole time! With all the things that didn't want to be found." She turned to her two best friends. "That's where it is."