Percy made it halfway through his explanation before Dumbledore reached for a blank page.
"Tell me that part again," the Headmaster said.
"The stone in the ring may offer a way to see people who are dead. I remember someone being hurt after putting it on."
Percy had waited until Harry left for his appointment with Marsh. Ron had gone with him. Hermione sat beside Percy, holding the list of leads against her knee.
Dumbledore wrote one sentence. Then he put the page where McGonagall could read it.
"And the injury?"
"A curse in the ring. I do not remember the exact spell. I remember the hand turning dark."
McGonagall looked at Dumbledore's hands.
"Then no one wears it."
"No one was planning to," he said.
"I prefer the instruction in writing."
Percy looked down at the list. He had nearly left this detail out because the stone belonged to another part of the story. That had been the old problem all over again.
"There is more about it," he said. "The stone has a history. I can describe what I remember after the curse warning."
Dumbledore set down his quill and listened.
Percy explained the symbol and the story connected to the stone. He did not claim the object in this world could do what his memory said. He gave the warning, the location, and the reason he thought the ring might be dangerous even after the soul anchor ended.
Hermione wrote the two dangers on separate lines.
"The fragment and the curse," she said. "Destroying one may leave the other."
"Yes," Dumbledore answered. "The recovery team will isolate both."
Percy asked who was going to the house.
Dorridge's officers would examine the outer grounds. Flitwick would check the wards from the cleared approach. Dumbledore would follow after the team had found the concealed space.
Nobody asked Percy to lead them through the door.
He was grateful until McGonagall gave him a different assignment.
"You can finish the work Professor Sprout returned."
"I thought I had helped."
"You have. There is still soil in your diagram of the roots."
"That makes it realistic."
She handed him the page. Hermione made a small sound that was probably sympathy and definitely laughter.
They left the office with the recovery instructions recorded. Percy had expected to feel useful. Instead, he felt tired and vaguely embarrassed.
Hermione caught up at the stairs.
"You gave them the warning before they found it."
"I nearly did not."
"Then keep doing the part after nearly."
He looked at her. She continued down the landing before he could decide whether to make a joke.
The old house stood beyond a patch of neglected ground near Little Hangleton. Its walls had settled at different angles. One window held a board instead of glass. Another held neither.
The first officer stopped before the gate.
Something had been tied to the post with wire. It looked like a dead vine, but it moved against the wind when he raised his wand.
Flitwick asked him to lower it. The vine stopped moving.
They marked the position and approached from another side. A second line waited beneath the weeds, stretched low enough to catch a boot.
Dumbledore watched while the officers cleared the path. He had read Percy's description twice on the journey. The warning about the ring was written at the top in McGonagall's hand.
Leave it unworn. Keep the stone isolated from all living contact.
A house could remain a dangerous place even when its owner was far away. The team found that out at the side door.
An officer moved a loose board with a long-handled tool. The space behind it filled with black smoke. He stepped back before the smoke reached the handle.
Flitwick contained it against the doorframe. The smoke pulled toward the tool and left a dark mark across its metal end.
The officer put the tool in the discard tray. He did not try the door again.
They entered through the cleared window after checking the opening separately. The inside smelled of damp wood. A chair lay on its side beneath the table. Old dust covered everything except a small patch near the hearth.
Dumbledore pointed out the patch. No one touched it.
A row of floor stones ran beneath the hearth. The third gave a different reading from the others. Flitwick held the surrounding wards still while the recovery officers lifted it from outside the marked area.
The ring lay inside a narrow space beneath the stone.
It was plain enough to be mistaken for rubbish beside the rotten boards. A dark stone sat in a rough gold setting. The mark on the stone was visible when the lamp moved.
Dumbledore knew the mark.
He also knew several people he would have wanted to see again.
For a moment, the room seemed to contain more light than the broken window allowed. He heard the first syllable of a name he had not heard spoken kindly in years.
He stepped back from the marked line.
"It has begun," he said.
Flitwick kept his eyes on the ward reading. "A voice?"
"Yes. Continue from outside the line."
Dumbledore let the recovery specialist take his position. He stood beside the window until the light had returned to its ordinary shape.
The ring entered a closed glass container without touching a hand. The specialist secured the lid, then placed that container inside a second case. The sound in the room stopped before either case left the house.
Dumbledore did not follow it immediately.
He wrote down what he had heard, including the moment he wanted to move toward it. He signed the account and gave it to Dorridge's officer.
At Hogwarts, Percy had corrected the root diagram and improved nothing about his handwriting.
Harry returned before dinner with Ron carrying a paper bag.
"Marsh gave me exercises," Harry said.
Percy looked at the bag.
"Edible exercises?"
"Those are from the kitchens," Ron said. "I became concerned about our recovery."
Hermione reached inside and found a bun. "You were concerned about the walk back."
"That too."
Harry put his appointment notes beside the two lists. The healer had asked him to record the time of pain and what he was doing when it began. She had also asked which parts of his ordinary day he wanted back.
"Flying," he said when Percy asked.
"Naturally."
"And sleeping without somebody telling me how to clear my head."
Ron raised his bun. "A fine ambition."
Percy asked whether Marsh had suggested a treatment yet. Harry said she had suggested further examinations of his own scar, with each step explained in advance. No locket, no meeting with Voldemort.
"I agreed to the next one," he added. "I can change my mind."
He sounded calmer about that than he had about being asked to help with an object.
McGonagall came to the common room before the fire burned low. She asked the four of them to come to Dumbledore's office.
Percy knew the ring had been found before she spoke. Dumbledore's hand rested openly on the desk, pale and uninjured.
He looked at it anyway.
The Headmaster noticed.
"The team recovered it without wearing it," he said. "The warning reached them in time."
Percy let out the breath he had been holding.
Flitwick showed a photograph of the ring inside its container. The mark on the stone matched Percy's description. The outer readings showed a severe contact curse. A second pattern inside the setting resembled the soul anchor in the locket.
The examination would continue the next day. The curse would be treated as active whether or not the anchor survived destruction.
Hermione added the ring to the recovered list. She left the confirmed column blank beside it until Flitwick supplied the signed findings.
Dumbledore waited until she finished before speaking to Percy.
"I heard a familiar voice near the object. I wanted to go closer. I did not."
The office grew quiet.
Percy looked at the photograph, then back at him.
"Someone you knew?"
"Yes."
Dumbledore did not give the name. Percy did not ask for it.
"The team took over while I withdrew," he said. "I recorded the response so it can be included with the danger assessment."
Ron shifted in his chair.
"You told them you wanted to touch it?"
"I told them I wanted to approach it. That matters to anyone who has to work beside me."
Percy felt a brief, uncomfortable recognition. He had told Harry almost the same thing about wanting to look at the kitchen.
The feeling did not make Dumbledore's response to the stone safe. It made his decision to step away easier to understand.
Harry studied the photograph.
"Did it stop when you left?"
"It weakened with distance and ended when the container closed."
Harry nodded. "Then keep it closed."
"That is the plan."
The meeting ended without a new assignment for them. Dumbledore had reports to complete. The students had supper waiting in the Hall.
Percy lingered by the door.
"Thank you for listening before you went," he said.
Dumbledore looked up.
"Thank you for telling me before I needed to listen."
Percy left before the exchange became something he would have to think about all night.
At supper, Ron read another line from Ginny's letter. She had asked whether Hogwarts still taught lessons or had become a club for people with terrible judgment.
"We should invite her to inspect it," Percy said.
"Mum would send a list."
"Hermione could compare theirs."
Hermione threw a bread crust at him. It hit Harry instead, which made the whole table pause before Harry laughed.
The crust landed beside the gravy. Ron claimed it as compensation for the insult to his family.
Percy found an envelope waiting on his plate when he returned from getting water.
There was no Ministry seal. His name had been written in the same narrow hand as the message Nyx had sent before the temple.
He did not open it at the table.
Harry noticed the change in his face. "What is it?"
"Someone we have not heard from in a while."
Percy showed them the writing and asked McGonagall to check the envelope before he read it. She took it to the staff table, returned a few minutes later, and said there was no active spell on the paper.
The letter held three lines.
Nyx had heard that the gate was closed. She had information about Acheron and the trident. She wanted to meet someone who could keep him away from her.
Percy read it twice. There was an address below the last line and a request that he not come alone.
He passed it to McGonagall.
"I think she needs help," he said.
McGonagall read the name without surprise.
"Then we send someone equipped to give it. Finish your supper. I will contact Dorridge."
Percy sat down. Harry moved the gravy toward him.
The ring stayed in its container. His friends stayed at the table. For tonight, Percy could leave both things where they were while the adults read the letter.
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hey guys, I kinda rushed this chapter, idk if you can tell. k bai.
[SHAMELESS PLUG]
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