Author's Note: I spell it Asteria because that's how JKR spells it on the Weasley family tree.
"I was wondering if you had any books on a rather rare type of magic. I believe it's called a Horcrux?" At the woman's furrowed brows, he amended, "Or Horcruxes?"
It should be Horcruces, six years of Latin lessons had taught him that much. But, if that insufferable Mud-- Muggle-born - he corrected himself, knowing the less likely he was to think it then the less likely he was to say it and send Asteria into a snit – if that insufferable Muggle-born had called them that then it must be the common name for them.
"Fiendfyre – cursed fire – it's one of the substances that destroy Horcruxes..."
"I know of vat you speak. One moment." Draco watched her disappear behind a tall bookshelf and hoped the book she returned with was written in English or at least the Roman alphabet. While he could speak Russian well enough, reading it was another matter.
Glancing to make certain the Durmstrang library was clear of any curious students who might look over his shoulder, he took out a worn sheet of parchment and tapped it with his wand to reveal what he had written there years ago.
Horcrux/Horcruxes
Diadem?
Gryffindor's Sword?
A golden cup? (Hufflepuff's???)
Book?
Nagini?
Snape?
Wand?
The diadem was the only item on the list that he was certain about as it was that small tiara that Potter and his friends had been desperate to find, Potter even risking their lives in their escape to grab it. And it was the diadem that Granger had been talking about when she mentioned Horcruxes. Gryffindor's sword he had included on a whim, solely due to his aunt's terrified reaction when she thought it had been stolen. For the very same reason, he included the small Hufflepuff cup that was taken from the his aunt's vault at Gringotts. He had been reluctant to do so at first but then decided it had as much right to be on there as the sword.
Three objects related to the Founders. If the Dark Lord had chosen these objects for his Horcrux things then there had to be an object of Slytherin's as well though for the life of him, he couldn't think of what.
About the book he wasn't certain. All he had there were memories of whispered conversations between his parents about the Dark Lord being unhappy with Lucius for losing that book. However, when he had asked his father point-blank if the book had been a Horcrux his father had stared at him in honest confusion before asking, "A what?"
That Potter and pals would know of some rare form of Dark Magic when his father did not was bad enough, that he wouldn't recognize it was ludicrous. Draco was willing to admit that had been wild guess on his part.
And if that had been a wild guess, the last three were blind stabs in the dark. Just before they had left the corridor, Granger had mentioned something to the others that might have included the word snake – as in Nagini – or Snape. They were too far away at that point and Draco had been too distraught then to try to understand what they were saying. Including Snape had been his way of covering his bases but, the more he thought about it, the less likely it seemed. Whatever these Horcruxes were, they all seemed to be inanimate objects, he wasn't certain a living, breathing human being could be made into one. Even if they could, he doubted that Snape – after this new information about his true allegiances – would consent to being turned into a Horcrux.
The snake seemed more likely, given not just how protective the Dark Lord had been of his pet but of Longbottom's actions against it. Draco couldn't imagine having a sword, killing Nagini and then doing nothing more with it, not even keeping it with him for protection. Unless there had been a reason Longbottom had specifically targeted the snake.
The wand he had added last night but, the more he thought about it, the more that seemed to be wishful thinking on his part. Last night, his wife had mentioned wanting a nice unabridged copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard for their son and that had reminded him of the story of the Hallows.
In the weeks after the battle, it had been the talk of the wizarding world that Potter had claimed to possess the legendary "Elder Wand". Potter had eventually come forward with a dodgy story about tricking the Dark Lord who had believed that such a thing could exist.
Despite himself, Draco wanted to believe him. He wanted to believe anything rather than live with the knowledge that he had unknowingly been – as Potter himself was claimed to have said - "the true Master of the Elder Wand". The idea that he had once controlled the most powerful wand to ever exist, that he could have defeated the Dark Lord and freed himself and his parents from that hell, was almost physically painful to him.
Many people had believed Potter's story, either out of respect to their idol or because the idea that a children's story held any merit, that Death once walked among them handing out tokens, was too ridiculous to entertain. Draco would have been one of them but then he thought of Potter's Invisibility Cloak, far better than any that he had ever owned and he wondered.
"Here it is." The librarian returned with a large, dusty tome. She blew the dust off the cover, not seeming to notice or care that she blew it on Draco, and placed it on the counter in front of her. "This book vill tell you vat you vant to know. Don't take out of the library."
He looked at the cover, thankful to see that it was in English and surprised that it was a title he did not recognize: Secrets of the Darkest Art.