DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.
~ Sand in the Sea ~
What remained of Voldemort's soul, inhabiting a snake, entirely by accident happened upon the remains of Herpo the Foul, who was inhabiting the body of a parrot at the time.
Neither needed to change bodies in order to speak to the other, as Herpo was a Parselmouth and Voldemort still had enough of his mental faculties left to be able to understand the human words spoken by the parrot.
"Ah, another who has seen the folly of creating a Horcrux, I see," Herpo the parrot squawked.
Voldemort, surprised at being recognized as a partial human soul attached to animal (and by a possessed parrot, no less) hissed, Who are you, and how can you tell what I am?
"In my human life, I was known as Herpo the Foul," the parrot replied, shaking out its wings in a semblance of a shrug. "Not a particularly flattering thing to be known by, but I was the first wizard to create a Horcrux, after all. Not that I realized at the time how much more complicated my 'immortality' would be than simply living forever."
Voldemort was fascinated by this revelation, but also confused.
Why would you regret your immortality? Have you never found a way to be re-embodied? There are spells, rituals...
"Spells, bah. The results are too temporary to bother with. Rituals? I had no servants to complete them for me. Homculi, golems, revenants - yes, yes, I tried those, but they are difficult to maintain. If I could go back and do it again, I would not have made the Horcrux. Or, at least, I would not have made it so that even I myself could never find it again."
Voldemort had only one question left for the ancient wizard.
What object did you use for your Horcrux and where did you hide it?
"A single grain of sand, which I cast into the sea."
~end~
