Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters or included in this story. Everything other than the new plot belongs to J.K. Rowling. I'm not making any money off this, I'm just having a little fun.
A/N: Alright, so this is my second chapter. Continues right off from the first one.
Damage Control
Part Two: The Unit
...while Dumbledore certainly was serious, the man at the door was much more so.
However, it was not in a literal sense. The man who had interrupted the old friends' conversation did not have a demeanor that could be described as serious. For Sirius Black was a rather carefree, lighthearted person.
As it so happened, Sirius had a rather pleased grin on his face, as if he were in on some sort of joke that nobody else was aware of, which in conjunction with his shoulder-length black hair and facial stubble that implied he hadn't shaved in several days, Sirius gave off the impression of not being overly concerned about much. He wore black jeans, a dark red shirt, and a leather jacket, Muggle clothing which seemed to fit well with his Blood-Purists-Should-Just-Bugger-Off attitude.
As Sirius walked in, the door closed itself behind him. In a rather cheerful tone, he greeted the two men.
"Mad-Eye, Dumbles, just smashing to see you at seven in the bloody morning," he said. Dumbledore could have sworn he heard sarcasm in the young man's tone. "Remus should be here soon enough, the bloke at the reception gate – git that he is – wanted to run a background on him check because of his furry problem. What's in the box?"
Instantly, Moody grabbed the small package containing the horcrux and stuffed it in his pocket.
"Don't concern yourself with it just yet," Moody said, taking a drink from his flask.
"Sit. Albus and I'll tell you what we've been talking about when everyone's here."
Sirius complied, and asked, "how many more are there?"
Moody closed his good eye and leaned back slightly. "Counting Remus? Four."
At that moment, there were three more knocks at the door, which opened again, and in walked two people.
The first was a brown-haired woman with plain black robes and a rather serious expression on her face. Behind her was a young man with light brown hair and brown eyes, with several scratches on his face, a result of his aforementioned "furry problem." He looked rather tired, and not nearly as cheerful as Sirius had, although his eyes held a hint of amusement. He had on plain brown trousers and a dark blue sweater with a white collared shirt underneath.
The woman spoke. "Good morning Auror Moody, Headmaster, Sirius."
Moody grunted. "Auror Bones."
Dumbledore said nothing, although he did incline his head.
Sirius was more enthusiastic, jumping out of his seat and grabbing the woman in a hug, something that clearly annoyed her.
"Amy! So good to see you!" Sirius then let her go, but still stood facing her. He gave a large grin. "You even brought Moony! Oh, happy day!"
Clearly having had enough, Amelia glared at him. As she was about to speak, Moody interrupted.
"Not now, Bones, you can curse him after we're through. And Black, sit down before you lose your manhood. I don't want to have to put my Auror on probation because she castrated a civilian."
Sighing, Sirius sat back down. Amelia, clearly wanting nothing to do with him, sat as far from him as possible, that being to Moody's left. Remus, who'd been silently been observing the whole time, sat down next to Sirius.
"So how long are we going to wait here?" asked Sirius. "I haven't had breakfast, and I could really go for some sausages right now."
Moody glared at him. "We'll wait as long as we have to. There's a lot we need to cover, and I'm not saying it more that once."
Moody's patience was wearing thin. Emmeline Vance, the sixth member of the team had arrived not long after Lupin and Bones. The blond woman had sat beside Sirius, and they'd all waited.
And waited.
Finally, after half an hour of waiting, there were three knocks at the door. And as always, it shot open and slammed into the wall.
"Terribly sorry to be so late, Alastor, but I thought I'd found a Crumple-Horned Snorkack
in my garden, and I got caught up in the search."
Xenophilius Lovegood had arrived.
After Lovegood had exchanged greetings with everyone, and gone off on a tangent about many fascinating creatures, he sat down as well, taking the seventh and final chair.
Moody took another drink from his flask before addressing everyone.
"Now then, it's about time we got down to business. Albus has some things he needs to tell you all, then I'll be giving you all assignments. Albus?"
Dumbledore began to stand up, but Moody motioned for him to sit. Shrugging slightly, Dumbledore spoke. "Thank you, Alastor.
"Now, I have several important things to share with you. Are any of you familiar with a horcrux?"
The only person to respond was Amelia. "You can't be serious."
"Of course not, I am," Sirius cut in, receiving glares from both her and Moody.
"Unfortunately, I am," continued Dumbledore. "For those of you who don't know, a horcrux is a very disturbing piece of dark magic."
"Does it have anything to do with the Umgubular Slashkilter?" asked Xenophilius.
"That's it," growled Moody, "The next person to interrupt gets petrified until the meeting's over. Albus, continue."
"Thank you, Alastor. As I was about to say, a horcrux is an item in which a person hides a piece of his or her soul. This is done by splitting one's soul after performing a special ritual on the object in question. This has two major effects on the wizard or witch who creates it.
"First, this person will be unable to die. As long as the horcrux is intact, the soul will remain tethered to our world, unable to pass on. The soul will then attempt to obtain a new body.
"The other effect is the primary drawback to creating horcruxes: splitting the soul causes irreparable damage to the person, slowly chipping away at their sanity. Alastor, if you would?"
Moody reached into his pocket and pulled out the box he'd hidden earlier, and dumped the golden locket on the table.
"Thank you. This, my friends, is a horcrux created by Lord Voldemort. As far as I can tell, it once belonged to Salazar Slytherin. It was lost for many centuries, presumably passed down by his descendants."
"Are you certain that it wasn't being hidden by Aquavirius Maggots?" asked Xenophilius.
"Well," responded Dumbledore, "I suppose we can't rule anything out, although I would wonder how Voldemort managed to obtain it from such creatures."
Remus cut in. "If you don't mind my asking, Headmaster, where did you get it?"
Dumbledore sighed. "Yesterday morning, Horace Slughorn came to see me in my office. He had a house elf with him. I've since placed them both in a safe house, although I doubt the elf with remain there if called by his family.
"What Horace told me was rather disturbing. It seems that once, many years ago, a young Voldemort came to him with some questions about horcruxes. Horace, believing it to be nothing more than hypothetical questions from a curious student, answered them.
"Horace told me that Voldemort asked him if it would be possible to split the soul into seven pieces."
"Are you saying," asked Emmeline, "that he really made seven of these?"
"No, Miss Vance, what Voldemort had in mind was to create six, with the seventh piece, the main one, if you will, remaining in his own body."
"Wait a minute," Sirius interrupted, "what about the elf? What's it have to do with this?"
"The elf's master had learned about the horcrux and where it was hidden, although I am unclear as to how, and stolen it." Dumbledore looked at Sirius with a pained look in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Sirius. Your brother Regulus is dead."
Sirius' eyes widened in disbelief. Slowly, he leaned back in the chair, his previous mirth completely gone.
"My brother?... Reg is dead?.. He betrayed Voldemort?" Sirius took a deep breath. "That makes no sense... No, it makes perfect sense. It was probably too much for him. Made him sick, the shit they had to do... Moony?"
"Yes, Padfoot?" Remus asked gently.
"My brother's dead."
Remus said nothing, simply patting Sirius on the shoulder several times.
"As touching as this is," said Moody, "we're on a schedule. We have to assume that Voldemort managed to make the six horcruxes. He hid the locket in some cave. Albus said a blood sacrifice was required and that it was guarded by Inferi. That means that he's hidden them in places that are well protected, either through outside sources or by his own magic.
"Now here's the plan. We'll split up into two teams. Albus, Amelia, and Xenophilius will find and search any place that might be significant to Voldemort, because there's no way he's just finding random places.
"Remus, Sirius, Emmeline, and myself will be hunting several Death Eaters: the Carrows, the Lestrange brothers, Lucius Malfoy, and Bellatrix Black. As far as I know, these six are the closest to Voldemort, and they're the most likely to know something. Although I doubt they know about the actual horcruxes, they'll know about Voldemort's hideouts and possible safehouses.
"Remember, we don't have much time. In just one month, Albus has to return to Hogwarts and make sure the children are safe.
"Albus, you take charge of your team however you see fit. The rest of you, we'll meet somewhere else in three days.
"Wait for my owl."
A/N: Well, that's that, I'm going back to school tomorrow so I dunno how soon I'll be able to write the next one, but I have no intention of taking as long as I did before. Thanks to Cassia4u for being my first reviewer!
Please tell me what you think so I can get better and make this story as good as it can be!
~ThePillowOfDoom