A/N: I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone that is following this, and has favorited it. It really means a lot that you like it that much. I hope I don't dissapoint.
Upon seeing who had entered the Great Hall, Jacob immediately turned to Gold. "You weren't handling this well enough, I sent him a message after my meeting with Dumbledore." He heard in his mind.
Jacob watched as Roman walked up the aisle to stand directly in front of him. Everyone's eyes were on the both of them, wondering just what was happening, and who this man was.
"I tell you to stick close to Silas, you stick so close you curse him, with my curse no less," Roman scolded, crossing his arms over his chest. "When you came to me, I was your best friend. Now you're going to see me as your father, do you understand?" When Jacob nodded, he continued. "Good, now I assume you've already apologized for your actions, am I right?" Jacob nodded again. "Perfect, that means I can get right to your punishment. Tell me Jacob, has Silas ever told you what his punishments were like?"
"You got punished?" Jacob asked, and immediately he knew it was the wrong answer as a pain unknown to him coursed through his veins. When it stopped he turned his glassy stare to Roman, "Sorry, I'm sorry!" he cried.
Roman nodded, and gestured for him to follow him. "You too, Silas, you should not have provoked him."
Gold immediately got up, to the astonishment of the others. He was as quiet as the rest of them, but a pain look appeared on his face. He knew what was coming.
Before the stranger could lead them away, Dumbledore rose from his seat, "What do you think you're doing? That is my professor and his charge, what right do you have over them?"
Roman turned to the headmaster, and everyone was on the edges of their seats, waiting for whatever was going to happen, to happen. "My name is Roman, I'm sure Silas has mentioned me. I'm taking them to Silas' room where I will punish them for their wrongs. I assume you don't want that a public affair."
"I don't want it to be any type of affair! I must insist you don't punish them, please, let's go up to my office, we can talk about it up there," Dumbledore said, almost afraid of what type of punishment these two could get. Hell, this Roman had already done something to Jacob!
"I'm not exactly sure who you are sir, but these two are apart of my family, they will get their punishment here or you can give them their dignity and they can be punished away from prying eyes and ears," Roman stated, turning back to look at Jacob and Silas. "Shall we continue?"
Jacob and Silas immediately got moving, but Dumbledore put his foot down, or rather, his wand, and closed the doors before they could leave.
Roman turned back to Dumbledore and raised his eyes. He didn't say another word though as he turned back to the two in front of him. Before anyone could say anything, he pulled out his own staff, and raised a type of curtain that acted as a privacy shield. "They will have their dignity, but they will be punished," Roman said and then closed the shield around him.
No words were whispered as the occupants of the castle heard every word between the three men they couldn't see.
"I'm fair. You may plead guilty or innocent, you have a chance to get out of this," they heard Roman state, and Dumbledore watched helplessly as he tried whatever he could think of to lower the shield and get them to stop the entire thing. "Out loud Silas, Jacob deserves to hear your words too," Roman said, and everyone was curious once more as to how Roman could have possibly heard whatever Silas was thinking.
"When you put up the silencing shield, I will say more," Gold spoke, his voice heavy with dread.
"If I'm correct, everyone outside of this shield already knows what happened, guilty or innocent Silas, do not make me ask again." No one heard what Gold said, and Roman was well aware of that. "Has it been so long Silas, that you forgot what my punishments are like?" Gold said something else and it caused Roman to laugh. The laugh was neither scary, nor heartwarming, which in itself, was scary. "I'll give you a two minutes to decide just what you are going to say. Now, Jacob, you aren't privy to my punishments, and I'm sure it comes to a shock to you that I even consider punishing any of you."
By this point the entire Great Hall had had enough, they didn't want to hear this. If you looked at a few of the younger students, you could see that they looked like they were about to be sick. Everyone else just sat pale, waiting for it to be over, for Dumbledore to do something.
"Not really, Sir," Jacob said, and everyone in the Great Hall was just a little shocked to hear how calm he was. "I already know my verdict. I cast the pain-splitter you taught me, against him, and held it. I would have held it another minute if I hadn't been stopped. Whatever my punishment is, I accept it."
Roman said nothing, and Gold's voice reached each and every ear in the room. "I'm just as guilty, Roman. Hold back," he said this with his jaw clenched, as if he didn't want anyone to actually hear it, "on him, and if you have to, give me the worst of it."
Everything was silent for a minute, before an awful sob came from behind the curtain, and no one could tell if it was Jacob or Gold doing the sobbing.
Dumbledore redoubled his efforts, trying even harder to break down the shield. Whatever this man was doing to him, it couldn't continue. After another minute, he was surprised to find the curtain coming down, and wasn't sure if it was by his will, or Roman's.
He was sad to find that it was his will, and everyone in the Great Hall saw the two broken men on their knees, with their heads bowed.
Roman, becoming aware that his shield had dropped, raised it faster and with so much power, Dumbledore stumbled back. Immediately, McGonagall was at his side, and she gave him a look that showed how much she disapproved of this, and how she regretted that the shield had come down at all. The fact that Roman was able to raise it again, obviously he was someone they didn't want to anger anymore than they probably had. Deciding not to push it anymore, Dumbledore raised his own silencing shield, cutting off all noise behind the privacy shield.
The sobs continued, unheard by everyone but Gold and Roman, before Jacob's voice rang loud and clear, heavy sobs making him pause between words, "I know I accepted this, but it still hurts. It hurts that they can't know, that I have to carry this secret, that I had to come here. I wasn't ready, I'm not ready, I just want to leave!" he sobbed.
Gold it seemed, had more restraint, for it took him another five minutes before he too had broke, and was spilling his guts. It was almost harder to hear the grown man, than it was to hear Jacob's pleas. "I don't regret it. I will never regret this. They would have understood! They would have."
Finally, when the screen dropped, Jacob and Gold were not in it.
"Where… how," Dumbledore questioned, distraught over the event.
"I told you, you should have let that been more private, now if you excuse me, I have a trunk to pack," Roman stated, going to the doors and ripping them open.
Everyone in the Great Hall had started talking to each other, when five minutes later Roman reappeared. "On behalf of Professor Gold, the rest of his classes are canceled for the week, he asks that his students don't slack off, and write him an essay on chapters seven through nine, due next class. Headmaster, if I may have a word?"
Dumbledore sadly nodded and gestured for the man to follow him as he made his way to his office.
The rest of the occupants in the Great Hall each looked at each other, it was when one person spoke loud enough, that the hall shuddered, "Maybe he performed a mind attack that made them relive the memories that they hid from the most, like when Jacob made Professor Snape relive his worst ones?"
McGonagall rushed over to her Gryffindor's and informed them that if any of them wanted to talk, they were welcome to come to her office, as the door would be open. This saw the rest of the heads of houses doing the same.
Up in Dumbledore's office, the headmaster was having a serious conversation with the man that had easily barged in to his school.
"Was it truly necessary to subject everyone to their suffering? Why didn't you raise a silencing shield?"
It was with a heavy sigh that Roman answered. "To punish them takes a lot out of me, I could only maintain the privacy shield and their punishment, which is honestly saying a lot. You don't know me Dumbledore, but I'm a very powerful man, and that's not just my pride talking."
"I'm almost afraid to ask, but what did you do to them?"
"I reminded them of a decision they made, one that I cannot explain to you," Roman said. "Now, before I can leave, I have a few of my other family members coming. There is something we must find and destroy, I promise you though, no one will be hurt, and we won't disrupt anything more than I already have."
As if to make a point, the fire in his office flared, and one person stepped out after another.
"Headmaster," Roman said, getting ready to introduce the two newcomers.
"How is it they gained access to my office? That is a private floo system," he said, and by his tone they could hear that he was reaching his wits end.
"Headmaster," Roman began again, "this is Lilith Silver, and Edgar Black, two more members of my family."
"Just what is it you're looking for?" Dumbledore finally asked, sitting back in his chair, grabbing a lemon drop, apparently resigned. He would talk to Sirius at a later date, find out if he knew any Edgar's.
"I believe you know what a horcrux is," Edgar stated. "Our brother Jonathan contacted us about the piece of soul he found in one Harry Potter."
"And that made you think there were more horcruxes? Who are you people?"
"We've studied Tom Riddle for the last decade," Lilith said, speaking up. "We learned that he made more than one, in fact, he made seven. The last one though, wasn't suppose to happen," she explained. "We've spent the last couple of months, finding them, and destroying them. Harry destroyed one in his second year, there was Harry of course, we then took it upon ourselves to destroy the other four, the last one, is here in the castle."
Dumbledore didn't say anything, and Roman silently nodded to his two family members. They quietly leave the office, and Roman turns to Dumbledore. "I know you are weary, and quite upset over the events that played out in your dining hall, but I promise, once we have what we came for, the only one you'll have to deal with will be Silas."
He didn't wait for the old man to say anything else, he left and followed the two others to the seventh floor. Tom Riddle would be mortal once more.
Over in Gold's quarters, two men are sitting with their heads in their hands. They had only been there for five minutes, but it felt as if hours had somehow slipped passed.
Breaking the silence, Gold summons his Firewhiskey, and a Butterbeer for Jacob. "You aren't Harry Potter anymore," he says, immediately gaining Jacob's attention. "When you truly accept that, you'll be able to move on."
Jacob just nods, and rubs the ring on his finger. When Roman informed him that he would be leaving with him tonight, he wasn't sure how to feel. On one hand, this man just made him relive the moment his heart stopped, but on the other, being here was ruining him.
Silence once more surrounded them, only being broken by three people walking through the door.
"Who died?"
Jacob couldn't help it when he remarked that he did.
The man that had asked the question laughed, and clapped him on the shoulder. "The first punishment is always the worse," he says. "I'm Black, by the way. Green, right?"
"Sadly," he remarked.
"Oh cheer up lad," Black quipped. "Could be worse. You could be Gold!"
"Is that suppose to be a joke?" Gold questioned, getting up from his chair. "Is it done?"
"Yes, Tom Riddle is now fair game, once he regains a body of course," Silver says. Seeing the young boy who had recently joins, she goes and kneels in front of him. "Jacob?"
Looking at the new person, Jacob just stares, not answering. He has no words, for in her eyes, he sees what the next few years will look like for him. Once he left with Roman, it was easy to see that he wouldn't be seeing any of these people again for quite a few years, and in those years, he would most definitely heal and come to terms with everything that had happened.
