AN: a chapter in a more normal length. All is moving rather fast. I'm a little surprised :D Have fun reading!

oooOOooo

Secrets Uncovered

"Spill," was the quiet command issued to Sirius the moment he was alone with his childhood friend and companion. They had had no time for a talk before Lord Slytherin had shown up at the door. So now Remus demanded a more thorough explanation.

Sitting down, sighing wearily, Sirius cast a spell to fill a cup with tea and float it over to his place. "You have read Harry's letter?" Serious grey eyes regarded his friend, who rolled the parchment he had been working on into a scroll and placed it to the side, nodding.

"Well I went to Griffin House – but you probably heard that – I met with Lord Slytherin, who had been researching the whole night to find some way to make sure Harry is safe. He offered me breakfast and went to shower and change while I waited. After that we went over to Hogwarts. The research uncovered two bylaws. One has already be used. And if the other will be called is Harry's decision."

Sirius made a pause to take a few sips from his tea and to contemplate. It had been rather a different experience to walk at the side of the man who most likely still was the Dark Lord. The animagus still remembered the reverence with which his parents had spoken about the man. And now they had been seen by the whole staff of Hogwarts, a few aurors, and even quite a few students walking side by side, working for a common goal. But as the common goal was Harry's safety, it felt all right.

"There was an attack, but you heard that already. The investigation is in full force. But most interesting are the bylaws that Slytherin found. Harry will get his own rooms in Gryffindor Tower – probably tomorrow – and can ask for a re-sort if he wants to." Shaking his head in incredulity, Sirius took another sip from his tea.

"Re-sorting is truly possible?" Remus asked wide eyed, "I heard you talk about that earlier, but… the stories that are told just sound so… outlandish. And no history text ever mentions something like that."

And so Sirius started to recount the stories the man from the board had told them today in the staff room. And then he proceeded to tell Remus all the details about his day spent in the hospital wing sitting by Harry's bed. He pulled a sheet of thick drawing paper from the inside of his robes, showing off the charcoal drawing of himself as Padfoot, already contemplating where he could place it on a wall to the best possible effect.

When both the dog animagus and the werewolf went to bed that night, the wall in the kitchen had a new picture hanging between the door to the pantry and one of the cabinets.

oooOOooo

Harry had made it almost too late to breakfast on Saturday morning. He now walked together with Ron and Hermione, both carrying a few of his belongings, up the stairs leading to the boys' dorms in Gryffindor Tower. After a day spent in the infirmary – even if Sirius had spend the day with him, listening to stories Harry wanted to tell, and telling stories of his own – it was nice to be with his friends again.

"And then finally the aurors made their way into the common room. They wanted to know where each of us had been. I think they went to all the common rooms. So much work! And Auror Proudfoot was a little surprised that we had already collected the places where everyone had been. He's heading the investigation. I hope there are books about magical forensics in the library. I never even thought about the way the auror department would go about investigating a crime!" Hermione prattled on and on. Harry smiled at that, Hermione's enthusiasm was as reliable as the sun. A nice constant in a world where nothing seemed to be sure at all.

They finally passed the door to the room of Head Boy – only ever in use if the year's Head Boy was a Gryffindor – and started on the last set of stairs up to what probably could be called the attic of the tower.

"Wow, mate!" Ron commented once they had crossed the threshold and Hermione shut up to take a good look around.

The room was mostly circular – the bathroom probably hidden behind the only straight wall – and divided by several curtains, which were open at the moment. Red and gold was the main colour scheme, like in all other parts of the tower. There was a big bed, with curtains, a canopy, and comforter, a desk with a chair and several bookcases, and a seating area with a big couch, cushions to sit on the floor, and several thick rugs.

It was lovely.

The windows, set in all directions providing a good look out on the grounds and onto the school – her courtyards, the other towers, and the roofs – let in a lot of light. The ceiling was covered in light wood and sloped down from a single high point in the middle, to the walls.

"I would rather be sleeping in our dorm and forego the murder attempts. Thank you very much," Harry drawled sarcastically. He really would rather sleep in the dorm as he had for the last four years. But it just was not safe anymore.

Ron looked sheepish and placed the things he was carrying on the desk. "You're right, Harry. But these rooms are pretty awesome!"

Turning slowly around his own axis, Harry had to admit that Ron was right. "They are. We'll probably be able to study in quiet here." The green-eyed teen gave his best friends an impish smile. Hermione was beaming at the concept of a quiet place to study that was not the library. and Ron glowered because Harry had used the dreaded word – study – in front of Hermione.

They started to place the things Harry owned around the room, while Hermione continued talking about the investigation.

"I heard that they discounted all of the first-years and probably also the second-years. They can't cast a stunner. Do you know if the attackers were big or small? Tall? Short?"

Harry laughed incredulously. "Hermione, stop! I have given a copy of my memory to the aurors, they will see for themselves. I don't really remember. Concentrated on staying on my broom, evading the stunners. Didn't really have the time to look at them more closely. Why don't we talk about something else?"

Of course they didn't stay away from the investigation. But Harry did not contribute much to the discussion. So it was Hermione and Ron who speculated about what was to happen, what spells there were to secure evidence. Soon Hermione was appalled at how little real evidence-gathering there was happening in wizarding crime-fighting.

While his friends were comparing the differences in law enforcement between the wizarding and Muggle worlds, Harry was deep in thought. What should he do? He was fairly certain that at least one of his attackers was a Gryffindor. Only a Gryffindor could have managed to place the potion in his food, only a Gryffindor could have charmed his things green. And he didn't believe that there were just several people doing this, unrelated. It felt too much like escalating to him.

And thinking back at the reactions and what had been said, he was fairly sure that McLaggen was somehow involved. Harry did not dare tell that to anyone, though. If he did, it would get back to his guardian. And somehow he had no doubts that the man would react violently in some way. As much as he had been kind and even somewhat caring, he still had his dark red eyes, had split his soul, was still only running on parts of it. Even though it was more than half a soul by now.

No, he did not feel comfortable bringing anyone to the attention of Lord Voldemort.

Even someone who had tried to kill him.

And it had been several. More than one. Probably at least three students. Because he now thought that he remembered that there had been two people casting stunners and he had got them both. So there had to have been at least one more, to wake them up again so they could get away before the professors arrived there.

And then there still was the question about whether he should ask for a re-evaluation of his placement. He had walked to Slytherin the evening of the attack. Because he had not felt safe with his Gryffindor housemates. This was one of the deciding factors for even being able to ask to be re-sorted. Or so Sirius had told him. What would happen if he asked and set the Hat on his head again?

Would he remain in Gryffindor? Harry thought it possible. He still was fairly brave and brash. And if he asked and was placed in his current house again, what then? It would only increase the resentment his Housemates already felt for him. For his desire to leave, only to stay. Others might see it as a confirmation that he was in the right place. But the other Gryffindors probably would only see that he wanted to leave. He could maybe present it as a dare...

And right there was the proof that he could be in Slytherin. Ever since he had been adopted, his political, cunning mind had been schooled. The part of him that had been active to keep him relatively safe at the Dursleys and had mostly slept since he had come to Hogwarts, was active once again. In Slytherin he would be with Theo and Daphne, Draco… it would not be all bad. He smirked. Never again would he have to remember the password for the common room.

Harry was fairly sure that Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were not options for him. He had adopted better study habits, but still did not really crave knowledge for the sake of knowledge. And loyalty was surely part of him, but smaller than his urges to run into a situation to save others, or his pondering over different outcomes, like he was doing right now.

Placing the communication mirror Sirius had given to him yesterday on the small table near his bed, Harry searched the wall for the tapestry that controlled the wards on his new rooms. He could use runes to decide how harsh the wards would be, write down the names of people he would allow in there.

While Hermione arranged his school books after some pattern only she would deem useful, and Ron was watching the grounds, laughing about how tiny all the students looked from up here, Harry set the wards. Only Hermione and Ron – and of course the professors – would even be able to walk the stairs up to his door. And no one would be able to enter when he was not there. He just felt safer that way. Considering that safety was the whole purpose of this, it probably was best to err on the side of caution.

oooOOooo

It was Saturday, but they both were still here among heaps of parchment, trying to bring order into the chaos. They had amassed a lot of overtime on this assignment.

Kingsley looked up from the parchment he held in his hands. A stack of order forms for supplies from Scrivenshaft's. Quills and ink. Not for the first time he wondered who had been so daft as to place all paperwork in the same room. Or make it a rule that all paperwork had to be kept for this long. One of the order forms was older than a hundred years.

On the other side of the room, standing knee-deep in files, was his partner in this assignment. Dawlish.

Even after all the time they had been sorting and searching, he still did not know what to think about him. But it proved to be hard to keep up the constant vigilance Alastor always harped about.

"I still don't know what I did wrong to be given this assignment. It feels more like a detention with Filch than anything else," the dark-skinned wizard said into the room, breaking the silence.

A snort from across the chaos was the first reaction, before Dawlish straightened up, stretching out his back. "Had many of those, Shacklebolt?" the brown-haired wizard asked, laughter in his voice. As he continued he got serious really quick. "We search for evidence of who sent Dementors after three heirs and their tutor. I consider it an honour to have this assignment."

And there it was again. The hint that this man might be a Death Eater. An honour to be investigating the attack on Heir Slytherin and the sons of two men that had been Death Eaters. Only free on a technicality and money.

Kingsley stretched his own back. "I just wished we could sort these," he waved his arm over the mess, "a little more efficiently than by hand."

Dawlish nodded easily agreeing. "But with all these charms to make sure they can't be stolen easily… Maybe we can get permission to remove the charms, sort with magic, and be finished faster?"

For a brief moment there was a flicker of hope in Kingsley, before the reality of pedantic bureaucrats hit him hard. They tended to make all things as complicated as possible. "I think before we managed to get the permission we would be finished with sorting."

They both rolled their eyes and bent down again to sort through another patch of tangled parchment.

The way all their paperwork needed to be filled out three times or more… sometimes Kingsley thought the true evil in the world were the bureaucrats.

All forms needed to be filled out multiple times… slowly brown eyes widened, and the tall auror straightened himself up again. It was almost impossible that an order to send Dementors somewhere needed only to be filled out once. Where might the other copies be stored?

"What are you thinking?" Dawlish asked, slowly making his way through the small paths they had cleared in the first few days on this job.

Sounding deep in thought and kind of far away Kingsley answered. "The last report I wrote, I copied it three times. The original went to Scrimgeour, one I kept, one probably is somewhere in this mess, and the last one went to the solicitor involved. Do you know how many copies are needed for a Kiss order?"

Swearing something under his breath, Dawlish walked a little faster. Blinking in surprise, Kingsley realized that the man had paled a few shades. How curious.

"You're right! There certainly is more than one copy! Why didn't I think about this earlier? We could have known weeks ago!" The man seemed distressed, and Kingsley raised an eyebrow. Maybe the other really was a Death Eater. Judging by the stories that had been told after the trials of the first war, displeasing the man at the top was not something you would wish to do.

"Keep calm, Dawlish. If it was this obvious, like it feels now, someone would have thought about it before today. And we still need to find where the other copy might be stored." He clasped his hand on the other's shoulder.

Dawlish took a deep breath and nodded, getting his wits back. "Whoever it was, they probably didn't hold onto a copy. But the Dementors are at Azkaban… Is there an archive there?"

Kingsley nodded enthusiastically, a grin spreading over his face, answered by a matching one on the face of the other man. "It should be. And with the Dementors moved to the other end of the island, it shouldn't be too unpleasant to go there to check."

"We probably should keep it quiet until we've done so," cautioned Dawlish, and Kingsley nodded, continuing his sorting. "Can't risk the perpetrator getting wind of our plan. How can we manage to get the portkeys we would need without causing suspicion?"

They started to plan their way to the island prison to check on the records there and at the same time make sure that no one got to know about it before they had finished their little excursion.

oooOOooo

Later the same day Albus sat behind his desk in his office, Fawkes sitting on his perch preening his feathers, a newspaper and a letter in front of the old Headmaster, a frown on his face.

Alastor had been right in his assessment of the situation. The Prophet had published a piece about the attack on Harry, making Tom out to be a caring and friendly guardian, ensuring that his son would get all the protection he could possibly need. The public loved the tragic story Tom had planted and which had blossomed beautifully.

Never would Albus have thought that Tom would allow this much of his past to be paraded in the open. That he had given information about people that had vanished in the past war to the DMLE… it seemed that Albus had miscalculated.

The letter that had arrived with the post around lunchtime only drove the point deeper. Tom had arranged for a standing appointment with the goblins. Whenever they both made an appearance there – at the same time – they would have a room to use and one of the Gringotts' curse-breakers at hand. The letter proposed that they meet Monday in the early evening in front of the bank and remove the curse on that occasion. Tom even invited him to bring two people to keep him company.

Rubbing his eyes behind his glasses, Albus conceded that he had grossly miscalculated. Tom seemed to be much better off than before his fall. He needed to take another approach. Most of all, he needed to reassure the Order that Tom really was evil. Now that the boy could act as well as, if not better than, he had as a teenager, it was not as obvious as before. But Albus was sure of it.

Tom was evil, had already been on his path to true evil when he had been a boy of eleven.

No one not evil could split his own soul. And the Headmaster knew that Tom had done exactly that. Split his soul. More than once. He would have to tell the others. Make sure that they all saw Tom as the evil man he was and not the caring, contrite young man struck by tragic circumstances he portrayed himself as.

He would have to tell the Order about the horcruxes and his suspicion that Harry was one as well. The need to destroy all of the dark objects so Tom Riddle was mortal once more. The fact that Harry would have to die, and his hope that the boy could live if Riddle himself would cast the curse. If Harry sacrificed himself willingly.

He had no illusions how this would go. Molly would be furious… no need to dwell on it now. He was tired and needed to go to sleep. Having the aurors on school grounds was not easy. Why had everything become so complicated? Was he getting too old for this? No, that was not really a possibility.

Sighing to himself, Albus rose, patted his familiar on the head and walked up to his quarters. Time to take his potions – provided by Severus to combat the curse – and then sleep. Tomorrow would be another day, and he would get the undivided support of the Order of the Phoenix once more. He just had to!

oooOOooo

Tonks took the last of her things out of her locker and waved cheerily to her fellow aurors on her way out of the locker-room. Whistling, she walked to the public Floos in the Atrium, shuffling into one of the lines behind an old wizard in dove grey robes.

Kingsley had told her in the evening the day before, as she had come in for her shift, that this morning there would be a full Order meeting. So her plan was to go home, change into something more comfortable, and then go over to Headquarters.

She was curious what this was about. Since she had started on this undercover assignment – or what was named an undercover assignment, waylaying shoplifters in Diagon – she was a little out of the loop.

Not an hour later she stepped through the door into the old house in Godric's Hollow. Remembering that the umbrella stand had been on the right the last time she had been here, she turned left and promptly fell over the old thing.

Swearing under her breath, Tonks struggled back to her feet, shrinking her hair shorter to get it out of her eyes.

Why did they move the damn thing every bloody time?

"Are you unharmed, Nymphadora?" suddenly the Headmaster was by her side and steadied her while she got her feet back under herself.

"I'm fine! That thing is always standing somewhere else." With a sheepish smile she righted herself and followed the others back into the dining room.

Almost all of the Order had already arrived. Molly was distributing some of her baked goods – muffins and cinnamon buns – and several conversations were being held around the room.

Tonks sat down near the door.

Snape was standing in a dark corner, as he usually did, Bill sat next to his father, the Headmaster sat down at the head of the table. The rest were scattered around the table without any order she could see.

It took a few minutes, but finally they were all sitting around the table, each of them with a warm drink – tea or coffee – and a delicious little pastry before them. There was a curious tension in the room. On the one side the anxious cheerfulness of Molly and on the other side the dark brooding of Moody and the Headmaster.

Leaning back in her chair, Tonks sipped her coffee and let her gaze wander over the assembly. Remus looked good, much better now than only two months before, and the same could be said about Snape. Something that just did not sit not right with her. Should spying not leave some mark on a man? She would have thought that it was a stressful position and would leave a man looking exhausted. But on the other hand, he was a Potions Master, and there always were glamours.

Before she could follow this trail deeper into her mind, the Headmaster stood from his chair and raised his hands, instantly gaining the attention of all members present.

"Thank you all for coming. I will try to be brief so that you all can go back to your normal Sunday activities." He smiled benevolently, and then his face morphed from his usual smile to a sad frown.

"Tomorrow I will go to a meeting with Lord Slytherin, to accept his help to remove the curse on my hand. I want to ask two of you to accompany me." With twinkling blue eyes he waited a moment. Bill and Mad Eye held up their hands to signal their willingness to play escort, the Headmaster nodded and turned even more serious.

His blackened hand vanished in the big sleeve of the other arm, producing a damaged little black book and a chunky golden ring set with a heavy stone, and he placed both objects on the table in front of himself. All eyes followed the two objects. What were they? And why were they so important that they all were called for a meeting?

"The day this," the Headmaster laid his healthy hand onto the small book with the big hole in the middle, "was brought to me by Harry, a big question I could not solve before suddenly found its solution. You see, I always was sure that Tom was not dead. But I never was sure how he had managed to survive. And with this and the boy's description, I knew the answer to this particular riddle." He smiled over his own joke, but Tonks could only roll her eyes.

They all had been told who the man later known by his chosen moniker, and now called by the more or less amusing no-names, had been. But to make a joke on the man's last name in a moment like this… even Tonks felt it was a little too much. Judging by Alastor Moody's frown and the dark glimmer in the dark eyes in Snape's face, neither of them appreciated the joke either.

"I didn't plan to share the revelation of that day with anyone. I fear what this information might do to you. But considering the way Tom is acting in public and the publics reaction to the stories he is telling, I fear even more what he might manage to do when his true evil is not known."

Now Tonks fidgeted in her chair, shredding her muffin to small crumbs. She had no good feeling about this.

"There is a magic – the most evil one existing – that can be used to split a human soul. A piece then can be stored outside the body, creating a tether that will keep the soul earth-bound should the body be killed. One such object is called a horcrux. And both these objects – the diary and the ring – were horcruxes."

The room was quiet. No one said a word, while Tonks tried to wrap her head around the little information they had been given so far. Splitting a soul? That did sound rather preposterous.

"I first stumbled over this in an old book I read. It contained most of the information needed to complete the magic. I will only say this: to split the soul, one has to murder another human in cold blood. And Tom did it not only once, or twice – as theses objects suggest – no. I believe he aimed to create a total of seven pieces."

The reaction to this was loud. Many of the Order members demanded clarification in loud voices, stood from their chairs to make wide sweeping gestures. Tonks was too stunned to make as much of a ruckus as the rest. Split a soul? Who would be so insane to do such a thing to themselves?

It took almost an hour before they were calm enough to settle down again. The other aurors and Snape were all looking grim. The relentless questioning had brought a few other facts to light. For one, that it was almost impossible to destroy the containers, but that this was needed to make the man mortal once more. Basilisk Venom was one of the few things able to destroy them and had been used on the diary – in form of a fang from the overgrown snake – and the ring.

Now they were sitting around the table, new drinks at hand, and were silently waiting for the Headmaster to continue. Because somehow Tonks could not believe that this had been all. Not that it was something to be disregarded – what they had been told was bad enough – but the face the old man was putting on indicated there was more to come.

"Sadly, I have one more revelation to make." A cold shiver ran down Tonks' back. "You all know of Harry's ability to talk to snakes, the way his scar reacts to proximity to Voldemort." The old man's sigh made Tonks' sense of dread spike. "I believe that Tom had destabilized his soul to the point that it fell apart when he attacked the Potters. One piece did not flee with the rest, but attached itself to the only living thing in the whole house."

The silence that followed after that was only broken when Molly stood, her eyes wide, staring at the Headmaster. Her voice was low and menacing. "You want to tell me that for You-Know-Who to die, Harry would have to die too?"

After that Tonks didn't manage to register much. She tried to comprehend what the old man had said between the lines. A horcrux kept a soul bound to this plane. To make someone able to die who had even one of those vile things, they all needed to be destroyed. To do so, the container had to be damaged beyond repair. Harry was one of those blasted things. Damaging a human beyond repair was a pretty way to say you had to kill him.

Was the old man telling them seriously they would have to kill Harry if they planned to kill Voldemort?

ooOoo

Severus felt faint.

The information was entirely new for him. Horcruxes… he had known that the Dark Lord had gone far on the way to immortality. But this… this was a level he had not considered before. He listened on reflex to the other things the Headmaster told them. Something about his hope that the child might survive the removal of the soul piece if the Dark Lord himself would cast a killing curse at the boy. Again.

As Severus knew that there was an unbreakable vow in place that would prevent such a thing from happening, he felt the suspicion rise that should the Headmaster learn that his scenario never would come to pass, he would fall back on destroying the horcruxes all by himself. Including the one located in one of their students.

He watched Molly Weasley shouting so long that her voice was going raspy, watched the calculating looks from Moody, the pale face of Lupin, and then he had to leave. His Lord was summoning him. He stood, caught the eyes of the Headmaster, and left.

He wondered what this day would still bring. If only once, it would be nice to not stumble over some new complication at every turn.

oooOOooo

Late on Sunday Marvolo sat in one of the parlours of the House that once had been a wedding present for Dorea Black and now was his Headquarters. He had transfigured a few smaller tables into one big oval-shaped one, and the plush love-seats into single leather chairs. A few touches to the décor – flowers just didn't cut it – and he had a new meeting room.

While he waited for his inner circle to answer his summons, he made himself another cup of sweet tea and took one more of the little cakes the elves had prepared. They had not taken long to realize he loved to eat sweets. After a childhood of missing out on good food and sweets of any kind, he now indulged himself.

Barty naturally was the first to arrive, as he had been down in the office trying to get all the invitations to small get-togethers sorted out. Marvolo hoped that he would not be able to attend all of them. All the families of higher social standing with unattached adult daughters had managed to invite him. It was a slightly frightening prospect to be chased by matchmaking mothers.

Those maudlin thoughts were banished from his mind as he heard steps in the hall leading up to the door.

One after the other the rest of his inner circle – Lucius, Xerxes, both Greengrasses, Severus, Benjamin, and the Carrow twins – came in, kneeled down, and then took their places at the table. Each of them was clad in the dark robes and had brought their masks. The masks were placed on the table almost without sound. Soon they all prepared their cups of tea to their liking, taking cakes and relaxing. Marvolo watched them with amusement. It was obvious which of them had been in contact with him the most. Severus and Xerxes were the most relaxed, the Carrows were the most nervous.

Marvolo nodded to Lucius, who was sitting on his right, and the blond aristocrat started on his report. He talked mostly about the meetings he had been at, talking about the moods and shifts he had felt in the Wizengamot members and the Ministry Department Heads. It seemed that his efforts to gain support for his campaign to change the laws regarding werewolves were going well.

Next in line was Severus, who emptied his tea cup before he started on his report. Marvolo finished off another small cake and focused his whole attention on Severus' smooth voice.

"Earlier today the Order met in full. The Headmaster reported that he would accept your help, my Lord, in removing the curse on his hand. He asked for volunteers to accompany him. Alastor Moody and William Weasley will be there with him. After that, he told some things he had been keeping to himself for a long time to all that were there. The reaction was varied and violent. The long-term effects of this revelation on the Order are unclear."

Marvolo raised a brow. That was ominous. Severus was pale and obviously reluctant to talk about details. Red eyes met with dark ones and a clear picture was projected into his mind. Severus kneeling before him, giving a report without any audience. Curious why the man was so reluctant to speak about whatever had been the topic at the order meeting, Marvolo send a picture of Severus talking and his face with a stern expression. The next thing the Dark Lord saw was a memory of Dumbledore as he spoke the word "Horcrux" and showed a little black book with an enormous hole in its middle.

Suddenly Marvolo's stomach felt like a leaden weight had been dropped into it from a considerable height. Why had Dumbledore decided to talk about this? Clamping down on something he did not want to acknowledge but that felt suspiciously like panic, Marvolo reminded himself that he had been the one prying, and that Severus had known enough to ask for privacy to report.

He reflected the image of a kneeling Severus giving a report back at the man, prompting him to move on to the next topic. All this had happened in the blink of an eye. It was a nifty way to communicate.

Taking deep even breaths – he had known that Dumbledore knew about his horcruxes, no need to panic now – Marvolo listened to the other part of Severus' report. "The aurors have decided to not consider the first- and second-years as possible culprits. They are now sure that only residents of the castle were involved, as no one crossed the wards in the relevant time. The copy of the memory your son provided, my Lord, was examined carefully and the number of attackers was determined, with three attackers casting stunners. As your heir managed to drop all three, the aurors assume that there were at least four people present. So far there are no obvious suspects, but they keep searching." Severus took a moment to fill his cup again, before he continued.

"I have reviewed my memory of breakfast the morning your son was poisoned, my Lord, and suspect that Cormac McLaggen – a Gryffindor sixth-year – was the one to place the potion in Heir Slytherin's goblet. Considering that there was a distraction staged at the other end of the table, I have a few more suspects likely involved in the scheme."

"Give their names to Benjamin," Marvolo said decisively, glad that there was some progress in this matter that he could focus on. He turned his head so he was looking at Lord Nott. "Get me whatever information you can on the students themselves and their families. Once there is more evidence, I want us to be ready to strike at them." Accepting his order, Benjamin inclined his head in a respectful half-bow.

"I wanted to thank you, my Lord, for providing the Pensieve. Without it, finding this information would have been considerably harder." Severus bowed in his chair with practiced elegance, indicating that he had finished his report as far as he could give it in front of the others.

The reports moved around the room until the Carrows were next. After they had spoken about the rumours going around in the shadier parts of magical Britain, Alecto gathered all her courage to ask a question she had obviously chewed on for quite a while. "My Lord, not that I would presume to intrude, but why are you not doing anything against Dumbledore? He broke into a place you had under wards, so I guess you could file at least a complaint with the aurors, or even press charges?" The witch looked decidedly pale under her fiery-red hair, her face a mask, hiding her nervousness.

With all that had come to light so far, the amusement at her nervousness at questioning her Lord felt subdued. But it was a valid question that deserved an answer, if only to defuse rumours. "You are right up to a point, Alecto. But as the place I had warded is not mine, and most of the wards I used are not legal, I would rather not draw any attention to the place." He placed a smirk on his face. "The Ministry is not really bright and is willing to accept almost anything that will preserve their view of the world. But even they would get suspicious once they noticed the wards and curses on the place were placed there while I still was in school." He laughed and the others followed his invitation to laugh at his dig at the Ministry. "Dumbledore is even now suffering for his error, and his reputation has suffered even more."

Considering the matter closed, Marvolo turned his head to Xerxes, who started to recount his progress with the school. Listening with as much focus as he could manage, Marvolo had to concede that he was affected much more than he would have thought possible by the fact that the whole of the Order of the Phoenix now knew of his horcruxes. He resolved to not think about this until he had all the facts from Severus.

At least it seemed that the school was making good progress. The caretakers for the children had moved into their rooms, and the first two young orphans had moved in. Xerxes and London were visiting eligible muggle-born children and had managed to collect quite a number of students already. Next his old friend planned to get a bus enchanted to act like the Knight Bus, only to collect the students in the morning and take them home after lessons were out for the day.

The rest of the meeting went by in a blur. He felt unbalanced and checked his Occlumency shields. But the cause for his tumultuous feelings was not bleed-over from his son. Maybe all this ease with appearing human, projecting feelings, was not at all his ability to act getting better. Maybe he actually was regaining more feelings than he had been aware of. But now was not the time to ponder it.

With a good plan of action and orders for all of them, Marvolo sent them away, back home to their families. Only Severus stayed behind.

ooOoo

Still shaken from the revelations of this day, Severus did as he had in the picture he had projected into his Lord's mind: he knelt down on the floor. Waiting for his Lord to ask for the details of the Order meeting.

"Get up from the floor, Severus," his Lord said, not sounding half as angry as Severus had expected. "This report demands a glass of firewhiskey." Slowly the Potions Master did as he was ordered and got up, following his Lord to his study in this house.

Soon they were sitting on opposite sides of the desk, each with a tumbler of old firewhiskey before them.

"Ask, Severus, or talk, whatever it is you need to do. You look shaken." His Lord sounded remarkably shaken himself, and the fact that Severus was even able to hear it unsettled him deeply.

"The Headmaster talked about Horcruxes. Explained what they are in general terms. He called them the most evil magic in existence. And he claimed that you, my Lord, made several." Severus had to swallow. He had just relaxed a little around the Dark Lord, and now he suddenly knew how the man had managed not to die the night Lily's life had been ended. Talking about splitting souls with a man who had done it – repeatedly – felt dangerous and reckless.

As Severus saw the man nodding, and taking a sip from his drink, he felt the last of his blood leaving his face.

"I did," he sighed "One of my bigger mistakes."

Severus took a sip from his tumbler and tried to comprehend the mood the man across from him was in.

"Can you give me the details of what the old man knows?"

Severus nodded and tried to recount the information as concisely as he could manage. "Dumbledore had an old diary and a ring. He claimed that they had been… and had been destroyed. The diary by… Potter. The ring by Dumbledore himself a few weeks ago."

The Dark Lord nodded, his blood-red eyes fixed on the tumbler he was spinning between his fingers. "That sounds accurate. The diary was the first I created. Henry destroyed it when he killed the basilisk. The ring – my second – being destroyed caused my collapse at the meeting concerning Xerxes' school project. Has he said anything else?"

Severus nodded. How long would this mood hold? What would happen when the mood broke? Old memories of punishments meted out by the man now sitting in his chair behind the carved desk rose in Severus' mind. He raised his Occlumency shields higher, taking measured, even breaths.

"He suspects that you planned to create seven of those objects. And that… Lily's son is one. Created accidentally that night back in '81." Nervously Severus swallowed and asked the question that had preyed on his mind the whole day. "Please tell me that is not possible, my Lord. I beg of you."

"Be calm Severus. You were here when I made the Unbreakable Vow not to harm him." That did not sound like Dumbledore's suspicion was wrong.

"Surely it can't be, my Lord." Inwardly Severus cringed at his pleading tone, but he did not really care. He had made a Vow to protect the boy, and now there was another complication. From all he had learned today, the Headmaster would try to kill the child, to get rid of the Dark Lord. He seemed to be willing to do whatever it took to reach the image of the greater good he was so obsessed with.

"I'm currently researching ways to remove that piece of soul from my son without harming him. This piece and the connection it has forged is also the reason you are teaching him Occlumency. I trust that you will be able to shield my son from attacks by the Headmaster and his order?"

"Yes, my Lord. If necessary, I will shield him with my life."

After a long assessing look, the Dark Lord nodded and then asked, "You will make a wand-oath to not speak of my Horcruxes to anyone who does not already know, and never share more information than the person is aware of, with the obvious exception of myself."

Severus got his wand out, held it on his flat palm and swore the oath his Lord demanded. His head was spinning. Once he was back in his quarters he would have to meditate to get some semblance of order back into his thoughts.

On his way out of the office, Severus felt the need to ask one last question, even if it came out more like a statement. "You actually care for him, don't you my Lord?"

"Do I, Severus?" contemplative red eyes rested on the Potions Master, asking if he really had reason to ask… or rather, state, such a thing.

Severus thought over all interactions between his Lord and the boy he had witnessed, and over the reactions of the Dark Lord to different pieces of information regarding his adopted son. He nodded slowly, his hair whipping with the motion. "By all I have seen, you do, my Lord."

Before the man could ask for more of an explanation, or protest against Severus' assessment, the dark-haired man turned back to the exit and left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

Severus had known that the moment the Dark Lord came back, his life would get complicated. But he never, ever would have guessed what level of complicated it could reach. Dumbledore suddenly the villain, the Dark Lord trying to protect the child he had tried to murder, Severus caught between the different parties and dragged in both directions at once. And along the way, he was trying to find a woman to marry.

Shaking his head in wonder, Severus walked out of the building and apparated back to Hogwarts. He planned to take a long, warm bath and then meditate to find some calm.

oooOOooo

Many people were deep in thought this evening. All of them were thinking about what the Headmaster of Hogwarts had revealed to his Order of the Phoenix. They all felt it was a pivotal moment in the struggle between the opposing sides.

ooOoo

Severus started his evening with a long hot bath and meditating to get his mind back into some kind of order. A little later he sat down at his desk in his quarters, writing a letter to Sonja. He wanted to ask her out for a visit to the theater or opera in London. He never before had taken advantage of it, but he had the right to take an evening off now and then, and for this he just might.

Hopefully she would agree, because he was starting to develop something akin to feelings for her. He truly could see himself spending the rest of his life with her, even having children. They shared so many interests, were both pragmatic… it seemed to be a match that could work.

And it would hopefully take his mind off all the confusing things that were going on beside the order to increase the numbers of magicals.

ooOoo

Marvolo sat in one of the parlours in Griffin House, sipping on a hot chocolate, a slice of apple cake by his side, trying to wrap his head around the changes the day had brought. He wondered how many people now knew about his horcruxes. Dumbledore had told the whole Order, and who knew how many people they had told by now.

He needed to inform Henry of this change before he learned it from another source. They needed a quicker way to communicate than by letter. Even as he went to write that letter to his son, Marvolo thought about ways to speed up their communication.

Maybe some linked notebooks? But no, that might invoke bad memories. The boy had encountered his diary, after all. He would have to research it. For now it probably would be fastest to send one of the house-elves with the letter. Or maybe get Severus to come back and deliver it?

ooOoo

After Remus had told Sirius what the Headmaster had told the Order at the meeting on this day, they stayed silent for a long time. Sirius was pacing up and down, and Remus was sitting on a chair, listlessly watching his friend wearing the carpet down.

Finally the black-haired wizard spun on his heel so he was facing his friend. With a determined look in his eyes he started to speak. "I'm not sure what to do, Remus. But I cannot let Harry die. There has to be another way to get rid of a piece of soul. Will you help me go through the library here, with a fine-toothed comb, searching for a solution? Possibly even a way to prove the claim? For all we know, Albus could be wrong!" He threw his hands up in the air, and Remus nodded.

"I will help you search for a solution. I can hardly believe that there even is such a thing as splitting a soul."

They were silent for several moments.

"And… please keep an eye on the Headmaster. It might not be kind… but I have a feeling that he would kill Harry himself, if he thought it was for the good of many more."

To this a pale Remus only nodded. So much he had thought he knew had been cast in doubt of late, he had no way to refute the implied accusation that Albus Dumbledore would disregard the individual for the good of the group without so much as a flicker of hesitation.

oooOOooo

AN: Thank you all very much for all of your reviews! One in particular has prompted me to add the little twist with the many copies of the forms. And I'm sure that all your comments will continue to influence the direction this story will take. So thank you all very much. I love your reviews!

Story recommendation: "House of Snakes" by FlitterFlutterFly. Still ongoing and slow updates (last was in February) but I think this one has influenced my story in more ways than one. It is written well and I hope it will be finished one day.

Thanks to Jordre and Jake for helping to improve my spelling!

First published on the 28th of October 2016

Next chapter planned for 11th of November 2016