Chapter 37: The Memory
Okay, I missed two weeks, but only by a day! Hopefully, a little longer of a chapter will appease you?
"I know you're working on it, Harry, but really the clock is ticking," Hermione half-chided late one night over their books.
"I just can't get him to divulge anything. I'm in his bloody club, he slobbers all over me during class, but when I ask him about the memory he clams up and runs away. Once last week he literally ran, Hermione. I don't know what to do." Harry watched as Hermione's face displayed the traces of an emotional battle. A year ago he would have been able to see the whole thing played out across her features in a comically-exaggerated fashion as she thought, but now her expression gave him just the wisp of a hint that she was pondering something troublesome. Even so, he could only tell because of how well he knew her. I'm surrounded by Draco, Hermione, and Severus...when are my Slytherin superpowers going to kick in?
Hermione's voice jolted Harry from his thinking, "Do you mind if I give it a go?"
Harry laughed softly before he realized she was serious. "No offense, Hermione, I know you're basically Supergirl by now, but he doesn't seem to like you as much as he likes me. Boy who lived and all. What makes you think he'll act any differently when you ask?"
It was Hermione's turn to laugh. "I wasn't planning on asking, actually."
The look on her face made Harry very grateful that she was on their side.
"Horcruxes?" Severus' face twisted into a mixture of disgust and dread.
"Seven of them, apparently," Hermione answered seriously, sipping her tea.
"That's almost disturbing enough to make me forget to reprimand you for using legilimency on a teacher," he said dryly.
"Oh come off it, Severus. It was during class, he was staring at Harry anyway, so it wouldn't have been a surprise for his mind to have gone there naturally. He never noticed a thing. I was trained by the best." She finished with a seductive wink that finally broke Severus' stony face into a small smile.
"Fine, witch, have it your way, but don't come running to me when Dumbledore finds out."
"He won't," she said poignantly into her teacup, eyes peeking bashfully up at Severus over the rim.
"You didn't," he said with incredulous eyes and an accusing tilt of his head.
"Well, I didn't want him to think Harry was involved. I didn't obliviate anything more than just the memory of me watching it. It'll just feel as though he had a daydreaming spell while we brewed. He'll never miss those 20 seconds anyway." She ended defensively as Severus shook his head.
"It is a good thing you are of muggle descent, my dear, or I fear I might have had the misfortune of being your head of house all these years." Hermione blushed at the Snapeish compliment.
"Now, how are we supposed to deal with these Horcruxes? Since Albus asked Harry to find the memory, I can only imagine he knows something about the matter. Should we schedule a meeting?" Hermione asked, getting back to topic.
"You should let Potter schedule the meeting with Albus. it'll be much more fun if you and I just happen to tag along, Even better if we bring Draco" he said with an evil smirk.
"Severus Snape, you really do live to wind that man up, don't you?"
Severus shrugged, "it's the little things, my love." It was Hermione's turn to shake her head.
After a few seconds of confusion when Hermione told Harry she and Severus would be tagging along to his meeting with Dumbledore, Harry's face lit up into an expression of surprise, both at Hermione's (and Severus') plan and the audacity thereof. "You guys really want to blindside the headmaster? Are you sure that's a wise choice?"
Hermione's mischievous grin was the only response she needed to convey her thoughts on the matter. Harry gave another of his theatrical shudders and shook his head, "It's your funeral. They know to meet us there, I assume?"
The look on Albus' face when the four of them came in, one by one, like a line of ducks was something Severus promised himself he would immediately put in the greatest hits section of his Pensieve. He gave Harry the cursory nod, then gave Hermione a quick double take, a look which progressed to a heavy glare upon seeing Severus, and transitioned into open hostility when Draco waltzed in like he owned the place in true Malfoy fashion.
"Severus," it was stated as an accusation and a warning, simultaneously.
"Don't look at me, Albus. I'm just here for the lemon drops," Severus intoned with a dry look.
"Harry, I thought I had conferred upon you the importance of keeping this task a secret," Dumbledore said, aiming his guilt trip at the only party who could realistically be affected by it. However, as Harry colored slightly, Hermione was the one to actually answer him.
"Albus," she said, drawing herself up to her full height, shedding her schoolgirl facade, suddenly seeming a great deal older than either her chronological or actual age, and attracting a look of apprehension from Harry, one of concealed surprise from Draco, and a smirk that reeked suspiciously of pride from Severus. "You asked Harry to convince a professor to give you a memory, I was the one who was eventually able to retrieve it, and given the content of the memory and the implications thereof, Severus and Draco would eventually need to be looped in on the matter anyway. Let's skip past the initial outrage and straight to the part where we figure out a plan, shall we?"
A silent stare-off ensued that made Harry obviously squirm in his seat. Draco brushed imaginary lint off of his robes. Severus, on the other hand, had a look that bordered on glee. When Albus finally gave Hermione a curt nod and waved them to sit down he looked like he had been inches away from putting his feet up and conjuring some muggle popcorn. When Hermione gave Albus a respectful nod and Albus resumed his grandfatherly twinkle, Hermione could almost have sworn she saw the hint of a pout on her lover's face.
"So, it appears I have some catching up to do," Albus began with only a hint of irritation in his voice, "care to catch me up, Harry?"
An hour later they had almost come up with a plan. Despite Albus' initial protests, it was clear that each of the four parties would play an integral part in the Horcrux hunt. Dumbledore came clean about the Gaunt ring, his foolish attempt to wear it, and its eventual destruction. He also let them know of one other possible location but said didn't have the full details yet. Harry asked immediately about the diary from their second year, confirming the destruction of the second Horcrux. Hearing about Slytherin's ring Draco mentioned Voldemort's predilection towards hoarding historically significant objects and suggested that he might have used items from each of the founders of Hogwarts, at which time Severus scoffed at the idea of the Dark Lord touching anything that belonged to Gryffindor, but put forth the idea of Rowena Ravenclaw's lost diadem and the famed cup of Helga Hufflepuff. When he said cup Draco perked up visibly and said that he had seen a cup in his father's study the past summer that had been left in his charge by the Dark Lord to have Narcissa put in the Black vault in Gringotts on Bellatrix's behalf.
"So that leaves two more then, right?" Harry said, rubbing his head in exhaustion.
"One, technically," Hermione corrected offhandedly.
"How so?" Harry looked up, confused.
It was Draco's turn to pipe in, "well I think we're assuming he kept one-seventh in his current snakelike excuse for a body I guess." At this point, Severus' eyes snapped up.
"That's it."
"What's it, Severus?" Hermione asked, all attention focused on Severus.
"You said his current snakelike form. He has two snakelike forms, right, Draco?" Hermione couldn't help but noting that Severus had slipped into the rhetorical questions he usually used to drive home a point in potions class. Draco, however, took the bait and ran with it.
"Nagini. I knew there was something wrong with that snake." He shuddered, though this one was the genuine article, not like Harry's fake shudders. This one was the authentic visual of Draco's body physically trying to rid itself of what appeared to be a horrible mental image. "It has to be the snake. She follows him everywhere, she's obviously more than a pet to him, she's too intelligent even for even the smartest animal. I knew it."
Something in his tone made Hermione quite sure she didn't want to know what exactly Draco had seen the snake do to elicit that strong of a response.
"So that's it, then?" Harry said mildly, "two down, five to go?"
Dumbledore began to nod, but Severus spoke up before he could usher them out, "Not just yet, Albus. Are you going to tell them or should I?"
The elder wizard's eyes flashed fire as he turned to Severus. However, the Slytherin was unfazed and stared back with a look of icy, petulant contempt.
"Tell us what?" Hermione's voice broke the heavy silence.
"Tell you about the eighth Horcrux," he stated flatly.
"What do you mean?" Draco questioned. "I thought the memory clearly stated seven?"
Severus looked at Dumbledore, seemingly daring him to speak. As the time passed, both became angrier and angrier in their silent stares until Harry and Draco looked at each other, silently trying to assess the likelihood that the two elder wizards would break out into a duel in the middle of the headmaster's office. Finally, without breaking eye contact with Severus or lowering the intensity of his look which, if any ever could kill would have been a top contender for most lethal, Albus spoke. His words were steady and measured but filled with the slow, seething type of anger that was usually Severus' strong suit.
"When Voldemort killed your parents, Harry, it is my belief that he unintentionally created an eight Horcrux. HIs soul splintered when the curse rebounded and the split fragment lodged itself in the only other living thing it could find." He stopped as if this answered everything.
"Me," Harry said quietly. It wasn't a question. In fact, his face looked more like this had answered some great mystery he had long been grappling with. In fact, as Draco observed the messy-haired Gryffindor receive what seemed like life-ruining news, he could have sworn that Harry looked a little bit relieved.
"Yes, Harry," Dumbledore responded, sounding less angry and more paternal, but still nowhere close to manifesting his usual twinkle.
"That's why I can talk to snakes. That's why I'm so angry all the time. That's why I can see what he's doing when he gets really excited or really angry," Harry paused, still looking a mixture of relieved and pensive. "You don't know how to get it out without killing me." Again, it was not stated as a question. After ten years of mistreatment by the Dursleys and five years of Voldemort trying to kill him, Harry didn't seem to be terribly shaken at the idea of his certain death. For a brief second Draco was hit by just how hard his former rival's life must actually have been if he was this nonchalant at the idea of his own demise.
"No, my boy. I don't."
And then Hermione hit the ceiling.
"The bloody hell you don't, you manipulative old coward!"
All heads turned towards the chair that had only moments ago held a mousy schoolgirl, passively taking notes. It had toppled back as Hermione jolted herself out of it, standing taller than she actually was with the body posture of an enraged Amazon.
"This boy has followed every order you have ever given him without a doubt or a moment of hesitation! He lost his parents because you failed to protect them, he was raised by monsters because you couldn't be arsed to find a better way to keep him safe, he has fought Voldemort four times in five years under your watch, and I will be damned if you allow a hair on his bloody head to be harmed because you're too wrapped up in the greater good to sit down and research the thing that would save him!"
As she spoke she slowly began to bear down on Albus. As her monologue went on her bushy hair began to blow behind her, swept by a breeze that didn't touch any of the other bodies in the room. As she got within a few feet of Albus her mane actually began emitting small red sparks between the individual strands. The air was heavy with unintentional magic as she came to stare directly into Albus' expressionless face. The crackling of her hair was the only sound in the room as she stared at him with a truly Snape-like look of disdain.
"You disgust me, Albus. I'll do it myself."
And with that, she turned on the spot and strode purposefully from the room.
"I'm going to go ensure she stops sparking before she runs into any students," Severus said, taking his leave and not trying to hide his amusement. Harry and Draco followed, making no excuses but nodding respectfully as they passed the still silent headmaster.