Sirius felt tired, his eyes were quite literally closing of their own volition. He'd been up for hours since the third task, pacing backwards and forwards in Pembroke Castle and at Doune Castle, trying to figure out a way to protect Harry and ensure that he never had to face Voldemort again. It was getting tiresome, but he would keep going. And now this news had come. He looked at the Minister and asked. "How? How has this happened? We did everything we could to ensure that Crouch was protected, to ensure he could not be set free. How did they break through?"

Fudge looked as tired as he felt. "I believe that our reinforcements were prevented from reaching Shacklebolt and Dawlish. A group of Death Eaters accosted them as they were making their way over. Three of them died, and the rest are being treated in Saint Mungo's."

Sirius nodded, he should have suspected that something like this would happen. Voldemort was too clever by half to allow someone such as Crouch to be arrested so easily. Another thought came to him then. "Will Voldemort kill Crouch? He is sure to know that the man spoke to us. He will know and then he will have no more use for him, surely?"

The Headmaster spoke then. "I think Voldemort will keep Crouch alive for now. He has invested time and effort into making the boy the perfect vessel. And as we saw during the interrogation, Crouch is quite devoted to him. That is something that Voldemort desires most in his followers. Crouch will have his uses for Voldemort, and as such we must be careful."

"Yes that does make sense. I'll have people search the Crouch Manor and every other location where Crouch was known to have taken his family." Fudge said instantly.

"From the way he spoke, I don't think Crouch Junior really liked his father. I do not think he will return to those places." Sirius pointed out.

Fudge nodded in concession his eyes becoming heavy. "Right you are. Now breaking this to the Wizengamot will not be fun. No doubt Salisbury will try and stir some form of trouble. I have a feeling Greengrass will do the same. Salisbury because he has the need to, and Greengrass because he is well Greengrass."

"If we know Salisbury is most likely leading the pro Death Eater faction at the Wizengamot, why do we not merely move in and find something that could incriminate him? Remove Salisbury and Voldemort loses his most powerful support." Sirius pointed out.

The Headmaster spoke then. "We could, but if we did, we run the risk of alerting Voldemort to exactly what we are doing. During the first war, Voldemort was always a step ahead of us because we made it too obvious as to what we were going to do and how. That there were several moles within the Ministry did not help either."

"So, we allow Salisbury to continue roaming free, no doubt whilst his master has others recruiting the deepest and darkest of the wizarding folk." Sirius said feeling sick to his stomach.

"It is not pretty, but war never is." Dumbledore said. "Now, Minister, have you per chance managed to look into the Bagnold file?"

At this Sirius perked up. "What's this about Bagnold?"

Dumbledore held up a hand, and gestured for Fudge to speak. The Minister did. "I have managed to have a look through some of the notes you sent me. They make for disturbing reading. I really did not know that Gerold Bagnold was capable of such things. He really does make Voldemort seem lesser of evil."

"What did he do?" Sirius asked impatiently. He had heard of Gerold Bagnold.

"He was the one who first theorised about splitting one's soul into more than one piece. He was someone who I believe Voldemort took great interest in. And I believe that Voldemort might will have sought him out after he left school." Dumbledore said.

Sirius, felt he had an understanding of where this conversation was going, and it was beginning to make him feel sick. "You think Voldemort deliberately sought people out of importance, to kill them and make sure his soul was never brought under duress?"

"Yes." Dumbledore said simply. "I believe that when he used Harry's blood during the ritual, he was attempting to bring a fraction of his soul back into place. You see, Harry was the unintended seventh kill he made. And as such, his soul was too weak to properly function. When the killing curse rebounded, a fragment of Voldemort's soul attached itself to Harry. Numerous times I tried to remove it, but could not. And so, Voldemort has done us a favour."

Sirius felt horrified that a piece of that shit's soul had been attached to his son, and he could see the shock reflected in Fudge's eyes as well. "So, what does this mean now? Will Harry no longer have to suffer through the pain from his scar?" He hoped so, for his son's sake.

His heart sank when Dumbledore shook his head. "Unfortunately, I believe that is a connection that will remain. Harry and Voldemort are tied together by more than that one night. They share blood now, and they share a common ancestry. They will be linked together until the end, whenever that might come."

Sirius swallowed and nodded. "What could Voldemort have used to store his soul fragments; I do not believe he would have allowed them to just exist. He'd have wanted them stored."

"You would be correct. The diary that Lucius Malfoy gave to Ginny Weasley was one such fragment. It was destroyed when Harry pierced it with a basilisk fang. As for the others, I believe Tom would have attempted to place them in things he considered important." Dumbledore replied.

"So, things belonging to the founders of Hogwarts then?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, as well as things that symbolise his royal heritage." Dumbledore said.

"But those things were lost during the great war!" Sirius pointed out.

"That they were, but knowing Tom, he would have done everything he could to find them. And so, we must do the same." Dumbledore said. There was a long silence after that, which was only broken when Sirius yawned. Dumbledore clapped his hands. "The hour is late; we all have places to be tomorrow. I suggest we get some rest." The Minister stood up and nodded to them both before using the floo network to get back to London. Sirius got up and was about to leave when Dumbledore called out. "Sirius, will you be telling Harry of this?"

Sirius hesitated for a moment, he knew that if he were Harry he would hate being kept in the dark, but as a parent, well he knew Harry and he didn't want his son tearing off on some mad impulse. "I will tell him what I think he needs to know." He saw Dumbledore nod before he opened the door and walked out of the room and back to his bed.