Once she let the conversation with Dumbledore sink in, Ash turned around and walked down the stairs. Step for step she descended slowly until she reached the dark corridor where she turned towards the Great Hall.
When she walked into the hall, she let her gaze wander over the empty tables. The Gryffindor table on the one side of the hall was the fullest. A couple of the students had stayed and were now huddling together chatting along and eating their breakfast. In the middle of the table sat Ron and Hermione, a little quiet but always glancing at each other with meaningful looks.
Sighing she let her eyes fly over the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw table where no one (for her) important sat and ate. Lastly she let her eyes settle over the Slytherin table. The table was empty except for the giggle monsters that where eating and - who would have guessed - giggling.
Rolling her eyes she grabbed a bagel from the Hufflepuff table and walked out of the hall again. She didn't want to disturb the lovebirds, nor did she want to get to near them when their in the lovydovy or flirty mood. So instead of sitting down in the Great Hall, she ate her bagel while she walked towards the castle grounds, staring at the sky in dismay. It was raining.
Slowly she came to a stop at the edge of dryness, letting her hand reach forward and touch the falling wetness. Moving her hand calmly, she turned her palm up and cupped it, catching a couple of the rain drops in her hand. Letting the water run over her hands before falling onto the ground she let her mind wander and wonder.
Ever since the winter holidays things have started to get out off hand. Started to confuse and pull her in different ways. She knew what it all meant. She knew who was responsible. But she didn't know what it all lead to. It all confused her to no ends. It all didn't make any sense to her.
Why was it all happening around her?
What was her role in all of this?
She didn't know and honestly... she didn't really want to know. She didn't want to be involved in this fight, she didn't want to be involved in this whole situation. But it seems as if she couldn't get out of this. It seems as if she was stuck deeply in the whole mess and couldn't escape it any more.
Sighing, she finished her last bite of the bagel and turned to walk back to the Great Hall. Just before she entered she saw Harry walk up as well, quickly she smiled at him.
"You finished your little project with Dumbledore?"
"For today, yes," Harry answered quietly, looking at her curiously. "We'll be continuing tomorrow."
"Huh," Ash grunted with a nod, looking up at the boy-who-lived.
"Ash-" he suddenly started but Ash cut him off.
"Lets go to the others, I'm pretty sure they already know everything that you're involved in and that you'd tell them everything anyway. So lets get the others and try to get this whole mess sorted out a bit, alright?" Ash said, looking at him with hopeful eyes.
"Yeah lets," he smiled and glanced at his two best friends. Ash smiled as well, following his gaze and together they walked up to the two of them.
"Bacchus," Ash said casually and walked through the gaping whole in the wall without stopping. The three Gryffindors followed her hesitantly.
"You sure its alright? Us being here?" Ron asked a bit uncomfortable with the place they currently stood in.
"Oh come on guys. Your common room is way to crowded with all those Gryffindors staying there. Moreover the library is bursting as well, we couldn't talk there quietly if our life's depended on it. Also I'm in control of the giggle monsters and forbade them to come here in the next five hours. So no worries."
"What about Draco?"
"No need to worry about him. He's probably in the Room of Requirements for the rest of the day."
"Probably?"
"Well, I don't have a bug on him to tell me where exactly he is, but its a very good and educated guess, trust me."
"How do you know?"
"He's been going there for the last three months whenever he could. Now that he can stay there the whole day long, I'm sure he will gladly do so."
"Yeah... makes sense... I guess," Ron said but them frowned. "How do you know that anyway?"
Ash looked at her cousin, with one of her eyebrows raised, "I followed him."
"Why would you do that?"
"I was concerned."
"Why would you be? You're not a couple any more."
Ash stayed quiet for a moment, but then smiled a sad smile. "You're right... I shouldn't but I can't help it. He's never looked this sad, hopeless and confused. You might not have noticed, but he's changing, he's starting to lose himself. I know its wrong, but I can't just watch him die within." With a sigh, she glanced at Harry, "enough about that, first tell me what you and Dumbledore are up to."
Harry nodded with a sigh. "Dumbledore told me you would ask. He gave me the O.K. to tell you," he said, but glanced at Hermione and Ron, so that they wouldn't interrupt him. "We're doing this since last year. He's telling me all he knows about Tom Riddle and how he's come to be Voldemort. His family life, how he grew up in an orphanage, his school life... everything."
"Why would you want to know all that? Isn't it enough to just kill him?" Ash interrupted.
"No. He's not so easy to kill... he's got something what is called a Horcrux. Ever heard of them?"
"Horcrux... no never, what is it?"
"From what we gathered, its an object that holds a fragment of its makers soul."
"His soul? That would mean that Voldemort split his soul... would it not? So he's only a fragment of his former human being..."
"Exactly."
"So... you have to destroy the Horcrux first?"
"Yes. We've already found and destroyed two of them but the others are still out there."
"Two of them? That means he has more than one."
"Six to be exact."
"He shattered his soul into six parts? No wonder he's such a poor excuse for a human being," Ash said softly. "How are they made?"
"Murder and the wizard placing a part of the soul into the object desired."
Ash coughed a bit and looked at Harry in a sad way. "And all of them need to be destroyed?"
"Yes, we're searching all over the place for the others, but - "
"And who will destroy you?" Ash asked bluntly.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh come on Harry, don't tell me you didn't-" Ash started but stopped when she saw the confused look on her friends face, "never mind."
"No Ash tell me!"
"I don't know anything."
"But you've got an idea, what is it?"
Ash glanced around the room uncomfortably, looking at Hermione for support, but she looked just as confused as Harry, "I don't want too."
"Ash!" Ron said fiercely.
Taking a deep shaky breath, Ash looked at the floor, playing with her fingers uncomfortably and began talking. "I can't be sure or anything, but from what you told me it would be a very good explanation on why you are still alive. Why you lived through the Avada Curse."
Harry looked at her, still confused. But Hermoine seemed to get what Ash was going on about. "The murder... and then placing the soul... I guess a human being could be used as a vessel for the soul fragment..."
"What are you guys talking about?" Ron asked frustrated.
"Think about it," Hermione said, voice shaking. "What happened on the night Voldemort murdered his parents? Why does Harry have some of Voldemorts powers? Like Paseltongue. Something went into him when Voldemort tried to kill him, that is why the connection between them is so strong."
Slowly it seemed to dawn to the the two boys.
"You mean? I'm a-?" Harry choked out quietly.
"Yes Harry, I think you could be one of the Horcruxes. It somehow fits..."
"I'm sorry guys, I guessed you would have thought of that already. I'm such an idiot," Ash cursed herself when she saw the horrified looks in their faces.
"No. No, Ash! It's alright. It's alright," Harry said shaking his head and pulling Ash back towards them. "I'm thankful to you for your input in this. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have thought of that myself."
"But... it doesn't make any sense.. why would he make Harry a Horcrux and then try to kill him?" Ron asked confused and the others fell silent, they couldn't think of an answer.
"Maybe he didn't do it intentionally?" Ash asked and shrugged. "But I mean, we don't even know if my idea is in any way true. You should talk to Dumbledore about this."
"Yeah, I'll ask him tomorrow," Harry said quietly and nodded. "Lets talk about something else. Why did you come to Dumbledore this morning?"
Ash inhaled sharply. "Because... because I was concerned for Draco," she admitted and looked to the ground. "He looks terrible and he's always spending his time in that stupid Room of Requirements. Ever since the winter holidays, something happened to him... he's scared and I don't know why."
"You sure you don't?" Hermione asked softly making Ash stiffen and chuckle harshly.
"I can only guess that it has something to do with the fact that he's a Death Eater."
"He's what?" Ron yelled jumping from his seat on the black leather couch and starring at his cousin horrified.
"It's part of the reason why I broke up with him. Since the winter holidays he's a Death Eater. When I found him with Pansy I also saw the sign on his arm."
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?"
"I promised him I wouldn't," Ash said truthfully with an emotionless face.
"You promised him? Bloody hell, Ash!"
Ash rolled her eyes at her cousins reaction, although she did understand where he was coming from. "Anyway," she said sternly, telling Ron to shut up and calm down with her tone of voice. "Since we've come back to Hogwarts he's been behaving weirdly and has been locking himself in that room."
"So you think he's doing something Death Eaterish in there?"
"I don't only believe so, I know so. I followed Draco today and he was talking to Snape, pretty much indicating what he was working on a project for the Dark Lord," Ash said and sighed.
"What did you just say?" Harry asked slowly, eyes closing into a small glare.
"Um, that Draco was indicating that he was working on a project for Voldemort towards Snape"
"No, you said the Dark Lord."
"Yeah, could be... why does it matter?"
"Only his followers call him by that name"
Ash looked at him in astonishment, then her face went to annoyed. "Oh really Harry? You're paranoid you know that? I've been spending the last year around people who all refer to him as the Dark Lord, sorry if it manifested into my vocabulary a bit," she said rolling her eyes. When she saw that his eyes didn't soften, Ash sighed and stood up from her place. "You know what? Forget it. Try to get over your paranoia and if you're able to think rationally again come and find me," she told him, "I believe you can find the exit yourself?" she added and motioned towards the exit with her hand before turning away and walking towards her dorm room.
"Ash! Wait," Hermione called out to her, making Ash stop in an instant, "he didn't mean it that way. You're right, he's paranoid, but can't you see where he's coming from with Voldemort being on him all the time?" she tried to reason with the other girl.
Sighing Ash turned around again and walked back up to the trio. Slowly she came to a halt in front of Harry, looking down on him and then slapping him straight across the face.
Holding his throbbing cheek Harry looked up at Ash in shock. "Are we clear?" Ash asked softly and Harry closed his eyes before nodding.
"Yes, we're clear."
"Good."
"Do you have any idea what Draco is doing in the Room of Requirements?"
"I think I did at one point, but my memories are a bit messed with."
"What do you mean?"
"That was the second reason why I went to Dumbledore, I heard Draco say something about me supposed to forget something and Snape telling him that I definitely didn't remember that night."
"What happened that night?" Ron asked.
Ash stopped short and turned to look at Ron, "I just said I can't remember that night because my memories were messed with."
"Oh yeah, sorry... Do you at least know what night their talking about?"
"Nope, no idea what so ever. Personally I think I remember everything perfectly. But... it doesn't seem so. It's really annoying..."
"And what do you intend to do about it?"
"Nothing. I'm pretty sure that whatever happened that night... I don't want to remember."
"What did Dumbledore say?"
"That I shouldn't try to remember."
Silence settled over the four of them as they contemplated what that meant, that even Dumbledore told Ash not to remember...
"So what should we do now?" Ash asked when the silence got to stuffy for her. The others looked at her and shrugged.
"We don't really have enough information to do anything right now," Harry said.
"Then how about we don't waste this time on sitting around, but learn for the upcoming N.E.W.T.s?" They looked at Hermione with shocked faces, but then complied and pulled out their books to start learning.
