Another short one.. Enjoy

PS: I just realised that i skipped huge sections in re-reading over the last chapter. Sorry for the typos. I can go fix them if you want. Let me know in the reviews.

xxklxx

Draco was almost certain Josie was being influenced by some force that neither of them knew about. His initial thought was the necklace, but he had cast a revelio spell on it the first night she wore it and it was nothing more than the dark mark imbued on the white gold of the necklace.

He laid on the bed that they usually shared together, with his hands behind his head, thinking about what had happened.

She had flown into a rage in class and cast the most powerful shield spell he had ever seen. She had spoken to the Professor and then stormed out. Then, once he caught up with her in their dorm room, she was acting crazy. It was almost as though Josie was beginning to believe in Voldemort, despite his actions. Draco thought about all the things that could be impacting upon Josie's behaviour and immediately thought she may be pregnant. He thought back to the times they had been intimate lately and ruled it out as a possibility as he had personally cast the contraception spell each time.

Her magic was now more advanced than anything he'd ever seen, sparking from her hair and her fingertips almost as of her body could contain it. It was frightening and he wondered why and how it was possible.

His only thought was that his wife was running on cold fear. He knew that feeling well. He did some incredibly manic things while fear was the predominant emotion in his body.

Now that he felt like he had her somewhat figured out, he tried to come up with ways to help her. He loved her, Merlin did he love this woman, but she was the most complex creature on the face of the planet and becoming more so but the day. He knew he had to apologise for the way he spoke to her. There was no use trying to deny that he was in the wrong. The words he said to her were not his, but a projection of things he overheard at the Manor before he and Josie became close to Voldemort.

He heard the door to their dorm room open and close again and guessed that Josie had returned. He waited for her to enter the room, instead, heard her footsteps enter the other room, the one that they did not use. He assumed she'd be mad at him, but part of him hoped she would come to him so they could talk about what happened. They hadn't had an argument like this before and it scared him.

He loved her more than he loved his own mother, more than he loved any single thing in this world. At times, he laughed to himself, wondering how they got to this place from where they were – meeting in secret, sending secret letters and notes to each other… It baffled him. He felt blessed to call her his wife but saddened in a way that she had to grow up so quick. Was he the cause of this? Had he not pursued her, had he left he be when she told him the first time, she would be with her family right now. She'd be still smart and sexy as hell, but she'd be safe. There would be no Voldemort influencing her way of thinking. No need for her to use Occulmency every day of her life. No reason for her to know how to meticulously shut every part of her mind away and lock the doors.

He sat up, realising that she was right. She had fooled everyone. She had actually made Voldemort like her. He had watched them on the dance flood on the night of her birthday and remembered thinking that he hadn't ever seen Voldemort look at one of his followers in that way. Not even Bellatrix. Sure, Voldemort desired his aunt and most certainly had his way with her, but he did not look at her the way he looked at Josie. Like Josie was a prize or a highly valuable artefact to be cherished.

Draco stood and left the room, not entering the other room where he knew Josie was, but leaving the dorm all together and running around the corner to where Headmaster Snape's office was.

He tapped his wand on the stone gargoyle, bringing it to life, not caring about the password. Snape had insisted that Draco and Josie have access to his office as needed, on the pretence that because they were Head Boy and Girl, they'd need it. In this case, it was related to Voldemort.

He ran up the stairs as quickly as his legs could carry him, having finally put the pieces together, and banged on the door. Snape's uninterested sounding voice carried through the wood of the door, advising him to enter and Draco pushed the door open and stood by the desk Snape had been seated at.

"Mister Malfoy, what can I do for you this fine afternoon?" Snape asked, feigning enthusiasm.

"You know what happened in class?" Draco asked.

"Of course"

"And?"

"And nothing. The professor was dealt with" he said.

"What about Josie?" Draco asked.

"Josie is untouchable" Snape said.

"She is one of those things, isn't she?" Draco asked.

Snape looked at him and his eyes bored into his mind, searching for information.

"STOP. Tell me. Is she one or not?" Draco asked.

"Dumbledore had many theories about the Potters. The night the Dark Lord went to kill the family, he made preparations for a certain kind of spell to be cast. He had the necessary item, a sword. The sword…" Snape said looking to the place on the wall where the sword used to live. Draco knew before Snape continued what the answer would be.

"Dumbledore, figured it out at the beginning of your 6th year. His blackened hand was a result of a curse he cast to destroy one of the items. It worked, but it worked too well. Dumbledore was dying, slowly. That's the only reason he allowed you to attempt to take his life. He was not long for this world anyway…" he said.

"Get to the point" Draco said.

"Dumbledore told me there were seven horcruxes. He knew of four. The ring, the locket, the dairy and the snake. He began having suspicions about two of the others, although he never informed me of what they could be. He did speak to me about the seventh. The unintentional horcrux" Snape said.

Draco shook his head, tears filling his eyes.

"That night in Godrics Hollow, The Dark Lord set up the spell to make his sixth horcrux, intending on creating the seventh at a later date. He was going to use the Potters deaths as the catalyst for the spell, however, when the spell backfired and he disappeared, it was assumed by him years later, that the spell was void" Snape said.

"But it wasn't. It worked, didn't it?" Draco said.

"Dumbledore believes so" Snape said, looking to the old man's portrait on the wall.

"Tell me…" Draco demanded, angry tears spilling down his cheeks. "Tell me she isn't one…" he demanded to the picture on the wall.

The image of Dumbledore said nothing, he simply stood and walked out of the frame.

"How? I mean… She wasn't even born yet" Draco said to Snape.

"That part I hadn't had the opportunity to discuss with Dumbledore yet, however I can surmise. The sword, which the dark lord intended to use, is loyal to Gryffindor's, so would not allow someone like the dark lord to use it for the purposes of containing part of his soul. When the spell backfired, the sword vanished, returning to the headmasters office… It clearly has other ideas of late" Snape indicated to the empty sword container that was attached to the wall.

"It is very rare that a living thing is made into a horcrux, so when the dark lord vanished, the part of the soul that should have become a horcrux must have sought out the thing that was most easily able to be protected" he said.

"An unborn baby is pretty well protected" Draco said.

"Precisely" Snape said.

"So, the part of his soul that he had prepared for the spell, attached itself to Josie before she was born and what… just, remained inside of her?" Draco asked.

"To this day" Snape said.

"You're certain?" Draco asked.

"Nothing is one hundred per cent Draco, but I am as certain as I can be" Snape said.

"That's why he fawns over her… Because she has part of him inside her? Does he know?" Draco asked.

"I do not believe that he knows... You knew all of this before you even asked these questions Draco. You guessed, didn't you?" Snape asked Draco didn't bother to answer, as Snape had already seen it in his mind. Draco just didn't have a logical explanation as to why or how at that stage.

"The intelligence, the magic, the maturity…?" Draco asked.

"Likely either the remnants of his soul, or the impact of having his magic live within her" Snape said.

"What do we… I mean, how do we remove it?" Draco asked, not sure if he was eager to hear the answer.

"The same way all the other horcruxes are destroyed" Snape said.

"There's no other way?" he asked, tears still streaming down his face

"Not that Dumbledore identified" Snape said.

Draco just looked to his headmaster. His godfather. His mentor. He knew it was all real. There was no way it couldn't be, but for Draco, the realness of it was almost overwhelming.

He turned to leave but Snape stopped him.

"Draco… You must not tell her. It will destroy her" he said.

"How? How can I not tell her that she needs to die?" he asked.

"You just get on with things and say goodbye when the time comes" Snape said.

As Draco had his hand on the door handle to leave, a thought crossed his mind.

"You know, you've been in love with her mother your whole life… How could you sit there, knowing she needs to lose her child? How can you live with yourself, every day knowing that the daughter of the woman you love has had a portion of the soul of the monster that killed her husband, living inside her since before she was born? I just… I can't fathom it" Draco said.

"You'll understand. When you go back to your room, you'll understand" Snape said.