A FEW WEEKS LATER

Severus and Lily were sitting at the Three Broomsticks over a coffee.

"Are you sure the memory has been altered?"

"Positive."

"Couldn't he just… have dissociated at that particular moment? Or maybe Voldemort did something to him that made him forget?"

"I highly doubt it."

"Why?"

"Lily, you know very well that if it was due to an Obliviate or dissociation, there would either be nothing or some flashes, gaps, inconsistencies… Definitely not a whole, beginning-to-end memory with muffled voices. Trust me - he altered it."

Lily stared into his serious gaze through the coffee steam. "All right. How do we get the truth out of him?"

"There are a few ways…"

"Don't even think about it."

Severus sneered at her. "Do you have a better idea?"

"...No."

"Now, then."

"I just think we should try a normal dialogue first."

Severus's mouth twitched upwards into a tiny smile. "Pity. You know Veritaserum is one of my favorites…"

"No."

Horace Slughorn. The former Potions master at Hogwarts. He'd been teaching there for more than 30 years before deciding to retire. He'd taught over 2000 students, most of whom he remembered vividly, especially the famous and brilliant ones, including their favourite food, who they hung out with, who was related to whom… That is why the fact that he remembered so little about Tom Riddle was so strange. After all, Tom Riddle was probably the most famous of them all. But no matter how talented or famous (or infamous) he was, Horace seemed to remember significantly less about him.

"He was just like everybody else," He kept repeating later that day, when Lily and Severus paid him a visit. Together with "If he'd had something dark inside, it was well hidden."

"Well, then," Lily said and got up from the armchair. "If you don't have anything more helpful to say, we'll be on our way."

"What else do you want me to say? I gave you all my memories of Riddle. You saw what I saw!"

Lily stopped in her tracks, slowly turning on her heel to face him. "Horcruxes," she said simply.

Slughorn's eyes went wide. "What did you… How do you…?"

"Horcruxes. Stages Between Life And Death, chapter 6."

He frowned, shaking his head violently. "I see you've been reading… You know there's a reason for restricted access to these books, don't you? There are two sides to be on, Ms Evans, and I'd personally prefer - "

"Just nod if it was Horcruxes, professor. That's all we need."

Slughorn's mouth went shut. For a long moment, he stared at them in silence before he finally spoke again.

"Y-you need to understand… You don't know what he was like… Even then…"

Severus interrupted him sharply with certain impatience in his voice. "Answer the question."

The man nodded so slowly it was barely visible.

"H-horcruxes, yes. He asked me how to… Make them."

"And what did you tell him?"

"Nothing, of course! You saw it! You saw I told him nothing and sent him on his way!"

Severus took a step closer, stepping out of the shadows of the room, sunlight illuminating his pale face, dark eyes piercing through Slughorn like two sharp needles. "You're lying," he whispered.

Lily noticed that Severus was holding something in his hand. Something small.

"I will ask you again. What did you tell him?"

Slughorn looked stubbornly determined. "Nothing!"

"Severus," Lily whispered. She wanted to stop him but it was already too late. With just one swing of his hand, Severus opened the little flask and forced its contents into the man's mouth.

"No!" she yelled at him. "We agreed not to!"

"The question remains the same," Severus said without reacting to Lily's yelling at all.

"He… He wanted to know specifically how it works… I told him one needs to commit murder, tear their soul into pieces and then hide a piece in an object… He wanted to know if seven was feasible… I asked him… I wanted him to assure me that what he was asking was only theoretical, academic… And he… He said 'It'll be our little secret.' Then he left the room."

Severus glanced at Lily. He looked triumphant. "There. Seven horcruxes. That's what we're looking for."

Then, without saying anything else, he turned on his heel and left the house. Lily said a quick good-bye to the professor and ran after him.

"Are you out of your mind?"

Severus stopped dead, turning to her. "What?"

"He was our professor! The least you could do was a little bit of politeness! You can't just pour Veritaserum in people's throats like that!"

"I don't understand why you're upset. I was just trying to help," he said casually, crossing his arms while looking her deeply in the eyes.

"I don't expect you to understand. After all, you never had much consideration for other people."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know very well what that means." She took a step closer. "I respect him and I thought you did, too. He was the only professor at Hogwarts who wasn't biased. He would always support the cooperation between Slytherin and Gryffindor. I wanted to talk to him as a friend - "

"Ah, then kindly allow me to apologize for interrupting your little chit chat, but if you haven't noticed, people are dying. We don't have time for pleasantries."

"Ugh! You're unbelievable!" And with that, Lily strode past him, continuing on her way towards the castle. "Come on," she said resolutely. "We need to tell Dumbledore."

For the rest of the journey, she was sensing a lot of tension coming from him. His face was blank, he looked as if suddenly drained from all life. After all these years, she knew why that was. Always after having an argument with Lily, Severus would start feeling overwhelming fear of losing her. He would then beg her for hours, sometimes days or weeks (depending on how serious the argument had been) to forgive him.

It was in front of the castle gates this time, when he stopped and turned to her again, dark eyes filled with deep regret.

"Lily… I'm - "

Before he even had the chance to finish the sentence, she hugged him tightly.

"We're still together, Severus," she whispered in his ear. "Now is not the time for arguments. Let's go."

He refused to let her go.

"Sev, please," she mumbled into his shoulder.

"Sorry, I just… I just hate it when we argue."

"I know. Me too. But we…" she lifted her head a bit, meeting his eyes, contemplating.

"We… what?"

"We are nothing like your parents."

He rolled his eyes and looked away. Lily forced him to look at her again. "Arguments can be good," she said.

"They don't feel good."

"They're not supposed to."

He let out a huff into her hair and then continued walking.