Chapter 16: Horcruxes, Oh My!

Harry and Snape met the others in the hall after breakfast, each having shrunk their belongings. Harry was surprised to find Atwater and Strider joining Saldor and Ginny, the last to leave the hall.

Harry was surprised they would be taking the train, as he'd come to appreciate the convenience that wizarding travel took. When he pressed his master the day before, the man gave him a glare, and simply told him to be quiet, he was trying to focus. Harry had shrugged and gone back to his book.

However, as they sat on board the train, Harry found himself enjoying the quiet conversation and strategizing with the other apprentices and masters. For the first hour and a half of the ride, both Strider and Ginny sat relatively quiet, hands folded. Harry would have to point out to Ginny how eerie her docility was, later.

Harry was finding Atwater to be the most patient, calm master he had ever met. When he spoke, it was in quiet, soothing tones, and Harry made a note to ask Strider if the man was as kind as he seemed.

After quiet conversation, Atwater finally decided to bring up business. "You know, Aeternus, I always wondered if you would be as spoiled as Sev said you were during your first few years at Hogwarts." Harry turned to glare at his master.

"Thanks, Ty," Snape muttered darkly, turning back to Harry. "Oh, please don't get all melodramatic. You know that's how I felt. Your actions indicated no differently: instead of getting adults, you went off to save the world on your own, no matter how many rules you broke. You once started my robes on fire!"

"I did not!" Harry contested hotly. "That was Ron and Hermione, because, in case you don't remember, somebody was cursing my broom!"

"I was trying to save you, you dolt! That was a countercurse!"

"I know," Harry responded sullenly, suddenly feeling guilty for being upset with the man after he'd saved his life. More than once.

"And there was the Chamber incident. Before long, the stories had the basilisk being twenty feet long!"

"It was twenty feet long!" Harry cried. "I'll take you down there."

Snape was about to open his mouth when Saldor cleared his throat and nodded toward Ginny. Harry responded quickly. "Shit, I'm sorry, Gin."

Atwater took one look at her ashen face before speaking again. "You were down there. You faced trauma. Have you seen a mind healer? In fact," he stopped to glance at Harry. "Have you?"

"Madam Pomfrey recommended one, but my parents couldn't afford it," Ginny whispered as he looked at her shoes.

At the same time Ginny made her vulnerable admission, Harry exclaimed, "Wizards have shrinks?"

Atwater sighed and exchanged an exasperated look with the others. "I prefer, Aeternus, to be called a mind healer." He looked at the other adults. "I'll firecall Sterling when we arrive, if you wish me to stay longer."

Both Harry and Ginny erupted in protests. "I don't need a shrink!"

"I'm not crazy!"

"I'm just fine, thank you very much!"

"I've gotten this far on my own, haven't I?"

The adults waited for the two to exhaust their protests. Surprisingly, it was Strider who spoke, and he seemed to take on his master's quiet manner. "You are both very strong, and healing is not about whether or not you are crazy. Who you are is an accumulation of all of your experiences-good and bad. Mind healing allows you to be vulnerable with those experiences, without letting them dictate your actions."

The others let Harry and Ginny think that over for a moment before Saldor finally spoke. "I'd be grateful, Ty, if you stayed on for a bit. Some of your sincerity is greatly needed these days."

Snape nodded. "I, too, would be grateful for your expertise," he turned to stare impenetrably at Harry for a moment before turning toward Strider. "Strider, you sound like your mentor. Have you taken the same interest in healing?"

Strider blushed for a moment. "I'm sorry, I was out of line, Sir. But, yes, Sir. I think it will be important, after this war, for the community to come together and support one another to heal after the trauma."

Snape nodded impassively. "While you are with us, I can speak to Dumbledore and Pomfrey to see if you might do some peer counseling with the students, if your master approves."

Atwater smiled kindly at Snape. "That would be wonderful, Sev. I, of course, do not want to take away from his time with the Guard."

Harry spoke up. "He can work with Neville. Neville will be working to make sure we have students and apprentices trained in basic healing capabilities. Strider, can you and he work together to come up with an approach to triage mind trama in addition to physical?"

Strider nodded and raised an eyebrow. "Yes. But that's quite a jump, from not wanting mind healing to wanting my help."

"I see value in the field," Harry admitted. "I just don't think I need help."

Atwater cleared his throat. "We can talk more on this later. Great idea to figure out a way to triage. All healers should know how to approach injured and wounded who may also need mind therapy.

"I do want to talk about the process for your scar, Aeter."

"We're still getting rid of it?" Harry was flabbergasted. "Even after all of the good information it has provided?"

Snape glared. "It hasn't provided any good."

"We know there are spies now! We caught Pettigrew! Surely, Master Silverwood, you see the tactical brilliance in my watching him?" Harry desperately looked to the other man.

Silverwood crossed his arms. "While I admit it is beneficial to have some of this information this quick, we simply cannot risk the negative impacts of your scar. It would be far worse, tactically, if this went pear-shaped than not having it at all."

"I'm getting better at Occlumency! It was a one-time mistake because I didn't mean to fall asleep. You can't make me!"

Snape sighed. "Please, Aeter, don't make me issue a command."

Silverwood glanced at Harry, "Unless you prefer I censure you in the chain of command of the Guard."

Atwater was very quiet. "You must know, Aeter, Master Saldor and I are here to help remove this, at the command of the Board, and most specifically, Master Sterling."

"You even said you didn't know what it would do to me to remove," Harry tried again, almost frantic.

"We've tested the process," Snape admitted quietly, pulling the sleeve of his robe up to display a gauze. "We took care of it last night, while you were all celebrating. We will wait a week before taking care of yours, to ensure there are no unsavory side effects."

Harry stared. "I would have been there to help," he was surprised with the emotion that came out of him, even in that short, bitter sentence. He told himself that it was anger, and not a bit of worry, that he was feeling.

"There was no suspicion, this way," Snape argued. "Surely, you realize that there are bound to be spies at Headquarters?"

It was Terran and Strider, and not Harry, who expressed their surprise. "What?"

"Don't be naive," Silverwood sniped. "The Mastery is a very old tradition. You are all lucky enough to hang out with the sect that is very progressive. You will find that there are many, including a few members of the Board, who do not support our active role in the war, nor do they support Sterling's recent policies," his eyes drifted toward Ginny. "I can think of a handful of very vocal members who have been pushing to require all apprentices to be Pureblooded wizards. They are bound to act drastically."

Harry was not surprised, though he wished he had been. He remembered the masters and apprentices who'd whispered angrily at Ginny's appointment, or those who pretended she simply did not exist when they greeted Harry and Terran.

"We've deviated," Harry announced courageously. "You won't do this until I know all of the information."

"Bold," Snape sneered. "What's to keep me from restraining you myself?"

Harry grimaced, not quite putting it past the man. "On the last night we discussed this, you said that you had no willing people to test it on, other than yourself. You've not tested it on an unwilling victim, so you don't know the repercussions."

"We have Pettigrew," Saldor shrugged.

"Are you willing to risk this in my head without knowing for sure that intent doesn't matter?" Harry played his winning card. At Snape's furious expression, Harry knew he'd won this battle, though he knew he'd likely pay later. "Was it painful?"

Snape leaned back into his seat and closed his eyes. "Very. It felt as though his claws were in my arm and wouldn't release it, as though there was a cruciatus centralized on that very spot in my arm. I'm not sure I've felt pain that strong."

"Enticing," Harry muttered, ignoring the glare sent his way. "It was short-lived however? You're here, after all?"

"Hardly. That intense pain lasted until about three this morning. It's dulled considerably, as I've taken a host of potions, but it is still there in a measurable way."

Harry shuddered. "Why would we do this in my head again?" he asked anxiously.

He watched as Saldor and Snape exchanged a very long look. "Tell me, Aeter, have you ever heard of a horcrux?" Saldor finally asked. At Harry's headshake, he continued. "They are of the darkest origins. Through murder of an innocent, one can store their soul-piece in an inanimate object. You'll remember the diary?"

Harry nodded, and glanced at Ginny. He was grateful to see that Terran had his hand on her shoulder in comfort. "Reluctantly, Dumbledore brought it to us, knowing we had Dark Arts experts. I am the last Master of the Dark Arts, so naturally the Board called on my expertise. Dumbledore was aware that he was not going to find answers, or a way to ensure it was fully destroyed, without us. He said a student had been possessed by it, though he refused to say who…"

Saldor's words trailed off as he glanced at Ginny, then Snape for confirmation. "I thought he had told you," Snape said quietly. "Yes."

"It is possible…" Saldor muttered quietly. "They are notoriously difficult to create, and extremely volatile, as is the creator's remaining body-soul. We have done an incredible amount of research and found that there is no known way to create more than one horcrux on purpose. However, when the soul-piece, or the body-soul is attacked and the container is attacked, a piece of the soul may splinter off to attempt to preserve itself in a living being, because it is naturally drawn to the magic of life."

Harry stared. He ignored everything around him. A piece of Voldemort was, in him? No, he must have heard wrong. Why had they all stopped talking suddenly. He had so many questions, but settled for the only one that he could bear to ask. "What?"

If the news hadn't been so desperately terrifying, Harry would have found it comical. Nobody said anything for a moment. When he spoke, Snape's voice was unusually soft, "Aeter, on Halloween, a splinter of Voldemort's body-soul, knowing it's own life was extinguished, created a horcrux in the scar that he had created when he cast the curse. His soul was already splintering from creating the diary. This is why you are having visions." Harry continued staring. He blinked back sudden tears. He would not cry in front of all of these people. "We have a plan, Aeter," Snape assured, his voice still too soft for Harry's comfort. "We will remove it."

Saldor looked at Ginny. "Pandora, I don't want to ask, but have you been having visions, or any sort of dreams about Voldemort?"

They all watched her slowly shake her head. "Not Voldemort," Ginny denied.

"What about Tom Riddle?" Snape asked quietly.

Ginny became motionless, her eyes widening. "I thought they were just nightmares!" Harry could see her eyes were becoming wet, too.

Snape turned to Saldor. "It makes sense. That soul-piece was created when he was seventeen. The body-soul likely was the same one that fled to Albania."

Saldor nodded slowly, and Atwater cleared his throat. "Perhaps we can move away from the soul-pieces for now?"

Saldor nodded. "Yes. We will remove the soul-pieces, Aeter, Pandora. And then you will continue to train, harder than before, so there is no doubt that he can ever come back. The nature of how we continue to train has been established, but you will defeat him. We will get you both through this. Do either of you have any questions?"

Harry shook his head numbly, taking in the information. "Yes," Ginny's voice was more fierce than she'd ever heard it, though Harry could see her fists shaking in her lap. "How soon can we get rid of these?"

"A week, Pandora," Saldor said firmly, "we need to make sure that Severus suffers no ill-intended consequences from his tattoo removal. We will also need to do some tests to ensure whether or not you bear a similar horcrux."

As the train continued to hurtle toward Scotland, the eight occupants of the train carriage fell quiet.

After fifteen minutes, Harry finally decided that he couldn't take the silence anymore, especially as he felt wholly responsible for the sullen atmosphere. "Master Atwater, who was your Master?"

Atwater glanced up, a sad smile on his face. "Ah, perhaps not the happiest of topics," he said, but as though he was making a decision, he spoke again. "I suppose I owe you a debt of gratitude. Master Grey was my master for my basic Mastery. For my healing speciality, I was apprenticed to Master Stevenson."

"I'm sorry, sir-" Harry's response was reflective, and cut off abruptly.

"If you are apologizing for asking, it is a fair question," Atwater peered at the boy patiently. "If you are apologizing for his fate, don't. He is a mean-spirited man. He always walked that fine line that exists between punishment and abuse, and everybody knew it. That's why they never assigned him another apprentice after me. But nobody could prove it, until you came along."

"That's horrible!" Ginny cried. "Surely, somebody could have done something! And how are you so kind!"

Snape and Saldor both looked as though they were going to step in, but Atwater shook his head. "This is how I know about the dangers of trauma first hand, Pandora. And Master Stevenson was a wonderful master. Further, Severus had already completed his Potions Mastery as I was beginning my Healing Mastery. I grew to know his work, as I'd read several of his published articles in several potion's journals. We occasionally interacted at conferences and at Headquarters. We began to write, eventually, and he was a bit more of a peer mentor for me."

Harry nodded, grateful at the man's willingness to share. "Thank you, Sir. I think speaking with you could be beneficial."

Atwater smiled at the boy, "I look forward to it, Aeter," he said genuinely.