Hi everybody!

*Monotonous response* "Hi, Doctor Nick..."

Anywho, thanks for tuning in last chapter. They reviews were much appreciated 3

Now let's get to it!

If Someone Cared Enough

Chapter 115: Magic Sniffles

Lily coughed into a tissue, balling it up and chucking it into the bin by her bed.

"Kill me," she wheezed, her voice thick and dull from a stuffy nose.

Severus chuckled as he entered the room, "Now why would I ever do that?"

He placed a tray across Lily's lap.

"Soup," he explained, "Chicken and pumpkin with rice. Augusta swears by it for replenishing magic."

Shortly after returning from the cave, Lily fell ill with a rather aggressive and stubborn flu. At first, everyone was baffled why a seemingly healthy girl would catch a cold in the midst of a boiling summer. She'd been exposed to no more damp and cold at the cave than anyone else in their little party of reckless adventurers, so why was she the only one sick?

The answer became clear when the group finally went into detail about the entirety of their excursion. After covering the boat, the potion, and the accidental blood pact between Regulus and Severus, they got to the inferi. Moreover, they got to what they'd done to fend the foul creatures off.

Namely, Lily's use of Protego Diabolica.

"Well there's your answer," Augusta had huffed with a scowl, "That's no spell for some mere student to use. It takes far too much magical power to wield, even for a few moments. Bloody twit's burnt out her magical core!"

It was estimated that Lily would need about a week to fully recharge, so to speak. According to Augusta, when one's magical core becomes too taxed by magic outside of the witch of wizards abilities, the body becomes weak and susceptible to even the slightest germ or sickness, including muggle aliments usually harmless to those with magic. What normally set in for those who pushed their magical core too far was a rather nasty sickness reminiscent of a muggle flu.

And so Lily found herself laid up in bed with chills, aches, fever, and a bad case of the sniffles and coughs.

"It's not fair," Lily complained, arms folded over her chest petulantly, "I only did the stupid spell because we were going to die otherwise."

"I don't think one's core really cares the reason for depleting it," Severus remarked, handing Lily a spoon for her soup.

Lily huffed, allowing her boyfriend to fluff up the pillows behind her to sit up straight.

"It was one of your dumb books I read it from," Lily groused, giving Severus a pointed glare, "How was I supposed to know it uses so much magic."

Severus raised a brow, "I would think the fact that it came from a book of dark magic should have been plenty indication that the spells within come at some sort of cost."

"I was desperate!" Lily defended, before breaking off into a hacking cough. She picked up another tissue, blowing into it as hard as she could.

"What else was I supposed to do," Lily asked Severus, none too rhetorically, "We both know fiendfyre was out of the question; it would have burned us to bits along with the damn inferi. And no other fire spell is powerful enough to take all of them out."

"Not to mention we'd rather not burn the place to a crisp," Severus pointed out, "Regulus didn't go to the trouble of getting a fake into that basin just for us to torch the place. We need the cave to look as untouched as possible; otherwise You-Know-Who would know someone got another one of his Horcruxes."

Lily nodded, a frown settling on her face as a though occurred to her.

"Sev," she began, "Do you think he knows when one of those things has been destroyed? Do you think he can…feel it?"

"There's a disturbing line of thought," Severus said darkly, "As for an answer, I don't know. Presumably, your soul is still a part of you no matter what you do to it or how corrupted it gets. Each horcrux technically is him in a way, a potential new version to replace an old one. It's possible he can feel it, can sense its demise."

Severus looked down at his feet, "It might very well be the actual reason the Longbottom Manor was targeted."

Lily cocked her head, "What makes you say that?"

Severus ruminated on an answer. He had a hunch, but no idea if he was right.

"Before we went to the Chamber," he began, "I imagine I was little more than a thorn in You-Know-Who's side. A nuisance, a disrespect towards him. I turned down his offer and got two of his followers arrested. I'm sure that irritated him, maybe even angered him, but Avery and Mulciber were small fish in a big pond. He's got far more useful and powerful followers, ones more competent even. And losing me for my potion skills may have been an inconvenience, but what sort of leader would he be if he was banking all his poisons and potions on one lowly half breed? Doesn't matter if he himself is one, he sees himself better than everyone. And there are surely other wizards out there with dark inclinations and a skill for brewing that he could replace me with."

He turned to Lily, "When Lucius told Thea that harm may fall us, months went by with nothing being done on You-Know-Who's orders. Yes, Lucius planted the diary on Thea, but that wasn't on his master's orders. So You-Know-Who didn't seem particularly interested in making his move and making an example of me. I was an afterthought; someone he'd get to somewhere down the line."

"So why go after you now?" Lily asked, blowing on her soup.

"Because of the diary," Severus answered, "And the diadem—though I'm not sure if he's aware of that one being destroyed. They were destroyed almost simultaneously; would he recognize it as two separate pains if he feels them at all?"

He shook his head, "Regardless, he must know by now that the Chamber was opened. He's got too many spies in the ministry not to know it. And he'd know that the only way to get into the chamber is with the diary's help. He knows it was discovered…and with the false reports that we encountered some crazed man down there…"

"He knows we ran into a resurrected version of his younger self," Lily finished.

Severus nodded, "Dumbledore kept mention of the basilisk out of the papers and the school remained open; that would be all the reason Tom would need to suspect the snake was defeated. And if he knows as much about destroying horcruxes as he does making them…then he'd know the basilisk provided us with the venom needed to destroy the diary."

"And if he knows about the Chamber at all from his spies, then he's sure to know just which students were the ones in that chamber," Lily surmised.

"Exactly," Severus said with another nod, "That would make it the second time I've defied him. And this time I helped destroy something very important to him. At this point, I think I'm less a nuisance and more a threat to him in his eyes."

Lily sipped at her soup, dabbing her mouth with a napkin, "But then why target the Longbottoms? You were staying with us."

"Because my mother was with them, Lily," Severus pointed out, "You-Know-Who is cruel and he holds familiar affections and notions of love as weaknesses. What better way to hurt me than to kill someone I hold dear? To weaken my resolve with grief and then ridicule me for having let love harm me? He intends to break me…then kill me."

Lily shivered, drawing the blankets tighter around herself, "So safe to say, we may not want to destroy the locket until we have the other horcruxes…just so he doesn't have more reasons to go after you."

"Ideally, we'd destroy all the remaining horcruxes at once," Severus stated, "Before delivering the killing blow to him personally. Weaken him all at once and strike while the iron is hot. But that's hoping we even get all the other horcruxes, let alone get close enough to him to strike him down."

"And who knows if we'll ever get so lucky," Lily said dourly, pausing to sneeze into a tissue.

She grimaced, tossing the used napkin away, "Ugh, I can't take much more of this."

A knock sounded at the door.

"How's she doing?" Regulus asked, poking his head into the room.

"Irritable and unhappy," Severus answered, dodging a feeble swipe Lily made at him with one of the decorative pillows.

"Some nurse you are," Lily scoffed, "No bedside manner."

Regulus stepped fully into the room, a steaming mug in his hands.

"Eileen thought you could use some citrus tea," he explained, "This is how Kreacher always made it for me when I got sick."

Lily smiled, taking the cup gratefully, "Thanks. Did you get sick often?"

Regulus shrugged, "Mostly when I was little. Purebloods tend to have frailer constitutions than muggleborns. Most of my cousins were ill a lot when they were young too. We grow out of it as we get older."

Lily took a sip of the tea, sinking back into her pillows with a relishing sigh.

"That really clears up the nose," she said, her voice already sounding a lot less nasally.

Regulus smiled, "Kreacher cuts it with Pepper Up and a diluted wasabi. They clear out the sinuses. The citruses are to overwhelm the more bitter or sharp tastes."

"I'm surprised Kreacher would be willing to help Lily," Severus mused aloud, curious.

Regulus cringed, scratching his neck, "It's taking a bit to ease him off some of the rhetoric mother drilled into him. He mainly took everything she said to heart because he wanted to please her as much as possible; it isn't like he met any muggles before to know if what she taught him was true. He just convinced himself of it because he wanted to be dedicated to my mother."

"So has he come around at all yet?" Severus asked.

Regulus gestured to Lily's cup, "Well, he made the tea when I asked—I did stick around to make sure he did it as instructed and not tampered with it or anything. And he feels compelled to agree with what I say since I'm the sole master he has to please now. Without the connection to my mother he doesn't feel the impulse to quote her teachings or enforce them. So he's free of her influence magically, but mentally…it's hard to undo years of that tripe."

"He did ask that I give you this," Regulus pulled out a wilted, slightly crumpled flower that Kreacher no doubt stole from the clippings in the garden.

"A thank you," Regulus explained, "He said it's for protecting me in the cave."

Lily didn't seem the least bit put off by the decaying state of the plant, "How sweet. But really, I didn't do as much as Severus."

Regulus gave Lily a flat look, "You used a dark spell made infamous by one of the greatest muggle-haters in history…to save a pureblood. Kreacher sees that as a noble gesture, one that goes against much of what he was taught of muggleborns."

"He changed Petunia's waste basket in her bathroom too," Regulus went on, "To thank her for caring for him without having to actually thank her verbally. Petunia didn't even know he did it; the other house elves ratted him out."

"So there's hope for him," Severus theorized.

Regulus raised his hand, holding his index finger and thumb mere centimeters apart, "A miniscule one, but its there."

"How are you settling in, Reg," Lily asked, reaching for another tissue.

Regulus sighed, "I'm coping I guess. My family was far from perfect but it still feels weird to be away from them like this. I know I spend months away from them at school, but this feels so…final, you know?"

He frowned, "It's probably because there's a good chance that when this war is over, my parents will be behind bars for allying with You-Know-Who."

"Yeah, but they're not technically his followers," Lily pointed out, "They aren't Death Eaters and they don't commit any crimes. They could still not be charged for anything."

Regulus shook his head, "They may not have joined him, but they wanted me to. And they are well aware that Bellatrix is one of them. The ministry could easily go after them for hiding that for so long."

"There's no way they don't know Narcissa is married to a Death Eater," Severus added, "If it comes out that they've know all along that Lucius is one, they'll be charged for keeping that to themselves and not trying to stop the officials from unknowingly granting him continued access to the ministry."

"So my mum's looking at Azkaban," Regulus finished with a groan, "Can't say it surprises me. But it feels weird to know I might never see them again. They don't allow visitors at Azakaban as far as I know."

"On the bright side, Augusta has all but adopted you," Severus said with an evil grin.

Regulus groaned, throwing himself face first onto Lily's bed, "Say it isn't so. The woman's a battle axe. She's got me doing dueling practices early every morning. How did Frank ever survive being raised by her?"

"He survived out of sheer spite," Severus quipped, "You die by Augusta's hand; she'll never let you live it down, even in the afterlife."

"So moving on from the grim topic of my foreseeable future with the Longbottom's," Regulus said, "What have you guys been up to."

"Dying," Lily croaked, blowing her nose, "Or in Severus's case, enjoying my suffering."

Severus tsked, "I'm doing no such thing. I just happen to think you're a whiny patient."

"Oh shut up," Lily griped, pushing her tray towards Severus, "Take that, please."

Severus placed the tray over on the dresser before turning to Regulus, "We've actually been talking about the horcruxes. Or rather…can Tom feel it when we destroy one of them."

Regulus went stiff, sitting up, "You think he can?"

Severus shrugged, "It's a very real possibility. The soul is a complex thing; I doubt severing truly disconnects it from you, only wounds or corrupts you. He may well still be able to feel their demise. It would be a part of himself dying; I fail to see how he wouldn't feel it."

Regulus frowned, "So we can't destroy the locket yet or he'll know someone's been in the cave."

Severus nodded, "Which puts you in danger since the only being who's been in there besides him recently is Kreacher. It would be a logical next step for him to assume Kreacher brought you there, and I doubt Tom will be as in denial as your mother over the possibility of you betraying the cause."

"Well I mean, I'm already a fugitive," Regulus pointed out, "Would it really change anything if he knew I was responsible?"

"It would change everything," Severus stated, "Right now, you are viewed as dead. The enchantment Augusta and Ponderosa had you do would even change your mother's family tapestry to list you as deceased. Better to have everyone think you went and got yourself killed somehow and be forgotten than give Tom a reason to look for you."

He placed a hand on Regulus shoulder, "Not to sound belittling of you or your accomplishments, but you're student, Reg. Perceiving you as dead is no skin off Tom's back when he has far more skilled, of age wizards at his command. But if he has reason to believe you crossed him, he will use whatever resources he has at his disposal to hunt you down."

"We already suspect his attack on the Longbottoms and my mother was a ploy at hurting me for betraying him," Severus added, "Who knows how personally he'll take it that a pureblood turned against him."

"So what do we do?" Regulus asked, "We can't destroy it without the possibility of him knowing. So what…we just let him keep thinking the fake in the cave is the real deal."

Severus shrugged, "That's the best we can do at the moment. Keep the thing locked away, where it can't influence us, and in the meantime work on getting the other remaining horcruxes. Once we have them together, we can destroy them all at once. That's what Lily and I discussed, anyway."

Lily blotted at her red puffy eyes with a tissue, reaching for her glass to take another gulp of water. When she spoke, her voice was thick, stuffy, "How many do you suppose are left?"

Severus thought about it, "Well Helga Hufflepuff's cup is most likely one of them. Someone like Tom would try and make a matching founders set to be the vessels for his soul; he's vain and prideful like that."

"But we still have no idea where that one is," Regulus pointed out, "Nor how we'd get to it."

Severus hummed, "Given that the Diary was in Lucius possession, it isn't out of the realm of possibility that one of his other lieutenants was given a horcrux to guard; though I'm sure Lucius mess-up would make him more wary of whom to trust."

"Then Bellatrix would be the best candidate, right?" Lily theorized, "She's loyal to him to a tee. If he gave her anything of value to him, she'd probably guard it like a dragon hoards gold."

Severus considered this; it was a good point, "Yes, and Bellatrix is not foolish enough to let the thing slip out of her possession like Lucius did the diary; she lives for boasting how valuable an asset she is to Riddle."

"But she'd be arrogant enough to brag about what an honor it is," Regulus added, "Which would explain how I saw the cup in Lucius mind that time at Hogsmeade; she must have shown him to boast about being so trusted."

Lily nodded, following along rather well even in her exhausted state, "Okay, so the cup is basically a definite. Any other possible horcuxes we can think of?"

"The ring," Severus answered, "Gaunt's ring. It was past down their family for generations. Riddle would probably see it as his birth right to own; an heirloom proving his family's noble heritage spanning centuries."

"The Riddle family was found dead," Severus stated, "And the last surviving member of the Gaunt family, Morfin, was arrested for the crime despite questionable circumstances. Killing his father and grandparents would have given Tom the ideal opportunity to make the ring a horcrux. The question is where would he hide it?"

Given it's relation to his family's lineage, he'd probably hold it with higher regard and importance than the others," Regulus surmised, tapping his chin, "The same with the locket; he went to great extremes to hide it versus the diadem or the diary."

"The diary was his first attempt," Severus pointed out, "And it sealed a fragment of his soul from a time when he was younger, weaker than he is now. I imagine he'd view it was his weakest one. That's why he'd trust it with Lucius instead of going to such great lengths to hide it as he did the locket. The diary held no value to him as anything other than an experiment to see if he could even make one."

"And the diadem and cup are priceless artifacts," Lily added, "But belonging to the founders Riddle found less worthy or powerful compared to Slytherin, his ancestor."

Severus nodded, "Exactly. I'm sure all the horcruxes are valuable to Tom, but I think subconsciously he prioritizes the safety of those connected to his own heritage over the one that are not. The ring and locket are proof he descends from a pureblood noble line."

Regulus frowned, "Wait, there's something I'm not getting…If You-Know-Who is using the founders pieces to make horcruxes, why isn't one of them the Sword of Gryffindor?"

"Because he could never find it," Severus explained, "The sword can only be drawn by someone deemed a true Gryffindor, something the heir of Slytherin could never be. Even if he did manage to acquire it, it could be summon away at a moment's notice to a Gryffindor in need. It would be too risky a horcrux; always vanishing right into the hands of a potential foe."

Regulus hummed, "It must rankle him that he cannot have a complete set of the founders items."

"I'm sure he has mixed feelings about it at best," Severus guessed, "On the one hand, what better humiliation to Godric's memory than to pervert one of his most sacred possessions with the foulest of magic, making it carry the soul of his friend-turned-enemy's descendant's soul? On the other hand, I bet Riddle feels himself too good to be connected to Gryffindor in any way, much as his ancestor Salazar felt himself better than Godric. He probably comforts himself over his failure in acquiring the sword by telling himself any item of Gryffindor's isn't worthy to house the soul of Slytherin's heir."

Regulus quirked a brow, "That would be quite the feat of pretzel logic."

"Which I wouldn't put past a mad men who's probably already compromised his sanity and rational by splitting his soul multiple times," Severus drawled.

Lily cleared her throat, "So back to the topic at hand…there's the ring and cup as likely candidates for horcruxes. Adding them to the diary, diadem, and the locket that makes five."

She looked at her boyfriend, "Sev, didn't Riddle ask Slughorn about splitting one's soul…seven times?"

Severus inhaled sharply, "Yes. He did ask that, presumably because seven is considered one of the most powerful numbers in magic."

"But then that means that there's still two unknowns to account for," Lily said worriedly.

"Only if he's made them," Severus argued, "He might not have. Seven would be the most magically powerful, yes, but surely even doing five splits would take a great deal of effort and energy. He might have expending too much already just to make the five."

"But there's no way to be sure," Lily countered, "He might not have, but he just as easily could have."

Severus nodded grimly, "That is true. We don't have enough information to draw either conclusion. We lack and inside source."

"Maybe I shouldn't have fake my death," Regulus suggested, "I could have joined him as a spy."

"And be killed at the first slip up?" Severus scoffed, "Forgive me, but I'm not the sort to use the greater good as justification for sacrificing someone else for my goals, Reg."

Regulus crossed his arms, "It was just a suggestion."

"And consider it rejected. You'll just have to live to die a martyr some other day, Reg. Preferably long after this war is over."

Lily grinned at Regulus, "Thinking death will save you from being adopted by Augusta?"

Regulus blanched, "It may have crossed my mind."

Severus snorted, "Well keep dreaming; if you die she'll just do it posthumously."

He mimed reading off from a headstone, "Here lies Regulus Arcturus Longbottom; devoted son, rubbish at dueling."

Regulus snatched up one of the throw pillows and decked Severus with it.

"Ass," he grumbled, ignoring Lily's snickers, "See if I ever risk my life for you again."

"Oh no, Reg," Severus said monotonously, "Please say it isn't so. However will I survive without you trying to get yourself killed every five minutes?"

Regulus rolled his eyes, "Oh like you're one to talk. Quick question; just how many times have you almost died this year?"

Severus looked away, nose in the air and arms folded over his chest.

"Irrelevant," he sniffed haughtily.

"At least four by my count," Lily answered for him.

Severus glared at Lily as she gave him a traitorous smirk, "Yeah, well that means you've at least got three."

"Only because someone has to run in and save your boney backside," Lily shot back teasingly.

Severus huffed, "I'll ask you not to discuss my backside in present company."

"You act as if I don't already know you two are buggering each other," Regulus said bluntly.

Severus choked on his own spit while Lily burst into a cackle mixed with sneezing, hacking coughs.

So not much plot going on in this chapter. More like padding, really, setting up plans for the future of the Horcrux hunt.

Given that the Protego Diaboblica is probably a high level spell, I figured it would be quite taxing on the unskilled who attempt to cast it. And given that magical people don't typically get muggle sickness and vice versa, I thought perhaps their magic is what protects wizards from muggle illnesses. SO Lily temporarily depleting her magical core would leave her susceptible to colds and the flu.

I don't have much else to add here, so I guess I'll just say thanks for reading.

Review please :)