Previously on Defiance…
Suddenly there was a powerful explosion, as dense black fog exploded out of the stone basin, emanating into the air. After the fog cleared out and dissipated, two weary but nonetheless happy individuals stood on the grounds, staring at the remnants of the stone basin that once housed the very thing that had caused so much problems in their lives.
Her father… dead… killed… butchered… hung in Diagon Alley…traitor…
Daphne, the dark lord is back, and no matter what the Ministry stooges might say, he is back and definitely on his way for another rise. The last time I had sufficed by making some donations to his camp, but I am afraid this time, he won't allow anyone to remain neutral….
Daphne screamed…
You will always be my baby girl, even if you are fifteen…I know I won't be able to see you on your birthday, but you know how much I love you….
The pieces of her father's torso falling on the ground, the dust mixing with the blood…
Daphne….
She screamed again…
I want you to feel up Harry Potter.
She edged forwards, her mind lost in the middle of eternity, the only voices being those of her father, fading away into the sands of an eternal desert…
Dad…
She could see him fading away into dust, into blood, blood that trickled down from a headless torso hung from a roost…
I want you to betroth yourself to him.
Daphne screamed.
"We are losing her!" One of the healers yelled, "Get some revitalizing elixir now. Quick."
"What is happening?" Sirius asked, but the glare of one of the healers shot him down. Another healer, a woman by the voice, replied with a stern tone, "I have no idea what she had come into contact with, but her mind is breaking to pieces. If this situation continues for some more time, her mind will be permanently broken."
"Permanently broken?" Albus repeatedly morosely.
"Permanently. Whatever it had been, it had branched itself into her mind in such a refined manner, that now that is gone, her mind has lost the ability to reconstruct itself. It is falling to pieces. HEALER ALLEN! THE BRAGNOLL DRAUGHT, NOW!"
"I have never seen such a case in my life." One of the healers explained.
"What was it that attacked her?" asked another.
Sirius felt his knees go weak as he struggled to keep up. Removing the horcrux had done nothing to aid her, she had to be stunned again when she had woken up. The moment they had destroyed it, Daphne had fallen unconscious, and looked like she was suffering from magical exhaustion, which was at par with the reaction that Ginny Weasley had demonstrated three years ago.
The problems had begun an hour later. Suddenly, Daphne's eyes had snapped wide open, and a dark pallor of hysteria engulfed them as she began to scream madly. It was heart-wrenching; the way the girl was fighting to throw away some kind of imaginary ropes all around her as she had her eyes open as she screamed her lungs out. Instantly, mind-healers from Saint Mungo's had been called in, and her treatment begun.
"GET THE ICW HEALING UNIT ON THE LINE! EMERGENCY CODE 3-ALPHA-5-O-7! NOW!"
The sudden shout brought Sirius back from his disturbed memories. He somehow held himself together. He had to be strong, for Daphne, for Harry. His godson would be devastated if something happened to the girl. It had been all his fault. He had taken it for granted and believed that a wait-and-see approach would work as Daphne was simply going through a rough time. They had even cast charms to test if she had been under the Imperius or any potion on an occasion (making sure to obliviate her of the memory later) and finding none, they had simply thought that it was her own resentment that had caused the vindictiveness. Never in his nightmares, had he imagined that there could be something so evil, so foul as a horcrux that could have influenced Daphne's mind.
Harry would be so devastated…
"Mr. Black?"
How will I face him?
"MR. BLACK?"
"Yes-Yes?" Sirius mumbled, shaking out of his anxiety.
The healer stared at him for a minute. "We have managed to put her in mental statis. This condition will last for forty-eight hours after which her mind will begin to disintegrate without any chance of repair. My entire sixty-five years of experience says that this case is incurable, there is no log, no documentation, nothing in our books and logs that we can reference or try. If you know any private healer whom you trust to try heal her, we can discharge her. Else, we need you to sign a form to transfer her to the permanent damage ward at Saint Mungo's. I'm sorry."
Sirius looked crestfallen. "A private healer?"
"yes." The healer replied. "Is there anyone you would trust to try another chance?"
Sirius's mind went back to the goblin he had met with Harry the previous time. Though, given the rule amongst goblins, they only saw people who were their clients. An external person had to enter with someone who was already a client. But that meant-
"Please prepare her for transport. I am getting the healer on the line." He turned to Dumbledore. "Dumbledore, I need to see Harry. Now."
Meanwhile at the Guild…
"And that is the way one performs a perfect Legilimency loop." Derek Prince replied. "Great work, Thor, as always. Don't forget to take the course load I have set for you. I want you to finish up working on the runic defense strategy you have developed with Anton and imbue it with power using Morrison Blade Principle. Then, I will show you how to magically transform your staff into a weapon of your choice."
Thor nodded.
"Now class, today is the last time we are going to revise on the seven principles of Morgrath, so I want your attention because the first one who fails to answer will have to face me in the battle ring for seventeen minutes. Not a good prospect, I remind you. Now Morgrath's principle number one indicates Brian-?"
Thor looked up, surprised at finding Albus Dumbledore standing on the doorway. "Prof- Master Dumbledore?"
"I am sorry for the interruption, Derek, but I have an urgent need to take Thor away. It is a situation of Code 10-zom-7."
Derek raised his eyebrows. For keeping up thee anonymity as long as apprentices were at the guild, there were certain code words implemented to mean specific statements. Code 10-zom-7 meant that it was a life and death situation regarding some family member of the apprentice.
"Right. Thor, you may leave with Master Dumbledore. I will reassign your course load when you return."
Thor nodded with courtesy as he stood and walked out of the classroom. He followed Dumbledore out of the compound until they were standing in the main corridor. Raising a privacy ward, he asked, "What's wrong. Professor?"
Dumbledore considered it. "I have no time to explain in detail but in short, Miss Greengrass was attacked by a foul magic, and it has affected her mind badly. According to Sirius, you hold a connection to some private mind-healer who can-"
But Thor was done listening. Instantly, he raised his hand as his staff came flying out of the classroom, and he willed his robes to change, as they transfigured themselves into formal robes. "Let's go, Professor."
The master and his apprentice appeared at Hogwarts, inside Dumbledore's office and then Fawkes flashed them directly to the hospital wing. Seeing him appear, Sirius ran towards him, his eyes in tears. "I'm sorry, Harry I could not-"
"Sirius, what has happened to Daphne?"
"She has been wearing Voldemort's horcrux for the past month," came the direct reply. "It has damaged her mind and it is now disintegrating since the moment we destroyed the horcrux." Both of them ignored the fact that Dumbledore raised his eyes in shock about how Harry showed no reaction over the word 'horcrux'.
Another horcrux? This fellow is steeped too deeply in the necromantic arts to have made so many of those abominations.
Later.
Ignotus did not complain. Harry looked at Sirius sharply. "Is she set up for transport?"
Sirius nodded.
"Give me ten minutes." He replied as he flicked his staff, as the Floo burst into flames as he stepped in.
An anxious five hours later…
"It was an incredibly smart move on your part, young Lord, to contact me in this case. A horcrux-infected victim, now that is something I haven't dealt with since a long time."
"Will she be all right?" there was a pleading in Harry' voice.
"She will." Nagnok assured. "Though, I should warn you. We can repair the damage, that part is true. But her mind, the invasion has rendered her mind extremely fragile. It will take her a significant amount of time before she is back to her former self again. Though, the memories of the event won't really allow her to become what she was. I am afraid she will be scarred forever."
"What do you mean?"
"There will be moments, in the future," Nagnok explained, "when even a single anxiety attack can cause her to suffer from dementia, and I am sure that she will be able to recount her experiences when under the influence of the horcrux. I assure you that no person will be able to stay completely normal after that."
Harry nodded. "It doesn't matter. I will take care of her."
Sirius and Dumbledore glanced at him momentarily but no one said anything.
"That is quite… honorable of you, Lord Potter. However, you had questions. Go ahead."
Harry paused. "What can you tell us, about this horcrux?"
Nagnok considered it. "A lot. But before that, I would like to hear what you and your esteemed company know about this device."
Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I believe I should recount them." Everyone nodded. He began. "The horcrux was a locket of Salazar Slytherin, and if I recognized it carefully, it was the same pendant that he was rumored to imbue with all kinds of illusionary powers. It was lost to history after his line faced extinction."
Harry suppressed an urge to comment that there was no actual line to have gone extinct. The last Slytherin heir was a girl who married into the Gaunt family. How Voldemort had gotten hold of the locket was another matter altogether.
Dumbledore continued, "According to our theory, the horcrux was in Black Manor all this while. We have no idea how or why."
"The locket was inside my house?" Harry cried out in disbelief.
"Yes." Sirius confirmed.
"Miss Greengrass had been to the Black Manor two weeks following the… rather brutal death of her father. We suspect that she found the horcrux, and somehow it influenced it, though I am not sure how." Dumbledore stated.
"Wait. That doesn't make sense. Ginny I can understand. She was eleven and it was a diary of all things. She could have been entranced by it and it had played upon her ignorance. But this is a locket. Daphne has solid Occlumency shields. I would have bet that she would have been able to ignore the compulsions of the locket." Harry remarked. For the second time, Dumbledore observed the intricate level of knowledge Harry had about the forbidden subject. Was it possible that the boy knew that he had been a horcrux once?
"Wait." Nagnok stopped them. "I am finding that this is not the first time you gentlemen have faced a horcrux belonging to the dark lord. I would like to know about everything first before offering my own conclusions."
Harry sighed as he relaxed into his chair. This was going to be one long tale.
"All right, while I would like to say that had I not been bound by secrecy oaths regarding clientele information, the three of you would have been exterminated for having knowledge forbidden by goblin law. That said, I believe I finally have some theory which might help you in understanding the reality of the situation." Nagnok expressed disdainfully.
Every eye gazed at him.
"Let me begin by talking about the properties of the horcrux." Nagnok began, "the horcrux is created under specific circumstances and specific esoteric conditions, as I believe I briefed Lord Potter previously. Skipping that part, I would like to tell you that it is necessary that the vessel required for a horcrux has to be magical."
"Magical." Harry repeated, thinking about how Tom Riddle had made an ordinary diary into a horcrux. "What about enchanted?"
Nagnok raised his eyebrows. "Let me rephrase my statement. A perfect horcrux has to have a magical artifact as a vessel, not something that is merely enchanted to be magical."
"So are there imperfect horcruxes too?"
Nagnok nodded. "Yes, and more frequently found than you would imagine. Gringotts has a special squad that hunts down such abominations privately."
"Interesting." Dumbledore exclaimed.
"An example of an imperfect horcrux would be this diary you mentioned. Crafted out an ordinary enchanted object. The main reason for the creation of a horcrux is to store a part of one's soul into a container and then seal it for eternity. That is the sole reason why the container needs to be purely magical in nature."
"And if it is enchanted?" Harry questioned.
"Then it lacks the power to keep the soul shard within. Such a soul shard will try every opportunity to get out of the container and instead, occupy the body of another person. While it might seem like a good thing, it actually isn't. Because while the soul shard does get a new body to live in, it cannot get out of the body once it acquires it. In short, it becomes mortal."
"Defeating the point in creating the horcrux in the first place." Harry inferenced.
"Precisely." Nagnok agreed.
"Now a magical artifact on the other hand, offers many advantages." Nagnok explained. "For one, it is powerful enough to prevent the soul from jumping into another body and destroys its own immortality, thus preserving it true nature. Second, the soul shard gets to use the properties of the magical artifact for its own. In this case, I believe that the soul shard got the power to cast illusions from the locket's innate magical abilities."
"So… Daphne faced an illusion?" Harry repeated. "That changed things. Illusions were not something so simple as compulsion spells, and it took an accomplished Occlumens to see through one. Daphne, while a decent Occlumens, was by no means powerful enough to see through one. Her mental condition after her father's death certainly did not help matters.
"An incredibly powerful illusion, I am afraid. If I am to understand this well, then this horcrux has been present for at least two decades, and has been present inside a magical house that holds the untapped power of two magical ley lines. A decade of imbibing magical power. I am sure that the horcrux was more than powerful than most adult wizards."
She stood no chance.
Harry controlled the urge to let out his inner Warmage once again and focused on the subject at hand. "What else can you say?"
"There is a third advantage of using a magical artifact as a horcrux."
Of course. We wouldn't want to make thigs too easy. Would we? Let's just go make things that would create immortal psychopaths!
"And what is that?"
"Unlike an imperfect horcrux which tends to displace the host soul of the body that comes in contact with it, a perfect horcrux can actually use its magic for its own self-preservation."
What's that now?
"For instance, this locket horcrux actively ensnared its victim. It recognized a potential prey and ensnared it towards itself. On the contrary, it can effectively use its powers to camouflage itself. I believe you mentioned that the Black Manor was in a dilapidated state for a decade."
"Yes." Sirius confirmed.
"I have on good authority, that magical houses in fact, can never get dilapidated. In fact, they would be burnt down to the ground and turned into dust faster than they would allow pests to contaminate it. The accumulation of pests and other dangerous elements was a way in which the horcrux used the power of the ley lines to create a good enough cover for people to stay away from its residence."
Everyone looked at him blankly.
"A perfect horcrux does not allow the soul shard within to escape. However, just as with the ley lines, it does allow it to influence an ensnared victim and then slowly spread itself into the victim's mind and soul, and ultimately, consume the victim's soul, growing stronger in the process. I believe that Miss Greengrass was in contact with this… abomination for nearly a month. I would say that it is by luck that she had yet retained so much of a mind to disintegrate, forget trying to make her return to normality."
Harry looked at Nagnok, his jaw-dropped in shock.
Nagnok smiled, baring his fangs. "You did not think that it was just because of no proper reason, why even SECRETS OF THE DARKEST ART declares a horcrux as 'of the horcrux, we neither speak nor give any aid.'"
Dumbledore's office…
"Harry, please try to see sense, offensive attack is not-"
"On the other hand, it is the only thing." Harry deadpanned. "I am done losing my loved ones to Voldemort. Do you have any idea how many horcruxes he could have created?"
Dumbledore considered it. On the one hand, he knew that his old friend Horace Slughorn was close to Tom Riddle while in school, and initially, his plans had been to show Harry the memory collections he had obtained. However, things had changed and Harry was no longer needing to die, and so…
He made his mind. "I have some intelligence on the subject, yes. But there is something we need to clear out before we proceed to the topic."
Harry and Sirius looked expectantly.
Dumbledore stared at him in the eye. "How do you know about horcruxes so much?"
Sometime later…
"I do not know what to think. I had an inkling about you being free of the horcrux inside your scar, and I had guessed that you must have gotten hit by a killing curse, but- A Fidelius? On your own mind? I am not sure what drove you to take such a desperate measure."
Harry grinned mirthlessly. "When I find that out, I will be sure to send you a letter."
Dumbledore looked solemn. "I am not sure why you decided to hide the fact from me."
Harry gave him an odd look. "You don't see us complaining that not only did you hide about the fact that there was a prophecy all these years, but also that you suspected that I was a horcrux. Deal with it."
That shut him up.
"Well, that was uncomfortable." Sirius breathed.
Harry chuckled. "That was an understatement, Sirius." He turned to Dumbledore, "Professor, we have shared all we knew about horcruxes. Hell, I even introduced you to someone who is an authority on the subject and has told us so much more that we didn't previously." He paused, "I only ask you to trust us now and share what you know."
Dumbledore considered it. The two had played him to an extent, but then again, hadn't he done the same for years? He cleared his throat. "I do have some… guesses, but it is as good a start as any."
"Right." Harry looked optimistic. "What are they?"
Dumbledore went back to the shelf that housed his memory collections. "We can start by viewing-"
"The main facts, please." Harry stressed. "If it is necessary, we will view them later."
Dumbledore hesitated for a moment, and then replied. 'Fine." He shifted back to his seat. "Tom Marvolo Riddle, born of Merope Gaunt and Tom Riddle Senior, a rich muggle from Little Hangleton."
"Hold on, Gaunt? As in the Ancient House of Gaunt?"
Dumbledore nodded.
"So that was how he got the locket…"
"Am I missing something?" Dumbledore queried.
Harry raised his eyebrows. "Slytherin's locket. The last heir of Slytherin married into the Gaunt family. If Tom got the locket, it must be from-"
"Actually. You are wrong." Dumbledore answered with a smile.
"How?"
"To know that, you have to see the memories."
Harry sighed. "Fine. Let's be done with the blasted memories."
"Let me get this straight. This kid, let me rephrase myself, this kleptomaniac kid, grew up to Lord Voldemort? I don't believe this." Sirius pronounced.
"Doesn't make it any less true." Harry stated. "So from your collected memories, we can hope that like Slytherin's locket, Voldemort might have converted two other items into horcruxes, namely- the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff, and the Gaunt family ring." He dotted down the items on a piece of parchment.
Slytherin's locket.
Hufflepuff's Cup
Gaunt family ring.
Harry Potter (accidental)
Gryffindor?
Ravenclaw?
"I can see what you are trying to do, Harry, but it is not a fact that he just managed to acquire artifacts from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw as well." Dumbledore challenged.
"It is a start as good as any." His eyes stared at the Sorting Hat. "Could you tell us anything about the artifacts that Gryffindor or Ravenclaw left to their future generations?"
The Sorting Hat hmm'd and haww'd before it finally settled on an answer. "Mister Potter, the only thing that Gryffindor left to the school was his sword. Though, I'm sure you know it, the sword is not imbued with any kind of contaminant."
"And?"
The hat considered it before answering. "There is his staff. It was lost after his death. Though, I am not sure if it will help, but Godric rarely used his staff. He preferred to channel his magic through the sword, as he did on countless occasions."
"Doesn't matter." Sirius stated. "The staff is a magical artifact, and if Voldemort somehow acquired it, he could have-"
"That thought is not going to lead us anywhere, Sirius." Harry deadpanned. "Look, there are thousands of magical artifacts out there, and countless more have been lost to history. If we go on to search for every possible artifact out there and check if it is his horcrux, we might as well give up now." He paused, closing his eyes as he tried to think. "We need a start, and we start from something that is closely associated with him."
"Harry, Voldemort wouldn't be so stupid as to leave clues about how or where he acquired it." Sirius stressed.
"he would have killed them all, whoever knew anything about said artifacts." Dumbledore added.
"Then we search for the lack of clues." Harry pronounced. "professor, can we get access to the DMLE archives?"
Dumbledore smiled. "That is an ingenious idea, my boy."
Sirius looked confused. "What are we talking about?"
Harry smiled. "We are talking about looking for traces in the history of crime. If Voldemort killed them, then the deaths must be reported."
"Hundreds of deaths happen. How can we possibly-"
"Well Voldemort was a Slytherin. He wouldn't have wanted people to link him with those deaths. He would have framed-" Dumbledore mused.
"Like he framed Hagrid over Myrtle's death!" Harry replied excitedly. He turned to Sirius, "We need to look out for deaths that were inconspicuous. Deaths in which people might have been framed."
Dumbledore smiled. "I think I might have just the thing for that."
"That doesn't solve the main issue, though." Sirius interrupted. "We do not know how many horcruxes can be created in the first place. For all we know, the highest number might just be three, and we have already destroyed them. All of this… research might just be useless unless we know the maximum number of these objects."
"I must confess my knowledge in Arithmancy doesn't reach the level required for soul magics. However, if Horace-" Dumbledore began.
"Wait, professor." Harry interrupted him. "—you think that this… Professor Slughorn, might have the knowledge regarding the number of horcruxes Tom might have created?"
"It is an idea." Dumbledore offered.
"Yes, but Slughorn wasn't an Arithmancer." Sirius challenged. "He was a potions master."
"One who delved deeply into the dark arts too." Dumbledore replied. "Horace… he is more of a collector. He prizes information and connections. I was hoping to get him a post over here, though I might need your help in convincing him."
Harry stared at him. "That might be, but this Horace Slughorn, he was not an Arithmancer. How do we know that the information he gave was correct in the first place?" Dumbledore opened his mouth but Harry beat him to it. "No offence, professor, but I am sure that you will agree that we do not know about this subject a lot. Mind-Healer Nagnok did give us a lot of help, but I am sure we need a gifted Arithmancer to figure out how many horcruxes are possible?"
"I do not think it is going to be that easy, Harry." Dumbledore looked worried.
"Why?"
"You do not just need an Arithmancer. You need someone who can employ Arithmancy in the forbidden arte of soul magic. You are not going to get any such person."
"There must be someone, Professor. Perhaps from the other guilds?" Harry stressed.
"The Necromancer's Guild might know. In fact, I am almost sure they know."
"Then we need to go there." Harry stressed.
"You do not understand, Harry. The secret Guilds, they are not public. One just cannot barge into their locations, not even Masters from the other Guilds. There is only one way to find and enter those guilds and that is with the help of someone who has finished his mastery from them."
"And do you know any such person?"
Dumbledore considered it. "I think there might be someone who could, help us. Though, it is an ambition doomed from the start. I might just go so far as to suggest that convincing Voldemort himself to reveal it might just be an easier task."
Harry was far from convinced. "Who is this person?"
Dumbledore sighed. "Someone whom I thought I would never see ever again. He is a captive, held behind the wards of the most formidable prison on earth." He turned to look at Harry in the eye.
"Gellert Grindelwald."