Chapter 22: The First Horcrux
The term was passing by swiftly. January became February, wherein Valentine's Day came. Most students in the first year showed no interest in the romantic date of the yearly calendar, though Severus wished he could begin to express his love for Lily. Unbeknown to him, she had considered celebrating Valentine's Day with him discreetly, but ultimately chose not to. Frank and Alice on the other hand, showed great interest and went to Hogsmeade to celebrate their first year of dating. All the girls in their social group and Lily's were dying to hear how it went in the end. It was a romantic success, needless to say.
Severus was glad the pair were happy, and was still determined to save them from the torture and subsequent insanity they were subjected to later in life. Luckily, with Dumbledore in on his secrets, that task would become more possible to ascertain and accomplish. At least telling Dumbledore relieved some stress, he thought.
February then turned to March, and the flowers began to bud once more, and the trees of the Forbidden Forest became less intimidating with the pretty green buddings sprouting on its upper surface. The rains came in torrents, as in March, it came in like a lion, and out again like a tiger. April provided much more promise to sunshine. The sun was beginning to make its impact, and Madam Pomfrey and Professor Slughorn were preparing potions that would help the students who suffered hay fever.
It was the last week of April, and Severus and Lily were really getting into their revision, until they were both fairly certain that they would get top marks all round, with the possible exception of History for Magic. They were having breakfast whilst reading their final chapter on their History of Magic texts, when Quincey and Mary joined them. After Dumbledore's meeting with him, on top of most of Hogwarts respecting him ever since saving James and Sirius, Severus had no hesitation of sitting at the Gryffindor table with Lily, and Quincey followed his lead. But the new trend had so far not caught on.
Severus was interrupted by Mary.
"Have you guys noticed that Professor Dumbledore seems to be at the teachers' table less and less now?"
Severus looked and saw for the fourth day in a row, Dumbledore was absent. And it was only for that week alone. Ever since their meeting, Dumbledore had began playing absentee and nobody provided a reason why, but people like Frank and Alice found it most peculiar.
Severus was finding it safe to assume that Dumbledore was travelling, searching for the Horcruxes. He now understood what the Headmaster was doing during Harry's sixth year. He could only hope he had succeeded back then. After all, he did find one: the ring.
"Yeah, it is strange." said Lily. "The prefects said they found it annoying, as they wanted to ask him about some potential new rules concerning students on the staircases."
Severus and Quincey simply shrugged.
"I wonder if he's ill." said Mary.
"For a mixed space of three months?" asked Lily doubtfully.
"Well, he is getting on." said Quincey.
"I guess." conceded Lily.
Severus had no input. He acted disinterested as he dipped some tiger bread into his egg.
The spring air was getting fresher and more enchanted with pollen and the aroma of lilies and sunflowers across the grounds. Even Hagrid had begun planting again, and his vegetables in his gardens were, unsurprisingly, growing much larger than the common crops would. The four friends sat near the lake. Although he seemed quite at peace with his friends here, Severus was still haunted by his 'worst memory' and what he had lost at this spot.
Talking of the devil, James appeared with Peter in tow. The latter looked forlorn. He was dragging behind as if he didn't belong. Severus saw this and pondered. Maybe Peter betrayed his friends to Voldemort because he wasn't as strong or as popular as the rest of the Marauders and being treated like a lackey had to be bad enough in the past lifetime, but to be below even Severus Prince, whom used to be their favourite victim, it had to make Peter feel much worse and unwanted. And even now, James couldn't see what he was turning the ratty student into.
I need to find a way to keep him out of things, should Dumbledore and I fail, Severus thought. He had to help Peter get more friends or prove himself to be good enough for his current friends.
Severus wondered if he should talk to both James and Peter respectively, and hopefully prolong the friendship to the extent that Peter would never dream of abandoning James and betraying him to Voldemort.
James sat beside Severus and Lily. Severus was fuming, but James wasn't really paying much attention to Lily. He greeted her in a friendly enough way, but was, by no means, acting flirtatious at all.
"How's your day, guys?" he asked.
"Quietly." said Severus with a sarcastic tone. Lily frowned. As did Quincey.
Mary cleared the tenseness by striking conversation. But nevertheless, Severus was now being frowned upon by his two best friends, and he tried his best to divert it by playing the role of an aspiring friend by engaging conversation with Peter, whom was generally being ignored. This seemed to appease Lily and Quincey, but they still wished he would act the same way around James.
Fortunately for Severus, Sirius and Remus were working in the library, with Remus helping Sirius revise. So, he didn't have to keep up appearances with Sirius, though Remus might have been a more sympathetic individual than Quincey and Lily were being.
After another hour of studying and pleasant conversation, the six first-years made their way back to the castle for lunch, and the result was Peter starting to come round to Severus as a friend, especially as the latter had been the only one to pay the boy any attention. He even asked about his home life, and learned a lot, such as both their fathers being dead, and their mothers were both now very doting to their sons. Although Peter still hadn't apologised to Severus, it was a start. A positive one at that.
As the group sat at the table for lunch, Remus joined them.
"Where's Sirius?" asked James.
"He's getting some recommended books." replied Remus.
"Recommended by?"
"Me."
"And just how many do you think he'll need?"
"About ten."
"Ten?!" spluttered James. "He'll be lucky not to fall over backwards getting that many books back to the dormitory."
Peter couldn't help but laugh at James' incredulous expression, and somehow, neither could Severus. Remus and Lily noticed and enjoyed that especially.
As the laughter died down, and the group dug into their luncheon, Lucius Malfoy suddenly intercepted a second year Hufflepuff student and snatched something out of his hand.
"Oi!" cried the student. "That's not for you. Professor Dumbledore asked me to give it to Severus Prince!"
Severus quickly rose from his seat, followed by James and Quincey.
"Sev!" warned Lily. But Severus could not take the risk of Malfoy reading something vital.
Hand it over, Malfoy!" Severus still felt hurt that he had to treat his old friend like the enemy, as their views were now heavily opposed, but he was strict with himself nonetheless.
"And should I refuse?" sneered Malfoy. "As a prefect, it is my job to ensure this little brat isn't disguising this note as a cruel joke towards you, Prince."
"You know as well as I that a Hufflepuff would never do that. And besides, I am expecting that note." snapped Severus.
"Oh?" retorted Malfoy. "And what would Dumbledore be writing to a simple first-year Half Blood brat such as yourself for?"
James jerked past Severus and attempted to jinx Malfoy, but it was deflected and Malfoy Stunned the over-eager Gryffindor.
Remus and Peter swiftly rose. "Leave them alone!" yelled Remus.
"Oh, a pack of annoying little squeaky pests!" laughed Malfoy, and he fired yet another Stunning spell at Remus, who too, fell to the floor.
By now, teachers were beginning to see that something was amiss. Malfoy was clearly unafraid of losing points and getting into trouble. As a prefect, he was in perfect position to restore any points he lost by randomly giving points to his dormmates and fellow Slytherins.
As Professors Flitwick and McGonagall began to pace to the scene, however, Peter saw Remus fall with James and saw red. His face even turned purple with rage and to Severus, Lily, Quincey and Mary's utter surprise, he launched himself on Malfoy, punching his chest and biting his arm in blind fury.
"YOW! REMOVE YOURSELF FROM ME, YOU BLOOD TRAITOR RAT!" seethed Malfoy, and he threw Peter off. "I'll-"
"You'll do nothing, Mr Malfoy!" snapped McGonagall. "Never have I beheld such a disgraceful display of hooliganism. You, a prefect, Stunning and assaulting first-years. And by the looks of it…" She snatched the note from his hand. "…stealing something that isn't yours! And in the Great Hall, for all to see, I might add! Fifty points will be taken from Slytherin House, and you will be sent to the Headmaster and to Professor Slughorn. Together, they can decide your appropriate punishment."
Lucius Malfoy snarled at the Deputy Headmistress. Severus had never known such rebellion, particularly directed at so powerfully strict a witch as Minerva McGonagall.
McGonagall seemed unfazed and released the two boys on the floor from their dazed slumber.
"As for you, Mr Pettigrew. I understand that you were trying to defend your friends, but I will not tolerate you attempting to sink to the level of those instigating confliction. Ten points will be taken from Gryffindor." she said sternly.
Judging by a gleam in her eye, Severus had a feeling that a partial reason that McGonagall said this to Peter was to ensure that James and Remus knew what he had done for his friends. And, sure enough, James and Remus looked up at Peter with surprise. Peter blanched but nodded meekly.
"Yes, Professor." he murmured, abashed.
"Here you go, Mr Prince." concluded McGonagall, before ordering Malfoy out of the Hall, signalling for Slughorn to follow, whom was sitting quite unconcerned at the main table.
Everybody congratulated Peter's show of bravery, especially James.
"Never thought you had it in you, Peter!" he praised, clapping his friend's back, leaving Peter feeling and looking overjoyed that he was beginning to prove himself.
Once he sat down again, Severus pocketed the note.
"What is it for, Sev?" asked Lily.
"Dumbledore considered helping me obtain some new books for the library to help with Potions." lied Severus reflexively.
"Ugh, the lengths a Slytherin will go to just to cause everybody else some trouble." fumed Mary.
"Mary!" hissed Lily.
Mary was abashed when she realized her mistake.
"Oh, um, sorry, Severus. I forgot." she said.
"You know…" said Quincey thoughtfully, "…maybe we should try and befriend a Slytherin."
"What?" Everybody was surprised. Even Lily and Severus.
"Well, if we made some friends in that House, maybe, just maybe we could improve the reputation of it. I mean, surely not every Slytherin in this year will want to be a Dark wizard. I mean, You Know Who, that everybody talks about, he isn't fully at power at the moment, is he? He's only gathering more followers at the moment, but surely the more innocent and new Slytherins can't all want to be his lackeys?"
It was a fair point. Severus knew that this was true. Back when he was the Head of Slytherin House in his old life, he had to console many students about how they were treated automatically as wannabe Death Eaters, just because they bore the green and silver Snake emblem on their robes. It was times like those that he was sure he was on the right side, not just because of Lily's death, but because he was doing what was right, what she had always wanted him to be doing. Being her best friend, being a good man. Although he couldn't maintain his hatred for Harry and to a lesser extent, Hermione and Neville, Severus did know that the new generation needed a better world, and under Dumbledore's thumb, he ensured that it happened. He only hoped this could be the case again, albeit without so many deaths.
"I think it's a decent idea, but unlikely." piped up Remus.
"I bet I know who we could make a start with, if we fail to progress this year." said Severus.
"Who?" asked James.
"Sirius' brother, Regulus." said Severus.
"But what makes you think Regulus will be in Slytherin?" asked Mary.
"Puh-lease!" snorted James. "Even Sirius believes that will be the case."
"It's true." added Remus. "He's always saying that Regulus is the favourite son, and that he is always out to make his parents proud. The Blacks are highly prejudiced, like the Malfoys. Sirius reckons he will lose his brother to Slytherin and its prejudiced ways. He does really hope he will rebel and be a Gryffindor, or even a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, but he has high doubts."
"Well, if we are right, and he is going to be Sorted into Slytherin, we can persuade him to at least befriend us through Sirius. Give him an alternative option of friends outside any Death Eater recruiters." said Severus.
"I wonder what Siri will think of this idea." wondered James.
"We'll run it by him tonight in the common room?" suggested Remus.
"Deal." added Peter.
And, so it was arranged. Lily and Mary offered to help too, but James pointed out that Sirius was closer to James and Remus, and had great respect for Severus, so they were confident that nothing would go amiss with the idea. Severus, Lily, Mary and Quincey would learn the results by the morning.
After lunch, Severus made an excuse that he needed to fetch a quill before joining the group in the library for a study session. He separated from the group and slipped into one of the empty Potions classrooms.
Unfolding the note, Severus smoothed it out and read its contents:
Dear Severus,
I am currently in possession of the first item you wished for. As requested, I kept it as clean and undisturbed as possible.
Come and collect it from my office tonight. I shall ask Professor Flitwick to escort you.
Yours,
Professor A.P.W.B. Dumbledore
Severus could barely suppress a whoop of triumph. Judging by the note, Dumbledore had found the Gaunt ring, and was unharmed by Voldemort's deadly curse. Now, all that was left to do was to destroy it, just as Dumbledore had done before.
That evening, Severus was collected by Professor Flitwick on the way to the dormitory. He still looked puzzled as to what Dumbledore could possibly want with the first-year for a second time. It had been months, but it still seemed odd that he would want to see Severus for no apparent reason. He certainly wasn't in any trouble as the boy was a comparatively decent minded and respectable student.
Flitwick spoke the password to the gargoyle and left Severus to step onto the spiral staircase. Severus knocked politely, as from a distance, he heard Flitwick's light footsteps pace away. Dumbledore gave the affirmative to enter, and Severus walked in with anticipation.
"Hello, sir." he said with a childish keenness about him.
"Good evening, Severus." said the triumphant Headmaster. "I believe you wanted me to find this."
Unwrapping what appeared to be six handkerchiefs, clean and coloured lavender, Dumbledore revealed the ring to Severus.
"That's it!" yelled Severus delightedly.
"I thought as much, considering it has that particular item embedded in it. It has a marking that proves with certainty that it is the Horcrux we are after." approved Dumbledore.
"So, all that we need do now is destroy it. Is the sword here?" asked Severus.
"It is. Carefully preserved." replied Dumbledore, using a charm to bring the sword to his hand. He looked positively noble and powerful clutching Gryffindor's sword in his undamaged and whole hand.
"What are we waiting for?" asked Severus.
Dumbledore did suddenly look hesitant. "I just don't seem able to damage it. I fear I will damage it."
"Damage it?" snapped Severus indignantly. "Of course, you'll damage it! That's the whole idea!"
"No, you don't understand, Mr Prince." explained Dumbledore. "The stone is what I do not wish to damage, not the ring."
"What's so special about that stone?" asked Severus. He suddenly wondered if the stone was somehow the reason Dumbledore was foolish enough to touch and wear the ring in the first lifetime.
"It is no ordinary stone." said Dumbledore cautiously. "For the moment, let's leave it at that."
Severus was furious. "I'm telling you everything about myself and my past. I think the least you can do is tell me what that stone has gotten you as good as killed from the inside last time! I am not a simpleton, Albus!"
"Professor Dumbledore." replied the Headmaster calmly.
"Fine!"
"I know it is frustrating, Severus." said Dumbledore soothingly. "But that stone could be about as dangerous as the Horcrux's curse. And for the time being, I want its secrets contained."
"Who am I going to tell?" argued Severus.
Dumbledore saw his point.
"I will try and destroy this ring, and when it is gone, when I have examined the stone itself more carefully, I promise I will let you in on the secret. But until then, please trust me." he said softly.
Severus conceded reluctantly. "Very well."
Dumbledore readied both hands over the sword's handle, and lifted it strongly over his head, poised to strike the ring.
"Do it!" encouraged Severus.
Dumbledore inhaled, and plunged the sword down on the ring.
Nothing happened. The ring was undamaged.
"What?" cried Severus.
"It didn't work."
"Try again, sir!"
Dumbledore did try again, twice. But no matter which angle, and how much speed and velocity he manoeuvred onto the ring, it was no good. The Horcrux wouldn't break.
"Why?! Why isn't this working? It worked when your past self used the sword." groaned Severus.
"I wonder if it's because the sword is different to its past version?" pondered Dumbledore.
"What do you mean?" asked Severus.
"Think this through, and carefully, Mr Prince." said Dumbledore seriously. "In the other world, was the sword used in any battle? Did it absorb anything? This sword was goblin-made. It takes what makes it stronger. Was it used at all between the alternate version of today and the day in the future that my past self attacked this Horcrux?"
Severus thought for a moment and then it came to him.
"Yes." he said suddenly. "Harry Potter used the sword to kill the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. Its venom must have been absorbed by the sword. Basilisk venom must be able to destroy Horcruxes…and come to think of it, the Potter boy used a fang from the snake to destroy a diary that had a memory of Voldemort in it."
"A diary? With a living memory in it? No, a memory cannot take on sentience and wicked impulse by itself…it must have been a part of Voldemort's soul. This diary you mentioned must be another Horcrux!" Dumbledore beamed with this new breakthrough.
Severus was glad too. But-
"We still can't destroy the ring though." he said morosely. "Without any Basilisk venom, we cannot hope to penetrate this thing."
"Do you know of any other ways to destroying Horcruxes?" asked Dumbledore.
"No, you only asked me to send the sword to Potter. I assumed since my rebirth that the sword was the only way." said Severus dimly.
"Problematic." sighed Dumbledore. "And we can't hope to battle this Basilisk, as nobody here at Hogwarts can speak Parseltongue to open that Chamber. Where is it, anyway?"
Severus went on to explain how Harry Potter came to find the Chamber of Secrets in his second year at Hogwarts in the abandoned girls' bathroom where Moaning Myrtle resides.
"No wonder the poor girl died so soon and in that particular spot." frowned Dumbledore. "I hope we can truly avenge her, so I can feel that she is at peace."
"Well, she isn't." sighed Severus. "She's a ghost."
"That may be the case in your old world, Severus." said Dumbledore. "But no such ghost came to be that day here."
Severus smiled faintly. Myrtle chose to move On to Heaven in this universe. And he suddenly remembered the Higher Ones mentioning that the old Myrtle would move On in a century's time.
"Well." sighed Dumbledore. "There's nothing more we can do tonight. I will endeavour to find an alternative way to destroy Horcruxes, and in the meantime, I'll search for that diary too."
"May I be excused then, sir?" asked Severus sadly.
"Yes, you may, Mr Prince." said Dumbledore. "But do not let negative emotions dim your ambitions. It does not bode well to give up after the first obstacle."
Severus bowed his head and understood, before quietly leaving Dumbledore in his office, his eyes swiftly returning to the stone in the ring.
"Ariana." he murmured.
(And so here is Chapter 22! Hope you all like it. I'm hoping to update again this week, so read fast! Please review, thank you!)