Yo! I'm so sorry about the wait. I can't believe it's been nearly three years. It really doesn't feel like it. I hit a huge block for this fic, and then had all sorts of vision issues, which is why there was no update. Just a few days ago the bunnies finally started running again and I spent like, four hours typing the rest of the fic in the notepad on my phone. There will be 22 chapters total. All of it is written and just needs editing. I also went back and did some minor editing for the rest of the fic as well. Anyway, thank you to all readers so far!

Nothing happened at first and then, suddenly, Draco released a cry of shock, dropping the Snitch and cradling his hands close to his chest.

His yell was almost emphasized by the extremely bright lightning that flashed outside the nearby window at the same moment, and everyone else's exclamations of surprise were immediately drowned out by the deafening boom of thunder that sounded an instant after the flash, the drizzle outside turning into a sudden downpour.

No doubt panicked after what happened to Narcissa, and not wanting to risk losing his son as well, Lucius rushed over to Draco, grabbing his hands to examine them and asking whether he was alright.

Understanding his father's concern, Draco quickly assured Lucius that he was, indeed, okay, and then said, "I'm not really sure why, but when I opened the Snitch, it felt like my hands just starting burning." No mark was left on him though, and his skin looked as pale as ever, so it couldn't have been a real burn either.

Harry frowned. "That could be similar to the burning I felt when I first touched it under the floorboards in that cupboard," he said. "But why did it hurt Draco so suddenly? It looked like everything was fine until he opened it."

"A defence mechanism of sorts, perhaps," said Marvolo. "Dumbledore may have placed it there to prevent others from touching it. It may only activate if the Snitch is handled for too long."

"Oh," said Ron. "Yeah, that explains why none of us felt any pain when we were passing it around earlier. None of us would have touched it for long enough for the spell to activate. Malfoy was the first one to hold it for longer than a few seconds, just now."

But while that did make sense, it still didn't explain the pain Harry felt the instant he touched the Snitch, similar though the pain Draco had just felt seemed to be. It also didn't explain why being around the Snitch made his scar of all things hurt.

The others were curious about that too, but of course, they all knew next to nothing about Horcruxes and in fact, most of them had never even heard about Horcruxes until earlier, so really, there wasn't much they could say about Harry's predicament, if anything. So instead, they all looked down at the innocent-looking Snitch that lay open on the floor.

It didn't look like anything about it had changed, other than that it was open now. ...So that was what the inside of a Snitch looked like, huh? Interesting. Boring, but interesting.

"So, er, has anyone learned anything now that the Snitch is open?" Hermione asked a little hesitantly, clearly having no new answers herself.

No one said anything, but slowly, after a moment, Marvolo reached down and took up the two halves of the Snitch. Waving away Harry's concern, he examined the insides, and then put the Snitch back together, keeping the small ball in his hands for well over a minute.

Nothing happened.

"M-Marvolo?"

"There is no pain," said Marvolo. "I feel nothing. Severus."

Without another word, Marvolo passed the Snitch over to Severus, who also held it for a moment. He didn't feel anything either, so he gave it over to Lucius.

Remus frowned slightly as a suspicion came to mind. "Pass it here, please," he said. Lucius seemed a little confused, but did so, and like the men before him, Remus also held the Snitch for some time. He didn't feel anything either and told some of the others to give it a try as well.

The Snitch was passed around between McGonagall, Tonks, Rodolphus, Rabastan, Bellatrix, Fenrir, and Bill. but like the others before them, none of them felt any sort of pain either, or anything in general, really.

"Here, Fred, you try," said Remus, taking the Snitch from Bill and giving it to Fred.

But Fred also felt nothing, and neither did George, when his twin gave him the Snitch. It was given back to Remus, but he didn't look at all surprised that the twins hadn't felt anything either. And wanting to further confirm his suspicion, Remus instructed the rest of them to hold the Snitch.

It turned out that while most of them couldn't feel anything, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Theodore, and Blaise could feel pain after holding the Snitch for at least a minute. Of course, as proven earlier, Draco could also feel that pain.

Remus wasn't surprised by any of this, though he admitted to having no real clue why this was. It was just a suspicion he'd had, seeing as both Harry and Draco had felt pain, though Harry's was clearly a little different.

But really, why? Why was it that while everyone in the room was an adult, only the younger ones-the ones who'd been sixth years (fifth year in Ginny's case) when Dumbledore had died, could feel this pain?

And what about Harry? Like his old schoolmates, Harry could feel the pain from the Snitch too, but for him, the pain was caused the instant he touched the Snitch, rather than after a minute of holding it like the rest of them. And why did being around the Snitch make his scar hurt? And why was the Snitch a Snitch in the first place? And why did he find it under a cupboard under the stairs? And why did that cupboard look exactly like the one from Number Four?

Unsurprisingly, it was Marvolo who seemed to have something in mind about it. He turned to Harry. "There is something I would like to check regarding your magic. Will you allow it?"

There was clear confusion on Harry's face, but slowly, he nodded, a small seed of dread beginning to grow inside him. If Marvolo was asking him this now, he was sure it wouldn't be good.

While the others watched in silence, Marvolo instructed Harry to recline slightly so he could place one of his hands on Harry's navel. When Harry did so, Marvolo pulled out his wand.

"Relax your restraint on your magic as much as possible." Marvolo waited patiently, aware it always took a moment, but when he began to feel the increase in Harry's magic, he raised his wand and cast a long spell no one else in the room could catch or even understand a single word of.

Marvolo stopped abruptly barely a moment later though, and all but demanded to perform the same spell on everyone else who had felt pain when handling the Snitch.

There was quite a bit of reluctance at this demand, and a couple of them were pretty damn terrified, but at the same time, they also knew that they didn't have much of a choice. This was clearly very important, and even if they really didn't want it, they allowed it too.

One at a time, they all positioned themselves as Harry had, and Marvolo cast the same spell on them all, checking their magic the same way he had checked Harry's, though none of them knew what exactly he was checking regarding their magic.

When he was done with them, Marvolo turned back to Harry, telling him there was a second thing he wanted to check, but he only needed to check Harry this time. Still confused, Harry allowed this too, and once more reclined back as Marvolo performed a second but equally unfamiliar spell.

But this time, when he was done, he didn't turn back to the rest of them. This time, even without a word, he reminded everyone else in the room exactly why he was the Dark Lord.

While they could tell that it wasn't directed at any of them, quite a few shivers were running down spines as they felt Marvolo's dark magic settling over them like a thick, heavy blanket.

It was honestly kind of terrifying.

That's it for now. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!