When Remus entered no. 12 the next day at 10 am to talk to them about what they'd found out, he found the place silent. No chatter coming from the kitchen and no smell of cooking wafting through the house, going upstairs he knocked and then opened Padfoot's door to find the bed empty with no sign he'd ever slept there. Feeling the faint stirrings of worry he hurried on to Harry's and let out a sigh of relief at the scene. The man himself was stretched out on his side dead to the world, without his glasses and the creases of anxiety on his brow he looked younger, more innocent. The blanket covered him completely but his hand stretched out just far enough to land in the black fur of the large Grim that was curled by his side also completely out of it. Remus quickly summoned a camera and took a couple of shots before closing the door and heading upstairs to the library; obviously whatever had happened was enough that both of his loved ones needed comfort and he wasn't going to disturb them. Kreacher was in the upstairs parlour dusting when he landed on the top stair and spoke to the man.
"Master and Young Master arrive very early this morning and collapsed into bed, Kreacher was going to wake them but nasty doggy growled. What should Kreacher do?"
"Please start to make some toast, maybe a little bacon, and definitely some hot chocolate, thankyou Kreacher."
The elf nodded his head and instantly moved down to the kitchen, the elf had begun to accept the werewolf in his home after Sirius had a strict talk with him about receiving clothes and the dishonour the old house had brought on the family. Since the painting had been removed and the evil words spilling out of his mother's mouth no longer had an effect on the old elf, he had been treating everyone with some form of respect.
Burying himself in a tome of Moste Potente Potions he started to make more notes on the side effects and the accidents that could occur. It was only 10 minutes later when he smelled bacon wafting through the house, a few minutes after that and he heard movement downstairs and hurriedly scribbled a few more sentences marking his place before leaving. He was halfway down the stairs when he heard one of the doors opening and he saw his nephew's shaggy dark hair poke out.
"Harry." He called out softly, hoping the teen was doing alright. The young man turned and Remus instantly felt his hope crumble, the green eyes were bleak and filled with worry.
"Oh Prongslet, we'll have breakfast first okay."
The younger twitched his head up and Moony wrapped him in a hug as the eyes once again met his, he held tighter as he felt Harry breathe out a shuddering breath. Another pair of arms encircled them and the three of them remained standing there until Kreacher popped in to inform them everything was ready.
The three moved downstairs in a sort of zombie state with Remus's gut churning with worry, they ate quietly and then moved into the sitting room that was past the dining room and kitchen and looked out over the back garden. It was by far the comfiest place in the house, the walls were a light blue with a white border and a light grey carpet. Two large bookshelves stood either side of the door with knick-knacks, muggle and magical books. There was a large fireplace opposite with the Black and Potter Crests hanging above it, the mantle was not empty, filled with photographs squished in next to each other that Harry adored to watch. To the left were a pair of French double doors that led to the back yard, two medium size sofas and two armchairs were in the centre of the room, none of them had the same patterns but held the essence of their owners. Remus's was one of the sofas that faced the bookshelves, it was a dark brown leather with a high-arms and several blankets of varying shades of green on it. Sirius had the other sofa which was scarlet with enough pillows that the sofa cushions couldn't be seen and most ended up on the floor, they also had different patterns; zig-zags, stripes, dots and some plain, his looked out to the garden. Harry's was the armchair closest to Remus's sofa, it was a deep navy blue and a high back and just wide enough that he could pull up his legs and settle in, the chair faced the fireplace and photos, it had a blanket large enough to cover Harry but not the others and was a simple black with a lily embroidered into the corner.
Harry and Remus immediately went to their seats and covered themselves in a blanket each, Sirius wandered to the fireplace and picked up a photo, it was a muggle one and showed James and Lily smiling at the camera with a beach behind them.
"Alright, one thing at a time. Who will start?"
"Padfoot." Harry said instantly and he even managed a small grin at the overly dramatic groan given by his guardian. However, they quickly turned serious when Padfoot sighed and leant against the mantle.
"Moony…have you ever heard of Horcuxes?"
Remus' brow furrowed as he tried to recall.
"Yes, only once though. I was in Europe during the first war and one of the wolves mentioned them, he mentioned them being a container?"
"They're soul containers."
"What do you mean, soul container? Like a person? Or how a dementor can take it?"
"Not exactly, its usually an inanimate object that a person can literally hide a fragment of their soul in."
Remus was quiet as he processed this, his mind trying to overcome the idea.
"So someone can split their soul? They can remove a part of it and place it into something to…What exactly?"
"Stay alive, once a horcrux is made that person is immortal as a part of their soul will always be in this world, they cannot cross over as death can only take a full soul."
"What a horrible idea. And to create such a piece that has to destroy a soul?"
"The only known way is to use the killing curse, murder. Cold and wrong."
Remus nodded thoughtfully.
"Understandable, it said that killing another will always damage your soul."
"Exactly, its only been documented once and was hundreds of years ago by Herpo the Foul. It's the only thing that can keep someone within this world instead of death, it forces them to remain in a sought of spirit until it can find a form and takes possession."
Harry and Sirius watched as Remus face immediately drained of colour and Sirius turned to Harry with a wry grin.
"How come he got it so quick?"
When Remus started to breathe heavily though they both got up to sit by him and Sirius quickly summoned Kreacher to fetch a glass of water after a few more minutes he had regained his breath.
"Tell me everything." Moony ordered, his eyes glinting amber slightly.
"It would be better that we show you."
Not wanting to leave to cozy little room, Sirius once more summoned the house elf.
"Kreacher! Could you please fetch the pensive from the library."
"It'll take a while to watch, I'm going to wait here." Harry said quietly moving back to his chair and nursing a hot chocolate.
With a look towards each other Sirius made the decision to follow Remus.
"Be back soon."
With a deep breath they both leant forwards.
The room around them swirled and the memory started as they were shown into the office. Remus watched it without commentating though several times he turned to stare at his friend.
"Keep watching, this is where it gets worse."
"You mean it was better before?" Remus asked lightly though he watched as the Unspeakable named Killick began to pace; muttering to herself, Robins was looking at Harry in amazement and Vexmoor was watching all the proceedings with an interested gleam in her eye.
"So you have faced Voldemort twice now?" Arrans said from her position on the floor.
"Yep, though I've had help."
Memory Sirius snorted.
Killick suddenly turned and spoke.
"Did you say a diary?"
"Erm yeah, he left his memory preserved in a diary and it possessed Ginny."
"And your scar has hurt you both times you've been in his presence?"
"Yes."
"And you have something extra in your head." Supplied Vexmoor. At the confused looks from her collegues she reiterated. "Lord Potter is also here due to finding an attachment in his head during his occlumency lessons."
Robins leaned forward as well. "What's it like? When you've sensed it?"
"Robins has done many years of research into Occlumency and Legilimens, there isn't something he doesn't know." Supplied Vexmoor.
"Erm…it usually feels very dark and fearful and angry. But it also clung and didn't feel even a little like me though kind of familiar but also wrong."
"Like you couldn't remove it? It was a part of you but also not?" Killick enquired.
"Exactly."
The woman's eyes suddenly looked as though they were staring far away and her mouth moved silently, eventually she turned to Vexmoor.
"Are you thinking its what I'm thinking?"
"Yes, its why I asked you all down here. You have arrived at the same conclusion as I did. But I wanted to be sure."
Killick nodded and quickly walked over to Sirius to grab the fire-whisky herself.
Real time Sirius watched Remus as he nodded to himself and looked longingly towards the alcoholic beverage.
"Can one of the ravens tell the poor dumber creatures what the answer is please?" Arrans asked mildly though there was annoyance evident in her gaze.
Killick pulled her chair closer to Harry and looked him dead in the eye.
"Harry. Have you ever heard of Horcuxes?"
"Not at all."
"They're called soul containers, they basically hold a part of a persons soul."
Harry nodded in vague understanding but not properly comprehending the idea. Sirius, however understood the horror of a split soul more and reacted with slightly more emotion.
"Soul container, that's terrible. What could possess a person to wish to do that to themselves!? Surely it has bad effects against a person."
"Oh it has terrible effects, at least that's what we assume. Its only been seen once by Herpo the Foul and it turned him completely mad. However it has one effect that they believe is worth it. It can turn you immortal."
Harry and Sirius looked at each other in complete confusion.
"I don't understand, how can destroying a soul do that?" Harry asked slowly.
"No no, its not destroying a soul. Its splitting it, its taking a part of it. I suppose you could think of as taking a chapter from the middle of a book, the book still has the beginning and ending and as it is only missing one chapter you could put together what you've missed. On the other hand if the chapter is found by someone they might have enough in it to understand the main story."
"…Why would someone take a chapter from a book?" Sirius asked, his attention clearly elsewhere.
Harry rolled his eyes and said "forgive my guardian he's a little slow." As the Unspeakables exchanged looks with slight smiles on their faces Harry turned to his godfather and spoke. "Sirius, think of it like Quidditch. Even though the snitch is hidden for most of the game its still a vital piece however while its missing; the bludgers and quaffle still continue the game."
"Ohhhh, well why didn't you say before that makes sense." Sirius said casually, though a glint in his eye had Harry wondering if he got it all along and simply wanted to lighten the atmosphere so he turned back to the four and addressed them wanting to get back on course.
"So Horcruxes are soul containers which can stop someone from dying basically."
"In essence, yes. The horcrux stops the soul from passing over" Vexmoor said.
Sirius grabbed and swigged the firewhisky quickly. "You think Voldemort has one, that how he was able to come back? As the spirit? And the memory?"
Killick leaned against the wall in an unaffected manner that was in contrast to the wrinkles on her brow and the gleam in her eyes.
"The short answer is yes, the only way to possibly return from the dead would be by horcrux, it also accounts for the spirit shape. What puzzles me is the diary…a memory…I'm not even sure where to start with that." She looked at Vemoor. "What's your idea on it?"
Vexmoor reached for her wand and flicked it at her blackboard causing the chalk to start writing.
"First we know that Voldemort has made one, it would be impossible to come back any other way. Secondly we know that not only did it allow possession of a qualified professor but also it came back as a memory. Third we know that Harry of course somehow destroyed it, how did you by the way?"
"With a basilisks tooth." Harry said trying to aim for nonchalant.
"A basi…A BASILISK!" Sirius practically screamed. "In your letter you said it was a snake!"
Remus gripped Sirius' arm hard and stared at him with horror filled eyes.
"Oh it gets even worse." Sirius said almost pittingly as his friend whimpered.
"Well it is a snake!" Harry said defensively but also a tad guiltily knowing he'd deliberately kept the creature from his guardians so they wouldn't worry.
"Yes but it's a really really really really really big snake that can kill!"
"Okay okay, I believe we can get the full story later but for now horcrux's."
Memory Sirius narrowed his eyes at his godson but turned back to the Unspeakables.
"The diary was destroyed though, so the horcrux is now defunct?" He asked.
"Is it possible that he has gone completely now? That Harry destroying the diary has now forced him to cross over?" Arrans asked.
Killick and Vexmoor exchanged glances which didn't make any of them feel any better.
"Well normally I would have said yes but the fact that he was able to come back as a spirit AND a memory poses a lot of questions. Ones that I can't really answer except…perhaps…well…" Killick trailed off.
"Well what?" Sirius demanded.
"Well, one explanation is also quite scary." She responded.
"Which is?" Robins said, leaning forward with a frown.
"That he created more than one." Vexmoor said bluntly.
"Oh good heavens." Remus whispered and grabbed Sirius' arm. "Lets go you can explain the rest I can't take anymore."
Sirius nodded and they pulled themselves back out of the memory and Sirius watched in slight amusement as Moony immediately pulled Harry into a huge hug while mumbling to himself.
"Why can't people just die!?" He moaned.
Sirius patted him on the back while Harry called Kreacher and asked for more hot chocolate.
"So we think he has two horcruxes?" Remus said finally letting go and sitting down.
"Or more, they're not positive but they know its more than 1." Sirius said faux cheerfully.
"Alright, well what's next?"
"We're going back to the DOM today."
"To talk about the horcrux thing? Have we got certain questions?"
"Well yes but also no, we're talking about Prongslet's prophecy."
Remus moved his head so quickly that they all heard the sharp crack and Harry managed a weary grin and raised his own mug of chocolate and said "cheers" before taking a healthy gulp.
"A prophecy!? On top of everything now we have a bloody prophecy to worry about."
"Woah woah who said anything about worrying? Remember what we talked about after Miss Lovegood? No point, we're simply going to go and listen, simply idle curiosity." Sirius said with such jollity and nonchalance that Remus was instantly suspicious.
"And because we spent half the night worrying about it ourselves and Sirius has some crazy theories." Harry elaborated quickly with a small grin.
"That too." Sirius admitted sheepishly before getting up and walking over to the mantle to watch the photos smile at him, Remus was now looking slightly less worried but Harry could see his mind twisting over everything to do with horcrux's and prophecies.
"Moony." Harry waited until his uncle was looking him in the eye. "It's okay, we'll get through this."
Moony's eyes softened and he reached over and grabbed Harry's hand as he nodded and gave a small smile before he turned serious.
"Now what's all this about your school years?"
Harry blanched and tucked himself back into his armchair while Sirius gave a bark of laughter.
"Oh Moony did you know that in his second year that was a giant snake slithering around the school that could kill everyone with its gaze and he just happened to get bitten by it?"
There was a flump as Moony fainted dead away and the two were left looking at his form on the sofa.
"Told you so." Sirius said with a triumphant look to Harry. "You owe me 5 galleons."