This is still not up to what I wanted it to be, but I seem to be stuck in a block. Although I'm positive I will overcome it by the next chapter since that is a scene that has been playing in my mind for a while. Anyways Enjoy!

War Council

Chapter 18

Astrid surveyed the assembled people with a cool gaze. The past few days were hard on all of them and she didn't want to be away from Narcissa and Draco, but this was important, they had already put it off for a long time.

Sirius was also employing a similar stone-cold mask looking at Amelia Bones, Unspeakable Croaker, Dumbledore, Minerva, and Augusta.

"Thank you all for coming here. I have some very disturbing news to share with all of you." Sirius began.

The audience stayed quiet all of them having some inkling of what is going on.

"In the starting of summer, Astrid did a health scan of Harry, and we found some disturbing results. There was something malignant embedded in Harry's scar."

His gaze found Dumbledore's, probing, seeing if he would offer up an answer.

"It was a Horcrux, a piece of Voldermort's soul."

Pale faces and sharp intakes of breaths overtook the meeting as twinkling eyes closed in resignation.

"Are you...are you sure?" Bertie asked hesitantly.

"I don't know, what do you think Albus?" Astrid cut in sharply, annoyed that the wizard was keeping quiet like it was something new to him too.

A heavy sigh escaped the aged wizard before he bowed his head regretfully.

"Why didn't you tell anyone Albus?" Amelia asked sharply.

"The poor child." Minerva said regretfully.

"Is it the only one?" Augusta asked, her mind still on the task.

Astrid winced.

"No. Considering how small the piece of soul is, he has a minimum of 5 more."

"Five?" Everyone exploded.

"Are you certain? Absolutely certain?" Albus asked urgently.

"Yes I am."

"Well, this is fantastic news! Now Harry will have a head start-"

"Excuse me?"

"Who will have a head start now?"

"Are you out of your mind Albus?"

And many more accusations rang out in the room. Sirius let out a small bang from his wand silencing everyone.

"Harry will not be doing anything Albus. This is a matter for us adults, not kids." He said sharply.

"My dear boy, but the prophecy-"

"Prophecy? This was the prophecy that made my Frank and Alice and the Potters go into hiding?" Agusta demanded.

"Yes."

"Albus, please tell me that you haven't been hanging everything up on these two kids, and later on Potter." Minerva demanded.

No answer came from the wizened headmaster.

"Prophecies are not set in stone Albus. You very well know that." Bertie stated with a disapproving shake of his head.

"That may be so, but Voldemort believes in them, or at least this one specifically, that is why I put so much stock into this."

"Wait, just wait a moment." Amelia interjected. "You mean to tell me that you knew Voldemort wasn't gone, has means of immortality and instead of bringing this to the attention of the ministry or the DMLE, you have decided to believe in a prophecy and put the fate of the world on two teenagers?" The minister of magic cut in with a glare that could freeze hellfire and made many subordinates fear for their lives.

Silence reigned as everyone waited to see if there would be something said, some reasoning given by the famed wizard. As he refused to speak, the awkward air punctuated by rage increased.

Astrid cleared her throat. "Keeping aside, Albus's very questionable decisions in the past decade, we are here to find a way to kill Voldemort before he can make a full comeback." A glare was directed at Albus as she spoke.

"Right. Where do we start?" Amelia asked.

"Also, what of the Horcrux in the boy? Would it be alright if I conducted a diagnosis on him?" Bertie asked his attention more on the living Horcrux rather than the more pressing matter.

"No you may not." Sirius glared at him.

"Plus he is no longer a Horcrux, I will however get you the residue." Astrid spoke as soon as her cousin stopped.

"You removed it?" Albus asked, his blue eyes going impossibly wide.

"But how? I thought that the only way to remove a Horcrux is to completely destroy the container." Anxious energy radiated from him.

"You never took into account that the container in question is a living being with mind and magic of his own. I used a ritual to remove malignant energy and since it's so small and dormant it worked easily enough." Astrid said.

Relief flooded Albus as tension seeped out of his shoulders. "I was so worried and scared that...that..." words seemed to escape him as the usually articulate wizard seemed unable to form words.

"No matter, now that that is resolved, I think I can help with the next part. Voldemort's past and his Horcruxes." He declared a determined glint in his eyes.

"Tom Riddle." Sirius said.

"Yes. I assume Harry told you?" Dumbledore stated, thinking that this was certainly the correct answer, it would be better he supposed if they could end the war before it even began.

"Who is Tom Riddle?" Bertie asked in between.

Instead of speaking, Dumbledore took his wand and silently wrote in the air.

'Tom Marvolo Riddle'

With an elegant swish of his wand, the words rearranged themselves to read a sentence that filled everyone with dread.

'I am Lord Voldemort'

Another stunned silence followed this statement, really this meeting seemed like it would end with at least one person having a heart attack.

"And how do we counter him?" Augusta asked, fire burning in her eyes after a while of processing the news.

"We need to find out more about his past, items, and places he would have loved, having specific meanings. He fancied himself special, he wouldn't have used something plebeian, everything would have a significance, mostly something to with Hogwarts or Slytherin."

"Slytherin?" Sirius asked startled.

"Like a locket? Huge, ugly reeking of dark magic?" He continued almost instantly.

"Yes." Dumbledore said his eyes widening. "DO you know where it is?"

Instantly everyone sat up straighter paying attention to what would next come out of Sirius's mouth.

"I might, I will let you all know when I find out." He said with a little tilt of his head.

Conceding to the point they moved onto the next avenues of war preparation. Amelia decided to increase funds to the Auror and Hit Wizard corps, Bertie implementing more complex magic and wards around Azkaban to make sure Voldemort doesn't break his followers out of prison. Augusta helping Sirius and Astrid to mobilize the political aspects of the war front, to make sure that fairer laws will be passed. Dumbledore and Minerva offering to reach out to their other contacts and unsavory contacts to see if they can find any hints of the elusive wizard, though mainly they would be focused on finding out more about the wizard's past and possible locations of his Horcruxes. Sirius and Astrid decided they would ask Narcissa about any hidden death eaters so that they could be monitored since outright taking them out could cause a huge scandal.

While they hashed out these plans in another part of the country a completely different kind of turmoil was brewing.