Chapter Twenty-Eight
The Ring
Lenore tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for Dumbledore to come into the office like he told her he would a half hour ago. She had gotten up at nine to find out that Snape had left already. That had sent her into a sour mood for the day. She and Saul had already said their goodbyes and left a good two hours ago. She was just waiting to speak with Dumbledore one final time before George came to pick her up. She glanced at her outfit. Half of her wanted to dress in a rebel form because she was in a bad mood but the other half knew that she should try to make a good impression so now she was caught somewhere in between for a rather interesting but hot look.
Decked out in a black shirt that had bright green letters saying: I'm desperately trying to figure out why kamikaze pilots wore helmets, that had long sleeves that belled out around her arms as well as fishnets the circled her arms she liked how the shirt cut low but the fishnet covered her. She wore a pair of bell-bottom jeans and a chain belt that was stained black. She had her combat boots on and her hair was pulled into two half pigtails. She looked a mix of cute and hot all in one. She liked that look.
Finally the door opened and the old man walked in, a grave look on his face. She looked at him. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing you need to worry about..." he said but there was a lie behind his words that she didn't bother to point out. He sat down at his desk and smiled. "Now. You have a few questions you want answered before you leave?"
"Yeah…a few things. The first is what is going to happen with the trainers you spoke of," she asked shifting nervously. Too much was laying on her in one day and her nerves were shot. "The Elvin and A.H."
"I have been in contact with both and they will arrive at the Burrow within two days to meet you and assess you before they decide how to proceed." He said very matter of factually.
"All right…" she chewed her lip again. "Sna—Severus said to ask you how to write to him. I want to keep asking him questions about my mother's journal. Apparently he's not going to be here?"
Albus sighed, his eyes closed, shaking his head. "No." He found it in him to smile but the smile wasn't very comforting, in fact it made her uneasy. "He is going to be staying in one of his family's homes on Spinner's End." She made a face. "Here," he pulled out a sheet of paper and then pointed his wand at it, casting a spell. "This parchment will act like the parchment you and Ms. Bent have between yourself and Severus. I will send one off to him presently."
She took the parchment and stared at it. "Why can't I just owl him…." Why are you complaining? This is much faster than an owl. Her thoughts asked but she knew something was off.
"I cannot tell you that. This is much faster anyway, Lenore. George should be here in an hour, why don't you take a walk by the—" He didn't actually finish the sentence because the fire flared green and low and behold Severus half ran out of it. He looked frantic but collected…was that even possible?
"Headmaster, I have found it!"
Lenore watched the shock register on Dumbledore's face before Severus proceeded to hold out a rather elegant ring. A jolt hit her and she recoiled.
"I told you to go straight to Spinner's End!" growled the man coming around the desk.
Something was pulsing off the ring, feeding into the air. Something…evil. Lenore felt her stomach turn. She did not like this ring.
"I received a lead that had to be followed."
"You put yourself in danger."
Danger? Lenore asked herself looking at him. The ring gave off another pulse. She swallowed the bile rising in her throat. She wanted nothing but to run away.
"The opportunity presented itself, I took it." He handed the ring over. "I have been researching ways to—"
"No." the firmness in the old man's voice startled her. She had never heard him so angry. "Your magic signature could be relayed to him through the ring."
"Nothing suggests—"
"I said no!" Both Severus and Lenore recoiled slightly. The man before them looked and sounded livid. "Severus," the voice sounded kinder. "Please, just do was you were told to I will take care of this."
"But Headmaster—"
"But nothing, Severus. I will take care of this. You must go home. Now." Dumbledore's voice gave no more room for argument.
Severus shook his head, irritated. "You know," Lenore piped up, trying to ignore the uneasiness she felt from the ring. They both looked at her startled, Dumbledore obviously forgetting she had been there and Severus never noticing. "Albus, you could give him the parchment right now."
"Pardon?" Severus asked still looking a little startled.
Lenore shook her head and leaned across the table, grabbing the other sheet of parchment that Dumbledore had spelled. She handed it over. "Albus won't tell me why I can't owl you so this is how we'll communicate. It's like the parchment Laura and I have," Severus snarled at her name. "We just write back and forth." He took it. "We could set a time that we could always be on,"
He arched his brow before nodding. "If you write at seven each night I will be there to answer your questions, fair enough?"
She gave a quick nod. "Yes." He turned to leave. "Severus," he stopped, she was annoying him by continuously talking to him but she had to say it. "You could have woken me up to say goodbye, you know." He turned around staring at her. She looked down at her nails, picking at the vivid red and black polish. "I…I had hoped to see you before I left for the Burrow."
"Why?" the word slipped out before he could stop it.
Lenore wasn't sure herself. "Because…" trailing off she looked up at him. "Do I really need a reason?"
For a moment they both stared at each other before he gave a curt nod. "I apologize for assuming you did not wish to see me."
She smiled despite herself. "I probably won't make it to reading mom's journal tonight." She said as the ring pulsed once more and she felt nauseous again. "I'll write tomorrow." Severus gave another nod before turning to the fire. "Goodbye, Severus."
"Goodbye, Lenore." He said before disappearing in a whirl of green flames.
Lenore looked back at Dumbledore; he was holding the ring carefully while searching through his desk for something. She pressed against the back of the chair. "Albus,"
"One moment Lenore," he said before he pulled open the bottom drawer to his desk.
He bent over and retrieved a large glass bowl that vibrated with heavy magic. She watched him curiously, twitching as the ring pulsed into the air again. How could Albus not feel that? Carefully the old man set the ring down on a white cloth, which sat on a lid for the glass bowl. He covered the grin and suddenly the feeling of nausea stopped and her headache, which she hadn't even realized was coming, went away immediately. A faint aura appeared around the ring inside the bowl and Dumbledore frowned.
"Just as I thought…booby-trapped…." He muttered shaking his head before looking at Lenore. "I was hoping you would not need to find out about this until the school year, Lenore."
She couldn't take her eyes off the ring. It was full of power but the power made her sick. "What are you talking about? What is that?"
"That, Lenore, is a Horcrux of Voldemort." Albus, looking tired but slightly less tense than before, sat down at his desk once again. She looked to the side. That word sounded familiar, like something she learned in Dark Arts Objects. What was it? "You have a vague recollection of what it is? Your Mrs. Gardener teacher did seem to obsess over them apparently."
That's when it clicked. Mrs. Gardener was her teacher for Deadly and Dangerous Dark Art Objects in her fifth year. There was something towards the end of the year that she spent almost two months on. Something that the entire class thought was insane because nobody would be stupid enough to do it.
"It's a splitting of a soul if I remember right. An object where somebody splits their soul and stores it in…" she trailed off trying to remember. "It's a sort of way to gain eternal life. Mrs. Gardener always went off into muttering how she should have used it on her husband, he had died that year so she kept on trying to find a way to bring him back…Part of the soul will always remain undamaged, right? Not a good way of living but Gardener always said: at least he'd be alive. It was kinda funny thought because was supposed to be deterring us against it but she always talked about going back in time and doing it." The realization hit her a moment later. "You mean—"
"Yes." He said rather calmly. "Voldemort split his soul."
They were quiet for a moment before she spoke. "Albus, when Severus first brought that into the room I started feeling sick. It was giving off a pulse. But once you put it under the bowl I'm fine. Why?"
Albus took in a deep breath and sighed. "Voldemort, as I suspected, made a Horcrux in order to remain alive after he tried to kill Harry Potter."
"Right because by all rights and purposes the soul in his body was destroyed…or it should have been as everyone is saying." She said, processing. "The common belief is that his body was destroyed and his soul ripped from his body…you don't think that was the case?"
"Actually that is exactly what I believe."
"I don't understand. How could his soul in a destroyed body survive, why didn't the one from his Horcrux," she motioned to the ring. "Exit and become a haunting spirit."
"Because I think he created more than one." She stared at him. That was ludicrous, making more than one Horcrux. Splitting one's soul into two pieces was horrific enough but three pieces? "This is the one he was going to use as a back up if he died,"
"Sort of like another life,"
"Correct." He nodded. In his eyes she could tell he was debating about something. "Unfortunately he has split his soul into more things that I had believed."
"What do you mean?"
Albus sighed. "I shall not know the exact number yet but the first Horcrux he every made was while he was in this very school." She gasped, staring at him. "A diary which had the unfortunate mishap of falling upon one of my students a few years ago, during the Chamber of Secret's problem that nearly led to her death along with Harry Potter's."
"Voldemort just can't leave that boy alone."
"I suspect he made this Horcrux in order to made 'extra sure'," She made a face. It didn't add up. "You're seeing the problem. If the spirit of Voldemort was haunting the school during Harry's first year how did the spirit remain in both these Horcruxes?"
"He made another one?"
"Yes…there is one I suspect he made completely by accident and was used the moment he made it."
"Huh?"
Dumbledore shook his head. "I shall explain it in detail when I have more information myself, Lenore."
She made a face. Of course he would lead her on and then abruptly stop. She sighed chewing her lip for a moment, deep in thought. "Why did it make me sick?" He looked at her curiously. "When Severus brought it into the room I started feeling nauseous and wanted nothing more than to get away from this room. I understand it's Horcrux but there was no reason for it to affect me like that."
He sighed, looking graven. "I had not wanted to inform you of this because it was not Severus's wishes." Lenore looked at him curiously. "Your mother placed a spell on herself when she first found out she was pregnant. It allowed her to feel when someone evil is near."
"Or something?" Lenore's eyes shot to the ring. "Why?"
"Because once she came within ten feet of an object she would start to feel it. The first attempt at the spell was horrid, she was violently ill when she came within feet of Severus. She began to adjust the spell and with my help and Lily's she developed a way to tell whether or not a dark spell is surrounding the person. You'll feel sick, uncomfortable, and want to leave the room but be able to pinpoint what is making you that way."
So many questions raced through her mind. "That wasn't the why I was asking. Why did she create the spell to begin with?" Lenore asked.
"Because the entire Order was questioning Severus' true loyalty,"
Her mind flashed to the journal entry she had read, was it only two days ago? She shivered. "She was unsure?"
"No." Dumbledore was very firm. Lenore glanced at him. "She was trying to find a way to prove to us that he wasn't evil. Despite Lily's warnings, Stef experimented on herself. Because she was pregnant it was a danger but she insisted she knew what she was doing and the spell wouldn't transfer unless she wanted it to."
"Why was she so ill the first time?"
"Because when she cast the spell it was for any dark magic and Severus, in the service must cast dark spells, not to mention he has one on his left arm." Dumbledore folded his hands as he patiently explained.
"The dark mark,"
"Correct."
"Why does it affect me?"
"She decided just after we planned to have her leave to let the spell—" Dumbledore started but Lenore only heard the first half of the sentence.
"Wait what?" Dumbledore looked at her. "Planned? You planned for her to leave?"
Albus looked shocked for a moment before he shook his head. "That man is impossible."
She didn't care what he thought of Severus. She had always thought Severus left her without warning. He hadn't ever denied it. "You planned for her to leave? It wasn't him just up and deserting her!"
"No."
Lenore leaned back into the chair with a thump. Impossible….why didn't he tell me? Why didn't she tell me! Her thoughts screamed. "So he just let me think that he deserted her?" she asked herself more than him.
"I instructed him to tell you." A picture frame cracked and she jumped. "Lenore?"
"I'd say I'm fine but that'd be a lie!" she growled getting to her feet. She began pacing. "He probably expected me to come upon that journal entry and tell me then. Typical! How could he keep that a secret!"
Another frame cracked. "Lenore, calm down."
She looked at him, her eyes ablaze with hurt and anger. "Why does he keep doing this! He leaves things like this out!"
"Would you have listened?"
"I don't know!" she shouted whirling around, looking anywhere but him. "All my life I thought that he left her without a word. I pictured her waiting for him to come home after a fight and him never returning. An owl arriving the next day with divorce papers and her crying as she signed them before leaving, not knowing what else to do," Lenore shook her head, a tear falling down her face. "She never told me the truth…she always tried but she could never…she could never get the words clear enough for me to understand."
Numbness spread through her as one of the portraits clear his throat. "Professor Dumbledore, George Weasley is here…he came via Hogsmeade apparently. Muttering about Zonkos under his breath from what I could tell,"
"When will my trainers be arriving?" she asked, her face void of emotion.
"Perhaps in two days. The responses never really deal with time." Albus said kindly.
She nodded and walked towards the door. "Thank you, Albus." She glanced back at him. There was no denying the hurt and tears in her eyes. "For explaining things to me," and with that she walked away.
