Guess what? This isn't an April Fools joke, it's a new chapter! In fact, (for real, not a joke) I've actually finished chapters 17 and 18 (and thus the rest of book 2) and started on the third part of this series. I'll put 17 out in a week, then 18 a week after that so I don't dump 15k words on you all at once. Anyway, enjoy!
"If I hear another moron asking me if I have a Phoenix tattoo on my back, I will hex them. I don't care if it's a girl!" Edward growled as he entered the Chamber of Secrets where the Circle held their almost daily meetings.
They hadn't found a better place to practice since the Room of Requirement was occupied by Malfoy. Harry had asked Kreacher and Dobby to arrange the Chamber to make it more comfortable for the hours they spent here. The damp room had been cleaned and dried up by the powerful elven magics and the huge basilisk that lay in one corner had been broken down into potion material: scales, blood, skeleton, fangs, venom had been stored in a corner of the room and some items sold to buy furniture and furnish the room with supplies suitable for their training. Harry indeed preferred not to help himself to the junk in the Room of Requirement so that Malfoy wouldn't spot that he knew the exact spot where he was plotting his attempted murder. Part of the gold collected by selling the remains of the Basilisk was even used to pay Dobby who now proudly proclaimed himself in the service of Harry Potter.
Now everyone in the Circle could access the Chamber of Secrets thanks to a hunch from Ron. The latter had once had fun imitating Harry by trying to open the entrance to the secret room and to their surprise, it had worked. Each member had therefore learned to open the chamber and could therefore access the former domain of Salazar Slytherin at will. This made things less complicated for everyone and they could use their free time to practice, study, or make out.
Admittedly, the room was dark and huge, giving it a somewhat evil air, but colorful hangings and torches in the colors of the four houses ordered by Luna gave this room an unexpected air of gaiety. Harry could never have thought that this room where he had risked his life could now become a comfortable and ideal den to study. It was also one of the only places Harry could "hang out" with Ginny out of sight.
Harry hadn't told anyone, not even his closest friends. He knew that they would be horrified and that they would seek in vain for a solution to his problem. As far as he knew, no one knew that he was a Horcrux except perhaps Edward who had a knack for guessing what he was trying to keep a secret. Nevertheless, he would try to take his secret to the grave in order to prevent his friends from feeling guilty.
For a moment Harry had considered talking to Dumbledore about it but he wasn't sure if he really wanted to, deep inside him. He didn't know if Dumbledore knew about the Horcrux and if he did, Harry didn't know if he would be able to endure this betrayal. Likewise, if Dumbledore didn't know, Harry didn't want to be the one to teach him because he would undoubtedly see the regret in Professor Dumbledore's usually so twinkling eyes.
Shaking his head to escape these morbid thoughts, Harry retorted to Ed who was still complaining about the girls who seemed to want to chase him into the showers to observe a supposed tattoo on his back:
"At least you didn't have Moaning Myrtle come spy on you even in the bath in fourth year!"
"Maybe, but since those idiots figured out that I wasn't dating Luna, they just ask me to take them out! As if I have nothing else to do. These Ravenclaws are completely frigid in class but outside they turn into straight-up nymphomaniacs! I swear that isn't healthy!"
"It's not our fault you're single, Ed!" Neville tried to calm him down, to no avail. Rather, it shifted Edward's attention back to him.
"It's your fault, too! Why did you have to go out with Luna so soon? Now they know I'm single!" Exclaimed the alchemist, pronouncing the 'they as if it were the three gorgons.
"You're just upset because you lost three galleons betting that Neville wouldn't dare ask Luna to go out with him until the next school year. And you lost!" Ginny insisted, sticking her tongue out at him.
"I'm sure you were the one who started those idiotic rumors about other boys' tattoos so that everyone'd leave Harry alone!"
"Well… you're not wrong…" Ginny replied mischievously. "But you could have gotten worse than on a Phoenix or a Sphinx… I told the others that Ron's was a Pygmy Puff and I didn't specify where…"
"Traitor!" Ron exclaimed, throwing a pillow at her- which the young girl, used to bludgers, avoided with a laugh.
"Hey, Ron, Harry, Edward, if you're still interested in the mysteries of Hogwarts, come and have a look here. I might have a lead on your famous Half-Blood Prince." Hermione called.
She showed them an old newspaper clipping which showed a rather ugly young girl with a sullen air. The photo caption named her as Eileen Prince, captain of the Hogwarts Gobstone Club. Harry saw right away where Hermione was going and shook his head, "No, I don't think she's the Half-Blood Prince, Hermione. She would have chosen a more feminine name in my opinion. Besides, the way he writes, I think he's a boy. But you can keep looking if it's that important to you." Harry stated.
"I should hope so!" Hermione exclaimed in a tone of annoyance as she stood up. "I want to know who could invent curses for fun!"
Ron and Harry sighed together while Ed smirked the smirk of one who knew something the others didn't. Both Gryffindors turned to him with a look that said, 'Spit it out!'.
"It's just that the solution seems so obvious to me now that I'm amazed I didn't think of it sooner!"
"It's okay, Ed, we know you're a genius normally. So, are you telling us who it is?" Ron asked.
"Try to guess first. Until then, we cannot say that we really tried to find out who this Half-Blood Prince was."
"Okay. Let's get the facts straight," Harry said before Ron could throw a pillow at Edward. "We know that this guy is a genius in potions, probably also in charms, since he invented some of them."
"He was probably a Slytherin to invent spells as twisted as Sectumsempra!" Ron said confidently.
"Before you said these spells were great!" Said Hermione in a peremptory tone.
"What surprised me was that a student's textbook remained at Hogwarts. Especially a manual containing potions corrected by someone so good at them." Edward said, adding another clue.
"What if… this person had been at Hogwarts for fifteen years and just inadvertently left his potions book when leaving that office where he had taught for so long? I remember now, I had already seen the beginnings of this spell in his Pensieve during my Occlumency lessons: initially, he only administered a slight cut but afterwards he obviously perfected it. And then his handwriting told me something. Of course I know where I saw it! On our class copies!"
"Hold on? You mean the Half-Blood Prince is…" Hermione began, stunned.
"That this great guy who helped us with our potions with Slughorn could only be…" Ron continued on the verge of nausea.
"…None other than Professor Snape himself." Harry finished putting the book down on the table.
"Come to think of it, Professor Snape had always insisted that we follow his directions on the board, not the potions manual. And I have always noticed that there were slight differences between his instructions and that of the book... This means that it is he who made corrections to the Prince's textbook."
"So Snape would be a Half-Blood? In Slytherin and during the rise to power of You Know Who? He must have had difficulty being accepted there." Ron remarked.
"Yes, but he must have put the Prince part of his name forward. This family had to be Pure Blood and he had to insist on it." Hermione whispered.
"Still, Hermione, you had nothing to blame us for following the Prince's instructions since it was actually Snape!" Ron said with a satisfied air.
"Yes, but from a Snape who was already well on the way to Dark magic, who was friends with future Death Eaters and who would soon join Voldemort's ranks." Hermione recalled sternly.
"That's true, but-"
Before Harry had time to finish his sentence, Dobby appeared with a parchment in his hand which he offered to his friend saying it was from Professor Dumbledore. Excited, Ron, Hermione and Edward walked over and read the note which requested that Harry and Edward meet him in his office as quickly as possible. Harry grabbed his broom, took off with Edward behind him (who closed his eyes, clinging tightly to him all the way up) and the two boys arrived in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Because of Peeves, they had to make a detour which took them near the Room of Requirement when they heard a scream coming from Professor Trelawney and saw her on the ground, her shawls in disarray and several bottles of sherry scattered around her. From her confused explanation, they understood that after hearing someone shout with joy (presumably Malfoy), she had been kicked out of the room after seeing it go dark.
After some senseless ranting about divination, Harry managed to persuade her to come see Dumbledore even though the latter was apparently weary of these visits and her doom and gloom predictions.
Eager to prove her skills compared to Firenze's, the Divination teacher recounted to them how the interview with Professor Dumbledore went, claiming that he had been very impressed during her visit. Harry had felt a chill when he realized that this was the night that had turned his life upside down even before he was born. The night the prophecy was given by the seer.
But the latter added a key element by revealing that Severus Snape was the one who had spied on the conversation and thus had been the Death Eater who had revealed the prophecy to Voldemort, thus condemning his father, his mother and himself to death at the same time.
Many emotions jostled in Harry's mind, no matter how well ordered by Occlumency it was: anger, hatred, incomprehension, pain, horror, pity and compassion mixed in his head until he regained his composure and could think with a cool head. Now that he was almost certain that Snape had loved his mother, he could fully understand the horror the former Death Eater must have felt when he realized he had handed over the woman he loved to Voldemort. He remembered a phrase Voldemort had said to him in his first year: that his mother shouldn't have died normally. Could it be that Snape had tried to intercede for her? Snape had said that his mother had been given the choice between dying and living by the words he remembered from the Dementors. This choice was what allowed him, indirectly, to live, even if it would not last very long.
Without saying anything, he walked back to Dumbledore's office, accompanied by Edward. The latter was silent but questioned him with his eyes. Harry whispered:
"It was his fault my parents died and yet he did everything to protect my mother… He loved her too… But she died because of him. I don't think I know how I feel anymore."
"Calm down. In my opinion, Snape mustn't have known what he felt when he heard about this either. I think he became a Death Eater not out of real conviction but rather to take revenge on the hard life your father and his friends made for him. And he turned on Voldemort when he realized that what he had done could have doomed your mother. You and Snape may have only one thing in common, but it is most important: you loved your mother with all your soul and with all your heart."
"Yes… But it's hard to think that I'm an orphan because of him, that I'm going to die partly because of his fault and I-" Harry paused when he realized he had said too much.
"So... You think you're a..."
"Don't say that word. I just want you to promise me never to reveal it to others. They don't need to worry about me!" Harry cried.
"But what about me? Am I allowed to worry about you?! It's a huge pressure on you there! I will do everything to find a solution to your problem, I swear!" Edward exclaimed.
Harry smirked: if there was anyone who could find the solution, it would be Edward. Still, that smile was bitter: he wasn't sure Edward could actually find the solution to his Horcrux problem. Yet this promise warmed his heart. Taking a deep breath, he raised his Occlumency barrier and followed Edward into Professor Dumbledore's office.
The two boys stood upright as i's and listened intently to Dumbledore explain to them that he thought he had discovered the whereabouts of a Horcrux. Which one, he did not know, but suspected it was in a cave where a young Riddle had traumatized two other orphans. Edward felt uncomfortable and attributed that feeling to Dumbledore's hand which, to him, literally reeked of black magic. He thought he was going to have to cast an Oculo Magicorum to see the extent of the damage and he decided he would when he got out of Hogwarts.
Harry, meanwhile, tried to warn Professor Dumbledore that Malfoy had finally managed to fix something, probably the cabinet, but Dumbledore seemed to have decided that listening to Harry was not worth it. According to him, there were enough wards in place to protect Hogwarts and its students. For a supposed future victim of Malfoy, he behaved as if it didn't matter, as Edward's father had behaved when he took the most dangerous path that led to the Homunculus. Like someone who didn't expect to survive to see the sun rise again. Edward now had a very bad feeling.
He couldn't be the only one with a very bad feeling because the first thing Harry thought of as he went to get the Invisibility Cloak on Dumbledore's recommendation was to give the rest of his Felix Felicis potion to the rest of the Circle members as well as the Marauder's Map so that they could watch the Room of Requirement.
Meanwhile, Edward, who had been left alone in the study with Dumbledore, had a little chat with him:
"I'm taking you with us for a special reason, which is that Harry will listen to you if you ask him to follow my orders. So I want to have your word that you will obey my orders and, if necessary, force Harry to listen to them and follow them."
"You have my word." Edward said, carefully hiding his emotions. He didn't like the turn this conversation was taking.
"If I tell you to hide, what will you do?"
"I will hide us under Harry's invisibility cloak and if necessary immobilize him underneath." Edward replied without hesitation.
"If I order you to flee, what will you do?"
"I'll take Harry by the scruff of the neck and run away as fast as possible." Edward replied again, still without any hesitation.
"If things go wrong tonight, you will have to promise me that you will do what is necessary to put Harry's safety before mine."
"Understood." Edward said.
"If I tell you to run away and leave me behind, will you and Harry be safe?"
Edward was silent this time before answering softly:
"You know, just because you're dying doesn't mean you should be planning this, but I promise you if it comes to this end I'll be willing to knock Harry out and carry him to safety- I give you my word." Edward said without adding aloud, "But once Harry is safe, I will still come back and get you even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming."
Dumbledore was silent as he listened to Edward's words.
"How did you guess?"
"I wasn't sure. You just confirmed it for me." Edward answered honestly as the Headmaster looked surprised he had been taken in by such a simple trick.
"You don't have to tell Harry anything about it, you understand Edward…" Dumbledore began.
"As long as you live, he won't know." Edward replied unequivocally.
"Sometimes I wonder how you didn't end up in Slytherin with the way you manipulate words. Or Gryffindor for the bravery you will no doubt have to show tonight." Dumbledore wondered aloud.
"The Sorting Hat hesitated a lot." Edward added tersely, unwilling to be sent to another Hogwarts house.
He watched Professor Dumbledore, who now was watching the golden and ruby bands of the sunset. The sun had just set. And suddenly Edward had absolute certainty that Dumbledore would not survive to see the sun come up. It shocked him so much that he stood there, saying nothing. For once the words escaped him and he didn't know what to add. He thought for a few minutes of his father who, after the outburst of energy of his Philosopher's Stone, was left with only one life left- his. And he thought deep down he had already forgiven his father and all that remained was to find the courage to tell him out loud.
When he saw that Dumbledore was about to descend, he followed him without a word and joined Harry who seemed breathless from his run to Gryffindor tower. Edward was sure he hadn't just searched for his invisibility cloak. But after all, it could well be that his friends needed a little luck tonight. The blond Ravenclaw joined Harry under his cloak. Luckily he was… er, of normal height and still able to walk alongside Harry without too much hindrance to each other.
The small group walked through the Hogwarts gate and headed for Hogsmeade, towards the Hog's Head which Dumbledore visited often enough that his presence did not arouse any surprise. Edward and Harry only barely avoided the drunken wizard that Madam Rosmerta vigorously kicked out of her bar as they passed the Three Broomsticks. Then, once they got to the pub Dumbledore Apparated, escorting Harry. Edward just stood close to Harry and Apparated on his own to the place Dumbledore wanted them to visit.
They soon stood on a rocky outcrop, on the edge of an imposing black and smooth cliff with a very vertical wall. All around them reigned an austere and desolate landscape, made of rocks and bubbling sea foam, a sight at the same time beautiful and a little frightening under the night sky, lit only by the moon and the stars. No vegetation seemed to grow there, as if the rock rejected any attempt to soften this sinister setting. A cool breeze was blowing, bringing the characteristic salty smell of the sea. Edward couldn't suppress an exclamation: in seventeen years, even during his travels, he had never seen the sea in real life and this first sight would undoubtedly stay with him until the end of his life.
"What do you think?" Just going on Dumbledore's tone, one would have thought they were on a tour and they were going to find a place to picnic...
"And they brought children here?" Harry asked, shaking his head and wondering about the lack of common sense of the leaders of the orphanage.
Dumbledore then explained to him that the children were normally taken to some sort of small village so that the orphans could breathe some sea air and watch the waves. Only Tom Riddle and his young victims had come this far by magical means. Edward knew that that was probably the only way because only a seasoned climber and good swimmer could get to this place. Even he, who had done his share of climbing during his adventures, felt a slight dizziness standing there and he imagined how ending up here must have traumatized the two poor children. He wondered with a slight shudder what other trials could await them.
The small group slowly descended to the bottom of the rocks, Dumbledore hampered by his parched hand and Edward's metal leg making it difficult to descend. They had to be very careful hanging on to crevices in the rock and not slipping on the slimy algae.
Finally, after a quarter of an hour of perilous descent, they were at the bottom of the cliff. Being at the bottom was not much better than being at the top because the spray lashed their faces. In addition, the remaining path was going to be tricky for Edward as it required diving into the swirling sea. Ed could swim but he had never tried with an automail leg… He cast an impervious charm on it, taking care to cover his entire leg and he was careful that the magic did not damage Winry's electrical circuits. After that, he layered a lightening spell on his leg to avoid being dragged into the depths by its weight.
Ed in turn plunged into the sea and followed Dumbledore and Harry, guided by the glow of a Lumos from their wands. Edward plunged into the crevice, then followed a slimy-walled tunnel that cut barely a meter into the base of the cliff. Both teens were frozen, their extremities numb from the long swim in the dark depths. Besides, their clothes made it difficult to swim and they could hardly keep up with Dumbledore, who was no spring chicken. Finally, they arrived in a cave and they were able to climb some man-made steps.
At that moment, Edward threw an silent Oculo Magicorum to see more clearly and let out a small exclamation as he saw the magics present at work. He hissed at Harry to do the same and Harry followed suit, thus being able to see what Edward and obviously Dumbledore was seeing. Harry almost forgot the coldness of it when he saw the lines of magic dotting the entire cave and now lighting up the room in his eyes. He didn't know what they meant but he suspected that Dumbledore did and maybe Edward as well, although the latter seemed perfectly content to just watch. Meanwhile, the Ravenclaw cast a drying spell on himself and Harry, suddenly remembering that he was a wizard, hastened to imitate him.
Harry turned to Dumbledore to observe him and stifled an exclamation of horror: he saw black streams starting from the withered hand and spreading throughout the body, including the magical heart located at the back of the Headmaster's neck. Dark and certainly extremely evil forces seemed to attack Dumbledore's nerve center with incredible force and violence. He was about to ask the old wizard a question when he saw Edward shake his head, asking him not to say anything. Meanwhile, Dumbledore was speaking in a strange language, circling the cave twice, and running his hand over the lines of magic. Finally, he pointed to a spot and whispered it was there. Harry took his word for it when he saw that the lines of magical energy seemed denser here. He pointed his wand at the wall and for a moment the lines of magic rearranged to form an arch of light but the door did not open.
Dumbledore seemed deep in thought for a good two minutes before he whispered:
"Unbelievable, such vulgarity."
"Huh, what do you mean?" Edward asked
"I believe we are being asked to pay to pass," Dumbledore explained, removing a small silver knife from his pocket.
"Like blood?" Harry asked, remembering the time Voldemort had used his blood to get back into a corporeal form.
"Yes, a crass way… The idea is that the enemy has to weaken themself before entering. Once again Lord Voldemort failed to realize that there are things far more terrible than physical injury. Dumbledore said dismissively, almost disappointed.
"Yeah, finally…" Edward began.
"When it can be avoided…" Harry finished.
The two had suffered enough in their lives that they didn't really want to start again. But as Dumbledore asserted before cutting his arm, some things are inevitable. Droplets of blood splashed against the wall and the door glowed again and the archway opened, giving way to Dumbledore, Harry and Edward.
Translator's notes: I don't really have any super interesting notes this chapter, so I'll just give you guys a fun fact: in French, the Sorting Hat is the Choixpeau- a pun on 'choix' (choice) and 'chapeau' (hat).
(Opinion time) I mean, Snape still called his only friend the magical n-word and was already interested in the whole Dark magic stuff without the bullying so I can't really say that I'd put it all on the Marauders rather than, you know, the one who actually did the stuff. But I'm just beating a dead horse at this point.