AN: welcome back for another chapter, of which I still own nothing.
CHAPTER 37 – Quest for ancient secrets
"I go away for the weekend, barely forty-eight hours, and you end up in a legendary dungeon with a group of rebel students and get Dumbledore injured," surmised Liliana crossing her arms in front of her as she sat near the old man's bed with her fellow planeswalker "Only you Chandra, only you."
"It's not like everything's my fault!" petulantly protested the redhead "And we got another horcrux!"
She wasn't being careless: the headmaster had erected a privacy ward around his bed for just that reason.
"And a shining sword, I saw it mounted proudly above that gaudy statue," said the necromancer pointing with her chin in the item's general direction, before turning towards the bedridden wizard "So, how bad was it, actually?"
"It could have been a disaster of massive proportion, both for the war effort and the Wizarding World at large," he admitted stroking his beard "Miss Nalaar quick thinking in getting Poppy and Severus and stopping the muggles saved more than just my life. All in all, I'd say it went quite well."
"See?" smugly asked Chandra, sounding exactly like the teenager she was.
It was actually hard for the necromancer remembering her fellow planeswalker's actual age, both due to the fact that she often acted much more mature than most, and the simple fact that with an as wide a disparity in ages as she had with the rest of the Gatewatch, Liliana often felt they were all children compared to her. There weren't that many individuals that could flaunt being around for a millennium, after all.
"Whatever lets you sleep at night, dear," she said dismissing that line of inquiry before breaching a different topic "So, any idea on where to find the last phylactery?"
"Sadly no," admitted Dumbledore with a tired sigh "Even knowing with near certainty that it is Hufflepuff's cup, being confined in here limits my avenues of research. Also, we have already investigated all places in Britain that held some meaning for Tom."
"I'm guessing from how you speak of it that this cup emerging somewhere would be widely a known fact, right?" asked Liliana humming, obviously deep in thought "So either it is buried somewhere like the locket was supposed to be, or it's otherwise hidden in a place that hasn't seen human presence in the last few decades."
"That sounds sensible," agreed the headmaster "Unfortunately, it's impossible to know which one is correct, nor to scry the location."
"Let's try a different approach then," suggested Chandra snapping her fingers "The other horcrux were all hidden in places that meant something to Voldemort?"
"Well, actually no: his diary was found in possession of Ginevra Weasley. It was hard getting the memory from her, as her mind has been devastated by Tom, but she recalled finding the diary after visiting Diagon Alley with her family. After visioning the memory numerous times, I can say that either it had been given her by Flourish and Blotts' clerk or by Lucius Malfoy."
"We can safely assume it's Blondie's dad at fault here," said Chandra nodding "So he either knew where the diary was hidden, or was hiding it himself on Voldemort's orders."
"I'd never give any of my minions my phylactery," countered Liliana shaking her head "No matter how many others I have or how competent they are. It's plainly stupid."
"You wouldn't tell him the hiding place either. Moreover, he gave it away, so either Blondie senior has a death wish or he wasn't told it was a horcrux," reasoned the pyromancer smirking.
"Knowing Tom, he kept this particular secret to himself and gave Lucius the diary to keep safe, probably presenting it as some kind of weapon or as the way to release the Chamber's monster," commented Dumbledore stroking his beard "Lucius was and still is one of Voldemort's most trusted, even among his inner circle."
"One of the most? Not his right hand man?" asked Liliana frowning "Why not give it to the one he trusted most?"
"Maybe he did," suggested Chandra "Maybe he gave the cup to his favourite dog."
"Unfortunately, Bellatrix Lestrange was sentenced to Azkaban after Tom's defeat and all her properties seized by the Ministry. Had she owned the cup, it would have been found then," countered the wizard.
"My godfather's possessions weren't seized though," protested the redhead frowning "Nor were mine or yours after yesterday's debacle."
It was in fact well known that both her and the ex-headmaster had been declared wanted alive for trial, yet Gringotts' hadn't contacted either about their finances being frozen or sequestrated.
"We haven't been condemned yet, as for Sirius Black he still had living relatives who claimed ownership. Bellatrix had no such convenient escape routes... Unless..."
"Unless?" pressed Liliana after the old man had fallen silent for too long for her tastes.
She beat Chandra to it by a couple of seconds.
"If she still had some properties under her maiden name her birth family might have retained those like with Black," he explained looking both in the eyes "And as the last of the Blacks, you are in a prime position to check with Gringotts', miss Nalaar."
"Wait what?" asked the other two in unison.
While Gringotts' had been swift in replying to Chandra's inquiry about Bellatrix Lestrange's vaults, Dumbledore had suggested to wait for things to settle a little before going to Daigon Alley: the news about him and the pyromancer being wanted was still too fresh and the pyromancer's appearance too striking to risk it.
So, being denied her only obvious font of distraction, Chandra felt quite bored. Something she felt the need to point out to Hermione, the only person except Liliana that wasn't intimidated by her and she could therefore freely talk to.
"You know, you could do something useful to pass time..." suggested the bushy haired teen sounding a little exasperated "Like helping someone train..."
She had been studying some old looking tome while lying on her makeshift bed. She was also visibility annoyed by the interruption.
"Dumbledore doesn't want you all on the frontlines, to keep you safe," huffed the pyromancer plopping down next to her friend "I'd rather not butt heads with him. Also, Liliana already took over the lighter stuff, so no dice. What are you reading?"
"A treatise on combat uses for cosmetic and household charms. Not the most interesting book ever since it requires actually knowing those charms, it's just what I had in my bag before this whole debacle."
"You could ask someone about those charms, or read something else..."
Hermione stared at her like she had grown an extra head, put down her book and then spread her arms, as if to encompass the whole room.
"And where would I find it?" she asked in a tone that was almost exasperated "We don't exactly have access to a library here..."
"There's always the house elves," pointed out the redhead "You know, Binky and Taffy, short, big eyes..."
"I know, I know... I just still feel they're slaves, no matter what Neville and Susan say..."
"I get from where you're coming, I despise slavery as much as you, but the little guys seem to be genuinely happy about their condition... Look, I won't try to change your mind, I'd be an hypocrite if I did, but do try to think of other possibilities ok?" said Chandra placing a calming hand on the other girl's shoulder "About your book problem, isn't this supposed to be that Slytherin guy's hideout? I bet he left behind a study or something around here... Come on, let's find it!"
Hermione's protests that they didn't even know if there was something to find fell on deaf ears, and in short order the two girls were exploring the darkness behind the large statue's open mouth. It was even darker and danker than the rest of the Chamber, and looked just as rough and natural as the cave holding the snake skeleton.
"I doubt Slytherin's library is around here..." muttered the bushy haired teen as her wand's pale light let them see another pile of rodent bones.
"Maybe," conceded the pyromancer as the flames in her right hand pushed back the darkness ahead "But there must be something. Nobody in his right mind builds a corridor to nowhere that only he can open and puts a monster to guard it..."
"It could simply be the basilisk's nest, no?"
Chandra didn't answer. Instead she flashed a grin at her friend before rising her arm to better light the way. In front of them stood a bronze door sized for a humanoid creature and decorated with carvings of snakes, the largest of which was clearly recognizable as Slytherin house's crest.
"This door is indeed covered in magical traps," commented Snape as his wand ceaselessly traced paths in the air "The most prominent one being an animation charm on the carved snakes. You did well calling me."
"You don't go far as a thief for hire without knowing when to stop," said Chandra shrugging "Daredevils have kind of short life expectancies..."
After finding the door the pyromancer hadn't felt sure enough of herself to risk Hermione's life –her own life was ok, she could take care of herself– so they had went back and consulted Dumbledore who, being confined to bed, suggested the potion master for his vast knowledge of the Dark Arts. The normally dour man had been, if not joyous, at least agreeable to accompany the pyromancer in her exploration. He had barred Hermione from coming though, probably to keep one of his students safe. He was a professor after all.
"You're not what I thought you'd be," he remarked after a couple of minutes of silence "After your volatile performances, I feared you'd be just like your father..."
Chandra guessed that he had insisted on leaving Hermione behind to have the option to talk with any degree of privacy without anyone's knowledge. A bit too cloak and dagger for her tastes, but she wasn't going to call him out on it.
"I am a lot like Dad," she said smiling fondly, a hand raising to brush her goggles "But probably not the one you were thinking about."
"Indeed," he said before abruptly dropping the subject.
Chandra didn't push it. He was relatively young, so she guessed he might have known her birth parents as schoolmates, and judging by his tone and words there weren't flowers and rainbows in his mind when he thought of them. It was partly like listening to Lupin, but with something other than longing in his voice. There was obviously a lot in their shared past, but she didn't have any right to inquire. She could be brash and abrasive, but she wasn't insensitive.
The door clicked open and he opened it with a flick of his wand.
Nothing happened.
"Seems safe," he declared moving cautiously towards the room beyond the open door.
The pyromancer could see a smallish room with a large desk and many bookcases. It looked like they had in fact found Slytherin's private study.
AN: Yeah, Snape's scene was short, with lots left unsaid, but I don't feel a heart to heart was that credible with the little history the two shared. There might be more later on, or they might be not...