Author's Note:

Some big changes are coming which I think you all realized due to Peter's trial in Harry's second year and the instating of Remus Lupin as Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor in February of second year — but, Sirius is figuring out what's going on here and he has some serious (no pun intended) thinking to do.

As for my last two chapter updates, I don't write this one chapter at a time and post it, I am ahead of this story (Harry is almost done his third year), you are only getting one or two chapters at a time so, for those of you thinking that I'm skipping over things or not addressing issues, remember that you don't have the whole story. Be patient. I have it all planned out.

This would I guess be the beginning of Part V.

Also, for those you continuously using reviews to bash Ginny — once again, I am a HINNY shipper. It says this WILL BE a Hinny story in the description. Nothing you say will change that so if you don't like Hinny or don't like Ginny than I suggest you not bother reading any further as I love her and she will be a BIG part of this story.

For those of you adamantly defending my story in reviews specifically to E-Dett, WarMunger98, MMMARGEAU, Steelcode, and coloredwords, I thank you for your kind words and for your support. Nothing in the world makes an author feel better than to see someone sticking up for them. I value your reviews and I thank you for reading.

Also, Happy Halloween.

Reviews and Comments: To WarMunger98: I know, poor Ginny, she underwent so much! Harry will definitely be able to relate about the nightmares, but will Ginny be willing to open up? I'm glad you liked my look back at the chamber. Thank you! To alix33: I am sorry to hear about your own past trauma, but it does depend upon the relationship with people's parents and I think Molly will be an asset to Ginny, but talking to someone else will help as well. To azphxbrd: I agree, she will need to find someone to talk to her, but Molly is being an overprotective mum right now, just wanting to protect her daughter. She'll realize that soon enough. Thank you! To geekymom: Thank you! To Lost: Thank you! Yes, Harry and Sirius will definitely be arguing again at some point, but no, Harry will not be running away from home. To teachergirl: I'm sorry you still think Ginny is stupid and outside of getting raped, everything is her fault. As I've previously stated, Ginny will be a bit big part of this story.

To Lazyonarainyday: Harry will have all of the support he needs and wants, but right now, his fathers are taking him into consideration. He asked them to wait and they are waiting (impatiently), but they are doing what he asks. As to meeting Zee's parents, it's a great distraction for Sirius who is worried about Harry. I am sorry to hear that you don't like Zee and could care less about her. I don't see her as a Mary Sue character at all, but to each their own. I think not pushing Harry right now is the smart move and as his fathers, Sirius and Remus are giving him the space he asked for. To Steelcode: Voldemort is definitely a sick disgusting jerk. Zee's parents did like Sirius and now it's time for Harry to come clean.

Thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you!

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SIX:

The One Where Sirius and Remus Demand Answers

When Harry stepped off of the Hogwarts Express on the 19th of June, he was a little nervous to see his godfather. He saw that Sirius was waiting for him with Marauder and the dog took one look at him and made a beeline straight towards him. Harry laughed and fell to his knees to greet the dog who barked happily, licking his face and hands in happiness. Harry kissed the top of Marauder's head and hugged him close and the dog let him hold him. When he stood up and made his way over to Sirius, he smiled.

Sirius was talking to Hermione's parents and he rather looked a bit guilty when his eyes caught Harry's.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked as he approached them.

"Harry, what does your father mean that our daughter was 'petrified solid?' What does that even mean? Is she all right?" Mr Granger demanded as Mrs Granger held her hand over her mouth in horror. "How come no one informed us of this?"

Harry winced. "She's fine. Honest, look!" He gestured to Hermione who was walking with Ron and smiled at the sight of her parents. Harry pulled her close for a tight hug so that he could whisper. "Uncle Sirius accidentally told them you were petrified. I'm sorry."

Hermione glared at Sirius before hurrying over to hug her parents.

Sirius draped an arm over Harry's shoulders. "How was I supposed to know?"

"Big mouth," Harry said simply.

Sirius laughed and kissed the top of his son's head. "I listened to Minnie and I waited, not so patiently my three weeks, Prongslet, I want to know every last detail of what the hell happened down in that Chamber. Minnie insisted that you were okay and that all was well. Now, how much was she just reassuring me so that I wouldn't hover around the castle, Mr Kept Insisting You Were Perfectly Fine Every Single Night I Called You On The Mirror?"

Harry grinned. He had known that Sirius would hound him in the minute that he had come home and he couldn't blame him. "I'm okay, Uncle Padfoot as I told you every single night when you called me on the mirror." At Sirius' raised eyebrow he sighed. "I didn't want to go through it all again that night and I just… I will tell you everything, I promise. Let's just go home first. I only want to say it once and Uncle Rem still wants to know everything too."

Sirius nodded and whistled at Marauder, who was greeting Ginny with enthusiasm. It had been killing him not to rush to the school every single day and demand of Harry what had happened, but Minnie had assured him that his son was fine and Harry had also insisted that he was fine, but the not knowing had left an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Harry wasn't a little boy anywhere and when he had insisted he go home, that he was fine and not to come to the castle, Sirius had listened. Now as he watched his son wheel his trunk and Hedwig's cage out of the station, he wondered if he should have just ignored his son's wishes and rushed headlong back to the castle the next morning and cradled him like the child he had once been.

Fifteen minutes later, Harry, Sirius, and Marauder arrived at Black Cottage. Sirius told Harry to bring his trunk upstairs along with Hedwig's empty cage and unpack. Hedwig was already in the kitchen with Persephone. By the time that Harry was unpacked and his dirty clothes in the laundry basket, Remus was there too.

He smiled at his fathers and headed into the kitchen for a snack, opening the ice box and pulling out the platter of grapes, cantaloupe, and pineapple that was there. He popped a grape into his mouth, turning to find Sirius leaning against the doorjamb.

"What?"

"Minnie says that you slayed the dragon and saved the princess."

Harry smirked at him. "Er, actually it was a Basilisk."

Sirius only raised an eyebrow. "Come sit down and tell us, Prongslet. I need to know what happened."

Harry sighed, carrying the fruit platter into the living room and holding it on his lap so he could eat as he spoke. He knew that his father had been going crazy not knowing what had transpired that night. He had called Harry incessantly on the mirror, asking if he was okay and if he needed to talk and Harry had done his best to reassure him that he was all right, instead blabbing on about them winning the House Cup, Hagrid's name being cleared, and the Mandrake potion having woken everyone up — but he knew that Sirius had seen right through him. He had promised to tell him everything as soon as he came home and had asked Sirius to just please wait until then. It was only after Remus had cornered him for the eighth time that he had asked them to leave him alone. He only wanted to go through it once and he would much rather tell his fathers together at the same time when he was home.

Besides, he hadn't spent any time in the hospital wing this time around so they didn't have to worry too much — did they? Yeah right, they were both going to be so angry, he thought bitterly.

Harry popped another grape in his mouth and sighed. "I was going to tell McGonagall, but then I thought that since I have the ability to talk to snakes, only I could get in there anyway."

Sirius frowned, moving to sit next to Harry and propping his feet up on the coffee table. Remus was sitting on the other side of Harry and they were both just watching him carefully.

"Hmm, tell a teacher or go after the monster by yourself — seems legit in the choice-making scheme of things."

Harry flushed. "I wasn't alone, I had Ron." At Sirius' face, Harry blanched. "Uncle Sirius, I didn't mean that I —" he trailed off and sighed. "It was stupid."

"Very stupid," Remus said sternly. "I heard part of it from McGonagall and I don't know how you aren't dead! Do you know how dangerous that was? Do you have any idea how worried Sirius and I have been about you? And you just kept telling us that you were fine. Kept insisting that you would tell us everything when you came home."

Harry nodded. He hadn't really been thinking of any of those things in the moment. He had just been thinking about saving Ginny. "I know and I am fine, I swear! But you weren't there! You didn't see Ron's face when we found out that it was Ginny down there! And no one even knew where the Chamber of Secrets was and we thought that we'd figured it out and well… I can talk to snakes so, it made sense for me to go… and Ron and I had already learned that the Acromantulas weren't the problem and —"

" — Wow, wow, wow," Sirius interrupted. "Back up a minute, did you just say Acromantulas? Where the hell did you run into an Acromantula in Scotland? Minnie told me that you faced Slytherin's monster, not a fucking Acromantula!"

Harry let out a deep breath. "All right, so you already know about the diary," he began and as he told them about the diary, about Tom Riddle, about Hagrid, and how everything had unfolded; they just sat there and listened to him. They didn't interrupt, though Sirius occasionally made a stuttering noise, and when Harry told them how the Basilisk fang had sunk into his arm, how he had felt the venom rush through his blood toward his heart before Fawkes saved him, Sirius actually gasped aloud.

"YOU ALMOST FUCKING DIED, HARRY!" Sirius shouted, his eyes bulging. "Do you understand that? If Fawkes hadn't been down there, the three of you would have bloody well died in that Chamber and no one would have sodding found you! How could you have told us you were fine? This doesn't sound fine to me!"

"Sirius," Remus said, grabbing his friend's arm.

"No," Sirius said, angrily, glaring at his friend. "He needs to understand how serious this is!"

"I do!" Harry shouted back, putting the empty fruit platter on the table. "I know it was stupid and I know that I should have found a teacher first but… last year when I went to McGonagall, she didn't listen to me! She didn't trust me — and Ginny was down there! Uncle Siri, she was down there, and I wasn't going to let her die! I wasn't!"

Sirius stared at him for a moment, the slight hysteria to his son's voice had him calming down. "All right, shouting isn't going to solve anything here." He took a deep breath and looked at his son. "We're going to talk about this again, Prongslet. About what the difference is between being brave and courageous over being brave and stupid. You know what you did was brave and I know exactly why you did it. I know that you wanted to save Ginny, but, on the other hand, I want to ground you for being so stupid!"

"What?" Harry exclaimed in horror. "But Uncle Padfoot, that's not fair! I did a good thing and I know that I made a few bad choices along the way, but —"

Sirius held up his hand and Harry immediately quieted. "I said that I want to, not I'm not going to. You did an amazing thing, Harry. You went down there to rescue her from a monster and you succeeded. Dumbledore gave you a Special Award for Services to the School and I can tell you, those are not given out lightly. I am so incredibly proud of you that I could burst. You were a hero and Ginny will always remember that you came for her. That you slew a Basilisk for her. But regardless of how good the deed was — and trust me, it was a truly amazing feat — you are only twelve years old! You shouldn't have had to save her alone. Ideally, Ginny shouldn't have played around with dark magic in the first place, but —"

"— She didn't know!" Harry interrupted, his eyes flashing. "It's not her fault, Uncle Padfoot! It possessed her and he… Riddle, he was taking her soul from her!"

Sirius frowned at that, his eyes meeting Remus'. "He was taking her soul? What do you mean by that?"

Harry nodded, desperate to make them understand. "That's what he told me when I found her. That I couldn't save her because he had claimed her soul for his own and that he was feeding off of it in some way; that he had used her hopes and her dreams, her fears and her insecurities as a gateway into her soul. She had no idea it was even happening!"

Remus let out a slow breath, his eyes on Sirius. "Have you ever heard of a possession that went after the soul?"

Sirius shook his head, his grey eyes on his son's. "Once from my grandfather, but that was dark magic of the worst kind and…" He didn't elaborate, but instead let out a slow breath. "Harry, I think that you are leaving something out about this. You did not explain the dangers of the diary very well when we first spoke of it. What aren't you telling us right now?"

Harry swallowed, closing his eyes and speaking really fast. He figured that if he said it all quickly, his fathers might not think it was so bad. Yeah, right, he thought as he quickly babbled to them the one part that he had conveniently left out of the story so far.

"ImighthaveforgottomentionthatTomRiddlewasasixteenyearoldVoldemort."

His words were met with complete silence.

It was so quiet, Marauder's heavy breathing by the fireplace seemed to echo in the room.

"What did you just say?" Sirius asked, his voice deadly calm.

Harry gulped and repeated it more slowly. "Tom Riddle was a sixteen-year-old-Voldemort."

The empty fruit tray went flying across the room and crashed into the wall as Sirius angrily stormed across the room.

"Sirius," Remus began, but Sirius ignored him and punched the wall again and again. "Sirius!" Remus said louder.

Harry jumped up off of the chesterfield and flung his arms around his father from behind, his face pressed into the middle of his back. "I'm sorry! I didn't know who he was! I just wanted to save Ginny! I had to save her!"

Sirius relaxed, turning around to tug the boy into his arms in a tight bone-crushing hug. "Harry, I love you! I love you so much, and the thought of you coming face to face with Voldemort a second time… a sixteen-year-old-version of him… how? How the fuck was this even possible?"

Harry quickly explained how Voldemort had put a memory of himself into the diary so that when Ginny had been possessed, she was possessed by Voldemort — which was why Dumbledore knew that she wasn't to blame for any of it.

Remus stood up and walked over to hug Harry from behind so that the three of them were all smashed together, kissing his son's temple. "We love you and we're so proud of you, but we are also terrified for you, do you understand that?"

Harry nodded at them when they finally let him go. "I know that I broke all sorts of school rules and I know that it was wrong of me but… Ginny is going to be all right and we solved the puzzle of the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk is dead so no one will ever be hurt by it again. I didn't know that it was going to Voldemort, I swear."

Sirius sighed and kissed Harry's forehead. "Yeah, Prongslet, you're good. We're not angry at you for rescuing Ginny, we're angry at the situation. It's not fair that you were the one forced to go rescue her."

"But I'm the only one who could open the Chamber of Secrets!"

Sirius nodded and kissed Harry's forehead. "You are twelve years old and you should have gone to a teacher, to Auntie Minnie, and I know why you didn't, I know you were worried that she wouldn't believe you a second time. And Remus and I weren't available to you because of the full moon, and Dumbledore had been forced from the school to attend the board meetings under my direction to avoid talk about suspending him and goddamn it, you did what you had to do! I get that, but I don't like it — and I don't like that you kept all of this from me, that Minnie and Albus both did. I don't like that you wouldn't let me stay with you; that you made me wait to hear about all of this! And I especially don't like that you kept telling me how fine you were. You are not fine after all of this, Prongslet. You should have told Uncle Moony and I earlier. You should have let us stay with you."

Harry nodded. "I'm sorry."

Sirius let out a slow breath. "This was a lot to take in at all once." He kissed Harry's forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too, Uncle Padfoot," Harry told him, wrapping his arms tight around Sirius and resting his cheek against his father's heart. He could see the fear and worry in his eyes and he didn't want him to worry any more. "I didn't mean to make you worry. I just… Uncle Moony needed you that night."

Remus leaned in to kiss the top of Harry's head. "I am a grown man, Harry, and you always come first; over everything including it being the full moon."

Sirius sighed. "Here I was worried about meeting Zee's parents and I knew that you weren't bloody-well fine, but you wouldn't talk to me!"

Harry sighed as Sirius burrowed him closer to him in another bone-crushing hug. "I'm sorry, Uncle Sirius. I just… I wanted to prove that I was okay by myself that I didn't need… you to… I didn't want to feel like a little kid."

Sirius kissed the top of his head. "Never again, Harry. Never again are you to keep anything like this a secret from me. I want to know everything. Depending on someone else doesn't make you a child, it makes you human. We all need friends and family to love and support us. Okay?"

Harry nodded, grinning when Remus tightened his grip on their big group hug. "I promise. I'm sorry that I pushed you away."

Sirius sighed. "Forgiven, but only because I'm so damn happy to have you home right now." He kissed the top of his head.

They were quiet for a long moment and then Harry's stomach grumbled loudly and Remus chuckled. "I think our growing boy is looking for dinner."

Harry smiled at his two fathers. "What are we having?"

Sirius kissed his forehead again and dragged his fingers through his hair. "I forgot to go shopping so, how about we order a pizza?"

Harry grinned. "Okay. After dinner, can you maybe show me how to ride the motorbike, Uncle Padfoot?"

Remus looked at Harry in surprise. "Harry, I think that you're a bit young for that yet."

Sirius smiled. "I told him if he kept his grades up and stayed out of trouble we'd talk about it, but with exams being cancelled, how do I know that you had good marks?"

"Oh, come on!" Harry said, desperately, making him laugh.

"We'll talk about it. Not tonight, but we'll discuss it in more length. You are only twelve after all."

"I'll be thirteen in July."

"And thirteen is still a bit young to be driving," Remus said again, looking at Sirius like he had completely lost his mind.

Harry shrugged. "Ron drove in September."

Sirius' brow furrowed. "Oh? He did, did he? You mean when the two of you stole Mr Weasley's car and flew it to Hogwarts illegally breaking the statute of secrecy?"

Harry blushed. "Er, yeah, we'll talk about it later."

"Wise words, Prongslet," Sirius said with an amused look in his grey eyes. "Wise words."

~ ASC ~

But after Harry went up to bed that night, the last thing on Sirius' mind was sleep. Remus had stuck around, saying goodnight to his son before he watched his friend pace frantically in the living room. Sirius knew that Remus understood him well enough not to question him until he spoke. He had been trying to work out Harry's story most of the night in his mind.

A Basilisk.

The Chamber of Secrets.

The Sword of Gryffindor.

The diary.

Tom Marvolo Riddle.

Voldemort.

It all seemed so unreal.

But what seemed the most unreal to him was the idea that the shade or the ghost of Riddle had come to life in corporeal form through a diary. The diary that possessed Ginny Weasley; that fed on her soul and brought her fears to the forefront in a way that nagged at him. He remembered something that his grandfather had once said about committing a crime so heinous that it split one's soul into pieces; something about some of the darkest magic imaginable.

He turned to look at his friend, his eyes wide and muttered a privacy charm around the living room in case Harry came back downstairs.

"It was part of him, Moony."

Remus raised an eyebrow at his friend's words and Sirius dragged his hands through his long locks.

"The diary. Voldemort put a part of himself inside of it."

"His memories in some form, yes," Remus said carefully as he watched his friend continue to pace. "We established that. It is how he was able to possess Ginny so completely. I must admit, it's a form of dark magic that I didn't know was possible."

Sirius shook his head. "That doesn't add up for me. What kind of object is powerful enough to possess another human being in any form without direct correlation with a ghost? It would leave a trail of some kind — whether it was ectoplasm or sulphur, a residue of the ghost would be there. This had none of those things. It wasn't merely a simple possession, that diary fed on her very soul. It sought out her worst fears and brought them to the forefront of her mind in such a way that she clung to that diary even after realizing that it was a bad thing to have. Ginny's a smart kid, Remus; a simple object possession would not exert that much control over her."

Remus nodded, his eyes on his friend, but still not quite understanding what Sirius was getting at. "What else could it be? Dumbledore said that it possessed her."

"Dumbledore isn't always right, Moony," Sirius replied, running his fingers over the stubble on his face. "He's the most brilliant man that I know, true, but he's not all knowing. However, in this instance, I think that he has part of it right, I just wonder if he put the other piece together."

"What other piece?" Remus asked, completely bewildered now.

Sirius turned to stare at his friend. "Rem, do you remember the first time that I went back to Grimmauld Place with Harry?"

Remus nodded. "You brought him to me and told me that he would need extra love that night. He clung to me and woke up screaming a few hours later."

"Kreacher told me that night that Reg had gone after something that Voldemort had hidden in a seaside cave. A locket that he knew was vitally important to Voldemort and had to be destroyed, but he was killed before he could follow through with it and Kreacher couldn't open the locket to destroy it," Sirius told him. "When I was near it… Merlin, the memories swamped me like stepping into a deep fog. I could feel the torture my mother inflicted upon me in those memories. I could the memory of my father's belt, the feel of the Cruciatus… it was like I was back there, like it was happening all over again. And then Harry started crying and begging me to put the locket down — and I did. I ran out of there, thinking of nothing else but keeping him safe."

"You brought it to Dumbledore."

Sirius nodded and glanced up at the clock. "I did. And I think that it's time the two of us have a chat about it once more. Can you stay?"

"Of course, Padfoot, but what is it that you need to chat with him about?"

Sirius shook his head. "I'll explain after. I'm not sure that I want to believe where my mind is going first. Not until I'm completely sure — because Merlin, I hope I'm wrong."

Remus nodded, but he was watching his friend with worry in his eyes. "Of course."

Sirius only gave his friend a grateful smile and sent a Floo call asking to meet with Dumbledore. Five minutes later he disappeared into the fireplace and stepped out into Dumbledore's office.

Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk absentmindedly stroking Fawkes, the destroyed diary sitting in the middle of his desk. He nodded at Sirius.

"I had thought that you might want to speak with me after speaking to young Harry."

Sirius moved to sit across from him, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Is that what I think it is?"

Dumbledore looked up in surprise. "Is it?"

Sirius stared him down. The last thing that he felt like doing was listening to his old Headmaster's cryptic words. "Don't play games with me, Albus, it's late and what I want to talk to you about is more serious than anything either one of us can possibly imagine. You should have spoken to me that night."

Dumbledore simply touched the tips of his fingers together. "I'm not sure what you are implying, Sirius. I had assumed that you wished to speak with me about Harry and Harry was just fine as you saw for yourself."

"Harry was hardly fine but… he wanted to wait to talk to Remus and I so I respected that, but you should have told me what happened! You should have told me what it was that he fucking faced down there! You should have prepared me for what he dealt with!"

Dumbledore nodded, his blue eyes on Sirius. "You're right. I should have come forward and discussed it with you and I didn't. I let you go off to be with Remus, which is where you were needed that night and where Harry knew that you needed to be."

Sirius stared at him. "Remus is a grown man and as much as I need to be there for him, nothing on this earth comes before my son and before my son's well being! That's an excuse for you being too cowardly to tell me that Harry came face-to-face with Voldemort again in this school! You should have told me about that diary, Albus!"

Dumbledore held up the diary with the giant hole through the middle that he had kept on his desk. It was still covered in black ink and in blood. "This can do no more damage, it was completely decimated by the Basilisk venom."

"An object that can possess another human being, possess someone so completely that it was feeding off their very soul is not something that most of us have seen before. In fact, a possession that powerful is a hell of a lot more than a ghost or a mere memory," Sirius said carefully, his eyes on Dumbledore's clear blue ones. "I remember when I was a child, my grandfather once told Reg and I a story about wizards who had created a spell for almost everything including immortality, but that most wizards feared it because it involved murder, which ripped their soul to shreds."

Dumbledore's two pointer fingers tapped together or a moment. "I've spent the last few weeks pondering the same thoughts, Sirius, but I didn't know when Harry gave this to me that night. I didn't truly know what this was, not for sure."

Sirius simply nodded. He tapped his fingers on his knee and knelt forward, his eyes on Dumbledore. "But you suspected."

When Dumbledore didn't answer him, he sighed.

"I once brought you a locket that possessed both Harry and I of terrible memories and moments so keen in my past, that I almost felt like I had been transported back to that time and place in my life, that I'd rather forget about. My priority at the time was keeping Harry safe and nothing else mattered to me so I brought it to you. We spoke about it once and you told me that you've kept it locked away; that you haven't attempted to open it and find out the candy prize within."

Dumbledore nodded, standing up and moving to his vault hidden behind one of the portraits. He waved his wand and the vault opened and a few minutes later he pulled out the little ornamental box that he had once placed the locket inside of and pulled out the necklace, placing it on the desk next to the diary. "You believe them both to be pieces of each other."

It wasn't a question, but Sirius responded anyway. "Do you think that I'm wrong?"

Dumbledore stared down at the two objects for a long moment. "He was always an intelligent student, Tom. He was always looking for more and wanting to increase his knowledge in every way possible, but… I guess I never wanted to imagine that he could be capable enough to do it; nor to find the knowledge on how to accomplish it. Hogwarts hasn't carried books with that kind of knowledge in centuries — though we both know that that they exist."

Sirius stood up and moved around the desk to take a closer look at the locket. The immense darkness he could feel pulsing from it, pushing on his own memories, had him stepping back again. "I should have known it for what it was the moment that I saw it. He made a fucking Horcrux."

The Headmaster furrowed his brow as he stared at the locket as if lost in deep thought. "Your grandfather truly told two young boys about something as dark as a Horcrux?"

Sirius snorted. "My family and anything remotely to do with dark magic? Of course he did. He claimed that Blacks should be proud of that knowledge. The stuff he used to read to us gave Regulus nightmares as a kid and I know that we have books on the subject in the library of Grimmauld Place. But Albus, this locket, the power it wields, how house elf magic bounced off of it the way that it did… this thing has to contain part of his soul. What else could it be?"

Dumbledore frowned at that. "I have to agree with you. I admit that I haven't looked at the locket more than once since we put it away, I put it from my mind, but the moment I heard Harry's tale… about how Tom was able to remove himself from the diary and gain corporeal form… you think that this diary was a Horcrux as well?"

"Are you telling me that you don't?" Sirius asked him incredulously. "If that's not a Horcrux — I'll snog Snape."

Dumbledore chuckled at that. "That will hardly be necessary, though entertaining for the rest of us, I'm sure. No, I am fairly positive that this was not only a Horcrux, but most likely the first one he ever made. He was… resourceful and brilliant and very charismatic when he was at school here and I imagine that he used all of that to perfection when speaking to young Ginny through the diary."

"And Harry said that when the fang slid through the pages there was a screaming sound that sliced through the air, which I would imagine is the sound one's soul makes when it is destroyed — and he has two of them."

"If indeed two is what he truly went for," he advised cautiously.

Sirius paled and sat back down. "You think there are more? How else was he able to escape the Potters' that night? He should have died when that spell rebounded on him. Of course he made more!" Sirius exclaimed almost to himself.

"A lot of questions about that night have always bothered me, Sirius. Many of which I am still ashamed of, including believing you guilty of betrayal," Dumbledore said, quietly. "But no, any other wizard would have died, yes, but he was prepared. It's why he came looking for the Philosopher's Stone last year and how Lucius managed to smuggle this into the school this year… he's working on finding himself a body again."

"Without possessing another human?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "I believe that takes too much energy and he would always be at war with the dominant soul in which the body resides. The only alternative would be to choose a body in which a Dementor had sucked the soul from, only then would he have full control over the mind of that person, but it would never be ideal, for it would still be possession and not his own. Even then… he must be searching for some way to come back. If this locket is put into the wrong hands… he could come back again, stronger than ever."

Sirius stared at him. "Voldemort placed parts of his soul in that locket and in the diary, in some sick way of trying to live forever… I was hoping on some level that you were here to tell me that I was wrong."

"I wish you were, Sirius, but this is proof that he was searching for immortality and that he used dark magic to try to obtain it. As long as there are pieces of his soul stored away somewhere, he cannot be truly killed. For a man's soul is as much a part of him as the rest, if not more vital to who that man is."

Sirius stared at the locket for a long moment. "My grandfather always said that to kill a man's soul was to burn it alive with Fiendfyre. He taught me the spell when I was thirteen and I almost burnt the house down."

"A very dangerous spell and one that can turn in a second upon he who cast it. Controlling it in any case is difficult for even the most advanced of Charmers. But yes, there are two known ways to kill a living soul, which in turn could also then destroy a Dementor — for if the souls inside of them are destroyed, they would burn from the inside out."

"Fiendfyre and —?"

Dumbledore merely gestured to the ruined diary on his desk. "Basilisk venom as Harry discovered."

Sirius' eyes widened. "Of course! The venom of a Basilisk is corrosive! When Harry told me that it had bit him… it has the ability to kill a soul and therefore destroy a Horcrux. We need to get down into that Chamber and get some more of those fangs."

"I would like to go down into the Chamber, Sirius, but I cannot access it and Fawkes cannot get me down there. He was able to aid Harry when he needed him, but he can't take me below to the Chamber of Secrets otherwise."

"Can't phoenixes just flash you anywhere you wish to go?"

"Usually," Dumbledore agreed. "But it seems the Chamber has wards against it — I tried. However, the Chamber of Secrets does need to be seen. The body of the Basilisk needs to be removed from the school for one thing, and for another, it needs to be made safe once more in case another student somehow discovers it. It is part of Hogwarts and it's history," Dumbledore said, carefully.

Sirius nodded. "Of that we're in two minds, but if you can't get down there, that's not going to happen."

Dumbledore made to speak and Sirius simply shook his head.

"Don't even think about suggesting it, Albus."

"He would only need to open the door."

"No!" Sirius exclaimed, his eyes flashing in anger. "He almost died down there! If your phoenix hadn't shown up and healed him, he would be dead, eaten by that fucking monster! Do you really think that I would ever make him go back down there and see the body of the monster he killed? To bring up those kinds of memories? He found his first friend in the world bleeding on the floor down there and you want him to go back! Absolutely not!"

Dumbledore sighed and twirled a finger in his long white beard. "It might be good for him, Sirius. To face it once more, to talk about it and to open up about what he saw down there."

"He did talk about it and we will discuss it more at length, don't you worry about that, but there's no way in hell that I am letting him go back down there, Albus! It's the playhouse of the fucking Heir of Slytherin, who bloody knows what else is down there? The Basilisk could have been child's play. There's obviously still wards and protection spells below to keep it hidden — and strong ones at that!" Sirius said, his voice rising. "It could be a trap down there."

"All valid points," Dumbledore said calmly. "But I really do insist that you speak with your son about venturing back as I really do need to get in there at some point and if Basilisk venom is our best chance of destroying Horcruxes, we are going to have to get some of those fangs."

Sirius simply narrowed his eyes. "Over my dead body."

"Think about it, Sirius. Think about what we were just discussing. Do you honestly think that these two objects are the only pieces of Voldemort's soul? I can tell you with great certainty that I do not. I taught Riddle for seven years and it was I who first visited him at the Muggle orphanage that he grew up in to tell him that he was a wizard. Having known the boy and then the young man, if I had to wager a guess, I'd say he made at least three, but in all reality, he would have aimed higher. He would have aimed for a number of important magical value. A number that he knew to be worthy of such a task."

He knew what the headmaster was saying. He knew exactly what number Voldemort would have considered such a high prize and he could feel his heart beating erratically in his chest as he spoke.

"You think that he bloody-well split his soul into seven sodding pieces?"

"It would make the most sense, would it not?"

Sirius buried his face in his hands and swallowed slowly. "Bloody buggering hell! What are they? How would we ever even begin to find them?"

Dumbledore sighed and tapped his fingers on the desk. "That is the question. I would like to go back and to investigate Riddle's past a little more thoroughly. You did intrigue me enough to do some research over the last few years, specifically pertaining to where your brother found the locket."

"In the cave?"

"By a seaside where the orphanage used to take the children over the summer break," Dumbledore said, his fingers tapping gently. "Riddle was a bully even then, harassing the other children and determined to get his way. He kept trophies and when I found them in his wardrobe, I made him give them back. I think something important happened to him that day in that cave and that was why he chose it. But as to what else he could have chosen, I am not sure."

"He's the Heir of Slytherin, right? So, that makes him a Gaunt? The Gaunts were the last known ancient house from Slytherin's direct line. Did he know?" Sirius said, mentally checking the pureblood genealogy chart that had been ingrained into his brain since he had been a child.

"I suspected that he found out in '42, but I never had any definitive proof," Dumbledore admitted. "The summer before the Chamber of Secrets was opened, an entire Muggle family was murdered in the town of Little Hangleton. The Gaunts lived near there and the son, Morfin, was arrested for the murders of the family. He died in Azkaban prison. He confessed to the murders, but I thought that it was suspicious at the time."

Sirius merely raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Dumbledore sighed. "He had no reason to murder those Muggles. His father and sister were both dead, he was the last member of the Gaunt family that he knew of and Tom had been asking many of the teachers about who his family was, where he hailed from — as he was convinced that his father must have been a very powerful wizard. He never once considered that the power came from his mother. And the family who was murdered? Their son was also called Tom Riddle."

Sirius crossed his arms in front of him. "You've been doing more than just research, Albus, you were keeping fucking tabs on him. For how long? Since the beginning?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "No, but I wish had. Tom had… he had something that when I first met him alarmed me on some level, but he was a child, Sirius, a child who was a bit of a bully. He was a child who obviously enjoyed using his powers to sway his will over others even before ever stepping through the doors of Hogwarts. The woman who ran the orphanage had even informed me that he was a strange boy and when I spoke to him and told him that he was a wizard, he simply looked at me as if he had known it all along. He said he always knew that he was different." He stood up and moved to the cupboard against the wall. "Let me show you my memory of that day…"

Sirius nodded and let Dumbledore project his memory in the Pensieve and he watched as a much younger Dumbledore approached the Muggle orphanage. Sirius watched in fascination as the matron led Dumbledore up the stairs making comments about what a strange boy Tom was and she gave the impression that she was desperately hoping someone would take him away by her comments and actions.

"You set his wardrobe on fire? That seems a little harsh?" Sirius said with a snort once they exited the memory.

Dumbledore shrugged nonchalantly. "He wanted proof and I think that I wanted to scare him a little. See how he demanded of me to tell him the truth, as if he was used to manipulating people in some way? I could feel him pressing on my mind almost like an Imperius that wanted me to succumb to his will, but I mastered Occlumency many years ago and I could feel what he was trying to do. He terrified and terrorized the other children. The matron believed that he was the one who had strangled another child's pet rabbit and he seemed to enjoy hurting others, having control over them. I worried about him a bit and I worried about what he would be like when he came to the school for I could see that he had strong ambitions, but he was also cruel as well as a thief. I wanted to keep my eye on him."

"And did you?"

"I did, but he was very respectful when he arrived at Hogwarts — almost a different person. He was immediately sorted into Slytherin House and all of the teachers had nothing, but kind words to say about him. He was intelligent and bright and wanted to learn everything that he could about magic and its history," Dumbledore admitted. "He was very different from the boy whom I had met in the orphanage. When I saw him trying to find his family, I did a bit of my own research in an effort to assist him and I think that I learned who his mother was just after he did. Merope Gaunt, the sister of Morfin."

"What happened to her?"

"She died during childbirth and the father wanted nothing to do with her nor his child. I contemplated going to Tom with this information, letting him know that I knew who the ancient wizarding family was that he had come from and discovering that a Tom Riddle lived in the nearby town, a wealthy Muggle."

Sirius nodded. "A wealthy Muggle… that certainly would have pissed me off. Mum's dead, dad's got money, but he was put into an orphanage? I can see the rage there."

Dumbledore nodded. "Exactly. So, I waited, I thought that I would see how he dug into the family history before I shared what I knew. And less than two months later, Tom Riddle Senior and both of his parents were found murdered at their dinner table with not a mark on them. The Muggles were flabbergasted which is how Aurors were brought on the scene. Morfin Gaunt was a known Muggle hater who lived nearby and when he was brought in for questioning, he confessed to the crime. Morfin had a speedy trial and was sent to Azkaban. When Tom came back to Hogwarts a few weeks later, he was wearing a signet ring of the House of Slytherin."

"How did he get that?" Sirius asked.

"Exactly my question so, I obtained permission from Auror Arnold Moody to visit Morfin Gaunt in Azkaban and I discovered that someone had planted false memories into his brain. By the time I cleared the cobwebs, I discovered that Tom had found him and questioned his family background only to learn that he had come from a Muggle father," Dumbledore explained. "I told Arnold that I believed Morfin was innocent of the murders, but he already had a signed confession and the man was very ill. He died soon after."

Sirius was pacing back and forth across the office now. "You think that he created the diary then? When he returned to school, he used the deaths of his own family to split his soul the first time and he created the diary at what… sixteen years of age?"

"I do. After he accused Hagrid of the crime, he knew that he couldn't open the Chamber of Secrets again without getting caught. I suspected him then as well, but once again, I had no definitive proof and Headmaster Dippet insisted that Tom could never have been responsible. I had no physical evidence to tie him to the crime of it."

"But you said that Morfin's memory was changed? By him?"

Dumbledore sighed. "It is my belief, yes, but Morfin's memory was of speaking to Riddle and then someone obliviating him. He did not actually see his nephew kill the family nor see Riddle as the one to obliviate him."

Sirius nodded, his eyes widening. "I bet the signet ring is one. Think about it. It was a Gaunt family heirloom, probably one of the only things that they even had left of Salazar Slytherin. The locket probably belonged to his mother. I bet the ring is a Horcrux as well."

"It very well could be," Dumbledore agreed, scratching his long nose. "But we don't know where he could have hidden it."

Sirius sighed and took his seat again. "Albus, we need to seriously discuss getting a team together and trying to find these monstrosities. They need to all be found and destroyed, preferably before he finds another body. He cannot come back. I won't let him near Harry. Not again. We need to form a team of witches and wizards and start hunting for these things as soon as possible."

Dumbledore nodded, his blue eyes squinting behind his half moon spectacles. "Sirius, do you know why I insisted so vehemently for James and Lily to go into hiding with young Harry?"

He shook his head. "Not officially, but I had gotten the impression from James that it was because Voldemort was after them directly — because the Potters wouldn't join his cause, and James kept escaping his grasp. Then at Wormtail's trial, we found out that he wanted Harry dead."

"Yes, he wanted Harry dead and that was the reason that I insisted, Sirius," he said carefully. "I've been pondering this for many years, telling myself that I shouldn't tell you, that it would only alarm you, but after this, after everything… you need to know."

"What do I need to know?"

"There was a prophecy, Sirius."

Sirius snorted. "Albus, we both know that Divination is complete bullshit."

Dumbledore smiled and folded his hands in front of him. "Usually I would agree with you, but there are some who do have the sight; some who are truly gifted with seeing the future. One of those people is Sybil Trelawney, at least in terms of one night many years ago when I was interviewing her for a new position as the Divination professor here at Hogwarts. As I was finishing up the interview, having determined that she was actually a fraud and possessed none of the sight that her grandmother, Cassandra, had been blessed with — she gave a very real prophecy."

"How do you know that it was real if you had already considered her to be fraud?" Sirius asked him, his golden eyes looking at Dumbledore in curiosity.

"She had no memory of it after she spoke the words, Sirius, and trust me, it was very real."

Sirius simply swallowed slowly. His gut was clenching uncomfortably now and he knew that he wasn't going to like what Dumbledore was telling him. "What did it say?"

Dumbledore leaned forward in his chair. "The prophecy warned of a child who would be born at the end of July, who would have the power to defeat the darkest wizard that the world had seen in centuries. There were two babies born at the end of July that year, Harry and Neville."

Sirius stared at the headmaster before he spoke. "You had both the Potters and the Longbottoms go into hiding. Why? It's not like Voldemort knew about this prophecy?"

"A Death Eater, who had been spying on me, overheard part of it. He did not hear the entire prophecy, but only the beginning and it was enough to worry Lord Voldemort and enough to make him decide that killing the child was the best course of action."

"What did it say, Albus?" Sirius demanded.

Dumbledore sighed and carefully extracted the memory from his mind, lying it in the Pensieve and pointing his wand to the basin. A woman in a shawl with large glasses rose from the swirling liquid, her voice trance-like as she spoke.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"

Sirius stared at Dumbledore, his eyes wide. "Does that mean…?"

Dumbledore waved his wand and the image of Trelawney disappeared. "That Voldemort chose Harry to be his equal and ultimately marked him as the one with the power to destroy him… the answer is yes, Sirius. Harry is the one who is destined to kill Voldemort."

End Author's Notes:

Just a helpful reminder and no, I am still not officially splitting up this story.

Part I: Chapters 1-49 — Harry's first year with his dads. (1985-1986)

Part II: Chapters 50-61 — Harry ages 7-11. (1987-1991)

Part III: Chapters 62-73 — Harry's first year at Hogwarts. (1991-1992)

Part IV: Chapters 74-105— Harry's second year at Hogwarts. (1992-1993)

Part V: Chapters 106-present — Harry's third year at Hogwarts. (1993-)

Thank you and please review!