A/n: we're in a we period...

The tendrils of fog solidified into Professor Slughorn's dining room, he sat there with a group of school aged boys with Tom Riddle at his right hand. Kurt didn't comment on the fact that this culled Slug Club was lacking in female members, this made him wonder if Professor Dumbledore had been catholic about the potions master collecting Harry. Voldemort looked slightly younger than he had in the Chamber of Secrets but that handsome arrogance was unmistakable, the way he carried himself was familiar and the emptiness in his eyes was known to Kurt.

The group made small talk, Voldemort presented Professor Slughorn with some candied pineapple- Kurt knew instantly that Harry's suggestion that he would bring the potions master candied pineapple was a call back to this memory, a sloppy one that could have derailed their entire plan and he made a mental note to chastise the boy for this. He also realised why the man had distanced himself from Kurt; he and Voldemort could have been two sides of the same coin and, given Kurt's parentage, it would be easy to believe that he had been tasked by the Dark Lord to keep an eye on him.

Kurt watched as the cold but obsequious young man played on all the same strings Kurt had in his manipulation of the potions master, it made Kurt feel uncomfortable. Charlie's words echoed in his mind, 'you don't have to become them to defeat them.' But Kurt worried that he was too far gone, that he was naturally too much like the Dark Lord and that he had stepped too far from goodness in his service of the right. He wasn't worried about falling to the dark arts or turning evil but that he was too willing to make sacrifices in order to fulfil his obligation to the war he was fighting.

Kurt refocused on the scene as silence washed over the room, he watched the Slytherin seniors of a century ago leave the room and with them, both of his grandfathers. Rodric LeStrange was a peer of Voldemort's, a hulking figure who already looked like he could hold Jadis in one hand- the man was dark and silent, carrying himself with the same imposing propriety that Kurt had seen in Rudolphus. Cygnus was younger than the rest of the gang but he carried himself like he was their better, a son of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black- he was handsome, looked like his face had been carved by angels, and you could tell that he knew it.

Tom Riddle, Kurt knew that the young man already self-identified as Lord Voldemort at this point, walked over to the very hourglass that Kurt had observed Harry admiring. Kurt narrowed his gaze as Tom flicked the artefact curiously.

"Interesting piece," the potions master remarked.

The boy who could have been Kurt's brother smirked, "indeed, I've never seen anything like it."

"It's a very limited piece," Professor Slughorn preened under the praise, "you'll be hard pressed to find another like it anywhere."

Tom quirked a curious brow, "I'm sure the tale of how you came by such a piece is quite thrilling."

"Au contraire," the portly man chuckled, "it was gifted to me by a former student, I could regale you with tale of the wrapping paper till the sun came up but then your head of house might have us both in detention."

"What makes it so special?"

"Well," the man leaned forward and Kurt thought things were about to get catholic, "the pace of the sand inside the hourglass is determined by the quality of the conversation, the sand will move more slowly if the conversation is scintillating and… well, you get it."

"No pressure," Tom deadpanned.

"You need not worry Tom," the potions professor flashed a prison of tiny teeth, "I find our little conversations ever so enjoyable, no matter what that priceless, one of a kind artefact say."

And then Lord Voldemort laughed, not the forced laughter that he'd shared with his followers in the graveyard two years prior but genuine and heartfelt laughter- it was jarring to think that the Dark Lord had once laughed like this. It made Kurt wonder if there was something specific that had gone wrong in this child's life to create the monster he became but he knew that it was a series of choice that had led him down that path; Bellatrix and Andromeda had the same upbringing and were nearly identical but their lives had diverged completely.

"Professor," Looked the man dead in the eyes, and executed a perfect innocent puppy look, "I was wondering, are there certain kinds of magic that you're not allowed to teach us?"

"I don't understand what you mean."

"I came across something in the restricted section of the library and-"

Professor Slughorn shook his head, "That sounds like the purview of your Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor."

"I know," the young man whined, "it's just Professor Merrythought is so curriculum oriented that she would simply dismiss the question." The man didn't look moved and Tom smiled invitingly, "besides, nobody understands like you do… she might misinterpret the curiosity of youth at her age."

He fixed his perfect hair and tilted his head, the potions master melted under the flattery, "fine but this is purely a casual discussion, I don't want Professor Merrythought thinking that I'm overstepping… she still frightens me."

"Have you ever heard of a horcrux?" he tilted his head like a confused puppy, "it was briefly mentioned in an excerpt on Harpo the Foul without explanation."

"Well, a horcrux is a protective measure that one can take to protect themselves from death," the plump Professor nodded, his jowls not yet primed to quiver, "theoretically, you hide a piece of the soul and should you be killed and your body destroyed then the hidden piece would live on."

"How do you separate that piece of the soul?" the young man was captivated and drinking in every word that Professor Slughorn spoke.

"Well, the only way to split the soul that we know of at present is unrepentant murder," he sipped on his drink, "this fractures the soul and allows one to separate a piece."

"Can one only split the soul once?" Kurt noticed that the sand in the hourglass had come to a dead stop, "would it be possible to split the soul more than once?"

Professor Slughorn shrugged, "it would require a murder for each horcrux but it is theoretically possible."

"As many as seven times?"

"Seven is a powerful number," the man nodded, "six murders is six too many but in theory one could have seven soul pieces."

"And achieve immortality."

The man chuckled heartily, "we won't achieve Immortality for another fifty or so years…"

The scene dissolved into smoke and Kurt stepped back from the pensieve, he glanced at Harry and then at the headmaster, "You two spent a whole year on this?"

"Don't judge us," Professor Dumbledore crossed his arms.

"No," Kurt shook his head, "I'm going to judge the hell out of you."

"Well," Harry crossed his arms angrily, "what do you have?"

Kurt opened his purse and pulled out the untranslatable scroll, he handed it to the headmaster, "I have this."

"What does it say?" The man quirked a curious brow.

Kurt snatched it back and handed it to Harry, "wait for it."

"Find it in the place where he is buried," Harry furrowed his brow, "then a bunch of random numbers."

"It's written in parseltongue," Kurt smirked, "I'm not crazy, my cheese is still on its cracker."

The headmaster furrowed his brow, "nobody said you were crazy."

"Who is he?" Harry quirked a curious brow, "and what are the numbers?"

"The numbers are coordinates, I don't know who he is but I think it's a descendent of Ravenclaw," Kurt explained, "I'm not familiar with the system of coordinates but the structure suggests that much, five digits and then five digits."

"So," the headmaster leaned forward, "sounds like you have nothing as well."

"But, I made a lot more progress and used my time more efficiently than Harry," Kurt crossed his arms, "Harry almost got molested, almost became a mass murderer and got this memory while he was only taking five subjects."

"I was also quidditch captain, became good at potions and I went all the way with Lisa," Harry countered smugly.

"I, on the other hand; was a house prefect, am still top of our year, researched the deplorable word to this point, protected the children, tutored my peers, attempted to murder no one," Kurt shot Harry a pointed look, "helped you bumble your way through the year, fell in love with and started a relationship with Charlie, and am taking nine subjects."

"Fair point," Harry acquiesced.

"Speaking of my busy schedule," Kurt grabbed his bag and got to his feet, "I need to get back to being the best."

"Harry, you should go with Kurt," the headmaster smiled gently, "you have exams to prepare for."

"Shouldn't we make a plan on how to find the horcruxes?"

Kurt glanced at the headmaster, his rotting hand hidden from view, "we will."

"Another time," Professor Dumbledore nodded.

Kurt nodded as well, "Another country."

~0~

"Okay ladies," Kurt clapped his hands and called the group of sixth years to order, "time to get information."

"You do know that there are people of an equal number of each gender present," Ron reprimanded him.

"Do you want information or not?" Kurt cocked his hip expectantly and was met with Ron's silence. He smirked, "I thought as much." He tapped a piece of chalk with his wand and turned to the select group of his peers in management, "Here's what we know; Voldemort has created six horcruxes and we know of three, two of which have been destroyed."

Neville raised his hand, "Do I need to know what a horcrux is in order to carry on with this lesson?"

"No," Kurt smiled, "the less you know, the safer you are."

"So, Weasley is the safest person here," Tracey scoffed.

Ron turned up his nose, "I'm better than Harry, who wasn't even invited."

"Why isn't Harry here?" Neville furrowed his brow, "shouldn't he be in the most danger, he is the chosen one after all."

"I agree with Miranda's boyfriend," Tracey nodded, "Potter should be here."

"As right as Mandy is-"

"I spoke," Neville countered.

Mandy patted him on the head, "not now baby."

"Look," Kurt leaned forward, "I will explain Harry's absence at the end, is that okay with everyone?"

"Just go on," Hermione flashed him an assuring smile.

"The first horcrux was Tom Riddle's diary," Kurt explained, "it was given to Lucius Malfoy for safe keeping and was destroyed by me in second year with the Sword of Gryffindor." He started pacing as he delivered his lecture, "The second was the Gaunt family ring, which had been in his mother's family for centuries, and it was found by the headmaster in the Gaunt shack and destroyed with the Sword of Gryffindor."

"Can horcruxes be destroyed by something other than the Sword of Gryffindor?" Mandy asked with an eyeroll.

"Yes," Kurt supressed a smile, "Harpo the Foul destroyed his own more than a millennium before there was a Sword of Gryffindor."

"But why the Sword of Gryffindor?"

"Well," Hermione interjected, "it's goblin made, that means that it never corrodes and takes in only that which makes it stronger."

"I have the feeling that you're going somewhere with this but I don't care enough to think where," Tracey waited expectantly, "tell us."

"Harry stabbed the basilisk with it and as such, it is impregnated with basilisk venom," she explained, "for which there is only one known cure and which is known to destroy inanimate objects as well."

"It breaks the horcrux down because of the venom and kills the soul," Kurt nodded to himself, "noted."

"So, a basilisk fang could do the same thing?" Neville enquired.

"It would have to be freshly harvested from a living basilisk," Mandy shook her head, "the organic nature of the venom means that it would decompose over time…" she glared at Kurt, "we're not going to start breeding basilisks are we?"

"No," Kurt shook his head, "After our attempt to overthrow the government last year, I doubt we'd be forgiven for illegally breeding magical creatures."

"Let's stay focused on the horcrux lesson," Tracey redirected their attention to the rapidly filling chalk board.

"The third horcrux we know of is Helga Hufflepuff's chalice."

"You couldn't just say cup," Ron rolled his eyes.

Kurt rolled his eyes, "chalice is a more accurate description." He turned on his heels, "we don't know where that one is but there are three others that we don't know anything about."

"Not helpful," Tracey groaned.

"What we do know is that they are probably with his followers and in places that mean something to him, the objects are also significant in some way," Kurt explained, "Bellatrix will either have one or know where it is, she was his most trusted follower. Another is here at Hogwarts, it was where he connected with magic and where he became the Dark Lord."

"We also know that he doesn't know if the Horcruxes were destroyed," Hermione added, "he hasn't made any moves regarding the two which have been destroyed."

"Which is part of the reason Harry isn't here," Kurt let out a tired sigh, "and why you have been picked specifically."

"Are you going to tell us why?" Ron tried to cajole the truth from him.

Tracey rolled her eyes, "give him a second."

Kurt squared, "We're big picture people but Hermione and Ron have that morality thing that Gryffindors have."

"Having morals?" Hermione asked with a smirk.

"Yes," Neville rolled his eyes, "now be quiet."

"Voldemort can get into Harry's head," Kurt started softly, "he'd be able to find out about this operation if Harry knew too much at once and he might move to protect the remaining horcruxes."

"And…" Neville urged him to continue.

"I think Harry might be a horcrux," Kurt blurted out.

Hermione shook her head, "that's not possible."

"Not naturally, no," Kurt shook his head, "but Voldemort killed both of Harry's parents before he tried to kill Harry, his soul was fractured to the point of volatility and when his body was destroyed…"

"His soul's volatility probably caused the explosion," Tracey nodded to herself, "he retained control of the main soul piece and that is what lived on."

"So, there might be two accidental and primitive horcruxes out there," Kurt continued, "and I think Harry is one."

"It could be a chair in the house or something," Ron countered.

"Harry's scar bit me at the beginning of fourth year when I tried to dab it with a disinfectant," Kurt shook his head, "I thought it was because it was a cursed scar but I think it may be a horcrux, the diary could share memories and communicate- why not this?"

"Shouldn't we tell Harry?" Hermione furrowed her brow, "he should know."

"I don't want to tell him until I'm absolutely certain."

"How will you know for sure?"

Kurt took a deep breath, "After I destroy the Potter House in Godric's Hollow, I'll tell him then… before I murder him."

"Kurt!" Hermione and Ron exclaimed.

"He's right," Neville smiled sadly, "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, we'll all be sad that Harry's dead but if it saves the world…"

"You can't mean that," Hermione held back tears.

"It was probably a coin toss between Harry and me, that October night," Neville nodded to himself, "you guys could be discussing killing me and it would be the right thing to do."

"He's my best friend," Ron shook his head, "if we're going to kill him then we need to make him ready."

"Death is the next great adventure for the well-prepared mind," Mandy agreed.

Kurt shrugged, "I'll save him for last." He waved his wand and the piece of chalk fell still, "get him ready for the slaughter without making him aware of his impending doom."

"What are we doing?" Hermione buried her head in her hands.

"You're trying to figure out what the horcruxes are and where to find them," Kurt packed up his stuff, "I'm getting ready to kill someone."

~0~

Harry:

Harry wouldn't be able to tell you if it was instinct or something the man had done that had called his attention to the Astronomy tower that spring afternoon, he saw the headmaster looking over the school grounds from the vantage point. He didn't think twice before making his way through the castle and up the stairs till he came to the foot of the stairs leading up the tower, he paused for a moment when he heard voices but decided to climb anyway.

He stopped just short of the top when he heard the headmaster snap at his companion, "it has to be done!"

"Do you ever think that you ask too much?" Professor Snape pleaded, "don't you see that we're crossing a line that cannot be uncrossed."

"Severus, it must be you," the headmaster sounded resigned. Harry chose this moment to appear at the top of the stairs, "Harry, what brings you here?"

"I was hoping to have a word," he cleared his throat, "Privately."

Snape looked like Harry had spit in his face and he was deciding whether to smack Harry as Kurt had, he chose instead to turn to Dumbledore, "Headmaster."

Harry watched the man storm off with his robe bellowing behind him as he went, Kurt would call that walking with a vengeance. He turned to the headmaster and smiled, "What brings you to the Astronomy tower?"

"I just wanted to drink the school in," the man smiled sadly, "I've been here so long that I sometimes forget the majesty of this place."

"This school is one of my favourite places," Harry smiled broadly, "there's nowhere like it, you can tell that every part of this castle and each blade of grass has a story to tell." Harry pointed at a random spot on the floor, "there's a rumour that this is where Cedric Diggory deflowered Kurt." He pointed to the spot where the headmaster stood, "Hermione Granger first experimented with drugs right where you're standing."

"That's not an appropriate thing to say to a teacher," Dumbledore chuckled.

"So many lives have passed through these halls," Harry grinned, "other than the beauty of nature, other than the obvious magic of shifting staircases, there is something magical about this place."

"Be careful," the headmaster grinned, "you're starting to sound like me."

"You flatter me sir," Harry smiled broadly.

"I'm about to leave the school grounds," the man spoke without looking at Harry, "I believe that I have tracked down the location of another Horcrux and-"

"Can I come with you?"

"You forget yourself," the man reprimanded him, sounding too much like Kurt.

"Sorry," Harry bowed his head in mock shame, "Please may I come with you."

"Better," the headmaster turned to face him, "but not what I meant."

"What did you mean?"

The man flashed his injured hand, "you aren't quite ready to face the dangers that come with this undertaking."

"I'm ready!" he countered.

The elderly man shook his head, "you still have so much to learn."

"I'm not going to learn it in Defence Against the Dark Arts class," Harry shook his head, "And as extensive as Kurt's curriculum is, it won't be the same as coming with you." He took a deep breath and channelled Kurt, "Voldemort is obsessed with me and I'll have to be a part of this whether I like it or not, might as well see how the greatest sorcerer alive faces a deluge of the Dark Lord's obstacles."

The headmaster smirked, "Your first attempt at using the word deluge?"

"Yes, Lisa got me a word a day calendar," Harry blushed, "How am I doing?"

"You're doing her quite proud," the man looked over the school grounds once more, "I would have put my money on you and Ms Granger declaring relationship status."

"Hermione?" Harry scoffed, holding back his laughter but not too well.

Dumbledore tilted his head, "I clearly missed the mark on that one."

"Hermione is brilliant but she's more like a sister to me," Harry tried his hardest not to smile, "I could never stand up next to Viktor, he has biceps." He shook his head, "that makes him sound one dimensional and her shallow, Viktor is shy and sentimental."

"I wish I'd found a boyfriend who was shy and sentimental in my life…" he looked down at his hands, "but Hogwarts was the great love of my life."

There was an awkward silence hanging between them and Harry spoke to clear the air, "Charlie is handsome, charming, intelligent, distinguished and he has biceps."

"So," the headmaster breathed heavily, "Kurt's type." The pair chuckled and everything seemed to be back on track until the man stopped laughing, the air seemed to go completely still, "Harry, if I were to bring you with me you would have to promise me that you would follow my every instruction to a tee."

"Of course, Professor."

Dumbledore shook his head, "that might mean leaving me to die." Harry was silent and the man tilted his head expectantly, "before we go anywhere, I need your explicit assurance."

"You've read Kurt's guide to managing Harry Potter," he rolled his eyes and crossed his fingers, "I promise to follow every instruction you give me, including but not limited to leaving you to die."

Dumbledore narrowed his gaze, "you are not the least bit sneaky, not the least bit cleaver."

"It's clear to see who influences whom."

"Take my hand and be quiet," the headmaster rolled his eyes. Harry cautiously reached out for his hand, "My good hand."

"You promised to tell me about that last year," Harry scolded.

Dumbledore tilted his head in confusion, "You weren't there when I told Kurt?" Harry shook his head, "Well, he called the tale boring. Really took the wind out of my sails… suppose it might be more interesting now that we know about horcruxes."

"You could try me now," Harry shrugged, "Before we face uncertain doom."

"Fine, I'll do it but I won't enjoy it," he crossed his arms, hiding his injured hand, "when I tried to destroy the ring, not knowing it was a horcrux or what a horcrux was, it inflicted this curse upon me. Professor Snape saved my life that day."

"I'm going to assume those are Cliff's notes," Harry nodded.

"No, my name is Albus," the man peered at him with suspicion, "I don't know a 'Cliff'."

Harry shook his head, "let's just go."

Hope you like it!