"Horcrux? Sirius, that is absolutely absurd." Regulus replied. "It's not. I wish I weren't right; but I am. This is bad. This is bloody terrible." Sirius mumbled to himself. "Sirius, Sirius; calm down for a second. Now, take it slowly. Tell me how on earth you arrived at this impossible conclusion."
Sirius took a deep breath and tried to stem the train of thought. "Look, do you remember what father had once said about horcruxes? A Horcrux is an object in which a Dark wizard or witch has hidden a fragment of his or her soul for the purpose of attaining immortality. It can only be created by cold-blooded murder of an innocent soul. That has always been Voldemort's ultimate goal: immortality. When Harry destroyed that diary, he didn't just remove Voldemort's memory from it. He destroyed a part of his soul. That's why Voldemort's very weak now."
"Okay. But what in Merlin's name does that have to do with Harry?" Regulus was utterly baffled. "A person's soul is not something that can be easily scattered and forgotten about. Voldemort split his soul into a few bits. Although the pieces were hidden in different corners of the earth; they were still connected to one another. That's why, when the diary was destroyed, so was the horcrux inside it."
"So that's why Harry's feeling tired?" Regulus asked. "Exactly. Since the different parts of the soul are connected, the destruction of one of them affects the others as well." Although Sirius' voice sounded calm, his mind was in complete turmoil. He didn't know how Voldemort had done it but he had somehow managed to hide a part of his soul inside Harry's body.
His son was a horcrux. There was a piece of Voldemort's soul tucked somewhere deep inside Harry. Sirius wasn't sure if this weakness would escalate into something else but he wanted to nip this at the bud itself. His pup had been through a lot. He didn't want any more problems for Harry.
Harry's soul was pure while Voldemort's was the most evil, dark and heartless soul that existed. "So what do you want to do now?" Regulus inquired. Sirius shook his head, at a loss. "I don't know, Reg. I just don't know. I need to tell Harry about it, he deserves to know. As for a solution; I won't rest until I've found one." Sirius answered with a steely glint of determination in his eyes.
"We will find a way, don't worry. We're aware of the cause now; the solution isn't far away." Regulus assured him. "I hope so, Regulus. This is something entirely different from the problems we've dealt with so far. I can't believe I didn't know." Sighing, Sirius ran his hand through his hair, trying to control his emotions.
His thoughts wandered to the boy who was sound asleep upstairs. There had to be a way. "When did Voldemort do this?" Regulus asked, looking equally disturbed.
Sirius was about to reply that he didn't know but that's when the answer hit him. He did know! "On the night he murdered Lily and James." He replied quietly. "How do you know?"
Sirius wished he didn't know; but one by one, his mind was being bombarded with answers. "That was the only night he could've done it. After that, he lost his power. In the chamber, although he wasn't weak, he wasn't real either. He was just a memory. He wouldn't have been able to split his soul, because there wasn't anything inside him. The damage had already been done."
The man felt horrible. He had no idea what to do. He knew quite a bit about horcruxes, which meant that he was also aware of how to destroy them. But, they were all extremely dark and risky methods. He wasn't willing to take such a huge risk. "Hey, Sirius; listen to me. I know this is bothering you a lot but we're going to find a way out of this." Regulus reassured him once again.
I don't think we should tell Harry about all this right now." Regulus suggested. When Sirius was about to object, he hurriedly continued. "I know you're against the idea but it's just for a little while. He'll get awfully worked up and upset. I'm not saying that we must hide it from him. All I'm saying is that let's wait until we are closer to finding a solution."
Sirius realized that his brother's words were logical. He knew his pup well. The boy would be greatly shaken. "You're right. I'll talk to him about it later on. For now, I plan to work on a way to deal with this."
"And I'll help you. It's rather late. I think it's time for bed now." Regulus replied, getting up and heading to his room. But Sirius didn't head up to his own room. He knew damn well that he wouldn't be able to sleep that night.
The next morning, Sirius was feeling very unsettled. He hadn't found any solution despite staying up and thinking all night. Spells were out of the question since he couldn't perform any of them without hurting Harry. In fact, it was Regulus who had managed to come up with an idea. "So are you going to tell me what it is?" Sirius asked, with a hint of impatience in his voice.
Regulus appeared rather hesitant to disclose his idea. "Um... well, a few years ago, I got rid of the you know what." He admitted. "You did?" A small smile flitted across Sirius' face at that. "Mmhm. I couldn't take it anymore. So, I asked the goblins to help me out."
Sirius raised a surprised eyebrow. "They helped me out and I was able to get it off. It was bloody painful for a couple of days but completely worth it." Said Regulus. The older Black frowned thoughtfully before nodding. "I don't see any harm in talking to the goblins. If there's one thing you can expect from them is total secrecy and discretion. We can trust them."
"That we can. It'll be quite safe." Regulus said. "Well, if we're going to meet the goblins, I think it's only sensible to take Harry along. In that case, I'll have to explain this to him." Their previous agreement of not telling Harry was therefore overridden.
After breakfast, Sirius pushed back in his chair and braced himself for the conversation. Tactfully, Regulus excused himself and left the dining room. Harry must've noticed the grim expression on his father's face and frowned slightly. "Dad, is everything alright?"
"We need to talk about a few things, pup." Sirius began. "Am I in trouble or something?" Harry inquired warily. The man cracked a small grin and shook his head. "Of course not. I just need to tell you something important." The boy nodded so Sirius continued.
"Have you noticed the ring that Regulus started to wear recently?" Harry hummed in response. "That ring detects dark magic. Whenever you bring it close to a dark object, the ring glows. Red when the object isn't very dark and black when the darkness emanating from the source is immense."
The only emotion on the boy's face was confusion. "Okay... but what does that have to do with me?" He asked. Taking a deep breath, Sirius steeled himself. Here comes the hard part. "The thing is, when Reg brought the ring close to you the other day, it glowed."
Harry still hadn't understood what Sirius was saying. He mistook the statement for an accusation. "Dad, I swear, I haven't been doing anything dangerous. I didn't d—" Sirius reached out and took Harry's hands in his own. "What did I just say? You're not in any trouble. I'm not saying that the ring glowed because you did something. In fact, you did absolutely nothing."
"Then why did it glow?" Harry asked, a little mollified that he wasn't in trouble. "Have you ever heard of the word 'horcrux'?" He shook his head. "A horcrux is an extremely dark object. It is formed when an evil wizard or witch buries a part of their soul in something. In order to attain immortality, some Dark people decide to split their soul into pieces. Voldemort was such a wizard. He divided his soul and hid it inside different places."
"Dad, I still don't get it."
"Pup, no one is blaming you for this, alright? Just hear me out for a bit. On the night... on the night that he killed-" Sirius swallowed. "On the night that he killed your parents, he somehow managed to transfer a bit of his soul into the only living being in that room. I don't know how it happened, but a fragment of his soul was transferred into your body."
It took Harry a minute to understand exactly what Sirius had said. It hit him with the force of a brick wall. There was a part of Voldemort living inside his person. As his mind processed this information, he began to hyperventilate. Shock. That was what he felt right now.
He didn't hear Sirius calling his name, trying to get attention. Voldemort was inside him. He felt disgusted with himself. That disgust led to another thought. One that he had buried inside his mind with great difficulty. Freak. It was as though that word triggered something. His relatives had been right about him.
He shot out of his chair and bolted outside, out of the house. He didn't know where he was going. He just wanted to get away from Sirius. He was a bloody horcrux! He didn't deserve to be around someone as kind as his father. He knew that he wouldn't be able to look the man in the eye without breaking down like an utter baby.
When Harry couldn't run anymore, he sank down amongst the trees and bushes. The wards didn't let him pass so he couldn't run out of the gates. Instead, he was stuck in the back of the massive property. The person who had mercilessly murdered his parents was inside him. Although his relatives hadn't meant it in that way, they'd been right to call him a freak. He was nothing more than a freak.
Every shred of self worth that he had built up over the past year came crashing down. He angrily wiped away the tears that had gathered in his eyes. The self-loathing grew with each passing second. He didn't know how long he sat there, knees drawn to his chest and tears flowing down his cheeks.
He didn't look up and notice his father walking towards him. He stiffened when two strong arms wrapped around him: one on his back and the other under his knees, lifting him off the ground. Under normal circumstances, he would've protested on being carried like a small child.
He didn't deserve this kind treatment. Not when Voldemort was inside of him. He struggled to be put down but Sirius held firm. "Stop that, pup." Sirius told him. "Dad, please put me down." He whispered and his words came out in a rather desperate tone. The man must've sensed it because he reluctantly set him down.
"Harry, what's all this about? You didn't hear me out. Come on, let's get back to the house." Said Sirius. "He's inside me. All these years, a part of him was living in my body and I never ever realised."
"Harry, there was no way you could've known about it. Heck I found out only yesterday and that's because of the ring. You've done nothing wrong." Sirius stated resolutely. "Dad, I hate this. I hate myself." He admitted, feeling miserable.
"Oi! None of that now. Come back home and we'll talk about this calmly." After some initial resistance, Harry allowed Sirius to lead him back to the house.
Once they were inside, Sirius reopened the topic. "First of all, why did you run?" He asked. "I was shocked. Dad, Voldemort is more evil than evil itself. My relatives were right about me. I'm a total freak. Don't deny it. No one else has a portion of the most evil wizard in the world living inside them." Harry hunched his shoulders dejectedly, feeling pathetic.
He felt Sirius' fingers under his chin, titling his head upwards. "You're not a freak. Hush now; just listen quietly. What Voldemort did is not your fault. You had no control over it. Harry, you were just a baby back then; there was no way you could have stopped him. As for your muggle relatives, forget about them. You are most certainly not a freak. Do you understand me?" Sirius stated firmly.
Harry remained silent. A large part of him wanted to believe Sirius, but how could he? Voldemort existed inside him. "Pup, I know you well enough to confidently say that you haven't done one bad thing all your life. That's because it's not you. You couldn't be a bad person even if you tried. That's proof that inspite of him being inside you, your personality is incredibly kind and gentle. Are you listening?"
Harry nodded. "Then listen to this. Whenever there's been a problem; we've always managed to find a solution. This time, it's no different. We'll find a way out of this. Together. Okay?" Said Sirius. "You promise?" Harry asked, hating that he sounded so small. "I promise." The man replied.
Harry leaned into Sirius for a hug and the man immediately complied. "Regulus came up with an idea this morning. There's a good chance that this may work." Sirius didn't make any concrete promises but at the same time, he tried to reassure his son as best he could.
"He'd once consulted the goblins to help him with something. It was a somewhat similar case. He too wanted to get rid of a certain dark artefact. They were successfully able to remove it."
"So you think the goblins can help me too?" Harry asked, a hopeful expression replacing his sadness just a little. "Most probably. We can go and meet them tomorrow." Sirius suggested. "They helped Regulus with something that was nearly as dark. So, I think they can help us too."
"I want him out as soon as possible." Harry stated. He looked at his father with an apologetic as well as grateful. "I'm sorry, Dad." He really felt utterly horrible for all that the man had to go through because of him. "Stop that, Harry." Sirius told him sternly. "What do I need to do to convince you that you aren't alone in this? Hmm? How am I supposed to get it through your thick skull that we're in this together?" He asked in a lighter tone, playfully knocking Harry's head with his knuckles.
"We'll figure this out together, I swear." Sirius said those words with such conviction that in that moment, Harry believed him.
Although Harry had come to Gringotts twice, the piercing stares from the goblins always unnerved him. Beady black eyes seemed to burn holes into him as though they were pulling out his deepest secrets.
They approached the high desk where the goblin in charge was sitting, busily shuffling through some documents. Harry observed that it was a different goblin. Not the one who'd been there during his last visit. "Good afternoon, Karkras." Sirius greeted. The goblin— Karkras looked up and there was a flash of recognition in those black eyes. "Ah. Haahkhec, Lord Black." The creature got off its pedestal and gave Sirius a deep bow.
Harry was surprised at this. From what he'd seen so far, he had gathered that goblins were a very proud species. And yet, one of them had just bowed to Sirius. "Dar rhec o magaan?" He asked. "Tulkaakhec alkuugac, A arogaan o." Sirius replied. Harry didn't understand a word of their conversation. "Hmm, I see."
"Would you be so kind as to lead us to Arnok?" Sirius asked and Harry was grateful. A language that he understood. "Or shogaan, duul'dahl ghaan." The two of them followed Karkras down the corridor and three flights of stairs. There weren't any other goblins present over there. It was clearly one of the less frequented places in Gringotts.
Karkras knocked on the only door on the entire floor. A hoarse voice called out from inside and they entered. Harry looked around with awe as he took in the surroundings. The place was massive. It was well furnished; the walls were decorated with tapestries that depicted different witches, wizards and goblins. A chandelier hung from the ceiling and the corners lit with fire torches. Ancient looking parchments had been meticulously stacked in one corner. From the corner of his eye, Harry saw that a section of one of the walls was filled with books arranged chronologically: Wizarding history.
An old goblin sat in the middle of the huge hall. When he looked up, Harry noticed that although the goblin was pale with rather wrinkled skin, the eyes were sharp and alert. That was Arnok, the head goblin who looked quite spooky.
But, then his face broke into a small smile. "Please, sit. Lord Black, to what do we owe this pleasure?" They sat down, went about the necessary pleasantries after which Sirius got to the point. "Arnok, what I'm about to disclose is a delicate matter."
"Of course. Whatever it is, I can assure you that it will not leave these walls." The goblin promised. Sirius then proceeded to explain to the goblin the reason behind their visit. The man observed that Arnok's smile faded as he listened to him.
"This is truly unsettling. Never have I ever heard of such an occurrence. As we all know, you-know-who was the most evil monster this world had ever seen. The mere though that such a cruel creature resides inside an innocent child is most disturbing." Sirius saw Harry tense up and reached out to give the boy's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I know as much, Arnok. We're looking for a solution. We were wondering if you could help us out." Sirius said, hoping for something positive.
"Lord Black, as you know, a horcrux is one of the darkest creations on this planet. It is the product of the most heinous crime one can commit: cold-blooded murder. It is always hidden inside an ordinary object or in this case, a child. In order to render that object harmless, it is imperative to destroy it beyond magical repair." The goblin told them. "Yes, I'm aware of that. But, isn't there some way by which we can destroy just the horcrux? There has to be a way, right?"
Arnok remained silent for several moments. He then said something to Karkras and the latter left the room, closing the door. "Lord Black, what I'm about to disclose is an extremely secretive matter. No wizard, I repeat, no wizard knows about it. The goblins have worked hard to ensure that this secret was never revealed. We have guarded this secret with our lives for centuries. The only reason I shall tell you about it is because over the years, you are one of the few wizards to have earned our trust. So, I implore you to keep that faith intact."
Sirius nodded solemnly. "You have my word, Arnok." He promised.
"Very well then. As you know, several hundred years ago, Hogwarts was founded by the four greatest wizards of all time. Initially, there was nothing but absolute harmony amongst the four of them. But, that soon gave way to discord. Lord Black, what most people are aware of is that Salazar Slytherin, one of the mighty four was against the thought of letting people of non-magic origin enter the walls of Hogwarts. The other three believed that everyone deserved a chance. What no one knows is that the founders of Hogwarts had each forged a weapon to defend themselves from any evil that threatened the peace and integrity that they had established."
Sirius listened to all this, paying rapt attention. "Those weapons were powerful enough to destroy any dark object in existence. After the four founders died, the weapons were lost. No one knew where they were or if they had been stolen. A few decades after their death, one of my ancestors recovered all four of them. He brought them to Gringotts and they've been here ever since. Until recently of course, when you and Mr. Potter summoned one of the four weapons unintentionally."
There was a flash of realisation in Sirius' eyes. "That's right, Lord Black. The sword of Godric Gryffindor is one of the four weapons. It's been restored now." Arnok said. "So these weapons can help me?" Harry asked timidly. He was still hesitant to speak freely before the goblin. Those eyes still unnerved him. "Yes, child."
"So how will those weapons work in removing the Horcrux?" Sirius asked. "The weapons are immensely powerful. There's a procedure that we may carry through, provided that you consent to it. Mr. Potter is under your care after all. We shall use the magic of the four weapons. The magic shall penetrate the boy's body and purge him of the darkness that exists within. But, I don't think you will agree, Lord Black."
"Why won't I agree?" Sirius appeared a little confused. "If this process can help Harry, why in the world wouldn't I agree?" The goblin pursed his lips. "Everything comes at a price. The question here is, are you willing to pay that price? In order to be able to remove the horcrux from Mr. Potter, he shall have to undergo this procedure. This process will cause immense pain to the child. When it is being conducted, Mr. Potter will find himself in excruciating pain. Once it is completed, the aftermath will also be less than pleasant. His whole body will ache for days together. The pain shall give way to weakness, rendering him unable to perform even the simplest of tasks."
Sirius swallowed thickly as he took in the goblin's words. This changed everything. When Arnok had spoken about the procedure, Sirius had thought that they'd finally found a solution. But this was bad. How could he let Harry go through such torture? He knew that if he wanted to help Harry get rid of the horcrux, this was the only way. But how was a father supposed to sit back and watch as his only child was in complete agony?
"I want to do it." Sirius was jolted out of his thoughts at Harry's words. They were spoken with a scared but firm stance. "Harry? You just heard wh—"
"I know, Dad. But I can't let myself live with the knowledge that Voldemort continues to live inside me. Please Dad, I need to do this." Harry said and the desperation in those green eyes spoke volumes. Sirius was torn. He'd promised himself to always do what was best for Harry. What was he supposed to do now? Let his son go through excruciating pain or let him live with an evil soul residing inside him?
With a sinking feeling, he realized that this was the only way. With a heavy heart, he said his next words. "I give my consent."
Arnok nodded simply. "Very well, Lord Black. I shall go and make the necessary arrangements." The goblin left the huge room; leaving Harry and Sirius alone. Sirius gently tugged Harry out of his seat and into his arms. "I'm scared." The boy whispered and Sirius felt his heart break at the soft admission. "I'd call you a fool if you weren't. I'm going to be there with you at every step. Whatever may be the case. We'll get out of this together, like always. You'll be alright little one."
When Harry didn't object to the nickname, that's when Sirius realised just how afraid his pup was. He made no move to release Harry and even the boy didn't protest. They both needed this.
"I'll be okay, right?" Harry asked, desperately seeking reassurance. Sirius lifted one hand and carded it through Harry's hair. "You'll be absolutely spiffing." He promised in the most soothing voice he could muster.
"Once all this is over, we can go to that lake again. I told you we'd got here often, right?" He felt Harry nod into the crook of his neck. He slowly released him. They sat quietly, waiting for Arnok to return. Nearly an hour later, the head goblin returned, accompanied by four more.
"Lord Black, we're ready to begin."