A/N: I'm BAAACK! Camp was fun, but it's nice to be home. Hope you like this one. It hasn't got Harry or the twins, but it thickens the plot. Tell me what you think!

Chapter Ten: Horcrux

Lily knocked softly on the headmaster's door. She waited until she heard Dumbledore's cheerful, "Come in!" before opening it.

"Albus?" she asked tentatively.

"Ah, Pansy, what an excellent coincidence! I was just about to floo you." The eccentric headmaster pulled something out of his desk, taking care, Lily noted, to avoid touching it with his bare hands. "I found this yesterday in a cursed shack protected by a very strong compulsion charm that took all of my, I pride myself, considerable will-power to break, and a few nastier curses. What do you make of it?"

Lily came closer and her eyes focused on a ring. It took her less than a second to recognize it. After all, you tend to remember your murder's jewelry. "How did you find it?" she breathed, almost fearing the answer.

"I thought you might remember it," Dumbledore replied, wrapping the ring back in its cloth and silently casting a few spells Lily couldn't even begin to fathom. "Ever since the Chamber incident, I've been doing some researching."

Lily thought back to what she'd heard about her son's adventure his second year.

"The diary?" she asked after a moment's silence.

"Quite right. I believed, and my research has confirmed, that it was a horcrux."

Lily sucked in her breath. In the first war, she'd been a researcher for the Order. She'd made two hypotheses during that time. The first, that the ancient blood and love ritual would protect her son, had been proved true. The second, also apparently correct, was that Voldemort was using the darkest of dark magic to stay alive.

Then the full weight of Dumbledore's words sank in.

"He made more than one?" she confirmed, praying she was only jumping to conclusions.

"Unfortunately." The twinkle was gone from the headmaster's blue gaze.

Lily leaned back into the chair she'd fallen into sometime during the conversation. "Is it too much to hope that that ring is merely an heirloom you happened to find?"

Dumbledore smiled humorlessly and shook his head. "How much do you remember of your research?"

Lily thought about it. The memories of her life before her death were foggy and insubstantial for the most part, but she believed she could remember everything given enough time. Or if she gave her brain a little help. "A good bit, but it's buried deep," she paused, considering each word. "If Severus were to brew a recollection potion, I might be more confident, however."

Dumbledore pressed the tips of his long fingers against his lips as he contemplated his Defense professor's statement. Recollection potions were difficult at the best of times as even the tiniest miscalculation of dosage or arithmancy could drive the drinker insane by overloading his (or her) mind with inconsequential and over-detailed memories.

Legilimency was by far the safer option, but Dumbledore didn't trust his skill to be refined enough for such a precise job. In fact, the only one he did was Severus Snape, but that would risk Lily's identity, and as much as Dumbledore trusted Snape, he refused to give Voldemort another reason to kill his potions master. If only he didn't need the horcrux in the ring destroyed so soon, they would be able to wait for Lily to remember naturally!

For a second, Dumbledore contemplated just putting the ring on and fighting the sole-fragment that way, but he quickly squashed that idea. It was too risky, especially when Lily had an alternative.

So with a heavy mental sigh, Dumbledore asked, "Are you sure, Lily?"

Lily's confidence waivered slightly at his use of her real name, but nodded anyway. She wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing.

Dumbledore sighed and took a pinch of floo powder from it's home on the mantel. He threw it in the fire and waited for the flames to turn green before sticking his head into the fireplace.

OOOOOOO

Professor Severus Snape felt the cover of the potions book the Potter brat had had to borrow for the class. He opened the first page and realized at once that it wasn't the same book he'd lent Potter when he'd come into the class unprepared at the beginning of the term.

Snape had to be a little proud of the boy. He'd replaced the cover of the new textbook from Flourish and Blots with the cover of the old. Very Slytherin of him.

For the hundredth time this year, Snape wondered what had compelled him to give the boy his old textbook, let alone let that manipulating headmaster guilt him into letting Potter into his NEWT class with a measly exceeds expectations. Perhaps he'd felt sorry for Potter after the death of the mutt, but Snape doubted it. He decided to believe that he'd only done it for the good of the wizarding world. It made sense; there was little doubt in his mind that Potter would have to destroy the Dark Lord, and if getting the boy to auror training and thereby increasing the chance of the Light winning, well, Snape could spare his old potions textbook and most of his sanity.

The fact that he couldn't help but respect Potter after the events at the Ministry had nothing to do with it.

"Severus?"

Snape pulled his mask of indifference back on and turned to face the headmaster's head in his fire. "Professor?" He'd never gotten used to calling Dumbledore Albus and the old wizard had long since given up trying to make him.

"Would you be willing to come to my office for a moment?"

Snape covered the textbook with a few third-year essays on his desk and motioned for Dumbledore to move out of the fire so he could get through. The headmaster quickly complied and Snape stepped out of the fire into his office.

"Professor Deere," Snape acknowledged sharply, but civilly. He had no opinion about the female Deere – it was the male Professor Deere that rubbed him wrong.

"Severus," Lily replied, just as coolly. His brisk tone had hurt in the beginning, but she'd gotten used to it.

"Is there something you needed, Professor, or is this a social visit?" Snape asked after a long minute in which Lily accepted one of Dumbledore's offered lemon drops.

Dumbledore sighed and put down the tin of his favorite sweet. He decided to get right to the point. "Are you up to making a recollection potion?"

Snape hide his surprise behind another layer of cool indifference. "Who is it for?"

Lily coughed lightly and Snape's coal-like stare landed on her. She shifted a little under their intensity. "Me, Severus. I wish, well," she glanced at the headmaster for encouragement and he nodded, "the Order needs me to remember some information in greater detail and sooner than I feel I can do."

Snape stared at her for a while longer before answering. "You know of the risks?"

Lily nodded, refusing to let her insecurities show. "I do, Severus."

Snape looked down at his interlocked fingers and thought about it. He would love the challenge. He hadn't made such a complicated and potentially dangerous potion since the Dark Lord's first reign. He looked once again into the DADA professor's gaze. They seemed to be pleading.

"It will take a few weeks. I will need to know just how long it's been and how much you need." He stood up before anyone could reply. "I will begin now."

Back in his quarters, Snape poured himself a stiff drink and sank into his favorite armchair.

"Ridiculous," he scolded himself. He was being silly. Professor Pansy Deere didn't have her eyes…

A/N: Now that I've got the set up for both people, who do you think should find out about the Potters first: Snape or Lupin? Harry won't find out for a while, so don't bother choosing him. Ron and/or Hermione might be next. I have an idea how I want them to find out. Not telling, though! Once again, I want to thank those of you who reviewed. I hope you'll continue. I don't know when I'll be able to post again (I have another camp in a few days), but I really enjoy seeing how many reviews I get per chapter. Plus it makes my twin blow up like a pufferfish when she sees I've gained on her! Fun!