Horcruxes and Decisions

"WHAT!" Minerva McGonagall yelled so loud Harry was sure the whole Hogwarts heard it. "Are you saying You-Know-Who made SIX Horcruxes and that you wanted Harry and his friends to find them and not tell us about it?"

Even Snape couldn't help but be shocked. Sure, he already suspected that, like other dark wizards before, Voldemort had created one Horcrux but it never occurred that somebody, even the Dark Lord, would have created more than one. And, while Snape could understand Dumbledore not trusting him with this, he couldn't understand why he'd trust only children with this. Dumbledore should have wanted McGonagall, Moody or Lupin on the secret.

"Unfortunately yes, Minerva." Portrait Dumbledore sadly answered. "Harry Potter destroyed one at the Chamber of Secrets." All people there who didn't already know about the diary being a Horcrux soon understood what Dumbledore's talking about.

"So, there are five left to be destroyed?" Guessed Minerva.

"Four, actually." Dumbledore replied. "I've destroyed one a few weeks before the beginning of Harry's sixth year."

"That cursed ring." Snape quickly deduced.

"Right you are, Severus." Dumbledore replied, still a little angry at Snape for cluing McGonagall on how to force him to reveal his secrets.

"And what about the other four Horcruxes?" McGonagall asks.

"I believe Voldemort picked objects that either symbolize his wizarding heritage or belonged to the founders of Hogwarts." Dumbledore answered. "In fact, Harry and I went to a cave where we believed Voldemort hid Salazar Slytherin's locket."

"That locket was a fake." Harry sadly replied. "It had a note from the one who replaced the real one with the fake."

"May I see it, Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked. She and Professor Snape read the note and arrived at the same conclusion upon reading the signature. "Regulus Black."

"Excuse me?" Harry asked, curious about how could Sirius' brother be involved.

"Sirius Black's brother was named Regulus Arcturus Black." Snape explained. "He disappeared during the first Wizarding War and we never had a clue to what happened to him."

"Sirius said he probably was caught trying to deflect and was killed on Voldemort's orders." Harry replied.

"DON'T SAY THE DARK LORD'S NAME, POTTER!" Snape yelled. "And, to your information, I assure you the Dark Lord had no role at Regulus's death. If he had, he'd make sure we'd take it as an example of what happens to people who try to leave him."

"But the problem remains the same, Severus." Minerva McGonagall says. "How to find the real Horcrux locket?"

"I reckon Regulus used to get along with that elf Potter inherited from Sirius Black." Snape replied. "Perhaps that elf might know something."

"Kreacher?" Harry asked, accidentally summoning his house-elf. "Yous called, Master?"

Harry then asked about any lockets Regulus might have gotten from Voldemort and Kreacher sadly told about the events that led to Regulus Black's death and how Kreacher had been considering himself a bad elf for failing to fulfill Regulus' last order: destroy the Horcrux. Harry then told Kreacher he also wants to destroy the Horcrux. Unfortunately, as Kreacher told them, Mundungus Fletcher stole the locket. Harry then gave Kreacher the fake Horcrux and asked him to bring him Fletcher. Kreacher soon disapparated, happy to be given something that once belonged to Regulus.

"While we wait for that elf, may we try to find the other Horcruxes?" McGonagall suggests.

"I believe Voldemort's pet snake Nagini is one of them." Dumbledore commented. "I also believe he turned Helga Hufflepuff's cup into one but I have no clue to its whereabouts."

"But, Albus, nobody ever saw that cup again since the death of Hepzibah Smith." Minerva replied.

"I believe Tom Riddle, as he still used to be known back then, killed Mrs. Smith and stole the cup." Dumbledore explained.

"As sad as it is, we should focus on a way to find the Horcruxes." Snape said.

"So you'd be a hero at the eyes of your Lord for protecting them?" Harry disdainfully asked.

"Potter, I just spy on the Dark Lord for the light side." Snape angrily replied.

"How can I be sure without knowing the reason that made you change?" Harry asked. "Headmaster Dumbledore said you changed because you regret having told Voldemort about the prophecy." He added ignoring Ron's pleas to stop saying You-Know-Who's name. "But I can't believe you'd regret endangering my parents' lives. You hated my Dad. And even when Mum protected you from him you still called her a…"

"THAT WAS A MISTAKE!" Snape yelled and then started shedding some tears. "A mistake I still regret to this day."

"Why should I believe this?"

"Because Lily and Severus used to be friends from even before Hogwarts." Minerva McGonagall replied.

The Golden Trio then turned their attentions to Professor McGonagall. Snape was pleading to her not to tell anything but to no avail. "They grew up at the neighborhood of Spinner's End."

"That doesn't prove anything." Snape quickly replied.

"Severus, Harry has the right to know about his mother." Minerva explained. "Harry, Severus was the first one to notice your mother is a witch. However, as Lily was ashamed to admit, she took it as an insult when he told her she's a witch."

"Minerva, please…"

"Severus, you must open yourself. Either you tell the truth or I do."

"Fine, I'll tell." Snape angrily replied. "Despite the fact your mother became a Gryffindor and I became a Slytherin, we remained friends until our fifth year, when, in a moment of anger, I called her that m word. I had no problem calling other Muggle-borns that way but I usually avoided delivering her the same treatment. When I tried to apologize, she said she couldn't remain friends with somebody who desired to become a Death Eater and had no problem with calling other Muggle-borns that m word."

"I don't get it, Professor Snape." Hermione replied. "Voldemort… ("Stop saying the name!" Ron and Snape yelled) … wanted to rid the world of Muggle-borns and Harry's Mum is a Muggle-born. Shouldn't you have noticed from the beginning it'd be just a matter of time until they targeted her?"

"I was too young to understand that." Snape replied.

"That was Professor Lupin's excuse for my father being a bully." Harry replied. "And I didn't accept it."

Now Snape was curious. The Brat-Who-Lived disappointed at his father? That's music for his ears.

"Harry, you had to grow up earlier because of the pressure of being targeted by You-Know-Who." Minerva explained. "All your father had to worry during his days as a student were grades, girls and Quidditch."

"That's right, Harry." Ron added. "Your Dad didn't have to endure a magic-hating family to keep alive any sort of magical protection bested upon him."

Harry tried to keep Ron quiet about this but Ron didn't get it. "It's not like they couldn't have known, Harry. Snape knows your Aunt and whoever was in charge of writing acceptance letters around the time you got yours knew, and probably told the professors about this, you used to sleep at the…"

"RON!" Hermione interrupted, to Harry's relief. "Won't you ever read 'Hogwarts: a History'? The letter addressing is done by a special charm that makes it unnecessary for staff members to actually know where the students live."

"But they must have checked when Harry didn't reply to the first letter." Ron replied.

"While we don't know where the first letter was addressed to, we checked that the others were addressed to places like: the smallest bedroom; a hotel; and a hut on the rocks." McGonagall explained.

"It was their attempts to keep me from knowing about magic." Harry explained. "I thought Hagrid had told you people about this."

"Is your Aunt still sore for not being accepted into Hogwarts?" Snape asked.

"Aunt Petunia tried to attend Hogwarts?" Harry asked in shock. He could never imagine her trying to learn magic.

"Yes but please let's get back to the Horcrux subject." Snape replied.

"Yes." McGonagall replied. "We must decide where to look for them. The diary and the ring were already destroyed. Kreacher is on the trail of the locket. Nagini is around You-Know-Who all the time. We have yet to find the cup and we have no clue to what the other Horcrux is."

"Based on what we know so far, it could be the Sorting Hat or the Sword of Gryffindor." Snape suggested.

"Impossible, Severus." Dumbledore replied. "Both artifacts are too well watched."

"Headmaster, the only other option would be Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem but it disappeared when she was still alive." Snape replied. "There's no living person who might know where it is."

"A ghost!" Harry suddenly exclaimed. "There's no living person but a ghost could know. We should talk to the Grey Lady."

"In that case, Potter, we should also talk to the Bloody Baron for he's the only other ghost in Hogwarts to be from the founders' time." Snape suggested and Professor McGonagall asked the Headmaster and Headmistress portraits to call for the two aforementioned ghosts.

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