Chapter Thirty-Seven: Loose Ends Tied Up
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Albus had been growing increasingly convinced that Voldemort had created at least one Horcrux but he had never expected to be literally handed the proof one day. Or rather, find the proof placed on his seat at the staff dining table when he went down for breakfast.
He did not wish to draw attention to himself and make people think that anything was out of the ordinary and so, after seeing the damning 'Property of T.M. Riddle' tag on the innocuous-looking book, he had reluctantly slipped it into his robe and hurried through his breakfast as quickly as he dared.
He considered Minerva and Severus' schedules carefully and summoned them to his office during a period of time when they were both out of class.
"I believe," he informed them, "that I have found the method in which the Chamber of Secrets was being opened."
Minerva was puzzled. "I thought that it had to be someone who was quietly a Parselmouth."
"To get into the Chamber or to control the basilisk, Pareseltongue would be needed, yes," Albus agreed. He spared a quick glance at Severus. "I'm surprised that you do not suspect young Harry given that he is the only one at this school who openly speaks Pareseltongue."
For now, at any rate, he did. To the best of his knowledge, none of the Potters had ever possessed that rare gift and none of Lily's muggle relatives would have been capable of it. A certain Tom Riddle had, though, and had left his mark on Harry that night. The chances were good that he had been – probably inadvertently – made into a Horcrux. There was no way to ask Voldemort about it now with his memory loss even if Albus could have been certain that he was telling the truth.
Albus would need to research methods of removing a Horcrux from a living soul without killing the host but he knew that he had some time yet. He would not live forever but Voldemort was not going anywhere. It wouldn't do to attempt to remove a Horcrux that was not there and so in the future, Harry would need to be examined to prove the Horcrux was there.
Unfortunately, that would be virtually impossible to do without Harry noticing that something was going on so if he could not find a convincing enough pretext (perhaps examining the scar out of concern that there might be complications since it was a curse mark? His sources told him that Harry appeared to feel pain in his scar, of all places, and that was certainly cause for concern, wasn't it?) then he would have to actually tell Harry about the Horcruxes and the possibility that he was one.
He would probably have to do that anyway when it came time to remove it but learning that you were a Horcrux was bound to be less traumatic if you were minutes away from no longer being a Horcrux. He would prefer to wait until Harry was old enough to handle such knowledge but how old was old enough to learn such a thing? If he wasn't careful, he'd talk himself into waiting until the boy was seventeen and while a six year delay might not be disastrous, it certainly wouldn't be wise.
And then of course, there was the fact that nothing would stop an eleven-year-old boy from telling his guardian about any such procedures. Since Voldemort was contained, there was no real reason to try to remove Harry from Lockhart's care. The only supporters of Voldemort who would be crazy enough to attack the one who had supposedly played a role in killing their lord and master – twice now – were the ones already safely locked up in Azkaban.
And now that Lockhart had the 'death' (and legitimate incapacitation) of Voldemort to add to his already fearsome reputation, he was as safe a guardian for Harry as anyone. Some parts of Lockhart's books were pure fiction, of course, but as long as the creatures were still defeated as Voldemort had been defeated then did it really matter if he had used an Obliviate instead of whatever he was bound to tell the world happened when his book came out in a little while? As long as no one attempted to use his highly entertaining books as a literal how-to guide for defeating these creatures (and Lockhart did sensibly include such a warning in each of his books) then it was all fine.
He would have naturally preferred for Harry to stay with friends of his father or mother such as his godfather Sirius but Harry had made his feelings quite clear and there were no legal reasons to challenge Lockhart's guardianship. Harry was old enough that it all – mostly – had to be done legally now.
Albus blinked as he realized that those around him were talking.
"-and so while I have no doubt that Potter's arrogance and fame-seeking tendencies picked up from both of his fathers would make him capable of such a thing, the sheer horror he felt towards his friends when he realized that they were not overly concerned with the fate of the Muggleborn victims makes me doubt very much that he would specifically target them," Severus concluded.
"Well said, Severus," Albus said warmly, hoping the other man wouldn't pick up on the fact that he hadn't heard most of what he had said.
"What do you believe happened if not a student or staff member who speaks Pareseltongue?" Minerva inquired.
Albus held the book up. "This diary belonged to one Tom Marvolo Riddle fifty years ago when the Chamber of Secret was last opened and poor Myrtle was killed."
Minerva and Severus, two of the few people who knew who Riddle had grown into, understood immediately.
"It contains instructions, then?" Minerva speculated. "Phonetic pronunciations for the Pareseltongue words?"
"It's enchanted," Albus said simply. "I believe that if you write to it, it will write back."
"How did you manage to get ahold of it? Who had it?" Severus demanded.
"That I do not know although we may yet find out," Albus admitted. "I suspect that whoever was using it either had not initially realized what was happening and once he or she did decided to get rid of it or else they were complicit at first but finally had enough. This was left on my chair this morning. Tom might be the only one who can tell us who was writing in him but I am doubtful that his words can be trusted."
"Would this student face punishment for their actions?" Minerva asked. "If the press got ahold of it…Normally I'd say that that wouldn't be an issue but since Lockhart got here, the press seem to be getting their hands on a lot of things."
Albus had noticed that. "Now Minerva, we don't know that the two are connected. Before Professor Lockhart arrived there simply was not much occurring at Hogwarts that would interest a reporter like Rita Skeeter."
"If the student was a victim, and if this is the dark lord's diary then I have no doubt that they were at least partially a victim, then they do not deserve to face punishment for this," Severus opined.
"No, they don't," Albus agreed. "But I do think that this will have been a traumatizing experience and perhaps they are not unaffected by Voldemort's touch upon their soul, even now that the diary is no longer with them. They should seek treatment for that if we can find them."
"What shall we do in the meantime?" Severus asked. "You cannot possibly propose to write in the diary yourself after seeing what happened these past weeks."
"I would like to believe that, with such competent and trusted teachers watching me, I could resist a little better than someone seventeen or younger," Albus said, trying not to sound arrogant as he stated what he considered to be a truth. "It would only be a one-time thing to try and get information and to prove that this diary is capable of what I have said. But I will not be the one writing in it."
"Albus?" Minerva asked, startled.
"I'm afraid that since Tom was once my student, he would recognize my handwriting and I don't know very much about children anymore," Albus admitted. "That was why I was hoping that Severus would write in it instead."
"Me?" Was it his imagination or was Severus looking paler than usual? "Headmaster-"
"I trust you, Severus," Albus interrupted. "And you are the only man for the job."
Looking like he had just tasted something bitter, Severus swallowed whatever protestations he had been about to make and nodded. "Very well. What would you like me to say?"
Albus handed the book off to him. "Whoever this was may have mentioned that Professor Snape taught at Hogwarts so take the identity of another student. Make them up if you so choose because if you choose a student that Tom knows about and do not act like they should then he would be suspicious."
"I think Severus should make up a student," Minerva informed them. "Any student we pick, save perhaps Harry Potter himself, runs the risk of being the student who possessed the diary."
Albus met Severus' eye and knew that their thoughts were running along the same tracks.
"You can't mean…Harry?" Minerva couldn't believe it.
"He's the only student we can be reasonably certain of," Albus explained. "And if Tom has heard anything about why Harry is famous, which likely would have come up at some point especially given recent events, then Tom would be very very interested to meet Harry. It would be irresponsible to risk Harry himself speaking with Tom but if Severus is willing…"
"Try to keep Harry's 'arrogance and attention-seeking tendencies' to a minimum," Minerva suggested, glancing over at Severus. "Most of the students do not see him that way and those who do are usually jealous, such as Zacharias Smith. Although what's to be jealous of about having your parents murdered when you were one and having You-Know-Who try to kill you is beyond me."
Severus bristled at the – possibly unintentional – implication that the only reason one might have to view Harry as he did would be jealousy. It wasn't true, of course. There was always a refusal to get over James Potter's character flaws.
"They likely do not think about the realities of Harry's life," Albus reasoned.
Annoyed, Severus reached for a quill and began to write. "'April 19th, 1992. My name is Harry Potter.' The ink is vanishing."
Nothing happened for a moment and then words appeared on the page.
" 'Hello, Harry Potter. My name is Tom Riddle. How did you come by my Diary?'" Severus read.
"Tell him that someone threw it in the fireplace and you noticed it wasn't burning," Albus suggested.
" 'It was in the fireplace but it wasn't burning,'" Severus said as he wrote. " 'Lucky that I recorded my memories in some more lasting way than ink and thought to put some flame-resistant charms on it. But I always knew that there would be those who would not want this diary read.' Such as, I suppose, those of us who don't wish to see Muggleborns murdered by a basilisk."
"The basilisk isn't very efficient, is it?" Minerva asked thoughtfully. "All these attacks and only one true victim. I wouldn't dream of complaining, of course, but it is curious."
"It's a good thing we managed to stop it when we did," Albus said grimly. "That kind of luck simply could not have held."
Tom had refused to admit to being Voldemort though he clearly was aware of his future and had tried to win 'Harry' over by showing him the memory of Hagrid being arrested. Severus had been greatly disturbed by the diary's power to suck him into a memory and Albus had his answer. This was a Horcrux. Where it had come from or who had it remained a mystery but one thing remained clear: had that been Voldemort's only Horcrux then it never would have been so casually discarded. The keeper of the diary couldn't have known what it was or he never would have thrown it away, perhaps believing (and how could he believe if he knew?) that Voldemort really was dead. Voldemort was paranoid enough to keep the secret to his immortality quiet but also careful enough not to go handing out valuable pieces to his soul to those who would not appreciate them if everything was riding on one piece.
He would say that the fact that Voldemort was still among the living – sort of – was proof that there were more Horcruxes but Harry's probable if accidental Horcrux kept the destroyed diary from meaning anything. How fitting, indeed, for that evil thing to have been destroyed by the venom of the very creature it used to carry out its bidding.
After several months, Quirrell and Voldemort had finally managed to be separated. There had never been a risk of killing Voldemort (they would have taken it if there was) but as Quirrell was considered to be Voldemort's victim – however willingly – they wanted to spare him if they could.
And now Quirrell was sitting in front of him, his stutter and large purple turban gone and he looked very much like a man whose plans had come crashing down around him and didn't quite know what to do with himself. He had managed to piece together enough of what had happened in the past few months even if he didn't remember it himself and he wasn't happy about it.
Dumbledore had given this matter a lot of thought himself because there were no easy answers. He wanted to help this man and knew that revealing him to have ever supported Voldemort would destroy him. Just the same, he couldn't trust him and so couldn't just sweep the whole thing under the carpet. Voldemort was 'dead' but who knew what he would do now? Quirrell had even been convinced that once Voldemort had been removed from his body that the pitiful creature had died even if everyone else had been told that he died back in January.
Quirrell evidently thought that he was trying to make him uncomfortable by letting the silence drag on this long as he started fidgeting. Eventually, he asked, "What happens now?"
"You chose the wrong path," Albus said vaguely, still thinking.
Quirrell nodded. "That thing is dead and you're still in control. I should say that I did."
An idea struck him. "What do you want?" Albus inquired.
A small smile played on Quirrell's lips. "I want to be allowed to leave this place and face no consequence for what you say I did but that's not very likely now is it?"
"No," Albus agreed. "I do not believe that you understand the magnitude of what you did."
"And how do you propose to change that?" Quirrell demanded. "I can't remember what it is that even happened and I don't have all of the details! You're going to punish me for something that I can't even remember. But there is something that I do know. I wasn't tricked, you understand, I was just made to see that good and evil are artificial concepts we create to comfort ourselves and hide from the truth that there is only power and those too weak to seek it."
"An interesting hypothesis," Albus said diplomatically. "I believe I can find two rather insurmountable flaws in your theory, however, even without thinking about it."
"What?" Quirrell asked suspiciously.
"Not what," Albus corrected, "but who. The first problem is myself. You see, I would hardly call myself a perfect person but I've striven to be a good one since long before you were even born, Quirrell. And yet, since 'good' and 'evil' translate out roughly to 'those too weak to see power' and 'power', respectively, I must be quite powerless indeed. Despite the powerlessness my attempts to be a good person reveal me to possess, somehow I find myself the head of the Wizengamot, the headmaster of Hogwarts, possessor of an Order of Merlin, First Class, and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards. And I think you know my enviable status as the only one Voldemort ever feared. How do you reconcile this?"
Quirrell looked a little shaken. "Just because there is no good and evil does not mean that even the powerful cannot hold delusions that they are."
Albus nodded. "Right, of course. That brings us to our second point of contention. Voldemort himself."
Quirrell was clearly lost. "What does that thing have to do with it?"
"He is supposed to be powerful enough to persuade you and yet look at what he's been up to since his murder of Lily and James," Albus entreated. "He may not have died but he's lost his body and spent ten years hiding! He was utterly dependent on you for everything once you found him. And no matter how much you might value being treasured and trusted by one such as he, what does it say that he wouldn't have made it as far as he did without you?"
"I…" Quirrell trailed off, trying to find an explanation.
He wouldn't, of course. Voldemort was no longer living by his own creed and now he was supposed to be dead. He still wasn't quite sure of what the best course of action was but a year in Azkaban, a year in the areas not haunted by the dementors, seemed like a good starting point. He could just tell the courts that Quirrell had tried to steal the Philosopher's Stone and the man had no lingering loyalty to compel him to argue otherwise. Voldemort need not have been involved with Quirrell's attempt at all.
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