Early Morning Fire Talk

Inus woke early, climbed down to the floor and threw floo power into the fireplace. He would have to crawl to the bed to wake Severus to stand or use his arms and good leg to get into the wheelchair that was folded in the bedroom wardrobe.

Inus called out his mother's address on the network.

His mum went to the floo. "Son, how was your visit?"

"I'm not seeing him again. He lied to you. He kept something from you that he should have told you the first night that you were together." Inus propped himself up so he was sitting against the side of the settee.

"It's rather early."

"Severus is still asleep. I wanted to talk to you privately. He has a rather quick temper." Inus looked into the fire.

In her night clothes, his mum walked through the fireplace with her hair in rollers under a scarf. "We can talk face-to-face. I'll help you onto the sofa."

"Thanks." Inus put out his arms and his mother helped him to his feet and he hopped to the sofa.

"What did he say?"

"He enjoyed reading Severus and I, but since I only know about a handful of words in German and Severus knows less," Inus explained. "We were at a disadvantage."

"The bastard," his mum said.

"It gets worse. He plans to send you legal separation papers. Apparently, he only wanted a wife while he was in gaol."

"I'll make us some tea." His mum walked over to the kitchenette. "He only wanted me to send him letters and chocolates and visit him. He fucking used me. The tosser."

"Mum, I'm sorry."

Mrs. Quirrell let out a sigh. "Did he remember Severus from his Death Eater days?"

"Yes. He was angry that we betrayed his lord. I might not have understood all the German in his head, but I understood that he believed that my life was less valuable than Lord Voldemort's."

"I want to kill him." His mum handed his a cup of herbal tea.

"Severus showed amazing self-control. He never raised his voice to my father. I don't know how you tolerated being married to him." Inus sipped his tea and put his legs on the cushion.

"What did he say?" She sat next to Inus on the sofa.

"He implied that I should have been honoured to allow Voldemort to use my body." Inus felt his tears flow.

Mrs. Quirrel put an arm around him. "I'm sorry."

"I'm glad that I brought Severus with me. His skills at legilimency are better than my father's. Mum, he was reading you for years and he never bothered to test me for the talent. Once he learned that I had tears in my heart and my magic couldn't heal them, he wanted nothing to do with me." Inus continued to sob.

"I had hoped that you could start new."

"He didn't like Severus. Since we didn't hide our thoughts from him, he knows the extent of our relationship."

"I prefer that you pursuit a relationship with a woman, but I understand that it was your choice." She touched the tears on his cheek. Her mind was suggesting Sibyll or the American girl, Alisha. "The gods gave us shoulders wide enough to support all our burdens. They never give us more than we can handle."

"That is why Sirius is insane and Alice Longbottom can't put more than a few words together and her husband is worse off then her."

"We have to hope that they aren't suffering."

"Sirius enjoys his insanity. I haven't been in Alice or Frank Longbottoms' minds and I don't think I want to."

"I can't believe that he never told me that he could hear other people's thoughts."

"Did he tell you about the Death Eaters' meetings?"

She shook her head.

"Horrible things. I've seen them in Severus's mind."

"It's hard to accept that he doesn't want me after all this time. Is there another woman?"

"Not from what I could see." Inus smiled as Severus stepped into the kitchenette in all his glory in his mother's view.

Severus covered his naughty bits with a dishtowel. "Ma'am. Please, forgive me."

"I've been married."

Severus ran back to the bedroom. He returned wearing his nightshirt. "Would you like some porridge?"

"Thanks," she said.

"Mum, I needed to tell you what he said." Inus kissed her cheek.

"And what he didn't," she said.

"I don't know German, ma'am," Severus said. "He closed his mind once we were in the presence of a translation charm. He resented my presence there. I don't know if he meant to do Inus harm."

"Either way, I don't want you seeing him alone," she said.

"I've battled dragons. I can handle my father," Inus insisted.

"When you're walking again," his mum said. "How is that going?"

"Poppy has me taking two potions a day and she wants me to use a walker in the flat so I can desensitise myself to the pain," Inus stated.

Severus brought Inus's walker from the kitchenette. "Hopping around the flat."

"Hopping and balancing myself against the furniture," Inus admitted.

"You need to put weight on your weak leg," Severus said.

"Yes, nurse." Inus ignored the walker and hopped to the kitchenette and poured himself coffee.

"I should go." His mum used the floo and left.

While they were on their second cup of coffee, Severus said, "I out-stared Albus and he admitted the pieces that Voldemort left behind were horcruxes, shattered pieces of soul. When you murder someone, you shatter your soul. Most murderers go around with shattered souls rattling inside them. A person makes a horcrux by putting a shattered off piece of soul into a container. The old fool thinks we shouldn't act because we don't know how many horcruxes he has."

"Six," said Inus. "No, five horcruxes and the one piece inside Lucius. He was upset because seven is a lucky number and he only had six. He ranted about that many nights. He never explained what the number was regarding."

"He won't be back. You're discarded rubbish to him." Severus's thin body shivered. "I can't understand how someone can discard pieces of themselves. Horcruxes. Do you think you can go over to Sirius's house and find out more about them?"

Pieces of soul for some reason were more creepy than locks of hair, toenails and flakes of skin. However, that made sense in a way. This was a magical lobbing off of parts, not a physical. It suited Lord Voldemort's style better. They would be looking for the horcruxes, the containers.