"So we destroy the locket, we destroy Voldemort," Sirius beamed, reaching over to snatch the locket from Dumbledore.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple," Dumbledore responded, moving out of reach.
"Of course it's not," Sirius grumbled, sitting back down.
"How can you be sure that this locket is a horcrux?" Remus asked lowering his voice as if the house might hear.
"Because this isn't the first one I've encountered," Dumbledore replied.
He sat down at the empty chair at the head of the table, and examined the 3 men through his half moon spectacles.
"I thought- or rather I suspected that Tom had this planned when he came to visit me for a job back when Voldemort was merely a whisper among some powerful families," Dumbledore spoke gently, as if he were telling a bed time story. "This proves what I had originally suspected was incorrect. There is more than four."
"More than one," Remus responded.
"Four!" Alastor voiced, shocked.
"You're making an assumption based on what?" Sirius asked, leaning in meeting Dumbledore's gaze.
"Because he's already succeeded in making four that I knew, five now," Dumbledore answered calmly folding his hands neatly in front of him on the table.
"Merlin, Albus when was this?" Alastor asked, his glass eye spinning wildly.
"What are they, where are they?" Remus asked.
"The first was presented to me by Ginevra Dunham," Dumbledore answered.
"The others?" Alastor asked.
"The second I haven't been able to locate for some time, it was lost to us."
The wizards leaned in, hanging on Dumbledore's every word.
"Two have been destroyed, one by myself, another by Harry Potter."
"Potter?" Severus asked, speaking for the first time since Dumbledore's arrival.
"It was Ginny who came into possession of it, in the form of a diary."
"When the chamber was opened?" Severus asked, suddenly piecing everything together.
"When she wrote in that diary, the piece of Tom's soul that processed her, was part of his horcrux," Remus voiced, coming to the same conclusion as Serverus.
"Did Potter know?" Alastor asked.
"Of course not, how could he, he thought he was destroying a possessed diary in order to save Ginny Weasley, which he did," Dumbledore responded.
"What makes you think there's five?" Alastor grunted.
"Ginevra found a ring, that was the first one we found, she found two more afterwards, then of course Tom Riddle's diary.
"So Ginny was hunting them down, trying to destroy them?" Remus asked.
"Ginevra tried to give us a better chance."
"Where are they now?" Alastor asked.
"She wasn't able to destroy them, so she hid them somewhere safe," Dumbledore said.
"Where?" Sirius asked.
"I'm afraid I don't know, Ginevra was the only one who knew, and when she disappeared the locations went with her."
"You knew the Dark Lord ripped his soul into five pieces, and you let a foolish teenager hunt them down alone?" Severus snapped, standing up his chair falling to the kitchen floor.
"Severus-"
"No, I have done all you have asked of me, for years I have been playing the double agent for you, and you sent Ginevra off to her death, for surely she is not alive," Severus heaved.
"Your theories have taken a turn Severus, it was not for me you played this role, but to protect Lil-" Dumbledore began calmly.
'Enough!" Severus shouted
"But he doesn't know does he, if he's still looking for Ginny then he can't know what she's started," Alastor cut in before Dumbledore could respond to Severus's outburst.
"Or maybe that's exactly why he's looking for her," Sirius added.
The men exchanged theories for a short while longer, in low whispered, before Dumbledore rose from the table and headed towards the hall, presumably heading back to Hogwarts. Alastor rose and hobbled along after him; the low murmur of their voices could be heard as they disappeared down the hall.
"I know what you're thinking Sirius," Remus spoke, breaking the silence as he looked over at his friend.
Sirius had his elbows on the table and had his head in his hands as he sighed.
"Ginny loved you, she loved fiercely, and if that's what happened to her- if she decided to start collection his horcux's it was to protect the people she loved in the future," Remus added, still watching his friend.
"She's off facing the Dark Lord alone, and you're acting like a heart broken first year trying to figure out if she loved you or not?" Severus laughed bitterly.
Sirius looked up and met Severus's harsh gaze.
"Of course she loved you, what she ever saw in you I'll never know, but the way she would talk to Regulus about you. Merlyn you're daft Black, she was in love with you," Severus added, smacking his hand on the table making Remus jump.
"Then why didn't she tell anyone? Why didn't she ask for help? We all would have helped," Sirius asked.
"She was trying not to change the future, she must have thought this was the only way," Remus responded.
"Regulus was already dead before she went into the past," Sirius added.
"So she befriended Regulus because she knew she could confide in him, she knew he would die," Severus pieced together shock crossing his harsh features.
"No, I don't think-" Remus started.
"No he's right, she cared about him, but she knew that he was going to die, she used him," Sirius agreed, looking heartbroken.
"What's the matter with you two!" Remus shouted, surprising both men.
"You, she's the love of your life, you couldn't have pinned and mourned her for all these years just to give up now," Remus scolded Sirius, "And you," he added, turning to face Severus. "She was one of your best friends, and so was Regulus, anyone who knew Ginny could see that she cared for both of you."
Sirius and Severus exchanged darted looks, and suddenly became fascinated with the top of the table.
"Do the two of you not remember anything? The way she changed, the way she became distant, yet clung to us for dear life, her sudden fascination with putting her self exactly where Tom Riddle would be?" Remus asked, in a voice he usually reserved for his students when he was reciting off the things that should be common knowledge.
"She must have realized something, maybe she recognized Tom, and her hatred for him consumed her, whatever it is it doesn't matter now-"
'But-" Sirius interrupted.
"It doesn't matter now," Remus continued as if he hadn't heard Sirius's interruption. "It doesn't matter because she did this for us, for her family, and for her friends now. She couldn't save the ones she loved, she couldn't save Regulus or Alice, or Frank, her uncles or Lily and James," Remus paused as his voice cracked, over the memories of his former friends and classmates. "She's always had a big heart, and she went back knowing the people she would meet, the friends she would have wouldn't survive the war. She did this to give us our best chance."
Remus starred at the two men as if he was ashamed of them, and he too left the room.