I certainly have no rights to Harry Potter, but this won't stop me writing this story. However, you probably already know this. As it is my specialty, and as in my other big stories, this shows how things go if something went different right at the beginning. Please note that I'm not a fan of bashing and also don't expect the two main pairings to differ from canon. However, the path to them certainly will be quite different. I also want to try and subvert certain plots and things that became common in the fandom over the years.
Please note that due to the constant tachnical troubles of the site, the story is now also being published at AO3. The story will update every second Saturday until the year is done.
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Chapter 70: The History of Tom Riddle
"It must be quite big what you are about to teach us, Sir, that you are only willing to do so in the Chamber of Secrets," Hermione told Dumbledore while they were walking down the path towards the stairs which would lead to said chamber.
"It is more, that those spells can be quite destructive if handled incorrectly, and I doubt the portraits of the previous headmasters would appreciate being put into danger or witness the destruction of the office," Dumbledore answered. "The Chamber has many protections against accidental damage, thus it is safe to practice there."
"No wonder Snape holds all meetings of the Dueling Club down there," Ginny realized. "And I had thought he was doing so because he wants to honor Salazar Slytherin or something like that."
Dumbledore couldn't help but to chuckle. "An amusing thought, Miss Weasley, but Professor Snape, while most certainly being quite proud of his old House, is not that invested in it."
What he didn't tell them were the lengths Snape had gone to ensure Slytherin would have an advantage while acting as the Head of House Slytherin in the 80s. Such a blatant and crass show of favoritism had only helped to alienate the other Houses from Slytherin and did nothing to quell the dark elements in it. Convincing Slughorn to return was one of his best decisions ever. While the man didn't look like it, he truly understood how to lead Slytherin and it also was thanks to him that these days Slytherin had become a much better place.
The Six meanwhile couldn't help but to think of what the Headmaster had told them in his office.
He had revealed that in two weeks, instead of training they would get very important information. That was only underscored when they learned that McGonagall, Sirius and Remus would be present as well. Considering that they knew those three already knew the same things that Dumbledore did, it had to be truly important. But that was then and right now they were about to get another leg up in order to help them being able to defend themselves in what was ahead.
"Headmaster, I find it most strange that you use a different wand when training us than the one you normally use," Luna then said, being a bit puzzled by that strange observation.
"A sharp-eyed observation, Miss Lovegood. I indeed am in the possession of two wands, each of them having its own use," Dumbledore confirmed, looking impressed at that observation.
"I always thought a wizard could only have one wand at a time?" Harry wondered, having never before heard of anyone using more than one wand.
"There actually is no magical rule stopping you from making use of more than one wand, that just is a common misconception having grown on the fact that many people are too set in their ways and that wands are not exactly cheap for the common people," Dumbledore explained.
"Well, putting it that way..." Harry felt that the Headmaster had been a bit evasive with that answer. Though, he would not stick his nose into the man's private matters.
They didn't know they were being observed.
Draco honestly was hoping he was good at staying hidden while trying to find out what the Headmaster was actually doing with those six nuisances. Hints had already been there that he was teaching them something extra on the side at weekends, but no one up to this point had found out anything more than that. He felt whatever it was, it could be important, so he should try to find out outside of his normal plans.
He was about to move to the next hiding spot to continue his observations, when suddenly a hand settled onto his right shoulder, pulling him back! Draco wanted to scream out, but not one sound left him, despite trying.
"Quiet! You would have just revealed yourself, had I not silenced you!" That was Snape's voice hissing in annoyance.
Calming down, Draco waited until Snape removed the silencing charm from him. "Why did you stop me?" Draco cursed quietly, being in the know that Snape actually was on Voldemort's side, acting as the inside man.
"Cut out your self-righteous anger. Had I not stopped you, you would have been caught in the next few minutes, since your attempt at being sneaky was not well thought-out," Snape scolded Draco. "You wouldn't have learned much that the Dark Lord doesn't already know through me anyway."
That not exactly was the truth, since there was plenty which Snape was not reporting to Voldemort about the training the Six were going through. After all, they did need every advantage they could get. Still, he was reporting enough that Draco's spying attempt was pointless right from the beginning; something Draco could have known using just a little logic.
"What is it to you anyway? You want to hog all the glory for yourself?" Draco accused the man.
Snape snorted, seeing that Draco was still delusional about his true role. "Glory?! Fool, this is about getting results, and not about inflating egos! And if you need to know, your mother told me to keep an eye on you and your little girlfriend so that you two don't get yourselves into a mess."
Draco looked deeply offended. "I don't need a babysitter!"
"Judging by what I just prevented, you actually do," Snape told Draco snidely. "How did you manage to get here anyway? You are under observation."
Draco rolled his eyes. "Moody is overrated. There are enough times where he is busy with other things and then it's just evading security and the teachers."
Snape didn't say it, but that was part of Dumbledore's plan. Draco and Pansy actually getting caught at whatever they were doing was to their disadvantage. He had convinced Dumbledore it was better to give them some wiggle room to do what they were planning to do and then foil them. Not only would that allow them to continue keep those two in a state where they could do little actual damage, but also spare those two underage fools from a nasty fate.
"Since I pretty much have to protect you from yourselves, what are both of you planning?" Snape asked Draco.
"No, I won't tell you," Draco said defiantly, before shaking off Snape's hand and walking away.
Snape looked after him. I couldn't see anything about his plans in his mind, so Bellatrix must have shown him how to protect himself from intrusion. The same must go for Parkinson. I honestly wonder how they want to get the needed equipment into the school without anyone noticing?
Draco meanwhile was walking back to the guest building and slipped in, thinking he was being unnoticed. (Moody saw every move) He then quickly made his way to Pansy's room.
"What did you find out?" Pansy asked as soon as he was back and the door was locked.
"Found out? Nothing at all, since Snape caught me and said that I'm not careful enough. Turns out mother asked him to become our babysitter, thinking we can't pull it off," Draco told her.
"She acts like you are six years old instead of sixteen," Pansy said while looking unimpressed. "What does Snape know about what we are planning to do?"
"Nothing at all. Despite how difficult it is, we can't be careful enough. I did feel him trying to see what we are up to." Draco felt that Snape had no right to do so, especially not while trying to upstage him. "It's annoying that Borgin can only start to send us the items come Monday."
Pansy leaned back. "It feels a bit wasteful that the Dark Lord wants to use us to sabotage things in the school. We could do greater things than this... Are you sure that freak Moody didn't notice you slipping out?"
Draco sat down next to Pansy and held her close. "Don't worry, Pansy, he hasn't noticed a thing."
On the ground floor meanwhile, Moody snorted before looking away when those two became more frisky and started to do what teenagers did.
Dumb little snots. If not for Albus reasoning that it's better to let them believe they are capable of doing whatever Voldemort ordered them to do, I would have caught them in mere seconds, Moody thought.
Those two thought they were smart, but in reality they were allowing them to do their thing and prevent it from causing any real damage. Personally, he felt it was stupid to do so, but he did see the point of locking them into this hamster wheel where no real damage was done while keeping an eye on them, without them being any the wiser.
...September 24th...
Everyone had gathered and was following Hagrid into the special pen building, where he would present them with another fascinating creature, though he had warned them to mind their manners and not be cocky, since this one could seriously hurt them otherwise. Considering this building was meant to hold really dangerous creatures in a controlled environment, they knew he was serious.
"Is that why you are having this one in here instead of presenting it outside?" Neville wondered, knowing of Hagrid's fable for dangerous creatures.
"Yes. Wouldn't be very responsible of me to show you that one outside of a controlled environment..." Hagrid told them, though his mood had not recovered much ever since hearing the news about Aragog.
Once inside, Hagrid quickly led them towards a section that was separated from them with a thick plane of glass. Behind the glass was a creature that looked like a mixture between a rooster and a reptile, which gave them dark and dangerous looks but otherwise seemed to keep calm. It might not look like much, but the security measures showed how dangerous this one was.
"Hagrid, isn't that a cockatrice?" Hermione asked.
"Indeed, it is one. Quite the specimen, isn't he?" Hagrid said, sounding a bit proud of the creature.
"Ehm, I faintly remember a cockatrice being responsible for stopping the Triwizard Tournament for centuries," Ron asked.
"Honestly, I'm surprised you remember that little bit," Hermione told her boyfriend, feeling impressed. "But yes, one rampaged, killed numerous people and injured three judges."
While Hagrid was happy someone knew some things about today's creature, he felt uncomfortable that Hermione had dug up such a morbid fact, even though he should have expected it. "Ehm, yes. Now then, gather around. While the stare of a cockatrice can't kill like a basilisk's can, it still has powerful death magic, so it has to stay in that special cage."
Fore some minutes nothing happened, but then suddenly the cockatrice went berserk, fluttering around its cage highly agitated!
"Hey, what...?" Hagrid was baffled by this sudden change.
"Hagrid!" Harry called. "Isn't that smoke?!"
Now that Harry had said it, everyone started to smell the smoke. Hagrid saw that it seemed to come from the back wall. "What in all names...?" He wanted to investigate closer, when suddenly flames licked through gaps in the wood! "FIRE! Everyone out!"
Everyone fled to the exit door in half a panic and when it jammed Hagrid didn't hesitate to simply break it open with his massive strength. Students tried to gain distance to the burning building while Hagrid ran to the back, seeing the blazing inferno raging there, with the entire back wall already being engulfed in flames
"Oh no..." Pulling out his wand, he tried to use conventional ways to put out the fire, but to his surprise, that didn't do anything at all. "Cursed fire?!"
Hagrid honestly had no way to battle that, since putting out cursed fire took specialized training, which he didn't have. Should the fire rage too long, it could free the cockatrice, which would be a disaster. He knew that moment he needed help and the best chance was to get one student to use a Patronus to call for help, otherwise it could be too late.
"Hagrid, Hagrid! Damn it!" Hagrid then saw Snape run to the scene. "Leave that to me!"
Hagrid was relieved. With his background of learning about the Dark Arts, Snape was more than qualified to deal with cursed fire. Over the course of several minutes Snape did manage shrink the flames, until finally they did go out on their own, leaving behind a seriously charred back wall.
"Better be glad I saw the smoke on my patrol of the perimeter..." Snape said, looking exhausted after such a difficult feat.
"What happened?" That was Remus, arriving with several other teachers and security after being alerted by the smoke.
"That was cursed fire, but now it's out. Lupin, you better help to check if that cockatrice in there could break free," Snape said, as if not wanting an audience. However, he also gave a hidden sign to Remus.
Remus understood. "Ah yes, I'll check together with Hagrid. The others should see if any of the students are injured."
Snape watched them go to do their tasks, seeing that they understood right away that they had to keep up appearances. He himself for his part looked at the place where the fire must have started. Searching for a bit, he found what he was looking for, looking closely at the badly burnt item. He still was able to identify it after taking a closer look.
"Not stupid, but I have to relay a message..." Snape said to himself, pocketing the item so that no one else would see it.
o
Draco and Pansy were trying to relax at the early evening, still a bit disappointed that their first action had not given the desired results. Instead of burning down the pen and freeing the creatures in it, the fire had been put out in time, despite them having tried to make sure that it wouldn't happen.
-WHAM-
Suddenly the door was slammed open and Snape entered, before he closed it equally violently. "Both of you have a lot to explain..." Surprisingly, Snape himself didn't sound angry and more... disappointed.
"What are you talking about?" Draco wondered.
"Don't act dumb." Snape then showed them the charred item and saw them flinch at the sight. "Ah, I see you recognize it. Two different potions that are released by a delay and once they mix, they create cursed fire. Something that is highly illegal and not available for free purchase. Better be glad I quickly erased your tracks or the Headmaster would have had you arrested for sure."
Seeing that any further backtalk was pointless, it was Pansy who talked. "All right, I admit it that it was me who planted it to burn down the pen. Not that they were in any danger... could have run away at any time."
"How did you even sneak there over the open field? And where did you get this?" Snape demanded to know.
"I was wearing an invisibility cloak. I know it doesn't work against Moody, but he was busy elsewhere. As for the potion..." Pansy looked for a moment like she didn't want to tell, but then noticed the look Snape was giving her. "All right, we ordered it from Borgin & Burkes."
"I see..." Snape seemed to ponder that for a moment. "That leaves the question of how you smuggled those items into the castle."
Pansy looked to Draco and he took over. "Frankly, we won't tell you," Draco said bluntly. "We have our mission and if it means keeping the 'how' concealed, so be it."
Seeing that there was little he could do about that, Snape instead pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket. "There is something else. I of course have reported this to the Dark Lord. He wants you to read and then destroy this."
Draco took the parchment and together with Pansy read it. Both teenagers paled after being done with doing so.
"I see you understand. The Dark Lord orders you outright to ensure you don't endanger Potter in the future, since finishing him off is the Dark Lord's honor only. Be glad he is lenient due to not having been clear about that to both of you." Snape knew Voldemort had given some choice words to underscore what the consequences otherwise would be. "And I have to add this was a poor attempt. Again, without me removing the evidence, you already would have been arrested. Better improve your efforts."
While leaving, Snape again thought about the pieces he was missing. It leaves the question... How did they actually smuggle everything into the school? I can see no way how they could have accomplished this feat.
Back in the room, Draco and Pansy held onto each other.
"The Dark Lord didn't sound happy with us," Pansy said, thinking of the words on the now vanished parchment.
"No, he didn't We have to do better so we won't anger him again," Draco agreed, still shaken by the realization that their actions had displeased Voldemort.
They both had just gotten a reality check that this would be more difficult than they had envisioned.
o
The fire was the topic in the Gryffindor common room, since it wasn't that often that there was one at the school. There was lots of speculation going around, some thinking it truly was just an accident, while others felt someone had set the fire on purpose. It certainly didn't help that the faculty has not yet said anything about the matter.
Of course, news had other ways to spread.
"Well, yes. Hagrid said that the damage isn't too bad, they have to replace part of the back wall, but that's it," Harry said, having heard that from Hagrid himself. "He however was tight-lipped when it came to the cause of the fire."
"Man, you would think they already know but don't want to tell us," Dean said with disappointment. "I mean, it's pretty obvious that a building doesn't catch fire on its own like that. I bet my hand it was arson."
"No one would accept such a bet," Kellah said, waving it off. "A fire suddenly breaks out. Oh my, how could that have happened?" She left the conclusion unsaid but everyone knew what she meant.
"Then why aren't those two already thrown out of the school?" Seamus wondered, honestly not wanting to have Draco and Pansy around.
Hermione understood the sentiment perfectly fine, but she had an idea why that was the case. "The teachers must think it's better to have them here where they can keep an eye on them than in the outside world where they could do any kind of damage."
"Yes, but what about us?" Lavender snorted, not being impressed. "There is the point where their desire to keep an eye on those two is outweighed by the danger that puts us into."
Even though Lavender was not exactly the brightest of minds at Hogwarts, everyone knew she did have a point. There was a point where the benefit of keeping Draco and Pansy in a controlled environment was outweighed by the danger it did put the other students into. Should those two do more stunts like the fire the teachers would be forced to remove them in order to protect the other students.
After that everyone broke up into small groups. The Six gathered near a window.
"Lavender does have a point. If this continues to endanger the students, the teachers will be forced to remove Malfoy and Parkinson from the school," Ginny said, being a bit surprised that Lavender did have such an insight.
"I'm a bit miffed the teachers still haven't told us why exactly they are doing this. Granted, we can puzzle most of it together on our own, but some more context would be nice," Neville grumbled, honestly feeling that wasn't the smartest move.
Harry meanwhile scratched his chin. "For my part, the whole thing looks more and more pointless. What does Voldemort want to accomplish with this? He must know that by now everyone knows why those two are here and that the damage they could do is negligible in the grand scheme of things."
"He might know it's pointless, but do Malfoy and Parkinson know?" Luna asked and got silence as the answer. "Ah, so none of you thought of it yet."
"Meaning they have no idea," Harry concluded Luna's thought. "You mean he doesn't even expect them to have success?"
Luna cleaned her glasses while she answered "Voldemort rules by cruelty and the only person he respects is himself. It perfectly is in character for him to send them on a fool's errand."
"So, if he knows what they are doing is pointless, why send them? Considering all the energy put into it, it can't be just for kicks, right?" Ron wondered, not seeing the point in that.
Luna however looked just as clueless as the rest of them. "That is the grand question."
...the night of September 27th...
It won't be like used to be... Greyback thought while mustering his troops.
His ranks had grown a bit since he got freed (and recovered from his imprisonment), either from embittered werewolves joining him after a little persuasion, or from some fresh bites. All of that had been done discreetly of course, since the big boss didn't want public terror from that front for the time being. However, that now was over and Voldemort had given the green light, with the order to only kill the correct targets.
Me taking orders... Well, everything is better than rotting in that hole. I can tolerate that until he's grabbed the power, then make our exit while he's over his head trying to hold together the shitshow that is this country, Greyback thought.
Checking, he saw that everyone was present on this full moon night. All of them were transformed and full with Wolfsbane potion in order to be at maximum efficiency. Granted, they would be less cohesive due to the newbies, but it would be enough. As for himself, he by now had learned to compensate for his lack of depth vision due to his damaged eye.
Greyback resisted touching his damaged eye, knowing it wouldn't do good due to the claws in his transformed state. One day he would corner Lupin and then he would enjoy slowly torturing him to death for what he had done to him. After all, such things had to be stretched out for as long as possible to get the best satisfaction out of it.
Giving a hand sign, they took to the night.
Their targets were a married couple who had loudly announced their stance but had little in the way of protection that Voldemort's other opponents had. That was quite foolish of them and they would pay the price for it. Voldemort wanted them to still be identifiable, but other than that had little orders on the 'how'. He even had agreed that dumping the corpses on the streets to spread terror in the Muggles could be amusing.
He also had agreed that if some Muggles get slaughtered, it would be all the better.
Their targets lived in the middle of a bigger town, meaning they jumped from rooftop to rooftop, until finally they had reached their destination. The few pedestrians still outside at this time it seemed compelled to ignore the townhouse, but against the werewolves such simple magic of course failed and they broke into the house through a roof hatch.
Their noses showed them where their targets were and on Greyback's sign they bashed open the door, reducing it to splinters.
"What?! ... Great goodness, AHHHHHHHH!" That was all the wife managed to get out before she was silenced forever.
What then followed was savage but also frighteningly methodical and their victims could count themselves lucky they had died fast. As the final part of the nasty act, they threw the horribly mutilated corpses through the window, which shattered upon the impact, causing the corpses to land with a wet splat on the street below. Erupting screams of terror showed their little display had the intended effect.
That felt good, Greyback thought, basking in the terror he was spreading with this. While it was doing work for someone else, it still did have benefits.
Leaving, they had only managed to clear a few blocks before all of a sudden spells started to fly.
Already?! Greyback gave a sign to not engage and instead make a run for it. Those don't look like Ministry stooges, I recognize those right away. Voldemort's other opposition maybe? But how did they find us so fast?
However, questions could wait and they increased their speed to get away.
Several minutes later the wizard leading the group gave a signal. "I call it off; we've lost them."
"Sir, that was Greyback, his damaged eye is easy to recognize," a witch said while trying to catch her breath.
"Yes, that was him... Shit, we knew tonight is the full moon and should have expected him." He then accepted that there was nothing more they could do and pulled one of those new mobile phones. "I better call HQ, throwing the victims onto the street was quite public and they need to arrange things for when the Ministry turns up."
"I honestly don't want to be in the shoes of those guys that have to formulate how to explain to the public that Greyback the mass-murderer and his goons are murdering again. After last time that will get ugly," the witch said with a grimace.
"We should count ourselves lucky we are not working in that department..." the wizard agreed.
Less than twenty minutes later, the events were already having an effect.
Despite it being in the middle of the night, there was activity in the building that housed the MI-X in London. After all, in such times of crisis they couldn't allow themselves to be closed during the night. Earlier events had risen the level of activity considerably and despite there normally being a smoking ban in the building, the stress level had caused people to openly flaunt it, the air being heavy with cigarette smoke.
"So they lost them and are sure it was Greyback... Wonderful," one man grumbled leaning over the map on the table. "Can this get any worse?"
"Apparently, it can. The police was already present when our people returned... as was the press. No chance the Ministry could cover that one up, they'll be happy enough if no one finds out from where the corpses suddenly came from," a woman said, before taking a drag from her cigarette.
"Oh, that's great. I can already imagine what those hacks will write that we can see in the morning edition," the man grumbled.
The woman grimaced at that. "Well, considering that 'with greetings from Greyback' was written onto one victim with her own blood..."
There was some silence for a moment, everyone realizing that would become a huge clusterfuck in the morning. The man wordlessly grabbed his coffee mug and downed it all in one go. "Wait until we have to relay all of that to the Chairman."
The door of the tactical center opened at that moment and said Chairman walked in. Mr. Clifton looked tired and his suit looked like he was wearing it for a longer time. Someone called "Sir, we are sorry to wake you up..."
"Wake me up? I still was awake. I have difficulties with sleep since there are so many problems in the world." He then wordlessly accepted a coffee in order to get more awake. "Report, how bad is it?"
He did listen to the reports of what exactly had happened and his expression darkened the more he listened. Once the reporting was done, Mr. Clifton desperately wished he could get a gin. "So the government now has to explain to the public how Greyback escaped, meaning that all of the horror he caused will be brought up again. I can already imagine what the Prime Minister will tell me once he hears of that."
-riiing- That moment the telephone rang and someone answered the call. After a moment, she paled a bit and turned to Mr. Clifton. "Sir... That's the Prime Minister on the other end."
Knowing he didn't even get a mercy delay, Mr. Clifton took the receiver. "Hello, Sir. We are very sorry that those news woke you up."
"Woke me up? I was in my office, much to the dismay of my wife, doing some last-minute work when I got news that something connected to that serial killer Greyback happened. What exactly is going on?" The Prime Minister did sound tired.
Mr. Clifton did tell the Prime Minister everything he knew.
Once he was done, there was a short silence before there was a curse one would not expect from a gentleman. "All right, the damage has been done and the media will have tasted blood, so we need to give them an explanation soon. Have you prepared one since we've known for some time of that monster running free?"
The Chairman looked to the side, where one member of the staff nodded, before he answered the question. "Yes, Mr. Major, we will relay it to you in a timely manner."
"Good... This will be a long night. While you do so, I need to apologize to my wife." The line then went dead.
Hanging up the phone, the Chairman knew that the Prime Minister was correct; it would be quite a long night, which meant something considering they already had a magical terrorist group doing horrible things in their country.
...September 29th, in Hogwarts...
It was a peaceful Sunday at Hogwarts. The students tried to ignore the ongoing war outside of the walls of the school, though they knew that reality couldn't be locked out. The fear going around was the knowledge that sooner or later more students would get the news that something had happened to their families. After all, no one was safe. It already had been telling at the start of the year that a number of students were missing, having been pulled out of the school.
Right at the moment however, such things were not on Harry's mind, since he had promised Mark to listen to his excited recount of his first weeks at Hogwarts.
"Slow down, slow down! You kind of lost me when you you described watching the tryouts for the Ravenclaw team," Harry apologized.
"Oh, sorry, I just can't help it," Mark apologized. "As much as I bet it looks awesome to watch a Quidditch match, I don't think I have enough talent to actually get into the reserve team. Well, watching still is a good substitute."
That was an interesting difference between them. While both of them enjoyed flying on a broom, which Harry had an innate talent for Quidditch, Mark didn't. While Mark still liked the game, he had admitted already during flight training at the preschool that he was not a natural on a broom and could not hope to get through the tryouts.
"And no problems that you and your friends are in entirely different Houses?" Harry asked, feeling he had been lucky that thanks to the bond, all of them had landed in Gryffindor and thus stayed together.
"Well, it's a little difficult at times, but we promised each other not to let that get between us," Mark said, remembering the promise. "Marvin and Magdalena try their best, but it's a bit more difficult to keep contact with all three of us being in different Houses."
"You most certainly are making waves by rotating at which table the three of you sit during meal times. Honestly, breakfast with the Hufflepuffs, lunch with the Ravenclaws and dinner with the Slytherins?" Harry couldn't help but to sound amused by that arrangement.
"It works, doesn't it? And you don't break what works." To Mark it was as simple as that. "That whole House system is a huge hassle. Why are they even doing that?"
"I guess its one of those really old traditions no one wants to be the first one to break," Harry said while shrugging. "The founders of the school - even Salazar Slytherin - are put on a huge pedestal after all."
Mark actually snorted. "Saying 'We've always done it that way' is a really dumb reason."
"By the way, how does it feel to have Uncle Remus and Dora as teachers?" Harry wondered.
"It's weird. Not so much Remus after going through the preschool, but Dora always was the goofball, so now having her as a teacher..." Mark then moved a bit closer. "Many of us are still a bit unsure around her due to her having a baby growing inside her. The girls even more so than the boys."
"Try not to make a big deal about it, especially since she isn't showing yet. Just wait until she grows huge," Harry reminded Mark.
"Then it will feel even stranger." He then looked on his wristwatch. "Sorry, have to cut this short. I promised to meet up with Marvin and Magdalena."
Harry watched Mark leave after a quick goodbye.
To think that I was just as excited as he was when I started Hogwarts. Man, seeing that, I feel kind of old, Harry thought, before he started his way back to Gryffindor tower, knowing there was some homework he couldn't put off any longer . at least not without Hermione giving him a strong reminder.
The castle for the most part was empty, students wanting to enjoy the school grounds before the weather would turn nasty. Harry heard little more than his steps and he was alone with his thoughts. However, when turning around a corner he had to come to a hard stop.
"Woah, what the...?" Harry barely had avoided running though Sir Nicholas, knowing from experience that a ghost passing through you was not a pleasant feeling.
"Oh, young Harry. Whatever you do, don't walk down this corridor," Nick told Harry after noticing him.
Harry looked at what was actually going on, and it was a slightly bizarre sight. There were the Grey Lady and the Bloody Baron, and both ghosts were trying to keep as much distance from each other as possible without actually leaving the corridor. The Grey Lady was giving the Baron very unhappy looks, while the Baron looked pained, but seemed unable give an apology for whatever he had done.
"Let's leave them alone. After a while they'll just decide to go their own way," Nick told Harry and they both left.
Harry waited until they had gained some distance before his curiosity got the better of him. "Now that I think about it, I've never seen those two close together. Is there some kind of animosity between them?"
"There sure is, but they have never told anyone about the root cause. They both have seniority over all the other ghosts in the castle and many think they've been here since the earliest days of Hogwarts," Nick explained, trying his hardest to keep on his head on straight.
"And what happened today?" Harry wondered.
"The Baron broke one of the unspoken rules by not being careful and passed the invisible border that the Grey Lady has set around herself and he is not allowed to cross. This is not the first time, I witnessed it several times over the centuries, and each time she would react very negatively," Nick explained, he himself being puzzled by whatever had happened between those two.
"Has it always been that way?" Harry added.
"As far as I know. When I witnessed it the first time I asked, but they both told me it's a private matter and they would appreciate that everyone keeps out of it." Nick then shook his head, accidentally causing his nearly disconnected head to flop onto the side. "Oh, pardon. As far as we all can speculate, it has to be something that happened during their lifetimes."
"Meaning, really old history that's not going to be relevant anymore," Harry concluded.
"Except for them, of course." Nick then looked up. "Well, and there we already are." They had already arrived at Gryffindor tower's entrance, the Fat Lady rolling her eyes at Nick escorting a sixteen-year old teenager. "I think this is where I can take my leave."
Watching Nick leave, Harry wondered how the existence as a ghost might have altered those people from how they would have acted in life. On the other hand, this could not be the fact at all and then it was depressing that some scores would not be settled for eternity.
One way or another, Harry most certainly would never want to become a ghost himself.
...the evening of October 5th...
There was a strange atmosphere in the Headmaster's office this early Saturday evening. Perhaps it was due to how full it was. Besides the Headmaster himself, McGonagall, Sirius and Remus were the present adults. It was something the Six didn't miss while sitting down. They knew of course this whole thing was about information, but other than that they knew no details about what would happen.
"I see everyone now is present. One moment please..." With a wave from his wand, the door to the stairs closed and locked, while a curtain lowered over the big window. "Highly sensitive information will be revealed, thus certain security measures are required."
"Honestly, all this secrecy is making me nervous. Is whatever you want to tell us that important?" Ron wondered.
"Oh, it indeed will be highly important. I only waited for this long to relay this information because I needed to be convinced that your minds are properly secure from outside intrusion," Dumbledore explained.
"Which is what we confirmed a few times," Remus added, understanding the reason for the delay.
"Ehm, before we do anything, can we ask you something?" Neville wondered.
"I can harbor a guess that you wonder why Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson are still at this school, especially after the incident with the fire?" Dumbledore said, clearly knowing what that had to be about. "Before you ask, we have confirmed it was them who had set the fire, but thankfully it only caused some property damage."
Neville honestly shouldn't have been surprised that the Headmaster already knew. "Since you've confirmed it was them, we wonder what you do gain from keeping them here, especially since they've started to endanger the students."
"You are not the only ones asking that question," McGonagall added, giving the Headmaster a look of displeasure.
"And my answer for the moment is the same... Voldemort has sent those two to sabotage what they can at the school. Had we not accepted them, we would have run danger of them doing real damage outside of the school, while here we can keep them in a controlled environment," Dumbledore explained.
The Six looked at each other, their suspicion confirmed. "But... While we understand you would rather want them where you can keep them under control, where is the line that the danger outweighs the benefit?" Harry asked.
Dumbledore sighed. "That is very difficult question and there is no absolute answer. All of us know there will be a point where the well-being of the students has to be ensured and that also is the point where I would call the authorities to arrest them."
It actually did make sense. It was a bad situation all over and they only could try to navigate through it as best as possible. "Any idea what Voldemort could want to accomplish with this? I mean, it all seems so pointless since not only will the damage be negligible, but Voldemort must know those two will be observed all the time," Ginny then asked.
"We've asked that question ourselves, Miss Weasley," McGonagall said, having lost hours trying to make sense of it. "It's an enigma to us as well. Whatever Voldemort wants to accomplish with this, we are none the wiser about his actual intentions."
"However, we should return to what Dumbledore has prepared for us," Sirius reminded everyone.
"Yes, indeed..." Walking to a cabinet, Dumbledore took out a small stone basin and several small bottles. He noticed Hermione's eyes widening in recognition. "As Miss Granger noticed, this here is a pensive. In layman's terms it is a device that allows to replay extracted memories. Harry has seen a bigger version during the court proceedings and all of you should be familiar with the process of memory extraction."
Harry did remember that, as well as the process of taking out memories. He also took notice of the small bottles and what was in them. "Does that mean you are about to show us memories?"
"Yes, I will. And since it would be impractical for all of us to go into the memory itself, I shall cause the pensive to project it around us," Dumbledore said.
"If I may ask, whose memories are we going to watch?" Hermione asked.
"Multiple people have donated these memories and it had taken me considerable time to gather them all. These memories have one constant, they will help you to understand the history and motivations of Tom Marvolo Riddle, and that will help you immensely once you take up arms against him," Dumbledore explained the reason for showing them the memories. "They also will reveal crucial facts to you."
"You already know all of those things?" Harry asked Sirius and Remus.
"Yes, we do, but we have not seen the memories themselves, so we have no visual aid whatsoever. Trust me, what you'll learn will be really important and make you understand the difficulties ahead, though it also will showcase what kind of bastard Voldemort is... literally," Sirius explained to the Six.
"This is a very smart move. Despite how disturbing it will be to watch the life of Voldemort, getting an insight on him is invaluable." Luna then thought about something. "I wonder if that will confirm any of the theories my father has made about him?"
"Trust me, Miss Lovegood, the life of Tom Riddle is different from whatever your father might have imagined," McGonagall cautioned the girl.
"The first memory I'll show you was donated by Bob Ogden, a former employee of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, who did donate it to me several years before he passed away peacefully," Dumbledore then said, presenting the first bottle to everyone. "The events you will witness took place September 1925."
He did pour the memory into the pensive and a strange mist surrounded them before the memory of Bob Ogden visiting the Gaunt family and how things broke down were displayed.
Once the memory was over, Ron looked a bit pale. "God, that whole family not only looked like degenerates, but also how they acted... And the names made it obvious... That is the family Voldemort is descended from?!"
"Sadly, yes. The Gaunts had grown very arrogant, but squandered away the entire family fortune generations before Marvolo was born. In their fanaticism they also only married inside the family and it resulted in the deformed and mentally stunted caricatures you witnessed," Dumbledore explained.
"So, if that girl was Voldemort's mother and that man on the horse his father, she must have survived," Luna said dryly.
"Yes, she did. Ogden quickly returned with reinforcements. Marvolo and Mofin both got arrested and sentenced to Azkaban, six months and three years respectively," Dumbledore confirmed. "With them being gone however, nothing was stopping Merope from following her own version of the madness that had gripped all the Gaunts by that point.
The implications were severe. After all Merope Gaunt had shown an unhealthy longing for Tom Riddle Sr. in the memory, and with nothing stopping her... Also, it was highly doubtful the elder Riddle would have ever wanted anything to do with her, not only due to her social status, but also due to her showing obvious signs of incest, especially how her face looked quite a bit lizard-like.
McGonagall saw them understand. "That dumb girl decided that she has every right no make her fantasies come true and that Tom Riddle Sr. would have no say in it, so somewhat over two months later she managed to smuggle love potion into his water and then basically enslaved him to become part of her 'perfect life'."
Everyone looked disturbed and Dumbledore quickly took over again. "They both left Little Hangleton and when Marvolo returned, her being gone meant he was unable to take care of himself and died before Morfin came free. However, Merope became delusional and after getting pregnant stopped giving the potion, thinking the effect was now permanent."
"But surely that wasn't the case, right?" Ginny asked.
"Indeed. As soon as he regained control, Tom Riddle Sr. fled in horror, returned to Little Hangleton and disowned Merope. That turn of events was disastrous for Merope and will seamlessly..." Dumbledore stopped when noticing that both Harry and Sirius seemed distracted. "I can see something is bothering both of you."
It was Harry who spoke up first. "Headmaster... That ring that Marvolo showed Ogden... I've seen it before. Seeing it made me remember."
Dumbledore looked surprised, as did the other adults in the room. "Harry, where exactly did you see it?"
Harry took a deep breath, disliking the memory. "In the Ministry... When Voldemort tried to force me to kiss his ring... It was exactly the same ring, including the engraving on the black stone, which is very distinctive. How did he get that ring?"
Now the adults looked even more disturbed, but Dumbledore kept calm. "That indeed is a troubling development, and it will be important later. Sirius, what about you?"
"I can't believe it... I should have known from the description, but seeing it in person..." Sirius then noticed the attention was on him. "That locket that Merope was wearing; the one Marvolo says is from Salazar Slytherin himself. I'm still kicking myself that the description didn't ring any bells, but now that I've seen it... That damn thing is in a glass case in Grimmauld Place, making me wonder how it ended up there."
"It is there?" For once Dumbledore looked pretty speechless.
"No offense, but we are now pretty lost," Ron complained, hating having to context to what was going on.
"Yes, they don't know what is so important about all of that, so maybe we should first continue?" Remus suggested, wanting the teenagers to understand.
"Ah, yes..." Dumbledore finally gathered himself. "Very well. The next memory I'm about to show you is from July 1938 and the donor in this case is myself, therefore I can give a lot more context to this one. It will be the moment I first met Tom Riddle, not knowing that it would change both our futures."
Dumbledore poured the memory into the pensive, and again the mist rose to show everyone the first meeting of Dumbledore and Tom Riddle, when Dumbledore in his role as Transfiguration professor went to an orphanage in London to give young Tom his Hogwarts letter.
When the memory was over, everyone was shivering.
"Crap, I had no idea that even at age eleven he already was a sociopath and creepy to no end. The description alone didn't truly bring the point across," Remus said, deeply unsettled by the behavior of the young Tom Riddle.
"Albus, actually seeing that... I think you must have been disturbed by that encounter as well," McGonagall told Dumbledore, never in all the years of meeting future students having had such an encounter.
"Indeed, I was very disturbed. For one thing, despite not having had any formal training, he already had a sort of instinctual control over his magic. It already had made him quite arrogant and fostered the belief that he was special and above others due to that. Combined with his cruelty, which made him use his magic to harm others, and his will to dominate, it had made me worry," Dumbledore admitted, ashamed he had not been more vigilant after that encounter.
Luna had watched the behavior of the young Tom Riddle carefully, despite how disturbing it was. "Very interesting to watch that he already despised anything that connects him to others; he wanted to stand out."
"Good observation, Miss Lovegood," Dumbledore congratulated her. "It also ties in that he essentially trusted no one and gave nothing on friendship. The adult Voldemort is the same, and his followers are deluding themselves if they think they are close to him. There is only one person he's close to, and that is himself."
Ron also seemed to think of something. "Ehm, I... No, it's stupid."
"In my opinion, there are no stupid observations. What do you think you noticed, Ron?" Remus encouraged him.
"It's just... The way he was collecting that stuff he actually has no use for struck me as weird. You think he still likes to collect things from his victims or steals things just to gloat?" Ron asked.
"Actually a very good observation, Mr. Weasley. It will come into play later." Dumbledore then picked up the next bottle. "The following memory actually is from Morfin Gaunt and I got it shortly before he died in Azkaban thirty years ago. It does take place in July 1943."
"Is that before or after Riddle murdered Myrtle with the basilisk?" Harry wondered.
"Before. The incident with the Chamber of Secrets did happen after the summer," Dumbledore clarified.
"What happened that events returned to Morfin?" Hermione wondered, not having expected the story to return to the Gaunts.
"In school, Tom Riddle, besides quickly ascending to become a dominant figure in Slytherin, busy with gathering those who would later follow him, became obsessed with his parentage," Dumbledore explained. "His expectation that his magic came from his father's line got disappointed, but he did find out about the Gaunts. That summer, he slipped out of the orphanage and decided to see for himself."
The memory then started. When it was over, some where more confused than before.
"Ehm, Sir, what was that darkness at the end? Morfin couldn't have died, since you got the memory from him," Ginny wondered.
"He didn't, so let me explain what I reconstructed. He stunned Morfin, used his wand to murder all three of the Riddles, then returned the wand to Morfin and stole the ring off his finger. The next morning, a triple-murder with magic was reported and Morfin was the prime suspect due to a history of violence. Due to an implanted false memory, he did admit to the crime and no further investigation took place after his arrest," Dumbledore explained the following chain of events.
"He murdered his entire family just like that? I know I experienced him in the Chamber of Secrets, but to think he committed multiple murders even before that..." Ginny now looked pale.
"To him, his father was a shameful reminder of his heritage which he needed to erase - and his grandparents to make sure nothing was left. While before he had been a cruel teenager who was hiding behind a mask of benevolence, this was the moment, I believe, when Lord Voldemort was born for real," Dumbledore explained.
"Meaning by that point he already was the murderous sociopath we know today," Sirius added. He had already known those things, but seeing the confrontation between Riddle and Morfin first-hand was chilling, since it essentially showed Voldemort had formed by that point, just with a nicer face.
"I do have a memory right from the same year, several months later and shortly after Myrtle found her death and Hagrid got falsely accused. I got it from our Professor Slughorn himself just a few years ago, but take a look at it..." Dumbledore then held up the bottle.
Hermione took a closer look. "Sir, the color is strange; duller than the other ones."
"Well observed. You'll see what is going on after havig witnessed it," Dumbledore said, while pouring it into the pensive. The consistency of that memory also looked strange.
The memory then was projected, but took a strange turn.
"What was that?" Neville wondered after they were done. "I mean, that strange fog twice and the superimposed voice. That's not normal, is it?"
"Indeed, it isn't," McGonagll said, looking uneasy after having seen it in person. "Horace has altered his memories, and rather crudely at that since the effect is so obvious."
"Why would he do that?" Ron wondered, having always seen Slughorn as a rather relaxed chap who just had a bit too much self-interest, no one actually malevolent.
"Because of shame. Please understand that Horace is not malevolent - he would never agree with the ideals of Voldemort. However, as far as I can reconstruct, he must have told Riddle something he then realized he shouldn't have, and afterward felt so ashamed of his weakness, that he altered his own mind due to the guilt he felt as being too great," Dumbledore gave his interpretation of events. "Thankfully, Horace is not skilled in mind magic, and it shows. It would be possible to restore his real memories, if he's willing."
Luna went through the memory in her head. "Professor Slughorn seemed very insistent in his false memory that he has no idea, what a Horcrux is. I never heard of that term before. What is that?"
"No wonder you haven't heard of it. It's the darkest magic imaginable and something no one should know about. I know of it due to the Blacks having had all kind of dark books... which now are in a vault." Sirius then looked up to Dumbledore. "Albus, we now have to tell them."
"Indeed, it is time..." Dumbledore then turned to Harry. "Harry, you do remember our conversation after your discovery that you can talk Parseltongue, do you?"
"Yes, how a part of Voldemort's soul broke off and got stuck in my scar until the dementor removed it." While Harry no longer found it weird that he could converse with snakes - though most of them were not that good at holding a conversation - he still felt shivers at the reminder of that soul fragment.
"Yes, for your friends to understand: cold-blooded murder is something that causes fractures on the soul. With time it heals back together, but scars will remain. However, the fractures alone from the murder of Harry's parents would not have been enough to cause a piece to break off when Voldemort got violently de-bodied. No, that happened due to Voldemort having already removed several pieces of his dark soul by himself, causing it to become unstable," Dumbledore started to explain.
"Removed pieces... by himself?" Neville looked really pale at the idea. "Why would someone do that? Isn't your soul who you are? Why remove parts of it?"
"Because it's the most perverse and disgusting magic imaginable." Sirius then saw that he better explain. "I'll explain it in simple terms. Dumbledore is right, that the soul gets fractured by murder, but instead of letting it heal, creating a Horcrux means after doing the bloody deed, one uses a dark ritual to rip off the loose part and inject it into an object. Essentially, as long as the soul fragment is in that object, the caster can't die."
There was shocked silence, the Six trying to process that revelation.
It did explain how Voldemort did survive and why the adults had been so tight-lipped about the entire matter. After all, the truth was quite horrifying. First of course there was the murder aspect, but since everyone knew that Voldemort had murdered countless people, that was not the worst part. No, they tried to imagine someone willingly mutilating their own soul in a quest to gain immortality.
"And there have been people who willingly did that?" Hermione asked, unable to hide how disgusted she was.
"Oh yes, throughout history there had been a few. It not only was the lure that regardless the wound, their soul anchor would ensure they couldn't actually die. It also was the idea they thus would live forever..." Remus then snorted. "They all failed, since despite the soul piece being very difficult to destroy, it does degrade over time until it passes on. No Horcrux lasts more than 150 years - but those who use it of course think that's just to scare them not to use it."
"Wait... you used the plural. Does that mean he made multiple Horcruxes?!" Seeing Dumbledore nod, Ron looked ready to hurl. "That's insane! What does that even do to someone?"
"Someone who is fanatical about immortality would do so. I do imagine that by now Voldemort's soul is basically just the skeleton of one, so badly cut and broken apart, that it's sight in the afterlife must be horrible. Even if he reunites with the other parts after death, it still would be a horrible sight," Dumbledore admitted, the idea also scaring even him.
"But... how many times could he have done so?" Harry wondered, not wanting to imagine hundreds of soul pieces existing.
"Thankfully, as I hinted already, the process does have its limits. Sadly, we have no idea who many he has made and I do have the strong suspicion that the conversation with Horace covered exactly that topic. He must have wondered how many he could make safely," Dumbledore theorized.
Even Luna looked deeply shaken by the turn this all had taken. "That - that means he can only die if those items, whatever they are, are destroyed. You... you have already looked for them?"
"Oh yes, we do have... But maybe we should take a short break before we watch the remaining memories and then converse about the topic in depth?" Dumbledore suggested.
o
The break had been a good idea and now everyone looked recovered enough to continue. However, first came some questions.
"Sir, what do you speculate he asked Slughorn?" Hermione asked the Headmaster.
"I reconstructed that Tom eagerly used the murder of his paternal family to make the ring, which he stole from Morfin, to be his first Horcrux, but after that became concerned if he should continue to do so," Dumbledore started to explain.
Harry paled a bit. "He had almost forced me to kiss something with a piece of himself in it?"
"No doubt his narcissism played a big role in why he wanted to force you to do that," Sirius commented, being on the lookout if Harry looked distressed.
"Indeed, but back to the point, in order to make sure I concluded he shortly after the death of Myrtle tricked Horace into revealing information that must have convinced him to aim for a certain number. Sadly, we can't be sure of said number."
"And Voldemort is wearing that ring." Hermione saw the problem.
"Indeed, a very difficult problem, since he must have found out I was looking for it and removed it from its hiding place in the old Gaunt shack. When we tried to recover it this summer, we only found a message from Voldemort, where he gloated about thinking ahead."
The Six looked at each other, having a bad feeling about that ring.
"Now, I first have to explain the further path of Tom Riddle. After he finished Hogwarts, he petitioned Headmaster Dippet for teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Dippet reminded him that he was too young for a teaching position. No doubt, he had planned to use that position to create more followers," Dumbledore explained.
"Him as a teacher? Horrible thought..." Hermione held high respect for teachers, but the mere idea of a teacher Tom Riddle was frightening.
"Thankfully, it never came to that. To the suprise of many, Riddle instead of rising high denied all the job offers for a great career and instead took the job of a humble store clerk at Borgin & Burkes," Dumbledore explained.
"That horrible shop?" Harry remembered the sight all too well. "Humility is not something I associate with him, so he probably did it to be on the lookout for dark artifacts."
Dumbledore gave Harry a nod. "A good deduction, as he indeed quickly became a key employee that knew how to use honeyed words on customers to convince them to part with their items at outrageously low prices and thus bring great benefit to the shop. Though of course I have no doubt he also used it to collect his own share of artifacts."
Dumbledore held up the memory bottle. "This memory is from a house-elf named Hokey and like with Morfin, her memories had been altered until I managed to get the true memories. She has since passed away from old age, but the memory will prove to be very important. The events you are about to witness took place in 1956."
The mists of memory rose once more.
Once it was over, Ron again looked ready to barf. "God... seeing Voldemort acting like that was disgusting!" No one refuted that particular observation.
"Oh yes... that was more than just honeyed," Ginny agreed with her brother. "I could already guess the focal point of that memory are the locket and the cup, aren't they?"
Dumbledore seemed pleased at the observation. "Indeed, they are. Hepzibah Smith was found dead two days later and thanks to a false memory Hokey thought she had accidentally poisoned her mistress by putting the wrong thing into her cocoa. The authorities dismissed it as her being old enough to make serious blunders. Only later was it discovered that those two artifacts were missing."
"And let me guess... No one ever connected the death to Riddle?" Harry asked.
"Indeed. However, it was also not helped by Tom Riddle mere days later resigning from his job and then vanish from the face of the planet." Dumbledore let that sink in. "Him wanting to collect items he saw as important to him was more important than his cushy job. His priorities after all were very different from those of a normal person."
"Sir, considering how big of a role the locket has already played, both items will be important, correct?" Luna asked the Headmaster.
"Oh yes, they will be very important, but first there is one final memory. That one is from myself again and takes place in 1967, shortly after my first anniversary as Headmaster of Hogwarts. Lord Voldemort had appeared a year prior and already great unrest was spreading through Magical Britain, as it was the prelude to the terror. Imagine my surprise when Lord Voldemort himself asked for an appointment with me for a teaching position."
There was some silence, before Harry said what they were all thinking. "Sir... Voldemort coming to you for a job interview?"
"I know, it sounds bizarre, and most certainly was only a pretext, though I have no doubt he really would have liked to have that position." Dumbledore held up the bottle. "Observe and then tell me, what you think."
That final memory did play.
Once it was over, Hermione couldn't hold back. "What happened to Voldemort? I mean, we all know what he looks nowadays, but just ten years prior he looked perfectly fine. That looked like he was starting to transform into the twisted caricature he is nowadays. I doubt alone the usage of dark magic would cause that."
"Indeed, that alone would never cause such a significant twisting of his features," Dumbledore agreed. "My theory is, that the more he broke off pieces of his soul the more and the faster the terrible state of his own soul would be visible on the outside, meaning between the two memories he made more Horcruxes and the decay now started to became openly visible. His heavy usage of dark magic then only hastened the process."
"Ah yes, the Horcruxes. So, does that mean as long as those things exist, he can't die? I mean, at least not in a reasonable time frame," Ginny asked.
"You understand the problem, Miss Weasley," McGonagall commented. "The destruction of a Horcrux is a very difficult undertaking, since it means to damage something beyond magical repair after getting through its defenses. Thankfully, there are a few ways to accomplish that."
"Fiendfyre, cursed fire that can't be doused by normal means, is one of them, but it also is incredibly dangerous, since the very nature of it could very well also kill the caster," Remus explained, having witnessed Fiendfyre exactly once.
"Another way is the usage of basilisk venom." Dumbledore then reached into his desk and pulled out something. "I assume you do recognize this?"
Several of them did, as the ruined diary with a hole burned through it was distinctive. "You mean... the whole thing with the Chamber of Secrets was due to a Horcrux?" Ron asked, then thought of something. "Why a diary? That's so... ordinary."
"It's speculation, but he most likely saw it as a powerful reminder of his discovery of the chamber, and thus decided to use it as such some time after Myrtle's death and getting confirmation from Horace that he could dare to split his soul again. No doubt her death had fractured his soul," Dumbledore suggested. "We did experience the defensive mechanism and how it was destroyed, when Mr. Dursley skewered it onto a basilisk fang."
"Stop... Stop... Before we discuss everything in detail, Sir, could you please give us the important points?" Neville asked.
"Neville does have a point. After all of that, maybe a quick summary of the important points?" Harry agreed, feeling they should try to get the important parts up front.
"Indeed, a good idea." Dumbledore did see the wisdom in that. "To make it short, Lord Voldemort is still alive thanks to his Horcruxes. We have no idea how many he has made, but the conversation with Slughorn is the key to that, since the soul can't be split indefinitely. The ring was his first Horcrux and he wears it. The diary he made next, but that one is already destroyed. We can be very sure the locket and the cup were also turned into Horcruxes, but while the location of the cup is unknown, the locket, according to Sirius, is in Grimmauld Place."
Luna meanwhile looked like she was thinking hard, then looked up. "Headmaster... Surely Voldemort did not just visit you to apply for a teaching position?"
"No, he didn't. Following his visit, the position of Defense professor became cursed. I am certain Tom did it while he was inside the castle. It was the first strike to weaken us in the long term," Dumbledore explained his reasoning.
"Granted, a very big strike against his foes, but it had to be more than even that. There must have been something in Hogwarts he wanted badly enough that he dared to enter the stronghold of his biggest opponent," Luna continued her thoughts.
Dumbledore nodded after hearing that. "Good reasoning, Miss Lovegood. Alas, I speculated about his motivation for that visit myself, but without any kind of hint to the true purpose, that went nowhere."
"While that all is important, I think we should return to the problem that we know there is a Horcrux sitting in a glass case in my ancestral home and we have no idea how it got there," Sirius reminded everyone of the more pressing matter.
Yes, they knew that problem had to take priority for the moment.
to be continued...
Next Episode:
"Elf and Slug"
Notes:
Here the notes.
I know, but before the big event, other events take place first.
While the first scene mainly is used to lay out how Draco and Pansy are going to fare this year and how Snape is going to have his hands full with that, we also do get some interesting foreshadowing here.
And then the first sabotage. Thankfully, no one came to harm, but Draco and Pansy get a reminder and we also so more of what is going on in the background concerning these events. No wonder there are only two suspects, but certain questions remain.
Greyback is as nasty as ever, though I wanted to make it clear he's holding no true loyalty to Voldemort and plans to make his exit in time, since he's smart enough to know Voldemort is delusional in thinking he can rule the country.
And some more foreshadowing mixed with everyday scenes.
Finally, the big event. I honestly did not want to repeat the memories, since they are the same as in the book and would have needlessly bloated this already very long scene. Hopefully, you understand.
In my opinion, Merope was just as insane as the rest of the family, only in a different way, as I pointed out. Now the scene back at the end of Year 5 is paying off with Harry telling about the ring. That took quite some planning. And the same goes with the locket, Sirius looking at it while being at Grimmauld Place pays off. I also bet you didn't expect that the whole Horcrux issue would be explained now.
The scene does live from the commentry others give on the memories, but the issues of the locket and Slughorn won't come up until next chapter. (aren't I mean?)