Revelations
After telling Ariel that it might take a little more than an hour to meet him in his bedroom, asking him to wait for him, reading Hippolyta, and saying goodbye to her until the next day, Sev left with Deborah for home before the others, like the previous Thursday, and they both went into the hidden space of his bedroom, sitting on the armchairs.
He told her, "Here we are.I'm going to start at the least serious, let's see how you take it, and depending on how you do, I'll tell you the rest today as well.Otherwise we will leave it for another time."
"Come on, Prince, don't think about it so much."
"I'm going to tell you about a certain Tom Riddle, who graduated from Hogwarts in '45."
"Voldemort."
"That same one."
Sev explained to her the information and deductions that he had managed to gather about him with the help of his mother before May 15th, with the exception of the book of Dark Magic that Slughorn had hidden in which they had discovered the Horcruxes, and he also did not tell her that Lauren also had participated in the investigations. Deborah did not interrupt him.
"How about?" Sev asked when he finished.
"Does your mother know?"
(Incredible, not even she has been fazed by the basilisk.) "I don't know, maybe she has deduced it."
"Most likely, your mother is not stupid at all and she met him in person," she deduced.
"No, of course she is not. At least I hope she didn't realize about the basilisk."
"Wait until she is the one who talks to you about it in the summer. Maybe she hasn't realized about that, don't tell her."
"Of course not," he agreed.
"Does Lily know?"
"No, Lily doesn't know anything."
"Very well, don't tell her either," she advised.
"Yes, I am going to tell Lily, in case I make the Union of Souls with her."
"Sure. We will do it together."
"Great, Deborah."
"I imagine the old man does know."
"Of course."
"And how did he take it?" she asked.
"Very badly, but he is the one who is going to remedy it." He told her the guidelines of the plan he had made with Dumbledore to destroy the basilisk. Deborah again did not interrupt him until he finished.
"Of course, we need him, now I understand everything," she realized. "Luckily there are already many of us occlumants."
"Yes, but he wants to leave me out, and I want to leave Lily, Valerie and you, and also Cecile and Remus out."
"I understand about Lily and the Gryffs, but Valerie and I will make our own decision. If we reduce the number of occlumants so much, they may not be enough. Don't fall into sexist behavior."
"Deborah, I don't want you to take a risk, I need you as a second."
"True, I should also preserve myself so that in the future you do not fall into the old man's clutches. In that case there would be eight left, five of them Sly, plus Alice, Frank and Genevre, who are as combative as the Slys. Eight, plus the old man, nine, enough."
"Yes I think so. Plus, it's my lucky number, I like it."
She laughed. "Prince, you are going crazy."
Sev smiled.
"Can I ask you questions?" she asked him.
"Of course."
"Did you figure it all out by yourself?"
"I did," he replied.
"I do not belive anything. There is another occlumant that we haven't talked about."
Sev snorted. (Everyone guesses.)
"Can I continue asking you questions?" Deborah asked again.
"Do them, I'll see if I answer you."
"How long have you been in contact with her?"
"Since January," answered Sev.
"It was with her that you learned Mental Arts, right?"
"Yes, that's how it was."
"Who else knows?" she asked.
"Lily, Valerie and Jack."
"Did you tell Valerie and not me?" offended.
"I'm sorry, Deborah, I needed to vent."
"Well, nothing happens. When did you tell her?"
"Last Sunday."
"Wow, very good," she approved. "We've spent the whole week talking about her and she hasn't said anything about it.Valerie is extremely reliable."
"Brilliant."
"I imagine then that Lauren has also been behind all the investigations."
"That's right, she was mainly the thinking head, and not only of that, but of my entire process of approaching the Guard, its evolution and strategies to follow, both to increase the ranks, the uncovering, and later with theold man," he explained.
"Wooow..." out loud, deeply admired. "She's the bomb."
"Of course. And not only that, she was the one who kept the vipers under control by reading them while we trained and practiced Mental Arts so they wouldn't discover us."
"Wow… what a sacrifice, precisely the year of her OWLs, no wonder she has been so late in her studies," Deborah understood. "She is the heart of the team, that is why she appeared in the center with you in Erised."
"That is precisely why."
"You don't know how I regret the animosity I had towards her in the past, and to think that it was all about competing for that idiot Jack," overwhelmed.
"Well, it's okay, it's over," Sev reassured her. "Just blame it on Jack."
"No, I was largely to blame, I didn't leave him alone."
"Yes, Lauren already told me. Forget it, Lauren understands and she already forgave you."
"It's okay, I forget," she agreed. "She deserves to be your second and not me."
"But she can't, Deborah."
"I already know. I'm going to Bond with her as soon as possible, there will be two of us to plan."
"I think it's a very good idea, but don't let it affect her studies," he warned. "We're in the middle of exams and tomorrow I have Time-Turner with her."
"We will talk about it through Lily, forget the subject."
"Alright. Do you have more questions?"
"Yes, what time is it?" she asked.
"It's only after eight thirty."
"Very good, are you done with this topic?"
"Yes, I am," answered Sev.
"Then go to the next one."
"I warn you that it is much more serious than this."
"My, my… Because this was no small feat," said Deborah.
"Yeah, but you took it great."
"You know, I know how to keep my cool."
"Of course," he confirmed.
"Like a good snake, a cold-blooded animal."
They laughed.
"Go ahead, come on," she encouraged him.
"There it goes, I'm going to blurt it out to you, Voldemort is immortal."
Deborah remained silent, unfazed. Sev waited for her to recover. (This has affected her, of course. I am feeling it in the feeling of the Bond, intense fear for me. I should not have told her like that.)
After a long minute, she spoke, "Is what I feel overwhelming you?"
"No, Deborah, I'm coping well."
"If you want, we can unbond."
"I already told you that it is not necessary. Sorry for blurting it out like that."
"You have overestimated me."
"No, Deborah, I understand. Give me a hug, come on."
They got up and hugged each other. She cried. (The feeling of fear is decreasing, she is gaining confidence because of how calm I am being. Of course, Lauren and I had more time to accept it, we found out before the mess, we did not think that Voldemort would become amortal enemy for me. I already know how to calm her down, I'm going to tell her first about Sirius' proposal to sponsor the Dueling Chair.)
"I'm going to give you some good news first, Deborah, before continuing. Do you want us to lie down on the bed?"
"Okay."
They did it, they lay down on the bed without even taking off their shoes. Sev hugged her and snuggled her against his lap. He told her about Sirius' proposal and Deborah stopped fearing.
"Ugh… Prince… Why haven't you started there?"
"I don't know, Deborah. I saw you so confident about the basilisk that I thought you would handle it well too."
"I am not made of stone, Prince, and I love you deeply, right now you are the reason for my life."
"Yes, I know, I am very sorry, honey. I still need a lot of emotional education."
"Well, don't give it any more thought. This time I'm going to start with the questions, okay?"
"Go ahead," he encouraged her.
"If you want, we can go back to the armchairs."
"No, honey, I want to hug you. Go ahead."
"When did you know?Before or after the mess?" she asked.
"Before."
"Booahh…" loudly and scandalized, sitting up to look at him. "So, how did you think of doing it like that?"
Sev remained calm. "I never thought I would become so famous."
"I imagine Lauren knew it too."
"Yes, she knew it."
"And she didn't realize it either?" Deborah asked.
"I don't know, we haven't talked about it, I guess not."
"Boof… it's clear that you need me, I did expect something like this to happen. It was also my fault for not letting you know when you proposed the strategy of uncovering, the prominence that I was going to acquire got the better of me, I was very selfish."
"Don't blame yourself, Deborah. You simply didn't have all the data. But that's over, starting today you're going to have them."
She lay back down. "Sorry for getting like this.What you must be enduring from that day on.Who else knows?"
"The old man."
"Did he already know or did you tell him?"
"I told him," Sev responded.
"Booahh..." again loudly. "How awful... And yet he is using you without any scruple. He's the worst of the worst."
"True."
"When did you and Lauren discover it?" Deborah asked.
"Shortly after Easter."
"Ugh… You've been carrying the burden of such a secret for almost two months, just the two of you," overwhelmed.
"Well yes, but we already have it more than assumed," he reassured her. "It's been a while since we talked about it."
"I don't think she has it so assumed. She loves you deeply and you will be at risk of death for life. She is dissembling."
"Surely. But 'for life' doesn't have to be like that. Let me explain it to you."
"Go ahead."
Sev told her how Voldemort had made himself immortal by creating Horcruxes and that they could be destroyed.
She interrupted him, out loud. "Ugh... Prince... Why haven't you started there?"
"I'm sorry, Deborah. I already told you that I don't know how to explain things correctly."
"Well, don't feel bad, nothing happens. Did you already know all that before the mess?"
"Yes, we did," he responded.
"Of course, that's how you were able to endure it."
"Sure."
"It was also my fault for not letting you tell me everything in chronological order, for losing my nerve and starting to ask you questions," she admitted. "Come on, tell me what's missing in order."
Sev did so, again without being interrupted by Deborah. How they had discovered the book hidden by Slughorn by reading him, Lauren had searched for it alone in the Room of Requirement and they had studied it, and a summary of the information Dumbledore had about Riddle and had already shared with him, including that they had already gone to look for a Horcrux and he had it in his possession, in his custody, in the Room of Requirement, in a demand that only Lauren and he knew about, and that the Headmaster had taught him to control the Fiendfire to destroy it and the next day he was going to teach Lauren how to do it in case something happens to him in the summer.
When he finished, Deborah said to him, "Booahh… what a story… It's clear that we still need the old man, at least until he gives you all the information he has."
"Of course, and his knowledge and influence in the Ministry so that the Army, my Chair and so on continue."
"Well yes, because Minerva doesn't have the prestige that he has. Nothing, we will have to learn to bullfight him. From now on I plan to tell you what you have to answer when you talk to him in the Great Hall. And don't even think about cutting your hair no matter what happens with Hippolyta. It would be a sign of weakness."
"You are absolutely right," Sev agreed.
"How many Horcruxes do you think Voldemort has?"
"We have not talked about it, but at least three, of which he only has located the one we have and another. I think he has more than three, I had a premonition with the image of him in the Mirror. I'll show it to you, don't be scared." He showed her a still image of the desire he saw with Anthony. "He looks like that because every Horcrux he creates deforms him."
"Oh…"
"And every time we'll destroy one he will notice, that is why I have not yet destroyed the one we have, so that he do not relate it to the mess," he added.
"Booahh… what a problem. Forgive me for losing my temper like that. What you're putting up with, Prince."
"Don't worry, Deborah. I have been very relieved to have shared it with you. You will have to help me in the summer to tell Lily too."
"Sure, I'll think about it carefully.We will calm her down first, tell her all the extenuating circumstances before the serious news," she suggested.
"Do you have questions or comments?"
"Yes, I have them, many, let's see if I clarify myself. What time is it?"
"Almost a quarter past nine," Sev responded.
"Ugh… Ariel must already be waiting for you."
"Well yes, I should have canceled the meeting with him, now I want to sleep with you more, so that you don't stay alone tonight after finding out something like that."
"Yeah… I don't have to be alone, I can sleep with Valerie," said Deborah.
"Yes, but you can't talk to her about all this."
"Well no, the truth is that I prefer to sleep with you."
"Then let's do something," he proposed. "Let's go out, I'll let him know that I'm not sleeping with him and in the meantime you go get your things to get ready for bed, we'll sleep here.This way you also have some time to think about everything you want to ask and tell me."
"Okay, Prince."
They did so, they left the hidden bedroom, the common one was empty, Ariel had not arrived yet. Deborah went to get ready, Sev also grabbed what he was going to need to sleep and be ready the next day, his shampoo, clean clothes, his alarm clock.
Meanwhile, his little one arrived. "Hello, Sev."
"Honey, you're going to have to excuse me. Tonight I have things to do because tomorrow is the last Army training and I won't be able to be with you."
"Oh, what a shame, I really wanted to talk about this afternoon."
"Yeah, I know, me too," said Sev. "We'll leave it for another time, okay? If you want tomorrow after lunch."
"And how do we do with Hippolyta? I was going to ask you to give her more Astronomy homework for tomorrow morning, when she has already finished the ones she had for today."
"Oh... it's true. We'll do one thing. When I finish what I have to do, I'll write them and give them to you tomorrow at breakfast. Okay?"
"And you won't go to bed too late, Sev?"
"No, honey, it's still early and I haven't used the Time-Turner all week. Going to sleep at twelve is enough for me, I have plenty of time. Come on, give me a kiss."
They kissed and hugged.
"See you tomorrow, thanks for understanding."
"It's okay, Sev, we'll be together. See you tomorrow."
The boy left. As he finished getting ready, Deborah arrived and bonded with him. (How fast.)
"Has Ariel been here yet?" she asked.
"Yes, I have already apologized to him. Come on, I'm done."
They returned to the hidden space, went to the bathroom and prepared for bed, meanwhile they chatted.
"Tomorrow I will wake up at seven thirty to give Hippolyta homework for the whole morning," he said.
"Ugh, Prince… how many loads on your shoulders."
"That is the one that seems lightest to me. It compensates me, it gives me wings."
"How was this afternoon?" she asked.
"In the clouds. We spent a very special time in the Common Room. We cried together and she told me that she loves me."
"Oh…"
"She is charming, every new thing I discover about her makes me fall more and more in love," Sev confessed.
"And it seems that you have managed to convince her to behave well."
"It wasn't me, it was herself." He told her about the bet to catch the Snitch and part of the conversation they had had.
"Wooow… great," Deborah approved. "You finally have her in your pocket.Now let's see if her parents don't make it difficult for us to be with her in the summer."
"Well yes, we'll see."
"Are you going to return with her to the Forest?"
"Yes, Tuesday morning," he responded.
"Alone?"
"I had that idea."
"Secretly?" she asked.
"No. I'm going to say that I'm going to train her for the Defense exam she has in the afternoon."
"Why don't you take the three little ones? It is less committed, and that way they also get along with each other."
"Ugh… she prefers to be alone with me, she was very excited," Sev objected.
"Yeah. Ask her then."
"It's fine, I'll do it."
They got into bed, sitting shoulder to shoulder, Deborah in her pajamas.
"Well, start, questions and comments," he said.
"In chronological order."
"Better."
"What a big mouth Slughorn!" she exclaimed loudly, deeply indignant.
"What are you going to tell me…" He told her how he had had to ask the Headmaster to discourage him from stopping by the first party at Sly house, and verbatim, how he had stood up to him in Potions class.
"Very well done, you put him in his place," Deborah approved.
"Lily is going to have to endure him for three years as an apprentice, knowing what she will know."
"True, that's going to be a blow for her too. And to think that he discouraged you from being a Defense teacher at the beginning of the school year…"
"Well yes, but I will take my revenge, now yes, when he retires and I become a Dueling teacher," explained Sev. "I will not only be a Dueling teacher.What else will I be?"
"I don't know."
"Think a little, Deborah, don't detract your intelligence. Lauren realized it right away, I didn't."
She thought for a few long seconds. "Sly Head!" out loud.
"That is!" he too.
"Wooow…" admired. "At twenty-one years old… as soon as you start as a teacher… what a triumph."
"And in an unbeatable position to one day succeed Minerva as Headmaster."
"Wow yes! You have to avoid at all costs that the old man manages you so that you are marked."
"I will avoid it, Deborah. Don't worry about it."
"Well, when we arrive in chronological order we will talk about it."
"Okay, continue."
"What courage of Lauren walking alone through the Room of Requirement storeroom," she said deeply admired.
"Of course, and she discovered the demand alone."
"Oh…"
"I only helped her for an hour," Sev added.
"Did she find the book?"
"She did."
"I'm very happy," said Deborah.
"I was too, you don't know what a feeling of triumph. I found the Mirror of Erised and we celebrated in style by looking at ourselves, although the silly girl didn't let the scene develop when we looked ourselves together."
"Oh…"
"Too committed," he explained.
"Yeah."
"It took me a while to convince her to get involved with me, I didn't manage to do it until less than three weeks ago. You don't know what drama she put me through, especially the week after the mess, which for me was the worst."
"Now she is much more sure of what she wants," she said.
"Has she told you anything about Jack?"
"She hasn't."
"Well, it doesn't matter," Sev played it down. "It's true that since she's been with me she's changed a lot, I trust her.Continue with the comments and questions."
"Did you find out about the Horcruxes right away?"
"Yes, shortly after finding the book."
"What day was it exactly?" Deborah asked.
"Let me think." (The Sunday after Easter, the next Saturday was May 1st, trip to Hogsmeade. The day before was when I met Valerie, Andrew, Lorenz and George.) "April twenty-sixth. The day after the last training session of the Guard in the clearing of the chestnut trees."
"Wow… what stress you must have had, just the two of you."
"Of course," he confirmed.
"You should have told us everything much sooner."
"No, Deborah, we didn't know each other well enough. In fact, I don't want you to tell anyone else. They might get demoralized, that's why we didn't do it."
"True. I won't tell anyone for the moment. I guess then that's why you didn't reveal the existence of the Room of Requirement to us until then."
"Spot on, I revealed it to you the next day and it was your turn to search. By the way, we were both amazed at your initiative to draw a map of the Room and open all the closets at the same time, it didn't occur to us."
"Thank you, we were already coordinating and collaborating without even knowing that she was participating," she realized.
"Of course, I was the coordinator."
"So many things on your mind, Prince. I find it admirable how well you have handled the school year."
"Thanks to the fact that then I spent almost a month without doing it with anyone, not even alone. I avoided distractions as much as possible."
"Sure…"
"And I prefer to be like this, it takes too much energy from me," Sev admitted.
"Something in which we are alike."
"Continue with the questions."
"When the time comes I will give you a comment about Lauren," said Deborah.
"Alright."
"Did you tell the old man about it the day of the mess?"
"Yes, it was the first thing I did after presenting him with a list of demands that we discussed in twenty minutes," he responded.
"Can you show me the conversation as it was? Is it too long?"
"No, a little more than five minutes, then I got the first memory."
"Well, go ahead."
Sev showed it to her, including his thoughts. When he finished he asked her, "Impressions?"
"What I told you. A person used to being and working alone, having everything happen by himself, not collaborating with anyone and getting to know others by reading them without any scruple, instead of learning to create trust. About you, you did great, you earned him, he trusted you instantly, a revolution in his life too. Maybe he won't behave as badly with you as I thought."
"With more time I will show you all my interviews with him, so that you can also evaluate them."
"Great."
"I'm going to show you right now what we talked about Horcruxes, my conclusions and his after thinking for a while," he announced.
"Brilliant."
He showed it to her.
"Bravo!" Deborah exclaimed. "Before revealing anything to him, you made him commit to instructing the entire Army in Ancestral Magic.But it's true that you slip on the idea of the Death Eater vaults.No doubt he's going to suggest you become a double agent.Does Lauren know all this?"
"Of course."
"Then let's talk about her, it's time. Warning. Lauren is going to try to become a spy."
"What are you saying?" Sev was alarmed.
"What you are hearing, Prince. She must have been thinking about it at least since you found out about Horcruxes, I think long before. Was she the one who contacted you to learn Mental Arts?"
"Yeah."
"There you have it, and she was already spying on the vipers," she deduced. "And learning about Defense and having you to teach her everything the old man will tech you. Another one who is using you, an expert in strategies. She did everything in her power to make you become the old man's right hand."
(I believe it all, she was willing to mark herself for me even though I was a convinced Death Eater and she doesn't want to make friends with others so that the minimum of people are aware of her true loyalty.) "Booahh…"
"So you don't have to become a double agent. She got you into the mess and she's going to get you out of it, and you will be her liaison so that you continue to be valuable to the old man and he protects you at all costs. I even think that she knew very well what was going to happen in the Wizarding World after the mess and that she put you in that situation so that you would have a very difficult time becoming a Death Eater."
"No, I will never allow it," he said.
"Why not, Prince? Much better to be a spy than a double agent. It's much less dangerous, and if she wants to do it you won't be able to avoid it. It is her decision, she has loved you since she was a child, and now Lily too. She wants to protect you at all costs, you are the reason for her life. You better help her be in the best position for her by teaching her everything you learn."
"But she will have to kill."
"Or not, if she gets a good position on the ladder. She will have all the ballots, trained in Defense."
(And she has Lucius to get it for her. That's why she won't let me contact him, she's playing tricks on me.) "But Voldemort or Bellatrix can torture her or she can die in combat," Sev feared.
"She will watch her back, you know, with everything she learns from you."
"But if she is marked she will not be free again until Voldemort disappears, they eliminate the deserters."
"Well, then we will have to finish him off, her role will be fundamental," said Deborah.
"And she could end up in Azkaban."
"Never. We will answer for her."