Life Debt
No one said a word. Sure, it was explained but it was something hard to swallow. Voldemort managed to split his soul an unknown amount of times to create these Horcruxes, and they are what has kept Voldemort from being killed over the years. Especially the night in Godric's Hollow, when his killing curse rebounded.
"Sir…" Harry looked at Albus.
The old wizard raised a hand to silence Harry for a moment. "This…Is beyond anything I imagined."
"You mean to say that he succeeded, sir. In making a Horcrux?" Harry inquired.
"Oh yes. He succeeded alright. And not just once." Albus confirmed.
"What are they exactly?" Harry pushed.
"They could be anything," Albus reached into his robes and pulled out a rag, letting a gold ring with a stone at the top fall onto the table. "A ring, for example…" He brought out a black notebook and pushed the ring closer to Harry. "A book."
Harry recognized that book. "Tom Riddle's Diary."
"Was a Horcrux, yes. Four years ago, when you saved Ginny Weasley's life in the Chamber of Secrets, you brought me this." Harry looked at Albus. "I knew then that this was a different kind of magic. Very dark. Very powerful. But until today, I had no idea just how powerful." Albus said.
"And the ring?" Harry questioned.
"Belonged to Voldemort's mother." Albus told him. "Difficult to find. Even more difficult to destroy. I failed to destroy this one." He added, motioning to the ring.
"But what you're saying, Professor…Suggesting, is that if one could destroy all the Horcruxes…" Harry began.
"One destroys Voldemort." Albus nodded to him.
"How do we find them. They could be hidden anywhere…" Harry stated and went to touch the ring, but Albus put his blackened hand out.
"Don't touch it, Harry. It's cursed, it will do this to you and it will kill you, slowly. Tom didn't want anyone getting his hands on these at the chance they could be destroyed. Not only that…This one is still active." Albus warned.
"Yeah I can feel that," Harry shuddered. "Wait…You touched it…" He paused.
"Albus, does that mean what I think it does?" Minerva stiffened.
The reveal was clear. Albus stopped Harry from touching the cursed object because it would do to him what it was doing to Albus. The man's hand was blackened, killing him. "Professor?..." Harry said quietly.
"Yes, my foolishness in finding it and touching has cost me my life. Nothing can be done, it cannot be stopped. I daresay I will not see the start of next year." Albus admitted. "Not to worry, Harry. I'm old, I've lived my life. I can rest in peace knowing I've done all in my power to see you through this task. For now, I am well alive and can assist you, Harry." He informed. "Do not fret over me. My affairs are in order and Minerva, you know your task when the time comes…"
Sadly, the Deputy Headmistress and Transfiguration teacher nodded in acceptance. Nothing could be done, and she would do the duty entrusted to her by Albus.
"So how do we destroy the ring, or any of them?" Harry asked. It didn't sit well with him, that Albus was going to die soon and it just wasn't known when. Severus sensed it, Harry was bothered by Albus's reveal. Severus might have to speak to Harry later, make sure he didn't slip too far. Being upset was expected and okay, but not closing yourself off.
"Harry, how did you destroy the diary?" Hermione asked.
"Basilisk fang…" Harry stated.
"Well, that's a problem because the one down in the chamber has already been harvested, and venom extracted…" Severus muttered.
"Is there anything else that would work?" Lucius questioned.
"So…We have nothing then?" Blaise asked.
"Master! Master, take one of my fangs! Please, allow me to help you?" Ivy hissed at Harry's ear.
"You know, I almost forgot you were a Basilisk, Ivy." Harry responded.
"Something you'd like to share with the rest of us, Potter? We're not Parselmouths." Alastor reminded.
"It's Potter-Snape," Harry rolled his eyes. "And Ivy was just reminding me about something."
"And that would be?" Severus arched a brow at his young husband.
"Sev, did you forget too?" Harry chuckled. "Ivy is a Basilisk!"
"What?!" People instantly covered their eyes.
"Calm down, you won't get petrified or killed unless I command her to do so." Harry stated. "She only obeys her lord. You can look freely…" Slowly they uncovered their eyes. "Ivy belonged to Salazar Slytherin, he found her as an egg and she'd remained loyal to him all these years, even after his death, guarding his personal space down in the Chamber of Secrets. She kept it protected until Sal's heir returned. Sal refused Tom Riddle, and Tom froze his picture then took control over the Basilisk that I had to kill." He explained.
"I won Slytherin Heirship by defeating Tom so many times, and I'm distant family. Salazar named me Lord Slytherin, I'm Ivy's master now." He informed. "He spelled her to be able to change size, as well have the power to control her killing or petrifying gaze. Obviously, she only acts on command."
"What it means is we have Basilisk fangs to use," Severus said. "May want to get bigger, Ivy,"
Harry heard the ring whisper at him. He couldn't understand it, but it was Parseltongue for sure. It sounded odd, he couldn't make out the words. "No, not yet." Harry said.
"Bloody hell, Harry, why not? We have to destroy these things to kill Voldemort." Ron asked.
"Calm yourself, Ron…" Harry said firmly. "No, we're not destroying it. Not yet, at least."
"Why are you hesitating, Harry?" Severus inquired. "I feel that you are. You're worried about something."
"If we destroy this now, Voldemort will know that we have. It's hosting a piece of his soul. I'm almost certain that he'll feel it when we destroy it. He'll know we've figured out his secret…And then we'll have a problem on our hands of finding the others before he does." Harry said.
"We don't know how many he made, and I'm betting he doesn't think I know the diary is one because he told me that he was a memory preserved in the pages." He stated now. "No, we hold off destroying it. We need to find the others first, destroy them all at once so he can't go in search of them to re-hide them." Harry remarked as he looked at Albus now. The man seemed to understand without words having to be spoken between them.
"Harry is right." Albus said. "These are undoubtedly linked to Tom, just as the dark mark was. There is a chance he isn't aware we've discovered what he's done, and if we can hold that element of surprise, then he won't know what hit him until he has nothing to fall back on."
Harry eyed the ring and aimed his wand at it. "Finite Incantatem," The ring jumped a bit, glowing and then settled. Harry reached out to touch it and Severus stopped him.
"Harry, you heard Albus. It will curse anyone who touches it!" Severus reminded.
"Calm down, Sev." Harry told him. "I already broke his curse." He pulled his hand free and grabbed the ring. "See?"
"How did you do it so easily?" Bill Weasley asked. "Something like what it attacked Albus with, shouldn't have been easy."
"Yeah, well…Tom seems to want to do these dark things to protect his stuff but doing it in Parseltongue was a mistake. Anything he does with it, I can undo. All I used was Finite Incantatem. In Parseltongue. Like I said, he didn't account on there being someone who can counter whatever he does. He curses it in Parseltongue, I counter it in Parseltongue the same way we do with anything else." Harry commented.
"Now, how do we find the others. We don't even know how many…" Draco mentioned.
"Seven." Albus and Harry said at the same time.
"How do you know for sure?" Narcissa questioned.
"He said it in the memory, wanting to know how many times you could split the soul. He suggested seven. Why? It's a powerful number." Harry informed. "The diary was one. And we have the ring. That leaves five to find."
"Okay…So how do we go about tracking them down?" Alastor wondered.
"We start with what we know…" Albus enlightened. "I found the ring in the old Gaunt house of Little Hangleton. Voldemort obviously chose it as a place with some meaning to him. His mother's family's home because his mother was a pure-blood and Voldemort chose to swear off his muggle side."
"And the diary…We ended up with because Lucius put it in Ginny's cauldron at the book shop in Diagon Alley," Harry looked over to Lucius. "How did you end up with it?"
"I was entrusted to look after it during the first war. However…In 1992, as I was going to get rid of it because of the mandatory raids on homes of alleged Death Eaters, I was flipping through the pages and words appeared telling me to get it to Hogwarts. I knew I wouldn't simply be able to just waltz into the school without cause, and saw opportunity in handing it off to someone who would be going." Lucius informed.
"Tom told you to get him to Hogwarts so he could reopen the chamber to set that Basilisk on the muggleborns, and double to find someone to use to return to a physical body." Harry stated in realization. "Obviously, it failed and Tom is probably aware the diary was destroyed and as I said, likely not to assume I have figured out what it truly was being a Horcrux." He added.
"So we have nothing to lead us to the others," Tonks remarked calmly.
"We may not have a location, but we now know Voldemort may have left items with his Death Eaters." Severus offered. "I know he left nothing with me, as his spy for the Order. Or, that's what he believed I was. I assume he didn't want to take the risk I was ever discovered; his Horcrux wouldn't be safe."
"Nothing with me," Gregory Sr. interjected.
"Same for us," Theodore Sr. said as Francis nodded.
"Then who in his following would have been someone he could trust entirely?" Remus wondered.
"Pettigrew, perhaps." Francis offered.
"I don't think so. Voldemort knew he betrayed my parents, it would be too easy for Peter to turn around and betray him. Pettigrew only returned out of fear of the Order. Voldemort said that himself in the graveyard." Harry enlightened. "Who else?"
"Barty Crouch Jr.?" Sirius suggested.
"Loyal as he might have been, not likely to have been trusted to an object as he was imperioused most of his life, and his estate was turned upside down after his death." Severus folded his arms over one another.
"My sister." Narcissa revealed. "Bellatrix. She willingly went to prison after she and Barty tortured the Longbottoms to insanity for information on where their lord was." She informed. "She knew Voldemort would set her free as a reward for her loyalty and devotion." She noticed Neville looked down. "Sorry, dear. It wasn't said to hurt you. I am sorry for what she did to them."
"I-It's okay," Neville replied. "Thank you though, Mrs. Malfoy."
"There is also the fact Bella entirely loved her lord. She married Rodolphus out of obligation as a pureblood, not love. Her heart belongs to her lord." Lucius added.
"Bellatrix might fit the bill of someone Tom entrusted to hold an object for him. But likewise too, she went to Azkaban willingly. I would assume her estate or properties were turned upside down." Albus stated.
"But she did go willingly, Headmaster." Harry repeated. "That meant she had time after what she did to Frank and Alice Longbottom with Barty to take her things and hide whatever she didn't want found. By going willingly, she would ensure what Tom told her to keep safe would be kept so while she was away. Likely in anticipation that when Tom returned, he may inquire about the object." He suggested.
"That…Makes sense. I agree with Harry." Luna nodded.
"So do we." A few other students agreed.
"So then the question might be where she hid it for it to stay safe while she was away…" Minerva said calmly.
"Perhaps the bank?" Fleur suggested. "The…Goblins are neutral, aren't they?"
"She…Has a point." Lydia spoke up. "Goblins are neutral to our war between Light and Dark. As long as they were getting business, they wouldn't care who was who or what side they fought for,"
"That's gonna be hard to get access to then." Severus sighed. "No one has ever successfully broken into Gringotts."
"Let me see if I can't talk them into giving me access. I know they don't choose sides, but they'll accept bribes if it's worth their time…We just need something they wouldn't refuse." Bill enlightened.
"Know anything they would accept?" Harry asked.
"Not off the top of my head, Harry, but let me talk to them and see if they'll set their price." Bill told him.
"Even if we get access, how do we know what object it will be?" Hermione inquired.
"If Bill can get me inside the vault, I can find it." Harry closed his eyes.
"Why do you know that for sure?" Seamus wondered.
"I can hear them." Harry admitted.
"H-Hear them?" Ginny tilted her head.
"Parseltongue. That's how I figured out they're linked to Voldemort." Harry replied. "I can hear his soul talking to me. I can feel the energy." He added. "It's familiar."
"And if Bill can't get you inside the vault?" Severus pushed.
"We start narrowing down possible ideas on what it could be." Albus offered. "Harry, I may have located another already. I'm still narrowing places down, but when I work out the location indefinitely, you and I will go to retrieve it. If it is another cursed item, you will be needed to counter it."
"Just let me know when, Headmaster." Harry nodded.
"We have any other ideas about the remaining items?" Alastor inquired.
"My guess would be things that had meaning to Tom, or he found fascinating. Like Albus said with the ring." Sirius suggested.
"Sev, when we first went to the chamber in January, didn't Salazar say something about something of his he wanted to give me and it went missing?" Harry looked to his husband.
"Yes, actually. His locket." Severus recalled. "It's theorized Voldemort may have had something to do with it."
"I put my money the locket being one." Harry commented.
"You know that for sure?" Hannah wondered.
"I don't see how a young Tom Riddle, who was heir of Slytherin before myself, wouldn't be obsessed with his ancestor. Tom had reopened the chamber when he was at school and his soul piece in the diary told me that he wanted to finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work of purging the school of anyone unworthy to study magic." Harry informed. "Salazar told Severus and I that he refused to allow Tom access to the inner chamber, Tom went and froze the picture. I would think…Tom might use the locket to make a statement. Hiding a piece of his soul in an object that belonged to his ancestor."
"The idea has merit to it." Albus nodded.
"I have a hunch that the remaining items…Belong to the founders." Harry remarked. "Salazar said each founder left something behind in the school. The sword of Godric Gryffindor. The diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw. The cup of Helga Hufflepuff and the locket of Salazar Slytherin." He told them. "I know the sword isn't a Horcrux. I wielded it in second year, and it didn't have any sense of dark magic."
"But Salazar told us he had no idea what happened to the other items." Severus added.
"To me, this just means it's possible Tom used them to host his soul pieces, and hid them." Harry responded calmly. "Sure, it might not be the case. I could be wrong. Voldemort's mind, I'm positive, is one hundred flavors of insane on his quest for power and ya know, literally ripping his soul seven times…But thus far, we have no other ideas and everyone has to start somewhere." He reminded.
"Harry is right," Minerva conceded.
"We have nothing else to go on." Remus nodded.
"What we do know is that Voldemort can't be killed until these pieces are destroyed." Tonks offered.
"And that we have to find them before he figures out we're up to something." Molly pointed out.
"And keeping Harry safe…" Sirius cautioned. "Without Harry, we can't find these items because he senses their energy and hears them speaking to him. On top of that," The man paused. "Even if Voldemort can be killed once these things are gone…The prophecy still says that the boy born at the end of July, whose parents thrice defied the dark lord, will have the power to vanquish said dark lord with a power the dark lord knows not. Even with these items gone, there still has to be a battle to put Voldemort down and Harry is the one who is going to have to fight him."
"I hate agreeing with you…" Severus sighed. "But he's right. We already saw a few days ago that Voldemort raged out through the link he has with Harry after the removal of the dark marks and he knew Harry did it." Severus proclaimed. "Like it or not, we're approaching the final battle. Voldemort is going to crack down on sending his message and taking over, and he knows Harry is in his way. The only one in his way because of the prophecy…Now more than ever, we have to keep Harry safe until the battle."
"I believe what is being said is that we have very limited time to find these Horcruxes and destroy them." Albus reiterated.
"Everyone heard it. We find the bloody Horcruxes and keep Potter-Snape safe." Alastor revealed.
"You get me to the final battle and I'll take care of the rest." Harry told the rest. "But I promise you that our next battle will be the last, and his tyranny will end."