A/N: Once more unto the breach…
Chapter 2: The Immortal Soul
It was an unusually cold summer's day outside the Hogwarts castle the following morning. The air was unusually calm and still. Even the giant squid that dwelled in the lake was being unnaturally silent. The Whomping Willow moved slowly through the breeze, its branches not swinging at anything that might happen by. It was into this environment that six individuals materialized out of thin air. Each of them was dressed in rather normal, muggle attire. It was odd, particularly for people who were, on collectively, the most powerful group of witches and wizards in the whole of Britain.
Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom & Ginny Weasley all glanced around at their surroundings, each one of them wary of anything that might be lurking behind hidden shadows. When they were certain they weren't walking into an ambush, they all moved their wands to hidden but readily accessible positions on their bodies and began the long trek up the path towards the castle.
"You sure this is smart Harry?" Ron asked as they drew closer to the front gate. "I mean…we could be walking into one of Dumbledore's traps or something." Harry stopped and fished around in his pocket for something, before pulling out a folded piece of parchment.
"I'm glad you reminded me Ron," he replied, smirking. He pointed his wand towards the parchment while everyone else gathered closer to him. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Though he had told them all about the Marauder's Map, some of them had never seen it unfurled before. Harry set the map on the ground and watched as it slowly unfolded itself, showing in brisk detail the entire layout of Hogwarts. Quickly his seeker's reflexes took over and he glanced about the map, looking for anyone who might be lying in wait in the castle. "As Hermione will be so quick to point out, no one can apparate inside Hogwarts." He earned a playful elbow to the gut for that slight quip, and Hermione grinned at him as he overplayed the blow. "So, in effect," he continued, "Anyone who's going to ambush us must already be on the grounds. As you can see," he gestured towards the map, "Other than the six of us there's only four other people on the grounds. Filch is probably off complaining to Moaning Myrtle or something. Professor Trelawney is stumbling about, probably looking for her sherry bottles or something. Professor McGonagall is in her office doing paperwork, and Professor Dumbledore is right where he said he would be, waiting for us in the Great Hall."
"What about Fawkes?" Luna asked, "Couldn't people swoop in unannounced with him."
"Possibly," Harry remarked, pointing his wand back at the map, "But something about the way he looked at me when Hermione and I were in Dumbledore's office was weird. It suggests that maybe he's not happy with Dumbledore? Phoenixes are supposed to be light creatures after all." No one had a response to that, so Harry simply tapped the map and muttered, "Mischief Managed," causing it to fold back up neatly. He stuffed the map in his pocket and led them all into the castle.
Slowly they made their way towards the Great Hall, still keeping very alert of any errant people who might have eluded the map somehow. They were all startled when the Fat Friar came bounding out of a wall, being chased by the Bloody Baron yet again. After catching their breaths, they all stood before the doors to the Great Hall and with one gesture from Harry, the doors swung open.
They founded Dumbledore sitting not in his usual position at the staff table, but rather at a chair positioned at the head of the Gryffindor table. Harry smirked as he noticed that several items that once adorned the walls of the castle, and in particular Dumbledore's golden throne, were suspiciously absent. He figured he had the goblins to thank for that.
For his part, Dumbledore looked up from whatever it was he was reading with a bit of a surprised look on his face as he saw the six young men and women enter the Great Hall and slowly take positions in front of him, never once turning their backs on him. "Harry, I don't recall inviting your friends to this meeting," he said flatly, glancing at each of them in turn.
"You didn't think I'd be daft enough to come to a meeting with you alone, did you?" Harry asked, his voice brimming with resentment that was still barely contained beneath the surface. "Lest you forget," he added, "I have every reason not to trust you."
"Yet here you sit," Dumbledore said coldly, "Because we need each other. It is a testament to your character that you are able to set aside an old man's…."
"Can the grandfather act," Ron said in haste, earning a reproachful glare from Dumbledore. The professor quietly tested their mental shields, save for Harry & Hermione, and found them frustratingly hard as obsidian. "And stay out of our heads," he added, causing Dumbledore to wince as he was admonished.
"Forgive me," he meekly said, "I was merely making sure you were who Harry thought you were. One can never be too careful." Dumbledore eyed Harry who stared at him with an emotionless mask. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ginny wince slightly, confirming what he already knew.
"Cut to the chase," Neville chimed in, "We're here because Harry says you have information on how to beat Voldemort." Dumbledore stared in slight amazement for a moment at the once timid and shy boy turned into a rather confident man brimming with power, a fact evidenced by how he said Voldemort's name without ever once flinching. Knowing what he knew, that definitely should not have happened. Nevertheless Dumbledore resituated himself and picked up a small object from beside his chair and held it aloft.
"Before I tell you this, I must warn you Harry," he said in an ominous tone, "That the more people who know this secret…the more likely it is that Voldemort will find out that we know."
"My friends are staying Dumbledore," Harry replied evenly, "And nothing you say will change that…Professor." He hissed the last word, in a tone mixed with venom and sarcasm.
"Very well." Dumbledore tossed the object into the center of the group, allowing them to see it. It was a small black book that most of them didn't recognize at first, but Harry quickly realized what it was when he saw the bloody, gaping hole through the middle of it. Ginny squeaked when she saw it, and Neville draped his arm around her as she slightly quivered at the memory. "I trust you recognize this Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
"It's Tom Riddle's Diary," Harry explained to the rest of the group, "It's the one I destroyed in second year with the basilisk fang." He turned towards Dumbledore, "What's this got to do with anything?
"It has everything to do with this. That, Harry, is a Horcrux." Dumbledore turned his eyes straight towards Hermione's, where he knew Harry's would go next. She shook her head at Harry when he silently asked her what a Horcrux was. Harry turned back to the headmaster, and Dumbledore resumed his previous ambience.
"What is a Horcrux?" he asked.
"I've seen them mentioned in a couple of books," Hermione added, "But nothing ever says what they are."
"I'm not surprised Miss Granger," Dumbledore noted, "They are a magic most ancient and vile. Horcruxes are, in essence, vessels. They are living or inanimate objects that serve as the host for a piece of someone's soul."
"Someone's soul?" Neville asked in a whispered tone.
"Yes. You see when someone commits a murder in cold blood; they lose a piece of themselves in the process. I'm not talking about killing in self-defense or in defense of someone you love. I'm talking about the deliberate act of pre-meditated, cold-blooded murder. Normally this piece of your soul would dissolve away into nothingness, forever lost to time and space. But there exists an incantation which can bind that soul fragment to an object of the caster's choosing. As long as that object remains intact, then that person cannot die."
"But the diary was destroyed," Harry pointed out, "So that should have destroyed Voldemort, right?"
"I'm afraid not Harry," Dumbledore said quietly, his eyes twinkling slightly, "I believe Voldemort created multiple Horcruxes, so as to provide for several layers of protection. Before you can defeat Voldemort, you must destroy these Horcruxes."
"And how do we do that," Ron asked, snickering, "It's not like there's a basilisk fang we can stab them with just lying around."
"And what are they," Ginny quietly asked, her eyes never leaving the diary.
"Normally simply destroying them in some manner will destroy a Horcrux," Dumbledore explained, "But undoubtedly Voldemort will have designed traps and protections for his most treasured possessions. I believe he created seven Horcruxes. The first was the diary you see before you. Two others I found here at Hogwarts and promptly destroyed. One was a diadem that once belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw, and the other was a cup that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff. Of the four remaining Horcruxes, one resides inside of Nagini, Voldemort's familiar the other three reside in objects that most likely once belonged to the Founders in some respect." Harry nodded his head, making sure to check with the goblins on that little piece of information. "I will continue to search for them and, when I have found them, I will tell you where they are and how to destroy them. Then…and only then…will you be able to successfully go after Voldemort."
"Shouldn't we apprehend him," Luna noted, "So that we could keep him under control until we found these things and then do away with him."
"I'm afraid that would not be possible Miss Lovegood," Dumbledore flatly stated, turning back towards Harry. "There's a certain level of risk involved in letting him remain free, but to capture him would be nearly impossible and would incite the Death Eaters even more than they already are. We are fortunate in that Voldemort and his followers have been abnormally quiet since the Ministry episode, with only a few sparing attacks."
Harry glanced him over and sighed, nodding his head, "Fine then," he said, "We'll wait for your information. But we will be looking for them as well."
"I suspected as much," Dumbledore noted, smiling. Harry and his friends stood up, once more not turning their backs on him ever. Once they had all exited the room, Dumbledore let out a breath, and turned his head when he heard clanking coming from the room behind his table at the head of the room. "You can come out now Alastor, they are gone."
Alastor Moody slowly limped his way into the room, taking a quick swig of his hip flask before sitting down next to Dumbledore. "That Lovegood is going to be trouble," he said directly, summoning a glass from across the hall and pouring his brandy out of his flask. "Especially if she's in with her father."
"I'm well aware of that Alastor, and will take steps to neutralize it should the move become necessary." He stroked his beard, as if deep in thought, "I suspect that Lazarus does not yet have his claws set into Harry yet, and I will stop it if I can." He turned and looked at Moody, "You've made all the necessary preparations then?"
"Yes," Moody said in between bites of a bowl of oatmeal that had just appeared in front of him, "Everything is set up just as you asked."
"Good," Dumbledore replied, smiling deeply, "Very good indeed."
/ - / - / - /
The group was silent as they made their way through the halls of Hogwarts, heading towards the exit. None of them made any move to talk about what had been said by Dumbledore, each of them digesting it in their own particular way. As they rounded the corner, none of them saw Professor Trelawney coming the other way, and Harry crashed into her, causing her to throw up all of her papers in a rather unsightly mess.
"Sorry Professor," he muttered, bending over to help her pick them up. Professor Trelawney began to smile, but suddenly stopped and became very rigid as she leaned against the wall. Harry stopped what he was doing and looked at her, as did the others with a great deal of confusion.
Finally, in a deep, guttural voice that only Harry would recognize, she began to mutter aloud… "Heir to Five Houses…bereft of lordship…Heirs to a prophecy made before they are born…" everyone leaned in…trying to hear the next part. "Heir to Merlin…" she trailed off again, her sight becoming much more focused. She cleared her throat and smiled, "Oh Harry, fancy seeing you here."
/ - / - / - /
Voldemort gazed out with disdain at his quivering servant, slowly tapping his thin finger against the side of his throne, his wand being twirled in his other hand. "So tell me if I have this right," he hissed as he looked over the cowering mass. "You had Draco in your sights, knowing full well that my instructions were to bring him here alive. And yet, you attempted to kill him. Not only that but you failed, and then watched as your partner was killed next to you. And then you ran away like a cowering mudblood. Is that pretty much the basic gist of the story?"
Goyle slowly nodded his head before falling to his knees, "Please My Lord," he pleaded, "Don't kill me! Please…I'll do anything. Just let me live!"
Voldemort scoffed, waving his hand at the begging Death Eater. "Killing swine such as you is below me. I won't even acknowledge your worth by lowering myself to torture you." Goyle looked up at him with hopeful eyes, as if he dared to hope for a moment that his execution had been stayed. Voldemort then returned his merciful gaze with a wicked glint shimmering in his blood-red eyes. "I'll let Fenrir do it for me."
Goyle tried to run, but was instantly held down by chains from both of the Lestrange brothers. Goyle shook in fear, and nearly soiled himself when Fenrir emerged from behind Voldemort's throne. Voldemort turned towards the werewolf and smiled. "I believe that Mr. Fortescue gave us a rather interesting spell before we dispatched him. Perhaps you can find it useful?" Fenrir offered a toothy grin, unsheathing his wand and pointing it high in the air.
"Reproba Lunas Lucis!" he yelled, causing a bright white light to shoot out of his wand and illuminate the throne room. Almost instantly Fenrir started snarling in pain as he underwent his transformation. For his part, Voldemort merely smiled and stood up.
"I'll leave you two to get more acquainted," he said politely as he walked off, leaving the now very much soiled Goyle in chains, awaiting his fate. He casually walked through the curtain leading out of his throne room and into a side room where he kept himself holed away for many hours. There he saw Wormtail furiously scribbling away on a piece of parchment. "What are you doing Peter?" Voldemort chillingly asked, causing Pettigrew to shake in fear as he turned towards his master.
"I-Iwas just…trying to get a hold of what you asked me," Peter stammered. The Dark Lord cocked his head curiously, slowly walking towards the desk and gazing down at what Peter was writing. Pettigrew dare not cover it up, for fear of being punished by Voldemort.
It was a futile fear. Voldemort's eyes turned towards Wormtail, and with a quick movement Peter was forced against the wall, held their by an unseen force. "You were planning on asking for help from him!?" he hissed, causing Peter to grimace in pain.
"H-He's the only one who knows where the last item is. We know where the cauldron and the altar are…but not the stone. We need the stone!" Voldemort tilted his head and Peter landed with a hard thud on the ground.
"Lazarus does not know where that stone is Wormtail…you're confusing him with someone I once needed help from." He kept a close eye on a foe glass in the corner of the room, brief images of Harry and his friends intermittently flickering on its smoothened surface. "Dumbledore has the Resurrection Stone. We must obtain it from him."
"Dumbledore?" Peter questioned. "But that's going to be close to impossible."
"Yes, it would be," Voldemort flatly said, before offering a sinister smile that nearly made Peter cringe even more in fear, "If not for the fact that he was foolishly setting it right where we needed it to be."
"What do you…?"
"Relax Wormtail…" Voldemort said calmly, turning towards the fire, "You'll know in due time." He paused, mulling something over in his head before he added, "In the meantime perhaps it is high time that the world not forget our presence."
/ - / - / - /
Harry and his friends sat around the table in the kitchen at Grimmauld place, each debating with themselves how best to move forward. Off to the side sat Remus Lupin, his hand thoughtfully stroking his chin as he contemplated some deep mystery in all of this.
"Something's not right here. It just doesn't add up." Harry turned towards Remus, as did the others.
"What doesn't add up Mooney?" he asked. At Remus' urgings, Harry had begun calling him by his old Marauder's nickname.
"You'd think that with all of the dark books in the library here at Grimmauld," Remus explained, "That one of them would have some kind of description of what a Horcrux was. It seems a bit convenient to me."
"Maybe so," Hermione said, "But didn't Sirius clean out the really dark books before he…" she paused when she saw Remus flinch a bit, "Sorry, I forget sometimes that it hasn't really been three years."
"It's alright Hermione," Remus said softly, clearing his throat. "I suppose you're right, but it still strikes me as a bit odd."
"I wonder if Dumbledore knew that thing was a Horcrux when you destroyed it Harry," Neville pondered.
"He had to of," Ginny whispered to no one, simply speaking aloud as if she were the only one in the room. "That…thing…is pure evil. When I was…I mean when…" she stopped and hung her head. Her experiences with the diary had been bottled up for a long while, not really coming to the forefront except in small bits and pieces. Now being confronted with the very object itself seemed to have awoken long dormant nightmares that had not plagued her for some time. Neville reached over and gingerly placed a hand on her back, a gesture quickly followed by Hermione.
"He probably did," Harry admitted, scowling. "Yet another manipulation of his design no doubt."
"But why," Ron asked, "Why would he keep something like that a secret from you."
"There's a lot of why's involved with Dumbledore Ron," Remus said, "And it's something I hope I can rectify. I've been looking a bit into Dumbledore's past. Admittedly there's not much beyond the basic details: he was in Gryffindor, his father was Archaeon Dumbledore. He defeated Grindelwald. Things of that nature."
"There's got to be more information on him," Luna said quietly, "I'll ask father if he knows anything. I think he'll help us, even if Lazarus doesn't want him too."
"The rest of us will begin looking up information concerning Horcrux possibilities." Harry looked at Hermione, who smiled back at him. Ron cocked an eyebrow.
"What is it you two are planning?"
Harry offered a sheepish grin after interlocking his hands with Hermione, "Well, we didn't want to say anything to soon but…Hermione and I are getting married in two days."
A/N: I told you the wedding would be early in the story.
Remus will play a larger role in this chapter, I promise you of that, as will the rest of Harry's friends. You also might get some indication as to why Moody is following Dumbledore as he is.
Next up we get the wedding, I hope. Probably a longer chapter unless some other plot bunny hops into my head between now and then.