HORCRUX PLOOOOOOT
Who: Snape and Ddore Where: Ddore's prison, tower, Hogwarts What: HORCRUX PLOT When: Saturday later afternoon Rating: medium, I guess. Status: Complete!
Albus paced in his cell, his shackles clanking. Cell was the apt word for it. It was a tiny cot, a toilet and sink basin, and not much room for walking. It was less than half the room he was in, huge steel bars blocking off both the door and window from him, caging him tighter. His feet were shackled, connected together by a length of chain that reduced his movements to shuffling. The collar with resulting chains that secured to shackles around his wrists had been recently added after the death of James Potter.
Every morning, an elf came in with food, every week the sheets and robes were changed. The leg shackles didn't matter, and the collar had been designed to shackle his wrists yet allow for him to change his robes. Despite all this, he was Albus Dumbledore; he could leave at any moment. He could have always left, but he did not. For one, as long as he was here, he could protect the Potters. It was the only reason he had been left alive, this he knew. He was the only one who could lead Tom to the Potters now, and Tom desperately wanted to be led.
Albus had almost left after the death of James, when Tom himself showed up, eyes gleaming, wand twitching with anticipation. Nothing had come of the resulting torture, just empty answers. In anger, the collar had been magicked on, and the chains coiled down his arms to shackles at his wrists. The chain connected the leg shackles had been shortened several inches before Tom was satisfied, and left Albus alone.
He'd been alone since then, Fawkes would sometimes come sit on the window sill and sing to him, but the soothing of his soul never lasted long. He could leave, at anytime, leave Tom nothing but a whisper, but the damage Tom would do to the children in response stopped him. As long as he was here to draw Tom's wrath, he could keep protecting - and keep planning.
Truth be told, he'd expected Sirius to come first, shortly after the death of James, but no-one had come. Hasty footsteps on the stair alerted him and he sat patiently at the edge of his cot.
"Hello, Severus. It's been a while."
Severus had spent much of the day with the Bones girl in detention. He had been cruel, far more deliberate than he'd needed to be, but she was an adult, as he'd told Lily. Susan Bones had made her choices. Just as he'd made his. He hadn't been up to see Albus in a while. It was always the same old story with the man, run arounds and no real answers. Severus was sick of it and was only going now to ask what he could do to further help Lily.
Accessing the tower entrance that led to Albus went smoothly, as did getting through the password on the door to the cell. Walking in was always strange, to see the once-great Albus Dumbledore so calmly sit and smile at his captors; the Death Eaters of the castle went in from time to time to question the man, to torture him, to taunt him. Severus had participated. There was no other choice. This was his first time since Albus had been caged that he'd been to see the man alone.
The chains around Albus' neck gave Severus paused and he hurried over to the bars of the cell, "What did He do to you?"
Albus gave a low chuckle, "We have time for pleasantries, don't we, Severus?"
Severus stared at Albus, his face twisted in a scowl. Finally, through gritted teeth, he spat out, "Hello Albus, you look different from the last time I saw you."
It wasn't just that Albus played games with the Order, he played games with every aspect of a person's life that he could. "I've come about Lily, sir. She and Harry have left the house."
This was news to Albus. "Where are they? Are they safe? They need to stay under the protection of their Secret Keeper. It's still too dangerous. Why didn't they sent a patronus? Lily should have sent one."
Severus laughed at Albus' shock. It was a relief to see that he didn't know everything. "I think Lily decided it was time to stop being a prisoner." James' death had contributed to that, but even Severus was surprised they'd stayed in one place for 16 years. The amount of faith they must have in their Secret Keeper ...
"I'm meeting Lily tonight. She was in the forest that night - as a doe. I prevented Igor from killing her as well," Severus added. He didn't know what Albus had been told or by who, or when. He'd last seen Albus a week before James' death, and there had been no chains around the man's neck and arms then, so Severus concluded that they must have been added during the roar over James' death. Only one person could have added them, and Voldemort would have wanted to speak with Albus after.
Albus was, indeed, surprised by this revelation. He had assumed James had come alone to see Sirius, though he'd led Tom to believe that James had come in some ill-concieved rescue attempt to free him. Tom wasn't one for subtleties and the reason had been, after a period of torture, accepted. How foolish for both of them to come - what had they been doing? He knew Severus would make him work for the answers, but there simply wasn't time. Not if Lily and Harry were roaming around where they could be found easily.
"Your loyalty has been noted," Albus said, not bothering to ask why he hadn't saved James too. It was only Lily for Severus, never James. If Albus didn't trust Severus, he wouldn't have been surprised if Severus would kill James, had he been given the chance instead.
"Tell me, Severus, do you know what a horcrux is?"
The question threw Severus off guard. He hadn't been expected Albus to stray from Lily so easily. "Y-yes," he answered haltingly. "It's the vessel for which one contains the split of their soul."
What did this have to do with anything?
Albus nodded, "Yes. Would it surprise you to learn, Severus, that Tom has acquired horcruxes?
Horcruxes. Plural. More than one. It shocked him, but only temporarially. It made sense. He claimed immortality. Unless he'd created a Philosopher's stone, he had to do something.
"So long as a piece of the soul survives ..." he trailed off, looking questioning at Albus. He didn't actually know much more about horcuxes than that.
"Then he can potentially come back. He was foolish to let me live for so long, I figured him out, figured some of them out. Harry cannot fulfil the prophecy until the horcruxes have been destroyed," Albus said calmly. "There are at least 5, I believe there may be as many as 7."
That was the real reason for telling Severus and Sirius. He needed the intel on what the other two might be. He had his guesses, but he couldn't confirm anything.
"Two have already been destroyed, and one was a fake. Someone was on to him and beat me to the locket. I believe that person to be Regulus Black."
Severus' head was spinning. This was all too much to take in. SEVEN?! Two had been destroyed? He configured a chair and sat down, shaking his head. "This - this is- this is madness." He raised his head to look at Albus.
"What is it you want me to do?"
"I need information," Albus said crisply. "The horcruxes must also be found and destroyed. The two that I destoryed were Ravenclaw's diadem, and Gaunt's ring. Tom has been picking objects that mean something to him personally, or that hold great importance. A relative of the Smith line was killed back in the 40s, and Hufflepuff's cup was missing from her possessions. Shortly after his takeover was complete, Gryffindor's sword disappeared from the castle. Slytherin's locket was the fake, someone had replaced it with a replica and a note. Why, I do not know."
Albus took a deep breath, weary in his old age. He rubbed his chains hands together as he thought, the clinking of the chains the only sound in the room for the next few moments.
"I do not know the whereabouts of the sword, or the cup, and I greatly suspect the locket is hiding somewhere at Grimmauld place. That is, if my suspicions about Regulus are correct, which I believe they are."
"That's five," Severus said, his voice hollow. Five deliberate murders. Five splittings. "There could be seven," he said softly, giving voice to his thought. "Why stop at 7? There could be 30 by now. I wouldn't put it past him."
He didn't know what else to say, didn't know how else to react. Except-
How do you destroy a soul fragment?
Albus smiled, but only briefly. "Seven is a magical number, and Tom, wanting to cling to anything magical, would have latched onto that number and its magical properties. He has a snake, Nagini, whom he cares greatly for, you've told me about her. He named one of his villages after her, or her after the village, that is not the point. I believe she too may be a horcrux, a living horcrux. Then there is either one final one, or Tom intends to kill Harry to make the 7th horcrux, and thus be truly invincible."
"A sword, a cup, a locket, a snake, and maybe something else, maybe not? And Harry can't go up against him until we're sure?" It was an impossible task. Unless - "My task is to get Voldemort to give up his plans for the 7th horcrux." Severus spoke flatly. Another impossible task. Albus really wanted to kill him, didn't he? "You'll tell Black the same thing, he can go to the Order, but someone needs to pry information out of Voldemort himself. Who better than me?"
It was terrible unfair, but it wasn't as if Severus could protest. He'd learned not to do that. This helps Lily, Severus thought. It helps her, and that's why you're going to do it.
"Exactly," Albus said, and his blue eyes bore intensely into Severus. "It is imparative that you do not fail." After a brief pause, he added, "Thank you, for the information on Lily and Harry."
Severus swallowed heavily, "Lily wanted to pass on that - she loves you. I am meeting her tonight, I'm sure you've message for her.">
Albus swept his hands as wide as they would go, both the chains and the effects from the locked poison prevented them from sweeping very wide, "What I have just told you, she needs to know. She needs to return to the protection of her Secret Keeper - or at least keep Harry there. I may not have been as honest with her as I should have been, but it was for her own protection."
"Her own protection?!" Severus shouted, jumping from his chair. "You tell us nothing and then expect us to jump on your go, while you sit here in a cell, useless! You want to be useful? How are we - the little ragtag band of Order that's left, I can't even tell you about half of them, Diggle's still insane, Sturgis is a pawn of the Ministry, Lily is in hiding, Fred and George are more concerned with being 20, and Bill Weasley hasn't shown up for discussion on any Order wards, ever! These are the people who are supposed to destroy horcruxes? How do you even destroy a horcrux? Or was that information going to come after we've located them all?"
Furious and frustrated, Severus sat back down, exhaling loudly.
"You have every right to feel frustrated," Albus said calmly. "Yelling at me won't get us any closer to the point at which we're ready to defeat Tom. Find me the locations of the horcruxes, and we'll move on from there. What time are you meeting Lily?"
Severus looked at his watch and shrugged. He had to release Bones from her cage, finish preparing Lily's basket, then get to Spinner's End. He had time.
"Half the time I think you're as bloody mad as they say you are," he snapped, standing to leave.
Albus held up a hand, "Before you leave, Severus, what is the state of detention? Are you harming students?"
"I do what I need to do to stay in Voldemort's good graces, as you've ordered," Severus said silkily. "We've been increasing in intensity with no word from Horace. The Bones girl-"
He broke off and shook his head. It wasn't important.
"There is a line, Severus," Albus implored. "And there is a choice you can choose not to make. You can be an example for the other professors. Please, Severus. Don't forget who you are."
Severus shook his head as he strode for the door, "The things I do, Albus. I've long since accepted there will be no forgiveness for them." He pushed the door open, "Goodbye, Albus."
"Severus!" Albus called, but it was too late, the man was gone, the door clanged shut, and he was once again alone.
The old man was calling him back, but Severus did not turn. Susan Bones, after having been tortured by Nott, had been transfigured from the sloppy, crying mess she had been, into a sow. She'd been locked into a tiny cage, Igor added his touches, and he'd left her there while he spoke with Albus. There was no forgiveness for this, but with the task Albus had just given him, lightening up was outside the realm of possibilities. He needed to become the most cruel professor in the entire school.
"All for Lily," he murmured to himself, sweeping back into the dungeon to release a terrified pig. The basket was near ready, just a few more supplies, then he would be off before the kids started trickling back from Hogsmeade.
Horcruxes. He still hadn't fully processed it. He needed to find who had the sword and the cup, and what more there were. Most people it would have given hope to, but not Severus.