Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 46: An Unsettling Revelation
"What did you just say?... Dementors?" Dumbledore stared at Snape, looking dumbfounded.
"That is not even the strangest part. The Dark Lord claimed to have hit Potter with a Killing Curse before this one was taken away by a Dementor. You can imagine how shocked he was when he discovered that Potter had reappeared at Hogwarts the next morning."
"The Killing Curse… and Harry didn't die. That's…"
"Impossible, yes. " Snape added. "The Dark Lord didn't understand it either. But he wants to find out why that happened. That is one of the reasons I am still alive. He needs someone close to the boy to investigate this."
"Mmm…" Dumbledore turned around and walked across his office until he reached the back of his desk. He then proceeded to open the second drawer.
"The Killing Curse is a dark spell that attacks directly the soul of its victim, damaging it beyond repair. This causes the immediate death of the person, as one cannot live without their soul."
"You already figured something out?" Snape was honestly surprised. He knew the old wizard was brilliant, but didn't think he could come up with some theory so quickly.
"It's not like there are many ways to survive a curse like that one. It is the main reason it has become forbidden to use. In fact… There is only one way that I can think of," Dumbledore said as he placed a black diary on the table, staring at it with intensity.
"If the person has more than one soul in their body… in theory, the Killing Curse would only damage one of them, leaving the other one intact."
"More than one soul? Headmaster, how can that be possible?" Snape asked.
"That, my friend… is something that I have been wondering myself for a long time," Dumbledore responded, his eyes still focused on the diary.
This was the one that Harry Potter had brought back to him in his second year, after killing the Basilisk.
It took Dumbledore a while to unravel the secrets in this artifact after hearing the full story from the boy and how he had encountered the 'ghost' of Tom Riddle that seemed to reside in this book.
Since he knew for a fact that Tom Riddle was alive, this could not be a ghost or spirit. Instead, it was a fragment of the man's soul… a Horcrux.
This led him to develop a new theory about Harry Potter's scar and how it was connected to Voldemort.
"Headmaster?" Snape glanced at the old wizard with curiosity. He had stopped talking and was now just staring at the old book on his table.
"I'm sorry, Severus." Dumbledore took the diary and placed it back in the drawer, locking it once more. "I think it is still too early for me to reveal this piece of information. And I am not completely sure myself about it being correct. I need a bit of time...to ponder about this."
His idea of Harry Potter having been a Horcrux looked sound, but it was not something he wished to reveal to Severus Snape yet, as the information was likely to fall into Voldemort's hands.
The Dark Lord had gone to great lengths to keep his usage of the Horcrux ritual a secret. Letting him become aware that Dumbledore knew about it could make him more wary.
'I need to use this to my advantage and secure them before it's too late.' He didn't even know how many the man had created, but it was obvious that it was more than one, since the man was still alive, despite the diary being destroyed.
"Severus… you must be tired. And I must contemplate these new discoveries. We will have much to do in the near future." Dumbledore decided not to inform Snape about the murders just yet.
The man was hurting and clearly exhausted. There was no point in making it worse just yet. There would be time for that the next day.
As much as Snape would like to gain more information about the Headmaster's discovery, the idea of going back to his comfortable bed and resting, for many reasons, was just too appealing at the moment.
He knew that he was going to get his answers very soon. "As you wish, Headmaster. I will go rest then."
"You do that, my friend. We will speak more tomorrow. I promise you that."
Snape nodded and left the office, as fast as his tired bones would allow him, then made his way directly to his private quarters.
Despite his poor state, he immediately noticed that something was wrong the moment he crossed the door.
"Someone tampered with the lock…"
His eyes went directly to his potion cabinet. The only things worth taking from here would be in there.
He moved his feet with difficulty and approached the cabinet. Before he could even tap it with his wand to remove the seal, the door slid open.
"Oh no…" Now he had no doubts that someone had raided his cabinet.
"What did they steal?" Snape had stored his most questionable and dangerous creations in here, as well as some very rare ingredients.
He spent a good thirty minutes going over every single item to find out exactly what had gone missing.
"Why would they take this?" He made sure to make notes on everything.
Five different ingredients were gone. Although they were not the rarest ones he had. Only one potion had been taken; it was a very potent solvent, meant to be used on non-organic materials.
Snape was left very confused and angry as he tried to guess what the thief was trying to accomplish with those items.
In the end, he had to go to bed while feeling like this, leading to a terrible night where he couldn't get his so much-needed rest, swearing that he was going to find out the culprit and make them pay, even if the year was almost over.
A.N: - Remember to comment, vote, and/or leave a review if you have the time. Those things help me a lot and I would really appreciate it.
You can Support me on P@treon if you like and get 20 advanced chapters. You can also find characters images to view for free in Collections/Beneath the Skin Images
-patreon.com/Kriogenix
For donations and commissions, go to ko-fi.com/kriogenix