kbinnz - Harry's New Home

Snape nodded and hurried after Poppy.

TBCтАж

*Chapter 51*: Chapter 51

Later that afternoon, all four Heads of Houses were in Dumbledore's office, along with Poppy. The Headmaster himself looked wearier than anyone present could recall.

"Are you all right, Albus?" Minerva asked in some concern, darting a glance at Poppy.

Dumbledore smiled tiredly at her. "Yes, my dear. I am well. It is just that I have had my worst imaginings confirmed, and it isтАж distressing."

"Well, stop being mysterious and tell us what's happening!" Pomona Sprout burst out anxiously, then blushed. "I meanтАж"

Dumbledore managed a respectable twinkle. "I understand, and I do apologize for being unnecessarily cryptic. First, though, Poppy, how is Miss Parkinson?"

The medi-witch frowned. "She was drained, Headmaster. Of not only her magic, but her life force as well. If it had continued much longer, I don't see how she could have survived."

"But she was rescued in time?" Professor Flitwick asked worriedly.

Poppy nodded. "It will take some time, but she will recover fully."

"What caused this тАУ this 'draining'?" McGonagall demanded. "Was it the creature that attacked Severus?"

Sprout frowned. "What creature? Miss Granger said nothing about a creature. Severus, are you all right?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Perhaps we should begin at the beginning. Severus?"

Snape retold the same highly edited version that he had given the Headmaster about Nagini's attack and subsequent effort to escape via the Chamber of Secrets. "тАжBut what the Headmaster and Hagrid found there, I don't know," he finished.

All four teachers and the medi-witch turned expectantly to Dumbledore.

"When I was first summoned by Myrtle, I was alarmed to find a repeat of a pattern with which I was all too familiar. When Myrtle was killed, I was - as you know - not yet Headmaster, and I always harbored doubts about the explanation that my predecessor accepted for the events of that time. I myself was convinced that Hagrid was not involved, but that another student, who had already shown an unhealthy interest in Salazar Slytherin, had played a role. At the time, I had neither the authority nor the proof to pursue my suspicions, but shortly after becoming Headmaster I took certain... precautions... so that if history repeated itself, I would be prepared."

"Is that why I was told to bring these?" McGonagall asked, raising a pair of spectacles that was the twin of the one that now sat on the Headmaster's desk.

Albus nodded. "I managed to procure a few pairs - just in case. When Myrtle informed me that the secret passage in her lavatory had been opened, I felt it incumbent upon us to take all precautions, and I insisted Hagrid and I don the eye protection before venturing forth. When we first descended," the Headmaster continued gravely, "it was clear that we were indeed in the Chamber of Secrets; Salazar Slytherin's legendary hideaway was all too real. Hagrid and I cautiously advanced, only to find Nagini, Voldemort's familiar тАУ" he ignored the others' flinches as he named the Dark Lord " тАУ writhing in her death throes, her body nearly severed in half."

McGonagall's eyes were wide. "Great Merlin! What could do such a thing? That snake was enormous!"

"Salazar Slytherin's familiar was larger still," Dumbledore said tiredly.

"His familiar! A basilisk?" Flitwick squeaked, nearly falling off his chair. "It was still alive?"

"Very much so. And it appeared to have taken exception to Nagini's rather hurried entrance. I suppose that Mr Potter's magic had temporarily blinded Nagini, rendering her invulnerable to its stare, but it was more than large enough to dispatch her more, ah, directly."

"Sweer Merlin," Sprout breathed, ashen. "A live basilisk here in the castle! What if it had gotten free after Nagini awakened it?"

"Is that what those funny goggles are for?" Poppy peered at the pair in Minerva's hand interestedly. "Some sort of protection? I've never heard of such a thing!"

"They are quite rare, but given my earlier misgivings that Myrtle had fallen prey to a basilisk, I felt it imperative to procure some when I took on my present role. I will admit, I never expected to encounter Slytherin's familiar - I had thought that the earlier student might have, in an effort to emulate his hero, tried secretly to create a basilisk for himself. I thought he had succeeded but when the creature killed Myrtle then either he had killed it to conceal his guilt in the resultant uproar or hidden it away in the castle somewhere. It was quite a shock to encounter a huge, thousand year old creature."

"Good heavens - so that's what you found down there?"

"My apologies, Pomona. I believe I have misled you. The basilisk was not the only inhabitant of the Chamber. A student, Miss Parkinson, was also present, as was a former student тАУ Tom Riddle."

The others blinked in confusion. "Who?" Flitwick asked blankly.

Dumbledore waved his wand and the name "Tom Marvolo Riddle" appeared above his head. Another wave and the letters rearranged themselves.

"No!" "You Know Who?" "Oh, Merlin!" The others were loud in their dismay. "But, Albus," Minerva protested, "are you telling us he is once more corporeal?"

"No тАУ it is a bit more complicated than that," Albus admitted.

McGonagall blinked. "More complicated than a millennium-old familiar and a reincarnated Dark wizard?"

"The last object in the Chamber was a small diary, which I assume Miss Parkinson somehow acquired. This diary belonged to Tom Riddle when he was a schoolboy here at Hogwarts. It was during that same time that he first discovered the Chamber, befriended Slytherin's familiar, and тАУ I believe тАУ was responsible for Myrtle's death."

The teachers gasped in horror. "So poor little Pansy somehow read the diary and discovered the Chamber's entrance?" Poppy guessed.

"The diary was no longer simply a book," Dumbledore explained. "It had been тАУ modified тАУ by Voldemort into something more. Something Dark and unspeakable."

"What?" Snape burst out impatiently.

"How many of you are familiar with a horcrux?" Albus asked, looking very old and very sad.

Snape frowned in thought. There was somethingтАж

"Well, I've never heard of such a thing," Sprout stated bluntly.

"A horcrux is тАУ for lack of a better explanation тАУ an object in which a wizard places part of his soul. It requires extremely Dark magic тАУ and a murder тАУ to create, but by safeguarding a piece of the wizard's soul, it makes him immortal. So long as the horcrux exists, part of the wizard's soul does as well, and so he cannot be killed." Dumbledore took a deep breath. "Tom Riddle made his diary into a horcrux. It was the fragment of his soul that awoke the basilisk and was sucking the life force out of Pansy."

The others stared at him in horror. "But You Know Who never mentioned such things to his followers!" Snape protested. "Surely we in the Inner Circle would have been told!"

"Of course not," Dumbledore shook his head. "Why would Voldemort reveal his weakness to you? If you knew his horcrux existed and destroyed it, then he would be mortal again. I am not in the least surprised he never encouraged any of his Death Eaters to explore that branch of Dark magic."

"So is that why Voldemort wasn't killed outright when Harry rebounded the AK back to him? Because this horcrux protected part of his soul?" Flitwick asked.

"Yes. Of course, now that the horcrux has been destroyed, he is vulnera-"

"Wait." Snape's voice cut off the Headmaster. "Why are you assuming he only has a single horcrux?"

Dumbledore blinked at him. "No one has ever made more than one, my boy. It requires splitting of the soul."

Snape shrugged. "I had no idea the soul could be split at all. But if you can split it once, why not split it again? Particularly if it will make your immortality more secure?"