It turned out that horcrux hunting wasn't quite asexciting as Sirius had hoped. He'd expected it to be similar to his old auror days- not that he'd been one for long. In total, it had been around a year and ahalf during the war. Looking back, it was obvious how they had reached thepoint of shipping people to Azkaban without a trial. He hadn't exactly learnedmuch of proper judicial proceedings, it was a shoot first, ask questions latersort of training.
What Alabasandria proposed was more akin to the absoluteinsanity that was Mad-Eye Moody's infamous suspected Death Eater corkboard. Ithad covered the entire wall of the meeting room, lovingly dubbed the War Roomby the man himself. It was plastered with candid photographs of the suspectsdoing things like brushing their teeth, as well as little bits of parchmentwith Moody-ish proverbs between them, and their connections all highlighted andentangled in copious amounts of red yarn. Sirius had once been tasked withrunning surveillance on Lucius Malfoy for sixteen hours straight, and despitehis report consisting mostly of the man's breakfast choices, it had gone up onthe wall alongside everything else.
This was all to say that the key to defeating Voldemortdid not not include learning if the man preferred tea or coffee with hismorning meal.
"So, we have a few goals here. First of all, it'simperative we discover how many horcruxes that dipshit made. Then we need todiscover what they're housed in and where they are located. I will focus ontrying to learn what I can from the locket, but it's obvious to me that he didnot study necromancy from a master. Or perhaps it is because he split his soulmultiple times - but either way, the locket is incredibly weak. There is barelyany personality inside. It seems, according to my attempts to interact with itthus far, like he just shoved some anger in there. But, even if I can't learnanything from the locket, I should be able to use it as a sort of beacon thatwill tell us if we are physically close to another piece. I will work on it.Meanwhile, while you are a wanted criminal, we'll focus on teaching you somenecromancy. Once you can move around more easily, you'll help me interrogateevery person, dead and alive, who may have any clues about them as well."
Alabasandria unearthed the massive file of papers she'dalready made on the subject. There were pages and pages of lists of names.
"I've gone ahead and compiled a list of everystudent he went to Hogwarts with. We'll start with deceased Death Eaters andhis classmates, and work our way through every person he's ever spoken to ifneed be."
"This will take forever," Sirius groaned,although he was a bit impressed with her efficiency and thoroughness. Again, heprayed for the world's sanity that she and Mad-Eye never met. "And itrelies on him having told people his plans. He doesn't strike me as a talkativeguy."
"He's a villain, he loves his monologues. I amoptimistic. The diary was his personal one which earned his Heir of Slytherinpersonality. And the locket, I have discovered, is said to have belonged toSalazar Slytherin, whom Voldemort claims to be descended from. Which is clearlyan important aspect of his identity, considering his whole blood supremacything. The third, I found residing within Harry, and I think the significanceof that is obvious. They all have a connection to Voldemort, to his past, to hisgoals. Even if he told no one of their locations, if we learn all we can aboutthe man himself, that should be enough for us to discover them ourselves."
"Hang on, wait. What do you mean that you found oneinside of Harry?"
They delayed their discussion for several hours whileSirius came to terms with that lovely fun fact. Despite the reassurances thatHarry was fine and that the horcrux had been extremely weak and had left himwith no side effects, it was a horrifying thought that Voldemort would turn hisinfant victim into such a macabre trophy. Sirius dug around Grimmauld for someof his father's hidden stash of firewhiskey. This was no longer a conversationthat needed to be had sober.
"Right," Alabasandria finally continued after afew rounds of alcohol had been consumed by her, and copious amounts more bySirius. "So, Voldemort. We have to find out how many horcruxes hehas." She plopped down onto the small loveseat in the Black Library. Herhair had fallen out of her bun, and when she raised her hands to count offtheir objectives, she stared at them a moment before she could remember hownumbers worked. "I thought he'd stop at two. Three parts of a soul makessense, I guess, if you're stupid. But you're only supposed to have the onehorcrux, and clearly, no one told him that. So I have no idea how far hewent."
"Fucking wonderful," Sirius grumbled. He took aswig straight from the bottle and sat down next to her. There was not enoughroom on the couch, so he kicked his legs over the armrest and crashed his tophalf onto her, laying across her lap. "D'ya have any good news for once,Allie?"
She swatted at him, but he was much too heavy and barelycoherent enough to move.
"Don't call me that, and no, not really," sheadmitted. "It'll be easy to get rid of them once we do find them, sothat's nice. Dark things are really susceptible to fire, that's why anynecromancer worth their name gets good at fiendfyre. Your undead abominationcan't get you if you kill it first."
"How reassuring."
"It will work," she told him. "But it willtake time. The children didn't seem interested, and there's not much they cando while they're at Hogwarts anyhow. It will be just us, and you're stuck as adog for the foreseeable future."
"Yeah, that's fine," Sirius said. "Harryhas dealt with Voldemort enough, we'll let him have some normalcy for once. Hecan have a nice, quiet time at school and only worry about lessons andQuidditch."
She laughed.
"The boy attracts trouble, and he's never beennormal. Don't get your hopes up. He's had three encounters with Voldemort now.But he's handled himself well. He is a powerful mage, and has a good head onhis shoulders."
"He's too young," Sirius protested with awhine, doggishly shaking his head.
"Voldemort doesn't care. We can try to keep him outof this, but Voldemort and his lot don't care. He will have to fighteventually."
"Well, eventually doesn't mean right now!"
"I'm not eager for Harry to run off intodanger," she argued, swatting him on the chest again. "That's notwhat I'm saying. But he'll have to fight eventually, so we had better startpreparing him for it now."
"Did you fight in the last war?" Sirius askedsuddenly. Turning his face towards her from where he was sprawled across her,he looked wild and vulnerable as he recalled the years leading up to hisarrest.
"No. I had been abroad for a long time, and the newsbeing heard internationally at the time was vague and implied things were notserious in Britain."
"It got pretty damn serious when I was in my sixthyear." Sirius had a faraway look in his eyes. "It was awful andterrifying. I don't want Harry to go through something like that."
"Voldemort is not strong enough to return -"
"It wasn't just Voldemort, though!" Siriusshouted. "He was the instigator of a lot of shit people weren't allowed tosay and do in public - but they were sure wishing they could, and Voldemort letthem. There's a reason why things escalated so fast, and it's because a lot ofpeople agree with him. Only a few were sent to Azkaban or killed. They didn'tdisappear! My entire family agreed with him, but only a couple took hisMark."
He reached for the bottle, but it was vanished away.
"You've had more than enough, Sirius. Breathe."
He let out a shaky breath, and she gave him an awkwardpat on the head. Not even the children were as emotional as Sirius tended tobe. She wondered if she could bribe the man with treats like she did with herstudents, or if the promise of murder was more appropriate for someone his age.She summoned yesterday's Daily Prophet she'd forgotten to show him andgleefully handed him the front page.
....
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