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Chapter Eleven: The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black:

At Five O’ Clock in the Morning on the second of August, in the year 1995, there was hardly a noise around the area outside of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. The sun hadn’t even rose yet but three figures walked around outside, looking around cautiously as they approached Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, which had been hidden from sight by casual viewers, for security purposes, using the Fidelius Charm. People who observed the scene, would see Number Eleven and then Number Thirteen Grimmauld Place, with a gap where number Twelve Grimmauld Place would be located. However, no one thought twice about that, due to the unique properties of the Fidelius Charm.

Still, three figures were slowly sneaking around the area around Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, moving very cautiously as not to arouse any suspicion from people who might be spying on the area around Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. Harry, Hailey, and Lily Potter walked up towards the walkway that was only visible to Lily right at this moment. After they were close to the door, Lily handed them a slip of paper.

“Okay, read this slip of paper, memorize it rather quickly, because I want to destroy any physical trace of this address,” muttered Lily.

Harry and Hailey looked at the slip of paper, which stated the following:

Sirius Black can be found at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

Lily gave Harry and Hailey a few seconds to memorize what they saw on the paper before taking it away and incinerating it with her wand wordlessly. The ashes fell to the ground, as Lily waved her wand before wordlessly causing the ashes to vanish with her wand in a blink of an eye. Lily wasn’t taking any chances; even through she might be coming across as more paranoid than Mad-Eye Moody on a bad day.

Harry and Hailey looked up, as a walkway that they hadn’t previously seen materialized underneath their feet and looking further up, they saw the large dark and sinister house that was Number Twelve Grimmauld House. In Harry’s opinion, it looked like something that wouldn’t be out of place in a B-Level Horror Movie.

“Okay, I’m going to knock on the door,” muttered Lily to her two children. “But whatever you do, don’t make any noise whatsoever, as trust me, you won’t like what will happen if you wake that horrid thing up.”

Lily shuddered as she remembered meeting the portrait of Sirius’s mother. It was an unpleasant experience that she wouldn’t want to live through again and it took several years off of her hearing by listening to that hag rant on and on about Mudbloods being in her house in the loudest, most annoying tone possible. Without any further pause, Lily raised her hand up into the air, knocking on the door. A moment later, Sirius Black opened the door, with his wand in his hand. While, Sirius doubted that Lily would inadvertently give the location of where he was hiding to someone untrustworthy, he wasn’t taking any chances, especially after the Ministry of Magic tracked his every move ever since he barely escaped receiving the Dementors Kiss over a year ago.

“Oh, Lily, Hailey, Harry, it’s you,” said Sirius in a relaxed, but quiet voice as he lowered his wand. “Come in but keep your voices down.”

Lily stepped inside, followed by Harry and Hailey, with the door shutting behind them as Sirius lead them down the hallway, being careful not to make any noise until they crossed the hallway into the dining room area.

“Welcome to my not so humble home,” said Sirius as he sat down on a chair. “I never thought I’d be back here ever but unfortunately, with the Ministry of Magic after my head, I had to hole up here. Of course, Lily and I had to put the Fidelius up to make sure the Ministry doesn’t get the bright idea to come here and look for me. Of course, my family did put up all kinds of interesting and rather painful surprises for people not of Black blood who were not welcomed here and attempted to force entry, but still I’m not taking any chances at all. It was a good thing that they forgot to lock me into the wards as a potential unwelcome guest.”

“Why would they want to lock you out of the wards, Sirius?” asked Harry in a curious voice.

“My parents and I didn’t exactly see eye to eye, but I really conflicted with the views of my mother,” said Sirius. “She really despised any witch or wizard who didn’t have at least five generations of worth of pureblood relatives. Anything less than five generations of purebloods, they were considered less than garbage. Of course, many of the more fanatic pureblooded families such as my family, the Malfoys, the Darthmorths, the Lestranges, the Gaunts, the Umbridges and many others had few choices due to their selectiveness. In many cases, they went so far to preserve their own cousins to retain their pureblooded status. Due to the fact that the Ministry is mostly made up by pureblood fanatics, there are no laws that are against marrying members of your own family. Of course, eventually with all the interbreeding of the purebloods, the chance of squibs becomes rather high.”

“Luther Malfoy,” muttered Harry as Sirius gave him a strange look. “Lucius Malfoy’s older brother, he’s a squib, but was disowned and is now a crime boss in New York. Nasty fellow, tried to kill me once, but then again, who hasn’t.”

“Yes, the fact that the Malfoys had a squib in their family would be kept secret, but this Luther should consider himself lucky to be disowned, as many pureblood fanatic parents killed their own children rather than having the shame of them being squibs,” said Sirius. “Still, the purebloods only brought the recent uprising of squibs upon themselves, as without integrating fresh muggleborn blood into their families, eventually there would be no chance of producing anything but a squib. Still, back to the subject of my parents. They were supporters of Voldemort, my mother more so. Of course, they didn’t want to get their hands dirty, just in case Voldemort flopped in his attempt to take power. Still, they began to attempt to groom myself and my younger brother, Regulus, into perfect little pureblood supremacists, so we could serve Voldemort as my parent’s demented way of supporting him. Of course, the relationship between my mother and myself had been rather strained for most of my life, especially since I started Hogwarts, as I never really took all of her purebloods are good and everyone else is trash talk like the gospel she intended it to be taken as. The major blowup between my mother and I happened the summer before my sixth year at Hogwarts.”

Sirius took a deep breath, pausing, before deciding it would be better to get this story out, as no one had knew the full extent of the circumstances around Sirius running away from home. Not even James knew when he was still alive.

“My mother told us that we would be joining Voldemort as Death Eaters,” said Sirius. “I, of course, decided that I didn’t want to join up with Voldemort and attempted to make a break from home but my mother caught me before I could escape. She didn’t take too kindly for me attempting to disrupt the plans she had laid out for me to live the rest of my life. Of course, shipping me off to serve Voldemort wasn’t her only plan, she wanted to arrange a marriage between myself and my cousin, Bellatrix in her demented attempt to keep the blood purity, despite the fact we both utterly despised each other. I think that may just be the only time ever that Bellatrix and I agreed on something, as we both thought this was an utterly revolting idea. I’m rather lucky to be alive after my mother blasted me with an organ exploding curse.”

Hailey and Harry gasped in a combination of horror and disgust as Lily looked rather sickening.

“Yes, thankfully I was able to put up a shield charm, as she was aiming straight for my heart,” said Sirius darkly. “So she decided to attack me with the Cruciatus Curse for several minutes. I’m not sure if she was planning on putting me under the Imperius Curse after softening up my mind or just killing me after making the last few minutes of my life a living hell. I didn’t stick around to find out. The moment she let up, I was able to somehow stun her and make it out of the house before my father or Regulus could find her to wake her up.”

Harry felt that Sirius’s mother would have likely tried to kill him, as by refusing to follow Voldemort, Sirius would be considered a blood traitor, who many felt to be lower than muggleborns or half bloods. Of course, Harry thought that any pureblood who followed Voldemort and called people blood traitors were hypocrites, as they were following a half blood. So by their own standards, these so called proper purebloods would have to call themselves blood traitors.

“That’s really disturbing, your parents that is,” said Hailey. “It’s rather amazing you turned out somewhat sane and not a raving, sadistic lunatic like Bellatrix Lestrange after all they did to you.”

“Yes that fact is amazing,” said Sirius. “I really don’t like staying here but due to the fact that the Ministry seems bound and determine to catch me and give me the Dementor’s Kiss as there way of proving that they can do something other than make laws that restrict werewolves and other part humans.”

“Now, Sirius, I know you hate being stuck here but I’m afraid that without Peter being delivered to the Ministry and him confessing the fact that he killed all those Muggles, not to mention proving that he is still alive, we have little chance of getting you a new trial,” said Lily. “I’m not really sure if catching Peter would get you declared innocent by the Ministry, as the Ministry seems to be very adamant of not admitting that they’ve made mistakes, especially Fudge, as he’s getting rather close to an election year. Still, the chance that we might be able to get the Ministry to declare you innocent if we capture Peter is still better than nothing. Of course, that will do us no good, if the Ministry captures you and you get the Dementor’s Kiss before Peter is captured.”

“Yes, I know, I learned my lesson last time I went in public for a few minutes,’ said Sirius darkly. “It was close, all too close, when I found myself face to face with four Ministry of Magic Aurors. Until Wormtail is caught, the chance of the Ministry stepping up their hunt is extremely high.”

“Unfortunately,” agreed Harry. “The Ministry is becoming a bit more trouble then they are worth, I’m almost counting down the days until Voldemort rolls over them, crushing them so we don’t have to deal with any more headaches because of there mismanagement. I just hope no one good is caught in the crossfire when it happens.”

“You are almost sure that Voldemort is going to attempt to wipe out the Ministry, Harry?” asked Sirius.

“I’m certain,” said Harry calmly. “Voldemort may not be doing anything right now but in that demented mind of his, he’s scheming and plotting about ways to show why he is the most feared dark wizard in a hundred years. Despite its incompetence, Voldemort knows he would be given a swift and decisive victory over your average, everyday witch and wizard by eliminating what is considered by many to be the center of the Magical World.”

“That might not be Voldemort’s true target, the Ministry,” said Lily. “He’s obsessed with one thing, even above absolute power, and that’s knowledge. Especially, the knowledge about how he could defeat someone he perceives one of his biggest threats even through Voldemort’s likely not to admit it to anyone.”

“The Prophecy, of course, or rather the copy that is stored in the Department of Mysteries” said Harry. “Still, it’s an obvious and utter fake, as the person who made it lacks any legitimate credibility and the fact that Trelawney made it when Dumbledore put her underneath the Imperius Curse.”

“We know that Harry but the fact that Voldemort doesn’t might work to our advantage,” said Lily.

“Voldemort might go after the Prophecy then,” said Hailey. “But couldn’t he just send any Death Eater that he has after the Prophecy?”

“No, only the people who the Prophecy was about, whether the Prophecy is real or not, can snatch the record off the Department of Mysteries shelf,” said Lily. “Voldemort doesn’t know this, at least I don’t think, but he might be able to figure it out given enough time. He might be deranged, paranoid, and a bit egotistical but Voldemort is not by any means, an idiot.”

“Too true,” said Harry, as the way Harry saw it, it was Voldemort’s ego, and not his lack of intelligence, that allowed Harry to escape the battle at the Graveyard over a month ago. “I’m going to have a bit of an uphill battle against him the next time I’m facing him but thanks to my recruiting efforts of plucking certain people that Dumbledore wanted to join the Order of the Phoenix out from underneath his nose, I now have help to neutralize Tom’s forces during our next encounter, so it will be one on one, between Voldemort and myself.”

“Exactly how many people have you convinced to join up, Harry?” asked Sirius.

“A couple dozen seemed to be rather interested, but I still have several I need to get in touch with before Dumbledore sticks them underneath his thumb,” said Harry.

“Dumbledore won’t like what you’ve been doing Harry,” said Sirius. “Remus paid me a visit the other day and he informed me that Dumbledore lost his position as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, not to mention his place of the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards. And they are also talking about reducing his power as Headmaster of Hogwarts.”

“Dumbledore went along with this,” said Harry skeptically before turning to his mother. “Mum, what do you think of this?”

“Dumbledore’s up to something,” said Lily shortly.

“My thoughts exactly,” said Harry. “Normally, I would think Dumbledore would make sure he has enough pull to keep himself in these high positions of power. It isn’t like him to allow himself to slip into a position that he can lose favor with people. After all, Dumbledore is rather good at covering his tracks.”

“So, in other words, he wanted to be taken out of those positions of power, but what would he have to gain?” asked Sirius.

“I don’t know, and that’s what worries me,” said Harry. “I have a few ideas of what Voldemort might be up to but with Dumbledore, I haven’t got the slightest clue.”

Harry remained quiet before he saw a flicker of something out of the corner of his eye in the shadows of Sirius’s dining room.

“Something’s sneaking around,” muttered Harry.

“Oh, it’s probably that mad house elf again,” said Sirius in a disgusted voice. “Kreacher, stop lurking around and show yourself.”

In an instant, a very old and extremely ugly looking house elf stepped out of the shadows, with a slightly demented look in its beady little eyes.

“Master be calling Kreacher,” said Kreacher in a fake curious voice before dropping his voice low. “Disgusting little blood traitor that he is, poor mistress, having the shame of having a son such as him.”

“And exactly what are doing lurking around this dining room?” asked Sirius quietly.

“Kreacher is cleaning, Master,” said Kreacher but the elf looked as if he was concealing something behind his back.

“Kreacher, don’t insult my intelligence, we both really know what you are doing,” said Sirius as he rose to his feet, causing the house elf to take a step back. “You’ve been hording away dangerous Black family heirlooms, even after I have been throwing them away.”

“Kreacher doesn’t know what Master is talking about,” said Kreacher before adding in a lower voice as through he thought no one could hear him. “Sometimes Kreacher wishes that mistress was successful in killing Master Sirius before he could run away from home.”

“Kreacher, as your Master, I order you to hand over whatever it is you have taken,” said Sirius.

“As Master wishes,” said Kreacher before he pulled a heavy golden locket from underneath his loincloth. The locket had a very familiar marking that made Lily’s eyes go wide as saucers. Namely, the mark of Salazar Slytherin. A strange, yet probable theory entered Lily’s mind but she needed to run a couple of simple test spells to verify it.

“Sirius, may I take a look at that locket?” asked Lily calmly.

“I suppose so but Lily, I think you should be careful with that, as my parents were in the habit of keeping some very dark and dangerous objects,” said Sirius as he slowly handed the locket over to Lily but Kreacher stamped his foot on the ground.

“Master Regulus not be liking the Mudblood looking at that locket,” said Kreacher in a frantic voice which caused Lily, Sirius, Hailey, and Harry to all look at the house elf with puzzled looks. “Master Regulus made Kreacher promise to keep that locket safe and not let anyone mess with it. Kreacher not liking to be breaking his promised to noble, Master Regulus.”

“Regulus is dead,” said Sirius as if he was addressing a delusional child.

“So Master, be thinking,” muttered Kreacher.

“What exactly did he mean by that?” asked Hailey with a puzzled voice.

“Who knows with the way that demented elf’s mind thinks,” said Sirius in disgust. “He thinks my mother is still alive but in reality, he is doing nothing but taking mad horrors from her horrid portrait.”

“Kreacher is saying that Master Regulus be nothing like Mistress, Kreacher insists that Master Regulus…” started Kreacher but whatever the elf was going to say was cut off by Harry.

“I’m wondering why your brother would want to keep a locket safe,” said Harry before turning to Kreacher. “Kreacher, why did Regulus tell you to keep that locket safe? Did he give you any reason?”

“Kreacher not having to be answering the Potter boy, as the Potter boy is not Kreacher’s master,” said Kreacher.

“Kreacher, answer his question!” snapped Sirius angrily.

“Master Regulus not be telling Kreacher why, Master Regulus only be telling Kreacher that it is important for no one to tamper with the locket,” said Kreacher. “Master Regulus will surely be mad at Kreacher if he finds out the Mudblood and Potter boy was messing with his locket.”

“Regulus is dead, you deranged elf,” said Sirius. “He was tortured and then killed on Voldemort’s orders and I forbid you to speak another word about him in my presence!”

Kreacher hung his head but his eyes lingered on the locket, with an unhappy look on his face as if he felt like failed miserably.

“Okay, I need you all to leave the room for a couple of minutes, while I run some spells on the locket,” said Lily calmly.

“Kreacher, move,” said Sirius as Harry and Hailey walked out of the room, with Sirius and a very reluctant Kreacher following them.

Lily placed the locket on the table and pulled out her wand, before examining it. Raising her wand, Lily ran a subtle test spell over the locket, to make sure there were no dark surprises that could potentially kill her when tampering with the locket. Seeing that nothing at all was wrong, Lily began to wave her wand in an “X” like pattern three times over the locket before stepping back as she could feel the room suddenly get colder before the locket began to glow an intermixed shade of green and black. In other words, the tell tale sign that the locket was in fact one of Voldemort’s six Horcruxes.

Lily looked extremely excited about her findings and she pushed the door open and began yelling her findings without thinking about the consequences.

“Sirius, Hailey, Harry, that locket is one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes!” yelled Lily in triumph before straightening up and realizing that she had made noise in the hallway in her excitement.

Sirius winced as the green portrait curtains pulled themselves open, revealing the demonic appearance of the hag that by mere coincidence happened to be Sirius’s mother.

“MUDBLOODS, BLOOD TRAITORS, HALF BLOODS, HOW DARE YOU BESMIRCH THE MOST NOBLE AND ANCIENT HOUSE OF BLACK!” shrieked Mrs. Black at the top of her lungs.

“Smooth move, Mum,” said Hailey in a sarcastic voice.

“YOU DARE ENTER MY HOUSE, THE ONE THAT IS OPEN THE MOST PURE AND THE MOST NOBLE OF THE MAGICAL RACE!” screeched Mrs. Black before she caught sight of Sirius, with her mouth opening slightly, with a very angry look on her face. “HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE IN THIS HOUSE EVER AGAIN! HOW DARE YOU STEP FOOT IN THE MOST NOBLE AND ANCIENT HOUSE OF BLACK, YOU ACCUSED BLOOD TRAITOR! WHY, IF I KNEW EXACTLY HOW YOU WERE GOING TO TURN OUT, I WOULD HAVE HAD YOU ABORTED, YOU DISGUSTING EXCUSE FOR A WIZARD!”

“Shut up you hag!” yelled Sirius but his replies fell on deaf ears as Mrs. Black then slowly turned her attention to Harry.

“DISGUSTING BRAT!” yelled Mrs. Black to Harry. “YOU RUINED IT ALL! THE DARK LORD WAS TO BE THE SUPREME RULER OF THE ENTIRE MAGICAL RACE. YOU ARE DISGUSTING. AN ABORTION TO THE ENTIRE WIZARDING RACE, SOMEONE WHO SHOULD BE TORTURED…”

“Ah, stuff it, you glorified piece of paint and canvas,” said Hailey in a sharp voice.

“Girl, you better mind your betters,” said Mrs. Black, as it appeared she had grown tired of screaming for the moment.

“Oh, I’m afraid of a bit of canvas and paint,” said Hailey sarcastically.

“YOU DARE MOCK ME!” yelled Mrs. Black.

“YES I DARE MOCK YOU!” yelled Hailey back, matching Mrs. Black’s tone.

“Hailey, calm down, you are only inciting her,” said Lily, whose ears were ringing from the shrill voice of Sirius’s Mum, while she decided it was best that she cut her daughter off before she got going too much, as Lily could definitely see Hailey arguing with an animated portrait back and forth for hours and hours.

“STUPID MUDBLOOD, YOUR PLACE IS TO BE SEEN AND NOT HEARD! OR BETTER YET, A MORE PROPER PLACE FOR YOU WOULD BE SIX FEET UNDERGROUND!” yelled Mrs. Black.

“Sirius, is there any chance you can get this horrid thing off the wall?” asked Harry.

“Sorry, Harry, I tried, my mother must have put a permanent sticking charm,” said Sirius. “Not to mention safeguards against silencing her portrait, burning it off the wall, and vanishing it. I’m afraid we are stuck with that thing”

“Not that a disgusting blood traitor like you could have gotten a better of me,” said Mrs. Black pompously.

“What about Muggle paint remover?” asked Harry which caused Mrs. Black’s expression to grow slightly fearful at what Harry had just mentioned.

“Muggle Paint Remover?” asked Mrs. Black in a fearful tone of voice. “BOY, NOT EVEN YOU WOULD BE SO VILE TO USE SUCH PRIMITIVE MUGGLE MEANS!”

“Ah, you do have a weak spot,” said Sirius triumphantly. “I think you better be quiet or we might have to use some of that Muggle paint remover on you.”

Mrs. Black shuddered slightly and the curtains drew shut around her, as Harry was certain he could hear fearful noises coming from beneath the curtain.

“Well that shut her up, finally,” whispered Hailey.

“Let us go back into the kitchen so we don’t have to deal with that thing again,” said Lily as Hailey, Harry, and Sirius walked into the kitchen. Lily put some privacy charms around the kitchen, so Kreacher couldn’t listen in one them.

“We do need to get some of that Muggle paint remover,” said Sirius with a smirk on his face.

“I’m afraid it will only be a temporary fix,” said Lily. “While it might wipe the canvas for a few weeks, the magical paint will eventually magic its particles back together, leaving your mother to be back and more horrid then ever. Now if we could find some way to nullify her permanent sticking charm and get her off the wall, then we can finally rid ourselves on that menace forever.”

“Forget about Sirius’s mother for a few seconds,” said Harry, who wanted to get to the matter at hand. “You are certain that the locket that Regulus told Kreacher to hide was one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes.”

“Absolutely,” said Lily. “I can see a few brief traces of defense curses on it but it seemed like most of those had been disabled some how.”

“That raises even more questions through,” said Sirius as he frowned. “Regulus definitely was a Death Eater, so why would he take something that Voldemort wanted to keep hidden at all costs?”

“Refresh my memory Sirius, why exactly was your brother killed?” asked Lily.

“From what I heard, it was because he had reservations about killing and tried to back out but Voldemort didn’t take too kindly to that,” said Sirius.

Lily blinked a couple of times, feeling she might be on the break through of filling one of the few remaining holes in her mind from when her memory was completely erased.

“Sirius, I just thought of something,” said Lily. “But, first I need to know your brother’s middle name.”

“Alphard,” said Sirius in a confused voice. “After one of our Uncles but…”

“Regulus Alphard Black,” muttered Lily. “His initials would be R.A.B.”

“I think I’m missing something,” said Harry.

“Yes, care to clue us rather bewildered people onto what is going on?” asked Hailey coolly.

“R.A.B. was the Department of Mysteries codename of an Unspeakable that had infiltrated the ranks of Lord Voldemort, to see whether or not he had created Horcruxes or not,” explained Lily. “Needless to say, he had found concrete evidence for Voldemort having the Horcruxes. Unfortunately for him, Voldemort discovered his treachery and ordered him to be executed. But in his last recorded correspondence with the Department of Mysteries, he informed me that he had stashed the item in the place that the Dark Lord would suspect the least and he also told me that the Horcrux was…”

“A locket!” yelled Harry.

“Exactly, but after that, I’m not sure what happened to him but from all evidence, he may have been murdered on the spot on that night,” said Lily.

“My brother, Regulus, was a double agent and an Unspeakable at that, working to uncover one of Voldemort’s most prized secrets,” said Sirius in a skeptical voice. “Lily, he had about the same beliefs as my parents. While he might have showed some reservations about killing, I doubt he would go against Voldemort to that extent.”

“Yes I know it sounds far fetched but everything fits,” said Lily firmly. “The time of Regulus’s death and the time of the final communication of R.A.B are so close together, that they are too similar to be a mere coincidence. The mere fact that Regulus told Kreacher to keep a locket safe and the fact that R.A.B told me a locket was the Horcrux that he managed to get his hands on are too similar to be ignored. Also, I doubt that Voldemort would ever think to look her for his Horcrux here.”

“Maybe,” said Sirius who thought that Lily might be on to something about the fact that his brother and her Horcrux informant were one and the same. It did sound a bit farfetched, but then again, a lot of things happened in the Magical World that was in fact out of the realm of possibility.

“But, if he found one Horcrux, could have learned of others?” asked Harry.

“It’s a possibility,” said Lily. “We may never know as Voldemort is likely to have made sure that he killed Regulus so any other knowledge he may have uncovered, died with him.”

Harry nodded, agreeing completely with that theory. Horcruxes were certainly something that Voldemort didn’t want public knowledge. Of course, few people know exactly what Horcruxes were but Voldemort struck Harry as someone who would take no chances whatsoever with anything.

At this time, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Dumbledore sat in his office, while sucking on a lemon drop, waiting for his faithful spy, Severus Snape to report any important details fro the latest Death Eater meeting that was set to take place in the early hours of the morning.

Dumbledore didn’t quite know how he felt about losing some power recently within the Ministry. On one hand, Dumbledore felt his lessened power within the Ministry might handicap certain elements of his plan to break free from his primitive form and regain the unparalleled power that he once possessed in a previous life and existence. On the other hand, it gave Dumbledore further time to fine tune his future plans, as the Headmaster of Hogwarts could ill afford any more to go amiss. The mere fact that he couldn’t get Harry Potter underneath his thumb caused his plans to encounter a minor setback that Dumbledore had only recently determined to work around. Also, by the Ministry removing Dumbledore from his posts, it would make the Ministry look worse in the long run when they inevitably crumble.

Dumbledore was brought out of his thoughts by hearing the entrance of his office opening.

“Enter,” said Dumbledore calmly. A second later, Snape stepped into his office, looking rather tired and slightly irritable, not that Dumbledore really cared. All that the Headmaster wanted was some idea of what Voldemort was planning. “Sit down, Severus.”

Snape sit down across from Dumbledore at the desk as the Headmaster decided it was best as if he got straight to the point.

“Well, Severus what information did Voldemort mention to you today?” asked Dumbledore.

“The Dark Lord has given us little or no indication about what his motives has been at recent meetings,” said Snape. “He seems unwilling to let much information slip, until we need to know it. I have every indication to believe he is planning something that would announce his return to the Magical World with a rather significant impact.”

“Yes, Voldemort seems to not want to leak any plans,” said Dumbledore, frowning. “Anything further on his alliance with Oroku Saki or any further information on Saki at all.”

“Not too much, I’m afraid, Headmaster,” said Snape. “Saki is evidently something more than he says he is, but I’m unable to determine what. He portrays himself as a Muggle but when I attempted to look in his eyes when we were briefly close up, I detected no thoughts or Occulmency defenses at all.”

“Very peculiar,” said Dumbledore. “To the public eye, in the Muggle World, he is nothing but a Muggle businessman. And the only other thing we know about him as he came close to killing Harry Potter in the past.”

“Do you think Potter might know something further about Saki, that he’d rather not have anyone know?” asked Snape.

“Maybe, Severus, but I doubt that we may find out anything from Mr. Potter,” said Dumbledore, who didn’t really want to attempt to do anything that might gain unwanted attention from Lily Potter by asking Harry questions about Oroku Saki. Dumbledore didn’t know how much Lily knew about the circumstances of his past life but he wasn’t taking any chances, as Lily tended to find out more than certain people wished she would of.

“Why don’t you ask him, Headmaster?” asked Snape in a tentative voice.

“That is out of the question, Severus,” said Dumbledore sharply, as he put his hand on his forehead, massaging his forehead, causing a large chunk of his skin to scrape off revealing a section of the top half of his skull, much to the horror of Snape.

“Headmaster, what is that?” asked Snape. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say you were decomposing but it isn’t possible as live bodies didn’t seem to do that.”

“Something you should not have seen, Severus,” said Dumbledore coldly. It appeared that his latest body was beginning to break down, even sooner than the previous one. Dumbledore hoped that could implement his plans to get out of his primitive form and morph into the more powerful existence he enjoyed once, as it was becoming rather taxing to keep transferring his existence to different bodies. After all, for all intents and purposes, Dumbledore’s body had been dead since the early 1970s, but he had been using the darkest of dark arts to cheat fate.

Dumbledore picked up his wand, ignoring the fact that two of his fingers were in the processing of rotting off.

“Snape, you will not remember anything you seen regarding my body beginning to break down,” said Dumbledore in a dark voice as he held his wand with his middle finger falling off of his right hand as he aimed it towards Snape. “Obliviate.”