The Graveyard - 1

"After Severus learned about Voldemort's plans for your family, Harry, he came to me. Although the bitterness between he and your father ran deep, your mother had always been kind to him, and I don't think he'd ever forgotten that. I believe hearing the plans for the brutal murder of people he knew – his classmates – stirred something in Severus. He tried to save them, but his warning came too late for me to affect a change," Dumbledore said, his eyes full of sorrow.

"How do you know he tried to save them? How do you know he wasn't aiming to get in your good graces even then, giving you the information after it was already too late?" Harry snarled, breathing through his nose in an attempt not to lose control.

Dumbledore sighed, pinching the bridge of his long, crooked nose. "I do not know that for certain. If you had asked me that same question when I was still amongst the living, I would have adamantly denied the possibility. I would not have listened to a word against Severus. I wanted to believe him; I'd grown to care about him enough that I tended to overlook some of his more…unorthodox…teaching methods.You never trusted him, Harry. Perhaps that is the way it should be – that you were right, and I was wrong in the end, as the torch was passed to you."

Harry shut his eyes tightly, unwilling to hear anymore.

"I still wish I could have done more to save Severus, but it was not meant to be. Now, our challenge is to save everyone else," Professor Dumbledore said, his eyes finally clearing.

"And to save Harry," Ginny said, wiggling her hand in his. He'd been gripping her fingers so tightly that he'd probably cut off her circulation.

"Did you know?" Harry asked suddenly, his eyes piercing into Dumbledore's, certain his old Headmaster would know exactly what he meant.

Dumbledore sighed heavily, looking down at his folded hands. "I suspected," he said, appearing to age before their very eyes.

Harry steeled himself against the stab of sympathy that struggled to arise. "Then why didn't you tell me?" he bit out.

"I could not – not until I was certain," Dumbledore said wearily. "I could not bring myself to share my suspicions with you, particularly when I was fighting with my own desire to discount the mounting evidence. I kept seeking an alternative – any other possibility to satisfy my unease. I told you I thought Nagini was that Horcrux to alert you to the idea that although unadvisable, a living thing could become a Horcrux. I wanted you to be aware of that fact while I continued to seek another answer. Again – I made the mistake of allowing myself to care too much. I am sorry, Harry."

Harry clenched his teeth, furious, and looked away.

"What does that silver instrument you left Harry do?" Hermione asked, her eyes darting nervously between Harry and the portrait.

"It is called a Soul Balance," Professor Dumbledore said, his eyes grave. "It is meant to aid in the decision-making process – to show which way your soul is leaning when a particularly hard choice needs to be made. However, instead, I have modified its use to indicate if the two souls that reside within Harry are separate or connected. The piece of Tom's soul that resides within you, Harry is still separate from your own. It has never been absorbed into your own personality. It is very tricky to place a Horcrux inside a living thing, as there is always the chance that the soul of the living host becoming the dominant force and consuming it."