52

Chapter 52 Great Minds Think Alike

"Horcrux?" Barty repeated.

"I'm afraid so."

Crouch's lips twisted to one side in thought, before he said, "I'm aware of what it is, but what makes you so sure? Even for him, that's a dangerous move. Split the soul, split the person … there's always the winning at all costs angle, but if someone's no longer himself hasn't he already lost?"

"You and I understand that, but I really cannot talk about this to anyone else because their understanding is more limited than ours."

"Still Dumbledore," Barty mused while shaking his head, "you have not proved anything. You are not saying you are an expert on horcrux. You no longer have the cup for anyone else to examine. Once you had the cup, you then broke into a house …"

"I had to look for more."

"More? Who would need more than one? To create one is abominable enough."

"You yourself said there was a locket missing, Barty."

"Dumbledore, you are not relying on what you are claiming. If He Who Must Not Be Named took these items years ago, why would he need to make two horcrux? Secondly, why would he give them both to the Lestrange family to show off? Snape said he saw this cup out in the open. Anyone who looked at it knew it did not belong in that house."

"Huh … I suppose that's true. Tom would not put both of them in the same place."

"He could be wearing it for all we know."

"True. True … but for him to simply give it to one of the Lestranges for safe keeping leads me to believe that he did not have to be careful with that cup because there were more."

"Now you are speaking nonsense. If a wizard created more than one horcrux, there would be nothing left of him. Half goes into the first object, half goes into the second object, then poof ..."

"I don't think so. I think it's half, then half of the half, then half of what remained each time."

"Each time?" Barty exclaimed. "How can someone get along with a quarter or an eighth of their soul?"

Albus shrugged, "Tom does not value the things you and I do, Barty."

"Value? A soul is beyond value, Dumbledore. We are all just lumps of flesh without it. Splitting it or diluting it … how many books of Dark Arts warn of that very thing? And we need no more proof of the value of a soul then to look at anyone a dementor has kissed. How can anyone think they can operate with just a sliver left?"

Lily saw ninety days in the newspaper and was outraged. If Slughorn could do as he liked, then what would they bother doing to Dumbledore? On top of that, Severus acted like he didn't care, but she knew he did. He wouldn't be so lackadaisical lately with hardly working on his extra arithmancy project and spending so much time lying in bed, if he wasn't.

Severus, on the other hand, thought ninety days and no longer teaching at Hogwarts was fine. Slughorn only had one commodity and that was his reputation with being able to grant favors. Would he be invited to as many dinners and parties next holiday season, after only having prison guards and dementors to share this one?

When that Skeeter woman tracked him down again on a Hogsmeade Saturday, Severus responded to her, "I have never been to Azkaban or been in the presence of a dementor. It's supposed to be horrible. The Wizengamot knows better than I if their sentence is appropriate."

He was not going to say the Wizengamot was composed of toothless and doddering old fools when their leader was about to be tried.

Regulus found Slughorn's fall satisfying. A longer prison sentence would have been nice, but he'd only have gotten something like that if someone important like his mother told her story. However, real Blacks did not tell their stories … Sirius was disinherited so his mouth was probably still going in Azkaban while he complained about his bed, food, and laundry service.

The truth was there was no laundry service at Azkaban. No one had brought Sirius a change of clothes or even underwear or socks. The only rest his clothes got was when he was a dog. The dementors did not care, and Sirius found it more pleasant to be a dog around them. Dogs were so upbeat that even a dementor was ineffective against them.

Sirius could not think as well as a dog, but he could remember Snape. How did Snape manage all that? He understood how people could get mixed up on the werewolf thing because Sirius did not expect Remus to take the blame. But all that other stuff about Wormtail, his father, and Apolline? How did Snape get to Apolline? The dog's eyebrows shot up … Apolline! Snape probably gave her something and wanted her for himself. Snape was a jealous troll that belonged under a bridge where no one could see how ugly he was. The exact opposite of Apolline.

Ugh, that smell. Dinner. There was barely enough here to fill the belly of a teacup poodle, much less his.

Yes, only he, Sirius Black, could save Apolline because Snape somehow fooled everyone else.

He had to get out of here.

Barty had found the expecto patronum spell, but had not been able to get it to work on his own. He brought the book with him to their defense study group for the rest to look over. No one got even a little silver mist. There must be something more to it than thinking of something happy, and following these instructions.

Lily was frustrated with this stupid patronus spell. The book had to be wrong. She also had doubts about Severus being able to cast it at all. Something happy? Besides Lily, what else did Sev have? At times, his pessimism got so bad he did not seem happy with her either.

The reality was Severus was not happy with MacDonald and Wilkes living in the head girl's room, anyone that Lily felt like inviting had an open invitation to hang out in their common room, and her constant pestering to ask him if something was wrong. Did he have to say it every day? If Lily did not hear his response the first or second time, then why bother? Since when would she think he was a warm, welcoming person that left a standing invitation for any student to flop in their quarters?

Alastor Gumboil had sensed the change in Mr. Crouch's approach to this case. His work on the Slughorn case, making Snape to seem like the victim of multiple people to the Wizengamot, including a careless Dumbledore who did not care if Snape's mother lived or died, seemed wasted.

What Dumbledore discussed Crouch? Mr. Crouch was above bribery or coercion, so there must have been some fact that needed to remain hidden.

Barty had given the horcrux explanation some thought. He believed Dumbledore thought the cup was a horcrux. Even someone who could be as frivolous as Albus Dumbledore would not joke about horcrux. He was right that no risks should be allowed, however, Dumbledore was always doing things his way. Not the right way. That's what was so blasted annoying! Stealing, breaking into others' property with the intent of taking more, not trusting someone like Barty to take a look at the cup before destroying it, and there was also Dumbledore's odd declaration in the newspaper announcing he had the cup. Why let You Know Who know that he had it in his possession?

If Dumbledore thought him capable of creating multiple horcrux, did he want him to make another? Was that Dumbledore's plan, even though he denied Barty's assertation that only a limited number of horcrux could be made from one soul? He Who Must Not Be Named gets tricked into making another and then that would be the end of him? Some soul-tearing suicide, but then the horcrux would still exist so he'd still be alive. Dumbledore did not give everything the proper thought. He just went off and did things like a blasted, bloody Gryffindor.

Albus Dumbledore's case went as most people felt it should. First off, they could not send Dumbledore to Azkaban because if they did, who would stop He Who Must Not Be Named?

Secondly, even though Dumbledore was one of the greatest wizards ever, he was humble enough to admit he made a mistake. He had misunderstood what Snape was doing with the cup, and when he had confiscated it, noticed it was cursed. Probably by those horrible Lestranges because Helga Hufflepuff's cup would not be a cursed object. So naturally, Dumbledore wanted to remove the curse and even one as wise as him can make an error. Sadly, the cup was destroyed. Those Lestranges really were horrible people.

And finally, because the Lestranges were such horrible people, Dumbledore was worried about what else they could have at their house so went there to take a look around since Hogwarts' head boy, Severus Snape, had had so many terrible things happen to him already.

Severus had not been at the court to see for himself how Dumbledore grinned as he explained whatever to his forgiving peers. Did they just stand around joking and giving each other knowing winks because they would never punish one of their own?

The obscene amount of money that was transferred to the Snape vault, along with the letter from his solicitor stating the much greater amount awarded to the rightful owners, the Smith family, did have Severus wondering how much Dumbledore must have to simply piss it away like this. The old man would not agree to an amount that he could not easily pay. Was this his way of showing off?

There were others, including Aberforth and Voldemort, who saw this as Albus Dumbledore's insatiable need for attention with all the flair of a barker for a freak show on a carnival midway. He had nothing of true interest to show people, but it was all about tricking them into lining up to believe him. Meanwhile, Dark Marks continued to be still seen above smoking ruins of former houses containing the remains of the family that used to live there.

Severus solved two problems with one solution. His equations on phoenix tears stalled because he was missing something intrinsically magical about them that needed to be included. He consulted Prof. Abstractus and was allowed to look in the restricted section of the library when the professor accompanied him.

That also meant Severus got to spend more time in the library and outside the heads' rooms without Lily and all her guests.

Friday evenings is what Severus initially agreed to for defense study. Then Saturday to allow Gryffindors in for an hour for arithmancy as long as they kept things neat. After that, MacDonald visited frequently before moving in, then Wilkes moved in. On any evening or all-day Saturday or all-day Sunday, there were normally at least a dozen or so students that stopped by on their way to or from the library. The Slytherin common room was quieter.

Unlike everyone else, Severus also knew how Sirius Black got into the castle. However, he did not mind keeping the rumors of Death Eaters showing up at any time simmering because it appeared that the headmaster did nothing about it, and no one had heard Dumbledore state the problem was solved.

Lily was not sure what was bothering Severus. He hardly said anything. Sirius Black was in prison where he belonged. Slughorn seemed to have too many connections for anything serious to happen, and Dumbledore was a joke.

She finally had some good news for him. Sev got back late from wherever he had been. He came back with a bunch of parchment filled with scribbles. While he was putting it on his desk in his room, Lily asked, "Guess what, Sev?"

"What?"

"Mary and Malcolm might be getting married."

Severus gave Lily a strange look and answered, "All right." He did not know why she sounded happy and excited. MacDonald and Wilkes were their age and still in school, and there was a whole world of better witches and wizards for them to meet out there. Or was that only applied to Lily? Or better yet, only applied to him?

"Isn't that great?" Lily prompted.

"If you say so," Severus replied, heading into the bathroom.

Lily followed questioning, "What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said. It does not matter to me."

Turning the chamomile tap that he forgot, Lily said, "Of course it matters to you, Sev. They're your friends."

"Not so. MacDonald is your friend," Severus clarified. "I've already told you I do not have friends in Slytherin."

"Come on, Sev, I've seen a lot of them talking to you."

"For either homework, some reason to talk to the head boy, or because I am considered to have a fortune in galleons and property."

"Do you?"

"I don't know. I haven't counted or inventoried anything. Did you want a copy when I do?"

"Well how does anyone know how much you inherited? Did those people say how much they had?"

"I don't know. They didn't talk to me. They were related to Black."

Lily rolled her eyes. Sirius Black was proud of being a Black when it meant he was wealthy, he didn't care much for his relatives. Lily wouldn't know anything about them if he didn't talk about them so much. And Potter was worse. He was related to some other old family whose last name began with a 'P'. And not Prince. That was Sev's mum's family. She remembered that when they played something and Lily wanted a Prince. Sev claimed he was one, but he admitted why he said that. He didn't want Lily to think he was a liar, just a play on words.

She didn't think Severus was much like any of those other people with their claims about their families and fortunes. He still bought just ink, quills, and parchment in Hogsmeade. The only thing that seemed to benefit from the alleged Lestrange fortune was Phi, besides Albus Dumbledore. If Severus really had a fortune, he'd do something with it. He hadn't even bought her a gift.

When Severus did not say anything else, Lily restarted their conversation while they bathed. "So what are you planning on doing?"

"About what?"

"Whatever you inherited."

"There's a list of properties. I was going to look at them over the holiday. I can't stay at Spinner's End because I did not buy a furnace. Is that the right word with all the pipes for that sort of plumbing, besides water for sinks? I still have the stove there and can buy coal for it, if this list is a bunch of remote shacks."

"The holiday?" Lily objected. She was amused that Severus would not care if it was a couple of shacks. "No, you're staying at my house."

"Why?"

"You just said that Spinner's End doesn't have proper heat, and mum and I want you to have a proper Christmas."

Severus made a face and commented, "Do I have to? I don't like Christmas."

"That's because this place is full of toerags." Lily felt it figured that people like Slughorn and Dumbledore would make people hate Christmas. "We don't have food with glitter in it, and I already told mum that you don't like anything with suet."

"Why don't the two of you visit Petunia?"

"Ugh."

"What's wrong with your sister now?"

"Nothing. Just that she'll make a big deal over it."

"You make a big deal over Christmas so isn't that compatible?"

"No. She'll have … no, I want to be home with our stuff. We have decorations and ornaments from when I was a child. That's what I want."

"What do you need me for then?" Severus had not been involved with Christmas at the Evans as a child. When it came to Christmas, not much could beat the constant nauseating display that Hogwarts turned into with trees, lights, fairies and snow falling all over indoors. From what he understood, most of the students were heathens like him.

"Because it's Christmas."

"December 25th will still occur without me. It has my entire life, and even before that."

Lily made a face back at Severus. She couldn't tell if he was simply in a bad mood this evening, or if it was all this trouble with Dumbledore, Slughorn and Sirius Black.