[From Samhain to the Solstice]: Chapter Fifty of 'Adagio'- Inherent to the Species

[lomonaaeren]

“Dramatic.”

Harry grinned at him. “I honestly didn’t know that would happen.”

“You are ridiculous.”

“You don’t sound that upset with me.”

Severus sighed. “I should have remembered that you are a teenager, and drama is inherent to your species.”

Harry blinked. Then he scowled, probably because Severus was comparing Harry to other teenagers. Severus just raised an eyebrow. If Harry started to complain about that, then he would be far more similar to the other teenagers than Severus had thought him.

Harry avoided the temptation to prove himself a cliché, at least, by sighing out. “It was a little more dramatic than I thought it would be. But the general outline of my plan worked.”

“Why did the Dark Lord’s body explode?”

“As the potion dissipated the Dark Marks, those pieces of soul he’d placed inside them returned to him. The constructed body was never meant to hold more than the small shard that it did.”

“And Nagini?”

“I did bring that vial of basilisk venom along with me. I just threw it on her while everyone else was distracted by the screaming wraith.”

Severus rubbed his forehead for a moment. “And you do not think that the wraith will return? That he will not manage to find and possess Barty as he once did? And did you think about what will happen when Barty returns to the school?”

“I think that the wraith isn’t even the same as he was, thanks to the addition of other parts of soul to the piece in his body—”

“Then he could be stronger! He could return more quickly—”

“Please listen to me, Severus.”

Severus closed his eyes and nodded. Harry’s hand was resting gently on Severus’s, and he squeezed once before he let his hand drop.

“I know more than anyone else does right now about the Dark Lord and his connection to his soul-pieces and his Horcruxes,” Harry said softly. “What was left the night my mother defeated him for the first time was a distinct shard of soul, after the one that’s lodged in my scar broke off. It managed to cling to life because of the Horcruxes, but also because of the experiences it had, and his hatred. He never realized, like I did, that the Dark Mark contained tiny pieces of his soul. Now that those pieces have returned, the wraith isn’t whole the way it used to be. It contains memories, and flashes of memories, from many people. It’s the thoughts and devotion—and private fears and doubts and worries and experiences of the last fourteen years—filtered through dozens of minds. The only Death Eaters that it doesn’t include a piece of are the ones who died before this or the ones in Azkaban.”

“And that means—what?” Severus asked slowly.

Harry’s smile rose across his face like winter dawn. “That he is truly insane. He doesn’t even know who he is anymore. He may have begun to disintegrate already. He certainly has no sense of himself as a complete person the way he used to.”

Severus hesitated. Then he said, “If you are wrong…”

“We’ll watch out for him. We have two Horcruxes in our possession, two are destroyed, and we’ll find our way to the others. I certainly got more complete and clear memories from him in the last few days than I did before. We can find them and overcome the traps on them, I’m certain.”

“We may have one near us yet.”

Harry sat up. “What? What do you mean?”

“Albus said something about securing one, and wanting me to find a way to destroy them that wasn’t basilisk venom or Fiendfyre.” Severus shook his head, annoyed that he had forgotten that. He had simply been too preoccupied by the threat Albus had posed to Harry’s life—understandable, but not forgivable. “We will have to search his office to find it.”

“Can we go now?”

“In a few minutes. We must discuss our strategy for when Barty returns to the school.”

“I thought you knew.”

Severus placed a hand over his eyes and took a long breath. “No more surprises, I beg you.”

“No, I just meant that we’ll talk the same way Dumbledore did, and make Barty think that I destroyed the Dark Lord’s body because the Dark Lord has found a better one.” Harry reached a hand up and touched his scar, winking at Severus.

“You want to make Barty think that the Dark Lord is possessing you.”

“Well. Yes. I have to admit that this plan isn’t as dramatic as the one that made the Dark Lord’s body explode, but I didn’t think that you would have much objection to its lack of drama.”

Severus closed his eyes and silently counted in his head. He had once thought it a cliché that parents of teenagers would have to do that. Now he knew it was a true way to cope with reality.

But an inadequate one.

Severus opened his eyes and said as patiently as he could, “And how long do you intend to play the Dark Lord possessing a teenage boy and faking his death before the Death Eaters? And why would you fake your death in front of your loyal followers?’

“I thought you kn—”

“Harry.”

Harry smiled at him, with that vicious edge that Severus so admired, and leaned back a little in his seat. “The Dark Lord was getting tired of a vessel that was obviously inhuman, and one that depended on a stabilizing influence from an outside agent. Just as he was of the Dark Marks that so obviously revealed his followers’ allegiances. What better way to convince most of his followers he was dead and start over with a new body than to possess Harry Potter’s?”

“And Barty will accept this?”

“Barty is the only one besides you and the Dark Lord who knew about my ability to make him sane. Why wouldn’t he think that the Dark Lord wanted to possess the body that had that sanity-inducing power, instead of depending on someone else?”

Severus hesitated. Yes, he believed Barty would believe that about the Dark Lord’s pride, his hatred of dependence.

“But it means that you cannot be yourself around Barty for the rest of the school year.”

“That’s only a few more weeks, and some of that will be spent in OWL study and preparation. And honestly, it’ll be fun to pretend.”

“For that long?”

“For that long,” Harry agreed. He inclined his head. “And in the end, it means that we can play our leaving the school more easily. You can say that you’re escaping the suspicions that Dumbledore placed on you about being loyal to the Dark Lord, and I can say that I’m bored with the ordinary life of a schoolboy.”

“All the better for being true.”

“Of course.”

Severus leaned slowly back in his chair and shook his head. “You are—a mastermind.”

“I’ve just had a lot of time to think. And I’m sorry that I didn’t share those thoughts with you until now, but I wanted to work things out on my own until I was sure that it would succeed.”

“Will you still need to do that once you are free of Hogwarts?”

Harry looked at him with shining eyes. “Why would I? I won’t be anything more than a scholar then.”

Severus snorted in spite of himself. “And probably a bored one.”

“No. I’m looking forward to the moment when I can start a life where reading and studying and learning new things is the most I do.”

Severus wasn’t sure how much he believed that, but it was at least true that Harry was less likely to give him a heart attack with his reading and studying, so he nodded and changed the subject.

It is in the world’s best interest that he mostly wants to read and study.

*

Severus shook his head when they found the Horcrux in Albus’s office. A gigantic golden ring, with a black stone fastened to it. The ring bristled with curses. Basilisk venom would have been an improvement.

“Are you sure Dumbledore wasn’t insane before the poison, that he refused to destroy this?” Harry asked, staring at the ring.

“Not insane in the way that he is now.”

“Huh,” Harry said, and floated the ring into the silken bag that Severus held ready.

Only two more Horcruxes—that they might destroy—remained outside their control, Severus thought as he did up the bag, and Harry might have ideas about how to handle them.

Hopefully not by exploding them.

*

Barty stared back and forth in silence between Severus and Harry. Severus had insisted on being present during his ward’s meeting with Barty. He had thought it only sense, given what Barty had looked like he wanted to do in their last moments before the Dark Lord.

“You’re—the Dark Lord?” Barty asked slowly.

“Partially. Not entirely.” Harry shrugged, with a hint of the same fluid grace that he had given the Dark Lord in his last moments. Severus swallowed and wondered how long Harry had been planning this, how many tracks his mind ran along. “I am still the soul, one could say, of Harry Potter, combined with the memories and knowledge of the Dark Lord. But this body will shelter and protect me more than my old one ever could have.”

Severus had to work on keeping a straight face when Harry spoke about souls.

“I am not sure that I believe this.”

Harry leaned forwards, his eyes boring straight into Barty’s. “I know the exact dimensions of the room that you spent your years under your father’s Imperius in,” he said, his voice ringing. “Do you want me to describe it?”

Severus wondered fleetingly why Harry would have tried to use that as a test if Barty had described the room to him—

And then realized. The room was one that Harry must have seen in the Dark Lord’s memories.

Barty turned an odd, delicate pink, a strangely child-like blush. “No,” he whispered, casting a glance sideways at Severus. “I would prefer that you not try to—I know that you are the only one who knows that, my lord.”

“And how much you struggled with the Patronus at first. And what you felt for Regulus Black. And what you said when your mother was—”

“No, my lord. Please!” Barty fell to one knee. “I am sorry I doubted you. I only wanted to be sure you were safe.” He hesitated.

“Speak your mind, my servant,” Harry said, haughty and acting to his fullest extent as he lounged in the chair that Severus had Transfigured to be a little more like a throne. But only a little, and only because Barty would expect that.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Barty blurted. “I would have helped you get ready for the transfer, and I could have planned the—event—last night so that it was even more terrifying and convincing for the other Death Eaters.”

“You spent months in close contact with Albus Dumbledore.” Harry let his lip curl. “Who was one of the greatest Legilimens in the world. How was I to know that he would not read the secret out of your mind?’

“But you told Severus.”

“Because he is both a good Occlumens and close enough to Harry Potter that he would have noticed a change in the boy’s bearing and actions.” Harry stared at Barty for long enough that Severus started, again, to think this particular trick wouldn’t work. Then Harry sighed. “You are upset about my lack of faith in you, my servant?”

“Yes, my lord. Of course I am.”

“You have been erratic, and you have been someone I did not quite dare to trust because of the way that he had behaved. But you did maintain control over Albus Dumbledore under trying circumstances, and you are part of the reason that he is dying, confused and mad, now.” Harry smiled, a truly chilling thing. “So you are forgiven.”

“And your faith in me?”

“Must be restored by action.” Harry stretched languidly. “For example, there are two artifacts that Severus was creating a potion to protect stored in safe places but beyond my current reach, given that Harry Potter must remain at Hogwarts. If you rescue them for me…”

“My lord, of course! I can go today!”

“As long as you can avoid suspicion, Barty. After all, Professor Dawlish must also remain at Hogwarts.”

“I can arrange things so that my students are mostly revising with each other. Please let me go and serve you, master.”

Harry contemplated Barty from on high, or so it seemed, for long moments, while Severus continued to struggle to hold his laughter in. Then he nodded. “Very well. One of them is in a cave by the sea, and protected by a variety of magical traps. You will need to take someone with you to drink the potion…”