Dysfunctional

40 - The Cave and Some Company

Tuesday, January 7

"Harry!" exclaimed Sirius with a frown as he looked into the mirror, surprised that he was calling him so soon. It had only been a couple days since he had left for Hogwarts.

Harry got straight to the point. "Sirius, do you know anything about Horcruxes?"

Sirius' eyes widened. "Where are you right now? Are there people around you?"

"I'm in my dorm. It's empty and I put up a muffling charm so it's safe," said Harry shrugging, before asking doggedly, "But does that mean you know what it is?"

Sirius looked at Harry contemplatively. "Dumbledore's been teaching it to you in those lessons, I presume?"

"Yes."

"He did mention it to me," said Sirius with a nod. "But I think you must take this slow, Harry. Dumbledore means to teach you something out of those lessons and he will explain it to you soon."

Harry looked really curious now. "Why are you all mysterious? Is it that dangerous?"

"Dangerous and Dark magic, Harry," said Sirius, quite seriously. "You don't want anyone around you to hear about it. Although, I don't think any school student could know. Even I had no clue about it before Dumbledore told me."

"He showed me a memory of Voldemort when he was in school as Tom Riddle," said Harry. "Slughorn was his professor."

Sirius' eyes widened. "Blimey! I knew Slughorn was old, but old enough to be Voldemort's teacher?"

"Or Voldemort is younger than you think," smirked Harry.

"What was this memory about?"

"Riddle asked Professor Slughorn about Horcruxes," said Harry matter-of-factly.

"And?" asked Sirius, surprised. "What did Slughorn say to him?"

"That's the problem," sighed Harry. "Apparently, Professor Slughorn was so ashamed of it that he tampered with his own memory before he gave it to Dumbledore."

"Hmm, let me guess," said Sirius, making a show of thinking. "Dumbledore wants you to get it somehow from Slughorn?"

Six months ago, Sirius would have been upset with the way Dumbledore was 'using' Harry. But his knowledge about the Horcruxes made him quite understanding of why Dumbledore would use any means possible to get the information now.

"Yeah," said Harry glumly. "I don't see how I could get it from him when Dumbledore himself couldn't."

"But you're Harry Potter," scoffed Sirius, very much aware of what Dumbledore was intending. "Slughorn would give it to you if you simply went up and asked it of him."

"That's what Ron said," said Harry, shaking his head. "And I did try that. He shut me out, very rudely might I add."

It sounded to Sirius like that memory was very important to Slughorn if he could do that to Harry.

Harry was saying, "-and I was wondering if there was a spell or something that could make him reveal that memory."

"There's always Veritaserum," suggested Sirius off-handedly, knowing full well that it was impossible to use.