Chapter 6
"What's a Horcrux?" Auror Malfoy asked with a frown.
"All my father told me was that I should never make one, and forbade me from even researching the subject," his father replied with a frown. "Which is saying something, as my father was obsessed with learning."
"There's a lot of rumors about what the ritual to make Horcruxes includes," Sirius told Lucius Malfoy, who was surprised that Sirius of all people knew more about Horcruxes than he did, "but one of them is cannibalism."
Everyone except Snape grimaced at that. "It's not entirely cannibalism," Snape grumbled.
"How do you know?" Sirius demanded.
"I wish I didn't, Mutt," Snape sneered at him. "Unfortunately, the Dark Lord who created Horcruxes was a Prince; every member of my family has invented something for the magical community, but very few of them were as evil as Horcruxes."
"I don't need to know how to make Horcruxes," Harry said, shooting Sirius a look that said 'shut the fuck up,' "so what else do you know about them?"
"The Prince family has a theory about magical beings," Snape began. "Their magic is determined by three things: your soul, your mind, and your magical core. Your soul is your being, your morals. Your magic will struggle to cast anything that goes against your ideals. Your mind is your emotions and thoughts. Your magic is affected by mental disorders and your ability to control your emotions. Lastly, your magical core -- Light, Dark, Gray -- controls what type of magic you are most comfortable casting. You can still cast any kind of spell and perform any ritual, but it will be more difficult if it doesn't match your core. These three pillars support your entire being, and fracturing any of these pillars will cause damages to the other two."
"Is that why You-Know-Who was bloody insane?" Harry said dryly. "Because he ripped his soul apart?"
"And why his magic became unstable," Snape agreed. "This is why magic that affects these pillars are usually illegal, although the Ministry hasn't realized why it's so important that they remain illegal."
"Why hasn't the Prince family published these findings?" Remus asked curiously.
"Because it presents Dark as 'good,'" Snape drawled. "In reality, magic is neither good nor evil, but a tool, and the reason the Ministry believe Dark magic to be evil is because it relies on controlling your emotions instead of your thoughts."
"But both of those are just as difficult," Harry said with a frown. "And that's basically saying emotions are evil."
The three ex-Death Eaters rolled their eyes. "You think we don't know that, Potter?" Auror Malfoy complained. He twitched and glared at his Dark Mark.
"You can call me Harry," Harry decided. "But only because the Dark Mark irritates you when you call me by my last name." He glanced at Lucius Malfoy. "That goes for you, too."
"Lucius, then," the man said, glancing between his son and Harry with a contemplative look on his face.
"'Draco' is better than 'ferret face,' I suppose," Auror Malfoy muttered, earning a cackle from Sirius. Remus smacked his husband.
Snape cleared his throat. "When a soul piece is placed in a living Horcrux, it attaches to the soul already there. Unless the ritual is performed, the souls will combine, because the point of Horcruxes was to keep the soul safe until they could return their original body. I believe Albus must have done something to your soul, because you never should have had a mental connection to the Dark Lord with the combined soul."
"Fucking old bastard," Harry growled.
"The reason the Dark Marks recognize you as the Dark Lord is because the soul-piece that attached to yours must have been larger than the soul in the Dark Lord's body, making it the main soul," Snape said. "Luckily, the soul-piece that joined yours after Albus died was too small to alter your being to be the Dark Lord's. It was, however, large enough to affect your three pillars." Snape shook his head. "This was supposed to make your pillars weaker, not stronger, but of course it's you, Potter." He cocked his head. "Why didn't you stay dead when the Basilisk killed you, and when the Dark Lord shot an AK at you?"
"Fawkes brought me back," Harry replied, "and... I think by the time You-Know-Who shot an AK at my face, I was Master of Death."
"Is that why the Dark Mark is the Deathly Hallows?" Draco said in surprise.
"How did you get all three of them?" Snape asked with interest.
"I inherited the Cloak," said Harry, and Snape grimaced, "Dumbledore gave me the Stone in his will, although I had to bloody die to get it out of its encasing, and I earned the allegiance of the Elder Wand when I disarmed Draco."
"I was the master of the Elder Wand?!" Draco exclaimed indignantly. Harry snickered.
"It might be better for you to use it than your old wand, Potter," Snape told him.
"Harry," he corrected. "And, uh... I have been."
"What?" the room exclaimed.
Harry pulled out his wand and removed the glamour. "My holly wand started acting weird after the war ended," Harry said with a sigh, "so I started using the Elder Wand, and it worked a lot better, even better than my wand had before the war ended. I didn't want to be the target of assassinations, so I glamoured it to look like my holly wand."
"You're not supposed to be able to do that," Snape said, looking stunned.
"Maybe it's because it's the Elder Wand, and I'm the Master of Death," Harry suggested.
"Merlin," Remus said, looking exhausted but proud. "My cub is a Dark Lord and the Master of Death... James would have a heart attack."
"Did you use the Stone to talk to James?" Sirius asked, looking longing.
"No," Harry replied flatly. "I use it to talk to Mum on my birthday and Christmas -- Yule, whatever -- but over-use of the Stone is supposed to make people depressed. I didn't get around to it yesterday because..."
Remus and Sirius looked angry and worried.
"What happened?" Snape asked.
"Ron and Hermione were helping Dumbledore," Harry said blankly. "But I didn't know until they came back from Australia yesterday, they hadn't written to me the entire time they were gone. Actually, they hadn't talked to me since the war ended. Ron was surprised I wasn't in Azkaban because I bloody speak Parseltongue," he sneered.
"People don't get arrested for being Parselmouths," Draco said in exasperation when Harry's honorary parents looked even more angry.
"Ron doesn't think things through unless it's chess," Harry scowled. "He's an idiot with a lot of things. I thought it was endearing, except during our fourth year." He shook himself. "Professor, do... do you want to talk to my mum?"
Snape's eyes widened as Remus and Sirius exchanged glances, Remus looking fond and Sirius looking torn between pride and annoyance. "I... I would love to, if you have no issue with that, Harry. And you may call me Severus, if you wish."
Harry darted out of the room before anyone could see his face turn red. "It's in my room," he called over his shoulder.
Remus and Severus appeared behind him, both looking amused. "You two shouldn't be alone in your room, Harry," Remus told him.
Harry gave him an unimpressed look. "Remus, I am twenty years old. Kindly fuck off."
Severus snorted. "I have no intention of debauching your cub, Lupin." Harry spluttered, turning his glare on the professor. "Certainly not with his mother in the room."
Harry almost fell over again, horrified at the thought of his mother, dead or not, watching... that. Severus and Remus caught him before he could fall over.
"We are never talking about this again," Harry said in a strangled tone.
Remus coughed, and Harry hexed him.