Hogwarts: I am Snape

Snape's heart skipped a beat. He immediately pressed, "Hordeal? Are you sure?"

Narcissa shook her head in the mirror, then nodded forcefully, with a hint of fear.

“I can’t be entirely sure,” her blonde hair swayed, “but the Dark Lord was extremely serious, personally handing it over to Lucius and instructing him to keep it a secret from everyone, including me.”

“The unusual nature of it makes me think it’s highly likely,” she continued in a low, quick voice. “It was an exquisitely crafted locket, about… the size of an egg? It was attached to a rather heavy gold chain. There was a prominent ‘S’ mark on it, set with many tiny emeralds…”

Upon hearing this, Snape immediately pictured the Slytherin locket that should have been hidden in the cave. He was almost certain that Narcissa was describing the Horcrux.

It seems that the inertia of history led Voldemort, after his hiding plan was thwarted by Dumbledore, to choose what he thought was a safer and equally symbolic place: the Gringotts vault of an ancient pure-blood family.

“Very well,” Snape said slowly. “Then, Narcissa, can you find a way to get the locket out of the vault and give it to me?”

“What?” Narcissa exclaimed in the mirror, shaking her head repeatedly. “Of course not, Severus! Don’t you understand the situation? The Dark Lord has taken control of Gringotts, and the goblins there are his eyes and ears.”

"At the slightest sign of trouble, they will immediately report it directly to the Dark Lord himself. The Malfoy family's vault is definitely under close surveillance."

"Let alone taking anything, even if Lucius and I were to ask to open our own vault without a sufficient, justifiable, and necessary reason," Narcissa gave a wry smile, "it would immediately alert the goblins, and the news would reach the Dark Lord's ears in the next second. We can't afford that risk."

Snape was silent for a moment. Narcissa's concerns were not unfounded. At such a moment, asking her to force her way into Gringotts would be tantamount to suicide. He couldn't very well ask her to retrieve the locket, then kidnap a blind fire dragon and force her way out, could he? She might not be so lucky as to escape unscathed.

"So, which goblin is specifically responsible for guarding the Malfoy family's vault?" he changed the subject. "What's his name? What are his distinguishing features? I'll try to sneak in, but that will require the goblin's assistance; otherwise, it's impossible to successfully approach the vault's core area."

“Calm down, Severus.” Narcissa looked bewildered. “If you’re thinking of robbing Gringotts Bank, you’re insane. It’s impossible. With those goblins, dragons, and magical protection, you can’t possibly succeed!”

"Then what should we do?" Snape curled his lip. "Why don't you go? As the mistress, you're surely more familiar with the place than I am. See if you can find a suitable reason to approach without arousing suspicion?"

Narcissa was clearly speechless. She paused for a moment, her expression in the mirror first showing astonishment, then a hint of displeasure.

She paused for a few seconds, seemingly weighing something extremely important. Finally, her gaze turned extremely serious as she stared intently at Snape on the other side of the mirror, asking in a questioning tone, "How many Horcruxes have you destroyed?"

Snape's eyes sharpened, and his brow furrowed almost imperceptibly: "Does this relate to our current operations?"

“Of course we do!” Narcissa’s tone suddenly sharpened, with even a hint of barely perceptible resentment. “You’re floating in the sky! You have Dumbledore’s ship, your whereabouts are unpredictable, and you have a way out! But what about us, the Malfoys?”

“We are all right here on the ground, among the Death Eaters, right under the Dark Lord’s nose!”

“If you fail, or…” her voice trembled slightly, “or the number destroyed is not enough to shake him, have you thought about how much risk we are taking?”
"I need to know how far you are from success! I need to know whether we are nearing the finish line or just making a futile struggle by taking such a big risk!"

Both ends fell silent.

Narcissa's chest heaved, and her face turned pale.

Snape scrutinized the woman's tense face in the mirror. He understood her concerns:

If the intelligence they provide ultimately leads to Voldemort's failure, then they can retire with their glory intact; but if the operation fails, or only one or two Horcruxes are destroyed without truly harming Voldemort's foundation, then the Malfoy family, who provided the intelligence, will face annihilation.

Considering that the Malfoys had essentially switched sides and become deeply aligned with his side after obtaining the diary and sending Regulus aboard the ship, Snape decided to reveal the truth in exchange for her full cooperation.

“Four.” He lowered his voice and uttered a number. “We have found and destroyed four Horcruxes.”

Narcissa gasped instantly, her eyes widening in disbelief, and even the hand holding the mirror trembled noticeably.

"I..." She opened her mouth, but after a long pause, she finally managed to utter a sound, "My God! So many... Split souls are evil enough, but adding the possible lockets... that makes five... This is utterly..."

“Yes,” Snape’s voice was devoid of much emotion, “but I think it’s almost time. We’re nearing the finish line and can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Narcissa was still reeling from the shock, processing this massive amount of information. Her gaze darted around, and after a full half-minute, she finally looked up at the mirror again, asking with a final hint of hesitation:
"Severus, how many parts do you think... the Dark Lord... ultimately intends to divide himself into?"

“Six containers,” Snape answered without hesitation, “plus the piece of the main soul he himself carries, making a total of seven.”

“So,” he paused, staring into Narcissa’s eyes, “if we can get the locket you mentioned, then only one objective remains. Victory is in sight.”

“Seven…seven…” Narcissa murmured absentmindedly, repeating the magical number.

Just as Snape thought she needed more time to process the information, Narcissa's eyes suddenly focused.

“Severus,” she took a deep breath, her eyes hardening, “you don’t need to go to Gringotts.”

"What?" Snape almost thought he had misheard. "You're determined to go by yourself?"

Narcissa did not answer immediately. A mixture of lingering fear, relief, and slyness appeared on her face.

Then, without looking at Snape, she lowered her head and quickly pulled a small box, no bigger than the palm of her hand and wrapped in dark green silk, from the inside pocket of her robe.

With trembling fingers, she untied the package, gently lifted the lid, and brought it close to the mirror—

The box was lined with deep red velvet, and on top of that velvet lay a small, heavy gold pendant box.

“Before Lucius put the genuine item that the Dark Lord had given him into the vault,” Narcissa smiled, a hint of smugness in her slightly trembling voice, “I secretly switched it with a fake.”

“Although the magical fluctuations and appearance are very similar, they can’t be hidden by careful inspection,” she closed the lid and gripped it tightly. “However, Lucius was distracted at the time, and with the pressure from the Dark Lord, he didn’t examine it carefully before putting it in.”

"The one lying deep in Gringotts is a fake; the real one has always been with me."

Snape stood frozen, staring at Narcissa in the mirror and the box in her hand. After the initial shock, a wave of admiration and a sense of relief washed over him. He exclaimed sincerely, "Narcissa, you've done a wonderful job! You've saved us, and yourself, unimaginable trouble! Now, only one more thing remains!"

Hufflepuff's trophy will be their ultimate goal.

Immediately remembering the nature of the object, Snape warned, "But remember, never wear it around your neck, never, ever."

“I’m not stupid, Severus.” Narcissa regained her composure and calm, raising her chin slightly. “Just seeing it sends chills down my spine, and I just want to throw it as far away as possible.”

“That’s true.” Snape’s lips twitched slightly. “Normally, no one would think of wearing it around their neck. Alright, let’s choose a secluded meeting place. You can just give it to me…”

The two quickly settled on a secluded spot in the desolate hills of Wales, far from wizarding and Muggle villages, and agreed to meet at dusk the following day.

The next day, at the agreed location.

As dusk deepened, a cold wind howled, and branches and leaves rustled.

Snape arrived earlier than agreed and lay in wait in the shadows, making sure no one was following him.

After Narcissa waited anxiously for a while, he quietly appeared.

There were no further pleasantries. Narcissa took the small box from under her thick cloak and handed it to Snape as if offering him a hot lump of coal.

Snape opened the box, and after confirming that everything was correct, placed it on a slightly flat rock.

He squinted at the "S" made of sparkling emeralds, imagining it as a small snake coiled on a cold stone.

At this moment, the contents of the locket were rustling like cockroaches in a cage.

Snape drew the goblin-forged silver dagger and pressed the locket firmly against the stone.

"Open!"

With a hissing roar, the small gold lid of the locket clicked open.

Behind each of the two small glass windows, a living eye blinked, dark and bright, like Tom Riddle's eyes before they turned red and his pupils became slits.

Before Tom could even utter his seductive words, a flash of light appeared, and Snape plunged his sword straight at the locket.

"what--"

"what--"

Narcissa's scream and Riddle's scream rang out at the same time.

After things quieted down, Snape bent down and picked up the broken Horcrux.

The glass of both small windows was shattered; Riddle's eyes were gone, and wisps of smoke rose from the colorful silk lining of the locket. The thing that lived within the Horcrux had vanished.

Snape used magic to clean up the remaining marks on the rock and stuffed the broken locket into his pocket.

He turned to look at Narcissa, who was clutching her chest, her face deathly pale.

“It’s over,” he said.

Narcissa calmed her breathing and said after a moment, "You should have told me you could speak Parsley!"

"Does it matter?" Snape shrugged.

“Of course!” Narcissa chided playfully. “Most pure-blood families would care about that!” Then, perhaps wanting to ease the tension or share some information, she changed her tone and said softly, “By the way, speaking of which, the Ministry of Magic looks completely different now.”

"The Magic Brothers Fountain has been replaced by a huge black stone statue, with a witch and a wizard sitting on an ornately carved throne, beneath which are a pile of Muggles and Mudbloods trampled; the slogan carved at the bottom has also been changed to 'Magic is might'..."

“Power?” Snape sneered. “Don’t forget, you were already in a very high position, Narcissa.”

"Now, instead, there's a madman who thinks he's above all rules, immortal, and capricious, riding on your heads, making you live in constant fear, and even turning your own vaults into his storage rooms."

Narcissa's expression changed slightly. She quickly changed the subject and said instead:
"Speaking of immortality, Severus, Lucius told me that the Dark Lord, at a Death Eater gathering not long ago, proudly declared that he had reached the end of the path to immortality and had achieved the goal of conquering death."

“Although they don’t entirely take it as fact in private,” she paused, “well, Lucius and the others are more inclined to see it as the Dark Lord’s boasting in the wake of his victory; nobody really believes he has completely conquered death.”

“But,” Narcissa’s gaze turned serious, “since he has so many Horcruxes, I think this news might be helpful for you to assess his condition? Perhaps he’s referring to the progress in Horcrux production?”

Snape understood. Voldemort's triumphant declaration stemmed from his successful transformation of the Invisibility Cloak, a Deathly Hallow, into a new Horcrux, thus completing the number "seven," the most magical number in his mind, and believing he had reached the pinnacle of immortality. However, this "pinnacle" had now been destroyed by his own hands.

“Understood.” Snape simply nodded and said, “Thank you for the information, Narcissa. It is indeed very important.”

Having achieved their goal, it was no longer wise to linger here. Without another word, the two departed.

Snape had just returned to his cabin, taken off his cloak, and hadn't even had time to think about how to find the Hufflepuff Cup when there was a hurried but hesitant knocking at the door.

He straightened his robe and opened the door.

Standing outside the door were James Potter and Sirius Black. (End of Chapter)