Harry Potter: Arcane Instability

(November 1, 1991)

 (Savrin POV)

 After the events of the night prior, Savrin decided some changes were needed for the school. Word had already spread of Quirrell's death, however because no one could actually prove it, and the fact that no one had seen his body, most people simply believed he had either been sacked or quit from his position.

Savrin had already instructed Godric and the others to deny everything, and had gone so far as to silence the teachers from saying anything, which might not have gone over too well with some of them, but he didn't care.

As for Harry, well even the boy could see the chaos he would bring to the school by bringing up the fact that a Death Eater had infiltrated the school, and after not so subtly being told that the school might close if he opened his mouth, he very wisely opted to keep the events that transpired the night prior to himself.

 For his part, Savrin canceled D.A.D.A. for the day, thanking his lucky stars that today just so happened to be a Friday, meaning the students would only have to go without the class for a day before it would be the weekend. Savrin hoped to be able to find a competent replacement before Monday, else he would have to teach the class himself, and that honestly sounded horrible.

After Flooing through his fireplace to the Ministry, Savrin, still in his Dumbledore appearance made his way to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, or D.M.L.E as most people referred to it. Walking to one of the elevators, he pressed the button for Level 2. Given how many times he had snuck into the Ministry over the last few months, Savrin knew every building like the back of his hand, which was why he knew exactly where to go.

 When he arrived outside Amelia Bone's office, Savrin couldn't help the frown that appeared on his face as he stared at the door. 'I've broken into this office so many times, it kind feels weird to have to knock.' He thought before he did just that.

It took only a few seconds before the door opened and he let himself in, only to be greeted with the sight of the stern looking witch from the trial staring at him with her elbows on her desk and her fingers intertwined.

 "Good morning, Madam Bones. It's a pleasure to see you, and I thank you for taking the time out of your day to meet with me." Savrin said as he strode into the room and stopped just in front of her desk.

For her part, Amelia simply stared into his eyes for a few long seconds before she briefly glanced down at a piece of paper before looking back up to meet his eyes again. "Is it a good morning, Albus?" She asked, sounding as though she herself didn't believe those words, though her expression didn't give any clues as to what she might have been thinking.

Glancing down at the parchment in front of her, Savrin saw that it was his letter of Resignation from his Chief Warlock position. Ignoring the letter, Savrin looked back at Amelia before letting out a drawn out sigh before he slumped into one of the two open chairs in front of Amelia's desk.

 "I take it you aren't pleased with me about my resignation?" He asked her, earning a scoff from the witch. "That would be an understatement. The Ministry was already up in arms after Black's trial, and you resigning like you did only made things worse. To top it off, Arcturus Black isn't making things any easier. The debts he called in are no laughing matter, and if things progress as they are, the Ministry is going to lose most of its funding." The witch said, earning a defeated look from the old wizard.

Though he appeared defeated, Savrin was laughing his ass off internally. He didn't know that Arcturus was hurting the Ministry's budget, but he could use this to make things easier for himself.

 "I wouldn't worry too much about your budget. Whatever funding you might require in the future will most likely be supplied by Lord Black himself." Savrin said, surprising the woman sitting across from him.

"What do you mean? Why would he fund the Ministry when he's in the process of bleeding us dry for compensation for Sirius Black?" Amelia asked, not understanding what Dumbledore was talking about.

"The noble and pureblood families who want power pay the Ministry of Magic large amounts of gold each year for said power. Turn a blind eye here and there, help a bill get passed, get informed of most events, anything to make them feel superior to the muggle-born witches and wizards. We both know this." Savrin explained, earning a nod of understanding from Amelia who knew this from first-hand experience.

"Lets say, hypothetically of course, that many of these nobles who hold power over the Ministry join forces with a Dark Lord who is threatening the magical world as we know it. Let's also say these Nobles and Purebloods who served the Dark Lord were responsible for destroying a man's family and imprisoning the heir to his family. Would it not be logical for the man to want revenge against them? Would it not make sense that the man would want to change the system so purebloods and dark Lords cannot threaten the world as a whole?"

Amelia didn't know what to think of what she had just heard, and it did nothing to answer her questions either. Looking into Dumbledore's eyes, she narrowed her own as she tried to make sense of this new information.

"I don't want some long winded speech that doesn't make sense to anyone who isn't you. I want a simple yes or no answer. Is Lord Black trying to take over the Ministry?" Amelia said, hoping to actually get a useful answer from the old wizard in front of her. "No. He is trying to fix it." Savrin explained with a smile, then waited for Amelia to ask more questions that he couldn't wait to implement the answers to.

"Is he trying to root out the Death Eaters?" She asked. "Yes." Savrin answered simply, still smirking at her. "Will he fund the Ministry after he finishes whatever it is he is doing?" She asked another question, one of many she wanted answers to. "Yes. But once the plan is finished, the funding will not only come from him, but the nobles who remain." Savrin said happily, which only seemed to anger Amelia. Despite her list of questions, it only seemed to grow with each answer she was given.

 "What 'plan' are you talking about, and whose plan is it?" She asked, wondering if Dumbledore was playing politics in the shadows or if there was another party at play. "There is a plan in place to fix problems in Britain. A plan created by a wizard more powerful than Voldemort or myself."

Amelia's eyes widened at the idea of there being a wizard more powerful than both Dumbledore and Voldemort, but hearing it from the horse's mouth had to count for something. "Who is he, and what is his goal?" She asked, finding the idea of someone so powerful to be rather sickening.

She didn't like the idea of another Voldemort coming into the picture, though if that was the case then she doubted Dumbledore of all people would know about him and not inform the Ministry.

 "He does not wish to rule, nor does he seek out power. In fact, I believe you've already met him at Sirius' trial." Savrin said, instantly making Amelia's eyes widen in realization. There was only one man she could think of, and it honestly sent chills down her spine that someone so young could be so powerful.

"Savrin Kincade." She said, already knowing his name. After Black's trial she had spoken in length to Arcturus about how Sirius broke out of Azkaban, and though Savrin's name was brought up a few times, Arcturus had definitely played down the man she had met. From what she had seen of him, Savrin did have power, but he was quiet and reserved. On top of that he was perfectly willing to follow orders, at least that's how it appeared when she spoke to him.

 "Correct. As for his goal, I believe that answer would be best coming from him. You'll have plenty of time to ask him about it yourself when he takes over as Headmaster of Hogwarts in the New Year." Savrin said, visibly shocking Amelia.

"What do you mean? Why is he taking over as Headmaster?" She couldn't help but ask. In her mind, Dumbledore leaving the Ministry to relieve some of his burden brought on by old age made more sense than him stepping down as Headmaster from Hogwarts. That was a rather cushy job, one that the old man could hold for a few more decades if he played his cards right.

Letting his smile fall, Savrin slumped his shoulders while letting out a long drawn out sigh before answering, "I'm dying, Amelia. I don't have much longer either." It was here that Savrin rolled up the sleeves on his left arm, revealing a web of sickly black veins running up Dumbledore's arm to his shoulder. "Once it reaches my heart, I will die." He said, surprising Amelia once more. "How did this happen?" She asked, almost in a whisper.

 "My love for magic turned out to be my undoing. I'm afraid I tampered with things that were better left alone." He answered, earning a look of sorrow from the witch who didn't look as stern as before. "How much longer do you have left?" Amelia asked.

"Could be a month or it could be six. I won't make it to the end of the school year, however." Savrin answered, laying it on a little thicker than he would have liked. "I see. So that is why you resigned from your Ministry positions." Amelia said, looking as though she had finally solved a puzzle she had been working on for awhile.

"Yes. Now as for why Savrin must take over Hogwarts, despite my faith in Minerva to guide the students, I don't believe she is strong enough to deal with Voldemort." Savrin said, his words bringing Amelia's mind to a grinding halt.

"I would love to believe he is gone, but sadly I don't believe that to be the case. It is actually one of the reasons I came here to speak with you." Amelia didn't look pleased as she closed her eyes for a moment to fight the budding headache she was getting. Opening them slowly, she gestured for Dumbledore to continue.

"Last night, Harry Potter was attacked by a teacher who worked for Voldemort. The goal was to get something from me while killing the boy-who-lived in the process. Thankfully their plans failed and Mister Potter is alive and well. As for the teacher responsible, he was killed in the altercation, though most of the students and staff believe him to have quit the school. I didn't feel it right to worry them when the threat had already been dealt with."

 Amelia didn't like what she had just been told, but she could understand the old man's reasoning. Still, he should have informed her the minute after the boy was attacked. "What else do you want? You didn't come all of the way here just to report an incident, so get on with it." Amelia stated, knowing full well that this wasn't the end.

She had been in politics most of her life and knew full well that Dumbledore had reasons for most things he did, and he never gave answers willingly when he didn't have to. It was one of the reasons why most people in the Ministry hated dealing with him.

The fact that he was here giving her answers to things that would happen in the future, and informing her of something that happened in his precious school could be because of the fact that he was dying, but Amelia doubted that. The man simply wasn't the type.

 "Even as the end draws near I'm still so predictable." Savrin said as he gave Amelia a defeated laugh. "Very well. I came to request one of your Aurors sit in as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for the remainder of the school year. An old retired Auror would do the job just as well if you have any recommendations. Hogwarts would of course pay his wages while he is teaching, and compensate you in any way we can." Savrin said, finally getting to the reason he actually came here.

It was annoying that he had to wait until now to get here, but at the very least this would open up doors for later when Dumbledore did die. Hell, he was already planning on using the woman in front of him to make it so the Ministry didn't bother with most things he had planned.

 "You seem to know an awful lot of things that you shouldn't know, even for you. Despite Lord Black being on the Board of Governors, I don't see why he would feel the need to tell you about his plans for the Ministry and its budget. I don't see how you know Savrin Kincade, when I've only learned of him a fortnight ago. I don't know why you're only now bringing up Voldemort being alive when I'm certain you've known for a lot longer than you're letting on. And your imminent death is another matter. I feel as though you should have reported your illness the moment you acquired it. None of the things you've told me today add up, but I assure you that I will look into them. However I will grant your request for an Auror, though it will be my decision as to who it is, and you must pay his wages from now until the end of next year. Are we clear?" Amelia explained, making Savrin frown in thought.

'I thought she would just go along with whatever I said. Turns out she has more brains than I would have guessed. That or Dumbledore is hated by more people than I expected.'

 "Circumstances leave me with little choice. So I thank you for your assistance in the matter, and your time for listening to an old man such as myself." Savrin said politely, then stood up and left the room without so much as a "Good day".

Still inside her office, Amelia was staring at the door Dumbledore had just exited, and she couldn't stop the frown on her face as she growled, "I hate that man."

 -----------

 After leaving the Ministry building, Savrin appeared in 12 Grimmauld Place, appearing almost directly in front of Arcturus who was just entering the house. "It's me, Arcturus, so stop trying to pull out your wand." Savrin told the old man, who was still in the process of trying to draw his wand from its holster on his wrist.

"How many times have I told you to stop doing that?!" Arcturus asked loudly as he tried to calm down his racing heart.

"Four, but that's not important. I came to inform you of something else I want done. After you bleed the Ministry and the purebloods of all their wealth, I want you to fund the Ministry, though only three or four of the departments. Fund whoever you want to take over Fudge's position, but make sure the DMLE has all the funds it needs." Savrin explained, surprising Arcturus.

From previous conversations, Arcturus believed Savrin to not care one lick about the Ministry of Magic, and had even gone so far as to tell Arcturus that he had free reign to do whatever he wanted with them.

 "What changed?" Arcturus couldn't help but ask. "I plan to use the DMLE to get rid of a number of obstacles for me, while at the same time making sure they keep the noble houses in order. Though that will take some time. For now though, I need them well armed and strong, so make sure you set some funds aside for them." Savrin instructed, earning a frown from Arcturus.

"I know I planned on dying before, so it didn't matter where my gold went, but I can't give it all to the Ministry. Even if I'm the richest man in Britain and arguably the world, I don't want to just give it away." He said, hoping Savrin would understand that he didn't want to give away his vast fortune.

"Don't worry about it. I'll reimburse you for anything you spend, so it's not like you'll be losing anything. You're just going to be a figurehead so people don't ask too many questions. And for the record, you're the second richest man in Britain and the world." Savrin said with a smile, then disappeared from the room, leaving a dumbfounded Arcturus to stare at the place he had been standing before. 

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 (December 2, 1991)

 (General POV)

 The month of November passed by in what seemed to be the blink of an eye with the only notable thing to happen at Hogwarts was the first Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Gryffindor lost the match, but that was only because their seeker couldn't find a needle in a bin of needles.

They had lost 170-160, which wasn't too bad all things considered. For his part, Godric decided that no matter how terribly Gryffindor did this year, come the following year when he would be allowed to play, Gryffindor would win the cup. If Salazar actually cared about brooms or flying he might have wanted to get in on the whole thing, but the game looked so incredibly stupid to him that he just couldn't be bothered with it.

 Quidditch hadn't been all the talk of November like it usually was, mostly because Quirrell had apparently left the school and they were assigned a new DADA teacher from the DMLE. Mordecai Berrycloth was not what anyone expected, but the man knew all there was about defense, and he could actually speak English, unlike Quirrell who spoke gibberish.

The man didn't inspire the students, but when he taught them something they sure as hell remembered, which was the main reason to have him there. Savrin first thought Amelia chose the man because he was so dull and didn't talk to anybody outside of class, but after a month under his tutelage, most students were getting an E on the DADA trials which was a marked improvement from before.

 "Quiet students, please be quiet!" McGonagall shouted to all of the students in the Gryffindor common room. Classes had ended for the day and everyone had already eaten dinner and were now confined to their House common rooms, which was a good opportunity for the heads of houses to deliver some information.

After everyone had shut-up and gathered around her, McGonagall began, "With the holidays coming up, I wanted to pass around these forms to those of you who wish to remain here over the Christmas vacation. It is not mandatory and is entirely up to you whether you wish to stay or not. If you do, the forms must be filled out and given to me by the end of this week on Saturday. Are we clear?" There was a chorus of replies from the students, all of whom said they understood.

 After the forms were handed out to every student, most of whom had no intention of staying at school during the holidays, everyone went back to do their own thing. Off in a corner of the room, Harry Potter was looking over his form with a curious gaze while Ron Weasley was copying notes from Harry's Arithmancy book.

"You're not actually thinking of going to stay with him, are you?" Ron asked after a while of Harry just staring at the parchment in his hand. "I am thinking about it, Ron. He's my Godfather." Harry said, not against spending the holidays with a man he had never met. No matter how bad he was, he couldn't be as bad as the Dursleys.

"Are you mental? Sirius Black has been locked away in Azkaban for ten years. You don't know if he's a raving loon or if he's even capable of looking after you. Just stay here at Hogwarts with me, Fred and George. Mum and Dad are going away to Romania to visit my brother Charlie, so we're staying here. You could stay with us and have loads of fun." Ron said, hoping to convince Harry to not go stay with Sirius Black.

 Godric had been silently listening to their conversation a few feet away, though that wasn't because he wanted to, but simply because Ron wasn't trying to be quiet and it was kind of hard to drown him out. After hearing Ron tell Harry how they would have fun if he stayed at Hogwarts, Godric had finally had enough.

"Can you think of anyone but yourself? I don't mean that rhetorically, I'm genuinely curious. When you do something, do the feelings of others cross your mind at all?" Godric asked suddenly, drawing the attention of more than a few gazes.

Hermione, who was sitting at the same table as Godric, stopped reading through her notes to pay attention to what was going on, but when she saw that Godric was talking to Ron, she couldn't look back at her book fast enough.

Over the last month she had spent time with Godric and the others, and though she wouldn't call them best friends by any means, she could call them friends. She got along most of all with Rowena, but Godric never spurned her advances to get close to their group, nor had Salazar, which had been a surprise to her for sure.

She tended to get involved with most things Godric did, if for no other reason than to feel included in something, but Ron did very much still not like her, so she opted to avoid anything to do with him, even if Godric was part of it.

 "Butt-out of this, Godric. It has nothing to do with you!" Ron stated, earning a frown from Godric as he stood from his chair. "And Harry going to meet his Godfather has nothing to do with you. Can't you see how much he wants to meet him? If I had a family who wanted to meet me, and spend time with me, there isn't anyone in the world who could keep me from them. The fact that you're trying to dissuade Harry from meeting his godfather makes me wonder if you are any sort of friend."

Ron's face went as red as his hair as the rest of the room began to whisper about what they were talking about. "What do you know about any of it?! The man could be out of his mind for all you know, and you think Harry should go stay with him?! I'm trying to look out for him. Besides, he's my friend, not yours so sod-off!" Ron stated angrily as he turned away from Godric.

 Ignoring Ron proved to be harder than usual because Godric wanted to pound him into the dirt, but he managed after taking a deep breath to calm himself down a bit.

"Harry, when you got those letters from Sirius, did he seem out of his mind to you?" Godric asked the boy-who-lived, who seemed rather uncomfortable with all of eyes watching him.

Godric knowing about the letters between Harry and his Godfather was no secret, seeing as it was him who had gave Harry the idea to write the man in the first place, but he had also been there the number of times that Harry's snow-white owl had flown into the Great Hall at breakfast and delivered the letters.

Every time Godric had seen Harry writing a reply to the letters from his Godfather, he did so with a smile on his face, almost as if he was projecting his feelings onto the page he was writing, so Godric knew Harry at least had a lot he wanted to discuss with his Godfather.

There was also the fact that he had watched the trial through the crystal in Savrin's office, and based on what he had seen, Sirius Black was not insane, nor did he seem to have any bad intentions towards Harry.

 "No, he didn't." Harry replied after a moment of silence. "Did he seem like he wanted to meet you?" Godric asked. "Yes." Came Harry's immediate reply.

"So there is someone who is not only your Godfather, is in fact not insane, and desperately wants to meet you and spend time with you, and you have to think about this? I'm not saying you wouldn't enjoy spending time here over the holidays, but I think you're going to regret not going to meet this man. Ultimately the choice is yours. Don't let me, Ron or anyone else for that matter try and tell you what you should or shouldn't do, because we don't know what's best for you. This is just my opinion, one which I won't force upon you, because friends don't do that."

With that, Godric sat back down in his chair next to Hermione, who couldn't help but give him a smile. Despite it appearing as though she was reading her book, she had in fact listened to every word they said, as had most of the common room by the looks of it.

 It wasn't until a little bit later when everyone was going back to their rooms for the night that Godric did his usual glance around the room to make sure everything was in order, and it was then he noticed Harry standing alone in front of the fire.

Godric debated with himself if he should go say something to Harry when the boy in question tossed something into the fire. Even from where he was standing, Godric recognized the familiar parchment, after all, he was holding his own copy in his hand. Smiling to himself, he moved up the stairs to go to sleep.

 ----------

 (December 20, 1991)

 "You'll write to me, won't you?" Hermione asked Rowena, who was standing at the gates where the students were loading up onto carriages that would take them to the train that would take them home for the holidays. "Only if you write back to me." Rowena told the bushy-haired girl who couldn't stop smiling.

"Alright then, before you go it's mandatory for you to take a picture." Helga said cheerfully as strode towards them with Godric and Salazar in tow. Beside her, Neville, Susan, Hannah and Sally were all smiles as they looked for the best place to take a picture. "It's got to have the school in the background, so move over here." Helga instructed after finding the best position.

 Godric and Salazar were the tallest, so naturally they were in the back. Neville wasn't overly tall, but he was taller than the girls so he got to stand to the right of Godric. Helga was by far the smallest of the bunch, so she opted to stand in front of Neville but a little to his right, making so she was on the edge of the picture.

Susan, Hannah, and Sally stood next to her in that order. Rowena was a little taller than the other girls, so she stood in the back beside Salazar, and Hermione stood in front of her but slightly to her left.

 Just as they were about to take the picture, Godric noticed Harry walk through the gate pulling his trunk. "Hey, Harry! Get over here!" He shouted, immediately drawing the boy's attention. Sheepishly, Harry made his way over to the group, and once there he was roughly dragged over to stand beside Rowena just behind Hermione.

"Gimme a second." Godric said before drawing his wand and giving it a wave, at once making the ground beneath the back row rise up about a foot above the front row.

"Alright, everyone, smile and on the count of three say 'Malfoy's a cunt!' One two three!" Godric said quickly, to which everyone very hastily without thinking repeated,

""""""""""Malfoy's a cunt!""""""""""

It was only after the flash from the camera had gone off before they realized what they had said, and that was only because a very irate platinum blonde-haired boy was walking through the gates with a look that promised retribution.

 "Why would you make us say that, Godric?! Now he's going to have it out for us!" Sally cried out angrily to the redhead. "Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist. It's Malfoy. He's all bark and no bite. Besides, I got your back. If he messes with one of us, he messes with all of us." Godric started with a smile to the young girl who seemed to lose her train of thought at his statement.

"As much fun as annoying Malfoy is, I'm the only one of us who has to live with him, so if you don't mind, please keep me out of your little games." Salazar said before he turned and began to make his way back inside the castle, though Godric couldn't help but notice the little skip in his step as he left.

"Well, you all have a pleasant train ride, and a merry Christmas and happy holidays and we'll see you in the New Year." Godric told everyone before he followed after Salazar.

 "I'll see you all when you get back, so don't forget to write!" Helga said before she moved down the line, giving everyone a hug, which somehow included Harry who looked completely lost at the physical contact with the little blonde.

"C'mon Harry. You can share a carriage with me." Neville said happily as he dragged his trunk towards the carriage.

 Inside the castle, Godric entered the Great Hall where he saw the handful of people who would be staying at the school over the holidays, and he couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face when he noticed the four red-heads sitting at his own table.

'It would seem that I have my targets for the next two weeks.' He thought happily with a smile. Said smile only grew when Snape and Filch walked into the room a few minutes later.

'This is going to be fun.' He told himself as he strode down the aisle towards his would-be victims.

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(Savrin POV)

 With the holidays now underway, Savrin decided that soon he would need to implement some of his plans, the first of which involved a certain boy-who-lived. Knowing there wasn't much time left, Savrin appeared in 12 Grimmauld Place, then moved quickly to where Arcturus was. Entering into the room, Savrin saw the man he was looking for, along with the man he had helped set free.

Sirius looked in the peak of health, physically at least. All it had taken was a potion or two from Savrin and the man bounced back like never before, though he still had some mental trauma he hadn't quite dealt with, however Pettigrew's death had done wonders for him and he would often find himself dreaming of that day in the courtroom and he always seemed to smile when Peter's soul was ripped from his body.

 "Good morning, Arcturus." Savrin said, surprising the two men in the room. "Given how many times you've done that, I don't know why I still reach for my wand." Arcturus grumbled in annoyance.

"It's a defense mechanism. You mortals do it when you believe your lives are in danger. Anyway, enough lessons. There is something I need to tell you. Something important that neither of you will speak about with anyone else without my permission. Are we clear?" Savrin said, looking first at Arcturus then to Sirius, who looked intrigued.

"You have my word." Arcturus agreed. "Ten years ago on October 31st, when Voldemort tried to kill Harry Potter, he did something." Savrin said, his words causing both men to sit up straight and listen with their full attention.

 "When he tried to kill Harry and the curse backfired, Voldemort split a portion of his soul and attached it to the only thing he could. To Harry Potter." Savrin said, and at once Sirius shot to his feet.

"He did what?!" Sirius questioned loudly. "A horcrux…" Arcturus whispered from his still seated position. Unlike Sirius, he knew exactly what Savrin was talking about.

"Yes." Savrin admitted. "A piece of Voldemort's soul is attached to Harry's. It's feeding off of him like a leech, and so long as it remains, Voldemort will continue to live on. This is why I'm here. I wish to use a ritual to destroy the piece of Voldemort residing inside the boy." Savrin said plainly, getting an immediate nod of agreement from Sirius.

"Let's do it tonight! Harry is coming here to spend the holidays with me, so the sooner we get rid of it, the better!" Sirius said, all for fucking over Voldemort and helping Harry.

 "It's not that simple Sirius." Arcturus began. "Horcruxes are pieces of dark magic. The only way to destroy them is by destroying their containers." Arcturus admitted grimly, fearing he already knew what Savrin wanted to do with the boy.

With eyes filled with horror, Sirius looked pointedly at Savrin as he asked, "You can't mean… Harry has to die?"

"If I was as incompetent as the wizards of Britain, then yes, I would say he had to die. Thankfully I am not." Savrin answered, earning a look of relief from Sirius while Arcturus simply scowled for a moment before it was replaced with a thoughtful look.

"So you can remove the horcrux without harming the boy?" Arcturus finally asked. "No. I can remove it without killing him, but it will be painful to say the least." Savrin admitted, though Sirius didn't seem nearly as upset about that as he had been when he thought Harry was going to die.

 "So what do you need from us?" Sirius finally said, taking the matter a lot better than Savrin would have guessed.

"The solstice is less than a day and a half away. I'll prepare everything we'll need to help the boy, but you're going to have to tell him about it and convince him to go along with it. It won't work without his cooperation." Savrin answered, getting a nod of understanding from both men.

Neither of them knew what the Solstice had to do with anything, but they weren't about to question Savrin when it seemed as though he knew exactly what to do.

 Savrin and Arcturus spent the next hour explaining in great detail about Horcruxes to Sirius, telling how they were made, what their purpose was, and the advantages and disadvantages of making them. Arcturus even listed off a few examples of wizards in the past who had made them, then explained how none of them were around today, meaning horcruxes did in fact NOT make one immortal.

 "I'll tell him about it tomorrow afternoon. I figure he deserves one night where he isn't worried about anything." Sirius said after he had been told everything about horcruxes and how Voldemort probably had more out in the world that needed to be destroyed in order for him to truly die.

"Very well. I'll be back tomorrow evening to get things in order." Savrin finally finished, then rose to his feet. "Remember, not a word about this to anyone." He added, then seemingly vanished into thin air.

"Hey gramps?" Sirius asked once they were alone. "Yes?" Arcturus responded. "That guy… he's kind of terrifying." Sirius admitted. "That he is." Arcturus agreed, knowing better than most just how true those words were.