I forgive you: Chapter 71

Harry's POV
When Arthur and the Prewett twins saw us, they smiled.

"What happened? Why is Harry clinging to Sirius?" Arthur asked.

"We almost lost him." Severus said.

I held dad a little bit tighter. Papa put his hands around both me and dad and hugged us.

When we sat on the couches, Moiz explained what had happened.

Mortem appeared in the room.

"This is bad, my master. I haven't seen Dumbledore's soul enter our realm. He is still alive." Mortem said.

"How is that possible? What about Molly?" I asked as I got to my feet.

"I haven't seen her soul either." Mortem said. I was pacing the room.

"What if they created a horcrux? One would not change too much of your character. He seemed less powerful as well." Moiz said.

"Could be possible. But that didn't happen in the previous timeline." Mortem said.

"Mortem, can you get Aberforth Dumbledore here? He could be of help." I said.

Mortem nodded and disappeared.

A few minutes later, he appeared with Aberforth.

"Who are you?" He asked. Then he saw Severus. "Severus? What is happening here? Why did you get me here?" He asked.

"Do you know that your brother was pushed into the veil today?" I asked.

"Yes. Happiest day of my life." He said.

"Well, his soul didn't reach the death realm. His soul is still here. He is still alive." I said.

"How is that possible? What if his soul is stuck in the veil?" He asked.

"No. All souls will return to me, no matter where they die. The veil will send souls to me, but it takes time. The souls are never trapped here unless the person finds a medium to trap it in the mortal realm." Mortem said.

"Who are you?" Aberforth asked as he stepped away from Mortem.

"The God Death. Ruler of the Death Realm." Mortem said.

"We think that he made a horcrux." I said.

"I don't know. He could have, but there is a possibility he didn't as well." Aberforth said.

"What if he did create a horcrux? What would the medium be?" Moiz asked.

"He could have created it when Ariana was killed accidentally. If anyone knows about it, it would only be Gellert." Aberforth said.

"Ariana Dumbledore's death was not an accident. Albus planned her death. He needed her dead. She knew too much about his sinister plans." Mortem said.

"Is there an item Albus gave you to protect?" Moiz asked.

"Yes. A few books. But I don't think he could put his soul in those books. They are just lines. Didn't look like any language." Aberforth said.

"Bring those books here, Aberforth. They might be useful in finding out how he did it. Those lines, as you call it, are parseltongue." Abraxas said from his portrait on the wall.

"Yes. If he did create a horcrux, I would have felt it when I pushed him into the veil. His soul was complete." Mortem said.

"You have to take me to my inn. The books are there." Aberforth said.

Mortem put his hand on Aberforth's shoulder and disappeared to appear a few minutes later with Aberforth, who was carrying a shrunken trunk.

Aberforth resized the trunk and gave it to Moiz, who took the wards off the trunk with ease and opened it.

Aberforth just stared at him. "How did he open it so easily? It took me a few hours." He said.

"Master in warding and curse breaking." Was Moiz's reply.

"Are they really written in parseltongue?" Aberforth asked.

Moiz took a book and opened it. He smiled and nodded.

I walked to him and sat beside him. "The book of Souls and Soul Magic." I read.

"That book seems to have ways to let you anchor your soul to the mortal realm without horcruxes." Mortem said. "Fate did tell Salazar Slytherin how to stay in the mortal realm without a horcrux to test if he was worthy of being the lord of life. He might not be an immortal, but he could have been. He chose to die as a normal person. He succeeded and is still serving my sister, Life, with her work." Mortem said.

"So he might have written it down for his future generations?" I asked.

"Could have been a possibility. But his descendants chose not to be immortals as well." Mortem said.

"How did he get his hands on these books?" Moiz asked.

"When you went to Hogwarts, Albus declared himself your magical guardian." Mortem said.

"Easy access. I was Heir Slytherin, after all. I was the one who didn't know about it." Moiz said.

"How is it possible? The founder houses have blood recognition to the vaults. Only if the Heir was present could someone take the things inside them." Severus asked.

"Could have been possible. Poppy would have given him my blood. I had to go to the mediwing a lot of times in my first and second years." Moiz said.

"I will read the books and see if they contain the information." Moiz said.

"I can help. I can also read parseltongue." I said.

Moiz smiled at me. I picked the next book to see that it was the continuation of the book Moiz was holding. When I took all the books out, we figured that it would be a long time before we knew how he was still alive.

"Can someone inform Rufus and his sons to come here and stay here until those two are dead for real. I don't want to lose them." Moiz said.

Barty nodded and sent his patronus to call the Lestranges.

"Aberforth, you can stay here as well. You are not going to be safe until we figure out how to end your brother once and for all." Papa said.

Chapter 72