Equinox

ten

Corvus is glaring at me from across the table. The door to the meeting room was sealed. "I understand that you were just forced to digest quite the reality check, but we are here to learn and better your situation," he tells me with his hands crossed in front of him. "I gave you ten minutes, not an opportunity for a tirade."

I tap my foot on the wood flooring under the table. "Ten minutes isn't enough time for me to process the fact that I am one half of a soul-tie."

He takes a deep breath, and his face softens. Kind Corvus was a notion that I'd never considered before Pansy. Thinking back to every interaction before, I can pick out the moments where he stops himself from reverting. Habits run strong in people who only know how to survive, and it's in those moments I can recall that I notice he wants to be a kind Corvus again. "In lieu of your recent discoveries, I've remained the same as I said before: I am an aid to you during your struggle."

I scoff, struggle? He thinks the gravity of this situation is reduced to just a struggle.

"While you were having your... moment, I took matters in my own hands and dug up a bit of research." He opens a folder, pulls a few pieces of parchment out, and slides them across the table towards me. I take them into my hands and immediately catch a word: Horcrux.

"What does this have to do with me?" I ask him flatly.

"That transcription you and Lilith did ties to the matter of this," he explains. "Horcruxes are vessels of immortality. Magical folk can store a fragment of their soul into an object granting them immortality."

"If it's that simple, then how come it isn't taught about?" I ask him. "Everyone would be immortal."

"It's not that simple, Lewis," he shakes his head and then holds out both of his hands. "All magic had its limits... consequences. To have an immortal being, the scale tips." He moves one of his hands higher, mimicking a scale. "To recenter the scale, you must make a sacrifice. You must murder someone to make a horcrux." He brings his hands level again.

My eyes flit between his hands and the pages in front of me. "What does this mean?" I ask rhetorically. "You're saying he has killed someone and created one of these things." I shook the parchments in my hands as I spoke.

Corvus nods, "Are you truly surprised he's comfortable with murder by his own hands? He murdered Potter's parents in an attempt to murder him for Merlin's sake."

My eyes widen with realization. "I have to write Harry."

"Stop," he orders, and I listen. "Sit down." He points his finger to my chair, and I follow his order.

"I'd like you to reconsider," I tell him. "He is just as vital in this mission as we are. They are at Hogwarts working with Dumbledore-"

"Stop," he says again, and for the third time in the past minute, I listen.

"Corvus-"

"You will compromise us if you send any letters," he commands. "Nott's father and other Death Eaters are searching for us, for this house. They won't be as kind as they were to you in that cell if they find us. Our houses are dwindling as the year furthers, I will not allow this one to fail the way others have." Passion fills his features, and for once, I back off.

"Okay," I agree.

He pauses for a moment, leaving his mouth agape. "Good, I'm glad we're in agreement."

I allow silence to stretch the room for a few minutes, while I reach through the pages, he handed me. Corvus is reading something of his own. I set them down and looked at him. "You're a good person," I admit to him. He freezes and only moves his eyes to look at me. He appears hesitant and wary of what I'm to say next. "I've given you more grief than you deserve. I don't agree with many of your teaching methods, but beyond all those layers, you are a good person."