Spur of the Moment

Chapter 10

"Why did you cancel our lessons a couple weeks ago?" Harry asked during a Sunday lesson. His professor was marking essays while Harry did some more research for the war effort. He had finished all his remaining homework at the beginning of their lesson and had moved on to perusing past Daily Prophets.

"I had other things to do," Severus said shortly. Harry had noticed that over the past couple weeks, his friend--yes, he referred to Severus as his friend in his head--had become distant and cold, much like he was when they were in public and had to play their original roles and pretend to hate each other.

Harry sighed. "I know you were summoned.

The Potions Master glared at him. "If you knew, why did you ask?"

Harry shrugged. "I had hoped you would tell me. I just know you were summoned. I don't know what happened this time. I didn't have a nightmare."

"I would think you'd be grateful about that," Severus said.

"Of course, but sometimes, it is actually useful to see the meetings even if it hurts like hell afterwards." Harry nodded.

"You don't deliberately watch the meetings, do you, Potter?" Snape eyed him.

"'Harry' and no," Harry said. "Not all of the time," he muttered under his breath.

"Mr. Potter, do you mean to tell me that you sometimes watch the meetings instead of blocking them?" Severus said and Harry heard the dangerous tone.

"Look, I only do it when I think I could find something out, something important. How do you think I've learned so much about the horcruxes when I don't have anything to help me? It's not like there's a book or anything that tells me what Voldemort used as his horcruxes. I also don't know how to destroy them. We've been trying to figure that out since the beginning of summer holidays," Harry told him.

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes, and sighed. "How do you know what you are hearing is the truth? We know that Voldemort is aware of the connection the two of you share. He may know when you are intentionally watching and give you false information."

"Believe me, he doesn't know when I'm using the connection. If he did, I never would've found out as much as I have. As such, I wouldn't have found out about this." Harry picked up his bag and dug around inside. He eventually pulled out the box he had been sent weeks earlier from Kingsley.

"A box?" Severus raised an eyebrow.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, Professor, a box. It is infused with Voldemort's soul. No, you prat, it's what's inside that's important," he said and saw Severus' eyes narrow.

"Watch it, Potter," he growled.

Harry shook his head and opened the box. He pulled out the silver locket and held it up for the Potions Master to see. "If I hadn't watched a couple meetings, I never would've figured out that this is a horcrux. I knew that Voldemort might've used it since it's a connection to the Founders, but I didn't know for sure if he had used Slytherin's locket. If I hadn't seen a couple meetings, I may have never discovered that the locket is a horcrux."

"Where did you get that?" Severus asked, looking at the locket in Harry's hand, but not daring to touch it.

"It was once in Grimmauld Place. When we all cleaned summer before last, we tossed this locket because we couldn't open it. We had no idea it was something extremely important. When my friends and I began discussing the horcruxes and I mentioned things connected to the Founders, Ron remembered seeing this locket. We weren't sure if it was Slytherin's locket or not, but Ron remembered seeing a snake on it so we figured there was a good chance of it being the right locket. However, we had no idea where it was anymore since we had gotten rid of it.