Chapter 19

"A Horcrux," began Cyrus Greengrass, resigning himself to having to explain such a terrible thing "is an object in which a witch or wizard has stored a part of their soul."

Harry balked and asked "I have a piece of Voldemort's soul within me?"

"It certainly seems that way," replied Cyrus "Though I must admit that this is the first time I've ever heard of a living thing being a Horcrux. A living this being a Horcrux is not a very smart move. You see, through the use of the darkest of magics and deeds a wizard or witch splits off a part of their soul and places it inside an object. In this way, should they ever be "killed" a part of them will live on, anchored to the realm of the living by their Horcrux. In this way it is possible for them to return to life. However, this relies upon the object that became a Horcrux surviving. Using an object that is hard to destroy is a sensible move. As a living thing, Harry has the potential to either be killed or die of natural causes and, presumably, the piece of Voldemort's soul would be taken from the realm of the living at the same time."

Harry thought on that. Although he wasn't all that pleased at having a bit of Voldemort's soul within him, he had to admit there was quite a bit of irony in the situation. If Voldemort wanted to kill him, then he would also have to destroy a part of himself as well.

"Is there any way to get rid of the piece of soul?" asked Sarah.

"Usually a Horcrux is destroyed by burning it with fiend fire or use of the poison of a basilisk," replied Cyrus "Obviously neither of those is an option that we would want to use here."

"But it may come to it," said Harry.

Sarah scolded him "Don't talk like that Harry."

"Why not?" asked Harry "In the end I might have to die so that Voldemort can die. There is no use in ignoring that fact, as much as I don't like it."

"He's right," replied Cyrus "Obviously we will do everything that we can to find another option, but there is no use denying that it might have to end in Harry dying."

Harry frowned as a thought occurred to him "Hang on, didn't you say that one of the ways to destroy a Horcrux is basilisk venom?"

"That's right," replied Cyrus.

"I was bitten by a basilisk," said Harry "Why wasn't this thing destroyed then?"

"I honestly don't know," said Cyrus "Perhaps you were healed too quickly, the venom being neutralised before it could destroy the soul piece. Don't forget it would have had to get through your system from your arm and up to the scar on your forehead. Had the venom been injected there then maybe that would have done it."

"Could that be an option?" asked Harry "Because I know were we could get some basilisk venom if someone can source some phoenix tears."

"I'll look into it," said Cyrus "Though I would prefer a less risky option."

Susan spoke up "How about an exorcism? You know, like how they get ghosts and poltergeists to leave old manors and castles. This can't be much different to that."

"That will be something else to look into," replied Cyrus "Though I don't know what we would do with the soul fragment once it's outside Harry's body."

"Could it survive without a host?" asked Sarah.

"I can't say," replied Cyrus "Remember, this has never been known to happen before."

He went over to his bag and picked it up "I'll speak to some contacts of mine amongst the unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries. If anyone could shed some light on our problem, it'll be them."

"Tell them they'll have the support of the DMLE should they need it," said Amelia.

Harry did not go back to sleep that night. He had been told to, but he didn't much feel like encountering Voldemort's soul fragment again, much less wake up the whole house once more with his screaming.

He settled on his bed to read a book for the few hours that remained until sunrise, and then headed down to the library, intending to discover more about his family.

Amelia called in to see how he was before she headed off to work, and about an hour later Susan joined him in his research.

His newly discovered situation was something that all parties elected to not discuss.

After a while, Harry decided to question Susan on something that he kept spotting in his research.

"Susan, how come all these families have titles, and what do they mean?"

"The titles refer to the status of the family and how important they are deemed to be," replied Susan, knowledgably "Nobody really pays it all that much notice these days, but it all used to be very important to wizarding society, and even now it can help you out a bit to have one of the high standing families on your side. As one of the oldest and most respected families, House Bones has the title "Ancient and Noble." A newer and less respected family, such as the Kirk family is known as a "Clan". Hang on, there should be a book around here somewhere…"

She got up from the table and began to scan the shelves of books until she found the one she was looking for. It was a massive and ancient looking tome, its cover made of worn old leather.

She set it down upon the table and opened it.

"Here we are. Families of wizards and witches are broken down into six groups. The first, and generally considered the most important, are the "Ancient and Noble" families. Then there are the "Ancient" families, the "Noble" families, the "Lesser" families, the "Clan" families and the "Newblood" families."

"An Ancient and Noble family is one that has been around a long time and is highly respected. Usually there are great deeds associated with these families.

"An Ancient family is one that has been around for a long time but is not so well respected.

"A Noble family is one that has not been around for very long, but is respected. Again those families are usually associated with great deeds.

"It is possible for a family to lose its "Noble" status, as happened with the Gaunt family a couple of centuries ago, through misdeeds. However the only way to lose your "Ancient" status is for your family to go extinct.

"A Lesser is a family that has not been around for very long, and is not too well respected.

"A Clan family has to be at least three generations old. They are not yet old enough or respected enough to be a "Lesser" house. A Clan family may also be an older family that has lost much of its status, wealth and respect. This happened to the Macnair family."

"And lastly a Newblood family is one that is less than three generations old."

Harry nodded thoughtfully "Seems simple enough, I guess. Are Muggleborns taken into consideration in this?"

"Once they marry, yes," replied Susan "For example, once Justin Finch-Fletchley from Hufflepuff marries, he will be the head of the Newblood House of Finch-Fletchley. Even if he were to marry a pure-blood witch from an Ancient and Noble house, his family would still be called a Newblood family. Sally-Anne Perks on the other hand will just become a part of whatever house she marries into. Were she to marry Justin, she would be a part of the Newblood House of Finch-Fletchley, but were she to marry, say Neville Longbottom, she would be a part of the Noble and Ancient House of Longbottom."

"Okay," said Harry "And then once the Newblood House of Finch-Fletchley became three generations old, it would become known as the Clan House of Finch-Fletchley?"

"Exactly," said Susan "And they would remain at that status until they were deemed to have earned the right to become a "Lesser" House."

Harry nodded in understanding before asking "So which families have which titles?"

Susan flipped through a couple of pages in the book before finding an answer. She frowned though and said "This needs updating. The McKinnon and Meadowes families are still listed under the "Ancient and Noble" section."

"Did they lose their Noble status?" asked Harry.

Susan shook her head "No. They went extinct. You-Know-Who wiped them out in the war."

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