Love, Death & Woodpuppets

Harry had tried to call after Daphne, but she didn't even look back. It was Ron who prevented Harry from chasing after her. What he said made Atlas acknowledge that perhaps Ron wasn't always the moron he made him out to be. He explained to Harry that if what she told them was the truth, then it was already reason enough to get ostracized by everyone in their family and maybe even cause her whole family problems.

He then explained that even though he didn't know anything, his parents were hiding something, and Fred and George spent the whole Christmas holiday trying to find out what that was. "It certainly is something serious, as I heard them mentioning Dumbledore multiple times when they thought we couldn't hear them. And if it is trouble even Dumbledore can't easily solve, then it has to be something serious."

As the group was discussing what could possibly be the reason for that, Hermione leaned over and whispered into Atlas' ears. "Do you think it has something to do with you-know-who?"

After thinking about it, he simply nodded. There was no other explanation for it. The question was, what did these families know and what did Dumbledore know? What were they planning? He was sure that in canon, Dumbledore wanted to use the weakened Voldemort to test if Harry could really be content with Quirrell and let it look like an accident. The question was whether that was really still the case. If Dumbledore had involved the Weasleys in one way or another, then his plans had changed or he hadn't told them the whole truth. Molly Weasley would never allow Dumbledore to use Harry as a guinea pig, so he surely was omitting that if he still planned for that.

He was sure that Voldemort was trying to gain influence again and contacted his old followers, and apparently Dumbledore was already reactivating the Order of the Pheonix. But why didn't Dumbledore simply start a fight with Quirrell? Voldemort had to be weaker now than in his prime, and he was sure that Dumbledore could beat him if he wanted to. Was his inaction proof that Dumbledore still followed the original plan, or was there something else? Maybe he didn't know that Quirrell was Voldemort and just knew that Voldemort would try to steal the philosopher's stone. It was a possibility, but for some reason he thought it was unlikely.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as Hermione whispered again.

"We should tell them. If it's that serious, then they need to know about it. Especially Harry."

It wasn't a question this time, and Atlas knew he wouldn't find another reason to delay it, so he once again nodded.

"I think we know what is happening." said Hermione, and everyone looked at her in surprise. "But I think it's better if Atlas explains it."

The attention immediately shifted to Atlas, but he then said that they should not talk about it in the middle of the school where everyone could listen in. So they decided to go to Harry, Neville, and Atlas' bedroom. Luckily, Seamus and Dean weren't there, as Atlas didn't want even more people involved in it.

After everyone settled around Atlas' bed and he had drawn a silencio circle around them, he immediately dropped the bomb and said, "Voldemort is still alive." He paused a bit after that, and the others' reactions showed they needed time just to process the statement, while he also could see that some also felt uncomfortable just hearing the name.

They immediately wanted to ask thousands of questions, but Atlas shut them down. He then patiently explained to them what he had already told Hermione. He said that Voldemort had survived the day he killed Harry's parents and was severely weakened, but was seemingly powerful enough to start connecting to his old followers. Atlas also explained that he believed that he was sure that Voldemort wasn't at his full power yet and was probably searching for a way to regain his old strength or at least accelerate the process.

He omitted the fact that he knew who Voldemort is and how he wanted to return, but just explained that Dumbledore also knew about Voldemort being alive and that he is probably taking precautions after realizing that Voldemort is gathering followers again while also trying to find a way to permanently get rid of Voldemort.

He also said that he believed that if Daphne's family knew about it or at least got a hint at it, then there certainly were a few families that were loyal to the Dark Lord when he was at his prime, and the Greengrass family had taken a neutral stance in the war. It also meant that it was not unlikely that a few students also knew about it. He also said that he had the hypothesis that if Daphne's parents wanted to take her away from Hogwarts, then something was planned in Hogwarts that could potentially be dangerous to the students.

The last statement caused the biggest uproar after hearing that Voldemort was alive. Even Hermione protested a bit and asked how that could be possible if Dumbledore was still at Hogwarts. The others also argued back and forth, but as Atlas couldn't simply say that he knew that Voldemort wanted the stone, as he shouldn't know about the stone, they spent almost an hour discussing what Voldemort could possibly want in Hogwarts.

Harry, a bit to Atlas' surprise, didn't connect the dots to the package he took in Gringots, but if he had to be fair, no one tried to rob the vault after they took it, and he hadn't spent a whole year trying to blame Snape for trying to steal whatever Fluffy was protecting and in turn also hadn't found out about what the package had been.

Atlas wasn't sure if he should tell them to be suspicious of Quirrell. He even had the perfect excuse for it, as he could simply argue that Voldemort would surely send someone to infiltrate Hogwarts and the only new people were Professor Ward and Quirrel, but he wasn't sure if he really wanted them to behave differently in front of Quirrell as it could lead to another change of events.

At the end of the talk, Atlas had to agree to train with all of them in the room of requirements after Hermione spilled the beans on that. It had actually made him a bit angry at her, but he knew that from her perspective, it was a totally reasonable thing to do in their situation.

The only positive thing about it was that even if Quirrell caught them when they entered the room, he would not be alone, and Quirrell wouldn't be too suspicious of him. Even reading all of their minds, including Hermione's, would only reveal that she learned about it from Amy. So it wasn't too bad for him.

They talked till the middle of the night, and even after Seamus and Dean came to bed, they still only changed the topic a little as Hermione presented a work schedule to prepare for Voldemort, as she had thought about training Harry for a long time.

The seriousness of the situation had even led Ron to accept the schedule; only Seamus and Dean looked at it and immediately rejected that workload. Seamus even grumbled about not being a house elf and needed to rest once in a while.

Soon after, most people went to bed, but Hermione stayed to talk with him for a little longer. They cuddled a bit before Hermione asked, "He is really alive, isn't he?"

"Yes. I'm sure." He answered, trying not to let it sound like the great threat she perceived it to be.

"What should we do if he regains his full power?"

He petted her head and answered, "As long as we can help, we could certainly stand with Dumbledore and Harry. Maybe he will manage to beat him again, or maybe another person even better than Voldemort appears and kills him. But I know for sure that I will do everything to keep you safe."

In response, Hermione's eyes twinkled with delight, and she slowly propped herself up, leaning over him until their heads were inches apart. Her long hair cascaded down like a waterfall, gently brushing against Atlas' face. Despite her lips curling into a playful smile, Hermione couldn't help but tease the Atlas, "You know, you can be so corny sometimes." Her eyes sparkled mischievously, but the tender affection in her gaze betrayed her true feelings. Captivated by the moment, she couldn't resist planting a soft kiss on his lips. After their lips parted, she whispered softly, "I love that about you."

Atlas blushed, a mix of embarrassment and adoration evident on his face. He carefully lifted his right hand and combed Hermione's hair so that he could look her in the eyes.

"If everything fails, Dumbledore dies, Harry fails, or something else happens, would you be willing to leave everything behind and stay with me?" Atlas asked his voice still sounding smooth, but his expression showed that the question was serious.

"Is this like a proposal before going to war? Don't be so pessimistic, Atlas. It won't happen. Even if You-Know-Who returns, everything will turn out fine." She answered, but Atlas didn't leave it be.

"I hope so too, but just in case, would you leave with me?"

"Yes, I would. But we won't need to." said Hermione, planted a kiss on his lips, and didn't fail to notice the relive in Atlas' eyes.

"That was really important to you, wasn't it?" She said as she was getting back into the more comfortable position next to him.

"Yes. It was." He admitted.

"Will you tell me why?" she asked.

A long silence, where Hermione stared into his eyes, waiting for him to answer, appeared.

"Honesty, there are many reasons, but is it so unusual to think your survival is more important than sacrificing yourself in a senseless fight against Voldemort if leaving everything behind was also an option?" he answered, hiding that the real reason he asked this question had nothing to do with Voldemort.

Hermione frowned a bit, but as she cuddled again against his chest, he knew that she wouldn't ask him again.

After talking for a few minutes longer, Hermione wanted to go into her bed and slowly propped herself up while suppressing a yawn.

As Hermione made a move to get up from the bed, Atlas gently reached out and clasped her hand, stopping her in her tracks. "Wait, Hermione," he said softly, his heart pounding in his chest. "Do you want to stay here tonight?"

Hermione looked a bit surprised, her cheeks flushed with a hint of embarrassment. "Oh, um, I, what, can you repeat the question?" She stammered, unsure of how to react and really unsure if she heard right.

Her reaction was a bit of a surprise to Atlas, but then again, his action was also really a surprise for her, as normally she was the one that proposed any next steps they took in their relationship.

"I wanted to know if you wanted to stay here tonight. I thought it would be nice. And it isn't the first time as well." He tried to explain, and for some reason he felt more nervous than in his previous life when Lily had asked him to have sex for the first time.

"That doesn't… I mean… Yes, yes, that would be nice. I will just get my pyjama. I don't want to sleep in my uniform again." She said and sneaked out of the boys' dorm.

Atlas had changed clothes in the meantime too, and he even used a few transfigurations on his curtains to make it impossible for anyone to look at them. It wasn't that he planned to do anything with Hermione, but he at least wanted to give them a bit more privacy.

While doing that, he noticed that Harry was still awake and stared at him. Atlas signaled him to stay silent about it, to which Harry nodded with a big grin before he pretended to sleep again.

Atlas lamented that maybe the day had been the worst possible as Harry was sure to stay awake for long after realizing that Voldemort was still alive, but now it was too late and he didn't really regret it. Who knows when the next opportunity would have arrived or if an opportunity would have arrived before the situation in Hogwarts escalated?

Ten minutes later, Hermione returned in a light blue silky pyjama and directly sneaked to his bed.

She was obviously quite happy about the situation, which she expressed through quite a few passionate kisses. Hermione nestled herself comfortably against Atlas's chest, allowing him to wrap his arms around her and hold her close in an embrace.

The next morning, their alarm rang a bit earlier so that Hermione could go to her bed before anyone else noticed. As Hermione had scheduled their training, Atlas had to wake up the bunch in his dormitory, which caused quite some problems as they weren't too happy to be woken up at five in the morning.

For their training, they used the room of requirements but only added the training room, a shower, a restroom, and a room for breaks and studying. After some explanations, they decided that a kind of circle training would be the most efficient. Hermione would help the people with studying, Atlas would help them with occlumency after explaining the necessity, and the room could easily cover the part of the grumpy drill instructor.

The first day went quite well, even though they all complained about getting beat up by a woodpuppet.

Atlas could relate to these feelings, even though by now he could sometimes win against these puppets, with a win chance of around 50%.

When they were dismissed to lunch, he asked to stay back a bit as he wanted to test something alone, which earned him a raised eyebrow from Hermione, but in the end she left with the others.

After they had left, he sighed a bit in relief. The whole day had been stressful, as he had to check if Voldemort was trailing them or if the patrolling Slytherins were still there, but it seemed that Voldemort had heeded his warning.

After everyone had left the room, he changed it into the room where he did the exchange with Voldemort. Directly at the entrance were two small staples of books. Each staple has five books. Even though Voldemort had withdrawn the patrolling students, he remained careful and didn't touch the books. He just floated them out of the room after checking that no one was there, and he transported them to the room the horcrux was in. He then enchanted a feather so that it would start to copy the book's content. The books were split into three topics. He had a single book on souls, three books about rituals, and six books about the dark arts. Naturally, Atlas first let the feather copy the book about souls.

After another training session in the evening, the whole group was exhausted, but no one complained. Atlas thought that the approach they were taking kept them motivated in a way that might not last for eternity but was good to get started. As they got their inadequacy rubbed into their faces by a wooden puppet, even if they were fighting with multiple people, they saw the necessity to improve themselves. That naturally didn't mean that Hermione only wanted them to study combat spells but also spells that had more utility, like the accio charm. But these were for later, as they had to start with the basics.

Atlas had taken his half-finished copy of the book about souls with him to read while in bed. As expected, Voldemort's knowledge about the topic was far more advanced than anything else he had read. He also had to admit that Voldemort was a genius. Definitely evil, but also brilliant. The way he wrote about a complex topic like souls made it easily understandable, even for a dabbler like him. To add to that, he could back up his hypotheses with his own experiences. But despite all these advantages, Atlas didn't find anything regarding a soul imprint from the universe.

At least Voldemort could give him a better picture of what a soul was supposed to be. Surprisingly, the hypotheses that the soul was a shiny little ball were wrong. The soul generally had the same shape and form as your physical body and was also equally distributed across your body. A is, in essence, more similar to a ghost than anything else. The only exception to that is what Voldemort calls a "soul core" or "infant soul." After reading the description, Atlas could understand why Voldemort thought that both terms could be used. The infant soul, or soul core, describes the state of the soul directly after birth. It is a kind of living force, but at the same time, it holds the core of your personality. The soul itself only grows from that point onward. Every experience we make, happy or sad, important or easily forgettable, adds to the soul, even though relevant memories add more than easily forgettable once. As the body grows, the soul gets stretched to keep up with its vessel. Experiences add new substance to it. In a normal case, the body and soul are connected to each other, and when the connection is served, the soul dissipates as it tries to adjust to its new shape, which normally would be the size of the universe as it isn't bound to anything. But there are a few exceptions to that. First are Ghosts. Ghosts weren't a focus of Voldemort's research, but he still briefly explained them. Based on his hypotheses, they need something that strongly connects them with their physical identity and shape so that the soul, even in the absence of its body, still sees itself as connected to its body. The theories on how that worked were, in the best case, unrefined. Some talked about regrets, others about a certain amount of self-consciousness as well as an unwillingness to die.

The next part, which he first thought could have been interesting to transport a soul, were the dementors. When they kiss someone, they disconnect the soul from the body and then start to compress the soul into a small ball of light. The side effects of that were a game of luck, as sometimes the soul wouldn't decompress if returned to a body or would be heavily deformed, which could cause massive problems for the victim. In other cases, the victim is completely unharmed. Sadly, Voldemort's efforts regarding the topic had ended, as the only reason he even invested in it was because he wanted to research a method to change a horcrux after its creation, in case someone discovered the identity of the horcruxes.

It was a topic he would probably invest a bit more effort into after he had regained his body, as he now knew that a few people knew about it.

The last exception, naturally, were horcruxes. The soul would keep the shape of the body as long as it is connected to it, but horcruxes went against that as one split a part of his soulcore and, to stabilize it a bit, of the rest of the soul and bound it to an object, animal, or even person. In the case of objects, one needed to only use a little bit of soul unless one wanted the piece to be large enough to be able to resurrect itself. Even if it wasn't mentioned in the book, Atlas was sure that Riddles' Diary had the greatest part of Voldemort's soul, as it was the only one that actively tried to revive itself and almost managed to.

Even if the horcrux shouldn't have that much of the soul, it still needed to reach a certain threshold, as the main soul wouldn't be able to connect to this soulpart otherwise.

As far as Voldemort knew, the connection was unaffected by distance. As long as the connections persisted, the soul would think of itself as whole and wouldn't try to expand itself into oblivion unless it got connected to a new body that was too large.

As a result, an inanimated horcrux shouldn't be larger than the caster. Things changed if the horcrux was another living being. The advantage was that the soul piece could be much smaller than for inanimated objects, but on the other hand, your survival depended on another living being that could age and die.

Voldemort then described a few attempts to possess animals with his soul form after he escaped from the Potters, which theoretically should also apply to horcruxes. A possession would be possible if the soul was smaller and weaker than the one inserted in it, and that soul would then either change the core by eradicating the personality part or cover the whole victim's soul with your own to separate the connection between the body and the soul of the victim. The problem was that even then, the victim could theoretically always resist the possession, which could lead to moments where no one was in control of the body.

Atlas noted that Voldemort wrote nothing about what would happen if the horcrux got overwhelmed or if it was destroyed. But with the knowledge from the books, Atlas hypothesized that one would lose a part of one's personality or maybe even one's memories. He also thought that the connection to the parts of the soul would lessen the weaker the main soul was, as Voldemort hadn't been able to feel his horcruxes getting destroyed with the exception of Harry and Nagini.

Atlas thought that maybe Voldemort's theory about the connection being unrelated to distance wasn't really true, but maybe it was something else that caused Voldemort to react these times.

Author Note:I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I understand that the Soulresearch part may have been a big infodump. I apologize if it was to much, but considering the chapter's length is 50% longer than usual, I hope it can be forgiven.

I think this will be the last real intimate talk he has with Hermione and i hope you liked it. At least if she doesn't survive. I don't want to spoil that, but i would be interested in what you guys would prefer. Don't worry, it won't impact the story as i would have to change the story of the second universe if i were to change something now, and i don't think i will do that.