The New Marauders and the Trickster God

Chapter 46: Fascinating

"Okay, not to interrupt you or something," Hermione began confusedly. "But what is a Horcrux?"

Loki chuckled. "It is no wonder that you have never heard of them. They are nothing a sane person would even contemplate making, not to mention actually going through with it," he explained. "In short, when you make a Horcrux, you split your soul in half and place one of the two pieces in an object.

"That way, you're supposed to become immortal because a Reaper can only send a whole soul on their way to either heaven or hell. However, said immortality is relatively short-lived because it severely pisses off heaven and hell, not to mention Death.

"It is seen as a deed that is so despised by everyone that the person who committed it is directly sent to purgatory in most cases. Let's just say that it isn't a nice place, even worse than hell. Riddle is a bit of an exception for it because Hell first wants to show him what they think of him trying to get out of his contract."

"So, Riddle...You-Know-Who is still alive because he made one of those Horcruxes?" Hermione asked, shocked.

Loki looked at Harry, unsure how much to tell her, but Harry only nodded, not wanting to keep any secrets from his friends.

"Not only one," Loki finally said. "As far as I can tell, he made at least five. Had he only made one, he would already have been dealt with. Still, it is getting complicated with more, especially since he managed to hide them from everyone. That is also the reason why Zachariah so adamantly tries to get to Harry.

"As far as I know, Raphael ordered him to get Riddle's soul pieces because he needed help from a few demons who demanded the complete soul as payment. However, Zachariah didn't want to do the deed himself because he can't find them and is currently occupied with getting Lucifer out of his cage. Therefore, he forged a prophecy to bind a human to get him what he wants, namely Harry."

"This is also where my contract with Crowley, the demon I made it with, comes into play. You see, he also wants Riddle's soul very badly to climb up the ladder in hell. Since I needed a cover-up for how my parents were resurrected, we came to the agreement that he would pretend that he'd been the one and I'll deliver Riddle's soul to him. We both get what we want, and I don't have to fear being thrown into hell after ten years," Harry added.

"Let me see if I got the entire thing right," Neville muttered. "You now have to search for Riddle's soul pieces that are untraceable and could be literally anywhere because you needed a cover-up? How were your parents brought back if not through the contract?"

"Uhm, we actually have no idea how exactly they are alive again," Harry sheepishly admitted, only to receive a deadpanned look from Neville. "Okay, okay, I teleported out of heaven with them, and they were alive again...body and all included."

"Okay, I'm not going to question how you even managed to get into heaven," Draco began, upon which Harry simply pointed at Loki. "But what the heck? I don't know how many people tried to find a way to revive the dead over the ages. And you just like that teleported out of heaven with your parents, giving them bodies in the process which is bloody impossible!"

Harry amusedly watched Draco rant about the impossibility of him teleporting someone out of heaven. That was until he couldn't stop himself anymore and began to laugh.

"You know it is also thought to be impossible to enter Lucifer's cage. Despite that, I took a week-long vacation there," he said once he cooled down again.

"You're joking, right?" Draco asked in shocked disbelieve.

"Nope," Harry said, popping the 'p'. "You remember? Zachariah, that dick with wings ambushed me? The reason why Dobby couldn't reach me? Well, I was sitting in Lucifer's cage at that time."