The Marauders: Year Five #Wattys2017

The Clock From the Mantel

The Clock From the Mantel

"You don't think Voldemort would make the connection -- the leap between... what makes a time thief's store... and what makes a..." Dumbledore paused in his words, his eyes meeting Newt Scamander's. "A horcrux?"

"A man like - like Voldemort wouldn't keep quiet about - that, would he?" Newt asked.

Tina looked between the two of them, the hush to their voices made her skin prickle, "What's a horcrux?" she whispered the word.

"A vessel," Newt replied, "Like the clock, but, uh, uh the wizard tears his soul and puts a bit of it inside. Instead of time stolen, it's the soul that's inside."

Tina looked confused, "But... but why?"

"Immortality," murmured Dumbledore. "A man is only dead when their soul departs the earth, until that soul is departed, the man lives on. A body is nothing but a vessel, too, and can be easily recreated by science and magic. A collection of atoms and matter is all our bodies are, but the soul - to put a soul inside a vessel requires very dark, very deep veined magic that hasn't been touched in... absolute centuries." He looked at Newt.

"These are... are not horcruxes, these clocks," Newt said, "It is Lyall Lupin's presence I feel in this clock, not Mopsus. Mopsus's spirit is simply bound to Lyall Lupin's, it has not - not joined as one. It has not been replaced by soul."

"What's the difference?" Tina asked.

"Between spirit and - and soul?" Newt questioned and she nodded. "Well - spirit is your auror, the - the memory of a person...it's what makes ghosts, what makes memories. It's the interaction of your person with the world. The -the soul, that's... that's altogether different. The soul is what makes you Tina. It's what makes me Newt. Any - anybody could encase my soul and I'd still be Newt Scamander." He stared at her like he'd only done a fair few times before, their eyes meeting, "And your soul would - would still be Tina, no matter the - the body you were in. No matter the vessel."

"The soul is the essence," Dumbledore agreed.

Tina looked at the clock. "And what's in there is spirit."

"Yes," Newt said, nodding. "Absolutely."

Tina looked between them, "But how could one possibly tear their soul, if it's as... essence-y... as you say?"

Newt said, "It's... horrible. Really. Very, very truly horrible."

Dumbledore steepled his hands and looked at the clock.

"They have to kill," murmured Newt. "That's what splits the soul."

Tina looked at the clock, "But you said Mopsus did kill Lyall Lupin."

"Yes, and his soul was split," Newt nodded. "It didn't - uh - adhere, though."

Dumbledore was still staring at the clock.

"Adhere?" Tina asked, breathless.

"Yes," Newt said. All three of them were looking at the clock now. "In order to make a horcrux, the broken bit of soul must adhere to the departing soul and become one, they must be placed into the new vessel immediately, bound... It takes... it takes more than a killing curse to do..." Newt stared at the clock's swinging pendulum. "Souls don't naturally adhere, it's... it's very un- unnatural for it to -- that's why it doesn't -- happen... no accidental horcruxes, you can't... it's very nasty, what must be done." Newt looked at Dumbledore, "Even Voldemort is not as twisted as that."