You can really tell this place was abandoned for a decade.

Anathema doesn't like it at all.

The dining room's no better. There's some people already there - an Auror with an artificial eye and extensive scarring stands out the most, and he looks directly at Bellatrix before meeting Fay's gaze (and running through identity checks again). Professor Lupin is also in one chair, looking somewhat wan, and sitting next to Professors McGonagall and Cleary, who give the girls a firm nod and a warm smile respectively. The seats set aside for Fay and her group seem to be at one end of the table.

Good that they're all sticking together.

Anathema ends up sitting next to Elodie, on the same side as Bellatrix the secret shoulder cat - and then if Ellie's on her other side, that probably leaves Fay next to Ellie...

(She feels a bit awkward.)

They can hold hands under the table.

Squeeze.

(Good Ellie.)

That's what she's here for.

The last members file in over the next fifteen minutes - Minister Bones, Aurors Tonks and Shacklebolt, Headmaster Dumbledore, Andromeda Tonks and Narcissa Malfoy in last (cat Bellatrix is trying very hard not to look uncomfortable when they enter), Arthur Weasley following them in. Fifteen human-shaped people and one cat-shaped person makes for a crowded room.

Dumbledore introduces everyone to each other, pleasantly, then says he called this meeting at the request of Fay Reynolds, who had information he agreed was vital to share promptly and in full (with those present, at least; he implies others might get a filtered account).

Fay thanks him, then: "I believe I have discovered one of Voldemort's means of immortality," she says, simply. "If not his main one."

There's murmurs about that, and she goes on with, "He has made at least one Horcrux. A Horcrux is an object that securely houses a piece of someone's soul outside of their body. Usually, it houses just enough to tether the primary soul to the mortal realm in the event of that soul's main tether, the body, being destroyed, which creates a window of opportunity for someone to bind that soul to a new body. They're incredibly rare, so we don't know a lot about them, but they are known to be difficult to destroy, generally requiring Dark magic. Most Horcruxes can reportedly influence the minds and emotions of anyone near them, though I have reason to believe Voldemort's can exert a stronger influence."

"I discovered one of his Horcruxes in April this year. I secured it and took it to an international expert who was able to identify it, and who helped me develop a spell that might reveal Horcruxes made by the same person. We then destroyed that Horcrux through Fiendfyre, as it was dangerous to keep around."

"I believe he has made at least two others. One of them was a diary he created during his Hogwarts years, which was capable of possessing anyone who wrote in it and then slowly draining their life in an effort to fully manifest. The soul fragment within used this to open the Chamber of Secrets in the Hogwarts school year from 1992 to 1993, possessing and nearly killing Serpens Malfoy." She nods at Narcissa. "The diary was reported as destroyed by a severing charm, but that wasn't actually the case. It required the Killing Curse to destroy it."

Narcissa scowls. "So he left at least one with an Inner Circle follower, then."

She nods. "Two, actually, but - we'll get to that."

"The third I believe to be Ravenclaw's Diadem. He used this in the spring of 1991 to try and possess a student, but the attempt was repelled by protective wards placed on her specifically against Voldemort. It was then able to possess a house elf who tried to remove it to safety, and we believe it's what he used to possess Madame Maxime in 1994. It has not been destroyed."

"The first one I mentioned was made out of Hufflepuff's Cup - I therefore believe it's likely he's at least sought to make two others out of relics of the other Founders. I don't know how many he's made past that, except for speculation that he might've been going for a specific number of active Horcruxes for magical reasons. There's been no documented case of anyone else making multiple Horcruxes, so we don't know what the limit is, if any."

The other members examine her. No one looks very happy, but it's Minister Bones who speaks up next: "How did you locate the Cup, and which other was left with an Inner Circle member?" she asks, brusquely.

Bellatrix shifts, a bit uncertainly, on Elodie's shoulder.

"One of his lieutenants defected, and has shared this information as a surety of good faith."

She hums. "Directly to Miss Reynolds, then?"

"That is correct."

"Is the source available for confirmation?"

She pokes Bellatrix on the head.

Mrrr.

She jumps off Elodie's shoulder, swirling into her human form, her hand very definitely nowhere near her wand.

(Still, a lot of people react with open shock. Bellatrix isn't meeting anyone's gazes.)

"Bellatrix Black," she says, "if introductions are necessary."

"They're not," Narcissa says. "Hello, Bella."

"Hey Cissy," Bellatrix says.

Arthur Weasley is frowning at her. "Uh - excuse me - why did you defect?"

"...I've never liked Voldemort much, and then he ditched me in Azkaban. Fay gave me a better option," she says, curtly.

"That's all?" Narcissa asks, tilting her head.

"It's enough. You defected because you couldn't get a divorce."

Minister Bones frowns at her. "I'm not questioning your defection. But - your escape from Azkaban was a few weeks before the deaths of your sister-in-law and daughter. Did those not - ?"

Bellatrix tenses.

Anathema glances at her mom - nudges her under the table, then nods a bit.

"...Mintaka's death was faked."

"I don't want it - known she's alive. She'd be in danger. But - the better option Fay gave me involved protecting her."

Minister Bones nods, settling back.

"Voldemort left the Cup with me," Bellatrix continues. "Which makes two Horcruxes with Inner Circle members, and at least two others."

Dumbledore hums. "The most well known Founders artifacts that can't currently be located are Slytherin's Locket and Gryffindor's Sword - and I believe it likely that Voldemort's birth family had hold of Slytherin's Locket for a time... I suspect he would've protected that one more thoroughly, out of sentiment if nothing else, and that it will be somewhere personally significant."