Author's Note

Hey, it's the author! Given what's being going on my life, I wasn't sure I wanted to - or even COULD - update this story in particular, considering its subject matter. But, I reached a really annoying writer's roadblock on Rise of a Light Lady, which is why I haven't updated THAT in a week now, so I really found myself with no choice here.

So um...please enjoy, please review, and look forward to more (maybe not necessarily more of THIS story, though - I hate writer's block!).

P.S: The voice I imagine in my head for the Horcrux is Billy Zane as Ansem from Kingdom Hearts 1 - especially that whole bit in the cave at the start of the game! So, um, if anyone ELSE wants to imagine it too, that's fine by me! :D

End of A/N

"Twenty-five years from now, in the year two-thousand and sixteen." Vanessa spoke, both confirming Snape's chosen conclusion, and answering the question that she knew would have been his first. "That's the time I'm from."

"And why would you undertake such a journey?" Snape questioned, after regaining much of his composure - his usual calm, his coolness. He was leaning in towards her, and his voice was so low as to be almost a whisper; he was minding the fact that they could be overheard by those outside the door much more than Vanessa, Hermione, and Ron had.

"Voldemort." Vanessa said simply. Snape's face contorted at the name, but, surprisingly (given that he was, at this point in time, at the very much of his development into becoming a better human being), he did not snarl at her to "not say the name" or some such other visceral response that was his usual whenever someone happened to say it around him. "In my timeline, four years from now, he regained a body by way of a dark resurrection ritual, and my blood. His mistake." she added with a wholly, womanly laugh of relish, despite Snape's look of both confusion and horror, which earned her a very familiar glare from the man. "The next three years were nothing but battles and war. I killed him - or so everyone thought - when I was just shy of eighteen, and ended that war. Eight years later, he came back for a third time, and started another war. This one lasted a decade, and it saw Britain reduced to rubble, overrun by dark creatures, and under his complete control. Myself and others kept on fighting him, but we came to realize we couldn't beat Voldemort conventionally. We couldn't liberate Britain - nor could the other nations, and believe me, they did try." Vanessa sighed, and performed a very adult motion of running a hand through her hair. This gave Snape his time to intervene.

"And that would be when you decided to travel back in time." Snape surmised, looking very pale (he had been growing ever more so throughout Vanessa's little history lesson). "When you had no other option left to you. No way of salvaging the situation. No hope."

"We have hope now." Vanessa replied, grinning. "We know everything, and Voldemort knows nothing, which is a hell of a lot fairer odds than any I've had before in my life."

"More than fair." Snape agreed slowly, seeming almost preoccupied. Then, gazing at her with a sudden intensity, he said, "We knew each other, didn't we? In your timeline? You hid your emotions on seeing me admirably enough, but not...quite...enough."

"Thanks for the backhanded compliment." Vanessa laughed, then quickly stifled that laughter on Snape giving her another glare. "We knew each other, yes. You were my dad." she said warmly, softly, with nothing of her emotions held back for Snape to hear, see, and feel.

Snape looked absolutely dumbstruck, and totally unsure as to how to respond to such an admission. Vanessa would have liked to have seen pride and pleasure in his features at this knowledge, but she couldn't see any in all that shock. Finally, he managed to choke out, "I was your...?"

"I'll show you it all in a pensieve later, if you want." offered Vanessa, shrugging. "We'll have plenty of time for it. All you really need to know is that I'm here to keep you, and others, from being killed over the course of the next two decades, to prevent two wars from breaking out in those two decades, and to put a permanent end to Voldemort. And that starts right here, and right now, with me telling you that Professor Quirrell is playing host to the spirit of Voldemort, and that it would be preferable if we offed him a good round five months before you did in the original timeline when you stumbled across him trying to kill me at Christmas."

"'We.'" Snape noted quietly, in almost a hiss, after an almost mechanical nod of acknowledgement of all that Vanessa had said. "Who else has come back with you on this mission?"

"Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger - and yes, you knew them before, too." Vanessa added, anticipating the question (or, at least, the musing). "Ron sucked at Potions and Hermione was brilliant at it, but it still took you a while to lay off them."

Snape snorted, and looked at her in a way that said plainly: Oh, so you're going to accuse me of something I haven't even done yet?

Vanessa felt a flash of embarrassment, realizing that there had been some accusation coloring her voice, but even so, she did not lower her gaze from Snape's.

"We have quite a lot to discuss, but we're not going to do it here." Snape said finally. "Would having you and your companions in my office after the Welcoming Feast be too late to...prevent certain unfortunate happenings?"

"No." Vanessa shook her head. "Nothing really happened in my first year until Halloween; Quirrell let a troll in so he could try and steal the Sorcerer's Stone, though I never realized it at the time." She hesitated on Snape's raised eyebrow being directed at her. "I was different, the first time around. I was shy, mute, and anxiety-and-PTSD-ridden. It was only after years of spending time with you that I broke out of my shell, so to speak. You taught me so much, and not just schoolwork. You taught me how to use sign language, you taught me how to trust, how to love, how to hope and dare, you-"

"I don't need to hear this." Snape cut her off quickly, looking borderline panicked. "I'd...like the opportunity to review any memories you have concerning me later, as you said - but you're right in saying that there isn't any pressing need for me to know such things. What's important is stopping the Dark Lord, once and for all."

"Sorry." said Vanessa, looking away. That look on Snape's face, that panic, reminded her of far too many times when he had been worried about her as a child.

"Considering how you say you were in the other timeline," Snape started briskly, and Vanessa looked to him once more. "I gather, then, that the happenings of the past few days have not, in fact, happened before?"

"It did happen...eventually." Vanessa retorted. "I hid my abuse for months before it all came out, the first time around. As I said, you took over my care, became my guardian, then there was a great deal of publicity, and then the Dursleys had a trial and went to prison. I've just...compressed the events, is all."

"Which resulted in my coming here to visit you, and your telling me about your being a time traveler." Snape's voice (and his look) was incredibly pointed. "Let us hope that you haven't altered the course of events in any OTHER significant ways - ways that would be...detrimental...to our mission of ending the Dark Lord."

"I haven't." Vanessa retorted bitingly, glaring at her as-good-as father for the first time in two decades. Snape's lips parted, and he grew pale again, and Vanessa knew she had just thrown him oh-so painfully into his own past, into a time when her mother had looked at him like that, and she felt instantly remorseful (she also started mentally kicked herself in the ass for her lack of sensitivity and mindfulness).

"Let's hope." Snape merely repeated. He hesitated. Then, "I...understand that your guardianship hearing is tomorrow. In your timeline I...became your guardian. In the interests of causality, or the avoidance of...would you be averse to my sending in an application to the Ministry?"

Causality? Yeah, right, Vanessa thought, amused. She knew why Snape wanted to this, and it was not about the timeline. It was about him knowing, now, that, in another time, another world, he had become something greater, something more, something...human, again, after so long of feeling self-loathing, bitterness, and pain, and forcing himself to go on every day purely for the sake of a promise made to Dumbledore to keep her, Vanessa, safe, and now Snape had that hope that in this time, in this world, he could achieve what his other self had. Just as in the original timeline, at this point in time, Snape was afraid of the thought of feeling good, and yet, at the same time, he desperately wanted those feelings.

Could Vanessa spurn that desire of Snape's, spurn him, in favor of living a happy family life with the Weasleys? What would Snape become without Vanessa in his life so intimately, so completely, as she had been in the original timeline, when she had been under his constant, 24/7 care? Or rather...what would Snape remain? Remain in darkness, in self-hate, in anger, in these things that would make him far more prone to behavior and actions that would be...

"You're him." Vanessa said finally.

Snape gave her an infamous, single eyebrow raise. "Pardon?"

"My father. My Snape." Vanessa replied, looking him in the eyes. "No, that's not right. There is no 'my' father, or 'my' Snape. There's just Snape. You've always been him, you'll always be him. So when I tell you now that I-"

"Of course." Snape was the one to look away now, his voice a mutter, and holding a great bitterness. "You'd prefer to live with the Weasleys; I did speak to them before coming in here."

"No." Vanessa smiled. "If you'd shut up and let me talk, I'd tell you that I'm changing my mind. I want to live with you again, not the Weasleys. I know you better than anyone, Sev, and I know what you want, what you need, and I know, too, that it was only ever me keeping you from falling into darkness, and I'm not going to let you do that, because then I might as well have lost you all over again. And besides, it'll be more practical for us to be together all the time - we can make plans and such more easily than we could if I were away from you." Snape, lost for words, simply gazed at Vanessa. "The words you're searching for are 'thank' and 'you.'" Vanessa added helpfully. Snape (in true Snape fashion) scowled, but Vanessa could not possibly have missed the tinge of warmth that came to his gaze.

"I want to ask a favor of you." Vanessa suddenly spoke up again after a few moments.

"You're holding all the cards here." Snape replied, with a very pointed look of discomfort at the notion.

"Right." Vanessa laughed. But then, growing serious again, she went on with, "I don't want you telling Dumbledore who and what I am."

"And why, might I ask, would you want to keep your most valuable ally out of the loop?" Snape questioned, with a clear exasperation in his voice.

Vanessa laughed again, only this time it was full, loud, and incredibly ugly. "My ally? That old shitstain? Look, in the original timeline you didn't find out what he did to me, what he had planned for me, until much later. But when you did...when you knew what he wanted to do to me...what he was using me for...your words were something along the lines of, 'So you've been raising her all this time like a pig for slaughter?'"

Snape's eyes widened, and his lips parted in equal parts confusion and shock. "What?"

"My whole life, Sev, from the very moment I survived the Killing Curse that night in Godric's Hallow, when Dumbledore decided to have Hagrid retrieve me, when he decided to put me with the Dursleys...he knew what they were going to do to me. He knew how they were. And he put me there on purpose. It was strategy, it was calculated. It was a plan. All of it, Sev! My entire life was nothing to Dumbledore. I was nothing to him! It was a game, and I was a game piece. I had no feelings, no wants, no desires...I don't know if he ever even saw me as a real person. He took the time to get to know me just so he could manipulate me, ensure that I'd stumble on down the path he set for me!" Vanessa, shuddering and gasping for breath, swallowed both tears and mucus. Snape looked almost horrified at her display of raw emotion, and yet also...very clearly upset by what she was revealing to him. "And his endgame? It was to have me be killed by Voldemort! I was never meant to survive the war, believe me, Sev! Albus Dumbledore is evil wrapped up in a nice, and highly hypocritical package!"

"I don't doubt you." Snape said softly, after a long silence, his dark eyes glinting with rage - but not for her. "And I...I'm sorry for what you've gone through." he offered tentatively, and incredibly awkwardly. " And I promise not to tell Albus a damn thing about your true nature, or the nature of your companions that came back with you."

Vanessa, driven by so many feelings and impulses, all but threw herself into Snape's arms, much to the shock of the latter. "I knew I could still count on you, Sev, no matter what timeline I'm in." Snape's subsequent attempt at physical comfort was even more awkwardly done than his prior verbal one; he clumsily, almost gingerly wrapped his arms around her, and began patting her back.

"I won't tell him anything," Snape said overhead. "but I will kill him first thing when I get back to Hogwarts."

Vanessa drew away from Snape, then said, with the utmost seriousness, and utter deadpan: "Sixth year."

"Just one more of the many stories I'll want to hear from you..." muttered Snape, with a decidedly pleased look on his face.

It hadn't been hard for Vanessa to get herself Snape for a guardian, after his application as a candidate. Amelia Bones was as fair and kind as Vanessa ever remembered her being, and, after Vanessa (much to Snape's simultaneous dismay and pleasure) had spoken of how close her mother and Snape had once been, and how Snape had come to visit her in St. Mungo's, and how she was grateful to him, and glad of the opportunity to get to know someone who had known her mother so intimately...well, Amelia had been very moved, and she had given Snape guardianship rights over Vanessa without hesitation. And though the Weasleys were disappointed by Vanessa's change of mind (something that still caused Vanessa no end of guilt), they had, in the end, accepted it, and had offered Vanessa the opportunity to come and visit the Burrow if ever she so desired.

It was harder than Vanessa could have imagined, being in peacetime once again. She still retained her tendency to wake up at night screaming, she still retained her tendency to react (sometimes very violently) to unexpected sounds or touches, and she still retained her tendency to burst into tears at the most random of times over the loss of her wife, and...at her worst...her daughter, Violet. Still, living with Snape in Hogwarts castle, the last week of August prior to school's start, it wasn't all bad. Wasn't all mope and angst. Vanessa had the joy of, as she thought of it, "domesticating" Snape again. It was challenging at times, but it was also rewarding. Amazing. Incredible. And, most of all...healing. This duality was something Vanessa had taken more and more note of. That the things that hurt her, frustrated her, upset her, were also the things that helped her, that brought her joy and hope and love again. And she embraced this as much as she could, without the hurt overwhelming her, and overshadowing the joy.

Both Vanessa and Snape stayed away from Dumbledore, kept tight lips and hard eyes whenever the old man graced them with his presence (after, of course, Snape had taken a good hour out his time to berate and confront the old man on the whole Dursley situation, which had been quite a sight for Vanessa to see, and was one she had not been able to appreciate when she had witnessed it in the original timeline). Or, when they had to grace him with their presence - an unavoidable eventuality, in all honesty, as Dumbledore was Headmaster, and Vanessa and Snape were student and teacher, respectively.

Dumbledore was perplexed by their behavior, of course, but not upset, not troubled. At least, not in any way a normal human would be troubled by this silent treatment and cold-shoulder-ing. No, Dumbledore, Vanessa knew, was only troubled by it because it meant that he would have zero chance of making any of his plans in regards to her - to both of them, really; and boy, had Snape been pissed when Vanessa had told him about how Dumbledore had asked him to risk his life again and again, only to ask him to help him with his suicide, and let Snape take all the blame and fallout that had resulted afterwards, including the loss of Vanessa's trust, faith, and love, for a time.

And, of course, in Vanessa and Snape's spare time, among other things that they did together, they hunted Horcruxes. They managed to obtain and destroy three before school began - the ring, from the Gaunt shack (though, both had been sorely tempted to leave it be, and let the idiotic Dumbledore try and wear it again a few years down the line); the diadem, from the Room of Requirement (by far the easiest); and the locket (getting into an empty Grimmauld Place that wasn't even yet under the Fidelius was relatively simple). As for the Horcrux inside of Vanessa herself - a fact that had horrified Snape to no end - they, or rather, she, had made a tactical decision to leave it where it was...for now (for she had learned how to remove Horcruxes safely from living beings in the future - a revelation through reading that had only increased her hatred and disgust for Dumbledore - and so she could destroy it any old time). For the time being, at least, it was too good an advantage to pass up, the ability to sense and - later, when the growth grew more powerful - actually see where Voldemort was, feel what he was feeling, and even know what he was thinking, at any given time.

The more protected Horcruxes, the diary and the cup (the former of which was inside Malfoy Manor somewhere, and the latter of which was in a vault in the depths of Gringotts), would be impossible to obtain without either a full on assault of their resting places, or a really good infiltration plan that would take some time to come up with - and would also most likely involve either Polyjuice Potion or invisibility. Or both.

That critical need for the ability to be totally invisible being one of several important reasons for Vanessa's current course of action, just an hour before the students would be arriving at Hogwarts for the Welcoming Feast: knocking on the Headmaster's office door (the sweets-based password had been easy enough to guess; she had gotten it on her second try). Tossing her ponytail behind her head, she pushed open the door and strode into the office a solid two seconds before Dumbledore even started to say, "Enter."

Dumbledore, obviously seeing his chance to try and start up his manipulation-of-a-child game (seeing as it had been postponed for a good week now, what with Vanessa's avoidance of him), put on a wide smile and activated that damned twinkle-eyed Charm of his, and said quite jovially, "Vanessa, what brings you here? Is there anything I can do for you?" as if she hadn't been avoiding him all week, as if she hadn't gotten into his office despite that there was a password that she could not possibly have known, and as if he wasn't at all surprised by this most unexpected of interruptions.

Well, Vanessa was going to make him show some surprise. "My father's cloak, I know you have it - give it to me." she demanded. Still, nothing. Dumbledore remained calm, composed. Unfazed. Damn the old bastard! She kept up a steady glare (and refused to flinch) as, wordlessly, Dumbledore drew his wand out of his robes, and gave it a flick in her direction. In the air before her appeared the familiar Cloak of Invisibility. The cloak that was her birthright. The cloak that had been lost - stolen from her by a young thief of a girl (seemingly the fate that awaited all Hallows) - in the original timeline when she was nineteen. Vanessa, taking a leaf out of Dumbledore's book, snatched the cloak out of the air and stalked out of the office without a word. Or, at least, that was what she had intended to do. On reaching the door, Vanessa found it to be locked.

No! she thought, in both parts rage, and blossoming fear and panic, for this was something that, as with her nightmares, with her flashbacks, whether visual or kinesthetic, would never go away. Being locked anywhere, whether in a ballroom, or in an office such as this...it always...always stirred up memories of being locked up in a tiny cupboard under the stairs for the first eleven years of her life in the original timeline. That she knew very well that she had dozens of means of escaping this office at her disposal - whether by brute force or by a few inconspicuous spells - and that she knew that, despite all that Albus Dumbledore had been before his death in the first timeline, and now again, here in the past, the manipulative old man did not bear her any ill will, and that she knew that her emotions that she now felt so intensely, so overwhelmingly, were born of nothing logical, nothing present...none of that mattered. All of these facts, all of this knowledge, everything left Vanessa's mind, heart, and soul in the face of the fact that she was...once again...trapped.

Taking many deep, steadying breaths, fighting hopelessly against her body's reaction to the situation even as she knew it was just that - hopeless - Vanessa turned around, and faced Dumbledore once more, who remained sitting at his desk, looking at her with those blue eyes that were so...dispassionate.

"Let me out." Vanessa breathed, feeling very acutely the quivering of her shoulders and her knees.

"I am truly sorry, but I won't allow you to leave until I know...why you bear me such animosity." Dumbledore said slowly, peering at her almost...coldly. Certainly speculatively, and not at all kindly. "Could you tell me, what have I done to deserve this treatment from you this past week, Vanessa, when we have never before met?"

Vanessa, rather than justify herself to the very man who had given her reason to behave as she was, gathered herself at the rush of rage and disdain that the Headmaster's words had triggered within her (rage and disdain enough to overpower her panic, her terror, and overthrow her paralysis), drew her wand, spun back towards the door, and reduced it to splinters with a Blasting Curse. And then, furthermore, before the old man could do a thing to stop her, she fled. Down the spiral staircase, through the corridors, until at last she found refuge in an empty classroom. There, she warded the door with, among many other spells, a barrier spell that would not exist for another fifteen years and, more to the point, would have no COUNTERspell for another fifteen years, and then...she waited. Waited, and wrapped herself in her invisibility cloak, and cried, silently, to herself.

But though Vanessa cried, her tears were not tears of sorrow, nor even were they tears born of rage, as sometimes happened in her most furious of moments. These tears were the aftermath, the residue of the situation she had been in back in the headmaster's office on the whole, bleeding out of her body, out of her soul, draining, to leave in their wake a woman exhausted, but also a woman no longer overwhelmed with the thoughts and the emotions and, yes, even the memories, that she did not want to hear, feel, or see before her eyes, respectively.

It took her the better part of half an hour do this. To wash away all that was inside of her - all that meeting the Headmaster again, face to face, and oh so personally had done to her - but at the end of it, Vanessa was a woman with a clear and light mind and heart (respectively), and she was thus able to turn her thoughts to the feast that would be starting any minute now, as well as to the fact that she would be seeing her friends again. Hermione and Ron. But not just them. There were other friends, other people, that Vanessa would be seeing again for the first time in far too long. Neville, Dean and Seamus, Lavender...and, of course, most anticipated and simultaneously dreaded of all...her wife, Pansy.

And then there were others who were to be dreaded, yet for entirely different reasons, such as the Patil twins, whom Vanessa knew she would look at every day for the next seven years and think, how could you have become what you did? The same, Vanessa knew, would go for Cho, because as much as Vanessa hated - no, beyond hate, something there was no word to even describe - the woman Cho had been in the original timeline, the woman who had murdered Vanessa's daughter in her own bedroom, Vanessa could not displace those feelings upon the innocent little girl that Cho was now, here, in the past. And even if she had, even if she did...Vanessa never would have been able to bring herself to harm the girl for the crimes of her future self, because to harm a child...that would have been becoming like Cho herself, as well as like the Dursleys, and that, Vanessa would never allow for herself, no matter what feelings, what thoughts, no matter what agony, what memories...no matter.

No matter...? a soft, echoing, and very clearly amused voice suddenly chuckled, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. At the same time, Vanessa felt an intense, agonizing sense of cold seize her heart, so much so that she let out an involuntary gasp, and her hand moved automatically to the center of her chest. Is that really what you believe? After what you witnessed in the old man's office? He hasn't changed...so why should Cho have? The woman who slit your daughter's throat in her own bedroom..?

"Whoever you are, show yourself!" Vanessa snarled, leaping to her feet and bringing her wand up into a standard combat readiness position, even as she realized that she knew the voice, recognized the speaker. It was deep within her memory, buried under years upon years worth of them...but she did know it, and she knew it enough to realize, as well, that it was not someone who wanted to fill her life with rainbows and sunshine.

Ah, but Vanessa, I've been here all along... the voice, so incredibly soft, so soothing, and yet so dark came again, issuing from the walls, the air, and, also...from within Vanessa herself. Watching, waiting...taking in all your memories, all your emotions, everything you have to give. Another soft chuckle filled the room, and Vanessa found her insides brushed with iciness. There was nothing to do about the child-you; she was broken - far too much for me to make any use of her - but you...? A woman, an adult, come back from a terrible future in which she lost everything and everyone she ever knew and loved, and yet remains as fierce and as firm as ever? You're...complex, strong, powerful, and...filled with such untapped potential.

"You're crazy!" snapped Vanessa, even as another jolt of that icy cold shot through her body, straight to her heart. Or was it straight from her heart...? "Tell me who you are. Better yet, show me where you are so I can end you."

Oh? the soft, echoing, and yes, somehow familiar voice chuckled again. Yes, that is your goal, isn't it? To end me? But surely you know by now that for every step you take to end me, I will take two more to ensure my survival.

"Voldemort?" Vanessa hissed, as at last the realization came to her. The impossible realization. And yet...she felt the truth of it, somehow. "What are you doing to me? Have you learned some new tricks? Feed pain through the bond? Talk to me through the bond? How could you? Unless..."

Oh, you don't have to worry about that. I'm not from the future. Voldemort's soft voice answered carelessly - answered her thoughts carelessly, as if they were his own. Although, that is an interesting idea, and one I'm sure my future self would have explored, were he to have been made aware of it. No, what I am, who I am, you should know. You should realize it - quite quickly, in fact. You're not unintelligent, after all. Even I recognize that.

"So, you're the Horcrux inside me." Vanessa did not hold back a scoff at the realization. "Just a splintered, weak piece of soul. What could you possibly do to me? Will you keep flinging words at me the rest of my life? Because, let me tell you, there's nothing you could say to convince me to-" A stabbing of cold struck her heart, so intense, and so utterly agonizing, that an unbidden cry of pain left her lips, and she found herself down on her hands and knees, head bowed, with fresh tears worming their way out of her eyes.

Am I so weak, now? the Horcux mocked. I told you: I've been drinking in your memories, your emotions, your conflicts, your fears, and I've grown for it - grown powerful.

"Not powerful enough." Vanessa retorted, though with admitted difficulty, and much lack of breath. "I can still get rid of you any time I want. I could do it right fucking now! Just one little spell, and you're gone."

Perhaps you could have, but that was before, countered the Horcrux, with cool satisfaction. Have you not been listening? I've fed upon your memories, upon your emotions - the very things that make up your soul, and your very sense of self - and in doing so, I have become fused with your soul, affixed to it, and no longer simply reside loosely within your body. I am now a part of your soul, you cannot just get rid of me, not anymore, and I'd urge you not to try, for that would spell the end for the both of us.

"You think that'll stop me?" Vanessa laughed, with no small amount of derision. "If you've really been feeding on my memories of the future, you'd know that I've tried to kill myself more than once over the years. And before you tell me that that was different, that I was overcome with emotion, and that doing it here and now would be a cold, calculated suicide that I couldn't possibly have the guts to perform, let me tell you that Hermione, Ron, Mynne, and Sev all know the future, and they're all working to stop it. So," Vanessa smirked. "in other words...I can afford to kill myself to get rid of you, and the threat you pose to our mission."

The Horcrux made a soft, pondering noise, as if it had a mouth to breathe with - or air to breathe in. I wonder...did Albus Dumbledore tell himself that very same thing...when he came up with his plan to use you to destroy me in the original timeline? To sacrifice an innocent little girl, one who had already suffered so much at the hands of her Muggle relatives...? Did he tell himself that it was right, justified, because he would be saving thousands of lives by sacrificing your one?

"Of course he told himself that." muttered Vanessa grudgingly, rising to her feet, and beginning the process of nonverbally undoing all the enchantments she had placed upon the door to the classroom. "He's a fucking hypocrite."

And you're not? the Horcux spoke again, sounding highly amused.

Vanessa paused in the act of reaching for the doorknob, teeth bared to give a decidedly biting response, and then...she relaxed, and laughed lightly. "Listen, I have a feast to attend, so if you could do me a favor and shut up for the foreseeable future, I'd really appreciate that."

By all means, go on: enjoy your feast, enjoy your friends. the Horcrux replied, in mock accommodation. Mock compliance. I'll be here when you're finally ready to submit to me.

Vanessa said nothing in response as she fully covered herself in her invisibility cloak and left the classroom, and she further maintained her silence as she headed down to the Great Hall for the Welcoming Feast. But though she refrained from speaking, she could not stop herself from thinking. And even as she thought, she wondered whether or not the Horcrux was listening in. Given what he - it - had said to her about leeching off of her traumas and passions to gain strength, she thought that there was a high probability of that. And if that were so...if Vanessa could truly hide nothing from the Horcrux...

Well, that wasn't an issue, in her eyes. So long as the Horcrux stayed contained within her, stayed a part of her, he could hurt and trouble no one but her, and she would gladly accept that burden if it meant protecting everyone around her from his plans, from his manipulations and his dark fury. However, Vanessa could not discount the possibility that, eventually, the Horcrux would grow strong enough to do what the diary Horcrux had done to Ginny in the original timeline, and actually possess her mind and her body, or even further, and do as it had done down in the Chamber of Secrets, and project itself onto the world as a not-quite-a-ghost-but-not-quite-a-living-thing. Or, even worse still...drain Vanessa of her very lifeforce, and craft for itself a real, true, physical body with that lifeforce (again, as it had attempted to do with Ginny).

And then there was the shared connection between Vanessa and Voldemort to worry about. Both could peer into each other's minds, see through each other's eyes, sense each other's emotions. What if the Horcrux contacted Voldemort through that link? What if it fed its main self information on Vanessa, and on her friends, and on their true nature as time travelers? Hell, even its sending mere memories of the original timeline to the main Voldemort would have terrible consequences. A Voldemort who could analyze all that he had done, see what had gone wrong, what he had missed or overlooked, and then do as Vanessa was doing and act to alter the course of history in his favor...A Voldemort with future spells at his disposal...A Voldemort with the knowledge of just who among his own ranks were spies, traitors, cowards, or double agents, like Snape...

Vanessa could hardly stand to think about all that Voldemort could do if he learned all there was to learn within her mind, and truthfully, she had no idea how she would even begin to counter it. She had never mastered Occlumency, had merely learned to drive Voldemort out of herself by way of intense emotions unknown to him via their soul connection, such as love and grief. But she had never truly, properly learned to protect her mind. She was willing to learn how, now, if it meant keeping herself and her secrets safe, but what worried her was whether or not her learning Occlumency would also prevent the Horcrux inside of her from sending out information to Voldemort. Would the shield around her mind act as a containment field whenever the Horcrux attempted to, through accessing her mind, contact Voldemort's mind, or would the Horcrux bypass her hypothetical barriers entirely?

The only single, concrete thing Vanessa had come up with by the end of all this musing - by the time she found herself in the entrance hall, wherein there were not yet teachers, no waiting McGonagall, and from where she could hear the first years that were to be her classmates making their way across the Hogwarts grounds in the distance - was that these matters would all require much, much more thought, research, and analysis. Though not, of course, experimentation and testing. Never those. For Vanessa knew that to test such things would only end in that which she feared could occur.