Order of the Phoenix Headquarters, 12 Grimmauld Place.
Unlike most days, there were only two people here today: the retired Dumbledore, and Snape, who had just returned from a Death Eater meeting.
"That Oren took a cup from the vault."
"A cup?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at Snape's words. "A Horcrux?"
"Wouldn't you know whether it was a Horcrux?" Snape could not help saying. "Hufflepuff's Cup is in Kyle's possession. He never even tried to hide it."
"So Tom doesn't know that the Horcrux has been stolen?" Dumbledore asked.
"I... don't know." Snape shook his head after a moment of thought.
"As far as I know, the Dark Lord flew into a rage at Bellatrix and even punished her with the Cruciatus Curse.
"The reason was that she had lost something—something important that had been hidden in a Gringotts vault."
"Though the Dark Lord never said so outright, it should have been Hufflepuff's Cup."
Snape continued, "The Dark Lord could not show himself at the time, so I went to Gringotts... Kyle and that dog were far too careless. After taking the item, they actually failed to erase the goblins' memories."
"So you gave Kyle a hand?" A hint of teasing flashed in Dumbledore's eyes. "It seems that, despite what you say, you do still care about him. Is it because of Miss Prince?"
"Shut up!"
Snape exploded at once. "I care about Kyle? What kind of joke is that?"
"What happens to those two has nothing to do with me. I just didn't want them to ruin the original plan and cause trouble for me!"
"I see." Dumbledore did not continue provoking Snape and nodded agreeably. "Go on."
"There's nothing more to say after that." It took Snape quite a while to calm down again.
"I don't know what