After a spell of utter chaos...
Snape finally sat down again after Dumbledore soothed him.
He stopped paying attention to Hermione beside him, afraid she would infuriate him to death right there in the office.
Instead, he looked at Dumbledore.
"Had your fill of the farce, Albus?"
There was an accusatory edge to his voice.
"Isn't it time you explained where you've been for the past six months and more?"
"Those idiots at the Ministry of Magic have been searching the world for you. Don't tell me you simply hid somewhere deserted to enjoy some peace and quiet."
"I did indeed travel quite far, Severus."
Dumbledore no longer concealed the truth.
"Over these past six months, I mainly attended to two matters."
"The first, naturally, was finding Hermione."
He looked at Hermione and smiled rather helplessly.
"As it turns out, all that effort was wasted."
Snape glanced at Hermione and snorted.
"As for the second matter..." Dumbledore's expression grew serious. "I went looking for Tom's Horcruxes."
Horcruxes.
The moment that word was spoken, Snape's expression changed. His gloomy demeanor vanished, and he looked at Dumbledore with a hint of tension.
Now they were getting to the real business.
"I did indeed encounter Tom during the battle in the Department of Mysteries midway through last year."
Dumbledore said slowly:
"That means Hermione didn't truly kill him when she destroyed his body back then. He still has other Horcruxes scattered elsewhere, allowing him to rebuild his body and return to life."
"And I fear the method of resurrection would be the same as the one used in the graveyard."
With that, he took a black wooden box from his pocket.
Dumbledore drew his wand and tapped the box gently three times.
Click.
The lid sprang open.
An intensely cold, evil aura spread