{A/N: okay so I know I said I wouldn't update while I was in NYC but I had some down time so here you go. View discretion is advised ;) }
The rest of the Slytherins made it back a few hours later, robes singed and skin slightly blistered, but all in one piece with no major injuries. Dahlia immediately explained what had happened in the graveyard, making her case for why she'd cast the Fiendfyre in the first place.
"There were two horcruxes in the staff?" Everyone was astounded, shocked at their accidental discovery. No one quite knew how to react.
"That's why I had to set the Fiendfyre. Godric's horcrux said that he wouldn't fight me, but the Dark Lord's would and for me to destroy the entire coffin." Dahlia flickered to Theo apologetically. "I didn't know how else to get him out of you."
"Please don't ever say that like that again," Theo groaned, rubbing his temples. "He possessed me? Godric fucking Gryffindor possessed me?"
"Yes," Dahlia winced, "I feel like I should apologize for that."
"That's... kind of fucking cool," Theo's puzzled expression fell away in a look of wonder. "How many people can say they've been Godric Gryffindor?"
"You weren't actually Godric Gryffindor, you fucking moron!" Daphne clubbed him in the back of the head with the loaf of bread she was about to make sandwich's with. "A horcrux possessed you - that isn't fucking cool. That's terrifying!"
Theo looked guilty, rubbing the back of his head as he turned to Daphne. "Daph - I don't even remember it happening. I don't even know what he did -"
"That's why it's fucking scary!" Daphne growled, "If Dahlia hadn't been there and talked him down - If she hadn't set the Fiendfyre - who knows what you would have done under his control."
"Daph, it's not that bad -"
"She has a point, Theo," Dahlia interjected quietly. "The diary that possessed Ginny Weasley during your second year was a horcrux. It's what made her open the chamber of secrets."
Everyone's heads jerked to her, eyes wide with horror. "The Weasley girl opened it because of a horcrux?"
"Only a parseltongue could open the chamber of secrets. The piece of soul in the diary possessed Ginny, enabling her to speak parseltongue. The Dark Lord's soul used her to open the chamber and command the basilisk." Dahlia felt almost dirty telling this story; it wasn't hers to tell - it was Ginny's, and Harry's. But the slytherins needed to understand the danger these objects imposed.
Theo suddenly looked more queasy, his wonderment crumbling away. "So... it could have made me do anything?"
"Anything," Dahlia looked him dead in the eye. "It could make you kill yourself, it could have made you kill me. It could have made you take the staff and disappear somewhere we could never find you."
"Bloody hell," Theo suddenly looked more offended, more violated than anything. "Thank fucking Merlin it was Godric's horcrux."
"Agreed," Dahlia sighed, huffing at the bizarreness of it all. "It's gone - let's just focus on that."
"It could have... and I don't remember anything," Theo was still stuck, horrified by what had happened now. His eyes widened, gaze piercing Dahlia's. "Why did it take me and not you?"
"I don't know, but be glad he did," Dahlia said grimly, "I'm fairly certain he only spoke to me because I might have convinced him of our familial ties."
Silence fell over the table, the gravity of the situation they had unknowingly been in weighing on them. Dahlia watched the solemn faces around, taking in each serious face before a surprising snort escaped her mouth.
Draco turned to her, brow cocked, questioning what was funny. Dahlia clapped a hand over her mouth, schooling her facial expressions to remain neutral. A moment later, a genuine giggle escaped, her lips breaking out into a full smile.
A full, mirthful laugh erupted from Dahlia's throat, her laughter now too much to contain. Everyone watched her with a puzzled expression, questioning her sanity silently.
"What's so funny?" Draco finally asked, giving her an almost concerned look at her rambunctious laughter.
"Wh-who would have thought..." Dahlia was nearly bent over with laughter. "Gryffindor is a sham! An entire bloodline of lies. Their attribute - their bloody braveness - derived from a mythical object gifted to them! Godric Gryffindor himself made a horcrux! A fucking horcrux! Gryffindor is all about bravery and nobleness, and it's all a fucking lie!"
Ironic smiles were beginning to twist at the corner of Draco and Theo's mouths. Daphne and Pansy were chuckling, mostly at Dahlia's hysterical laughter.
"It's a sham! The noble house of Gryffindor a fucking sham. The figurehead uses the darkest form of magic imaginable to keep a fucking trinket. The family attribute literally gifted to them by the Peverells. It's... it's the end of a dynasty!" Dahlia cackled madly, the karmic twist of justice almost too perfect. Theo and Draco were guffawing now, admitting to the irony and humor in it.
"They look down on Slytherins for centuries -" Pansy cracked a smile, "And all along it's been them we should have been shaming?"
"Even Salazar himself didn't make a horcrux!" Astoria snorted, shaking her head with laughter.
"I know!" Dahlia was bent over, laughing so hard. The irony, the somehow justice - it was hilarious. For years Gryffindors have been praised, the house most envied, most favored. Only to prove their qualities were from magic, and their head of house a user of the dark magic they so hated.
Slowly, the laughter died down, the seriousness of the situation settling back around them. Everyone sat in stoney silence for a moment before Pansy voiced a question.
"You're sure the horcrux was destroyed?" Pansy asked, eyes flickering to Dahlia.
"I cast the fire directly on the coffin. It would have been the first thing destroyed." Dahlia's gaze flickered around the table almost in shame. "I'm sorry I cast the Fiendfyre. It was the only way - the only easy way. I know it might have put the horcrux hunt at risk, but this was the only chance -"
"You did the right thing," Daphne interrupted Dahlia assuredly. "It's better if the horcrux is destroyed."
"It was definitely destroyed," Draco said sullenly after a moment. "The Dark Lord was furious that Fiendfyre had been cast and went searching through our ranks to find who cast it."
"Who cast the second curse?" Dahlia asked curiously. "I cast only one - a lion. A strange reptile came barrelling down the street towards us."
"The curse was traced to a new Death Eater - the Dark Lord started reviewing the spells of every Death Eater after the order disappeared and the Fiendfyre was put out. He murdered him on the spot." Theo finished Draco's story, the distant look on his face testament to the brutality of the murder.
"So he blames it on the Death Eater? He doesn't know it was started intentionally?" Dahlia nearly sagged in relief. She had thought for sure the Dark Lord would have thought the Fiendfyre was intentional and realized they were hunting his horcruxes.
"No one reported seeing a lion Fiendfyre - the only reported one was the one cast by the other Death Eater," Blaise said curiously, giving Dahlia an arched brow. His look told her he would have questions later, none of which she honestly had this time.