Harry felt darkness before his eyes, and once again fell into the darkness, landing in the office of Horeth Slahhorn, many years ago. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Slavhorn, much younger than he is now, with glossy straw-colored hair and a ginger-yellow beard, sat once again in the comfortable winged armchair of the office, his feet resting on a velvet cushion, a small glass of wine in one hand, and a box of candied pineapple in the other. Half a dozen boys sat around Slavhorn, Tom Riddle among them, and Marvolo's black gold ring glittered on his finger.

Dumbledore landed next to Harry, and Riddle asked, "Professor, is Professor Melisot really retiring?" "Tom, Tom, I just know and can't tell you," Slavhorn reproached and shook a finger at Riddle, but also winked. I must say, I wonder how you got the news, kid; You're better informed than half of your faculty members. Riddle smiled; The other boys laughed and gave him admiring glances.

"Considering your bizarre ability to inquire about things you shouldn't know, and your thoughtful and meticulous flattery to important people—thank you for giving me these pineapples, they are indeed my favorites—" the boys laughed again.

Then, the memory changes in this moment.

"—I confidently expect that you will climb to the position of Minister of Magic within twenty years. If you've been sending me pineapples, it's only been fifteen years, and I've got excellent acquaintances in the Ministry of Magic. Tom Riddle just smiled again like everyone else.

Harry noticed that he was definitely not the oldest of the boys, but they all seemed to have taken him as their leader.

"I don't know if politics is right for me, Professor," he said when the laughter had worn off. "First of all, I don't have the right family background." The boys next to him smirked at each other. Harry was sure they were telling a personal joke: no doubt something they knew or guessed about their leader's famous ancestor.

"Nonsense," said Slavhorn briskly, "it is all too clear that someone of your caliber must come from a decent wizarding family. You're wrong, you'll make a difference, Tom, I've never missed a student. ”

A small golden clock on the desk behind Slahhorn rang off, and it was eleven o'clock, and he looked back.

"Oh my God, is it that late?" Slavhorn said. "You'd better go back, boys, or we'll all be in trouble. Lestrange, I want you to turn in your papers tomorrow, or you'll have to be locked up. So do you, Avery. One by one, the boys walked out of the room.

Slavhorn stood up from his armchair and returned the empty glass to his desk. A noise behind him made him look back; Riddle was still standing there.

"Let's go, Tom, you don't want to be caught out of bed at this time, and you're still a prefect......"

"Professor, I want to ask you something."

"Then ask, my child, ask......"

"Professor, do you know...... Horcrux thing? ”

Slahhorn stared at him, fat fingers absentmindedly caressing the horn of the wine glass.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts subject, huh?" But Harry could see that Slavhorn knew very well that this was not homework.

"Not exactly, Professor," Riddle said. "I came across this word by chance while reading a book, and I didn't really understand it."

"yes...... Well...... It's almost impossible to find a book at Hogwarts that describes Horcruxes in detail, Tom. It's stuff full of black magic, it's full of black magic," Slahhorn said.

"But you apparently know them perfectly, sir? I mean, a wizard like you -- I'm sorry, I mean, you can't tell me, obviously -- I thought if anyone could tell me, it would be you -- so I thought I could ask-"

He did a very good job, Harry thought, his hesitation, his casual tone, and his meticulous compliments, all in the right place.

A trace of having had too much experience and clinging to reluctant people without being noticed.

Harry could see that Riddle was very, very eager to get his hands on the information; Maybe I've been preparing for this moment for weeks.

"Well," Slavhorn didn't look at Riddle, but fiddled with the ribbon on the top of the jackapple compote box, "Well, of course it wouldn't hurt to let you know." Just to make you understand the word. The word Horcrux describes an item where a part of the soul has been hidden. ”

"But I still don't quite understand how that's done, Professor," Riddle said.

He carefully controlled his voice, but Harry could feel his excitement.

"Well, you're going to split your soul," Slavhorn said, "and hide some of it in something other than your body." Then, even if your body is attacked or destroyed, you cannot die, because a part of your soul remains intact in this world. But, of course, in that form...... "Slavhorn's face wrinkled,

Harry remembered what he had heard about two years ago.

"I was stripped from my body, no more than a ghost, no worse ghost...... However, I survived. ”

“…… Very few people want that, Tom, very little. Death is preferable. ”

But Riddle's lust was already written on his face; His expression was greedy, and he could no longer hide his longing.

"How do you split a soul?"

"Well," said Slavhorn uneasily, "you must understand that the soul is supposed to remain intact. Splitting the soul is a rebellion that is contrary to the natural world. ”

"But how did that do it?"

"By an evil act - the most evil act. By killing! Killing can tear souls apart. A wizard determined to create a Horcrux will use this destruction to his advantage: he will encapsulate the torn part—"

"Encapsulated? How? ”

"By a spell, don't ask me, I don't know!" Slavhorn shook his head like an elderly elephant plagued by mosquitoes. "Do I look like someone I've tried - do I look like a murderer?"

"No, Professor, of course not," Riddle said quickly. "I'm sorry...... I didn't mean to offend you......"

"It's okay, it's okay, it's not offending me," Slavhorn whispered roughly. "It's normal to be curious about these things...... Talented wizards are always drawn to that aspect of magic......"

"Yes, Professor," Riddle said. "But what I don't understand - just out of curiosity - I mean, can a Horcrux be used many times? Can you only split a soul once? Isn't it better to divide the soul into many pieces, so that it is stronger? I mean, for example, isn't 7 the most magical number, is it going to be 7? ”

"Oh my God, Tom!" Slahhorn shouted. “7！ Isn't killing someone bad enough? At all costs...... Splitting souls is bad enough...... And tear it into 7 pieces......"

Slavhorn looked deeply uneasy now: he stared at Riddle as if he had never seen him through before, and Harry could see that he was very remorseful about starting this conversation.

"Of course," he muttered, "we're just hypothetical, aren't we?" It's all just theoretical......"

"Yes, Professor, of course," Riddle said right away.

Still, Tom ...... Don't tell anyone what I just told you - that is, what we're talking about. People don't think we're just idling around Horcruxes. You know it's a taboo subject at Hogwarts...... Dumbledore reacted particularly violently to this......"

"I won't say a word, Professor," Riddle said, and then departed, Harry caught a glimpse of the ecstatic expression on his face, the same as when he first knew he was a wizard, and the pleasure did not make his appearance more handsome, but somehow made him a little mad......

"Thank you, Harry," Dumbledore said calmly. "Let's go......"

By the time Harry landed on the office floor, Dumbledore had already sat down behind his desk.

Harry sat down as well, waiting for Dumbledore to speak.

"It's been a long time since I've been hoping for this proof," Dumbledore finally spoke, "it confirms what I've been pleading, it tells me I'm right, and it shows that we still have a long way to go......"

Harry suddenly noticed that the former Headmaster was awake in every portrait on the wall, listening to their conversation. A fat red-nosed wizard had already pulled out a hearing aid.

"Well, Harry," Dumbledore said, "I'm sure you understand the significance of what we've just heard. At your age, Tom Riddle is already trying his best to find a way to make himself immortal. ”

"So you think he's succeeded, Professor?" Harry asked. "He made a Horcrux? That's why he didn't die after attacking me? He hid a Horcrux somewhere? A small piece of his soul is safe and sound? ”

"A small piece...... Or more," Dumbledore said. "You heard what Voldemort said: he especially wanted to know from Slavhorn what would happen if a wizard created more than one soul fragment. A wizard so determined to escape death - he was even ready to kill and tear souls apart so that they could be hidden in multiple Horcruxes. What will be the result? There is no book that can tell him. As far as I know, as far as Voldemort knows, I'm sure no wizard has ever torn a soul into more than two pieces. ”

Dumbledore paused briefly to gather his thoughts, then said, "Four years ago, I got something that proved that Voldemort had separated his soul. ”

"Where?" Harry asked. "How did you get it?"

"You give it to me, Harry," Dumbledore said. "That diary, Riddle's diary, that diary that commanded the reopening of the secret room."

"I don't understand, Professor," Harry said.

"Well, while I didn't see Riddle coming out of the diary, the phenomenon you've described to me is something I've never seen before. Can just one memory act and think independently? Can just a memory take that girl's life and keep it for yourself? No, there's something more sinister in that journal...... A piece of the soul, I'm almost certain of that. The diary is a fragment of the soul. But it raises as many questions as it answers. What fascinated and alarmed me the most was that the journal was being used not only as a security measure, but also as a weapon. ”

"I still don't understand," Harry said.

In other words, it not only does the job of a Horcrux - in other words, the soul sealed in it is safely preserved, and undoubtedly serves to prevent the death of its owner. But there is no doubt that Voldemort really wanted the diary to be read, to have a piece of his soul possessed or possess someone's body, which led to the Slytherin monster being unleashed again. ”

"yes, he didn't want his hard work to be useless," Harry said. "He wanted people to know that he was the heir of Slytherin, because he couldn't do it himself."

"Exactly," Dumbledore said, nodding. "But didn't you notice, Harry, if he wanted to pass the diary on, or frame it to some future Hogwarts student, it meant that he was very tired and numb to the precious pieces of soul hidden within. As Professor Slavhorn explains, the key to a Horcrux is to safely hide a part of itself, rather than throwing it to someone else to risk its destruction - and in fact it happens: this fragment of the soul has been wiped out; You must have noticed it too.

"Voldemort's treatment of soul fragments so carelessly seems to me to be a bad omen. It suggests that he must have made—or is planning to make—more soul shards, so it doesn't hurt to lose his first one. I hate to believe that, but there is no other explanation.

"You told me two years later that the night Voldemort returned to his body, he said those inspiring and cautionary words to the Death Eaters. I have gone farther on the road to immortality than anyone else. You told me what he said. 'Farther than anyone else. I think I know what it means, even though the Death Eaters don't. He was referring to his Horcruxes, more than one soul fragment, Harry, I don't believe any other wizard could do that. However, it coincides with speculation: Voldemort has become less and less human in the last few years, and he has suffered those metamorphoses, and only one explanation plausible to me is that his soul has been shattered, and that he has transcended what we usually call the realm of general evil......"

Under the light, Dumbledore's eyes flashed with wisdom.