"What… what did you say?" Slughorn looked pale as a ghost as he stared at the blackened remains of Ravenclaw's diadem.
"I said this was once a Horcrux." Harry repeated slowly, closely watching the understanding dawn on Slughorn's face.
"You know, I had wondered how Voldemort survived the Killing Curse that night. I theorised the Dark Lord had taken precautions to guard his mortality. After all, I had seen him in his spirit form in my first year at Hogwarts."
"You... you knew about Horcruxes since your first year at Hogwarts?" Slughorn asked with horror.
"Of course not." Harry said, rolling his eyes, "I merely searched for ways to achieve immortality and came across this method recently. But I soon found myself facing a dilemma, Professor."
"What?" Slughorn stared at him warily.
"There are reasons to believe Voldemort took the teachings of Herpo to the farthest extent than any wizard in the history of the Wizarding world."
"What do you mean?" Slughorn looked like he was ready to keel over.
"Voldemort has managed to create multiple Horcruxes."
"He… made many of those things?" Slughorn inquired with a mortified look.
"Yes, he did. I know you were the one to tell him about the Horcruxes."
"How…?" Slughorn looked surprised and guilty, but then realisation set in, "Of course, Dumbledore told you."
"He showed me the memory, and it doesn't take a genius to see it's a fake memory. You tampered with it – rather shoddily, I might add," said Harry, directing an unimpressed stare at Slughorn.
"Harry… you must understand. I…" Slughorn gulped while sweating bullets, "I didn't know then what he was and what he would become."
"I know professor. Tom Riddle was charming and a nice, helpful boy – a mask he presented to the world to get what he wanted." Harry said with a sigh, "You were not the only one Voldemort deceived. He desecrated the relics of the Founders one after the other after obtaining them from their descendants through deceit and murder."
"Truly?" Slughorn looked sick.
"Yes. Voldemort chose to bind his soul to different artefacts of the Founders. Now, the only thing we need to know is how many. So, if you could please give me the untainted memory."
"Please don't judge me too harshly when you see this. What I did that day… it haunts me to this day." Slughorn said pitifully, but he dragged a thin strand of memory from his mind and tapped it into the tip of his wand.
"A teacher's duty is to give knowledge to the student. It's the student's intent that decides what that knowledge can accomplish. It could lead to greatness or… well, I think you get the picture." Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders, taking the memory into a glass vial and securing it in his pocket.
With the memory in his grasp, he should've happily skipped over and went his merry way straight to Dumbledore. However, Professor Slughorn was a treasure trove of information on old and rare magical disciplines, as evidenced by the potion master's knowledge of Horcrux magic.
He spent the next half an hour picking Professor Slughorn's brain on some of the obscure magical spells which were darker in nature. But mostly, he was curious to learn the limits involved in crafting darker spells and the arithmancy involved in factoring darker emotions to fuel the spells. After all, he couldn't exactly discuss the intricacies of Dark Magic with just anyone.
Most wizards were ignorant of Dark Magic, and those few who knew anything about it rarely knew how to create spells that could deal with permanent damage. One of the greatest advantages of using Dark Magic was its irreversible nature, which could permanently incapacitate an enemy. While Harry knew many such spells, he had so far been unable to find anything related to the process involved in the formulation of such spells.
He was sure he could find something related to that subject if he combed through all the books in the Black Library. But going after Slughorn for advice seemed a far easier option, and it saved time.
Though initially reluctant to share such information, Professor Slughorn caved in under Harry's persistence. When he returned that night to his dorm, he did so with a collection of books from Slughorn's personal library. He hoped they were an interesting read because he was curious how the most dangerous spells known to wizardkind were crafted.
He couldn't wait to see what these books held in their old dusty pages.
*****
"You know Mr Potter. I think this is it. You performed exceedingly well on your test. Here is your licence." said Twycross after watching him apparate around in circles around the man and the Ministry examiner.
Harry thought the Ministry official was too happy to see him gone from ever gracing the Apparition classes. It was probably why he got tested ahead of his peers.
He was not complaining. He received the license quite happily and went away from the Great Hall with a spring in his steps. Neville was patiently waiting outside the Great Hall when Harry whistled a jaunty tune as he walked out of the hall.
"You got it?" Neville asked, looking searchingly at the card in Harry's hand.
"Yep. One nice little Apparition license freshly delivered." Harry handed over the card with the official Ministry seal stamped on it prominently.
"Huh. I expected something more fancy." Neville said, his brows creasing in disappointment at the plain-looking card.
"What did you expect the Ministry to cough up from their dusty treasury – a gold-plated badge?" Harry asked with a snort.
"Wouldn't have been bad instead of this silly little thing." said Neville handing back the license card as they walked out of the castle towards the Quidditch stadium.
Harry and Neville arrived at the Quidditch stadium, where all Hogwarts were assembled to watch the Slytherin-Hufflepuff game. There was a lot of excitement from the Hufflepuff side as the game finally decided who'd settle at the bottom of the point tally for the Quidditch Cup this year. Currently, Slytherin was at the dead bottom, and their chances of advancing to the third spot were slim.
On the other hand, Hufflepuff got the opportunity to clinch the second spot if they could win against Slytherin by a large margin of points. Of course, their second spot on the point tally depended on Ravenclaw losing against Gryffindor in the next match with a low point on the scoreboard.
This particular predicament put the Ravenclaw fans in the corner of the Slytherin team. The age-old rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor placed the House of Lions on the side of the Badgers.
While Harry was not particularly picky about who won the Cup or the second spot, he weighed on the Badgers to win this on a good tally. He supposed it was part of going native and becoming a real Griff.
"Nice hat, Harry." Susan said when she set her eyes on his ridiculously large hat with charmed imagery of a green snake repeatedly stomped on by a golden badger.
"You like it? Luna made this for me on request." Harry twirled his hat on his finger to show the imagery on the hat changed with the badger smacking away the snake with a beater's bat.
"Wicked!" Debra Stein, a third-year Hufflepuff, commented with wide eyes.
"It is, isn't it?" Harry said brightly, happy that Luna's handicraft skills were being appreciated, "That girl has a bright career with the Weasley twins' shop."
"I don't know about that. She seems quite interested in chasing after imaginary creatures no one has ever heard of." Neville muttered as he took a seat beside Susan.
Nothing else could be said as the stands erupted with shouts and enthusiastic clapping as Hufflepuff and Slytherin teams walked onto the pitch with brooms in their hands.
"I don't think your girlfriend will be particularly happy supporting Hufflepuff." Neville shouted over the sound in the stands.
"Are you kidding? She put a lot of money on Hufflepuff to win the game by a 200-point margin." Harry said with a derisive snort.
"Really?" Neville looked taken aback.
"You know nothing about Slytherins, my friend." Harry patted his naïve friend on his back and enjoyed the game as Madam Hooch blew the whistle.
*****
"That's a lot of butterbeer." Harry commented with a pointed look at John Blake, a fourth-year Hufflepuff he had caught out of bounds.
"Umm… you can have one, Harry. Our treat." The brown-haired boy with peculiar eyebrows said in askance at what he assumed was a bribe.
"I'm not ruining your celebrations tonight. Just don't make a habit of getting caught out of bounds with two casks of butterbeer. If Filch gets his hands on yeh, well… I don't need to tell you you'd be serving as the janitor in most of the lavatories for the rest of the year."
"That's is not ideal." John muttered with a wince.
"Come. I'll escort you to your common room." Harry said with a sigh.
"You know, you're not supposed to help me smuggle in butterbeer." said John.
"You saying you want to get reported to one of the professors and serve detentions?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No!"
"I thought not. Now, keep your mouth shut and follow my lead. The trick is to walk like you belong in the corridors after curfew." Harry gave his sage advice as he escorted the fourth-year puff safely to the Hufflepuff dorms.
"Thanks, Harry." John waved at him before disappearing into the Hufflepuff dorm.
While his duty as a prefect was supposed to keep the students out of bounds and report anyone getting caught, he'd be a hypocrite to turn in students, considering the innumerable times he broke curfew. Besides, Hufflepuff earned their right to celebrate tonight as they had trounced Slytherin with a 40-250 score. Daphne was quite happy to cash in her winnings, with Hufflepuff clinching a more than 200-point lead.
That win placed the Puffs in the second spot ahead of Ravenclaw by 40 points.
Now, the only thing left to see was whether Hufflepuff could maintain their second spot. It depended on Ravenclaw losing the game, with Gryffindor scoring below 40 points.
When Ravenclaw and Gryffindor take to the pitch, he was sure the puffs would throw their support behind Gryffindor.
Harry went back to finish patrolling for the next ten minutes before going straight for the Headmaster's office.
"Ah, Harry. Come in." Dumbledore welcomed him into the office.
Dumbledore looked tired more than usual, and for a moment, he wondered whether the withering curse was working faster through the headmaster. But Dumbledore was not alone in his office. There was Snape standing in a corner, looking pale and as unamusing as a pebble.
"If you're busy I can visit some other time, sir." Harry offered.
"If that is all, Headmaster. I have some assignments to grade." Snape said curtly before vanishing out of the door in a hurry with his black robes billowing behind him.
"I suppose we have the rest of the evening to ourselves, Harry." Dumbledore attempted a smile, but it came more as a grimace.
"He doesn't look particularly happy. I thought I saw a ghost of a smile when he got the DADA position this year. Has he realised teaching is not the best career path after all?" Harry asked.
"Ah, Severus remains content with his DADA post. His concerns are related to another matter which we will not discuss." Dumbledore said with a grandfatherly smile, "Now, onto our matters, Harry."
Harry fished out the glass vial containing a slivery memory strand within that had Dumbledore's eyes widen and a bright smile spread beneath his beard.
"You… I knew you could do it, Harry. This is instrumental in learning about our enemy in ways we haven't before so that we may stop Voldemort's rise for good." Dumbledore said as he took the vial delicately into his hands and went before the Pensieve cabinet with Harry closely following behind.
"Now, before we see the unblemished memory from Horace we must first see two other memories I managed to gather. Those memories will show us what Tom Riddle was doing after he left Hogwarts. But as you know, Tom Riddle was obsessed with Hogwarts and wanted to stay close to the school despite his darker inclinations and ambitions." Dumbledore said as he placed the vial in the cabinet and picked another one.
"While Tom's peers were making plans to join the Ministry, start their own businesses, or apprentice under masters of different magical disciplines, Tom asked for a post in Hogwarts. Headmaster Dippet denied Tom's request, citing his young age, but promised him a spot after gaining a few years of experience. I, for one, never believed Tom was interested in teaching. It was likely that Tom wanted a place at Hogwarts for him to recruit young disciples for he was already determined to become a Dark Lord. The rest of my peers failed to realise there was another face to the charming Tom Riddle, one filled with malice and subjugation of others."
"So, when Tom chose to work for Borgin and Brukes, a shady shop in the Knockturn Alley, many among my peers were shocked and saddened such a bright student would join an inconspicuous shop that sold antique items. They failed to realise that Tom's intentions were not to settle down with a respectable job." Dumbledore shook his head, "No. Tom wanted a place where he could work from the shadows, where no one would think to look at him twice. The charming, brilliant Tom Riddle was slowly coming out of the mask and stepping into the world as Lord Voldemort."
"I attributed many other reasons for Tom's choice to work at Borgin and Brukes. But I later realised it was his need to collect powerful magical objects that made Tom seek out a job at the shop. Tom was sent forth to negotiate with old families to part with their treasures or even sell the antique collections of the shop to wealthy clients. Tom was quite good at his job as persuasion was one of his strong suits."
"Let me guess. He used his position in Borgin and Brukes to find powerful magical objects to make a Horcrux." Harry said to speed things along.
"Indeed, Harry. You see, Tom has always been attracted to other people's possessions from a young age. He stole several things he found attractive from the children of the orphanage. That character of his never disappeared when he grew into an adult. In the end, he was a petty thief." Dumbledore said with a faint smile, "Now, let me show you a memory of Hokey, the house elf who served a very rich witch from an old pureblood family named Hepzibah Smith."
Dumbledore poured the vial's contents into the pensieve and nodded at him.
Harry dipped his head into the shiny silver water in the pensieve, and he was transported into the memory of Hokey, the house elf.
Harry found himself watching a portly old lady with hazel eyes and a ginger wig flirting freely with a young Tom Riddle. He watched the gleam of greed enter Tom Riddle's eyes as he set his eyes on the Cup of Hufflepuff and Slytherin's Locket. Hepzibah Smith claimed to be a descendant of Helga Hufflepuff, and Harry felt a small tug on his heart.
He wondered whether the woman's claim was true. Owning Hufflepuff's Cup didn't make the woman a descendant of his old teacher, just as the Slytherin's Locket didn't make her Slytherin's descendant. Still, he wondered whether this woman was related to the founder and one of his teachers who taught him alchemy and much of the secrets of Old Magic the world had forgotten.
The memory ended with the house elf watching the old woman dying from poison while the Cup and the Locket were nowhere to be seen.
Dumbledore and Harry returned from the memory.
"So, Voldemort found the relics of the Founders and stole it from the woman while framing the house elf with a false memory like he framed Morfin Gaunt. I suppose the Ministry didn't look further into the case and wrote it off way blaming the house elf." Harry quipped with a roll of his eyes.
"Indeed." Dumbledore said with a sigh, "I was, however, not convinced when I heard of Lady Smith's untimely passing. I tried to gather evidence, but as you know, the Ministry of that day was not so different from what we have right now. The word of a house elf was not admissible as an expert witness, especially after the house elf admitted to poisoning Lady Smith's drink."
"Was it that bad? I mean… you're Albus Dumbledore, the wizard who defeated the Dark lord Grindelwald." Harry frowned at the man, making the headmaster laugh.
"Oh, Harry." Dumbledore shook his head with a faint grin, "Many people think I have this magical power to convince politicians to do what I want simply because I said so. I'm sorry to disappoint you like many others, but my influence and word carry a certain weight, and they are not enough to move the bureaucratic wheel of the Ministry of Magic."
"Oh." Harry replied, eyeing Dumbledore searchingly.
"Now, back to the second memory." Dumbledore poured the vial's contents into the pensieve, "After you, Harry."
This particular memory showed Voldemort trying a second time to get a post at Hogwarts. But this time, Headmaster Dippet was no longer in Hogwarts, and the position was now occupied by Dumbledore. Harry watched closely the simmering resentment in Voldemort's eyes as Dumbledore rejected his request for the DADA post.
"So, Voldemort really wanted a post at Hogwarts."
"Maybe. I think he knew I'd never let him stay at Hogwarts. By this time, I've been closely tracking Tom's activities, and I suspect Tom knew that as well." said Dumbledore.
"He formed his Death Eaters by then?" Harry asked.
"Yes, his inner circle. Tom had started recruiting from old Pureblood families, spinning fanciful tales about reclaiming the wizarding world from muggle influence."
"I see."
"But recruiting is not the only reason he came to me that day. That'll get clear after we watch the memory you collected, Harry." said Dumbledore, pouring Slughorn's memory into the pensieve.
Harry went first, as usual, and Dumbledore joined him soon after. Together, they watched Tom Riddle coax every bit of detail Slughorn knew about the Horcruxes, and in the end, they discussed the ideal number of Horcruxes to make.
When they came out of the memory, Dumbledore looked pale and extremely worried.
"Seven times! I had hoped for a much lesser number, like three."
"Seven is a magically significant number." Harry said, watching Dumbledore slink back to his seat and sagged into the chair.
"Unfortunately, yes." Dumbledore muttered.
"To make Voldemort mortal, we'll have to find and destroy all seven Horcruxes." said Harry, taking a seat across from Dumbledore.
"You've already destroyed one in your second year." Dumbledore suddenly said while removing the destroyed Diary of Tom Riddle from a safe and placing it on the table.
"I destroyed another this summer." Dumbledore pulled back his sleeve, showing his blackened hand and the Gaunt ring on his finger.
"So, there are five more Horcruxes out there – Hufflepuff's Cup, Slytherin's Locket, possibly Ravenclaw's Diadem and some other object that belonged to Gryffindor. After destroying all that then Voldemort can be killed for good." said Harry.
"Ravenclaw's Diadem has been lost for centuries. No one knows anything about it, and I have yet to find any record of Gryffindor's artefacts besides the sword and the hat."
"Are you sure the Sorting Hat does not contain a soul shard of the Dark Lord? It tried very hard to put me in Slytherin." Harry sneaked in a jab at the old, tattered hat sitting on a shelf on the wall.
"Very funny, Mr Potter. If you had taken my advice, I'm sure you'd have destroyed the Dark Lord by now. Instead, you lost quite some valuable years to grow into your full potential." The Sorting Hat spoke up when its character was called into question.
"Harry, I shall endeavour to find other artefacts of the Founders or something close to Voldemort." Dumbledore said, steepling his fingers, "But I believe I might be close to finding another one of his Horcruxes. This time, I extend the offer for you to accompany me."
"I'll be happy to do that, sir." said Harry.
Harry left Dumbledore's office, knowing it was time to shift the whole board.