Principal's office.
There was no one, only the inside of the Pensieve, the milky white mist kept flowing.
After an unknown amount of time, Dumbledore and William returned to the office from memory.
After reading the memories of Harry and William one after another, Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, as if thinking about something.
William waited quietly, looking around.
Fox returned to the shelf, bald, and slept with his head buried in the nest.
It is ready to wait for the hair to grow before going out for a walk.
After all, a plucked phoenix is not as good as a chicken!
The Sorting Hat also returned to its place, with Gryffindor's sword beside it.
William did not expect that Gryffindor's sword could be summoned in the Sorting Hat.
I don't know if it was Gryffindor's magic or Dumbledore's.
He is more inclined towards Dumbledore. The headmaster likes to play this kind of small game the most, and it can be unexpected and give you a kind of imperial illusion.
Look, the one who can draw the sword from the Sorting Hat is the real Gryffindor!
Immediately, the courage buff doubled, and he rushed up!
After ten minutes, Dumbledore opened his eyes, picked up the destroyed diary, and sighed:
"It's amazing, needless to say, Tom is probably one of the best students ever at Hogwarts."
William agreed and gave Tom a middle finger. If the Dark Lord is not good, then it is not the Dark Lord.
William did not ask who the other "several outstanding students" were. Now is not the time to talk about wizards and business people.
"William, you've done a great job, as good as ever," Dumbledore said softly.
"But I made a serious mistake of relying too much on the power of the ring, hoping to exercise Harry."
"It has been proven countless times that I, too, make mistakes like the average human being. In fact, because I am—excuse me—because I am so much smarter than most people, my mistakes are correspondingly worse.
I didn't expect that in the depths of the Chamber of Secrets, there were still records of Slytherin. "
There was deep remorse in Dumbledore's tone.
"So, we're in trouble, big trouble, even tougher than Voldemort."
"Sixteen-year-old Riddle?"
"Yes, I've said more than once that Tom was more terrifying than Voldemort when he was young.
The two did things differently. Voldemort gained great power, lost his patience, thought he was immortal, and preferred the simplest killing.
Riedel was young and inclined to win over others and to use intrigue.
With the lessons of senior Voldemort, I think he will be more cautious when facing me. "
Dumbledore put down his diary and leaned back lightly on his chair.
"Professor, there is one thing I don't understand, whether it was Riddle or Voldemort, who was killed by Avada, why didn't they die?
Riddle said he was Voldemort's spirit, exiled in the diary.
What magic is this? I thought about it for a long time, but I can't remember which magic book there is a similar existence. "
The expression on Dumbledore's face became solemn. He looked at William seriously, and the fingertips of ten slender fingers touched each other lightly.
After a long silence, he finally said in a cautious tone, "William, have you heard the word Horcrux?"
"Well... I heard that it was mentioned in the book "Toxic Magic" in the restricted area, it said that 'the most evil magical invention of Horcrux is not described here'.
Other than that, I haven't seen this word in any other book in the restricted area. "
"That's because I removed all the books detailing Horcruxes."
Dumbledore raised his hand slightly, and a thick book flew out of the cabinet.
It was a book with a brown black leather cover, and the title read "The Secret of Cutting-edge Black Magic"
"This book is full of black magic, with the most detailed steps on how to make and destroy Horcruxes."
Dumbledore opened the book and turned to the Horcrux page.
There is a man on the page, he kills a man, screams in pain, and his soul is split.
"By killing, the soul is separated and sealed in an object.
In this way, even if your body is attacked or destroyed, you cannot die, because there is still a part of the soul left in the world unharmed..."
"This is the secret of Voldemort's immortality, and the diary is his Horcrux?" William raised his eyebrows.
Dumbledore nodded solemnly, "Yes, I realized early on that maybe Voldemort made Horcruxes.
So I moved all the books about Horcruxes into my office to prevent others from seeing them.
During this period, I have been looking for evidence, and finally waited for the diary. "
"Then another question, Professor." William asked keenly. "How did the diary end up in Ron's hands?"
"I think it was given by Lucius Malfoy, who was too conspicuous and too high-profile during this time.
Malfoy's house-elf, who found Harry more than once, hinted that an attack would take place... Various phenomena indicate that the diary had previously belonged to Malfoy. "
William thought about it for a moment: "The only time Malfoy had contact with Ron was at the Bliss Bookstore, and he had a fight with Mr. Weasley.
It was probably stuffed to Ron at that time. "
"But how dare he... throw Voldemort's Horcrux to Ron?" William asked in confusion.
"Malfoy probably didn't know it was a Horcrux, and Arthur's several searches made him anxious.
He is eager to get rid of his master's things, and he can also blame Arthur. ' Dumbledore analyzed.
"This brings up another question, Professor." William frowned, "Why is the Horcrux in Malfoy's hands?
I mean, why did Voldemort give such an important thing to his servant?
With Voldemort's character, shouldn't such an important thing be kept in a very safe place and not be discovered by anyone? "
"Is he too... careless?"
"William, your observation is very keen." Dumbledore nodded slightly, "I am also thinking about this issue."
"Voldemort was too careless with this Horcrux, which means he's likely made more Horcruxes, so losing one wouldn't be so dangerous.
I hate to believe this, but no other explanation seems to make sense. "
William hesitated for a moment, then said helplessly: "Wouldn't that mean that Voldemort will never be killed? We don't know the number of Horcruxes, and we don't know the exact location."
Voldemort is really a "Voldemort"...a world out of nowhere.
If William were him, he would find a beautiful island to hide in, and consume Dumbledore to death.
"As for the location of the other Horcruxes, I'm still investigating, and there are already a few small clues." Dumbledore said.
William was stunned, the principal was too efficient.
Sure enough, the one who knows you best is always your enemy!
"As for the number, someone might know."
"Who?"
"My former colleague, Horace Slughorn. He used to be the head of Slytherin House, and he likes Tom the most. The two have a close personal relationship."
"Voldemort wouldn't tell him such a thing, would he?"
"I think Tom may have consulted Horace about this," said Dumbledore cautiously.
"Twelve years ago, when Horace heard that Voldemort had been defeated by Harry, he was so relieved he almost lost control of his joy.
His reaction was so strange that while talking to me, he drank a lot of alcohol and accidentally revealed a few words.
So I became alert that Horace might have shared some dark secrets with Tom. "
"Later, I asked me carefully several times, but he refused to speak. After a few days, he directly submitted his resignation to me."
William nodded, this reaction does have a guilty conscience.
"Then Professor I have one last question."
Dumbledore hummed and motioned for William to bring it up.
"Did you notice, Tom broke out of the diary and was resurrected from a soul state.
Although he was ordered by Avada, he did not die, and became a shadow like Voldemort, waiting to be resurrected again. "
"This may be due to other Horcruxes. If Voldemort made multiple Horcruxes, they have now become public Horcruxes for the two of them," Dumbledore explained.
"But is there a possibility that when we find all the Horcruxes and destroy them, or we can't destroy Little Tom and Old Tom?
Because they all belong to Tom Riddle's soul, and they all exist independently, so they are each other's Horcruxes and become Horcrux nesting dolls? "
...
...
(Thanks to the rewards of "Hellcat" and "Elf Fire Wind")