Another Slug gathering was taking place inside an empty classroom. Professor Slughorn was chatting with his students, getting to know them more.
"I'd like to know where you get your information," he said to Tom. "More knowledgable than half the staff, you are!"
Indeed, Tom was apparently an intellegent student.
"Sir," he asked Slughorn, "is it true that Professor Merrythought is retiring?"
"Now Tom, I couldn't tell you if I knew, could I?" Slughorn replied. "By the way, thank you for the pineapple. You're quite right, it is my favorite. But how did you know?"
"Intuition." said Tom.
A while later, Slughorn noticed the chimes of a nearby clock ringing from the wall. "Goodness gracious!" he exclaimed. "Is it that time, already!?"
He turned to the students. "Off you go, boys! Or Professor Dippet will have us all in detention.
And with that, everyone left the classroom. Everyone that is, except Tom.
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"Sir, can I ask you something?" he asked, once everyone left.
"You look sharp, Tom. You don't want to be caught out of bed after hours." Slughorn chuckled. "Is something on your mind?"
"Yes, sir." replied Tom. "You see, I was in the library the other night, in the Restricted Section. And, I read about something a bit odd, like it's rare magic."
Slughorn raised his eyebrows in curiosity and concern.
"It's called, as I understand it. . . a Horcrux."
"I beg your pardon?"
"A Horcrux. I came across this term while reading, and I didn't fully understand it."
"I'm not sure what you're reading, Tom." said Slughorn, growing more concerned. "But this is very dark stuff, very dark indeed."
"Which is why I came to you." Tom interrupted.
Slughorn took a deep breath, and then began to explain. "A Horcrux is an object in which a person has concealed a part of their soul. One splits the soul and hides part of it into an object. That part of your soul lives on. In other words, you cannot die."
Tom paused for a moment to think, before he asked. "How does one split his soul, sir?"
"By killing, Tom. I think you should know this, though. Killing rips the soul apart, and it is a violation against nature."
Tom thought for a moment, before he spoke again. "Can you split the soul only once? What if you wanted seven?"
"Seven!?" gasped Slughorn. "Merlin's Beard, Tom! Isn't it bad enough to consider killing one person, but to rip a soul into seven pieces!?"
Slughorn paused for a moment to recover from shock, before he continued.
"This is all hypothetical, isn't it Tom? All academic?" He asked, hoping that Tom was not intending on turning dark.
"Of course, sir! Our little secret." Tom replied.
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"Sir?"
Harry found himself back in Dumbledore's office after finally having viewed the memory.
Dumbledore looked quite stunned for a moment.
"This is. . ." He said in disbelief. "This is beyond anything I imagined!"
Harry couldn't agree with him more, but he was curious as to what these horcruxes were. And more importantly. . .
"You mean to say sir, that he succeeded in making a horcrux?" he asked Dumbledore nervously.
"Oh, yes." Dumbledore answered. "And not just once."
"Well, where are they exactly?"
Dumbledore explained that it wouldn't be easy as to where his horcruxes were. "It could be anything." he explained. "Most commonplace of objects. A ring for example," he said as he pulled out a ring, "Or a book."
Dumbledore pulled out a book that Harry could recognize easily. With a hole in the center going entirely through all the worn pages and covers, he knew at once that this was Tom Riddle's diary. The same diary he had destroyed in the Chamber of Secrets four years ago.
"When you brought me this book, I knew then that this was a different kind of magic." He said. "Very dark, very powerful. But until tonight, I had no idea just how powerful."
Harry paused for a moment, turning his attention towards the ring, before he asked.
"The ring belonged to Voldemort's mother." Dumbledore said. "Very difficult to find, even more difficult to destroy."
"But, if you could find them all," Harry said, suddenly realizing what the solution was. "If you did destroy each horcrux. . ."
"One destroyes Voldemort." Dumbledore finished, answering his question.
"But again, they could be hidden anywhere! How would you find them?"
Dumbledore paused for a moment before leaning closer to Harry.
"Magic," he said in a low voice. "Especially dark magic, leaves traces."
Harry began to realize that Dumbledore's cursed hand may have been because of a horcrux. "It's where you've been going, isn't it sir?" He said, looking more frantic. "When you leave the school?"
"Yes, and you know what?" said Dumbledore. "I think I may have found another. But this time, I cannot hope to destroy it alone. Once again, I must ask too much of you, Harry. But more on that later. For now, why don't you go to bed? You've had quite a rough evening, I can tell."
Harry wanted to protest, to insist he was ready to help find, and destroy that horcrux as soon as possible, but after he realized he had been feeling exhausted from having seen that memory and learning about how Voldemort was staying alive, he reluctantly nodded, and left the office without another word.
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AUTHOR'S NOTES
Finally, I'm on Spring Break, so here's another chapter.
Unfortunately, I go back to classes after this weekend, so the next chapter won't be up until late April or so.
Enjoy yourselves! :)