Chapter 14: Conundrum
It was now the month of January, as everybody came back to Hogwarts for the second semester. However, it seemed that not all people enjoyed it well as Harry and Ron were talking to Naruto and Hermione in the Common Room about what happened during Christmas. "Let me get this straight, the Death Eaters attacked the Burrow and burned down the house?" Naruto asked, as Harry and Ron nodded. "Is everybody alright?" Hermione asked, sounding worried. "They're all fine, we managed to regroup at our place and we came back the next day to check up on the house," Harry stated, as Naruto and Hermione sighed in relief. Harry also mentions how he and Mr. Weasley had a conversation regarding why Dumbledore was traveling a lot and what Draco had at Borgin and Burkes. "Vanishing Cabinet, huh? Didn't you hide in a cabinet at the store during the summer of 1992, when you had the Floo Powder accident?" Naruto asked, as Harry nodded.
"Yeah I remembered and from what Mr. Weasley said the store still had the cabinet. Now that I think of it, that was the exact cabinet that is being used here," Harry stated. "But that raises a question: What would Draco want with a Vanishing Cabinet?" Hermione asked. Harry and the others shrugged, when Hermione was pondering something. "He looks different, don't you think? Draco. Almost... ill," Hermione said. "Who could tell the difference?" Harry stated, as he doubted Draco was any different. "I don't know Harry, something feels off about Malfoy. Normally he should be acting like an egotistical bigot, but these days he's rather quiet and doesn't do much. Plus just by his body language, he's acting rather suspicious, almost as if he was paranoid to the point where he lost some sleep," Naruto pointed out. Everybody thought of this and there was no denying the fact that Malfoy seems to have changed quite a lot recently.
Timeskip
It was now the beginning of Harry's third lesson with Dumbledore, as they placed their heads in the pensieve ready to see a new memory. The memory the two were seeing is of a sixteen year old Tom Riddle along with five other boys as they were in a Professor Slughorn's office, with the rather young looking professor. The usual Slug Club meeting was taking place, as the professor was probing a dish of crystalized pineapple. They were talking about some stuff regarding a professor retiring and how Tom knew this dish was Slughorn's favorite. Everybody was having a fun time, but for Tom he didn't care about the conversation as he had a far important thing he wanted to discuss with Slughorn privately.
After the meeting was over, both Tom and Slughorn were in the room talking about something. When Tom took off his ring and mentioned how he was in the Restriction reading about something involving rare magic, the boy wanted to ask the professor for more clarification, but it seems that it had angered Slughorn to the point where he ended the conversation. Soon both Harry and Dumbledore came back to the real world. Dumbledore noticed that Harry was looking rather confused about this. "Confused? I would be surprised if you weren't," he said, as Harry looked at him. "I don't understand, everything looked fine and all of a sudden Slughorn turned angry when Tom just asked for some clarification," Harry pointed out. "This is perhaps the most important memory I've collected. However it's a lie," Dumbledore said to a rather shocked Harry. "You see the memory you saw…it has been tampered by none other than Slughorn himself," Dumbledore explained.
"But why would he tamper with his own memory?" Harry asked, sounding confused. "I suspect he is ashamed of it," Dumbledore mentioned. This raised a lot of questions, who knew why Slughorn held so much shame just from his very own memory. Dumbledore gives Harry a task that he can't fail and this task was to get Slughorn's true memory. Now Harry didn't know how to approach Slughorn on that part as it felt wrong to force someone to give up his own memory. "This memory is everything, Harry. Without it, we are blind. Without it, we leave the fate of our world to chance," Dumbledore stated. "What about Naruto? Shouldn't he have a part in this as well?" Harry asked, as this whole time he had trained with Dumbledore, not once did the old man call Naruto here. Dumbledore turned away, "Naruto is figuring out his part in the prophecy as well. He insisted to me that I teach you as much as I could, as he knew your life matters on this. Don't worry, he can handle himself, I have full confidence in him," Dumbledore stated. Soon the lesson ended, as Harry went back to the dorms, still unsure about this. When Harry leaves, Dumbledore looks back at the closet as he found a vial consisting of a memory that took place back in 1932. He pours the liquid and proceeds to dip his head inside the pensieve to relive that memory.
The Next Day
Harry and the others were at the Great Hall talking about what he did last night regarding his private lesson with Dumbledore. "So let me get this straight, Dumbledore is making you get Slughorn's memory, his true memory to be exact, in order to solve the mystery of-what was it, Horcruxes? And he's telling you to use any means necessary, is that correct?" Naruto asked, as Harry nodded. "That sums it up, but I don't know how I will approach Slughorn about this without scaring or angering him at all," Harry stated, sounding pretty unsure about this. Ron thought that Harry was unlikely to have any trouble with Slughorn at all. "He loves you," he said over breakfast, waving an airy forkful of fried egg. "Won't refuse you anything, will he? Not his little Potions Prince. Just hang back after class this afternoon and ask him."
"I don't know Harry, what if Slughorn is hiding that memory for a reason. It's no wonder Dumbledore wasn't able to find it out himself. Plus I have never heard of Horcruxes so I can't fill you in on that," Hermione stated, much to the disappointment of Harry. "I have to agree with Hermione here, Harry think about it. If no one has ever heard about Horcruxes, then it must either be a rare form of dark magic or it's just made up. Plus you can't just rush in and ask Slughorn something like that on the fly, you're only going to make the matter much more difficult," Naruto stated. Soon the four went to their next class, which was Potions.
An Hour Later
The class had just finished a lesson on finding an antidote to a certain poison they picked. Now it was difficult of course as even Harry was having a tough time, despite owning the Half-Blood Prince's book. Hermione however was doing fine, as she looked rather smug as she was gaining the advantage over Harry. Of course, Harry wasn't going to have his reputation soiled within a matter of minutes, so he decided to skim through the pages for antidotes, when he saw one word that made him curious, which was bezoar. That's when it hit him, as he remembered his first lesson with Snape during the first year, Snape mentioned that a bezoar helps out with most poisons. Well desperate times call for desperate measures, as Harry rushes to the cabinets to find what he was looking for. In fact the bezoar didn't even disappoint as it came in clutch at the end. So once again, Harry's position as the top of the class still remains unsullied. "See you later Harry," Naruto said, after congratulating Harry, before leaving for his next class. The blond joins up with the others as they seemed rather annoyed as Harry one upped them. "Oh come on guys, you can't be angry at him for that sort of quick thinking," the blond pointed out, as the others gave him the look, to which he nervously chuckled.
With Harry
Harry had just walked out of Slughorn's office, as he had that look of disappointment. He failed to get Slughorn to confess his memory, as it seemed that Slughorn knew that Dumbledore ordered Harry to retrieve this information, so that was why he acted paranoid and ended the conversation. Thunder was heard outside indicating that it was raining hard. Good thing Harry was inside the castle, so at least he isn't doused with too much rain water. As the scar headed boy walked the corridors, a bird cage was shown. However it appears that the bird cage showed only one bird instead of two. As Harry was walking down the corridor, he noticed someone going up the stairwell. Harry moves to follow, as he felt the figure was pretty suspicious.
The figure turned out to be Draco, as he looked around before he entered some room. 'What the hell are you doing Malfoy?' Harry thought. Malfoy enters the Room of Requirements, as Draco wends his way through the towering shelves, removes the tapestry and faces the gleaming cabinet. He reaches into his coat and carefully removes the white bird. Holding it in one hand, he studies it, gently stroking its feathers with the other. For a moment, he seems lost in the activity, lost in the bird's coal black eyes, its bobbing head. Then, gently, he places it in the cabinet and closes the door. He waits and when he opens the cabinet, he sees that the bird is gone. He closed it again and waited. A feather, white and gleaming, clings to the cuff of his jacket. He takes it, turns it in the light. It is fragile, translucent. He looks briefly lost again, then blinks, turns back to the cabinet, slowly reaches out and opens it. The bird was there, except it was dead. Malfoy cries in frustration, as he keeps failing with the cabinet.
Gryffindor Common Room-Night Time
Harry, Naruto, and Hermione were the only ones in the common room, as they were discussing what happened. Hermione seemed to have calmed down thanks to a little persuasion from Naruto, but that still doesn't mean she won't take any pot shots at Harry. "Did you actually expect you could just walk up to Ol' Sluggy and ask him to reveal his deepest, darkest secret? Honestly, Harry, sometimes I think the Daily Prophet should call you the Dim One," Hermione retorted. "Funny, I forgot to laugh," Harry snarked back, with sarcasm. "Still Harry, you have to find a way to persuade him somehow. And it is going to get a lot harder," Hermione said.
"Guys…I think Malfoy is leaving the castle," Naruto said, after looking at the Marauder's Map. This shocked the two, as they looked at him asking if he was sure, to which he nodded. "I've seen it. Sometimes... sometimes he just disappears off the Map," the blond said as he frowned. "That's... not possible. No one can leave the castle these days. The Map is wrong," Hermione said. "The Map is never wrong, Hermione," Naruto stated. The three think about this, as where was Malfoy going and what is he doing, that's the question.