It had been a week since the full moon and Harry was sitting in Dumbledore's office.
"This is the next memory." Dumbledore said.
"This will not take long," said Dumbledore, when he had finally emptied the pensive.
"We shall be back before you know it. Once more into the Pensieve, then…"
He looked in it and saw a man he recognized at once.
It was a much younger Horace Slughorn. Thick, shiny, straw-colored hair quite disconcerting; it looked as though he had had his head thatched, though there was already a shiny Galleon-sized bald patch on his crown. His mustache, less massive than it was these days, was gingery-blond. the golden buttons on his richly embroidered waistcoat were taking a fair amount of strain.
His little feet resting upon a velvet poufs, he was sitting well back in a comfortable winged armchair, one hand grasping a small glass of wine, the other searching through a box of crystallized pineapple.
Half a dozen boys were sitting around Slughorn, all on harder or lower seats than his, and all in their mid-teens. His was the most handsome face and he looked the most relaxed of all the boys. His right hand lay negligently upon the arm of his chair; with a jolt, he was wearing Marvolo's gold-and-black ring.
"Sir, is it true that Professor Merry thought is retiring?" he asked.
"Tom, Tom, if I knew I couldn't tell you," said Slughorn, wagging a reproving, sugar-covered finger at Riddle, though ruining the effect slightly by winking. "I must say, I'd like to know where you get your information, boy, more knowledgeable than half the staff, you are."
Riddle smiled; the other boys laughed and cast him admiring looks.
"What with your uncanny ability to know things you shouldn't, and your careful flattery of the people who matter- thank you for the pineapple, by the way, you're quite right, it is my favorite-"
As several of the boys tittered, something very odd happened. The whole room was suddenly filled with a thick white fog. Then Slughorn's voice rang out through the mist, unnaturally loudly, "You'll go wrong, boy, mark my words."
The fog cleared as suddenly as it had appeared and yet nobody made any allusion to it, nor did anybody look as though anything unusual had just happened. A small golden clock standing upon Slughorn's desk chimed eleven o'clock.
"Good gracious, is it that time already?" said Slughorn. "You'd better get going, boys, or we'll all be in trouble. Lestrange, I want your essay by tomorrow or it's detention. Same goes for you, Avery."
Slughorn pulled himself out of his armchair and carried his empty glass over to his desk as the boys filed out. Voldemort, however, stayed behind.
"Look sharp, Tom," said Slughorn, turning around and finding him still present. "You don't want to be caught out of bed out of hours, and you a prefect…"
"Sir, I wanted to ask you something."
"Ask away, then, m'boy, ask away…"
"Sir, I wondered what you know about… about Horcruxes?"
And it happened all over again: The dense fog filled the room. Then Slughorn's voice boomed out again, just as it had done before.
"I don't know anything about Horcruxes and I wouldn't tell you if I did! Now get out of here at once and don't let me catch you mentioning them again!"
When they got back Harry looked at him. "Sir, this memory isn't fully real, is it?" Harry asked.
"Yes, it's fake." he said.
"That's why you asked him to come back, isn't it?" He nodded. "Any idea of what one of them are?"
"Yes, I do."
He took out a book from Harry's second year.
"Tom Riddle's diary." he said.
"Yes. I need you to try the best you can to help me get the rest of them." He nodded.
"Alright, good bye Harry. And good luck."
They split up and Harry went to the common room.
When he got back he sat down and sighed.
"How am I going to figure out how to get an answer? Maybe Ron and Hermione can think of something." he said quietly.
He covered his face. And then heard something. He looked up and saw Ron and Hermione.
"Hi Harry." she said.
"Hi Ron, Hermione."
"Something wrong?" Ron asked.
He sighed.
"Me and Dumbledore figured out how Voldemort came back."
They sat down and waited.
"He made horcruxes. I can only name one, his diary. Dumbledore had an idea because his memory told me to stop when I had a fang in my hand."
"Wow, who would've thought someone would want to make more than one." Ron asked.
Hermione and Harry shook their head. After that they went to bed. The next day they were in potions and Harry looked at Slughorn and tried to think of a way to find out. After potions they had divination.
Throughout the day he had a little trouble focusing. When they were done for the day they went for a walk and get some air. Harry would still remember what happened last year. It would take his friends a few minutes to get him to snap out of it. After their walk it was diner time.
"Hey guys." Neville said smiling.
"Hey Neville." Harry said smiling back.
"You're doing really good in the Room of Requirements every week."
"Thanks, it's really thanks to you." he said.
Harry opened his mouth but was interrupted by Ginny.
"Don't say it. We all know if it weren't for you none of us would be as good as we are now. No one can beat you at it but still you're the best in DADA I've ever known."
He turned bright red but nodded.